Thomas Cadmus

Thomas Cadmus (1736-1821) was a businessman, Revolutionary War officer and community leader in early Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey.

Cadmus was born about 1736, and was baptized at the Reformed Church of Second River in Newark Township (now Belleville), New Jersey, the sixth child of Geertie Bras (1699-) and third child of her second husband, Abraham Cadmus (1708-1759), a lumber and stone merchant and storekeeper.

Unlike most 18th century northern New Jersey colonists of Dutch descent, Cadmus lived in the midst of an area primarily populated by settlers of Puritan (English) heritage in what is now the Watsessing neighborhood of Bloomfield. His business interests included farming, grist milling, real estate, and possibly quarrying.

On June 29, 1760, Thomas married his cousin, Pieterje Cadmus (1740-), daughter of Thomas Cadmus (1707-) and Cornelia Jeralemon (1711-); they had eleven children.

Cadmus built his residence in 1763, as indicated on the datestone. It replaced a logging cabin erected by Thomas’ grandfather Johannes Cadmus (1666-1759). The house was built of locally quarried brownstone, with four rooms on the first floor; a gable-ended loft; fireplaces on both ends; a cedar shingle roof; and a small entry stoop. The extant foundation consists of a fieldstone basement, massive hand-hewn joists, and flooring planks, some of which exceed 16 inches in width. A detached kitchen in the rear of the house contained a kitchen with a Dutch oven on one wall and slave quarters in the loft.

Cadmus served in the Revolutionary War as a lieutenant colonel of Essex militia. He led a contingent of New Jersey troops in the fortification of New York City and commanded a battalion in the Battle of Long Island. Suffering from gout, he resigned his line unit command, but continued to serve in logistics, notably during the Continental Army’s encampment at Jockey Hollow in Morristown, New Jersey.

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