Saturday, April 27, 2019

INTRODUCTION



Ancestor Margaret Williamson McCreary (b. 1835, Ohio) was nearly all Dutch, plus she had some French Huguenot ancestors whose lines migrated through the Netherlands en route to America. Surnames in her ancestry include Van Voorhees, Schenck, Wyckoff, Van Ness, Van Den Burchgraeff, De Mandeville, Van Dyke, Brokaw/Broucard, Bogaert, Willemse, Brouwer/Brewer, Koning, Demarest, De Ruine, Verdon, Van Der Veer, Seuberinge, Van Nostrand, Van Nortwick, Andries, Van Arsdalen, Hendricks, Wilms, Van de Raede, & many more. We had only to identify Margaret’s parents and grandparents in order to connect to multiple ancestries outlined in the book “The Van Voorhees Family in America: The First Six Generations”.

This blog is meant to focus upon selected topics pertaining to some of these Dutch ancestries. This blog is not intended as a forum or discussion board, but constructive comments are welcome. Helpful fora include the Schenck Genforum http://genforum.genealogy.com/schenck/ and the Mandeville Genforum http://genforum.genealogy.com/mandeville/

yDNA: SCHENCK-FIVE & TWO NORTHERN NETHERLANDS MATCHES

My 8th great-grandfather Roelof Martense Schenck (b. abt. 1619) & his brother Jan had many descendants in America, including this yDNA inter-matching group: Pete, Paul, Ray, Bob, & Daniel. Ray has a 101 of 111 STR (Short Tandem Repeats) yDNA markers match with Johannes L., whose ancestry tracks back to Noord Scharwoude which lies just northeast of Alkmaar in North Holland. The unknown Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) for Ray versus Johannes L. was unlikely to have lived earlier than 15 generations back from Ray. The unknown father of my Roelof Martense Schenck was 11 generations removed from me. Ray has with Hans Z a 62 of 67 STR markers match. It is difficult to say whether the MRCA Schenck versus Hans Z was before, or after, the MRCA Schenck versus Johannes L. The reported ancestral locations of Hans Z (near Dokkum) versus Johannes L. (near Alkmaar) are about 148 kilometers apart by current roads.



North Holland Canal north of Alkmaar

In the Friese Wadden yDNA Project at www.familytreedna.com/public/friesewadden?iframe=ycolorized the “Clan of Schenck” shows the kits of Ray & Hans Z. Note than Hans has tested his Haplogroup R1b SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) phylogenetic tree sequence down to U198. “Downstream” (later mutating) markers could be further tested in any of our male Schencks, or close yDNA kin, down to a Terminal SNP. http://meekdna.com/U198dna/P1_U198.html
https://www.yfull.com/tree/R-U198/ Downstream from DF89 is suspected.


Various historical records turn up Schenck people in Friesland, & it is likely that some were totally unrelated to Schenck Van Toutenburg or Schenck Van Nydeggen. For example, in the Open Archives NL records for Leeuwarden Friesland, people who are clearly Schenck Van Toutenburg are so indicated. So, who was Melchior Schenck Van Lubeek of 1561? Kin to Van Toutenburg, or not? And/or kin to Schenck people known to have lived in northern Germany?


Some Schenck-of-Netherlands who went to America are not DNA kin to my Schenck-of-Flatlands Long Island line. Roelof’s purported cousin Johannes Schenck (b. 1656; Schenck-of-Bushwick L.I.) has yDNA descendants, the “Schenck-Two”, who are not yDNA matches with the Schenck-Five Plus Hans Z & Johannes L group. Keep in mind the possibility of Non-Paternity Events down a line. I think, however, that these two Long Island Schenck families were in fact never kin, although their descendants intermarried, & this may potentially create some autosomal DNA puzzles.


There is a stand-alone story (a family “tradition”, with no documentary support) of some Sir Roelof Schenck, son of Admiral Van Schenck, who was not the same guy as my Roelof. At least a generation separated the two Roelofs. Roelof (Rudolf) is a given name seen more in the north of the Netherlands, never in Schenck Van Nydeggen (Limburg & vicinity) records. A 1670 painting of New Netherland was done by some Peter/Pieter Schenk, a person unknown to me. Kin or not?


The above legend of Sir Roelof Schenck links him to Henry Hudson. Which reminds me of the blog note by Hans Z “Frieses in the Wake of Hudson”, about Frieslanders who were early migrants to New Netherland. www.hvnf.nl/2009/02/friezen-in-het-kielzog-van-hudson/


The Blog of the Historical Society of Northeast Friesland:
http://sneuperdokkum.blogspot.com/ Hans’ article on his yDNA connection to Schenck: https://sneuperdokkum.blogspot.com/search?q=Schenck



SCHENCK AUTOSOMAL DNA


My autosomal DNA matches include several people who descend from Roelof, most in known ways. I also have other lines of Dutch ancestry, & am particularly interested in those with North Holland roots, given my Schenck cousins’ yDNA match with Johannes L who has ancestry near Alkmaar. Broek op Langedijk is interesting: Perhaps near a one-time location of my distant genetic kin, & not far from the Angela Esmee boat-and-bike tour route followed by my wife Kathryn & myself a few years ago. At the end of the tour, we were met by Hans Z in Amsterdam.



