Marion Laurel Lutter 1952-2026

Marion Laurel Lutter passed away on May 1, 2026. She was 73 years old.

Jody and her aunt, Marion
July 12, 2025
Her last birthday

Marion was the youngest child and only daughter of Clifford Lutter (1915-1980) and Beulah Bernice Cook (1921-2003). She was born in Newark, New Jersey on July 12, 1952.

1958
Howard, Clifford, Marion, David

In 1970 Marion graduated from Barringer High School in Newark.

Marion's high school graduation photo
1970

Marion trained as a hairdresser and beautician.

She joined The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in 1972.

Installation of Marion
May 26, 1972

Later Marion specialized in billing for medical offices.

Family photographs and documents wound up in Marion's custody. I have them now.

May 2011

When the prior generation is gone, you cannot ask them questions. There will be no more stories, no more explanations, no more naming the mysterious people in unmarked photos.

Thanksgiving 2009
Howard, Marion, Clifford, David

Marion is survived by a son and two grandchildren, two brothers, one first cousin, many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces, great-grandnephews, and countless second, third, fourth, fifth and beyond cousins.

Three Plainfields in New Jersey

Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey.

To the northwest is North Plainfield, a borough in Somerset County.

To the south is South Plainfield, a borough in Middlesex County.

Below is a map of these boundaries.

Map showing shared boundaries of North Plainfield, Plainfield, and South Plainfield.
New Jersey Department of Transportation

Below is a map of the wider area within New Jersey.

Map showing area of New Jersey containing the three Plainfields.
Map of New Jersey Department of Transportation

Accuracy is important in genealogy. The location of an event or residence is where we would begin looking for records. The counties recorded marriages until the later 1800s, when state filing took over. The counties still process and maintain probate records.

I just realized this tricky naming pattern spread across three counties and thought I'd share with fellow New Jersey researchers.

Two different Peter VanDerHoofs who died in 1913?

In the Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery is the gravestone for:

Peter Vanderhoof (1844-1913)

Betsey M his wife (1846-1902) [born Hiler]

Clara (1861-1862)

Asa their son (1864-1902)

Note that the stone is etched with years and not months and days. The memorial page at Find A Grave has Peter's date of death as May 26, 1913.

Memorial page at Find A Grave
Peter Vanderhoof 1844-1913
Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery
Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey

In the New Jersey State Archives, I found a death certificate for Peter Vanderhoof. The date of death on this record was July 13, not May 26. This Peter died at the Odd Fellows Home in Ewing, Mercer County and was buried in Rockaway Valley.

Death certificate of Peter Vanderhoof
died July 13, 1913 in Ewing, Mercer County, New Jersey

Is this the death certificate for the Peter on the gravestone? The age, 67 years, is almost identical. Widower is consistent. Across his many records, Peter, husband of Betsey, is not listed as the occupation "teamster." No family members are listed on this death certificate. The informant seems to have been an employee of Odd Fellows Home.

In the newspapers for the Ewing area and for Morris County I did not find a notice of death or obituary.

What was the source of the precise date of death on the Find A Grave memorial? I don't know. I can't find it. I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, only that I have yet to come across it. The year could be wrong on the stone. This happened with Hila Vanderhoof (1803-1888) in this same cemetery. She died in 1888, but the year on the stone is 1886.

There is a transcription of grave stone inscriptions for this cemetery. Only the years are provided for Peter.

Peter's entry in the transcription of gravestones
Rockaway Valley Methodist Church Cemetery by Illig.
Vanderhoof Peter 1844 - 1913

I found Peter and Betsey's stone in the cemetery. There were no flat stones or other markers to clarify the date of death. Sometimes members of Odd Fellows carved "F L T" inside links on the gravestone. Friendship, Love, Truth. I did not see this on Peter's stone.

October 11, 2025
Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery

Example of links of Odd Fellows carved on a stone- upper right.
The symbol above the links is a square and compass for the Free and Accepted Masons.
GAR in the upper left symbolizes membership in Grand Army of the Republic- Edwin's military service during the Civil War.
Edwin Marsh (1843-1917) and wife Elizabeth Brook (1843-1920)
Evergreen Cemetery in Hillside, Union County, New Jersey
Picture taken August 26, 2011 by J Lutter

Conclusions

Are these two separate men named Peter Vanderhoof who lived in the same area at the same time? Possibly. I have sixty men named Peter Vanderhoof in my tree.

The death certificate is proof of the precise date of death. The information on Find A Grave is not. But the death certificate does not link the decedent to his larger family, so we cannot be sure who he is.