history/ships/staten island/heraldry-

[violaine]

my family on paternal side, are from leerdam, netherlands, and arrived in new amsterdam (now new york) in 1661 on a ship which had sailed during the winter, for four months. they were among the 18 families who formed the first permanent settlement on staten island, today one of the five boros of NYC. earlier settlements had failed due to bad relations with the indigenous people there. [this last sentence is another topic.]

the first permanent dutch settlement then was started by our ancestor and the others, and was in the general vicinity of south beach, the town being called "dover" on old english maps.

the island had decent farm land, much available sea food, especially oysters, many peach trees, fresh water, temperate weather, many trading partners, access to other dutch families and the dutch reformed churches, only a short boat ride away in brooklyn, or a longer boat ride into new amsterdam--manhattan. how amazing it is to see those old dutch churches and realize my family probably worshipped in them. i never thought anything in new york had the slightest bit to do with my own family apart from one or two ancestors landing at castle garden or ellis island. but to discover that our family had quite a lot to do with the founding of new york just astounds me.

my descendants built up sizable land holdings, and after the family had been on staten island only a couple of years, the british invaded and new netherlands became a british colony. the dutch and their culture were still hugely influential.

some of the information above was recently shared with me, along with tons of in-depth heraldry/research on my family line: name of ships, relatives, belongings, dates, and occupations. i was really interested in the length of their journey- and how some people would have fallen ill to diseases, learning about and visualising how wild the island during the mid 17th century, when my descendants first arrived. sort of blows my mind. i have resources for immigrants to new netherland, and ship index logs. i would love to read about heraldry research like this from other people, if anyone wants to share. i'm going to post a link, which goes into great detail about the history of nyc.

http://www.thehistorybox.com/factual_first/1600_2.html

[Julie]

This is really quite interesting... And for you must be such a gift to learn about your ancestry on such a deep and fluid level. In my little town (an hour north of NYC on the Hudson River) We have a Dutch church founded in 1716. Very affluent in this part of the country. Now, you will have to visit the place where your ancestors began in this country.

[Toughy]

damn.............somebody whose family has been in this country as long as my family.........both sides of my family ended up in eastern New Mexico about 110 years ago and are still there.........

Has anyone in your family been in the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution)? My paternal grandmother was in DAR and for years she paid mine and my sister's dues to be members...............so for some years I was a member of DAR.

[TenderKnight]

Very cool history there!

The main family history I have is on my mom's side.. On my family's land in NC we have a grave plot that dates back to the late 1700's.. I have had family members fight in every US war from the Revolution to current.. During the Civil War, most of my family fought for the Confederacy, but we were all poor farmers and never owned slaves, that I know of..

I remember walking my family's land and seeing those grave stones, some all toppled over and some of the graves sunken in because the coffins had rotten out.. To see a stone with the date of death at 1801.. That boggled my mind as a kid. My dad is a Civil War buff and when he found out about my mom's ancesters, he posted in a forum about it.. lol

I'm proud of my family's history here in the US and feel very tied to the Land of NC.. I feel like it's in my bones. I don't think any of us have ever been famous, but we've all been Americans and have fought for what we believed in.. Fought for our land and our rights to live as we want to.. Now, I fight for the rights of Americans to live as equals, no matter what thier gender, race, religion, creed, or sexual orinitaion.

My main heritage is Scot, Irish, and German (hence my red beard, lol), but we have tales of an "indian princess" in our tree.. bah, lol.. Yeah, my tree is probably more of a bush.. In any case, I do have a passion for my family history, and I hope to trace it back further one day, maybe find the boats that brought us here That would be VERY cool

Thanks for the thread, violaine

-Tony

[violaine]

i was typing the entry, and in removing information [names], i meant for the entry in places to read : my ancestors and their descendants, or the descendants of my ancestors.

thank you for the replies so far. infinitefemme, i agree with you! toughy, i cannot find anything on DAR in relation to the family line i'm discussing. do you get a chance to visit any places your ancestors lived or built in new mexico? tenderknight, really interesting post, and there are no records of my family having owned slaves either, though i know of several things- the poor conditions faced on ships for africans, and some people were to become company-owned slaves. it makes me cringe. a lot of people and their families then did not make the trip, or else expired shortly after arrival to staten island/new amsterdam. it was very very bad for africans. the link below is not terribly in-depth, but this thread topic can certainly wind up on any ship/part of new york/travel to/from europe/war zone/distant legends and/or stories/pieces of land/architecture still standing /religious issues/on and on-

http://www.answers.com/topic/new-netherland

i love old statuary and cemeteries, have you ever tried gravestone rubbing?

i'll post more resources later on for research on surnames.

[Mister Bent]

Originally Posted by violaine

... only a short boat ride away in brooklyn, or a longer boat ride into new amsterdam--manhattan..

I've taken that boat ride many times...


In all seriousness, having lived on Staten Island for a few years, I enjoyed reading about its history. It remains the "greenest borough" and despite its current reputation as the red-headed step child of the 5 boroughs, is a pleasant place to live.

[jenny]

My paternal grandmother was very into tracing our family's ancestry, which goes back to the Hopkins family who came over on the Mayflower. In fact, as a result of her research, in the 1970s she wrote a very popular young adult novel about Constance Hopkins, a Pilgrim girl, which she followed up with a whole bunch more novels based on historical fiction. When my grandmother died about 5 years ago, we found piles and piles of papers that she saved as she dug through our genealogy, and now my cousin is doing more of her own research into our family tree...

[violaine]

http://www.silive.com/northshore/ind..._port_ric.html



http://council.nyc.gov/html/releases..._6_25_10.shtml

[NJFemmie]

How neat.

I'm first generation in this country. My parents came here in 1952 from Bremerhaven Germany, after being liberated as deported forced laborers from Poland.

I wish I knew more about my family history and would love to trace back beyond my grandparents, but currently I'm researching information regarding my parents' "stay" in Germany during the war. I have to do this in baby steps since I've discovered that Poland's archival system is vastly fragmented by "districts".

So .... I guess my family are newbies in this country.

[Julie]

The Church of the Latter Day Saints -- Mormon Church... Has the largest archival system in the world for ancestry searches. My family comes from Poland and I have found birth records through them and their libraries, dating back to the 1700's. Interestingly enough, it was the Churches which took care of the records of the Jews. While Hitler thought he was wiping out a people, the documents remained safe in the hands of the churches.

I was even able to find family who thought they had no family left after the Holocaust.

Originally Posted by NJFemmie

How neat.

I'm first generation in this country. My parents came here in 1952 from Bremerhaven Germany, after being liberated as deported forced laborers from Poland.

I wish I knew more about my family history and would love to trace back beyond my grandparents, but currently I'm researching information regarding my parents' "stay" in Germany during the war. I have to do this in baby steps since I've discovered that Poland's archival system is vastly fragmented by "districts".

So .... I guess my family are newbies in this country.

[Apocalipstic]

I am adopted, so I study the history of my city.

I do know a little bit about my birth and adopted families, but feel more connection to areas I live in and visit.

How cool to be able to trace your family so far back. I just rented the History of NYC from Netflix, now I can't wait to get started and learn about the area.

[NJFemmie]

Originally Posted by InfiniteFemme

The Church of the Latter Day Saints -- Mormon Church... Has the largest archival system in the world for ancestry searches. My family comes from Poland and I have found birth records through them and their libraries, dating back to the 1700's. Interestingly enough, it was the Churches which took care of the records of the Jews. While Hitler thought he was wiping out a people, the documents remained safe in the hands of the churches.

I was even able to find family who thought they had no family left after the Holocaust.

Thanks for the info .... I found the LDS site and realized I've checked them already. In fact, I think I've exhausted every resource known to the internet.

International Tracing Service (ITS), USHMM and the International Red Cross provides vast archival systems should anyone be interested in tracing European ancestry during WWII.

[Julie]

Forget the internet -- Go to one of their churches. Find out when their library is open -- You start that way. They will order you microfiche and one of their most helpful members will teach you how to do your search. The internet, while it is vast - they do not have everything, as they believe (Mormons) and their mission is to trace their ancestry to adam and eve.

Get books on translating Polish/Russian birth records.

I started backward... I went to NYC records and looks up ship manifests, and from there I found names. I wrote to every person on the internet who shared the same last name of my grandfather. Are you related to "Greengrass," if they said YES - I sent them a blank family tree and asked them to fill in the blanks. I started this 16 years ago when we did not have the technology we do. Get yourself a program that will allow you to enter in all the information. Really... It can be done, and I have traced back to the 1700's which is unthinkable and unheard in the Jewish Ghettos of our ancestors.

It really can be done!

Julie

Originally Posted by NJFemmie

Thanks for the info .... I found the LDS site and realized I've checked them already. In fact, I think I've exhausted every resource known to the internet.

International Tracing Service (ITS), USHMM and the International Red Cross provides vast archival systems should anyone be interested in tracing European ancestry during WWII.

[violaine]

[QUOTE=NJFemmie;168955]How neat.

I'm first generation in this country. My parents came here in 1952 from Bremerhaven Germany, after being liberated as deported forced laborers from Poland.

I wish I knew more about my family history and would love to trace back beyond my grandparents, but currently I'm researching information regarding my parents' "stay" in Germany during the war. I have to do this in baby steps since I've discovered that Poland's archival system is vastly fragmented by "districts".

So .... I guess my family are newbies in this country.


i found some links. maybe you've already looked at these sites?


http://germanoriginality.com/heritag...logy_links.php

http://www.samsawadee.com/sams-place/immigrant.html

http://www.dpcamps.org/books.html

http://www.allgenerations.org/search...thruoct08.html

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/more_facts.html
[this one may be hard to read]

[NJFemmie]

i found some links. maybe you've already looked at these sites?


http://germanoriginality.com/heritag...logy_links.php

http://www.samsawadee.com/sams-place/immigrant.html

http://www.dpcamps.org/books.html

http://www.allgenerations.org/search...thruoct08.html

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/more_facts.html
[this one may be hard to read][/QUOTE]

Thank you -- and yes, I am familiar with some of them. The German-origin ones, not so much, as I know my parents were both born and lived in Poland before they were forced out of their homes and sent to Germany. Although--they may come in handy when I officially start the ancestry trace.

Infinitefemme - I found a local LDS church (with library access). When I decide to start researching past my grandparents, I'll utilize their services. Thanks again for the info. It doesn't hurt to give it a try and maybe I'll be surprised.

[Linus]

I'm still learning about my past but know that my family landed in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia in 1640. I know my grandfather on my dad's side has traced us all the way back to France and further back to King William I. My family does have a crest (see my tattoos and look for the one that looks like a shield with a sword through it). The family motto is translated to Towards the Summits.

I'm not fully sure of my mom's side but I do know that both sides have lived in Acadia (Nova Scotia/New Brunswick) since the mid-1600s are claim the title as french Acadians.

[Miss Scarlett]

violaine, what a wonderful thread/post.

My Dad's father's family came to the US from the Netherlands first as part of the Dutch East India Company with Hudson and then settled here with the Dutch West India Company as part of the original Dutch settlers of Manhattan. One of them held deed to a portion of the land where Trinity Church stands. Dad has been working on the family history since childhood and continues to work on it. But on my Dad's mother's side I am second generation American. On my Mom's father's side I am third generation American and on her mother's side...well, they've been here since at least the early to mid-19th century.

I've been working on Shelia's since no one in her family has shown much interest. Based on my discoveries and encouragement that is changing. I've found she is a Mayflower and original Jamestown descendant on her father's side and an original Jamestown descendant on her mother's side. How totally cool that those families could be at Jamestown at the same time and end up in the same part of the NC mountains so many years later and eventually marrying. I've also found her Cherokee ancestors. In addition we are collecting things related to and from Cataloochee Valley - her family is part of the original settlers there and was "relocated" from the valley when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was created.

Lately Dad and I have been looking at his great-grandfather's Civil War service for the Union Army and trying to gather as many records as possible. In particular about his being wounded in combat in Virginia. On the flip side we have also been looking at the Civil War service for the Confedarate Army of Shelia's great-great and great-great-great grandfathers. Totally cool stuff.