His [Cornelis Van Tienhoven] description...was 'a middle-age man of corpulent habit with red and bloated visage and light hair.'....
He survived under several administrations in spite of many rash and unfortunate schemes. A description of his character in 1649 read:
He is crafty, subtle, intelligent, sharp-witted,-- good gifts when properly applied... He is a great adept at dissimulation, and even when laughing, intends to bite, and professes the warmest friendship where he hates the deepest...In his words and acts he is loose, false, deceitful, and given to lying; prodigal of promises, and when it comes to performance, there is nobody at home...Now, if the voice of the people be the voice of god, of this man hardly any good can with truth be said, and no evil concealed...
A curious reference says that after the disappearance of her husband in 1656, Rachel lived in New Amsterdam with her young children for a few years until her death in 1663. That is clarified by Innes, who wrote - 'In the fall of the same year [1656] he disappeared from New Amsterdam; some articles of his attire found on the river shore induced the belief that he had committed suicide, while many stoutly asserted that he had absconded to get out of the reach of his numerous enemies. There seems to be, however, no reliable evidence that he was ever heard of afterwards...'
