Augustine Herrman

“ Augustine Herrman’s first mission of diplomacy can hardly be said to have resulted in much credit to himself or in much honor to his chief. This was not because of any shortcoming in the ability and capacity of the ambassador, but more because of the fickleness of the Dutch governor. Herrman for once was caught off his guard; and the episode proved to be an ingenious way whereby Peter Stuyvesant and his creature, Van Tienhoven, again placed him in an embarrassing situation. In April 1652 Adriaen Keyser and Herrman proceeded to Rhode Island as special envoys from New Amsterdam. ”

“ AUGUSTINE HERRMAN AS ONE OF THE “NINE MEN” AND HIS QUARREL WITH PETER STUYVESANT
When Peter Stuyvesant first set foot in New Amsterdam he described the village as being in “low condition”. [1] In fact the town may have been in low condition in more ways than one, but the new governor had reference to only the military aspect. His contempt for the community he thought was justified, when he found only three hundred men in the whole of New Netherland capable of bearing arms. ”

“ The third and youngest daughter of Augustine Herrman, Francina, was born March 12, 1662 in New Amsterdam, just a few months before the family was united at the Manor for the first time. She lived for a time in Holland, but returned to Maryland where she married Joseph Wood. She had a long line of descendants but her share of “The Three Bohemia Sisters” has long since passed out of the family. We have but one other person intimately connected with Augustine Herrman’s life, and her descendants to discuss. ”

“ The best account of these families and their descendants so far written is to be found in Charles Payson Mallery’s “Ancient Families of Bohemia Manor”, published by the Historical Society of
Gravestone of Augustine Herrman, Bohemia Manor, Cecil County, Maryland Delaware (No. VII, 1888) , a work to which we have frequently referred.
Bohemia Manor as a great manorial estate has long passed out of existence, and for a long time out of even the minds of all except those who lived in its immediate vicinity. ”

“ In the northeast section of the map is an admirable engraving of Herrman, doubtless drawn by himself. He is represented as having a large, well-formed head, inclined to the oval, handsome and regular features, with sharp though sympathetic eyes. ”

“ Stuyvesant was not wholly to blame for this narrow view of colonial expansion; for, as we have pointed out, the directors of the Dutch West India Company subjected him to severe reprimand because he allowed a few new settlements to be made in New Sweden. Yet had he been a man of real ability and vision he would have found a way to have carried out his views. After an interval of three hundred years it is interesting to reflect upon the fate of the Dutch in North America if they would have had such governors as Augustine Herrman, Adriaen Van der Donck or Govert Loockermans. ”

“ Although a capable man and certainly more steady than his elder brother Ephraim, Casperus had by no means the energy, ability and personality of his father. He died in 1706, leaving his vast estate to his only son, Colonel Ephraim Augustine Herrman, who represented Cecil County for many years in the General Assembly. He took an active part in the social life of the county and probably raised the prestige of the Manor to a point higher than did his grandfather himself. He is said to have been a man of good breeding and wide culture and encouraged the arts, sciences and literature. ”

“ But he lived only four years after his father’s death, dying without male issue, and thus passed away forever the last male bearing the name and title, “Augustine Herrman, lord of Bohemia Manor”. [16] The daughter of the fifth lord, Mary, married John Lawson whose descendants married into the Bassett family. Another daughter, Catherine, married Peter Bouchelle by whom she had a daughter, Mary, who married Captain Joseph Ensor of Baltimore County. Mary Ensor’s first son was named Augustine Herrman Ensor, born in 1761 and acknowledged as lord of the Manor. ”

“ Men of education were wont to turn away from all religious discussion and build up their own theology upon that type of philosophy that appealed to them most. His liberal tendencies in religious matters Herrman no doubt received from his parents, whom we suppose to have been among the leading Protestants of Prague. While in New Amsterdam he and his family were members of the Dutch Reformed Church and here his children were christened. On his manor Herrman erected a small chapel where he and his family and servants worshipped and assembled for prayers. ”

