One of Hawthorne’s oldest homes, a brownstone overlooking Goffle Brook, has a story to tell.
Listed in June for $950,000 by Jeff Vander Molen with Terrie O’Connor Realtors, the Van Winkle House at 868 Goffle Road was Passaic County’s first known murder scene. Dating to the mid-18th century and expanding to its current footprint in the early 19th century, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom home wears its history like a badge of honor — minus the bloodstains.
Exposed beams and stone feature throughout the interior, as do whitewashed wainscoting, chair rails and dark hardwood floors. The primary suite nonetheless comes with motorized window treatments and a sleek modern bathroom. The office is a large contemporary space with a vaulted ceiling.
Further possibilities for modernization await as the original section of the home features two gutted rooms and a bathroom with professionally designed plans available for the next owner, according to Vander Molen. New metal and wood beams in the basement reinforce the home that sits on two-thirds of an acre.
The largest part of the home was built as an addition in 1811 by a famous murder victim and county judge, John S. Van Winkle. Born in 1784, Van Winkle ran a farm and a gristmill on the then 212.5-acre property after inheriting it from his father, Simeon Van Winkle, aka Simeon of the Bogt, who lived in Paterson’s Riverside section, according to federal historical records. Seeking to expand his operations, Van Winkle and a neighbor in 1828 successfully lobbied the state to build a damn on the Passaic River and establish what became a profitable canal route, records show.
A prominent resident and businessman, Van Winkle was named judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Passaic County when the county was founded in 1837, according to county records. Things were going well for Van Winkle until January 1850, when a farmhand he had released from jail sneaked into his home, fatally stabbed him and killed his wife with a hatchet.
The home stayed in the Van Winkle family until 1901 but was mostly leased to tenant farmers after the murder, according to municipal records. The earliest part of the home was built with rough stone between 1746 and 1774 by Van Winkle’s grandfather, also named John S. Van Winkle. Local records show the date of construction is uncertain but thought to be 1761.
The large dressed stone addition has a cornerstone dating the construction to 1811, 39 years before the home held Passaic County’s first recorded murders. More recently the subject of a book by Don Everett Smith Jr., “Passaic County’s First Murder and Execution: The Van Winkles and the Goffle Road Murders,” the story remained a topic of conversation for decades, according to municipal records.
170 years ago, Passaic County was rattled by its first murders and a public hanging of the killer
The convicted killer, a 34-year-old Liverpudlian named John Jonston, shared Christmas dinner with the Van Winkles just two weeks before the murders, according to Smith. He climbed through a second-story window using Van Winkle’s gristmill ladder before killing 61-year-old Jannetje Van Winkle in her bedroom with two blows of a hatchet, he said. After a scuffle with 65-year-old Van Winkle, Jonston lost the hatchet, but he pulled a knife, the Paterson Intelligencer reported a week after the murders. Jonston fatally stabbed Van Winkle before escaping from the home.
Jonston was caught soon after at a rail station in Ridgewood, then known as Godwinville, the Paterson Intelligencer reported. He was tracked through footprints in the snow and found with a bloody bag. Van Winkle died 16 hours later, giving him enough time to plan his own funeral, Smith said.
Jonston spent two months in confinement before being indicted. He was found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged at the end of April 1850. It was the first of five executions in Passaic County’s history, county records show.
The end of the house where the slaying took place was sealed for decades after the judge died, according to a New York Times report from August 1882. During that time, the ladder Jonston used to breach the home remained propped against the side of the house, the newspaper reported.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey home listed for $950K comes with a history of murder
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