Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
De Camp Genealogy.
Laurent De Camp,
OF
NEW UTRECHT, N. Y., 1664,
AND
HIS DESCENDANTS.
PREFACE.
In compiling the genealogical history of Laurent DeCamp, an early Huguenot emigrant to the New Netherlands,and his descendants, I have been actuated notonly by the desire to perpetuate the memory of the firstAmerican ancestor of an old New Jersey family, butalso to preserve for future generations manuscriptrecords rapidly disintegrating and in many cases inaccessibleto the general public. The early French andDutch church records in New York and New Jerseyhave, with few exceptions, remained unprinted andhave been so carelessly kept that the writings havealmost faded away. To add to my difficulty the puzzlingmethod adopted by the ignorant Dutch clerks ofentering the French name “De Camp” in its Dutchequivalents “Van Camp” and “Van Campen” has necessitateda long and thorough search against each name inorder that no important fact concerning the De Campfamily, so erroneously recorded, might be overlooked.Throughout this search I have found no evidenceto prove the “De Camp” and “Van Campen” familiesidentical or even related in any degree. I have further4had to struggle against a curious apathy among thepresent “De Camps” concerning their origin and inseveral cases an absolute refusal to furnish the slightestinformation about their immediate generation.
The result of six years’ labor is contained in thesepages, and I trust the data collected may prove of valueto those interested in the subject, and spur them on tofurther research.
Some mistakes will doubtless be found throughoutthe work, but all criticism and correction will be warmlywelcomed and any additional information gratefullyreceived.
THE DE CAMP FAMILY.
When the Catholic party, headed by Catherine diMedici, culminated years of cruel persecution with themassacre of the French Protestants on St. Bartholomew’sDay, 24th August, 1572, a number of the survivingHuguenots fled for safety to the Netherlands and England.In many cases the name of illustrious familiesdisappear forever from the records of France only to reappea