USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Passaic > The Passaic valley, New Jersey, in three centuries.. Vol. 1 > Part 16
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It has 7,256 acres, none of which is under water, and nearly all of which is cleared. The land is largely a sandy plain, with some hills of no great elevation in its western part and near the Passaic River. Nearly the whole of this land is in actual cultivation, being susceptible of a very high degree of culture.
Its singular name is undoubtedly derived from the title formerly bestowed upon it by the Indians. Some theories have been advanced as to its meaning, but they are all so fanciful that nothing would he gained by an ex- amination. The name is spelled in the ancient records in various modes. As the aborigines could not write the word the only way in which it could be recorded was by adopting the phonetic system. It is found in these different modes: Hockquackanong, Ha- quequenunck, Achquackununk, Hockquackanung, Achquege- nouch, Acquequenoung, Aquiko- nong, and Aqueyquinunke.
AN INDIAN CHIEFTAIN.
The first settlement made in what is now Passaic County was in this township, probably in 1678. In that year an Indian chief sold Dundee Island to Hartman Michielsen, who came from Bergentown. Michielsen secured a title to his purchase from the pro- prietors in 1686 for the consideration of the yearly payment of one " fatt henn." From this time onward immigrations of Holland stock gradually came. The nature of the conn- try, so like that left by them in their native land, invited them, and they came and settled on their farms. A large extent of country in the deed conveying it was said to con-
261
THE ACQUACKANONK PURCHASERS
tain 5,520 acres, but really by the description twice that number was bought from the Indians. That description in the deed was as follows: " From the Third River up the Passaic to the falls, thence to Garret Rock, thence along the face of the steep rock southwesterly to the present county line, and thence to the mouth of Third River." This was called by the Indians at the time of this conveyance, as their pronunciation of the word was understood by their white grantees, Haquequennunek, and the bounds as de- seribed in the deed corre- spond almost exactly with those of the township of Acquacka- nonk as es- tablished in 1693.
The names of these pur- chasers were Hans Died- ricks, Hart- A SUBURBAN HOUSE. man Michielsen, Johannes Michielsen, Adrian Post, Uriah Tomassen, Cornelius Roelofsen, Symon Jacobs, John Hend- rick Speare, Cornelius Lubbers, Abraham Bookey, Garret Garretson, Walling Jacobs, Elias Michielsen, and Cornelius Michielsen-fourteen in all and every one a Dutchman. This property along the line of the river was divided by mutual agreement into fourteen farms of one hundred acres each, and the other portion, as the demand of new immigra- tions and the growth of the population made necessary, was
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allotted to various persons, all of Holland stock, until 1714, when the last division was made.
Among these fourteen purchasers were representatives of some of the very best blood in Holland, and with very few exceptions they are represented among the present inhabi- tants of Acquackanonk. Some of the names have been ma- terially changed, but those living can trace their genealogies back to the original settlers, though the present holders bear different surnames from those ancestors. The Van Wagenens descended from Garret Garretson, who was sometimes called Van ("from ") Wageningen, the locality in Holland from where he emigrated. His descendants gradually became Van Wagenens or Van Wagoner, as the name is often writ- ten in Passaic. The Van Winkles come from Walling and Symon Jacobs. The Vreelands INDIAN CEREMONIAL STONE. trace their geneal-
ogy back to the Michielsens. The Van Ripers find their ancestor in Uriah Tomassen, while the Van Houtens claim descent from Roelofsen.
In 1680 Sir George Carteret granted a patent to Christo- pher Hoagland for two hundred and seventy acres now cov- ered by the City of Passaic. The name " Stoffel " is obtained from the Dutch, being used by them as the diminutive for Christopher. The patent from Sir George Carteret for this two hundred and seventy acres is sometimes called Hoag- land's and is also known as Stoffel's Patent.
Acquackanonk was located at the head of tidewater in the Passaic River, and sloops and schooners of considerable burthen were able to pass up that stream for the purposes
.
