The purpose of the Van Voorhees Association is to provide genealogical research for members of the association which is comprised of descendants of the Van Voorhees Family.
Membership is open to any descendant of the Van Voorhees Family whose patriarch was Steven Coerte.
It marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain’s voyages along the river and lake that bear their names.
In 1609, a decade before the Mayflower landed in New England, two European explorers simultaneously explored the northern and southern waterways of what is now New York State. With their voyages, the history of America began to take shape.
That July, French explorer Samuel de Champlain, who had founded the city of Québec a year earlier, journeyed into another area of incredible splendor. Its most magnificent feature was a lake, now known as Lake Champlain, where he encountered Native American people.
Two months later, Henry Hudson, an Englishman serving the Netherlands, sailed into New York Bay on the Half Moon. While traveling up the river later named for him (reaching a point near present-day Albany), he noted the region's beauty, natural abundance and commercial advantages. He also traded goods with Native Americans who lived along the shore.
(Source: ExploreNY400.com)
