|
New York City didn't look like this when the Monfoort family first arrived. They saw nothing but trees,
sandy beaches, and none of the comforts they left behind in the old country. The first known Montfort in America arrived
on the EENDRACHT from Amsterdam, Netherlands in late March of 1624, husband Jan, and wife, Jacqueline Moreau Monfoort.
I am the 12th generation from Jan and Jacqueline Moreau Monfoort and following me is the 13th and 14th generation
from the first of the family to arrive in this country almost 400 years ago. This particular line of the Montforts has
not been proven to be related to Simon de Montfort of England However, the possibility is there, just a prior gap
of 300 or so years to figure out how he might be related to the earliest known of our line, dating from Brisse Monfort born
about 1572 a resident of Valenciennes, France.
Jan and Jacqueline resided in what is now New York, but their descendants would move into New Jersey, then
to Pennsylvania and on to Kentucky by 1780. They would become closely tied to the Low Dutch Colony in York County, PA,
moving with them to Kentucky. A number of the Low Dutch, including several of the Montfort descendants would join the
Shaker religious colony in Pleasant Hill, Mercer County, Kentucky in 1805-06, among the first to join the communal religious
group.
It is my hope to correct errors found in several publications and online about my line of Montforts, with
sources listed to prove the errors.
|
