patroon

noun

1. (US)One of the landowning Dutch grandees of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, especially after it became a British possession renamed as New York.

   “Dr. Tucker accompanied us on our return; and we made a call on General Van Rensselaer. He is the Patroon, or Lord of the Manor here; and is considered the greatest landholder in the United States.”

   “In the United States the labourer is a freeman, lives on good substance, and being an honest man, neither fears nor envies the richest patroon about him.”