Showing posts with label Morris County New Jersey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morris County New Jersey. Show all posts

Friday, April 10, 2026

Full Text Search at FamilySearch

Reuben Levy Bishop (1805-1856) was my fourth great grandfather. He died in Morris County, New Jersey. I have not uncovered his parents yet.

There was another man living in Morris County also named Reuben Bishop. His records, alongside my known Reuben, were discussed in this article. (The first name is usually written as Ruben, Reuben, or Rueben.)

Modern technology has brought us Full Text Search of records. In the past, the creation of an index of a record set might only include the name of the subject of the record. Full Text Search enables a search of any word in the document.

Here's how this menu option appears at Family Search.

Drop down menu of Full Text Search at FamilySearch

There is an exception for the results. If a record set is blocked from home viewing, it is not included in the Full Text Search if performed at home.

New Jersey Probate Records is a collection at Family Search. Each county maintains its own probate records. New Jersey currently has 21 counties. Only 20 are offered in this record set. Morris County is missing.

Probate records for New Jersey at FamilySearch
Morris County was removed from this collection


I've been told that Morris County probate records, although digitized by Family Search, cannot be viewed from home because of contractual restrictions. I visited the Morris County Surrogate's Office last year to locate a will from 1782 that was not filmed. Nobody could locate the films from this time period. I asked to speak with someone who could address the issue with access through Family Search. I was told, "We want people to visit us and view the films here." (I found the skipped will at the New Jersey State Archives.)

Me at the Morris County Surrogate's Office
September 11, 2025

You can perform a Full Text Search on restricted records from a Family Search Center. There may be differences in access to records between a Center and an Affiliate Library. I am geographically near both types of facilities, but their hours are limited.
While logged into a Family Search Center computer, I searched for Reuben Bishop in Morris County. He witnessed three wills:
-John Woodruff in 1816
-Joseph Wheaton in 1824
-Josiah Goff in 1826

Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the mark of John Woodruff
Township of Chatham 1816

Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the signature of Joseph Wheaton
Township of Chatham 1824


Reuben Bishop's signature witnessing
the signature of Josiah Goff
Township of Chatham 1822

Note: these are poor quality images because these are restricted records, meaning you cannot download them. Compare these to the images of Reuben's will below, which were printed from microfilm at the Morris County Surrogate's Office years ago.

I looked into these three people. They appear to have been neighbors of Reuben in Chatham.

The Reuben who signed these documents was not my Reuben. My Reuben was born in 1805, so he was too young to begin signing in 1816. The signer was the other Reuben.

This other Reuben signed his own will on January 30, 1829. The will was proved September 21, 1829, indicating that he likely died in September 1829.
Signature of Reuben Bishop on his own will
January 30, 1929
Witnesses: William Sayre, H L Burnet, and H V ???

The family mentioned in this 1829 will were Reuben's brothers: Calvin, Luther, Miles, and Abner. No wife and no children were mentioned.
Family mentioned by Dr Bishop in his will:
brothers Calvin, Luther, Miles, and Abner

These names are not rare, but they are more unusual, especially as a group of five Bishop brothers.

Name indexes for Morris County newspapers are floating around the internet

The Jerseyman was digitized and is available at GenealogyBank (pay site). But the issues from September and October 1829 are missing.
Dates of The Jerseyman newspaper
available at GenealogyBank

The pertinent information from this index:
Reuben Bishop was a doctor of Bottle Hill. He died September 11, 1829 at the age of 58 [say born in the year 1771]. He was from Woodbury, CT [Connecticut].

Bottle Hill was the name of the area renamed Madison in the 1830s. Madison was a village within Chatham Township. This tracks because Reuben Bishop appeared on the tax ratables for Chatham in 1814.
1814 Tax Ratables, Chatham, Morris County, New Jersey
Reuben Bishop was taxed for a horse.


The other location mentioned in the newspaper index is Woodbury, Connecticut. Dr Reuben Bishop has a memorial page at Find A Grave for South Cemetery in Woodbury.
Memorial page for Dr Reuben Bishop died 1829
South Cemetery
Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut

The gravestone transcription:
In memory of
Doct. Reuben Bishop
who died
Sept 11, 1829
in his 53 year.
A respectable physician & an honorable man.

The etching at the top of the stone appears to be a weeping willow over an urn.

A book about the descendants of John Bishop, a founder of Guilford, Connecticut, was published in 1951.¹ Dr Reuben does not seem to appear in this book, but a cluster named Miles, Calvin, and Luther does appear- and they lived in Woodbury.
A book that possibly pertains to Dr Reuben Bishop's family

In this book, we see three of the names mentioned in Reuben's will from 1829: Miles, Calvin, and Luther. Miles was the father and Calvin and Luther were sons of Miles. Below is this family arrangement linked to their memorial pages on Find A Grave. They were buried in Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut.


It is possible that Dr Reuben Bishop, born circa 1771, was also a child of this couple. He and the other two brothers, Miles and Abner, are not mentioned in this book.

Was Dr Reuben Bishop, originally from Connecticut, related to my fourth great grandfather Reuben Levy Bishop? Why did Dr Bishop move to Morris County, New Jersey?

More research is needed.



1. Cone, William Whitney, and George Allen Root, comps., Record of the Descendants of John Bishop, One of the Founders of Guilford, Connecticut in 1639 (Nyack, N.Y.: John Guy Bishop, 1951), 22; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62282/records/4372365112 : accessed April 10, 2026).


Name Change: Bostedo to Bishop

My fourth great grandfather, Reuben Levy Bishop (1805-1856) remains a tail end in my tree. I explored possible connections to other Bishops of Morris County, New Jersey, such as William Bishop (1768-1844), with origins in Connecticut.

In a work by J Percy Crayon about Morris County families,¹ I found mention of a Bishop originally being Bostedo. A change in name could cause a tail in a tree until the older versions are uncovered.
Crayon's book about families in Morris County, New Jersey.
" . . . Bostedo, or Bishop as the name was changed . . . "

I found some documentation on this name change. Please note that changing one's name was not a formal process in this time period. We are not looking for a court proceeding or newspaper announcement of the name change.

Gideon Bostedo and Mary Beach married in Pequannock, Morris County on August 2, 1803.

Marriage record of Gideon Bostedo and Mary Beach
in Morris County, New Jersey.
August 2, 1803.
Viewable at Family Search from home. Film 4541274.

Research note: Marriages were recorded at the state level in New Jersey beginning in the year 1848. Prior to this, individual counties recorded the marriages. Indexes are found throughout Ancestry but the images are on Family Search.

Gideon and Mary had a son, Abner Bostedo, around 1817. Abner married Lavinia Landers (1816-1895) and they had children. Abner was a Civil War veteran who served in Company L, 27th Infantry. He died in 1890. His military service is reflected on his stone in the Bostedo Family Cemetery in Marcella, Rockaway Township, Morris County. (He is the only person listed in this vanished burial ground on Find A Grave.)

Abner's parents on his death certificate were Gideon V Bostedo and Mary Bostedo. Burial was at Greenville. This was the name of an area, more noted on a mine, near Marcella.
Death certificate of Abner Bostveda September 25, 1890.
Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.
Viewable in-person from microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives.

Then we have the person mentioned in Crayon's book, Charles Bishop (1804-1881). He married Mary Kimble (1811-1888) and they had many children. Mary's mother was Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1789-1861). (How she connects to my Vanderhoof line is unknown at this juncture.)

Charles' death certificate lists his parents as George Bishop and Mary Beach.
Death certificate of Charles Bishop July 7, 1881.
West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey.
Viewable in-person from microfilm at the New Jersey State Archives.


Why did Charles change his surname from Bostedo to Bishop? The informant of this death certificate knew Charles' father as George, not Gideon? Why did Charles change his surname but Abner did not?

Is my fourth great grandfather, Reuben Levy Bishop, from this Bostedo family? I do not know at this time. A name change could explain why Reuben appears from seemingly nowhere.

More research is needed.





1. J. Percy Crayon, Rockaway Records of Morris County, N. J., Families (Rockaway, New Jersey: Rockaway Publishing Co., 1902), digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/rockawayrecordso00cray : accessed 8 April 2026).

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Two Death Certificates for Henry Hennion 1884

Some people have no death certificate. Henry Hennion received two death certificates when he died in 1884 in Montville, Morris County, New Jersey.

