Hello,
My name is Greg Jones and I am a newcomer to Rootsweb and judging by communiqués with similarly minded people there, I hope that the community may be able to help me sort out a problem, which has foiled me for a month or so now. I am a disabled pensioner with much free time and my attempts to isolate a particular line have failed miserably due to the numerous lines of Heyliger families in the Dutch West Indies and later in the States and Lancashire in the UK.
Our family is descended from Susan Catherine Augusta Alexandrina Heyliger (1827-1885 born in London), who married Tertius Lander (1827-1895). The information so far gained has been from a 73 year old great aunt, who has relayed the information to us. Susan’s father, we believe, is John Heyliger, who married a Sophia Ann (both from St. Croix or Santa Cruz). John Heyliger’s father may have been a Captain John Heyliger, who died in Ceylon, in the ‘Battle of Kandy 1803’. We have no spouse for him, as yet, but going back on the male line from this John, we believe his father may have been Peter (Pieter) Heyliger.
On researching Pieter Heyliger, I have located, to date, four of them:-
Pieter Heyliger - 1733 St. Eustatius Parents: John Heyliger & Judith Doncker
Pieter Heyliger - 1710 St. Croix Parents: Jan Heyliger & Elizabeth Jeems
Pieter Heyliger - 2/11/1737 St. Croix Parents: Abraham Heyliger & Judith Benners and who married Adriana de Windt on 15/6/1760
Peter Heyliger - 1709 - 1773 St. Eustatius Parents: Peter Heyliger & Maria Waters and married Maria Aletta Meyers on 28/3/1727
We understand from a great aunt that Peter Heyliger fought in the Battle of Waterloo 1815 and this is the only fact that we know of him. It is my great aunt, who believes that the correct Peter Heyliger is the last one, but according to the IGI report, he may well have died in 1773, which, of course, negates the reference to the Battle of Waterloo. We suspect that there may have been another generation with another Peter Heyliger, but fitting dates is difficult with so many unknowns.
Therefore, the line may be
Peter Heyliger b. 1709 – 1773 St. Eustatius No information
Peter Heyliger b. Fought in the Battle of Waterloo 1815
John Heyliger b. 1772 – 1803 Died in Battle of Kandy – Ceylon - Spouse unknown (Captain?)
John Heyliger b. about 1790 (St. Croix ?) married Sophia Ann ?
Susan Heyliger b. 1827 London married Tertius Lander June 1858 in Birmingham
I was hoping that you might take the time to reply if you have this basic knowledge that would allow me to move forward (I mean backwards’ I think. I am quite happy to be told my suppositions are incorrect, for there are several mismatches of dates, which I am stuck on.
Yours hopefully,
Greg Jones
snowdon@msn.com