Jan Cornelissen Van Cleef

1627 - 1699  (72 years)

• Name	Jan Cornelissen Van Cleef  [1, 2]
  Birth	1627	Netherlands   [1]
  Gender	Male
  FSID	L7TG-R9M  [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
  Immigration	1653	New York, New York, United States
  	immigration from Holland to New York
  Occupation	1677	New York, New York, United States
  	Plantation Owner - 24 Morgens (50 acres)
  Death	1699	New Ultrecht, Kings, New York, United States   [1, 4]
  Burial	New Ultrecht, Kings, New York, United States   [1]
  	New Utrecht Cemetery, 16th Avenue & 84th Street
  Person ID	I45489	footsteps
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2025

  
  

  Family	Engeltje Laurens Pieterszen,   b. Jul 1646, New York, New York, United States d. Aug 1714, Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States (Age 68 years)
  Children	+ 1. Rebecca van Cleef,   b. 1672, Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States d. 15 Nov 1755, Kingston, Ulster, New York, United States (Age 83 years)  [Father: unknown]  [Mother: unknown]
  Family ID	F25065	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	1 Jul 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Jan Van Cleef, born in 1627, is said to have been from Cleef, Holland. Land was at a premium and there was little room to expand. He immigrated to America in 1653 with promises of jobs and free land. New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, which was a forested virgin wilderness, inhabited by native Americans and small groups of European settlers, who navigated not by roads or even forest paths but by the watery highways of the region: the Hudson, Delaware Rivers, etc.. He was among early settlers who spoke some 10 languages, helping develop North America’s first multicultural city. There was plentiful hunting and on his farm he could grow a wide array of garden crops to be sold in local markets. Fort Amsterdam contained the Dutch Reformed Church, a tavern and a strategic port. New Amsterdam was renamed New York on September 8, 1664, in honor of the then Duke of York (later James II of England), in whose name the English had captured it. In 1667 the Dutch gave up their claim to the town and the rest of the colony, in exchange for control of the Spice Islands in the East Indies.

  
  

• Sources

  [S288] FamilySearch.org, Find a Grave Index, "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVLT-5MDN : Thu Apr 03 16:46:57 UTC 2025), Entry for Jan Cornelisse Van Cleef. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVLT-5MDN [S323] FamilySearch.org, Netherlands, Marriages, 1565-1892, "Netherlands, Marriages, 1565-1892", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FN83-83X : 7 February 2020), Jan Cornelis, 1657. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FN83-83X [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Henry B. Hoff, "Finding the Patronymic of Jan Van Cleef in Little-Used New Amsterdam Records," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 128 (1997), 110-111. 38323980 [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, Published by Service Press, Henderson, Nebraska, 2000. Authors/editors: Geneva Davis and Melva Murer. A summary of stories, genealogies, pictures and original sources and photos beginning in the 1600s and extending through to the early 1900s. The copy being used by Thomas E. Sherry was purchased from Geneva Davis, one of the authors, as they mutually shared information for the book. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Virkus, Frederick A., "The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy", Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company, Publishers, 1925.*note: the Rapaljes are present in ALL of the 7 volumes. The Rapaljes are listed in many of the biographies in these volumes, as they are intricately connected to pretty much every major early family in New Netherlands and later, in the US. The previous editor listed these page numbers, however, they did not list the volumes these came from. Pg. 296 says, lists Sarah as a child of Joris Janssen de Rapalye and Catalyntie Trico and says, "Sarah (1625-85), first white female b. in New Netherlands, m. 1639 Hans Hansen Bergen (d. 1653/4, native of Norway, came from Holland to New Amsterdam, 1633." Reason:Pg. 489 says, "Isbrandt Van Cleve - - - m. Janetje Aertse Van der Bilt; bpt. in New Utrecht, 9/16/1682. She was the dau. of Aert Vanderbuilt, who was a captain of infantry in 1700 and who m. Hildegrad Remson." [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Reason: Lists Jane Van Cleef as a child or Isbrandt Van Cleef and Jannetje Vanderbilt, but no other information is given about Jane Van Cleef. . [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Reason: Says, "Aaron [Van Cleave] married Rachel Schenck, daughter of Jan Roelofse Schenck and Sara Willemse Van Kouwenhoven, in September 1734 at Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey." (From "The Van Cleef Family" by Wilson V. Ledley, Library of Congress #75-7491). Furthur it states that from a manuscript by R.S. Harvey, Aaron and Rachel were married on September 24, 1734. . [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, BYU FHL, Microfiche #CS4S. G46x G 2018.