Samuel Godin

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Samuel Godin, Godyn or Godijn (Antwerp, 1561 or around 1566 – September 29, Amsterdam, 1633) was a wealthy merchant, originally from

Because of competition among fellow Dutch fur-traders it seems Samuel Godin and Killian van Rensselaer decided to look around elsewhere.^[5] In 1628 Samuel Blommaert was informed about suitable land near Godyn's Bay.^[6] In the late 1620s, when a controversy arose within the Dutch West India Company as to whether the emphasis of the company's activities should be placed on the expansion of trade or the acquisition of further colonies, Samuel Godijn was one of four merchants who opted for further colonisation.^[7] The others were Blommaert, Albert C. Burgh, and Van Rensselaer. On their behalf the agents bargained with the natives for a tract of land reaching from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of Delaware River,^[8] "32 miles long, two miles deep extending from Old Cape Henlopen northward to the mouth of a river." The estate had been further extended, on May 5, 1630, by the purchase of a tract twelve miles square on the coast of Cape May opposite, and the transaction was duly attested at Fort Amsterdam. The patent for this land was probably registered and confirmed on June 1, 1630.^[9] Godin and Blommaert started the Zwaanendael Colony. A ship of eighteen guns was fitted out to bring over the colonists and subsequently defend the coast, with incidental whale-fishing to help defray expenses.^[10] In December 1630, their ship De Walvis (The Whale) set sail from Texel, with immigrants, food, cattle and whaling implements.^[11] The purpose of the settlement was "to carry out the whale fishery in that region, and to plant a colony for the cultivation of all sorts of grain, for which the country is very well suited, and of tobacco." (Journal of de Vries).^[12]

A colony of more than thirty souls was planted on Lewes creek, a little north of Cape Henlopen. A palisaded fort was built, with the "red lion, rampant," of Holland affixed to its gate, and the country was named Swaanendael or Zwaanendael Colony. Already in 1628 the water was called Godyn's Bay, now known as Delaware Bay.^[13]

A company including, besides the two original proprietors, Kiliaen van Rensselaer,

Samuel had three brothers: Philips, Anthony and Daniel; Philips died before 1615 and Anthony lived in Vlissingen. He had eight children.^[17] On August 22, 1630 his wife was buried in the Wallonian Church. Samuel Godijn's daughter Cecilia (1607–1637) married Hendrick Trip, 28 years old, on 31 March 1633. Trip was a wealthy trader in copper and armaments. On 20 September 1633, Samuel Godijn was ill and signed a codicil to his testament, dated 13 August 1608. Each son stood to inherit 2,000 guilders, before the division of the estate. His heirs were his son-in-law Hendrick Trip and his daughter Cecilia Godin, and his sons Samuel Godijn (1603-?) the younger (who would inherit the estate in the polder the Beemster). Another daughter, named Johanna (1606–1648), married Jacob Trip, the brother of Hendrick Trip, on 14 February 1634. As both her parents had died, she was assisted by her uncle Daniel Godijn. Godyn's death inventory included several statues, maps, jewels, pearls and paintings.^[18]

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