Wolfert Acker
American Christian clergyman
Wolfert Acker (1667–1753) was a colonial-period American who is featured in Washington Irving's short story collection Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies (1855). His name was recorded in all combinations of Wolfert or Wolvert as given name, and Acker, Echert, Eckar, or Ecker as surname. He was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York and died at his sizable home, "Wolfert's Roost" (or "Wolfert's Rest") near the site of what is now Irvington, New York in Westchester County, New York. On December 20, 1692, on land belonging to Frederick Philipse, first lord of Philipsburg Manor, he married Maretje Sibouts.
Acker served the British colonial government as collector of Philipsburg Manor in New Netherlands. He was a quiet man whose favorite phrase was "Rust in Lust" (peace in quiet) but always found himself working for very loud and active governors; he was, at one point, privy counsellor to Peter Stuyvesant, before eventually retiring to Wolfert's Roost. William A. Owens believes that, despite his high status, Wolfert may have been a tenant of Philipse. Tenant or not, Wolfert did have the second-largest house in the region, second only to Philipse Manor Hall, which still stands. In his will, he categorized himself as ''yeoman."
Jan Ecker, Wolfert's brother, was the first deacon of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, which was founded by Philipse, and was still living in May 1716. Wolfert Acker became the second deacon and later, an elder.
“Wolfert Acker” enters the record as american Christian clergyman. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Wolfert, Acker and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Wolfert Acker” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Wolfert, Acker and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8030004. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1667, 1753, 1855 and 1692.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wolfert Acker”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wolfert Acker primary sources, Wolfert Acker archive and Wolfert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wolfert Acker”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wolfert Acker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.