document_title: New Netherland

question_text: who claimed the dutch settlement of new netherland for the english

text: New Netherland

text: Origin[edit]

text: During the 17th century, Europe was undergoing expansive social, cultural, and economic growth, known as the Dutch Golden Age in the Netherlands. Nations vied for domination of lucrative trade routes around the globe, particularly those to Asia.[4] Simultaneously, philosophical and theological conflicts were manifested in military battles across the continent. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands had become a home to many intellectuals, international businessmen, and religious refugees. In the Americas, the English had a settlement at Jamestown, the French had small settlements at Port Royal and Quebec, and the Spanish were developing colonies to exploit trade in South America and the Caribbean.[5]

text: In 1609, English sea captain and explorer Henry Hudson was hired by the Flemish émigrés running the Dutch East India Company (VOC) located in Amsterdam[6] to find a northeast passage to Asia, sailing around Scandinavia and Russia. He was turned back by the ice of the Arctic in his second attempt, so he sailed west to seek a northwest passage rather than return home. He ended up exploring the waters off the east coast of North America aboard the vlieboot Halve Maen. His first landfall was at Newfoundland and the second at Cape Cod.

text: Hudson believed that the passage to the Pacific Ocean was between the St. Lawrence River and Chesapeake Bay, so he sailed south to the Bay then turned northward, traveling close along the shore. He first discovered Delaware Bay and began to sail upriver looking for the passage. This effort was foiled by sandy shoals, and the Halve Maen continued north. After passing Sandy Hook, Hudson and his crew entered the narrows into the Upper New York Bay. (Unbeknownst to Hudson, the narrows had already been discovered in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano; today, the bridge spanning them is named after Verrazzano.)[7] Hudson believed that he had found the continental water route, so he sailed up the major river that later bore his name. He found the water too shallow to proceed several days later, at the site of present-day Troy, New York.[8]

text: Upon returning to the Netherlands, Hudson reported that he had found a fertile land and an amicable people willing to engage his crew in small-scale bartering of furs, trinkets, clothes, and small manufactured goods. His report was first published in 1611 by Emanuel Van Meteren, an Antwerp émigré and the Dutch Consul at London.[6] This stimulated interest[9] in exploiting this new trade resource, and it was the catalyst for Dutch merchant-traders to fund more expeditions. Flemish Lutheran émigré merchants such as Arnout Vogels sent the first follow-up voyages to exploit this discovery as early as July 1610.[6]

text: In 1611–12, the Admiralty of Amsterdam sent two covert expeditions to find a passage to China with the yachts Craen and Vos, captained by Jan Cornelisz Mey and Symon Willemsz Cat respectively. In four voyages made between 1611 and 1614, the area between present-day Maryland and Massachusetts was explored, surveyed, and charted by Adriaen Block, Hendrick Christiaensen, and Cornelius Jacobsen Mey. The results of these explorations, surveys, and charts made from 1609 through 1614 were consolidated in Block’s map, which used the name New Netherland for the first time. On maps, it was also called Nova Belgica. During this period, there was some trading with the native population.

text: Fur trader Juan Rodriguez (known as Jan Rodrigues among the Dutch) was born in Santo Domingo of Portuguese and African descent. He arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with the local population as a representative of the Dutch. He was the first recorded non-native inhabitant of what became New York City.[10][11][12]

text: Development[edit]

text: Chartered trading companies[edit]

text: The immediate and intense competition among Dutch trading companies in the newly charted areas (especially in New York Bay and along the Hudson River) led to disputes in Amsterdam and calls for regulation. The States General was the governing body of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and it proclaimed on March 17, 1614 that it would grant an exclusive patent for trade between the 40th and 45th parallels. This monopoly would be valid for four voyages, all of which had to be undertaken within three years after it was awarded. Block's map and the report that accompanied it were used by the New Netherland Company (a newly formed alliance of trading companies) to win its patent, which expired on January 1, 1618.[13]

text: The New Netherland Company also ordered a survey of the Delaware Valley. This was undertaken by Cornelis Hendricksz of Monnickendam who explored the Zuyd Rivier (literally "South River," today known as the Delaware River) in 1616 from its bay to its northernmost navigable reaches. His observations were preserved in a map drawn in 1616. Hendricksz's voyages were made aboard the IJseren Vercken (Iron Hog), a vessel built in America. Despite the survey, the company was unable to secure an exclusive patent from the States General for the area between the 38th and 40th parallels.[14]

text: The States General issued patents in 1614 for the development of New Netherland as a private, commercial venture. Soon thereafter, traders built Fort Nassau on Castle Island in the area of present-day Albany up Hudson's river. The fort was to defend river traffic against interlopers and to conduct fur trading operations with the natives. The location of the fort proved to be impractical, however, due to repeated flooding of the island in the summers; it was abandoned in 1618,[15] which coincided with the patent's expiration.

text: The Dutch West India Company (WIC) (Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie) was granted a charter by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on June 3, 1621.[16] It was given the exclusive right to operate in West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas.[16] In New Netherland, profit was originally to be made from the North American fur trade.

text: Among the founders of the WIC was Willem Usselincx. Between 1600 and 1606, he had promoted the concept that a main goal of the company should be establishing colonies in the New World. In 1620, Usselincx made a last appeal to the States General, which rejected his principal vision as a primary goal. The legislators preferred the formula of trading posts with small populations and a military presence to protect them, which was working in the East Indies, over encouraging mass immigration and establishing large colonies. The company did not focus on colonization in North America until 1654, when it was forced to surrender Dutch Brazil and forfeit the richest sugar-producing area in the world.

text: Pre-colonial population[edit]

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text: The first trading partners of the New Netherlanders were the Algonquian who lived in the area.[17] The Dutch depended on the indigenous population to capture, skin, and deliver pelts to them, especially beaver. It is likely that Hudson's peaceful contact with the local Mahicans encouraged them to establish Fort Nassau in 1614, the first of many garrisoned trading stations to be built. In 1628, the Mohawks (members of the Iroquois Confederacy) conquered the Mahicans, who retreated to Connecticut. The Mohawks gained a near-monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch, as they controlled the upstate Adirondacks and Mohawk Valley through the center of New York.[18]

text: The Algonquian Lenape population around New York Bay and along the Lower Hudson were seasonally migrational people. The Dutch called the numerous tribes collectively the River Indians,[18][19] known by their exonyms as the Wecquaesgeek, Hackensack, Raritan, Canarsee, and Tappan. These groups had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders. The Munsee inhabited the Highlands, Hudson Valley, and northern New Jersey,[18] while Minquas (called the Susquehannocks by the English) lived west of the Zuyd Rivier along and beyond the Susquehanna River, which the Dutch regarded as their boundary with Virginia.

text: Company policy required land to be purchased from the indigenous peoples. The WIC would offer a land patent, the recipient of which would be responsible for negotiating a deal with representatives of the local population, usually the sachem or high chief. The Dutch (referred to by the natives as Swannekins, or salt water people) and the Wilden (as the Dutch called the natives) had vastly different conceptions of ownership and use of land—so much so that they did not understand each other at all.[18] The Dutch thought that their proffer of gifts in the form of sewant or manufactured goods was a trade agreement and defense alliance, which gave them exclusive rights to farming, hunting, and fishing. Often, the Indians did not vacate the property, or reappeared seasonally, according to their migration patterns. They were willing to share the land with the Europeans, but the Indians did not intend to leave or give up access. This misunderstanding and other differences led to violent conflict later. At the same time, such differences marked the beginnings of a multicultural society.[20]

text: Early settlement[edit]

text: Like the French in the north, the Dutch focused their interest on the fur trade. To that end, they cultivated contingent relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois to procure greater access to key central regions from which the skins came.

text: The Dutch encouraged a kind of feudal aristocracy over time, to attract settlers to the region of the Hudson River, in what became known as the system of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions. Further south, a Swedish trading company that had ties with the Dutch tried to establish its first settlement along the Delaware River three years later. Without resources to consolidate its position, New Sweden was gradually absorbed by New Holland and later in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

text: The earliest Dutch settlement was built around 1613, and consisted of a number of small huts built by the crew of the "Tijger" (Tiger), a Dutch ship under the command of Captain Adriaen Block, which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson.[21] Soon after, the first of two Fort Nassaus was built, and small factorijen or trading posts went up, where commerce could be conducted with Algonquian and Iroquois population, possibly at Schenectady, Esopus, Quinnipiac, Communipaw, and elsewhere.

text: In 1617, Dutch colonists built a fort at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers where Albany now stands. In 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, which had lowered the northern border of its North American dominion to 42 degrees latitude in acknowledgment of the claim by the English north of Cape Cod.[nb 1] The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province the Zuyd Rivier (South River), the Noort Rivier (North River), and the Versche Rivier (Fresh River). Discovery, charting, and permanent settlement were needed to maintain a territorial claim. To this end in May 1624, the VOC landed 30 families at Fort Orange and Noten Eylant (today's Governors Island) at the mouth of the North River. They disembarked from the ship New Netherland, under the command of Cornelis Jacobsz May, the first Director of the New Netherland. He was replaced the following year by Willem Verhulst.

