The Parents and Family of Pieter Hessels

This quick post should be of interest to descendants of Uldrick Brouwer and his second wife, Adriantje Pieterse, a daughter of Pieter Hessel and Lysbeth Gerritse. I will refer you to Mike Morrissey's website, "New Netherland Ancestry," and his post of April 21, 2010, "The Parents and Family of Pieter Hessels of Bergen, N. J." for the full account.

The parents of Pieter Hessels have previously been unknown. Following up on a clue found in the will of Guert Coerten (of which an abstract can be found in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Volume XXI, Calendar of Records in the Office of the Secretary of State, 1664-1703. First Series. [Paterson, NJ: The Press Printing and Publishing Co., 1899]:41) where the testator mentions "the son of his sister Pieter Hesselse," Mike has located marriage and baptism records at the Reformed Church of Putten (in Gelderland), Netherlands, to identify Pieter's parents and his siblings.

Adriantje Pieterse was Uldrick Brouwer's second wife, his first having been Hester de Voe. Uldrick, probably born about 1673 at Schenectady, was the eldest son of Pieter Brouwer and Petronella Kleyn, and most probably the first grandchild of Adam Brouwer and Magdalena Verdon of Gowanus, L. I. Descendants of Adriantje Pieterse now can take this line of their ancestry back another generation.

BGB 681

Bennet Corrections

Over seven years ago in the post of November 14, 2012, I mentioned corrections to "Willem Adriaense Bennet of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Some of His Descendants," published in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, by Wilson V. Ledley beginning with volume 94, number 4 (1962) and ending with volume 95, number 4 (1964). The intention at the time was to follow up with more corrections in posts here on this blog. Well, that didn't happen.

Mike Morrissey, however, has further researched and published a large number of corrections to Ledley's series of articles. They can be found online on his blog, "New Netherland Ancestry," with nine posts dated March 30, 2017. The nine posts each focus on a specific Bennet family and include a genealogical summery reflecting the corrections. Sources are included. This is very professionally done. The work is very good here, and mention of the corrections can be found in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 149 (2018):316 (in Additions and Corrections to Articles in the RECORD). The corrections include the volume and page number from Ledley's articles for each individual being corrected, making it easy to compare the two (the correction and the original) side by side. This is a must reference for Bennet family researchers. There are, unfortunately, a lot of errors in that original publication. Here's list of links to the individual posts:

The Family of Jan3Bennet (Adriaen2, Willem1) (#9) and Femmetje Rapalje

The Family of Adriaen³ Bennet (Adriaen², Willem¹) (#10) and Barbara Vonk 

The family of Jacob3Bennet (Adriaen2, Willem1) (#12) and Barbara Verdon

The Family of Isaac3Bennet (Adriaen2, Willem1) (#14) and Magdalena Joosten 

The Family of Abraham3Bennet (Adriaen2, Willem1) (#15) and Jannetje Folkerts 

The Family Angeniejte³ Bennet (Adriaen², Willem¹) (#16) and Hans Volkerts Van Nostrand 

The Family of Jan³ Bennet (Willem², Willem¹) (#20) and Aeltje Wynans 

The Family of Willem3Bennet (Willem2, Willem1) (#21) and Arriantje Vandewater 

The Family of Jacob3Bennet (Willem2, Willem1) (#22) and Neeltje Beekman

Thank you Mike Morrissey, and my apologies for taking nearly three years to recognize this work!

I must emphasize that if you are using Wilson V. Ledley's published articles in the RECORD, you MUST consult the above pages for the corrections. The two have to be used hand in hand.

In addition, I would recommend exploring Mike's website for other New Netherland families that might be of interest. Many of the families featured in the posts (54 posts to date) are found in Kings County, New York and in New Jersey, two areas where baptismal and marriage records are very incomplete and where very careful research is required. Many of the posts correct previously published accounts (including other articles authored by Wilson V. Ledley) while others feature family summaries that (to my knowledge) are not published elsewhere.


BGB 667

Cemeteries of Brunswick County, Virginia

This morning I received the weekly email newsletter, "The Weekly Genealogist," from American Ancestors (the New England Historic Genealogical Society). This week's "Spotlight" is on Brunswick County, Virginia, which of course was the home of George Brewer of Brunswick County, Virginia of whom we have written about in past posts.

The post, by Assistant Editor, Valerie Beaudrault is focused on and provides a link to Cemeteries of Brunswick County, Virginia. Perhaps many of you George Brewer and Descendants researchers are already familiar with this site, but in the event that you are not, there are BREWERs found in the Index and there are a couple of Brewer Cemeteries found on the Family Cemeteries page. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other associated family names found on the site as well. You'll have to look.

1755 Map, from VirginiaPlaces.org

BGB 659

From Elsewhere

Articles and sources from elsewhere online that may just be of interest to readers of this blog.

