SKETCH OF CORNELIUS VAN HORN.

An Exploring Party -Captured by the Indians.

CORNELIUS VAN HORN, one of the orig-
inal Pioneers of Crawford County, who lived
the greater part of his long and useful life
here, was born in Hunterdon County, New
York, December 16, 1750. He was the 
eldest child of Thomas and Jane Van Horn, and was of
Dutch descent, his ancestors having come from Holland to
this country over a hundred years before his birth.

His father died a short time before the Revolutionary
War, intestate, although after his death the draft of a will
was discovered, unexecuted, which indicated the manner in
which he wished to dispose of his property among his six
children ; but under the laws of England then in force in
the Colonies, Cornelius became sole heir to his father's
estate. But the subject of this sketch not being willing to
take the advantage of his brothers and sisters, which the
law gave him, took immediate and effective steps to have
his brothers and sisters put into the possession and owner-
ship of the different parts of the estate, to which the unex-
ecuted will, if it had been properly executed, would have
entitled them.

The part allotted to Cornelius was a tract of land in
the Wyoming Valley, near or upon which the city of
Wilkesbarre now stands. He moved on to this tract of land,

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