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Walloons & Huguenots in No Man’s Land
Joost Duryea was ethnically a Walloon and religiously a Huguenot. On a good day, that would severely restrict your rights, limit your access to employment and force your conversion on pain of imprisonment. On a bad day, you just got burned you at the stake.
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New England Heretics
Six of my ancestors emmigrated to the Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1633. Within 5 years, all of them would be exiled for heresy.
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The Formans. 1508-1913
The first ‘Forman’ in America is an Englishman named Robert Engle Forman who arrived with his wife, Johanna Pore, in 1645. Robert and the 12 generations that follow him are well documented and undisputed – but the 4 preceding English generations are a bit in question.
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Dutch New Yorkers. 1652-1847
Theodore Clarence Brintzinghoffer was my great-grandfather. Every branch of his family tree came to America before the Revolution. This is the story of his paternal grandmother’s Dutch family.
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Brintzinghoffers. 1650-1950
My grandfather, James Henry Brintzinghoffer, was very proud of his German roots and his family’s long history in America. He once told me they came over on the Mayflower – which wasn’t quite true – but it was closer to true than any of us realized until long after he was gone.
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Patrick Hassett: A Sapper from Clare
Patrick Hassett, my 2nd great-grandfather, was born around 1840. The population of Clare, Ireland peaked the year after he was born – 286,394 souls. By the time he was 10, 50,000 of them would be dead from famine and 25% would have emigrated with between 30-50% dying in the crossing.
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McAllens of Westminster
Daniel McAllen was a shoemaker born in Ireland around 1821 to James McAllen, a labourer. He emigrated first to England before the age of 20, and then to America at the age of 28, in 1848.
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Margrietje Gillissen had a farm in Manhattan
All Dutch era maps of Manhattan record the names of men. I found my 10th great-grandmother’s farm anyway.