Monday's Mystery Ledger, part 5

This is a continuation of the ledger entries I started in my Monday Mystery Ledger (first posting January 31, 2011).

To repeat: The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try to help me figure out where this ledger came from – patterns of names connecting to families might help narrow down the possibilities. Although I don't know for sure, it probably is from somewhere near Albany in upstate New York. The first entry is 1830. My notes and running commentary are in brackets...

I hope you find something here on your family – there are a lot of tidbits, with people mentioned as “son of”, “wife of” etc. So good luck!

Names found in the posts for previous Mondays included:

Becker, Mary Becker, David Becker, Peter Beecker, David Billington, James Billington, John (son of James) Borgt, George Dusendorf, Wm Flansburg, Conrad

Fundy, Henry Groat, SimonHoug, Peter M Merenae, Abram/Abraham Mereness, John Mereness, John Jr Mereness, Martin Moak, Phillip Pinder, John Rosenburg, Jacob

Simonmons, [illegible] Sirby (Dirby?), Nicolas Rosenburg, Jacob Sommers, Abram Sommers, Harriett Vanderwarker, George (above might be Vandewater?) Vaness, John

Today, the ledger revisits some individuals who have already made an appearance. There are also some new names as well.

Make like Sherlock Holmes and see what clues you can find – on to the ledger entries!

Monday's Mystery Ledger, part 4

This is a continuation of the ledger entries I started in my Monday Mystery Ledger (first posting January 31, 2011). When I first looked through this ledger, I wasn't sure how useful it was – but eventually I broke a couple of brick walls, finding people mentioned as “son of”, “wife of” etc. So good luck!

To repeat: The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try to help me figure out where this ledger came from – patterns of names connecting to families might help narrow down the possibilities. Although I don't know for sure, it probably is from somewhere near Albany in upstate New York. The first entry is 1830. My notes and running commentary are in brackets...

Names found in the posts for previous Mondays included:

Becker, Mary Beecker, David Billington, James Billington, John (son of James) Flansburg, Conrad Groat, Simon

Houg, Peter M Merenae, Abram Mereness, John Mereness, John Jr Moak, Phillip Rosenburg, Jacob

Sirby (Dirby?), Nicolas Sommers, Abram Sommers, Harriett Vanderwarker, George (above might be Vandewater?) Vaness, John

Today, the ledger revisits David Beecker, Simon Groat, Abraham Mereness, John Mereness and Jacob Rosenburg, with more entries for each of them. In addition, this week's entries have a number of new names as well.

The math in prior versions wasn't adding up, and occasionally it still may not due to the vagaries of penmanship & my ability to read the old text – but I did look it up and the monetary conversion at the time provided for 20 shillings per pound, and 12 pence in each shilling... that may (or may not) make things balance a bit better!

Grab your detective hats, and on to the ledger entries!

Monday's Mystery Ledger, part 3

This is a continuation of the ledger entries I started in my Monday Mystery Ledger (posted January 31, 2011).

To repeat: The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try to help me figure out where this ledger (earliest date 1830) came from – patterns of names connecting to families might help narrow down the possibilities. Although I don't know for sure, it probably is from somewhere near Albany in upstate New York. The first entry is 1830. My notes and running commentary are in brackets...

When I first looked through this ledger, I wasn't sure how useful it was – but eventually I broke a couple of brick walls, finding people mentioned as “son of”, “wife of” etc. So good luck!  

Names found in the posts for previous Mondays include:

Becker, Mary Beecker, David Billington, James Flansburg, Conrad Groat, Simon Houg, Peter M

Merenae, Abram Mereness, John Mereness, John Jr Moak, Phillip Rosenburg, Jacob Sirby (Dirby?), Nicolas

Sommers, Abram Sommers, Harriett Vanderwarker, George  (above might be Vandewater?) Vaness, John

Today, James Billington and his son, John, take up the entire entry...

One very odd entry (near the end) is “ faling one mill sane” - and one entry for “pickling cockle” (a cockle is a small salt water clam). But don't think cockles would have kept fresh to be brought from the seashore for pickling inland – any ideas?

On to the ledger entries!

(my) Writing Wednesday #5

I am continuing to “spiff up” each family's chapter in the family history. My chapter on Hans Dreper and Maritie Pieters is “cooked” at least to medium well – the chapter weighs in at forty some pages (single spaced, but Verdana font). I will take it out of the oven when I get the figures, tables, maps and illustrations incorporated... But it is lookin' good! After I think it is all done, I will read it aloud for flow, then circulate for other eyes to peruse... 