My 7th Great-grandmother Mayke Roelofse Schenck (b. 1683; m. Jan Lucassen Van Voorhees) had several sibs, & half-sibs by the first wife of Mayke’s father Roelof Martense Schenck (b. 1619?). Among my several Schenck autosomal DNA (atDNA) matches, descendants of Mayke’s half-brothers Gerret Roelofse Schenck (b. 1671) & Jan Roelofse Schenck (b. 1670) have been particularly fruitful. The atDNA results appear in databases at Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA, &/or the publically viewable www.gedmatch.com Several apparent descendants of Jan Roelofse Schenck (b. 1670; m. Sara Van Kouwenhoven) have with me sizable shared chromosomal segments on Chromosome 6. At GEDmatch, go to either the original format or the new Genesis format. My kits are A693287 (from AncestryDNA) & T203534 (from FTDNA). My Chromosome 6 matches who descend from Jan include T230807. People who match both him & me print out to about a page. Several of those kits triangulate at the same Chromosome 6 shared segment. Some matches exceed 24 centiMorgans, a nice big chunk for that far a generational reach. Jan & Sara were ancestral to a lot of people, some famous. They reportedly had 54 grandkids. Seewww.wikitree.com/genealogy/Schenck-Descendants-215 I think that actor Lee Van Cleef was my 8th cousin, once removed. Chromosome 6 is not the only place where my atDNA cousins descending from Jan code. On Chromosome 16, I have a small 6.9 cM shared segment with a descendant of Jan’s son Jan Janse Schenck (b. 1722; m. Neeltje Bennett). Leading down to Leah Schenck (m. Peter Shanks) & beyond. Jan Roelofse Schenck (b. 1670) was also the ancestor of the newest member of the Schenck-Five yDNA group, who is Gary’s 8th cousin once removed.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

VAN MIDDLESWARD, BROKAW, VAN VOORHEES, & VANOVER

Gary’s 7th great-grandparents include Sarah Teunis Van Middlesward/Middlesworth & Jan Brokaw, who were married in 1704 in Somerset County New Jersey. This couple are one set of Most Recent Common Ancestors for myself versus DG in the Ancestry.com tree of bossbb96, & may account for the atDNA 24 centiMorgans shared chromosomal segment. Two Van Middlesworth brothers of Sarah were executor & witness, respectively, of the 1719/20 will of Cornelius Vanover Jr. (= Van Houwegem). The will abstract may be accessed via https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Houwegem-1 Information on Cornelius Vanover III is at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vanover-11 Marretje Buys, the wife of Cornelius III may have been a cousin of our Sarah. Starting at Cornelius Vanover IV on down there is a divergence whereby several descendants have with me autosomal DNA matches, &/or are otherwise persons known to me. Cornelius IV: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Vanover-10

Cornelius Vanover V was a reported ancestor of Darlene, who is a cousin via another way to one of my daughters-in-law. Cornelius Vanover VI is the route down to some of my atDNA matches at Family Tree DNA. Richard Vanover (b. 1776), brother of Cornelius V, was ancestor to more of my atDNA matches, including (1) Mark, whose Vanover yDNA is known; & (2) GEDmatch kit # T074840 whose atDNA Chromosome 9 shared segment with me triangulates with several other people. Included in the Chromo 9 triangulation is Kit # M883609 who is also known to have Vanover ancestry. And Kit # A107023, whose ancestry includes Van Voorhees. And a Chromo 9 shared segment at FTDNA, not sent to GEDmatch, but who also has Vanover ancestry.

My Jan Brokaw & Sarah Van Middlesward had a daughter Marytje Brokaw who married Petrus Van Voorhees. These latter two appear on Page 73 of “The Van Voorhees Family In America: The First Six Generations”. Marytje’s & Petrus’ son Stephen Petrus Voorhees (m. Margareta Hendrickse Van Dyke) as my 5th great-grandfather, is captured by Thru Lines at AncestryDNA. More atDNA matches.

The Vanover yDNA Project results are at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Vanover/default.aspx?section=yresults Haplogroup R1b, tested to SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) marker L21+ (Atlantic Celt). I think that one of the displayed kits is Mark, with whom I have a Chromosome 1 = 14.99 cM shared segment at FTDNA.

The Conewago Dutch Colony in Pennsylvania was home to a large number of my Dutch & French Huguenot kin, including ancestors of my second great grandmother Margaret Williamson McCreary. https://www.cayugagenealogy.org/church/conewago.htm but it appears that my ancestors had parted ways by then with their Vanover cousins. More on Vanover: http://www.family-genealogy-online.com/Jewell/vanover.html

In 1779, British Ranger Lt. Col. Simcoe burned the Raritan Dutch Reformed Church (built in 1709), where many of my Dutch kin had attended. I didn’t much like his character in the TV series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn:_Washington%27s_Spies
https://urcsomerville.org/index.php/about-us/our-history
I’m liking Simcoe even less now. A convincing villain.

The original Raritan Church was already in existence by the time of the 1720 death nearby of Bourgon Broucard, my 8th great-grandfather. Bourgon was father of my Jan Brokaw (m. Sarah Teunis Van Middlesward) & also of Abraham Brokaw, ancestor of my atDNA match bb1645 at AncestryDNA. A few years ago I saw the Walloon Church in Amsterdam, likely briefly attended by the Broucard/Brokaw family. See https://www.geni.com/people/Bourgon-Broucard/6000000001322009858 & search for 8th great granny Sarah Teunis Van Middlesward.

Margaret Williamson McCreary

Marytje Brokaw Van Voorhees