USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 11
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"11thly. That in case of Invasion or Insurrection by the In- dians or others, they are mutually, as well the Freeholders as all other Inhabitants, to Join with all other Townes and Plantations within the said Province, for the defence an safety of the same, but no Warr to be levied withont the consent of the Governor, Councill and General Assembly.
"12thly. That all Freeholders aforesaid, or the Major part of them, have power annually on every first day of January, or at any other set tyme as they shall appoint, to chuse one or more
1 This privilege (extended also to East Jersey) was the source of much un- easiness on the part of New York, and the cause of many efforts for the annex- ation of East Jersey to that province. The following extract will show the general argument used by New York : " East Jersey is scituate on Hudson's River over against Long Island, Staten Island and New Yorke, and they pre- tend by the aforementioned grant to be a free place and to have free ports to trade as they please, which if admitted must certainly destroy yor Majties in- terest and revenue here ; for what merchant will come to New York and trade and pay to Yor Majty 2 and 10 pr cent with the excise and Yor Majties dutys settled here, if they can at 2 or 3 miles distance over against the same place go and be free from any duty or imposition whatever." Col. Hist. of N. Y., iii., 798.
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
Constables for the Public Service, which said Constable or Con- stables are to be sworne in their office by the Justice of the Peace according to the oath preseribed.
" 13thly. That all the Freeholders and others, the Inhabitants aforesaid, are to submit themselves to the Laws and Government of the Province, and to swear or subscribe to the Oath of Alea- gence to the King and Fidelity to the Lords Proprietors. And in case they or any of them have a desire to remove or Transport themselves to any other place, they have liberty so to do, and to dispose of their Lands and Estates to their best Advantages.
"14thly. That the said Corporation or Towneship have power to Errect and Ordaine a Court of judicature within their own Jurisdiction, and for the Limitts thereof for the Tryall of all causes Actionable between party and party, from whence there shall be no Appeal under the sum of Five Pounds Sterling, and also for the Tryall of all Criminal and causes of Misdemeanor, and to inflict such Fines and Punishments as the Meritt of the cause shall require, as by Imprisonment, Stocking, Piloring, Ducking, Branding, Whipping1 not exceeding twenty stripes, and the like, Which Court is to consist of a President, who is to be a Justice of the Peace, and the Magistrates, or any two of them at the least, a Clarke, and such other officers as they shall appoint, which said Magistrates and Clarke are to be sworne in their offices, and the Clarke to be approved of by the Secretary Gen- eral of the Province, who is to keep an Exact Record of all actions that shall be brought in and tryed in said Court, and to give an account thereof unto him when thereunto required by the Governor and his Councill. No Freeholder is to be arrested or detained a Prisoner for debt until Judgment be passed and Execution granted, unless it can be made to appear that the party has an Intent to defraud his Creditors by running out of the
1 In the olden time there was a lock-up on the easterly side of the Square, near the site of the present school-house. Within the last fifty years the stocks were in use on the westerly side of the Square, and but one generation has passed since the whipping-post was a wholesome antidote to petty offences and a terror to evil doers. Many an old person still living has seen the victim writhe under the lash, laid on with a skillful flourish by the old constable.
111
CARTERET'S CHARTER.
Country. That all persons, as well Frecholders as other Inhabi- tants, in Case of Appeal, the Appellant shall give in security to prosecute his Appeal, or stand to the Judgment of the Court. AII causes according to the Laws of England shall be tried by a Jury of six or twelve men, and whomsoever shall trouble and molest his neighbor, being of the same Corporation, by arresting of him and going to Law in another Jurisdiction, shall be liable to a Fine according to the discretion of the Court. The Justice or Justices of the Peace being Commissioned and sworne in their office, have power to Administer the oath of Aleagance and Fidelitie, and all other Oaths that are required by the law, and to issue out in His Majestie's name, or in whose name or names It shall or may here- after be appointed by the Lawes, their Warrants of Summons, and arrest within the limitts and Jurisdiction of the said Corpo- ration or Towneship, directing the same to the Constable, Mar- shall, or what other Officer or Officers the said Corporation shall in their discretion think fit to appoint for that Service, who are to put the same in Exeention accordingly, and also to Issue out their Warrants for the apprehending of all Malefactors and Runaways, and to prosecute them by way of Hugh and Cry, and to do all such thing and things by their authority according to Law and Jus- tice as may conduce to the Peace and well Government of the said Province, Corporation and Towneship. Provided that all Fynes are to be disposed of for Charitable or public uses. It is to be noted that whereas it is said in the Eight articles1 that all Mortgages, Transports, Sales and Leases of Land are to be record- ed by the Secretary, they are first to be acknowledged before the Governor or a Justice of the Peace by the Granter, or by two good Sufficient Witnesses, Attested on the backside of the aforesaid deed, which is a Warrant for the Secretary to record the same.
"In Confirmation of the premises, Wee the said Governor and the Councill have hereunto set our hands the 22d day of Septem- ber, 1668, and the 20th year of the Reign of our Sovn. Lord Charles the Second of England, Scotland, France and Ireland,
1 The eighth article of this Charter.
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
King, Defender of the Faith, &e. : and the Seale was placed by consent before signing.
" PHI. CARTERET.
" Robert Vangnellen, Ni. Varlett, Samuel Edsall, Robert Bond, " William Pardon.
" James Bollen, Secretary and of the Councill."
What caused the granting of this Charter is not now known. The following certificate of Governor Stuyvesant may throw some light upon it :
" We, underwritten, the late Director-General and Conneil of New Netherlandt, hereby certify and deelare that in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-one, by us underwritten, in quality as aforesaid, have given and granted to the inhabitants of the vil- lage of Bergen, the lands with the meadows thereunto annexed, situate on the West side of the North River in Pavonia, in the same manner as the same was by ns underwritten, purchased of the Indians, and as the same was to ns delivered, by the said In- dians, pursuant to an instrument of sale and delivery thereof, being under the date of the 30th of January, A. D. one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight; with this express condition and promise, that the aforesaid inhabitants of the before named village shall not be prejudiced in their ontdrift, by means of any private collective dwellings (saving only the right of the then already cultivated farms at Gemoenepan). But that all such who have any lands within the district of the before named village, and especially at Pemrepogh, and Mingackque, all such owners shall be obliged to remove their dwellings and place them in the vil- lage or town of Bergen, or by or about the neighborhood of Ge- moenepan before named. Conditioned, however, that the afore- said owners (in case they should desire the same) should be permitted to share and divide with the inhabitants of the before named village or town, in the common lands of the said town, and in the place and stead of their lands lying at Pemrepoghi and Mingackquie before named. (And especially that the meadows laying near the village or town of Bergen, where the same begins,
113
GOVERNOR STUYVESANT'S CERTIFICATE.
at the West side along Kill van Kol, should be and belong to and for the use of the before named inhabitants of Bergen).
" And further, we the underwritten, certify and declare, that Michael Jansen, deceased (before or about the time that the aforesaid village or town was laid out), for himself, as also for and in behalf of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Jansen Barker,1 did in our presence, renounce all the right they had to the pasture ground laying behind Gemoenepan, for a common outdrift and pasture between the aforesaid village or town, and the neighbor- hood of Gemoenepan, before named.
" And lastly, that no more lands were given or granted to Direk Clausen, than Rightpoeques, with the meadows thereunto belonging, as by the ground-brief thereof may further appear.
" In testimony of the truth, we have signed these with our own hands, in New York, the 26th of October, A. D.
"P. STUYVESANT, " NICASIUS DE SILLE."2
By what instrument the lands herein referred to were granted
1 Backer. Winfield's Land Titles, 50.
2 Taylor's Annals, 50. " The year when this certificate was given is not in - telligible in the original instrument. But as they certify as former Governor and Council, it must have been after August, 1664, when the English conquered the country. New York, February 20th, 1764. Translated from the Dutch, by Abm. Lott, Jun'r."
The last two paragraphs of the certificate seem to refer to the meadow through which the Morris canal now passes, between the Cavan Point road and Hudson avenue. There was a fierce controversy between the village of Bergen and the people of Communipaw, Raccocas and Minkakwa, relating to some land and the fences thereon, which was referred to arbitrators, and finally carried before the Governor of New Orange in July, 1674. V. Y. Col MSS., xxiii., 364, 5, 9. In their appeal the inhabitants of Bergen show that their deputies -Hans Diedricks and Engelbert Steenhuysen-had yielded their claim, by which they were "cut off from the lowermost meadow," and a fence was erected by which they were " separated from Gemonepa so that we cannot have access to the water side except by a roundabout way." This leaves but little doubt as to the land in controversy, and it is the same referred to by Governor Stuyvesant as having been renounced by Michael Jansen. Jansen died in 1663, the Dutch surrendered in 1664, Stuyvesant died in 1671 ; hence the above cer- tificate must have been dated between 1664 and 1671. It is quite probable that it was dated prior to Carteret's charter of Bergen.
8
114
HISTORY OF IIUDSON COUNTY.
to the inhabitants of Bergen we do not know. Such grant is not to be found in the Ordinance of September 5, 1661, and it is worthy of notice that many grants from the Dutch Government to individuals are to be found bearing a later date; yet the Governor must have understood the Ordinance of 1661 to contain such a grant, or else the grant to which he refers has been lost. Whatever the fact about the grant may be, it is quite probable that this certificate went far toward satisfying Governor Carteret that the freeholders of Bergen were entitled to all the unpatented lands. In this light the Charter of 1668 was only a confirmation of the rights which the " Freeholders, Inhabitants of Bergen," possessed under the Dutch Government.
.
CHAPTER VI .- 1673-1764.
The country recaptured by the Dutch-Bergen summoned to surrender-The people comply and take oath of allegiance-The military power of Ber- gen organized-Controversy between Bergen and its dependent hamlets, Pembrepogh and Minkakwa-Bergen sends her soldiers to New Orange -The country surrendered to the English-Condition of the country in 1680-Its villages and farms-Provision for the care of the common land -Its final partition.
THE war which followed the seizure of New Netherland ended in the treaty of Breda, July 31, 1667, by which each party was to hold what had been captured during the contest. This confirmed New Netherland to the English. In March, 1672, war again broke out between England and the States. The Dutch des- patched a small squadron to cruise on the American coast and destroy the English shipping. Cornelis Evertsen and Jacob Binekes, joining their forces at Martinico, sailed with their five vessels for the Chesapeake. Capturing some vessels there and ob- taining information as to the state of the defences at New York, they sailed for that place. On the 29th of July, 1673, the fleet, now consisting of twenty-three vessels, carrying sixteen hundred men. anchored in the bay. The land forces of the Dutch were under Captain Anthony Colve, who took possession of the city on the following day.1 Three days afterward (August 12th, N. S.) the following summons was sent to Bergen, one of the villages in the " Province of New Yarsey," which had not yet sent dele- gates to the Dutch commanders to treat concerning surrender :
" To the Inhabitants of the Village of' Bergen, and the Hamlets und Bouweries thereon depending :
" You are hereby ordered and instructed to despatch Delegates from your Village here to us, to treat with us on next Tuesday, respecting the surrender of your town to the obedience of their
1 Broudhead, ii., 207. Valentine's Hist. of N. Y., 170.
113
116
HISTORY OF NIUDSON COUNTY.
High Mightinesses, the Lords States-General of the United Neth- erlands, his Serene Highness the Prince of Orange, or on refusal so to do, we shall be obliged to constrain you thereunto by force of arms.
"Dated at the City Hall of the city of New Orange, the 12th of August, Anno 1673.
" CORNELIS EVERTSE, Junior, " JACOB BENCKES.
" By their order.
"N. BAYARD, Secrety."1
The good burghers of Bergen did not wait to be " constrained thereunto," but, influenced, by a national sympathy, surrendered most graciously. On the 18th they sent in a list of the names of some of their most prominent citizens, from which the authori- ties in New York, now called New Orange, might make selection of magistrates. This being done, as hereinbefore stated, a certifi- cate of their election was sent to them, and they were required to appear in New Orange to be sworn into office.2 On the 21st they appeared, in accordance with the requisition, and took the following oath :
" We, the Schout, Schepens and Secretary of the Village of Bergen, qualified by the Honble Council of War, do promise and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that we, each in his quality, will, according to the best of our knowledge and without passion, administer good law and justice between parties in cases brought before us ; that we will promote the welfare of this vil- lage and its inhabitants ; in all things defend the upright and true Christian Religion agreeably to the Word of God and the order of the Synod of Dordrecht taught in the Netherland church : in all circumstances obey, maintain and help to maintain the Supreme Government placed, or hereafter yet to be appointed over us, in the name of their High Mightinesses the Lords States- General of the United Netherlands and his Highness of Orange,
