Capt Martin Cregier

Marten's children were born in New Netherlands. He was a French Huguenot.

See Wikipedia Captain Martin Cregier came to New Amsterdam for the West India Company. He was a soldier, a trader and had one of the three taverns across from the Villiage Green on Heerenstraat (Broadway) as early as 1647. in 1653 he was made one of the first two Burgomasters of New Amsterdam. He was Burgomaster again i n 1660 and 1663. His 1663 tenure was interrupted when he took a company of soldiers after the Indian party that has massacred settlers at what is now Kingston NY. He wrote of that expedition in his Journal.( 2nd Esopus War † )

† for an account of these wars read: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/van_buren.htm ,search on Cregier

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Captain Marten Kregier or Cregier (1617–after 1681) most likely originated from Borcken in Germany [no, not true, he was from Holland.] and was an early settler of New Amsterdam. He was a prominent citizen of the settlement[2] and served three terms as Burgomaster.[1] Kregier led several successful attacks against the Munsee[3] during the Esopus Wars. Kregier's house and lot stood on Broadway just north of Battery Park and his daughter married Christoffel Hooglant.[4]

In 1643 Kregier built the first public building on Broadway in New York City, a tavern located at present-day 9-11 Broadway. It was later known as Atlantic Gardens and survived until 1860. New York merchants met in the same building in 1765 and signed resolutions to import no more goods from England until the Stamp Act was repealed.

In 1648, Kregier was one of four men appointed as the city's first fire wardens.[8]

Kregier finally settled in Niskayuna, New York on the banks of the Mohawk. His year of death is unknown. Some literature lists 1712 or 1713, but that is likely to be his son, Marten Kregier junior.

of Borcken, Holland

THE CASTELLO PLAN page 217 NO·3 Martin Cregier's house, on the site of No. 3 Broadway, was erected between February 25, 1656, when he petitioned for leave to build on the lot (Cal. Hist. MSS., Dutch, 161), and September 15 ?, 1659, when "the newly built house and lot of the Worshll Burgomaster Marten Cregier" are referred to by his neighbour, Jacobus Backer.-Liber Deeds, A: 177. On January 3,1664, his negro servant, Lysbet Antonis, or Antonisse, set fire to the house. -Cal. Hist. MSS., Dutch, 258-<). How badly it was burned, the records do not reveal, but, from the fact that on the 26th of the same month he surrendered his grant of 1643 and accepted a modified" new patent for a house and garden," it is to be inferred that he had to rebuild.-Liber HH (2): 135 (Albany). At one time or another, Martin Cregier served New Amsterdam in almost every civic capacity. A tavern-keeper here as early as 1647 (Cal. Hist. MSS., Dutch, 39), he was appointed one of the first fire-wardens of the town in January, 1648.-Rec. N. Am., I: s. He was one of the first burgomasters when the city acquired a municipal government, in 1653 (ibid., 49), orphan-master in 1658 (Min. of Orph. Court, I: 56) and in 1662 (Ree. N. Am., IV: IIs), treasurer of the city in 1661 (ibid., III: 394), and burgomaster in 1663.-Ibid., IV: 195. . In 1663, he was appointed captain-lieutenant of the West India Company, and was commander in the expedition against the Esopus Indians.-Ibid., IV: 268. Cregier had obtained the great burgherright in 16s7.-Ibic!., VII: ISO. He was still living in New York in 1685, when he sold this property to Peter Bayard, acknowledging the deed as Martin Cregier, Senior.-Liber Deeds, XIII: 183.

• ************************* Excerpt from "One Line of the Cregier Family in America" by Ellsworth Banks Cregier first printed in 1959; updated by Roderick L. Cregier in 1991

Extracts from “Bowling Green” by Spencer Trask (1898): “The West India Company was chartered by the States-General of Holland in 1621. In 1625 enough capital had been raised and colonists obtained... and the good ship ‘Sea Mew’ sailed into New York Bay May 6, 1626, bearing the doughty Dutch Governor, Peter Minuet. ... The first act of the honest Dutchman on that May morn was to call together the Manhattan tribe of Indians... and trade for the whole island named after the tribe, estimated at that time to contain about 11,000 Dutch morgens (or 22,000 acres), a quantity of beads, trinkets, etc., valued at 60 guilders (or about $24.00).”

After the first fort erected as mentioned above, ... “a larger one was built in 1635, ... 300 feet long, and 250 feet wide. This enclosed the Governor’s house, barracks, and, later, the church. ... This fort occupied the space between the present streets called Whitehall, Bridge, State, and Bowling Green. The sally-port was at the north. The large open space opposite the sally-port was set apart and known at first as ‘The Plaine’ afterwards to become known as the Bowling Green.”

A stockade, with a bank of earth on the inside, ran in a northern direction from the fort turning easterly at what is today Wall Street (and from which the latter derived its name) to the “Burghers or Slip Battery of 10 guns” at the Water’s edge (East River).

“The lower part of Broadway, facing Bowling Green, in common with that upon the east side, was simply designated as ‘The Market-field.’ Afterwards it received the name of the ‘Heere Straat,’ or Great Highway, and later, the name ‘Broadway.’ Grants of lots were first made, and deeds given, in 1642. Until then settlers had been allowed to occupy land as they saw fit, and lines and boundaries were established by chance, or according to each one’s own sweet will.

