USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Preakness and the Preakness Reformed Church : a history 1695-1902 : with genealogical notes, the records of the church and tombstone inscriptions > Part 4
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it is stated that the table was placed diagonally across the room at dinner, and was afterwards converted to a round table at supper.
This would indicate that the room here referred to was that which the family then used as their parlor; while the room back of it, the present kitchen, was undoubtedly the room at that time used as the family dining-room. It is said that Washington had all four of the rooms which he occupied papered at his own ex- pense, (but this is doubted), and that the paper then put on re- mained in place until about 1870.
"The house is two stories in height, with a double pitch or gambrel roof, through which some later owner has pierced windows for four good sized attic rooms, thereby giving it the appearance of a mansard." The size of the house is fifty-two feet front and thirty deep. "The front is of brick, the doorway and windows being trimmed with polished brown sandstone, squared and set in the most accurate manner." (Nelson. In Magazine of American History. 1879. Vol. III.)
The gable ends and rear are built of ordinary field stone to the eaves; above that the end walls are of brick, all the brick in the structure having been burned on what is now (1900) the Jacob R. Berdan property adjoining, but which at that time belonged to the Dey estate. The walls are laid in yellow clay, pointed with mortar, and are still in perfect condition. All the timbers are of oak; of immense size and strength, and fastened together by huge wooden pins. A large hall, twelve feet wide, runs through the middle of the building; and, originally, at both the front and rear ends of this hall, there were double, or half, that is, upper and lower doors, the upper section of the front door having on it a large bronze or brass knocker. These doors and the knocker now are all lost ; but ex-Mayor Howe, of Passaic, still has the old lock that was on the front door. On either side of the hall are two rooms, with fireplaces, all of them faced with brown sandstone. There is the same number of rooms and hall on the second floor, with the addition of a front hall room, or closet, of considerable size, put in later. The four east rooms are of superior workman- ship to the four rooms west, there being in them deep recesses in all the windows, and panels over the fireplaces. It is said that there were once tiles around these fireplaces; but no one in these days knows where the tiles ever went to. The ceilings in the house are nine feet high on the first floor, and eight feet high on the second. A covered porch, with side seats on the stoop, once orna-
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mented the front of the house; while there was likewise a small balcony, with door opening on it, at the back end of the hall on the second floor, which door has since given place to a window, as has the rear door on the first floor as well. There was an entrance of some kind, whether from the outside or inside, we do not know, to the cellar, from the western end of the foundation, which has in more recent times been closed up. There are many conjectures as to what this was for. But probably it was an outside entrance similar to the other two on the other end of the house. In the attic floor also, toward the east end, are a number of short boards, as though closing up what was once an opening for a stairway, of which, however, there is no other indication, that is, nothing can be seen of it from below. It is claimed that the date of the erection of this house, and the name or initials of the builder, are some- where on the rear or side walls. But as these walls were covered by Mr. Heeseman nearly twenty years ago with cement, we are unable to find such inscription.
A large stone kitchen, in olden times, stood a few feet east of this notable mansion, and from it a covered passageway led to the east end door of the room now used as a kitchen, but which, as we have noted, it is believed, was formerly the dining-room. And there were doubtless also quarters for slaves somewhere in the rear of the premises.
Washington was at the Dey House, in Preakness, when Count de Rochambeau, in command of a French fleet, having 6,000 men on board, arrived at Newport, July 10, 1780, when "Filled with the joyous news," . *
* and assured of "the possibility of suc- cess in the Rhode Island Campaign, the army, on July 29. (1780). moved from Preakness to Paramus, thence tó Kings Ferry, where the Hudson was crossed." (New Jersey as a Colony and as a State. By Lee. Vol. II, p. 240.)
Later, that same year, on his return to New Jersey, "following the execution of Major Andrè, which occurred upon the 2nd of October, General Washington, on the 8th of that month, arrived at Preakness, accompanied by the main body of the army." Here the Commander-in-Chief reestablished his headquarters at the house of Colonel Theunis Dey. And it was at this place also that "he entered into a plan, which was unsuccessful, to capture Benedict Arnold, who had fled to New York." Likewise, while under the same roof, November 23-27, Washington was visited by the Mar- quis de Chastellux, a major-general in the French army, who after-
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wards gave a most charming account of his entertainment there. (New Jersey as a Colony and as a State. By Lee. Vol. I, pages 431-437.)
In 1767, or subsequently, perhaps about 1770, Colonel Theunis Dey, of Preakness, conveyed one acre of ground, on which the. Re- formed Church of Pompton Plains now stands, to the Consistory of that church.
The Dey family, while here, was a very influential one in the county. Richard, Colonel Dey's oldest son, Captain, Major, and finally General, after his father, occupied the family mansion, until he sold it to the Neafies, in 1801, and went to Little Falls, or oppo- site Beattie's carpet mills, to live, where he built a one-story stone house on the spot where one of the Beatties at present resides. This house had a veranda along its front, a hall, with two rooms on each side, running through its centre, and a stone kitchen attached to it on the left or east end. In 1848, April 10, the date of the spring election that year, this house was burned to the ground, being occu- pied at the time by Ogden Hall and family. The General, not so many years after said house was built, was killed October 6, 1811, by being thrown from his horse, between the Dieppe vaal Bridge and Samuel Dey's place, as it is in this day (1900), at Fairfield. General Richard Dey's wife was Hannah Pierson, whom he mar- ried March 6, 1775. Their son, Anthony, (or Theunis, as he was baptized), the celebrated lawyer, was one of the founders of Jersey City.
General Richard Dey and his wife had children as follows-all of whom were born in Preakness :
Theunis, b. January 17, 1777; Maria, b. August 20, 1778; Pierson, b. March 8, 1780 ; Nancy and Elizabeth, twins, b. July 11, 1782 ; Hester, b. October 9, 1784 ; Jane, b. March 11, 1787 ; Gilbert ; William MacAdams, bap. November 2, 1794, and possibly others. Theunis, or Anthony Dey, had two children: Josephine Eliza- beth, b. August 18, 1834, in Lafayette Place, New York City, and Richard Varick. Josephine Elizabeth married Dr. Isaac A. Nichols, of Newark, N. J., who was born February 24, 1828, and died November 22, 1880, of blood poisoning, contracted in his devotion to a patient. He went to Paris and Berlin to get relief, but could find none that was efficient. Mrs. Nichols is still living (1902) in New York. Her children are :
1. J. Lillian, m. William Hoagland, of Hazleton, Pa., formerly of Griggstown, N. J., son of Henry Hoagland.
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2. Anthony Dey.
3. Julia Dey, m. Mr. Martin, of New York.
4. Charles K.
The second child of Theunis or Anthony Dey was Rev. Richard Varick Dey, (b. January 11, 1801 ; d. September, 1837), a grand- son also of Rev. Archibald Laidlie, S. T. D. The Rev. Richard Varick Dey was a graduate of Columbia College, N. Y., in 1818; of our Theological Seminary, in New Brunswick, in 1822; was licensed and settled over the Congregational Church, in Greenfield Hill, Connecticut, 1822-1830 ; and afterwards, 1830-31, was pastor over the Reformed Church in Vandewater Street, New York City. He married, September 11, 1822, Lavinia Agnes, (b. November 30, 1805; d. March 31, 1886), daughter of Colonel Joseph Warren Scott.
Children of Rev. Richard Varick Dey :
1. Richard Varick (1), b. May 11, 1823; died same day.
2. Mary Laidlie, b. May 8, 1824; living in New York.
3. Lavinia Agnes Scott, b. September 28, 1826 ; d. September €, 1832.
4. Anthony, b. July 5, 1829 ; living in New York.
5. Joseph Warren Scott (1), b. June 3, 1831 ; died same day.
6. Joseph Warren Scott (2), b. September 8, 1832; living in New York and Kentucky.
7. Richard Varick (2), b. March 11, 1835; living in Cali- fornia ; private secretary of the late John W. Mackay.
Maria, or Polly, the oldest daughter and second child, of General Richard Dey, m. May 29, 1798, John J. Berry, and had at least two children :
1. John, b. July 3, bap. August 18, 1799, at Totowa. 2. Richard Dey, b. March 2, bap. April 10, 1803.
John J. Berry, as per name on declaration among old church papers, was undoubtedly a resident of Preakness, as early as 1803, and perhaps before, and he probably lived on what is now the Warren B. Mitchell place, next to the old Mansion. We find his name also, evidently, written in different ways, on a number of other church papers, showing that such a person was unquestionably here for quite a long time. But who he was, or where he came from, or anything else about him, we are unable to determine.
Pierson Dey, we believe, at one time owned and occupied what has since been known as the Voorhees-Tomkins-Campbell-Cas- sidy place west of the parsonage. He married January 31, 1803,
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at Belleville, Ann Kingsland, and was here as late at 1811. We will not, however, trace this line of Deys any further. We find in "The Centinel of Freedom," of Newark, N. J., in issues Tuesday, August 7, 14, 21, 28, 1810, the following advertisement of General Richard Dey's property :
"Little Passaick Falls."
"For Sale-33 acres of land, adjoining the Little Passaick Falls, in Bergen County, and State of New Jersey. Upon the premises are erected a good stone, and two frame dwelling houses, a barn, saw mill and out houses. The situation is one of the best in the United States for the erection of water works of any descrip- tion, and may be at a moderate expence so constructed as to com- mand the whole water of the Passaick River.
There is also a good free stone quarry, and there are large tracts of timber and woodland in the neighborhood of it. It is distant ten miles from Newark by the Turnpike road, six miles from Paterson Landing, from whence boats ply to the city of New York. 10,000 dols of the purchase money may remain on mort- gage for any reasonable length of time, on payment of the interest annually."
"Apply to Anthony Dey, No. 19 Pine Street, N. York, or on the premises, to Richard Dey."
It will be seen from this that the New Jersey Water Company have done just what General Dey suggested over ninety years ago, by erecting water works on the property, and cutting a canal or intake just above what was once the Little Falls.
In the same paper, "The Centinel of Freedom," under date of Tuesday, October 15, 1811, is the notice of General Dey's death :
"Died .- On Sunday, the 6th inst., by a fall from a horse, General Richard Dey, of the Little Falls, Bergen County."
In the next week's issue of this paper, viz :- that of Tuesday, October 22, 1811, is another advertisement of the General's prop- erty, which is found in all the issues inclusive to January 14, 1812.
"For Sale,-the property at the Little Passaick Falls, lately occupied by General Dey, deceased, containing fifty-two acres, with the right of erecting a Toll-Bridge over the river. A large quan- tity of land adjoining can be procured if the purchaser requires it."
"On this property is a Dwelling House, Saw Mill, and other out buildings. It affords one of the best situations for water works of any description in the State of New Jersey."
"Also for sale a farm at Preakness, about two miles distant
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from the Little Falls, containing about 100 acres, now in the pos- session of John J. Berry."
"Also for sale another farm, at Preakness, about four miles distant from the Little Falls, now in the occupation of Pierson Dey, containing about 230 acres. It is presumed no person will purchase either of the above situations without examining them. They will be sold very cheap, and upon such terms of credit as will suit the purchaser. An indisputable title will be given. Persons disposed to purchase will please enquire of Pierson Dey, at Preak- ness, or of Anthony Dey, No. 19 Pine Street, N. York."
Likewise we find in the "Centinel," under date of Tuesday, April 14, 1812, a long advertisement, signed by Anthony Dey, which refers to an act passed by the New Jersey State Legislature, January 23, 1812, authorizing A. Dey, William Colfax, John N. Cumming, and Charles Kinsey to sell the property at Little Falls. i. e. the large stone house and fifty-two acres, proposals until Sat-' urday, May 12, 1812, at Newark. The advertisement further states that Mrs. Hannah Dey was about fifty-six years old, and that her youngest child was about sixteen. And it mentions in addition that a canal could be put to draw the whole water of the Passaick.
We notice, too, that in "The Centinel," of October 9-23, 1810, an advertisement of imported Merino sheep, on the General's farms in Preakness, which were offered for sale.
The fourth child and second son of Colonel Theunis Dey, was Dr. Philip Dey, who (license dated September 7, 1780) married Jane Post, (b. April 22, 1759; d. August 10, 1827). daughter of Francis Post and Caroline (Van Houten) Post. Jane Post had a number of brothers,-one of whom was the grandfather of the present (1901) C. H. Post, of Two Bridges ;- and a sister Caroline, who had for her first husband Garret Neafie, of Two Bridges, brother of Colonel Richard Neafie. Dr. Philip Dey lived on the Jeremiah Ryerson, or Jacob R. Berdan, place of to-day (1901). He died, or was killed, August 2, 1810, before his brother Richard was, by the same horse which afterwards threw and killed his brother. The horse reared and fell over backwards on him and crushed him. The doctor had already disposed of his farm and stock, having sold his farm to the said Jeremiah Ryerson, and had removed, with his family, to the "Lake Country," in Western New York, where all his brothers, except Richard, had gone, and where he had been and bought a small farm of his brother Benjamin; but had returned to New Jersey on a visit to settle up matters; and
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when the tragedy occurred, was out collecting on some vendue bills. The spot of this occurrence was on the place, or premises, south of the public highway, just west of the D. L. and W. Rail- road crossing, at Mountain View, or Mead's Basin, as it was then, under a shed there, a little southwest of the house. (Mrs. Ann Jacobus.) The old house on the doctor's Preakness farm was a frame, one and one-half story building, and stood on the very spot where the present J. R. Berdan house stands.
Dr. Philip Dey's ten children, all of them born in Preakness, were as follows:
1. Theunis, or Anthony, b. February 6, 1781; d. November 14, 1851.
2. Catlyntje, b. November 14, 1782; d. April 28, 1841.
3. Nency, b. August 21, 1784; d. March 12, 1861.
4. Frans Post, b. June 2, 1786 ; d. March 21, 1831.
5. Johannes P., b. June 23, 1788; d. January 15, 1864.
6. Benjamin, b. August 22 or 25, 1790; d. March 20, 1819.
7. Samuel Hay, b. August 29, 1792 ; d. April 24, 1852.
8. Charles William, b. February 12, 1795; d. April 27, 1847.
9. David, b. February 22, 1797; d. July 27, 1851.
10. Edwin, b. February 27, 1801; d. August 8, 1844.
Theunis, or Anthony, had a son, Peter A. Dey, a banker, living in Iowa City, and he has two unmarried sons. Catalyntje married and left one son, who has no descendants. Nency married and has numerous descendants. Frans Post has no descendants living. Benjamin and Samuel never married. Charles William married, but left no descendants. David never married. Edwin became a physician, married, left two sons, who both married, but have no children. Johannes P., the fifth child of Dr. Philip Dey and Jane Post, married Phoebe Van Brunt, of Bay Ridge, L. I., (b. August 18, 1795). Their children were:
1. Rutgert V. B., b. 1819 ; d. 1820.
2. Jane Post, b. 1823; d. 1841.
3. Albert Van Brunt, b. September 8, 1825, who is living, (1902), at Waukesha, Wisconsin. Albert Van Brunt Dey mar- ried Catharine Opdyke, who was born October 17, 1825. Their children are: Grace Thatcher, b. January 23, 1853 ; Charles Carr, b. August 15, 1854 ; John P., b. May 28, 1860.
Grace Thatcher is not married, lives with her father. Charles Carr Dey, in 1885, married Grace Dunkin. He is a lawyer, living in Salt Lake City, Utah. His children are :
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Marjorie, b. May 15, 1887; Eliza Opdyke, b. May 21, 1891; Albert Van Brunt, b. April 4, 1894; Phoebe Bergen, b. May 7, 1896. A. V. B. Dey, Jr., of Salt Lake City, is the only great great grandson ever born to Dr. Philip Dey, of Preakness. John P. Dey is City Engineer of Waukesha. He married Jennie Haynes, deceased, who left one child, Catharine, b. August 15, 1895.
We insert here the following communication from "The Cen- tinel of Freedom," Newark, N. J., Tuesday, August 7, 1810, which is an obituary of Dr. Philip Dey :
"At Packanack, on Thursday morning, the 2nd inst., at the house of Mr. George Ryerson, Doct. Phillip Dey, of Genesee. His death was occasioned by the fall of his horse. He appeared sensible of his approaching fate. His remains were interred in Masonick order the following day in the family burying ground, attended by a number of the brethren of Cincinnatti, Orange, St. Johns, and Union Lodges. Order of Procession : Tylers, with drawn Swords, -Stewards, with Rods,-Brethren two and two,-Secretarys,- Treasurers,-Senior and Junior Wardens,-Paste Masters,-Holy Writings covered with a black Cloth, carried by the oldest member of the Lodge,-Master,-Grand Chaplain,-Clergy,-Stewards,- Tyler. Order of Service: An appropriate prayer by the Rev. Brother Jackson, sermon by the Rev. S. Grover, prayer by the Rev. Mr. Duryea. After which the service was closed at the Grave agreeable to ancient order in the most solemn manner, by the Rev. 'Brother Willard."
"Doct. Dey has left a numerous and respectable family to lament his untimely death; he was an affectionate husband, tender parent, and a generous friend. In him the community have been deprived of an eminent physician."
"While we drop the tear of sympathy over the Grave of our deceased friend, let charity dispose us to throw a veil over his foibles, whatever they may have been, and not withhold from his memory the praise that his virtues claim, and suffer the apologies of human nature to plead in his behalf."
"Perfection on earth has never been obtained. The wisest as well as the best of men have erred."
John Dey, sixth child and third son of Colonel Theunis Dey, was Clerk of Saddle River Township in 1779 and 1780, and Mem- ber of Assembly from Bergen County in 1799, 1800, and 1801. He eventually moved to the "Lake Country," and died there.
David Dey, ninth child and sixth son of Colonel Theunis
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Dey, of Preakness, who, March 8, 1789, married Sarah Neafie, lived on the H. K. or now (1902), the C. K. Berry place. (d. July 27, 1851). In his day, although very young, he was a private in the American army of the Revolution. He was among his brothers who went to the "Lake Country," as it was then called, to live, after be had disposed of his farm here in 1801. (For children, see Sarah Neafie.) The marriages and the deaths of the rest of Colonel Dey's children are as follows :
1. Jane, d. February 25, 1789; m. April 7, 1770, Abraham Buskirk.
2. Hester or Esther, d. December 26, 1832; m. 1. Arant Schuyler, widower; license dated October 9, 1784. 2. August 11, 1792, Hendrick Post, widower.
5. Anna, d. January 7, 1774.
6. John, d. 1822 or 1823 ; m. before 1786, Phœbe Crane.
7. Peter, d. June 4, 1833 ; m. Eleanor Board. License dated May 9, 1786.
8. Benjamin, d. about 1821. Probably unmarried.
10. Theunis or Anthony, d. October 1, 1776.
Other descendants of Colonel Theunis Dey's children are, or were :
John H. Dey, of Pelham Manor, N. Y., for many years with Henry M. Field and The New York Evangelist; Rev. Anthony Schuyler, D. D., deceased, of Orange, N. J .; and Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D. D., deceased, of St. Louis, Mo., both of these latter being Episcopalian clergymen.
The Generals and Colonels of the Revolutionary War known to have been in Preakness, and who were all of them, no doubt, at times, guests at the Dey House, were :
Generals: George Washington, Lord Sterling, M. de Lafay- ette, Nathaniel Greene, Henry Knox, Anthony Wayne, Robert Howe, Arthur St. Claire (Sinclair), John Glover, Jedediah Hunt- ington, William Maxwell, Baron Steuben. Colonels: Alexander Hamilton, Tench Tilghman, John Stewart, Richard Butler, Craig, Robert H. Harrison, William Jackson, Harry Lee, Biddle, Richard Varick, William Colfax, Caleb Gibbs, Moylan, and possibly Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr.
It seems strange that Benson J. Lossing, who, in 1848-52, traveled throughout the United States and Canada, gathering facts for his Field Book of the Revolution, should have entirely omitted
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
to make any mention whatever, in that work, which is considered standard, of Preakness, Totowa, or Paramus.
In possession of the Berry family, of Lower Preakness, is a deed, dated December 20, 1801, the same year in which the sale of the Dey Homestead property was made, and the same year, too, in which the Preakness Church was organized, said deed being given by David Dey, (a son of the Colonel, and brother of the General and the doctor), and Sarah Neafie, his wife, of Saddle River, Ber- gen County, (this was Saddle River Township then, in Bergen County), to Henry Berry, of Pequannock, Morris County. This deed of Henry Berry's, here referred to, was for the northern part of the Colonel Theunis Dey property, consisting of 196 acres, and, until recently, all of it, with other property, was held by the Berry family. The homestead portion of the Dey property, however, has changed hands many times, and is at present, (1902), owned by Lawyer William H. Belcher, of Paterson, who has great pride in his new possession. The Dey name has entirely disappeared from Preakness, except for a solitary inscription on a crumbling tombstone in the family burying ground, back of the house, which states that here lies buried the body of Ann Dey, daughter of Theunis Dey and Hester Dey. She died January 7, 1774, in the eighteenth year of her age. Colonel Dey and his wife, General Richard Dey, Dr. Philip Dey, and other members of the family, are buried in the same burying ground; but no tombstones mark their resting-places.
After the Neafies, Martinus (Martynes) Hogencamp, the first of the name in Preakness, the father of William S. Hogencamp, Sheriff, etc., owned the Dey Homestead, purchasing it of the Neafies. (Deed dated April 10, 1813.) The Phoenix family, who lived on the Warren B. Mitchell place (1901), later also bought part of the old tract, probably of the Hogencamps. With this family, Rev. Edward B. Coe, D. D., LL.D., of New York City, was connected. Sidney Phoenix, the purchaser of the property, was an uncle of Dr. Coe's, Dr. Coe's mother being Mr. Phoenix's sister. Mr. Phonix himself was a bachelor; but his parents, and hence Dr. Coe's grandparents, lived with him, and helped make up his home, which was one of comfort and cultivation. Dr. Coe, when a boy, whose father also was a minister, often visited and some- times spent weeks, during vacation time in summer, with his uncle and grandparents, in Preakness, and is well remembered by many of the Preakness people of to-day. Dr. Coe's wife is a daughter
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of the late Rev. R. S. Storrs, D. D., LL.D., of Brooklyn, N. Y. The last owner of the Dey Homestead, before Lawyer Belcher bought it in the winter of 1901-2, was C. L. Petry, who held it about ten years.
The various owners, not heretofore mentioned, of this place have been William S. Hogencamp, to whom it was devised by will of his father Martynes, dated November 29, 1832, proven June 2, 1853; Isaac Yeomans, deed from William S. Hogencamp and wife, dated March 4, 1861; Anthony Gillan, deed from Isaac Yeo- mans and wife, dated May 10, 1864; Sarah M. Tainter, wife of Horace B. Tainter, deed from Anthony Gillan and wife, dated September 2, 1865; Maria Millington, wife of Aaron Millington, deed from S. M. Tainter and husband, dated August 13, 1866 ; John M. Howe, deed from Maria Millington and husband, dated January 30, 1875 ; Henry Heeseman, deed from John M. Howe and wife, dated July 10, 1883 ; George C. Islieb, deed from Henry Heeseman and wife, dated March 21, 1889; Henry Heeseman, deed from Richard Rossiter, Sheriff, dated December 4, 1891; Ellen Petry, wife of C. L. Petry, deed from Henry Heeseman and wife, dated February 3, 1892; Henry Heeseman, deed from Ellen Petry and husband, dated September 11, 1901; William H. Belcher, deed from Henry Heeseman and wife, dated February 1, 1902.
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