USA > New York > Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I > Part 50
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After attending a full course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, he returned to Albany, New York, in May, 1866, and entered upon the practice of his profession, where, after forty-three years of successful practice, he is now (1909) still to be found, full of years and professional thonors, associated with his two sons, who are also able practitioners. His life has been one of great activity as a professional man and as a citizen. He is honored at home and 'abroad for his knowledge and experience in medicine and surgery, his services to the cause of education, and his high character as a man. Skillful and useful as he is in private practice, ·hospital and consultation, his literary and plat- form ability has enabled him to convey to his brethren of the profession in a series of addresses and printed articles his experiences, theories and conclusions, thereby increasing a thousand fold his usefulness. To recite his membership would be to call the roll of the leading medical and surgical societies of the world. He has served as member and presi- dent of the Albany County Medical Society, the Medical Society of the State of New York,
the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and is a member of the American Medical Association. He was a del- egate to the International Medical Congress, hield at Copenhagen in 1884, and was elected honorary president of the Fifteenth Interna- tional Medical Congress held at Lisbon, Por- tugal, in 1906, having been appointed one of the commissioners from the United States government. In July, 1905, he was elected president of the American Surgical Associa- tion, an honor that comes to few men, having been a fellow since 1882, a member of the nominating committee, of the council, and twice president. In 1909 he was appointed by the United States government delegate to the International Medical Congress meeting at Budapest, Austria, but was unable to attend owing to the illness of his wife. He is the author of "Cleft Palate and Hair Lip"; Wood's "Reference Hand Book of Medical Science"; "History of General Surgery" in "Encyclopedia Americana"; "Injuries and Dis- eases of Abdomen" in "International Ency- clopedia of Surgery," and numerous articles in the leading medical journals at home and abroad, that show how full and complete is his mastery of whatever subject he discusses. In 1867 he was attending surgeon to the Al- bany Hospital Dispensary as assistant to Dr. Alden March; 1869, attending surgeon (with exception 1874-75, while abroad studying ) 11n- til 1904, when appointed surgeon-in-chief ; 1873 to 1903, attending surgeon St. Peter's Hospital; 1898 to date, attending surgeon South End Dispensary ; consulting surgeon New York State Hospital for Crippled and Ruptured Children, West Haverstraw, New York; consulting surgeon Benedictine Hos- pital, Kingston, New York; consulting sur- geon Champlain Valley Hospital, Plattsburg, New York. He has always manifested the deepest interest in the Albany Medical Col- lege, where he listened to his first course of medical lectures. He has filled the following important chairs in that institution : 1869-74, chair of general and special anatomy ; 1875- 82, chair of didactic, abdominal and clinical surgery ; 1882 to date, chair of surgery ; dean from 1896 to 1904. Dr. Vander Veer ap- plied in Albany the first plaster paris jacket for curvature of the spine ; performed the first Bigelow's operation for litholapaxy : first Ker- nochan's operation for removal of infra orbi- tal nerve and Meckel's ganglia, reporting a number of cases. He has always led in the use and introduction of new methods and opera- tions, if they possessed value. Always pro- gressive, now nearing his fiftieth year in med- icine, his services as a consulting physician
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and surgeon are in constant demand and glad- ly given.
Outside his profession, the career of Dr. Vander Veer has been a busy and interesting one. In 1895 he was elected a regent of the University of the State of New York, serving faithfully for six years; then by act of legis- lature the board was changed, he drawing the shortest period of one year ; re-elected a third time for a full term, the first regent to be elected three times by the legislature. He was a trustee of the National Savings Bank many years; resigning January 1, 1910; trus- tee of Albany Cemetery Association, and pres- ident of the Holland Society of New York. While vice-president of the latter society he, with other members of Albany, entertained the officers of the "Van Speyk" when visiting this country, receiving from the Queen of Hol- land as an appreciation the order and decora- tion of Oranje Nassau. He is a life member of the New York Historical Society. Through his own military service as an officer in the civil war he is a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of Philip Livingston Chapter, Sons of the Revolution, the Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society, and of Albany social clubs-Fort Or- ange and University. In his nearly fifty years of professional life Dr. Vander Veer has re- ceived many evidences of the esteem in which he is held by his fellows. Albany Medical College conferred an honorary degree of M.D. ; Williams and Hamilton College that of A.M. (1882) ; Union College (now Univer- sity) Ph.D. (1883) ; Columbian University (now George Washington University, Wash- ington, D.C.) in 1904 conferred LL.D., while honorary memberships in societies abroad and at home have been freely bestowed. In many of these he has been active and served as president. In Albany, where he has lived so long, he has ever taken an earnest interest in all that pertains to the public good ; served for many years on the city board of health and was president of the board of special water commissioners. He is a Republican in politics. For more than forty years he has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church and is now an elder.
