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181
Thorn, John B.,
158
Trimmer, Samuel. 2.18
U
Ubhaus, Capt. J. H., 149
Uffert, Edward H., 1.47
UIrick, Peter, 143
Ure, William A.,
135
Urick, William P. B, 84
Vail, Dr. M. H. C., 3
Van Houten, William F., 2.12
Virtue, Lincoln A., 230
Voget, Arnold,
87
Voight, Herman,
157
Wadsworth, Frank, 212
Walsh, Robert, 212
Walter, Charles.
254
Quinn, M. F., 88
Quinn, P. T., 136
R
Jacobs, Walter C., 171
Jacobi. Wm.,
214
Read, Dr. J. W.,
112
Johnston, James, 153
Kaas, Adam, 219
Kalisch, Abner,
127
Kane, Lyman E.,
146
Katerndahl, Rev. Richard.
56 226
Kearns, W. J.,
125
Rodrigo, John A., -
243
Kearsing William 11 ..
2.46
Rommell, Henry C., 1 59
Kemp. Dr. A. Fritz,
99
Russell, C. M., 188
Runyon, Gen'l Theo. 134
PAGE.
Klemm, Henry C .. 219
Koehler, August, 168
L
Lebkuecher, Julius A .. 123
1.ehlbach, Herman, 122
Leonard, J. J., 91
Leucht, Rev. Joseph, 70
Lewis, A. N ..
Lister, Alfred,
185
Logel, William,
223
Logel, Joseph.
249
Lupton, Patrick,
124
Lusk, Rev. Davis W'., 56
Schott, Henry P.,
Schuetz, Charles J .. 262
Schuetz, A., 257
153
Seebeck, William,
257
Seymour, James M.,
137
Shepard, Edwin,
86
Miller. Philip,
221
Morris, Rev. J. N.,
48
Morris, William W., 143
Morrison, William,
259
Mulvey, M. M., A. M .. 104
Munn, F. W.,
235
Murray, C. C., 238
Myers, Charles M., 112
McManus, Rev. M. A .. 65
McManus, Capt. Andrew J . 149
McCabe, Owen, 253
McCarthy, James A., 140
McDonald, Edward F ... 134
I Fealy, George, 260
Heilman, C. W.,
123-207-236
Heller, Carl.
100
Nathan, D). B., 90
Niebuhr, Rev F., 52
O'Connor, M. J., 171
Ohl, A., 228
Osborne, Rev. Louis Shreve. 58
P
Parker, R. Wayne, 133
Perry, Theodore, 260
l'eter, Alfred, 230
Poortman, Adolph,
242
Poels, Rev, J. P.,
64
Hopper, Chief Henry W
147
Putscher, August, Puder, M. B.,
173
Hunt, John (., 213
Hovey, Prof. E. O .. 109
Illingworth, Jobn. I
159
Reilly, John, -
197
Richmond, John B ..
128
233
255
Ripley, David,
183
Ripley, Wm. A.,
255
Rittenhouse, Stacy B .. 214
Roden, I. P., M. D. 93
Kearsing John G.,
2.16
King, Nathaniel, 203
Zeh, Dr. C. M.,
151
Zusi, Edward,
100
Schwarz Carl,
Maver, M., 181
M'Chesney, William ( .. 152
Sexton, E. K.,
87
Kerne, Edwin J.,
Rahm, Eugene, 99
Rippel, Albert A.,
Ripley, Chas. ().,
95
Haussling. Jacob, - 125
PAGE.
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, N. J.
LANDING OF THE EARLY SETTLERS AT NEWARK, ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., MAY, 1666.
E SSEX County, an integral part of New Jersey, a State which was one of the Original Thirteen colonies, and at this present 1896, a member of the grandest confederacy of free and independent States that ever existed since the Great Architect tossed out from his fingers this earth of ours, fixed its orbit and sent it spinning round the great central sun, marked its bounds amid the rolling oceans, bidding the tides come and go, and that part quite insignificant when extent of territory is considered but mightily increased in magnitude when population and wealth are thought of. Sometimes she has been, and not always inappropriately either, when the grandeur of the two above- named reasons are combined with her marvellous manufacturing interests, called the " State of Essex." Indeed, this was always so. In her early life Essex County could boast a territory surpassing some of our quite pretentious States, but with much of this she parted when the counties of Union and Bergen were erected out of her territory.
"God tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb " is an old adage and. in its application to Essex County, a truthful one, since her growth in the directions of population and wealth have been truly wonderful, presenting evidences on every hand of the vouchsafement by the Almighty in the bestowal of his richest blessings in such rare profusion.
To be sure, her natural advantages may have had much to do with her prosperity and greatness, being situated at the wide open door of the Western World's greatest commercial metropo-
lis, and immediately upon the line of direct railroad communi- cation with Philadelphia, the second commercial city on the western continent, and within a few hours of the rich coal fields and oil regions of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the iron and zinc mines of New Jersey. The beautiful Passaic River which laves its eastern boundary, giving a water-way to the ocean, whence the raw materials are brought to the docks in Newark and the manufactured products, made famous the world over by the rare skill of the mechanics, artists and workmen of Newark, Orange, etc., are sent forth on the white wings of commerce to the busy markets in almost every clime and wherever flies the starry flag. The pure mountain water coming down by its channel, meeting and marrying the salt sea flood, after making the wild leap at the falls in Paterson, and riding from thence on the ebbing tide's chariot away on to the sea.
Then it is protected from the cold blasts, which come careen- ing down in winter from the north and the west by the pictur- esque Orange Mountains so beautifully stretching along its western border. Is it any wonder that the salubrity of its climate with is balmy sea air. dew-moistened by Old Ocean's inexhaustable supply resulting from the sun-influenced evapora- tions, should induce the soil so lavishly fed by nature and resting on its rare brown stone foundations to yield so marvellously in garden productions as to have encomiums showered by tongues of other and distant nations.
Although the " scouts " sent out by the sturdy New England farmers did not bring back wine trophies to vie with their Israelitish exemplars, but merely reported that their Eden was on the west bank of the l'assayic so called by the Indians.
Several desultory efforts and as many failures succeeding to effect a permanent settlement of the beautiful and attractive region, on the soil of which the flag of old England had been
10
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
planted by the daring Dutch navigator, Hendrick Hudson, but none were markedly successful until the little band of Connecti- cut farmers pushed their Shallops and flat boats up to the land- ing and rested on their oars very near where the great Penn- sylvania Railroad draw-bridges stand erected, and at command to halt, had their " big talk " with the Indians.
As anything connected with its history is not foreign to our purpose, it is safe to say that few events in the opening pages of American history were fraught with a greater interest or have led to mightier, more definite and lasting results-with the single exception, perhaps, of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock than the voyage of Hendrick Hudson along the coast of New Jersey, through the Achter Cull or " Back Bay," now called Newark Bay, on the shores of which and on the soil of Essex County, he planted the flag of discovery as the herald of civilization.
The beauty of the region lying but a few miles westerly on
turned out that the sweet-scented cedars of yore, so abundant between Newark and New York, have long years ago nearly all disappeared and are seldom seen any more.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
S has been before hinted, efforts at settlement of the beau- A tiful and promising region had been made, but 'twas not until Robert Treat and his hardy band of honest farmers came, bringing with them more honor and less greed for gold, nothing like permanency resulted. To establish homes and to seek an asylum where true liberty might reign and where under its protecting aegis they could worship God after the dictates of their own conscience, these farmers came. Religious liberty was what they sought, and this they gained, for if the record speaks the truth, and in our research we find no reason for its gain-
C. Durand Chapman
THE FIRST SURVEYING STATION ESTABLISHED AT EAGLE ROCK, ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., 1666.
the left bank of the Pasayic, as it was then called, and which opened up to every new visitor such an entrancing vista of land- scape beauty after passing the sweet-scented cedars which nestled in the marsh and salt grass of the meadows. But that was in the long, long ago, and before Young America (ever piscatorially inclined) had lopped the lithe young scions from the parent tree in order to gain a supply of the rod so essential to complete the outfit for the artist in the fish enticing line, a business, then as well as now playing so important a part in the work of supplying the constant demand for that delicious part of man's appetite satiators known as food fishes. Nay, more, the gardeners had a fondness for using the young tamarisks to assist the new world's skillfully climbing Limas. So it has
saying, never did men worship with more freedom, more honesty or more unselfishly.
Although armed with a land grant and broad invitation of Gov. Carteret, when they had but just kissed the soil and had sought God's blessing on their El Dorado, another and more exacting owner, in language quite strange, bade them refrain from their purpose to dig and to delve, but, said the Indian, for 'twas none other than the red man, " If you are ready to buy, I am ready to sell." It didn't take these honest farmers very long to decide the raised question and express a readiness to buy.
