Preakness and the Preakness Reformed Church : a history 1695-1902 : with genealogical notes, the records of the church and tombstone inscriptions, Part 8

Author: Labaw, George Warne, 1848-
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York : Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America
Number of Pages: 372


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 8


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30


5. Cornelius, b. July 14, 1791; d. November 11, 1854; m. September 16, 1818, Rhoda Lyon, b. November 20, 1789, d. Sep- tember 10, 1875. These were the parents of Gen. Alfred Neafie, of Goshen, N. Y.


John Neafie, Jr., third child and second son of John and Cath- arine Post Neafie, lived successively at the Ponds, at New York City, at Preakness, (Dey House), 1801-1813, again in New York City, and finally at Nyack, where he died. He had eight children, five of whom were born in the Dey House. This is the man who, with his brother Garret, as we have seen, in 1801, purchased 355 acres of the Dey property, including the homestead, or Washing- ton's Headquarters, of Major, afterwards General Richard Dey, the Colonel's son, for £3,000 New York money, or about $7,500, their father no doubt furnishing them with the means. John lived on the place until it was sold to the Hogencamps. Garret never lived in Preakness, but in New York.


Children of John Neafie, Jr., and his wife, Esther :


1. Catharine, b. May 24, 1801; d. April 4, 1882; m. Aaron Remsen, d. December 29, 1854, aged fifty-seven.


2. Hannah, b. July 28, 1803; d. March 10, 1889; m. John Parker.


3. Caroline, b. July 28, 1805; d. August 6, 1875 ; unmarried.


4. Rachel, b. February 24, 1808; d. December 2, 1873; m. April 5, 1832, Charles Connor, b. July 30, 1800, d. April 22, 1869.


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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS


5. Elsie, b. February 9, 1811; d. August 20, 1842; m. John McClure.


6. A daughter, b. about 1813; d. in infancy.


7. John Andrew Jackson, b. November 6, 1815; d. May 2, 1892 ; m. August 4, 1839, Mary Eliza Way, d. March 1, 1897, aged seventy-five. John A. J. Neafie was the celebrated actor and trage- dian.


8. Elizabeth, b. about April, 1817; d. October 8, 1818.


The fourth child of Johannes and Antje Nefe was Johannes, b. about 1718, on Staten Island, who married about 1744, Catharine . Seven children at least sprung from this union, the third of whom was Garrit, bap. at Six Mile Run, N. J., April 20, 1755; d. about 1823; m. about 1785, Effie Van Houten, b. October 2, 1763, d. December 25, 1818. She was the daughter of Ralph, or Roeluff, and Hannah (Jacobus) Van Houten. This Garrit Nafee, as he wrote his name, in the latter part of the eighteenth century and early part of the nineteenth, lived in Preakness, somewhere near where the Van Sauns lived. He, together with John, Jr., was also identified with the Preakness Church for a short time after its organization, as shown in certain old Church papers, under date of 1802 and 1803. He had likewise, as a young man, been active and prominent in the Revolutionary struggle, serving in the Second New Jersey Regiment, Col. William Maxwell, from November, 1775, to the fall of 1777; and then in the First New York Regi- ment, Col. Goose Van Schaick, from October 27, 1777, until his honorable discharge, June 8, 1783. He was at Quebec when Gen. Montgomery was killed; was in the battles of St. Johns and Three Rivers ; also in the battles of Monmouth and White Plains, and participated in the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va. He is said to have been once captured by the Indians. He was a Revolu- tionary pensioner from 1818 until his death. In 1804, Garrit Nafeg sold his property in Preakness to John Dussenberrie, of Ulster County, N. Y., and went to Hoboken to live. His six children, all but the youngest, having been born in Preakness, were:


1. John, b. March 1, 1786 ; d. February 15, 1860 ; m. December 20 or 31, 1806, Matilda Corby, b. January 22, 1790, d. September 9,1863.


2. Ralph, b. June 23, 1788; d. December 30, 1858; m. about 1811, Ellen King, b. 1787, d. Feb. 18, 1872.


3. Peter, b. November 3, 1790; d. December 16, 1866 ; m. No-


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vember 15, 1809, Mary Cockran, b. July 29, 1791, d. December 18, 1852.


