In 1694/95 in present Delaware a man named John Garretson van de Hof died. Today he has thousands of
descendants living, many of them Garretsons and even some Garrisons.
When John died there was a pair of Garretson brothers, Henry, Sr and Paul, also living in the same area -
present New Castle County. Records from those days prove Henry and Paul were brothers. Recently
people who have a paper trail back to Henry have joined our project . Their results placed them in the
Duplin County, NC sub-group and because the family connection could be traced further north it was
renamed the Garr*son Delaware sub-group.
In October 1941 descendants of John Garretson started a publication they called The Garretson News. It
was published several times a year. The last issue was dated December 1958. Contributors to the News
made the claim that John was an older brother of Henry and Paul. Unfortunately they had no proof, they
offered none and to this day none has been found. In fact, DNA results have proven otherwise.
We have donations of DNA samples from Kit 169380 (who is new to our project) and from Kit 166257 (who
came through the merging of the two Garr*son projects). The first member mentioned has a paper trail
back to John who died 1694/95. Presently we are awaiting information from the other member as to his
complete lineage. These two are in a new section - the John Garretson van der Hof sub-group. This has
been done because the values from the 37-marker test prove that John was not brother to Henry
and Paul.
Those of us who are in the other Delaware sub-group had doubted those claims of kinship for a number of
years. There were cultural reasons for our doubt. When John died he left three sons all of whom were
minors, but he did not name either Henry or Paul as the boys' guardian. Nor were they appointed his
executors. As mentioned, there were several records calling Henry and Paul brothers (to each other) but
none have been found that made any connection between them and John. All three took the oath of
allegiance to the British in 1682/3. Paul's name follows Henry's in the list but John's is in another part.
While the brothers likely knew John because the population was small nothing shows that they interacted in
any way during their mutual lifetimes.
We welcome both these members because they are providing answers to lineage problems. Their results
have cleared up the question about a relationship between John and his two neighbors. And, even more
important a new sub-group has been set up in the project that should help other new members find that
they, too, descend from John Garretson van der Hof.
In closing, let it be explained that John did not use the "van de Hof" in all his records but when he wrote his
will he felt it important to specify which John Garretson it was for. His descendants were proud of the
Garretson name and none adopted the surname Van der Hof. Those later generations who adopted the
spelling Garrison probably did so from the influence of living in a community with residents mostly of English
origin.
descendants living, many of them Garretsons and even some Garrisons.
When John died there was a pair of Garretson brothers, Henry, Sr and Paul, also living in the same area -
present New Castle County. Records from those days prove Henry and Paul were brothers. Recently
people who have a paper trail back to Henry have joined our project . Their results placed them in the
Duplin County, NC sub-group and because the family connection could be traced further north it was
renamed the Garr*son Delaware sub-group.
In October 1941 descendants of John Garretson started a publication they called The Garretson News. It
was published several times a year. The last issue was dated December 1958. Contributors to the News
made the claim that John was an older brother of Henry and Paul. Unfortunately they had no proof, they
offered none and to this day none has been found. In fact, DNA results have proven otherwise.
We have donations of DNA samples from Kit 169380 (who is new to our project) and from Kit 166257 (who
came through the merging of the two Garr*son projects). The first member mentioned has a paper trail
back to John who died 1694/95. Presently we are awaiting information from the other member as to his
complete lineage. These two are in a new section - the John Garretson van der Hof sub-group. This has
been done because the values from the 37-marker test prove that John was not brother to Henry
and Paul.
Those of us who are in the other Delaware sub-group had doubted those claims of kinship for a number of
years. There were cultural reasons for our doubt. When John died he left three sons all of whom were
minors, but he did not name either Henry or Paul as the boys' guardian. Nor were they appointed his
executors. As mentioned, there were several records calling Henry and Paul brothers (to each other) but
none have been found that made any connection between them and John. All three took the oath of
allegiance to the British in 1682/3. Paul's name follows Henry's in the list but John's is in another part.
While the brothers likely knew John because the population was small nothing shows that they interacted in
any way during their mutual lifetimes.
We welcome both these members because they are providing answers to lineage problems. Their results
have cleared up the question about a relationship between John and his two neighbors. And, even more
important a new sub-group has been set up in the project that should help other new members find that
they, too, descend from John Garretson van der Hof.
In closing, let it be explained that John did not use the "van de Hof" in all his records but when he wrote his
will he felt it important to specify which John Garretson it was for. His descendants were proud of the
Garretson name and none adopted the surname Van der Hof. Those later generations who adopted the
spelling Garrison probably did so from the influence of living in a community with residents mostly of English
origin.
| DNA Clarifies Another Misunderstanding |
Garrisons' Compass
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