Gerardus Beekman

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Gerardus Willemse Beekman (c. August 1653 – October 10, 1723) was a wealthy Dutch-American physician, landowner, and briefly acting governor of the Province of New York. He was born in New Netherland, the second son of Wilhelmus Beekman and Catalina De Boogh. His father was a Dutch immigrant who became mayor of New York City and held other colonial posts.

Beekman built a large estate in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and owned several big farms in New Jersey: about 1,800 acres along the Raritan River, a 4,000-acre farm in Somerset County bought in 1702, and 608 acres on the Millstone River. He served in the militia, eventually becoming a colonel under the Earl of Bellomont. After Bellomont’s death, Viscount Cornbury led the colony, with Beekman serving on his council. In 1691, during Leisler’s Rebellion, Beekman was arrested and spent 17 months in prison before being pardoned.

In 1710 he was elected President of the Governor’s Council and served as Acting Governor from April 10 to June 14, 1710, until Robert Hunter arrived. He married Magdalena Abeel in 1677, and they had several children who later owned parts of his estates. Beekman died in New York City on October 10, 1723, at about age 70. His descendants remained influential in New York; Mount Pleasant on Manhattan became Beekman Place, and his family coat of arms is kept at the New York Historical Society. He is also an ancestor of cartoonist Garretson Beekman Trudeau.