Dutch Cousins of Kentucky

Comment

Comment by Armando Framarini on November 29, 2009 at 9:31pm

Spelling of names and variants
1)Some people were illiterate and could not spell
2)Names were recorded as they sounded to the person writing it down
3)Dutch families (even educated) did butcher the spelling of the own names

Comment by Barbara Whiteside on November 29, 2009 at 8:34pm

Actually the Dutch were very much involved in educating their children...and after a church was organized in a community where they moved..the next would be a schoolhouse. In Henry County, KY, the Six Mile Meeting House was discovered under an old barn that was being razed.....sensing something unique the farmer got in touch with a group that works to preserve old buildings in KY and it was found to be the second of two Dutch Reform Meeting Houses in KY, the first being the Old Mud Meeting House near Harrodsburg, KY. This Six Mile Church built in the early 1800's was also used as a schoolhouse for the Dutch community established at Pleasureville, Henry County, KY.

The Bantas probably had the least problem dealing with the English language as their native Frisian was and is very similar to English.

And name spellings ....oh my......they sure were creative .... those census takers and I suspect even more so when confronted with Dutch names....lol.

Comment by Richard Baldwin Cook on November 29, 2009 at 7:38pm

My great uncle William H Farmer, died, age 22, April 21, 1862 in Corinth, MS, of wounds received at Shiloh. Willie had volunteered with Breckinridge's Brigade. He is buried where he was born & raised, Shelby County KY. Meanwhile, my great grandfather James Dorland (1845-1915), at age 17 joined Company C 41st Ohio Vols & fought for three years and in 13 named battles. James received nery a scratch, as far as I know. James daughter Blanche married Willie's nephew - my father's parents.

Comment by Stanely Jerome Bice on November 29, 2009 at 7:07pm

Cobb's Legion, Infantry, out of Georgia. Was killed by a "severe chest wound" at the Battle of South Mountain at Crampton's Gap in Maryland. Buried in a mass grave just outside of Hagerstown.

Comment by Richard Baldwin Cook on November 29, 2009 at 7:03pm

Stanley, you wrote: "My ggg-grandfather's civil war records has his last name spelled four different ways." What unit was he with?

Comment by Stanely Jerome Bice on November 29, 2009 at 3:57pm

See, the illiteracy continues, should have been census takers. LOL

Comment by Stanely Jerome Bice on November 29, 2009 at 3:56pm

Maybe it was just my line that was illiterate. LOL. A majority of the records (wills, land sales, etc) were all signed by an "X" and annotated as "His" or "Her" mark up till the 1900's. I think the cnesus takers, etc. spelled it as it sounded to them. My ggg-grandfather's civil war records has his last name spelled four different ways.

Comment by Richard Baldwin Cook on November 29, 2009 at 3:42pm

Stanley, Thanks for your helpful comments. You wrote "most could not read nor write." I suspect this was true among 17th & 18th century English immigrants, many from the slums of London or the countryside, and also true of many generations of their Americans descendants, until well into the 19th century. But what about the Dutch? I think literacy was more common among these immigrants - with the larger prob being the new (to them) English language, transliterating names into English. A parallel might be the Germans from PA, moving into the Shenandoah Valley after the Revolution. They were literate and well read - in German - but that did not help them at the courthouse, when wills, property transactions and marriage bonds had to be recorded. So, their last names were changed.

Comment by Stanely Jerome Bice on November 29, 2009 at 2:35pm

Hello again. To answerRichard's question; actually Bice is a derivative of Boyce, which is a variant of the original "Buijs" or "Buys" as they were known in New Amsterdam. Other variants include: Buis, Boyce, Boice, Buyce, Boise, Bice, Byse, etc. As most could not read nor write, it was up to the person entering the info on how he or she entered it. Makes for some interesting research. My family went NY, NY, PA, SC and then scattered out to KY, GA, AL, TN and then points west such as IN, TX, MT.

Comment by Barbara Whiteside on November 28, 2009 at 12:56pm

Did a bit of digging and came up with this from Larry Voreis book on the Low Dutch move to Kentucky....the group that came downriver consisted of families traveling with small children, which was much easier than the longer trek overland and through the Gap....also they could carry farm implements, small animals, larger items needed in starting again in Kentucky...by using the flatboats. ..The flatboats could be quickly dismantled on arrival to provide housing for the settlers. Voreis said the planned move was in two parts, part were to head downriver soon after the spring flooding as the trip was quicker...this was the group with the children. The older group would go south from their colony at Berkeley County with pack horses, women and some children [probably older children able to walk]. It took them some 50 days of travel during the hard winter of 1779-1780 to make the same trip it took Samuel Durie 38 days to get to Boonesborugh in an earlier scouting trip. Duries party arrived in late March of 1780 and most likely left Berkeley in early Feb of the same year. The Banta group got to Louisville by April of 1780. The plan was for the two groups to meet at White Oak Station in Mercer County, KY.The book says the Durie party went along the Valley Road in Virginia to the Clinch River with several stops along the way, Here they crossed over the Powell Valley into the Cumberland Gap and at least one of the party was killed by Indians, the White Oak Station was app. 150 miles from the Ky side of the gap.

Durie had made a scouting trip into KY along this same route a few months prior to the larger group leaving under his guidance...so he felt comfortable going this route, knew where to stop etc.

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