Anthony Janszoon van Salee
Anthony Janszoon van Salee (1607–1676) was the son of Jan Janszoon, a Dutch pirate who led the Republic of Salé, a pirate state in modern Morocco. He was an original settler of and prominent landholder, merchant, and creditor in New Netherlands. Van Salee may have been the first Muslim in the New World. A Qur'an said to have belonged to him was eventually auctioned in the following centuries, having passed through a descendant, Robert Bayles, a one-time President of The Market and Fulton National Bank of New York.
Anthony was Jan Janszoon's fourth child, born in 1607 in Cartagena, Spain, from his second wife. In 1624, Anthony was in Salé, Morocco with his father, leaving in 1627 for Algiers with his family. Van Salee was living near the harbor in Amsterdam when he obtained a marriage license on December 15, 1629 to marry 27-year-old German-native Grietse Reyniers two days before his ship to the New World left. In 1630, at the age of 22, he had immigrated to New Netherlands, along with his bride, as a colonist of the Dutch West India Company.
It is speculated that Anthony's father had provided him a considerable fortune, and by 1639 he was one of the largest landholders on the island, as well as a prosperous farmer. The relationship with his father after arriving in the New Amsterdam is unclear.
One of Van Salee's first properties was a farm on the island of Manhattan acquired in 1638 which was named "Wallenstein", titled in memory of Albrecht von Wallenstein. Becoming one of the original settlers of the area, the plat was located on the north side of the stockade along present-day Wall St. The bouwery was surveyed from Broadway to the East River between Ann Street and Maiden Lane. He transferred the deed the following year.
Following numerous legal disputes, including with the church, Anthony was ordered to leave New Netherland, but on appeal to the Dutch West India Company, was allowed to settle on 200 acres (0.81 km2) in what would become New Utrecht and Gravesend, Brooklyn. This made him now one of the largest and most prominent landholders on Long Island. In 1643 he purchased a house on Bridge Street in New Amsterdam, in defiance of the court order restricting such. He would go on to become a successful merchant and creditor in New Amsterdam, while owning several properties throughout the region.
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