The discovery and early history of New Jersey; a paper read befores the Passaic County historical society

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Discovery and Early History

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New Jersey

£>> WILUAM NELSON

I he Discovery and Early riistory

of

New Jersey

A Paper Read before the Passaic Count}) Historical
Societ}), June //, 1872.

By William Nelson.

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One Hundred Copies Printed, A. D. 1912.

[The original manuscript having turned up accidentally in the sum-
mer of 1912, this address has now been printed precisely as written
forty years ago, without revision, correction or addition, except two
or three foot-notes, enclosed in brackets.]

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THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY
OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCTORY.

In this age of "p^'ogi'^ss," — of the steam-engine, the
hghtning printing-press, the locomotive, the ocean tele-
graph-cable, and universal hurry and bustle; in these days
of new inventions, of labor-reform, social-reform, and
world-and-mankind-reform generally — it is well for us to
pause once in a while, step aside out of the on-rushing
tide of human "p^'og^'^ss," calmly to observe where we
stand and whither we are drifting, and then look back to
see whence we came. Thus we can judge as to the actual
progress we are making, if any ; and if we use our faculties
aright we can see many errors committed in the past to be
avoided in the future. And, thus contemplating the situa-
tion, it will be strange if there do not involuntarily arise
the exclamation, Cm bono? For what good have we
been toiling, pushing, crowding forward in such tumultu-
ous haste? The actual progress of mankind is infinitely
slow; it takes almost as long to pass from the "age of
stone" to the "age of iron" as it would for a well-behaved
monkey to develop into some kinds of men we know. So
we might as well move more deliberately, not consuming
with the fires of impatience, but restraining our impetuosity
and saving our strength for use when and where most
needed, only doing our appointed tasks well, satisfied to
leave the issue to Him who hath foreseen all things to the
end of time, and to whom "a thousand years are but as
yesterday when it is past."

To one who thus withdraws himself, in spirit, from the
concerns of the present, and gazes backward, how much
is there calculated to inspire him with feelings of admira-
tion, of emulation, and of humility! He sees that there
have been men as wise, as noble, as true, as good, as
generous, as any now living ; that there is really very little
in theology, sociology or politics that has not been dis-
cussed by men whose grandchildren have long ago turned
to ashes; that the blatant "reformers," so self-styled, who
arrogate to themselves the credit for discovering new ideas
of one kind or another, are indeed but poor imitators of
abler men and women whose names and systems were
long since forgotten by a practical world that in the end
preserves only the kernels of grain thrown into its vast
thought-hopper; that we, who so exult in our superiority
over those who are gone, are but fulfilling the destiny
marked out for us a century ago, and, considering our
greater advantages, are not doing so much better than our
grandfathers, if so well. The study of the past inspires
one with reverence, often, for the foresight of our prede-
cessors, as we contemplate their sacrifices for the sake of
principles essential to human progress and happiness.

No higher heroism nor nobler manhood is anywhere
exhibited in American history than may be found in the
annals of our own New Jersey, and it therefore seems all
the stranger that our early history has not been more gen-
erally studied. TTie paper herewith submitted is a rough
sketch of the leading events connected with the discovery,
settlement and early government of our State, prepared
in the hope that an interest in the subject may be excited
not only among our people generally, but especially
among those who, studiously inclined, have never deemed
it worthy of investigation, only because its real importance
and attractiveness have never been brought to their atten-

tion. Though hastily prepared, the statements contained
in this paper are made only on the best authority, and may
be relied upon as correct. The authorities are cited for
every statement of importance, for verification by the
critical reader, and as a guide to the young student to the
more available and useful works on the subject.

THE DISCOVERY OF NEW JERSEY.

This part of our history, or rather introduction to our
history, has been but scantily touched upon by writers on
New Jersey, and is doubtless familiar to but few, which
may be considered excuse enough for dwelling upon it
here at some length. Our information is mainly gathered
from a valuable volume of "Collections," published by the
New York Historical Society in 1841, being Vol. I,
New Series, of the Society's "Collections." This volume
contains accounts written by some of the very earliest
visitors to the American continent, from whom we shall
quote freely.

Skipping over the traditional accounts of the discovery
of the Western Hemisphere by the Northmen in the ninth
or tenth century, or by the Welshmen in the twelfth
century (vide Gentleman s Mag., March, 1 740, quoted
in American Hist Record, June, 1872), let us remind
you that while Christopher Columbus is credited with the
discovery — or re-discovery — of the new world in 1492,
the Western Continent was first discovered in 1497, by
Sebastian Cabot, who was sent out by Henry VIII, of
England, whence the English claim to supremacy here a
century and a half later. In 1 498 Cabot coasted what is
now the New Jersey shore. At that time no fashionable
villas were "on the beach at Long Branch" ; no lighthouse
at Cape May warned the mariner of danger; no fishing-
smacks were to be seen in the numerous inlets along the

coast. The land was covered with primeval forests
through whose dusky glades strange forms glided. The
whole country was novel and mysterious in the eyes of
Cabot's crew, and we do not wonder that in such a
superstitious age the people to whom, on their return, they
told of this wonderful land, were loth to settle in such a
mystic and uncanny country. So we have no record that
Cabot or his men ever even set foot on the virgin earth of
New Jersey.

Capt. John de Verazzano, a Florentine, has given us
an account of a voyage he made along the North Ameri-
can coast in 1524, in a letter to "His Most Serene
Majesty," Francis I, King of France, under whose orders
he sailed in the good ship "Dolphin." In March, 1524,
he coasted New Jersey — then, of course, unnamed — and
he tells how one of his sailors, in trying to approach the
shore to throw some trinkets to the wondering natives, was
so buffeted about by the waves as to be prostrated, and
Kow the Indians carried him ashore and restored him to
consciousness, treated him with the greatest kindness, and
then let him depart. Further on, Verazzano went ashore
with twenty men, and captured a small boy to carry back
to France, much as he would a dog or any other animal.
"A young girl of about eighteen or twenty, who was very
beautiful and very tall," only escaped captivity because
she shrieked loudly as the sailors attempted to lead her
away, and they had to pass some woods and were far
from the ship. Thus the very first visit of the whites gave
the Indians just cause to fear and hate them forever after.

