Between 1932 and 1954 the Record published many brilliant articles by William J. Hoffman on the Dutch origins of early New York families. Hoffman was born in the Netherlands and had a knowledge of Dutch sources and families unmatched by any American genealogist. Much of his work is summarized in a unique typescript in the NYG&B Library entitled “Settlers from the Netherlands in America before 1700: A Compendium of Genealogical Information.” It is bound with an every-name index and is found under library call number Locality Shelf 1 (N3822).
The body of the text is a genealogical gazetteer of seven provinces of the Netherlands: North Holland, South Holland, Utrecht, North Brabant, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel. Under each province are listed cities, towns and villages in alphabetical order, and under each of these locales are listed the settlers in America from that locale, in approximate alphabetical order. For each settler Hoffman gives key genealogical and biographical facts, culled from Dutch and American sources. At pages 7-17 there are notes on armigerous settlers summarizing Hoffman's series, “An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent” (Record vols. 64-72), and his “Notes on Arms of Families of Dutch Descent” (The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 106). At pages 24-36 there are notes on some settlers from other Dutch colonies and other countries, as well as various settlers of unknown origin.
This work is essential for early New York research since in many instances it contains the best (or only) brief compilation on a settler and his family. It can be used as a genealogical dictionary of 17th century Dutch settlers, but it is clearly incomplete: many locales are missing [despite cross-references in the text to those locales] and the four other provinces (Friesland, Gelderland, Zeeland and Limburg) are missing entirely. The Library also has two boxes of Hoffman's manuscript material, but most of the contents concern his own ancestry. For his obituary, see the Record 87:78.
by Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG, FGBS
Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Fall 1994
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