In compiling this history, I have decided that a traditional history and genealogical record was not appropriate. Consequently, the course that this book takes is to focus on the people and the events that made our family what it is today. We have been revolutionaries, tavern owners, soldiers, public officials, factory workers, bankers, lawyers, civil servants, and merchant seaman. However, our overriding roots are as pioneers and farmers. We can trace our immigration from Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, England, and Ireland) in the early 1600's through the early 1700's, to the eastern seaports of Philadelphia and New York. We then caught the pioneer spirit and moved into the frontiers of New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania (mid 1700's), and then into Ohio and Michigan ( early 1800's). Along the way, we have made significant contributions to the settling of this country. We fought, and died, in the Dutch Revolution against the Spanish, King Phillip's War, the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. Those who did not fight, stayed home to grow the crops and build the materials needed to win the conflicts. As farmers, we cleared the land, faced frontier hardships, and educated our children for lives better than ours.
The women of our family created the structure that allowed this all to happen during a period when there were no stores to buy your food, and clothing, or hospitals where medical attention could be obtained, or washers and dryers where clothes could be laundered. Many times they died bearing children for lack of medical attention. They also watched powerless, as their children died in infancy of disease or accident. Now the women of our family have equal or greater education than the men. They hold important positions in the community and workplace, which previously were reserved for men. In the future, I predict that our family history will include more information regarding the future accomplishments of the female gender.
From all that is written about our family, I want to summarize the characteristics that seem to consistently reoccur through our history... We are are a hard working folk, who have what we have based on our own efforts and not on inheritance. We value education, and when it has not been formally available, we have sought it out. Most of all, we value family. We take care of each other in times of adversity. We are there for each other in times of joy. No matter what has happened in our lives, our family was always there for us. Now, we are more geographically dispersed. Our challenge going forward is to continue the values that have been instilled with us through the generations regarding the importance of families. Hopefully, this history will be a tool to that end...
