Interested in the New Netherland Settlers Project? Pt. 2 [closed]

+27 votes
4.8k views

Hello! Are you a WikiTree member interested in helping with the New Netherland Settlers Project? If so, please answer this post to join us in collaborating on the genealogy of New Netherland.

Additionally:

  1. If you are not yet a member of WikiTree, please join the WikiTree community. See Help:How to Use WikiTree to get started.
  2. Add new_netherland to your followed tags.
  3. Request to join our Google Group, and include your Wikitree ID in your request.
  4. Add the category [[Category:New_Netherland_Settlers_Project]] including the brackets, to your biography.

You may find the answers to a few questions on the FAQ page or even more on the New Netherland Settlers Project page, project resources in our New Netherland Genealogy Resources category, and you may even find your ancestors on our Progenitors and Immigrants of the New Netherlands Settlers (though it is quite incomplete!)

Feel free to introduce yourself and tell us your New Netherland surnames of interest.

Welcome!

-- Ellen Smith

PS - Please ANSWER in this G2G thread.

in Requests for Project Volunteers by New Netherland Settlers WikiTree G2G Crew (960 points)
closed by Ellen Smith
Hi Ellen, I have many Dutch ancestors from 1600s not sure how to do this, however I would like to join and possibly find more about my family lines.  There are many surnames. thanks gwen

Hi, Gwen. I'm sorry I missed seeing your comment earlier.

It looks like you have some New Netherland settler ancestors, but you have very limited information about them, apparently based on mostly-unsourced user-contributed family trees (such as the Millennium File) or index-only records that came over to you (or other WikiTree members) without much detail. That doesn't give you much substance to go on.

You may find it helpful to read up on New Netherland on our project pages and the webpages linked from there. To jump-start your research on ancestors like LaComba-1, I suggest that you peruse the Early Bergen Counties material that's currently archived in Carrie's Google Docs folder. This is an excellent secondary source of research notes for New Netherland, with particular focus on Bergen County, where at least some of your ancestors seem to have lived. It's probably easiest to use this material if you download the entire collection as a zipped archive. You probably will need to poke around a bit to find your possible family members -- note that a name like "LaComba" could be under L or C (and for uncommon last names you'll need to look in the general file for the letter) and patronymic names like Jans might appear under a family name that was used by later generations of the family.

Good luck!

Hello Ellen,

I have many ancestors of Dutch lineage, who migrated to America in the early 1600's. Let me know if I can be of assistance..
Hi, I would like to join your project.  My New Netherlands ancestors are Aert Willemszen who married Christina Nagel, great grand daughter of Guilliame Vigne and Adrienne Cuvelier.  Johannes Pauluszen (Jurckse) and his second wife, Annetje Jochems Van Waert, Arie Fransen who married Ragel Jans Pier (although they were in Kingston, so not sure if they are included here), Marinus Roelofse Van Vleckeren and his wife Dina Theuniss/Isdesse (Van Huyse).  There are also some connected families - Williams, Ferguson, Mott and too many other's to remember.

Welcome to this project, Debbie.

I think you'll find that many of your ancestors have profiles in WikiTree (for example, see Nagel-5, Pyer-3 and Aertszen-1), but you may need to look for name variants in order to find them all.

Kingston  is most definitely within the scope of this project, which covers New Netherland -- not just New Amsterdam. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:New_Netherland_Settlers for information about the project, as well as links to information about New Netherland and many research resources.

Hello! After thinking that my ancestry was almost exclusively British and German, I was surprised to find these Dutch ancestors pop up on my family tree. I’m descended from the Van Valkenburg, Clauw, and. Vosburgh families. It seems they settled in Albany and Kinderhook. I’d love to join your project and learn more.

Hi, Shelley. You actually received the New Netherland badge back in 2017. smiley

WikiTree has bunches of profiles for Van Valkenburg, Clauw, and Vosburgh family members in and around Albany and Kinderhook. What information do you have about your lines extending back to these families?

Hi Ellen

As we discussed in email earlier I am interested in Claes Cornelizen van Shouwen. I would also like to help where I am needed.  I enjoy research.

Terri
Thanks for joining us, Terri!
My ancestor, Wijnant Gerritsz, was half-owner of a sawmill with Abraham Vosberg, and after Abraham was killed by Indians, Wijnant bought the other half of the mill from Abraham's widow, Geertruy Pieterse on 18 Oct 1674 (after several years of legal fighting).  The mill was located on the east side of the Hudson, on a creek still known as "Wynant's Kill".

