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Notes for JAN JANSEN DAMEN:
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THE NEW LORD OF THE MANOR
Ariantje married Jan Jansen Damen on May 7, 1638. Damen, sometimes referred to as "Old Jan," was employed as the church warden and also had a sizable tract of land west of the Vigne's. This union combined their previously-held properties, giving Adrienne and Jan ownership of a very large bouwerie. It extended from Pine Street north to Maiden Lane, and from the East River to the Hudson River. The following is the translation of the prenuptial agreement by Adrienne and Jan, concerning her children by her deceased husband, Guillaume Vigne:
"Dirck Volgersen Noorman and Ariaentje Cevelyn, his wife's mother, came before us in order to enter into an agreement with her children whom she has borne by her lawful husband Willem Vienje, settling on Maria Vienje and Christina Vienje, both married persons, on each the sum of two hundred guilders ... and on Resel Vienje and Jan Vienje, both minor children, also as their portion of their father's estate, on each the sum of three hundred guilders; with this provision that she and her future lawful husband, Jan Jansen Damen, shall be bound to bring up the above named two children until they attain their majority, and be bound to clothe and rear the aforesaid children, to keep them at school and to give them a good trade, as parents ought to do." This agreement was dated "the last of April 1632," but was not recorded until 7 May 1638. [New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Volume 1, ed. and trans. by Arnold J. F. Van Laer. Baltimore, 1974, The editor, Van Laer, was of the opinion that the year 1632, given as the date of the document, is probably wrong and should be 1635 or later. The document was certified by William Wyman, blacksmith, and Jan Thomaisen Groen, and witnessed by Jacob Albertsen Planck who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1634 on the "Eendracht."]
Upon moving into the Vigne household, Damen found he had married into an extended family. Christine and Dirck were living there with their two young daughters. Maria's husband Jan Roos died in 1632, and she had married to Abraham Ver Planck in 1634. By mid-1638 they had 3 or 4 children. Altogether the household consisted of six adults and 7 or 8 children, and possibly a few slaves. On June 21, 1638, Damen sued to have Abraham Ver Planck and Dirck Volckertszen "quit his house and leave him the master thereof." Dirck countered with a charge of assault and had witnesses testify that Jan tried to "throw his step-daughter Christine, Dirck's wife, out of doors." In the following year, the third Vigne daughter married and left the household. She was only 16 when she married Cornelis Van Tienhoven, the 28-year-old Secretary to the Director.
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THE FAMILY PLOT
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.
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