USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 7
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 7
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"Minisink was the favorite home and the delight of the native red man, the river ' Fish Kill' abounding in its wealth of fish; within its shallow water they became an easy prey to his rude traps and methods of capture, and upon the Minisink flats, lying be- tween Minisink and Namenock Island on the south, he was wont to cultivate his patches, and thus pro- duce the material for his 'succotash' and other favor- ite dishes. Just opposite, upon the Pennsylvania side
29
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
of the river, on a flat elevated table-land called. by the first Dutch settlers ' Pow-wow Hill,' almost with- in the shadow of the falls of the Raymond's Kill and - overlooking his cherished possessions, he buried his 1 dead and met kindred braves in council from time immemorial.
" From the easy fords of the Minisink, Indian trails diverged,-west, beyond 'Pocono,' to the Wyoming Valley, along the Susquehanna River; north, by a cut across the peninsula of Pike County to the mouth of the Lackawaxon, on the Delaware ; south, through Culver's Gap to the ponds and hunting-grounds of Great Kittatinny Valley, beyond the Shawangunk ; and northeast, by way of the Delaware River, to Machackemack and corresponding valleys. Thus sur- rounded with all the facilities essential to savage com- fort, with game and fish near at hand and in over- flowing abundance, and intercourse with neighboring and friendly tribes, it is no wonder that the first set- tlers who located in the valley esteemed it almost a perfect paradise for the savage Indian. Thus did the first white settlers find the natives of this valley, und of them they obtained the peaceable possession of its lands by satisfactory purchase; otherwise, their titles were a subject of dispute through the claim of the proprietors of East Jersey upon the one side, and through the imposition of the hoklers of the alleged ' Minisink patent' upon the other. The uncertainty as to the title only terminated with the action of the boundary commission, which established the present State line in 1772 .*
II .- MINISINK SETTLEMENT.
The settlement in Montagne township first known by this name was located opposite the lower end of Great Minisink Island, "dpon the higher portion of the Minisink flats, and just at the foot of the lime- stone ridge on the south running parallel with the river and overlooking the surrounding country. This settlement took the name of 'Minisink.' A small grist-mill was erected upon the stream, which here discharges its waters into the Bena Kill, between the residences of Daniel D. Everitt and Jacob Westbrook, Esq., the former residence being within the township of Montague and the latter in that of Sandyston, as this stream here forms the boundary-line between the townships for a short distance from the river. Johan- nes Westbrook settled upon one side of this stream of water, and (Simon?) Westfall (said to have been his son-in-lawt) upon the opposite bank, where MIr. Everitt now resides. Others settled above, and still others below, the first settlers all placing their dwell- ings near the old Esopus or mine-road. The place until a generation or two back had its country store,
tavern, and blacksmith-shop, and when the old Machaekemack church was erected to take the place of the one destroyed by Brant, at the present village of Port Jervis, near Mr. Eli Van Inwegen's residence, the contractor was obliged to come here to have man- ufactured the nails and fastenings necessary in its construction, the present site of that town at the time being owned and occupied by two or three small farmers.
" In 1731, Johannes Westbrook, of Minisink, deeded to Anthony Westbrook, Col. Abraham Van Campen, Gerrit Van Campen, John Cortright, Jacob Koyken- dal, and Jacob Van Etten a tract of land lying below and near his residence for a burying-ground and for a school-house, for the use of all the inhabitants of Minisink."; "In 1737 the principal men along the Machackemack (Neversink), from Walpack and from the lower end of the valley to the Water Gap, met Dominie Mancius, of Kingston, accompanied by his protégé, young Fryenmoet, with the principal men of Minisink, and together at the latter place they planned and laid the foundations of the four Low Dutch churches of the Delaware and Neversink val- leys. . .. The parsonage first used by the Rev. Jo- hannes Casparus Fryenmoet, and last by the Rev. Cornelius C. Elting before his purchase of a farm at Carpenter's Point, occupied a fine elevated plat of ground within a stone's throw of Nomanock fort, and directly above the old road, overlooking the beautiful island of that name; which circumstance accounts for several of his church papers being dated 'Noma- nock.' The parsonage was taken from the farm of Cornelius Westbrook, who was sexton and supervisor, by appointment of the churches, over the parsonage and church of Minisink, near by."?
