USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Bergen > Old Bergen: History and Reminiscences with Maps and Illustrations > Part 4
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The commanding position of the territory, making it capable of easy defence and protection, together with its proximity to New Amsterdam, doubtless deter- mined the selection of this locality. The town was directed to be laid out by Jacques Cortelyou, the first surveyor of New Amsterdam. It was in the form of a square, eight hundred feet long on each side, with two cross streets meeting at right angles in the center, where a vacant space was reserved, one hundred and sixty feet by two hundred and twenty-five feet. These streets divided the plot into four quarters, which were subdivided into building lots. Along the outer side of the plot palisades were erected, with gates at the termination of the cross streets, which were closed at night, or when any attack of Indians was threatened. The original plan is still preserved at Bergen Square, Academy Street and Bergen Avenue being the inter- secting cross streets, while Tuers and Idaho Avenues on the east and west, and Newkirk and Vroom Streets on the north and south, mark the line of the palisades.
The houses of the settlers were erected within the enclosure, in accordance with the condition of the
savages became unusually active. On such occasions, water was obtained at great risk, and much suffering was caused. Whereupon the Schout and Schepens ordained, that a well for the public accommodation be constructed within the enclosure. This action was ratified by the Council at New Amsterdam, February
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grant of the Council, for their better protection against Indian attacks ; while their farms extended out into the adjoining country. These were called buytentuyn, or outside gardens. They were thoroughly cultivated, and in part used for grazing, and the cattle were driven within the palisades nightly, or when the
"OLD BERGEN."
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9, 1662, and a well was dug in the center of the square, a long sweep erected for raising the water, and troughs placed about it from which the cattle might drink. This well was used for a long time, but was finally filled up and covered over. During the war of 1812, a Liberty Pole was erected in it.
This pole was surmounted by a gilded star, which, flashing in the sunlight from its prominent position, was visible from a long distance. It became a land- mark especially for wary fishermen to locate the favorite haunts of the finny tribe in the waters of New York and Newark Bays. Their custom was to run an imaginary line from it to some prominent object on the opposite shore, which was crossed at the spot sought for by a similar line at right angles. This pole was taken down in 1870, when the car tracks were laid. As the square still retains its original size and shape, the exact location of the old well can be approximated, as it was dug in its center.
A curious document dated April 1, 1661, sets forth the lease of a lot, conditioning the construction of a house thirty feet long, and barn fifty feet long, to be built along the palisades of the village. "The lessor to deliver in March, a plow and wagon for joint use ; also on halves, two young cows, and two three-year-old oxen, on half risk; and the following spring, two more of each. The occupant to pay the first and second years, fifteen pounds of butter for each cow, and for the remaining four years of the term, two hundred guilders, in coin or good wampum,"
Chapter XIV.
BERGEN CONTINUED.
As the population of the town and the surrounding country increased, it was felt that some more conveni- ent manner of settling the disputes and difficulties that were continually arising, should be determined upon, than had previously existed. The Court of Burgo- masters and the Schepens at New Amsterdam exercised jurisdiction on the west side of the river as well as in that place ; and not being in possession of actual knowledge of existing conditions, they were unable to decide promptly or accurately the questions submitted to them. A petition was thereupon presented to the Governor and Council at New Amsterdam, asking for relief, and praying for the establishment of a " local court of justice," which should determine and adjudi- cate such questions as should arise, affecting the peti- tioners.
In response thereto, the following ordinance was passed September 5, 1661, by the Director and Council of New Netherlands, erecting a court of justice at Bergen : " That their Honors do not hope or wish for anything else than the prosperity and welfare of their good inhabitants in general, and in particular, of the people residing in the village of Bergen, situated on the west side of the North River; and considering the
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increase in population of said village, therefore re- solved, to favor its inhabitants with an Inferior Court of Justice, and to constitute it, as much as possible, and as the circumstances of the country permit, ac- cording to the laudable custom of the City of Amster- dam, in Holland, but so that all judgments shall be subject to reversal by, and an appeal to, the Director General, and Council of New Netherlands, to be by their Honors finally disposed of.
