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 5
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The old Pachgannick Dirk or Derrick Dey homestead stood in Morris County, at the Two Bridges, a few rods west, or rather a little north of west, of the comfortable and well preserved stone house, of Flemish cottage architecture, at present (1900) owned and occupied by C. H. Post, who was born in 1820. When the old house was built, we do not know. Whether it was the first house that Derrick Dey lived in there, we do not know, but we hardly think it possible. Most likely the first house he lived in was a log house. The main part of the house we are speaking of was of stone. It was much wider than the present Flemish cottage, and had a frame kitchen attached to it, no doubt, considerably later. Derrick Dey died at the age of ninety-one, and was buried on the homestead farm, a short distance back of his buildings; although his grave is not marked by any tombstone or monument.
John Dey, the son of this Derrick, who married Jannetje Dore- mus, December 19, 1771, kept public house in the old Dey homestead ; and the house may have been used as a tavern by his father. "Here, according to the testimony of eye witnesses, related to old men still living, (1899), Washington, Lafayette, and other
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officers of the American Revolutionary Army were entertained upon occasion." (Rev. J. F. Folsom.) The Rev. Herman B. Stryker, father of the late Rev. Peter Stryker, D. D., of Asbury Park, for a part of his time at least, when pastor at Fairfield, 1823-6, boarded. in this same house, then owned and occupied by Simeon Doremus. In 1846, or 1847, the house was burned, taking fire in the frame kitchen. (James M. Demarest.)
The comfortable and well preserved Flemish cottage in which C. H. Post now lives was built by his great grandfather, Thomas Dey, the brother of John Dey. Thomas Dey, the builder of this house, never spoke English. The house referred to was built in 1779, or 1797, it is uncertain which, as the iron figures taken from the front of the structure, when a new piazza was added to it many years ago, are a one, a nine, and two sevens. C. H. Post was born in this house.
Back of where the Thomas Dey house stands, in Revolutionary days, on the banks of the Pompton River, was a tannery, where shoes were made for the soldiers of Washington's army. Also muskrat and other furs were once used there for making hats by Jacob Van Wart's celebrated slow hand process,-the hair first being scraped from the skins,-which were then put through a tedious special treatment. (Rev. J. F. Folsom.) Jacob Van Wart March 7, 1795, married Sarah, daughter of John Dey, who married Jannetje Doremus, and lived in the house to the west of the Post or Thomas Dey house, on the banks of the Passaic. There was a store on the property, too, at one time, and quite a settlement about the Two Bridges. Until long after the Revolution, there was no bridge across the Passaic between Newark and the Two Bridges, which, because of the stream of travel over the Pompton and Newark Turnpike, accounts for this settlement.
Thomas Dey's wife, Abigail Lewis Dey (Aunt Abbey), lived to be ninety-six years old, and people yet survive (1899), who used to hear her say that she had seen Washington's army cross the Two Bridges. It is said likewise that the bridge across the Passaic broke down, when the heavy army baggage wagons on their way over, too many of them, were on it; but the only damage done to the army by an accident was that one of the horses was a little hurt. In 1810, during the greatest flood that was ever known in these parts, some one rowed in a boat through the kitchen hall of the house built by Thomas Dey.
The only tombstone with an inscription on it, in the old Der-
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rick Dey burying ground, on the present C. H. Post farm at the Two Bridges, contains these words :
"In memory of Abigail, daughter of Simeon and Jane Dore- mus, who died June 30, 1816, aged eleven years, eleven months, and nine days." Abigail Doremus was the grandchild of Thomas and Abigail Lewis Dey.
December 4, 1723, Rip Van Dam, Sr., and Rip Van Dam, Jr., of New York, attorneys for the heirs of Thomas Hart, for £270, current money of New York, sold 600 acres of land, in Lower Preakness, to Georges Du Remos and Cornelius Kip. (Corwin Genealogy, 1872, p. 258.) The tract of land was thus described : "Beginning at the south end of the land of Mdm le Brockhuls, at a beech tree standing by the run; from thence west by north, twenty chains, to a stake there standing; from thence north 71/2 degrees East, along the marked trees, to a stake there standing, ninety chains ; thence west 71/2 degrees north along David Danielson's line, as the trees are marked, to a white oak tree marked on four sides fifty-four chains; thence south, along packenack line, to a white oak tree marked on four sides near by the run, 112 chains; thence east five degrees south, along the Run twenty-one chains; thence north east by east, along the Run, thirty chains ; thence north north east along the Run twenty-three chains, to the place where it first began, containing 600 acres, or thereabout, etc., etc."
The old deed for this tract is, or was, (1872), in Chicago, in possession of Nicholas Kipp. But we obtained our dimensions of the tract from an old unrecorded quit claim deed of Kip to Dore- mus, March 25, 1733. in the hands of William Roome, of Butler. We have also found, in Mr. Roome's hands, a release, given May 1, 1754, by Lewis Morris Ashfield, son and heir of Richard Ashfield, to Cornelius Kip and two sons of George Du Remus, in consider- ation of the payment of £60, as to an overplus of land in said original deed; since it was found, according to the large allow- ance customary in those days, that the tract indicated, instead of containing 600 acres, or thereabouts, really contained about 829 acres. This tract, as nearly as we can make out, was bounded on the southeast by Singac Brook, on the east by Singac Brook and land owned by Mdm le Brockhuls, on the north by Brockhuls land and David Danielson Hennion's land, (the line probably being somewhere across what is at present the C. D. Bensen farm, or between that and Garret Berdan's farm), and on the west by Pac- quanac line.
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The descendants of Joris or George Du Remos, as already in part noted, have ever since been represented in Preakness. He was the brother of the original Johannes, who settled on what is now the Aaron Laauwe farm, and the fourth or fifth son, or the fifth or sixth child of Cornelis, of Wesel. He married Marretie Berdan March 16, 1717. Georges Du Remos's will, dated at Preakness, March 25, 1733, witnessed by Johannes Doremus, Isaack Kip, and Cornelius Kip, was proved October 20, 1733.
Cornelius Kip, also mentioned in this deed, is no doubt the same as Cornelis Kip, whose name occurs in the deed of Henry Brockholst to the trustees of the old Dutch Church of Totowa, or Totua, in 1762. (Nelson's Hist. Old D. Ch. at Totowa, p. 36.)
The Kip family is a very old one in America. The first of the name, that we know anything about, was Roeloff de Kype, of Bretagne, France. He had a son, Roeloff de Kype, of Amsterdam, Holland. Roeloff, of Amsterdam, who dropped the prefix "de" from his name, had a son Hendrick, b. 1576, who, in 1635, came from Amsterdam, Holland, to New Amsterdam, in America. "In 1642, he received a tract of land on the north side of Bridge Street, in New Amsterdam, soon after which he returned to Holland, and died there. He had but one son, Hendrick." (Hist. of the Kip Fam- ily. 1890. By Rev. P. E. Kip.) This Hendrick Hendrickzsen Kype, (son of Hendrick), b. in 1600, with his wife, Margaret de Marniel, and five children, (three sons) came to America, prior to 1643, either with his father, in 1635, or later. He had three other children in America, one of them, Femmetje, bap. April 19, 1643. Hendrick Hendrickzsen Kype's trade was that of a tailor. He held various public positions in New Amsterdam, being one of the Nine Men cooperating with Governor Stuyvesant, in 1647-1649. and in 1650; a Schepen (Alderman), in 1656; a Great Burgher, in 1657. His children were :
1. Baetje, m. Jan W. One child; John, 1661.
2. Hendrick, b. about 1628.
3. Jacobus, (or James), b. May 15, 1631; m. February 14, 1654, Maria de la Montagne.
4. Tryntje, m. August 10, 1659, Abram Janssen. Here were four children: Tryntje, 1662; Maritje, 1664; Fammetje, 1671; John, 1673.
5. Isaac, who married twice.
6. Femmetje, bap. April 19, 1643.
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7. Blandina, m. Jan Van Saza. Two children : John, b. 1661; Caros, (?), b. 1666.
8. Annatje, m. Simon Jacobson. One daughter, Margaret, b. 1676.
Jacobus and Isaac Kip had large families ; but as we are not specially interested in them, we will not follow up their descend- . ants. Jacobus's family went up the Hudson River, and Isaac's remained in New York City.
