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Start with the oldest part: Schoonover Mastertree1
Schoonovers in America
Welcome Schoonover Genealogy Researchers!
The 17th century De Veerpoort (entrance gate) to the 13th century-old city of Schoonhoven, province of South Holland, Netherlands
August 2021 Note: For those of you who are familiar with this site, you will immediately notice a change in its appearance. Google has mandated that its Google Sites users convert our sites to the "new" Google Sites platform in order to continue to be available to viewers. Whereas (most importantly) it appears all the content has been preserved, certain attributes have not. Most notably, font colors and text highlighting were not carried over - and in some instances this was important or at least visually helpful for the presentation.
In time I will get accustomed to the new navigation and features, and tweak improvements where possible and practical. Please contact me at schoongen@gmail.com if you find any issues or have questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued support and appreciation of this effort.
Please let me know if any links don't work. I realize there exist a number of links to defunct websites, and I will eventually weed those out. But if any embedded documents (such as this) inadvertently have restricted sharing, I want to correct that.
Jay Schoonover August 12, 2021
DNA Testing:
Greetings, everyone. This is particularly directed to males named Schoonover.
Many of you might be familiar with the widely advertised DNA testing provided by Ancestry.com. There is a different kind of DNA test – called the “Y” test – that specifically looks up through only the direct male lineage of the tester, i.e. son to father to father etc. It is particularly useful for genealogy studies of a surname line. FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) is a leading company that provides the Y test. Here is their web site: https://www.familytreedna.com/. Under Y-DNA Paternal Ancestry, click on SHOP NOW. The two levels of basic testing are the Y-37 and Y-111. The Y-111 is highly recommended as it provides the most thorough and conclusive results for surname matching.
Please be assured that this is not a “commercial” for FTDNA. I am the Administrator of the FTDNA Y-DNA “Schoonover Project”. With a small number of test participants, we have already identified five completely different and genetically unrelated Schoonover lines. We need more test participants to help confirm some connections several generations back in the Schoonover lines. This test will not determine a family tree, but it should broadly determine or confirm which Schoonover “line” you’re in, based on your matches with other testers.
Please consider joining this project. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact me at schoongen@gmail.com. Thank you. Jay Schoonover
***P.S. To any Schoonover males who believe are directly descended from Christopher Schoonover 1763-1851 (No. 132 in Mastertree Part 1), i.e. descended from either of the sons Jonas, John, Christopher Jr. or Calvin: We are especially interested in a Y-111 DNA profile for you, from www.familytreedna.com. So much so, that I will offer to pay for that test. Conditional with this, I will want to be able to reasonably verify your descent from Christopher as you understand it to be. Any questions about this may be directed to me at schoongen@gmail.com. Thank you.
Jay Schoonover
2015 Update:
Mary Frances Schoonover, proprietor of the Schoonovers in America website (and its core “Mastertree” predecessor) since 1999, passed away unexpectedly on December 30, 2014. Her contributions toward preserving and advancing our genealogy, and generously helping so many others in this pursuit, have been immeasurable. I enjoyed the pleasure and benefits of collaborating with her for over 12 years, and she will be greatly missed.
Link to Memorial for Mary
Although Mary’s sudden departure precluded her from officially passing the torch, I and others believe she would have approved of my stepping in, and with that I extend sincere thanks to Jason Schoonover and Mike Schoonover for their support and confidence in my stewardship.
James M. (“Jay”) Schoonover
Terre Haute, Indiana
Contact: schoongen@gmail.com
ON SALE: Westward From New Amsterdam by author JASON SCHOONOVER. His genealogical work - in the making since 1968, over 1,700 pages, almost 250,000 words and with hundreds of images - bulges with background on our earliest generations. It is the definitive source. It includes a vast amount on Claus and Guert, Hendrick, colorful Kit Davids, the celebrated Bastard Line launched during the Peg Leg Derick Van Vliet/Debra Davids-Van Schoonhoven illicit affair, and New Amsterdam. Find out more about this remarkable work, including an excerpt, and how to order HERE.
Purpose, History, Format, and Acknowledgments - by Mary Schoonover:
The primary purpose of this website is to make available the Schoonover Mastertree. This large file of Van Schoonhoven, Schoonhoven, and Schoonover family tree information was begun and assembled by Roger Schoonover. He sent out surveys to over 2,000 Schoonovers all across America and many responded and generously shared their family trees. Roger combined this data with information gathered for decades by Glen Schoonover. Glen eventually asked Roger to continue his work. The Schoonover Clearinghouse of over 20,000 names connected to Schoonover descendants was organized and the work started on the Schoonover Mastertree on computer format. Initially, it was posted and maintained on the Internet by Kristen Schoonover. When other demands on her time intervened, she forwarded the file to me. I sent that 1999 Schoonover Mastertree document out to anyone who requested it, until I finally figured out how to create a simple website. Recently, due to failing health, Roger sent all of his records and research materials to me. There are thousands of pages of typed and handwritten surveys and family histories, many clearly showing the results of much time and effort. I intend to gradually re-examine these and make sure the information sent has been recorded on the Mastertree.
Schoonovers in America was recently available on Yahoo GeoCities until Yahoo decided to close GeoCities. After much deliberation, I've now transferred it to Google Sites, giving me easier site management but making it necessary to divide the large Schoonover Mastertree into 15 parts. The Mastertree was already large when I got it in 1999 so its original format is still being used. This decimal system is a little confusing, but there is now a Search this site tool included at the top of each Part that is provided free by Google--not perfect but better than nothing. Try searching for the wife's last name or the most unusual first name in the family. When you get to the right Part, use the Ctrl-F keys on your computer to search for a name within that Part.
I have also created an Index to Mastertree Parts, a handy key to what entries are included in each part. Remember, the names have been added chronologically; the higher the numbers, the closer the names are to the present day. Immediately following every name, the first names of the father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc. are shown in parentheses. In the example below, to find information about Francis' father, Lorenzo Denton Schoonover, go to the Index to Mastertree Parts and find where 2119 would be included among the children's entries. Repeat the process for each earlier generation. If there are newer generations added for Francis' children, look for the Part which would include the numbers for his children, 3063, 3064, and 3065.
2119. Francis Testerman Schoonover (Lorenzo Denton, Marshall, Joseph, Benjamin Schoonhoven, Thomas Van Schoonhoven, Niclaes, Hendrick Claessen, Claes Hendrickse, Hendrich1 Van Schoonhoven) was born May 27, 1895 in Arrington, Kansas, and died August 05, 1968 in Valley Falls, Kansas. He married Irbie May Allcock September 05, 1919 in Halton, KS.
Children of Francis Schoonover and Irbie Allcock are:
3063 i. Gifford ONeal Schoonover, born June 19, 1920; died May 08, 1986.
3064 ii. Wanema Hope Schoonover, born November 06, 1921. She married George Joseph Sell January 01, 1947.
3065 iii. Noel Herbert Schoonover, born June 27, 1922; died February 20, 1984.
People report errors in the tree. While Schoonover researchers are making ongoing corrections, use the tree with caution. Bear in mind that much of the tree has been gathered from various sources. It is filled with family members' memories, recopied family records, early Schoonover genealogies, efforts of well-intentioned family genealogists and Federal and State Census records. Errors may appear in all these sources. Even Census records may include Census takers' errors, unreadable penmanship, variations in the spelling of names, the use of names commonly used instead of the names on birth records, innocently or purposely made mistakes in birth dates, confusion about the names of people living in the same house who may or may not have been children, etc. Schoonovers, as other families do, frequently name children after older relatives, making it hard to distinguish exactly which son or daughter or cousin is listed. Gradually many of these errors are being corrected with more people interested in genealogy and more resources available. It is good practice to verify the information on your line. I have updated entries with added information provided on message boards, websites, cemetery records, and additional Schoonover trees sent to me. Jay Schoonover has agreed to help me with maintaining the Mastertree and to work on questions that come in from other Schoonover researchers.
Thanks go to Bob Schoonover for sending the large ged file which provided many more descendents of Nicholas Schoonover, b. 1775 Walpack, NJ. I also owe sincere thanks to Ward Elliott Schoonover, Jay Schoonover, and Bonnie Dhuy who, with meticulous research, have worked to untangle the large families of Richard and Christopher Schoonover, sons of Jonas Van Schoonhoven and Engeltje Van De Water. Patty B. Myers kindly sent a draft of her first-rate research on the Ancestors and Descendants of Thomas Henry Bedford and His Wife Susan Rosina Schoonover, with related families. I have made updates on this line in the Mastertree crediting Patty's work where she has provided background on individuals in these Tioga County, NY and New Jersey lines of Schoonovers. I have added information I've discovered about my line and my cousin Jason Schoonover, writer extraordinaire, has added more. I have met via email Norwood Barris, author of Dutch Cousins: 784 Descemdants of Geurt Hendrickse Van Schoonhoven of Albany and Half Moon, NY. The Van Schoonhoven line has been updated largely through his kind offer of assistance. Thanks and kudos to Donald Green and Tony Schoonover who have completed their great family story and tree, From New York to Texas: The Schoonover Family Frontier Saga. Don sent his GED file to me, also, which I will check to add and update Mastertree entries. Thanks also go to Mike Schoonover who is hard at work trying to identify and connect Indiana and Ohio Schoonovers.
IMPORTANT! Remember to check with living relatives for their permission to include their names on the Internet! I can only add trees that can be linked to an ancestor on the Mastertree. In your message, please indicate which Schoonover you are updating or adding further generations by noting the number assigned to him or her preceding the name on the Mastertree. But, I may be able to help connect your family using Census records and some information from you. To keep the Masterfile a manageable size, I am adding descendents with the Schoonover name only. I have extended this to include the generation with a Schoonover daughter's husband and children, but not her grandchildren, etc.
NOTE: You are welcome to create your own family tree by copying entries in your line for personal use by you or your family. Making copies of the entire site or the entire Schoonover Mastertree for commercial use is not permitted.
Other purposes of this website are to offer interesting information about noteworthy Schoonovers and the name itself, and to provide references and resources that may further assist researchers. For example:
These records were transcribed by Jay Schoonover:
· Schoonover Baptisms & Marriages--Kingston
· Schoonover Baptisms & Marriages--Minisink Valley
Historian Andrew Brink has given me (Mary Schoonover) permission to add his article to this website: "The Van Schoonhovens: Enterprising Immigrants," by Andrew Brink, from The Holland Society of New York, "de Halve Maen", Summer, 1999. The pdf file is linked to its title on the Other Resources page and here.
