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Gc 974.902 J48m 1818117
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02255 3165
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofjerseyc00macl
HISTORY
... OF ...
JERSEY CITY, & N. & J. New Jersey
A RECORD OF ITS EARLY SETTLEMENT AND CORPORATE PROGRESS.
Sketches of the Towns and Cities that were absorbed in the growth of the present Municipality.
Its Business, Finance, Manufactures and Form of Gov- ernment, with some notice of the Men who built the City.
compiled for the Evening Journal
BY ALEXANDER MCLEAN.
PRESS OF THE JERSEY CITY PRINTING COMPANY,
1895.
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1818117
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VIEWS OF PROMINENT RESIDENT STREETS OF JERSEY CITY.
Scene on Columbia Place, Scene on Kensington Avenue, Scene on Montgomery Street, from Jersey Avenue.
Scene on Highland Avenue, Scene un Kensington Avenue. Scene on Wayoe Street.
Scene on Madison Avenue. Scene on Duncan Avenne. Scene on Danforth Avenue.
COPYRIGHTED 1895. F. T. SMILEY & CO. JERSEY CITY, N. J.
JERSEY CITY, N. J. THE JERSEY CITY PRINTING CO. 1895.
INTRODUCTION.
HE growth of a city is the result of individual and organized effort extending over long periods. The work of the individuals merges into the general history. The acts of organizations form distinct currents in the life of the municipality. In compiling this history of Jersey City these facts have been recognized.
The general history extends into the past to the discovery of the site for a city and the first settlement by the Dutch. The English occupation, the second Dutch epoch, the return of the English, the peaceful colonial times, the stirring period of the Revolution, the proprietary government of the Associates, the attempts to form a city, the final success and rapid development, the war of the rebellion, the time of peace and the growth of the big city, are concisely condensed into a con- secutive narrative. The present condition of the city is shown in copious statistics giving the extent and condition of its commercial, financial and manufacturing in- stitutions.
The social, religious and civic progress is presented in detailed chapters on the organized work of the past and present. The churches, clubs and city de- partments are considered separately. The growth of each from small beginnings to present excellence is graphically described and pictorially illustrated. The learned professions, from the first in each department to the latest professional worker, are fully presented. Biographical sketches and portraits, so far as could be obtained, are given of each judge, jurist, doctor or divine, and a complete list of all the lawyers and physicians who have practiced in the city is included. Historical sketches of the fire, police and school departments, are given with much accuracy and detail. The business men and others prominent at the present time in every walk of life are recorded biographically and by portraits, which form interesting sections of the work. The whole forms a reliable text book of the city's progress from its pastoral infancy through its speculative youth to the present municipal maturity.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. - Discovery and Early Settlement - Trouble with the Indians-Massacre at Communi-
. paw-Settlers Driven to New York-Founding the Town of Bergen - Orders to Fortify the Shore Settlements-End of the Dutch Colonial Period.
CHAPTER II .- Seizure of the Settlement by the En- glish-A Proprietary Government Formed-Re- capture by the Dutch-Another Surrender to the English-A New Charter Granted by Queen Anne -Close of the Second Colonial Period.
CHAPTER III .- Condition of Paulus Hook at the Beginning of the Revolutionary War-Erection of Fortifications by Lord Stirling -Capture by the British-Light Horse Harry's Brilliant Recapture of the Forts-Incidents of the War in the Town and Vicinity-Evacuation by the British.
CHAPTER IV. - Incorporation of the Associates of the Jersey Company-Purchase of Paulus Hook-Rival Towns of Van Vorst and Hoboken-The Founders of the Future City-Their Efforts to Build a City- The Proprietary Government-It was a Failure.
CHAPTER V .- Obstacles in the Way of the Little City -The Associates' Mortgages and the Disputed Water Front-The City Gets its Name and a Municipal Government- Slow Growth under the Selectmen-Fulton's First Steamboat Built.
CHAPTER VI .- The New City Government Fails- The Van Vorst Mortgage Extinguished-The First Cemetery- Efforts to Maintain a Bank-A New Town Charter-The Water Front Controversy- First Railways Built-Dudley S. Gregory Settles in the Little City-Land Values Increasing-Street Improvements Made - Another New Charter Fac- tories Established- End of the Associates' Govern- ment.
CHAPTER VII .- Under a City Charter- New Life Infused into the Little Town-What its Main Streets then Consisted of-How its Institutions were Originated-The First Addition to the City's Area-Disappearance of its Inland Water Way.
CHAPTER VIII .- The County Seat at Hackensack Too Far Away - Meetings held to Secure Branch County Offices-The Plan Fails, and Petitions sent to the Legislature for a New County-Opposed by Bergen County-Arguments Presented at Trenton -Hudson County Set Off - Officers Elected-A Court House Built.
CHAPTER IX .- A Score of Years under the City Charter-Moral, Social and Commercial Activity- Schools Established -Street Opening Carried on- The Exciting Election-Trouble about Saloons- Active Temperance People The Railroad Com- pany Absorbs the Ferry-New Towns Desired- Trying to Divide the School Fund - First Proposal for a Water Supply-The First Cunarder.
CHAPTER X .- The Story of Van Vorst Township- The Duke's Farm-John B. Cole's Purchase -- How the Neighborhoods Formed -- Efforts to Build a City -Business and Population Attracted-A Township Charter- The Officers who Governed the Town -- Public Pumps and Water Supply-How Improve- inents were Made-Churches and Schools Built -- Parks Donated-Consolidation with Jersey City -- The Civil List.
CHAPTER XI .- The Enlarged City-Bound to Have a Water Supply - Plans Proposed - The Site for Pumping Station and Reservoirs-Construction of the Works- Great Rejoicing over the Introduction of Water-Sudden Growth in Population - The- Visit by Abraham Lincoln-An Official Reception.
CHAPTER XII .- The City During the War Period- The Flag Fired On-A Burst of Patriotism-Re- cruiting Stations Opened-Public Meetings Held- The Drafts-Street Scenes.
CHAPTER XIII .- History of Hudson City-1ts Early Days-The Town Set Off from Bergen-A City Charter Secured-The Early Schools and Gradual Development of a Department -- The Erie Tunnel Riots -Militia Called Out-The Officers who Served the City.
CHAPTER XIV .- The Story of Bergen - Its Village Days -- The Old Roads- Communipaw -- Lafayette- Claremont-The Stage Line-Street Railway Built -- School Buildings -The City Halls-A City Charter -Where the Consolidation Idea Originated -Carried into Effect-Peculiar Award of Contracts -The City Officials.
CHAPTER XV .- Consolidation and Reorganization- The Petition to the Frecholders-An Election Ordered and its Result -- Trouble Began for Jersey City-Financial Condition of the Three Cities-A Rush of Contracts-" The Board of 32"-A Bank War-Origin of the City Debt-A New City Charter-The Reservoir Contract-A New Govern- ment Inaugurated on a New Plan.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI .- " The Bumsted Ring"-Political Persecution Through the Courts-Alleged Extrava- gance of the Commissioners-What Caused the Extravagance and Who was Really Responsible for it-The City Out of Funds-Rapid Growth of the Interest-Bearing Debt - Where the Money Went.
CHAPTER XVII .- Greenville-Its Slow Growth-A Town Formed-The Early Residents-A School Board Created-The Demand for Improvements Produced the Street Commission-The Commission Killed the Tuwn-Consolidation-What the Town Contained-A List of its Officers.
CHAPTER XVIII .- Changes in the City Government- The Officials Again Made Elective - Growth of the City Debt-Ballot-box Stuffing-The Centennial Celebration-Rise of the People Against Political Bossism-Officers Made Appointive -- Rise and De- cline of the City Debt.
CHAPTER XIX .- City Officials and City Boards, Past and Present. Aldermen -- Mayors-Comptrollers -- Collectors-Law Department - Recorders- Police Justices-Board of Finance-Public Works Depart- ment -- Tax Commissioners -Sinking Fund Com- missioners-Tax Adjustment Commissioners.
CHAPTER XX .- The Fire Department-Its Origin-A Complete Roster of the Volunteer Department of the Three Cities prior to Consolidation-The Paid System from the Consolidation to the Present Time -- The Alarms and Losses of Twenty-four Years- List of Officers and Commissioners -- Appropriations for the Paid Department.
CHAPTER XXI .- The Police Department-The Old Watchmen - Hudson River Force Organized-A Struggle for Supremacy-The Changes Made by Politics-Tenure of Office Act-Reorganization- The Present Force-List of Commissioners, Offi- cials and Appropriations.
CHAPTER XXII .- The City School System-The First Attempts at Schools- How they Began in Bergen, Hudson City and Greenville-Growth and Cost- The Present System-Complete List of Officers. Census, Enrollment and Appropriations.
CHAPTER XXIII .-- City Institutions-City Hall, Post Office, City, Christ and St. Francis Hospitals- Public Library, Home for the Homeless, Children's Home, Home for Aged Women.
CHAPTER XXIV .- Bauks and Banking-A Brief His- tory of each Institution and the Board of Trade-A Story of Progress.
CHAPTER XXV .- The Fourth Regiment- How the Organization was Formed-Who were Concerned in its Creation, and the Men who have Carried on the Work-A Brief Account of its Services, with a Complete List of the Staff and Line from the first Roster to the Present.
CHAPTER XXVI .- Early Days of the Jersey City Press -- The Pioneers who Fell by the Way.
CHAPTER XXVII .- The Leading Social Clubs-New Jersey, Palma, Jersey City, Carteret, Union League and Hudson County Democratic.
CHAPTER XXVIII .- The Bench and Bar -- Biographi- cal Sketches of Noted Jurists and a Complete List of the Profession in Jersey City.
CHAPTER XXIX .- The Medical Profession from the First Practitioner to the Present Time, with a Complete List of all who have Lived in the City from the Beginning.
CHAPTER XXX .- The Origin and Growth of the City Churches - How the Leading Organizations were Started and How they Grew.
CHAPTER XXXI .- The City of To-day-What Caused its Remarkable Growth-Statistics of its Civic Work and Industries down to Date.
CHAPTER XXXII .- The Evening Journal-A Brief" History of its Foundation and Progress-The Jersey City Printing Company-The Largest Printing Establishment in the State.
CHAPTER XXXIII .- Biographical Sketches of the Men who are Prominent in the City's Affairs To-day.
CHAPTER XXXIV .-- Some of the Leading Manufac- turing Establishments of the City, with an Account of their Formation and Progress.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY AND EARLY SETTLEMENT-TROUBLE WITH THE INDIANS-MASSACRE AT COMMUNIPAW- SETTLERS DRIVEN TO NEW YORK-FOUNDING THE TOWN OF BERGEN-ORDERS TO FORTIFY THE SHORE SETTLEMENT-END OF THE DUTCH COLONIAL PERIOD.
S pleasant a land as one need tread upon. In these words Jersey City made its first appearance on the pages of history. They were penned by Henry Hudson, who discovered its wooded hills and undulant marshes under a September sun, 285 years ago. Claims have been made on behalf of other navigators, but none have left indisputable records of prior discovery. They may have seen it as a "far countrie." If they did, theirs was but the beginning of discovery. To Hudson belongs the honor of having made known to the world the finest harbor on the western continent and the broad river which bears his name.
The spoils of a new world had enriched Spain and excited the ambition of every maritime power in Europe during a century preceding Hudson's memorable voyage. Stories of romantie experience and sudden wealth could not be too improbable to find universal eredence. Suc- cessful voyagers were the lions in every community. The spirit of adventure tempted mariners and merchants in all sea-going nations to try their fortunes in the new world that was growing larger with the knowledge brought from every voyage. The navigators of no nation had made more enterprising nor more successful voyages than those of Holland. Its ships had made the people acquainted with the wealth that flowed from the East Indies, and their enterprise had excited the wrath of Spain, who could brook no rival on the seas. The Span- iards tried to destroy the Dutch East India trade, and their efforts made the Netherland merchants seek a new route to the Indies. When they reached that determination Hudson had achieved fame by two voyages under London patronage in search of the northwest passage. Everybody shared his belief in the existence of this route, and his failures did not shake his faith. He was easily induced to enter the service of the Dutch East India Company to make another attempt to find a route that would not require passing the Spanish coast in voyages to the East Indies. He was put in command of the Half Moon, a vessel of about sixty tons burthen, with a crew of twenty men, and sailed from the Texel on April 6, 1609. He did not find the northwest passage, but, after a voyage which added much to his experi- ence, he anchored inside of Sandy Hook on the third of September. He remained there nine days and made the acquaintance of the Indians who lived on the Jersey shore. He found them "civil and kind." He made a survey of the harbor, even to Newark Bay, which bounds Jersey City on the southwest, and on September 12th sailed up to Communipaw. He found an abundance of game, fish and oysters, and the natives supplied him with fruit and vegetables.
He arrived in Holland in the summer of 1610, and his description of the country pleased the merchants so well that they fitted out another vessel and a successful voyage was made. In 1614 the merchants found the trade so profitable that they obtained a monopoly of it from the States General of the United Netherlands. They called the country New Netherlands, and organized as "The United New Netherlands Company." Under their management several trading posts were established, and the Company soon became wealthy. Their charter expired on January 1, 1618, and its renewal was refused. On June 3, 1621, an armed commercial associ- ation was formed under the title of the Dutch West India Company. Its charter gave it exclusive jurisdiction over the New Netherlands for twenty-one years.
