The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-08-01
Heirs or Old KnseA efssBekoFs In IHcfk.
All ESTATE. of s5otyga $50. o0O, 900 sAvRDsUr IN
iuor1 AND MEETING, OF TfiE IoNG Lost


HOLLAND MEETING OF rfiE IosG Los1
tDRErHKRs. q sss Il ~ ff::s is! # IL
AN unlooked.for good fortune seems te
have beiallen the heirs of the old iKnicker
booker families, the Van Housens, the Var
SEWERS, the Sneiders and the Blauveits
Some sixty OF them met at SteePs Hotel, New
TO the call OF a Mr.. Edward Humphreys.
Many of them were unaequainted with each
other or with the object OF the meeting.
Mr.. Humphreys was called on to report on
The discovery of the traditional estate. BE
said that while in Holland be WAS approach
ed by Mr.. Hungerford, who had q power
OF attorney to prosecute smaliciaim for the
Van Housen family, and who could neither
speak nor write Dutch, to take up l6ematter
for him. This claim was registered, and is
ia process OF collection but, in the pro.
gress of his investigations, Mr.. Humphreys
became aware Of the existence Of vast
property left by the intestacy or absence from
Holland in the early days of the colony of New
Amsterdam Of members Of the three other
families mentioned, and Of the more than
probability Of the great interest of the Blau-
velis especially, who seemed to have inter-
married largely with the members of the
other three branches. The laws of Holland,
however, would not permit him to examine
the records and satisfy himself thoroughly
of the exact specifications OF the amount in.
VOWED unless he had a power OF attorney
from the heirs abroad attested by the Secre-
tary of State for each several State in which
they lived and by consuls of Holland. Mr..
Hungerford having concluded the search for
the comparatively small amount to be recov-
cred ut once by the Van Housens. there was
no conflict with any other parties, and if
$1,000 were subscribed to bear bis expenses
and the power of attorney granted he would
set to work at once and put matters in such
train that the accumuIations at compound
interest under the trusteeship Of the Gov
eminent of Holland would be coded to
THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS,
without difficulty and with dispatch, be-
sides establishing incontroyertibfy claims to
property in Orange county, n. T., in por-
lions Of the county formerly belonging to
Rockland county, the seat Of the early set
tiers of those families. All this was favor.
ably received, subscription lists opened, the
powers and money asked for resolved to be
given. and the meeting adjourned most har-
moniously, parties who had never met in
their lives marching off arm in arm with a
family affection and JOY at finding unex-
pected relations and possible cash soon, that
were truly affecting.
DR.. Biauyelt, the chairman, who was
joined by Dir. Humphreys, gave some inter-
esting statements corroborative Of the views
held by the latter gentleman as to the pro-
perry in existence and the undoubted claims
of the families represented at the meeting.
He said the BIauVelts were the very first OF
all the knickelOockers. They came as fur
traders before the colonization Of New Am
sterdam, and settled in Rockland county as
regular clan, because the English claimed
jurisdiction over the coast from the North
Pole to Virginia. They looked for wives
from the pick OF the newer colonists, and in
this way intermarried with the other Vans
who are now partners in the present plunge
after long-buried wealth.
The family has always bad tradition
about this property. He (the doctor) had,
like the rest, let the story go rs an old wife's
tale, till he accidentally stumbled, in Septem-
Der, 1870, on an old lady in Orange county,
an actual granddaughter of the original Van
Housen, who told him such facts, and stimuli
lated his curiosity and anxiety by excIaimiug
at his marvellous personal reSemb lance to her
family and to the curious fact that certain
family names were common to the Van Hon-
seus and the DOCTORS branch of the Bauvelts.
1t is wonderful story, but it remains to
be verified. The representative of the pros
pective estate may proceed to Holland in a
few weeks.