4. Hannah, b. September 22, 1793; d. November 9, 1814; un- married.


5. Cornelius, b. February 27, 1798 ; d. unmarried.


6. Robert, b. September 27, 1804; m. February 28, 1829, Mrs. Catharine Wilkey.


Ralph Nafey, as he wrote his name, the second of the above children, was the father of Capt. John D. Nafey, for over forty years a Captain on the Hoboken Ferries, and who died in 1893; and of James Neafie, now of Boonton, N. J., for forty-five years con- nected with the D., L. & W. R. R. Garrit Nafee, in his later years,. lived for a while in New York City, and finally in Pequannock, Morris County, N. J., where he died.


The Berry family came to Preakness likewise, as we have noted, in 1801, from Morris County, and have remained on the original purchase, adding to it, however, from time to time. Henry Berry, of Pequannock, in that year, purchased the northern part of the Dey tract, containing 196 acres, of David Dey, and Sarah (Neafie) Dey, his wife. Henry Berry's son, Martin H., who mar- ried Rachel Kip, and who succeeded his father in possession of the property, was prominent in our Church history. The late Henry K. was his son, and the widow and children, Rachel Ann, Martin H., and Cornelius K., of Henry K., are still with us.


The Preakness Berrys are descendants of the first Samuel Berrie, of Pompton, or Pompton Plains, 1695-1697, who might. have been a nephew of Captain John Berry, who came from the Island of Barbadoes, in the West Indies, about 1669, and settled near Newark. The Berrys are probably English, or of English extraction ; but nearly all of them in this country married and in- termarried with the Dutch, and in the course of time have become as Dutch as anybody. Cornelius K. Berry, the present owner of the Berry homestead in Preakness, since the writing of this history began, has been selling off his land piece by piece to milkmen and truck farmers.


Samuel Berrie, or Berry, of Pompton, or Pompton Plains, who died 1702, m. March 31, 1690, at Flatbush, Long Island, Cath- arine Martense Ryerson. They had six children: Deborah, bap. July 28, 1691; Martin, b. about 1693; Johannes, bap. December 22, 1695; Samuel, bap. April 10, 1698; Paulus, b. about 1700; Sarah, b. about 1702. Martin, the second child and oldest son,


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was the ancestor of the Preakness Berrys. He married April 15, -1720, Maria Roome, and had children :


1. Samuel, b. September 8, 1722 ; m. Catalyna Berry.


2. Peter, b. March 19, 1725; m. Susanah Jones.


3. Henry, b. December 4, 1731; d. February 17, 1817; m. Keziah De Mott. This Henry Berry is the man who bought the Preakness farm of David and Sarah Dey. He was the father of Martin H. Berry, b. June 29, 1768 ; d. December 29, 1857; m. (1) June 11, 1794, Rachel Van Riper, who was born September 10, 1775, and died November 17, 1806. (2) March 1, 1823, Rachel Kip, who was born March 15, 1795; d. February 23, 1859.


Martin H. Berry, of Preakness, by his first wife, had children, as follows :


1. Sophia (1), b. June 28, 1795 ; d. March 14, 1796.


2. Maria, b. June 1, 1797; d. May 24, 1803.


3. Jane, b. October 8, 1801; d. August 28, 1867; m. Octo- ber, 1820, Albert Terhune.


4. Sophia (2), b. January 6, 1804; m. November 4, 1821, Nicholas Kip.


5. A male child, (no name), b. November 15, 1806.


Martin H. Berry, by his second wife, had children :


1. Henry K., b. October 24, 1823; m. November 28, 1846, Maria Stagg.


2. Christina Ann, b. April 11, 1827; d. November 10, 1827.


3. Cornelius K., b. September 1, 1830; d. June 26, 1856. Henry K. Berry's children are :


1. Rachel Ann, b. 1847.


2. Martin H., b. September 9, 1848; m. August 18, 1870, Catharine A. Van Houten. One child of this union survives, Har- ry M., of Paterson.


3 and 4. John Henry and Christina Margaret, twins, b. March 1, 1851. John Henry died April 26, 1877. He left one daughter, Josephine. Christina Margaret, d. February 19, 1881; m. (1) John R. Berdan, November 10, 1869. (2) Harry C. Lewis, April 29, 1880. She left a son by each husband, Walter H. Berdan and John Lewis.


5. Cornelius K., b. June 12, 1866 ; m. May 4, 1888, Mary Bo- gert. Several children.


It will be interesting to insert here the copy of a petition from some of the Preakness people to the State Legislature, under date of 1806. In 1804, an act was passed by the Legislature of New


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Jersey gradually abolishing slavery in the State. The people of this locality, many of whose names are in the petition, a list which will be carefully read by their descendants, sought by this means to have the act repealed. But let the petition, which we found in the State Library at Trenton, speak for itself :


"To the Hon'ble the House of Assembly of the State of New Jersey, constitutionally convened."


The petition of the Inhabitants of Pracaness, Saddle River Township and County of Bergen :


"Humbly sheweth,


That your petitioners, sensible of the inconvenience already arisen, since the passing of the Act for the abolition of Slavery, and dreading the intolerable burden of accumulating Taxes, which will infallibly take place under the continuation of said Act,-We, your petitioners, humbly pray for a repeal of an Act entitled an Act for the gradual abolition of slavery.


* "Submitting the same to your serious consideration and relying on your impartiality in granting said petition we, your petitioners as in duty bound * * * will pray.


"Pracaness, 13th January, 1806.


ALBERT BERDAN, JUN.


JACOB BERDAN URIAH VAN RIPER RICHARD VAN REYPEN


DAVID SPEER BENJAMIN SISCAN


JAMES WESTERVELT


CORNELIUS GARRISON


JOHN TRUKER RICHARD SPEER


COONRAUD REDNER


JOHN CROUTER


JOHN JOHNSON, JUN.


EDWD. HODGSON


WILLIAM WOODS


THUNIS HENNION


JOHN VAN WINKLE


RICHARD VAN RIPER, JUNR.


ISAAC VAN BLARCOM


JOHN D. VAN BLARCOM


EDWARD JONES


ANTHONY BEAM CORNELIUS KIPP HENRY KIP BENJAMIN VAN WART GEO. H. DOREMUS NICHOLAS KIP


NICHOLAS JONES DAVID I. HENNION JOHN JONSON HASEL HENNION


JOHN VAN SAUN GEORGE DOREMUS


JACOB VAN RIPER


GERLUNE ACKERMAN


MARTIN H. BERRY


JOHN MYER


SAMUEL VAN SAEN ISAAC VAN SAUN NICHOLAS KIP, JUN. HENRY H. DOREMUS


CORNELIUS VAN HORN PETER BUSH JOHN COURTER JOHN D. BROWN


HENRY REDNER HENRY SPEER ABRAM SPEER JOHN G. DOREMUS


PETER CROUTER


DAVID D. DEMAREST


WALTER PERSEL PHIL. DOYLE PETER DEMAREST 54


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CHAPTER III.


SOME LATER PREAKNESS FAMILIES, WITH BRIEF NOTES.


Another Jacob,-Jacob D.,-of the Berdan family, b. April 19, 1746, d. November 29, 1815, son of Dirk, and grandson of Jan, Jr., and who married Catharine Bellue, or Billue, afterwards, in 1809, removed from Slauterdani to Lower Preakness, on the farm still occupied by his descendants, a half a mile or so south of the parsonage, and on which farm he died ; where also his youngest son, Garret, b. June 18, 1800, subsequently, on the site of the old house, built what is at present the Berdan homestead. This Jacob D. had other sons,-Richard, Jacob, and John.


Jacob, son of Jacob D., built a house and lived on the George W. Winters place, as it is now, which place, until quite recently, was still in possession of the Berdan family. The old house on this lat- ter place was of stone, adjoining the old frame house yet standing near the road. This Jacob married Anna Van Houten, and had two children, Catharine and Richard J. Richard J. Berdan, grand- son of Jacob D., of Lower Preakness, married Elizabeth Ryerson, and had children :


1. Jacob. Died young.


2. Jeremiah R., m. Ann Sophia Jacobus. Four children.


3. Jacob R., m. Maria E. Van Saun. Children : Mary Lou- isa, dec'd. ; Elizabeth R., mn. John D. Merselis, son of John G. Mrs. Merselis, before her marriage, was for several years our Church Organist.


4. George R. Two children.


5. Richard. Two children.


John, the third son of Jacob D. Berdan, of Lower Preakness, studied theology, and was licensed in 1830 by the Classis of Hack - ensack, of the Seceder, or True Reformed Church, at a meeting held in Acquackanonk, where he was ordained and installed, and where likewise he preached until a short time before his death, in 1890, at the ripe age of ninety-three, living to see his posterity to the fourth generation. The little church in which Domine Berdan preached, and which has only recently been taken down, stood on the west side of Main avenue in Passaic, a short distance south of the Erie Railroad station. In this church he held one service a


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Sunday in Dutch and one in English. He was a fine specimen of physical manhood, tall and erect, never having used either tobacco or liquor. Garret, the youngest of these four sons of Jacob D., and who remained on the old homestead, died in 1895, and was buried June 15, on his ninety-fifth birthday. He saw some of his great grandchildren reach man's estate. He married his cousin, Rebecca Berdan, daughter of Albert, of Upper Preakness. Children :


1. Dorcas. Unmarried.


2. Jacob, m. Martha Hogencamp. A large family of children. One son, Garret, who has four sons,-John, Charles V., and Bird and Larry (twins), -- remains on the homestead, and his aunt lives with him.


3. Albert Voorhees, d. April 5, 1839.


John, son of Garret, married, has two children, and lives in Paterson.


Garret Berdan, Sr., who died in 1895, was one of two, Peter A Voorhees being the other, who gave the two-acre lot on which the Preakness parsonage stands.


We must be careful not to confound the two Jacob Berdans, of Preakness, both born in 1746. One was simply Jacob, b. March 28, 1746; d. in 1829. He belonged to the Upper Preakness family. The other was Jacob D., b. April 19, 1746 ; d. November 29, 1815. He belonged to the Lower Preakness family. Both of these Jacobs are buried back of the Preakness Church. The Upper Preakness man had for his wife Divertje Banta. The Lower Preakness man's wife was Catharine Bellue, or Billue, (d. September 30, 1843). Each Jacob also had a brother John. Jacob's brother was simply John, and Jacob D.'s brother was John D., probably for Derrick. after their father.


The house, near Mountain View, of the late Jeremiah R. Ber- dan, (d. September 4, 1894), brother of the late Jacob R., (d. March 6, 1901), according to Mrs. Ann Hopper Jacobus, (Mrs. C. R. Jacobus), his mother-in-law, at present (1901) the oldest living member of this Church, whose mother was formerly Ann Dey, the granddaughter of Richard Dey, is over 120 years old. The external appearance of the house has been changed by being newly weatherboarded some years ago; but otherwise it is the same old structure, built originally by Jacob K. Mead, Esqr., before 1780, and is in excellent preservation, the walls, timbers, and plastering being yet all good, and the plastering and ceilings especially being


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in much better condition than most of such work in other houses which has been done much later.


Jeremiah Ryerson, (b. September 21, 1776, d. October 3, 1864), in 1810, after he bought Dr. Philip Dey's farm, came to Lower Preakness to live. His wife was Rachel Van Saun, (b. November 6, 1786), whom he married October 30, 1802. Jeremiah Ryerson's descent from Marten Reyerson, the immigrant, is as follows :


Marten Reyerson, with his brother Adrian, came from Amster- dam, Holland, in 1646, and settled in what is now Brooklyn. Adriaen Reyerson m. July 29, 1659, Annetje Martens Schenck, and had eleven children born between 1660 and 1686. Marten Reyer- son, May 14, 1663, m. Annetje Joris Rapelye, and had at least seven children, the second being Joris, who was baptized at New York September 19, 1666. Joris Martenszen Reyerson, August 11, 1691, m., at New York, Anneken Schouten, widow of Theunis Dirckszen Dey, who was baptized at New York March 17, 1666. They had nine children born between 1692 and 1706. One of these, Lucas, a half-brother of Derrick Dey, of Preakness, was bap- tized at New York April 9, 1704. He married twice: 1. Eliza- beth Howell. 2. In May or June, 1745, Susanna Van der Linde. Lucas by his first wife had a son George L., who, November 9, 1766, m. Mary Joris Reyerson. He died September 22, 1842, aged ninety-nine years, nine months, and twelve days. His wife, Mary, died July 11, 1809, aged sixty-two years, two months, and sixteen days. These were the parents of Jeremiah Ryerson, who for over half a century lived in Preakness, and for many years was an of- ficer in this Church. The children of Jeremiah Ryerson and Ra .. chel Van Saun were :


1. Elizabeth, b. December 26, 1807; m. Richard J. Berdan.


2. Mary, b. August 5, 1810 ; m. Francis Doremus.


3. Samuel, b. September 24, 1812 ; died young.


Peter A. Voorhees, of Preakness, who, in 1846, deeded to the Consistory of the Preakness Church one of the two acres of which the parsonage lot here consists, came to this locality from near Hackensack in 1812. He owned and occupied what has since been known as the Tomkins-Campbell-Cassidy farm, the old man- sion house on which, (burned July 4, 1849), it is claimed, in Revo- lutionary days for a time, sheltered General Washington.


This Peter A. Voorhees was a descendant of Steven Coerte


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Van Voorhees, the first of the Voorhees name in America, who was born in 1600, at Hees, Holland, whence he came to America in April, 1660, in the ship Bonte Koe, (Spotted Cow), and died Feb- ruary 16, 1684. The village of Hees, in Holland, is near the town of Ruinen, in the province of Drenthe.


Steven Coerte Van Voorhees married three times. By his third wife, Helena Van der Schure, he had a son, Albert Stevense Van Voorhees, of Flatlands, N. Y., b. 1654, who in turn had a son Petrus Albertze Van Voorhies, bap. November 3, 1706, who mar- ried May 25, 1734, Geesjean Romeyn, and had issue, Albert P. Voorhis, bap. November 27, 1743.


Albert P. Voorhis, who married Marritje Doremus, bap. Jan- uary 2, 1743, was the father of Peter A. Voorhis, or Voorhees, of Preakness.


Peter A. Voorhees, of Preakness, b. May 28, 1773, d. June 1, 1860, and who is buried back of the Preakness Church, also mar- ried three times: His first wife was Gertrude Berdan, b. March 8, 1771; d. May 30, 1815. His second wife was Catharine Berdan, (a niece of the former), b. March 2, 1789; d. May 4, 1822. His third wife, whom he married May 17, 1823, was Hannah Bush, who died February 29, 1836. He had eleven children, eight by his first wife, and three by his second wife. His first wife's children were : Albert P., b. November 9, 1794; Jacob, who lived in New York; Sarah; John, b. April 13, 1802, m. May 1, 1836, Maria Doremus; Richard, Mary, Peter, Leah. His second wife's children were: George, Harriet, and Albert. Albert P., the oldest of all, died December 2, 1819. He married Christina Berdan. The other son, Albert, b. January 22, 1820, m. July 23, 1844, Eliza Van Tassel, and lived in New York City. He had nine children. Richard, the fifth child of Peter A. Voorhees, b. February 12, 1804, d. June 1, 1888, m. June 5, 1828, Maria Van Saun, daughter of John Van Saun, (son of Samuel), and Hester Van Gelder, and was the father of the Hon. John R. Voorhis, of New York City, in 1902 President of the Board of Elections, and formerly Police Com- missioner, Police Justice, etc.


The daughters of Albert P. Voorhees, (who died December 2, 1819), and the granddaughters of Peter A., were Mary and Gitty, or Gertrude, the former of whom married David Hedden, and the latter of whom married Edward Hedden, brothers. Albert P. also had a son Albert, who married Ann Maria Spear. The Voorhees family left Preakness after selling their farm.


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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS


There have been other Voorheeses, however, in Preakness, of another branch of the family. Albert Beekman Voorhees, a nephew of the aforesaid Peter A., at one time lived on the present Cahill place, which then included the farm also east of it. This Albert B. came from Paramus some time before 1840, and after- wards went from here to the Ponds. His wife was Mary Schuyler, a daughter of Cornelius Merselis. Albert B. Voorhees was the father of C. Schuyler Voorhees, once of Pompton Lakes, now (1901) of Paterson. Albert Beekman Voorhees's father's name was George, of Arcola, near Hackensack, who was the brother of Peter A. George's, and Peter A,'s father's name was Albert P.


Rev. P. De Witt, of Ponds, had a son Peter, who married Elizabeth Van Riper, daughter of Uriah R. Van Riper, of Preak- ness, and who lived on the farm, (inherited by his wife), south of the James D. Berdan farm in Upper Preakness, at present owned by the estate of the late Philip H. Kamp, and occupied by Mrs. Kamp, two of her daughters, and her son-in-law, John Ackerman. This Peter De Witt had sons, Peter, John (d. March 1, 1896), and Jacob B. V., d. 1859 or 1860. Jacob B. V. De Witt married Cyn- thia Chamberlain, and had two daughters, Cynthia and Mary E., and one son, Jacob, dec'd. Cynthia is Mrs. C. Schuyler Voorhees. Mary E. married twice :


1. Alfred E. Hill. One son, Alfred.


2. Fred Hill, of Westwood, brother of Alfred E.


Another family who came to Preakness early in the last cen- tury, (1813), and who was here nearly fifty years, exerting a wide influence, was that of Martynes Hogencamp, previously mentioned, who bought the old Dey homestead of the Neafies. He was the first of the name Hogencamp in this section, and was a descendant of Meyndert Hendrickszen Hogencamp, born in Meppel, Holland, and Jannetje Hendricke, who was born at Esopus, New York, but at the time of her marriage, which occurred at Harlem April 23, 1681, was living at the Armen Bouwerye (N. Y. City). The chil- dren of this union were:


Hendrick, bap. March 15, 1682; Margrietie (1), bap. Decem- ber 23, 1683; Jan, in whom we are interested, bap. August 30, 1685; Margrietje (2), bap. October 9, 1687; Marten, bap. No- vember 9, 1690; Anna, bap. April 16, 1693,-all in New York; Meyndert (?) ; Barbara, bap. April 17, 1700, at Tappan.


Jan, the third child of the family, m. October 15, 1707, at Tappan, Gerretje Van Houten Krom, b. January 10, 1679, widow


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of William Florise Krom, and daughter of Theunis Van Houten and Tryntje Klaesen Kuyper. Jan was six and one-half years younger than his wife. From this union sprang Martynes Hogen- kamp, b. July 28, bap. October 12, 1714. Martynes Hogenkamp m. Annatje or Johanna Everett, (when we do not know). They had a son Jan, b. October 18, 1747, who married Aeltje Haring, and was the father of the Preakness Martynes. Martynes Hogencamp, of Preakness, the father of William Sickles Hogencamp, Sheriff, etc., was born July 4, and baptized August 4, 1771, at Tappan. He died February 24, 1853, aged eighty-one years, seven months, and twenty days. He married Altea or Aeltje Sickles, daughter of William Sickles and Marrietje Kuyper, (we do not know when). Aeltje Sickles was born March 8, and baptized March 22, 1772, at Tappan, and died March 27, 1818, aged forty-six years, nineteen days. A daughter of William S. Hogencamp, the Sheriff, etc., married Jacob Berdan, son of Garret, of Lower Preakness, and who is therefore the grandmother of the Berdan twins, as we all know them, of our time.


The Post name, we might say, almost from the first settle- ment of the country, has always been quite common in Preakness; at least many women of this family, first and last, have presided as wives and mothers in various Preakness homes. We have not in our researches come so much in contact with the men of this name, though there must have been a number of them here. Nor can we trace the Post genealogy very well, as the family is so very large. Two lines of Posts are represented in Preakness at pres- ent, neither of which can be followed very far back. Not a living Post, male or female, that we have met, can tell, or tell positively, who his or her great grandfather was, which, however, is probably true of most of us, unless there are records or printed works to refer to.


Nevertheless, we give in this connection the name of the emi- grant from Holland, from whom the New Jersey Posts are de- scended. This was Capt. Adrian Post, who was in America as early as 1653, and, being a man of some prominence, held various positions. His wife's name was Claertje, or Clara. They had at least four children :


1. Adriaen, b. about 1655.


2. Margarita, bap. June 6, 1657, at New Amsterdam.


3. Francoys, bap. March 17, 1659. On April 16, 1695, elected


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Deacon in Acquackanonk Church, and May 4, 1699, May, 1705, May 9, 1711, and May, 1716, Elder.


4. Geertruyd, bap. August 21, 1663.


Capt. Post died February 18, 1677, at Bergen. Adriaen, his firstborn, (d. before June 10, 1690, Mrs. Post then being a widow), m. April 17, 1677, at Bergen, Cathrina Gerrits, and had at least seven children :


(1) Adriaen, b. January 24, 1678; m. April 21, 1701, Eliza- beth Merselis.


(2) Gerrit, b. January 1, 1680; m. December 25, 1704, Leah Straetmacker.


(3) Claertje, b. December 4, 1681; m. April 8, 1703, Peter H. Van Houten.


(4) A son, b. April 2, 1684; d. unbaptized.


(5) Annetje, bap. May 16, 1685.


(6) Pieter, bap. April 2, 1688; m. November 17, 1710, Cata- lyntje Beekman.


(7) Johannes, bap. June 10, 1690; m. 1713, Elizabeth Van Houten.


Francoys, third child of Capt. Adriaen Post, m. (1) April 22, 1690, Maritje Jacobus; (2) June 3, 1721, Elena Van Schyven.




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