Paramus, Bergen County, New Jersey, Reformed Dutch Church Baptisms, 1740-1850

By: Howard Randolph & Russell Rankin, Pub. 1935, reprinted 2024, 232 pages, soft cover, Index, ISBN #978-1-63914-232-3. The reformed Dutch church of Paramus is located in Bergen County. Bergen County was formed in 1683. It is located in the extreme northeastern corner of the state on the Hudson River just across from New York. This area of the state was claimed by the Dutch just after Henry Hudson exploration of the region for the Dutch East India Company. Soon after the Dutch started importing slaves to help with labor. This county was the largest slaveholding portion of the state. These baptisms begin in 1740 and show the names of parents & child, date of baptism and name of witnesses. All this in important when doing genealogical research as it may be the only mention of an approximately date of birth along with names of witnesses who typically are other family members or friends of the family. The author has also included a membership list of the church along with gravestone records. These gravestone records provide such information as: deceased names, spouse's name, date of birth and death and age of deceased. Many of these gravestones go back to the late 1700's