History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 136

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 136
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 136

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Chosen Freen ddlers

Mindert Von Horn.

imperiale wedeal of whoul. Jolin Welsh.

Commissioners , ¿ Appeal

Hartman Van Wagenen.

William Stringhim,

.Faire W. Welsh.

Town Cle k. Abraham P Newkirk. Judge of Elerin H. THIGH M. Jones. Jsme of the liver Francis l' Miller, Surreyors of Highicaya.

Richard Vreelatul. Daniel Van Winkle.

Collerten,

Henry R. Welsh.

George Atleren.

John % 11. 01 .ne DDy.

Janira J. Vau Bankirk

Abraluan spear

Veerseers vị Highwaya

Abraham A. Vreeland

1. nry 1 . Van Revpen

James J. Van Ilokirk. Hartannin Van Wapenen,

H+ ory Brinkerhuff.

Janie's Il F'arrant, bruge Anderen.

Toarn Co miller,

Andrew P. STUDIA11. John Brinkerhun Hours Newkirk.

Garret Van Horn. Wintell Stringhai.

Daniel Vre eland.

John Mandeville. Garret G. Newkirk. Williams Sfringham, l'eter .le nom.

Nicholus S, Vreeland.

to ne- Keepers

Banjueniu Huerton. Juha Wanten.

Michael .1 Vreeland

Six years subsequently the township of Bayonne went under similar municipa regulation , anl in February, Ist, Bayonne is authorized to rain by taxation the moneys paid to procure volunteer . The preamble to this act sets forth as the primary move- mint in these outlay- public meetings held by the in abitants, at which the township committee were requested to offer bounties. The purpose of the levis- lative act was to authorize gradual payments of sixteen thousand ove hundred dollars and interest at seven per cent., the sum for which the bond- of the town- ship had been issue In less than another decade the region here ceased to go by the name of town- ship, and Vad becom "the young and warde-awake city of Bayonne' 1 At low points are more pro- gressive movements shown than in those referable to public instruction. Town superintendent Still- well, for the year long, reports that "it is proba- ble a new district will be set off during the ensuing year ; this district will include what is known as Constable's Hook." The State superintendent an-

taught and disciplined. The State superinten lent's report for the year ending Aug. 31, 1-71, mentions " four new brick school-house , twelve teachers and a sagacious Board of Education." The children reported in Imus numbered 003, and in left they numbered 1379. From the financial statement made by the mayor to the State comptroller in 1579 may be de- duced a few facts, -

Obligations contracted $17,200 war bond- $225,- un funded assessments, 21000 improvements, -165,000 tax bonds ten years, $106,500 city bonds twenty years, - total, $735,700.

The war band- extend to Issi ; $165,000 fall due in 18-5. 8228,000 from [885 to 1889 and $100,000 from 1x91 to 1897 ; 8219,00) of the amount already liqui- dated. The indebte Iness arose frem causes before herein referred to when speaking of bounties; also from outlays for street improvement-, for wharves, school buildings and city Hall. Yearly expenses were reported to he, for

Im knald Stationery Hint of Health I'rint 18 Roz stry and F ction

Maturing Wer Thouds . Sinking Fund for twenty -es or the in 4. ...

Maintainpg P' Di & hools

David W. OLIVER, the mayor of Bayonne in last, is of Irish origin, Alexander, the grandfather of David W .. having emigrated when a lad with his father and accompanied him to Massachusetts, where the latter was proprietor of a cotton-spinning mill. Hle served with credit in the war of the Revolution, and subsequently removed to Marietta, Ohio, where he wasamong thecar'o sealers, He married Mary War-

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ner, a native of Vermont, whose ancestors were of Eng- Miss Mary A., daughter of Dr. John P. Harrison, of Cincinnati. Their children are a daughter, Mary W., and a son, Alexander L. Mr. Oliver has since his removal to Bayonne been occupied in the superintend- ence of his varied business interests, having become a considerable owner of real estate within its limits. lle is in his political convictions a Democrat, and although in no sense a politician, has served as coun- cilman of Bayonne, and at present fills the office of mayor of the city. Ile affiliates in religion with the Presbyterian ('hurch. lish lineage. To this marriage were born eleven chil- dren, among whom was David E., a native of Marietta, who practiced his profession of medicine until 1832, when he retired to a farm in Warren County, Ohio. He married Mary Wade, daughter of David Wade, a Revolutionary hero, who was one of the pioneers in the founding of the city of Cincinnati, where he erected the third cabin on the site of the present metropolis. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver who survived were David W., Alexander L., Melane- thon W., Warren S., Susan O. (Mrs. James H. Brooks, JASPER A. CADMUS, who has been intimately con- of St. Louis, Mo.), Sarah E. (Mrs. A. H. Young, of nected with the civil government of Bayonne, is a di-

