FATHER

Jean Des Maret

MOTHER

Possibly Marguerite de Herville

WIFE

Maria Sohier

CHILDREN

1. Jean Demarest
    b. 14 Apr 1645
    m. 9 Sep 1668 Jacomina De Ruine
    m. 23 Mar 1692 Marritje Van Winkle
    m. 20 Dec 1702 Magdalena Laurens
    d. 16 Oct 1719

2. David Demarest
    b. 22 Jun 1649
    d. Bef. Dec 1651

3. David Demarest
    20 Dec 1651
    m. 4 Apr 1675 Rachel Cresson
    d. Aug 1691

4. Samuel Demarest
    b. 5 Aug 1656
    m. 11 Aug 1678 Maria De Ruine
    d. 1728

5. Marie Demarest
    b. 27 Mar 1659
    d. Bef. May 1662

6. Marie Demarest
    b. 17 May 1662
    d. Bef. 26 Aug 1689

7. Daniel Demarest
    b. 7 Jul 1666
    d. 8 Jan 1672

David Demarest
by Susan Brooke
Feb 2021

David Des Maret was  born in 1620 at Beauchamp, twenty-two miles west of Amiens in the district of Cambray.  Some give his date of birth as 20 Jan 1620, but without evidence supporting this date. His parentage is inferred when his father, Jean Des Maret, moved to Middleburg, on the island of Walcheren in Zeeland, escaping the persecution of the Protestants. The record of the church's membership says: Jean de Marts and his family from Calais, 27 January, 1643." When David married Marie Sohier on 24 Jul 1643 in Middleburg, the witnesses to the marriage were Jean des Marets, Francois Sohier, Marguerite de Herville, and Marguerite Sohier. (1) David's inferred parents are Jean des Marets and Marguerite de Herville.
David and Marie had two children baptized while living in Middleburgh, Jean and a son named David who died in infancy. Both of these baptisms were witnessed by Maria's father, François Sohier.(2) In 1651 they moved to Mannheim on the Rhine, drawn by privileges offered by the Elector there.  David was made an elder of that church a year after his arrival.  Four more children were baptized by David and Maria in Mannheim; another son named David and a son named Samuel, both of whom lived to adulthood, and two daughters named Maria, both of whom died without marrying.
The Huguenots were being persecuted in Europe and they heard of  the advantages and freedom in America.  David was now in the prime of life, about forty years old, and with his family at the time consisting of his wife and four children of eighteen, eleven, six and one years old, he embarked for New Netherlands on board of the "Bontecou" or "Spotted Cow," which reached New Amsterdam with its ninety passengers, two thirds of whom were French and Walloons, April 16, 1663. On the passenger list were the names of "David deMarire from Picardie, his wife and four children.  Each adult was charged 39 florins for passage and board, children of ten years and under (except infants) half price.  The bill for the desMarets family was 175 florins, 10 stivers, an exhorbitant amount for that period. (4)  Another passenger on that ship was Adriane Koning. A century later a great grandson of David Demarest married the great-granddaughter of Adriane Koning. (3)
Davis Demarest and family settled on Staten Island, where there was a Huguenot colony, some of its families his friends, no doubt, establishing his home on the eastern shore a little south of the Narrows. (1) After a residence of two years on Staten Island, David Demarest bought property in New Harlem in the autumn of 1665. "David desMarets bought his land from John Montagne, and on October 9, 1666 Montagne brought suit against him, claiming payments had not been made according to the contract terms.  The defense claimed an 'arrest of money in another connection' of which Montagne professed ignorance, and David was ordered by the local court to give up the land with costs. He was dissatisfied with this decision and appealed within three days to the higher court at New Amsterdam.  The higher court reviewed the case, reversed the decision of the lower court as unjust, and ruled that the sale of the property should stand.  David was to repossess the land, and pay the second installment within fourteen days, according to contract. Three months later he was permitted to extend his lot 'out the strand as far as possible.' " (4)
Their son Daniel Demarest was born this same year and baptized on 7 Jul 1666.  Five and half years later he was tragically killed  by a neighboring child. A son of Joost Oblinus, who was about nine or ten, was riding a horse and drawing a sleigh and accidentally ran over Daniel and killed him. (4)
David Demarest became prominent in town affairs. In 1675 the Narragansett Indians were advancing  and David was notified.  He detained them until he could communicate with the Governor.  The governor wrote, "Mr. Constable, I have just now seen, by yours of this day, sent express by William Palmer, of your having stopt 10 or 12 Indian canoes with women, children, corn and baggage, coming as they say from Westchester and going to Wickerscreek but not any pass mentioned. So that you have done very well in stopping the said Indians and giving notice thereof. etc. Your loving friend, E. Andros, N. York, October the 21st, 1675." (4)
The family stayed in New Amsterdam for almost twelve years, but then in 1677, there was a tax levied on him for the support of the Dutch Church at Harlem. "He refused to pay it, claiming immunity there from because he was neither an attendant nor a communicant of the Dutch Church. The 'powers that be' sued him for the tax, procured judgment, and proceeded by execution and levy to collect it. This angered Demarest and he determined to leave Harlem." (5)
David Demarest was a French man, not Dutch, and he wanted to establish a colony for French refugees in New Jersey. "On the 8th of June, 1677, he purchased from the Hackensack and Tappan Indians a large tract of land on the east bank of the Hackensack River, extending northward from New Bridge. By subsequent purchase he added an extensive tract west of the Hackensack, on which he built two mills. He built his family residence at what is now Old Bridge and erected a French Church on the east side of the river, a little west of the Schraalenburgh road. (5) This contract was "known at the French patent. The land was granted with the understanding that he was to settle 45 families on the site.  He failed to secure this number, although he brought with him several groups. (6) And, owing to the fact that it lay partly in the province of New York and partly in the colony of New Jersey, and to other circumstances, Demarest had considerable trouble establishing his claim to the land and procuring a valid title from the provincial government and it is said that before he finally came into peaceable and undisputed possession he had to pay for it four times over (7)  A map of the land he acquired can be seen below. (8) 
On May 1, 1678 the entire family moved to New Jersey. David was 57, his son Jean 33, his son David 28 and his son Samuel 22.  If his daughter Maria was still alive, she would have been 16.  His wife, Maria, was 55.  His home was built between the Old Bridge and the New Bridge between 1578-1580. (9) Unfortunately, his wife Maria came down with small pox and died within a couple of years of their arrival. (6)
At this point, David had three sons and several grandchildren.  He and Maria  had been a witnesses to the baptism of his grandson David, son of his son David in 1676.  And he was also a witness to the baptism of Samuel's daughter, Magdalena, in 1680, but Maria was not present. (10)
"His will was made August 26, 1789. probated July 30, 1697.  An earlier will had been made jointly by him and his wife when they were in New Harlem, February 1, 1672.  --- He left to his maid Anna Coumk, housekeeper no doubt after the death of his wife, one hundred acres of land.  His whole estate with this exception he left to his three sons, Jean, David and Samuel, equal heirs." (11)

