BEWARE of old or inherited Van Horn/Van Horne pedigrees

Researching early Van Horn families in Colonial America is a nightmare. There I said it and VH researchers really need to be aware that the early family genealogies were junk. But don't take my word for this. FTDNA Van Horn Y-DNA administrator Marleen Van Horne wrote about this on the Ancestry Van Horn Message Board in 2005:

"Pedigrees published on the Van Horn/Van Horne surname prior the 1958 are highly inaccurate. If you are a descendant of Cornelius Van Horne born 1695 in Brooklyn, or his brother, Abraham born 1698, Brooklyn, you will find two different sets of parents listed for these men, in pedigrees published on the web. "Sometimes, a date of 1706 is given for Cornelius birth. The brothers mentioned above are NOT the sons of Abraham Van Horne and Maria Provoost. Abraham and Maria had a son, Cornelius, in 1706, and two sons named, Abraham, in 1713 and 1719 ( years maybe off). All three of these children died young. "The correct parents for Cornelius and Abraham are Matthys Cornelissen and Fytie Adam Brouwer. Matthys was a Dane from Jutland and Fytie of German and Flemish origins. "The two best sources on the descendants of Matthys Cornelissen are Our Van Horne Kindred by Elsie O. Hallenbeck, 1958 and an article, The 1722 Conveyance, in the April, 1976, issue of De Halve Maen, by Paul E. Van Horn. Kindred is not perfect, but it is far better than any Van Horn/Van Horne genealogy prior to this date, and goes a long way to correcting the record."

In a private email to me in Dec 2005 Marleen provided some background on here the really bad stuff resides.

"I am particularly interested in putting to an end the bad Van Horn/Van Horne/Van Hoorn genealogy that is floating around the universe.  Between 1888, when Abram Van Horne published Our Kindred and 1958, when his granddaughter, Elsie O. Hallenbeck published Our Van Horne Kindered, many, many, many incorrect Van Horne pedigrees were published.  Van Horne descendants ( I will use this spelling, but read whatever applies.) have fallen in love with false ancestors and are really unwilling to let go, no matter how definitive the evidence.

"I just cannot see their point.  I would rather have the right ancestor, no matter what warts they may have.

"If I were you, I would research this line as if you had no idea where it was going.  In 1929, Marvin F. Van Horn published The Van Horn Family History.  It was a compilation of all the preceding Van Horne genealogies, plus the pedigrees and family group sheet compiled in an effort to get a piece of the estate of one Abraham Van Horn who died intestate.  Abraham was a descendant of Jan Cornelissen, so almost every pedigree in that book goes back to old JC.  Matthys Cornelissen who happens to be my Van Horne ancestor is not even mentioned, and his sons are attached to another family.

"Every Van Horne genealogy up to 1958 was based on the faulty pedigrees published up to that date.  Elsie's book is not without flaws, but it goes a long way to correct all of the errors made up to that time.  For example, Elsie spends some time going over Matthys Dutch origins. 

"WRONG, Matthys was from Jutland in Denmark, according to his marriage record.  How did Elsie make that mistake?  I can only speculate, but she must not have seen the original church records.  She must have used the Holland Society transcriptions from the 1890s, which left out the place of origin.

"Enough of this, you are duly warned."

So that is where we are at this point. I will be publishing some material that I can trust here on the blog as I can put it together. It is time to start straightening the Van Horn family genealogy once and for all.

Cousin Larry Van Horn