Johannes Pieterse van Brugh  Johannes Pieterse van Brugh (1624–1697) was one of the early settlers of New Netherland and is the progenitor of the Van Brugh family in the United States. He was prominently connected with the Dutch West India Company as a fur and timber trader in both Rensselaerswyck and New Amsterdam. Johannes Pieterse van Brugh was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands in 1624. After emigrating to New Amsterdam, Van Brugh became a prominent trader with the Dutch West India Company and was one of the burgomasters of the city in 1656. He prospered in New Netherland by exporting furs and timber consigned from upriver at Beverwijck. Due to his wealth, Van Brugh became a civic leader and improved his status in the new world by marrying his four daughters and two sons to some of the leading landholding families of the time. His estate was located on property between Wall and William Streets on the west side of Pearl Street in what is today the Financial District of Manhattan. On March 29, 1658, Van Brugh was married at New Amsterdam Dutch Reformed Church to Catharine (or Katrina) Roeloffe Jans (1629–1684), widow of Lucas Rodenburgh (1620-1655), late vice-director of Curaçao. She was the daughter of Roeloff Jansen (1602-1636) and Anneke Jans (later Bogardus) (1605-1663). Together, they were the parents of several children together including:   Van Brugh made his will on December 22, 1696 and died in 1697. Through his daughter Anna, he was an ancestor of J. Hooker Hamersley, the prominent Gilded Age lawyer and poet. Through his daughter Catharina, he was the grandfather of:   Through his son Pieter, he was the grandfather of Catharina Van Brugh (born in 1689), who married Philip Livingston (1686–1749), the second lord of Livingston Manor.