Hendrick Hendrickzen Kype, Jr., born about 1628, at Am- sterdam, Holland, grandson of the first Hendrick, m. at New Am- sterdam, (New York), February 29, 1660, Anna de Sill, daughter of Nicasius de Sill, who was a person high in official position in this country. For a time, this couple, as Hendrick himself al- ready had for several years, lived at New Amstel, (New Castle). on the South, or Delaware River, in Delaware, where at least two of their sons, Nicasius and Petrus, were born. Their other chil- dren were: Cornelia, bap. June 12, 1661; Catharine, bap. Novem- ber 9, 1664; and there may have been more. It was during this Hendrick's time, perhaps about 1650, that the name Kype was Anglicised to Kip. The positions Hendrick H. Kip held at New Amstel were: Great Burgher, 1657; One of the Council, 1659; Commissioner, 1660. His business was that of a brewer. He set- tled, with his family, at Pollifly, near Hackensack, N. J., about 1690.
Nicasius Kip, (b. about 1660, d. in latter part of 1712), son of Hendrick H. Kip and Anna de Sill, m. at Bergen, December 20, 1691, Antje Breyant, (daughter of Pieter Cornelisse Breyandt and Hendricktje Arents), who was baptized at New York, Sep- tember 10, 1671. Both Nicasius Kip and his wife were admitted to membership in the Hackensack Church September 22, 1694. Both were witnesses to a baptism October 4, 1712, soon after which Nicasius died ; since on October 10, 1713, at Hackensack, his widow married Isaac Van Gysen, widower of Hillegond Kuyper. Nicasi Kip was elected deacon in the Hackensack Church April 16, 1695, and May 4, 1699, in each instance serving two years, his successor the first time being Jan Berdan May 2, 1697, and the second time David Demarest, May 21, 1701. In 1705, this Nicasius or Nicau- sie Kip, for £150, bought of Gerhard Lydekker, a tract of land at Pollifly, and on that tract afterwards, as long as he lived, was his home. His children were:
1. Hendrick, b. about 1693.
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2. Pieter, b. about 1695.
3. Isaac, b. February 4, 1697; bap. between February and April, 1697.
4. Cornelis, b. December, 1699; bap. January 1, 1700.
5. Jacob, bap. December 14, 1702.
6. Annatie, bap. January 3, 1706.
7. Catarina, bap. September 12, 1708.
8. Elizabeth, bap. March 11, 1711. All the baptisms here mentioned occurred at Hackensack.
These eight children married as follows:
1. Hendrick, m. July 24, 1714, Geertruy Van Dien, b. about 1697. Both admitted to church membership at Hackensack, April 2, 1715.
2. Pieter, m. March 5, 1720, Elsie Van der Beek, bap. Decem- ber 29, 1700, at New York. Both admitted to church member- ship at Hackensack April 1, 1721.
3. Isaac, m. March 30, (or, as Corwin says, April 21), 1723, Willementee Berdan, bap. June 5, 1703. He was admitted to church membership at Hackensack September 27, 1728; she, April 1, 1721. He died September 21, 1771; she, June 29, 1772.
4. Cornelis, m. September 17, 1720, Eva Berdan. He was admitted to church membership at Hackensack September 27, 1728. She, October 12, 1717.
5. Jacob, m. April 6, 1728, Helena Berdan. Both received into church membership at Hackensack February 18, 1731.
6. Annatie, m. September 2, 1726, Lucas Albertse Van Voor- hees, bap. February 26, 1699. She was admitted to church mem- bership at Hackensack October, 1723.
7. Catarina, m. October 15, 1727, Dirk Terhune, bap. July 26, 1702. Both admitted to church membership September 27, 1728.
8. Elizabeth, m. November 19, 1731, Hendrick Brinkerhoff, bap. November 9, 1710. Corwin says, Jan Hopper. This was probably a second marriage.
The three Berdan women who married the Kip brothers were sisters. (See Berdan. notes). The fourth of these children, Cor- nelius, who married Eva Berdan, was the first Kip or Kipp, so far as we know, who was connected with Preakness, and he is the one who began to spell his name with two p's. As we have seen, this is the man who was partner with George Du Remos, his brother-in-
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law, in the purchase of the 600-acre tract in Lower Preakness, already described.
Cornelius Kipp, of Lower Preakness, so far as we know, had four children, and apparently, but one son.
1. Nicholas, b. September 15, 1726, who died December 3, 1808 ; m. February 14, 1757, Leah Mandeville, of Pompton Plains. This Nicholas, also called Nicausey, was evidently the elder, who, at the age of seventy-five years, took his seat in Classis, as the first representative of this church in that capacity, after its organiza- tion, in 1801.
2. Mary, bap. October 23, 1726. Nicholas and Mary were twins.
3. Willemyntje, bap. July 18, 1731.
4. Lena, bap. May 30, 1736 ; m. Jacob Van Houten.
Nicholas Kipp, who married Leah Mandeville, had children as follows :
1. Eva, who married, (1) Boice, (2) Van Houten. The Boice children went to Nova Scotia; the Van Houten children, to Sussex County, N. J.
2. Henry, m. (1) Catrina Doremus. (2) Sarah Doremus.
3. Cornelius, b. June 18, 1762; d. May 3, 1840; m. (1) Christina Demarest, April 13, 1783; b. February 28, 1762; d. February 20, 1822. (2) Ann Concklin, widow, formerly Ann Bell, December 18, 1822; b. May 5, 1766.
4. Nicholas, b. July 25, 1780; d. January 2, 1856 ; m. Hester Johnson, who died May 22, 1859, aged 73. She was the daughter of John Johnson and Mary Cooper.
5. Annie, m. (1) John Vader. (2) David Hennion.
6. Catharine, m. Tunis Hennion, known as "Big Tune Hennion."
7. Elizabeth, m. Edward Jones, who lived on the Black Oak Ridge Road.
8. Mary, m. Garret Haulenbeck, M. D., who is buried at Pompton.
9. Leah, b. February 5, 1777, d. November 21, 1851.
Cornelius Kipp, b. June 18, 1762, had by his first wife, five children :
1. John, b. May 26, 1788; d. March 11, 1842; m. Jane Van Winkle December 22, 1811. Children.
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2. Leah, b. December 3, 1790; d. June 3, 1859; m. David Quackenbush, M. D., March 7, 1806. Children.
3 and 4. Margaret and Rachel, twins, b. March 15, 1795. Margaret d. 1865 ; m. Garret J. Hopper November 9, 1817. Chil- dren. Rachel, d. February 23, 1859; m. Martin H. Berry. She had children :
(1) Henry K., m. Maria Stagg.
(2) Christina Ann.
(3) Cornelius.
5. Nicholas, b. November 7, 1800; m. (1) Sophia Berry. (2) Jane Bannegan. This Nicholas, before 1870, removed to Chicago, Ill., and was the last, or the last but one, (who has since gone), of the name in Preakness, or Wayne Township. The original Kip or Kipp homestead, in Preakness, was probably on the property. and most likely on the very site of the buildings in Lower Preak- ness, now (1902) owned by Isaac W. Blain. This Nicholas Kipp died May 31, 1872.
Leah Kipp, the ninth child of Nicholas Kipp and Leah Man- deville, married three times :
(1) John Van Riper, March 18, 1792. He died March 30, 1806.
(2) Christian Shurte, or Shuart, July 2, 1808, who was born at Paramus July, 1771.
(3) Jasper Dodd, May 9, 1829. Leah Kipp, through her second husband, Christian Shurte, or Shuart, of whom also she was the second wife, had children :
1. Mary Ann, who married Edward C. Corwin.
2. Margaret, b. July 28, 1811; m. John Ludlum.
3. Elizabeth Jones, b. July 10, 1813; m. Isaac Vanderhoff, February 20, 1831.
4. William, b. June 7, 1815; d. March 23, 1850; m. (1) Vic- toria Francisco. (2) Elizabeth Travers.
5. Leah, b. March 31, 1819; d. November 16, 1847; m. (1) Samuel Haviland. (2) Thomas Walker.
The oldest of these children, Mary Ann, who married Edwar !! C. Corwin, was the mother of the Rev. Edward Tanjore Corwin, D. D., of our Reformed Church, and the author of "The Corwin Genealogy," "The Manual of the Reformed Church in America," which has passed through several editions, and other works; and who, for many years has been engaged in historical work in con- nection with the Reformed Church, and has been recently engaged
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under the direction of the Legislature of the State of New York, in editing "The Amsterdam Correspondence."
It should be noted here that Nicholas Kipp, who married Hester Johnson, after living for a while in Newark, N. J., removed, about the year 1814, to Ontario County, N. Y. Their oldest child, Nicholas, of Geneva, N. Y., b. 1809, married Mary Freshour, whose youngest child, Mary Esther, married the Rev. E. T. Cor- win. So that Doctor and Mrs. Corwin are both descended from the Preakness Kipps.
Christian Shuart, or Shurte, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Corwin, was drowned, March 22, 1824, (Corwin Genealogy, p. 49), by falling from the Main Street bridge, in Paterson, into the Passaic River. He was at work probably as contractor. The original Dutch for Shuart, Shurte, etc., was "Sjoert." It is of Scandinavian origin, and is simply the Christian name "George."
The Merselis family is another very old one in the county and township. The first of the family in this country was Peter Mar- selis, (instead of Merselis), who, May 9, 1661, sailed from Am- sterdam, Holland, in the ship Beaver, (or Bever), and arrived at New Amsterdam, Manhattan Island, July 29, that same year. He settled, with his wife, four children, and two servants, in Ber- gen, (James Riker's Harlem, p. 107), where his wife died August 1, 1680. He died September 4, 1682. On August 20, 1682, he conveyed property to his son-in-law, Helmigh Roeloff Van Houten. (Proceedings of N. J. Historical Soc. Vol. I., No. 1, 3rd Series, 1896,-Printed at Paterson, 1899). Riker says Peter Marselis was from Leerdam, or near there, in Holland. John Neafie says he might have been born in Leerdam, but when he came to America, he was from the village of Beest, near the town of Buren, in the province of Gelderland, where (i. e. at Beest), at least three of his children were born; while Riker also notes that he is "said to have been Van Beest," in other words, "from Beest."
Peter Marselis's four children, when he arrived in this coun- try, were aged respectively thirteen, six, four, and two years. The name and sex of the first one we do not know. The second was called Marcelis, always known as Marcelis Pieterse, and in him alone of the four are we specially interested, as the ancestor of the Preakness family. The third was Jannetje Pieterse, who, September 3, 1676, married Roelof Helmigse Van Houten.
The fourth was Neesje Pieterse, who, May 11, 1681, married Gerrit Gerritson, Jr., who held property in Preakness.
.
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Marcelis, or Marselis, Pieterse, the ancestor of the Preak- ness Merselises, died October 23, 1747, aged 91, and was buried at Bergen. He married May 12, 1681, Pieterje Van Vorst, daughter of Ide Van Vorst and Hieletje (Hulda) Jans, who was baptized November 9, 1659, and died September 3, 1744. They had at least eight children :
1. Elizabeth, bap. April 18, 1682 ; m. April 21, 1701, Adriaen Post, Jr.
2. Hillegontje, b. September 27, 1684; m. May 30, 1707, Har- pert Garrabrant.
3. Pieter, (the one in whom we are interested), bap. July 17, 1687; m. December 31, 1717, Jenneke Prior, bap. at Bergen, Feb- ruary 24, 1699.
4. Ide, bap. September 15, 1690; m. (1) April 25, 1713, Ma- rietie Cornelise Cadmus; (2) Ariaentje Bras, (we haven't the date), bap. at Hackensack November 15, 1696.
5. Annetje, b. March 24, bap. April 10, 1694.
6. Catreyna, b. November 17 or 18, bap. December 6, 1696.
7. Leena, b. August 11, bap. August 27, 1699; m. before 1731, Dirck Van Giesen. They lived in the old stone house still standing (1902) on Totowa avenue, Paterson.
8. Jannetje, b. about 1701; m. November 26, 1717, Johannes Van Zolingen.
Peter, or Pieter Merselis, the third son of Marcelis or Marselis Pieterse Marselis, who married Jenneke Prior, had, it is believed, fifteen children. He died April 1, 1770. His wife died October 3, 1779. Their children were : --
1. Merselis, b. September 7, 1718; d. October 28, 1800; m. before 1754, Elizabeth Vlierboom, b. October 5, 1730, d. February 11, 1823.
2. We know nothing about.
3. A daughter, who died October 29, buried November 1, 1730, at Bergen.
4. Pieter, bap. April 15, 1723, at Bergen; m. in New York, May 5, 1750, Hannah Elsworth.
5. Andries, b. February 14, 1725 ; bap. at Bergen.
6. John, b. about 1727; m. August 30, 1755, in New York, Beletje Van Wagonen.
7. Edo, (in the line which interests us), b. January 27, 1729; d. October 12, 1799, aged seventy years, eight months, and fifteen days, as per tombstone back of church, (Preakness).
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8. Infant, newly born; d. October 23, 1731.
9. Name unknown, b. October 15, 1732.
10. Antje, bap. March 4, 1735.
11. Johanna, b. January 17, 1737.
The last three were baptized at Bergen.
