The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-03-24
Misc ell n @ O II s..
For The -tgiS d Attelligenccr.
A Sketch of Augustin Herman.
A Selection an of New York in 16I0, and
the Original Proprietor of Bohemia
Manor, In Maryland.

Mr.. Herman was native Of the city OF
Prague, in Bohemia. At the termination
of the Thirty Years War, in 1929, many
Protestant noblemen and gentlemen aban-
doned that country, and sought for tram
guilty and protection elsewhere. Young
Herman was brought to Holland, in that
age the refuge of the oppressed of all ma
which appears from his subsequent ca
reer to have been good one. He
emigrated while still young to New Am
sterdam, or Manhattan, New York.
and was q select-man of the embryo
metropolis of the New World in 1910
His marriage to Miss Jannekin Verlett is
found by tue records of the old Dutch
Church, corner Of Fulton and William
streets, to have taken place in 1850. BY
this marriage he became the brotberin-
law of Nicholas Verlett, Il prosperous mer-
chant of the settlement, and a connection
of Peter Stuyvesant, the governor immor-
talized in Irving's burlosque history of the
Knickerbockers, as "Pcter the Testy.' Mr..
Herman did not get along remarkably
well with the governor, as his name is
| found first in the list of nine men who
| signed remonstrancc against his tyr
ranical proceedings, addressed to the
directors of Colonial affairs on the part OF
the States General.
Peter the Testy laid Mr.. Herman by the
heels in prison for his pains, but subse-
| quently became reconciled to him; and
perceiving that he was man of mettle
sent him as his representative or commits
sioner to the governor of Massachusetts,
His visit to Boston does not appear to
have been productive of any particular
good result; and he next turns up in q
public capacity as commissioner to the
governors of Maryland and Virginia. In
the mean time he had become the purcha'
scr from the Indians of Staten Island, and
much neighborng territory on the New
Jersey side of the river. He also cstab
lished u post at the mouth of the Schuyl
kill River, and we read in the Maryland
records how Lord Baltimore sent an armed
force to dispossess him.
His settlement on Staten Island was in
vaded by the Raritan Indians in 1867, ant
totally destroyed in his absence. Abou
seventy people are said to have persisted
in the massacre. The Journal of his jour
ney to Maryland and of what he saw, did
and said there, is one of the most interest
ing records of those early days. 1t il
among the State archives at Albany, ant
frequently referred to by Bancroft ant
other historians. On Kent Island lie wa
entertained by Captain Wicks, or as III
first spells it, Wix, doubtless the arcesto
of the highly respectable family of TIN
same name now living in Kent county, ant
represented in Chestertown by Judg
Joseph Wickes.
When he met Governor Kendall of Ma
ryland, and Philip Calvert, the Secretar
and brother of the Lord Proprietor, dis
cussion of boundaries and other Stat
matters ensued.
The English claimed priority of tn
Dutch, because Sir Walter Raleigh ha
touched ON the coast in 1893 or there
ahouts. But" said Herman, "Columbu
took possession of the country in the nam
of the king of Spain in 1852" "Wha
has that to do with the claim of til
Dutch ~ said the English. why" sal
; Herman, "when the States General ACHE,
ed their independence of Spain, they too
with them all the rights of the SPANS
power in America" Ofcourse the Englis
could not see it. A Colonel Ute VIZ
present at the controversy, and hot wore
. passed between him and Herman. Ut
threatened what he would say to the Dutc
authorities if he came to speech with ther
'If you do" said Herman, "your chara
ter of ambassador will not protect yo
You shall be arrested as o brawler an
disturber of the peace" A geographic
souvenir of Ute remains in the name
y Spesutie Island, near Hayre dc Grace,
the Chesapeake Bay. 1t was the seat
Col Ute, and the name is a corruption
Spes Ute, or Utie's Hope.
Herman went from Maryland to vi