The Dordrecht Family

1758

It’s quite remarkable how addicted one can become to creating a fictional family tree!  The graphic results are so uncannily convincing, one almost forgets one is merely playing God, giving birth to one child here, doing in another there….  

Reminder—and warning:  this “family” is purely fictional!

Not listed:  children lost in infancy; three children of Sarah Van Dienst Jones adopted by Thomas’ uncle Frederik upon his marriage to her in 1746.

Emke Scheldt Dordrecht is Thomas Dordrecht’s senile Grootmoeder.  As Dutch legal tradition still obtains in New Utrecht, it is she—not Thomas’ father—who actually owns the farm and the inn. 

Thomas Dordrecht also has a maternal family, of course—he is, in fact, named for his English uncle, Thomas Pennyman—but he and his siblings are aware of their existence only through correspondence.