In December 2009, I (Sean Staats) received the honor of being elected to membership in the Holland Society of New York. The HSNY has a strict membership requirement in that you must be a descendant of an ancestor, along your direct-paternal line, who lived in New Netherland before or during 1675. How is it that I could possibly meet that requirement? The immigrant ancestor of my direct, paternal line is Jan Pieterszen Van Husum (also known as Jan Pieterszen Van Huysen.) He was born in 1605 and around 1638 emmigrated from Husum in Kreis Nordfriesland, Schleswig, Germany. Note that Schleswig was a part of Denmark until it was lost after the Second Schleswig War to Prussia and Austria in 1864. Anyway, Jan (pronounced like the English John) lived and farmed in New Amsterdam until 1642 when he bought farmland in Gowanus(Brooklyn) - which was still part of New Netherland. He, his two sons Pieter Janszen Staats and Jan Janszen Staats and their children contributed to the building and prosperity of New Netherland until the English wrestled it away from the Dutch in 1674. Now what did I have to do to join the HSNY? I "simply" had to submit my genealogy, with sources, to the HSNY genealogy and membership committes who review and approve all new member applications. It was very gratifying to have that part of my genealogy verified and confirmed by such an organization. I am proud to be part of an organizaion that honors and cherishes the memory and history of those ancestors that played such an instrumental role in building the great nation that is now the United States of America. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people for their work in my family's genealogy:
I would also like to invite all of my male, Staats relatives to consider joining the Holland Society. As I am such a new member, I find it best to redirect inquiries to the HSNY website. However, I will post my experiences with the Holland Society to this website. I am looking forward to a very active and rewarding experience in the Holland Society! |
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