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| CORNELIUS CHRISTIE belongs to one of the most
numerous and influential families in Bergen County, members thereof
having held numerous and important positions of trust and
responsibility, civil and religious, during the past two hundred years.
His first American ancestor was James Christie, who emigrated to this
country from Aberdeen, Scotland. It is said about 1685, but the
probability is that it was much later, unless he was boy at the time of
his emigration. He went to Hackensack in 1763, and from thence, the same
year, to Schraalenburgh, where, on the 8th of September, he married
Magdalena, daughter of John Demarest (2), and became the owner, by
purchase, or in right of his wife, from the Demarests, of a large farm
(about 300 acres) just north of the North Church, and extending from the
Tiena Kill Brook westward to the Schraalenburgh road. His residence was
on the site recently occupied by John H. Anderson. On this farm some of
his descendants have ever since resided. He died in 1768, at the
advanced age of ninety-six or ninety-eight years. His children were
Jacob, Jacomina, Anetje, Lae, John, Maritie, Elizabeth, James, David,
and William. William Christie (2), the last named, baptized at Schraalenburgh August 28, 1720, died September 28, 1809, married September 20, 1743, Catharine Demarest. He was a farmer, resided at Schraalenburgh, and left ten children: James, Margrietie, Magdalena, Maria, Peter, John, Cornelius, Jacomina, David, and Sophia. James Christie (3), known as "Captain James," was born at Schraalenburgh, August 20, 1744, died July, 1817. He married Maria Banta, born August 4, 1754, died September 13, 1815. "Captain James" was a farmer by occupation, but patriotic and public spirited. He volunteered his services to the Continental cause in 1777, was commissioned Captain, and raised a company of sixty-five men, with whom he served gallantly. His children were William, John, Magdalena, Maria, David, Peter, Henry, and Jacobin. David Christie (4), born December 1, 1789, died April 8, 1848, married March 12, 1814, Anna Brinkerhoff. Cornelius Christie (5), one of their children and the subject of this sketch, was born in English Neighborhood (now Leonia), N. J., December 6, 1835. He was graduated from Yale University in the class of 1855. After reading law one year in the Harvard Law School he studied in the offices of Mercer, Beasley, at Trenton, N. J., and of Abraham O. Zabriskie, at Jersey City. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in February, 1860, and his practice since has been largely an office practice and in consultation. For many years, he has served as counsel for his own township and for the boards of adjoining municipalities. In 1867 he was elected to the House of Assembly in the New Jersey Legislature, from the County of Bergen, and was re-elected in 1868. From 1870 to 1876 her was editor and proprietor of the New Jersey Citizen, a local weekly journal, independently Democratic, published by him at Hackensack. He has been from time to time interested in various real estate enterprises and in developing and carrying them forward to successful issues. Among others he has devoted himself to the development of Leonia, the place of his lifelong residence, and was prominent in effecting its incorporation as a borough in December, 1894. He was elected the first Mayor of the borough, and has since held that office. By the insertion of explicit provisions in his own deeds and influencing others to follow his example he has been instrumental in keeping the borough exceptionally free from nuisances and vicious influences, and in bringing to it a peculiarly desirable population. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 106-107. See also, Internet Archive, Christie family in America, by Walter Christie, (c) 1919 |
|
| WALTER CHRISTIE is descended from the same American
ancestor as Cornelius Christie (see sketch on page 106), James Christie,
of Aberdeen, Scotland, the emigrant, who had ten children or more of the
second generation, one of whom, William (2), married Catharine Demarest
and by her had ten or twelve children. One of these was “Captain James,”
and another was Peter W. Christie (3), who married Belitie Westervelt,
by whom he had several children, one of whom Ralph P. Christie (4), born
at Schraalenburgh, October 12, 1783, died June 15, 1873, married
Catharine Westervelt, born October 7, 1787, died April 26, 1848. They
resided at Schraalenburgh and had three sons: Cornelius R. and Doweh,
who were apprenticed to the trade of mason. Cornelius R. Christie (5)
married Annie Christie. One of their children was Walter Christie, the
subject of this sketch. Walter Christie (6) was born at Schraalenburgh,
near the South Church, November 16, 1863, and still resides on the old
homestead of his paternal grandfather, Ralph Christie, purchased by the
latter March 31, 1808, from Wiert Banta. The locality is now known as
the Borough of Bergenfield, of which Walter Christie is now the Mayor.
For many years after his purchase from Banta, Ralph Christie conducted a
tannery on the farm, and when his sons, Cornelius and Doweh, reached the
age of sixteen he apprenticed them to the harnessmaking trade, which
they successfully followed until the breaking out of the Civil War Walter Christie attended the public schools of his district, and succeeded his father as a farmer, having inherited the homestead. He still conducts the farm, and has, in addition, built up a thrifty real estate and insurance business. He has also managed with great success a number of large and important estates, for several of which he has acted as executor. In all these connections, Mr. Christie has gained an honorable standing as a man of ability, integrity, and enterprise. He has also been prominent and influential in public affairs, having served for eight consecutive years as Collector of Taxes for the old Township of Palisade, which embraced the territory lying between the Hudson River on the east and the Hackensack River on the west, in Bergen County. In March, 1897, he was elected Mayor of the Borough of Bergenfield, and served two years, declining a renomination in 1899, and was succeeded by Mr. Van Valkenburgh, the present Mayor. On the 15th of March, 1900, he was elected a member of the Board of Chose Freeholders of Bergen County by the largest majority ever given any candidate for any office in Palisade Township. Mr. Christie has discharged every duty with satisfaction and credit, not only to himself but to all his constituents, and is widely respected and esteemed for those qualities which mark the successful man, and for that public spirit, methodical devotion, and genial good nature which have characterized his life. He is a member of Lodge No. 3,638, Knights of Honor, of Tenafly, N. J., and a regular attendant at the Christian Reformed Church. Mr. Christie married Maria Van Wagoner, daughter of John Van Wagoner, Jr., of Kinderkamack, Now Etna, N. J. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 111-112. |
|
| Matthew E. Clarendon, a leading leather
merchant of New York City, was born in 1835, and formerly lived in
Brooklyn, N. Y. Upon his removal to Hackensack, in 1876, he immediately began to devise means of improving the roads. Hackensack had been slow to see its own needs in this regard, or the advantages to arise from a better condition of things. In 1890 he was elected a member of the Hackensack Improvement Commission. He soon found those who were willing to aid in the matter of macadamizing the streets, and during the seven years he has served on this board, much has been done in the way of advancement. Mr. Clarendon has been governor and also vice president of the Oritani Field Club, and has also been vice president of both the Hackensack Bank and the Hackensack Hospital Association since their organization. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
|
| THE COLE FAMILY. One of the earliest families
to arrive in America was Barent Jacobsen Kool (now written Cole), of
Amsterdam, Holland, an officer in the Dutch West India service, who came
over to New Amsterdam during the administration of Director-General
Peter Minuit, under whom he served for some time with credit to himself
and to his country. His son, Jacob Barentsen Cole, married Maritie Simmons and located at Kingston, N. Y., about 1659. This Jacob had eight children, the youngest of whom was Jacob, baptized at Kingston, N. Y., January 1, 1673, married Barbara Hanse, and in 1695 removed to and settled at Tappan, N. Y., where he died, leaving six children, all of whom married and settled either in Rockland County, N. Y., or in Bergen County, N. J. One of these, Abraham, born in 1707, married Ann Meyer. They were the great-grandparents of Rev. Isaac Cole, who was for many years pastor of the Dutch Church at Tappan, and whose son, Rev. David Cole, of Yonkers, N. Y., has published a History of Rockland County, N. Y., and of the Tappan Church. Barent, said to be a brother of Abraham, above mentioned, bought a large farm of the Van Valens a little south of Closter, where his descendants are numerous. Other branches of the family started at Hackensack. It may be safely said that many hundreds of the family are scattered over Bergen and Hudson Counties. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 157. |
|
| Charles Conklin, the well known real estate
man and President of the Board of Health is a native of Hackensack and
was born thirty-four years ago. His father Robert Conklin was a dry
goods merchant and held the agency of the county for the Singer Sewing
Machine Company, for which he sold over 1000 machines in Bergen county
alone. He died in 1877. Mr. Charles Conklin was in the dry goods
business during the earlier years of his life, and later was Secretary
of The Conklin Bros. Company. In 1894 he established himself in the real
estate business, which with that of insurance, yielded him in the
aggregate handsome results. Mr. Conklin had been President of the Board of Health seven years, and was serving as a member of the Board of Freeholders of the county. He was a member of the First Reformed Church of Hackensack, and was deacon in that body eight years, and also its treasurer. He was a member of the Odd Fellows, O. U. A. M., Red Men, Wheelmen and of the Oritani Field Club. Mr. Conklin died in 1899. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
|
| THE CONKLIN FAMILY are scattered over Bergen and
Hudson Counties, most, if not all, of them being descended from John
Conklyne, of Nottinghamshire, England, and his wife, Elizabeth
Allseabrook (married in 1625), who came to America in 1638 and settled
at Salem, Mass., where he and his brother, Ananias, established the
first glass works in America. They moved to Southold, L. I., about 1650.
From thence John removed to Huntington, L. I., where he died in 1683,
aged about eighty-three years. His brother, Ananias, settled at
Easthampton, L. I. His descendants spell the name Conkling, of whom the
last Senator Roscoe Conkling was one. John's descendants spell the name
Conklin. His grandson, Nicholas became one of the purchasers of the
"Kakiate" patent of many thousand acres in Rockland County, N. Y., and
settled at Haverstraw in 1711. He left several children, among whom were
John, Edmund, Elias, William and Joshua. Of these, John, born at
Eastchester, N. Y., about 1700, married, January 1, 1720, Gertrude,
daughter of John de Pew, and settled at Haverstraw. Edmund married
Barbara, daughter of John Hogencamp. Joseph Conklin, Rebecca Hyer, his
wife, and Samuel Conklin and Jannetie Hyer, his wife, settled at
Haverstraw, N. Y., in 1709. Matthias Conklin, probably a brother of
Nicholas, above mentioned, left his home at Phillips Manor in
Westchester County, N. Y., early in 1719, and went to Hackensack, where
on the 27th of September of that year he married Sophia Mabie, daughter
of Casparus Mabie, the first immigrant of that name. Matthias bought
from Henry Ludlow and settled on a large farm on the west side of the
Hudson River in Bergen County, N. J., a little south of the present New
York State line, bounded south by the Riker farm, north by the Gesner
farm, east by the Hudson River, and west by the "Ludlow Ditch." His sons
were Jacob, Abraham, and Casparus, of where Jacob inherited the bulk of
his father's lands. He married Hester Lawrence and had issue Delifrens,
Barent, Maria, John, Elizabeth, David, and Jacob. Abraham, his brother,
married Margaretta, daughter of William Bell, and left a family of nine
children, while Casparus, who married Mynote Martling, left six
children. The descendants of the above spread rapidly over Rockland County, N. Y., and Bergen County, N. J. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 157-158. |
|
| COOK CONKLING, of Rutherford N. J., is the son of
Calvin B. Conkling, a native of Sag Harbor, Long Island, and a
descendant of one of two brothers who came from England in Cromwell's
time and settled originally in Salem, Mass. This ancestor married Mary
Gardiner, daughter of Lyon Gardiner, proprietor of Gardiner's Island,
and moved from Salem to Long Island. Calvin B. Conkling's wife was
Harriet A. W. King, who was also descended from an old New England
family. Cook Conkling was born in Ledgewood, N. J., on the 4th of November, 1858. He received his preparatory education at Schooley's Mountain Seminary in Morris County, in his native State, and afterward entered Mount Union College in Ohio, where he took an elective course, but did not graduate. After leaving college he taught country school for a time, but soon abandoned that occupation to go "upon the road" as general traveling agent for a machinery house. He filled this position for seven years, in the course of which he visited forty-three States in the Union. In his younger days Mr. Conkling wrote for the newspapers, and during his travels in America and Canada he constantly wrote for the press. His letters descriptive of the people and their ways and the countries at large encountered in his travels have been reprinted and favorably commented upon. He has probably seen as much of the United States as almost any other citizen of the country, and is well known throughout Northern New Jersey, over which his business connections extend. Mr. Conkling finally studied law, was admitted to the bar of his native State, and in 1888 began the active practice of his profession with a partner in Rutherford, N. J., where he still resides. This association continued until February, 1893. Afterward he was engaged alone in a general banking and law business in Rutherford until June 1, 1898, when he formed a copartnership with ex-Mayor Luther Shafer, of Rutherford. Mr. Conkling is a Democrat by inheritance, his ancestral lines on his mother's side--the Phoenixes and Kings of New Jersey--having been prominently identified with that party. He is a public spirited citizen and deeply interested in the affairs of his native State. For many years he has been influential in the growth of Rutherford, and in every capacity has displayed characteristic enterprise. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 153-154. |
|
| THE COOPER FAMILY is still one of the more numerous
families throughout Northern New Jersey, and particularly in Bergen
County. Claes Jansen Van Permerend emigrated to America in 1647, from
Permerend, a town near the Zuyder Zee, between Amsterdam and Hoorn,
Holland. His first stopping place was Brooklyn, where he married
Pietartie Brackhoengie, of Gowannus. She died soon after and he removed
to Bergen, N. J., where he married (2), November 11, 1656, Ann, a sister
of Ide Van Vorst. On January 1, 1662, he obtained a patent for a tract
of land near Harsimus, on which he located and remained until his death,
which occurred November 20, 1688. His widow survived him until January
12, 1726. Two weather-beaten headstones mark their last resting places
in the cemetery of the old Bergen Dutch Church. Claes was an active,
energetic man, and attained prominence in town affairs. He was sometimes
known as "John Pottagie," and in later days as "Kuyper," it is said,
because he was a cooper by trade. His descendants have ever since
retained the name Kuyper, anglicized to Cooper. On April 10, 1671, he
bought from Governer Carteret 240 acres on the Hudson River, including
in it the present Village of Nyack, N. Y. The same year he bought 400
acres adjoining his first purchase on the north, and in 1678 he bought
several tracts of meadow adjoining him--in all about 468 acres of
meadow. Some of these lands he owned in partnership with the Tallmans.
