Andries Arentse Bradt

Whoever this is, he can't have died in Schenectady circa 1616. There was no European settlement in what is now Schenectady until the 1660s. The Dutch had just barely begun settling New Netherland in 1616. Much else here is impossible or unbelievable. Whoever has the time and the skill to sort it all out should set about doing just that.

Norway's most competent genealogist Tore Vigerust says that there is no evidence that the Andries Bradt had anything to do with Norway: http://da2.uib.no/cgi-win/WebDebatt.exe?slag=listinnlegg&debatt=bru...

Another important discussion thread about Andries Bratt who was Dutch/German:

http://da2.uib.no/cgi-win/WebDebatt.exe?slag=listinnlegg&debatt=bru...

The participants are leading genealogists.

They say that Andries Bradt who has thousands of descendants in the US is extremely unlikely to have any connection to Norway and the Norwegian Bratt-families.

The idea of a connection comes from this book: Scandinavian immigrants in New York 1630-1671 by John O. Evjen published 1916 - it seems to be pure guesswork ... The one reference to FamilySearch is (rightly) mocked as silly - anyone can post anything there and it should never be used as a source, only as ideas of where to search further.

Tore Hermundsson Vigerust, Oslo gamleby, 7.4.2009 00:19 (9) "De som hevder at Albert og Arent kom fra Fredrikstad / Norge har bevisbyrden. For min del vil jeg mene at når en ung mann gifter seg i byen Stade og oppgir å komme fra Fridrichstadt, skal byen identifiseres med den av samme navn som ligger litt nord for Stade. I samme område, så og si."

Translated: "Those who claim that Albert and Arents came from Fredrikstad in Norway must prove this (they have the burden of proof). In my opinion when a young man gets married in the town Stade (in Holland) and says he's form Fridrichstadt, then the city (of his birth) should be identified with the city just north of Stade. In the same area, so to speak." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt