History of Sint Maarten and Saint Martin PDF
Preview History of Sint Maarten and Saint Martin
MTree HISTORY OF SINT MAARTEN AND SAINT MARTIN =. HISTORY OF w, SINT MAARTEN AND SAINT MARTIN Looking down on Philipsburg through one of the embrasures of Fort Willem I (photo Wilfred Roumou). HISTORY OF SINT MAARTEN AND SAINT MARTIN by DR. J. HARTOG Published by THE SINT MAARTEN JAYCEES P.O.B. 363 - Philipsburg Sint Maarten - Netherlands Antilles Translation by A. H. Stronks, sworn translator and interpreter, Aruba. Cover: Backstreet in easterly direction from an illustrated work of Kleynenberg published in 1907, Haarlem. To the left Dicky Dick’s, a two storey building. The white verandahs belong to the house, that was to become the first St. Rose Hospi- tal in 1908. Copyright J. Hartog 1981. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, micro film, recording or otherwise, without the author’s prior permission in writing. Foreword Lieutenant-Governor We may count ourselves lucky that, some years ago, the author of this book perused and made notes from the entire collection of the Lieutenant- Governor’s Journals, covering a period of approximately one and a half centuries, for his History of the Windward Islands, published in 1964. At the time the Executive Council sent all the journals to Aruba, where dr. Hartog lives. When finished, he neatly returned them to us, some of them even restored. If only he had not done this! If only he had safely kept them in the steel bookcases of his library in Aruba!, we would say, because in that case we should still have them. In 1974 all the Lieutenant-Governor’s Journals of Sint Maarten were losti n a fire of the then Lieutenant-Governor’s office. Fortunately, however, dr. Hartog had kept his notes on file, and so this History of Sint Maarten could still be written. I am convinced that with this book many people’s wish will come true. During the many years that dr. Hartog has been engaged in the histo- riography of the Netherlands Antilles he managed to compile a unique collection of old pictures of the islands. The ample photo material un- doubtedly enhances the attractiveness of this book. Since 1942, when he visited Sint Maarten for the first time, Hartog has been to our island many times. By car and on foot he has got to know our island, which in my opinion is of advantage when writing the history of a specific country. I read through the book’s manuscript at a stretch. In my view the His- tory of Sint Maarten has turned out to be one of Hartog’s best books. It is my pleasure to cordially recommend its reading and studying. I would like this book to reach our young generation, because in a society on its way to independence, a notion of what this society lived through and ac- complished in the past is an absolute must. TH. M. PANDT, Lieutenant-Governor of the Windward Islands Introduction It is a great pleasure for the St. Maarten Jaycees to present this book "History of St. Maarten/St. Martin” to the community of the Netherlands Antilles in particular and to the reading public in general. After a very extensive survey, the St. Maarten Jaycees found out there was a need for an up to date publication of the History of St. Maarten and St. Martin, both out of historical and educational point of view. This project was launched in 1978 and through the assistance of Dr. J. Hartog, Mr. W. Roumou and our members we can conclude that this has been successful. We would like to extend a special word of thanks to the following per- sons who contributed to the realization of this historical achievement namely: Mr. N. C. Wathey, Mr. Ch. Vlaun, Mr. A. R. Fleming and Mr. F. Brison. Furthermore we would like to thank everyone who in one way or the - other helped the St. Maarten Jaycees to complete this project. We would like to relate this project to one sentence of our JCI Creed: "SERVICE TO HUMANITY IS THE BEST WORK OF LIFE”. Sincerely Yours, R. A. HOEVE, LOM President St. Maarten Jaycees Author’s Preface One evening in 1942 I sat in the verandah of Cyrus Wathey’s, the still existing corner house in which at present "The Cellar” is established. Across the street Oswald Hassell sat in his verandah, and it was so quiet that the three of us were chatting together. Every now and then a few pedestrians passed, obviously intending to take a breath of fresh air, be- cause there was nothing to do and there was scarcely any lighting. In all