New Netherland Settler Hendrick Meesen Vrooman

Image: 1648 record for Hendrick Meesen Vrooman

Hendrick Bartholomeus (Meesen) Vrooman and five children ages 15, 13, 11, 7 and 5 years old are on the passenger list of D'Eendracht (The Concord) arriving in New Amsterdam New York on 17 April 1664. 

The ages of these children fit the children known for Hendrick: Adam born ca 1649, Eve born ca 1651, Johannes baptised 1653 Leiden Netherlands, Kathlyntje baptised 1657 Leiden, and Bartholomeus baptised 1659 Leiden. Hendrick's wife and mother of the children was not with them and we might assume she was dead. 

Continue reading at The Vrooman Family of New Netherland New York 

RIP Rootsweb Mailing Lists

As many of my readers most likely already know, the following message was sent from Rootsweb earlier this month.

Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb will be discontinued. Users will no longer be able to send outgoing emails or accept incoming emails.  Additionally, administration tools will no longer be available to list administrators and mailing lists will be put into an archival state.

You heard it right. All mailing lists on Rootsweb will be discontinued. It's a shame to lose all the wonderful genealogists sharing and asking questions on these lists so I've started a few replacement lists and groups.

If you are on Facebook be sure to check out the following groups and pages:

PAGES
Olive Tree Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/OliveTreeGenealogyPage/

Ancestors At Rest https://www.facebook.com/AncestorsAtRest-126984267353049/

GROUPS
New Netherland Settlers https://www.facebook.com/groups/NewNetherlandSettlers/

Van Slyke Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/VanSlykeAncestors/

Van Valkenburg to Vollick https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vollick/

Vrooman Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vrooman/

Barheit Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/Barheit/

Van Alstyne Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/VanAlstyneGenealogy/

Goeway Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/Goeway/

Descendants of Adriaen Crijnen Post https://www.facebook.com/groups/AdriaenCrijnenPost/

Straetsman Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/groups/Straetsman/

Peer Genealogy in N. America https://www.facebook.com/groups/PeerGenealogy/

Pioneers of Arkell Wellington County https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArkellPioneers/

We Are Genealogy Bloggers https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeAreGenealogyBloggers/ 

Not on Facebook?

Not to worry I also set up some mailing lists using Google Groups.

New Netherland Settlers
This group is about the history and settlement of New Netherland (present day New York) & the early settlers. In 1624 the first colonists arrived in New Netherland to settle at Fort Orange (present day Albany) & other locations.    
 
Peer Genealogy
Following the descendants and ancestors of Jacob & Anne Peer and their 8 children from New Jersey to Ontario Canada 1797. Descendants settled in Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ontario & New York.    
   

Van Slyke Genealogy

For anyone interested in the genealogy of Cornelis Antonissen Van Slyke and his nephew Willem Pieterse Van Slyke aka Neef. Both settled in New York in the 1600s.    
    
Van Valkenburg to Vollick
This group is for descendants of Isaac Van Valkenburg aka Vollick, Loyalist who left New York for Canada during the American Revolution    

 

Meme: Our Immigrant Ancestors - Hendrick Meesen Vrooman

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions.

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 on OliveTreeGenealogy blog what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada)

One of my Dutch immigrant ancestors was Hendrick Meesen Vrooman born ca 1617 in Holland. Hendrick Bartholomeus (Meesen) and 5 children sailed to New Netherland (New York) on D'Eendracht (The Concord) in 1664.

I've written a book about Hendrick and his brothers which is available on Amazon as "The Vrooman Family: Ancestors & Descendants of the Brothers Hendrick Meesen Vrooman, Pieter Meesen Vrooman and Jacob Meesen Vrooman of New Netherland (New York)" (Volume 8 of my New Netherland Settlers series)

You might also like to join our Vrooman Facebook Group to share stories, and ask for help with a challenging Vrooman ancestor.

Hendrick was 47 years old and with him were his five children including his daughter, my 8th great grandmother Eva Hendrickse Vroomn. Eva was 14 years old. Hendrick was a widower, his youngest child was only 5 years old. Their ship, De Eendracht, arrived in the harbour 19 July 1664.

