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The VanBuskirk family name was apparently invented by immigrant Laurens Andriessen (c1624-1694) after his arrival to New Amsterdam (New York) c1655. We therefore have a likely single progenitor for the VanBuskirk (and variants) surname.
I am NOT a direct-line male Van Buskirk. But my 2X Great-Grandfather was "Big Dave" David Van Buskirk (1826-1886) from Monroe County Indiana and tallest man in the Union Army.
As an aside: considerably taller than Big Dave was Martin Van Buren Bates of the CSA, whose wife from Nova Scotia, Anna Swan, was even taller!
If you have questions or comments please email me and I will try to answer them. Additionally, if you would pass this information on to any Van Buskirk connections you have that would be a great help.
There is subsequently a majority haplotype within the VanBuskirk project. The majority appear to descend from the above USA immigrant ancestor Laurens Andriessen VanBuskirk.
We are however very interested in other Y-DNA haplotypes with the VanBuskirk surname, and others with the majority haplotype that are not VanBuskirks.
There are several possible reasons for these other surnames: adoption, willful name change, NPE (Not the Parent Expected) and we hope to find some who descend from earlier ancestors of Laurens Andriessen who did not bear the VanBuskirk name.
As of DEC-2025 we have 14 males within the established N-BY57157 haplo-group who have taken the Big-Y-700 test and allowed us to discover several distinguishable haplogroup branches created within the male descendants of the progenitor Laurens Andriessen.
Van Buskirk males who have not taken the Big-Y DNA test but have taken the FTDNA Family Finder test and are truly in the male descendant lineage of immigrant Laurens Andriessen Van Buskirk should show up as having Confirmed Y-DNA Haplogroup of N-CTS9976.
At this point we have proven that Laurens - Son #2 of immigrant Laurens Andriessen VanBuskirk is the progenitor of Y-SNP N-BY117284, and Thomas Laurens - Son #4 of Laurens Andriessen Van Buskirk is the progenitor of Y-SNP N-FT421582.
Any Van Buskirk who tests positive for either of these two SNPs will then be known to descend via one of these two lineages.
If you are not a VanBuskirk male but descend from a VanBuskirk male it may still be possible to determine in which VanBuskirk branch you reside using targeted DNA testing of the right type. Contact the VanBuskirk group admin below for help!
I am NOT a direct-line male Van Buskirk. But my 2X Great-Grandfather was "Big Dave" David Van Buskirk (1826-1886) from Monroe County Indiana and tallest man in the Union Army.
As an aside: considerably taller than Big Dave was Martin Van Buren Bates of the CSA, whose wife from Nova Scotia, Anna Swan, was even taller!
If you have questions or comments please email me and I will try to answer them. Additionally, if you would pass this information on to any Van Buskirk connections you have that would be a great help.
Van Buskirk DNA project administrator Tim Martin : tjmartin@timfo.com