“In 1643, the first lot granted on ‘De Heere Straat’ was deeded to Martin Cregier. It was thus described (translated from the Dutch): ‘Grant to Martin Cregier, 1643. Lot for a house and garden lying north of the Fort, extending from the house, about West, nine rods two feet; towards the fort, south, six rods nine feet. Again about east., with a great out-point, fourteen rods six feet; further, to the place of beginning, four rods five feet. Amounting, in an uneven, four-sided figure, to eighty-six rods three feet.’ This lot is now known as numbers 9 and 11 Broadway, being part of the land upon which the Bowling Green Offices are built ... This same Martin Cregier was a notable citizen. He was by turns an Indian trader, sloop owner, and master. In 1648, he was appointed one of the first four Fire Wardens. In 1654, we find that a new seal having been granted to the city, it was publicly delivered December 8, by the Director to Martin Cregier, presiding Burgomaster. He was Captain of the ‘Burghery,’ or citizens’ company, he commanded an expedition against the Swedes on the Delaware River, and in 1663, against the Esopus Indians.

“In all of these various occupations he must have been successful, for, in 1659, we find he built upon his lot a tavern, which soon became a place of fashionable resort, the Delmonico or Waldorf-Astoria of the time. Fortune favored him, as before, for, in 1673, during the temporary recapture of the city by the Dutch, at a meeting of the ‘Valiant Council of War,’ an order was passed calling for the nominations of six persons as Burgomasters. ‘To wit: from the Wealthiest Inhabitants and those only who are of the Reformed Christian Religion.’ Cregier, fulfilling all these requirements, was duly elected, further proving that tavern-keeping was equally preposterous then as now, and not inconsistent with religious profession. In 1674, we find him superintending the fortifications, in anticipation of the coming of the English force. Whether his Dutch (?) blood resented the final capture of the city by the English, or whether new and more modern taverns eclipsed his own and took the custom, we are not; but we find that later he abandoned New York, and with his family moved to the banks of the Mohawk, then on the very frontiers, where he died, in 1713, nearly a century old.

“As Cregier’s Tavern became old and behind the times, a new building was erected, which afterward bore the name of ‘King’s Arms Tavern,’ and at the time of the Revolution was familiarly called ‘Burns’ Coffee House.’ It was among the few buildings that escaped the fires of 1776 and 1845. As late as 1860 the same building was still standing, bearing the title of ‘The Atlantic Garden.’ This is remarkable as being only the second structure to occupy the site since the foundation of the city.” The fort was torn down in 1790.

From “History of the County of Schenectady” (2nd. Section) by Howell and Tenney, Page 192, (Chicago Public Library); “Township of Niskayuna” — “The first settlement of this town was made by an independent class of Hollanders who located outside the manor line to avoid the conflicting exactions of the Patroons and the trading government of the New Netherlands. Among these were the Clutes, Vedders, Van Vrankens, Groots, Tymersons, Consauls, Pearses, Van Brookhovens, Claus Jansen, and Krygiers (also written Cregier). The mention of Captain Martin Cregier revives the memory of one old Holland soldier who is buried on this soil and was one of Governor Stuyvesant’s most trusted friends, ambassadors and officers, who bad fought for him in many battles and was his strong right arm in the front rank in every hour of danger. His descendants still reside in Niskayuna and some of them probably on the old homestead farm.”

From “Society of Colonial Wars; Index of Ancestors and Honor Roll 1922”, — (F 8319 .113 Newberry Library). Page 127, “Cregier, Captain-Lieutenant Martin — 1702. — Capt.-Lieut. New Amsterdam Burghers Corps, 1651. Member of the Governor’s Council and first Capt., 1659. Sent to protect the Dutch Colony on the Delaware, 1663. Commissioned Capt.-Lieut. in command of all military forces of the Province of New York under the English, and conducted the war against the Esopus Indians.” Notes re: Martin Cregier

Burgomaster of New Amsterdam 1653-1654-1659-1660. Orphan Master 1658-1661-1662. Fire Warden 1648. Ambassador to Colony of New Haven to explain measures adopted against Pirates 1654. Delegate to Convention at New Amsterdam to put end to piracies and robberies of one Thomas Baxter 1653. Delegate to the Convention to represent the state of the country to authorities in Holland 1653. Commissioner appointed to superintend the fortifying on New Amsterdam 1654. Commissioner appointed to treat with the Esopus Indians 1658. Commissioner appointed to settle affairs on the South or Delaware River 1659. Accompanies Burgomaster Stephen Van Courtland and Director General Peter Stuyvesant to the Esopus to conclude peace with the Indians 1660. “The Roll of Great Burghers” 1657. Commissioner to extinguish the Indian title to the lands from Barnegatt to the Raritan 1663. Commissioner to confer with Captain John Scott respecting his claim to Long Island 1664. Signed the Ratification of the Articles of Capitulation surrendering New Netherlands to the English, with Peter Stuyvesant Sept. 8, 1664. Commissioner to confer on behalf of the Burghers of New Orange with the Dutch Commanders after Recovery of New Netherlands 1673. Commissioner to value the estates of all persons in New Orange above 1,000 guilders 1674. (NOTE: — All the foregoing from “New Netherlands Register 1626-1674” by E. B. O’Callaghan.)