Gravesend, Brooklyn

Gravesend was founded in 1645 by Lady Deborah Moody who led a group of religious dissenters fleeing persecution, in the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The people from Gravesend were granted religious freedom, which was unusual for that period. Lady Moody was the only woman to found a colonial settlement in early North America. She was the first female landowner in the New World. Lady Deborah had unusual influence in a society dominated by men, and was described by contemporaries as "a dangerous woman."

Wilhelm Kieft, governor of New Netherland (present day state of New York, US) set aside a substantial area in western Long Island for Lady Moody and her colony, as he had done for Hutchinson, Doughty, and Throckmorton.

We do not know much more about the first settlement of Gravesend. We would like to know who, besides Lady Moody, was numbered among her fellow settlers. Profiles to be added to this project should be those of Lady Moody’s followers, or settlers of Gravesend. Important information about these individuals would include European place of origin, year of emigration to America, place of emigration or initial settlement, and work or position in Gravesend.

Good places to start finding Gravesend settlers are:

• http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Settlement_of_Gravesend,_Long_Island
• http://longislandgenealogy.com/moodygrave/LadyMoody.htm

Known settlers include:

1. Lady Deborah Moody
2. Sir Henry Moody (Lady Deborah's son)
3. James Hubbard
4. George Baxter
5. John Morrell
6. Richard Ussell
7. Nicholas Stillwell
8. George Holmes
9. Thomas Hall
10. John Tilton
11. James Ellis
12. Cornelius Stellinant
13. Edward Browse
14. Richard Stout
15. Thomas Cornish
16. Thomas Greedy
17. Thomas Spicer
18. Walter Wall
19. John Cooke
20. James Grover
21. John Rinkman/Ruckman
22. William Musgram
23. Thomas Whitlock
24. Richard Gibbons
25. Randall Huett
26. Ralph Cardell
27. Robert Pennoyer
28. William Wilkins