Under Dutch rule, this area was part of New Netherland, which extended to Kingston and Albany, New York, in the north and to central New Jersey in the south.

The city was not yet an entity. Rather, it was composed of neighboring communities: New Amsterdam in lower Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and several settlements on western Long Island - in the present boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens and in what is now Nassau County.

Many of our ancestors (all in the TenEyck and Williamson branches) lived in these communities in the 17th and early 18th centuries, as shown on the enlarged map below, with approximate years of residence - dating from a couple's arrival at a location or marriage there. Some moves are detailed, but complexity has been minimized by focusing on primary residences - usually where most of their children were born.