INTRODUCTION.

The foundation for this work was laid in 1865, when the author, during a brief visit home from the army, wrote down from the statements of his father, Rufus P. Vorce, a list of the Vorce family as known to the latter. It was then believed by both that, as was often asserted by Samuel Vorce, "all of the Vorces in this country are related," and it was supposed that the list then prepared was nearly complete to that time. Investigations prosecuted during the past four years have shown, however, that there is in this country a very large number of people descended from ancestors by the name of Vorce, none of whom were known to the descendants of Timothy Vorce of Dutchess county, 1746. Exhaustive research having failed to find the connecting link between all these various branches, if it exists, as seems probable, they are perforce treated separately. The descendants of Timothy Vorce, as the original starting point of the work, and the descendants of other branches, more or less completely traced but which appear to be probably consanguineous therewith form Part I. Families descended from ancestors named Vorce or Vorse, but whose connection with those of the first part has not yet been ascertained to be probable, form Part II. The record of related and intermarrying families forms Part III. In the Appendix are given some families not known to be related to any of those in Parts I and II, together with some items of historical and genealogical interest. The nationality of the remote ancestors of the Vorce family is involved in doubt. By most persons the family is claimed to be of French, but by some of Dutch, descent. The great preponderance of family tradition is, however, in favor of the French ancestry. The conflicting traditions of French and Dutch ancestry might be reconciled by supposing the original French ancestors to have gone from France into Holland, and thence to England or America, as many French Huguenots did. This has seemed to the author the most probable solution, and accords well with all the facts known.

These various family traditions are here given for the light they may afford to any who may wish to prosecute the work of tracing out such of the families as are herein incompletely given.

The first tradition, which came to the author from several descendants of Timothy Vorce, is that the family was of French descent and the name was originally LaForce, being changed by dropping the La and converting the Force into Vorce, conformably to the pronounciation of their Dutch neighbors. This change is by some said to have only been completed about the period of the Revolution, and some support for this idea is found in the fact that in the history of Dutchess county a Timothy Force is given as living there in 1775, but no mention is made of any one by the name of Vorce or LaForce. A number of persons by the name of LaForce and Laforce are now living in Canada. A second tradition, coming from various descendants of "old Zebulon Vorce," is that the ancestor came from Holland to New Amsterdam, where "they were all Dutch together," and thence moved up the river to Dutchess county. Other descendants of Zebulon Vorce assert the French ancestry. According to them, Zebulon Vorce was a French Nobleman who came from France to America in the reign of Louis XIV on account of the wars then raging in France, and the confiscation of his property. He settled on Manhattan when there were but very few people there. His son Cary and an Astor were trappers, and had a trading post on the island. He owned a large tract of land on the island, built houses, and laid out village lots. In time, peace being declared in France, he was restored again to citizenship. He returned to France for several years, in the meantime his agent in Manhattan transacting his business for him. In his old age he again came to America, and found there had been great dishonesty going on, land having been sold and money, rents, etc. converted to the agent's gain. He was ill, being troubled with cancer, and did. not push his claim at once. A specialist was sought out for him by his agent and called once and prescribed for the old man, and that was the last of him. He was quietly removed, his relatives thought.

A third tradition, coming from descendants of Allen Vorce, a descendant of Zebulon and an early resident of Yates county, N. Y., is that the family was of French descent and

the name originally DeVorce, the De being dropped by the ancestor on coming from France to America.

A fourth tradition, emanating from John Vorce, of Eaton Rapids, Mich., is that their ancestors were three brothers by the name of Vorce who came from France to America, "banished for their religion." This seems to point clearly to a Huguenot ancestry; and it is further said that the three brothers came to Long Island, where it is known that a considerable number of Huguenot refugees did live.

John B. Vorce, a son of Sylvester Vorce, who lived in Dutchess county in 1785, also claimed to be of French descent, and supposed that the ancestral name "was probably DeVorce."

Finally it is found that a Huguenot named Adrien LaForce lived in Bushwick, on Long Island, in 1684, where he married a Dutch wife, one Jannetje Jans. Zebulon Vorce is said to have also married a Dutch wife, as many of the Huguenots are known to have done.

If in such a matter it were allowable to indulge in supposition, we might easily conclude that Adrien LaForce might have come to New Amsterdam from Holland, whither as a Huguenot refugee he had fled from France during the persecutions preceding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and that his descendants (and perhaps those of his unidentified brothers) had by 1746 removed to Dutchess county, as in 1775 we find Timothy Force, Benjamin Force, and Solomon Force recorded as residing in Dutchess county. The descendants of Benjamin Force (who also wrote his name Vorce), while claiming a French ancestry, supposed the name to have been originally spelled Force. But adhering to known facts and avoiding supposition, it must be admitted that so far no link connecting all the separate families who bore the name of Vorce or Vorse during the colonial period has been found.

A singular and somewhat remarkable fact is, that no help whatever in tracing the genealogy of the family has been derived from searches in all of the great libraries of the country, even with the aid of professional genealogists employed at considerable expense. A few scattered references to persons bearing the names of Vorce or Force were thus found, without any connected information as to their ancestry or descendants, but all of the information and every name contained in the body of the work (Parts I and II) has been obtained from

bible records, private family lists, or the recollection of living persons.

The research will not end with the publication of this volume, but will be continued in the hope of eventually discovering the common ancestry of all the branches, and it is earnestly hoped that all persons to whose hand this work may come will communicate to the author any information they may have additional to that herein given regarding the Family or any person herein named. Correction of any errors or omissions found will be thankfully received, and it is hoped that the publication of this volume at this time will result in the accumulation of sufficient additional information to enable a supplement or second edition to be published at some future time, which shall be not only correct and complete but succeed in disclosing the remote ancestral origin of the family. Cleveland, December 31, 1900.