The following includes some information on Jean Mousnier de La Montagne and his return to the Americas with his wife and their young family.1 Such has been extracted from primary source documents, some of which have only recently been uncovered, wherein still remain untranslated details to be gleaned. These documents will add to what little is known about the early Dutch settlements on the Island of Tobago, providing names and additional information on some of the people who, for reasons one can only imagine, chose to go there in 1629. The documents here may also help to counter some present-day speculations on the short-lived colony, but more archival digging needs to be done. Most of the primary sources here on this page have been obtained through the Leiden Regional Archives and are available there in digital format.
The history of early European attempts to establish colonies on Tobago is very incomplete, and the existing contemporary sources few. Taking the aforesaid into consideration, our attempt here will be to provide bits of information that are pieces of a larger puzzle. Most of these will directly pertain to LaMontagne, his immediate group of friends and associates, and their wider circle of connections with persons of influence and of capital. But first a little background on the Island of Tobago.
The Spanish and Tobago
There are some who say that Christopher Columbus, who on his third voyage spied the Island at a distance, but did not land on the Island, named it Belaforme, “because from a distance it seemed beautiful”. The name Tabaco was first recorded in a Spanish royal order, issued in 1511. This name references the shape of the island, which resembles the fat cigars smoked by the Taíno inhabitants of the Greater Antilles. After the establishment of a permanent Spanish settlement in Trinidad in 1592, Tobago became the focus of their slave raids. 2 Spanish slave raids from Margarita and Trinidad continued until at least the 1620s, decimating the island’s population.1
Jan de Moor
Jan de Moor was a merchant and a member of the State Council of Holland. A rich man, he financed some of the earlier Dutch attempts at settlement in the Amazon River and on the Guyanese coast3 in the years 1613 – 1614. He did business with the Courteen family, and their Anglo-Dutch trading firm that maintained a settlement at Kykoveral on the Essequibo and that had settled Barbados on their own account. Jan de Moor had this too in mind for Tobago and made two attempts at colonization. Both failed, the last in 1633, when he sent his people under an English man named Gayner. They set up themselves at Toco, Trinidad, and then in Tobago. This came to nought as the energetic Captain Diego Lopez de Escobar, the Spanish governor, routed the would-be colonists.
Current Speculation on the Dutch Colony…
It’s commonly thought that the earliest Dutch colony on Tobago was abandoned in 1630 due to attacks from the local indigenous people, only to be reestablished in 1634. This effort likewise came to an end in 1637 upon surrender to Spanish forces. A marvelous recount of this colony and its capture by Spanish forces was given by Jaques Ousiel4 in his report to the West India Company.5 Most of those captured were eventually executed, among those who were spared were Ousiel and a group of young boys who were among those who had surrendered.
The following documents seem to dispute the given history of the first attempt to settle Tobago, though more archival digging needs to be done. Regarding the documents and the extracts given below, we believe that they will add to the knowledge of the early colonization period of Tobago and the Americas in general, and we hope that they might spark other history sleuths to delve into his little-researched topic.
On June 7, 1629 the so termed Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions was announced in the Netherlands by public placard informing all interested parties that the territories of the Dutch West India Company in the New World were to be open to private investors and partnerships. This act would foster what would come to be known as the “patroon system”.
The above is from the first page of a source listed by its online title, Registers van attestatie, verstrekt aan vertrekkende lidmaten, (deel 1),1629-1769. This is a recent addition to the digital records now available at the Regional Archives of Leiden. These particular records are testimonials for departing members, with the first of these volumes beginning in January of 1629.
