Third Generation

3. Artus Paulus VAN DER VOORT III (+) was born about 1550 in Turnhout, Antwerp Province, Belgium.^2,3,4,5 (In the 15th century, Turnhout was part of The Netherlands. The Netherlands consisted of two major sections--"United Netherlands" in the north, and "Spanish Netherlands" in the south. "Spanish Netherlands" consisted of Belgium, the northern part of France, and the southern part of the Netherlands. In 1830, portions of the southern part where the Van der Voort family originated were split off to form the country of Belgium.)

The derivation of the name Van der Voort is "from the cove" or "from the creek."

"The Vandervoort-Vanderford family, now widespread in the United States, is an ancient one in The Netherlands, probably tracing back to one Artus Van der Voort, living in 1550 near Turnhout, Noord-Brabant (Translation: "Near the Woods'), on the small River Voort, from which the family most likely took its name. A published article on one line of the family was obtained by Lt. Col. Donald E. Vanderford while stationed in Europe, and, although we have been unable to place the American progenitor in this admittedly incomplete genealogy, we have little doubt that he belonged to the same family. The surname also appears in the published Frankenthal Dutch Church records in Germany in the late-sixteenth century, and these fragmentary glimpses indicate the Van der Voorts were at least well-to-do burghers in Amsterdam, Ghent, and perhaps Antwerp.

We know from his marriage record that Michael Pauluszen Van der Voort, the progenitor, came from Dermonde in Flanders, which suggests that his family was probably of Belgian origin, as were many of the original New Netherland families. He arrived here (the U.S.) presumably alone and in 1640 married the sister of the first white girl born in New Netherland (New York state). Perhaps language formed a bond, as the Rapaljes were French Huguenots, having been only temporarily domiciled in Holland, and probably they all spoke French.

Perhaps Michael and his wife in their middle age rejected the Dutch atmosphere of The Wallabout in Brooklyn, as they with their younger children removed to the purely English country of Talbot (later Queen Anne's County) on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. But probably the more compelling reason was the lure of more land--apparently free, subject to settlement and other conditions--than Michael could hope to obtain on Long Island.

In Maryland even the name was partly Anglicized when son George became known as Vanderford ('ford' is a literal translation of voort). Their elder son Paulus remained in the Bedford section of Brooklyn and was the ancestor of all those of the family who retained the original limit Vandervoort/Vandervort/Vandivort."

Turnhout is a city in the north of Flanders, with almost forty thousand inhabitants and exactly 318 streets. It is the economic and cultural centre of its region, with more than 40 schools and an important services sector. The surviving traditional industry is making paper and printing stuff on it, especially playing cards. Wherever in the world you live, if you have a deck of cards, there is a more than reasonable chance that it was printed by Carta Mundi in Turnhout. There is also a Museum of Playing Cards in the city.

Turnhout grew in the protection of the castle of the dukes of Brabant, which seems to have existed since 1110 or earlier on the duke's hunting grounds. The community of merchants and craftsmen that grew around it got its Libertas as a city under duke Hendrik I, between 1209 and 1213. About 1338, Turnhout got the privilege of the market day on Saturdays; the tradition still holds. At the end of the Middle Ages, Turnhout had become a rich commercial centre. The beguinage was founded in the fourteenth century, and in 1466 a traveler described the well-built houses and the paved roads, and counted five churches.

The sixteenth century however was a time of wars, with its fires, confiscations and epidemics. On top of that, the suppression of the Reformation made many progressive (and rich) citizens take refuge in Holland. Turnhout became impoverished, and until Napoleon the further history of Turnhout consists of a series of ups and downs and a litany of names of foreign conquerors.

In 1830 Belgium, until then most aptly described as the battlefield of Europe, was given its independence, and Turnhout fell just south of the new border with The Netherlands. The period of peace between 1831 and 1914 saw the digging of the canal (1846) and the construction of the railroad (1855).

In the twentieth century, Turnhout history differs little from the rest of Western Europe; the first world war, economic revival, then the great crisis and the second world war. After the wars, Turnhout became a modern city, but with some ancient connections. The castle now houses a court of law, there is a McDonald's opposite the medieval St. Peter's church, and the roads are still paved with cobblestones.

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He has Ancestral File Number 9HZ5-V5N.¹ He died in Belgium.⁶

Artus Paulus VAN DER VOORT III (+) and Neeltje SEPPE were married in 1579 in Dermonde, Flanders, Belgium.^1,2,6 Neeltje SEPPE⁷ was born in 1550 in Belgium.^1,6 She has Ancestral File Number L23G-494.¹

Artus Paulus VAN DER VOORT III (+) and Neeltje SEPPE had the following children: