Due to privacy concerns, I will not name two of my neighbors whom we love and are involved with, and with whom I’ve found that I am kin to or were neighbors of as much as 400 years ago!
I wrote a blog post about my 7th great-grandfather, Hartman Vreeland (read it here) who was one of the Founders of the state of New Jersey in the USA. I found a marvelous book by Evelyn Hunt Ogden who listed the founders of NJ and included brief biographies of all the founders. Besides our 7th great-grandfather, I have discovered kinship or connections in present times with ten of this community who were alive and well in New Jersey in the mid and late 1600s!
One of my neighbors used to be a police officer in this area of North Carolina where we now live. In my research, I find his own 10th great- grandfather was the sheriff of the community in New Jersey where my Hartman Vreeland lived! How is that possible? They both purchased land from the Native Americans as well! What an incredible find, and what an amazing ancestral history to discover you share with your neighbor. His grandfather kept my grandfather safe in 1665, and now my neighbor helps keep us safe!
Also living on our street is a family where the father used to teach in the same school with my husband, before my husband retired. They are a loving, young family whose child is friends with our grandchild. They moved into our neighborhood after we did, and were not known to us before then. Now I find through my dna, and a paper trail, that I am kin to both the husband and the wife! It looks like our ancestors were together in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, 400 years ago!
We live on a cul-de-sac with 12 houses; I can now draw kinship or connections to at least five of my neighbors from 300-400 years ago! Five out of twelve is 41.6% , almost 42% of those twelve, and I haven’t investigated the rest! In my next post, I’ll disclose a discovered kinship to a neighbor in our same subdivision, but on a different street, with whom I can prove a relationship from the 1300’s–over 600 years ago! To me this is a miracle, awesome, and such an amazing adventure in research, dna, and genealogy!
January 19, 2015 at 11:44 am
All I can say is that it is a small world. Makes me think about the people you pass by in everyday life and if the are related.
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January 19, 2015 at 1:43 pm
Hi Charles,one of those “Founders of New Jersey” in the book by Evelyn Ogden, is a Samuel Moore, 1630- 1688. “Samuel Moore was born c. 1630 at Malden, County Essex, England; died at Woodbridge, New
Jersey on 27 May 1688. He married first, 3 May 1653 at Newbury, Massachusetts, Hannah Plummer,
daughter of Francis Plummer. She died 8 December 1654. He married second, 12 December 1656 at
Newbury, Mary Ilsley, daughter of William and Barbara (Stevens) Ilsley of Newbury who died after 3
June 1678 at Woodbridge. He married third, 23 December 1678 Anne Jaques, widow of Henry
Jaques, Jr., of Woodbridge.
Samuel Moore was a resident of Newbury, Massachusetts, before 1653. About 1666 he removed to
Woodbridge, New Jersey, where he filed in Piscataway Township surveys for a number of tracts of
land. He was assigned a patent for 70 acres on 27 December 1667 and about 1670 received a patent
for 356 acres.
Moore served as Town Clerk for 19 years, was sent as Deputy to the General Assembly and
returned to that office five times. In 1668 he was chosen a delegate to the first Legislature held in
the Province of New Jersey at Elizabeth Town; in 1669 was an aide to the Surveyor General and was
also appointed Constable. Between 1670 and 1687 Moore was overseer of the highways, rate-maker
and gatherer and assistant justice of the Township Court; President of the Township Court in 1672
and 1674; Marshall of the Province of East Jersey under Governor Carteret 1672-3 and was also
Treasurer of the Province. In 1683 he was appointed the first High Sheriff of Middlesex County, at
that time a position of great dignity and responsibility.
The inventory of 7 June 1688 gave Samuel Moore’s personal estate as £132.16.11 and included 1
negro boy of 15 and two negro girls. Thomas Gordon, administrator, leased to Richard Dole and
Samuel Moore, Jr., on 22 April 1690, one grist mill, mill house and bakery in Woodbridge belonging
to Samuel Moore, deceased.
