Letters 3/22/2020

SENT BY: Carolyn (Herself)
Please change my address in your address book to Buffalo234@cox.net or CarolynLeonard@me.com. I don’t check the Gmail as often as I shoul——————————————————————

SENT BY: Alan Weaner
inre: Conewago north cemetery wall
Wall fixed….  till the ground hogs tear into it again.   One lost his life…scratched out 1 to many rocks.  10 bags mortar mix    nearly 1600 lbs sand   and  80 man hours.  Please add my sister, Edie Weaner Rice, 
she puts solicitations for help at the low dutch cemeteries on facebook. I will send pics of the new gate when I get the top repainted. Materials were about  $385 Labor  $1230   For all 5 sections of the wall that collapsed.    Pictures were on the inside.   2 outside sections were bad and they are done. The arch of the gate above the posts needs repainted. Gate is redone by Donnie Trostle (new) and white. $130 for materials and sandblasting the hinges. 
Before and after photos

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SENT BY:Sharon Lynch
Hi Carolyn…..I’ve been so busy with a move the last few months that I didn’t realize I wasn’t receiving the Dutch Letters until you posted today on FB.  Somehow I must have gotten off the list.  Can you please add me again, but I am changing my email over & this one will end soon, so please add me with my new email.
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SENT BY:  Larry Voreis
Hi Carolyn,
Sorry for the belated response. During the last six months I have been traveling, trying to keep up with my ninety-five-year-old mother and fighting to complete a writing project I have been working on for the past five years. In my spare time in April and June-December I hunt every chance I get. I concede this time to no one. We disconnect our phone because of all the calls from politicians and cranks, and I check my emails about once a month, sometimes longer. My goal is to finish the book project this year and that means everything else is put on hold. I hope you will forgive me for not participating in the Conewago historical marker project. 

However, you may want to contact Sewah Studios Inc., 190 Millcreek Road, Marietta, OH 45750 about making and installing a marker. They do it all, fabrication and installation, and their prices seen reasonable. I believe we would be better off if we placed one marker at each cemetery, not on a state right-of-way. That way we eliminate the problem of dealing with the State of Pennsylvania Historical Commission. The cemeteries are private land and no one has a better right to place markers there than the descendants of those buried there. I would just do it without consulting anyone and eliminate the local and state bureaucrats who could care less about the Low Dutch. Just do it!

I also have in my possession some several surveys for both cemeteries, the first of which was made in 1930. These all came from copies made at the Adams County Historical Society, which cannot be copied without their permission.

Thanks for sending me the email address for Dutch family interested in the Kentucky Low Dutch. If they are able to make the trip, maybe Vince and I could give them a tour–after this virus stuff goes away.

Again, my apologies for being offline. I hope you understand.

Regards,
Larry
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SENT BY: HENK VAN DONGEN, A COUSIN WHO STILL LIVES IN THE NETHERLANDS!

My name is Henk van Dongen from the Netherlands. This summer my family and I will be visiting the USA (God willing). On our intended itinerary from Ohio to Tennessee we will pass through Kentucky. We would like to stay there for a few days and get to know some people ( I read about the Low Dutch cousins) there, but what would be the best place to meet and greet some of our fellow countrymen? It would be nice to converse on age old Dutch traditions and possible ties with the old motherland. Or perhaps the ties do not stretch any further than the times of New Amsterdam in the 1600’s.

Perhaps you know the perfect location where my wife and I and three of my children could settle for a day or three before moving on to Tennessee.  (May be you do not feel any ties with the old Dutch fatherland anymore. In that case you can ignore my writing to you.)

I look forward to hearing from you,

Kind regards,
Henk van Dongen
FROM CAROLYN herself:  I hope all our Dutch Cousins will have some welcome words for the van DONGENs coming to America from our mother country – the Netherlands
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SENT BY: JULIE VAN DYKE
Hi Carolyn,

I receive your Dutch Cousins newsletter and I just wanted to thank you for the information you posted last month regarding the Conewago settlement.  My family— Van Dyke— is one of those that stayed in Conewago while the majority of the settlement moved on to KY.  I did see that my ancestor Peter Van Dyke was one of the signers on a petition to the Continental Congress in 1783, at which time he listed himself as an “Intended” settler.  However, we know that he never went to KY (or at least didn’t settle there), as my ancestors remained in Conewago up until my father’s time.

I was curious about what your sources are for that information?  

Please add me to the list of individuals interested in the Conewago settlement.  Unfortunately, we are experiencing financial difficulties because I have been laid off from work, so I can’t offer any donation at this time. But I would love to be apprised of the happenings there, and with God’s help will be able to contribute sometime in the future.
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SENT BY: Greg Barnard
(INRE: abandoned cemetery near Harrodsburg)
Had good visit with the Banta/Demott property owner last week before Kathy Van Every from Texas meeting me there with 3 relatives. 
Owner is still pursuing the clean up and interested in making it a Ky. Pioneer Cem. Keeping his receipts but may never present them to me. Long story. Ground is just now thawing. Thankfully, the owner and I have a common cause which is honoring our ancestors. He is a good guy but it took me a year for him to see what a “jewel” he had on his property. 

