Book: Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood

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Costa, Emilia. Crowns of glory, tears of blood : the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood

As a teenager old family letters about the Van Cooten family in Australia triggered my interest in family history. Letters to my great-grandfather John Hughes Van Cooten contained the following tantalising clues:

  • The other was that our great grandfather went to the West Indies on a royal Commission. What that Commission was I do not recollect, and that having fulfilled the mission of his government he received a [grant?] of land that as much as he could bring under proper cultivation became his own. This was termed an “Unlimited grant”.
  • He married a Madagascan lady said to be of royal blood (very wealthy) and by her he had a numerous family of sons and daughters (22).
    being highly educated & no fortune he went to the West Indies, under the auspices of the Dutch Government & surveyed the colony & sent home so excellent a chart of the same and the river Demerara that the government gave him #1000 and an unlimited grant of land, i.e. so much frontages & back west he could clear & put under cultiture annually.
  • The names of the Estates were “Better Hope, Sheet Anchor, Brides Lust “. I don’t know the date of the year in which my mother and father were married but I believe it was in the November of 1835 or 6.
  • You ask your Grandfather’s name? Well!! He was “Jan” or John Van, Van Cooten M.D. – formerly of “Brides Lust” , Demerrara – and eldest son of Mr Henrique Van, Van Cooten by his wife Dorothy of the same address.

 

I doubted that I would ever be able to find out the truth behind these statements. As an adult working in IT at a University, I spent two years working for the library. I took the opportunity to explore. The book that was key to opening a vast area of research was “Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood.” My ancestor wasn’t listed in the index, but showed up upon a quick flick through the contents! I found it very emotional to discover evidence corroborating the clues in old family letters. The “Notes on Sources” provided invaluable pointers to documentary sources, and has led me to making contact with other researchers in the area. Hendrik had a part to play in the events of 1823. He was an old established plantation owner. The actual name of the plantation was Vryheids Lust. He was a slave owner, but more kindly to his slaves than many other owners. He was sympathetic to the cause of the London Missionary Society. Mentions of Hendrik are here. This is a book where I found that as fascinating as the narrative was, the footnotes and citations were more valuable!

Kathleen May Thomas – Musical progress

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Kathleen May Thomas progressed through the examination syllabus of the Trinity College London, and ultimately was awarded an Associate Diploma of the Trinity College of Music, London, in Piano, which qualified her to become a recognised piano teacher.

An article in the Beaudesert Times1 explains the requirements:

… Up to, and including the year 1913, the syllabus required that a candidate who wished to obtain an Associate (A.T.C.L) Diploma was obliged to pass (a) a practical examination before an examiner of the college, and (b) a paperwork examination on rudiments of music. This entitled the candidate to the use of the letters A.T.C.L. This syllabus was then withdrawn, and the standard raised so that a candidate passing in the above subjects would receive a higher grade certificate (without the letters), and if he or she wished to obtain the A.T.C.L Diploma, it would be necessary to take, in addition to the above, a paperwork examination on “Art of Teaching.” …

The table below summarises Kathleen’s progress, culminating in passing the “Art of Teaching Music” examination, and thus qualifying her to teach. This was quite an achievement, the qualification itself being the equivalent of matriculation or first year University level, and quite comparable with the qualifications of many of the school classroom teachers of the day.

Publication date Examination date Examination Teacher Result
Wednesday 3 August 19102 Monday 1 August 1910 Preparatory Piano practical Miss B. Swift

 

 77
Thursday 8 September 19103 June 1910 Preparatory Music theory Miss B. Swift 98
Friday 8 September 19114 10th June 1911

 

 Lower Division (Grade 2) Music theory Miss B. Swift 88, honours
Thursday 29 August 19125 June 1912 Intermediate music theory Miss Beryl Swift 87, honours
Thursday 24 July 19136 Monday/Tuesday 21/22 July 1913 Intermediate piano practical Miss Beryl Swift 77
Thursday 5 March 19147 December 1913 Upper intermediate music theory Miss Beryl Swift 71
Thursday 16 July 19148 13–15 July, 1914 Senior piano practical Miss B. Swift 76
Tuesday 13 July 19159 July 1915 Higher local piano practical Miss B. Swift 66
Thursday 19 April 191710 December 1916 Higher theory, Rudiments of Music Miss B. Swift 60
Saturday 15 June 191811 10–12 June 1918 A.T.C.L. piano practical Miss Swift 71
Wednesday 7 May 191912 December 1918 Art of Teaching Music (Teacher’s Diploma) Miss B. Swift 63
associate pianiste

 

Courtesy of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Jerwood Library, Kathleen is is listed in the 1920 Calendar of Trinity College London as having been awarded The Associate Diploma: Pianoforte.

