Letters 3/3/2020

Making plans for the next Dutch Cousins Gathering!

FIRST, A word from our new president Tamara…

SENT BY:  Tamara Fulkerson, President, Dutch Cousins 2019-2021                    FOR THE LETTERS EMAIL:
Dear Dutch Cousins!
The 2019 Dutch Cousins Gathering was a great time of getting together again and meeting brand new cousins. Many thanks to our officers for all of the work they put in to making it a success. I hope all of you are doing well, Spring is on the way.   

Your Board is already at work planning and organizing for our 2021 Dutch Cousins Gathering in Kentucky.  We are hoping to retain the same venue that we had last year through Kentucky State University.  If we cannot meet at that location we are actively researching our other options.  If you have any ideas to add to our list please let us know.  The venue needs to be able to hold 200 people at tables, a food serving area, and heritage display table area.

We would like for our current members to get involved in a membership drive.  We do not have dues so it will only consist of letting people know about us.  We will attach a pdf flyer to an email in the near future.  The idea is for you to forward it to family, friends and any genealogy organizations that you are involved with.  Printing it out to post at libraries and historical societies as well as on any public bulletin boards is welcomed. Using them as handouts at different meetings would be greatly appreciated.  Our numbers are dwindling and we need to make more people aware of who we are so that we may increase attendance at our gatherings.  

We still have positions to fill.  We are in need of a Vice President, An Editor of the Newsletter, Chair of the Heritage Displays, Historian and a Publicity Writer.  Please let us know if you are interested in any of these positions.  It is imperative to fill them so that we may have and keep all of our bases covered for our next gathering in the Fall of 2021.

Best regards, Tamara Fulkerson, Dutch Cousins President 2020 and 2021——————————————————————          

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———————————————————————

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. I can’t imagine how I unsubscribed…that sure wasn’t my intention!  I was making a move so who knows, but I love getting the letters and appreciate all of your hard work getting info out to us!

 I’ll try to write some info on my family lines soon as I have made some great progress on my VanDykes & Couwenhoven families who came to KY & OH. 

For now….I just moved last month so I’ll update my contact info.  Thank you again!——————————————————————

SENT BY: Charlotte Olson
To Susan Fuhr-Dunn, would like to “talk” with you about our family. Email me at dccaodar (at) gmail (dot) com or reply to Dutch Cousins newsletter.Looking forward to sharing!charlotte ——————————————————————

SENT BY:  Alan Weaner, caretaker for the Low Dutch cemeteries in Adams County, PA

New gate built for swift run (cemetery at Connewago Colony).   Talking to a mason this weekend.   Alan Weaner——————————————————————

SENT BY:  MarinaVan Nuys  Neal
Good morning – I’m at work, so I need to be quick. We are just getting acquainted with your organization, so I’ll leave it to you whether or how this info might be shared with other members of Dutch cousins.

Our connection with you is the Isaac Van Nuys family. Cousins from one family and our sister are now sharing genealogy info.

Here is an interesting site dedicated to American Battlefield info. Perhaps other Dutch Cousins will find it useful and interesting?
https://www.youtube.com/user/CWPTbattlefields/featured ——————————————————————

SENT BY: Charlotte L. Olson (our SAR/DAR helper)
Reply to Susan Fuhr-Dunn:  Information concerning the  family members that you mentioned in the latest newsletter can be found in the three volume set titled, West of the Salt: Early Terhunes of Mercer County KY. The section on the Vandeveer/Vandivier Settlers in in Vol 1, pages 65- 68. A web site is mentioned for documentation on the Vandivier family:www.veerhuis.org.
I tried to locate this site and was not successful, but I am not techy! No snickers from those cousins who know me!  Vol III, page 21 gives the genealogy of Peter Garretse Terhune and Lucinda Heaton Terhune, parents of Frances.Vol III, page 29 gives Frances genealogy.Previous generations begin on… page 1, including a picture of the ship on which the Terhune family traveled to Delaware in 1638. Wonderful story.The work is thoroughly documented, with the documentation footnoted.  Harrodsburg Historical Society, has copies of West of the Salt. Or, I would be overjoyed to send the information to you, if you would trust me with your address. You can email me directly at dccaodar@gmail.com. My great grandmother is Mary Virginia Terhune LucasCharlotte sneak peek: Frances was born c 1827 in Mercer Co. KY. She married James Henry Vandivier on 26 Aug 1846 in Mercer Co. He was born 20 Jun 1824 in Mercer Co. and died 1906, also in Mercer. ———————————————————