Six months after his arrival, Hendrik wrote a letter to his family in Leiden: his brother Jacob, his sister Maartje and his mother Ariaantje. In it he described the new land he has come to, and asked for items from home such as silk thread.

 The amazement about the new environment is thus still fresh at the time of writing and some passages of  Hendriks letter state:

It has been a good summer there. Very fine corn has grown there and the cultivation was good and the land still pleases me. At snechtendeel [Schenectady and the surrounding area] the land is more beautiful than I have ever seen in Holland.

 The year in which Hendrick arrived in New Netherland (1664) is the year in which New Netherland was taken by the English. Hendrik writes of this in his letter:

Furthermore I let you know that there have arrived three English ships at the Manhattans with soldiers and they have claimed the land and they say that it belongs to their king. And Stuyvesant has given it to them without one shot, with an agreement.

In 1690 Hendrick, his son Bartholmew aged 30, his son Adam with his wife Engeltie and their six children (Barent 11, Wouter 9, Peter 5, Christina 4, Hendrick 3 and a male infant) were living in Schenectady. Then came the Indian and French attack on Schenectady on the cold snowy evening of Saturday February 9, 1690.

On 9 February 1690, in the total of 60 people killed at the Schenectady Massacre, were Hendrick, his son Bartholomew aka Bartol, and two black slaves who were killed and burned by Indians. His two remaining sons, Adam and Jan, were left to inherit his estate. Hendrick's grandsons Barent and Wouter were taken captive to Canada but later recovered. Hendrick's son Adam escaped with his three children Peter, Christina and Hendrick.

The report of the investigating party sent out from Albany states:

"Hend. Meese Vrooman and Bartholomeus Vrooman kild & burnt....Item 2 Negroes of Hend Meese ye same death....Engel the wife of Adam Vrooman shot & burnt, her childe the brains dashed out against ye wall...."

Hendrik's life story illustrates the guts and perseverence of the Dutch colonists in New-Netherland: they left their safe home behind and built themselves a new life in a wonderful, but harsh country. 350 years later, Hendrik's letter does not only offer us a unique view of the fortunes of a Dutchman in New-Netherland, but also of the unpolished history of development of a nation. This makes his letter a great ego document to celebrate the Hudson year. (http://hum.leiden.edu/research/letters-as-loot/archive/monthly-letter.html)


Sources:

The letter is kept in HCA 30-226-1. A first diplomatic transcription was made by Netty van Megen for the Wikiscripta Neerlandica project. The comment on this monthly letter is provided by Judith Nobels. The quotations of the letter have been translated freely. See http://hum.leiden.edu/research/letters-as-loot/archive/monthly-letter.html

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....

Are You a Vrooman Descendant? My New Book is Out!

Just published! My latest book in my New Netherland setttlers series - on the Vrooman family of New York. 

New Netherland Settlers: The Vrooman Family: Ancestors & Descendants of the Brothers Hendrick Meesen Vrooman, Pieter Meesen Vrooman and Jacob Meesen Vrooman of New Netherland (New York) (Volume 8 of the New Netherland Settlers series) Available on Amazon.com

The three brothers Hendrick Meesen Vrooman, Pieter Meesen and Jacob Meesen came from the Netherlands who came to New Netherland in the early part of the 17th century. Pieter arrived circa 1655, and he and Jacob settled in Albany. Hendrick settled first at Kinderhook, then Steen Raby and finally Schenectady in 1677.

This book traces the Vrooman ancestry back to the brothers' great-great grandfather Gerrit Jans Kerstantsz born in Holland circa 1457, and follows the family down 5 generations.

8.5x11" 56 pages

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

Lambert Van Valkenburg in the New World

Official Seal of New Netherland

My 9th great-grandfather Lambert Van Valkenburg was born in the Netherlands circa 1614. With his wife Annetje Jacobs, Lambert sailed for the New World of New Netherland (present day New York state). 

