Brevoort

In keeping with the Dutch custom of being identified by someone’s place of origin, the Brevoort family name originates from the village of Bredevoort, Gelderland, in the Netherlands.   Hendrick Janszen Van Brevoort was an early pioneer settler of what is now New York, arriving around 1646 and settling first at Maspeth on Newtown Creek, now part of Brooklyn, before he moving to Harlem on Manhattan Island [i].  Hendrick Janszen’s descendants later purchased land in New York City (present-day Manhattan) where the family prospered, but it wasn’t until 1845 that members of the Brevoort family moved back to Brooklyn.[ii]

There are less than 250 people in the USA with this name today, generally assumed to have all descended from Hendrick Janszen, including Tom Brevoort, best known as comic book editor and Senior Vice President of Publishing of Marvel comics.

Our line ends with the death of the celebrated, but eccentric, mountaineer William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge in 1926.

  • Hendrick Janszen Van Brevoort (c1614-?) married ?

    At least two children: Jan Hendrick and Marritie

  • Jan Hendrick Brevoort (1655-1714) married Annetje Basstiaens (?-?)

    At least one child: Hendrick Janse

  • Hendrick Janse Brevoort (1670-1718) married (1) Maria Janse Covenhoven and (2) Jaquemijntje Boke (?-?)

    (2) Six children: Abraham, Abraham, Anneke, Hendrikus, Elias and Jacob

  • Hendrikus Brevoort (1711-1782) married Catherine Delamater (1719-1780)

    Eleven children: Henricus, Jacomina, Abraham, Henry, Elias, Anna, Johannes, Isaac, Catherine and Jeminia

  • Henry Brevoort (1747-1841) married Sarah Whetten (1758-1840)

    Five children: Henry, William, Margaret Ann, John and Elias

  • Henry Brevoort (1782-1848) married Laura Elizabeth Carson (1799-1845)

    Eight children: James Carson, William Augustus, Elisabeth Neville, Laura Whetten, Meta Claudia, Constance Irving, Henry Wortley and Edith ‘Fifi’

  • Elisabeth Neville Brevoort (1822-1875) married Frederick William Skinner Coolidge (1816-1896)

    Four children: William Augustus Brevoort, Laura Sanderson, Frederic William, and Elizabeth Brevoort

    Elizabeth Brevoort Coolidge’s story

[i] Aitken, William B., Distinguished families in America descended from Wilhelmus Beekman and Jan Thomasse Van Dyke  (New York and London : The Knickerbocker Press,  1912) p127

[ii] Brooklyn Historical Society Guide to the Brevoort family papers 1977.285 last accessed 22 Dec 2021