Document Text |
Summary |
| Jacob Sanders, constable, informs the court that a certain Frenchman, named Matthys, threatens to poison his Negress and he offers to prove it. | Jacob Sanders tells the court that he has evidence that Matthys, a Frenchman, tried to poison a woman enslaved by Jacob. |
| The Frenchman, Matthys Boffie, appearing before the court, acknowledges that he has slept for 2 years with the Negress and that he has 2 children by her and that he would like to buy her. | Matthys Boffie tells the court that he has had a sexual relationship with the woman for two years and they have two children together. He would like to buy her from Jacob. |
| Arnout Cornelise Viele, being sworn, says that he heard some conversation at his house between Jacob Sanders and Matthys, the Frenchman, Matthys saying that he did not intend to run away with his Negress, but would buy her. Furthermore, that this morning he heard Matthys say to Jacob Sanders: “If you will not sell the Negress to me, I shall get a root out of the woods and break it in two and give the Negress one half and eat the other half myself and thus die before your door.”
(…) |
Arnout Cornelise Viele says that he heard Matthys tell Jacob that he wanted to buy the woman from him. This morning he heard Matthys tell Jacob that he would kill himself and the woman if Jacob did not agree to the sale. |
| The aforesaid Matthys acknowledges that he said so and he confesses that he has one child by her and that she is pregnant of the second. | Matthys confirms that he said that to Jacob. He says that he has a child with the woman and that she is pregnant with another. |
| The sheriff is ordered to put the person of Matthys Boffie in jail and to guard him well until the next Court of Sessions. (…) | The court orders Matthys to be placed in jail until his next court appearance. |
A.J.F. van Laer (ed.), Minutes of the Court of Albany, Rensselaerswyck, and Schenectady 1680-1685, 1932. From the New York State Education Department. Internet. Available from; https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/1614/2777/4997/Court_Minutes_of_Albany_Rennselaerswyck_and_Schenectady_1680-1685_Vol_III.pdf; accessed August 18, 2023
Document Text |
Summary |
| Matthys, the Frenchman, being summoned to appear in court, the examination of Francyn, the Negress of Jacob Staets, and the examination of various Negroes and Negresses of Schinnechtady are read to him, in which they unanimously charge him with having employed every means to entice her to run away to Canada, saying that he would show her the way and make her free. | Matthys Boffie is charged with trying to persuade Francyn, a woman enslaved by Jacob Staets, to run away with him to Canada, where she would be free. |
| Francyn, the Negress of Jacob Staets, accuses Mathys, the Frenchman, to his face of having asked her several times to run away to Canada, but Mathys, the Frenchman, denies that he ever asked any Negro or Negress to run away. | Francyn accuses Matthys of trying to have her run away with him several times. He denies he ever asked any enslaved person to run away. |
| Pey, the Negress of Jacob Sanders, having been summoned and examined, states to Mathhys, the Frenchman’s, face that he asked her last summer to run away and that, if her master would not sell her to him and he had no money to buy her, he would nevertheless run away with her, but Pey refused to do so. | Pey, enslaved by Jacob Sanders, tells the court that Matthys tried to get her to run away with him last summer, but she refused. |
| Matthys, the Frenchman, denies this likewise, saying that he has had a child or two by the said Negress, but that now he does not like her. | Matthys denies this as well. He tells the court that he has one or two children with Pey, but he does not like her anymore. |
| The honorable court order Matthys, the Frenchman, to give security in the sum of £100 to answer the charge of having endeavored to allure away some Negroes and Negresses. (…) | The court orders Matthys to pay a fine of £100 for trying to have enslaved people run away with him. |
A.J.F. van Laer (ed.), Minutes of the Court of Albany, Rensselaerswyck, and Schenectady 1680-1685, 1932. From the New York State Education Department. Internet. Available from; https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/1614/2777/4997/Court_Minutes_of_Albany_Rennselaerswyck_and_Schenectady_1680-1685_Vol_III.pdf; accessed August 18, 2023
Background
Dutch colonists established the small settlement of Schenectady in 1661 on land that was originally inhabited by the Mohawk. The community relied heavily on the labor of enslaved people to survive. Schenectady was also a minor trading post that attracted fur traders from New France. Schenectady became part of the English colonies in 1664, but remained strongly Dutch in its culture. With so many people from different cultures living alongside one another, interracial relationships were common.
About the Document
These two documents are excerpts from a criminal trial that took place in Schenectady in 1684 and 1685. Jacob Sanders, one of the wealthiest landowners in Schenectady, accused French fur trader Matthys Boffie of threatening to poison Pey, a woman he enslaved. In the first hearing (Document 1) Matthys confessed that he had been in a sexual relationship with Pey for two years. She had one child with him and was pregnant with another. Whether this relationship was consensual is not known. As an enslaved woman, Pey had little agency to reject the sexual advances of someone of higher social status.
Because Pey was considered Jacob’s property, the crime of threatening to kill her was a crime against Jacob, her enslaver. In a later hearing (Document 2), Jacob included the testimony of other enslaved people of Schenectady. Several enslaved men and women testified that Matthys tried to convince enslaved women to run away with him. Pey and another woman named Francyn are both specifically named in the court documents. We have no record of why so many enslaved people testified in this case. They may have been coerced by their enslavers. But it is also possible that Matthys was viewed as a danger to the enslaved women of Schenectady, and the enslaved community came together to ensure his punishment and prevent future harm.
Vocabulary
- Mohawk: An Indigenous community that originally inhabited the area now known as New Jersey, New York, and southeastern Canada. One of the five founding nations of the Haudenosaunee. Today the Mohawk live in upstate New York and Quebec and Ontario, Canada.
Discussion Questions
- What crime was Matthys Boffie originally accused of? What crime was he convicted of? What does this reveal about the priorities of the court in this case?
- What do the testimonies of Pey and Francyn in this case reveal about the treatment of enslaved women in colonial New York?
- What does this document reveal about the intersections of race, gender, and social class in the colonies? What further questions do you have?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connection: 2.6 Slavery in the British Colonies
- Include this resource in a lesson about slavery in colonial America. This document shows how enslaved women were considered property but also were considered trustworthy in the courts and might have had some agency in their relationships with men.
- Pair this resource with Fighting for Freedom in New Amsterdam to consider the role of the courts in the lives of enslaved women in New Amsterdam and colonial New York.
- For a larger lesson on slavery in New Netherland and colonial New York, combine this resource with the following:
- For a larger lesson on the experiences of enslaved women and the courts during this time, teach this resource alongside any of the following:
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS
