NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

Stewart M. RARICK, a prominent citizen of Flanders, Morris county, New Jersey, and a justice of the peace there, is a member of a family which for four generations has lived in this country and always maintained a position of honorable prominence in the locality of their present home. The first of the name to live in America were three brothers, who came from Germany in pre-Revolutionary times and took part in that historic struggle. Conrad RARICK, or ROERICH, as it was spelled in the original tongue, and his two brothers, settled in the picturesque German Valley in northern New Jersey, where they became the ancestors of the family. The particular branch of the family of which Stewart M. RARICK is a member is descended from Conrad ROERICH, of whom he is the great-grandson.

   William RARICK, son of Conrad ROERICH, was born on the RARICK estate on the property known as the “High House” and here also his son, William Snook RARICK, who derived his middle name from his mother, Elizabeth (SNOOK) RARICK, a member of the SNOOK family of Sussex county, New Jersey. William Snook RARICK married Susan MILLIGAN, of Hunterdon county, New Jersey. To them were born four children as follows: 

• William R., died in 1875, aged twenty-eight years; 
• Mary, now Mrs. Holloway THOMAS, residing near Bartley, New Jersey; 
• Emma M., now Mrs. Thomas J. WATERFIELD, residing near Johnsonburg, Warren county, New Jersey; 
• Stewart M., of whom further. 

Mr. and Mrs. RARICK Sr. are both dead, his death occurring in May, 1892, in his seventy-fifth year and that of his wife in September, 1896, at the same age.

   Stewart M. RARICK was born May 4, 1848, about one mile west of Bartley, Morris county, New Jersey, at the old RARICK homestead in Mount Olive township. He obtained his education in the vicinity and attended for two years the Stoutenburg Seminary. After completing his studies he taught for two years in a school at Drakestown, New Jersey, and later engaged in the general mercantile business at Bartley for five years. For three years after this period he worked on his father’s farm, which he superintended, and then moved to a farm near Flanders, which he worked for twenty years. At the present time he is engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business. Mr. RARICK has always been active in public affairs and especially in the matter of education, having served on the school board for twenty-five years in all, nine years under the old system and over fifteen in the new nine member board. He was a clerk of the board for a long period and served as its president for two years. He took great interest in the Bartley and the Drakestown and Waterloo schools in Mount Olive township. From March, 1902 to July 1910, he was district clerk of the township school. Besides his connection with the educational interests of the community, Mr. RARICK has served as collector for the township of Mount Olive for the three years from 1894 to 1897. In the year 1904 he was also elected to the office of justice of the peace, which up to the present he has held for two terms of five years and has been re-elected for a third term to begin in May, 1914. He has been a notary public from 1907 and a commissioner of deeds from 1909. Mr. RARICK is a member of the Democratic party and has been in the past very active in local politics. He is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. RARICK is still in possession of an old parchment deed bearing the date of 1767 from John BOYNTON to Conrad ROERICH in Mount Olive township.

   Mr. RARICK married, in 1877, Annie D. STEPHENS, daughter of Amos Grandon and Louise (SEARCH) STEPHENS, of Mount Olive township. Mr. STEPHENS and his brother served in the Civil War and were drowned in the Cumberland river disaster. Mrs. RARICK’s grandfather, William STEPHENS, was a very prominent figure in the Morris county region of his day. He was at the head of the old iron forges at Mount Olive which at one time formed so important a factor in the industry of northern New Jersey. His wife was Hannah (GRANDON) STEPHENS, a member of a family which was pioneer in that part of Morris county now know as Mount Olive in the time of her grandmother, another Hannah GRANDON. Mrs. RARICK is one of the two daughters born to her parents, the other, Ida, being Mrs. Elias R. BELL, of Hackettstown, New Jersey. Mrs. RARICK’s ancestors on the STEPHENS side of the house were of English origin, and came to this country in pre-Revolutionary times.

   Mr. RARICK is a man of good education and pleasant address, well known and popular throughout Morris county. He has filled many public offices over a long stretch of years and always discharged his duties intelligently and faithfully and to the popular satisfaction. His standing with the people of Mount Olive township is attested by the many times they have reposed confidence by thus electing and re-electing him to offices of trust.

This biography was transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003).

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