When I read of Ms. Dorothy Ann Koenig’s passing a few days ago,
from the California Genealogical Society and Library facebook page, I knew I
had to write something about Dorothy.
Let me take you back to how and when we connected. Fortunately,
Dorothy replied to a query on RootsWeb in 2001, and I found it in November
2008, when I was looking for some information. Her email didn’t work for me, and I was determined to find her so, how did I get
it? I am sharing some of our letters to give you insight into what a wonderful
generous lady she was. If you’ve never written a genealogist for help, you might be
missing out. She helped me solve a major brick wall, the ancestry of my 3rd great-grandfather, I couldn’t have had a
better person to guide me along. Dorothy will always be in my heart and memory for as
long as I do genealogy, so, in other words, a very long time. I'm sharing some of our letters, and you can see the fun we had.
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11/14/08
Dear Dorothy,
Back in 2001 you replied
to several RootsWeb queries and sourced the book, "A Genealogy of the
Reyniersen Family" and that is the purpose of my email to you. I
can't locate it in my area (Massachusetts) and wondered if you had a personal
copy of it? My line is, I believe, Simon Anderson, then his son
George who married Violetta Ten Eyck.
I do know the book is in
Salt Lake City, but as is always the way, I was there three weeks ago, but then,
didn't know that Anderson was in the book.
On another note, I see we
both know Steve Danko, as a matter of fact, he gave me your email, as the 2001
address didn't work and this email was returned to me. Thank
goodness for your name + genealogy I found you through Google and Steve.
When you wrote the below,
is that all that there is in the book that pertains to the Anderson line?
Dorothy, you wrote to Rootsweb stating:
"-- The authors list
6 children for Simon Anderson and Mary Van Anglen; the dates
are birth dates:
4 Jun 1783
Mettje/Martham. 16 Oct 1803 Hendrick Suydam
25 Aug 1785 Sarahm. 18
Sep 1803 Garret Stothoff
8 Aug 1787 Dinah
8 Nov 1789 Jemima
8 Mar 1796 George
2 Mar 1799 Cornelius
There is a *possibility*
that the George born in 1796 could be the one who married Violetta Ten
Eyck in 1816,..."
Sincerely,
Barbara Poole
-----
The next day, she wrote
back
Sat, Nov 15, 2008
subject Re: "A
Genealogy of the Reyniersen Family"
Dear Barbara, I'm
glad that you were able to locate me! The book in question is "A
Genealogy of the Reyniersen Family", by Peter M. Rinearson and Arthur P.
Rynearson published in 1997. It is page 67 that has the information about
the family group of Simon Anderson and his wife Maria/Mary Van Anglen. Maria
was the daughter of Cornelius Van Hengelen and Sarah Reyniersen. Simon
was the son of George Anderson and Mettie Van Wickle (sic). The birth and
death dates for individuals in the family are given. For your George (the
son) the birth date of 8 March 1796 is given. He was baptized on 3 April
1796 in the First Dutch Reformed Church in New Brunswick, NJ.
These New Brunswick
baptisms have been published in the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical
Society. I can confirm that little George's baptism took place on 3 April
1796. The parents' names were recorded as "Simon Aderson (sic) and
Mary Van Hengler.
If you want to email me
your postal address, I will xerox the page from the Reyniersen book and mail it
to you so that you can have all the dates and places.
Dorothy
-----
Dear Barbara,
The book has 660 pages of
rather small, dense print. I will be happy to look at the information you
have compiled on your George, son of Simon. Try as I might, I was unable to
open the "X-Attachment-Id: 330@goomoji.gmail" in your last message.
I use a Macintosh
computer. Is there a way you could append a "normal" attachment
or imbed your timeline in the body of your next email message?
I am the editor of a
genealogical quarterly, "New Netherland Connections". When the
Reyniersen book was published on 1997, one of the authors contacted me, and I
immediately purchased a copy. I guess the print run was rather small, and
now I own a treasure :-).
Dorothy
-----
From: Dorothy Koenig
Dear Barbara, Yes, I think you are on the right
track. My basic impression is that your George Anderson, son of Simon,
either didn't know exactly when he was born OR that as time went by he
exaggerated his age. The ages of George and his siblings as presented on
page 67 of the Reyniersen Genealogy come from a handwritten copy of a family
Bible record. (See pages 831-833 of volume 2 of "Genealogies of New
Jersey Families" [1996]). The whereabouts of the original Bible is
unknown today:
"In the year 1755 was
Simon Anderson Born on the 10 Day of December.
In the year 1761 was Mary
Van Anglen Born On the 30 Day of November.
In the Year 1783 was Martha
Anderson Born on the 4 Day of June.
In the Year 1785 was Sarah
Anderson Born on the 25 Day of August.
In the Year 1787 was Dinah
Anderson Born on the 8 Day of August.
In the Year 1789 was Jemima
Anderson Born on the 8 Day of December.
In the Year 1796 was George
Anderson Born on the 8 Day of March.
In the year 1799 was
Cornelius Anderson Born on the 2 Day of March.
In the year 1806 December
21 then Simon Anderson Departed this Life in the fifty second [year] of his
age."
From the same source we
also learn:
"In the Year of Our
Lord 1802 in Martha [Anderson] Married to Hendrick Suydam October the 16th Day.
In the Year of Our Lord
1803 is Sarah Anderson married to Garret Stothoff on the 18th of September.
