1595-c. 1645
Director of New Netherland, 1632-1633
Bastiaen Jansz Krol, a silk worker by trade, was born in Harlingen, Friesland in 1595. Under the auspices of the Dutch Reform Church he came to New Netherland in 1626 as a “comforter of the sick” and was stationed at Fort Orange (near modern-day Albany). He soon formed friendships with the local Native Americans and learned their language.
In 1626, when the Commissary (Commander) of Fort Orange, Daniel van Kriekenbeek, accompanied by several of his soldiers and a group from the Mahican tribe set out on an expedition, they were ambushed by members of the Mohawk tribe along the Beaverkill (a creek that now runs beneath Lincoln Park in Albany). Van Kriekenbeek and three of his soldiers were killed, and Director Pieter Minuit appointed Bastiaen Krol to replace him as Commissary (Comander) of Fort Orange.
Bastiaen Krol was appointed Interim Director of New Netherland in 1632 when Director Peter Minuit was recalled to the homeland, and he remained in this office until Director Wouter van Twiller’s arrival in New Amsterdam in 1633. Subsequently, Krol then resumed command at Fort Orange.
Bastiaen Krol was instrumental in acquiring for patroon Killiaen Van Rensselaer large tracts of land adjoining the grant of land he acquired under the 1629 Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions. The estate included lands that now comprise the counties of Albany and Rensselaer and part of Columbia.
The date of Krol’s death is uncertain but it took place sometime after September 1645.