The Lusink family is small in number. We are descendants from farmers from the Overijssel Province in the Netherlands and our history can be traced back to the middle ages, perhaps to a farm called Lossyng in the village of Neede.

     Having started your research on the Lusink Genealogy, you ‘ll quickly find there is not much information easily available. But, if you do find something on a Lusink, they’re probably related to you. People believe that the spelling of our last name has remained the same for ages . This has only happened in the last two centuries before that it was spelled phonetically based on dialect..

     Prior to the 19th century when Napoleon introduced the Registry of Births to the Netherlands, the spelling of names differed with the pronunciation of the region. In our case Lusink could be spelled Luesink, Luessink, Leusink, Leussink, Lusing, or Lussing. In the past, education was not required and most people could not read or write, there was no need at the time. Surnames ( many people used their father’s Christian name) were written in the records by a priest’s or referent’s (minister) own spelling as he heard the sound. Moving to another place meant another dialect and another spelling. For the time being we are going to center our family tree investigation to three spellings, Lusink, Leusink and Luesink. If you are one of these three spellings of Lusink, we would like to hear from you and add your information to our family tree or if your family tree connects to our tree we would appreciate any information you can give us.

     On 21 March, 1739 Derk Leusink of Neede, Netherlands, son of Arent Leusink and Jenneken Siegerink, married Petronella ten Tusschade of Diepenheim, Netherlands. Petronella was born around 1718, probably as daughter of Gerrit ten Tusschede and Adriane Jansen, daughter of Jan Jansen from Karspel van Goor. Derk and Peetronella’s son, Jan Frederik Lusink, who was born before the start of the Registry of Births and died after it had been introduced show how the spelling of our name has changed. Jan was baptized in 1753 in Diepenhelm as Leusink, was married in Amsterdam in 1783 as Luesink, indicated as Lussink at the birth of his son Pieter Dorus in 1784, and dies there in 1843 as Lusink. From this point on the spelling of Lusink for his descendants has remained consistent.

     Our Lusink Family is a relatively small in size. We know of 201 people with the last name of Lusink in Holland (according to the Dutch Repertory of Family Names updated 1988.), 45 in American ( by actual count dated 2000, Lusink’s of Rochester.) and three families in Canada. (A father and two sons.) Surely there are more in Germany and other countries which we will locate. The largest number of Lusinks live in the provinces of Gelderland (130)and Overijssel (11), Holland, especially in the areas of Achterhock and Twenti. The cradle of the Lusink/Leusink family is in the area formed by Twente and Achtetrhock and probably spread into neighboring Germany. The highest concentration of Lusinks exists in the area of Angelo, Hummelo, Keppel, and Ruurlo in the province of Overijssel. With peak populations in Amsterdam (47). The number of Lusinks in Amsterdam are probably descendants of Jan Frederik Lusink of Dieperheim. Jan was attracted to Amsterdam because of the good economy of the period. During the 17th century many people were attracted to the commerce from the golden period of that trading town. By 1783, when Jan Frederik Lusink married in Amsterdam that golden era was coming to an end. Great Britain was expanding their power at sea and France on land. Napolean conquered Holland in 1810 and the bustling economy of the city and the trade were finished. The city was in decline and many homes were vacant. At the time of Gerrit Lusinks birth (Jan’s grandson) in 1816 the number of habitants in Amsterdam had dropped to 180,000. In 1830 the Kingdom of the Netherlands was restored and Belgium revolted with her port of Antwerpen and became independent, Amsterdam started to recover but would never equal that of the 17th century. This is the period when Derrick and Janneke Lusink and at least four sons sailed from Holland to America. They arrived sometime between 1841 and 1847 and settled in Rochester, New York. All Lusinks in the United States are descendants from this family. Their homeport and relatives in Holland are unknown at this time. The only other Lusink in North America is Jan Lusink and his two sons. They immigrated from Holland to Canada in 1979. Much of this genealogical information you are reading was prepared for him and shared with us.

     The origin of our name dates back to the middle ages. In the area of Gelderland, as much as 20 per cent of the population have last names ending in “ink”. In these areas many of the farm names had “ink” suffixes and it is very likely that the people who lived on the farm would be indicated by the farm name. In 1459 the farm Lossyng was located at Achterhoek in the village of Neede district of Noordijk. This district includes the present village of Leusink and without a doubt is the origin of the present Lusink Family. The Prefix, Luis, Lues, Luus indicates a swamp area with water plants. Loes, Loos, Lose means water drainage in old High German. Lusinks most plausible explanation means “from a farm near a water drainage.”

     The name Leusink appears early enough to extend the family tree many more generations. Because of bad record keeping by the Referent in Neede in 1742, our family tree search has grown cold. We need more information on other family members to continue this search.

     If you will send us as much information as you have on your Lusink Family, we will send you a copy of our Lusink Family Tree. Even if you just have information on your immediate family or limited information, please send it. These pieces of the puzzle will eventually all fit together. We would love to hear from you!