Jasper Abadmus

Newton, N. J.). David W. was born on the 19th of December, 1819, in Cincinnati, where he remained until twelve years of age, when the farm in Warren County became his home. He pursued his studies at the neighboring school, and was industrionsty employed in agricultural labor until twenty years of age, when for a year and a half he was engaged as clerk. After a brief interval Cincinnati became his home, where he engaged in the manufacture of alcohol. In 1860 bis attention was more exclusively given to the sale of groceries, which continued until his retirement, in 1865, and removal to Bayonne, his present home. Mr. Oliver was, in 1853, married to

rect descendant of Diedrich Cadmus, who was great- great-grandfather of the subject of this biographical sketch, and was of Holland descent, and the progenitor of the family in New Jersey. Among his children was a son George, who married, who became the father of Jasper Cadmus, one of whose twelve children was Andrew, born in Bergen township (now known as Bayonne ('ity), in Hudson County, N. J., where he resided and pursued the occupation of a farmer until his death. He married Jane, daughter of George Vreeland, of tireenville, and granddaughter of Gar- ret Vreeland. Their children were two sons, Jasper A. and Andrew. The life of Mr. Cadmus was

1235

CITY OF BAYONNE

suddenly ended by an attack of cholera in 1×22, in his twenty-fourth year. His son, Jasper A., was born March 16, 1831, in Greenville, Having lost his father when but a child, a home was opened to him in the family of his maternal grandfather, where he assisted in the labor of the farm, and availed himself of such education as the country schools afforded. Not satisfied with these limited opportunities, he after- ward entered upon a more extended course of study and became a proficient scholar. Having inherited a portion of the farm of his grandfather, he at oner began its cultivation, and continued thus employed for ten years, when he rented the land and became a dealer in real estate, which has since engaged much of his attention. Mr. C'admus was married, in 1851, to Catherine E., daughter of James and Mary Pharo, of Ocean County, N. JJ. Their surviving children are Mary J. (Mrs. E. S. Dowe), Julia E. (Mrs. N. G. Wig- gins), Agnes E., Eleanor E., Augustina, Olive (Mrs. D). W. Diamond), Wilhemina and Benjamin F. Mr. C'ad- mus has for years been an important factor in local political issues, and indorses the platform of the Democratic party, though frequently acting inde- pendent of party. He has been for several years assessor of Bayonne City. He was also from 1874 to 1877 a member of the Board of Councilmen, to which office he was re-elected in 1854, and now fills the position of president of that body, bringing both wisdom and a large experience to hear in the per- formance of his duties. Mr. Cadmus is an ordained minister of the gospel, and has for sixteen years exercised the functions of a preacher, though not regularly settled over a charge.

Festive Days .- AAn annually recurring day finding favor in this region is that of New Years's. One can scarcely say it is one of idle and unmeaning ceremony, for the multitude is immense that have found it to be. as Irving styles it .- jolly as he is, -" a jubiler of the heart." "Tis an annual festival, and just in this lreality it has shown its merry features. " It comes," says "Palmagundi,"I " in the dead of winter, when Nature is without a charm, when our pleasures are contracted to the fireside, and when everything that unlocks the fetters of the heart and sets the genial current flowing should be cherished as a stray lamb found in the wilderness, or a Hower blooming among thorns and briars." The same writer introduces the topic, as though he had just been enjoying the fes- tival, by saying : " It is the season of festivity when the gate of time swings open on its hinges, and an honest, rosy-faced New Year comes waddling in, like a jolly, fat-sided alderman, loaded with good wishes, good humor and minced pies." " If the people here." hints the author of the " History of Bergen," "did not possess the luxuries of the neighboring city of New York, they did possess and enjoy their home com- forts." No one was more competent to make inter-

ences here than the excellent Dr. Taylor. His services began here Jul 24, 1828, and he was as- signed to the position of emeritus pastor Sept. 22, 1370. Irving puts the festivity as abounding in social merriment url good cheer, and "one of the inestimable relie- handed down to us from our worthy Dutch ancestors."