IL .- MINISINK PRECINCT.
The first municipal organization within the territory of Sussex and Warren Counties was the "Precinct of Minisink," elaimed as a part of Orange Co., N. Y., and erected by the General Assembly of that province. It extended along the Delaware River from Carpen- ter's l'oint to the lower end of Grent Minisink Island, and into the country eastward till it joined the pre- cinct of Goshen, having its assessor, clerk, justice of the peace, and other local officers. The original tax- warrant, levying the proportion of tax assessed upon the inhabitants of this ancient precinct under the provincial authority of New York, to be used in building the first jail at Goshen, is still extant and in the possession of Benjamin Van Fleet, of Deerpark, N. Y. The warrant is issued under the seals of the justices of the peace of the several precinets of Orange County, including among the number Anthony West- brook, of Minisink.
We give below the tax-roll, furnished by Mr. Ben- jamin Van Fleet, and published in the Port Jervis
* Seo " Boundary-Line Controversy," In another chapter.
+ Probably Sinon Westfael, as ho was the first of that unie married who lived at Minisink ; ho was nulted to " Jannetje Westbrooch" by " Pitver Knyckendal, Justice of the peace," April 17, 1743 .- Records of Mmisiuk Church.
[ Doud in possession of Mr. John S. Jagger, of Samlyston.
¿ Article by B. A. Westbrook, Esq , of Montague.
30
SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
Gazette. This tax-roll evidently accompanies the warrant referred to above, and is especially valuable as showing the names of all the inhabitants of the territory embraced in the precinct of Minisink in 1739, as well as the valuation of property. Among these names will be recognized the ancestors of many of the families in the valleys of the Neversink and Delaware. The document is well worthy of publica- tion and preservation. Below are the names and also the valuation and tax in pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings :
Taxpayers.
Valuation. Assessment.
€. 8.
€. s. d. f.
Samel Swartwont
3
5
4
2
Willem Codebek
5
5
7
7
Gerardis Van Nimwege.
2
5
2 10
Pieter Gemaer.
5
0
7 33
Jacobis Swartwout
28
5
1 15
6
Klavs Westfael.
9 10
12
0
Evert Horinheek
11
0
14
8
Johanis Westbrook, Junier.
13 15
17
6
Antye Decker
20 15
26
8
Barint Mollin.
5
4
Petris Decker
1 10
1 11
Jacob Decker ....
1
5
1 7
Abraham Van Aken.
22 10
1
8 10
Willem Cool
17 10
1
2
Pieter Cuykindal.
5
17
0
5
4
De Staet van Ilillitye Conner.
10
5
12
9
5
4
Jan Van Vliet.
11
5
14 7
David Coll ..
5
4
Solomon Davis,
4 0
5
2
Cornelis Crom.
10
1 11
Thomas Decker ...
16
5
1
0 8
Hewliik Hendrikse Cuitregt.
14 8
Abraham Contregt.
8 3
Cornelis Cuykindal
11 11
Terins Davin
1 15
2 3
1 10
1 11
5 10
7 0
6
0
7
8
Hermanus Van Garden.
14 8
Hendrik Decker.
6 5
8 0
Willem Provoost.
15
0
19 1
10
1 10
1 11 3 3
12 15
16 6
Lambart Brink
7 5
Adries Decker.
3
0
3 10
Ilnge Puge .....
1 10
1 11
1
0
1 31
0
4
Dirik Quik
1
1
8
Thomas Schoonhoven
4
Isaak Van Aken.
22 10
1 9
0
Pieter Lamerse Brink
10
5
15 6
Cornelis Brink
9
11 6
Gysbert Van Garden ...
