Our Story

An 18th century map of the United Provinces of the Netherlands by John Cary. The County of Drenthe is highlighted in yellow in the upper right corner.

Hurley, New York's Main Street in the late 1800s.

Gerrit Constable's name written in an Ulster County land record in 1720.

A map of New Netherland by Nicolaes Visscher, titled "Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae: nec non partis Virginiae tabula multis in locis emendata."

Painting of 1695 Kingston, New York by L.F. Tantillo (2015)

The Constables of New York’s Hudson Valley are one of the oldest and largest Constable families in the United States today. In fact, we may be the oldest and largest.

Our Constable ancestry is unique. While some Constables trace their origins to the British Isles, we come from the Netherlands.

First known by the surname “Constapel,” our family constituted a majority or near-majority of the Constables living in the United States for much of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Thousands of people today trace their heritage to these simple farmers who once lived at the foot of the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York.

This is our story.

Part 1: Origins →

Part 1: Origins In The Netherlands

Part 2: Gerrit, First In The New World

Part 3: Egbert, The First ‘Constapel’

Part 4: Constables in the American Revolution

Part 5: Constables and The Frontier

Table of Contents