USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 3
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By an act passed January 21, 1709. the territory of the county was extended and comprised the Hudson county and part of Passaic. The boundary line was as follows: "Beginning at Constable Hook so up along the bay and Hudson River to the partition point between New Jersey and the Province of New York ; along this line, and the line between East and West Jersey to the Pequanock river ; down the Pequa- nock and Passaic rivers to the Sound and so following the Sound to Constable Hook, the place of beginning." In 1837 the county of Passaic was set off and in 1840 the county of Hudson was constituted, leaving the county of Bergen with an area of 230 square miles or 147,622 acres. The township of Union again became a part of Bergen County in 1653. The township of New Barbadoes in 1693 comprised all the land between the Hackensack and Passaic rivers from Newark Bay on the Southeast to the present boundary line of Sussex County. This territory, a part of Essex County, was annexed to Bergen County in 1709, out of which came the townships of Hohokus, Franklin, Washington, Midland, Lodi, Union, and the present township of New Barbadoes, while Englewood and its neighboring townships on the north and south of it were consti- tuted out of the township of Hackensack in 1871.
The territory now comprising Hudson County, then known as Ber- gen Town was purchased from the Indians by the Director-General and Counsellor of New Netherlands for Michael Pauw, Burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Achtienhoven, near Utrecht, August 10, 1860. Pauw also obtained a deed from the Indians for Staten Island and on the 22nd of November following, a deed for the western shore of the Hudson between Communipaw and Weehawken where Jersey City is now situated. This purchase on the Jersey shore of the Hudson was named
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
Pavonia, the name being derived from Latanizing the name of Mr. Pauw, the purchaser ; and was applied to the general colony on the west bank of the Hudson for a number of years. Mr. Pauw by an agreement was obliged to plant a colony of fifty souls, upwards of fifteen years old within the bounds of his purchase within four years from the date of his contract, but that project evidently failed. In 1633 there was a col- ony in Pavonia under the charge of Michael Paulusen or Paulaz, and the West India Company appears at this time to have had an agent there in the interest of the proprietor or patroon Difficulties arising finally between the Patroon and Mr. Pauw and the Directors of the Company, the latter finally succeeded in purchasing Pavonia for 26,000 florins. Part of it ( Ahasimus ) became known as the West India Company's Farm and was leased by Jan Evertsen Bout.
In 1638 the Indians became troublesome and the county, on this account, was kept in an unorganized condition for many years resulting finally in the Ordinance of 1656 creating a fortified town and the pur- chase of Bergen Township from the Indians in 1658. This latter deed conveyed all that part of Old Bergen east of the Hackensack river and Newark Bay now known as Hudson County. The hill on which Bergen was built is now called Jersey City Heights. The town was laid out in a square, the sides of which were eight hundred feet long. Around this square run a street flanked on the exterior by Palisades enclosing the whole town. The town was divided into four quarters by two streets crossing each other at right angles. Gates were on the four sides to lead through the Palisades. The village having grown so rapidly on the 5th of September, 1651 an ordinance was passed erecting a Court of Justice at Bergen, by Petrus Stuyvesant on behalf of the High and Mighty Lords States General of the United Netherlands, etc., etc. The first officers of the court appointed under the Directors of the West India Company were Tielman Van Vleck, Schout (Sheriff ) ; Hermanius Smeeman and Casparus Stnymets Schepens, (Magistrates. These officers were held until the surrender of New Netherlands to the Crown of Great Britain in 1664 which resulted in the new charter of Bergen on the 22nd of September 1668 confirmatory of the rights under the Dutch Charter of 1658. Under this charter the Government of the township was maintained until January 14, 1714 when an act was passed in the reign of Queen Anne giving the township still more extensive powers, and this Government of the town continued until necessities resulted in the erection of the territory into a county
The name Bergen was given to the village and subsequently applied to the township and county. Smith, Whitehead and some others think the name is derived from Bergen in Norway, but Dr. Taylor, Mr. Win- field and others reasonably conclude it was a Dutch name. In speaking of the origin of this name Mr. Winfield says :
" Bergen in Norway received its name from the hills which alnost surround it. Bergen op Zoom, eighteen miles north of Antwerp, stands on a hill surrounded by low marshy ground, which, with its fortifications, afforded great security. Thus it
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
will be seen that the two supposed godfathers of our Bergen received their name from local circumstances. Are not the same circumstances existing here to give the same name to the new village ? On two sides of the hill was marsh, and the only other place for settlement was along the river. To the eye of the Hollander. accustomed to look upon marshes or lowland redeemed from the see, the ridge grow- ing in height as it extended north from the Kill Van Kull, was no mean affair. To him it was Bergen, the Hill, and, like the places of the same name in Europe, it took its name from the hill on which it was built. This I believe to be the true origin of the name."
