The Van Horns
The John C. Van Horns
John, the patriarch of my Van Horn line, was born in Pennsylvania in 1827. Not much else is known about him aside from his marriage to a woman named Martha. Martha was born in 1830 in New Jersey. Together they had two children: Steven Whitman born in 1855 and Franklin born in 1851.
The Stephen Whitman Van Horns
Stephen Whitman Van Horn was my great grandfather. It is rumored throughout the family that the middle name of "Whitman" was taken from Stephen F. Whitman, founder of Whitman Candies (the famous yellow box of chocolates everyone loves). To date, a link between the Whitman and Van Horn families has not been substantiated.
Stephen was born on March 4, 1855 in Lambertville, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He married Mary Jane "Jennie" Goodfellow (daughter of Preston Brock Goodfellow and Emma LaRoche) on June 14, 1879. Reverend Charles H. Thomas performed the ceremony. Stephen and Mary Jane had two sons: John Preston born in 1883 and George born in 1889.
Stephen was a mason by trade. His name appears in the 1902 through 1922 Plainfield, Union, New Jersey Directories. He lived at 35 Summit Avenue for all of his adult life. Stephen died in 1921 and is buried in Hillside Cemetery in Plainfield, New Jersey. His wife Mary Jane died in 1935 and is buried alongside him.
Photographs:
Stephen Whitman Van Horn, age 21
Mary Jane "Jennie" Goodfellow Van Horn, age 21
Stephen & Mary Jane Van Horn's Headstone
The George Van Horns
George, who was born on February 25, 1889, has presented us with a confusing problem. We do not know whom he married. According to the Van Horn family bible he married a woman named Marguerite Amilia Coriell on December 4, 1912. Family lore, however, remembers him marrying a woman named Margaret Apgar. Of course the two women's first names are so similar they could in fact be the same woman. To add more confusion, Polk's 1952 Plainfield, Union, New Jersey Directory states George's wife's name as Laura.
My father remembers that George and Margaret had a son named John. John was either adopted or was Margaret's son from a previous marriage. During World War II John joined the armed forces, possibly the Coast Guard or Merchant Marine, and was killed when a fire broke out on the ship he was serving on while at sea.
Wand's 1916 Plainfield Directory lists George as an assistant foreman living at 50 Chatham Street. By 1921 he had moved to 114 Wachung Street. After his father Stephen died George and his wife Marguerite moved in with his mother Mary Jane at 35 Summit Avenue. During this time he changed his careers from foreman to insurance underwriter.
I do not have the date when George died, but I know he is also buried in Hillside Cemetery.
Photographs:
George Van Horn as a child
The John Preston Van Horns
John Preston, who was born on April 24, 1883, was my grandfather, and had I been born a boy I would have been named for him (instead my mother named me after her favorite singer/actress Dame Julie Andrews).
John married Elizabeth M. Trimmer (daughter of James Trimmer and Sarah Cole) on December 23, 1904 in Plainfield, Union, New Jersey. Together they had seven children: Harold, who died in infancy, Wilma born in 1909, Gerold born in 1911, Doris, Helen, James Roland born in 1920, and John Norman.
Wand's 1916 Plainfield Directory lists John as a machinist living at 801 South Avenue. By 1921 he had moved to 514 Watchung Avenue. Only a year later he moved to 134 Central Avenue, and by 1927 he and his family had movd to 848 Berkely Avenue where they stayed for many years to come.
John died on June 28, 1956 in Plainfield and was buried on July 2 in Hillside Cemetery with his parents. His wife Elizabeth died on June 16, 1966 and is buried beside him. Unfortunately I was not born early enough to meet either of my Van Horn grandparents.
Photographs:
John Preston Van Horn
Elizabeth Trimmer Van Horn
The Wilma Van Horns
Wilma was the second child of John & Elizabeth Van Horn, and the first to live to adulthood. Wilma never had any children of her own, but she did marry a man named George Outcalt. He and Wilma moved to Los Angeles, California. I have a distant memory of my Aunt Wilma: in 1981, my parents took me to Disneyland in California. I remember visiting her in her home, and I remember she was sweet to me.
