Brooklyn Genealogy: Find Out Who Was Born in Brooklyn

Starting with the Dutch in the 1600's, through the British in the 1700's, Germans and Irish in the 1800s, Italians and Jews in the 1900's, and Asians, Arabs, South Americans and more today, Brooklyn has been a melting pot of cultures.

"It'd take a guy a lifetime to know Brooklyn t'roo an' t'roo," wrote novelist Thomas Wolfe. "An' even den, yuh wouldn't know it all."

The one thing all current and former Brooklynites have in common is pride for our borough.

In 1646, the Village of Breuckelen was authorized by the Dutch West India Company, and became the first municipality in what is now New York State.

In 1683, almost 20 years after the English threw out the Dutch (1664), the General Assembly of Freeholders reorganized the governmental structure in the province of New York into 12 counties, each of which was sub-divided into towns.

Brooklyn was one of the original six towns of Kings County, an original county when the county/town system was established in 1683.

The Village of Breuckelen (1646) preceded the City of Nieuw Amsterdam (1653) by 7 years.

Brooklyn/Kings County has 2 names because it took some 200 years for Brooklyn to annex the other parts of Kings County.

When the City of Brooklyn annexed the City of Williamsburgh and the Town of Bushwick, this area was then known as the eastern district of the City of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh lost its final "h".

The streets in Brooklyn do not line up because each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County were independent municipalities, and they purposely decided to create street grids with different naming systems that did not line up with the adjoining city or town.

The Town of Gravesend was the only town where the streets run long north-to-south, all other cities and towns ran their streets long west-to-east.

Gravesend was the only English town; all the others were Dutch.

South Brooklyn is north of southern Brooklyn because until 1894 the Red Hook area (South Brooklyn) was the southernmost part of the City of Brooklyn.

Bay Ridge was originally called "Yellow Hook" until a yellow fever epidemic struck and the name was changed.

1646 Village of Breuckelen granted charter by the Dutch West India Company.

1683 Kings County and 6 towns created: Brooklyn, Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht.

1816 Village of Brooklyn incorporated within Town of Brooklyn.

1827 Village of Williamsburgh incorporated within Town of Bushwick.

1834 Town of Brooklyn (including Village of Brooklyn) becomes City of Brooklyn. Kings County now includes 1 city (Brooklyn) and 5 towns (Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht).

1851 Village of Williamsburgh secedes from Town of Bushwick and becomes City of Williamsburgh. Kings County now includes 2 cities (Brooklyn and Williamsburgh) and 5 towns (Bushwick, Flatbush,
Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht).

1852 Town of New Lots secedes from Town of Flatbush. Kings County consists of 2 cities (Brooklyn and Williamsburgh) and 6 towns (Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend, New Lots and New Utrecht).

1854 City of Williamsburgh and Town of Bushwick consolidated into City of Brooklyn. Kings County now 1 city (Brooklyn) and 5 towns (Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend, New Lots and New Utrecht).

1886 Town of New Lots annexed into City of Brooklyn. Kings County now 1 city (Brooklyn) and 4 towns (Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht).

1894 Towns of Flatbush, Gravesend and New Utrecht annexed into City of Brooklyn. Kings County now 1 city (Brooklyn) and 1 town (Flatlands).