Early Recollections .- Impressions of youth are ordinarily the most forcible and the most enduring. Even the trivialities of one's early years make a far deeper impresion upon the mind than the more remarkable circumstances of maturer age. Who is it that does not, amid all the mutations of life, retain a vivid recollection of the early home ? Events of after- life crowd and dim the view of the past; yet who could not shut his eyes and go from room to room in his father's house? That circlet-the period of early life- presents the clearest events and those the most strongly marked The tulips that adorned the earliest garden had the daintiest tints, the roses were the most odorous, the fruit that came from the old orchard had the finest flavor. Such memories have their uses, binding us to the past, serving to the mind as a pleasing anchorage that recollection gives it. No one will chat for an hour with an old resident of this vicinity without arriving at a similar conclusion. The early home and field, garden and stream and wood, are objects special in their beauty.

General Comments. - It is evident that the inhabit- ants here were for a long period a hearty, hardy and industrious people. Having privileges of fishing and fowling, there were advantages in this region not aceruing to residents of the interior. Excepting the innovation made by the epidemic at one locality here, the vicinity compares favorably as to health with the neighboring regions. Wordsworth remarks pithily that all we need to make life what it should be is a few strong instincts and a few plain rules. The rules in vogue here, as a general thing, seems to have operated salubriously.

Living as citizens of a country whose proudest houst is that it has made the civil and religions rights of all the same, there was no division of senti- ment respecting toleration. Universal education, beneficial occupation and local and general good government had their influences. It is not surprising that many of the inhabitants here enjoyed a hearty ohl nge. Few of the earlier patriarchs here lacked genuine earnestness, and never when suitable occa- sion offered, neglected to enunciate their views. The method shown was to illustrate the fact that their liberal principles did not arise from indifference towards religion itself, as it is not uncommon to find preceding the bequests in their last wills an expres- sjon of this tenor : " Recommending my soul into the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, I dispose of all my worldly estate," etc. The convictions of a people

1 Number 20. Jun. 1. 1%08.

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

receive tous and character in their forms and proceed- came to the front and ceased after a few years' service. ings. Two hundred years and more have elapsed,1 The construction of the Morris Canal was authorized and vigorous representations of the earlier race remain, the descendants of the pioneer settlers here and the multitude that have since joined them in a wide field for industry. From what has just been aid may be gathered a glimpse or so at the earliest inhabitants here, if such a view is obtainable from a few desultory facts. Dee. 31, 1×24. The work was completed in 1831, and extended then from the Delaware to the Passaic. An extension to the Hudson was finished in 1836. I 1852 the traffic here showed three hundred and fifty- eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven tons, in 1862 it showed six hundred and twelve thousand and eighteen tons and in 1872 six hundred and eighty- five thousand one hundred and ninety-one tous. The railways are elsewhere viewed.

These early inhabitants gained from as great a mind as our continent has yet produced a commenda- tion of their progenitors. In whatever region they find their homes the Dutch descendants may point with pride to their ancestry in okl Holland. They received and sheltered the fugitive founders of New England, they colonized New York, they gave to Great Britain the liberal and politie prince who rescued her from the tyranny of the Stuarts. They can contest with Germany the honor of the invention of printing, and they are certainly entitled to that of the invention of painting in oils. They led the great contest of Tentonie freedom against the absolutism of the Latin races, before either England or Sweden took the field. The declaration of independence of the seven united provinees in 1581 was the model of the declaration of 1776. That government was the earliest to send forth a well-organized navy ; it was, in fact, the first example, in the modern world, of a powerful, though ill-compacted republic. In Eras- muis was produced one of the earliest and most ofli- cient restorers of the lost literature of the ancient workl, and in Grotius, the great legislator of the international code. "The country," adds Edward Everett, "that can show such titles to the admiration and gratitude of mankind may be content with her place in history."

The community here from time to time has had its sensations, and during the Revolution quite as many events happened as its exposed situation would lead the reader's mind to surmise might be likely to occur here. These of themselves constitute a ehap- ter embodied in a more general view of the county. So also, it may be said, the more important roadways in the vicinity have met with notice and review.

Traveling Facilities .- The traveling facilities, since stages2 went, in 1764, via Bergen Point and Blazing Star ferries, to Philadelphia, from Paulus llook, have varied and multiplied considerably. The wagon without springs the wagon with springs, the omnibus, appeared and disappeared. Plank-roads

Fourth of July Celebrations. om one re- marks, with a great deal of pungeney, that the observ- ance of a holiday in an agreeableand rational manner has an invigorating effect. Even the anticipation of a festival will have its enlivening influence. What may be called an excess of labor is decidedly perni- cious ; aye, it might be called, all views considered, a positive evil, as it destroys the power of laboring. Such a matter as that of a holiday, seen from this stand-point, gains merited notice. The populace here, though renowned for industry, have not been unmind- ful of occasional recreation, and know the ways to the best entertainments. July 5, 1776, John Adams wrote : " Yesterday the greatest question was decided that was over debated in America; a greater, perhaps, never was, or will be, decided among men." The Fourth, he thought, would be thenceforth celebrated as the great anniversary festival. The nimble notion has had its attractions here. The parsonage premises, then at Bergen Point, was the selected spot for a celebration of this anniversary in 1845. Access was announced as available by the steamer "Passaic." from the foot of Barclay Street, and by the Port Richmond boats. At the anniversary of 1850 the parsonage- house and grounds were likewise made the trysting- place. Military and a band of music joined in these attractions, access being by stage from Jersey City or by the steamers from New York. Orations were pronounced at each of these anniversaries; the anni- versary of 1853 and that of 1855 were likewise at- tended by orations that were subsequently pub- lished. Those several anniversary discourses were delivered by David S. Coddington, 1845 ; Gabriel P. Disso-way, 1850; . 1. 1I. Ryder, 1853; O. Il. Morris, 1855.

Area and Population. The area of the city covers what can be designated as "magnificent distances." The domain will be enlarged when extended to the exterior line for solid filling made out under directions of the riparian commissioners. That line at points in front of Hartman Vreeland's land, that of his neighbors on the south and the lands of Van Buskirk may be seen to extend far into the bay. So along the Kill von Kull, near its entrance at Constable's Hook, some increase of area is allowed in front of land of the Hazard Powder Company, and the shore in front of the copper and the sulphur-works. The same commissioners have also fixed an exterior line for

In a letter to the Classis of Antendam, dated New York, Oct. 28. 1422. Hay. Henricus selyns writes . " At the request of the people of Bergen, I have commented to preach there three times in a year, un Von- days, both morning and afternoon, and administer the Lord's Supper. I feed there a new church, and at the celebration of the Lord's supper one hundred and thirty-four members. W other times they are accus- tomed to come over the river here to the hearing of the Word."

" What was called the great place conto was varied from time to time, with the view of having a better rund or for other reasons fre Win- feld's " Hideon County, [. : 0)

1237

CITY OF BAYONNE.

piers. Quite probably the descendant- of the present generation will be discussing the matter of these piers, now in the civil engineer's fancy, when some censis- takers shall be realizing Pintard's prophecy as to the population of the great metropolis of the country. He figures a population in 1885 of 2,695,837, in 1890 of 3,364,796, in 1895 of 5,205,995 and in 1900 of 5,257, 193. With every allowance, the city of Bayonne must, as a necessary consequence, share in a similar advance. The data here furnished kept fair tally in the anterior decades, Pintard, in 1506, putting down the popula- tion for 1845 as 451,616, for 1855 as 705,650, for 1865 as 1,010,577 and for 1875 as 1,722,766, Speculators in city lots may draw interesting inferences and the his- torieal student note a progress in events.

Some of the Pioneers .- There are among the chron- icles of this region no small number of biographies, the publication of which would contribute much to the local history. In this direction the mind turns to the late C'apt. David Latourette, whose death occurred a score of years ago, at the age of seventy- seven. The life of the late Cornelius Van Horn, aged ninety-three, and that of many other veterans had entertaining features. The late Jasper Garret- son, the county sheriff from 1853-59, was a well-known resident here ; the late Archer G. Welsh, the rrier of the court for more than thirty years, was familiar to old inhabitants; also the late Henry t' Cheavens, an old resident and attache of the I'nited States customs for a couple or so of decades; and also Richard Cadmus, whose patrimony extended from the one to the other bay, and the many yeomen similarly en- gaged with him and his sires in cultivating the soil The old dwelling in the occupancy of Cadmus was corected by him on the site of an ohl stone house his father occupied. It is located on the New York Bay.

