Big Apple History . Early New York . Father Knickerbocker


	Washington Irving

By the early 1800s -- two hundred years after Henry Hudson arrived -- most New Yorkers knew little about their city's history. Few even knew that Manhattan was once New Amsterdam.

Then, in 1809, a book appeared called A HISTORY OF NEW YORK FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. The cover said it was written by one Diedrich Knickerbocker ("Diedrich" means "father" in Dutch, and the last name, according to the author's note, meant "to nod or doze over books.") In fact, the book had been written by a 26-year-old ex-lawyer named Washington Irving, who would later pen THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW.


Knickerbocker's New Amsterdam

Knickerbocker's book was Manhattan's first best-seller. New Yorkers were charmed by the book's colorful, offbeat characters. Irving mixed fact and fiction, while ignoring the darker side of New York's past, such as the Indian wars and slavery.

Some readers probably never realized that the "history" was a spoof, and took it literally. Some eventually claimed that they were related to Father Knickerbocker! Later, "Knickerbockers" became a term for the city's oldest families, who were proud of their long residence there.

Top illustration: Mezzotint by C. Turner after a painting by G. Stuart Newton, courtesy of the Collection of the New-York Historical Society.

Bottom illustration: Fold-out accompanying A HISTORY OF NEW-YORK by Washington Irving, first edition, courtesy of the Collection of the New-York Historical Society.