Jan Van Loon, blacksmith, was of Loonenburg, 1690, of Coxsackie, 1720. He emigrated from Luyck, Holland, and was a landowner of Coxsackie, 1684. He married Maria Albertse in New York, February 23, 1676. Children:
- Jan, married Rebecca Hollenbeck.
- Elsie, married (first) Omie La Grange; (second) Barent Egbertse, in 1727.
- Albertus, baptized October 31, 1683, married Maria Caskersen.
- Nicholas, born in New York, October 14, 1694.
- Matthias, baptized December 10, 1696, married Annatje LaGrange.
The Loonenburg patent for lands in Greene county, New York, included the entire purchase made from the Indians in 1665 by Johannes Clute (Jan Cloet), and Jan Hendrickse Bruyn. In 1681, April 7, Johannes Clute sold a large tract to Jan Van Loon and Peter Bosie, who gave a mortgage for "50 beavers" as part payment. By a deed dated March 2, 1684, Peter Bosie sold his part to Jan Van Loon in consideration of the fact that he had paid the mortgage. Jan built his house in the lower part of what is now the village of Athens, a short distance north of Black Rock, on ground later occupied as a shipyard by Matthias Van Loon. A stone from the original house bearing the inscription 1706, J. V. L., gives the name of the builder and the date of erection. Jan Van Loon conveyed all his property in the patent to his sons, Jan, Albertus, Matthias and Nicholas. By deed of April 11, 1720, the four sons gave to their father and mother, Maria, for life one hundred morgens (two hundred acres) at the Vlught Hook and fifty morgens on the flats with all the buildings. The deed provided for a division of this property after the parents died. One of the celebrated land cases of after years, in the Greene county courts, was over the Van Loon lands.
(II) Nicholas, son of Jan "the founder" and his wife, Maria Van Loon, had for his share of the estate lands on "the flat." He married, November 19, 1721, Rachel Clow, of Claverack. Children:
- Maria, born 1722;
- Junge;
- Elsie;
- Johannes, 1726;
- Matthias, 1736;
- Petrus, twin of Matthias;
- William, 1739;
- Abraham, 1740;
- Isaac, of further mention.
(III) Isaac, son of Nicholas and Rachel (Clow) Van Loon, was born at Loonenburg, now Athens, Greene county, New York, July 22, 1743. He married, 1763, Catherine, born November 16, 1743, daughter of Jacobus and Rachel Hallenbeck. Children: Jacob, Nicholas I., of further mention.
(IV) Major Nicholas I. Van Loon, son of Isaac and Catherine (Hallenbeck) Van Loon, was born at Athens, Greene county, New York, 1766, died 1846. A tombstone in Athens cemetery with the inscription "N. I. Van Loon, aged 80," marks his resting place. He led an active, busy life, and was prominent in the community. He met his death by accident, being caught on a picket fence he was attempting to climb in the night; being unable to extricate himself, he was found dead in the morning. He married Hannah, daughter of Isaac Hallenbeck. Children: Isaac N., Jacob N., Caspar N., William Nicholas; of further mention, Prentice, Catherine, Cornelia.
(V) William Nicholas, son of Major Nicholas I. Van Loon, was born in Athens, Greene county, New York, in 1806, died in that village, 1893. He was associated with his father in brick manufacturing and was captain of the Hudson River vessels for many years. He held all the local offices of importance in his town, and for forty years was vestryman of the Episcopal church. He married, in 1838, Mary Stitt, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, belonging to the religious Society of Friends. They had three children:
- ————, died in infancy.
- Eugene, of further mention.
- Thomas, born January 5, 1845, at Athens, New York; educated in the public schools; at fourteen removed to New York City and from then until the present time (1910) has been identified with the coffee trade of that city; he resides in Brooklyn, New York; he married, December 2, 1874, Harriet B. Winans; children: Eugene and Schuyler.
(VI) Eugene, son of William Nicholas and Mary (Stitt) Van Loon, was born in the village of Athens, Greene county, New York, December 2, 1842. He was educated in the public schools, and at an early age located in Little Falls, New York, where he learned the details of woolen manufacturing. He became a manufacturer of woolen goods of Little Falls, a line of activity he continued until his retirement from business. He is a Republican in politics, was presidential elector in 1908, and has filled all the principal town offices. He is one of the original members of the Holland Society of New York, and was for ten years vice-president of the society. His social club is the Union League of New York City. He married, September 30, 1869, at Worcester, Massachusetts, Ella Maddock, born June 11, 1847, daughter of David R. Maddock, cashier of the Camden National Bank of Camden, New Jersey. One child,
- William T., born December 3, 1873, in Nutley, New Jersey, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1894, now a resident of Athens.