History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 100

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466

USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey > Part 100

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1 Only native-born Americans were eligible to membership in this chosen corps, according to Washington's original order. Still, there- was a Robert Blair in that corps, and our Acquackanonk man is said to have always claimed to have served therein, under Captain William Colfax. Perhaps the order in question was modified, or its strictness relaxed, before the end of the War.

2 He prob. m. 2d, Mary Booth, Sept. 8, 1805.

3 Essex County Wills, E, 272. 4 Ibid., E, 421.

5 See Josiah Hornblower, and the First Steam Engine in America. With Some Notices of the Schuyler Copper Mines at Second River, etc. ,, by William Nelson; Newark, N. J., 1883.

393

MINING OPERATIONS .- SUPERSTITIONS.

the carbonates and sulphides of copper was distinctly obvi- ous in many places, and nowhere more conspicuously, per- haps, than on Marion street, a few rods south of Union av- enue, Totowa. Here the skilled miners had apparently lo- cated wliat resembled not a little the geological phenome- . non known to prospectors as a "volcanic blowout." When Marion street was graded through the rocks, in 1869, the side of the cut looked like a mass of boulders fused to- gether by heat, and as if at the same time the carbonates and sulphides of copper had been sublimated through the mass.1 A shaft had been sunk to a depth of at least thirty feet, and a drift or gallery had been excavated in the side- hill, a distance of one hundred feet or more, apparently to drain the shaft, it being about the usual size of drainage galleries. About 1866 the writer crawled into this drift for a distance of sixty or seventy feet, when lie came to a cham- ber about six feet wide and high; further progress was im- possible, but he was informed that formerly this gallery ex- tended considerably further. Probably it had been carried originally as far as the bottom of the vertical shaft. At the date mentioned this shaft was filled to within four or five feet of the surface, with earth and vegetation. It was on the south side of Marion street. The drift extended north- erly parallel with Union avenue, where the ground sloped toward the present Public School No. 14. No reference to this mine has ever been found in any records, nor has any tradition of its working been handed down to us. From various circumstances the writer believes that it was opened between 1730 and 1760. It was doubtless nothing more than a prospector's venture, no copper in paying quantities being discovered. It is very probable that the terms of the reservation contained in the deed? from Dominie Marinus to Gerrit Van Houten, in 1760, were copied in part from a lease or contract under which an attempt had been made by some mining party to open a copper mine, the result of which appeared in this shaft and drift. No other early deeds for land on Totowa contain any such conditions. It was not unusual, however, to find in ancient deeds for lands in this vicinity, reservations of gold and silver, and other valuable minerals, showing the faith the owners had of vast wealth to be found in the trap rock hereabout.

The only documentary evidence the author has found of the existence of any mine in this region is in an agreement, dated April 10, 1787, wherein and whereby John Cosaart, of Bergen county, quit-claims unto Henry Garritse and Corne- lius Van Winkle, of Essex county, "the two Equal Nintht Parts of a Certain Mine or Mineral which the sd John Cos- saart Hath Discovered on the Lands of the sd Jacob Van Winkle Caty his Wife and Mary Naffie." This "mine" was probably on Totowa, back of St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, and not unlikely in the mountain at the rear of the farm af- terwards owned by John Joseph Blauvelt. There are no in- dications, nor is there any tradition, that any mine was ever opened there. Doubtless the purchasers of the "two Equal Nintht Parts" did not share the sanguine belief of the "dis-

coverer" to the extent of advancing the necessary funds for the purpose.

About 1870 an attempt was made to sink an iron mine in Garret Mountain, near the Notch, the adventurers having been misled by the attraction at the surface; but after go- ing down ten. or twelve feet it was found that the attraction . was no greater, and the venture was abandoned.1

SUPERSTITIONS.

Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi-in the iron- bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi .- " Silence."-E. A. Poe.

