The city of Hoorn is located on a small arm of the Zuyder Zee in Holland. It is now a place of little importance, but from the beginning of the fifteenth to the seventeenth century it was a city of considerable magnitude and trade. During the Spanish wars it was sufficiently so to be fortified and stubbornly defended by the Spanish under Admiral De Bossu. It glories in being the birthplace of William Schouten, who in 1616 first doubled the southmost cape of South America, which he named after his birthplace, Cape Horn. Abel Jansen Tasman, who discovered Van Dieman's Land and New Zeeland, was also a native of Hoorn. Back from the city the land is low but fertile, adapted to grazing and dairy purposes. Manufacturing and shipbuilding were, two centuries ago, extensively carried on there. It was at Hoorn that the great fleet of Admiral De Ruyter was built. But the most extensive of its varied interests were its herring fisheries, which were numerous and of great value, employing large numbers of men.
Among the families residing at Hoorn were the Harings. The name is mentioned on the pages of history as far back as 1573, and when the Dutch were defeated at the battle of Diemark, in that year, it is related of one John Haring, of Hoorn, that he stood with sword and helmet, on a narrow part of the dyke, and singly by miracles of valor kept back a thousand Spaniards, until his comrades had made their retreat. Then plunging into the sea, he escaped unhurt. Not long afterward, in a sea fight, he climbed on board the great Spanish ship "The Inquisitor" and hauled down her flaunting colors and was fatally pierced by a bullet. Among his descendants Pieter Jansen Haring (1) is said to have been a native of Newenhuysen in Holland, where he was born in 1610, and from whence he removed to Hoorn. His third son, Jan Pietersen Haring (2), one of a large family, was born at Hoorn, December 26, 1633. He emigrated to America in 1660, and on Whitsuntide in 1662 became the second husband of a young widow named Margaretta Cozine, born in Haarlem, Holland, in 1634. This was the first marriage in the Dutch Church, on the farm called the Bowery, which church was situated where now stands St. Mark's Church, corner of East Eleventh Street and Second Avenue, in New York.
John Pietersen Haring purchased and resided until his death (December 7, 1683) on a farm of 100 acres, which extended from the Bowery Lane westward to and beyond Bedford Street, including both sides of Broadway, from Waverly Place to Bleecker Street. His descendants continued fro more than a century to own portions of it. John Pietersen Haring (2) had children of the third generation Peter, Cozine, Cornelius, Abraham, Brechie, Vroutie, and Maretie. All of these with their mother, Margaretta Cozine, removed to Tappan in 1686. The widow had previously (February 2, 1685) taken a third husband in the person of Daniel de Clark, by whom she left no issue. John Pietersen Haring's children all married and settled at or near Tappan on the Tappan patent, of which two of the sons were joint purchasers with de Clark, the Blawvelts, Smiths, and others, in 1686. They all reared large families. Peter, Cozine, Cornelius, and Abraham settled within the limits of Harrington Township in Bergen County, N. J., where their descendants are very numerous. The township received its name from the family in 1775. Garret A. Haring, the subject of this sketch, is descended in the seventh generation from John Pietersen Haring, the first American ancestor. The line of descent is as follows: (1) John Pietersen Haring and Margaretta Cozine, (2) Cozine Johns Haring and Margaretta Garrets Blawvelt, (3) John Cosines Haring and Aeltje Van Dolsen, (4) Garret Johns Haring and Cornelia Lent, (5) Abram Garrets haring and Elizabeth Blawvelt, (6) Garret Abrams Haring and Maria Smith, (7) Abram Garrets Haring and Charity Johnson, and (8) Garret Abrams Haring and Lavina Van Houten.
Rev. Garret Abram Haring, for many years the beloved pastor of the True Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh, Bergen County, is one of the oldest and best known clergymen in Eastern New Jersey. His great-grandfather, Abram G. Haring, born May 18, 1755, settled in Tappan, N. J., and followed agricultural pursuits. By his wife, Elizabeth Blawvelt, also of Holland descent, he had a son, Garret A. Haring, who was born March 22, 1781, and who was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. This Garret A. haring settled in Ramapo, Rockland County, N. Y., and spent his active life as a farmer and miller, dying December 12, 1869. He married Maria Smith and had two children: Abram G. and Hetty (Mrs. Albert J. Terhune). Abram G. Haring was born on the homestead in Rockland County on the 16th of July, 1803, and was also a farmer, succeeding his father in the management and ownership of the family estate. He married Charity Johnson, of Ramapo, and had two sons: Rev. Garret A. and John J. Mr. Haring died March 12, 1864, after a career which equaled in usefulness and prominence that of his honored father, who survived him nearly six years.
Rev. Garret A. Haring, eldest son of Abram G. and Charity (Johnson) Haring, was born on the family homestead in Ramapo, Rockland County, N. Y., on the 18th of November, 1829. There he also spent his early life, acquiring in the district schools the rudiments of an education and following various business pursuits. But he was not destined for a mercantile nor an agricultural life. His tastes were scholarly; his inclinations were for a profession. And with this end in view he took up the study of theology. Having thoroughly fitted himself for the ministry, Mr. Haring received a call and was duly ordained pastor of the True Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh, Bergen County, and in that capacity has labored ever since. Under this pastorate, which covers a generation, the church has grown and prospered until now it is one of the largest in that locality.
Mr. Haring is a man of broad scholarly attainments, of noble and generous impulses, and universally esteemed and respected, not only for his learning and culture, but also for those affectionate and sympathetic qualities which make him so popular among all denominations. He has always interested himself in the affairs of the community, and is an ardent advocate of every movement and project which has the welfare of the people at heart. He is a Democrat in politics, a friend of education, and a benevolent, patriotic, public spirited citizen.
January 1, 1851, Mr. Haring married Miss Lavina Van Houten. They have three daughters: Melissa, Ellen H., and Anna Naomi.
Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 61-63.