Notables with New Netherland Roots Notable's Spouses with New Netherland Roots Person Index Help requested with these lineages Updates My Ancestry and Notable Cousins (brand new (2006)/off site)

Mission Statement To provide lineages of all notable individuals and/or their spouses who can trace one or more ancestral lines back to the original inhabitants of what was once known as New Netherland, and to acknowledge their contributions to history and society.

 

Who were the original inhabitants of New Netherland? I have used as my guide David M. Riker's Genealogical and Biographical Directory of Persons in New Netherland from 1613-1674. If a notable person's lineage extends back to anyone in this Directory, they will eventually be included on this web site. The Holland Society of New York also publishes a similar list, but it lacks first names for all of its surnames and seems to contain fewer surnames than Mr. Riker's list. As of February 2002, Mr. Riker's Directory is availabe in CD-ROM form from Family Tree Maker (called by the misleading title of New Netherland Vital Records, 1600). The four volume printed version is available from Higginson Books and appears in the catalog under "NY0461 GENEALOGICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY TO PERSONS IN NEW NETHERLAND, from 1613 to 1674. By David M. Riker."

Where was New Netherland? New Netherland had no fixed boundaries. It roughly comprised the following areas: Schenectady, Albany, the Hudson River Valley, Manhatten Island, Staten Island, the present day Bronx, Westchester County, the villages of Eastchester, Fordham, and Westchester, Bergen County, New Jersey, the Delaware River Valley including the former New Sweden, and the western end of Long Island comprising the villages of Brooklyn, Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Flushing, Gravesend, Hempstead, Jamaica, Newtown, New Utrecht, and Oyster Bay.

Why do I do this? Simply because it's fun, it's interesting, and it's educational. I remember the thrill I first received when I found my first notable cousin (Martin Van Buren). Up to that point it had never occurred to me that I might share even a few strands of genetic material with anyone considered notable. I have always loved history, and to discover that I had cousins (albeit distant) who played sometimes pivitol roles in historical events helped make history come alive for me. Elitist? Perhaps....I am certainly proud of my notable cousins, but I am prouder still of the pioneers, farmers, laborers, soldiers, and preachers who through the course of time conspired with one another, whether they realized it or not, to come together and create little old me. No one in my family history can be any more important that my ancestors. But I think the original inhabitants of New Netherland would be proud to know that some of their descendants helped to make the world a better place.

I regret that I am unable to tell you how you are (or might be) related to any of the notables found on this web site. Please consult the references provided to each individual for further clues.

This site will continue to evolve over time in both looks and content as I receive helpful feedback from visitors and as I teach myself new tricks in web page design. Thank you for your patience as I toy around with various ideas.

If you have any questions, comments, corrections (no matter how trivial!!), or additional information, you are cordially invited to contact me (John Camp) at [email protected].

All interested parties have my permission to place a link to this web site on your own web site. In fact, I'd be honored by it. I also have no objection to anyone "borrowing" information from this site to include on their own non-profit web site. All I ask is that you kindly acknowledge where you found the information. That way when someone writes to you with a question about some aspect of the "borrowed" information, you will be spared the embarassment of having to acknowledge that it was not your own work. Karma is funny that way.

Inaugural date 11 October 2001 Saturday, 08-Sep-2018 18:03:15 MDT