CHAPTER VI. THE OLD TOWNSHIP OF HACKENSACK.
"In 1682 Bergen County embraced only the territory between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, from Constable's Hook up to the prov- ince line-a narrow strip of land along the west side of the Hudson, at no place over five or six miles wide, and from twenty-five to thirty miles in length. The old township of Bergen, from the date of its charter, in 1658, comprised the southern portion of this strip of territory, as far up as the present northern boundary of Hudson County ; and the settlements above that, being regarded as "outlaying plantations," were attached to Bergen for judicial purposes, and so remained until 1693, when an act defining the boundaries of townships was passed by the General Assem- bly. That act recites as follows :
" That the Township of Hacksack" shall include all the land between Hackin- sack and Hudson's River that extends to the Corporation Town Bounds of Bergen to the Partition line of the Province."
*So spelled in the act.
It appears from this act that the township of Hackensack was bound- ed on the north by the province line of New York, on the east by the Hudson River, on the south by the corporation line of Bergen, and on the west by the Hackensack River. It covered nearly the whole table- land of the Palisades Mountains, and the beautiful valley of the Hack- ensack on its eastern side from the New York State line to the northern boundary of Hudson County. The scenery of this region, including the Palisades and the views of the Hudson and its valley from their summits, is among the most picturesque and romantic in America. Here the In- dians loved to roam before the advent of the white man, and their bark canoes glided down the smooth waters of the Hackensack to their summer resort on Staten Island. This was their avenue from Tapaan to the Kill van Kull, and out among the bays and inlets around New York.
GRANTS OF LAND.
Among the early purchasers of land from the Indians in this town- ship were Casper and Alattys Jansen. We find the following allusion to them and their lands in 1684, in the records of the Governor and Council of East Jersey :
" The petition of Casper Jansen and Alattys Jansen, setting forth that about seven years since (1677) the petitioners obtained by gift from the Indians a parcel of Land lying at Hackinsack, on the North side of the creek, which gift was then also acknowledged by the said Indians before the late Governor Carteret, who promised the petitioners a Confirmation of the same, only delayed the full grant or the patent till the adjoining lands should be purchased from the Indians and laid out into Lots, and that since one Jacques Le Row hath entered upon the said lands and taken pos- sesion of the same without having any Indian deed of gift. The petitioners pray- ing a warrant to lay out the same directed to the surveyor-General in order for a patent, which being read and the petitioners called in, who brought with them two Indians that had formerly given the said land to the petitioners, and the Indians being examined concerning the premises, declared that they never made any deed 10 Jacques Le Row of the said land, but that the same did belong to the petitioners,
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
whereupon it was ordered that both parties attend this board the 27th 9ber next. that they bring with them the Indians concerned, and that Jacques Le Row have notice thereof."*
* From the History of Bergen and Passaic Counties.
This extract from the authentic records carries us back to 1677, when lands were purchased from the Indians by Casper and Alattys Jansen. They show that the Indians are still residents of the township, and were ordered brought before the Governor and council at Elizabeth- town. The " creek" referred to in the Indian grant, on " the north " of which lay the lands in dispute, was probably that of English Neigh- borhood. One Jacques Le Row was then a settler in that vicinity, for he is complained of as having " taken possession without grant or warrant" from the Indians.
The name of the township and that of the river which formed its western boundary had been derived from the Indians, who had lived along its banks and had fished in its waters from time immemorial
Most of the early purchases of lands from the Indians and grants from the government within the bounds of the township are referred to in another portion of this work, and need not be repeated here. The early settlers were of the same class as those who colonized the township of Bergen and gradually extended themselves from the Neck northward between the two rivers.
TRADITIONS OF VAN DER HORST AND OTHERS.