TCL Calendar 1920

 

  1. An Explanation of Matters Musical. (1916, August 18). The Beaudesert Times (Qld. : 1908 – 1954), p. 2. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article216195181
  2. TRINITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC. (1910, August 3). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148949731
  3. TRINITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC. (1910, September 8). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148943070
  4. Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146275671
  5. TRINITY COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. (1912, August 29). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146935170
  6. TRINITY COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. (1913, July 24). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150584333
  7. TRINITN COLLOUR OF MUSIC (1914, March 5). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150882813
  8. [?]RINITY COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. (1914, July 16). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151026619
  9. MARYBOROUGH AND DISTRICT. (1915, July 13). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), p. 10. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20017571
  10. TRINITY COLLEGE RESULTS. (1917, April 19). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 5. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151488966
  11. TRINITY COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. (1918, June 15). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 8. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151095826
  12. TRINITY COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS. (1919, May 7). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 6. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article151036613

Australian Music Examinations

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My paternal grandmother (Nana Van) Kathleen May Thomas was born in 1900, and was raised by her grandparents in Maryborough, Queensland, owing to the death of her mother (and baby) following childbirth in 1902. Young Katie was supported and encouraged to learn the piano from an early age. She advanced quite quickly, and gained her qualifications as a piano teacher. She taught piano until she was 79 years old.

Thomas, Kathleen May

Kathleen May Van Cooten (née Thomas) sitting near her piano circa 1964

As a young student she would have had several choices as to the musical syllabus or examination system that she followed.

In colonial/early federation times the options were:

  • The Trinity College of Music
  • The London College of Music
  • Local University conservatoriums of music, later the Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB)

 

The Trinity College examinations were clearly the best established available in Maryborough in during 1900-1920 when Katie was acquiring her musical skills.

Doreen M. Bridges gives an excellent overview of the scene in Australia in her Sydney University PhD Thesis “THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA 1885-1970” submitted in 19701. In it she describes the development of Departments of Music and Conservertoire of Music in Australian Universities, the rivalry between the various examining bodies, as well as the struggle to develop a characteristically Australian music examination and education system.

The Trinity College of Music

Trinity College of Music was founded in central London in 1872 by the Reverend Henry George Bonavia Hunt to improve the teaching of church music. Trinity College London was founded in 1877 as the external examinations board of Trinity College of Music.

A newspaper article in The Telegraph (Brisbane) on 27 June 18822 announces:

We are informed that the Council of Trinity College, London, have determined upon establishing a local centre in Brisbane for conducting examinations in music. The examinations are open to persons of either sex, and the scheme of instruction embraces — 1. Matriculation ; 2. Students in Music ; 3. Associates in Music ; 4. Licentiates in Music ; and 5. Certificates of Competency in Solo Playing or Singing. There are several Musical Colleges now in London ; Trinity College is the first, however, to found a branch in the colonies, and this is due to our townsman, Mr. W. H. Wilson, who has consented to act as honorary secretary.

Advertisements by Brisbane music teachers in July 1882 indicate that they prepare students for the Trinity College, and an paragraph in the Maryborough Chronicle of 4 December 18963 details a meeting forming a Maryborough centre. Theory examinations were held on 5 June 1897.

An article in the Maryborough Chronicle in 18984 features an article reporting on an interview with Mr. Charles Edwards, the travelling examiner of Trinity College, London. It states that
Mr. Edwards explained that the examinations that he was now conducting throughout Australasia were the first the College had held in the colonies, though it was the fourth year that it had sent out examiners. The general results in Queensland as far as he had gone had been quite equal to those he had found in the best centres in England. In fact, they had been equal to any he had had anywhere except in South Africa, which he visited two years ago, and where the results were really excellent.
Trinity College continues as an examination authority – see https://www.trinitycollege.com/local-trinity with a branch in Australia – https://www.trinitycollege.com/local-trinity/australia. In 2005, Trinity College of Music merged with Laban Dance Centre to form Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance – see https://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/.