Verazzano greatly admired the country, which he says
"appeared very beautiful and full of the largest forests."
He "found also wild roses, violets, lilies, and many sorts
of plants and fragrant flowers different from our own,"
which here for many a century had sprung up, blossomed,

bloomed and "wasted their sweetness on the desert air,"
or perchance had from time to time afforded to Indian
youth the means of indicating to some fair dusky maiden
his modest attachment. Verazzano was so pleased with
this neighborhood that he remained three days, and next
entered, beyond doubt. New York harbor, with a boat.
He "found the country on its banks well peopled, the
inhabitants not differing much from the others, being
dressed out with the feathers of birds of various colors.
They came towards us with evident delight, raising loud
shouts of admiration, and showing us where we could
most securely land with our boat." However, he was
driven back by adverse winds. (A^, Y. Hist. Soc. Col-
lections, 2d Series, Vol. I, pp. 41-46.) He sailed next
along Long Island, etc., but does not tell us what he did
with his young captive.

We might imagine the emotions of awe and wonder-
ment that filled the breasts of the untutored natives of the
new world when first they beheld their strange visitors,
but we have an account that bears internal evidences of
genuineness, handed down by tradition among the Indians
from generation to generation, and obtained more than a
century ago from the lips of ancient Delawares, by the
Rev. John Heckewelder, for many years a Moravian
missionary to the Indians in Pennsylvania. It may be
found in the volume cited above, pp. 71-74. It probably
refers to the subsequent arrival of Hudson, as the In-
dians of his day had no recollection, or even tradition,
it appears, of an earlier landing of whites, but the account
may not be inappropriate here. We are told, then, that
the Indians watched the strange object approaching their
shore with feelings of mingled alarm, awe and wonder,
finally concluding the ship to be "a large canoe or house,
in which the great Mannitto (or Supreme Being) himself

8

was, and that he probably was coming to visit them."
The chiefs hastily resolved themselves into a "committee
of the whole," to arrange a suitable "reception"; the
women were required to prepare the best of victuals ; idols
and images were examined and put in order ; and a grand
dance was also added to this extraordinary entertain-
ment, on this most extraordinary occasion. "The con-
jurors were also set to work, to determine what the
meaning of this phenomenon was, and what the result
would be. Both to these, and to the chiefs and wise men
of the nation, men, women and children were looking up
for advice and protection. Between hope and fear, and
in confusion, a dance commenced. While in this situa-
tion fresh runners arrive, declaring it a house of various
colors, and crowded with living creatures. * * Other
runners soon after arriving, declare it a large house of
various colors, full of people, yet of quite a different color
than they (the Indians) are of; that they were also
dressed in a different manner from them, and that one in
particular appeared altogether red, which must be the
great Mannitto himself." The whites land, treat the
Indians to liquor, who of course get drunk, and the whites
leave after the friendliest interchange of mutual regards.

More than three-quarters of a century seem now to
have elapsed ere this country was again visited by the
whites, Europe being convulsed with the great throes of
the Reformation, and the accompanying wars that kept
her adventurous spirits busily employed at home. Still,
Spain was prosecuting the conquest of Mexico and Peru,
and occasional adventurous sailors of other countries
preferred to prowl over the seas in quest of Spanish
frigates laden with the yellow gold robbed from the
natives of the new world. This was a speedier way to
fame and fortune, and vastly more romantic, than to settle

in the unknown wilderness, thousands of miles away from
home, and there patiently delve and plant, to establish a
home. Canada, indeed, was settled as early as 1 535 by
the French, who called their happy new home Acadia,
and there lived the sweet, simple lives so charmingly
painted by Longfellow, in "Evangeline." The Span-
iards, too, laid claim to nearly the whole continent, or at
least the Atlantic coast, possibly because one Gomez, a
Spaniard, had about 1 525 sailed under their flag along
the coast, and in 1535 we find a Spanish grant for
Florida (settled in 1512), in which its boundaries are
described as extending from Newfoundland to the 22d
deg. N. Lat., or south of Cuba. Even a century later
the Spaniards claimed all this country, and made incur-
sions along the Virginia coast, and colonists to the New
Netherlands were warned that it was "first of all necessary
that they be placed in a good defensive position and well
provided with arms and a fort, as the Spaniards * *
would never allow anyone to gain a possession there. '
(Doc. Hist N. y.. Vol 3, p. 34.)

Massachusetts was discovered in 1600, and in 1603-
1632 Champlain thoroughly explored "New France,"
and skirted the New Jersey and Virginia coast, but his
map of the country (prefixed to the volume just quoted)
gives no idea of the shape of New Jersey, though he
possibly refers to this neighborhood when he speaks of
"the coast of a very fine country inhabited by savages who
cultivate it." (Ut supra, p. 21.)

The English now assumed the ownership of the new
world, by virtue of Sebastian Cabot's long-forgotten dis-
covery, and in 1606 James I, of England, gave charters
for the territory between the 34th and 46th degs. N. Lat.,
or say from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Newfound-
land, the southern half to the London, and the rest to the

lO

Plymouth Company. (Cordons N. J., p. 5; Humes
England, Vol IV, Am. ed., p. 519.)

But the Dutch, proverbially slow though they be, were
ahead of the "Plymouth Company," and in 1609 the
Netherlands East India Company sent out Henry Hud-
son, a bold English sea-captain, to renew for the second
or third time a search for a northwest passage to China
and the East Indies — a search that had been unsuccess-
fully made a score of times before, as it has been since.
[In 1595 one John Davis published in London "The
World's hydrographical Description, whereby it appears
that there is a short and speedie Passage into the South
Seas, to China, &c., by northerly Navigation." Lowndes,
Bohn's ed., p. 602.] Many of the directors of the com-
pany opposed this expedition. "It was," said they,
"throwing money away, and nothing else." However,
Hudson was sent out April 6, 1 609, with a mere yacht,
called the Halve-Maan, or "Half-Moon" — earlier pro-
phetically called the Cood Hope — manned by a crew of
sixteen Englishmen and Hollanders. He sailed north-
wardly, touched Newfoundland, discovered Cape Cod
and called that country "New Holland," as the French
had previously called the country north of that, "New
France," and as it was designated till the English con-
quest in the middle of the lait century. (Lambrechisen,
N. Y. Hist Soc. Coll, N. S., Vol. I, p. 85.)

On Thursday afternoon, September 3, 1609, the
natives about Sandy Hook saw a vessel approach from
the limitless sea. It was the "Half-Moon," commanded
by Hudson. With wonder, admiration and awe they
gazed on the strange sight, but after their first astonish-
ment wore off, these aboriginal Jerseymen went on board
the vessel without hesitation, and seemed to be pleased.
They were civil, and gladly exchanged skins, tobacco.

II

hemp, grapes, etc., for knives, beads, articles of clothing,
etc., betraying a disposition to get the best of a bargain —
a predilection that is popularly supposed to characterize
the present race of Jerseymen as well. (Journal of JueU
Hudson's Mate, ut supra, p. 323.) Hudson penetrated
the Narrows September 1 1 th, and spent three weeks ex-
ploring the noble river whose name now perpetuates his
fame (though it was first called the Manahaita, the North
river, the Rio de la Montagne, the Great river, and the
Great North river) , sending a boat up as far as Albany,
and perhaps above. He made no settlements, of course.
With a crew of but sixteen men that would have been
scarcely practicable. But he doubtless raised the Dutch
flag and claimed the ownership of the country, by right of
discovery, for his masters and the Dutch Government.
He found the Indians changeable in disposition — some-
times friendly, and then on the slightest provocation
hostile. Possibly they still remembered the previous visit
of the whites — when one of their families was ruthlessly
robbed of a darling son, and were on the alert for a similar
attempt by Hudson's men. One of his men — John Cole-
man— was shot in the throat with an Indian arrow, and in
one or two encounters Hudson's little crew killed ten of
the enemy. At various places he found many friendly
Indians, who welcomed him cordially when he went
ashore, though he says they had "a great propensity to
steal, and were exceedingly adroit in carrying away
whatever they took a fancy to." They got up an enter-
tainment for him, regardless of expense, serving up "some
food in well made red wooden bowls," shot a couple of
pigeons, and even "killed a fat dog, and skinned it in
great haste with shells which they had got out of the
water." (Hudson s Journal, quoted by De Laet, and
Juet's Log of Hudson's Voyage, ut supra, pp. 289, 290,

12

300, 321-4.) Hudson returned with glowing accounts
of the wonderful new country, and the Company sent out
settlers and trading vessels in the next few years. The
unfortunate Hudson came to a terrible end the year after
his return to Holland. He was sent out once more to
find that mysterious Northwest Passage, and discovered
the Straits and Bay that bear his name, when in that
desolate, ice-bound region his crew mutinied and sent him,
his son and six faithful men, adrift in a small boat on the
dreary ocean, and they were never heard of more. But
his work was done. If he had not, indeed, discovered a
new route to the Indies, he had discovered a country of
far more importance to the world than the Indies have
been or ever will be, and he had discovered a harbor that
will one day receive the bulk of the products of the Indies,
though he never dreamed that his name would yet be
perpetuated in the title of a great and wealthy country,
within whose limits tens of thousands of miles of iron
roads would yet terminate, depositing in unbroken bulk
the teas and the silks of the Far East, from away across
the Western Continent.

FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

The first permanent lodgment on the shores of Nexv
Netherland seems to have been made in 1613, when a
trading station was established on the present site of New
York. In 1614 and 1615 forts appear to have been
built by the Dutch at Albany and at New York, and in
1614 one was erected, it would seem, at what is now
Jersey City — authority therefor having been obtained
from their High Mightinesses of the United Netherlands.
(Lambrechtsen and De Laet, ut supra, pp. 88, 291 , 299,
305; Cordons N. /., p. 6.) Now settlers gradually
strayed over to the unknown wilderness of the new world.

13

We may well believe that few men cared to take their
families to this mysterious land, where "immeasurable
woods with swamps covered the soil," and "savages lived
in their coverts, clothing themselves with the skins of wild
beasts," their heads covered with feathers, — a costume
that must have given them a wild aspect, soon heightened
in the imagination of the whites when a band of these
savages would occasionally sally out and murder some
settler. Despite the glowing accounts brought home by
some travelers, the old-world people were loth to leave
their settled habitations for the western hemisphere, even
though New Jersey already boasted an astonishing attrac-
tion in "the retired paradise of the children of the
Ethiopian Emperor ; a wonder, for it is a square rock two
miles compass, 1 50 feet high, and a wall-like precipice, a
strait entrance, easily made invincible, where he keeps
200 for his guards, and under is a flat valley, all plain to
plant and sow." (Plantagenet's Description of NeTX>
Albion, quoted in Whitehead's East Jerse"^, p. 24.)
Apart from the uncertainty of settling in a new country,
where the success of the crops would be dubious for years,
the voyage across the ocean was a vastly different matter
from what it is now. Instead of steamers of 3,500 or
4,000 tons burthen, whose size prevents rolling in a great
measure, making the passage in seven to ten days, by the
most direct route: in those days ships or yachts of 50 to
200 tons burthen were most common, and though as early
as 1603 Gosnold had found a straight course across the
ocean, yet for many years afterward mariners took the old
route, "first directing their course southwards to the
tropic, sailing westward by means of trade winds, and
then turning northward, till they reached the English
settlements." (Hume's Hist. England, Am. ed.. Vol.
4, p. 519.) Or, as another writer, in 1624, says: "This

