_Johannes Mathias BRITZIUS _+
| (1700 - 1766) m 1721
_Theobald BRITZIUS ___________|
| (1742 - 1803) m 1767 |
| |_Maria Elisabetha REISSDOR _
| (1701 - 1766) m 1721
|
|--Johannes Theobald BRITZIUS
| (1792 - 1871)
| _Frederic Johannes GERLACH _
| | (1707 - 1785) m 1731
|_Catharine Charlotte GERLACH _|
(1748 - 1816) m 1767 |
|_Maria Catharina PITZ ______
(1709 - 1796) m 1731
[1831]
a shoemaker - per Moyer file#3
[1830] copy of an original German death record and its English translation
_Frederick Johann DEMOUTH Temout_+
| (1697 - 1766) m 1722
_Adam DEMOUTH _______|
| (1735 - 1797) m 1755|
| |_Annatie Charlotte MULLER _______+
| m 1722
|
|--Jacob DEMOUTH
| (1763 - 1835)
| _________________________________
| |
|_Charlotte HUSK _____|
(1734 - ....) m 1755|
|_________________________________
[296]
February 20, 2006
Dear Children,
Tonight I want to tell you about another Jacob Demouth, Adam and Charlotte's son:
Jacob Demouth
(1763 - 22 March 1835)
Jacob was born about 1763. We know this from his gravestone in the Demouth Cemetery. We have a number of good sources of information for this Jacob. Two of his great granddaughters wrote about him, May Sommers and Grace Betts Webber. Also we have had the benefit of at least two professional genealogists that have found original documents for us. Mrs. Webber does not name his daughter Deborah. In the Deed cited by Fowler ceding the ancestral home to Jacob's son Thomas, neither daughter Deborah nor Mary are named. May Sommers names Mary but not Deborah. I think perhaps Webber got her info from Sommers. Some of the phrases are the same.
Jacob inherited 512 acres and a beautiful stone house in Rockaway Valley, Morris County, New Jersey, when his father died in 1790. Mrs. Weber says he was born in "the beautiful stone mansion. . . .It was in this house that his nine children were born." She tells us that the whitewash on the walls was over an inch thick. Is this the house spoken of with the triangular stone saying "P. & S. 1773"? I think so, but in 1773 Jacob was 10 years old and growing up in the home he later inherited, whereas Peter Snyder was living in the "P. & S. 1773" house. This is how May Sommers describes the Demouth home.
"To (Mr. and Mrs. Demouth) was born in1770 a son Jacob. They owned 300 acres of land about twenty miles from New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, orchards, flowergardens. . ."
Apparently May didn't know about Jacob's sister, Anna. But Jacob did inherit the 512 acre homestead farm close to New York City. Do you have any idea how much money that land would be worth today? I don't either, but probably millions. I don't know if it was the same stone mansion built by his great granfather, where the fireplace burned eight foot long logs. Maybe there were two stone mansions. Maybe the one was so large all the Demouth families lived there together. Or maybe Anna and her husband both died and Jacob and his family moved back in. Isn't it nice to know there are still family history mysteries for YOU to solve when you grow up?
When Jacob grew up he married Deborah, we don't know her last name, and they had nine or ten children. Jacob did not leave a will, but there is a deed (K3-236) from 1836, after he had died, transferring the homestead farm from seven of his heirs, Frederick, Adam, John, Charlotte, Elizabeth, James, and John, to Thomas who lived there for the rest of his life. For some reason Mary and Deborah are not mentioned. May Sommers and Grace Weber both name Mary, and Grace Weber points out that Mary was involved in the three Demouth - Levi marriages. Marsha Bybee and Lonnie Demouth McManus both list Deborah as well. The evidence for Deborah Demouth (b. 1809) being Jacob and Deborah's daughter is strong. Deborah is in the right place at the right time to be Jacob and Deborah's tenth child. There does not appear to be any other Demouth family in the area that she could belong to, and she has her mother's name. I have no idea why she and Mary wouldn't have been included in the above mentioned deed.
