According to the most reliable evidence, Augustine Herman was born about 1621 in Mšeno, Kingdom of Bohemia; the location he himself stated in his last testament.

Accordingly, the claims that his father was a wealthy merchant and councilman of Prague, who was killed in 1620 at the Battle of White Mountain during the Thirty Years' War, remains hearsay.

It has been asserted that he made a trip to North America in 1633, when he allegedly signed his name witnessing the Dutch purchase of lands from the Lenape Native Americans near the later site of Philadelphia.

He was an agent for the mercantile house of Peter Gabry and Sons of Amsterdam, and was one of the owners of the frigate "La Grace," which was engaged in privateering against Spanish commerce.

[2] Trading furs and tobacco for wine and slaves, he quickly became wealthy and the owner of considerable real estate, including most of what is now Yonkers, New York.

At that point he was one of the most influential people in New Amsterdam, he was elected in 1647 to board of the Nine Men a body of prominent citizens organized to advise and guide the Director-General of New Netherland.

Unhappy with the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant Herman was one of the signatories of a complaint, the "Vertoogh," which was sent to Holland in July 1649 "to represent the poor condition of this country and pray for redress."

In 1651, on behalf of the province, Herman negotiated the purchase of Staten Island and a large tract along the western shore of Arthur Kill from what is now Perth Amboy to Elizabeth.

Stuyvesant would send Herman on a diplomatic mission to New England to resolve concerns about rumors of a Dutch and Native American alliance against the English.

Baltimore rejected the argument completely, but subsequently the English successors to the Dutch title, the Duke of York and William Penn, were successful in making the case, ultimately leading to the separate existence of the state of Delaware.

[1] The manor house was built on the north shore of the Bohemia River, across from Hacks Point, and just to the west of present-day Maryland Route 213.

For added insurance he then successfully negotiated an agreement to pay a compensatory sum for the territory to the Susquehannock Native Americans, who owned the land.