Sources 

(1) David Des Marest of the French Patent on the Hackensack and His Descendants by Mary A Demarest and William H. S. Demarest, 1938

David des Marets, son of Jean, born in 1620 at Beauchamp, twenty-two miles west of Amiens in the district of Cambray, apparently lived there or in that vicinity with his family until the removal to Middleburg in 1642 or a little earlier.  At that time, after a period of toleration given by the Edict of Nantes, persecution of the Protestants was again active and was driving thousands of the Reformed faith from their home in France to lands nearby that welcomed them.  In 1641 several Reformed churches in the land of Calais were destroyed.  At Middleburg, on the island of Walcheren in Zeeland, the family joined friends who had preceded them, finding there many Walloons also and a flourishing Walloon church.  The record of the church's membership says: Jean de Marts and his family from Calais, 27 January, 1643.
At Middleburg July 24, 1643, David, grown to manhood, married Marie Sohier, daughter of Francois Sohier. The witness to the marriage were Jean des Marets, Francois Sohier, Marguerite de Herville, and Marguerite Sohier; Jean's wife may have died; or, possibly Marguerite de Herville may have been his wife.  Two children were born at Middleburg and were baptized in the Walloon church.  A few years later, however, in 1651, David removed to Mannheim on the Rhine, drawn with others of the refugees at Middleburg by privileges offered by the Elector Charles Louis of the Lower Palatinate.----
A year after his coming, April 11, 1652, the church was reorganized.  A sermon was preached.  A consistory was elected.  David des Marets was made an elder.  --- At Manheim four children were born to David des Marets and Marie Sohier, one of whom died in infancy; they were baptized in the church, there.  ----  In 1663 the family sailed down the Rhine to Amsterdam and there took ship for America. Their vessel was the Bontekoe or Spotted Cow.  It arrived at New Amsterdam with its ninety passengers, two thirds of whom were French and Walloons, April 16, 1663. --
On arriving in America David des Marest settled on Staten Island, where there was a Huguenot colony, some of its families his friends, no doubt, establishing his home on the eastern shore a little south of the Narrows.  --  He remained on Staten Island only two years.  To his memory a tablet is erected and a column is dedicated in the Huguenot Memorial Church there.
It was probably in the autumn of 1665 that he removed with his wife and three sons, and his daughter if still living, to New Harlem, north of New Amsterdam. -- The Indians were troublesome. --- They moved back to New Amsterdam.  In January 1666 a grant of land was made to him; he added to this by purchase.  His farm and home were on the East River in the present 125th Street vicinity.  --  Another child was bon to him there who was killed by an accident when five or six years of age, was run over in the street by a horse and cart driven by a neighbor's boy.----
He was frequently one of a small representative group signing documents for the community or voicing the interests of it.

