PREFACE BY THE EDITOR
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It has given the undersigned, selected by the widow of the late Walter Tallman Westervelt, to revise and prepare for publication the manuscript record of the Westervelt family compiled and arranged by her husband during the last twenty years of his life, very great pleasure to undertake the task allotted to him.
The late Mr. Westervelt had done this work in such a thorough and careful manner that the Editor has not deemed it desirable or necessary to alter the same in any material way or manner, except in a very few instances where it was absolutely necessary in order to make the work clear and intelligible.
In the first part where the work was done in Holland by a member of the Westervelt family there seems to be little inaccuracies which it is simply impossible for either the Editor or publisher to correct, as they had not the original notes or records to refer to.
It may also be possible that in some extremely rare instances an error or two may have crept in that part relating to the American Westervelts that the Editor has not been able to detect, as he has not had the original notes to compare with the text.
The work certainly reflects the highest credit upon the late Mr. Walter Tallman Westervelt, both in the amount of genealogical and historical information and the clear and accurate manner in which it was compiled. It ought to be in the hands of every member of the Westervelt family who takes any pride in the annals of his race, and should be on the shelves of the principal libraries in the country.
Wharton Dickinson
New York, June 1, 1905.