Anthony Janszoon van Salee
Anthony Janszoon van Salee[note 1] (1607–1676) was an original settler of and prominent landholder, merchant, and creditor in New Netherland, a 17th-century colonial province[1] of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States of America.
Van Salee, commonly known as Anthony the Turk, is believed to have been the son of Jan Janszoon, a Dutch pirate captain who led the Salé Rovers after his capture by Barbary corsairs.
[2] Van Salee and his first wife Grietse were the subject of considerable scandal and litigation in New Amsterdam, leading to his role in the establishment of Gravesend and New Utrecht, as well as other settlements on Long Island.
[3][2] He may also have had North African or Middle Eastern heritage through his mother—while Anthony's line married into European families (with Vanderbilt and other patrician descendants).
Known as Admiral Murat Reis, in 1624 his position as governor was acknowledged by Zidan Abu Maali,[5] a de facto recognition of the Republic of Salé city-state founded by Algerines as an outpost on the Atlantic ocean.
Van Salee was living near the harbor in Amsterdam when he obtained a marriage license on December 15, 1629, to marry Grietse Reyniers, a 27-year-old German native, two days before his ship left for the New World.
[9] Van Salee was engaged in many legal disputes, which ranged from demands for compensation because his dog attacked the hog of Anthony the Portuguese (described as a black townsman), to charges that he had pointed loaded pistols at slave overseers from the Dutch West India Company.
[10]: 86 It is unclear to what extent animus against Van Salee's ethnic and religious identity drove these conflicts, or if he was himself reluctant to submit to church authority.
Following numerous legal disputes, including with representatives of the Dutch Reformed Church, whose council reprimanded Van Salee and his wife for not behaving as "pious Christians",[5] he was ordered to leave New Netherland.
[8][page needed] Van Salee's ethnic and religious background were highly unusual for a prominent colonial landholder and have led to discussions about his place in social history.
1886 estate sale of Joachim Rule,[3] among other heirlooms of the Van Siclen and Gulick families,[18] as documented by descendant Robert Bayles of the Market and Fulton National Bank of New York.
John Edwin Stillwell wrote that Van Salee had disputes with her husband Sir Henry Moody,[20] but he had died in England.
Gomez notes that historic collections devoted to African-centric history have been similarly unable to reach consensus on his appearance, race, or origin.
Van Salee's notable descendants include Warren G. Harding, Samuel L. Southard, the Vanderbilts in the United States and Europe, the Whitneys, and the Frelinghuysens.
