USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Passaic > The Passaic valley, New Jersey, in three centuries.. Vol. 1 > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
THE VAN WAGONER HOMESTEAD AT PASSAIC. (Erected in 1778.)
noticed, but it deserves some further mention, certainly as to its appliances for the religious and educational inter- ests of its inhabitants. It has fifty established churches : Ten Presbyterian-seven English, one German, and one col- ored; four Baptist, one of which is colored; nine Metho- dist-two African Methodist, one Zion Methodist Episco- pal, and one non-Episcopal; five Episcopalian; two Lu- theran-one German and one Swedish; one Swedenborgian;
277
CITY OF PATERSON
one Christian Science; six Reformed; nine Roman Catholic -six English, one German, one French, and one Italian; and three synagogues-two English or German and one Italian. There are twenty-three commodious buildings in the city devoted to the purpose of education in which the children of the town are gathered. There are ton news- papers-three issued in the afternoon for English readers, (wo in the morning (one English and one German), three weeklies (one German, one Holland, and one Italian), and one English Sunday paper.
The news- paper issues will give some idea of the proportion of the native born and for- eign popula- tion. It is es- timated by A COLONIAL PISTOL. good judges that these are very nearly equally divided, with the pro- ponderance in favor of the native born. The foreigners are divided among Irish, German, French, Holland, Italian, Swedish, Russian, Polish, and English nationalities. For the most part these people are intelligent, peaceable, and law abiding. There is, however, a sprinkling of agitators, social reformers, and a few anarchists, who are all of for- vign birth. The Dutch blood descending from the first set- flers is largely represented in the city, and they are to be found among the very best members of society. The names of many of the business men and officers of the county found in the civil list which were borne by the Dutch settlers of
278
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
the county fully attest this, such as Quackenbush, Hopper, Garrison, Van Winkle, Van Blarcom, Post, Van Riper, Van Houten, and many others which might be mentioned. There are three hospitals: one for orphans under Protes- tant management with one hundred and twenty-six beds; Saint Joseph's, under the care of the Sisters of Charity; and the Isolation Hospital for Contagious Diseases. There are four asylums: the Paterson Orphan's, under Protestant management; Saint Joseph's, under the Roman Catholics; the Fisher Home, a private institution for homeless waifs; and the Florence Crittenton Home for fallen women. There is also a Women's Christian Home for the immediate aid of needy women, a children's day nursery, and a mission for fallen women.
There are several villages in Passaic County, most of which are the result of the great facilities afforded by the several railroads crossing the county, and which are se- lected in many instances for residences as well as for manu- facturing purposes. Five of these have been incorporated into boroughs, as already mentioned. Clifton is a small village on the line of the railroad between Passaic and Pat- erson. It has some important mills and several elegant residences. Athenia is on the line of the Paterson and New- ark Railroad near Clifton. It is a locality of some im- portant manufactures and has several handsome dwellings. Richfield is the center of a large agricultural district. These three- Clifton, Athenia, and Richfield-lie in Acquack- anonk Township. Haledon is a suburb of Paterson, of large interests, mostly in silk manufacture. North Paterson, or Hawthorne, is a residential suburb of Paterson. Delawan- na is a small station on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
CHAPTER XXII
BERGEN COUNTY
ERGEN COUNTY was the first settled by Euro- peans in New Jersey. Very soon after the lodg- ment made by the Dutch at Manhattan, or New- York, and as early as 1618, some Hollanders with a few Danes and Norwegians crossed the Hudson and set- tled in the lowlands on the Hackensack and its tributaries. The Dutch element remained and became dominant in all this part of Northern New Jersey. Those of other nation- alities who came with them were absorbed or returned; not a trace of them can be recognized at the present.
A small part only of this county can, with propriety, be claimed as belonging to the Valley of the Passaic. Its rela- tive position to the two rivers, the Hudson and the Passaic, necessarily divides it into two valleys, that of the Hudson and that of the Passaic, the Hudson being much the larger and important of the two. A range of hills occupies the northern part of the county, and the picturesque Palisades, which add so much beauty and grandeur to the scene, tower up on the eastern boundary from the west bank of the Hudson. Thousands of acres of low, level, marshy ground called the Salt Meadows extend northward from Newark Bay through almost the whole length of the center of the county, and were once undoubtedly the bed of an in- let from the ocean.
