Sisters of St. Joseph | Brentwood, NY

“The Indian tribes of Long Island,” Victor G. Becker (1934)

Land-history research for:

  • The Motherhouse at these locations in Brentwood, NY:

    • 1711 Brentwood Road

    • 1713 Brentwood Road

    • 1715 Brentwood Road

    • 1769 Brentwood Road

    • 1749 Brentwood Road

    • 104 2nd Avenue

  • St. Joseph Villa at 81 Lynn Avenue, Hampton Bays, NY

  • Fontbonne Hall Academy at 9901 Shore Rd, Brooklyn, NY

European Contact

The Doctrine of Discovery at the Sisters of St. Joseph Parcels

“Purchase of Manhattan Island by Peter Minuit, 1626,” by Alfred Fredericks (1902)

Flag of the Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie (Dutch West India Company)

Settler Colonialism

“New” Lands

Satisfy.

“Whosoever shall settle any colonies out of the limits of Manhattes Island must satisfy the Indians of that place for the land….”

Charter of Freedom and Exemptions (June 7, 1629)

“Map of New Netherland, 1656,” by Adriaen van der Donck (c. 1845)

Reason.

“Nevertheless, (although it was improper and contrary to all reason and equity) we agreed, for the sake of preventing blame and new troubles, to allow the aforesaid Jan Snediger recently to give or promise to the Indians a gift and make a report to us so that we might compensate him in due time; however, we never thought, much less expressly ordered him, to promise such a large sum at our expense or the expense of the Company for such a small piece of land…”

Minutes of the Council of New Netherland (June 17, 1652)

“Cornelis Melyn Trades with the Indians,” mural by Frederick Charles Stahr in the Staten Island Borough Hall (1940)

Custom.

“I … caused the Indians to be askt whether they were not well recompenced by [Minuit] for said Island, They gave me for Answer, yet they had sold it to…[him] and were paid for it, but that it was their custome, when a New Governor came to such a place, that there should be a Gratuity given them; thereby to continue the friendship between the Indians and our nation, which I did.”

Cornelius Melyn to Dutch West India Company Managers at Amsterdam (Jan. 30, 1659)

Misunderstanding.

“There is … a misunderstanding about your having given [some colonists] permission to purchase at their own expense from the Indians the small island in front of their door, for they have already bought nearly the whole of it from the Indians and they have thereby put the Indians wise as to the [value of the] land, for they had to buy it from the Indians at the highest price and had to give them fully as much for it as the whole of Pasecanees Island has cost, so that already several Indians have come to me and stated that they wished to return the goods for which they had sold their land so cheaply…. Daily I must listen also to the murmuring of many people who request to buy of the Indians this or that island or small piece of land, for which they will pay rent.”

Letter from Jan Baptist van Rensselaer to Jeremias van Rensselaer(June 1660)

Unrighteousness.

“I understand that Dauid Prouoost in that parte of Long Isl: hath indeauored to take (as it were) the ground from vnder the feet of the English, purchasing lands which the Indians have long since passed ouer, & unto which the Engls. for many yeares have had a knowne & unquestioned right, & had given a price for the same, till the Indians (Convinced by the English of theyre unrighteousnes) retourned his pay.”

New Haven Colony Governor Eaton to New Netherland Director General Stuyvesant (May 31, 1648)

Current Law

Land Becomes Property

Primary Sources

The Motherhouse | Brentwood, NY

Fontbonne Hall Academy | Brooklyn, NY

& Markups

St. Joseph Villa | Hampton Bays, NY

“Manatvs gelegen op de Noot [sic] Riuier,” by Joan Vinckeboons (1639)

“Nieuw Amsterdam ofte nue Nieuw lorx opt T Eylant Man,” artist unknown (1670)

“A Mapp of New England,” by John Seller (1675)

Detail of “A Mapp of New England,” by John Seller (1675)

Curated Resource List for the Sisters of St. Joseph

There’s more

For Indigenous perspectives on U.S. history:

Explore Mapping Slavery

For an Indigenous perspective on erasure:

Read Jean M. O’Brien, Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England (University of Minnesota Press, 2010)

To learn about enslavement in New York:

Read Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2015)

Read Anton Treuer, Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Revised and Expanded (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2023)

“Map of Long Island,” by Beers, Comstock & Cline (1873)