History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 2
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 2

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Ancient Settlements .- The oldest European set- tlement in New Jersey was at Bergen, dating back to 1616. The village is supposed to have been founded by Dutch Colonists, and the name is variously as- cribed to the preference of the Danes for Bergen in Norway, and to the remembrance of the Dutch of the Bergen in the province of North Brabant, in Hol- land. It means "the hills," and to the Hollander. accustomed to look upon the low, level land in his own country, reclaimed from the sea, such a ridge as that on which Bergen stands would seem of great magnitude, and naturally suggest the name. This would be more likely still because the Dutch Bergen, like its modern namesake, is located on elevated ground, and surrounded by low, marshy lands. For several years it was merely a trading post, to which the Indians resorted for the sale of their game and fur. In 1658-9 the Indians soll to the Director, " Peter Stuy- vesant and the Council of the New Netherlands," a tract lying on the west side of the Hudson, " begin-

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ning from the great ('liff (or Palisades) above Wie- hackan, and from thence right through the land above the Island Sikakes, and there from thence to the Kill van Coll, and so along to the Constables Hoeck, and from the Constables Hoeck again to the aforesaid C'litl above Wiehackan," which included all the lands lying between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers and the Kills ; for eighty fathoms of wampum, twenty fathoms of cloth, twelve brass kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double brass kettle, and one half barrel of strong beer, and agreed to remove at the first op- portunity,

The settlement at Communipaw, under Jan Evertse Bout, the agent of Nicholas Pauw, was in 1634. Bout continued in charge for his principal till Pauw sold out to the West Indian Company, and then in 1638 rented the Company's farm. It included all of the uplands lying between Communipaw Creek on the south, and the meadow on the north, and he was fortunate enough, after a time, to secure the land as a gift.

Ahassinius, and others were of an early date, but they were all destroyed in the Indian hostilities of 1644.

July 12, 1630, Michael Pauw purchased of the In- dians all the land lying along the west side of the Hackensack and New York Bay, and in November of the same year, the lands on the west shore of the Hudson between Communipaw and Weehawken, and gave it the name of Pavonia. Ile promised to locate a colony of fifty persons, upwards of fifteen years old, within four years, but he did not, for some reason, keep his pledge, and this made trouble with the Dutch West India Company, and led to the transfer of all his interests in Pavonia to the Company. It has been supposed that there was a trading post at Pavonia as early as 1618, and there is a record of two frame houses thatched with flags, one at Communipaw and the other at Ahassimus. But this may be considered doubtful, for at this time there were only a few bark hnts in New Amsterdam, and it is not likely that the few whites in the country would weaken their power hy separate settlements, The difficulties which occa- sionally arose between the Indians and the settlers naturally led to their keeping close together, and pre- vented the dispersion into numerous villages.

In 1664, John Bailey and others purchased from the Indians a tract or tracts of land, on part of which the city of Elizabeth now stands, and when Philip Carteret was appointed Governor in 1669, he made his home here, and gave the name to the place in honor of Lady Elizabeth Carteret, the wife and executrix of Sir George Carteret. It was the third settlement made in the State of New Jersey, and the first by the English. At this time there were only four log huts in the town. For many years after the settlement of the province, Elizabethtown was the largest and most flourishing place in it. Here were all the public offices and the residence of most of the Government

officers, The first General Assembly met here in 1668. The first inhabitants were emigrants from New England, Long Island, England and Scotland.

Manners and Customs of the Early Settlers .- The aim of the early settlers was to surround them- selves with the same associations and comforts as they had in the places they left. The Dutch Colonistx were people of deep religious feeling, honest and con- scientious. Under the former Governors who pre- ceded Stuyvesant, there was no trace of persecution or illiberality. Their houses were only one-story buildings with low ceilings, the upper space being re- served for storage and spinning. The kitchens were conspicuous for large open fireplaces extending across the entire width, with chimneys large enough to hang up meat and smoke it. As their means in- creased the fire-place was ornamented with Dutch tiles, delincating Scripture events, and facts of na- tional history. In the interior of the dwellings clean- liness, order and economy prevailed. Carpets were not known, but the floor, serubbed and sanded, was an object of housewifely pride. In the absence of stoves, the large fire-place, furnished with ample logs, made an inviting place for the family and guests amid the wail of the storm and the roar of the forest. In the other seasons, there would be groups of neigh- bors on the side seats of the porch, spending the evening in social conversation.

