Email:  markrputnam@putmanfamily.org

David Portman / Potman

Potterstown, New Jersey

          On the internet there is a very good site on the Christopher Voght family of Clinton, New Jersey.  Christopher Voght married Cornelia Davidse Potman or Portman, the daughter of David Potman, who in turn was a son of Johannes and Cornelia Pootman of Schenectady, New York.

            Of interest is the fact that the name Portman was used by the family and second in the article on the Voght's . . .  http://hunterdonhomes.com/history/TheVoughtHouse.pdf . . . it says that David Potman deeded his homestead to Henry R. Traphegan who was David's grandson.  Christopher Vought was said to have lived between Potterstown and [Oldwick] New Germantown, New Jersey, and from my research it seems that David Potman lived next to him or just below McCrea Mills, New Jersey, which is just north of Potterstown.  It may be said actually that David Potman live near Potterstown. 

            Christpher Vought later removed to just north of Clinton, New Jerey.

            The information on the internet, which says that David died in Pluckimen, New Jersey, is likely wrong although Pluckimen is just to the east and not really that far away.  

            Cornelia Potman married first Ralph Traphegan by who she had two children:  Sarah and Henry.  Sarah married Gerrit Covenhoven, or Conover, and she seems to have shared in the division of the estate of David Putman [Potman] with her brother Henry Traphegan.  There is a road just north of Potterstown that is called Covenhoven Road.  It seems to have been located on the David Potman's homestead, I believe. 

            To lend credence to the notion that David Potman married Helen Evertse Van Gelder, I have recently received an email that says that David Potman purchased land from Mathius Van Horne in Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth Co., New Jersey.  Mathius Van Horne's wife was Fyke Adamse Brower who married first Evert Hendrickson Van Gelder.  Fyke and Evert had a daughter named Helena who, it seems, married David Potman.  The Upper Freehold land was next to that of Cornelius and Abraham Van Horne's tract.  The latter two were sons of Mathius and Fyke Van Horne.

            Mathius and Fyke Van Horne and their sons Cornelius and Abraham removed to White House, New Jersey, about 1722.  It seems that David Potman was a relative of the family and also removed to Potterstown at the same time.  Potterstown is just a couple of miles west of White House.  The Potman and Van Horne properties here in Hunterdon Co.  may also have been next to each other or very close to each other. 

The 1874 map shows Whitehouse, Potterstown, and [Oldwick] New Germantown.  

David Potman lived just north of Potterstown probably where North Potterstown Road first forks to the east, which is Lance Road.

The Putman Family Name once was Pootman,

Which Meant Portman

Or Gateman

            An e-mail correspondent from Europe has told me that the Pootman family name means Portman . . . or a person who keeps guard at a gate or port . . . a person who may also be called a doorman. 

            Just recently I notice over the internet that the David Pootman family of New Jersey, which was later known as Potman, Pottman, and Putman, went by the name of  Portman during the early 1700's.  See the article on David's daughter Cornelia Portman Traphegan a the following site:  http://hunterdonhomes.com/history/TheVoughtHouse.pdf .

            When you read Webster Dictionary, a portman is an inhabitant or burgess of a harbor. 

            Many of the Pootman's of the Duisburg, Germany, area in the early records of the 1600's used the name Portman or Portmann.  After a lengthy search on the subject, it appears the root of the Dutch-American Putman name, which was originally Pootman, means Portman.  If you check the internet for early Pootman's in Europe, the names Portman and Pootman are used interchangeably.  The "r" in Portman was apparently changed to an "o". 

             Other names for Portman in Dutch are De Poorter and De Pooter . . . and Van Der Poorten and Van Der Pooten.    

            Professor Debrabandere indicated that the names Potmans and Pothman also are variants of the name Poortman.  Use of these names goes back to about the year 1200 AD.  He writes that Poortman and Pootman both meant gateman.

            In Germany, today, a gate is called a "pforte".  A porter in German is called a "pfortner" while a haven is called a "port".  

