Mary (1822-1861), Not a Daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler

Beware of blindly accepting published family trees!

Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841) lived and died in Morris County, New Jersey. This couple produced thousands of descendants, myself included. As a consequence, they are found in lots of online family trees. Vanderhoof and variant spellings were common in New York and New Jersey in the 1700s and 1800s, resulting in many different people having similar first and last names living within miles of one another. The few written records that survive lack details that would help distinguish one person from another of the same name.

The result is lots of trees that merge different people into one, or criss-cross the lines.

As of this writing, I have not sorted all of the men named Jacob Vanderhoof. I'll produce articles as I figure out children, record sets, or locations.

A tree appeared with Jacob, Ann, and sixteen children. I explored this tree because I was curious about the sources about their daughter, Elizabeth (1799-1878). The picture for Elizabeth is that of a young woman. Elizabeth was well-past her youth when cameras and photographs were invented, so this cannot be her.

Tree of Jacob Vanderhoof, Ann Elizabeth Hopler, and sixteen children

I looked at the youngest offered child, Mary, born in 1822, when her mother was fifty. The only source is another family tree. This will not suffice.

Source for the life of Mary Vanderhoof is another tree

In 1848, Mary Vanderhoof and J K Odell married in Sussex County, New Jersey. This was just before state-wide registry was required; however, the event was recorded at the county level and can be viewed online. From this record we see that the bride was described as "of Wantage." This is in Sussex County, about thirty miles northwest of Rockaway Valley in Morris County, where Jacob Vanderhoof and and Ann Hopler had resided before their deaths.

March 30, 1848. Mr J K Odell of Hardiston to Miss Mary Vanderhoof of Wantage.
Sussex County, New Jersey Marriages 1828-1853

On October 30, 1861 Mary Odel died in Vernon, Sussex County. This record is also available online. State-wide registration was in the form of ledger books at this time. The cause of death was consumption, or tuberculosis. Her parents were Jacob and Elizabeth Vanderhoof.

Mary Odell has a memorial page at Find A Grave, along with a photograph of the stone. She was buried at Deckertown Union Cemetery in Wantage.

Mary Vanderhuff Odell (1823-1861)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

The above-mentioned sources don't help us definitively rule Mary in or out as a daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler. Without visiting this cemetery in person, we can check for other Vanderhoofs buried there.

We find Jacob A Vanderhuff (1791-1870) and Elizabeth Swan (1793-1870) listed in the same cemetery as Mary. They seem more likely to be her parents. (Yes, Mary is listed as their daughter at Find A Grave. This is because I requested this change after finding and reviewing documents.)

Jacob A Vanderhuff (1791-1870)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

Elizabeth Swan Vanderhuff (1793-1870)
Memorial page at Find A Grave

The will of Jacob A Vanderhuff is viewable online. He left his estate to his living children and to three of his grandchildren, "children of John K Odell and my daughter Mary, now deceased."

Will of Jacob A Vanderhuff of Vernon, Sussex County, New Jersey.
Proved August 17, 1870.

This helps chip away at one bit of inaccuracy in the Vanderhoof tree. More to come.

Adoption of Hibler by Cook 1880

My great-grandfather, Eugene Everett Cook (1898-1979), was born and raised in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. He moved around within New Jersey and New York before retiring to Florida, where he died.

Although Cook is a common surname, I look into people with this surname who reside close to my family, especially if they share a given name as well.

Lawrence Eugene Cook (1872-1942) also lived in Newark, but was born in Swartswood, which is in Sussex County, New Jersey- fifty miles northwest of Newark.

Database Social Security Applications and Claims Index

Lawrence's birth was not found in the birth ledgers circa 1872. This is not unusual. He also was not with his parents, John and Idell, in the 1880 census. Mistakes and omissions are not unusual.

1880 United States Federal Census
101 Sheffield Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey
Household of John Cook and Idell. No children.

John Cook was born in England. My Cook line was in the United States when it was created in 1776. I figured there was probably no connection, so I did not venture further down that rabbit hole.

On Family Search, while browsing results of full-text searches for Eugene Cook in Newark, I found some documents about this other group of Cooks.

Lawrence Eugene Cook was adopted by John Cook and Idell. Lawrence and Idell were half-siblings. Their birth surname was Hibbler. Their father was Jacob Hibbler (1815-1880). He also used the spelling with one B, Hibler.

Petition of John Cook and Idell to adopt
Lawrence E Hibbler, 1880

Order granting adoption of Lawrence E Hibbler
by John Cook and Idell, 1880

John and Idell petitioned to adopt Lawrence on October 1, 1880. The family relations were explained. Idell was from Jacob's first marriage to Eliza Vliet (1820-1868). Lawrence was from Jacob's second marriage to Melinda Vanatta (1832-1872).

Family tree of Lawrence Eugene Cook, born Hibbler

Using the surname Hibbler, Lawrence Eugene was found in the 1880 census living with his father, Jacob, and other members of the "Hibler" family in Newark.

