Liz wrote: "This requires throwing away all of the mythology, and locating and interpreting whatever Dutch records are available. What a great lesson here: Simply looking at the New Amsterdam (or New Netherland) stuff, which contains a very limited amount of material, is not nearly enough to draw solid conclusions about the early life of this man, his wives, and his children. There's a clue already available: Aunt Susanna Elefersen, back in Hoorn." Yes, and I have tried mightily to track down Aunt Susanna with the help of archivists in Hoorn. No luck. Only 10 percent of the 17th-century records of Hoorn have survived, and hers are not among them. But in my de Halve Maen article "Cosyn Gerritsen van Putten: New Amsterdam's Wheelwright," which I cited in another e-mail earlier today, I have theorized about her and the connections among Cosyn Gerritsen and some of the families that touched his life. I wrote: "In sum on this point, certain last names drawn from the records of Putten and Hoorn [home of Jan Pietersen Haring] are connected to Cosyn Gerritsen van Putten of New Amsterdam: Claase, Claasen, Elefersen, Elefersz, Ellertsen, Evertsen, Haring, Reyersen, Reynier, Toenissen, and Tuenissen among them. Further examination may shed light on an even more coherent and durable family network than one suspects--and lead to further insights into the importance of family and friends to a sustainable existence in New Netherland." p. 30. In another article, published in South of the Mountains (Historical Society of Rockland County, Oct.-Dec. 2007, entitled "Jan Pietersen Haring, 1633-1683, Sightings and Connections, Hoorn, New Amsterdam, New York, and New Jersey," I have proved JPH's Hoorn origins and the fact that he, lilke his father-in-law, was a wheelwright, and theorized a little more about Aunt Susanna. I also found that his Tappan venture was not his first cooperative land venture. There is an earlier one cited in The Andros Papers. This article, minus the 15 illustrations, can be read in pdf format at www.dutchdoorgenealogy.com Thank you, Liz! Firth Haring Fabend