HISTORY
OUR CHURCH
Our church, known to many as the Old Stone Church, was organized in 1784 as a daughter church of the Old Paramus Church. It is a part of the Reformed Church in America, a denomination which traces its roots to the Dutch colonists.
While there is evidence that the original church building was erected in 1789, our present sanctuary was built in 1819. An extensive renovation in 1971 – 1972 recreated the appearance of the original structure.
OUR CEMETERY
Our cemetery is the resting place of numerous American Revolution and Civil War Veterans. Church records indicate that the following veterans have been buried at our historic site.
VETERANS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1756-12/26/1820 Stone OK, No Marker
Row 1 Second Regt, Orange County Militia
West of Driveway Page 158, New York in The Revolution
David DeBaun was born in Schraalenburg (Bergenfield) in 1759 to Abraham DeBaun and Bridget Ackerman. About 1770 the family moved to Hempstead in New York. David served as a private in the Second Regiment of Hay’s Militia, Captain Garret Ackerson’s Company. He married Hannah Forshay, b. 1868, d. 1836. David died in New Hempstead, NY in 1820. He was tax officer of Hempstead in 1811 and 1812; supervisor of Haverstraw 1811-1814. An enclosed plot in the Upper Saddle River Cemetery is the resting place of his entire family.
1/23/1738-3/12/1811 Stone OK, Has Marker
Row 3 Second Regt. Orange County Militia
No. 22 Page 157, New York in the Revolution
David Thomas Eckerson, was born in Schraalenburgh (Bergenfield) in 1738. He married Angenetye Vanderbeek and they had a sons Thomas, Paul, Jon, David and Aurie and daughters Hannah, Mary and Angenetye. He is on the Revolutionary War rolls in Rockland County. Revolutionary War veteran Peter van Orden was an executor to his will.
2/10/1742-6/7/1838 Stone OK – Has Marker
Row 2 Second Regt, Orange County Militia
No. 9 Page 157, New York in the Revolution
Jacob Corneiliszen Eckerson, was born to Cornelius Corneliszen Eckerson and Rachel Johannesen Blauvelt in 1742 in Tappan, NY, where his father Cornelius had purchased 300 acres in 1718. He married Leah Westervelt b. 1745. He died In Ramapo, Rockland County, NY in 1838. He is on the Revolutionary War rolls in 1778 as a private.
9/8/1745-9/25/1818 Stone OK, No Marker
Row 3 PVT, NJ
No. 17 Page 195, New York in the Revolution
Thomas Eckerson, 1745-1818, was married to Cornelia Eckerson. They had children, Thomas Eckerson, Edward T. Eckerson, Maria Eckerson Crouter, and Jacob Eckerson. He is listed as a Private, New Jersey Regiment. He also served in the War of 1812.
10/25/1752-1/16/1837 Stone OK, No Marker
Row 1
No. 1 Page 195, New York in the Revolution, Supplement
Goetschius was not a soldier. He worked to raise money and supplies for the war effort and is recognized as a “Patriot” of the American Revolution.
1755-12/8/1832 Stone OK, No Marker
Row 4 Second Regt. Orange County Militia
No. 27 Page 159, New York in the Revolution
Abraham G. Haring was born in 1755 in Tappan, Orange, NY to Garret J. Haring and Cornelia Lent. He married Elizabeth Blauvelt. He died in 1832 in Hempstead, Rockland, NY. He served in the Revolutionary War 1775-1783, Coopers Regiment, NY Militia.
New Jersey Regiment 1764-1840
Adolphus Shuart served in Hay’s Regiment, New York Militia. He was born in 1764 in Paramus to William Shuart and Catriena Van Deursen. He married Aaltje Catherine Eleanor Ackerman 1772-1853. In 1800 they were living in Montgomery, Orange County, NY. He died in Franklin Twp. in 1840.
9/3/1751-2/7/1839 Stone OK, Has Marker
Row 5 Second Regt. Orange County Militia
No. 21 Page 160, New York in the Revolution
John Tallman was a Sergeant in Hays Regiment of Militia, Orange County, NY Militia, Company of Captain Hogenkamp, William Sickles, and Aurie Smith, and is listed on the Revolutionary War pension records. He was born in Tappan, the son of Jan Tallman and Helena Gerritse Blauvelt. He married Margrietje Forseur (Forshay). He died in New Hempstead, NY in 1839.
