First in Ternnessee

Valentine Felty Vanhooser Jr.

The first Van Huss to come to Tennessee was Valentine Vanhooser Jr. His father Valentine Felty Sr. was originally from New York and Pennsylvania but moved to Rowan County, North Carolina around 1750, and later to Virginia prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Valentine Jr. was born in Rowan County, Virginia in 1768 and arrived in Tennessee in 1795 at the age of 27. He was, at this time, settling on 100 acres of land in Carter County, Tennessee. Keep in mind, that at this time North Carolina and Tennessee were still one political unit. Carter County was at the time called Washington County. At the same time as Valentine was settling on his new farm, a son Mathias was born. By all accounts, he remained behind with his mother Catherine Worley in Wythe County Virginia.

Deed recorded in the Register of Deeds Office, Carter County relates: "On the 4th day of November, 1795, Richard Dobbs Straight, governor and commander in chief of the state of North Carolina" issues a warranty deed for the purchase by Valentine Vanhooser of 100 acres from the state of North Carolina.

The deed continues to describe the property by metes and bounds, that is the property began at Cobbs Creek.The land was in Washington County at the head of Cobbs Creek. The purchase price was the princely sum of 50 shillings an acre. At the time one North Carolina shilling equaled 9 British pence, or a little more than fifty cents, giving us an approximation of 25 dollars an acre.

The property description is:

a tract of land containing one hundred acres lying & being in our county of Washington on a branch of Cobbs Creek, beginning at a Linwood at the head of a spring, running north seventy one degrees, West one hundred & twelve poles to a black oak, thence North thirteen degrees, West sixty two poles to a white oak, thence North thirty five degrees, west fifty seven poles to a black oak on the side of a hill, thence North eighty six poles to a stake, thence South fifty nine degrees, East one hundred seventy five poles to a white oak, Corner to mofes (?). Running thence South one hundred and sixteen poles to a stake by the creek, thence East twenty five poles to a white oak, thence South thirty one poles to the beginning.

The deed was not recorded until August 23rd, 1797, which technically put it in violation of the grant which required recording the deed within 12 months, but no one has apparently ever raised the issue.

We don't know what the homestead of James Vanhooser looked like. Perhaps, it looked something like this. The property can be seen in the Cherokee National Forest, east and north of Elizabethton, near Lake Watauba. Look for Cobbs Creek Road.

Check the following ******************************************************************

To follow the genealogy of Valentine Vanhooser, go to genforum - Valentine VAN HUSS was born 14 FEB 1768 in Rowan Co., North Carolina, and died 1 MAR 1858 in Johnson Co., Tennessee. He was the son of 24. Valentine VAN HOOSER and 25. Maria Barbara ZERWE.

The following doesn't make sense...It  needs review...

The children of Valentine and his wife Catherine Worley are:

i. Michael VAN HUSS was born 6 JAN 1789 in Wythe Co., Virginia, and died 21 FEB 1875 in Lee Co., Virginia. He married Elizabeth ROSENBAUM 11 JUL 1809 in Wythe Co., Virginia, daughter of Anthonius Conradus ROSENBAUM and Elizabeth WORLEY. She was born ABT 1791 in Wythe Co., Virginia, and died 30 MAY 1874 in Lee Co., Virginia.

ii. Valentine VAN HUSS , Jr. was born ABT 1790. He married Elizabeth RAINBOLT. She was born ABT 1791 in Carter Co., Tennessee, and died 19 OCT 1826.

iii. Jacob VAN HUSS was born 21 OCT 1791 in Wythe Co., Virginia.

iv. Elizabeth VAN HUSS was born 17 SEP 1793 in Wythe Co., Virginia, and died 29 OCT 1826. She married John B. RAINBOLT JAN 1812 in Carter Co., Tennessee, son of Adam R. RAINBOLT and Hannah Jane POTTER. He was born 11 NOV 1788 in Washington Co. Tennessee (Now Carter Co.), and died 11 APR 1873 in Orange, Lawrence Co., Indiana.

v. Matthias VAN HUSS was born 27 OCT 1795 in Wythe Co., Virginia, and died 21 SEP 1856 in Carter Co., Tennessee. He married Elizabeth WORLEY 4 DEC 1817 in Wythe Co., Virginia, daughter of Valentine WORLEY and Maria Barbara SPRECHER. She was born 1798 in Wythe Co., Virginia, and died 1818 in Wythe Co., Virginia. He married Lavinia DUGGER 14 APR 1821 in Carter Co., Tennessee, daughter of William DUGGER and Nancy MILLARD. She was born 22 JUN 1795 in Carter Co., Tennessee, and died 28 MAR 1882 in Carter Co., Tennessee.

vi. Christopher VAN HUSS was born 1796.

1900 Census Butler County Kansas, Hickory Township, John F. Van Huss

1. The 1900 US Census of Butler County Kansas showing John Finley Van Huss, his wife Jessie Brewer, and their three children - Beulah, Fred, and Luva.

2. The 1910 US Census of Sedgwick County, Rockford Township recording the family of John Finley Van Huss and his wife Jessie and  five children - adding Elmer and Lois to the existing brood.

Rockford Township is southeast of Wichita and includes the present day towns of Derby and Mulvane. The geographic center of the township is 95th St. South and Greenwich.

See the US GenWeb Census Project

Hickory Township

The Kansas Historical Society has preserved a 1905 Standard Atlas of Butler County Kansas. Page 97 is a map of Hickory Township, just south of present day Highway 400 and Beaumont, Kansas. A plat of Beaumont is attached to Union Township below.

With a click and you can see the property claims of several Van Husses and two Brewers. Hannah and Will Davis, Abby and Alex Fletcher are the descendants of the clans of Van Huss, Brewer, and Phillips, thanks to Bob and Mary Van Huss.

To the north of Hickory Township is Glencoe Township with Beaumont, Kansas. The William Phillips property can be seen just to the southwest of Beaumont.

To the south of Hickory Township is Union Township and Latham, Kansas. Little Walnut Township and Leon, Kansas are to the west.

The Complete Family Tree

I hope to fill in the missing blanks..

Jan Fransse Van Husum and Volkje Juriens.

The quickest overview of how the family name came to Kansas is this. Jan and Volkje from Husum and the island of Nordstrand in Schleswig and North Friesland to Amsterdam to New Amsterdam. From Beverwyck in upstate New York, ancestors left to briefly join the Quaker communities around Tulpenhocken, Pennsylvania. From there, around 1750, ancestors moved to Rowan County, North Carolina. Then it was to Wythe County Virginia along the Appalachian Mountains. Next, by 1795, was a short hop over the mountains following the Daniel Boone Trail to eastern Tennessee and Carter County. In the 1870's Valentine Worley Van Huss and his five sons found homes in eastern Kansas, mostly in Butler County, Kansas.

Of course there are other Van Husses who stayed or moved on to other states like Kentucky, Texas, Ohio. There are also variations in the spelling of the name such as Vanhooser, Vanhoesen, Van Hoesen, that occurred over the centuries.

1. Jan Fransse VanHoesen (1608 - 1667?)

Jan Fransse VanHoesen was born 1608 in Husum,Schleswig. Read a short bio.

2.  Johannes Van Hoesen -VanHooser

3.  Johannes Van Hoesen -VanHooser (1697 - 1763)

Johannes Van Hoesen was born in Claverack, Albany (now Columbia), New York on land that was purchased from his grandfather, Jan Fransse Van Husen in 1662. He was the son of Johannes Van Hosen and his first wife, Jannitje (Jane) Janse de Ryck. He was christened 1 Aug 1697 at the Dutch Reformed Church at Kingston, Ulster, New York, which is across the Hudson River and down the river a ways. In those days, the people went where the traveling minister was, who happened to be Justus Falckner. The book, The World of Justus Falckner by Delbert Wallace Clark tells about the minister's travels in the early days of New York's settlements; SOURCE: Van Hooser in America, by Joyce Lindstrom, page 7; RESEARCH: Sherry Smith.

4.  Valentine VanHuss (1721 -.1781).

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.

Source: "The Van Hoose, Van Hooser, Van Huss Family in the United States", by Joyce Lindstrom

Valentine Van Huss was born about 1721 in Claverack, New York. He moved to Tulpehocken, where he married his wife Maria Barbara Zerbe  in 1746. Their 12 and last child was Valentine Van Huss who was born in 1768 in Rowan county, North Carolina.  TEBBETTS - COURTNEY - JERNIGAN
One posting notes Valentine "Felty" Van Buren Van Huss, changed his name from Van Hooser. Post, bottom of page ten, top of page eleven.

5.  Valentine Van Huss (1768 - 1857).

The post of William Myers from Jan. 2003 lists Valentine Van Huss, born 1768 in Rowan County, N. C., and died 1857 in Johnson County, Tenn. This Valentine married Catherine Worley. They had six children, several of whom were born in Wythe County, Virginia. Posting.


 ...?

The 1850 Census of Carter County  lists Valentine Van Huss, then 23, and his other family members.

J. P. Van Huss (1833  - )

Goodspeed's History of Carter County Tennessee, (published 1887) then lists J.P. VanHuss son of Mathias, grandson of Valentine and gives a short bio. J.P. has several children, including James, Daniel and John, all of whom traveled to Kansas in the 1880's to homestead.

New York

Manhattan

Every school child knows the story of how, in 1626, Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Lenape Indians for $24 in trinkets. Modern scholars now estimate the value considerably higher. (A caution that not everything should be taken at face value.)

Manhattan was part of the larger area of New Netherland (Nieuw-Nederland), a Dutch colony in North America that existed from 1624 until 1664. In that year, the Duke of York sent four English frigates into the port of New Amsterdam and demanded the Dutch surrender.

New Amsterdam became New York City and Fort Orange became Albany.

The area was first explored by Henry Hudson in 1609. And the earliest settlements were built around 1613. Around 1619, Fort Orange, on the Hudson River (Beverwyck on the map) as a center for beaver trade with the Indians. In 1624, New Netherlands became a province of the Netherlands. The port of New Amsterdam was established to protect the beaver trade and transport the beaver pelts to Europe.

The Dutch, through the West India Company, established settlements along the Hudson river to promote trade with the Indians for beaver pelts. Emigrants to the province included Dutch, Danish, Frisian and Schleswigan, and Walloons, as well as African slaves.

In 1639, Jan Franse Van Husum arrived in New Amsterdam along with his new wife Volkie Juriens Van Husum. They settled in Rensselaerswyck, an area surronding Beverwyck, now Albany, New York. Jan Franse was appointed Commissioner of Lands for the Dutch West India Co., and lived at a fur trading post,  Ft. Orange. In 1662 Jan bought from the Indians, for 500 guilders in beavers, land at Claverack and several hundred acres of land along the river where today is the city of Hudson.

Jan and his wife Volkie eventually had thirteen children.Their sixth child, Johannes (John) VanHoesen, born 1655, lived in Claverack (check spelling Clavernack).

His son Johannes, born 1697 lived in Claverack. John Van Hooser, Jr. was a fourth generation VanHooser. He was born in 1723 at Claverack, Albany (now Columbia) Co., New York, the son of Johannes Van Hoesen or John Van Hooser and his wife, Elizabeth Christina Laux.
Image from Wikipedia.

Leaving New York.

Father and son left New York for Tulpehocken, Lancaster (now Berks) Co Pennsylvania, settling in an area of mostly Germans.

Father and younger brothers and sisters then migrated to Anson Co., North Carolina in 1753/4. The son made his will in 1763, signing it John Vanhosen. On deeds there his name appears as John Vanhouser and John Vanhooser.

"[Later]descendants of John Vanhooser retained the spelling, Vanhooser
and settled in Eastern and Central Tennessee. Those from Jackson
Co., Tenn. still spell the name with the small "h".

One branch of the family kept the spelling, VanHuss. They settled in southwest
Virginia and in Carter (later Johnson) Co., Tenn."

In 1845 Valentine W. VanHuss married Lucinda Campbell and raised seven children in Carter county, Tennessee. The children were:

1. VanHuss, James M - 1845
2. VanHuss, Isaac S - 1847
3. VanHuss, Daniel S - 1848
4. VanHuss, Susannah - 1852
5. VanHuss, Matilda - 1853
6. VanHuss, Robert - 1855
7. VanHuss, John - 1859

Later, in the 1880's four brothers, James, Daniel, Robert, and John, homesteaded in and around Beaumont, Kansas.

Jan Fransse Van Husum

This post is a summary of the book VAN HOOSE VAN HOOSER VAN HUSS FAMILY IN AMERICA by Joyce Lindstrom. A second source is Elsie Rohre's book "The Van Huss Family". A third source is the VanHoesen blog, which compiles multiple sources. The reader should be mindful that there are always variations in the telling of a tale. Dates, place names, even facts will change with the retelling of any history.

The First Van Huss to arrive in America was Jan Fransse Van Husum. He was born in 1608 or 1609 in Husum, Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, then a part of Denmark, although today it is the northernmost province of Germany. Husum is on the west coast and faces the North Sea. It is natural that Jan became a sailor and sailed for the Dutch West Indies Company. He lived in Amsterdam, where in April of 1639, he married Volckje Juriaens of Tuijnstraat (Twijnstratt, Utrect). The newly married couple immediately set sail for America and, on July 7, 1639, arrived in Dutch New Amsterdam.

From VAN HOOSE VAN HOOSER VAN HUSS FAMILY IN AMERICA:

"Jan Fransse Van Husum was the emigrant ancestor of all the Van
Hooser's in America as well as some thirty variations of the surname.
Originally he was known only as Jan Fransse, meaning "John, the son
of Francis." In the early days of history before the emergence of
surnames, the patronymic system of naming was used.In this case,
the second name was the father's first given name. Fransse or
Fransssen was a Danish name. The suffix "se" or "sen" meant "Son
of."

Jan Fransse was born in Husum, a city in Schleswig in 1608. Husum
lies in the northern duchy of Schleswig, which was once an
independent duchy ruled by princes of the old Roman empire. A ducal
portion was ruled by the dukes of Holstein and a common portion was
ruled jointly by the kings and dukes."

Jan Fransse was employed as Commissioner of Lands for the Dutch West India Co.. As such, he and his wife settled in the colony of Rensselaerswyck at Fort Orange, now Albany, New York. In 1662 he purchased from the Indians several hundreds acres along the Hudson River at Clavernack, present day Hudson. The purchase price was 500 guilders in beavers pelts.

The couple had thirteen children. See Johannes VanHoesen worldconnect.

Jan died before 1667 in Clavernack. His wife remarried and lived in Clavernack until her death in 1703.