Deborah Vanderhoof Decker 1805-1832

Research Question

Was Deborah Vanderhoof (1805-1832) a daughter of Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841)?

Online family trees

Some trees posit Deborah as a child of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler.

One of the many trees at Ancestry listing children
of Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler

Published book of Vanderhoof researcher

Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson mentioned Deborah Vanderhoof in her book, Vanderhoof, though not as a daughter of Jacob and Ann. Three Decker brothers married Vanderhoof women. Louisa did not determine the parentage of Deborah.

Page of Freeman's book about Decker and Vanderhoof marriages.
Housed at the Denville Historical Society

Marriage of Deborah Vanderhoof and John Decker, 1822

On March 19, 1822 Deborah Vanderhoof and John Decker were married by Pastor John Ford in Morris County, New Jersey. Marriages in Morris County can be found in books digitized at Family Search. The range of years is from the late 1700s through the late 1800s, including past 1848, when New Jersey required centralized recording of marriages.

"March 19 1822 John Decker, Stony Brook to
Deborah Vanderhoof of Rockaway Valley"

"March 19 1822 John Decker, Stony Brook to
Deborah Vanderhoof of Rockaway Valley"

The problem with these marriage records is that additional information is scarce. For example, ages of the parties and names of parents are often not given.

Burial and gravestone evidence

Deborah Vanderhoof and John Decker were buried at Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery in Boonton, Morris County.

Gravestones in Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery
visited on the cold day of November 11, 2025.
Deborah Vanderhoof died March 13, 1832 
John Decker died September 5, 1877
Rachel Jacobus died November 17, 1866

The date of death etched on Deborah's stone is March 13, 1832. I'm no expert on gravestones, but I do not think that her stone was created at the time of her death; therefore, it is prone to inaccuracies. Next to Deborah is her husband, John Decker (1800-1877). Next to John is his second wife, Rachel Jacobus (1796-1866).

Children of Deborah Vanderhoof and John Decker and problems with the timeline

Deborah and John had children. Names of the children can reveal names of grandparents. John Decker's parents were Andrew Decker and Elizabeth Dulhagle. The two oldest children were named Elizabeth and Andrew. It is possible that other children were born and named after Deborah's side of the family and that we do not know about these children because they died young or they married and moved away before the 1850 census.

--Elizabeth Decker (1822-1897) married Cyrus Dixon (1814-1868)

--Andrew Decker (1827-1906) married Martha Dixon (1830-1919)

--Sarah Louise Decker (1830-19xx) married William Kanouse (1823-1903)

--Catherine Amanda Decker (1835-1915) married Charles Augustus Kincaid (1832-1901).

The year of birth for the youngest child, Catherine, varies in records, but is usually in the early 1830s. The year of birth on her gravestone is 1835. So Catherine's mother, Deborah, died anytime after her birth until her father remarried before the 1850 census. There were no recordings of deaths to the county or State of New Jersey in the 1830s. Either Deborah did not die in 1832 or Catherine was not born in 1835, or Deborah was not her mother.

Conclusion

With the information so far gathered, the parentage of Deborah Vanderhoof remains a mystery. No direct evidence links Deborah to Jacob Vanderhoof and Ann Hopler. None of the known and speculated children of Jacob and Ann named a daughter Deborah. Online trees copy one another. Further evidence is required to link Deborah to any set of parents.

If you have probate, church, or family Bible records related to Morris County Vanderhoofs, I would welcome hearing from you.

Which County?

How do you properly record a county when the location and the information on the record do not align? I am not sure.

When reviewing the death certificates from 1904 for the surname Vanderhoof, we see the record for Clarissa Vanderhoof. She died on April 7 in Mountain View. "MORRIS CO., N.J." was stamped next to this place.

Death certificate of Clarissa Vanderhoof, age 57 years.
Father- John Wilson. Mother- Eliza A Wilson.
Buried in Pompton Plains First Reformed Church Cemetery, Morris County.

Mountain View is a section of Wayne Township, which is in Passaic County, not Morris; however, this area borders Lincoln Park, Morris County on the west.

Who stamped "Morris County" on the death certificate? Did Mountain View span both counties in 1904?