All of them eventually passed to his sons. His issue were Cornelius,
John, Claes, Dirk, Henry, Vroutie, Tryntie, Divertie, Pictartie,
Janetie, Grietie, Maritie, Hellegond, Judith, and Cornelia - in all
fifteen. One or two of these joined in the purchase of the Tappan
patent. Cornelius went from Bergen to Tappan in 1689, but soon sold to Tallman. He then removed to Schraalenburgh, where he bought of John Demarest 256 acres on the Hackensack River, near Old Hook, where he resided. He and his wife, Aeltie Bogert, of Tappan, reared a large family of children, from whom mainly are descended the Bergen County Coopers. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 160-161. |
|
Thomas H. Cumming, Justice of the Peace, and a
well-known business man of Hackensack, was born in New York City
November 6th, 1839. He received his education in his native city, and,
after leaving school, became an employe in a large dry goods store,
where he remained three years. A partnership was now entered into with
his father in
the business of contracting, which was carried on chiefly in New York
and New Jersey. Among other large contracts secured was that for the
construction of the Lodi branch of the New Jersey and New York Railroad,
and also for the line running from Essex street to Woodridge. In New
York their business was mostly in the line of building large sewers.
Beginning in 1861, Mr. Cumming conducted a business for two years in the
oil trade in Greenwich street, following which, he was in the leather
business for a period of six years. At the expiration of this time he
removed to Hackensack, again engaging in contracting. In connection with
his present business of insurance and real estate, he is Commissioner of
Deeds and a Notary Public, holding the office of Justice of the Peace
since 1885.He has always been interested in the Fire Department, and was an active member of Hook and Ladder Company, No. 2, for twenty-six years, part of this time its Foreman, and is at present an honorary member of that organization. For a number of years he has been President of the Hackensack Relief Association, and has also been Collector of License for the Hackensack Commission for the past twelve years. Mr. Cumming is a member of the Royal Arcanum, and a charter member of the National Union. He is an active Republican, and his father, Thomas Cumming, Sr., was for years a lay judge of Bergen county. Mr. Cumming's wife was the only daughter of the late John H. Banta, of Hackensack. They have three sons. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
|
| ABRAM DE BAUN. The common ancestor of all the
DeBauns in Bergen and Hudson Counties was Joost de Baen, a native of
Brussels in Flanders (Belgium), who came over to New Amsterdam in 1683.
The next year he married Elizabeth Drabb and located at Bushwick, L. I.,
where he was soon afterward made town clerk. In 1686 he removed to New
Utrecht, where he was elected town clerk and taught the village school.
This was during the controversy over the conduct of Governor Leisler. De
Baen entered that contest and took an active part against the Governor,
which caused him to lose his clerkship. He, however, continued to teach
school and to reside at New Utrecht, where he took the oath of
allegiance to the English king in 1687. Early in 1704 he sold his lands,
of which he acquired a considerable area, and removed to Bergen County,
N. J., where he joined the Kinderkamack settlement. He died in 1718 or
1719. His children of the second generation were Matie (married, in 1705
(?), David Samuels Demarest), Christian (married Judith Samuels
Demarest), Mayke, Carrel, Christina, Jacobus, and Maria. Of these seven children, Carrel (Charles), (2) married, in 1714, Jannetie Peters Haring, of Tappan. He first bought a large farm, in 1719, on the north side of Hardenbergh Avenue (now in Harrington ownshi0), extending from the Schraalenburgh road to the Tiena Kill (including part of which is now Demarest), on which for a time he resided. Shortly after 1721 he sold this farm and bought several large tracts between the Hackensack and the Pascack Rivers, on one of which he settled and died. His issue of the third generation were Joost, Margaret, Elizabeth, John, Jacob, Carrel, and Christiaen. Carrel (3), born in 1728, married (1) Bridget Ackerman (born December 10, 1731, died January 27, 1793) and (2) Lea Van Orden. He was a farmer by occupation, and settled in the upper part of Bergen County. His issue of the fourth generation were Carrel, Margaret, Abram, Jannetie, Andrew, Sarah, David, John, and Isaac. Isaac de Baun (4) was born December 9, 1779, and died June 18, 1870. He was a farmer and resided nearly all his life at Monsey, N. Y. He married June 13, 1807, Elizabeth Yenry, who died August 24, 1875. Their children of the fifth generation were Abram, Elizabeth, Maria, Bridget, Rachel, Jane, and John Y. John Y. de Baun (5) was born at Monsey, N. Y., August 22, 1827. He was a remarkably precocious child. Although he had but an ordinary common school education he, by dint of an untiring perseverance and constant application to study, qualified himself for the ministry (which under the circumstances was a rare achievement), and on April 17, 1855, was licensed to preach by the Classis of Hackensack of the True Reformed Dutch Church. His first charge included the churches of Hempstead in Rockland County, N. Y., and at Ramseys in Bergen County, N. J., where he preached alternately