(2) Wikitree

Church records

1. 1666 Jul 07 Daniel, David de Mareez, Maria Sorier. Wit.: Walraven. 
2. Record, the Walloon and Huguenot Church, Middleburg

• Marriage: “1643. 4 jullet. Assiste de Jean Marets et Francois Sohier, Marguerite de Herville et Marguerite Sohier: David de Marets, fils de Jean, natif de Beauchamps et Marie Sohier, fille de Francois, native de Nieppe, et le 19 juillet. Marie le 29 juliet.” That is, first banns July 4, second banns July 19, marriage July 29 (24), 1643.
• Baptism: “1645. le 14 Avril: Jean des Marets, fils de David. Tesmoins: Jean le Long et Francois Sohier.”
• Baptism: “1649. le 22 juin: David des Marets, fils de David. Tesmoins: Jean le Long et Francois Sohier.”

1. Record, the Walloon and Huguenot Church, Mannheim:

• Baptism: “David desmarest Marie Sohier sa femme ent fait. Batiser leur fils David ne le 20ne Decembre 1651 et a Este Batise Parle ministre allemann Jean Hendricka Este Parain, et Jeanne Moffi maraine.”
• Baptism: “David desmarets et Marie Sohier sa femme, ent fait batiser leur fils nome Samuel ne le 5me Aoust 1656 et a este Batise le 10me dito lequet a pour Parain Samuel le Sohier et pour Marraine Marguerite dumont.”
• Baptism: “David desmarests et Marie Sohier ent fait batiser leut fille nomee Marie nee le 27ne Mars et a este Batisee le 10me Avril et a en Pour Parain Augustine Munier et pour Maraine Marie flammert femme.”
• Baptism: “David Desmarests et Marie Sohier sa femme ent fait Batiser leur fille le 19me May nee le 17 ne dito 1662 qui a Este nomee Marie et a pour Parain Pierre Moru et pour maraine Marie Gerard jeune fille.”

Children

• David and Marie had the following children:
  1. Jean, bap. Apr. 14, 1645, Middleburg, Netherlands.
  2. David, bap. June 22, 1649, Middleburg, Netherlands.; d. infancy
  3. David, b. Dec. 20, 1651; bap. Dec. 24, 1651, Mannheim.
  4. Samuel, b Aug 5, 1656; bap. Aug 10, 1656, Mannheim.
  5. Marie, b. Mar. 27, 1659; bap. Apr. 10, 1659, Mannheim; d. infancy
  6. Marie, b. May 17, 1662; bap. May 19, 1662, Mannheim; d. young (?)
  7. Daniel, b. at New Harlem; bap. July 7, 1666, recorded in the Doep Boeck of the Dutch church of New York; d. accident; Jan. 8, 1672.

(3) An interesting aside 

Daniel Brouwer, the great grandson of David Demarest, the immigrant, married Maria Koning, the great granddaughter of Adriane Koning, another immigrant, on 10 Oct 1743 in Hackensack, New Jersey.  David Demarest and Adriane Koning came to New York from Amsterdam on the same ship.  The Spotted Cow left Amsterdam on April 16, 1663.

Passenger List Bonte Koe
Sailed from Amsterdam 16 April 1663, arrived in New Amsterdam between 11 May 1663 and 17 August 1663

Adriaen Jansen Konink from Wel, and Wife and four children 8, 6, 4 yrs & 6 mos.

