History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 78

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140


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 78
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 78


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It will only be anticipating our history a little to remark that at this time there were four Reformed Dutch Churches in the Minisink valley, three of them situated on the Old Mine Road, and one near Depue's Ford, on the Pennsylvania side. The last mentioned was called the Shawanec or Smithfield Church ; the two in Walpack were called respectively the Walpack and Minisink Churches; and the one above the State line, at the confluence of the Mack- hackemack with the Delaware, called Mackhackemack Church. To these was subsequently added the Shapa- nach Church, also in Walpack, upon the Old Mine Road, about seven miles above the Walpack church, which stood in the Bend of the Delaware.


The count seems not to have had the most cordial


* Note to Count Zinzendorf's journal, "Memoriale of the Moravian Church," p. 46.


315


WALPACK.


liking for the young pastor, Johannus Casparus Fry- enmoet. The Sunday was very warm, and between the services, "In order to avoid religious contro- versy," he says, "I went into the woods and read ' Josephus.' The divine came to me and annoyed me with questions and remarks. Although my curt manner provoked him, it served to bring him to re- flection ; and he sought to propitiate me afterwards by riding with us for several hours. He is the well- known Casper, from Zurich, a well-meaning man, I must confess,-one of the so-called 'Convictionists,' without much conviction, however, and yet efficient for good in his denomination."


Nothing further of interest is recorded during the journey of Count Zinzendorf and his party through Walpack. They passed over the Mine Road to Kings- ton, stopping one night about half-way between that place and Port Jervis, visited the Mohican mission at Shecomeco, and returned by the same route, reaching the Minisink on the 27th of August.


Conrad Weisser, another distinguished Moravian, made a journey over the Mine Road, en route from Bethlehem to Onondaga, in 1750. Ile gives the fol- lowing stations and distances :


" August 17 .- Cume to Nazareth.


" Augual 18 .- Nicklas Depuy, in Smithfield, on Delaware, 39 miles.


" August 19 .- Henry Cortrecht, at Minissing, 25 miles.


" Auguat 20 .- Emanuel Pascal, ' the Spaniard,' 35 miles.


" August 21 .- Kings-town (Sopes), 44 wilco."


John Adams, while attending Congress during its sessions at Philadelphia, as late as 1800, passed down the Mine Road as the most eligible route from Boston to that city. Ile was accustomed to lodge at Esquire Van Campen's, in the Jersey Minisink .*


II .- EARLY SETTLEMENT.


The earliest settlers in this township, as well as in the county of Sussex, came in by the Old Mine Road, above described. They were chietly Hollanders and French Huguenots, or their descendants, from l'Ister Co., N. Y. They were the Van Aukens, Van Cam- pens, Deckers, Depues, Dingmans, Emans, Schoon- hovens, Brincks, Westbrooks, Ennises, Van Nests, Cools, De Voors, Swartwouts, Westfahls, Rosenkrans, Kuykendals, Hoornbecks, De Witts, Van de Marks, Vredenburghs, Kortrechts, Iloogtalings, tiumairs, Quicks, Cuddebacks, Schoonmakers, Kermers, and Van Syckles. Among those of Irish, Scotch, Welsh, and English nationalities we find the names of Love, Magee, McClennan, Chambers, Thompson, McCarty, Roet, Burns, Jones, Kimber, Pigeon, Wells, Perry, Conley, and others.


Local records containing most of the above names begin in 171G, when Rev. l'etrus Vas, of Kingston, began to visit the settlements and hold religions ser- vices, baptizing the children of the settlers. To these memoranda of baptisms were added the records of four Dutch Reformed Churches and their Consistories,


beginning with 1737 and continning through the een- tury. From the record of baptisms in the Minisink and Mackhackemack Churches we take the following:


Dato. Minister.


Where Nomber Located. Baptized. Kingston. 3


1716, August 10.


J'etrus Vas.


1717, Jenuary 5. .4


1718, January 29.


1737, Anguat 23.


Georg Wilhelm Manchua.


1738, May 30, 31.


1738, October 31.


64


9


1739, Jay 29, 30.


=


1€


1740, June 17, 18.


