USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 9
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Under this law a well was dug in the centre of the square. Troughs were placed around it for the cattle, and a long sweep used for raising the water. The well continued in nse until within the present century, when it was covered over and a lib- erty pole placed in it. This pole was taken down in the fall of 1870, when the square was paved and all traces of the well destroyed .?
Among other annoyances which arose in the government of the village, was the lack of men necessary for its protection. It was laid out in the woods and surrounded by unreliable Indians. Several of the lots in the town had been taken by people living in New Amsterdam, who neither came here to reside, nor sent men to do their part in the defence of the place, as was required by the charter. In all communities where one member shirks a duty, the other members are forced to bear unjust burdens. Those who resided in the town were obliged to contribute to its defence for their own safety, and thus protected the property of non-residents while securing their own. They felt this to be un- just, and their complaints to the authorities called forth the fol- lowing ordinance, passed November 15, 1663 :
" On the repeated complaints of the majority of the Inhabit-
in Carteret's grant to the freeholders, and became common property. These abandoned lots may be seen on the Field Map, and were allotted as common land.
1 N. Y. Col. MSS, x., 50.
2 The destruction of this well was almost a sacrilege. Its associations and its memories should have pleaded " like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of its " filling up. Perhaps in no other country would such an outrage have been attempted.
SS
HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
ants of the Village of Bergen, that some continue to neglect to occupy the Lots they obtained in said Village and to keep there- on a man fit to bear arms; also, that some absent themselves without providing their Watch, whereby the people of said Vil- lage are so much fatigued that they cannot any longer stand at their posts, and are unwilling to go any longer on guard, unless the others who have vacant Lots keep for the guard one man with them for each Lot; the Director-General and Council, in order to prevent this confusion, resolve that all those who claim any Lots in the aforesaid Village shall, within 24 hours after the service hereof, furnish and continually maintain for each Lot, one man able to bear arms and to keep watch and ward, on pain of having the Lots with the Lands thereunto appertaining, as sur- veyed by the Surveyor, immediately given and granted in pro- priety to others. Let every one be hereby warned for the last time."1
Communipaw was exempt from the general order that the peo -. ple should remove to the new village of Bergen. It was the in- tention to establish a village at that place also. On the eighth of September, 1660, Jacques Cortelyou was ordered to survey "Ge- meenepa " and lay it out into village lots .? The lots thus sur- veyed fronted on the bay and had a depth of about 200 feet. They extended from Communipaw avenue on the north to the Bay Shore House on the south. Within this small territory the village was erected and defences set up against the attack of the Indians. But the settlers did not all lend a willing hand to erect these defences. Some of them were too willing that the others should do all the work and bear all the expense, satisfied that their individual interests would be secured in the general protec- tion. To this those who were willing to perform their duty would not submit, and on the tenth of February, 1661, Tielman Van Vleck, for himself and in the name of Michiel Jansen, Cas- par Steinmets, and Harman Smeeman, presented a petition "that it might please the Director-General and Council to issue their
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., x., Part ii., 389.
2.Alb. Rec., xrir., 398. Winfield's Land Titles, 54.
PRYOR'S MILL, NEAR POINT OF ROCKS.
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COMMUNIPAW FORTIFIED.
orders with regard to the palisadoing of the new village on Ge- moenepa, so that it may be unanimously undertaken ; " and that all persons be commanded to make use of the newly laid out wagon road, and not of any other.
On this petition the apostille was : "The persons named in this petition are authorized to promote as well the palisadoing of the village as that of the land, so, as they considered the situation of the place and time, shall deem proper, carefully observing that the palisades which are used are of a due length and thick- ness, viz. : between six and seven feet above the ground, and to communicate this to the inhabitants of the village by affixed bil- lets, commanding them, upon an amende of two £ flanders, to be paid in behalf of the village by each one who, at the determined day, shall be found to have neglected the one or the other part of his duty. What regards the waggon road,1 this may be de- layed to a more favorable opportunity. On the day as above."?
1 The road referred to in this proceeding was the way from Communipaw to Bergen, running by the " Off-fall."
2 N. Y. Col. MSS., ix , 521. Such proceedings, looking to a mutual protection, seem to have encouraged settlers. On the 9th of May following Egbert San - derson and Jan Theunissen, inhabitants of Midwout and Amersfoort, Long Island, petitioned for leave to erect a saw-mill on a stream at " Gemoenepae," and move their families there, and for a lot of land for each. The request was granted. N. Y. Col. MSS., ix., 599. I have no doubt that they proceeded to erect a mill, probably on the site where Prior's mill subsequently stood, near Point of Rocks. In the patent to Claes Pietersen Cos, dated June 3, 1671, the " Mill of Hossemus "/is mentioned. Winfield's Land Titles, 48. It was a land- mark at that early date. From this mill the stream took its name of "Mill Creek." It was also called "Creek of the Woods" and " Creek of the High- woodlands," from the fact that it wound around the foot of the hill then crowned with trees.