Wilma died on March 1, 1984 in Los Angeles, California, but she was buried in Hillside Cemetery in New Jersey with her parents. I was too young to attend the funeral, but I remember Uncle George coming to New Jersey to bury his wife. As far as we know George is still alive even though 2001 is the first year my parents did not receive a Christmas card from him. He has a reserved plot with his wife in Hillside Cemetery.
When I turned 16 on February 3, 1994 my mother gave me a small green jewelry box. Inside was an amethyst diamond pendant. Aunt Wilma's birthday was 12 days after mine, so we shared the same birthstone. Also inside the small box was a note that read "To my niece Julie Ann Van Horn on her sweet sixteen birthday." To this day that necklace is the only thing ever left to me by a departed relative, and the beauty of it is as charming as the memory I keep of it.
The Gerold Van Horns
Gerold was the third child born to John & Elizabeth Van Horn. He suffered from polio as a child, and because of his handicap could not enlist during World War II as his two younger brothers did. He married Mildred Lane, and together they had one child named Darlene.
Gerold and Mildred's marriage did not work out and they divorced. He died on April 10, 1979 and was buried three days later in Hillside Cemetery. I was only a year old when he died so I have no memory of him, but my mother who had married my father only three years before remembers him fondly.
The Doris Van Horns
Doris married Zachary Chaky and later moved to North Carolina. They had two children, Zachary Jr and Sandra.
I recall visiting her when my family and I were traveling through the South when I was a child. Uncle Zach died in 1990, and for many years we didn't know what had become of Aunt Doris. Just this past year, my cousin Doug (my genealogical partner in crime) made contact with one of her granddaughters. We were able to learn Aunt Doris is in a nursing home in Louisiana. Unfortunately she suffers from Alzheimer's.
Photographs:
Aunt Doris at Uncle Roland's Funeral in 1988
The Helen Van Horns
Helen never married. She lived in New Jersey for most of her life. I remember her always coming to Thanksgiving and birthday parties at our house. Every Christmas we took her with us to visit the cemeteries and to place grave blankets.
In the late 1980s Aunt Helen decided to move to Arizona. My brother Mark, who lives near Phoenix, visited with her when she first moved. After a few years she stopped all contact with the rest of the family and chose seclusion for her retirement.
The James Roland Van Horns
For some reason unknown, James always went by his middle name of "Roland" just as my father always went by his middle name of "Norman" as a child. Uncle Roland and my father were only two years apart, and so became very close as they grew up together.
Roland enlisted in the United States Army after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and fought bravely in World War II.
My father, who also served in WWII but in the United States Marines, wrote to several different women from home while he was overseas. One in particular was named Barbara Purdy. During the course of the war, my father introduced Barbara to his brother Roland via letters. Barbara and Roland began writing to each other, and when Roland came home the two were married.
My father did not come home for many more months. He still remembers the moment he first saw the woman whom he set his brother up with. When my father stepped out of the taxicab in front of his childhood home, a woman he'd never seen before came running down the porch steps screaming "Norm! Norm!"
Roland and Barbara had two sons, David Roger and Douglas Steven. Uncle Roland died on July 4, 1988 in Marshall, Missouri where he and Barbara and their son David lived. His body was cremated and brought back to Warren, New Jersey were he was buried. Barbara still lives in Missouri. Her son Doug, who lives in New Jersey, has been the primary researcher on the Van Horn lines.
Photographs:
Everyone at Roland's Funeral
The John Norman Van Horns
John joined the United States Marine Corps after Pearl Harbor and fought in the Pacific theater. After returning home he married Constance Noreen Lynch (daughter of Walter Raymond Lynch and Mary Richard McGowan). They had two children together, Mark John and Mary Lyndle.
Constance died in 1974, and John remarried in 1976 to Patricia Ellen Metternich. Her husband Anthony Tomaio had also died in 1974. The two had one child together, Julie (me!).
Photographs:
John & Constance Van Horn
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