USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 1
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البلد.
ـيفجر فر :
سيم بـ
بس ـ
طويعـ
1800
Glass
Book
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT
HISTORY 1
OF
MONTCLAIR
TOWNSHIP
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INCLUDING THE
HISTORY OF THE FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH ITS GROWTH AND PROSPERITY
ILLUSTRATED
HT
1] 1394
F WASH'N , TON.
' Qui transtulit, sustinct.'
BY
HENRY WHITTEMORE
AUTHOR OF THE REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF ROCKLAND COUNTY, N. Y.
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, CONN. HISTORY OF SEVENTY-FIRST
REGIMENT, N. G. S. N. Y. HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY IN NORTH AMERICA. HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION. ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN, ETC.
Mew Dork : THE SUBURBAN PUBLISHING COMPANY - IS94
F:44
COPYRIGHTED, IS94, BY THE SUBURBAN PUBLISHING CO.
CONTENTS,
?
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD .- OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE INDIANS .- THE ALGONQUINS OR IROQUOIS .- THE DELAWARES OR LENNI LENAPF-THE TURKEY AND WOLE BRANCHES OF THE LENM LENAPE. - THE SUB- DIVISIONS OF THE TRIBES: MISSIES, MOHICANS, RARITANS, HACKENSACKS, POMPTONS, TAPPAANS, OF EAST NEW JERSEY .- INCIDENTS OF INDIAN LIFE. - INDIAN LOCAL NAMES, FTC.
PAGES
I-5
CHAPTER II.
OUTLINE OF NEW JERSEY. - ORIGIN OF THE NAME .- PHILIP CARTERET APPOINTED GOVERNOR .- GOVERNOR ANDROS OF NEW YORK CLAIMS JURISDICTION OVER NEW JERSEY .- RESISTANCE BY THE PEOPLE. - RE-AFFIRMATION FROM ENGLAND OF CARTERET'S AUTHORITY .- GOVERNMENT UNDER THE TWENTY-FOUR PROPRIETORS .- UNION OF EAST AND WEST NEW JERSEY. - LORD CORNBURY'S RULE .- THE COLONIAL GOVERNMENT FROM ITS COM- MENCEMENT TO ITS TERMINATION
6, 7
CHAPTER III.
GEOGRAPHICAL FORMATION OF ESSEX COUNTY.
... 8, 9
CHAPTER IV.
THE NEWARK COLONISTS .- THEIR PREVIOUS HISTORY. - ROBERT TREAT AND JASPER CRANE-THEIR INFLUENCE IN THE NEW HAVEN AND CONNECTICUT COLONIES .- INCIDENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR DUTIES AS MAGIS- IRATES OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONY .- WARRANTS FOR THE ARREST OF WHALLEY AND GOFFE, THE REGI- CIDE JUDGES. - NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES OF NEW HAVEN AND CONNECTICUT, AND THE IMPORTANT PART TAKEN BY ROBERT TREAT AND JASPER CRANE .- DISSATISFACTION OF THE BRANFORD PEOPLE WITH THE UNION, -OPPOSITION TO THE " HALF-WAY COVENANT" AND THE " CHRISTLESS RULE OF CONNECTICUT."-CAUSES OF DIVISION IN THE MILFORD, BRANFORD, GUILFORD AND STAMFORD CHURCHES, WHICH LED TO THE EXODUS OF THE DISSENTERS AND THE FORMATION OF THE NEWARK COLONY.
10-12
CHAPTER V.