Meanwhile, I have begun the spiffing up process on the chapter on Jan Janszen Schepmoes and his wife, Sara Pieterse van Naerden. Jan Janszen Schepmoes, Sara and their two children^[1] immigrated to New Amsterdam aboard the fluiten (small ship), Dolphijn (Dolphin). The Dolphijn left Texel on September 7, 1637 and arrived in New Amsterdam March 28, 1638 ^[2] (six months!). Plagued by bad weather, a questionably unsafe ship, substandard services, and even moldy food, the trip undoubtedly was unpleasant. It may have been a small miracle that the family arrived intact after such a voyage. 

321st Anniversary of the Schenectady Massacre, 8th February 1690

“ … As to the causes of this bloody war, which they pretend originated with us, jealousy arising from the trading of our people...seems to be the principal one, for the Indians, that is to say, the Five Nations, were very friendly disposed toward us. The French begrudged us this and therefore made every effort to make them hostile to us …”

(Robert Livingston's contemporary account of the Schenectady Massacre[1])

On Februrary 8, 1690, the Iroquois and French attacked Schenectady in the dark of night. And the results were devastating. Burke, in his book, compares the Schenectady Massacre to other raids by the French and the Iroquois during the five year period from 1689 – 1704. During this time period, the Schenectady Massacre was by far the worst massacre in terms of fatalities (with 60 killed – the next highest was Deerfield, MA with 38 fatalities)[2] with 27 hostages taken (and a number of people died in the cold, driven out in their bedclothes). To put things in perspective, over 50% of the community died.

Willem Abrahamse (Tietsoort), [3] a Schenectady settler, was severely wounded in the massacre, but fled with his family to Esopus (Kingston), where they had friends.[4]

Willem and his wife, Neeltje Swart, had thirteen children, all of whom except Geertruy, Helena, Adrientjen, Marytje and Neeltjen were referenced in Willem's will (so may not have survived him). Of his children, Isaac, Helena, Adrientje, Marytje and Neeltjen would not have been born yet. Aaghe (Eytie), Elizabeth, Abraham, Sephanus, Jacob, Geertruy, Rebecca and Ariaantje would have been affected by the massacre.[5]

Tragically, Willem and Neeltje's nine year old daughter, Gertruy, permanently lost the use of her legs due to exposure from the extreme cold during their escape, and never walked again (see petition of 1707 where Willem asks for help because of his daughter's permanent injury).[6]

Monday's Mystery Ledger, part 2

This is a continuation of the ledger entries I started in my Monday Mystery Ledger (posted January 31, 2011).

The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to try to help me figure out where this ledger came from – patterns of names connecting to families might help narrow down the possibilities. Although I don't know for sure, it probably is from somewhere near Albany, Schoharie counties, etc.  in upstate New York. The first entry is 1830. My notes and running commentary are in brackets...

When I first looked through this ledger, I wasn't sure how useful it was – but eventually I broke a couple of brick walls, finding people mentioned as “son of”, “wife of” etc. So good luck!

Note that in the ledger, you will see “cwt” in entries related to sawing planks. I think it might mean “cut weight” and the unit would be in 100 lb. equivalents? Anyone have a better idea?

So on to the ledger entries!

Tulip Mania

One has to doubt un-"sourced" information about ancestors (much of which is myth, or a kernel of truth combined with wishful thinking, and some of may be an educated guess). So take a big dose of skepticism medicine here, as I am about to embark on a journey that likely is a few cups of myth, a gallon or so of wishful thinking, a pinch of an educated guess, and a few grains of truth.

One of the homes that can be identified on the Castello Map of 1660 is that of Pieter Stoutenburgh.(i) And therein lies the hero of our possible myth. In the 1800s, there was a flurry of small-run family history books published (what we might today refer to as vanity press). In early history books, as well as these family histories, we find a tale about Pieter. It seems that he has widely been credited with being the first person to bring tulips to the new world - in his pockets no less! I don't know about you, but those trips across the pond could run from 34 days (the Vergulde Vever in 1658) to well over a year (the Rensselaerswijck in 1636/37) (ii) on the high seas! I probably would have had a whole lot of things on my mind other than pretty flowers. And while there are a number of sources that say the story is true, none of them provide any support for the assertion. So if you are inclined to be gullible, it is time for an anti-gullibility inoculation.

