I traced my great, great, great grandfather to a John Kaufman/Cuffman who changed his surname to DeMerchant. His name was the German surname "Kaufman" which means "merchant". Because of the ties to the Pennsylvania Dutch he added the "De" in front of Merchant as was the Dutch custom found in names such as DeLong, Deware, Dewitt, DeWolfe, etc.

In the early records his children were occasionally listed as Cuffmans, then listed later as DeMerchants. Cuffman was the spelling that was used in the early census records which sounds like Kaufman. After discovering this was a new name I reasoned that all the DeMerchants must be descendents of him as the name "DeMerchant" was not found in any records before his.

After researching and speaking to most DeMerchants found in the phone books of Canada and USA I have not found a DeMerchant who is not a descendent of this John. Thus, if you have the surname DeMerchant you are a relative of mine. COOL, eh!

I would very much like to hear from other DeMerchants or DeMerchant descendents to see if I have included them in my book. I've met so many remarkable people in my research and phone conversations. My original intentions were not to publish a book but after gathering all this information people encouraged me to write a book. Thus "DeMerchants of New Brunswick" was born.

We completed a successful reunion Aug. 2, 3, 1998 with over 400 descendents registered. Our next DeMerchant reunion is scheduled for August 1, 2, 3, 2003 in Perth-Andover, NB. Make plans now to be attend.