Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, Reverend

Abt 1598 - 1676  (78 years)

• Name	Johannes Theodorus Polhemus  [1, 2]
  Title	Reverend
  Birth	Abt 1598	Boikirchen, Rhenish, Bavaria   [1, 3]
  Gender	Male
  FSID	LRVY-4MC  [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
  Occupation	Preacher, Reformed Dutch Church
  Death	9 Sep 1676	Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States   [1]
  Burial	Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States   [1]
  Person ID	I45458	footsteps
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2025

  
  

  Family	Catharina Van Der Werven,   b. 1622, Netherlands d. 1702, Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States (Age 80 years)
  Marriage	1643
  Children	+ 1. Anna Polhemus,   b. 1650, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil d. 1732, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States (Age 82 years)  [Father: unknown]  [Mother: unknown] + 2. Maragarita Polhemius,   b. Abt 1649, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil d. 1702, Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States (Age 53 years)  [Father: unknown]  [Mother: unknown]
  Family ID	F24948	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2025

  
  

• Notes

  The Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, (1598-1676) who was the first member of the Polhemus family to settle in America, was born in 1598, probably at Boikirchen, a small community now vanished, but thought to be near the present Wolfstein in Rhenish, Bavaria. After serving several churches in Brazil for several years (administered by the Dutch). The Dutch administrations in Brazil, which succeeded that of Governor Maurice, were inefficient and corrupt. The Portuguese revolted and the Dutch finally capitulated January 25, 1654s they were given three months in which either to depart or to embrace the Roman Catholic religion and bacome Portuguese citizens. In April 1654 there was a fleet of sixteen Dutch ships in the harbor of Recif to evacuate the Dutch Protestants together with a small number of Dutch and Portuguese Jews. For some reason Domine Polhemus took a separate ship from the one on which his wife and children were quartered. Fifteen of these vessels arrived safely in Holland including the one bearing his wife and four children. If the sixteenth ship conveying the Domine had not met with a misadventure, there probably would never have been a Polhemus family in this country. The Dutch ship on which the Reverend Johannes Theodorus Polhemus left Brazil was captured by a Spanish privateer not far from Recif. He finally arrived in New Amsterdam and not in Holland in September 1654 on the French frigate St. Charles. After 'Domine Polhemus' arrival in America from Brazil, he went to Long Island to a village called Midwout. There were at that time three Dutch settlements on the western end of Long Island called Midwout, Amersfoort, and Breuckelens they later became the villages of Flatbush, Flatlands, and Brooklyn. There he built a church in Flatbush. This church continued in use for one hundred years and was served by Domine Polhemus until his death in 1676 at the age of seventy eight years. [Belle Polhemus Gaddis, History of the Polhemus Family, Private manuscript - Initial 1962 Rev. 1968 Rev. 1974]

  
  

• Sources

  [S288] FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave Index, "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z5T-SWSW : Tue Apr 01 08:13:35 UTC 2025), Entry for Johannes Theodorus Polhemus. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6Z5T-SWSW [S322] FamilySearch.org, Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL67-2L9Q : Tue Mar 25 02:09:25 UTC 2025), Entry for Christina Theodorus Polheim and Theodorus Polheim, 07 Oct 1629. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL67-2L9N [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Universitätsarchiv Heidelberg, “Matrikel der Universität Heidelberg 1386 bis 1936,” Heidelberg, 1579-1662, Johannes Theodorus Polhemius dictus Hammerstein, 26 January 1620, graduation, folio 152 verso, number 6, Universitäts-Bibliothek Heidelberg (www.digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de: accessed 20 January 2023), UAH M4, image 152v. Direct link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17558#0308. entry 6: Johannes Theodorus Polhemius dictus Hammerstein [birthplace:] Boikirchen, Westriacus [or Westrich, a region in present-day southwest German and northeast France] [enrollment date:] 26 January 1620 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Philip Van Wyck, “Johannes Theodorus Polhemius,” De Halve Maen, Vol. 55, No. 2, p. 9 (New York, New York: Holland Society of New York, 1922), FHL Fiche 6050874. 100018294 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Herbert F. Seversmith, “The Dominy Johannes Theodorus Polhemius of Flatbush, Long Island,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 4, December 1955, p. 125 (Washington, D.C.: National Genealogical Society Bookstore, 1955). another account of Johannes Theodorus Polhemius's life [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, James Wilbur Clayton, History and Genealogy: Polhemus, Woolley, Totten, Clayton, Bedell (West Orange, New Jersey: Clayton, Bedell, Overturf, 1954), p. 5, digitized by Archive.org (http://www.archive.org: accessed January 2020). Book on Pohlemus, Wooley, etc. genealog5 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 07 March 2025, 19:56), entry for John Smith V (PID https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4 ); contributed by various users. https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Book Title: A register of the ancestors of Dorr Eugene Felt and Agnes (McNulty) Felt. https://search.ancestry.com/collections/61157/records/1205692