Loud drumming and blaring And strident fanfaring, Big banging and booming were rife in the air.
[He] invited some officers and other gentlemen to dine with him at the Dolphin tavern in Tower street, June 17, 1706, in order to wet his commission […]
Unlike other American colonies, New Netherland was founded as a commercial venture, but the Dutch West India Company soon realized that it needed people to exploit its investment. […] Jeweler Killiaen Van Rensselaer, a company founder, came up with a solution: the patroon system. Established in 1629, it granted near-feudal rights to any wealthy merchant – or patroon – who agreed to populate the valley. In exchange for taking on the costs of establishing mini-colonies of 48 or more settlers, the patroons were allowed to negotiate with the Indians for the purchase of huge tracts of land, which by law would remain in their families forever.
She'd better have an arsenal of Trojans in her purse just in case he wasn't carrying a safe in his back pocket.
