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The Huyck Bain Crandell Collection, Document BH110

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1676-7 Agreement, Claesen Lease to Mulder, a Translation

BH110 1676-7 Agreement, Claesen Lease to Mulder, a Translation

Image: BH110.jpg

Transcription

Notorial Papers, 1:600.

This 29th January 1676/7 appeared before me, Adriaen Van Ilpendam, Notary Public (Resident at New Albany) and before the hereinafternamed witnesses, Frederick Claesen, of the one part, and Cornelis Stevense Mulder, of the other part, who acknowledge hereby that they have, in all unity and friendship, agreed and consented together in the manner following:

That is to say, the aforesaid Frederick Claesen acknowledges that he has transferred and made over, as he does by these presents, unto the aforesaid Cornelis Stevense Mulder all his right to the lands in Claverack, called the Bruyme Vlakte (“Plum Flat” (?)), as it came to him from the widow of the late Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Mr. Stephanus in Cortlandt and Domine Nicolaus Van Rensselaer. And The aforesaid Cornelis Stevense promises to pay to the said Frederick Claesen, or his successors, as payment for labor (which he has performed on the said land), the sum of forty good whole merchantable beaver skins, and to pay the same in the latter part of the next coming April of the Year 1677; and moreover the said Ennnhank Frederick Claesen, here present, transfers unto the said Cornelis Stevense all his right in said lands. (Here follow the usual warranties.) In presence of Jacob Lokermans, and Jan Andriessen Kuyper, as witnesses. his Frederick X Claesen mark. Cornelis Stevensen Mulder Quod attestor, Adriaen Van Ilpendam, Not. Publica.

Jacob Lokermans Jan Andriese

My view of the foregoing is that Mulder{crossed out - Claesen inserted} held the lands under a lease from the Van Rensselaers, and that he transferred thmxzundmkkernzon{crossed out} the lease to Muller, receiving the value of the work which he had already done on the lands.

Handwritten note at bottom:

Enclosed in a letter from Rev. H. J. Van Allen dated March 19, 191— and {erased} him in Albany this previous Monday.

{faint pencil, partially legible} … The Plum Flat … Claesen … Dutch ... … Te, diminutive …

— Transcribed by Claude.ai on 2026-05-10 - jhc

Commentary

This document was found with the archive. My guess it somehow came to my Dad as he was researching the collection in the early 1970s. While not directly related to the archive I'm leaving it here.

Notes:

The Document:

This is a typed transcript and translation of Notarial Papers, 1:600 — a reference to the published or archived series of Albany notarial records, likely the Van Laer translations of Albany notarial papers, a well-known scholarly resource for 17th century Hudson Valley history. A. J. F. Van Laer translated and published many of these records in the early 20th century for the New York State Library.

The Transaction:

Frederick Claesen transfers to Cornelis Stevense Mulder his rights to the Bruyme Vlakte lands in Claverack, in exchange for 40 beaver skins payable April 1677. The analyst’s correction — crossing out Mulder and inserting Claesen — clarifies that it was Claesen who held the land under lease from the Van Rensselaers and transferred that lease to Mulder, receiving the beaver skins as compensation for improvements already made.

“Bruyme Vlakte”:

The pencil note at the bottom — “Te, diminutive” — suggests the translator was puzzling over the Dutch word bruyme or bruynte, possibly considering whether it was a diminutive form. The tentative translation “Plum Flat” appears uncertain — braam means blackberry or bramble in Dutch, bruin means brown, and bruyère means heathland. “Bramble Flat” or “Brown Flat” may be more accurate than “Plum Flat.”

The Witnesses:

Rev. H. J. Van Allen:

The handwritten note indicates this transcript was enclosed in a letter from Reverend H. J. Van Allen dated March 19, 191- — the final digit of the year obscured. The meeting in Albany “the previous Monday” suggests the translator met Van Allen in person to discuss the document. Reverend H. J. Van Allen was almost certainly a member of the prominent Van Alen/Van Allen family of Kinderhook — a clergyman interested in local history, corresponding with whoever made this transcript about Claverack land history.

The Analyst:

The corrections, the tentative translation, the pencil notes, and the reference to meeting Van Allen in Albany all suggest this was the work of A. J. F. Van Laer himself — the Dutch-born archivist and translator who worked at the New York State Library from 1898 and produced the definitive translations of Albany notarial papers. The reference to “Notarial Papers, 1:600” is consistent with his published series.

Why in the Collection:

The most likely path is:

Significance:

Beyond pushing the collection’s reach back to 1676/7, this document places the Huyck family’s Kinderhook lands in their proper context — the Van Rensselaer patroonship from which all Columbia County Dutch land titles ultimately derived. The Claverack lands being transferred here are geographically and legally the same world as the Huyck patent lands — the same Van Rensselaer family, the same notarial system, the same beaver skin economy, just two years before Andries Hanse Huyck received his land from Jan Hendrik Bruyn.

For the record this should be noted as:

— Notes by Claude.ai 4.6 2026-05-10 - jhc

Metadata

Document: BH110

Date: 1676/7-01-29

Language: Dutch, English

Type: Letter, Legal documents

Subject: Land records

Principals: Frederick Claesen, Cornelis Stevense Mulder

Other Persons Mentioned: Adriaen Van Ilpendam, Jeremias Van Rensselaer, Mr. Stephanus, Domine Nicolaus Van Rensselaer, Jacob Lokermans, Jan Andriessen Kuyper, Rev. H. J. Van Allen

Places Mentioned: Claverack

— page revised 2026-07-05 - jhc

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Huyck Bain Crandell Collection © 2026 by John H. Coxon is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0