House of John Van Winkle

Översikt

The ancestor of the family was Jacob Walingen, who emigrated to this country by 1639, probably from the village of Winkel in North Holland. He died in the summer of 1657, and his widow Tryntje Jacobs married three times before she died May 11, 1677. Their son Symon Jacobse Van Winckel, bap. Aug. 24, 1653 at New York died 1728-32 married at Bergen Dec 15, 1675, Annatje Sip of New York, sister of Jan Adriaensen Sip, owner of the house at Bergen. He was allotted two tracts in the Acquackanonk patent of 1685, and settled on the west side of the Passaic River in the present Passaic, near the Van Wagenings to the north and the Sips to the south. His son Simeon Van Winkle, bap. August 6, 1686, died 1775, lived several miles further north near the ford at the Bogt at the west side of the Passaic River (now the easter part of Paterson). His house of white washed stone was often referred to in deeds as the White House; it was torn down in 1828. He had 20 children by his two wives.

John S. Van Winkle, born 1723, was a son by the first wife, Prientje Van Giesen, daughter of Abraham Van Giesen, probable owner of the house at Third River in Essex County. On February 9, 1730 Richard Ashfield sold a tract at Wagaraw to Gerrit Gerritse, who on June 8, 1743 sold 212.5 acres to Simeon Van Winkle of Essex County; on October 26, 1774 Simeon Van Winkle, shortly before he died, deeded to his son John the 212.5 acre tract where John was then living at Wagaraw. Wagaraw was the name of the region above the most northerly bend of the Passaic River, north of the present Paters on. The settlement in the northern part of Wagaraw along the Wagaraw or Goffle Brook came to be called the Goffle. It was here that John S. Van Winkle settled some time between 1743 and 1774. The old part of the present house is said to have been built by him in 1761. On December 5, 1746 at Acquackanonk he married Janneke Ryerson of New York, and had two sons. He deeded the Wagaraw tract to his son Simeon on May 24, 1783, but lived many years longer, and probably continue to occupy his home until he died in January 1816. His son Simeon J. Van Winkle born December 12, 1749, died November 4, 1828, aged 78 years, 10 months and 22 days, married Claesje, daughter of Cornelis Gerritse. Although his father deeded him the Wagaraw homestead, he did not reside here; he was known as Simeon of the Bogt, and lived at Riverside in a stone house destroyed about 1880.

Simeon's son Judge John S. Van Winkle, born November 13, 1784, lived on his grandfather's place at the Goffle and built the main part of the present house in 1811. He ran a grist mill here. On March 24, 1805 he married Jannetje, daughter of Pieter Kip, born January 14, 1788. He and his wife were foully murdered the night of January 9, 1850 by John Johnson, an English farmhand whom Judge Van Winkle sympathetically released from jail, where he had been lodged on some complaint. This murder is still the theme of conversation in the district. Their surviving son Cornelius Van Winkle, born September 9, 1806 died May 26, 1873, married May 31, 1826, Catrina Leah Van Dean, born March 4, 1809. They lived at the Goffle, at Riverside, and later in Paterson. The place at the Goffle was inherited by their only son Simon Peter Van Winkle, born July 6, 1831, married October 10, 1852 Maria Ackerman; they lived however, at Paterson. Their daughter Jennie Van Winkle married Aaron Van Houton of Passaic, and the property at the Goffle was sold by her estate about 1901. It was purchased by Thomas Arnold whose son Ivan Arnold is the present owner (1936). Until the Arnolds purchased it, the house had been occupied for many years by farmhands, tenants of the Van Winkles. In 1942, Dr. Claude Van Stone purchased the house in an auction and passed it down to his daughter, Jean Brennan, who sold it in 2002.

It has been stated that Judge Van Winkle replaced his grandfather's old house in 1811 by a larger stone dwelling. But the present wing certainly dates from his grandfather's time, and it is probable that the wing formed the whole of the early house, and that Judge Van Winkle greatly enlarged it rather than tearing down some of it. The old wing was built by John Van Winkle at some time after his marriage in 1746 and before 1774; the date 1761 has been ascribed to it. The old house is built of rough stone laid in irregular courses, and is covered by a steep gable roof extending in front to form an overhang. The main house has a cornerstone dated 1811; it is characteristic of the period, built of well-dressed stone, and covered by a gambrel roof which has a beautiful curving slope. The main house contains unusually beautiful specimens of carved woodwork of the period and a panelled over-mantel. The house is on the northwest side of the Goffle Road, on the opposite side of which runs the Goffle Brook. It stands at the foot the Goffle Hill Road leading to Sicomac and the Ponds settlements, and is less than 2 miles north of the north bend of the Passaic River.

Hawthorne
updated 04/2012 by HawthorneNJ