Hi Robert & Jim, Ethnic Dutch origin families spread out a lot further from New Amsterdam (NYC) than Tarrytown. By the time of the Amer. Revolution, descendants had spilled across the river into NJ and had gone well up the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. I'd hazard to say that over half the families in Dutchess Co. (where'd it get that name?) were of Dutch origin. And many of these places saw Loyalists head off to the present Maritime provinces in 1783. Other closely related families went to the Cataraqui townships in what is now part of Ontario in 1784. I borrowed a book one time of the 1810 Dutchess Co. census. For fun, I compared names and made lists. I lumped NB & NS together (both were part of "NS" in 1783) and I looked at the Loyalist names in the section of Ontario from roughly Kingston to Belleville & if I remember, I came up with 219 of the same surnames in each region. There were more at Niagara, but some had moved up from the Maritimes after 1784. Add to the Dutchess Co. people the Westchester Loyalists in NS, other lower NY & NJ regiments, and you have just covered a large chunk of Loyalist refugees to the Maritimes and the region around what is now Belleville, Ontario. As to the VanWert family, Isaac Van Wart settled in NB & was related to that dastardly rebel<g> in Tarrytown, NY, Isaac Van Wart. Isaac was recognized as the man who captured Major John Andre, who was carrying dispatches from Benedict Arnold to the British lines at the time of his defection. Arnold was about to turn West Point over to the British and he'd planned an ambush to capture George Washington and if they couldn't capture him, then they'd kill him. At the time, Washington was Arnold's guest on the sequestered estate of Beverley Robinson & was staying in a guest house away from the main residence. Every day, he rode down to the ferry and across to West Point Academy. That day, however, Washington eluded the ambush by chance when he decided to ride down to the river by a roundabout route that day. Then, Andre's capture ruined any chance of trying again. The result of all this was that Andre was hanged as a spy and Isaac was turned into a statue and is still living in Tarrytown. Several have responded mentioning that Dutch was actually Deutsche. There were a great many German families that settled in PA. Philadelphia had German newspapers. These German people, ie, "Deutsch," became Pennsylvania Dutch and included many of the religious sects, including the Amish. While some of these Loyalist families did go to the Maritimes, the majority of the PA. people went overland to Niagara starting in 1777 and it's an interesting story. Getting to safety behind the British lines could only be accomplished by "running the gauntlet to get to NY City. Instead, they used the network of age old Indian trails to the Mohawk Valley to get to Niagara. Conrad Weiser, the British Indian agent for the Middle Colonies, kept maps of these trails and there is a small diary published of (a later?) Conrad with the trails penciled in. Again, there are family ties among some of these groups. In 1709/10, a large group of Palatine Germans were brought to the Hudson Valley. They soon relocated in the Mohawk Valley. Among them was Conrad Weiser, who later went to PA. His farm is still owned by descendants. In PA., he lived among a later migration of Palatine Germans in 1717/18. His nephew, Conrad DeLong, was half Dutch (DeLongs) and half Deutsche (Weiser), so it doesn't matter how you spell it, his descendants are Dutch, or Deutsche, and "take yer pick." Bill jim roaix wrote: >> Why were so many of the loyalists and their descendants' families >> designated "Dutch". I've never heard an authoritative explanation. >> Have you? >> bdavis@sympatico.ca > > > > > Well, many were Dutch, and from either the Tarrytown, NY area or from Long > Island, both areas of which were heavily settled by Dutchmen. Many of the > Tarrytown folks had first settled in LI. The Van Wart/Wert family is one > example. > > jim

Bill: You seem to know a lot about the movement of the Loyalists from NY to Canada. I have found my family in Westchester, Rockland, Orange and a few other counties. My problem is they came from France somewhere, but I don't know how the name was spelled there. I have found it spelled 46 different ways and still finding more. The most prominent spellings are FORSHAY, FORSHEE and FOSHAY. Can you provide any help with these relatives? Bill Forshay - San Antonio, TX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Bill Tufts <dg052@freenet.carleton.ca> wrote: Hi Robert & Jim, Ethnic Dutch origin families spread out a lot further from New Amsterdam (NYC) than Tarrytown. By the time of the Amer. Revolution, descendants had spilled across the river into NJ and had gone well up the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers. I'd hazard to say that over half the families in Dutchess Co. (where'd it get that name?) were of Dutch origin. And many of these places saw Loyalists head off to the present Maritime provinces in 1783. Other closely related families went to the Cataraqui townships in what is now part of Ontario in 1784. I borrowed a book one time of the 1810 Dutchess Co. census. For fun, I compared names and made lists. I lumped NB & NS together (both were part of "NS" in 1783) and I looked at the Loyalist names in the section of Ontario from roughly Kingston to Belleville & if I remember, I came up with 219 of the same surnames in each region. There were more at Niagara, but some had moved up from the Maritimes after 1784. Add to the Dutchess Co. people the Westchester Loyalists in NS, other lower NY & NJ regiments, and you have just covered a large chunk of Loyalist refugees to the Maritimes and the region around what is now Belleville, Ontario. As to the VanWert family, Isaac Van Wart settled in NB & was related to that dastardly rebel in Tarrytown, NY, Isaac Van Wart. Isaac was recognized as the man who captured Major John Andre, who was carrying dispatches from Benedict Arnold to the British lines at the time of his defection. Arnold was about to turn West Point over to the British and he'd planned an ambush to capture George Washington and if they couldn't capture him, then they'd kill him. At the time, Washington was Arnold's guest on the sequestered estate of Beverley Robinson & was staying in a guest house away from the main residence. Every day, he rode down to the ferry and across to West Point Academy. That day, however, Washington eluded the ambush by chance when he decided to ride down to the river by a roundabout route that day. Then, Andre's capture ruined any chance of trying again. The result of all this was that Andre was hanged as a spy and Isaac was turned into a statue and is still living in Tarrytown. Several have responded mentioning that Dutch was actually Deutsche. There were a great many German families that settled in PA. Philadelphia had German newspapers. These German people, ie, "Deutsch," became Pennsylvania Dutch and included many of the religious sects, including the Amish. While some of these Loyalist families did go to the Maritimes, the majority of the PA. people went overland to Niagara starting in 1777 and it's an interesting story. Getting to safety behind the British lines could only be accomplished by "running the gauntlet to get to NY City. Instead, they used the network of age old Indian trails to the Mohawk Valley to get to Niagara. Conrad Weiser, the British Indian agent for the Middle Colonies, kept maps of these trails and there is a small diary published of (a later?) Conrad with the trails penciled in. Again, there are family ties among some of these groups. In 1709/10, a large group of Palatine Germans were brought to the Hudson Valley. They soon relocated in the Mohawk Valley. Among them was Conrad Weiser, who later went to PA. His farm is still owned by descendants. In PA., he lived among a later migration of Palatine Germans in 1717/18. His nephew, Conrad DeLong, was half Dutch (DeLongs) and half Deutsche (Weiser), so it doesn't matter how you spell it, his descendants are Dutch, or Deutsche, and "take yer pick." Bill jim roaix wrote: >> Why were so many of the loyalists and their descendants' families >> designated "Dutch". I've never heard an authoritative explanation. >> Have you? >> bdavis@sympatico.ca > > > > > Well, many were Dutch, and from either the Tarrytown, NY area or from Long > Island, both areas of which were heavily settled by Dutchmen. Many of the > Tarrytown folks had first settled in LI. The Van Wart/Wert family is one > example. > > jim ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NEWBRUNSWICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.