GRAVESEND

The exhibition focuses on examples from the archival collections that feature women, Native Americans and enslaved people and their interactions with early colonial government.

Deborah Moody is a unique example, as her land acquisition was not a typical—it wasn’t an inheritance or conveyance from a deceased husband. Instead, the sealed agreement was made directly with one of the earliest director-generals of New Amsterdam, Willem Kieft. Also of interest is the fact that she managed many of the financial transactions of Gravesend, and those records are documented in early Gravesend Town Meeting Minutes found in the Old Town Collection. This patent granted Lady Deborah Moody land ownership in 1645. It is the first land patent issued to a woman in North America and is among the earliest records in the Municipal Archives. The outlines the property—with spokes of land centered around a block formation that still exists today.

Moody, a religious dissenter who fled England and was later expelled from Massachusetts, settled in Gravesend, Brooklyn in 1645. As the first woman to found a settlement in the New World, Moody’s contract was unique. She continued to play a vital role in land conveyances, financial matters and political organization in Gravesend until her death in 1659.

The original 1645 parchment patent for Gravesend with its wax seal. It is in English and signed by Director Willem Kieft. Kieft served as Director General of New Amsterdam from 1638 to 1647. War and violence against indigenous peoples defined Kieft’s term. He was succeeded by Petrus Stuyvesant. Old Town Records. Deed and map to Gravesend, Old Colonial Maps, Volume One, 1645-1757. Old Town Records. Courtesy of the Municipal Archives, City of New York.

Willem Kieft served as Director General of New Amsterdam from 1638 to 1647. War and violence against indigenous peoples defined Kieft’s term. He was succeeded by Petrus Stuyvesant.