Descendants of Steven Coerte Koerts Van Voorhees

The history of the Van Voorhees family prior to migration to New Netherland in 1660 is closely tied to the hamlet of Hees and the three farms that existed there. The first mention of two of these farms is made in a document dated 1180, and describes two farms that are the property of the monastery of Ruinen. It is believed that these farms were Voorhees and Middlehees.

The third farm, Achterhees, was a newer farm and in fact was not recognized as a full farm until 1632. No further mention is found in the records of the farms at Hees until 1568.

It is likely that the farms suffered in the war between the bishop of Utrecht and the people in 1227-1228 as much of the land around Hees was burned. Voorhees and Achterhees were two of the larger farms in the region.

While there is no certainty that these farms were occupied by the Van Voorhees family prior to 1600, it is believed that this is the case from at least 1544, although the Van Voorhees family could well have occupied any and all three of the farms at Hees prior to that time.

We do know that Coert moved to Voorhees in 1602. Coert was the father of Steven Coert Koerts Van Voorhees that immigrated to New Netherland in 1660.

A wonderful and exciting thing happened recently that makes the research and hard work worth all the effort.  I can't name names at this time, but I was contacted by a lady that said she had been adopted as an infant and she saw a name in the web site (she had been searching for many years) she believed to be her mother.  To make a long story short,  she did indeed turn out to be the mother that gave her up for adoption to a wonderful family when she was just a few days old.  Obviously neither the mother or daughter wish at this time to tell the story or name names, so I will respect their wishes.  The daughter has spoken to her biological mother on the phone and hopes to meet her in person as soon as it can be arranged.

Last update: May 8, 2007  (more Voorhees and Stoneaker additions)

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(tom@hollygardens.com)  Because of an extremely high number of spam I have set my spam filter as of May 8, 2007 to automatically delete what is thought to be spam by the program.  Mistakes happen, if you don't get a reply within a couple days either call me or snail mail my post office if it is family related.