Jacob Jacobsz Steendam (1615 in

Kniphausen Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...

Steendam (Jacob Jacobsz.)
in ''Biographisch woordenboek der Noord- en Zuidnederlandsche letterkunde'', edited by F. Jos. van den Branden and J.G. Frederiks, 1888 – in

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residency ...

) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

poet and a minister. He collaborated with

Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy (also Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy van Zierikzee or Peter Cornelius van Zurick-zee; c. 1625, possibly in Zierikzee, Netherlands – c. 1664–1670, Lewes, Delaware) was a Dutch Mennonite and Collegiant utopist wh ...

Biography

Though born in

East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...

, Steendam grew up in

Enkhuizen Enkhuizen () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. History Enkhuizen, like Hoorn and Amsterdam, was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC, from where overseas trade wi ...

.Jacob Steendam
De Nieuwe Taalgids, 13:273, The Hague 1919 His first poetry dates from 1636. He was a member of the circle of Jan Zoet. Already as a young man Steendam served the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...

. In 1641 he went to

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and had an affair with a local woman. Back in Holland he became

precentor A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is ''præcentor'', from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" (or alternatively, "first ...

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...

, and in November 1649 he married Sara Abrahams Roschou in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Steendam published a 3-volume poetry collection, ''Den Distelvink'' ("The Goldfinch") in 1649/1650 in that city. Jacob and Sara sailed to the colony of

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

about 1650, and stayed there till 1662, when they returned to Holland. During his residence in the Dutch settlement, he owned farms at Amersfort and Maspeth, a house and lot on what is now Pearl Street, and another on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. He lost his fortune when the English took over Manhattan. He left

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...

, joined the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

and in 1665/66 the couple took off to

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

. Here they managed an orphanage and Steendam continued to publish poetry and to contribute to

Dutch Indies literature Dutch Indies literature or Dutch East Indies literature (Dutch: ''Indische letteren'' or ''Nederlands Indische literatuur'', Indonesia: ''Sastra Hindia Belanda'') is the Dutch language literature of colonial and post-colonial Indonesia from the ...

until 1671.

Rediscovery

In the late 19th century,

Henry Cruse Murphy Henry Cruse Murphy (July 5, 1810 – December 1, 1882) was an American lawyer, politician and historian. During his political career, he served as Brooklyn#Mayors of the City of Brooklyn, Mayor of Brooklyn, a member of the United States House of ...

, when he U.S. Minister to the Netherlands and resident in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, rediscovered the poems written by Steendam and other Dutch poets in New Amsterdam, and had them published with English translations in the same metre. Murphy's book is entitled ''Jacob Steendam noch vaster. A Memoir of the First Poet in New Netherlands, with his Poems descriptive of the Colony'' (The Hague, 1861). The titles of the two poems are ''Klacht van Nieuw-Amsterdam'' (published in Amsterdam in 1659; translated as: ''Complaint of New Amsterdam, in New Netherlands, to her Mother, of her Beginning, Growth, and Present Condition'') and t Lof van Nuw-Nederland'' (1661; ''The Praise of New Netherlands: Spurring Verses to the Lovers of the Colony and Brothership to be established on the South River of New Netherland'' by

van Ziereckzee" (published in 1661).

References

External links

*
Biographies and primary text
at dbnl.org * http://www.literatuurgeschiedenis.nl/lg/goudeneeuw/auteurs/lgge035.html * http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bran038biog01_01/bran038biog01_01_3902.php
Jacob Steendam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steendam, Jacob 1615 births 1672 deaths 17th-century American poets 17th-century Dutch poets American literature in immigrant languages American poetry in immigrant languages American male poets Dutch-American culture in New York City Dutch emigrants to New Netherland Dutch language in the United States Dutch male poets People from Enkhuizen People of New Netherland American people of Dutch descent Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies Writers from Manhattan