There can be little doubt that the lands between the Hudson and the Hackensack were selected in the early days of New Netherland settlement as the manors of some wealthy patroon from Holland. Myn- dert Myndertsen Van der Horst, of Utrecht, was one of these, and in 1641 he had a plantation, purchased of the Indians, extending from Achter Kull, or Newark Bay, far up the valley of the Hackensack. It is said that he selected for his town site the beautiful situation on the Hackensack now known as Little Ferry, and that, in consequence of the introduction of strong drink among the Indians, he and his settlement were doomed to destruction. The house of Van der Horst was burned on the night of September 17, 1643, and his plantation made desolate. This story is not wholly traditional ; there are enough historical facts to war- rant the conclusion that Von der Horst was an actual resident of the vicinity. although it is difficult to tell precisely where his house was located, or what his plans were with reference to the establishment of a town. On the oldest map of New Netherland, that of Vanderdonck, published in 1656, we find the colony of Van der Horst laid down. It is called the "Colonie van der Heer Neder Horst," and is situated on the Hackensack, as described above.
The Baron Van der Capellon also essaved to establish a colony in the old township of Hackensack. He had purchased Staten Island of the Indians, and founded a colony there, which was destroyed in 1655. He then, through his agent, "concluded a treaty with the Indians, with submission to the courts of justice at Hospating, upon Wearkamius-
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
Connie, near Hackensack." This was in 1657. The place " Hospating" ("Espatin," a hill ) was on Union Hill, between the Hudson and the Hackensack, and on the boundary line between the old townships of Hackensack and Bergen. This attempt to establish a settlement and courts of justice was temporary. If it existed till the conquest of 1664, it was probably given up at that time. Traces of the foundations of buildings were known to exist in that locality not more than half a cen- tury ago.
THE PATENT OF JOHN DEMAREST.
located in this township, is thus referred to in the records of the Governor and Council of East Jersey, May 30, 1684, page 109:
" The petition of John De Maris for licence to purchase 200 acres of land of the Indians at Kinderkamacke, at Hackensacke. above the mill, in order to patenting thereof. Ordered that he have licence granted him to purchase, making use of such persons as the Governor shall appoint for Nicholas De Vow and others, who pre- sented their petitions yesterday.'
In the same records, on page 30, it appears that David De Maris presented a petition, and was asked by the council :
"what lands he had purchased of the Indians for the supply of his saw-mill. although the land is not patented to him and his son. The land purchased is about two miles in breadth, and coming to a point, and six miles in length. Agreed that David De Maris have patents for the lands which is surveyed to him and his sons at two shillings an acre. But that we cannot see reason to grant liberty to cut the timber from the land he takes not up until further matters appear than what is yet manifested, and that our purpose is to view the same."
It is of record that Peter Fanconier purchased of William Davis 2424 acres of land on the east side of the Hackensack in 1709
CIVIL ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
After 1693 the township had its local court for the trial of small causes. We find this several times referred to in different records, but in no instance in such a manner as to indicate where in the township the court was held. Probably English Neighborhood was the chief place, as that was one of the most important early settlements.
The minutes of the board of justices and freehoklers from 1715 . the earliest extant in the clerk's office at Hackensack , to May 10, 1769, while they give the meetings and transactions of the board, do not indicate the representatives from the particular townships. At the meeting, May 10, 1769. Martin Rowleson appeared for Hackensack township, and was freeholder in 1770, '71, '72, '73. '75, and in the May meeting of 1776 : Jacob Demot, 1769, '70, '71, '72, '73, and '75. They were also freeholders in 1768, and Demot in 1767 : John Benson in 1773. 74, 75, 76, and Yost Zabriskie in 1774.
There was no meeting of the board from May 15, 1776. to May 13. 1778. The last entry in 1776 is, "Ordered that this book be kept in the charge of William Serrell, clerk." Serrell had been clerk of the board from May 10, 1769. The stormy times of 1776 admonished them of the uncertainty of their next meeting, and so they made this order. When they met again a new order had superseded the old provincial system. and New Jersey had been nearly two years a State. Hence on the 13th
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
day of May, 1778, when they assembled again, the first entry in the book, in round, bold letters, is,
"STATE OF NEW JERSEY."
Some of the members of the board just before and during the Revo- lution had suffered loss of property and life in maintaining the cause, which in 1778 was still one of doubt and uncertainty, although the cam- paign in New Jersey had ended in defeat to the British, and the au- thority of the latter had been superseded by a republican form of gov- ernment.
From 1794 the following were freeholders of the township :
1794, 1800-2. John Demott; 1794, John Huyler ; 1795-96, 1817, John G. Benson ; 1795, Nicholas Westervelt: 1796-97, Dawes Westervelt; 1797-99, 1802-15, John P. Durie : 1798-99, Isaac Nicoll; 1800. Cornelius Banta ; 1801, Cornelius Westervelt, James Westervelt ; 1803, Henry Demott ; 1804-5, Albert A. Westervelt ; 1806-7, Geo. Brinkerhoff ; 1808-15, Richard Powels ; 1813, Isaiah Johnson ; 1816-18, John Wester- velt, Jr. Peter C. Westervelt ; 1817, S. Brinkerhoff ; 1819, 1821-24, 1827-28, Peter C. Westervelt; 1819-24, 1827-28, John Westervelt, Jr. ; 1820-26, 1829-33, William Ely ; 1820. John Edsall ; 1825-26, Richard Paulison ; 1829-33, Jacob C. Terhune ; 1834-36, John I. Demarest, Jr. ; 1834-36, 1848-50, John R. Paulison : 1837-39, Peter C. Wester- velt; 1837-38, Garret Westervelt; 1839-41, 1846, Abraham Ely ; 1840-42, 1849-51, Jacob H. Brinkerhoff ; 1842-44, Peter R. Bogert ; 1843-45-John C. Westervelt; 1845-47, Jacob P. Westervelt: 1847-48, John W. Westervelt; 1851-53, James Ely ; 1852-54, Thomas W. Demarest : 1854-56, John J. Bertholf ; 1856, John A. V. Terhune ; 1857-60, Paul R. Paulison ; 1857-59, David I. Westervelt; 1860-62, Peter Bogert, Jr. ; 1861-63, Samuel Degroot : 1863-64, 1866, George Huyler ; 1864-66, Albert J. Bogert ; 1867'68, Garret A. Lydecker ; 1868-69, Perer P. Westervelt; 1869-70, Joseph Stagg : 1870, Samuel S. Demarest.
This old township during the Revolution was the theatre of some battles and of many exciting scenes and raids by the British and Tory refugees. At every accessible point along the Hudson from Weehawken to Tappan the British soldiery penetrated to the interior, driving off cattle, seizing and destroying the property of the settlers, burning buildings, and often slaughtering in cold blood men, women, and de- fenseless citizens, whose only crime was their patriotism and hatred of British oppression. In this township stood Fort Lee and the old block- house, so famous as the place of refuge for a band of the most unscrup- ulous Tories of the Revolution. We will only give one extract here from the records of that period. It is contained in a letter dated Clos- ter, May 10, 1779:
"This day about one hundred of the enemy came by the way of New Dock, attacked the place, and carried off Cornelius Tallman, Samuel Demarest, Jacob Cole, and George Buskirk ; killed Cornelius Demarest ; wounded Hendrick Demarest, Jeremiah Westervelt, Dow Tallman, etc. They burnt the houses of Cornelius Demarest, Matthias Bogert, Cornel- ius Huyler, Samuel Demarest's house and barn, John Banta's house and barn, and Cornelius Bogert's and John Westervelt's barns. They at- tempted to burn every building they entered, but the fire was in some places extinguished. They destroyed all the furniture, etc., in many houses and abused many of the women. In their retreat they were so closely pursued by the militia and a few Continental troops that they took off no cattle. They were of Buskirk's corps, -some of our Closter
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
and old Tappan neighbors, joined by a party of negroes. I should have mentioned the negroes first, in order to grace the British arms."
Hendrick and Cornelius and Samuel Demarest were probably des- cendants of the old proprietor of Hackensack of that name. Their neighbors had turned Tories, and in that awful contest for their fire- sides and their homes, brother may have fought against brother and father against son.
Nearly four years before these calamities at Closter, New Jersey had declared herself independent of the British crown, and nearly three years before all the American colonies had joined in the same patriotic declaration. The burning dwellings and barns and the insults to their women only served to fire the hearts and nerve the arms of the people of Hackensack in defending their country.