That the early settlers and their descendants for many generations were superstitious there can be no doubt. But such matters were not to be talked of, save in whispers, and hence but little knowledge of their beliefs in the mysterious has come down to us. From the earliest times there was legislation on the statute books of New Jersey directed against the practice of witchcraft and wizardry, fortune- telling and the like; but to the credit of our State be it said, there is no record of any trial for witchcraft within our bor- ders. And yet there was scarcely a neighborhood that did not have some unfortunate woman whose eccentricities of behavior, whose peculiarities or unfortunate personal ap- pearance or physical defects did not make her an object of suspicion, dread or dislike, so that she came to be regarded as a "witch."2 There was that strangely afflicted woman living in the gap formerly traversed by the Hamburgh turn- pike, above Doremus street, wlio fell a victim to "Sele" Van Giesen's silver bullet.3 At Lower Preakness an old woman lived alone in a small house near the roadside. It was noticed that it was almost impossible to drive a lot of cows or sheep past her house unless she stood in the door- way and gave pleasant greeting to the persons in charge of the herd or flock. When she died there was no longer any trouble in getting safely by that spot. A witch could not pass a sign, composed of twigs, formed something like the figure 4, and carefully laid in the middle of the road. Many a group of mischievous boys would play this trick on a reputed witch, and after laying the mystic figure in the way, would hide behind a convenient clump of brush or trees, to watch her come unsuspectingly along, only to be disconcert- ed and dismayed, and turn about at beholding it.

The farming operations depended so largely on the weath- er, and the planting and harvesting were regulated to such an extent by the seasons and the moon's changes, that it was not strange that to the moon and the seasons was as- cribed an undue influence on the crops and on the cattle. Horses and other animals were subjected to certain treat- ment only when the moon was in the third quarter.

1 See p. 13.

2 A somewhat eccentric man living at Wagaraw always had his head and neck tied up in a red cloth. This gave rise to strange suspicions, and in time he came to be generally regarded as a wizard.

3 See p. 269. Jacob Goetschius, living at Wagaraw, was greatly dis- turbed by the nocturnal raids of a crew of black cats in his garden. Repeatedly he had shot at them, but in vain. At last he put a silver sixpence in his gun and fired. That scattered the cats forever. But the next day, and ever after, a certain woman in the neighborhood was ob -- served to walk lame !

1 See p. 4.

2 See p. 228.

391

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

If difficulty Was experienced in "fetching butter," when churning, it was usually attributed to the malevolent influ- ence of witchcraft. This was counteracted by thrusting a red-hot horseshoe into the churn. A still more effective ex- pedient was to take a whip in the left hand and swing it around the churn eight (nine?) times, which always drove away the lurking witches.

When a house or other building was to be erected, and water was greatly desired in its vicinity, but no spring was visible, some person was called on who had the valuable gift of discovering the existence of hidden watercourses, after the fashion of Moses when he smote the rock with his rod. In these modern instances the "divining rod" consisted of a forked twig or branch of a tree, usually a hazel or a peach tree. The person held a fork in each hand, the thick branch being kept horizontal with the ground, and as he walked along this end was drawn toward the ground when he came to running water, even though it was at a considera- ble distance under ground. Some very remarkable stories are told by the old people about the singular success which attended the efforts of these "diviners" to discover water just where it was most needed.

And what shall we say of those still stranger beings who had the power of healing by magic? The story-apparent- ly perfectly authenticated-is handed down of an old gen- tleman who was suffering excruciating torture from a felon, and who in his extremity was persuaded, much against his will, being utterly incredulous in such matters, to visit a man who was reputed to have singular power over diseases. The man took the burning hand in his own, held it a mo- ment, muttered a brief incantation over it, breathed on it, and lo! the pain was gone, and straightway the hand began to get well.

Ghosts? Why, at an evening gathering, in the fitful glare of the log fire on the hearth, more than one person present would tell with bated breath, of weird sights seen on the homeward way late at night, when phantom shapes flitted shadowless across the path, and sorrowful sighs went moaning among the desolate branches of dead trees that shook their naked arms at the belated traveler. Naturally enough the unshrived souls of the suicide, of the murderer, and eke his victim-unjust as that might seem-were known to haunt the spots of their untimely taking off, and no sane man would of deliberate choice pass auywhere near such places, especially at midnight!

BOUNDARY DISPUTES.

With the progress of the settlement, land became more valuable, and again there was trouble about the boundary line between Acquackanonk and Newark. Messrs. Henry Garritse, jun., and Paul Powlison were appointed a com-

mittee on behalf of the Acquackanonk Patentees and their descendants and grantees to prosecute a suit of ejectment against some persons who had settled north of the boundary liue, under claim of title derived from a survey made by virtue of a warrant to Robert Vong, Feb. 20, 1695, at the mouth of the Stone House Plain brook. The two men named retained David A. Ogden, of Newark, Jan. 14, 1792, paying him thirty shillings as a fee. They engaged a sur- veyor to run the line, and in September took their witnesses to Newark, to attend court. The result of the trial, or whether there was a trial, has not been ascertained. But that the party was a dry one is evidenced by this bill of Newark's famous tavern keeper, Archer Gifford, paid by Mr. Garritse, Oct. 15, 1792:

