Murder of a Vanderhoof Cousin

While researching Vanderhoofs who relocated from New Jersey to Wisconsin, I encountered a sad case.

Sheri Lee Keller was murdered in 1980 when she was 17 years old. She was kidnapped while hitchhiking and then run over when she escaped. She died six weeks after this assault.

Newspaper article announcing the death of Sheri Keller, 1980 in Wisconsin

Thomas Glander was arrested for killing Sheri. He stood trial and was found not guilty in 1981.

Newspaper article announcing the not guilty verdict in the murder trial

In the 1850s some of the Morris County, New Jersey families relocated to Wisconsin. A few years earlier, in 1848, Wisconsin had become the 30th state.

Map of the United States of America early 1850s
Designated places: Morris County, New Jersey and
Sheboygan County, Wisconsin

At this time, I do not know why some Vanderhoofs made this trek. Modern-day roads offer this route at about one thousand miles. Traveling from New Jersey to Wisconsin in the 1850s must have been treacherous.

Twisted Lines

Sheri was a 5th cousin and a 6th cousin to my father. The common ancestors were Jacob Vanderhoof (1772-1847) and Ann Hopler (1772-1841), as well as Ann's parents, Conrad Hopler (1730-1815) and Elizabeth DeMouth (1735-1812).

Sheri's great great grandparents were second cousins to each other. Conrad and Elizabeth had two daughters, Ann and Susan (1783-1863). Ann's grandson Peter (1827-1910) married Susan's granddaughter Susannah Shauger (1836-1913).

These relationships are confusing to spell out. Below is a diagram that should demonstrate the marriages and children.

Family tree
Ancestors of Sheri and writer's father: Hopler, DeMouth, Vanderhoof

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.

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.