Jacob is described as "a prominent public man." He was a Justice of the Peace for Morris County from 1815 until his death in 1835. (Read about what a justice of the peace is near the end of the note that goes with Rodolphus D. Derrick.) He was also the founder of the Rockaway Valley Methodist Church. And he is credited with freeing the Demouth slaves.
Webber says, "In 1810 he freed his thirty slaves as his conscience would not let him keep them." Sommers says, "One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits." I think May Sommers was being very charitable when she wrote those words. Perhaps she did not realize that slavery was outlawed in New Jersey as of 1804. To be fair to Jacob, many of his neighbors kept their slaves anyway, right up to 1865 when the Civil War ended, so Jacob was better than some. It is also true that Jacob's wealth was gradually lost. After he died and all his worldly goods were tallied up, this is what the man who did the tallying had to say:
" James M. Fleming the administrator of Jacob Demouth being duly sworn did depose and say that the real and personal estate of said deceased is insufficient to pay the debts of said deceased according to the best of his knowledge and belief." That means that he owed more money than the value of everything he owned. Here is a listing of everything that was left when Jacob died on 22 March 1835 from the wonderful estate that Adam Demouth had left to his son.
Jacob Demouth Inventory as of 22 May 1835
5 sheep 7.00 amt Brot up 68.87
3 lambs 2.00 1 lot of tools .50
1 black cow 10.00 1 chest .25
1 heifer 6.00 1 large wheel .75
1 sm shoat 3.00 1 small wheel .75
1 desk & bkcs 1.00 1 pr. steel yaros .25
1 lot of books 5.00 1 old musket 3.00
1 lot pamphlets 1.00 8 3/4 yds full
1 bell .25 cloth 8.00
1 stand .50 Blanket and
1 feather bed Quilt 1.00
ticking 15.00 1 iron kettle 1.00
1 bedstead & 1 crow bar 1.00
cord 1.00 grain in the
1 small case .12 ground 10.00
1 cupboard 7.00 Accounts
7 old chains 1.00 est___ _ond 5.75
2 tables 1.00 $101.12
1 stove pipe 2.00 3 gums .50
1 loom 5.00
1 frying pan .50
$ 68.87 $ 101.62 Total Worldly goods left by Jacob Demouth (1763 - 1835)
Appraised by us Peter F. Kanouse Joseph Scott
I find it very interesting to notice what various things were valued at. Notice the loom is worth only $5.00, but 8 3/4 yards of full cloth are worth $8.00. I wonder if the cloth was home grown wool, spun, and loomed.
There is something a little bit fishy in all of this. And that is that I also have seen the deed, mentioned above, showing the transfer of the 400 acre homestead farm to Thomas Demouth from Jacob's other children. Thomas paid the others $100.00 for the right to keep the farm. The deed doesn't mention the house. Nothing is said in this listing about a house or land. Perhaps Jacob was smart enough to see that his real estate was transferred to his children before he died.
Jacob and his family made huge contributions to the military endeavors of our country's early years. According to both Sommers and Weber Jacob, fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War. Jacob was just entering his teen years in 1776, but he lived near Washington's winter quarters at Morristown, so he didn't have far to travel. There were many many teenage soldiers in the Revolutionary War and by the time it was over, Jacob would have been 20. His sons Frederick and Adam both fought in the War of 1812. And then there was the Civil War. Jacob had three great-grandsons, sons of his son Frederick's son Jirah Demouth, in the Civil War. They were Carnot Demouth (Also spelled Cornet and Cornat), Theodore Frank Demouth, and Charles Demouth, who was killed in the war. I have counted 12 grandsons, and there may well have been more as I haven't found most of Adam's children nor any of Charlotte's. Six grandsons died, including three from one family. They all fought for the Union and are as follows:
Sons of John Demouth
Jacob Demouth
James Demouth
Sons of James Demouth
Cyrus Demouth
Thomas Demouth - died
William Demouth - died
Jesse Demouth - died
Sons of Thomas Demouth
Wesley Demouth
Harrison Demouth - died
Son of Jacob Demouth
Frederick - died
Son of Deborah
John H. Tucker - died
Sons of Elizabeth
Hiram Kayhart
Charles Kayhart
That's quite a contribution, don't you agree? And quite a sacrifice. I'm glad Jacob and Deborah were not around to have to endure such suffering.
