The history of Rockland County, Part 3

Author: Green, Frank Bertangue, 1852-1887
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York : A.S. Barnes
Number of Pages: 468

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& Confirmed, & by these Presents Doe Give, Grant, Rattifie, Release & Confirme unto the said the aforesaid Purchasers, their Heires, Successors & Assignes, all the before recited Tract or Parcell of Land with Limitts and Bounds aforesaid, together with all & singular the Messuages, Buildings, Tenements, Houses, Barns, Stables, Orchards, Gardens, Pastures, fences, Meadows, Marshes, Timber Trees, Woods, Underwoods, Mills, Mill dams, Rivers, Rivletts, Streams, Quarryes, ffishing, ffouleing, Hawking, Hunting, Mines, Minerals (Royall mines Excepted), and all the Rights, Members, Libertys, Privillidges, Jurisdiccons, Royaltyes, Hereditaments, Proffits, advantages & appur- tenances whatsoever to the said Tract or Parcell of land belonging or in anywise appertaineing or excepted, Reputed or knowne or occupied as Parte, Parcell or Member thereof, to have & to hold all the said Tract or Parcell of Land & Premisses with all & every of the appurten- ances unto the said * * their Heires, Successors and Assigns

to the Proper use, beneffitt & behoofe of the aforesaid Purchasers, their Heires, Successors & assigns forever without any manner of Lett, Hin- drance or Molestacon, to have or reserved pretence of Joynt Tenancy or survivorship anything contained herein to the Contrary in anywise not- withstanding and moreover by virtue of the Power & authority to me the said Thomas Dongan Given and in me Residing as aforesaid, and for the Reasons & Consideracons above recited I have and by these Presents Doe make, Erect and Constitute all the said Tract or Parcell of Land within the Limitts and Bounds aforemenconed, together with all and every the above Granted Premissess with the appurtenances into one Township to all intents and purposes whatsoever, and the same from henceforth shall be called the Towne of Orange, and I, the said Thomas Dongan, have also Given my hand, Granted & by these Presents Doe Give & Grant unto * * the Purchasers of the said Towne of Orange, their Heires, Successors and assignes forever all the Privilidges, benefitts, customes, Practices, Preheminces and Immunityes that are used or Exercised, Practiced or belonging unto any Towne within the Goverm't to be used, exercised, Imitated, Practiced & executed by the said Purchasers, their Heirs, Successors and assignes, forever to be holden of his most Sacred Ma'tie, his Heires and Successors in ffee and Comon Soccage according to the Tenure of East Greenwich in the County of Kent in his Majestyes' Realm of England, Yielding, Rendring and Paying therefor Yearly & every Yeare on every five and twentyth Day of March forever in Lieu of all services and Demands whatsoever as an acknowledgm't or Quitt Rent to his said Ma'tie, his Heirs and Success-

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ors, or to such officer or officers as shall bee from time to time appointed to receive the same sixteen bushells of Good Winter Merchantable wheat att the Citty of New York, in Testimony whereof I have caused these Presents to be Recorded in the Secretarye's office and the Seals of the Province to be hereunto affixed this fouer & twentyth Day of March in the third year of his Majestye's Reign, and in the year of our Lord God, 1686, By Comand of his Excell'y. Tho. Dongan."

The names of the above patentees were: Cornelius Cooper, Daniel De Clarke, Peter Hearing, Gosin Hearing, Gerrit Stemmit, John De Vries, Sr., Jolin De Vries, Jr., Claus Mande, Jan Straatmaker, Staats De Groot, Arean Lammuas, Lammuan Arens, Hybert Gerrits, Johannes Gerrits, Eide Van Voorst and Cornelius Lammerts.

On May 30, 1694, William Welch and Jarvis Marshall bought from seven Indians, only one of whose names-Copphichonock-I can decipher, five thousand acres of land at a place called Quaspeck, and on September 27th of that year the purchase was confirmed by patent from William and Mary through Benjamin Fletcher, then Governor of the Province. This purchase was bounded on the west by De Maries Kill, on the north by the land of Johannes Meille-Minne is meant-on the east by the Hudson River, and on the south by the lands of Cornelius Clausen and Thunis Dowen. It included the property extending from the top of the Hook mountain, north to the foot of the Long Clove in Haverstraw, and from the Hudson back to the Hackensack River, and its quit rent was one pepper corn a year for five years, and then twenty shillings annually, payable on the first day of each year O. S.

On September 8, 1694, William Welch and Apollonia, his wife, ob- tained a grant of five hundred aeres beginning on the north side of the mouth of Mattasinck Kill and running thence along the north side of said kill west to a certain swamp at the head thereof; thence on the south side of the swamp to Mahequa Run; then by the said run to De Maries Kill, and along the kill to the place of beginning. This tract is between the Hackensack River and New City, and the place known as Strawtown is about in its center.

Two years later, June 25, 1696, Daniel Honan and Michael Hawdon purchased from the Indians, and had confirmed by patent from King William through Governor Fletcher, an enormous tract of land known as Hackyackawek or Kakiat patent. This was bounded on the east by the Christians patented land, on the west by a creek called Heamaweck or Peasqua, which runs under a great hill, from whence it continued in a direct west course until the west southwest side of a barren plain called

Wescyrorap bears south, thence to the west southwest side of the plain, from thence south southeast until the line comes to a creek that runs into David De Maries Creek to the southward of the land called Narranshaw, and thence down the said creek to the Christians patented lands ; for a yearly rental of one beaver skin, payable on the first day of each year O. S. The Christians patented lands were those of Welch and Marshall, De Harte, Dowen or now Tallman, Clausen and the Orangetown grant.

The Directors of the Dutch West India Company had learned in a short time, that it was folly to grant unlimited tracts of land to an indi- vidual. After the cession of this territory to England, however, no limit was placed upon the size of the grants at the start, and the many changes of dynasty at home kept the government too much occupied with domes- tic affairs to give heed to wrongs that were being perpetrated in the colo- nies. Hence each patentec increased his demand for land till finally one was granted, just preceding 1698, to Captain John Evans, Commander of H. M. S. Richmond, that would have made even Van Renssylaer pause in wonder. This patent was for land on the west side of the Hudson, and covered a space forty miles in length and twenty in breadth. It ex- tended from the south line of the present town of New Paltz west to the Shawangunk Mountains, thence south to the southwest angle of the pres ent town of Calhoun in Orange County, thence easterly to the easter most angle of that town and then southeast to the Hudson River at Stony Point, and included the south tier of towns in Ulster, two-thirds of Orange, and all of Stony Point townships in Rockland County. The annual quit rent was to be twenty shillings.

Such a gigantic swindle could not escape notice, and the governor who permitted it-Fletcher-being superseded by the Earl of Bellomont, the new ruler called the attention of the home authorities to this flagrant wrong, and Captain Evans' patent was annulled.

Scarcely less outrageous was the Wawayanda patent, granted March 5, 1703, to John Bridges, LL.D., Hendrick Ten Eyck, Derick Vande- burgh, John Cholwell, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Symes, Daniel Honan, Philip Rokeby, John Meredith, Benjamin Aske, Peter Matthews, and Christopher Christianse by Lord Cornbury, Governor of the Province, and confirmed by Queen Anne. It was stated to contain 60,000, and did contain 150,000 acres, and was bounded on the east by the Highlands of the Hudson, north by the division line of the counties of Orange and Ulster, west by the high hill to the eastward of the Minnisink, and south by the division line between New York and New Jersey.

On March 25, 1707, Anne Bridges, Hendrick M. Ten Eyck, Dirck

Vanderburgh, John Cholwell, Christopher Denn, Lancaster Symes, and John Merritt obtained the Cheesecocks patent. This was the large tract of land west of Haverstraw, and was bounded as follows: "North by the patented lands of Captain John Evans and the Wawayanda patent, west by the Wawayanda and the Highlands, south by the Kakiat patent, and east by the Christian patented lands of Haverstraw and by the Hudson River." For this property an annual rental of twenty shillings was to be paid.

"To the north of the Pond patent was a tract, granted to Lancaster Symes and others April 23, 1708. The Snedekers always claimed nearly if not quite to the Short Clove, and the only known deed which refers to the Symes grant, is one from William Lupton to Claas R. Van Houten, dated 1760. This conveys 102 acres bounded west by Demarest's Kill, north by the land of John De Noyelles, east and south by the road to New City. This is now the farm of Barne Van Houten. A map of the farm, made in 1813 by David Pye, bears the following note: 'A map of the farm sold by William Lupton to Claas R. Van Houten, in patent of Lancaster Symes and others, one-half at least of this patent is in the pat- ent to Marshall and Welch. Calculation to be made on this 100 acres, as if the remainder was only 600 acres.'"

