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Wolfert AckerWolfert Acker was a colonial-period American; Washington Irving wrote a short story on Wolfert called "Wolfert's Roost". a.k.a. Wolvert Acker, Wolvert Ecker, Wolfert Ecker, Wolvert Echert, Wolfert Echert, | gcolor=#efefef|Birth date and location | bgcolor=#efefef|Death date and location | bgcolor=#efefef|Marriage date and location | bgcolor=#efefef|Spouse | bgcolor=#efefef|Number of Children | bgcolor=#efefef|Occupation | | an Acker | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1? | Elder of the Old Dutch Church at Sleepy Hollow | | olfert Acker | 1667, Midwont, Long Island, New York | 1753, Wolferts Roost, Irvington, Westchester, New York | Dec. 20, 1692 on Frederick Phillips land | Maretje Sibouts | 3: Steven Acker, Syboat Acker, and Abraham Acker | Collector of Phillipseburgh, Deacon and Elder of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow | Biography He born in 1667 in Midwont, Long Island and died in 1753 at his home "Wolfert's Roost," (aka Wolfert's Rest) near present-day Irvington, New York just south of the Tappan Zee Bridge in Westchester County, New York. He married Maretje Sibouts of the Armen Bowerymboth (which became Frederick Phillips land) on Frederick Phillips' land on December 20, 1692. He had three sons (possibly only three children) and they were Steven Acker, Syboat Acker, and Abraham Acker (each son was married and named a son Wolfert). From Abraham's line comes Abraham II and Wolfert II (Wolfert Acker, the American Patriot and Whig coordinator livinng in (Hill House--still standing) Marlborough, New York and founder of the Acker Ferry between Newburgh, New York and present-day Beacon, New York) Thru Abraham do we get the Van Tassel connection to the family cited in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and the ultimate loss of Wolfert's Roost. He was a quiet man who's favorite phrase was "Rust in Lust" (peace in quiet), but always found himself working for very loud and active governors including being a privy councilor of Peter Stuyvesant. His broom-carrying wife was noticeably more dominating and tales of her witchery followed despite Wolfert being the deacon, elder, and collector of Sleepy Hollow, New York. Positions and status He was the collector of Phillipseburg serving the Dutch in New Amsterdam up until the time of Peter Stuyvesant at which point he retired to Wolfert's Roost. He was also one of the first Deacons of Sleepy Hollow's Old Dutch Church (Old Dutch Church in Tarrytown). His gravestone does not survive in the Old Dutch Burying Ground (Sleepy Hollow Cemetery) but that of his son Siber (aka Syboat Acker)does. Despite his status, Columbia University Associate Professor William Owens referred to Wolfert Acker as believed to be a tenant of Frederick Phillipse ((1626-1702) - early settler, founder of the Old Dutch Church in Tarrytown) in his 1960 Pocantico Hills book. This may be true, but Wolfert had the second largest house in the region, smaller only to Phillipse Castle (or Philipse Manor House, which still stands) Property Wolfert's property was passed along and eventually broken up and sold off. One person who bought his land was Washington Irving who took an existing structure and made his romantic Sunnyside out of it. The actual WOlfert's Roost was burned down by the British after Catriena Ecker Van Tassel's (name inspiration for Sleepy Hollow) husband Petrus Van Tassel's brother shot at the British sloops with a goose-rifle full of nails. (the actual model of Catriena Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow was of Catriena's niece, Eleanor Van Tassel Brush) The Acker Family by Maureen McKernan in The Daily Argus, Mount Vernon N.Y., Tuesday, August 28, 1951: "Fifteen years previously the Dutch had bought the land at the mouth of the Nepperhan River (Yonkers) from the Indians. Already, in 1656, there were so many Dutch farmers up the Hudson and Saw Mill River valleys that their cattle were running wild in the woods, when Wolfert Echert fell in love with a little glade on the bank of the Hudson, and there built his house. "He named it Wolfert's Roost, a name to be immortalized in literature and history when Washington Irving, 179 years later, also fell in love with the little glade on the Hudson and bought Wolfert Roost for his home. "Wolfert Echert is the ancestor of the Acker family of Westchester, the name having become Anglicized long before the Revolution. He was Privy Counselor of Peter Stuyvesant, last Dutch Governor of New Netherlands. Family beliefs are that he never liked Stuyvesant and was more than glad to stay in America when the Dutch finally gave way to the English." (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vantasselfamilyhistoryhomepage/oldfamiliesofwestchester/acker.html) Legacy As evidenced by Catriena's last name, spelling variations from Acker to Ecker and Eckelr occurred early on and are common (perhaps Acker or Ecker evolved later into Eckerd, as in the drug store chain family?) Acker, Wolfert
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