Jan VAN METER

                   Witnesses Jan Joosten, Mayken Hendricz, Jacob Du Bois
	1  PURC
	2  DATE 1724
	2  PLAC Monacacy River, Frederick co, Maryland, USA
	2  NOTE 600 acres called "Metre"
	1  PURC
	2  DATE 1732
	2  PLAC Frederick co, Maryland, USA
	2  NOTE 150 acres called "Pipe Meadows"

Occupation: Horse breeding.
Alia: Van Metre, Van Matre, Mator

Settled in Salem County, NJ in 1714± with brothers Isaac and Henry; was John the Indian Trader who, prior to 1730, accompanied the Delaware Indians on their raid against the Catawba Indians, and saw the valley of the Shenandoah River and of the South branch of the Potomac; obtained land grant in 1730 from Governor Gooch and Virginia Colonial Council.

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"Jan (John) in 1683 who later settled in Berkeley County, Virginia, dying there in 1745, leaving eleven children one of whom, Elizabeth, married Col. Thomas Shepherd and another Soloman Hedges mentioned in Geo. Washington's Journal when surveying beyond the Blue Ridge 1747-48."

"Joost Jan Van Meteren became sufficiently Americanized to spell his name John instead of Jan, and finally dropped the 'n' off, thus leaving the name Van Metre. So Joost Jans is the John Van Meter a 'Dutchman from the Hudson' who was the noted Indian trader and explorer of the Shenandoah Valley who 'Spied out the land' about the time of Governor Spotswood's Expedition, 1716. He equipped a band of Delaware of Caugh Indians and while on this expedition he explored the country then almost unknown to the white people, the Valley of the south branch of the Potomac (known then by the Indian name of the Wappatomake).  On his return he advised his sons to take up the land in 'The Wappatomica Valley in the south Branch Bottom above the Trough,' as it was the finest land he had discovered in all his travels. By the nature of his life, his habitation was seldom fixed for a definite length of time, but proof exists that he dwelt at different periods in the states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania."

"On April 23, 1705, he [Gysbert Crom] conveyed to Jan Joosten van Meteren of the City of New York his interest 'in the estate of Jan Joosten which was bequeathed unto him, the said Gysbert either by words or writing.' . . . The grantee, by the way, was not the original Jan Joosten, but his grandson of the same name. This is indicated by the following record: on April 24, 1705, Gysbert Crom, at his house 'in the Limits of Marbletown,' witnessed an agreement between 'Jon Joosten van Meteren, son of Joost Janse van Meteren, son of Jan Joosten van Meteren, in his life time living at East Jarsey,' and 'Maycke Jooste, widow of Jan Joosten van Meteren,' wherein Maycke conveyed to her grandson 'her right of inheritance in her husband's estate,' for '45 pieces of eight of 15 penny weight to be paid her annually, the child of a negress about 5 years old named Lea, to be delivered to her order in the Jerseys . . . with condition that the aforesaid Maycken may dispose of the . . . child as she pleases.' Maycke was also to receive 'honourable burial' (Ulster County Land Deeds AA, pp. 340-41)."

An inventory of the personal estate of 'John Joost van Metere' was attested by 'John Van Mater' (the grandson), in Burlington, New Jersay, June 13, 1706. The above John Van Mater was Jan Joosten, son of Joost Jans and Sara Du Bois, baptized in Kingston, October 14, 1683 (KgB:No. 329)."

"Here his [Jan Joosten's] grandsons, Jan, Hendrick and Isaac Van Meteren, first bought 3000 acres of land, which subsequently grew into 6000 acres, so that the Van Meterens were early among the largest property owners and most prominent residents of southern New Jersey."

"With regard to the identity of John Van Metre, the Indian trader, it seems impossible to reconcile the various statements made about him, and his family; or to determine positively the relationship, is any, existing between him and Isaac Van Metre of Salem, N.J. . . . In his petition to Governor Gooch for the Virginia lands, John Van Metre informs us that he is of the 'govt. of New York,' and has a family of eleven children; of whom, says D.S. Van Metre, in West Va., Magazine, April 1902; there were five sons and six daughters. John Van Metre's will proved at Winchester, Va., in 1745, proves this to be correct, and give the names of his children. They were: Abraham, Isaac, Henry and Jacob, sons; Sarah, Mary, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Magdalena and Rachael, daughters. Johannis and Joanna, grandchildren; son and daughter of his eldest son Johannes (the German form of Dutch Jan), deceased; both under age. Johannes, being deceased, the order which the names were written may not have been the same as of their birth. Three of these names agree with the baptismal names of Joost Jan Van Meteren's children, at Kingston. Jan, the eldest b. 1683; Rebecca, b. 1686; Lysbeth, b. 1689. . . .Elizabeth m. Thomas Shepherd."

