Dutch Van Westervelt Family Coat of Arms ... At least going back to early 1600s ... over 400 years ago. The family coat of arms for the ruling family of Harderwijk, Gelderland Province, Netherlands; The family lived in a Dutch Castle (Kasteel) de Essenburgh in nearby Hierden. Harderwijk was given city rights by the Count of Gelderland / Gelre, Gildriae / Gelder / Guelders Otto II in 1231. By the early 1600's the ruling family name was van Westervelt / van Westerveld / van Westerveldt. Their country Dutch Manor Huis was in adjacent province of Overijssel North of Zwolle. That building no longer exists. But, the area where it stood nevertheless remained named Westervelt / Westerveld / Westerveldt. The building existed for around 300 years from at least by 1519 to after 1816 when it was sold to be demolished. The immigrant brothers with their families came to America arriving here on the Ship Hoop (Hope) coming from cattle graze land between the 1600s Dutch Castle (Kasteel) Westervelt / Westerveld / Westerveldt and Meppel, Drenthe Province. The van Westervelt family thus were important in three provinces all which shared a shore line upon the Zuyder Zee (Sea) ... long since drained to create more land. Gelderland / Gelre / Geldriae / Geldern / Guelders was a county ruled by a count until one married an English princess Eleanor ... of course it would not be decent for a husband of a princess to be a mere count, so the German Holy Roman Emperor duly made the county a duchy and made the counts dukes! The van Westervelts ruled Harderwijk as hereditary mayors called burgomasters. The van Westervelt burgomasters of the 1600s inherited the rule from earlier ancestors and cousins including van Haersolte van Westervelt (married to a van Wijnbergen), van Wynbergen, van Speulde, and van Heuckelom going back centuries. Perhaps all the way back to 1231. The van Westervelt family coat of arms primarily had three gold fleur de lis upon a green shield ... inspired after the golden yellow iris flowers naturally found along the local Dutch Rivers Ijssel, Vecht, and Zwarte Water exactly where Westervelt was later built.. Two upright golden male lions standing on their rear legs of the Duchy Gelderland / Gelre, Gelder, Geldriae, Guelders hold the shield upright. A knight's arms through a gold ducal coronet crown hold a larger gold fleur de lis. As it so happens, the French symbol gold fleur de lis originated in this general region when Merovingian Salian Frank King Clovis I promised God he would convert to his wife's Catholic faith if God would help him win the next battle circa 500 AD ... by legend Heavenly angels brought Clovis I his golden Fleur de lis symbol ... so he was the first king to have it. This all was a thousand years before the van Westervelt name was known (~1550 was earliest known van Westervelt name ... ~ 500 was the King Clovis I Gold fleur de lis. King Clovis I's ancestor Salian Franks originated in the region called Salaland along both banks of the River Overijssel. The very names Salaland, Salian Franks, Zwolle, Village Zwollerker, River Ijssel, Province Overijssel all come from the same common word having a sound like Zwolle or Zwol or Swol or ijssel or Sala or Salii. The Salian Franks originated in the very region where the (at least by 1519) Dutch Westervelt / Westerveld / Westerveldt Manor Huis later was built on more than a thousand years later and by 1600 had been expanded to become a Dutch Castle (Kasteel). There was some intermarriages within the local noble families who were our ancestors ... and at least one marriage between the van Heuckelom family and the family of the dukes of Gelderland. The van Heuckeloms were our direct ancestors. So, there was at least that much connection between the van Westervelts and the dukes van Gelderland / Gelre / Geldriae / Gelders / Guelders.