USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 5
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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 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
Hendrick Kuyper, by will bearing date September 16, 1754, gave to his daughter Marretie, wife of Roelef Vanderlind, 100 acres on the north side of the track.
On July 16, 1764, Teunis De Clarke of "Clarkestown " in the County of Orange, &c; sold to "James Palden of the City of New York-Cord- wainer" 251/2 acres of land being "all that certain parcel of ground situate lying and being in Clarke's Town in the County of Orange and Province of New York : Beginning at a white oak marked on two sides on the west side of Hackensack Creek and so bounded on the east by said creek to the south line of Lot No. 14, in the southern division of Cackiate Patent, and bounded on the north by the said line, being John Vanderbilts land and bounded west by the road called the new road on the south west by the lots of John Anderson, Edw. Earle, James Campbell and John Jones and south by the Niack road and Casparics Mabies' meadow"; for £254.
This is the first mention I have found of Clarke's Town; the first time I have found De Maries or Demarest creek called the Hackensack, and the first list of names belonging to those Scotch settlers who gave the name to Scotland Hill.
Between 1764 and 1793, the Sickles family, from whom Sickletown takes its name, had purchased land in the 1,000 acre patent, for, on June I, 1793, Elizabeth Sickles conveyed a lot to Robert Sickles and a year
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later, June 13, 1794, Major Cornelius J. Blauvelt and Robert Sickles, agreed to a party line between their lands in Kakiat.
In 1799, Sarah Lydecker, born Sarah Sickles, who had been the second wife of Albert Lydecker of English Neighborhood ; bought, with her son Cornelius, 51 acres of Wm. Sickles for $1,250. At the same time Abra- ham Lydecker-step son of Elizabeth and half brother to Cornelius- bought a tract of 89 acres in Nyack for $4,000.
As in the Quaspeck, Ramapo, and Crom patents so in the case of the Kakiat, controversy arose as to its boundaries. We have followed the set- tlement with the Quaspeck owners, it remains now to trace the line be- tween the Kakiat and Cheesecocks patents. By an act of the Colonial Leg- islature, passed May 29th, 1769, a commission composed of George Dun- can Ludlow, William Nicolls, Benjamin Kissam, Samuel Jones, and Thomas Hicks, was chosen by a committee from cach patent to settle the controversy, and they determined ; "that the boundaries between the two patents should begin at the middle of a stream of water, commonly called Minnies Falls, from the easternmost extent of the two patents, and running up the stream to where two streams are coming along, one along the north and the other along the south side of Cheesecocks, commonly called Checsecocks mountain, unite and form the stream called Minnies Falls. And from there along the middle of the stream, which comes along the south side of the mountain, till a line north 3 deg. 30 min. W. strikes a certain white wood tree, on the northwest side of the stream near the south east part of the mountain and on the north side, and at the edge of a large rock, partly in the stream and partly on the north bank, and from this tree a line S. 86 degs. 30 min. W. to a certain heap of stones erected by us for the northwest corner of Kakiat patent, and from the heap of stones a line S. 3 degs. 30 min east, to a certain white oak tree with a heap of stones now commonly called John Wood's tree, which line runs over a mountain - called the Round Hill and crosses a large rock called the Horse Stable Rock, lying on the mountain on the south side thereof, and from John Wood's tree a line run by John Alsop, in the year 1723, S. S. E. to a certain stream called Pascack."
The Cheesecocks patent was surveyed and laid out in lots by Charles Clinton in 1738-39. A tier of nine lots, butting on the west line of the Crom patent and Bradley 106 acres grant, was first laid out. No. I, being furthest to the north. West of these another tier of eight lots was sur- veyed, No. 10 being the southernmost and No. 17 touching on the North West Line. The remainder of the track was laid out into seven vast moun- tain lots, No. I, being bounded on the east by the North West Line.
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On Lot 9, of the first tier, the Rockland Print Works now stand. On Lot 7, is the "Treason House." Of the great mountain lots, Lord Ster- ling owned 14,000 acres, in Lots 1 and 2 which he mortgaged to William Livingston in 1767, and in 1789, they were assigned to Samuel Brewster.
Brewster sold 967 acres to Christopher Ming in 1793, who established the Cedar Pond Iron Works. Ming sold the land, forges and iron works to Halstead Coe in 1793; and he sold them to John De La Montagne in 1796.
The Stony Point tract, patented by William Jamison and Richard Bradley, was transferred as follows: Jamison transferred his share to Brad- ley, and Bradley, in 1742, sold 300 acres at the north end of the tract to Abraham Betts, and the remainder, supposed to be 750 acres, to Harrick Lent. Lent died, leaving his share to his son Hercules, who dying, be- queathed it to his daughters, Rachel, wife of James Lamb, and Catherine, wife of Ilendrick De Ronde. On the death of De Ronde and wife the property was left to their seven children, and much of it still remains in the possession of their descendants.
Rachel Lamb, nee Lent, left her share of the original Stony Point tract to her children-Rachel, wife of John Crom; Elizabeth, wife of John Wal- dron ; Catharine, wife of Jacob Waldron, and Hannah, wife of John Arm- strong. The tract thus inherited by the daughters of Rachel Lamb was divided-except Stony Point proper-and after many transfers at length came into the possession of the present owners: the House of the Good Shepherd, Calvin Tomkins, and the Tomkins Cove Lime Company. Stony Point proper, after remaining undivided for a long time, was at last pur- chased by the Brewsters. The United States Government bought part of it in 1826, and the remainder was later purchased by Daniel Tomkins.
Of the tracts lying in Rockland County that were patented to Bradley's children, that directly west of the Stony Point grant was sold to James Johnson, by him to Theodorus Snedeker, and, after other transfers, it was divided into two parts, the western becoming the property of Noah Mott, and the eastern of the Tomkins. In this tract is the Back-berg, called by the Indians, Skoonnenoghky. The second tract was also sold to James Johnson, who sold it to Theodorus Snedeker. Snedeker's property was confiscated during the Revolution, as we will see more fully later, and this tract was sold by Simeon De Witt, Surveyor General, to Samuel Brewster in 1790.
Turning to the Ramapo patents, I find that in 1775 Provost sold his entire patent to Robert Morris, John De Lancey, and John Zabriskie for £200; and that in 1776 John Zabriskie sold his third part to Morris and
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De Lancey for £200. In like manner the patents of Harris, Muller, and Spence came into the hands of these two men, from whom, therefore, all valid titles of land covered by the patents just described arise. By far the largest purchaser of lands from this company was John Suffern.
" It will be seen," says Mr. Cobb in his History of Ramapo, " that there still remains a portion of this so-called vacant section of our town, whose history has not yet been given. The tract of which we speak lies in the extreme west and northwest of the town For its history we recite a portion of an act passed by the Legislature of New York, March 28, 1 800.
' Whereas, John Hathorn, Peter Townsend, Wm. Hause, Hezekiah Mead, Saml. Drew, Ezra Sanford, Jas. McCann, Wm. Booth, Daniel Bene- dict, Abner Patterson, Wm. Ellis, David Sanford, Thos. Sanford, David Hawkins, Samuel Ketchum, Henry Wisner, Henry Bush, Saml. Bush, Abraham Smith, Jno. Smith, Adolphus Shuart, Nicolas Conklin, Jno. Be- craft and Jno. Jenkins, by their petition presented to the Legislature, have stated that they are settled on and have improved in Orange county (which at the time the petition was made included Rockland) under the Proprietors of the Patent of Waywayanda, which lands have been adjudged to be unpatented and to belong to the people of the State, and are included with other lands not settled on or improved as aforesaid, within the fol- lowing boundaries, to wit :
'Southwesterly by the State of N. J. ; northerly by a line (the Gore Line) running from the 31st mile stone in the line of division between this State and the State of N. J., to a monument erected by Commissioners at the N. W. Corner of a Tract of land granted to Daniel Honon and Michael Hawdon, called Kakiate, and easterly and southerly by patented lands. And by their said petition have prayed that they may be quieted in their said possessions, and to purchase in addition thereto such other quantity of vacant land within the boundaries aforesaid, and on such terms as the Legislature shall direct.
Therefore be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, Represented in Senate and Assembly, that it shall and may be lawful for the Surveyor General to grant to each of the Petitioners above named all the estate, right, title and interest of the people of this State of, in and to the lands improved by them respectively, with such other vacant lands within the said boundaries of not less than 100 acres and not more than 400 including their respective improvements, they paying therefore not less than the sum of 25c. per acre.'
From this it will appear that the first title of lands located in the
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northwest and extreme west of the town came from grants from the State to different individuals, which grants were made in the first years of the present century."
In 1724, John Van Blarcum purchased 400 acres of the Indians, in Ramapo Clove. This later passed into the hands of Isaac Van Duser, and he sold it to Samuel Sidman. At the death of Sidman, the west portion of the Van Blarcum tract came into the possession of his son-in-law John Smith ; and the east, into that of John and Joseph Brown. Both of these tracts were bought by John Suffern in 1789, who completed his title by obtaining new deeds from Robert Morris and John De Lancey, into whose hands the property had come through their purchase of the Muller and Spence patents.