12. Jenneke, b. October 26, 1740, bap. at Hackensack January 4, 1741; m. Gerrit Sip.
Other supposed children were Rachel, Mary, and Elizabeth. Edo, the seventh child of Peter and Jenneke Merselis, to whom we are indebted for the acre of ground on which this church and old burying ground are, m. April 11, 1754, Ariaentje Sip, daughter of Ide Sip and Antje Van Wagonen. She was born May 30, 1732, was baptized at Bergen June 2, 1733, and died in Preakness May 20, 1813.
Nine children of this union are named in the father's will, proved in 1800, at Trenton. Others probably died in infancy :
1. Antje, b. March 28, 1755; d. April 19, 1805; m. before 1776, Simeon Van Winkle, b. April 4, 1752, d. December 23, 1814.
2. Jannetje, b. about 1757; m. (1) before 1776, Adrian Van Houten; (2) before 1780, Enoch J. Vreeland.
3. Pieter, b. May 24, 1759 ; bap. at Bergen ; d. May 4, 1827 ; m. before 1787, Jannetje Van Winkle, who died October 4, 1844.
4. Edo, b. about 1761; m. about 1786, Lena Van Houten, b. November 24, 1761; d. July 15, 1821.
5. Cornelius, b. March 14, 1763; d. October 21, 1840; m. before 1790, Maria Post, b. August 29, 1765, d. November 15, 1841.
We know of only five children :
(1) Arriaentje (Harriet), b. October 16, 1790.
(2) Cathriena, b. September 28, 1792.
(3) Edo C., b. March 18, 1795 ; d. November 2, 1834.
(4) Antje, b. October 4, 1798.
Probably the youngest, but not likely the (5th) Peter C., b. 1814 or 1815, d. August 30, 1891, aged 76.
6. John, b. September 9, 1764; d. September 7, 1841; m. February 13, 1790, at Acquackanonk, Jannetje Van Riper, d. Jan- uary 3, 1856, aged eighty-four years, one month.
We know of only three children :
(1) Claasje, b. December, 1790.
(2) Arreyaentje, b. August 2, 1797.
(3) Edo, b. March 30, 1800; d. July 13, 1813.
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
7. Catlyntje, b. about 1770; d. July 26, 1818; m. June 23, 1792, Isaac Van Saun, of Lower Preakness.
8. Arreyantje, m. about 1797, John Parke.
9. Gerrit, b. October 1, 1777; d. April 2, 1843; m. May 3, 1799, Lena De Gray, b. December 10, 1780 ; d. April 20, 1848.
Here were seven children :
(1) Marea, b. March 17, 1801; d. July 12, 1823.
(2) Jane, b. 1803; d. November 20, 1832.
(3) Edo, b. 1805; d. January 18, 1832.
(4) John D., b. February 11, 1809; d. February 21, 1877.
(5) Ann, b. -; d. -.
(6) Peter G., b. 1815; d. August 30, 1891.
(7) Ellen, b. 1818 ; d. September 3, 1820.
Edo, or Ide, the fourth child of Marcelis Pieterse, and uncle of our Preakness Edo, b. 1729, went to the Raritan; and his de- scendants are located in Somerset, Warren, and Hunterdon coun- ties. Edo Merselis and his wife Ariaentje, of Preakness, were rather closely related. The father of Edo, Peter, and Ariaentje's father, Ido Sip, were first cousins, their mothers, Pieterje and Johanna Van Vorst, being sisters.
Note .- These facts in regard to the Merselis family were al- most all furnished the author by John Neafie, of New York. Mr. Neafie himself is connected with the Merselises. Johannes Nefie, born on Staten Island in 1688, married in 1710, at Bergen, Antje, daughter of Neesje Merselis and Gerret Gerretson, Jr. John Neafie is in the ninth generation from this Johannes Nefie. (Nea- fie Genealogy Nos. 1010, 334, 1018, 1012, 1022, 381, 1013, 1776. 1122.)
Edo Merselis, who married Ariantje Sip, as we have noted. was the first Merselis who came to what is now Wayne Township, where he located on a farm at present broken up into several, only one of which, and this the original homestead, is still (1901) occupied by his descendants. Of the children of this Edo, Cor- nelius settled on what is now the Cahill farm; John, on the An- derson farm back of it; Garret remained on the homestead; and Catharine married Isaac Van Saun. These at any rate remained in Preakness. Edo Merselis, Jr., located and built the old stone house, across the Passaic, near the opposite end of the new bridge at the entrance to Laurel Grove Cemetery above Paterson. John was the grandfather of the present John G. Merselis, who for many years, until the spring of 1900, owned and lived on the farm
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