USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of Paterson and its environs (the silk city); historical- genealogical - biographical > Part 23
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Bergen County ss Decr 7th, 1805.
The State VS. An Accusation for Larceny under Six Dollars
Negro Claas)
The prisoner being apprehended before us the Subscribers two of the Justices of the peace in & for said County before whom the sd prisoner Con- sented to be tried-Whereupon the said Court appointed Richard Terhune to prefer an Accusation in writing against the said prisoner, in Obedience thereto the Accusation was drawn up and the said prisoner Charged thereon, to which the said prisoner plead not Guilty.
177
THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS
The Court then proceeded in the trial of the Cause, in the Course of which The following Witnesses were Sworn on the part of the State To Wit-Henry Goetschius Luke Van Alen Francis Ryerson David Van Blar- com Jacob Van Dein
Witness on the part of the prisoner-Abraham Post
After having duly Considered Testimony for and against the prisoner the Court is of Opinion that the sd prisoner Claas is Guilty of the Charge and Accusation Alleged agt him and do sentince the sd Negro Claas to re- ceive Immediately Nineteen lashes on the bare back and that he further stand Committed until the legal fees are paid
fee Bill
Examination & Costs
0 19
Warrant & Serving
85
Drawing Accusation
30
3 Subp. & Serving.
96
Witness Sworn
30
3 Witnesses fees
I 50
3 Witnesses do
75
Trial of the Cause.
60
Drawing Conviction
25
Constable Attending prisner
25
$5 95
ABRM WESTERVELT GARABRANT VAN HOWTEN
The Legislature in 1788 enacted that all criminal offences should be tried and punished without regard to color or slavery. As corporal punishment was generally in vogue, the whipping post was to be found in front of almost every tavern, where the victim, male or female, was tied, stripped to the waist, for the infliction of this brutal penalty. The justice ot the peace who ordered the whipping often stood by to see that the constable performed his duty. The late Rev. John Berdan was elected constable when but twenty- one years old, or about 1815. He said that some men could be whipped all day without any apparent injury or pain, while in the case of others, every stroke, no matter how light, would draw blood. He used switches, which the school boys gathered for him in the swamp on half-holidays; rawhides were not allowed, he said. There was a recognized limit on the back within which the blows must be laid on. He once whipped two negro men and a negro woman, for stealing chickens; one of the men received thirty-nine lashes, the other fifteen, and the woman ten. They were tied to a whipping post in front of William Jenner's tavern, at Lower Preakness, just below the Washington Headquarters. "Nooit weer" ("Never again"), cried one of the men, then a lad of only sixteen years; and he kept his word. Another whipping post was in front of Richard I. Banta's tavern, on the southeast corner of the Wesel road and the cross road to Clifton. The lash was applied after school hours, so that the scholars might be edified by the spec- tacle. Garret Van Houten, the township constable, did the whipping there. It is related that on one occasion his victim was an old colored woman, who had stolen sausages from her master to give to a young man. When she had
P-12
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PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
stripped to the waist, and had been tied to the post, Garret began to lay on the whip-which had an ugly stinging lash on the end. The old woman began to scream lustily, and piteously cried, "Slagh nit hard, Garry" ("Don't hit hard, Garry") ; he humanely laid the blows on as lightly as he could, but when he ceased, and she had resumed her upper garments, she cursed him bitterly. The justice of the peace who had sentenced her stood by to see the whipping. By a strange irony, the "Liberty Pole" in front of a tavern was often used as a whipping post, where men and women, usually slaves, were punished. In 1816 a Paterson newspaper contained an advertisement by a prominent and wealthy farmer, in the vicinity of Vreeland avenue, warning all persons, no matter how nearly related to him, to desist from stealing his chickens and other property. The warning was not as effective as he hoped, and as a result one day his own son was arrested for stealing chickens from his father, was tried by two justices of the peace, and sentenced to be pub- licly whipped, and the sentence was duly executed at the whipping post in front of Tice's tavern, on the Wesel road, a short distance south of Crooks avenue. A whipping post stood for many years before the tavern on the hill adjoining the Acquackanonk church; a justice's court was held there every Saturday, and the culprits were promptly tried, convicted and flogged. For a short time a whipping post stood in front of the Black Horse tavern, on Broadway, near Carroll street. There was another at the old tavern on Maple street, near the Falls, and Perigrine Sanford, when constable, offici- ated there with great regularity. A white man and his wife, living at Lower Preakness, were once sentenced to be whipped, for stealing. They had a son living at Garret Berdan's, at Preakness; he asked his master for leave to take a half holiday, to go and see his father and mother punished, and seemed to enjoy the revolting spectacle as much as anyone there.
The agitation for the abolition of slavery in New Jersey began at an early date ; it was pushed by John Woolman, especially among the Friends, and as result they memorialized the Legislature in 1773 to provide for the emancipation of the slaves. In 1786 an act was passed authorizing the manu- mission of able-bodied slaves, between 21 and 35, without giving security. The movement for freedom culminated in 1804, when the Legislature passed an act providing that all children of slave parents, who should be born there- after, should be free on reaching the age of twenty-five years. In 1840, out of a total population of 16,704 in Passaic county, there were but 86 slaves.
The Indians did not like the colored people. They compared the differ- ent races thus : The whites are the good fine flour ; the Indians are the mid- dlings ; the blacks are the bran. They disliked working with them, or asso- ciating with them in any way.
Was it an unreasonable logic which led the slaves to argue that "it was no sin to steal from Massa?" Petty thieving was the common fault of the race. This was especially the case where "Massa" was too "close" with his black people. Then they took a malicious delight in "getting the best" of him.
The social condition of the slaves was as comfortable as was perhaps possible under the circumstances. The men worked on the farm, with the
179
THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS
white men of the family, or with white laborers ; or they plied various trades, as carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, etc. In 1816 and 1817 the Paterson newspapers contained advertisements by mill owners, offering to buy the "unexpired time" of colored lads-that is, their time up to the age of twenty- five, when they would become free-in order to apprentice them as operatives in the cotton mills ; but the experiment was not a success, owing to the antip- athy of the white employees to having them in the same mill. The slave women were employed chiefly, and almost entirely, about the house, doing the menial work, cooking, washing, etc. As a rule, the slaves lived under the same roof with their master or mistress. In the larger dwellings, they often had an end of the house to themselves, where they lived, cooked and ate, sleeping upstairs over their kitchen. In smaller houses they lived in the com- mon kitchen, and slept above it. Where they were numerous a separate building, near the family mansion, was often erected, which was used as a kitchen for the family, and as a residence for the slaves. This close contact induced a kindly relation between the master and slave, which continued be- tween the younger members of both races. An owner who treated his slaves badly was looked upon with much disfavor by the community, and the aid of the courts was readily invoked to punish such brutality. The threat of a kind master to sell an obstreperous slave to someone many miles away from his home was often sufficient to bring the offender to terms. Negative evi- dence of the general content of the slaves with their lot appears in the fact that advertisements of runaway slaves from New Jersey masters were sel- dom found in the newspapers, and when published often offered such a nomi- nal reward as to indicate that the master simply wished to keep himself within the law, which otherwise would have held him responsible for the support of his escaped slave, wherever he might be found. Slaves were re- ceived into church membership, their children were baptized, and the facts recorded in the church books, and when at last they stood free, their fetters struck from them by Death, they found an everlasting rest from their enforced labor, in the family burying-ground, or in the family plot in the church yard. In the cemetery attached to the old church at Passaic many an aged slave has been laid, at his own request, at the feet of the master whom he served so faithfully during life. The slaves and free blacks had their seasons of sport, Christmas being especially favored by them. At all other festal days they had their share in the jollity of the occasion, to which, indeed, they often added largely by their capacity for merry-making. Even within half a century no Saturday market in Paterson seemed natural unless there were scores of black men and women on Main street, cheerfully chat- ting with their own people, or with the whites. To many of them, brought up in Dutch families, English was a foreign tongue, acquired and spoken with difficulty. Doubtless many of the superstitions prevalent among the white people in former days had their origin among the blacks, who had inherited them from their far-off African ancestors. This was particularly true of the belief in certain phases of witchcraft. As already remarked, slavery does not seem to have been by any means universal in Acquackanonk
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PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
Reference to old wills establishes the fact that few testators mention more than two or three slaves among their possessions. Michael Vree- land, who made his will in 1789, disposes of ten slaves, but that was ex- ceptional. The economic reasons which encouraged slavery in some of the Southern States did not exist here, or at least not to the same extent. There were no extensive plantations to be worked. Small farms were the rule in Acquackanonk and vicinity ; there were not many of more than two hundred acres, and the tendency was ever toward a subdivision. Neither was there one staple crop to be cultivated. The farms were chiefly devoted to raising cereals and fruits, and the farmer worked as hard as any of his men, white or black.
