Why does the Blauvelt family in America claim their ancestor was a Dutch colonist named Gerrit Hendricksen? How did he become so well-placed in New Amsterdam society that he could marry the daughter of the foremost ship builder, and receive a substantial land grant making him the next door neighbor of Governor Peter Stuyvesant? What was his relationship to Captain Willem Albertsen Blauvelt, the only man carrying the name in the Dutch colony of New Netherland? Ralph Blauvelt tackles these questions and more in "A Blauvelt Descendant, Researching Family History." He describes his childhood...