1. Introduction to the Chronicle
Dear members of the family,
In previous years two versions of the Te Selle
Chronicle were published, which provided a survey describing the
pedigree and the history of the family Te Selle in the Netherlands
and in the United States. Since then the Internet has made its
entrance. This new means of communication is so pervasive that we
decided to move the Te Selle Chronicle onto the world wide web. By
utilizing its own Internet website we think the Te Selle Chronicle
can reach more Te Selles than by publishing additional books. Using
the Te Selle website we can also include new and additional
information, and make the information available more quickly and
efficiently to everyone.
The Te Selle Internet site contains a lot of new material. There are
a large number of photographs, and the quality of the pictures has
been greatly enhanced. There is new family memorabilia. New chapters
of the Chronicle are in preparation. All the original chapters from
the published Chronicle book have been included on this website.
Also included on the site are the 35 letters of the Te Selle
brothers who emigrated to America. Since we feel that historical
sources should be tampered with as little as possible, we did not
attempt to modernize the rather old-fashioned Dutch language in the
letters; neither did we correct spelling mistakes, unnecessary
capitals, or grammatical style.
From the description of the different sections of the Te Selle
website you can understand that a lot of work still needs to be done
before we have a well-rounded presentation of the Te Selle family
history and character. We want to publish as much available material
as possible. Yet we want the material to be well-researched,
informative, and interesting. This is our challenge.
The genealogical section and family tree are practically complete as
far as the first seven generations are concerned. We have collected
a lot of genealogical material on our own using information and
contributions from many people and sources. For the American branch
of the family we have especially drawn on the pioneering work done
by Norma Te Selle-Prophet from Firth, Nebraska. In addition to
Norma, there are many people in The Netherlands and in America who
provide us regularly with additional data and corrections to the
existing material. We are looking forward to receiving more such
material from family and friends. We are especially anxious to
receive some recollections from Johanna Fries-te Selle, as recorded
by her daughter Jackie Tamas.
Geert te Selle is mainly responsible for the genealogical part of
this book, whereas I am responsible for the texts of the historical
chapters, the translations and the editing of the other parts of the
Internet site. The Internet site is bilingual just like the the
books. Since there are probably more Te Selles in the United States
than in Holland at present, we would like to keep up lasting and
increasing mutual contacts in our relatively small family. A lot of
recognition and gratitude is therefore due to Margaret Rose Dijkstra,
who so competently translated the Dutch renderings into very
readable American English.
An important asset to the editors of the Te Selle-Chronicle is
Robert TeSelle, who is the designer of this Internet website and has
volunteered to be the web master of this family site. Without his
activities you would not now be reading all this information about
the family. In the past few months he has already made himself
totally indispensable!
If you would like to contact us or learn more about us, then click
this "About Us" link. We hope that reading this Te Selle family
website will give you as much pleasure as we have enjoyed while
making it.
Dirk Willem te Selle
24 February 2005
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