David de Maire, [Demarest] from Picardy, and Wife and four children 18, 12, 6, 1 yr

 (4) The Demarest Family, compiled by the Demarest Family, 1964 xxiii 

pg. xxi
In the group were about 90 persons, men, women and children, the French comprising a third of the number.
On the passenger list were the names of "David deMarire from Picardie, his wife and four children, the ages of the children being eighteen, eleven, six, and one years respectively.  Each adult was charged 39 florins for passage and board, children of ten years and under (except infants) half price.  The bill for the desMarets family was 175 florins, 10 stivers, an exhorbitant amount for that period.

David desMarets bought his land from John Montagne, and on October 9, 1666 Montagne brought suit against him, claiming payments had not been made according to the contract terms.  The defense claimed an "arrest of money in another connection" of which Montagne professed ignorance, and David was ordered by the local court to give up the land with costs. He was dissatisfied with this decision and appealed within three days to the higher court at New Amsterdam.  The higher court reviewed the case, reversed the decision of the lower court as unjust, and ruled that the sale of the property should stand.  David was to repossess the land, and pay the second installment within fourteen days, according to contract. Three months later he was permitted to extend his lot "out the strand as far as possible." ----
A real tragedy befell the family in January 1672.  Their youngest son, Daniel, was killed accidentally when five years of age thru the carelessness of a child of Joost Oblinus.  The nine or ten year old boy was riding a horse, drawing a sleigh, and rover over Daniel and killed him.  ---

Jean LeConte became ill, and died May 24, 1674.  For lack of a suitable dwelling, the de Mares family had taken into their home the LeContes, and provided for them.  The LeConte household effects were stored in the desMarets barn.
At a court held at New Harlem, Thursday, July 1, 1765, David desMarets presiding, the widow, Maria Laurens declared, "since she intended again to enter the marriage state with Charles Dennison, that being concerned about her son Moses LeConte, a minor, she appointed Nicholas DeVaux and Simon Courier to care for and educate the child in a godly manner and administer his estate." Te committee at once proceeded to the barn of David desMarets where an appraisal was made of the LeConte possessions stores there.  --
The following winter The Narragansetts were advancing upon New York by was of Long Island.  -- They were stopped at the village by Constable de Marets who detained them until he could communicate with the Governor.  The governor wrote, "Mr. Constable, I have just now seen, by yours of this day, sent express by William Palmer, of your having stopt 10 or 12 Indian canoes with women, children, corn and baggage, coming as they say from Westchester and going to Wickerscreek but not any pass mentioned. So that you have done very well in stopping the said Indians and giving notice thereof. etc. Your loving friend, E. Andros, N. York, October the 21st, 1675."

(5) Genealogical History Of Hudson And Bergen Counties New Jersey WILLIAM WILLCOX VOORHIS Originally published in 1900 Cornelius Burnham Harvey, Editor Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003

ELMER WILSON DEMAREST is a direct descendant of Jean des Marest (1), a prominent citizen and resident of Beauchamp in the Province of Picardy, France. There, about 1620, was born his son, David des Marest (2), who, upon reaching manhood, espoused the Protestant faith and fled to Holland to escape persecution, locating at Middleburgh on the Island of Walcheron in Zeeland. Here, on July 24, 1613, David married Maria, a daughter of Francois Sohier, of Nieppe, a town in Hainault. The couple resided at Middleburgh until 1651, to Manheim on the Rhine River, in the lower Palatinate, then under the protection of the Elector Charles Lewis. At Manheim, the Protestants were already being threatened by the Catholic princes, and David des Marest, with others of a like religious faith, determined to go to America for safety. Accordingly. early in the spring of 1663 they journeyed down the Rhine to Amsterdam. where they embarked for New Amsterdam on the ship "Spotted Cow," reaching the latter port on April 16, 1663. Des Marest first went with his wife and three sons to Staten Island, where they joined the Huguenot settlement, recently started. The following year he was elected to represent the settlement in the provincial assembly. The savages proving troublesome, Demarest bought and located on lands at New Harlem, then a name applied to the upper end of Manhattan Island. Here he prospered, acquired several town lots, and became prominent in town affairs. In 1677, a tax having been levied on him for the support of the Dutch Church at Harlem, he refused to pay it, claiming immunity there from because he was neither an attendant nor a communicant of the Dutch Church. The "powers that be" sued him for the tax, procured judgment, and proceeded by execution and levy to collect it. This angered Demarest and he determined to leave Harlem. On the 8th of June, 1677, he purchased from the Hackensack and Tappan Indians a large tract (estimated at about 6,000 acres) of land on the east bank of the Hackensack River, extending northward from New Bridge. By subsequent purchase he added an extensive tract west of the Hackensack, on which he built two mills. He built his family residence at what is now Old Bridge and erected a French Church on the east side of the river, a little west of the Schraalenburgh road. The lands he purchased were claimed by several white persons and by the savages. Some of these claims were not extinguished until after his death. He died in New York City in 1693, leaving a will by which he devised all his lands to his two surviving sons, John and Samuel, and to his very numerous grandchildren.