20


1740, September 19.


44


5


1711, June 7. Jolin Casparus Fryonmuth, pastor.


8


1741, November 24.


10


1742,-


Georg Wilhelm Mancios.


Kingston. 9


1743, August 3.


=


7


1713, October 17.


=


16


27433, -


John Cuspares Fryenmuth, pastor.


1744, April 23.


Georg Wilhelm Manciny. Kingston. 7


1744, December 23.


John Casparns Fryenmuth, pastor.


7


1745, December 25.


2


These local records do not, of course, reach baek to the beginning of settlement, but only to the begin- ning of the period when the religious interests of the community began to be cared for; the first settle- ments in Walpack began at a period considerably earlier. Some of the acts passed by the Provincial Assembly of New York show that there was a eonsid- erable population in the valley of the Delaware, upon and at the mouth of the Mackhackemack, or Never- sink, and southward to and including the Minisink islands, prior to the year 1700. In Ruttenber's " His- tory of Orange County" we find the following refer- ence to the old precinct of Goshen, which included the first settlements in ancient Walpack :


"That portion of the precinct lying west of the Minisink Mountains was subject to sevorni political changes. By act of Oct. 18, 1701, ' for the more regular proceeding in the election of Representatives,' the Inhabit- nuts of ' Wagachemeck and Great and Little Minisink' wore ' impowered to cast their votea In the county of Cister.' By act of Nov. 12, 1700, ' tu determine, settle, and ascertain the bounds and limits of the County of Orange,' the act of Oct. 18, 1701, was repealed do far as it related to the settlements named, which were in effect declared to be a part of Orange County."+


These acts prove beyond controversy that there was a considerable voting population on the Neversink and southward on the Delaware, in ancient Walpack, before the year 1701; for in the act of that year they are named as " the inhabitants of Wagachemeck ( Mack- hackemack) and Great and Little Minisink." The pre- cinet of Goshen, from which they were set off to vote in Ulster, had a municipal organization in 1703, being entitled, under the general law of the province of New York, to " two assessors, a collector, overseer of high- ways, and a constable." The western part of the pre- cinet was afterwards set off and known as " Minisink precinct."#


t Huttenber'a " History of Orange County," p. 36, noto.


$ Not the precinct of that name In Orange County, but in the roal Minisink, in Sorsox County. Sco " Miniink Precinct," in the General History.


. Helyhol'a " Memorials of the Moravian Church," p. 17.


:


5


4


1738, November 1.


20


17:39, Octolwr 30.


15


1713, May 3.


316


SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


PATENTS AND LAND-GRANTS IN WALPACK.


Two early patents were located in Minisink under authority of the province of New York which covered a portion of ancient Walpack. These were the grant made to Arent Schuyler, issued May 20, 1697, and the Minisink patent, granted Aug. 28, 1704. The Schuyler patent embraced 1000 acres adjoining the Mackhackemack and extending southward so as to include the Minisink islands. It is thus described :


" A certain tract of land in Minisink country, in the province of New York, called by the native Indians Warensaghskennick, otherwise called Maghawaemus; also a certain parcel of meadow, or vly, called by the Indians Warensaghskennick, sitnate, lying, and being upon a certain rua, called by the Indians, and known by the name of Minisink, before a certain Island called Menayack, which is adjacent to or near to a cer- tain tract of land called by the Indians Maghakeneck, containing the quantity of 1000 acres and no more."


Arent Schuyler, who was employed by the govern- ment of New York as an interpreter and agent among the Indians, visited this locality in 1694, and made the following entries in his journal, which he reported to the Governor :


"JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN ARENT SCHUYLER'S VISIT TO THE MINISINK COUNTRY.


" May il please your Excell :


"In persuance to yr Excell : commands I have been in the Minissinck Country of which I have kept the following journal : vizt


"1694 ye 3d of Feb: I departed from New Yorke for East New Jersey and came that night att Bergentown where I hired two men and a guide.


" Ye 4th Sunday Morning. I went from Bergen & travilled abont ten English miles beyond Haghkingsack to an Indian place called Peckwes. " Ye 5th Monday. From Peckwee North and he West I went abont thirty-two miles, enowing and rainy weather.