From his son Jochem Lambertse Van Valkenburg, there are 10 recognized branches of the Van Valkenburg family (one for each of Jochem's children with his wife Eva Vrooman) and I descend from two - his son Isaac Jochemse (with wife Lydia Van Slyke) and Isaac's sister Jannetje Jochemse (with husband Isaac Van Alstyne)
Records found for Lambert indicate he was in New Amsterdam as early as Jan. 1644. Since it is unlikely the ships sailed in the winter, he was probably in New Amsterdam in the summer or fall of 1643. Existing records indicate he purchased land in July 1644. That 1644 plot of land  is now the site of the Empire State Building in New York City.

29 July 1644: Deed. Jan Jacobssen to Lambert van Valckenburgh, of house and plantation on the island of Manhattan, near Fort Amsterdam. [Register of Provincial Secretary Vol. II p. 121] [Source: Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany NY edited by EB O'Callaghan]

16 March 1647: Patent. Lammert van Valckenborch; lot south of Fort Amsterdam, Manhattan Island. [Land Papers Vol. G.G. p. 192] [Source: Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of State, Albany NY edited by EB O'Callaghan]

Court records are a wonderful resource. Those of us with ancestors in early New Netherland are lucky for the Dutch kept meticulous records. It was a litigious time period and settlers were frequently in court suing their friends and neighbours. Lambert is found many times in the court records for New Netherland. Here is one of the more volatile examples:

Source:"Minutes of the Court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck 1657-1660", translated and edited by A.J.F. Van Laer, Vol.2, Albany, 1923. Page 9:
"Ordinary Session held in Fort Orange, January 9 Anno 1657

"President, J. La Montagne, Rutger Jacobsen, Jacob Schermerhoorn, Andries Herbertsen, Philip Pietersen

"Lambert van Valckenborch, plaintiff, against Henderick Claessen and Gerrit Willemsen, defendants.The plaintiff complains that the defendants beat him and his wife in his own house. The defendants deny it and claim that the plaintiff chased them with a naked rapier out of his house and pursued them to the center of the fort. The court orders the parties respectively to prove their assertions."

In 1659 Lambert was appointed to the Rattle Watch. The Rattle Watch was responsible for walking the streets at night, watching for crimes or fires and from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. they called out the hour every hour as well as ringing their rattles.

Source:"Minutes of the Court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck 1657-1660", translated and edited by A.J.F. Van Laer, Vol.2, Albany, 1923: Page 209-210:"Extraordinary Session held in Fort Orange, August 8 Anno 1659

"Instructions issued by the honorable commissary and magistrates of Fort Orange and the village of Beverwyck for the rattle watch, appointed at the request of the burghers to relieve them of night-watch duty; to the rattle watch of which place Lambert van Valckenborgh and Pieter Winnen were appointed the 6th of July of this year 1659, on condition that they together are to receive for the term of one year one thousand and one hundred guilders in seawan and one hundred guilders in beavers.

Read more about Lambert from the Court Records online at Lambert Van Valkenburg in The New World This was first published as "Lambert Van Valkenburg: His Life in the New World as Revealed in Court Documents and Other Primary Source Records From 1644 - 1664" by Lorine McGinnis Schulze in The National Association of the Van Valkenburg Family of America serialized beginning in the Fall of 1999

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!

Letters Lost & Found From the 17th Century

A few days ago I heard from a researcher working for Dutch National television who is doing research on history and genealogy for a program called ‘Brieven Boven Water’

This TV program is all about letters sent by Dutchmen overseas to the New World and other places in the 17th and 18th centuries. The letters never arrived, since the ships that transported the letters were hijacked by the English.

Over 38,000 of these letters were recently found and the program tries to find out about the person who wrote the letter(s) and track descendants in 2012. They are working on one of my ancestors Hendrick Meesen Vrooman and want to know if I can help. 

They are hoping to find a few descendants of Hendrick's son Adam and I think I can help with that. Of course they also have me as I descend from Hendrick's daughter Eva who married Jochem Lambertse Van Valkenburg in New Netherland (present day New York)

You can read about the letter my ancestor Hendrick wrote to his brother in Leiden in 1664 at "Thank You Hendrick"  You can also read the transcribed letter at "Letters For Loot"

Thank you Hendrick!

