In reply to The City of Light Before the Advent of Electricity: New York City Travel Writing, 1600s : An interesting question! I did not see mention of Rikers Island in the Van der Donck book, however “A Brief History of the Riker Family: from their first emigration to this country in the year 1638, to the present time” ( http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b13703276~S1 ) notes that Abraham Rycken obtained the island in 1664. You will find several mentions of Abraham, or Abram, Rycken in the “Records of New Amsterdam from 1653 to 1674” ( http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b10395000~S1 ). Finally, “The Other Islands of New York City” ( http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b12623667~S1 ) has a longer chapter on the history of the island, differing somewhat on the details from the first title above
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Rikers Island