there were less than ten cars in the entire island, and they were not to be seen in the evenings. How pleasant it was is illustrated by the following: my glass was empty. Hassell, over the way, saw this and offered me to have a second drink in his place in the verandah. I went down the stairs of Cyrus’ house, and up to Mr. Hassell, and . . . our conversation simply went on. Another occurrence. For those who forgot, in 1942 the Second World War was raging on, and the French part of Sint Maarten sided with Vichy. In those, now almost inconceivable days, I also met one day a Dutch parish priest, it was in the post office I think, who was pastor in St. Barths, in those days even more rural than Sint Maarten. He had crossed in a dinghy in search of a . . . dentist. Neither island had one, almost no island in the far surroundings, for that matter*In St. Barths, a French is- land and also on the Vichy side, rumors had it that a dentist fleeing the Germans from Poland, had turned up in French Saint Martin. Apart from his life he had also managed to save an instrument bag, and had reached Marigot via Vichy - France. He now tried to earn a living as a kind of itinerant dentist traveling from island to island. So our pastor could be at- tended to. That’s the way things were those days. Apart from the documented history one might also write memoirs about Sint Maarten. In what is following we confined ourselves to the former, but we do believe, that because of everything we have experienced during past visits to Sint Maarten, we have been able to give it a touch of Sint Maar- ten’s really specific esprit, a thing which no doubt is appropriate when writing about an island partly Netherlands-Antillean and partly French. The author would like to thank all those who have been a help to him. Lieutenant-Governor Theodor Maxwell Pandt who has taken the initia- tive to have this book written. The St. Maarten Jaycees and the Wind- ward Islands’ Bank Ltd. whose combined efforts made the publication of this book possible. In particular we would like to mention Mr. Charles Vlaun and Mr. Franklyn Brison for their personal and substantial contri- bution in promoting the publication of this History of Sint Maarten. The late Cyrus Wathey and the brothers Walter and Carl Buncamper acquainted us with Sint Maarten’s society; we gratefully accepted their advice. We also express our gratitude to the Reverend Sisters Dominicans and the successive parish priests of Philipsburg and Marigot, as well as the past Lieutenant-Governors W. F. M. Lampe, Johan D. Meiners, Piet van Leeuwen, Johannes Chr. Paap, J. J. Beaujon and Reinier O. van Delden. Without the help of ”’Spam” van Spanje, who was our contact in the is- land, it would have been very hard to complete this study. We gladly ex- press our indebtedness to Mr. van Spanje, the "local researcher”, who was so actively involved in the publication of this book. Mr. A. H. Stronks, sworn interpreter, turned out to be an excellent help; he rendered the original Dutch text — which will be published sepa- rately, so we plan — into English. Mr. Fred Labega who lived in Sint Maarten from 1914 to 1918, visiting the island again between 1922 and 1924, and who again lived here for some months in 1930, taking many pictures, was so kind as to permit us to choose to our heart’s content from what he shot half a century ago. Mr. Wilfred Roumou, Sint Maarten’s well-known photographer, ac- companied us on many an adventurous trip, and later on set out on his own initiative to show modern Sint Maarten and Saint Martin. Mrs. Yvette Fleming was an unfailing oracle on old Marigot. She pro- vided us, moreover, with the map of 1775, which is in her private posses- sion. As to French Saint Martin, we are also grateful, for that matter, to Monsieur le Sous-Préfet P. J. Etchegoyen, the Maire Elie Fleming and Mr. J. Hervieu, archivist of the Archives Départementales de la Guade- loupe. Deputy Lieutenant-Governor Mr. Richard A. Luckert, head of the Fin- ance Department of the Central Government, and Mr. Frank E. Richards, head of the Insular Office of Finance, and Mr. Cornelius de Weever, head of the Tourist Bureau, were always willing to answer questions. But for his devoted wife, who time and again created the possibilities for this work, this book would never have been published. So, above all, thanks to Elisabeth! J. HARTOG
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