Lambert Janse Dorlandt was born in Amsterdam, Holland in 1639. He was the son of Johan Dorlandt; his mother's name is unknown. In 1663, eleven years after his brother (or cousin) Jan Gerretse Dorlandt had arrived in America, Lambert sailed for America on the "Bontekoe" (Spotted Cow)- a vessel of the Dutch West India Company. The captain of this ship was Jan Bergen. No formal list of passengers on that trip has been preserved, but in the New York State Library at Albany there is still to be seen the original book of accounts, in Dutch script between the Dutch West India Co. and the passengers. Within a year or two of arriving in Brooklyn, New York he was married to Hermina Janse Peters, the daughter of Jans Peters in 1665. No birth or death dates have been handed down for her. She is mentioned in baptismal records as Hermia Janse and as Hermina Peters. Lambert first settled in Brooklyn and owned 40 acres of land which he farmed. Lambert also served as a Constable of Brooklyn in 1671 and later in 1673 as a Magistrate in Brooklyn.

In 1675 we find him as the defendant in a civil suit brought by one Robert Hollis, and set for trial at Gravesend, June 15. The nature of the trial is unknown, and the case was withdrawn without a trial.

On April 4, 1677, we find him signing his name Lambert Dorlandt as a witness to a disposition of two Indians, drawn up by Michil Hainelle, clerk of Brooklyn, attesting to the limits of a tract of land sold in 1686 by Sachem Ka to Jacques Bentyn and William Adriese (Bar)nett; and the incident is noteworthy from the fact the fact that original transaction in 1686 is accounted the first purchase of property looking to a settlement within the present limits of Brooklyn.

In 1680 he made an application for a grant of land on Staten Island to Governor Andros of the Colony, and he received it. I quote: "An estate most improved and fenced, and had on it a dwelling house, most comfortable as it had been the residence of the late Governor Lovelace; there was a gristmill and support for many cattle and sheep." This was "A Patent for a Parcel of Land on the North East side of Staten Island Granted unto Lambert Janse Durland." By looking at a map of Staten Island, one may locate the place at a point between the towns of New Brighton and Thompkinsville. Here they lived for eighteen years, and he seems to have attained and occupied a place of high standing in a very short time in his new country. For a number of years after their move in 1683, they still attended the Dutch Church in Brooklyn and did not sell their plantation there until 1696 when it was bought by Jacobus Van Deventer.

In September 1691 at a special meeting, Lambert was elected as representative of Richmond County to the Colonial Assembly which met in the city of New York; it was the first Assembly in which the popular representatives of the province convened under the direct authority of the English Crown. Lambert served several terms with other well-known Dutchmen such as Ressalaer and Cortlandt who were patroons with wast estates along the Hudson River. He was also a signer of the Protestant Freeholders of the Colony expressing their loyalty the Crown. His name appears many times among the old records of the government of New York.

In 1715 Lambert moved his family to Somerset County, New Jersey (near Harlington) where he purchased into the Great Lot 12 with Peter Cowenhoven whom he eventually bought out; this was a 9,000 acre tract of land owned by 17 Dutchmen mostly as an investment, but Lambert did build his home here and farmed the land, adding many more acres as they came up for sale. Here too is the burying place for 40 members of the Dorland family, and Lambert's grave was marked by a "flat fieldstone projecting above the sod about 16 inches and carved with the outline of a ship (perhaps the Spotted Cow?) with masts and riggings; on the highest part of the mast is a flag with the initials "L.D." and the figures "79". The house is still standing, and there is a picture and description of it; in 1980 Judy Cassidy sent snap shots of it to John E. Darland after she visited Harlingen. That fall boy Scouts helped a Dorland descendant erect a fence around the burial grounds (John E. Darland was one who contributed money to pay for the materials they used). Dorlands occupied the house until 1772 when they followed other Dutchmen from their area to Kentucky or Pennsylvania. There is no recored of Hermina's death, but Lambert died at age 79 in 1720.

Lambert was unquestionably a man of culture and education, and of much more than the average force of character. He bore himself well in all the relations of life in his day and generation; he filled worthily several posts of trust and responsibility confided to him by his fellow pioneers, and his name is honorably identified with the early history of King's and Richmond Counties and the infant colony of New York