Gerrit Thyssen was apparently in New Amsterdam prior to 1650, where his name appears in public records as early as 1649. In September, 1652 he was defendant in a lawsuit against him brough by Judith Verleth, wife of Nicolaes Bayard, and sister of Peter Stuyvesant, Director of New Netherland, in connection with a number of Negro slaves and other property purchased by Judith Verleth, which she charged “were taken away in the night by one Captain Gerrit Thyssen, without consent of plaintiff.” Various other Thyssens, apparently brothers and sisters of Gerrit Thyssen appear in the New Amsterdam public and church records as early residents. Claes Thyssen, whose sister Lysbeth Thyssen is identified as the wife Skipper Laurens Corneliszen van der Wel, was there as early as 1639.