            In American, there were other occurrences where the Dutch-American Pootman family last name was spelled Poortman.  Rhoda J. Ensweiler Cline in her book on her family says that Johannes Pootman's last name was also spelled Poortman.  In the Baptism Record of Schenectady Reformed Church, 1694-1811, it lists Teunis Pootman, or Putman, as Teunis Poortman at a Barheit/Pootman baptism in 1742.  It seems that Johannes Pootman's son Cornelius Janse Pootman had descendants that used the last name Portman or Poortman.   The was also Cornelius Portman who was listed in the 1790 MY Census who was a Putman or Pootman.

Johannes Pootman,

Cornelia Bradt:

                Johannes Pootman, or Johannes Putman, and Cornelia Bradt.

Children:

            1.   Arent Pootman And His Descendants.   Born about 1676.

            2.   Mary Pootman and Her Descendants.  Born about 1678

            3.   Victor Pootman and His Descendants.  Born about 1680.

            4.   David Pootman and His Descendants.  Born in 1684.

            5.   Cornelius Pootman and His Descendants.  Born about 1686.

            6.   Catherine Pootman and Her Descendants.  Born about 1688.

Beautiful Hand 

            When the immigrant ancestor of the American Putman family, Johannes Pootman was apprenticed to work for Philip Hendrickson Brower in September 1661 in Albany, it was said that he wrote his name in a "beautiful hand”.  

Johannes Pootman's Signature

Burning of Schenectady

On the night of February 8, 1690, the French and Indians knowing they could not over take Albany determined, instead, to plunder and destroy the small stockade village west of Albany called Schenectady.

When the French and Indian's attacked Schenectady, it was burned and many of it inhabitants were slain.

Schenectady Massacre

            Johannes Poetman [Pootman] and Cornelia Bradt were among those who died that night.  

Victor Pootman

Aalburg, The Netherlands

           From the pattern of the naming of his children, Johannes Pootman's father would have been called Victor.  Johannes' first son Arent was named for Cornelia Bradt's father Arent Andries Bradt, and their next son Victor would have been named for Johannes Pootman's father, probably, a Victor Pootman who may have originally been a Poortman.

            Johannes Pootman's father was according to tradition a dominee, or minister, of a church in Netherlands.  Perhaps, he was initially a schoolmaster.

           About the time that Johannes Pootman was born, 1645, a Victor Pootman was a schoolmaster in Aalburg in the Land of Altena and Heusden, North Brabant, Netherlands.  

            The ship that came to New York about the time that Johannes Pootman arrived was called the Golden Beaver, and its passenger's were mostly from Beesd, Netherlands.  Beesd is just a few miles north of Aalburg.  

            Was Johannes Pootman the son of Victor Pootman of Aalburg?  It's certainly possible!

Gotterswickerham and Voerde

The Home of a Number of Pootmann's

            The Dutch-American Putman family homeland may have been the Land of Cleve, Germany.  Cleve is Latin for cliff.  

            The Putman family descends from Johannes [Victorse] Pootman who arrived in America about 1661 and settled in Schenectady, New York.  

               Looking over the Internet, I've discovered that the last name Pootmann was common in the neighborhood of Voerde, Germany, in the early 1600's and 1700's.  A Wilhelmus Pootman in 1683 is listed as a "Vesalia Clivensis, Ex classibus ibidem promotus".   "Vesalia Clivenis" is Latin and means the Town of Wesel in the Duchy of Cleve.  The City of Cleve is, just, northwest of Voerde.

            In 1614, a Marijtje Jans Pootman married Jan van Roocke in Leiden, South Holland.  Marijtje Jans was likely a sister of a Garret Janse Pootman and was born in the Town of Ketwig in the Land of Cleve.  Ketwig is near the cities of Essen and Duisburg, Germany, south of Voerde near the bottom of the Land of Cleve.  

           The German Rutgerus Putman family, which lived along the Lippe River, seems to have been a different family than the Pootman family.   It was widely reported that the Dutch-American Pootman descends from Rutgerus Putman, but this doesn't seem to be true.

            Voerde includes the suburbs of Stockum, Spellen, and Goetterswickerham.  In the late 1600's and early 1700's, there were Pootmann's in these towns. 

            At one site, which lists the Pootman's of the Voerde, Germany, area it seems that the name Pootman was also known as Gotterswickerham, the name of a town near Voerde.  The name Haferk seems also to have been used.  The German word for a harbor, or port, is "hafen", which simply means a haven.  The Scandinavian word for harbor is "hamm".  

