Subj:   Re: Pilgrim's Church
Date:   12/2/99
To: <A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>

My family name, Myers, though I don't know about our branch, first appears in
the written record in the Americas in 1609. I also have Dutch relatives here,
the Zwicker's marrying the Urquhart's in 19th century Canada and my mothers
father and his brothers coming here from there One survived here, one a
captain, one of the first torpedoed in the W.W.II didn't and the third
returned to Canada. My grandfather first served in the Canadian Black Watch
in W.W.I before coming to the US.

As to what we could do, I think stating objections to progress without
recognition of the past contributions, helps the process along. If I object
to the sale of Fort Jay, by stating such as "John Jay descendants were both
Dutch and French Huguenots," it draws attention enough to international
contributions. I myself work in historical archaeology in the US,
specifically New York City, and have seen archaeologists exchange information
across the Atlantic and also visit from the Netherlands and look at the
collections we find compared to their own.

The Halfe Moon Society I know is very interested in telling their side of the
story of the settlement of New York. They have even suggested building a
"Williamsburg" of 17th century New Amsterdam so that people might see what it
was like. One of the more popular places in Japan is a theme park recreating
the Netherlands in Japan. I think all of this is good and that things will
probably be researched and presented enough to change some of the "ancient"
textbooks school children read and this will change. I see some of their old
sites destroyed in New York and we maintain a vigilance of the developers in
order to ensure that whatever evidence we may recover we can through legal
representation at the New York City's Landmarks Commission.

Here is an example. Columbus is known to have consulted the "Masons" of
Bristol, England before his famous voyages. What information was there I
don't particularly know, but it may have been very important. The largest
"Masons" library in the world was in the Netherlands and it was destroyed by
the Nazis. Who knows now what information may have been there also? No person
alive can contain all that information in one mind.

George J. Myers, Jr.