History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 17

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

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W ITH such "spurring verses " as these did Jacob Steen- dam, the first poet in the New Netherlands, depict in glowing colors the charms of the New World, for the bene- fit of his fellow-citizens in Holland, anxious to better their condition. The former verse is part of a poem written in 1662; the other is of earlier date. The Indian war of 1655 was the final test of strength between the whites and the red men in the neighborhood of New York. There- after, the planting of new settlements went on apace, and immigration from the mother country poured into the land which the enthusiastic Steendam in a most exalted fit of inspiration declared to be

Het Land, daar Melk en Honig vloeyd : Dit is 't geweest, daar 't Kruyd (als dist 'len groeyd) : Dit is de Plaats, daar Arons-Roode hloeyd : Dit is bet Eden.

It is the land where milk and honey flow ; Where plants distilling perfume grow ; Where Aaron's rod doth budding blossoms hlow ; A very Eden.2

1 Anthology of New Netherland or Translations from the early Dutch poets of New York with Memoirs of their Lives hy Henry C. Murphy, New York MDCCCLXV, 52-3, 69-70.

As the Indians receded further and further West, the whites followed eagerly on their trail, anxious to secure the most available land. We may be sure that adventurous spirits lost no time in penetrating the Passaic (or North- west Kil, as the Dutch called it) to the great cataract of which they must have heard wonderful tales told by the ab- origines. There is a tradition tliat the first settlers of Ac- quackanonk took up the land eleven years before they got a patent for it.1 This would fix the date as early as 1674- It is not probable, however, that there was any actual set- tlement at that time. The first conveyance of lands within the present limits of Passaic county bears date April 4, 1678, being for the Indian title, and is sufficiently curious to tran- scribe in full :

I underwritten Captehan peter Beareup by this to Hartman Michiel- sen a great island lying in the river of pisaick near by aquickanucke by the Indians called Menehenicke-I Capteban Peeters freebolder of the above written Island, Beare tbis to Hartman Michielsen up to him in full freehold in knowledge of the truth Have I this wtb my owne hand under set in witness of tbis underwritten witnesses. Communipau in New Jersey this fourth day of April one Thousand six hundred and sev- enty and eight-and was marked by Captehan Peeter his mark and the witnesses was marked hy Nappeemeeck bis mark, and Derricke Klaese Braecke his mark, and Johannes Michielsen and Elyas Michielsen.2

A clue to this fearful and wonderful English is given in the appended note in the record : "This was recorded by the Coppy translated out of Duth." The expression "Beare up" is a crude translation of the Dutch "overdraagen," carry over, or transfer. Michielsen obtained a patent for this island from the East Jersey Proprietors, dated January 6, 1685. He was then described as of "Communipa, in the county of Bergen, planter." The patent was for "a small island of upland lying and being upon Pisaick River near Aquiackanunke in the county of Essex in said Province Comonly called and known by the name of Hartman's Island Containing about Nine acres Litle more or less," in fee simple, "provided always and upon condition that the said Hartman Michielsen his heirs and assigns shall and do well and truly (yearly and every year forever hereafter) pay or cause to be paid unto the said Proprietors their heirs and assigns on every five and twentieth day of March or within fourteen days after the chief or quit rent of one fatt henn in Lieu and stead of all other services and demands whatso- ever." We fear that the owners of that island cannot pro- duce many receipts for said "one fatt henn."

The first conveyance from the Proprietors of East Jersey for lands in Passaic county bears date July 15, 1678, and is in the name of Sir George Carteret, then Lord Proprietor of East Jersey, to Xtopher Hoagland, merchant, of New York, for two tracts of land at Haquicquenock, on the Pisa- wack river, described as follows, in what appears to be a con- temporary copy of the original Dutch deed,3 here trans- lated :

First-one hundred and fifty-eight acres of land beginning at a stake planted by a small fall or a small brook; thence running north as the

1 So ex-Judge Simmons, of Passaic, was informed by his Grand- mother Van Wagoner, who said she had often heard the fact mentioned by the " old people " in her young days.

2 E. J. Deeds, in Secretary of State's office, Liber A, f. 242. 3 In the possession of ex-Judge Simmons, of Passaic.

2 Ib., 64-5.

FIRST DEED FOR PATERSON LANDS.

little fall or brook runs 42 chains to a tree in the swamp (low ground), marked on four sides standing by the little fall or brook ; thence running east northeast 18 chains to a stump marked on four sides standing by the [Indian] path; thence running south 29 chains to a stake marked on four sides standing by the Indian burial place ; thence running east thirty chains along the bank of the river past an Indian hut ("een Wilde huysje"); thence running south 35 chains to the point of the neck; thence running northwest by west 40 chains to the stake place of begin- ning ; bounded south and east by the Pisawack river, west by a small brook or fall, and north in part by land not yet surveyed, and in part by the said river.

Also 120 acres lying adjoining on the west side of the above mentioned brook or fall, beginning at the tree in the low ground, standing in the swamp, marked on four sides, thence running west southwest 34 chains to two white oak trees, marked; thence running south 40 chains; east northeast 34 chains along the said brook on top of the hill or mound; thence running along the brook to the first mentioned tree; bounded on the north, south and west by land not surveyed ; east by a small stream.

In all 278 acres .! Consideration-a yearly rent of half a penny per acre, payable March 25, 1680, or an equivalent thereof in current pay- ment of the country-11 S. 7 d.2

These two tracts embraced the Dundee section of Pas- saic, and a little more : bounded on the north by Monroe street ; on the west by Lexington avenue, extending south to where was a large rock, near the junction of River and Grove streets ; on the south by a line drawn parallel with Monroe street ; on the east by Passaic river. The brook or "fall" (Dutch, val) mentioned is Vreeland's brook, also used as the Dundee tail-race. Reference has been already made to another Indian burying-ground, which was thirty or forty acres in extent, near President street. The patent to Hoaghland was called "Stoffel's Point," Stoffel being the Dutch abbreviation for Christopher. Hoaghland agreed, February 16, 1679-80, to sell this tract to Hartman Mich- ielsen, who paid him £70 therefor, but he died (February 4, 1684)3 before giving the deed, which was subsequently (April 23, 1696) given to Michielsen by Dirck Hogeland, mariner, of New York, son and heir of Christopher Hoagh- land. 4 Michielsen sold a one-fourth interest in the prop- erty to his brother, Johannes Michielse, in consideration of £17 IO s., by deed dated April 28, 1698.5

The first conveyance for lands within the present bounds of the city of Paterson was the Indian deed for Acquacka- nonk, and was in the following language, carefully tran - scribed from the record, as the original deed is not known to exist :

Know all men by these Presents that I Captahem Indian Sachem and Chief, Owner of a certain tract of Land Lying and being upon Pisawyck River knowne by the name of Haquequenunck, Have for my Selfe my Heires and Assignes, in the Prsence and by the aprobation and consent of Memiseraen, Mindawas, Ghonnajea, Indians and Sachems of the said

1 In George Scot's " Model of the Government of the Province of East-New-Jersey in America," printed in 1685, he speaks of Hoogland's island as containing 1,000 acres ; " if it be not an Island, it is tyed by a very narrow slip of Land to the Continent." See Whitehead's East Jersey, 2d ed., 405. It is evident that the real estate exaggerator is not a modern creation.

2 Liber 2, Bullen's Patents, Perth Amboy, designated as Carteret's Conveyances, f. 4 ; Liber 2 of Warrants, Perth Amboy, p. 88.

3 History and Genealogy of the Hoagland Family in America, by Daniel Hoogland Carpenter, New York, 1891, 58.

4 E. J. Deeds, Secretary of State's office, f. 585.

5 Ib., f. 603.

Contry, for and In Consideration of a certain Prcel of goods, Blankets, kettles powder and other Goods to my Content and Sattisfaction In hand paid, by Hans Dederick, Gerret Garretson, Walling Jacobs and Hendrick George, The Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge to have received to my Content and Satisfaction given, alienated bargained and sold unto the said Hans Dedericks, Gerrit Gerritsen, Walling Jacobs, Hendrick George and their Associates all and singular the abovementioned tract . of land and the meadows adjoining beginning from the northernmost bounds of the Towne of Newark from the Lowermost part thereof to the uppermost as fare as the steep Rocks or Mountaines, and from thence to Run [blank] all along the said Pisawick River to the White Oak Tree standing neere the said River on the north side of the small brook, and from thence run up (blank) to the steep Rocks or Mountains, Which said tree was marked by the said Captaham In the prsence of La Prairie Surveyor General. (With habendum, covenants and warranty.)1

This important instrument was signed, sealed and de- livered by Captahem, and attested by the other Sachems, March 28, 1679, in the presence of Governor Philip Car- teret. The marks of the several Indians do not appear to have any significance, as of their totems, but are merely scrawls. Within two weeks, or on April 9, 1679, Christo- pher Hooghland, Capt. Jacques Cortelyou, of Nyack, oppo- site Staten Island, Capt. Elbert Elbertse, Capt. Richard Stilwell and others, bought from the Indians the Saddle River tract, "being the tract of land called Aquegnonke lying and being upon Pasawack river together with all the meadows adjoining and the Seven Small islands thereunto adjacent and being bounded on the South with the creek that divides It from Capt. John Berry's Land, on the west by Pasawack river, on the north by a creek called Patackpaen, running from thence north around a great Rock Lying near the high lands, and from thence to the aforesaid Capt. Berries creek and the land of the above named Christopher Hoghland." The consideration was "two hundred fathom of White wampum, Ellevan Guns, fifty pound of powder, six blanckets, three cloth Coates, six fatham of Red broad Cloth twelve fathem of Duffield, seven small kettles and one Great one, ten hatchets, ten Hoes, one pair of men's shoes, ten paire of stockings, one Anker of rum, twenty knives one Auger and one drawing knife."2

We have a contemporary account of this real estate speculation by two Labadist missionaries who had come from Holland to America with a view to establishing a col- ony here. Under date of October 28, 1679, they write :

While we were in the village of Bergen, a person came to us who was willing to take us up through the Northwest'kil, where we were inclined to go, because of Jaques of Long Island3 and his associates, had bought for a trifle, a piece of land there of twelve thousand morgens (24,000 acres) and he had related wonders to us about it ; and that above his land, and above the falls which are more than an hour's distance from it, there was another tract still better, which was corroborated by almost every one, especially in Bergen, whose inhabitants were very well ac-

1 E. J. Deeds, in Secretary of State's office, Liber No. r, f. 128.

2 Ib., f. 129. See also N. J. Archives, XIII., 142. There is a tradition that Cortelyou, who was a surveyor, was riding through the Acquacka- nonk country once upon a time, when he met an Indian who owned it, and negotiated with him for its purchase. The simple savage was greatly struck with the appearance of the white man's handsome saddle, and agreed to give the land in exchange therefor, which was done. This is evidently another story invented to account for the name Saddle River.

$ Jacques Cortelyou, of Nyack, L. I.

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

quainted tbere, and some of whom bad bought a large piece of land close by. Tbe before mentioned tract was considered by them the best in all New Netherlands. * * * They said this piece of land was very large, and could be increased to twenty-five or tbirty thousand morgen, which the Indians were disposed to sell, and we could buy for a small price.

Again, under date of Tuesday, March 5, 1680, these same chroniclers write :

Ackquekenon is a tract of land of 12,000 morgen, which Jaques of Najack, witb seven or eight associates, had purchased from the Indians, the deed of which we have seen, and the entire price of wbich amounted to 100 or 150 guilders in Holland money, at the most. It is a fine piece of land, tbe best tract of woodland we bave seen except one at the south. It is not very abundant in wood, but it bas enough for building purposes and fuel. On one side ofitis tbe Northwest kil, which is navi- gable by large boats and yachts thus far, but not beyond. On the other side, there is a small creek1 by which it is almost entirely surrounded, af- fording water sufficient, both summer and winter, to drive several mills. Wben we reached bere, we took our provisions and whatever was loose out of the boat into a but of the Indians,2 of wbom there is only one family on this wbole tract.

Wednesday, March 6 .- We went out in the snow to look through the woods, and along the little stream, to see whether it would be worth the trouble to erect a saw-mill there for the purpose of sawing timber for sale, as Jaques had supposed. But although we found the stream suit- able for mills, we did not discover proper wood sufficient for the pur- pose. Tbe soil seemed to promise good, and tbe place as well situated as it can be to make a village or a city. Tbe land on both sides of tbe Northwest kil is all taken up, and the prospect is that the whole region will soon be inbabited. It is already taken up on the south side as bigh as the falls.3

The journey thus far had been made under the guidance of the aged Indian Chief, Hans, who had been beguiled to leave his wigwam at Achter Col, behind Constable's Hook, near Communipaw, and his seawant-making, on the vague promise of a good blanket, of which he stood greatly in need. He was the same Indian whose profound explanation of the or- igin of things has been quoted ; he was doubtless also the same Chieftain whom Oratamin desired and expected to succeed himself. The adventurous travelers now concluded to brave the unknown dangers of a trip to the Great Falls of the Passaic, of which they had heard much, and accord- ingly started off, in the rain, under the guidance of Hans. The account of this first journey to the Falls by white men, of which we have any record, is worth transcribing here :4