until 1860, when he took charge of the two churches at Hackensack and English Neighborhood, N. J. Of these two churches he was the pastor for twenty-six years. During this time he resided at Hackensack, where he established and was the editor of the Banner of Truth, a monthly magazine, which is still the organ of the True Reformed Dutch Church. He died at Leonia, N. J., in February, 1895. He was twice married: (1) April 8, 1849, to Margaret Iserman, who died about 1893, and (2) to Jane Van Houton, who survives him. He was a thoroughly self-made man, an eloquent preacher, and in every way worthy of his high and noble calling. His issue of the sixth generation were Susan E., Martha A., James D., Abram, Edwin, Anna, John Z., James E., and Isaac C., of whom Abram (6) is the subject of this sketch. Abram de Baun (6) was born April 2, 1856, at Monsey, N. Y., where he spent his childhood days. When old enough he entered Hackensack Academy, where he had the benefit of a full course of study, and then entered the law office of A. D. Campbell, at Hackensack, as a law student. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in June, 1877, and as a counselor in June, 1880. After his call to the bar he became a business partner of his old tutor, with whom he remained until March, 1894, when he formed a law partnership with Milton Demarest, with whom he is still associated in a lucratice [sic] practice. Mr. De Baun was clerk of the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1878 to 1895 and for three years a member of the Hackensack Improvement Commission, during two years of which he was treasurer. For twelve years he has been counsel for the Hackensack Mutual Building and Loan Association. He is a Director of the Hackensack Old Ladies' Home. He married (1) in 1878 Mary B. Christie, of Leonia. She died in September, 1881, and he married (2), October 2, 1884, Lydia B. Christie. He has no children. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 138-139. The parents of Abram De Baun were Rev. John Y. and Margaret (Iserman) De Baun, and his grandparents Isaac De Baun and Abram Iserman. His father was for twenty-six years pastor of the True Reformed Church at Hackensack. During his pastorate here he was editor of the Banner of Truth, a monthly magazine of the True Reformed Church. The De Bauns are of French Huguenot descent. Mr. De Baun studied law under A. D. Campbell, and was admitted to the bar as attorney-at-law in 1877, and as counsellor in 1880. He was a partner of Mr. Campbell for a period of seventeen years, but is now of the firm of Demarest & De Baun. He was clerk of the Board of Freeholders from 1878 to 1895, and member of the Hackensack Improvement Commission three years, during two of which he was its treasurer. For twelve years he has been counsel for the Building and Loan Association of Hackensack. He is a director of the Old Ladies' Home. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
|
| THE De BOW FAMILY. Dirk de Bow, or de Boog,
as it appears on the records at Amsterdam, Holland, emigrated from that
city to America in 1649, with his four children, and settled at New
Amsterdam, where he died. His children were Catharine (married,
September 5, 1649, Wilhelmus Beckman), Susanna (married, in 1660, Arent
Everson), Frederick (married Elizabeth Fredericks), and Garret (married,
September 16, 1663, Hendricke Paden, of San Francisco). Garret had issue three children: Henry, John, and Isaac. This John was a baker in New York, and had a son, Garret de Bow, born in New York about 1763, died about 1768, at Pompton Plains, N. J., married, May 23, 1727, Maria, daughter of Paulus Vanderbeck and Catharine Ryerson. She was baptized February 21, 1706. Garret settled on the lands of his father-in-law (Vanderbeck) at Pompton, where he spent his days, and left six children: Catalyna, born in 1728 (married Simeon Van Ness); Elizabeth, born in 1729 (married Abraham Gould); Paulus, born in 1731; John born in 1735; Maria, born in 1737 (married Samuel Berry); and Sarah, born in 1740 (married Philip Schuyler). The descendants of these children of Garret de Bow have scattered over Passaic County and the west side of Bergen County, were [sic] they are quite numerous. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 160. |
|
| THE De CLARKS are still numerous in Bergen County.
Daniel de Clerque (de Clark) emigrated to America prior to 1676. The
name of his first wife does not appear, but the couple brought two or
three children with them and had two baptized in New York (Daniel and
Abraham, twins) March 13, 1678. His wife died soon after, and he married
(2), March 4, 1685, Geertje Cozines, a widow, by whom he had no issue.
Two of his sons, John and Henry, were evidently married when they left
Holland, the family having sailed from Amsterdam. Both John and Henry
subsequently had children in New York. Another son of Daniel, Jacobus de
Clark, was born in Holland. Daniel, in 1686, became one of the Tappan
patentees with the Harings, Blawvelts, Smiths, and others, and removed
to Tappan, where, in 1702, he was made a Justice of Orange County, and
he took the census of Orangetown the same year. He was probably the
first Justice ever appointed in the county. At that time there were only
a few families huddled at Tappan, and Daniel seems to have been the
biggest man of them all. The marriage of his son Jacobus to Antie Van
Houten, September 14, 1706, is one of the earliest in the county.
Jacobus had eight children, all of whom reared large families and
gravitated southward into Bergen County. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 130-131 |
|
| THE De GROOT FAMILY, still numerous in Bergen and
Hudson Counties, are of Holland descent. William Pietersen de Groot came
to America in 1662, on board the ship "Hope," with his wife and five
children. They were from Amsterdam, Holland. Dirck Jansen de Groot, a
native of Rylevelt, in Holland, came to New Amsterdam as a soldier in
the Dutch service, on board the ship "Spotted Cow," April 15, 1660,
leaving behind him his wife, Grietie Gerrets, and two children. In
April, 1663, Dirck's brother, Staats de Groot, who, the ship's register
says, was a resident of Tricht, Holland, came to America on the same
ship which had brought over his brother. Staats brought over with him
his brother's wife and children. Staats married, in 1664, Barbara
Springsteen. Dirck and his first wife, Wybrig Jans, resided in New
Amsterdam until 1679, when they removed to Flatbush, L. I., where they
remained permanently. From Flatbush several of the children removed to
Hackensack in 1695-96. Staats first settled at Brooklyn, where the
assessment roll of 1675 showed him to be a taxpayer. He was of a roving
disposition. In 1678 he was living in Westchester County, N. Y. He next
turned up at Bergen, N. J., where, in June, 1678, his second daughter
was baptized. While living at Bergen, where many of his relatives lived,
he became in 1686 one of the Tappan patentees. He was at New Amsterdam
in 1688, and probably never located on his Tappan lands. He died between
1688 and 1704, having deeded or willed his lands to his wife Barbara,
who was a daughter of Casparus Springsteen, of Groningen, Holland. His
children were Yoost, Neltje, Mary, and Geesie. Yoost settled at Tappan
and his descendants spread into Bergen County. The descendants of Dirck
and William Pietersen de Groot spread through Bergen County from Bergen
and Hackensack, where they settled. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 162-163. |
|
| A. S. D. Demarest, the well-known undertaker,
of Hackensack, is a son of David S. and Margaret (Durie) Demarest, and
was born at Bergenfields in 1834. His father was born at Schraalenburgh
in 1795, and spent his life there, dying in 1877. He was a farmer, and
was a descendant of David Demarest, who settled at River Edge over 200
years ago. Mr. Demarest's mother was a daughter of David Durie, of
Tenafly He spent his early years amid the scenes of his childhood, subsequently removing to Newburgh, N. Y., where he engaged in business, but in 1876 returned to New Jersey, and located in Hackensack, where he has since resided. Upon coming to Hackensack he was interested in the book and stationery business for a time, but in 1886 established his present business of undertaking. He is strictly a business man, has been Treasurer of the First Reformed Church for nine years and chorister of the same church for ten years, and treasurer of Hackensack Mutual Building and Loan Association for over seven years. Mr. Demarest was married in 1861 to Miss Lavinia Blauvelt, daughter of John D. M. Blauvelt, of Bergen county. They have two daughters, both married. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
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| ABRAHAM GARRISON DEMAREST is descended in the
seventh generation from David des Marest, the French emigrant and first
American ancestor of the Demarests (see p. 64). Samuel Demarest was born
in Bergen County 1778 and removed to “The Ponds” (in Franklin Township)
while a young man, where he settled and married Miss Maria Garretson, a
descendant of Gerret Gerrets, the Dutch emigrant and first American
progenitor of the Garretson, Garrison, and Van Wagenen families. Samuel
Demarest, who was a farmer, died in 1837, and his wife in 1850. They
left several children one of whom, Abraham Demarest, the father of
Colonel Abraham G., married Margaret Garrison, and resided at Oakland,
where their son, Colonel Abraham G., was born on the 16th of November,
1830. While the latter was still quite young he moved with his parents
to New York City, where he early became imbued with the military spirit
and at the age of twenty-two recruited a company for the now celebrated
Seventy-first Regiment, of the City of New York, then known as the
American Rifles. Organized during the “Know Nothing” movement, this
regiment was composed exclusively of American citizens. Colonel Demarest received his first commission from Governor Horatio Seymour in 1853. In 1855 he was again commissioned, by Governor Myron H. Clark, while in 1857 he was commissioned by Governor John A. King. In 1860 he removed to Cresskill, N. J. When the Civil War broke out he recruited a company at Closter, N. J., for the Independent Battalion of the Bergen County Brigade, and in 1862 was commissioned its Captain by Governor Charles S. Olden. One hundred and fifty men rendezvoused at Trenton under his command, becoming a part of the Twenty-second New Jersey Volunteer Infantry. When field officers were appointed Captain Demarest became Major. He held this rank until January, 1853, when he was commissioned colonel. The regiment left Trenton for Washington, September 22, 1862, joined the Army of the Potomac, and thereafter participated in all the campaigns and hard fought battles of that army. Colonel Demarest is a prominent member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Society of the Army of the Potomac. After his return to civil life he removed from Cresskill in Tenafly, N. J., where he has since engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits. Colonel Demarest’s first wife was Charity Ferdon, daughter of Henry Ferdon and Frances Tallman. She died in October, 1872. He married (2) Ellen Van Giesen, of Paterson, N. J. His issue by the first wife were Margaretta, Maria Louise, and Edwin, and by the second wife Clifford, Amy E., Marion L., and H. Le Roy. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 110-111. |
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| Clayton Demarest. One of the fullest and most
interesting of the numerous records of the Demarest family, is that of
the branch descending from David des Marie, whose date of landing in
America is taken from an "entry in Emigrants Account Book," reading as
follows: "David des Marie from Picardie, for passage and board when he
came here on board the Bontekoe, the 16th of Apr. 1663 ^39 for his wife :39 & 4 children of 18, 11, 6 & 1 yr 97.10 [errors in scan of book] fl. 175.10 David des Marie (son of Jean) was born at Beauchamp, in Picardie about the year 1620, and married Marie, daughter of Francois Sohier, July 24, 1643. Of their six children, three married and reared families, Jean, born April 1645, David, Jr., born 1652, and Samuel, born 1656. Clayton Demarest, the subject of this sketch, is a lineal descendant of David, Jr., second son of the first David des Marest. David, Jr.. married Rachel, daughter of Pierre Cresson, April 4, 1665. They had twelve children, Jacobus being the fifth, and through him the line descends. He married Leah, daughter of Peter DeGroot, March 8, 1707, and after her death married Margrietie Cozine Herring September 26, 1719. In all, his family numbered seventeen, the line coming down through Daniel the sixteenth child, who was born September 11, 1738. Daniel Demarest had two sons, James D., and Ralph, the lines coming through James D., the eldest, who was born March 20, 1763, and married Rachel Demarest. Of their five children Abram J., born October 4, 1793, was the grandfather of Clayton. He married Rachel Blauvelt, April 8, 1815, and the youngest of their seven children, David Demarest, was born February 1, 1832, and married Christina De Baun September 8, 1853. They had six children the youngest, and only son, being Clayton who was born December 15, 1865.  David
Demarest now resides on the farm at Schraalenburgh where the Demarests
have lived for over two hundred years. The old house has passed through
so many changes and has so often been remodelled that but little remains
of its original construction. The barn has two large overhead beams hewn
from red gum trees, and are marked 1721.Abram J. Demarest was a Captain in the National Guard until he was thirty-five years of age. His commission papers from the Governor of New Jersey, are now in the hands of the family. David Demarest enlisted as a volunteer in the Civil War, September 1, 1862, and was honorably discharged June 25, 1863. Clayton, his son, was educated in the public school in Schraalenburgh, afterwards taking a course of instruction in Thompson's Business College in New York city. Having accepted a position with the Chemical National Bank, December 1, 1882, Mr. Demarest has continued with that institution to the present time, the past ten years in the capacity of Assistant Paying Teller. In Hackensack, the home of Mr. Demarest, he has taken an active interest in the Fire Department, having become a member of Relief Hook & Ladder Company No. 2, in December 1891, in which he has served two years as secretary and four years as foreman, being now assistant engineer, and is justly proud of his work in the department. Socially Mr. Demarest is a member of the Royal Arcanum, Fireman's Relief Association, Exempt Firemen and Hackensack Debating Society. He is an active member and teacher in the Sunday School of the Second Reformed Church, of which he has been a member the past twelve years. Mr. Demarest married Miss Marie Kipp, daughter of Nicholas R. Voorhis (and granddaughter of Ralph Voorhis of River Edge) on September 18, 1889. They have three sons. James Van Valen, History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1900 |
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| DAVID DEMAREST is another of the lineal descendants
of David des Marest and his wife, Maria Sohier, who came to American in
1662 (see sketch on page 64). The emigrant had a great-grandson, David
Demarest, who resided at Schraalenburgh more than a hundred years ago.
This last named David had several children, one of whom was James D.
Demarest (6), born at Schraalenburgh March 2, 1763, died there April 28,
1830. His wife Rachel, born July 28, 1768, died April 26, 1828. James D.
was a farmer residing at Schraalenburgh. One of his several children was
Abraham J. Demarest (7), who married Rachel Blawvelt, daughter of David
Blawvelt. They lived at Schraalenburgh. Both of them have been dead
several years. Among their children was David Demarest. David Demarest (8), the subject of this sketch, was born at Schraalenburgh (now Dumont) February 1, 1832. He owns and resides on part of the farm which his French ancestor owned two hundred and twenty-three years ago. This tract has passed from father to son in an unbroken line for more than two centuries. In a barn on the premises is a beam which was first used in a barn on the same farm in 1721. Mr. Demarest was educated in the public schools of the county. At the age of seventeen he ceased studying books and took charge of the old family homestead, which he has ever since conducted. During the War of the Rebellion he served nine months as a private in the Twenty-second Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, being honorably discharged at the end of his term of enlistment. Mr. Demarest is regarded as one of the best and most substantial farmers in Bergen County, where he has spent his entire life. He is deeply objects, prominently identified with the welfare of the community, and thoroughly alive in the needs of his fellow citizens. As a member of the North Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh he has been influential in promoting various moral and intellectual movements which have contributed materially to the general welfare. In early life Mr. Demarest married Christina de Baun, who died May 11, 1895. They were the parents of five children-four daughters and a son-of the ninth generation. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 67.
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| DAVID A. DEMAREST was without doubt in his day one
of the most widely known and highly respected men in Bergen County. He
was of the sixth generation from David des Marest, the French Huguenot
emigrant, concerning whom we see page 64. The line of descent was as
follows: David des Marest (1), the emigrant, and his wife, Maria Sohier,
had four children, one of whom was David Demarest, Jr. (2), who married
Rachel Cresson and had twelve children, one of whom was Jacobus (3), who
married Lea de Groot and Margrietie Cozines Haring, and had fifteen
children, one of whom (by the second wife) was Abraham D. Demarest (4),
born at Old Bridge, Bergen County, September 25, 1738, died near
Closter, N. J., July 9, 1824, married, in 1763, Margaretta Garrets
Demarest, born at Schraalenburgh, December 2, 1744, died June 13, 1834.
Abraham D. Demarest (4) resided at Old Bridge for many years, when he
removed to Hackensack and kept the Mansion House. About 1781 he
purchased a large farm on the west side of the Schraalenburgh and Tappan
road, lying on both sides of the road to Old Hook. There until his death
he kept a general store of groceries, hardware, and such wares as
farmers require. He also kept (until 1809) a tavern where the elections
were held and other public business transacted. In April, 1787, he added
to his farm on the south by purchases from the Harings and Van Horus.
Abraham was a man of some note. His store and tavern were known and
patronized by the people for miles around. From 1781 until 1789 he held
many town offices, including those of Commissioner of Appeals, Townsman,
Road Master, and Justice of the Peace. He was one of the most active
members and workers in the North Church at Schraalenburg, in which he
several times held the offices of Deacon and Elder. His issue were David
A.; Rachel, 1768; Margaret, 1773; John, 1775 (died); and Christina,
1783. Of these David Abraham Demarest (5), the subject of this sketch, was born at Old Bridge, August 28, 1764, and died at Nyack, N. Y., February 1, 1860, aged ninety-five years, five months, and three days. He married, in 1787, Charity Haring, daughter of Cornelius Haring, of Pascack, where she was born July 24, 17689. She died at Schraalenburgh, January, [sic] 29, 1849, aged about eighty years. She was a lady of sound judgment, with a kind and cheerful disposition, who was her husband's faithful helpmeet and companion for more than sixty years. The issue of this union was only one child, a daughter, Margaret Demarest, born at Schraalenburgh, N. J., September 5, 1780. David A. Demarest (5) was an unusually bright and active boy. Realizing this, his father sent him to the best school in the village of Hackensack, where he acquired a fair education, including knowledge of penmanship, and composition. Clerking in and purchasing stock for his father's store, as well as attending to the wants of the tavern guests, threw him in contact with all kinds and conditions of people from whom he obtained a large fund of information which, in later years, he turned to good account. When the Revolutionary struggle broke out and he was a lad twelve years old, yet the father had difficulty in restraining the patriotism of his son sufficiently to prevent him from offering his services as a drummer boy to the Continental forces. That struggle over, and having married and settled down to business, he gave his attention not only to the store but to agricultural pursuits, which were then profitable. Products of the farm were sent by sloop from Old Bridge, or Closter Dock, to New York. A considerable trade in pig iron was carried on with the iron works at Ramapo. Groceries were exchanged for pig iron and the iron shipped to New York and sold at a profit. In October, 1794, he was one of the militia force from New Jersey, Virginia, and Pennsylvania sent by President Washington to Pittsburg to suppress what in American history is known as the "Whisky Insurrection." In 1796 he began to mingle in and wield influence in town affairs. From that time to 1843 he held numerous town offices, including that of Justice of the Peace. In 1809 he superintended the construction of his father's new stone dwelling (still standing). The tavern business was abandoned with the demolition of the old family mansion. His daughter Margaret married, in 1810, John Perry, a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Rockland County, N. Y., by whom she had issue two daughters, Catharine (1811) and Charity (1822). In 1812 the quota of Bergen County drafted troops for the war with Great Britain rendezvoused at Jersey City for three months. Captain Samuel G. Demarest (of what is now Westwood, N. J.), who raised a company of men for that war, recruited part of his force at the store of Abraham D. Demarest. It has been said that David A. Demarest served in the War of 1812, but if so his name does not appear upon the muster rolls of the companies that went from this vicinity, commanded