Pieter Winne
by
Stefan Bielinski

Pieter Winne was the founder and patriarch of the Winne family of early Albany. He was born in Ghent, Flanders (Belgium) in 1609, the son of Franciscus and Anna Winne. Two decades later, he had married Frieslander Tannetje Adams and they began to raise a family.

He brought that family to New Netherland during the 1650s where he became a tenant in the colony of Rensselaerswyck. His farm was in the southwestern part of the manor called Bethlehem where he also operated a sawmill (probably along the Normanskill). By the end of the decade he also was established in Beverwyck - where he owned a house and became a prominent fur trader. In 1659, he was one of those placed in charge of the Beverwyck "Rattle Watch."

Subsequently, Winne gravitated more to the countryside where he held substantial lands. For several decades, farmer and mill operator Pieter Winne was one of the principal personages of Bethlehem. In 1672, he was appointed a magistrate for Bethlehem. He served until October 1684 when he was replaced. He was also active in the Albany Dutch church - serving in a number of capacities.

He wrote a will in 1677 and another one in July 1684. In the second will, he characterized himself as a magistrate living in Bethlehem and that he was "sick in body but of sound memory and understanding." It named his wife as sole heir during her widowhood. It also identified their twelve living children - whom he made his secondary heirs.

Founder of a large regional family, Pieter Winne lived into his eighties. He died during the early 1690s and his widow remarried in 1693. His descendants were mainline residents of colonial Albany and prominent throughout the region.

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notes

the people of colonial Albany The life of the first Pieter Winne is CAP biography number 8586. This profile is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. The seminal, traditional source of information on him is a sketch printed in the Van Rensselaer-Bowier Manuscripts, 845. It states that he emigrated to New Netherland in 1653. The best online resource has been provided by Robert Winn.

Tradition holds that he was first married to an "Aechie Jans Van Schaick." But no mention of her or of any of her children was made in his will written in 1684!


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first posted: 01/07/02; updated 1/20/18