THE "WISE MEN OF GOOD REPORT" SENT IN SEARCH OF A NEW CANAAN .- DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED. - ANXIETY OF STUYVESANT TO SECURE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE NEW HAVEN COLONISTS FOR NEW JERSEY .- THE "AGREEMENT" OF THE BRANFORD COLONISTS. - LANDING OF THE MILFORD COLONISTS .- UNEXPECTED DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INDIANS .- FORMAL. CONVEYANCE OF THE LANDS BY THE INDIANS .- ADDITIONAL CONVEYANCE OF LAND EXTENDING TO THE TOP OF WATCHUNG MOUNTAIN
13-17
iv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
PAGES
GOVERNMENT OF THE " NEW-WORKE" COLONISTS .- LIBERAL TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS AND NEW SETTLERS WHO COULD NOT SUBSCRIBE TO THE "FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT."-CAPACITY OF THE COLONISTS FOR SELF- GOVERNMENT ; EXISTING FOR TWELVE YEARS WITH NO OTHER GOVERNMENT THAN THE " FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT."-EXTRACTS FROM THE TOWN RECORDS RELATING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT. - JASPER CRANE, ROBERT TREAT AND MATTHEW CAMFIELD CHOSEN MAGISTRATES .- ORGANIZATION OF THE " FIRST CHURCH OF NEWARK."-REV. ABRAHAM PIERSON AND HIS SUCCESSORS .- INCREASE IN POPULATION .- LAYING OUT OF THE HIGHWAY AS FAR AS THE MOUNTAIN .- APPLICATION OF DEACON AZARIAH CRANE FOR LAND FOR A TANYARD .- ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL PLANTATIONS .- CRANETOWN, WATSESSING, ETC .- " EARLY OUT- 1.ANDS AND HOUSES."-OLD ROADS.
IS-24
CHAPTER VIL
CRANETOWN DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
.... 25-31
CHAPTER VIII.
EVENTS LEADING TO, AND ERECTION OF, BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP IN 1812 .- NAME OF CRANETOWN CHANGED TO THAT OF WEST BLOOMFIELD .- ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES .- TONEY'S BROOK, THE SOURCE OF SECOND RIVER, AND ITS MANUFACTORIES. - THE FIRST SAW MILL. - ISRAEL CRANE'S MILL ON TONEY'S BROOK .- WEST BLOOMFIELD MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- HENRY WILDE & SONS .- WILDE BROTHERS .- FIRST MANUFACTURE OF PLAID SHAWLS IN THIS COUNTRY .- JOHN WILDE .- BURNING OF THE LOWER MILL .- MILL PROPERTY LEASED TO, AND SUBSEQUENTLY PURCHASED BY, GRANT J. WHEELER AND OTHERS, FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER AND OAKUM UNDER THE FIRM NAME OF CRANE, WHEELER & COMPANY .- MANUFACTURE OF STRAW BOARD BY MACHINERY, BY GRANT J. WHEELER & COMPANY .- INDIAN RELICS FOUND BENEATH THE WHEELER MILL. - REMOVAL OF WHEELER 10 WAVERLY, AND CLOSING OF THE MILL .- VALUABLE PEARLS FOUND ON NOTCH BROOK, THE SOURCE OF THIRD RIVER .- CONSTRUCTION OF NEWARK AND POMPTON TURNPIKE .- BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH OF WEST BLOOMFIELD .- CONSTRUCTION OF NEWARK AND BLOOMFIELD RAILROAD .- THE NEW SETTLEMENT .- THE NAME OF MONTCLAIR SUBSTITUTED FOR THAT OF WEST BLOOMFIELD.
32-42
CHAPTER IX.
MONTCLAIR IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
43, 44
CHAPTER X.
ACT CREATING THE TOWNSHIP OF MONTCLAIR .- BOUNDARIES. - ORGANIZATION OF MONTCLAIR RAILWAY COMPANY .- BONDING OF THE TOWNSHIP .- ADVANTAGES ACCRUING TO THE PROPERTY-HOLDERS FROM THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD. - LITIGATION GROWING OUT OF THE DEFAULTED BONDS. - FINAL DECISION BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. - INCREASE OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE TOWNSHIP FROM $200,000 TO $400,000, - TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE OF ISS3 AND ISS4 ; ELECTION OF MESSRS. RUSSELL, CAREY AND FARMER .- EFFORTS OF THIS COMMITTEE TO PURCHASE THE OUTSTANDING BONDS AND TO FUND THE INDEBTEDNESS .- PLACING OF THE NEW LOAN WITH THE MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NEWARK, N. J .- AMOUNT SAVED BY THE TOWNSHIP THROUGH THE EFFORTS OF THIS COMMITTEE .- TOWNSHIP OFFICERS .- THE NEW CHARTER ADOPTED, IS94. - POST OFFICE AND POSTAL FACILITIES.
45-56
V
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI.
RELIGIOUS INTERESTS OF MONTCLAIR .- CONGREGATIONALISM AND PRESBYTERIANISM. - ERECTION OF THE SECOND MEET- ING-HOUSE. 1753, OF THE MOUNTAIN SOCIETY (ORANGE) - ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH AT WATSESSING, KNOWN AS THE " THIRD" PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE TOWNSHIP OF NEWARK ; LATER AS THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BLOOMFIELD. - LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE, ETC. - SUBSCRIBERS TO THE NEW EDIFICE .- LEGACY OF NATHANIEL CRANE FOR A PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT CRANETOWN OR WEST BLOOM- FIELD. - THE " FIRST " PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF MONTCLAIR .- ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH, 1837 .- THE FIRST PLACE OF WORSHIP-THE SCHOOL BUILDING. - LIST OF ORIGINAL MEMBERS .- LIST OF PASTORS .- ERECTION OF CHURCH EDIFICE. - PURCHASE OF ORGAN .- ERECTION OF PARSONAGE. - SIVIISTICS OF MEMBER- SHIP, ETC .- SKETCHES OF REV. J. F. HALSEY, REV. J. A. PRIEST, REV. NELSON MILIARD, D. D., REV. J. ROMEYN BERRY, D.D., REV. WM. F. JUNKIN, D. D , LL. D .- SUNDAY SCHOOL -TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-SUNDAY SCHOOL -REV. ORVILLE REED .- GRACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH-SUNDAY SCHOOL. - METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH-SUNDAY SCHOOL .- ST. LUKE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, R. C .- FIRST CONGREGATIONM. CHURCH OF CHRIST .- REV. AMORY HOWE BRADFORD, D.D .- SUNDAY SCHOOL .- PHGRIM MISSION -FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH .- REV. WM. N. HUBBELL .- SUNDAY SCHOOL .- THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY .- YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION .- THE WOMEN'S TEMPERANCE U'MON .- THE COLORED POPULATION AND THEIR CHURCHES. - UNION BAPTIST CHURCH, COLORED .- ST. MARK'S METHODIST ERISCOPAL CHURCH, COLORED ..
PAGES
57-107
CHAPTER XII.
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT .- THE FIRST SCHOOL IN NEWARK, 1676. - AUT ADOPTED BY THE GENERM. ASSEMBLY, 1693. FOR ESTABLISHING SCHOOLS .- FIRST SCHOOL COMMITTEE, 1697 .- FIRST APPROPRIATION BY THE STATE LEGISLATURE, 1816 -Vers 01 1929, 193", 1346, 1852, 1567, FIC -SCHOOLS OF CRANETOWN, WEST BLOOM- FIELD AND MONTCLAIR. - THE FIRST SCHOOL-HOUSE, 1740 .- SECOND SCHOOL-HOUSE, 1512 .- GIDEON WHEELER, THE FIRST TEACHER IN THE " NEW SCHOOL-HOUSE "-SPECIAL SCHOOL LAW FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF BIOOM- FIELD, 1246 -- TEACHERS, 1546 TO 1556 .- TRUSTEES, 1531 TO 1356 .- THE " NEW DEPARTURE," AND THE RESULT. - INCREASED FACILITIES -ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, AND HIS GRADUAL. DEVELOPMENT .- THE NEW SCHOOL BUILDING, 1592-93 .- EFFORTS OF DR. J. J. H. LOVE, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, AND HIS SUCCESSORS, GEORGE II. FRANCIS, THOMAS PORTER, CHARLES K. WILIMER AND JOHN R. HOWARD .- SKETCH OF RANDALL SPAULDING .- PRIVATE SCHOOLS. - WASHINGTON SCHOOL-EAST END- WARREN HOLT'S SCHOOL .- AASHLAND HALI .. - HILLSIDE SEMINARY FOR YOUNG LADIES .- MONTCLAIR
108-125 MILITARY ACADEMY .- FREE. PUBLIC LIBRARY
CHAPTER XIII.