Barbara Carver Smith #C3
REFERENCES
Woodbridge and Vicinity, by Rev. Joseph W. Dally
Township of Woodbridge, N.J. 1669-1781 by John M. Kreger
Americana, Vol. XXXIII, 1939
History of Elizabeth, NJ by Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield
New Jersey Archives, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Vol. XXI
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. CXXII” Kin to you?
Thanks for your continued support Charles!
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January 19, 2015 at 9:17 pm
Helen I’m going to move on your street so you can finish researching my family. This is just so interesting and unbelievable! I keep saying it – it needs to be documented in a book or a TV show, it’s truly just!!!!! I have no words…. Maybe you should have a seance with a medium – in your neighborhood – that would truly be so interesting, but I’d tell her nothing just that all the neighbors wanted to be there. Then if she said something – i think I’d move. LOL Not really. Let me know when the seance is and I’ll be there. I’ve always wanted to go to one.
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January 20, 2015 at 12:56 am
Oh Jeanne! I started to play twilight zone music in the background! I have even checked my dna matches for former neighbors, but no dice! No matches! It’s only here! Come on down!
Helen
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January 22, 2015 at 3:07 am
Hi Helen:
I learned about your blog via Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog.
Reading it, it struck me that surnames such as Voorhees, Van Swol, Spier and Vreeland sound very Dutch. Being Dutch myself, I was very much interested. I also have a blog with many genealogical subjects. One of my posts shows a survey of foreign genealogical blogs/sites showing Dutch origin surnames. The URL is http://www.patmcast.blogspot.com/2012/05/dutch-ancestors.html. The idea is to try and establish contacts between people who have an interest in the same surname. There are numerous cases in The Netherlands where people emigrated centuries ago without leaving a trace in Dutch archives. With my blog I try to bring Dutch and foreign (mainly US/CAN) genealogists together.
Therefore, I like to have your permission to show your site in my a.m. blog.
I look forward to your reaction!
Kind regards,
Peter
PS A quick check revealed 67 Voorhees hits in the Dutch National Archives. Also the other surnames are mentioned in my blog.
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January 22, 2015 at 4:53 am
Hi Peter, how interesting! I enjoyed perusing your blog and am looking forward to being included in your listing. I noticed Van Winkle written about also, one of my surnames. Through your lists, i now have several other blogs to follow I noticed Van Meter also and am familiar with a blogger from Luxembourg who writes about Van Meder– i think, need to check it again. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks for including my blog in yours! Helen
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January 23, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Ok, you are in now! If you want me to add or change anything, please let me know. I have taken the liberty of including your twitter address as well. This Luxemburg blogger sounds familiar to me but I am unable to locate him at this time. Happy hunting!
Cheers
Peter
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January 27, 2015 at 9:53 am
I think this is pretty amazing. Maybe if I moved to an ancestral area in Lowndes County, AL or Athens, Tennessee, I would find some matching DNA neighbors. Or even Detroit!
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January 27, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Hi Kristin, thanks so much for reading and commenting. Perhaps what you say is true, however, remember, coming to this neighborhood seemed like pure happenstance. I knew no one, I wasn’t from here, it was just as I got to know people and then worked on my own genealogy…its just …well..I don’t know what it is! LOL a miracle it seems!
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January 28, 2015 at 1:56 am
I found this so interesting. Through NA I connected with a gentleman that is a 4th and a 6th cousin. We connect on my Daddy’s side and also on my Mama’s side through different ancestors. It is definitely a small world.
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January 28, 2015 at 2:33 am
Thanks for sharing your experience Word Spinner! It is amazing isn’t it!helen
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January 28, 2015 at 3:13 am
It sure is!
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August 7, 2015 at 5:37 pm
Almost half of your cul-de-sac of 12 — amazing.
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August 7, 2015 at 7:20 pm
Hi Lisa, it is amazing! and unless you are related to Chris Lind who traces back to Lindberg, itis interesting that you found your way here, because i just helped him with his tree and found I was related to him and the Lindbergs! If you’d like, you can write to me to follow up at helenholshouser@gmail.com
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