" It is necessary to choose as judges, honest, intelligent persons, owners of real estate, who are lovers of peace, and well affected subjects of their lords and patrons and of their Supreme Government established here, promoters and professors of the Reformed Religion as it is at present taught, in conformity of the Word of God, and the order of the Synod of Dortrecht; which court for the present, until it shall be herein otherwise ordained by the said lords, patrons, or their deputy, shall consist of one Schout, who shall convoke the appointed Schepens, and preside at the meeting, and with three Schepens, to which office are for the present time, and ensuing year, commencing the 20th of this month, elected by the Director General and Council, Michael Jansen, Harman Smeeman, and Caspar Stynmets.
" The Schout and Schepens are authorized in case of any special emergency or necessity, to enact some Ordinances for the greater advantage and contentment of the aforesaid village ; respecting surveys, highways, outlets, ports, and fences of lands ; laying out of
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gardens, orchards, and such like matters . . Also in regard to the buildings of churches, schools, and similar public works, and the means by which same are to be effected. But to commit to writing their opinions thereupon, and the reasons therefor, and submit them to the Director General and Council, in order that they may be approved and confirmed."
These magistrates were obliged to take oath, among other things, that they would "maintain the · Reformed Religion and no other, and support the . same." The first Schout was Tilman Van Vleck, who was commissioned the same date, and the first municipal government and court in the State of New Jersey was thus constituted :
TILMAN VAN VLECK, SCHOUT.
MICHAEL JANSEN,
HARMAN SMEEMAN, ( SCHEPENS. CASPAR STYNMETS,
The erection of this court, elevating the little village into the dignity of a seat of justice and government for the surrounding territory, doubtless attached its name to all the neighboring dependencies, and although many of them retained locally the name by which each little settlement was originally known, yet from this time forth, they were all referred to and designated under the general name of Bergen. Thus, although it is historically recorded that New Jersey was first settled by the Dutch at a place called Bergen, it is well substantiated that to Pavonia, or more properly to Communipau, to be locally exact, must be accorded the honor of first
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receiving, within what is now the Province of New Jersey, the adventurous navigators who left the Fatherland in quest of the riches that were popularly supposed to lie hidden within the unexplored region of the New World. Communipau, from its location, was probably the most inviting spot on the western shores of the Hudson; being well wooded and
A
COMMUNIPAW IN EARLY DAYS.
possessing a natural, well sheltered harbor, with high ground connected directly with the adjacent hills, it commended itself to the thrifty settler as a desirable location for a home. Not only were the waters that laved its shores, stocked with shell-fish, but in their regular seasons, schools of sturgeon, mackerel and shad furnished means of remunerative
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employment to all, while in the interval the fruitful soil recompensed the laborer with an abundance of the products of the earth. Tradition says that the Indians early perceived its natural advantages, and after the settlement of the Indian difficulties, still clung to its shores, and joined with the Dutch settlers, living at peace with them for some time, fishing in the adjoining waters, and hunting in the woods that covered the neighboring heights.
But as the white men increased in numbers, the natives were gradually forced back along the shore, and finally were compelled to move westward to escape their encroachments; and yet in some cases there was such strong attachment to some of the old families, that there were individual instances of Indians who refused to move away with their tribe. Continuing their friendships, they retained their wigwams, and ended their days within sight of the water on which they had so often sailed with their birch canoes. As was said to an old settler by one of the last survivors of the tribe : " My parents and parents' parents were not savages, but good people, who feared the God with all the simplicity of their primitive natures. There was no blood on their hands, and no scalps at their belts ; but good or bad, they had to go according to what the white man calls progress and civilization."
Washington Irving thus humorously describes the discovery and settlement of Communipau : "The Goede Vrouw came to anchor at the mouth of the Hudson, a little to the east of Gibbet Island.