text: In June 1625, 45 additional colonists disembarked on Noten Eylant from three ships named Horse, Cow, and Sheep, which also delivered 103 horses, steers, cows, pigs, and sheep. Most settlers were dispersed to the various garrisons built across the territory: upstream to Fort Orange, to Kievets Hoek on the Fresh River, and Fort Wilhelmus on the South River.[22][23][24] Many of the settlers were not Dutch but Walloons, French Huguenots, or Africans (most as enslaved labor, some later gaining "half-free" status).[25][26]

text: North River and The Manhattans[edit]

text: Peter Minuit became Director of the New Netherland in 1626 and made a decision that greatly affected the new colony. Originally, the capital of the province was to be located on the South River,[27] but it was soon realized that the location was susceptible to mosquito infestation in the summer and the freezing of its waterways in the winter. He chose instead the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the river explored by Hudson, at that time called the North River.

text: Minuit traded some goods with the local population,[28] in one of the most legendary real estate deals ever made, and reported that he had purchased it from the natives, as was company policy. He ordered the construction of Fort Amsterdam at its southern tip, around which grew the heart of the province called The Manhattoes in the vernacular of the day, rather than New Netherland.[29][30]

text: The port city of New Amsterdam outside the walls of the fort became a major hub for trade between North America, the Caribbean, and Europe, and the place where raw materials were loaded, such as pelts, lumber, and tobacco. Sanctioned privateering contributed to its growth. It was given its municipal charter in 1653,[31] by which time the Commonality of New Amsterdam included the isle of Manhattan, Staaten Eylandt, Pavonia, and the Lange Eylandt towns.[32]

text: In the hope of encouraging immigration, the Dutch West India Company established the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions in 1629, which gave it the power to offer vast land grants and the title of patroon to some of its invested members.[33] The vast tracts were called patroonships, and the title came with powerful manorial rights and privileges, such as the creation of civil and criminal courts and the appointing of local officials. In return, a patroon was required by the Company to establish a settlement of at least 50 families within four years[34] who would live as tenant farmers. Of the original five patents given, the largest and only truly successful endeavour was Rensselaerswyck,[35] at the highest navigable point on the North River,[36] which became the main thoroughfare of the province. Beverwijck grew from a trading post to a bustling, independent town in the midst of Rensselaerwyck, as did Wiltwyck, south of the patroonship in Esopus country.

text: Kieft's War and the Remonstrance of New Netherland[edit]

text: Willem Kieft was Director New Netherland from 1638 until 1647. The colony had grown somewhat before his arrival but it did not flourish, and Kieft was under pressure to cut costs. At this time, a large number of Indian tribes who had signed mutual defense treaties with the Dutch were gathering near the colony due to widespread warfare and dislocation among the tribes to the north. At first, he suggested collecting tribute from the Indians,[37] as was common among the various dominant tribes, but his demands were simply ignored by the Tappan and Wecquaesgeek. Subsequently, a colonist was murdered in an act of revenge for some killings that had taken place years earlier and the Indians refused to turn over the perpetrator. Kieft suggested that they be taught a lesson by ransacking their villages. In an attempt to gain public support, he created the citizens commission the Council of Twelve Men.

text: They did not rubber-stamp his ideas, as he had expected them to, but took the opportunity to mention grievances that they had with the company's mismanagement and its unresponsiveness to their suggestions. Kieft thanked and disbanded them and, against their advice, ordered that groups of Tappan and Wecquaesgeekbe be attacked at Pavonia and Corlear's Hook, even though they had sought refuge from their more powerful Mahican enemies per their treaty understandings with the Dutch. The massacre left 130 dead. Within days, the surrounding tribes united and rampaged the countryside, in a unique move, forcing settlers who escaped to find safety at Fort Amsterdam. For two years, a series of raids and reprisals raged across the province, until 1645 when Kieft's War ended with a treaty, in a large part brokered by the Hackensack sagamore Oratam.[18]

text: The colonists were disenchanted with the previous governor, his ignorance of indigenous peoples, and the unresponsiveness of the WIC to their rights and requests, and they submitted the Remonstrance of New Netherland to the States General.[38] This document was written by Leiden-educated New Netherland lawyer Adriaen van der Donck, condemning the VOC for mismanagement and demanding full rights as citizens of the province of the Netherlands.[20]

text: Director-General of New Netherland[edit]

text: Petrus Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam in 1647, the only governor of the colony to be called Director-General. Some years earlier land ownership policy was liberalized and trading was somewhat deregulated, and many New Netherlanders considered themselves entrepreneurs in a free market.[20]

text: During the period of his governorship, the province experienced exponential growth.[35] Demands were made upon Stuyvesant from all sides: the West India Company, the States General, and the New Netherlanders. Dutch territory was being nibbled at by the English to the north and the Swedes to the south, while in the heart of the province the Esopus were trying to contain further Dutch expansion. Discontent in New Amsterdam led locals to dispatch Adriaen van der Donck back to the United Provinces to seek redress. After nearly three years of legal and political wrangling, the Dutch Government came down against the VOC, granting the colony a measure of self-government and recalling Stuyvesant in April 1652. However, the orders were rescinded with the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War a month later.[20] Military battles were occurring in the Caribbean and along the South Atlantic coast. In 1654, the Netherlands lost New Holland in Brazil to the Portuguese, encouraging some of its residents to emigrate north and making the North American colonies more appealing to some investors. The Esopus Wars are so named for the branch of Lenape that lived around Wiltwijck, which was the Dutch settlement on the west bank of Hudson River between Beverwyk and New Amsterdam. These conflicts were generally over settlement of land by New Netherlanders for which contracts had not been clarified, and were seen by the natives as an unwanted incursion into their territory. Previously, the Esopus, a clan of the Munsee Lenape, had much less contact with the River Indians and the Mohawks.[39]

text: Society[edit]

text: New Netherlanders were not necessarily Dutch, and New Netherland was never a homogeneous society.[2] An early governor, Peter Minuit, was a Walloon born in modern Germany who spoke English and worked for a Dutch company.[40] The term New Netherland Dutch generally includes all the Europeans who came to live there,[1] but may also refer to Africans, Indo-Caribbeans, South Americans and even the Native Americans who were integral to the society. Though Dutch was the official language, and likely the lingua franca of the province, it was but one of many spoken there.[2] There were various Algonquian languages; Walloons and Huguenots tended to speak French, and Scandinavians brought their own tongues, as did the Germans. It is likely that the about 100 Africans (including both free men and slaves) on Manhattan spoke their mother tongues, but were taught Dutch from 1638 by Adam Roelantsz van Dokkum.[41] English was already on the rise to become the vehicular language in world trade,[citation needed] and settlement by individuals or groups of English-speakers started soon after the inception of the province. The arrival of refugees from New Holland in Brazil may have brought speakers of Portuguese, Spanish, and Ladino (with Hebrew as a liturgical language). Commercial activity in the harbor could have been transacted simultaneously in any of a number of tongues.[42]

text: The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery in 1625 with the importation of eleven black slaves who worked as farmers, fur traders, and builders. Although enslaved, the Africans had a few basic rights and families were usually kept intact. Admitted to the Dutch Reformed Church and married by its ministers, their children could be baptized. Slaves could testify in court, sign legal documents, and bring civil actions against whites. Some were permitted to work after hours earning wages equal to those paid to white workers. When the colony fell, the company freed the first slaves and some others, establishing early on a nucleus of free negros.[43]

text: The Union of Utrecht, the founding document of the Dutch Republic, signed in 1579, stated "that everyone shall remain free in religion and that no one may be persecuted or investigated because of religion". The Dutch West India Company, however, established the Reformed Church as the official religious institution of New Netherland.[44] Its successor church, the Reformed Church in America still exists today. The colonists had to attract, "through attitude and by example", the natives and nonbelievers to God's word "without, on the other hand, to persecute someone by reason of his religion, and to leave everyone the freedom of his conscience." In addition, the laws and ordinances of the states of Holland were incorporated by reference in those first instructions to the Governors Island settlers in 1624. There were two test cases during Stuyvesant's governorship in which the rule prevailed: the official granting of full residency for both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews in New Amsterdam in 1655, and the Flushing Remonstrance, involving Quakers, in 1657.[45][46] During the 1640s, two religious leaders, both women, took refuge in New Netherland: Anne Hutchinson and the Anabaptist Lady Deborah Moody.