“ Regardless of whether Herrman fought in the Old World quarrels, by temperament he was not likely to have become a successful soldier. As he grew older America took shape in his mind as the most desirable place to live; adventure and travel beyond the seas were more enticing to his active and vigorous mind than a military life on the continent of Europe with its ceaseless round of political and religious controversies. He lived in an admirable city to prepare his mind for the attainment of his desire to travel. ”

“ This was not because Herrman was without temper and passion. Far from it; for on occasions he could become quite angry, but he punished his enemies openly and fairly. Herrman, if we are to judge by his many lawsuits, both in New Amsterdam and Maryland, was as quarrelsome and sometimes unreasonable as any of his highspirited contemporaries; but he did manage to keep his temper under control for the most part. A good cultural education in his youth had taught him the advisability of moderation. ”

“ To Herrman, life was one long series of adventures, noble and honorable. By birth and education Herrman was an aristocrat in the best meaning of the word and ever remained one both as a merchant and trader of New Amsterdam and later as lord of Bohemia Manor. ”

“ But the source material for this early period of Herrman's life is non-existent, and it is likely that he grew up amidst refined ease much like other well born lads of Bohemia.
But it was not long until this pleasant and leisurely life in the beautiful city of Prague was destined to be brought to an unhappy close. He could not have been very old when the storm clouds of religious dissension began to gather over Bohemia, to divide the people into two conflicting groups and to drive into exile those who clung to the Protestant form of worship. ”

“ But the phase of Herrman’s mercantile career with which we are now concerned is the trade in tobacco between New and old Amsterdam. Tobacco had been grown on a small scale by the Indians and by the Virginians from the earliest years of that colony. ”

“ At first, however, Herrman did not confine his traffic in tobacco exclusively with Virginia. About the year 1629 the culture of tobacco was introduced into New Netherland by Thomas Hall, the first Virginian to settle in the Dutch colony. Herrman, eager to produce the commodity in such near proximity, encouraged the burgers to cultivate the plant; he himself growing it on his own bouwery. ”

“ We can assume, too, without danger of indulging in an extreme flight of fancy [6] that young Augustine began life in Prague under favorable circumstances. From an early age he no doubt took a decided interest in his lessons and in outdoor life; and the instruction that he obtained from Nature, especially the study of geology, greatly influenced his later life. Prague at that time was an influential and beautiful city where young Herrman grew up among refined surroundings and among men and women of the world. ”

“ Joost Van Beeck was an agent in New Amsterdam for Herrman and engaged in the marketing of tobacco in his own name. On one occasion Herrman delivered four hogsheads of tobacco that had been inspected and passed. Later Van Beeck inspected the tobacco and found that the greater part of it was spoiled and not marketable, and proceeded to bring suit against Herrman. As we study the early history of the Dutch in New Amsterdam we find them to have been a rather quarrelsome folk and their daily transactions seem to have been filled with a continuous round of law suits. ”

“ In Amsterdam, no doubt, Herrman continued his education so rudely interrupted in Prague. In the Dutch commercial town he likely studied surveying and other practical subjects in order to earn a living in a world that already was becoming hostile. ”

“ As late as 1678 the Indians were quite numerous in Cecil County. Herrman, as one of the leading men, was looked upon by the people as their natural protector from the onslaughts of the savages. In that year he was empowered by the Provincial Council to treat with the Indians by whatever means he saw fit. ”

“ Added to these misfortunes, Herrman lost heavily in tobacco in 1652, compelled to sell below cost price. Herrman turned to Stuyvesant for aid but the vindictive old Dutchman not only refused to aid him but determined to make his plight all the more desperate. Herrman bore his misfortunes with coolness and manly fortitude. “In fine matters are so situated, that God’s help will only avail, there is no trust to be placed in man.” So he wrote to Anna Hack in Virginia. Mrs. Hack, upon hearing of the misfortunes of her brother-in-law, made preparations to go to New Amsterdam at once. ”

