LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.09.28 (01) [D/E]

Tue Sep 28 16:56:15 UTC 2004

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Troy Sagrillo <meshwesh at bigfoot.com>
Subject: LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.09.27 (04) [E]

on 27.09.2004 9.58 PM, Bill Wigham <redbilly2 at earthlink.net>:

> They came over here in the 17. C. and civilized New Jersey as well as New
> Amsterdam.

This may not help you specifically, but on the subject of genealogy and
Nieuwe Nederland, see the following:

http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/welcome.html

http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/firstsettlers/index.html

http://www.rootsweb.com/~nycoloni/

Note, there is a heavy emphasis on the Rensselaerswyck (Albany) colony, but
many settlers there moved to Nieuwe Amsterdam after a series of English +
Indian attacks. It is really an interesting period of history.

HTH.

Troy

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From: ezinsser at icon.co.za <ezinsser at icon.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.09.27 (04) [E]

Hi Bill and Lowlanders,

I'm a descendant of Cornelis Gerryts Van Niekerk who arrived here at the
Cape of Good Hope
in 1672, probably from the town Nijkerk in the Veluws, Gelderland region. (I
suspect that
my forbearers spoke either Veluws or Achterhoeks).

I think it's possible to establish from where people arrived originally. My
mother was a
Van der Merwe and they arrived here in 1660 from the South Holland region
around the
Merwede river.

I've not found too many other Van Niekerks (apart from my sister in RI) or
Van der Merwes
in the US, though!

Regards,
Elsie Zinsser

>The question is: is it possible to tell from which part of the
>Nederlanden all the Vans came from...or is that just not realistic.  >They
came over here
in the 17. C. and civilized New Jersey as well >as New
Amsterdam.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Genealogy

Elsie:

> I'm a descendant of Cornelis Gerryts Van Niekerk who arrived here
> at the Cape of Good Hope in 1672, probably from the town Nijkerk
> in the Veluws, Gelderland region. (I suspect that
> my forbearers spoke either Veluws or Achterhoeks).

As you probably know, the autochtonous language varieties of Veluwe and
Gelderland are Lowlands Saxon, as are those classified as "Achterhoeks."

The long /ii/ in the name ("Niekerk" vs Dutch "Nijkerk") is consistent with
that too, though dialects of Flemish and some of Dutch proper have preserved
it too.  I wonder if it ought not be *"Niekark" then.  Or does the /er/ >
/ar/ shift not apply that far west?

Sure, most van Niekerks seem to be found in Southern Africa when you do a
web search.  But there is a Mies van Niekerk at the University of Amsterdam
who specializes in Netherlands-related migration.  Perhaps she knows
something about it (if she isn't originally South African).  There are also
a Dutch writer called Marlene van Niekerk and a sailing champion called
Peter van Niekerk.

Here is a Dutch register with several Niekerks listed, most of them with
Amersfoort mentioned:
http://www.nikhef.nl/~louk/LKW/total.nn.html

Here a register of Niekerk:
http://members.home.nl/jaap.bos/01/01_00001.htm

I suppose the city of Nijkerk is still called Niekerk in the Saxon-based
dialects.  This is consistent with Mathieu's list
(http://taal.phileon.nl/nds_groningen.php) for Groningen (LS) place names.
But there seem to be one Niekerk (postal code 9822 AA, Groningen?) and two
Nijkerk (postal code 3861 BK [Veluwe?], 3861 MC [Gelderland]) in the
Netherlands.

Here a brief history of Niekerk (with a picture):
http://www.demarne.nl/show?id=411421&textonly=249153
"Zuidersmaklap te Niekerk
Niekerk wordt voor het eerst in 1445 genoemd. De betekenis van de naam wordt
verklaard als dorp gelegen bij nieuwe kerk. Het tufstenen romaanse kerkje
werd in 1629 verbouwd met geld dat de provincie Groningen had ontvangen
nadat Piet Hein in 1628 de Zilvervloot op de Spanjaarden had veroverd. "

Here about Nijkerk in Veluwe:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nijkerk
http://www.internetgemeentegids.nl/asp/gem_memo_index.asp?ad=1&netnummer=033&memo=history&id=325
http://www.stadnijkerk.nl/

And here about Niekerk in Gelderland:
http://www.nijkerk.org/show

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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From: marco [evenhuiscommunicatie] <marco at evenhuiscommunicatie.nl>
Subject: LL-L "Genealogy" 2004.09.27 (04) [E]

Bill asked:

> Sorry, no Nelsons.  But while we are on the subject we do have, Van
Tassels,
> Van Houtens,
> and Van Ripers, Speers, Freidrichs, u. Stegers (Steigers?) in the family
> tree.  The question is: is it possible to tell from which part of the
> Nederlanden all the Vans came from...or is that just not realistic.  They
> came over here in the 17. C. and civilized New Jersey as well as New
> Amsterdam.  Speer was also Dutch also.  Friedrich(s) and Steger may have
> been from Koeln.

Try www.familienaam.nl. Just fill in the familyname at the top and you get a
very nice overview of the geographic spread of the familyname. But keep in
mind that a lot of Dutch names in New Jersey and New York were anglified.
Van Tassel is probably Van Tessel in the Netherlands, Speer could be Spier
and so on. Van Riper is a difficult one. I heard that some American families
at a certain point just made up names with 'van' or 'van der' just to sound
interesting and "aristocratic".

Good luck,

Marco Evenhuis

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