Trinity, Break Ye My Commandments?

Trinity, Break Ye My Commandments? Willis Timothy Gridley, author and publisher, Grand Rapids, Mi. 1930.
A Limited edition of 2500, this being 2231, of a self published book by Gridley, a disbarred New York lawyer proclaiming his indictment and disbarment were illegal.   As the story goes:  “ During my Webber family research I came across a legend concerning a Holland inheritance and a Webber claim to property owned by the Trinity Dutch Reformed Church of New York. Trinity Church is the large church located at the end of Wall Street on Manhattan Island. The Church is a classic land mark and when photos of Wall Street are shown on television the church is the building show at the end of Wall Street in the center of the screen.  According to the legend, the Trinity property was first owned by Roelof Jans and upon his death his wife, Anneke Jans became owner. Anneke (again by legend) was supposedly Wolfert Webber=s sister and they were royal descent from the German Prince William of the House of Orange, Nassau who was also referred to as William the Silent. Under King Philip of Spain, Prince William became the Stadholder of Holland in the last part of the 16th century.

After the death of Roelof Jans,  Anneke married the Rev. E verardus Bogardus, the second domain of the Trinity Dutch Reformed Church, and after the death of Anneke Jans Bogardus in 1663, the Manhattan property was supposedly willed to Anneke=s children, however, the Trinity Church claimed legal title.

For generations, the descendants of Anneke Jans and Wolfert Webber argued the property had illegally been taken from the family by Trinity Church. Anneke Jans Bogardus Associations were formed, membership fees and donations collected, and with a considerable war chest, the Trinity Church was taken to court. The court ruled that the Church did indeed hold legal title to the property.

In 1929, the Director of the Anneke Jans Bogardus Association, Mr. Willis Timothy Gridley, a New York attorney was indicted, convicted and sentenced for mail fraud. While in jail Gridley wrote a book about the Webber-Jabs-Bogardus claim entitled ATrinity! Break Ye My Commandments. The book is on file in the National Archives and several copies are presently owned by today’s descendants of Anneke Jabs Bogardus. “

This book is an incredibly detailed history and accounting of the proceedings. In very good condition, this  Large folio has pebbled leather- like covers, art deco angel of vengeance embossed in gilt color on front cover, and gilt Titles on spine.  Black and Gold decorated end sheets of the Tablets of the Ten Commandments being broken; previous owner taped two small newspaper articles from 1928 and 1929.  Eighty six maps, plates, and illustrations, some of them foldout.  Binding is very tight and solid.  574pp, followed by  20 pages of “A Line or Two of Verse”, poems written by Gridley.    Trinity, Break Ye My Commandments?