"The town ship in 1840 was ten miles long and from three to five miles wide. It then largely supplied the New York markets with gar- den vegetables. Its annual sales of these products amounted to near $42,000, a large township income at that day, more than doubling that of any other township in the county. Its four bridges crossed the Hack- ensack River, viz., at Hackensack Village, New Milford, Old Bridge, and New Bridge. At these places and at Schraalenburgh, Closter, and Mount Clinton were a few dwellings, scarcely enough even then to call any of them a hamlet. English Neighborhood, in the southern part of the township, was thickly settled, and had one Reformed and one Chris- tian Church. The township then contained five stores, nine grist-mills. six saw-mills, six schools, and two hundred and eighty-one scholars. It had a population of 2631.
By the census of 1865 the old township of Hackensack had a popu- lation of 7112, and by the census of 1870, which was the last enumer- ation before the division and final cessation of the township, it had a population of 8039.
CHAPTER VII. "IN YE OLDEN TIME. "
A few years ago there appeared in the columns of " The Record." Tenafly, a series of articles bearing upon the former customs and habits of the people of the "Old Township of Hackensack," which at the time created more than passing interest. The easy fluent style of the writer, J. J. Haring, M. D., under the pseudonym of the " Whittler" makes it exceedingly difficult to abridge his articles without impairing his sen- tence structure ; yet his treatment of the various subjects which fell under his notice was so elaborate that of necessity, we are obliged to discard much interesting matter simply because it is less historical than otherwise. We have therefore taken wholly such paragraphs from his writings as bear directly upon our subject, and in so doing have, we think, placed upon record much valuable matter which should be pre- served. In speaking of the people of colonial and later times who took up their abode on the east side of the county, the writer says, "nearly all of them to the 'manor born' had descended from good, honest, in- dustrious Holland and Huguenot stock." Although within sound al- most of the hum of the great metropolis they had become known only to the tourist and occasional stranger pedestrian, and so had escaped its distracting, disturbing and disintegrating influences.
Their perserving industry had not only rendered the broad acres of the valley productive, but had cleared and tilled the slopes well on to the high plateau west of the Palisades. The immense walls resulting from freeing these slopes of stones and which scarcely suggest a retro- spective thought to the modern dweller, are montinents to their pluck and industry.
The cattle roamed through the farmers' broad fields and the silence of nature, through many a quiet afternoon, was only broken by the tinkling of the bell attached to the leader of the herd and by the lowing of the kine saluting and answering each other from adjacent farms.
Quaint houses and commodious barns dotted the valley from "the Sloat" ( Piermont ), to English Neighborhood ( Englewood ) and beyond. Here and there through the valley still stands one of the old time dwell- ings answering to the following description :
The main building was constructed of stone, for the most part small, irregular, and pointed with white mortar, making the walls pe- culiarly conspicuous.
The roof was broad and angulated about ten feet from the peak. From the angle the roof sloped more abruptly till near the eaves where it curved gracefully, extending usually about six feet beyond the wall. These stone houses had usually a broad hall running midway through from the front to rear. The inside walls were plastered but the ceiling's
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
over head were formed by the bare beams often of extravagant dimen- sions and the upper floor board, both unpainted but smoothly planed and kept scrupulously clean by the periodic use of soap and brush. The outer doors were cut in two laterally and designated as the upper and under door. In moderate weather the former was nearly always opened during the day and often during the evening affording fine ventilation, while the latter served to exclude curious eyes and prevent the exit of the baby and the two frequent intrusion of the house dog and other do- mestic animals.
The peculiar customs and manners of the toilers of the Northern Railroad Valley a half century ago were largely due to the conditions favoring if not compelling the exercise of frugality.
The soil of the Northern Valley and slopes owing to geological causes and conditions a description of which would, if time permitted, make an interesting paper of this series, was not noted for its natural fertility. Its productiveness was in proportion to the care and labor be- stowed upon it, and its adaptation to certain staple crops needed the farmer's careful consideration. Rye being grown much more success- fully than wheat, naturally became the leading cereal. Ground into flour by the local miller it found its way into the bread tray and by the skillful manipulation of the wife or daughter it furnished bread for the family-sweet, nutritious and wholesome. This spread with golden butter and overlaid with wholesome home-made cheese was the combi- nation associated with almost every man's meal.
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