1 Col. Hist. of N. Y., ii., 571.
2 Ibid, ii., 571.
117
BERGENERS TAKE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
and prevent, as far as in our power lies, everything that may conflict with it. So truly help us God."1
At the time of taking the oath the magistrates were notified that the commanders would visit Bergen on the following "Sun- day after the sermon, in order to administer the oath of allegi- ance to all their people." On the 27th the commanders and Council of War of New Orange came over as they had promised. They found the number of the burghers of Bergen and sur- rounding dependencies to be seventy-eight,? sixty-nine of whom appeared at the tap of the drum and took the oath of allegiance. The magistrates were ordered to forward the oaths of those who were absent. The oath taken by the Dutch inhabitants was dif- ferent from that taken by the English, and was as follows : " We do promise and swear, in the presence of the Almighty God, to be loyal and faithful to their High Mightinesses the Lords States-General of the United Netherlands, and his Serene Highness the Prince of Orange, and their governor, already, or hereafter to be, appointed here, and to comport ourselves on all occasions as loyal and faithful subjects are bound to do. So truly help me Almighty God."3 On the 4th of September, the town of Bergen having sent in names for that purpose, the authorities in New Orange selected the following militia officers:
CASPAR STEYNMETS, Captain.
HANS DIEDERICKS, Lieutenant.4 ADRIAEN POST, Ensign.
1 Col. Hist. of N. Y., ii., 574, 578, 580. The Schout was afterward authorized " to fill and execute the office of Auctioneer." This position gave him the power to sell property on judgments pronounced by the court. Ordinarily, this right belonged, ex-officio, to the Provincial Secretary. New Neth. Reg., 114. This court had power not only to hear and determine causes brought before them, but to pass ordinances for the government of the people. In October, 1673, this court passed an ordinance respecting the observance of Sunday, etc., which was ap- proved by the council in New Orange. Col. Ilist. of N. Y., ii., 643. N. Y. Col. MSS., xxiii., 133. This ordinance is missing.
2 This I presume shows the number of white males above the age of twenty- one years.
3 Col. Hlist. of N. Y., ii., 589. Mr. Whitehead, East Jersey, 61, says the inhab- itants of Bergen were " probably considered too much in their interest to re- quire the binding influence of an oath."
4 Ibid, ii., 597. Diedricks was one of the grantees of "Haquequenunck,"
118
HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
This provision for military organization was but keeping up what had been practised before the English took possession of the country, and what they continued when the Dutch rule had passed away. In less than two years after the foundation of Ber- gen, officers were appointed to marshall the growing powers of the ambitious village and its belligerent dependencies.
For ( Adriaen Post, Ensign, Appointed June 30, 1663. Bergen. ( John Swaen, Sergeant. S
For Harman Smeeman, Ensign, ) « 6.1
Gemoenepa. ¿ Gerrit Gerritsen, Sergeant. \
As officers of a foot company to be enlisted in Bergen, Gemoene- paen, Ahasymus and Hooboocken, the following appointments were made :
Nicholas Verlett, Captain,
Caspar Steinmets, Lieutenant,
Appointed September 6, 1665.2
Adrian Post, Ensign.
John Berry,3 Captain,
Adrian Post, Lieutenant, & Appointed July 15, 1675.4
Elias Michielsen, Ensign.
William Laurence, Captain, - Appointed July 4, 1681.5
Jacob Lubert, Lieutenant,
Enoch Michielsen, Ensign.
Gerbrand Claesen, Captain,
Gerrit Gerritsen, Lieutenant, { Appointed Nov. 10, 1692. Jan Adrianse Sip, Ensign.
March 28, 1679. Whitehead's East Jersey, 49. It is doubtful, however, if he ever settled there, for on " Thursday, the 2nd off May, 1639, the Justices off the peace off Bergen County and East Yarsey came and mett the Governor, vizt., Coll. Hamilton, Coll. Townly, Capt. Berry, Capt. Bowne, and Magistrates of Bergen, all promising that they would be aiding and assisting to reprias any comon enemy, and because there are noe militairy officers in commission in the County or Corporation off Bergen, Hans Diedrick was appointed Capt., Juriaen Thomas Leftenant, and Claes Teers (Toers) Ensigne of said Corporation, and Commissions given accordingly." N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1868, 247.
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., r., Part ii., 168. 2 Liber 3 of Deeds (Trenton), 1.
" Berry's house in Bergen was, on the 19th of July, 1673, made the " prison for ye province," until a house could be built for that purpose, and Adrian Post, constable, was made keeper. Book 3 of Deeds (Trenton), 93.
4 Ibid, 117. Michael Smith was appointed Lieutenant in this company June 2,1677. Ibid, 134. 5 lbid, 189.
119
CONTENTION ABOUT PRECENTOR AND SCHOOLMASTER.