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MERCANTILE INTERESTS
of commerce. There were no railroads to disturb the scene until near the middle of the nineteenth century. Merchants in the northern part of New Jersey and even as far as Orange County found it convenient to transport their goods purchased in New York City by vessels sailing from that emporium to Acquackanonk, and from that point transport- ing them by wagons. In this manner a large trade sprung up at the " Landing," as the wharf at Acquackanonk was called. In the meantime many of the old Dnich descendants remained on their farms, toiling on in their quiet, indus- trions manner, seemingly sat- istied with the products of their la- bors. But
gradually
town was gathered on the west bank of the river and in the neighborhood FORT LEE IN 1776. of the " Lan ling." The shriek of the car whistle had not yet aroused them from their apathy. But at last it came; the iron horse dashed through their sleepy town, by their farms, and past their sernpulously clean farmhouses, orna- mented by their antique, cumbrons furniture of the fashion of a century and more ago. In 1832 the Paterson and Hud- son Railroad was built, and this long established trade was gone. Goods could be carried longer distances and more quickly than by the old fashioned, dilatory sailing vessel.
The Passaic was crossed by General Washington at
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Acquackanonk when he made his wonderful retreat before the victorious veteran army of England after the disastrous battles on Long Island and the loss of Forts Lee and Wash- ington, and the exact place where he crossed is pointed out by patriotic citizens of the town of Passaic, who have made a full examination of the subject. In 1778 an officer of the Continental Army who passed through Acquackanonk and Paramus thus writes about these two localities:
These towns are chiefly inhabited by Dutch people. Their churches and dwell- ing houses are built of rough stone, one story high. There is a peculiar neatness in the appearance of their dwellings, having an airy piazza supported by pillars in front, and their kitchens connected at the ends in the form of wings. The land is remarkably level and the soil fertile, and being generally advantageonsly cultivated the people appear to enjoy ease and happy competency. The furni- ture in their houses is of the most ordinary kind, and such as might be supposed to accord with the fashion of the days of Queen Anne. They despise the super- fluities of life, and are ambitious to appear always neat and clean and never to complain of an empty purse.
Mr. Abraham Van Winkle, of Newark, a lineal descendant of the Jacobse Van Winkle who came into Acquackanonk from Holland, has in his possession the original deed from Symon Jacobs Van Winkle, son of Symon Jacobs, one of the fourteen grantees already mentioned, to Jacob Van Winkle and others. Mr. Van Winkle has very kindly per- mitted a copy to be made of this ancient and interesting deed for this work, as follows:
THIS INDENTURE made on the twenty ninth day of July in the seventh year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the second by the Grace of God King of Great Brittain, France and Ireland, Defend'r of the Faith &c An- noque Dom 1728, Between Symon Jacobs van Winckle of Aghqnachanunek in the County of Essex in the Eastern Division of the Province of New Jersey, husbandman, of the One Part, and Jacob van Winkel, Simeon van Winkel, Marinus van Winkel and Abraham van Winkel of the County and Province aforesaid, Husbandmen of the other Part. WHEREAS the Lords Proprietors of the Province of East New Jersey (now called the Eastern Division of the Province of New Jersey ) hy Certain Indentures under the Common Seal of the
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ACQUACKANONK DEED
said Provinee and signed by the Deputy Governor and the major Part of the Conneill of the same bearing Date the sixteenth day of March in the year of Our Lord One Thousand six Hundred and Eighty Four and in the Seven and Thirtieth year of the Reign of the Late King Charles the second for and in the Consideraion therein mentioned and Exprest did grant, bargain and sell unto llans Diderik, Garrit Garritsen, Waling Jacobs, Elias Michielsen, Hartman Michielsen, Joannis Michielsen, Cornelis Michielsen, Adrian Post, Jurian Thomas, Cornelis Roelofsen, Symon Jacobse (being the abovenamed Symon Jacobse van Winkel), Jan Hendricks Spier, Cornelis Lubbertse and Abraham Booke their heires and assignes forever A Certain Traet of Land Situate lying and being upon Pesaick River in the County of Essex and Called and known by the name of Aghquaehammek. Beginning at the Northernmost bounds of the Town of Newark and so running from the Lowermost part to the uppermost part thereof as farr as the Steep Roeks or mountains And from the said Lowermost Part along Pesaiek River to the great falls thereof and so along the Steep Rocks and mountains to the uppermost part of Newark bounds aforesaid As it is more Particularly or Plainly demonstrated by a Chart or Draft thereof