2025 - Prompt - A Record That Adds Color

Wearing Orange: Discovering My Dutch Roots 

Orange was never a color I associated with my family. It belonged to sports teams, fall leaves, or festive decorations—but never to my ancestry. That changed recently, when a single discovery transformed a long-abandoned family line into a vivid story that reached back to seventeenth-century New Amsterdam and revealed my Dutch heritage.

My journey began many years ago with two stubborn brick walls: my great-great-grandfather, Jacob Wilcox, and his wife Margaret Smith. Jacob seemed to appear from nowhere, with no traceable life before 1850. Margaret, meanwhile, was the daughter of John Smith—a name guaranteed to halt any genealogist in their tracks. After years of searching without progress, I reluctantly set both lines aside. Some mysteries, I believed then, were simply unsolvable.

Life moved on. In 2002, my son married, and a few years later I decided to research my daughter-in-law’s family as a gift. I traced her ancestors back into New England, and while doing so, a familiar surname surfaced: Dingman. The coincidence caught my attention. Dingman is not a common name, and the fact that it appeared in both our families was intriguing—but at the time, I set the thought aside after researching her line about six generations back.

Fast forward to this past fall. Our local Genealogical Society planned its annual research trip to Salt Lake City, and I needed a focused project. I decided to revisit the Dingman surname, wondering if my daughter-in-law might somehow be related to her husband. That question became my research mission.

As I dug into her Dingman line, I identified a Christopher Dingman, a fifth-great-grandfather born in New York who later lived in Michigan. At the same time, I reflected on my own Catherine Dingman, born about 1810. The dates were close enough to raise an exciting possibility: could Catherine and Christopher be siblings or first cousins?

Following Christopher’s line led me back five more generations to Adam Dingman, born in Haarlem, Netherlands, in 1631, who immigrated to New Amsterdam around 1653. This discovery alone was thrilling—but the real breakthrough came as I reconstructed Christopher’s immediate family. His father was Rodolphus Dingman, born 3 Dec 1775, married to Maria Forncrook 11 Jun 1794.

Christopher Dingman
Gratiot County, Michigan Death Record
Parents: Rudolphus Dingman & Maria Dingman

That stopped me cold. Catherine Dingman’s death certificate listed her father as Christopher Dingman and her mother as Maria. What if the Christopher named on her death certificate wasn’t her father—but her brother?

Catherine (Dingman) Smith
Monroe County, Michigan Death Record
Parents: Christopher Dingman & Maria Dingman

I built out the family of Rodolphus and Maria, carefully examining New York census records and other documentation. The couple had eleven children, and among the older ones was Christopher, born 18 Aug 1798. There was room in the family for a Catherine born 24 Aug 1810. Piece by piece, the evidence aligned. Though still based on secondary sources, the conclusion seemed increasingly clear: Catherine was likely a daughter of Rodolphus and Maria—and the sister of Christopher. 

I built out the family of Rodolphus and Maria, carefully examining New York census records and other documentation. The couple had eleven children, and among the older ones was Christopher, born 18 Aug 1798. There was room in the family for a Catherine born 24 Aug 1810. Piece by piece, the evidence aligned. Though still based on secondary sources, the conclusion seemed increasingly clear: Catherine was likely a daughter of Rodolphus and Maria—and the sister of Christopher.

Then came Christmas.

After opening gifts, I shared a beautifully crafted fan chart I had created in Salt Lake City with my grandchildren, explaining how it was possible that their father and mother were distant cousins. My daughter-in-law mentioned this to her mother the next day—and that conversation changed everything.

Her mother called me soon after, excited and surprised. She explained that she had inherited genealogy papers her grandmother had compiled in the 1920s and 1930s. As she reviewed them, she found a handwritten list of Rodolphus and Maria Dingman’s children. There, in black and white, were the names: Christopher, born in 1802—and beneath him, Katherine Dingman, born in 1810, married to John Smith.

Bingo.

Catherine Wife of John W. Smith
Died 10 Dec 1868
Azalia Cemetery, Azalia, Monroe, Michigan

That single page provided the direct evidence I had been missing for decades. With that confirmation—combined with years of census records, death certificates, and careful analysis—I could finally say with confidence that I descend from Adam Dingman, a Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam.

Dingman Family Research by Blanche Walker 1899-1995
Blanche's great grandfather was Christopher Dingman 1798-1871
Research papers in possession of Suzanne Smith Nelson

After all these years, the family line I once abandoned had not disappeared—it had simply been waiting. Now, when I wear orange, it’s no longer just a color. It’s a symbol of persistence, discovery, and a Dutch heritage reclaimed at last