Tim VanBenschoten
The family

The Van Benschoten family

Where the Van Benschoten name comes from, and the deep rivers that fed into it, Dutch, English, Scottish and Devonian, each followed back to the furthest name the record holds.

§ The name

Van Benschoten means, almost literally, “from Bunschoten,” a town on the Zuiderzee in the Dutch province of Utrecht.

The name points to Bunschoten, but the line itself stops at the water. Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten was in the New World by about 1671. His parentage and origin back in the Netherlands were never found, even by a genealogist’s exhaustive search in 1907. That blank is the oldest thing in the tree.

  1. by 1671 – 1878
    Van Bunschoten From the immigrant Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten to Joshua Van Bunschoten (1795–1878), a farmer and the last to carry the old Dutch spelling.
  2. 1821 – 1886
    Van Benschoten William Van Benschoten, a shoemaker by trade and a farmer most of his life. The spelling settles here.
  3. b. 1881
    VanBenschoten William VanBenschoten. The space closes; the name takes its modern form.

§ The lines

The Van Bunschoten line is one of many. These are the deepest roots that marry into it, including the oldest of all, which arrives by a different route: adoption.

Seven of these lines are followed all the way to their source and told in full, each as a single unbroken descent.

Each line starts at its earliest date, with its furthest-back ancestor and place of origin.

  1. c.1487 Kirkland Robert Bradfourth Yorkshire, England

    Robert Bradfourth
    b. ~1487
    Wellingley, Yorkshire, England · great-grandfather of Gov. William Bradford of the Mayflower · the earliest dated ancestor · this line enters by adoption

    The Mayflower, Adopted The deepest line in the tree, running to a 1487 Yorkshire yeoman and Governor Bradford of the Mayflower. It enters the family by a 1908 adoption.

  2. c.1555 Schuyler & de Hooges Catharina de Druyper Mechelen

    David Pieterse Schuyler
    1636 – 1690
    Amsterdam → Albany · the immigrant Schuyler ancestor, brother of the famous patriarch Philip Pieterse

    Thirteen Generations The deepest blood line, from a widow of Mechelen, through the secretary of a Dutch colony and the Albany Schuylers. Carried by daughters for six generations.

  3. 1591 Whiting Sarah Whiting England

    Sarah Whiting
    b. 1591
    England · an early English root

  4. 1610 Van Vechten Teunis Dircksen Van Vechten Vechten, Utrecht

    Teunis Dircksen Van Vechten
    1610 – 1700
    Vechten, Utrecht → Greenbush, New York

  5. 1619 Chauvin Marin Chauvin dit La Fortune Normandy, France

    Marin Chauvin dit La Fortune
    b. 1619
    Normandy, France · the Huguenot line

  6. c.1624 Huntley John Huntley Lyme, Connecticut

    The Cooper of Lyme Back to a barrel-maker who shipped fish to Barbados and rioted over a town line in 1672. The longest New England reach in the tree.

  7. c.1671 Van Bunschoten Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten Bunschoten, Utrecht

    The Name Itself The namesake line: a Dutch immigrant on the Esopus flats, a Revolutionary lieutenant, and twelve children on a Saratoga farm.

  8. c.1755 Reed John Read Durham, Connecticut

    William Reed
    1786 – 1852
    Wallingford, Connecticut → Oneida Valley, New York

    A Door in Connecticut A line that runs clean back to a locked door: “John C. Read,” a man with no recorded past, his origin the family’s deepest brick wall, left honestly shut.

  9. c.1778 Doig Alexander Doig Angus, Scotland

    Alexander Doig & Marjory Peddie
    b. ~1778
    Monikie & Monifieth, Angus, Scotland · m. 1803 · the Doig line, Angus weavers & gamekeepers

    From Angus to the Big Sky Linen handloom weavers and estate gamekeepers of Angus who crossed to a Montana ranch in the 1890s. The longest crossing in the tree.

  10. c.1810 Clinnick Thomas Clinick Inwardleigh, Devon

    Out of North Devon A rare Devon name, farm labourers carried across the Atlantic by way of Ontario.

All seven stories

§ Timeline

  1. c.1487

    Robert Bradfourth, a yeoman of Wellingley, Yorkshire, and the earliest dated ancestor in the tree. His will, made in 1552, names his son William.

    Kirkland line
  2. 1608

    Johannes de Hooges “van Mechelen” and Maria Tijron “van Antwerpen” marry in Amsterdam, each given away by a widowed mother: Catharina de Druyper of Mechelen and Catharina Daniels of Antwerp.

    Schuyler & de Hooges line
  3. 1620

    William Bradford, the orphan of Austerfield, sails on the Mayflower and signs the Compact. He serves some thirty years as governor of Plymouth Colony.

    Kirkland line
  4. 1647

    John Huntley, a cooper, is in Boston by 1647, shipping fish to Barbados. In 1665 he is granted seventy-one acres at Lyme, Connecticut.

    Huntley line
  5. by 1671

    Theunis Eliasen Van Bunschoten is in the New World. His first child is baptized at Bergen, New Jersey, in 1676, and he acquires land on the Esopus flats at Kingston.

    Van Bunschoten line
  6. 1672

    John Huntley takes part in the New London–Lyme boundary riot.

    Huntley line
  7. 1675

    Maj. William Bradford, the Governor’s son and deputy governor of the colony, commands at the Great Swamp Fight.

    Kirkland line
  8. 1703

    Catrina Schuyler is baptized at Albany on 19 December 1703, daughter of David Davidse Schuyler, Mayor of Albany, and Elsje Rutgers. In 1725 she marries Eginas Du Mond at Kingston.

    Schuyler & de Hooges line
  9. 1716

    Jerusha Bradford, great-granddaughter of the Governor, marries Hezekiah Newcomb, and the Bradford blood passes into the Newcomb name.

    Kirkland line
  10. 1743

    Elsjen Du Mond marries Teunis Van Bunschoten. After seven generations carried almost entirely by daughters, the surname appears for the first time.

    Schuyler & de Hooges line
  11. 1754

    Egnos Van Bunschoten is born at Esopus on the second day of 1754. In the Revolution he serves as a Second Lieutenant in Colonel Graham’s Dutchess County regiment.

    Van Bunschoten line
  12. 1800

    Ira Huntley is counted at Duanesburg, New York, then buys Lot No. 54 at Manlius, carrying the name out of New England.

    Huntley line
  13. 1803

    Alexander Doig marries Marjory Peddie at Monifieth, Angus, on 26 June 1803.

    Doig line
  14. 1836

    Egnos Van Bunschoten follows his youngest son to Saratoga. He dies there in 1841, aged 87.

    Van Bunschoten line
  15. 1852

    William K. Reed, born at Wallingford, Connecticut, who carried the name to the Oneida Valley of New York, leaves a will naming his wife Jane and seven children.

    Reed line
  16. c.1893

    David Lawson Doig crosses to America: two years at Helena, then a ranch home at Toston, in Broadwater County, Montana.

    Doig line
  17. 1901

    William John Clinnick, born in Devon, reaches the United States by way of Ontario.

    Clinnick line
  18. 1908

    Samuel Newcomb Kirkland, two years old, is taken into the Kirkland family of Rome, New York, and raised as their own. By adoption he becomes heir to the Bradfords and the Mayflower.

    Kirkland line

§ By the numbers

people in the tree
626
families
231
generations
18
earliest dated ancestor
c.1487
lines told in full
7

Family members can sign in to see the full tree

Drawn from the family’s GEDCOM and published genealogies. Dates and places are shown as recorded. The Bradford and Mayflower line enters the family through the 1908 adoption of Samuel Newcomb Kirkland. Gaps are left as gaps, including the ones across the water.