text: Expansion and incursion[edit]

text: South River and New Sweden[edit]

text: Apart from the second Fort Nassau, and the small community that supported it, settlement along the Zuyd Rivier was limited. An attempt by patroons of Zwaanendael, Samuel Blommaert and Samuel Godijn was destroyed by the local population soon after its founding in 1631 during the absence of their agent, David Pietersen de Vries.

text: Peter Minuit, who had construed a deed for Manhattan (and was soon after dismissed as director), knew that the Dutch would be unable to defend the southern flank of their North American territory and had not signed treaties with or purchased land from the Minquas. After gaining the support from the Queen of Sweden, he chose the southern banks of the Delaware Bay to establish a colony there, which he did in 1638, calling it Fort Christina, New Sweden. As expected, the government at New Amsterdam took no other action than to protest. Other settlements sprang up as colony grew, mostly populated by Swedes, Finns, Germans, and Dutch. In 1651, Fort Nassau was dismantled and relocated in an attempt to disrupt trade and reassert control, receiving the name Fort Casimir. Fort Beversreede was built in the same year, but was short-lived. In 1655, Stuyvesant led a military expedition and regained control of the region, calling its main town "New Amstel" (Nieuw-Amstel).[47] During this expedition, some villages and plantations at the Manhattans (Pavonia and Staten Island) were attacked in an incident that is known as the Peach Tree War.[20] These raids are sometimes considered revenge for the murder of an Indian girl attempting to pluck a peach, though it was likely that they were a retaliation for the attacks at New Sweden.[20][48] A new experimental settlement was begun in 1673, just before the British takeover in 1674. Franciscus van den Enden had drawn up charter for a utopian society that included equal education of all classes, joint ownership of property, and a democratically elected government.[20] Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy attempted such a settlement near the site of Zwaanendael, but it soon expired under English rule.[49]

text: Fresh River and New England[edit]

text: Few Dutch settlers to New Netherland made their home at Fort Goede Hoop on the Fresh River. As early as 1637, English settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony began to settle along its banks and on Lange Eylandt, some with permission from the colonial government and others with complete disregard for it. Developing simultaneously with that of New Netherland, the English colonies grew more rapidly, since settlement by religious groups (rather than trade) was the impetus for their creation and growth. The wal, or rampart, was originally built at contemporary Wall Street due to fear of an invasion by the English.

text: Initially, there was limited contact between New Englanders and New Netherlanders, but the two provinces engaged in direct diplomatic relations with a swelling English population and territorial disputes. The New England Confederation was formed in 1643 as a political and military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.[50] Connecticut and New Haven were actually on land claimed by the United Provinces, but the Dutch were unable to populate or militarily defend their territorial claim and therefore could do nothing but protest the growing flood of English settlers. With the 1650 Treaty of Hartford, Stuyvesant provisionally ceded the Connecticut River region to New England, drawing New Netherland's eastern border 50 Dutch miles (approximately 250 km) west of the Connecticut's mouth on the mainland and just west of Oyster Bay on Long Island. The Dutch West India Company refused to recognize the treaty, but it failed to reach any other agreement with the English, so the Hartford Treaty set the de facto border. Connecticut mostly assimilated into New England, although the western part of the state maintained stronger ties with the Tri-State Region.

text: Capitulation, restitution, and concession[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In March 1664, Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland resolved to annex New Netherland and "bring all his Kingdoms under one form of government, both in church and state, and to install the Anglican government as in old England." The directors of the Dutch West India Company concluded that the religious freedom, which they offered in New Netherland, would dissuade English colonists from working toward their removal. They wrote to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant:

text: . . . we are in hopes that as the English at the north (in New Netherland) have removed mostly from old England for the causes aforesaid, they will not give us henceforth so much trouble, but prefer to live free under us at peace with their consciences than to risk getting rid of our authority and then falling again under a government from which they had formerly fled.

text: Early image of "Nieuw Amsterdam", made in 1664, the year it was surrendered to English forces under Richard Nicolls

text: On August 27, 1664, four English frigates led by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbor and demanded New Netherland’s surrender.[51][52] They met no resistance because numerous citizens’ requests had gone unheeded for protection by a suitable Dutch garrison against "the deplorable and tragic massacres" by the natives. That lack of adequate fortification, ammunition, and manpower made New Amsterdam defenseless, as well as the indifference from the West India Company to previous pleas for reinforcement of men and ships against "the continual troubles, threats, encroachments and invasions of the English neighbors." Stuyvesant negotiated successfully for good terms from his "too powerful enemies".[53] In the Articles of Transfer, he and his council secured the principle of religious tolerance in Article VIII, which assured that New Netherlanders "shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religion" under English rule. The Articles were largely observed in New Amsterdam and the Hudson River Valley, but they were immediately violated by the English along the Delaware River, where pillaging, looting, and arson were undertaken under the orders of English officer Sir Robert Carr, Kt.[54][55] who had been dispatched to secure the valley. Many Dutch settlers were sold into slavery in Virginia on Carr's orders, and an entire Mennonite settlement was wiped out, led by Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy near modern Lewes, Delaware. The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War; the Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland, and the status quo was maintained, with the Dutch occupying Suriname and the nutmeg island of Run.

text: Within six years, the nations were again at war. The Dutch recaptured New Netherland in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships led by Vice Admiral Cornelius Evertsen and Commodore Jacob Binckes, then the largest ever seen in North America. They chose Anthony Colve as governor and renamed the city "New Orange," reflecting the installation of William of Orange as Lord-Lieutenant (stadtholder) of Holland in 1672, who became King William III of England in 1689. Nevertheless, the Dutch Republic was bankrupt after the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672–1674, the historic "disaster years" in which the republic was simultaneously attacked by the French under Louis XIV, the English, and the Bishops of Munster and Cologne. The States of Zeeland had tried to convince the States of Holland to take on the responsibility for the New Netherland province, but to no avail. In November 1674, the Treaty of Westminster concluded the war and ceded New Netherland to the English.[56]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: New Netherland grew into the largest metropolis in the United States, and it left an enduring legacy on American cultural and political life[57], "a secular broadmindedness and mercantile pragmatism"[12] greatly influenced by the social and political climate in the Dutch Republic at the time, as well as by the character of those who immigrated to it.[58] It was during the early British colonial period that the New Netherlanders actually developed the land and society that had an enduring impact on the Capital District, the Hudson Valley, North Jersey, western Long Island, New York City, and ultimately the United States.[12]

text: Political culture[edit]

text: The concept of tolerance was the mainstay of the province's Dutch mother country. The Dutch Republic was a haven for many religious and intellectual refugees fleeing oppression, as well as home to the world's major ports in the newly developing global economy. Concepts of religious freedom and free-trade (including a stock market) were Netherlands imports. In 1682, visiting Virginian William Byrd commented about New Amsterdam that "they have as many sects of religion there as at Amsterdam".

text: The Dutch Republic was one of the first nation-states of Europe where citizenship and civil liberties were extended to large segments of the population. The framers of the U.S. Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces, though that influence was more as an example of things to avoid than of things to imitate.[59] In addition, the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces from the Spanish throne, is strikingly similar to the later American Declaration of Independence,[60] though there is no concrete evidence that one influenced the other. John Adams went so far as to say that “the origins of the two Republics are so much alike that the history of one seems but a transcript from that of the other.”[61] The Articles of Capitulation (outlining the terms of transfer to the English) in 1664[53] provided for the right to worship as one wished, and were incorporated into subsequent city, state, and national constitutions in the United States, and are the legal and cultural code that lies at the root of the New York Tri-State traditions.[62]

text: Many prominent U.S. citizens are Dutch American directly descended from the Dutch families of New Netherland.[63] The Roosevelt family produced two Presidents and are descended from Claes van Roosevelt, who emigrated around 1650.[64] The Van Buren family of President Martin Van Buren also originated in New Netherland.[4] The Bush family descendants from Flora Sheldon are descendants from the Schuyler family.

text: Lore[edit]

text: The colors of the flag of New York City, of Albany and of Nassau County are those of the old but still used Dutch flag. The blue, white and orange are also seen in materials from New York's two World's Fairs and the uniforms of the New York Knicks basketball club, the New York Islanders hockey club, and the New York Mets baseball club. Hofstra University, founded in 1935, takes its flag from the original.

text: The seven arrows in the lion's left claw in the Republic's coat of arms, representing the seven provinces, was a precedent for the thirteen arrows in the eagle's left claw in the Great Seal of the United States.[65]

text: Any review of the legacy of New Netherland is complicated by the enormous impact of Washington Irving’s satirical A History of New York and its famous fictional author Diedrich Knickerbocker. Irving’s romantic vision of an enlightened, languid Dutch yeomanry dominated the popular imagination about the colony since its publication in 1809.[66] To this day, many mistakenly believe that Irving’s two most famous short stories, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", are based on actual folk tales of Dutch peasants in the Hudson Valley.[citation needed]

text: The tradition of Santa Claus is thought to have developed from a gift-giving celebration of the feast of Saint Nicholas on December 6 each year by the settlers of New Netherland.[20][67] The Dutch Sinterklaas was Americanized into "Santa Claus", a name first used in the American press in 1773,[68] when, in the early days of the revolt, Nicholas was used as a symbol of New York's non-British past.[67] However, many of the "traditions" of Santa Claus may have simply been invented by Irving in his 1809 Knickerbocker's History of New York from The Beginning of the World To the End of The Dutch Dynasty.[67]

text: Pinkster, the Dutch celebration of Spring is still celebrated in the Hudson Valley.

text: Language[edit]

text: Dutch continued to be spoken in the region for some time. President Martin Van Buren grew up in Kinderhook, New York speaking only Dutch, later becoming the only president not to have spoken English as a first language.[69] Pidgin Delaware developed early in the province as a vehicular language to expedite trade. A dialect known as Jersey Dutch was spoken in and around rural Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey until the early 20th century.[70] Mohawk Dutch, spoken around Albany, is also now extinct.[71]

text: Many Dutch words borrowed into English are evident in today's American vernacular and emanate directly from the legacy of New Netherland.[72] For example, the quintessential American word Yankee may be a corruption of a Dutch name, Jan Kees. [nb 2][73] Knickerbocker, originally a surname, has been used to describe a number of things, including breeches, glasses, and a basketball team. Cookie is from the Dutch word koekje or (informally) koekie. Boss, from baas, evolved in New Netherland to the usage known today.[nb 3]

text: Placenames[edit]

text: Early settlers and their descendents gave many placenames still in use throughout the region that was New Netherland.[4] Using Dutch, and the Latin alphabet, they also "Batavianized"[20] names of Native American geographical locations such as Manhattan, Hackensack, Sing-Sing, and Canarsie. Peekskill, Catskill, and Cresskill all refer to the streams, or kils, around which they grew. Schuylkill River is somewhat redundant, since kil is already built into it. Among those that use hoek, meaning corner,[74] are: Red Hook, Sandy Hook, Constable Hook, and Kinderhook. Nearly pure Dutch forms name the bodies of water Spuyten Duyvil, Kill van Kull, and Hell Gate. Countless towns, streets, and parks bear names derived from Dutch places or from the surnames of the early Dutch settlers. Hudson and the House of Orange-Nassau lend their names to numerous places in the Northeast.


document_title: Muntin

question_text: what do you call the dividers in windows

root

text: Muntin

text: A muntin in U.S. use is a strip of wood or metal separating and holding panes of glass in a window.[1] Muntins are also called "muntin bars", "glazing bars", or "sash bars". Muntins can be found in doors, windows and furniture, typically in western styles of architecture. Muntins divide a single window sash or casement into a grid system of small panes of glass, called "lights" or "lites".

tag: p

text: In UK use a muntin is a vertical member in timber panelling or a door separating two panels.

text: Windows with "true divided lights" make use of thin muntins, typically 1/2" to 7/8" wide in residential windows, positioned between individual panes of glass. In wooden windows, a fillet is cut into the outer edge of the muntin to "stop" the pane of glass in the opening, and putty or thin strips of wood or metal are then used to hold the glass in place. The inner sides of wooden muntins are typically milled to traditional profiles. In the U.S., the thickness of window muntins has varied historically, ranging from very slim muntins in 19th century Greek revival buildings to thick muntins in 17th and early 18th century buildings.

text: Until the middle of the 19th century, it was economically necessary to use smaller panes of glass, which were much more affordable to produce, and fabricate into a grid to make large windows and doors.[2] Many considered the division of a window or glazed door into smaller panes to be more architecturally attractive than use of large panes. In the UK and other countries, muntins (typically called "glazing bars" in the UK, or "astragals" in Scotland) were nevertheless removed from the windows of thousands of older buildings during the nineteenth century in favor of large panes of plate glass. Restoration of these buildings in the following century increasingly included reinstatement of the glazing bars, which many now see as an essential architectural element in period buildings.

text: Muntins are often confused with "mullions" (which separate complete window units), and "astragals" (which close the gap between two leaves of a double door). Many companies use the term "grille" when referring to a decorative structure of wood or other material that is put over a single pane of glass to make it look as if there were muntins separating multiple panes of glass. In the UK, the term "grille" tends to be used only when there are bars sandwiched within the insulated glass glazing unit, and not stuck to the outsides of it.

text: Double- or triple-layer insulated glass can be used in place of ordinary single panes in a window divided by muntins, though this reduces the effectiveness of the insulation. Other insulating glass arrangements include insertion of a decorative grid of simulated metal, wooden or plastic muntins sandwiched between two large panels of glass, sometimes adding another grid of simulated wood muntins facing the interior to produce a more convincing divided light appearance.

text: In furniture[edit]

text: In furniture, a muntin is the central vertical member of the framework of a piece of furniture, the outside members being called stiles.[3]


document_title: List of Six Feet Under characters

question_text: who plays brenda's mom on six feet under

question_tokens: who plays brenda 's mom on six feet under

text: List of Six Feet Under characters

text: Major characters[edit]

text: Nate Fisher[edit]

text: Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher, Jr. (1965–2005), played by Peter Krause, is the oldest of the three Fisher siblings. In the first episode, Nate is returning to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve only to learn that his father has died.

text: A recurring theme throughout the series is Nate searching for the ideal life. In the pilot episode, he meets Brenda Chenowith on an airplane and has sex with her upon landing. Brenda becomes his on-again/off-again lover throughout the series. Upon learning of his father's death, his mother asks him to stay, despite Nate wanting to return to Seattle. Displeased with the direction his life is going, Nate agrees to stay and become business partners with his brother in the funeral home. Nate becomes diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and becomes engaged to Brenda around the same time. During their engagement, Brenda sleeps with others, claiming a sex addiction which Nate does not believe. Nate began having seizures and seeks treatment for his AVM. Nate marries his former girlfriend Lisa, after discovering that Lisa is pregnant (between seasons 2 and 3). When their daughter Maya is still very young, Lisa disappears and is eventually discovered to have drowned. It's later implied that she was murdered by her brother-in-law when she tried to end their affair. Nate conspired to fulfill Lisa's wishes for a "green" burial. Nate reconciles with Brenda and they move in together. He agrees to marry her and have a child but Brenda miscarries on the eve of their wedding. Nate doesn't want Brenda's next pregnancy. He develops feeling for his stepfather's daughter, Maggie, a Quaker. After Nate and Maggie have sex, he collapses and is rushed to a hospital. Although it appears he will recover, he dies in his sleep with David by his side.

text: Following his death, the series spends the last three episodes addressing the other characters' lives as they attempt to cope with his absence. Nate - like his father - continues to appear in these episodes as a mental manifestation of his surviving family.

text: David Fisher[edit]

text: David James Fisher (1969–2044), played by Michael C. Hall, is the middle child in the Fisher family. Prior to the start of the series, David was engaged to a woman named Jennifer Mason, but broke the engagement because he was unsure of his sexuality. David is gay but no one knows except his boyfriend, Keith Charles, a police officer, whom he met at a church social function. Keith has come out to his family and friends and quickly loses patience with David hiding his own sexuality. David joined the family business in 1989 at the age of 20 and was upset that his brother Nate did not do the same. After his father's death and Nate's return, David holds resentment towards Nate, which is resolved when Nate agrees to help with the family funeral business. At the same time, David is offered his father's old position as deacon at their local church, which frowns upon homosexuality. After breaking up with Keith over continuing sexuality issues, David briefly engages in some anonymous sex, for which he suffered ongoing legal issues. After arranging a funeral for a young gay man who was brutally murdered for his sexual orientation, David comes out to his family and resigns his post as deacon. David and Keith eventually reconcile and start planning a family together. Soon after, David is carjacked. The experience leaves him extremely traumatized and he remains so for the rest of the series. They later adopt two young boys (brothers) Anthony and Durrell.

text: David marries Keith around 2009 and they remain together until Keith's death in 2029. David dies in 2044 at a family outing after seeing a vision of a young Keith.

text: Ruth Fisher[edit]

text: Ruth O'Connor Fisher (November 17, 1946 – 2025), played by Frances Conroy, is the widow of Nathaniel, Sr and mother to Nate, David and Claire.

text: Ruth had an unhappy and abusive childhood, so she has learned to bottle her emotions, frequently resulting in a violent outburst.

text: Ruth married Nathaniel Fisher in 1965 after becoming pregnant with her first child, Nate, who was born while Nathaniel is serving in Vietnam. Four years later, David was born. Their last child, Claire, is born much later, in 1983. Feeling trapped in a maternal role at such a young age, Ruth resented her younger sister Sarah, an artist whom Ruth views as a free spirit.

