Samuel Godin, Godyn or Godijn (1561 or around 1566 in Antwerp – September 29, 1633, in Amsterdam) was a wealthy merchant, originally from the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

, trading in Spain, Brazil and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. He was one of the administrators of the

Noordsche Compagnie The Noordsche Compagnie () was a Dutch cartel in the whaling trade, founded by several cities in the Netherlands in 1614 and operating until 1642. Soon after its founding, it became entangled in territorial conflicts with England, Denmark-Norwa ...

, involved in

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

, and of 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 ...

. From 1620 he traded in

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 ...

. His name was at first given to the

Delaware Bay Delaware Bay is the estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the northeast seaboard of the United States, lying between the states of Delaware and New Jersey. It is approximately in area, the bay's freshwater mixes for many miles with the saltw ...

and he was one of the main investors in Zwaanendael. The colony did not last very long as it was plundered by Native Americans soon after its founding.

Life

In 1595 he was involved in serious legal case with

Isaac le Maire Isaac Le Maire (c. 1558 in Antwerp – September 20, 1624 in Egmond aan den Hoef) was a Dutch entrepreneur, investor, and a sizeable shareholder of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He is best known for his constant strife with the VOC, ...

and Dirck van Os on behalf of his "father-in-law". In 1597 he seems to have lived in Middelburg. In 1600 he sent a letter to Clusius. On 24 August 1602, Samuel Godijn married Anneken Anselmo in Bremen, born in Antwerp on 8 July 1583. Together with his brother Daniel Godijn, he invested 3,000 guilders in the first subscription for

VOC VOC, VoC or voc may refer to: Science and technology * Open-circuit voltage (VOC), the voltage between two terminals when there is no external load connected * Variant of concern, a category used during the assessment of a new variant of a virus * ...

shares in August 1602. Godin traded in wool,

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

from Spain,

brazilwood ''Paubrasilia echinata'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. It is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Pernambuco wood or brazilwood (, ; Tupi: ) and is the na ...

, but around 1619 he became more interested in whaling. Because of the recent troubles with English whalers around

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

the plan came up to catch whales in the Atlantic, near the North River (today’s Hudson). About ten men invested two ships, Godin was one of them. August 1622 he bought a plot on

Keizersgracht The Keizersgracht (; "Emperor's canal") is a canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is the second of the three main Amsterdam canals that together form the Grachtengordel, or canal belt, and lies between the inner Herengracht and outer Prinseng ...

and settled within a year in a house called ''De Bruinvis'' (The

Harbour porpoise The harbour porpoise (''Phocoena phocoena'') is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar ...

) or ''De Walvis'' (The Whale), either on number 105 or 107. Because of competition among fellow Dutch fur-traders it seems Samuel Godin and Killian van Rensselaer decided to look around elsewhere. In 1628 Samuel Blommaert was informed about suitable land near Godyn's Bay. In the late 1620s, when a controversy arose within the

as to whether the emphasis of the company's activities should be placed on the expansion of trade or the acquisition of further colonies, Samuel Godijn was one of four merchants who opted for further colonisation. The others were Blommaert, Albert C. Burgh, and Van Rensselaer. On their behalf the agents bargained with the natives for a tract of land reaching from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

, "32 miles long, two miles deep extending from Old Cape Henlopen northward to the mouth of a river." The estate had been further extended, on May 5, 1630, by the purchase of a tract twelve miles square on the coast of

Cape May Cape May consists of a peninsula and barrier island system in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is roughly coterminous with Cape May County and runs southwards from the New Jersey mainland, separating Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Th ...

opposite, and the transaction was duly attested at

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam, (later, Fort George among other names) was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson River, Hudson and East River, East rivers in what is now New York City. The fort and the island ...

. The patent for this land was probably registered and confirmed on June 1, 1630. Godin and Blommaert started the

Zwaanendael Colony or was a short-lived Dutch colonial settlement in Delaware. It was built in 1631. The name is archaic Dutch for "swan valley." The site of the settlement later became the town of Lewes, Delaware. History Two directors of the Amsterdam c ...

. A ship of eighteen guns was fitted out to bring over the colonists and subsequently defend the coast, with incidental whale-fishing to help defray expenses. In December 1630, their ship ''De Walvis'' (The Whale) set sail from

Texel Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...

, with immigrants, food, cattle and whaling implements. The purpose of the settlement was "to carry out the whale fishery in that region, and to plant a colony for the cultivation of all sorts of grain, for which the country is very well suited, and of tobacco." (Journal of de Vries). A colony of more than thirty souls was planted on Lewes creek, a little north of Cape Henlopen. A

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

d fort was built, with the "red lion, rampant," of Holland affixed to its gate, and the country was named Swaanendael or

. Already in 1628 the water was called Godyn's Bay, now known as

. A company including, besides the two original proprietors, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, Joannes de Laet, the historian, and skipper David Pietersen de Vries was formed to colonize the tract. When De Vries arrived at Swaanendael he noticed the colony was destroyed and nobody had survived. In July 1633 De Vries was back in Amsterdam. Against orders the skipper had delivered tobacco in England and secretly unloaded furs at Texel, which he had kept during the journey in his cabin.

Family

Samuel had three brothers: Philips, Anthony and Daniel; Philips died before 1615 and Anthony lived in

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

. He had eight children. On August 22, 1630 his wife was buried in the Wallonian Church. Samuel Godijn's daughter Cecilia (1607–1637) married Hendrick Trip, 28 years old, on 31 March 1633. Trip was a wealthy trader in copper and armaments. On 20 September 1633, Samuel Godijn was ill and signed a codicil to his testament, dated 13 August 1608. Each son stood to inherit 2,000 guilders, before the division of the estate. His heirs were his son-in-law Hendrick Trip and his daughter Cecilia Godin, and his sons Samuel Godijn (1603-?) the younger (who would inherit the estate in the

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

the

Beemster Beemster () is a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The Beemster is the first polder in the Netherlands land reclamation, reclaimed from a lake, the water extracted by windmi ...

). Another daughter, named Johanna (1606–1648), married Jacob Trip, the brother of Hendrick Trip, on 14 February 1634. As both her parents had died, she was assisted by her uncle Daniel Godijn. Godyn's death inventory included several statues, maps, jewels, pearls and paintings.The Montias Database of 17th Century Dutch Art Inventories
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godin, Samuel 1560s births 1633 deaths Administrators of the Dutch West India Company Businesspeople from Antwerp Businesspeople from Amsterdam People from New Netherland Dutch merchants People in whaling