Sept. 17th 1792 Mr Garison To Bill

Cash 135 6d wine rs Brandy 4s Super 2S £1 0 6

Wine Is 6d Bed Is Hay 2s Oats gd 0 53

20th Gin Is 6d wine Is 2d diners 4s Spirits 6d Hay 2s Oats 2S 0 II 0 Gin 6d 22th Hay Is Oats Is 6d wine 6d 0 36

24th Gin 6d Spirits Is Slings 35 7d diners & Club 22S I 66

Hay Is Grog 6d october 16th 2 Diners 3s Spirit IS 5 6

Hay & Oats 3S 0 30

£3 15 3

John Ludlow took an equally thirsty party with him to Newark on the same occasion, and on the same business. His bill charges him with: I gallon rum, 9s. 6d; 5 "Sup- ars," 7s. 6d .; 16 Dinners, £1, 4s .; 6 "brefast," 6s .; 5 "loging," 25. 6d .; I "bexfast," Is; I supper, Is .; "lofe" sugar, 25. 3d.

Another action was begun three years later, by Francis Van Winkle and others, against Abraham Van Riper, also involving the question of the boundary line. 1

The boundary line between Totowa and the lands beyond became involved in a dispute in 1807, and on Feb. 21, of that year, John Van Giesen, Richard Van Houten, Roelof I. Van Houten, Henry Courter, Robert Van Houten and Simon Y. Van' Ness entered into an agreement, offensive and defensive, against Richard Dey, "for Cuting or Boxing the tree Between the Line of Tunes Ryerson and the pair- ties" thereto. It was covenanted between them: "the pair- ties Do a gree with Each Other that they pay unto Robert Van Houten the Sum of two Dollars Each . . . and to pay Such Sums from time to time as Long as the said Rob- ert Van Houten is iu want of the Sum to prosecut the sd Richard Dey . . the pairties Do a gree that the pair-

ties are to have and Eaqul Share of the Proffits." This quaint document is endorsed: "a Artikel between the peo- ple of totaweay."2 It does not appear that any dividend was ever declared out of the "Proffits" of this transaction.

1 The Van Houten Manuscripts, 62, 71.

2 Ibid., 106.

395

ABOUT DUTCH BABIES.

CHAPTER XI.

FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE.

They that creep and they that fly, Shall end where they began. Alike the Busy and the Gay But flutter thro' life's little day, In fortune's colours drest : Brush'd by the hand of rough mischance, Or chill'd by age, their airy dance They leave, in dust to rest. " On the Spring."-Gray.

SOMETHING ABOUT DUTCH BABIES.

His coming was looked forward to with the fond antici- pations which have ever heralded the arrival of a new being all pure and spotless on this earth of ours, seamed and scarred with the sins and sorrows of countless ages. When he arrived the whole neighborhood was speedily apprised of the fact, if, indeed, the entire neighborhood -- the female portion of it-was not on hand at the time. Of course, he was lifted up before he was laid down, in token of his fu- ture ascending career in the world. Care was taken to carry him over the doorstep, also, to avoid injurious collis- ion with any evil spirits that were supposed to be lying in wait for the chance to do him hurt. He was dressed in homespun linen, made long before his coming, and his lit- tle head was encased in a linen cap, lined and quilted with loving stitches, and then he was laid in a quaint little cra- dle, broad and solid, like his Dutch parents, and with a pro- tecting roofi over it, suggestive of a miniature Noah's Ark, especially if he was the first baby, for then he held all the world of his doting mother. Very substantial were those old-fashioned Dutch cradles, often made by the prospective father himself, who spared neither wood nor labor in their construction. Just as soon as possible, often within a few days, and invariably within a month, the baby was taken to church, decked out in his christening robes, into which had been stitched how many loving thoughts of the fond mother as she bent over it day after day, full of brooding tenderness. The parents were accompanied by the Compeer and Peet- godfather and godmother-according to the earliest Ac- quackanonk church records. About 1750 this practice was discontinued, and the persons who attended the baptism were merely called Getuygen-witnesses. The rule was to have a man and a woman present at the ceremony, often a grandfather and grandmother of the child, or other rela- tives of the parents, or some friend after whom the child was to be named. The first boy was named after the pa- ternal grandfather; the second after the father; the third

after the maternal grandfather; others were given the name of an uncle. This rule as to naming the first and second sons was very seldom disregarded. The custom as to nam- ing the female children was not so settled; usually, the first girl was named after eitlier of its grandmothers, or af- ter the mother; others were given the name of some other relative, or some friend of the mother. On returning home there would be something of a repast for all the assembled friends. As the child grew older he was entranced with the singing of that famous lullaby, of which he never grew tired:

Trip a trap o' troontjes ! De vaarkens in de boontjes- De koeien in de klaver- De paarden in de haver -- De eenden in de waterplas, Plis ! Plas ! Zoo groot mijn kleine Derrick was!

