Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt

2 Nov. 1636 Atlantic Ocen Baptism of Storm son of Albert Andreissen & Annetje 

Albert Andriessen, or Albert Andriessen Bradt was one of the earliest Norwegian settlers in New Netherland. He came from Fredrikstad, a town at the mouth of the Glommen, the largest river in Norway. In the early records he is often called Albert de Noorman (the Norwegian). 

After 1670 he became known as Albert Andriesz Bradt. Whether he was related to the Bratts of Norwegian nobility, can not be ascertained. The Bratt family lived in Bergen, Norway, before the early part of the fifteenth century, when it moved to the northern party, of Gudbrandsdalen. It had a coat of arms until about the middle of the sixteenth century. Since that time the Bratts belong to the Norwegian peasantry. They have a number of large farms in Gudbrandsdalen, Hedemarken, Toten, and Land.' In the state of New York there are many families of the name of Bradt, descendants of the pioneer from Fredrikstad. 

 The name of Albert Andriessen occurs for the first time in a document bearing the date August 26, 1636, an agreement between him and two others on the one hand, and the patroon of the colony of Rensselaerswyck, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, on the other. The agreement was made and signed in Amsterdam. It states that Andriessen was a tobacco planter. He may have learnt the cultivating of tobacco in Holland, where tobacco was raised as early as 1616. 

 " In the name of the Lord, Amen. On conditions hereafter specified, we, Pieter Cornelissen van munnickendam, millwright, 43 years of age, Claesz jans van naerden, 33 years of age, house carpenter, and albert andriessen van fredrickstadt, 29 years of age, tobacco planter, have agreed among ourselves, first, to sail in God's name to New Netherland in the small vessel which now lies ready and to betake ourselves to the colony of Rensselaerswyck for the purpose of settling there on the following conditions made with Mr. Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, as patroon of the said colony, etc. "Thus done and passed, in good faith, under pledge of our persons and property subject to all courts and justices for the fulfillment of what is aforewritten, at Amsterdam, this 26th of August [1636]. 'In witness whereof we have signed these with our own hands in the presence of the undersigned notary public . . "Kiliaen Van Rensselaer "Pieter Cornelissen "albert and riessen . . -. "Claes jansen. "J. Vande Ven, Notary." 

 As Andriessen was twenty-nine years of age when he made the agreement with Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, he must have been born about 1607. Pursuant to the stipulation in the agreement, he sailed, accompanied by his wife, Annetje Barents of "Rolmers," and as it would seem by two children, October 8, 1636, on the "Rensselaerswyck," which arrived at New Amsterdam March 4, 1637. 

 Continue reading at Bradt Family

My Surname Christmas Tree

Here's my yearly surname Christmas Tree. It's the only one I'm doing this year.

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Dawson, Motteram, Wildbore, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman, Van Horn, Snediker, Post, Shuart, Uziele, and more.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I put up my Christmas Tree today!

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman  Post, Shuart, Uziele and more.

Are You Your Own Grandpa or Grandma?

Today I had an interesting genealogy find ...my son's 5th great-grandfather's sister Sarah Stead was a witness at my son's wife 's 4th great-grandmother's marriage in 1817 in Ramsgate, Kent, England.

Since my daughter-in-law's 4th great grandma was a Fuller born in Ramsgate and we descend from a line of Fuller in Ramsgate back to the 1700s, it would not surprise me if eventually I find that my son and his wife are "cousins"

Believe it or not, this is not unusual. I use FTM for my preferred Genealogy program. One day out of sheer boredom I ran a kinship report and was shocked to learn that my father was also my cousin.

To be exact, my father is listed as my father AND as

my 8th cousin once removed
my 9th cousin once removed
my 11th cousin once removed
my 10th cousin twice removed
the husband of my 5th cousin once removed

Phew!

I was stunned. And confused. I knew what once removed meant - that we were a generation apart. Okay so far. Being 8th cousins meant we shared a common 7th great-grandparent. Being 9th cousins meant we shared a common 8th great-grandparent, and so on.