On July 15th, 1629 [Gregorian, July 25th] at the Waals Vrouwkerk in Leiden, several names of those intending to depart on the 25th of July [Gregorian, Aug. 4th) provided testimonials. The names of those giving testimony, were given as follows:
July 15 (1629)
| Sponsor | Name of Person | Date of Departure |
| Flamen | Jean Many | Le 9 Aoust |
| [Flamen] | Elain de La Port / et sa fem | Elain de La Port / and his wife |
| Flamen | Matthieu Richart / and his wife | Le 26 de Jullet |
| Abraham de La port6 | July 26th | |
| maton | Catheline Hache7 | |
| Musart | Matthieu Richart / et sa femme | July 26th |
| Jenain(?) | Jean du Chesne | July 26th |
| (Jenain?) | marie wancours(?) | July 26th |
| musart | Martin Thomas / et sa femme8 | July 26th |
| (musart) | Pierre Noe et sa feme 9 | July 26th |
| Flamen | Jean Cannell / et sa feme 10 | |
| du Rieu | Anthoine ruseau | |
| du Rieu | Jean Monier / et sa feme11 | July 26th |
There are three notary documents that pertain to this trip to Tobago. The first of these was for Jean Mousnier and was dated the 16th of July, 1629. This document was a contract for a young man named Tobias Pietersz to be Montagne’s valet for a term of three years to begin in August 1629. Tobias, who was age sixteen at the time, was the son of Pieter Janssz, a linenworker, and Lijsbeth Theunis. This document mentions the West India Company. [SEE notary document number 118]. The other two documents were for Abraham de La Port, the second of which mentions both “Indes Occidentalles” and Gerard de Forest, and appears to refer to the de La Port children who may be staying behind.6 [SEE notary documents numbered 127 and 128]12
The current thinking is that the first Dutch Colony of Tobago was abandoned in 1630, but the following documents may conflict with that history, these taken from the record of incoming members. In October 1631, “Rachel des Forest, “femme de Jean Mosnier” was received by testimony into membership of the Waalse Church from Tobago. Three other women were also received from Tobago, “where their husbands are remaining” [de Tobago ou leurs maris sont demeurant]. The names of the other women given were:
Marsen Loicker femme de Jean du Chesne
Esther Boe (AKA Bos) femme de Pieter Noe
Louijse de Croix femme de Glaude Beharrez13
From the same records under the under the month of August 1633 “Jean Mosnier” was received by testimony into membership of the Waalse Church from Tobago“. Five other men were also received by testimony on the same occasion under the caption, “du Fort de Middelbourgh en Tobago”. WAALS MEMBERS, p59 The names of the six men from Tobago were given as:14
Jean du Chesne
Estienne de la Porte
Abraham de la Porte
Jean Mosner
Adrien barras
Martin Thomas
- There’s some indication that at least one of the married couples who traveled with the LaMontagne’s had left their children behind. ↩︎
- Boomert, Arie (2016-01-15). The indigenous peoples of Trinidad and Tobago : from the first settlers until today. Leiden. ISBN 9789088903540. ↩︎
- Historically speaking, Guyana included a greater region that extended from Northern Brazil to what is now Venezuela. ↩︎
- There are more than one contemporaneous persons name Jacob Ouseel, more than one of whom is associated with the City of Leiden, and therefore may have known Jean Mousnier de La Montagne. SEE the “Rapport van Jaques Ousiel“. ↩︎
- Report and Accompanying papers of the Commission appointed by the President of the United States “to investigate and report upon the true divisional line between the Republic of Venezuela and British Guiana”; Volume 2 Extracts from Archives. Washington Government Printing Office (1897). Page 73, Jacques Ousiel, late Public Advocate and Secretary of Tobago… ↩︎
- In 1628 Abraham de La Port, a wool comber born at “Tiras Vranckrijck”, married Margaret Jasper Simon born at Luyck; witness at the wedding included his brother Steven and his father Geleijn de La Port. Abraham married Tryntgen la Maire in 1634. There is also a notary document [image 99 of 438] from 1638 that gives Abraham as as a “tabakplanter” ↩︎
- “In 1618 Cathelyna Haes” born at Henau near St. Aman married “Jaecques le Poorte”, a wool comber born a Turcoingen. “Jaques de le Porte” was killed in 1620 by “Philips Germain”—he was approximately age 24. In 1625 Catheline married “Isaac Flore” AKA Ferre, AKA Forest. On April 7th, 1630 their son Isaac was baptised at the Walloon Church in Lieden. In 1645 Isaac, the son of “Jan Foreest” and widow of Catharine Hasje” married Maria del Plancke. This would appear to have been the same Catheline Hache who was on the list of departing members, but the date of her child’s baptism makes one wonder if she went with the de La Ports to Tabago—note that for her entry no date of departure was given. ↩︎
- Martin Thomas and “sa femme” (Anne Cokle, AKA Qurklet). There’s a notary document [image 122 of 438] from 1638 that give Thomas as a “tabakplanter” ↩︎
- Pieter Noe, a woolcomber born at Artois married at Leiden in 1628 Hester Boe, who was born at Leiden. ↩︎
- There was a Jean Caneel who at Leiden married Maria Mernuijs in 1627 . ↩︎
- More than likely, this entry represents Jean Mousnier and his wife (Rachel de Forest) ↩︎
- Notary document numbered 127, aside from mentioning de la Port, was listed in the index as being for a person named Antoinie Riga Messager. ↩︎
- In 1624 at the Walloon Church Esther, the daughter of Glaude Beharrez and Louijse des Croix was baptised. ↩︎
- Note, under the date of December, 1631 might be two other persons who came from Tobago, the second of which appears to have been named de La Port. ↩︎