Below are the two death certificates. They demonstrate two versions of forms available at the time.
Death certificate of Henry Hennion
Died September 30, 1884 in Montville, Morris County, New Jersey.

Another death certificate of Henry Hennion
Died September 30, 1884 in Montville, Morris County, New Jersey.

You can look up death certificates in the index created by the New Jersey State Archives on their website. This index is free to use. The actual death certificates are not available online. You can order a copy through the Archives' website for $10, which will then be mailed to you. Or you or someone else can visit the Archives in person and retrieve the record yourself for 50 cents per printed page.

There are two entries in the index for Henry Hennion's death on September 30, 1884.


Henry was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey.

We want to view a death certificate whenever possible because this is the primary source of the date and place of death. From there, we can seek an obituary from the local paper and view the burial location. Sometimes the names of parents are given.

For Henry, we have two different first names for his father Henry and John.
Names of Henry's parents on his two death certificates

Based on his age at time of death, age 61 years, Henry Hennion was born in the early 1820s. New Jersey was not recording births at the local or state level at this time; however, there are sometimes church baptismal records that may have recorded the child's name, date of birth, and names of parents.

At the Dutch Reformed Church in Montville, a baby named Henry Hennion was baptized on April 13, 1823. He was born December 4, 1822 to Abraham Hennion and Clarissa Demott.
Baptism of Henry Hennion in 1823
Dutch Reformed Church
Montville, Morris County, New Jersey
Collection at Ancestry

Names of Henry's parents on his baptismal record

Is this the same Henry Hennion? The time of birth aligns, but the father's name is Abraham, not John or Henry. The mother's name, Clarissa, is close enough to Clara. Demott may be a variant of DeMouth, a common name in the area at this time.

Elizabeth Hennion (1818-1890) married Peter I Cook (1814-1889). Elizabeth's death certificate lists her parents as Abraham Henion and Clarissa. She must have been a sister of the Henry Hennion baptized in 1823. 

Death certificate of Elisabeth Cook
died November 20, 1890 in Upper Montville, Morris County, New Jersey

Peter I Cook was my second cousin six times removed. He was the son of John Henry Cook (1773-1859) and Jane Wandle (1778-1849). They were buried at the Pompton Plains First Reformed Church Cemetery.

These lines tangle as we travel back in time through the generations, but the children need to be attached to the correct parents. I'm not sure if we are dealing with two separate people named Henry Hennion or one.



Friday, April 3, 2026

Ledley's Vanderhoef Book

There is another family history book written about the Vanderhoof family. It was written by Wilson V Ledley (1913-1978) and published in 1959. Vanderhoef Family. The First Five Generations.

You can find it on The Internet Archive.

Ledley begins with Generation One, the couple Cornelis Van Der Hoeve and Geertje Van Fulpen. In 1661, Geertje, a widow, arrived in New Amsterdam (now called New York City) with her six children, Generation Two.

Ledley tentatively places Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) as a son of Dirck Vanderhoff (baptized 1746). [Ledley wrote the wrong century for Dirck's baptism.] [Also, the spelling as "Vanderhoof" and "Vanderhoff" were interchanged throughout Ledley's work.] Ledley identified one other son of Dirck Vanderhoff and Catrina, Peter (baptized 1772).

Generation Five: Peter Vanderhoff and Jacob Vanderhoff
Wilson V Ledley. Vanderhoef Family. The First Five Generations. 1959.

175. PETER VANDERHOFF, son of Dirck (#54), was baptised
at Pompton on Sep 20, 1772. In the Census of 1800
at Goshen in Orange County, New York, there is listed a Peter
Van der Hoff, aged 26-45, wife same, son and daughter under
10 and other unidentified females in the household who may
have been his wife's relations. She, from the one baptismal
record at hand, was Jude SMITH and they had:

    250. Elizabeth, b. 9 Feb 1797, pb. Pompton Dutch Church

176. JACOB VANDERHOFF, supposed son of Dirck (#54) was
born 1771-72 from his grave in Morris County (GMNJ
7:7). The only basis of assigning Jacob as a son of Dirck is
the naming of his presumed first son Peter probably after the
boy's uncle above, but this is at best only tentative. He
had been married by the Morris County Clerk (GMNJ 4:31) to
Anne HOPLAR on Jan 23, 1796, who died Feb. 27, 1841 in her
69th year. Their presumed son:

    251. PETER (sup.), b. 1797-98, d. 17 Apr 1847 in his 50th
year; wife Rachael d. 12 Nov 1850 in her 50th
year; their graves listed following those above.


Generation Four: Dirck Vanderhoff

54. DIRCK VANDERHOFF, son of Jacob (#20), was baptised
at Pompton on May 30, 1946[sic]. From the baptism of
Peter below, we know his wife's name was Catrina, but her
surname has not been discovered. The only basis for assign-
ing Jacob as a son of Dirck is the naming of the latter's
presumed son Peter possibly after his uncle, but his is at
best extremely tenuous, particularly since no will nor pro-
bate records have been found. Children were:

    175. PIETER, bp. 20 Sep 1772 Pompton, sp. Pieter & Sara Jongh
    176. JACOB (sup.), b. 1771-72 (grave record)


Ledley referenced two sources for Jacob Vanderhoof: a grave stone transcription and a marriage record to Anne Hoplar. I visited the DeMouth Burial Ground in Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey. Below is a picture of the worn stones. Peter Vanderhoof (1797-1847), the only conjectured child in Ledley's work, is buried next to his parents.

DeMouth Burial Ground
Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey


Morris County, New Jersey Marriages
Jacob Vandroff and Anne Hoplar married January 25, 1796



Ledley did not mention Jacob's baptism. Jacob was baptized in Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey. His date of birth was written as February 13, 1774. His parents were Dirk Vanderhoef and Catriena.
Jacob, born February 13 [1774],
child of Dirk Vanderhoef and Catriena.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Paramus, New Jersey.

Peter, a definite son of Dirck in Ledley's work, was baptized in the Pompton Church. His date was September 20, 1772. I am not sure if this was a birth date or a baptismal date. Sponsors were Pieter Jongh and Sara. This would help the notion that Catriena was born Jongh, later anglicized to Young.

Pieter, born September 20 [1772],
child of Dirk Vanderhof and Catriena.
Sponsors Pieter Johngh and Sara.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

Remember that my in-depth look at the Vanderhoofs was undertaken to confirm the parentage of my fourth great grandmother, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878), wife of Stephen H Cook (1797-1853)

On December 24, 1795, in the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, Peter Vanderhoof married Judie Smith. (Judie is a rare name for this time period. Maybe it derives from the biblical name Judith.)

Peter Vanderhoof and Judie Smith married December 24, 1795.
Marriages at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

In this same Pompton church in 1797 Peter Vanderhoff and Jude Smith baptized Elisabeth, born February 9.

Elisabeth, born February 9 [1797],
child of Peter Vanderhoff and Jude Smith.
Baptisms at the Dutch Reformed Church in Pompton, New Jersey.

In her book Vanderhoof (1991), Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson (1921-2018) mentioned Peter and Judy and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann. Ann was born about 1815 (died 1894) and married Jacob Decker (1810-1882). There is no further information provided about Elizabeth.

Excerpt from Hickerson's book about Vanderhoofs

When listing the probable children of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler, Hickerson listed Elizabeth with a birthdate of August 26, 1799. Hickerson did not even speculate if Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Cook, could have been a daughter of Peter Vanderhoof and Judith Smith instead of a daughter of Jacob and Ann.

Hickerson's writing about Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Cook,
and their children

Further Research:

Where were the children of Jacob and Ann baptized? These records could provide precise birthdates and the names of their parents.

What became of Elizabeth, the daughter born in 1797 to Peter Vanderhoof and Judith Smith?


Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Historic Martin Berry House of Pequannock


Martin Berry House in Pequannock, New Jersey.
Picture taken January 11, 2026.

Step back into history at the Martin Berry House in Pompton Plains, Pequannock Township, Morris County, New Jersey. This structure is approximately 300 years old and was modified over time to accommodate the needs of its inhabitants and the local community. In the 1930s, some of the land was taken by the State of New Jersey to move State Route 23, now a busy thoroughfare. In response to this traffic flow, the owners created a restaurant and inn within the house.