6/4/1753-1/14/1805 Stone OK, No Marker
Row 8 Vol. New Jersey
No. 12
John A. Terhune, 1753-1805, was the son of Albert A. Terhune and Elizabeth Doremus. He inherited the stone house on the sw corner of Lake Street and West Saddle River Road, known as the Terhune-Hopper house. He married Catherine Lutkins, daughter of Harman Lutkins of Paramus. He is on the SAR list.
CIVIL WAR VETERANS
1/22/1832 – 1/4/1914
No Unit Information
Stone OK, Has Marker
Union Army 1832-1914
Responding to his country’s call, Garret Ackerman, age 30, voluntarily enlisted to serve in the Union army in the 22nd Regiment, Company D, New Jersey Infantry, a unit made up of men from Bergen County. Like many of the Bergen County men that made up the Twenty-second Regiment, Garret Ackerman was a farmer. He lived just south of Sawmill Road in Saddle River, on the left side, with his wife Rachel Terhune and children. His house is still there. On September 22, 1862, Ackerman was mustered into the Twenty-second Regiment of the New Jersey Infantry, Company D for nine months of duty. The most important engagement of the Regiment occurred on May 2nd and 3rd, 1863, when it joined the Army of the Potomac and fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville. One officer and 40 enlisted men died during service from disease. The Regiment was mustered out at Trenton, June 25, 1863, after nine months of service.
Garret’s wife, Rachel, who grew up on West Saddle River Road just south of Lake Street. They wrote letters to each other, exchanging news and advice and hopes for the future. She wrote about the farm, the Old Stone Church and the Rev. Manley and news of people at home along with her concern for him. Garret wrote to her about camp life and what he would like her to send him and gave her advice on planting and farm matters.
Died 12/11/1888
Co. F 10th N.J. Vol.
Stone OK, No Marker
Private, Co. H 169th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Union Army 1846-1915
Died, 12/2/1897, Age 70 Yrs.
Co.B 74th N.Y. Vol.
Stone OK, No Marker
Infantry Regiment, Excelsior Brigade, Union Army 1827-1897
4/15/1840 – 12/13/1905
5th N.Y.Vol. Inf.
Stone OK, No Marker
(aka Duryee’s Zouaves led by Colonel Abram Duryee), Union Army and Veteran Reserve Corps
Philip Lee Wilson was a successful lawyer, born in 1840 in the Bronx. His grandfather, Richard Riker, was the first District Attorney of New York. His great-grandfather, Peter Wilson (1746-1825), was a friend of The Rev. John Henry Goetschius, the noted evangelical leader during the religious turmoil just before the Revolutionary War. Two of John Henry’s sons, Stephen [The Rev. Stephen J. Goetschius] and Peter, attended Peter Wilson’s Academy in Hackensack, NJ. Peter Wilson was a well-known scholar, served on the Patriot side during the Revolution, and became a NJ Assemblyman, and a classical teacher and interim president of Kings College (Columbia University).
Like his ancestors, Philip was well educated and received his law degree from Columbia in 1860. He enlisted in the Civil War and served with Abram Duryee’s Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, known as Duryee’s Zouaves, one of the first units to arrive in 1861 at Fort Monroe in Virginia after the fall of Fort Sumter. Duryee’s Zouaves was one of the most famous of the Civil War units, mostly for their colorful and flamboyant uniforms, which featured baggy red calico pants and white turbans under which they wore a red fez, captured in a painting by Winslow Homer that is shown on the back. He was wounded, and ended the war as a 2nd Lieutenant and served in the Veteran Reserve Corps.
Like many New Yorkers at the turn of the 20th Century, Philip built a summer home in Bergen County. It was on East Saddle River Road on the east side, just before Locust Lane. Philip Lee Wilson died in 1905 and was buried with his son and brother-in-law in the Old Stone Church Cemetery along with his wife, a son, and a brother-in-law.
The Philip Wilson house built about 1900. Claire K. Tholl wrote in the Bergen County Historic Sites Survey that the Philip P. Wilson house has a place in Upper Saddle River’s developmental history as it represents the type of large country house built by city dwellers in the Saddle River Valley at the turn of the century and is the only one remaining in Upper Saddle River.