Getting to the De Groot of the matter
Sunday, January 3, 2010
By RICHARD TOWNSEND
COLUMNIST
(Suburban Trends)
In the late 1960s there was a delicatessen in Bloomingdale on "the back road" we now call the Hamburg Turnpike just west of Vreeland Avenue. Mr. De Groot ran the deli where my neighborhood friends and I would go after school for some snacks. Mr. De Groot asked me if I would sweep his entire parking lot every day after school for some "spending money." Of course I was expected to spend it in his store. From time to time he would ask me to go with him when he was catering an affair to help deliver his goods. On one of those trips he told me his family came from Holland in the 1600s and settled near Hackensack. I knew my early Townsend ancestors came from England as Quakers in the early 1600s to the Massachusetts Bay Colony but beyond that I knew little of my ancestry. Mr. De Groot could tell you his list of ancestors from memory. I had no idea how many of my ancestors were Dutch but I was inspired by him to learn more about my own family.
The first of the De Groot family in this country to my knowledge was Jacob Pieterszen De Groot, who married Grietje Jans Eggert and had two sons: Petrus Jacobus De Groot and Jan De Groot. Of Jan I know nothing more. Petrus Jacobus De Groot was born in New Amsterdam and baptized at the Dutch church there on Aug. 31, 1653.
Petrus married Belitje Adriaens Van Schaick, daughter of Adrian Corneliszen Van Schaick and Rebecca Idens, on Dec. 10, 1681 at the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. This couple was listed in Dominie Henricus Selyns' 1686 list of members at that church. They joined the church in Hackensack, N.J., on Oct. 12, 1695. This couple had at least 13 children including: Rebecca De Groot who married Daniel Demarest, son of David Damaree and Rachel Cresson; Lea Pieterse De Groot who married Jacobus Damaree, Daniel's brother; Jacob Pieterse De Groot who died young; Rachel De Groot who married Dirck Sebese Banta, son of Seba Epkese Banta and Marritje Aryanse Sip; Grietje De Groot who died young; Lysbeth Pieterse De Groot who married Benjamin Damaree, brother of Daniel and Jacobus; Arie Pieterse De Groot who married twice to Francintje Edsall, and Sara Kouwenhoven, daughter of Johannes Kouwenhoven and Rachel Johannes Benson; Jacob Pieterse De Groot, the twin of Arie, who married Angentje Roelofse Bogert, daughter of Roelof Jans Bogert and Gertrude Breyandt; Efie Pieterse De Groot, who married Johannes Roelofse Westervelt, son of Roelof Lubbertse (Westervelt) and Orsolina Steynmets; Cornelia Pieterse De Groot who married twice to Jacob Sibese Banta, brother to Dirck and to Gosen Cozyn Ryerson; Margrietjen De Groot who married Jacobus Davidse Demarest, son of David Demaree and Sarah Bertholf; Johannes De Groot who married twice to Elizabeth Sickels, daughter of Robert Sickels and Geertruy Raddenhausen and to Franzina Moor; and Dina De Groot who married twice to Petrus Brower, son of Abraham Pieterse Brouwer and Lea Demarest and to Benjamin Lozier.
The descendants of Rachel De Groot and Dirck Sibese Banta would make their way into Olde Pompton Township through marriages with the Mead, Van Wagoner, Mandeville, Vreeland, and Bogert families. Most of the descendants of the third-generation siblings of Rachel to my knowledge remained in Bergen County in and north of Hackensack.
Rachel De Groot and Dirck Sibese Banta had at least one son, Seba who married Margrietje Demarest, daughter of Samuel Des Marets (Demarest) and Annatie Van Horn. Seba and Margrietje had at least five children including; Samuel who married Evaetje Berdan, believed to be the daughter of David Berdan and Christyntje Romeyn (David was the brother of Albert Berdan of Preakness who married Divertje Banta); Rachel Banta who married Peter Bogert, son of Mathew Bogert and Magrietje Talman; Annatje Banta; Maria Banta; and Dirck Banta.
Peter Bogert and Rachel Banta were married on March 22, 1759 at the Dutch church in Schraalenburgh (Dumont). They had at least three children including: Annatje Bogert; Matheus Bogert; and Samuel Pieterse Bogert who married Margaret Mead, daughter of Henry Mead and Mary Kline of Pequannock.
Henry Mead married twice. first to Maria Jacobus and later to Mary Kline. Henry and Mary were married on August 22, 1771 and had at least eight children including: Abraham Mead; Maria Mead who married Garret Van Ness, son of Simon Van Ness and Catalyna De Bow; Christianna Mead who married Jacob J. Van Ness; Elizabeth Mead who married Colonel Richard Neafie of Twin Bridges, son of John Naeafie and Helena Dey; Raagel (Rachel) Mead who married Gerrebrand Van Houten, son of Cornelius Roelofse Van Houten; Margaret Mead who married Samuel P. Bogert, son of Peter Bogert and Rachel Banta; Jacob Kline Mead who married Martha Dodd, daughter of Samuel Dodd and Sarah Baldwin; and Isaac Henry Mead who married Sophia Mercelis.
The Reverend Samuel P. Bogert and Margaret Mead were married on March 2, 1803. This marriage is according to "Mead Family of Northern New Jersey" but is contradicted by "Early Settlements & Settlers of Pompton, Pequannoc, and Vicinity" by G.C. Schanck. Samuel and Margaret had at least five children including: Mary Klyn Mead Bogert who married James Van Wagoner, son of Helmagh Van Wagoner and Lettitia Van Duyne of Pompton; Margaret Bogert who married James Jones Mandeville, son of Hendrick Mandeville and Lydia Jones; Rachel Bogert; Martha Bogert who married Adam Alyea; and Henry Mead Bogert who married twice to Emeline Myers and Mary Ann Smith.
Mr. De Groot of De Groot's Delicatessen would be proud to see anyone taking an interest in his family history. There are many connections between my family and those listed above. At the time, we had no clue.
In the next article we will cover more families represented in Olde Pompton Township as we follow in their footsteps.