1880 United States Federal Census
Hibler households at 31 Astor Street, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey

Adoptions were not commonplace. Children could live with people other than their parents without any paperwork or judicial action. As for Lawrence Eugene, Jacob's advancing age and pending death probably prompted this adoption.

Jacob Hibbler died November 11, 1880. He was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.

Death certificate of Jacob Hibbler
November 11, 1880 in Newark, New Jersey

Although the petition for adoption stated, "said minor has no estate or property in  his own right," Lawrence was left property in his mother's will in 1872.

Will of Melinda Hibbler
Signed October 22, 1872
Stillwater, Sussex County, New Jersey

Lawrence was only eight years old as his father was dying in 1880. Someone with legal authority needed to handle his share of his mother's estate; hence, this rare adoption was sought.

Lawrence Eugene Hibbler/Cook married Etta May Coursen (1874-1942). They had one daughter, Iliff Velmar Cook (1896-1961). The name "Iliff" is probably a family name. There is an Iliff Burying Ground in Sussex County.

1880 Census and More

In 1880, the decennial federal census was recorded. This was the first census that provided the relation of every member of the household to the head.

Did you know that additional information was recorded on people who had special needs and/or lived in institutions because of these needs? The database at Ancestry is titled U.S., 1880 Federal Census Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes. Let's use the term "supplement to the census."

I just discovered this and thought I'd share my findings.

Please note that the terms used for these people and institutions were standard for the year 1880. Most have fallen out of use today and seem archaic or degrading.

Searching the 1880 census will not give results in the supplement to the census. These are separate databases at Ancestry. A potential match might appear in the "Suggested Records" column if you click on an entry in one database.

How would you know to look for someone on the supplement to the census? Either because they are enumerated as an occupant of an institution or because they answered in the affirmative to the questions about health.

1880 federal census questions about health

Question 15: Is the person [on the day of the Enumerator's visit] sick or temporarily disabled, so as to be unable to attend to ordinary business or duties? If so, what is the sickness or disability?

Question 16: Blind,

Question 17: Deaf and Dumb,

Question 18: Idiotic,

Question 19: Insane,

Question 20: Maimed, Crippled, Bedridden, or otherwise disabled.

Words or a slash mark in these columns merit a visit to the supplement to the census. Additional information was collected about the nature and length of the condition. This may or may not be accurate.

Specific to Newark, Essex County, New Jersey were several institutions, triggering the residents to appear on both the 1880 federal census and the supplement:

-Newark City Alms House on Elizabeth Avenue. Date of admission is on the supplement.

-Home for the Friendless on South Orange Avenue. Date of admission and number of brothers and sisters is on the supplement.

-Essex County Asylum for the Insane on Camden Street. Supplement includes illness, length of current attack, number of attacks, and age at first attack.

-Protestant Foster House on Belleville Avenue. Supplement includes date of admission and circumstances of birth.

Information, including spelling and indexing, can vary from the census to the supplement. The correct person can be confirmed because the enumeration district, page number, and line number of the census are included in the supplement.

Mary Staats (1840-1892) has possibly four entries in the 1880 census and supplement.

1880 United States Federal Census
476 Mulberry Street, Newark, New Jersey

In the 1880 federal census, Mary was enumerated at 476 Mulberry Street in Newark with her husband, Abraham, their two children, and a servant. [Indexed as Stadts at Ancestry.] For the question about occupation, "keep house" is scratched out and "insane asylum" written above. The box for "insane" is ticked.

1880 Federal Census Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes.
Enumeration District 65.

Mary is listed in the supplement. We know this is Mary because of the enumeration district, 65, in the upper left corner. Next to Mary's name is the page number, 15, and line number, 43. [Indexed as Staats at Ancestry.] Additional information is that Mary suffers from mania, which struck for the first time one year ago when she was 39 years old. Also, she is currently housed at Newark Asylum.

So I checked for her in the 1880 census in the Asylum, Enumeration District 68.

1880 Federal Census
Essex County Asylum for the Insane, Camden Street, Newark, New Jersey.
Enumeration District 68.

In the 1880 census, there is a woman named Mary Staats listed at the Insane Asylum. [Indexed Stoats at Ancestry.] But her age was given as 68 years, birthplace New York.

1880 Federal Census Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes.
Essex County Asylum for the Insane, Camden Street, Newark, New Jersey.
Enumeration District 68.

The supplement provides a few more details. Still 68 years old, married but also widowed. Suffering from her first bout of mania for four months.

The information provided about Mary in her home is probably more accurate and reliable because a family member spoke with the enumerator. At the institution, the enumerator did not speak to every inhabitant because of efficiency and because most occupants may have been too incapacitated to relay accurate information. The informant at the institution would not have personally known the accuracy of any specifics.

The takeaway is to look for additional information in the supplement if someone answered yes to a health question in the 1880 census, or if they resided as a pauper, orphan, or mentally or physically impaired person in an institution.