| Notes |
Nicasius, son of Laurens and Walburga and the first in the family to emigrate, was born in Arnheim in 1610. He studied at the universities of Leyden and Orleans, from where he graduated, a Doctor of Law. He was a High Council, a Fiscal, and an Advocate.
Nicasius de Sille was a man of unusual acquirements, an author, a statesman, a lawyer, an expert in military affairs with especial knowledge of fortifications; he came here in 1653 a widower with five children." "De Sille came from a prominent family in the Republic. He studied law and became an advocate at the Court of Holland, not neglecting his military duty. When, after the Remonstrance of 1650 and the near recall of Stuyvesant in 1652, the Heeren XIX looked around for an 'expert and able statesman' to be Stuyvesant's first councillor (and possibly his successor), their eyes fell on the forty-two year-old De Sille, a widower with five children." (p. 275) [Ref. Schuyler van Renssalaer History of the City of New York in the 17th Century, Vol. 1, p. 353]
They offered him a monthly salary of one hundred guilders, and he sailed in August 1653 with his two sons, three daughters, and a maid. [Ref. Brodhead & O'Callaghan, Documents relative to the Colonial History of New York, II, p. 400]
In 1655 there was a confrontation at Fort Christina with the Swedes, under the command of Johan Rysingh. Stuyvesant sent a small fleet of ships with instructions to claim the South River for the Dutch. The Dutch grouped themselves into three divisions and surrounded the fort. "The one under Stuyvesant dug in north of Christina, three hundred feet from its walls, with four cannon, of which one was an eighteen-pounder. The company of Frederick de Koningh, the captain of the Waegh, constructed at the south side a battery with three guns; while northwest of the fort the third company, under the command of Councillor Nicasius de Sille, completed the encircling with two twelve-pounders." (p. 268) After a siege of ten days, as the Dutch soldiers began to roam around the countryside, robbing and pillaging, the Swedes surrendered. Stuyvesant immediately had to return to New Amsterdam, where a force of 900 Indians had gathered to threaten Manhattan, in what became known as the Peach War.
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1610 - Abt 1673 (62 years)
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