Manhattan Seeds of the Big Apple is the well researched story of the Holland born Waldron Family who lived during the mid-1600s near the corner of what is today Wall Street and Broadway. In l653, lower Manhattan was a Dutch community of about 120 houses, its people protected by a fort and a log wall which stood as a defense against attack. Today's Wall Street follows the line of that ancient plank wall. Sheriff Resolved Waldron, his wife Tennake, and their children lived at the present day crossing of Wall Street and Broadway. There, along with them on Block B, across the street from the Dutch West India Company's enormous garden, resided Augustine Herrman, Peter Schaefbanck, the jailor, Hendrick Hendricksen, and Domine (clergy) Samuel Drisius. Resolved Waldron wasn't in New Netherland (now NYC) very long before Peter Stuyvesant, the then Dutch Governor, made him an offer that would change his life and the lives of multiple generations to come. It also put him into the history books.         Excerpt The pioneering Dutch of the seventeenth century, who sailed to ancient North American shores and settled within the Dutch West India's colony of New Netherlands, would forever refer to their heart's home as "Fatherland." Initially, wealthy men such as Amsterdam merchant Kiliaen Van Rensselaer invested heavily in the colonial venture, yet they were never to set foot upon New Netherlands' soil. Instead, the investor or patroon sent managers or agents who acted as overseers for their master's vast bowerie farms, where indentured servants as well as Negro and Native American slaves worked the acreage. Soon, families of both freedmen and indentured servants from many countries were enthusiastically welcomed by the Dutch authorities, and a colorful, multifaceted society like no other was begun.

Professional Reviews
RaggedBlade Review of Manhattan Seeds of the Big Apple
I remember in school the fact that New York was originally the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was glossed over in about l5 seconds. Just a small slice of history, that even with my interest in days of long ago, I've never seen discussed anywhere.
Which gives Manhattan-Seeds of the Big Apple a special place for lovers of obscure times in history. Author Gloria Waldron Hukle, a descendant of the early Dutch immigrants to America, uses her family history as a starting point to tell the story of these early pioneers. Her point of view, which can hardly be argued with, is that these early days of New York-er, Amsterdam-are largely forgotten and it's time to change that.
Must have been a lot different view of Manhattan, with nary a skyscraper, a small city protected by forts, even grassey hills and trees (in Manhattan). And as Waldron family steps off the boat to America, they're greeted by something our country is famous for-cultural diversity.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is how this family,coming from a very heterogeneous Planet Holland, navigates its way through a society and a land of Indians, Negro slaves, Jews, Catholics, Quakers, and (gasp!) English! Much of the conflict in the family, in fact, revolves around treatment of , and love or compassion for, "outsiders."
The more you get to know people outside your bubble, the less your prejudices stand up, yet the more your society tries to box you back into its narrow world view. In the 1650s there was a lot more to lose by going against the norm.
Hukle does a nice job of writing the pace of life from 350 years ago. The book starts slowly as the family spends a long time crossing over on the boat. The reader sees and feels discoveries through the eyes of Tennake Waldron and her husband Resolved, rarely will Hukle say "This is how it was," but more like "Tennake noticed, this, that and the other."
The action picks up in this supposedly peaceful colony with a seemingly unprovoked Indian attack, disagreement over treatment of the "savages" and the impending specter of a British takeover. Meanwhile, Resolved's brother Joseph finds Sarah, the "family Negro" much more to his liking than he's afraid to admit.
The book is also a good reminder how communication differed back then-we're told that Tennake once making the journey over the Atlantic, never ventures more than l2 miles away from her home (at the corner of present day Wall Street and Broadway).
Guests with stories of the outside world were very welcome; news from the homeland would take weeks to arrive to the colony, people who lived in "suburbs" or outlaying villages were isolated from cities even a few miles away, often significantly more at risk of attack.
The writing reflects a more formal style of speech, even between husband and wife, and Hukle wisely incorporates this into her narrative. It's a style that speaks to an intelligent reader and reports on the prejudices and thoughts of these people without judging. Anyway, by the time I was done, I was sorry it was over.-Jerry Rabushka

Book Review-So begins the Tale of Tennake Nagel Waldron
Two years before, if anyone had told her that she would leave her family and travel to the other end of the earth before she was twenty-five, Tennake would have thought that the poor soul had lost all wit. She loved the glorious golden city of Amsterdam, and would call Holland, "Fatherland" until the day she died. However, girlhood dreams did not always set the path of one's future, as she now knew.
So begins the tale of Tennake Nagel Waldron, a pregnant young woman in her twenties when she sails into the harbor at New Amsterdam with her half-Dutch, half English husband, Resolved Waldron, twenty years her senior, and his three children by a previous marriage. They have traveled from Holland, where Tennake left her family, staunch Calvinists all, to follow her husband to his post as Assistant Sheriff under the director of the settlement, Peter Stuyvesant. New Amsterdam is a bustling community surrounded by a wall-the very wall that defined the path of a street we now call "Wall Street." The Waldrons were to build a home and a reputation there and persevere against Indian attacks and growing pains of the government, which included religious intolerance, disagreements about treatment of the many tribes surrounding the settlement, the whimsical decrees of Peter Stuyvesant and the looming threat of an English takeover.
This novel dusted away the cobwebs settled on this reader's long-ago seventh grade social studies lessons, refreshing my memories of Dutch colonization in North America, adding much new information and painting faces and hearts on that history. Knowing that Resolved Waldron and Tennake Nagel were real people, and their descendants were eventually to make it to John Thurman's Elm Hill, added an extra dimension to my enjoyment. Hukle's Manhattan Seeds of the Big Apple is educational and entertaining-Perky Granger,Editor
Quarterly
John Thurman Historical Society-New York

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