Henry Hendricks Family Organization Research

The Achias Van Dyke Family

     Like many of the families that intermarried with our early Hendrickson family, the New Amsterdam Van Dyke family deserve an endeared role in our Hendrickson family heritage.  As with the Dorris family we find several connections with this early Dutch family that should be noted:  Daniel Hendrickson, son of our immigrant ancestor Hendrick Willemsz, married Catherine Van Dyke, the daughter of Jan Janse Van Dyke and Tuentje Tyssen Lane, around 1696 and his sister Francyntje married Nicholas Van Dyke, the son of  Tamas Janse Vandyke, in 1692.   Francyntje and Nicholas eventually moved to Delaware where their grandson Nicholas Van Dyke III served as governor of that state from 1783 to 1786.  Plus we have been able to document even closer Van Dyke connections and perhaps we can answer the question we all would like to know.  Are we related to Dick Van Dyke?   If all of these connections are confusing you might want to follow along from our Ancestry.com Hendrickson Family Tree, if you have an Ancestry account:  www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/83387403/person/36486197614/facts

      In the past few years we have discovered that Trynetje Haggase Van Dyke was the mother of our ancestor Hendrick Hendrickson Jr. b. 1706 and not Helena Cortelyou as was previously thought.  Catherine, Nicholas and Trynetje Van Dyke were all first cousins and grandchildren of Jan Guecke Van Dyke and Tynetje Haggause.  It is very possible that Trynetje died while giving birth to Hendrick Hendrickson as she died before 6 Oct 1708 when her husband, Hendrick Hendrickson Sr., is listed as an heir to the estate of Trynetje’s father Archias Van Dyke of Kings Co., New York.  After Trynetje’s death Hendrick married the widow, Helena Cortelyou, in 1708 and she raised the three Hendrickson children, Geesje, Jannetje and Hendrick, along with eight of her own children from her previous marriage to Denys Tunnison!     

     Hendrick married Trynetje van Dyke probably between 1701 and 1704.  She was the daughter of Achias/Haggise Janse van Dyke and Jannetje Lamberts van Campen baptized 17 Oct 1680 in the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church:

            “of Utrecht Trijntje (d/o) Haggaeus Jansz van Dijk and Jannetje Lamberts, Tileman Jacobsz vander Mijen and Trijntje Haggeus (sponsors)” (FCR 1:401).

She was named after her paternal grandmother Trynetje Haggeus the grand matriarch of the van Dyke family who was one of the sponsors at her baptism.  In fact, her father Achias himself was named after matriarch Trynetje’s father, Haggerus/Aggie Jansz of Amsterdam, as the names in this baptism surely indicate.  Achias/Haggaeus was the son of Jan van Dyke and this Trynetje Haggeus and was baptized 2 Nov 1642 in the Old Church in Amsterdam, North Holland.  This unknown baptism was found by Michael Morrisay on the Stadsarchief Amsterdam Doopregisters website which can be found at: stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/archieven/archiefbank/indexen/doopregisters.

The 1642 baptism of Aachijmijus Guckes

     I was able to get a copy of this baptism from the same website. This baptism on the last line of page 343 reads: “Jan Guckes, Trijn Achemius, Maritje Achemius, Stadts Edsors(?),  Aachijmijus”.  Jan Guckes was the father, Trijn or Tryntje Achemius was the mother while the witnesses were Maritje Achemius’ who was Trynitje’s older sister, and Stadts Edsors and the child was listed as Aachijmius. The name Achijmius, Achias, Haggie or Agyas was probably the Dutch equivalent of the biblical name Zacchaeus.   Jan and his wife Tryntje went by the surname Guckes or Guecke when they lived in Amsterdam.  In the 1687 Kings Co., NY Oaths of Allegiances Achias Janse Vandijck stated he had been in the Americas for 36 years.  Since most of his family members list 35 years on this record it is thought that the Van Dyke family immigrated in 1652 on the Bonta Cow (Spotted Cow), with the Cornelius van Werckhoven Colony which included Jaques Cortelyou, the father of Helena, who was brought over to the Dutch Colonies to tutor the van Werckhoven children.  Cornelius established the Colony of New Utrecht and left Jaques in charge when he returned to Holland a few years later. 

      Around 1673 Achias married Jannetje Lamberts who was the daughter of Lambert Hendrickszen van Campen and Barbertje Barents.  Achias and his wife Jannetje had the following children:  Jan baptized 11 Mar 1674 at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York listing Haggaus Jansz van Dyck and Jannetie as the parents and Lambert Hendrickson and Barbertje Barents as the witnesses.  Lambert baptized 16 Sep 1677 at the Dutch Reformed Church at Flatbush listing Haggaus Jansz van Dijk & Jannetje Lamberts as the parents. Susanna baptized 18 May 1679 in the Dutch Reformed Church at Flatbush listing Haggaeus Jansz van Dijk and Jannietje Lamberts as the parents and Pieter Jansz and Annetje van Dijk as the witnesses.  Trynetje baptized 17 Oct 1780 in the Dutch Reformed Church at Faltbush listing Haggaeus Jansz van Dijk and Jannetje Lamberts as the parents and, Tileman Jacobsz vander Mijen and Trijntje Haggeus as the witnesses.  Barbara baptized 20 Dec 1682 in the Dutch Reformed Church at Brooklyn listing Haggeus Jansz and Jannetje Lamberts as the parents and Jan Janse van Dyke and Anenientje Jans as the witnesses.  Jacob born about 1683.  Barent baptized 16 May 1685 in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York listing Haggaus Jansz van Dyck and Jannetie Lamberts as the parents and Pieter Janszen and Jannetie Jans van Dyck as the witnesses.  Thomas baptized 17 Apr 1687 in the Dutch Reformed Church at Brooklyn listing Jan Darvel and Catherine Darvel as the witnesses. Anna baptized 22 Jul 1688 in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York  listing Esaias Janszen van Dyck and Janneken Lambertsz as the parents and Jan der Val and Cathrina van Cortlant as the witnesses.  And Jannetje who was listed in the Achias van Dyke Land sale to Hendrick van Dyke.  She must have been born before 1687 as she was of age by 1708.  Since there are no apparent slots for her birth before 1687 it is very possible that she was the Susanna born in 1679. 

     By 1692 Trynetie Lamberts, the wife of Achias Van Dyke, had died and Achias married Magdelena Hendrickse the widow of Minne Johannes  2 Dec 1693 in the Dutch Reformed Church at Brooklyn.  As far as we know no children were born to this union.  Despite the Hendrickson surname it is doubtful that she was related to our Hendrickson family.  As was common for that day Articles of Agreement were drawn up between Agias and Magdalina that were recorded in the Kings Co., Conveyances.

1693 marriage Agreement of Agias Van Dyke and Magdalina Hendrickse

     On the 30th of September, 1695 Achias/Agais bought a tract of land in Brooklyn from our ancestor Adrian Bennett.  This probably was the same land that was later sold to Hendrick van Dyke in 1708 by the heirs of Achais Van Dyke.

1695 land deed of Agais Van Dyke

     This land was located in what was known as Yellow Hook due to the yellowish coloration of the soil near the village of Gowanus in Brooklyn NY.  The name was later changed to Bay Ridge which was located just north of Fort Hamilton by the narrows looking out towards Staten Island.  Just on the south side of Fort Hamilton was where Hendrick Hendrickson and Helena Cortelyou operated the Ferry over to Staten Island.   By 1708 Achias had died and his land was sold to Hendrick Van Dyke by his heirs.  A deed dated 6 Oct 1708 between “Lambert Vandyke and his wife Maryke of the City of New York, Jacob Van Dyke, Janake Van dyke & Hendrick Hendrickse of Kings County on Nassau Island(Long Island)  in the Colony of New York, Johannes Koerte and Barbera his wife of the Province of East Jersey on the one part and Hendrick Vandyke of Kings County on the other part”.  Barbera Vandyke was a daughter of Achias who married Johannes Koerte Van Voorhees.        

   A deed dated 6 Oct 1708 transferring Achias’s property to Hendrick Van Dyke. This deed has Hendrick Hendrickson’s classic +++ mark.

     Both the Hendrickson and Van Dyke families were early members of the Brooklyn Dutch Reformed Church and on the 29 May 1705 the Brooklyn DRC registers list baptisms for Jannetje the daughter of Hendrick Hendrickze and Tryntje listing Claus Van Dyke and Jannetje Van Dyke as witnesses, Jannetje the daughter of Johannes Coerte and Barbara listing Hendrick Van Dyke and Trynetje Van Dyke as witnesses, and Johannes the son of Willem Hendrickse and Willemtje Lane listing Stoffel Schar and Geesje Van Hekel witnesses.   All these names might seem as confusing as double dutch but to a genealogist they tell a compelling story.   First off both Trynetje and her sister Barbara name their daughters Jannetje after their deceased mother Jannetje Lamberts.  The first baptism is witnessed by Claus (Nicholas) Van Dyke, husband of Francyntje Hendrickson, Hendrick and Willem’s sister and Trynetje’s sister also named Jannetje.  Then the second baptism is witnessed by our ancestor, Trynetje Van Dyke, Barbara’s sister and wife of Hendrick Hendrickson and Hendrick Van Dyke, brother of Nicholas Van Dyke.  The child Johannes Hendrickse was probably named after Johannes Van Ecklen, Hendrick and Willem’s older half brother who brought them to Long Island as the baptism is witnessed by Geesje Van Hekel (Ecklen) a daughter of Johannes and a niece of Willem Hendrickson (I have no idea who Stoffel Schar is).   Well wasn’t that exciting?  Maybe I need to write some more about Dick Van Dyke.  

     Lambert Van Dyke, son of Achias Van Dyke listed in the 1708 land deed, married Marritje Hooglandt and moved to Bucks Co., Pennsylvania around 1730 with 12 of his children.  His oldest son Dirk b. in 1707 married Saritje Janszen around 1730 in Bucks County. Dirk’s oldest son, Dirk Richard Van Dyke b. abt. 1732, and his wife Mary had a son Joseph, b. abt. 1758 in Philadelphia, PA., who had a son also named Joseph b. 1782 who married Elizabeth Edwards 14 Sep 1800.  They had a son named John Van Dyke b. 27 Nov 1813 in Greene County, Pennsylvania.  Around 1817 this John moved to Illinois to work on the National or Cumberland Road which was one of the first nationally funded roads.   The Van Dyke family eventually moved to Greenup, Cumberland Co., Illinois and in 1838 John married Margaret Hazelwood.  In 1849 John caught the Frisco Fever and he and twenty other local village men ventured off towards California to seek fame and fortune. Instead they found heartache and frustration as, according to his Find-a-grave biography, only John and two other men returned alive to tell the sad tale.  In 1853 John and Margaret had a son named James Ward Van Dyke who married Jennette Peters in 1880 and they had a son named Dorsey Clinton Van Dyke who married Jennie Ware in 1903.  Jennie and Dorsey had a son named Loren Wayne Van Dyke who married Hazel Victoria McCord in 1924.  Loren and Hazel had two sons, Richard (Dick) Wayne and Jerry McCord Van Dyke. 

     That would make Dick and Jerry our ninth cousins.   But they are not our only notable Van Dyke cousins.  Catherine Van Dyke, the wife of Daniel Hendrickson, had a bother Jan Janse Van Dyke who married Tuentje Van Pelt and they had a son Jan b. 19 Nov 1682 who married Annetje Verkerk in 1706.  They had a son Jan Van Dyke III b. 6 Nov 1709 who married Gerretje Bergen in 1750 and they had a son Frederick b. 3 Nov 1751 who married Lydia Cole in 1778.  They had a son Frederick Augustus Van Dyke b. in 1794 who married Eliza Anderson who were the parents of Henry Jackson Van Dyke b. 1822 who married Henrietta Ashmend in 1845.  It was their son Henry Jackson Van Dyke Jr. b. 1852 who was one of my favorite Christian Authors.  Henry was a Professor of English literature at Princeton who wrote one of my favorite Christmas stories, “The Other Wise Man.”   You can read and enjoy this story on line at: http://www.classicreader.com/book/593/1/.   So if you able to write poetry, or dance, sing and act as if on the golden stage, or are just fond of telling stories and acting out you might want to blame your Van Dyke ancestors!       

What’s In A Name?

by DelLynn Leavitt

As a lifelong student of genealogy, nothing has fascinated me more than family naming patterns. Names are carefully chosen almost like the wrapping paper of a precious gift that would instill the grand promise of the child’s life. Some wrappings are plain and functional, perhaps commemorating the life and accomplishments of some endeared predecessor, while other wrappings are bright and colorful, imbuing a characterization of something extraordinary and special. Many cultures name children after grandparents, parents, and family members while others after presidents, military heroes, and important religious leaders.

