Johannes Megapolensis

Johannes Megapolensis (1603–1670) was a dominie (pastor) of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Dutch colony of New Netherland (present-day New York state in the United States), beginning in 1642. Serving for several years at Fort Orange (present-day Albany, New York) on the upper Hudson River, he is credited with being the first Protestant missionary to the Indians in North America.[1] He later served as a minister in Manhattan, staying through the takeover by the English in 1664.

The minister is best known as the author of A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government, first published from his letters by friends in 1644 in North Holland, and being translated into English in 1792 and printed in Philadelphia.[2] He is also known for having ransomed and saved the French missionary, Father Isaac Jogues in the 1640s. The priest had been serving in the Mohawk Valley and had been taken captive by the Mohawk. He was later captured again and martyred by the Mohawk.[3]

Biography

Megapolensis was born in Koendyck, Netherlands in 1608. His father, also named Johannes, was a Protestant domini or minister in Egmont-aan-Zee. The father latinized the family name from the original van Mecelenburg.[3] (Another source suggests the original name was von Grootstede.)[2]

In 1630 the younger Megapolensis married Mathilde Willems in the Netherlands. The couple had at least four children born there in the next twelve years.

In 1642 Megapolensis was hired by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, a vast estate encompassing much of what is now Albany and Rensselaer counties, to serve as minister to his territory. He and his family went to New Netherland, where he served in Rensselaerswyck and later Fort Orange until 1649.[3] At first the family lived in Greenbush, New York before moving to Fort Orange (now the city of Albany). During this period, Megapolensis served as missionary to the Mohawk people, and is believed to be the first Protestant missionary to Native Americans in North America.[1] The Mohawk territory was west of Fort Orange in the Mohawk River valley but extending up to the St. Lawrence River and down to the Delaware River, with other territories used for hunting.

He became fluent in the Mohawk language and converted many, as well as recording many details about the Mohawk people and their culture. From his letters home, his friends in the Netherlands compiled A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government, publishing it in North Holland in 1644. This was apparently done without his knowledge or permission.[2] The account was reprinted by Joost Hartgers in 1651 in the Netherlands. The first English translation by Ebenezer Hazard was printed by him in 1792 in Philadelphia, with a revised translation by Brodhead in 1857. Another version translated by A. Clinton Crowell of Brown University was printed in 1909 by Jameson in the United States.[2]

In his letters, Megapolensis had compared the land of Rensselaerwyck to that of Germany and described the rich abundance of game, birds and other wildlife. Megapolensis described Mohawk dress, marriage customs and culture. He characterized the Mohawk ritual torture of captives as cruel, but noted that they seldom killed people in their culture, despite their lack of laws and authorities as he understood them. He contrasted that with the much higher rate of murders in his home country of the Netherlands.[4]

The minister was known for rescuing French Catholic missionary Isaac Jogues from captivity, where he was being held by the Mohawk. They were hostile to Jogues because of earlier French attacks against Mohawk villages.[5] Megapolensis and a group of Dutch traders went to the Mohawk village to pay ransom for Jogues and take him back to Fort Orange.

At the conclusion of his term of ministry, Megapolensis planned to return to Holland, but was asked by Pieter Stuyvesant to become chief minister of the Dutch church in New Amsterdam. His wife had sailed by the time he decided to stay, and she returned to New Amsterdam in 1650.[5]

In 1664 Megapolensis was one of the advisers counseling Stuyvesant, the governor of the city, to surrender New Amsterdam to the English, who had taken control of other Dutch territory. Staying in New York, as it was renamed by the English, the minister helped establish the rights of the Reformed Church under English rule. Some accounts say that Megapolensis returned to Holland a few years later in 1668, where he died.[1] Others say that he remained in New York, dying there in 1669[2] or 1670.[3]

Writing

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Wilson, James Grant (ed); Fiske, John (ed) (1888). Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography Vol. 4. New York: D. Appleton & Co. pp. 286–287.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Johann Megapolensis, Jr., "A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians", Dean R. Snow, ed. in In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives about a Native People, ed. Dean R. Snow, Charles T. Gehring, William A. Starna; Syracuse University Press, 1996, p. 38
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bielinski, Stefan. "Johannes Megapolensis". The People of Colonial Albany Live Here. Colonial Albany Social History Project. Retrieved Oct 15, 2015.
  4. ↑ Text of A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, 1644, p. 46
  5. 1 2 New-York Historical Society (1857). Collections of the New York Historical Society, VIII, part I. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 142.

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External links


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