No. 2774
Tomys Swartwout
1607-1660Merchant and landownerEurope · 1607Most named place: Amsterdam
Tomys Swartwout is known as one of the earliest importers of tobacco from New Netherland to Western and northern Europe, and one of earliest settlers of New Netherland.
He was born in Groningen, Netherland in 1607 and started his career as wholesale tobacco merchant in Amsterdam running a business in partnership with his brothers. As the business in Amsterdam began to stagnate, Tomys decided to sell his property and sail to New Netherlands where the Dutch West India Company was “opening the territory of New Netherland for the settlement of colonists.”
There he became a landowner and the founder of Midwood (Midwout), Brooklyn, in what is today New York City.