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Here, lifting up their eyes, they beheld, on what is at present called the Jersey Shore, a small Indian village pleasantly embowered in a grove of spreading elms, and the natives all collected on the beach, gazing in stupid admiration at the Goede Vrouw. A boat was immediately despatched to enter into a treaty with them, and approaching the shore, hailed them through a trumpet, in the most friendly terms ; but so horribly confounded were these poor savages at the tremendous and uncouth sound of the Low Dutch language, that they one and all took to their heels, and scampered over the Bergen hills, nor did they stop until they had buried them- selves, head and ears, in the marshes on the other side, where they all miserably perished to a man, and their bones being collected, and decently covered by the Tammany Society of that day, formed that singular mound called Rattlesnake Hill, which rises out of the center of the salt marshes, a little to the east of the Newark Causeway. . .. Accordingly they descended from the Goede Vrouw, men, women and children in goodly groups, as did the animals of yore from the ark, and formed themselves into a thriving settlement, which they called by the Indian name Communipau."
Chapter XV.
BERGEN CONTINUED.
THE settlement at Communipau, being located within easy reach of New Amsterdam, flourished greatly, and it was determined to establish a village there. Jacques Cortelyou was ordered, on the 8th of September, 1661, to survey, and lay out into lots, the land about Communipau. The lots thus surveyed fronted on the Bay, and were about two hundred feet deep. It was decided to erect defences against the Indians, but their building was delayed on account of the unwillingness of some of the settlers to engage in . the work, for the reason that they did not apprehend any immediate attack by the savages. Complaint was made to the Director General and Council, and they were asked to enforce the ordinance. The Coun- cil urged and commanded the construction of the defences, but no decided action was taken, and as a matter of fact, the fortifications were never com- pleted.
The people at Bergen and the dependent villages, settled upon the lots, as selected, by virtue of the provisions of the charter, but had neglected to secure patents. This created much confusion and trouble, and on September 15, 1661, all the inhabitants were or- dered within three months to have their claims sur-
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veyed and marked, and on exhibition of returns to secure regular patents. This was done, and all disputes and controversies ended for the time. The titles to lands became vested in the parties as adjudged.
With increasing population, better facilities for reaching Manhatta were demanded, and December 22, 1661, Wm. Jansen petitioned the Director and Council to ratify a permission given him by the Schout and Schepens of Bergen, to work a ferry between Bergen and the Island of Manhatta. This was granted, and in pursuance thereof, a ferry from Communipau was es- tablished. This was for many years the only author- ized mode of communication with Manhatta. The fer- ryman was regularly licensed,and rates were established for daytime and fair weather ; but by night or in stormy weather, they were to be as the parties might agree. The ferryman was to keep his boat in readiness at all times, but more particularly on three days of the week, to be agreed upon unanimously by the inhabi- tants of Bergen and Communipau. From this ferry at Communipau a road extended along the route of the present Communipaw Avenue, and thence through Summit Avenue, to and connecting with, Academy Street, one of the cross streets of the Town of Bergen before mentioned.
In 1662 we find the ferryman complaining that the freeholders of Bergen authorized the inhabitants to ferry themselves over, as they pleased, much to his loss and discomfort. His protest seems to have been of little avail, for until very recent years, the old set- tlers and their descendants continued the practice of
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transporting themselves and their belongings to and from the city of New York. It is related that on one occasion, when one of our good Dutch burghers with his family was returning from market, an immense fish in its gambols leaped from the water, and, acci- dentally landing in the boat, crashed through the bottom. Whereupon the goodwife, drawing about herself her voluminous petticoats, calmly seated her- self in the hole, effectually stopping the inflow of wa- ter, and enabling all to reach shore in safety. A strik- ing instance of her presence of mind and general adaptability.
The isolated position of the settlement of Bergen town, back from the river, and surrounded by dense woods, which were populated by crafty Indians, ren- dered the town liable to attack at any time. Where- fore, in order that it should at all times be sufficiently protected, an ordinance was passed November 15, 1663, to the following effect : " All those who claim any lots in the aforesaid village shall, within twenty- four hours after notice being served, furnish and main- tain for each lot, one man able to bear arms; and in case of their neglect to comply, their property is in danger of confiscation." October 18, 1664, in the ac- counts rendered to the Council, we find an item of twelve pounds of powder fired from two cannon about eight o'clock in the evening as a warning to the people to be on their guard, "as two Christians on their way from Bergen to Communipau were this day murdered by the Indians."
