Pieter Stryker

Birth: 1 Nov 1653 · Flatbush, Kings, New York
Death: 11 Jun 1741 · Flatbush, Kings, New York

Pieter Stryker was son of Jan Stryker and Lambertje Seubering. He was the first of the family children to be born in the new land.

On May 29, 1681, Pieter married Annetje Barends daughter of Barent Joosten and Sytie Laurens Barent in Flatbush, Kings, New York. Pieter and Annetje had 11 children Lammetje Stryker (died as an infant), Lammetje Stryker (died as a child of small pox), Jan Stryker, Barent Stryker, Jacob Stryker, Barent Stryker, Hendrick Stryker, Syntje Stryker, Pieter Stryker, Hendrick Stryker, and Lammetje Stryker.

Pieter was one of the patentees of the town of Flatbush named in the Dongan patent November 12, 1685. He was High Sheriff of Kings county, Long Island, Commissioned November 2, 1683; Judge of the Court from 1720 to 1722. On December 27th, 1689, we find him as a Captain of Foot Militia. His residence in Flatbush, torn down about forty years ago, was a stately Holland brick building in quaint Dutch style, with the letters “P. S., 1696,” over the doorway, and certainly its appearance indicated a home of genuine hospitality. 1

On June 1st, 1710, he purchased of the three brothers, Aert, Matthew, and David Aerson, of Brockland, Kings county, New York, the four thousand acres on Millstone River in Somerset county, New Jersey, which they had received by a patent deed from the Proprietors of East Jersey, January 9, 1702. This deed is still in existence. It does not appear that he ever lived on this property, but his sons Jacob and Barent and his grandsons, the four sons of Jan, removed from Flatbush and settled in Somerset county, New Jersey. 1

In connection with this purchase of Jersey land it is well to note that the Dutch land owners in and around New York thought the rule of the British Crown very oppressive. Looking across the harbor they saw the fine farms and the benign rule of the Proprietors of Jersey, and they resolved that at least some of their descendants should settle there. The exactions of the English in the matter of their town governments, and more especially the establishment of the Church of England among them, made them long to remove further away from their conquerors. Various parcels of land were purchased by companies, and the Strÿcker family selected the fertile soil of Somerset county for their future home.1

Pieter Stryker died June 11, 1741 and was buried at Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery in Flatbush, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York.

1Stryker, William S. Genealogical Record of The Strycker Family. Sinnickson Chew, Camden, NJ. 1887; 3-6.