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The name you're looking for is ANNEKE JANS. This appears to have been one of numerous genealogy con games from the 19th and 20th centuries (cf Springer, Drake, Edwards et al), in which alleged descendants were solicited to contribute money in order to establish a claim to the huge estate of the ancestor. In this case, Anneke's descendants were advised that they were rightful heirs to much of Manhattan and stood to inherit millions of dollars.
Some of my own family, as late as the 1940s, were still investing money in an effort to assert a claim to the land where the Baltimore General Post Office stands, which had allegedly been leased for 99 years by an ancestor named Price, and someone forgot to reclaim it at expiration. Other branches of the Price family have the same story, though how or if my Prices are related to any of them has never been determined.
There seems to be a lot of general information at this site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ghosthunter/Anneke/page0.htm
See also here, for a referenced bio of Anneke Jans, who was not of Dutch royalty:
http://home1.gte.net/vze4p5bi/jans1.htm
The Anneke Jans case is very well-known. Milton Rubincam writes about it in "Genealogical Traps and Pitfalls," and I believe Donald Lines Jacobus has also touched upon it here and there. (If I'm not mistaken, Jacobus was himself a descendant of Anneke Jans.)
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