Sometime after this date [1741] Isaac and Hannah Van Metre, their children Henry and Sarah and their families emigrated to the South Branch of the Potomac, and no doubt, it was this Isaac, son (?) of John and Sara Van Meter who was associated with his father (?) John in procuring the grant of 40, 000 acres of Valley lands from Governor Gooch, some years before. In their respective petitions, John Van Meter sates that he is from the 'Govt. of New York; to him was allotted 30,000 acres for 20 families, including his own (of 11 children), relatives and friends. . . by 1732 the Van Metres wil have settled the 30 families upon the granted lands. For some reason which does not yet appear, the Van Meters transferred or assigned their holdings to Jost Hite . . . John Van meter, with his contingent from New York and Penna. proceeded at once, by way of the old Indian trails through Pennsylvania - to Opequon, Virginia, and settled there under new grants from Jost Hite."

"The late J.B. Kerfott of Martinsburg, Va., supplies the following: . . . He also says, that according to tradition the first wife of John Van Metre was Sara Berdine, of a New York Huguenot family. Evidently the name has been confused and du Bois is probably meant [confused with father's wife?]. John Van Meter m. 2nd, Margerat ________. The will mentions her name. It also disposes of about 3,400 acres, of lands, some of which had been bought of Jost Hite, some acquired of others, and some that lay in Maryland, that was probably bought before he settled in Virginia. He signs his name 'John Metor.' There is some reason to assume that John Van Metre after settling his son (?) Isaac, at Salem, N.J., in 1716, resumed his business relations with the Indians of New York, and as they made frequent incursions into the country of their natural enemies the Catawbas and Cherokees in the Carolinas, Van Metre often accompanied them south to the Holston. At Monocacy, Md., where a number of German and Quaker families from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, had settled about 1725 - John Van Meter, and possibly Isaac, too, bought considerable land, and here John may have established his family - Jan's in particular - where they would be centrally located on the trail of the trading expeditions between New York and athe Carolinas. His sons Johannes and Isaac both owned land at Monocacy, here Johannes lived and died, perhaps a few years after his marriage as he left only two children. This would account to some extent, for the absence of any mention of Johnannes in the accounts and traditions of the Virginia family. Here too, it is possible, that Abraham Van Metre met and married Ruth Hedges; Rebecca, Solomon Hedges, and Elizabeth Thomas Shepherd. Both the Hedges and the Shepherd families were prominent in Maryland before they appeared in Virginia. Even prior to 1725, the Hedges, Shepherds, Zanes and othere were among the early Quaker settlers in Salem, N.J., and it is unlikely that the genesis of the families of that name in the valley of Virginia, may be traced to an origin in Fenwick's Colony, Salem County, N.J."

"A particular instance which involves quite a group of the Van Metre family is found in 'An Indenture dated June 19, 1714, between Colonel Daniel Coxe, of Burlington, of the one part, and Jacob du Bois, of the county of Salem, and John Van Metre and Isaac Van Metre, of the county and division aforesaid, of the other part,' recites that Daniel Coxe purchased Thomas William's land in Salem County - 7,000 acres - in consideration of '£750 lawful pounds money of New York, at eight shillings the ounce,' and the said Coxe conveys unto the said Jacob du Bois, Sara du Bois, John Van Metre and Isaac Van Metre, 3.000 acres beginning on a branch of the Maurice River, and being part of the 7,000 acres taken up upon the right of the three parperty purchases of Thomas Williams by Daniel Coxe. Shourds, the Salem county historian, states that 'these parties divided their lands by the compass, the du Bois taking theirs on the north side of a line and the Van Metres on the south side. The Van Metres continued to purchase until they owned a very large portion of the land reaching from the Overshot Mill on Upper Alloways creek, near Daretown, southeasterly to Fork Bridge, about 6,000 acres in all.' The grantees thereof were Sarah du Bois, wife or widow, of the elder John Van Metre; her two sons, John and Isaac Van Metre; and her brother, Jacob du Bois. Here Sarah established her son Isaac permanently, as she thought, as by a deed dated 27 May, 1726, reciting' for and in consideration of the love, good will and affection I have and do bear toward my loving and dutiful son Isaac Van Metre of the province aforesaid,' the mother transfers to him three hundred and two acres of land lying at Pile's Grove between Nickomus Run and Salem creek. Possession of this property was taken over by Isaac on the 26th of May, 1726, in the presence of Cornelius Elting Jr. In Salem, prior to 1709, is a record in the 'Eare Marke Book' reciting that John and Isaac Van Metre, Jr. had recorded cattle and swine. The amibition, and that restless spirit, inherited from the father with his vision and early advice, inspired the two Van Metre brothers to launch the sceme to colonize their relatives and friends in the Valley of Virginia. Between them John Van Metre and his brother Isaac they obtained from Governor Gooch, of the British Crown and council of Virginia, on the 30th of June 1730, a grant of forty thousand acres of land, unappropriated and unsurveyed, in Spottsylvania county in the Northern Neck of Virginia."