The London College of Music

LCM Examinations was founded as the external examinations department of the London College of Music (LCM), a music conservatoire which was founded in 1887. In 1991, the LCM and its external examinations board became part of the Polytechnic of West London (which became Thames Valley University in 1992 and was renamed the University of West London in 2011). In 1966 the London College of Music, after a decision of the Council, ceased all operations overseas.

The Brisbane Courier of 27 October 19035 reports that the first examinations in Brisbane had been held.

An advertisement in the Maryborough Chronicle of 2 August 19096 indicated that practical examinations would be held in Maryborough.

Australian Music Examination Board

In 1887 a programme of music examinations was initiated in Australia by the Universities of Adelaide and Melbourne. Subsequently the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) emerged in 1918 as a national body with the purpose of providing graded assessments of the achievements of music students. Later, examinations were also provided for students of speech and drama. Moves in Queensland commenced with the foundation of the University of Queensland in 1910. An article in the Maryborough Chronicle of 15 February 19137 reports the promotion of the establishment of an Australian music examination board, and examinations were to commence in 1913 in centres which included Maryborough8.

  1. Bridges, Doreen M. (1970), THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA 1885-1970 (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia). Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/1109/1/0001%20to%200429.pdf
  2. A SCHOOL OF MUSIC. (1882, June 27). The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170214576
  3. GENERAL NEWS (1896, December 4). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146979437
  4. TRINITY COLLEGE, LONDON. (1898, September 16). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 2. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article148035164
  5. LONDON COLLEGE OF MUSIC EXAMINATIONS. (1903, October 27). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), p. 4. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19248409
  6. Advertising (1909, August 2). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150921125
  7. UNIVERSITY MUSICAL EXAMINATIONS, (1913, February 15). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 7. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150802881
  8. University Music Examinations. (1912, October 9). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933), p. 7. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19840480

Where was J. B. Edward’s Jewellers Shop

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If you walk from Alexandra Fountain in Bendigo today, and head down Pall Mall towards the Law Courts, its a little hard to see where J. B. Edwards Jewellery shop at 3 Pall Mall was.
The picture below shows the scene in possibly the 1920s. J. B. Edward’s shop is the third down from the corner.

ALEXANDRA FOUNTAIN, BENDIGO, VIC. [picture]
Rose Stereograph Co [c1920-1954]
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1644169

Here’s another photo showing staff outside the shop in 1911.

Creator: W H Robinson Studio Museums Victoria https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/770814

And finally, courtesy of Google streetview, is the scene today:
So it looks like the shop is about the third window from the right, with possibly some original features behind the modern facade, just behind the Aussie Cash logo.

J. B. Edwards Stereoscopic Photography

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James Benjamin Edwards, jeweller of Bendigo, was a well connected and well respected citizen. He was also my wife’s great-grandfather.

He  was a stalwart of the Forest Street Methodist Church, including being a trustee, chairman of the Bendigo Chamber of Commerce, active in the Bendigo Horticultural Society, and an amateur photographer, including being president of the Bendigo Photographic Society.

An article in Trove entitled, “A PRESENTATION FROM BENDIGO.”, (1901, May 2). The Bendigo Independent (Vic. : 1891 – 1918), p. 2. relates:

A PRESENTATION FROM BENDIGO.
VIEWS OF UNDERGROUND MINING.
Mr. J. B. Edwards is an ingenious amateur photographer. For some time he has been experimenting to discover a satisfactory method of photographing underground workings of mines. Recently, by using magnesium, he was able to take some splendid stereoscopic transparencies. The mayor, per the town clerk, wrote to the Governor-General a few days ago suggesting that these views would be a suitable gift to the Duke and Duchess of York. Mr. Honeybone yesterday received the following reply:—“I am directed by His Excellency the Governor-General to request you to be so good as to inform his Worship the mayor of Bendigo that he is of opinion that the presentation of a number of views taken underground by Mr. J. B. Edwards would be a very pleasing gift. The presentation might be made by his worship immediately after the joint municipal address has been given. I may mention that none of the addresses will be read.—Yours, etc., E. W. Wellington, private secretary to His Excellency the Governor-General.” The transparencies include views of the underground workings of the New Chum Railway, Great Northern, Great Southern, New Moon, Garibaldi, and Goldfields mines, and should make an interesting souvenir of the Royal visit when the Duke and Duchess return to England.

