The Springsteen Chronicles

I can say without beating my own drum that this book is a treasure.

Another Ron Springsteen

I’ve communicated with the author of The Springsteen Chronicles on and off for several years. Our ancestors Casper and Staats Springsteen were brothers who served in Butlers Rangers during the American Revolution. Their parents Symon Springsteen and Maria Seger were Ron’s great-great-great-great grandparents and my five-times-great grandparents, making Ron and me fifth cousins once removed. Although Ron is not many years older than me, Dad was Ron’s fifth cousin. Their fathers were fourth cousins, their grandfathers were third cousins, and so on. It should be noted for the record that none of these given names or surnames were spelled consistently in historical records.

How this book came to be

Ron grew up away from his father’s siblings and their families. As a result, Ron didn’t know them well. He recalls boyhood trips to see his dad’s relatives along the Mississippi River. While he enjoyed backyard stories and family connections during these visits, his grandparents, with their earlier experiences, were long gone. By the time Ron became more interested in their ancestry, his dad’s generation had also died.

I will share here, with Ron’s permission, an excerpt from the book’s prologue:

“Long after my daughters were grown and living elsewhere, my wife and I made a trip to Burlington, IA and Oquawka, IL to stir up my memories and develop a new attachment to this area my dad called “home.” It worked. I was hooked! I found this very tiny park, Mosquito Park, in the middle of Burlington up on the highest point of the bluff overlooking the mighty Mississippi River. As I stood there looking up and down the river for miles and seeing the islands where my dad roamed and hunted and lived, the dozens of boats and barges moving up and down the river and the miles and miles of fertile Illinois farmland, I began to deeply understand the attachment dad felt for this place.”

While there, Ron received a manuscript left by a departed cousin, Jane Ann Van Patten. When I communicated with Jane Ann in 1980, she knew that her great grandfather James Springsteen had been born in Upper Canada in 1826. Ron set out to learn more. Ron states in his prologue that if he had had any idea how difficult it would be or how long it would take, he might never have started. Fortunately, he did undertake this journey.

The fruit of Ron’s labors

The Springsteen Chronicles follows Ron’s family line through centuries of challenge and change for both our country and family. This is far more than a compilation of dry facts. Beginning with an exploration of life and social forces in the seventeenth-century Netherlands, Ron provides some insights on what might have led our Springsteen forbears to leave it all behind for New Amsterdam (now Manhattan) in 1652. Our Dutch surname appears to have been adopted here, probably influenced by the custom of new English rule. Most people in the Netherlands at that time were known by patronymic names, e.g., Johannes Casperse (the son of Casper) and his father Casper Josephs (the son of Joseph).

Ron follows early generations in the settlement of Long Island and the lower Hudson River valley, weaving the family into the context of colonial life and places like the Sleepy Hollow church. Our family line found their way upriver to Albany and Schenectady while another line wandered south to the Carolinas where they shortened their name to Springs.

Ron describes social and political forces in the colonies, especially British New York, even as Dutch tradition remained strong along the Hudson for more than a century. We learn how divisions born in the French and Indian War set neighbors and even family members against each other.

While Ron’s research is not finished, he took the time and effort to compile this book. It bears some of the wrinkles of self-editing and rearrangement, but he brought it into the light of day. Ron has travelled to the Netherlands, New York, and Ontario among other places, working with archivists and discovering new sources. In addition to providing many family charts and a substantial bibliography, Ron states that he is reachable for questions about sources at rcspringsteen@gmail.com. While you’re at it, you might ask if he still has copies of The Springsteen Chronicles available for purchase. Unless your interest is narrowly focused, I don’t think you would be disappointed.