c. 1600-1685
Hendrick Hendricksen was born around 1600 in Niewenhuys in the Netherlands. He was a tailor by trade and was one of the early immigrants to New Netherland. On April 28, 1643, he was granted property to the east of “The Fort” (now Bridge Street, near Whitehall), on which he built his family home and a tailor’s workshop. Disgusted by Director Willem Kieft’s wholesale murder of the Indians in 1643, he courageously advocated to have the Director returned to Holland to be prosecuted for his crimes.
Hendrick Hendricksen was a member of the assembly of the Nine Men in 1647, 1649, and 1650 and was a signatory to the Great Remonstrance of New Netherland.
Hendricksen was appointed a Schepen in 1656, a Great Burgher in 1657, and a Magistrate in 1660. Following the surrender of New Amsterdam to the English, he took the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown in October 1664.
Hendrick Hendricksen died on September 14, 1685 in New York City.