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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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