John Jay (1745–1829) was a Founding Father, diplomat, jurist, and statesman who served as president of the Continental Congress, first Chief Justice of the United States, and governor of New York, shaping the early republic.
Dutch influence remained strong in New York and New Jersey material culture until the American Revolution. King William III and Queen Mary introduced Dutch early baroque styles into England, which also became popular in North America.
Henry “Hank” Jansen (d. 2002) was a transportation entrepreneur who founded Lynden Transport and pioneered commercial trucking between the Pacific Northwest and Alaska after construction of the Alaska Highway, building Lynden into a major logistics company.
The Dutch helped establish Calvinism—including Huguenot, German Reformed, and Presbyterian traditions—as the dominant religious force in the Middle Colonies, shaping early American values through church governance, education, and strong community-centered faith practices.
Famke Janssen (born 1965) is a Dutch actress and former fashion model who gained international fame as a Bond villain in GoldenEye and as Jean Grey in the X-Men film series. She has also directed films.
In 1764, Dominie Archibald Laidlie’s arrival marked the beginning of a shift from Dutch to English in the Dutch Reformed Church, though Dutch services persisted in parts of New York until as late as 1835.
Guy Vander Jagt (1931–2007) was a Michigan Republican who served 26 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. A Hope College graduate, he later helped establish Dutch American Heritage Day and was honored by the Netherlands.
The Dutch West India Company established New Netherland’s legal system according to the statutes of the Dutch states of Holland and Zeeland. These laws reflected Germanic customary law, the Roman code of Justinian (corpus juris), canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, and special corporate privileges granted by various overlords.
Wayne Huizenga (1937–2018) was an American entrepreneur who built several major corporations, including Waste Management, Inc., Blockbuster LLC, and AutoNation. Known for acquiring and expanding fragmented service industries, he became one of the most successful business builders in modern American corporate history.
The English conditions for New Netherland’s capitulation guaranteed the Dutch their customary rights of property, inheritance, and religious practice and confirmed established Dutch political units.
