11/02/2026
February is and we will be highlighting stories of Black people from 17th century New Netherland to help tell .
In 1657, a “tall, quick fellow” named Andries was purchased by Jan Baptist van Rensselaer for a price of 50 beaver pelts. This is the first time the Van Rensselaer family is known to have privately purchased an enslaved person, though as patroons, they were entitled to the service of people enslaved by the Dutch West India Company under certain conditions, and likely relied on enslaved people’s labor to help build some of their colony’s infrastructure.
Andries had been enslaved in Curacao for about a decade before being brought to New Netherland by the family of Lucas Rodenburg. Jan Baptist and his brother Jeremias realized that Andries had excellent skills when it came to horses; “[Andries] has this winter taken care of the horses alone and has done it so well that during my time the horses have never looked so fine[.]” They also found that Andries could be stubborn, and they sometimes argued or punished him for not cooperating with their orders.
Jan Baptist returned to Holland, leaving his brother Jeremias with instructions to sell Andries. Before a transaction could take place, Jan Baptist changed his mind and wrote to Jeremias ordering him to send Andries to Holland instead. He had just purchased a horse suffering from worms and could think of no one better than Andries to care for the animal.
Jeremias refused, “[It] would be nothing but foolishness to try to have him serve you in a free country, as he would be too proud to do that”. He knew that Andries was stubborn and clever enough that if they sent him to Holland- where he could not legally be enslaved- he would leave and never return to their service. The brothers negotiated a price and Jeremias sent Jan Baptiste 54 beavers to buy Andries for himself.
Little is known about Andries’ life after that, but a tailor’s receipt shows that he was still a part of the Van Rensselaer household two decades later, in 1670; in all likelihood he was still enslaved by Jeremias’ widow, Maria.
🖼 Groom and Horse before Welbeck Abbey, by Lucas Vorsterman II, c. 1657
