The participation of New Netherland‘s founding fathers in both government and commerce set the pace for rapid economic and political development. Unfettered by the staid practices of the Old World paradigm, they also began to fashion virtually every aspect of colonial life into a New World paradigm. The trend continued unabated even after the Dutch colony’s disestablishment by the British in 1664. Moreover, the threads of history leading back to New Netherland clearly show an unambiguous and significant contribution their legacy lent to American posterity and the American way of life.
During the New Amsterdam era, Wall Street (“de Waal Straat” back then) was formed in the space between two palisades built to protect the citizenry from marauding Indians. Soon afterward it became a slave market and hub of commercial trade. In 1792 the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by 24 stockbrokers outside of 68 Wall Street and laid the foundation for the New York Stock Exchange.
On 11 May 1661, Frans Jacobsen van Oudewater (1635 – 1665), his wife Geertruid Gerrits and their two small children, Thys and Maritje, boarded de Vergulde Bever from its anchorage in the Zuiderzee. Seventy-eight days later the ship entered New York Harbor and dropped anchor off the coast of the southern tip of Manhattan, or the area of land that is now known as Battery Park. It’s likely Petrus Stuyvesant, 7th and Last Director-General of New Netherland, personally greeted them and their fellow passengers as they stepped ashore.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer, co-founder and original director of the Dutch West India Company, was instrumental in assigning Cornelius Jacobsen May (1580 – 1623) as the first Director-General of New Netherland. Kiliaen’s descendant Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764 – 1839) founded the forerunner of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1824. It is the oldest technological education and research institute in the English-speaking world.
Governor May first sailed to America in 1614. He was essentially a partner in the New Netherland Company formed in Amsterdam that year. He explored and surveyed the Delaware Bay region (Cape May of New Jersey is named after him). After the establishment of the Dutch India Company in 1624, May later skippered the ship New Netherland that delivered the first Dutch colonists to New Netherland. He took up his post as the first governor of the province upon his arrival at Governors Island, Manhattan.
42 Ancestors – 23 Direct * (paternal grandparents)
Epke Jacobse Banta *
Birth 1619 in Village of Minnertsga, Het Bildt, Friesland Province, Netherlands
Death 23 Oct 1686 in Hackensack Township, Bergen, New Jersey
Wilhelmus Hendrickse Beekman
Birth 28 Apr 1623 in Hasselt, Overijssel, Holland
Death 21 Sep 1707 in New Amsterdam, New York
Reverend Guilliam Bertholf *
Birth 20 Feb 1656 in Sluys, Vlaeden, Holland
Death 20 Feb 1724 in Hackensack, Bergen, New Jersey
Gijsbert Theuniszen Bogaert
Birth 1595 in Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Death December 26, 1646 in Oatskill, Greene, New York
Cornelis Aertszen Breyandt *
Birth 1619 in Steenwick, Overijssel, Netherlands
Death 1653 in New Amsterdam, New York
Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoff *
Birth 1604 in Vorden, Vorden, Gelderland, Netherlands
Death 16 Jan 1661 in Brooklyn, Kings, New York
Frans Sijmonsen Brouwer *
Birth 1596 in Katwijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Death 21 Mar 1692 in New York, New York, New York
Jacques Caudebec *
Birth 1664 in Bolbec, Pays d’Caux, Nourmaundie, France
Death aft 1767 in Deerpark, Orange Co., NY
David Demarest *
Birth 1620 in Beauchamp, Cambray, France
Death 16 Oct 1695 in New Milford, Bergen, New Jersey
Jiles Douwesz Fonda *
Birth 1604 in Bommel, Gelderland, Netherlands
Death 1662 in Albany, New York
Hendrick Hendricksen Kip *
Birth 24 Apr 1600 in Nieuwenhuishoek, Ruurlo, Gelderland, Netherlands
Death 1680 in Manhattan, Kings, New York
Francois LeSueur *
Birth 16 Apr 1625 in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France
Death 30 Nov 1671 in New Harlem, New York
Cornelius Jacobsen May, 1st Director-General of New Netherland *
Birth abt 1580 in Schellinkhout, Venhuizen, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Death 1623
Frans Jacobsen van Oudewater *
Birth 1635 in Oudewater, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 1665 in Bergen County, NJ
Hildebrand Pietersen *
Birth 1613 in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Death 1639 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland
David Provoost *
Birth 1608 in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
Death 1656 in New Amsterdam / Manhattan Island, New Netherland
Pieter Quackenbosch
