Never knew until recently that I have a sixth great-grandparent of Dutch descent. The problem with the ethnicity estimate from Ancestry is they group Netherlands under 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 & 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦. Yet even if Netherlands was separated from the 5% 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 & 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦 in my admixture, it might only be half a percent anyway. Nevertheless, traditional methods enabled me to trace the family line back six generations from my paternal grandmother 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 to my sixth great-grandmother 𝗔𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗷𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗳 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁. From there I traced the line back four more generations to my tenth great-grandfather 𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁.
𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁, his wife 𝗚𝗲𝗲𝘀𝗷𝗲, and their four children lived in Meppel, Drenthe, Netherlands where they farmed and raised cattle; 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁 is actually a placename which means “of the western fields” and refers to an area near the small town of Meppel where there were fertile, green pasture lands. My ninth great-grandfather 𝗥𝗼𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗳 was four years old when the family emigrated to the New World during the Colonial Period. On April 8, 1662, 𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁, his brother Willem, and their families boarded a ship called “de Hoop” (The Hope), captained by Pieter Emilius and sailed from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 arrived in New Amsterdam sometime between May 24 and June 29, 1662. So it took them 6 to 12 weeks to cross the Atlantic. New Amsterdam was a Dutch settlement established in the New Netherland colony at the southern tip of present day Manhattan. New Netherland was originally founded by the 𝘋𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 as a trading post for exchanging furs with the natives. When the first Dutch settlers arrived ten years later, it marked the beginning of colonization in present day New York. There were only 1,500 colonists living in New Amsterdam when 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 landed.
While looking for the passenger manifest, a professional board-certified genealogist who specializes in Dutch genealogy helped me find this centuries old document from the New York State Archives that lists emigrants from Holland to New Netherland between 1654 and 1664, with their accounts, debit and credit. This account book for the 𝘋𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 serves as a passenger record of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦 listing Captain Peter Emilius and seventy-two passengers including my tenth great-grandparents and ninth great-grandfather. 𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗟𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗻 is listed on page 110 and his brother Willem is listed on page 108.
The two brothers became the progenitors of the 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁 family in America. Upon arrival in New Amsterdam, they settled on Long Island and the family name was changed to 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁. Just two years later, the English seized New Netherland from the Dutch. The handover ceremony took place at the Stadt Huys in New Amsterdam on September 8, 1664. New Amsterdam was renamed New York City by the English and New Netherland became the state of New York. My tenth great-grandparents were among the earliest European settlers of present day New York City.
After the English takeover, the family moved to Hackensack, New Jersey which was only a very sparsely settled community at the time. Descendants lived in Bergen County for generations. Many of the Dutch Colonial-style houses they built there and lived in are still standing today. The records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Bergen County provide a detailed paper trail going back to at least 1686 and other records go back even further. From these records it was possible to trace the family line. The 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁 family history is well-documented and a 200 page book written by Walter Tallman Westervelt in 1905 titled 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 is a good starting point. I recently purchased a copy from a bookstore online.
