Martin was the first child of Dr. Henry van Hoevenberg and
his wife, Jane Catherine
Heermance. He was born March 31, 1816 in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County,
New York. (His baptismal records indicate an 1816 birth, but family
tradition as well as newspaper articles from late in life indicate an 1815
birth, or even an 1813 birth.)
Similar controversy surrounds his name.
Beginning in the 1930's, and after the death of his son, Martin Henry
Radcliffe, he began to be remembered as Martin Henry Radcliffe van
Hovenberg. However, there is no documentation that he ever used the
Radcliffe name, and indeed, what signatures we have show merely "Martin
van Hovenberg." He was the elder brother of Sarah Jane Thompson van
Hoevenberg and Dr. James
Oliver van Hoevenberg.
In the 1830's, Martin studied at New
York University, and passed the bar in New York and began to practice law.
In the early 1840's he married Charlotte Reed Phelps, with whom he had
five children -- four in the 1840's -- of which two died in infancy.
These were:
Henrietta, born ca. June 1843,
died March 16, 1847
James
Kiersted, born 1846, died 1847
Jane Catherine, born July 3, 1848, died October 26, 1935. Jane
Catherine was the only child
from
Martin's first marriage to have children.
Charlotte Elizabeth, born June
6, 1850, died July 3, 1928.
William
Phelps, born January 31, 1855, died 1885.
Neither Charlotte nor William married or
had children.
At some point during the late 1840's,
Martin established a liaison with Mary Theresa O'Connor: their first
child was born in November, 1849. However, his last child with Charlotte
was born in 1848, with yet another recorded in 1855. The census of 1850
finds Martin living in the lower East Side of Manhattan with his wife
Charlotte, two daughters, his in-laws, a stenographer, and two young Irish
women, but no Mary and no Martin Henry Radcliffe.
No records exist for his peregrinations
in the 1850's. He and Mary are supposed to have lived in Baltimore, where
more children were born, and at least two died. Alfred and Juliette were
also born there. The June 1860 census finds Martin, Mary, Martin Henry
Radcliffe, Alfred, and Julia back in Manhattan, this time with a one month
old Robert.
The 1870 census finds all of them, and
also Frank and James, in Manchester Township, New Jersey. The 1880 census
finds the same, less Mary, who had died two years previous. While in New
Jersey, Martin continued his practice of law, not only in Paterson but
apparently also in New York. In 1899, while visiting his son Robert, who
lived in The Ramseys at the time, he aggravated an old injury, and died a
few days later.
Aside from his law practice, Martin was
an aspiring man of letters. He wrote poetry often, and had it published in
local newspapers. As a member of the Oddfellows Society, he delivered an
oration that was reprinted almost a century later. He translated from the
classics, and while in Baltimore he was supposedly involved in the editing
of a literary journal. At the time of his death, he was said to have been
composing a celebratory ode to Admiral Dewey, who was to visit New York at
that time as a hero of the Spanish American War. From a 21st Century
perspective, his poetry seems labored and imitative. But a letter which he
sent to his sister Sarah indicates a nimble wit and a fertile imagination.
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