In the Year of Our Lord
1804 the 9th of September Jarominah Anderson Departed this Life in the 15th
Year of her Age."
There is more on the
earlier generations of this ANDERSON family on pages 371 and 372 of the same
volume.
On page 5 of "New
Jersey Marriage Records, 1665-1800", by William Nelson, 1990, we learn
that "Simon Anderson, Somerset" and Mary Van Hauglin" received a
license to wed on 11 October 1781. (I am sure that the "u" in
Mary's surname is a mis-transcription of an "n" that was in the
handwritten document.)
Then I found an abstract of
Simon Anderson's will on page 9 of New Jersey "Calendar of
Wills,1806-1809". He wrote his will on 10 November 1806, and we know
from the Bible record (above) that he died on 21 December 1806. The will
was proved in court on 7 January 1807.
"Simon Anderson, of
Raritan River, Somerset County, yeoman, will of. Wife, Mary, use of real estate
and residue of personal estate, while my widow; should she marry, then 30
Pounds yearly, during her life. Sons, George and Cornelius, lands whereon I now
live that my father bought of Albert Voorhees (325 acres). Son, George,
negro man, Nene, my silver hilted sword, silver watch and 6 silver tea spoons.
Son Cornelius, negro man, Will; should he die underage and without issue, 1/2
of his share to my son George, and the other half to be divided among my
daughters. Daughters, Martha and Sarah, each 250 Pounds. Daughter Dinah,
300 Pounds; should she died without issue her share to be divided between all
my children. Sons, George and Cornelius, cattle and farming utensils.
Executors -- wife, Mary,
and son-in-law Hendrick Sedam [Suydam].
Witnesses -- Richard
Rappleye, James Rappleye, Cornelius Rappleye"
There is something
particularly poignant about this will when you consider that Simon Anderson's
two sons -- George and Cornelius -- were only about 10 and 7 years old when
their father wrote his will and died.
What exact volume and page
of the "Somerset County Historical Quarterly" shows the first
marriage of your George Anderson to Violetta Ten Eyck?
I definitely think you are
on the right track!
Dorothy
-----
Dear Dorothy,
Did you hear me scream
with joy?
I would like to pay you a
little something, say $10, for your time and wonderful input. Also for
copies of the 3 sources you mentioned below. For some reason, I tend to think
you have the other books as well.
This morning, I was
looking at your New Netherland Connections books through the NEHGS site, how
easy it that, on a cold Sunday morning. The first volume explains what New
Netherland means, I never knew, and always wondered. And, my TenEyck line, I
always thought they were Dutch, but similar to your example (but in reverse),
later discovered that they were German.
Do you think Anderson is
a Dutch name? Of course what was written about the family in the Genealogies of
New Jersey Families, may give some information on that.
You asked me about
Violetta and George's marriage, the below came from Mary Hobein.
"Somerset County Marriages (Somerset Co. LDS microflim
1023875 also in Somerset County
Historical Quarterly)
George Anderson and
Violetta Ten Eyck Nov 31, 1816 (John Boggs)"
And from a webpage
(person contacted, but no reply) Alletta Teneick
(daughter of Jeremiah Teneick and Jane) was born September 22, 1797, and
died 1840 in Dane Co., WI. She married George Anderson on November 28,
1816.
NOTE: If you would like, you
could scan the pages instead of mailing them. But, I would like your address
anyway.
You have really helped
me, I had no idea who I was writing to at first. I gather you know Henry
Hoff?
Again thank you.
Barbara
-----
Dear Barbara,
I am not a professional
genealogist, i.e. I don't accept money for what I'm able to do. But I will be happy
to xerox the sources mentioned. I will need your street address!
I have the highest regard
for Henry Hoff. I have worked with him, talked to him over the phone, but I
have never had the pleasure of meeting him in person.
I'm glad you had an occasion
to scream with joy :-).
-----
Dear Dorothy,
The envelope arrived
yesterday, what a nice surprise. Of course I tore into it, and got to reading
it immediately. I liked not having to wait until Monday for it as well. Thank
you so much.
What an undertaking to do
such a large book of 600+ pages, and then a second book. For now, I will wait
on writing Mr. Rynearson, as I know the book will be at least $60 or more. Of
the four libraries that I contacted, the first two replied with a no, but one
said yes, and the other NYPL said to send request to another place. So, I will
continue with the inter-loan process for now.
You will be receiving a
little thank you from me, it goes out tomorrow.
I've enjoyed my time with
you these past two weeks. I usually do all my own research myself, but in this
case, it was almost a necessity to have help from you. Thank goodness I found
you!
Most sincerely,
Barbara Poole
-----
Dear Barbara,
That was fast! I am glad
that your curiosity has finally been satisfied, and now you have all those
collateral lines to research as well. It's been a pleasure for me
too. Dorothy
Dear Barbara,
Many thanks for your thank you note with the
enclosed postage stamps. It was a very thoughtful gesture and just the right
touch! Dorothy
(I believe I sent her
$25.00 worth of stamps.)
I have decided not to use the Comment feature for my blog. If you would like to leave a comment for me or ask a question, please write me at my email: BarbaraPoole@Gmail.com. Thank you.
My reason is because since November 2017 to May 2018, I received no comments, but upon investigating I found that I had indeed received 167 legitimate ones and 1,000 were in the spam folder. Google Blogger had made some changes that I was unaware of.