Isaias van Roome is almost certainly the same person as the child Josias van Rhoon who was baptized in Bergen NJ in 1686: 6 Apr 1686 [Bergen DRC B# 159] "Reynier Josiassen van Roen, Constantina van de Swalme; Josias; Gerbrant Claese and his wife". This Josias subsequently seemed to disappear, while an 'Isaias van Roome' later did leave record in New Jersey. Isaias van Roome (supp. son of Reynier Josiasz van Rhoone and Constantia vander Swalme) died intestate in 1748, leaving a wife and several children in New Jersey who survived to marry and have families of their own. Names of several Van Roome descendants in the third generation after Reynier match with names of these probable grandparents. But Reynier Josiasz VR died barely four years after arriving in the colonies (imm. 1684; d. 1688 -- widow remarried), and Constantia vander Swalme had died by November 1704 (second husband remarried). Neither of these progenitors left much in the way of official records that can now be easily found. In online databases or articles, there is much confusion. Adding to the confusion is that some of the children of Renier and Constancia lived near Albany NY while others settled in northern New Jersey. There is almost no room in the marriage of Reynier Josiasz VR & Constancia VdS between their arrival from Sluys (Flanders but was probably Dutch territory then) in 1684 (need source for their immigration) to have had a son Isaiah between their year of immigration (1684) and the year Reynier died (probably late 1697-early 1688). Reynier Josiasz VR seems to have left very little record of himself in the colonies. Possibly they did not own land, but rented. The grandparents never appeared as baptismal witnesses for their grandchildren, since they both had died long before any of their children ever married. But since several (apparent) children of theirs named their own children either Reynier or Constan(cia), it's clear that these parents were Reynier VR's and Constancia VdS's own offspring. Then since Isaias van Roome (of Middlesex County, NJ) died intestate in 1748, leaving little known record of himself, it's very likely that his name in the admin (by widow) had been mistranscribed from the (correct) name Josias, his father's father's name. Naming the oldest son after the father's own father was customary in naming practices among the Dutch. There would have been no reason for Reynier Josiasz van Rhone to name a first son Isaiah, when his own father's name was Josias --whose baptism does exist. See records of the Dutch Reform church in Bergen, NJ #159, under date of 4 June 1686. Also see a message by Pam Sears to the Dutch-Colonies list in 2003, here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Dutch-Colonies/2003-07/105Maria1717 Constantia 1720 Jacob 1722 Johannes 17268282364. In the 1748 admin record of 'Isaias van Room' or 'van Rooms', if the capital I was mistaken for an existing J (these letters were similar in Dutch script as well as in English script), and if the final h in the name Josiah was mistranscribed as s (in Dutch the 'h' had a looping tail extending below the line, similar to the below-the-line English 's' as written in this era), and if Josiah/Isaiah the son left few or no records of his own in NJ, it is likely that "Isaias'" correct name was not well-known at all. See NJA 30:501, where the admin record of "Isaias" van Roome's estate by his widow should be found. A digital image of the original admin file (if it exists) should be sought and examined. Land records for Middlesex County NJ should also be sought. Complicating a search such as this would be the way the counties of NJ multiplied and evolved. Therefore records of several existing NJ counties should be searched for further records. But the 1748 admin file would be a critical piece to order, read and completely transcribe. I need a reasonable source for the alleged 1684 immigration date of Reynier Josiasz van Rhoon and his wife and family. There were at least two daughters, Mayke and Ariaantje Reiniers, who used various forms of their father's name or surname in baptism records. These two daughters were most likely born in Sluys before their parents decided to immigrate to the New York/northern NJ region. According to her marriage record, the daughter Ariaantje, last wife of Andries Douw, was from Sluys. Her surname was not correct in this record (even though she was not previously married), but records of her two children in New York Dutch Reform church confirm her patronym as will as her family surname. See NYDRC records: (marriage) 1708 29 Feb; Andries Douw, jm V. N. Albanie; Adriana Van der Graaf, jd V. Sluis in Vlaand baptisms: 1708 Dec 19; Andries Douwe, Ariaantje Reiniers; Catharina; Willem Appel, Catharina Dow wid 1710 Nov 05; Andries Douw, Ariaantje Van Rhoon; Reinier; Johannes Dou, Mayke Van Rhoon Mayke Van Rhoon married Jacob Koning, and had children Maria in 1717, Constantia in 1720 (named after her own mother), Jacob in 1722 and Johannes in 1726. Note that I have not seen the 1748 admin record of Isaias van Roome's intestate estate. This would appear in NJA 30:501. But unless thse pages are available as images of the original (not a clerk's copy or abstract or later transcript), then it may not help solve the Isaiah/Josias problem anyway. But this seems the most likely scenario to me. If I can figure out what county now holds the record or where to find this in Trenton NJ, I'll order a copy at some point. Meanwhile if anyone here has a digital image of the admin file already, please let me know if you can share it. Liz J

Liz, I am sending this offline as it is not very helpful, but just in case you do. I know of one other case of a confusion between the names Isaiah and Josiah: Isaiah/Josiah Claesen. These are the records I have for him: 19 Oct 1703; [Parents names not inserted]-Marytie, Lisabet, Maria, Cornelis, Benjamin, Willem, Jan. Witnesses: Cornelis Powels and wife. Ealry Church Records of Somerset Co., NJ, Colonial Roots, pg 30 29 May 1726; Claessen, Jesaias and Lysabeth - Jesaias. Ealry Church Records of Somerset Co., NJ, Colonial Roots,pg 50 4 Feb 1728; Claessen, Jesaias and Lisabeth; Maria; Joost Bennet. PNJHS vol 11, pg 211 [I don't know what relationship, if any, that Joost Bennet had with this couple] 2 Aug 1730; Clason, Isaiah and Elizabeth - Elizabeth. Ealry Church Records of Somerset Co., NJ, Colonial Roots, pg 104 Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Vol I, p 96. 1670-1730 1723-4 March 10. Clawson, Clauson, William, of Piscataway, Middlesex. Co., "yewoman;" will of. Wife Mary. Children -- Cornelius, Benjamin, Josias, William, John, Garrabrant, Joseph, Thomas and Mary Drake, Hannah, grandson William Clawson. Real and personal estate. The wife sole executrix with Hendrick Breese of Piscataway as assistant.Witnesses -- John Cholwell, AAre Borem, Leendert Funck (?). Proved 23 Apr 1724. Lib. A, p. 289, and Middlesex Wills. My understanding is that all the counties turned in their older probate records to the New Jersey Archives quite a while ago. There may still be some court related records at the county level. You can order probate records at: http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/referenceFees.html Mike > Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2013 23:34:22 -0400 > From: iris.gates@gmail.com > To: Dutch-Colonies@rootsweb.com; new-netherland@rootsweb.com > Subject: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Josias van Rhoon bp 1686 Bergen NJ mistaken as Isaiah van Roome d. int 1748 > > Isaias van Roome is almost certainly the same person as the child Josias > van Rhoon who was baptized in Bergen NJ in 1686:

In my message of yesterday, I had a copy-paste error, which messed up the URL to the 2003 message by Pam S that discussed part of the van Rhoon / van Roome family. That message was in response to a previous message concerning the Jacob Koning family. Pam's message can be found here, to which several other messages are linked: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Dutch-Colonies/2003-07/10517268282364 . Further support for my hypothesis of yesterday can be found in the _Woordenboek van Voornamen_ by Dr. J van der Schaar (1992, Prisma), which I have here. For the name Isaiah or Isaias, the index refers to the name 'Jesaja' which would sound like Ye-ZAY-ah. Under Jesaja, the author writes that this is an Old Testament name meaning 'blessing of Jahweh', and he found the name in the following forms: Esaia, Esaias, Isaias, Jesaia, Jezajas, Jesaias, and (English version) Isaiah. So it appears that Dr van der Schaar, whose lifelong work was the study of names and their origins and use in the Netherlands, found these names to be equivalent. Now I am very confident that the Isaiah van Room who died intestate in 1748 was the same as the child Josias who was baptized in 1686 in Bergen, NJ This would be important to families descending from Matthias Swaim and Sarah van Roome, and from those who descend from Nathaniel Robbins (of Benjamin) and his wife Ruth van Roome. Both of these women were daughters of Isaiah van Roome (son of Reynier Josiasz van Rhoon and Constantia vander Swalme). The Swaim family lived in Middlesex county, NJ, while the Robbins family was located in (then) Nottingham Township, Burlington County, NJ which is now Hamilton, Mercer County. Online, those who seem to know of this van Rhoon / van Roome family are tending to agree that Isaiah van Roome (some with correct parents) was born in 'Holland'. Some know the family was from Sluys before they emigrated. Descendants of of Reynier Josiasz van Rhoon and Constantia vander Swalme may appreciate the strongly supported hypothesis that Josias van Roen who was baptized in NJ did not die young, but was later known as Isaiah van Roome. I don't know enough about the Swaim family to suggest other surnames of Sarah van Roome's descendants, but other researchers who may be interested would be a branch of the Rulon family (Henry, of David, of Pierre) descending from Ruth van Roome, as well as a branch of the NJ Bordens, and a line of Stewarts, also descending from Ruth. Thanks again for everyone's help. Liz J On 4 June 2013 23:34, E Johnson <iris.gates@gmail.com> wrote: > Isaias van Roome is almost certainly the same person as the child Josias > van Rhoon who was baptized in Bergen NJ in 1686 >