"husband of my 5th cousin once removed"? Well that meant my mother was my 5th cousin once removed and that she and I shared a common 4th great grandparent.

It wasn't making sense to me, as of course my parents and I share common ancestors! But how did we get to be cousins as well as father-daughter? This sent me off to have a good look at how my relationship to my father became a cousin relationship too.

It's a bit confusing but here is how it happened beginning with my father's 3rd great grandparents, Cornelius Vollick and Eve Larroway who married in 1795.

Cornelius and Eve shared two sets of common 2nd great grandparents. That is, Cornelius' great great grandparents were Jochem & Eva (Vrooman) Van Valkenburg. So were Eve's. Cornelius' other set of great great grandparents were Pierre & Cornelia (Damen) Uzielle. So were Eve's.

Two of Jochem & Eva's grandchildren (through their son Isaac and daughter Jannetje) married two grandchildren of Pierre Uziele and Cornelia Damen.

The Van Valkenburg grandchildren were Isaac Van Valkenburg (who married Maria Bradt the daughter of Storm Bradt and Sophia Uziele) and Marytje Van Alstyne who married Petrus LeRoy the son of Maria Uziele (who was Sophia's sister!) and Leonard Le Roy.

Here's a chart which might show the relationships in a less confusing way

I'll go into my mother's line and that tangled web of cousinship on another day.

The confusing relationships reminded me of I'm My Own Grandpaw a song written about a man who, through a combination of marriages, becomes stepfather to his own stepmother — that is, he becomes his own grandfather. Am I my own Grandma? My grandchildren love hearing how they are my cousins as well as my grandchildren....

My Christmas Tree 2016

Merry Christmas everyone! I put up my Christmas Tree today!

Some of my surnames are

Peer, Vollick, King, McGinnis, Downey, Stead, Simpson, Burkholder, Fuller, Greenlees, Johnston, Shuart, Van Slyke, Ryckman, Bradt, Van Valkenburg, Damen, Caiser, Taine, Philpot, Norris, Higginson, Bell, Caspall, Holford, Smith, Dawson, Marical, Baker, Larroway, De Graw, Gingerich, Jamieson, Hubbard, Laming, Williams, Norman, Whibley, Page, Crunden, Fryer, Van Horn, Snediker, Sutton, Elvery, Anson, Blandell, Jackson, LeRoy, Winne, Hommell, Snider, Bellinger, Warner, Van Alstyne, Muller, Deroche, Wust, Kehl, Earl, Cole, Burd, Vrooman  Post, Shuart, Uziele and more.

Meme: Our Immigrant Ancestors - My First in N. America

1636 List of Rensselaerswyck ^FN1

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions. There is also Brexit, where immigration was a large focus of the recent vote which resulted in the U.K. leaving the E.U.

I've been following this for several months and it occurs to me that those of us in Canada, America, and Australia have immigrant ancestors. Have you researched yours? Do you know who they were, why they came to your country and when? Do you know how they fared once settled in their new land? Were they welcomed? Were they shunned? Was their discrimination based on their religion or ethnic origin? These are all questions that are important, and interesting to discover. With that in mind, I'm the dedicating Saturdays (as many as needed) as the day to join me in discussing your immigrant ancestors.

You will be able to read any you are interested in by using the keyword Immigrant Ancestors. 

I'm going to share each week what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada)

One of the first ancestors I've found setting foot in North America is Albert Andriess Bradt de Norman (ca 1607-1686 New Amsterdam) With his brother Arent Andriesse Bradt, he was among the early settlers at Rensselaerswyck in New Netherland. 

The yacht "Rensselaerswyck" set sail from the Texel for New Amsterdam, 1 October 1636, carrying colonists to Fort Orange (present day Albany New York) in the service of the Patroon, Killian Van Rensselaer, of Amsterdam, Holland.

