This week my #52Ancestors post takes me deep into a side line of the Van Syckel family. The Van Syckels test my genealogical mettle every time I try to organize them and they have taught me more about not following a straight line of succession than any other group.
In trying to get a handle on my great great grandfather Chester Van Syckel, I ended up researching all of his siblings, as many seemed to name a child after him. Interestingly enough, he seems to have been a bit of a tartar and so this “honor” fascinates me. This brings me to Chester Van Syckel Dilley. Chester was the only child of Samuel (1827-1852) and Mercy Van Syckel Dilley (1820-1875). He was born on 25 March 1847, and raised in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. On 20 September 1873, he married Anna Besson Thatcher (1845-1925) and they proceeded to have five children: Mary Chester Dilley (1874-1946), Sylvester Van Syckel Dilley (1876-1950), Robert Thatcher Dilley (1877-1958), Samuel C. Dilley (1879-1880) and Joseph V. Dilley (1881-1933).
Chester appears to have suffered a heart attack on 26 March 1913 and died at home. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Clinton. There is no will, and he was a relatively young man. In 1915, the New Jersey state census puts his widow Anna living with her daughter’s family in North Readington. Later this family will move to Elizabeth and Anna goes with them. It is possible that the farm was sold, as the sons do not appear to have followed their father’s occupation.
Happy Birthday, Chester Van Syckel Dilley!
Unfortunately, the obituary (Trenton Evening Times) is how I learned the most about Clarence Brearley Mount. He was involved in the insurance business, namely the Automobile Club of Central New Jersey and the Loyalty Group Insurance Company. More locally, he was an overseer of the poor and a director of emergency relief in Hamilton Township. He and his wife Fairy were actively involved in the Presbyterian Church, appearing in newspaper story after story about this church fete or that. He was a member of several fraternal organizations: the Mount Moriah Lodge 28 (F&AM), the Knights Templar, the Masons, the IOOF, and the Railroad Square Club. His funeral services reflect this as both Presbyterian and Baptist ministers officiated at his funeral and the Masonic Temple held a separate service.
Lois Buttles was born on 17 March 1782 in Granby, Connecticut to Jonathan and Lois Viets Buttles. Even in 2018, Granby is described as a rural town, located in the foothills of the Litchfield Hills of the Berkshires…and… the outskirts of town are filled with dense woods and rolling hills and mountains. Imagine it in the 1820’s. Lois married Samuel Platt Whitney on 10 March 1799 in North Granby and they preceded to have 12 children, all but one living to adulthood.
In 1870, they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary at the home of their son John Viets Whitney. This story not only made the local Geauga press paper but also appears in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Cornelius D. Vreeland was born in Paterson, New Jersey on 4 March 1813. At this time, Paterson was in Essex County but it eventually became Passaic County. Young Cornelius was duly baptized at the First Reformed Church in Totowa, a small community just outside of Paterson. On 29 September 1836 he married Rachel Beach and they settled on a farm in Wayne township. They six children: Josiah Pierson (1841-1895), Maria Mottear (1842-1844), Elizabeth Derrom (1846-1924), Adelia (1850-1893), Cornelius (1852-1854) and Jonathan Beach (1855-1911).
Interestingly, Beach is left to file the articles of administration, which speak to the need for the estate to be inventoried. Although Passaic County has an online index, the case files themselves have not been put online, so a request for a paper copy has been made.
Telling My Story 