Document: Petition of Bartel Maneken, a soldier, for his discharge

To the honorable lord director general and lords councilors of New Netherland.

Bartel Maneken, soldier in the service of the honorable West India Company and your honors’ [ service ], shows with all due respect, how he has been informed by letter (received with the ship de Gelderse Blom) that his friends in the fatherland had obtained from the honorable lords directors that he, petitioner, is to be discharged from the service (about which your honors shall be notified without a doubt); therefore, he respectfully requests that your honors be pleased to discharge him from the service, and for that purpose to grant a passport in common form. Which doing etc. (Below was written:) Your honors’ obedient servant.

After deliberation it was decided: Fiat ut petitur, provided that he depart with the ship de Waagh. Done at Fort Amsterdam in New Netherland. Ady ut supra.

Rights: This translation is provided for education and research purposes, courtesy of the  New York State Library Manuscripts and Special Collections, Mutual Cultural Heritage Project. Rights may be reserved. Responsibility for securing permissions to distribute, publish, reproduce or other use rest with the user. For additional information see our Copyright and Use Statement Source: New York State Archives. New Netherland. Council. Dutch colonial council minutes, 1638-1665. Series A1809. Volume 6.