The Hendricks Family Association was founded in 1998 by Scott H. Hendricks in an effort to determine the ancestry of his Great-Grandfather, William Chalmers Hendricks. This part of the Hendricks Family was quite secretive and finding his roots became one dead end after another. It was through a collaborative efforts with other Hendricks/Hendrix researchers that the determination of who William's grandparents were that progress was made. At the time the only organized effort was "The Frontier Hendricks" whose main effort was to determine the Hendricks/Hendrix ancestry in North and South Carolina. As the William Chalmers Hendricks line generated out of Pennsylvania there was a need to have an organized effort that included more than the south-eastern quadrant of the United States. The background picture on this page is the 4th of July 1884 picnic for the families of William Chalmers Hendricks and his wife, Elizabeth Susan "Lizzie" Glass.
Important Announcement:
In January 2007 Scott found out that he, Carol Wilson and Paul Orstad's wife Susan are not related to the Frontier Hendricks, the line of Albertus Hendrickson of Pennsylvania. Instead they are descendant from Daniel Henry Hendrick of Massachusetts. That is a well established line of Hendricks. A few years ago Carol Wilson discovered that her line was not the same as that of the Frontier Hendricks. Scott took the Y-DNA 37 marker test and the results are quite definitive. He is of the same line as that of Carol Wilson. Susan Orstad and Scott have a mutual second great-grandfather and grandmother, Abraham "Abram" Hendricks and Susan Elizabeth "Eliza" Henderson. The important lesson here is to never give up the search even when you think you might be done.
The original encouragement came from Hendricks descendants, Paul Orstad, Col. Meredith "Tut" Hendricks, USA Retired, Bill Childs and Carol Wilson. Descendants of Albertus Hendrickson, Susan Gall, Herb Hendricks, and many others have contributed and lent their encouragement in development of the site. This site is primarily devoted to the descendants of Albertus Hendrickson, who came to the Colonies 5 February 1662 as an indentured servant. All other Hendricks/Hendrix/Hendrickson/Hendrick descendants are welcome and encouraged to participate in our search for the truth. As most of Albertus Hendrickson children and grandchildren were illiterate in addition to living beyond the edges of the known settlements of the colonies, there is not much recorded history other than land grants and deeds. There are occasional court and church documents that help in the discovery of the truth.
The history of the name Hendricks/Hendrix and all other variations depends on the heritage. The descendants of Albertus, being illiterate, were subject to the spelling used by a particular court clerk or church secretary. Since they couldn't read several variations occurred. The two that were used most often were Hendricks and Hendrix. No researcher of Albertus Hendrickson, the most common known spelling, have little doubt that other variations persist today. To lend an example: Albertus Hendrickson has been witnessed in documents as Albert Hendricks, Albert Hendrixx, Albert Hendrix, Albertus Hendrixxon, Albertus Hendrixson, et al. Albertus' wife,Aeltje, was a maid for the same person, Joost de la Grange. The spelling of her name was Anglicized to Helchey. To dispell some notions her name was not Aeltje Helchey, they are both her first name as her family name, at this time, is lost to history (one is the Dutch spelling and the other is the English spelling of the same name).
There are other Hendricks/Hendrix families that descend from a Swedish Hendricksson, from a German Heinrich, from a German Hendrick and from a Flemish Hendrick and a Dutch Hendricks, et al. We welcome all to participate in this site, as it is important to know who belongs to which family. The problems encountered with the descendants of Albertus were his children and their children used the same given names. They tended to be James, William, John (Johannes), Tobias, Albert (Albertus), Henry, Elizabeth (Elisa), Ann, Helchey, Catherine (Katrin), Margaret, Isabel and several others. These names repeated themselves over generations. The third generation after Albertus started adding biblical names, such as: Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, David, Benjamin, Peter and others. The other Hendricks/Hendrix families used similar names and thus who belonged to which family is still being confused.
As more information is gathered there maybe more than one master database used in this site. If you wish to join and participate in the growth of the site and to further develop the information contained within, please contact the site administrator and webmaster, Scott Hendricks, by clicking on the word e-mail .