In addition to my Snapp/deGroff fairly new interest, my husband's grandmother was a mabie in Canada. Have traced that line back into the NY area. amongst the Dutch. alm > [Original Message] > From: <SMabie@aol.com> > To: <dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com> > Date: 3/21/2007 2:54:24 PM > Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry > > During the 1950s and 1960s, a man by the name of Royal Mabee, while > traveling around the country on business, would look up people with the surnames > Mabie, Mabee, Maybee etc. in phone books and then write them a letter, making > contact to see if there was any genealogical interest. In 1963, one such letter > found its way to my widowed grandmother in Philadelphia, and frankly, she > thought it was a scam. Luckily, she passed it on to an uncle of mine who in > turn shared the ensuing correspondence with me. > > Thirty some odd years later, with the advent of the internet, I was able to > start doing my own research, in some cases proving what Royal had thought, and > in other cases identifying corrections. Thanks largely to the LDS for > microfilming church and probate records and making them available to non-members, > my work has progressed far beyond my initial expectations. > > Note that I am not saying that the Mabie family is Dutch. Clearly, the name > is not. And I have noticed that quite a few of the responses so far have > not mentioned them as Dutch ancestors. But whether originally Scot (the > current favorite since it is the home of the Mabie Forest), English, Norman > (another favorite), French or German (an outside shot), the fact remains that our > progenitor, Pieter Casparszen van Naerden, was born in North Holland and lived > in New Amsterdam from at least 1647 through his death prior to 1665. So, > perhaps Dutch through choice as opposed to blood. > > My personal Dutch ancestors are all from the Schenectady area: Borsboom > (Pieter Jacobse), Vedder (Susanna) and Tol (Alida). > > Steve Mabie > > > > ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. > Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUTCH-COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message