" Ye Gtth Tuesday. I continued my journey to Maggaghkamieck [Port Jervis] and from thence to within half a day's journey to the Menis- einck.


" Ye 7th Wednesday. Abont eleaven a clock I arrived att the Minis- sinck, and there I mett with two of their Sachems and severall other Indians of whome I enquired after some news, if the French or their Indians had sent for them or heen in ye Menissinck Country. Upon wch they answered that noe French nor any of the French Indiane were nor had been in the Menissinck Country nor there ahouts and did promise yt if ye French should happen to come or yt they heard of it that they will forthwith send a mesinger and give yr Excellency notice thereof. . . .


" In the afternoon I departed from ye Menissincke; the 8th, 9th, & 10th of Feb. I traveled and came to Bergen in ye morning and about noone arrived at New Yorke.


"This is may it please yr Excell : the humble report of yr Excellency's most humble servt.


" ARENT SCHUYLER."


The Minisink patent was granted Aug. 28, 1704, to Matthew Long, Ebenezer Wilson, Philip French, Derick Vandenburgh, Stephen de Lansey, Philip Rokeley, John Cobert, Daniel Howan, Caleb Cooper, William Sharpas, Robert Milward, Thomas Wenham, Lancaster Syms, John Person, Benjamin Aske, Petrus Bayard, John Colewell, Peter Fanconier, Henry Swift, Hendrick Ten Eycke, Jarvis Marshall, Ann Bridges (widow of John Bridges), and George Clark. This grant embraced the western part of Ulster and Orange Counties, and extended southward on the Delaware River "to the south end of Great Minisink Island," and castward "to the bounds of the Wawayanda patent granted to John Bridges and Company." It was the attempt to crowd down these patents upon the lawful territory of New Jersey, and to appropriate


the rich lands of the Minisink and the upper Wall- kill, under color of title from New York, that caused the long and bitter boundary line controversy referred to in another part of this work.


GRANTS UNDER THE WEST JERSEY PROPRIETORS.


The earliest tracts referred to under this head were located while the territory of Sussex County was in- cluded in Hunterdon and Morris.


On Nov. 6, 1718, Joseph Kirkbride located a tract of land on the Delaware River, adjoining a branch of the same, about three miles above Pahaqualin (an Indian village*), in the county of Hunterdon. Joseph Kirkbride conveyed this tract of land by deed bearing date Oct. 10, 1725, to Nicholas Schoonover and Thomas Brinck. There being an overplus of land within the said bounds, a resurvey was made in 1740 by Martin Ryerson, and the tract was found to contain 1210 acres besides allowance for highways. At the resurvey a more definite description is given of the tract. It is described as "situate in the county of Morris, in the western division of New Jersey, at a place called Walpack, upon the Dela- ware River, beginning at the mouth of a considerable stream of water which emptieth itself into the Dela- ware River, commonly called the Flat Kill ; thence up the several courses thereof," etc.


This survey embraced the peninsula or hook at the lower end of Walpack, extending about four miles up from the mouth of the Flatbrook. In the same year Joseph Kirkbride located 500 acres farther up, em- bracing the Shapanack flats. This tract was subse- quently owned by Isaac Van Campen, and still later by his son Abraham, from whom it passed to John H. De Witt about 1811 or 1812.


Joseph Kirkbride was a deputy surveyor, and lived and died in Bucks Co., Pa. He was the ancestor of Dr. Kirkbride, of Philadelphia, and of Mrs. Gurney, of Burlington.


Nov. 17, 1725, John Crooks located a survey above Joseph Kirkbride's on the Delaware River. The front of this tract along the Delaware, comprising 250 acres, was sold by John Crooks in 1729 to John Emans, and is the Emans tract shown on the map.


June 7, 1731, Col. Daniel Coxe had a survey made by Samuel Green, deputy surveyor, "situate, lying, and being at a place called the Flat Kill, in the county of Hunterdon." This survey was in that por- tion of ancient Walpack now Sandyston. Upon the running of the Lawrence line it was found to be in East Jersey, and Col. Coxe, or his heirs, or assigns, received an equivalent for it in the western divisions.


