Van Pelt Family Line Update

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on the Van Pelt line and have found quite a bit. In trying to find out more about Henry B Van Pelt’s parents, George G. and Hannah, I first tried to find a Maiden name for his mother Hannah. Not being able to find anything on her in Ancestry.com I tried Familysearch.org. Not being able to find anything in the new Familysearch website I gave the old one a try and found they had made huge improvements since I tried it last and was able to find the marriage record for George Van Pelt and Hannah Neely Aug 7 1848 in Jeffersonville Indiana.

After that I looked for the parents for George G. and striking out I switched back to Hannah and tried to find her parents. Not having luck I tried to find any other Neelys living in the area at the time. Very quickly I found a Charles A. Neely living in Jeffersonville 2 years younger then Hannah. Incidently George and Hannah’s first son was named Charles A. Van Pelt and I figured out he was her brother and through him found her parents Charles Neely and Hannah (maiden name still unknown).

Going back to George I did a web search on his name and birth year and found some posts of a researcher in Utica, Indiana who was looking for more information. Living near Jeffersonville she had been to his gravesite and mentioned he was buried with his wife and a woman named Sarah Van Pelt born 1796 she believed to be his mother.

Doing searches with this information the only couple that I’ve found that fits all the information I have is Daniel Van Pelt born 1789 and his wife Sarah born about 1795. I haven’t been able to confirm the relation to them but in the list of their children there is a 5 year gap between two of the children between 1821 and 1826. George’s birth was in either 1823 or 1828 and would fit in nicely. I can’t confirm the relation due to the fact George left his family in Ohio and went to Indiana before the US Census started naming all members of the household (1790 to 1840 only listed the name of the Head of Household)

If Daniel and Sarah are the parents of George G then I’ll be able to trace the Van Pelt line back to the Early 1500s to Pelt, Liege, Belgium when they went by the Surname Lanen or Laenen. I found this website about the Van Pelt Lines and how they received the name Van Pelt. Here is a Link to the Website. Here a couple of quotes I found from the site I found interesting.

 “The surname Van Pelt did not come into use in legal documents before
1700 when the Van Pelt children born of Anthonius Laenen deeded
property to their brother Aurt. Van Pelt.”

“Van Pett = surname; van Pelt = from Pelt. The Dutch word 'van' has
four definitions.”

I don’t know it the Van Pett is a typo or written intentionally.

Well, I just thought I’d share what I’ve come across while researching the Van Pelt line. I hope I find more good stuff in the near future.

Van Pelt family line

Of all the family lines I've researched since starting with Family History, The Van Pelt line is the one I've put both the most time and work in, and the one I've made the least progress on. The road block has been my great grandfather Henry Van Pelt. He passed away while his family was still very young and my Great Grandfather just couldn't remember much about him when my mother asked about him.

After some time I was able to narrow the family that Henry came from to either the family of Charles and Ferba Van Pelt or the family or George and Hannah Van Pelt. Both sets of parents had a son named Henry born in Indiana within a year of each other. For reasons I don't remember I settled on the family of Charles and Ferba although I kept in mind it was a guess and continued to look for more information. Unable to find any proof of connection I started looking more at the family of George and Hannah.

From the marriage record we know Henry was married to Nannie Logsden in 1890. The 1890 Census was destroyed in a fire and I still haven't found the 1900 Census for Nannie (Henry passed away before this time) so I focused on the 1880 Census and have found some clues. Nannie was living in Port Fulton Indiana in Clark county at the time with her family. Looking at the family of George Van Pelt I found they also lived in Port Fulton at the same time along with their son Henry. Looking closely at the Census records I also found that not only did they live in the same town but the Census recorder visited Nannie's Family 5 households after visiting the Van Pelt Family which would indicate that they lived within 5 houses of each other and most likely on the same street.

The Henry Van Pelt I had been looking at before that was the son of Charles and Ferba lived in Missouri at this time. The Marrage record was in Clark county where Port Fulton is. I'm guessing that it is more likely that Nannie would marry a Henry Van Pelt she grew up knowing a few houses down then a Henry Van Pelt a State away. I'm Including the census records here.

Van Pelt Census

Logsden Census

Unless I get objections I'm going to go ahead and change my family history records to reflect George and Hannah Van Pelt as being the parents of my great grandfather and keep Charles and Ferba as an alternate. If any of my Van Pelt relatives have any comments feel free to send me an Email catseye1979@juno.com

Devil's Peak

One day after a school rally my friends and I was watching the after rally entertainment. The bell rung and being the good student I was, I went to class while the rest of the school remained to see how many cop cars would show up to break up the riot.

While waiting for the rest of the students I talked with my English teacher about my past experiences over the four years of high school and commented that someone really needed to write a book about this place. My teacher told me I should do it. That started my mind working and the product is a series of short stories that are fictional yet inspired by events, spirit and the irony of my high school. So here is the first of many.

Welcome to Devil's Peak High School, Abandon Hope all Ye who Enter