History of Bucks County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
Names and Page # Index

THE VAN HORN FAMILY

THE VAN HORN FAMILY. The family of VAN HORN has been a prominent one in Bucks county for two centuries, filing important positions in the official, professional and business life of the county in every generation and constantly sending out its representatives to fill like important positions in other localities and states, its representatives now being found in nearly every state in the Union.

The pioneer ancestor of the family was Christian BARENDTSE, that is Christian, son of Barendt, who it is said came from Hooren, a city of the Zuyder Zee, about twenty-five miles from Amsterdam. The exact date of his arrival in America is not known. He was a carpenter by trade, and the records of New Amsterdam show that he and a fellow craftsman, Auke JANSEN, were appointed, March 10, 1653, by the burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam to view a house, about the building of which there was some litigation. These records further show that he was frequently appointed a referee during the next four or five years. And he is shown to have contributed towards the strengthening of the city wall on October 15, 1655. He is also said to have been with the force sent out from New Amsterdam, September 5, 1655, against the Swedes and Finns on the south (now Delaware) river, at Fort Christina. On his return to New Amsterdam he was appointed January 18, 1656, a fire warden, in place of Johan Paul JACQUET, who had resigned and "removed to the South River in New Netherlands." On April 17, 1657, he was admitted a "Small Burgher" of New Amsterdam, an honor which carried with it the freedom of trade and a right to membership in the respective guilds of the town, and conferred upon natives of the city, residents there one year and six weeks before the date of the charter, burgher’s sons-in-law, city storekeepers, salaried servants of the company and all paying the sum of twenty-five guilders. On August 1, 1657, Christian BARENTZE, carpenter, was granted by Peter Stuyvesant, director general of New Netherland, a lot in New Amsterdam, by the Land Gate, (now at Broadway and Wall streets) for a house and garden. He also owned several other properties in the neighborhood, some of which are said to have covered a part of the present Trinity churchyard. Probably as a result of his trip to the South river, Christian BARENTSE and Joost RUGGER and possibly others obtained a grant of land on the south side of None Such creek, a tributary of the Chrisiana, near the present site of Wilmington, Delaware, and began the erection thereon of a tide water mill. According to Amos C. BRINTON, who has given much attention to the ancient mill sites of Delaware BARENTSE and RUGGER, he began the erection of this mill in 1656. From the dates previously given, however, as well as from other records, it would appear, that the date of Christain BARENTSE, removal to the Delaware was sometime in the year 1657. Contemporary records also refer to the mill as a "horse mill," the truth of the matter being most probably that the horse mill was set up to serve until the tide water mill was completed. The low marshy nature of the land and the turning up of the mud to the sun caused an epidemic from which BARENTSE died July 26, 1658. A letter written by Vice-Director Jacob ALRICKS, from New Amstel, (New Castle) to Stuyvesant, under date of September 5, 1658, and published in documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. xii, p. 224, relates entirely to the affairs of the widow and children of Christian BARENTSE. It states that the widow had requested within three days of his burial that she desired to return to New Amsterdam, and that the property which he left be sold and that though he consents thereto he "advised and proposed to her that it would be for her best to remain in possession, she should be assisted in completing the mill, with income whereof, which through the grists she would be able to diminish the expenses and live decently and abundantly with her children on the surplus, besides that she had yet three or four cows with sheep and hogs, which also could help her to maintain her family, she and her children should have remained on and in her and the father’s estate, which was in good condition here, wherein the widow with the children could have continued reputably and in position to much advantage; but she would not listen to advice, * * * that she was to be restricted in her inclinations and well being, which I shall never think of, much less do." The wife of Christian BARENTSE was Jannetje JANS, and it is probable that they were married before coming to America, as the baptism of their eldest child is not recorded in the New York church. On December 12, 1658, Jannetje JANS, widow and executrix of Christian BARENTS, presented an inventory of his goods and chattels to the court at New Amsterdam, and requested that Vice-Director ALRICKS, "Director of the City’s Colony on the South River, where her husband died, be written to in order that the chattels which are there may be sent from the South river to this place." The widow married on September 12, 1658, Laurens Andriessen VAN BOSKERK, who was born in Holstein, Denmark. He was a member of Bergen court in 1667, its president in 1682, a member of the governor’s council for many years. He died in 1693 and Jannetje on July 13, 1694. They were the parents of four children, Andries, Lourens, Peter, and Thomas, the two latter, according to the Dutch custom, being known as Lourensons, appear later to have become known by the name of Lawrence. Peter joined his half-brother, Barant Christian VAN HORN, in his purchase of land in Bucks county in 1703. His youngest son John married Alice VAN HORN, granddaughter of Christian BARENTS, and his daughter Jannetje, married Cornelius CORSON, of Staten Island, and became the ancestress of the Bucks county CORSONS. The children of Christian BARENTS and Jannetje JANS were as follows: Barendt Christian VAN HORN, born in Holland, married Geertje DIRCKS; died in Bergen county, New Jersey, in 1726. 3. Cornelius VAN HORN, baptized August 3, 1653, married Margaret VAN DE BERG, died in Bergen county in 1729. 4. Jan VAN HORN, baptized March 18, 1657, married Lena BOONE, died in Bergen County.

