The VanRiper-Yereance Surname Project

Surname projects (aka Y-DNA projects) can augment traditional genealogy research through uniquely useful data and communications channels that can save time and identify and/or prevent incorrect conclusions. This project facilitates research of the American Van Riper family, which consists of descendants of Jurian Tomasse, immigrant to New Netherland in 1663 who settled in Bergen (now Jersey City), New Jersey within a few years of his arrival. The project's Goals (see separate page) will be accomplished through Y-chromosome DNA analysis.

Scope: The American Van Riper family and others who genetically match the family on the male line. Membership is open to any FTDNA participant interestedin such research, whether or not the member is a male-line Van Riperdescendant. 

Origins: The Van Riper-Yereance Surname Project was started in 2020, after renewed interest among Van Riper and Yereance descendants in identifying the European origins and history of the American Van Riper family. The Van Riper surname is thought to be based on the family’s European place of origin, while the Yereance surname is derived from the patriarch’s given name, Jurian ("Jurianse" meaning "Jurian's").

Jurian Tomasse's European origins are not known. Two schools of thought, that he came from either de Rijp in North Holland or from Ribe in Denmark, are discussed on page 35 of "The Van Ripers of Acquackanonk". Only circumstantial evidence (i.e., no documentary evidence) exists to suggest he came from either place. If Jurian was indeed from de Rijp, documents that prove his identity were probably were destroyed in that town's catastrophic fire in 1655 (eight years before Jurian's emigration to America). No records for Ribe, Denmark are known to exist, nor any records of Jurian prior to his arrival in America. (Readers who have evidence to the contrary are asked to share their information with the administrator.)

Branches: The branch(es) of the American Van Riper family with living descendants primarily consist of Van Riper and close variants (including one branch known as Vanderipe), as well as and Yereance (often spelled ‘Jurianse’ in Dutch-American records). There are living descendants by the name Yereance today; however, precisely which branch(es) of the family adopted the name is unclear. William Nelson, in his 1901 book, “The History of Paterson and Passaic County” stated that some Van Riper descendants adopted the surname “Auryansen”; however, it is unclear whether there actually was at that time or are today any American Van Riper descendants by that surname.