“Prior to settling in the Dutch metropolis, he probably resided in Virginia. It is of interest that traces of Czech immigration in the first half of the 17th, century lead to this very section of that state. There is evidence that he did work as a public surveyor at Accomac, Va. (The Eastern Shore of Virginia, Proc. of the Council of Maryland, 1661–1675, Vol. III, pp. 463–64). The services of a surveyor in a new country must have been greatly in demand. In his spare time he traded with Indians and planted tobacco. ‘I am the founder of the Virginia tobacco trade', he wrote to Governor Stuyvesant. The exact date of his removal to New Amsterdam is not known.”[1]
In June 1644 Herrman was associated with Laurents Cornelissen as an agent in New Amsterdam for Peter Gabry and Sons, the prominent merchant traders of Amsterdam,[2] but he probably was connected with the Gabry firm the year before and possibly as early as 1640.[3] By this time his commercial propensities were fully awakened and he sought many means to promote trade between the New World and Amsterdam. In 1644 he made successful experiments in the cultivation of indigo on his farm (bouwery) near the site of the Astor Library.[4] He tried the culture of indigo merely from an experimental standpoint, and as it was not a source of much revenue he discontinued its growth after a few years.
By 1644 the New Amsterdam branch of the Gabry firm had
- ↑ Čapek, Thomas. Augustine Herrman, p. 12. Mr. Čapek may be quite right in his belief that Herrman spent some time on the Eastern Shore of Virginia prior to 1644. His brother-in-law, Dr. George Hack and with whom he was later associated in business was living on the Eastern Shore by 1651. However, J. C. Wise in his exhaustive researches of this part of Virginia does not mention Herrman.
- ↑ New York Geneal, and Biog. Record. Vol. 9. p. 58.
- ↑ Wilson, J. G.N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc. Vol. LI.
- ↑ Van der Donck, Adriaen. Desc, of New Netherlands.
some older man in 1633; possibly with Govert Loockermans, later his friend and advisor? The fact that but slight mention can be found in the colonial records from 1634 to 1644 might substantiate that supposition.