2. Barent Christian VAN HORN, eldest son of Christian BARENTS and Jannetje JANS, as before stated was probably born in Holland, a theory which is borne out by the early date at which he acquired title to land. On March 26, 1667, Governor Philip CARTERET granted to Barent Christian, of Menkaque, planter, fifty acres of land at Pembrepach and eighty-five acres on the bay called Kill Van Kull, both in Bergen county. On September 29, 1697, he obtained a grant from the proprietors of East Jersey, 160 acres on "Hackingsack River," joining that of his half brother, Thomas Lawrenson (VAN BOSKERK). On May 15, 1703, Barnard Christian, and his half-brother Peter Lawrence, purchased 1,000 acres of Robert HEATON, on Neshaminy creek, in Bucks county, which on September 18, 1707, they partitioned between them. Two days later, September 20, 1707, Barnard Christian conveyed his portion to his two sons, Peter and Christian Barnson, Peter receiving 257 acres and Christian 294 acres. On September 29, 1707, Barnard Christian purchased 550 acres in Bucks county, of Thomas GROOM, 274 acres of which he conveyed to his son Barnard Barnson, June 17, 1714. He also acquired other land in Bucks county, and on June 2, 1722, conveyed to his son, Isaac VAN HORN, 276 acres, and on May 6, 1722, 290 acres to his son, Abraham VAN HORN. He thus owned in all 1381 acres of land in Bucks county, though he continued to live in Bergen county, New Jersey, and died there in 1726. He married, in 1679, at the Bergen Dutch Reformed church, Geertje DIRCKS, daughter of Dirck CLASSEN, who was baptized in New York, March 5, 1662. The children of Barent Christian VAN HORN and Geertje DIRCKSE were:

5. Richard Barentsen VAN HORN, born at Bergen, New Jersey, died at Hackensack, New Jersey, in 1763; married, April 11, 1704, Elizabeth GARRETSEN.

6. Christian VAN HORN, born October 24, 1681, died in Northampton township, Bucks county, November 23, 1751; see forward.

7. Nicholas VAN HORN, born in Bergen county, New Jersey, died in Delaware; he was for a time a resident of Bucks county, and the baptism of two of his children Barnet on July 24, 1715, and Rachel on April 29, 1720, are recorded at Abington Presbyterian church.

8. Peter Barentsen VAN HORN, born at Bergen, 1686, died in Middletown township, Bucks county, February 20, 1750. He married (first) Tryntje (Catharine) VAN DYCK, and (second) Elizabeth GABRIELS, on May 9, 1706. She was baptized at Albany, New York, May 12, 1689, and died November 3, 1759. She was a daughter of Gabriel Tomase STRUDDLES. Peter settled on land conveyed to him by his father in Northampton in 1707 and 1715, and later purchased 425 acres in Middletown. According to the Rev. Samuel STRENG, Peter VAN HORN joined the Episcopal church, and was a vestryman of St. James Protestant Episcopal church as Bristol, 1734-7. His children, all with the possible exception of Barnard, his eldest son, being by the second wife Elizabeth, were as follows: Catharine, baptized June 4, 1710, died 1755, married Thomas CRAVEN, of Warminster, Bucks county; Barnard, who married Patience HELLINGS; Charity, who married, June 6, 1732, Isaiah VANSANT (see VANSANT family) Jane baptized October 16, 1715, married, August 10, 1732, Edmund ROBERTS; Gabriel, baptized March 3, 1716, died 1789, married Martha BRELSFORD; Elizabeth, who married April 21, 1737, Peter PRAUL; Peter, baptized August 25, 1719, married in 1746, Margaret MARSHALL; Mary, who married William GOSLINE, of Bristol, Bucks county; Benjamin, who married, June 5, 1749, Hannah DAVIS; Richard, born 1726, died unmarried, February 1, 1756; John, twice married, second wife being Mary COLLETT, a widow; and Garret, who married Mary NEAL, and died in 1801.

