The lusty Swedish youth were sorely tempted by the fertility and productiveness of the soil, and by the prosperity of the people, to make Holland their future abiding place. It is a well known fact that thousands of them, upon the expiration of their terms of military service, yielded to this temptation. Among this number was a youth named Thomas Tomaszen, who had bravely fought under the Protestant banner of Gustavus on the bloody field of Leipsic in 1631. On his way home he chanced to stop at Zell in the Province of Munsterland, where he became so smitten with the country, and with a sprightly little Dutch maiden, that he was constrained to make the place his home. He married the little maiden, of course, and settled down to agricultural pursuits at Zell, where, somewhere about 1640, his son, John Tomaszen, first saw the light of day. It is said that during his youth John learned the trade of blacksmith. If so, he does not seem to have plied it for a livelihood. In the summer of 166:) we find him emigrating to America, landing at New York. The same fall we find him marrying a respectable Dutch lass named Appolonia Cornelisen Siotz and settling on a farm east of the Bowery, not far above where St. Mark's Church now stands. On this farm, which he successfully managed for thirty years, he died in 1692.

He had eleven children, all but one of whom grew to maturity and reared large families. On the baptismal record all these children are entered as being the offspring of John and Appolonia Tomaszen, but it appears that two or three years before their father's death these children adopted the surname of Eckse. During the next twenty years this name, Eckse, passed through as many as a dozen different orthographical variations until at last it became Eckerson. Of late years one branch of the family has supplanted the "E" by "A," making it Ackerson.

Of these eleven Tomaszen children of the second generation Cornelius, the third, was born in New York in April, 1671, and was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father's farm near the Bowery. The woman who became his wife was Miss Wellempie Flierboom, a daughter of Matthew Flierboom, then Judge of the Court at Albany, N. Y. The marriage was solemnized in the Dutch church in New York in August, 1693. Cornelius resided on the old homestead until 1714, when with his wife and five children he removed to Old Tappan, in Bergen County, where he bought of the patentees of the Orangetown patent three hundred acres of heavily wooded land, which he cleared, tilled, and added to by purchase until his death. His descendants of the eighth generation still reside on portions of it. All the Eckersons and Ackersons of Bergen County are descended from him. The old farm originally comprised the Herrick farm, now occupied by A. U. Todd. It also included the farm now occupied by Jacob B. Eckerson, one of his descendants.

Cornelius Eckerson (3) and his wife, Wellempie Flierboom, had issue of the fourth generation five children: Matthew, John, Cornelius, Jacob, and Thomas.

Cornelius (4), born in New York, January 12, 1701, married (1), in 1723, Maria Flaring, who died 1727. He married (2), in 1728, Rachel Blawvelt (written Blawfield). Cornelius resided on the old homestead and had issue of the fifth generation twelve children: Garret C., Cornelius C., Wellempie. Catharine, Maria, John, Abraham. Elizabeth, Rachel, Jacob, David, and Matthew.

Garret C. Eckerson (5), the eldest of the above, was born March 7, 1724, and died May 2, 1798. He married, in 1744, Maria Haring, born January 7, 1724, died December 22, 1798. They resided at Old Tappan, in Bergen County, and had issue of the sixth generation nine children: John G., Maria, Cornelius, Rensye, Cornelius, Elizabeth, Margaret, Abram G., and Brechie.

Abram G. Eckerson (6) was born September 6, 1770, and died May 10, 1847. He married Catharine Smith, born May 24, 1774, died April 17, 1842. Their children of the seventh generation were James A., Garret A., and Cornelius A.

Cornelius A. Eckerson (7) was born at Old Tappan, in Bergen County, July 21, 1801, and died July 28, 1839. He married, February 15, 1823, Catharine Meyers, born in 1803, died in 1892. They had issue of the eighth generation Abram C., Rebecca, and Margaret.

Abram C. Eckerson (8) was born at Old Tappan and married Matilda Demarest, daughter of Garret and Agnes (Westervelt) Demarest. They had children of the ninth generation Catharine, Garret D., Cornelius A., Rachel, Margaret, John A., Matilda, Abram C., and Frederick, of whom Cornelius A. Eckerson (9) is the subject of this sketch.

Cornelius A. Eckerson (9) was born at Harrington Park, N. J., June 7, 1849, and acquired his education in Bergen County. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he worked for three years on the farm, and then served a four years' apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade, mastering every branch. At the end of that time he engaged in the blacksmithing and carriage building business for himself and successfully continued in that line for twenty-three and one-half years. He built up a large and profitable trade and gained the confidence of all with whom he came in contact. On December 6, 1893, he was appointed to a position in the New York custom house.