Even before he could comprehend the words, the little fellow understood the significance of the motion as he was danced up by fond arms, up and up the steps to the top of the throne of a loving mother's heart; and he enjoyed the pretended alarm with which he was informed that the pigs were rooting among the beans, and the cows were in the clover, and the horses in the oats, and the ducks splashing in the water puddle, the whole being cleverly acted in pan- tomime, until he was tossed away up on high to indicate how great-in his mother's estimation-her little Derrick was !

Or, with the fingers of both hands twirling merrily before his eyes, he would be reminded of hot waffles dripping with butter:

De Radjes! De Radjes ! Als mijn mommiel wafeltjes bakkt, Dan loopt de boter door de gatjes ! De Radjes ! De Radjes !

By the time he was two years old he had to yield possess- ion of his throne and his cradle to a new comer-that was another rule in well regulated families in the last century, and then he was given a place in a trundle-bed, which by day was rolled out of sight under the high four-posted bed- stead. As a succession of new claimants for the cradle came along, the trundle-bed was filled up with little folks, and as the boys grew older they were banished to the attic. In many a dwelling in the olden time, the boys would wake up in the morning to find their beds surrounded by snow which had drifted in through the open shingles of the roof. When they were big enough to work in the fields, the boys accompanied their father to do their share in the out-door work of the farm.

The girls were taught to knit as soon as they could hold the implements in their little fingers, and many a child of eight or nine years would knit stockings as long as herself, being given a regular gezetwerk, or stint, which must be fin- ished each day. Fancy such a child working for her aunt at five cents a day, spinning, and imagine her delight, if you can, when her father brought home for her a dark blue calico, with a light blue figure in it, for which he paid fifty cents a yard-ten days of her earnings for a single yard ! Do you wonder that the memory of that first calico dress lingered

1 This roof, about half or two thirds the length of the cradle, and rising from the sides like the roof of a house, was a needed protection against the drafts in the old houses.

1 Mama.

396

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

for eighty years in her recollection? There was sewing to be done, cooking and baking, too, as the girls grew older. Nor were their labors confined to the house. They had to take their turn with the boys in the field, working barefoot- ed all day, hoeing the corn, and doing other light work. Even when they assisted in preparing the family meal, the girls as well as the boys had to content themselves with a "piece" taken from the table, dipped in gravy, and eaten in a corner. When you look at some of the tables which served families in the olden days, you see how impossible it must have been for a dozen children to sit down to a table barely four feet square. Although there were usually enough live babies in the household to occupy the attention of the girls, they nevertheless had their very own dolls to cuddle. These were always of home manufacture, of course, generally of rags, sometimes with a wooden head and rudely carved face, but a thing of beauty ever to the fond possessor.

With what joy the children hailed the coming of a holi- day, or a corn husking, or a spinning-bee, or other frolic that would give them the opportunity to mingle with each other, and with grown folks! Life was indeed full of toil, but it had its compensations, even in those days of humble beginnings in Old Acquackanonk.

COURTSHIP, AND HEREIN OF "BUNDLING."

The time came when the home nest was full to overflow- ing, when the irksomeness of the home life, with its narrow constraints, was grievous to be borne; when the desire for a home nest of their own began to pervade the bosoms of the young people. From the very nature of things, the young men and maidens of adjacent farms naturally fell in love with each other. They knew each other's ways, from long association, and there were prudential considerations of se- curing portions of the paternal acres for the new home- steads. As large farms were divided among successive gen- erations of children the cousins thus settled near each other often married. But it not infrequently happened that a young man went afar for his bride, perhaps because he had secured employment in her neighborhood, or because he had met her at some country party or dance. If he had a horse he could ride to see her; if it was not too far he would walk thither, and like Mercury his feet were equipped with wings-the wings of love. Perhaps he came too long a distance for him to return the same evening. Then he had to be kept over night. But in a house with perhaps not more than two rooms the accommodation of a guest was often a severe tax upon the hospitality of the most genial host. Moreover, in such a small house what opportunity had the lovers of that sweet solitariness which is so dear in the earlier stages of the tender passion? It was by way of solving these perplexing problems, the author submits, that the singular practice of "Bundling" came into vogue in the primitive American settlements. Thus they could, undis- turbed, discuss those sweet nothings which mean so much to young lovers. Perchance the wearied wooer might fall asleep, but if so, he would awake refreshed, and set off be- times on his journey to his daily toil, fitter for his work

than if he had sat up half the night before the kitchen fire, alternately freezing and roasting. As a Yankee balladist of the last century said, in defence of this custom:

Nature's request is, grant me rest, Our bodies seek repose ; Night is the time, and 'tis no crime To bundle in your clothes.

