Adriaen van der Donck (1618-1655) was a Dutch lawyer and landowner in New Netherland after whose honorific title of Jonkheer the city of Yonkers, New York is named.
Biography[]
Adriaen van der Donck was born in Breda, United Provinces in 1618, and he studied law at the University of Leiden. In 1641, Van der Donck sailed to the New World, and Kiliaen van Rensselaer made him a prosecutor. He soon developed a rivalry with Van Rensselaer, as he was discontented with his post, and Van Rensselaer decided not to renew Van der Donck's employment after he attempted to unilaterally purchase land in the Catskills. Van der Donck became known as the first lawyer in New Netherland, and he also became a leader in the political life of New Amsterdam (New York City) and an activist for republicanism in the trade post. Van der Donck made detailed accounts of the land and its features, and he was also a sympathetic early Native American ethnographer. He died in 1655.