Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt

Early life and immigration

Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt, only child of Maerten Corneliuszen Gelderman Van Rosenvelt (1596–1661) and Cornelia Johanna Lodewijk (1600–1694), was born in 1623, in the Dutch Republic. Between 1638 and 1649, he immigrated to New Amsterdam (present-day New York City). On August 6, 1650, he married Jannetje Samuels Thomas (1625–1662) and the couple had 5 children from 1650 to 1662: Nicholas Roosevelt (1658–1742), Christiaen Roosevelt (born 1650), Elsje Roosevelt (born 1651 or 1652; died 1703), Anna Margariet Roosevelt (1654–1708), Anna Roosevelt (1662–1744).

Later years and death In 1652, he bought a farm from Lambert van Valckenburgh, comprising 24 morgens in what is now Midtown Manhattan, including the present site of the Empire State Building. The property included approximately what is now the area between Lexington Avenue and Fifth Avenue bounded by 29th Street and 35th Street. Claes died on December 4, 1679 at the age of 56. His son Nicholas changed their family name from Van Rosenvelt to Roosevelt.