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.

Wrong Day of Death on Stone

We have another conflicting date on a gravestone in Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery in Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey.

Find A Grave memorial page
Dora E Vanness Cook 1863-1892

Picture of the stone of Dora E Vanness Cook
at Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery
Note the date of death is November 10, 1892

The stone for Dora E VanNess Cook provides her dates of birth and death: October 24, 1863 - November 10, 1892.

But her death certificate has her death as the next day, November 11, 1892. She died at 29 years of age in Boonton.

Death certificate of Dorcastina Elisabeth Cook
November 11, 1892 in Boonton
Available through the New Jersey State Archives

As discussed in the prior article about differing dates for Hila Vanderhoof Cook, the death certificate is a primary source for the date of death. The gravestone is not a primary source. We do not know when or why the stone was engraved.

Elizabeth Dorcastina VanNess married William H Cook (1866-1960) on June 12, 1889 in Powerville, which is an area in Boonton. She was the daughter of James VanNess (1817-1885) and MaryAnn Pierson (1825-1908).

William Cook's paternal grandmother was Hila Vanderhoof (1803-1888), whose gravestone illustrated an engravement with an incorrect year.

The other George Wiggins who died in 1848

The prior article mentioned two Cook brothers, Stephen and William, born around 1800 in Morris County, New Jersey. Their parents were Henry Cook (1776-1831) and Susannah Wiggins.

The father of Susannah was George Wiggins. He was my sixth great grandfather. I have found very little on this man. He is mentioned in books about the Cook and Peer families of Morris County.

Book by Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson
about Cook family of Morris County, New Jersey.
Available at the Morristown and Morris Township Library.

In 1807, George Wiggins sold land in Hanover, Morris County to John Hinchman. This deed explained how George acquired the property. He purchased it from his father, Stephen Wiggins, and this deed was recorded in 1788. This document is a great example of defining family relationships in records other than birth, marriage, and death certificates.

Deed conveying land in Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey
from George Wiggins to John Hinchman
dated March 1807.
See picture below for the enlargement of the relevant portion.

George Wiggins purchased this property in Hanover
from his father, Stephen Wiggins.
That deed was recorded in 1788.

Online trees can lead to records, or they can be entirely wrong. The latter has been my finding so far concerning George Wiggins.

Suspect family tree of George Wiggins

Most trees have George's death in the year 1848. Their sources are other trees. This is not helpful.

After digging through many trees, I found two sources for this date.

The first source is a gravestone.

Picture of a blurry gravestone
attributed to George Wiggins of Morris County, New Jersey

This is a blurry picture of a gravestone, location not indicated. This is not a link within the Find A Grave database at Ancestry.

Over at Find A Grave, I found this memorial page. This stone marks the burial place in New Hampshire for a child named George A Wiggin. In other words, not a grown man named George Wiggins who lived in New Jersey.

Find A Grave memorial page
George A Wiggin died September 4, 1848, age 1 year, 9 months, 21 days.

The other source for the year of death 1848 is this entry in the Ancestry database called "New Jersey, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971."

Entry for George Wiggins, died November 1848
Database at Ancestry

This is an older database that existed prior to the publication of ledger books of deaths; as such, they do not link to the relevant page in the ledger book. But- these entries trace back to a variety of sources, not only the official ledger books.

To obtain the exact book and page number for this death in the ledger books, I searched for George Wiggins in the index at the website of the New Jersey State Archives. Nothing.

Index of deaths for New Jersey 1848-1878
at the website of the New Jersey State Archives

Remembering that the title of this database indicates that the records begin in 1798, prior to the 1848 start date of New Jersey's death ledgers, I looked at the entry again. A film number was included, 542528. This film number appears in the catalog of FamilySearch for an index of events recorded in newspapers from Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey.

FamilySearch catalog for film 542528
Vital statistics index from Trenton newspapers, 1800-1900

This film is not viewable outside a family history center; however, Trenton newspapers are available online at GenealogyBank (not a free site). This entry at Ancestry for George Wiggins refers to a newspaper article about his MURDER. Elijah Gray allegedly struck George with a gun stock in Salem. This is in Salem County, New Jersey, on the Delaware River and not close to Morris County. Plus, the men are described as "colored," and my ancestor George Wiggins was not.

Newspaper article about the murder of George Wiggins
of Salem, New Jersey in November 1848

These two hints at Ancestry were blindly accepted by many family tree creators without examining the underlying records. This has resulted in numerous trees with the unsubstantiated year of death as 1848 for the George Wiggins of Morris County.

At this point in my research, I can only determine that George Wiggins died sometime after conveying property in 1807.

Question: Where can I find this earlier deed dated 1788? The collection of deeds at FamilySearch (New Jersey, Wills and Deeds, ca. 1700s-2017) starts around 1790 for Morris County. I searched without success for this deed at the website of the New Jersey State Archives in their database of Early Land Records, 1650-1900s.

Nurse Julia Flanagan 1857-1935

Cabinet card of a young woman by Sterry

This cabinet card is a picture of a woman, standing, dressed in clothing typically worn by nurses in the late 1800s. The photographer was Sterry and Company of 520 and 522 Broadway in Albany, New York. In blue ink is written "Julia C Flanagan 1888."

Backside of cabinet card of young woman by Sterry, Albany, New York

This card resides in New Jersey, not Albany, so the search for Julia had to span both places.

The Newark Sunday Call, a newspaper in New Jersey, detailed "The First Graduates of the Training School at the Asylum" in an article dated June 17, 1888. By this time, formal training of nurses as well as changes in the treatment of the mentally ill were creating educational and vocational opportunities. Julia and Agnes Flanagan were mentioned.

Newspaper article about graduates of the nursing school
of the Essex County Asylum, 1888

The training program at the Essex County Asylum lasted two years. Students were paid. Men earned $20 per month and women earned $14 per month. To earn $20, a woman had to complete the entire two year course successfully.

Note: The Essex County Asylum still exists, but is now called Essex County Hospital and is located in Cedar Grove, not Newark.

The Journal of Insanity
Volume 45
View here

The Journal of Insanity also reported on these graduates in October of 1888, though the author was not pleased with nurses receiving training and accolades. "By all means let nurses be trained, but let us not forget the wholesome maxim, Ne sutor ultra credpidam." Julia and Agnes Flanagan were noted for demonstrating their knowledge.

Note: The American Journal of Insanity began publication in 1844. It is still in publication, but under the name American Journal of Psychiatry, which changed in 1921.

1870 United States federal census
Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey
Julia Flanigan, age 11. At school.

Julia Flanagan and Margaret Agnes Flanagan were daughters of John Flanagan (1829-1889) and Ann Cahill (1829-1896). In the 1870 census, the family resided in Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey.

1900 United States federal census
Albany, Albany County, New York
Julia C Flannigan, age 37, nurse. Boarder.

Julia relocated to Albany, where she worked as a nurse.

Obituary of Julia C Flanagan, died January 7, 1935.

Julia has two memorial pages on Find A Grave. She is mentioned on the family stone in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

Find A Grave memorial page for Julia C Flanagan
at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey.

Julia was buried in Saint Agnes Cemetery in Menands, New York. 

Find A Grave memorial page for Julia C Flanagan
at Saint Agnes Cemetery in Menands, Albany County, New York.

Julia's birthdate is engraved on both stones- September 25, 1858. The memorial in Bloomfield has a note: "born 9/24/1858 on tombstone (incorrect year)".

Neither is correct, according to the birth ledger filed with the state, which is a primary source. On September 24, 1857 an unnamed baby girl was born to John and Ann Flanagan in Bloomfield, New Jersey.

Register of births in New Jersey. Book I 1848-1867

Margaret Agnes married Frederick Van Houten  (1864-1922). She may have spent her years working for her family in the home, rather than being employed outside the home as a nurse.

The memorial page for Margaret Agnes Flanagan (1861-1934) originally linked to the wrong husband. Frederick VanHouten (1864-1922), buried in Woodland Cemetery in Newark, is the correct husband for Margaret. Frederick VanHouten (1866-1943), buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark, was not Margaret's husband.

Julia, a daughter of Margaret and Frederick, died in 1928 in Saranac Lake, Franklin County, New York. A copy of this death certificate was filed in New Jersey. This is unusual but sometimes happens. If someone resided in New Jersey but died in another state, it is possible that a record exists in New Jersey as well as the location of the death. This is worth a try, especially with the State of New York, since genealogy requests for records have stopped being filled.

New York death certificate filed in New Jersey.
Julia VanHouten died June 4, 1928 in Saranac Lake, Franklin County, New York.

Pictures on Gravestones

Gravestone of Di Agostino family:
Anna, Constandino, and their daughter Mary

Ceramic pictures occasionally appear on gravestones. Photographing them helps preserve these images.

These images of Anna Picone (1875-1958) and Constandino Di Agostino (1877-1936) are affixed to their gravestone in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey. As time passes, these pictures will become worn. They might fall from the stone or go missing.

(Holy Sepulchre lies in East Orange and Newark. This gravestone is in Newark.)

Some poking around at Ancestry revealed that someone else took pictures of these photographs, but now they are preserved in additional locations online.

Obituary of Anna Di Agostino, born Picone.
May 8, 1958. Newark Star Ledger newspaper.