8 15
11
1 13
7
Johanis Westfael.
1 10
1 11
Marytye Westfael.
12
5
15 8
Johanis Westbroek
1 3
9
Willem Cortregt
12
15 8
Cosparis Cimher.
1
5
1
8
Hendrik Contregt
2
5
2 10
Abraham Louw. 1
0
1 31
De nuwe lyst by ons na gehen en in een Regte form gestelt.
syn
JOHANIS VB WESTBROEK. merck
JAN VAN VT ER.
On a paper corresponding to the above appears the following:
Hendrik Janse Cortregt ....................... ₹20 15 £1 0 10
Aert Midag ... .... 2 0 2 6
18 4
" 8 Septbr 1739 Dan onfange van Johanis Decker £1 4 7 overshot van de taks by myn.
" SOLOMON DAVIS."
Which, rendered in English, reads :
"September 8, 1739, then received of Johanis Decker £1 4 7 residue of the tax, by me.
" SOLOMON DAVIS."
"Anthony Westbrook, of Minisink Precinct, County of Orange and Province of New York," lived in what is now Montague, Sussex Co., N. J., just opposite Milford, in Pennsylvania, and, together with Peter Lambertus Brinck, owned the Jersey flats adjoining, and a large tract of land extending from the flats towards the mountains. Here he lived and died, and was buried in the Minisink burying-ground. Accord- ing to the returns indorsed upon the said warrant, the inhabitants of New Jersey residing upon the Delaware in the present county of Sussex contributed towards the erection of the original jail at Goshen the sum of twenty-nine pounds New York currency. The return is dated June 30, 1739."
IV .- SETTLEMENTS IN OTHER PARTS OF SUSSEX AND WARREN.
Our purpose is to give under this head a brief sum- mary of the first settlements in Sussex and Warren Counties outside of the Minisink valley.
While the latter portion of our territory was being peopled, as we have described, immigrants were com- ing in to the southward from quite a different direction. Lands were patented and settled near Phillipsburg by Messrs. Lane and Morrill, from Ireland, about the be- ginning of the eighteenth century. In 1735 three brothers named Green settled in that part of old Greenwich now known as Oxford township. They were soon followed by the Mckees, McMurtrys, McCrackens, Axfords, Robesons, Shippins, Ander- sons, Kennedys, Stewarts, Loders, Hulls, Brands, Bowlbys, Swayzes, Scotts, Shackletons, and Arm- strongs, all of whom were Scotch-Irish Presbyte- rians, with the exception of Robeson, the Greens, and possibly one or two others. Here, as a conse- quence of this unanimity of religious faith and nation- ality, the first Presbyterian church in the two coun- ties was erected, in 1744, following the old Dutch Reformed churches of the Minisink within a very few years of their date. It may be mentioned in this general chapter that the first pastor of the Presby- terian Church of Greenwich was Rev. James Camp- bell, and that he was followed by David Brainerd, the celebrated missionary to the Indians, whose labors called him frequently into the vicinity. He lived for some time at the " Irish settlement" in Pennsylvania, now known as Lower Mount Bethel, about five miles from Belvidere, where the site of his ancient cabin is still pointed out to the curious traveler. In speaking of Brainerd it may be well to notice a singular mis- take made by Rev. Peter Kanouse in his " Historical Sermon." He speaks of the Neversink "emptying into the Delaware and constituting what in D. Brain-
On obverse side:
8
Ary Cortregt ..
26
5
18
0
Jacobis Codebek.
Johanis lloogtyling.
2 10
Stifanis Tietsoort.
5 15
Willem Tietsoort ..
Jacobis Decker.
11 10
Samel Provoost
6 10
9 10
Jacob Westfael.
14 15
18 11
Cornelis de Duytser
10 15
13
3
Hendrik Cuykindal ..
13
Johauis Jacobse Decker ...
11 10
Jacob Bogert ...
Allebert Van Garden.
Jacob Decker, Junier ..
5 5
0 10
Antony Westbroek
31
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
ard's time was called 'The Forks of the Delaware,' and where was the field of his labors in an Indian set- tlement named Shakhawotung, now known as Carpen- ter's Point." It is well known that " the Forks of the Delaware," where Brainerd had his chief mission, was at Easton, the forks being formed by the Delaware and the Lehigh, which form a confluence at that point. " Shakhawotung," the name of the Indian town, signifies " where a smaller stream empties into a larger one, or the outlet," shakunk being the general Delaware word for " the month of a river."*
" The first furnace for the manufacture of iron in Sussex County was erected by Jonathan Robeson, in the then township of Greenwich. It was commenced in 17-11, but iron was not run till March 9, 1743. Hle called this ' Oxford Furnace,' in compliment to An- drew Robeson, his father, who had been sent to Eng- land and educated in Oxford University. From this furnace the town of Oxford-which was formed twenty years afterwards-took its name. Jonathan Robeson was one of the first judges of Sussex County. His father and grandfather both wore the ermine before him in Pennsylvania, while his son, grandson, and great-grandson, each in his turn, occupied seats on the judicial bench. William P. Robeson, of Warren County, was the sixth judge in regular descent from his ancestor, Andrew Robeson, who came to America with William Penn and was a member of Governor Markham's Privy Council. In this country, where the accident of birth confers no special right to sta- tions of honor, and where ability and honesty are- or ought to be -- the only passports to public distinc- tion, this remarkable succession of offices in one family affords a rare example of hereditary merit, and is, so far as we know, without a parallel in our judicial annals."
Another of the first settlements in Sussex and War- ren was made by members of the Society of Friends in that part of ancient Hardwick called " the Quaker settlement." The pioneers in this locality came from Maiden Creek (now Attleborough), Pa., and from Crosswieks, N. J., from 1735 to 1740. They were the Wilsons, Lundys, and others, and must be set down as among the very first settlers of ancient Hard- wiek. The settlers here were so few in number that when the first frame house in the settlement was erected they were obliged to secure help from Hun- terdon County. The heavy timbers then put into frames required a greater foree to lift them to their place than is needed in raising modern frame struc- tures, and this may account for the fact that this first frame building erected in the settlement stood the blasts of more than a century and a half without having been seriously impaired.
The deed for the ground on which the Friends' meeting-house in this place was built was given by Richard P'enn, a grandson of William Penn, in 1752.
Previous to the erection of a mill in this neighbor- hood the people took their grain to Kingwood, in Hunterdon County, to be ground.
Mr. Elsall, from reliable data furnished him, has summed up the settlements in other portions of su -- sex and Warren as follows :
" In that part of ancient Newton known as Vernon township there were some early settlements, princi- pally consisting of those who had first tried their for- tunes in Orange County. One Joseph Perry, who had prepared for the erection of a house there about the year 1740, could not raise the timbers without procuring help from New Windsor. Col. De Kay settled in New York, upon the edge of this township, in 1711 ; some of his lands, which he then held under a New York patent, now lie this side the boundary- line. The McComlys, Campbells, Edsalls, Winans, Hynards, Simonsons, etc., did not come in until just before the Revolution, at which period a considerable amount of population had spread not only over Ver- non, but throughout Hardyston. Joseph Sharp,- the father, I believe, of the late venerable Joseph Sharp, of Vernon,-who had obtained a proprietary right to a large body of land stretching from Decker- town to the sources of the Wallkill, came from Salem County a few years before the Revolution and erected a furnace and forge about one mile south of Ham- burgh, which were known for some years as the 'Sharpsborough Iron-Works.' This was the second furnace erected in Sussex County. Sharp lost a great deal from this enterprise; and, particularly from the annoyance which he met with from the sheriff of the county,-who, under certain circumstances, is well known to be a most unwelcome visitor,-he aban- doned the works."+ Robert Ogden removed from Elizabethtown and settled in Vernon in 1765 or 1766. He was long one of the judges of the courts of the county, and one of its most prominent and patriotic citizens. Three of his sons fought in the war for in- dependence, and one of them-t'ol. Aaron Ogden- commanded the honored regiment known as Gen. Washington's Life-Guard.
