Early Springstead Family information

One of these daughters, Lydia -- a petite woman with a lovely singing voice -- was married to the millwright John Springstead, of Tapleytown in Saltfleet Township.  The Springsteen (-sted, -stead) family had come from Germany to Holland to escape persecution by their Catholic overlords.  There they intermarried with the Dutch people, and in 1652 emigrated to New Amsterdam (New York) where the Dutch King granted land to the brothers Joost, Johannes, and Melchior Springsteen.³  This land was near Newtown, renamed Middlesburg by its settlers, on the edge of Forest Hills -- formerly called Whitespot because the land was bought from the Indians for three white clay pots.  The Springsteen descendants gradually disposed of the land, the last four acres (now in Queensborough) being sold in 1929 for a million dollars.

  The Dutch Church maintained excellent records which assist genealogists and historians in their research.  Many Springsteen family members moved westwards from New York to the Mohawk River valley before the Seven Years Was, 1756-63.  It was a harsh and fearful life, for no one knew when marauders would come down from Québec, setting fires, killing livestock and family.

  During the Revolutionary War, as with many other families, the loyalties of the Springsteens were divided; some fought for King George, others for the rebels.  After peace was signed, some of them came via Niagara to settle in Saltfleet and Gainsborough Townships; others came around 1800 to buy good farmland in the Niagara Peninsula.  They were a religious group, with their own preachers who kept the Dutch families together.  many of the first generations emigrated to Wisconsin.  But family ties remained strong; for many years, Springstead family picnics were held.  This writer has invitations to them from 1909 to 1933.  They were held at Stoney Creek, Battlefield Park; Westdale Park, Hamilton; Cobleskill, N.Y.; David N. Springstead's Park, Vintonton, Schoharie County, N.Y. and Brodhead, Wisconsin, where Springstead's Orchestra played for the Old Time Dances.

1 William B. Willcox, ed. The American Rebellion, Sir Henry Clinton's Narratives of his Campaigns, 1775-1782 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1954). 2 Dr. H.C. Burleigh. The Blockhouse of Bergen Wood (Bloomfield, Ont.: Bayside Publishing Co., 1977). 3 Andrew Provost. Early Settlers of Bushwick, Long Island, New York (Darien, Conn.: Darien Press, 1949).

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Sample Asahel Ward Ancestry Chart Submitted by Irene MacCrimmon (Opens in new window)

  http://www.grandriveruel.ca/Newsletter_Reprints/89v1n2Asahel_Ward.htm