Agricultural Interests .- Market gardening about this locality exerted no bitle pressure upon other af- fairs. U'redit is due this pursuit for encouraging the ferries, - the Knickerbockers across the stream had their old relish for cabbage, and no cultivators of the soil handled their nimble sixpence to a greater ex- tent for that production than did the farmers here. History tells us that the farmers here paid for ferriage of this edible across the Jersey City ferry at the rate of one shilling and sixpence per hundred. In this case, one sees the odd sixpence falling into the ferry proprietor's hands. Similar exorbitant rates led the shore-owners to a use of their own periaugers to some extent ; yet the ferry was not without a fair share of patronage. Considerable maize bad cultivation here for other objects as well as its noted dish, " soupaan," and that other salubrious Indian contribution to the culinary department, "succotash." The older his- torians never allowed this cereal the niche it should hold in the aspect of encouraging civilization. The

late Albert Gallatin, who was renowned for his crit- irisme of men and things, talked impressively upon this topic, and the notions he entertained show dix- cernwent worth historical notice: "I saw, in one of my excursions, a man felling trees in March, who, when I returned in October, had harvested a crop et Indian corn, grown on the very spot. He had also the leaves and the stems of the plant to serve for winter fodder for his cattle. He was an fromgrant newly arrived, and entirely without the capital indispensa- ble to enable him to cultivate wheat, that must have bron twelve or thirteen months in the ground before it could be reajal " Giallatin considered this crop a great help to settlements upon this continent. Ile thought that an improvident race would live for sup- port upon the potato, which, when healthy, can rarely bestored and preserved till the next harvest. No production, in his judgment, filled the place of the grain so prolife in its yield, and, when dried in the sun, so easily kept for many years, as maize or Indian corn. The curtilage of an inhabitant here, even when styled a market gardener, would have been con- sidered lacking the needful when not exhibiting the vorn-erib. Considerable tratlic took place among the old residents in the seasons of small fruits. During the carly season, when grass was a luxury to the city nagy, many loads were taken to the city, being sold by the bunch and "yielding a good return in money."

Early Maxims .- The clever maxime in vogue among these people. if few, were pungent and pointed. Everybody at all familiar with current events recol- lets how Abraham Lincoln referred to the Dutch farmer as relating to a time for swapping horses. The remark made to a companion had its simple and vet startling forer,-" It is not best to swap horses when crossing a stream." \ terse way of talk had its influence here as well as elsewhere. The fashion extended often to names, as well as other themes. Our historian, when referring to the most skillful master of a sail-boat, names him " colored AAbraham," -" Brom" for short,-us the man of that or a particu- lar ferry. Many un Abraham besides Irving's Brom Bones received the abbreviated "Brom" among the old folks. By a similar process " for short," and following a current desire for brevity, early names often took no doubt a change. Staats, among those of Holland origin, had most likely its origin in the name Eustatius; Tive, in the name Matthias; t'ole, in Nicholas, and Kerse in Cornelius. In his " An- nals." Dr. Taylor elucidates the name Van Wagenen and its colloquial sourer.

Religious Interests EpiscoPAL SERVICE For- vives according to the Episcopal form began in the county in 1807, the worshipers nvailing themselves of the Jersey Academy, at Paulus Hook, as a place of meeting. A church edifice was not built till many years subsequently. It is styled St. Matthews. Fifty years or more elapsed before a church edifice

1 Maj. Andre, at vere & of canto I. of his " Cow tham," gives the word exactly as it was hard.

1235

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

appeared at Bergen Point. This was Trinity, in tion or of Scriptural research, the early duminies 1 560. Residents here professing a choice for this ser- being profoundly learned in doetrinal faith. vice attended the church on Staten laland. Sabbath The REFORMED, organized Jan. 11, 1829. The earliest edifice was erected during the year 182x at Bergen Neck. A second building, styled the First Reformed Church of Bayonne, corner of Avenue (' and Bayonne Avenue, was dedicated March 31, 1867. The earliest pastor was Rev. Ira C. Boyce. The present pastor, Rev. W. W. Knox. mornings, thirty or forty years ago, inhabitants along the Kill von Kull might have been seen entering their skiff's, and taking the most direct route to the church of their choice, on the north side of staten Island. Old residents remember the late Capt. David Latourette,1 and Cornelius Simonson and others, making their way in this manner. The per- REFORMED C'H RCH OF BERGEN POINT .- This edi- fice, west side of Avenue T, near Third Street, was erected in 1853. Consistory organized May 16, 1854. Earliest pastor, Rev. J. C. Dutcher. Present pastor, Rev. James F. Riggs. il- of the sea and all kinds of water-craft were familiar to these worthies, the earlier years of their lives hay- ing been passed in maritime services. These veterans were, in fact, frequently on this route, cheerfully joining the devout assemblage in confessing before men their obligations to "Him who rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm."

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 136

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830