Question on NNS project scope.

Question

If most of a family meets the NNS project scope, but a member of that family (e.g. a child) does not because they were born after 1675, should they be left out of the project?

Comments

Hi Melissa,

Great to see you here as well :)

Dirck Jans Woertman and many of the NNS Dutch ancestors of course could fall under not only the NNS but also under the Dutch Roots Project. For almost, if not all, deeper ancestors there very likely is a project they could fall under.

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Okay problem solved thanks to Ellen Smith the profiles I was talking about were added to the New Netherlands Descendants category.

I wasn't sure.being new to the project. My first thought was the same as Kathleen's (see below)

Thanks Ellen

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Yes I totally understand Melissa I still have to look them up myself sometimes as well ;)

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Bea, the definitions of the categories within the project were revised recently, which likely explains why you keep needing to look them up. :-) Actually, the project scope has been narrowed a little -- it no longer includes people born 1777-1800.

Meanwhile, the two new templates that Carrie created now make it easier to label a profile as being a New Netherland Descendant or New Netherland Community.

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yes I know, love the new templates, and it all looks great and isn't that complicated, but just to make sure I sometimes still 'have to' check :)

Answer 1

I guess this should answer your question.

Comments

Absolutely, Jan!

The project includes descendants born between Oct 1674 and 1776 for many reasons but to name a few:

• 1776 is the end of British rule over the former Dutch colony and other documentation becomes reliable at that point,
• many traditions continued under British rule, like patronymics, and Dutch was spoken in churches until the mid 19th century in some places,
• and because the New Netherland population was endogamous, and so getting these connections right and maintaining them is very important for those researching autosomal DNA, which still shows up ~10 generations later.

Answer 2

The way I understood the criteria was that if the parents met the criteria and were the first settlers, their children did also regardless that some were born after the birthdate cut-off.

From the New Netherland Settlers project page:

In addition, the New Netherland Settlers Project also includes the immediate ancestors of the Settlers; the descendants of the Settlers, born prior to 1776; the Huguenots of New Netherland, some of whom arrived after 1674; and those that became a part of the New Netherland Community, which is difficult to quantify but is usually made obvious with church records and other documentation.