In 1731, John Black purchased the 600 acres on Flatbrook north of the Nevill purchase known as the Black Tract. About 1760 it was purchased by John Cleves Symmes, and became the well-known Symmes purchase.


" This Indian village stood on a hill below Mill Brook, on part of the farm of the late Andrew Ribble, Esq.


11'


5


1 A


S


N


A


٧


Y


S


N N


PE


P


R


63


Joseph Kirkbrides 500.ALIY's 1718:


NicholasEmant 103 A (17.54


, 1730


E


John. Stouts


Crooks Tract sold to S Dingryan


X


E


U


5


R.Gardners31 Ma !! 11763


1131


Herod Toi 251


0


U


N


T


Y


Flat Brook


Z E W


JERSEY


PLAN. of LANDS in WALLPACK FROM ORIGINAL RETURNS Ry A. H.Konkle, Surveyor, .Bênton,. V.J.


From Original by permission of That.G. Brunwell Esq.


Kirk-brides 1118 Re surveyed to Schoonover & Co for 1210 acres (11+0)


A


John Eman's 230 acres Vov. 17th (1129


" Pigeon's


1761


w Rlly Shorts


John Cleve Summesn


John Black's 600 Acres


Flat Brook


Andrer(dle's


1741.


1


Samuel Nevills 1012 atres October 215! (145'


Runis & Co 328A : Resurvey of Stout's (18 14


Martin Bucison's 2MA


317


WALPACK.


Oct. 1, 1736, Hendrick Van Gorder located a sur- vey of 100 acres on the Delaware River below Flat Rock. Ile was living on this land in 17-13, when John Lawrence, in running the partition line between East and West Jersey, took an offset from his house .*


The Stout tract, of 120 acres, on the Delaware, be- tween Kirkbride's lower tract and the lands of John Emans, was surveyed to John Stout in 1744. He had also another tract of 245 acres in the township.


In 1745, Samuel Nevill located a tract of 1012 acres in Walpack, east of Kirkbride's lower tract. It ex- tended up the Flatbrook to a point above Haney's Mills. Portions of this were bought by Adam Ding- man and by a man named Ciphers in 1763. Adam Dingman had previously purchased a portion of the Nevill tract, for we find in Book A of land records of Sussex County that "in 1760, Adam Dingman agreed (as it is recited in the deed) to sell 121 acres on the Flat Brook, in Walpack, to Hendrick Aurands, a miller of the same place. In 1769 ( Adam Dingman, having meantime died without making the convey. ance) Andrew Dingman, his son and executor, exc- euted the deed in accordance with his father's agree- ment." The land was a portion of the Samuel Nevill tract, which had been conveyed to Mr. Dingman pre- vious to 1760.


In the above conveyance Hendrick Aurands is re- ferred to as a "miller" of Walpack. There was an old mill near or within the limits of the land de- seribed in his deed, the ruins of which were seen over sixty years ago by several of persons now living. The location of the old ruin is on the Flatbrook, near where Miss Sally Warner now lives. This was prob- ably the mill at which Hendrick Aurands operated previous to the date of his deed,-1760. If so, the mill was undoubtedly ofler than the Barton mill, at Flatbrookville. Several old settlers are of the opin- ion that this mill was the oldest in the township, if not in the county.


In 1749, Andrew Cole located 138 acres near Wal- pack Centre. It was situated on Flatbrook east of the Nicholas Emans tract.


Martin Ryerson, in 1750, located 243 acres on Flat- brook, above the Black tract.


In 1753, Samuel Nevill located 800 acres on the Delaware, above the lands surveyed to Ennis & Co., extending to the East Jersey line. Hon. Samuel Ne- vill was an early judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and held the first Court of Over and Termi- ner in Sussex County.


Nicholas Emans, May 5, 1754, located 105 acres, adjoining Andrew Cole's land, near Walpack Centre.


In 1763, Richard Gardner had surveyed to him about 51 acres, east of the stout tract, on Flatbrook.


Asher Harriot owned 25 acres east of the Black tract, on Flatbrook; the date of its location is not given.


