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Notes for Cornelius Jacobsen Mey:
Cornelius was born somewhere in Europe, location not known. In 1612 he was living in Amsterdam, Holland, and he was listed in records there as a worthy mariner. He was in command of a vessel, and in 1613 he made his first trans-Atlantic voyage to what was to become New Amsterdam (New York City). He sailed along the southern shore of Long Island passing southward to Delaware Bay. He put ashore in what was later to be called "Cape May" which was named in his honor. His boat was called the "Neuw Netherlandt", and it was 260 tons. In 1623 Cornelius brought over the first boat load of new settlers to New Amsterdam. The Rapalje, among many other families were on board this ship. Most of the settlers on board his boat were of French, or Belgian Huguenot ancestry. At this time Cornelius was appointed as the first director of the Dutch in New Netherlands. After 1624 he set sail again, and went to Texel, Holland. he put ashore there and then shortly afterwards sailed his way to the Canary Islands, and the Guinea Coast, and then he arrived again at the North River (Hudson River) on 08 May, 1624. He, and 8 other men stayed in Manhattan, and represented the Dutch West India company, and the rest of the ships passengers went as sailors, and single men to settlements on the South River in the present day CT... Also during this year his ship went up the North River, as it did in 1623 until it reached Fort Orange (Now Albany, New York). No doubt he had his contact with the Rapalje family (see the Rapalje chapter in this work). In Martha Bockee Flint's work "Early Long Island" she states that Cornelis Jacobsen Mey was the skipper of the Dutch West India company in 1613, and in 1624 one of the early organizers of the first government in New Netherlands. He was a friend, and the ship Captain for the famous Pieter Minuet, and he was noted as one of the most influential men in Early New York history.
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