Isaac Van Horne

Isaac Van Horne (January 13, 1754, Solebury Township, Pennsylvania – February 2, 1834, Zanesville, Ohio) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Family

Ancestry

He is the eldest son of Bernard Van Horne and his first wife Sarah Van Pelt Van Horne. He is descended of several Dutch families who came to America when New York was a Colony of the Netherlands. (His father's family the Vanhoorns have been often, and debatably, identified with the European Noble Family of that name.) His paternal immigrant ancestor Christian Barentsen van Hoorn had a house lot at Wall Street and Broadway (now part of Trinity Churchyard) and was Fire Marshal of Manhattan in the 1650s before moving to the area of Wilmington Delaware. His grandmother Alice Sleght Van Horn may have been descended of Catherine Trico Rapalgie one of whose daughters was reputed to be the first white child born in New Netherland. He is also reputed to be the great great great grand nephew of Peter Styvesant.

Children

He married Dorothy widow of Isaac Marple (already mother of 2 sons John J. Marple and David J. Marple). Isaac and Dorothy Marple Van Horne had 11 children: Dorothy Jane = Peter van Woglom, Isaac van Horne (perhaps a 1st cousin ?); Sarah; Mary (Polly) = Jeffrey Price (widower with a daughter); Lt Isaac Van Horne Jr. (Fort Mackinac, War of 1812); Samuel; Eliza Nann = Dr. John E. Hamm Col., & Marshall of Ohio (War of 1812); Patience = Harry Safford (a silversmith in Putnam, OH); Cynthia; Bernard (in 1826 his successor as receiver of public monies at Zanesville) Benjamin Franklin; Bvt. Maj. Joseph Jefferson Van Horne (U.S.-Mexican War).

Military career

American Revolution

He was elected ensign of a company of militia in 1775, and appointed ensign in the Continental Army by the committee of safety in January 1776, assigned to Capt. John Beatty's Company in Col. Magaw's Regiment.

He was taken prisoner at the fall of Fort Washington and held as a prisoner of war from November 1776 to May 1778 when he was exchanged.

He served as first lieutenant, captain lieutenant, and captain until the close of the American Revolutionary War.

He was a founding member of the Society of the Cincinnati.

War of 1812

He was Lt Col Commanding 1st Reg 2d Brig Ohio Militia from 1808-1810.

He was Adjutant General of the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812 serving in that post from 1810-1819.

Politics and Business

He apprenticed as a carpenter and cabinetmaker.

He was justice of the peace for Solebury Township Bucks Co. PA for several years, and served as coroner of Bucks County four years.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1796 and 1797. Immediately following his term in the Pennsylvania House he was elected as a Republican (aka Democratic-Republican, Jeffersonian, or "old Republican") to the Seventh and Eighth Congresses.

He moved to Zanesville, Ohio, in 1805 after Pres. Thomas Jefferson appointed him receiver of the land office at Zanesville. He held that office until December 1826 when he resigned in favor of his son Bernard.

He and his son in law Dr. John E. Hamm founded the White Glass Co. of Zanesville Ohio in 1815, of which he was President.

He was President of The Second Federal Bank of Zanesville.

He was involved in a number of early Zanesville businesses, and was a large landholder.

He was head of a political faction in the 2d Capital of Ohio.

Miscellaneous

After he moved to Zanesville his first residence was a white Clapboard house on Pine St., built for him by his nephew, which was locally known as "the White House."

One of the bequests in his will was a donation to the American Colonization Society.

References

• Isaac Van Horne at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard
• Y Bridge City "The Story of Zanesville and Muskingum County, Ohio". Norris F. Schneider, The World Publishing Co., 1950.
• "a Brief Memoir of the Life of General Isaac Van Horne". Zanesville Ohio, (undated) privately reprinted several times.