Numbered
pages 87-92.
Manchester
Fire Assurance, etc. Belvidere
N.J. Aug 21st
1897
Henry
J. Aten, Esq.
My
Dear Cousin:--
Your
kind letter of July 22d was duly rec’d , as well as the subsequent letter
telling us out here that you would be unable to come east and be with us at the
family reunion on the 18th inst., which, while we were glad to hear
from you, we were not so pleased to hear that you could not be with us. But we forgive you, as we know there are
many long miles between you in your western home and your distant kinsfolk in
the east. We all feel that had it been
possible you would have been greatly pleased to have seen our mountains and
hills, the noble old Delaware and those in whose veins course some of the same
blood as in yours. Well the reunion
[went?]
off,
and as we had a beautiful day we also had a very pleasant time. About three
hundred of the relatives and descendants of the two old families were
present. Good feeling, handshaking and
talking, and joking and telling old family anecdotes, and legends, was the
order of the day. The old historic
premises where the ancestors—Nicholas and Japie—(Jane) (Aten) Albertson lived,
raised their family and died, never seemed to us in that line, so dear to us,
as on that day—We, that is many, went and stood on the site of the old log
Block house (still plainly visible) where tradition says the ancestors first
lived—then looked at and went into the present old house where they lived
later—and went down by the old Indian burying ground—then looked at the old
family souvenirs and relics, and then a pleasant picnic dinner in the orchard
and on the lawn about
the
house, and then in the afternoon the Exercises—were had and greatly enjoyed. I
never spent a day more pleasantly anywhere—and it is the general saying now by
all—“What a Grand reunion we did have!”
I sent you a paper containing a short report of the
picnic. I wrote about a column, but the Editor had me cut it down for want of
space. It was decided by a unanimous
vote to hold another next year. Mrs.
Prentiss and her sister were there, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred McMurtie, parents of
Miss Mary A. McMurtrie, of Conyngham Pa. were there; many of the descendants of
Derick Aten were there. Many of the descendants of Hendrick were there. Mrs.
Hay and her son and his wife were there and a lot of the descendants of
Nicholas and Japie (Aten) Albertson were there; and many others—descendants of
John & Cornelius and Garrett Albertson were there, and of some of the other
Aten families were also there, and a host of friends not in the bonds of
kinship.
James R. Aten, over the river from Belvidere died that
same morning. He was a descendant of Hendrick Aten—I sent you a slip of the
death of his father, John.—The paper sent to you on Saturday also contains a
notice of his death. I was over on
Friday to his funeral. The G.A.R. of
Belvidere attended the funeral. He was buried up in the old Aten Grave Yard
along the Delaware where Derick and Hendrick and others, and many descendants
lie buried. I saw the grave of Derick—and of many
others
of the kinship.
I
saw the Committee of the Warren County Soldiers and Sailors Picnic Association
early in the summer and got them to fix their day for the 19th inst,
the day following our reunion—feeling, that if you could come out here—you
could attend that also. (see 6th column of 1st page of
paper sent you)-----
In
the article on first page of paper the words “old by house” should read “old
log house” the compositor made an error in setting up the type.
Mrs. Hay has got quite well again. I found out from a person who understands
the Hollandish
language
that the name of wife of Adrian “Jacobtie” as named in will should be properly
spelled Jacoby—which in English is Jemima; also that Japie—is dutch for Jane. Our County Odd Fellows annual picnic takes
place on Thursday of this week, the 26th. I am on the bills for a short speech. If you was out here you could take my place.
We are all well at my home at this time, and I hope you are all well at your home. I hope you will excuse this hastily written letter. It is Saturday night and the Town clock has already struck 12—(midnight). I will be pleased to hear from you at any time. We all send love and kind regards to you all—Fraternally your cousin Nicholas Harris