9. Barent Barentsen VAN HORN, born in Bergen, New Jersey, April 3, 1691, died in Bucks county, in 1776. He married (first) February 23, 1712, Jannetje PIETERS, and (second) January 25, 1726, at Bergen, Elizabeth KLINKENBERG. He received by Deed in 1714 276 acres in Northampton township, Bucks county, from his father. He had fourteen children, most of whom married and reared families.

10. John VAN HORN, born in Bergen, New Jersey, 1692, died in Lower Dublin, Philadelphia county, 1758, and is buried in the VANDEGRIFT burying ground. He married Rebecca VANDEGRIFT, daughter of Johannes and Nealke (VOLKERS) VANDEGRIFT, of Bucks county, and had one son John and six daughters.

11. Abraham VAN HORN, born in Bergen, New Jersey, died in Northampton, Bucks county, in 1773, on farm of 290 acres received by deed from his father in 1722. He married first Mary DUNGAN, and second Mary VANSCIVER, and had six sons, Barnard, Isaac, Abraham, David, Jacob, and Jeremiah, and three daughters, Mary, wife of Derrick KREWSON, Charity, and Martha, who married a VAN SCIVER.

12. Jane VAN HORN, born at Bergen, New Jersey, April 18, 1697, married Adrien LA RUE, and resided at Six-Mile Run, New Jersey.

13. Isaac VAN HORN, born at Bergen, New Jersey, died in Solebury township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1760. He married Alice SLEGHT (or SLACK) and had eight children: Bernard, who married first Sarah VAN PELT and second Jane SLACK; John, who married Catharine NEAFIE; Catharine, who married a VAN PELT; Charity, Geertje, Elsie, Isaac, baptized 1749,* married Alice NEAFIES; and Jane.

14. Jacob VAN HORN, born at Bergen, New Jersey, died there April 14, 1775.

15. Benjamin VAN HORN, born at Bergen, January 10, 1705.

(6) Christian VAN HORN, second son of Barendt and Geertje (DIRCKSE) VAN HORN, born at Bergen, New Jersey, October 24, 1681. He married Williamtje VAN DYCK, daughter of Hendrick Janse and Jennetje (HEERMANS) VAN DYCK, and granddaughter of Jan Tomasse VAN DYCK, who emigrated from Amsterdam in 1652 and settled in New Utrecht, Long Island. His sixth child, Hendrick Janze, baptized July 2,1653, married, February 7, 1680, Jannetje HERMANS, daughter of Herman Janse VAN BARKELOO, and settled on Staten Island, where he was a constable in 1689 and assessor in 1703. In 1704 he purchased land in Bucks county and removed there. At the organization of Bensalem church, in 1710, he produced a certificate from the Staten Island church. He purchased four tracts of land in Middletown, two of which he retained until his death in 1721, and devised to his daughter Williamtje, wife of Christian VAN HORN, and his granddaughter, Susanna VAN VLECK, who later married her cousin, Henry VAN HORN. He had but two children, Williamptje, and Jannetje, who became the wife of the Reverend Paulus VAN VLECK, the first pastor at Neshaminy.