Hi Ellen and New Netherland followers, I'm so happy to have found myself here. It has been a wonderful journey so far, exploring the copious amounts of data online. As my interest and curiosity grow so does my family tree. My Answer to hope, help, and contribute to the group would be to find a way to keep us all coming back. Be it collaborating with others or solo research, I have a passion for the history of our country and how my ancestors helped it evolve.

Hi Ellen:
I have a countless number of relatives on my tree that were early New Netherlands Settlers coming from the Swartwood, Swartwout and many more early 1600's settlers line.  I would really like to be able to contribute to the history of these early settlers, as well as learn some of their history that I am presently unaware of.

Thank you,

Dennis Murphy

Murphy-20507
Storm in Netherlands

91 Answers

+15 votes
Hi! A fellow researcher recommended that I join this project.
by Lisa Meszaros G2G3 (3.4k points)
edited by Lisa Meszaros
That was me. Thanks for joining us. I've given you the badge.
+14 votes

I'd like to join your project.  I've written this story:  https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/16270460, and started this transcription which i'd like help with:  https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/46520688

Thought that this project might be a good place to get willing helpers.

by Mom Nauvoo G2G Crew (620 points)
edited by Ellen Smith

Glad to meet you, Mom Nauvoo. From the links you supplied, it appears that you are looking for the father of Jonas Kleyn and you are interested in Jacobus De Puy, and you are an American speaker of Dutch! I look forward to your contributions to our New Netherland Settlers project. Before I can give you the project badge, though, we need you to sign the Honor Code to become a full-fledged WikiTree member. Thanks!

I've signed the Honor Code
Thanks, "Mom." You now have the badge. So glad to have you here!!

By the way: Your registered name of "Mom Nauvoo" looks like it might be a screen name or alias. We don't typically use screen names on this site, but privacy is a big concern.  See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Privacy for information about some privacy-protection optoins on this site.

ADDED: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Unlisted_Active_Members is also relevant.
+15 votes
Hello, I'm a descendant of multiple New Netherlands settlers, and would like to join the project.
by Dianne Hood G2G1 (1.7k points)

Welcome to the project, Dianne!

You have the badge now. Please add new_netherland to your list of followed tags.

+12 votes
Hello, I am a descendant of ancestors of multiple New Netherland localities:  New Amsterdam, Esopus/Wiltwyck, Fort Orange, and others.  My grandmother's maiden name was Smock, but I'm finding more and more "Dutch" ancestors in my Iowa born grandparents' trees.  I'd like to join and start learning more about this project.
by
Are you a member of WikiTree, yet, EAH? I see that you weren't logged in when you posted here.

On WikiTree, we work together to document the lives and families of our common ancestors. The New Netherland Settlers project consists of member interested in collaborating on New Netherland genealogy in WikiTree. If you're not yet a WikiTree member, please join WikiTree so you can join us in this project.

Note that Iowa was a major destination for Netherlands people who immigrated to the United States in the 1800s, so some of your Dutch ancestors there might not be descended from New Netherlanders.
Yes, I am now confirmed as a full member, but I am new to Wikitree!  My ancestors are definitely New Netherlanders.  I know that there is a large, newer Dutch community in Michigan, and that there are a lot of Danish, Swedish and other more recent immigrants to Iowa.  My maternal grandmother is the Smock, but my maternal grandfather is descended from the Montfoorts through two different lines and the Rykers (which makes him my grandmother's 6th cousin!).  P.S.  FYI --I was following the list of instructions in order.  If you wish someone to be a member first, you should change the instruction order.

Welcome to WikiTree and the New Netherland Settlers project, Elizabeth! I have one more request for you: Please agree to our Honor Code and sign it.

Thank you for the comment about the order of instructions. I guess that all of WikiTree's instructions for joining projects presuppose that a person is already a member of WikiTree, but clearly that's not a good assumption. Something to fix, for sure.

Hi Elizabeth, it sounds like we are likely related as I have Montfort, Ryker as well in my tree. Looking forward to seeing your tree!

~ Melona
+12 votes
Hello, I have several New Netherlands ancestors already somewhat sourced and would like to join. Thank you
by Rebecca Evans G2G2 (2.4k points)

Welcome to this project, Rebecca. I'll give you the badge shortly.

