Jan Broersen DECKER

                   From Olde Ulster Magazine

by Mrs. G. B. Munger

AMONG the earliest settlers of the Esopus was a man who was usually known as " Jan Broersen." He was here as early as 1657 and in the complaint made by Thomas Chambers of the sale of brandy to the Indians, and of the first murderous attack of the savages, he appears as one of the signers. When he immigrated from the Netherlands is not known; nor whether he was related to the Commissary, Johan de Deckere, but this is probable. The latter came to the Manhattans from Holland in I655 and was immediately appointed Receiver-General. About this time Jan Broersen [Decker] appeared in the Esopus. We find his name to the above protest on May 18, 1658; upon May 31, 1658, he signs the compact to remove into the stockade when built; on August 17, I659, he signs the petition that Domine Blom be sent as minister to the Esopus; in September of that year he joins with other citizens of Esopus in a letter to Stuyvesant concerning the outrages by the savages in the First Esopus War; his name appears on the muster roll of the military company on March 28, 1660; again upon a like roll of June 15, 1661; he subscribed fifteen florins to the salary of Domine Blom; he had been in possession of Lot No. 11 in Wiltwyck before the place was laid out and was one of the witnesses sworn in the proceedings of inquiry into what it known as "The Esopus Mutiny" in 1667.