Van Cleve, Morgan County, KY Copyright by Kathryn Weiss and submitted with permission Copyright Notice http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm *********************************************************************** The following is extracted primarily from pages 259-264 of the Research of Mrs. Georgia Gosney Wisda, who wrote “Gosney Family Records 1740-1940 and Related Families”, privately published about 1944. I also gathered some information from the Rootsweb Monmouth Co. NJ List, and from Ms. Jo White Linn’s “Rowan County, North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800”. WHO IS THIS MAN? Who is the Chrineyance Van Cleve found in the Mercer, NJ Hunt farm family cemetery, who d. 1774 at age 44? He is first cousin to Jane Van Cleave Boone, wife of Squire. I have found that Chrineyance is a male name that seems to run in the Van Meter line of the same era. The Van Meters were another Dutch family of early Monmouth Co., NJ, and they intermarried with the Van Cleves. The following is extracted primarily from pages 259-264 of the Research of Mrs. Georgia Gosney Wisda, who wrote “Gosney Family Records 1740-1940 and Related Families”, privately published about 1944. I also gathered some information from the Rootsweb Monmouth Co. NJ List, and from Ms. Jo White Linn’s “Rowan County, North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800”. Mrs. Wisda was both a Gosney and a Van Cleve descendent, and many of us have benefited from her labor of love. I am not a Van Cleve descendent, and cannot vouch for the accuracy of this portion of Mrs. Wisda’s work, but am presenting it here in the hopes that it will provide direction and help for those Boone descendents who claim Van Cleve ancestry, and that it may be of interest to others. Jan (John) Van Cleef was born in Amsterdam, Holland in 1628, and came to New Netherland, landing on Long Island in 1653. Jan was a farmer,and owned land in Gravesend in 1657, later moving to New Utrecht. It is possible that his father was a political refugee from Cleves, who fled across the border into Holland. There are other Van Cleef families in early New York (as early as 1630) who may be related. Jan Van Cleef married Engeltje Louwerens before March 10, 1661. She was about fifteen years old at the time. Her father was Laurens Pietersen from Tonsburg in Norway, who was in New Amsterdam by 1639. Engeltje’s mother was Anetie Pieters from Brutsteen, Germany. Laurens and Anetie were married in 1641 in New Amsterdam. Their daughter Engletje was baptised July 15, 1646. In 1664, Jan Van Cleef made a written declaration of events in New Utrecht, and stated he was 36 years old. He was a representative to The Convention in New Amsterdam in April 1664, which sent delegates to Holland to describe the distressed state of the country to the government and the West Indies Company. In 1686 Jan received a grant of land in from Governor Donegan, and took the oath of allegiance to the English Government in 1687. The 1688 Census listed Jan with wife and four children and stated that Jan had been a resident of New Utrecht for 34 years. Between 1677-1685, Jan appeared on the membership rolls of the Dutch Church of New Utrecht. He died in 1699 in New York. Some of his descendents remained in New York, but most moved to New Jersey. Nine children of Jan Van Cleef and Engeltje Lauwerens are identified: 1. Neeltje Van Cleef (1663-1747) m. John Van Mater (1650-1720) 2. Cornelius Van Cleef m. Femmetje Van De Venter 3. Rebecca Van Cleef, m. Andrew Emans, son of Andrew 4. Angelica Van Cleef m. John Emans, son of John and Sara 5. Isabrant Van Cleef, m. Jannetke Aertse Vanderbilt ** 6. Catherine Van Cleef 7. Joseph Van Cleef, m. Catherine Rapalje 8. Benjamin Van Cleef m. Hendricke Sutphen 9. Ceytie (Cynthia) Van Cleef Isabrant Van Cleef was born in 1677 in New York. In the 1706 Staten Island Census, he was 28 years old. He was a grand juror in New Utrecht in 1699, and owned land there in 1700. His estate inventory was filed in Freehold, New Jersey in January 1729. Isabrant married Jannetje Aertse Vanderbilt about 1699 at Staten Island. She was the daughter of Aris Aertse (Arthur) Vanderbilt and Hillitje Remsen. Jannetje was baptised in New Utrecht September 17, 1682. Ten children of Isabrant and Jannetke are identified: 1. John Van Cleef (of Maidenhead) (1700-1772) m. Cornelia Van Meter and had Chrineyance Van Cleave, whose tombstone is shown. 2. Cornelius Van Cleef 3. Margaret Van Cleef 4. Mary Van Cleef 5. Helena Van Cleef m. John Brower (Brown) 6. Aaron Van Cleef , m. Rachel Schenck *** 7. Anne Van Cleef, m. John Willson 8. Martha Van Cleef 9. Benjamin Van Cleef 10. Jane Van Cleef Aaron Van Cleef was the first to spell his name Cleave. Aaron was born on Staten Island about 1710. He moved to New Jersey with his parents,and he married Rachel Schenck about 1734. Rachel was born about 1709 to Jan Roelofse Schenck (1670-1753) and Sarah Konwenhoven (1674-1761). Aaron was, for awhile, a ship’s captain in the coastal trade. Wisda states there are clippings in the Boston Weekly News and the New York Weekly Post-Boy. In New Jersey, the Van Cleefs were neighbors to the family of John Hunt and Margaret Moore, whose son Jonathan was my ancestor. Jonathan and his family, along with several siblings and their families moved to Rowan County, NC about 1750 ~~ the same time as Aaron and Rachel Schenck Van Cleave. It is certainly possible that they moved together, as many allied families seem to disappear from NJ records and appear in old Rowan nearly simultaneously. Aaron Van Cleave died in 1780, and according to Wisda, he and Rachel are “buried at the Forks of the Yadkin in North Carolina.” Eight children of Aaron and Rachel Schenck Van Cleve are identified: 1. Samuel Van Cleave, b. about 1735, moved to VA 2. Cary Van Cleave, moved to Ohio in later years 3. John Van Cleave b. 1739 m1 Mary Shepherd; m2 Rachel Ryker 4. Benjamin Van Cleave b. 1741, m. Ruth Monson in NC 5. William Van Cleave, b. 1743, m. Abigail Frost 6. Aaron Van Cleave, Jr. b. 1745, m. Rachel Brent 7. Ralph (Rulief) Van Cleave, b. 1747, m. Lydia Combs 8. Jane Van Cleave, b. 1749, m. Squire Boone **** From Rowan County Tax Lists 1757-1800 by Jo White Linn copyright 1995: p. 20: Benjamin Van Clave [sic] is one of the private men serving on the scout under Capt. Jonathan Hunt in May 1759; and “He [Benjamin Drake], John Drake, Samuel Drake, George Smith, Capt. Jonathan Hunt, Benjamin Merril, Zebulon Stout, John South, Benjamin and Josiah Roundsopher, Josiah Barton, John McGuire, David Harry, and ‘one Vanclift’ were charged on October 13, 1755 at a meeting of the Executive Council in Newbern with Assault and Riot in preventing the agents of Henry McCulloh from resurveying patents of land in Tract #9. See the Colonial Records of North Carolina Second Series, Vol. IX:13” In 1768,William Vancleave [ sic] is on the Rowan County tax list of Morgan Bryan-2 (page 71); while Benjamin Van Cleve, Aron Van Clave & Rulufe [sic] are on the tax list of Jonathan Hunt (page 80). Aaron and Rachel were ancestors of Mrs. Wisda through their son Benjamin. (Aaron>Benjamin>Samuel>Cyrus>Albert>Malinda>Georgia Gosney Wisda) Jane Van Cleave Boone was Mrs. Wisda’s ggg-grandaunt.