Current map of the area of the Martin Berry House.
Pequannock, Morris County, New Jersey.
Google maps.


The Stone House Inn was once the name of the accommodations available
at what we now call the Martin Berry House.

The house is listed on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places. (National 73001129 and State 2220.)

The last private owner, Mrs Eleanor Stockton Bogert (1918-2017), a researcher of local history, transferred the property to Pequannock Township around 2017. Renovations are ongoing. The house is an example of early Dutch architecture in northern New Jersey.

A comprehensive survey of the house, land, and owners was compiled for the transition to Pequannock Township. You can read this report at this link. Originally constructed by the Berry family, the house and adjacent lands passed through generations of Berrys until around 1862, when the Grahams purchased the house and lands.

Parlor set up to reflect Victorian motifs


View of Route 23 from the east side of the house


Me on the east side of the house

The Pequannock Township Historical Society helps preserve this house and offers tours. Check out their FaceBook page for up-to-date information on when the next tours are scheduled.


Tuesday, March 17, 2026

False Daughter

While researching Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878) and her husband, Stephen H Cook (1797-1853), of Morris County, New Jersey, I found that someone made an error at Find A Grave.

Find A Grave is a great resource for viewing gravestones. The inscriptions can contain full names, relationships, dates, and places. The bonus, as well as the problem, is that memorial pages can be linked in relationships. Ancestry.com links hints directly to Find A Grave, making it very easy to align these relationships into family trees.

An extra daughter, Emeline, was attributed to Stephen and Elizabeth at Find A Grave.

Memorial page at Find A Grave
for Stephen H Cook (1797-1853)
showing daughter Emeline

Emeline Cook (1836-1891) was the wife of Joseph S Prosser (1832-1910). They married in Camden County, New Jersey in 1855. They lived in Camden and Gloucester Counties, which is another clue that Emeline may not have been of the Cooks of Morris County.

Memorial page at Find A Grave
for Emeline Cook (1836-1891), wife of Joseph Prosser

New Jersey death certificates are not online. I can pick up a copy of Emeline's record on my next trip to the Archives. The names of her parents might be provided on this document.

This error may have happened because of the 1850 census. Emeline Cook, age 16, was listed in the household of Stephen Cook in Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey.

1850 United States Federal Census
Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey
Household of Stephen Cook
Next household is Richard Vanderhoof (1814-1892)
and his second wife Elizabeth Cook (1810-1875)

This Emeline was not a daughter of Stephen, but rather a daughter-in-law. She was Emeline Young (1834-1906), wife of William Henry Cook (1828-1902). A clue is that the household members are listed out of order of age: Henry Cook age 21; Emeline, age 16; Charles age 17. (Lots of information on Charles will be in a future article.)

We have a picture of Emeline Youngs. Her family photo album is preserved at the Denville Museum.


To address the error at Find A Grave, I submitted suggested edits to the memorial manager


Friday, February 27, 2026

Mary Vanderhoof 1801-1853 and Mary VanFleet

Was Mary Vanderhoof (1801-1853) a daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841) of Morris County, New Jersey?

Yes, according to her gravestone and a published genealogy.

Below is a picture of Mary's gravestone, located behind her parents, in the DeMouth Burial ground in Denville.

Gravestone of Mary Vanderhoof, died August 31, 1853.
DeMouth Burial Ground is located on private residential property.
Please be mindful if visiting.

The inscription is difficult to read today. It appears to be:

Mary
Daughter of
Jacob Vanderhoof
Died Aug 31, 1853
Aged 52 years

In her book Vanderhoof (1991), Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson identified Mary as the third child born to Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler.

Page of Freeman's book about Mary Vanderhoof.
Housed at the Denville Historical Society

Other than this gravestone and the mention of this gravestone in Ms Hickerson's book, there is no other proof that Mary Vanderhoof existed.

No death record was found for Mary Vanderhoof in the New Jersey ledger books covering 1853, in spite of the precise date on her stone.

Mary remains unidentified in the 1850 census. Both her parents were deceased by this time, so she would have appeared in her own household or in the household of a sibling or other relative.


Mary VanFleet

Ms Hickerson raised three questions after the short blurb about Mary Vanderhoof's gravestone. The issue concerned the surname VanFleet, arising from Jacob Vanderhoof's estate.

