Willem Willink

Willem Willink (sometimes Wilhelm, Wilheim, or Wilhem) (1750 – 1841) was a wealthy Amsterdam merchant, and one of the investors in the Holland Land Company,[1][2] and the Louisiana Purchase.

The investments were reorganized as the Holland Land Company in 1795 with shares issued to: the Willinks (28.6%), Pieter Stadnitski (23.2%), Jan and Nicolaas van Staphorst & Nicolaas Hubbard (21.4%), Pieter and Christiaan van Eeghen & Company (14.3%), Isaäk ten Cate & Hendrick Vollenhoven (8.9%), and Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, politician and legal adviser (3.8%).

Their Agent General (COO) was Theophilus Cazenove, later succeeded by Paul Busti and then John Jacob Vanderkemp.

In 1801 Willem and Jan Willink, merchants in Amsterdam, were enabled to purchase and hold real property in the town of Havre de Grace in Harford County.

Ultimately, the syndicate earned only modest profit from the investment, but their funds greatly assisted the development of the United States.