Welcome to

the Village of Havekost, Germany

and the New York line of Havekosts’

About twenty five miles or so, east of Hamburg, Germany lies a small village, since 1659 named Havekost. The exact lineage of my family name is still unclear. Many many Havekosts’ emigrated to the United States during the 1800’s, but this is what I know of my heritage so far. John Havekost Sr. (my great-great grandfather) was born in Germany in 1830. He would marry Carmot Learn and they came to the United States and settled in Brooklyn New York where they had one son, John Jr. ( my great grandfather) in 1864. At the age of 20, John Jr. (my great grandfather) would marry Louise Bien in 1884 and four years later they had a son named Henry (my grandfather). Henry (my grandfather) would marry Elizabeth Koops in 1913 and they had a son four years later and they named him Le Roy (my father). They would all move to New Jersey and settle in Bogota in Bergen County, N.J. My father married Valerie Zahorenko in 1942. He served his country proudly in the U.S. Coast Guard aboard the cutter Spencer, CGC W36, during WWII. I would be born after my father returned from the war. So this is where my story begins