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BIOGRAPHY OF
JOHN J. VOORHEES
Steven Coerts (or Koerts, as he wrote it), the common ancestor
of the Voorhees family in Bergen and Hudson Counties, emigrated
to this country in April, 1660, coming over on the ship "Spotted
Cow," with his wife and seven children. They came from
Ruinen, in the Province of Drenthe, Holland, and from in front
of the little hamlet of Hlees, near that locality. Hence, the
name was a first Van Voorhees, "Van" meaning "from,"
"Voor," meaning "near," and "Hees"
(the hamlet name) "from near" or, "over from Hees."
Steven was not the first of the family to emigrate. In February,
1659, Harman Koerts had preceded him on the ship "Faith,"
with his wife and five children. Steven settled at Flatlands,
L. K., where many other Dutch emigrants had already located.
He must have been born about 1600. Who his first wife was does
not appear, but she died in about 1675, and he married (2), in
1677, Wellempie Roeloffse Lenhering. He died about February,
1684. He bought, November 29, 1660, of Cornelis Dircksen Hoogland,
eighteen acres of corn land, fourteen acres of woodland, twenty
acres of plainland, and ten acres of sale meadow-in all, sixty-two
acres-for $3,000; and also the house and lot lying in the village
of Amersfoort, with the brewery and all the brewing apparatus,
kettle-house, and casks, with the appurtenances, which shows
that he must have been a brewer as well as a farmer. He was
assessed at Flatlands in 1675, and was manager of taxes there
in 1683. His name appears as one of the patentees there in 1664
and 1667. He died about February 16, 1684. His children were
Henricke, Mergen, Coert, Luens, John, Albert, Aeltje, Jannetje,
Hendricke (2), and Abraham. His son, Albert Stevens Voorhees,
and his wife, Jelletie Rynieres Wisselpennick, went to Hackensack
in 1686, joined the Dutch church there, and bought an extensive
tract of land from Major John Berry between the Hackensack and
Saddle Rivers.
John J. Voorhees is a lineal descendant of the sixth generation
of Steven Coerts Van Voorhees, the emigrant. His father, Peter
Voorhees, was born on the old farm at Flatlands, L. I., where
Steven first settled in 1660.
Mr. Voorhees was educated in the public schools of New Utrecht,
L. I., and in 1863 accepted a clerkship in a country store, where
he remained five years. After filling similar positions he obtained
a position as assistant bookkeeper for the New Jersey Car Spring
and Rubber Company, and at the end of one year was promoted to
head bookkeeper. Not long afterward he was made Secretary of
the company and held that position until 1885, when he was elected
Treasurer of the corporation. In 1888 he was made General Manager,
and at the present time is President of the Voorhees Rubber Manufacturing
Company, of Jersey City, which is one of the largest and most
successful concerns of the kind in the country, having an extensive
business and employing a large number of hands.
In 1885 Mr. Voorhees was appointed a member of the Board of
Education of Jersey City and served for three terms, during five
successive years of which he was President of the board, being
annually re-elected without opposition. As a member of the Condemnation
Commission on the County Roads in 1892 he rendered most efficient
services to the community at large, and displayed that eminent
ability and superior judgment which have characterized his entire
business career. He is a member of the Board of Directors and
a member of the Jersey City Board of Trade, of which he was President
in 1892. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the
Commercial Trust Company of New Jersey, of the Board of Trustees
of the Free Public Library of Jersey City, and of the Palma Club,
the Carteret Club, and the Holland Society of New York City.
Mr. Voorhees was married October 14, 1874, to Annie M. Collier,
of Brooklyn, N. Y. They have had three children, and reside
at 57 Duncan Avenue, Jersey City.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 83-84.
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