Riker-Sneden House & Ice Pond

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	Site of Gerardus Ryker - Jacob Sneden House c.1762 - c.1900 Sneden Ice Pond & Dam
Site No. 21A	opposite 19 Rockleigh Road
Links The Sneden Family	This is the likely site of the circa 1762 house of Gerardus Ryker induced from the 1776 sequential listing of "Possessions in Lockharts Patent" along Snedens Landing Road that included the following families within the New Jersey gore: John Gissnar [Gesner Homestead Site], Jacob Concklin Jr. [existing Conklin-Sneden House], Geradus Ryker [this cellar hole], John Ryker [existing Ryker-Sloat House], Abraham Ryker [existing Ryker-Sloat House], and Abraham Abm. Haring Jr. [existing Abraham A. Haring House].* After Gerardus emigrated to Kentucky c.1780, his brother John Riker, Jr. occupied the house and passed it on to his son, Jacob. "Between the Herman Happel and R. 'Newt' Sneden properties, there was a house occupied by the Leonard B. Snedens, prior to their purchasing the Roaring Brook property, which is no longer standing. "Located in the rear of the home was a pond where ice was cut in the winter and sold locally to those having their own ice houses. The ice was marked and cut with an ice plough in cakes of the proper size. They usually took the ice away when there was snow on the ground, with horse-drawn wooden sleds, probably four to six teams and sometimes a team of oxen. Saw dust, used to pack the ice cakes in the ice houses, was obtained from the Saw Mill."** * Reginald McMahon: Two Haring Houses at Rockleigh, NJ, mms Bergen County Historical Society, River Edge, NJ From the handwritten notes of Newt Sneden, 1974. Courtesy of John A. Sneden, Jr. "I lived [at Roshaven] from 1934 until I went away to college in 1952. I remember ice skating on the pond across the street from the Kniffens, etc..."** Peter Van Strum, 17 September 2004 On borough parkland behind the house site is the Sneden Ice Pond with original dam on the west side of the pond and ruins of a small ice house. On the east side of the pond an 18th century stone arch bridge spans the inlet stream. The open meadow to the south of the pond is reminiscent of 18th century pasture. The pastures to the north and east have reforested.

	People Who Lived There

	c.1762 - 1778	poss. Gerardus Ryker (1740-1781) & Rachael Demaree (1744-1814)
	1778-1828	poss. 2nd John Riker (1736-1828) & Margrietje Blauvelt-Haring (1749-?)
	1828 - c.1867	Jacob Sneden (1796-1862) & Cornelia Ann Rudd-Sneden (1805-1901)
	c.1867- 1880	Mrs. Cornelia Ann Rudd-Sneden (1805-1901)
	1880 - 1891	Mrs. Cornelia Ann Rudd-Sneden (1805-1901) Leonard Beasley Sneden (1846-1944) & Catherine Evans (1857-1946)
	1891 - c.1896	Mrs. Cornelia Ann Rudd-Sneden (1805-1901)
	c.1896 - c.1910	?
	c. 1915 - c.1929	Effingham Tallman
	c.1929	Burned

	Reference Maps
	Harrington Township (1876)		Mrs. C.A. Sneden
	Rockland County Map, 1891		1. Mapmakers omitted stream (closer to "N. Sneden" house) to the south of which "Mrs C. Sneden" house should be located. 2. "L.B. Snedecker" should read "L.B. Sneden" and located one house north (labeled "Mrs. C. Sneden"). 3. There is no evidence of a house at the boggy location indicated "L.B. Snedecker".