Dirck Van Schelluyne

According to traditional sources, Dirck Van Schelluyne was trained at the Hague and admitted to the practice of law in the Netherlands in 1644. He came to New Netherland to serve as Notary about 1650. After about a decade, he settled in Beverwyck and Albany.

His wife was Cornelia Van Buren with whom he had three children before 1653.

Schelluyne had an uneven relationship with Director General Petrus Stuyvesant - who eventually was able to marginalize him and make his office less profitable. In 1656, Dirck purchased a lot on Manhattan. The next year, his property was valued on the New Amsterdam assessment roll.

Within a few years, he moved upriver to serve as secretary of Rensselaerswyck. During the early 1660s, he also was a notary in Beverwyck. He was secretary of Albany in 1665 and 1666. Adrian Van Ilpendam was his successor.

In 1667, the Mohawks awarded him land at Niskayuna for service to them. He also owned real estate at what became Troy.

Dirck Van Schelluyne was last noted in the commmunity records in 1669. He was the patriarch of a small but important early Albany family.

Sources: The life of Dirck Van Schelluyne is CAP biography number 6433. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. His notarial papers, 1660-65, are printed in the Yearbook of the Dutch Settlers Society of Albany volume 16:2. His career is summerized in ERA, volume 3, pp. 9-14. Foremost among the narrative sources is Donna Merwick's Death of a Notary, esp. pp. 113-18.