18th century musket for identification

[gp]

Originally Posted by zummy

I misspoke about the war, it was the American Revolution. The gun came from upstate NY near where many battles were fought. The gun has the name Coll
Ruysch inscribed on the brass. How could he be identified. ItÂ’s a dutch name and was probably his originally. Where could I find Dutch army records form the 1700Â’s. Thanks

Well NY used to be Nieuw Amsterdam = New Amsterdam and part of Nieuw Nederland / New Netherland.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._TABULA%27.jpg

Founded by the WIC ( West Indische Compagnie) before we Dutch lost it to the English.
Some info on that topic could be found in this literature:

Russell Shorto (2004): The Island at the Center of the World, New York. ISBN 0-385-50349-0
Jaap Jacobs (2005): New Netherland. A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, Leiden. ISBN 90-04-12906-5
Joyce Diane Goodfriend (red.) (2005): Revisiting New Netherland, perspectives on early Dutch America, Leiden. ISBN 90-04-14507-9
Concerning the WIC : try an email to

https://www.westindischecompagnie.in...tjes/email.png

Or the city of Amsterdam might be able to assist pointing you in the right direction:

stadsarchief@amsterdam.nl

Or the Museum of Amsterdam as well:

info@amsterdammuseum.nl

But I also would advise you to contact organizations in New York and the USA, even some universities who are specialized in and dealing with the Dutch heritage, history and relationship in and with the USA.
Even some of the Dutch churches in that region have a lot of information in their files . Good luck .

FYI: Harlem (= city of Haarlem), Brooklyn (city of Breukelen) en Flushing (city of Vlissingen), Staten Island ( de Nederlandse Staten-Generaal, being the government ) and Coney Island (konijneneiland = rabbit island )

And maybe here in the below link, you might also find some clues to start as well…

but simple checking the name Ruysch in and around NY or Jersey might do the trick : a common Dutch name and certainly some one must have some kind of family tree…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Americans