Hello list,
I would appreciate any advice/help re my ancestor, Gerrit Jansen van Oldenburg, whose antedents and place of birth are unknown. The first evidence of him in the New World (or anywhere) is a document signed in 1632 by Peter Minuet instructing that Gerrit, his farm manager in New Amsterdam, should convey certain property to Killian van Rensselaer. The genealogist who made the documentary link to my line of Garrisons speculates that Gerrit was of German descent in view of the van Oldenburg appelation, citing the fact that Oldenburg is near the Dutch border. However, Gerrit seems to have been closely connected to the Dutch community in New Amsterdam--his children were all baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church--so I question whether he might not have been Dutch rather than German. Any advice or comments about the van Oldenburg appelation would be most appreciated.
Mark Garrison
Warwick, Rhode Island, USA