The Belyea family tree has been relatively easy to follow. Others have done much research on the Belyea line, beginning with those who arrived in New Brunswick, Canada following the American Revolution. Most of their research however has focused on the subsequent years since the American Revolution. Most begin the ancestry with Henry Belyea, born in 1720 in Tarrytown, NY. Any references to the family earlier than 1720 were treated as speculation. There have been a couple of significant researchers and publications that have been helpful in this process, though some of the information is not accurate:

• Genealogy of the Boulier-Boullier-Bulyea-Belyea Family 1697 - 1969 by Florence G. Belyea-Tisdale and Marjourie A. Belyea-Ronnie Unfortunately the material is limited in its edition and few prints were made of the document. Mrs Belyea has since died thus is not available to discuss some discrepancies. I was unable to access the entire document though some portions have been passed on to me as photocopies.

• Courage Through Adversity by John B. Beyea, B.A. M.Ed., January 1978 I was able to obtain a photocopy of the entire genealogy some years ago. What was of most interest to me was the similarities, yet dissimilarities of the names Belyea, and Beyea. The author claims that they are not related to the Belyea or Bulyea clan. This however is erroneous. Both families trace their lineage back to Tarrytown, New York, the Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow, and claim to come from the same region of Tarrytown during the same period as the Belyea clan. I would urge the authors to do an even more thorough examination of the evidence that James and Benjamin Beyea are in fact, James and Benjamin Belyea and share the same ancestor in Henry Belyea (Beyea). The author admits that even in the land registry office in Saint John the names share a mixed spelling as well, including "Belyea, Beyea, or Bulyea". I happen to believe that they are of the same family. After all, it is fairly likely since Henry Belyea had 75 grandchildren!

Spelling The Name

The spellings contained in the Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow contain so many variations on the spelling of the name that I was able to track at least twelve different spellings. That the family began to wonder what its real name was is no surprise. Each of the clerks, deacons, or dominies (ministers) of the communities where they lived spelled the name as they thought they heard it, phonetically. These variant spelling of the original name (which we will presume was Boullier, since that would give the phonetics of those spellings) occur in New Amsterdam (New York City) as well, and again we find many different spellings to the same name of the same individuals.

It is this spelling idiosyncrasy that has led many researchers to dead ends in tracking the family line. It is unfortunate that Florence Belyea concluded that Henry Belyea was the patriarch of the family when in fact we can trace it clearly two generations further back through Jan Belyea (1998), and his father Louis Belyea (circa 1672). All this is done through documents preserved in the Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow.

In my research I was privileged to travel to Tarrytown and spend a good amount of time studying the original published lists of baptisms, marriages, and found it extremely difficult to track who is who. I was able to copy the entire record book of baptisms (births), and marriages of the Old Dutch Reformed Church of Sleepy Hollow (now Tarrytown, New York), and to get my hands on the entire book for the Old Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam as well. I have poured over these documents and many others searching not only for the name Belyea, but all of it possible renderings. I am making these documents available on the web site to facilitate your research as well. I may have missed something you will pick up.

There are many other documents that were used in tracing the Belyea line. Unfortunately for all of us we have been unsuccessful thus far in located any further trace of Louis Belyea beyond his arrival in the New World. Perhaps evidence will yet be found.

Finding the Roots

Tracing your ancestry is not easy, but it is possible. It is not unlike unraveling a mystery, doing the work of a detective, searching for clues, finding footprints in the sands of time. everyone who has lived has left a trial of their passing. It is difficult for someone in the last 400 years to have hidden all traces of their passing. Everyone leaves a trail. A good researcher knows where to look for the tracks left behind. People leave footprints. Everyone sooner of later in his life will get married, have a baby, be baptized, buy some land, commit a crime, make a will, go to court to settle a dispute, join the military, join a church, pay taxes, travel by boat, get a social security card, or die and be buried somewhere. All of these events and many more leave trails of evidence behind that can be followed even hundreds of years later.

Every one has a name. A name is recorded numerous times during our lives, even without our knowing it. Records are kept. Some are lost through negligence, fire, or age, but many are stored, recorded, and re-recorded. Many years ago most people were illiterate or barely literate. Churches kept most of the important data about their lives, their births, deaths, marriages, baptisms, and burial. Churches have normally kept very complete records of their members and adherents. The governments have always kept records. Businesses are also good sources of records. People buy things, sign up to board ships, pay taxes, sell land and build houses. For all these transactions records must be kept.

Rarely will you be able to trace an ancestor because they were famous for some historical event. Ninety-nine percent of us never do anything noteworthy. We will never make a name for ourselves. Most will not be remember one generation after their passing beyond the immediate family.

So research is the life force of genealogical stud. Much time is spent looking up old records, deeds, birth and death records, military records, ship logs, etc. If you are fortunate you will find that someone else has done much of the legwork in research before you. That saves a lot of time and frustration.

It is best to start with yourself when beginning your genealogy. Then trace your father, his father, and his father before him. Work backwards from yourself. Take to relatives, especially those elderly grandmothers and grandfathers that may remember family relationships that you might miss on paper. It is best to limit the scope of your research to your immediate family line rather than the ever expanding family tree that tracks all ancestors and distant relatives.

Whatever your experience eventually your will come to a dead end. There is a limit to how far you will be able to go back in the records. Somewhere the trail will go cold, a name changes, people moved away without any forwarding address, people died accidentally and were never found, or records were lost in a fire. It is at this point that you can begin to write your genealogy. Your earliest known ancestors is the best place to start your narrative. That person becomes the progenitor of your whole family line and is known as the first Generation. Tell your story. Document it well so that others that will come generations from now will be able to pick up the trail you left behind.

This is exactly what we are doing in this genealogy of the Belyea family. Our plan is to build our genealogy filling in blanks that others left open, and solving mysteries that others left unsolved. We will first track the ancient ancestors of the Belyea line from as far back as we can gather significant information. Beyond that much is left to history books and speculation as to the exact story of each ancestor. In this volume we will follow the Belyea line up to their arrival in Canada after the American Revolution. Our story is an exciting one. Our ancestors came to America among the earliest settlers. They were founding members of the Old Dutch Reform Church of Sleepy Hollow. They may have seen Captain Kidd. They literally lived in the hotbed of the American Revolution. In fact, they were most likely eyewitnesses to the hanging of General Andre in Tarrytown for his collusion with Benedict Arnold. The historical society at Tarrytown in the Philipsburg Manor has even chosen our progenitor to do a skit representing the interaction between slaves and tenant farmers in Philipsburgh. Unfortunately they chose to side with the British and lost everything they worked so hard to produce.

Telling the Story

History can be dry and very boring. It is not meant to be that way. For thousands of years grandparents and greatgrandparents passed down their history from generation to generation by oral story telling. There were no musty old genealogical trees to attempt to master, just stories. Stories of people, places and events that shaped their lives. It was through the family stories that the next generation got it's identity and pride of their name and heritage. May it be so with us.

Ours is an illustrious history. Our ancestors were among the first on this continent. They walked in exciting times and rubbed shoulders with people we only read about in history books. It is from the remnants of historical records that we will derive our family stories. We will use real events and places in our family history and add to it our imagination to creat legends as exciting as "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."