Cornelis Melyn

Cornelis Melyn made at least one voyage to the New World before deciding to settle there, as supercargo[3] aboard the Dutch West India Company's ship Het Wapen van Noorwegen (The Arms of Norway) in 1638.

Melyn sailed once again to New Amsterdam May 17, 1641, aboard the vessel Den Eyckenboom (The Oak Tree) with a new party of colonists, including his wife and children.

Also on board was Adriaen van der Donck who would one day be a political ally of Melyn and a fellow victim of Director-General Peter Stuyvesant's persecution.

June 19, 1642, Melyn received from Director-General Willem Kieft his patent to all of Staten Island except for a farm which had already been allocated to David Pietersen de Vries.

In November 1643, during the bloody conflict with the neighboring Lenape tribes which became known as Kieft's War, Melyn and his colonists were forced to abandon Staten Island.

"[4] In 1644, his plantation having been destroyed, Cornelis Melyn purchased three adjacent lots near the Dutch fort on lower Manhattan, along the East River near the intersection of the present Broad and Pearl Streets.

Melyn is attributed with having written the Breeden Raedt, considered one of the earliest descriptions of life in the colony and condemnation of Dutch West Indies Company policies.

[7] The States-General acted favorably upon their appeal and issued a writ of mandamus dated May 6 ordering Director-General Stuyvesant to appear in person, or through his representative, to sustain his judgment against them.

Melyn returned in 1650 aboard the Nieuw Nederlandsche Fortuyn (New Netherland's Fortune) to resume his attempt to colonize Staten Island, along with a group of about 70 persons.