Some Reflections on Early New Netherland Settlers and their Names

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: new_netherland decker

Content moved from profile page for Gerrit Jansen Decker (abt.1609-aft.1660). Attribution is "Posted on Ancestry.com by kkrenzke1, 23 Oct 2012"

Some of my thoughts and notes of the early Dutch Settlers

The occupation of the early immigrants from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, to New Netherland in the mid 1600’s, show that they were engaged in various walks of life, representing the farmer, the miller, the wood-sawyer, the tobacco-planter, the carpenter, the smith, the mason, the trader, the merchant, the soldier (captain, sergeant), the mariner (captain, skipper, etc.), the boat builder, the shoemaker, the gauger, the tapster, the brewer, the surgeon, the fisher, the firewarden, the drayman, the land owner, the council member, the capitalist, the policeman, the judge, etc. The nobleman as well as the peasant is represented. They represented the early establishment of a merchant society followed by the political realities that “modern” civilization required

The naming patter and use of various proper names has caused some difficulty. There was much "phonetic" spelling in early New Netherland. This highly variable species of spelling makes it difficult, in many instances, to adhere to iron-rule uniformity. I have retained the names of my ancestors as I have found them in various official records. One must also be prepared for variations in the spelling and use of names. For the present, and for my own sanity, I have come to realize that it is nigh hopeless either to attain or to observe uniformity in the proper names, and to follow a “traditional” family name.

I shall specify a couple of instance of "phonetic" orthography. Jochem Kalder has his surname spelled in official records as follows: Kalder, Calder, Calser, Caljer, Calker, Kayker, Kier, Callaer.

There are also the issues with families changing names. In more recent time some of our ancestors were originally Kool changed to Cool in the early 1700's. Then Daniel Cool (1731-1836) adopts the spelling Cole, and all of the descendants that follow are "Coles” only serves to track a family name even interesting. Another explanation of the name change is documented in a book on Holland Names which notes that the letter "C" is not used in Dutch, and that American spelling of the "K" sound in Dutch names was frequently changed to a "C". In addition, the Dutch pronunciation of the word "Kool" sounds like the present day pronunciation of the word "Cole" in American English. Other variations of family names may be due to the misreading of documents in transcribing them, but also to the niceties of pronunciation, which a scribe, unfamiliar with a foreign language, would not be able to record on paper. The so-called "tykke 1" (thick 1) in certain parts of Norway no doubt puzzled the scribes of New Amsterdam.

The Dutch distinction in terminating patronymics with "sz" or "sen" for men, and "s" or "se" for women has not been much observed in this volume, where the termination "sen" has been used indiscriminately, more in accord with Scandinavian usage.

As if that were not enough there was the fact that the use of surnames was still relatively new. As a result one common practice was the of Van ¬¬---- meaning from. So a name like Jan Janszen Van Breestede literally translates to Jan son of Jan from Breestede (a small village in Denmark). So you had a short history of the father, the son, and where the family was from, all in a name. Lest we forget, the population was small and it was not uncommon for close friends to marry, families to merge and other relationship cross lines so as to blur the modern day vision. Example Tryntje Jansen Van Breestede came to this county with her mother and father and two sisters and a brother. Tryntje married a gentleman by the name of Rutger Jacobsen Van Schoenderwoerdt.

The first thing we find is that in many of the records the ending of both names may have been dropped. Thus Tryntje Jansen Van Breestede becomes Tryntje Jansen and Rutger Jacobsen Van Schoenderwoerdt becomes Rutger Jacobsen. Rutger Jacobsen was also shortened to Rut Jacobs. Still the same guy though.

In my tree Tryntje’s brother also shows up and Jan Jansen Van Breestede who married Engeltje Janse. Eventually ancestors from both marriages married each other. 4th Cousins married and then things got all messed up.

Likewise we have the Decker brothers, Broer Jansen Decker, and Gerrit Broersen Decker both coming to this county and settling in New Netherland. Two generations later Margrietje Janse Decker married Gerrit Janse Decker. So we have lots of Deckers that are all in our direct line of ancestors that lead back to the same set of original Deckers – Broersen Hendrick Decker and Catharina Gerritsen. That too is so confusing.

My point – the Dutch names are confusing enough. The relatively new use of a family name had not yet matured. The lack of standard spelling and phonetic writing of what the record keeper “heard”, and the crossing of family lines all serves to warn – A last name, may not always be the last name used.

- Posted on Ancestry.com by kkrenzke1, 23 Oct 2012