The year was 1678, the place was St. Mary’s County, Maryland and 27-year-old Dr. Jacob Lockerman of New York City was marrying for the first time. His bride Helena Keiting was a native of the County and a widow with 2 children. If this had been 200 years later, this wedding would have been covered by all the New York City newspapers’ Society pages. For Dr. Jacob Lockerman was the only son of the late Govert Lockerman, the wealthiest man in the New World.
Govert Loockermans (original spelling), the father of Jacob, was born in Turnhout in what is now Belgium in 1617. In 1633, when he was 16, he hired on as a cook’s mate on a boat coming to New Amsterdam. It was his dream to come to the New World, but there was no guarantee that that once arrived he could stay in New Amsterdam. Fortunately for him he made a good impression on an official of the Dutch West India Company on the voyage over, so he was able to secure a position with the WIC in return for servitude to them for 5 years. At the end of his servitude in 1638 he made a fateful decision to start his own trading company. That decision started Govert down the road to becoming a successful business man. Not only was he an aggressive dealmaker who was as skilled working with the Indians as with other English and Dutch companies and traders, he was also a savvy investor. He built up his land holdings, buying up properties in the New Amsterdam area as well as up and down the Atlantic Coast. He also married well twice. His first wife was Ariaente Jans, a member of the Verbrugge family. These family connections sealed a business deal as he became an agent for her family’s Dutch trading company, Gillis Verbrugge & Company. In 1649 the widowed Govert acquired more property as a result of his second marriage to Marritje Janse. By 1651 Govert was only 34, but was one of the most successful merchants, traders, and property developers in Manhattan. He had taken Manhattan by storm and in less than 15 years was one of New Amsterdam’s leading citizens. In that year also his only son, Jacob, would be born. And as the years passed by, he was able to proudly watch Jacob establish a successful medical practice in what was now the city of New York. So, the next 20 years (1651-1671) were very good for the Lockermans in New Amsterdam/New York. As far as we know even the arrival of the British in 1665 to seize the city and rename the city to New York was just a minor blip. Govert’s land holdings grew as did his fortune. And even his long running feud with New Amsterdam’s director-general Peter Stuyvesant came to an end a year before the British arrived when his daughter, Maria, married Stuyvesant’s nephew. However, when Govert died in 1671 at the age of 54 without a will, things started to get much more difficult for Jacob Lockerman.
First although Jacob had standing as the only son of Govert to inherit his entire fortune (valued today at over $20,000,000), his 3 sisters and their husbands began a legal and emotional battle to claim a share. And because of their claims it took 21 years before the fortune was distributed equally among the children. Secondly, Jacob’s half-sister Elsie was married to Jacob Leisler, who was a very successful merchant and executor of Govert’s estate. Unfortunately, he was also a very politically active local Militia leader in New York. By the late 1670’s Jacob was so uncomfortable with the family infighting and Leisler’s involvement in the unstable local political scene that he decided to leave New York. So, in 1677 after his mother died, he moved south to St. Mary’s County to his late father’s estates and restarted his life.
After Jacob’s marriage, he stayed in St. Mary’s for just a few years. Then he moved across the Bay to Talbot County before eventually settling in Dorchester County by 1690. Incidentally it was also about this time that his worst fears were realized regarding his brother-in-law. His sister Elsie’s husband, Jacob Leisler, seized the southern portion of New York colony in 1689 in what was called Leisler’s Rebellion. This led to Leisler being arrested and executed by the British in 1691 when they reestablished their authority in the colony. In another post I will describe the impact of the Lockermans in Dorchester County including the creation of Lockermans Regulation.
Historic footnote: The house you see above was Govert Lockerman’s large longtime New York City residence that was sold after his wife’s death in 1677. It stood approximately on Pearl at the intersection of Hanover Street. It came into the possession of William Cox in 1688. One year later he died leaving his estate to his widow, Sarah. In 1690, she married John Oort. Oort died within a year. And two days after his death she married the notorious Captain William Kidd. The Kidd marriage lasted about 10 years, but Captain Kidd spent much of that time “working” on the water while she was raising their two daughters in New York. Unfortunately for Sarah and William, after working as a privateer for England for several years, he fell out of favor with the English government. And after having some conflicts with the Royal Navy and pirates, he was branded a wanted pirate himself by the British government. Without any support from former allies in the English government, he was arrested in New York. He was then sent to England for trial where he was convicted and executed in 1701.