It is the working assumption of this project that all Knickerbockers are descended from Harmen Jansen Knickerbacker who settled before 1683 on the west side of the Hudson River north of Albany, NY between the current towns of Waterford and Mechanicsville.  in 1706 he moved south about 60 miles to a large tract on the east side of the Hudson adjoining the northwestern border of Dutchess County where he died in 1714.  A definitive account of this family was written by William Van Alstyne, M. D. and published in several issues of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Review beginning in 1908 and has been supplemented by ongoing research by a number of his descendants.

Although the early generations were well documented by Dr. Van Alstyne, there are many Knickerbockers alive today who do not know how, if at all, they connect with Harmen Jansen Knickerbacker.  It is the goal of this project to help these Knickerbockers make this connection.

Ideally, Knickerbockers who know their lineage will provide the map for those participants who do not.  The y-Results page of this project is organized to provide a known-lineage key at the top of the page which participants with unconfirmed lineages can use to find out where they fit into the family tree.

It is of course possible that new Knickerbocker families will be discovered who separately adopted this surname.  If that turns out to be the case, separate lineages will be set up to reflect this.

Thank you for your interest in the Knickerbocker DNA project.