MUNICIPAL. AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS, SOCIETIES, CLUBS, ETC. - VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY .- MONTCLAIR FIRE DEPARTMENT .- THE MONTCLAIR WATER COMPANY .- JAMES OWEN, TOWNSHIP ENGINEER .- THE PRESS. - MONTCLAIR TIMES, AUGUSTUS C. STUDER .- MONTCLAIR HERALD. G. C. EARLE AND II. C. WALKER. - UNITED STATES PRINTING COMPANY ; JOSEPH E. HINDS .- BANK OF MONTCLAR. - THE MONTCLAIR SAVINGS BANK. - MASONIC LODGES ; BLOOMFIELD LODGE, NO. 40, F. & N. M .; MONTCLAIR LODGE, NO. 144, F. & A. M .- WATCHUNG LODGE, NO. 134. I. O. O. F .- GEN. SHERMAN LODGE, NO. 51, A. O. U. W .- OTHER SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES .- THE CITIZENS' COMMITTEE (F ONE HUNDRED .- GOOD Gov- ERNMENT CLUB .- CHILDREN'S HOME, MRS. SAMUEL M. PORTER .- MOUNTAINSIDE HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION .- THE MONTCLAIR EQUESTRIAN CLUB .- MONTCLAIR CLUB .- THE OUTLOOK CLUB. - TARIFF REFORM CLUB - MONTCLAR GLEE CLUB .- MONTCLAIR DRAMATIC CLUB. - MONTCLAIR LAWN TENNIS CLUB. 129-170
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
PAGES
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF MONTCLAIR .- JOHN J. H. LOVE, MI D .- JOHN WARREN PINKHAM, M. D .- CLARENCE WILLARD BUTLER, M. D .- JAMES SPENCER BROWN, M. D .- CHARLES HENRY SHELTON, M.D - RICHARD C. NEWTON, M. D .- RICHARD P. FRANCIS, M. D .- LEVI DUDLEY CASE, M. D .- HERBERT W. FOSTER, M.D .- L. W. HALSEY, M. D .- THE FOUNDERS AND BUILDERS OF CRANFTOWN .- WEST BLOOMFIELD AND MONICLAIR. - THE FAMILIES OF CRANE, BALDWIN, DOREMUS, HARRISON, MUNN, WHEELER, HARRIS, PRATI, CHITTENDEN, PARKHURST, BOYD, NASON, HENING, DRAPER, WILDE, WILLMER, ADAMS. 171-225
CHAPTER XV.
THE FAMILIES OF BRAUTIGAM, SWEET, HOLMES, PORTER, VAN VLECK, JOHNSON, NOYES, BENEDICT, SULLIVAN, BALDWIN, (W. D.), CAREY, RUSSELL, RAND, WILSON, UNDERHILL, MILLER, BURGESS, BRADLEY, FARMER, ESHBAUGH, HOWARD, GRAHAM, WHEELER (F. MERRIAM). . . . 226-271
CHAPTER XVI.
LEGAL PROFESSION-PAUL WILCOX, E. B. GOODELL, STARR J. MURPHY, G W. MURRAY .- THE DENTAL PROFESSION- DR. S. C. G. WATKINS, DR. ALBERT J. WRIGHT .- ART AND ARTISTS-HARRY FENN, LAWRENCE C. EARLE, J. S. HARTLEY, GEORGE INNESS, SR., GEORGE INNESS, JR .- ROSWELL SMITH, FOUNDER OF THE CENTURY MAGAZINE ; A. H. SIEGFRIED .- TWO HEROES OF THE WAR-ABRAM P. HARING, HARRY LITTLEJOHN. . .. . . 272-295
CHAPTER XVII.
