USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 52
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There are several stores here at this time, also a post-office, a school and a church.
THE BOROUGH OF FAIRVIEW.
The first vote for this borough was cast on the 14th of December. 1894, and the first election for officers was held in February, 1895, fol- lowed in March by the selection of permanent officials. Dr. M. S. Ayers was elected the first Mayor of the borough, and has been re-elected, holding that office continuously since that time. The first Council was as follows: Benjamin R. Burdett, John N. Nicholson, Conrad Sedore. William Donaldson. William H. Wendall, Harry D. Fink; F. B. Wallace. Clerk. The present officers are as follows: Dr. M. S. Ayers. Mayor: F. B. Wallace, Clerk: Council, Conrad Sedore, Girard Farenholtz, An- drew Grim, W. H. Wendall. Taylor Hurley. F. H. Egbert. The vote cast in November, 1895, was one hundred and thirty-five. The popula- tion of the village is about seven hundred.
SCHOOLS.
There are two School Districts in the borough. Nos. 1 and 2. No. 1 was originally the old Bulls Ferry School. the house of which was moved to the top of the hill, and is now used for the primary grade. Miss Laura Clarke, teacher. No. 2 has two departments. Miss Ethel Powel Harris. principal; Miss Nellie Boos, assistant. The School Board consists of eight members, of which F. Y. Pond is president.
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ROYAL ARCANUM NO. 498.
Royal Arcanum, No. 498, was organized in 1890. The charter members were Doctor and Mrs. M. S. Ayers, George Bruce, Jr., J. Nicholson, Frank Murphy, John S. Tracy, E. M. Pawsen, Dr. M. S. Avers was the first Regent. The names of other Regents who have filled this office are Charles Merrick, Henry Wilson, George Nash, Albert Lussen, F. D. Murphy. The present officers are George A. Storms, Regent ; A. H. Wendall, Vice-regent; E. M. Pawsen, Secretary; F. D. Murphy, Treasurer ; John S. Tracy, Collector ; J. D. Cowan, Orator; N. Samler, Warden.
The society has a membership of one hundred and eighty, and holds its meetings in the Town Hall.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Protection to property was organized in 1894, The leaders in this movement consisted of B. R. Burdett, W. H. Tracy, John S. Tracy, Taylor Hurley, Malcolm Long, Harry D. Fink, Frank D. Murphy, John Nicholson and Conrad Sedore. W. H. Tracy, foreman; Jacob H. B. Day, assistant foreman; John P. Haas, treasurer. The present foreman is Jacob H. B. Day, and F. Y. Pond is treasurer.
BAPTIST CHURCH.
For some time previous to 1848, the people of English Neighbor- hood, (now Fairview ) under a council of ministers and delegates, organized an independent Baptist Church at this place, to be called the First Baptist Church at English Neighborhood. Among those at Fair- view instrumental in securing this organization, was Mary Sedore, who is the only one of the nineteen persons of that number, now living.
Rev. William H. Spencer, pastor of the Bloomingdale Church, was chosen moderator ; Rev. George F. Hendrickson, pastor of the church at Perth Amboy, was chosen clerk of the council; Rev. Richard Thomp- son, pastor of New Durham Baptist Church, read a portion of Scripture from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The joint letter of dismission from the New Durham Baptist Church, containing the names of nineteen members, as follows: James D. Demarest, David McDonald, Ephraim Tracy, William H. Tracy, David C. Dyer, Andrew Engle, Jr .. Abraham Jackson, Sarah McDonald, Elizabeth Tracy, Francis Ebis, Sarah Freeland, Elizabeth Compton, Mary McDonald, Mary Sedore, William Engle, Catharine Townsend, Margaret Demarest, Sarah Engle, Elizabeth Jackson, who were dismissed from the said church, was then read before the council. The articles of faith and church covenant were then read and examined by the council, which were approved. It was then voted to proceed to organize them into an inde- pendent Baptist Church, and services were first held in private houses until 1864, when the membership increased and a church edifice deemed necessary. In the fall of 1864 a church was erected at a cost of two thousand dollars, which was built by subscription. This church, a small wooden structure, twenty-four by thirty-five feet, was located in the
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centre of the village. The building committee was David C. Dyer. James D. Demarest, David McDonald, W. H. Tracy, Andrew S. Engle. The church was dedicated December 13, 1864, by Rev. Mr. Dowlely, of New York.
