Document M.47 · Societies (DAR / SAR / lineage) · transcription: verbatim
DAR GRS Ancestor record A117489 — VAN COURT, MICHAEL (× Elizabeth Brown), Somerset Co. NJ → Romulus, Seneca Co. NY. = the youngest son of Elias Van Court Sr [p.25] × Anne Cooper [p.3] (Daniel Sr's sister) — the only NJ Van Court DAR patriot; his application NN 80509 is the live Van-Court lever for Anne's maiden name (pr.2). Asst Quartermaster General, Somerset Co. Militia.
Transcription and notes
Source: DAR Genealogical Research System (GRS), Ancestor Search — full record for Ancestor #A117489. Captured from the maintainer's 2026-06-26 screenshot (the only result for a VAN COURT / New Jersey search).
Data from the document [verbatim]
VAN COURT, MICHAEL — Ancestor #: A117489 Service: NEW JERSEY · Rank(s): STAFF OFFICER Birth: BAPTISED 3-4-1739 — SOMERSET CO NEW JERSEY Death: 12-—1813 — ROMULUS SENECA CO NEW YORK Service Source: NJ, REV WAR SLIPS: SINGLE CITATIONS OF THE NJ DOD MATERIALS, FHL ROLL #573049, MSS #1514, #1554, #1556 Service Description: 1) ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER GENERAL; ALSO PVT, QUARTERMASTER SGT; SOMERSET CO MILITIA 2) CAPTS JACOB TEN EYCK, JOHN SEBRING; COLS FRELINGHUYSEN, JOHN TAYLOR, DIRK MEADAGH, SEELY Residence: 1) County: SOMERSET CO — State: NEW JERSEY Spouse: 1) ELIZABETH BROWN
Associated applications and supplementals (verbatim)
Legend: S = supporting documentation available · D = descendants list available for this member and this ancestor · (purple D) = descendants list available for this member but not this ancestor.
| Nat'l Num | Docs | Child | Spouse [#] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80509 | D | ELIZABETH | [1] JOHN SWEGLES |
"This listing does not constitute proof of lineage." (Member-detail behind a "PURCHASE" button — not free.)
Notes (interpretation — not data bullets)
- Identity = Anne Cooper's youngest son, settled. The baptism 3-4-1739, Somerset Co. matches the Michael named last in Elias Van Court Sr.'s 1750 will (the youngest son, with an explicit "if he reaches 21" contingency — see p.25 / [A.68]). The Raritan DRC (Somerset) baptism venue fits the family. He is also the "Michael Van Court" who, with his brother "Elias V. Court," witnessed Hendrick Fisher's 1779 Bridgewater (Somerset) will ([A.89] §2b). ⇒ Michael Van Court A117489 = a son of [p.3 Anne Cooper Van Court] × [p.25 Elias Van Court Sr], i.e. Daniel Sr's [p.1] nephew. Now his own file [p.1521].
- Why this matters for pr.2 / Anne's maiden name: this is the only NJ Van Court DAR patriot, and his lineage passes through Anne herself. His application NN 80509 (descending via daughter Elizabeth × John Swegles) is the one DAR document set whose proof of Michael's parents could state "Anne, daughter of ___."
- Tempered expectation: NN 80509 carries only a "D" (descendants list) flag — no "S" (supporting documentation). It's a single, likely older/thin application, so it may not rigorously document Michael's mother's maiden name. Worth ordering as a record copy, but low-confidence. (Like the Runyon patriot [name.454], DAR papers flow downstream — Michael's verified lineage would terminate at him or his parents, with Anne's own parentage at most appearing as unverified upward lineage.)
- What the [M.44] precedent shows the shot actually is. Our one previously-ordered DAR record copy ([M.44], No. 563856) proves the application form's "Lineage as filed" page runs applicant → … → patriot and then closes with a line naming the patriot's own parents — there it read "6. James W. Cooper, child of: Joseph Cooper (d. 1750) × his 1st wife Deborah Taylor, m. 1741", which cracked that whole line into [fam.9]. ⇒ The equivalent closing line on NN 80509 would read "Michael Van Court, child of: Elias Van Court × Anne ______" — and that blank is the pr.2 prize. It is also exactly the line a thin, D-flagged application is most likely to leave vague or omit.
NN 80509 — AVENUE CLOSED 2026-07-15, for free. DO NOT ORDER.
The GRS free lineage preview settles it: the application's lineage TERMINATES AT MICHAEL. It reaches Michael only as a parent (gen 4), and there is no gen-5 line reading "Michael Van Court was the child of…" ⇒ NN 80509 never names Elias × Anne, so it cannot name Anne's father. The $10 would have bought a Swegles descent of no interest.
This is precisely the failure mode predicted in the tempering note above ("DAR papers flow downstream — Michael's verified lineage would terminate at him"). It also breaks the [M.44] analogy: that application did carry a closing "child of:" line naming the patriot's parents, so such a line is optional, not structural — some applicants add an upward generation, this one did not. ⇒ the M.44 precedent cannot be relied on to predict any other application.
