Wolfert Gerretse van Couwenhoven

Abt 1584 - 1662  (~ 78 years)

• Name	Wolfert Gerretse van Couwenhoven
  Birth	Abt 1584  [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Alternate birth	Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands   [3, 4]
  Alternate death	1661	New Netherland   [2]
  Alternate death	Aft 1660	New Netherland   [3]
  Death	Between 2 Mar 1662 and 24 Jun 1662	New Netherland   [5]
  Alternate death	Bef 27 Apr 1662  [4]
  Person ID	I21171	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of JTS
  Last Modified	15 Sep 2024

  
  

  Father	Gerrit
  Family ID	F24246	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Neeltje Jacobsdochter
  Children	+ 1. Garret Wolfertse van Couwenhoven,   b. Abt 1610, Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands d. Abt 1645, Flatlands, Long Island, New York (Age ~ 35 years)
  Family ID	F13060	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Feb 2019

  
  

  Family 2	Aeltge Jansdochter
  Marriage	17 Jan 1605	Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands   [6]
  Family ID	F24247	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Sep 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Also known as Wolfert or Wolphert Gerretse; also van Kouwenhoven; also "Van Amersfoort", etc. In 1997-98, W. F. van Kouwenhoven (citation details below) examined the evidence that Wolfert was a son of Gerrit Willemsz van Couwenhoven of Woudenberg who later moved to Amerfoort, and found it wanting. However, Wolfert's connection to the farm Couwenhoven in Hoogland (now in the neighborhood Coelhorst in Amersfoort) is established by the existence of a 1622 document in which Wolfert was made the guardian of the five children of his deceased brother Willem, who had been the tenant on that farm. In 1611-1623 Wolfert was a baker in Amersfoort, and later a co-owner of a bleach camp there. He arrived in New Netherland in 1625 on a ship of the Dutch West India Company which sailed in the expedition that was comprised of the ships Mackerel, Horse, Cow and Sheep. Wolfert is seen circa 1630 as a superintendent of farms at Rensellaerswyck, near what is now Albany. From about 1632 to 1636 he leased and farmed a bouwerie on Manhattan, running roughly from today's Chatham Square down to Pearl Street. In 1636 he was granted several hundred acres on Long Island, where he named his plantation "Achervelt." This settlement was later named New Amersfoort, in honor of his birthplace. It is now known as the Flatlands neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 1654 he served as a schepen (roughly, alderman) of New Amsterdam, and in 1657 he was made a burgher. He served on the Council of Eight Men. Gerritsen Beach is named for him.

  
  

• Sources

  [S7813] W. F. van Kouwenhoven, "Wolfert Gerritse in the Netherlands: Part I: A Comprehensive Survey of the Genealogical Literature on the Name Couwenhoven in the 16th and 17th Centuries." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 128:209, Oct 1997. [S7814] W. F. van Kouwenhoven, "Wolfert Gerritse in the Netherlands: Part II: A Search in the Dutch Archives." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 129:109, Apr 1998. [S1571] Register in Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N. Y. by Teunis G. Bergen. New York: S. W. Green's Son, 1881. [S1765] The Conover Family by Charles Hopkins Conover. Frankford, Philadelphia: Martin & Allardyce, 1912. [S3097] Lincoln C. Cocheu, "The Van Kouwenhoven-Conover Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 70:230, 70:353, 1939; 71:69, 71:157, 71:273, 71:365, 1940; 81:123, 81:172, 81:225, 1950; 82:34, 82:89, 82:175, 82:211, 1951. [S7815] Willem van Kouwenhoven, "Wolfert Gerritse in the Netherlands: Further Thoughts about the Van Couwenhoven Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 135:252, Oct 2004.