Son of Cliffwood Brickyard Worker Dies at 79 in Hudson Valley

Earl I Van Ginhoven died Tuesday in the Sullivan County, New York hamlet of Mileses at the age of 79, according to the Times Herald Record. A native of Matawan Township (Aberdeen), his parents moved to Queens, New York by the time Earl was 11. He served in the Korean War in the early 1950s and subsequently settled in the Hudson Valley area. He worked as a plumber for a coal company until he retired. His parents both died in nearby Long Eddy. (Both Mileses and Long Eddy are hamlets in Fremont, New York.

Mr Van Ginhoven was born 5 April 1931 to Jack and Louise Ginhoven. Jack came to America from Holland in 1914 and settled in New York, where he married and had two daughters - Miriam and Cornelia. They moved to Cliffwood, where he worked as a laborer at a Matawan area brickyard and had at least four sons - Frank, David, Earl, and Robert. Earl's wife Louise was born in Maryland to German parents.

The 1930 Federal Census shows John Vanginhoven (38 born in Holland to Dutch parents) living on Locust Avenue in Cliffwood with his wife Louise (38 yrs old, born in Maryland to a German father and Virginia mother) with daughters Cornalie (6 NY) and Mariam (3 8/12 NY) and sons Frank (2 NJ) and David (8/12 NJ). The census shows him as a laborer at one of the local brickyards. He was a naturalized citizen who entered the US in 1914. He spoke Dutch.

Jack Van Ginhoven registered for the draft in World War I circa 1917-1918 at age 26. He reported that he was born 12 Feb 1891 in Leimuiden, Holland. He was living at 12 Stone St in downtown New York City. (The block has been mostly rebuilt since that time. New York Night: The Mystique and Its History, by Mark Caldwell, pp 349-350, mentions the block.) He was employed as a salesman at Vanderveer & Knuff (?) at 14 Stone Street. (14 Stone Street was the home of Thomas A Edison Chemical Co. In 1904, the son of the famous inventor was charged with mail fraud  for selling a bogus electronic healing device by mail from that address.) Jack was single and a Dutch citizen at the time. He claimed no previous military service.

Jack registered for the draft in World War II as well. It was 1942 and he was 51 years old. He was living at 23002 141st Avenue, Laurelton, Queens, New York. He reported the same birth data, only changing Holland to the Netherlands. He was working for the Board of Water Supply, 354 Broadway, New York, NY. He was still married to Louise. Earl would have been about 11 years old.

I couldn't find Jack in the 1920 Federal Census. He died in Long Eddy, Sullivan County, New York in September 1973, per Social Security Death Index.

Louise Vanginhoven was born 18 June 1891 and died in Long Eddy in Aug 1983, per Social Security Death Index.

It is interesting to see how many German and Dutch immigrants lived in Cliffwood in the early 20th century.