by Major Van Saun. At his death in 1824 Abraham D. Demarest gave all his lands to his son, David A. Demarest. The latter soon after purchased several adjoining tracts, until the whole area of his homestead farm was over 300 acres. He also owned a large farm west of the Hackensack River, and a tract at Ramapo. Henceforth and until his death he was considered a wealthy man. But he was one of those men whom wealth makes neither proud nor avaricious-a most genial and hospitable man, noted for his liberality. Nearly all his life he had been a member and liberal supporter of the North Church at Schraalenburgh, which he helped to organize and to which he liberally gave. His commodious mansion was always open to the ministers of that and sister churches. They came and went at their pleasure sometimes staying with their families for weeks at a time. Their host's hospitality was of the good old-fashioned variety, spontaneous and hearty. Everybody was welcome beneath his roof. He had great influence over his neighbors and a happy way of settling disputes. As a Justice of the Peace for many years his practice was to avoid trials, if possible, and usually he would bring the parties to an agreement to settle before the trial day came on. He was gentleman of "ye olden time"-a sort of "Cadi" in the community to whom the people went for advice in time of trouble and did not go in vain. He was lover of music, and in 1801 organized a band in which he played second clarinet. The minutes of this band in his handwriting show that it prospered for some time. He was an entertaining conversationalist and story-teller who never lacked for listeners. Physically he was remarkably robust, and was never severely ill. He was found dead in bed one morning at the home of his daughter, at Nyack, N. Y., whom he was visiting. He lay as though he had quietly dropped into a peaceful sleep. He was of the type of man rarely to be met with in these days. He saw the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War, and had he lived another year he would have seen the beginning of the Civil War. The year before his death the Northern Railroad was completed. The company gave him a pass, but he never used it, and died without having experienced the sensations of riding on a moving railroad train. Catharine and Charity Perry, has granddaughters, married, respectively Isaac and Tunis Smith, of Nyack, N. Y., who, for many years, owned and operated a steamboat line between New York and Nyack. Isaac and Tunis Smith were descendants of Lamber Ariacuse, a native of Gilderland, Holland, who came to America when a young man and settled at New Amsterdam, where, on April 9, 1682, he married Margaretta Garrets Blawvelt, a daughter of Garret Hendricksen Blawvelt, of Deventer, Holland. In 1686 Labert and his brothers-in-law, the Blawvelts, and others purchased the Tappan patent. Lambert settled on part of it at the "Green Bush," in Rockland County. His descendants soon became so numerous that it was necessary to distinguish one from the other, and as Lambert was a smith by profession it became convenient to designate him as Lambert Ariaense Smidt. Most of the family eventually dropped the Ariaense and called themselves Smith. Lambert Smith and Margaretta Garrets Blawvelt had issue, among other children, a son, Garret Smith (2), who married Brechie (Bridget) Peters Haring, of Tappan, and had issue, among other children, a son, Peter G. Smith (3), who married Annetie (Hannah) Blawvelt, and had issue, besides other children, a son, Isaac (4), who married Rachel Smith, and had issue several children, among whom was Peter Smith (5), who married Christina Demarest (a sister of David A. Demarest, above mentioned). Old patrons of the steamer "Chrystenah" will remember her portrait at the head of the stairway to the upper deck. They had issue of the sixth generation: Isaac, Abraham, Tunis, and David. Isaac married Catharine Perry, and Tunis married Charity Perry, as above stated. The issue of Catharine Perry and Captain Isaac Smith were John, James, and Margaret Ann, all now deceased. The issue of Charity Perry and Tunis Smith were six children, all now deceased except David and Sidney. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 93-96. |
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| ELMER WILSON DEMAREST is a direct descendant of
Jean des Marest (1), a prominent citizen and resident of Beauchamp in
the Province of Picardy, France. There, about 1620, was born his son,
David des Marest (2), who, upon reaching manhood, espoused the
Protestant faith and fled to Holland to escape persecution, locating at
Middleburgh on the Island of Walcheron in Zeeland. Here, on July 24,
1643, David married Maria, a daughter of François Sohier, of Nieppe, a
town in Hainault. The couple resided at Middleburgh until 1651, when
they removed to Manheim on the Rhine River, in the lower Palatinate,
then under the protection of the Elector Charles Lewis. At Manheim, the
Protestants were already being threatened by the Catholic princes and
David des Marest, with others of a like religious faith, determined to
go to America for safety. Accordingly, early in the spring of 1663 they
journeyed down the Rhine to Amsterdam, where they embarked for New
Amsterdam on the ship "Spotted Cow," reaching the latter port on April
16, 1663. Des Marest first went with his wife and three sons to Staten
Island, where they joined the Huguenot settlement, recently started. The
following year he was elected to represent the settlement in the
provincial assembly. The savages proving troublesome, Demarest bought
and located on lands at New Harlem, then a name applied to the upper end
of Manhattan Island. Here he prospered, acquired several town lots, and
became prominent in town affairs. In 1677, a tax having been levied on
him for the support of the Dutch Church at Harlem, he refused to pay it,
claiming immunity therefrom because he was neither an attendant nor a
communicant of the Dutch Church. The "powers that be" sued him for the
tax, procured judgment, and proceeded by execution and levy to collect
it. This angered Demarest and he determined to leave Harlem. On the 8th
of June, 1677, he purchased from the Hackensack and Tappan Indians a
large tract (estimated at about 6,000 acres) of land on the east bank of
the Hackensack River, extending northward from New Bridge. By subsequent
purchase he added an extensive tract west of the Hackensack, on which he
built two mills. He built his family residence at what is now Old Bridge
and erected a French Church on the east side of the river, a little west
of the Schraalenburgh road. The lands he purchased were claimed by
several white persons and by the savages. Some of these claims were not
extinguished until after his death. He died in New York City in 1693,
leaving a will by which he devised all his lands to this two surviving