1896 Town of Flatlands annexed into City of Brooklyn. Kings County and City of Brooklyn had the same boundaries.

Aaliyah - Singer, Entertainer, Actress, Model
Woody Allen - actor, comedian, director
Franco Ambriz - playwright
Joseph Barbera - Cartoonist
Jean-Michel Basquiat - artist
Henry Ward Beecher - social reformer clergyman, foe of slavery
Earl S. Bell - building designer, architectural theorist, inventor.
Mark Bell - Marky Ramone of The Ramones
Pat Benatar- singer
Corbin Bleu - teen actor in Disney productions.
Barbara Boxer - junior U.S. Senator for California
Mel Brooks - comedian, actor, director, producer
Giovanni Capitello - filmmaker, actor, director - born Bay Ridge Brooklyn
Al Capone - gangster in the 1920s and 1930s
Shawn Carter - better known as rapper Jay-Z
Jeff Chandler - Actor
Shirley Chisholm - Democratic Congresswoman, teacher
Betty Comden - Actress, playwrite, songwriter
Pat Cooper - comedian, actor
Aaron Copland - composer
Howard Cosell - TV sportscaster
Melora Creager - frontwoman of the cell-rock band Rasputina
Al Davis - owner of Oakland Raiders
Clive Davis - founder of Arista Records
Tony Danza - actor
David Dejesus - MLB Player (Kansas City Royals)
Mos Def, actor - songwriter, and rapper
Alan Dershowitz - lawyer, professor, author
Neil Diamond - singer
Vincent D'Onofrio - actor
David Draiman -lead singer in the band Disturbed
Richard Dreyfuss - actor
Jimmy Durante - singer, comedian, actor
Fabolous - rapper
Bob Ferguson - born in Brooklyn, MLB player
Lou Ferrigno - actor
Kinky Friedman - musician, mystery author, and frequent Texas gubernatorial candidate
Harvey Fierstein - actor, playwright
Bobby Fischer - world chess champion
John Forsyth - actor
Arthur Frommer - publisher of travel books and magazines
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court
Rudy Guiliani - former Mayor of New York, Republican Presidential candidate for 2008.
Shad Gaspard - professional wrestler
George Gershwin - composer
Jackie Gleason - actor
Louis Gossett, Jr. - actor
Elliott Gould - actor
Earl Graves - publisher, Black Enterprise Magazine
Arlo Guthrie - folk singer
Buddy Hackett - comedian, actor
Andrew P Harris - Maryland politician
Susan Hayward - Acress
Rita Hayworth - actress
Peter Heymans - academic
Lena Horne - singer
Mary Ingels - Actor

Danny Kaye - actor
Lainie Kazan - actress
Larry King - TV show host and interviewer
Bernard Koppel - Actor
Sandy Koufax - baseball player
Talib Kweli - Rapper, producer
Steve Lawrence - singer
Spike Lee - film maker
Vince Lombardi - football coach
Sid Luckman - National Football champion
Lil' Kim - female rapper, songwriter, model, and actress
Norman Mailer - author, playwright
Barry Manilow - singer, songwriter
Bernard Malamud - Author, Pulitzer Prize winner
Stephon Marbury - NBA player
Robert Merrill - singer
Debra Messing - actress, born in Brooklyn
Stephanie Mills - actress
Arthur Miller - author, playwright
Donald Most - actor
Eddie Murphy - actor, comedian
Jack Newfield, (1938-2004) - journalist, writer
Notorious B.I.G., (1972-1997) - American rapper from Bedford Stuyvesant
Ol' Dirty Bastard, (1968-2004) - American rapper from Fort Greene
Dave Orr - MLB player
Joseph Papp - theater producer, director
Rosie Perez - actress
Lou Reed, singer - songwriter
Jerry Reinsdorf - owner, Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox
Joan Rivers - comedienne
Chris Rock, comedian - actor
Mickey Rooney - actor
Busta Rhymes - rapper
Carl Sagan - scientist, author, educator
Bernie Sanders - Independent U.S. Senator for Vermont
Neil Sedaka - singer
Jerry Seinfeld - comedian, actor
Judith Sheindlin a.k.a. Judge Judy - judge on TV court show
Bugsy Siegel - gangster in the 1930s and 1940s
Beverly Sills - opera singer
Phil Silvers - comedian, actor
Neil Simon - playwright
Paul Sorvino - actor
Mickey Spillane - author
Barbara Stanwyck - actress
Connie Stevens - actress, singer
Barbara Streisand - actress, singer, producer and director
Marisa Tomei - actress
Joe Torre - New York Yankees baseball team manager
Cheryl Toussaint - Olympic Silver Medalist
John Turturro - actor
Mike Tyson - heavyweight Boxing champion
Eli Wallach - actor
Mickey Welch - MLB player[2]
Mae West - actress
Walt Whitman - poet, journalist, writer, abolitionist; author of "Leaves of Grass"
Shelley Winters - actress
Adam Yauch - member of the Beastie Boys
Henny Youngman - comedian

Brooklyn and its Neighborhoods - One of the five boroughs of New York, Brooklyn is known for its neighborhoods, homes, and churches. Brooklyn was
originally an independent city, and with more than 2.5 residents, still feels like its own city.