I looked at your tree to find your New Netherland family, and I found Sara Buys Lassing -- Du_Booys-2. This leads me to tell you about one of the main features of the New Netherland Project: the project is a bit obsessive about names, particular Last Name at Birth (see the LNAB section of the project page). The population of New Netherland derived from a variety of different cultures, and one result of this is a crazy hash of variant names and variant spellings of names. To maintain some sanity and reduce the incidence of duplicates, we need to be careful to use a LNAB that corresponds to records, and we need to document all the other names they were recorded under. When I saw the "Du Booys" spelling with a birth date of 1703 in Esopus, I was sure (from experience) that this was not the name she was baptized under (in Kingston, NY) and I went to look for possible duplicates and records for her. I didn't find a duplicate, but I did find a baptism record for Sara Buys, which I recorded in the profile. I also connected the parents of Sara Buys. Please look and see if my changes correspond with your understanding of her story. If they do, we can go ahead and change her LNAB, etc.

Thanks so much, Ellen.  That is her!
+12 votes
I would like to join your team, I just added 2 pages of Barents Will

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Nieuwkerk-4
by Living Broyles G2G5 (5.2k points)
Welcome to the New Netherland Project Timothy. Glad you joined us.
You have the badge now, Timothy. Thanks for your work on improving that profile!
+13 votes
thrilled to join as I was so fascinated almost twenty years ago when I found my roots traced back to this time and place - I come down from the very well traced Van Schoonhoven lines - both the legitimate and the bastard Nick sides - so I have Courtright/Kourtrigh,t de Hooge,s Swartwout, de la Montagne,Roosenkranz, Decker, Deenmarken, Westercamp and of course Bradt   

I hope I can find some of the stories I found back then about these pioneers

I am hesitant about the google group though as I am having a heck of a time with it in my Quebecois project - I think perhaps it may be that my Firefox browser is not showing it right or something - but I can not seem to navigate very well in that group at all!
by Navarro Mariott G2G6 Pilot (165k points)
edited by Navarro Mariott
You have the badge now, Navarro.

Google Groups can be tricky. Have you attempted to join https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/wikitree-new-netherland-settlers ?
thank you so much Ellen - hope I can help out - first I would like to know if anyone else had their older relatives refer to their ancestors as "Pennsylvania Dutch"  because mom used to say her dad was that and from what she had heard it meant that she was in fact German - well all the tracing back I have done I found no German folks - well maybe one - there are Dutch, French, Norse, and later down the line some Irish and Scots-Irish but now I see that when our New Netherland began to leave that area looking for new frontiers that many went to Pennsylvania - my line went to Ohio
nevermind - I looked that up and it is all coincidental!  too funny
Glad you figured that out. Not something I'd heard of.

My grandmother who represented herself as "Pennsylvania Dutch" really was Pennsylvania Dutch. That it, she was from Pennsylvania and much of her heritage was Pennsylvania Dutch (i.e., German) -- including family who mostly spoke German, although they were a few generations removed from Germany.
I guess it was Deutsch and Deitsch corrupted into Dutch, german speaking folks that  came through at the same time - the actual Dutch were there too apparently but mom had us in the wrong batch
+13 votes
I am merging my tree with my husband's and he is a descendant of several Netherland immigrants.   Our trees do link (on my paternal grandmother's side) and this merge will eventually blend our ancestors on both sides.

Jolyn Rebecca Snider
by Rebecca Snider G2G6 Mach 1 (15.7k points)
You now have the badge, Rebecca. Please go to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Following and add new_netherland to your followed tags, so you'll see discussions of this topic in your WikiTree feeds.

It's interesting about your connection with your husband. Does he also have a profile on WikiTree, or is that still in progress? What are some of your families' New Netherland names?
I'm not sure if he has a profile on Wikitree but I'll check. He's the one who has turned me into a history/genealogy junkie. His family names include Van Leuven and many more !   We use the newest Legacy and I scrolled through about 10 pages of names with the same prefix on them.   His tree has been a work in progress for 30 or 40 years while mine is in it's infancy.   We connect thru Pepin II and Charlemagne and I'm so eager to keep looking for more connections.  Thank you for the badge and I'll definitely BE BACK !  

Sincerely, Rebecca
+12 votes
Hi Ellen and Coordinators,

I would like to join NNS. I have several Dutch ancestors who were early settlers of NY and NJ from 1640-1840. I am trying to improve the research of alll their profiles. After that, I could look for a wider role.

Thanks for all the good work you do.

Weldon
by Weldon Smith G2G6 Mach 2 (24.4k points)
Thanks for your attention to your early New Netherland ancestors, Weldon. (But I would bet that they weren't all Dutch!)
Thnks Ellen. Badge much appreciated. My profile looks great with it displayed. No, New Netherlands ancestors likely not all Dutch, but those that weren't were often Dutch by marriage, so descendants are certainly Dutch. Is there a list of tasks that need doing at NNS?

