Upper Saddle River’s Early Families
These and many other early families are described in detail with additional photos and ephemera in the Lore of Upper Saddle River by William Yeomans, available for purchase on our shop page.
HOPPER FAMILY
Above is the Nicausie Hopper homestead circa 1890 on what is now Hopper Farm Road. Pictured in front in the Union cap are Nicausie’s grandson, John A. Hopper, b. 1828 and his wife Maria Tallman at the far right. Their two children, Hannah and Tunis, are sitting with their grandmother. Holding the horses is Nicholas Sutton, an African American who worked on the farm. According to family history, while he did not serve in the Union army, John A. Hopper was a great horseman and rode north to Canada to procure horses for the Union Army.
The Hopper family is one of the oldest of European descent in Bergen County. Andries Hopper came from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam in the 1640’s. His widow and her son Hendrick were in the Polifly area (Hackensack) by the late 1600s. There was land to be had in the unsettled areas of what became Bergen County. Hendrick’s two oldest sons, Andries and Jan settled in the HoHoKus area (part of Paramus) around 1712. The Hopper name appears on many old homes and mills on early maps of the area. It was two of Andries’ children, Abram and Jan, who settled sometime around 1730 along the Saddle River in what is now Upper Saddle River.
“The first Abraham in the Hopper family in this country was an Abram, born on Apr. 28, 1710, the son of Andries Hopper and Abigail Ackerman. He had a brother, Jan, born in 1712. It would seem likely that these two settled here about 1730 or so and were responsible for the long line of Hoppers that followed...In 1778 [the Hopper-Goetschius house] was owned by John Hopper, who according to the 1779 tax list, had 275 improved acres, six horses, eight cows and six hogs.”
…Claire Tholl, Early Days of Upper Saddle River
At one time or another, there were Hoppers living all the way up the East Road from the Upper Cross Road to north of the Old Stone Church parsonage. There were Hoppers living on the West Road and Lake Street and on Old Stone Church Road. There were five Hopper mills in the Valley that we know of. There were so many Hoppers, in fact, that it is hard to sort them all out. To complicate matters, some married second and third cousins.
There were still Hoppers living in Upper Saddle River until about 2010, descended from the last two of John A. and Elizabeth’s sons, twins Nicausie and Jacob J. Hopper, b.1760.
Above is Garret J. Hopper (1821-1894) and his wife, Rachel Ann Ackerman Hopper (1829-1922)
DEBAUN FAMILY
Slipware plate belonging to the debaun family
This plate was given to Anne Yeomans by the Debaun family. It likely dates to around 1800.
Joost DeBaun, a French Huguenot, came to New Netherlands in 1683 and settled in New Utrecht. His grandson Jacob, born in 1722, moved from Paramus to this area in the mid 1700’s and was the first DeBaun here. He married Marytie Thibout of Hackensack. They are both buried in the Old Stone Church cemetery. They had 13 children, and many grandchildren. At one time there were so many DeBauns in the area west of the Saddle River that the section became known as DeBauntown. In the early 20th century there were still a few DeBauns in town. The last DeBauns in town were John, and his son George. See the page on homes for images of some DeBaun houses.
TERHUNE FAMILY
The above photo taken c. 1910 at 409 West Saddle River Road shows Ethel Terhune, her brother-in-law James A. Duryea and her sister Bertha standing. Seated are Edgar M. Terhune and Elizabeth DeBaun Terhune.
Albartus Terhune purchased 330 acres on October 27,1746 from Isaiah Valleau and his wife Leah. The property was located along what is now the West Saddle River Road and ran from south of Lake Street northward to the Jacobus Debane [DeBaun] property line. Many Terhune homes were built on this property. The oldest existing one is the Terhune-Hopper stone house on Lake Street and the West Saddle River Road, built about 1780 (see page on houses). John E. Hopper and his wife Elizabeth Terhune were the last to live there.
