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BIOGRAPHY OF
ELMER WILSON DEMAREST.
ELMER WILSON DEMAREST is a direct descendant of Jean des Marest
(1), a prominent citizen and resident of Beauchamp in the Province
of Picardy, France. There, about 1620, was born his son, David
des Marest (2), who, upon reaching manhood, espoused the Protestant
faith and fled to Holland to escape persecution, locating at
Middleburgh on the Island of Walcheron in Zeeland. Here, on
July 24, 1643, David married Maria, a daughter of François
Sohier, of Nieppe, a town in Hainault. The couple resided at
Middleburgh until 1651, when they removed to Manheim on the Rhine
River, in the lower Palatinate, then under the protection of
the Elector Charles Lewis. At Manheim, the Protestants were
already being threatened by the Catholic princes and David des
Marest, with others of a like religious faith, determined to
go to America for safety. Accordingly, early in the spring of
1663 they journeyed down the Rhine to Amsterdam, where they embarked
for New Amsterdam on the ship "Spotted Cow," reaching
the latter port on April 16, 1663. Des Marest first went with
his wife and three sons to Staten Island, where they joined the
Huguenot settlement, recently started. The following year he
was elected to represent the settlement in the provincial assembly.
The savages proving troublesome, Demarest bought and located
on lands at New Harlem, then a name applied to the upper end
of Manhattan Island. Here he prospered, acquired several town
lots, and became prominent in town affairs. In 1677, a tax having
been levied on him for the support of the Dutch Church at Harlem,
he refused to pay it, claiming immunity therefrom because he
was neither an attendant nor a communicant of the Dutch Church.
The "powers that be" sued him for the tax, procured
judgment, and proceeded by execution and levy to collect it.
This angered Demarest and he determined to leave Harlem. On
the 8th of June, 1677, he purchased from the Hackensack and Tappan
Indians a large tract (estimated at about 6,000 acres) of land
on the east bank of the Hackensack River, extending northward
from New Bridge. By subsequent purchase he added an extensive
tract west of the Hackensack, on which he built two mills. He
built his family residence at what is now Old Bridge and erected
a French Church on the east side of the river, a little west
of the Schraalenburgh road. The lands he purchased were claimed
by several white persons and by the savages. Some of these claims
were not extinguished until after his death. He died in New
York City in 1693, leaving a will by which he devised all his
lands to this two surviving sons, John and Samuel, and to his
very numerous grandchildren.
David des Marest, Jr. (3), the second of the emigrant's sons,
died in 1691, before the decease of his father. At the time
of his death he was residing east of the Hackensack on part of
his father's original patent near Schraalenburgh. He was born
at Manheim in the lower Palatinate in 1652, and married, April
4, 1675, Rachel, daughter of Pierre Crasson, a French refuse.
His occupation was that of a farmer. He had twelve children:
David, Peter, Susanna, Rachel, Jacobus D., Samuel, Mary, Daniel,
Benjamin, Jacomina, Lea, and Lydia.
Jacobus Davids des Marest (4), the fifth of these, baptized
at New York October 3, 1681, married (1) Lea De Groot and (2)
Margaretta Cozine Haring. Farming was his principal occupation
and he held several township offices. He resided in the Schraalenburgh
district and left at his death twelve children, of whom Garret
Jacobse Demarest (5), born at Schraalenburgh, June 30, 1725,
died there December 17, 1798, married, in 1747, Jacomina (Tunis)
Helms. They resided at Schraalenburgh, where Garret pursued
the calling of a farmer. His issue were fifteen children, of
whom Abraham Garrets Demarest (6) was born at Schraalenburgh,
where Garret pursued the calling of a farmer. His issue were
fifteen children, of whom Abraham Garrets Demarest (6) was born
at Schraalenburgh March 16, 1767, and died there March 18, 1860.
He married Margaret Demarest, a relative, born December 3, 1761,
died May 16, 1832. Abraham was a farmer and left three children:
Garret A., John A., and James A.
John A. Demarest (7), born April 11, 1798, died May 23, 1864,
married, in 1818, Jane, daughter of Peter Merseles, born March
3, 1803, died September 22, 1888. He purchased and resided,
at the time of his death, on lands at what is now Eastwood, N.
J., where, on his death, he left two children: Margaretta J.,
wife of Albert Z. Ackerman, and Abraham J. Demarest. He was
a cattle dealer, purchasing cattle in the west and selling them
in New York, under the firm name of Demarest & Grant. He
also conducted an importing house of willowware, etc., in New
York, and a country grocery store on the farm at Eastwood.
Abraham J. Demarest (8), born at Eastwood, N. J., April 30,
1840, married May 18, 1859, Eliza W., daughter of Jacob G. H.
Lozier, of Teaneck, now Englewood. She was a descendant of Peter
Wilson, a Scotchman, who held the degree of Doctor of Laws, and
was for some time a member of the faculty of Columbia College,
New York. Abraham J. followed farming until his father's death,
when he removed to Closter, N. J., where he conducted a meat
market until 1892, when he retired from business and is now residing
at Bayonne, N. J. He has had three children: Nettie Marcella,
married Horace Roberson, a lawyer, at Bayonne; Edwin S., died;
and Elmer Wilson, the subject of this sketch.
Elmer Wilson Demarest (9) was born at Eastwood, N. J., May
15, 1870. He was educated in the public schools of Closter,
N. J., the Rutgers Preparatory School, Rutgers College, and Columbia
Law College, graduating from the last named institution as a
Bachelor of Laws in 1892. He was admitted to the New Jersey
bar as an attorney in February, 1892, and as a counselor in June,
1895, and to practice in the United States Courts in January,
1897. Since his admission he has practiced law in Bayonne and
Jersey City, and has been successful in litigations, having conducted
a number of important cases. He is counsel for a number of corporations.
He not only stands high in his profession, but is also prominent
as a Republican leader, having always affiliated with the Republican
party. He has shown great activity in this connection. In 1892
he was a member of the Bergen County Republican Executive Committee.
He has been a member and Vice-President of the Hudson County
Republican Committee from 1893 to the present time. He is also
a Trustee and a member of the Executive Committee of that organization.
In 1897 he was elected to the New Jersey House of Assembly,
was prominently connected with the equal taxation measure of
that year, and conducted the fight in the House for the Voorhees
Judiciary Constitutional amendments. He is a member of the New
Jersey Athletic Club of Bayonne, of the Newark Bay Boat Club
of Bayonne, and of the Palma Club of Jersey City.
On September 9, 1896, Mr. Demarest married Miss Blanche Adeline
Bristow, of Bayonne, and they have one child, Kenneth E. Demarest
(10) born August 14, 1897.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 64-66.
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