The Starr Family of America

During the closing years of the 19th century, Allen Rosenkrans, amerchant living in Newton, New Jersey, set out to trace his familyhistory. He was schooled in business, but not in research or analysis.With experience only as a school teacher and merchant, Allen produced aseminal family history which was published in 1900. It included over 900members of the North American branch of the family who were descendedfrom one man, Harmon Hendrick Rosenkrans, who had arrived in NewAmsterdam (now New York City) during the mid-1600's.

More interestingly, Allen dug up compelling circumstantial evidence whichseemed to link Herman Hendrick all the way back to a Danish Nobleman,Erik Nielsen, also known as Erik the Knight. Erik was awarded a wreathof roses by the Pope in 1325 A.D., which he adopted as his familycrest. Erik's crest appears at the top of this page (embellished a bitwith Adobe PhotoShop!) Erik's brother Johannis Jenseller 's crestfeatured a lion. No crest is known to be associated with the thirdbrother, Iver Neilsen.

There were no family names at the time of Erik the Knight. The nameNielsen simply meant that Erik's father was named Niels; Nielsentranslates to Niels' son.

In 1525, Frederick I commanded all of the Danish noble families to adoptfamily names. The descendants of Erik and his brothers adopted the nameRosenkrantz, which means "wreath of roses" in Danish and related Germaniclanguages. Thus both crests are in use today by the descendants of NielsIversen, Erik's father.

The family seat is an estate called Hevringholm, Jutland, in the Provinceof Schleswig-Holstein. The earliest occupant of Hevringholm in recordedDanish history was a nobleman, also named Erik, who was living there in1227 A.D. He was very likely an ancestor of Niels Iversen and his sons.

At the time of Erik the Knight, Schleswig-Holstein belonged to Denmark;it was subsequently taken from Denmark by Germany in 1864. The provinceitself lies between Denmark and Germany; its ethnic makeup graduallychanging from Danish in the north to Germanic in the south. At the endof WW2, Denmark probably could have recovered its former territory, butfor one reason or another chose not to do so, and todaySchleswig-Holstein remains a province of Germany.

The title of Baron is passed from father to eldest son along with thewealth and the estate. The younger siblings receive lesser titles.Subsequent generations receive ever lessening titles, until at last thechildren are born commoners. Thus at some point, there will be untitledmembers of the family who are out looking for work.

Source: http://www.rosedalesoftware.com/genealogy/genealogy.htm

Continued with Jacob Dirkszen Rosenkrantz