Hendrick came to New Amsterdam before 1643 with his wife and five children who were born in Amsterdam. He was perhaps of noble lineage as it is related that the arms of the family were painted on the stained-glass windows of the first church erected in New Amsterdam. It was also carved in stone over the door of the Kip’s Bay house which is said to have been built in 1655. He was a tailor by trade.
He seemed to have had a hatred of the Director-General Kieft, especially after that man ordered defenseless Indians massacred. He urged the man be sent back to Holland and recommended to the public executioner. He also refused to attend when Kieft called all inhabitants together to report an a treaty of peace with the Indians. After Governor Kieft left, Hendrick became one of the leading men in New Netherland. He was appointed to the board of Nine Men who were to assist the Governor (now Stuyvesant). He was selected from the "most notable, reasonable, honest and respectable" men in the colony. He was admitted to the rights of a great burgher in 1657. He and his wife are listed as members of the Old Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. It seems his wife had a sharp tongue as she was in court several times for making slanderous statements about various persons, including the Director General Kieft.
from History of the Kip Family in America by Frederick Kip