By Joan Brown Wettingfeld
After the English took over the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and its environs, it is interesting to note that members of families in Queens, especially in Flushing and Bayside, were called upon to fill the position of mayor of the newly renamed city of New York.
Prominent among those selected to fill the position of mayor was Thomas Willet, who served two one?year terms, the first of which was in 1665, and the other in 1667. Thomas Willet had often been called upon to settle boundary disputes in New England as well as Long Island.
