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BIOGRAPHY OF
JOHN N. ACKERMAN
JOHN N. ACKERMAN is a descendant in the direct line from David
Ackerman, the first American ancestor of the family. Southeast
of Rotterdam, in Dutch Brabant, twenty-four miles from Breda,
is the City of Bois-Le-Due, called by the natives Hertogenbosch.
It is now the chief town of North Brabant, and was built and
strongly fortified in the eleventh century, though it was a place
of some note much earlier, being near the Maas River and the
great highway built by the Romans in their later conquests in
Northern Europe. In the seventeenth century there was much heath
land to the south and west of it which has since been reclaimed.
Agriculture and manufacturing were then, as now, the main employments
of the people, Tilbury, the nearest city, being noted for its
extensive cloth manufactories. The city contains the chapel
and church of St. John, built in 1260 and rebuilt in 1312,-one
of the oldest and best preserved edifices in Northern Europe.
From the city a road leads almost direct to the renowned battlefield
of Waterloo. Near Bois-Le-Due, in about 1620, was born David
Ackerman, the son of a farmer and the progenitor of the Ackerman
family in Hudson and Bergen Counties. Growing to manhood, he
married in 1644, and engaged in tilling the soil until the stampede
to the New World, caused by religious persecution and the threatened
war with Spain and England drew him into its vortex. Being an
ardent Protestant, he could not brook the fanatical domination
of Romanism and when in August, 1662, the power of the state
could no longer protect him in the exercise of his religious
liberty, he, with many of his neighbors, including the Storms,
Terbosches, and others, whose descendants have since become a
numerous host in Bergen County, embarked with their families
on board the Dutch West India ship "Fox" (Captain Jacob
Hays), and on September 2, following, landed at New Amsterdam.
David had with him his wife and six children-the latter aged
respectively twenty, eighteen, sixteen, twelve, eight, and six
years. It has been said "it may be doubted whether he survived
the voyage"; but there is little reason for such doubt.
It is true that the emigrant list published is a list of those
who sailed from Holland ports, not of those who actually arrive
at New Amsterdam. It is likewise true that the records make
no further mention of either David or his wife. But these facts
furnish no ground to doubt their arrival on our shores. The
first family abode was in the Markvelt Stegg. In 1668 the family
nucleus was at New Harlem. Whether David or his wife were living
at the time of the removal to Harlem, whether Elizabeth on her
marriage and removal to Harlem took her brothers with her, are
at best subjects of conjecture. David may have died at the Markvelt
Stegg residence, or he may have removed to Harlem and died there.
However this may be, as no public records of deaths were kept,
the date of his death and that of his wife, as well as her name,
are facts which are likely never to be ascertained, except by
accident. Of the children, Ann was the first to break the family
circle by her marriage in 1664, and subsequent removal up the
Hudson. Elizabeth followed her example in 1668, uniting in marriage
with the somewhat renowned Kier Walters (ancestor of the Kiersens),
who, however, died two years later. Lawrence was a youth of
untiring energy and persevered in everything he undertook. In
1669, being then only nineteen, he hired a portion of what was
then called the Archer farm at Harlem. In 1679 he married Greetje
Egberts and remained at Harlem until 1685, during which time
two daughters were born to him. David, the eldest son, went
to New York, where, in 1680, he married Hellegorid Ver Planck,
and remained there until 1686, during which time several children
were born to him. Lodowyck, who seems, at first, to have been
rather a wild boy, went to Kingston, N. Y., where, in 1681, he
wooed and wedded Miss Jemeke Blaeck, by whom he had at least
two children. After his removal to Bergen County his wife died
and he married Hillegorid Bosch, by whom he had two children.
Abraham, the youngest of the children, married, in 1683, at
New York, Aeitje Van Lear, by whom he had six children before
his removal to New Jersey, and four more in New Jersey. Lawrence
and David were the first of the family to remove to Bergen County
in 1686. Lodowyck and Abraham followed in 1694. They all settled
on large tracts of land between the Hackensack and Saddle Rivers,
and also west of the Saddle River. The family became very numerous
both in Bergen and in what is now called Passaic County. Numerous
members of the family have been the most active and influential
in the county, and have been honored with town, county and State
offices. Others have been important factors in religious work,
and have attained eminence in various branches of learning.
Lawrence Ackerman was buried at Wyckoff or Oakland. His children
were John and James.
John Ackerman, son of Lawrence, married Catherine Romaine.
Both are buried at Wyckoff or Oakland. Their children were
Lawrence, Nicholas, and James.
Nicholas Ackerman, son of John, was born January 24, 1796,
died June 1, 1869, married Polly or Maria Snyder, who was born
in 1801, died March 24, 1877. Their children were John N., born
January 28, 1818; Abraham, born August 27, 1830; and George.
John N. Ackerman, whose name heads this sketch, was born in
Franklin Township, Bergen County, N. J., January 28, 1818, and
is now one of the oldest residents of Hackensack. He is the
eldest son of Nicholas Ackerman and Polly or Maria Snyder, a
grandson of John Ackerman and Catharine Romeyn, and a great-grandson
of Lawrence Ackerman. He was educated in the public schools
of Franklin Township. He left home at the age of fifteen, and
for two years worked at the trade of carriage making. Since
then he has earned his own livelihood. When seventeen he went
to New York City and learned the carpenter's trade, mastering
every branch. In 1837 he returned to Hackensack, N. J., married
Rachel R. Vanderbeck, and engaged in business as a manufacturer
of sash, doors, and blinds, which he followed with marked success
until 1896, a period of fifty-nine years. He then retired to
enjoy in private life the fruits of a long and honorable career.
Mr. Ackerman has resided in Hackensack since he established
himself in business there in 1837, and from the first has taken
an active interest in the growth and development of the town,
and all those public matters which appeal to the progressive
spirit of a patriotic, energetic citizen. Though never aspiring
to office, and as a rule avoiding political life, he was for
ten years a Justice of the Peace, and in this and other minor
capacities has displayed great ability, sound judgment, and commendable
enterprise.
Mr. Ackerman was married, June 14, 1837, in Hackensack, to
Rachel Ryerson Vanderbeck, born February 7, 1806, died June 26,
1891, a descendant, like himself, of one of the old Holland Dutch
families of Bergen County. Their children are George J. Ackerman,
born March 27, 1839, and Mary R. Ackerman, born September 27,
1845.
George J. Ackerman, oldest child of John N. and Rachel R.
Ackerman, married Julia A. Groesbeck, December 24, 1863. She
was born November 24, 1842, and died April 11, 1886. They had
one child, George Groesbeck Ackerman, born November 6, 1867,
who married, September 27, 1893, Emeline Inglehart, of Watertown,
N. Y., who was born December 3, 1869. They have one child, Alison
Groesbeck Ackerman, born October 13, 1806.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 53-55.
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