GENESBYJOHN.INFO
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1.
INTRODUCTION
WORTMAN FAMILY HISTORY
The ancestry of William Wortman is still uncertain. Wortman is a German or Dutch surname and there are many families with that name from Germany or the Netherlands. It also seems that his ancestors could possible be of English origin. See WORKMAN FAMILY HISTORY by Thelma C. Anderson, 1962, Salt Lake City, Utah.
John William Workman came to Holland as an immigrant during the Puritan upheavals in England. He had a family and died sometime before 1647 in Amsterdam, Holland. The Dutch form of his name was Jans William Woertman. It seems that his family integrated very well into their social and religious way of life and became more Dutch than English in language and customs.
As early as 1628 he had married Harmtje. That is a very unusual Dutch name. The English equivalent to this is Hannah. They had three children, Elizabeth Jans Woertman, Dirck Jans Woertman & Annetje.
Dirck Jans Woertman, born about 1630 in Amsterdam, came to New Amsterdam in 1647. Before 1680 he was only known as Dirck Jans but then resumed the Woertman surname. I am not certain that these are the ancestors of William Wortman. I need to find some proof to connect the lines. Other researchers have connected them but I have not seen any documentation. (son of David Wortman and Lydia Gordon).
What we have are a number of possible beginnings but no middle to connect with our ending. One of the reasons for this web site is to find the connections.
General Notes
Many links are provided for endnotes and additional information such as obituaries, wills, short biographies, transcribed documents, etc. Sometimes the endnotes seem to be redundant but I was reluctant to do away with them. I have been on to many web sites that have no documentation at all and did not like what I saw. I may have gone to the other extreem.
Dates of birth are, many times, calculated from the age at time of death listed on the grave stone. If only a month and year are listed for the birth date it was taken from the 1900 census.