" Peter Decker built the first house in Deckertown, in 1734. He was the son of John Decker, of Mini- sink, and was among the earliest of the pioneers who crossed the mountains and founded the township of Wantage. He was a man of enterprise and energy, and served his country for many years as a magistrate. The early settlers upon the lands southeast of the Minisink Mountain and west of the Wallkill, in the section now known as Wantage, were regarded as of close kin to the inhabitants of Minisink. Their names are identical with those of the Delaware and Never- sink borders, and they unquestionably, by kindred and association, constituted one community. One of the earliest settlements east of the Blue Mountains
* Sco lleckewel lør, p. 265.
t The operations in mining at this placu since that period will be found described under the head of the ton uship histories.
32
SUSSEX AND WARREN. COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
was in the Popakating valley, and was made by Messrs. Colt, Price, and Gustin, who were originally from New England. Many of this class of emigrants, in their progress westward from the land of the Puri- tans, had first settled upon Long Island, but, hoping to better their condition, they removed to Orange Co., .N. Y., and Bergen, Somerset, Hunterdon, and other counties in New Jersey. About the year 1700 a great many of the settlers on Long Island removed to the places indicated, because the land was cheaper and better than that which they tilled upon the island. Hunterdon and Orange were the favorite counties of this class of immigrants; in these they established homes, but their own cosmopolitan disposition was transmitted to their children, who in their turn plunged also into the wilderness, and, entering Sus- sex at her northern and southern extremities, ex- plored the various rivulets to their sources, and upon the lands drained alike by the tributaries of the Hud- son and the Delaware kin met with kin in the heart of the county, and their blood, separated for from fifty to seventy years, again commingled. Of this class were the Greens, Hunts, Blackwells, Blanes, Browns, Brokaws, Howells, Hopkins, Beegles, Townsends, Stileses, Ketchams, Collards, Millses, Havens, Trus- dells, Moores, Hills, Dentons, Cases, Knapps, Coes, Smiths, Johnsons, Pettits, Wallings, and others. Many of these settlers were not far behind those of Minisink in the date of their advent into the county. " From the year 1740 to the close of the Revolu- tion there was a considerable immigration of Ger- mans. Among the first of this class were John Bernhardt and Casper Shafer, his son-in-law. They had purchased lands where Stillwater village now is, of persons in Philadelphia, and in the year 1742, by the Delaware and the valley of the Paulinskill, they journey ed to their destination and took possession of the tracts indicated by their title-deeds. They were followed in a few years by the Wintermutes, the Sno- vers, Swartswelders, Staleys, Merkels, Schmucks, Snooks, Mains, Couses, and a large number of other Germans, who settled principally in the valley of the Paulinskill, although a portion branched off in other directions. Mr. Bernhardt lived only a few years after his arrival. Ile died in 1748, and was the first per- son buried in the cemetery of the old German church, the cemetery having been used before the church was built, which was not erected till 1771. In the be- ginning of his life in the backwoods, Mr. Shafer found it necessary to cross the Pahaqualin Mountain to get his grist ground ; the mode adopted was that of Icad- ing a horse along an ludian trail, upon whose back the bag of grain was borne. This inconvenience sug- gested to him the expedient of constructing a mill upon his own property, which he did in the following primitive manner : First, he built a low dam of cobble- stones, filled in with gravel, across the kill, to ereate a water-power; he then drove piles into the ground, forming a foundation for his building to rest upon ;
then upon these he built a small frame or log mill- house, furnishing it with one small run of stones and other equally simple and primitive machinery. His mill, being thus furnished and put in operation, was capable of grinding about five bushels a day ; yet it was a great convenience and was resorted to from far and near. 'In a few years he built a better mill and commenced shipping flonr to Philadelphia,' loading it on a flat-boat and running it down the Paulinskill and the Delaware to its place of destination. 'Mr. Shafer was the first man in this region to open a business intercourse with Elizabethtown; he heard from the Indians in his vicinity that there was a large place far away to the southeast which they called " Tespatone," and he determined to ascertain the truth of this assertion. He traveled over mountains and through bogs and forests, and after a rough journey of some fifty miles he arrived at the veritable " Old Borough." He opened a traffic in a moderate way at this time, and thus laid the foundation of that profit- able intercourse between the southeastern towns and cities and Northern New Jersey which has augmented from that time to the present, and almost entirely ex- cluded Philadelphia from participation in the trade of this section of the State.'
