USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 51
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"Whereas, It has pleased the Omnipotent Disposer of Public Events to bless the land with peace and plenty, and we also, wishing harmony in the said congregation having, with the advice of our min- ister and the congregation in general in the fear of the Lord, to pro- ceed in building said church according to the following plan:
I. " The place proposed is to be on the Point Field west of an apple tree, and according to the following dimensions, viz: 40 feet wide by 52 feet long, and with two 'gallereys.'
II. " The stone and timber to be brought on the ground free gratis, and no money to be paid out unless it be for . meteriels' until the car- penters' and masons' work is begin.
III. "The following persons are appointed .managers:' Messrs. Cornelius Vreelandt, Garret Banta, John Williams, John Day, Rinier Earl and Samuel Edsall, whose business it shall be to engage workmen
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and laborors, procure . meteriel,' superintend the work, and do every- thing necessary to promote the said building."
IV. "The congregation shall immediately take in voluntary sub- scriptions in order to defray the expenses of the building. The money subscribed is to be in two equal payments, viz .: The first at the time of subscribing, the second immediately after the roof of the new church is raised.
V. "After the church is finished the pews shall be divided into convenient seats, except as many free seats for strangers as the manag- ers shall think proper, and also Elders' and Deacons' pews, and a pew for the minister's family. The said seats shall, after due notice given at an appointed time and place, be disposed of at public auction to the highest bidder, and the several subscribers shall have credit for all moneys by them subscribed, provided, they purchase to the amount of the moneys so subscribed.
VI. "In seats or pews. If any person shall become heir to, or shall purchase from another any of the said seats, and shall not apply within one year and one day after such purchase or the obtaining of such right or legacy, to have such seat transcribed, they shall be deemed the property of the congregation, and the church masters have a right to sell them. The price for transcribing shall be four shillings, New York currency, per seat."
Many of these records are curious reading at this day. Among others we find a bill for an item of repairs as paid in so many shillings " and a gallon of rum."
The work and material in this structure were of such a substantial kind, that the roof lasted over seventy years. The house was built without chimneys, and all the heat the people had was from the little portable foot stoves they carried, which were filled at the corner by Mr. Vreelandt, ( who kept a supply of coals) and yet they attended church in midwinter, sitting in these straight backed pews without a murmur.
On January 8, 1795, a public auction was held at which the pews were sold to the highest bidder. The highest price paid was thirty- five pounds, and the lowest, four pounds and twelve shillings. The total sum realized at this sale was £1292, 1s. The ground upon which this church was built was bought from Cornelius Vreelandt, for £40, "being one-half acre, whereon the new church is now erected," and adjoining that upon which the old church stood. Stipulations with reference to the use of the graveyard were as follows:"
" The following rates shall be paid by the strangers for the privi- lege of burying grounds of this church: for an adult, two dollars per grave: all under twelve years, one dollar per grave. "The following persons shall be considered as strangers: all those who live in the congregation but pay nothing toward the support of the Gospel."
" All those who live out of the congregation, except such as have paid toward building the church, purchasing the parsonage lot, and
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building of the house and buying of the burying-ground and their children while remaining under their jurisdiction."
Mr. Cornelison's pastorate covered a period of thirteen years, closing November 1806, and during this time thirty persons were added on con- fession and eleven by certificate. Rev. Henry Polhemus became the next pastor on February 17, 1809, and remained until February 1813, and during this time twenty-six were added. On the 29th of December 1809. the church was incorporated, and on the same day Mr. Polhemus deeded to the church a desirable tract of land he had secured for a par- sonage, at a purchase price of eighteen hundred and thirty-two dollars, and upon this they built a commodious parsonage. Rev. Cornelius T. Demarest succeeded Mr. Polhemus as pastor of this church April 26. 1813, pleasant relations existing until the troubles of 1822 arose, and which resulted in the formation of the True Dutch Reformed Church, the pastorate of Mr. Demarest over this people terminating in 1824.
The first feeling against Mr. Demarest arose through his sympathy with Dr. Froeligh, who had received suspended members from other churches, and aroused the enmity of those who may have misunderstood his motive. Mr. Demarest was afterwards the victim of charges and criminations, leading later on to the accusation that, as Clerk of Classis, he had returned copies of minutes which were materially false and incor- rect ; of deliberate falsehood and prevarication ; of abusive and false slanders in public and private. and also of public schism. Mr. Demar- est disregarded the citation to answer these accusations. The trial pro- ceeded and judgment entered by default declaring him guilty, and suspending him from the office of the ministery. Sixty-two members of the church and congregation united in a complaint against the elders and deacons, because of their adherence to the suspended pastor. They were tried, their seats declared vacant and they deposed.
From February 1825 to July 1828 Mr. Abeel served the church and was followed by Rev. Philip Duryea, who was installed in December 1828 and continued with them until 1848. The next pastor was Rev. James McFarlane, installed April 1849, who remained with them six years. The next pastor was Rev. Andrus Brown Taylor who was with them thirty-eight years. After him came a number of pastors, the Rev. Marcus J. Roop, the present incumbent coming to the place in 1896. Mr. Roop is also Sabbath school superintendent. The elders are Peter Acker, John Bush and Mr. Geo. C. Gausman. The deacons are W. P. DeGraw, Thomas Moore and Martin Jacobus. Mr. Acker has been elder of the church for eighteen years. He was born in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and was connected for many years with the New York and New Haven Railroad. He married Anna Belle Martling. daughter of Stephen Martling in 1867 and has had a residence in Ridgefield for over thirty years. He also has a residence in Washing- ton, D. C. and spends his winters there.
The Building and Loan Association was organized in Ridgefield in 1889 and has capitalized stock of two hundred thousand dollars. The
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
officers are W. B. Pugh, President ; M. S. Ayers, M. D., Vice-president ; George S. Wood, Secretary; P. A. Meserole, Treasurer; Samuel G. H. Wright, Counsel.
The Fire Department of Ridgefield was organized early in 1895 and has an efficient force of twenty-two members, with all the appliance necessary for extinguishing fires. The officers are : Edward Servaize, Foreman; John S. Van Sciver, Assistant Foreman; Gustavus Hausman, Secretary; Frank Hill, Treasurer.
SAMUEL EDSALL DE GROOT.
The ancestors of Samuel Edsall DeGroot, were among the early settlers of "English neighborhood " in Bergen county. The DeGroots were French Huguenots, and like many others of their race, went first to Holland, and subsequently came to America. John DeGroot the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was the first of the name to locate in Bergen county. He married a Miss Demarest, of Bergen county, whose family were French Huguenots, and had left their native land because of religious persecution. Of the three sons from this union, his son John DeGroot, married Johannah Day, and settled on a tract of land which has ever since been the DeGroot homestead. He was a farmer, a man of affairs, a Justice of the Peace for a term of years, and in various ways was thoroughly identified with the history of his county. John Day the maternal grandfather was also a prominent public man. He was a farmer and surveyor, was a member of the Old Dutch Church, and politically was an influential Whig. Samuel E. De Groot's father was twice married. His first wife was Sarah Edsall, whose children were John, Naomi, Samuel E., and Leonard. His second wife was Maria Scott, whose two children were Gustavus, Abeel and Sarah.
Mr. S. E. DeGroot was born June 9th 1819. His early life was spent on the farm, where he attended the district school, afterward spending four years in the Academy at Caldwell, N. J. Following this he took a course in the Columbia College Grammar school, upon the completion of which he entered the University of New York. Law was his chosen profession, but after studying for two years, failing health compelled him to abandon his plans and take up farming. In addition to agricultural pursuits which proved not only profitable but pleasant, time was also found for public affairs.
In 1849, Mr. DeGroot was elected town clerk, serving four terms in succession. In the mean time, in 1853, he was elected Assessor, in which office he served four successive terms. In 1861 he was elected choosen Freeholder and at the first meeting of the Board after being elected a member of that body, he was made director and each term thereafter for three terms. Mr. DeGroot was elected a member of the Township committee a number of terms, and twice elected a Justice of Peace. The Court, recognizing his ability and superior judgment, many times appointed him appraiser to estimate and award damages for land
SAMUEL E. DE GROOT.
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taken for railroad purposes. Private individuals sought his aid and ex- pressed their confidence in his integrity by placing their interests in his hands, as executor and administrator of estates, in at least eleven different instances and to an amount aggregating over $248,000 divided among different heirs.
To Mr. DeGroot was confided the task of keeping account of all monies raised for bounties paid to the soldiers in the county during the first three years of the Civil War, and afterwards when the county ac- counts were investigated he had the gratification of being congratu- lated by Judge Dixon, who said that Mr. Lewis, the expert who examined the books found them absolutely correct during the time he kept them.
At the time he retired from the Board of Freeholders, the Bergen County Democrat said of him :- "Mr DeGroot as a director of the Board displayed marked executive and financial ability, and retires from the Board with full esteem and confidence of every member thereof and of the community at large."
He has always been a liberal contributor to all worthy local enter- prises, and is a man of the highest christian character, whose religious convictions have made him a member of the Seceder church for more than forty years.
ALEXANDER SHALER.
" The Shaler family were the first settlers of Middlesex county, Conn., from Stratford-on-Avon, England. Thomas, the progenitor of the family in America, came across in 1662. The line descends through Thomas second, Samuel, Asa, James and Ira, the father of Alexander, our subject. The last of this line in England lies buried in "Shakes- peare's Graveyard." They were an honored and refined people, though not distinguished.
Alexander, son of Ira and Jerusha ( Arnold) Shaler, was born at Haddam, Connecticut, March 19th, 1827. His father, known as Captain Shaler, was a mariner during a part of his life, and commanded a vessel sailing between New York and the West Indies. The family removed to New York when Alexander was but seven years of age, where after attending the public schools he became a pupil in two different private schools, finishing his education at Brainerd Academy, Haddam. After leaving school, at the age of seventeen, he became employed by his father. and three years thereafter became business manager of the concern, which consisted in general contracting and in buying and selling North River bluestone and builders' materials. Fond of military affairs, he enlisted as private in Fifth Company, Washington Greys, in 1845, Eighth Regi- ment, New York State Militia, and, in 1848, was transferred to Second Company, Seventh Regiment, National Guard, New York, He was im- mediately made sergeant, then first lieutenant, and in 1850 he was made captain. He remained captain in the Seventh, New York, nearly eleven years, when, becoming a resident of New Jersey, he be- came identified with the militia of that state, and was for five years
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colonel of the First Regiment. Hudson Brigade. In 1860 he resigned his command in New Jersey, and was commissioned major of the Seventh, New York.
When Fort Sumter was fired on in 1861 he went with his regiment to the front and after remaining away about six weeks they returned when he was commissioned by the President, lieutenant colonel First United States Chasseurs, afterward the Sixty-fifth N. Y. V. After the Peninsula campaign he was promoted the colonelcy. His regiment formed part of the Sixth Corps and took part in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac. After the assault on Mayre's Heights, Fred- ericksburg, Va., May 1863, he was appointed brigadier general of volun- teers, and assigned to the command of the first brigade, third division, sixth corps. He conducted the memorable march of that corps, thirty- four miles in nineteen hours, to reach the battlefield of Gettysburg. May 6, 1864, during the Wilderness fight he was taken prisoner and after six weeks he was exchanged. After his exchange he was assigned by General J. J. Reynolds to third brigade, second division, nineteenth army corps; and by General Solomon Meredith, commanding the depart- ment of Kentucky, was ordered to the Post at Columbus, Ky., where head- quarters were established November 1, 1864. In December 1864, General Shaler was placed in command of the second division, seventh army corps, and of the White River District, Department of Arkansas, with headquar- ters at Duvall's Bluff. In 1865 while in this command he was appointed by the President a brevet major general of volunteers.
In civil life General Shaler was in 1866, elected a member of the New York Board of Supervisors, and in 1867 appointed a Fire Commis- sioner and also made president of the Department, and held this office for three years. He was a commissioner until 1873. At the request of the municipal authorities of Chicago, he reorganized the fire department of that city, after the fire of 1871. Prior to that time, in 1867, the fire department of New York was reorganized under act of the Legislature, requiring the Government to appoint a fifth fire commissioner, when General Shaler was made commissioner. He was one of the organizers and for four years president and vice president of the National Rifle Association, and incorporator of the Army and Navy Club, commander of the Loyal Legion of the United States, member of the Union League Club, the New York Historical Society, the Ameri- can Geographical Society, the American Museum of Natural History, the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, and other organiza- tions.
In 1883 he was appointed president of the New York Board of Health, and in 1884, was made a member of the board to provide armor- ies for the city militia.
General Shaler has done much for the prosperity of Ridgefield. He was connected with the organization of the present borough govern- ment. For six years he was president of the Board of Education, and
NICHOLAS JACOBUS
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was also president of the Board of Health of the borough and is now (1899) mayor.
General Shaler was married March 31, 1847, to Miss Mary McMur- ray of New York city. Of their five children his only son, Ira Alexander Shaler, was graduated as civil engineer in Cornell University, and served in the late Spanish-American war in Porto Rico as major in the First Regiment U. S. Volunteer Engineers.
NICHOLAS JACOBUS.
Nicholas Jacobus, for the past forty years a resident of Ridgefield. N. J., is a native of the city of New York, born July 30, 1829. He is son of David and Elizabeth Ryerson Jacobus, old residents of the city, where his own life was spent until his marriage and removal to Ridge- field, just prior to the Civil war. David Jacobus was a manufacturer of sash, blinds, doors, etc., first on Spring street and finally on Wooster street, New York, where his business was continued for many years. He retired from business about five years before his death which occurred November 22, 1875. He was born in Morris county, N. J., June 21, 1804, and at fifteen years of age went to the city to carve out a fortune for himself, which he did, unaided by any resources save those created by himself.
The mother of Nicholas was born June 5, 1807, and died July 29. 1890. She was a native of Pompton, N. J. The issue of this marriage were Nicholas, the subject of this sketch, and Hannah Maria, who was born September 5, 1831, and died November 2, 1840. The homestead is at No. 325 West 28th street, New York, where Mr. Jacobus resides during the inclement season of the year, the house and belongings being pre- served intact out of regard for the home made sacred by parents now gone.
Mr. Jacobus received his education in the Mechanics Institute of New York, a school under the auspices of a society, which gave the youth of the city the advantages of a collegiate training before the pres- ent course of study in high schools, was adopted. As the only son and heir Mr. Jacobus has necessarily been kept busy looking after the busi- ness interests of a large estate, first before his father's death and subse- quently until his own retirement from active life, when he was succeeded in the management by Martin R. Jacobus, his son. He was Township Committeeman of Ridgefield for 1872-73, 1875-76, 1881-82-83.
On March 29, 1861, Mr. Jacobus married Miss Sarah Catherine Carpenter, of Orange county, New York, and during that year took up his residence in Ridgefield, his summer residence at the present time. She was the daughter of John and Agnes [Fulton] Carpenter and was born in 1839.
The property purchased in Ridgefield was originally owned by Samuel Edsall (an account of whose life is given elsewhere). Mr. Jacobus bought the property from Gamaliel Rose who had purchased the estate from James P. Demarest, by whom it was conveyed to Mr.
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Rose May 3, 1837. Mr. Demarest had lived here about thirty years, and the old stone house, a landmark of those early years is still standing.
There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacobus.
David S., tle eldest son, is Professor of Experimental Mechanics and Engineering Physics in the well known Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. As a student, he won a free scholarship for the course at the institution, given to the graduate of the preparatory school standing highest in a competitive examination. He was ap- pointed an instructor when he was graduated from his Alma Mater in 1884, and has remained there since that time. On April 5th 1899, he married Miss Laura Dinkel of Jersey City.
In addition to his work as an instructor Professor Jacobus has undertaken a large amount of practical engineering work, and served as an expert in investigating the feasibility and actual performance of new machines and processes. He has been given every encouragement in such work as it is appreciated by those in charge, that an engineering school should have among its faculty, men conversant with the practi- cal side of the profession, and his training has been with this end in view. He has made numerous tests of Mechanical devices to demonstrate certain physical laws, and has made these the basis of a number of papers presented to scientific societies, the majority being published in the Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, of which society he has long been a member. He is also a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers; the Society of Naval Archi- tects and Marine Engineers; The American Mathematical Society, and the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, and is Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has contributed to the transactions of all these societies and also to the transactions of the the Civil Engineers of Great Britian. He is a member of the Engineers' Club, the Arts Club and the Holland Society of New York and of the Technical Club Chicago. The
other children of Mr. Jacobus are Mrs. Agnes Pratt, wife of Elisha Pratt; Daniel C. Jacobus of the Fifth Avenue Bank, New York; Nicholas Jacobus who died in early life; Martin R. Jacobus, Manager of the Jacobus estate and deacon in the Dutch Reformed Church, Ridgefield ; Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Mr. Roop, pastor of the same church, and Robert Fulton Jacobus, the youngest member of the family.
JACOB V. BANTA.
Jacob V. Banta, coal merchant of Ridgefield, is a descendant of Yan Banta, who early settled in English Neighborhood, now Ridgefield, from which place he removed to Pascack about 1750, Captain Banta a descendant of Yan Banta lived in a stone house in Ridgefield, which had been built prior to the Revolution. This house became the property of Stephen Martling, one of the projectors of the Northern Railroad who moved here from New York in 1849, and remained until 1865.
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This was the homestead of the Banta family for many years. Here Cornelius, the father of John V. Banta, died in 1819. John V. Banta, the father of Jacob V., died in 1876, seventy-one years of age. He was the founder of the house, first, Banta & Son, then Banta & Brother, . now Banta & Son again, coal merchants and feed dealers, well known throughout this part of Bergen county. Jacob V. Banta was born in the Vreeland homestead in 1829. In 1856 he married Clarrissa Ann Demarest, daughter of Cornelius Demarest of Saddle River township, and by this union had two children, Cornelius and Naomi. The son is a member of the firm, Banta & Son. Mr. Banta cares little for political preferments though he has served in the Council since the organization of the borough.
FAIRVIEW.
This village is at the sonthern end of the township, spreading it- self partly into Hudson county. It is a small, thriving village, where the descendants of the Bantas, Herrings and Garrabrants could once be found in numbers, but these are fast giving away to new comers. Among the mansions of the place stands that formerly owned by Thomas H. Herring, an old New York merchant and one of the early presidents of the Northern Railroad, who was at one time president of the New Jersey State Senate. He died July 1st, 1874.
The Garrabrants here and in Hudson county are from a family at one time numerous in Bergen county. The name is taken from the Christian name of the founder, Gerbrand Claesen, his sons and daugh- ters taking the name of Gerbrandsen, of which Garrabrant is a corrup- tion.
Henry Day, father of Dr. W. H. Day, for many years a well-known physician in this town, was a prominent man, known as the hospitable landlord on the old stage route from Albany to New York. He was born at Leonia in 1775, where his father owned a hotel during Revolutionary times. He married Catherine Banta, who died in 1840, and by whom he had one son, W. H. Day. Henry Day bought the property now owned by George Hornecker, and carried on business as an innkeeper until his death in 1852. Gus De Groot and John Scott carried on blacksmithing wagon making in one end of the old Day homestead. Dr. W. H. Day was born in this house July 6th, 1810. He practiced medicine many years before the law was passed requiring a license. A diploma was granted to him dated May 28th, 1852. He continued his practice at Fairview until 1867, when he moved to Fort Lee, where he remained until his death, which occurred June 23d, 1876. Dr. Day was an able physician, was one of the founders of the District Medical Society, and was held in high esteem by every one who knew him. December 31st. 1839, he married Eliza, daughter of Peter Wake and Elizabeth Hatfield, of Fort Lee. Their only child, Anna Blanchard Day, is the wife of Benjamin R. Burdett, at whose residence the mother now lives, and she is now in her eighty-ninth year.
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
John and Peter Garrabrandt were both contractors. and erected several of the buildings in Fairview. Conrad Sedore, a prominent builder in New York, learned his trade in New York city and assisted in the building of the Day homestead in 1854. He also helped to build the residence now owned by Dr. M. S. Ayers. About this time Edward Earl, one of the early and prominent deacons of the Church at English Neighborhood, died (1854) aged seventy-six years. He was the father of Mrs. Mary Sedore. the mother of Conrad Sedore. and she is still living in the place eighty-nine years of age; she was married to Alex- ander Sedore in 1827. the old Monahan place now owned by the Mabie heirs, having been their homestead. During these days the old Deezer hotel stood on the southeast corner of the Hackensack Plank Road and the old Bulls Ferry Road. This inn was afterward kept by Abraham Carlisle, then by John Lovett. and later by James and George Weaver. A Mr. Bankroft had a grocery store sixty years ago, afterward owned by Henry Tracy who died of cholera in Fairview in 1852. The ravages of this fearful disease sorely afflicted almost every home in Fairview dur- ing those dreaded days; it not unfrequently happening that one, two and three members of a family would be taken away in a single night. David McDonald. the father of Jeremiah, the first victim of cholera kept a grocery in one part of the old Deezer hotel, but after the death of Henry Tracy he purchased the property and continued business at that stand.
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