| Background: |
Mr. C.S. Williams was the compiler of this Van Horne/Van Hoorn genealogy which he published in New York in 1912. The history of the family in America begins, officially, in 1645 with a grant of land in New Amsterdam (New York) to Jan Cornelius Van Hoorn. Exactly when he arrived in America from the city of Hoorn in Holand is unknown, but he appears to have been a well educated man and a person of means. Later, he became a small burgher, a member of the First Dutch Church of New York City, and a teacher in the school of the Dutch Church. His wife's name was Hillegonda Joris. Jan Cornelius must have died before 16 June 1669 because on that day his widow remarried. |
| Contents: |
From the middle of the seventeenth century, Mr. Williams traces many different lines of descent, some to the beginning of the twentieth century, but most of the data is focused on the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The information is presented in typescript form, and is clear and easy to follow. Throughout the genealogy, the author refers to primary sources, including: court documents, land records, and newspapers. This family study, although brief, is of particular interest to Canadians. Several marriages between members of the Van Horne family and the Loyalist Bayard family are recorded. In addition, although there were three different Van Hoorn families in New Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, it is possible that a connection may exist with Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, the famous builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental line from Montreal to the Pacific Ocean which was completed in 1888. |
