USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 73
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(VI) Nicholas (Nicausa) TERHUNE Terhune, eldest child of Rich- ard N. (q. v.) and Hannah (Van Voorhees) Terhune, was born in Hack- ensack, Bergen county, New Jersey. January 14, 1792. He married Aryana Marsellise and they had only one child, John N., see forward. They lived in Polifly, Bergen county, New Jer- sey, on property now owned by John Van Bussom.
(VII) Judge John Nicholas, only child of Nicholas and Aryana ( Marsellise) Terhune, was born in Polifly, New Jersey, May 14, 1819, died October 22, 1898. He became a judge of the Passaic county court. He married, No- vember 12, 1840, Sophia Mersellis, born Au- gust 8, 1823, died November 24, 1894, daugh- ter of Edo C. and Elizabeth Garise (Garret- son) Mersellis. Edo C. Mersellis was born March 18, 1795, and his wife, Elizabeth Garise Garretson, was born December 22, 1803. Chil- dren : I. Adrianna, born June 30, 1843, died December 9, 1893; married, September 19, 1866. Dr. C. Van Riper, and had three chil- dren : John T., Arthur Ward and Cornelius Z. Van Riper. 2. Iddo M., see forward. 3. Nicholas, born August 2, 1847, died January 22, 1892; married, October 15, 1874, Jane E. Kip; had two children, Harold and Irving Terhune. 4. John, born December 25, 1849; married (first) Euphemia Kip, October I, 1873, no issue; died April 15, 1887; married (second), June 5, 1889. Anna S. Emmons, born September 15, 1864, daughter of Captain Silas H. and Mirinda (Myers) Emmons ; two children : Margery Anita, born September 7, 1891, and John Russell, born January 25, 1897. 5. Cornelius, born November 28, 1851, died October 6, 1852. 6. Elizabeth, born Sep-
tember 4, 1853, died October 17, 1857. 7. Jane Ann, born November 16, 1856, died August 22, 1857. 8. Garret, born June 14, 1858, in Paterson, New Jersey; educated in the public school and in the Paterson Seminary under the tuition of Major Henry Waters, a noted educator, now of West Point, New York; at age of twenty-one Mr. Terhune engaged in the chemical manufacturing business at Pomp- ton Plains, New Jersey, where he has success- fully continued in that line of enterprise to the present time; he is a member of the First Reformed Church of Passaic, New Jersey, of which both his parents were for many years members ; he married, August 10, 1886, Irene, born April 8, 1867, daughter of Cyrus and Eliza (Courter) Emmons, of Passaic, New Jersey ; children : Percy N., born November 9, 1887 ; Royal E., March 18, 1892. 9. Carrie, born January 17, 1861, died June 3, 1865. 10. Richard, born November 13, 1863, died June 21, 1865. II. Sophia, born May 23, 1867; married, April 6, 1887, Charles Denholm, of Paterson, New Jersey, no issue; she died March 6, 1892.
(VIII) Iddo M., eldest child of Judge Nich- olas and Sophia ( Marsellis) Terhune, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, September 12, 1845, died at his home in Passaic, New Jer- sey, March 21, 1903. He began his business life in a shoe store in Passaic, New Jersey, and conducted that business during the early years of his life. After gaining a competence, he removed to his farm at Lake View, located on the Passaic river, between Passaic and Pat- erson, and spent his declining years in his home in Passaic. He married, October 18, 1871, Margaretta, daughter of John V. S. and Catharine (Oldis) Van Winkle, the former of whom was born April 21, 1818, died June 10, 1889. Margaretta was born September 26, 1849. They had three children, the two eldest born in Passaic: I. Frank, see forward. 2. Bertha, born August 12, 1875; married Henry G. Schaub. 3. William Snow, born at Lake View, New Jersey, November 15, 1877; married, September 16, 1908, Mary Elizabeth, born April 23, 1878, daughter of Charles Henry and Elizabeth (Zabriskie) Temple. The mother of these children survived her hus- band and has continued to maintain the home at 172 Jefferson street, Passaic, New Jersey, where she is an active member of the First Reformed Church, of which both herself and husband were members during their entire wedded life and in which their children were baptized and brought up.
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(1X) Frank, eldest child of Iddo M. and Margaretta ( Van Winkle) Terhune, was born in Passaic, New Jersey, March 9, 1873. He was a pupil in the public schools of Paterson, and graduated at Latimer's Business College in that city in 1889. In 1890 he became a clerk in the People's Bank & Trust Company of Passaic and he remained in the service of the banking company for ten years, receiving well-merited promotions, due to his industry, diligence and carefulness. He resigned in 1900 to accept the treasureryship of the Hobart Trust Company of Passaic. This position of trust he resigned in 1906 to take the position of signature clerk in the Merchants' National Bank of New York City. His fraternal affilia- tions are limited to the Royal Arcanum; the Tribe of Ben Hur and the National Union. His political principles are those advocated by the Republican party, and his church affilia- tions are the Reformed Church in America, first known as the Dutch Reformed Church. His generation is the ninth in direct line from Albert Albertse, who was a member of the first church (Dutch Reformed) on Manhattan Island, of which Dominie Bogardus was pastor. Frank Terhune married, October 4, 1898, Agnes M., daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Kerr) Johnson. Thomas Johnson filled the office of mayor of Paterson for one term. Child, born in Passaic, New Jersey : Allen Johnson Terhune, born June 20, 1904, he being of the tenth generation from Albert Albertse, immi- grant settler in New Amsterdam before 1654.
MCCRACKEN Jane McCracken died at Senotue, September 29, 1807, aged eighty-eight years, and was buried in the Presbyterian burial-ground. Mary McCracken, of North- umberland, married, after 1759, Captain Jo- seph, son of Samuel Sherer, the immigrant, who came from the north of Ireland in 1734. (I) George McCracken was born March 25, 1788, died January 5, 1866. He married, February 22, 1814, Fannie Lambert, born June 13, 1788, died February 8, 1834. They were among the early settlers of Hacketts- town, Warren county, New Jersey, and there he carried on his trade of tailor in his residence in the town, and the homestead erected by him is now situated at the junction of Main, Mill and Mechanic streets in Hackettstown. Their children were born at the homestead as follows: 1. William, September 15, 1814, see forward. 2. Mary, September 23, 1816, died December 26, 1817. 3. Mary (2), November
13, 1818. 4. Peter, January 12, 1821. 5. Catharine, August 29, 1823; never married. 6. Charles, June 6, 1827, died May 19, 1828. 7. John, January 14, 1830, died December 18, 1854.
(II) William, eldest child of George and Fannie (Lambert) McCracken, was born in Hackettstown, Warren county, New Jersey, September 15, 1814. He was brought up in his father's home and learned from him the trade of tailor. He married, March 15, 1838, Anna C. Clawson, whose father owned the "Warren House," a well-known hotel which owed much of its reputation to Mr. Clawson's skill as a landlord. William McCracken, after his marriage, continued to work at his trade as tailor in his father's shop, and in 1842 took charge of his father's farm in Warren county, where he resided, and where his children, ex- cept the first three, were born. This farm, now known as the "Delliker Farm" was in- herited by William at his father's death in 1866, and he remained on it till 1868, when he sold it and purchased the Warren House, where he removed his family and became its pro- prietor and host to the travelling public. He remained landlord of the hotel for twenty- five years, retiring from business in 1891, and removing to a house on High street purchased for him by his son Alpheus, where with his devoted wife as a companion he ended his days in comfort and perfect independence. He was a charter member of Musconetconey Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he was during his last years the oldest living mem- ber of Independence Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He died in Hackettstown, New Jersey, March 23, 1897, and his widow February 8, 1899. Children of William and Anna C. (Clawson) McCracken were: I. Lewis, born March 23, 1839, died January 19, 1907. 2. George, July 4, 1840. 3. Reuel S., February 14, 1842. 4. Alpheus, see forward. 5. Joseph H., March 30, 1845. 6. Emma E., April 28. 1847. 7. Theodore, March 16, 1849, died May 17, 1849. 8. Jacob C., March 26, 1850, died 1906. 9. Mary C., November 22, 1851. IO. Alice, November 22, 1853. II. Zilpah, July 31, 1855, died October 12, 1878. 12. Reading B., September 24, 1857. died Feb- ruary 26, 1858. 13. Cortland B., January 9, 1859, died April 6, 1902. 14. Ida B., June 20, 1861, died February 9, 1885. That in the middle of the nineteenth century we should find a father and mother the parents of fif- teen children born within the space of twenty- two years, and out of this number only two to
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die in infancy, and both parents living to reach the age of eighty-three years, is a remarkable record of obedience to the scriptural injunc- tion given to our first parents.
(III) Alpheus, fourth son of William and Anna C. (Clawson) McCracken, was born on his grandfather's farm in Warren county, New Jersey, August 31, 1843. He was brought up on the farm, attended the district school, and when eighteen years of age was moved by the events incident to the clash of arms between the two sections of his native country to give his services to aid in putting down rebellion and preserving the unity of the states com- prising the United States. He enlisted in the Thirty-first New Jersey Volunteer Regiment in 1862, as a member of Company H, which was recruited at Hackettstown, New Jersey, and he shared the fortunes of that regiment as a private and as sergeant of his company in the Army of the Potomac, his four most prom- inent battles, the greatest in modern history in America and among the greatest in the world: The two battles before Fredericks- burg; the battle of Gettysburg, and the battle of Chancellorsville. He is now a pensioner on account of limitation. On being mustered out of the service with his regiment, he found employment as inspector of lumber for the Pennsylvania railroad, and he continued in the service of that great corporation for thirty- two years, 1865-97. In 1897 he resigned to accept the presidency of the Central Trust Company of Camden, New Jersey, of which he had been for many years a director and vice-president. His political affiliation, both as a soldier and as a citizen, has been with the Republican party, and his first vote was cast while in the army for the Lincoln and Johnson electors, in November, 1864, and for the regu- lar nominees of the Republican party at the recurring eleven presidential elections, includ- ing the Taft and Sherman elections in 1908. He was an active member of the Republican Club of Camden, New Jersey, up to the time he changed his residence to Vineland, New Jersey, in 1906. He has been Independent in religious views, and attached himself to no de- nomination of Christians, but has been a sup- porter of the charities and benefactions main- tained by each. His fraternal affiliation with the Order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons began in Camden Lodge, No. 15, where he was an apprentice, fellow craftsman and master mason; to the York Rite Chapter, No. 20, as mark master, past master, most excellent master, and Royal Arch Mason: of
the Bordentown, New Jersey Council, in which he was royal master, select master, and super- excellent master, and passing to the Com- mandery as a Red Cross Knight, Knight Tem- plar and Knight of Malta.
Mr. McCracken married (first) December 17, 1865, Anna E., eldest daughter of George W. and Amelia (Vandergrift) Scott, born September 24, 1844, died November 19, 1877. To them were born two sons, George Scott and Robert Scott, both further mentioned below. Mr. McCracken married (second), January 21, 1879, Lillian, born August 10, 1860, daughter of Gideon B. and Lillian ( Van- dergrift) Blakey. Three children were born to them: Leah, born in Camden, March 25, 1884, died April 1, 1899; Portia, born in Cam- den, December 1I, 1891 ; and Alpheus, born in Atlantic City, June 7, 1898. In 1906 Mr. Mc- Cracken removed his family to Vineland, Cumberland county, New Jersey, where his younger children are pupils in excellent private schools.
