The old Knickerbockers of Holland were good workers, and consequently good livers. The women were good mothers and the best of housewives, and the men were sturdy, brave, and patriotic, and brought their virtues to the New Netherlands, and gave them to their descendants, who have not forgotten their training though more than two centuries have rolled into oblivion since their sturdy forefathers crossed the sea. Of such forebears came Joshua Vanhoosen, the subject of the present brief sketch. He was born in the province of Quebec, January 18, 1830, his father migrating thereto from the State of New York. When Joshua was six years of age the family removed to Michigan, at the time of what was called the ' Patriot war," with many other American citizens, who were compelled to leave the country. The family settled in Avon, on the farm now owned by Mr. Vanhoosen, who worked by the month until he was twenty-one years old, when he purchased the farm, in company with Calvin Parker. In 1851, to better his condition, Mr. Vanhoosen went to California, where he remained two years, when he returned and purchased Parker's interest in the homestead. Mr. Vanhoosen has been a successful farmer, and to his original purchase has added from time to time other tracts, until his present farm, one of the finest in the county, contains two hundred and seventy acres. On the first day of the new year, 1854, Mr. Vanhoosen was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Taylor, daughter of Captain Elisha and Mary Taylor, who were among the first settlers in the township of Avon. Mrs. Vanhoosen's grandfather entered the lot upon which the residence of Mr. Vanhoosen now stands, a view of which and portraits of its worthy master and mistress adorn another page of our work. Captain Taylor was a miller by trade, and built the Stony Creek mill. He died in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Vanhoosen have been blessed with two daughters, Alice and Bertha, the first born April 16, 1855, and the latter March 26, 1863. Mr. Vanhoosen, having but limited advantages for an education, appreciates highly the excellence of such acquirements, and is correspondingly liberal in giving to his children those advantages of which he himself was necessarily denied. The older daughter is pursuing a classical course at the University of Michigan, while the younger is engaged in a preparatory course. In politics Mr. Vanhoosen is a stanch and ardent Republican. In religious belief he is liberal, and advanced in the school of progressive thought.