My grandfather was named Virgil Horton Leavitt whose father’s name was Horton B. Leavitt who married Lurinda Alice Hendricks. Horton was the son of George Leavitt and Janette Brinkerhoff. It was not until I was older and my grandfather Leavitt had passed away that I realized that the Horton’s, Haight’s, and Brinkerhoff’s were all early members of the LDS Church from Cayuga County, New York who moved to Nauvoo in 1842 to settle with the Saints. When he was alive, I wish I had asked my grandfather if he knew anything about the Horton’s or why their name was given to his father.

As an interesting side note, Janette Brinkerhoff’s mother was one Sally Ann Snyder whose parents were William Snyder and Mary Clark. They were supposedly married in Kingston County, NY 17 Jun 1794. This past year I have been going through my pedigrees, sourcing and documenting them (a grueling thing that we genealogists often do to pass away otherwise useful time), and I couldn’t find this 17 Jun 1794 marriage anywhere in New York. In addition, I noticed that my Snyder and Clark family names just did not match up with the Kingston Snyder and Clark families to whom they were cited to belong. Then I found that one of William and Mary’s kids listed their parent’s birthplace as New Jersey in the 1880 Census. I started searching in NJ for the marriage. Finally, after not finding anything I decided to check my set of Freehold and Middletown Reformed Dutch Church Records even though I knew that it was a long shot. This was the main church of our Hendricks, Thomson, and Couwenhoven ancestors when they were living in New Jersey. To my surprise, I found a marriage for “William Snyder and Mary Clark” dated July 17, 1794 dutifully recorded in its registers! Of course this means that the pedigrees out there for these Snyder and Clark families are wrong and when you put William Snyder and Mary Clark in the correct Monmouth County, NJ Snyder and Clark families they fit in just like a good bit of poetry.

Dorris and Frost Family Name Patterns

No naming patterns have fascinated me more than our Dorris and Frost families. I have spent hours of time analyzing their names trying to answer questions like, who was Martha Hughes and who were the Gibbs and the Hendersons? If it were not for the amazing historical sketch written by Drusilla Dorris, we would probably know even less about the Dorris and Hendricks family. Her parents were William Dorris and Catherine Frost and her paternal grandparents were Samuel Dorris the Elder and Martha Hughes. For years now, researchers and family members alike have been trying to determine the family of Martha Hughes and yet nothing substantive seems to have been found. Due to the renewed research efforts of Gene Dorris, (Editor and Chief of the former publication Dorris-Net), many historical details have been added to our early Dorris Family. One such find is that our Dorris families spent considerable time in Virginia and what is now West Virginia before moving on to Tennessee and Kentucky.

Traces of the Life of Samuel Dorris the Elder, 1740-1824” pp 1-8, Gene Dorris relates the following: “Samuel Dorris the Elder first appeared in the public record not in Maryland but in Virginia where both Samuel and his wife Martha attended as witnesses in a court case in which his brother Joseph Dorris sued Samuel Smith on June 25, 1772, in Loudoun County Court for debt. The court ordered Joseph to pay Martha’s husband 313 pounds of tobacco for traveling back and forth the 27 miles from their home in Fairfax to court four times. The court also ordered Joseph to pay Samuel 106 pounds of tobacco for his attendance. Samuel was next recorded on the tithe lists for Loudoun County, Virginia, between 1773 and 1775. Martha also witnessed a deed of John Holmes in August 1776, giving evidence of a residence in the Fairfax-Loudoun area for at least four years. (Jun 30, 1996, V. 2, Is. 2, of Dorris-Net)

Gene even suggests that John Holmes may have been a brother to Martha, wife of Samuel Dorris. This is an interesting suggestion that deserves to be researched. According to what I have been able to find on John, he came to America from Antrium, Coloraine County, N. Ireland and married Mary Atchley in Virginia according to most data bases. He died in Loudoun County, 26 Aug 1776. John Holmes immigrated to Virginia in 1757 according to the U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Virginia; Year: 1757; Page Number: 16). John had apparently attended College in Dublin and was known to have been a Greek scholar. On 8 June 1757, he arrived in the United States and began his career as a teacher in Virginia. He was a member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons which he had joined in Ireland. This, of course, would mean that our Martha would have been born in Ireland if she were a Holmes instead of a Hughes which is possible but not probable.

Most researchers think that Samuel Dorris and Martha Hughes/Hues were married in New Jersey around 1765 however much of this is based on premise that the Dorris family settled from New Jersey to Maryland and North Carolina and then into Tennessee. But since we now know that our Samuel Dorris family lived in Colonial Virginia before moving to Maryland and Tennessee could it be possible that our Martha came from Virginia instead of New Jersey? At the least, perhaps some of the places she settled were near locations where her family had also migrated such as Hampshire and Hardy Counties in what is now West Virginia or even Loudoun County, Virginia.

Multiple Hughes Families to Explore 

One Hughes family that caught my eye was what I call the Henrico County, Hughes family that lived near Richmond, Virginia. The thing I like most about this family is that they had a Joseph, Samuel and a couple of Isaac Hughes about the right age to be part of our Martha Hughes’ family. Perhaps the progenitor of this family was Rees “Trader” Hughes who was the first permanent settler in Amherst County, Virginia who ran a trading post along the Blue Ridge Mountains on the James River along with his Powhatan wife, Nicketti. However, it is disputed whether “Trader” Hughes and this wife had any male heirs although it seems that he had sons from a previous marriage, including a Robert, Rees Jr. and maybe an Edward, and William.

Then there was what I call the Rowland Hughes family. The reason that I have been interested in this family is because Rowland settled at Fort Hamilton in Tennessee in 1795 near our William and Samuel Dorris families. Samuel the Elder’s son, Isaac Henderson Dorris, named a son Rowland b. abt. 1822. This Rowland Hughes was probably a son of Edward Hughes and Elizabeth Williams of Berks County, Pennsylvania, who was b. 4 Jun 1761. Edward was probably the son of Ellis Hughs and Jane Foulke, Quakers from Bala, Merionethshire, Wales.

Another Hughes family of interest is that of the William Parson’s Hughes family because they settled in what is now Hardy County, West Virginia. After residing in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in Virginia from 1771 to around 1780, Samuel Dorris, and his wife Martha Hughes moved to what was then Hampshire County, Virginia.

