If you are reading about the Slot family for the first time, be forewarned: It's a difficult family to research and understand, partly because of the many spellings of both the first and last names of most of the people I'm writing about. For example, Marritje has about as many variations as you can imagine, before finally settling into Mary or Maria, sometimes in two or three generations and sometimes in the next generation. Slot is also seen as Slodt, Sloat, Slott, and other variations. By now, you've got the idea. I make no claim that any of these names are technically correct; I'm choosing the ones that make sense to me. And with that, I should also comment that there may be more children for this family than I am acknowledging, simply because some names are so similar that I've taken them for the same person, when there could have been, for instance, babies with the almost same name when the first one died young. In addition, there is the challenge of assigning the child to the correct parents, as there were almost always more Slots of the same name and close to the same age that could be potential parents. Having said all that, here's how I see this family at the moment.
Jacobus/Jacob/Jacobse Slot was born about 1669 in Bergen County, New Jersey, the son of Pieter Jansen and Maritje Van Winkle Slot. He married Maria Demarest, the daughter of Jan and Jacomina De Ruine Demarest. Jacobus died in 1725 at Hackensack, Bergen County, New Jersey. Jan and Maria had at least nine children.
Their first son, Petrus or Peter, was born in 1696. He married Maritje Leyne, the daughter of Conradt and Mary Margaretha Lein, who died about 1744. Their children are Maria, Margaret, Jacobus, Abraham, and Johannes. After Maritje's death, he married Molley Foord, not yet further identified. Their children are Eva, Mary, Elizabeth, and Peter.
Johann was born in 1698 and died later the same year, which surely was a source of sadness for the young family.
Johannes was born in 1699 and died in 1783 in Montgomery, Orange County, New York. He also was married twice. His first wife is Willemtje (I found many, many variations for this name so keep your eyes peeled!) Van Voorhees,. I can't identify her further at this point, but there were a lot of Voorhees families in and around Bergen County, it seems. Their children are Jacobus, Stephen, David, and Cornelis. Willemtje died in 1730 and Johannes next married Christenjen Ackerman \/Akkerman, the daughter of David and Gerebrecht Classe Ackerman. Their children are David, Maretta or Marie (not sure whether this is one person or two), Petrus, Jonas, Daniel, Cornelius, Rachel, Benjamin, and Alexander.
Eva was born in 1711 and died in either 1741 or 1747 at Staten Island, New York. She married Hendrick VanDerHoeven or Vanderhoof, the son of Cornelius and Dorothea Jans Vanderhoof. Their children are Johannes, Gerard, Petrus, Marytje, Gerret, Iona, another Petrus, and an unknown infant.
David was born in 1714 and died in 1715, the second early death to hit this family.
Sara was born in 1715. I have not yet found a death date for her. She married Thomas Outwater (other spellings, of course), the son of Thomas and Tryntje Brestede Outwater. Their children are Sara, Thomas, Jacob and Annatje. I have seen Benjamin Ellen named as a second husband but have seen nothing to support that.
Trintje was born in 1718 but her death date remains a mystery. She married Joost Beam (different spellings, including Beon), the son of Anthony and Margreie Leyne Beam and they were associated with the Pompton Plains Dutch church, so apparently lived apart from many of her siblings. Their children are Margareth, Catherine, Sara, Maria, Anthony, Jacobus, Johannes, Angienetje (likely there is a different spelling), Eva, and Abraham.
Benjamin was born in 1721. He died in 1796 in Mercer County, Kentucky, where many of the families from Bergen County, New Jersey had migrated. He married Sarah Demarest, the daughter of Samuel and Lea Demarest Demarest (yes, a Demarest married a Demarest), Their children are Samuel, William, John, Gerardus, Peter, and possibly Polly. I will follow this family in my next blog post.
I have seen other names mentioned as daughters of this couple, but I'm not convinced. They are Maria, married to Peter Young, Mary, married to Garrett Van Allen, and Elizabeth, wife of Court Bevore. At this moment, I think they are likely children of others in the Slot family, but not Jacobus and Maria. I'd love to hear from anyone who can clarify this!
Some of these men served in the Revolutionary War, either as patriots or soldiers. It is possible that others were Loyalists, but perhaps they were just of that group of people who tried to stay neutral. At any rate, Jacobus and Maria raised a large family, had many grandchildren, and were an important part of their community.
