Wolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetWolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven
Founder of the New Netherlands colony
Date of Birth: 
About Wolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven
- Wolfert Gerritse Van Couwenhoven (1 May 1579 – 1662), also known as Wolphert Gerretse van Kouwenhoven and Wolphert Gerretse, was an original patentee, director of bouweries (farms), and a founder of the New Netherland colony. He also founded the first European settlement on Long Island, called New Amersfoort, and was a Schepen of New Amsterdam in 1654.
- He is noted as playing an "active role in laying the foundations of the communities of Manhattan, Albany, Rensselaer, and Brooklyn."The progenitor of the Vanderbilt family, Jan Aertszoon (1620–1705), also known as Jan Aertson, a Dutch farmer from the village of De Bilt in Utrecht, Netherlands, emigrated to the Dutch colony of New Netherland as an indentured servant to the Van Kouwenhoven family in 1650.
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