Page:Augustine Herrman, beginner of the Virginia tobacco trade, merchant of New Amsterdam and first lord of Bohemia manor in Maryland (1941).djvu/26

 Herrmans had kinspeople living in Amsterdam. Among the earliest documents signed by Augustine Herrman (1633) the name is spelled “Heermans”, probably a Dutch form, although the name, “Herman” dates back to the eleventh century in the chronicles of Bohemian history. In Amsterdam, no doubt, Herrman continued his education so rudely interrupted in Prague. In the Dutch commercial town he likely studied surveying and other practical subjects in order to earn a living in a world that already was becoming hostile. According to J. G. Wilson Herrman saw service under the Protestant hero, Gustavus Adolphus about the year 1628, but obviously if he was born in 1621, this would have been impossible.

Regardless of whether Herrman fought in the Old World quarrels, by temperament he was not likely to have become a successful soldier. As he grew older America took shape in his mind as the most desirable place to live; adventure and travel beyond the seas were more enticing to his active and vigorous mind than a military life on the continent of Europe with its ceaseless round of political and religious controversies. He lived in an admirable city to prepare his mind for the attainment of his desire to travel. Amsterdam was just then beginning to replace Antwerp as the commercial metropolis of Europe. Dutch ships and those of other nations were seen daily in her stately harbor; two great Dutch trading companies, the Dutch East India and the Dutch West India, had been lately chartered. Both were desirous to enlist young men in their ranks to settle in the new colonial domains. Then, too, there were other great private commercial firms like Peter Gabry and Sons which