Presidential Relations

     This past Saturday morning, as I was sipping my coffee, and leafing through The New York Researcher, Fall 2011, Volume 22, Number 3, I came across a book review on page 66 that caught my interest. "The Quakenbush Family" by Arthur D. Quakenbush, Jr. is a manuscript that is to be self-published by the author sometime in 2011. 
     The author's family history of the Quakenbush family is documented and traced to Jan Quackenbosch born in Holland about 1565. His grandson, was Pieter Pieterszoon Quakenbosch, who came to New Netherland with his wife, Maritgen Ariensdochter in 1653. 
     As I was reading this, my excitement was growing. I have a Pieter Quakenbos in my family tree. Could this be the same person? A quick look through my family tree confirmed that this was so. Pieter Pieterszoon Quakenbosch and Maritgen Ariendsdochter are my 10th great-grandparents. 
     Hmmm...what else could I find out about them? Excitedly, I entered Pieter's and Maritgen's information into my family tree on Ancestry.* A search of public family trees returned over 40 results with this couple. So, of course, I had to go through them to see if there was any information that I didn't have and what sources were used. 
     Do you know what happens when you go on a search like this? After fifteen minutes or so, you find yourself down a rabbit hole far from where you began. In this case, I found myself reading information about the 8th President of the United States of America, Martin Van Buren.

     Turns out Martin and I are related. He is my 4th cousin, 7 times removed. Our common ancestor? Pieter Pieterszoon Quakenbosch.


*My Ryckman family tree on Ancestry is not public. I use it as a base to figure things out and as such the information it contains is not always correct. There are too many incorrect facts about the Ryckman family on Ancestry. I don't want to add to that. If you are interested in the Ryckman, Van Slyke, and Quakenbosch families, please leave a comment.

Copyright 2011 by Kathryn Lake Hogan.

These Roots Run Deep

Over the past year or so I have been contacted by a number of Ryckman cousins with varying comments and questions.
I am taking this opportunity to address some of them.
1) Our Ryckman roots run deep. Our family has been in the New World for 400 years!
2) Our Ryckman ancestors liked to have children. Lots of them!
3) If those children were male, then they likely would have been named John (Johannes), Samuel, Tobias, Harman(us), Cornelius, Albert, William, David or Peter.
4) With so many Ryckman (Rykeman, Rickman, Ryckmen, Rickmen, Rightman, Wrightman, etc.) men with the same name, it can get confusing as to which John Ryckman is yours.
5) You have to do the research. I cannot possibly research the whole Ryckman family. Start with yourself and move chronologicallly backwards in time. I am descended from Albert Ryckman and Hannah Van Etten. I do not have information about Cornelius' or Tobias' lines of the family.
6) Don't rely on the information about the Ryckmans that you find on the Internet. There are too many Ryckman family trees posted out there that are flat out WRONG! Example: Albert Ryckman, born in 1766, was not married to Neeltje Quakenbos, who was born in 1653. Hint: There are two Alberts!
7) If you find a Ryckman child in the household of what appears to be an unrelated family in a census, then you need to research why. It is possible that the parents may have died. Look at death registrations and surrogate court records. Look at the preceding and following census records.
8) Sometimes you just can't find the information because it no longer exists. You will need to research secondary sources.
9) Purchase some well-researched, well-sourced books about our family. See Olive Tree Genealogy to get started.
10) If you have contacted me and we are from the same line of our Ryckman family, I will be happy to share what I have about our family, and will include sources. Thanks for your patience.


Copyright 2011 by Kathryn Lake Hogan.

Will-less Ryckmans

As part of the pre-conference activities at the OGS Conference 2010, I spent the day at the Archives of Ontario.
Negative results were the outcome for most of my Ryckman research there.  Albert Ryckman (1766-1850) did not have a will.  His son, John Ryckman, also died without a will.
The Surrogate Court records for Middlesex County, Ontario from 1840-1846 were destroyed in a fire in the late 19th century.  Of course, these would be the records I needed for Albert's son, William.
The good news is that I did get a few land records.  Once I have the change to go through them, I will share the findings here.


Copyright 2009 - 2010 by Kathryn Lake.

Follow Friday: Olive Tree Genealogy

Got Olive Tree Genealogy?

If you are researching New England, New York, New Netherland or Dutch ancestors, then you need Olive. Olive Tree Genealogy that is.