We have the same type of issue with the marriage of Clarissa and Andrew.

In 1863, Clarissa Wilson became the second wife of Andrew J Vanderhoof (1838-1919). The marriage was recorded with other marriages in Morris County, though the location of the ceremony was Bloomingdale, which is in Passaic County, though on the border with Morris.

Ledger book of marriages and deaths in Morris County, New Jersey
covering the years 1848-1867. "Book Z."
Viewable at Ancestry and at the New Jersey State Archives.

Map of Morris County, New Jersey 1853

An enlargement of the focal points on this ledger page reveals that the entry above Andrew J Vanderhoff and Clarrisa Wilson is Nathan Courter and Martha Vanderhoof.

Enlargement of marriage record of Nathan Courter and Martha Vanderhoof and of Andrew J Vanderhoff and Clarrisa Wilson, 1863

Nathan and Martha were married March 15, 1863. The date for Andrew and Clarrisa is scratched out, but maybe is the same. Both couples were married in Bloomingdale by the same person, whose name is also scribbled out, but looks something like "Castell."

I think that Martha and Andrew were siblings. Their father was Jacob G Vanderhoof. I don't know why Martha's father is listed as "Aaron Vanderhoff." Their brother, Peter J Vanderhoof (1834-1862), was discussed in the article about Peter Vanderhoof of Wisconsin.

I will have to copy Martha's death certificate on my next trip to the Archives to see what was recorded for her parents. Martha died in 1914 and Nathan died in 1910. They were buried in Whitehall Methodist Church Cemetery in Towaco, Morris County.

Jacob C Vanderhoof (1843-1889)

In the previous article, I mentioned that I was unsure about the life of Jacob Vanderhoof, born about 1843 to Elizabeth Cook (1803-1882) and Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) in Morris County, New Jersey.

"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."

In her book, Vanderhoof, Louisa Caroline Freeman Hickerson wrote that Jacob C Vanderhoof died June 11, 1889.

"In the 1860 census, Jacob C was age 17 and was with the Hinchman's in Denville- probably
working for them. Later he lived at Hibernia and then later at Somerville. The
date of his death is June 11, 1889."

According to this death certificate, Jacob C Vanderhoff died at the Raritan Hotel in Somerset County, New Jersey. Burial was at New Cemetery in Somerville. This is now called New Somerville Cemetery on Find a Grave.

Jacob C Vanderhoff died Jun 11, 1889 in Raritan, Somerset County, New Jersey.
Father- Jacob Vanderhoff. Mother- Elizabeth Vanderhoff.
Age 46 years. Born in Denville.
Buried at New Cemetery, Somerville.

The surname was spelled Vanderhoff, not Vanderhoof. This is a variant that I see often.

Jacob's gravestone was photographed for Find A Grave. He served in the Civil War in the 7th New Jersey Infantry Company K. His middle name is "Cook" on this memorial page. I do not see his middle name spelled out in any other records.

Memorial page at Find A Grave
Private Jacob Cook VanDerHoof (1842-1889)

The marriage of Jacob C Vanderhoof and Eliza Derland was recorded at the state level. They were married November 9, 1872 in Succasunna, Morris County. Eliza was 19; no age was given for Jacob.

New Jersey Marriages. Book BL 1872-1873.
Available on Ancestry.

Here's why I did not initially connect this marriage record to Jacob, son of Jacob Vanderhoof and Elizabeth Cook. His parents were written as "Conrood & ___ Vanderhoof." Conrad is one of the more popular names in these Morris County branches. It would not surprise me if Jacob's middle name was Conrad.

Parents of Jacob C Vanderhoof and Eliza Derland from the marriage record, 1872

Jacob C Vanderhoof and Eliza Dorland (1853-1925) had two sons who lived to adulthood:

Wallace L Vanderhoof (1874-1961)

and

William Ward Vanderhoof (1885-1961)

Two Elizabeth Cooks, Wives of Vanderhoofs

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.

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.

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. 

The two women named Elizabeth Cook were probably double first cousins.
They married a father/son pair.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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

Three months after the death of his first wife, Richard Vanderhoof, son of Jacob, married Jane, daughter of Joseph Tunis. The Tunis household was next to Richard’s stepmother in the 1850 census.

