John Kline

The subject of this brief memoir was born near New Germantown, Hunterdon Co., N. J., on the 8th day of August, A. D. 1784. He was the grandson of Jacob Kline, who was born in Germany, March 6, 1714, and Fraenica Gertraut Melick, born at Landaif, Wurtemberg, Germany, Dec. 9, 1727. They emigrated to America, and settled at Readington, on the farm where the subject of this sketch spent eighty-three years of his life (from 1796 to 1880). Jacob Kline was for many years a justice of the peace of the county of Hunterdon; his docket, kept in the German language, is now in the possession of Lewis Vandoren, of Peapack, N. J. He died A.D. 1789, and was buried in the Lutheran cemetery, at New Germantown. His widow, Fraenica Gertraut, died A.D. 1801, at the house of her daughter, at Germantown, Pa. They had six sons and three daughters. The sons, as well as the father, were not only agriculturists, but tanners and curriers also. Their eldest son, John William Kline, was born Jan. 5, 1750. He married Altje, daughter of Matthias Smock and Gcertje Post, Jan. 24, 1780. They had one daughter, Charity Kline, born Nov. 6, 1780, married Henry Van Derveer, May 12, 1799, and had six children, two of whom are deceased, leaving no issue,—viz., Rev. John Van Derveer, D.D., of Easton, Pa., and Jacob K. Van Derveer, of Flemington, late of Clover Hill. Those still living are Peter N. Van Derveer, of Somerville; Alletta Vandoren, relict of Christianus T. Vandoren, late of Neshanic; Mary, relict of John C. Van Liew, of the same place; and Henry Van Derveer, of North Branch. Peter has two sons and three daughters. Mary has two sons and one daughter, Henry V. D., John J., and Anna Van Liew. Henry Van Derveer, of North Branch, married Frances Caroline Blackwell, of Amwell; she died without issue, August, 1880.

John Kline was born, as above stated, on what was for many years known as “the Cole farm,” half a mile southwest from New Germantown. His father, John William Kline, moved to Lower Valley, and engaged in mercantile business with David Miller; and when John was twelve years of age, he returned with his family to the homestead at Rcadington, three years before his father’s death. He was a man of correct habits and exemplary character, much respected in the community,—and so were his brothers and sisters,—and attached to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. His son, the late John Kline, married Catharine Williamson, Oct. 27, 1804, who died A.D. 1837; and for his second wife he married Ellen Wyckctf (widow of Henry Vroom), Jan. 27, 1841, who survives him and now resides in Somerville, N. J. Mrs. Vroom (the youngest daughter of Dennis Wyckotf, Esq.) had one daughter by her first husband, Henrietta Vroom, born in Wayne Co., Ohio, June 27, 1836; was educated at the female institute in Somerville. She married Lewis Vandoren, of Peapack, Somerset Co., N. J. and died January, 1875, leaving three children—John Henry, Ellen Kline, and Henrietta Vroom. Mr. Kline did for her in all respects as he would have done for an only daughter, and she loved and respected him as a father. The death of Mr. Kline, which occurred Jan. 20, 1880, was deeply lamented by the whole community. He was the patriarch of that section of the country, and commanded more than the respect of all who knew him. He was honored and beloved. Speaking of his funeral at his late residence on the homestead farm of his father and, grandfather, and where he had spent eighty-three years of his life, the obituary notice says, “Never had that wide-spread, hospitable roof covered a larger company, and seldom has such a gathering been so entirely pervaded and absorbed with affectionate reverence for departed worth.” Several years before his death he selected for his funeral text, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” He was a man of exemplary, devoted Christian life, genial in spirit and-abundant in hospitality; of simple, child-like faith and unostentatious manners, he was yet a man of positive strength of character, and exerted a wide-spread influence for good, being a liberal patron of the church and a free giver to every charitable and benevolent enterprise. From the worldly abundance with which Providence had blessed him, and from the rich treasure of his inner life, he shed a light and a benediction upon all around him. His body lies in the Readington cemetery, near the Reformed church, of which A granite monument, incloscd by an iron fence, marks the place of burial.

SOURCE: James P. Snell, History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey, p. 506

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EDITOR’S NOTE: John Kline, a German American tannery owner was the first owner of fugitive slave, Sam Scomp. He sold Sam to David Hill in 1824.¹

¹ Richard Bell, Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Odyssey Home, p. 17.