Table Of ContentBOUND BY BONDAGE
For more than three decades, the New Netherland Institute (NNI)—an inde
pendent nonprofit nongovernmental organization—has cast light on Amer
ica’s Dutch roots. Through its support of the translation and publication of  
New Netherland’s records and its various educational and public programs, 
NNI promotes historical scholarship on and popular appreciation of the 
seventeenth-century Dutch mid-Atlantic colony. More information about 
NNI can be found at newnetherlandinstitute.org.
BOUND BY BONDAGE 
 SLAVERY  AND THE  
CREATION OF  
A NORTHERN  
GENTRY 
 Nicole Saffold Maskiell 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS  
 Ithaca and London 
 Published in association with the New Netherland Institute
Copyright © 2022 by Cornell University 
 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, 
this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any 
form without permission in writing from the publisher. For 
information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 
512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our 
website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. 
F irst published 2022 by Cornell University Press 
L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
 Names: Maskiell, Nicole Saffold, 1980– author. 
 Title: Bound by bondage : slavery and the creation of a 
northern gentry /  N  icole Saffold Maskiell. 
 Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 
2022. | Includes  b ibliographical references and index. 
I dentifiers: LCCN 2021051818 (print) | LCCN 2021051819 
(ebook) | ISBN   9781501764240 (hardcover) | 
ISBN 9781501764257 (pdf) | ISBN  9 781501764264 (epub) 
 Subjects: LCSH: Slavery—Northeastern States—
History—17th century. |   Slavery—Northeastern 
States—History—18th century. |   Slaveholders—
Northeastern States—Social conditions—
17th century. |   Slaveholders—Northeastern States—
Social conditions—18th century. |   Slave trade—Social 
aspects—Northeastern States—History—17th century.   | 
Slave trade—Social aspects—Northeastern States—
History—18th   century. | Slaves—Northeastern States—
Social conditions—17th century.   | Slaves—Northeastern 
States—Social conditions—18th century. |   Blacks—
Northeastern States—Social conditions—17th century. |  
 Blacks—Northeastern States—Social conditions—
18th century. | Elite   (Social sciences)—Northeastern 
States—History—17th century. | Elite   (Social sciences)—
Northeastern States—History—18th century. |  
 Northeastern States—Social conditions—17th century. | 
Northeastern   States—Social conditions—18th century. | 
Northeastern States—Race   relations—History—
17th century. | Northeastern States—Race   relations—
History—18th century. 
 Classification: LCC E446 .M393 2022 (print) | LCC E446 
(ebook) | DDC   306.3/620974—dc23/eng/20211122 
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021051818 
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021051819 
Jacket image: Boy of the Van Rensselaer Family and Servant, 
c. 1730, attributed to John Heaton. Albany, NY.
For Bill and Billy
Contents 
 Acknowledgments   ix 
   Introduction: Manhunt  1 
1.  N  eger:  Race, Slavery, and Status in the 
Dutch Northeast (1640s–60s)   15
 2.   Kolonist:  Slaveholding and the Survival 
of Expansive Anglo-Dutch Elite 
Networks (1650s–90s)   39
 3.   Naam:  Race, Family, and Connection 
on the Borderlands (1680s–90s)   56 
4 .  Bond: Forging an Anglo-Dutch 
Slaveholding Northeast (1690s–1710s)   81 
 5.  Family: Kinship, Ambition, and Fear in 
a Time of Rebellions (1710s–20s)   98 
6 .  Market: Creating Kinship-Based Empires 
United by Slaveholding (1730s–50s)   123 
7 .  Identity: Navigating Racial Expectations 
to Escape Slavery (1750s–60s)   140
   Conclusion: Gentry   159
 Appendices  165
 Abbreviations   177
 Notes  183
 Bibliography  255 
 Index   285
Acknowledgments 
 
 I would first like to thank my family for doing 
the unseen work that went into making this book a reality. To my husband, 
Bill, for thousands of hours of editing, hundreds of freezer meals, emotional 
support and inspiration, thank you feels too small. To my son, Billy, who was 
a boundless supplier of hugs and laughter, I love you and you can read this 
book when you are older. My parents have loved and supported me through 
every twist and turn in my life calling and remain my biggest fans; they are 
the first people I call after every loss and victory. My brother and sister-in-law 
have traveled hundreds of miles across California to support my presenta
tions and video conferenced into every speaking engagement since. Endless 
thanks to my late grandparents, who retold our stories of escape and slav
ery, mingled with their own experiences as sharecroppers and entrepreneurs 
in a segregated society, and inspired my interest in the past. My husband’s 
parents—Mom and Dad Maskiell—have offered me the incredible Hudson 
Valley vista from which to try to imagine a colonial world and have supported 
and encouraged me for years. Your help and support are so appreciated. 
