Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....Vandervolgen, Albert 1851 - 
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Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   Albert Vandervolgen, farmer, Newtown. The ancestors of the Vandervolgen
family emigrated from Holland in the seventeenth century, and settled at
Schenectady, New York, and were living there when that place was destroyed by
the French and Indians in 1690. They were wealthy and owned large possessions in
that neighborhood. Lawrence Vandervolgen was taken captive by the Indians when
eleven years old and carried to Canada. About the time he was twenty-one he was
permitted to visit his home, having first solemnly promised the Indians to
return. His friends tried every art and persuasion to induce him to remain with
them, but he had acquired an ardent attachment to his forest home and his red
brethren, and insisted that he could not break his word. As a last resort, when
he was asleep his sister clipped off his scalp-lock. To lose this sign of
manhood and dignity was the meanest disgrace to a warrior, which subjected him
to the exquisite scoffs and insults even of the women, to which, acknowledging
his shame, he submitted without resentment. By the time this tuft of hair had
grown out he had become reconciled to the home of his childhood, and never
returned save as an interpreter among the Six Nations. He served William
Andrews, an Indian missionary, in this capacity, and translated the Book of
Common Prayer of the Episcopal church into the Indian tongue. Mr. Vandervolgen's
father has a copy of this book, which is a curious relic. It is in a good state
of preservation, except that the title-page is missing. The book was published
as early as 1720. Considerable sums have been offered for it by Asbury
University and Wabash College. We cannot follow up the history of this
individual to show the high regard which the Indians entertained for him, and
the expression of it in the large gift of land which they in vain urged him to
accept. Mr. Vandervolgen's great-grandfather, John Vought, was a royalist in the
time of the revolution, and captain in the English service. He owned an estate
of a thousand acres near Schenectady, and received a pension from the British
government as long as he lived. Mr. Vandervolgen's grandfather, Myndert
Vandervolgen, was a militia captain; and his father, William B., born in 1816,
was liberally educated at Kingsborough, New York. In 1842 he came to Indiana,
and for a number of years changed his location frequently. About 1847 he settled
permanently in Fountain county. He has been connected with various kinds of
business, but farming, stock raising and dealing, and manufacturing lumber, have
been the chief interests with which he has been identified. He has accumulated a
good property. He was married in 1849, to Jane C. Carnahan, daughter of William
and sister to John M. Carnahan. She is a cultured and refined lady. Albert
Vandervolgen was born of these parents in Davis township, May 8, 1851. He
received his education at Waveland Collegiate Institute, where he attended one
year. His marriage with Louise Campbell, daughter of Robert Campbell, of
Newtown, occurred September 24, 1874. His wife was born August 4, 1855. They
have three children: Blanche, born July 12, 1875; Edgar, September 26, 1877; and
Bertha, May 14, 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Vandervolgen are members of the Presbyterian
church, and he is a stalwart republican.

Additional Comments:
Richland Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

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