Method note worth keeping: the GRS's lineage preview is free and is the transcribed lineage itself — a different, better thing than the paywalled record-copy image preview. For any future DAR application, read the free lineage preview first: if it doesn't reach the generation you need, don't buy the paper. (This corrects, in the useful direction, the 2026-07-15 note that a usable preview didn't exist — the image preview is indeed partial, but the lineage preview answers the question outright.)
Data from the free lineage preview [verbatim] — NN 80509 lineage, gens 3–4
3. The Said Matthias Swegles was the child of John Swegles born on - - 1786 at __ died at _ on - - 1852 and his ( 1st ) wife Elizabeth Van Court born on - - 1787 at died at ___ on - - 1851 married on - - 1804
4. The Said Elizabeth Van Court was the child of Michael Van Court born on - - 1739 at __ died at _ on - - 1814 and his ( 1st ) wife Elizabeth Brown born on - - at died at ___ on - - married on - -
(Gen 2, partially visible above the crop: "died at ______ on - - 1887 married on - - 1834" = Matthias Swegles's spouse-line.)
Death-year discrepancy — RESOLVED same day (2026-07-15). This lineage gives Michael d. 1814; the Ancestor record above gives Death: 12- -1813, Romulus, Seneca Co., New York. FamilySearch [L7XP-FDQ] breaks the tie for 1813, giving 18 December 1813, Romulus (2 sources) plus burial at Mount Green Cemetery, Romulus (3 sources — its best-sourced field). ⇒ Dec 1813 stands on two independent fronts; the NN 80509 applicant's "1814" is the outlier (an unsurprising slip — the applicant wrote a year, DAR's record and FS both carry the month). Details + the full FS source list at p.1521.
How to order NN 80509 — the ROUTE (researched 2026-07-15) — MOOT, kept for method only
| Best route | Online, instant. In the GRS, the application row's green "purchase" button → cart → pay (Visa/MC) → immediate PDF download + emailed receipt. This is the "purchase" button already noted above. |
| How to reach NN 80509 | Two ways, and DAR recommends the second: ① Member tab — the Member Database is searchable ONLY by National Number ("For security reasons, searching the Member Database is limited to searching by the National Number") ⇒ enter 80509 there. ② Ancestor tab → Ancestor Number A117489 → open the full record → the "Associated applications and supplementals" table (= the exact table transcribed at the top of this entry: 80509 \| D \| ELIZABETH \| [1] JOHN SWEGLES) → purchase from that row. Prefer ② — DAR's own guidance: "Researchers should use the Ancestor Database and Descendants Database to ensure that they order the correct/desired record copy", precisely because the image can't be fully inspected before paying. |
| Cost | $10 — Record Copy, online. (Supporting Documents are $20, or both $30 — not applicable here: NN 80509 is D-flagged with no "S", so there is no supporting-doc package to buy. Don't pay $30.) |
| "Preview" | CORRECTED 2026-07-15 — do NOT count on previewing the lineage page. DAR blog copy says "before purchasing a Record Copy the user has the ability to preview the document", but DAR's own GRS guidance says the opposite in the part that matters: "Researchers should use the Ancestor Database and Descendants Database to ensure that they order the correct/desired record copy as they will not be able to view the complete record copy image until after purchase." ⇒ the preview is partial (first page / thumbnail), and the parents line we want sits on the Lineage page (p.3 in the [M.44] precedent) — very likely behind the paywall. Treat the $10 as a genuine gamble, not a look-then-buy. (An earlier note in this file claimed a usable free preview — that was an overread of the marketing copy.) |
| Alternative | Mail/form via the Library Copy Services Office = $15 (the [M.44] route, and the price since 16 Mar 2026) — strictly worse: costs more, slower, no preview. |
| Timing | The DAR Library Restoration Project commences July 2026 — [M.37] flagged a "~6-week window before disruption," and that window is now. But the online route is digital + instant, so the restoration should not affect it — which is another reason to prefer it over the form. |
| Copyright | Per [M.44]: DAR asserts copyright on application papers and prohibits posting the images online. This catalog transcribes data only (permitted as genealogical citation per DAR's stated exception). Do NOT export the page images. Archive the PDF to Societies/DAR/. |
Sources: DAR Search Services · Online Record Copies instructions (LGL-2000) · Supporting Documentation now purchasable
Cheap add-ons worth previewing in the same session (all $10, all free to preview — see [M.37]/[M.38] follow-ups): NN 122972 (Brode's 1931 supplemental — [M.37] rates it ×6, "the most direct path to her source citation") and NN 669245 (the most-recent, cleanest-source-trail descendant application, appearing on both Daniel Sr's and Daniel Jr's ancestor records). Different question from Anne's maiden name, but the preview costs nothing.
Cross-references
- p.1521 Michael Van Court (subject) · mother p.3 Anne Cooper Van Court · father p.25 Elias Van Court Sr · cf. p.1 Daniel Cooper Sr (his uncle)
- A.89 §2b (Michael + Elias V. Court witness Fisher 1779 will) · L.41 (lists Michael among Anna Van Court's 12 siblings)
- Projects: pr.2 Daniel Sr father search · pr.8 Anne Cooper Van Court sister