According to “The Hughes Family from Virginia to Oregon,” by: Patty Barthell Myers, “William (Parsons) Hughes was born in the late 1600’s in Virginia or Pennsylvania and died in 1767 in Hampshire County, VA. His will was probated June 9, 1767. William settled on a 400 acre tract of land on the Great Cacapon River. This tract was surveyed by George Washington and the grant from Lord Fairfax was dated April 8, 1752. This tract was within the boundaries of Hampshire County, VA. In 1754, the French and Indian War began and William enlisted in the VA militia. On the occasion of George Washington’s retirement as Commander of VA troops on December 27, 1758, an address of appreciation was signed and delivered by the officers of the regiment. William Hughes is the eighth signer. In January 1762, the VA General Assembly recognized the services of the officers of the VA Regiment of militia. William Hughes’ name was twelfth on the list of lieutenants. On May 22, 1762, William was commissioned a Lieutenant in Colonel Adam Stephens’ Regiment of militia and on June 8, 1762, he was commissioned Adjutant of the Regiment. William was given a land warrant for 2,000 acres of land in partial payment for his services to the Colony. This land returned for this warrant, No. 299, was conveyed to John, May January 17, 1780. William had eight children, named in his will.”

Unfortunately Martha is not listed as one of these children although William could have been her grandfather also. William may have had a brother named Joseph who married Ann Worth the 12 Sep 1733 in Chesterfield, Burlington, New Jersey which was within ten miles of where the Dorris family resided at that time in NJ. The problem is we don’t know for sure who his children were.

How Do We Choose? 

To complicate the task of placing Martha into one of these Hughes families is the fact that most of these mentioned families were Quakers, a very strict Christian Sect. After leaving New Jersey, the Dorris Family were devout Baptists led by Samuel’s brother, Joseph Dorris, who was a highly noted Baptist Minister. If Martha married out of the Quaker faith she might have been not only excommunicated by the Society of Friends, but she may have been disowned by her own family! If there were hard feelings on Martha’s part they may not have named any children after her parents.

In the day and age when you can search 16 billion records in 2.5 seconds you would think we could find something that would shed some light on these questions! Perhaps if we only knew to which Hughes family Martha belonged, we might be able to find her place in one of these families.

Crazy, Wild Idea or Inspired? 

While trying to unravel this seemingly hopeless quandary, I had this crazy, wild idea. Like many of you, I have had my DNA tested by Ancestry.com so I could finally settle those family rumors of relationships to Indian Princesses and long lost Jewish hierarchies once and for all. After waiting for what seemed forever for the results and then getting past the fact that I really am my parent’s son, (my mom was fond of telling me that they got me from the gypsies), I was almost

disappointed that I had such an ethnically un-diverse ancestry. But I have since been fascinated by all of the DNA related cousins that Ancestry has posted on my DNA page. Eventually, I realized that they post these not so much so you can see how funny looking your cousins are, (in a strangely familiar way), but so you can determine how you are related.

I began to wonder if any of our Hughes cousins might show up on one or more of these posted pedigrees. I typed in Hughes in the filter and a number of pedigrees popped up that are related to me somehow who also have Hughes families listed in them. Now the first thing you need to remember is that even though you are probably related to these cousins, their pedigrees may or may not be relevant depending on how accurate and detailed they are. After sorting through dozens of these pedigrees and potentially solving a half dozen other research questions I have, I came to an interesting conclusion. Almost all of the above mentioned Hughes families were represented in the pedigrees suggesting that some of them may be interrelated. However, the William Parsons Hughes family of Hampshire County, VA was by far the most frequented of the Hughes lines represented putting them at the top of my research list. I tried the same thing with the Holmes surname with no apparent matches to the John Holmes family at all.

The Three Brothers

The Historical sketch of James and Drusilla Dorris Hendricks as dictated by Drusilla after the death of her husband James in 1870 states: ”The Hendricks Family originated from Germany or Holland and of the High Dutch by Three Brothers who landed somewhere in the New England or New York in an early day of America’s History.  From there they wandered South till we find some of them in Kentucky.”  This statement is not only correct but it also eludes present day Hendricks family members how it took us 140 years to re-discover what we already knew!   So who were these three brothers and what have we found out about them in recent years.  We now know that the three brothers were; William Hendickson b. abt. 1669 who married Willemtje Laen Van Pelt and died 1711, Hendrick Hendrickson b. abt. 1671 who married 1) Trynetje Van Dyke, 2) Helena Cortelyou, and died 1734 and Daniel Hendrickson b. abt. 1673 and who married Catherine Van Dyke and died 1727.  We also know that they were the sons of Hendrick Williamsz and Geesje Bradt of New Albany.  The three brothers were brought to Long Island New York by their step brother Johannes Van Ecklen around 1680 after the death of their parents in 1677 where they resided until around 1693 when they began to live across the bay in Middletown, Monmouth Co., New Jersey.   One has to question how things became so mixed up when Drusilla Dorris Hendricks tried to set us straight clear back in 1870!  However, It should be noted that almost every individual family of every generation of these Hendricksons had a Geesje, Francyntje, William, Daniel and Hendrick, so don’t feel bad if you are already confused!  The analogy of this confusion started very early as is shown as we examine our own Hendricks line.  First off it should be noted that our Hendricks family also went by the surname variations of Hendrickson and Hendrickse at any given time.

