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May 7, 2018

Who Were Your Immigrant Ancestors?

There's been a great deal of talk over the past year about immigration and immigrants to America and Canada. Perhaps it's a good time to look back and recall our own immigrant ancestors.

My earliest immigrant ancestor that I have found so far is Jacques Hertel, a 10 year old lad from France who was brought to New France (present day Quebec) in 1613. He came as one of Samuel de Champlain's (The Father of Canada) interpreters to the Indian tribes. Of course my Mohawk ancestors (proven through DNA and contemporaneous documents) were here much earlier than Jacques!

My most recent immigrant ancestors were my maternal grandparents who came from England to Canada in 1913. That is 300 years of dozens of my ancestors coming to North America from their home countries! Here's a few of my ancestors who arrived in that 300 year time span. I'm sure most of us have similar multiple immigrant arrivals.
  1. Cornelis Van Slyke from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1634
  2. Albert Andriessen de Noorman (Bradt family) from Norway to New Netherland (New York) in 1637
  3. Leendert de Grauw from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1637
  4. Cornelis Van Schaik  to New Netherland (New York) in1640
  5. Jan Snediker from Germany to New Netherland (New York) in 1641
  6. Lambert Van Valkenburg from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1643
  7. Adriaen Crijnen Post from Brazil  to New Netherland (New York) in 1650
  8. Christian Van Horn from ?  to New Netherland (New York) in 1653
  9. Jan Van Alystyne from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1655
  10. Willem Pieterse Van Slyke from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1655
  11. Herman Coerts from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1659
  12. Simon de Ruine  to New Netherland (New York) in 1659
  13. David Usille from Calais to New Netherland in 1660
  14. Soert Olferts (Shuart family) from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1663
  15. Georg Wilhelm Kehl from Germany to New York 1709
  16. Johann Frederich Marical from Germany to New York 1710
  17. Harmanus Hommel from Germany to New York 1710 
  18. Nicholas Bieri from Germany to Holland then New York 1727
  19. Hartmann Hunsaker from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1731
  20. Ulrich Gingerich from Alsace to Pennsylvania in 1747
  21. Jacob Burkholder from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1765 
  22. Sophia de Roche from France to Pennsylvania in 1765
  23. Thomas King from England to Canada 1831 
  24. Betty Bell (nee Higginson) from England to Canada 1831
  25. Joseph McGinnis & Fanny Downey from Ireland to Canada in 1846
 So there you have just a few of my many immigrant ancestors to North America in that 300 years between 1613 and 1913. Who were your immigrant ancestors? Who was your earliest?

Image Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-518V Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana. Copyright: Expired

1 comment:

  1. I've left my German ancestors for the time being. The ancestors I've been able to track were Mayflower and their descendants which includes almost everyone! My New England families intermarried over and over and my ancestry tree looks like a spider web. I am concentrating on Daniel D. Ward this year. He is my phantom ancestor who married Harriet Newell Cooke of the Mayflower Cookes. If I wouldn't have seen his name printed that way in the Cooke genealogy I would think it was not his name. And maybe it isn't! All the book says is he was "from Halifax".

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