Re: Benjamin Westbrook Vernooy
-
In reply to:
Re: Benjamin Westbrook Vernooy
John Ben Urban 6/02/03
John,
Sorry not to see your reply for 7 years... can that really be?
The information that Benjamin being raised by his maternal grandparents, Johannes Westbrook & Magdalena Decker, may be half true. Benjamin was bap. 24 Jun 1724. His grandfather Johannes Westbrook's will dtd 24 Jan 1726, proved 10 Apr 1727, meaning the grandfather was deceased before Benjamin was 2 yrs old! The will, written in Dutch provided that 6 of Benjamin's aunts & uncles were to equally provide for "little Benjamin" out of their shares of the estate. This would indicate that as far at the grandfather was concerned, Benjamin was to be considered a member of the Westbrook household. I have seen a date where his grandmother also died about 1727. If true, then Who actually raised Benjamin. I doubt that Benjamin went to live with his father Johannes Vernooy and 2nd wife Janneken Louw who he married 5 months after Benjamin's mother died. His father sired 11 children by 2bd wife. It appears that Benjamin was estranged from his Vernooy roots as he doesn,t hold on to that spelling and whereby his children took up the Van Noy spelling (some tombstones even have the Vannoy spelling.)Plus his descendants sort of fled NY and settled in Sussex Co, NJ and Bradford Co, PA.
So,who did raise Benjamin?