* Sco field-book of John Lawrence, chapter on the l'artition Line, in this work.


The Ennis tract, situated on the Delaware, above Joseph Kirkbride's 500 acres, was resurveyed to Cor- nelius Ennis, Christian Smith, and John Shoemaker, May 27, 1814.


Abraham Van Campen was an early settler in that part of Walpack which is now Pahaquarry, Warren Co. Ile was a member of the C'onsistory of the four Reformed Dutch Churches in 1741, a justice of the peace for many years, and a judge of the County Courts. When the border troubles began with the Indians, in 1755, he was the first to inform Governor Belcher, and was appointed colonel of a Sussex regi- ment of militia and assigned to the duty of protect- ing the frontiers. An interesting correspondence ensued between him and Governor Belcher, which will be found in the chapter on the French and Indian war, in this work.


Isaac Van Campen, of Shapanack, was also a prom- inent citizen of the township. He was one of the early justices of the peace, a judge of the County Courts, and a member of the Legislature from 1782 to 1785. He had a son Abraham, who has sometimes been confounded with the senior Abraham Van Cam- pen. Abraham, the son of Isaac, succeeded his father in the estate at Shapanack, and became prominent in public affairs about the beginning of the Revolution. The Van Campens became a numerous and influen- tial people in Walpack. The graves of nineteen of them may be counted in the old Shapanack bury- ing-ground. The old stone house at Shapanack was probably built by Isaac Van Campen. That and the stone house now occupied by Jacob Roc (the old Jacob Myers house) are probably the oldest now standing in the township, and antedate the period of the Revolution. Abraham, the son, becoming in- volved, sold the place to the De Witts about 1811 or 1812, and removed to the adjoining place formerly occupied by Col. John Rosenkrans. Abraham Van Campen had a large family, most of them cripples.


On Oct. 15, 1735, Adam Dingman purchased, of John Crooks, 479 acres of land in Walpack (extend- ing from the Delaware River to Flatbrook, and in- cluding portions of the property now owned by David Bunnell, Bowdewine Van Auken, and John B. Fuller) ; and in 1763 bought an additional tract, lo- cated east of the first. He subsequently divided this property-with the exception of a few acres sold to Nicholas Emans, Jan. 12, 1751-between his three sons, James, Jacob, and Peter. Jacob and Peter sub- sequently deeded it to James, who, on May 2, 1786, conveyed it to James and Peter Schoonover. Peter, in turn, conveyed it to Benjamin Schoonover in 1797, and Benjamin transferred a portion of it to Henry Bunnell, May 28, 1812. This was the last conveyance of the Dingman property in Walpack, and none of the descendants now reside in the township. Three deeds from James Dingman to James and Peter Schoon- over bear the same date, May 2, 1786,-viz., the one referred to above and the following.


318


SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


James and Peter Schoonover purchased of James Dingman, May 2, 1786, 15 acres on the Delaware ad- joining lands of Jacob Van Campen, deceased. This was part of a tract conveyed by the proprietors of West Jersey to Richard Gardner, April 10, 1753, and assigned by Gardner to Martin Ryerson, Feb. 19, 1754. It was reassigned by Martin Ryerson to Adam Dingman, Feb. 19, 1757, and devised by Adam Ding- man, in his last will and testament, to his son James.


James Dingman and Antje, his wife, May 2, 1786, conveyed, to James and Peter Schoonover, 429 acres of lands along the Delaware (formerly part of the Crook tract) willed to James, Jacob, and Peter Ding- man by their father, Adam Dingman, deceased. These lands were afterwards conveyed to James Ding- man by his brothers, Peter and Jacob.


John Emans owned 250 acres of land on the Dela- ware as early as 1729. This embraced part or all of what is now David Bunnell's flat-lands. Nicholas Emans, a son of John, lived and died on a portion of this purchase. He also owned 105 acres in the vi- cinity of Walpack Centre in 1754. Daniel Emans, a son of Nicholas, lived an old bachelor on a portion of the homestead, where he died in 1849, aged about eighty. What remained of the Emans homestead was then purchased by David Bunnell. Daniel Emans and his father, Nicholas, were buried on the old place.