Tbe rain gradually increased, with snow, and did not hold up the whole day. After we had traveled good three bours over bigh bills, we came to a higb rocky one, wbere we could hear the noise of the water, and clambering up to the top, saw the falls below us, a sight to be seen in order to observe the power and wonder of God. Behind this hill the land is much higher than on the other side, and continues so as far as is known. A kil or river runs through this high land between the bills, formed by several branches coming down from still higber land. This river, running along the valley to seek the sea, comes to this hill where it runs over a large blue rock, which is broken in two, obliquely with the river. One part is dry, which is the hill before mentioned ; the other is wbere tbe river, running over a crevice or fissure between both, appears to be eight or ten feet wide, having on either side smooth precipices like walls, but some parts broken between them. The river finding this cbasm pours all its water into it headlong from a beight, according to

_ guess, of about eighty feet ;1 and all this pouring water must break upon the undermost piece of stone lying in the crevice, wbicb causes a great roaring and foaming, so that persons standing there side by side, bave to call out loud before they can understand each other. By reason of the breaking of the water, and the wind wbich the falling water carries witb it, there is constantly spray ascending like smoke, which scatters itself like rain. In this spray, when the sun shines, the figure of a rainbow is constantly to be seen trembling and shaking, and even appearing to move the rock. The water in tbis fissure runs out on tbe soutb; and there at the end of the rock or point, it finds a basin, which is the begin- ning of the lower kil. This point is, I judge, about one bundred feet above the water, and steep like an upright wall. When the fisb come up the river, tbis basin is so full of all kinds of them, that you can catch them with your hands, because they are stopped tbere, and collect together, refreshing themselves, and sporting in and under the falling fresb water, wbicb brings with it from above, bushes, green leaves, earth and mire, in which they find food. The water runs bence east and northeast2 to Ackquekenon. The Indians come up this river in canoes to fisb, because it is one of tbe ricbest fisheries they bave ; but the river is not navigable by larger boats, though in case the country were settled, the navigation could be improved.3 The falls lie among higb hills, especially on the south, so that the sun does not penetrate tbere well except in summer. We found beavy ice there at this time, altbougb it had all thawed away below. When I saw this ice at a distance, I sup- posed it was the foam. I took a sketch as well as I could, very bastily, for we had no time, and it rained and snowed very much. What I did is not very bappily done. I regret I could not crayon it, for it is. worth being portrayed.4 Night coming on, we had to leave. We were very wet and cold, especially in the feet. It was dark, and slippery walking on such precipices, and crossing little streams. Tired and weary, wet and dirty, we reached the place where we had started from, about eight o'clock in the evening, and went into the hut of the Indians, having to-day rowed constantly from early dawn until one or two o'clock, and then walked, through heavy weather, twenty-four to twenty-eight miles.5

It was into this wilderness, so graphically described, with all its attendant dreariness, that the friends and neighbors of Hartman Michielsen had decided to venture, to found there new homes, and to make the waste places glad with the ac- companiments of civilization. It is possible that Elias Michielsen, a brother of Hartman, settled at Stoffel's Point be- fore the other patentees. Family tradition says that the Vree- lands were the first whites to occupy the new land, and that the first white man's house in Acquackanonk stood on the south side of Passaic street, in the city of Passaic, about on the site of the New York Steam Engine Company's Works. 6 We may well believe that the determination of the patentees to remove into the interior country excited no little commo- tion in the classic precincts of Communipaw and Paulus Hook, and was the theme of evening gossip for many a long month ere the eventful day arrived which was to see the sun- dering of ties of kindred and of friends. It was probably a fair day in the Indian summer of 1682 when the eight or ten families which had resolved to set up for themselves new homes along the Passaic above Newark took leave of their relatives at Bergen, and embarked on the frail craft, already

1 Saddle river.

2 Probably referring to the Indian wigwam on the west side of tbe river, on " Stoffel's Point."

3 Dankers and Sluyter, 261-72.

4 Ib., 264-271.

1 A very good guess; the heigbt is about seventy feet.

2 Southeast.

3 A far sighted suggestion, wbicb still seems as distant from realiza- tion as it was then.

4 This sketch has not been preserved. Judging by otber works of the same amateur artist the loss is not material.

5 Tbis distance should be divided by the figure 2.

6 Ex-Judge Simmons, of Passaic, is the authority for the tradition.

THE PATENT FOR ACQUACKANONK.

laden with their lares and penates, which were to transport them to the projected settlement.1 There were no roads as yet through the wilderness ; no bridges spanned the broad rivers, and so the only recourse was to make the journey by water. Sailing early in the morning, and favored by wind and tide, they might possibly have reached their destination before nightfall. Allowing, however, for the ordinary mis- haps of such a voyage, and taking into account, also, the natural deliberation with which the Dutch moved, especial- ly in such numbers, it is most likely that they had to camp on shore the first night, and reached Acquackanonk by noon of the next day. Doubtless the men had erected comfort- able log cabins, fit for dwellings and if need be fortresses as well, during the previous summer ; so on the arrival of the vessels from Bergen they could at once remove the goods to their rude houses, and two or three days of energetic work by the sturdy Dutch vrouws saw everything "to rights, " so far as the more immediate home comforts were concerned. The Newark people were much vexed that the Dutch should have secured the fair domain of "Hockquekanung, " and were fain to console themselves with an addition to the westward of their town, at Poquanock.2 The new settlers on the Passaic let nothing disturb them, but went on as quietly and systematically as if they had resided there for years. Elias Michielsen was appointed one of the justices of the peace for Essex county, on March 24, 1682-3,3 which may or may not indicate that he was already a resident of Acquackanonk. But the new settlement was unmistakably recognized by the action of the Governor and Council on December 3, 1683, when it was ordered that a warrant " be issued forth for the Choyce of a Constable by the Inhabi-

1 In the late William A. Whitehead's " East Jersey under the Propri- etary Governments," Ist ed. (1846), p. 49 ; 2d ed. (1875), p. 56, it is stated in a foot-note that there were Dutch settlers at Acquackanonk as early as 1640, the Albany Records, Vol. II., p. 101, being cited in support of that statement. From the account that has been given in these pages of the Indian wars up to 1655 it is obviously extremely improbable that any white settlers would have ventured as far as Acquackanonk as early as 1640. In order to ascertain precisely what foundation there was for this assertion, the writer addressed a letter on January 23, 1874, to the late E. B. O'Callaghan, M. D., who for many years prior to that time had been the Historiographer of New York, and had translated all or most of its original Dutch records and manuscripts, requesting an exact transcript of the entry in question in the Albany Records, cited by Mr. Whitehead. Under date of February 7, 1874, Dr. O'Callaghan wrote : "The transla- tion by Vanderkemp [who was employed about 1820 to translate the Dutch records in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany], in Vol. 2, p. 101, of Albany Records, is wrong, and has misled Mr. Whitehead. It seems that one Edward Griffin had come in 1640 to New Amsterdam (New York) from Maryland, and Gov. Calvert had sent on a requisition for his rendition on the ground that he was a 'fugitive from Service.' In rebuttal, Griffin proved by the evidence of Henry Pennington, of Hacke- mac [Maryland], that he was a freeman, and he was therefore discharged. Vanderkemp translated, or rather converted, Hackemac into Ackquacke- nack. Hence the blunder. I retranslated the volume, and whilst point- ing out, corrected the error, the particulars of which I now communi- cate. The trial of Griffin is to be found in Vol. 4, P. 75, of original Dutch MSS., to which I further refer." This is one of many inst- ances that could be given of the readiness of Dr. O'Callaghan to aid the historical researches of others.

2 Newark Town Records, 78.

3 N. J. Archives, XIII., 40.

tants at Aquaninoncke and New Barbadoes necke the warrt to bee sent to Captn Sandford." On the same day, "ffor the better setling and Exerciseing the Militia in every County within this province," it was ordered " that there bee one Major and so many Captaines Commissionated in Each County as there bee Inhabitants to make vp Compa- nyes. It's ordered that Maior Sandford appoint an officer to exercise the Inhabitants of Aquaninocke."1 The bound- ary between Acquackanonk and Newark (which then extend- ed northerly to Third river) seems to have occasioned some dispute between the two towns, the Newark people on March 22, 1683-4, appointing another committee on the sub- ject, with instructions "to make no other agreement with them of any other Bounds than what was formerly."2

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History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 17

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