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BIOGRAPHY OF
THE BERTHOLFS
THE BERTHOLFS, who are very numerous in Bergen County, particularly
in the western part, are descended from Guilliam Bertholf, who
was born at Sluys in Flanders, and with his wife, Martina Hendricks
Verwey, came to America in 1684 and first located at Bergen in
New Jersey, where they joined the church, October 6, 1684, and
where their son Henry was baptized April 6, 1686. Guilliam had
studied theology at Middleburgh, Holland, and had come to America
in the capacity of catechiser voorleser and schoolmaster. In
these capacities he labored at Bergen until 1690, when he removed
to Hackensack, where the people so esteemed him that in 1693
they sent him to Holland to the licensed as a minister of the
Dutch Church. The Classis of Middleburgh, Holland, ordained
and licensed him, and on his return in 1694 he accepted the pastorate
of the "Church on the Green," at Hackensack, where
he preached until his death. For the first fifteen years of
his ministry he is said to have been the only Dutch preacher
in New Jersey. During his pastorate he had the control of all
the surrounding churches, preaching at Tappan, Tarrytown, Staten
Island, Raritan, Pompton, Belleville, and The Ponds. He was
a well-read and eloquent man, indefatigable in his work, and
organized many churches. His issue were Sarah, Maria, and Elizabeth
(all born at Sluys in Flanders), and Henry, Corynus, Jacobus,
Martha, and Anna, all of whom joined the Hackensack church.
Sarah married David D. Demarest, Maria married John Bogert, Elizabeth
married John Terhune and Rolof Bogert, Henry married Mary Terhune,
Corynus married Ann Ryerson, Martin married Albert Bogert, Jacobus
married Elizabeth Van Emburgh, Ann married Abraham Varrick.
Rev. Guilliam Bertholf purchased from John Berry, a farm at Hackensack,
extending from the Hackensack to the Saddle River, on which the
village of Hackensack is now partly located, and there he died,
universally respected, in 1724. All his children remained in
Bergen County, over which their descendants are thickly scattered.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 107-108.
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