History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 103

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 103

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).

3 Suhp. & 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 of 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; raw- hides 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 lash- es, 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 spectacle. Garret Van Hou- ten, the township constable, did the whipping there. It is re- lated that on one occasion his victim was an old colored wc- man, who had stolen sausages from her master to give to a young man. When she had 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 be- gan 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 bitter- ly. 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 Vree- land avenue, warning all persons, no matter how nearly re- lated 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 publicly whipped, and the sen- tence was duly executed at the whipping post in front of Tice's tavern, on the Wesel road, a short distance south of Crooks avenue.1 A whipping post stood for many years be- fore 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 Sandford, when constable, officiated there with great regularity. A white man and his wife, liv- ing 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 hol- iday, to go and see his father and mother punished, and seemed to enjoy the revolting spectacle as much as anyone there.

1 Kinsey's Laws (1732), 26-32.

2 Allinson's Laws (1776), 18, 307-9.

1 The same unfortunate trespasser was flogged some years later at a post hefore Congress Hall, on the northeast corner of Main and Mar- ket streets.

406

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

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 memorial- ized the Legislature in 1773 to provide for the emancipation of the slaves. In 1786 an act was passed authorizing the manumission of able bodied slaves, between 21 and 35, without giving security. The movement for freedom cul- minated in 1804, when the Legislature passed an act provid- ing that all children of slave parents, who should be born thereafter, 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 com- pared the different races thus: The whites are the good fine flour; the Indians are the middlings; the blacks are the bran. They disliked working with them, or associating 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 white men of the family, or with white laborers; or they plied various trades, as carpen- ters, blacksmiths, masons, etc. In 1816 and 1817 the Pat- erson 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, ow- ing to the antipathy 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 un- der the same roof with their master or mistress. In the larger dwellings, they often had an end of the house to them- selves, where they lived, cooked and ate, sleeping upstairs over their kitchen. In smaller houses they lived in the common kitchen, and slept above it. Where they were nu- merous 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 in- duced a kindly relation between the master and slave, which continued between 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 suffi- cient to bring the offender to terms. Negative evidence of the general content of the slaves with their lot appears in the fact that advertisements of runaway slaves from New Jersey masters were seldom found in the newspapers, and when published often offered such a nominal reward as to indicate that the master simply wished to keep himself with-

in the law, which otherwise would have held him responsi- ble for the support of his escaped slave, wherever he might be found. Slaves were received 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 at- tached 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 especial- ly 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 thirty years no Saturday market in Paterson seemed natural unless there were scores of black men and women on Main street, cheerfully chatting 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 super- stitions 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 al- ready remarked, slavery does not seem to have been by any means universal in Acquackanonk.1 Referring to the wills printed in this work, it will be seen that few testators men- tion more than two or three slaves among their possessions. Michael Vreeland, who made his will in 1789, disposes of ten slaves, but that was exceptional. The economic reas- ons 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 un- mixed satisfaction 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 tav- ern-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 be- lieved that he sold them all in the South.

Perhaps such iniquities were offset by the numerous Pat- erson "agents" of the "underground railroad." This town

1 In the assessment list for Saddle River township (then embracing all of Paterson north of the Passaic river, besides Manchester and Wayne townsbips, and all of tbe present Saddle River township in Ber- gen county) in 1807, there are enumerated 474 persons liable to tax. Of these, only 65 owned slaves, and there were but 75 slaves in all, one person having 4, one baving 3, a few 2, and the rest but one each.

407

HOW SLAVES WERE SOLD.

was a well recognized "station" on the road by which runa- way slaves from the South were helped on their way to Can- ada and freedom. John Avison, Darius Wells, Isaac Van Blarcom, 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 man- ner 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 whench name Febe and the one child Ab."

March 30, 1803. Sarah Purnell, of Paterson, sells, for $120, "one Ne- gro wencb Woman named, and Baptised, Margeret, 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 Sev- enty five dollers for a negrow wommen named Sary in full of all tbe 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."

June 16, 1808. James Torrance to Garrebrant Van Houten. A pow- er 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, untill he doth Sell her wbich 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 ber 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 2, 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 Parsons, for $120. These later transfers were simply endorsed on the bill of sale.

May 1, 1809. Cornelus Westervelt sold, for $100, "a Certain Whench 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 bis heirs and assigns forever two Certain Slaves the one a male named Joe tbe 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 considera- tion 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 Remainder of the time and term of time and service ac- cording 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 Residencel 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 bim these presents."

Feb. 15, 1830. Polly Van Emburgh, of Franklin township, Bergen county, for $200, bargains and sells to Garabrant Van Houten "the fol- lowing 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 hun- dred 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, bar- gains and sells to Ralph Doremus, "tbe 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 bis 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 Riglit in a certain Col- oured Girl named Gin aged about Eighteen Years and Six months."

May 23, 1839. Moses Kanouse, of Manchester, conveys to Ralph Doremus, of the same place, for $150, bis "Coloured girl named Gin aged about Fifteen Years To liave 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 Dec. 21, 1841, to Robert Mor- rell, 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 phraseology:

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 Jersey, for and in Consideration of the sum of Ninety dollars Lawful Money of the United States, to me in band well and truly paid by Bridget Keane of the Township, County and State aforesaid, the re- ceipt 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 beirs 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 posses- sion of the said negro female Slave named and described as aforesaid unto the said Bridget Keane her heirs and assigns, against all persons and lawful claims whatever. In witness wbereof 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 bealthy, 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, Feb. 25, 1799.

N. B .- Wanted to purchase, a black Boy, from 12 to 15 years of age. Paterson, Nov. 6, 1815. Henry Godwin.

NEGRO BOYS. Wanted to purchase-Several Negro Boys, aged from eight to 11 years, whose time of service, agreeably to the laws of this

1 Residue.

408

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

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.1 Paterson, Nov. 6, 1815.

WANTED, to hire or purchase, a healthy negro Wench without chil- dren, that understands plain cooking, washing and ironing; she must be industrious, 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 helonging to Peter A. Hopper, late of Oldham, in the township of Saddle River, consisting of the following, viz:

Horses, cows, sheep, Hogs, fowls, timher, Plank, hoards, grain, wagon, sheep, ploughs.

Also, a black woman, twenty-four years old, with a child one year old, 1 hlack boy 6 years old, 1 hlack girl 4 years old, Household and kitchen furniture, one sett hlacksmith's tools, with many other articles too tedious to mention.

Oldham, March 4, 1816.

EIGHT DOLLARS REWARD. Ranaway from the suhscriher some days since, a NEGRO WOMAN named Annick, hut commonly called NICK, somewhat advanced in years ;- her clothes cannot he described, as she took a variety of articles with her. She had a pass to seek a new mas- ter, dated ahout the 29th or 30th ult. and had permission to pass until the 3d of November, and to return home on that day; she has not heen 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 ahove reward, and all the reasonahle charges. The ahove pass prohibited her from going out of this state, it is how- ever supposed that she has gone to New York, as she has relations in the city.

Paterson (N. J.) Nov. 12, 1822. Ah. Godwin

For Sale, a smart active mulatto man, ahout thirty-five years of age. He is well acquainted with all kinds of farming, having heen 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 he accommodating. For further particulars, inquire of the suhscriher.

Paterson, Nov. 6, 1822. Abraham Van Houten

Notice is given hy the suhscriher, that he offers for sale a Male Ser- vant, for 7 years from the first day of May next, as the property of John Anderson, deceased. Also one other Slave, for life. Inquire of the Suh- scriher at Paterson.

January 24, 1823.

G. Van Houten

For Sale, a Black Boy ahout 14 years old. He is healthy and active; capable of heing useful to a Tavern-keeper, or farmer. Inquire at this office.2

Paterson, February 11, 1823.

These records from legal instruments and from newspa- per advertisements 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 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 constitu- tional amendment of 1865 freed the few slaves in New Jer- sey, 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.

1 The office of The Bee, and Paterson Advertiser.

2 The office of the Paterson Chronicle.

CHAPTER XIII.

PASSAIC COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.

We hold these truths to he self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed hy their Creator with certain unalienable- rights; that among these are life, liherty, and the pursuit of happiness. -Declaration of Independence.

'Tis done ! and Britain for her madness sighs- Take warning, tyrants, and henceforth he wise, If o'er mankind man gives you regal sway, Take not the rights of human kind away. When God from chaos gave this world to he, Man then he form'd, and form'd him to he free.

-Freneau.

THE quiet farmers of the territory now embraced within

the county of Passaic were not so remote from the centres of political activity but that echoes of the stirring discussions reached them from time to time. The people of this region had cheerfully sustained their representatives. in the Assembly who had voted men and money for the var- ious expeditions against the French on the Canadian fron- tier, the success of which expeditions gradually led men to think that possibly the American colonies might be able to protect themselves without the aid of British soldiers. They had borne, not without murmuring, the oppressive acts of the British Parliament, whereby the cutting down of white pine trees (technically styled "mast trees") in the unen- closed lands was prohibited, 1 thus depriving the people of a fruitful source of revenue. The men who were sinking large amounts of capital in the development of the iron in- dustry in the Wanaque and Ringwood valleys, at Charlottes- burgh, Greenwood Lake and Sterling, felt it to be a cruel blow at their efforts when Parliament prohibited the manu- facture of the iron into bar-iron or rods, and forbade the erection of slitting mills, etc., so that the mine owners would be obliged to export the iron in pigs and sows to the mother country, there to be manufactured for export to America again.2 These restrictive measures materially af- fected the shipping interests of Acquackanonk, also. In common with the residents of other parts of New Jersey, the residents in this vicinity had always been extremely jealous of their right to control their own taxes, as the Royal Gov- ernors of the Province had found to their cost, in their con- stant wrangles with the Assembly, to secure what they con- sidered an "adequate revenue" for the support of the Pro- vincial Government. As citizens of the British Empire, they had never questioned the right of the Parliament to enact laws for the regulation of trade, even by the imposi- tion of vexatious duties. The Stamp Act of 1765, however, was a different matter. The British Minister boldly de-

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 103

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