            At Familysearch.org., the earliest known Pootman's, which included Gordt Pootman, were baptized at the Freimersheim Church, which is on the Rhine River just above Duisburg.  It seems that "heim" is a form of "hamm".  A free port, [Swedish "frihamm] is a foreign free trade zone.  Perhaps, Friemersheim means free mariner's harbor or port.  Gordt Pootman seems, though, to have been from Gotterswickerham.

            March 1, 1686, in Schenectady, New York, the will of Peter Jacabse Boontame [Borsboom] was proved with Adam Voorman  [Vrooman] and Joris Aerts Van Der Voert [Baast] appointed as overseers of his children.  His will was confirmed April 13, 1687.  The testament of Peter Boontame was written on October 18, 1686, with Johannes Pootman, Reynier Skates [Schaets] , and Ludovicus Coler [Cobus] as witnesses.  Peter J. Borsboom's daughter Anne mentioned in the will married Jan Pierterse Mabie and became the mother-in-law of Victor Janse Pootman, Johannes Pootman's son.  Victor married Grietje Mabie.  Pieter J. Borsboom had married a Mohawk lady whose first name was also Grietje.

            The German word "forda" means seems to come from, or is related to, the Latin word "porto" meaning to carry.  German "beforderer" means carrier.

            The German word "porto" means postage paid for carriage.  A history of the Bradt family of Norway and American mentions that the Putman family family name was also "Postman".  The Latin word "porta" means a gate while "porto" means to carry.  Both these words are related.

                Potma Regio

            The Roman map "Belgii Veteris Typis", The Belgium Old Map, seems to show that the region northeast of what is today the City of Essen, Germany, was Potma Regio.  Potma Regio was a part of what latter was called the Duchy of Cleve. 

            Potman Regio was the eastern most realm of the Celtic people called Menapii and Paemani.  The Menapii's main town was Kessel, Belgium, on the Meuse River and then called Menapiorum. 

            Here the Lippe, Meuse, and Lower Rhine River meet.  The people of the Lippe River were called the Usipete or Usipii.

            Click the following hyperlink for the map:  Potma Regio

            The Greek work "porthmos" means a ford or strait.  Dutch "poort" means a gate or gateway and is used in South Africa to mean a passage between mountains.

The Ruhrpott: Or Pott

Home of Poot's, Pott's, Pootmann's, Pottman's, Potmann's, and Putmann's

            The Ruhrpott, or what is commonly called the Pott, is the coal mining area in Germany at the intersection of the Rhine, Lippe, and Ruhr Rivers.    

            This is the general home of the families called Pootman and Putman although the names may have different meanings and origins reaching to before 1,000 AD.  

            The name Pootmann was also spelled Pottmann.  The name Ruhrpott means the Ruhr basin or valley, called officially the Ruhrgebeit.  A "gebiet" is a region or area of command.

             Wendal Putman, an early 1900's American writer on the Pootman or Putman family, said that the Dutch-American Putman family was from the area of Duisburg and had a coat of arms with three boars heads at the top and what looked like coal hods or buckets.  

            The Ruhrpott, or Pott, is also called the "Kohlenpott" . . . or Coal Region.  "Pott" may mean a large tub or crucible.

Pootman, And, Postman

                The immigrant ancestor of the American Putman family was Johannes Pootman -- 1645-1690 --  later, known as Johannes Putman.  

            The German word "porto" means postage.

            Norwegian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674, says that name Pootman also was spelled or meant Postman.

            In Dutch, a messenger is a "bode", and in German he was called a "bote".  The root is the Dutch word "bod", which means to bid, or command, from which we get English bode.  

                In Sweden, a  porter is called a "stadsbud". 

            A few Dutch-American Pootman's, or Putman's, who attended the German Lutheran Church of Herkimer County, New York, in the 1800's, used the spelling Bodman and Bottman.

The Pootman's, or Poetman's, of Alkmaar, North Holland

           The Dutch Mohawk Valley Putman family originally spelled their name Pootman, and on the Vedder and Groat family websites our early surname is spelled Poetman.

            I have not found any reference in early records in which the Pootman family name was spelled Poutman,: however, that spelling was used by later New England historians.

