was researching a Demaree and came across 3 different series of articles on Demaree and related families and congregation members which will make a lovely addition to any Demaree Family History.

This first article is actually the 2nd chapter (the paper with the first chapter was not available.

Gettysburg Times, Sept. 7, 1925
History of The Low Dutch Colony of Conowago, written by Rev. Dr. Demarest, Early Pasto of the Presbyterian Church of Gettysburg. (Pa.)
Chapert 2
Whence came all these People? Their traditions, the trustworthyness, of which we may not call in question, point with few exceptions to New Jersey. But I am confident that we shall speak more precisely if we say that the colony came from about New York City. Manifestly, the idea of forming a colony of some magnitude would originate and find a following in a city rather than a rural district whereas yet there were few or no facilities for a combined movement. In the metopolis there are at present many families bearing the names I have recorded, and they are not only intermarried, but have, and always have had (few equal the Dutch in the number of olive plant, in the household garden- of arrows in the family quiver- the Lord blessed them, numerous "relations" on Long Island, on Stanten Island, along the Hudson and in New Jersey, especialy in Bergen and the adjoining counties.)
A moss grown tablet in the in the Connewago burial ground bears this inscription:
In memory of David Demaree, Born in the East of New Jersey, 1731. And departed this life, November 1808, aged 77.
Old Family Names
The Demarees, Ackermans, Brinkhoffs, Bogarts, Terhunes, Bantas, De Raums, De Motts, Voorhees, Browkas, Slegles and many others, without doubt came from Bergen County, N.J. These names are still heard there with sufficient frequency. The houghtanling and Cosines came from the west bank of the Hudson, near Haverstraw. An Abraham Lotts, perhaps a connection of the Lotts, was prominent in New City about the time of the Revolution, holding office in both church and state. The Brokaws can be traced to New York. The Cassats (?) and the Manforts, 2 of the first comers, whose influence never came second to that of any later comers, had an earlier home in Somerset Co., N.J., near Millstone, and in earlier still in New York, the latter family having settled there before 1640. The Van Dykes and Van Arnsdale came from Essex County, N.J., near Patterson. The Benners(?), among the latest to arrive, came to this country from Berks, having tarried on the way.
Now, on a day-but when? It was certain that all of the colonist did not arrive simultaneously, Some were on the ground as early as 1763. But there is no evidence that any were here earlier. At York I found a deed of which a member of the Van Arsdale was the grantor, conveying property in Straben Twp. "adjoining lands of Henry Banta, George Sebring, William Love, David Hunter and Francis Courte(?)) This was to cover debts contracted in 1765. The deed was proven in 1768. This is the oldest document preserved so far as I know; throwing light on the history of the colony. On the other hand it can be shown that the Demaree and Brinkhoff did not leave Bergen County before 1771, for the marriages and baptisms of some who subsequently appear at Conowago are recorded in the books of the Reformed (Dutch) church of Schraalonburgh, N.J. up to that year.
Arduous Journey
So, while others had preceded them, some came in 1771. On a day of that year, probably in the early spring, a company, how large we know not, set out for the west. My imagination, and it must be admitted the imagination, if guided by a touch of reason, has a legitimate place in the writing of history, cannot be disuade from from following, this company on their ardous journey. For it was an ardous one. They had to make large preparations. They must build strong commodious wagons, and covered them with stout canvas. Oxen would serve better than horses. They must also procure agricultural and other implements, quanities of seeds, and a considerable portion of food they would be likely to consume on the way. And, a matter neither last nor least, which a Dutchman was never the man to forget, they must provide well for the comfort of their wives and children- numerous children, as I have said.
They must meet for the start at some one point. So I account for a convergence of traditions to Hackensack, N.J. From that village, one of the most attractive on earth- how could they find the heart to leave it? They begin their journey over a succesion of hills belonging to our own South Mountain. Crossing the Passaic, they turn south-westward to New Brunswick. From the Raritan, they pass through Princeton to the Delaware. There they exchange the New Jersey soil for that of our own state, and reach it, not without many delays and vexations, crossing the river.
Dream of Conflict?
Perhaps they crossed just where washington made his splendid venture a few years later. I wonder, did they have in their dreams, as they rested among those now historic places, any token of the great conflict soon to come? I wonder, did they talk as they smoked their pipesbeside their own nightly camp fire or as they rafted themselves and their effects across the river, of the grave political situation of Patrick Henry, of assured liberty and national independence? From the Delaware they continued westward and southward until they reached the bright shallow Susquehanna. How often the reader and I have come across the same ground in 6 hours of less, behind a screaming locomotive. But the colonist did well if they made the distance in 6 weeks, not allowing for provebial Dutch slowness. The majority had no mind to settle on the susquehanna. Shall we credit them for having forseen the malaria?
from the Susquehanna, all ecxcept a few move on to the neighborhood of Hanover. There they are hard pressed to make an end to their journey, now grown tedious and fatiguing. But, the majority again say "No" for the ground is aready occupied. The Germans are there and perhaps even in those early days were quite too numerous about Hanover. They move again, therefore, and now north-westward, but not far; for in front of them, already in plain sight, rises the South Mountain. It is a barrier they cannot pass, and yet, in spite of themselves they press on towards it; for a more picturesque horizon, a line of hills of more quiet beauty, and weather reflecting from their blue grey sides the light of morning or of evening, more suggestive of the calm and rest of the better and heavenly country, they had never seen- nor have I. even quite up to those hills, they cannot come; for as they soon discover there the Scotch Irish, vigorous, pushing and still more numerous than were the Germans, are already in possesion. Moving on, therefore, once more, and this time in wedge shape between the Germans and the Scotch Irish, they make a last search for ground they may call their won. And they find it. They cannot miss it. For Lo! The familiar triassic!
I must not I know be guilty of anachronism, attributing an aquantance with geology to a man of the 18th century, to one who lived long dark ages ago, so far as all valuable knowledge is concerned, as some think. But the ancients had eyes, and we may be quite sure that the colonists; observed the triassic. There it was once more, the soft sticky, staining, not rich, but yet precious, red sandstone! I know the men rejoiced at the sight of it, thought it promised but poorly for crops. Had it not made them, worn with their long marches, look as they used to in former days, after a walk across plowed fields? even the children, I doubt not, were full of delight. It was the old soil of home! How could men from northern New Jersey choose otherwise than to settle on it? And besides, here were the friends and neighbors who preceded them. It was unanimous. So settle they did on the red sandstone--- along the Low Dutch road, the reddest of roads, taking no thought that it was also the dismalist and noisiest with frog croaking, and set up their cabins and sowed their seeds.