Chapter XVI.
THE CURRENCY, AND CAPTURE BY ENGLAND.
UP to about this time the Dutch carried on the traffic with New Netherlands without much rivalry. Al- though isolated attempts at competition were made by some English merchants, they never achieved much success. Natural business jealousies, however, excited frequent controversies between the settlers of New England and those of New Netherlands, and continual disputes arose as to ownership and boundary of terri- tory. The increasing prosperity of the Dutch province, likewise, soon revived the interest of the English in what they claimed to be their possessions, and the fear of rivalry in the commercial world prompted the New Englanders to apply to the home government for relief and assistance. Charles II. determined to secure this extensive and growing trade. Basing his claim on the discovery of the Cabots, fortified by the fact that Henry Hudson was an Englishman, he granted a patent to the Duke of York ( his brother ) in 1664, giving him the entire territory of New Netherlands, and the power to govern the same.
Bergen had at this time become a place of consider- able importance, and the settlement gradually assumed a condition of prosperity, so much so, that in a letter written at the time of the granting of the patent to the
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Duke of York, it is described as " well inhabited by a sober and industrious people, who have necessary pro- visions for themselves and families, and for the com- fortable entertainment of travellers and strangers." They industriously cultivated the ground, and found an excellent market for their products in Manhatta. Their connection with this place was by row or sail boats, the latter called periaguas.
The currency in vogue at this time as a medium of exchange was made from shells, and called wampum or seawant. It was of two colors, black and white, the black being of double the value of the white; three black or six white equalled a stiver, and twenty stivers made a guilder, which was worth forty cents of United States money. But as its manufacture was practically free to all persons, everyone had his own mint, and the benefit (?) of free and unlimited coinage was fully enjoyed. It may be readily supposed that the shrewd business thrift of at least some of the early settlers, suggested opportunities for reaping great advantages. At least the actual effect produced may be estimated from the following proclamation issued in 1690 :
" The Director General and Counsellors of New Netherlands, to all persons who may see these Presents or hear them read, send greeting :
" Whereas with great concern we have observed both now and for a long time past the depreciation and corruption of the loose seawant, etc., whereby occasion is given for repeated complaints from the inhabitants, that they cannot go with such seawant to the market,
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nor yet procure for themselves any commodity, not even a white loaf, we ordain that no loose seawant shall be a legal tender except the same be strung on one string ; that six white or three black shall pass for one stiver, and of base seawant, shall pass eight white and four black for one stiver."
Manuscript .Record of the Province, dated 1659, states as follows : " The N. E. People make use of it " ( wampum ) " as a means of barter, not only to carry away the best cargoes which we send thither, but to accumulate a large quantity of beaver and other furs, by which the Company is defrauded of her revenues, and the merchants disappointed in making returns with that speed with which they might wish to meet their engagements, while their commissioners and the inhabitants remain overstocked with seawant, a sort of currency of no value except with the New Netherland savages."
Irving facetiously alludes to the effect produced as follows : " It " (seawant) " had an intrinsic value among the Indians, who used it to ornament their robes and moccasins, but among the honest burghers it had no more intrinsic value than those rags which form the paper currency of modern days. This consideration, however, had no weight with William Kieft. He began by paying all the servants of the Company, and all the debts of Government in strings of wampum. He sent emissaries to sweep the shores of Long Island, which was the Ophir of this modern Solomon, and abounded in shell fish. These were transported in loads to New Amsterdam, coined into Indian money, and launched into circulation.
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" And now, for a time, affairs went swimmingly ; money became as plentiful as in the modern days of paper currency, and to use the popular phrase, 'a won- derful impulse was given to public prosperity.' Yankee trade poured into the province, buying everything they could lay their hands on, and paying the worthy Dutch- men their own price-in Indian money. If the latter, however, attempted to pay the Yankees in the same coin for their tinware and wooden bowls, the case was altered ; nothing could do but Dutch guilders, and such like metallic currency. What was more, the Yankees introduced an inferior kind of wampum, made of oyster shells, with which they deluged the province, carrying off in exchange all the silver and gold, Dutch herrings, and Dutch cheeses. Thus early did the knowing men of the East manifest their skill in bargaining the New Amsterdamers out of the oyster and leaving them the shell.