Well, my grandfather (8th/9th generation in the Hudson Valley) thought of himself as Dutch, but although he had a good share of Dutch ancestry, I've found that his New York genealogy also includes French and Walloon Huguenots, Germans, English (including a couple of British military officers and an ordinary soldier from the British conquest and occupation), Flemish (basically indistinguishable from Dutch), a "Fille du Roi", and a couple of Scots. Maybe they all spoke Dutch, but they were part of a "melting pot"! I figure most New Netherland descendants have similarly multinational heritage.

As for tasks that need doing at NNS, the list seems endless! Some of the highest-priority cases are in:

And if you find a family in your own ancestry that needs attention, that's possibly the best thing to work on, since you are going to have more interest in that family (and probably more insight into research for that family) than in some random family from another part of New Netherland.

+13 votes
Hello,

I am new to WikiTree and would like to join your project. I am descended from Jan (Jansen) van Amersfoort. I have not populated my tree yet, but mine is common with Natalie Cainaru's (and others) through my 4th great grandfather, James (Jacobus) van Steenbergh.

I have tested my Y-DNA (Y-DNA 111), so that could be helpful for some, but don't yet know how to tie that to my ancestor's profiles.

Thank you,

Bob Steenberge
by Bob Steenberge G2G2 (2.5k points)
Welcome, Bob. Your last name seems unmistakably Dutch in origin!

When you have created profiles for your parents and grandparents (etc.) and connected them to their siblings and parents who are already in WikiTree, your Y-DNA haplotype information will automagically propagate through your paternal ancestral line.
+13 votes

​MY WIKITREE ID # Spencer-12751

I came across The New Netherland group as I was adding to my Dutch family on my Tree. I am hoping that I can be apart of this group, because I love learning and helping others find their Dutch roots in Colonial America. My New Netherland Dutch names are, Wiltse, Marinus, Van Wyck, Polhemius, Meyerinck, Straetsmans, Van Der Werven, Kleyn, Cobes.  Thank you

by Keith Mann Spencer G2G6 Mach 3 (30.5k points)
Glad to have you in this project, Keith!
+12 votes
Hello,

It appears that I am descended from Catalina Trico and Joris Rapalje through their daughter Judith Joris Rapalje and Pieter Pietersen Van Neste along with several other early families who seem to have stuck together while migrating from New Netherlands through Somerset New Jersey and Bucks County Pennsylvania. My group, the Bennetts, ended up in central Ohio in the early 1800's.  I would like to join your group!  I have only been exploring this for a few months now and have been surprised to discover what my family were referring to when they said we were "Pennsylvania Dutch" in response to my childhood questions about our origins.  I think I have found the link between the early Bennetts in New Amsterdam and the Mt. Gilead Bennetts of my family and look forward to working on this project.

Marian English-Huse
by Marian English-Huse G2G Crew (560 points)

Welcome to WikiTree and the New Netherland Settlers project, Marian. I love your story about the version of your family's origins that was passed down to you.

To follow New Netherland G2G content, please add new_netherland to your followed tags list. Also, note that the recommended tag for Netherlands topics is dutch_roots (not "dutch").

I too descend thru Judith and also thru her other sister Sarah - I just joined this group tonight so am reading the posts and thought I'd give a quick comment hello to a fellow Rapelje cousin...
my batch went to Ohio as well - Madison, franklin County - some were in Pickaway County as well
+13 votes
Descendant of Pierre Deyo (Doyo).  Currently living in France and Tunisia.  Also descended from the Eckerts of Ulster County.  Hoping to fill in the blanks on this side of the family.  Can help in translating any records in French.
by Mary Shelley Hough G2G5 (5.9k points)
+12 votes
OK I was trying to merge these Kortregts - well Courtright-211 into Kortright-31 and then I was trying to change the LNAB and of course I can not because t211 is PPP - so how do we fix these?  Elisabeth needs to have the LNAB fixed to Kortregt as it seems that is what is shown on the baptismal documentation - and I have seen nothing that has a signature which would be the thing that would change that

I am starting bottom up here - the profiles are not good with duplicate children because of the spelling differences and I really want to clean this up - Johannes would be next to need merging and then the children from both familys can be sorted out how they are supposed to be

thanks

Navarro
by Navarro Mariott G2G6 Pilot (165k points)
there are currently three Elizabeths and three Johannes so we need to consolidate these profiles
Navarro, I'll respond by email. This forum thread is for people to ask to join the Project and introduce themselves; let's not gum it up with discussions like this.
+11 votes
Hello,

