Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and my self-identity has been changed in the process! Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I have Dutch ancestry"? Dorothy

>Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I >have Dutch ancestry"? I always knew my grandfather's mother's maiden name was Wyckoff. I just didn't know the history of it. During my research on her, I found out about the Wyckoff House and Association, Pieter Claesz Wyckoff the founder of the family name, and the Dutch (and Huguenot) connections through marriage. Rick Kitchen _________________________________________________________________ It’s tax season, make sure to follow these few simple tips http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/PreparationTips/PreparationTips.aspx?icid=HMMartagline

I never knew a thing about my birth mother ... she ran off when I was a few months old (in 1951) and my father cut all ties with her family when he remarried shortly before my thrid birthday. I didn't even know anything about this until I was 13. In my early 20s, I began research to try and find her. I got her name--Billie Truax--from their marriage license application. I never did find her but in my 40s I began working on my family genealogy. I knew a few generations about about my father's family and my birth mother's mother and father's name. In 1992, I spent a very long and somewhat frustrating week in Salt Lake City looking for my father's family in the vital records for Chicago, immigration records of 1850s, and some German church records. Finally, with only about four hours left of my week there, I decided to look in the family books (at that time on the first floor) for Billie's family. I went to the Ts and found two books titled Thura Truax Heirs Manuscripts. I looked up Billie Truax and saw that she had married Theodore Holly (it should have been Holz); the date of their marriage was correct, her parents were correct, and my brother's name and birth date were correct. Using that book I was easily able to trace back from Billie, b 1927, to Phillipe duTrieux b 1585. My work since then has "netted" 49 Dutch ancestors. I would agree with Dorothy that my self-identity has been changed. Allyne Power is not sufficient evidence of truth. Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English lexicographer, essayist, poet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy Koenig" <dkoenig@LMI.net> To: <dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:56 AM Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry > Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this > List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always > known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) > Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of > their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch > heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman > (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her > siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It > wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father > had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the > handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). > I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who > is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon > County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to > VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his > wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from > Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and > my self-identity has been changed in the process! > > Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I > have Dutch ancestry"? > > Dorothy > > ------------------------------- > 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 >

I sort of stumbled onto my Dutch ancestry! My father passed away in 1989, leaving his odd collection of genealogical notes. My mother asked me to "tie up the loose ends". At first I flatly refused, but then she hit me with, "Well, I'll just throw it all away then!" and I caved in, took the two huge boxes of his jumbled papers and spent months sorting. >From what my mother had said and what I vaguely remembered my father and his mother saying, that side of the family was English, with a bit of Scotch and Irish thrown in for variety. Months of sorting and doing a little bit of loose ends tying, I found more English, Irish and Scotch. As I worked on the WISNER line (originally from Switzerland) I soon discovered a number of Dutch connections in New York and New Netherland...BERTHOLF, VANDEREBOGART/D, TERHUNE. One name led to another...a good Scotsman, MAXWELL, in Elmira, NY married VANSTEENBERG. Then my mother sent me all of her genealogy notes since "You are doing such a great job with Dad's!" She was convinced they were all Scotch and German, with maybe an Irish line in there. They were, but her LOTT line (which she thought was German and which I can't seem to trace back to anybody!) had married a KIP. Within a year I discovered that my mother and father were cousins. More research over the years has connected them as 9th cousins descended from Nicasius deSILLE, 9th cousins once removed descended from Jan Jansen SCHEPMOES, and 10th cousins descended from Cornelis [VanDerHOEVEN] and Geertje VanFULPEN. But it doesn't stop there! Nearly 10 years after my father's death, my mother remarried. Her new husband knew little of his father's side of the family thanks to a divorce when he was very young. He asked me to do some searching. Much to his delight, I found him a half sister. The bonus for me was that she had a little bit of family genealogy to share. From her meager notes, I was able to find that my father and my step-father were cousins! They are 8th cousins once removed descended from VANSTEENBERG and they are 9th cousins 3 times remove descended from Jan Janszen VanLANGEDYCK! Small world...all Dutch related! I eventually discovered Dutch ancestors on my husband's side of the family, since DuBois was in New York from about 1660 and married into several Dutch lines. And while my husband and I are also distant cousins, as is our daughter and her husband, those are all English connections in New England. Liz

Dear List, I started doing geneology 50 years ago when my husband was an Army officer in Germany. I was able to find my Danish ancestors in Denmark, visit the nearby archives, and have a researcher do what I couldn't. When we returned to the states, I started on my Brittain/Britton/Stillwell etc. (my dad's side) and later worked into Aten and other Dutch families. Direct liines include Aten, Middagh, Skillman, Van Neste, and Van Dyke. In the past few years I have also discovered many of my husband's ancestors with Dutch ancestry primarily in NY & NJ. In a few cases we have had siblings of offshoots of our direct ancestors marry; but not the direct line. His lines include Holidays, Goes, Ostrander, Gardenier, Van den Bergh, Van Deursen, Bries, Van Bremen, Lansing, Traphagen, Van Hoesen, Van Schouw, and Myndertse. Sally Shreeve > Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this > List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always > known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) > Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of > their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch > heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman > (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her > siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It > wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father > had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the > handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). > I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who > is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon > County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to > VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his > wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from > Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and > my self-identity has been changed in the process! > > Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I > have Dutch ancestry"? > > Dorothy > > ------------------------------- > 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 >

