Modern Dutch trains are the best way to reach Tiel, Gelderland, Holland. Just east of the village of Meteren in Geldermalsen ...ancestral home of the major if not only line of Van Meter(en)s.
 
 

   Within which the author humbly attempts to shed some light on this ubiquitous family.
 
 
 

Rebecca (VAN METER?) is said to have been born ca 1752 in VA.  She and Daniel LINDER (for whom see LINDER page) may have married ca 1770 somewhere in VA, PA or MD.  She is believed to have died ca 1820-30 in Hardin Co, KY; Daniel himself died ca 1840. If she was in fact a Van Meter then she came from a long and well researched line of Van M(A)ETER(EN)s, although the numerous sources are not necessarily consistent, to say the least.  A web site dedicated to providing information about the life of Daniel Linder has now been established and I highly recommend your visit to this helpful site provided by cousin Jeannie Winter.

There is adequate evidence that Daniel LINDER did in fact have a wife named Rebecca.  It is basically family lore provided that she was a Van Meter.  I am hopeful of one day examining  'proof' -- in fact, nothing could make me happier than to see something that is other than more or less wishful thinking.  I have copies of  the Coles County, IL write up on Usher LINDER and the Kansas  and Kansans piece both of which are at times cited as such proof.  They seem to report the same story but do not point to evidence.  This may remain an unresolved assumption or best guess based upon oral tradition.  To date there  have been no wills, marriage records, census, property or other legal records which back up this claim.
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AT THE PRESENT TIME THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE LINK BETWEEN THIS REBECCA (VANMETER?) AND ANY OF THE BELOW DESCRIBED VANMETER(EN) ANCESTORS

There are instead a variety of theories and you are cordially invited to share and submit yours as well.

      Some hold, and I was taught by a dear cousin, that Rebecca Vanmeter was the daughter of Joseph VM and Hannah Vail of Salem Co., NJ.  THE PROBLEM WITH THIS THEORY is that Joseph VM died in 1790 and in his will of that year he referred to his daughter Rebecca Vanmeter...thus she was unmarried in 1790.  "Our" Rebecca VM LINDER was already having first son Isaac by 1775.  This Rebecca married one David GARRISON ca 1795 and the two of them moved to Ohio -- she died Jan 30, 1842 and is buried at Clifton Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Greene, OH.  I regret the link to the site detailing this information appears to be lost at this time.

      This also is NOT the Revolutionary War Soldier Joseph Van Meter (b ca 1744) on whose coattails some have ridden into the DAR.  That soldier was one of the Forest Rangers, a 'Minute Man' of VA with a well documented military career.  He had four children but no Rebecca or Elizabeth.  So, with apologies to the President and Ms Lewinsky, no cigar!

       Another theory is that Rebecca is the daughter of Hendrick Jansen VM (bapt. 1695) of Salem Co., NJ.  a) I would consider it quite a stretch that this Salem County, NJ landowner's daughter met and married a young man living in what is now Berkeley County, WV.  b) It has also been said that his Rebecca married Daniel CARTER in Salem Co., NJ on May 5, 1752.  There is such a marriage noted by Craig.  In his will, written three weeks after this marriage in 1752, Hendrick Jansen VM leaves his daughter Rebecca 'five shillings' while providing for his other daughter (four year old Elizabeth) much more generously and all of the sons got land.  Either he was very unhappy with Rebecca or I think more likely he provided for her as part of the wedding.  I cannot demonstrate this.  c) If this was Hendrick's daughter she would have been born about 1732-36 and thus be too old to be the wife of Daniel Linder wife and the mother of 'my' Betsy Linder who was born in 1796.

(more light will be welcome here)

Based upon correspondence between James T. Van Meter of MN and Don C Wood of Martinsburg, WV and William Heidgerd, the historian for the DuBois Family Association, there are two apparent possibilities:
 

1)  Rebecca Vanmeter and her sister Elizabeth (who married Jacob LINDER, Daniel's brother) are POSSIBLY the children of one of the Van Meters who settled in Frederick/Berkeley County, (W)VA.  A likely suspect is Isaac.  This Isaac would be a son of Abraham and nephew (possibly) of Hendrick Jansen Van Meter. I have no information about family for this Isaac and could sure use some help here.

2)  There is purported to be a "Miller Farm Cemetery Record" that speaks of a Rebecca Wheeler, daughter of Martha (Roberts) Wheeler who married Abraham VM (b ca 1721 Somerset Co., NJ who had a daughter Rebecca, which girl may have become the stepdaughter (but would she have taken the VM name?  In any case she is said to have married John Spahar.)  My thinking is based on a) having eliminated the other possibilities and b) using the principle of parsimony (AKA Occam's razor) which argues for the simplest possible explanation.  It makes sense to me that Daniel and Jacob Linder married women who lived nearby in or around Berkeley Co., (W)VA.  There are numerous documented property exchanges between the Linder and Vanmeter families and for many years their land was next door to each other.

It is of course possible that these two women were not Vanmeters at all.  Examination of church, property and family records in the general area of Frederick Co., VA and Berkeley County, (W)VA may prove helpful.  Where to start?  One possible starting ground is the area of Frederick County, MD where Simon Linder and wife are found in 1744 being sponsors for the child of one of the other passengers from the ship Elizabeth.  Little Henricus Unselt bapt 13 Jan 1744, son of Friedrich Unselt (twenty-four year old weaver on the ship manifest) was the child -- Evangelical Lutheran Church was the church.   This information generously provided to me by Dean Linder in his publication The Earliest Linders (citing Pioneers of Old Monocracy by Tracy and Dern).  Further development on the LINDER page.

Rebecca is said to be a sister to  Elizabeth VAN METER who as noted above is said to have married a Jacob LINDER who is said to be Daniel's brother.

           Her parents are ............................................................................unknown.
 
 
 

   We are certainly open to discussion here 
 
 
 

Some early notable Van Meters who are traced from Gelderland in The Netherlands to Esopus/Kingston, NY and then to NJ are

Hendrick Jansen VAN METER bapt. Sept. 1, 1695 in Kingston RDC (Royal Dutch Colony), SAID TO HAVE mar  four times; d Dec. 8, 1759.  Two of his wives were Sarah ELWELLl (mar Sept. 4, 1727) and  Mary FETTERS/LAFELTON/LAFEVRE.  The other two are unknown.  As Hendrick died in Salem Co, NJ likely his wives and marriages originated there too.  Hendrick believed to have had 4 siblings: the first 3 like Hendrick were b Ulster Co and bapt. 1st Dutch Church in Kingston.
Jan b 14 Oct. 1683  d 1745 From whom most Van Meter ancestors I have encountered derive.  He and brother Issac received enormous land patents.
Rebekka b 26 Apr. 1686  mar Cornelius Elting 1704
Lysbeth b 3 Mar 1689     may have died by 1695?
Isaac b ca 1692, but where?  Some have said in  Raritan, Somerset, NJ.  He received the 20,000 acre land grant in VA along with older brother Jan (John)

There may have been another sibling named Abraham b ca 1700 - 1705.  This is postulated by Wm. Heidgerd & James T. Van Meter based on naming patterns  honoring grandfathers first and then biblical prophets. Feed back will be appreciated.  This is reference the Abraham who settled on Opequon Creek in Frederick/Berkeley County, (W)VA.

The father of Hendrick Jansen VAN METER was the young immigrant:

Joost Jansen VAN METEREN b 1656 in Gelderland Polder (province), Holland.  He mar Sarah DuBois  Dec. 12, 1682 in Kingston RDC.  His date of death is not fixed though often said to be between 1700 and 1705.  He emigrated with his parents on Apr. 12, 1662 via the ship "De Vos" (The Fox).  Ms DuBois b  Sep. 14, 1664 Hurley, Ulster Co, NY; d 1726 Salem Co, NJ.

