Cornelis arrived in 1638 as Supercargo on the ship Arms of Norway.   He had a  a grant to settle Staten Island, and has been called the Patroon of Staten Island, where his holdings there included a whisky distillery and farms.   

His patroonship was destroyed in Kieft's War 1643-1645 and again in 1655 in the Peach War.

A colorful character, at one point he chaired the Council of Eight, he was arrested twice and exiled for 7 years  by Petrus Stuyvesant.   in 1647 he famously survived the wreck of the Princess Amelia  that drowned both Willem Kieft and Everardus Bogardus on their way to settle a dispute in Amsterdam.   (As did his friend Jochim Kuyter.)

Eventually he left New Amsterdam and moved his family to New Haven.

Additional reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelis_Melyn