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES OF MONTCLAIR HOMES. - FRANK E. WALLIS, ARCHITECT .- RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM FELLOWES .- OF FREDERICK J. DRESHFR .- THE " FARLEY HOUSES."-CHRISTOPHER A. HINCK .- THOMAS S. GI.ADDING
296-304
CHAPTER XVIII.
UPPER MONTCLAIR.
. ...... . .... 305-320
P
REFACE
+ ONTCLAIR. in its natural prosperity, in its elevated, moral and religious life, and in the social and intellectual culture of its people, stands pre-eminent among the suburbs of our great metropolis. These characteristics of a high civilization are not the result of accident, but are dne largely to the intInence of a few energetie, enterprising and progressive individuals, who from the beginning have directed it> affairs, and have contributed to its physical, social and moral development.
The early Connecticut settlers of this locality adopted as their motto that inscribed on the arms of their native State, viz: "Qui transtulit, sustinet," and the thousands of settlers from various parts of the country, who have beantified and developed this Paradise of Nature, have shown by their acts that they too have implicit faith in an overruling Providence to sustain them in their new work. [The original Connecticut settlers named their " Towne on the Pesayiek " " New Worke " (Newark), indicating their new enterprise. ]
To show the result of their efforts has been the aim of the compiler of this work. If he has failed to give credit to any individual who, during the early settlement of the new town- ship, or its later development, has contributed to its greatness and prosperity, it is because of his inability to obtain the requisite information. To enumerate all who have aided him in this under- taking would require more space than is usually allotted to a Preface or Introduction.
His acknowledgments are due first of all to Mr. Julius II. Pratt, one of the pioneers in the new settlement who, from the inception of the enterprise, has done everything in his power to make the " IHISTORY OF MONTCLAIR" a success, and has contributed much valable data, attainable from no other source.
To Dr. J. J. Il. Love, who is recognized as the chief founder and promoter of the splendid system of public school education for which Montclair is famous, the writer is greatly indebted- not only for information concerning its educational affairs, but other matters of historie interest.
Joseph Dorems, the recognized authority on all matters connected with the history of this locality and its early settlers, has rendered invaluable aid.
The assistance of Colonel Frederick HI. Harris in supplying data of early railroads, early settlers, etc., is gratefully acknowledged.
viii
PREFACE.
Many of the beautiful landscapes and other illustrations with which this work is embellished are reprodnetions of photographie views taken by Mr. Randall Spanlding, Superintendent of the Public Schools, who has also supplied additional matter to that of Dr. Love on Educational Develop- ment in Montelair.
Mr. W. I. Lincoln Adams has also assisted the author in the illustration of this work, both by supplying original photographs of his own and in giving the benefit of his knowledge in photo- graphie reproduction processes.
The article "Cranetown in the Revolution," by the Rev. Oliver Crane, D.D., forms an inter- esting contribution to the work.
Acknowledgments are also due to the Rev. Amory H. Bradford, D.D., for many valuable sugges- tions and other assistance rendered; to Mr. John R. Howard, Mr. Paul Wilcox and Mr. A. H. Siegfried, for information of "Montelair," "Ontlook," and other Clubs, Young Men's Christian Association, and social organizations; to Mrs. Jasper R. Rand, one of the founders and most active promoters of the Children's Home, for the facts concerning the history of that institution; to Mr. John II. Wilson and Mr. A. C. Studor for many favors; to Dr. Albert J. Wright for information concerning the Fire Department : to Mr. James Owen for the article on Montelair Water Works; to Mr. Yost and other township officers for information on township affairs.
The writer is also indebted to the editor of the Montclair Times for valuable extracts taken from its files, and for other courtesies extended; also to the proprietor and editor of the Montclair Herald for similar favors.
Chapter I.
DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD .-- OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE INDIANS .- THE ALGONQUINS OR IROQUOIS .- THE DELAWARES OR LENNI LENAPE .- THE TURKEY AND WOLF BRANCHES OF THE LENNI LENAPE .- THE SUB-DIVISIONS OF THE TRIBES: MINSTES. MOHICANS. RARITANS, HACKENSACKS. POMPTONS. TAPPAANS. OF EAST NEW JERSEY. - INCIDENTS OF INDIAN LIFE .- INDIAN LOCAL NAMES, ETC.
I
N 1524. John de Verazzano. a Florentine navigator in the service of Franeis I. of France, made a voyage to the North American coast, and, as is believed from the account which He gave, entered the harbor of New York. No colonies were planted and no results followed.
Though discoveries were made by the French north from this point, and colonies planted by the English farther to the sonth. it is not known that New York was again visited by Europeans till 1609, when the Dutch East India Company sent Hendrick Hudson. an Englishman by birth, on a voyage of discovery in a vessel called the " Half Moon." He reached the coast of Maine, sailed thence to Cape Cod. thenee southwesterly to the month of Chesapeake Bay : then, coa-ting northward, he entered Delaware Bay on the 2 th of August. From thence he proceeded northward, and on the 3d of September. 1609, anchored in New York Bay. On the 12th he entered the river that bears his name, and proceeded slowly up to a point just above the present site of the ('ity of Hudson ; thence he sent a boat's crew to explore farther up, and they passed above Albany. September 23d he set sail down the river and immediately returned to Europe.
In 1607. Samuel Champlain, a French navigator, sailed up the St. Lawrence, explored its tribu- taries, and on the 4th of July in that year discovered the lake which bears his name.
At the time of the discovery of New York by the whites, the southern and eastern portions were inhabited by the Mohican or Mohegan Indians : while that portion west from the Hudson River was occupied by five confederate tribes, afterward named by the English the Five Nations, and by the French, the Iroquois, and by themselves called Hodenosaunee-people of the Long House. The long house formed by this confederacy extended east and west through the State, having at its eastern portal the Mohawks, and at its western the Senecas; while between them dwelt the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas ; and, after 1714, a sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, southeast from Oneida Lake. Of these Indians, Parkman says that at the commencement of the seventeenth century. " in the region now forming the State of New York, a power was rising to a ferocious vitality, which, but for the presence of Europeans, would probably have subjected, absorbed, or exterminated every other Indian community east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio.
"The Iroquois was the Indian of Indians. A thorough savage, yet a finished and developed savage, he is. perhaps, an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerging from his primitive condition of the hunter. A geographical position commanding on the one hand the portal of the great lakes, and on the other the sources of the streams flowing both to the Atlantic and the Mississippi, gave the ambitious and aggressive confederates advantages which they perfectly understood and by which they profited to the utmost. Patient and politie as they were ferocious, they were not only the conquerors of their own race, but the powerful allies and the dreaded foes of the Freneb and
2
HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
English colonies, flattered and caressed by both, vet too sagacious to give themselves without reserve to either. Their organization and their history evince their intrinsie superiority. Even their traditionary love, amid its wild puerilities, shows at times the stamp of an energy and force in striking contrast with the flimsy creations of the Algonquin fancy. That the Iroquois, left under their own institutions, would have ever developed a civilization of their own. I do not believe."
These institutions were not only characteristic and enrious, but almost unique. Without sharing Morgan's almost fanatieal admiration for them. or echoing the praises which Parkman lavishes on them, it may be truly said that their wonderful and cohesive confederation furnished a model worthy to be copied by many civilized nations, while, so long as they were uncontaminated by the vices of civilization, they possessed, with all their savagery, many noble traits of character, which would adorn any people in their public, social, or domestic relations.
They made themselves the dreaded masters of all their neighbors east of the Mississippi and carried their victorious arms far to the north, the south and the east. Their dominance is eloquently pictured in Street's " Frontenac " :
" The fierce Adirondacs had fled from their wrath, The Hurons been swept from their merciless path, Around, the Ottawas, like leaves, had been strewn And the lake of the Eries struck silent and low ; The Lenapè, lords once of valley and hill Made women, bent low at their conqueror's will :
By the far Mississippi the Illini shrank When the trail of the TORTOISE was seen on the bank ; On the hills of New England the Pequod turned pale When the howl of the WOLF swelled at night on the gale ; And the Cherokee shook in his green, smiling bowers When the foot of the BEAR stamped his carpet of flowers."