14

country now called New Netherland is usually reached in
seven or eight weeks from here. The course lies towards
the Canary Islands; thence to the (West) Indian Islands,
then towards the main land of Virginia, steering right
across, leaving in fourteen days the Bahamas on the left,
and the Bermudas on the right hand where the winds are
variable with which the land is made." {Wassenae/s
Historic van Europa, quoted in Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol.
3, p. 28.) Hence we may be prepared to find that so late
as 1 638 vessels seldom arrived at the New Netherlands in
winter, and when De Vries anchored opposite Fort
Amsterdam, December 27th, 1638, he and his fellow-
passengers "were received with much joy, as they did not
expect to see a vessel at that time of the year." (De
Vries, in A^. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., N. S., Vol. I, p. 260.)

Still, there are always adventurous men, and men to
whom freedom and independence present a charm that
will lead them to brave any and all danger — even the
perils of a voyage over trackless oceans (for there was no
Maury two and a half centuries ago, to map out paths
over the "vasty deep," and the very winds), in rocking
vessels, and the dangers of constant encounters with a
savage and remorseless foe. And so we find ship-loads
of colonists coming over from time to time, undeterred
even by the massacres of entire settlements — as at Staten
Island, in 1641, and at other places earlier.

Accordingly, we find settlements at Bergen as early as
1618; but that place must have increased but slowly, for
it was not till 1661 that the village was large enough to
be allowed a court arid a Sheriff, the court being com-
posed of the Sheriff and two Schepins (magistrates), and
not till 1662 that a church was started, $162 being raised
to erect a log house, replaced by one of stone in 1680.
{Alban}) Records, quoted in Whitehead's E. J., p. 16.)

15

Had there been 250 families (say 1,000 souls) in the
settlement (which then covered all of the present Hudson
county and part of Bergen county), it would have been
entitled to a city government composed of an upper
branch of three Burgomasters and five or seven Schepins,
and a lower branch of twenty Councilmen. (Van der

Donck, N. Y. Hist. Soc. ColL N. S., Vol 3, p. 240.)

In 1661 a ferry from Bergen to New Amsterdam was
established, and the undertaking seemed so risky that a
monopoly had to be guaranteed, to induce anyone to
operate it. In the year following we find that the solitary
"ferryman complained that the authorities of Bergen had
authorized the inhabitants to 'ferry themselves over when
they pleased,' to the great detriment of his monopoly."
{Albany) Records, quoted in Whitehead's E. /., p. 20.)
Though the church building was begun as early as 1 662,
as mentioned above, it was not till ninety-five years later,
or 1757, that it had a settled pastor. (Rome^ns \st
Ref. Ch. of Hacf^ensac^, p. 40. ) Even our old Totowa
church was more enterprising than that, for it had a settled
pastor in 1 756.

It has been frequently asserted that the Puritans who
sailed from Holland in 1 620 intended to colonize in the
New Netherlands, but that adverse winds, or the
treachery of the ship's captain, caused them to land much
further north, at Plymouth Rock, instead of at New
York, or in New Jersey. (Cordon s N. J., p. 7; Robert-
son s America, quoted by Lambrechtsen, ut supra, p. 98.)

In 1628 there were on Manhattan Island only 270
souls, living there in peace with the natives. (Was-
senaers Historic van Europa, N. Y. Doc. Hist., Vol. 3,
p. 48.) But as the land was undeveloped, in 1629 the
Dutch West India Company, anxious to encourage
emigration to the new world, which had come into the

i6

possession of that Company (from the Netherlands East
India Company), issued a prospectus in which rights and
privileges were guaranteed to the immigrant, quite unusual
at that early date. Any who undertook to plant a colony
of fifty families in four years were to be acknowledged
"patroons" of New Netherland, and allowed to occupy
twelve English miles along the North river shore, or six
miles each side, and indefinitely into the interior, to "for-
ever possess and enjoy all the lands lying within the
aforesaid limits, together with the chief command,"
privileges, franchises, appurtenances, etc., "to be holden
from the company as an eternal heritage." This was
absolute sovereignty, though an appeal was guaranteed
the colonists in certain cases from the courts of the
patroons. The colonists were also promised a minister
and schoolmaster, "that thus the service of God and zeal
for religion may not grow cool, and be neglected among
them"; also, that "the company will use their endeavors
to supply the colonists with as many blacks as they con-
veniently can." Prior to this time two "comforters of the
sick" "read to the Commonalty there on Sundays, from
texts of Scripture with the Comment." The first Dutch
minister in America was John Michaelis, in 1628; the
first in New Netherlands was Everardus Bogardus, in
1633, who is distinguished in history chiefly by reason of
the fact that he was subsequently the husband of Anneke
Jans, of Trinity Church fame ; the first regularly-installed
Dutch pastor in New Jersey was Guilaem Bertholf, who
was sent to Holland in 1693, by the churches at
Acquackanonk and Hackensack, to be educated for the
ministry, and was installed over those churches in 1 694.
(A^. y. Hist Soc. Coll., N. S., Vol /, pp. 370-6;

Wassenaer, reprinted in Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. Ill, p.
42; Rome^ns \st Ref. Ck at Hack., pp. 39-40.) The

17

inducements to colonists above set forth were judicious, as
only by extraordinary offers could settlers have been
attracted. Writing as early as 1624, Wassenaer (ut
supra, p. 36) w^isely said: "For their (the colonies')
increase and prosperous advancement, it is highly neces-
sary that those sent out be first of all well provided with
means both of support and defence, and that being Free-
men, they be settled there on a free tenure; that all they
work for and gain be theirs to dispose of and to sell it
according to their pleasure; that whoever is placed over
them as Commander act as their Father not as their
Executioner, leading them with a gentle hand; for who-
ever rules them as a Friend and Associate will be beloved
by them, as he who will order them as a superior will
subvert and nullify every thing; yea, they will excite
against him the neighboring provinces to which they will
fly. 'Tis better to rule by love and friendship than by
force." (Ut supra, p. 36.) It would have been well if
the Dutch had always cherished this as a motto, and for
England if she had laid it to heart a century and a half
later.

Several of the Directors of the West India Company
immediately availed themselves of the extraordinary in-
ducements above set forth, and with a promptness that
has led to the belief that they purposely procured the
granting of these concessions for their personal aggran-
dizement at the expense of the Company, for the very
first tracts of land taken up under this "Charter of Liber-
ties," as it was fittingly called, were located by Wouter
van Twiller for Van Rensselaer, Bloemaert, De Laet,
and other Directors. One Michael Poulaz, or Pauw, as
he is generally called, who had been in the service of the
Company, in charge of a colony on the site of Jersey City
(De Vries, ut supra, pp. 257, 259), "took up" that

"section," by deed dated Aug. 10, 1630 (Whitehead's
E. /., p. 17), and De Vries says called it Pavonia,
whence the name of the ferry by which we cross to and
from New York, via the Erie Railway. [Much erudition
has been exhausted in explaining the derivation of this
name. Mr. Geo. Folsom of the N. Y. Hist. Soc. derives
the name thus: "The Latin of pauw (peacock) is pavo
— hence the name Pavonia" But the name of the officer
generally called Pauw was doubtless the familiar Dutch
nickname or contraction "Pau," for Paul or Paulus.
Hence the name "Paulus' Hook," by which Jersey City
was most commonly known forty or fifty years ago.
Hence, too, the family name Paulison, Powlson, Powel-
sen, etc. It is possible, even, that Pavonia was an Indian
name, though hardly probable. The Indians applied the
name Arisseoh to the greater portion of what is now the
lower part of Jersey City — a name perpetuated in one of
the steam fire engines of that now metropolitan city.]

Several other settlements along the river, at Hohuk, at
Wihac, at Tappan, at Cemoenapogh (now Communi-
paw — retaining the significant Indian termination pau,
preserved in Ramapaw, Yawpaw, Pembrepow, Ramapo,
etc., and possibly to be found in Om-po-ge, whence
Amboy), etc., were made during the next ten or twenty
years, but do not seem to have been successful in any
important degree. The first colonies had all their houses
built together, in a hamlet, for mutual protection, and
during the day the planters went out about their farms.
Occasionally the Indians would make a raid upon them,
and thus the progress of the settlements was greatly im-
peded. That at Communipaw was abandoned in 1 65 1 ,
and not re-occupied till ten years later.

The Allan]) Records (quoted in Whitehead's E. /.,
p. 49, n.) mention Dutch residents at Acquackanonk as

19

early as 1640^; but at that time "Acquackanonk" —
spelled in a score of different ways — seems to have been
the name applied to the whole country between Newark
and Hackensack, from the Passaic river on the west or
north to the Bergen hill on the east, including a large part
of the meadows. We have no accounts whatever of the
history of this neighborhood prior to 1 679, when the
"Acquackanonk Grant" was made by the English gov-
ernment of the Province to a number of persons who may
possibly have already occupied the country under the
Dutch, but who are named in the deed as being from
Bergen, to wit: Hans Diderick, Gerritt Gerritsen, Wall-
ing Jacobs, Hendrick George, Elias Hartman, Johannes
Machielson, Cornelius Machielson, Adrian Post, Urian
Tomason, Cornelius Rowlofson, Simon Jacobs, John
Hendrick Speare (or Spyr), Cornelius Lubbers, and
Abraham Bookey. Several of these men doubtless came
over from Holland, 1 658-'64 ; Gerritsen and Lubbers
probably came from Wesel, in Holland, in 1664, and
tradition says Gerrit Gerritsen settled at the site of the
present Broadway bridge, on the Bergen county side, in
1666. There were several Gerrit Gerritsens who came
over between the years named, from different parts of
Holland. "Hendrick Jansen Spiers (same as the above,
doubtless) and Wife and two children" are named in the
list of passengers in the ship "Faith," that sailed in De-
cember, 1659, for the new world. "Cornelis Michielsen,
from Medemblick," came over in the "Beaver," in April,
1659. {Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. 3, pp. 52-63.) The
tract embraced in the above grant is now divided up into

*[This is an error, due to a mistranslation by a Dutchman of a
document in Dutch, which Mr. Whitehead obviously was excusable
for accepting. Meny years ago I secured a transcript of the original
document, when it was found that it was not Acquackanonk that was
referred to, but Accomac, Md. Note, 1912.]