It seems wise, before turning to the difficulties that surround the grants of land in Ramapo, to finish the eastern part of the County, and I therefore take up Stony Point without regard to chronological order.

On May 17, 1719, Richard Bradley and William Jamison obtained a patent from George Il. for 1,000 acres, which was called the Stony Point tract. South of this, in 1743, Richard Bradley obtained from the same king 106 acres lying south of the Bradley-Jamison tract; and a further grant of 800 acres, known as the Bear Hill tract. On October 30, 1749, George II. patented to Sarah, Catharine, George, Elizabeth, and Mary Bradley, son and four daughters of Richard Bradley, the following pieces of land: A tract containing 370 acres, beginning at the most southerly corner of the tract of 1,400 acres granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, and run- ning thence southwest 38 chains to the northwest line, then along the line southeast 65 chains, then north 25 degs., east 113 chains to the tract granted to Gabriel and William Ludlow, and then along the line thereof to the place of division.

Another tract, beginning on the northwest line at the west corner of a tract of 1,000 acres granted to Richard Bradley and William Jamison, running thence along the said line northwest 87 chains, then northeast 40 chains, then north 79 degs., east 152 chains to the line of the Bradley

and Jamison tract, and then along the line to the place of beginning, con- taining 840 acres.

Another tract, beginning at the southeast corner of the Bear Hill tract, and on the west side of a small creek, which runs on the west side of a meadow called Salisbury's meadow, and runs thence along the line of the Bear Hill tract north 62 degs., west 16 chains, then south 25 degs., west 79 chains, then south 50 degs., east 43 chains, then north 62 degs., east 86 chains to Hudson's River, and along the river to the meadow aforesaid, and then by the bounds thereof to the place of begin- ning, containing 500 acres.

On November 12, 1750, among six tracts of land granted to Thomas Ellison and Lawrence Roome by George II. was one in the present Rock- land County, bounded as follows : Beginning at the northwest corner of a tract of 500 acres granted to Sarah, Catharine, George, Elizabeth, and Mary Bradley, running thence along this line south 25 degs., west 81 chains, then north 65 degs., west 52 chains, then north 50 chains, then north 49 degs., east 44 chains, and then south 62 degs., east 56 chains along the line of the tract granted to Richard Bradley to the place of beginning.

By patent bearing date March 18, 1769, George III. conveyed to William Kempe, James Lamb, and John Crum a large tract of land sur- rounded on all sides, except the southwest, where it lies upon the north- west line, and for a short distance on the east, on the river, by tracts pre- viously patented. This grant contained 3,000 acres.

The northwest line runs northwest from the south side of Stony Point on the Hudson to the Delaware River. It was the south line of the grant to Captain John Evans. After that grant was revoked the present town- ship of Stony Point was, as we have seen, divided into a number of small patents, and the northwest line became the boundary between those Stony Point grants and the great Cheesecocks patent.

In taking up the grants of land in Ramapo, I shall quote from the very excellent history of that town, written by the Rev. Eben B. Cobb of the Presbyterian Church at the Ramapo Works. In order to a clear understanding of the tenure of lands in Ramapo we must remember the following facts:

(1). That the land originally was claimed by two States, New York and New Jersey ; and by three different patents in New York-the Ka- kiat, Wawayanda, and the Cheesecocks.

(2). That the controversy between Kakiat and Cheesecocks was settled in 1771, and that by this settlement, a line drawn from a heap of stones

in the north bounds of the town of Ramapo, sonth 3 degs., 30m. east, to John Wood's tree, and thence south (25 degs., 40m. east, to the Pas- cack River, and crossing the New Jersey line a little to the cast of the ninth mile stone, was made to separate the two.

(3). That the line between New York and New Jersey was settled October 7, 1769, when the Commissioners appointed by the Crown ren- dered the following decision : "The agents on the part of both colonies having offered to the court all that they thought necessary or proper in support of their respective claims, and the court having considered the same, do find-

That King Charles Il. by his letters patent, bearing date the twelfth day of March, 1664, did grant and convey to his brother, the Duke of York, all that tract of country and territory now called the Colonies of New York and New Jersey, and that the said Duke of York afterwards by his deed of lease and release, bearing date the 23d and 24th days of June, 1664, did grant and convey to Lord Berkely, of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret that part of the aforesaid tract of land called New Jersey, the northern bounds of which in said deed are described to be, to the northward as far as the northernmost branch of the said Bay or River of Delaware, which is in 41 degs. 40m. of latitude, and crosseth thence in a straight line to Hudson's River in 41 degs. of latitude.

Among the many exhibits a certain map compiled by Nicholas John Vischer, and published not long before the aforesaid grant from the Duke of York, which we have reason to believe was esteemed the most correct map of that country at the time of the said grant, on which map is laid down a fork or branching of the river, then called Zuydt River or South River, now Delaware River, in the latitude of 41 degs. and 40m., which branch we cannot doubt was the branch in the deed from the Duke of York called the northernmost branch of the said river, and which in the deed is said to lye in the latitude of 41 degs. and 40m. And from a care- ful comparison of the several parts and places laid down on the said map, some of which, more especially toward the sea coast and on the Hudson's River, we have reason to believe were at the time well known. The dis- tance of the said branch from the seashore on the South, and the relative situation of the same with regard to other places and the lines of latitude as they appear to be laid down on the said map at that and other places in the inland country.

We are of opinion that the said branch so laid down on the said map is the fork or branch formed by the junction of the stream or water called the Mahackamack, with the river called Delaware or Fishkill, and that

the same is the branch intended and referred to in the before mentioned deed from the Duke of York as the Northern Station at the River Dela- ware, which fork or branch we find by an observation taken by the sur- veyors appointed by the Court to be in the latitude 41 degs., 21m. and 37 sec.

We are further of opinion that the Northern Station at Hudson's River, being by the words of the said deed from the Duke of York ex- pressly limited to the latitude of 41 degs., should be fixed in that latitude, which latitude we have caused to be taken in the best manner by the sur- veyors appointed by the Court, and which falls at a rock on the west side of Hudson's River marked by the said surveyors, being seventy-nine chains and twenty-seven links to the southward on a meridian from Sneydon's house, formerly Corbet's.

It is therefore the final determination of the Court that the boundary or partition line between the said Colonies of New York and New Jersey be a direct and straight line from the said fork at the mouth of the River Mahackamack, in the latitude of 41 degs, 20m. and 37 sec. to Hudson's River at the said rock, in the latitude of 41 degs. as above described."

" Signed CHAS. STEWART. ANDREW ELLIOT. ANDREW OLIVER. JARED INGERSOLL."

This decision was of great value to the town of Ramapo. Had the line run from 41 degs. on the Hudson to 41 degs. 40m. on the Delaware, which last point had been located by the joint surveyors of New York and New Jersey in 1719, it would have caused one-half of the town to lie in New Jersey. While the people of neither State was satisfied with the boundary thus chosen yet, it, probably being regarded by both as the best arrangement that could be made, was ratified by each and the task of running the line was completed in November, 1774. The division line between the States was resurveyed and marked in 1874.

(4). Having established the boundaries between the Kakiat and Cheesecocks patents, and the boundary between New York and New Jer- sey; the claims of the two remaining patents, Cheesecocks swooping down on the land from the north, and Wawayanda from the west, had also to be settled. This was done by drawing a line from the northwest corner of the Kakiat patent, which corner was located in the north boundary of the town, in a direct course to the thirty-first mile stone on the New Jer- sey line.

This line, which was run by Charles Clinton, Jr., son of General James Clinton, in 1786, was called the " Gore Line," and the land in Rockland and Orange counties bounded by it, the New Jersey line, and the line es- tablished as the west bounds of Kakiat, was familiarly known as the "Jer- sey Gore." By this gore linc the patents, both of Cheesecocks and Wawayanda, were excluded from the town.

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Diagram from Rev. E. B. COBB's History of Ramapo.

The history of the " Jersey Gore," for which Mr. Cobb refers to Mr. B. Fernow, of the Department of Historical Records, Albany, is thus given: Blandina Bayard bought, August 10, 1700, five tracts of land from the Indians, called Ramapough, Jaapough, Jandekagh, Aringee, and Cam- guee, three Dutch miles wide and four long, covering most of the land in the triangle of which the "Gore line" is the northwest side. She improved and settled this land, and upon her death left it to her children, Petrus and Sarah. Petrus, and later his widow, lived on the land and continued the improvements. When the widow removed she left a certain Lucas Kier- sted as superintendent. This Kicrsted was corrupted by Peter Sonmans, one of the proprietors of East New Jersey, and induced to take out Jer- sey patents for these lands, which had hitherto not been patented by New York although Blandina Bayard had been promised a patent, and the

proprietors of Cheesecocks and Wawayanda both claimed them. About 1786 it became necessary to settle the southern boundary of Cheesecocks, at which time Charles Clinton, Jr. made, in 1788, the maps on which probably for the first and only time, the term "Jersey Gore " was used. It was never so called officially, for the Surveyor-General, in a report to the Legislature on this tract, made March 12, 1801, calls it " Vacant lands between the lately established boundary line of the patent of Cheese- cocks and the State of New Jersey."

It will be seen by consulting the diagram, that when the boundary line between New York and New Jersey was established, which put an end to the claims of New Jersey from the south, and the " Gore Line" was run, which silenced similar claims on the part of the proprietors of both Cheesecocks and Wawayanda from the north and west, that the town of Ramapo virtually became divided into two sections, one occupied by the Kakiat patent, and the other substantially vacant. Leaving the Kakiat divisions for later notice, we must turn our attention to the va- cant lands.

In the large part of the town marked on the diagram as vacant, there were on January 1, 1775, but three persons who had titles to their prop- erty recognized by the Crown-John Sobrisco, who owned 630 acres near Tallman's ; Coenard Wannamaker, who owned 105 acres near the fifteenth mile stone on the Jersey line ; and Jacobus Van Buskirk, who owned a mill-right of one acre on the Mahwah near the point where that stream is now crossed by the Nyack Turnpike. In a foot-note Mr. Cobb says: " There were many inhabitants in this (Ramapo Pass) part of the town at that time, and some held recorded Indian deeds; nevertheless, the above statement is true. The only possible qualification may be in reference to the Sterling Company, who may have had a valid title to a few acres in the extreme west of the town."

To obtain an insight into how these three persons obtained their prop- erty will require a brief review of the early history of New Jersey.

On March 12, 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York, the entire region between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. This grant was confirmed July 29, 1674. On June 24, 1664, the Duke of York sold, what is now New Jersey, to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, confirming his sale as above July 29, 1674. These two pur- chasers divided New Jersey into two divisions-called East and West New Jersey-by a line drawn from " Little Egg Harbor to a point on the Dela- ware in latitude 41 degs., 40 m.," Lord Berkeley having West New Jersey and Sir George Carteret East. With the further management of the first-named tract we have nothing to do.

On January 13, 1680, Sir George Carteret died, directing in his will that East New Jersey should be sold to pay his debts. According to this instruction the tract was sold February 2, 1682, to William Penn and eleven associates called the " Twelve Proprietors." Soon after, these "Twelve " each took a partner, making "The Twenty-four Proprietors of East New Jersey." On March 14, 1702, the Duke of York made a fresh grant of East New Jersey to the "Twenty-four Proprietors." One month later, April 15, 1702, the " Proprietors" surrendered "their right to govern" to Queen Anne, reserving their title to the lands, and on Decem- ber 10, 1709, Peter Sonmans, representing himself as "Sole Agent, Superintendent, General Attorney and Receiver General of the rest of the Proprietors," but really only a single proprietor inheriting his property from his father, Aarent, conveyed to John Auboineau, E. Boudinot, Peter Fauconier, L. Kiersted, John Barbarie, Thomas Barjaux, Andrew Fresneau and Peter Bard, 42,500 acres in Northern New Jersey, lying be- tween the Ramapo and Saddle Rivers, and called the "Romopock Tract."

The bounds of this tract may be described as: on the north by a line from the mountains to Saddle River, which line would pass a little to the north of Tallman's Station ; on the cast by Saddle River; on the south by a line from the Saddle River at the mouth of Hohokus Creek to Pompton ; and on the west by the Ramapo Mountains, the northwest boundary being a line drawn across the entire Ramapo Pass, just north- west of the railroad bridge near Ramapo Works.

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The history of Rockland County, Part 3

Author: Green, Frank Bertangue, 1852-1887 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York : A.S. Barnes Number of Pages: 468

Author: Green, Frank Bertangue, 1852-1887
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York : A.S. Barnes
Number of Pages: 468