Catalyntje4 Voorhees (Jan3, Lucas2, Steven1),
daughter of Jan Lucas Voorhees and Mayke Roelofse Schenck
Catalyntje had been thought to have married Dirck Cornelse Van Arsdalen.[1] However, she did not. Catalyntje was born on 8 Jun 1718, but Dirck and Catalyntje were married by 9 Oct 1720 when they were witnesses for the baptism of his niece, Sarah Rapalje.[2] Catalyntje’s maiden name was convincingly shown to be Vanderbilt in an article on Dirck Cornelis Van Arsdalen,[3] and her parents as Aris Jansen Vanderbilt and Hillieje Remsen. A recent article on the early Vanderbilt family[4] does not include this marriage of Catalyntje, but it does not reference the article in The Vanguard, so it appears the authors were unaware of this research.
Catalyntje, wife of Lucas4 Voorhees (Minne3, Lucas2, Steven1) is said to be Catrina Vandervoort.[5] Elias Van Voorhees made this identification,[6] but no documentation was given regarding it. In a soon to be published genealogy of the Vandervoort family,[7] no Catrina Vandervoort was identified who could be the wife of Lucas Voorhees. Only the family Jan Vandervoort and Magdalena Huysman would have had a daughter named Catalyntje. Though the Vandervoort family at that time closely followed the normal Dutch naming conventions,[8] Lucas and Catalyntje did not have a daughter named Helen or Magdalena .
Direct evidence of Catalyntje’s maiden name has recently been found. The membership lists of the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick named her as Catalina Voorhees, widow of Lucas Voorhees in June 1787.[9] The published records[10] had omitted her maiden name. A review of the other published records shows that the wife’s maiden name was consistently given in these records. The identification of her parents as Jan Lucas Van Voorhees and Mayke Roelofse Schenck is based on the probable year of her birth as 1718[11] and the naming of her children:[12]
1) Antje, after her paternal grandmother,
2) Minne, after his paternal grandfather,
3) Antje, after her deceased sister
4) Minne, after his deceased brother
5) Mary, after her maternal grandmother, Mayke (a variant of Mary)
6) John, after his maternal grandfather,
7) Garret, after his paternal uncle
8) Peter, after his maternal uncle
9) Mary, after her deceased sister
10) Garret, after his deceased brother.
[1] Van Voorhees Family in America (VVFA), 1st 6 Generations, Florence Christoph, p. 24
[2] Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vol 11, p. 208.
[3] The Vanguard, Vol. IV, No. 1, page 9.
[4] JAN AERTSEN VANDERBILT, HIS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, BY FREDERICK DOREN STONE, PhD, AND LAURA M. STONE, EdD WITH HARRY MACY JR., FASG, FGBS, RECORD 145 (2014):69
[5] VVFA, 1st 6 Generations, Florence Christoph, p. 86.
[6] A Genealogy of the Van Voorhees Family in America
[7] Vandervoort: Some Descendant Lines of Michael Pauluszen van der Voort and Maria Rapalje of New Amsterdam , by Jean Vandervort True.
[8] Each of the ten known children of Jan Vandervoort and Magdalena Huysman had one of their two eldest sons named Jan/John after their grandfather, and of those that had daughters, they had one of their two eldest daughters named Helen/Magdalena after their grandmother.
[9] New Brunswick First Reformed Church Records 1717 to 1794, Rutgers University
[10] Historical Discourse Delivered at the Celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Reformed Dutch Church, New Brunswick, N.J., by Richard H. Steele, D.D., p. 211
[11] Her eldest child, Antje was baptized on 22 Jul 1739, so she was likely married about 1738, probably at about age 20, so born about 1718.
[12] VVFA, 1st 6 Generations, by Florence Christoph, p. 86