(IV) George Scott, eldest son of Alpheus and Anna E. ( Scott) McCracken, was born in Bord- entown, New Jersey, February 15, 1871. He attended the Chester ( Pennsylvania ) Military College. He was for two years in the service of the C. & A. railroad at Cooper's Point, Camden ; for ten years assistant baggage agent of the Pennsylvania railroad at Altoona, Penn- sylvania; and for six years foreman in the freight department of the W. J. & S. railroad at Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men at Camden, and the Knights of the Golden Eagle, Altoona, Pennsylvania. In politics he is independent. With his family he is a member of the Baptist church. He married, in Jersey City, Novem- ber 2, 1896, Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Adolphus and Mary Ellen Hileman ; she was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and her father was a blacksmith. Children: Jean Hileman McCracken, born in Altoona, November 4, 1900; Robert Alpheus McCracken, born in Atlantic City, June 20, 1905.
Robert Scott, second son of Alpheus and Anne E. (Scott) McCracken, was born in Bordentown, New Jersey, October 6, 1877. He was educated at the Friends' School and J. Northrop's private school, in Camden, New Jersey, and the Drexel Institute, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. For six years he was cashier at the Vine street station of the Pennsylvania railroad at Philadelphia ; one year in the right of way department of the Bell Telephone Com- pany in Philadelphia, and then went into busi-
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ness with C. V. Risley, under the firm name of C. V. Risley & Co., dealers in railroad ties and lumber, as successors to Lewis Thompson & Co., No. 127 Walnut street, Philadelphia, and in which he is now engaged. At the out- break of the Spanish-American war he enlist- ed in the First Regiment, National Guard Pennsylvania, and was with the troops assem- bled at Chickamauga, Georgia, but was not called into active service on account of the early close of the war. In politics he is a Re- publican. He is a member of the Automobile Club of Germantown, the White Marsh Valley Country Club, and the Camden Automobile Club. He and his family attend the Presby- terian church. He married, in the Old Swedes Church, Wilmington, Delaware, May 18, 1891, Gertrude Fricke, of Camden, New Jersey, daughter of Harry and Anna (Schrack) Fricke, whose other children were Welling, Harter and Elizabeth. Children of Robert Scott and Gertrude (Fricke) McCracken : Alpheus Welling, born March 20, 1904, and Roberts Scott McCracken Jr., born July 31, 1906.
The name Woodruff is WOODRUFF derived from Woodrove, or Woodreeve, the word "reeve" meaning a caretaker, and Woodreeve was presumably a reeve for his lords forest or woodlands. During the Saxon period in England the nobility who owned titles estates had their caretaker, which was a most exalted position. He usually levied dues for his lord and performed many judicial functions. There are many spellings of the name Woodruff : Woodreeve, Woodrufe, Woodrove, Wood- roffe, Woodroufe, Woderofe, Woodrofe, Woodrufe, Woodruffe, Woodrow and Wood- rap. The name and family is of purely Eng- lish origin.
(I) The first of the name recorded was Thomas Woodrove ( Woodreeve ), who resided at Fordwich (Kentshire) in England during the reign of Henry VII. He died there in 1553. He is shown in the town records as a property owner of considerable amount, and a deed dated 1538 makes Thomas Woodroffs owner of two messages comprising thirty acres of land, with three gardens, five acres of meadow land, and eighteen of forest, situated in Fordwich. There is record made of him relative to payment to church wardens of the rent of his house which the church owned, payable in advance for preceding year. Thomas Woodrove was a rider or envoy for the court,
his duty being to take long journeys to sum- mons different members of the court. The mayor of Fordwich and the commons were distinctively at ends with the abbot of the monastery of St. Augustus, who held full sway and claimed his authority and many rights in the district ; and one particular claim which was unreasonable to the mayor and his office, which they were obliged to submit to, was that the abbot's bailiff should be present at court holdings presided over by the mayor. This proved wholly obnoxious to his lordship, and on such an occasion Thomas Woodrove 11) 1510 became a rider for the court to sum- mon the bailiff of the Isle of Thanet. He be- came a person in whom the court had full con- fidence. He performed many duties of town clerk and was a recognized factor in his town. He became a jurat in 1538, during the time of King Henry. VIII, when he put down the monastery rule to be given over to his follow- ers. In 1539 we find by the records that Thomas Woodrove became a magistrate at Fordwich and sat with his followers, who were his seniors, and it was at this time that he and his associates acted on a bill in favor of the courtiers that would convey to them many of the proper possessions. Among his children was William, mentioned below.
(II) William, son of Thomas Woodrove, was born at Fordwich, Kentshire, England, where he died in 1587. He was concerned in the advancement of town affairs, and held the responsible office of keeper of key of the town chest, then an honorable office supposed to be conferred on the most responsible citizen of the town. The responsibility of the town records, deeds, wills, etc., was called "the chest," and he was paid by fees for the custody. The chest was to be found in the courthouse of Fordwich, and from the many years it was subjected to use it became a well-worn treas- ure repository. He was enrolled in the mili- tary company at Fordwich in 1573-74, as shown by the records, where he was furnished by his son Robert and many others with neces- sary implements of defense. He was a strict churchman and held office in common with others. He was a man of spirit, and appar- ently was first to act in the affairs of the com- munity. He was undoubtedly a senior jurat, or magistrate, as his name appears in the court records. He was in close association with the "Honorable Mayor" of Fordwich, often acting in his stead. He was a freeman and yeoman, and held possessions at his death. Children : William ; Robert, mentioned below.
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(III) Robert, son of William Woodruff, was born at Fordwich, England, about 1547, died in 1611, leaving a widow and two sons. Like his father, grandfather and brother Will- iam, he became a prominent factor in the im- portant affairs of Fordwich. He was admitted a freeman in 1580, and served later as a magis- trate, often presiding at meetings where ques- tions of importance in the king's name were concerned. He served the parish church of his town as warden in 1584. He was a yeoman and held property interests, inheriting undoubt- edly lands from his father. His marriage to Alice Russell, according to the best authority, occurred in 1572. She was of Northgate and nearby parish of St. Mary. Of their children were John and William.
(IV) John, son of Robert Woodroff, was born and baptized in 1574, at Fordwich, Eng- land. He was a yeoman or husbandman. He lived the major part of his life at Northgate, a nearby town of Fordwich. He married, 1601-2, Elizabeth Cartwright, who was un- doubtedly executor of his will and affairs. He made his will in September, 1611, during his last hours when he was "very sick and infirm in body," and the will reads that "my well be- loved wife bury me." It was proved October, 16II, shortly after his decease, and names wife Elizabeth and son John.
(V) John (2), son of John (1) Woodroff, was born in Northgate, Kent, England, in 1604, and was baptized at St. Mary's the same year. On the death of his father in 1611, John Gosmer (Gozmer in records) became a wit- ness and signer to the elder John's will, which was proved in October of same year at North- gate. According to the records, "on account of the privations and perilous times for women and children when they needed protection," John Gosmer, on October 24, 1611, married the Widow Elizabeth Woodroff, and became stepfather of the younger John, who grew to manhood and married Ann Gosmer, his step- sister. John Gosmer became mayor of Ford- wich in 1638, but owing to a faction arising in 1639 whereby the council in Whitehall de- manded from Mr. Gosmer's successor in office an unpaid assessment which "should long since have been paid to the sheriff of Kent or the treasurer of the navy," may have been the cause of the departure of John Gosmer and family to America, and the records show that John Gosmer and wife Elizabeth, John Wood- ruffe and wife Ann with their infant son John, then about two years of age, were re- corded at Lynn, Massachusetts. The Gosmer
liousehold remained but a short time there, as the records of Southampton, Long Island, show that June 4, 1640, John Gosmer was ad- mitted an undertaker there and became a man of considerable note. In 1657 his stepson John Woodruffe and son-in-law succeeded him in the whaling squadron, and in the same year was deeded to John Topping a home lot and five acres of land from his father-in-law, John Gosmer, February 20, 1660-61. July 29, 1660- 61 he also, received from his stepfather goods, chattels, house and lands, to which his wife, Elizabeth Gosmer, consented. John Woodruffe died in May, 1670, aged sixty-six years, leav- ing two sons by the name of John, an uncom- mon event, but nevertheless a positive fact. The first John, born 1637, came to America as an infant, married Mary Ogden, and set- tled at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and had a son Joseph, born 1674, who married Mary
This Joseph was father of Hon.
