Religious wars in Europe after the Protestant Reformation, especially in the Rhineland areas of France and Germany, resulted in wide-spread persecution and the graviation of many to Holland, which has long been known for its religious and political tolerance and as a place of haven for the persecuted. The well-known Jewish philosopher, Spinoza, was among those who migrated to Holland when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Although the Pilgrims were English, they lived in Holland for some time before departing to America in the Mayflower. Since Holland and Denmark share a common Frisian heritage, many Danes from the province of Schleswig-Holstein also migrated to America through Holland in the mid-1600's.
The origins of the BURGHARDT family is not currently known for certain, and the multiplicity of spellings of the surname has only added complexity to researching the family. While the family was most probably German, they undoubted initially migrated to America through Holland; since we find them living among, intermarrying with, and sharing the customs and religion of the earliest Dutch settlers of the New York's Hudson River Valley from the early to mid-1600's after the exploration of the river by the English-born Henry Hudson in his quest for a 'Northwest Passage' through North America to India for the Dutch East India Company in 1609.
Hendrick Coenraetse Burchardt [alias van Bonn], who was probably b. abt 1645 in Bonn, Germany, is the first ancestor for whom my genealogical research has currently revealed any solid information. Based on Dutch 'patronomics,' a naming system in which the middle name of a child was derived by adding the suffix, se or sen, to the first name of the father, it may be inferred with a high degree of probability that Coenreat Borghghardt was the name of the father of Hendrick Coenraetse Burchardt. Allowing 25 years for each generation, it is estimated that his father, Coenreat, was probably born about 1620 in Germany.
Variations in the spelling of names, especially Dutch names, are explained by the fact that the names were taken exactly as they appeared in christening, marriage, death, and cemetery records [primarily from various Dutch Reformed Churches] after confirming that a person was indeed a blood relation. A list of various spellings of the surname--Bogardus, Bogart, Borgaart, Burget, Burgett, Burghardt, Burghart, Burkhart, etc.--taken from such sources would take a full 8-1/2 x 11 page.
