Steven Coerte, his wife, and 8 children emigrated from his farm
located near the village of Hees, in the Province of Drenthe, in
north-east Holland, in April of 1660. He paid 36 guilders per adult
passage on the ship "Bontekoe" (Spotted Cow). Under later British rule
he adopted the surname: "Van-(before) Voor-(village) Hees". Everyone
with the name Voorhees is descended from him, because nobody else
adopted that name. On November 29, 1660 he bought from Cornelis
Hoogland in Brooklyn, NY: 9 morgans of cornland, 7 morgans of
woodland, 10 morgans of plainland, and 5 morgans of salt meadow, a
house and brewery for 3000 guilders. He was a magistrate in 1664 and
had a patent in 1667. His will is dated August 25, 1677. There is a
street named after him in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The early Voorhees
seemed to be ardent followers of the religio-political revolutionary
Jacob Leisler and were related to him in various ways. Interestingly,
they came to New Amsterdam in the same month as Leisler did. Leisler
took over New York during the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and he was
beheaded by the British in 1691. Roelof Voorhees b 10-11-1768 d 2-3-
1847 married Gertude Covert and later Anna A. Covert. He resided
near Millstone, Somerset, NJ but moved to Ovid, Seneca, NY after his
second marriage about 1801. His only child by Gertude, Tunis Voorhees
bapt 9-4-1791, was born in Montgomery Township, Somerset Co, NJ. Tunis
was a veteran of the War of 1812, serving in Captain Tunis Swick's
company of the NY Militia: Survivor's Certificate number 7938. After
he married Sarah Rosenkranz on 2-14-1820, he farmed in Ovid, Seneca
Co then in Chenango County about 1833 until the death of his father-
in-law Alexander when he moved 3 miles north of Havana, Shuyler, NY
which is near Watkins Glen. He moved with his family in 1845 from
Havana to a 160 acre farm in the NE quadrant of section 33, Burnett
twp, Dodge Co, WI, one mile south of the Cliffords. (Van Voorhees
Family by Elias Van Voorhis, 1888 which mentions W.P. Clifford.)
The Van Voorhees Association has a newsletter and annual reunions.
Contact Albert T. Van Voorhies, 9 Purdy Ave, East Northport NY 11731-4501.
There is a Voorhees Homepage at Voorhees
Website.
MY LINE
1. 1600-1684 Steven Coerte\Hees,
NL/Long Island, NY 2. 1652-1735 Jan Van Voorhees\Long Island,
NY/Middlesex Co, NJ 3. 1682-aft.1738 Auke Van Voorhees\Flatbush, L..I.,
NY 4. 0000-0000 Abraham Voorhees\Montgomery twsp, Somerset Co, NJ
5. 1767-1847 Roelof Voorhees\Millstone, Somerset Co, NJ/Ovid, Seneca Co, NY
6. 1791-1847 Tunis Voorhees\Millstone, NJ/Burnett, Dodge Co, WI 7.
1833-1910 Mary Jane Voorhees\Chenango Co, NY/Burnett, Dodge Co, WI
