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I'm pleased to
inform you that the genealogy of Gerrit Aertsen Van Wagenen that I've been researching for the past twenty-nine years is now
available via email to anyone who would like to have it. I've not found time to publish these 330 or so pages in book form,
and because it's taken me so long to gather all this information, I decided that it's time to show family members what it
is that I've been doing. I know that some people probably still don't believe that I've spent the past 29 years researching
our family, but it's the truth and you can now see for yourself what it's all about and why it's taken so long.
If
you would like me to email you the entire Gerrit Aertsen Van Wagenen Genealogy, (the cover page, the 330 page genealogy, plus
a first name index, and a spouse index), write to me and request same.
I am still continuing to seek out missing relatives,
so after you get the genealogy and perhaps gain an insight into what this family research is all about, or if you have new
or additional information, such as names, births, marriages, deaths, etc., that would help me to complete the family record,
I would hope that you would provide that information to me in exchange for what I'll send to you. (Incidentally..... it's
free..... no hooks).
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Greetings to all my VAN WAGENEN,
VAN WAGONER, VAN WAGNER, and VAN WAGNEN relatives, even those who have managed to spell your name incorrectly for the past
two-hundred years. I will be making periodic changes as research demands and I invite you to return every now and then to
see what's happening, and to perhaps make a comment or two about the content of my website. There's an email link at the bottom
of this page and I urge you to drop me a note.
CURRENT NEWS: I have just received the results of a DNA test that I
had done by "Ancestry.com" and it states that our family belongs to the Stonemasons, haplogroup I, which is about 30,000 years
old. The Stonemasons are best known for crafting pointed stone blades, known as Gravette Points, to hunt bison, horse, reindeer
and mammoths.
Stone played a functional and religious role for the Stonemasons, who crafted voluptuous Venus figurines,
possibly out of steatite, calcite, limestone or other soft stone. Although the exact significance of the figurines is not
known, they may represent fertility or the Earth Mother goddess, a concept which prevails in many cultural mythologies. The
Stonemasons could have regarded the Earth Mother as a symbol of security or as a deity who enabled plentiful harvents and
numerous offspring. The Ice Age probably shaped the story of the Stonemasons. An ice shelf formed during the final stages
of the Ice Age moved as far as southern Ireland, mid England and northern Germany, covering all of Scandinavia, where the
Stonemasons lived. Northern Spain and continental Europe were covered in tundra during these climatic shifts.
As
the Stonemasons moved their homes south to hunt game below the tree line, they settled primarily in the Balkans, southern
France, Iberia (present day Spain and Portugal) and Italy. As they migrated, the Stonemasons played a possible role in developing
the distinct difference in the languages of eastern and western Europe. When the Ice Age ended, many of the Stonemasons returned
to their northern homes and repopulated Scandinavia, Iceland and northwest Europe.
Based on my DNA test, they predict
that we belong to a subgroup of the Stonemasons, haplogroup I1. This group may have participated in a coastal migration route
about 10,000 years ago, during a time period archaeologists call the Holocene epoch. The I1 Stonemasons primarily occupied
Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as well as parts of Finland settled by the Laplanders.
Based upon what they know about
those regions and their traditions, it's possible that our ancient ancestors worshipped the god Woden, also known as Odin.
When Christianity replaced paganism, Woden was retained in the culture's folklore ass a historical king. Tales about Woden
describe him as leading a wild hun in the sky with a group of spectral horsemen. In a practical sense, this myth may have
been used to explain thunderstorms. Woden is also reflected in mondern languages "Wednesday" is named after the god.
Note: This is only the beginning of my DNA research. I'll be making additional notes as I find new information.
NEW
!!! A NEW AND COMPLETE FULL-NAME INDEX OF VAN WAGENEN, VAN WAGONER, VAN WAGNER, VAN WAGNEN FAMILIES - The names that are indexed
and if you will take a moment to write me at my email address: Cvanwagenen@hvc.rr.com. I'll be glad to tell you whatever I
can about your ancestry.
April 2007 - If you happen to be a VAN WAGONER with roots in Ontario, Canada (Saltfleet inparticular),
I urge you to check page 5 of my website. I have posted all of the information that I've accumulated over the past several
years about this family.I am doing census research about 5 or 6 hours per day and have made amazing discoveries with regard
to "new" family lines. If you have made previous inquiries that I couldn't answer, please try again and see if perhaps I've
discovered your ancestral lineage. Thanks.
BOOK ONE IS STILL FOR SALE: I don't wish to be commercial, however it appears
that some family members do not realize that my first book "JACOB VAN WAGENEN of Wageningen, Holland" is still available.
This book, published in 1994, is hardcovered, contains 440 acid free pages of Van Wagenen, Van Wagoner, Van Wagner, and Van
Wagnen family lines, and is fully indexed by the V.W. first name and spouse last name. Full price for this book is $50 which
covers shipping. Check or cash to me at my home address, 32 Barbara's Court, Saugerties, NY 12477.
I understand that
many people are unwilling to share personal information because of the "stolen identity" problem that is currently making
us all so wary. I can state with some certainty that thus far (over 29 years) there has not been one instance of identity
theft reported to me as a result of my research. Another point for you to consider: When I began my research in 1979, I knew
the names of my grandparents but nothing more. I was under the impression that my Van Wagenen family had come to America sometime
in the early 1900's. There were lots of other Van Wagenen's in the area telephone books, but my father assured me that none
of them were related to us. I had no idea that when I was attending high school from 1948 thru 1952 and was walking around
the streets of the City of Kingston in Ulster County, New York, that my ancestors had lived there inside a tall wooden stockade
which was erected to protected them from the Indians. That was in the mid 1750's. Now, some 250 years, I know just about everything
about each of my early ancestors. And you may be able to do so also!
