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RALPH VAN VALEN
Originally published in 1900 |
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RALPH VAN VALEN.- On the paternal side the Van Valens of
Bergen County are of German extraction and on the maternal side French.
In 1593 Hans (John) Verveele (1). the son of a prominent German citizen
residing in the City of Cologne, is known to have married Catharine
Oliviers, daughter of John Oliviers, a prominent French merchant at Cologne.
There Hans resided with his wife until the fires of religious intolerance
which culminated in the expulsion of all the Protestants drove
the couple to Amsterdam, Holland, about 1610. In 1594 Hans and Catharine
had a son, Daniel Verveele (2), born to them, who in 1615, five years
after their flight from Cologne, married Anna Elkhart and became, like his
father, a shopkeeper in Amsterdam. By Anna Elkhart Daniel (2) had four
children of the third generation from Hans, the eldest of whom was John
Verveele (who wrote the name Vervelen), born at Amsterdam about 1617.
John (3) was well raised and educated, as his subsequent career shows. In
1636 he married Anna Jaarsfelt, by whom he had three children of the
fourth generation from Hans. Early in 1657 John Vervelen (3) and several
others left Amsterdam for New York, with their wives and children, and
arrived at the latter place early in April. The first thing John did was to
enroll himself as a burgher of the city (April 24, 1657) and to unite with
the Dutch church. By two purchases of land on June 4 and May 16, 1664,
he became a large landowner. His social habits won him friends and
popularity, and he soon found himself at home in the brewery business with
Isaac de Forest, a prominent French refugee. In 1660 he was elected
Schout, but was defeated the next year. This disgusted him, as we find
him joining the Harlem settlement in 1663, whence he was sent as a delegate
to the Colonial General Assembly and where he became one of the
original patentees of the Harlem patent in 1667. The several important
public duties intrusted to him and his long retention therein, particularly
s ferry-master, evidence the favor in which he was held. When his second
lease of the ferry expired his son, Daniel Vervelen, in his behalf petitioned
Governor Dongan (166S) for its renewal. He was told to hold the premises
until further orders to the contrary. Four years later Frederick Phillipse
brought suit in the New York Colonial Court to eject him from the Island
of Paparinima, which Phillipse claimed under a title derived from Vanderbeck.
The Council defended Vervelen's title, but, the Governor having
proposed to build a bridge across the Spuyten Duyvil, the Mayor and Aldermen
ousted Vervelen by an order of the court dated July 19, 1693. Vervelen
was then employed to build a bridge connecting Harlem and Phillipsburgh
Manor, called King's Bridge, and to collect tolls. He died between
1669 and 1702. His children of the fourth generation were Daniel, Anna,
and Maria. In 1652 Daniel Vervelen (4), then a mere boy, came to America, seven years ahead of his father, John (3). On his way over he was in the care of the Rev. Gideon Schaats, a prominent Dutch divine then seeking an asylum in America. Dominie Schaats had a daughter Alida, to whom Daniel became very much attached, and whom he married three years later. He embarked in trade in 1655, but joined his father at New York soon after the latter's arrival. He joined the Dutch church in 1661. Both he and his father owned lots in Prince (now Beaver) Street. There also they ran an extensive brewery business. Daniel (4) sided with the English in 1667, and was assaulted and severely injured by the Dutch populace. Several years later he removed to New Utrecht, Long Island. Thence he went to Spuyten Duyvil. He died about 1715. His children of the fifth generation were Anna Maria, Johanna, Henry, Bernardus, Rynear, Gideon, Frederick, and John. On the 5th of March, 1701, four of the sons of Daniel (4): John, Gideon, Rynear, and Bernardus, bought of the heirs of Balthazar de Hart 2,100 acres of land at Closter, in Bergen County, extending west from the Hudson River to the Tiena Kill Brook. Their title was for some years in dispute, and after much trouble Bernardus succeeded in obtaining title to the whole tract in 1708. He settled on it and his descendants have become numerous in the county. Bernardus (5), born about 1670, married (1) Sophia la Maiter and (2) Jannetie Vanderbeck, and had a number of children of the sixth generation, among whom were Alida, Isaac, Cornelia, Daniel, John, Hester, Frederick, Abram, James, and Bernardus. Ralph Van Valen, the subject of this sketch, is of the tenth generation from Hans Verveele, first mentioned, and of the fifth generation from Bernardus (5). He is a grandson of Isaac Van Valen and Elizabeth Hern and Abram and Margery (Wortendyke) Post and the son of John Van Valen and Maria Post. He was born at Pascack, N. J., March 27, 1858, and received his education in the schools of Bergen County. At the age of sixteen he began active life on his father's farm, but two years later entered the employ of the New Jersey and New York Railroad, remaining six years. He then learned the painting trade and has since followed that business with marked success. He has served as Constable of the Borough of Woodcliff, where he resides.
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