A Family Tree of THE FIVE HARVEY BROTHERS Containing All the Known Antecedents of Thomas~ James, Peter, Philip and Andrew Harvey of Skaneateles, New York -and- including genealogies of the following families Ackerman p. 51 Preyer 70 Bartlett 114 Rosseter 150 Blaisdell 118 Rynders 8 Coe 142 Sherman 86,90 Earle 68 Sickles 44 Fritz 19 Smith 58 Frost 126 Sprague 129 Harvey 1 Stephenszen 40 Hovey 133 Stone 104 Kline 15 Stuyvesant 31 Leisler 12 Totten 74 Lytle 101 Upham 131 Martin 120 Van Emburgh 53 Moore 141 Vreeland 69 Mower 128 Welles 164 Nugent 136 Williams 65 Post 21 Wolcott 154 by LESTER M. HAR VEY JR. FOREWORD This book is a family tree containing all the known antecedents of the five Harvey brothers. Because of the custom of inheriting the paternal surname, most family histories are confined to tracing the nominal descendants of a single patriarch - usually with preference to the male issue. However, it seems that the host of forebears who combined to produce our composite personality should be more inter­ esting to investigate than an army of distant cousins, Regardless of our last name, we are equally related to every one of our direct antecedents in any given generation - by blood and hereditary influ­ ence. Therefore, this record inverts the customary pyramid of relationship in order to trace all antecedent families - maternal branches included. For example, there have been approximately 12 generations since the year 1650 at which early date in our country's history a present-day person would have had more than 2, 000 forefathers and mothers. This book contains the genealogies of thirty-four families, 426 direct antecedents, and more than 3,500 names. Many of the genealogies are the result of original research during the past fifteen years. In order to trace some lines it was necessary to sort out several unrelated families of the sam.e name. Since this entailed considerable effort, a few of these families have been included for whatever value the information may be to others. In contrast to Victorian genealogies which sought to exalt the humblest relatives, this record presents the facts as found. As might be expected, it includes a representative assortment of heroes, villains, and ordinary folk. It is interesting to note that all of the 426 known ancestors are, without exception, of Nordic stock - and include English, Welsh, Irish, Scotch, Manx, Dutch, German, and Norman French. Repre­ sentatives of the family derive about equally from New Netherland and New England, with a few from Pennsylvania. The English colonists were for the most part more cultured than the Dutch, and therefore left more complete accounts of their adventures in the new world, with consequent richer traditions, than did their mercantile­ minded cousins along the banks of the Hudson. Governor Bradford's "History of Plymouth Plantation", together with later narratives and poems, have left the impression that that colony was the "cradle of our country. 11 Actually, New York is the oldest permanent settlement of the original colonies. It is a matter of historical record that New Am­ sterdam was a flourishing colony at least seven years before the • l arrival of the Pilgrims. New Englanders cling to the feeble argument that the -Dutch did not "intend to remain" in America. There is no evi­ dence to bear out this retrospective feat of mindreading. Specious arguments to the contrary, the accomplished fact is that the Dutch did remain permanently, which certainly makes it a permanent colony. In fact, it was the very success of the colony at Fort Amsterdam that encouraged the Puritans then living in Holland to try their luck in the new world. When these pilgrims, who had set out for Virginia, landed by mistake at Plymouth in 1620, the thriving colony of New Netherland, 300 miles down the coast, was well established and had been permanently occupied by a growing group of traders under Hendrick Corstiaensen since before 1613. According to Dutch records, Hendrick Hudson had scarcely made known the "enticing character" of the river and adjacent lands which he explored in 1609, when several Amsterdam merchants dispatched trading vessels to the new country with such highly satisfactory returns that arrangements were immediately made to _establish a permanent colony there. The settlers "built their cabins on the south point of Man­ hattan Island, the head man being Hendrick Corstiaensen, who was still the chief of the settlement in 1613 11 (and for a great many years there­ after). The considerable size of the colony is indicated by the brisk trade wl1ich ensued. Ships of the United New Netherland Company were plying back and forth regularly between Holland and New Amsterdam, and Captain Adrian Block, whose ship was destroyed by fire, was even able to construct and launch a complete new ocean-going vessel at the port of New Amsterdam in 1614. "Stores of furs were in readi­ ness to freight the ships on their visits. The whites were abundantly supplied by the natives with food and other necessaries of life, without personal labor and at trifling cost. The trade of the colony of settlers was sufficiently profitable to render its permanency desirable to the United New Netherland Company which increased its numbers and captial and enlarged its former designs of trade." All this long before a pilgrim ever set foot on Plymouth Rock! Another account relates that 11 during the year 1614 three fur trading settlements were established on the Hudson River - one at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, one at the mouth of Rondout Kill (Kingston), and one at Albany on Castle Island (now Westerlo Island) in the Hudson River. Each colony consisted of a fort for protection against Indians, and a number of cabins. " It is perhaps unfortunate that Corstiaensen was too absorbed with fur trading to chronicle his colony as Bradford did - for virtually no one to this day is acquainted with the colorful events relating to the primordinate settlement of New York. There were three characteristics of the earliest Dutch settlers that sometimes make it difficult to trace their records. First of all, they were miserable spellers. They were inconsistent about spelling their own names, atrocious with English names, and even worse with . 11 Indian names which hacj to be translated phonetically. Secondly, the birth dates of first children sometimes seem in­ consistent with the marriage dates of parents - until one learns that these practical pioneers were hesitant to commit themselves to a marriage contract until an heir apparent was apparent indeed. Thirdly, with few exceptions during and prior to the 17th century, the Dutch did not have permanent inheritable family surnames. A per­ son was given a single name, such as Pieter. His last name was simply a possessive, being the first name of his father plus the suffix for son (s, se, or sen). Hence, Pieter Jansen was simply Peter, son of Jan Hendricks, who was son of Hendrick Thomasen, who was son of Thomas Pietersen, etc. Since there were few inherited family surnames (such as Stuyvesant or Post) it is sometimes difficult.to trace lineage prior to about 1650. · Most Dutch surnames even today are mere patronymics. On the other hand, the Dutch had a custom of considerable help to the genealogist - tnat of naming children after the older generation according to an orderly-system. The first son was named after his father's father, the second son after the father, the third after his mother's father, and the rest after uncles. Daughters were similarly named after the mother's side. This custom was not strictly adhered to, but set the general pattern for baptisms. The Harvey Brothers, for whom this family history was prepared were also named with a purpose. Each has the first name of a disciple, and the first and middle name together is that of an ancestor. Thomas Wolcott Harvey is named after Sir Thomas Wolcott, an Eleventh Century knight of Wales; after Governor Thomas Welles of Connecticut; after his great-grandfather Thomas Totten of Northern Ireland; and his great-uncle Thomas J. May, now of st. Louis, Mo. James Sherman Harvey is named after James Schoolcraft Sherman of Utica, N. Y. , Vice President of the United States, 1908- 1912; after his grandfather's grandfather James Harvey of New York City; after his grandfather Lytle G. Sherman of N. Y. C.; after his great-great-grandfather Robert Sherman of Scotland; after James Lytle of Pennsylvania, and James Wakeham of Virginia. Peter Stuyvesant Harvey is named after Peter Stuyvesant of Holland and New York, Governor General of New Netherlands from 1647 to 1664. Philip Stone Harvey is named after Philip atte Stone of England in 1302; also after Sir Philip Wolcott of England, and Philip Smith of New Jersey. .. 111 Andrew Preyer Harvey is named after Andrew Preyer the French Huegenot, first of the name to come to America, who settled in New Jersey in 1672. He was the grandson of Colonel Sir Thomas Pryoeur de Houghton, Knight Bannerette of Normandy. A considerable number of noteworthy persons are to be found among the ancestors of the Harvey brothers. Included are many patriarchs who were the first of their name to come to this country, and whose descendants may now be found in every state of the union - Ackermans, Goes, Lytles, Posts, Preyers, Shermans, Stones, Van Emburghs - to name but a few. Members of various branches of the family are also amply represented among the founders of many American cities, among leaders in government, and on the muster rolls of all the nation's wars since earliest