Sandersen, in company with one Bartel Lott, on October 20th, 1661, petitioned again for permission to erect a saw-mill in "the newly commenced village of Bergen," and, inasmuch as there were no unoccupied lots, they asked for per- mission to negotiate with Jan Everse Karseboom for one. They were referred to the schepens of Bergen. This points to Showhank brook as the stream on which they desired to ereet the mill. Karseboom owned the land there. Win- field's Land Titles, 127.
This stream took its rise in an Indian spring in West Hoboken, and ran south till it came to where New York avenue crosses Palisade avenue. There it turned down the hill through a wild ravine and emptied into Mill Creek. After
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
The good work of palisading the village does not seem to have been well done, if it was done at all, for on the 18th of June, 1663, Gerrit Gerritsen, Harman Smeeman and Dirck Claessen were appointed commissioners to fortify Gemoenepa.1 All this precaution was necessary, for the savages yet prowled hereabouts, though their depredations were not so frequent as formerly. Yet in a journal of the Esopus war (1663), kept by Martin Krygier, it is reported that two Dutchmen were killed between " Gemoe- napa " and the " Maize Land " (Bergen), but who they were or why they were killed is not known.
this land came into the possession of the Van Vorst family there was a saw-mill on this stream at the foot of the hill. It was destroyed by fire, December 13th, 1835.
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., x., Part ii., 133.
CHAPTER V .- 1664-1673.
New Netherland captured by the English-Sir Edmund Ployden's claim to New Jersey-Governor Carteret reorganizes the court at Bergen-Speci- mens of suits in this court-Names of officers-People of Bergen take the oath of allegiance-First tavern license-Assemblymen elected- Carteret's charter to Bergen-Why he granted the land to the Free- holders.
.
WE now approach the downfall of the Dutch power in New Netherland. Events pass rapidly, and soon bring about the closing scenes. For more than fifty years the industrious Dutch had labored to establish a colony which would insure wealth to individual enterprise and be a source of strength and glory to the Fatherland. Nature, in its untamed wildness, had been to a landable extent subdued ; the savage, reluctant to forsake his old hunting-grounds and the graves of his fathers, had yielded to purchase, or been mollified by judicious treatment. In the midst of the unfavorable circumstances of their brief possession, they had succeeded in planting the seeds of what may now be considered a grand empire. The city which they founded has become the commercial centre of the continent, and after the lapse of two centuries since they yielded to another power, bears yet upon its face many of the features of the original settlement. In this county the language is still used among the old inhabi- tants, and in a few cosy nooks and quaint old families the customs of the Fatherland are still held in reverence. Kerstijd (Christ- mas), with its merrymakings, good dinners and many gifts, still makes its annual visit to gladden the hearts of old and young ; Nieuw Jar (New Year), with its cakes, wine and punch, yet opens the door of almost every house, and all day long visitors come and go, smiling and greeting. Paas (Easter) ever brings abun- dance of eggs, which, like Joseph's coat, are " of many colors," and wonderfully mysterious to the youngsters. Santa Claas, laden with gifts, makes his regular calls upon all devont believers. The
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IHISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
footprints of his tiny reindeers are still seen in the snow, and the chimney shows marks of his descent. He comes, however, only to those who sleep in the faith that he will come, and who have called upon him in the following devout prayer :
Sint Nicholaas, good heilig man, Trekt uw' besten Tabbard an, En reist daarmee naar Amsterdam,
Van Amsterdam naar Spanje, Waar appellen van Oranje, En appellen van Granaten,
Rollen door de straten.
Sint Nicholaas, myn goden vriend,
Ik heb u altyd wel gediend, Als gy my nu wat wilt geben Fal ik u dienen als myn leven.1
On the 12th of March, 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother James, Duke of York, inter alias, all that part of New Nether- land lying east of Delaware bay. On the 25th of May an expe- dition sailed from Portsmouth, England, to perfect the Duke's parchment title by reducing the country to his possession. Stuy- vesant seems to have been informed of the intended expedition.2 Seeing the danger approaching, the people of Bergen took meas- ures to put their village in a better state of defence. At their request, on the 21st of February, 1664, Arent Laurens, Jacob Luby, Harman Edwards, Laurens Andriessen, Paulus Pietersen, Jan Swaen and Jan Lubbertsen were appointed commissioners to erect block-houses for the protection of the town.3 Whether they
1 Saint Nicholas, good holy man, Put your best tabbard on you can, And in it go to Amsterdam, From Amsterdam to Hispanie, Where apples bright of Oranje, And likewise those pomegranates named,
Roll through the streets all unreclaimed. Saint Nicholas, my dear good friend, To serve you ever was my end ; If something you will now me give Serve you I will long as I live.
2 Broadhead, ii., 21.
3 N. Y. Col. MSS., r., Part iii., 73. New Neth. Reg., 158. .
93
THE DUKE OF YORK CONVEYS NEW JERSEY.
were ever begun or completed before the capture by the English, or where located, is not known.
The Duke's squadron was yet on the Atlantic, and the country yet in possession of the Dutch, when he, by deeds of lease and release, dated the 23d and 24th of June, conveyed to John, Lord Berkeley, a brother of the Governor of Virginia, and Sir George Carteret,1 the tract of land lying between the Hudson and Dela- ware rivers; " which said Tract of Land is hereafter to be called by the Name or Names of New Cesarea or New Jersey."? On the Sth of September his forces, under command of Colonel Richard Nicolls, captured New Amsterdam. This was done without a pretence of England and Holland being at war, but simply by way of reclaiming his own ! Ignorant of the fact that his master had already conveyed and named the territory in- cluded in the grant to Berkeley and Carteret, Colonel Nicolls gave it the name of Albania, in honor of the Duke.3
1 Leaming and Spicer, 10. Berkley is described as a "bold and insolent man, weak, not incorrupt, and very arbitrary." Carteret was " the most passion- ate man in the world." Broadhead, ii., 81.
" This is the first time the name was applied to this State. It was given in lionor of Sir George Carteret, who was born in the Island of Jersey in 1599. In 1626 he was appointed Governor of Jersey, in 1640 comptroller of His Majesty's ships, and in 1645 was created a baronet. lIe stood by the King in the civil war, followed the Prince of Wales to France in 1652, was thrown into the Bas- tile in 1657, and afterward banished from France. Ile entered London with Charles II., in 1660, was appointed Vice-Chamberlain, member of the Privy Council, and Treasurer of the Navy. In 1668 he was appointed one of the Board of Trade, and in 1669 expelled the House of Commons on a charge of embezzlement. In 1673 he became one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and died January 14, 1679. His remains were interred at Hawnes, in the county of Bed- ford. Col. Ilist. of N. Y., ii .. 410.
3 Broadhead, i., 745. Col. Hist. of N. Y., iii., 103. It is said that for some time the territory was called New Canary. These are not the only names which the State has borne. Sir Edmund Ployden, an impecunious dignitary, while in prison for debt, applied to Charles I. for a patent to settle the river Delaware. Being unsuccessful, he appealed to Stafford, Viceroy of Ireland, and obtained the patent of June 21, 1634. The extent of the grant was " four hundred and four score miles in compass or circuit of the mainland and country of America adjoining and lying near Delaware Bay, between Virginia and New England." This included New Jersey. The territory was erected into a " free county pala-
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
Articles of capitulation were agreed upon between Stuyvesant and Nicolls, two of which were as follows :
" III. All people shall continue free denizens, and shall enjoy their lands, houses, goods, wheresoever they are within this coun- try, and dispose of them as they please.
" XI. The Dutch here shall enjoy their own customs concern- ing their inheritances."1
On the 10th of February, 1664-5, Berkeley and Carteret com- missioned Philip Carteret, a brother of Sir George, to be Gover- nor .? He arrived in the latter part of July, 1665, and early in August assumed control of the Province. A few days afterward he reorganized the court at Bergen, and issued the following commission :
" By Virtue of the Power and Authority Given to me by the Lords Proprietors of New Jersey, I doe hereby Nominate and appoint you, Cap't Nicholas Verlett, to constitute and appoint a Court of Judicature for the Inhabitants of Bergen, Gemoene- paen, Ahasymes and Hooboocken, to be held and kept as often as Occasion shall Require in the aforesaid towne of Bergen, where you, the said Capt" Verlett, Is by Vertue of these Prsents to be President of the said court, And there to hear and Determine all Causes of Difference between party and party according to Jus-
1
tine," named New Albion, over which Sir Edmund became Earl palatine. For the settlement of this province a company was formed of forty-four lords, bar- ons, baronets, knights, gentlemen and adventurers, in the name of " The Albion Knights for the conversion of the twenty-three Kings" of Charles River. In 1643 the Earl came to New Amsterdam and claimed his rights, but soon retired, " for he would not quarrel with the Dutch." Ile esteemed the province a paradise, and when speaking of it in England said : "The spring waters there are as good as small beere heere." This Irish patent seems to have been given without the royal authority or consent, and was void. By his will, dated July 29, 1655, proved July 27, 1659, he gave New Albion to his son Thomas for life, and then to his heirs male, with the income of certain lands in England for the " planting, fortifying, peopling and stocking " of New Albion. Andrew Wall, son-in-law of Thomas, afterward obtained possession of the letters patent and refused to surrender them. Thomas willed them to his son Francis, May 16, 1698, but it is doubtful if the devisee ever obtained them.
