The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam 1661-1662
On the 20th of September 1662, Notary Public Salomon Lachaire recorded the fees paid by five English Quakers, including John Bowne, to receive translations of their court records. These transactions appear in The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam, 1661-1662. A 19th-century translation of this public record is now available from the New Netherland Institute’s Online Publications. The original book has not been digitized, so unfortunately no images are available.
Lachaire recorded that “the Fiscal” (provincial attorney-general Nicholas de Sille) ordered him to meet with “the Quakers” in the Stadt Huys, or City Hall. Apparently, Bowne and other Quaker prisoners had been brought there to meet with Lachaire (although Bowne does not mention this “field trip” in his Journal.)
The New Amsterdam Studt Huys, or City Hall. (Historical Postcards of New York City, NYPL Digital Collections)
John and Mary Tilton, whose indictments were featured in yesterday’s post, were there, as were another pair of repeat offenders from Gravesend: the widow Michelle Spicer and her son Samuel. The complaints against the Spicers have not survived, unlike those lodged against the Tiltons. However, a previous entry in Lachaire’s book records a visit to Michelle Spicer, “a prisoner in the City Jail,” on September 11, so she was likely arrested the day before Bowne, on the same warrant addressed to the magistrates of English towns.
REGISTER OF SALOMON LACHAIRE, PAGE 209
20th [of September]
By order of the Fiscal, went to the City Hall to the Quakers— fl 1.--.-
To reading and translating each complaint, to wit: Mt. Spicer, Sam Spicer, Mary Tilton— 1.10.-
Translated the Fiscal’s complaint for John Tilton— 2.--.-
Translated for John Bouwn judgment of the Supreme Council.— 3.--.-
Translated for Mary Tilton her answer— 2.--.-
Translated his answer for Sam Spiser— 1.10.-
Translated an appendix for Michelle Spicer — 1.--.-
Notes on the Text
The units of currency are florins and stuivers, a coin worth 1/20 of a florin or guilder. (“Florin” is interchangeable with “guilder,” which is just an abbreviation of “gulden florin,” or “golden florin.”)
Lachaire charged one florin or guilder for making the trip to the Stadt Huys. He then charged the Spicers and Mary Tilton ½ florin each for translating the complaints against them, but separately charged John Tilton 2 florins for his. The difference may be that he translated the first three complaints orally- “reading and translating”- while John Tilton wanted a written copy to keep, which cost four times more. John Bowne paid 3 florins to translate his sentence, which ran to two pages as opposed to to Tilton’s single page. Lachaire then translated the responses of Mary Tilton and Samuel Spicer. Unfortunately, these documents did not survive, so we don’t know how they replied to the charges lodged against them. Nor do we know what sort of “appendix” Michelle Spicer requested, although it was likely a postscript to the Remonstrance, or petition, that she had tasked Lachaire with translating on his September 11th visit to the City Jail, for which she had paid 2 florins. This must have been a substantial protest, for Lachaire took it home with him and brought it back to the jail on the 16th, billing Widow Spicer another two florins to cover his two separate trips. By contrast, John Bowne and John Tilton did not submit any written “answers.” Possibly they felt that they had already made their positions clear. Nor did Bowne record the above fee in his Journal as he did later expenses from this period, as he had not yet been reunited with his notebook. We only know of this small detail of Bowne’s journey through the legal system thanks to the preservation of Lachaire’s Register.
Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam
Salomon Lachaire was baptized in 1628 in the Walloon Church in Amsterdam, which was attended by French Protestants living in exile. His father had been a weaver, and his own profession at the time of his marriage in 1650 was “journeyman tailor.” Lachair emigrated to New Netherland before 1655. Before this departure he must have completed a law degree and mastered the English language, a remarkable leap for someone from the artisan class. According to former State Archivist Berthold Fernow, “Under Roman Law...in most countries of Continental Europe, the Notary Public is a high official of the courts of law, who goes through very nearly the same course of legal studies as would be required of a judge.” In his Register, Lachaire sometimes uses Latin terms and quotes from an extensive legal library of sources.
Lachaire, like most New Amsterdammers, was a jack of all trades. He and his wife ran a tavern in New Amsterdam as a sideline. Before his appointment to the office of Notary Public, he served as “farmer of the excise,” or tax collector on commodities, first for the slaughterhouse trade and then for breweries. This sought-after job, which came with a cut of the proceeds and was auctioned off to the highest bidder, brought him into conflict with his fellow publicans. On one occasion, a would-be tax dodger broke his measuring rod and called him names, including “rougue,” “thief,” “beast,” and “cuckold.” Despite having elevated his status in life and always being in demand for his notary services, court records show that Lachaire was bad with money: in his introduction to the Register, editor Kenneth Scott says “he was loath to pay his debts, and always in financial difficulty.” When sued, he would claim that the money “had slipped through his fingers,” as he did when six months late with a down payment for a house (which he had already mortgaged out to someone else.) At other times, he would simply tear up contracts and then claim ignorance of their contents, or make up new terms.
Lachaire alienated his fellow New Netherlanders for other reasons besides his unpaid debts. He was sued by Thomas Willett on behalf of the English, for allegedly “having vilified the whole English people as a deceitful nation.” (Willett had previously translated for Flushing resident John Lawrence in court, when Lawrence sued Lachaire over a business deal involving beaver skins and some 351 pounds of butter.) The Fiscal took this type of slander seriously as a sort of lese-majesty, even a threat to the peace treaty between the two nations. The dour Nicholas de Sille threatened Lachaire with public whipping and the confiscation of half his property, whereupon Lachaire issued a mealy-mouthed apology, saying he had only insulted Willett in the heat of the dispute over the butter, and meant no offense to Englishmen as a group. He was nonetheless imprisoned for three days before being paroled. He also had a habit of insulting other public officials, including fire inspectors (whom he termed “chimney-sweeps”) and then the Court Messenger sent to fine him for insulting the fire inspectors; he accused the latter factotum of shaking him down to equip a fancy fighting cock “with little boots and spurs.”
Lachaire suffered from ill-health and died at the age of 34, a couple of months after he translated the documents for the Quakers. His estate was left insolvent, and his wife Anneken had to petition the Orphan-Masters’ court to keep her bed, a few clothes, and a portrait of her late husband. After October 1662 there was no English-speaking notary for the remainder of the New Netherland period. Despite their clashes, he must have been missed by the English community that had to navigate the Dutch courts without his expert help.
REFERENCES:
The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam, 1661-1662, translated by E.B. O’Callaghan. From the New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch of the New York State Archives. Available from the New Netherland Institute Online Publications
Useful Web pages:
New Netherland Institute: Guide to Seventeenth Century Dutch Coins, Weights, and Measures