made by the Late Surveyor Generall Together with all the Rivers Ponds Creeks Isles Islands (Hartmans Island which Partien- larly belongs to Ilartman Michielsen and a Neck of Land within the bounds aforesaid Conteining Two Hundred Seventy Eight FLAG OF THE WEST INDIA COMPANY. aeres Called and known by the name of Stoffells Point formerly Patented to One Christopher Hoogland and Sinse sold to the within named Hartman Michielsen and Company always Excepted ) and allso all Inletts Bays Swamps Marshes Pastures fields fenees woods underwoods fishing Hawking fowling hunting and all other appurtenanees whatsoever thereunto belonging and appurteining (half Part of the Gold and Silver Mines and the Royalty of the Lords Proprietors allso Excepted). To Have and to Hold the said Traet of Land and premisses and every part and pareell of the same to them the said Hans Diderik, Garrit Garritsen, Waling Jacobs, Elias Michielsen, Hartman Michielsen, Johannes Michielsen, Cornelis Michielsen, Adrian Post, Jurian Thomas, Cornelis Roelof- sen, Symon Jacobse (the before named Symon Jacobse van Winkel), Jan Hen- drikse Spier, Cornelis Lubbertse and Abraham Booke their heires and assignes forever and to the use of them their heires and assignes forever as in and by the said Deed Recorded in the Records of the said Province in the year One Thou- sand Six Hundred and Eighty Four Lib A. T. - - Relaion thereunto being
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THE PASSAIC VALLEY
had may more fully and at Large appear. And Whereas the abovenamed Hans Diderik, Garrit Garritse, Waling Jacobs, Elias Michielsen, Hartman Michiel- sen, Joannis Michielsen, Cornelis Michelsen, Adrian Post, Jurian Thomase, Cornelis Roelofse, Jan Hendriksse Spier, Cornelis Lubbertse and Abraham Booke Thirteen of the grantees in the said Deed named are long sinse deceased whereby all the Right and Title to the said Lands in the said Deed mentioned are become the Right and Title of him the said Symon Jacobse van Winkel by the name of Symon Jacobse aforesaid. Now this Indenture Witnesseth That he the said Symon JJacobse van Winkel for and in Consideraion of the naturall Love and affection which he hath and beareth unto his Sonns the abovenamed Jacob van Winkel, Simeon van Winkel, Marins van Winkel and Abraham van Winkel Hath given granted Released Enfeoffed and Confirmed and by these presents doth fully and assolutely give grant Release Enfeoff and Confirm unto the said Jacob van Winkel, Simeon van Winkel, Marinus van Winkel and Abraham van Winkel their heires and assignes for Ever All that the beforementioned Tract and Parcell of Land and Premisses with the hereditaments and appurtenances Scituate lying and being and but- ted and bounded as in the before in part Print- ed Deed is Exprest (always Excepting ont of this present Deed the Island Called Hartmans Island thereby granted to Hartman Michielse And the Neck of Land Conteining Two hundred Seventy Eight Acres Called and known by the name of Stosstells Point formerly Patented to Christopher Hoogland and sinse sold to Hartman Michielse 1 and Company as allso all the Royalties in and by the said Reserved to the Lords Proprietors of the said Province and A BELT OF WAMPUM. allso Excepted out of this present grant all other the Lands and premisses which as Part and Parcell of the abovemenioned Tract of Land were at any Time or Times heretofore granted Conveyed or Released by the said Simon Jacobse van Winkle by himself sold under his hand and Seal or Joyntly with the other or any of the grantees in the said Deed from the said Lords Proprietors named under his and their hands and Seales to all or any of the said grantees their Respective heires and assignes or any of them or to any other Person or Persons whatsoever anything herein conteined to the Contrary hereof in any wayes notwithstanding) and all the Estate Right Title Interest Possession Property claim and demand of hin the said Simon JJacobse van
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ACQUACKANONK DEED
Winkel of in or to the same or any part and Pareell thereof And the Reversion and Reversions Remainder and Remainders Rents Issues and Profitts thereof and of every Part and Parcell thereof To HAVE AND TO HOLD the above- mentioned and hereby granted or meant mentioned or Intended to be hereby granted Lands and Premisses with the hereditaments and appartenances unto them the said Jacob van Winkel Simeon van Winkel Marinus van Winkel and Abraham van Winkel their heires and assignes for ever ( always Excepted as be- fore Excepted ) unto the sole and only proper nse benefit and behoof of them the said Jacob van Winkel Simeon van Winkel Marinus van Winkel and Abraham van Winkel their herres and assignes for ever and to no other use and Pur- pose whatsoever the Interest due and yearly to become due to the Lords Pro- prietors of the said Province their heires and assignes acording to the First in Part Prented Deed alwayes Excepted and Reserved. In witness whereof the Parties to these present Indentures have Interchangeably set their hands and sales the Day and year First abovewritten.
SYMON JACOBS VAN WINKEL.
On the back of this document are the follow- ing official en- dorsements :
Be it Remembered that on ye 21 st day of September Anno Dom., 1732, there personally appeared before me John Cooper, one of his Majesties JJudges of HOUSE IN AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND, the Inferionr Court of Common pleas for the County of Essex in New Jersey, the within Named Jacob Vanwinkle, and acknowledged the Within Written Instrument to be his free and Voluntary Aet and Deed.
JNO COOPER. Datd 29 July, 1728.
Received in the Office June 22nd, 1802, and recorded in Book G. ... of Deeds for Essex County pages 16 and 17 and 18.
J. PARKHURST, Clk. Recording paid.
The deed from which this copy is taken is a genuine doeu- ment, and if confirms the history already given of Acquack-
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THE PASSAIC VALLEY
anonk. The land described and intended to be conveyed by it relates beyond a question to that contained within the bounds of Acquackanonk when forming part of Essex County. The method used in it of identifying the grantor, formerly Symon Jacobse, but who when the deed was exe- euted was known as and called Van Winkle, gives informa- tion of the manner in which the Holland immigrants were the ancestors of descendants who were known by other names than those once held by the original settlers from whom they claim descent. The syllable se simply means son, and its addition to Jacob or Garrit or Michiel meant the son of Jacob, Garrit, or Michiel.
ENTAL
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MIND YOUR BUSINESS
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6
CHAPTER XXI
PASSAIC COUNTY-CONCLUDED
HE tirst Dutch settlers at Acquackanonk were firm believers in the Christian religion, as its doctrines were taught by the Reformed Church of Holland. The first church organization of any character in Passaic County was of that denomination, and was estab- lished at that locality as early, certainly, as 1686. The Hol- landers in Acquackanonk undoubtedly followed the ex- ample of their co-religionists elsewhere, and their first of- fort after their settlement was to make provision for the religious interests of their community. This date of 1686 is stated in this connection because in the records of the old Reformed Church at Hackensack, in Bergen County, an entry appears in the Dutch language, " Anno 1686," to the effect that Dominio Petrns Tassemaker had found there at Hackensack, or " Ackensack " as the name is written, certain members of the church whose names are given in the minutes.
In 1679-80 some Labardist missionaries visited Ac- quackanonk and the Great Falls. They mei Tassemaker at New York in September, 1679, and then had a conversa- tion with him relative to his antecedents and present pros- pects. In the same year (1679) he preached at Bergen. He labored among his people, the Dutch, at various points until 1682, when he accepted a call at Schenectady in New York, and while there visited Hackensack and preached there
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THE PASSAIC VALLEY
and at Acquackanonk. In the bloody attack by the In- dians on the whites at Schenectady he and his wife and two colored servants fell victims to the rage of the savages.
It is doubtful whether a church edifice was erected at Acquackanonk as early as 1686. It is not altogether prob- able that these enthusiastic supporters of their national
MANHATTAN ISLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
church-and all Dutchmen in the early history of this county were-would have lived in their new home for eight years without some recognition of the claims of their com- munity to the comfort and solace of religious worship in a sanctuary dedicated to Almighty God. But after all that can be said, and all conjecture exhausted, it must be ad-
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RELIGIOUS INTERESTS
mitted that there is no exact date of the first organization of a church or erection of a church building which is relia- ble. No records are in existence prior to 1726. There is, however, or was a few years ago, a volume of memoranda going back to as early a date as June, 1693, in which was kept a record of the weekly collections in the Sunday serv- ice; and in a lease made by Walling Jacobse to his son-in- law, Hermanus Garritse, dated April 10, 1693, a reference is made in the description of the leased land to the " pub- liek Church Yard." It is supposed that the expression " church yard " must refer to a graveyard, but as the expres- sion " church " is used the inference is plain that there must then have been some sort of a church building. However that may be, there was no regularly ordained minister of either the church af Acquackanonk or at Hackensack, for in 1693 Guillaume Bertholf was sent to Holland to receive ordination. There could be no valid ceremony of that char- arter outside of the ecclesiastical anthority in the Father- land. Bertholf returned in 1694, and then became the pas- tor of both churches. This church organization is still in force, a strong and vigorous society, and during its history has received the ministrations of some of the most talented and godly clergymen of the denomination.
