Welcome to the Walvoord Family History Homepage. My name is Scott Anthony Walvoord (born in Amarillo, Texas, and currently living in Nashville, Tennessee) and I research Walvoord Family History. I have genealogical records on over 600 persons born with the WALVOORD/WALVOORT name and their families.
In June of 1995, I mailed out an inquiry to the 100 Walvoords in the U.S. that had phone listings at that time. Some came back with bad addresses, and some were not returned. However, of the ones that were returned, much information was received.
After visiting Aalten, Gelderland, in the Netherlands in the Spring of 1997, I came back convinced that most all persons with the WALVOORD or WALVOORT name living in America and most living in Holland are related to each other.
Most of us (American and Dutch) are descended from Derk Anthonij Walvoort (1748-1814) and Janna (Beestman) Walvoort (1756-1834).
Others are related one generation further back when the family name changes to Geesink.
Be sure to check out “Walv-blog” for the latest stories, photos, and news!
Immigrant Ancestors or “The Founding Five”
I’ve identified five branches of Walvoort family immigrant ancestors to come to America. In two cases, a son was sent first, then the father and rest of the family would come. Both father and son are immigrant ancestors, but to make the ancestor lines more clear in my head, I identify the elder ancestor as the “Founder” of that branch in America, regardless of which generation got here first.
All of these “Founding Five” that I have identified to date were the grandsons of Derk and Janna Walvoort, consisting of three brothers and two of their cousins, that settled in America.
Most all Walvoords and Walvoorts living in America are descended from these “Founding Five.”
1848
Two brothers, J.D. Walvoort (1810-1878) and Dirk Anthony Walvoort (1819-1892), settled near Oostburg, Wisconsin in Holland Township of Sheboygan County in 1848 after Wisconsin became the 30th State.
1847-1849
Hendrik Walvoort (1801-1865), was the older cousin of the two brothers above, and he came over with his youngest sister (Jane) and met his son, Gerrit Jan Walvoord (1826-1856), who had immigrated to Pittsburgh in 1847. After a short reunion in Pittsburgh with his son (and new American-born grandson, Henry), Hendrik and family relocated and settled, on the shores of Lake Michigan in Holland Township of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin in 1849 in a settlement that was named Amsterdam by Hendrik.
1866
Another cousin Hendrik Jan Walvoort (1828-1921), settled in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin just after the Civil War ended in 1866. I have the least information on this branch, but it is interesting to note that this branch of the Walvoorts kept the original spelling of the name with the “t” at the end, while the other branches changed the spelling to “Walvoord” with a “d.” It is not known why this change occurred.
1870
The third brother of J.D. and Dirk Anthony was , Gerrit Jan Walvoort (1816-1890), who after joining his son who had arrived first, settled in Nebraska in 1870 with his son William O. Walvoord (1842-1916), the year after the first transcontinental railroad was completed from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California.
The chart below shows what I call, “The Founding Five” highlighted in gold.
Now of course, these “Founding Five” weren’t the only grandchildren of Derk Anthonij Walvoort to immigrate to the New World. He also had two granddaughters settle in Wisconsin. These granddaughters were Jane Walvoord (1825-1894) (the youngest sister of Hendrik Walvoort) who married her cousin Dirk Anthony Walvoort (one of the “Founding Five”) and the other was Johanna Gesina Walvoord (1814-1867) who married her first double-cousin, J.D. Walvoort (also one of the “Founding Five”).
I didn’t want to leave our “Founding Mothers” out of the limelight, for they shaped the Walvoord family in America as much (or more) than the Walvoord men, but since each of these Walvoord women married one of the “Founding Five”, for simplicity, I will continue to refer to the “Founding Five” as the main branches of our Dutch-American roots.
Of course it is certainly true that most all Walvoords and Walvoorts in America descended from the seven grandchildren, it is also true that they descended from the five grandsons.