In 1700, Gerardus Beekman was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and then Colonel, under the Earl of Bellomont, a member of the English Parliament and a colonial governor, and became one of the advisers of Viscount Cornbury when the latter succeeded Belmont in 1702.
In 1700, Beekman was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, and then Colonel, under the Earl of Bellomont. After Bellomont died in 1701, Viscount Cornbury was appointed as his successor and began his administration on the May 3, 1702. 