While it could just be active imaginations that have given Pieter Stoutenburgh the role of “first to tulip” on these shores, it is plausible - there might be just a wee pinch of educated guess in there, and maybe a grain of partial truth. The Tulip Craze hit Holland in the 1630s, with everyone speculating left and right in the beautiful flowers. At the peak of the craze, in February of 1937, the price of a single tulip bulb could be driven to as much as 10 times the income of a skilled craftsman. (iii, iv)

(my) Writing Wednesdays #4: In their own words...

I am wallowing a bit in my writing... the downed power lines in the recent storm have not helped my productivity one bit, thank you very much! And it is COLD!

However, continuing in the context vein from last week, one thing that I have begun to do as I finalize a given chapter of the family history is to include contemporary quotes either to begin the chapter or in a side bar strategically placed within the chapter. These quotes – by contemporaries of the family members – reflect day to day issues as well as the grander issues associated with the wars and hostilities of life on the frontier. Of course, what I like about the accounts of the contemporaries of the settlers is that these accounts are written the the voices of the people who observed these events as they unfolded. As a result, they provide a perspective that we might otherwise ignore or misunderstand. Sometimes, our “modern” eyes views things quite differently – for example, in last Wednesday's post, I used the example of attitudes towards divorce – then – and now. These accounts help put a family member in their own time period. Knowing how they may have experienced something “then” is, in my mind, an important part of coming to know “who” they are and in identifying with them, enriching the family history.

Today I am briefly sketching out a few of my my favorite context providers on life in colonial New Netherland. So I have selected some contemporary quote sources (with exemplar quotations) – that might provide some of that very personal view by hearing about the area, the community, the historic events – in the “voice” of someone contemporary to my family member. Of course, better yet is to hear something in their own words, but we do not always have that luxury (unless, of course, our family lines included not only pack rat genes, but also the knowledge for preserving those 300+ year old documents!)

Monday's Mystery Ledger, part 1

I came across a very old ledger – but nowhere am I told who it belonged to... I probably could figure it out if I knew where it was from, so I am hoping for some help. If we put our collective eyes and genealogical detective skills together, we might just come up with some answers.

There is a lot of information between these pages, cover to cover. Sometimes it is confusing as things don't necessarily go from page to page in chronological order... if space was found between old lines, new entries were squeezed in...

I would like some help solving a mystery, and along the way, someone might find out something about a relative... lots of names and dates in here, even if they are not in any consistent order or format. I also find it interesting what people paid for what...

When I first looked through this ledger, I wasn't sure how useful it was – but eventually I broke a couple of brick walls, finding people mentioned as “son of”, “wife of” etc. So good luck!

What I know – its a ledger – upstate New York – probably Albany, Rensslaersville, Coeymans, Greenville, Westerlo – in the general area of Albany, Schoharie County, etc... Maybe someone will notice a pattern of names that can help identify the exact community. 

It appears to be a combination of employment records and things sold, and lots of other stuff tossed in for good measure, including sawing occasional planks and a recipe here and there...

I will transcribe and post a few ledger pages on Mondays and hope for the best. I will do the transcription in page order, which means the dates will jump around a bit. Maybe our collective noggins can solve the mystery of where it was (names should help) and who it might have belonged to... So here we go! My notes and running commentary are in brackets...

[The ledger is “hard bound” although coming loose a bit – remarkable condition for almost 200 years. Inside front cover, there is a glued on stamp about the size of a business card, that is affixed to the upper left corner.]

My Writing Wednesdays #3: Something Fishy...

A cold and blustery weekend, with ice (and 12" of snow last Thursday & Friday), made for a good "indoors" weekend... so I returned to one of my favorite families, Hans Dreper and Maritie Pieters. Maritie had a reputation for "petty quarreling." [1] She also said what was on her mind, and apparently didn't candy coat her opinions either - a tendency that occasionally placed her in a courtroom. So pigs weren't the only thing that gave Hans and Maritie headaches... on at least one occasion, fish did too!

Maritie evidently had been shopping for herring on a warm spring day (plankton eaters, herrings tend to be plentiful in the cool northern waters from May through August, a time when they are high in fat yet before mating season... the herring were caught in nets and and salt bine-cured in large barrels, sometimes with the addition of spices - the exact recipes were, of course, secret...). With different recipes for curing herring, obviously, herring purchased from one vender or another might be more or less to a given individual's liking.