Volume 17 , Issue 45

Kouwenhoven Got Land From Indians

"Stories of Old Brooklyn" can be found in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, dated 17 April 1930, Thursday, page 23, with the headlines: "Kouwenhovens Got Land From Indians."

This is an Old story of the Old Kouwenhoven Mansion on Kings Highway. The plot on which the family mansion stood in 1930 was part of a tract bought soon after ancestor came here in 1630.

I wonder if this old Kouwenhoven mansion and the kouwenhoven family tree still exists today? Who has the Kouwenhoven family tree now? Would love to see it and the mansion if it still stands.

Found on Newspapers.com

Three taps of the shining brass knocker on the great white door of the Kouwenhoven mansion, that faces Kings Highway, brought an alert, courteous gentleman to the portal. He turned out to be Cornelius Kouwenhoven, master of the house, where he had lived since he first saw the light of day on July 2, 1851, nearly 79 years ago.

Kouwenhoven led the way to the parlor, Through the wide windows, 50 feet away, there was an endless procession of motorcars rushing along the highway, which had been made a very wide boulevard at this point.

"Quite different from the way things looked when the first Kouwenhoven settled out her," said the host, as he settled back in a comfortable chair.

Brings Out Family Tree

When the Eagle man asked Mr. Kouwenhvoen to tell him something of the family history, he excused himself, stepped into another room and came back with a roll of blue print paper. Asking the scribe to hold one end, he walked more than half way across the room before the strip ws entirely unrolled.

"That's our family tree," he said.

The "tree" was rolled up again and, with Mr. Kouwenhoven's daughter helping with an occasional suggestion, a brief outline of the family was traced.

It appears that the common ancestor of the many families in New York, New Jersey and some other States, who write their names Kouwenhoven, Couwenhoven and Conover, emigrated from Amersfort, Province of Utrecht, Holland, in 1630, and settled at Renssalaerwick, near Albany.

His name was Wolfert Gerritsen Von Kouwenhoven. According to old records, he and Andries Hudden, another immigrant, bought from the Indians here a tract of 15,000 acres, giving to the place the name of New Amersfort.

Governor Van Twiller later gave them a patent for the land. The part belonging to the Kouwenhovens had come down through nine generations, and the stately mansion pictured in this news article stands on land that was secured by the original settler almost 300 years ago.

Old Home In Ruins

This house, Mr. Kouwenhoven said, was built by his grandfather about 1840. The original house, which had been almost completely wrecked by the ravages of time and the elements, was only a hundred yards from the present imposing dwelling.

Before it fell to pieces the present owner removed a carved mantelpiece from the old homestead,a dn had it set up in the big house, where it is one of the most cherished possessions of the family, which consists of Mr. Kouwenhoven and his three daughters. His wife died in 1918. Another daughter, Mrs. John Hyatt Brewer, lived in Brooklyn.

Flatbush folk who were boys and girls only 15 years ago (1915) will recall the Kouwenhoven farm and the squirrel and duck hunting that was carried on nearby. On cold days many a young Flatbushite, returning from a hunting expedition in the woods that were abundant in the section at that time, sought warmth in the old Kouwenhoven station, which stood on the embankment at Kings Highway until a few years ago, when he Long Island railroad abandoned service on its Manhattan Beach branch.

And undoubtedly many of them will recall the numerous times they trespassed on the Kouwenhoven property in their trips to and from the old swimming hole, which was located out in the flatlands beyond the farm, near the pumping station that was fondly nicknamed "The Old Red Mill."
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