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Jonas Bronck

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Signing the Treaty with the Indians April 22, 1642, painted in 1908 by John Ward Dunsmore

Jonas Bronck (alternatively Jonas Jonsson Brunk, Jonas Jonasson Bronk, or Jonas Jonassen Bronck) (around 1600 – 1643) was a settler in the Dutch colony of New Netherland after whom the Bronx River, and by extension, the county and New York City borough of the Bronx are named.

Origin

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Different theories account for Bronck's origin.[1] The official historian of the Bronx, Lloyd Ultan, has adopted the theory that Bronck came from Sweden.[2] The Bronx County Historical Society[3] and other publications followed suit.[4][5]

A number of sources published in the early 20th century identify Bronck as Swedish,[6][7] an idea espoused by A. J. F. van Laer,[8] archivist at the New York State Library.[9] Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History, also parenthetically claims Bronck as a Dane.[10] A 1908 publication portrays Bronck as a Mennonite who fled the Netherlands to Sweden because of religious persecution.[11] In a 1977 pamphlet commemorating the founding of the borough a publication of the Bronx County Bar Association states that it "is widely accepted that Bronck came from Sweden, but claims have also been made by the Frisian Islands on the North Sea coast and by a small town in Germany".[12]

In 1981, the Manx-Svenska Publishing Co. released a now out-of-print 19-page pamphlet, The Founder of the Bronx, authored G. V. C. Young O.B.E., after he had conducted research in the Netherlands, Sweden, and New York. Young reported that he examined crucial references: Bronck's betrothal certificate dated June 18, 1638, and Bronck's document of guarantee from April 30, 1639. The theory of Bronck's Swedish origin fundamentally rely on Young's interpretations of three key words found in these Dutch-language documents and that Jonas Bronck's relative Pieter Bronck was born in 1616 in Jönköping, Sweden. In conjunction with John Davidson of Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands and Eva Brylla from the Ortnamnsarkiv in Uppsala, Sweden, the archival texts were transcribed from their traditional script. Young states that Bronck's middle name Jonsson means that his father's first name was Jonas (excluding the Faroe reverend Morten Bronck) and further that the words referring to Bronck's birthplace and spelled "Coonstay" and "Smolach" speaks for that it is most likely that "Coonstay" was Komstad in Jönköping county and that "Smolach" was a misrecording of Småland, the province in which Jönköping is located. Young concludes Jonas Bronck was born circa 1600 in Komstad, Småland, a historic province of Sweden. This farm or small village was at this time inhabited by Jon Nilsson and his wife Marit Brunk who could be Jonas Bronck's parents or other relatives.[13][14][15][16] The New York Times cites Sävsjö the seat of Sävsjö Municipality in Jönköping County, Sweden,[17] of which Komstad was part.

Marriage

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On June 18, 1638, Bronck signed his banns of marriage as Jonas Jonasson Bronck. This patronym indicated that his father's name was Jonas, which supports the theory of Swedish origin. He and his Dutch wife, Teuntje Joriaens, married at the New Church in Amsterdam on July 6, 1638.

Immigration to New Netherland

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Jonas Bronck's decision to relocate from Europe was prompted by a number of factors.

During the late 1630s, events in both Holland and America induced significant changes in the governance of New Netherland, territory controlled by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers, and north along tidewaters of the Hudson. At its heart was the trading facility of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan Island.

Following the spectacular collapse of the Tulip mania in 1637, Holland's government contemplated the idea of taking control of New Netherland from the company and using the colony for resettlement of individuals impoverished by failed tulip bulb speculations. There also was vexation over the West India Company's failure to develop New Netherland much beyond its original function, facilitating the fur trade. By contrast, English enclaves in the region were rapidly expanding in territory, population, and viability.

New Amsterdam's inhabitants then numbered only about four hundred, a count that hardly had increased during the previous decade. Company properties in the colony showed signs of physical neglect and conditions of law and order were less than ideal. Faced with possible government expropriation, the company appointed Willem Kieft as director of New Netherland with a mandate to increase the territory's population and vitality. Arriving in 1638, Kieft promptly purchased additional Lenape lands in the environs of Manhattan and encouraged private settlement by enterprising colonists of diverse backgrounds. It also liberalized the previous Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions so that settlers were no longer encumbered with excessive responsibilities to the WIC. Previously, most real estate and commercial activity in New Netherland had been under its direct control.

These vicissitudes did not escape Bronck's notice. He was among the first to recognize promising opportunities, and along with various emigrants from Europe he crossed the Atlantic to settle in New Amsterdam's hinterlands.[10][18] Vriessendael and Colen Donck were established around the same time.