1 These articles may be found in extenso in O'Cal., N. N., ii., 532.
? Leaming and Spicer, 26. Whitehead's East Jersey, 36.
CARTERET REORGANIZES THIE BERGEN COURT. 95
tice and Right. Wt the advice and Assistance of Herman Smeeman, Casper Steynmets of Bergen and Elyas Michiels of Gemoenepaen, Whoe are hereby appointed Magistrates to sett in the said Court as yor Assistants, And you have hereby Likewise Power to apoint a Register or Clark of the said Court, Whoe is to keepe a Recorde of all Actions and canses that are brought before you, And a Serjant or Statesboade to Execute all Such Acts and Warrants as shall proceed from you as occasion shall Require, Provided that all Writs, Warrants and Sutes are to be in his Maties Name, And what you wt the advice of your Assist- ants shall act by Vertue of this Power given you, shall be Effect- uall and good in Lawe, And that Noe Apeale shall be made to the Governor and his Councill, Undr the some of tenn Pounds sterling, And this Commission to continne till Wee shall other- wise provide for the settlement of those affaires and no Longer.
" Given und" my hand and seale of the Province of New Jersey aforesaid the thirtieth day of August, 1665, and in the 17th yeare of his Maties Raigne."1
1 Liber 3 Deeds (Trenton) 1. The records of this court which would have thrown so much light on the early history of Bergen and the manners and customs of the people, unfortunately are lost. After diligent search I have found the record of only two suits, both of which were appealed, and, strange to say, both were about hogs. I will here insert them for the curious reader :
Extract from the Register of the Minutes of the Court of Bergen, dated 11 November, 1673 :
The Schout, CLAES ARENTSE TOERS, Pl't'If, contra Captain JOHN BERRY, Deft.
"Pl't'ff proceeds against the Deft on a complaint made by Capt. Sandford to the Rt. Honble the Governor-General in regard to the removal from Major Kingsland of some hogs without the knowledge of any officer. Whereupon the Schout prosecutes for the value thereof. Deft. acknowledges having car- ried off the hogs to his house, but on the Statement of Sandford's negro, Tjick Deft. claims that they were his.
" The Schout, acting on behalf of justice, maintains that no one can be his own judge on the naked saying of a negro. He proceeds therefore on a charge of Theft.
-
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
The judges of this court under the English rule were as fol- lows :
Nicholas Verlet, President.
Harman Smeeman, Casper Steinmets, Elias Michielse, Ide Van Vorst,
Commissioned.
Assistants, - - August 30, 1665.
" The magistrates demand of deft. if he hath anything further to produce as his answer.
" Deft. answers-Nothing else than that I claim that they are my own hogs.
" The Schout demands that deft. be condemned criminally, and demands a fine of 500 guilders, and that the hogs be put back in the place from which they were taken.
" The magistrates condemn the deft. in a fine of 250 guilders, one-half for the officer, one-third of the other half for the church, and one-third for the poor, and one-third for the Court of Bergen, and in case the Deft. cannot furnish fur- ther proof that they are his own hogs, he is ordered to deliver up the hogs into the hands of the officer of the jurisdiction of Bergen, and pay, moreover, the costs incurred herein.
" Agrees with the aforesaid Register, quod attestor." N. Y. Col. MSS., xiii., 286.
