VAN NOTE HISTORY

Tradition says there were three Van Note brothers who came to America from Holland, generally thought to be about 1757 although the exact time is unknown. Here they settled among the New York Dutch on the Jersey side of the Hudson River, just eight miles from the city limits of New York City, the sight of which is now Jersey City, N. J. One or more of these brothers fought in the Revolutionary War and spent the winter at Valley Forge. It was here in Monmouth County, N. J. that James Van Note was born in 1798. [I presently believe James was the son of Daniel Van Note and Hannah-but have no proof.] He grew to manhood along the waterfront and became a teamster and contractor. He married Miss Lucretia Miller, born in 1800, and to them were born six children, Brazilla, Nelson, Deborah, Jacob, Orpha and John. The elder boys helped their father in his work hauling huge loads of heavy freight from the canals to the docks and ships, and handling four to six horses with the greatest ease. It was here that Brazilla and Nelson acquired the great horsemanship which has been handed down through the generations.

Stories of the rich land in the west soon reached Jersey and James Van Note and his wife and family set out to find a new home. In 1839 they reached Wayne County on the eastern edge of Indiana and settled there. It was in this same year Lucretia Van Note died [*] leaving her family motherless. James Van Note then was married to a niece of his first wife, who made a good stepmother. They had no children.

Brazilla met an united in marriage with Miss Mariah Wolf in Wayne County, Indiana on December 5, 1844. While in Indiana three children were born, Nelson Webster, Mary Eliza and Lazarus Noble. The Van Notes were still not satisfied so in the fall of 1848 they set forth again, taking with them Maria's mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Wolf. It is said that Grandmother Wolf carried $2,800 all the way to Iowa in her stocking. The covered wagon caravan got as far as Pike County, Illinois where Jane, a stepdaughter of James Van Note, met and married William Thompson and settled near Atlas. Here in Illinois James Van Note died in June, 1849. The rest of the caravan went on and soon reached the banks of the Mississippi. The mighty river was wild and the highest ever known. Nearby residents cautioned them not to cross, but stories of gold in California drove them on. Mother Van Note stayed on the Illinois side until the river subsided, but all the rest crossed safely except Jake. He and four companions were attempting a crossing with a huge flatboat of freight when they were upset and dumped into the raging torrent. Two were saved and the bodies of the other two were found in some willows, but Jake was never seen again.

Nelson continued to California where he mined, saved and returned to Iowa with enough money in his belt to buy a good farm near Mt. Vernon, Iowa. He married Lucinda Williams and later sold his farm and bought another near Des Moines at Valley Junction, Iowa. Here he lived until he died in 1875.

John went to Kansas where he married and settled a few miles west of Kansas City. There was a son, Frank, who is now deceased.

Orpha married Alexandria Pollock and they homesteaded on the farm known as the Elzie Hepker farm in Monroe Township.

Deborah married Charles Tilton who died in 1864 near Mt. Vernon. She and her family moved to Monroe Township on the farm known as the Jim Van Note farm. A cluster of three maple trees still stand where the house used to be.

In 1849 Brazilla Van Note purchased 120 acres of land near Mt. Vernon where he moved his wife, three children and Grandmother Wolf. Here six more children were born, Charles Brazilla, James Homer, Lydia Ellen, George Bowman, Margaret, who died in young womanhood, and Maria Caroline. In 1965 he moved to Monroe Township where he bought 320 acres of land and lived until his death. In the following year they built a new barn and in 1870 a new frame house, still standing and in excellent condition. Brazilla Van Note was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was a Democrat. He died March 11, 1908 at the age of 86 having lived a full and fruitful life.