In the Henry Hendricks Genealogy compiled by Marguerite H. Allen and published by the Hendricks Family Organization in 1963 p. 563 it indicates that our ancestor Hendrick Hendrickson b. 11 Nov 1706 was the son of William Hendrickson and Willemptje Thys Laen Van Pelt.   Marguerite  goes on to state that:  “William together with his brother Daniel and his wife Catherine (Van Dyke) left Flatbush and established homes in Monmouth, N.J. in 1692-3.”   This was the most widely accepted Hendricks ancestry at the time and thus was included as such by Mrs. Allen.  It probably took its root s from George C. Beekman’s Early Dutch Settlers of Monmouth County New Jersey published in 1901 p. 154 that lists Hendrick  Hendrickson b. 11 Nov. 1706 as a son of William and Willemptje Hendrickson.   However there is no extant documentation suggesting that William and Willemptje ever had a surviving son named Hendrick and this connection was questioned by the research of Carol H. Cannon and Mary Lalene Hart as put forth in the HHFO Publication The Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson Family Second Ed. 1991 pp 11-14.    Carol Cannon points out that there was a definite relationship between Hendrick Hendrickson b. 1706 and the Geesje Hendrickson who married Nicolas Van Brunt as Hendrick witnessed the 23 Apr 1732 baptism of Geesje’s daughter Engeltie in the Freehold and Middletown Dutch Reformed Church in Marlboro NJ.   Dutch baptisms were almost always witnessed by relatives and although William and Willemptje Hendrickson had a daughter named Geesje, she married Matthias Peterson Van Pelt which is well documented by the same Freehold and Middletown DR Church records.   Beekman then goes on to confuse and contradict himself even more in the identification of this Nicholas Van Brunt throughout the book as Nicholas Van Brunt is another one of those names that was widely passed on from family to family.  Helena Cortelyou’s first husband was also named Nicholas Van Brunt who was an uncle (or something like that) to the Nicholas who married Geejse Hendrickson and they both named sons Nicholas Van Brunt who also named sons Nicholas and so on…so you can see the problem.  Despite all of the confusion created by Mr. Beekman, a noted Long Island historian named Teunis G. Bergen, who lived on lands once owned by Helena Cortelyou, knew exactly who Geesje Hendrickson was as in the family history entitled, The Bergen Family p. 291 he gives us the following clarification: “Nicholas (Van Brunt) m(arried) Geesje, dau. of Hendrick Hendrickson of the Narrows, New Utrecht, by a first wife, his second being Helena Cortelyou.  Geesie survived her husband, who emigrated to New Jersey where he had numerous descendants… Adrian Van Brunt married Jannetje Hendricks who also may have been a dau. of Hendrick Hendrickson.”    Carol Cannon in her Hendricks research goes on to identify Hendrick Hendrickson b. 1706 also as a son of the  Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou noting the 16 July 1732 baptism of Albert Hendrickson as the son of “Hendrick Hendrickse Hendrickse and Aeltie Couwenhoven” in the Freehold and Middletown DR Church.  All of these repeated names were very confusing to the early Dutch as well so when they inserted an extra name such as Hendrickse into a name it indicated that his father’s given name was Hendrick to help identify which person was which.  There were several Hendrick Hendricksons living in Monmouth Co., NJ in 1732 so for example on the 4 June 1732 when “Hendrick Danielse Hendrickse” witnessed the baptism of his nephew Trynetje the daughter of Teunis De Nys and Fransyntie Hendrickse, Danielse was added to the name Hendrick Hendrickse by the scribe to clarify that this Hendrick Hendrickse was the son of Daniel Hendrickson who married Catherine Van Dyke.  Had our Hendrick Hendrickson b. 1706 been the son of William Hendrickson then he would have been listed as Hendrick Williamse Hendrickse in the baptism of his son Albert.  Carol then goes on to cite that on the 9 Oct 1736 Hendrick Hendrickson Jr. of Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey and John Deare of Amboy, Middlesex of New Jersey made application for the administration of the estate of Hendrick Hendrickson, late of Middletown (Unrecorded Wills and Inventories of Monmouth Co., NJ Administrative, Bonds, Ect. p. 173).   In our previous reports in the Hendricks Herald we noted that the Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou sold his Monmouth Co., lands situated in Freehold and that he was listed as living in Middletown in 1731in one of these later land transactions (Monmouth Co., Deeds Vol. H, pp 57-58 FHL #0592648).   So there is little doubt that this was the Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou as the rest of the Hendrick Hendricksons were alive and accounted for in 1736 and that he defiantly had a son named Hendrick Hendrickson Jr.  The only known Hendrick Hendrickson who had a father also named Hendrick at that time was our Hendrick Hendrickson b. 11 Nov 1706 who married Aletje Couwenhoven and who witnessed the 1732 baptism of Engelte Van Brunt the daughter of Nicholas Van Brunt and Geesje Hendrickson.

