In the ongoing effort to sort the Vanderhoofs of Morris County, New Jersey, we have the related family of Cook.
My fourth great grandparents were Stephen Cook (1797-1853) and
Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878). They
were buried in the Cook Cemetery in Denville, which is now on the grounds of
the golf course of The Rockaway River County Club. Here's an older article of me in Cook Cemetery.
Also in the Cook Cemetery is a footstone engraved EV. This is supposedly for Elizabeth Vanderhoof.
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| Memorial page at Find A Grave Elizabeth Vanderhoof 1804-1882 Cook Cemetery in Denville, New Jersey |
There exists a death certificate for Elizabeth Vanderhoof, age 78 years, died April 24, 1882 in Rockaway Township. Her father was David Cook. Burial was at the Cook Cemetery.
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| Death certificate of Elizabeth Vanderhoof. Died April 24, 1882, age 78 years. Hibernia, Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Father- David Cook. Buried at Cook Cemetery in Denville. |
I thought that this Elizabeth was the wife of Richard Vanderhoof, a son of Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841). Richard was one of the last children, born around 1815. Richard and Elizabeth were last seen together in the 1870 census in Rockaway. They had at least seven children from about 1835 through 1847. At least two of the death certificates of these children list the parents as Richard Vanderhoof and Eliza Cook.
In reviewing the works of Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson, she proposed a remarriage of Richard Vanderhoof, as well as a remarriage of Richard’s father, Jacob, also to someone named Elizabeth Cook.
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The two women named Elizabeth Cook were probably double
first cousins. |
I suspect that Susan Wiggins and Jemima Wiggins were sisters. Two sisters married two brothers. Both couples named daughters Elizabeth Cook. One became the first wife of Richard Vanderhoof. The other became the second wife of Jacob Vanderhoof, the father of Richard Vanderhoof.
The Elizabeth Cook who married Richard Vanderhoof had two brothers, Stephen and William, who married Richard’s sisters, Elizabeth and Hiley.
The Elizabeth Cook who married the widower Jacob Vanderhoof had a brother, Chileon, who married Jacob’s daughter, Charlotte.
This becomes intertwined.
JACOB VANDERHOOF (1772-1847)
Jacob and his wife, Ann Hopler, are buried in her family’s cemetery, Demouth Burial Ground, in Boonton. The stones are difficult to read at this point in time. The date of death on Ann’s stone is February 27, 1841. There might be no other record of her death.
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| Current appearance of the Demouth Burial Ground in Boonton. Picture taken October 11, 2025 by Jody Lutter. |
According to Freeman, “There was Jacob Vanderhoof who married Elizabeth Cook, a daughter of David and Jemima (Wiggins) Cook. From copies of land transactions it would seem that it is the same Jacob as above. Two sons: Jacob C. born 1843. David born 1844. Elizabeth was a widow before 1850.”
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| Information about Jacob Vanderhoof's supposed second marriage and the children of that union. |
In 1842, Jacob Vanderhoof and wife Elizabeth sold property in Pequannock to William M Dixon. If this is the same Jacob, this would indicate that Jacob had remarried between the death of his first wife, Ann, in 1841, and the date of this deed in 1842.
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| Deed. Pequannock, Morris County, New Jersey. Jacob Vanderhoof and wife Elizabeth transferred land to William M Dixon. March 4, 1842 |
By 1850, Elizabeth was widowed and living in her father’s household with two Vanderhoof children: Jacob, age 7, and David, age 5. Note the prior household is Tunis.
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| 1850 census. Township of Rockaway. Household of David Cook, age 69. Jemima Cook. Catherine Adle (daughter?). Elizabeth Vanderhoof, age 46. Jacob Vanderhoof, age 7. David Vanderhoof, age 5. |
In 1872, Elizabeth filed for a widow’s pension based on the service of Jacob Vanderhoof in the War of 1812. Jacob’s death was stated as April 6, 1846. The date on his gravestone is April 6, 1847.
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| Widow's Pension War of 1812 filed by Elizabeth Cook, wife of Jacob Vanderhoof, 1872 |
The pension was denied because Elizabeth could not prove that she was married to Jacob before the Treaty of Peace on February 17, 1815. She stated that her name was Elizabeth Cook and that the marriage occurred between 1820 and 1824.
