: De Camp Genealogy: Laurent De Camp of New Utrecht N.Y. 1664 and his descendants by Morrison George Austin - DeCamp family; DeCamp Laurent approximately 1645-; New Utrecht (New York N.Y.) Genealogy

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DE CAMP GENEALOGY. Laurent De Camp, OF NEW UTRECHT, N. Y., 1664, AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

COMPILED BY

GEORGE AUSTIN MORRISON, JR.

ALBANY, N. Y.: JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, 1900.

PREFACE.

In compiling the genealogical history of Laurent De Camp, an early Huguenot emigrant to the New Netherlands, and his descendants, I have been actuated not only by the desire to perpetuate the memory of the first American ancestor of an old New Jersey family, but also to preserve for future generations manuscript records rapidly disintegrating and in many cases inaccessible to the general public. The early French and Dutch church records in New York and New Jersey have, with few exceptions, remained unprinted and have been so carelessly kept that the writings have almost faded away. To add to my difficulty the puzzling method adopted by the ignorant Dutch clerks of entering the French name "De Camp" in its Dutch equivalents "Van Camp" and "Van Campen" has necessitated a long and thorough search against each name in order that no important fact concerning the De Camp family, so erroneously recorded, might be overlooked. Throughout this search I have found no evidence to prove the "De Camp" and "Van Campen" families identical or even related in any degree. I have further had to struggle against a curious apathy among the present "De Camps" concerning their origin and in several cases an absolute refusal to furnish the slightest information about their immediate generation.

The result of six years' labor is contained in these pages, and I trust the data collected may prove of value to those interested in the subject, and spur them on to further research.

Some mistakes will doubtless be found throughout the work, but all criticism and correction will be warmly welcomed and any additional information gratefully received.

GEORGE AUSTIN MORRISON, JR. 691 Fifth avenue, New York, N. Y.

THE DE CAMP FAMILY.

When the Catholic party, headed by Catherine di Medici, culminated years of cruel persecution with the massacre of the French Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Day, 24th August, 1572, a number of the surviving Huguenots fled for safety to the Netherlands and England. In many cases the name of illustrious families disappear forever from the records of France only to reappear in and flourish under the protection and religious toleration of the Dutch and English nations. Between the years 1572 and 1620 the names of many of the French refugees underwent a change suitable to the environment and in some cases became so Dutch in character that it is extremely difficult to trace them back to the original French. The curious custom so prevalent in the Netherlands of using no surname and designating as "Laurence, the son of John," if such was the father's Christian name, renders the task of the genealogist still more complicated, and when added to the fact that localities and towns of the same derivative designation exist both in France and Holland , it is small wonder that the greatest confusion prevails as to the ancestral source of many early New Amsterdam families. As early as 1650 the names of "De Camp," "Van Kamp" and "Van Campen" appear on the church and State records of New Amsterdam and the surrounding towns. It was long supposed that these three families were closely related, if not identical, but a critical examination of the records not only of the parents and children, but also of the baptismal sponsors, carries the conviction that the "De Camp" and the "Van Campen" families were of different origin and nationality. Almost all the original "De Camp" settlers who can positively be identified and traced as such were recorded in the Dutch church records of New Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Staten Island, under the names "Van Kamp" and "Van Campen" by the clerks of the above several parishes. It is only after the year 1710 that the name begins to be written correctly as "De Camp" or "D'Camp" on the church records.

At first it was theorized that some of the early "Van Campen" settlers were originally members of the "De Camp" family, basing the presumption upon the repeated recording of the name of "De Camp" in its Dutch equivalent, but upon classifying and comparing the names of the several sponsors at the baptism of the "De Camp" and "Van Campen" children, the strongest evidence is found to sustain the statement that the two families were nowise related by blood or marriage, the one being of French and the other of Dutch origin. As a matter of general interest, however, and for the sake of more complete record some few facts concerning the "Van Campen" family are given in the foot-notes and the genealogical student can thus verify the above statement and draw his own conclusions. Every effort has been made by the compiler to trace the "De Camp" name in France, but a thorough search in the archives of the "Bibliotheque Nationale" at Paris, and of the Department du Pas de Calais at Arras, fails to disclose any information of direct bearing upon the American families of "De Camp." For the purpose of record however, the following facts may be of interest. The name "De or Du Camp, Camps and Campe," also "Decamp" appear in the records of the cities of Laon, Rosay, Rouen, Caen, Montauban, and Camp of France, and in the archives of the cities of Lausanne and Geneva of Switzerland.

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