Carol Cannon citing several family histories, including some old articles in the NY Genealogical and Biographical Record suggested that Jacob Hendricks Hafte and Geesje Bartels might be the parents of the Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou.  But she then stated on page 17 of The Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson Family 1991 publication “That this Hendrick (son of Jacob Hendricks Hafte) is the same Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou has not yet been proven satisfactorily and is, to date, the weak link in the chain,” and yet somehow it became accepted as gospel fact that Jacobs Hendrickse Hafte was the father of our Hendrick Hendrickson Sr.   Carol also stated that: “The largest problem with accepting this connection is the age difference between Hendrick, son of Jacob Hendricks Hafte, who was baptized 18 Feb 1679 and Helena who was born about 1665-1667 at the latest.  This would put her about 13 to 15 years older than her third husband.”   We now know through new research and DNA testing that this connection is not correct and that we are rather related to the family of William Hendrickson who was the brother of Daniel Hendrickson according to the 1711 Monmouth Co. NJ Will of William Hendrickson as well as other documents.    William Hendrickson is listed as the eldest son of Hendrick Williamsz in the 4 Dec 1677 minutes of the Court of Albany, Rensselerwyck and Schenectady, (Vol. 2, pp. 282-283), when Storm Albertson and Harme Rutgers were granted the administration of the estate of Hendrick Williamse deceased.  “Eldest son Wm. Hendricks” was granted the black cloth suit and a bridle while “Daniel Hendricks” was also granted a bridle.  Storm was the son of Albert Bradt who was also the father of Geesje Bradt, the mother of our Hendrick Hendrickson and who was the namesake of all of these Geesje’s.   And so Storm was known as Storm Albertse since his father as named Albert, but more often than not he was called Storm Van Der Zee since he was born during a terrible storm on the Atlantic Sea while his parents were sailing to this country.  (It is interesting to note that Storm was never confused with anybody else!)    Now Hendrick Hendricks is not mentioned in the Hendrick Williamsz estate settlement, but neither was Francyntje Hendricks who is also known to be a daughter of Hendrick Williansz and Geesje Bradt as both she and our Hendrick named their oldest children Hendrick and Geesje after grandparents as was the Dutch custom.   Francyntje Hendrikcse was born abt. 1675 and married Nicholas (Claas) Van Dyke and died 25 Jan 1749/50 in New Castle, Delaware.   Wilhem Hendricks and Antje Staats were the witnesses of the 15 Nov 1694 baptism of her daughter Geesje Van Dyke in the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church of Long Island NY.   Hendrik Hendrickse and Annetie Kros were listed as the witnesses of the 3 Apr 1698 baptism of Francyntie and Claas Van Dyke’s son Hendrick in the Flatbush DR Church.  Annetie Van Ecklen Kros was a step sister to William, Daniel, Hendrick and Francyntje from their mother Geesje Bradt’s first marriage to Jan Van Ecklen.   Not only were children almost always named after their grandparents in these early Dutch families but if the grandparents were already deceased, related name sakes were often called on to witness the baptism such as was the case with our Hendrick Hendrickse.   As we reported in the last edition of the 2013 Herald Hendrick and his first wife Trynetje Van Dyke had a daughter Janntje baptized 29 May 1705 in the Brooklyn Dutch Reformed Church and Claas Van Dyke and Jannetje Van Dyke were the witnesses and on the same day, very next entry, Hendrick’s brother William Hendrickze and Willemtze Lane had a son named Johannes baptized listing Stoffel Schar, Geesje Van Heckel, Antoni Rutgers & Antje Caros as the witnesses.   So who were all of these people?  Claas Van Dyke was the husband of Hendrick’s sister Francyntje and Jannetje Van Dyke was probably the sister of Hendrick’s wife Trynetje.  Geesje Van Heckel/Ecklen was probably a daughter of William’s older step brother Johannes Van Ecklen who brought the three bothers to Long Island while Annetje Caros/Kros as mentioned was William’s older step sister who married Johannes Kros.  As was suggested by Turnis G. Bergen this Janettje who was the daughter of Hendrick Hendrickson and Trynetje Van Dyke probably married Nicholas Van Brunt’s younger brother Adriaen Van Brunt.   So is there any evidence that ties our Hendrick Hendrickson to the other brother Daniel Hendrickson?  As mentioned in previous Herald articles Daniel and Hendrick both witness a land transaction between David Stout of Monmouth Co., East NJ and Hendrick Van Dyke of Kings Co., Nassau Island NY dated 3 Apr 1701 and then on the 10 Nov 1705 Hendrick Van Dyke and his wife Jonica of Brookland Twp. Kings Co., Nassau Island NY sell this same land called Romanis on the Hopp Brook to Hendrick Hendrickse of Monmouth Co., East NJ for L300.  This land was apparently close to Daniel’s lands as in a Monmouth Co., Commissioner’s report found in the History of Monmouth County New Jersey dated 13 Oct 1713 it states: ”The road is to be laid out from Chinquerors road by the corners of the fences of James Hubbard, and Cornelius Covenhoven, and running along Dr. Hubbards house and thence to the bridge on Hop Brook: and thence over the brook along the line between Benjamin Stout and Hendrick Hendrickson’s to a valley near the end of it:  then to Joseph Golden’s southwest corner of his new field and following his and Obediah Bowne’s line to gully:  then rounding the hill to Mahoran Run, where the path from Daniel Hendrickson’s to Hendrick Hendrickson’s passes, and following the path to Daniel’s line and then through his field, (HMCNJ pp. 375-376).   Hendrick Hendrickson had married Helena Cortelyou by 1713 and was probably living on her lands in New Ulrecht on Long Island but he still owned lands on Hopp Brook.  This is the last mention of Hendrick Hendrickson in Monmouth Co., NJ until 1718 when he and Helena’s sons begin buying lands in Freehold.  By 1731 Hendrick had returned to his lands on Hopp Brook where he died in 1734.   So Hendrick Hendrickson and his first wife Tryntje Van Dyke had three known children:  Geesje b. abt. 1703 who married Nicholas Van Brunt as mentioned, Jannteje who was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of Brooklyn 29 May 1705 and who married Adriaen Van Brunt as mentioned who was the brother of Nicholas Van Brunt and Hendrick who married Aeltje Couwenhoven who was the daughter of Albert Couwenhoven and Neeltje Schenk.  Hendrick and Aeltje had two sons; Hendrick (Henry) bapt. 20 Jan 1731 in the Freehold and Middletown Dutch Reformed Church in Marlboro who married Sarah Tomson 3 Apr 1751, and Albert who was baptized 16 July 1732 in the same church and who married Johanna Mills 3 Jan 1755.    As Drusilla Dorris Hendricks stated, Henry and his wife Sarah moved to Frederick Co., MD, then to Rockingham Co., NC and then to what is now Simpson Co., Kentucky.  With all of the repetitive names it is easy to see why there has been so much confusion in these early NJ Dutch lines, however, it seems that all of us lost tract of the three Hendrickson brothers cited by Drusilla until recently.  If I had more time and space I would map out a descendants chart to help keep all of these people sorted out, but then you probably wouldn’t need me around anymore!  I will prepare a chart for the next mailing as I relate more on the families of William, Daniel and Francyntje Hendrickson.  Reporting all of this research in Hendricks Herald takes considerable money for printing and mailing fees and thus we have cut down our publication of the Herald to once a year except for on reunion years.   We have considered just posting the Hendricks Herald on line but several of you have expressed an appreciation and a desire to keep receiving the Herald via mail.   So once again we would like to thank you for your donations and support!  Del Leavitt, Research Director of the Henry Hendricks Family Organization.

It’s All Dutch To Me!