20

Acquackanonk, Passaic Village/ Little Falls, all of
Paterson south of the Passaic, and a large part of Cald-
well. The Newark Toivn Records mention a commis-
sion appointed in 1683 to run the line between Newark
and "Hockquecanung," said commissioners being in-
structed to "make no other Agreement with them of any
other Bounds than what was formerly." April 6th,
1719, the line was renewed, the commissioners "present
from Acquackanong Mr. Michael Vreelandt, Thomas
Uriansen, Garret Harmanusen." (Newark Town
Records, pp. 94, 128.) In 1693 the five counties of the
Province (of East Jersey) were subdivided into town-
ships, and in 1694, to raise £79 12s. 9d., Acquackanonk
and New Barbadoes together were taxed £6, 15s., as
much as Newark, or one-twelfth of the whole. Ac-
quackanonk would hardly undertake now to pay that
proportion of the tax assigned to East Jersey. In 1699,
Newark, Elizabeth and Perth Amboy joined in protest-
ing against a certain tax levied by the Assembly, and
appealed to the town of "Acquechenonck" among others
to stand by them, but we have no record of any response
ever having been made. (Whitehead's E. /., pp. 160.
1 45 ; Newark Town Records, p. 113.) If the Acquack-
anonk Town Records were in existence from the organ-
ization of the township they would throw a flood of light
on its early history, but diligent inquiry has failed to elicit
any trace of them. We cannot tell when a preaching
station was established at Acquackanonk; perhaps a
Voorleser officiated here very early. Guilaem Bertholf
served Hackensack in that capacity as early as 1 689,
probably, and not unlikely officiated at Acquackanonk
at the same time. In 1 694 the church at Acquackanonk
was fully organized by the election of Elias Vreeland as
1 [Incorporated in 1873 as Passaic Cit3^]

21

Elder, and Basteaen van Gysen and Hessel Peterse as
Deacons, March 18, 1694. April 16, 1695, Frans Post
was chosen Deacon. May, 1696, Waling Jacobse van
Winkel was elected Elder, and Christopher Steynmets
Deacon. May 2, 1 697, Basteaen van Gysen was re-
elected Deacon. May 22, 1698, Elias Vreeland was
chosen Elder, and Hermannus Gerritse Deacon. May
4, 1699, Frans Post was re-elected Elder, and Hessel
Peterse was re-elected Deacon, In March, 1 726, the
church actually had a membership of 197, and 53 were
added during the remainder of the year. In 1 727, too,
there were twenty-five births and baptisms in the congre-
gation. {AcquacJ^anonl^ Ref. Ch. Records, fols. 1-5,
109-111, 329-331.) From these data there would
appear to have been 200 families, at least, in this part of
the country. ^

This notice of Acquackanonk has been unintentionally
lengthened; but perhaps it may excite some of our older
families to ransack their ancient garrets, closets, boxes and
barrels, in quest of material for a really full history of
Acquackanonk, The writer hereof would be very much
pleased to see any old deeds, maps, manuscripts or papers
of any kind throwing light on this subject.

But to resume: The West India Company had in
1621 sent out Cornelius Jacobse Mey to locate colonies
in the New Netherlands. He touched first at New York
and called that harbor Port Mey, with all the assurance
of an original discoverer; then he entered Delaware Bay,
and called the respective capes, "Cape Cornelis" and
"Cape Mey" (the latter retaining the name to this day),
but he made no settlements. There is pretty good evi-
dence that the Dutch did establish a colony here as early
as 1 623-6, which was massacred by the Indians, 1 63 1 .
(Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. 3, pp. 49-50.)

22

Swedes settled on the Delaware between 1631-40,
retaining a precarious hold, fighting the Indians, the
English and the Dutch, till at last they were expelled
from their principal fort by a "foe that appeared in
countless hosts, alike incomparable for activity and per-
severance, and obtained possession of the fort, and the
discomfited Swedes, bathed even in the ill-gotten blood of
their own enemies, were compelled to abandon the post,
which in honor of the victors received the name of Mos-
chettoeshurgy (Cordons N. /., p. 14.) All hopes of
Swedish empire in the new world were effectually dissi-
pated by sturdy old one-legged Peter Stuyvesant, the
doughty Governor of the New Netherlands, who raised
the Dutch flag over the Swedish colony in 1655. The
Dutch governed this colony by Lieutenants, who were
empowered to issue grants of land, the deeds to be
registered at New Amsterdam. We might say here that
the Swedes bought the land of the Indians and were
authorized by the crown to hold it "so long as the grantees
continued subject to the (Swedish) government"; full
sovereignty of the land was secured to the crown, the
company paying an annual tribute to the crown, in return
for which they were granted absolute sovereignty. Under
the Swedish government, no deeds of land were given by
the company; at least, there are no traces of any, except
those which were granted by Queen Christina. The
Dutch issued a great many after 1656. "No rents were
in the meantime received, since all the land was neglected,
and the inhabitants were indolent, so that the products
were little more than sufficient for their subsistence."
When the English came, the people were summoned to
New York to receive deeds for their land, which they
either had taken up, or intended to take up. The grants
were made in the Duke of York's name ; the rents were a

23

bushel of wheat for 100 acres, if so demanded. A part
of the inhabitants took deeds, others gave themselves no
trouble about the matter, except that they agreed with the
Indians for tracts of land in exchange for a gun, a kettle,
a fur jacket, and the like; and they likewise sold them
again to others for the same price, as land was abundant,
inhabitants few, and the government not vigorous. Hence
it appears that in law-suits respecting titles to land, they
relied upon the Indian right, which prevailed when it
could be proved. Many who took deeds for large tracts
of land, repented of it from fear of the after demand of
rents (which, however, were very light when the people
cultivated their lands), and on that account transferred
the largest part of them to others." which their descend-
ants doubtless exceedingly regret. {History of New
Sweden, in A^. Y. Hist. Soc. ColL N. S.. Vol I, p.
427.) The conditions of the Swedish grants were much
the same as the Dutch "Charter of Liberties." but were
more liberal, allowing unrestricted commerce and manu-
factures in the new colony. Provisions were also made
for the evangelization of the natives. After the Dutch
conquest most of the Swedes left the country, but those
who remained were left in undisturbed possession of their
lands, on swearing allegiance to the new rule. {Cordons
N./., pp. 12-14.)

