The Roeliff Jansen Kill is a major tributary to the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

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

Mahican The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was ...

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 Dutc ...

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. 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 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,

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, Pine Plains,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

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

Marstrand Marstrand () is a seaside locality situated in Kungälv Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,320 inhabitants in 2010. The town got its name from its location on the island of Marstrand. Despite its small population, for histo ...

Bohuslän Bohuslän () is a Provinces of Sweden, 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 Sea to the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In 1623, Jansen married Anneke Jans (1605-1663) who was from Flekkeroy, in Vest Agder, Norway. Following the birth of their first three children, they emigrated to

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

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

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, where Jansen had an engagement as a tenant farmer for Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. Eventually he rose to became an alderman in the

Manor of Rensselaerswyck Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an England, English Proprietary colony, manor owned by the Van Rensselaer (family), van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District, New York, Capital District of New Yor ...

. By one account, he and some others were returning from

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, 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 (trading post), fac ...

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. About 1634, he moved his family to

where he acquired a 62-acre farm on

Manhattan Island Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

, today in the

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

area of lower Manhattan. After his death, his widow married Domine Everardus Bogardus. Willem Frijhoff points out the lack of evidence for the connection of the name Roeloff Janssen Kill to Roeloff Janssen of

. Frijhoff suggests the name could just as well have come from Roelof Jansz Haes, a Norwegian who arrived in New Netherland in 1643 who is mentioned as a trader in Beverwijk in 1654. The area is first documented with the name Roeloff Janssen Kill in 1680; no earlier documentation has yet been uncovered. 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, 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