The Reverend Everardus Bogardus (1607 – 27 September 1647) was the

dominie Dominie ( Wiktionary definition) is a Scots language and Scottish English term for a Scottish schoolmaster usually of the Church of Scotland and also a term used in the US for a minister or pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church. Origin It comes fr ...

of the

New Netherlands New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...

, and was the second minister of the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

, the oldest established church in present-day New York, which was then located on Pearl Street at its first location built in 1633, the year of his arrival. Bogardus was, in fact, the second clergyman in all of the New Netherlands. (The slightly obscure early history of the Dutch colony meant that he was often considered the first clergyman.)

Early life in the Netherlands

Everardus Bogardus was born in

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

, in the province of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, Holland in 1607. He entered

Leyden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

for the study of theology in July, 1627.Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, Cuyler Reynolds, ed. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1911), Vol. II, pp. 504-510 On January 11, 1632, just five years after he had entered Leyden University, he was ordained a regular minister of the Dutch Reformed church. Soon after he was commissioned by the "Lords Directors of the Honorable West India Company of the United Provinces of the Netherlands," to minister to the spiritual needs of the colony at New Amsterdam.

Life in New Netherland

Bogardus arrived in New Netherland in 1633, sailing from Amsterdam on the ship "Zoutberg". When it became known that Kiliaen van Rensselaer planned to erect a church upriver at

Rensselaerswyck The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck ( nl, Rensselaerswijck ), was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the va ...

, Governor Kieft hastened his plans to rebuild the church in

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently th ...

. A humorous anecdote about the building of this church contends that Bogardus frequently was combative with the

Directors of New Netherland Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and their management of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

colony, going up against the often-drunk

Wouter van Twiller Wouter van Twiller (May 22, 1606 – buried August 29, 1654) was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch ...

and famously denouncing

Willem Kieft Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director ...

from the pulpit during the colony's disastrously bloody

Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New Ne ...

(1643–1645). He stepped up his denouncements when Kieft tried to place a tax on beer.

Death

Bogardus died September 27, 1647 in the ''Princess Amelia'' shipwreck near

Swansea, Wales Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City ...

, while en route to Amsterdam along with many of his congregants as well as his opponent Willem Kieft, himself. Popular sources describe Bogardus... "on his way to Holland on a mission relating to his church. The people of New Amsterdam mourned for their minister, but there was little sorrow felt for the Governor who had plunged the colony in war by his obstinate and cruel temper."

Legacy

Prominent members of that family included

James Bogardus James Bogardus (March 14, 1800 – April 13, 1874) was an American inventor and architect, the pioneer of American cast-iron architecture, for which he took out a patent in 1850. Early life Bogardus was born in the town of Catskill in New York o ...

, who pioneered in the construction of cast-iron buildings during the 1840s.''The Street Book'' by Henry Moscow;

Fordham University Press The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered at the university's ...

1978. Bogardus Place is located in the Washington Heights section of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

( ZIP code 10040). It was opened in 1912, and runs one block (641.7 feet) between

Hillside Avenue Hillside may refer to the side of a hill. Places Australia * Hillside mine, a proposed mine on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia * Hillside, New South Wales *Hillside, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne Canada * Hillside, Nova Scotia United Ki ...

and Ellwood Street, and is named for the family who previously owned much of the land that forms both

Fort Tryon Park Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the Hudson Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The park is situated on a ridge in Upper Manhattan, close to the Hudson River to the west. It extends most ...

, and the Fort Tryon section.

References

External links

Everardus Bogardus and Anneke Jantz, Domine's Bouwerie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogardus, Everardus Year of birth unknown 1647 deaths Clergy from Amsterdam 17th-century Dutch Calvinist and Reformed ministers People of the Province of New York People of New Netherland 1607 births Deaths due to shipwreck at sea Accidental deaths in Wales