Eleanor (VanKleeck) Shook (abt. 1750 - abt. 1838)

Born about 1750 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York

Ancestors

Wife of Peter Mullen — married [date unknown] (to 1783) in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York Colony

Wife of David Shook — married 1784 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York, United States

Descendants

Died about 1838 at about age 88 in Lakeview, Malahide, Upper Canada

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Elinor (VanKleeck) Shook was a New Netherland Descendant 1674-1776. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Biography

Eleanor Van Kleeck was born c 1780 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York. Her parents were Johannes VanKleeck and Rachel van den Boogard Note: Her date of birth and even her parents can be considered speculation because so far no documents relating to her birth have been found. Apparently, there was a period of years at this time when records were kept and stored by various members of the clergy. Many christenings were private and there were many denominations besides the Dutch Reform. ^[1] Eleanor married Peter Mullen in 1772 at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York.Mullen-176 ^[2] While living in New York, she and Peter had three children together.

Rachel Mullen, baptized on March 3, 1774, at Poughkeepsie, (The Flats), Dutchess, New York. Rachel Mullen There were no witnesses. (transcription errors)

^[3]

Rachel, as a small child, moved with her parents to Nova Scotia in 1782. She married George Saxton in 1791 and lived at Weymouth, Nova Scotia. She died Dec 30, 1807. Several of her children were the first persons from Digby to move to Bayham and Malahide Townships, in Elgin County, Upper Canada starting about 1821.

James was born in 1780 and later in life settled in Albany, New York.James Mullen

John was born June 18, 1782, in New York. John Mullen He married Mary Grant in 1804 and died in 1849. They lived in Nova Scotia and had ten children together.

^[4] According to "A geography and history of the county of Digby, Nova Scotia":^[5]

John [Mullen, son of Peter Mullen and Eleanor Van Kleeck] was apprenticed to Deacon David Shook, blacksmith, who married John's widowed mother Eleanor (Van Kleeck) Mullen. Mr Shook emigrated to Upper Canada and died soon after landing, 1 November 1834. She [Eleanor] died in 1838. Aged 88 years.

Note: This apprenticeship would have happened years later because he was about 2 years old when David Shook married his mother. Also, Eleanor died in 1838, but not in Digby. She died in Malahide, Elgin County, Canada West (Ontario) The Mullen family moved in 1782, the same year John was born and settled in St. Mary's Bay, Digby, Nova Scotia. Peter Mullen died the following year leaving Eleanor a widow with three small children. There was much poverty at the time because of so many loyalist refugees from the New England states. The governor and British Troops helped as much as possible. The following year in 1784 Eleanor married David Shook,David Shookoriginally from Pennsylvania. He was of German descent. When they married, they spoke different dialects, "high Dutch" and "low Dutch". He was a Loyalist and was said to have been a very religious man. He was appointed the first Deacon of the Weymouth Baptist Church, then known as Sissiboo. ^[6] Eleanor and Deacon David Shook had five daughters together. The community of Loyalists was close-knit which was essential for their survival in difficult times. They had escaped tyranny in the states and many escaped with their lives. As what happened with the mixture of families in the New York Dutch community, the same began to happen in Nova Scotia. There was an Irish family named McConnell, loyalists from Long Island, New York with three brothers who became interested in the first three Shook daughters. The three brothers married the three sisters.

Mary Shook, born in 1784 married Joseph McConnell ( 1777 -1851) Mary Shook

They moved with their family to Malahide, Elgin County, Canada West in 1829. They had twelve children; One of their sons, Deacon James McConnell wrote an article in the Canadian Baptist Newsletter describing the state of churches and the landscape they encountered. Mary died on June 2, 1855.

The eastern part of Elgin County is almost a wilderness; the roads through the country wind in and out among the stumps of maples of which the land is heavily timbered; the settlers are few and scattered, but the Baptists have already obtained a foothold in Elgin County. Ten years previously in 1819 the old Bayham Church . was established in Port Burwell.

^[7]

Catherine, born in 1787 married Capt. Benjamin McConnell (1779 - 1859)Catherine Shook

They were married in 1805; They had eight children. In 1834 they emigrated to Malahide with adult children and grandchildren as well as Eleanor's parents Eleanor and David Shook. It was a long journey; First a sail to New York, then up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal to Buffalo which took about four weeks, then sailing Lake Erie to Port Burwell which took about two weeks. There was an outbreak of Cholera on the ship which infected David Shook and his granddaughter, Susan McConnell. Both of them died within a day or two of landing in Port Burwell. The only place for burial at the time would have been for the Port Burwell Baptist Church, later known as Estherville. No stone grave markers have been located, so wooden crosses would have been the norm at the time. Catherine and her family, as well as her mother, Eleanor Shook located at the property which now has the McConnell Nursery. Catherine died on August 21, 1856.