Hi Dorothy and others -- Actually, in my case, discovering I had Dutch ancestry STARTED me on this very addictive advocation of genealogy! When my grandmother died, in sorting through her effects we discovered photo albums, papers, woven coverlets, quilts, etc. that we had never seen before. She obviously cared deeply for her family (she had, bless her!, taken the time and effort to label and identify all those photos in those old Victorian albums, and to give their relationship to her). But she had never talked much about her family, relationships, and origins. One of the papers she had was one of those "infamous" pedigrees drawn up in the 1800s to pursue a claim on the Trinity Church property in NYC. So this sent me on my chase after ancestors and their stories. In the course of my research, I discovered the reason she kept her family history to herself -- there had been, in the late 1800s, an illegitimate child born to her aunt, who died shortly afterward. In those days, this brought great shame on the family, and since my great-grandmother raised this child, almost like a brother to my grandmother, little was ever said about his origins. My research has made me more interested in local history than I ever had been, and it has also made me very much aware that my "Dutch" ancestors were really quite a combination of nationalities, including French Huguenot, English, Scandinavian, etc. But all with a very strong "Dutch" influence. Pat -- Pat & Walter Wardell Englewood, FL the.wardells@gte.net

My mother had always told me we had Dutch ancestors, but I thought she was exagerating--why I'm not really sure. I knew we had Schuyler and Beekman ancestors, both of whom are Dutch, but thought they were an anomaly. It was my impression my ancestors were all English, with a small Palatine line thrown in. When I became a serious researcher, at least 10 years ago, I started with the Palatines, who married the Schuylers. From that I learned I had a few more Dutch ancestors than I originally thought, but still didn't think it was significant. Only in the past couple of years did it finally sink in that I had many, many Dutch ancestors. In addition to all the lines which fed into the Beekman and Schuyler lines, other English ancestors had married Dutch. I only gradually came to realize that being descended from one early Dutch family generally implies descent from many. The Huguenots were similarly recently discovered. My self-view was also changed with the knowledge of how very Dutch my ancestry is. I used to consider myself almost purely English, but now consider myself Dutch-English. The Palatine line is still small by comparison to the rest, as they didn't immigrate here until 1710. The Dutch and Engish were nearly a century older. Barbara de Mare from New Jersey Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. Historian, genealogist and attorney 155 Polifly Road Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 (201) 567-9440 office BarbaradeMare@yahoo.com (home) http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/

My search began in 1995. My father always considered himself a "throwaway orphan" with no family other than his 4 siblings. My father was orphaned at the age of 6 years old with only a few pieces of family information that he knew. His name (James Harry Wells) was the reverse of his father's name (Harry James Wells), his mother maiden name was Durling, they died a year apart, where they were buried, and that we were "Dutch, or English, or something", and he was sent to a Trenton, NJ orphanage after which he was fostered out to a family he lived with for many years. His 4 much older siblings died before I started my search and their children had less information than I had! The cemetery was local so I started my quest there and got the birth and death dates of his parents and the first name of his mother (Anna) and names of who I thought were Anna's parents. In searching the early internet I was able to connect with a man in Massachusetts who was a Durling descendent who told me of a book that was published in 1896 about the Durling (Dorlandt) family. He checked the book and was able to find Anna Durling and her parents William and Phebe Durling. It turned out that my father had an extensive Dutch ancestry dating back to the early 1200's in Holland. I was also able to find his French Huguenot history verified back to the 1500's in France. His French history is DuBois and ancestors Louis and son Abraham DuBois were 2 of the 12 founders of the town of New Paltz, NY! His Dutch ancestry in addition to Dorlandt includes Van Arsdale, Van Cleef, Post, Ammerman, Blauw, Staats, Van Boerum, Strycker, Sebring, Smit, Van Kessel, Coevert, Van der Goes, and Van Schouw--all settlers of New Amsterdam. I am still searching for his Wells ancestry in Chester County, PA, however every day I find new Dutch cousins on his mother Anna Corle Durling's side. My father passed away in 1969 always thinking of himself as that "throwaway orphan" with no family. When he passed over I am sure all his Dutch relatives welcomed him and introduced him to his large family that he only dreamed of. My research is dedicated and is in tribute to my father--James Harry Wells--The Dutch Descendent of the First Families of New Amsterdam. Jacqueline Wells Lubinski -----Original Message----- From: dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:dutch-colonies-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dorothy Koenig Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 12:56 PM To: dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and my self-identity has been changed in the process! Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I have Dutch ancestry"? Dorothy ------------------------------- 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

