THE NAME

The Van Vlack name evolved from our ancestors adopting a toponymic (place) surname (last name). Our earliest recorded Van Vlecker, Jan Roelofse, was known first by this patronomic (father’s) name. Norwegian “Olaf” becomes Dutch ‘Roelof” and by adding “s”, “ze”, “se’ (meaning child) or ‘sen’ (meaning son) becomes Roelofse, etc. The Dutch. influence provided our ancestors, too, with the Dutch given Jan (sounds like John in English). Thus, he was recorded as Jan Roelofse (Jan, son of Roelef from Noord Wegen.

Persons selecting a surname, as a rule, used either their trade or the home town or region (toponymy) from which they or their fore fathers came in Europe, preceded in the latter case often by the Dutch word ‘van’ meaning ‘from’. In this manner, ‘from Fleckkeroy’ became Van Vleckkeren in Dutch to distinguish from other Roelofse’s that emigrated from Europe.

Marinus, our earliest proven ancestor, baptized his children (1705 to 1720) as Roelofse, but these children baptized their children with the surname (last name) Van Vleckkeren, thus adopting, at this point in time, a surname which came into usage in the mid-1600’s in Europe and the colonies in the late 1600’s to better identify the family relationships, the individual, and descendants.

By the mid-1700’s family members in Dutchess County, New York, are recorded under various spellings of the name, Van Vleckkeren, Van Vleckeren, Van Vlekeren, Van Vlackeren, Van Flackera, even Van Vleck, eventually became Van Vlack by the simple process of shortening the longer form to English spelling. The sound ‘leck’ in Dutch sounds like ‘lack’ in English; the ‘er’ designates a plural noun - (Flekkeroy is a group of islands); ‘en’ designates a genitive ending for masculine and neuter nouns of the Dutch language. Both ‘er’ and ‘en’ were dropped as the English language and writing gradually replaced Dutch, after the surrender to the English in 1667. In researching early Van Vlack genealogy these spellings must be reckoned with.

Early New York Dutch records of baptisms, marriages and deaths all tie to one family, however, as the use of surnames gradually replaced patronomic names during 1650-1750.

Abraham M. Van Vlack, a soldier patriot of the American Revo1ution, born 1755, was one of the first to adopt the Van Vlack spelling shortly after the Revolutionary War period and by 1800 it was in general practice by the relationship. Research indicates : all Van Vlacks in the United States and Canada are related stemming from Marinus Roelofse Van Vleckeren. Van Vlacks are not related to Van Vlecks, except for a few families explained later herein.