63 Willem Aleid.
64 Henriette, m. Daniel Adriaan Raymund. Is-
sue:
65 Albertine, m. Louis DíYvoy.
66 Freddi Josine, m. Antoine Alewyn.
67 Louis.
68 Henri.
The name of a man is the mark by which he is distinguished from other men. By our present universal practice, it is composed of his Christian name and his surname; the one given to him at his birth or baptism, the other, according to the present use, being derived from the common name of his parents. Anciently among most European nations there was but one name, surnames not commonly coming into general use until the middle of the fourteenth century. The insufficiency of the Christian name to designate the particular individual when there were many bearing the same name necessarily led to the giving of surnames; these, in a great majority of instances, were composed of the name of the place where the individual was born or dwelt, his occupation, some peculiarity in his appearance, character, history or qualities or by connecting his Christian name to that of his father.
Very frequently, in conjunction with his patronymic, the name of a town or locality was added and interchangeably used, as occasion required. This was the custom of the two brothers, who were known as Willem Lubbertsen and Lubbert Lubbertsen, while in wills, deeds, church records and other documents, they are named as Van Westervelts and Westervelts.
The family surname is derived from a ěHavezatheî or manorial property called ěWesterveld,î situated in a small village named Zwollerherspel under Mastenbroch, near the town of Zwolle, in the province of Overyssel.
This estate was the subject of a lawsuit and was in the posession of the Van Westervelt family about the year 1600.
The children of Willem, as well as himself, were always designated as Van Westervelts, while the children of Lubbert were known as Westervelts, the van being eliminated, a matter of regret by their descendants of the present day. In only one instance is it found that ěLubbert Lubbertse, the younger,î son of Lubbert, the emigrant, is cited as Lubbert Lubbertse, otherwise he is designated as Lubbert Westervelt.
The manner of spelling the name has not changed materially during the last two hundred or more years, from the Dutch origin of VAN WESTERVELT. Westerveldt, Westerveld and Westervelt, the latter being now in common usage, are the forms, although a few branches, in later years, have assumed that of Westerfield.