“ In fact, there are few of the original colonial records that do not have something to say about Herrman’s extraordinary career. He appears to have traveled widely and was likely known all the way from Boston to Charleston, at least by name and reputation. It may not be an exaggeration to call Herrman “the first great American”. He was a fitting antagonist to Peter Stuyvesant, “Our great Moscovy duke (who) keeps on as of old-something like a wolf, the longer he lives, the worse he bites.” ”

“ These cultural longings certainly Herrman could have but partially satisfied in those early days of New York’s development and which alone could be had only in the southern colonies. On the whole, as we look more deeply into his character and personality, Herrman had more in common with the Virginia planter than with the Dutch merchant. There were other reasons why New Amsterdam life became distasteful. The most cultured man in the Dutch province and one of Herrman’s most intimate friends, Adriaen Van der Donck had died in 1655. ”

“ On all points of personal honor we have reason to believe Herrman to have been strict.
In the light of all this evidence it would appear that something very much as follows took place from the day he talked to Calvert to the time he decided to become a denizen of Maryland: Possibly the night Herrman met Calvert, or a few days afterwards, he discussed with the brother of the proprietor of Maryland the need of a new map of the province, no doubt hinting that he himself would be able to produce such a map. Calvert was interested but did not commit himself ”

“ When Stuyvesant gave either a negative or evasive reply or, what is more likely, no answer at all, Herrman felt quite at liberty to withdraw from New Amsterdam and proceed with what arrangements he could make with Calvert. ”

“ Herrman gave the two Labadists passports that authorized them to travel anywhere in Maryland. The following entry in the diary perhaps as well as any shows the extreme neuroticism sometimes attained by these Labadist representatives:
“The lives of the planters of Maryland and Virginia are very godless and profane. ”

“ Altogether Herrman in the height of his prosperity must have been in possession of between twenty and twenty-five thousand acres of the most fertile land on the Atlantic coast, and was undoubtedly among the largest private landowners of America of the seventeenth century. As early as 1661 it was his intention to establish a system of land tenure whereby each tenant farmer should cultivate a small piece of land, each employing a few negroes. ”

“ Trouble arose with the New England colonies and Dutch trade at New Amsterdam was crippled. Herrman and Loockermans, the two most prominent merchants and influential men of the town, suffered most. They appealed to Stuyvesant to ask aid of the home government against New England’s gradual encroachment upon their maritime rights that up to the time were undisputed. For various reasons, partly because of his naturally arbitrary temperament and partly because he entertained a jealousy of the power and wealth already controlled by these men, the governor would not yield to their pleas. ”

“ Although there were in actual existence a number of such court barons in Maryland created by Baltimore, few if any ever quite attained the prestige and distinction held by Herrman. Baltimore, apparently desirous of placing Herrman in a class worthy of his ambition, conferred on him the special title “lord”, and so far as known is the only instance where a special title of nobility was conferred upon an American citizen, though of course then a British subject. ”

“ In 1658 Herrman was a member of a group of four who were sent to treat with the Esopus Indians. [8]
For a number of years the Dutch province had been constantly menaced by a new enemy toward the south. Since 1634 New Sweden on the east coast of Delaware and New Netherland had been engaged a few small and indecisive skirmishes; but it was not until the year 1655 that the Dutch finally prevailed over the Swedes and their power was shattered. ”

“ According to further annotations in the diary, Ephraim Herrman took much interest in the two Labadists as they journeyed down to Maryland, and subsequently proposed that the sect settle on or near Bohemia Manor.
They arrived in New Castle by December 1st and the next day they visited the village of St. Augustine. “We find”, they wrote in their journal, “it well situated and would not badly suit us. There are large and good meadows, and marshes near it and the soil is quite good.” ”

“ Very friendly relations always seem to have existed between Herrman and the Hacks. Their lives and fortunes were united for a quarter century or more. The Verletts first settled in the Dutch Colony on the west bank of the Connecticut River, Good Hope, later Hartford; and if Anna was indeed the daughter of Casper Verlett she may have arrived in America around the year 1633; and it is possible that she was born at Good Hope. The Verletts subsequently became large land owners not only in Connecticut but also in New Netherland. Nicholas Verlett was among the early lawyers of New Amsterdam. ”