Birth 1616 in Valkenburg, Katwijk, Holland, Netherlands
Death 1687 in Albany, Albany, Province of New York
Kiliaen van Rensselaer
Birth 1585 in Fort, Hasselt, Overijssel, Netherlands
Death 7 Oct 1643 in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Jan Martense Schenck
Birth 1631 in Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 1687 in Flatlands, Kings, New York
Jacob Janse Schermerhorn
Birth 1622 in Schermerhorn, Waterland, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Death 20 May 1688 in Schenectady, Schenectady, New York
Peter Jansen Slot
Birth 1640 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Death 1688 in New York, New York
Hendrick Jansen Spiers
Birth 1619 in Aschwaerde, Stift, Bremen, Germany
Death 12 May 1679 in Pemmerpough, New Jersey
Jan Gerretsen Stryker
Birth 1615 in Ruinen, Drenthe, Netherlands
Death 1697-03-03 in Flatbush, Kings, New York
Albert Albertse Terhune *
Birth 13 Aug 1618 in Huinen, Putten, Gelderland, Netherlands
Death 1685 in Flatlands, Kings, New York
Lubbert Gysbertsen van Blarcom *
Birth 1601 in Blaricum, Gooiland, Netherlands
Death 1655 in Bergen, New Jersey
Jan Janszen van Bresteede *
Birth 1596 in Bredstedt, Schleswig, Denmark
Death 1641 in New Albany, Albany, New York
Marten Cornelissen van Buren
Birth 30 Jan 1637 in Utrecht, Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 13 Nov 1703 in Kinderhook,Columbia,New York
Jan van Cleave
Birth 1627 in Cleve, Gutersloh, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Death 1699 in Kings, New York
Oloff Stevensen van Cortlandt
Birth About:1617-00-00 in Wyck, Duurstede, Netherlands
Death 4 Apr 1684 in New Amsterdam, New York
Gerret Wolfertse van Couwenhoven
Birth 1579 in Amersfoort, Netherlands
Death 1662 in New Amsterdam (New York,NY)
Cornelius Hendrick van Ness *
Birth 1602 in Vianen, South Holland, Netherlands, On The Haverdijk
Death 1684 in Fairfield, Essex, New Jersey
Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt
Birth 1623 in Tholen, Bergen, Limburg, Netherlands
Death 10 Dec 1660 in New York, New York, New York
Cornelius Aertsen van Schaick *
Birth 1610 in Westbroek, Maartensdijk, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 1669 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, New York
Petrus Stuyvesant, 7th and Last Director-General of New Netherland
Birth 13 Oct 1602 in Scherpenzeel, Weststellingwerf, Friesland, Netherlands
Death Feb 1672 in New York, New York
Steven Coerte van Voorhees *
Birth 1600 in Hees, Drenthe, Netherlands
Death February 16, 1684 in Flatlands, Kings County, New York
Jacob van Winkle *
Birth 1599 in Winkle, Holland, Netherlands
Death 1657 in New Amsterdam (New York,NY)
Jan Aertsen Vanderbilt
Birth 1627 in Bilt, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 2 Feb 1705 in Bergen, New Jersey
Cornelius Arentsen Viervant
Birth 1666 in Lexmont, Land of Vianen, Utrecht, Netherlands
Death 1678 in Kingston, Ulster, New York
Douwese Janzoon de Vries *
Birth 1580 in Harlingen, Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands
Death 1653 in New York
Lubbert Westervelt
Birth 1620 in Meppel, Drenthe, Netherlands
Death 1686 in Hackensack, Bergen, NJ
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff
Birth 26 Jan 1624 in The Netherlands
Death 30 Jun 1694 in Long Island, New York
Albrecht Zabriskie
Birth 1638 in Insterburg, Prussia, Kaliningrad, Prussia
Death 1711 in Hackensack, Bergen, New Jersey
RELATED ANCESTRAL BLOG ARTICLES
Col. John Jacob Astor IV (1864 – 1912) Real Estate Magnate, Casualty of RMS Titanic Sinking
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (1899 – 1957) Screen Actor, Academy Award Winner
Edward Collins (1603 – 1689) 1st Deacon of Congregational Church of Cambridge
Henry Jaynes Fonda (1905 – 1982) Movie and Stage Actor, Academy Award Recipient
Sir Thomas de Holland, KG (1314 – 1360) 1st Baron Holand
John Jay (1745 – 1829) 1st Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
Eustache Le Sueur (1617 – 1655) Founder of French Academy of Painting
Captain John Outwater (1746 – 1823) Revolutionary War Militia Commander
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) First Lady of the United States of America
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) 32nd U.S. President 7
Theodore Roosevelt
Commodore John Drake Sloat (1781 – 1867) 1st Governor of California
Garretson Beekman “Garry” Trudeau (1948 – )
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794 – 1877) Entrepreneur
Wilbur (1867 – 1912) and Orville (1871 – 1948) Wright – Aviation Pioneers, Pilot Trainers
The Great Puritan Migration to New England (1620 – 1640)
27 Co-Signers of Mayflower Compact
SOURCE
The Holland Society of New York
The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$7.95
Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist