USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 60
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where, seated on a high cushioned chair, he Garrets Demarest, born at Schraalenburgh, would occasionally address the people. In this condition, in 1793, he preached his half- century sermon to a large congregation who came from all quarters to hear it. His text was, "I have fought a good fight, I have fin- ished my course." In the delivery of that discourse he manifested unusual animation, and in the closing prayer he seemed to breathe out his whole soul in fervent peti- tion for the peace, prosperity and salvation of his people. Seldom did he address them after this. In the following winter he was riding to church one Sunday morning when his sleigh was upset a short distance from his home, and his other thigh bone was fractured. He was never able to leave the house after that, and died September 15, 1794, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, the fifty-second of his pastorate, and the fifty-fourth of his ministry. On his tomb- stone was placed the following inscription : "As a Christian few ever discovered more piety ; as a minister few labored longer, more zealously or more successfully than did this minister of Jesus Christ."
DEMAREST, David A.,
Founder of an Important Family.
David A. Demarest was without doubt in his day one of the most widely known and highly respected men in Bergen coun- ty. He was of the sixth generation from David des Marest, the French Huguenot emigrant. The line of descent was as fol- lows: David des Marest (1), the emigrant, and his wife, Maria Sohier, had four chil- dren, one of whom was David Demarest, Jr., (2), who married Rachel Cresson and had twelve children, one of whom was Ja- cobus (3), who married Lea de Groot and Margrietie Cozines Haring, and had fif- teen 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, New Jersey, July 9, 1824, married in 1763, Margaretta
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 Schraalen- burgh and Tappan road, lying on both sides of the road to Old Hook. There un- til his death he kept a general store of gro- ceries, hardware and such wares as farm- ers 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 Horns. Abraham was a man of some note. His store and tavern were known and pa- tronized by the people for miles around. From 1781 until 1799 he held many town offices, including those of commissioner of appeals, townsman, roadmaster, and jus- tice of the peace. He was one of the most active members and workers in the North Church at Schraalenburgh, in which he several times held the offices of deacon and elder. His issue were: David A. ; Ra- chel, 1768; Margaret, 1773; John, 1775; and Christina, 1783.
Of these, David Abraham Demarest (5), the subject of this narrative, was born at Old Bridge, August 28, 1764, and died at Nyack, New York, February 1, 1860, aged ninety-five years five months and three days. He was an unusually bright and ac- tive boy. Realizing this, his father sent him to the best schools in the village of Hackensack, where he acquired a fair edu- cation, including a knowledge of penman- ship and composition. Clerking in his father's store, purchasing stock as well as attending to the wants of the tavern guests. threw him into contact with all kinds and conditions of people from whom he ob- tained a large fund of information which in later years he turned to good account. When the Revolutionary struggle broke out, he was a lad twelve years of age, yet
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the father had difficulty in restraining the patriotism of his son sufficiently to pre- vent 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 agri- cultural pursuits, which were then profita- ble. 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 Pitts- burgh to suppress what in American his- tory is known as the "Whiskey Insurrec- tion." In 1796 he began to mingle in and wield influence in town affairs, and from that time to 1843 he held numerous town offices, including that of justice of the peace. In 1809 he superintended the con- struction of his father's new stone dwel- ling; the tavern business was abandoned with the demolition of this old family man- sion. In 1812 the quota of Bergen county drafted troops for the war with Great Bri- tain rendezvoused at Jersey City for three months. Captain Samuel G. Demarest (of what was later Westwood. New Jersey), 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 ap- pear on the muster rolls of the companies that went from his vicinity, commanded by Major Van Saun.
At his death in 1824, Abraham D. Dem- arest gave all his lands to his son, David A. Demarest. The latter soon after pur- chased several adjoining tracts, until the whole area of his homestead farm was over three hundred 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 man- sion was always open to the ministers of that and sister churches, who 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 ; all were welcome beneath his roof. He had great influence over his neighbors, and a happy way of settling disputes. As a jus- tice of the peace for many years, his prac- tice was to avoid trials, if possible, and us- ually he would bring the parties to an agreement to settle before the trial day came on. He was a gentleman of "ye olden time"-a sort of "Cadi" in the com- munity, to whom the people went for ad- vice in time of trouble, and did not go in vain. He was a lover of music, and in 1801 organized a band in which he played sec- ond clarionet. The minutes of this band in his handwriting show that it prospered for some time. He was an entertaining con- versationalist and story-teller who never lacked for listeners. Physically he was re- markably robust, and was never severely ill. He was found dead in bed one morn- ing at the home of his daughter, at Nyack, New York, 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, the Mexican War, and had he lived another year he would have seen the be- ginning of the Civil War. The year before luis deatlı the Northern railroad was com- pleted. The company gave him a pass, but lie never used it, and died without having
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experienced the sensations of riding on a moving railroad train.
He married, in 1787. Charity Haring, daughter of Cornelius Haring, of Pascack, where she was born July 24, 1769. She died at Schraalenburgh, January 29, 1849, aged about eighty years. She was a lady of sound judgment, with a kind and cheer- ful 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, Sep- tember 5, 1789, married, in 1810, John Perry, a member of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Rockland coun- ty, New York, by whom she had issue two daughters, Catharine (1811), and Charity (1822).
Catharine and Charity Perry, his grand- daughters, married respectively Isaac and Tunis Smith, of Nyack, New York, who for many years owned and operated a steamboat line between New York and Nyack. Isaac and Tunis Smith were de- scendants of Lambert Ariaense, a native of Guilderland, 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 Blaw- velt, of Deventer, Holland. In 1686 Lam- bert and his brothers-in-law, the Blaw- velts, 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 distinguished 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 them- selves Smith. Lambert Smith and Marga- retta Garrets Blawvelt had issue, among other children, a son, Garret Smith, who married Brechie (Bridget) Peters Haring, of Tappan, and had issue, among other
children, a son, Peter G. Smith, who mar- ried Annetie (Hannah) Blawvelt, and had issue, besides other children, a son Isaac, who married Rachel Smith, and had issue several children, among whom was Peter Smith, who married Christina Demarest (a sister of David A. Demarest, above mentioned). The old patrons of the steam- er "Chrystenah" long remembered her por- trait at the head of the stairway to the up- per deck. They had issue of the sixth gen- eration : 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. The issue of Charity Perry and Tunis Smith were six children.
MILLER, Samuel,
Eminent Divine.
Samuel Miller, D. D., LL.D., was a de- scendant of an old and honored Puritan family, tracing their ancestry to the "land of the heather." He was a son of John and Margaret ( Millington) Miller, the former named having been a widely known clergy- man, for forty years presiding over the Presbyterian churches of Dover and Duck Creek cross roads, Delaware, and a grand- son of John and Mary (Bass) Miller, the former named of whom emigrated to this country from Scotland in 1710, and the lat- ter named was a great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden.
The Rev. Samuel Miller was born near Dover, Delaware, October 31, 1769. He was prepared for college by his father, and so well was this duty performed that he entered the senior class of the University of Pennsylvania in 1788 and carried off the highest honors the following year, when he was graduated at less than nineteen years of age. Three years later he received from the same institution his degree of Master of Arts. He studied divinity for two years
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with his father, after whose death he fin- ished his course with Dr. Charles Nisbet, president of Dickinson College. When he was twenty-three years of age and ready for a charge, in 1792, two calls were pressed upon him-one, his father's church ; and the other, to be one of the collegiate pastors with Drs. Rogers and McKnight in the Presbyterian church of New York. This was a peculiar parish, being made up of the Brick, Wall Street and First churches, with three pastors who preached in turn in the three places. Mr. Miller accepted the New York call in 1793, although it was no easy task to accomplish satisfactorily his third of the work when he had two such able men as his colleagues to set the standard. Ap- parently his efforts met with success, as this triple arrangement continued until 1809, when he became the sole pastor of the First Church, a position he held until 1813, when he was appointed Professor of Church His- tory and Government in the new Presby- terian Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. While sole pastor of the First Church, he inspired the congregation to begin the build- ing of a new church in Wall street. "He left behind him in New York a vigorous and united congregation and one deeply attached to him." He was called to be the colleague of Dr. Ewing, the provost of the University of Pennsylvania, in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. "It is a remark- able tribute to his character and gifts. Be- fore he had reached thirty years of age he had been called to the most important pul- pits of the two largest cities of the land."
The bent of Mr. Miller's mind was his- torical. In the midst of his labors as a city pastor, "he petitioned the legislature of New York to allow him to search the records of the public offices of the State," having in his mind to write a history of New York, which, however, he never accomplished. Mr. Miller published the "Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century" in 1805, and this work met with great success and was republished in London. As an acknowledgment of its
merit, Union College and the University of Pennsylvania conferred upon Mr. Miller the degree of Doctor of Divinity. All through his life, Dr. Miller was ever within call to assist his denomination with his mind and pen, and his power of smoothing out difficul- ties was frequently in demand. Dr. Carna- han says: "His biography in its public re- lations would be the history of the Presby- terian church for fifty years." It seems to be considered that his biography, written by his son, Dr. Samuel Miller, Jr., is such a history. Besides articles in periodicals which cannot be traced, there are about two hundred known publications of Dr. Miller's, some biographies, and a large number vol- umes upon church government and polity. Other facts show the versatility of Dr. Miller. He became a member of the Ameri- can Philosophical Society in 1800; a cor- responding member of the Philosophical Society of Manchester, England, 1804; founder and corresponding secretary of the New York Historical Society, 1804; also a founder of the New Jersey Historical So- ciety ; corresponding member of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society ; was moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1806; was made a trustee of Columbia Col- lege in 1806, and of the College of New Jersey in 1807, holding the latter office until 1850. He was commissioned by Governor Tompkins in April, 1809, chaplain of the First Regiment, New York Artillery. He was offered the presidency of the Univer- sity of North Carolina and of Hamilton College in 1812. Also, in 1812, "several leading and influential trustees" of the Col- lege of New Jersey "conferred with him in regard to his accepting the office of presi- dent of that institution," assuring him that "if he would at all entertain such a proposi- tion, the president's chair would be regularly offered to him at once;" but he stoutly re- fused, and was very active in the election of Dr. Ashbel Green to the post.
He received the honorary degree of Mas- ter of Arts from Yale and the College of
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New Jersey in 1792, that of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsyl- vania and Union College in 1804, and from the University of North Carolina in 1811, and that of Doctor of Laws from Wash- ington College, Maryland, in 1847. He resigned from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1847, but the board of directors refused to accept the resignation ; he again resigned two years later, when the resigna- tion was accepted. Six months later, Janu- ary 7, 1850, Dr. Miller died at Princeton. Dr. Archibald Alexander says: "No man in the church was more zealous and active in founding this institution. He and Dr. Ash- bel Green may more properly be considered its founders than any other persons." In Dr. Sprague's "Annals" we read: "Dr. Miller was a man of varied learning, of retentive memory ; was a graceful, easy and polished writer, and, to as great an extent as almost any man of his day, enjoyed both an American and European reputation. He was a voluminous author, an able contro- vertist, a fine ecclesiastical historian, and an able and beloved professor in the Theolog- ical Seminary at Princeton from its founda- tion to the close of his long and brilliant life. And the hundreds of students that enjoyed his instructions as a professor, while they reverenced him as a teacher, loved him as a father."
Dr. Miller married, in 1804, Sarah Ser- geant, daughter of the Hon. Jonathan Dick- inson Sergeant, originally of Princeton, later an eminent lawyer of Philadelphia, a mem- ber of the Continental Congress and At- torney-General of the commonwealth; and granddaughter of Rev. Elihu Spencer, pas- tor of the First Church of Trenton, a trustee of Princeton College, and so ardent a patriot and rendering himself so obnoxious to the British that they set a price of one hundred guineas upon his head. There were ten chil- dren of this marriage, seven of whom at- tained maturity: Margaret, married Rev. John Breckenridge, D. D .; Sarah, married John F. Hageman, the Princeton historian ;
Mary, unmarried; Jonathan Dickinson, medical director in the United States navy ; Samuel, D. D., a minister ; Spencer, a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia ; John, minister and author.
LYON, James,
Pioneer Psalmodist.
James Lyon was a native of New Jersey, born in Newark, July 1, 1735, son of Zopher and Mary Lyon. His father was "yeoman" of the town of Newark.
He was graduated from the College of New Jersey ( Princeton ) in 1759. From his early youth he manifested excellent musi- cal taste and ability, and at the graduating exercises of his class an "Ode to Peace" was sung to music of his composition. In 1760 he was living in Philadelphia, and in all probability was connected with the sing- ing school conducted by Mr. Williams, on Second street. On the occasion of the com- mencement of the College of Philadelphia, May 23, 1761, an anthem of Mr. Lyon's composition was performed. On June 3rd of the following year he published "The Urania Psalm Tune Collection," a volume of 198 pages of music. The importance of this work is attested by the fact that it was republished in 1767 and 1773, and there are circumstances which lead to the belief that there was a third edition. Mr. Lyon took his second degree, that of Master of Arts, at the College of New Jersey on Sep- tember 29th, 1762. He was ordained in the ministry by the Synod of New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1764. In the following year he was sent to Nova Scotia, and preached in Halifax, Onslow, and other places, until 1771. His life was now one of hardships, his compensation being inadequate for the proper support of his family. During this period he corresponded with Washington, suggesting what he deemed a feasible plan for the conquest of Nova Scotia, and ex- pressing his readiness to undertake the task, but his overtures were disregarded. Leaving
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Nova Scotia in 1771, he accepted a call to Machias, Maine, where he ministered until his death, with the exception of the years 1773 and 1783-85. He was a devoted patriot. and gave sturdy support to the Revolution- ary cause. He was author of "Charge," and the "Saint's Daily Assistant." He died in Machias, Maine, in 1794. His second wife, who survived him, and whom he mar- ried the year before his death, was the widow of Samuel Skillings.
OGDEN, John,
Early Settler at Elizabethtown.
"Good old John Ogden," as Hatfield, the historian of Elizabeth, rightly calls him, was born at Bradley Plain, England, Septem- ber 9th, 1609, of good old Puritan stock. On May 8th, 1637, he married Jane Bond, and three children-John, David and Jon- athan, twins, were born to them before em- igrating to the New World in 1640.
John Ogden first settled at Southampton. Long Island, where he took an active part among the first settlers, later moving to Stamford, Connecticut. In 1662 John and his brother Richard were engaged by Gov- ernor Kieft to build the stone church at New Amsterdam. Becoming restless under .the limited franchise granted them by the authorities at New Haven, John Ogden re- turned to Long Island and took up land in 1664, at Hempstead, then under the Dutch rule, where Governor Kieft granted him and his associates, the Rev. Robert Fordham, John Stricklen, John Karman, John Law- rence and Jonas Wood, a tract known as "the Great Plains." Dissatisfied with the treatment of the Indians by the Dutch, Og- den in 1647 removed again to the eastern end of Long Island, where two or three years later he founded the town of North- ampton. About this time, whale fishery was proving profitable. and John Ogden in 1650 secured a monopoly of the industry for seven years, together with a large grant of land on the south shore. In March, 1650,
he was made freeman at Southampton, and magistrate in October of the same year. In the years 1651, 1659 and 1661, during his residence in Northampton, he served on juries, was elected representative to the general court in 1659, and sat in the upper house in 1661 and at other times.
Although a prosperous man, further ad- ventures a-field apparently tempted him, for on December 1, 1664. he joined with John Baker, John Baily and Luke Watson, in obtaining a grant from Governor Nichols, of New York, for a tract of land on the Achter Kol and Raritan river, where they founded a settlement afterwards known as Elizabethtown. This tract had already been purchased by them from the Indians, Octo- ber 25, 1664. The tract was laid out and the land divided, and John Ogden built his homestead on Point road. now Elizabeth avenue. New Jersey had been granted to the Lords Proprietor. Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the previous year, but no attempt had been made to take possession of the tract until July, 1665, when Gover- nor Philip Carteret arrived from England and joined the Ogden associates. The abil- ity of John Ogden at once impressed Gov- ernor Carteret. for he appointed him justice of the peace in October, 1665, and a mem- ber of the Council, or Deputy Governor, in November, 1665. In May. 1668, Ogden served on the commission to establish the boundary between Newark and Elizabeth, which met on Dividend-Hill. When the leg- islature first convened at Elizabethtown on May 26, 1668, John Ogden served as one of the burgesses. In 1669 he obtained a three year permit to whale-fish along the Jersey coast.
Through the years of dissension between Governor Carteret and the members of the Elizabethtown community, John Ogden was actively opposed to the Governor, and car- ried his point in most instances. Under Dutch rule in 1673. John Ogden filled the office of schout, or sheriff, of the six towns of New Jersey-Elizabethtown, Wood-
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bridge, Shrewsbury, Newark, Piscataway and Middletown, and with Samuel Hopkins was authorized to make an inventory of the estate of Governor Carteret. In the year following, Ogden was virtually Governor of New Jersey. The English taking posses- sion of New York and New Jersey again in 1674, Governor Carteret returned, and in the controversy between Carteret and Governor Andros, of New York, John Ogden espoused warmly the cause of Car- teret. Personal emnity seemed no part of Jonn Ogden's character. The right and the cause of freedom were the determining factors of his nature.
The sturdy old patriot died in May, 15S2, and was probably buried in the Presbyter- ian churchyard. Honest, and of great in- tegrity, John Ogden left a legacy to his four- teen thousand descendants which those liv- ing would do well to emulate. His five sons were all men active in public life, and three Governors of New Jersey trace their ances- try back to "Good Old John Ogden."
BURNET, Jacob,
Lawyer, Jurist, Statesman.
Hon. Jacob Burnet, LL.D., was the son of the elder Dr. William Burnet, of New- ark, New Jersey, and grandson of Dr. Icha- bod Burnet, a native of Scotland, who was educated at Edinburgh, came to America, and settled at Elizabethtown, New Jersey, where he practised medicine until his death in 1773, at the advanced age of eighty years.
Dr. William Burnet born in 1730, was educated at Nassau Hall during the presi- dency of the Rev. Aaron Burr, and grad- uated in 1749. He studied medicine under Dr. Staats, of New York, and engaged in practice. From the beginning of the diffi- culties with the mother country, he took an active and leading part in resisting the en- croachments of the British government. He was a member of the Newark Committee of Safety, with Judge J. Hedden and Major S. Hays. In 1776 he was elected to the Con-
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