Isaac Van Valkenburg

A Van Valkenburg Treasure chest....

For a family historian and genealogist, a week like mine last week is a true treasure. After I made contact with a distant family member, Lorine McGinnis Schulze last week, I continued to search to see what I could find on the Van Valkenburg family. An low and behold there' s a whole Website and an association devoted to them ut them at : www.navvf.org

I do remember seeing this page before but I did not know exactly how we connected with the family.

After spending several days looking at it, I know how we fit! ...And all the way back to the Netherlands. I had been told that we had Dutch bloodlines and now I know for sure we do!

Isaac Van Valkenburg  was christened on 13 Feb 1712 in Schenectady RC, Schenectady, Schenectady Co, NY. He died in 1789/1796 in Wysox, Bradford Co, PA. He was buried in Wysox, Bradford Co, PA. He is the son of Isaac Van Valkenburg and Lydia Van Slyck.  He is the the fourth child of nine children born to this couple. 

There is no evidence to support a marriage between Isaac Van Valkenburg and Maria Bradt who was the daughter of Storm(Sturm) Bradt and Sophia Uzielle.  Maria was christened on 24 May 1713 in First DRC, Albany, Albany Co, NY. Isaac and Maria had one son;

Isaac Van Valkenburg who would later become known as Isaac Vollick.  He used his father surname until after the Revolutionary War when his name changes to Vollick.  It appears that the Vollick name started after his war records reflected the Vollick name.  It was thought to have been a nick name of sorts for him. 

Isaac  Van Valkenburg (the elder or senior) eventually did marry Jannetje Clements the daughter of Pieter Clement and Anna Ruijter on 28 May 1737 in First DRC, Albany, Albany, NY. Jannetje was christened on 1 Oct 1712 in DRC, New York, New York, NY. She was buried in Wysox, Bradford Co, PA.

Isaac and Jannetje had the following children:

Lydia Van Valkenburg - 1737
Annaatje Van Valkenburg - 1739
Eva Van Valkenburg - 1741
Maytje Van Valkenburg - 1744
Margarith Van Valkenburg - 1745
Janetje Van Valkenburg  - 1752

 Note This information has been copied from the Van Valkenburg Association Website.  Expect to see more on the Van Valkenburg family in future blogs.

Happy Hunting, Jan

Isaac the Loyalist

It has been quite a while since I looked at this linage of my family. When Lorine contacted me this week, it caught me by surprise. As a Genealogist, I find that this is how I obtain some of my best information and it is always when you least expect it.  All of the research which I will present to you is available because of years of research completed by Lorine McGinnis Schulze.

Isaac the Loyalist served in the Butler Rangers under the command of John Butler on the British side of the American Revolution.  It was at this time when Issac  became  known as Isaac Vollick.  This is probably why I had so much trouble finding him in the early years of my search. He was born Isaac Van Valkenburg in 1732.  He was the illegitimate child of Isaac Van Valkenburg and Maria Bradt.

From the Olive Tree Genealogy Website,  Lorine states that there is no record of a marriage found for Isaac and Maria, their son Isaac used his father's surname until 1782. During his years as a private in Butler's Rangers, Isaac's surname changed from Van Valkenburg, meaning in Dutch, 'from the castle of the falcons' (van=from; valken=falcons; burgh=castle), to Valk or Valck which means 'falcon'. It appears that Valk was his nickname and on being recorded by English clerks, a vowel was inserted between the final 'l' and 'k' making the surname Valic or Volick. Over the years, the surname was written as Vollick, Volic, Valic, Valck, Valk, Volk and Follick (the German/Dutch accent making a 'v' sound like 'f' to English ears).  So it is no wonder that I had trouble finding out who Isaac Vollick truly was.  

This is the family crest  for the families which include the surnames ; Van Valkenburg, An Valkenburgh, Van Volkinburg, Van Falkenburg, Valkenburg, Vollick, Van Velkinburgh

Isaac Van Valkenburg (Vollick)  1732 - 1807  married Anna Maria Warner 1735 -

These are the children of Isaac and Anna Maria Vollick

.... 2 Maretje Vollick 1758 -
.... 2 Matthias Valck 1759 - +Baertie Bradt 1758 -
.... 2 Cornelius Vollick 1761 - 1818 +Eve Larroway 1776 -
.... 2 Annaje Vollick 1763 - 1823 +Derrick (Richard) Hainer 1759 - 1801
.... 2 Storm Follick 1765 - +Esther 1770 -
.... 2 Sophia Vollick 1766 - +Adrian Bradt 1765 -
.... 2 Elizabeth Vollick 1767 - +Christian Bradt 1763 -
.... 2 Catharina Vollick 1769 - +Albert Hainer
.... 2 Sarah Vollick 1770 - +Benoni Crumb
.... 2 John Vollick 1772 - +Sarah DeCow
.... 2 Maria Vollick 1775 -

My Hainer family linage is through Albert Hainer and Catharina Vollick.  Corlene Taylor's family linage is through Derrick (Richard) Hainer and Annaje (Hannah)Vollick.  Derrick  is Albert's brother and brothers married sisters, Catharine and Hannah Vollick.  Lorine's linage is through Cornelius Vollick and his wife Eve Larroway.  Ironically, I have photos of tombstones for Eve Larroway's parents which I took on a trip to the Niagara area when I met up with Corlene.  Corlene had given me some of this info  but for a beginning researcher, it was confusing. Now that I look back at it all these years later it make more sense.

Next blog well talk about Isaac Vollick's father and his parents.

Happy Hunting, Jan

Unexpected email....

I got an unexpected email this week from a previously unknown distant relative... A long lost cousin to be exact whose name is Lorine McGinnis Schulze. She is probably better known as the creator of the Olive Tree Genealogy website at www.olivetreegenealogy.com. She started her site in 1996 and to this day, it is a FREE genealogy website! And for those of you who think the internet has always been around ..surprise... it has not...In early 1990 Commercial internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge when ARPANET was decommissioned. Commercial internet service providers were for business use generally not for individuals. The Internet was commercialized in 1995 when NSFNET was decommissioned, removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic. I know that this is all computer jargon which most of you are not interested in but the point I am try to make here is that what we all know as the “Internet” really was born after 1995. I am telling you this because I want you to understand that Lorine's website started in February of 1996, in the early days of the internet, as we know it today. I remember, shortly after I beginning my family history search in 1997, I was reading computer technical articles and came across an article about how the genealogy community had fully embraced the whole Internet concept. They totally understood the power of the Internet and were ready to make the best use of it. Lorine was one of those early adapters as we call them! I do remember using her site early in my search on my mother's side of the family.

Years ago I found what I thought was a brick wall then...with Isaac Vollick. I found a Hainer cousin, Corlene Taylor, in the Niagara area who had thoroughly researched our Hainer line. It thrilled me and my mother, who was still living then, to know who our Hainer relatives were. Albert Hainer married Catharine Vollick, she was the daughter of Isaac Vollick but I was never able to get much further back than that. The Hainer brothers, Albert and Derrick, and Isaac were members of Butler's Rangers (1777–1784), a British provincial regiment composed of Loyalists (or "Tories") in the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler. These were the first family members I found who were participants in the Revolutionary War.

This week Lorine was able to shed some light on Isaac Vollick and where he came from. So our story continues with the next blog. Isaac the Loyalist!

Happy Hunting,