This presentation album was sold at Bonhams auction house in May, 2006, for AU$ 1,635, described as follows:

Stereoscopic views: Goldfields: Australia
Six glass views of The Goldfields of Victoria G. M. Bendigo (An English Co.) taken by J. B. Edwards and captioned showing men underground using mining machinery, the views, together with a Holmes type viewer in a fitted velvet lined polished wood presentation box with a plaque ‘Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York. Views of Underground Mining Bendigo at Victoria Australia By J.B. Edwards, Bendigo 7/5/01’.
This item seems to have been purchased by the Sate Library of Victoria – it appears in their catalogue as http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1800111. The images have been digitised and are freely available at https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE1409431&mode=browse. An example appears below. If you are good at crossing your eyes you can view it without needing the viewer. I think that J. B. would have been amazed that his images had gone around the world, returned to Victoria, and then become available to the world! He would have been fascinated with this technology.

Slave emancipation

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Hendrik Van Cooten was a plantation and slave owner.

In Britain, in August 1833, the Slave Emancipation Act was passed, giving all slaves in the British empire their freedom, albeit after a set period of years. Plantation owners received compensation for the ‘loss of their slaves’ in the form of a government grant set at £20,000,000. The slaves themselves received no recognition of the injustices done them, no reparations, nor apology.

A recent segment on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Radio National (RN) Late Night Live programme looks at some of the ramifications of slave emancipation – https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/blood-money_-emma-christopher/11924196

An article taking a position on a current compensation movement appears in the Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/29/slavery-abolition-compensation-when-will-britain-face-up-to-its-crimes-against-humanity

University College London hosts a website detailing the compensation money paid to slave owners at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/.

Although Hendrik died in 1825, his estates and family received payments.

Hendrik appears in the database, indicating that he had been the owner of plantations Vryheids Lust and Sheet Anchor in Demerara. The plantations had the following slaves:

Year Males Females Total
1817 119 99 218
1826 124 104 228
1832 166 133 299

 

299 enslaved persons were registered in 1832 to the heirs of the late Hendrick van Cooten, by John L.C. Playter.

On 19th Apr 1836 compensation for 286 enslaved of £14638 18s 6d was issued.

An Elizabeth Ann Van Cooten received £36 7s 0d (1 enslaved) and £35 9s 10d (2 enslaved). Elizabeth is possibly Eliza Ann Van Cooten or Elizabeth Van Cooten nee van Tienen.

Nicholas Van Cooten received £287 10s 2d (5 enslaved) and British Guiana £98 9s 11s (2 enslaved). This Nicholas is either Hendrik’s son or Hendrik’s grandson.

Who was Theodore Barrell?

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Looking closely at the the letters written by Theodore we can infer:

  • He has a father named Walter Barrell, alive in 1799
  • He has sisters Abby, Polly and Charlotte
  • He has an uncle Theodore
  • His mother is deceased in 1799
  • He has an uncle Joe, who has a daughter Hannah
  • He has an uncle Colborne
  • He was educated at Mr. Andrew Rae’s Academy, Islington, London

It is likely that Theodore is the Theodore Barrell listed at https://barrell.one-name.net/getperson.php?personID=I40&tree=T014

A description of archives at Columbia University “Barrell family papers, 1751-1929 bulk 1791-1889”  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4078972/ says:

The Barrell Family were noted merchants and businessmen in London and in Colonial Demerara, now part of Guyana. Theodore Barrell, the son of Walter Newberry Barrell, a London-based businessman, was both in Boston in 1771. He spent most of his career working as a merchant in the Americas, including in Barbados where he met his wife Elizabeth Beckles Barrell (born November 18, 1783) and in Demerara. Theodore Barrell died in Saugerties, New York in 1846.

Theodore Barrell has a brief biography in Bram Hoonhout’s “Borderless Empire : Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic World, 1750-1800”.

The New-York Historical Society hold a “Letter book, 1798-1803” by Theodore Barrell – https://bobcat.library.nyu.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=NYHS&docid=nyu_aleph001507649&context=L  described as

Summary: Letter book, 1798-1803, with correspondence to business associates in London, Barbados, etc., as well as letters to relatives and friends on personal affairs, and life in Guiana. Includes many letters to William and Samuel Jones, London; Walter Barrell, London; William Gill and Samuel Went, Barbados.
Language: English
Publication Date: 1798
Description: 1 v. (182 p.)

Looks like I need to make a trip to the Columbia University archives!

Borderless Empire : Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic World, 1750-1800

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In 2015, Bram Hoonhout, then a PhD student working on the 18th century history of Essequibo and Demerara, alerted me to the existence of references to Hendrik, Jan and Nicolaas van Cooten in the letterbooks of Theodore Barrell, a merchant in Demerara.

