Jacob Steendam
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Jacob Jacobsz Steendam (1615 in
Kniphausen Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
Steendam (Jacob Jacobsz.)
in ''Biographisch woordenboek der Noord- en Zuidnederlandsche letterkunde'', edited by F. Jos. van den Branden and J.G. Frederiks, 1888
– in
Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the , which included the much larger area of the Residency of Batavia ...
) was a
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
poet and a minister. He collaborated with
Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy (also Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy van Zierikzee or Peter Cornelius van Zurick-zee; c. 1625, possibly in Zierikzee, Netherlands – c. 1664–1670, Lewes, Delaware) was a Dutch Mennonite and Collegiant utopist ...
.


Biography

Though born in
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
, Steendam grew up in
Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbour-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade ...
.Jacob Steendam
De Nieuwe Taalgids, 13:273, The Hague 1919 His first poetry dates from 1636. He was a member of the circle of Jan Zoet. Already as a young man Steendam served the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
. In 1641 he went to Gold Coast and had an affair with a local woman. Back in Holland he became
precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...
in
Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...
, and in November 1649 he married Sara Abrahams Roschou in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. Steendam published a 3-volume poetry collection, ''Den Distelvink'' ("The Goldfinch") in 1649/1650 in that city. Jacob and Sara sailed to the colony of
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
about 1650, and stayed there till 1662, when they returned to Holland. During his residence in the Dutch settlement, he owned farms at Amersfort and Maspeth, a house and lot on what is now Pearl Street, and another on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
. He lost his fortune when the English took over Manhattan. He left
New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...
, joined the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
and in 1665/66 the couple took off to Batavia. Here they managed an orphanage and Steendam continued to publish poetry and to contribute to
Dutch Indies literature Dutch Indies literature or Dutch East Indies literature (Dutch: ''Indische letteren'' or ''Nederlands Indische literatuur'', Indonesia: ''Sastra Hindia Belanda'') is the Dutch language literature of colonial and post-colonial Indonesia from the ...
until 1671.


Rediscovery

In the late 19th century,
Henry Cruse Murphy Henry Cruse Murphy (July 5, 1810 – December 1, 1882) was an American lawyer, politician and historian. During his political career, he served as Mayor of Brooklyn, a member of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Minister to the N ...
, when he U.S. Minister to the Netherlands and resident in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, rediscovered the poems written by Steendam and other Dutch poets in New Amsterdam, and had them published with English translations in the same metre. Murphy's book is entitled ''Jacob Steendam noch vaster. A Memoir of the First Poet in New Netherlands, with his Poems descriptive of the Colony'' (The Hague, 1861). The titles of the two poems are ''Klacht van Nieuw-Amsterdam'' (published in Amsterdam in 1659; translated as: ''Complaint of New Amsterdam, in New Netherlands, to her Mother, of her Beginning, Growth, and Present Condition'') and t Lof van Nuw-Nederland'' (1661; ''The Praise of New Netherlands: Spurring Verses to the Lovers of the Colony and Brothership to be established on the South River of New Netherland'' by
Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy (also Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy van Zierikzee or Peter Cornelius van Zurick-zee; c. 1625, possibly in Zierikzee, Netherlands – c. 1664–1670, Lewes, Delaware) was a Dutch Mennonite and Collegiant utopist ...
van Ziereckzee" (published in 1661).


References


External links

*
Biographies and primary text
at dbnl.org * http://www.literatuurgeschiedenis.nl/lg/goudeneeuw/auteurs/lgge035.html * http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bran038biog01_01/bran038biog01_01_3902.php
Jacob Steendam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steendam, Jacob 1615 births 1672 deaths 17th-century American poets 17th-century Dutch poets American literature American poetry American male poets Dutch-American culture in New York City Dutch emigrants to New Netherland Dutch language in the United States Dutch male poets People from Enkhuizen People from New Netherland American people of Dutch descent Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies Writers from Manhattan