When Neeltje Schermerhorn's (b. 1781) daughter Claara was b. in Schenectady in 1798, the baby's father was "named as Harmannus Van Slyke," and printed upside down. I was told by Lorine, who found this record for me in the Schenectady DRC, that being upside down indicated the child's illegitimacy. The father wasn't present, and the godparents were a sister and brother-in-law of the mother. I'd originally found this child in Neeltje's New Testament (which I own) listing of her children, without any surname, but with a birthdate. Since it was 5 years before her marriage date, I thought perhaps she was widowed, and asked the list for help locating the father. Lorine located Claara, as well as the probable father among the numerous men of that name in Schenectady at the time. The child seemed to have been named after his mother, following the naming conventions. However, by the time the child was baptized, he'd already married someone else. I don't know if a German Reform Church would have used a different form. Doris On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 9:33 PM, juliasgenes <juliasgenes@yahoo.com> wrote: > Not long ago, I asked how "illegitimate" children were named in 1800 > Hudson Valley. I was particularly interested in Catharina Frantz's son, > David. When he was baptized at the German Reformed Church, Montgomery, no > father stood up with him; the sponsors were his grandparents, Johann Frantz > and Catharina Senebach. > > > * 18 Jan 1808: > Catharina's "David" is born, recorded in the German Reformed Church, > Montgomery, New York (Hasbrouck transcription). > > > * 23 Jun 1810: > Catharina Frantz marries "Rev John Pulvereck" at the RDC/Shawangunk > (Hasbrouck transcription). John is found on two unreferenced Ancestry trees > as "John Pulfrey" and for some reason, her son is on those trees is given > as "David Crawford Pulfrey". > > > * 05 Nov 1811: > In his will, Johann leaves money to grandson "David Crawford". He lists > several other grandchildren by their full names, so there's no reason to > believe that this isn't David's full name (from the liber copy). > > > * 22 Jan 1862: > This "David Crawford" died and is buried in Sullivan County, New York, not > far from Montgomery or Shawangunk. He was aged 54 years 12 days, which > calculates out to be a birth date of 10 Jan 1808, within days of > Catharina's son David's birth. > > > This would be fairly straight forward except for this record found in the > Hasbrouck transcription of the German Reformed Church, Montgomery: > > * 10 Sept 1808: > A record of "David Crawford's" baptism, listing a supposed birth date. The > parents are given as James W Crawford & Jane Barkly. No other kids are > baptised for this couple at this church, but a James W Crawford is recorded > as dying on 10 Feb 1844. > > > I am out on a limb here, but I was wondering if MAYBE these baptism > records are for the same child? Could this be a way for the birth father to > "adopt" his "illegitimate" son? > > Thank you for your observations, Julia > > ------------------------------- > 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 >