Autumn Years Spring 2024

Europeans arrive The first known European to be bur ied in Bergen County was Marie So hier, wife of David Demarest (the first permanent settler in the county). Ac cording to family history, she died of smallpox shortly after they moved from Manhattan to their new land on the Hackensack River in 1677. David asked the local native Indians if Marie could be buried in their burial grounds; some historians believe that spot was north of their home, located near today’s River Edge railroad station. In our region, the oldest surviving colonial Dutch gravestones date to be tween 1690 and 1720, with the most common being irregular rough stones. Interesting fact: There are no tomb stones with full names, dates and epi taphs from this earliest Dutch period. Those came after the first Great Awak

ening religious revival in the 1730s. In 1696, the First Reformed Church (Church on the Green) in Hackensack constructed its first building. As was the tradition in Europe, a cemetery was established next to the church (this is the county’s oldest church cemetery). The earliest dated tombstone in the county is found here. Known only by the initials “H B,” this person died in 1713. The county’s second oldest church cemetery was behind the 1716 Lutheran Church on River Road in Teaneck. Buri als took place there until 1833, and some of the markers were made of wood. No vestige of the church or cemetery exists other than historical markers indicating the site. During the 1700s and 1800s, 19 other Bergen County churches of the Dutch Reformed, Lutheran and Meth odist traditions established cemeteries.

French Cemetery (New Milford).

Family cemeteries The early Jersey Dutch farmers of Ber gen County were very comfortable establishing cemeteries on their prop erty. Today, scattered throughout the county, are 77 small family cemeteries. Most are tucked away in spots that are easy to miss, but some are well known and visible. In New Milford, near the town hall, what is called the “French Cemetery” is well known. The French Huguenot De marest family created this burial ground for family members. The earliest stone here dates to 1735. In Harrington Park, the “Old Burying Ground” (corner of Tappan Road and Arcadia Court) was used mostly by the Blauvelt family for nearly 200 years. The earliest known burial was in 1722, and some of the tombstones are inscribed in Dutch. Other early cemeteries also

The oldest tombstone in Bergen County.

Johannes Loots tombstone written in Dutch.

38 AUTUMN YEARS I SPRING 2024