Green Brook group dedicates new grave marker to Dr. John Vermeule

GREEN BROOK – The Vermeule name traces back to when the township was young.

The Green Brook Cultural, Heritage and Historic Preservation Committee and the Green Brook Historical Society last week honored Dr. John Vermeule by dedicating a grave marker in the Vermeule Historical Cemetery, where other members of his family also are laid to rest.

"The Cultural, Heritage and Historic Preservation Committee and Green Brook Historical Society are very happy to see this day come," said Denise Wolf, chairperson of the Green Brook Cultural Heritage and Preservation Committee and treasurer of the Green Brook Historical Society. "Until recently, there was a missing piece of the puzzle, 'Could we confirm that Dr. John Vermeule was indeed buried in the family cemetery, here in North Plainfield?' We don't see a stone for him here. His Last Will and Testament and other documents didn't give us that information."

After more research, the Township Committee was able to obtain evidence from a few document sources, including nephew Richard Vermeule, who visited the cemetery in 1846 and referred to him as the "beloved family physician," and another was from an article in The Courier News in 1950 which mentioned Vermeule's gravestone was intact at that point in time.

"Sometime after 1950, the gravestone was either damaged or vandalized and is no longer visible," Wolf said. "Since Dr. Vermeule's house is on the National and State Historic Registers, we thought it was important to dedicate a new grave marker to restore the record of his place of burial. So we are here to dedicate this marker … in remembering Dr. Vermeule and ensuring that this part of local history is restored and not forgotten."

Wolf added that the committee selected an appropriate marker to be consistent with the other replacement markers that have been installed at the cemetery.

Wolf said that research was done to try to find the original layout of the cemetery and find the exact location of his gravestone, but it bore no fruit. Given that Vermeule was one of the earliest burials in the cemetery, it seemed logical that he was close to the other early burial sites of his uncles who died in the 1820s.

Vermeule was born in 1768, the son of Adrian and Elizabeth Vermeule. Adrian Vermeule was a scout and dispatch rider for the local militia during the Revolutionary War. He was wounded and captured by the British in January 1777 and died in Sugar House Prison in New York in March of that year.

Vermeule was 8 years old when his father died. At the time, the family lived on the other side of Rock Avenue from the present-day Vermeule property at 223 Rock Ave. At 20 years old, Vermeule inherited 116 acres − land from the foot of the Watchung Mountain down into Plainfield.

According to Wolf, Vermeule studied medicine, most likely under Melancthon Freeman from Woodbridge, and married Sarah Freeman in 1793. It is likely that he was the only country doctor in the area. The Vermeules had three children that survived infancy − John, Margaret and Susan. He practiced medicine for the local farming community and was a farmer himself, growing wheat, oats, flax, rye, corn and hay. The farm records showed an inventory of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. In 1813, the doctor got seriously ill and died at the age of 45, on Dec. 31 of that year.

Along with the township, the groups help to maintain and preserve this important historic site, which dates to 1799. The vernacular frame Federal style house was built by Vermeule who had inherited the property from his grandfather, Cornelius Vermeule, a member of the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

Tax records show that the doctor and his family moved into the present Dr. John Vermeule house on Rock Avenue in 1805. Over time, ownership went from the Vermeule family to many others, including Quakers in the mid-to-late 1800s. Into the 1960s, the Mundy family operated the Grotto Dairy Farm on the property. In 2008, the township acquired the historic house and property on Rock Avenue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 2013, for its significance in architecture.

As for the house, also known as the Vermeule-Mundy House, renovations and the pandemic have held them back in making it a proper house museum yet, but they are well on their way, Wolf said. On Oct. 8 and 9, the Vermeule House will be open for visitors, as well as having a table up at Washington Rock, for the "Somerset County Weekend Journey through the Past."

"Now we can conclude tours of the property by directing visitors to come see this gravestone in this historic cemetery," Wolf said.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or @CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Green Brook dedicates new grave marker to Dr. John Vermeule