Beeks line: Peter Demarest 1683-1763

The French/Dutch Huguenots in the Beeks line have always intrigued me, and Peter Demarest is no exception.  Technically, he wasn't French, or Dutch, or even a Huguenot, because he was born in Bergen County, East Jersey (now New Jersey) in 1683.  His grandfather, the immigrant David, was born in France, and escaped to what is now the Netherlands, where Peter's father, Jean Demarest was born.  Peter's mother was Jacomina DeRuine, and she was born in France but came to America as part of the Huguenot community also.  The Huguenots were Protestants and followed the teachings of John Calvin, which meant they were not welcome in Catholic France.  The Demarest and DeRuine families, among others, were fortunate to come to a part of the country that was unsettled, and thus not Anglican, and not Puritan.  They were free to worship as they wished, or at least, more free than in Europe.  

Peter was born in 1683, in a settlement along the Hackensack River.  He grew up here and died here, although there are hints that he (or another man by the same name?) may have gone to New York, just a few miles away, for a short time.  He was part of a large family of perhaps as many as eleven children.  One of his many children is said to have been born in New York.  As far as I can tell, Peter was a farmer, like his father and grandfather before him.  There was a Demarest mill in the area but I'm not sure whether Peter had ownership of it.  There were a lot of Demarests!

Peter is a perfect example of this.  He married Maretie Meet, the daughter of Jan Pieterse and  Geritjie Mandeville Meet, at the Dutch Reformed Church in Hackensack on May 14, 1709.  The couple soon had seven children together, but Maretie died probably in 1720.  My first guess was that seven pregnancies in 11 years had worn her out, or perhaps she died as a result of her last childbirth.  Sara, her last child, was baptized June 19, 1720.  Peter was not yet 40 when he married again.  On October 15, 1722, he was married to Marie Batton, who was 21 years Peter's junior.  She also was of Huguenot origins, and she gave birth to at least eleven more Demarest children.  

Peter must have worked very hard to raise such a large family, although of course the older children would have been expected to help with the younger ones, until they left home or began their own apprenticeships elsewhere.  Perhaps that is why we don't find Peter's name included in the early lists of civic leaders, although some of his brothers seem to have been active politically.  Peter (I think it was this Peter, but there were other potential candidates, too) signed an oath of loyalty to King George II of England in 1753, at the same time "aburing" (solemnly renouncing) the papacy.  

I found one reference to Peter as a soldier, but there was no documentation.  There were at least two Peter Demarests from New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, but our Peter died in 1763 so it's possible that the reference was actually to one of the later Peters.  I will keep looking to see if there is evidence of his participation in a militia as a younger man.  

As mentioned, Peter died on August 31, 1763 at the age of 80.  He is probably buried in the French Burying Ground at New Milford, although there is no longer a stone there if there ever was one.  In his will, Peter provided for his wife by stating that she was to have the use of Peter's land and estate until she remarried, and that if she left and then returned (meaning a potential second husband had died) needed help, the children were to provide for her maintenance.  

It looks like Peter would have been a Patriot if he had lived to see the Revolution.  At least two of men with the same names as his sons, Peter and Samuel, had their farms burned by Tories, and Samuel was "carried off", although I don't know what happened to him.  This event occurred May 10, 1779.  Even though Peter wasn't alive to support the patriots, he raised children who were known to be such.  We owe men like Peter our country.

The line of descent is:

Peter Demarest-Maretie Meet

Lea Demarest-Samuel David Demarest

Sarah Demarest-Benjamin Slot

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-the still elusive Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants