CHAPTER XX 



THE VAN CORTLANDTS 



The Old Public-Spirited Colonial Family Who Figured Prominently in Ameri- 

 can History — Cortlandt Manor Founded, 1697 — Pierre and Philip Van 

 Cortlandt Who Scorned England's Promises and Favors and Espoused the 

 American Cause. 



IAN CORTLANDT PARK perpetuates the name of the 

 old and honorable family who established Cortlandt 

 Manor, and who played a prominent part in New 

 York during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. 

 Oloff Stevenson Van Cortlandt, the founder of the 

 family in America, came to New Amsterdam in the same 

 vessel with Kieft, on March 28, 1638, as an officer in the ser- 

 vice of the West India Company. He was a lineal descendant of the 

 Dukes of Courland in Russia. When deprived of the duchy of Cour- 

 land, his ancestors emigrated to Holland. The family name was Ste- 

 vens, or Stevenson, van (from) Courland, and they adopted the lat- 

 ter as a surname, the true orthography in Dutch being Kortelandt, 

 signifying "short-land." Oloff Stevenson Van Cortlandt was made 

 a commissary of the shop, or customs office, in 1639, and he had 

 charge of the public stores of the company until 1648. He then 

 became a merchant and brewer, and rose to the position of being 

 one of the richest men in New Amsterdam. In 1654, he was ap- 

 pointed Burgomaster (mayor) of New Amsterdam, which office 

 he held almost without interruption until 1664, when the Dutch 

 colony was surrendered to the British. He died in New York, 

 April 4, 1687. 



Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the son of Oloff S. Van Cortlandt, 

 born May 4, 1643, became at the age of thirty-four, the first native- 

 born mayor of New York City, and held that office almost con- 

 secutively till his death, November 25, 1700. At the time of Leis- 

 ler's Rebellion (1689-1691), he was one of the Royal Counsellors, 

 and having opposed Leisler, the self-styled "Cromwell" of New 

 York, he was obliged to fly from the city to avoid imprisonment. 



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