text: Before the series begins, Ruth had an affair with her hairdresser, Hiram Gunderson. After Nathaniel's sudden death, she calls off the affair to mourn but rekindles the relationship some months later. Ruth takes a job at a flower shop, where the owner Nikolai becomes infatuated with her. Hiram then breaks up with Ruth and she begins seeing Nikolai. Ruth ends their relationship when she realizes Nikolai has been feeling suffocated by her attentions and has only been staying with her out of guilt.

text: During her daughter-in-law Lisa's disappearance, Ruth struggles with her emotions and her role of matriarch. During this time, she meets and marries geologist George Sibley after six weeks of courtship. Ruth discovers unpleasant facts about her new husband's past, including multiple wives and an estranged son. Over time, George becomes increasingly paranoid, particularly with beliefs regarding an inevitable nuclear apocalypse, forcing Ruth to admit him for treatments including electro-convulsive therapy. Finding it hard to deal with his subsequent memory loss and emotional instability, Ruth decides to set George up with a life separate from hers before eventually divorcing him.

text: After Nate's death, Ruth decides she needs a change in her life and moves in with her sister Sarah and her caretaker, Bettina. Ruth dies at the age of 79 at a hospital with George and her surviving children at her bedside. In her final moments, she sees the spirits of Nathaniel and Nate.

text: Claire Fisher[edit]

text: Claire Simone Fisher (March 13, 1983 – February 11, 2085), played by Lauren Ambrose, is the only daughter and third child of the Fisher family. She is known for being rebellious throughout her teenage years and often acts in a selfish and surly manner, yet displays genuine affection and care for her family at moments of crisis. She is the most creative member of the family, specializing in art and photography. Claire has several turbulent relationships during the five years of the series. Her high school boyfriend, Gabe, was a troubled and rebellious teen. Claire had brief relationship with Brenda's brother Billy, who has bipolar disorder. Claire dated a fellow college student Russell, who struggled with his sexuality and had an affair with their professor, Olivier.

text: During Season 5, Claire works as a temp in a legal department where she meets and begins to date Ted, a handsome Republican lawyer, despite having left-wing views. Ted becomes a source of comfort after Nate's death. In the series finale, Claire receives a job offer to work as a photographer's assistant in New York, but the job offer is later rescinded. Claire's mental manifestation of Nate encourages her to move to New York anyway, assuring her she will find something. Claire decides to do so, leaving her family and Ted behind, driving to NYC in her new Toyota Prius, replacing the family's vintage Cadillac hearse, which she wrecked. On her journey, she listens to a CD which Ted gave her, a compilation of 'un-hip' songs he listens to. In 2025, Claire returns to L.A. shortly before her mother's death. She reunites with Ted at her mother's funeral and later marries him. According to her obituary, she became an award-winning photographer and taught photography as a faculty member at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2018, earning tenure in 2028. Claire eventually dies of natural causes in 2085 at the age of 101, as she lies in her bed surrounded by pictures of her family. She outlives all of the other adults from the show's 5-year run.

text: Brenda Chenowith[edit]

text: Brenda Chenowith (1969–2051), played by Rachel Griffiths, is Nate's girlfriend and, later, wife. Her parents are wealthy psychiatrists who were in an open marriage, flaunting their activities in front of their children. As a child, she was under the scrutiny of Dr. Gareth Feinberg and various psychologists who began documenting her odd behavior. Being a genius, however, she would study the symptoms of various mental disorders and feign them to spite the doctors. Her case was turned into a best-selling book titled Charlotte Light and Dark, which haunts Brenda into adulthood.

text: Her brother (Billy) is a successful photographer, struggling with bipolar disorder. Brenda spent much of her life taking care of Billy and has struggled to build her own life outside of Billy's illness. Billy has a strong fixation on Brenda's life and their relationship at times bordered on incest.

text: At the time of the series beginning, Brenda runs a shiatsu massage service out of her house. Brenda meets Nate Fisher on a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles, immediately before Nate learns of his father's death. The two begin a relationship which is often interrupted by her brother Billy who continues to find his way into her life. After she has her brother institutionalized for violent behavior, Brenda returns to college to study psychology and begins writing a novel to stave off depression. She develops a friendship with a high-class prostitute and eventually finds herself succumbing to sexual impulses outside of her relationship. Nate breaks up with Brenda after her sexual addiction is revealed. Consequently, she spirals into drug addiction and harmful behavior. Brenda moves away from Los Angeles and seeks therapy.

text: Brenda returns to L.A. after her father is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She then begins a relationship with her neighbor Joe, who likes to be dominated in bed. After Joe catches Brenda making out with Nate, he ends the relationship and moves out of the house they had recently bought.

text: Brenda reconciles with Nate and becomes pregnant. On the night before their wedding, Brenda suffers a miscarriage. Brenda eventually becomes pregnant again and begins an internship as a cognitive therapist. About this time, Nate begins spending a lot of time with his step-sister Maggie and becomes interested in her religion. After Nate's collapse and admission to hospital, he breaks up with Brenda but dies before divorce proceedings begin. Six weeks after Nate's death, Brenda delivers a premature baby girl named Willa.

text: Brenda becomes a university professor and leading scholar on the topic of development of gifted children.[1] Brenda later marries a man named Daniel Nathanson and has another child, Forrest Nathanson.[1] She dies in 2051, with her brother Billy at her side, at the age of 82 of natural causes.

text: Keith Charles[edit]

text: Keith Dwayne Charles (1968–2029), played by Mathew St. Patrick, is David's main love interest over the course of the series. Keith was born in 1968 in San Diego and attended West Point Military Academy, before graduating with a degree in Criminology in 1989.[2] David and Keith began dating some months before the pilot episode after meeting at a gay-friendly church.[3]

text: Keith is an openly gay policeman who works for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).[3] He tolerates David hiding his sexuality until an incident where a fellow shopper calls them "fags".[4] Keith dumps David and begins dating an emergency medical technician named Eddie, but their relationship fails when Keith becomes concerned with his niece Taylor and his sister Karla Denise, who goes into drug rehabilitation. David and Keith then reconcile. After Keith's sister is incarcerated, Keith gets custody of Taylor and begins adoption proceedings. However, after Keith brutally beats a man during a domestic violence call, he resigns from the LAPD and gives Taylor to his parents without consulting David. David is hurt and furious, and the two go into couples' counseling to sort out their issues.

text: After another breakup with David, Keith finds work as a bodyguard, but does not reveal his sexuality to co-workers. He is selected to go on tour with pop star Celeste (Michelle Trachtenberg). While Keith is on tour, David is carjacked and tortured, so Keith returns home for several days, but returns to the tour at David's insistence. While he is gone, David begins to suffer from panic attacks and becomes emotionally unstable. Keith, who has "come out" at work, confides in Celeste about David, and she seduces him into having sex, then fires him the next day for the indiscretion. When Keith gets home, he confesses the one-night stand to David, and David suffers anxiety that Keith will leave him for a woman. Keith is hired as personal security to an agent named Roger in order to have a lawsuit against David (who had previously attacked Roger and was being sued) dropped.

text: Towards the end of Season 4, Keith and David decide to have children, with Keith favoring surrogacy and David favoring adoption. During Season 5, after the surrogacy attempt fails, they adopt brothers Anthony and Durrell, whom David met at a fair. Durrell is rebellious due to his history of foster care, but despite Keith's protests, David insists that they keep the boys. Soon, Keith begins to embrace his new family life. Keith offers to combine his savings with David's so that they can buy Fisher and Diaz.

text: The series finale and official HBO website reveal that Keith eventually owns his own security company, and dies in 2029 after being gunned down in an armored car. While at a family function in 2044, David sees Keith in a vision, still young and healthy and playing football; Keith smiles at David who immediately dies from a heart attack.

text: Federico Diaz[edit]

text: Héctor Federico "Rico" Diaz (1974–2049), played by Freddy Rodriguez, is the extremely skilled restorative artist who later becomes a partner in the business. In 1992, Rico's father Mauricio slipped on the roof and landed face-first in a pile of bricks next to the house. Rico and his mother Lilia went to the Fisher funeral home for burial, and to Rico's shock, Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (who then owned and operated the home) had made his father look just as he was before the accident. Rico struck up a friendship with Nathaniel, who paid for his education and hired him as a restorative artist. They remained close until Nathaniel's death. Rico married his high school sweetheart, Vanessa (Justina Machado) and had two children. Federico graduated from Cypress College in 1997 with a degree in Mortuary Science. Rico is considered one of the best in the business, and is briefly lured away by a funeral home chain called Kroehner Services International, before he realizes he has become just another over-worked employee. He returns to work with David and Nate, resenting his status within the business. Although Rico and Vanessa struggle for money, they receive inheritance from an elderly neighbor and Rico buys 25% of Fisher & Sons. Rico becomes involved with a stripper and is thrown out by his wife. He is devastated by the breakdown of his marriage, however he and Vanessa eventually reconcile. Federico is frequently in conflict with the Fishers over the direction of the business. After the death of Nate, Federico is pondering his future with Fisher & Diaz when he hears about a mortuary in the area for sale. David and Keith purchase Rico's 25% and Federico and Vanessa go on to establish the Diaz Family Mortuary in 2005, where he serves the community for 35 years before retiring. Rico dies in 2049 at age 75 on a cruise ship apparently of a heart attack while at his wife's side. He leaves behind his wife Vanessa, his sons Julio and Augusto and his three grandchildren: Emily, Celestina and Vincent.