In family and social intercourse the Dutch lan- guage held its place for a long time. The settlers stubbornly resisted every effort to supplant their mother tongue, especially in their religious services. And in the same spirit they retained their frugal and industrious habits, avoiding costly dress and equipage, clothed in homespun garments, and making and laying by large stores of linen and woolen garments. When a daughter married, the proof of this home training was looked for in the full supply of personal gar- ments, and a quantity of bedding of every description. The young men were taught some mechanical trade, or means of earning a livelihood, and in the busy farming season, the females helped both in planting and harvesting.

The settlers were slow to form acquaintanceship, but firm in their friendships, and whatever local or indi- vidual difference might arise when any community was wrongfully involved in trouble, all personal variances were forgotten for the time, and all acted as under one impulse. They also had a high regard for education, establishing a school as soon as they founded a church, and there is now in successful operation in New York a school which dates its origin to this spirit in 1663. The first ministers in the Dutch set- tlements eame from Holland, and from their superior learning exercised a great influence in shaping so- ciety. It was a special distinction of Newark for a long time that it was the only New England settle- ment that had a minister solely devoted to the duties of his profession. In the Newark settlement, a large

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION OF NEW NETHERLANDS

tract of land was set apart in 1676, for the support of the churches, which was afterwards divided, and has become a steady source of income to some of the ec- «lesiastical corporations of Newark and Orange. Among the Dutch settlers such provision was not made, but the voluntary contributions were always ready. The current money was the Indian wampum, made of different parts of the sea shell into beads and strung on leather strings. These pieces of wampum, the dark kind being twice the value of the light, were collected in black velvet bags on long poles. Each bag had a bell at the bottom, which may have been useful to waken those whom the summer sun had soothed into a comfortable slumber.

Expeditions against the French .- The limits of the respective colonial possessions of England and France being unsettled, gave occasion to many ap- prehensive and serious difficulties. The national jealousy of the colonists was sharpened by their active competition in trade, and particularly by the desire to gain command of the fisheries on the coast. This trade was of immense importance, and while for some time there had been hostile relations in Europe be- tween England and France, the antipathy was easily transferred to the American colonies by the effort of the French to acquire exclusive possession of the vast revenue accruing from the coast trade. France as- serted a right to all the country on the north, to all of Canada, in which had been created a province called New France ; on the south they claimed an immense region, in which a province was established, called Louisiana ; and they also claimed to have traced the Ohio river, and represented that this stream was the natural communication between their northern and southern possessions ; they therefore claimed that all the country watered by this stream, as well as the other streams falling into the Mississippi belonged to them. ' were disbanded, the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle follow- Great Britain, on the contrary, claimed as far north as the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. To maintain their claim, the French erected a line of forts and posts on the lakes, in their advance bringing the native tribes into co- operation either by subjugation or by friendly alli- ance. The record is a long one which tells of the struggle for the mastery, and in spite of the different treaties made from time to time, the terms were suf- ficiently vague to give rise to dispute as to the extent of the territories respectively belonging to each country.

In the latter part of the year 1708, Colonels Vetch and Nicholson applied to the court of Great Britain for sea and land forces to overthrow the dominion of the French in Canada. They raised a small force, and in 1709 a fleet of ships of war was sent with full in- structions to secure enlistments to the number of fifteen hundred, of which New Jersey was to furnish two hun- dred. All things were to be in readiness by the middle of May, the arms and ammunition to be furnished from the magazine in New York. As an inducement to fur-

nish the quota of men required for the expedition, assur- anees were given that such as contributed to the result should have the preference both as to the soil and the trade of Canada, when conquered, to any other of the Queen's subjects. But a long delay occurred, and Colonel Nicholson returned to England for further assistance, and to facilitate his porpose took with him four Indian Sachems. They were introduced to the Queen, and made a speech, in which they re- ferred to their long and tedious conflict with the French, and urged the Queen to push forward the confliet for their protection. In September of the following year, an expedition was fully equipped of thirty-six sail, one regiment of English marines and four regiments from New England, armed and provi- sioned in part by the Queen, and in part by the colo- nies, New Jersey contributing three thousand pounds. After a six days sail they arrived at Port Royal, and after some small cannonading and bombarding, the garrison capitulated and the fort was surrendered October 5, 1710. In the following year a second ex- pedition of formidable appearance was fitted out, in which New Jersey bore a prominent part. But the delay of the fleet at Boston, for want of provision, and a series of disasters after they had anchored in the bay on the south side of the entrance of the St. Law- rence river, cansed the enterprise to be abandoned at a great cost of men and treasure. Later still, in 1744. after the formal declaration of war by the English. the assembly of New Jersey agreed to raise and equip five hundred men, and the enterprise met with such favor that, in less than two months, six hundred and sixty men offered for enlistment. These troops- reached the appointed rendezvous at Albany, but neither general, nor troop, nor orders arrived from England, and in the following antomin the troops ing in 1748. The project was renewed by the Eng- lish Minister, William l'itt, during the seven year- war, which had begun disastrously for England. He called upon the colonies to aid in destroying the power of the French in America. The quota from this state was five hundred, which was not only cheerfully furnished, but the number was doubled, and in order that enlistments might be hastened, a bounty of twelve pounds per man was offered, the pay of the officers was increased, and fifty thousand pounds were voted for the support of the army. This complement of one thousand men was kept up by the State from 1758-60, and in the two succeeding year- they furnished beside six hundred more, in addition to which, in 1762 they raised a company of sixty- four men and officers, designed for garrison duty, for which an average annual expense was incurred of forty thousand pounds. In the final result, by which. after a sixty-nine days siege Quebec capitulated, the provincial soldiers had a large share. While New Jersey persistently refused to accede to some sugges- tions made by the crown, she expressed a willing-

