Notes for Johannes Casparius Davidus Steynmets I: The birth of Casparius Steynmets I, son of Johannes Kasparius Steynmets recently exiled from Antwerp took place during "The Glory Time" of Holland (1585-1669). England was at war with Spain and Holland did business with both sides, as they had done all along and would often do in the future.
Although there were many new trades, and skills which arrived as a result of the fall of Antwerp, wealth was in chief due to trade with the Baltic States. For the Steynmets family, grain was the basis of good fortune. They bought the grain cheap, stored it in the marvelous, high, gabled, leaning warehouses and sold it when the price went up. What could be better for a young man such as Casparius Steynmets, born during this time? There was widespread famine in southern Europe, and nothing could have been better for the merchants of Schiedam.
Casparius Steynmets I was one of the 'Reformants' who was successful in business and politics, and was appointed Burgomaster in 1606, four to five years before his son, Casparus II was born. (Casparius Steynmets II was the first 'Stymiest' to come to the new world in 1631.) He was the owner of a large house and a country estate, but he spent most of his religious life in conflict with strict Calvinists. He fought for religious freedom; he fought against corruption, of which there was plenty. One description of Casparius shows him "to be a kindly man with white moustache and white pointed beard, with a black suit, skull cap, and the high white ruff. He was said, "to be everything good about a merchant".
Grain, herring fishery, fish oil; these were the roots of wealth, and Casparius was involved in each. It was a time, as well, when cargo ships called 'flutes' or 'fluiten' were being built in numbers; thus increasing their proportion of the general carrying trade. Casparius I was into shipbuilding as well. Shipping, a growing commodity market, led to the development of a more sophisticated, money market. It was here that his son, Casparus II learned of the trading and shipping routes. His father had sailed to the New World and The Spice Islands on several voyages in the late 1500's and early 1600's (the family had owned one or two 'fluitens') with his brothers, sailing up the Hudson River searching for cargo such as furs that he could procure from the Indians.
"Furs had always figured importantly in the European luxury trades. Beaver in particular was highly prized for both its soft, deep pelt and its alleged medicinal properties. As Adriaen van der Donck would explain midway through the seventeenth century, "beaver oil cured rheumatism, toothaches, stomachaches, poor vision, and dizziness; beaver testicles rubbed on the forehead or dried and dissolved in water, made an effective antidote to drowsiness and idiocy".
Traditionally, most of the furs marketed in Europe came from Russia. Trapped in Siberia or along the shores of the Baltic, they were dressed and marketed in the ancient city of Kiev. But when French explorers and traders opened the St. Lawrence River valley in the 1580's, the influx of Canadian skins created a wider market in Europe and prompted rival traders to seek additional sources of supply elsewhere in North America. By 1600, exchanging beaver and other pelts for European wares had become routine, for at least some Indian peoples, along the Atlantic coast; the Lenapes undoubtedly among them. European trade goods from the 1570's have turned up in habitation sites well into the interior of New York State, and Dutch traders claimed to have "frequented" the lower Hudson Valley as early as 1598, "but without making any fixed settlements, only as a shelter in winter".
Not all the Lenapes were anxious to do business with Europeans. Some must have heard stories of captives carried off into slavery. Others seemed unwilling to get into the spirit of a market economy. "They take many beavers," Johannes de Laet remarked in 16l5, "but it is necessary for them to get into the habit of trade, otherwise they are too indolent to hunt the beaver." Even a half century later, Daniel Denton would note that many Long Island Lenapes still showed a marked indifference to material possessions. "They are extraordinarily charitable to one another," he wrote, "one having nothing to spare, but he freely imparts it to his friends, and whatsoever they get by gaming or any other way, they share to one another, leaving to themselves commonly the least share." Source: "Gotham: A History of New York City To 1898", Edwin G. Burrows, & Mike Wallace, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.12.
Author's Note: There is a reference in one source, i.e. P. H. Hoffman's work, that it was Casparus II who sailed up the Hudson River with his brothers. This is however, believed to be speculation, as Casparus II brothers both died at an early age. It is however, possible and quite plausible that it was his father, Casparius I who sailed to America on earlier voyages as Netherland shipping records indicate.
It was about this time that his son Casparius Steynmets II, born (1610-1611) grew up under the watchful eye of his father. He first learned and apprenticed the family trades of cabinetry, silversmithing, and shipping; however, Casparius I wanted more for his son; more than he had ever had, so he decided to send Casparus II to be educated at Leyden.
It was in Leyden (Leiden) that Casparus II read a book, published in 1592 by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten entitled, "Itinerario" that he too, was smitten by the so-called 'travel-bug'. The book described Huyghen's experiences while travelling the East Indies. This event plus the stories of his father's escapades to the New World, probably was the 'planted-seed' which eventually led Casparus II to emigrate to the new colonies in the New World in 1631. Casparus II was an adventurous young man, and talking often to his father about making his way to America. The idea of emigrating became highly tempting. As the Steynmets family flourished; so too did the thoughts of Casparus II, and his future travels.(CS)
Sources: "National Archives of the Netherlands", Amsterdam. "The Domestic and Social Life of Our Ancestors", Amsterdam, Elsevier, 1914, p. 131.
More About Johannes Casparius Davidus Steynmets I and Geertje Hendricksen: Marriage: Abt. 1607, Schiedam, South Holland.
Children of Johannes Casparius Davidus Steynmets I and Geertje Hendricksen are:
Johannes Casparius Davidus Steynmets I (b. Abt. 1585, d. 1638)
Notes for Johannes Casparius Davidus Steynmets I: