Augustine Herman was a Bohemian explorer, cartographer, merchant and landholder. He was the author of a remarkably accurate map of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay regions of North America.
Background
Herman was born c. 1605 in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). His father, Augustin Ephraim Herrman, was a merchant and a councilor of Prague; his mother Beatrix, daughter of Kaspar Redel, was a member of a patrician Protestant family.
In 1618 his father was outlawed for his political activity and the family escaped to Amsterdam.
Chroniclers have spelled the surname variously: Herman, Herrman, Harman, Harmans, Heerman, Hermans, Heermans, etc. Herman himself usually wrote "Herman, " which is now the accepted style. He frequently added "Bohemiensis" ("the Bohemian", "the Czech"), as a suffix.
Education
Spending his early years in Bohemia, Herman acquired a knowledge of English, French, and German, and at an early age took a decided interest in geography and map-making.
Career
Herman is said to have served for a time in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, but, forsaking a soldier's career, he soon entered the employ of the Dutch West India Company. Later he claimed to have been the founder (1629) of its Virginia tobacco trade. In 1633 he was a witness to a transaction whereby the Dutch bought from the Indians all the land now occupied by Philadelphia. During the following decade he was engaged, apparently, in trade with Brazil or Surinam; in 1643 he went to New Netherland, where, the next year, he became an agent for Peter Gabry & Sons, a great mercantile firm of Amsterdam.
After the death of the elder Gabry in 1651, quarrels arose between Herrman and the sons which led to the severing of the connection. Meanwhile, Herrman had built up a large business in beaver skins under his own name in New Amsterdam; had introduced and grown indigo successfully on Manhattan Island; had bought large tracts of land on Manhattan Island and in the present state of New Jersey, not only for himself, but also for Govert Loockermans, another prominent merchant of New Amsterdam; and with his partner, George Hack, had become the largest exporter of tobacco in America.
Upon the reorganization of the government of New Netherland in 1647, Herman was appointed one of Governor Stuyvesant's "Nine Men, " but on July 28, 1649, he was one of the signers of the Vertoogh or "Remonstrance" to the States-General of the Netherlands, by which act he gained Stuyvesant's enmity. The vindictive old governor ruined him financially, together with his two powerful associates, Van der Donck and Loockermans, but in 1653 he was released from his creditors and for a while enjoyed the favor of Stuyvesant, who sent him on several diplomatic missions.
Going to Maryland in 1659 to discuss with Lord Baltimore the Dutch-Maryland boundary dispute, he remained in that province for the rest of the year, sketching a map of the territory. Early in 1660 he presented a rough sketch of this map to Lord Baltimore, who was so pleased that he ordered papers of denization to be prepared for Herman. In 1663, the latter petitioned for naturalization, and three years later he and his family became citizens of Maryland.
The map, Virginia and Maryland as it is Planted and Inhabited This Present Year 1670 Surveyed and Exactly Drawne by the Only Labour & Endeavour of Augustin Herman Bohemiensis, is Herman's outstanding achievement. Ten years were spent in making the necessary surveys. It was engraved in London in 1673 by William Faithorne and published the same year. One copy is in the British Museum and another in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island, where there is also a manuscript copy, formerly the property of William Blathwayt, secretary to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations. Lord Baltimore characterized it as "the best map that was ever Drawn of any Country whatsoever, " and liberally rewarded Herman for his services by granting him more than thirteen thousand acres of rich land in the extreme northeast corner of Maryland, now Cecil County. This land Herman erected into a manor of which he became the first lord. Until the American Revolution, Bohemia Manor was a hereditary manor.
Until his death Herman lived in considerable magnificence in the great house which he built on the north bank of the Bohemia River. He was buried in his vineyard, beside his wife. His will was proved November 11, 1686, the title "Lord of the Manor" descending to his eldest son, Ephraim.
Achievements
In the employment of Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Herman produced a remarkably accurate map of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay regions, in exchange for which he was permitted to establish an enormous plantation that he named Bohemia Manor in what is now southeastern Cecil County, Maryland.
A plaque is displayed in the town of Mšeno, Czech Republic on Cinibulkova street. On the plaque Herman is referenced using the Czech spelling of this name, Augustin Heřman.
Maryland Route 213 between Chestertown and Elkton is named the Augustine Herman Highway in his honor.
There are two schools that are named in honor of Bohemia Manor; Bohemia Manor High School, and Bohemia Manor Middle School.
Augustine Beach Hotel derives its name from Augustine Herman.
(1732 (Questionable) map of London Virginia and Maryland M...)
Connections
Herman married on December 10, 1651, while he was in New Amsterdam. His wife was Jannetje Marie Varleth, the daughter of Caspar Varleth and Judith Tentenier, of New Amsterdam. They had five children, Ephraim, Casper, Anna, Judith and Francina. Jannetje died before 1665, and sometime after that Herman married again, this time to Mary Catherine Ward from Maryland.
Herman's eldest son, Ephraim George Herman, who became Second Lord of Bohemia Manor, was born in New Amsterdam in 1652. He lived in New York City in 1673, and was in New Castle County by 1676 where he was at various times Clerk of the Courts of New Castle County and Upland County and Surveyor for St. Jones County and New Castle County. About 1680 he became a Labadist, but was taken sick, lost his mind, and died on Bohemia Manor in 1689, surviving his father by only three years. He had married Elizabeth van Rodenburg, who survived him, subsequently marrying Major John Donaldson, a member of the provincial council of Pennsylvania. They had four children, but it is believed that all of Ephraim's children died before reaching maturity, and the Lordship passed to his brother when he died.
The second son, Casperus Augustine Herman, who became the third Lord of Bohemia Manor, was born in New Amsterdam in 1656 and died on Bohemia Manor in 1704. He lived in New Castle for a number of years and represented New Castle County in the general assembly of Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties from 1683 to 1685. He was later a member of the legislature of Maryland in 1694.
Ephraim Augustine Herman became the fourth Lord of Bohemia Manor. He was born either on St. Augustine's Manor, or in nearby New Castle County, and died on Bohemia Manor in 1735. He was a member of the legislature of Maryland from Cecil County in 1715, 1716, 1728, and 1731.
Casparus Herman, the son of Ephraim Augustine, became the fifth and final Lord of Bohemia Manor in 1735. He died four years later without any children and so the title became extinct. His elder sister, Mary Augustine Herman, was his primary heir, and she married John Lawson, who secured the inheritance. Eventually most of this passed to Richard Bassett through his step father, Peter Lawson, and his mother, Judith Thompson, a granddaughter of Augustine Herman, the first Lord, through one of his daughters.
Even beyond his numerous accomplishments during his lifetime, part of Augustine Herman's legacy have been the numerous distinguished descendants he left.
