That Dutch Heritage

Blockhead, that was a word we heard often.

No, not directed at us, but perhaps in conversation, reminiscing, or towards the cattle. He always told us that was a favorite term of his father towards him. He being our grandfather of Dutch ancestry.

We didn't know much about his dad, our great grandfather, but what little we did know was that he was a hard working farmer, just like our grandfather. As far as I recall I never met him. He was gone by the time I came around.

There is a copy of the family tree around, and it details the family back to a guy coming from Amsterdam in 1651. So the family is firmly grounded in it's roots and the Dutch heritage. Some interesting characters in there as well. The Dutch tended to follow a very specific naming convention when naming children, so there are many Adams and Abrams in there.

Knowing all this is reassuring, and explains some of the family dynamics. Being able to trace the family back that far is pretty cool as well. This year I have hopes to perhaps extend that knowledge if possible, by going to Amsterdam and exploring the family a little deeper. I understand that task was done twice already and nothing but dead ends there. So I don't have any delusions about finding a "smoking gun" so to speak. But i do look forward in walking around and exploring those regions in the Netherlands.

There was some turmoil in the Netherlands back in the 1600's and that led to folks heading to the New World, New Netherlands as NYC was know. And that there was little land to be had unless you were of the upper crust. New opportunities were available if you could get yourself to the new world.

Our ancestor not to be deterred, hitched a ride by agreeing to be a farm laborer for a wealthy family here in the new world for 3 years, and the end of that 3 years he would be free to pursue his own opportunities. Somewhere along the way he married into a family of means and ended up with a large tract of land. From there the family thrived.

However, today not one parcel of that land remains with the family. They have scattered and set up residence elsewhere. In my grandfathers case, he bought a new farm a few miles away and that farm was the Dutch Manor. It was not on any of the original lands.

Built somewhere around 1800, it had many barns and out buildings. There was also a family cemetery on the grounds. It is said that a Senator built it for his family and are all buried in the cemetery. A large Greek Revival style home.

Those barns gave us kids many adventures. Running through them, building forts in the hay lofts, and creating our own imaginary armies.

A small parcel of the old farm was used primarily to get fire wood and do a little hunting on. We would hunt deer and small game there, and sometimes cut up loads of fire wood. There were a few buildings left at the time, a large barn, and a smaller shed, that to this day houses a few old farm implements.

As things go, that land too was eventually moved out of the hands of the family. It was donated as part of a larger nature conservatory that has been growing around it. Sometimes a drive down there and wander around a bit. The shed is still there with a few old implements in it, and the old foundation where the house was is still easily found. A very large and ancient Maple tree sits in the open area, and it is easy to walk around and visualize how things might have been.

Farming life is a hard life, there are no fairy tales there. You worked for everything you had and if you didn't work you didn't have anything. There are no hand outs on a farm, and you confront the brutality of daily living.

I come from a long line of farmers, but my grandfather did not push us to pursue it. If anything he pushed us away from it, always telling us how hard it was and that no one in their right mind would choose it as a living. I don't think he liked being a farmer, but it was all he knew.

He was born quite a bit later than his brother and sister, and did not grow up with them. His older brother was not a farmer, he lived quite long to 98. I may have met him when I was very young and do not have memories of him at all. Same with his sister, she passed long before I could recall her.

These things become important as my son ages. I want to pass this heritage on to him. He can know firmly where he came from and who his people were. Even though they have all passed on now, he should still have a firm understanding of who they were.