This Day in History: 1965-01-14

Funeral services were held for Mary Suffern, 95, who died on New Years Day.  She was the great-granddaughter of John Suffern who came to this country from County Antrim, Ireland before the Revolution and founded the village now named after him.  She had lived at her home on Lake Street in Hillburn since it was built in 1875.  She attended Cooper Union and the Art Students League in New York City and studied under Jules Arnault, a French painter in the early 1890s.  She woke as a draughtsman in New York City until 1900 when the death of her sister, Anne forced her to return to take care of the home.  She was survived by her sister Elsie Suffern Cornell and a niece Mrs. Eleanor Suffern Fiebely, the Pastor of the Ramapo Reformed Church in Mahwah, and a nephew, Rev. Richard Suffern of Paterson.  funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Ross Seward of the Hillburn Presbyterian Church with rural in the Mahwah Cemetery.  Her father had to give up his Suffern home during the depression of 1872 and built the Hillburn house three years later.

(Bristow)