On board the ship were Albert Andriessen (Bradt)  and his wife Annetje Barents of "Rolmers" and two children; and Arent Andriessen (brother to Albert). The voyage was through rough seas, and a son born to his wife during the voyage was named "Storm." Although this Storm was not our ancestor, and in fact took the surname Vanderzee rather than Bradt as his siblings used, the name Storm has carried on in our family. A direct ancestor is Storm Bradt, the grandson of Albert Andriessen, who married Sophia Uziele in 1711. As well my eldest grandson was given the middle name of Storm.

The brothers were from Fredrikstad, a town at the mouth of the Glommen, the largest river in Norway. Albert Andriess Bradt, known as "de Noorman" was a land owner and tobacco farmer at Bushwick, New York, 13 August 1630. He established himself a few miles south of Albany on a stream, "Norman's Kil," where he built a mill.


You can read more about Albert Andriessen at Bradt Family - The Descendants of Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt 

^FN1  Memorandum listing passengers indebted to the owners of the ship Rensselaerswijck for voyage from Amsterdam to New Netherland, 1636-1637. Image courtesy of http://www.nysl.nysed.gov. The heading of the memorandum reads: "The following persons are indebted to the owners of the ship Rensselaerswijck for board beginning on the first of October anno 1636 and ending anno 1637 when each person landed in New Netherland." This memorandum contains the names of 33 men, women, and children and gives the exact date [or time?] when each person disembarked the ship.

A Great List of New Netherland (New York) Family Genealogies!

New Netherland (New York) Settlers - Family Trees & Surnames

Are you hopelessly confused with Dutch patronymics? Can't figure out your New Netherland (New York) 17th century ancestors?  The following New Netherland genealogies are available to help. Some are part of Olive Tree Genealogy's New Netherland Settlers project and are published in book format. Other genealogies are online and can be enjoyed by all descendants. More genealogies are coming as the New Netherland Settlers project progresses so be sure to bookmark the New Netherland Settlers page for updates.

* BARHEIT Barheit Family The Barheit Family Revealed: A Genealogy of Hans Coenradt and Barenjte Jans Straetsman, the Immigrant Ancestors of the Barheit Family of Albany New York

* BOELEN Boele Roeloffsen & his wife Bayken Arents New Netherland Settlers. Boele Roeloffsen & His Wife Bayken Arents From Amsterdam with information on the European Origins of the Family.

* BRADT. BRATT Bradt Family Descendants of Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt

* DAMEN Damen Family Descendants of Jan Cornelise Damen from Bunik Netherlands

* JANSEN New Netherland Settlers Albert Jansen & Elsjie Jans & Their Van Woggelum, Provoost & Van Loon Descendants

* LEROY. LARAWAY. AUDY  Simeon LeRoy dit Audy French settler to New France (Quebec) then New York

* PIER Pier Family Jan Theunissen and Arent Theunissen Pier and their descendants

* POST The New Jersey Post Family Descendants of Adriaen Crijnen Post

* POST New Netherland SettlersLodewyck Cornelis Post & His Wife Agnietje Bonen

* RYCKMAN Ryckman Family Harmen Janse Ryckman of New Netherland

* STEVENSEN Jan Stevensen & Maria Goosens The Stevensen and Jacobsen Families. A genealogy to three generations of the descendants of Maria Goosens and her husband Steven Janse Coning who settled in Fort Orange in 1649 (Stevensen Family) and Maria Goosens and a man named Jacob (Jacobszen Family)

* STRAETSMAN Straetsman Family The Straetsman Sisters Barentje & Teuntje and Their Six Husbands

* VAN ALSTYNE The Van Alstyne Family - The descendants of Jan Martense de Wever aka Van Alstyne

* VAN SLYKE. VAN SLYCK The Van Slyke Family - The descendants of Cornelise Antonissen Van Slyke and his nephew Willem Pieterse Van Slyke. Two books on the family also available

* VAN VALKENBURG Van Valkenburg Family Lambert Van Valkenburg and his son Jochem Lambertse

* VINCENT Adriaen Vincent and his wife, Walloons in New Amsterdam A Walloon in New Amsterdam: The Story of Adriaen Vincent and his Wife Madaleen Eloy

* VROOMAN The Vrooman Family in New Netherland New York
 
* VAN SICKELEN. VAN SICKLES The Van Sickelen, Van Sickles Family in New Netherland New York includes scanned book A History of the Van Sickle Family in the United States of America BY John W. Van Sickle, A.M., M.D., Ph. D.

Got New Netherland Ancestors? Don't Miss These New Online Records

Do you have New Netherland (now New York state) ancestors? The Dutch settled there early in the 17th century, along with Walloons, Huguenots and other ethnicities.  

Among my early New Netherland ancestors were Cornelis Antoniseen Van Slyke, Harman Janse Ryckman, Jan Damen, Lambert Van Valkenburg, Hendrick Vrooman, Albert Andriessen Bradt, Adrian Crijnen Post, Jan Martense Van Alstyne and more.

Recent additions to the Online Publications page of the New Netherland Institute include translations of  

 

• Fort Orange Records, 1656–1678;  
• Fort Orange Records, 1654–1679;  
• Laws & Writs of Appeal, 1647–1663; and 
• A.J.F. van Laer's 3-volume set Minutes of the Court of Albany, Rensselaerswyck and Schenectady, 1668–1685

If you have New Netherland ancestors you may also want to check out my books on New Netherland Settlers. Currently I have published the following:

The Van Slyke Family in America: A Genealogy of Cornelise Antonissen Van Slyke, 1604-1676 and his Mohawk Wife Ots-Toch, including the story of Jacques Hertel, 1603-1651, Father of Ots-Toch and Interpreter to Samuel de Champlain REVISED EDITION Coil bound 8.5x11. 287 p.  Order Form or Paypal Orders

New Netherland Settlers: Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef - A genealogy to five generations of the descendants of Willem Pieterse Van Slyke who settled in New Netherland (New York) in 1660. 198 pages. 8.5x11 Coil bound .  Order Form or Paypal Orders

New Netherland Settlers. A Walloon in New Amsterdam: The Story of Adriaen Vincent and his Wife Madaleen Eloy. Coil bound 8.5x11. 94 p.   Order Form or Paypal Orders

New Netherland Settlers. Boele Roeloffsen & His Wife Bayken Arents From Amsterdam with information on the European Origins of the Family.  Coil bound 8.5x11. 56 p.  Order Form or Paypal Orders

New Netherland Settlers: The Stevensen and Jacobsen Families. A genealogy to three generations of the descendants of Maria Goosens and her husband Steven Janse Coning who settled in Fort Orange in 1649 (Stevensen Family) and Maria Goosens and a man named Jacob (Jacobszen Family) .  8.5x11 Coil bound. 154 p.   Order Form or Paypal Orders

The Barheit Family Revealed: A Genealogy of Hans Coenradt and Barentje Jans Straetsman, the Immigrant Ancestors of the Barheit Family of Albany New York available as an Ebook 
 
Credits: Image from Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerwyck, 1648-1652 courtesy New Netherland Institute

52 Ancestors: I Think I am My Own Cousin

Amy Johnson Crow has a new challenge for geneabloggers called Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Amy challenges genealogists to write about one ancestor once a week. I'm having fun with this and I hope you are too!

This week I am going to tell you about my ancestor Cornelius Vollick and his wife Eve Larroway. Cornelius, my 4th great grandfather, was born in 1761 in New York. He fought for the British during the American Revolution in Butler's Rangers. After the War he came to Ontario Canada as a Loyalist and settled in the Niagara area. There he married Eve Larroway who was the daughter of another Loyalist.

Interestingly enough, Cornelius Vollick's great grandmother Sophia Uziele, was the sister of Eve Larroway's great grandmother Maria Uziele. Since Cornelia and his wife Eve shared the same set of great-great grandparents, that makes them 3rd cousins. 

Here's the surprise:

Cornelius and Eve shared TWO sets of common 2nd great grandparents, not just one!  Cornelius' great great grandparents were Jochem & Eva (Vrooman) Van Valkenburg. So were Eve's. Cornelius' other set of great great grandparents were Pierre & Cornelia (Damen) Uzielle. So were Eve's.