Christian VAN HORN located in Northampton township, Bucks county, on 294 acres conveyed to him by his father in 1707. In 1737 two hundred acres of the land belonging to the estate of his father-in-law, Hendrick VAN DYCK, in Middletown township was conveyed to him by Jeremiah LANGHORNE, as "straw man" in effecting the transfer from the devises of VAN DYCK to Christian VAN HORN. He represented Bucks county in the Pennsylvania assembly for the years 1723-1732 and 1734-1737, thirteen years in all. He died November 23, 1751, and his wife May 6, 1760. She was born on Staten Island, July 4, 1681. The will of Christian VAN HORN devised to his eldest son Bernard the home plantation of 205 acres in Northampton, to his son Henry 200 acres on which Henry was living in Newtown, purchased of George and Joseph RANDAL in 1726; to his son John thirty-two acres in Northampton, to his daughter Charity VAN DUREN another tract adjoining containing forty-one acres, and to his son Christian 187 acres in Northampton, when he should come of age; the other children receiving their shares of his estate in money. To his son, Barnard he bequeathed his large Bible. This Bible is now in the possession of Dr. Wilmer KRUSEN, of 127 North Twenty-ninth street, Philadelphia, having descended to him from his ancestors, the HEGEMANS, John HEGEMAN having married Jane VAN HORN, daughter of Christian, who inherited it from her brother, Barnard VAN HORN, who died in 1760, without issue. It was printed at Dordrecht in 1690, and was purchased by Hendrick VAN DYCK in December, 1701, and presented to his daughter Williamtje, who married Christian VAN HORN. On the fly leaf it contains the record of the birth of the children of Hendrick VAN DYCK, those of Christian and Williamtje VAN HORN , and those of John and Jannetje (VAN HORN) HEGEMAN.

The children of Christian and Williamtje (VAN DYCK) VAN HORN were:

16. Barnard VAN HORN, born February 19, 1701-2, died April 22, 1760, married December 31, 174, Jannetje VAN BOSKERK, and had no children.

17. Henry VAN HORN, born September 15, 1707, died in Newtown township, Bucks county in 1761. He married his first cousin, Susanna VAN VLECK, daughter of Rev. Paulus and Jannetje (VAN HORN) VAN VLECK. She inherited from her grandfather, Hendrick VAN DYCK, one half of his real estate, and 173 acres thereof was conveyed to Henry by the same proceedings as in the case of his father, and the latter at his death devised to Henry 200 acres, in Newtown, and it was devised by the will of Henry in 1761 to his sons, Christian and Henry. Susanna, the widow of Henry, died in June, 1776. They were the parents of four children, Christian, who married, June 14, 1764, Sarah VANSANT,-see forward; Henry VAN HORN, died 1777, married Elizabeth VANSANT; Jane, who married John JOHNSON; and Susannah, who married Euclides LONGSHORE.

18. Geertje or Charity, baptized May 21, 1710, married Godfrey VAN DUREN, who was the first innkeeper at Ruckman's, in Solebury township, Bucks county.

19. Antje of Ann, baptized March 22, 1712, died in infancy.

20. John VAN HORN, born December 8, 1713, married, May 30, 1739, Lena VAN PELT, (See VAN PELT FAMILY) and died in 1760. John and Lena (VAN PELT) VAN HORN were the parents of five children, all of whom were baptized at Southampton church, viz: Catharine, baptized August 11, 1741, married January 12, 1764, John SUBERS, see forward; Christian, baptized October 4, 1743, died young; Willimentje, baptized May 11, 1746, died in infancy; Willimentje, born March 1, 1748; and Joseph, born May 30, 1750, married, January 7, 1773, Ann SEARLE.

21. Ann VAN HORN, born July 19, 1716, died 1753, married Cornelius CORSON, and had seven children, viz: Blandia, baptized March 26, 1738, Willemeynje, baptized February 24, 1740; Marytje, baptized May 23, 1742; Jannetje, baptized July 19, 1744; Antje, baptized December 26, 1746; Benjamin, baptized April 13, 1749; and Cornelius, baptized November 16, 1751.

22. Catharine VAN HORN, born April 13, 1719, married Hendrick HEGEMAN, and had four children, via: Adrien, baptized March 26, 1738; Maria, baptized April 7, 1740; Jannetje, baptized June 6; 1742; Catrintje, baptized March 24, 1745.

23. Jane VAN HORN, born May 20, 1721, died September 7, 1783, married, October 20, 1741, John HEGEMAN, born January 10, 1718, and had nine children; Mary, born March 8, 1743; Christian, born August 8, 1745; Henry, born January 5, 1748; John, born July 26, 1750; Henry, born January 11, 1753; Benjamin, born November 19, 1755; Adrian, born September 16, 1758; Barnet, born February 23, 1761; and Jane, born May 15, 1765.

