Winner of the 1992 Hendricks Manuscript Award given by the New Netherlands Project
This book breaks new ground by offering the first detailed and systematic analysis of inheritance practices in New York City from the beginning of Dutch settlement in the 1620s to the onset of the American Revolution. David E. Narrett shows how the transmission of property at death reflected the distribution of power and authority within the family. Dutch law was particularly favorable to women since it sanctioned community property within marriage and the drafting of mutual wills by spouses.
