The Early History of Kingston
& Ulster County, NY
by: Marc B. Fried

Brief Introductory Chronology

Kingston from 1609 to 1653

1609

A study of Robert Juet’s account of the voyage of Henry Hudson shows that Hudson passed the mouth of the Rondout Creek on September 15 and 27. On the latter date, some of his men left the ship and went on shore for an hour to fish. This could have been on either side of the river. If it was on the west side, then it is safe to say the men were somewhere within present-day Ulster County, probably between Kingston and Saugerties.

1610 or 1611, through 1614

Fur trading and exploration along the Hudson River and middle Atlantic coast are engaged in by freelance traders and adventurers, notably Hendrick Christiaensen and Adriaen Block.

Early 1614 (winter or spring}

Fort Nassau is constructed on Castle Island, near the west shore of the Hudson River, at the present city of Albany. (The former island is now a part of the mainland.) It has been written that about this time, temporary dwellings and a small fort were constructed on Manhattan Island. The question is amply discussed by Brodhead and Paltsits, who discredit the idea, and by Stokes and Versteeg, who feel there may be some truth to it.

October 11, 1614

A charter, with a trade monopoly, is granted to the United New Netherland Company, for three years beginning January 1, 1615.

Spring, 1617

Fort Nassau is almost destroyed by floods. It is replaced by a fort on the mainland, a few miles south, on the banks of the Norman’s Kill (Tawasentha).

January 1, 1618

The New Netherland Company’s monopolistic charter expires and is not renewed. Trade in New Netherland is thrown open to all (not excluding members of the company).

June 3, 1621

The Dutch West India Company is established, and is given a monopoly of trade in New Netherland. The company did not actually commence operations there for over two years.

May, 1624

The ship New Netherland arrives with the first settlers, thirty families, mostly Walloons. Most of these settled on the mainland just above Castle Island, at present-day Albany, where a new fort named Fort Orange was now erected. Others went to the South River (Delaware River), where Fort Nassau was now erected on the east bank. Others may have settled on the Fresh River (Connecticut River). A supposed settlement about 1624 at Wallabout Bay on the western edge of present-day Kings County (Brooklyn) is mentioned by O’Callaghan and Brodhead, but is not corroborated by any known evidence.

1625

Additional settlers, farm animals, and equipment arrive from the Netherlands, augmenting the settlement at Fort Orange, or just possibly, beginning a settlement on Manhattan Island’s southern tip.

May, 1626

Peter Minuit arrives at Manhattan on board the Seamew, and is placed in command as director-general of New Netherland. New Amsterdam is founded, on the southern tip of the island, where Minuit begins the construction of Fort Amsterdam. This now becomes headquarters of the government of New Netherland. Manhattan Island is purchased from the Indians. Minuit directs the removal of the settlers at Fort Orange and Fort Nassau to New Amsterdam.

1629

The Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions establishes the patroon system in New Netherland.

1630

Under the above charter, the colony of Rensselaerswyck is established. The territory of the colony soon extended on both sides of the Hudson, north and south from the mouth of the Mohawk River to the present Albany-Greene counties boundary. All this land was purchased from the Indians. Later purchases further enlarged the domain. The permanent, continuous settlement of the Albany vicinity now begins. (Since the removal of settlers to New Amsterdam in 1626, Fort Orange had been manned only by a small group of fur traders.)

1632

Minuit is succeeded as director-general by Sebastiaen Jansen Krol, who is replaced in 1633 by Wouter van Twiller.

1633

Fort Good Hope is erected on the Fresh River.

1638

William Kieft succeeds van Twiller as director-general.

1639

The fur trade monopoly of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland is abolished by the States General. This new development resulted in a great deal of private fur trading with the Mohawks, and in the illegal supplying of the latter with guns, for which the Indians were willing to pay high prices in beavers. A positive result of the opening of the fur trade was its inducement to colonists, and a consequent increase in population in the province and stimulation of commercial activity.

1643-45

Bloody Indian wars result from the disastrous policies of Director-General Kieft.

1647

Peter Stuyvesant succeeds Kieft as director-general.

1648

Scattered settlements in the Albany region (mostly on the east side of the Hudson) are removed to the more immediate vicinity of Fort Orange, and the newly concentrated village soon receives the name of the Fuyck. This was changed to Beverwyck in 1652, at which time Director Stuyvesant declared the settlement to be a free village, independent of the patroon’s colony. The germ of the present city of Albany was thus released from feudal jurisdiction.

1650-51

Settlement is begun at Catskill (Leeds).

1652-53

Settlement is begun at Esopus.