24. Christian VAN HORN, born August 29, 1728, died December 17, 1753.

Christian VAN HORN, eldest son of Henry (17) and Susanna (VAN VLECQ) VAN HORN, born in Newtown township, Bucks county, married June 14, 1764, Sarah VANSANT, daughter of Isaiah and Charity (VAN HORN) VANSANT, of Lower Makefield. Her mother, Charity (VAN HORN) VANSANT, being a daughter of Peter (8) and Elizabeth (GABRIELS) VAN HORN. Christian VAN HORN inherited from his father 126 acres of land in Newtown township, on the Neshaminy creek, part of the land purchased by his grandfather, Christian VAN HORN, in 1726, whereon he lived until his death in 1777, when it was divided between his sons Henry and Isaiah. Sarah (VANSANT) VAN HORN died in 1785. They were the parents of but two children, viz: Henry and Isaiah. Henry, married April 26, 1787, Elizabeth MCCORKLE, and had three children; Amos, born March 4, 1792, died at Newtown, September 5, 1823, married, January 8, 1817, Mercy STARKEY; Susan, born October 25, 1794, died in Michigan, September 5, 1872, married Joseph ROBERTS; and Elizabeth, born January 27, 1797, married Joseph WINSHIP, and died at Newtown, May 12, 1868.

Isaiah VAN HORN, second son of Christian and Sarah (VANSANT) VAN HORN, was born in Newtown township, Bucks county, married, December 31, 1794, Catharine SUBER, daughter of John and Catharine (VAN HORN) SUBER, and his first cousin. He was adjudged fifty acres of the homestead farm by the orphans' court in 1787, but on March 15, 1791, sold it to his brother Henry, and on his marriage in 1794 took up his residence on a farm belonging to the estate of his father-in-law, Isaiah VANSANT, in Upper Makefield, where he died in 1802. His widow, Catharine, married John WYNKOOP, January 31, 1805. The only child of Isaiah and Catharine (VANSANT) VAN HORN, was Sarah, born February 29, 1796; died January 27, 1838. She married (first) on January 16, 1812, Aaron WINDER, and (second) August 24, 1825, Abner MORRIS. (See WINDER FAMILY in this volume). Catharine WYNKOOP, the mother, died in December, 1820.

R. Winder JOHNSON, of Philadelphia, to whom we are indebted for the above account of the VAN HORN family, is a grandson of Aaron and Sarah (VAN HORN) WINDER, great-grandson of Isaiah and Catharine (SUBER) VAN HORN, great-great-grandson of both Christian and Sarah (VANSANT) VAN HORN, and John and Catharine (VAN HORN) SUBER, and great-great-great-grandson of Henry and Susanna (VAN VLECQ) VAN HORN, John and Lena (VAN PELT) VAN HORN, and Isaiah and Charity (VAN HORN) VANSANT, and great-great-great-great-grandson of Christian and Williamtje (VANDYCK) VAN HORN, and Peter and Elizabeth (GABRIELLS) VANHORN, the last mentioned Christian and Peter VAN HORN, being sons of Barendt Christianzen VAN HOORN and his wife Geertje Dircks CLASSEN, and grandson of Christian Baretzen VAN HOORN and Jannetje JANS, the pioneer ancestors of the family in America. An account of the VAN PELT, VANSANT, VANDEGRIFT, WINDER and JOHNSON families also largely the result of investigations made by Mr. JOHNSON, will be found elsewhere in this work.

