THE VAN PELT FAMILY
THE VAN PELT FAMILY. The emigrant ancestor of the VAN PELT family was Teunis Jansen Lanen VAN PELTT, who emigrated in 1663 from Liege, Belgium, with wife, Grietje JANS, and six children and settled in New Utrecht, Long Island. He was known as "Tunis the Fisher." The children of Teunis Jansen L. VAN PELT were, John VAN PELT, died after 1720, married Maria PETERS; Anthony VAN PELT, died February 2, 1720-1, married Magdalen JOOSTEN; Hendrick VAN PELT, married Annetje MEINARDS; Wouter VAN PELT, married Maria Jansen SCHAERS; Jacomytje, married Jochem GULICK; and Aerte, married Nieltje Jansen VAN TUYL. Bergen in his "Early Settlers of King's County" mentions three other children of Teunis Jansen L. VAN PELT, viz.: H. Teuntje, married Hermanus GELDER, Rebecca, married Abraham DE LA MONTAIGNE, and Elizabeth.
Anthony VAN PELT, son of Teunis JANSE, came to this country with his parents in 1663. He was a landholder in New Utrecht in 1683, and ten years later was constable of New Utrecht. In 1700 he joined with his brothers and sister, the six above mentioned, in a conveyance of land taken up by his father in New Utrecht, on July 27, 1713; he conveyed his land to his sons John and Tunis with a provision that he and his wife were to remain thereon during their natural lives. He died on February 2, 1720-1. His wife was Magdalena or Helena JOOSTEN. Their children were: Joost. (Joseph) baptized at Flatbush, September 28, 1679; Maria, baptized October 14, 1681, married Adrien SCHOUTE; Adriantje, baptized February 3, 1684, died young; Grietje, baptized June 3, 1685, married Barendt BOND; Tunis, who removed to Staten Island, 1719, married Maria DEGREAU; Adriantje, baptized May 25, 1690, married Charles TAYLOR; John, of Staten Island, married Susanna LA TOURETTE; Helena, baptized May 29, 1695, married Teunis STOUTENBURGH, and Sarah, who married Cornelius DORLANDT. Of the above, at least two, Joseph VAN PELT and Adrien SCHOUTE, (Scout) and Maria VAN PELT his wife settled in Pennsylvania, Joseph in Byberry, Philadelphia county, and Scout in Warminster township, Bucks county.
Joseph VAN PELT married Catharine______, and the baptism of three of their children appears of record in Staten Island, Catharine, baptized May 4, 1714, Joost, baptized March 20, 1716, and Johannes, baptized September 8, 1717. He removed to Pennsylvania prior to December 6, 1719, as his daughter Sarah was baptized at Abington Presbyterian church on that date. Another son Derrick was baptized at the same church May 7, 1721. His other children were: Joris (George), who married Catharine SLEGHT, June 2, 1743, and had children, Joseph John, Catharine and Sarah, baptized at the Dutch Reformed church of North and Southampton, (1744 to 1756); Lena, who married John VAN HORN; Anthony, who died in Buckingham in 1754, and Elizabeth, who married John BENNETT. On November 7, 1730, Joseph VAN PELT purchased 180¾ acres of land in Byberry of Jacob HIBBS. He died intestate and letters of administration were granted to his widow Catharine March 17, 1739. His widow married John MCVEAGH, May 17, 1745. His son Joseph must have died young as he does not appear in connection with the conveyance of his father's real estate. John VAN PELT, the second son, married May 12, 1739, Cornelia SLEGHT, and settled in Northampton township, Bucks county. Their children were: Joseph, baptized December 11, 1742; Catharine baptized April 2, 1745; John, baptized August 31, 1749; Daniel, baptized October 15, 1751; Isaac, baptized August 11, 1754, married December 30, 1788, Jane HENDERSON, and removed to Wrightstown township, Bucks county. Helena, baptized January 2, 1757; Jacob, baptized August 12, 1759, married Sarah RYAN. He died in New Milford, Ohio, August 31, 1831. He was the father of eleven children. Sarah, baptized September 23, 1761. Catharine VAN PELT, eldest daughter of Joseph and Catharine VAN PELT, married Abraham CARROLL, January 29, 1737. Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Catharine VAN PELT, married Barnard VAN HORN, January 17, 1753, and their son Isaac VAN HORN was baptized at Southampton, March 17, 1754.
Derrick VAN PELT married February 14, 1742, Mary BRITTON. He was an innkeeper in Whitpain township, Philadelphia county, at his death in 1767. His sons Joseph and John were residents of Upper Dublin township in 1770, but both removed to New Britain township, Bucks county, prior to 1776. The other children of Derrick and Mary were: Abraham, Mary, Anne, Samuel, Catharine, married Isaac NEWHOUSE, and Mercy, married Jacob DE HAVEN.
Isaac VAN PELT, who married Jane HENDERSON in 1788, removed to Wrightstown township, Bucks county, in 1795, later removed to Buckingham where he died in 1811. His children were: Mary, married Robert JONES; John; Isaac; Thomas; Jane, married Thomas D. WOLF; and Eleanor, married William VANSANT. Jane (HENDERSON) VAN PELT died in Buckingham in 1835.
Three of the sons of Joseph VAN PELT, viz.: John, Isaac and Daniel--were privates in Captain Folwells Associated Company in Southampton in 1775, John was commissioned a lieutenant in Lower Solebury, May 10, 1779. Isaac also saw actual service in the revolution. John became a captain.
Isaac, son of Isaac and Jane HENDERSON VAN PELT, was born in Wrightstown in 1797. He was a shoemaker by trade and lived in Wrightstown until 1836, when he purchased a farm in Buckingham, where he died May 27, 1865. He was twice married. His first wife was Sarah, daughter of Peter D. and Rebecca (LEWIS) CATTELL, (originally DECATTEL). The children of this marriage who survived were: Seth C., born August 24, 1829; Jane Ellen, married Joseph S. ELY, Esq., of Newtown; William, of Upper Makefield; Wilhelmina, married Charles H. WARNER. Isaac VAN PELT married (second) Mary Ann RICHARDSON and had three children: Joseph, born October 8, 1844, Elizabeth, marride Joseph STARKEY, and Matilda Caroline, who never married, living with her sister Elizabeth at Forest Grove.
Text taken from page 102 of:
Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III
Transcribed AUGUST 2000 by GRACE T. BURTON of PA as part of the Bucks Co., Early Family Project,
Published October 2000 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at