In 1822 dissensions arose in the Reformed Church of America on the doctrines of the atonement and natural ability. The modified Calvinism on the great doctrine of election and kindred dogmas which began to be preached in nearly all Protestant denominations about that time, ex- cepi the Methodist Episcopal, did not meet the views of the conservative members of the Reformed Church, and those who held to the strictest Calvinism of their fathers in many cases separated from existing churches and formed
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THE PASSAIC VALLEY
other organizations. In 1825 the True Reformed Church of Acquackanonk was constituted and is still existing.
A Methodist Church was established at Acquackanonk in 1840. Other denominations since the creation of the City of Passaic have established churches under the care of their different ecclesiastical organizations, and other
GOD SHALL ESTABLISH
'S JOHNS LODGE CONSTITUTED-
7.5.7
BURNT DOWN THE 8"OF MARCH
REBUILT AND OPENED
NOVEMBER 28 5770
OFFICERS THEN PRESIDING
JONATHAN HAMPTON M
WILLIAM BUTLER'S.W
ISAAC HERON J.W
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AN ANCIENT BIBLE.
societies of the Reformed Church have also been formed. As Passaic is really a part of Acquackanonk these churches may be mentioned in this connection. They are the Bap- tist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, German Presbyterian, First Holland, Washington Place Holland, and First Reformed Churches of Passaic. All of these have church edifices and are well supported.
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EDUCATION AND TRADE
The education of their children was not neglected by the early Dutch settlers at Aegnackanonk. A school seems to have been established there very early in the history of the town. Guillaume Bertholf, who was sent to Holland to be ordained as a minister, was a school teacher at Ac- quackanonk. The school system of that locality was not very aggressive until Passaic came into existence. The Dutch appreciated good instruction, but they were not pro- gressive in their ideas on that subject and did not keep up with the progress of the times. They desired the substan- tial results, however, of what they considered necessary educational facilities and gave particular attention to their schools, established a fund for their support, and set apart land for the sites of the school houses. There was a disposi- tion to connect school and church. The school house and church were erected side by side. and it was often the case that the good dominie was obliged to teach as well as preach.
These impassive people of Acquackanonk, when they saw the river trade, the source of so much protit, slipping from their grasp, overlooked a natural appliance for greater re- umeration than the river trade for any labor they might bestow upon it, and which was lying before their very eyes ready at hand to be utilized. For two hundred years the people had lived on their farms on the banks of the Passaic, and had not discovered the immense water power there gathered in the rapids of the river towing before them. An occasional saw or gristmill had been built by some one more enterprising than any of his neighbors, but it was not until 1828 that the idea seems to have been entertained that the river might be dammed and then utilized for mannfac- turing. In that year two inhabitants of Acquackanonk, de- scendants of the original settlers, JJoli S. Van Winkle and
LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD.
275
DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER
Brant Van Blarcom, obtained a grant by act of the Legis- lature of the right to dam the river above tidewater. The dam was to be erected eight feet high at the site of an old dam, or between that point and the island above. The rights of owners of other land than that belonging to Van Winkle and Van Blarcom were guarded by the act, and the State was protected in any endeavor which it might make to open navigation to Paterson.
Little effort was made, however, by the beneficiaries un- der the act to secure the great advantages afforded them. An inefficient dam was constructed, but the project lan- guished and finally was abandoned, and other parties sov- eral years afterward secured another act from the Legis- lature which resulted in the establishment of the Dundee Manufacturing Company. This was in 1832. This last named enterprise seemed still to languish. Additional and supplementary acts were passed from time to time granting fuller powers to the company until 1870, when the name was changed to the Dundee Water Power and Land Com- pany. From this time success followed and the corporation seemed founded upon a sure basis. Its works consist of a substantial dam across the river, with a canal used to con- vey water to the various mills on the banks by an ingenious system of locks. This canal is a mile and a half in length. The dam is four hundred and fifty feet in length, forty- five feet wide at the bottom. and six feet at the top. The expansion of water above the dam is called Dundee Lake, and by a system of most admirable engineering a head of water of twenty-five and a half feet is obtained for the mills.
This is the foundation for the wonderful success and en- during growth of Passaic City. It has taken only a quarter of a century to change this quiet, sleepy locality into an
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THE PASSAIC VALLEY
active, stirring, bustling city of several thousand inhabi- tants, where enterprise and energy have been masterful, where mannfactures of many varieties are successfully con- ducted, and where intelligent workmen and their families find happy and comfortable homes. The population of Passaic, according to the census of 1900, is over 27,000.
Paterson in its inception and rise has already been
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