Now I'm going to tell you some of what I've found out about Jacob's children.
Frederick- Frederick, born about 1787, married Susan or Susannah Crane and they had seven children; Jirah, Phebe, Susan, Elizabeth, Decatur, Joseph, and Jacob. In the Wells "Demouth History" she says that Frederick and Susannah and family first lived at Somerset and later in the stone house by the Clinton Reservoir.(The famous stone house.) Frederick died in 1836 in his late 40's, leaving his wife with young children still at home. Susannah died in 1863. They are both buried in the Demouth Cemetery in Rockaway Valley, New Jersey. Their eldest son Jirah lived in the old stone house, he married Malinda Kayhart and they had eight children born in that house. The youngest was just two when mother Malinda died, and then Jirah died five years later. Jirah's granddaughter, Suzanne Denman, wrote a poem about the old stone house. Look for it after her name or in the story about the first Jacob Demouth. Some of Jirah and Malinda's descendants moved to Iowa, South Dakota, and Michigan. Look for a great story about the West under Jirah's son Carnot.
Adam - Adam was born about 1789. He fought in the War of 1812. He served in the 2nd Regiment of New Jersey Militia known as Seward's Militia, from September 1814 to December 1814. Between information from the census of 1830 and the census of 1840, I have figured he had at least 7 children, but in those censuses only numbers were listed, not names. 1850 was the first census to list all family members by name. In the 1850 census, Adam is working as a laborer, his wife has died, and he and his 14 year old daughter Catherine are living with Adam and Anna Jacobus. Could they be his in-laws? Very possibly but we don't know. Catherine grew up and married first John Riker in 1852 and then David Greenswike in 1862. With John Riker she had at least two children, Phebe and Mary Ann.
John - John was our ancestor. More about him later.
James - James married Elizabeth Lozaw in 1825 and they had nine children, two girls and seven boys, three of whom, Thomas, William, and Jesse, died in the Civil War. James didn't have to endure that grief because he had already died in 1859. Son Thomas died in a military hospital in Washington D.C. leaving a wife and three children. Son William died at an army camp near Newport News, Virginia. He was not married. Son Jesse died by drowning when his outfit crossed the Cumberland River in Kentucky. Son Cyrus was also in the Civil War. He must have been injured in some way because he filed for a pension as an invalid. He appears, unmarried, in the 1870 census, working as a stone cutter, so he must not have been injured too badly. Son Elijah married Margaret Morgan. Many of his descendants lived in New York. Son Lewis, his wife Mary, and only son, Lewis Jr., never learned to read or to write. They lived in Warwick, New York. Daughter Elizabeth married John A. Hopkins. Daughter Jane Demouth married Alfred Miller. The 7th son was James.
Jacob -Jacob, born in 1801, married Sarah Miller. Jacob worked as a boatman. He and Sarah had 7 children, 3 sons, 4 daughters. Their son Frederick married Mary Ellen Van Hooten and died in the Civil War and is buried at Cold Harbor National Cemetery in Virginia. Son Nathan married Mary Ann Post and became a blacksmith. Daughter Sarah married Charles Jenkins. The other children of Jacob and Mary Ann were Charlotte, Mary, and Edward.
Mary - Mary was one of the three Demouth children that married three Levi children. Mary married Oliver Levi. They had one daughter, Maria, born in 1818. She married Isaac Burgey in 1838. Mary was named as a child of Jacob by both May Sommers and Mrs. Webber, but she is not in the legal record found by Alex Fowler that lists 8 of Jacob's children.
Elizabeth - Elizabeth married Richard Kayhart in 1824 and they had six children. Sons Hiram and Charles both fought for the union in the Civil War. Charles migrated to Clark County, Wisconsin and settled near his cousin Jacob Demouth, our ancestor. Other children were Wilbur, Emaline, Margaret, and Edward.
Thomas- Thomas married the third Levi sibling, Betsy Levi. Thomas and Betsy ended up with father Jacob's homestead farm and lived there at least through 1880. They had eight children, Abner, Electa, Wesley, Thomas Jr., Hiram, Harrison, Elizabeth, and Minerva. Sons Wesley and Harrison fought in the Civil War. Harrison died of disease at Ship Point, Virginia. He received a commendation for distinguished service and his mother received a pension because of his service. His name is inscribed on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Eastside Park in Paterson, New Jersey. Abner married Catherine Jane Stillwell and they had six children. Electa married Peter D. Vreeland and they stayed in West Milford, NJ, (at least through 1880) and had six children. Wesley married Susannah Sigler and they had two daughters. Thomas Jr. died a few months short of his 20th birthday. Hiram married a girl with last name of Stagg. He appears on the census with Mom and Dad in 1860, 1870, and 1880. Elizabeth married Patrick Burns. Minerva, the youngest, was still living with her parents in 1870 but not in 1880.
Charlotte - There is a record of Charlotte's marriage to Garritt Vanderhoof. I could find no further records.
Deborah- Deborah is not mentioned by either May Sommers or Mrs. Weber. She is included in the genealogy from Lonnie Demouth McManus. She is also listed in Marsha Bybee's genealogy. She is in the right place, Morris County, marrying a man from the neighborhood, Lewis Tucker of Pequannac. She is at the right time to be Jacob's child. Born in 1809, she would be the youngest, and would come as her mother reached the end of her childbearing years, her early 40's. She also bears her mother's name. Deborah married Lewis Tucker in 1829. Children of theirs that I have found are Mary Ann, John Henry, Harriet, Alice, and George W.. John Henry died in the Civil War.
So this is our ancestor Jacob Demouth (b. 1763). Like his father before him he was born in the Colony of New Jersey and died in the State of New Jersey. He inherited a grand estate from his parents. Through bad luck, or poor management, or freeing his slaves, he managed to lose the estate but not before passing on a fine house and 400 acres to his children. He was an upstanding member of his community. He fought in the Revolutionary War. He and Deborah produced ten children. Two sons fought in the War of 1812. At least fifteen of Jacob and Deborah's descendants fought in the Civil War. And Jacob did free his slaves. We can be very proud of our ancestor Jacob Demouth (b. 1763).
Here's how we are related to this Jacob Demouth. Jacob and Deborah had a son John Demouth, John married Mariah Levi and they had a son Jacob Demouth. Jacob married Cordelia Martindale and they had a son Samuel Demouth. Samuel married Elzora Pierce and they had a daughter Thelma DeMouth. Thelma married Forrest Zimmerman and they had Dianne Zimmerman. Dianne married Paul Stevens and they had Dawne Stevens. Dawne married Jason Pamplin and they had . . .Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky. So Hooray for Jacob Demouth (born 1763)!
Love, Granny
Vanderhoof - Morris Co deeds, 1809 -1815
21 Oct 1809 Peter Nim/NIx(sic), Peq. Peter Vanderhoof, Peq. $200.00 land in Peq. being part of tract of 1250 acres returned to Gov William Penn May 12, 17-5, recorded Burlington book B folio 39. Beg. at a large heap of stones where a white oak (the 3rd corner of the whole tract) formerly stood by the side of a great rock thence....to a corner of a tract granted by Lemuel Cobb to Jacob Demouth MARCH 1, 179_(8?) ...along Demouth line to his corner stake ...containing 76 38/100 acre. wit: Silas Cook James A.V Duyne
11 April, 1815 Abraham I Vanderhoof and caty, Caldwell, Essex Co Peter Vanderhoff, Peq. $1,000. Peq, lot 2 containing 86 57/100 which Abrah. I Vanderhoof bought of John Nix 31 Dec 1814, situate both sides of John Parliaman's Saw Mill Brook...begin at heap of stones being John Parliaman's corner in the outside line of Penn's tract ...from a large heap of stones, N corner of Demouth's purchase from Penn'[s agent abt 1756...to a rock...to a small hickory sapling ...to a small spanich oak by the road.... wit: David Harrison-Peter Jacobus
[302] Land record - 1815
Vanderhoof - Morris Co deeds 1815-1822
3 June 1816 David Occaback(sic) & Lizabeth, wife, late Elizabeth Hopler and William VanWinkle and wife Sarah, late Sarah Hopler to Henry Tuttle (sic), Jacob Vanderhoof, Morris, James Shaw, James Lyon $1.00 Peq, ...part of land Conrad Hopler, late of Peq, by will 10 May, 1815 bequeathed to his daughters then living...Beg in a line of land of Richard B (?) Faesch/Laesch (?) called the Boonetown tract... wit: Silas Cook, Jacob Demouth
[304] Jacob is witness to a land deal - 1815
Our early community was settled by well educated and prosperous families who have always supported an excellent school system. From as early as 1783 eight different institutions of learning have been constructed in this small community. In 1842 the Rockaway Valley Methodist Church was erected by a congregation organized in 1785 by Jacob DeMouth. In 1918 the Mt. Zion Baptist congregation was founded by the Reverend David R. Russell.
