Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

THE WINDECKERS AND RELATED FAMILIES

A Family History donated by: Harry Windecker

The Klock Lineage

The Klock's also go back to Germany, with Henrick Klock arriving in either 1704 or 1710. He was listed in the Simmendinger register as a resident of Hartman's dorf in Schoharie County, which would tend to support a 1710 arrival, as other members of that hamlet, apparently arrived at that time, and moved with Hartman Windecker to Schoharie County.

The following information is based in part, on work conducted by Mrs. Dan Williams, and available through fortklock.com. (This work was conducted in the 1950s and based on previous information collected from many sources.) Amanda Melissa Klock's lineage is traced to Henrich Klock through Jacob Klock (a.k.a. the Colonel) to his son, Adam (born 1731), who married Caty Seeber. Their son, Johann Adam (1751) married Catherine Stahring (Stauring) and had a son named Adam (1781) who married Catherine Snyder of Manheim. In 1818, their son Daniel was born, who in 1870 produced Amanda Melissa Klock, born 1847. The evidence is excellent that Adam (1781) is the father of Daniel and grandfather of A. Melissa. From there backward, the dates 1731, 1751 and 1781 are a strange coincidence and may have been misread or misinterpreted by previous researchers, throwing doubt as to authenticity.

Dutch? Our grandfather, Harry Newkirk Windecker, told me that we were of Dutch ancestry. He was partly correct, as Newkirk is of Dutch origin. His confusion is easy to discern, as several generations of the Windeckers attended, or were married in Reformed Dutch churches, including the Old Yellow Church (The church changed denominations several times throughout its history). Adding to the confusion was that the English sometimes referred to the German language as High Dutch, and the Dutch language as Low Dutch. The Pennsylvania Dutch are also of German Ancestry!

On December 3, 1890, William Eugene Windecker (born Willard Eugene), son of George Willard, married Melissa Newkirk. So begins the Dutch branch of our family tree.

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