Historical Families

BLAUVELT FAMILY

Elmer Blauvelt (1866-1938) and his son Hiram Bellis Demarest
Blauvelt (1897-1957) had a coal and lumber business and were scions of the prominent Dutch Demarest and Blauvelt families, who have been living in Bergen County since the 17th Century. Hiram Blauvelt served in Africa during World War II and was a prolific hunter. His collection of stuffed animals and wildlife-related art served as the foundation of the collection of the Hiram
Blauvelt Art Museum and Foundation, which was established pursuant to his will in 1957 and is today located in the carriage house adjoining the mansion. Their mansion The Atwood-Blauvelt mansion is a historic residential building built in 1897 and home to the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum. It is located on Kinderkamack Road in Oradell, Bergen County, New Jersey. The mansion is a prominent example of shingle style architecture, which was popular in the United states in the late 19th century.

Atwood-Blauvelt Mansion

HARING FAMILY

Harrington Township was named after the Haring family, who were early settlers to the region. The earliest available reference to any individual of the family is to Peter Haring who established a residence here in the early 17th century and a son John, was born to the Haring family Dec. 20, 1633. Regina M. Haring founded Dutch Door Genealogy in the late nineties. The Harrington Township existed in Bergen County, New Jersey, from 1775 until 1916. It then merged with Washington Township and parts of the borough of Closter to form Harrington Park. One of the only reminders left of the family is the Blanch-Haring House which is located in Harrington Park, New Jersey and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 9, 1983.

Blanch-Haring House

ZABRISKIE FAMILY

Generations of the prolific Zabriskie family would raise children and crops and livestock in the area for over 200 years. Albert Jacob Zabriskie, a great-grandson of patriarch Albrycht, inherited one-third of his father's 225 acres in 1796, and built the 1805 house using materials salvaged from his father's home directly across the road. Albert Jacob left the farmhouse to his son Peter Albert Zabriskie in 1835, who left it to his own son Albert Peter Zabriskie in 1875, who left it to his niece Anna Zabriskie in 1904, who finally sold it in 1924 after 119 years of family ownership. Since then, the historic home was remodeled into professional offices, the lot was subdivided to a half-acre, and the surrounding land was converted into the Fashion Center
shopping complex and a suburban housing development and NJ Route 17. Still, despite the many changes over the years, the 1805 stone farmhouse has kept virtually the same appearance from the road, and remains one of Bergen County's best-preserved examples of its Dutch Colonial
heritage.

Albert J. Zabriskie Farmhouse

WORTENDYKE

The Wortendykes settled in the area in 1735 when Frederick Wortendyke, Sr. purchased the acreage from Hendrick Vanderlinda. The Wortendyke family maintained the land as a working farm from 1735 to 1851 when the farm was sold. It remained an ongoing farm owned by the Wortendykes for over 115 years from before the French and Indian War until nine years before the start of the Civil War. The Wortendyke Barn Museum's exhibits include handmade 18th and 19th century farm implements and tools, the history of the Wortendyke family farm, and exhibits showing the agricultural history of Bergen County from the first settlers until the present. The Revolutionary War and its impact on the Wortendyke family is touched upon. This National

Register county landmark, in addition to its attending red sandstone farmhouse across the street, is all that remains of the Wortendyke Farm which originally covered over 460 acres in northeastern Bergen County in the town of Pascack, now called Park Ridge.

Wortendyke Barn

VAN RIPER FAMILY

Established in 1781, Van Riper's Farm is part of Woodcliff Lake's long legacy of agriculture, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries when Dutch settlers migrated to the area from Manhattan looking for tracts of land to farm and raise animals. The farm has been a home for many Bergen County residents during the holidays. Every Halloween the farm would open up its

doors and give the residents a night full of witches, goblins, ghosts, and memories. In 1995 the farm was signed over to a supermarket developer. However Van Riper-Hopper House is located in Wayne, Passaic County, New Jersey. The house was built in 1786 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1972. The house is home to the Wayne

Township Museum. It is one of the oldest buildings in New Jersey. The house was built in 1786 by Uriah Van Riper. The house remained in the Van Riper family and was bequeathed to Uriah Van Riper's great granddaughter, Mary Ann Van Riper, who married Andrew Hopper in 1872. On July 6, 1964, the house was officially dedicated as the Wayne Township Museum.

Van Riper's Farm

DEMAREST FAMILY

The Demarest family provided soldiers to both sides of the conflict. At least thirty five are known to have served, two dozen on the Congressional side with another eleven fighting for the Crown. One of the leading county militia officers was Captain Samuel Demarest, who lived on what is now River Road in New Milford. The Demarest House is the best surviving example of a Bergen Dutch sandstone cottage with two rooms and two entry doors. Jacobus Paulison, a son of Paulus M. Paulison and Rachel Demarest, purchased 100 acres of the estate in 1791 and erected a gristmill upon the Hackensack River. The Demarest Family Association was organized in 1937 and Hiram B. Demarest Blauvelt, president of the Comfort Coal & Lumber Company, purchased the little stone house in 1939. To save it from vandalism, the old dwelling was painstakingly disassembled and reconstructed on Main Street, River Edge, directly behind the Steuben House, in 1954-56. The Blauvelt-Demarest Foundation maintains and recently restored what is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Bergen Dutch architecture.

Demarest House

BOGERT FAMILY

The Bougaerdts were a numerous and influential family in Holland, where they filled many important military and civic positions, and attained lasting fame in the arts, sciences, and literature centuries before the advent of any of them in America. Guilliaem Bougaert was Schout of the City of Dordrecht in 1423. His son Adam became first Professor of Music and Rector of the Academy at Leyden, where he died in 1482. Once the family migrated over to the Americas they bought land and were a family of farmers for 5 generations. Everything changed when Matthew J. Bogert found his fame in business and politics with his partner Abraham J. Hopper, they embarked in the business of wood-turning. He had for several years been a member of the School Board of Harrington Township, and for twelve years has been a Director and Treasurer of the Harrington Building and Loan Association, which he helped to organize. He was prominent and active in religious work.

Demarest House

WYCKOFF FAMILY

Pieter Claesen Wyckoff (1620 – June 30, 1694) was a prominent figure in Dutch and later English colonial Kings County, Long Island, New York. He emigrated to America as a contract farm worker for a period of 6 years at a salary of at first 50 then 75 Guilders annually, working at Rensselaerswyck, near present-day Albany, New York. Pieter Claesen made a settlement with the Van Rensselaer estate for the short time remaining on his work contract. He then rented a farm for himself and soon after married Grietje Van Ness, daughter of a prominent local family. She may have brought both wealth and superior education to the family. Most persons surnamed Wyckoff in North America, including many variations in spelling, can be traced to his family. Wyckoff is also the name of the church that was a powerful influence for the early Dutch settlers in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The church was built in 1802 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 2003.

Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House

FELL FAMILY

It is a family that originally were called “Peterfield”. The most important member is John Fell, Bergen County Revolutionary War patriot and member of the First Continental Congress of the United States. Fell was a merchant who before the Revolution had vessels plying the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. He served the county as a Justice of Peace and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. As a member of the First Continental Congress of the United States, Fell ratified the Constitution. During the revolution he had a reputation as a “great Tory hunter” and on April 22, 1777 was taken prisoner at his home by a band of 25 Loyalist raiders and imprisoned in New York City. Fell kept a diary while he was a member of the Congress for the State of New Jersey from November 6, 1778 to November 30, 1779. The original is kept in the Library of Congress. The impact that he did for his country was brave and remarkable.

John Fell House

GARRISON FAMILY

A family that blossomed in Bergen County since 1778. To start with the top family member, Abraham Garrison who is descended in the seventh generation from the David des Marest the french emigrant and the first American ancestor of the Demarests. From him and down the family line a family member named Samuel Demarest born in Bergen County 1778 and removed to “The Ponds” (in Franklin Township) while a young man, where he settled and married Miss Maria Garretson, a descendant of Gerret Gerrets, the Dutch emigrant and first American progenitor of the Garretson, Garrison, and Van Wagenen families. Samuel Demarest, who was a farmer, died in 1837, and his wife in 1850. They left several children one of whom, Abraham Demarest, the father of Colonel Abraham G., married Margaret Garrison, and resided at Oakland, where their son, Colonel Abraham G. Colonel Demarest is a prominent member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Society of the Army of the Potomac. After his return to civil life he was removed from Cresskill in Tenafly, N. J., where he has since engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits.

Abraham Garrison Demarest

HOPPER FAMILY

The Hopper family, it is said, started in France They spelled the name Hoppe, and finally changed it to Hopper. When Abraham Lincoln needed volunteers to defend the capital during the civil war, John A. Hopper, son of Abraham Hopper, was one of the many young men from Bergen County who enlisted with Companies D and E of the 22nd. In 1860, John lived with his widowed mother in his grandfather Henry P. Hopper's house in the rural area known as "Small Lots" in Saddle River Township, Bergen County. Today, Henry Hopper's house still stands at the corner of Ackerman Avenue and Harristown Road in Glen Rock. One of the last farmsteads in the area on this site. This house that was built by Henry A. Hooper in 1855 was razed for road improvement in 1989. He was a Sheriff and Freeholder of Bergen County and served in the State Legislator. In 1919 William M. Croucher bought the farm and with his sons worked the land as a truck farm until 1953.

John A. Hopper

TERHUNE FAMILY

The family Terhune mark history by their writings. Albert Payson Terhune was a reputed writer, journalist, and dog breeder from The United States. He was well known for writing novels based on his beloved collies’ adventures. Author Terhune owned the Sunnybank Kennels that used to breed collies, whose lines exist even today in the RoughCollies. The family of Terhune had a summer home called Sunnybank. Terhune used to box exhibition matches along with Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Jeffries, and James J. Corbett. The Sunnybank Kennels, where Terhune bred, raised, and cared for rough collies, had become the most popular kennel for collies in entire United States Some of the family items of historical importance from the Terhune home are kept for public display at the Historical Museum of Pompton Lakes and the House Museum of Van Riper Hopper in Wayne, New Jersey. Terhune’ first book had gone on to become a bestseller in the adult & young adult markets all over the world

Albert Payson Terhune

VAN ALLEN FAMILY

The Van Allen House was built around 1740 as the home of farmer Hendrik Van Allen. This colonial Farmhouse was built before the Revolutionary War on a land that consisted of over two hundred acres. During the Revolutionary War, it served as the headquarters for George Washington on July 14, 1777. At the time, he was moving his troops over from “extremely deep and miry roads” Morristown, New Jersey to New York. In 1778 and 1779, Bergen County used the house as a court. Edward Day Page, dairy farmer, businessman, and Oakland's second mayor. It was saved from demolition by the Oakland Historical society with aid from the Woman's Club of Oakland. It is now maintained as a museum displaying colonial Dutch life. It is located in the corner of Ramapo Valley Rd Rt 202 and Franklin Ave.

Van Allen House

ACKERMAN FAMILY

The family’s house was founded by James A. Ackerman around 1793. The farm was then in the locality known as Ponds Neighborhood and within the old Township of Franklin. From the deed dated 10, Mar, 1689 from John Berry to Louwerense Ackerman, brother of Abraham, we learn that Abraham owned a tract of land south of that conveyed to Louwerens, reaching from the Hackensack River to the Saddle River. This location comprises the whole of what is now known as Woodridge and Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. Abraham Ackerman was received into the Dutch Reformed Church at Hackensack, NJ on 3 Oct 1696. Among the founders of this Church were his two brothers, David and Louwerense, and their wives. The marriage of Abraham and his beloved Aeltie was recorded at Bergen Reformed Dutch Church. Her father came from Amsterdam in the ship “Gilded Beaver”.

Ackerman House

WESTERVELT FAMILY

The Westervelt family story in America begins, like many others, on the docks of New York City. Only it wasn't New York City when the Westerfelts arrived, it was New Amsterdam. In 1662 the two brothers Lubbert and William arrived and immediately became farmers. They then purchased land in the nearby colony of Flatbush, on Long Island. The Van Westervelt brothers prospered quickly, and by 1672 Lubbert was able to sell his lands for a large profit. Lubbert then moved his family to Hackensack, New Jersey. He and his family show up in the congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church at Bergen in 1676. In 1686, they were listed as founding members of the Dutch Reformed Church at Hackensack (the "Schraalenburgh" congregation). David Demarest, Sr. purchased 5,000 acres from the Natives on June 8, 1677. Upon his death, in 1693, his lands were divided between 25 people which included Johannes Juriansen Westervelt.

Jacob Aaron Westervelt - seventh-generation descendant of Lubbert Lubbertsen van Westervelt.

TICE FAMILY

The Tice Family focused on the fields. They are noted for pumpkins, apple cider, fresh hot donuts and other fall products. Their farm is located on Chestnut Ridge Road in Woodcliff Lake. The farm, which was larger than 26 acres and extended into Saddle River, was established in 1808, making it one of North Jersey's longest continually-run businesses. The farm had always been a family business, begun by Tice's ancestors, Dutch settlers who had moved to the area from Manhattan. For decades, picking pumpkins at Tice Farms was a family tradition for folks of Bergen County and nearby counties. Even though the Tice’s wanted the farm to always stay in the family, their continuous illnesses, and inability to live the farm life has resulted in them selling the farm.