| Notes |
- Note on Find a Grave:
Assistant to Gov. Woulter Van Twiller, Representative at the Board of Nine in 1647, 1649–1650, sat on the Court of Arbitrators between 1649–1650, Delegate of New Netherlands to the Hague in Holland.
[1]
- Conover genealogy page
6. Jacob Wolphertse3 Van Kouwenhoven (Wolphert2, Gerritt1Couwenhoven) was born in 1615 at Amersfoort, Utrecht, Netherlands. He married Hester Jansen, daughter of Lijsbet Setten, on Dec 1, 1636 at New church, Amsterdam, Holland; Married by Domine Gelldorpus (Bible). He married Magdaleentje Jacobs Van Amsterdam on Sep 26, 1655. He died before Apr 21, 1670. He died either 1673 or 1674 at New Amsterdam, Kings, Long Island, NY.
He was also known as Jacob Van Couwenhoven. He was also known as Jacob Worlfertsen Van Kouwenhoven. He was also known as Jacob Van Kouwenhoven. He and Hester Jansen were intended in Marriage Jacobus Couwenhoven of Amersfoort residing in the Jonge Roelen Alley, 22 years old, asseisted by his uncle Rutgert Jansz, parents still living, marries Hester Jans of Haarlem, 22 years old, living on the Princes' Canal with her mother Lijsbert Setten.
He signes: Jacobus Couwenhoven on Nov 14, 1637 at Amsterdam, Netherlands. Inventory of his estate was on Apr 21, 1670.
Children of Jacob Wolphertse3 Van Kouwenhoven and Hester Jansen were as follows:
i. Neeltje Jacobse4; born Sep 18, 1639 at NY; baptized Sep 25, 1639; First baptism recorded in the New York Dutch Church ; married Cornelis Pluvier Jan 6, 1662 at NY; Cornelius was a widower.
ii. Johannes Jacobse; born May 11, 1641 at NY; baptized May 19, 1641; married Saartje Frans Apr 11, 1664; his estate was probated Nov 18, 1690 at Brooklyn, Kings County, NY.
He was also known as Johannes Jacobse Van Couwenhoven. He was also known as Jan Van Kouwenhoven. He was also known as Jan Jacobse Van Couwenhoven. In 1689, he was a member of the Court of Exchequer; secretary between "ye Limits of Harlem and Bowery." He resided on High St., New York City with his father with whom he was a successful brewer. In 1689, he was a member of Gov. Leisler's Council. He left a will on Jun 17, 1690.
iii. Lysbeth; born Aug 30, 1643 at NY; baptized Sep 6, 1643; married Samuel Gerretzen circa 1666.
iv. Aeltje Jacobse; born Aug 20, 1645 at NY; baptized Aug 27, 1645; baptized Aug 28, 1645; married Bernardus Hassen Jul 7, 1669.
She was also known as Aeltje Van Kouwenhoven. She was admitted to the Dutch Reformed Church, New York City, Apr 12, 1665.
v. (Unknown); born Mar 6, 1647; died Mar 7, 1647; baptized Mar 7, 1647.
vi. Petronella Jacobse; born May 7, 1648 at NY; baptized May 10, 1648; married Isaac Van Vleck, son of Tielman Van Vleck and Magdalena De Herlin, circa 1669; died before 1674 at NY, NY.
She was also known as Petronelletje Van Kouwenhoven. She was also known as Petronella Van Kouwenhoven. She was also known as Pietnellitje Jacobse Van Couwenhoven. She was also known as Petronella Van Couwenhoven. She was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, New York City, on Jan 11, 1665.
There were no children of Jacob Wolphertse3 Van Kouwenhoven and Magdaleentje Jacobs Van Amsterdam.
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~conover/genealogy/Pages/newinfor.htm
[2]
- NEARLY opposite the house of Jacob Steendam, upon Hoogh Straet, and occupying a part of the site of the building which stands upon the northeast corner of the present Broad and Stone streets, but fronting upon the latter street, stood at the time of our survey a house belonging to Jacob Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven. This man, with his two brothers, Peter and Gerrit, were the sons of Wolfert Gerritsen, of Amersfoort, a town of considerable size, about twentyfive miles southeast of Amsterdam, and a few miles south of the Zuyder Zee. That town had suffered grievously in 1629 from its occupation by an Austro-Spanish army, in the dragging war which Spain was vindictively carrying on against the United Provinces, and there is strong probability that it was this misfortune that led W olfert Gerritsen and his sons to seek a home in New Netherland in the following year. The sons themselves at this time would seem to have been men of mature years; at any rate, Jacob van Couwenhoven was familiarly known about the town, in 1655, as “ old Jacob.” The father, for several years prior to 1689, hired one of the newly cleared farms of the West India Company,1 being the one commonly known as “ Bouwery No. 6,” the farmhouse of which stood upon the east side of the present Chatham Square, its land lying generally between the present Division Street and the river shore.
