This volume is not a complete genealogy, nor does it pretend to be. It is a series of notes, in many cases disjointed, or of doubtful conviction, but all given with reference to authorities and all relating to Tietsoort descendants.

Such notes will [serve]/[save] subsequent workers many days of research, will prevent some of the useless duplication of labor arising from the destruction of notes by independent workers - a habit which precludes any general family genealogy - and [many ?]/[may lead] later to the preparation of a comprehensive work.

A complete genealogy of any early immigrant's descendants is a labor beyond ordinary comprehension. In this case, Willem had 10 married children and 79 grandchildren. The same fertility continued for some 9 generations in all, would have provided some millions of descendants, & our average of 4 to each generation after the 3rd would still give over 300,000 names. It is, therefore, customary to omit the female lines of descendants, as they are better given under the families of their husbands. Even then [?]/[the task] is prodigious.

It is my hope that these notes include all, or most of the church entries down to A.D. 1800 in the churches, a list of which is given on the next page.

Public records of wills, real estate transfers, judgements; village and town documents, family Bibles etc., etc. are yet to be examined.

My interest in the family was along one early line only; but my notes grew, & I cheerfully give them for public use.

[If there are words followed by (?), they were illegible in the manuscript. I kept to his - often varying - spelling throughout my typing. JAL]