My Genealogy Hound

VANGIESEN, JAMES, farmer and stock raiser, Sec. 8, P.O. Roodhouse. For a period of thirty years the above named gentleman has been a resident of Greene County, where he is well known for his kindly disposition and success as a farmer; he was born in Somerset County, New Jersey, in 1822; the youngest of a family of ten children. In his fifteenth year he accompanied his parents to Greene County. The year 1838, although not an early one in the history of the county, it had yet to witness many changes; as deer still roamed at will and wild fowl were abundant, being frequently found on the table of the backwoodsman; the family first settled on the Sand Ridge, being the third in that neighborhood; here were passed the last days of the head of the family, Cornelius Vangiesen, who died at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. James, then in his twenty-second year, was in limited circumstances; his first purchase on the Sand Ridge consisted of 160 acres; here he resided fourteen years, and, during this time, united his fortunes to Miss Elizabeth Hudson, a daughter of the late William Hudson, by whom he had five children, William, Mary Jane, Minnie Belle, an infant child, and Dora, the only surviving child. In 1852 Mr. V. moved to his present farm, consisting of 220 acres.