LENG: ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF STATEN ISLAND 115 
Adriaen Post, the undertaking having been financed in Holland by 
Melyn and Baron Hendrick van der Capellen toe Ryssel (Proc. 
STATEN Is. Assoc. 6:28). The names of these colonists, the first 
to arrive in considerable numbers and to remain for a consider- 
able period, have been preserved (Doc. Col. Hist. 13: 74-75) and 
are apparently Dutch, viz.: Hendrick Swerinck, Paul Ercks, Hen- 
drick Marcellis, Jan Aertsen van Heerde, Aelbert Guyssebertsen 
VaAllMeelcendemeNchent savant uidengel Severn, Jani van Olden= 
zeel called Elsken, Jan Wesselinck, Gylart, Hermken, Gerrit 
Jansen van Steenwyck, Wynott, Hans Berentsen of Osenbrugge, 
Berene Driessen from Oostenengh, van Steenderen. The colony 
thus established endured until Sept. 16, 1655, when it was de- 
stroyed by Indians (Proc. Staten Is. Assoc. 6:30). During 
1656, 1657, 1658, and 1659 abortive attempts were made to re- 
establish it, but in 1659 not more than two or three families lived 
here, protected by five or six soldiers (1. c., p. 33). While this 
colony was in existence on Staten Island, Rev. Samuel Drisius 
had become pastor of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, hav- 
ing arrived in 1652, and it is possible that he may have preached 
here about that time but there is no definite proof that he did so. 
In a passage on page 615 of Brodhead’s History of the State ot 
New York, based on an examination of the archives of the Classis 
of Amsterdam, he is said to have “occasionally visited Staten 
Island, where a number of Vaudois or Waldenses soon settled 
themselves.” The date under which Brodhead makes this state- 
ment is apparently 1656 but the context shows that it refers to 
the next stage in Staten Island history. 
Following the failure of Capt. Post’s colony we find on Aug. 22, 
1661, the petition for “farmland, meadow and pastures” on 
Staten Island of “persons arrived by last ships” including some 
French names, repeated to this day in Staten Island families. 
These petitioners, or such of them as actually settled on Staten 
Island, were quickly joined by others, so that they were described 
in 1662 as “12 or 14 families of Dutch and French from the 
Palatinate’ (Col. Doc. 14: 546). From a list of early immi- 
grants to New Netherland, 1657-1664 (Doc. Hist. N. Y. 3: 33- 