The practice of "bundling" is undoubtedly ancient, and of European origin. It was very general in New England, where it died out about the close of the Revolution. In New York and New Jersey it was by no means confined to the Dutch. There has lately come to light an odd series of papers on the subject, showing that the custom prevailed among the English-speaking residents of Bridgeton, New Jersey.1 The word itself is English, evidently signifying to tumble into bed, as is said of one who retires with his clothes on. In Sewel's Dutch dictionary, published at Am- sterdam in 1691, he gives the Dutch word queesten, which he defines to be "an odd way of wooing, usual in some sea- towns of Holland," and from his added explanation it ap- pears to be almost precisely the same as the American cus- tom referred to above. The literature on the subject is nat- urally very scanty,2 and the documentary references still more so. Indeed, about the only allusion to it which the author has found in the early records is in a letter from Jacob Vosburgh, of Livingston Manor, New York, in 1723, ad- dressed to Governor William Burnet, wherein he complains of a former lover of his daughter, and with a feeling quite excusable under the circumstances, speaks of this "wicked and base custom of those parts."3 The Rev. Andrew Burn- aby, traveling through America in 1759-60, describes the practice as he found it in New England.4 It continued in vogue in this immediate vicinity as late as 1835, but was ev- idently falling into disrepute for many years before that. Those who have described the custom to the author have always insisted that it was perfectly harmless in its conse- quences. Said' the late Benjamin Geroe, of North Main street, about 1866: "Bundling was so commonly practiced when I was a young man, that nobody thought anything of it. Upon one occasion when I was a youth I was entrusted with the care of a beautiful girl of sixteen, to take her to her parents at Scranton, Penn. We were on the road five or six days, and I 'bundled' with her every night, at wayside tav- erns, and she came to her parents as pure as when she left home. It would have been strange only had it been other- wise." An aged resident of Passaic, of the highest respect- ability, in reply to questions by the author, in 1895, answered:

1 " The Plain Dealer, Dec. 25, 1775 to Feb. 12, 1776, now first print- ed from a unique Manuscript Copy, with an Introduction and Notes," by William Nelson, 1894, pp. 11-14. This was a manuscript newspaper. In several numbers there were communications explaining, denouncing and defending the practice.

2 The only work devoted to the subject is entitled: Bundling; its Or- igin, Progress and Decline in America, by Henry Reed Stiles, M. D., Albany, 1871. In a note to the author a few years ago, Dr. Stiles hu- morously refers to it as "that wicked little book."

3 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., II., 480.

4 Travels in the Middle Settlements of America, etc., 3d ed., Lon- don, 1798, P. 110. .

397

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.

"Did I ever know anything about 'bundling?' Of course I did. Everybody 'bundled' when I was young, and no harm ever came of it. If a young man had misbehaved he would have been horsewhipped out of the community. I 'bundled' with my present wife a year before we were married, or even engaged, and I never dreamed of anything wrong about it. But young people are not to-day what they were then." And then this defender of "bundling" added in all sincerity: "But I'll tell you what I would not let a daughter of mine do to-day. I would not let her ride a bicycle!" The late John R. Van Houten once related to the author an occur- rence showing how the rising generation of girls, even in his young days, were indisposed to countenance the ancient custom. A party of young people had gone on horseback one afternoon or evening to a dance at a tavern at Paramnus, the girls riding behind the young men. After the dance the party proceeded to retire, but one of the young women de- clined to follow the example of the others. In vain her partner (urged on by the other harum-scarum young fellows, who threatened to chastise him if he did not make his girl "bundle") tried to convince her that he and she also would be the butt of ridicule for the others if they did not do as the rest. She insisted that if he did not take her home at once she would never speak to him again. And she had her way, of course. Mr. Van Houten chuckled gleefully, as he recalled the incident of sixty years ago: "Kate was high- strung and wouldn't 'bundle.'" That the custom was by no means as devoid of harm as is claimed for it, appears too plainly from the church records of Acquackanonk, Totowa and Paterson.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 100

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 466

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466