In the spring of 1639, Jonas Bronck and a party of other emigrants, including his good friend, the Dane Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, departed the Dutch port of Hoorn on the Zuiderzee. In addition to passengers and crew, their ship, "De Brandt van Troyen" (Fire of Troy), was laden with numerous cattle. On June 16, the vessel was seen in the harbor of New Amsterdam.

Site of homestead

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Map (c. 1639) Manhattan situated on the North Rivier with numbered key showing settlements with No. 43 representing the Bronck homestead; No. 42, across the Harlem River, represents that of Kuyter,[19] who had sailed with Bronck and took the land on the Manhattan side of the river.

Bronck and Kuyter navigated up the East River to land that was within the territory of the Siwanoy and Wecquaesgeek groups of Wappinger who inhabited it at the time of colonialization. It is said that Bronck wrote of his new home: "The invisible hand of the Almighty Father, surely guided me to this beautiful country, a land covered with virgin forest and unlimited opportunities. It is a veritable paradise and needs but the industrious hand of man to make it the finest and most beautiful region in all the world."[11] Kuyter chose land on the west bank on the island of Manhattan;[20][21][22] Bronck settled on the mainland. Teuntje and Jonas Bronck's house was built by a promontory at the juncture of the Harlem River and the Bronx Kill across from Randalls Island and was constructed like "a miniature fort with stone walls and a tile roof".[23] Bronck's farmstead consisted of approximately 274 hectares (680 acres),[16] which being a religious man, he named Emaus.[24] (Emmaus, according to the New Testament, is where Jesus appeared before two of his followers after his resurrection.[25]) The site is in present-day Mott Haven, about 1,000 feet south of Bruckner Boulevard and 500 feet east of the Willis Avenue Bridge,[26] on a tract (at approximately 40°48′13″N 73°55′33″W / 40.80361°N 73.92583°W / 40.80361; -73.92583 (Jonas Bronck homestead)) now part of the Harlem River Intermodal Yard, through which runs the Oak Point Link.

Relations with Lenape tribes

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On April 22, 1642, a peace treaty was signed at Bronck's homestead between Dutch authorities and the Wecquaesgeek sachems Ranaqua and Tackamuck. This event is portrayed in a painting by the American artist John Ward Dunsmore (1856–1945).[27][28]

On February 23, 1643, Director of New Netherland William Kieft launched an attack on refugee camps of the Weckquaesgeek and Tappan.[29] Expansionist Mahican and Mohawk in the North (armed with guns traded by the French and English)[30] had driven them south the year before, where they sought protection from the Dutch. Kieft refused aid despite the company's previous guarantees to the tribes to provide it. The attacks were at Communipaw (in today's Jersey City) and Corlaers Hook (lower Manhattan) in what is known as the Pavonia Massacre.[31] The slaughter led to retaliation and attacks on many settlements outlying New Amsterdam, including some in what is now the Bronx, such as that of Anne Hutchinson. It is unknown if Bronck's death was related to the skirmishes.[16]

Last testament

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Saturday May 6, 1643, not long after Jonas Bronck's death, his widow Teuntje Joriaens, together with Peter Bronck, conducted a formal inventory of the Bronck farm which was then known as Emaus. This procedure was conducted in the presence of the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam and Bronck's friend Jochem Pietersen Kuyter. According to official records of the State of New York, the latter two were identified as guardians of Bronck's widow. (In June 1643 Teuntje remarried. She and her new husband, Arent van Curler,[14][16] soon thereafter departed for Beverwyck, a settlement on the North River near Fort Orange.)

The inventory lists contents of the farm Bronck and his family had built in the wilderness during the period of less than four years following his arrival in America. Buildings on the property were a stone house with a tile roof, a barn, two barracks for farm employees, and a tobacco house. The tally of Bronck's livestock was 25 animals of various kinds, plus an uncounted number of hogs, said to be running in nearby woods.

During the early 1640s, it was not uncommon for Bronck's New Amsterdam contemporaries to identify themselves on legal documents with graphic marks that also were symbols of illiteracy. By contrast, Jonas Bronck's personal library provides evidence he was literate in four languages, suggesting his education might have been as high as university level. His library was an impressive archive for its time and place, and is regarded as the earliest for which there is a detailed account in the colonial records of New York.

The following materials were listed in the inventory of Bronck's library: one Bible, folio; Calvin's Institutes, folio; Bullingeri, Schultetus Dominicalia, (Medical); Moleneri Praxis, (Moral and Practical Discourses), quarto; one German Bible, quarto; Mirror of the Sea (Seespiegel), folio; one Luther's Psalter; Sledani, (History of the Reformation), folio; Danish chronicle, quarto; Danish law book, quarto; Luther's Complete Catechism; The Praise of Christ, quarto; Petri Apiani; Danish child's book; a book called Forty Pictures of Death, by Symon Golaert; Biblical stories; Danish calendar; Survey (or View) of the Great Navigation; a parcel of eighteen Dutch and Danish pamphlets by various authors; seventeen books in manuscript, which are old; and eleven pictures, large and small.[32][33]

Bronck's becomes Bronx

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Bronck's farm, a tract of 274 hectares (680 acres),[16] known as the biblical Emmaus, Bronck's Land, and then just Broncksland, or simply Bronck's— covered roughly the area emanating from general vicinity of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in the Bronx in what, today, is Mott Haven.[34]

Following Bronck's death, and the dispersion of the few settlers, the tract passed through the hands of successive Dutch traders until 1664, when it came into the possession of Samuel Edsall, (who also had acquired a large tract on the North River known as the English Neighborhood), who held it until 1670. He sold it to Captain Richard Morris and Colonel Lewis Morris, at the time merchants of Barbados. Four years later, Colonel Morris obtained a royal patent to Bronck's Land, which afterward became the Manor of Morrisania, the second Lewis (son of Captain Richard), exercising proprietary right.[35]

Despite Bronck having lived there for only four years, the area was known as "Broncksland" through the end of the 17th century. The current spelling came into use in 1697.[36]

Descendants and relations

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Pieter Bronck also was known as Pieter Jonasson Bronck. Given the relative closeness in age and same father's name indicated by the patronym (Jonas was born about 1600, Pieter, born in 1616 in Jönköping, Sweden) it has been claimed that Pieter was a nephew or cousin to Jonas Bronck, and not a son as had been surmised.[16] This would however in both cases mean that Jonas Bronck or his father Jonas have had a living brother with identical name, something which is unheard of in Scandinavian naming. They might instead have been brothers, as an age difference of 16 years among even full siblings is far from unlikely. Still he has been described as the "poorer cousin", and is believed to have emigrated to Beverwijck in the Hudson Valley circa 1650.[37] The Pieter Bronck House is a registered historic place in Coxsackie, New York. The American poet William Bronk reported that he was a descendant of Pieter Bronck.[38] The American biophysicist (and president of Rockefeler University) Detlev Bronk claimed to have been a Bronck descendant, but no evidence of lineage to Pieter's line was ever found or indicated.[39]

Legacy

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Jónas Broncks gøta, Tórshavn, the Faroe Islands

A mural at the Bronx County Courthouse depicting Bronck's arrival was created in the early 1930s by James Monroe Hewlett.[40]

Namesakes

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The town of Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, has a street bearing the name Jónas Broncksgøta (Jonas Bronck's Street). One theory holds that Jonas Jonsson Bronck was born ca. 1600, son of a Lutheran minister, Morten Jespersen Bronck, and was raised in Tórshavn.[41] That Jonas Bronck's middle name would in this case be Mortensen, not Jonsson, speaks against this theory. The Faroe family may have originated from the Norwegian district of Elverum.[1][42] (At the time, the Faroe Islands were part of a political entity also comprising Iceland, Greenland, Denmark and Norway.) In 1619 the younger Bronck went to school in Roskilde, Denmark, and eventually made his way to Holland.[43]

The Jonas Bronck Academy [44] and Public School 43 Jonas Bronck [45] are located in the Bronx. A local brewery produces Jonas Bronck Beer.[46]

