Guide to the Polhemus Family Papers 1749-ca. 1980 Bulk dates: 1850-1960 MG 1681
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 1749-ca. 1980 Bulk dates: 1850-1960 The New Jersey Historical Society 52 Park Place Newark, New Jersey 07102 Contact: NJHS Library Phone: (973) 596-8500 x249 Email: library@jerseyhistory.org URL: https://www.jerseyhistory.org ©2007 All rights reserved. The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher Inventory prepared by Julia Telonidis. Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. October 2007. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English. Biographical NoteThe Polhemus family was one of Newark’s most prominent families. For ninety years, they resided at 69 Washington St. in downtown Newark. The family descended from clergyman Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, a Dutch immigrant of German descent who emigrated to the colony of New Netherland in 1654, settling in what is now Long Island, New York. Serving for many years as the first minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn, he died in 1676. He was granted land in Flatbush, Brooklyn by Governor Stuyvesant in 1662. He had 8 children with his wife Catherine Van Der Werven and a child born prior to that in the Netherlands. One of Johannes Theodorus’s many descendants was Rev. Abraham Polhemus. Born in 1812 Abraham graduated from Rutgers College in 1831, and from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1835. He was pastor at the Reformed Dutch Church in Hopewell, New York, and later very briefly at the North Reformed Church in Newark, NJ in 1857 until his death later that year. After his death, his widow Eliza decided to stay in Newark and in 1859 commissioned the building of the Polhemus House at 69 Washington St. During his lifetime, Rev. Polhemus was very popular in the community and was known as a skilled orator and preacher. Abraham was also a descendant of Sarah Rapalye, the first female white child born in the colony of New Netherland. Rev. Abraham’s son, James Suydam Polhemus was born in 1856 in Dutchess County, N.Y. In 1857, the family moved to Newark, where James was raised. He attended Williams College and was a member of the New York Produce Exchange and became a successful wool merchant. He was marrried to Ida Bell Wagner, originally of Easton, Pa., and daughter of Dr. Charles Kuhn Wagner. James was president of the Holland Society of New York. and served as deacon and elder of the North Reformed Church in Newark. James’s son Frederick Suydam Polhemus was born in 1897 in Newark. In 1949, he moved his family to Princeton, where he established a law practice. His daughter, Elaine Ogden Polhemus was born ca. 1935, and is the donor of this collection. She attended the Prospect Hill Country Day School in Newark, Miss Fine’s School in Princeton, N.J., Wellesleyan College, and the New York School of Social Work, Columbia University. She married Edward Earle Frost, Jr. in 1960. She is a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America. As of 2007, the future of the Polhemus House in downtown Newark is still in question. Having been abandoned by the family in 1949, it became an office of the Reach McClinton Advertising Agency in 1959. It has been leased by the Newark Museum since 1982 and is in poor condition. In 2005, it was listed by Preservation New Jersey as one the state’s ten most endangered historic sites. Currently, efforts are being made to incorporate the house into the museum’s expansion plan and use the house as a gallery. Return to the Table of Contents Scope and Content NoteThe collection consists of the letters, certificates, wills, deeds, photographs, ephemera and genealogical information belonging to various members of the Polhemus family of Newark, NJ and other related families such as the Callen, Pond, Kuhn, and Wagner families. Items of note include a photostatic copy of original 1662 deed of land to Johannes Theodorus Polhemus from Peter Stuyvesant. The various original deeds of land date back to 1781 and include land in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. The correspondence between various members of the Polhemus family dates back to the 19th century. There are deeds for individual cemetary plots in various cemetaries, and contracts and receipts from grave monument companies. There are family photographs, including one of Rev. Abraham Polhemus, and a photo album of labeled photographs. There are various certificates (birth, marriage, and death), passports and wills. There is ephemera from various New Jersey schools, including Princeton University and Rutgers University. The detailed genealogies included trace the family back to medieval Europe. Althought the items pertain to dozens of different family and extended family members, Rev. Abraham, his son James Suydam, grandson Frederick Suydam, and great-granddaughter Elaine are very well represented. Also, there is some information on the history of the Polhemus House, located at 69 Washington St., Newark. Return to the Table of Contents Return to the Table of Contents Related MaterialFamily File–Polhemus For related collections on the Polhemus Family at other institutions, see: Rutgers University Archives and Special Collections. Abraham Polhemus Travel Journal, MC 265. Return to the Table of Contents Administrative InformationPreferred CitationThis collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 1681, Polhemus Family Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society. Acquisition InformationDonated by Elaine Ogden Polhemus Frost, 2007. Return to the Table of Contents BibliographyEndangered Historic Site : Polhemus House, 2005.Preservation New Jersey. 3 October 2007 <http://www.preservationnj.org/ten_most/ten_most_property_detail.asp?PropID=122> The Polhemus family : a History and Genealogy of the First Six Generations of the Descendants in the Male Line of the Rev. Return to the Table of Contents Container List
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