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ness to do her full share in resisting the encroach- ments of the French, and for a long time cheerfully answered every requisition for men and money for that purpose. Even where New Jersey was not per- sonally concerned, every movement in this direction elicited the liveliest sympathy, as when Gov. Shirley, of Massachusetts, in 1745, devised a successful plan to take Louisburg, the fortification of which had been nearly thirty years in building, at a cost of over 85,000,000, and the ample harbor of which furnished a place of refuge for the privateers who destroyed the fisheries of the colonists. The progress of the contest through the succeeding years was watched with great interest, and its close was a matter of great joy. In 1762, France and Spain, who had made a compact to oppose the growing power of England, became dis- pirited, especially as Havana, the capital of Cuba, was surrendered to the English, and other places were reduced. At the same time England was less de- sirons for further conquest than for relief from embar- rassment caused by debts incurred in war. So that in 1763 a treaty of peace was confirmed in Paris, by which England secured the entire command of the country east of the Mississippi and of Canada. For this valuable acquisition there had been a great ex- penditure of life and treasure, to which outlay New Jersey contributed, at different periods, nearly £300,000, and, for a great part of the time, main- tained a force of one thousand men.

CHAPTER II.

GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, AREA, POPULATION, GOVERNORS.

THIS is one of the interior, as well as one of the original counties of the State, and was first formed in 1675, and its boundaries definitely fixed by the act of January 21, 1709-10, and comprised the teritory then known as Elizabethtown and Newark, and now cov- ered by the counties of Essex, Union, and a part of Middlesex and Morris Connties. Essex County, as now constituted, is bounded on the northeast by Pas- saie County, east by Bergen and Hudson Counties and Newark Bay, southwest by Union County, and northwest by Morris County.

With the exception of the two trap-ridges crossing the county from northeast to southwest, and known as the First and Second Mountains, the surface is gently undulating, and in some portions quite level, so much so indeed, that it is covered by tide marsh and wet meadow. The principal streams are the Pas- saie River, which forms the boundary line between this and Morris County, and a portion of the boundary line between this and the counties of Passaic, Bergen, and Hudson; the cast and west branches of the Rahway River, both of which take their rise in Essex County, the first in Orange City

and West Orange, and the latter in West Orange, be- tween the two mountains; the first and second rivers, both flowing northeasterly into the Passaic ; Parrow and Wigwam brooks, the first rising in the city of Orange, and the latter in West Orange, both uniting near the northeast line of the city, forming the head waters of First River. The county is crossed by the Morris and Essex Canal ; the Newark branch of the New York, Lake Erie and Western railroad; the New York and Greenwood Lake railroad, with branch from near North Newark Station to Orange; the Pennsylvania railroad; the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad, with branch from Newark to Bloomfield and Montclair; the Newark and New York, with branch to Perth Amboy, and street railroads running from Newark to Irvington, South Orange, East Orange, and Orange, Bloomfield, and Belleville.

The area of the county by townships as given by Professor George H. Cook in 1868, was as follows :

Belleville, 5,062 acres; Bloomfield, 8,070 acres : Caldwell, 17,920 acres, 2,617 of which was wet meadow land ; Clinton, 5,229 acres ; East Orange, 2,394 acres; Fairmount, (now West Orange), 4, 62] acres; Livingston, 11,354 arres, 33 acres of which is wet meadow Inne ; Milburn, ti, 234 aeres ; Newark, 9,126 neres, 4,282 acres of which are tide marsh ; Orange, (not in Cook's report) estimated ut 1, 800 acres ; South Orange, 6, 118 acres ; West Orange, 3,725 neres. Total, acconling to Professor Cook, (not in- cluding Orange), 79,832 neres, Deducting Fairmount Township, which was not at the date of the report a township, but the name had been changed five years before, to West Orange, and we have a tutul in county of 77,021 acres, allowing Orange to be 1800 acres,

The population of Essex County at various periods is herewith given, and will no doubt prove interesting as well as valuable. In 1666, it was estimated at 200. This included only Newark, which at that time in- cluded nearly all of the territory now embraced in Essex County. In 1682, the population had increased one hundred per cent., or estimated such, and put down at 400, and in 1726, to 4,230. In 1737, it had gone up to 7,019, and eight years later, 1745, had de- creased to 6,988. The number of the people in the Eastern Division of the Province of New Jersey, taken by order of His Excelleney, Lewis Morris, Esqr., Captain General and Commander in Chief of the said Province, in the year of our Lord, 1745, was as follows:

SLAVES.

COUNTIES.

Males shove

16 years.

Males under

16 years.

Females abuve

Females under

16 years.

Quakers or

reputed Quakers.

Mak's.

Females.

Whole Nunther

of Juhabitants.

Increase

since 1737.

Bergen,

721

494

590

5×5

370

244

183: 396

7612 284>

Monmouth

2071

1975

1783

1899 3131

513 386

8627 2541

Somerset,

7401

672

719

194 149

3239

Total,

695-1

6535

6363

6446 3557 1813 1365 20,452

Total of both

Divisions, . . 15.086 14,253 13, 684 13, 754 9636 2388 2018 61.383

Total Population in State in 1726.

. 32,442

1737

. 47,369

1743 .

. 61,383

¥:

Forex.

1094

1652

1649

1548

Middlesex,

172x

1651

1639

1635 400

16 years.

CLIMATE AND TEMPERATURE OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.

In 1790, Essex County, (including portions of what is now Morris, Passaic, and all of Union County,) had gone up to 17,785. In 1800, it was 22,269 ; 1810, 22,- 984; 1820, it was 30,793 ; in 1830, it had risen to 41,- 911; 1840, after setting off' a part of Passaic in 1837, the population was left at 44,621 ; in 1850, it was 73,- 950. Again, March 19, 1857, the area of the county was reduced by the formation of Union County, yet in 1860, the population had increased to 98,877, and at the close of the war in 1865, it had mounted up to 124,441, and in 1870, it was 143,839. In 1880, the county showed by cities and townships, the following population : Newark, 136,508; Orange City, 13,207; Belleville, 3,004; Bloomfield, 5,748; Caldwell, 3,167; Clinton, including Irvington, 2,742; East Orange, 8,349; Franklin, 1,617; Livingston, 1,401 ; Milburn, 1,743 ; Montclair, 5,147 ; South Orange, 3,911 ; West Orange, 3,385. Total, 189,929.

Governors of New Jersey .- Chronologienl List.

GOVERNOR OF FAST JERNEY.

Philip Carteret .

Robert Berkeley 1682 10 lexi.

Thomas Rudyard, Deputy Gov. 1683.

Garen Lawrie . 16X33.

Jonl Niel Campbell

Andrew Hamilton . 1692 to 1697.

Iti08 to 1699.

GOVERNORS OF WEST JERSEY.

Samuel Jennings, Deputy . . 1681.

Thuinns Oliver, Governor . 1684 to 1685.

John Skien, Deputy Itis5 to 1687.

William Welsh, Deputy 1686.

Daniel C'oxe . . . 1687.

Andrew Hamilton . 1692 to 1697.

Jeremiah Base, Deputy . 1607 to 1699.

Andrew Hamilton, Governor 1699 till surrender to the Crown, 1702,

FART AND WEST JERAF\ UNITED.

Lonl John Corubary, Gov. 1703 to 1708.

Juhn Lovelace, (died in office) . 1708,

Richard Ingoweby, Licat. Gov. 1709 to 1710.

Gen. Andrew Hunt 1710 to 1720.

William Burnet 1720 to 1727.

John Montgomery 1728 to 1731.

Lewis MorriN . . 1731 to 1732.

William Crosby

. 1732 to 1736.

John flamilton . . 1736 to 1738.

The above were also Governors of New York at the same time.

SEPARATE FROM NEW YORK.

Lowie Morris 1738 to 1746.

John Hamilton 1746 to 1717.

Jonathan Belcher 1747 to 1757.