The Orangetown was one of the very few patents, within the limits of our present County, which was bought with the idea of a permanent settle- ment, and most, if not all of the purchasers, moved onto their new posses- sions and begun the founding of homes. Never, perhaps, did enterprise start with more enthusiasm and terminate with less result. It was the plan of those, who obtained that grant, to build a city which should eclipse all rivals in the Colony save its neighbor, New York. Nor, if we take the same view as did those settlers, will this project seem absurd. The won- derful agricultural resources of the Hudson Valley and the rapidity with which they were to be developed, were not foreseen at that time; what was realized was, the enormous profit to be obtained from trade with the Indians in furs, and surely no better location could be chosen for that pur- pose than Tappan.
From it to the north, west and south, stretched a country still filled with game. It was convenient to the local Indians, and what would be more natural than that its fame as a trading post should spread to the more remote tribes in the western mountains, and draw to it their dusky hunters laden with the spoils of the chase. As an outlet, it had the slote or creek, now known as Sparkill, which, after many a sinuous turn through the scene of De Vries' failure, at length emptied into the broad Hudson, at the mouth of which lay New York ; and the flat-bottomed, broad bowed vessels of that day could navigate that creek well into the Orangetown grant.
Following out their idea, the settlers had a part of their patent mapped out and divided into small lots. Each holder of property in the patent was expected to buy and improve one or more of these, and the project started with great promise. Further than a start it never advanced, and to this day there is not, on all the original Orangetown grant, a place of sufficient size to amount to more than a country hamlet.
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But, while the project fell short of the intention of its originators, partly because of the rapid settlement of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys, partly because of the difficulty regarding the boundary line between New Jersey and New York, it was by no means in vain. From it sprung the settlement of a vast section, the present Orange and Rockland counties, now containing over a hundred and sixteen thousand people (116,245, census 1880), which in manufacturing, agricultural and mineral wealth is exceeded by no other provincial section of the State. From it, when these counties were divided, the southernmost and most populous township of our County took its name; and from its settlers arose many of those family names still the oldest and most respected in our midst.
I have thought that it might be a matter of great interest to speak of the origin of Dutch family names, a subject which has always filled the historian with dread and caused genealogists awful confusion. On this topic I shall quote extracts from a letter on the subject written by Hon. Henry C. Murphy while U. S. Minister at the Hague.
The first system of bestowing names adopted in Holland, "was the patronymic, as it is called, by which a child took, besides his own baptismal name, that of his father, with the addition of soon or sen, meaning son. To illustrate this : if a child were baptized Hendrick and the baptismal name of his father were Jan, the child would be called Hendrick Jansen. His son, if baptized Tunis, would be called Tunis Hendricksen; the son of the latter might be William, and would have the name of William Tunissen. And so we might have the succeeding generations called successively Gar- ret Williamsen, Marten Garretsen, and so on, through the whole of the calendar of Christian names, or, as more frequently happened, there be repetition in the second, third, or fourth generation, of the name of the first; and thus, as these names were common to the whole people, there were in every community different lineages of identically the same name. This custom, which had prevailed in Holland for centuries, was in full vogue at the time of the settlement of New Netherland. In writing the termination sen it was frequently contracted into se or z, or s.
The inconvenience of this practice, the confusion to which it gave rise, and the difficulty of tracing families, led ultimately to its abandonment both in Holland and in our own country. In doing so the patronymic which the person originating the name bore was adopted as the surname. Most of the family names thus formed and existing amongst us may be said to be of American origin, as they were first fixed in America, though the same names were adopted by others in Holland. Hence we have the names of such families of Dutch descent amongst us as Jansen (anglice,
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Johnson) Cornelisen, Williamsen or Williamson, Clasen, Simonsen or Simonson, Tysen (son of Mathias) Lambertsen or Lambertson, Paulisen, Remsen (son of Rembrandt, which was shortened into Rem), Ryersen, Martense and others." "Another mode of nomenclature, intended to obviate the difficulty of an identity of names for the time being, but which rendered the confusion worse confounded for the future genealogist, was to add to the patronymic name the occupation or some other personal characteristic of the individual. But the same addition was not trans- mitted to the son; and thus the son of Hendrick Jansen Coster (sexton) might be called Tunis Hendrickson Browwer (brewer), and his grandson might be William Tunissen Bleecker (bleacher). Upon the abandonment of the old system of names, this practice went with it; but it often hap- pened that while one brother took the father's patronymic as a family name, another took that of his occupation or personal designation. Thus originated such families as Bleecker, Schoonmaker, Snediker (which should be Snediger), Hegeman, Hofman, Bleekman, and Tieman."
