|
BIOGRAPHY OF
RAYMOND P. WORTENDYKE
RAYMOND P. WORTENDYKE is descended from Cornelius Jacobse,
alias Stille (or The Silent), a farmer, who, with his brother
John, came to New Amsterdam from Amsterdam Holland, in 1639.
Shortly after their arrival they assumed the surname of Somerendyke.
Cornelius, after remaining a short time in New Amsterdam, bought
and located on a plantation at Bushwick, L. I. From thence he
removed to what is now the Williamsburgh district of Brooklyn.
In 1664 he took the oath of allegiance to the British king,
at which time he was residing on a farm of one hundred acres
in what was formerly the Greenwich district of New York City.
He married (1) August 24, 1692, Classic Tennis and (2) July
28, 1695, Tryntie Wallings Van Winkle, of Amsterdam, Holland.
He died in New York in 1679, having had nine children of the
second generation, the oldest of whom was Jacob Corneliesen,
born in 1644, who married, March 11, 1671, Aeltje Fredericks,
an estimable Brazilian lady. Their children were four of the
third generation, to wit: Jacob, Nicholas, Frederick J., and
Cornelius. Frederick (3rd gen.), known as Frederick Jacobsen
Somerendyke, located on the upper west side of Manhattan Island.
He and his descendants adopted the surname of Wortendyke, while
those of his brothers retained that of Somerendyke. The old
Somerendyke mansion house, built of stone, stood, a few years
ago, on the Bloomingdale road near West Seventy-fifth Street.
Frederick (3d gen.) married, June 10, 1707, Divertie Rynearsen
Quackenbush, a granddaughter of Peter Quackenbush, of Oostergeest,
Holland. About 1722 Frederick removed to Bergen County, N. J.,
where he purchased several tracts of land, the principal one
of which was nearly five hundred acres in area of what is now
Park Ridge, formerly Pascack. On this tract, lying on both sides
of Pascack Brook, he built his residence and two or more mills.
He was the founder of the Pascack settlement and left a large
landed estate. After his death his will became the subject of
a long litigation. His children of the fourth generation were
Aeltie, Rynier, Elizabeth, Frederick F., and Classic.
Frederick F. Wortendyke (4th gen.), born in New York City,
April 10, 1720, married April 3, 1748, Sara Peters Durie, of
Pascack. By the will of his father he obtained half of the homestead
at Pascack on which he resided, besides lands at Tappan and on
the Palisades. He died about 1770, leaving issue of the fifth
generation Frederick, Jannetje, Jacobus, Marya, Elizabeth, Judith,
Peter F., Sara, Susanna, Divertie, Mensie and John. Of these,
Frederick was taken by the British in 1776 and confined for some
time a prisoner in the old Sugar House in New York.
Peter F. Wortendyke (5th gen.), baptized August 29, 1754,
married Martha Demarest. He resided at Pascack, where he was
a farmer and miller. His children of the sixth generation were
Frederick P., Augenitle, Peter P. and Jacobus.
Peter P., of the sixth generation, born June 15, 1797, died
at Pascack, January 31, 1885. He was farmer and married, January
6, 1816, Maria Banta, by whom he left issue of the seventh generation
Peter P., Maria, Frederick P., Cornelius P., Martha, Laney, and
John.
Peter P. Wortendyke, of the seventh generation, born June
14, 1816, died April 12, 1900. He married Harriet Cummings,
a native of Spring Valley, N. Y. He resided as Pascack and spent
most of his life as a tanner. His children of the eighth generation
were Maria, Raymond P., John H., and Charles P., the second of
who is the subject of this sketch.
Raymond P. Wortendyke (8th gen.), one of the prominent members
of the bar of Jersey City, was born at Pascack, Bergen County,
N. J., December 30, 1845. He is the youngest son of Peter P.
and Harriet (Cummings) Wortendyke, and inherits from a long line
of ancestors on both sides the sturdy characteristics of his
race. He attended the public schools at Pascack and Hackensack,
Bergen County, and was graduated from the New Jersey State Normal
School at Trenton, June 15, 1862. Subsequently he taught school
for upward of seven years, during the last three of which he
was connected with Hasbrouck Institute in Jersey City. In the
meantime he studied law in Jersey City three and one-half years
in the office of Hon. Jacob R. Wortendyke, member of Congress,
and for six months with Hon. William Brinckerhoff, State Senator.
He was admitted to the bar at Trenton as an attorney June 3,
1869, and as counselor June 6, 1872, and for over thirty years
has been actively and successfully engaged in the general practice
of his profession, his present office being in Jersey City.
Mr. Wortendyke resides in Englewood, Bergen County, where
he has served as a public school trustee for twenty years and
as counselor of the old Public Road Board for ten years. He
has been counsel for the Township of Englewood for many years,
and is now City Attorney for the City of Englewood. During his
career at the bar he has been connected with a number of important
cases in which he has displayed marked ability, sound judgment,
untiring industry, and great force of character. He is public
spirited, progressive, and patriotic, thoroughly identified with
the best interests of the community, and holds a prominent place
at the bar.
Mr. Wortendyke has been twice married, first on December 30,
1869, to Caroline, daughter of Levi and Wilhelmina (Ackerman)
Gurnee, of Pascack, N. J., who died February 11, 1895. On September
29, 1897, he married Mrs. Ann E. H. (Demarest) Gurnee, of Hackensack,
daughter of David A. Demarest, of Tenafly, Bergen County.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties,
New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey
Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 91-93.
|