Nicholas Schoonhoven was a resident and land- owner in Walpack in 1737." He and Thomas Brink together owned at the above date lands subsequently possessed by Emannel Hover, and still later by Jonas Smith, son of John Smith. Peter and James Schoon- hoven (afterwards spelled "Schoonover") owned lands in the township as late as 1786, and Benjamin as late as 1812. Hendriens Schoonhoven was a free- holder for Walpack in 1762.


Capt. Emanuel Hover, who was a prominent early resident of Walpack, appears from the following deed of conveyance to have left the county before 1797. April 18, 1797, Manual Hover and Mary, his wife, of Northampton Co., Pa., conveyed to Jonas Smith and his wife, Mary, of Walpack, 150 acres, excepting one- half acre, it being "the common burying-ground of Walpack"; also 25 acres in an undivided 300-acre tract conveyed to Hover by Anne Brink, Nicholas Brink, Nelly Schoonover, widow of Nicholas Schoon- over, Elijah Schoonover, and others.


Jolin Cleves Symmes, one of the most distinguished citizens of Sussex, removed from Long Island to Wal- pack about 1760. The prominence of this family, to- gether with some disputed points respecting portions of their history, induces us to give more space than usual to the subject. The following facts have been furnished chiefly by Thomas G. Bunnell, of Newton.


The Symmes family, so prominent and so well


known in Sussex County during the Revolutionary era, trace their descent from Rev. Zachariah Symmes (1), who was born in Canterbury, England, April 5, 1599, and came to New England in 1634 in the same ship with Ann Hutchinson and John Lathrop. He beeame pastor of the church at Charlestown, Mass., which position he held until his death, Feb. 4, 1671. His son, William Symmes (2), was born at Dunstable, England, in 1627, and came to this country with his father in 1634. He was a sea-captain and died Sept. 22, 1691, leaving a son named Timothy, who was born in 1683. Timothy Symmes (3) married Elizabeth Rose in 1710. He was by occupation a farmer, and lived near Scituate, Mass., where his grandson, John Cleves Symmes, visited him in 1762. He died in 1765, leaving a son Timothy, who was born at Scit- uate in 1714. This son Timothy (4) was educated to the ministry, having graduated at Harvard Uni- versity in 1733. He received ordination as a Pres- byterian minister at East Haddam, Conn., Dec. 22, 1736, and married his first wife, Mary Cleves, in 1740. In 1742 he went to River Head, L. I., where his two sons were born,-John Cleves, July 21, 1742, and Timothy, April 10, 1744. For several years Rev. Timothy Symmes was engaged in missionary work in New Jersey, and at one time, we are told, was pastor of a Presbyterian Church at Elizabeth, He married, for his second wife, Eunice Cogswell, about 1750, and died at Ipswich, Mass., April 6, 1756.


John Cleves Symmes (5) was educated to the law, but never, as we can learn, practiced his profession. Previous to the Revolutionary war, about 1760, he removed from Long Island to Walpack, Sussex Co., N. J., where he became the owner of several hundred acres of the choicest land in the Flatbrook valley, in- cluding the present site of the village of Walpack Centre. In this neighborhood, on the farm now owned by Mrs. Nancy Cole, on the west side of the Flatbrook, he reared a dwelling, and around it planted an orchard of apple-trees. Some of the old trees in this orchard are still standing, but the house has been removed many years. Bowdewine Van Auken, Sr., one of the oldest men now living in the township, tells us that he well remembers the Symmes mansion. On a mountain-stream on the opposite side of the Flatbrook, Judge Symmes also erected a grist-mill, the site of which can yet be pointed out by those familiar with the location.


John Cleves Symmes was married to Anna Tuthill, daughter of Henry Tuthill, of Southold, L. I., when about eighteen years of age, and probably before he emigrated to Walpack. From this marriage there were two daughters, Maria and Anna. The latter lived with her grandfather Tuthill, at Southold, on Long Island, after her mother's death, and was edu- cated in the female academy at East Hampton, and afterwards in the family and school of the celebrated Mrs. Isabella Graham, of New York. She accompa- nied her father to the valley of the Miami in 1788,




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