Am I a part of this family?
Posted on September 1st, 2003 by Michelle VanSlot
Hello!
My family name is Michelle Marie VanSlot, and I am wondering if I may be a distant relative of the Van’t Slot’s. I know that my great-great grandfather came to the USA from the Netherlands, and settled in Vermont. I am 26, so that might have been in the late 1800’s. My grandma Beverly told me that our name should actually have a space between the Van and Slot. Does anyone know if and how the Van’t Slot name may have morphed upon American immigration?
Thanks for any info!!
M. VanSlot, third grade teacher
Petoskey, MI
Hi Michelle,
If your name is van’t Slot, Van’t Slot, Van Slot or VanSlot, then you are definitely related. In the Netherlands the proper spelling is van’t Slot. The rest of the variations would be found here in the US as many emmigrant names were changed to make things “easier” for emmigration officials.
My Grandfather somehow managed to keep the spelling intact with only the change being the capitalization of the “V”. However, my Uncle Andy who lives in Holland Michigan, dropped the apostrophe “T” around the time of the Second World War.
There is a bit of the history of the name if you click on the picture of Kasteel Staverden on this page. Also you might even be able to find your ancestor’s emmigration record at http://www.ellisisland.org.
I’m always interested in hearing each of the van’t Slot’s stories so if you feel like giving a breif history of your family please feel free to post a story about it!
Thanks for writing… and welcome!
james