The freeing of the slaves was not looked upon with unmixed satisfac- tion by the white people. Various expedients were resorted to in the effort to evade the law. One was to take the slave out of the State and sell him. A noted tavern-keeper and horse-dealer on Main street, near Broadway, was wont to get together a string of horses and take them South to sell. He usually took with him several negroes to help take care of the animals. It was remarked that he never brought back either horses or negroes, and it was believed that he sold them all in the South.
Perhaps such iniquities were offset by the numerous Paterson "agents" of the "underground railroad." This town was a well recognized "station" on the road by which runaway slaves from the South were helped on their way to Canada and freedom. John Avison, Darius Wells, Isaac Van Blar- com, Henry M. Low, Josiah P. Huntoon, Nathaniel Lane and Alexander H. Freeman were among the anti-slavery men in Paterson early in the present century, who were ready to take great risks to aid the fugitives in their flight toward the North star.
As a part of the system of slavery, the men and women and children in bondage were regarded as chattels, to be disposed of in the same breath with and in the same manner as horses, cows, farm utensils, wagons and the like. Men by will so classed them in disposing of their property. They were so advertised. From a large number of bills of sale of negroes, in the writer's possession, these extracts are made :
Nov. 21, 1801. Peter T. Doremus to Gerrebrant Van Houten-for $200, sells "one Negro whench and one Child the wench name Febe and the one child Ab."
March 30, 1803. Sarah Purnell, of Paterson, sells, for $120, "one Negro wench Woman named, and Baptised, Margaret, called Peggy."
Feb. 21, 1804. Daniel Hedden, for $50, sells "one Negro Girl Slave named Ab, aged about six years."
"May 29, 1805. Received of Garrabr Van Houten the Sume of Seventy five dollers for a negrow wommen named Sary in full of all the mands.
FRANCIS SPEER."
"Paterson 28 June 1806. Received from James Torrance a Bill of Sale of a Negro Wench Named Jude which I Promise to returne when Called for. JOHN CLARK."
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THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS
June 16, 1808. James Torrance to Garrebrant Van Houten. A power of attorney "for me and in my name to Sell for me, a Certain negro wench named Jude, now in his possession ( for the sum of one hundred and twenty Dollars) and he is to have the use of Said negro wench as his own, until he doth Sell her which Sale he is by no means to delay on that account, but to Sell her the said wench, in which case I give my Said Attorney full power to Sell the Said negro wench named Jude, as I my Self might, or Could do, was I personally present."
Sept. 3, 1808. Paul Rutan to Joseph Sayres, of Newark. Sells "One Negro Woman (Slave) Named Mary, together with her Negro Child, Named Thomas, aged Six Months and Three Days, To have & to hold the said Negro Woman Slave, Named Mary, to him his Executors administrators & Assigns forever. To have & to hold the said Negro Boy, Named Thomas, till he shall have arrived at the age of Twenty five Years." On June, 1812, the executors of Joseph Sayres, jun., deceased, assigned to Albert Van Saun "the within described wench and one child named Deon," for $66.25. Mr. Van Saun disposed of Mary for $100, July 14, 1814, to Judge Van Houten, who in turn sold her, May 11, 1816, to Philemon Dickerson and Andrew Par . sons, for $120. These later transfers were simply endorsed on the bill of sale.
May 1, 1809. Cornelus Westervelt sold, for $100, "a Certain Whencli a Slave Named Mar aged about Fifteen years and ten Days."
April 25, 1810. Halmagh Van Giesen sells for $300 "one Negro Man named Jim a slave aged about thirty-two years."
July 6, 1814. Andrew P. Hopper sells to Judge Van Houten, for $300, "A Negro man Named Harr," forever.
March 9, 1815. Cornelus Westervelt sells, for $125, "One Negro Man named Jacob a Slave aged about Twenty four years," forever.
August 7, 1819. Garret G. Van Wagoner, of Slooterdam, for $400 doth "grant, bargain sell and deliver unto Garabrant Van Houten and to his heirs and assigns forever two Certain Slaves the one a male named Joe the other a female named Peggy."
March 18, 1825. John Van Ness, in consideration of $200, disposes of "a Certain Negro Lad Named yon a Slave aged about Twenty six years," forever.
April 20. 1825. Jeremiah Mitchell, of Acquackanonk, in consideration of $25, says he has "granted Sold conveyed and confirmed unto Garabrants Van Houten Esqr and to his heirs and assigns forever the Residue and Re- mainder of the time and term of time and service according to the Laws of the State of New Jersey a certain female Born under the Manumission Act and now Eleven Years Eleven Mounts and Fourteen Days old named Dean having yet to serve Nine Years Sixteen Days from the date of these presents to have and to hold the Said Negro female Named Dean for and During the Residence and Remainder of her time and term servitude according to the Laws of this State which said female the said Jerimiah Mitchel has put the said Garabrant Van Houten Esqr in full peacable possession by Delivering him these presents."
Feb. 15, 1830. Polly Van Emburgh, of Franklin township, Bergen county, for $200, bargains and sells to Garabrant Van Houten "the following
182
PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
family of colored persons, Viz. Jack, aged Forty-six years, & his wife Yaun, aged forty-five years, both slaves and sold for life-Also three children of the above parents, Viz. Susan, born the 5th of March eighteen hundred and twenty-four-Tom, born 8th March eighteen hundred and twenty-six-and Dine, born 23rd Feb. eighteen hundred and twenty-nine, all three sold for their term of service according to law."
Sept. 20, 1830. Charles Harrison, of Orange, N. J., for $100, bargains and sells to Ralph Doremus, "the following Coloured persons viz-Mary aged Forty nine years a Slave and Sold for Life-Also her Son Harry born the Twelfth day of July Eighteen hundred and Fifteen Sold for his term of Service according to Law."
May 6, 1836. James Bogert, of Harrington, sells to Ralph Doremus, of Saddle River, for $30, "all my Interest and Right in a certain Coloured Girl named Gin aged about Eighteen Years and Six months."
May 23, 1839. Moses Kanouse, of Manchester, conveys to Ralph Dore- mus, of the same place, for $150, his "Coloured girl named Gin aged about Fifteen Years To have and to hold the said Gin unto the said Ralph Doremus untill she shall have attained to the age of Twenty One Years."
Mr. Doremus sold Gin on December 21, 1841, to Robert Morrell, of Paterson, for $100. As the time of her freedom drew nearer she was a less marketable commodity.
These bills of sale were all much like the following in form and phrase- ology :
Know all men by these presents That I Marsalis Van Geisen of the Township of Saddle River in the County of Bergen and State of New Jer- sey, for and in Consideration of the sum of Ninety dollars Lawful Money of the United States, to me in hand well and truly paid by Bridget Keane of the Township, County and State aforesaid, the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, Have sold bargained conveyed and delivered and by these presents do sell bargain, convey and deliver unto the said Bridget Keane, and to her heirs and assigns for Ever, One Negro female Slave named Jinn, of a yellow Complexion and about nineteen years of age. To have and to hold the said Negro female Slave named and described as aforesaid unto the said Bridget Keane her heirs and assigns for Ever. And I do hereby warrant and defend the possession of the said negro Slave named and de- scribed as aforesaid unto the said Bridget Keane her heirs and assigns, against all persons and lawful claims whatever. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty ninth day of December Anno Domini one Thousand Eight hundred and thirteen.
Witness present MARSALAS VAN GIESEN (Seal)
Thomas Wills.
Some advertisements in old newspapers throw additional light on the condition of the slaves in this region :
Benjamin Vincent has for Sale, a healthy, stout, able-bodied Negro Man, about 23 years of age, brought up to the farming business, and would suit very well to drive a stage, or wait on a gentleman.
Paterson, February 25, 1799.
N. B .- Wanted to purchase, a black Boy, from 12 to 15 years of age. Paterson, Nov. 6, 1815. HENRY GODWIN.
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THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS
NEGRO BOYS. Wanted to purchase-Several Negro Boys, aged from eight to II years, whose time of service, agreeably to the laws of this State, expires on their arrival at the age of 25 years. It is intended to have them instructed in the business of cotton spinning and weaving-Enquire at this Office. Paterson, Nov. 6, 1815.
WANTED, to hire or purchase, a healthy negro Wench without children, that understands plain cooking, washing and ironing; she must be indus- trious, sober and honest. Apply to
Paterson, Nov. 6, 1815.
RICHARD WARD.
PUBLIC VENDUE. Notice is hereby given, That all the personal goods and chattels, lately belonging to Peter A. Hopper, late of Oldham, in the township of Saddle River, consisting of the following, viz:
Horses, cows, sheep, Hogs, fowls, timber, Plank, boards, grain, wagon, sheep, ploughs.
Also, a black woman, twenty-four years old, with a child one year old, I black boy 6 years old, I black girl 4 years old, Household and kitchen furni- ture, one sett blacksmith's tools, with many other articles too tedious to men- tion.
Oldham, March 4, 1816.
EIGHT DOLLARS REWARD. Ranaway from the subscriber some days since, a NEGRO WOMAN named Annick, but commonly called NICK, somewhat advanced in years ;- her clothes cannot be described, as she took a variety of articles with her. She had a pass to seek a new master, dated about the 29th or 30th ult. and had permission to pass until the 3d of No- vember, and to return home on that day ; she has not been heard of since she went away, therefore, any person who will return her to me at my house, or secure her in some place, so that I can obtain her again shall have the above reward, and all the reasonable charges. The above pass prohibited her from going out of this state, it is however supposed that she has gone to New York, as she has relations in the city. AB. GODWIN.
Paterson (N. J.) Nov. 12, 1822.
For Sale, a smart active mulatto man, about thirty-five years of age. He is well acquainted with all kinds of farming, having been brought up to the business-is also very handy in the house, being able to make himself useful for the different domestic purposes when required. Terms of sale will be accommodating. For further particulars, inquire of the subscriber.
Paterson, Nov. 6, 1822. ABRAHAM VAN HOUTEN.
Notice is given by the subscriber, that he offers for sale a Male Servant, for 7 years from the first day of May next, as the property of John Ander- son, deceased. Also one other Slave, for life. Inquire of the Subscriber at Paterson. G. VAN HOUTEN.
January 24, 1823.
For Sale, a Black Boy about 14 years old. He is healthy and active ; capable of being useful to a Tavern-keeper, or farmer. Inquire at this office. Paterson, February II, 1823.
These records from legal instruments and from newspaper advertise- ments picture as clearly as pages of description and rhetoric the status of the unfortunate human beings held in bondage in New Jersey. Few now living ever had any personal knowledge of slavery in this neighborhood. For the most part, all they have seen or known of it has been the case of some aged
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PATERSON AND ITS ENVIRONS
man or woman, born before the emancipation act of 1804, bowed down by age, too feeble to work, but still the object of kindly, solicitous care on the part of the family which in earlier years had profited by the enforced labor of the now worn-out servitor. The constitutional amendment of 1865 freed the few slaves in New Jersey, but the operation of the emancipation act of 1804, and public sentiment, had anticipated its effect, so that in 1860 but eighteen slaves were reported in the whole State, of whom just two lived in Passaic county, in the "East ward" of Paterson.
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Photos by Vernon Royle
PASSAIC FALLS
PASSAIC COUNTY. CHAPTER I.
Transfers of territory in colonial days-Land patents held by the Dutch and the English-Days of the early missionaries-Settlement and division of Acquackanonk-An island with indefinite boundary lines.
Hendrik Hudson having discovered the North river and harbor of New York in 1609, four years later a Dutch trading station was established on the lower part of Manhattan island. A village soon grew up and within thirty years settlements had extended into New Jersey and up the Hudson as far as Albany. There were severe encounters with the Indians in 1643, 1648 and 1655, which materially checked the progress of outlying villages, but after the last named year the Indians appear to have become convinced of the folly of provoking war with the whites and the settlers enjoyed uninterrupted peace.
In 1664 the New Netherlands passed from the hands of the Dutch into the control of the English. Two years later New Jersey was granted by the Duke of York to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkley. The land patents granted by the Dutch were confirmed, the grantees being only required to take out confirmatory patents from the new rulers. In 1673 the Dutch seized New York and New Jersey, but their dominion lasted barely a year and the titles of the settlers were not disturbed. The English sway having been reestablished in 1674, this part of the country prospered apace, and the inhabitants extended their hamlets further into the wilderness. Newark was settled in 1666, the purchase extending up the Passaic river to the Yan- tacaw or Third river. The land on the other side of the Passaic was bought by John Berry in 1669. But the whole of New Jersey north of Newark and west of the Hackensack was at this time a wilderness, familiar only to the red man, and penetrated by but few of the most daring of the whites. The latter came back with wonderful tales of the richness of the land, and of the marvelous "Totowa Falls," which, to the Dutch, who were more familiar with canals than with water-falls, doubtless was an extraordinary spectacle. Indeed, it was then the most striking natural curiosity known to the whites in America, for the Falls of Niagara had been seen only by a few adventurous Jesuits.
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