In researching the Van Duyne family tree, I found many references to the Van Duyne family of Morris Co. in "The Doremus Family in America" (Gateway Press, 1990) by Edith Whitcraft Eberhart. This book, based on and expanded from "The Doremus Family History in America" by William Nelson, is a well researched and accurate compilation of the Doremus family in North Jersey. Every entry for Van Duyne, save one, was confirmed by collateral information, thus making the identity of Polly Van Duyne a nettlesome mystery. According to Eberhart, Polly Van Duyne (no further identification) married Henry Doremus (b. 29 Mar 1787 at Doremustown); the couple had two children, Ann Doremus, John Doremus (no birth dates), and moved to Waterloo, Seneca Co., N.Y. Eberhart shows the descent for Henry Doremus from the original immigrant... Cornelis Doremus & Jannetje Joris Thomas Doremus & Anneke Abramse Ackerman Corenelis Doremus & Antje Young Johannis Doremus & Sarah Mandeville Henry Doremus & Polly Van Duyne I searched through my records of the Van Duyne family for all mention of Van Duyne women of that era who had married into the Doremus family, as well as all women named Polly, Mary, and Maria. (Polly is a nickname for Mary.) I went further and looked for women with the appropriate given names who might have been Van Duyne widows since a widow might be identified either by her maiden name or late husband's name. I wrote to Mrs. Eberhart in 1996 and 1997 with a number of questions, this one among them. Mrs. Eberhart, then in her 90s, had no further information. The only candidate that appeared through this search was a Mary Van Duyne, born 1798, whose record thereafter is blank. It's often quite expedient to find such candidates from among those family members whose history is blank. This Mary Van Duyne was the daughter of William Van Duyne and Elizabeth Doremus. Elizabeth Doremus was a very distant cousin of Henry Doremus. Additionally there were strong links between Mary Van Duyne and Henry Doremus through the Young family. (In Morris Co., most members of the Doremus, Young, and Van Duyne families are cousins of varying degree.) Since people distantly related in this era and place had opportunities to meet at family and social gatherings, it is possible that Mary Van Duyne (b. 1798) was the Polly who had married Henry Doremus (b. 1787) although the disparate ages would have made this union unusual. However, this would have to qualify as a dead end unless additional, more solid evidence were discovered. I decided to follow a second clue provided by Eberhart. She listed Henry Doremus having been born in 1787. I went to the records of the Pompton Plains church and found Henry, son of Johannis Doremus and wife Sara, born Mar 29 1787. (Witnesses were Hendrick Van Ness and wife Susanna.) But, in the Pompton Plains records, there was no further evidence of Henry as a husband or father. Since the Montville church was an outgrowth of the Pompton Plains church I looked in those records for Henry Doremus. There I found Henry Doremus and wife Mary, parents of John born June 5, 1813. (It is impossible to tell which dates in this collection are births or baptisms, but that's another mystery.) Henry Doremus and Pollie were parents of Ann, born July 21, 1815. So everything fit into place; but the real shocker was that Mary's and Pollie's family name in these records was Romine! Thus, I now believe that Polly "Van Duyne" married to Henry Doremus in Mrs. Eberhart's book is really Polly Romine. The evidence for this conclusion is that there is no Mary or Polly Van Duyne that fits into this niche; that Henry's children fit, by name, into Eberhart's description; that Henry Doremus as father in the Montville records is consistent with the birth of Henry in the Pompton Plains record; and the record of Henry's birth links him to the Doremus line as described by Eberhart; and Henry's wife in the baptism records of his children is listed as both Mary and Pollie. It would be instructive to see how Nelson treated this union in his book; but , unfortunately, I do not have access to that work. Are there any Romine researchers who could shed further light on this? Dick Van Duyne

> In researching the Van Duyne family tree, I found many references to the Van > Duyne family of Morris Co. << Probably not related, but I went to high school with a fellow named Craig Van Duyne. I didn't know his parents. Boonton Township dwellers. Unfortunately, Craig wrapped himself around a tree and died shortly after out 1979 graduation.. Shawnee, lurking.