            On search engines, if you type in the words "pootman holland", a listing for the Pootman, or Poeytman/Poitman, family, of North Holland, comes up.  This Pootman family was recorded in the church inventory of the 1400's and 1500's in Alkmaar, North  Holland. 

Poentic Kill:  Putman Creek?

            West of Schenectady, New York, in the Town of Rotterdam, runs Putnam Road, where the children of Johannes and Cornelia Pootman received land grants from Queen Ann about 1710 according to Wendel Putman.  

            Putnam Road runs along Poentic Creek near Plotter Creek.  Putnam Road was "The Road to Mohawk Country" going west out of Schenectady, New York, and ran a mile or so south of the Mohawk River.

            Schenectady means in Iroquois "across the pine plains" or perhaps corrupted to Dutch to mean "the Beautify Corner".  

            The place name Poentic may have been an Indian or Latin name for the Pootman family.

            The Dutch-American Putman family was known in the late 1600's, and early 1700's as the Pootman family.  During the early 1700's, the name was changed to Pottman and Potman and on at least one occasionally Puttman.  

            It was not until the American Revolutionary War, 1776, that the family began using the English rendition Putman.  Some Pootmans' today use the spelling Putnam.

My Family

            My, Mark R. Putnam's, family seems to descend from Johannes Pootman's son David Potman, or  Patman, who removed from Schenectady, New York, to Mattawan, New Jersey, at an early date, and finally removed to Potterstown, New Jersey, where he seems to have died about 1761.  

            David's sons probably were John Putnam and Victor Potman.  

            John Putnam and his descendents probably were associated with the Swayze and Hopkins families of Hopkins Corner, New Jersey.  

            Victor Potman seems to have had sons John V. and Peter V.  John may have remained near Portland, Pennsylvania, while Peter eventually removed to Bevens, New Jersey.  John V. Potman and his children likely removed to Luzerne, County, Pennsylvania, by 1790, and then moved to Cattaurugus County, New York, by 1800.

            Peter V. Putman's children lived near Porter's Corner, Yates County, New York.

            A John Johannes Putman, II, of Hardyston, New Jersey, probably married a lady named Sina and had a son John, III, who married Jane Stull and removed to Schuyler County, New York.

            My Great Grandfather William C. Putman came to Caro and Tuscola County, MI, in the mid-1850's when the area was the world's pine lumbering capital.  He seems to have come from Delhi, Ontario, Canada.  Middletown in the 1840's was then the pine capital of the Eastern Great Lakes.  

            Perhaps, William C. Putman, my great-grandfather, was born in Wayne, New York, before removing to Ontario, and then Michigan.  Peter V. Putman had a son John who lived in Wayne, New York, and about 1834 removed to Delhi. 

           Great great grandfather William C. Putman was said to have worked on Ontario's Welland Canal.  

           As witness to his homestead land purchase, William C. Putman had Abel Eveland, who lived in Steuben County, New York.  It is interesting to note that Abel was the guardian of a Francis Marion Goldry, who was the great great grandson of David Potman of Potterstown, New Jersey.  David Potman's daughter Sophia, or Fyke, married Thomas Auten, and they had a daughter, Helena, who married Oliver Goltry.  

            Able Eveland, also, had a daughter who married a grandson of John Putman and Jane Stoll, and Able likewise had a son who married into the Stoll family, which seems to be connect to Jane Stoll who married John Putman of Schuyler County, New York.

Putman Family DNA Test Results  

            I have been working on my ancestry for a number of years.   The story goes that my family was Scottish and, or, Dutch.  The 1870 and 1880 Michigan Census returns says that my great grandfather William C. Putman was born in New York and his parents were born in New Jersey.  

            I have found that in many cases people believe they belong to a certain family line, but the truth can only be found in having a DNA test done.  From my observation of a number of DNA websites, it appears that many families "adopted" children that used their name as much as 10% of the results if you go over 300 years or more.  So, it is a great idea to have your DNA tested.  I recently had my DNA tested, and found that I am I1a. 

              William C. Putman's father was John Putman who was born in New Jersey about 1790.

