Meet the Historians Series – Bedminster Township’s Dutzie Robbie

UPDATE:
The Mr. Local History Project Research Team is seeking Bedminster historians with whom we can collaborate. If you know of someone who has a deep knowledge of Bedminster, NJ history, please drop us a note and let us know.

Pritch Matthews and Dutzie Robbie –
Carried the Bedminster history torch for decades.

The Mr. Local History Project researchers had hoped to interview two people who have been at the forefront of historic preservation in Bedminster, New Jersey. However, we are sad to inform everyone of the loss of Pritch Matthews and Dutzie Robbie, who are no longer with us. Both Ms. Matthews and Ms. Robbie were heavily involved in preserving and promoting local history. Dutzie was dedicated to serving residents and held the positions of both Bedminster Township Historian and Chair of the Historic Preservation Committee.

Pritch Matthews

Prich Matthews, 80, died on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009, at the Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown. She was born in Bluefield, WV, on October 3, 1929. She and her husband, Robert, moved to Bedminster in 1958, initially living in a cottage at the quadrangle on John Cowperthwaite, Sr.’s estate, later known as Trump National Golf Club.

In 1965, the couple traveled to Kwajalein, Marshall Islands in Micronesia. From the Pacific islands, they completed their trip around the world. They returned to Bedminster in 1967, when they purchased Elm Hill Farm and the 1734 farmhouse, where Prich Matthews had lived until her death.

Mrs. Matthews’ life was marked with creativity and volunteerism. She retired from community affairs in 2000 after a fall that prevented her from participating actively in these activities. When her community began to experience rapid growth, Matthews saw the need to share with newcomers knowledge of Bedminster Township’s rich cultural heritage. To that end, she prepared a descriptive exhibition of 34 historic township photographs. The exhibit first appeared when a new Clarence Dillon Public Library facility was dedicated in 1979. Before and after the library moved to a grander site in 1994, Prich directed a Friends’ gallery for local artists in each venue. This led to her establishing and directing an art gallery for leading New Jersey artists in the new Somerset County Administration Building in Somerville, New Jersey, in 1992, while she was a member of the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission.

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Historic Library Dedicated to Prich Matthews

Bedminster Township officials, the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House non-profit, and friends joined Robert L. Matthews in dedicating the history center in memory of his late wife, Prich, who was a founding member of the JVH Board of Trustees and a former Bedminster Township historian.

“Prich was passionate about preserving local history and among the first to become involved in the restoration of the Jacobus Vanderveer House. It’s only fitting that this history center be dedicated in her honor,” said Leslie Molé, former JVH Board President, who spearheaded the development of the Prich Matthews History Center.

The 150-volume library includes detailed archaeological, furnishings, structure, and landscape reports of the Jacobus Vanderveer House; biographies and autobiographies of individuals who participated in the Revolutionary War; as well as the writings of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Also on display are early images and drawings of the property, General Knox, 18th-century magazines, and a 1794 family bible.

Although items cannot be borrowed from the center, visitors are welcome to read materials in the comfort of the warm, classically decorated room outfitted with an illuminated bookcase, writing desk, table, chairs, and a laptop computer. A still life painting by Mrs. Matthews, an accomplished artist, adorns one of the walls.

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Then-Bedminster Township Police Chief Gary Cummings requested that Mrs. Matthews design a logo for the police uniforms in the 1970s. In addition to uniforms, the logo appears on police cars and township literature. And as a large bronze motif in the Township meeting room. Matthews became Bedminster Township Historian in 1988. She then served as a member of the Township’s Historical Preservation Commission.

Her involvement with local history led to her writing in 1999 “Bedminster Township – 250 Years”, a volume that celebrated the 250th anniversary of the township’s gaining its charter from England. The main gallery of the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton was where, in 1982, Matthews had a one-person show featuring 65 of her paintings and collages. It was among many of the artist’s activities and shows during the 1980s. Matthews was one of the founders of the Somerset Art Association in 1970. She was a past president and the first honorary life member of the organization, which began in Bernardsville, later relocated to Far Hills, and is now based in Bedminster.

Mrs. Matthews’s early connection with newspapers enriched her writing horizons. As assistant society editor of the El Paso (Texas) Herald Post in 1952, she initiated an illustrated advice column for teenagers. This idea originated in 1948, when she wrote for the Mountain Mirror in Bluefield, West Virginia. Her travels led to the publication of the 1965 Delaware Valley Historical Guidebook and the New Jersey Junket, a travel column that appeared in 12 New Jersey newspapers during the 1970s.

Prich’s love of home was instrumental in her designing small home fittings that were featured in the 1960s in New York City at Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel. Garden club activities were among Matthews’s special interests. In the early 1960s, she became a flower show judge accredited by the New Jersey Council of State Garden Clubs. She held the same accreditation as a landscape design critic. She studied landscape design with the late Raymond Korbobo at Cook College in New Brunswick.

Mrs. Matthews was a 1952 graduate of Longwood College, now Longwood University, in Farmville, VA. In 1962, she was president of the Somerset Hills chapter of the American Association of University Women. Before serving as president, she was the chairman of the annual AAUW book sale, where donated books were sorted in Dr. Raymond Maronpot’s barn on Anderson Road in Bernardsville.

She and her husband, Robert, traveled to Germany in 1954 with their three dogs, where Mr. Matthews was stationed with the Air Force. Prich participated in American women’s activities, which took them from Bavaria in the south to Bremerhaven in the north, via couples’ service stations. In Bremerhaven, she served as president of the Air Force Officers’ Wives Club and vice president of the American Women’s Club, which included wives from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and other service branches stationed in Bremerhaven. While in Bremerhaven, she hosted a radio program on the Armed Forces Network devoted to women’s interests.

During their stay in Europe, the couple showed two of their American Cocker Spaniels that won Certificates of Aptitude for Champion of International Beauty (CACIB). In Berlin, Prich and her winning dogs were featured in the German Movietone News. The couple’s interest in owning and showing dogs continued into the 21st century.

Dutzie Robbie

She was born in Mexico City to Latrobe and Ofelia Onderdonk on Jan. 19, 1922, the granddaughter of Texas painter Robert Jenkins Onderdonk and the niece of Julian Onderdonk and Eleanor Onderdonk, Texas impressionist painters. She made numerous donations to the Witte Museum in San Antonio on behalf of the Onderdonk family. She married J. Robert Laidlaw in 1943 and graduated from Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, Texas, in 1945 with a bachelor of arts degree in English and biology.

The Robbies moved to Plainfield in 1946, where she became an active volunteer in the Junior League of Plainfield, serving as president from 1957 to 1959, and at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School and Muhlenberg Hospital. Mrs. Robbie was an enthusiastic tennis player at the Plainfield Country Club and an avid bridge player.

After a fire destroyed their Plainfield home in 1966, the Robbie family moved to Bedminster Township, where she remained a dedicated volunteer for the next 45 years. She served for 40 years with the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Somerset Hills, chairing the Board of Trustees numerous times. The VNA created an award in her name to be presented annually to an outstanding VNA board member.

For 30 years, Mrs. Robbie served as the historian for Bedminster Township, which led to her involvement with the Bedminster Historic Preservation Commission, where she also held the position of chairman. She received the Millicent Fenwick Memorial Civic Award in 1998 from the Somerset Hills YMCA.

Mrs. Robbie was also active with the Clarence Dillon Public Library, serving as its board president. She wanted not only to give back to her community but to make a difference in the world. Mrs. Robbie will also be remembered as a wonderful hostess who presided over many memorable gatherings at her home.

She lost her only brother, Latrobe, in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Her parents predeceased her; by her first husband in a car accident in 1969; by her second husband, Norman H. Robbie, from pneumonia while visiting Russia in 1988; and by her eldest son, James, from cancer in 2012.

Surviving are her children and their spouses, Mary (Frank) Hart, Latrobe (Joselyn) Laidlaw, John (Mary Beth) Laidlaw, her stepson, KC (Folly) Robbie, and daughter-in-law, Judy (James) Laidlaw. Her 16 grandchildren also survive her: Heather Laidlaw Kraft, Christy Hart Waller, Francey Hart Slater, Robert Hart, Victoria, L. Jared, Colton, Benjamin, Joseph, and Schuyler Laidlaw; Jason, Lissa, Christian, and David Robbie; and Colette and Thurston Taber. Mrs. Robbie is also survived by nine great-grandchildren: Elizabeth and Isabella Taber, Elle, Hunter, Lila and Collin Robbie, Lucas and Audrey Waller, and Julian Slater. She is also survived by cousins Gloria O’Brien of St. Louis, Mo., Liz Morgan of New Jersey, Eleanor Limpert of North Carolina, and Bob Onderdonk of California.

Ofelia “Dutzie” Onderdonk Laidlaw Robbie, 93, died on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, peacefully at home in Atlanta, Ga. Her family was by her side.

A private family burial was held on Friday, October 16, and a memorial service was held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, at St. Brigid Church, 129 Main Street in Peapack. (Source: Bernardsville News)

Additional Research Information:

• Clarence Dillion Anne O’Brien History Room – Bedminster’s Anne O’Brien Room. This special room honors Anne O’Brien, a former Bedminster Township Historian and champion of historical preservation.
• Jacobus Vanderveer House History Room – Bedminster

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