Two of Jochem & Eva's grandchildren (through their son Isaac and daughter Jannetje) married two grandchildren of Pierre Uziele and Cornelia Damen.

The Van Valkenburg grandchildren were Isaac Van Valkenburg (who married Maria Bradt the daughter of Storm Bradt and Sophia Uziele) and Marytje Van Alstyne who married Petrus LeRoy the son of Maria Uziele (who was Sophia's sister!) and Leonard Le Roy.

Here's a chart which might show the relationships in a less confusing way

When I used an old version of FamilyTreeMaker some years ago my father was listed as my father AND as

my 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th cousin once removed

Phew! What cousin relationship that does that give me to Cornelius, Eve and my own children? I confess it confuses me and I've not yet figured it out. And I don't have that older version of FTM anymore. All I know is that genealogy is always full of surprises!

Understanding Patronymics in the New World

DUTCH PATRONYMICS OF THE 1600s

by Lorine McGinnis Schulze 


 Author Note: A longer version of this article was originally published on my website at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/pat.shtml


The Dutch were much slower than the English in adopting surnames as we know them. The most common Dutch naming custom was that of patronymics, or identification of an individual based on the father's name.

For example, Jan Albertszen is named after his father, Albert.   His patronymic Albertszen is formed from his father's first name. Albertszen means son of a man named Albert. The patronymic was formed by adding -se, -sen, or -szen. 

Daughters would very often have the ending -x or -dr. added. For example, Geesjie Barentsdr. (Barentsdochter) is named after her father Barent.

An individual could also be known by his place of origin. For example, Cornelis Antoniszen Van Slyke, my 9th great- grandfather, was known in some records as 'van Breuckelen', meaning 'from Breuckelen' (Breuckelen being a town in the Netherlands).   
 

The place-origin name could be a nationality, as in the case of Albert Andriessen from Norway and my 9th great-grandpa, originator of the Bradt and Vanderzee families - he is entered in many records as Albert Andriessen de Noorman, meaning the Norseman.

In New Netherland (present day New York state) patronymics ended theoretically in 1687 under the new English rule. The English found the Dutch system of patronymics confusing and ordered that every family choose a surname, but not everyone followed the new guidelines. The English wanted one family to have one common surname, but the Dutch decided that each individual should establish his own. Thus members of one family often ended up with more than one surname in use.

We often see naming differences over the generations: Albert's sons and daughters took the surname BRADT except for his son Storm, born on the Atlantic Ocean during the family's sailing to the New World. Storm adopted the surname Van Der Zee (from the sea) and this is the name his descendants carry. 

An individual might be known by a personal characteristic: e.g. Vrooman means a pious or wise man;Krom means bent or crippled; De Witt means the white one. The most fascinating one I've seen is that of Pieter Adrianszen (Peter, s/o Adrian) who was given the nickname of Soo Gemackelyck (so easy-going) but was also known as Pieter Van Waggelen/Van Woggelum - his children adopted the surnames Mackelyck and Woglom. 

Sometimes an occupation became the surname. Smit=Smith; Schenck= cupbearer, Metsalaer= mason. An individual might be known by many different 'surnames' and entered in official records under these different names, making research difficult unless you're aware of the names in use. For example, my ancestor Cornelis Antoniszen Van Slyke mentioned above, was known and written of under the following names:

• Cornelis Antoniszen
• Cornelis Teuniszen (Teunis being the diminuitive of Antony)
• Cornelis Antoniszen/Teuniszen van Breuckelen
• Cornelis Antoniszen/Teuniszen Van Slicht (this is how he signed his name and might have been a hereditary family name based on an old place of origin)
• Broer Cornelis (name given him by Mohawks)

Remember that there were tremendous variations in spelling of these names, and changes from Dutch to to English record keeping in the New World affected the spelling even more. If you are searching for an ancestor in early New Netherland you will need to keep this in mind and note variations carefully for they can be clues to further research.

I May Be My Own Grandma.....