Robert Treat and his companions being men of business and large experience, were not long in making the bargain for a " title clear " to the possessions of their choice, and when they
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
11
had doled out in the strictest sense of honor, the purchasing price, consisting of what in our days would be considered modest and unextravagant. Part of the price paid was barter, as all the cash that passed consisted of but eight hundred and fifty fathoms of wampum (Indian money), or bits of shell on a string; and just here we may say, although the transaction took place in the month of May, when the early spring flowers were in bloom, we may infer from the character of some of the goods sought, that the Indian let his memory dwell on the cold blasts from the seaward, which swept across the semi- moorland from the ocean, and the chill winds that swooped down from the mountains to the northward in the months of the winter.
That there might be no misunderstanding as to the limits and bounds of the lands they had bought, the first surveying party of Essex County was organized and immediately set about its work. These hardy pioneers built better than [they
spot where the chief man stood and made proclamations, " Wa- way-an-da," or away over yonder, a sweep of his long, bony arm and lithe index finger including the territory from the sea, the bay, brook and river, they serving in place of the latter-day magnetic needle of the theodilite used in surveying, all being noted down on a bit of prepared sheep-skin or vellum, and a rough map made by the white scribe accompanying the party for the purpose. On this was shown, to the satisfaction of the chieftain and the captain, the metes and bounds. For several days after, the distances were measured, the trees and rocks blazed by the axe-man who followed after, the fleet-footed Indian, long-headed and wily pointing out the places.
GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
E SSEX County was one of the original sections of the State of New Jersey, and was erected into a county in 1675, but it was not until the 21st of January, 1709, that its bound-
...
PHOTO ENE.CO. M.Y.
VIEW OF NEWARK, ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., EAST OF BROAD STREET, 1790.
knew, for little thought they when racing and chasing with the fleet-footed savage, along the river bank, across the hills and up the mountain rugged side to the top of the ever beautiful Orange Mountains, to the point now known as Eagle Rock, that here they halted and established the first surveying station, and that the vast arena over which the eye could then sweep, would, in less than three centuries, be inhabited by nearly a half million of people and become one of the garden spots of the world, might be properly surveyed.
Here they lunched on the rare native fruits and choice bits of dried meats from the loins of the fleet-footed deer or the old mountain bear, and washed it down with a " drop of the creat- ure" to brighten the mind and waking the conceptions that their bargaining was fair, and the selling and buying was done on the square. Be it known just here, and in sorrow be it said, the yearning of the Indian was for "fire-water," nearly all his transactions beginning and ending in liquor.
The luncheon being finished, the party stepped to the pin- nacle of the rock, a blaze of the tree with the axe marking the
aries were definitely fixed by an act of the legislature. Its area was then much greater than at the present time. It comprised the territory then designated on the maps as Elizabethtown and Newark, and was covered by the Counties of Middlesex (or a part of it), Union and Morris, as well as the territory within its bounds of to-day, which is abutted and bounded as follows, viz : on the north-east by the County of Passsic, along its east- ern border range, the territory of Bergen and Iludson counties and Newark bay, the Achter Cull of the great navigator and and discoverer, Hendrick Hudson ; on the south-west by Union county, and along its north-west, the fair fields, which were once her own territory, but now the County of Morris.
Iler topography is delightful, unique and truly inspiring to any one who may look upon the diversity of its character, with the two beautiful mountain ranges stretching like ribbons along its westerly border, and known under the appellation of the Orange Mountains, first and second, with other names of local significance, all of which, with hundreds of nooks and cranny's, with purling streams and sylvan dells, her invitations for men
12
ESSEX COUNTY. N. J. ILLUSTRATED.
to come and domicile therein, have been so remarkably attract- ive that thousands have already yielded and are now rejoic- ing in beautiful and comfortable mountain homes amid her entrancing beauty and mountain lovliness. Indeed, the entire surface of Essex County it gently undulating : the foot hills of the mountains trending toward old ocean in gentle declivity, giving to every inch of her soil a value for building and resi- dental purposes, since nature has provided a drainage so perfect that malaria is rarely, if ever, heard of.
Nothing is hazarded in the assertion, and then there is no fear of contradiction when the writer puts forward the claim that Essex County is so near perfection in her topographic plan as she came from the land of nature, that little is required of man's genius in its formulation for his dwelling-place and that all of her lines appear on the paradisical plan.