Jonas Bronck Center

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There is a Jonas Bronck Center in Sävsjö, Sweden.[47] where a celebration of the 375th anniversary of Jonas Bronck's settlement of the Bronx took place in August 2014. The celebration was mainly the idea of Brian G. Andersson, the former commissioner of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services, a specialist in Bronck's genealogy, a founding director of the center, and a Bronxite of Swedish origin.[48]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Evjen, John Q. (1972) [1916], Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630-1674, Genealogical Publishing Company, ISBN 0-8063-0501-0
  2. ^ Ultan, Lloyd (1993). The Bronx In The Frontier Era. From the Beginning to 1696. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company.
  3. ^ "Jonas Bronx". Bronx Notables. Bronx historical Society. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  4. ^ Mattice, Shelby; Dorpfeld, David (January 18, 2012), "Jonas and Pieter Bronck", Register-Star, archived from the original on September 9, 2012, retrieved February 18, 2012
  5. ^ Mattausch-Yildiz, Birgit (2011). "Stadt als Transitraum: Ein Blick hinter den Bronx-Mythos [The City as a transitional Space: investigating the Bronx Myth]". In Bukow, Wolf-Dietrich; Heck, Gerda; Schulze, Erika; Yildiz, Erol (eds.). Neue Vielfalt in der urbanen Stadtgesellschaft [A new Diversity in Urban Society] (in German). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-531-17754-0. Der Name The Bronx geht auf den ersten Siedler 1639, den Schweden Jonas Bronck und dessen Familie ('the Broncks') zurück – so lautet zumindest die landläufige Erklärung für den Artikel in Namen. [The name The Bronx relates to the first settler from 1639, the Swede Jonas Bronck and his family ('the Broncks') – that at least is the common explanation for the article in that name.]
  6. ^ Van Rensselaer, Mariana Griswold (1909), History of the city of New York in the seventeenth century, vol. 1, New York: The Macmillan Company, p. 161, OCLC 649654938, Here Jonas Bronck, another Swede who came in company with Kuyter, was the pioneer settler.
  7. ^ Anderson, R. (March 31, 1912), "Bronck, Bronx Discoverer, Not a Dutchman but a Swede" (PDF), The New York Times, retrieved February 20, 2012
  8. ^ van Laer, A. J. F. (1916). "Reviews of Books: Scandinavian Immigrants in New York". The American Historical Review. 22 (1). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association: 164–166. JSTOR 1836219. … Jonas Bronck was a Swede…
  9. ^ New York State Library, archivist A. J. F. van Laer: Bibliographic Note (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on July 7, 2011
  10. ^ a b Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (Michael L.) (1999). Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898. Vol. 1. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 30–37. ISBN 0-19-511634-8. …many of these colonists, perhaps as many as half of them, represented the same broad mixture of nationalities as New Amsterdam itself. Among them were Swedes, Germans, French, Belgians, Africans, and Danes (such as a certain Jonas Bronck)...
  11. ^ a b Cook, Harry Tecumseh; Kaplan, Nathan Julius (1913). The Borough of the Bronx, 1639–1913: Its marvelous Development and Historical Surroundings. p. 10. The 'Magazine of American History', January, 1908, tells us that Jonas Bronck 'was one of those worthy but unfortunate Mennonites who were driven from their homes in Holland to Sweden by religious persecution.'
  12. ^ "The first Bronxite". The Advocate. 24. Bronx County Bar Association: 59. 1977. It is widely accepted that Bronck came from Sweden, but claims have also been made by the Frisian Islands on the North Sea coast and by a small town in Germany.
  13. ^ Young, G. V. C. (1981). The Founder of The Bronx. Peel, Isle of Man: The Mansk-Swedish Publishing Co. Ltd.
  14. ^ a b Andersson, Brian G. (1998). "The Bronx, a Swedish Connection". Ancestry Magazine. 16 (4): 36–41.
  15. ^ Nilsson, Elna; Gumaelous, Malin, Komstad, Småland, Sverige Jonas Bronck Bronx, New York, America (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016
  16. ^ a b c d e f Nilsson, Elna (2007). "Jonas Jonsson Brunk - Från Komstad till Bronx" (PDF) (in Swedish). Retrieved February 18, 2012.
  17. ^ Robertsaug, Robert (August 19, 2014). "A Bronck in the Bronx Gives a Swedish Town a Reason to Cheer". The New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
  18. ^ Paulsen, Frederik Sr (1976). "Frisians in the History of the United States". Rootsweb.com. Retrieved January 11, 2011. ... Jonas Bronk, who gave his name to Bronx, was the leader of a North-Frisian group of settlers, who carried out the first well prepared and thoroughly organized permanent settlement in the area now called New York.
  19. ^ "Earliest known Manhattan map made in 1639" (PDF). The New York Times. March 25, 1917. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  20. ^ Riker, James (1904), Harlem: Its Origins and Early Annals, Elizabeth, New Jersey: New Harlem Publishing Company
  21. ^ "Harlem in the Old Times" (PDF). The New York Times. January 11, 1880. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  22. ^ "Harlem In The Old Times Fighting Hostile Indians on the Flats". The History Box. May 23, 2012. Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  23. ^ Comfort, Randall (1906), Excursion Planned For the City History Club of New York, vol. IX, Frederick A. Stokes Co., pp. 186, 195