(6) The Demarest Family, compiled by the Demarest Family, 1964 xxviii

On May 1, 1678 the entire family removed to their new home on the Hackensack, then called the Herring River.
David Sr. was in his 58th year; his eldest son Jean had just reached the age of 33 and had been married ten years to Jacomina de Ruine, daughter of one of the earliest settlers in Harlem, and had four children.  David Jr., aged 28 years, had been married for three years to Rachel Cresson, and had one child living.  Samuel, not yet 22 years old, was unmarried, but he returned to Harlem in a few months and took back with him Marie, the 16 year old half-sister of Jacomina deRuine, whom he married in the Bergen Church.  Although Marie Sophier was living when the family left New York, she survived only a short time and is said to have died of small pox.  She at that time was a member of the Reformed Church as Bergen.  She probably was the first person buried in what came to be known as the French Burying Ground.
David Sr, long had cherished an ambition to form a French Colony and with this project in mind, purchased about 2000 acres of land, a tract approximately two miles wide and six miles long, lying between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, called the French Patent.  The land was granted with the understanding that he was to settle 45 families on the site.  He failed to secure this number, although he brought with him several groups.---

(7) Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey Vol. 1, 1910,  pg. 146

David, son of Jean des Marets, was married in Middleburg, where he resided for some time afterwards, having two children born to him there.  In 1651 he removed with his family to Manheim-on-the-Rhine, the chief city of the Lower Patlatinate, whither the Huguenots were at this time going. ---His hopes of a permanent peaceful home here, however, was doomed to disappointment owing to the threatening conditions of the religious wars and David des Marest determined to emigrate to America.  He was now in the prime of life, about forty years old, and with his family at the time consisting of his wife and four children of eighteen, eleven, six and one years old, he embarked for New Netherlands on board of the "Bontecou" or "Spotted Cow," which reached New Amsterdam, April 16, 1663.  --  After a residence of two years on Staten Island, David Demarest bought property in New Harlem and removed thither in the autumn of 1665. He afterwards added several lots of land to his original purchase and for the next twelve and a half years made his home there.  His life there, however, does not seem to have been a happy one, and finally, after an unsuccessful resistance to the tax for the slavery of the Dutch voorleser, he removed to a tract of land which ha had bought on the Hackensack river in Bergen county, New Jersey, which was known at the French patent and where he hoped to establish a colony of the French refugees to the new world.  This land was purchased from Indians in 1677, but owing to the fact that it lay partly in the province of New York and partly in the colony of New Jersey, and to other circumstances, Demarest had considerable trouble establishing his claim to the land and procuring a valid title from the provincial government and it is said that before he finally came into peaceable and undisputed possession he had to pay for it four times over. Hither, David Demaret and a number of other Huguenot families removed in 1686, and here he found a final resting place, where he died in 1693.

(8)

Land Purchase from the Indians Anno 1677 photo found in "The Demarest Family"

(9)  Earliest Demarest House
David Des Marest of the French Patent on the Hackensack and His Descendants by Mary A Demarest and William H. S. Demarest, 1938

(10) Brower Genealogy

David Demarest witnessed the baptism of David Demarest, son of David Demarest and Rachel Cressen, on 19 Feb 1676 at Refrmed Dutch Church, New York City, New York, (witnesses: David de Mareetz, Maria de Mareetz

David Demarest witnessed the baptism of Magdalena Demarest, daughter of Samuel Demarest and Maria de Ruine, on 21 April 1680 at Reformed Dutch Church, New York Citu, New Uork (witnesses: David de Mareetz, Magdalena Druwen.)

(11) David Des Marest of the French Patent on the Hackensack and His Descendants by Mary A Demarest and William H. S. Demarest, 1938

His will was made August 26, 1789. probated July 30, 1697.  An earlier will had been made jointly by him and his wife when they were in New Harlem, February 1, 1672.  --- He left to his maid Anna Coumk, housekeeper no doubt after the death of his wife, one hundred acres of land.  His whole estate with this exception he left to his three sons, Jean, David and Samuel, equal heirs.

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