" William the Testy found out that his grand project of finance was turned against him by his Eastern neighbors, when he found that the Yankees had estab- lished a kind of mint at Oyster Bay, where they were coining up all the oyster banks."
On the 25th of May, 1664, a fleet was sent from Eng- land under Col. Richard Nicolls, to enforce the claim of the English government against the New Netherlands. This fleet arrived in July and demanded the surrender of New Amsterdam. The people of Bergen deter- mined to strengthen and increase the defences of the town. On the 21st of February, commissioners were appointed to erect block houses for its protection.
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Whether they were ever completed, and where they were located, is not positively known, although tra- dition asserts that there was one erected at the south- east corner of the palisades (corner of Tuers Avenue and Vroom Street) when the village was founded, and if so, this was probably strengthened at this time. There was likewise a fort or redoubt thrown up at the brow of the hill, near Academy and Front Streets. The Dutch, however, surrendered in the face of the superior force of the English, having received favorable conditions ; and on the 3rd of September, 1664, the government of the colony passed into the hands of the English. Col. Nicolls assumed the duties of Governor, New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and laws were enacted and courts established. Among the articles of capitulation agreed upon be- tween Gov. Stuyvesant and Col. Nicolls, was the following, relating to the rights and privileges of the Dutch settlers :
" All people shall continue free denizens, and shall enjoy their lands, houses and goods, wheresoever they are within this country, and dispose of them as they please. The Dutch here shall enjoy their own customs concerning their inheritances."
By deed dated March 20, 1664, a portion of this territory (now New Jersey) was conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The same day, they signed a constitution, which vested the govern- ment of the province in a Governor, and Council of Advice and Consent, and on the same date Philip Carteret was appointed Governor. He arrived in
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July, 1665, and issued his Pronunciamento. He re- organized the court at Bergen shortly after, which was to be held and kept open as often as occasion re- quired in the town of Bergen. The judges of this court were :
NICHOLAS VERLET, Pres., HARMAN SMEEMAN, CASPAR STEIMMETS, ILIAS MICHIELSEN,
IDE VAN VORTS.
Chapter XVII.
BERGEN BECOMES AN ENGLISH COLONY.
THIE oath of allegiance was taken by the judges named in the last chapter, and also by the inhabitants of Bergen, on November 20, 1665 ; whereupon it be- came in truth an English province. This oath was as follows :
" You do swear by the Holy Evangelists, contained in this Book, to bear true faith and allegiance to our Governor, Lord, King Charles II., and his lawful suc- cessors, and to be true and faithful to the Lords Pro- prietors, and their successors, and the government of this province of New Jersey, as long as you shall con- tinue a Freeholder and Inhabitant under the same, without any equivocation or mental reservation what- ever, and so help you God."
In pursuance of the provisions of the constitution, the people were called upon to elect representatives to the Assembly, to be held at Elizabethtown, on the 25th of May, 1668 ; and on the 22nd day of September following, a new charter was granted by Gov. Carteret to the " Town and Freeholders of Bergen," and to the villages and plantations thereunto belonging, being in the province of Nova Casarea, or New Jersey.
" So that the whole tract of upland and meadow property belonging to the jurisdiction of the said
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Town and Corporation of Bergen, is bounded at the north end by a tract of land belonging to Captain Nicholas Verlett and Wm. Samuel Edsall ; on the east side by the Hudson River ; on the south end by the Kill von Kull. that parts Staten Island and the main ; and on the west by Arthur Kill Bay, and the Hacken- sack River." This included all the territory now known as Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, West Ho- boken and Weehawken, which was known as Bergen at that time, and was identical with the Indian grant to Gov. Stuyvesant, of January 20, 1658.
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