| I am trying to put together a collection of different Defrees family lines. Not just my own but others also. My line is Joseph Defrees and Mary C. Hutton. They had 3 boys and a girl. I descend from the Joseph Hutton part of the family. Much is know about the 3 brothers. James, John, and Joseph. There is a book writen about James and John Defrees. From what everyone reasearching the DeFrees family Joseph Defrees was born the son of Johannas DeForeest in 1711. There is a general lack of good information about people before the American Revolutionary War. I have also found that there is another line of Defrees family that descends from Fairfield Ct. I have found some birth Records list them as Defrees some as DeForeest. Same parents and dates. I have also from Keven DeFreest that the DeFreest family also came from the DeForeest family. If this is the case then both the Defrees from Fairfield Ct. And the family and descendants of Joseph Defrees are decendants of Isaac DeForeest listed as the Father of New York City. as well as meny of the DeForeest, DeForest, and DeFreest Familys. There is meny variations of the spelling of the name. The Dutch, The English, and regional influnces (School teachers, Census takers ect.) have changeed the spelling of the name over the years. I have seen Defrees, Defreese, DeFrees, DeFreese, Defries, DeFries, Defreece, DeFreece, and DeFrece, Some of the changes are small like a small f or a capital F. This comes from De is the word 'The' in the case of the DeForeest/DeForest family it means 'The Forest' or more properly said One who is a Dweller of The Forest. The Defries/Defrees name is closley related to the De Vries family name. The V was pronounced as an F. it means 'The Friesian" or One who comes from Friesland in Holland. I was Born in South Bend, St Joseph Co. Ind. and also lived in Elkhart Co. Ind. ( Right next to St Joseph Co.) So I have done alot Reasearch into Defrees name and its variations in those 2 countys. I kept finding names that did not seem to fit. The reason is that some of them are not part of eather line that emerged out of the DeForest line but a total seperate line. I found that Jered Defrees was Tjeerd Stoffels De Vries of Holland. And his wifes maiden name in America is Josephine Fisher. Her real name was Jacobje Visser of Friesland Holland. The came to America about 1860 shortly after being married in Friesland and settled in Nappanne, Elkahart co. Ind. So I have 3 different Defrees family lines I am researching. The 2 that seem to descend from Issac DeForeest and one most likely Not related but who knows, they could even be related from way back. I am in touch with meny descendants of Joseph Defrees, as well as some from the DeFreest line. If you have any questions on any of these familys. Please fell free to email me at mark@defrees.net and If I can not be of help I will put it out to others of the family to see if we as a group can help. Thank you for visiting my page. |
DeFrees Family Information Page
Updated September 5, 2000 |
Mark Robert DeFrees |
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