Joseph Yates arrived in New Amsterdam and Beverwijck in 1664 as a 16-year-old soldier in the Duke of YorkÕs private army. Beverwijck became Albany under the English. This book documents his life and the lives of one line of his descendants and their wives and the historical settings they lived in.
JosephÕs son, Robert, moved to Schenectady and established himself as a cordwainer and merchant. His youngest son, Abraham, moved his family into the Mohawk Valley. He fought under Sir William Johnson in the siege of Fort Niagara and became a member of the Committee of Safety in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolutionary War. AbrahamÕs youngest, also named Abraham, inherited the homestead and continued farming. The fifth generation, Robert, fought at SackettÕs Harbor in the War of 1812 and continued farming. John Robert, sixth generation, was also a successful farmer and a Justice of the Peace. His son, Charles, moved to Michigan and established a successful farm. Seymour started his family in Michigan and moved back to the homestead farm in the Mohawk Valley in 1912. Willard, the ninth generation, weathered the Great Depression and WWII on the farm.
The families of the wives of these ancestors are briefly traced: Hubertje Marcelis, Margariet DeGraff, Sara Mabee/Mabie, Wyntje (Lovina) Lenardson, Jane Gardinier, Eva Eliza Quackenbush, and Jane Leonardson. Flossmary Will, the authorÕs grandmother, has a section tracing her Canadian ancestors. The authorÕs mother, Edith Knudsen, has a section tracing her ancestral line in Denmark.
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