ALL SCHERMERHORNS
1985 LIST

Made into a Web document 1999/07/05

This All Schermerhorn's 1985 list consists of a record of every Schermerhorn ever located by any means whatsoever. There are 2699 names arranged alphabetically by first name. Many names are listed from separate sources and appear separately for each source. The most frequent sources are from Marlo Schermerhorn's 1976 book concerned primarily with Jacob's youngest son Lucas's descendants and from last year's Jacob Schermerhorn's descendants -1984 list- derived from U.S. and Canadian telephone directories.

Although this 1985 list will be difficult to read, because of the vast amount of information condensed into a very small space, it will permit you to see if you and your relatives are in the Schermerhorn files. If you do not find a Schermerhorn known to you then please send me that individual's name, birth date, father, grandfather and address. Send more information if posssible but please get the basic information to me. When every Schermerhorn is known then I plan to publish a normal size book with lots of other historical material for reading and not simply a condensed list.

Any listing which has a ( @ or # ) after the birth year is incomplete, so if you nave any information on that person please send it to me right away. Once these records are straightened out there won't be any more bother. So let's do it now and be done with it.

HOW TO READ THE RECORDS

Column 0 ( The handwritten numbers. 623 )

This column is simply the order in which the records just happened to be entered. It is the quickest way for me to locate a given listing on my computer. Less than one second. An alphabetical search will take it more than a minute. So for quickly moving around the list it's important for me to use the record numbers.

Column 1 ( 970em97 )

The first three numbers are the birth year of the individual listed in column 2. All listings have a ( 1 ) for the first digit so it has been deleted. [With a more powerful computers now available this compression technique is expanded to normal reading. ie. 995 = 1995] About half of these birth years are followed by an ( @ ) symbol. This means that this source did not give an exact birth day. Often it was necessary to guess an approximate birth year. The ( @ ) symbol may thus be taken to mean the birth year is accurate to plus or minus twenty years. Some of the listings have two ( @@ )s. These are wild guesses and possibly forty years off the true birth day. However, since these birth years cover nearly 400 years even guesses become quite helpful in sorting individuals out. If the birth year is followed by a ( # symbol it means the guess for birth year was based on the fact of their having a listing in a 1983 phone book. 38 was subtracted from 1983, as an arbitrary average age of telephone owners, to give them an average birth year of 1945. If the birth year is followed by anything other than ( @, # ) or the Schermerhorn abbreviation code letter it means the source gives an exact birth day.

The lower case letter following birth year is a one letter abbreviation code letter for the various spellings of the name Schermerhorn. Generally the letter chosen is the first letter preceding horn ). Thus Schermerhorn becomes ( r ), Scamahorn becomes ( a ) and Scamehorn becomes ( e ). However, if there was a double ( mm ) an ( m ) seemed clearer. And for Skimmerhorn a ( k ) helped to clarify the unique qualities of the spelling.

After the lower case letter following the birth year is the code for the source of the record. The first record is ( 970em97 ). This means the person Aaron J. Scamehorn was born in 1970 and is more fully described in Marlo Schermerhorn's book on page 97. Records other than Marlo's have a two capital letter designation and are generally the initials of the source person who had contacted me directly. ( NaCy ) stands for National Cyclopedia of Bibliography. When a listing contains a ( / ) it means the post office returned as undeliverable mail sent to that address as found in the 1964 list.

Column 2 ( AaroJ )

This column is an alphabetized list of a condensation of the individual's first name, middle name and birth order. The first letter of a first or middle name is capitalized. The letters follow the exact order of the normal spelling of the name for a maximum of five letters. There is no modification of the order of these first few letters so far as they go. The first capital which follows the first letter is the beginning of the middle name. If the person is known by his middle name then the first name is shortened to one capital letter and is followed by a lengthened middle name. Sometimes there is a number at the end such as ( Horal or Hora2 or Hora3 ). This refers to birth order and would usually be spoken as Horace Senior, Horace Junior and Horace the third.

Column 3 ( JameW )

Also listed in column 3 are phone book listings but since the phone book doesn't list fathers the space is used for the persons city of residence. These listings are easily identified by their 945# in column 2 and two capitals, representing states, in column 4. Generally Cities are abbreviated using the same rules as was used for first names.

Occasionally there are blanks in columns 3 and 4 and that is just what it means. There is nothing known about that person. A few times if a person's city is known and that he had siblings in that city then the city and state will be listed in CAPITALS. These are particularly desirable records to locate. An ( X ) means that a persons children and father are known but not the persons name.

GOOD LUCK and please send me a list of names not properly recorded on this list.

Plans are still on to have a family reunion at the residence of our founding father.

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO

THE JACOB SCHERMERHORN 300th A14NIVERSARY REU14ION
THE WEEKEND OF SATURDAY May 22, 1988
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

The 1984 mailing was 640 letters, of which 161 were returned undelivered. Thus about 479 letters were delivered and of these 55 completed questionaires were returned. Some of these traced their lineage all the way back to Jacob. The response was good for a first mailing; however it is only a little better than 10% and we will probably need at least 50% to get a complete Schermerhorn directory. Hopefully this 1985 mailing will bring responses from the rest Of you. The chart-form on the facing page will help you write out the relationship of your various relatives. Please send me a Xerox copy of this chart.

Some letters were really exciting such as, the ones about the fundamental importance to American history of Simon Schermerhorn's ride from Schenectdy to Albany in 1690. Without his not sufficiently famous ride and warning to the other settlers in Albany, North American would probably have fallen under total control of the French.

An interesting honor to the Schermerhorn name is that the State New or, as installed its maritime museum in an old Schermerhorn warehouse. It's near the Manhattan approaches to the Brooklyn bridge. Since New York has been the premiere maritime trading city of the world, this museum is of worldwide historical importance.

Some Schermerhorn stories which I had previously heard in a garbled form were from the late 19th century high society squabbles between the Mrs. Astor and various challengers to her position as the Queen of American Society. She was born Caroline Schermerhorn and when she married was considered a lucky catch for William Backhouse Astor Jr. Caroline was from a fine old upstate New York family (ours) and William was the nouveau riche grandson of a poor immigrant. Granddad Astor had done very well, however, in furs and real estate and William with his inheritance was to become the richest man in America. Caroline had a way with money too and for the next thirty years she threw the most extravagant parties America has ever seen. A thoroughly enjoyable account of these and other escapades are given in a 1966 book The Astors by Lucy Kavaler.

Another book, available from the New York Bookshop 43 W 54 Street, NY NY 10019 for $11.70, is about this same place and period. It's by Gene Schermerhorn and titled Letters to Phil Memories of a New York Boyhood, 1848-1856.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Leroy Scamahorn 1413 Allston Way Berkeley, CA 94702

ps. I will gladly accept small gifts or $10 contributions to help cover expenses.