Abraham Van Vorhes

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = Major

| name = Abraham Van Vorhes

| image = Abraham_Van_Voorhes_(1793-1879)_in_1875.jpg

| caption = Van Vorhes {{circa|1870}}

| birth_place = Washington County, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| birth_date = {{birth date|1793|12|02}}

| death_place = Stillwater, Minnesota, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1879|01|24|1793|12|02}}

| resting_place = Fairview Cemetery

| state_house1 = Minnesota Territorial

| term_start1 = January 2, 1856

| term_end1 = January 6, 1857

| district1 = 1st

| office2 = Member of the Ohio Senate from Athens County

| term_start2 = 1842

| term_end2 = 1846

| office3 = Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Athens County

| term_start3 = 1840

| term_end3 = 18??

| committees = Rail Roads and Turnpikes (Ohio Senate){{cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028889/1842-12-22/ed-1/seq-1/#words=Van+Vorhes|volume=3|issue=49|date=December 22, 1842|author=Mitchener & Matthews|location=New Philadelphia, OH|work=The Ohio Democrat|title=Standing Committees of the Ohio Legislature|lccn=sn84028889|issn=2372-8612}}

| party = Whig, Republican

| occupation = Gunsmith, politician, postmaster, mechanic, newspaper editor/publisher, surveyor, justice

| branch = Pennsylvania militia

| rank = Major

| children = Nelson H. Van Vorhes
Andrew J. Van Vorhes

}}

Abraham Van Vorhes (December 2, 1793 – January 24, 1879; known commonly by his military rank as Major Van Vorhes) was an American politician, surveyor and pioneer.

Pennsylvania and Ohio

Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Abraham Van Vorhes married Mary W. Vorhees in 1817.

He served in the Pennsylvania militia and acquired the rank of major before moving to Alexander Township, Ohio in 1832 and then to Athens, Ohio in 1838, where he was a mechanic and editor of the Hocking Valley Gazette (later the Athens Messenger). While in Athens, Van Vorhes served as Athens County Treasurer and Surveyor.

From 1835 to 1839, he was postmaster for the Hebbardsville post office.{{sfn|Walker|1869|p=179}}

A member of the Whig Party and later the Republican Party, he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1840 and was later elected to the Ohio Senate in October 1842, where he served four terms.{{sfn|Inter-State Publishing Co.|1883|p=613}}

Minnesota

In 1849, President Zachary Taylor appointed Van Vorhes register of the United States Land Office, in Stillwater, Minnesota; he later arrived in October of that year.{{sfn|Easton|1909|p=336}}

In 1853, Minnesota Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey appointed Van Vorhes Minnesota Territorial Auditor. In 1856, Van Vorhes served in the Minnesota Territorial House of Representatives, and from 1859, 1865, and 1866, he served as a justice for the city of Stillwater, Minnesota.{{sfn|Easton|1909|p=213–214}}

He was appointed as postmaster for Stillwater in 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln.{{sfn|Easton|1909|p=336}}

Van Vorhes died on January 24, 1879, in Stillwater at the age of 85.{{Cite web|title=Van Vorhes, Abraham|url=https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?ID=11056|website=Minnesota Legislative Reference Library|publisher=Minnesota Legislature}}{{sfn|Easton|1909|p=336}}{{sfn|Walker|1869|p=303–305}}{{Cite news|date=January 25, 1879|title=Death of Major Van Vorhes|volume=II|page=3|work=Daily Globe|issue=11|location=Saint Paul, MN|type=obituary|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025287/1879-01-25/ed-1/seq-3/#words=Major+Van+Vorhes|access-date=December 27, 2020|via=the Library of Congress}}

Personal life

Van Vorhes had eight children with Mary, two of whom were Nelson H. Van Vorhes, who served in the Ohio General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives, and Andrew J. Van Vorhes, who served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

He was a member of the Presbyterian Church for most of his life, having joined in 1832 when he moved to Ohio.{{sfn|Easton|1909|p=336}}

Notes

Bibliography

{{Cite book|last=Walker|first=Charles Manning|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofathensc00walk|title=History of Athens County, Ohio, and Incidentally of the Ohio Land Company and the First Settlement of the State and Marietta|publisher=Robert Clarke & Co.|year=1869|location=Cincinnati, OH}}
{{Cite book|title=History of Hocking Valley, Ohio|publisher=Inter-State Publishing Co.|year=1883|location=Chicago|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofhocking00inte/ |ref={{harvid|Inter-State Publishing Co.|1883}} }}
{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zg8wAAAAYAAJ|title=History of the Saint Croix Valley|publisher=H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.|year=1909|editor-last=Easton|editor-first=Augustus B.|volume=I|location=Chicago}}