He married, June 5, 1867, Margaret E., daughter of his friend and preceptor, Dr. Simeon Snow (see forward). Children, all born in Albany, New York; Charles Anson, March 30, 1868, died December 30, 1883 ; Margaret Snow. December 29, 1869, died May 13, 1873; Edgar Albert, James Newell, and Albert Jr., of whom further; Garrett, born May 3, 1885, died August 27, 1900.
(VIII) Edgar Albert, son of Dr. Albert and Margaret E. (Snow) Vander Veer, was born September 29, 1873. He was educated at the Albany Academy : studied one year at Union College; then entered Yale University, where he was graduated with the class of 1895, receiving the degree of Ph.B. He stu- died medicine with his father and entered the Albany Medical College, graduating in class of 1898 as M.D. He was assistant surgeon, United States army, stationed at Fort Mc- Pherson, Georgia, during the Spanish-Ameri- can war. After a year spent abroad he began the practice of his profession in Albany in as- sociation with his father. He is a member of the Albany County Medical Society, Medi- cal Society State of New York, and the Amer- ican Medical Association. He is attending surgeon in the Albany Hospital ; has practiced clinical surgery in the Albany Medical Col- lege, and has a large private practice. He is a member of the Loyal Legion; the Holland Society of New York; the Society of Colo- nial Wars, gaining admission to the latter through the original certificate issued to Cap- tain Roelof Martense Schenck (in New York State archives), said to have been the first military commission issued in Flatbush, Long Island; Philip Livingston Chapter, Sons of the Revolution, and Society of Mayflower De- scendants. He married, June 5, 1900, Harriett, twin daughter of Benjamin W. Wooster and his second wife, Catherine M. (Wright) Wooster; children: Grace, born May 11. 1901: Albert, August 10, 1902; Edgar Albert Jr., June 15, 1906.
(VIII) James Newell, son of Dr. Albert and Margaret E. (Snow) Vander Veer, was born December 12, 1877. He is a graduate of the Albany Academy: of Union Univer- sity, A.B., class of 1899 : of Albany Medical College, M.D., 1903: Union, conferred in course, 1903, the degree of A.M. He began the practice of medicine in Albany in as- sociation with his father and is in active prac- tice. He is lecturer on surgical technic, and instructor in genito-urinary surgery, Albany Medical College. He is chief of surgical staff of the Albany Hospital, attending surgeon at the South End Dispensary and Home of the Friendless, and consulting surgeon of The House of the Good Shepherd. He is a mem- ber of the American Medical Association, Al- bany County Medical Society, Medical Socie- ty of State of New York, American Acad- emy of Medical Science, and a life member of the Anglo-American Medical Association of Berlin, Germany. In 1904 and again in 1905-06, Dr. Vander Veer was abroad, doing post-graduate work in Germany and France.
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He is assistant surgeon of the Tenth Regi- ment, New York National Guard, Medical Corps, with rank of lieutenant. He was ma- jor of the cadet battalion of the Albany Acad- emy, 1894-95. His clubs are the Clinical, Uni- versity and Fort Orange of Albany, and the Alpha Delta Phi Club of New York. Through maternal ancestors he is a member of the So- ciety of Mayflower Descendants, and Sons of the Revolution, and through both lines hie en- ters the Holland Society of New York. His fraternities are Alpha Delta Phi and Nu Sig- na Nu. He married, December 3, 1908, Ada, daughter of Thomas and Cornelia (Quadland) Holt; has one son, Adrian Holt, born No- vember 4, 1909.
(VIII) Albert, son of Dr. Albert and Mar- garet E. (Snow) Vander Veer, was born No- vember 28, 1879. He is a graduate of the Albany Academy, and Yale University, A.B., class of 1900. He passed a year in the study of medicine at Albany Medical College, then entered the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of New York, where he was graduated M.D., class of 1904. He is in active practice in New York City ; visiting physician, of Red Cross Hospital ; assistant attending physician at Hospital for the Ruptured and Crippled ; assistant physician of New York Dispensary ; assistant physician of out-patient department of St. Luke's Hospital; clinical assistant of Vanderbilt Clinic; member of Alumni Asso- ciation of Sloane Maternity and of Roosevelt hospitals ; founder of the University Club, Al- bany ; member of Yale Club of New York, Holland Society of New York, Albany So- ciety of New York, Quiz Club, Omega Club, Alpha Delta Phi, and the City, State and Na- tional Medical associations. He is unmar- ried.
