| Sources |
- [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, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cool-29.
name and dates
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofcleve01clev/page/398/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=couwenhoven.
Lists Altie Cornelison (Cool) in the footnote on page 398 (426 of document), having a daughter Marretje from Gerrit Wolfertse.
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, A. D. Schenck, The Rev. William Schenck, His Ancestry and his Descendants (Washington: Rufus H. Darby, 1883), 31.
From the footnote, starting on p. 31:
“ *Neeltje Gerritse van Couwenhoven was descended from WOLFERT GARRETSEN VAN COUWENHOVEN, the common ancestor of the Couwenhoven, Kouwenhoven or Conover family in this country, who immigrated from Amersfoort, in the province of Utrecht, Holland, in 1630, with the colonists who settled Rensselaerwick, near Albany, where he was employed by the Patroon as superintendent of farms. He afterwards resided on Manhattan Island, where he cultivated the companies’ bowery or farm No. 6, and in 1657, was enrolled among the small burghers of Nieu Amsterdam. On the 16th June, 1636, Wolfert Garretsen and Andries Hudde, bought of the Indians and obtained from Governor wan Twiller, a patent for the westernmost of the three flats on Long Island (small prairies), commonly known as the little flats, and called by them Castuteenew or Kaktenew, which patent was ratified on the 22d of August, 1658, to which premises he appears to have removed, on which they immediately commenced a settlement, and where he died in 1662.
August 2, 1639, he purchased of Hudde his interest in a house, barrack or barn and garden on said patent called “Achtervelt,” and 16 September, 1641, he purchased of Hudde all his interest, not previously disposed of, in the original patent.
Wolfert’s heirs, in 1666, conveyed the main portion of these premises to Elbert Elbertse Stoothoff. This settlement was at first named Nieu Amersfoort, in honor of the place of Wolferts’ nativity, was afterwards commonly known as the Baai or Bay, and since as Flatlands.
Woflert’s children, who all came over soon after their father, in 1633, were:
- JACOB WOLPHERTSE, d. abt. 1670, m. 1st Hester Jansen, m. 2d 26 Sept., 1655, Magdalentje Jacobs, settled in Nieu Amsterdam, where he carried on a brewery; was one of the “nine men” who from 1647 to ’50 represented the principal classes of the community, and in 1649, one of the agents on the part of the community to Holland;
- GERRET WOLPHERTSE, d. abt. 1645, m. Altjie Cornelis, dau. of Cornelis Bambertse Cool, of Gowanus, who, after the death of Gerrt, m. Elbert Elbertse Stoothoff; he settled on a farm in Flatlands, of which town he was a magistrate in 1664;
- PETER WOLPHERTSE, m. 1st, 2 Dec., 1640, Hester Symons Daws, m. 2d, 22 Nov., 1665, Altje Sybrants, m. 3d, 19 May 1699, Josyntie Thomas, was also a brewer on the corner of the present Whitehall and Pearl streets, Nieu Amsterdam, where, among other office, he held that of Schepen for many years.
GERRET WOLPHERTSE, son of Wofert Gerretsen, had issue:
- WILLEM GERRETSE, b. 1636, living as late as 1727, m. 1st, 1660 Altie, dau. of Joris Brinckerhoff, m. 2d, 1665, Jannetje, dau. of Pieter Monfoort, resided at first in Brooklyn, and afterwards in Flatlands;
- JAN GERRETSE, of Brooklyn, b. 1639, m. Gerdientje, dau. of Nicasius de Sille, Fiscal of Nieu Netherlands;
- NEELTJE GERRETSE, m. Roelof Martense Schenck;
- MARRETJE GARRETSEN, bap. 10 April, 1643, m. Coert Stephense van Voorhees, and d. prior to 1709.
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Teunis G. Bergen, Register in Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N.Y., From Its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700 (New York: S. W. Green's Son, 1881), 77-78.
https://archive.org/details/registerinalphab00berg/page/76
- [S288] FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave Index, "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2B1-77B4 : Tue Apr 01 22:28:51 UTC 2025), Entry for Aeltje Cornelis Cool Wolfertszen Van Couwenhoven, Stoothof.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2B1-77B4
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Register in alphabetical order, of the early settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N. Y, Bergen, Teunis G., 1806-1881.
Images 141 - 142 (pp 283 - 285): Early Stoothoff members of the family.
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Pre-revolutionary Dutch houses and families : in northern New Jersey and southern New York by Rosalie Fellows Bailey.
images 68-69 (pp 66-67) and 77 -80 (pp 75-78) record early members of the Stoothoff family image 607 (p 605) contains an index for the members.
- [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volume 43, Number 3, whole Number 165, pp 97 - 100,1968Also: The published sources for Elbert Elbertsz and the Stoothoff family are Bergen's Bergen Family, pp. 245-51, which carries the main line down through the first five generations; Bailey, Pre-Revolutionary Dutch Houses and Families, pp. 74-77; and a shorter account in Bergen's Early settlers of Kings County, p. 285+.
The progenitor of the Stoothoffs in America was Elbert Elbertsz Stoothoff who emigrated to this country from Niewkerken in The Netherlands in the 1630s. Although originally a farm hand indentured to the Van Rensselaers, he was doubtless a man of ability since he held numerous official positions, both locally and in the colonial government. He was often designated Captain Elbert Elbertsz, a title he obtained upon his appointment as captain of the Flatlands militia by Governor Colve during the return of the Dutch in 1673. Through his marriage with the widow of the eldest son of the first Couwenhoven, the founder of Flatlands, he was able to eventually purchase all of the latter's extensive landholdings there. He also bought Bergen Island (now joined to the main part of Flatlands) which in his will he entailed on the male descendants of his only son. Years later this was the subject of a noted lawsuit which lasted some twenty-seven years.
Elbert's grandsons early obtained land in Somerset County, New Jersey; the eldest in addition held Bergen Island under the entail; the middle sons settled in Somerset County and later Middlesex, where some remain today; the youngest inherited the Kings County holdings, and was the ancestor of the lines of the family on Long Island. Elbert, the eldest grandson, put his eldest son Gerret in possession of Bergen Island, and when the son drowned in Flatlands Bay, he put his next son Wilhelmus in charge of the island, to the detriment of Gerret's three minor daughters. Presumably this was still in accordance with the anticipated operation of the entail upon the death of Elbert, still the lawful holder of the property. However, Wilhelmus seems to have also died an untimely death in the lifetime of his father, and to the prejudice of his minor son (not to mention his younger brothers), presumably Elbert then turned the island over to his youngest brother Wilhelmus, who
98 The Stoothoff Family
was apparently the only one of the family still living in Kings County. This was a clear violation of the provisions of the original entail.
It was after the death of the grandson Elbert and after the marriage of the second granddaughter, the children of his eldest son, that they and their husbands began suit for recovery of the property, which they eventually won in 1792. The rights of the senior male descendant were apparently disregarded in the case and he does not seem to have entered into the suit.
Even today the family remains relatively concentrated on Long Island and in central New Jersey; a cursory check of western directories failed to find any of the family, except in one instance which may have been a recent move, so it appears that few, if any, joined in the general westward migration after the Revolution.
First Generation
1. ELBERT ELBERTSZ STOOTHOFF, was born about 1620, probably in Nieukerken, North Brabrant, the town from -which he emigrated either in 1633 or 1637-38. Captain Elbert ;Elbertszen Stoothoff "van de Vrede" (or "of the Peace," an allusion to his being justice of the Peace) generally signed his name as "Elbert Elbertse," and many of references to him are found under that designation. According to his oath of allegiance 1687 in Kings County, he emigrated to this country in 1637, but Van Tienhoven in a report to the States General gave the date as 1633. In a document of 1644 it appears that Elbert was bound to serve Kilian Van Rensselaer six years in his colony, but with the latter's consent, he had served four of those years on Wouter Van Twiller's Bouwery No. I in New Amsterdam. If this statement was made at the end of the six years service, it also places the date of his arrival about the year 1637. In an affadavit of July 5, 1644 Elbert stated that he was then twenty-four years of age, which places his birth in 1619 or 1620 before July 5th. So it appears that Elbert was only seventeen (or thirteen) years old when he emigrated, a fact which suggests that he was brought in the company of others or in the custody of an older person. Van Tienhoven also stated (as representative of the West India Company in reply to the colonists remonstrance to the States General of Holland) that "Elbert Elbertse went to the country as a farmer's boy, at about ten or eleven years of age, in the service of Wouter Van Twiller." This is another discrepancy which can only be ascribed as an uninformed statement of a man not particularly concerned with the matter at hand.
Elbert eventually settled in Flatlands, a town which he represented in 1648-50 as one of the nine men in the appointed council. In 1653 he again represented (New) Amersfoort (Flatlands) in a convention at New Amsterdam, and on April 8th of the same year he was sergeant-commandant of the Amersfoort militia. During this period he also owned land in New Amsterdam, according to the assessment of 1655. From 1654 to 1664 and again
The Sioothoff Family 99
under the Dutch in 1673 he was a magistrate of Flatlands and frequently its representative.
