Sarah Jane Van Horn?
wife of John Boorem III
by Jeffrey L. Thomas
Sarah Jane, John Boorem’s first wife, has always been something of a mystery that continues to confound my research. While most of my ancestral connections are relatively neat and tidy, the circumstances of Jane’s childhood are anything but. Jane was the daughter of Mary Van Horn, and was born in Monroe County in 1842. The problem is that the identity of Jane’s father remains a mystery, and therefore there is a great deal of confusion over her maiden name. In various records her name is given as Simons, Simeson, Starner, and Van Horn. Her mother Mary Van Horn was the daughter of John Van Horn and his second wife Susan Sterner. John was the son of Revolutionary War veteran Benjamin Van Horn, one of the early settlers of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, while Susan’s father, Michael Sterner, was another of Monroe County’s earliest settlers. In 1844 Mary Van Horn married Joseph Starner, and their first child William was born later that year. The problem is that Mary gave birth to her daughter Sarah Jane two years earlier in 1842.The first record we have of Jane is from the 1850 census, where we find her living with her grandmother Susan Van Horn in Jackson Township. John Van Horn died sometime between 1840 and 1850, so in the 1850 census his wife Susan is listed as the head of an extended household that included her children and grandchildren. The returns list Jane as Sarah J. Simons, age nine. Meanwhile Jane’s mother Mary and her husband Joseph Starner and their family were living in nearby Coolbaugh Township. These are the first indications that Joseph Starner was not Jane’s father.
But the implications of Jane living with her grandmother go further. If Jane had been Mary’s legitimate daughter from a previous marriage, then the logical place for her in the 1850 census is with her mother and father-in-law. Relevant to this is the Civil War pension file of Joseph Starner. After Joe Starner died his widow Mary tried to claim a Civil War pension based on her husband’s service in the army, however documents contained in the file make it clear that Joe Starner never served in the Civil War. The important point here as it relates to Jane, is the fact that affidavits contained in the file state that Joseph Starner was Mary’s only husband - she had not been married before or after. All this leads to the likely conclusion that Jane was Mary’s illegitimate daughter. While the daughter of a previous marriage was acceptable, an illegitimate child was not always welcome in a new family situation. This probably explains why Jane was not living with Joe and Mary Starner in 1850, and the confusion over her maiden name.
Nevertheless, there are certain records that list Jane as the daughter of Joseph and Mary Starner, including "The Van Horn Family History" by Francis Marvin, and a biography of Joe and Mary’s son William found in "Biographical Record of Northeastern Pennsylvania," a book published in the late 1890s. So, while it is clear that Joseph Starner was not Jane’s father, it is also clear that she was still considered by some to be part of the Starner family. The aforementioned "Biographical Record" also features a biography of Jane’s husband John Boorem, and it is here that we find our only reference to Jane’s father, who John Boorem calls "Isaac Simeson". While I have found no such person in any Monroe County records, the important point is that John clearly names someone other than Joseph Starner as Jane’s father.
The next time we see Jane is in the census of 1860. She is again living with her grandmother Susan Van Horn, who by this time was in her seventies, however by 1860 the family had moved from Jackson to Paradise Township. This time Jane is listed as Sarah J. Van Horn, age 18. This is significant because it proves that Jane was living close to John Boorem, the man she would marry in 1866. Prior to this discovery it seemed likely that John and Jane first met after John was discharged from the army during the Civil War. Now we have to consider the possibility that they may have known each other before John enlisted in the Union Army in 1861.
John Boorem was discharged from the Army in late 1862 and returned home in early 1863. In his biography he states that afterwards he moved to eastern Pennsylvania where he followed the lumber trade for a couple of years before returning home and marrying Jane in 1866. If this is true, (and we have to keep in mind that John Boorem was in his sixties when he recounted this information to his biographer), these dates present a problem, because various records indicate that his daughter Susan (Susie) Boorem, was born in 1863.
Regardless, John and Jane’s next child was the aforementioned Ida Catherine Boorem who was born in 1866. Family tradition says that she died from scarlet fever in 1871, and census returns from 1870 and 1880 tend to support this notion; she is present in the returns of 1870, but absent in 1880. Her place in the family has only recently been reestablished using information from the 1870 census and the aforementioned pension file.
John and Jane’s next child was daughter Agnes Boorem born in 1867, followed by Joseph Hooker Boorem, my great grandfather, in 1872. The last child born to John and Jane Boorem was Laura Jane in 1874. Unfortunately Jane Boorem died shortly after Laura was born at age 32. Family tradition claims that Laura was the surviving daughter of twins born to her mother and it was Laura’s stillborn twin that caused Jane’s death. Apparently those attending the birth were unaware of the second child. Jane and her stillborn infant were buried at the nearby Methodist church cemetery in Mountainhome. Although there are three family members buried in the Boorem plot in Mountainhome (Addie, Jane, and Hooker Boorem’s infant son John), there are no markers to identify their graves.
The death of his wife must have weighed heavily on John Boorem, who at the time had three underage children still at home. Although his children Susie, Agnes and Hooker would continue to live with their father, who remarried in 1879/80, John apparently asked his brother-in-law Joe Starner to raise the infant Laura. Joe Starner was Jane’s half-brother, the son of Joseph Starner and Jane’s mother Mary Van Horn. Joe Starner and his wife Jane Reinhardt had no children, so they agreed to take Laura and raise her as their own in nearby Tobyhanna Mills. Here again we see another link between Jane and the children of Joseph and Mary Van Horn Starner, and the fact that Laura was taken by her mother’s brother is also a good indication that John Boorem knew his wife’s family.
Jane Boorem’s death was a sad ending to what appears to have been a difficult life. She was raised by her grandmother rather than her mother and stepfather, was likely an illegitimate child, and may have had an illegitimate child herself. She died at age 32 and is buried in an unmarked grave with her daughter and grandson. We can only hope that she was treated well while growing up in her grandmother’s household, and that she found happiness in her marriage to John Boorem. It is my hope that I will one day locate her grave and perhaps place a small marker in the cemetery in honor of her memory.
Below: John Boorem and the children of his first wife Jane:
Hooker, Agnes, John Boorem, Laura, Susie
Below: the Mountainhome Methodist Church Cemetery
Below: Is this the site of the Boorem family plot in the cemetery?
The four corner markers shown in the photograph next to the back wall of the church are marked "B".
Return to the John Boorem III page
Text and photographs copyright © by Jeffrey L. Thomas, with all rights reserved
e-mail: jltbalt1@verizon.net
