Beekman, Henry (02 January 1688–03 January 1776), New York landowner and provincial assemblyman, was born in Kingston, New York, the son of Henry Beekman, a landowner and provincial assemblyman, and Johanna Lopers. Beekman was not a self-made man. His Dutch ancestors were prominent locally in the turmoil associated with the Protestant Reformation and the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. His immigrant grandfather, William Beekman, was an administrative subordinate to the governor of New Netherland. His father was a militia leader from Ulster County whose work in preparing for possible attacks by the French during King William’s War (1689–1697), plus a small gratuity to the governor, won him land grants later branded “as large as a middling county of England.” These Dutchess County land grants (Rhinebeck Patent, 21,766 acres; Beekman Patent, 84,000 acres) became the basis for the younger Henry Beekman’s career....
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Beekman, Henry (1688-1776), New York landowner and provincial assemblyman
Philip L. White
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Brent, Margaret (1601–1670?), landowner and colonial leader
Stephanie A. Carpenter
Brent, Margaret (1601–1670?), landowner and colonial leader, was born in England, the daughter of Richard Brent, lord of Admington and Lark Stoke in the county of Gloucester, England, and Elizabeth Reed.
When Margaret Brent was about thirty-seven years old, she traveled to the New World with her sister Mary, brothers Giles and Fulke, and their servants. They landed at St. Mary’s (later St. Marys) Maryland, in November 1638. Although the two sisters traveled with their brothers, they did not depend on them for their economic survival. They arrived with servants as well as the means to procure large land grants from the proprietor, Lord Baltimore (...
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Hazen, Moses (1733-1803), army officer, landowner, and merchant
Allan S. Everest
Hazen, Moses (01 June 1733–05 February 1803), army officer, landowner, and merchant, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the son of Moses Hazen, a merchant, and Abigail White. Hazen was apprenticed to a tanner and later operated independently. The outbreak of the French and Indian War lured him away, and he remained in the military during two great wars. In 1755 he enlisted in a British colonial unit and served under Colonel ...
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Heathcote, Caleb (1666-1721), merchant, manor lord, and Anglican activist
Eugene R. Sheridan
Heathcote, Caleb (06 March 1666–01 March 1721), merchant, manor lord, and Anglican activist, was born in Derbyshire, England, the son of Gilbert Heathcote, a trader in hides and iron who served as mayor of Chesterfield, England, and Anne Dickens. While living in England Heathcote became a merchant specializing in trade with New York, where he settled in 1692 after the woman to whom he was betrothed fell in love with his brother Samuel and married him instead....
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Livingston, Robert (1654-1728), colonial merchant, landowner, and politician
Ned Landsman
Livingston, Robert (13 December 1654–01 October 1728), colonial merchant, landowner, and politician, was born in Ancrum, Scotland, the son of the Reverend John Livingstone, a minister of the Church of Scotland, and Janet Fleeming. Livingston’s father faced the threat of prosecution as a noted Presbyterian minister in a Scottish church that was moving strongly toward Episcopacy in the aftermath of the Restoration of Charles II, and in 1663 the family fled Scotland for the Protestant haven at Rotterdam. The city of Rotterdam had a large community of Scottish merchants in the seventeenth century, and at a young age Livingston began to engage in commerce, possibly under the tutelage of two brothers-in-law who were active traders in that city....
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Livingston, Robert Robert (1718-1775), landowner, attorney, and politician
Mary Lou Lustig
Livingston, Robert Robert ( August 1718–09 December 1775), landowner, attorney, and politician, was born in New York, the only son and heir of Robert Livingston and Margaret Howarden. His father, a younger son of manor lord Robert Livingston, was given a portion of land, called “Clermont,” at the southern end of Livingston Manor. In 1742 Livingston married Margaret Beekman, the heir of Colonel ...
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Pell, Thomas (1608?– September 1669), physician and landholder
Rebecca Tannenbaum
Pell, Thomas (1608?– September 1669), physician and landholder, was born in Southwick, Sussex, England, the son of the Reverend John Pell, a schoolmaster, and Mary Holland. Most sources give the date of Pell’s birth as 1613, but there is also evidence to suggest that he was born in 1608. His brother John Pell was born in 1611 and is usually referred to as Thomas’s younger brother; in addition, the dates of various events in Pell’s life would seem to point toward the earlier birthdate....
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Penn, William (1644-1718), founder of Pennsylvania and eminent English Quaker
Jean R. Soderlund
Penn, William (14 October 1644–30 July 1718), founder of Pennsylvania and eminent English Quaker, was born in London, England, the son of Sir William Penn, an admiral, and Margaret Jasper Vanderschuren, the daughter of a Rotterdam merchant. Penn was educated at Chigwell Free Grammar School, Essex, and Christ Church College, Oxford, where he studied from 1660 until 1662, when he was expelled for openly criticizing the Church of England. In an effort to prevent him from becoming a dissenter and to prepare him for the life of a gentleman, his father sent him to tour the Continent. In France the younger Penn studied Huguenot theology at L’Académie Protestante de Saumur. He returned to England in 1664 a more sophisticated man and the next year entered legal study at Lincoln’s Inn. He then assisted his father in business and military affairs. These activities required attendance at court, where he made acquaintances that would later prove useful, especially his friendship with Charles II’s brother, James, duke of York....
