This page will cover the families of DENISE,SCHENCK,SEALS,and VANCOUWENHOVEN/CONOVER.All four families came to America before 1700,Seals being English and the other three came from The Netherlands.Most of my information came from books about the families that I have gone through at the Allen County Public Library at Ft Wayne.The families first settled New Amsterdam,which is present day Kings County,New York.They then moved on to Monmouth County in New Jersey.A few families,including my ancestors,migrated to southwestern Ohio about 1800.
I have just recieved new updated information about John SEALS.It seems he came to America and first settled in Massachusetts,where he was on the wrong side of the law a few times.His first wife died on the voyage over. I now have a page up about some recent information discovered about John Seals. click here to see it.
The DENISE,SCHENCK, and VANCOUWENHOVEN/CONOVER families share the same histories.They all came over from The Netherlands in the 1600's,settling on Long Island.After the sale of New Amsterdam to the English,some of the families moved on to New Jersey.There were quite a few family members that fought in the American Revolution,including my ancestor,Major Denyss DENISE.The DENISE surname had a few differant spellings,originaly it was NYSS,and records also showed DE NYSE and DENYSS.My 4great-granfather,John Denise,son of Maj. Dyness DENISE,brought his family to Warren county,Ohio about 1810.He died after the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth Mary DENISE(born abt1820) and was buried at Carlisle Cemetary north of Middletown,Ohio.His widow, Mary Lane,remarried to John Schenck.
Elizabeth Mary DENISE married Adam Gebhart
There is some what of a contoversey surrounding the SCHENCK family history.According to one source,the Ancestory goes way back to early 1400 to the Schenck VAN NYDECK family of Netherlands.
The VANCOUWENHOVEN name is one of the earliest families of New Amsterdam.There are a number of books on this family,suggest visiting a local large city library,or visit the CONOVER home page.
Pleas note:The Dutch in thier records spelled words phoeneticaly,so it's quite possible to have a surname spelled in many variations.