"Justices of the Peace.—From 1776 to 1844 the justices of the peace of each county were appointed in joint meeting, to hold their office for five years, and were considered county officers. Besides those who were also judges, and whose names appear as such, there were appointed for Morris county the following: ...Jacob DEMOUTH, 1815, 1820, 1826, 1832; . . ."
This deed appears to be a settlement of property between Jacob Demouth and Anna Miller, formerly Anna Demouth, "the two children of Adam Demouth, deceased, who died intestate, 'seized of a considerable estate both real and personal in the County of Morris and elsewhere'(Sussex County)."
[309] property settlement between Jacob and his sister Anna after their parents deaths. 10 Apr 1797
This deed concerns the settlement of land between heirs of Jacob Demouth (b. 1863). On the one hand are heirs Frederick Demouth, Adam Demouth, John Demouth, Charlotte Demouth, Richard and Elizabeth Kayhart (formerly Elizabeth Demouth), James Demouth, Jacob Demouth. On the other hand is heir Thomas Demouth. The agreement transfers the 400 acre homestead farm to Thomas Demouth.
[311] Transfer of homestead farm to Thomas Demouth from sibs.
Jacob Demouth Inventory as of 22 May 1835
5 sheep 7.00 amt Brot up 68.87
3 lambs 2.00 1 lot of tools .50
1 black cow 10.00 1 chest .25
1 heifer 6.00 1 large wheel .75
1 sm shoat 3.00 1 small wheel .75
1 desh & bkcs 1.00 1 pr. steel yaros .25
1 lot of books 5.00 1 old musket 3.00
1 lot pamphlets 1.00 8 3/4 yds full
1 bell .25 cloth 8.00
1 stand .50 Blanket and
1 feather bed Quilt 1.00
ticking 15.00 1 iron kettle 1.00
1 bedstead & 1 crow bar 1.00
cord 1.00 grain in the
1 small case .12 ground 10.00
1 cupboard 7.00 Accounts
7 old chains 1.00 est___ _ond 5.75
2 tables 1.00 $101.12
1 stove pipe 2.00 3 gums .50
1 loom 5.00
1 frying pan .50 $ 101.62
$ 68.87
Appraised by us Peter F. Kanouse Joseph Scott
Morris County S: James M. Fleming the administrator of Jacob Demouth being duly sworn did depose and say that the real and personal estate of said deceased is insufficient to pay the debts of said deceased according to the best of his knowledge and belief.
Jas. M. Fleming
_George HOLMES ______
| (1594 - 1645)
_John HOLMES ________|
| (1639 - 1676) |
| |_Deborah ____________
| (.... - 1662)
|
|--Samuel HOLMES
| (1675 - ....)
| _Thomas WISWALL _____+
| | (1601 - 1683) m 1632
|_Sarah WISWALL ______|
(1642 - 1676) |
|_Elizabeth __________
(1604 - 1665) m 1632
_____________________
|
_August REUTER ______|
| m 1858 |
| |_____________________
|
|
|--Fred REUTER
| (1869 - ....)
| _Johann Adam FEY ____+
| | (1800 - 1880)
|_Elizabeth FEY ______|
m 1858 |
|_Anna THOMAS ________+
(.... - 1848)
__
|
_John WELLS _________|
| (1500 - ....) |
| |__
|
|
|--Alice WELLS
| (1535 - 1568)
| __
| |
|_____________________|
|
|__