THE CASTELLO PLAN                                   229

Steendam, New Amsterdam's earliest poet, who also speculated extensively, for his time,
in real estate.

Steendam sold the southerly lot to Harman Smeeman, May 8, 1657 (Mortgages, 1654-

1660,  trans, by O'Callaghan, 59), and Smeeman built the house here shown, and lived in
It until February 19, 1659, when he sold it to Dirck Sleeken.—Min. of Orph. Court, I: 70.
This deed was not recorded until October 23, 1671.—Liber Deeds, B; 187; cf. Book of
Records of Deeds y Transfers (etc.), 1665-1672 (translated), 204-5.

The smaller house, to the north, was built by Leandert Aerden, the Boor, who pur¬
chased the lot from Steendam, May 27, 1656.—Liber Deeds, A: 45. As the owner of a
bouwery on the East River, granted to him October 19, 1645 (Liber GG; 120, Albany),
Aerden had many disputes with Director-General Stuyvesant, his neighbour there, about
their roads and meadows. The farm finally became Stuyvesant's; but it still bears its
earliest owner's name, three maps of the "Leandert Farm" being filed in the New York
County Register's Office—numbers 80, 112, and 134.

No. 6

"Johannes Nevius's house and lot by the Land Gate," as It was described in the deed
to Hendrick Hendricksen, who owned it In 1660.—Liber Deeds, A: 130. It had been left as
the corner (of the present Wall Street) by the general survey of 1656.—Laws y Ord., N.
Neth., 219. Nevlus demanded 400 or 500 guilders for the land taken; his garden having
been bounded by the wall. The city thereupon bought the entire plot, and regranted
the diminished house-lot to Christian Barentsen (see Key to Map of Dutch Grants), a
proceeding frequently followed during the next two centuries when the corporation opened
and widened streets. The deed from Hendricksen to Martin Hoffman, In November,
1664, has a diagram annexed to it, the earliest one noted in the records. This house was
the subject of acrimonious litigation after it was sold to the noted Capt. John Manning,
in 1668.—Rec. N. Am., VI: 190; VII: 18, 131, 132.

Johannes Nevlus, of Solen or Zoelen, came to New Netherland about 1651. He mar¬
ried Arlaentje Bleljck, of Batavia, November 18, 1653.—Marriages in Ref. Dutch Ch., 18.
He was schepen for the year 1655 (Rec. N. Am., I: 271; II: i); secretary to the city, suc¬
ceeding Jacobus Kip, from January, 1658, until June 27, 1665 (ibid., VII: 160, 167; V: 265);
and ferry-master at Brooklyn from 1670 to 1672.—Exec. Coun. Min., ed. by V. H. Paltsits,
I:  131; cf. Rec. N. Am., V: 252; Eccles. Rec, I: 573.

No. 7
Jan Pietersen received a grant for the land on which this house stands, September 6,

1661,   confirmed May 15, 1668.—Patents, III: 34 (Albany). Pietersen's name never
appears here afterward. Domine Drisius owned the property at the time of his death, and
subsequent conveyances from his heirs all recite that the confirmation of above date was
to Drisius. Possibly, Jan Pietersen acted as a dummy in the transaction.—Liber Deeds,
XII: 114, 118; XXIII; 57-9. The house belonged to Drisius.—Key to Map of Dutch
Grants.

No. 8

Another house belonging to Domine Drisius.—Idem.

No. 9

The house and brew-house of Pieter Wolphertsen van Couwenhoven (Liber Deeds,
B: 57; cf. Book of Records of Deeds y Transfers, etc., 1665-1672, translated, 28-30),
which he sold to Reynier van der Coele.—Liber Deeds, B: 57, 89.    Van der Coele did not