Anna's obituary references a tunnel leading to parking area. Anyone know what or where this is? Is it South Orange Avenue (County Route 510) as it passes under the Parkway? Section V, where this gravestone resides, is close to the Garden State Parkway. It is visible from the northbound lanes. The Parkway was nearing completion in 1958, when Anna died.

Picture taken standing in Section V and the Parkway
Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey

The southbound lanes border another side of the cemetery. Below is an undated earlier aerial picture of the Parkway and the cemetery on both sides of the road, followed by the modern-day Google aerial map.

Historical photograph of the Garden State Parkway.
This section lies in Newark, New Jersey.
The Parkway does not run through West Orange.

Same view of the Parkway and Holy Sepulchre Cemetery modern-day

Deadly Boating Accident 1909

John ODonnell was a paternal uncle of my grandmother. He resided in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey.

From his gravestone, I had his date of death- September 3, 1909. He was nineteen when he died.

John O'Donnell
born July 9, 1890
Died September 3, 1909
Gravestone at Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, New Jersey

I found no death certificate in the New Jersey State Archives and no obituary in newspapers from Jersey City. The Bayonne Times newspaper for this time period was destroyed.

I expanded the search to include newspapers from all over. Newspapers in New York City and even Alabama carried articles about John's death.

John was employed as a deckhand on the tug boat R B Little. He was sleeping after working the night shift when his boat collided with another, bursting steam pipes. John awoke and attempted to escape the room in which he was sleeping. John was crushed and scalded. Accounts differ as to the timing of his death in relation to these traumas. The other man in the room, John Lavin, lived. I have not determined when he died.

Newspaper article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, describing John's death as instant

Newspaper article from The Sun detailing John's attempt at escape before being scalded to death

Vital records for New York City are online, but not all years are available yet. 1909 is among the ranges of unavailable years for death certificates. Online indexes list a death for John ODonnell for September 3, 1909.

New York City index of deaths
entry for John ODonnell, 1909.
Son of Patrick [ODonnell] and Delia [Joyce].

Gravestone Weathering

In October I visited Sleepy Hollow Cemetery for a Walking Tour. This ninety acre burial ground is the final resting place of my paternal grandmother and many of her ancestors.

I noticed that the stones of the family have become increasingly difficult to read.

October 29, 2023
Stone of Rene Brewer and George Duryea

Pictured here is the shared stone of a couple. The stone now barely reads:

Rene Duryea
Born November 27, 1824
Died August 7, 1904

George W Duryea
Born February 12, 1823
Died May 16, 1864

In the 1960s, my paternal grandfather took pictures of stones.

1960s
Stone of Rene Brewer and George Duryea

I myself took pictures thirteen years ago. The stone was quite legible.

July 30, 2010
Stone of Rene Brewer and George Duryea

Rene Brewer married her first husband, John Evenshirer, in New York City in 1842. (I descend from this marriage.) In 1847, Rene remarried to George Duryea.

All four of Rene Brewer's grandparents are buried in the adjacent Old Dutch Burial Ground:

Solomon Brewer (1746-1824)

Rene Benton (1764-1841)

Abraham Lent (1772-1851)

Margaret Mann (1773-1844)

Cadet William Lowry Lyman (1923-1943)

Picture of gravestone for William Lowry Lyman, Jr
Montclair Public Library Online Photo Collection
https://www.digifind-it.com/montclair/pages/P3642.php

While scrolling through the online collections of the Montclair Public Library (Essex County, New Jersey), I found a picture of the gravestone for William Lowry Lyman, Jr. No details, such as a cemetery, were provided.

The inscription:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

WILLIAM LOWRY LYMAN JR

CADET MIDSHIPMAN U.S. M.M.

MARCH 25, 1923 - JULY 13, 1943

KILLED IN THE INVASION OF SICILY

The Lyman family plot is in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair.

The stone from the photograph was in this plot. It is a flat stone, still fully readable.

See William's entry on Find A Grave, linking his family

William registered for the draft on June 30, 1942 in Montclair. He was 19 years old. (You can view these cards in Ancestry.com's collection, United States World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.)

The first article I found about William appeared in the Montclair Times on September 9, 1943. He was reported as Missing in Action. He was a cadet in the Merchant Marines. His ship was sunk during the Invasion of Sicily. His picture was printed next to the article.

On September 30, an article referred to William as one of four who had made "the supreme sacrifice."

One November 11 (Veterans Day), William was listed as "missing."

For Decoration Day (now known better as Memorial Day) of 1944, May 25, William was listed among those dead from World War II.

What may have happened was the William was onboard a ship that was sunk on July 13, 1943. His whereabouts were initially unknown. As time passed, he was not located. This could be how this date became his date of death.