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Woestina Dutch Reformed Church (Rotterdam, NY) Records

A description of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 26 Aug 2010

Biographical History

Dutch settlers arrived in the area along the Mohawk River in central New York about the year 1661. At the time the main settlement in the area was Schenectady. The lands which lay several miles to the west, outside the town's stockade, were known as "Woestina." The Woestina Dutch Reformed Church was completed in 1800. Its first minister was Thomas Romeyn. The town in which it stood, named after the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, was formed from a ward of the city of Schenectady on April 14, 1820. In in 1823 the church became known as the First Reformed Church of Rotterdam. Consistory meetings were held in the home church as well as in classes in other towns and cities.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Woestina Dutch Reformed Church (Rotterdam, NY) Records consists of microfilm, one bound bound volume, and a number of loose pieces of financial and legal material. The entire collection consists of reproductions; there is no original material.

The loose Financial and legal material contains indentures, mortgages, moneys received for various purposes, Articles of Agreement between the minister and the church elders, etc.

Miscellaneous records, available in bound volume and microfilm format, include baptismal records, marriage records, consistory minutes, burial records, communicants registers, and other types of records. Names are primarily Dutch, German and English; among them are Veeder, Schuyler, Putman, Schermerhorn, Sterling / Staring, Kline, Herrick, Shipley and Barclay.

Arrangement of the Collection

Loose materials are arranged chronologically.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has collections related to a number of Methodist, Congregational, Reformed, and Unitarian Universalist churches in the central New York area. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index or search our collections to locate relevant collections.

Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

First Dutch Reformed Church of Rotterdam (N.Y.)
Woestina Dutch Reformed Church (Rotterdam, N.Y.)

Subjects

Church records and registers -- New York (State)
Reformed Church in America -- History.

Places

New York (State) -- Church history.
Rotterdam (N.Y.) -- Religious life and customs.

Genres and Forms

Baptismal registers.
Church records.
Correspondence.
Financial records.
Indentures.
Membership lists.
Microfilms.
Minutes (administrative records)
Photocopies.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Woestina Dutch Reformed Church (Rotterdam, NY) Records,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Unspecified, 1964.

Table of Contents

Church records

Inventory