Thomas Juriaense Van Riper

The surname Van Riper is an altered form of the Dutch Van Rijper, a habitational name for someone from the village named Rijp or De Rijp in northern Holland.

Read more on FamilyEducation: http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/van riper#ixzz2VgLM9IuX

The church where Thomas would have been baptized is most certainly the Old Bergen Church, whose history is given at the New Jersey City University website. The church was founded during the administration of Director-General Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland circa 1660-1662 following the construction of the new fortified settlement on the hills overlooking the Hudson River.

The history of Bergen County, New Jersey shows that Bergen would have gone from Dutch rule to English rule four years before Thomas was baptized.

The line of descent from Juriaen Tomassen to the Jacob and Richard Van Riper who engaged in the trucking business in Lower Manhattan, New York City, during the first part of the 1800's was through his first son, Thomas Juriaense.

Following the custom of the time, Thomas took as a surname one constructed from his father's given name, hence Juriaense. The suffix "se" is an abbreviation of "sen", the Dutch word for son and so we have Thomas, the son of Juriaen.

Thomas was baptized June 10, 1668. He married Jannetje, daughter of Jan Straet or Straetmaker, June 2, 1691. Thomas was an active and progressive man and a leader of his people. He was prominent in the Acquackanonk Church, being chosen a deacon in 1700 and 1705, and an elder in 1720 and 1724. In 1714, he was one of the committee of five chosen to apportion the undivided lands of the Acquackanonk patent. He purchased land fronting on the Passaic River and in company with six others bought the Stony Road patent of 2800 acres, which embraced the top and the southwestern slope of Garret mountain from the steep rocks of Paterson to the headwaters of the Peckamin River. When the disputed boundary line between Newark and Acquackanonk was adjusted, April 6, 1719, Thomas was one of the three representatives present from Acquackanonk.

The children of Thomas Juriaense and Jannetje (Straet) Van Riper, members of the third generation of the family totaled eleven (11) in number, of which seven (7) were sons and four (4) daughters. We are interested in the second son, Jurjaen, as he was in direct line of descent for our branch of the Van Riper family.

The date of death of Thomas Juriaense and that of his wife, Jannetje (Straet) Van Riper is not known.