Juriaen Thomasse van Riper

JURJAEN VAN RIPER (1693 -1750+)

The next in line of descent and a member of the third generation of the family was Jurjaen Van Riper, the second son of Thomas and Jannetje (Straet) Van Riper.

Jurjaen was baptized June 12, 1693 and married June 12, 1714, Aeltje Simonse VanWinkle. They had ten children, seven sons and three daughters. We are concerned only in the youngest son, Richard or Dirck, who was the next descendant in our branch of the Van Riper family.

Jurjaen lived in Acquackanonk, which was first settled by the Dutch in 1678. The name Acquackanonk in the Indian tongue, according to William Nelson, meant "near where fishing is done with a bush net".

Jurjaen was chosen deacon of the Acquackanonk Church in 1724. At that time, the Rev. Guilliam Bertholf was pastor in charge of not only the Acquackanonk Church but also of the Hackensack Church. The Rev. Henricus Coens succeeded Bertholf as pastor of the Acquackanonk Church in 1725 and he continued his ministry there as well as in the churches of Belleville, Pompton and Ponds until his death in 1735.

In 1737, Jurjaen and his brother-in-law, Adriaen Post, who had married Jurjaen's siter, Martje (Martha) planned to build a mill on an island bought from the Indian's near the present West Street bridge in Paterson, New Jersey. For some reason or other, the mill project did not materialize. Jurjaen then purchased a tract of 125 acres on the east side of the Passaic River above Little Falls, which he caused to be surveyed to him, December 2, 1748. In this new location, he built a dam and dug a tail-race, but he died before the erection of the mill.