sons, John and Samuel, and to his very numerous grandchildren. David des Marest, Jr. (3), the second of the emigrant's sons, died in 1691, before the decease of his father. At the time of his death he was residing east of the Hackensack on part of his father's original patent near Schraalenburgh. He was born at Manheim in the lower Palatinate in 1652, and married, April 4, 1675, Rachel, daughter of Pierre Crasson, a French refuse. His occupation was that of a farmer. He had twelve children: David, Peter, Susanna, Rachel, Jacobus D., Samuel, Mary, Daniel, Benjamin, Jacomina, Lea, and Lydia. Jacobus Davids des Marest (4), the fifth of these, baptized at New York October 3, 1681, married (1) Lea De Groot and (2) Margaretta Cozine Haring. Farming was his principal occupation and he held several township offices. He resided in the Schraalenburgh district and left at his death twelve children, of whom Garret Jacobse Demarest (5), born at Schraalenburgh, June 30, 1725, died there December 17, 1798, married, in 1747, Jacomina (Tunis) Helms. They resided at Schraalenburgh, where Garret pursued the calling of a farmer. His issue were fifteen children, of whom Abraham Garrets Demarest (6) was born at Schraalenburgh, where Garret pursued the calling of a farmer. His issue were fifteen children, of whom Abraham Garrets Demarest (6) was born at Schraalenburgh March 16, 1767, and died there March 18, 1860. He married Margaret Demarest, a relative, born December 3, 1761, died May 16, 1832. Abraham was a farmer and left three children: Garret A., John A., and James A. John A. Demarest (7), born April 11, 1798, died May 23, 1864, married, in 1818, Jane, daughter of Peter Merseles, born March 3, 1803, died September 22, 1888. He purchased and resided, at the time of his death, on lands at what is now Eastwood, N. J., where, on his death, he left two children: Margaretta J., wife of Albert Z. Ackerman, and Abraham J. Demarest. He was a cattle dealer, purchasing cattle in the west and selling them in New York, under the firm name of Demarest & Grant. He also conducted an importing house of willowware, etc., in New York, and a country grocery store on the farm at Eastwood. Abraham J. Demarest (8), born at Eastwood, N. J., April 30, 1840, married May 18, 1859, Eliza W., daughter of Jacob G. H. Lozier, of Teaneck, now Englewood. She was a descendant of Peter Wilson, a Scotchman, who held the degree of Doctor of Laws, and was for some time a member of the faculty of Columbia College, New York. Abraham J. followed farming until his father's death, when he removed to Closter, N. J., where he conducted a meat market until 1892, when he retired from business and is now residing at Bayonne, N. J. He has had three children: Nettie Marcella, married Horace Roberson, a lawyer, at Bayonne; Edwin S., died; and Elmer Wilson, the subject of this sketch. Elmer Wilson Demarest (9) was born at Eastwood, N. J., May 15, 1870. He was educated in the public schools of Closter, N. J., the Rutgers Preparatory School, Rutgers College, and Columbia Law College, graduating from the last named institution as a Bachelor of Laws in 1892. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in February, 1892, and as a counselor in June, 1895, and to practice in the United States Courts in January, 1897. Since his admission he has practiced law in Bayonne and Jersey City, and has been successful in litigations, having conducted a number of important cases. He is counsel for a number of corporations. He not only stands high in his profession, but is also prominent as a Republican leader, having always affiliated with the Republican party. He has shown great activity in this connection. In 1892 he was a member of the Bergen County Republican Executive Committee. He has been a member and Vice-President of the Hudson County Republican Committee from 1893 to the present time. He is also a Trustee and a member of the Executive Committee of that organization. In 1897 he was elected to the New Jersey House of Assembly, was prominently connected with the equal taxation measure of that year, and conducted the fight in the House for the Voorhees Judiciary Constitutional amendments. He is a member of the New Jersey Athletic Club of Bayonne, of the Newark Bay Boat Club of Bayonne, and of the Palma Club of Jersey City. On September 9, 1896, Mr. Demarest married Miss Blanche Adeline Bristow, of Bayonne, and they have one child, Kenneth E. Demarest (10) born August 14, 1897. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 64-66. |
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| GARRET I. DEMAREST is descended from the same
common ancestor as is Elmer Wilson Demarest (see sketch on page 64).
David des Marest, the first American emigrant of the name, had a
great-grandson, Garret Jacobus des Marest (5), who married Jacomyntie
Tunis Helms, and had fifteen children. One of these, John G. Demarest
(6), was born at Schraalenburgh, January 23, 1771, and died there
November 6, 1834. He married Catharine Blawvelt, who died May 4, 1849,
aged seventy-one years eleven months. John G. was a farmer and had issue
ten children, of whom John J. Demarest (7), born at Schraalenburgh, N.
J., November 1, 1824, married Elizabeth, a daughter of Weirt Banta and
Margaret Demarest. John G. Demarest was a farmer and resided near the
North Church at Schraalenburgh. He left two children, Garret I. and
Margaret. Garret I. Demarest (8), the subject of this sketch, was born at Schraalenburgh, May 25, 1828. He is a prominent farmer and resides in the Borough of Dumont on part of the farm originally owned by his French ancestor. All of his long line of ancestors, both paternal and maternal, have been honored citizens of Bergen County, active and influential in local affairs of both church and State. Mr. Demarest was educated in the public schools of Schraalenburgh, which he attended until he reached the age of sixteen. Since that time he has devoted his energies to the conduct of the old family homestead. He succeeded his father on the farm, and through his integrity, industry, and sound judgment has achieved marked success. Having been born and reared on the place he has always occupied and now owns, he has imbibed the associations and traditions which have descended to him from an honorable ancestry, and from the first has improved and beautified the home so dear to him and his family by reason of these ancestral connections. His patriotism is attested by his service of nine months in the Civil War as a sergeant in the Twenty-second Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. He was for one year a member of the Town Council, is a member of the North Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh, and enjoys the confidence and respect of his fellowmen. Mr. Demarest married Miss Catherine Demarest, a member of another branch of the Bergen County Demarests. They have had three daughters of the ninth generation from their original French ancestor. Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 66-67. |
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