280
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
The county is well watered with the Hudson on its east-
N. y.
E
RIVER
S
R
Z
O
× ack
S
-
Hacker
U
4
E
NEWARK BAY
No 1
ern bounds and the Pas- saic, Pequan- nock, and Pompton on its west. The Hackensack flows from its northern boundary south through the county, emptying into Newark Bay. Saddle River is an impor- tant stream in its north- western part, draining sev- eral square miles and flowing into the Passaic.
Bergen County has NEW YORK several town- A ships, of which the fol- MAP OF BERGEN COUNTY IN 1693. lowing only have any con- nection with the Passaic Valley : Hohokus, Franklin, Ridge- wood, Saddle River, Union, and Lodi.
S
BERGEN COUNTY IN 1693
281
ORGANIZATION OF BERGEN COUNTY
The territory of Bergen was once much larger than it is at present. It was one of four counties organized in 1682 by the Legislature of the whole Province which met at Elizabethtown in March of that year. The other three counties wore Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth. The terri- tory of Bergen, as then described by the act of incorpora- tion, was included within these bounds: " All the settle- ments between Hudson's River and Hackensack River begin- ning at Con- stable's Hook and so to ex- tend to the 44.1 uppermost bounds of the province." Constable's Hook is now the extreme southern end of Hudson County. Con- stable is an English tra- vesty of the Dutch word SCENE ON THE HUDSON. " Konstapel," used to designate the locality, which means gunner or hunter, so that the translation really should have been gunner or hunter. Additions were afterward made to this territory so that the county embraced all the land between the Hackensack and the Passaic and the township of Manchester, which was taken from Bergen and added to Passaic in 1837. The county has also been reduced by the creation of Hudson, all of which was taken from Bergen.
282
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
Prior to the exodus of the first settlers from Manhattan into New Jersey a trading post protected by a stockade had been established near Jersey City, at what was called Bergen. This was simply for the purpose of trade with the aborigines by the way of bartering such commodities as had been ascertained were prized by these simple hearted men for peltry and furs. The stockade was not far from the settlement on the island of Manhattan. These merchants found it more con- venient, or perhaps more prudent, to THE CITY 1643 meet their custom- ers at this place and in this manner FERRY than to invite then RY to visit the village occupied by the 4 Dutch on the is- 0 A. The City To- vern. land. The stockade B. The Fort. C. The Wharf D. Burial Place. E. The Strand, or Ehere. was a rude fortifica- tion, not intended for residential pur- EARLIEST MAP OF NEW YORK CITY. poses. The build- ings, whatever they were, were built closely together, their roofs touching each other.
When this event took place it is impossible to ascertain. In process of time, however, a change came and the stock- ade assumed the appearance of dwellings. The traders car- ried their families there, and a town sprang up and in- creased so greatly that in 1661 it was deemed necessary to provide it with a municipal government, and on the 4th of August of that year a request was forwarded to the au- thorities at New Amsterdam for the appointment of a schout
283
TERRITORIAL CHANGES
for the town. The office represented by this name is equiva- lent to that of the sheriff of the shires in Scotland. It com- bined the duties somewhat of an ordinary sheriff of modern times as well as those of judge and prosecuting attorney. The appointment was made, and the commission to Tillman Van Vleck as schout was signed by the redoubtable Petrus Stuyvesant as director-general.
The first provincial Legislature met af Elizabethtown on the 26th of May, 1668. Two out of its ten members were Gas- per Steenmetts and Baltazar Bayard, representing Bergen. But this town Bergen, impor- tant as it was in those early days, is no longer a distinctive lo- In this Vault, Ties burned cality; its name PETRUS STUYVESANT Tate Captain General& Governor inchies ol Amsterdam In New Netherland now called New York. And How Dutch West Indialslands, Dad. AD 1671 Aged 80 years even is gone ex- cept as it lingers in that of the county which does not now contain a foot of the ground once included within the bounds of the village formerly known as Bergen, or in Bergen Point, or in Bergen Four Corners, now fast disappearing as the names of well known localities.
