May be useful as a start of the Rapalje Family in Long Island. Source: Merriman, Charlotte E. ,Tales of Saint Sink, Port Washington, LI, NY 1935, pg 24. "So Peter Minuit made a bargain which will be known in history for years to come. And then he helped to settle a part of white people who had come with the Dutch to this land which they had chosen to be their new home. This place they called Waalbought or Waaloons Bay and was the first settlement on our Long Island. There was one of the settlers who seems more interesting to us than all the others. He was a Frenchman who had fled to Holland for freedom and was not a Dutchman as you might suppose. GEORGE JANSEN DE RAPELJE, was his name. He, it was, who was the father of the first white child born upon Long Island. It happened on the ninth of June and the Dutch people were so pleased with this little baby girl that in later years a grant of land was made in her honor. They named this little girl Sarah (RAPELJE) and I am sure that there was a great party on the day of her christening. But for us who live along Manhasset Bay, there is something more to be pleased about. For not far from where you and I sit. . . there lives a man who can call this George Jansen de Rapelje, his great-great-great grandfather. "(his name is not mentioned.) ("Waaloons" means Strangers. They spoke a language strange to the Dutch when they came to Holland. Waalbought was about where the Brooklyn Navy Yard is today. ) OK::::This name, George Jansen de Rapelje, appears to be the first person arriving to Long Island with the Dutch. Further information may be available from the historian from Port Washington, LI, NY. Any thoughts appreciated: Jim Richards