Garret I. Demarest is descended from the same common ancestor as is Elmer Wilson Demarest (see sketch on page 64). David des Marest, the first American emigrant of the name, had a great-grandson, Garret Jacobus des Marest (5), who married Jacomyntie Tunis Helms, and had fifteen children. One of these, John G. Demarest (6), was born at Schraalenburgh, January 23, 1771, and died there November 6, 1834. He married Catharine Blawvelt, who died May 4, 1849, aged seventy-one years eleven months. John G. was a farmer and had issue ten children, of whom John J. Demarest (7), born at Schraalenburgh, N. J., November 1, 1824, married Elizabeth, a daughter of Weirt Banta and Margaret Demarest. John G. Demarest was a farmer and resided near the North Church at Schraalenburgh. He left two children, Garret I. and Margaret.
Garret I. Demarest (8), the subject of this sketch, was born at Schraalenburgh, May 25, 1828. He is a prominent farmer and resides in the Borough of Dumont on part of the farm originally owned by his French ancestor. All of his long line of ancestors, both paternal and maternal, have been honored citizens of Bergen County, active and influential in local affairs of both church and State.
Mr. Demarest was educated in the public schools of Schraalenburgh, which he attended until he reached the age of sixteen. Since that time he has devoted his energies to the conduct of the old family homestead. He succeeded his father on the farm, and through his integrity, industry, and sound judgment has achieved marked success. Having been born and reared on the place he has always occupied and now owns, he has imbibed the associations and traditions which have descended to him from an honorable ancestry, and from the first has improved and beautified the home so dear to him and his family by reason of these ancestral connections. His patriotism is attested by his service of nine months in the Civil War as a sergeant in the Twenty-second Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. He was for one year a member of the Town Council, is a member of the North Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh, and enjoys the confidence and respect of his fellowmen.
Mr. Demarest married Miss Catherine Demarest, a member of another branch of the Bergen County Demarests. They have had three daughters of the ninth generation from their original French ancestor.
Source: Harvey, Cornelius Burnham, Editor; Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, New York: The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900.