In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.

[Alex Haley]

To learn more about these organizations, please click on the menu at the top of this page, on the name of the organization above, or on the images below.

Where Are All the Living Hendricks and Hendrickson Cousins?

According to the website Forebears, the surname Hendricks is the 5,219th most common surname in the world and approximately 109,224 people bear this surname. Similarly, the name Hendrickson is the 13,346th most common surname in the world with approximately 42,315 people who bear this surname mostly in the United States. It is the most prevalent in the United States but the highest density is in the Virgin Islands.

Of course most of these Hendricks/Hendrickson individuals are not descendents of Hendrick Willemsz nor are they related to each other, but there are still a lot of cousins living in the United States and throughout the world who may or may not have discovered their connection to Hendrick Willemsz.

Have you ever wondered what would happen to the Hendricks Family if its reach crossed the whole United States? What would it be like to connect and share our heritage with Hendricks cousins who live in North Dakota, or distant cousins in Arkansas? Perhaps our ancestors or collateral families who have passed from this world would like to be discovered and have their stories told.

There are thousands of individuals and families in the Hendrick Willemsz descendancy – collateral families, posterity, progeny, and descendants of brothers and sisters or aunts and uncles who would like equally to be remembered and found. Are you a distant Hendricks(on) cousin that is wishing you had a connection to a family?

How do we make these connections? How important is it to find the missing distant cousins…those blanks in Henry’s family or Willem’s and Daniel’s posterity? We know so little about the Hendricksons in our ancestry. What are their stories?

Hendricks and Hendrickson Dutch Heritage Association (HHDHA)

The impetus behind the organization of this website is to join three separate organizations, the Hendricks and Hendrickson Dutch Heritage Association (HHDHA), the Henry Hendricks Family Organization (HHFO), and the Hendricks(on) Family Association of New Jersey (HFANJ) together in a unified effort to promote the research and memory of our Hendricks(on) family. Dr. Andrew Hendricks organized the first reunion for anyone with the surname of Hendricks, Hendrickson, Hendrix in 1999 in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of the Old Brick Reformed Church in Marlboro, New Jersey. In 2009, DelLynn Leavitt, the HHFO research director was able to establish the correct ancestry of Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson which linked this ancestry to that of Dr. Hendricks.

HHDHA Website Created in 2017

A new website was created in 2017 that displays information for three organizations:

• Hendricks and Hendrickson Dutch Heritage Association (HHDHA) – a national organization for all Hendricks, Hendrickson, and Hendrix families descended from Hendrick Willemsz.
• Henry Hendricks Family Organization (HHFO) – a family history organization for the descendants of Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson.
• Hendricks(on) Family Association of New Jersey (HFANJ) – a cemetery organization that reconstructed the Hendrickson Burial Ground in Holmdel, New Jersey and is working to preserve other private cemeteries.

We are grateful for the financial 3-year commitment used to create this website from the Henry Hendricks Family Organization and Dr. Andrew A. Hendricks. This unified effort to promote the research and memory of our Hendricks(on) family and to be able to display the genealogical data and news of each of these organizations on a national scale is a massive undertaking. The genealogical data presented on the website represents the culmination of the work of two dedicated researchers representing the family interests of the Hendricks and Hendrickson families from the west side of the country and from the east coast. Many thanks to Andrew A. Hendricks, MD from the east and DelLynn Leavitt from the west for not giving up but striving to continue the quest of correctly linking these families who have worked from both sides of the country.

Why go to the HHDHA Website?

The future events, activities, news, and genealogical research of all three organizations will be displayed on the HHDHA website. Here you will find and be able to download the latest research data, subscribe to electronic newsletters, find upcoming conferences of interest to our family and to our Dutch heritage. Regional cousin parties, reunions, and trips to ancestral home sites will be posted to the website. Click on this link to access the information about the upcoming HHFO 2020 Reunion in New Jersey.

What can you do?

1) Subscribe to the newsletters, purchase books, and donate to family research and this website.

2) Contact relatives listed in your DNA report to help them get connected to our family.

3) Connect with others with the same surname via phonebook, social media, or FamilySearch.

4) Contact those who are working on the same lines you are researching. Perhaps, they would like to share and connect with you. Perhaps they are a lone family member who doesn’t realize the extent of this family throughout the United States.

5) Keep updated on future news by registering to receive newsletters.

6) Contribute financially to keep these organizations fiscally sound. Through the website, you may pay your HHFO annual dues, donate to research, or make tax deductible contributions to any of the three organizations.

Become a Cousin Finder

• Invite your family members to view the HHDHA website and subscribe to newsletters.
• Take a DNA test and reach out to someone with your DNA match. With the help of DNA, families have made important discoveries in their family heritage. One man was able to connect with a biological great uncle who was not even aware he had a nephew who had been given up for adoption by his mother.
• Search the White Pages or other resources for Hendricks surnames and call or text them with an invitation to explore if they are related.
• Invite others to check out our family website and check our online database to see if there is a connection.
• Share ancestor stories, purchase books, and enjoy Dutch traditions with your children and grandchildren. They will create strong family ties to help them navigate difficult situations throughout their lives.
• Reach out to others with the surname Hendricks in other parts of the country that can be found on Facebook or other social media platforms.

Shake hands across America with more of our

Hendricks Hendrickson and Hendrix family members!