service to the cause. He is a member of the Players' Club, of the Jersey City Golf Club, of the New York Association of Alumni of Andover, of the New York Association of Alumni of the New York Law School, and of several religious and fraternal organizations.

HENRY STORMS.-The Storms family are of Holland lineage, being descended from Dirck Storms (1), a native of "The Mayory of Bosch" in the Province of Utrecht, Holland. He emigrated to America in 1665, with his wife, Maria Peters, and three children, and settled first in New Amsterdam, where he opened, and under a license, kept a taphouse. On December 25, 1669, he was appointed by the Court of Sessions to the office of Town Clerk or Secretary of Brooklyn, which he held for several years. He was living at Brooklyn in 1675 and 1676, as the assessment rolls for those years show. He joined the Dutch church at Flatbush about this time. In 1677 he went to New Lots, where he taught school in 1680 and 1681. He kept moving about from place to place, was Town Clerk of Flatbush in 1681, and later became a resident of Bedford, Long Island. He went to Tappan, N. Y., in 1691, where he was made clerk of the Sessions of Orange County, which office he held for some time. He is said to have gone from there to Phillipse Manor in Westchester County, N. Y., where he died, and where his descendants became numerous. His issue of the second generation were at least five: Gregoris, Joris (George), Maria, Peternella, and Aeltie, the first three being born in Holland and the last two at Brooklyn. There must have been other children.

Staats Storms (4), a grandson of one of the children of Dirck Storms, married Susanna de Voe and settled at Tappan, N. Y., where he is said to have had sons Jacob, Abraham, Hendrick, and Staats of the fifth generation.

Hendrick (5) married Cornelia Vanderbeck and settled at Paramus, N. J.. where he died. Jacob (5), Abraham (5), and Staats (5) remained in Rockland County, whence their descendants spread into Bergen County, N. J. Staats (5) married Christina Ackerson and had a son, John Storms (6), born April 7, 1787, who married Ellen, daughter of John and Maria Blawvelt, and had issue of the seventh generation, among others, Henry Storms (7), the subject of this sketch.

Henry Storms (7) was born at Park Ridge, N. J., where he still resides, on the 18th of October, 1815. He received his education in the schools of Bergen County, and at the age of fourteen entered a cotton mill at Park Ridge, where he remained ten years. Subsequently he spent ten years. at Hackensack engaged in the mason's trade. Returning to Park Ridge at the end of that period, he continued to follow the trade of mason for thirtyfive years, gaining a high reputation. Afterward he was associated with his son John in the sash and blind business for about fifteen years. Не then retired, and is now enjoying the fruits of an active and honorable He is a member of the Congregational Church and a public spirited, enterprising citizen. He married Margarette Wortendyke and has one son, John Storms.

career.

CORNELIUS A. ECKERSON.-One of the most intensely interesting chapters of historical delineation extant is Schiller's narrative of what is known as "The Thirty Years' War," that sanguinary and relentless struggle maintained by the Protestant nations of Northern Europe, led by brave Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, against the crafty Catholic princes of

Southern Europe, led by Ferdinand of Hapsburgh and Count Wallenstein. The armies of Gustavus passed several times across Holland in their advances to and retreats from their adversaries.

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 temp tation. 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 1665 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 1718, when with his wife and five chil dren 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 Haring, 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.

Mr. Eckerson has long been active in local affairs, having served for seven years as Town Clerk of Harrington and for some time as a member of the Board of Education. He is a member of Alpine Lodge, No. 77, F. and A. M., and of the Reformed Church. He married Lurana Wortendyke and has one son, Harry Eckerson, of the tenth generation.

SHELDON TILT, of Demarest, is of English descent. Thomas Tilt, a leather manufacturer from Birmingham, England, settled at West Point on the Hudson about 1750. He purchased property of Benjamin Allison, of Haverstraw, N. Y., August 22. 1777. He signed the Association Articles for Liberty in the Yoost Mabie House (now Andre's Prison). Tappan, N. Y.. July 11, 1775, and was Corporal under Colonel Ann Hawkes Hay, his commission being granted February 16, 1776. His children were Daniel, Thomas, Rebecca, and Polly. Thomas (2) married Ann M. Bell, October 15, He has issue, baptized at Tappan, Catharine, Anna, Thomas, William, Mary, Elizabeth, and Rachel.

William Tilt married Margaret Bogert and had a son, Jefferson Tilt, who married Maria J. Demarest, daughter of the late Ralph S. Demarest and Jane Haring, a granddaughter of Samuel R. and Elizabeth (Zabriskie) Demarest, and a great-granddaughter of Ralph S. and Maria D. Demarest. He had four children, one of whom is Sheldon Tilt, the subject of this sketch. The latter's grandfather, Ralph S. Demarest, was prominent in political matters and represented his district in both houses of the New

Jersey Legislature. His great-great-grandfather, Ralph S. Demarest, served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Christie's company from Bergen County, while his great-grandfather, Samuel Demarest, who was also a soldier in the Revolution, was captured by the English, and confined in the historic sugar house in New York City.

Sheldon Tilt was born in Sparkill, N. Y., March 7, 1868, and received his education in the schools of Bergen County. At the age of seventeen he entered the employ of the Erie Railroad, with which he has since continued, discharging his duties with acknowledged ability and satisfaction. He is a member of the Reformed Church, a public spirited citizen, and respected by all who know him. Being greatly interested in real estate affairs, he was appointed in 1893, by Governor Werts, of New Jersey, as a representative from Bergen County to the World's Fair Real Estate Commission.

JACOB B. ECKERSON, of Rivervale, is of the eighth generation in descent from John Tomaszen, the emigrant and progenitor of all the Eckersons and Ackersons in Bergen County (see sketch on page 53). The line of Jacob B. Eckerson's descent is the same as that of Cornelius A. Eckerson (p. 546) down to the seventh generation: that is to say, down to Abraham G. Eckerson (7) and his wife, Catharine Smith, who had children of the eighth generation James A., Garret A., and Cornelius A. His father served in the Revolutionary War.

James A. Eckerson (8), born August 27, 1806, died March 22, 1875, married (1), in 1830, Elizabeth Blawvelt, daughter of Jacob I. and Rachel (Blanch) Blawvelt. She was born February 11, 1812, and died April 21, 1846. He married (2) Jane Westervelt, born January 3, 1807, died March 12, 1883. James A. Eckerson (8) had issue by Elizabeth Blawvelt five children of the ninth generation: Abram J., Mary, Catharine, Jacob B., and Margaret.

Jacob B. Eckerson (9), the subject of this sketch, was born at Old Tappan, Bergen County, N. J., May 16, 1839. He was educated in the local schools, and afterward, at the age of fifteen, went to work on his father's farm, where he now resides, and which has been handed down from father to son for over two hundred years. In addition to carrying on this old homestead he was also, for about twenty years, engaged in business as a carpenter and builder with his brother.

Mr. Eckerson served nine months in the Civil War as a member of the Twenty-second Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. He has been a Justice of the Peace for twenty-five years, was also a School Trustee for some time, and for many years was a member of the Town Committee. He has held nearly every local office, including many county offices, and has discharged every obligation with ability and satisfaction. He is a member of the Reformed Church of Tappan and of Gabriel R. Poll Post, No. 101, G. A. R. He married Margaret A. Haring and has two children: Wilbur H. and Bertha.

FRANK HASBROUCK EARLE, a leading civil engineer and surveyor of Jersey City, is descended in the eighth generation from Edward Earle, Sr., the English emigrant, concerning whom and his descendants see sketch on page 232.

Thomas Earle of the sixth generation from Edward Earle, Sr., was born in New York City in 1767. There he lived and died. His wife, Matilda Harrison, of Orange, N. J., survived him and died in Jersey City. His