A KNICKERBOCKER LEGACY: The Baker Family and The Edgar Family of Rahwa

A KNICKERBOCKER LEGACY: The Baker Family and The Edgar Family of Rahway N.J. and N.Y.C. (Hardcover with Dust Jacket)

75⁰⁰

By John Milnes Baker

Jacobus Backer and Margaret Stuyvesant were married in New Amsterdam in 1655. They were the progenitors of the families traced in this book.

The term Knickerbocker derives from Washington Irving’s 1809 A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty and of course signifies a connection to “Old New York.”

Fifty years ago there was no such thing as the Internet. There certainly was no ancestry.com and the nation’s fascination with family history and genealogy was unimagined.

There have long been numerous historical and genealogical organizations which usually require a “qualifying ancestor” to join. But the current popular interest in family history was generally considered rather esoteric. All that has changed in recent years, however, and I believe the timing of this updated publication is propitious.

One’s surname doesn’t have to be Baker or Edgar to find this book relevant. There are well over three hundred names other than Baker and Edgar in the index alone, and many of these families are also represented in the book, many with individual genealogical charts.

(470p., Illus., Index, 2024)

Hardcover only, includes dust jacket.

Comment from the Author:

This is not a "review" as such as I am the author. However, I would like to quote from The Preface to the New Edition: "I repeat what I wrote fifty years ago: It is my hope that in this increasingly diverse society there will be a sense of kinship and family affiliation - not just for someone with the surname Baker or Edgar - but for the literally infinite family names that are a part of the extended clan. We are all a part of a history of family and kinship. An understanding and knowledge of that concept is an entree into all history." My final thought: " A book like this is never really completed I hope that in the years to come some member of our Tribe, perhaps yet unborn, will 'answer the call and take my place in the long line of family story tellers.' As I noted in the preface to this edition, Sue Monk Kidd's admonition: 'Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.' "

Every single person has a family history and stories to tell. So let's hear more!

-- John Milnes Baker

A KNICKERBOCKER LEGACY: The Baker Family and The Edgar Family of Rahway N.J. and N.Y.C. (Hardcover with Dust Jacket)

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