in Virginia by 1651, at which time he, with others, signed the so-called Engagement of Northampton whereby they promised to “bee true and faithful to the commonwealth of England as it is nowe constituted without Kinge or House of Lords.“[1]
While practicing medicine on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, George Hack also engaged in the cultivation of tobacco; and it would seem that Anna Hack under her own name did business with Herrman in the tobacco traffic. It appears that it was nothing unusual for the wives of the early colonial planters to engage in business activities under their own names.[2] In return for tobacco Herrman sent to Virginia various commodities which on one occasion consisted of boards, a horse and a negro.[3] Only the slave arrived for in a law suit brought by Paulus Leendertsen, Van der Griest and Albert Anthony, assignees of Augustine Herrman in 1652, Anna Hack denies receiving anything but the negro.[4] As a consequence a quantity of her tobacco stored in New Amsterdam was seized and held for security. It appears that during the time Mrs. Hack was living in New Amsterdam and she insisted that the tobacco was her own private property sent to her by her husband from Virginia. The court ordered Herrman’s assignees to prove that Mrs. Hack was indebted to his estate and whether the tobacco was sent in payment of such indebtedness; otherwise the court decreed that the attachment of the tobacco was null and void.[5] Nothing further about the case appears in the council records and it is likely that the case was dismissed without further inquiry. Moreover, Herrman was soon thereafter released from his creditors and the case was probably settled amicably.
