Pieter represented Russia at the court of Denmark and was elevated to the Danish nobility September 17, 1643 and granted the coat of armor. He is the immigrant ancestor of this line of the family. He left Amsterdam in 1661 with his wife and four children and two servants. It appears he was a person of consequence having paid a goodly sum for their passage. He soon moved to Bergen, New Jersey and died there in 1682. He acquired lands in Bergen, then a Dutch hamlet. He was appointed alderman of Bergen county in 1673 and was buried under the Dutch Church of Bergen as a mark of honor. When he came to America, the family dropped the Van. We shall follow two of his children Jannetje Pieterse and Marcelis Pieterse.