Bergen has a Revolutionary history most creditable to its citizens of those times. When demand was made by Con- gress for men to fill the ranks of the patriot army the de- scendants of the liberty-loving Dutch, who had witnessed to their hatred of oppression on many a battlefield with their old enemy, Spain, promptly responded and sent some of
N. RIVER
CAST
RIVER
SOUND
OR THE
V
to Motlan party
W
VICINITY OF FORT WASHIINGTON IN 1779. +
This illustration furnishes a bird's-eye view or plan of the vicinity of Fort Washington after it had been captured by the British and its name changed to Fort Knyphausen. The following key explains the figures : Nos. 1, 2, 3, Spuyten . Duyvil; 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, American redoubt; A, north or Cox Hill and its redoubt; B, Palisades of the New Jersey shore; C, Charles redoubt; D, watch-house; E, once a bridge of boats; F, storehouses; G, upper Cortlandt house; H, lower Cortlandt house; I, Fort Independence; K, Emmerich's chasseurs' encampment; L, farm-house; M, Queen's bridge; N, King's bridge (invisible); O, demolished house; Q, American redoubts; R, huts of the blacks; S, encampment of the Seventeenth English Regiment, taken prisoners; T, encampment of the body regiment; U, garden eut down for barri- cades; V, blockhouse; W, Laurel Hill; X, Holland's Ferry; Y, huts built by Forty-fourth Regiment, English; Z, Hessian riflemen and chasseurs' encampment; a'a, a'a, a3a, Fort Clinton, nearly erected in 1779.
285
BERGEN IN THE REVOLUTION
their most prominent citizens to officer the troops raised in the county. As early as 1771, at a meeting of the inhabi- tants and frecholders of the county held at Hackensack, resolutions full of unmistakable patriotic fidelity to the cause of the colonies were passed. These resolutions were signed by three hundred and twenty-eight citizens present, and a committee of safety was formed. John Demarest, Peter Zabriskie, Cornelius Van Vorst, and John Zabriskie, Jr., were appointed a committee of correspondence. These are all Holland names and are still represented in the con- ty by some of its very best citizens.
The county in a measure was outside of the actual scenes of the war. But in 1776, after the British evacuated Bos- ton, driven to that step by the consummate strategy of Washington, fears were entertained that they would move on New York, and that possibly the inhabitants of Bergen might be visited by the enemy. Fort Lee on the west bank of the Hudson and in Bergen, and Fort Washington on the opposite side of the river, had been erected to prevent the passage of the English up the Hudson. The disastrous battles on Long Island were fought and lost. Fort Wash- ington was captured and Fort Lee was evacuated, and late in November of that year Washington took up his masterly retreat from New York through New Jersey. The first line of this retreat was through Bergen. Prior to this Washington was in different parts of the county watching the enemy. Paulus Hook, as Jersey City was then called, was still in the possession of the patriot army, but late in September, 1776, it was seized by the enemy. Fort Lee was evacuated November 20, 1776, and then Washington began collecting his army with the view of making his way to Pennsylvania. His first stop was made at Hackensack with about three thousand men. He was followed the next
286
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
day by some Hessians, many of whom were very soon after taken prisoners at Trenton.
Several raids were made by the British upon parts of . Bergen, one in 1777 in the neighborhood of Hackensack, when Aaron Burr first signally displayed his military abil- ity. A party of the enemy had come up and encamped about three miles from Hackensack with the intention of despoiling the inhabitants. Colonel Burr was informed of this. He was then stationed with his regiment near Suf- fern's, about thirty miles away. Making a forced march with a few of his soldiers, he reached a point about a mile from the enemy. His men had marched all day and were very much fatigued and sleepy. He ordered them to lie down and sleep. He then made his way toward the British camp so quietly that he was enabled to get so near that he could hear the pickets give the watchword. Remaining long enough to make cautious examination, he returned to his exhausted men, whom he found still asleep. Explain- ing the circumstances, he ordered an advance to be made in the quietest manner possible, that no man should speak nor fire a gun until orders were given.
The enemy were completely surprised and their plan of devastating the country frustrated. Thirty prisoners were taken and the rest driven off.
Other raids were made from time to time and consider- able damage done to the inhabitants. In September, 1777, one was made by General Clinton himself. Detachinents of his army were ordered to concentrate at New Bridge above Hackensack. One of these detachments entered New Jersey at Elizabethtown, one came by the way of Schuyler's Ferry. one from Fort Lee, and another by Tappan. The force when assembled was a formidable one, and swept
287
BERGEN IN THE REVOLUTION
the country over which it passed. They collected four hundred cattle, three hundred sheep, and a few horses.
