Last updated on 04/23/06 09:15 AM
The VanAuken's immigrated from Holland to Ulster County, New York just prior to 1685. The name VanAken is conspicuous among the early families of Ulster County, or Esopus as it was more generally called in early days, especially from the long line of descendants, now widely scattered and many of whom attained distinction.
In America the name is first on record at Fort Orange (now Albany, New York) in 1652, in which year Jan Koster VanAaken appears as a trader and purchaser of real estate.
In Holland the family name is traced back 1500 years, to the 4th century to John van Aken, the founder of the ancient city of Aken, now generally known as Aix La Chappele, located in Germany between the Rhine and Meuse Rivers, on the border of Holland... There is a section called Aken or Acken, one mile south-east of Opmeer, a village eight miles north-west of Hoorn in the Province of North Holland, whence came some of the most prominent and enterprising of our early immigrants. In the same province are north and south Akendam, two villages, about six miles distant from Haarlem.
Marinus VanAaken, who, in 1689, was on the roll of persons who took the oath of allegiance to the English government in Kingston, New York (Esopus) that year, was my ancestor. His first born son Peter, per Kingston records, was born in 1685.
Abraham VanAuken (1791) offers an interesting observation about the spelling of our name. "...although the has been spelled primarily VanAken or VanAuken in my direct line, It is an unpleasant fact that we of our family are not at all agreed upon the manner of spelling our name. It is spelled Van Auken, Van Aaaken, Van Aken and even sometimes Van Aker by men from the same ancestor. I do not expect we can now agree on a correct way of spelling it, and it may be we will never know what is the proper way to spell it. The children of the first families were not educated, in consequence of which, when it became necessary to write their names in business transactions &c, the same was done in the Dutch tongue, without any other guide than that of the oral sound, and due to the lack of attention in always speaking names properly great changes have occured in many surnames in this valley".
Marinus VanAken was the first of my line to settle in America. He was born about 1660 in Holland. His first wife Prijntje Rents widowed him. He married Pieternelle de Pre van Wingen April 11, 1683 in Cadzand, Holland. They later emigrated to America.
Marinus and Pieternelle emigrated to America and resided in Ulster County, around 1685, in the town of Esopus. They later resided in Rochester (now called Accord in Ulster Co, NY). Their farm near Kingston is said to be still in the possession of their descendants. They had eight children named: Peter(1685), Sara (1688), Cornelis (1690) Catrina (1692), Rachel (1695), Neeltje (1697), Abraham (1689) and Isaak (1709).
Marinus had four sons and four daughters. All of the boys eventually moved down the Old Mine Trail, an ancient indian path that connected the Hudson and Delaware rivers, to the Neversink and Delaware Valleys, and settled near Port Jervis, New York. Port Jervis was then known as Mahockamack and is located in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania tri-state area. Pieter settled in Lehman Township, Pike Co, PA. Cornelis settled in Westfall Township, Pike Co, PA. Isaak settled in Montague, Sussex Co, New Jersy. Abraham also settled in Sussex Co, New Jersey.
Marinus VanAken - ca. 1660; Cadzand, Holland
..|__Cornelius VanAken - 25May1690; Ulster Co., Kingston, NY.
.....|__Johannes VanAuken - 28Jan1728; Ulster Co., Nepanoch, NY.
........|__Peter VanAuken - 12Sep1766; Pike Co., Milford, PA.
...........|__Emanuel VanAuken - ca 1795; Pike Co., Milford, PA.
..............|__John G. VanAuken - 22May1823; Pike Co., Pond Eddy, PA.
.................|__Horace B. VanAuken - 15Jun1852; Orange Co., Bolton Basin, NY
....................|__Joseph H. VanAuken - 02Jul1881; Orange Co., Port Jervis, NY
.......................|__Bradford J. VanAuken - 28Jun1921; Orange Co., Port Jervis, NY
..........................|__Bradford J. VanAuken Jr. - Orange Co., Port Jervis, NY
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