This is a big shout out to my fellow geneablogger and (distant) cousin, Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy, Olive Tree Genealogy Blog and Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question.

If you have New Netherland roots, then you need Olive Tree Genealogy. Lorine has spent oodles of time putting terrific and accurate information on her Olive Tree Genealogy website plus relevant links to other resources and websites. The best part is that it is all FREE!
Thanks to her, I have found some Schenectedy Reformed Dutch Church baptism and marriage transcripts for my Ryckman ancestors.

But wait...even if your ancestors didn't come from these places, you still need to check out Olive Tree Genealogy because Lorine had tons of information on immigration, passenger lists, military, Quakers, Palatine, Huguenots, and more!  This is a resource you cannot afford to miss.

Also, Lorine is the author of five family history books. If you are researching the Van Slyke family, I highly recommend Lorine's book The Van Slyke Family in America. Not only is it full of facts with documented sources, it is also interesting reading. I have been able to add six more generations to my family history because of the information in this book.

Want to know what's going on with genealogy, or some good advice on how to do genealogy or where to find databases? Then check out Lorine's blog Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. You will find all sorts of good information here that you can have delivered right to your email inbox or favourite blog reader, just by subscribing.

Did I mention how helpful and friendly Lorine is? If you have a genealogy question, you can send it to Ask Olive Tree Genealogy a Question. Everyday, Lorine chooses one question to answer and posts it on her blog.

The genealogy and geneabloggers communities are blessed to have Lorine and Olive Tree Genealogy.  Thanks Lorine for all you do!

If you haven't got Olive Tree Genealogy by now, then what are you waiting for!?


Please note that the opinions and experiences shared here are my own. I have not been paid or compensated in any form for my endorsement of these websites or blogs.

Copyright 2009 - 2010 by Kathryn Lake.

Genea-goal 2010: Proving William Ryckman

My plans and goals for my Ryckman family remain the same as last year because I still have my brick wall.  Here are my genea-goals for 2010 for researching my line of the Ryckman family:

• Find the information needed to prove that Harman A. Ryckman is the son of William Ryckman.
• Find the information needed to prove that William Ryckman is the son of Albert Ryckman.
• Contingent upon the above two items, complete my application for my Loyalist certificate as a descendant of John Ryckman.  Proving William Ryckman or should I say the lack thereof, has been the one thing holding me up with getting my certificate.

Achieving all three genea-goals this coming year may have the result of me doing some major happy genea-dancing!

Posted for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy.

Copyright 2009 by Kathryn Lake.

I'm a Double Ryckman

With the RYCKMAN family being in North America for just over four hundred years, knowing which line of this family to research can be tricky.  Just about anyone in Canada and USA with a Ryckman ancestor is related to anyone else who has a Ryckman ancestor.  Some of us are "double" Ryckmans. Throw into the mix that the Ryckman ancestors liked to use the same common given names and you can see how confusing researching this family might be.

The couple posted on the blog banner here are my great-grandparents, Harman Eugene RYCKMAN and Ida IRWIN.  They are the beginning of my research into the Ryckman family.  I have been researching them and their ancestors since 2002.

Here is a condensed pedigree of my line:

Me
Parent
Grandparent
Harman Eugene RYCKMAN and Ida IRWIN
William Eugene RYCKMAN and Elizabeth Saphronia RAYSON
Harman A. RYCKMAN and Icavilla SIMONS
William RYCKMAN and Kearce Elizabeth WIRICK
Albert RYCKMAN and Hannah VAN ETTEN
Johannes RYCKMAN and Eunice WARD
                                                Johannes RYCKMAN and Maria VAN SLYKE              
Johannes Albertse RYCKMAN and Catherine KIP
Albert Janse RYCKMAN and Neeltje QUACKENBOS
*Jan Janse RYCKMAN and Trijntje JONAS

Remember the double Ryckman line?

                                             Johannes RYCKMAN and Maria VAN SLYKE (same as above)
Cornelis VAN SLYKE and Claartje Janse BRADT
Jacques Cornelisse VAN SLYKE and Grietje Harmense RYCKMAN
*Harmen Janse RYCKMAN

*Harmen and Jan were brothers.  It is because Maria Van Slyke married back into the Ryckman family that many descendants have a double ancestral line.

If you are researching the Ryckman family I would love to hear from you.  And even you aren't, I would still be pleased if you left me a comment.