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VAN WORMER Family History, Part I

Based on an entry in "The Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa," 1891, our Erastus Converse married Elizabeth Van Wormer and had six children. Unfortunately, this is the only "firm" record of Elizabeth's maiden name to date, but it put us on the trail to Van Wormer families found in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in 1830, where Elizabeth's son, John Converse², was born the year before.

Since 2015 I have found a handful of autosomal DNA matches with descendants of Mathew Van Wormer² (1784-1856) of Rensselaer County, New York, that suggests a lineage that ties in with that family. The ancestors of these DNA matches are annotated with a "•" following their name.

New York Dutch

While our Van Wormer roots are still very disjointed, the available clues trace back to New York and reflect Dutch origins in 17th Century New Netherlands. The name perhaps relates to the town of Wormer, about 10 kilometers up the Zaan river, north of Amsterdam, in the province of North Holland.

Early research in New York is based on the records of the Dutch Reformed Church along the Hudson River Valley, from Tarrytown, Westchester County, in the south to Fort Ann, Washington County, in the north.

After the American Revolution, the Phelps and Gorham Purchase of 1788 acquired 6,000,000 acres of land from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the pre-emptive right to the title on land from the Iroquois Confederacy. Thereafter the region became part of the State of New York. The survey spanned from modern-day Monroe (1821) and Wayne (1823) counties on Lake Ontario south to the Pennsylvania line and contained the western half of the Finger Lakes (west of Seneca Lake). It was subdivided into nearly 100 townships. Van Wormer families moved west across the Mohawk Valley into Gorham, Ontario County, and Middlesex, Yates County, before 1810, after which they continued southwest into western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

VAN WORMERs of Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Two Van Wormer families are found the 1830 census of Randolph Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Randolph lay to the south of Rockdale Township where Elizabeth (Van Wormer) Converse's son John² was born the year before.

The elder of the two Van Wormer men was Henry Van Wormer, who was in his 50s (born 1770-1780) at the time. With him was a woman in her 60s and five children: one young man in his late teens, two boys in their early teens, and a boy and girl between the ages of 5 and 10.

This Henry may have moved west to Defiance Township, Williams County, Ohio, by 1840, where a younger Henry (born in 1810), believed to be the son of Mathew Van Wormer, later was married. The elder Henry was enumerated with a man in his 20s and a boy and girl in their late teens, which roughly correspond to the three younger children in Randolph Township in 1830. Of the three males, two were engaged in agriculture and one in manufacture and trade. There was no mention of the elder woman.^{[Cen 1840]}

This Henry may also be the one buried at Brunersburg Cemetery in Defiance County, south of the northwesternmost county of Williams. No birth or death years were given, but his wife, Mary was born about 1781 and died in 1847.^[Grave] This Henry (Hendrick) is held to be the one born on August 16, 1776, in Coxsackie, Green County, New York, along the Hudson River, and died on April 9, 1852, in Brunersburg. He reportedly was the son of Jon Vanwormer and Francyna Ouderkerk. Brunersburg is about 25 miles southeast of St. Joseph Township where Mathew Van Wormer settled by 1840.

The younger of the two Van Wormer men was John Van Wormer, who was in his 30s (born 1790-1800). His apparent wife was also in her 30s and they had three children: one boy in his early teens, one girl between the ages of 5 and 10, and one boy under the age of 5.^{[Cen 1830]} John has not been located in the 1840 census.

John VAN WORMER¹ (1747-1806)

1. John Van Wormer¹ (or perhaps as many as three separate Johns married to three separate wives) traces back to Rensselaer County, New York, in records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Schaghticoke. He was reportedly born on September 20, 1747, in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County. The sale of property in 1811 after his death named seven apparent children. Together they suggest that John was married to Francyntje Ouderkerk, reportedly in February 1770, and had at least three children born between 1774 and 1778 (Elisabeth, Hendrik, and Neeltje ("Nellie"))^{[Bap 1774,1779]}; a suspected second wife in the 1780s has not been identified; and the third was Oronde, whom others have identified as Orenda Wilcox. They had at least two children born between 1792 and 1794 (Jerusha and William). His sons Mathew and Charles have been proposed as likely the father of our Elizabeth (Van Wormer) Converse¹. The reconstructed family looks like:

1A.	Elisabeth Van Wormer[Bap 1774]	11 May 1774	--	--
1B.	Hendrik Van Wormer•[Bap 1776]	(16) Aug (1776)	1852	(75)
1C.	Neeltje "Nellie" Van Wormer[Bap 1779]	6 Oct [1778/1779]	--	--
1D.	Neeltje "Nellie" Van Wormer•[Land 1811]	(25 Dec 1781)	(25 Oct 1870)	(88)
1E.	Godfrey "Fields" Van Wormer[Land 1811]	(1780-1784)	(1832)	(48-52)
1F.	Mathew Van Wormer2	4 Mar 1784	1856	(71)
(1G.)	Jacob/Joel Van Wormer[Land 1811]	--	--	--
(1H.)	Mary Van Wormer	--	--	--
(1I.)	Charles Van WormerΔ[Cen 1810]	4 Jul 1786	7 Apr 1851	(64)
1J.	Jerusha Van Wormer[Bap 1792, Land 1811]	Oct 1792	--	--
1K.	William Van Wormer[Bap 1794]	12 Feb 1794	--	--
(1L.)	Ezekiel Van Wormer•	(1797-1798)	25 Jan 1860	(63)

John and Francyntje Ouderkerk were first recorded together in the birth and baptism records of Elisabeth and Neeltje (Nellie) in the Schaghticoke Dutch Reformed Church.^{[Bap 1774,1779]}

John and "Oronde" were first recorded together in the birth and baptism records of Jerusha and William in Schaghticoke.^{[Bap 1792,1794]}

Federal census records begin with John in Hoosick, modern-day Rensselaer County, New York, in 1790 and 1800. Hoosick lies 20 miles up the Hoosic River from the modern town of Schaghticoke. John's age suggests he was born roughly between 1756-1758. In 1790 he and two other men were recorded to be 16 years or older, and with three boys under the age of 16 (perhaps Godfrey, Mathew, and Charles) and two females (perhaps Orenda and Nellie).^{[Cen 1790]} In 1800, his six children consisted of one boy between 10 and 15 (perhaps Godfrey or Mathew); three boys under the age of 10 (Charles, William, and another); and two girls under the age of 10 (Jerusha and another).^{[Cen 1800]}

"Oranda" is first recorded the federal census in 1810, apparently widowed and enumerated next to apparent son Charles in Middlesex, Ontario County (now in Yates County), New York, about 11 miles south of Gorham. With her she had one daughter between the ages of 16 and 26 (likely Jerusha) and one son between the ages of 10 and 16 (likely William).^{[Cen 1810]}

John Van Wormer reportedly died on December 20, 1806, after which his widow, Oranda, and seven apparent children (Nelly, Mathew², Godfrey/"Field," Jacob/Joel, Charles, Jerusha, and Mary) were named in the 1811 sale of 52 acres in the north part of Lot 41 of Township 9, Range 2, which generally lies between Gorham to the east and Canandaigua Lake to the west. The property lie between those of Samuel Reed to the north and William Sherwood to the south. It sold for $800 to John Faurote (1757-1842).^{[Land 1811]}

The family thereafter reportedly moved about 65 miles northwest to Murray, then in Genessee County and now in Orleans County, west of Rochester.

Orenda moved back east to Potter, Yates County, New York, about 10 miles south of Gorham, where she resided at the time of her death.

Orenda (Wilcox) Van Wormer died of "old age" on June 12, 1849, in Potter, Yates County, New York. She was 90 years old.^{[Dth 1849]}

Hendrik VAN WORMER (~1776-1852)

1B. Hendrik "Henry" Van Wormer was baptized on August 30, 1776 (or perhaps 1777), in Coxsackie, Greene County, New York. He is believed to be the one who migrated to Defiance County, Ohio. He married named Mary Cock/Kock and had as many as five children^{[Cen 1830]}, but little is known about his children because censuses before 1850 did not record names of family members.

(1B1.)

Porter Van Wormer•

11 Oct 1818

1888

(69)

Henry and John Van Wormer settled in Crawford County, Pennysylvania, by 1830. Henry's family was comprised of himself, age 50-60; wife, age 60-70; one young man, age 15-20; two boys, age 10-15; a boy age 5-10, and a girl, age 5-10.^{[Cen 1830]}

By 1840, Henry moved about 245 miles across Ohio to the northwest corner in Defiance Township, Williams County. (Defiance Township later became part of Defiance County when it was formed in 1845.) There his family consisted of Henry, age 60-70; one man, age 20-30; young man, age 15-20; and one young woman, age 15-20.^{[Cen 1840]} By this time Henry's younger brother Mathew² had also moved to Williams County but settled about 25 miles northwest in St. Joseph Township.

Mary Van Wormer died in 1847 and was buried in Brunersburg Cemetery, 2 miles northwest of the city of Defiance. She was 66 years old.^[Grave]

Henry Van Wormer died on April 9, 1852, in Defiance Township. He was buried alongside Mary in Brunersburg Cemetery.^[Grave]

Nellie (VAN WORMER) HOLMES^• (1781-1870)

1D. Nellie Van Wormer^• was reportedly born on December 25, 1781, in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer Coonty, New York. She married Reuben Holmes and had as many as 11 children:

1D1.	Daniel Holmes	(1798-1799)	(> 1855)	(> 56)
1D2.	John W. Holmes	(1801-1802)	(> 1870)	(> 66)
1D3.	Henry Holmes•	(1802-1803)	(> 1865)	(> 62)
1D4.	Alvah Holmes	6 Feb 1809	10 May 1876	(67)
1D5.	Reuben L. Holmes	Apr 1813	7 Oct 1908	(95)

Nellie and Reuben are first recorded in the sale of her late father's property in Gorham, Ontario County, New York, in June 1811, along with her widowed mother and six apparent siblings.^{[Land 1811]} Afterward the Van Wormers moved northwest to modern-day Orleans County and the Holmes settled a litte further west in Hartland, Niagara County.

Reuben Holmes reportedly died on March 18, 1840, at the age of 63. He was buried at Johnson Creek Baptist Cemetery, believed to be about a mile east of Hartland.^[Grave]

After Reuben's death, Nellie continued on in Hartland and lived with her son John and his family through 1850.^{[Cen 1840, 1850]}

Sons John and Alvah moved west to Eaton Rapids, Eaton County, Michigan, south of Lansing, by 1860. There Nellie lived with the John and Sarah Payne family (perhaps Nellie's daughter).^{[Cen 1860]} She later moved with son John north to Lansing, Ingham County, by 1870.^{[Cen 1870]}

Nellie (Van Wormer) Holmes died on October 25, 1870, in Lansing, at the age of 88 years. She was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing.^[Grave]

Godfrey VAN WORMER (~1780s-1832)

1E. Godfrey "Fields" Van Wormer was born in the early 1780s, likely in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer Coonty, New York, as his sibling reportedly were. He reportedly had four children, the first two of whom were twins:

1E1.	Phila Van Wormer	(1811)	20 Jun 1849	(38)
1E2.	Philander Van Wormer	(1811)	1881	(80)
1E3.	Clarissa Van Wormer	1814	--	--
1E4.	Asa Van Wormer	2 Jun 1818	11 Aug 1909	(91)

"Field" is first enumerated in Ontario County, New York, in 1810, along with apparent elder brother Henry, who was of similar age (26-45). Field had one son and daughter under the age of 10 years and Henry had a son and daughter between the ages of 10 and 16 and six other children under the age of 10.^{[Cen 1810]}

The following year, Godfrey (as "Godfrey" and "Fields") was recorded in the sale of his late father's property in Gorham in June 1811, along with his widowed mother and six apparent siblings.^{[Land 1811]} Afterward the Van Wormers moved northwest to modern-day Orleans County and then to Ohio.

Fields (recorded as "Fielding Vanworver") was enumerated in Springfield, Hamilton County, Ohio, about 12 miles north of Cincinnati. Both he and his wife were recorded to be between the ages of 26 and 45; they had one boy and one girl under the age of 10; and one boy and one girl between the ages of 10 and 16. One (Fields) was engaged in manufacturing, as were most of his neighbors.^{[Cen 1820]}

By 1830, the family moved about 20 miles to the southwest corner of Hamilton County in Miami Township. There Fields and his wife were identified as being in the 40s and with them were a girl, aged 15 to 20 (Clarissa); a boy 10 to 15 (Asa); and three children, two boys and one girl, under the age of 5.^{[Cen 1830]}

Godfrey "Fields" Van Wormer reportedly died in the Cincinnati cholera epidemic of October 1832. He was likely in his his late 40s or early 50s.

Mathew VAN WORMER² (1784-1856)

1F. Mathew Van Wormer² was reportedly born on March 4, 1784, in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, New York. He reportedly married Margaret Tedford by 1806 and had as many as five children before her death. Later Mathew married Mary "Polly" Westbrook and had as many as nine more children, including to sets of fraternal twins, however there is a curious overlap of the children's names between the two marriages:

1FA.	Joab/Joel Van Wormer (Sr.)	(1805-1806)	(1850-1870)	(44-65)
1FB.	Mathew D. Van WormerΔ	16 Aug 1808	24 Jan 1883	(74)
1FC.	Henry Van Wormer	1810	(> 1850)	(> 40)
1FD.	(Elizabeth Van Wormer1)	14 Dec 1811	30 Oct 1899	(87)
1FE.	Daniel Van WormerΔ	13 Jul 1812	23 Oct 1889	(77)
1FF.	John W. Van WormerΔ	1817	28 May 1863	--
1FG.	Marian Van Wormer	(1817-1823)	--	--
1FH.	Lorain Van Wormer	1823	(> 1854)	(> 31)
1FI.	Abram Van WormerΔ	1823	19 Jan 1896	(72)
1FJ.	Emily Van Wormer	~1824	(> 1863)	(> 39)
1FK.	Lucius D. Van WormerΔ	13 May 1824	6 May 1891	(66)
1FL.	Henry Van Wormer*	25 Mar 1829	29 Mar 1884	(55)
1FM.	Henrietta Van Wormer	25 Mar 1829	12 Nov 1915	(86)
1FN.	Betsy Van Wormer*	(1831-1832)	(> 1850)	(> 18)

The Van Wormers reportedly lived in Gorham, Ontario County, New York, until the Fall of 1810 when they moved west to Hartford, Licking County, Ohio, northeast of Columbus. The family was missed in the 1810 census. The following year, Mathew was mentioned in a land transfer back in Gorham.^{[Land 1811]}

Margaret Tedford reportedly died after 1812 and Mathew remarried to Mary Westbrook by 1817.

In the 1820, the family was enumerated in Hartford with one man between the ages of 26 and 45 (Mathew); one woman of the same age range (Mary); one male between the ages of 16 and 26 (Abram?); one boy between 10 and 16 (Mathew D.?); one girl under the age of 10 (Elizabeth?); and one boy under the age of 10 (Henry, Daniel, or John?).^{[Cen 1820]}

The Van Wormers resettled in St. Joseph Township, Williams County, in the northwest corner of Ohio by 1840. There he was recorded with a family of nine with five (Mathew and four boys) engaged in agriculture.^{[Cen 1840]} Mathew's elder brother Henry had also settled in Williams County by this time, about 25 miles southeast in Defiance Township, which later became part of Defiance County when it was created in 1845.

Come 1850, Mathew was recorded to be 65 years old and Mary 58. Children Henry, Henryette, and Betsy (ages 21 to 18) remained at home, as did a 9-year-old boy named George Howard, and Mary's younger brother, Leonard Westbrook, who worked as a carpenter. Their property was valued at $600. Eldest son Joel and his young family were enumerated two households afterward.^{[Cen 1850]}

Mathew Van Wormer died in 1856 in St. Joseph, William County, Ohio. He was about 71 years old.

Charles VAN WORMER (Sr.)^Δ (~1789-1851)

1I. Charles Van Wormer (Sr.)^Δ had been proposed as likely the father of Elizabeth (Van Wormer) Converse. Charles was born about 1789 in either New York or Connecticutt. He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Sherwood and had as many as six children:

1I1.	Phila Van Wormer	(1810)	Apr 1849	(39)
1I2.	(Elizabeth Van Wormer2)	(1811)	(1900)	(89)
1I3.	Sarah Jane Van WormerΔ	(1819)	1864	(45)
1I4.	William Philander Van WormerΔ	(1828)	(1856-1857)	(28)
1I5.	Malinda Van Wormer	(1831)
1I6.	Charles Van Wormer (Jr.)Δ	7 Dec 1833	23 Mar 1907	(73)

Charles is first recorded in Middlesex, Ontario County (now in Yates County), New York, enumerated next to his apprent mother "Oranda." Charles household consisted of a wife and one daughter under the age of 10.^{[Cen 1810]}

The following year, Charles was named as a signatore, along with "Orenda" and six apparent siblings, in the 1811 sale of 52 acres in the north part of Lot 41 of Township 9, Range 2, which generally lies between Gorham to the east and Canandaigua Lake to the west. The property lie between those of Samuel Reed to the north and William Sherwood (perhaps one of Charles' in-laws) to the south. It sold for $800 to John Faurote (1757-1842).^{[Land 1811]}

Some of Charles siblings thereafter reportedly moved about 65 miles northwest to Murray, then in Genessee County and now in Orleans County, west of Rochester; but Charles remained in the same general area where in 1820 he lived about 11 miles southwest of Gorham in Middlesex, Ontario County (now Yates County). That year he was enumerated his apprent wife, four daughters under the age of 10, and perhaps his mother. Coincidentally, the families of Anthony Sherwood and William Sherwood were enumerated nearby.^{[Cen 1820]}

https://books.google.com/books?id=b8cpAQAAMAAJ

Ezekiel VAN WORMER^Δ (~1798-1860)

1L. Ezekiel Van Wormer^Δ may be a son of John Van Wormer¹. He was born about 1797 or 1798 in New York and married Sarah "Sally" Jane Colf of New York, reportedly in the town of Parma, Monroe County, in 1819. They had at least six children:

1L1.	Phydelia/Fidelia Van WormerΔ	19 Oct 1823	31 Jan 1902	(78)
1L2.	Van Wormer daughter[Cen 1830]	(1825-1830)	(> 1830)	--
1L3.	Abel/Abram Van WormerΔ	24 Jan (1830)	13 Aug 1914	(84)
1L4.	Andrew J. Van Wormer	9 Feb 1835	12 Dec 1919	(84)
1L5.	Jane Van Wormer	4 Sep 1837	4 Mar 1908	(70)
1L6.	Alzina Van Wormer	1839	1896	(54)

Ezekiel and his young family was first enumerated near the households of Jacob Van Wormer and two Colf families, widowed mother-in-law Catherine Colf and William Colf, in Parma, Genesee County, New York.^{[Cen 1820]} Parma subsequently became part of Monroe County when it was formed in 1821. Jacob Van Wormer may have been the son of John Van Wormer¹ named "Joel" as recorded in the June 1811 sale of a tract of land in Gorham, Ontario County, New York. Ezekiel was likely not mentioned in the land sale because he was too young.

Unlike his suspected elder brother Mathew who moved to Ohio in 1810, Ezekiel moved to Michigan around 1835 or 1836, between the births of Andrew and Jane^{[Cen 1850]}, and settled in Vernon Township, Shiawassee County, by 1840. Ezekiel's association with the John Van Wormer¹ family is bolstered by his proximity likely nephew Henry Van Wormer, who also settled there by 1840, however, in that year 46 households were enumerated between them.^{[Cen 1840]} In 1850, Henry's brother Daniel was enumerated next to Ezekiel, and 15 households separated them from Henry in 1850.^{[Cen 1850]} Additionally, Daniel's disabled daughter Frances lived with grandson Eugene J. Van Wormer (Andrew's son) in 1910 and 1920 and was recorded as a "cousin."^{[Cen 1910, 1920]}

Ezekiel Van Wormer died on January 25, 1860, reportedly in Caledonia Township, Shiawasee County, at the age of 63. He was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Vernon.^[Grave]

After Ezekiel's death "Sally" lived with son "Abram" in Vernon Township and next to son Andrew. Each of her two sons owned real estate valued at $1,000 and personal property valued at $150, and she also retained real estate valued at $1,000 and personal property valued at $250.^{[Cen 1860]}

Sarah "Sally" Jane (Colf) Van Wormer died six years after Ezekiel on May 15, 1866, at the age of 68. She was buried with Ezekiel in Greenwood Cemetery.^[Grave]