The first trustees were James D. Demarest, David C. Dyer, David McDonald, W. A. Tracy, and Andrew S. Engle. First deacons, James D. Demarest and Ephraim Tracy. The first pastor was Rev. George F. Hendrickson, who presided over this congregation at intervals since 1848. Rev. C. A. Harper, was called in 1878, and in 1880 the church disbanded.
The building is now used as a chapel for any denomination that chooses to worship there. The Methodists at this time under the preaching of the Rev. John Mena, of New York, being prominent.
MELANCTHON SAYRE AYERS, M. D.
Dr. Melancthon Sayre Ayers, Mayor of Fairview, and otherwise prominent in social and political life, is a native of Beemerville, New Jersey, born October 23, 1846. His maternal ancestors were of Hol- land and French descent, his mother being Rebecca Ogden Decker. His father, however, came from Scotch stock, and owned a large farm in Sussex county where our subject spent the earlier years of his life. After leaving the public schools, young Ayers prepared for college at Suffield, Connecticut after which he taught school at Beemerville, one year. In 1868, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, and desiring to familiarize himself with drugs and medicines, he purchased a drug store in the city during the first year of his college career. He continued this business until the completion of his studies, when he was honored by an appointment as Surgeon on board of one of the Black Ball Packet Line of ships, and sailed for Europe where he spent the summer. Upon returning to New York Dr. Ayers began the practice of medicine in the city but remained there only until 1872. He then located in Fairview and is still practicing, having in the mean- time made an honorable record in his profession.
As a rule every honorable and upright man possessing force of character sufficient to qualify himself for the duties of life, has sooner or later been recognized as a useful factor in matters of public import- ance. This has been the history of the subject of this sketch. In military affairs the Doctor has been honorably remembered in his ap- pointment of First Lieutenant and Assistant Surgeon to the Second Battalion, National Guard, New Jersey, June 18, 1873, and promoted to Major and Surgeon April 15, 1876. He resigned in June 1888.
Upon the organization of the borough of Fairview Dr. Ayers was elected its first Mayor in 1894, re-elected in 1895 and re-elected again in 1897. His term expires in 1899. The doctor has been president of the Ridgefield Twonship Protective Association since 1882, and was ap- pointed Special Police Justice by Governor Abbett during his presidency of the Protective Society. He is a member and ex-president of the
M. A. Ayran2)
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Bergen County Medical Society, and has also been from time to time honored with other positions of trust.
In 1897 the Doctor organized the Cliffside Land Company and be- coming its president purchased a large tract of land on the Palisades opposite Grant's Monument, laid it out in lots, and formed the nucleus of a town which he had named Grantwood.
Dr. Ayers was married first to Miss Nellie Hill of New York city, December 1874. Mrs. Ayers died. August 12, 1876, leaving a son, Nelson M., an infant but a few days old. The Doctor married Miss Lillian Packard of Providence, R. I., on November 4, 1835. His son Nelson M. Ayers prepared for college in Berlin, Germany, and at Princeton and Hackettstown, N. J. He was graduated from Yale University June, 1898, and entered New York Law School in October following.
CONRAD SEDORE.
Conrad Sedore, a well known contractor and member of the Bor- ough Council, has been prominently identified with the interests of Fairview for many years. His grandfather Conrad, and Althea Sedore moved to Ridgefield township from New York State, locating on the hill above Fairview, before the Revolutionary war. Their children were: Isaac, William, Alexander, Eliza, Mary, Jane, Catharine, Susan and Elvira. Alexander, the father of our subject married Mary Earl, daughter of Edward Earl, in 1827, locating on the property now known as the Mabie place in English Neighborhood, and at this time owned by John Monahan. Edward Earl was one of the deacons of the church at English Neighborhood for many years. He died in 1854, 79 years of age.
Conrad Sedore was the third son of a family of seven children, and was born in 1834. At the age of sixteen he went to New York and learned the trade of carpenter. He remained in the city many years following his calling and was for a period of fifteen years in charge of the three hundred and fifty buildings, belonging to the old Trinity cor- poration. He remained in the city twenty-five years, actively engaged in business, much of that time, in charge of large interests, and at the head of many employees. Soon after the Rebellion he returned to Fair- view, building his own house in 1891, where he now resides.
In 1856 he was married to Sarah Westerfield, daughter of Henry and Eliza Westerfield, of Hudson county.
Mr. Sedore, although public spirited, takes the most interest in his church connections, and in church work. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since twenty-two years of age, and was a class leader for eleven years in the Perry Street M. E. Church, New York. He is also a leading member of the Union Society in Fairview.
BENJAMIN R. BURDETT.
Benjamin R. Burdett of Fairview traces his lineage to Stephen Burdett, who was a resident and landowner in this locality, many years prior to the Revolutionary war.
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About twenty years previous to that period, Stephen purchased some four hundred acres of land, upon which are located the sites of the two forts, which is now Fort Lee. At an earlier date, however, he had, conjointly with William Bayard received from the king a grant of land covering the ground upon which Weehawken and Hoboken are built. In the course of time the spelling of the family name was changed to Burdett, by dropping the "o" and "e" from the first syllable.
Mr. Burdett's grandparents were, Benjamin and Rachel Burdett. His father Henry Burdett married Rachel Scott, and by this marriage there have been the following children: Mary Alvira, wife of Rev. Martin Herr; Peter, now of Elizabeth, N. J .; Sarah A. (deceased ); Rachel (now dead) was the wife of Dr. Burdett of Hackensack; John H., of Hunterdon county, N. J .; Benjamin R., Wilbur F., deceased; Richard Watson in Hunterdon county, and Newton James, who died at the age of eighteen months.
Benjamin R., our subject, was born at Fort Lee, March 18th, 1840. He was educated in the public schools of Fort Lee, supplemented by a two years course at Pennington Seminary. Mr. Burdett's father was a Methodist and entertained the preachers at his home. During his life- time he was a carpenter and boatbuilder, as was his father. He died in 1874 aged seventy-two years. During the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Burdett was in the grocery business in Spring street, New York city, and later in Fort Lee, when his health failed and he was obliged to give up business. His wife, whom he married in 1878, was Miss Anna B. Day, only daughter of Dr. W. H. Day of Fort Lee. Dr. Day was one of the founders of the District Medical Society of the county of Bergen, and died in 1876.
Mr. Burdett's two children are William Day, who was graduated from the Hackensack High school, and later took one year in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons of New York when his health failed. Eliza Day is at home.
Peter Burdett brother of Benjamin R., enlisted in Company K 22nd New Jersey Volunteers, in which he was made sergeant.
Mr. Burdett is a Republican and has been secretary of the Republi- can Executive Committee of Bergen county for six years. He has been Justice of the Peace one year, and was one of the first councilmen and President of the Council of the borough of Fairview. He is also a member of the Sons of Temperance and of the Royal Society of Good- fellows, in which he has held every office in the gift of the association. In addition to these, Mr. Burdett has been District Deputy of the district.
JOHN P. HAAS.
John P. Haas son of Joseph and Crezencia ( Kfeiffer ) Haas, was born in New York city, June 22, 1859. His parents came from Germany in 1850, and settled in New York where John was educated in a private school.
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In 1872 he learned the trade of barber, finding employment in various shops until 1878, when he went into business for himself in this city, continuing them until 1880, he then came to Fairview and began business which has proved successful. Mr. Haas been twice married, first to Miss Emma Kaufhold who died leaving him two daughters. His second marriage was to Miss Anna Beck. They have four daughters and two sons. Mr. Haas has been Collector since the formation of the borough in 1894, having been twice elected to that office, being also Treasurer of the borough. He is a member of the Englewood Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 197, and a charter member of Bergen Lodge, A. O. U. W., No. 52. He was a charter member and took an active part in the organization of Piges Hose Company.
PALISADES PARK.
The village of Palisades Park was founded by Benjamin W. Hitch- cock, who built the depot about 1888, and afterwards sold it to the rail- road. There are one or two stores in the place; also a Union Chapel, the ground for which was given by Henry and John Brinkerhoff, the chapel being dedicated on March 8th, 1898. John Blackstrom, the first storekeeper, is still trading here. The new school house was erected in 1894. F. B. Armstrong, the principal, is assisted by three teachers. The last census gives a list of one hundred and twenty-eight children in the district of school age.
The borough of Palisades Park lies between the boroughs of Le- onia and Ridgefield, is about one mile square and has a taxable valuation of about $600,000. It was incorporated March 22, 1899.
The officers are as follows: John S. Edsall, mayor; Michael Reid, Louis Schlumberger, Henry Scholz, Robert MacDonald, John P. Davis, Daniel Krueger, council; John Brinkerhoff, collector; Alfred I. Parkyn, assessor; C. H. Lozier, Sr., W. G. Sanderson, Johannes Johnson, com- missioners of appeals; George W. Gardiner, borough clerk.
JOHN G. EDSALL.
John G. Edsall of Palisades borough, occupies the old Edsall home- stead, which has come to him by inheritance from father to son, from Samuel Edsall, the progenitor of the family, who purchased the estate in colonial times. This estate originally consisted of about two thou- sand acres of land extending north from Bull's Ferry along the Hudson River two and a half miles nearly to Fort Lee and inland to the Hack- ensack River and Overpeck Creek. This grant according to a state- ment made in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record of October 1882, was obtained from the Indians early in 1669. This Samuel Edsall was of Holland ancestry and emigrated from England to America in 1648. In 1774 we find him acting as president of the recently organized "Court of Judicature" in the village of Bergen, and in 1673 a special court of Oyer and Terminer was held over which William Sandford was president, and Samuel Edsall was an associate.
JOHN G. EDSALL.
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On an old map of New York he is marked in 1656 as the owner of a large tract of land, a part of which lay on the Strand, now Pearl street. He married his first wife Janetje Jane Wessels in the Dutch church in 1655. After her death he married Namoi, widow of Samuel Moore, a merchant. Mr. Edsall's third wife was Ruth Woodhull who owned the old Edsall plantation, known as Edsall's Point. This property falling into the possession of her son Richard Edsall, was sold May 27, 1735 to Michael Vrielandt.
Samuel E., son of John and grandson of Samuel first mentioned was sheriff of Bergen county in 1740. It was this Samuel who built the old stone house used until 1851 for the Edsall residence. John G. Edsall is a great grandson of Samuel and Naomi Christina (Day) Edsall, grandson of John and Gertrude (Lydecker ) Edsall, and the son of Garret L., and Lavinia (Terhune) Edsall. Mr. Edsall's mother, a daughter of James A. Terhune of Teaneck, is still living on the homestead.
John, son of Samuel, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, died in 1876, eighty-eight years of age. The present residence was built by him in 1861. Garret L., his son, died in 1885. He was one of the organizers of the Jersey Blues (in 1861) and became the second lieutenant of that famous company.
The old residence built by Sheriff Edsall, was torn down in 1887.
John G. Edsall was born in 1851, and has spent his whole life at the place of his birth.
A man of sterling character, he has made a record in business for strict integrity and honesty, neither seeking nor desiring political recognition, although his borough forced him into the candidacy for mayor, and came within a vote or two of electing him to that position, in the spring of 1899. He has served, however, on the school board in his district, the question being one of vital issues of the day.
The farming interests of the old Edsall estate have always been important, while the improvements on the farm and the produce raised for market have been made to keep progress with the time.
In 1883 Mr. Edsall was married to Miss Pauline Pruden and by this union there are two children.
JOHN S. EDSALL.
John S. Edsall, Mayor of Palisades Park, is a great grandson of Samuel Edsall and Naomi Christina Day. His grandparents were John, and Gertrude ( Lydecker ) Edsall, and his parents Samuel and Isabella ( Christie ) Edsall.
Mr. Edsall was brought up on the farm which is a part of the old Samuel Edsall estate mentioned elsewhere in the work. In addition to his farming interests, he is engaged in real estate business with his brother Samuel S. Edsall. Mr. Edsall is identified officially with the in- terests of his part of Bergen county. He was a member of the Tri-town- ship ( Poorhouse) Committee for a period of eleven years, was Treasurer
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of the Poorhouse Committee for ten years. He was elected Mayor of the borough of Palisades Park in the spring of 1899.
On May 7, 1861, Mr. Edsall enlisted in the First Regiment, Bergen Brigade, and was from time to time promoted, holding different offices in his company until October 16, 1888, when he was made captain.
Mr. Edsall married Lydia, daughter of Garret S. Banta, and is father of seven children; Belle, Lena, wife of Abram Christie; Gertrude; Sarah B., wife of J. B. Moore; Charles; Garret, who was killed by a train on the Northern New Jersey Railroad in 1897; Agnes Naomi and Lily May. Samuel S. Edsall his brother, and member of the firm of Edsall Brothers, New York, is unmarried.
THE BRINKERHOFF FAMILY.
The Brinkerhoff family is one of the oldest in this county. The homestead was on the site now occupied by the residence of Henry Brink- erhoff in Palisades Park. The fountain head of this family dates back to 1638, when Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff, with his family landed in the little city of New Amsterdam. From Joris Dericksen ( Joris son of Derick ) so far as known, without exception, have come all who bear the name, or lineage, of Brinkerhoff upon the American continent. Some spell the name B-r-i-n-c-k and some B-r-i-n-k, and the othography of either is fully authenticated in ancient documents. In a few manu- scripts it is written "Blinkerhoff," and in one instance Van Blynckerhoff. The Flushing branch of the family, ( descendents of Abraham, son of Joris Dericksen, ) for the most part, use the "c." The Bergen branch ( descendents of Hendrick, son of Joris Dericksen, ) have almost entirely omitted it. It may be safely said that Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff was a very worthy representative of the Holland family to plant in America, and very deserving of rememberance by all who bear his family name or have descended from him. All of these may feel assured that the first representative of that name in America was an honest and upright man. The family motto " Constans fides et integritas," seems evidently fitting to the man. He held in those early days positions of trust requir- ing probity and integrity of character, and held them for years, was preeminently a religious man. He lived in times of great religious excitement. His children ( two sons and a daughter ) were all members of the church and his descendants, with very rare exceptions, down to the present time, have been loyal adherents of the churches of the Reformation. The records of any of the Dutch churches in the neigh- borhood of New York will give abundant evidence of this fact. Seven of the subscribers to the building fund of the Dutch church at Flushing. Long Island, for 1731, were Brinkerhoff's, and in the list of pew-holders for 1736, twenty-one of them were Brinkerhoff's. The first two names on the roll of the Brooklyn church organized in 1660, are Joris Dericksen Brinkerhoff and his wife, Susannah. The first two names in the Hack- ensack church, are Hendrick Jorise Brinkerhoff and his wife, Clausie.
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In 1737, what is now the Brinkerhoff homestead consisted of four hundred acres of land, bought by Cornelius Brinkerhoff from Mat- thew Benson for £5050, and was then a tract of unimproved land, covered with woods and underbrush. It was not until 1758 that the first house was built here by John Brinkerhoff. It was two stories high, a sort of cross between a flat roof and a "short pitch," a style of archi- tecture much in vogue at that period. Heavy, rough oak beams were used in its construction, the timbers being all pinned, and no nails used where it was possible to pin together with wooden pins.
John Brinkerhoff, the great grandfather of our subject, was born April 14, 1750, and died October 19, 1823. His son, Henry, born Janu- ary 30, 1793, married Mary Christie. He was a captain of the militia. Their children were John H., Cornelius, Hannah Maria and William Henry. He built the house now standing on the farm in 1838, when his son, John H., was 19 years of age. John H. Brinkerhoff was born Septem- ber 10, 1819. On March 25, 1840, he married Naomi Edsall, and by this union were born nine children, of whom, only two, Henry and John, are now living. He was one of the organizers of the "Jersey Blues," May 7, 1861. He died in 1887. Of his two surviving sons, Henry, the elder, owns the homestead. He is distinctively a farmer, and has never sought office or political preferment.
John Brinkerhoft has been a member of Company E, Second Regi- ment, N. G. N. J., since 1872, first as a private, afterwards being made second lieutenant, holding that office during the enlistment of his regi- ment in the Spanish-American war. On December 10, 1897, the mem- bers of the company presented him a handsome sword, engraved with suitable inscription, in recognition of his twenty-five years' faithful service. He was married on November 29, 1882, to Miss Anna Louisa Pruden, and is the father of one child, Ethel Louise. An elder child. William DeGraw Brinkerhoff. was born November 17, 1883, and died June 2, 1892.
LENONIA.
This part of old English Neighborhood had no separate existence as a village until the railroad was built. Among the oldest families who lived here when the church building was erected in 1831, were John Burdett, who built the house now owned and occupied by General Moore and his brother Major Stephen H. V. Moore ; Garret Mevers who with John Cole gave the ground for the church; and David Christie who bought the farm of G. Meyers and moved into the house at present owned by Cornelius and known as " The Homestead," are among the number. But we hear of no trading here until C. D. Shaw, the first agent of the depot for the railroad company kept the post-office. also a store, and Mr. Shaw has been from that time to this in a business way connected with the people of Leonia.
P. P. Cluiss, recorder of the borough, who has been in business six- teen years succeeded C. D. Shaw in 1890. J. H. Clarke and A. M. Price, are each doing a successful commercial business also. Mr. James
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Christie, collector of the borough, established a prosperous trade in coal, wood, lime, etc., over twenty years ago. He was succeeded by J. H. Ferdon, in 1896.
The stores and business enterprises of the borough together with the beautiful site of the village, which has attracted people from the great metropolis, is fast building up the place.
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