I love you all so much. 
I  feel so fortunate to have found a community of generous people will
ing to read and critique my writing but also give of themselves to offer so 
much more. I would like to thank my advisor, Mary Beth Norton, for her 
tireless support from the very beginning of this endeavor. She helped this 
idea grow and take shape, advocating for me along the way. I would also like 
to thank several other scholars who were involved in the earliest versions 
of this manuscript. Without their help, this book would have never gotten 
off the ground. Valinda Littlefield, Dan Littlefield, Woody Holton, Andrew  
Berns, Robert Travers, Duane Corpis, Jeroen Dewulf, Anne Marie Plane, and 
Chrissy Hosea, thank you for your help and review.  
 I have been so fortunate to have been a member of several different writ
ers’ groups throughout this process to nurture and grow my project. My 
writers’ groups have been an absolute support for me throughout every step 
of this very long road. Mari Crabtree, Maeve Kane, and Jacqueline Reynoso 
ix
x        ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
have been with me ever since our days together in grad school, reading 
the earliest drafts of my work, offering an incredible amount of scholarly 
help, and perhaps most importantly, friendship and moral support. Andrea 
Mosterman, Deborah Hamer, Erin Kramer, and Suze Zijlstra have been my 
weekly sources of support during these last several years as my manuscript 
has evolved into its final form, providing equal parts insight, camaraderie, 
and encouragement. Special thanks also to my OI Atlantic History Writer’s 
Group members for your astute questions and ideas. 
 Several scholars generously gave of their time to read my manuscript and 
to offer wonderful insights. Thank you, Susanah Shaw Romney, for spending 
countless days and nights reading through draft after draft of my manuscript, 
reading through my various translations, and helping me decode seventeenth-
century handwriting. You are an inspiration, and helped center and support 
me through rocky waters. Marjoleine Kars and Dienke Hondius have pro
vided their expertise and valuable perspectives that have greatly strengthened 
this book. Thank you each for your time and support! I have been encouraged 
and inspired by the research and friendship of scholars devoted to uncovering 
the Dutch past in American life. I would also like to thank my colleague at the 
University of South Carolina, Saskia Coenen Snyder, who gave me wonder
ful advice and insights on translating as well as another pair of eyes on these 
thorny documents. Jaap Jacobs has offered invaluable research, translation, 
and scholarly help for this project, providing detailed edits and insights drawn 
from decades studying the Stuyvesants and the Dutch colonial period. Thank 
you, Jaap, for all of your help! 
 My editorial team at Cornell University Press has provided a home for this 
book and I would like to thank Michael McGandy and Karen Laun, whose 
tireless help, patience, and support have been invaluable. The places that 
work in my current version are owing to the deep and thoughtful work done 
by the peer reviewers, which brought this project into clearer focus into my 
own mind. Their insights, critiques, and suggestions have allowed me to 
tighten and deepen my project. I owe them an extreme debt of gratitude. 
 Scholars, including Marisa Fuentes, Karwan Fatah-Black, Jared Hardesty, 
Wim Klooster, Dennis Maika, Russell Shorto, Ramona LaRoche, Tony Bly,  
and Katherine Kerrison, have generously read portions of my book, pro
vided very valuable feedback and formal comment, joined me during confer
ences, and over dinner conversations helped refine my work. Thank you for 
your help, wisdom, and support. 
 My students have inspired me every step of the way and I am humbled  
by their curiosity, intellectualism and kindness. Riley Sutherland, John P.  
Wilson, and Hannah Bauer have helped extend my research, scrub my