Jonas Michaëlius (1577 - aft. 1638)

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Jonas Michaëlius was a New Netherland settler. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Biography

Jonas is believed to have been born around 1577, based on records gathered by the church. He became a minister in 1608 in the churches of Brabant (Belgium area), and relocated to the Nieu-Bokswoude area around 1614. It was here he married his wife.

In 1624, he went to San Salvador, Brazil when the Dutch had to evacuate their fortress there. He then fled to Guinea in either 1625 or 1626. In 1627, he returned to the Netherlands. And on 24 January 1628, he set sail with his family on a trip to New Amsterdam.

They arrived in the new world on April 7, 1628. Dominie Jonas Michaëlius was the first regular minister to the colony of New Amsterdam, and set to establishing first a household and then a church. Tragedy struck, as it appears his wife never recovered from the difficult sea journey. She died around June 1628, and Jonas was devastated. He was left with 3 children to care for in a land that while rich in potential, was lacking in terms of labor.

He was granted 6-7 acres of land to work, but had little time to work it. He struggled to do what farming he could and between this food and the meager rations he and his family endured. He wrote an angry letter to friends in the Netherlands, claiming that he was unable to get a horse or cow, that rations were no better than ship's rations, and that people lived in "hovels and holes". He was also critical of Peter Minuit, calling him "a slippery man who under the treacherous mask of honesty is compound of all iniquity and wickedness." He even criticized the Angola slaves as being "thievish, lazy, and useless trash." It appears he had little to like about the new world.

He began to establish his church, and at one early point it was documented during the Eucharist that he had 50 members in the congregation. It appears his negativity ultimately brought him a replacement, at which point some sources note that he packed up his children and returned home to the Netherlands.

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Family

Following is based on information about the voyage of the Drie Koning (Three Kings):^[4]

• Reverend Jonas Michaelius (born possibly around 1577 - died after 1632) and his children (two daughters and a son, Jan)
• Mrs. Jonas Michaelius (died 7 weeks after arrival in 1628, presumably the end of May/beginning of June 1628 - married for 16 years - best estimate married no earlier than age 16? would have made her around 32 or more years in age - born no earlier than around 1596 - died May 1628)

Sources

1. ↑ New Netherland Biographical Dictionary (Norwegian translation required) [1]
2. ↑ Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike, Oxford University Press, 1999.
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Michaelius
4. ↑ Rootweb Immigrants to New Netherland