The brothers appear to have been men endowed with generous and kindly dispositions ; and in 1646, after the death of their father, and of their brother Gerrit, when they came to divide their slender patrimony, they allowed, by an agreement which is still extant, to Jan, one of the young children of their deceased brother, 100 guilders more than to the others, “because he has not as good health as the others, and is weak in his limbs, and to all appearance will not be a stout man.”
Amersfoort, the native town of the Van Couwenhoven brothers, with its great church spire towering high above a picturesque landscape of hill and dale, — quite different from the general character of the scenery of the Netherlands, — was, in the seventeenth century, the seat of an active transit trade of tobacco, beer, malt grains, etc., between the Netherlands and Germany ; barges from Amsterdam and from all the ports of the Zuyder Zee sailing up the small river Eem to the town, whence a short land carriage brought their freight to the banks of the Rhine. Many of the inhabitants of Amersfoort were familiar with the brewer’s trade, and among these was Jacob van Couwenhoven. He appears to have had the design, from an early day, of establishing a brewery in New Amsterdam, and for this purpose, as early as 1645, he had obtained from Director-General Kieft, the grant of “a lot for a dwellinghouse, brewery, and garden, lying behind the public inn.” This was a plot of ground of about sixty-five English feet front, by more than one hundred feet in depth, situated also on Hoogh (Stone) Straet, and a couple of hundred feet east of the parcel we are more particularly describing. Here, Jacob van Couwenhoven commenced operations by building for himself a substantial stone dwelling-house ; by the time this was completed, he found himself so heavily in debt, — the unusual sum, for those days, of about 3,500 guilders, or ^1,400 on his house alone, — that his brewery project was deferred, perforce, for a number of years. Van Couwenhoven was, in fact, an inveterate speculator, and wherever any piece of property was offered for sale at what he thought was a “ bargain,” such as the old church building near the shore, or the old horse mill property upon Slyck Steegh (now South William Street) back of his house, he stood ready to buy it, without the least regard to his ability to pay for it. It was perhaps in this way that he had become, prior to 1654, possessed of the plot of ground we are more particularly describing, at the corner of “ the Ditch ” and of Hoogh Straet : that piece of land had been originally granted to one Antony Jansen, but had been abandoned by him and allowed to become, as the records express it, “ a stinking pool,” and in 1646 it had been regranted to the prominent shipping merchant, Govert Loockermans, who was a brother-in-law of Jacob van Couwenhoven, their wives being sisters. Hester Jansen, the wife of Jacob van Couwenhoven, had died seemingly in the early part of the year 1655, and he, with his family of four or five young children, still occupied the stone house down Hoogh Straet at the time of our survey, while the plot at the corner of the present Broad Street, upon which a brick dwelling-house had been built, probably either by Govert Loockermans or by Jacob van Couwenhoven himself, was at this time occupied by the mother of his deceased wife.
Adjoining this latter house, upon the east, stood, in 1655, two small houses owned by Mighiel Paulussen, who followed the occupation of a carter. The westernmost of these was hired out to different tenants, and in the latter part of 1655 became the abode of Joseph d’ Acosta, one of the Portuguese Jews, whose rough reception at New Amsterdam in the previous year has been already alluded to ; 1 the easternmost of the two houses was occupied by Paulussen himself ; he was from Yraendoren, in the Netherlands, and had married, in 1640, Maria, daughter of Joris Rappalje, who with her elder sister Sara are supposed to have been almost the first children of European extraction who were born in the colony. 2
It was upon the site of these latter houses, adjoining his own plot, which lay to the west, that Jacob van Couwenhoven about this time determined to erect his long-planned brewery. There was a good well upon the premises which was probably an object to him in his undertaking, and which possibly still exists under the buildings at present covering the site. In the course of the next year, 1656, he had made arrangements with Paulussen for the acquisition of the ground and houses of the latter; the buildings were demolished or removed, and here, upon the site of the present Nos. 27 and 29 Stone Street, Yan Couwenhoven commenced the erection of his brewery, which was a substantial edifice of stone, and evidently of considerable size, for it is usually spoken of, in the records, as “the great stone brew-house.” All this time he was greatly hampered by his debts : in August, 1656, one of his creditors, Pieter Jacobsen Marius, made an application to the burgomasters that Yan Couwenhoven should be required to sell some of his property, and apply the proceeds to the liquidation of his debts ; “ otherwise,” the petitioner says, “ he knows not when he shall obtain his own.” Yan Couwenhoven appeared and stated to the burgomasters that he had already placed in the hands of the Schout, or bailiff, his deed of the old church property upon the strand (purchased by him only three or four weeks before), to be held as security. As Jacob was one of the oldest citizens, generally well esteemed, and prominent in the church (he had been, in 1647, one of the church- wardens, in conjunction with Director-General Stuyvesant, and Jan Jansen Damen, specially chosen to complete the church edifice in the fort), the burgomasters were loath to adopt extreme measures ; he was therefore notified by the magistrates to sell his property at private sale, and satisfy his creditors within fourteen days, or in default thereof, the Schout would be ordered to sell the same at public auction. Under this spur, he sold the old church lot, on the 8th of September, 1656, to Isaac de Foreest, and in December of the same year he sold at public auction his stone house, a little farther down Iloogh Straet, to Nicholas de Meyer, after which he seems to have taken up his residence upon his lot, at the corner of the present Broad Street, adjoining his as yet unfinished brewery. He was still heavily embarrassed, however, but in the latter part of 1656, we find his friend, Isaac de Foreest, coming forward to assist him. De Foreest presented at that time a petition to the Director-General and Council, for permission to contract in advance with Jacob van Couwenhoven for all the beer the latter could brew in the space of a year, “so that such a well-situated brewery as that ” (of Van Couwenhoven), “may not be abandoned, but to the contrary may become the means to maintain decently that man with his family, while otherwise his ruin might be unavoidable/’ These various measures seem to have been of no more than temporary relief. In September, 1655, “ old Jacob” had married Magdalentje Jacobse ; his first wife’s children seem to have been possessed of some property which was in their father’s hands and which was deemed by their other relatives to be in jeopardy; for upon January 3, 1657, Pieter van Couwenhoven his brother, and Govert Loockermans, the husband of his late wife’s sister, make an application to the Council for the appointment of guardians for the children, alleging that Jacob “ has been inclined to enter into second nuptials, and is grossly encumbered with several heavy debts, which he is daily increasing.”
Jacob van Couwenhoven treated with contempt, however, the demand of the guardians for an accounting : he could not keep track of his own affairs; how then could they expect him to know anything about those of any one else. The guardians were forced to report to the Council that although they had “ strained every nerve,” they could get no account from Jacob of his situation : an order of Council for his arrest followed promptly, but, as nothing further appears, it is to be presumed that Van Couwenhoven patched up some kind of an account of his children’s estate.
The brewery was finished, probably by 1657, but the affairs of its proprietor were apparently hopelessly involved, and by the year 1663 Van Couwenhoven had surrendered his brewery and its contents to his creditors ; the latter appear to have permitted Jacob to operate the brewery for several years, but in December, 1670, some months after Jacob van Couwenhoven’s death, his executors conveyed the property to several individuals, — Oloff van Cortlandt, Johannes van Brugh, Cornells van Borsum, in right of Sara Kiersted, his wife, and Hendrick Vandewater, who appear to have been a sort of syndicate of creditors.
Upon the westerly side of the house and brewery of Jacob van Couwenhoven, a narrow and irregular passageway ran, in 1655, along the ditch occupying the middle of the present Broad Street; and the grants of land along it infringed largely — in some cases to the extent of twenty feet or more — upon what we now know as Broad Street.1 At the period mentioned, four houses had been built along the easterly side of this passageway : of these, it will be sufficient to indicate in a general way the sites and the owners’ names, as none of the latter were of particular prominence. At the north corner of the present South William Street stood the house of Adriaen Vincent, who in 1649 is spoken of as “ late cadet in the company’s service,” and as having come from “ Aecken,” which is perhaps a village of that name, some six or seven English miles from the old city of Ghent. Vincent had acquired this plot of land and built here about 1646.
* * *
In 1670 the Court of Burgomasters made an order that the fence of Van Couwenhoven’s property here “ should be drawn back and set on the common line ” of the street.
* * * *
[the father, Wolfert] His first employment was at Rensselaerswyck, near Albany, where for a time he was superintendent of farms for the patroon Van Rensselaer. After coming to New Amsterdam, he was one of the purchasers, in 1636, of a tract of land from the Indians at what is now known as Flatlands, south of Brooklyn, but to which he gave the name of New Amersfoort. His lands here, after his death, passed to his sons, and the descendants of his son, Gerrit, under the name of Couwenhoven, or Kouwenhoven, are still numerous upon the western end of Long Island.
New Amsterdam and its people. page 144-150
https://archive.org/details/newamsterdamitsp1902inne/page/144/mode/2up?q=couwenhoven
[7]
- Upon the north side of Hoogh (Stone) Straet, and immediately east of the ground where, soon after the period of our survey, Jacob van Couwenhoven erected his brewery, already mentioned, there stood, in the year 1655, three small houses in close juxtaposition. The eight-story yellow brick building of an electrical construction company, which now covers the site of these humble dwellings, towers above the surrounding warehouses, as the cottages themselves were over-towered in the seventeenth century by Van Couwenhoven’s “great stone brew-house.”
The first, or westernmost of these buildings, was the house of Barent Jansen. He was one of the earlier colonists, but hardly anything in relation to him can be gleaned from the records. His very patent or ground-brief for this land cannot be found, and its existence is only learned by allusions to it in other instruments. It was a parcel of about thirty-seven English feet frontage upon Hoogh Straet, and it extended back to the Slyck Steegh. Upon its western side it would appear that Barent Jansen must have built a small house at an early date. Intimately connected with Jansen in some way — probably by marriage — was one Claes Carstensen, a Norwegian of middle age, from the village of Sonde in the southern part of Norway.
New Amsterdam and its people. page 161.
https://archive.org/details/newamsterdamitsp1902inne/page/162/mode/2up?q=couwenhoven
[8]
- Next adjoining the house of Pieter Andriessen upon the east, in a garden of nearly seventy-five feet front upon Hoogh Straet, stood at the time of our survey the dwellinghouse of Jacob van Couwenhoven, previously alluded to,1 which was sold in the following year to Nicholas de Meyer. This building was of stone, and of much greater pretensions than most of its neighbors, for at its sale to De Meyer, which was at public auction, it was already mortgaged for about 3500 guilders, or $1400 of the present currency; it stood upon the site of the present buildings, No. 47, and a part of No. 45 Stone Street. This house was occupied as a residence for more than thirty years by Nicholas de Meyer. He was from Hamburg, then claimed to be under the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Holstein, from which cause he was occasionally called by the Dutch of New Amsterdam, Nicolaas van Holsteyn. The ordinary appellation of De Meyer (that is, the “steward” or “farmer”) seems, however, to have been preferred by Nicholas and his descendants, and became the family name. Nicholas had married, in 1655, Luda, or Lydia, daughter of the ex-fiscal, or prosecutor, Hendrick van Dyke; he became, in later years, a man of considerable prominence in the city, having been one of the magistrates in 1664, at the time of the surrender to the English. Afterwards, in 1676, he was mayor of the city. He was a man of active business interests and took a considerable part in developing the settlement of the village of Haerlem, where he had purchased various parcels of land amounting to between sixty and seventy acres in extent ; he also owned a wind-mill near the intersection of the present Chatham and Duane streets, and a brewery in the Smits YJy, or modern Pearl Street, near Platt Street. After the death of Nicholas de Meyer, in 1690, the property upon Stone Street was divided, and the original homestead passed to his daughter Anna Catrina, wife of Jan Willemsen Noering. The eldest son of Nicholas, Wilhelmus or William de Meyer, became a prominent citizen of Esopus and Kingston in the present county of Ulster.
As we advance along the road, or “High Street,” farther eastwards from the fort, the plots granted to settlers become larger, for they were given at a time when there was no immediate likelihood of a demand for the land for the construction of dwellings. In this way, Wessell Evertsen, the next neighbor to Van Couwenhoven and to Nicholas de Meyer, obtained in 1646 the grant of a parcel of land with a frontage of nearly two hundred and twenty-five feet along the road, and extending back to the Slyck Steegh. Evertsen came from the old town of Naerden, upon the south coast of the Zuyder Zee, some thirteen or fourteen miles east of Amsterdam, — an interesting place, with many a tradition of Spanish atrocities perpetrated here in the war for independence; a picturesque spot, too, where the flat western coast of the Zuyder Zee, and the interminable dyked meadows in the direction of Amsterdam, give place to the heights of Gooiland; and where, to the observer gazing southeastward,
New Amsterdam and its people, page 170-172
https://archive.org/details/newamsterdamitsp1902inne/page/172/mode/2up?q=couwenhoven
[9]
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Abt 1612 - 1670 (58 years)
[1, 2, 3] 
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