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| Statement of Elizabeth Cook explaining that she cannot recall exactly when she married Jacob Vanderhoof. They probably married in 1841 or 1842. |
David Vanderhoof died in November of 1876. His entry on the death ledger stated his parents’ names as Jacob and Elizabeth.
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| Death ledger entry for David Vanderhoof, age 25. Died November 1876- no day given. Father- Jacob. Mother- Elizabeth. |
David was buried in Cook Cemetery, according to the application for a military headstone.
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| Application for military headstone of David Vanderhoof (1845-1876). Private, Company G, 7th Regiment, New Jersey Infantry. Civil War. |
What became of Jacob Vanderhoof, born about 1843? I am not sure as of this writing. As we have seen many times within this family, there was more than one person named Jacob Vanderhoof born in the 1840s. I will need to gather their documents before we have definitive paths.
RICHARD VANDERHOOF (1815-1892)
Richard was born around 1815. He married Elizabeth Cook, probably around 1834. I have not found an entry for this marriage in the records of Morris and Essex Counties. A marriage was announced in a Newark, Essex County newspaper for Richard Vanderhoof and Elisabeth Cook in 1834 by Reverend S Higgins. Also married at this time was Jacob P Hill and Eunice Sanderson. This couple lived in Newark. Eunice was buried in 1851 in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark.
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| Marriage announcement of Richard Vanderhoof and Elisabeth Cook, 1834. |
In 1850, Richard Vanderhoof, his wife, Eliza, and their seven children were living in Rockaway. Elizabeth’s age is consistently a few years older than Richard’s age. The prior Cook household was Stephen Cook and Elizabeth Vanderhoof, my fourth great grandparents.
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| 1850 census Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Household of Richard Vanderhoof and Eliza. |
Freeman wrote that Elizabeth Cook was possibly the daughter of Henry I Cook who died around 1831. "In 1831 she signed her name as Eliza Cook." If she did marry Richard Vanderhoof, it was after her father’s estate was settled.
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| Information about Richard Vanderhoof, his marriages, and children. |
There was an Elizabeth Vanderhoof who died May 13, 1871 in Denville. She was married. Her parents' names were not provided. Who was she?
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| Death ledger entry for Elizabeth Vanderhoof, age 58. Died May 13, 1871 in Denville, Morris County, New Jersey. No parents or spouse listed. Cause of death- consumption (tuberculosis). |
Eliza Vanderhoof, wife of Richard Vanderhoof, was buried at Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery. The date of death on this stone is August 30, 1875. I have not found a corresponding entry in deaths reported to the State of New Jersey. Freeman wrote, "Eliza seems to have died sometime about 1873-1875." Why did she not think that Eliza died as early as the 1870 census up until the time of her husband's remarriage?
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| Gravestone of Eliza, wife of Richard Vanderhoof Died August 30, 1875. Aged 64 years. Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery 38 Valley Road, Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey |
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| Marriage ledger entry for Richard, son of Jacob Vanderhoof, and Jane C, daughter of Joseph Tunis. November 25, 1875 in Denville. |
Richard and Jane were last seen together in the 1885 state census in Rockaway. Richard’s estate was inventoried in 1892.
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| Inventory of Richard Vanderhoof by Peter F Cook and Edward Peer. Dated April 21, 1892. Morris County, New Jersey. |
April 5, 1892 is the date of death on Richard Vanderhoof's gravestone. I do not see a corresponding entry in any online death index in New Jersey.
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| Gravestone of Richard Vanderhoof Died April 5, 1892. Aged 77 years. Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery 38 Valley Road, Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey |
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| Gravestones of Eliza and Richard Vanderhoof Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery |
Richard's second wife, Jane, died in 1919 in Eatontown, Monmouth County. Her daughters and siblings are mentioned, but not her husbands.
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| Obituary of Jane C Vanderhoof, 1919. Her children were from her marriage to William H Drayton (1822-1863). |
More documentation is needed to firm up these loose ends.
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