VOORHELM 
W. Roberts, ’’The Voorhelms of Haarlem”, Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc. 
60:199-208 (May 1935), gives data about this family of florists. 
!• Dirk Jansz Voorhelm. Married in 1637 and living in Haarlem as 
late as 1690. Founder of the firm, (c) 
2. Pieter Voorhelm. Son of Dirk. Married in 1675, 1696 and 1709. 
Supposed to have introduced the double hyacinth. Had son Simon, (a) 
3. George (or Joris) Voorhelm (1711-1787). Grahdson of Pieter. 
Wrote treatise on the hyacinth (French, 1752j English, 1753; German, 
1753). His daughter married Gottfried Schneevocgt, "who was a member 
of the firm. Roberts cites documents showing the firm name was Voor¬ 
helm & Schneevoogt in 1774 and 1775. (b) 
4. George Voorhelm Schneevoogt (b.l775). Grandson of George Voor¬ 
helm and son of Gottfried Schneevoogt. He is the G. Voorhelm Schnee¬ 
voogt of Schwegman’s ’’leones plantarura rariorum” (Haerlem, 1793) and 
from other data we assume he was the head of the firm of Voorhelm & 
Schneevoogt far along into the 19th century. ' ' 
a. Pieter (Pierre, Peter, Petrus) Voorhelm. Frequently mentioned 
by Ardfene in ’’TraitS sur le connoissance et la culture des jacintes” 
(Avignon, 1759), and by Saint-Simon in ”Des jacintes” (Amsterdam, 
1768). He was probably living in 1730, as Linnaeus in ’’Bibliotheca 
botanica” (Ed.2, 1751, p.204) gives: Voorhelm, Petrus, Catalogue der 
schoonste tulipanen, hyacinthen, ranunkels &c. Haerlem, 1730* 
b-* Roberts gives George Voorhelm’s date of birth as 1711, but G* 
V. Schneevoogt, in his paper on hyacinth diseases, Verhandl. Verein 
Befbrd. Gartenb. Berlin, 10:256 (1834), says his grandfather, ’’the 
old George Voorhelm, b.l712, d.l787, was certainly the wisest flor¬ 
ist that ever was”. The title-page of his ”Trait§ sur la jacinte” 
(Harlem, 1752) reads: ’’Par George Voorhelm, fleuriste d’Harlem, con- 
nu sous les noms de Voorhelm et Van Zompel”. The catalog of this 
firm for 1754 is cited by James Justice, ’’The British gardener’s 
director” (Edinburgh, 1764), and the partnership may have continued 
till about 1768, when Saint-Simon (l.c., p.l22, 141; mentions the 
firm of ”Van Zompel, fleuriste A Overveen, pr^s d’Harlem", but by 
1769 it has become Voorhelm & Schneevoogt, as in 1774 and 1775. 
c. Dirk was not only founder of the firm, but it seems to have 
been popularly known by his name throughout most of its existence. 
Arddne and Justice frequently refer to "Dirk Voorhelm", and ’’Dirk 
& Peter" (or Pierr^ Bradley, "Dictionarium botanicura" (1728), re¬ 
fers to its catalog of 1716 as of Dirk, at a time vriien the business 
was pretty certainly in the hands of Pierre, 2nd his father, in all 
probability, could not have been living. And the firm was known as 
^Dirk Voorhelm” as late at 1779, as a catalog of that date is cited 
in the Dutch edition of Linnaeus, ’’Natuurlyke Historie” (ed. by M. 
Houttuyn), v.2, stuk 12, ”De bolplanten” (1780), p.289 and 386. 
(MFW — 2/21/49) 