GOETSCHIUS FAMILY
This tintype pictures Stephen J. Goetschius, 1820-1893, with his brother John Henry Goetschius, born in 1839, and John Henry’s wife Deborah. They had a farm in Ramapo, NY. At right is a tintype of Stephen J. Goetschius’ wife Maria Eckerson.
Mauritz Goetschi, a Swiss minister born in 1689, came to America with his wife, nine children, and 400 of his Swiss followers. He died within two months of his arrival in Philadelphia in 1735. Three of his sons followed in his footsteps and became ministers in the colonies. John Henry Goetschius was the most famous, preaching fearlessly on freedom of religion and speech, and freedom from European taxation. He was one of the founders of Queens College, now Rutgers University.
John Henry’s son, Stephen, born in 1752, held a degree from Princeton and became a minister like his father. He served churches in Ulster County, NY until 1814, when he accepted a joint call from the Saddle River Reformed Dutch Church and the newly founded Pascack church, serving as pastor of both. He was 62 at the time, and served in the Old Stone Church until he was 82, retiring in 1834. The Rev. Stephen Goetschius lived in the Hopper-Goetschius house until he passed away on Jan. 16, 1837. In his will the house went to his son John Henry Goetschius. The house remained in the Goetschius family for over 150 years.
The Reverend’s grandson, also a Stephen J. Goetschius, was a very successful farmer, doubling the acreage of his farm. He was the one responsible for the alterations to the house in 1860. He and his wife Maria Eckerson had 8 children. Their youngest son George inherited the house.
George married Kate Fisher from the Masonicus area of Mahwah. Kate was a talented craftsperson. The house has drawers full of items made by Kate, from lacework and embroidery to homemade dresses and hats, but Kate was best known for her quilts. She and her sisters quilted in her parlor. They sold homemade quilts, hung on a line near the road. There were 33 of her quilts still in the house, a treasure.
They had three sons, Steven J., David and William E. Goetschius. Steve, the oldest, inherited the house, possibly because he had a disability. A polio attack when he was 16 months old paralyzed his left leg and left him with a limp that worsened in old age. In his last years he had to use crutches—his crutches still rest in the corner of his “office” at the Hopper-Goetschius house.
George Goetschius and Kate Fisher Goetschius lived in the Goetschius House (Museum). They were married in 1880. They were Steve's parents. After Steve and Lizzie were married, they shared the Hopper-Goetschius house with George and Kate. This Photo was taken about 1890
Kate Fisher Goetschius held a family reunion on the lawn beside the outkitchen around 1950. Kate’s granddaughter, Dorothy Dunn is front left with her son on her lap and her brother William B. to her right. Kate is on the far right right with her sisters sitting behind her. Steve Goetschius is in the back center.
POST FAMILY
In 1859 Anna Maria Post, the daughter of Henry Pohlman Post, married Henry Hall Goetschius, b. 1838, the son of John Zabriskie Goetschius, a nephew of the Rev. Stephen Goetschius. Henry was living with his brother Louis DuBois Goetschius on Sparrowbush Road. The Post house was on corner of Sparrowbush and the West Road. Henry Pohlman Post gave them the property across from his mill on which to build. The house is still there on the SE corner of Old Stone Church Road and the West Road.
The Post family was of Dutch descent. The first Post was a soldier, who came here to protect the new settlements along the Hudson. They soon turned to milling; the name Post is attached to several mills in Bergen and Rockland Counties. Joseph Post, born in 1775, built a mill on the west branch of the Saddle River about 1800. He also opened a tavern and store on what is now West Saddle River Road, just north of Parker Place, across from the entrance to the mill.
As justice of the peace, Joseph Post conducted court in his tavern, often serving as the judge, jury, prosecutor and defense attorney all at once, and carrying out sentences at the whipping tree, a large white oak, which stood across the street from the tavern.
