The first Dutch settlers arrived in America in 1624 and founded a number of villages, a town called
New Amsterdam and the Colony of
New Netherland on the East Coast. New Amsterdam became New York when the
Treaty of Breda was signed in 1667. According to the 2006 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in the U.S. states of
California,
New York,
Michigan,
Iowa,
Washington,
Minnesota,
Wisconsin,
Montana,
Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
This is a list of notable
Dutch Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and Americans of full or partial Dutch ancestry.
List
Arts and literature
Earl W. Bascom (1906–1995), artist, sculptor, inventor, author, known as the "dean of rodeo cowboy sculpture"
Edward W. Bok (1863–1930), author, publisher, editor of Ladies Home Journal
Moon Bloodgood (born 1975), actress (father has a small amount of Dutch ancestry)
Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957), actor (father was of part Dutch descent; "Bogart" comes from the Dutch surname Bogaert, derived from "bogaard", short for "boomgaard", which means "orchard")
Hobart Bosworth (1867–1943), actor, director, writer and producer
Michelle Branch (born 1983), singer (Dutch through her maternal grandfather)
Marlon Brando (1924–2004), Hollywood film actor; father was of partial Dutch ancestry
Paul Giamatti (born 1967), actor, distant Dutch ancestry
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (born 1974), actor, perhaps best known for his role as
Zack Morris on NBC's Saved by the Bell; his father is of Dutch Jewish and German descent, and his mother is of Dutch-Indonesian descent[9]
Betty Grable (1916–1973), actress, singer, dancer and
pin-up girl whose sensational bathing-suit photo became the number one pinup of the
World War II era[10]
Dionne Warwick (born 1940), singer, actress and TV show host; became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the
Food and Agriculture Organization and a United States Ambassador of Health; distant Dutch ancestry
Brandon deWilde (1942-1972), American theater, film, and television actor
Rainn Wilson (born 1966), actor of Dutch descent through mother
Kristen Schaal (born 1978), actress and comedian of Dutch Lutheran descent
Steven Seagal (born 1952), actor, of Dutch descent through his mother
Michiel Vos (born 1970), journalist, made documentary Diary of a Political Tourist
Military
Cornplanter (John Abeel III) (died 1836),
Seneca war chief who fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. Great-grandson of
Johannes Abeel.
Eugene DeBruin (fl. 1933–1968), USAF sergeant; disappeared over
Laos in 1968
Jack Robert Lousma (born 1936), retired United States Marine Corps colonel, aeronautical engineer, NASA astronaut (member of the second manned crew on the Skylab space station in 1973, commander STS-3, the third Space Shuttle mission), and politician (R)
Philip John Schuyler (1733–1804), general in the American Revolution and US Senator from New York
Earl Van Dorn (1820–1863), Confederate general during the American Civil War
James Van Fleet (1892–1992), US four-star general; Army general during World War II and the Korean War
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler (1900–1993), US Army four-star general; served as chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe from 1953 to 1959
Alexander Archer Vandegrift (1887–1973), US four-star general; Medal of Honor; 18th commandant of the US Marine Corps
Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg (1899–1954), US four-star general during World War II; second chief of staff of US Air Force Director Central Intelligence Agency
Jocko Willink (born 1971), US Navy SEAL retired officer, podcaster and author
Jack Sikma (born 1955), Hall of Fame NBA player, averaged 15.6 points and 9.8 rebounds during 14 seasons; former assistant coach at
Minnesota Timberwolves
Richard Mouw (born 1940), Christian philosopher and apologist and president of Fuller Theological Seminary
James Olthuis, inter-disciplinary scholar in ethics, hermeneutics, philosophical theology, as well as a theorist and practitioner of psychotherapy at the
Institute for Christian Studies
Alvin Plantinga (born 1932), philosopher known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion[39]
Jack Dangermond, founder of ESRI, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software company
Sante Kimes, American murderer; mother was of Dutch ancestry
Alfred Peet (1920–2007), founder of Peet's Coffee and Tea, credited with starting the gourmet coffee revolution in the United States
Jan Pol (born 1942), Dutch-American veterinarian featured on the Incredible Dr. Pol television series, emigrated to the United States from the Netherlands
Leslie van Houten, former Manson family serving life sentence for murder
^"Dutch Graves in Bucks County"(PDF). wallacestevens.com. The Wallace Stevens Society. Retrieved January 28, 2024. Stevens' father was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was of Dutch descent
^[3] Vanderbilt "is of Dutch, Chilean, Spanish, and Irish descent."