Shortly previous to the re-occupation by the Dutch, a contro- versy arose between the authorities of the town of Bergen and the people residing in the " Villages of Pemrepogh and Min- gagque," then considered as dependent hamlets. It seems to have been the rule that all the inhabitants should, without regard to creed, contribute to the support of the Precentor1 and School- master at Bergen. To this the independent citizens objected. Thereupon, on the 18th of December, 1672, the Sehout and Magistrates of Bergen ordered that all should pay. This being disregarded, they called upon the anthorities in New Orange to compel the inhabitants of all the settlements, of what religious persnasion soever they might be, to pay their share toward the support of the Precentor and Schoolmaster .? Upon this appeal. it was, upon the 24th of December, 1673, ordered : "That all the said inhabitants, without exception, shall, pursuant to the resolution of the Magistrates of the town of Bergen, dated 18th Xber. 1672, and subsequent confirmation, pay their share for the support of said Precentor and Schoolmaster." Over this deci- sion there was doubtless great rejoicing in Bergen and Buyten Tuyn. The Schoolmaster contided to his whip a more artistic flourish, and the Precentor chanted with a clearer voice. But his triumphant cadences were soon turned into the doleful minor by the unregenerate stubbornness of "Mingagque and Pemre- pogh." These " uncircumcised in heart" thought Old Hundred and Windham, piping out from under the pulpit, very good inusic for those who were educated up to that standard, and were willing to pay for the luxury. The Schoolnaster, "with eyes severe," piloting the bewildered urchin through the mazes of the
1 The precentor, or chorister, was generally the voorleezer or reader of the service preceding the sermon. Dr. Taylor says he was also for many years the schoolmaster, duly appointed by the consistory of the church. Taylor's An- nals, 111. When, therefore, as in the text, precentor and schoolmaster are spoken of, it is highly probable that they refer to one and the same person. In the case of Steenhuysen, hereinbefore spoken of, he seems to have been ap. pointed by the Governor and Council, after approval by the people, his name having been submitted to the " community" by the town authorities, the con- sistory having nothing to do with him.
" Col. Hist. of N. Y., ii., 672.
120
HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
multiplication table by the aid of the birch, was very good in his way to those who lived near enough to enjoy the blessing of his wisdom. But they resolutely refused to be thus edified or in- strueted, and declined to contribute to the general expense of such benefactions. On the 24th of May, 1674, the Schout and Sehepens again complained that some of the inhabitants of those "independent hamlets," in utter contempt of the previous order, obstinately refused to pay their quota to the support of the Pre- centor and Schoolnaster. This persistent disobedience aroused the representatives of their High Mightinesses. They resolved to adhere to their previous order, and, to give it force by wielding over the heads of the disobedient direful threats of pains and penalties, ordered the " Schont to proceed to immediate execution against all unwilling debtors."1 Thus circumstanced, the " un- willing debtors" must either fight or remonstrate against what they considered an oppression. They wisely chose the latter course. Lourens Andriesen, of Mingagque, and Joost van der Linde, of Pemrepogh, were appointed agents to submit the cause of the people to the authorities in New Orange. This was faith- fully done, but, alas, "after due enquiry," it was formally ad- judged, "that the inhabitants of Pemrepogh and Mingaghquy, shall promptly pay their share for the support aforesaid, on pain of proceeding against them with immediate execution."2
This was the end of the controversy. Judgment had been en- tered for Bergen in the court of final resort, and nothing remained better than submission. But contention upon one subject soon produced difference in views, and controversy upon another. The lands in the township that were not covered by grants were considered common for the use of all. A certain common fence had been constructed to separate the heifers and steers from the milch cows and oxen. A question then arose between the town of Bergen and the "dependent hamlets" Gemoenepa, Mingagque and Pemrepogh, respecting the making and maintenance of this fence. The cause of dispute was an old one, and had been re- ferred by Governor Carteret and Council to four arbitrators cho-
1 Col. Hist. of N. Y., ii., 716.
2 Ibid, ii., 730.
121
BERGEN CALLED TO THE FIELD.
sen by both sides. These arbitrators, on the 10th of April, 1672, submitted their award, which the people of Bergen were willing to obey, but it was rejected by the others. Bergen now appealed to the Governor and council of war to compel the other parties to perform the award. On the 24th of May, 1674, the inhabi- tants of the three " dependent hamlets" were ordered to regu- late themselves according to the decision of the arbitrators, or within fourteen days to submit any objection which they could produce against the award.1 It does not appear that any objec- tions were ever filed or that they obtained any modification of' the award.
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