In 1625, three ships and a yacht arrived at Manhattan, with more families, farming implements, and one hundred and three head of cattle.  Hitherto the government of the settlement had been simple, but now, affairs assuming more permanency, a proper ‘Director’ from Holland was appointed, and Peter Minuit, then in the office, was instructed to organize a provincial government.  He arrived in May, 1626, and to his unfading honor be it recorded, that his first official act was to secure possession of Manhattan Island, by fair and lawful purchase of the Indians.  It was estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres, and was bought for the sum of sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars!  Lands were cheap then, where our proud and princely metropolis now stands, with her millions, her churches, palatial stores, residences, and shipping.

As yet there was no clergyman in the colony, but two visitors of the sick, Sebastian Jansen Keol and Jan Huyck, were appointed for this important duty, and also to read the Scriptures, on Sundays, to the people.  Thus was laid, more than two hundred years ago, the corner-stone of the Empire State, on the firm foundation of justice, morality, and religion.  This historical fact places the character of the Dutch and French settlers in a most honorable light.  They enjoy the illustrious distinction of fair, honest dealing with the aborigines, the natural owners of the lands.

The purchase of Manhattan, in 1626, was only imitated when William Penn, fifty-six years afterward, purchased the site of Philadelphia from the Indians, under the famous Elm Tree.  The Dutch and Huguenot settlers of New-Netherland were grave, firm, persevering men, who brought with them the simplicity, industry, integrity, economy, and bravery of their Belgic sires, and to these eminent virtues were added the light of the civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith.  To such we can point with gratitude and respect, for the beginnings of our western metropolis, and the works of our American forefathers.

The Rev. Joannes Megapolensis, as early as the year 1642, took charge of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, under the patronage of the Patroon of Renssaelaerwick, and five years afterward became ‘Domine’ at Manhattan.  In 1652, he selected for a colleague, Samuel Drissius, on account of his knowledge of French and English, and from his letters we learn that he went, once a month, to preach to the French Protestants on Staten Island.  These were Vaudois or Waldenses, who had fled to Holland from severe persecutions in Piedmont, and by the liberality of the city of Amsterdam, were forwarded to settle in New-Netherland.  We wish that more materials could be gathered to describe the history of this minister and his early Huguenot flock upon Staten Island.  His ministry continued from 1652 to 1671, and I have recorded all that I can find respecting him and his people.  About the year 1690, the New-York Consistory invited the Rev. Peter Daille, who had ministered among the Massachusetts Huguenots, to preach occasionally on Staten Island.