What is wonderful is for a Dutch Cousin to come all the way from Texas to see the cemetery. We have a great group!
Greg Barnard (photo posted above)
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SENT BY:  Carolyn Leonard; Research on Major Verbryke:
William (Wilhelmus) Verbryck/Verbryke (1737-1824)

(applicatio for pension #8799)
Verbryke served under Col Abraham Quick, Col. Vroom, and  General Frelingheusen, and was also paymaster for Hunterdon and Somerset countes militiamen. However as C. Vanarsdale said, no matter how faithful Maj. Verbryke was with the pay, it was worthless Continental paper money,

He served from March 1777 to the close of the war. He married Rebecca LOWE 20 Mar 1777 in Somerset County, New Jersey.

Was in the battles of Monmouth, Germantown, and Millstone which was just a few miles from his home. Several of our Dutchmen served under him and filed documents to assure a widows pension for Rebecca. Such familiar names as Cornelieus VanArsdale, John Tumey, Peter Huff, and Peter Carnine testified to Maj. Verbryke’s bravery and dedication. 

Peter Huff said he grew up just two miles from Rebecca Lowe’s home in NJ, and they were schoolmates. He visited often in their home after she married Major Verbryke. Peter Huff verified testimony for many of our Dutch Rev. Veterans, and witnessed important papers.)

John Tumey enlisted under Verbryke shortly after the British took possession of New York. (Tumeys intermarried with my Cozine)

At one time more than a hundred British soldiers came to capture the Major. They surrounded Verbryke’s home in the middle of the night to take him prisoner, but he escaped, taking his son with him to his father-in-law’s house. 

 Peter Conine said he was a clerk in Verbryke’s store before the war.  He lived with them for at least two years after their marriage, and was there the night the British came to take Verbryke prisoner.

When Rebecca Lowe was applying for a widow’s pension she tore out a page from the bible of her late husband, William Verbryck.  This must have been the family bible that originally had belonged to William’s father, Bernardus Verbryck and his wife Jannetje Schenck.  The first side of this page was used to prove the marriage of Rebecca Low to William Verbryck and proof that Dorothy Verbryck Demott was their daughter.  The back side of the page appears to be a partial death record for two of the children of Bernardus Verbryck and Jannetje Schenck.  Year 1742 Aug 8 my daughter Nettie died age 11.  Year 1743 Nov 23 my daughter Sarah died age 23. (I don’t know who has this page, it may be in his pension papers) 
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SENT BY: Janice Cozine, Dutch Cousins treasurer
In my last email I mentioned,  
“If anyone would like to ‘personally’ donate to any of these projects listed above, please look on the website for more info OR just ask, we can get the info to you”.

This would be donations made to “The Old Mud Meeting House” &/or “The Low Dutch Cemetery, Conewago Colony” near Gettysburg, PA. &/or “The 2019 Historical Markers”.

If you donated in the past/or going to in the future, to 
“The Old Mud Meeting House”, this is tax deductible, if you made/make your check payable to, 
“The Harrodsburg Historical Society”, and in the lower left Note: for Old Mud.
BUT If you donated directly to the Dutch Cousins, your donation is not tax deductible.

If you would like to make a donation in the future to 
“The Low Dutch Cemetery, Conewago Colony” near Gettysburg, PA., please make your check payable to, 
“The Low Dutch Cemeteries Improvement Fund”.
We are hoping to make this deductible in the future, but at this time it is not a tax deductible fund. 

If you donated to The Historical Markers in 2019, your donation is tax deductible depending on how you made the payment. If you made a check payable  to  “The Future Fund Endowment” it is,  but your donation is not tax deductible if you donated directly to the Dutch Cousins. 

I’m sorry for the confusion, I’m trying to break it down a little more and make sure the ‘fund names’ are correct.
Thank you!!
Janice Cozine 
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SENT BY: Alan Weaner and Edie Weaner Rice
Photos of the north cemetery before repair: If they don’t show up here, check the webpage www.DutchCousins.org.
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Our Dutch Cousins MISSION STATEMENT

We are descendants of the Low Dutch who settled New Amsterdam, moved to New Jersey, migrated to near Gettysburg, and made history when they later populated the frontier.  Our Dutch Kentucky Cousins goal is to research, share, and preserve the genealogy and history of our common Low Dutch heritage, including but not limited to, the restoration and preservation of the old Mud Meetinghouse built by our ancestors in the early 1800s near Harrodsburg, KY.  We meet every two years to renew our love for each other.  Our mission is to honor the memory of these ancestors and enjoy the friendship of cousins, both newly- discovered and long-loved.
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HERE ARE THE PHOTOS FROM THE 2019 Dutch Cousins Gathering in Kentucky!
SENT BY:  Pam Ellingson
I did upload Charlie’s photos to the DC google account. The following link should allow access and people can download the file of 429 photos. Thank you Charlie Westerfield, immediate past president!
https://bit.ly/2Pm0DVX
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