John Reading . 1767 to 1758.

Francie Barnard . 1758 to 1760.

Thomas Boone .

1760 to 1761.

Thonuu llanly 1761 to 1763.

Willlum Franklin

1763 to 1766.

REVOLUTIONARY AND STATE GOVERNMENT.

William Ivingston 1776 to 1790.

Willhun T'atorson 17:001 to 1792.

Richard Ilowell

1792 to 1801.

John lambert, V. Pres. of Council 1802 to 1803.

Jverph Bloomfield 1803 to 1×12.

Aaron Ogden . . 1812 to 1813.

William 8. Pennington

1x13 to 1x15.

Mahlon Dickerson

1815 to 1817.

INALL' H. Williamson

. 1817 to 1820.

GurTet D. Wull, (declined) . 1529.

l'eter I). Vroviss . 1829 to 1×32.

Samuel L. Sonthanl . . 1x32 to Feb, 1833.

Elias P. Seeley . . 1833 to 1×34.

Peter D. Vroom 1835 to 1836.

Philemon Dickerson 1836 to 1:37.

William Pennington 1837 to 1843.

Daniel Haines . 1:43 to 1844.

INHER NEW CONSHITI TION.

Charles C. Stratton 1845 to 184%.

Daniel Haines 184% to 1851.

George F. Fort . 1851 to 1x 4.

Rodman M. Price 1854 to 1857.

William 1. Newell

] -57 to 1860.

Charles S. Olden 1x60 to 18h3.

Joel Parker 1863 to 1866.

Marcus 14. Wanl 1×60 to 1Min.

Theodore F. Randolph 1869 to 1872.

Juel l'arker 1872 to 1879.

Joseph D. Bedle 1>75 to 1878.

Gen. George R. Mcclellan 1878 to 1=x1.

Grorgo (', Ludlow . 1881 to 1884.

Twon Abtw.tt . 1>>4 to

CHAPTER III.

CLIMATE, TEMPERATURE, RAIN, SNOW OF NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.1

THE earliest printed notice of the climate of New Jersey is in " A description of the province of New Albion, cte. published in 1648." The following cx- tract from it is here given.

" Whereas that part of America or North Virginia, lying about 30 degrees ou Deluwaro buy, called the province of New Albion, is situated in the best and sume temperature as Italy, latween too cold Germany, and too hot Barbary ; No thin lying just midway between New England 201 miles nul Virginia 150 miles south, where now are settled 8.000 English, and 140 shimm in trik, is freed from the extreme cold and bar- remee of the one, and heat and aguish marshes of the other, and is , like Lumbardy, and a rich fut soil, plain, and having thirty-four mvers on the main land, seventeen great Isles, and partaketh of the healthiest Bire And most excellent commodities of Europe, and replenished with the goodliest woods of oaks nud all timber for ships and masts, mullerrien, sweet cypres, cedars, pines and Arres, four sorts of grapes for wines and raisins, and with the greatest variety of choice fruits, fish and fowl, stored with all sorts of corn, yrelding five, seven, and ten quarters An acre. "2

From the account of Thomas Rudyard, a deputy governor of East Jersey, written in 1683, we extract the following paragraph descriptive of that province:

" As for the temperature of the air, it is wonderfully situated to the humors of mankind ; the wind and weather rarely hobling oue point or une kind, for ten days togothor ; it in a rare thing for veaveh to be wind bound for a work together, tho wind seldom holding in a point more than forty -eight hours ; and in a short time we have wet and dry, warm atl cold weather."

1 Compiled from Cook's Goplugy, 1881,

" That the name New Albion was then applied to New Jersey, appeary in a letter of llobert Evelin which was included in the saine pamphlet. Wo extract : "But nevertheless to antisfie yon of the truth, I thought good to write unto yon my knowledge and first to describe you from the north kilo of Delaware unto Hudson's River in Sir Edmond's patent, called Now Albion, which lieth just between New England and Mary land, and that ocean sen, 1 take It to be about 160 miles."-Smith's History of New Jersey, pp. 27-28.

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

This description is as pertinent to-day as it could have been two hundred years ago.

In Thomas Budd's "Good Order Established in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in America," printed in 16:5, there is the following :

"The dayes in the winter are about two hours longer, and in the sHinmer two hours shorter than in England ; the summer somewhat hotter, which canseth the fruits and corn somewhat to ripen faster than in England, and the harvest for Wheat. Rye and Barley being about the latter end of June. In the winter season it is cold and freezing weather and sometimes snow, hut commonly very clear and sunshine, which MA Jlı di alves it."

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840