Transcription contributed by Arne H Trelvik on 1 Nov 2003

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The subject of this sketch was born in New Jersey June 1, 1782, and came to Warren County in 1807. He was the son of Rev. William Van Horne, a Baptist clergyman, who served as Chaplain in the Revolutionary war, and died in 1807, at Pittsburgh, on his journey to Ohio. His remote ancestors were emigrants from the Netherlands. Thomas B. settled on a farm one mile east of Lebanon in December, 1807, where he engaged in the arduous labors of opening a farm in the forests. he was among the earliest volunteers in the war of 1812, and was placed in command of a battalion in Col. Findley’s regiment, with the rank of Major, and was surrendered with Hull’s army at Detroit. He was soon exchanged, and received a commission as Lieutenant Colonel in the regular army, in which capacity he continued until the close of the war, being for a long time in command of Fort Erie. At the close of the war, he returned to agricultural pursuits. He was elected a Senator in the Legislature of Ohio in 1812, 1816 and 1817, and was afterward appointed, by President Monroe, a Register of the Land Office in the northwestern part of Ohio, which position he held until 1837. On returning from this position, he again established himself on his farm near Lebanon, where he remained until his death, a quiet and sober, but industrious and useful citizen. He died September 21, 1841, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and was buried at Lebanon.