(The Snow Line).
This is an ancient New England family, to be found from the earliest days figuring prom- inently in the annals of Massachusetts. The American ancestor and first emigrant. William Snow, born in England, 1624, came to Amer- ica in 1637, settled at Duxbury, Massachusetts, afterward was of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He married Rebecca, daughter of Peter Brown, who came in the "Mayflower."
(II) William (2), son of William (1) and Rebecca (Brown) Snow, was born in Bridge- water, Massachusetts, where he married, reared a family and died; his wife was Naomi Whitman.
(III) Eleazer, son of William (2) and Na- omi (Whitman) Snow, was also of Bridge- water. Massachusettes. He married, in 1728, Mercy King.
(IV) Reuben, son of Eleazer and Mercy
(King) Snow, was born in Bridgewater, Mas- sachusetts, but removed to Easton, Massachu- setts. He married Hannah Willis, a descend- ant in the sixth generation from Isaac Aller- ton, a "Mayflower" passenger, and the fifth signer of the "Compact."
(V) Simeon, son of Reuben and Hannah (Willis) Snow, was a merchant of Boston in 1812, afterward a manufacturer of nails and hardware. He married Polly Phillips.
(VI) Dr. Simeon (2), son of Simeon (1) and Polly (Phillips) Snow, was born in Mans- field, Massachusetts, February 17, 1803, died in Currytown, Montgomery county, New York, September 20, 1865. His early life was spent on the farm. He received a thorough academic education, becoming unusually pro- ficient in Latin and developing great interest and understanding of chemistry. He entered the medical school of William College, grad- uating in 1828. He settled in the town of Root, Montgomery county, New York, in the village of Currytown, where he had a large and successful practice. He was skilled in his profession, and his services were greatly sought after. He was a Democrat in politics and represented Montgomery county in the state senate, 1852-53. He married Margaret Dievendorf, born in Currytown, January 10, 1811, died in Albany, New York, April 19, 1884, daughter of Jacob Dievendorf, a pioneer settler of the county, who had the unusual ex- perience not only of being scalped by the In- dians but of surviving the operation and living to the age of eighty-four (see Simm's "Bor- der Wars," and "History of Montgomery and Fulton Counties"). Children: Jacob Dieven- dorf, married Margaret Failing; Elizabeth, married Seth Ramsey, M.D .; Norman Leslie, married Elizabeth Smith ; William Russell, died in childhood; Horatio Nelson, unmar- ried: Charles Sidney, married Janet Lipe ; Margaret, see forward; George Anson, mar- ried Fanny Dievendorf.
(VII) Margaret, daughter of Dr. Simeon (2) and Margaret (Dievendorf) Snow, was born in Currytown, Montgomery county, New York, September 20, 1845. She married, June 5, 1867, Dr. Albert Vander Veer (see Vander Veer VII). The young couple began life to- gether in Albany, where for nearly half a century they have lived. She is a member of the First Presbyterian Church, as are her hus- band and three surviving sons, (1909), all physicians of high repute. She is a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, Daughters of the Revolution, the social and other organizations of the city. The children of Dr. Albert and Margaret (Snow) Vander Veer thus trace through seven generations
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(they being the eighth) direct to a Hollander and an Englishman, collaterally to a French- man. But, as the military record of the Van- der Veers show, the commingling of blood has produced patriotic Americans.
(IV) Garret, third son
VAN DERVEER of Tunis (q. v.), and Aeltje (Schenck) Van-
der Veer, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, December 14, 1731, died there Janu- ary 31, 1803. He married, April 20, 1756, Jane, daughter of Henry and Sarah (Schenck) Voorhees, by whom he had seven children. ( In this line the family follows the Van Der- veer form of the family name).