346 years ago my 9th great grandfather, Hendrick Meesen Vrooman, set sail from Amsterdam Netherlands to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in the New Netherland Colony. He was 47 years old and with him were his five children including his daughter, my 8th great grandmother Eva Hendrickse Vroomn. Eva was 14 years old.

Hendrick was a widower, his youngest child was only 5 years old. Their ship, De Eendracht, arrived in the harbour 19 July 1664.

Six months after his arrival, Hendrik wrote a letter to his family in Leiden: his brother Jacob, his sister Maartje and his mother Ariaantje. In it he describes the new land he has come to, and asks for items from home such as silk thread.

The year in which Hendrick arrived in New Netherland (1664) is the year in which New Netherland was taken by the English. Hendrik writes of this in his letter:

Furthermore I let you know that there have arrived three English ships at the Manhattans with soldiers and they have claimed the land and they say that it belongs to their king. And Stuyvesant has given it to them without one shot, with an agreement.

In 1690 Hendrick, his son Bartholmew aged 30, his son Adam with his wife Engeltie and their six childre (Barent 11, Wouter 9, Peter 5, Christina 4, Hendrick 3 and a male infant) were living in Schenectady. Then came the Indian and French attack on Schenectady on the cold snowy evening of Saturday February 9, 1690.

On 9 February 1690, in the total of 60 people killed at the Schenectady Massacre, were Hendrick, his son Bartholomew aka Bartol, and two black slaves who were killed and burned by Indians. His two remaining sons, Adam and Jan, were left to inherit his estate. Hendrick's grandsons Barent and Wouter were taken captive to Canada but later recovered. Hendrick's son Adam escaped with his three children Peter, Christina and Hendrick.

The report of the investigating party sent out from Albany states:

"Hend. Meese Vrooman and Bartholomeus Vrooman kild & burnt....Item 2 Negroes of Hend Meese ye same death....Engel the wife of Adam Vrooman shot & burnt, her childe the brains dashed out against ye wall...."

It was a hard life but I am grateful to Hendrick for making the journey with his family and helping to settle a new country.

Letters as Loot - Fascinating Project of Leiden University!

Thanks to the subscribers of the New-Netherland mailing list discussing the New Netherland Institute online, I found Letters as Loot, an absolutely wonderful project by the University of Leiden.

Quoting from the Leiden University website:

The National Archives in Kew, UK hold a treasure that causes real excitement among scholars: the recently rediscovered collection of Dutch documents from the second half of the 17th to the early 19th centuries, comprising over 38,000, both commercial and private, letters. These so-called sailing letters were confiscated during the wars fought between The Netherlands and England.

The research programme Letters as loot: Towards a non-standard view on the history of Dutch aims at exploring this extraordinary and highly valuable source for a new history of Dutch.

The project comprises three sub-projects. Two cross-sections are made in the source material at a chronological distance of about hundred years: the first of the period 1665-1674 (2nd and 3rd Anglo-Dutch Wars) and the second of the period 1776-1784 (4th Anglo-Dutch War and American War of Independence).

Every month, a new letter is translated and posted online. In the Monthly Letter posted in May/June 2009 was a fascinating letter written in 1664 by my ancestor Hendrick Meesen Vrooman to his brother Jacob. Hendrick had recently arrived in New Netherland (present day New York) and wrote to tell his brother Jacob in Leiden all about the new land he had settled in.

What an insight into both my ancestor and the time period when the English took New Netherland and it became New York.

Hendrick says in his letter "Furthermore I let you know that there have arrived three English ships at the Manhattans with soldiers and they have claimed the land and they say that it belongs to their king. And Stuyvesant [the governor of the New-Netherlands] has given it to them without one shot, with an agreement."

I spent an enjoyable hour browsing the other letters held at University of Leiden website. Just choose English from the main page if you do not read Dutch.

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....