text: Billy Chenowith[edit]

text: Bill Chenowith, played by Jeremy Sisto, is an artist and Brenda's younger brother. He suffers from bipolar disorder and occasionally suffers from disruptive, and sometimes violent, episodes of mania, depression, and psychosis. While his disorder can be managed with medication, he sometimes stops using it for various reasons, which has caused many issues for his family, especially Brenda. In 1986, he burnt down a section of the family home which caused Brenda to leave school and abandon her fiancé. In another incident, he carved a tattoo off his back with a box cutter and attempts to do the same to his sister, forcing his sister to have him committed.a[›] Billy is an alumnus and associate professor at LAC-Arts, where Claire Fisher also attends college until late 2004. Billy first meets Claire in 2001 at Brenda's place but nothing happens besides casual flirting. After being institutionalized, the only person he can talk to is Claire and they begin to communicate over instant messaging. After he is released he rekindles the relationship, and the two begin dating two years later, briefly living together. After some taunting by old acquaintances that he's not the guy he used to be, coupled with finding himself lacking artistic inspiration, Billy again ceases to take his medication. When Claire realizes this, she breaks it off with him for her own safety. Billy goes back on his medication and asks Claire to take him back, but she refuses. Billy later helps his sister after Nate dies, until she asks him to leave. However, the two remain close and Billy is present when Brenda finally dies. During Brenda's death, Billy is shown talking about Claire's husband, Ted.

text: George Sibley[edit]

text: George Sibley, played by James Cromwell, is Ruth's second husband, a professor of geology who had been married six times previously. He has two children from a previous marriage: a son, Brian, and a daughter, Maggie, who is a traveling pharmaceutical representative. While he was still a student, George dated a woman and she became pregnant with a son, Kyle. Before Kyle was born, however, George signed away his custodial rights, and Kyle, though he was born into great wealth, intensely hated his father and sent boxes of feces to the Fisher home. George and Kyle later reconcile with Ruth's help. George suffers from psychotic depression and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy, still recovering from the wounds of his mother's suicide when he was a child in 1953. It soon becomes too much for Ruth to take care of him, and the two separate. After adjusting, he reveals to Ruth that he is engaged for the eighth time. Ruth warns this new fiancée of George's past and sabotages the relationship. George and Ruth later reconcile at the time of Nate's death. They plan to move in together but Ruth changes her mind at the last minute, preferring her independence. Meanwhile, his daughter Maggie walks out of his life after blaming him for her problems. Ruth and George remain in separate residences, but stay together until her death in 2025.

text: Vanessa Diaz[edit]

text: Vanessa Diaz, played by Justina Machado, is Federico's high school sweetheart, wife and mother of his two sons Julio and Augusto. Vanessa is a registered nurse. In 2002, after several years of working at the Bay Breeze Nursing Home she is fired for negligence after not realizing that a resident's roommate shoved a hot dog down the deceased's throat. She later finds work at a hospital. In 2003 Vanessa sinks into clinical depression following the death of her mother and begins abusing prescription medication. When her health begins to suffer she seeks help; her increased spending habits and closeness to her sister Angelica alienate Rico. In late season four, Federico's infidelity causes the couple to separate and consider divorce. After finding it difficult to live and raise her sons alone, she asks Federico to move back in. However, she is initially very cold towards him, refusing to communicate with him more than the bare minimum and taking every opportunity to let him know he is not forgiven for his actions. When Rico finally tells her that he does not want to be there if she no longer loves him and will move out for good, Vanessa begins treating him a little better, and they slowly begin to successfully work through their issues until their marriage is back on solid footing. Throughout the series, Rico's moods and decisions outside the home are often closely affected by Vanessa's advice and attitude. Vanessa pushes Rico into opening his own mortuary business, and they remain together for many years until his death at age 75.

text: Supporting characters[edit]

text: Father Jack[edit]

text: Father Jack, played by Tim Maculan, is a compassionate gay priest who heads the church at which the Fishers attend.

text: Nathaniel Fisher[edit]

text: Nathaniel Samuel Fisher, Sr. (1943–2000), played by Richard Jenkins, is the patriarch of the Fisher family and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home until his death in a traffic accident on Christmas Eve, 2000. Although Ruth viewed him as a distant husband and father, many flashbacks show him trying his best to bond with his children, but also to give them their space, as well as acting as a surrogate father and friend to Rico. Even after his death, he is still a presence with all of the Fishers and Rico and frequently appears in scenes as the living characters converse with him, visually like a "ghost" but actually as a fiction of their minds and sort of a conscience. In many of the early episodes, family members have lengthy conversations with the senior Nathaniel, on their way to reconciling themselves with his death. His children, particularly Nate, all come to realize that they never really knew their father; something they all grieve. Both Nathaniel Sr. and Jr. appear to Ruth shortly before her death.

text: Lisa Kimmel Fisher[edit]

text: Lisa Kimmel Fisher (1967–2003), played by Lili Taylor, is Nate's friend from Seattle who becomes pregnant by him after a one-night stand. This is apparently her second pregnancy from Nate, having aborted the first. They later marry after the birth of their daughter, Maya. Their marriage lasts throughout season 3, but is a turbulent one, as Lisa worries about Nate's remaining feelings for Brenda. Several episodes during season 3 and 4 focus on Lisa's disappearance. It becomes evident that she is dead and her corpse is later found washed up on the beach. Nate conflicts with Lisa's family about how she wanted to be buried; Lisa had told him that she wanted to be buried in the wilderness with no chemicals or preservatives, while her family wants her cremated and buried in their family mausoleum in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Nate buries Lisa as she wanted, while giving her family the cremated remains of an unclaimed body from several decades earlier. At the end of season 4, it is revealed that her brother-in-law, Hoyt, with whom she had an affair before marrying Nate, was with her on the beach the day she drowned. The details of Lisa's death are left ambiguous (although murder by Hoyt is strongly implied, it is never confirmed) but she remains in the show as another deceased character who appears in recurring visions, frequently to Nate or Brenda.

text: Margaret Chenowith[edit]

text: Margaret Chenowith, played by Joanna Cassidy, is Brenda and Billy's dysfunctional mother and a psychologist. Her bouts of misplaced anger can be seen throughout the series. In the 1960s, she met her future husband, Bernard Chenowith in therapy when she was working as an intern. The couple married in 1967. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths had become controversial for allowing their daughter Brenda to undergo testing by the controversial Gareth Feinberg, who later wrote Charlotte: Light and Dark about Brenda. Though Margaret and Bernard have an open marriage, they separate briefly in 2002 after Bernard lies about an infidelity. The two later renew their vows and soon after, Bernard dies of cancer in early 2003. Margaret moves on and begins dating her son's former lover (and art teacher), Olivier Castro-Staal.

text: Maggie Sibley[edit]

text: Maggie Sibley, played by Tina Holmes, is George's daughter. A Quaker and traveling pharmaceutical representative from Arizona, Maggie moves to Los Angeles to help take care of her ailing father. She and Nate become close friends, with Nate confiding to her his fears about his and Brenda's unborn child after blood tests show the baby may have special needs (Maggie's own child had died of leukemia when he was only two). Nate's feelings for her, combined with his problems with Brenda, lead to him committing adultery with Maggie on the evening of his seizure. Maggie suffers guilt and tried to make amends with Brenda, who is not interested. Maggie leaves town after Nate's funeral and an argument with her father. Ruth later calls Maggie to ask her if Nate had been happy while he was with her before he had his stroke. During the phone call, Maggie is at the doctor's office, which led to audience speculation as to whether she was pregnant with Nate's child. Alan Ball specifically denied this speculation during his DVD commentary on the series finale, noting that as a pharmaceutical industry representative, Maggie is simply working when we see her in the doctor's office.

text: Sarah O'Connor[edit]

text: Sarah O'Connor, played by Patricia Clarkson, is Ruth's artistic younger sister who runs an artists' colony in Topanga Canyon. Sarah lives with a caretaker and friend named Bettina. Sarah feels she has little talent but surrounds herself with people who do. As a young girl Sarah left Ruth alone to deal with sick relatives. Sarah later baby-sat Ruth's sons and they got into trouble: fifteen-year-old Nate Jr lost his virginity to a friend of Sarah's and David once got lost in the wild. Ruth resented Sarah for both these reasons and they stayed out of touch for decades. The two finally reconcile after Ruth attends a self-help seminar and Sarah returns from Spain. Sarah feels a strong connection to Claire, whom she believes is a true artist. She invites Claire to her house in Topanga and they spend a weekend together. She sends Claire magic mushrooms on her birthday to help inspire her artistic passion. Ruth discovers that Sarah has developed a drug addiction to the pain killer Vicodin. Weeks after going through withdrawal, Sarah goes into drug rehabilitation, which puts her life into perspective. Sarah once lived with Allen Ginsberg in Berlin and hosts a Howl full moon celebration every year at her house. Sarah later gives Ruth invaluable support following Nate's death, and Ruth moves into Sarah's house at Topanga Canyon.

text: Maya Fisher[edit]

text: Maya Fisher (2002–unknown), played alternately by twins Brenna and Bronwyn Tosh, is Nate and Lisa's daughter. After Nate's death, Brenda (her stepmother) is given custody of Maya. After learning of Nate's affair with George's daughter, Brenda gives temporary custody to Ruth so that she can process her grief. Maya moves back in with Brenda after Brenda gives birth to her half-sister, Willa and is eventually fully adopted by Brenda and raises her as if she was her own daughter. In the final scenes, she's seen celebrating her sister's first birthday, as a little girl at David and Keith's wedding (still holding her favorite puppet toy, a monkey), and as a woman in her twenties at Ruth's funeral and Claire and Ted's wedding.

text: Nikolai[edit]

text: Nikolai, played by Ed O'Ross, is the Russian owner of Blossom d'Amour Flower Shop where Ruth Fisher works for a time. He is Ruth's lover for almost two years. Nikolai is in serious debt which culminates several encounters with a Russian mob. When they break his legs because he is unable to repay his debt, he recuperates at the Fishers' house. Ruth takes this as an opportunity to expand their relationship, but instead causes more tension when she pays off Nikolai's debt with Nathaniel's life insurance policy. Several weeks after their break-up, Ruth resigns from Blossom d'Amour so that she can spend more time with her newborn grandchild, Maya. Nikolai had a son and wife who died before he moved to the U.S. He has a brief cameo in episode #5.9 ("Ecotone") when Ruth envisions herself shooting all of her ex-lovers with a rifle to the tune of carnival music in a bloodless shooting gallery.

text: Gabriel Dimas[edit]

text: Gabriel "Gabe" Dimas (1983–2002), played by Eric Balfour, is Claire's boyfriend during her senior year in high school. Claire thinks she's in love, but after Gabe tells the entire school that she slept with him and sucked his toes, an upset Claire gets her revenge by throwing a severed foot from a deceased person into Gabe's school locker. The two don't speak to each other until the death of Gabe's brother. Gabe's mother blames Gabe for the death, and his stepfather attacks him at the funeral. Soon after, Gabe overdoses and Claire tries to help him recover. However, he gets into more trouble; holding up a convenience store, stealing the Fishers' embalming fluid to use for extra-potent joints, and pulling a gun on another driver while Claire is trying to drive him to a secluded area. After that, Claire breaks off ties with him. Later, she receives closure from a fantasy scene showing she believes Gabe has died and is at peace in death and able to see his younger brother, Anthony.

text: Bernard Chenowith[edit]

text: Dr. Bernard Asa Chenowith (1939–2003), played by Robert Foxworth, is Brenda and Billy's father who worked as a celebrity psychiatrist with his wife Margaret, whom he met when she was a college intern. Bernard was raised Jewish but ultimately became an atheist. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths made headlines when they allowed their daughter to undergo testing by the controversial Dr. Gareth Feinberg for her brilliant, yet uncontrollable behavior. Bernard and Margaret briefly separate in 2002 for reasons of infidelity but soon reconcile and renew their vows. He succumbs to stomach cancer in 2003.

text: Taylor Benoit[edit]

text: Taylor Benoit, played by Aysia Polk, is Keith's niece. Her mother Karla is a drug addict and not in a fit state to look after the young girl. Keith and David look after her for some time during season 2. She is quite often rude and unhappy due to her poor upbringing. After Keith is suspended from the police force, Taylor goes to live with Keith's parents, Roderick and Lucille Charles (played by James Pickens Jr. and Beverly Todd).

text: Russell Corwin[edit]

text: Russell Corwin, played by Ben Foster, is Claire's sexually-ambiguous classmate at art school and one-time boyfriend. Claire initially suspects that Russell is gay. However, Russell claims that he is not, and starts seeing Claire. Later, Russell has sex with his teacher, Olivier Castro-Staal. Claire subsequently breaks up with him and, learning she is pregnant, gets an abortion. When he finds out about the abortion, Russell is distraught. He begins sleeping with Claire's friend Anita, despite having feelings for Claire. Claire enjoys great success with an art project that Russell helps her begin, but Claire takes all the credit, and also gets a gallery showing. Russell is infuriated and gets into a fight with Claire at the exhibit. She drops out of art school and doesn't see him again for several months. When she runs into him at another showing, he tells her he had been hit by a car, and that while most believe he's in love with fellow student/artist, Jimmy (to whom he gave a drunken blow job), he confides in Claire that he's merely jealous and wishes he could be as talented as she. In their last moment together in the series, Russell gives her a kiss on the cheek and rushes away.

text: Parker McKenna[edit]

text: Parker McKenna played by Marina Black, is Claire's best friend during her senior year of high school. Parker is a rebellious transfer student from a private school, although she appears to be a "goody two-shoes", who attempts to start a friendship with Claire Fisher. The friendship blossoms, however after finding out that Parker had cheated on her SATs and had been accepted into better colleges than Claire, the friendship is broken off until Claire learns it's better to have one friend than no friends at all. Parker tells Claire that the Chinese holistic herbs that her Aunt Sarah sent her are actually magic mushrooms and the two trip together. After Claire enrolls in art school, Parker is caught when the person who took the SATs for Parker was arrested. Parker enrolled in community college as a result. The two don't speak again after graduation.

text: Anthony and Durrell Charles-Fisher[edit]

text: Anthony Charles-Fisher, played by C. J. Sanders, is David and Keith's adopted 8-year-old son. The couple meet young Anthony at an "adoption picnic" where David feels an instant bond with the boy. After Mary, David and Keith's surrogate mother announces her pregnancy, the plans to adopt Anthony slowly fade away. However, after Mary gets her period, Keith and David try to adopt Anthony, at which time they learn he also has an older brother. In the last scene of the last episode, Anthony is shown as an adult attending his aunt Claire's wedding in the company of a male companion.

text: Durrell Charles-Fisher, played by Kendré Berry, is David and Keith's adopted 11-year-old son. At first when going back to adopt younger brother Anthony, David and Keith do not realize they will be adopting his older brother also. After two weeks of Durrell testing the waters and Keith's patience, Keith believes it is time for the brothers to go. David then sticks up for the boys in front of Keith and the social worker, and the adoption becomes permanent. Slowly, Durrell becomes comfortable in his surroundings after David and Keith set some boundaries and show Durrell some support and nurturing. At age 11, Durrell expresses interest in becoming a fireman. However, in the last scenes of the last episode, he is shown spending time with his father David in the prep room. He most likely inherits the operation of Fisher and Sons Funeral Home after David's retirement, and is shown conducting Ruth Fisher's funeral in the final minutes of the series. Durrell becomes involved with a woman and has three children with her: Matthew, Keith Jr., and Katie.

text: Bettina[edit]

text: Bettina, played by Kathy Bates, is Sarah's caretaker. Bettina's brash personality and Ruth's reserved nature complement each other and they form a strong friendship. She prides herself on her ability to see people through drug detoxes; although she has done quite a few drugs herself, she seems to be someone who can still run her life without the drugs running her. She does have a reckless streak; she eggs Ruth on to shoplifting once, and encourages her to take a Vicodin when they are overseeing one of Sarah's detoxes. Bettina was married three times—her second husband cheated on her and her first and third husbands left her a widow. Bettina has a daughter who got caught up in a militia movement in Montana.

text: Olivier Castro-Staal[edit]

text: Olivier Castro-Staal, played by Peter Macdissi, teaches Form and Space at LAC-Arts. Claire, Russell, and Billy Chenowith were all his students. Olivier is bisexual and has flings with Russell and Billy, but ends up living with Billy and Brenda's mother, Margaret. Despite having a rocky relationship with Claire, he is the one who makes the recommendation for her photographer assistant's job in New York.