I use FTM for my preferred Genealogy program. One day out of sheer boredom I ran a kinship report and was shocked to learn that my father was also my cousin.

To be exact, my father is listed as my father AND as

my 8th cousin once removed
my 9th cousin once removed
my 11th cousin once removed
my 10th cousin twice removed
the husband of my 5th cousin once removed

Phew!

I was stunned. And confused. I knew what once removed meant - that we were a generation apart. Okay so far. Being 8th cousins meant we shared a common 7th great-grandparent. Being 9th cousins meant we shared a common 8th great-grandparent, and so on.

"husband of my 5th cousin once removed"? Well that meant my mother was my 5th cousin once removed and that she and I shared a common 4th great grandparent.

It wasn't making sense to me, as of course my parents and I share common ancestors! But how did we get to be cousins as well as father-daughter? This sent me off to have a good look at how my relationship to my father became a cousin relationship too.

It's a bit confusing but here is how it happened beginning with my father's 3rd great grandparents, Cornelius Vollick and Eve Larroway who married in 1795.

Cornelius and Eve shared two sets of common 2nd great grandparents. That is, Cornelius' great great grandparents were Jochem & Eva (Vrooman) Van Valkenburg. So were Eve's. Cornelius' other set of great great grandparents were Pierre & Cornelia (Damen) Uzielle. So were Eve's.

Two of Jochem & Eva's grandchildren (through their son Isaac and daughter Jannetje) married two grandchildren of Pierre Uziele and Cornelia Damen.

The Van Valkenburg grandchildren were Isaac Van Valkenburg (who married Maria Bradt the daughter of Storm Bradt and Sophia Uziele) and Marytje Van Alstyne who married Petrus LeRoy the son of Maria Uziele (who was Sophia's sister!) and Leonard Le Roy.

Here's a chart which might show the relationships in a less confusing way

I'll go into my mother's line and that tangled web of cousinship on another day.

The confusing relationships reminded me of I'm My Own Grandpaw a song written about a man who, through a combination of marriages, becomes stepfather to his own stepmother — that is, he becomes his own grandfather. Am I my own Grandma? My grandchildren love hearing how they are my cousins as well as my grandchildren....

What's in a Name?

We've probably all experienced it - our ancestor's name badly mispelled on a census record or other document. You know - the one where ROWLAND becomes ROWLIN or ROWLAN. Assuming we know what our ancestor's name was (Rowland) and we can correct that in our genealogy program.

But what if there has been an actual name change? How do we deal with that? How do we record each generation if the surname keeps changing? What if the name changes depending on the mood of the individual? Let me give you some examples.

one of my ancestors was the illegitimate son of Maria Bradt and Isaac Van Valkenburg. He always used the surname Van Valkenburg (with variant spellings including Falkenburg) in New York records. So that solved one problem as to whether he was Isaac Van Valkenburg or Isaac Bradt.

When Isaac was a grown man, the Revolutionary War broke out. He went to Upper Canada (present day Ontario) as a Loyalist, and there he began consistently using the surname Vollick. His sons used both Vollick and Follick. His grandsons did the same - some descended from a son using Vollick, switched to Follick. Some descended from a son using Follick switched to Vollick. Others remained faithful to their father's version (either Follick or Vollick) What do we do in this type of scenario?

I chose to use the surname most frequently found for each individual. However I made careful note of each record and copied the surname exactly as rendered in that record. This allows me to see easily that a man used, for example, the surname Vollick 20 times out of 25 records found, but also was recorded in those other 5 records as Follick, Valck and Valic. You are also being faithful to the original record and not changing it to suit your idea of what is "correct"

If you have ancestors going back to the Dutch settlement of New York (called New Netherland) in the 17th Century, you will eventually end up with the patronymic system of naming.

Then you're in for a lot of fun, as a man might use his patronymic in one record, his occupational surname in another, his commonly used nickname in yet another and after the English took over and ordered everyone to adopt a surname - a name you've never encountered before! This is a very complicated naming era and I will talk about how to handle that in another post.