Henry VAN HORN, son of Henry and Susanna (VAN VLECQ) VAN HORN, was reared on the old homestead purchased by his grandfather, Christian VAN HORN in 1726, and at the death of his father, in 1761, inherited a one-half interest therein with his brother Christian. They made a division of the 252 acres, each conveying to the other 126 acres in 1773. After the reverses on Long Island in November, 1776, and at Fort Washington when the Continental forces were so badly routed and so many of the Bucks county contingent were taken prisoners, Henry VAN HORN raised an independent company of militia and was commissioned their captain, December 6, 1776, (See Penna. Arch. Vol. xiv p. 175) and took them into the service. He died of camp fever late in 1777. He married Elizabeth VAN SANT, daughter of Isaiah and Charity (VAN HORN) VAN SANT, and they were the parents of eight children: Joshua, born February 21, 1759; Isaiah, born October 24, 1760, was drummer in his father's company, 1776-7; Mary, born May 5, 1764, married Isaac GILLAM, died April 18, 1823; Christian, born July 13, 1766; Susanna, born October 9, 1768, married Jesse WILLETT, who had previously married her sister Sarah; Elizabeth, married an ANDERSON, and died January 26, 1813; Sarah, born February 7, 1773, married Jesse WILLETT, died prior to 1809; Henry, born April 5, 1777. Elizabeth the mother, died November 25, 1807, aged about eighty years.

Henry VAN HORN, youngest child of Captain Henry and Elizabeth (VANSANT) VAN HORN, born in Newtown township, April 5, 1777, learned the trade of a carpenter and cabinet maker and located at Yardley, Bucks county, where he followed the trade of a cabinet maker for several years. His sign uniquely painted is now in possession of his grandson, Richard H. VAN HORN, of Lambertville, New Jersey. He also purchased a farm of 93 acres in Lower Makefield in 1805, which, in 1811, he conveyed to his brother-in-law, Isaac GILLAM. He purchased a farm of 200 acres in Upper Makefield, near Eagle Tavern, where he resided the balance of his life. He died in Febryary,-1849. He married, in 1798, Hannah REEDER, of Canaan, Upper Makefield, and their six children who grew to maturity were as follows:

I. Abraham, born 1802, married, in 1829, Eliza HAMPTON, by whom he had one child, Margery. He married (second) Christiana NEALD, and a son Henry K. was born in 1834. He married (third) Elizabeth SAMPSEL. He sold his farm in Upper Makefield and removed to Sandy Spring, Maryland, where he reared a family of thirteen children.

2. Elizabeth, born 1804, married William RYAN, of Upper Makefield, born 1810. They settled near Rocksville, Northampton township, Bucks county, and engaged in the milling business. Three of their children survive: Edward H., born 1832; Mary, born 1835; and Hannah, born 1839.

3. Eleanor H., born 1810, married Cornelius SLACK, and settled in Lower Makefield. He was lately a merchant at Dolington. Their children are: Watson, born 1832; John H., born 1833; Henry V., born 1836; Jane E., born 1839; Sarah E., born 1841; William H., born 1843; Anna M., born 1847; and Hannah, born 1850.

4. Moses H., born January 15, 1812, at Yardleyville, removed with his parents to Upper Makefield, where he spent his entire life, inheriting at his father's death, in 1849, 100 acres of the old homestead. He was a successful farmer, and a prominent man in the community, holding many positions of trust and honor. He and his wife and family were lifelong members of the Society of Friends. He married, April 13, 1843, Rebecca SCATTERGOOD, born February 7, 1820, daughter of John* and Catherine (HEPBURN) SCATTERGOOD, of Makefield, who died September 15, 1895. Moses died February 13, 1885. They were the parents of nine children: Richard H., born 1844; Mary Anna, born 1846; Samuel S., born 1848; William T., born 1851; George F., and Catherine S., twins, born 1854,; Hannah E., born 1857; Benjamin F., born 1860; and Emma L., born 1863.**

5. Mary A., born 1816, married Christian VAN HORN, born 1814, and settled on a farm near Dolington. Their surviving issue are: Cyrus B., Jane E., Cornelius S., Hannah E., and Callender C.

6. John R., born 1820, married Rebecca FEASTER, and settled on a portion of the old homestead in Upper Makefield. Their surviving children are: James P., David E., Emeline, Watson, Martha F., and Joseph F.

*John SCATTERGOOD (a descendant of Thomas SCATTERGOOD of Burlington county, New Jersey, a noted minister among Friends) was born 6 mo. 14, 1774. He married 5 mo. 4, 1794, Sarah FORMAN, and second Catharine HEPBURN, who was the mother of Mrs. Rebecca (SCATTERGOOD) VAN HORN. John SCATTERGOOD died 1 mo. 18, 1842.

Text taken from page 92 of:

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III