"Copy from the Original Van Meter Grants
'At a council held in the capitol the 17th day of June, 1730. . . On reading at this Board the Petition of John Van Metre setting forth that he is desirious to take up a Tract of land in this Colony on the West side of the Great Mountains for the settlement of himself and eleven children and also that divers of his Relations and friends living in the Government of New York are also desirous to move their families and effects and Settle in the same place if a Sufficient Quantity of land may be assigned them for that purpose and praying that ten thousand acres of land lying in the forks of the Sherando River including the places called by the name of Cedar Litch and Stoney Lick and running up between the branches of the said river to complete that quantity and twenty thousand acres not already taken up by Robert Carter and Mann Page, Esqrs., or any other, - lying in the fork between the sd River Sherando and the River Cohongroota and extending thence to Operkon and up the South Branch thereof may be assigned for the Habitation of himself and family and friends. The Governor, with the advice of his council is pleased to give leave to the sd John Van Metre to take up the sd first mentioned tract of ten thousand acres for the set'lem't of himself and his family, and that as soon as the Petitioner shall bring on the last mentioned Tract twenty families to Inhabit on that this Board is satisfied so many are to remove thither leave be and it is hereby granted him for surveying the last mentioned tract of twenty thousand acres within the limits above described in so many several dividens as the pet'r and his sd partners shall think fit. And it is furthered ordered that no person is permitted to enter for or take up any part of the afsd Lands in the meantime provided the sd Van Metre and his family and the twenty other families of his Relations and friends do settle thereon within the space of two years according to his proposal."

"Jan Joosten 2nd. of Meteren (John Van Metre of Virginia) son of Joost Janse of Meteren and Sara du Bois, b. 14 Aug. 1683, Ulster Co., N.Y.; succeeded to his father's rights at Burlington, N.J., Somerset Co., on Raritan R. and his grandfather's land in East Jersey. At the raritan he m. Margaret Bodine, dau. of Isaac Bodine, 1705. . . . John Van Metre and Margaret, with ten of their children, migrated to the little settlement on the Monocacy, East of the Blue Ridge, near the Potomac R. in Prince George's Co., Md cir. 1725-6. He was joined there by his son Johonnes some time after the latter's marriage. He sold his land on the Raritan (N.J.) and acquired other property in Washington Co., Md. In 1730, an immense tract of land in Virginia was obtained as a grant from the government for the settlement of John Van Metre and family of 11 children. He was the patentee and original settler in Virginia. Several histories give the facts as to the removal of the Van Metre brothers to Va., their location, their settlement, their adventures with the Indians, and the protection their forts promised to the surounding settlers. Beyond the Potomac, a few miles from the Monocacy, lay the beautiful limstone valley of Virginia, called by Fairfax, the Lord of that manor, 'The Norhern Neck of Virginia', then mostly in Spottsylvania Co., but since divided into several counties. Ever advancing, restless, and adventurous, Jost Janse's sons, probably following the advice, and possessing the spirit of their father, pushed into this valley and began to develop a colonizing plan. John and Isaac, brothers, 17 June 1730 obtained a grant of virgin lands, lying in the angle formed by the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, and extending far down the valley to the South. To John who spied out the land and his brother Isaac, who joined him in the scheme, the grant was made. They were to bring their families, relatives and friends from Ulster Co., N.Y. and Salem Co., N.J. but the grant of 1730 was later assigned to Hite. Land was granted in Orange Co., Va. in 1734. While an inhabitant of Orange Co., Va., John conveys lands called 'Metre', lying on the Monocacy in Prince George's Co., Md. 1739-1741. Another deed was made for land in Prince George's Co., Md., called 'Meadow'. He made other purchases of land in Frederick Co., Va. 1736, and acres located in Orange Co. on the Opequon Run on the Opequon river. He had first settled near what is now Shepherdstown in Jefferson Co., W. Va. - then Orange Co., next Frederick Co., then Berkley Co. John died in Frederick Co., August 1745, aged 62, leaving his wife Margaret and ten children - his eldest son Johonnes having predeceased him. He left more than 3000 acres to his children. John Van Metre's will, dated 13 Aug. 1745, provated at Winchester, Va. 3 Sept. 1745 is signed, 'John Mator'."

"John Van Meter, here mentioned, was a native of Holland, and settled in or near Esopus, now Kingston, N.Y., prior to 1700. It is related by Kercheval that he was an Indian trader and visited the Valey of Virginia with a company of Delaware Indians, who were on their way south to fight the Catawbas. The time is said to have been some years prvious to the first white settlement, possibly about 1725. The northern Indians, who were probably a raiding party of the Five Nations, were defeated with great loss near present Franklin, Pendleton county, West Virginia, and Van Meter barely escaped with his life. The beauty and fertility of the country so impressed him that he advised his sons to secure lands on the South Banch of the Potomac z9Kercheval History of the Valley, 2nd. ed., 1850, p. 46.) However, the natural obje