The Fulkerson Family Pages
Pavonia Indians Massacre
In 1641 Damen and Ver Planck were members of the 12-man council assembled by Director Willem Kieft to "advise" him on Indian affairs. He was really only trying to drum up popular support for his plans to eliminate the local Indian tribes. In the following year Kieft disbanded the council because it disagreed with his military ambitions. Abraham had such a falling out with the Director that he was threatened with banishment if he continued to insult the Company's officers.
In February 1643 Damen hosted a dinner at which the alcohol flowed steadily. The attendees were Maryn Adriansen, another former member of the council of 12, and step-sons-in-law Abraham Ver Planck and Cornelis Van Tienhoven. At a ripe moment Van Tienhoven pulled out a petition and had the others sign it. It was a petition to Kieft, urging him to attack a neighboring Indian tribe. Van Tienhoven took the signed petition to Kieft and then personally led the attack on the Indian village. That action led other tribes to retaliate and burn New Amsterdam. Abraham later denied knowledge of the incident, and Adriansen even tried to kill Kieft. [He had to pay a fine and was banished for 3 months.] Kieft appointed Damen to an 8-man council in 1644, but the other council members refused to accept him.
FOOTNOTE: The June 27, 2004 edition of the New York Times carried an extensive article on the history of the property where the World Trade Center was located. The article stated that, "...Damen, for example, its first European owner, played a critical role in a decision by the early Dutch colonists to massacre Indians living at two nearby settlements, igniting two years of warfare." It went on to state, "Damen died about 1650. His heirs sold his property to two men: Oloff Stevensen Van Cortlandt, a brewer and one-time soldier in the Dutch West India militia, and Dirck Dey, a farmer and cattle brander. Their names were ultimately assigned to the streets at the trade center site. Damen's was lost to history."
In 1649 Jan Jansen Damen went to Holland with Cornelius Van Tienhoven, to help defend Stuyvesant against the complaints of Van der Donck and others. He died upon his return, on June 18, 1651. He does not seem to have had any children. He had three brothers: Cornelius Jansen Cuyper, Cornelis Jansen Damen and William Jansen Damnen; and two sisters: Neeltje and Hendrickje. He adopted [in 1648] the son of the last named sister - Jan Cornelis Buys - who assumed his name, having been left 600 Car. guilders. Jan Jansen, at his death, willed 400 Car. guilders to the poor of Bunick, in the province of Utrecht. The inventory of his personal property fills 10 folio pages in the records.
Following Jan's death there were several lawsuits concerning his estate. In 1653 there was a successful suit against his estate for unpaid goods bought at auction. In 1656 there was a suit by Adrien Blommart for his share of the inheritance, brought against the administrator, Thomas Hall, which the court ordered into arbitration. Adrienne Cuvellier died about 1655. Two years later, when the Wall that gave Wall Street its name was run through her property, her son Jan and sons-in-law Dirck and Abraham filed a claim with the City "for breaking of fences, and injury of grain, etc. in consequences of running the Walls of this City through their land, to have been damaged as much, as arbitrators shall in fairness estimate."
"...it has been said of Adrienne Cuvellier that when one of her sons-in-law returned from the massacre of the Pavonia Indians in February, 1643, with thirty prisoners and also heads of several of the defunct enemy, she, 'forgetful of those finer feelings that do honor to her sex, amused herself in kicking about the heads of the dead men which had been brought in as bloody trophies of the midnight slaughter.'" For the most part, New Amsterdammers had opposed this conflict with the Indians. Many who witnessed her behavior saw it as disgusting....and also directly blamed her family for the war. ["Cuvellier-Cuvilje" Herbert F. Seversmith, 21 May 1947]
