Odds and ends

I hope to post more research information again one of these days, but in the meantime, here are a few links to articles posted recently by other writers:

Genealogy Myths, by Dick Eastman
Pandemic Journal: Memorial Day 2020, by Roberta Estes
The Evolution of the American Census, by Alec Barret

The last article is an interesting depiction of the changing landscape of federal census questions over the years since 1790. If your household hasn’t yet completed the questionnaire for the 2020 census, please do. It really is important for all of us.

Roberta Estes, who usually writes about DNA and genealogy, urges us to be mindful of others as we work our way impatiently through the current challenges to medical and economic health.

Dick Eastman visits several common misconceptions of family history, for example the popular story of three brothers who came to America together and scattered across the continent. In the case of our Springsteen ancestors, there is actually some truth to the fable.

In September of 1652, Caspar Springsteen of Gröningen in the northern Netherlands died, leaving his wife Geesje Jans a widow. In December of that year she married Jan Janszen of Gröningen in New Amsterdam, now the heart of New York City. She apparently came to the New World with sons Joost, Johannes and Melchior and with daughter Barbara. These Springsteen brothers didn’t themselves scatter across the continent, but heir offspring have. My family’s line of descent appears to be from Melchior, the youngest of the brothers and perhaps the least well documented. I will write more of them sometime with information about sources.

Here is a summary of our family line down to my grandfather: