The Closter Raid and the house of Douwe Talema (Tallman)

[Steenrapie]

From the files of Kevin Wright:

“FIRE AT CLOSTER. — A house belonging to Mrs. Miles, and occupied by a German family named Weaver, was burned on the afternoon of the 4th [of July, 1870]. The fire is supposed to have been caused by fire crackers. This house stood a half mile east of the station and was built (of stone) in the year 1760. During the Revolution it was the scene of a tragedy which attached to it some historical interest. The following inscription upon a tombstone in a small neglected grave yard near by, mentions some of the circumstances of the tragedy:

Here lie
the Remains of
DOUWE TALEMA,
who died on the 11th Day of May, 1779,
in his ninetieth Year.
This aged Man, at his Residence near this Place, was willfully and barbarously murdered by a Party of Tories, Traitors to their Country, who had taken Refuge with the Troops of Britain then in New York, and came thence to murder, burn and plunder.
To pay a Tribute of Respect to his Memory, and to commemorate the Manner of his Death, several of his Relatives have erected this Stone.”

The Miles house is clearly shown on Hopkin’s 1860 map of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey, standing close to the Walter Parsells Homestead (identified in 1860 as Mrs. Vanderbeck’s Lone Star Tavern). The close proximity of these two houses is also shown on the 1840 Coastal Survey. Ambrose Thersander Secor, an amateur poet who contributed to local newspapers and who began to record local family history about the time of the Civil War, also recalled this burned stone dwelling as the Douwe Talema house, adding that it was once the home of Matthew Bogert and his wife Polly Demarest, a sister to his grandfather, Rev. James D. Demarest.  Writing in 1907, Mary Naugle, a Closter antiquarian, recalled that “the house where [Douwe Tallman] lived, long since gone, stood on the old Closter Road near the Alpine Road, about in the spot where the new house of George Vervalen now stands.”

A forgotten version of the events surrounding the Closter Raid was told in 1858 by a descendant of John I. Westervelt, of Tenafly, who with his father, Jacob Westervelt, was taken prisoner by a gang of Refugees and Tories during the Revolution. Relying upon his mother’s recollections and eyewitness testimony, the anonymous narrator compiled the story of Tallman’s murder in a letter to the Paterson Guardian:

“The band of Refugees and Tories infested the North River mountain from Paulus Hook to Tappan, from which they would rush down into the valley below, and burn houses and barns and murder the farmers. On one of their excursions from the mountain, they killed a Mr. Demarest and one of his sons, fired upon another named Peter, (who told me the story on the spot where it took place); then they burned the house and grist mill. Most of the dwelling houses and barns were burned in Closter. These last outrages were done on a Sabbath morning, just before church time.”

“An aged farmer, over eighty years, by the name of Tallman, living in this valley, was also murdered at this time. The band entered his dwelling, when he drew from under his bed a small trunk in which he kept his valuable papers. He said to them “I am an old man — I cannot injure you — you will not hurt me.” The reply was “no,” and instantly they knocked him down on his trunk and ran a bayonet through his body. Then they took him by the feet and dragged him out of the door, and down the stone steps, (his head striking every step as they went down,) and threw his body into the yard before the house; then they set fire to both house and barn; the militia were away at this time on duty elsewhere.” 
                              

J.

[jonnyv]

This is my first time on this site. I am trying to find out about Enoch Joris Vreeland . He was born about 1741 and resided in Bergen County / New Barbados. His wife was the daughter of Edo Mercelis a patriot. Enochs father was a Captain in the French and Indian war. Enochs brothers were patriots. The mystery is what if any role he played during the revolution. Because Bergen County had Tories and Loyalists abounding, I did research to see if he was a loyalist. I determined that due to his relationships with his wife and family members that it was unlikely that he was loyal to the King. He would most likely have been persecuted so severely by all that he knew. Enoch's son Adrian fought in the war of 1812. Does anyone have access to records that could reveal anything about my ancestral Grandfather. I did find an Enoch under the Freeland name. Curiously ,  names that were the same as his brothers were also listed as Freelands. They may not be the same.
any help would be apprediated.

Jon Vreeland

[Steenrapie]

Adrian C. Lieby's Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley, The Jersey Dutch and the Neutral Ground, has two footnoted references to Edo Marcellus: on page 28, he is listed as one of the Bergen County representatives at the Provincial Congress, held at Trenton on May 23, 1775; on page 157, he is listed among the "men who risked their lives and property by openly serving as patriot officials in a no man's land between two armies."

[beekeeper65]

Hi All - first time on this site. Does anyone know if the the Tories in the original post were remnants of the Claudius Smith gang? Claudius was hung Jan. 22, 1779 yet his sons (William, Richard, James)carried on their guerilla war after his death. The stealing of documents is most curious as Claudius was known for doing that..I'm just wondering if there is documentation of his gang as far south and east as Closter..

Thanks in advance,
BK65.   

[douwetalma]

I am trying to find out what group(or groups) were responsible for placing the large brass plaque on the grave of my 5X great grandfather, Douwe Talema's grave in the old Sautje Taves Begraven(Sp?) Ground in Demarest.  When I was there in the early 1980's with my father (Wilfred Blanch Talman) Douwe's original stone had been so badly weathered, it was not decipherable. I seem to recall, that some years ago, a group of local students were involved in procuring the plaque, but am not too sure of the details, if that story is correct. In 2000 we moved from our home in Rockland County, to a community near Milford, PA, but this past fall, a distant relative visited and was interested in seeing the Douwe's burial place.  We were greatly surprised and pleased to see the large plaque memorializing Douwe. I would appreciate any information you might be able to provide, so that I might contact whomever was responsible  and thank them for the plaque's placement (a thank you that is several years late but a thank you no less). 

As an aside, I am still in possession of that chest on which Douwe was bayoneted on that fateful day in 1779. My father had purchased it from a member of the Blackledge family sometime in the middle 1920's, and it maintains an honored place in our home.

Peter D Talman
1966 Hemlock Farms
Lords Valley, PA 18428

[Albert]

I merged this topic with the one called "The Closter Raid and the house of Douwe Talema (Tallman)"

Related site: Saujte Tave’s Begraven Ground (Lost in Jersey Blog)

I'm sorry I don't know the answer to your question but I'll try to find out.

[Albert]

In researching the plaque, I came across this:

SOME OF CLOSTER'S OLD-TIME HISTORY

Midway between Closter and Demarest, east of the County road, is situated one of those little family burial places, of which there were so many. In it is a red sand-stone, tombstone, erected some years after the described  event, and which tells a pathetic tale.

The following inscription seems to give a fairly full  account:

Here lie Douwe Talema who died on the I 1th day of May, 1779 in his Ninetieth year. This aged man at his Residence near this place was wilfully and barbarously murdered by a party of Tories Traitors to their Country who had taken refuge with the Troops of Bretain then in New York and come thence to murder burn and plunder. To pay a tribute of Respect to his Memory and also to commemorate the Manner of his death several of his Relatives have erected this stone.

The house where he lived, long since gone, stood on the old Closter Road near the Alpine Road, about in the spot where the new house of George Vervalen now stands.

In this part of the country the name Tory did not always signify an English adherent, but often times meant an unknown enemy. One might retire at night, thinking everything safe and find in the morning that the cows and horses had been stolen. By whom? Tories. Perhaps some of the neighbors who cared more for English gold than for the property of others. At the time this old man was killed these marauders were strangers and came in the daytime.

When they saw these Tories coming the women fled to the woods, leaving the old gentleman and a negro servant around the place. After nightfall the women, cautiously groping their way back to the house, came across the dead body of the negro servant by the barn and on entering the  house found that the old gentleman had been killed by a bayonet thrust. Some say the barns, too, were burned at this time.

There seems to be several versions as to the cause of the killing. One is that the old gentleman had some information which he would not divulge. Another is that they supposed the little chest on which he was seated contained gold. The most probable version is that it contained papers of value only to him, and failing to find anything else, from pure maliciousness they ran a bayonet through him.

The chest is said to be now in the possession of Peter Blacklidge, of Closter, a relative of the above Douwe Talema.

SCRAPS FROM MY NOTE BOOK.
By T. N. Glover, Historiographer.
Source: http://www.archive.org/stream/annualreport07berg/annualreport07berg_djvu.txt
(Annual Report of the BCHS 1902-1905)