text: Arthur Martin[edit]

text: Arthur Martin, played by Rainn Wilson, is an intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home from March to November 2003, though it was intended to be permanent. The eccentric Arthur was orphaned at the age of 5 and was home schooled by his great Aunt Pearl. After his aunt died of old age, Arthur went on to college to study music, but after discovering his major wasn't what he had hoped, Arthur attended mortuary school to become a funeral director. During his senior year, he receives a live-in apprenticeship from the Fishers and Federico. Things soon decline after Ruth Fisher starts thinking their budding friendship is becoming physical. When she realizes he is not able to relate to her in a sexual, more mature relationship, she stops the relationship and acts coldly to Arthur during his attempts at conversation. When Ruth's daughter-in-law Lisa goes missing, she is comforted by George Sibley, who had been attending one of Fisher & Diaz's funerals. The two become close and marry after only a few months, to Arthur's discomfort. When George moves in, Arthur has a confrontational relationship with him. Later, George's estranged son starts sending boxed feces to them, and Ruth assumes it is a jealous Arthur. When she confronts Arthur, he becomes offended and leaves. After Ruth talks about pressing charges against Arthur, George tells her that it is his son who has been sending the feces. Arthur has a brief cameo in episode #5.9 ("Ecotone"), when Ruth imagines herself shooting all of her ex-boyfriends (and eventually her dead husband Nathaniel) with a shotgun to the tune of circus music.

text: Anita Miller[edit]

text: Anita Miller, played by Sprague Grayden, is Claire's former best friend and roommate. The two met at art school and develop a Laverne and Shirley-like relationship. The relationship is broken off when Claire is abandoned by her friends soon after she leaves art school for good. They briefly meet again towards the end of the series, and Anita makes it clear that she was hurt by Claire's lack of contact.

text: Edie[edit]

text: Edie, played by Mena Suvari, is a free-spirited lesbian artist who becomes a friend and (briefly) a lover of Claire. Their relationship ends when Edie gets fed up with Claire's sexual ambivalence.

text: Jimmy[edit]

text: Jimmy, played by Peter Facinelli, was a friend of Claire's during her time at art school. At first Jimmy wanted a relationship with her, but realized in the end that she didn't. They engaged in a brief sexual relationship where he was responsible for giving Claire her first orgasm using the coital alignment technique which he refers to by its slang name "grinding the corn". He also introduced Claire to her first gallery owner. He was often drinking and getting high. He remained a friend of Anita and Claire, until Claire quit Art School.

text: Hiram Gunderson[edit]

text: Hiram Gunderson, played by Ed Begley Jr., is a fling of Ruth's. A divorcee and an environmentalist (he drove a hybrid Toyota Prius car, while Begley drives an electric vehicle in real life), Hiram was once a major chef (he received a rave review from the Chicago Tribune) who gave up cooking to become a hairdresser. One of his clients, Ruth Fisher, was unhappily married, and during frequent camping trips, Hiram taught her how to enjoy sex. After Ruth's husband dies, she initially pushes Hiram away, but then dates him for several months. Their relationship ends when he tells her he has feelings for another woman; to his surprise, she happily sends him on his way. Months later, she calls him to make amends (she is on The Plan at this time) but he mistakenly assumes she wants to reunite, leading to a fight. Several years pass before they meet up again for another camping trip. While on the trip, Ruth realizes she is no longer attracted to Hiram and hitchhikes back home.

text: Ted Fairwell[edit]

text: Ted Fairwell, played by Chris Messina, is an attorney at Braeden Chemical Legal Department who becomes Claire Fisher's love interest after she begins working as a temp secretary. Prior to meeting Claire, Ted had a (one-night stand and some "discreet" making out in the men's room of a local bar) relationship with Kirsten, one of Claire's other co-workers at the Legal Department. Ted insists that it is over, making Claire feel at ease when she secretly makes out with him. On their first date, Ted reveals himself to be a conservative Republican which upsets Claire at the moment when the mood changes to somber after receiving the news of Nate's stroke. Rather than going home, Ted drives Claire to the hospital and stays with her through the night as her emotional support, causing Claire to see that Ted is a positive force in her life. Ted and Claire part ways when Claire moves to New York in the final episode, although when Claire returns to Los Angeles for her mother's funeral in 2025, she and Ted will reunite and marry, and stay together for the rest of Ted's life. His death is not shown in the final episode, but it is implied that he died before Claire as she dies alone in 2085.

text: Carol Ward[edit]

text: Carol Ward, played by Catherine O'Hara, is Lisa Kimmel's boss during seasons 2 and 3, a neurotic, self-involved motion picture producer with an unstable demeanor. Her demands on Lisa prove incompatible with Lisa's newfound roles as a wife and mother, leading to a confrontation in which Lisa quits. Carol later appears in Episode 52, in a video flashback to 2002 revolving around Nate and Lisa's wedding where she expresses her views on relationships and marriage.

text: Joe[edit]

text: Joe, played by Justin Theroux, is a gifted French horn player and Brenda's boyfriend for the first half of season 4. They become neighbors when Brenda returns to L.A. and quickly become friends. Although Brenda is hesitant to start a new relationship, and insists on a period of celibacy, they soon become serious. The couple buy a house together and even tried for a baby. However, Brenda soon becomes tired of Joe's cerebral sexual ambivalence. Their relationship ends when Joe walks in on Nate and Brenda.

text: Angelica[edit]

text: Angelica, played by Melissa Marsala, is Vanessa's sister who appears periodically in seasons 2 through 5. An aspiring actress, she brings business to the funeral home when one of her horror film co-stars overdoses on cocaine. In season 2, Vanessa goes behind Rico's back to borrow money from Angelica to for a down payment on a house, causing strain between Angelica and Rico. Later, when she experiences her own financial difficulties, she moves in with Rico and Vanessa but quickly wears out her welcome. In season 4, after Vanessa discovers Rico's affair with Sophia, Angelica helps her confront Sophia and smash her car windows. Despite her generally combative attitude toward Rico, she and her sister remain very close, even after Vanessa asks her to move out.

text: Sophia[edit]

text: Sophia, played by Idalis DeLeón, is an erotic dancer with whom Rico has an affair in seasons 3 and 4. Although their relationship was initially only sexual on their first encounter, Rico continues to show her affection for several months by spending time with her and her daughter and buying her gifts. Over time, Sophia begins to take advantage of Rico's time and money. Rico, feeling guilty, breaks things off with Sophia, but Vanessa soon finds out about the affair and kicks Rico out of the house. Rico has sex with Sophia and asks if he can stay with her. Vanessa and Angelica confront Sophia, but she seems unfazed by them. They smash in her car windows with a baseball bat, and when she confronts Rico about the encounter, they break things off for good.

text: Roger Pasquese[edit]

text: Roger Pasquese, played by Matt Malloy, is a Hollywood movie producer who became Keith's employer in season 5. David and Roger had gotten into a fight towards the end of season 4, which resulted in Roger opening a lawsuit against him. The case was dropped when Keith agreed to allow Roger to perform oral sex on him. After this initial meeting, Roger employs Keith on an as-needed basis as a body guard and personal assistant. Keith and Roger's relationship ends near the end of the series when he discovers that Roger has filmed their one sexual encounter, and frequently plays it back with other sexual partners. Despite being gay, Roger remains in an open marriage with the mother of his two children.

text: Kroehner[edit]

text: Kroehner Service International is a mortuary conglomerate that tries to get Fisher & Sons out of business in the first two seasons. In the first season, a smarmy company representative named Matthew Gilardi (Gary Hershberger) tries buying the Fishers out. When he fails, his boss Mitzi Dalton-Huntley, played by Julie White, fires him and tries buying the Fishers out, but she also fails. Ultimately, Kroehner Service International files for bankruptcy at the end of the second season, though their bankruptcy was most likely not connected to the Fishers.

text: Willa Chenowith[edit]

text: Willa Fisher Chenowith (born 2005) is Brenda and Nate's daughter, born prematurely, six weeks after Nate's death. Willa's birth is unexpected, since Brenda was due to deliver 2 months later. Several weeks after her birth, Willa is healthy enough to go home, a cause for celebration between the two families. Brenda worries about her daughter's health for some time after, but Willa is completely fine. In the final scenes, she's seen celebrating her first birthday, as a little girl at David and Keith's wedding, and as a young woman at Ruth's funeral.

text: Jake[edit]

text: Jake, played by Michael Weston, is a criminal who appears in seasons four and five. He carjacks David and takes him on a night-long joyride through the city, beating him, forcing him to do drugs, and ultimately putting a gun in his mouth, before driving away in David's car, sparing him. Jake is later arrested and thrown in jail for numerous violent crimes, and David visits him there to try to get closure on his ordeal; however, Jake is completely detached from reality and provides no answers, so David satisfies himself that Jake is visibly miserable in prison and leaves, telling Jake he is never coming back.

text: Gary Deitman[edit]

text: Gary, played by David Norona is Claire's guidance counselor.

text: Notes[edit]

text: ^ a: The tattoos were of their favorite fictional characters: Nathaniel and Isabel, based on a book their father bought them when they were children. – there was speculation that the two siblings were intimately involved during their childhood, until the episode "Static" showed they hadn't been.