  24. ^ Jenkins, Stephen (1912), The Story of the Bronx from the Purchase Made by the Dutch from the Indians in 1639 to the Present Day (reprint 2007 ed.), Heritage Books, ISBN 9780788423383
  25. ^ Holy Bible: St. Luke 24: 13–35; Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972, "Emmaus", Vol. 6, pp. 726–727
  26. ^ "THE BRONX MALL Cultural Mosaic – The Bronx... Its History & Perspective". www.bronxmall.com.
  27. ^ "East River NYC :: History". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  28. ^ Lankevich, George J. (2002), New York City: A Short History, NYU Press, ISBN 9780814751862
  29. ^ Shorto, Russell (2004). The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America. Vintage Books (Random House). p. 123. ISBN 0-385-50349-0.
  30. ^ Sultzman, Lee (1997). "Wappinger History". Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  31. ^ Walter Giersbach, Governor Kieft's Personal War Archived January 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, (published online, August 26, 2006)
  32. ^ Brodhead, John Romeyn; Fernow, Berthold; O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey; Legislature, State of New York (1901) [1883], Documents relative to the colonial history of the state of New York, vol. 14, Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co., pp. 42–44
  33. ^ Hastings, Hugh (State Historian) (1901), Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York, vol. 1, Albany: State Printer, p. 168
  34. ^ Hansen, Harry North of Manhattan. "excerpted from North of Manhattan, Hastings House, 1950". The Bronx...Its History & Perspective. The Bronx Mall. Retrieved January 20, 2012. The house was named "Emmanus" and stood on what today is in the general vicinity of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street.
  35. ^ Sterling, Aladine (1922), The Book of Englewood, Committee on the History of Englewood authorized by The Mayor and Council of City of Englewood, N.J.
  36. ^ Hansen, Harry (1950). North of Manhattan. Hastings House. OCLC 542679., excerpted at The Bronx... Its History & Perspective |quote = The land was then referred to as "Bronck's Land." Even though the records of the day show that Jonas Bronck only owned the land for four years, the name Bronck's Land stayed and the name was used to describe all the surrounding lands...The first time that the present spelling was used was when in 1697 the First Legislature outlined the County of West Chester, East Chester, "Bronx Land,"
  37. ^ "Bronck Family: The First Generations". Hudson Valley Mercantile. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  38. ^ Katzman, Mark. "Excerpts from "At Home in the Unknown," a 1996 Bronk Interview with Mark Katzman". University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  39. ^ "Detlev Wulf Bronk, one of founders of modern biophysics". St. Petersburg Times. November 19, 1975.
  40. ^ Deutsch, Kevin (November 9, 2010), "Seventy-year-old mural depicting Bronx founder Jonas Bronck damaged in courthouse construction", The Daily News, New York, archived from the original on July 7, 2012, retrieved February 7, 2012
  41. ^ "Middle Ages until 19th century – Did you know..." History. Faroe islands Review. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012. [...] that the man who founded New York in USA, Jonas Bronck (1600?–1643) was originally from Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, where his father was a pastor in the Lutheran Church. Bronck arrived at New Amsterdam in 1639, and his name is perpetuated in Bronx Borough, Bronx Park, Bronxville, in New York. An old street in Tórshavn also has his name, Jónas Broncksgøta. He made the voyage to America in his own ship, called Fire of Troy, manned by himself, accompanied by a friend who was an officer in the Danish army, Capt. Joachiem Pietersen Kuyter. They each brought their family and a number of herdsmen or farmers since their cargo was cattle.
  42. ^ Gjerset, Knut (1933). Norwegian Sailors in American Waters. Norwegian-American Historical Association. p. 228.
  43. ^ Wylie, Jonathon (1987), The Faroe Islands: Interpretations of History, University of Kentucky Press, p. 209, ISBN 978-0-8131-1578-8, Jónas Bronck (or Brunck) was the son of Morten Jespersen Bronck ... Jónas seems to have gone to school in Roskilde in 1619, but found his way to Holland where he joined an expedition to Amsterdam.
  44. ^ "Welcome". July 16, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  45. ^ "Welcome". July 14, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  46. ^ Beekman, Daniel (September 15, 2011). "Boogie down beer on tap with Bronx Brewery and Jonas Bronck's Beer Company setting up shop". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012.
  47. ^ "Jonas Bronck Center". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  48. ^ "A Bronck in the Bronx Gives a Swedish Town a Reason to Cheer". The New York Times. August 20, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2016.

Sources

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  • Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. Swedes in America, 1638-1938 (The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1938) ISBN 978-0-8383-0326-9
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