Jacob died intestate in 1847. His debts exceeded his assets. There was no money to to distribute to his immediate relatives, which would have provided a listing of his children and/or grandchildren.

Jacob's assets were listed and tallied in 1848. The final line of his assets was "Money collected of Mary Vanfleet 3.00." Below is the image of the accounting that Ms Hickerson wrote about.

Accounting of Jacob Vanderhoof, died 1847 in Morris County.
"Money collected of Mary Vanfleet 3.00"

Who was Mary Vanfleet and what was her relation to Jacob Vanderhoof? No information about this Mary VanFleet is provided in Jacob's estate papers, such as her age, residence, or husband, if any. 

VanFleet had various alternate spellings, such as VanVleet, VanFliet, VanVliet. Also the "Van" could be removed, resulting in more variations.

There was no shortage of people named Mary VanFleet in the 1840s living near Jacob Vanderhoof.

Below is the image of the marriage record referenced by Ms Hickerson. On September 16, 1826 Mary Vanderhoof married William VanVliet "both of the township of Pequanack." True to most of the marriage records for Morris County, New Jersey in this time period, the names of parents and ages are not provided.

"Rockaway 16 Sept AD 1826
I certify that on this Day I married Mr William
Van Vliet to Miss Mary Vanderhoof both of the township
of Pequanack in the County of Morris & State of New Jersey.
Barnabas King Minister of the Gospel."
New Jersey. Morris County. Marriages Book C.
Viewable online at FamilySearch

Was Mary Vanderhoof, wife of William VanVliet, related to Jacob Vanderhoof? We cannot tell from these records alone.

The third record Ms Hickerson mentioned was the 1850 census. In the household of Elijah Vanderhoof was Jacob Vliet, age 15. Below is that image from Pequannock.

1850 United States Federal Census: Pequanac, Morris County, New Jersey.
Elijah Vanderhoof, age 24, farmer.
Amanda, age 21.
Alison, age 8 months.
James VanDuyne, age 24, labourer.
Elijah, age 20, labourer.
Jacob Vliet, age 15.

The head of this household, Elijah Vanderhoof, was a grandson of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler. His parents were Peter Vanderhoof and Rachel Peer. How was Jacob Vliet related? We do not know with the limited information offered in the 1850 census.


Who were the VanFleets?

On the same page of the 1840 census for Pequannock are the households of William Vanfleet, Stephen H Cook (husband of Elizabeth Vanderhoof), and Jacob Vanderhoff. Age ranges for males and females in the households are ticked, but that is as detailed as a census prior to 1850 will offer.

1840 United States Federal Census
Pequannock, Morris County, New Jersey


Household of William VanFleet: 7 people in the household. Oldest male between 40-49. Four males below age 15. Oldest female between 30-39. Other female 10-14. Did this household contain Mary Vanderhoof as the matriarch? We cannot tell from the 1840 census.

Some Death Records and Few Details

William VanFleet died November 6, 1853 "near Stan Hope." He was 61 years old. His parents names were Peter and Sarah. He was born in Somerset County.

New Jersey. Marriages and Deaths Morris County Volume Z 1848-1867.
William Vanfleet died November 6, 1853.

Mary VanFleet died June 9, 1851 in Morris Township. She was 61 years old. The names of her parents were not given.

New Jersey. Marriages and Deaths Morris County Volume Z 1848-1867.
Mary VanFleet died June 9, 1851.

We do not know if this death record is for the same Mary VanFleet mentioned in the estate papers of Jacob Vanderhoof in 1847.

We do not know if this Mary VanFleet was born a Vanderhoof.

We do not know if this Mary VanFleet was married to William VanFleet.


Conclusions

We should accept Mary Vanderhoof, died 1853 and buried near Jacob Vanderhoof, as his daughter. The only proof is their relationship inscribed on her stone, but this is more than most of his theorized children.

Jacob probably did not give the name "Mary" to two daughters who both survived. Mary Vanderhoof, wife of William VanVliet, could have been a sister or cousin.

The Mary VanFleet who paid $3.00 to the estate of Jacob Vanderhoof may or may not have been a Vanderhoof. We simply do not know within this context how, if at all, Mary and Jacob were related.