demarest new jersey

we biked from harlem over the george washington bridge to this little town that our (tina's and my) ancestor founded.  samuel demarest.  he built a mill here and supplied flour for washington's army at valley forge.  his son was killed in the war and another son narrowly escaped.

i knew a little bit about that family history, but what i didn't know is that samuel's great great grandfather, david des marets, our first american ancestor,  was the provost of a small group who were the first settlers of harlem!  at 125th and 1st ave, a few blocks from us.  so, strangely, when i moved to harlem i was unwittingly returning to my own ancestral homeland!  weird.