In the spring of 1613, a sailor named Jan Rodrigues arrived at the shore of the Hudson River from a Dutch trading ship, likely the Jonge Tobias. Identifying himself as a free man, he became the earliest documented person of African descent in New Netherland.
Jan is the subject of one of 25 new, peer-reviewed biographical sketches published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society in August 2026, part of the NYG&B's New Netherland Settlers initiative. The sketches trace where each individual came from, who they married, and other details of everyday life in the colony. New Netherland's people included the Native nations who had lived on the land for generations, the Lenape, Mahican, and Mohawk, along with newcomers from across the Atlantic and around the world, both free and enslaved.
The 25 new sketches include:
- Albert Huppenge, a Flatbush settler probably from the Netherlands
- Andries van Angola, a Black man from Angola, probably enslaved
- Barent Baltus, a tailor from Germany
- Cachaquant, a Narragansett leader recorded by Adriaen Block
- Cat, the first Mahican leader named in Dutch records
- Catharina van Werven, known as “Mother Polhemius,” who fled the fall of Dutch Brazil
- Claesje, an enslaved woman of African origin
- Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, a Black man from Angola, freed on Manhattan in 1644
- Gerbrant Jansz, a sailor from Holland
- Gerritjen Lambers, from Amersfoort, wife of the sailor Jan Spiegelaer
- Hendrick Ribbelinck, a sailor from Hamburg
- Jan Kindt, a ship's merchant from the Southern Netherlands
- Jan Kolthoff, a soldier from Germany
- Jan Rodrigues, a sailor from Santo Domingo, in present-day Dominican Republic
- Jan Roelofsen Suebering, a farmer and Flatbush alderman, from the Netherlands
- Jan Spiegelaer, a sailor from Flanders
- Johannes Theodorus Polhemius, the Reformed minister of Flatbush, from Boikirchen, in present-day Germany
- Johne Hamiltoune, a soldier from Scotland
- Jonas Fredricxsz, likely a sailor, from Amsterdam
- Mr. Klaaks, a merchant from England
- Nathattou, a Narragansett leader recorded by Adriaen Block
- Pieter Jordensz, a soldier and surgeon from Lübeck, by way of Curaçao
- Pieter Pietersen Quackenbosch, a brick and tile maker from Valkenburg, in Holland
- Pieter Santomee, a Black man from the island of São Tomé, freed on Manhattan in 1644
- Sansewanouwe, a landholder, probably Mahican
About New Netherland Settlers
Launched in 2024, New Netherland Settlers is a multiyear project to develop detailed, peer-reviewed sketches of everyone who lived in the colony before 1664, combining new research with existing scholarship to build a lasting scholarly resource for New Netherland families and their descendants. The NYG&B is grateful to the Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, the project's foundational sponsor, whose generous funding launched the initiative.
To learn more about the team, volunteer, and support the project, visit newyorkfamilyhistory.org/new-netherland-settlers.
Do you have a New Netherland ancestor who should be included, or information to contribute? Use our form to contribute new information.