" Robert Paterson was the first settler at Belvidere, according to the 'Historical Collections,' about the year 1755. 'Shortly after, a block-house was erected on the north side of the Pequest, some thirty or forty yards east of the toll-honse of the Belvidere Delaware bridge. Some time previous to the Revolutionary war a battle was fought on the Pennsylvania side of the river between a band of Indians who came from the north and the Delawares residing on the Jersey side.' The name 'Belvidere' was given to the village by Maj. Robert Hoops because of the beauty of its situa- tion. It was made the county-seat of Warren County when the latter was set off from Sussex, in 1824 .*
" Henry Hairlocker, a Hollander, about the year 1750, settled near the present site of Newton. It was then a wilderness, there being not another cabin for miles around.
"The Greens, Armstrongs, Pettits, Van Horns, Simes, Hazens, Dyers, Cooks, Shaws, and others, settled in and around the present village of John- sonsburg, formerly called the 'Log Jail,' where the county-seat of Sussex County was first located and the first jail built.
" In 1769 the Moravian Brethren, from Bethlehem, Pa., purchased fifteen hundred acres of land of Samuel Green for the sum of five hundred and sixty- three pounds, or about two thousand five hundred dollars, and founded the village of Hope. This Samuel Green was a deputy surveyor for the West Jersey proprietors, and owned several tracts of land in ancient Hardwick and Greenwich. The Mora- vians remained at Hope some thirty-five years, when
# See history of Belvidere, in this work.
33
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, 1755.
they commenced selling their property and returned to Bethlehem. Sampson Howell, who settled at the foot of the Jenny Jump Mountain, near Hope, a year or two before the Moravians arrived, erected a saw- mill and supplied the lumber for the construction of the very substantial buildings erected by the United Brethren."
We have thus glaneed in a brief and general man- ner at the first settlements in the principal parts of Sussex and Warren Counties. They were made for the most part within a period of about fifty years, em- bracing the first half of the eighteenth century,-that is, by the year 1750 permanent settlements had been made in most of the important parts of the two coun- ties. When Morris County was set off, in 1738, North- ern New Jersey began to attract attention. It was then ascertained that, although this section had at a remote period evidently been a favorite residence of the Indians, most of them had departed and occupied hunting-grounds farther to the north and west. Little danger was therefore to be apprehended from the red men by those who settled in the central por- tions of the territory ; for, even if they should be- come hostile, the line of settlements on the Delaware from the Musconetcong to the Neversink would be most apt to bear the brunt. Hence immigrants flowed in, and by 1750 they had become so numerous, and had experienced so much inconvenience from being compelled to go to Morristown to attend to publie business, that they very generally petitioned the Provincial Assembly to "divide the county" and allow them " the liberty of building a court-house and gaol." This request was granted, resulting in the erection and organization of Sussex County in 1753 .* As to the nationalities constituting the base of population, Mr. Edsall made as complete a list as practicable from the public records for the first six years of the existence of the county. "This list con- tains four hundred and two names, of which those in- dicating an English and Scotch origin are the most numerous; those pertaining to HoHand and Ger- many follow next, and the residue are derived from France, Ireland, Wales, and Norway."
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