^"The Rebecca Romijn Fanpage - Content". Archived from
the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved July 28, 2006. described as "Dutch" by ethnicity[citation needed] notes that her mother, Elizabeth Kuizenga, was a second-generation Dutch American who met her father, Jaap Romijn, who was Dutch, on a trip to the Netherlands
^"The richest Americans | 10 | FORTUNE". Archived from
the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009. "Wealth is relative, and the value of the dollar is far from fixed. So this ranking of American plutocrats measures their total wealth as a fraction of U.S. GDP at their time of death (or for Gates, 2006)."
^[9] "Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands awarded Congressman Vander Jagt a Knighthood in the House of Orange in 1986. The Netherlands Amity Trust Association in 1991 named him the Outstanding Dutch-American of the Year."
^[14] "van den Berg, Lodewijk, born in 1932, Dutch-American astronaut."
^MacFarlane, Alistair (2013).
"W.V.O. Quine (1908-2000)". Philosophy Now. Retrieved January 22, 2024. Willard's mother Harriet (née Van Orman) was born in a village near Akron, and was of Dutch descent.
^Anderson, P.W. (1989).
"John Hasbrouck Van Vleck 1899–1980"(PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved January 22, 2024. The Van Vleck family is of the patrician Dutch stock that has given the nation three presidents, among other eminent citizens.
^[15] "Louis Berkhof was born in Emmen, Netherlands October 13, 1873."
^[16] "Anthony A. Hoekema was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the United States in 1923."
^"Herman Hoeksema: Theologian and Reformer". Archived from
the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2009. "Herman Hoeksema was born on March 12, 1886 from Johanna Bakema and Tiele Hoeksema in Hoogezand, in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands."
The first Dutch settlers arrived in America in 1624 and founded a number of villages, a town called
New Amsterdam and the Colony of
New Netherland on the East Coast. New Amsterdam became New York when the
Treaty of Breda was signed in 1667. According to the 2006 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in the U.S. states of
California,
New York,
Michigan,
Iowa,
Washington,
Minnesota,
Wisconsin,
Montana,
Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
This is a list of notable
Dutch Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and Americans of full or partial Dutch ancestry.
List
Arts and literature
Earl W. Bascom (1906–1995), artist, sculptor, inventor, author, known as the "dean of rodeo cowboy sculpture"
Edward W. Bok (1863–1930), author, publisher, editor of Ladies Home Journal
Moon Bloodgood (born 1975), actress (father has a small amount of Dutch ancestry)
Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957), actor (father was of part Dutch descent; "Bogart" comes from the Dutch surname Bogaert, derived from "bogaard", short for "boomgaard", which means "orchard")
Hobart Bosworth (1867–1943), actor, director, writer and producer
Michelle Branch (born 1983), singer (Dutch through her maternal grandfather)
Marlon Brando (1924–2004), Hollywood film actor; father was of partial Dutch ancestry
Paul Giamatti (born 1967), actor, distant Dutch ancestry
Mark-Paul Gosselaar (born 1974), actor, perhaps best known for his role as
Zack Morris on NBC's Saved by the Bell; his father is of Dutch Jewish and German descent, and his mother is of Dutch-Indonesian descent[9]
Betty Grable (1916–1973), actress, singer, dancer and
pin-up girl whose sensational bathing-suit photo became the number one pinup of the
World War II era[10]
Dionne Warwick (born 1940), singer, actress and TV show host; became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the
Food and Agriculture Organization and a United States Ambassador of Health; distant Dutch ancestry
Brandon deWilde (1942-1972), American theater, film, and television actor
Rainn Wilson (born 1966), actor of Dutch descent through mother
Kristen Schaal (born 1978), actress and comedian of Dutch Lutheran descent
Steven Seagal (born 1952), actor, of Dutch descent through his mother
Michiel Vos (born 1970), journalist, made documentary Diary of a Political Tourist
Military
Cornplanter (John Abeel III) (died 1836),
Seneca war chief who fought in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. Great-grandson of
Johannes Abeel.
