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
