Abraham Pietersen van Deusen

[1][2] Abraham may have had the following siblings: Handrick Van Dussenberg, who was master of the Masons in 1638, and Adrian Pitersen, of Aitzema, Netherlands, who was a director of the Dutch West India Company.

[2] In 1641, he was appointed to a council of twelve men that were to advise Director-General of New Netherland Willem Kieft on the impending Indian war.

John Franklin Jameson (1859–1937) writes: Whereupon all the commonalty were called together by the Director to consider this affair, who all appeared and presently twelve men delegated from among them answered the propositions, and resolved at once on war should the murderer be refused; that the attack should be made on [the Indians] in the autumn when they were hunting; meanwhile an effort should be again made by kindness to obtain justice, which was accordingly several times sought for but in vain.

The council petitioned the States-General and blamed governor Kieft for the declining economic condition of the nascent colony.

Director General Kieft was dismissed, and Peter Stuyvesant took his place, remaining in power until the colony was turned over to the British in 1664.

They chose eight, in the stead of the previous twelve, persons to aid in consulting for the best; but the occupation every one had to take care of his own, prevented anything beneficial being adopted at that time.