Eleanor, born Dec. 21, 1789, married Elijah McConnell (1781 - 1836)Eleanor Shook

They married in 1808 and had nine children. They moved to Malahide in 1829 and bought the property with Mary and Joseph McConnell at what is now known as Lakeview, Lot 33, Concession 1 . Their property was next door to the Baptist Church. Eleanor died on November 19, 1869. Both couples are buried in the Lakeview Baptist Churchyard which was inaugurated in 1842.

Jane, born Jan 16, 1792, married Thomas Chute Jr. (1780 - 1850) Jane ShookThey were married in 1818. They had eight children between them. One drowned in Nova Scotia, another died when a tree limb fell on him. They moved to Grovesend in Malahide, Canada West in 1837 to a property later belonging to the Elgin Chute family. He died in 1850 and she on August 28, 1877.

Christina, born Jan 9, 1794, married Reuben Hankinson Jr., his first wife. Christina Shook. She died in October 1830 at Weymouth, Nova Scotia, shortly after having given birth to her seventh child. ^[6]

^[8]

• See page "cv" under "PeterMullen"

https://archive.org/details/genealogyhistory00chut

^[9] Eleanor Van Kleeck was living with her daughter Catherine and Benjamin McConnell when she passed away at the age of 88 in the year 1838. Her grave has not been located, but she is likely buried with her husband at the Estherville Churchyard, north of Port Burwell. ^[6]

Notes

These notes are excerpts from the Haggan papers ' written by Ida Haggan, a local historian and descendant of these families.

In the first part of the 18th century there lived at Weymouth Nova Scotia, Deacon David Shook, a Pennsylvania Dutchman with a family of girls and Benjamin McConnell, an Irishman from Cork with a family of boys. In the course of time, 3 of the Dutch girls married 3 of the Irish boys and emmigrated~ to Upper Canada in 1829 with large families and settled on Nova Scotia street, the 1st concession of Malahide. The 1st concession of Malahide is the first road north of the north shore of Lake Erie and was so-called because so many of the settlers came from Nova Scotia. The 3 Irish brothers were Joseph. Benjamin, and Elijah. Joseph had 12 children. Benjamin had 8 and Elijah had 9. ( I (Ida Haggan) am the only person living in the area who is descended from all three families. Joseph McConnell (1777- 1851) 74 yrs. In 1829 Joseph and Mary Shook McConnell' along with Elijah and Eleanor Shook McConnell came to Malahide Township, Elgin County with their children some of whom had been born in New York State and who were married and had families of their own. They purchased two hundred acres of land just east of the Lakeview Church.

History of Digby https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Digby,_Nova_Scotia&params=44_37_20_N_65_45_38_W_type:city_region:CA-NS&title=Digby Digby is called Oositookun, meaning ear of land, by the Mi'kmaq. A small group of New England Planters settled in the area of the town in the 1760s naming it Conway.[2] However, Digby was formally settled and surveyed as a town in June 1783 by the United Empire Loyalists under the leadership of Sir Robert Digby. Wikipedia contributors, "Digby, Nova Scotia," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digby,_Nova_Scotia&oldid=1101531029 (accessed August 23, 2022).

Sources

1. ↑ The Four Families of Dutchess Co., N.Y., by Prentiss Glazier; 1974; Van Kleeck chapter page 68. (NOTE: This compilation is a guide, not a totally reliable source.)
2. ↑ "New York, Church Records, 1660-1954." Database. FamilySearch. https://FamilySearch.org: 27 July 2022. Multiple churches, New York.
3. ↑ Holland Society of New York; New York, New York; Poughkeepsie and The Flats, Book 39: Ancestry.com. The U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in the Selected States, 1639-1989 [database online].
4. ↑ Ancestry.com. A Geography and History of the County of Digby, Nova Scotia. [database on-line]. Original data: Isaiah W. Wilson. A Geography and History of the County of Digby, Nova Scotia.. Halifax, N. S.: Holloway Bros., 1900.
5. ↑ Wilson, Isaiah W. "A geography and history of the county of Digby, Nova Scotia", Belleville, Ont. : Mika Studio, 1972; Chapter XXIV. Pages 348-349, digital image https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/465632-a-geography-and-history-of-the-county-of-digby-nova-scotia?offset=1
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} (Stories from Ida Louise Haggan, who recorded the genealogy of the families who moved from Nova Scotia to Bayham and Malahide Townships in Elgin County, Upper Canada. The "Haggan Papers" are a major resource but unfortunately are not online. The originals are in the Elgin County Library.)
7. ↑ article from a newsletter "The Canadian Baptist c 1905
8. ↑ Book Title: A genealogy and history of the Hute [i e Chute] family in America: with some account of the family: Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database online]. Eleanor Van Kleek in North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000: Name: Eleanor Van Kleek; Father: John Van Kleek; Spouse: Peter Mullin; Child: Rachael Mullin; James Mullin; John Mullin;
9. ↑ Book Title: A genealogy and history of the Hute [i e Chute] family in America: with some account of the family: Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database online].

• Ancestry Family Trees. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/12142177/person/-188525075/facts

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile VanKleeck-1 created through the import of Coon Family Tree.ged on Dec 31, 2011 by Alan Coon. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Alan and others.