Page 7 - Poat_to_Poot_Engels

PREFACE

What follows began as an attempt to collect together a few facts and lore
about the life and family of my grandfather William F. Poat. While
collecting information, I also discovered many things I never knew about
my great-grandfather, John William Poot. I decided it would be interesting
to expand the scope of this family history to include both J.W. Poot and
his son W.F. Poat. I have tried to put the events of their lives into a
historical context that will increase our understanding. I have simplified
and condensed the historical details, but I have probably provided too
much detail in some places, and too little in others. There is also a risk
that, as a non-historian and non-theologian, I have not always understood
the complexities and nuances of the religious issues that affected their
lives. However, I must comment that while researching in books of
religious history, every text seemed to have a different story. Emotions
run high about religious principles, and everyone seems to have their own
interpretation of issues and events.

I am not educated in the Dutch language, which has made the translation
of Dutch sources a slow and perilous task. Documents in Dutch are more
difficult to research because of regional dialects. Furthermore, Dutch
spelling was clearly inconsistent. Only recently has the Dutch Ministry of
Education issued a "New Spelling List" to promote a national standard.
The Dutch are quite creative at inventing new words as necessity arises,
often by compounding other simpler words, or by borrowing from other
languages, usually German or English. Efforts are underway to make the
language more uniform and promote standard words and spellings. This
is of no help when studying texts that range from 100 to 400 years old.
On a few occasions I discovered that I made misinterpretations in my
initial translations.

Major frustration comes from the words encountered that are not in any
Dutch dictionaries and whose meaning remains a mystery. The most
significant problem word is "bouwman". This is listed as the occupation of
many generations of Poot ancestors. Most dictionaries indicate it means a
builder, construction-man, or architect. A reference list of Dutch
occupations says a bouwman can be a builder or a farmer. The surname
Bouwman is said to have derived from the occupation of farmer. However,
the Dutch word translated for farmer is "boer", possibly the source of the
English word for boring or tedious. Historical records are not definite and
they support multiple meanings. It appears that all of the Poot bouwmen
were landowners, even though most Dutch farmers did not own their land.
At least one Poot called himself a "landbouwer" or agrarian. The poet,
H.K. Poot, started life as a farmer and he is listed as both a bouwman and
a farmer in Dutch sources. Some Poot ancestors who were bouwmen
executed legal documents that indicate they were making contracts to
build structures. This tends to support the builder meaning, although