Commercial Trust Company of New Jersey

Steven Coerts (or Koerts, as he wrote it), the common ancestor of the Voorhees family in Bergen and Hudson Counties, emigrated to this country in April, 1660, coming over on the ship “Spotted Cow,” with his wife and seven children. They came from Ruinen, in the Province of Drenthe, Holland, and from in front of the little hamlet of Hees, near that locality. Hence, the name was a first Van Voorhees, “Van” meaning “from,” “Voor,” meaning “near,” and “Hees” (the hamlet name) “from near” or, “over from Hees.” Steven was not the first of the family to emigrate. In February, … Read more