Family Tree Repair: Hiley VanDerHoof 1803-1888

I was excited to find this family tree with additional details about my fourth great grandmother, Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878). Then I realized the creator combined Elizabeth with Hiley Vanderhoof (1803-1888). These were two different women living in Morris County, New Jersey in the 1800s.

One of the red flags on this tree is that the person died in 1878,
but was enumerated in the 1880 federal census.

Hiley was spelled differently in various records. "Hiler" is a surname in the area. I do not know if this is the source of Hiley's first name.

• Hyla on her 1823 marriage record to William Cook
• Hiley in census entries
• Hylia on her death certificate
• Hila on her gravestone

Hiley and Elizabeth were two different people. They were probably sisters. They married two Cook brothers.

Family tree of Hiley and Elizabeth
as daughters of Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841).

Two Cook brothers marrying two Vanderhoof sisters.
Stephen and William were sons of Henry Cook (1776-1831) and Susannah Wiggins (1780-18xx).

Hiley and William married in 1823 in Morris County, New Jersey. These record books were digitized and are viewable at FamilySearch. Names of parents are not provided in these entries.

Whole page of marriages circa 1823 in Morris County, New Jersey.

Close view of the line for the marriage of William Cook and Hyla Vanderhoof,
"both of Morris County." February 22, 1823 by Reverend John Ford.

Hiley's first appearance in the census is in 1850 in Rockaway, Morris County. Her husband, William Cook, is not listed with her and is presumably deceased. In her household is Jacob Cook, age 26, married within the year. Sarah Cook, age 20, married within the year. William Cook, age 11. Sarah was probably Jacob's wife and not a daughter of Hiley and William. She is not with Jacob in the 1860 census and presumably died between 1850 and 1860.

1850 census. Rockaway, Morris County, New Jersey

William Cook married Sarah J Anderson (1845-1928) in 1862.

Elizabeth died in 1878. She was buried with her husband, Stephen Cook, in the small Cook Cemetery in Denville. The few remaining stones are nestled on the grounds of the Rockaway River Country Club Golf Course.

Find A Grave memorial page for Elizabeth Vanderhoof (1799-1878),
wife of Stephen Cook (1797-1853)

Hiley was buried at the Rockaway Valley United Methodist Church Cemetery in Boonton. The year is incorrect on the stone. She died in 1888, not 1886. The death certificate is below.

Find A Grave memorial page for Hila Vanderhoof (1803-1888),
wife of William Cook

Death certificate of Hylia Cook
died June 16, 1888 in Rockaway Valley.
Father- Jacob Vanderhoff.

I have not found a death certificate for Elizabeth Vanderhoof Cook in 1878.

Elizabeth Vanderhoof and Hiley Vanderhoof were two distinct people, contrary to the online trees floating around.

Another Lutter Baby 1914

In an effort to find out what became of Baby Boy Lutter, born May 9, 1916 in Newark, New Jersey, I looked up a death certificate for Richard Quackenbush.

An index of deaths in New Jersey can be found through Reclaim the Records or Ancestry. In spite of the name of this database at Ancestry ("New Jersey, U.S., Death Index 1848-1878, 1901-2017"), there are no indexes for the years 1904-1915 and 1930-1948.

Index of Deaths in New Jersey
Richard Quackenbash died December 1916 in Newark

I have all of the Lutter death certificates through 1965. Baby Boy born 1916 is not among them. Although Baby Boy was born with the surname Lutter, his parents were not married. His death certificate may be under his mother's surname- Quackenbush.

This is why I wanted to view the 1916 death certificate for Richard Quackenbush.

Death certificate of Richard Quackenbush, died December 27, 1916
at Newark City Hospital, Newark, New Jersey.
Cause of death tubercular meningitis.
Father- O.W. [out of wedlock]. Mother- Margaret Quackenbush.
Burial- Evergreen Cemetery. Undertaker- Jas M Vaughan.

I was on the right track; however, this is another child created by my great grandfather and Margaret. This child was born June 30, 1914 in Newark- according to his death certificate.

This was unexpected.

I have all of the Lutter birth certificates through 1924. How did I miss this Lutter baby born in 1914?

An index of births is available online through Reclaim the Records and Ancestry. Nothing matched this birthdate in the year 1914 in Newark under the surname Lutter or Quackenbush. Next I searched by the exact date. SUTTER. The surname was misinterpreted in the index as Sutter instead of Lutter.

Birth index New Jersey at Ancestry
This is an index of the index.
The certificates are on microfilm at the Archives in Trenton, New Jersey.

Sutter born June 30, 1914 in Newark.
This is Ancestry's index of the New Jersey geographic birth index.

Image of the geographic birth index.
Sutter, baby of H. and M., born June 30, 1914 in Newark, New Jersey.

This index is as close as you can get to the birth record from home. Because I was physically inside the New Jersey State Archives while viewing this index, I could then view the microfilm roll of births for 1914 and copy the certificate for baby Sutter. Howard Lutter was listed as the father.

Birth certificate of Baby Lutter, indexed Sutter.
June 30, 1914 at Newark City Hospital, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey.
Father- Howard Lutter, age 27, occupation brakeman.
Mother- Margaret Quackenbush, age 18.

Baby Lutter/Sutter became Richard Quackenbush. Two year old Richard was buried in Evergreen Cemetery. This cemetery lies in three cities- Newark, Elizabeth, and Hillside, New Jersey. I called the cemetery office for the location of this grave and was told that he was buried in the baby section. These are tiny, single plots, usually with no markers.

Another avenue to pursue is the funeral home or undertaker. James M Vaughan was a lesser-known undertaker. I do not know what became of his business and those records. He died in 1954 and was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in East Orange.

I have not found baby Richard in the 1915 New Jersey State census.

I reviewed what I had uncovered about the life of Howard Lutter.

Howard Lutter and Ethel Laurel Winterton married in Newark on September 17, 1910. The first child of this marriage was my grandfather, Clifford Lutter, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 18, 1915.

Howard had already made a son, Richard, with Margaret the year before Clifford was born.

The next year, 1916, Howard and Margaret had twins. The female twin died. Then Richard, age two and a half, died.

In 1918, Beryl, the second and final child of Howard and Ethel, was born in Newark.

Howard divorced Ethel in 1927. He narrated the movements of the family in the 1910s. He failed to mention the children he made with another women that overlapped the birth of the children of this marriage.

Responses of Howard Lutter in his divorce action
against Ethel Laurel Winterton, 1926

In 1928, Howard remarried to Fiorita Lorenz (1890-1969). In 1923, Howard began renting a house from her and her then-husband, James Howard Winnie (1887-1957). Howard described Ethel as a disinterested wife and mother. Because Howard married his landlord soon after their mutual divorces, I suspected that Howard was not a good husband. This suspicion was reinforced when I discovered that he made three children with Margaret while making children with Ethel, his wife.

The earlier baby that Howard created outside his marriage indicates a more involved relationship with Margaret, who was only 17 years old when baby Richard was conceived.

Still missing is the male baby born on May 9, 1916.

Pocket Watch of Peter S Duryee 1922

A pocket watch of Peter S Duryee is up for auction on eBay. The item is located in Australia, far from its origins.

EBay listing for pocket watch engraved for Peter S Duryee

The manufacturer was Illinois Watch Company, which still exists today.

Cover of watch is engraved P S D

Picture of engraving on the watch

The engraving reads:

Peter S Duryee
Vice President 1914-1919
President 1920-1921
A Token of appreciation of his devoted

and able services to the

Knickerbocker Country Club

from his associates on the

Board of Trustees

January 27th 1922

There were many men named Peter Duryee or Duryea. This particular watch probably belonged to Peter Stanford Duryee (1873-1954). He was born, raised, lived, and died in the City of Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey. 

Peter's parents were Jacob Augustus Duryee (1841-1886) and Arenia Graves Ruggles (1844-1911). 

On November 8, 1900 Peter married Pauline Julia Clephane (1875-1954). They had two daughters. Pauline Clephane Duryee (1903-1985) married Anton Gysberti Hardy. Margaret Ruggles Duryee (1904-2000) married Albert Whitney Rhodes.

Peter had many endeavors throughout his life. He began as a coffee and tea merchant. He actively raised funds for charities. He became a banker during the World War, circa 1917. He held top positions at various financial firms. He was one of the first commissioners of the Englewood Police. He was also a trustee of the New York and New Jersey Railroad Company and served on the board of directors of Englewood Hospital.

In 1954, Peter died on May 12. His wife, Pauline, died nine days later. They were buried in Brookside Cemetery in Englewood.