Washington and Lafayette visited the county at different. points during the war. General Enoch W. Poor, a brave soldier from New Hampshire, died at Paramus on the 8th of September, 1780, and was buried with military honors in the graveyard of the First Reformed Church at Hacken- sack. Washington and La- fayette and several superior officers of the army attended his funeral. A monument was placed over his grave and is still standing in good preservation. When Lafay- ette came to this country in 1824 he visited his grave and exclaimed, with consid- erable emphasis, that Gon- eral Poor was one of his ofti- cers. The unfortunate Ma- jor Andre was excented at Tappan, only a few hundred yards beyond the Bergen County line.
The war taxes levied in Lujuyelle this county were £424.222. 178. 6d., an aggregate of over $2,000,000-an enormous amount when it is considered that the great majority of the people were agricultural. But they were borne by the people without a murmur and every demand for troops made by Congress was cordially met. Some of the very best officers in the army were of Holland stock and from Bergen County.
288
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
Hohokus is the largest township in Bergen County. It contains 19,376 acres, of which a little more than one-half is still covered by forest. It lies in the extreme northwest- ern part of the county and is bounded on the north by New York, on the east by Washington, on the south by Frank- lin and Ridgewood, and on the west by Passaic. It is well watered, three important streams in its different parts draining the whole township and affording considerable water power. Saddle River is found in the eastern border, the Ramapo in the west, and Hohokus Brook, from which the township is named, in the south. The Erie Railroad traverses Hohokus in the eastern portion from north to south, adding greatly to the facilities for travel.
The original settlers were all of Holland origin, and near- ly all of them are represented to-day by their descendants, some of whom are still living on the farms once occupied by their ancestors. Among the names of these early set- thers represented to-day by actual residents are Hopper, Voorhis, Bogert, Zabriskie, De Baun, Wanamaker, Van Gelder, Ackerman, Garrison, Goetchins, Vanderbeck, and Quakenbush. The township was organized by an act of the Legislature approved February 5, 1849, and an examina- tion of the list of officers of the municipality from the time of its creation reveals the fact that the scions of the old stock first forming their homes in this part of New Jersey are still dominant.
Among the most prominent citizens of Hohokus was Rod- man M. Price, who had, perhaps, one of the most chequered lives of any man born on the soil of New Jersey. He was a native of Sussex County, born November 5, 1814, and en- tered Princeton University at a very early age, but ill health prevented him from graduating. He then turned his at- tention to the study of law, but, marrying early into the
AIVER
NOS
0
n
N
NEW YORK
BAY
N Bergen Tp
Hackensack Tp
E
A
MAP OF BERGEN COUNTY IN 1709-10,
G 1 709-10. New Barbadoes To
No 2
E
B
-
290
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
family of Captain Edward Trenchard of the United States Navy, he became much interested in naval affairs, and in 1840 was appointed a purser by President Van Buren. He was in the navy when the war between Mexico and the United States broke out, but before that time Mr. Price had been ordered to duty on board the "Missouri," then the larg- est war steamer in the world, which, after cruising in the West Indies, was directed to take the Hon. Caleb Cushing, ambassador to China, to Alexandria in Egypt. Before reach- ing that place, and on the same night the ship entered the port at Gibraltar, it was destroyed by fire. This detained Mr. Price in Europe for several months. In 1845 he was or- dered to join the " Cyane " and to cruise in the Pacific. In July, 1846, the " Cyane " was found at Mazatlan, and on the 6th of July of that year formal possession was taken of California on behalf of the United States by Mr. Price and other officers, Mr. Price himself actually handling the hal- liards that ran up the stars and stripes over the land.
