ORAL HISTORIES OF UPPER SADDLE RIVER
Godfrey Van Kampen, Bessie barrett and john kroner
Three of Upper Saddle River’s early residents who took an interest in history and shared their memories with us were photographed together in 1982.
Godfrey Van Kampen
Godfrey Raynard Van Kampen was born June 13, 1899 and grew up in Upper Saddle River. He was the son of Isaac Van Kampen, who was the longest serving minister of the Old Stone Church. Godfrey attended the first Historical Society meetings. He passed away in 1990 in Ramsey at age 91.
He was interviewed by Kay Yeomans in 1977. In 1980 Godfrey also provided his memories of the one-room schoolhouse, which is also included below.
Lizzie Goetschius
Lizzie May Carlough Goetschius was born on Carlough Road. She married Steve Goetschius and moved into the Hopper-Goetschius house in 1910 and spent the remainder of her life there. Her many hand-written notes and enthusiasm about Upper Saddle River’s history remain a treasure to this day.
Cornelius Berdan
Cornelius Berdan was born in Suffern in 1893 to John Edmund and Elizabeth Quackenbush Berdan. His parents bought a farm on an old Terhune tract in Upper Saddle River in 1898. Cornelius grew up on the farm they purchased and lived most of his adult life there. It was located on West Saddle River Road where Cavallini School is today. He married Claire Syde later in life. The town bought his farm in the 1960s to build Cavallini and in a controlled fire burned the farmhouse and barns (see lost structures page). Mr. Berdan moved to Hawthorne in 1962 and died in 1978. He was known for his collection of Native American artifacts.
Cornelius was interviewed by Joan Rehain Fabris in 1975.
Cornelius Berdan in August, 1977, as he appeared in the Shopper News, Paramus, NJ, for an article about his artifact collection
Alfred “Fred” Ackerman
Fred Ackerman lived on the property of the Hopper-Ackerman House at 409 East Saddle River Road, which later became the Curtin’s house and later Creative Gardens. The home is no longer standing. The recollections of the farm and mill there were captured by Reginald McMahon in 1965. They were printed in USR Historical Society Newsletter 12/99.
John Kroner
John Kroner’s parents moved to Upper Saddle River in 1905 and John spent the remainder of his life in the house they built on the foundation of an old stone house that had burned down. He was a strawberry farmer and was very active with the Methodist Churchh and the Upper Saddle River Historical Society, later in life. His knowledge of the town and its residents was unparalleled. He died at age 103.
Interview with John Kroner March 10, 1992
Program at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Moderated by Louise Mehren Spicer and Kay Yeomans
Louise was born in USR, taught school here for 7 years and played the organ at the ME Church. She is the daughter of Henry Mehren, one of John’s best friends.
John’s father, Frederick Kroner
John Kroner’s mother, Louisa Kroh Kroner
John Kroner, age 8
Miss Elizabeth Ruddy Barrett was born February 14, 1889 in Hudson, Pennsylvania and moved to Upper Saddle River for her first job as a school teacher at the one-room school house. She worked there from 1908-1910 and boarded with two families in town. She taught for 43 years and retired to Orange, NJ. She passed away in Winston-Salem, NC at age 96.
The interview was conducted November 19, 1980.
John Kroner and Kay Yeomans drove to meet Miss Elizabeth Barrett at her apartment in South Orange. She had seen an article about the Historical Society and sent us a letter. She was an amazing woman. Following are notes taken during the interview.
Bessie R. Barrett
Sherry Butscher moved to Upper Saddle River with his family in 1908. They lived on West Saddle River Road and developed some of the surrounding streets, including Sherwood Road, named for him.
Sherwood (Sherry) Butscher
Edna Eckerson Filer
Edna Mae Eckerson Filer was born in Monsey, NY in 1899. On April 26, 1922 she married John Frederick Filer and rented a cottage (Oct, 1922) attached to the barn at the farm on East Saddle River Road owned by Francis Gardiner. Fred Filer’s parents moved to Upper Saddle River in 1906 from Pennsylvania. Edna and Fred moved to the house just north of the Goetschius house, which had been the Hopper tenant house, in 1923. She and her husband lived the remainder of their lives there, raised three children, and she became a good friend of Lizzie Goetschius.
A Letter Written to the Historical Society in 1978.
Fred and Edna Filer in their yard in Upper Saddle River
John Frederick “Fred” Filer on a Fordson tractor at the Gardiner farm, 1923
Jennie Wrathall Benjamin was born in New York in 1905 and grew up nearby and visited family in Upper Saddle River over the decades. She was a descendent of Louis DuBois Goetschius (of Sparrowbush) and the Post family, who owned and ran the mill on Old Stone Church Road. She was interviewed by Kay Yeomans in 1975.
Jennie A. Wrathall Benjamin
Walter Weiss was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1902 to August Weiss and Caroline Dittrich. He and his family moved to Upper Saddle River around 1906 and purchased the c. 1800 farmhouse on what is now their namesake, Weiss Road. It was an active poultry farm. He married Harriet E. Bierbrier in 1927 and was an auto dealer, among many other hobbies and interests.
Walter Weiss
Walter Weiss c. 1904
Walter and Harrier Weiss at the beach
The Weiss farmhouse on Weiss Road
Louise’s parents, Gwendolyn and Henry E. Mehren, purchased 3 acres of property on Lake Street from Ruth McClintic of Paramus in 1934. That year Louise’s father built their handsome stone home himself and it is still standing. Louise was born in 1941 and raised on Lake Street. She later served as the President of the Upper Saddle River Historical Society and has written many articles for our newsletters over the years. This interview was conducted by life-long resident, Joan Fabris, in 1975. Louise and her husband retired to the Adirondacks.
Louise Mehren Spicer
Lizzie goetschius
with edna filer
This photo was taken in Lizzie’s yard in the 1950s.
Lizzie and Edna were close friends.