Dominie Johannes Theodores Polhemius was a student of Divinity at Heidelberg University in

1620. He migrated to Holland, where he led a church but was asked to leave. In 1637, he was

part of the Dutch migration to Brazil, taking over the colony from the Portuguese. He was the

Minister to the garrison on the island of Itamarca. In 1654, the Portuguese revolted and forced

the Dutch to leave. When the Dutch fled on eighteen ships back to Holland, Dominie Polhemius

was a different ship than his wife and children. His ship was taken over by pirates. They were

later rescued by the French ship, "Le Charles" and set ashore in the Dutch settlement in New

York. The Dutch requested that he stay there and lead their church. He stayed and his wife and

children later rejoined him two years later. (Source: NY Gen. & Bio. Record, republished in

Genealogies of Long Island Families, by Henry B. Hoff, Vol.1, Baltimore, 1987)