Isaac Cortelyou family notebook
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Abstract
One oversize volume containing land surveying exercises and calculations, birth records for the family of Isaac (1736-1811) and Altie Cortelyou, and a record of enslaved people's births for the period 1796 to 1811. The volume is mostly written in Dutch.
Biographical Note
Isaac Cortelyou (1736-1811), the son of Jacques (1707-1765) and Marretje Cortelyou, was a member of the prominent Cortelyou family of Brooklyn, one of the early Dutch families to settle in the region. In 1766, he married Altie Rapalje, and they lived for a time on the family farm in the town of New Utrecht that Isaac had inherited from his father. Isaac was fence-viewer of New Utrecht in 1772, an overseer of the poor in 1774, and a deacon at the New Utrecht Dutch Reformed Church. In the late 1780s, Isaac and Altie moved with their three daughters and five sons to a house on present-day Bay 11th Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst. A wealthy man, Isaac Cortelyou owned 11 enslaved people. He willed his farm on Bay 11th Street to his son Johannes Cortelyou (1777-1855), but upon Johannes's suffering a mental breakdown, family relative Timothy Townsend Cortelyou was appointed custodian of the property and sold it to Jacob Bennett in 1831.
Sources:
- Lutz, Nancy E. "Isaac Cortelyou House." Accessed August 15, 2011. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Town/dutch/isaaccortelyou.html
Scope and Contents
One oversize volume containing land surveying exercises and calculations, birth records for the family of Isaac and Altie Cortelyou, and a record of enslaved people's births for the period 1796 to 1811. Also included are various records relating to the town of New Utrecht, including a census list from 1698, a list of property holders for the year 1706, and drafts of land deeds. Information in the volume spans the period 1698 to 1824. The volume is mostly written in Dutch.
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Families
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Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Isaac Cortelyou family notebook, 1974.137, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source and date of acquisition unknown. Formally accessioned in 1974.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Oppressive descriptive language was remediated from the abstract, biographical/historical, and scope and contents notes in this finding aid as part of an anti-racist descriptive language audit performed in December 2020.