From this time Mr. Price, for several years, was connected prominently with the history of the newly acquired terri- tory. The excitement created by the discovery of gold in California ronsed the public mind in the United States to fever heat, and immigrants poured by thousands into this new acquisition. It became necessary to appoint an offi- cer at San Francisco to represent the government and pro- tect its interests, and to provide for the necessities of the immigrants. Mr. Price was selected for this position. Its duties were exceedingly important and onerous, requiring the utmost caution and the strictest integrity; but they were met in a manner which proved that the right man had been chosen. By the prudent expenditure of a few hundred dollars in real estate in the growing city made the year before his appointment he became, as he supposed and his
291
RODMAN M. PRICE- HOHOKUS
friends believed, very wealthy. Fortunes were made and lost in that country in a single day. But this purchase and its immense results identified Mr. Price still more with the city and territory. He was elected a member of the con- stitutional convention which framed the constitution of California. In 1850 he returned to his home in the East, and in September of the same year he was nominated and elected a member of Congress. In January, 1854, he was inaugurated governor of New Jersey for three years. His administration was marked by great industry and by many reforms. He was a friend of the educational interests of the State, and to him is due the establishment of the normal school and of teachers' institutes. He was also greatly in- strumental in placing the geological survey of the State on a substantial basis. In 1862 he removed to his estate, " Hazlewood," on the Ramapo River, in Hohokus, where he resided until his death. Governor Price was not of Dutch de- scent, but he was a loyal Jerseyman, and identified himself closely with the interests of the community in which he spent the last years of his life.
Hohokus is now much resorted to by business men who choose its beautiful valleys and ridges for elegant places of abode. Its main interest is agricultural, but it has some manufactures of importance. It has some hamlets and villages. Ramsey's, named after the original owner of the land ocenpied by the present inhabitants, is situated in the southeastern part of the township on the Erie Railroad, and has a station and a postoffice, three churches, a large school, some carriage factories, and other enterprises. Hohokus, formerly known as Hoppertown, is in the extreme south- eastern end of the township and is situate on the Hohokus River. Some interest attaches to this spot for the reason that it was the residence of Colonel Provost, the first hus-
292
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
band of Madam Jumel, who, late in life, after her second husband's death, married Aaron Burr. Allendale is situate near the center of the township on the Eric Railroad, and has a station, two churches, and a school. Mahwah is a small, unimportant hamlet near the New York line, with a station. Darlington is also a small hamlet on the Ramapo River in the western part of the township. The removal some years ago of a large manufacture to another more convenient spot has reduced the importance of this locality. It is, however, in the midst of an agricultural population and may revive.
A HESSIAN HUT.
0 O
CHAPTER XXIII
BERGEN COUNTY-CONCLUDED
RANKLIN is one of the oldest townships in Ber- gen County and also one of the largest and most important. at one time containing within its bounds the whole of Hohokus, now larger than is its parent municipality. It is situated in the westerly part of the county, and is beautifully diversified by hill and val- ley, with a very fertile soil. In the southern part the land is hilly, in the northern mountainous. It is bounded on the north by Passaic County and Hohokus, east by Wash- ington and Ridgewood, south by Passaic and Ridgewood, and west by Passaic. It has some lakes within its bounds, some small streams, and the Ramapo River-sufficient to well water the whole country.
It is somewhat strange to notice among the names of the early settlers in different localities in that part of the State where Holland immigrants first came that in each commu- nity there are a few names not found in others. This is the case in Franklin Township. Here are found the same patronymies as are connected with Hohokus, but there are others, such as Selmyler, Garretson, Berdan, Van Allen. Stek mow modernized into Stagg), and a few more.
Franklin Township was organized in 1772, as is supposed,
294
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
and was separated from Saddle River. This date is not, however, well established. There was a period in its his- tory when it and Saddle River both belonged to New Barba- does, then a flourishing town. Immigrations from Holland of considerable numbers have been made within the last twenty or thirty years. These people possess elements of character which have made them welcome residents. They
THE CITY HALL AT THE HAGUE,
have been true to their religious instincts and made pro- vision for divine worship by the erection of a church dedi- cated to the use of the Reformed congregation, for whose use services have been conducted in the vernacular of their native land.
The Wortendyke family has been very largely influential in the growth of this flourishing town. When it was called Newtown Cornelius Wortendyke, in 1812, built the first mill
295
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP
here. His grandson, Cornelins A., and his great-grandson, Abram C. Wortendyke, followed in the steps of their ener- getic ancestor. Some of the work connected with the rait- road which passes this town is done in the shops of that cor- poration located here.
Oakland and Crystal Lake are two hamlets near each other in the western part of the township, on the line of the railroad. At each there is a station. Oakland is the more important of the two. Crystal Lake is near a beautiful lake of the same name, remarkable for the purity and clear- ness of its water. Its name is a survival of that used by the Indians, who called it the " Crystal Drop."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.