118 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

Amsterdam, in the ship Otter, February 17, 1659, accompanied by his wife, Sophia Van Lodensteyn, and three children born to them in Leyden, and now aged eight, six, and three years respectively. His literary merits and acquaintance with the Dutch language soon acquired for him the situation of a teacher;” but in 1661, as we have seen, his duties were enlarged by his appointment to the office of chorister and reader. He afterwards served as public secretary or town clerk, which office he held till 1669. His descendants have ever been numbered among the most respectable citizens of Brooklyn, Bushwick, and Newtown.1

The arrival of Governor Winthrop at New Amsterdam, en route to England in July, 1661, afforded an opportunity to the inhabitants of Breuckelen to honor their distinguished guest, and their own Governor, who escorted him, with a salute, for which purpose ten pounds of powder were issued to them from the public stores.2

In this year, also (1661), Boswyck, which now numbered twentythree families, received its official recognition as a town by the creation of a subaltern court and magistrates; but, having no Schout of its own, was, together with Now Utrecht, annexed to the jurisdiction of Hegeman, the Schout of Breuckelen, Amersfoort, and Midwout,—the district being afterwards known as the “Five Dutch Towns.”

In Sept., 1661, the inhabitants of Harlem, Bergen, Breuckelen, and the Dutch villages on Long Island, were notified to have their lands surveyed, and to take out patents therefor.3

In June, 1662, in consequence of a petition from Breuckelen, Middleburg, Mespath, and other villages, Mr. Jacques Cortelyou is directed by the Council to survey and apportion to each of those towns, shares in the meadow between the 3d and 4th kils. Breuckelen was to have 100 morgens, and Middleburgh and Mespath 80 morgens each.4 The meadows here referred to were probably those lying on the south side of the island, within the limits of the town of Jamaica, and known as “Seller’s Neck.”

The year 1663 dawned over New Netherland, pregnant with im-

1 See Riker's Hist. of Newtown, pp. 407, 410, for genealogy of the De Bevoise family.

2 N. Y. Col. MSS., ii. 460.

3 Ibid., ix. 788.

4 Ibid., x. 149.