History of Paterson and Its Environs pp. 50–61.
Descendants of Helmigh Corneliussen (Van Houten) [FG] — Hellemeg or Helmigh, eldest child and son of Roelof Corneliussen [Van Houten] and Gerritje Van Nes, was baptized June 25, 1648. He married, Oct. 27, 1674, Jannetje Pieterse [Marcelis], from Gelderland. Late in the seventeenth century he bought land at Slooterdam, which remained in the hands of his descendants for many generations. He was known as “Hellemeg Roelofse,” the first name being from a German root Wilhelm in that language is an intensive form of the same name. It has the meaning of “much” or “great,” shield or protection, and amongst Jersey Dutch was contracted to “Ham” or “Hap.”
Helmigh and Jannetje (Pieterse) Van Houten had six sons and four daughters ; the latter were : Catelyntje, married Johannis Gerritsen [Van Wagenen]; Gerritje, married Arie Sip; Lysbet, became the wife of Johannis Post; and Jannetje, married Michael Cornelisse Vreeland [WP]. The eldest son of the twelve children was Roelof, baptized June 11, 1677. He and his father were the first of the Acquackanonk community to buy land north of the Passaic River, they purchasing a third interest in Totowa from Major Anthony Brockholls. This purchase was in the neighborhood of Laurel Grove Cemetery, or southwest of the road to Singac. Roelof followed the trade of carpenter and wheelwright in the intervals of his farming. He married (first) Aagtje Cornelisse Vreeland, April 21, 1701 ; of their three children, Tryntje married Hendrick Van Nes ; Eachje, married Jacob Spier. His second wife, Feitje Sickels, was mother of seven children, the daughters being Jannetje; Geertruy, married Hermanus Van Wagenen; Feytje, married Johannis Cadmus ; and Catalyntje, married Frans Post. Helmigh, only son of Roelof and Aagtje (Vreeland) Van Houten, born March 11, 1704, married Nov. 6, 1730, Catharina Van Geisen. He lived at Preakness, and was the father of nine children, six of whom were daughters, namely: Echje, married Hendrick Doremus; Feytje, married Benjamin Yeomans; Yannetje (Jennie), died Oct. 1, 1796; Printye, married Doyle ; Catlinye, died unmarried ; and Geertruy, married Matthew Klankhite. Johannis, the youngest son, probably died young; he is not mentioned in his father’s will.
Roelof, eldest son of Helmigh and Catharina (Van Geisen) Van Houten, married, Dec. 20, 1756, Annetje Kip. They were living as late as 1791, at Preakness, at which time he conveyed a tract of land in that location inherited from his father. He had two sons; the eldest, Halmagh, born Jan. 8, 1766, married Lena, daughter of Anthony Van Blarcom. Halmagh was a noted character in his day. In person he was of medium height, quite stout, with sandy hair and a florid complexion ; to distinguish him from the other Halmagh Van Houtens, he was called Rooe Hap (Rooe was an obsolete Dutch word used among the Jersey Dutch for red) or Red Halmagh. In 1792, at what is now the northwest corner of Park avenue and East Eighteenth street, he built a small frame house and swung to the breeze a rude figure of a bull’s head as a token that entertainment was there for man and beast. He sold this tavern site in 1803, and the name was afterwards changed to “Peace and Plenty.” Halmagh in 1808 removed to a farm he had bought on the road from Lower Preakness to Mountain View, where he again maintained a tavern. Subsequently he purchased a tract of land and built a stone house on the southeast corner of the present Haledon avenue and the road leading to Goffle. Here he kept tavern until April 3, 1818, when he returned to Paterson, and a few years later engaged in his old business of tavern keeping at what is now known as the Four Comers, at the Slooterdam and Small Lots roads, a short distance from the Bergen county end of the present Fifth avenue bridge. He eventually returned to Paterson, where he ended his days. His children were: Johannes, born Dec. 9, 1795, married Caty Westervelt; he was called John H. Van Houten, and for some time after his marriage lived on East Eighteenth street, adjoining his father’s former tavern ; the issue of his marriage was two daugh- ters : Marrah and Ellen. The other children of Halmagh and Lena Van Blarcom were: Annaatje (Hannah), married David Sharte; Tryntje, married Henry Bowman; Vrouwetje, married Thomas H. Stagg; Ellen, became wife of Samuel J. Van Saun ; Henry, born Sept. 8, 1809, married Helen, daughter of James Pier, their children were : Fannie E., died un-married ; James F., died a bachelor ; John H., born Nov. i, 1840, married Elizabeth Bush, their only child, Mary E., married William Ryerson; Lea Catharine, married William B. Jacobus ; Charles N., born Aug. 24, 1852, married a lady of Des Moines, Iowa ; William Wesley, born March 27, 1856, married Ada Ashman; and Amarintha, married Richard Van Horn, of Paterson. The seventh child of Halmagh and Lena (Van Blarcom) Van Houten was Cornelius, born Dec. 3, 181 1, married Jane Terhune. He was a blacksmith by trade. The issue of his marriage : Mary Ellen, who was twice married; Elizabeth Jane, married Edward Vreeland; Cornelius Henry, later called Charles; and John Helmis, died young. Peter, the youngest child of Halmagh and Lena (Van Blarcom) Van Houten, was born May 14, 1816, learned his trade as carpenter and builder with his uncle Samuel Van Saun, in New York, and died in that city, March 30, 1857.
(Nelson and Shriner 1920)