On June 10, 1663 Minnisink Amerindians attacked and burned the villages of Hurley and Kingston and took several women and children as hostage.  (It may be that this was in retaliation for the sale into slavery of several of their chieftains by Governor Stuyvesant...negotiations to trade hostages were undertaken.  See the discussion by Mr. E. M. Ruttenber on pp. 8-9 of the work by Lefevre)  The mother of Sarah DuBois and her three oldest children, the two children of Matthew Blanchon, Jr. and young Joost Jansen Van Meteren and his mother were among the hostages.  After 10 weeks of captivity they were rescued by Capt. Martin Krieger on Sept. 5 leading a group of soldiers from New Amsterdam.  Sarah's father Louis DuBois believed to be part of the party which rescued 23 hostages. (Some sources state that Sarah was among the hostage children but I do not believe she was born yet -- her date of baptism being given as 14 Sep 1664).

It is said that this early period of association with the indigenous people led young Joost to a fascination and ease in later  dealing with them and exploring the wilderness.  It appears unlikely that Joost Jansen was really the 'John Van Meter' who blazed early trails south of the Potomac (clearly he was not the fellow who survived skirmishes with those tribes in 1727 as often claimed as he was dead)...but most sources do make this assertion.*  He is said to have  urged his sons to settle the "Valley of the South branch of the Potomac".  His two oldest sons John and Isaac obtained in 1730 grants for 40,000 acres from Lt. Gov. Gooch of VA in then Berkeley Co, VA.  This property was described as  "The boundaries of the patent beginning at the Chesapeake Bay, lies between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers, crossing the Blue Ridge, or, rather passing through the gap at Harpers Ferry, then with the Cohongaluta (Potomac) to its source in the Alleghanies, then by a straight line crosses the great Northern Mountain and Blue Ridge to the headwaters of the Rappahannock, wherever that may be."  They rather promptly conveyed most of this vast property to Joist Hite.

    Siblings of Joost Jan Van Meteren are believed to be
:
Lysbeth Van Meteren b 1647 d by 1706 leaving children
Catherine Van Meteren b 1650
Geertje "Girty Jans" Van Meteren b 1653  mar Jan Hamel 1682
Gysbert Janse Van Meteren b ca 1660

      Joost Jansen Van Meteren's father was:

Jan Joosten VAN METEREN b 1621-1626 Thierlewoodt, Gelderland mar ca 1653-54 to Macyke HENDRICKSON (Hendrygksen) in Mappelen, Drenthe. It does appear that she was previously mar to William Gijsbertsen CROM (mar 7 Apr 1645 in Waardenburg, The Netherlands)  who fathered her 1st three children who were later adopted by Jan Joosten. She was b ca 1629 in Mappelen and d 1682. (She was one of two daughters (Femmetjen was sister) of Hendricks of Laeckervelt and Ann Jan Jans both of Mappelen.)  They emigrated with children 12 April 1662 and settled in the village of Esopus later named Wiltwych) (present Ulster Co, NY). He died ca 1706 in Monmouth Co, NJ where his will, written in Dutch, was duly recorded in Burlington.  Noted in numerous property transactions beginning in 1671 in Marbletown, appointed position of "Scheppen" (a minor judiciary) and as church elder.  "The scene of the Van Meteren's activity is now shifted from the Hudson to the Raritan in New Jersey, where Jan Joosten probably died in 1706.  His son, Joost Jans, being probably deceased and the latter's son Jan being the eldest and the heir at law, according to the customs of the law of descent at that time prevailing, naturally became the successor of his father's rights and the largest beneficiary of the estate of  his grandfather.  He it was, undoubtedly, who administered the latter's estate and filed the inventory of Jan Joosten's personality at Burlington in 1706."  Smyth, 1909, pp. 15-16