Division II

Progenitor: Jan Corszen (c. 1649 - c. 1703)
Birthplace: unknown; first recorded in Recife, Brazil
Possible origin: Netherlands, France
Current Y-DNA terminal haplogroup: I-FT9200
Also known as: Corson families of Sussex County, New Jersey
Division database: Descendants of Jan Corszen (webtrees database)

Jan Corszen came from Recife, Brazil to New Amsterdam and married Metje Theunis Cray according to the marriage record. His origins are suspected to be Dutch or Walloon, but no solid proof of this has been established; however, Jan's nine children were all baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam. From New Amsterdam, later New York, descendants of Division II moved to Sussex County, New Jersey.

A Loyalist branch of this family, using the surname Cursa, Curser and eventually Courser, emigrated around 1783 at the end of the American Revolutionary War to the English colony of Nova Scotia. Captain Isaac Curser/Cursa and his son John settled by 1787 in that part of the colony which later became the Province of New Brunswick. John and his descendants consistently used Courser as their surname.

Two children and a stepchild of Teunis Corsa (1702-aft 1763), grandson of Jan Corszen, used the DeCoursey surname, while descendants of another son took the DeCorsaw surname. Yet another son of his, Benjamin, moved to Marietta, Ohio, and left many descendants with the Racer surname.

Variations: CORSON, CORSEN, CORSSEN, COURSEN, CORSZEN, CORSA, COURSER, CURSER, CURSA, CORSAW, DeCOURSEY, DeCOURCY, RESEER, RACER

Maps:

  • Birthplaces of Division II descendants born with the Corson surname or a variant:

Birthplaces of some Division II descendants in the eastern United States born with the Corson surname or a variant Birthplaces of some Division II descendants in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania born with the Corson surname or a variant

Main Reference Works:

  • "The Coursens of Sussex County New Jersey". pp. 96-15 of The Woodruffs of New Jersey, by Francis W. Woodruff, 1909.
  • "The Sussex County, New Jersey, Corson Family", Ch. III of Three Hundred Years with the Corson Families in America, by Orville Corson, 1939, Vol. I, pp. 8-16. (available to members)

Notable Division II Descendants:

Samuel S. Coursen (1926-1950) Samuel S. Coursen (1926-1950), U.S. Medal of Honor recipient, Korean War Herb R. Coursen (1932-2011) - Photo by Nancy Randolph Herb R. Coursen (1932-2011), author and poet

 Division-specific Links: