There have been three major genealogical documents published on the Demarest family in North America (primarily in the United States) published to date, focused on the descendents of David desMarets, the first member of the family (as far as is known) to settle in North America.

In 1886, David D. Demarest published a speech entitled Huguenots On The Hackensack, drawing attention to the important historical role played by David desMarets in the settlement of modern-day Manhattan and Bergen County, New Jersey. Drawing strongly on Riker's Harlem, this document is significant today for two primary reasons: it was the first document to claim that David desMarets was born in 1620 in a town called Beauchamps in what is today northern France, and it was the first document to publish what purports to be a transcription of the record of David's marriage to Marie Sohier. In all other respects, this document has been superceded by the work of more recent historians.

In 1938, Mary and William Demarest published The Demarest Family in a privately-printed edition (octavo, green cloth binding), with supplements to that text appearing (paper-bound) in 1942, 1944 and 1947. While this book and its supplements contain much that is of interest to modern-day Demarest researchers, the Mary and William Demarest text's genealogy has been completely superceded by Voorhis Demarest's 1964 text, and the Mary and William Demarest theory on the European origins of the Demarest family has been called into serious question both for its implausibility and for its reliance on research done by Louis Piers de Boer for William Demarest prior to the book's initial publication. This work is a historical curiosity and should not be used by anyone researching their Demarest relatives or ancestors.

In 1964, Voorhis D. Demarest -- then director of the Demarest Family Association -- published his momumental The Demarest Family set, eventually in three volumes including a paper-bound supplement (1971). Until the next version of the family genealogy is published -- late in 2004 or in early 2005 -- this is the only reliable source of genealogical information on the descendents of David desMarets in the US and Canada. However, Voorhis Demarest's text is not reliable for information on the European origins of the Demarest family, nor is Mabel Boyce Spell's "Narrative" as contained within Voorhis Demarest's text reliable.

Taking advantage of the fact that Voorhis chose not to copyright the 1964 edition, unscrupulous genealogy sellers are offering poor-quality reproductions of the 1964 text for sale at what are often extortional prices, in the process depriving Voorhis Demarest's heirs, morally at least, of their rights. For that reason, and with the permission of Voorhis Demarest's family, the Demarest Genealogical Society has chosen to make the generalogical contents of the 1964 Voorhis Demarest text (minus the paperbound appendix, war records, indices and emphemera) available on this site, without charge, until this information is superceded by the publication of the next edition of the genealogy, which is slated to appear in early 2005.

This genealogical information is provided under a Creative Commons license for non-commercial, private use. Individuals researching their family history are free to make use of the information, but the information may not be used for any commercial purposes, republished in any form, electronic or otherwise, or incorporated into any public or private databases, other than personal genealogical databases. The texts have been electronically signed in a way that, while not disturbing the accuracy of the content, makes it possible for the Demarest Genealogical Society to identify reproductions that use this dataset as their source. We will vigorously prosecute any violation of the license under which this text is made available.

The information will be withdrawn from circulation upon publication of the next edition of the genealogy, and all licenses to this material will be terminated.

The information is available as a set of flat text files, with license, in a ZIP file (1.2 MB). By openeing the ZIP file and making use of the material it contains, you agree to be bound by the terms of the license.

1964 Genealogy: Text

April 2004 US Surname Distribution: By Surname Variant, By State