The government of the company was vested in five chambers. Nineteen delegates from these chambers, with one delegate chosen by the States General formed an executive board, and this board gave to the Amsterdam chamber the management of affairs in New Netherlands, which was created a province in June, 1623. One of the prominent members of the Amsterdam
8
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
chamber was Michael Pauw, a burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Achtienhoven, near Utrecht. He was a man of means and enterprise, and made an indelible impress on the history of Jersey City.
The work of the company for the ensuing six years belongs to the history of New York. Its operations were carried on in a more extensive and expensive manner than those of its less pretentious predecessor and were not so successful. The headquarters had been fixed on Man- hattan Island, where a fort was built, and the small population depended on trading for a liveli- hood. The company was not satisfied with what was done, and devised plans to improve the condition of affairs. They reserved the Island of Manhattan, but offered free land elsewhere to immigrants who would cultivate it. They also offered to any member of the company who would plant a colony of not less than fifty adult persons within four years, a section of land with sixteen miles of frontage on navigable water free of charge. With this they gave the title of Patroon, or feudal chief of the territory thus conveyed.
These privileges were restricted to members of the company and claims were located at once by the more enterprising or better informed. Michael Pauw was one of the active mem- bers. He chose the west bank of the Hudson for his colony. Before applying for a grant from the company he bought the land from the native owners. His purchase included the hilly island known to the Indians as Aresick and the upland west and north of it known as Ahasimus, with the intervening meadow. He then had the Indian owners join in the deed given by the company and the Governor of the province. This grant bears date of November 22, 1630. It was one of the earli- had a house of some kind built at Aresick, which a short time afterward was occu- pied by Michael Paulusen, who had charge of the trade with the Indians. He was the first white resident of the so- called island, and the point of land became known as Paulus JAN DE LACHER'S HOOK. Hook from his occu- pancy. est deeds recorded in New Netherlands, and the first convey- ance made in East Jersey. Pauw made an effort to form a colony at Ahasimus. He built a house, cul- tivated a farm and changed the name of the place to Pavonia, which is supposed to be a Latinized form of his name. He also
The directors and other members of the company who had failed to secure land and the rights of patroons were jealous of their more enterprising associates, and soon clamored for a reapportionment. Most of those who had secured claims were forced to surrender, but it was only after numerous trials and hearings that Pauw gave up his valuable title. He had failed to found the colony he should have planted on his land, but he stood on his deed, and the company was forced, after four years of litigation, to pay him 26,000 florins for his title. He conveyed to the company in May, 1634.
The company had taken possession over a year before the settlement with Pauw was made and had ordered the construction of two houses in the territory. One was built at Pavonia and the other at Communipaw. Pauw removed Paulusen from his charge, and on June 17, 1634, Jan Evertsen Bout arrived from Holland as superintendent of Pavonia. He chose the house at Communipaw for his home and remained in charge for two years. He was the first white resident of that section. Bout's farm extended from what is now Maple Street, where the Central Railroad round house is located, southerly to a point below the railway to Black Tom Island, in Communipaw Cove. Bout leased the hill at the mouth of Mill Creek to Egbert Wouterssen. This hill became known later as Jan de Lacher's Hook. This was a circular hill and section of upland. The name, anglicized, is John the Laugher's Point, and it is supposed to commemorate the jovial disposition of Jan Evertsen Bout. When Pauw was forced to relinquish the powers of a patroon he presented the house to Bout and Bout lived there nine years, after which he moved to Brooklyn and had nothing more to do with the west side of the Hudson River.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
In June, 1636, Pauw appointed Cornelis Van Vorst superintendent of his property. Van Vorst chose the house at Pavonia for his residence. The house was destroyed by fire a few days afterwards. It caught from the wadding of a small cannon fired in honor of the Gover- nor of the province, who had been entertained by Van Vorst. The house was rebuilt and occupied by Van Vorst until he died, two years later.
The company's business and the management of the New Netherlands settlement was in a very unsatisfactory condition after the company had secured the lands of the patroons. The income fell off and a great many free traders were doing a profitable trade with the Indians in opposition to the company. Early in 1638 the directors decided to use vigorous means to pro- duce a profit for the company. William Kieft was appointed Governor and reached the port on Manhattan Island in March. He was a miserable apology for an executive head. He ignored the agreement by which Aresick and Paulus Hook were to be reserved for the com- pany. His main object was to secure money to remit to his principals. He sold Paulus Hook to Abraham Isaacsen Planck for the ridiculous price of 550 guilders. This deed bears date of May 1, 1638. Planck could not raise all of the money, but gave security to pay within two years. In July of the same year the Communipaw farm was leased to Jan Evertsen Bout for a quarter of the crop, two tuns of strong beer and twelve capons annually. This lease was to run six years.
Kieft made an unwise attempt to levy a tax on the Indians and incurred their ill will. They were already jealous of the up-river Indians, who had secured firearms from the free traders. The company's agents would not sell firearms. There was a constant feud between the Indian tribes, varied by outbreaks of actual warfare. During one of these outbreaks, in February, 1643, the Indians on the west side of the Hudson River were so severely pressed by their hereditary foes, the Mohawks, that they fled through deep snow to take shelter with the Dutch. There were nearly a thousand of them, and they encamped on the upland at the west of Egbert Wouterssen's farm, near the present intersection of Pine Street and Johnston Avenue. There they were attacked while asleep on the night of Feb. 25th, and a large number of men, women and children were murdered by Dutch soldiers, acting under the orders of Gov. Kieft. The records show that there were eighty murdered and that the victims were horribly mu- tilated. It is probable that more were killed and many wounded. This treachery was the cause of an alliance between all the tribes in the vicinity. They made common cause against the whites thereafter. The retaliation began on the morning after the massacre, when Dirck Straatmaker was shot by the Indians in the woods near the scene of the brutal attack. The whites were harassed by the Indians all summer, but the real attack did not begin until the fall of the year.
The widow of Cornelis Van Vorst had a family of children and a farm. She had married the company's storekeeper, Jacob Stoffelsen, an uneducated man, but an honest, thrifty man- ager. They lived near what is now the corner of Fourth and Henderson streets, where the farm mansion, which was built on the site of the old homestead, is still standing, though con- siderably altered in appearance. The Indians were friendly with Stoffelsen because he never deceived them. In spite of this fact he had obtained from the Governor a guard of four soldiers as a matter of precaution. On October ist the Indians induced him to go across the river to the fort, and in his absence they killed the soldiers, burned the house and destroyed the crop. When the Indians retreated they took yonng Ide Van Vorst as a prisoner. He was ransomed a few days later at Tappan. Soon afterward the houses and farms of Jan Evertsen Bout, at Communipaw, Egbert Wouterssen's, at Jan de Lacher's Point, and Abraham Isaacsen Planck's house, at Paulus Hook, were destroyed by fire. The Indian war continued for a year and a half, when a treaty of peace was signed. Then the owners and tenants returned to the west side of the river. Bout began rebuilding, but sold his land before his house was finished. Michael Jansen bought the northern part for 8,000 florins and Claes Comptah the southern part for 1, 144 florins.
Peace, with one or two brief exceptions, continued until the fall of 1655. A score or more of farmers had settled on the west side of the river by that time. The murder of an Indian girl for stealing peaches from a farm near the present site of Trinity Church, in New York, provoked another Indian war. On September 15th a night attack on New Amsterdam by 500 Indians was repulsed. The Indians went back to the west side, and within an hour every house
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
in Pavonia was in flames. Twenty-eight farms and a number of outlying plantations were de- stroyed, with their crops and buildings. During three days the Dutch lost too in killed, 150 who were carried into captivity and 300 were left homeless. The settlements on the west bank of the river were destroyed and for five years were practically abandoned.
The first to return was Jacob Stoffelsen, who was allowed to rebuild his home in Pavonia in 1656-7 and who remained there at his own risk. In 1658 the Indians made a new deed convey- ing the territory on the west side of the river to the Dutch. The settlers who had been driven from their houses then petitioned for exemption from taxes for a few years in order to give them an opportunity to reconstruet their farms. The exemption was granted for a period of six years, but they did not take advantage of it for two years. The privilege was hampered with a condition that they should build a village that could be defended against the Indians.
The beauty of the hill country west of Communipaw and the fertility of the soil made many New Netherlanders anxious to secure grants of land there for farming. The authorities were unwilling to authorize isolated farms. The settlers who had returned to their farms along the river had neglected to form villages, and their neglect caused the issue of a decree on Feb- ruary 9, 1660, ordering all farmers to move their houses into groups that could be protected by-
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