This is an amazing thing having just returned from Amsterdam, but I have discovered that I have Dutch roots. I can remember my maternal grandfather saying many times that he was a Dutchman, but I never understood much of the history. I had heard that his family had migrated to America in the mid 1800’s from NW Germany from around Tecklenburg. I can also remember my grandfather quoting his ancestors as saying, “If I thought I had a single drop of German blood in my veins I would cut it out!” I could never figure out how to resolve that apparent contradiction. Another mystery I never understand was the strange spelling of the family name – Kuck, but pronounced as Cook.
Now I know the rest of the story. Since my father died, Cheryl has been going through some boxes in our basement that we stored for my parents. In one of those boxes today she found a genealogical study my grandfather worked on during the final years of his life. I can remember seeing him work on this, but had never read the finished result.
It seems the family was originally English and had come to Protestant faith at a time when religious dissidents were under great persecution in England. They were among numerous English believers who immigrated to Holland in the early 1600’s because of the historical tolerance afforded to different religious groups. My family settled in Friesland, a province in the north of what today is The Netherlands. The local folks had trouble with their English surname and so they changed Cook to Kuck, more easily recognizable to the Dutch while retaining the phonetic Cook.
In time, some of the Kucks moved back to England when conditions improved, while others migrated to America. Those who remained in Friesland (my family) became totally Dutch in their identity. Some found their way to the vicinity of Tecklenburg, today in Germany, and eventually some of them moved to America. One of them founded the small village of Kuckville, NY near Niagara Falls.
In his family history my grandfather wrote, “I remember Grandma Kuck, a rather small, busy woman who always kept her wooden shoes by the back door and she would put them on when she went to the garden and when she scrubbed the brick walks in the yard … These are the characteristics of the Dutch people.”
I found all sorts of interesting tidbits of information about my family and I’ll not bore you with them. However, I did think it interesting that my affinity for Holland my have something to do with my DNA!
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Jeff – very interesting. My version is similar. I was born in New York, lived in ~10 towns, and consider Fishkill, NY my hometown (where I went to High School.) I met my ex-husband at KCBT after moving here in 1976. My father-in-law is a great advocate of knowing your family history – so he had worked extensively on his family tree, tracing in back to the Revolutionary War. It was interesting to see the path West to East as you look back in time.
Here’s the interesting thing – My father-in-law’s ancestors are buried in the Revolutionary War cemetary in Fishkill, NY – yup – my hometown. That means, that although my ancestors have only been in this country for three generations, my son can trace BOTH lines back to the same town!
How American is THAT!
That really is pretty amazing!
It’s always fun to learn where your family history. My ancestory is Irish, on both sides, and from the same County in Ireland. There is also some French, American Indian, Polish and German thrown in.
There are only two things I can’t stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other peoples cultures, and the Dutch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ882QYzr-M
Chris is German. I am English, Irish, Lithuanian, Swedish, and Spanish. Our kids make up six countries in and around Europe, but we are not Dutch….so…
Hey, Jeff – really interesting bit of our family history! I had heard about the English connection. Did Dad ever mention that he once sat in an airplane next to a gentleman from the Netherlands. Dad explained our connection to Friesland. The gentleman smiled and said “You Americans have the term “stubborn as a Dutchman.” In the Netherlands, we say “stubborn as a Frieslander.” This explains a lot!!!!
Ha!!!! That does shed a lot of light, doesn’t it? I need to photocopy this document I found and send it to you. I think you would be most interested and find it fascinating. Thanks for the comment! Having spent a lot of time in the Netherlands, I can confirm that Friesland DOES have a reputation!
More interesting facts: I once worked with a man from the Germany – Austria area who maintained that he was a Prussian. He confirmed the story of the Frieslanders and also confirmed that they had maintained a separate language. Dad once read in the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary that the roots of the English language owed a lot to the Friesian language, being neither Dutch nor German, sounded much more like spoken English, but had unique spelling. The Friesian Islands were at one time separate from the mainland. The waves of Viking invaders and raiders had their share of Frieslanders. In fact – I have a vague memory of some movie – I think it had Charleton Heston and I think it was called “The Normans.” The bad guys were the Friesland raiders in their longboats.
I’d love to get the photocopy!!!!!
Very interesting. And, yes! The Frieslanders do speak their own language, West Frisian. I am not familiar with it, but Dutch is between German and English and often sounds like English with a different spelling – huis = house, they sound the same. So, West Frisian must be a step beyond that.
We are going to make copies of Grandpa’s study and will definitely see to it that you get a copy!