            I have an early "Putman cousin" from California who is working on the history of his family.  He, also, recently had his DNA tested, which returned an R1b result!  Right now, a member of the Dutch-American Putman family of the New York branch wil lbe getting his yDNA tested so we may be able to determine the actual Dutch y-DNA sequence.

            According to my friend who also comes from New Jersey, he descends from John Putman and Jane Stoll of New Jersey and  Schuyler County, New York.  John was born about 1776.  This family has always reported that it was Dutch and from Holland.  The people of Europe today are about 75% either R1b, R1a, or I1a while the earliest inhabitants were probably nearly 100% from these three groups.  

            The R1b line tends to be Scottish or English while I1a is of Dutch and German origins.  My DNA is associated with the early Netherlands, Northwest Germany, and Denmark.   This I1a group is called the Viking Group and has three major subgroups the Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Ultra Norse.  My DNA type is Anglo-Saxon, and I am three (3) markers off from being an AS-10 person.  It appears that I indeed an AS-10 with three mutations..

            The ancient origin of this I1a group seems to have been in the Western Balkans, and descends from one person who lived there before the last glacial maximum.   The R1b group during this period took refuge in Spain or Iberian while R1a took refuge along the Northern Black Sea.

            Please see  http://www.dnaheritage.com/masterclass2.asp for more information. 

            The I group is associated with the Gravettian stone culture.

            I looked at the people who were AS-10 or off by three markers in either direction and the compared my yDNA to others that were off by four markers.   The results that I found that were interesting is that the Purington family of England and the Baughman family of Germany are close matches to both AS-10 and myself.  I find it interesting that their names are similar to Portman and hence Pootman.  Also, my apparent branch of the Putman family once lived, it seems, near Portland, Pennsylvania, next to a Colver family.  The Calvert family y-DNA is very similar to mine. 

            In the above chart, Purington has a nearly perfect AS-10 in the first 12 Markers with 385a being 15 while AS-10 is 14.  I mutate at Markers 439 and 458 as well as 385b [light blue] from the AS-10 model [see below].  Yellow shows the deviations from my yDNA.  One will see that 385b seems to be an older mutation then is 439 and 458 from the chart below.

            The Purington family was also known as the Puddington and Puttington and came to America from Tiverton, Devon, England.  The town name Tiverton means "Two Fords Town", which is similar to the meaning of Voerde, Germany, the home of many Pootman's.  Voerde means "Ford", and put very simply "port" comes from the word ford.

             One might even speculate that the meaning of the family name Calvert is related to the word ford although the reported meaning is calve herder.  It may be that the Calvert family was from Skelton, Cleve[land], Yorkshire, England.  The place name Cleve may mean "cliff" and that the people were, originally, from Cleves, Germany.  The later place name also means cliff.

            The normal AS-10 Marker 19 is 14, and the normal Marker 439 is 11.  

            To view results from the Putnam DNA Project click that home page's Results for the current yDNA markers in the Putnam yDNA Project.  

            I would encourage anyone who is a Dutch-American Putman or any other Putnam/Putman that is a male [with the surname Putnam/Putman] to have their Y-DNA tested to expand the database.

            You get the best rates as a member of the Putnam DNA Project Group:  Recruitment.

            I've notice after looking at the Serenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation database and the Y-Search database that my Putman Y-DNA is a close match with the DNA of the Baughman family of Pennsylvania.  I am also close to the Boone family.  If I use the paradigm that I am AS-10, the data becomes much clearer to me.

            Another group that is close to the my Putnam markers is the following:

                AS-10 is listed.  Interestingly, the above Rodrigues is the closest to me, and the Rodrigues ancestor is possibly Victor Rodrigues from Spain.  Yellow above in the last chart shows the deviations from AS-10.  You can see that, it appears, Markers 439 and 458 for me are recent mutations from AS-10.  I am closer to Victor Rodrigues, it seems, then I am to any other person so far registered.  One should probably look at AS-10 as the oldest of the group with 385b being the oldest mutation and with my 439 and 458 being newer mutations.  

                One might say my 439=12 and 458=14 is a distinct late "Putman" mutation at least from the standard AS-10 pedigree.  Marker 385b=15 seems to be an intermediate mutation between my y-DNA [Putman] and the AS-10 pedigree.

Send mail to markrputnam@putmanfamily.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: June 25, 2008