August 1st, 2009
LITERATURE
Janwillem van de Wetering – Renowned for detective fiction; his most popular writing was Grijpstra and de Gier
Edward W. Bok – Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographer and magazine editor credited with coining the term “living room.”
Herman Melville – American novelist who created masterpieces of American and world literature, such as Moby-Dick and Billy Budd.
John Updike – American novelist, poet, literary critic. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dutch Ancestry
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August 1st, 2009
- American Presidents of Dutch ancestry:
- Martin Van Buren – 8th President; key organizer of the Democratic Party; first president not of English, Irish, or Scottish descent. He also was the only president not to have spoken English as his first language – rather grew up speaking Dutch.
- Theodore Roosevelt – 26th President; was a Progressive reformer with a “cowboy” persona.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President; elected to four terms, the only president to be elected more than twice; ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents. He was raised and lived in the Hudson Valley (Dutchess County). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Dutch Ancestry, Politics
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August 1st, 2009
The Dutch – from one of the smallest countries in Europe – established a trading empire, New Netherland, in the Hudson Valley, a series of trading posts, towns, and forts up and down the Hudson River.
- New Netherland (Hudson Valley) produced immense wealth for the Dutch and other nations began to envy the riches flowing out of the Hudson River Valley.
- Netherlands/Dutch are the 4th largest investors in the United States.
- Cornelius Vanderbilt – American entrepreneur who built wealth in shipping and railroads and known as “The Commodore.”
- Jacob Westervelt, renowned and prolific shipbuilder and Mayor of New York (1853)
- Thomas Edison – businessman and inventor of devices that influenced the world – phonograph, electricity, light bulbs, principles of mass production, and the first industrial research lab – with over 1093 U.S. patents.
Tags: Dutch Ancestry, Hudson Valley
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