He was able to supply images, and my transcription is now available here. The page image is made available with the permission of the New York Historical Society.

Bram has now published his history – “Borderless Empire : Dutch Guiana in the Atlantic World, 1750-1800”. The description at bookdepository.com reads:

Borderless Empire explores the volatile history of Dutch Guiana, in particular the forgotten colonies of Essequibo and Demerara, to provide new perspectives on European empire building in the Atlantic world. Bram Hoonhout argues that imperial expansion was a process of improvisation at the colonial level rather than a project that was centrally orchestrated from the metropolis. Furthermore, he emphasizes that colonial expansion was far more transnational than the oft-used divisions into “national Atlantics” suggest. In so doing, he transcends the framework of the “Dutch Atlantic” by looking at the connections across cultural and imperial boundaries.

The openness of Essequibo and Demerara affected all levels of the colonial society. Instead of counting on metropolitan soldiers, the colonists relied on Amerindian allies, who captured runaway slaves and put down revolts. Instead of waiting for Dutch slavers, the planters bought enslaved Africans from foreign smugglers. Instead of trying to populate the colonies with Dutchmen, the local authorities welcomed adventurers from many different origins. The result was a borderless world in which slavery was contingent on Amerindian support and colonial trade was rooted in illegality. These transactions created a colonial society that was far more Atlantic than Dutch.

Bram’s book has gone straight to my wishlist!

I’ll work through the information in the Theodore Barrell letters in future posts.

The Spagnoletti Speaking Instrument

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Great great grandfather William Thomas, in his handwritten autobiography of 1926, refers to his time on the railways in Wales in the early 1870s, and using the “Spagoletti speaking instrument.”

Spagnoletti Code

This turns out to be a form of the Single Needle Instrument developed by Charles Ernest Spagnoletti. I’ve found details of this at Sam Hallas’ page at http://www.samhallas.co.uk/railway/single_needle.htm. He gives an explanation and diagram of the code, which is a representation of morse code.

This confirms William’s recollection of the signalling code he learned as a youth.

Where is Hendrik junior?

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The will of Hendrik Van Cooten (transcript) in 1825 implies that Hendrik had two sons, Cornelis and Hendrik, born out of wedlock, prior to his marriage to Dorothea Nicols.

The will says that Hendrik junior has “absented himself from Holland where he had been for his education so that no tidings from him have been received by me for several years.”

It turns out that Hendrik senior wasn’t the only person concerned about Hendrik junior’s whereabouts.

I’ve just found the following in Amsterdamse Courant of 10 May 1800, found in the MyHeritage Netherlands Newspapers, 1659-1899 collection.

Transcription:
Indien iemand met zekerheid weet naricht te geeven van het Verblyf, Leeven of Dood, van eenen HENDRIK VAN
COOTEN, van Demerary, in het Jaar 1794, als Matroos nebbende gediend onder Kapitein SIMON RYNTJES, doch in
Maart 1795, afgadankt, en federd zyn verblyf onbekend zynde, wordt verzocht zich en adresseeren by den Boekverkooper
J. TEN BRINK GZ., in de Warmoesstraat, over de St. Annastraat, zal daar voor eene belooning genieten.—Zullende ge-
melde HENDRIK VAN COOTEN, nog in leeven zynde, vriend lyk ontvaugen en gelegenne gegeven worden om na zyn
genoegen te kunnen worden geholpen, waneer zich dezelve in Persoon o per Missive, aan gein. Boekverkooper a levesfeerd.

Rough Translation:
If someone knows with certainty about the Residence, Life or Death, of a HENDRIK VAN
COOTEN, from Demerary, in the Year 1794, serving as a Sailor, serving under Captain SIMON RYNTJES, but in
March 1795, retired, and residence was unknown, are invited and addressed by the book seller
J. TEN BRINK GZ., In the Warmoesstraat, on the St. Annastraat, will be rewarded there for a reward.
pleasure to be helped when they are in person or per Missive. Book seller is supplied.

Hendrik senior was born in Doorn in 1750, and arrived in Demerara about 1773. Hendrik junior could well have been born not long after, which would feasibly have him at about 20 in 1794.

The J. ten Brink making the enquiry is quite probably Jan ten Brink, book store owner and publisher. Netherlands Wikipedia has an entry for him. I wonder why he was being enquired about? Did he owe money?