Peter Wynkoop

New Amsterdam - Immigrants

Pieter Pietersz. Wijncoop, the son of Pieter Jansz. Wijncoop and Jaapje Evers was born shortly before August 13, 1617, (the date of his baptism in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.) He was probably an eldest son. It is not known at this time whether he had siblings or not.

He made his first appearance in Rennselaerswyck in upstate New York on February 10, 1639 on a liquor smuggling charge. I have no idea who he was working for at the time, but it probably was not Kiliaen van Rensselaer. He stayed in the New World until at least April 18, 1639 when he witnessed the purchase agreement for a yacht. He probably returned to Amsterdam in June of that year and made another late fall or early winter crossing to New Amsterdam in late 1639 or early 1640, this time in the employ of Kiliaen van Rensselaer. By June of that same year he was back in Amsterdam, having reported to Kiliaen van Rensselaer on the completion of a grist mill in Rensselaerswyck.

He seems to have spent the rest of that year and all of 1641 in Amsterdam, where he met Jannetje Andries and married her. Their wedding bans were posted on April 20, 1641 and their marriage occurred shortly after that.

He spent the years from 1642 to 1646 in making a once yearly trip to Rensselaerswyck for the patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer as his commis or purchasing agent. With the upsurge of the Indian wars in 1646, promoted in large part by the governor, Willem Kieft, Pieter, after some trouble with Kieft and Arendt van Curler, a relative of Kiliaen van Rensselaer's, suddenly left New Amsterdam for the old world in July of 1646, never to return. He died in Amsterdam sometime in early 1659, for his widow, Jannetje Andries appears in a notarial record on March 27, 1659, stating that she owes money to a surgeon for the care of her late husband. The surgeon is also named as the guardian for Pieter's children, who are unnamed and remain so at this particular point in time.

Many secondary resources seem to have indicated that Pieter was the father of Cornelius Evertsz Wynkoop, but it seems that is not actually true. who was born in Barnevelt, Gelderland, Holland about 1630. (*this date seems a bit unreasonable to me, as his father would only have been 14. This supports the theory that he is not Pieter's son.) Cornelius Wijnkoop was also a well educated man of principles who turned his back on the old country and bent all of his efforts toward making his fortune in the New World. He became a propertied land owner and a well respected local politician, and even more importantly the founder of the Wynkoop family in America. He signed his will as Cornelis Wijnkoop but also printed his name below it as Cornelius Wynkoop thus making the name change official. His third son Garret Wynkoop, who moved to Pennsylvania around 1717, continued spelling the family name as Wijnkoop up until around 1746, when he finally standardized it as Wynkoop.

He was born around 1627, probably in the neighborhood of Wyckerom in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands and left for New Netherland within a day or two of April 1st, 1651. He was married sometime in 1658 when he was 31 years old, about six years older than most bridegrooms in that time and place.

His wife's name was Maria Jans van Langedyck, who was probably born in St. Maarten, Nordt Holland around 1637 and died in 1679 in Ulster County, New York. Cornelius married Maria Janse Langendyck, daughter of Jan Jansen Langendyck. Maria was also born in Holland, about 1634. She died in Hurley Twp, Ulster Co, NY in 1679.

Cornelius and Maria Wynkoop were the parents of Maria Wynkoop, born in Albany, NY about 1660. She died prior to 1724 in Kingston, NY. Maria was married to Moses De Pui or De Puy. It was Moses daughter, Marietten, that married Alexander Rosenkrantz.

All the children of Cornelius and Maria Wynkoop were:

   Maria, mentioned above

   Benjamin Wynkoop, b. Apr 1675, Kingston, NY, died 1751. He married Femmetje Vanderhuel.

   Johannes "Major" Wynkoop, b. 1658. On 7 Jun 1687 he married Judith Bloodgood, dau. of Francis Jansen Bloetgedt. They had:

       Elizabeth Wynkoop, b. 1690, who married Jacob Tenbruek. 

   Gerrit Wynkoop, b. 1664, married Hillitje Fokker and died sometime after 1745.

   Evert Wynkoop, b. 24 Mar 1663/4, who married Geertje Elmendorf and died 31 Jul 1746. They were the parents of:

       Hezekiah Wynkoop, who married Maria Davenport. 

   Nicholas Wynkoop, b. Oct 1668

   Catherine Wynkoop, b.1671.