Samuel Woodruff, of Boxwood Hall. The other son John, born at Southampton, in 1650, was father of Joseph Woodruff, of Westfield, who married Hannah and his de- scendants are known as the Westfield Wood- ruffs. These two cousins Joseph were dis- tinguished in the records as Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr., and have often been mistaken for father and son instead of Joseph ( I) and Jo- seph (II) as is now customary.
John Woodruffe married Ann Gosmer, as aforementioned. Children : Anne, married Robert Wooley; Elizabeth, married Ralph Dayton; John, mentioned below; Joseph.
(VI) John (3), son of John (2) Wood- ruffe, was baptized in 1637, in the parish of Sturry, Kent, England. About 1638-39, with his parents and the Gosmer household, he emi- grated to America, coming first to Lynn, Mass- achusetts, thence to Southampton, Long Island. Here he grew to manhood, and according to the records, April 30, 1657, then at the age of twenty years, was able to bear arms. Febru- ary 20, 1659, about the time of his marriage to Mary Ogden, he became a landowner and pro- prietor. Mary was daughter of John Ogden. who gave his son-in-law a tract of land and in 1664 gave him the house and homestead lot on Main street that he had purchased from his nephew, John Ogden, on the latter's departure from Southampton. On this spot in 1900, Albert J. Post, clerk of the town trustees of Southampton, resided. In 1664, owing to the bitter feeling and adverse conditions among the settlers at Southampton on account of King Charles granting Long Island to his
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brother James, Duke of York and Albany, for the purpose of annexing the territory to Man- hattan, many of the settlers decided to quit the territory and emigrated to New Jersey. John Woodruff and wife Mary and John Ogden came that same year to New Jersey, settling in Elizabethtown. He disposed of his prop- erty at Southampton in the summer of 1665 to Robert Woolley, husband of his sister Anne. His lands he disposed of to other townsmen. On arriving at Elizabethtown, whither he was accompanied by his two men and one maid servant, he took up a town lot of one and one- half acres on the corner of Elizabeth avenue and Spring street. He was granted a farm of three hundred acres in lieu of settling at Eliz- abethtown, which was later known as the Woodruff Farms. He also had extensive prop- erties besides some six hundred acres, and was among the well-to-do yoemen of the settle- ment and a prominent factor in the govern- ment of the town, and next to Governor Car- teret the largest landowner in the township. He served as constable from December II, 1674, and was high sheriff November 28, 1684. He had a gallant career as ensign. John Wood- ruff, gentleman, was commissioned ensign of the Elizabeth foot company under Lieutenant Luke Watson by Governor Phillip Carteret, August 4, 1668; commission revoked Octo- ber 31, 1670; recommissioned ensign of Eliza- bethtown militia under Captain Knipp by council of war of New Netherlands during the Dutch occupation, September 14, 1673-74, on recommendation of Governor Phillip Carteret ; recommissioned ensign of same company, De- cember 3, 1683, by the governor and council of New Jersey. That he was a leading citizen is shown in the fact that he stood up bravely against the arbitrary methods of the pro- prietors. He made his will April 27, 1691, at the age of fifty-four years, as the, record shows, "in the hazzard of life," and was proved May 25, 1691. His son John being the oldest, held all landed estates according to the old English law by will, but knowing it to the wish of his honored father gave a quitclaim deed to his brothers David, Daniel, Joseph and Benja- min, of all the Woodruff farms.
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