>Hi ? Have you traced back into the 17th century. I have some information but not a complete picture. I?believe the Wilkins came out of Gravesend in the 1640's, ?the Thornes from Flushing in the 1640's and the Oustermans were in Manhattan from the 1650's to about 1800. Can you add any thing more to these families. Harry Bell?? [email protected]< Hello, Harry. You have my email address slightly wrong so it did not go through to me, but I fortunately spotted you on the listserve. I am aware that there were Wilkinses in Gravesend in the 17th century and that the name was rare in the NYC area until the 19th century. However, I have been unable to connect them as yet to my Jacob Wilkins, b ca. 1735 somewhere in NY state, merchant of New York [city], d 1809. If you will go to my entries in rootsweb.com worldconnect, you can see Jacob. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=winspeare&id=I2472 Hit Register above his name, and you will see a nice little line of descent. Right now I am working on his son William Wilkins who married Ann Thorne. I have several generations down from there but have not uploaded yet this month, so only his children show. Coincidentally, I am about to go to my Family History Center this morning as four reels of Queens probate records have come in, and I hope to find out more about William's family. The source I have listed from him is a secondary one, a book published in 1931, so I am trying to identify the records used to write his entry. So far I have done no Thorne or Ousterman research. After you look at my database entries, let me know if you have anything to add or correct. Thanks, Elizabeth