• From the New York Times, March 25, 2019: "A Colonial Era Cemetery Resurfaces in Philadelphia." Remains buried at Philadelphia's First Baptist Cemetery were supposed to be removed and reburied back in 1860, but recent construction work at the old site as found that that did not happen.

• On March 12, 2019, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) updated their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. When you sign in to your account at FTDNA you will see this notice in an orange box with white print at the top on the left side (at least on a laptop). A good part of this update is in response to the public relations stumble on FTDNA's part over allowing law enforcement agencies access to customer's test results and personal information. If you have an account with FTDNA you should read this. There is now an opt-out option for those who do not wish for law enforcement agencies to have unfettered access to one's data. As the Legal Genealogist says, it's "A good start by FTDNA," but I'm in agreement here, the option should be to opt-in, and not to have to opt-out. This article in The Atlantic from March 29, explains how FTDNA went from not so much as mentioning their relationship with law enforcement agencies to their customer base to outright advertising it as a benefit for taking a DNA test with their company.

• There is a new genetic genealogy book published March 20, 2019. Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies, Debbie Parker Wayne, editor. Here is the link to it at Amazon (please note - I do not receive any compensation from Amazon or any other commercial site that I might link to, or direct people to). I'm sure it can be found elsewhere as well. I have not read it, so I can't review it. I only hope that an e-book version becomes available at some time. Here's a bit on the book from Cruwys News, and here is more detailed overview from Genea-Musings.

• From the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society website, March 15, 2019 - New York Divorce Records for Genealogical Research, by Frederick Wertz. An overview of divorce in New York starting in the colonial period and then afterwards. Some nice links are embedded here. This is an area that is often overlooked by researchers.

•  And from beyond the world of genealogy - Fifty years ago, 1969, the Amazin' Mets won the World Series. The New York Times has a multi-article tribute to this, the greatest team story in the history of baseball. I was ten years old in 1969. Shea stadium was just a few stops towards the city on the Port Washington line of the L.I.R.R., a direct route, no changes (you had to take the L.I.R.R. to Penn Station and then a subway up to the Bronx to go to Yankee Stadium). This is the age when you get hooked. Baseball was made for ten year olds and present day MLB, which doesn't seem to realize this, would do well to focus on them more. A graphic (Comparing the Series )towards the end of this segment illustrates just how baseball has changed, and not for the better, since 1969. The games were played in the afternoon, when baseball should be played. And they were about 2 hours and 20 minutes in duration compared to over 3 hours, sometimes approaching 4 hours for nine innings in 2018. We watched all the League Championship games and the World Series games in our fifth grade classroom on the big black and white TV (we even stayed a little late to watch the end of the games). One of our classmates got to go to game 5 and came in the next day with a piece of sod from the field in a shoebox. Yes, ten years old is a ripe time for initial impressions. This New Yorker has always been a Mets fan, and although 1969 has never been matched, I don't expect it to be, and that's fine with me. It can't be. It was just too Amazin', and thanks to the NY Times we'll always have it.

BGB 644

From Elsewhere

Word has been received from Google (Alphabet, I guess is the parent company's proper name) that Google+ will be "going away on April 2, 2019" (quoting the subject line of their email). I'm sure that if you have a Google+ account you have also received this notice. And apparently they have already started removing things like +1 buttons and badges from blog websites. The roll of Google+ followers has been removed from the pages of this blog. In the past I used the Brouwer Genealogy Google+ page to pass on genealogy related articles and the like that I found online that interested me and that I thought might interest others. Without the Google+ page that option is lost, so perhaps I'll on occasion just throw out a post, like this one, with some links. So here goes.

• Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) has been in the news lately and the topic is controversial to many. I don't believe that anyone at FTDNA is labeling it as "good news" anyway. On January 31, 2019, BuzzFeed broke the news that FTDNA has been allowing law enforcement agencies to upload DNA data to their website for the purpose of finding matches. The story was then picked up by many other news outlets from the NYTimes to Rolling Stone. The Legal Genealogist posted on this on February 1st, and followed up on February 3rd, again on February 3rd (with "A Letter from Bennett Greenspan") and on February 4th. I recommend reading The Legal Genealogist's posts on this issue, and there is more to consider in the comments section to those posts. Here is a direct link to the response from FTDNA. The Brewer DNA Project is hosted by FTDNA and this is an issue that every current member of the Project, every customer of FTDNA and every potential customer of FTDNA should be aware of. Everyone is going to have their own opinion and position on this. My overall concern is that what was once a fun hobby is now turning a bit darker, or certainly one that has some issues that are not so enjoyable but do have to be addressed. Whatever your opinion is, please just take the time to inform yourself on this very complicated issue which involves much more than just "catching bad guys." The fact that existing customers were not notified of changes to Terms of Service, with this new policy (which is claimed to have contradicted past statements by Bennett Greenspan) and issues of privacy including the violation of certain legal and Constitutional rights are also issues here. The possibility that all of this may well just slow down otherwise well intended genetic genealogical research is a concern.
• "Why You Should Dig Up Your Family's History - and How to Do It," was published by the New York Times on February 3rd. Written by Jaya Saxena, it's a nice take, and a plug for the overwhelming importance and enjoyment of traditional genealogical research (the way this was done before DNA tests). Some specific advice here too that will serve every genealogist well. I would single out in particular the paragraph on name variations, something Brouwers, Browers, Brewers, Bruers, etc., should be well aware of and familiar with. A terrific article for newbies and a nice refresher for the experienced.
• On January 31, the radio program On Point aired "Inheritance": When DNA Genealogy Shakes Our Identity, Foundation to the Core. This is the story of author Dani Shapiro and her experience with a DNA test that told her that her father wasn't her biological father. A very interesting twist to this story on just how that came to be, that I won't give away. It's about a 46 minute listen.
• And finally, this has nothing to do with genealogy, but it hits home for me nonetheless so I'm passing it on. I grew up on Long Island, and after school, sometimes during school, we went down to the Pizza shop and ordered "a slice." It was wedge shaped, thin crust, nothing but tomato sauce and cheese, pepperoni or sausage was an option. You could FOLD it. That's how you ate it. Today, I live in western New York, and all the pizza places make a pizza that is too thick to fold (although thinner than Sicilian pizza which is something else that you could also get at the Pizza shop) and they cut it in squares! There are pieces in the center that don't even have crust! You can't fold it, it's too thick (I know I already said that, but that's the essence of pizza). And there are all kinds of strange things you can put on it (even ham and pineapple). Apparently there is even something called a "breakfast pizza." They should not be allowed to call this stuff pizza. It isn't pizza. So, here's an article from the New York Times from January 16th on REAL pizza. This is pizza! Glad I got that off my chest.

BGB 637

Seen Elsewhere Today - A Map of Long Island

Today the blog of the Brooklyn Historical Society has an image of a map of Long Island, circa 1850.

BHS - Map of the Month - January 2014

It is described as a "Travellers Map of Long Island," and was published by J. H. Colton, and there is a link to a citation from New York University Libraries. The resolution isn't too good when enlarge the image, but still, the locations, Flatlands, New Utrecht, Gravesend and others can be made out. I can pick out a road, which I believe would now be Northern Blvd., that skirts just under Flushing, Great Neck, Cow Neck (where I grew up), then Oyster Bay (the village) and Huntington. The road below that (also west to east) would be Jericho Tpk. It goes through Jamaica and Westbury, and continues on to Riverhead.

If you have a fondness for Brooklyn, this is a nice website.

BGB 365

New Findings on Ancient DNA

Yesterday's New York Times (December 4, 2013) has an article by Carl Zimmer regarding new evidence relating to the ancient biological origins of humans.

"Baffling 400,000-Year-Old Clue to Human Origins"

The article is of interest to those of us who have taken part in the National Geographic's GENO 2.0 Project, and are curious as to just why we were shown to have a relatively higher level of Denisoven DNA when compared to Neanderthal DNA, despite the fact that our known genealogical history is strictly European. Previously, Denisoven DNA was only known from an example dating back 80,000 years and found in Siberia. But now, Denisoven DNA has been identified as early as 400,000 years, and was taken from a sample found in Spain.

The PBS News Hour website posted a similar article by Rebecca Johnson, with a more beguiling title, "Oldest known human DNA reveals we're 'complete mongrels.'"

BGB 352

The Historic Hendrick I. Lott House in Brooklyn

Although this has nothing to do with Brouwers, here is a nice article on what has become of and what is going on with an historic Dutch house in Brooklyn.

"Keeping House, At the edge of the city, an old Dutch mansion awaits its day in the sun," by Amanda Gutterman, with photos by Emily Frances Olsen.

The article appears online at BKLYNR, a site dedicated to journalism regarding Brooklyn. A subscription is required, but non-subscribers get one free article a month, so the link should get you there.

BGB 349

New Challenges for Future Genealogists

Today, genealogists and family historians looking back two, three and four hundred years, are confronted with the problem of an incomplete trail of records. Official documents such as birth and baptism, marriage, and death and burial records are often missing, have been destroyed or simply never existed to begin with. Some family relationships simply cannot be proved to the level of "modern genealogical standards" that are desired for by some.
A New York Times article published earlier this month, "Who's on the Family Tree, Now It's Complicated," explores an entirely different set of concerns in store for future genealogists of the 22nd century and beyond. The question of just what is it that defines a family relationship is discussed. With surrogate parents, sperm donors, same sex couples, single parents, etc., the concept of what is a "family" today is far different than what it was just a few generations ago. What is truly more important, the chain of DNA that links one generation to the next, or the emotional, personal and dependency ties that do the same?
Many of the comments posted for the article are also insightful.

PDF version of this post

BGB 7