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.

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.

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

The stones of Eliza and Richard are side-by-side.

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.

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.

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.

Katherine ODonnell and Her Family

Seven years ago I asked for additional information on Kathryn ODonnell (1858-1939). She was a sister of my great great grandfather, Patrick Francis ODonnell (1856-1931).

Kathryn was born in Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland. By her first husband, Charles Mason, she had two children, Margaret and John. She then remarried to Patrick Kennedy. She died in California in 1939. I had been able to track Margaret's moves, marriage, and child.

Finally fuller stories for Kathryn's son, John Mason, and her second husband, Patrick Kennedy, have come to light!

Spoiler alert: I have not found additional information on Charles Mason, the first husband. His first and only appearance is in the 1885 state census in New Jersey. 

New Jersey State Census, 1885. Bayonne, Hudson County.
Charles Mason, Irish male, age 20-60.
Kate Mason, Irish female, age 20-60.

In the 1900 census, Kathryn was in Brooklyn with her two children but no husband. A missing husband and widowhood either meant that he died or left the family.

1900 United States Federal Census
Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
Katie Mason and her two children, Margarite and John. She worked as a nurse.

Since writing the original article in 2018, indexes of deaths have come online for the State of New Jersey and Kings County, New York. I have not found a good match for Charles Mason. Indexes for deaths in the State of Connecticut do not start until 1897. If Charles died after Kathryn appeared as a widow in the 1900 census, this record could be anywhere.

Using the newspapers now available for searching online, I set out to discover when Kathryn acquired her second husband.

Newspaper article in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
November 27, 1914.
Widow of Patrick Kennedy to inherit his estate.

Patrick Kennedy was born about 1841 in Ireland. He married Ellen Callahan and they had one son, John, born around 1872. Patrick worked as a police officer in New York City. By 1900 he was retired and worked on his land in Connecticut as a farmer.

In 1911, Ellen died. In 1912, John shot his father, Patrick. John was unable to see or hear because of typhoid fever, an infection suffered when he was a child. Yet somehow he was able to purposely carry out this action.

Newspaper article. John Kennedy held in jail after shooting his father,
Patrick Kennedy, in Stratford, Connecticut. 1914.

Patrick was not expected to live. Enter Kathryn. She nursed him from the brink of death.

John Kennedy was sent to the Connecticut State Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, Middlesex County. He died there in 1930.

Patrick and Kathryn married in April of 1914. Patrick Kennedy died on November 22, 1914. Kathryn inherited one-third of his estate.

In 1920, Kathryn was still in Connecticut. She was living in Bridgeport with her son, John Mason. By 1930 she was living in California with her daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and James Joyce.

What became of John Daniel Mason, the son of Kathryn ODonnell and Charles Mason?

Searching newspapers led to the answers- probably. (The last death certificate I ordered from the State of Connecticut took one year to fulfill. Two years and counting for fulfillment by the City of Bridgeport.) John D Mason was buried in Saint Michael's Cemetery in Stratford - the same cemetery as Patrick Kennedy. He died July 31, 1932, age 43 years. "World War . . . Co. C. 319th Inf." is carved on the stone.

An obituary appeared in a few newspapers in Connecticut and Brooklyn. A mother and sister were mentioned but not by name.

Newspaper article 1932
Johnny Mason, dancer, died in alley in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Johnny Mason danced with Lew Dockstader (1856-1924) and George Primrose (1852-1919). Is this the same John Daniel Mason? Throughout his records he listed his occupation as a laborer.

Library of Congress
Primrose & Dockstader's Great American Minstrels

I also found advertisements for a boxer or fighter by the same name.

Ad in newspaper about a boxing fight.
Johnny Mason versus Eddie Mack.
October 30, 1922 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

I was hoping to find pictures of John Mason. He performed with some well-known personalities. Perhaps he was an unnamed background actor in the vaudeville acts.

I will order the death certificate to see if the names of the parents are Kathryn ODonnell and Charles Mason. This could take a year for Connecticut to do.

So that is the story of Kathryn ODonnell's son, John Mason, and her second husband, Patrick Kennedy. Still missing is what became of her first husband, Charles Mason.