The Passaic river, skirting her westerly border and forming the boundary between her and her sister County of Morris. then dips into Passaic County and makes a swift run, but, when she finds what a mistake she has made down the rocky way at Little Falls, she then makes the mad plunge at Passaic Falls, in order to get back again and then, seemingly pleased and well satisfied, leisurely rides on her flood of mountain spring water along its eastern border until it is finally lost in the old salt sea, by a promiscuous mingling with her crystal waters.
The east and west branches of the Rahway river (both rising in Essex) course along through the rich valleys between and at the foot of the mountains, which are built up so strongly from the durable street building trap-rock forming their bases. The Elizabeth river near the centre of her territory, and a little farther to the north, Parrow brook and the First and Second rivers tender their compliments, especially in the fall, winter and spring. We might be charged with dereliction of duty did we not state the fact that there is another, euphoniously termed the Wigwam Brook, which has its heading from a spring in the mountain and joining hands with Parrow Brook becomes the Second River, which debouches into the Passaic near the south- easterly part of the charming village of Belleville.
Although not a part of its topography by nature, yet it is d familiar old way known as the Morris Canal, through the waters of which, in years gone by, our coal was received direct from the mines, generally a full winter's supply. Again, we might mention the fact now, and enlarge by and by. that six great steam railroads and as many more electric trolley railways which,
VIEW OF NEWARK, EAST OF MULBERRY STREET, IN 1812.
spectre-like, flit their cars here, there and everywhere over the Essex domain.
As the greater part of the territory going to make up the county of Bergen was included in the grants, of which Essex was the coveted part. a few words as to the settlement at Bergen, which preceded that of the Connecticut farmers by a few years, will not be out of place,
Nearly all writers on the subject of the early settlements of the county make mention of troubles with the Indians, " diffi- culties and complications often leading to collisions," says a local writer, which was followed in not a few instances by a complete wiping out of the settlement.
As English or German speculators, who were in pursuit of gold through the open channel of trade with - the red men and could control influence enough to reach the king, would bring over a little band under the wildest sort of prom- ises and then leave them in the wilderness to perish at the hands of the savages. On the return of the speculators with another set of dupes a year or two afterwards, no vestige of the former settlement would be found, if settlement, indeed, it could be called.
For years these barbarous proceedings were carried on until, as before mentioned, men came to seek homes in the New World, subdue wildwood and till the soil, men whose hearts were liberty-loving and who, while they loved the precious metals, they bartered when necessity demanded or busi- ness transactions made a specific call. His- torians, so far as we are able to trace, give the first place in the order of early settle- ments to Bergen, but whether the honor of learning the art of fraternizing with the
MEEKER HOMESTEAD, THE OLDEST LANDMARK IN ESSEX COUNTY, N. J.
13
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
VIEW OF NEWARK, ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., IN 1840.
Indians belongs to the Dutch or Dane (so that the settlers might live in peace side by side with their red neighbors), writers are not agreed. But one thing is certain, that an insignificant trading post established about 1616 which, being managed with a business-like astuteness, grew in importance until, about the tenth year following, the station planted on the hill where .Bergen now stands became a permanent settlement.
THE IROQUOIS AND DELAWARES.
T HE long-existing feuds between the Indian tribes, the efforts to subdue one and the other led to no little suffer- ing of the settlers. At the period of our Connecticut farmers' coming there were, all told, in the region about twenty kings, but from this we have no right to infer that their numbers were large, since the record gives an account of a king who had but forty subjects, and of another pair of kings who held authority over twelve hundred between them. "The Indians," says Dr. Veshlage, "in this part of the general stock of the Delawares or Lenni Lenapes, who were fierce and war-like," and relates as an evidence that they swooped down on the more peacefully inclined, and that arrow-heads and many other articles of flint have been found even in the past few years. The Delawares, he states, were eminent for valor and wisdom and held a prominent place in Indian history, but on the rise of the Iroquois power they lost their independence and fell under the suspicion because many of them applied themselves to agriculture. A tribute was exacted from them every year in order to show an acknowledgement of subordination.
The Iroquois gloried in the naughty manners in which they showed their superiority, and never spoke of the Delawares only as " women." The shrewdness of the Iroquois was fully developed when they kept a small band of their warriors in several parts of the conquered territory.
While Hendrick Hudson usually acted the honorable part, yet when he sold the Iroquois powder and lead, when the Del- awares were getting the best of the fight, and thus turned the scale against them, he fell from the exalted position of the pure and good.
THE ACREAGE OF ESSEX.
