WOLFERT GERRETSE VAN KOUWENHOVEN

WOLFERT GERRETSE VAN KOUWENHOVEN

Wolfert Gerretse Van Kouwenhoven and his family lived in a small village called "Kouwenhoven" a place set among sandy plains and scattered woods near the small city of Amersfoort, in the division of Holland called Utrecht. Why did a man with a wife and three children set out from a land of peace and plenty to live among colonists surrounded by savages? Probably the need of work and money combined with the spirit of adventure.

Wolfert was not rich or he would ot have taken the position of Superintendent of Lands for the Patroon, Killian Van Rensselaer, but e must have been able or he would not have been appointed to oversee the Dutch Lands near what is now Albany, New York. He must have been courageous or he would not have carried on such work that brought him into daily contact with the fierce Indians.

As this sturdy, strong man, already ap0proaching middle age, stood on the deck of the good ship "De Eendracht" which cleared the Texel on March 21, 1630, his blue eyes must have looked at the distance and wondered what fortunes lay before him and his family. They would make their fortune--yes, but how? America at that time was almost an unknown land, with only a few scattered small settlements here and there on the coast. Everywhere in the interior was an unexplored region of savages. Not only to such a land, with only a few scattered small settlements here and there on the coast. Not only to such a land, but also to it's interior and among the savages was where Wolfert and Neeltje, with their three sons, proposed to go. The man and the woman who founded the family in America certainly did have courage. They arrived at New Amsterdam (now New York City) on May 24, 1630.

The contract between the Patroon and Wolfert Gerritse was dated at Amsterdam on January 16, 1630. It was to last for four years, but Van Rensselaer could cancel it after one or two years. Wolfert Gerritrsz was to give his time to Van Rensselaer from April to November, when the winter planting would be finished. If it proved necessary he was to remain during the winter. His pay was to be twenty guilders a month, but he was to provide his own board. Wolfert was to devote special efforts to securing cattle, horses, cows, heifers, sheep and hogs. Van Rensselaer's instructions to Krol, Comissary at Fort Orange, written January, 1630 sated that Wolfert Gerritsz had been "engaged to direct provisionally all my affairs concerning the farms and purchase of cattle". Also one of Wolfert's duties was to build a house for Van Rensselaer in the northern colony, a house to be "plain and simple, large and tight"

Wolfert Gerritsz took up his home on Manhattan Island, and set about his business there and at Rensselerswyck. By September he had plowed the Fort Orange Land. He took farm animals up the river, yet he was soon dissatisfied. Perhaps because his wife would not move to Rensselaerswyck. On January 9, 1632, Wolfert Gerritsz wrote to Van Rensselaer in Amsterdam, asking to be released from his contract

Van Rensselaer did it with a friendly letter dated July 20, 1632 addressed to "honorable, discreet Wolfert Gerritsz".

"I had hoped that you would have settled in my colony, but as I am told, your wife was not much inclined thereto."

Before sailing for New Amsterdam Wolfert had on January 8, 1630, signed a lease with the West India Company for one of their farms, Bouwerie No. 6 on Manhattan Island. In July, 1632 Wolfert took full charge of this farm and held the place until July 1638. This lease must have expired in 1636 for it was in that year that he acquired property on Long Island where he was to spend the rest of his life. On June 16, 1636, Wolfert Gerritsz and Andries Hudde, an officer of the New Amsterdam government, received an Indian deed for a tract called "Kestateaw". He promptly moved onto this property, constructed a dwelling and began to farm. His place was first called "Achterveldt", but later became the settlement of Amersfoort--possibly named by Wolfert after his old home-- and even later the town of Flatlands.

Wolfert Gerritsz appears to have been an industrious, peace loving man. He was admitted to the Small Burgher right on April 18, 1657, one of the first to receive this dignity.

As for the death of Wolfert Gerritsz Van Kouwenhoven, it must have occurred between March 2, 1662, when an action was recovered against him, and June 24, 1662, when his heirs were sued for non-performance.