Joseph’s son, Henry Pohlman Post, was also a justice of the peace. His grandson, William Post carried on the tradition of law enforcement. He served Upper Saddle River as marshal, until his death in 1914. The mill operated at different times as a sawmill and gristmill; from 1870 on it was a grist mill. It was the last operating mill in the area.
Another Post, John, ran a saw and turning mill on Hillside Avenue, which later became known as Duffy’s Distillery, famous in the local area for its applejack.
HENNION FAMILY
Andrew Hennion with oxen on his property on Pleasant Avenue.
Nathaniel Pieterson Hennion was a French Huguenot who fled to Holland because of religious persecution, and c. 1662 came to the New World and settled in Nieu Amsterdam. Descendants moved to Bergen County in the early 1700’s. Andrew Hennion was the first to live in Upper Saddle River, purchasing the 1750s home and property off Pleasant Avenue from Abraham Van Riper c. 1858. They added a Victorian addition on the north side. The Hennion family lived in this home for over a hundred years. Andrew was a ship’s carpenter by trade, but with his son James, he farmed the land here. For 56 years, James took produce to the Newark and Paterson markets.
CARLOUGH FAMILY
D.J. Carlough and his wife Maria May, seated, came to Upper Saddle River in 1838. Standing above them in this c.1883 photo are daughter Margaret Jane with husband Samuel B. Hopper on the left and daughter Maria Amelia with husband Judson Young on the right. Amelia’s daughter Daisy May Young is standing at right and Margaret’s daughter Irene is the baby. Daisy May and Lizzie Carlough Goetschius were good friends.
James D. Carlough was the oldest of David J. Carlough’s sons. He farmed the land that became Apple Ridge Country Club and was elected Upper Saddle River’s first mayor. He must have been a natural leader. He was elected to numerous positions in the grange, including president of the Bergen County Pomona Grange. He and his wife Dorcas Courter are seated with their family, standing from left to right, Dora, David J., Ezra, Arthur,
Annabelle, and Theresa. Standing next to Dorcas is his youngest, Lizzie May, who
married Steve Goetschius.
In 1713 a small group of German Lutheran Palatine men and their families arrived at Ramapo, now Mahwah. One of them was Peter Kerlach (Carlough). Peter Fauconnier, a gentleman in the service of the governor, owned a large part of the Ramapo Tract. The English government wanted these lands developed for farming. It was to Fauconnier’s advantage to rent the land out to be developed. He provided the new tenants with a cow, a horse, bread, pork, salt, sugar, rum, grain, Indian corn, wheat, buckwheat, rye, peas, rope, gunpowder, nails, and white linen. Settlers like Kerlach (Carlough) were to pay rent each year with good winter wheat and fat fowls, forever.
YEOMANS FAMILY
Hopper and Sophie Yeomans posed with their two boys and wives in 1903. In back, left to right, are Anna Helms and William H. Yeomans, b. 1884, and John Yeomans, b. 1883 and his wife Lillian Mather. Hopper’s horse hames, to which traces are attached, is shown above.
Christopher Yeomans came to Hempstead, Long Island, c. 1650 with other English settlers — Coe, Smith, Conklin, Secor, Halstead. In the early 1700s some of these families moved to what they called New Hempstead in Rockland County. Descendants of all these families lived in Upper Saddle River.
In 1865 William H. Yeomans moved to Upper Saddle River from Wyckoff and built the farmhouse on the northwest corner of the West Road and Ripplewood Drive. He was a builder by trade and built the Old Stone Church parsonage.
William H. started the N.J. Sash and Blind Co. in Paterson, and his son, Ira Hopper (Hop) Yeomans, who was a butcher in Allendale, took over the farmhouse. He walked to his Allendale butcher shop. Hop’s son, another William H. (b. 1884), ran a sand and gravel business with three large pits extending up what is now Ripplewood to Colonial Terrace. In 1928 he founded Anona Park, which was in business from 1928-1967. He served as mayor from 1932 to 1937. When William H. died in 1954, the farmhouse was sold.