After his marriage with the widow of Gerret Wolfertsz Van Couwenhoven in 1645 an by agreement with the guardian of the latter's children, he took the whole of Gerrit's considerable estate on condition of raising the children. When they were of age he paid them a total of 900 Carolus Guilders, and after the death of his wife Altje Cornelis, on June 14, 1683, he agreed to pay Jan Gerretsz Van Couwenhoven an additional 2,000 guilders in full share of his mother's estate. The land in this estate was called "Achtervelt," consisting of two hundred forty-six acres on "Kaskutew" flats in Flatlands. On April 27, 1662 Elbert purchased Achtervelt outright from the Couwenhoven executors for 5,000 guilders, payable in four years, and obtained a confirmatory patent for the land on Nov. 1, 1667.
On Nov. 25, 1665 Elbert bought what is known now as Bergen Island in Flatlands for 125 guilders. It was this property that he entailed in his will of Dec. 18, 1686 (unrecorded) on his son Gerret and the latter's issue, failing which upon Gerret's two sisters and their children in succession. This was the subject of the twenty-seven year lawsuit which commenced in 1764 (see under his grandson, Gettet #21). There is an entry in the minutes of the Court of Sessions (of which Elbert was a justice for several years) held Dec. 13, 1679, in which Captain Elbert Elberts complained of trespass on his "Island called Bearn Island (now called Barren Island which is in Jamaica Bay) to his damage" from which it may be inferred that he was the sole owner of the island. The account books of Elbert Elbertsz, which in 1876 were in the hands of Teuis G. Bergen, reveal that in addition to farming and public service, he also kept a general store.
On August 27, 1645 at the New Amsterdam Dutch Church, Elbert married Altje Cool of Gowanus, daughter of Cornelis Lambertszen Cool and his wife Altje Brackhonge, who later married Willem Bredebent. Altje Cool, who was probably a few years older than Elbert, was the widow of Gerret Wolfertszen Van Couwenhoven, born 1610, who died in 1645 during the life of his father, Wolfert Gerretsz Van Couwenhoven, the founder of New Amersfoort in 1636-37; the latter died in 1662 between March 2 and April 27 when his executors sold the property to Elbert Elbertsz. Attie previously had the following children:
i. Willem GERRETSZ (VAN COUWENHOVEN), b. 1636; mar. (1) 1660 Altje, daughter of Joris Dirckszen Brinck-erhoff & Susanna Dubbels, died June 3, 1663; (2) Fcb. 12, 1665 Jannetje, daughter of Pieter Monfoort & Sarah de Planken.
ii. Jan GERRETSZ (VAN COUWENHOVEN), b. 1639, said to have been in poor health; on June 14, 1683 after his mother's death, Elbert Elbertsz agreed to pay him 2,000 guilders for his share of his mother's estate.
iii. Neeltje Gerrets, bap. Sept. 20, 1641 in New Amsterdam mar. 1660
Roelof Martensz Schenck.
100
iv. Marrctje Gerrets, bap. Apr. 10, 1644 in New Amsterdam; mar. Coert Stevensz Van Voorhees.
Elbert Elbertsz and Altje Cool had had the following additional children:
2 i. Elbert, bap. Jan. 26, 1648 at New Amsterdam, sponsors Adriaen Dirck-
szen, Jacob Wolfertszen (van Couwenhoven, Altje's brother-in-law),
Marritje Lievens, Hester Simons (wife of Pieter Wolfertszen Van Cou-
wenhovcn, Altje's brother-in-law); died young.
3 ii. Heiltie, b. about 1650; mar. Thomas Willet, of Flushing, Long Island.
4 iii. Achje, possibly the unnamed child of Elbert Elbertszen bap. May 4,
1653 in New Amsterdam, sponsors Hester Jans (wife of Jacob Wolf-
ertszen Van Couwenhoven, Altje's brother-in-law), Hester Simons (as
above); mar. Jan Tuenessen Van Dyckhuysen before Apr. 7, 1677
when they bap. their daughter Auke or Antje.
5+ iv. Gerret, b. about 1655-63.
From the preponderance of Couwenhovens among the sponsors given above, it would appear that Elbert Elbertsz took the place of the missing son in that family. Elbert married secondly at the New Amsterdam Dutch Church, July 21, 1683, Sara Roelofs, daughter of Anneke jans, celebrated for her connection with what was later the Trinity Church property in New York City, by her first husband, Roelof Janszen Van Masterlandt. Sara was born about 1626, emigrated with her parents from Amsterdam, Holland, about 1,630. She married first on June 29, 1642 Hans Kierstede, surgeon, by whom she had several children whose descendants moved to northern New Jersey; secondly, September 1, 1669 Cornelis Van Borssum, of Brooklyn Ferry. As his widow Sara was received into membership in the New York Dutch Church on September 2, 1692. Elbert Elbertsz died between that date and the time of his taking the oath of allegiance in Kings County in 1687 wherein he stated he had then been in this country for fifty years. . . .
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Abt 1615 - 1683 (68 years)
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