The Leftovers of New Netherland

Startpagina
Nederland
Amsterdam
The Leftovers of New Netherland

In this art/photo/research project I connect people, objects and stories of New Netherland (1609-1664) through photography with the present.

24/04/2026

Claire Garland of The Sand Hill Indians standing on the Minisink Trail near Lincroft - New Jersey.

08/04/2026

Many of the European descendants I have found have long lists of ancestors. John, for example, has 45! (Who has more?)

Names such as Abraham, Adriaan, Catharina, Christoffel, Claes, Dirk(je), Evert, Gerrit, Hendrick, Isaac, Jacob(us), Jan, Joost, Lambert, Magdalena, Paulus, Pieter, Theunis, and Zwaantje.

The descendants of the Natives and Africans naturally have just as many. It is just that the names of their ancestors have been forgotten.

Just like the names of my distant ancestors, by the way. Unless they left by boat, were rich, or were criminals, nothing of them can be found in the Dutch archives anymore. But they all existed and live on in small, hidden parts within us.

07/04/2026

This summer, during my final trip, I will dive further into the story of the natives, and the flora and fauna.

Busy preparing for the (final) trip to the US, which I will be making this summer for my project on New Netherland. I want to visit different natives tribes and I have a long list of animals and plants that I want to photograph. Beavers, oysters, bears, eagles, and a rattlesnake, but also cows, horses, goats, rats, and worm breeds that the Europeans shipped to America. I also want to give a place in my project to the many flowers, trees, and plants that impressed the Europeans in New Netherland and what they imported, such as roses, apple trees, and buckwheat.

STILL LOOKING FOR A BIOLOGIST WHO HAS STUDIED THE FLORA AND FOANA EXPORTED AND IMPORTED BY NEW NETHERLANDS!.

I WILL FOCUS FURTHER ON THE DIFFERENT NATIVE TRIBES. ARE YOU A NATIVE WITH ANCESTORS FROM THE NEW NETHERLANDS AREA OR DO YOU KNOW ANYONE THERE – THEN I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

10/02/2026

Help needed!

Who knows any experts on the flora and fauna of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut in the 17th century?

On my next trip—this coming summer—I want to photograph, among other things, the animals and crops that Europeans brought home from New Netherland and brought back from Europe to the US. Adriaen van der Donck's book, "A Description of New Netherland," naturally provides a list and wonderful descriptions.

But where can I find the descendants of the beavers, whose relatives were taken to the Netherlands as furs to be made into fur hats, the oysters that we almost all ate? The great-great-great-grandchildren of the oxen the Dutch brought to work the land, or the earthworms and rats that stowed away from Europe?

Is AI right, and did the Dutch bring crops like onions, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and wheat? And did we took cranberries and earned to cultivate maize, beans, and squash together (the "three sisters" method)?

(appreciate sharing)

22/01/2026

New Netherlands ran to the point where the 'Zuidrivier' (Delawere) and the Magheckemeck (Neversink River) meet at present-day Port Jervis (Orange County, NY).

On the 'Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae nec non partis Virginiae tabula' made around 1655 by Nicolaes Visscher, the area is called 'Mecharienkonck'.

Next to the river was the Minisink trail used by the Natives and later Europeans for trade and seasonal migration.

The first fully developed European settlement in the area was established by Dutch and English colonists circa 1690, and a land grant of 1,200 acres (490 ha) was formalized on October 14, 1697. The settlement was originally known as Mahackamack, after a Lenapeword. ( me if I am wrong!)

Thanks to Mondriaan Fonds for their proven talent grant & Judy Gumaer Testa for showing the best places!

17/12/2025

Vicki Jimpson-Fludd – descendant of enslaved people – director of the African American Archive of Columbia County (NY), Kinderhook, August 2025

The first enslaved people were bycatch during the plundering of Portuguese ships in the Caribbean and arrived in New Netherland in 1625–1626. These were small groups. Later, their numbers increased, and the treatment became more brutal.

The first enslaved people lived in pairs or threes with European families. Outside the "towns," wealthy families, such as the Schuyler family, had more slaves, who employed thirteen enslaved people.

Many Africans had converted to Catholicism. The Dutch allowed them to have their children baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church. This led to several requests for manumission, some of which were granted. Gradually, a situation arose in which some people from Africa lived in slavery while others enjoyed "conditional freedom." They were free, but their children, for example, were not, or they were free on the condition that they work for their former "owner" if necessary.

More or less African communities formed, in which members were allowed to marry each other, receive a meager wage, own land, and raise a family. Neighborhoods arose where "black slaves and poor whites lived together."

As time passed and the number of enslaved people increased, their freedom diminished and their treatment became more inhumane.

The African American Archive of Columbia County is (co-)researching the African community in New Netherland. Not everything can be completely traced through written sources, but with a 99% certainty, they have been able to trace the descendants of enslaved people who lived in the Hudson Valley during the New Netherland era. Moreover, not everything written is true. Their historical and genealogical research unravels the rich history, dating back to the 17th century, of Africans and their descendants in Columbia County.

01/12/2025

B.A. Van Sisse descendant of many including; Joost Carelszen van Sysen- a shipbuilder who arrived in about 1649 and Christina Styntie Jans, Catoneras of the Montauk an Indian Tribe on Long Island and Cornelis Jansen Van Texel, Anthony "the Turk" Van Salee and Grietse Reyniers.

New York, August, 2025

Thanks to the Fonds for their proven talent grant.

12/08/2025

The past is the future!

Today had some great meetings. Among others with Denise Ashton-Dunkley/Lenape-Nanticoke. They are growing crops with the original Natove seeds from the seedbank.

11/08/2025

Todat Claire Garland of the Sandhill Indians took me to the beginning (or the end) of the Minisink trail. Wonderful to see this original and not yet paved part of history!

16/06/2025

Water near former Fort Casmir erected by the Dutch in 1651. Taken by the Swedisch in 1654, Retaken by the Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant September 11, 1655. The Fort was on the land of the Susquehannock.

Thanks to the Mondriaan Fonds for their proven talent grant. Dirk Kome

#1651 #1654 #1655 # WIC

01/06/2025

R. Mullholand, NYC, 2019 descendant of several inhabitants of New Netherlands - at a historical parade.

17/05/2025

Evan Rofheart and his daughter descendants of Sarah Rapalje, NYC 2019

Thanks to the Mondriaan Fonds for their proven talent grant. - Dirk Kome

Adres

Amsterdam

Website

http://www.dirkkome.nl/

Meldingen

Wees de eerste die het weet en laat ons u een e-mail sturen wanneer The Leftovers of New Netherland nieuws en promoties plaatst. Uw e-mailadres wordt niet voor andere doeleinden gebruikt en u kunt zich op elk gewenst moment afmelden.