LL told and so tersely and truthfully said by Professor A George H. Cook, the late scholarly State Geologist, reaches a total of 77,021, and having a distribution among the towns, as follows: Belleville, 5,062; Bloomfield, 8,070; Cald- well, 17,920, of which 2,617 is low meadow lands enriched by the overflow of the river, produce immense quantities of fair grass, which finds a market in the cities of Orange and Newark ; Clinton, 5,229 ; East Orange, 2,394; Livingston, 11,354, 333 of which is also low meadow land, and as does that of Caldwell, borders the Passaic river, which forms their westerly boundary, as well as that of the County of which they are a part ; Mill- burn, 6,234 ; Newark, 9,126, with a few acres additional taken from East Orange; of Newark's average, about 4,282 are tide marsh lands; Orange, about 1,Soo; South Orange, 6,118; W'est Orange, 3,725 ; Verona, a new township erected from the easterly edge of Caldwell, and containing about 4,000 acres, more or less. These above-named townships (thirteen in num- ber), with the cities of Newark and Orange, the boroughs of Vailsburg, Glen Ridge and Caldwell, the villages of South Orange, Montclair, Irvington and Bloomfield, constitute the political divisions of Essex County.
GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Nº county in the State of New Jersey, and few indeed, in any of our sister states, is more happily situated and derives a greater benefit, industrially and commercially speak- ing, from her geographical position. A glance at the map ought
STREET VIEWS OF NEWARK, N. J., IN 1840.
11
ESSEX COUNTY, N. J., ILLUSTRATED.
to satisfy the most skeptical that Essex County is peculiarly fortunate in this respect, she being by nature a focal point. The high position which she now holds, the grandeur of her surroundings, the many lines of communication with the out- side world, the concentration of traffic to her trade marts, and withal, the six great railroads, the river and canal which pour almost unbroken streams of wealth and luxury into her lap, without considering the mighty concentration of manufacturing interests, are all in the way of irrefutable evidences that her " lines have been cast in pleasant places," and that she is pecul- madly fortunate in her geography and geographical relations.
Essex County, in her wonderful growth and prosperity, is only another offer in support of the truthfulness of the asser- tion thet location has much, if not all, to do in the upbuilding of places.
Nothing else but the most devastating influences brought to bear against her, could have prevented New York from becom-
tages which the Passaic afforded in the beginning, made it an easy matter for Newark to outstrip Elizabeth, although the latter had some years the better of settlement, Then the Morris Canal came creeping over the hills and mountains, depositing the wealth of New Jersey and Pennsylvania mines at her doors. Her topography, then, is such that no lover of the beautiful in nature can resist its charms. No stranger can cross the bor- ders of Essex, climb her gentle declivities and sit down on the table lands of the Orange mountains, without being captivated by her charms. Like one grand picture which has been un- folded before him, lies the landscape which wordy expressions fail him when description is attempted. That view which is obtained of Essex County and its environments from any of the higher points of the Orange mountains, while changed by its beautiful topography and immediate relations, makes a picture which would produce a lasting sadness in its effacing, so deep are the lines made in its tracing.
T. WALDRON
HILL & ROGERS
VIEW ON BROAD STREET, LOOKING NORTH FROM MARKET STREET, IN 1840.
ing and being the marvelous commercial emporium she is, and even so, with Philadelphia, Boston and many other places which are fed and grow fat on the luxuries which are prepared at the fountain heads and all along the streams which naturally flow toward them. Man's keen eye engaged in the work of search- ing out those focal points to which flow, and around which gather the elements of growth and prosperity do not often mis- take when they follow the geographical and topographical lines laid down by the Great Author. With Essex County men and wonen, progress has been the word, and from the time Newark town lots were marked out, no obstacles have been allowed to "gather under the wheels of the car.
1 It is easy to answer the question, " Why has not Elizabeth, fin Union County, become the great local centre that Newark "now is? " Because she lacked those essential accessions which gather around the point when found, the commercial advan-
ESSEX COUNTY QUARRIES.
(BROWN STONE.)
T "HE color and lasting quality of the stone taken from the Essex County Quarries has no equal, and although the expense of getting it out of the ground militates somewhat against its general use, yet much of it already adorns the walls of many of our most attractive buildings and building places. This is only a single proof that the first settlers of Essex built better than they knew, it being years afterwards before the wealth hidden under the soil in her brown stone, which required but the pick and shovel, the drill and the derrick, with the genius to manage the work of quarrying and the energy to work out the success which has crowned the efforts to bring it forth to the light of day where its beauty may be seen and its high qualities for building purposes appreciated. In looking
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