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Family lore - Dutch side
Apr. 12th, 2026 11:25 amMother's mother's father died before I was born. I was told his ancestors were Dutch. In the USA in the 19th century "Dutch" was often used not just for the Netherlands, but for countries speaking Germanic languages in general, but the family was specifically from the Netherlands.
Sometime in my tweens I looked over a copy of a family history which my grandmother was loaned by one of her aunts. It was a rather extensive and sometimes chatty 400 year amateur family tree with stories short and long about various persons on it. Some details I recall were that the family came to America as early settlers in New Netherlands, what later became New York State.
One doesn't get to pick one's ancestors. I'm rather glad however that I've never found any involved in the slave trade. There was no mention of such in the account, though I've sometimes wondered if I knew full stories, early New Amsterdam colonists might have been more likely to have some involvement in the wrong side.
Some settled to farm "upstate" (where would "upstate" have been in 16--? Albany? The Bronx?). An "Indian raid" kidnapped the women from the settlement. They were successfully ransomed 6 months later for some barrels of whiskey. With a little simple arithmetic concerning birth date and gestation, this was the only bit of Native American ancestry I found any documented confirmation of in my family tree, though there are stories of some on 3 different ancestral branches.
The American Revolution split the family, with some on the Loyalist and some on the Patriot side. A fair number of detailed incidents were recounted. One Patriot great-g uncle was hung by the British as a spy. One Loyalist ancestor left an extensive account of running from and hiding from gangs of Patriots, including hiding under hay in a barn - I wondered why that account was considered worthy of preserving. The Loyalists moved to Canada.
Some of the family were named "Defoe". My grandmother liked to claim that side of the family were related to writer Daniel Defoe, but I saw no trace of it in the tree, and I rather doubt it as Daniel Defoe's actual birth name was "Foe".
Sometime in my tweens I looked over a copy of a family history which my grandmother was loaned by one of her aunts. It was a rather extensive and sometimes chatty 400 year amateur family tree with stories short and long about various persons on it. Some details I recall were that the family came to America as early settlers in New Netherlands, what later became New York State.
One doesn't get to pick one's ancestors. I'm rather glad however that I've never found any involved in the slave trade. There was no mention of such in the account, though I've sometimes wondered if I knew full stories, early New Amsterdam colonists might have been more likely to have some involvement in the wrong side.
Some settled to farm "upstate" (where would "upstate" have been in 16--? Albany? The Bronx?). An "Indian raid" kidnapped the women from the settlement. They were successfully ransomed 6 months later for some barrels of whiskey. With a little simple arithmetic concerning birth date and gestation, this was the only bit of Native American ancestry I found any documented confirmation of in my family tree, though there are stories of some on 3 different ancestral branches.
The American Revolution split the family, with some on the Loyalist and some on the Patriot side. A fair number of detailed incidents were recounted. One Patriot great-g uncle was hung by the British as a spy. One Loyalist ancestor left an extensive account of running from and hiding from gangs of Patriots, including hiding under hay in a barn - I wondered why that account was considered worthy of preserving. The Loyalists moved to Canada.
Some of the family were named "Defoe". My grandmother liked to claim that side of the family were related to writer Daniel Defoe, but I saw no trace of it in the tree, and I rather doubt it as Daniel Defoe's actual birth name was "Foe".
