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From:
Subject: Re: [D-Col] Origins of Early Settlers
Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 20:21:40 EDT


In a message dated 05/29/2002 4:31:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:


> Cohen, writing in 'How Dutch Were the Dutch of New Netherland?' in the
> January 1981 issue of *New York History* (graciously supplied to me, by the
> way, by my local librarian, Dale Smathers), has this to say about origins
> of
> the early settlers of New Netherland:
>
> (quote) ...I have determined the exact places of origin of more than 900
> settlers who immigrated to New Netherland in the seventeenth century, as
> revealed by ship passenger lists, genealogies, collections of colonial
> documents, and ethnic and local histories. The data include those people
> whose place of origin was listed in the population of Rensselaerswyck from
> 1630 to 1657, passengers on ships arriving between 1654 and 1664, as well
> as
> many of the founders of Dutch families still living in New York and New
> Jersey. I carefully compared the sources in an effort to avoid duplicating
> individuals mentioned in more than one source.
>
> These 900 settlers represent a large part of the total Dutch population of
> New Netherland. In 1647, Direct General Stuyvesant estimated the
> population,
> excluding the three English villages on Long Island, as 250 to 300 men
> capable of bearing arms. In 1673, the Dutch population including women and
> children was estimated to be 6,000. The first census for New Jersey was not
> taken until 1725, but based on figures of people swearing oaths of loyalty
> to the English government, it is estimated that the total population of
> East
> Jersey was 548 during 1665-1668 and 1,995 in 1673. Using the estimate of
> Capt. Mathias Nicolas, Secretary of the Province of New York, that the
> average family in East Jersey consisted of five individuals, our data
> represent about one-half the families in New York and East Jersey. (end
> quote)
>
> Cohen's sources include (briefly): Bailey's Dutch Houses; Bailey's
> Emigrants
> to New Netherland Account Book from NYG&BR; Bayer's Belgians; Bergen's List
> of Early Immigrants from NYB&BR 1883; Bergen's Early Immigrants from the
> Holland Society Yearbook in 1896; Evjen's Scandanavian Immigrants; Harvey's
> History of Hudson and Bergen Counties in NJ; Stokes' Iconography of
> Manhattan Island; Reynolds' Dutch Houses in Hudson Valley; and Van Laers'
> Van Rensselaer-Bowier Manuscripts.
>
> Interested researchers should consult Cohen's 18-page article for
> immigrants' occupational backgrounds and a table further delineating places
> of origin by European city.
>

Friends and cousins,

Interested researchers should also be a bit wary of this article. I have not
read it, nor do I have any brief for or against Mr. Cohen, but I could not
help but notice that he has depended almost entirely on secondary sources,
and at least Bergen and Evjen have some reliability problems. His main
points and conclusions may be just fine, but I wouldn't take them to the bank
without checking further.

Regards,
Ted Snediker

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