THE VANHOOSER FAMILY TREE

 

         There is an excellent book on the Vanhooser family, “Van Hoose, Van Hooser, Van Huss Family in the United States,” written by Joyce Lindstrom (Afton Thrifty Print, 1993).  This 932-page book goes back to the birth of Jans Fransse VAN HUSUM in 1608, at Husum, Kreis Nordfriesland, Germany.  Surprised?  So was I!  He actually was not German either, but of Schleswig, a region under Danish rule at the time of his birth – even more surprising!

         Jan Fransse VAN HUSUM (1608-1667) was born in a northern city of “an independent duchy ruled by princes of the old Roman empire.”  The misnomer that VanHoosers were Dutch comes from the Van before Jan’s city of birth, Husum.  Lindstrom goes on to explain, “When Jan Fransse left Husum in 1639, the Dutch Domunine (pastor) changed his name from the Danish of Fransse to the Dutch name of Frantz.  The Suffix ‘tz’ means the ‘son of’ in Dutch.  His name was further changed by adding ‘Van Husum,’ which distinguished him from any other Jans Frantz indicating he was from the town of Husum.  ‘Van’ in Dutch means ‘from,’ just as in German surname prefix, ‘Von.’  So, his name, Jan Frantz VAN HUSUM, means “Jans son of Franse, from Husum.”  Jan married Volkje JURIAENS (1618-1703) in Amsterdam, HOLLAND May 15, 1639. 

Volkje lost her parents in a great storm in 1634, which destroyed most of the island of Norstrand, Denmark, off the coast of Husum.  She and her brother survived.  For more information on the island and the storm of 1634, here is a good website:  https://rabbel.nl/nordstrand.html

Jan and Volkje immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam soon after their wedding.  New Amsterdam had been formed by the Dutch West India Company in 1624, and grew to include what is present-day New York City, parts of Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.  Some accounts list him as a sailor.  This makes sense when one considers the founding of the colony; whether he ever served on a slave ship is (thankfully!) unknown. 

Jan and Volkje had nine children; I am descended from their 7^th child, Johannes VAN HOESEN (1655-1724); this is yet another variation of the spelling of the last name.         

         Johannes VAN HOESEN (1655-aft. 1724) was the 7^th of the nine children of Jan & Volkje.  He was born in Fort Orange, Albany County, New York and died October 28, 1724.  About 1687, he married Jannitje Janse DE RYCK (??-??). Jannitje died, and in 1709 he married Willempje VIELE.  He and Willempje had two children.  Before his death, Johannes deeded property to “sons Gerrit and Jacob, who have dutifully assisted and supported me in my old age."

         New Amsterdam became New York on September 8, 1664; the Dutch Governor’s attempts to overpower the British failed due to the Dutch residents refusing to support the unpopular governor. After the Revolutionary War, New York City was the first capital of the United States.

         Johannes “John” VANHOOSER (1697-abt. 1762) was the 6^th of 11 children born to Johannes and his first wife, Jannitje.  He was christened in the Kingston Reformed Church in Ulster County, New York.  In 1720, he married Elizabeth Christina LAUX (born in Wallau, Hessa-Darmstadt, Prussia about 1700).  Elizabeth Christina was an orphan who immigrated, along with a group of Prussians including her brother and sister, to Claverack in about 1710, when Johannes was 13 years old.  The two fell in love and were married, and to this union were born 9 children.  After their children were all grown, one son, Valentine, moved to North Carolina, and John decided to move also.  So, over the course of roughly 24 years, Van Hoesens moved from New York to Pennsylvania, then to North Carolina.  

         Valentine VANHOOSER (1726-1781) was the 3^rd child born to John and Elizabeth VANHOOSER.  It was Valentine’s move to North Carolina that prompted John and Elizabeth to also relocate there.

         My dad, Kermit Larew, did a lot of genealogical research on his side of the family; his research begins with Valentine.  His list of children’s names and birthdates differ from Lindstrom’s book, however, my dad did not cite his sources, so I have no way of retracing his research steps.  Therefore, I tend to stick to what is in Lindstrom’s book.    

Lindstrom’s comments on Valentine, “About 1771 Valentine sold his land in Surry Co., N.C. and moved to Virginia, settling just across the border in what was then Fincastle (now Carroll) Co., Va. He lived there for about four years before moving to the North Fork of the Clinch River in what is now Tazewell Co., Va.”  She goes on to recount how Indian uprisings forced Valentine to return to the land he had formerly lived on.  She further states that “According to law suits brought about by his son, Jacob Van Hooser, Valentine was a wealthy man.  He owned lots of land and had quite a few Negro slaves.  However, when the Revolutionary War broke out, Valentine was loyal to the British and became a known Tory.  He took up arms against the colonists and fought for General Cornwallis, dying in the year 1781 at one of the last two battles Cornwallis fought in—the Guilford Co., North Carolina county court house, or at Yorktown, Virginia, where Cornwallis surrendered.  Hence, the reason why there’s no will or probate records for Valentine Van Hooser.  In 1781 most of his property was confiscated and his slaves were sold at public auction.”  His youngest child, Valentine, Jr., was 13 when his father died; I wonder what life was like for the family after Valentine’s death and the loss of property.  Hopefully, his older children cared for the minor children and their mother.  Later, Valentine Jr. changed the spelling of his last name to VAN HUSS so as not to be associated with his Tory father. 

         Isaac VANHOOSER (1764-1831) was the 11^th child of Valentine and Elizabeth, born in Rowan County, North Carolina, and relocated to Virginia with his father; by 1788 he was on the Grayson County Tax List, “one tithe and two horses.”  According to the Library of Virginia, a “tithable” was a tax for each white male 16 or older.  Slaves, servants, and women (unless she was the head of the household) were not included in a household’s tithable tax list.  So, Isaac must have been the only male 16 or older in his household in 1788.  See https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/tithables_vanote.htm. 

         In 1802, Isaac purchased 200 acres from his older brother, Abraham.  But in 1805, he shows up in Wilson County, Tennessee.  He resided in Warren County, Tennessee in 1812, and died there in 1831.  His will was written January 1, 1831, and was produced at the “April Sessions of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in and for Warren County” on April 5, 1831.  In it, he left everything to his wife, Rebecca, with instructions that after her death, everything be divided equally between his 16 children, “some of the oldest of which I have hereto-fore given some property which property or the price thereof I wish to be deducted out of their part of my Estate – giving each one the same sum as near as possible.”  

          Sampson VANHOOSER (1805-1889) was the 9^th of those 16 children of Isaac’s.  He was born in Grayson County, Virginia.  He married Mary WEBB (1812-1852) in about 1826, and they had 12 children; Mary died in 1852, and Sampson married Rebecca TRAMMEL in 1855.  According to Lindstrom’s book, this was not a happy marriage, and since divorce was seen as unchristian, Sampson simply moved away, to Caldwell County, Kentucky.  There he met and married a widow, Mrs. Rebecca Sarah PIPPEN (1828-1895).  They had a daughter in 1871.  In 1883, Rebecca claimed to be a widow and married Robert Smith. 

         In her book, Joyce Lindstrom does not mention any children of Sampson by his second wife Rebecca, however, my dad’s research shows a daughter, Elizabeth J. Vanhooser, born in 1856.  Since Sampson’s first wife Mary died in 1852, and Sampson married Rebecca in 1855, it seems Sampson and Elizabeth had one child. 

          James Webb VANHOOSER (1827-1911) was the firstborn son of Sampson and his wife Mary, his middle name being his mother’s maiden name.  James married Elizabeth CANTRELL (??-1858) in Warren County, Tennessee.  They moved to Dade County, Missouri sometime between the birth of their child William, born 1849 in Tennessee, and Mary, born 1851 in Missouri. 

         Elizabeth had a baby boy, James Pinkney VANHOOSER, born May 2, 1858; possibly due to an infection or a difficult delivery, Elizabeth died May 20, 1858, leaving James with a newborn and four older children, all under the age of ten!  On December 2, 1858, James married Mary WRIGHT (1833-1926).  They had ten children. 

James Webb VANHOOSER served the Union in the 6^th Missouri Cavalry.  His brother Sampson Guilton fought for the Confederacy, Co E, 32^nd Tennessee Infantry.  James’ presumed anti-slavery sentiment may explain his move from Tennessee to Missouri. 

This family tree held one of my “brick walls” as a genealogist that I was finally able to break down!  Lindstrom’s book, as well as family stories, indicated that James Webb VANHOOSER’s first wife was named Melissa Ann CANTRELL, and they had a daughter presumably named after her mother.  However, I could not find any record giving the name of James’ first wife.  One day it dawned on me that looking at their son James Pinkney’s death certificate might give me his mother’s name – sure enough, I was able to get a copy of the certificate and it named his mother Elizabeth!  But, I know that information regarding someone’s birth when found on a death certificate is not really a “primary source,” so I continued to see proof of her name.  I then sent away to the National Archives for James Webb’s Civil War pension record, and got the proof I needed.  To receive a military pension, the veteran must answer several questions.  One question took care of the issue:

    “Fourth.  Were you previously married?  If so, please state the name of your         former wife and the date and place of her death or divorce.                                Answer.  Yes Elizabeth Vanhooser died the 20 of May 1858 in Dade Co. Mo.”

Also, there was testimony of those who personally knew James and Elizabeth.  Two brothers, James M. and A. Ham SCOTT both testified that they knew that James’ first wife Elizabeth was deceased because their “father and mother set up with her, Elizabeth Vanhooser, the night she died.”

1860s - James Webb VANHOOSER

James Pinkney wrote the family history; his father James was a charter member of the New Hope Church, built in Dade County in 1868; the building was near the schoolhouse for all eight children.  They settled in a large tract of land southeast of Hulston Mill, which was built in 1830.  During the Civil War James Webb Vanhooser slept in the snow and went hungry fighting for God-given rights.  Once Mary, upon hearing bushwhackers coming, felt she had to save one cow on account of her little children, so she hid her pet cow in a dense thicket.  The next morning every head of stock had been driven away except the hidden cow.  The bushwhackers would destroy what they couldn’t take, so with no feed, Mary had to walk to Hulston Mill daily for a sack of corn cobs.  These she would soak overnight in salt water and kept the cow alive until grass came in the spring.

Clayborn Sampson VANHOOSER (1859-1899) was the oldest child of James Webb and his second wife Mary WRIGHT.  Clayborn married Orlena America STOCKTON (1865-1955) on March 23, 1888.  They had six children, three girls and three boys.  He died January 24, 1899, and was buried in Pemberton Cemetery. 

          Helen Esther VANHOOSER (1893-1987) was the third child of Clayborn and “Lena.”  She was my grandmother, and I loved her very much.  I have such fond memories of her, playing games, laughing, and teaching me how to embroider.  I have embroidered baby quilts for both of my daughters and each of my grandchildren, and I think of Grandma Larew every time I make one. 

        I asked my Aunt Georgia a few years ago if she knew if, after the 19th Amendment for Women's right to vote was passed, if my Grandma Larew voted. Without hesitating Georgia said, "Every time!" Then she chuckled and said her Mom was quite vocal about her political views. The apple indeed does not fall far from the tree! I'm so proud of my Grandma. She may not ever have learned how to drive but she made sure she got to the polls to vote!!

         Kermit Winfred LAREW (1916-1975) my dad grew up in Missouri near many of his relatives.  Although his Vanhooser grandfather had passed away, he did know his grandmother.  After he got home from World War II, my dad wanted to visit Missouri and see his relatives.  

        I remember Vanhooser family members coming to Colorado for a visit, and I recall a trip we made to Missouri when I was young.  

    1945 - Photo of Kermit & Mildred with his 
grandmother and her 4^th Husband

1948 - 4 generations photo of 
Orlena, Helen, Kermit & Dean 

 

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