My father always said we were from German descent and that is what I based all of my initial research. Accounts, after my research, were that my Andries Emans came from England (unknown date) and entered Holland to get away from religious persecution. He was in Holland for 40 years before arriving in America. He left Leyden, Holland May 9, 1661 on the ship St. Jean Baptist; settled in Gravesend, Long Island Aug. 21, 1661. Name was Andries Imans on the passenger list. I have not been able to find his wife's name but it appears she was of Dutch descent. Still doing my research but I am sure that my background is Dutch and not German. My records have obvious errors and I am trying to identify the source documents and work through the obvious disconnects. Irv Emmons Salem, OR ----- 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 > > > > ------------------------------- 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

Actually, mine went the other direction ... from "more Dutch" to "less Dutch." As I small child, I knew my grandmother was of Dutch background. She said her father was "100% Holland Dutch." Her sister, my great-aunt, also spoke of the family being Dutch. Well, the family was Dutch - partly - no question about that, but as I got into the family research, each generation on my Long Island Velsor/Van Velsor line seemed to marry into mainly English lines. My great-grandfather was far from being "100% Holland Dutch," but he was actually a bit more Dutch than his father because some Long Island Dutch lines showed up in his mother's ancestry. But on the male Velsor/Van Velsor line - you have some generations marrying women whose ancestry was mostly English. I suppose the family move out to the largely English communities of Oyster Bay & Huntington reduced the Dutch pool of potential marriage partners & increased the pool of English ones. On the other hand, my wife had no concept that she had any Dutch ancestry, before I found a few Dutch lines in her "English" father's ancestry in early Queens County, Long Island. I think surnames play a very large role. Since my grandmother's surname was Dutch - esp. visible in the Van Velsor form - the Dutch tended to be seen more & emphasized more. The extact flip on my wife's side ... since her father's grandmother had an English name - she was "English" - her Dutch [& French Huguenot ancestry] was lost in the English surname. You can visit http://longislandgenealogy.com to check out some of the Velsor/Van Velsor genealogy posted to that site. This has long been a difficult family to research. David David Roberts Hollywood, MD ----- Original Message ----- From: "Irv Emmons" <irv@emmonsfamily.us> To: <dutch-colonies@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2007 5:19 PM Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] How I discovered I have Dutch ancestry > My father always said we were from German descent and that is what I based > all of my initial research. Accounts, after my research, were that my > Andries Emans came from England (unknown date) and entered Holland to get > away from religious persecution. He was in Holland for 40 years before > arriving in America. He left Leyden, Holland May 9, 1661 on the ship St.