Hudson's journal indicates that the Indians on the east side of the Hudson River held no intercourse with those on the west side, and that the former were a much more fierce and implacable people than the latter. This probably arose from the fact that those east of the Hudson and along the upper banks were allies of the Iroquois.
On the point where New York is now built Hudson found the Indians a very hostile people, but those living on the western side from the Kills upward, "came daily on board the vessel while she lay at anelor in the river, bringing with them to barter furs, the largest and finest oysters. Indian corn, beans. pumpkins, squashes, grapes, and some apples. all of which they exchanged for trifles."
Most writers on Indian antiquities have considered the tribes of the lower Hudson, and of East New Jersey, as branches of the general Delaware nation, or Lenni Lenape, which means original people. This was a title which they had adopted under the claim that they were descended from the most ancient of all Indian ancestors. This claim was admitted by the Wyandots, Miamis, and more than twenty other aboriginal nations, who accorded to the Lenape the title of grandfathers, or a people whose ancestors ante-dated their own. The Rev. John Heckewelder, in his " History of the Manners and Customs of the Indian Nations," says of the Delaware nation :
" They will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They say that the hair of their heads. their features, and the various colors of their eyes. evince that they are not, like themselves, Lenni Lenape, an original people-a race of men that has existed unchanged from the beginning of time, but that they are a mixed race, and therefore a troublesome one. Whoever they may be, the Great Spirit, knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found it necessary to give them a Great Book, and taught them how to read it. that they might know and observe what He wished them to do, and what to abstain from. But they -- the Indians-have no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker; they find it engraved on their own hearts ; they have had a sufficient discernment given to them to dis- tinguish good from evil, and by following that they are sure not to err."
3
HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
The Delawares, or Lenni Lenape, oeenpied a domain extending along the seashore from the Chesa- peake to the country bordering Long Island Sound. But from the coast it reached the Susquehanna Valley to the foot of the Alleghany Mountains, and on the north joined the southern frontier of their domineering neighbors-the hated and dreaded Iroquois. This domain inelnded not only the counties of Bergen, Passaic. Hudson and EssEx. but all of the State of New Jersey.
In the organization of the savage communities of the continent, one feature, more or less conspic- nous. continually appears. Each nation or tribe-to adopt the names by which these communities are usually known-is subdivided into several clans. These elans are not locally separate, but are mingled throughout the nation. All the members of each clan are, or are assumed to be. intimately joined in consanguinity. Hence it is hell an abomination for two persons of the same clan to intermarry ; and hence. again. it follows that every family must contain members of at least two elans. Each elan has its name, as the clan of the Ilawk. of the Wolf, or of the Tortoise: and each has for its emblem the figure of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem, is often tattooed on the clansman's body. or rudely painted over the entrance of his lodge. The child belongs to the clan. not of the father, but of the mother. In other words, descent, not of the totem alone, but of all rank. titles and possessions. is through the female. The son of a chief can never be a chief by hereditary title, though he may become so by force of personal influence or achievement. Neither can he inherit from his father so much as a tobacco-pipe. All possessions pass of right to the brothers of the chief, or to the sons of his sisters, since these are all sprung from a common mother.
The principal tribes composing the Lenni Lenape or Delaware nation were those of the Unamis or Turtle, the U'nalachtgo or Turkey, and the Minsi or Wolf. The tribes who occupied and roamed over the counties of Bergen. Passaie. Undson and Esser, were those of the Turkey and Wolf branches of the Lenni Lenape nation, but the possessions and boundaries of each cannot be clearly defined. There was probably a tribe for every ten or twenty miles, each taking their names from the streams near which they severally located.
In 1648 they were governed by about twenty kings, which might seem to warrant the belief that their numbers were great ; but the insignificance of this regal sway is seen from the fact that in one case twelve hundred were under two kings, and some kings had only forty subjects, so that these rulers might with greater correctness be called chiefs.
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