My moms maiden name is Sebring and I would like to get more information on Abraham Sebring and his wife/cousin Christina.  My moms grand father was Robert Sebring who I believe was son of William H Sebring. Any help with leads is appreciated. It looks like Roelof and his siblings were the start of the Sebring tree in the new country. I also am looking for help with the Hodgkinson lineage, also on my moms side. Singler and Giles on my dads side. I have had a dna test through Ancestry as well as my Wife who is a decendant of the Aldens from the Mayflower, the Adams of Quincy Massachusetts and the Roosevelts. Doane is in her family tree as well as mine, the Doanes are all over Cape Cod starting with Deacon John Doane.  My Wife Susan has a large Ancestry page and can search many of the older censuses of the 1800's in the USA.  The Giles side of my Dads mom is probably from Nova Scotia. Thanks for any help in the future.
by

Hi, William. Thanks for introducing yourself!

You weren't logged in when you posted your answer. I'm 99.5% sure that the person who is requesting a badge is Singler-25, but could you please verify that?

+11 votes
I'm Steven Messamer, [messamer-1]. Jan Cornelisse van Cleef [Van Cleave-84] is my 8th great grandfather on my maternal side through several lines.

I'm requesting to jion the New Netherland Settlers Project.
by Steven Messamer G2G1 (1.2k points)
Thanks for volunteering, Steven. You now have the badge.
+11 votes
Hi, Ellen - my maternal 7th GGF was Jan Van Loon (~1650 - 1720), founder of Loonenburg (now Athens), New York in 1686.  I am primarily interested in this project to help flesh out his line in WikiTree.  I've found several profiles in his line within the New Netherlands project, and have some to add.  Jan was the subject of a fascinating article in the Oct/Dec 1987 issues of de Halve Maen (quarterly pub of Holland Society of America) that provided a wealth of biographical information which I added to his profile.
by Paul Wright G2G Crew (920 points)

Hello, Paul. Glad you're here! I hope you'll be helping to fill in some of the voids in Van Loon family profiles like https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Loon-81 as well as adding additional people. Please familiarize yourself with our project policies, on names and other topics, at the New Netherland Settlers project page.

+12 votes
Hi! I've already been managing a number of my direct ancestor's profiles, which have been included in this project, and I'd love to make my participation official. My entire paternal ancestry can be traced to the New Netherland area and I lived near my ancestors in New York City and Brooklyn for many years, so this topic holds a strong fascination for me.
by Andrew Meeks G2G1 (1.1k points)

Glad to welcome you as an official New Netherland project member after you've been helping out as a de facto member, Drew!

+12 votes
Hello! Although new to WikiTree I am a longtime researcher and dedicated genealogist. One of my most intriguing branches is a single name...my 4x great grandmother Truax, I have worked on her tree for many years, but this site seems like a great place to collaborate. In locating her connection to the rest of the group, I have uncovered many others that have been lost or forgotten. Would love to join the project and help.
by G Meier G2G Crew (970 points)
Glad to have you here, G! It's exciting to hear that WikiTree has been helping you connect some mysterious ancestors.
Thank you so much! I have enjoyed adding some of my (HUGE) tree to WIki the past few days. Hard to drag myself away from the computer these days!
+11 votes
Interested in finding more sources for my ancestors in this area
by Living Hudnall G2G6 Mach 1 (11.7k points)
Hi, Debra. Could you please introduce yourself to the rest of us? Who are the New Netherland ancestors -- or possible New Netherland ancestors -- that you are hoping to research? I took a look at your family tree, and I didn't find any obvious New Netherlanders. I did see Elizabeth Wagner, born 1739 in Albany, New York, but I have a hunch there might be others...

Hello there.  I have several ancestors (from my Lds Family History Tree, my ancestry.com tree, my heritage tree)  that settled in that area or married someone in that area. Surnames would be Mauck, Benz, Muller, Miller, Magaert, Beaver, Theurer, Hermenn, Beaver, Gamwell, Kunzi, Kneubuehl, Holtzclau, Otterbach, Solbach and Dornseiffer.  I have reached dead ends and I was hoping that this project would help me to go even further. In some of my ancestry lines, I have been able to go back to 890 ad. My hobbies are researching Western European Civilizations. Oh, yeah. I actually have a  degree in European History. 

Welcome to this project, Debra! I hope we can help you with your quest for ancestors -- and maybe you can help the rest of us understand how our ancestors' lives were affected by events in Europe. From your surname list, I think you might discover that some of your ancestors from this region were "Palatines" who came to America after the Thirty Years' War (after the New Netherland period). If so, you might decide to join us in the separate Palatine Migration Project (part of German Roots).  :-)

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