 Johannes (sometimes written John) was born on March 23, 1667 in Albany, New York, the son of Christopher Janse Abeel (1621–1684), a prosperous merchant and landowner, and Neiltje Jans Croom.He was the third of four children and the only boy born to his parents, who emigrated to New York from Holland in 1647.Johannes was born shortly after Great Britain assumed control of the former Dutch colony of New Netherland and renamed it as New York in 1664.