Not sure of your heritage? Don't know who your
grandparents were or whether you are of Dutch or German descent? It won't cost you a nickle to find out if you'll just send
me an email and make the inquiry. I'll let you know one way or the other and you may find yourself on a marvelous journey
of family discovery. I urge you to send either an email message to me, or write a letter. And please..... if you have found
my website, I urge you to pass it along to any family members who are on-line. Thanks.
A NOTE OF CAUTION ABOUT IMPOSTERS:
At some point you may receive a postcard or letter from publishing firms in Ohio or Pennsylvania named Talbot’s, Inc., and
“Mary Whitney - American Genealogist”. These firms will try to convince you that they have your family history ready for publication
and will ask you to send $29.95 for your “reserved” copy. Mary Whitney will even send you a lovely photograph of her family;
husband, kids and all, hoping that you'll be convinced that without the book you won't know who your ancestors are. What they
won’t tell you is that they are both frauds. They know absolutely nothing about your family genealogy,and they could care
less. What they do care about is separating you from your money. What they will send you for your money is a brief history
of early America and will include a few pages at the back of the book, listing people with your last name and giving a home
address. This list consists of names that they have purloined from phone directories across the nation and will tell you absolutely
nothing about your family ancestry. Both of these firms are counting on you buying their book out of curiosity, and further
banking on you not asking for your money back after you discover that you’ve been had. I urge you to not fall for this deceptive
sales pitch. Throw the letter in the trash where it belongs.
ANOTHER FRAUD: You may also receive an email or other
solicitation from various websites or business enterprises which will tell you that for a sum of money they will send you
an "Authentic" Coat-of-Arms for your family name. In some instances this may be true (some people really are related to William
the Conqueror), but in the case of the Van Wagenen families (by any spelling), it too is a fraud. The Van Wagenen family came
to America from Holland because they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. They were for the most part very poor and
certainly had no royal blood coursing through their veins. As a matter of fact, our Netherlands ancestors didn’t even have
a last name. It was not until thirty years after they arrived in America (about 1660), that they adopted the name of "Wageningen"
after the town in Holland from which they had immigrated. And a number of years after that before they added the "Van" which
in old-Dutch meant "of" or "from", hence: Carl of Wageningen (or) Carl Van Wagenen.
The chief perpetrator of this
fraud is "Heraldics@aol.com". Please do not buy into their deceptive practice.
SOJOURNER TRUTH: Isaac D. Van Wagenen
was born 10/11/1796 and died 10/15/1867. He married Maria Schoonmaker, born 10/20/1800, the daughter of Johannis S. Schoonmaker
and Maria Markle. They are buried in the Van Wagenen Cemetery at St. Remy, New York (near Kingston). About 1797 Sojourner
Truth was born a slave named Isabelle Hardenburgh at the home of Col. Johannis Hardenburgh in Swartkill, near Rifton, in what
is now the Town of Esopus. She was freed in 1827 and became an ardent abolitionist, a preacher, a temperance leader and woman’s
rights advocate. She died on November 16, 1883 at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan and she is buried there. Sojourner claimed
to have been born in Africa, but it is more likely that her parents were born there, and that she was born in Hurley. She
and her parents were later bequeathed to Col. Hardenburgh’s son, Charles, and when he died a few years later her parents were
freed but she was sold at auction. Isabelle, or Belle, as she was called, was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and she
was included with a flock of sheep and sold to John Neely for $100 for the lot. She was later sold to Martin Schryver, a fisherman,
tavern keeper and farmer. About a year after that, about 1810, Belle was purchased by John Dumond, a wealthy landowner from
New Paltz for over $300 and he married her off to his elderly slave Tom. Belle was Tom’s third wife, his others having been
sold to other masters, and Belle bore him five children who then became the property of Dumond, not of Tom or Belle. It was
one of these children, a boy named Peter, who was sold away at age 5 to the Gedney family of New Paltz. Gedney in turn sold
the child to his brother-in-law, who then gave the boy to his daughter in Alabama. Taking Peter out of New York State was
a violation of the law. Belle ran away from the Dumonds in 1826, one year prior to the time when all slaves would be emancipated
in New York. She had been promised her freedom one year earlier, but Dumond reneged on his promise “because the birth of her
child had deprived him of her services for awhile”. Belle escaped with her infant daughter Sophia and went to the home of
Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen, who were members of the Dutch Reformed Church but were well known in the area for their "Quaker
like" anti-slavery sympathies. Dumont came to retreive his property but Van Wagenen refused to turn her over to him, and instead
paid him $20 for Belle and the $5 for the child. The Van Wagenen’s urged Belle to go to the courts and try to get her son
back from Alabama. Belle subsequently swore out a complaint against Gedney before the Grand Jury, and as Gedney was subject
to both a prison term and a fine, he had the boy returned to the Ulster County and the court then awarded custody to Belle.
My email address is: Cvanwagenen@hvc.rr.com
My home address is: 32 Barbara's Court, Saugerties, NY 12477 (845-246-2865).
Please call anytime.... would love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have.
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