Anyone who has been brave enough to attempt any kind of New World Dutch research has probably thought themselves in a strange metathesis time warp where even the most basic practices of naming seem to have evolved in some far off universe.   They blame part of this phenomenon on something they call patronymics which has something to do with a child assuming their father’s first or given name as a surname and so on.   This is not only confusing to us today, but it was confusing back then as they often listed their place of origin with their name such as van Brunt, van Pelt and Hafte and other localities back in Holland to help clarify their identity.  It was also confusing to the English after they “occupied” New Amsterdam in 1663, so they told the Dutch to choose a surname and stick to it.  These early inhabitants being as stubborn as…well, the Dutch, and thus having little regard for the English Crown and authority did everything they could to ignore this meddling muddle of their esteemed tradition as often as they could.  So during this period of time it was not uncommon for a family to go by several different surnames, depending on who wanted to know!   Plus it was not uncommon for siblings from the same family to adopt totally different surnames, some seemingly unrelated to anything that they had used in the past.  However there are some constants that can help us sort this mess out as explained by Henry B. Hoff, former president of the American Society of Genealogist, in an article that was published by the Jan. 1975 (vol. 106) edition of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, page 1.  “Success in doing research on families that used patronymics depends on intelligent analysis and a knowledge of customs of the period.  In particular, it should be remembered that the first two sons and first two daughters were normally named for grandparents.  It was also a custom to name a child for a recently deceased relative.  Moreover, if possible, children were sponsored at baptism by relatives, sometimes one from each side of the family, certainly by a representative of the person whose namesake was being baptized.”  Then to illustrate his point Mr. Hoff masterfully ties the brothers William and Daniel Hendrickson of Monmouth Co., NJ to Hendrick Willemsz and his wife Geesje Bradt, (daughter of Albert Adriessen Bradt), of Albany NY by noting that they both named two of their four oldest children Geesje and Hendrick and that several of the baptisms of Daniel and William’s children were witnesses by members of Geesje Bradt’s family from her previous marriage to Jan van Eckelen.  After Geesje’s second husband, Hendrick Willemsz, died in 1677 two of his sons, William and Daniel, are named in his estate settlement.   Mr. Hoff also notes that Geesje had died prior to 6 Aug 1678 as her brother Storm Alberse van Der Zee submitted an account for “expenses incurred at the funeral of Hend. Willemse deceased and his wife”.   According to Mr. Hoff the Hendrickse children were taken to Kings Co., Long Island by their older half brother, Johannes van Eckelen. where he became the Flatbush Schoolmaster and later the County Clerk of Kings County.   This information was duly noted in The Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson Family – From New Amsterdam to New Frontiers by Carol Cannon & Mary Lalene Hart, our former researcher and research director, because it was once thought that our Hendrick Hendrickson, who married Aletje Couwenhoven, was the son of this William Hendrickson of Monmouth Co., NJ.   However using the same research standards Carol Cannon skillfully linked this Hendrick to Hendrick Hendrickson and Helena Cortelyou as she noted that Hendrick and Aletje named their two sons Hendrick and Albert Hendrickson instead of William and Albert, Albert being named after his maternal Grandfather Albert Couvenhoven.  Carol also noted that Hendrick and his wife Aletje sponsored the 23 Apr 1732 Middletown Dutch Reformed Church baptism of Engeltie (Helena) the oldest daughter of Nicolas van Brunt and Geesje Hendrickse (p. 14).  Helena Cortelyou the wife of Hendrick Hendrickson died about 1730 thus it would have been very traditional for Geesje to name her oldest daughter after her endeared mother and invite her only sibling, Hendrick Hendrickson, to be a sponsor.  So it was a safe conclusion that Hendrick and Geesje Hendricks were the children of Hendrick Hendrickson and his wife Helena Cortelyou especially when coupled with the fact that this Hendick Hendrickson Jun. of Middletown was the named administrator of his father Hendrick Hendrickson’s estate dated 9 Oct 1736, (Unrecorded Wills and Inventories of Monmouth Co., N.J.  Administrations, Bonds, Ect. p. 173).   The Hendrick Hendrickson who died in 1736 has always been thought to have been the husband of Helena Cortelyou.   Say, Mr. Hoff’s Dutch research tips really do work!  So how about the next generation?  Hendrick Hendrickson was the third husband of Helena Cortelyou who md. 1) Nicholas Rutgersz van Brunton, 19 Aug 1683 and who died 1684 and who md. 2) Denys Teunissen 12 Apr 1685 and who died abt. 1705.   Helena had one son with her first husband and six children with her second husband, the first two named after his parents, number three named Neelje after Helena’s mother, Neelje van Dunn, and number four named Jaques after Helena’s father Jaques Cortelyou.  Since Helena’s parents already have their namesakes then we can assume that Hendrick and Geesje were named after Hendrick Hendrickson’s parents, right?  Here is where we encounter some major problems.  Most compiled histories and secondary sources list Hendrick Hendrickson parents as Jacob Hendricks Hafte and Geesje Bartels.  So somebody didn’t follow Mr. Hoff’s research guides!   This proposed connection would seem to answer the maternal aspects of Mr. Hoff’s criteria but fails to address the paternal side of this equation.  Jacob Hendrikse Hafte and Gesseje Bartels had seven children including twins Catherine and Hendrirck who was thought to be our ancestor.  Two articles in the NY Genealogical and Biographical Record (55: 319 & 103:75-78) list Helena Cortelyou as the wife of this Hendrick Jacobs the twin son of Jacob Hendrikse Hafte and his wife Geesje Bartels but neither list a bit of documentation for this assumption!  In fact our former researcher Carol Cannon is the only person I know of who has attempted to document this connection in the Henry Hendricks and Sarah Thompson Family book.  But since most of this evidence was very circumstantial even Carol listed this connection as “unproven”.   After sending a copy of this book to Henry B. Hoff 31 Jan 1992, Mr. Hoff made the following reply to Carol Cannon dated 28 Feb 1992:  “Dear Ms. Cannon.  What an unexpected pleasure to receive your letter of Jan 31 and the Hendricks book!  Your analysis at pp. 9-25 is superb.  You have come right to the heart of the matter when you point out there is no evidence (except for the recurrence of the name Geesje) that the third husband of Helena Cortelyou was the son of Jacob Hendricks Hafte and Gessje Bartels.  I will keep this problem in mind and watch for possible relevant material.”   Not only is there no evidence to support this connection there are several points that detract from this connection.  First off, as noted by Carol Cannon, Helena Cortelyou was at least thirteen to sixteen years older than Hendricks Jacobs, Helena having eight children and Hendrick, at age 26, having never been married.  Second this connection assumed that Hendrick took his father’s Hendricksen patronymic for a surname which was something that none of the other siblings ever did.  Out of the 20 times I found the children of Jacob Hendrickse Hafte listed by their surname in primary records, 14 times they were listed as Jacobs or Jacobson and  five times they were listed as Haften.   Catherine the twin sister of Hendrick was listed as Catherine Hendrickx in her Bergen NJ Dutch Church marriage record.  But she always listed herself as Catherine Jacobs or Haften at the baptisms of her children afterwards.  The Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou always went by Hendrickson and never Jacobs or Haften.  As was mentioned, the only son of Hendrick and Helena was named Hendrick and not Jacob.  If he were named Jacob then his oldest son who married Aletje Couvenhoven would have been named Jacob and his oldest son who married Sarah Thompson would have been named Jacob which all means that if Jacob Hendricks Hafte were indeed our ancestor, then I should be the research director of the Jacob Hendricks Family Organization!!!  I don’t think that the HH Family Board would like this change, too much paper work.  As a matter of fact the name Jacob is non-existent in the entire Henry Hendricks family.  Quite an omission considering that this Jacob Hendrickse Hafte was cited to be our immigrant ancestor and the grand patriarch of our Hendricks family!