I allways knew it. My grandfather was born 1877 and lived to be 98, his grandparents were born in the late 1700's and lived to be very old. So, in just three generations who all knew about the Dutch connection it was passed down from generation to generation. Also a book was written in 1904 by a Judge Vories who was born early 1800's who knew all this firsthand. So, the precious book gave us information on our families. The Montfort's were French Huguenots but escaped to Amsterdam, then to New Amsterdam in 1634. Wonderful. I am built large, have a mans size hands and I always say it is my Dutch Heritage. I am verey proud of these families. I live close to the Low Dutch Colony in Kentucky where they came in 1780. Donna ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy Koenig" <dkoenig@LMI.net> To: <dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 12:56 PM Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry > Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this > List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always > known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) > Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of > their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch > heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman > (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her > siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It > wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father > had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the > handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). > I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who > is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon > County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to > VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his > wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from > Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and > my self-identity has been changed in the process! > > Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I > have Dutch ancestry"? > > Dorothy > > ------------------------------- > 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 > > > >

Dorothy et al.: The Holland Society membership certificate hanging on the wall in my grandfather Van Blarcom's house, from my earliest memory, would have been the clue. :-) He was very proud of his Dutch ancestry. And so am I. Nancy ----- Original Message ----- From: Dorothy Koenig Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 12:57 pm Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry To: dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com > Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on > this > List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always > known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and > 2) > Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course > of > their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch > heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman > (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and > her > siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It > wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's > father > had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the > handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in- > law). > I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey > who > is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from > Loudon > County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back > to > VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman > and his > wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam > from > Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, > and > my self-identity has been changed in the process! > > Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found > out I > have Dutch ancestry"? > > Dorothy > > ------------------------------- > 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 >

Well, with a surname starting with "Van", and attending a church which we still referred to as "Dutch Reformed", it was a bit on the obvious side from an early age. What was really surprising is how many ways I was descended from the Van Houten immigrant ancestor, and that my mother (of predominantly recent Scotch-Irish ancestry) also had a tiny bit of Dutch ancestry, making her my father's distant cousin.

I learned I had Dutch Ancestry when, in first grade, I had to write Linda Constance Van Deusen, over and over again. All my friends had great short names like Schwartz, Katz, Smith and Adams. It was then I went home and asked my parents just why I was spending so much time learning all letters of the alphabet. Since then it has been great discovering all the wonderful things about this great family, started in the Colonies, by Abraham Pieterszen in 1623 Dorothy Koenig <dkoenig@LMI.net> wrote: Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of their genealogical research. My "gateway" ancestor to a Dutch heritage is my great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hagerman (1847-1922) who was born and died in Kentucky. My mother and her siblings always spoke of her as their "German grandmother". It wasn't until the early 1990s that I discovered that Sarah's father had the mighty strange name "Teunis" (spelling "Toonis" on the handwritten marriage permission given by his future mother-in-law). I had the good fortune to meet a "net cousin" named Anita Silvey who is descended from Teunis Hagerman's uncle who had moved from Loudon County, VA, to Ohio. The paper trail led us from KY and OH back to VA, then to NJ, and finally to the immigrants Adriaen Hegeman and his wife, Katherine Margits, who arrived in 1652 in New Amsterdam from Amsterdam. To date I have identified 60 direct Dutch ancestors, and my self-identity has been changed in the process! Does anyone else care to share their story about "How I found out I have Dutch ancestry"? Dorothy ------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------- Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta.

Dear Dorothy and Listers I'm category 2) and only stumbled upon my Dutch ancestry in December 2006! Some researchers had the SYFFERS/ SYPHERS/ CYPHERS line as Dutch, but the consensus is German. So last December I was compiling my yearly family history update (the final chapter??) to send off to my nieces and nephews, when I thought - I have not checked out the wives of my SYFFERS etc connections! This was really strange for me, as I thoroughly enjoyed researching all my female lines especially! So here I was, finally (??) tidying up my research, when I thought I would do a little surfing: GGGGGG Grandparents: Lea BUYS married Johannis SYFFER GGGGG Grandparents: Agie (Effie) MABIE m. Petrus SYFFER GGGG Grandparents: Tamar UNDERHILL m. Peter SYPHERS So far, especially with some great assistance from members of this list, I have found my Dutch connections to be: BUYS, HOPPE, Van OOSTEROM, JURCKSE, HENDRICKS, JANSE My next connections to be checked include: MABIE, Van NAERDEN, NAMBURGH (Van AMBURGH?)... there MAYBE more (sorry!) The grandson of Tamar UNDERHILL and Peter SYPHERS, John Woodruff SYPHERS, my GG grandfather, sailed from New York as a crew member, and after England and India, arrived and jumped ship in Sydney, Australia in 1848 - explaing how this message is coming from Australia!! So it's just been a little over three months since I discovered my Dutch ancestry Dorothy, and Edie, having Dutch ancestry has not helped with my housekeeping either, but hey.... and it turns out my last yearly update was not the final chapter... the nieces and nephews are still waiting! Cheers Marg Smith Mardi, NSW Australia Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry > Dear Listers, I am guessing that all regular discussants on this > List fall into one of two categories -- 1) Those who have always > known that they are descended from Dutch colonial ancestors and 2) > Those who stumbled upon Dutch colonial ancestors in the course of > their genealogical research.