Cornelis Jacobsz (Mey) May (abt. 1580 - aft. 1624)

Born about 1580 in Hoorn, Friesland, Nederland [uncertain]

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Cornelis Jacobsz (Mey) May was a New Netherland settler. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Biography

Cornelis Jacobsz (Mey) May is Notable.

Cornelis Jacobszoon May (variant Mey) was likely born around 1580 either in the small village of Schellinkhout, Netherland or the larger city of Hoorn, Netherland ^[1], although some sources say he may have been born in France and immigrated to Netherland. Either way, Cornelius grew up in and around North Holland, and was around a family famous for their ocean-going adventures. His cousin, the famous Jan Cornelisz May was well-known for his voyage to circumnavigate the globe with Joris van Spilbergen.

In 1614, Cornelius began to work for the Dutch West India Company, and travelled as a ship's captain to the new world, exploring the Hudson River and helping to form a trading agreement with the Indians involving Adriaen Block ^[2]. In 1616, Cornelius returned, this time surveying the Delaware Bay region travelling on the ship named Blijde Boodschap (Joyful Message). He continued to make many return trips, even ordering the construction of Fort Nassau at the mouth of the Big Timber Creek in 1621.

One of his frustrations during his trading voyages was that there were areas controlled by other Dutch interests that prevented him from trading. The Delaware river area was off-limits and it took years before the Dutch West India Company was able to reach an agreement through arbitration to allow trading there. In 1624, May travelled in command of the the second Dutch settler ship Nieuw Nederland (New Netherland), which arrived at Noten Eylant (now Governors Island). May disembarked on the island with some of the 30 (primarily) Walloon (Flemish-French Protestants from what is today Belgium) colonist families. The area soon came to be known as New Netherland. The small trading post was designated as an official province, and Cornelius was appointed as the first director of New Netherland in 1624. He stayed in charge for about a year, and then was replaced in 1625 by Willem Verhulst.

Dingman Versteeg, in Manhattan in 1628, gives a short mention to Pieter Clementssen Brouwer on page 134. He is listed with Jan Clementssen Kies and Cornelis Volckertssen, all merchants of the City of Hoorn, as owners of the ship Fortune, Cornelis Jacobssen May (Mey), skipper.^[3]

It is presumed that he returned home to Netherland after his tour as first Director of New Netherland, and little more was told of his exploits.

In this special patent of the United Company of New Netherlands , we find the following names ,who we might call the concessionaires - In dit speciaal octrooi der Vereenigde Compagnie van Nieuw-Nederland komen de volgende namen voor, die wij de concessionarissen zouden kunnen noemen:

1. Gerrit Jacob Witsen, Oud-burgemeester van de stad Amsterdam,
2. Jonas Witsen en Simon Morissen,eigenaars of reeders van het Vosje, schipper Jań de Witt.
3. Hans Hongers, Paul Pelgrom, Lambrecht van Tweenhuizen,eigenaars van de sche pen de Tijger en de Fortuin, schippers Adriaan Block en Hendrik Christiaansz. Arnoudt van Lijbergen,
4. Wessel Schenck, Hans Claessen en Barent Sweetsen, eigenaars van de Nach tegaal , schipper Thijs Volkertsen.
5. Pieter Clementsz.Brouwer, Jan Clementsz. Kies en Cornelis Volkertsen , kooplieden te Hoorn, eigenaars van de Fortuin, schipper Cornelis Jacobsz.Mey.^[4][5] May 3, 1610. He sells his part in a ship to his partner Caspar Albertsen.

Legacy

He discovered several areas that he was believed to be the first explorer to lay claim to them, and as such put his name to them. Some of these were: Cape May (peninsula and island at the southernmost tip of New Jersey), Cape May County, New Jersey, and Cape May (the city), New Jersey.

Sources

1. ↑ Source: Amsterdam archief The prehistory of the New Netherland Company; Amsterdam notarial records of the first Dutch voyage to the Hudson (Amsterdam 1959). - A33017000044
2. ↑ Adriaen Block in 1614 briefly visited future site of Roduins or Rodenbergh, a Dutch factorij through the 1620s? at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River, now New Haven, CT : Wikipedia article on Adriaen Block
3. ↑ Source : Research New insights
4. ↑ bron: De Gids. P.N. van Kampen, Amsterdam 1848. Octrooi
5. ↑ Ibid., Not. Arch. 119 pp. 110, 114. Compare Stokes, VI, 64a; Not. Arch, 196 p. 479

• Source: New Netherland Institute Cornelius Jacobsen Mey
• Source: familytreemaker genealogy Ellsworth-J-La-coste
• Source: Wikipedia article: Cornelis_Jacobszoon_May

See Also

• Directors_of_New_Netherlands