Beekman Genealogy

Hendrick Beekman, son of Gerard, was Secretary of the city of Hasselden, Overyssel, and in 1629 he was appointed by the States-General Superintendent of the Magazines in the cities of Hasselt and Wezel.

He was married three times. He married first, Gertryd (Gertrude) Gomensbach on April 15, 1613. She died Sept 10, 1619. They had four children.

He married his second wife, Mary Baudertius, at Zutphen, Guelderland, January 24, 1621. She was the daughter of the Rev. William Baudertius of the Reformed Church at Zutphen, born 1600, died Sep 17, 1630, at Berge. They had seven children.

William Beekman was the son of Henry Beekman of Wezel by his second wife, Mary Baudertius.

William came to New York in May 1647 with Governor Peter Stuyvesant, and became a large land holder in the city of New York. In 1658 he was appointed Governor of the Sweedish [sic] colony at Christina in Delaware. He subsequently resigned that office and returned to New York and was appointed Sheriff of Kingston; and was mayor of New York in 1680.

Henry Beekman was a member of the colonial assembly, and a judge of the county of Ulster. He was the eldest son.¹

The town of Beekman NY was named for him.

Rhinebeck was founded in 1686 as a result of a significant land transaction of 2,200 acres between four Dutchmen and six Indians of the Esopus (Kingston) and Sepasco (Rhinebeck )tribes. The Dutch settlers, Gerrit Artsen, Arie Roosa, Jan Elting and Henrick Kip, still have relatives residing in the area today. The Dutch settlers called their community Kipsbergen and it was not until 1713 that the name "Ryn Beck" appeared as a result of the area's Judge Henry Beekman's reference to his accumulating landholdings.