When I was young, my mother had me memorize that I was: - French (Huguenot, which she knew--not bad for a farm girl) - "Holland Dutch" (and it turns out most other provinces, too, not to mention much of the rest of Europe, including "Belgium", "Denmark", Sweden, Finland, Austria, and more) - "Scotch" ("Scots" or "Scottish", if you please, or so I'm now told) - English (and, it turns out, Welsh and Irish) - "Indian" ("Native American", now that we Europeans have learned where we landed) - Spanish (supposedly a pirate/privateer in the mix, but no clear sign of him yet) - German (on my dad's side only, she thought, but it turns out she has Palatinate ancestors.) I had a heck of a time trying to explain even the 7-nationality version to my mostly pure-bred-Italian schoolmates. Today I'd e-mail them a 10-generation chart. Chris On 3/20/07, 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 >