So if Jacobs Hendricks Hafte was not the father of Henrdick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou then who was?   Well we know that his name was probably Hendrick and that his wife’s name was probably Geesje.  So maybe after some exhaustive searches and a whole lot of money, one day we might find these illusive ancestors and…what’s that?  What about the Hendrick Willemsz and the Geesje Bradt who were the parents of Hendrick Hendrickson’s Monmouth County NJ contemporaries, William and Daniel Hedrickson?  Well that was easy enough, but is there any real evidence to support this simplistic conclusion?  Even I was surprised.  An early Hendricks Hendrickson has always been known to have been associated with the brothers Daniel and Willem Hendrickson of Monmouth Co. NJ.  George C. Beekman on p. 148 of the Early Dutch Settlers of Monmouth County New Jersey wrote the following; “Wilm Hendricks, as he wrote his name, was a brother of Daniel Hendrickson, the first settler at Holland, in the present township of Holmdel.  I think Hendrick Hendricks, the father of Daniel and William, lived in Monmouth between 1694 and 1706.  Our court minutes for this period show that one Hendrick Hendricks served on the grand jury and also on a coroner’s jury called to view a corpse thrown up by the sea on Sandy Hook beach.  After the above dates no Hendrick Hedricks is named on our public records as resident of this county until Daniel eldest son arrived at age.  Hendrick Hendricks was a widower and married about 1706, Helen Cortelyou, the widow of Nicholas VanBrunt and of Dionsye Denyse.  After this marriage it is said that he lived with his wife on lands at New Utrecht, L. I. which her father Jacques Cortelyou, had devised to her.”  So not only did Mr. Beekman think that this Hendrick Hedricks married Helena Cortelyou but he also thought that this Hendrick Hendricks was the father of Willem and Daniel Hendrickson which probably seemed like a safe assumption at the time given that both Daniel and Willem named their oldest sons Hendrick.  What Mr. Beekman didn’t know was that Hendrick Willemsz and Geesje Bradt were the parents of the Hendrickson brothers and that Hendrick Hendrickson and his wife Helena Cortelyou were about the same age as William and Daniel.  It should also be noted that even though William and Daniel lived in Monmouth Co., NJ most of their children were baptized in the Brooklyn Dutch Church since the Dutch Church of Middletown NJ really didn’t exist until after 1709.  Plus as Mr. Beekman notes, these early Monmouth settlers often returned to their Long Island homes and relatives for a visit once or twice a year.   Remember that several of the Willem and Daniel’s half brothers and sisters were prominent members of the Flatbush and Kings County community including Johannes van Eckelen who was the Schoolmaster and Clerk.  Henry B. Hoff also informed us in his letter to Carol Cannon that Willem and Daniel had a sister named Francyntje who married Nicholas van Dyke 4 Jun 1692 and who lived in Brooklyn (NYGBR 108:196).  So if there was a daughter who was not mentioned in Hendrick Willemsz’ 1677 Albany NY estate settlement then it is very possible that there were other unnamed children such as Hendrick.   True to Mr. Hoff’s rules Nicholas and Francyntje named their oldest daughter Geesje and their second oldest son Hendrick after her parents Hendricks Willemsz and Geesje Bradts.  Their oldest daughter Geesje’s 15 Nov 1694 Brooklyn Dutch Reformed Ch. baptism was sponsored by Wilhelm Hendrickse, her maternal uncle, and Antje Staats who is listed as a possible paternal first cousin by Mr. Hoff.   The 3 Apr 1698 baptismal record for their son Hendick is recorded in the Flatbush Dutch Church records of Long Island and is rather interesting because it is sponsored by our Hendrick Hendrickse and their half sister Annetie Kros (Flatbush Church Records vol. 1, 1677-1720 p. 552).  This of course recalls the rule, as set out by Mr. Hoff, that baptisms were often sponsored by somebody who shared the same namesake.   But wait it gets better!   The half brother of Willem, Daniel, Francyntje and Hendrick, Johannes van Ecklen, (the very one who Mr. Hoff thinks brought the Hendrickson children to Long Island), had his youngest daughter, Helena, baptized 22 days later on the 25 Apr 1698 in the same church (Ibid p. 553).  And who were the sponsors?   Denys Teunisse and his wife Helena Cortelyou!  So not only did the Hendick Hendrickson and his family seem to be acquainted with Helena, but there may have been some kind of a relationship that existed between the families.  Unfortunately the Flatbush Church marriage records have been lost for the time period of 1692 to 1706 so we do not have a marriage record for Hendrick and Helena.  It is possible that Hendrick Hendrickson may have been previously married also as Mr. Beekman suggests.  However if he were, then he probably did not have any issue from this union.  As is indicated Hendrick and his wife Helena moved on to lands that were inherited from her father Jacques Cortelyou the founder of the community of New Utrecht on Long Island.  Here they ran a ferry to Staten Island that seemed to be in direct competition with a ferry maintained by Helena’s brothers, Peter and Jaques Cortelyou.  Several lawsuits ensued and by 1717 it was evident that Hendrick and Helena’s enterprise would be curtailed by precedent, since the Cortelyou brothers had ran the ferry with their father long before Hendrick Hendrickson married their sister Helena.  By 1719 Henrdick Hendrickson and his stepson, Jaques Denyse, bought a parcel of land from Abraham Emans of Monmouth Co., NJ (Monmouth Co. NJ, Deed Book G, p. 61), and in 1720 Cornelius van Brunt and Hendrick Hendrickson bought a parcel of Monmouth Co. land from Tunis Covert (Ibid Book G. p. 59).  It is uncertain when Hendrick and Helena began living on these lands however it is evident that their children Hendrick Hendrickson Jr. and Geesje wife of Nicholas van Brunt were active members of the Middletown Dutch Reformed Church in NJ along with the families of Willem and Daniel Hendrickson.  So was there any interaction between the Hendrick Hendrickson who married Helena Cortelyou and the brothers Willem and Daniel Hendrickson of Monmouth Co. NJ?   Perhaps.  William died young in 1711 but in 1718 Daniel Hendricksen and his wife Nelke (Catherine) Van Dyke had a daughter, Jannetje, baptized on the 21 of June.  Hendrick Hendrickson and Tunke Hendrickson, the wife of Jonathan Holm were listed as the sponsors (Gen Mag. of NJ, Vol. 22, Freehold and Middletown Ch. Rec. p. 60).  Since Tunke was a daughter of Daniel and Catherine, it has been thought that this Hendrick was their oldest son also named Hendrick.  But Henry B. Hoff lists his birth date as 1702 which would make him only age 16 at the time which might be a bit young to be listed as a sponsor.  Could this have been Daniel’s brother, Hendrick Hendrickson, visiting from Long Island to inspect some of the lands that he later bought?   We may never know for sure, however it certainly should be considered as a possibility.  But the facts are very clear.  An early Hendrick Hendrickson existed and sponsored the baptism of at least one of Hendrick Williamsz and Geesje Bradt’s grandchildren and name sakes, Hendrick Van Dyck.   Helena Cortelyou was well acquainted with the family and sponsored the baptism of Helena, a daughter of Johannes van Eckelen, who was the son of Geesje Bradt from her first marriage.  Plus just like William, Daniel and Francyntje, our Hendrick Hendrickson and his wife Helena Cortelyou named their two oldest children, Hendrick and Geesje.  And finally, unlike the name Jacob, the names of Hendrick and William are names that are repeatedly handed down and esteemed from generation to generation in our Hendricks family.  As we prepare for the upcoming 2010 Hendricks reunion on June 25 and 26, it seems only proper that we have finally reunited these Hendricks families that have been lost to us for so long.   DelLynn Leavitt, Research Director of the Henry Hendricks Family Organization.