ROMEYN
The surname Romeyn is spelled Romane, Romain and in various other ways in the early records and down to the present time. The ancestry of the family is traced to Giacono de Ferentino, an Italian gentleman, who settled at Rougham Manor, county Norfolk, England, early in the thirteeth century. He married Isabella de Rucham, and English woman. They had two sons, of whom Peter was sent to Rome to be educated, and upon his return took the name of Romaeyn, or Peter the Roman. He married a daughter of Thomas de Leicester and many of their descendants were noted men. Jan Romeyn went from England to Holland and settled at Amsterdam.
(I) Jan Romeyn, mentioned above, had sons: Claes, mentioned below; Christopher, Simeon.
(II) Claes, son of Jan Romeyn, sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, to Brazil, with his brother Christofer as members of an expedition to that country, commanded by Prince Maurice of Nassau. Soon after their arrival the country, passed to the ownership of Portugal and the Romeyns removed to New Amersfoot, Long Island, about 1661. Christopher Romeyn married, in 1676, Gertje Pieters Wyckoff, and settled at Monmouth county, New Jersey. Claes Romeyn married, May 2, 1680, Styntie Alberts Terhune, and in 1690 went to Hackensack, New Jersey, where he bought four Indian fields between the Saddle river and the Hackensack river, called in the deeds Wierimus, Paskack, Gemagkie and Marroasonek. These were north of Paramus on the east side of Saddle river. He did not lcoate on these lands, but returned to New York and lived in the Greenwich district of that city and died there. To his children he devised lands divided into farms and sold or leased much land to actual settlers.
Children:
Gerrebrecht, Elizabeth, Lydia, Albert C., John C. mentioned below, Rachel, Sarah and Daniel.
(III) John (or Jan) Claes (or Claas), son of Claes Romeyn, was born about 1670 (probably by first wife). He married, May, 1690, Jannetje Bogert, at Hackensack, and resided on part of his father's lands. He was member of the church and choirmaster of the Church on the Green in Hackensack, 1715.
Children:
Nicholas, mentioned below; John, Christina, Roelof, Rachel, Isaac, Angenetje, Christina and Ursula.
(IV) Nicholas, son of Jan Claes Romeyn, was baptized Feb. 1699, at Hackensack; died in 1761; married, in 1726, Elizabeth Outwater, who died in 1732. Children: Rev. Thomas, mentioned below; John.
(V) Rev. Thomas, son of Nicholas Romeyn, was born at Pompton, New Jersey, March 2, 1729, died Oct. 22, 1794. He was buried under the pulpit of the church at Fonda, New York. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1750 and studied theology. After preaching a few times on Long Island, he went to Holland in 1752 for ordination in the Dutch Church, and he was settled at Jamaica, Long Island, until 1790.
He married (first) June 20, 1756, Margaretta Frelinghuysen, who died at Jamaica, Dec. 13, 1757; (second) Susanna Van Camppen.
Children:
Rev. Theodore F., Rev. Thomas, Nicholas, Abraham, Rev. Broadhead, Benjamin, Rev. James Van Camppen, mentioned below.
(VI) Rev. James Van Camppen, son of Rev. Thomas Romeyn, was born at Minisink, Sussex county, New Jersey, Nov. 15, 1765, died at Hackensack, N.J., June 27. 1840. He graduated at the Schenectady Academy in 1784; studied theology under Rev. Theodore Romeyn, his uncle. He was a trustee of Rutgers College. He preached at several places. His last pastorate was in the Reformed church of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh, from 1799 to 1833.
He married (first) Susanna Maud Van Vranken, of Schenectady, and (second) Elizabeth Peck.
Children:
Susan, Harriet, Amos, Maria, Rev. James, mentioned below, Amos, Eliza, Caroline, Theodore and Sarah.
(VII) Rev. James Romeyn, D.D., son of Rev. James V. C. Romeyn, was born at Blooming Grove, New Jersey, Sept. 30, 1797. He graduated from Columbia College in the class of 1816, and from the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N.J., in 1819. He declined the honorary degree of D.D. from Columbia. He preached in various places and was pastor of the old Church on the Green at Hackensack, 1833-36. He was a trustee of Rutgers College in 1842.
He married Joanna Bayard, daughter of John R. B. Rodgers, M.D., a graduate of Columbia College, New York.
Children:
1. James Rodgers, mentioned below.
2. Theodore Bayard, born at Nassau, Oct. 22, 1827; attended school at Hackensack, graduated from Rutgers College in 1846 and from the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick N.J. in 1849; D.D. Rutgers; had pastorates at Blawenburg and Hackensack, N.J.; author of a "History of the Reformed Church of Hackensack;" married Amelia A. Leston, who died Oct. 22, 1897.
(VIII) James Rodgers, son of Rev. James Romeyn, D.D., was born at Nassau, in 1824; died at Keeseville, N.Y. at the age of seventy-seven years. He married Mary Field, an adopted daughter of Edward and Susan (Watson) Kingsland. Mr. Kingsland was an early settler at Keeseville, coming from New Jersey, and was the pioneer nail manufacturer at Keeseville, establishing, in partnership with a brother, a cutnail factory which they conducted for some years, but finally met with disaster; later with others Kingsland established the Ausable Horse Nail Company in 1860, and made a fortune. Mr. Kingsland was highly esteemed and a man of large influence.
Mr. Romeyn was a graduate of Rutgers College at New Brunswick (N.J.), and studied medicine. He practiced his profession at Keeseville for a year, but became interested in the Ausable Horse Nail Company and devoted himself to this business until his health failed a few years before his death. He was a director of the Keeseville National Bank and a prominent cititzen of the town. His only child was Edmund Kingsland, mentioned below.
(IX) Edmund Kingsland, son of James Rodgers Romeyn, was born at Keeseville, Clinton county, N.Y., July 28, 1860. He attended the public schools of his native town and private schools at Tivoli on the Hudson and at Albany. He began his business career as a general merchant at Keeseville. He inherited a large property, and in later years has engaged in various enterprises and invested extensively in real estate. He is president of the Keeseville National Bank; director of the Ausable Horse Nail Company. He is an active and useful citizen and was at one time a member of the board of education of the town. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and of Ausable River Lodge, Free Masons, of Keeseville.
He married, in 1884, Margaret B., daughter of James and Margaret (Mathews) McKee.
Children, born at Keeseville: Mary F., James K.. Margaret, Barbara, Katherine.