SENT BY:  Doug Demaree
I am at Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park today in North East Tennessee.  Having a great time.   I am a descendant of the Dutch cousins by way of my Demaree family connection.  I am also descended from Captain Nathaniel Hart of the Transylvania company.   I am at the location where he negotiated with the Cherokee for the purchase of 20,000,000, yes million acres.    ——————————————————————

SENT BY: Joan Murray (author of Bantas of Pleasant Hill — and other books)
Hi Carolyn and all my Dutch Cousins.  I just viewed all the photos of the 2019 reunion.  I so wished we could have attended, but our granddaughter’s wedding took preference. Thanks to all those who worked to have the Low Dutch and Westerfield markers replaced. Best regard to all of you. ——————————————————————

SENT BY: Judy Cassidy
A couple of things  1.  I discovered the original Conowago Baptismal and Deacons Records at the Historical Society and wrote about them in the New Netherland Connections which was published in Vol 12, No.4, Oct, Nov., Dec. 2007. Harry Macy also wrote the translation in Vol 13, No. 3, July., Aug., Se[t 2008, titled Conowago Deacon’s Records 1777-1803.  Vince paid to have the records photographed, and both he and I have a complete copy as does Harry Macy.  I also wrote an article titled “Journey of 100 yeas,” which I have attached and this was also published in the New Netherland Connections. 2.  Regarding the Church and the wording on the sign.  The original that our ancestors attended prior to Kentucky was located next to the Northern Cemetery.  The second Church, next to LaSalles, was not built until most had departed and it shut down ca. 1804. 3.  The numbers appearing in the items, taken from my book, for the Brinkerhoff Slave Cemetery, as footnote numbers which I neglected to remove. I have some early photos, which I will copy and send. One more thing.  Several of the Deeds and Wills, I donated recently to the Low Dutch Archives are Conowago Documents of various members of the Congregation. from the York Co. Archives.
Also Arthur has a copy of his map (I have the map) in which he marked the location of churches, Cemeteries, and homes of members of the Congregation.  They were closer to Hunterstown as Gettysburg is a ways away.  Judy——————————————————————

SENT BY: Kathy Van Every
I am so grateful to have found my Dutch Cousins! I am heading to Kentucky later this week to spend a couple days around Lexington, Danville, Harrodsburg to attempt to solve one or two “mysteries” surrounding my Verbryke family. Hoping to find out what happened to Maj. Verbryke’s son, John. And more about John’s family (he married Jane Smith Head) – specifically when his son, William was born. And more about William’s wife, Mary Young (all I know is her father was Stephen Young). 

A couple things: I’d like to contact Kimberly Verbryke Knepper, also Greg Barnard, and finally the current Terhune’s. Kimberly, for obvious reasons. I’ve found that by finding cousins, you also can find a wealth of information given that their lines have information you might not have. Case in point, my Harris’ from Louisville, they were a bit of a mystery until I found a Harris cousin living in California that had a letter from an aunt written in 1932 that talked at great length about her grandparents, both born in 1800! That was a priceless treasure to find! 

As to Greg, I’d like to help out with the old cemetery project in any way that I can. I’d also like to find out if anyone knows where the good Major Verbryck may be resting in that place as I’d like to make arrangements to have a headstone placed there. Is his wife, Rebecca Low also there? 

As to the Terhune’s, I’d love to find out if they know anything about Rebecca (Verbryke) Terhune taking in her orphaned nephew, Thomas Verbryck when he returned to Kentucky as a small boy from Missouri. His parents, William and Mary Verbryck both died there in 1849 about 3 months apart. All the children returned to Kentucky, but only Thomas was living with his aunt in 1860. It also seems that Thomas went on to medical school in Louisville in 1874ish but then he disappears from the online historical record. His sister, Juliet, passed away in Lexington, age 17 from tuberculosis.  I am just north of Dallas! I am planning to come in 2021!

Thanks again for everything.  ——————————————————————