The appeal from this judgment is unique, and throws additional light upon several customs of that day :
" Capt. John Berry humbly informs your Honor that, on the 11th January, 1670, new style, I departed hence from my plantation (situate a short English mile from Captain Sandford), leaving 13 sows, one boar and 2 barrow hogs. I returned here again in July, 1670, expecting to have found at least 100 hogs, but instead of an increase they were diminished (according to Captain Sand- ford's statement) to one sow and six barrows, which were not forthcoming. But very early on the subsequent morning my upper servant brought me word that some of the hogs had come back from Milfort, whereupon I answered him they may carry them back there ; and about an hour after that Capt. Sandford's negro came there. So seeing the aforesaid hogs, he said to mne, ' Here is a sow belonging to my master, and the old sow.' I asked him, ' What old sow ?' He answered, ' One of the sows which you left here when you went to Barba- does.' I asked him if she had had no increase, to which he gave me a vague reply, only saying that they had last winter 7 shoats. Whereupon I said : ' There are six young pigs with her about the same age, and for the most part of the color of the sow, according to all appearance they are six of the seven.'
97
JOIN BERRY APPEALS FROM THE COURT.
Tynament (Tielman ?) Van Vleck, Town Clerk, ) Commissioned.
William Sandford, President,
March 8, 1669 1
Samuel Edsall, ) either to act ; - February 15, 1674.
Lourens Andriesen, Y as President,
To which he answered, ' I believe so.' Then I said to him, ' Let us go near by and see if they do not belong to your master.' Which we did, and when we had taken a good look at them, he said, 'No, they are not my master's ; they have not any holes in their ears' (which was the distinctive mark betweene Capt. Sandford and Mr. Kingsland's). Then said I to him, 'One of the young pigs has a lame foot,' whereupon he answered that one of my sows had a broken knee. Then said I again, 'Beyond a doubt these six harrows are the product of my sow.' The negro replied, ' I think so.' He earnestly requested me not to let it be known that he had disclosed to me, for if his master came to know it, he should be very angry with him. 'Well,' I said, ' from all appearance they justly belong to me ; I shall provisionally convey them to my plantation.' But two or three days after I had reached home, I went to the plantation. Shortly afterward I had some conversation with Captain Sandford respecting these hogs. I said to him, ' They do not belong to you, for you have told myself that all your hogs had holes cut in their ears, but to all appearance they belong to me.' He answered, ' All do not belong to me ; there is one at the plantation to which I shall lay claim, as it appears.' For when I returned to my plantation, my upper servant told me that Captain Sandford's housekeeper had been there to look them up, saying that they belonged to them, inasmuch as the aforesaid sow did not belong to me, but that I had given her to Capt. Sandford, as well as the Boar, for the wintering of 2 oxen ; which is untrue. (These words are in tacit acknowledgment that they were the progeny of the sow.) But that pre- tense is now out of doors, for he recovered 120 from me for the wintering of the aforesaid oxen, and he has been allowed by the arbitrators between us as much as is customary for the wintering of oxen, and the sow and Boar remain mine. But I should trust and hope more, had I to do with people who professed the fear of the Lord and had an upright heart.
" When the aforesaid hogs came back to the house I had them caught, and went immediately to Capt. Sandford, but he not being at home, the housekeeper and I had some sharp talk on this matter. She said to me that she had had the greatest trouble to bring them up, and therefore ought to have them in prefer- ence to any other person. I answered they were not hers on that account, but to all appearance they were the increase of my sow, and therefore belonged to me. She replied that they belonged to her. Then said 1, ' How ; if all your hogs have holes in their ears ?' 'See well to it,' she said, ' you will find holes in the ears of some, and I warn you, sir, that you will not meet with success.' ' Well,' said I, 'send one of your Negroes with me ; they are now in the Stone house, and let him see ; if there are holes in the ears, I shall let them go, unless such are of recent date.' But she refused to send any one. Next morning
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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY.
Commissioned.
John Berry, President. Samuel Edsall, Lourens Andriesen,
1
- March 13, 1676.
Elias Michielsen,
Engelbert Steenhuysen,
when we examined the logs by daylight we found that they had holes in the ears, but the scab was yet on the holes, and matter under the scab, and they had a stinking smell, whence it clearly appears that the holes were recently made, but the mark of the plantation was of old, and I congratulate her there- on, and believe it was done when they were shoats, long before they strayed away. Whence it is clearly manifest that such was done todeceive the Honble Governor or me. For they do not belong to me. If they are of the plantation it is mine. The cause being small, I carried only four away from there, and left two to run at large there until my return ; but where they landed I believe Capt. Sandford or his housekeeper knows best, for they could not have any previous knowledge of my journey. Thereupon Captain Sandford craftily made his complaint to the Honble Governor that I had carried off from there some logs which belonged to him or some one else; for he knows that they are neither his nor his housekeeper's.
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