BOOK: Willem Van Slyke aka Neef in the New World

One of my early immigrant ancestors is Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke. I am also descended from Cornelis' nephew Willem Pietersen Van Slyke. 

Willem Pietersen Van Slyke's arrival in the New World is generally considered to be in 1660 on board De Trouw.  Willem, who was also known as Willem Neef (Neef being the Dutch word for nephew) was the nephew of Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke, who arrived earlier in the Colony of Rensselaerswcyk in May 1634 on board de Eendracht.

The first record found for Willem is on 22 February 1661, probably not long after his arrival in the colony. In the Deacon’s Account books of Beverwyck and Albany, Willem is noted as having been given 160 guilders.  Here we find the first reference to Willem as the nephew of Cornelis Van Slyke.

Willem probably met, and married his wife, Baertie, in the Albany or Kinderhook area shortly after arrival in the colony. Her last name remains uknown, but together she and Willem had at least six children, probably between 1660 and 1674. Church records for the Albany area have not survived before  1684, but we can determine their children by other means. 

To honour Willem and his story, I wrote a book about the family called "New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef - A genealogy to five generations of the descendants of Willem Pieterse Van Slyke" by Lorine McGinnis Schulze

You may purchase this book on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Review of New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef in July 2005 New York Genealogical & Biographical Record volume 136, Number 3, page 223

"Willem Pieterse Van Slyke of Albany and Rensselaerwyck was known as Neef or nephew, as his uncle Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke was also a settler in the area. Lorine Schulze, who published the genealogy of Cornelis' family in 1996, has now produced an extensive account of Willem's descendants.

Initial narrative chapters cover historical background on New Netherland and the Dutch; new research on the family in the Netherlands which shows how uncle and nephew were related; and the lives of Willem Pieterse and his children, including the identities of their spouses, with resolution of several genealogical questions carefully explained.

The remainder of the book contains a traditional genealogy of Willem and his descendants, documented with 753 endnotes mostly referencing primary sources. Ms. Schulze plans more volumes in the series, including a supplement to the Cornelis Atonissen book with more detail on the Netherlands ancestry."

Credits: 
Image of ship inside compass copyright Brian L. Massey