(V) John, third child and second son of Garret and Jane (Voorhees) Van Derveer, was born in Monmouth county, New Jersey, April 4, 1765, died May 8, 1839, in Mont- gomery county, New York. While yet a young man he came with one of his brothers to Montgomery county, where he proposed to make his home, and to that end bought property in what was then the town of Flor- ida, and is now just outside of the fifth ward of the city of Amsterdam. Here he remained a short time, and then returned to New Jer- sey in order to marry the sweetheart whom he had left behind him, and whom he brought at once to the new home he had made for her. For the remainder of his life he lived on his farm in Montgomery county, New York, where he was fairly prosperous, became a man of some influence, and was highly es- teemed and respected by the community in which he lived. He married, April 7, 1791, Catharine, born November 5, 1771, died Jan- uary 26, 1850, daughter of Cornelius R. and Jane (Denise) Conover, of Monmouth county, New Jersey, granddaughter of Roeloff and Sarah (Voorhies) Cowenhoven, great-grand- daughter of Cornelis Willemse and Margrietje Roelofse (Schenck) van Couwenhoven, great- great-granddaughter of Willem Gerritse and Jannetje Pieterse (Monfoort ) Couwenhoven, great-great-great-granddaughter of Ger- ret Wolfertse van Couwenhoven and Aeltje, daughter of Cornelis Lambertse Cool, and great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Wolfert Gerretse and Neeltje van Couwen- hoven, the emigrants from Amersfoort to Rensselaerwyck, where as early as 1630 he was superintendent of farms. Cor- nelius R. Conover died at an advanced age in New Jersey, and his widow, who survived him, then came to Montgomery county, New York, to the home of her daugh- ter and son-in-law, and died there. Children of John and Catharine (Conover) Van Der-
veer : I. Jane, born February 24, 1792, died April, 1876; married (first) Joseph Stanton ; (second) John Sherburn; both now deceased. 2. Cornelius, born April 20, 1794, died May 13, 1843; accidentally killed on the outskirts of Amsterdam while blasting stone; married (first) Maria H. Phillips; (second) Sarah Shuler; both now deceased. 3. Sarah (Sal- lie), born April 4, 1796, died April 20, 1864; married (first) George Serviss; (second) James Greenman ; both now deceased. 4. Gar- ret, referred to below. 5. Tunis G., born April 7, 1800, died August 21, 1871. 6. John Jr., born June 16, 1807, died January 25, 1889; married (first) Mary Conover, of New Jersey; (second) Elizabeth Serviss, both now deceased. 7. Catharine J. A., born Octo- ber 4, 1809, died March 23. 1890; married Peter I. Enders, who died leaving two chil- dren, Jacob and Kate, both now deceased. 8. Henry, born November 12, 1812, died Feb- ruary 15, 1837; married Martha A. Conover ; had one child, born April 8, 1835, died July 5, 1837.
(VI) Garret, fourth child and second son of John and Catharine (Conover) Van Der- veer, was born February 1, 1798, died May 25, 1885. He married, May 13, 1824, Mary Young, born July 30, 1799, died February 28, 1859. Children: 1. Peter Young, born June 21, 1825, died June 4, 1887; married, Sep- tember 5, 1850, Rachel Vander Veer, born October 1, 1828, died April 30, 1885. 2. Catharine, born November 28, 1826; unmar- ried, resides in Florida. 3. Sarah A., born November 28, 1828, died December 8, 1903 ; married R. Taylor Johnson March 19, 1846; he died 1901. 4. Jane, born January 31, 1831 ; married Reuben Munson Hartley, born March 10, 1858; three children. 5. John J., born June 2, 1833, residing in Amsterdam. 6. Tu- nis, born October 31, 1835 ; lives with brother George, unmarried. 7. William Spencer, born October 8, 1837 ; married, September 15, 1863, S. Augusta Parks ; children : Mary E., Kath- arine, Jay Howard and G. Herbert. 8. George, referred to below. 9. Henry, born April 11, 1842, died September 17, 1842.
(VII) George, fifth son of Garret and Mary (Young) Van Derveer, was born March 28, 1840. While his opportunities for an educa- tion were confined inore or less to the public schools, he always carried off the lattrels for his effort in public speaking, music and pen- manship, and to these early characteristics he owes much of the pleasure and his identity in life, as he was in constant demand for many years as a public lecturer and organizer of Patrons of Husbandry organizations through- out the state. He organized the state and
.
avocat.
Gros Vanko.
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HUDSON AND MOHAWK VALLEYS
county grange and has been a working mem- ber for fifteen years, being at present (1910) secretary of the local grange, and still keenly interested in the principle of that movement. During the civil war, when a young man, he organized the first musical band in this part of the state, and its first public performance was to play a funeral dirge at the burial of the first two soldiers to be killed out of the regiment that was made up at Amsterdam, they being killed at the battle of Harper's Ferry. As a musician he has given many per- formances, but of late years has given less at- tention to it. He devotes his time and atten- tion to his farm and the breeding of high grade registered stock, as well as pet stock and poultry, being the first to introduce the fa- mous Rhode Island Red (fowls) into this sec- tion. He has in his possession hundreds of premiums, largely first, taken for his exhibits at the public fairs and exhibitions, which now decorate his home. His speeches at various public places, discussing subjects of local and general importance, won for him a wide repu- tation as an orator and he was engaged for one year on the New England Lyceum Lec- ture Course. He is also an author of note, having written considerable poetry, much of which found favor with the newspapers and magazines in which they appeared from time to time. His retentive memory enables him to call up and repeat every little ditty and poem, both long and short, that he ever learned from the time of his childhood, this being an accomplishment of which any one might be proud. He is serving as district deputy of the State Grange, is a member of the National, State and County Breeders' Club, to the advancement and success of which he has contributed largely, and a life member of the State and County Agricultural Society. He is a Republican in politics, but has never sought or held public office. Mr. Van Der- veer married, October 18, 1876, Belle Mc- Cann. They were the parents of one child, George Jr., who died at the age of nine, yet at that early age he had attracted more than local attention for his aptitude in speaking and giving little musical performances, in which he had been carefully trained by his mother, a woman of strong musical traits.
The family name of VAN DER POEL Van der Poel is the Dutch significance for "from the lake," or marsh, and when the name was first applied undoubtedly this family dwelt beside a small body of water, dammed or hemmed in by natural or artificial means, and thus at a time when Christian names only
were in common use it designated which one of several bearing the same given name was meant. The family lived originally in Go- richem (Groningen?) on the Rhine, but dis- persed about the year 1600, the branch which then went to Amsterdam, Holland, coming to America not long afterwards, from whom those of the name living here are descended.
The branch originated in America by Teu- nis (Anthony) Cornelis Van der Poel (alias Spitsbergen), who had a short existence, for he left no male descendants so far as is known at this day. He was in Beverwyck from 1660 to 1687; married Catrina, daughter of Jo- hannes Croon ; was a magistrate in 1671, and owned one-half of Constapel's Island in the Hudson river opposite Paerde Hoeck. When he died, about 1687 (his will was made June 17, 1687), he left a widow and three daugh- ters, Elizabeth, Maria and Johanna. At this time he was still the owner of a house in Am- sterdam.
There is evidence of two others of the name having been early in this country. Ja- cobus (James) Van der Poel married Mar- garet Jans in New York, July 25, 1693, and Gerrit Van der Poel, a widower, married De- bora Warren, February 12, 1697.
(II) This line of descent originated with Wynant Gerritse Van der Poel, son of Ger- rit Van der Poel, who was probably born in Holland and was in Albany as early as 1657. He resided there until about 1694. He pur- chased a half interest in a saw-mill located on the eastern bank of the Hudson river on what came to be known for the next two centuries and more as the Wynants Kill. He bought it in 1674 from Geertruy Pieterse Vosburgh, widow of Abraham Vosburgh. His last will, made in 1695, shows that he had removed from Albany, as it was indorsed "The Will of Wynant Gerritse Van der Poel, late of Al- bany, now of New York." It was dated Feb- ruary 29, 1695, and was probated April 17, 1702, so the date of his death must have been in the interim. For some reason he be- queathed only six shillings to his son, Mel- gert, and gave the residue of his estate to his son-in-law, William G. Van den Bergh. It is very possible that he provided in the usual way for his children during his life, and in old age resided with his daughter, Catryn, who married Van den Bergh. Wynant Gerritse Van der Poel married Tryntje Melgers. Chil- dren : Cornelia, married Cornelis Gysbertse Van den Bergh before 1685; Melgert Wyn- antse, see forward; Gerrit, married Catrina Van Zandt; Catryn, married William G. Van den Bergh, before 1685; Margariet, married Johannes Van Zandt, about 1683.
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(III) Melgert Wynantse, son of Wynant Gerritse and Tryntje (Melgers) Van der Poel, resided in Albany, and his house, as also his father's fronted on the Fort on State street, in 1675. probably located on the south side of that main street. Not infrequently he wrote his name Melchert. for so it appears on some of the records. It is likely that he died before the year 1700. He married ( first ) Ariaantje, daughter of Abraham Isaacse and Maria (Vigne) Verplanck, by whom he had eight children, and he married (second) Eliz- abeth Teller, by whom he had two children. She was the daughter of William Sr., and Margaret (Donchesen) Teller. By her first husband, as shown by her will, made Febru- ary 19, 1720, she had several children: Mar- garet, married Volckert Douw; Maria, mar- ried John Vinhagen ; Magdalena, married Abraham Lansing, and Helena. She died in that year. Children of Melgert W. Van der Poel : Melgert, see forward; Maria; Trynke; Abraham, married Antje Van den Bergh, January 3, 1713; Wynant, baptized October 14, 1683, married Catharina De Hoogen (or De Hooges), August 17, 1706; Gelyn, bap- tized May 17. 1685; Jacobus (James), born March 9. 1687; Hendrick, baptized June 2, 1689; Wilhelm, born March 19, 1693; Aria- antje, born November 17, 1695.
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