BOOZ / VANHORN FAMILY … ATTENDEES AT THE 1924 FAMILY REUNION AND THEIR ROOTS AND BRANCHES

The tree on Ancestry.com was compiled with hopes that in searching the attendees at the Aug/Sept 1924 BOOZ /VANHORN reunion, I would come up with some more solid ideas about the origins of Charles and Mercy Ann’s families. In searching Rebecca VanHorn and tracing her … she had been married to Jack Thornley (Thorn) VanHorn. I traced his line and that’s how I came to Burr (or Burris) as Jack’s father. I concluded that since Jack Thornley VanHorn (he passed away 1915 and not at the reunion) was related to the Booz family who were also in attendance at the reunion, and looking at the birth date of Burr, I figured that Burr and Mercy Ann could be brother and sister … or he might have been a cousin or uncle.

Jack Thornley VanHorn's father Burr ...(he is referred to here as “Burr”, though he is refered to in different places as “James Burris”, “Burris”, “Burrous” and a few other variations) is the son of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby. Since Descendants of Arthur VanHorn and Lydia Featherby and also descendants of Charles Booz and Mercy Ann VanHorn were at the same reunion ... it is another clue to my assumption that Mercy Ann is the daughter of Arthur & Lydia.

In compiling this tree, I looked up as much as I could. I researched each of the 85 attendees and searched census records, birth and death certificates and newspaper articles to fill in all the little gaps. I came up with a family tree that leads to more evidence and clues as to the parentage of Mercy Ann VanHorn. This research of the 85 names took about a year to complete with hours a day being spent. The research is still ongoing. The families continued to have reunions together ... the last date of a reunion was Aug 31 1930 and is billed as the "Booz, VanHorn, Deavers Reunion" and is listed as the "seventh annual" reunion. Most of these reunions Carl Joseph was president of ... I have contacted descendants in the Joseph family and they don't seem to have any mementos from the reunions. I was hoping that someone had the keepsakes from the reunion that might solve the WHY and HOW these families were related. I even contacted the Market Street Baptist church to see if Reverend Stokes speaches might be archived ......... no luck!

The connection of the The King family (mentioned in the Reunion article) to the Booz family has now been figured out: (November 15, 2009) Roe King’s wife, Eva M. Bodkin is the daughter of Mabel G. Penn-Bodkin-VanHorn. Mabel was the wife of the above Franklin Arthur VanHorn. She had been married previously and her daughter from that marriage attended with her husband and infant child Roe Jr. … they are NOT related by blood to either the Booz or VanHorn families … only by virtue of Mabel’s second marriage to Franklin Arthur.