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Penn, William (1644-1718)
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Philipse, Frederick (1626-1702), manorial landowner and merchant
Jacob Judd
Philipse, Frederick (1626–1702), manorial landowner and merchant, was born Vrydrych or Frydrych Flypse in Bolswaert, Friesland, the Netherlands, the son of Vrydrych Flypse, a slater, and Margaret Dacres. Little is known of his early youth beyond the fact that he was apprenticed to a carpenter at an early age. The earliest reference to him as a resident of New Amsterdam occurred in 1653, when he appeared as a carpenter in the employ of the Dutch West India Company. He plied his craft and soon sought to increase his opportunities by purchasing a Small Burgher Right, granting him the privilege of trading on a limited scale in his own account. He apparently was successful, for by 1660 he was categorized as “Frederick Philipse, late the Director’s carpenter” and henceforth became noted as a merchant....
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Van Cortlandt, Pierre (1721-1814), statesman and landowner
Peter R. Christoph
Van Cortlandt, Pierre (10 January 1721–01 May 1814), statesman and landowner, was born in New York City, the son of prominent merchant and office holder Philip Van Cortlandt and Catharine De Peyster. He was one of six children and the fifth son. On 28 May 1748 he married his second cousin Joanna Livingston, the daughter of Gilbert Livingston and Cornelia Beekman, and the couple lived at first in New York City. Following the birth of the first of their eight children, they moved in 1750 to Cortlandt Manor, Pierre having recently inherited the manor house near Croton, New York, from his father along with land along the Hudson and Croton rivers....
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Van Rensselaer, Jeremias (bap. 18 May 1632), merchant and third director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswijck
David William Voorhees
Van Rensselaer, Jeremias (bap. 18 May 1632), merchant and third director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswijck, was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the son of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a diamond merchant and first patroon of Rensselaerswijck, and Anna van Welij. His education as a merchant came principally from his older brother Jan Baptist, who arrived in new Netherland in 1651 as the second director of Rensselaerswijck. On 3 August 1654 Jeremias sailed from Amsterdam to join his brother in the management of the family’s colony. He went back to Holland the following year but returned to Rennselaerswijck in 1656....
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van Rensselaer, Kiliaen (1663-1719), colonial manor lord and public official
Peter R. Christoph
van Rensselaer, Kiliaen (24 August 1663–16 September 1719), colonial manor lord and public official, was born near Beverwyck (now Albany, N.Y.) in the private colony of Rensselaerswyck (Rensselaerswijck) in New Netherland, the son of Jeremias Van Rensselaer, the colony’s director, and Maria Van Cortlandt Van Rensselaer...
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Van Rensselaer, Maria Van Cortlandt (1645-1689), director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck
Geoffrey Gneuhs
Van Rensselaer, Maria Van Cortlandt (20 July 1645–24 January 1689), director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck, was born in New Amsterdam (now New York City), the daughter of Oloff Stevensz van Cortlant (Van Cortlandt), a merchant and official, and Anneken Loockermans. Her father, who was one of the wealthiest men in New Amsterdam, served as a city official under both the Dutch and English regimes. Little is known about Maria’s early life. In 1662 she married ...
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Van Rensselaer, Nicholas (bap. 14 September 1636), Reformed church clergyman and fourth director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswijck
David William Voorhees
Van Rensselaer, Nicholas (bap. 14 September 1636), Reformed church clergyman and fourth director of the patroonship of Rensselaerswijck, was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the son of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a diamond merchant and first patroon of Rensselaerswijck, and Anna Van Welij. When Nicholas (originally Nicolaes) was seven his father died, and he was brought up largely in the care of his mother. In 1656 he entered the University of Leiden to study theology but shortly abandoned his studies. His mother then apprenticed him to Amsterdam spice merchant Servaes Auxbrebis. Van Rensselaer was unhappy in that position, and so his mother reapprenticed him to Amsterdam textile merchant William Brughman. He also left there after several weeks, claiming that God was calling him for the ministry....
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Van Rensselaer, Stephen (1764-1839), patroon, congressman, and founder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Steven E. Siry
Van Rensselaer, Stephen (01 November 1764–26 January 1839), patroon, congressman, and founder of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was born in New York City, the son of Stephen Van Rensselaer and Catherine Livingston. Born into one of New York’s wealthiest families, he was the eighth and last patroon of a vast estate in Rensselaer and Albany counties. With rights that were a legacy of the Dutch patroon system, he was to receive rents and tithes perpetually from his tenants. He received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1782. The next year he married Margaret Schuyler, daughter of General ...
