Cornelis van Tienhoven

Cornelis van Tienhoven ( Utrecht – 1656 New Amsterdam) was an official of New Amsterdam from 1638 to 1656, and one of the more prominent people in New Netherland. He served in the administrations of three governors: Wouter van Twiller, Willem Kieft, and Peter Stuyvesant. As provincial secretary and schout-fiscal, he was deeply involved in the administrative, legal, and financial activities of New Amsterdam. He was widely disliked, and contemporary descriptions of his character and behavior are unflattering.

Van Tienhoven, the son of Luyt (Lucas) Cornelisz van Tienhoven and Jannetje Adriaens de Haes, was born in Utrecht . He arrived in New Amsterdam as a Dutch West India Company bookkeeper in 1633 on the same ship as the new director of the colony, Wouter van Twiller. He was appointed provincial secretary by Willem Kieft in 1638 and retained that title when Peter Stuyvesant replaced Kieft in 1647.

Van Tienhoven was a strong advocate for military action against the Munsee bands that lived near New Amsterdam. In 1640, he led a retaliatory raid against the Raritan after the theft of some pigs. Although he attempted to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, several Raritans were killed and the sachem's brother was brutally mutilated.

Van Tienhoven was culpable in the massacre of 80 Munsee refugees at Pavonia at the beginning of Kieft's War (1643–1645). The anonymous author wrote: "Those who he stings he laughs at, and while he flatters he bites."

The directors of the West India Company also concluded that van Tienhoven was to blame: "Whoever considers only his last transaction with the savages, will find, with clouded brains, filled with liquor, he was the prime cause of this dreadful massacre." In March 1656, the directors ordered Cornelis van Tienhoven and his brother Adrean dismissed due to "manifold complaints."

On November 18, 1656, van Tienhoven's hat and cane were found floating in the Hudson River. It is unknown if he drowned, was murdered by one of his enemies, or staged his disappearance to escape legal difficulty. At the time his wife was expecting another child. His younger brother, Adrian van Tienhoven, also vanished, but later reappeared in Barbados.