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.