Valentine "Felty" Van Hooser (1726 - 1781)

Genealogy can be a veritable alphabet soup, sons are named after fathers or grandfathers, or uncles. Names appear and reappear quite frequently making it difficult to distinguish one apple from another, or in this case, Valentine Van Hooser from another.

New York

This Valentine Van Hooser (1726-1781) was born 16 Jan 1726 in Claverack, Albany, New York. If we are looking for namesakes, then Valentine takes his name from his mother's father, Johann Valentin (Laux) Lauck. "Felty" which is often attached to Valentine's name is but a nickname like Tom, Dick, or Harry.

Valentine a fourth generation Van Huss, and direct descendant of Jan Franz Van Husum. As is often the case with children not the first born, they move on to other lands. So it was that Jan Franz Van Husum who settled in upstate New York near present day Albany would watch as later born children moved on. In the case of the Van Husums, Van Hoesens, Van Hoosers, and Van Huss, it was west to Pennsylvania, south to North Carolina, up to Virginia, then across the Smokey Mountains to Tennessee and beyond.

Pennsylvania

Our fourth generation Valentine finds himself in Tulpehocken (Land of the Turtles), Lancaster County (now Berks), Pennsylvania, home to many German families like the Laux and the Zerbe that mixed with Valentine on the maternal side of the family, and interestingly, the ancestral home of Abraham Lincoln and the birthplace of Daniel Boone. Valentine came there in 1728 at the age of 2  with his parents and siblings. They settled among Germans who had first come in 1723 and squatted on land that by rights belonged to the Indians. Thus, when the Van Hooser family arrived, the dispute with the local Delawares had yet to be settled. Only in 1732, when Thomas Penn purchase of the land from the Indians, were things made right.

Then, there was the matter of his marriage to Maria Barbara (Zerwe) Zerbe on 22 December 1746 in Tulpehocken. The couple had begun a family by the 5th of March 1750, when Valentine took out a land patent for 50 acre.

North Carolina

Perhaps the reason was the impending Indian troubles, or the growing number of German immigrants moving in, or just the need for change and new land, but, for whatever reason, the couple moves to Rowan County, North Carolina.They would travel by wagon drawn by horse. Their route was The Great Valley Road, aka the "Great Wagon Road," "Great Warriors' Path," "Valley Pike," "Carolina Road," or "Trading Path" which forked at Big Lick Virginia (Roanoke) and took our travelers south to Salisbury North Carolina where they found land.

North Carolina had its own Indian troubles and then there was the matter of the Regulators, who were incensed at paying taxes to absent British "landowners". The farmers "rebellion" against British authority culminated with the Battle of Alamance in 1771, which the Regulators lost. Many of the farmers who had taken up arms then fled to the hills of Tennessee or Virginia.

Virginia

This would explain the strange case of McKenney vs. Preston--O. S. 308; N. S. 110, Chancery Court, Chalkley's Chronicles, Vol 2, Court records of Augusta Virginia, page 228.

Thomas Beelor being deposed remembers:  "...[The] family Hooser or Van Hooser, as they were called, ... settled on North Fork of Clinch near Flat Lick in 1775. The oldest Van Hooser (deponent understood from his father) made the upper improvement, and the old man's son John was the next oldest man and made an improvement near the old man."

Various sources state that Valentine, 51 years old, died at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Valentine's name is not included among those listed by the Daughters of the American Revolution, but there is a note that the list is not complete.

Sources

* History of Tulpehocken, Berks County by Judy Thayer

Van Hooose, Van Hooser, Van Huss (Van Hoesen, Van Husum and other variations) Family in America by Joyce Lindstrom

Franz

We know him by no other name than Franz, father to Jan Franz Van Husum (the first Van Huss, Van Hoesen to come to America). He possessed no last name. None was needed and if further distinction was required, he might be addressed as Blackbeard, or Red Franz or Tall Franz, or whatever distinguishing characteristic he might have possessed.

He was of the late 16th century (Jan was born in 1608) and was likely a seaman, for two reasons: first, this was the primary occupation of those living along the North Sea coast and second, his son was also a "sea-going" man.

We know that his name is Franz because of the marriage certificate which gives Jan's first name, his father's name Franz, and his place of origin, Van Husum. We do not know if he was Dutch or Frisian or Danish. Modern DNA tests might answer this question with some statistical probability. If we go simply by place of origin, then we would say that he was Danish or at least a subject of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. Then again, the ancient North Frisians had inhabited the coastline of the Jutland Peninsula for millennia. The Dutch also have a claim on our Franz, for the name screams Dutch, but that is not to say that the Danish and the Frisians did not use similar names. Moreover, it was the Dutch who came to the island of Nordstrand and with their technical know-how, attempted, poorly as it turned out, to reclaim the land from the fierce North Sea.

What he looked like is anyone's guess, but we can imagine that he might have been a character out of Isack van Ostade painting, Workmen before the Inn, 1645, National Gallery of Art.

Franz likely visited an alehouse and drank ale to while away the time. While drinking he most likely broke out in song:

Come all you young Maidens & lend an ear
Come listen awhile and you shall hear,
How the Keepers did sport with the fallow deer
Amongst the leaves so green ah
Hey down derry derry down,
Hey down down, ho down down,
Het down ho down derry derry down
Amongst the leaves so green ah...
The Huntsmans Delight, Or, The Foresters Pleasure.

A churning song

Johannes Vermeer, the Milkmaid, c. 1658

On the last day of the last year of her life on Nordstrand, Volkje and her sister Annetje would have gone about their daily tasks, rising to feed the chickens, tend the ducks, milk the cows, wash the clothes, prepare and cook the food. In 1634 a terrific gale hit the island of Nordstrand, causing the sea to break the dykes, flood the island and destroy churches, farms, and homes with great loss of life. Sixteen year old Volkje and her older sister Annetje are the only two in her family who are known to have survived.

We find her, five years later in Amsterdam, marrying Jan Franz Van Husum (Husem), and ready to depart for the New World and New Holland for a new life.

The butter churn surely followed.

‘Apron on and dash in hand
O’er the churn I stand’
Cachug, cachink!
Aching back and arms so weary

We are not so dumb as you might think
It’s just that we have no time
We must work
We milk the cows, we let it sit
While we mend, clean and cook
Then take the cream
And place it in a barrel
From which we churn and turn
Hour after hour
To make our bread and butter

And you my child, the future
You are not so smart
Yes you, who do nothing more than text
You see, oh no you don't
That iPhone in your hand is
But a stratagem to beguile
A clever ruse, a simple trick
A wile they say is free, and
All the while
They charge you out the ass
And turn your brain to mush

Bruegal, Visit to a Farmhouse

Life in 17th century Netherlands

Life in 17th century Netherlands

Roelant Roghman, (Dutch 1627–1692), The Breach in the Dike between Amsterdam and Diemen in 1651

 

Frisian is a Dutch dialect spoken by a Dutch minority. They were recognized as far back as Roman times and they inhabited the coastline of Holland and the Jutland Peninsula. Frisia was comprised of West and East Friesland and North Friesland, the area from which Jan and Volkje came. There has been much discussion on whether the name Van Huss and Van Hoesen is Dutch or Frisian. The question can not be answered clearly. Husum and Nordstrand where the two came from was once upon a time Danish, then part of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, but in the main, the inhabitants were culturally Dutch.

Historically, it is important to know that the nation state of the Netherlands only came into being in 1596 when the kings of France and England arranged a treaty with the Republic of the United Netherlands, giving the fledgling state international recognition. The Kingdom of Spain continued to wage war on the Dutch until 1609 when they too recognized Dutch independence. The North Friesland coast where Jan Fanz Van Husum originated was for the most part a "vast swampy moor." Husum was a seaport and it is likely that Jan, who was a sailor, sailed into the North Atlantic to catch cod. Because of its remoteness from Amsterdam and the major Dutch cities, Husum and the island of Nordstrand escaped the fighting between the Spanish and the Dutch. Dutch engineers had come to the island of Nordstrand to battle the sea and reclaim the land.

It was not a battle they could win.

Go stroll along the sandy dunes and march through the muddy marshes. See the world the way they saw it. For a good article on Dutch life in the 16th and 17th century with images go to the following link:

Nederland naar ’t leven: Een inleiding

Dear Lilith

Reinier Zeeman (ca. 1623–1667 Dutch), Flooded

I often wonder what thoughts they had, what they said to each other, what they felt. They were, after all, no different than you or I, touched by human emotions.

His name was Jan, nothing more. Like all the Biblical characters, like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, a first name was enough.

He was a 30 year old sailor from Husum.

Volkje was a 20 year old farm girl from Nordstrand, brought together by a terrible storm that took thousands of lives. Her parents killed in the deluge, his occupation as a sailor likely ended with the flooding of Husum, a seaport along the tidal flats and salt marshes of Wadden Sea. Like hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors, making their way to Amsterdam. Then offered a chance to settle in the New World.

Married in Amsterdam's Nieue Kirche, where for the first he took the name Jan Van Husum. They then prepared to set sail across the Atlantic to New Amsterdam and a new life. She would be his guiding life, the mother of his children, the keeper of the house. Together they would share life's journey.

What thoughts had they, we can only imagine...

Dear Lyltsen

Dear Lyltsen, when I am with thee
(My light, my flame, my sun, my eye)
As dark as deep as night may be
When through the sky stars steer their course
No matter how dark it may be
It is light as the daylight sun for me.

But when your flare flares not unto me,
I have no star to steer my turning;
I move then blind as a stick, a stone,
Though mid-day sun is burning.
What use if the sun in my eyes is bright?
Lylts is all, my dark, my light.

Gysbert Japicx (b. 1603)

Lyltsen  (the diminutive and enduring way of referring to Lylt), possibly Lilith. In Jewish mythology, Lilith refers to a demon in the night. Volkje (Volkie and its variants) is the diminutive of  the Dutch word for falcon.

Gysbert Japicx (also Japiks; 1603–66) was a 17th century Dutch poet who wrote in Latin as well as the Frisian dialect, Friesche Rymlerye (1668; “Frisian Verse”). Japicx or Japiks spoke of his beloved Lylt in several verses. Whether she was real or just a vision is uncertain.

Life in the Netherlands

Historically, it is important to know that the nation state of the Netherlands only came into being in 1596 when the kings of France and England arranged a treaty with the Republic of the United Netherlands, giving the fledgling state international recognition. The Kingdom of Spain continued to wage war on the Dutch until 1609 when they too recognized Dutch independence. The North Friesland coast where Jan Fanz Van Husum originated was for the most part a "vast swampy moor." Husum was a seaport and it is likely that Jan, who was a sailor, sailed into the North Atlantic to catch cod. Because of its remoteness from Amsterdam and the major Dutch cities, Husum and the island of Nordstrand escaped the fighting between the Spanish and the Dutch. Dutch engineers had come to the island of Nordstrand to battle the sea and reclaim the land.

It was not a battle they could win.

Go stroll along the sandy dunes and march through the muddy marshes. See the world the way they saw it. For a good article on Dutch life in the 16th and 17th century with images go to the following link:

Nederland naar ’t leven: Een inleiding

Jan meets Volkjie for the first time

Really, I don’t know how it happened, but it happened on the morning of 12 October 1634, I like to think.

Husum and Nordstrand, map of 1650

I like to imagine that he came to her rescue, rowing out to sea in a small fishing boat, his sturdy arms pulling the oars against the breaking waves, spotting Volkie and her sister floating in the churning waters, clinging to a fallen tree or a piece of a house, destroyed by the storm.

Jan

His name was Jan. He lived in coastal port called Husum. Brown eyes, a sharp nose, and a chin that has that distinctive cleft. He is of average height, but above-average in intelligence, for he is a survivor.

He was a seafaring man, like many from the North Frisian coast who sailed the North Sea bringing in mackerel that was salted and sold in marketplace in cities everywhere in Holland. Mackerel are a fast predatory fish, closely related to tuna. They have no swim bladder which means they can change direction rapidly and dive quickly. A successful sailor must keep his wits about him.

Our hero was just 26.

Volkje

Volkie, our heroine, just 18. She and her sister Annetje, Jurriens lived with their parents on land reclaimed from the sea. It was called Nordstrand, “strand” meaning sand or beach. It was located in Wadden Sea, a small bit of the much larger North Sea. The creative Dutch had built dikes and seawalls to contain the ocean’s fury and windmills to pump out the salt water from the soil. Out of this small speck of sand several communities were built. Pellwurm, Gaikebull, Rungeholt, and so on, each with its church and scattering of farms.

In my mind’s eye, our hero was alone in his boat. He wore a blue waistcoat and gray pantaloons, cut off at the knee, for freedom of movement and because, if thrown into the sea, short pant legs would allow him to float to the surface rather than being dragged down by water-soaked clothing. Every sailor wore a hat or a cap, and our hero’s was a tri-corner hat, or a sailor’s cap with a bill, or a simple knit stocking to keep out the cold and the wind.  

The Great Flood of 1634

The Storm

The sea was full of white caps, the wind blew to shore, making the journey more difficult for Jan was the fact that the sea was also full of bits and pieces of homes and churches broke apart by the storm. And yet, he rowed on, boat against the tide, rowing ceaselessly in the hope of finding her against all odds. Find her he did, and so the story continues. Or, perhaps, he was not looking for Volkjie, perhaps it was circumstance and coincidence that brought them together. Divine intervention in the midst of destruction and loss of life.

Volkjie and her sister had clung to the tree for hours, through the night, when the storm had done its worst, rising to a height of 15 meters and sweeping over the land until the north coast was reclaimed by the sea. It is estimated that upwards of 15,000 people lost their lives that night. A fortunate few fled to the highest spot on the island of Nordstrand where they where joined other refugees fleeing the rising waters.

The recollection of one survivor went like this:

“In the evening a great storm and bad weather rose from the southwest out of the sea. ... The wind began to blow so hard that no sleep could touch our eyes. When we had been lying in bed for about an hour my son said to me, 'Father, I feel water dripping into my face'. The waves were rising up at the sea dike and onto the roof of the house. It was a very frightening sound.”

Those in the lower lying areas were less fortunate and houses were carried away by the surging waters.

The storm’s destructive force was compounded by its timing, coming as darkness settled in and night came.

“...at six o'clock at night the Lord God began to fulminate with wind and rain from the east, at seven He turned the wind to the southwest and let it blow so strong that hardly any man could walk or stand, at eight and nine all dikes were already smitten... The Lord God [sent] thunder, rain, hail lightning and such a powerful wind that the Earth's foundation was shaken... at ten o'clock everything was over.”

Rescue

In the pitch black of night, rescue was impossible. So, it was that Jan set our at break of day, at first light. So it was that in the gray morning and the howl of the wind, he found Volkjie and her sister, desperately clinging to a tree. Their parents were gone, and their despair was great. We do not even know if they could swim, but I imagine that a Dutch girl who grew up along the Wadden Sea collecting the eggs of gulls and terns, in the marshes had learned to fend for herself when a wave caught her by surprise.

I imagine few words were spoken, as Jan hauled first one girl in the boat then the other. Exhausted they were and grateful to God for their salvation. The girls’ clothing was soaked in brine, the skirt and bodice, once white, now dark brown, the color of mud that mixed with sea. Their brown hair hung straight, their skin white and red, chaffed by the cold water and the tree bark that they clung to.
With foresight, Jan brought fresh water and bread, and dry blankets.

Once fed and warmed, the trio made the journey back to Husum.

The Autobiography of Jan Franz Van Husum

Tuinstraat Today

As I closed the door of our home for the last time, Volkjie, my wife of two weeks said, “Goodbye sweet life.” “What?” I replied, for it had not been sweet or easy. Amsterdam is a city reclaimed from the sea, each day new people arrive, competing for the few scarce jobs and fewer places to live.

I am a seagoing man, able to eke out a living catching mackerel in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, but the catches are fewer and further away. It is not an easy life. Volkje, who once gathered Eider eggs in the marshes of the North Strand and drove geese to the city markets, now sells tulips for farthings in the local market. It is not an easy life.

Hand in hand we left Tuinstraat, and the place we called home.