Applying the observations of Mr. Murphy to our County, we find the first purchaser of land in Nyack, Claus Jansen (Nicholas Johnson) had a son Cornelius, who took the name of Cornelius Clausen, and his two sons, John and Henry, took their surnames from their business, that of coopers, and became John and Henry Cuyper, Kuyper, or Cooper. In regard to a surname being obtained by some personal characteristic, we have Har- manus Dows, not infrequently called Dowse Harmanse, whose son became Tunis Dows, and his son, the grandson of Harmanus Dows, from his great stature, was known as Tunis Dows Tallman, and thus created that family name. The Blauvelt family on entering the County bore the different names of Abram Gerritse, Johannes Gerritse, Harman Hendricksen, Ger- ret Huybertsen, and Joseph Hendricksen Blauvelt; a most excellent illus- tration of the confusion of this means of nomenclature.
"A third practice," continues Mr. Murphy, "evidently designed like that referred to, to obviate the confusions of the first, was to append the name of the place where the person resided-not often of a large city, but of a particular, limited locality, and frequently of a particular farm or natural object. This custom is denoted in all family names which have the prefix of Van, Vander, Ver (which is the contraction of Vander), and Ten, meaning respectively of, of the, and at the. From towns in Holland we have the families of Van Cleef, Van Wyck, Van Schaack ; from Utrecht, Van Winkel; from Zeeland, Van Duyne. Sometimes the Van has been dropped, as in the name of Westervelt, of Drenthe and Wessels, in Gueld- erland. The prefixes of Vander or Ver and Ten were adopted when the
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name was derived from a particular spot; thus : Vanderveer (of the ferry), Vanderbilt (of the bilt-i. e., certain elevations of ground in Guelderland and New Utrecht); Verhultz (of the holly), Ten Eyck (at the oak), Ten- brock (at the marsh). There are a few names derived from relative situa- tions to a place ; thus, Voorhees is simply before or in front of Hess, a town in Guelderland, and Onderdonk is below Donk, which is in Brabant. There are a few names more arbitrary-Bogaert (or hard), Blauvelt (blue field), Hooghland (highland), Dorland (arid land), Hasbrook (hare's marsh). Some names are disguised in a Latin dress. The practice prevailed, at the time of the immigration to our country, of changing the names of those who had gone through the university and received a degree, from plain Dutch to sonorous Roman. The names of all our earliest ministers are thus attired. Evert Willemse Bogaert became Everardus Bogardus, and that of Jan Doris Polheem became Johannes Theodorus Polhemius."
Of the older families in the County, the De Clarkes, Blauvelts, Smiths, Harings and De Groots, date back to the purchasers of the Orangetown pat- ent in 1686. The Onderdonks first settled on Long Island, and descendants from that family bought 320 acres of land in 1736 on the present shore road from Piermont to Nyack for £350; other descendants from the same family settled at the present Spring Valley. The Snedeker family came into the County by the purchase by Tunis Snedeker, of Hempstead, L. I., of part of the Quaspeck Patent in 1729. The Cole family in this section was originated by Jacob Kool, who settled near Tappan about 1695. The Suffern family originated from John Suffern, who emigrated from An- trim, Ireland, and settled in the village that bears his family name in 1763. This family is noted for the number of offices which members of it have held. John Suffern was County Judge of Orange Co., from 1789 till 1792,and first County Judge of Rockland Co., from 1798 till 1806. His son, Edward Suffern, after being District Attorney from 1818 till 1820, . was raised to the Bench and held the office of County Judge from 1820 till 1847. Andrew E. Suffern, grandson of the first and son of the second Judge of that name, was District Attorney from 1853 till 1859, and County Judge from 1859 till his death in 1880. Other members of the family held the following offices: Edward Suffern, Assemblyman in 1826 and 1835, John I. Suffern, Assemblyman in 1854 and James Suffern in 1867, and 1869. Edward Suffern was School Commissioner from 1859 to 1862 and Thomas W. Suffern from 1880 to the present time.
Other families whose progenitors settled in the County previous to the opening of this century, and who still bear the first settler's names, are the Allison's, of Haverstraw, who purchased the De Harte patent, the De Noy-
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elles, who date from the same period, the Croms, whose ancestor took out a patent for Haverstraw, north of the creek, in 1685. The Thiells, Ver Valens, De Bauns, Secors, the Brewsters, the Waldrons, who by purchase and marriage obtained large possessions in Stony Point; the Youmans, Polhemus, Remsens, Ryders, Hoffmans, whose ancesters settled on the Quaspeck tract ; the De Rondes, whose progenitor became interested in the County through marriage; the Swartwouts, who purchased property that had been sequestrated from Tories ; the Conklins, De Bauns, Sickles, Campbells, Lydeckers, who purchased in the Kakiat patent, and the Sned- ens, Nagels, Lawrances, Gesners, Perrys and Mabies, of Rockland and Tappan; the Sarvents, Palmers, Williamsons, Cornelisons, De Pews and Greens, of Nyack; the Barmores, Storms, Demarests, Van Houtens, Smiths, Bogarts, Eckersons, Felters, of the Hackensack Valley; the Woods, Weiants, Roses, of Stony Point and Haverstraw; and the Sloats, Springsteels, Piersons, Van Blarcoms, Gurnees, Snyders, Johnstons, Ten- ures, Martines, Bensons, Wannamakers, Stephens, Posts, Forshees, Pyes, Van Ostrand and House families.
Authorities referred to. The Histories of the towns of Ramapo, E. B. Cobb, Haverstraw, A. S. Freeman, Stony Point, E. Gay, Jr. Deeds, wills and other old papers; Session Laws, S. N. Y. Stiles' History of Kings County. I am indebted to E. E. Conklin, for papers and maps relating to Rockland Lake.
CHAPTER IV.
ORGANIZATION OF ORANGE COUNTY INCLUDING THE PRESENT ROCKLAND -PHYSICAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF ERECTION- FRAUDULENT ELECTION RETURNS FROM IT .- THE FIRST COUNTY OFFICERS-ESTABLISHMENT OF COURTS-EARLY CENSUS RETURNS- ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST CHURCH SOCIETY-EARLY SUPERVISORS RECORDS-BUILDING OF THE FIRST CHURCH EDIFICES AT TAPPAN- CLARKSTOWN AND KAKIAT-PUNISHMENTS INFLICTED ON MALEFAC- TORS - ESTABLISHMENT OF CHURCH SOCIETIES NORTH OF THE MOUN- TAINS-OPENING OF HIGHWAYS-ERECTION OF COUNTY BUILDINGS NORTH OF THE MOUNTAINS-TIIE ESTABLISHMENT OF INNS-THE BE- GINNING OF THE CONTROVERSY WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
On November Ist, 1683, under the administration of Thomas Dongan, the Province of New York was divided into counties for reasons best set forth in the following preamble and act: "Having taken into considera- con the necessity of divideing the Province into respective Countyes for the better governing and setling Courts in the same, Bee It Enacted by the Governour Councell and Representatives and by the authority of the same That the said Province bee divided into twelve Countyes." After naming and defining the bounds of these in their order, the act continues: "the County of Orange to begin from the Limitts or bounds of East and West Jersey on the West Side of Hudson's River along the said River to the Murderers Creeke or bounds of the County of Ulster and Westward into the Woods as farr as Delaware River."
Each of the counties thus created was given the name either of a home shire, title, or member of the royal family that then occupied the English throne, and the loyal government of the Province, little foreseeing the events of the next five years, gave to this section the hereditary title of James the Seconds Son-in-law.
The County at the time of its erection was a howling wilderness with scarcely a single settler located within its territory. Nor, as we have al- ready seen when speaking of the patentees, was its early growth rapid. By 1693 the total population amounted to about twenty families and it was a ward of the Province. In the Militia returns for that year it was annexed to the city and county of New York, and held no civil existence for a brief period. Yet in that brief period the county was used as a means of fraud.
The Governor wished an Assembly devoted to his purposes and to ob-
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tain a majority of the members friendly toward him; the Sheriff of New York returned four members as elected by the popular franchise of Orange and New York Counties without an inhabitant of the former county having had a vote. Later the new Governor-Bellomont-de- posed the Sheriff from office for this and similar acts.
Only a short time elapsed however when Lord Bellomont, having formed a new Council and appointed new Sheriffs ordered the election of another Assembly, and for the first time, in 1702, a representative-Peter Hearing, was elected in Orange as her peoples' choice. The Sheriff at that time was Tunis Tallman, who, a year later, incurred the anger of Lord Cornbury, on account of his ignorance, and drew from that Governor a long letter to the Lords of Trade in which, speaking of his inability to obtain a census from the sheriffs, he says : "and when they come to sign their letters it is said 'the mark of Theunis Talmane Esquire High Sheriff of the County of Orange."" Cornbury removed Tallman from office and appointed John Perry in his stead.
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