Greetings, Here are some of my thoughts on the Vreeland books. Hope people find it useful... Winfield's book was one that we transcribed into the Vreeland Project tree early on. Every Vreeland that he included, we did as well, with a reference to that book. There are numerous minor errors in Winfield's lineages, however, and some major omissions of Vreeland family groups. You might see notes I made in the location field mentioning that Winfield was in error, or forgot, etc. I bought myself a (very) used copy, with the cover detached and some of the pages crumbling. After we transcribed all the Vreelands from Winfield's History of Hudson Co. (pub. in 1874), we did the same with Nelson's History of the City of Paterson and the County of Passaic New Jersey (pub. in 1901), that I bought from Bergen Historic Books. Nelson was much more careful than Winfield in the history and documentation, and far more thorough in his genealogy, though neither author followed the female lines [that is, unless the Vreeland wife married a Van Riper or Garrabrant or Van Vorst, etc., from one of the other family lineages included in the work]. For the Enoch Michielsen Vreeland lines (down from his 20 children!), Winfield is a bit more pertinent, at least in the history, because Enoch stayed behind at Bergen/Cavan Point, in today's Hudson Co. (a little south and west of where the Liberty Science Museum now sits on landfill), when his 4 brothers bought land and moved northwards to Aquackanonk (later, Passaic). Nelson devotes a lot of his attention to the 14 original Patentees of the Acquackanonk patent, so you can learn a lot about early Paterson and Passaic. The early history is quite interesting to me, considering that Hartman Michielsen Vreeland was the first white man to purchase land there from the Native Americans. I've driven around where he probably lived, but there are only factories and industrial plants there now, with no trace of any Vreelands. The other 2 books on the Vreelands are by Nicholas Garretson Vreeland (The Vreelands, Their Book, pub. 1909) and Louis Beach Vreeland (Annals of the Vreeland Family, 1956). NGV (as I sometimes refer to him) was big into genealogy and member of various societies, and one must read his historical information with wariness. He seemed so impressed and self-important with the tales of Vreeland history that he embellished and stretched the truth more than once. As LBV cited, NGV actually lifted a picture from one book, and put it in The Vreelands, Their Book, incorrectly identifying the man as Michael Janszen (Vreeland). LBV was very critical of NGV, with good reason. Family trees from both books are included in the Vreeland Project tree. Though we tried to be accurate and thorough with our sourcing, there are still some errors and some omissions. You can search for Vreeland individuals on the Rootsweb Vreeland Project: _http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=vreelandproject&I11.x=0&I1 1.y=0_ (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=vreelandproject&I11.x=0&I11.y=0) and look for the sources. Just be advised that when we were starting on this joint project, we were less obsessive about the source information than we grew to be... Finally, Winfield also wrote another interesting book, HISTORY OF THE LAND TITLES IN HUDSON CO. N. J., © 1872. There are numerous mentions of Vreelands within it, but the text is SO dense that it is very difficult to read and actually understand. There is a fascinating map that goes along with it that I first saw at Bergen Historical Society -- 5 large sheets, approx. 24" x 36" that together map the entire county, with plots marked of all the owners. I xeroxed and taped together the whole thing, but I'm afraid it didn't help me too much in comprehending Winfield's text. Here is an exerpt from Land Titles, concerning Michael Janszen's property in Communipaw, p. 52: Jansen bought about 1647, and paid for his purchase in installments. He and Bout agreed concerning the balance due, June 9, 1655, and it was not until the whole consideration was paid that he received his deed. The tract lay S. of Communipaw Ave., and extended to the creek which yet empties into the bay on the S. side of the Abattoir. The Patent called for 107 acres. The patentee died seized Oct. 17, 1697. By will she [Fitje Hartmans] left all of her lands to her children, Elias, Enoch, Johannis, Hartman, Cornelis, Jannetje, and Pryntje. These partitioned, June 26, 1701, but owing to the uncertainties of the boundaries it is impossible to give the location of the several allotments. Enoch Vreeland, son of the above-named Enoch, sold, May 7, 1710, to Rutgert Van Horne, then living at Pembrepogh, a lot at Communipaw, but where located, or of what size, is not stated. But it seems to have been the allotment of Enoch in the general partition, and by him sold to his son. The consideration in the deed of Enoch to Van Horne was one pepper corn, when demanded by his father Enoch Michielse of Pembrepogh. It continues on in that style. Perhaps if I was a real estate historian I could make more sense of it? If I had to rank order the books according to their usefulness to me, I'd choose Nelson first, then Winfield, then Louis B Vreeland, then Land Titles, then NGV. Hope this helps! -- Barbara Erwin-McGuire **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! 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