1639

A special year in my head for awhile has been 1646, the year my ancestor Jan Thomasz came to America.  It's a year printed on an officially stamped document from a genealogical society back in the 1920s.  It was commissioned by my great grandfather and includes evidence of lineage.  However, in my research of New Netherland for the book, I came across several references to good old Thomasz that hinted at other dates.  1644, 1642, and 1641 to be exact.

Now there is a new date: 1939.  Again, this was found by accident, this time while rummaging around for ship names.  Well, maybe it wasn't a total accident.  While I was elbow deep in old records, I decided to try a search using various spellings.  I've used other sources and websites before, but all my searches have come up empty.

In an old, hand-typed newsletter, I found the following...

23 Mar 1639 [not. H. Schaef, 1377/31]. Testament of Jan Thomasz from Amsterdam, sailing as adelborst (midshipman) on De Haring to New Netherland.

https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE8347211

I like to verify details like this, and I did, but I can't seem to locate the link to a document I found.  When I do, I'll update this post.