The Roeliff Jansen Kill is a major tributary to the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. Roeliff Jansen Kill was the traditional boundary between the Native American Mahican and

Wappinger The Wappinger () were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutches ...

tribes. Its source is in the town of Austerlitz, New York, and its mouth is at the Hudson River at Linlithgo in the town of

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American customs ...

. The stream flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed October 3, 2011 through Dutchess and

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

counties before entering the Hudson River about south of Hudson. Most of the watershed lies in Columbia County, although parts of the northern Dutchess County towns of

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

, Pine Plains,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, and Red Hook are within the stream's watershed of approximately . A major tributary is Shekomeko Creek.

Tributaries

* Klein Kill * Doove Kill * Fall Kill * Ham Brook * Shekomeko Creek - Native American ''Che-co-min-go'', "place of eels". ** Bean River * Punch Brook * Noster Kill ** Preechey Hollow Brook * Bashbish Brook ** Cedar Brook ** Wright Brook ** City Brook *** Guilder Brook ** Ashley Hill Brook *** Lee Pond Brook * Green River

History

Roeliff Jansen

Both Roeliff Jansen Kill and Roeliff Jansen Park outside

Hillsdale, NY Hillsdale is a town in Columbia County, New York, near Hudson, New York and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. State Routes 22 and 23 intersect near the town center, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The town has several ...

were named after Roeliff Jansen. However, Roeloff Jansz was not an uncommon name. According to popular belief Roeloff Jansen (1602-1637) was born on the island of Marstrand in

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. In 1623, Jansen married Anneke Jans (1605-1663) who was from Flekkeroy, in

Vest Agder, Norway Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

. Following the birth of their first three children, they emigrated to

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...

in 1630. The couple settled in first Rensselaerwyck near what is now

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

, where Jansen had an engagement as a tenant farmer for Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. About 1634, he moved his family to

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

where he acquired a 62-acre farm on Manhattan Island, today in the Tribeca area of lower Manhattan. After his death, his widow married Domine Everardus Bogardus. Willem Frijhoff suggests it more likely refers to Roelof Jansz Haes , an alderman in

Manor of Rensselaerswyck The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck ( nl, Rensselaerswijck ), was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the v ...

who was a trader in Beverwyck about 1634. By one account, he and some others were returning from

one winter when their boat became icebound for several days. They crossed the ice to shore and exploring the area, discovered the stream. They named it after the highest ranking member of the party, who was the alderman. This story is sometimes conflated with that of Roeliff Jansen of Marstrand. New York State Route 9G crosses the stream via the Roeliff Jansen Kill Bridge (also known as the Linlithgo Bridge), built in 1932. Roeliff Jansen Park, in the town of Hillsdale, New York, is named after him. The Roeliff Jansen Community Library, which also serves the towns of Ancram, Copake, and Hillsdale.

Livingston Manor

In 1699, Robert Livingston built the manor house of Livingston Manor at Linlithgo at the mouth of the Roeloff Jansen Kill, where it flows into the Hudson. After his death, the stream formed a boundary between the manor left to his son Philip, and the estate created for his son Robert. In 1743,

Philip Livingston Philip Livingston (January 15, 1716 – June 12, 1778) was an American merchant and statesman from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposing economic sanctions upon Great ...

, grandson of Robert, founded the Livingston Forge on the banks of the Roeliff Jansen Kill at "Scotchtown", later called Ancram after the town in Scotland where the Livingstons originated. It was at the Ancram iron works that the "Fort Montgomery Chain" was forged in 1776. The chain was placed across the Hudson River near West Point between Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton, to keep the British fleet from sailing up the Hudson. In 1854, the foundry became a paper mill."History", Town of Ancram
/ref> Paper manufacturer Schweitzer-Mauduit International operates a plant at that location.

References

External links