Records Of The Reformed Dutch Church Of Albany, New York 1683-1809, an Explanation

According to the introduction in Records Of The Reformed Dutch Church Of Albany, New York 1683-1809 the first records preserved from the Albany Reformed Dutch Church are from 1683 when the Rev. Goddefridus Dellius arrived. He wrote a note in the introduction of these earliest records to say that records had not previously been kept. This is even though the first reverend was appointed in 1642. That reverend was "financed entirely by the patroon Kilian Van Rensselaer".

It is very important for researchers to note that in the early years (1683-1691) the name of the mother of the child is not recorded. In fact, until Baptism #484 (in the Holland Society publication) in 1691, the mother's name was not listed. But what confuses many genealogists is that a woman's name is recorded in the spot where one would expect to find the mother's name. It is in fact the name of the woman (or man) who presented the child for baptism. This was often a grandparent.

Thus for all baptisms from 1683 to 1690 inclusive, you will not find the name of the mother of the child being baptised. It is a very unique way of recording baptisms and one that has confused many researchers, leading them to assume (incorrectly) that the presenter of the child for baptism was the mother.

In the online version of Records Of The Reformed Dutch Church Of Albany, New York 1683-1809 you will see that the webmaster and transcriber, Dave Pane-Joyce, has chosen to rearrange the order of the names from the original, and add "by" to the name of the person presenting the child for baptism. While this does not remain faithful to the original, it helps genealogists tremendously so that confusion is cleared up.

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