Mapes-Stoothoff; was Re: Lester D Mapes

Dear Joe,

Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, I cannot say more about John Mapes then that which is posted. I do have a suggestion that I should have mentioned earlier and that is that there is reason to suspect that Aeltye (Stoothoff) Mapes, having come from a very long long line of New Netherland Dutch families, will have used the so-called Dutch Naming Conventions when she named her children. This would mean that the first two male children and the first two female children, if so many existed, will have been named for their grandparents Mapes and Stoothoff. Since we know that Aeltye's father was named Wilhelmus, then we might postulate that John Mape's father was named Michael Mapes. This is just a proposal, of course, but perhaps a place to start.

I should add before closing that if the Dutch naming conventions were followed by this couple and there were more children, then we would expect a Wilhelmus (or William) Mapes as the second son and a daughter named Aeltie (Aletta, Letty)Mapes, named for her grandmother Aeltie (Voorhees) Stoothoff. The other of the first two daughters will be named for John Mapes' mother. Usually couples following these conventions did not name children after themselves until later (towards the end of their child-rearing years). Instead, after honoring the grandparents, they would start naming their children after Uncles and Aunts. Thus my statement that it is possible that Aeltye Stoothoff and John Mapes might name a child Abraham Stoothoff Mapes. In my reply to Blanche, I only listed the Stoothoff children Abraham and Aeltye, to help make this point. However, there were several children (two of Aeltye's other brothers are mentioned in the text I have provided) whose names I will gladly supply if you would like to pursue the possibility that John Mapes and Aeltye Stoothoff may have used these other names for children as well. It is fair to say, for instance, that should you have an unidentified Douwe Mapes of the right era in file, he will almost certainly be a son of this couple.

Sincerely yours,