Eugene DeBruin (fl. 1933–1968), USAF sergeant; disappeared over
Laos in 1968
Jack Robert Lousma (born 1936), retired United States Marine Corps colonel, aeronautical engineer, NASA astronaut (member of the second manned crew on the Skylab space station in 1973, commander STS-3, the third Space Shuttle mission), and politician (R)
Philip John Schuyler (1733–1804), general in the American Revolution and US Senator from New York
Earl Van Dorn (1820–1863), Confederate general during the American Civil War
James Van Fleet (1892–1992), US four-star general; Army general during World War II and the Korean War
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler (1900–1993), US Army four-star general; served as chief of staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe from 1953 to 1959
Alexander Archer Vandegrift (1887–1973), US four-star general; Medal of Honor; 18th commandant of the US Marine Corps
Hoyt Sanford Vandenberg (1899–1954), US four-star general during World War II; second chief of staff of US Air Force Director Central Intelligence Agency
Jocko Willink (born 1971), US Navy SEAL retired officer, podcaster and author
Jack Sikma (born 1955), Hall of Fame NBA player, averaged 15.6 points and 9.8 rebounds during 14 seasons; former assistant coach at
Minnesota Timberwolves
Richard Mouw (born 1940), Christian philosopher and apologist and president of Fuller Theological Seminary
James Olthuis, inter-disciplinary scholar in ethics, hermeneutics, philosophical theology, as well as a theorist and practitioner of psychotherapy at the
Institute for Christian Studies
Alvin Plantinga (born 1932), philosopher known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion[39]
Jack Dangermond, founder of ESRI, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software company
Sante Kimes, American murderer; mother was of Dutch ancestry
Alfred Peet (1920–2007), founder of Peet's Coffee and Tea, credited with starting the gourmet coffee revolution in the United States
Jan Pol (born 1942), Dutch-American veterinarian featured on the Incredible Dr. Pol television series, emigrated to the United States from the Netherlands
Leslie van Houten, former Manson family serving life sentence for murder
^"Dutch Graves in Bucks County"(PDF). wallacestevens.com. The Wallace Stevens Society. Retrieved January 28, 2024. Stevens' father was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was of Dutch descent
^[3] Vanderbilt "is of Dutch, Chilean, Spanish, and Irish descent."
^"The Rebecca Romijn Fanpage - Content". Archived from
the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved July 28, 2006. described as "Dutch" by ethnicity[citation needed] notes that her mother, Elizabeth Kuizenga, was a second-generation Dutch American who met her father, Jaap Romijn, who was Dutch, on a trip to the Netherlands
^"The richest Americans | 10 | FORTUNE". Archived from
the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2009. "Wealth is relative, and the value of the dollar is far from fixed. So this ranking of American plutocrats measures their total wealth as a fraction of U.S. GDP at their time of death (or for Gates, 2006)."
^[9] "Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands awarded Congressman Vander Jagt a Knighthood in the House of Orange in 1986. The Netherlands Amity Trust Association in 1991 named him the Outstanding Dutch-American of the Year."
^[14] "van den Berg, Lodewijk, born in 1932, Dutch-American astronaut."
^MacFarlane, Alistair (2013).
"W.V.O. Quine (1908-2000)". Philosophy Now. Retrieved January 22, 2024. Willard's mother Harriet (née Van Orman) was born in a village near Akron, and was of Dutch descent.
^Anderson, P.W. (1989).
"John Hasbrouck Van Vleck 1899–1980"(PDF). Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved January 22, 2024. The Van Vleck family is of the patrician Dutch stock that has given the nation three presidents, among other eminent citizens.
^[15] "Louis Berkhof was born in Emmen, Netherlands October 13, 1873."
^[16] "Anthony A. Hoekema was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the United States in 1923."
^"Herman Hoeksema: Theologian and Reformer". Archived from
the original on August 4, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2009. "Herman Hoeksema was born on March 12, 1886 from Johanna Bakema and Tiele Hoeksema in Hoogezand, in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands."