Document: Deed from Cornelis Groesens to Lubbertus van Dincklagen for land on Manhattan Island

On the 26th of April in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, one thousand six hundred and forty-nine, before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven, secretary of New Netherland, appeared Cornelis Groesens, who in the presence of the undersigned committee of the council declared and acknowledged that he, by virtue of the patent dated the 10th of January 1645,[1] granted by the honorable director general and council of New Netherland, conveyed and transferred a piece of land bounded easterly by the great highway, westerly by the strand of the North River, adjoining southerly the Company's garden and northerly the land of Jan Damen; extending in breadth along the highway twenty-five rods and eight feet; along Jan Damen's land on the north side to the strand thirty-eight rods; along the strand, or on the west side, twenty-six rods in breadth, [ and ] along the honorable Company 's garden, or on the south side, thirty rods or thereabouts, amounting together to eight hundred and eighty [ square ] rods, six feet Which said land he conveys to and for the behoof of the Hon. Lubbertus van Dincklagen in rightful, free and true ownership, on condition that he, or whoever shall obtain his right, shall be subject to the reservations and conditions contained in the patent. The said Mr. Dincklagen may take possession of and use the said land as his own patrimonial property, without the grantor in the capacity aforesaid retaining any interest therein or claim of ownership thereto, but relinquishing the same henceforth and forever. [ The grantor ] promises that he shall hold this deed firm, binding, unbreakable and irrevocable and that he shall observe and fulfil the same, all under binding obligation according to law. Without guile or deceit this is signed by the grantor in the presence of the committee of the council, the 29th of April A° 1649, in New Amsterdam, New Netherland.

Cornelis Groesens
P. Stuyvesant