Note: Click on the photographs to enlarge or link to more information!
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Martin Henry van Hovenberg was the eldest child of Dr. Henry van Hoevenberg and Jane Catherine Heermance. He was an attorney in practice for over 60 years. |
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Emma Epprecht van Hovenberg, was the wife of Martin Henry Radcliffe van Hovenberg. It is known that she worked for an insurance company for several years, and moved out of the Paterson area for a time after her husband's death. |
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Juliette Leonhard was the fifth child of Martin Henry and his second wife, Mary Theresa O'Connor. Juliette married Henry Leonhard in her early '20's and had seven sons. |
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Robert Edward van Hovenberg was the sixth child of Martin Henry and Mary Theresa O'Connor. A lawyer, like all of his brothers who reached adulthood, except Frank Richard van Hovenberg. |
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Alice van Hovenberg was the wife of James Jacob, and bore him five children in eight years, of which only the three daughters pictured here survived. She suffered a terrible accident about a year after this picture was taken and died a few years later. |
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Sarah Jane Thompson was the only surviving sister of Martin Henry van Hovenberg. Little is known of her life, except that she married a man named Thompson, lived into the 20th Century, and apparently had no surviving children. Emily moved to California, married, and had one daughter. Alice moved to California, married, and had three children. |
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James Jacob van Hovenberg was the ninth and last child of Martin Henry van Hovenberg and Mary Theresa O'Connor. After the death of two of his children, his wife, and his father, he moved to California, remarried, and raised his three daughters. Gertrude moved to California, married, and had one child, a daughter. |
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These have been tentatively identified as possibly Martin Henry's mother in law (mother of Mary Theresa), Charlotte Elizabeth van Hoevenberg, and further descendants via Jane Catherine. But these speculations are based on the assumption that this photograph represents a van Hovenberg family reunion and reconciliation. The identification of Charlotte is certainly possible: Living alone and in the Bronx, there seems little reason not to have maintained contact with her father, aunt, and step-siblings only 25 miles away. The issue of the unidentified women is discussed here. |
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Emily Spangenmacher was the wife of Robert Edward van Hoevenberg. After the death of Alice van Hovenberg, she raised the three daughters while James established practice in California. |
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Jane Catherine van Hoevenberg van Rensselaer has been tentatively identified here. Of course, all of this assumes some kind of reconciliation of Martin Henry with his two surviving daughters from his first marriage to Charlotte Reed Phelps. The issue of the unidentified women is discussed here. |
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Edwin, Julian, and Frederick Leonhard would have been 4, 11, and 8 years old respectively. Julian died in a hazing incident at college, the other two, along with Charles and two other brothers, lived in the Paterson area. |
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John Henry Leonhard, of Swiss and German parentage, established himself as a very successful businessman at the time that Paterson was peaking as an industrial center. |
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Martin Henry Radcliffe van Hovenberg was the eldest child of Martin Henry and Mary Theresa, and was very active in Paterson as a lawyer, a judge, and in charity work. The only other child of that union who survived and is not in the photograph was Alfred Andrew, who we deduce was behind the camera. |