In 1634 the territory between Cape May and Long
Island Sound was granted by the English to Sir Edmund
Ployden. and the tract was erected into a free county
palatine, by the name of New Albion. He is thought to
have established a puny colony on the Delaware, near
Salem, about 1 641 . but it was crushed out by the Swedes
and Dutch, and English plans for the conquest of the
New Netherlands again came to naught. The Dutch at
this time offered, indeed, to sell out to Ployden their West

24

Jersey possessions for £2,500, which not being accepted
they raised their demand to £7,000, and finally, became
indifferent to any compromise, seeing that the English
settlement was far weaker than their own. ( Whitehead's
E. /., pp. 8-9; Gordons N. /., p. 10.)

There are vague traditions of a settlement on the Dela-
ware, near Minising, by Dutch miners, as early as 1 635.
(Gordon sN. J., p. 10.)

Settlements were also made at Perth Amboy as early
as 1651, when a large tract of land was bought of the
Indians (Whitehead's Perth Amho^, p. 2), and a Dutch
colony planted.

Here let us remark, that the Dutch west of the Hudson
do not seem to have been particularly enterprising — not
as much so as those of New Amsterdam, or New York —
but this apparent want of enterprise may indeed be
attributed to the lack of information on our part concern-
ing the Dutch settlers in New Jersey. For one thing, we
have had no such veracious chronicler as Diedrich Knick-
erbocker, to do for the Jersey Dutch what he has done
for the New York Knickerbockers, and 'tis to be feared
the time for such an historian on our side of the Hudson
hath passed. Perchance, were our Legislature as liberal
as those of Massachusetts and New York, in their appro-
priations in aid of historical research, the archives of the
Holland government might throw a great deal of light on
our early history — say prior to the English conquest of
this colony — and might show that the original Dutch
stock of this State was as able, active and intelligent as
that of any other State or Colony in the country. It is
to be hoped our Legislature will not much longer delay
to procure all the available material that will throw light
upon our earliest history, in the days when the sturdy
Dutch "planters," as they were called, still met the

25

Indian face to face among the forests or on the plantations
of the New Netherlands west of the Hudson, and by
patient toil made possible the glorious present that we
enjoy. ^

But another element was now about to be introduced
among the settlers of New Jersey — an element that has
left its impress upon our State not only, but upon the
whole country, as a similar body of men has seldom done.
The Puritans who come so near landing about New
York in 1 620, seem never to have lost sight of the New
Netherlands, and forty years later (1661-3) we find
them corresponding with the Government of New York,
with a view to settling in New Jersey at the "Arthur
Cull" — the Achter Koll, as the Dutch called it; i. e.,
behind the hills, the Navesink hills; from a corruption of
these words comes the name "Arthur's Kill," applied to
the river so called. (See TV. Y. Col MSS., Vols. IX
and X, quoted in NeTvark Bi-Centennial, pp. 157-166.)
These Puritans subsequently (in 1666 and 1667) settled
in Newark, and their descendants have since furnished the
State with perhaps a majority of the men who have been
eminent in legislation and government, to say no more.

In all cases of permanent settlement up to this period
the land appears to have been regularly bought of the
Indians, and perhaps at fair prices, though now, of course,
it would appear supremely ridiculous to think of buying
all Essex county for "fifty double-hands of powder, 1 00
bars of lead, twenty axes, twenty coats, ten guns, twenty
pistols, ten kettles, ten swords, four blankets, four barrels
of beer, ten pair of breeches, fifty knives, twenty hoes,
850 fathoms of wampum, two ankers of liquors, or
something equivalent, and three troopers' coats." (£. /.
i[This hope has been realized in the generous appropriations by
the Legislature, for the publication of the New Jersey Archives
Note, 1912.]

26

Records, Lib. 1, fol. 69, quoted in Newark Town
Records, pp. 278-9.) And certainly $250, and $70
yearly rental, would not be considered a fair compensa-
tion for the territory included in Paterson, Passaic, Ac-
quackanonk and Little Falls! (Whitehead's E. J., p.
49.)

THE INDIANS IN NEW JERSEY.

Just here let us speak briefly of the dusky aborigines
who inhabited New Jersey ere the whites came. It is
exceedingly difficult to estimate their numbers. Living as
they did, it were impossible for them to support them-
selves in large families or tribes close together, and hence
they were doubtless continually on the move, or sending
off branches of tribes to find new homes. People who
lived almost entirely by hunting and fishing necessarily
required extensive tracts of territory for their subsistence.
A work published in 1648 (quoted in Whitehead's E.
J., p. 24) says the natives in this section of the continent
were under about twenty kings, and that there were
"1200 under the two Raritan Kings," so that Mr. White-
head estimates the Indian population of New Jersey (or
perhaps East Jersey) at about 2,000, in 1650. This
seems to me a low estimate, that might be safely multi-
plied by five and be nearer the truth ; but the data are so
meagre that all figures under this head are little more than
guesswork. From various writers (Wassenaer, 1624;
De Laet, 1625; De Vries, 1632-43; Van der Donck,
who came here in 1 642, being the first lawyer in the New
Netherlands, cited in the Doc. Hist. N. Y., Vol. 3, and
A^. Y. Hist. Coll., N. S., Vol. I, already so freely re-
sorted to; also Cordon's N. J.), old Indian deeds (the
Tappan, Totowa, Singack, Acquackanonk and Newark

27

Patents), and local traditions, we have accounts of a few
Indian tribes in this part of Jersey, as follows :

The Sanhicans, about Raritan Bay, generally well
spoken of; next north the Reckatvangk and Machkenti-
rvomi or Mechkentoxvoon; then the Tappaens, and two or
three tribes at Esopus. We also have frequent notices of
the Indians of Ack'mkeshackv, Hack'mgsack or Ack'mg-
sack, who seem to have had dominion west of the Bergen
hill to the Watchung (Garret) Mountain, north to
Tappan, and southerly to beyond Newark, one Oralany
being their chief or sakim in 1640. (De Vries.) West
of Garret or Watchung Mountain the Pom-pe-tan or
Pompton Indians probably held sway, and beyond them
the Ram-a-paughs. I have not been able to ascertain
whether or not any other Indian names hereabouts were
names of Indian tribes. Acquackanonk, Sicomac ("Shig-
hemeck," it is written in the Totowa patent, the Indians
reserving it in the deed — it is understood for a burial
place), PreaJiness, Wanaque, Yawpan^, Paramus (or
"Perremmaus"), Singack or Singheck, Watchung, Ma-
copin, etc., are quite certainly descriptive names of places,
and probably Totowa refers to the Great Falls, which
were sometimes called the "Totohaw Falls" by writers of
the last century. Possibly, it was the name of a tribe.
Unfortunately, the person who drew up the Totowa
patent studiously avoided all Indian names of places,
except "Shighemeck," or we should have had much more
light on this subject. The Singack and Totowa patents
are similarly unfortunately defective.

All the Indians of New Jersey belonged to the Lenni
Lenape, or to the Mengwe or Mingo natives, the former
being called Delawares by the whites so constantly that
the very name is doubtless generally supposed to be of
Indian origin, instead of being the title of Lord Delaware

28

or De la Warre, the first grantee of the State so called.
The Munc\)s or Monse^s were the most warlike of the
Lenni Lenape, and stretched across Northern New
Jersey. Their name is preserved in a little railroad station
on the Northern Railroad. Probably the Minisink
Indians were the same tribe. The Senecas and Mohawks
also at times occupied parts of the province. The Lenape
and the Mengwe waged deadly war against each other
for years, and the latter getting other nations to join them
finally subjugated the Lenapes. Both nations were sub-
sequently transferred westward, and their meagre rem-
nants still survive, in part, among the Six Nations in
Central and Southern New York. During the French
war of 1 756 the Indians took part with the French, and
under the notorious half-breed Gen. Brant committed a
dreadful massacre at the Minisink Valley, near Walpack,
Sussex county. The New Jersey Legislature at once took
steps to peaceably extinguish the Indian claims, and most
of the tribes emigrated to western hunting grounds. The
Indians were grateful, and the Six Nations in Convention
at Fort Stanwix in 1 769 in the most solemn manner con-
ferred upon New Jersey the title of the Great Doer of
Justice. (Judge Field's Provincial Courts of Nerv
Jerse]^, p. 5, n.) Indeed, the Indians in New Jersey
were ever fairly dealt with by the whites in regard to
their lands, as we have seen before and shall hereafter
find. When, so recently as 1832, a few distant Dela-
ware Indians claimed compensation for certain hunting
and fishing privileges reserved to them by an ancient
treaty, the Legislature promptly granted them full com-
pensation, and thus extinguished the last Indian title to a
foot of New Jersey soil or the privileges thereof. At this
time an aged Delaware thus addressed the Legislature:
"Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle; not

29

an acre of our land have you taken but by our consent.
These facts speak for themselves, and need no comment.
They place the character of New Jersey in bold relief
and bright example to those States, within whose terri-
torial limits our brethren still remain. Nothing save
benizens can fall upon her, from the lips of a Lenni
Lenappu' (Judge Field, uf supra.)

Wassenaer, in 1624 (cited above), has these notices
of the Indian character: "They are not, by nature, the
most gentle. Were there no weapons, especially muskets,
near, they would frequently kill the Traders for sake of
the plunder; but whole troops run before live or six
muskets. At the first coming (of the whites) they were
accustomed to fall prostrate on the report of the gun ; but
now they stand still from habit, so that the first Colonists
will stand in need of protection." "All are very cunning
in Trade; yea, frequently, after having sold every thing,
they will go back of the bargain, and that forcibly, in
order to get a little more ; and then they return upwards,
being thirty and forty strong." These are the Virginia
Indians. Of those of the New Netherlands he says:
"The natives of New Netherland are very well disposed
so long as no injury is done them. But if any wrong be
committed against them they think it long till they be
revenged and should any one against whom they have a
grudge, be peaceably walking in the woods or going along
in his sloop, even after a lapse of time, they will slay him,
though they are sure it will cost them their lives on the
spot, so highly prized is vengeance among them." "The
natives are always seeking some advantage by thieving.
The crime is seldom punished among them. If any one
commit that offence too often he is stripped bare of his
goods, and must resort to other means another time."

30

When at war, "they are a wicked, bad people, very fierce
in arms." (Wassenaer, ut supra, pp. 32, 33, 39, 40.)

De Vries, De Laet and Van der Donck, above cited,
all agree that the Indians were in general peaceably dis-
posed toward the whites, trusted in them, looked up to
them. But when a young Hackensack Indian, son of a
chief, in drunken wantonness one day shot a carpenter
who was at work on a house-top, near Jersey City, and
the Dutch Governor furiously demanded his surrender by
the other Indians, one of them with great sense replied:
"that the Europeans were the cause of it; that we ought
not to sell brandy to the young Indians, which made them
crazy, they not being used to their liquors; and they saw
very well that even among our people who were used to
drink it, when drunk they committed foolish actions, and
often fought with knives. And therefore, to prevent all
mischief, they wished we would sell no more spirituous
liquors to the Indians." {N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol I,
p. 267.)

But the Indian is gone. His noiseless tread long ago
ceased to thread the boundless forests, or to course the
once great "Minisink Path," that highway from the Rari-
tan to the Delaware, via the Great Notch and Singack;
no more does he sail along the placid "Pesayack," in
quest of the shad once so plentiful; nor does he hunt the
bounding deer or moose or elk across our wild country.
He is gone, and save an occasional flint arrow-head, or
rudely-shapen axe, or infrequent skull, or bit of coarse
pottery, he has left no trace behind him. No trace?
Ah, yes! "Words are winged," says Homer, "and
unless weighted down with meaning will soon fly away."
The Indian has left behind him that which will never be
forgotten — his local nomenclature. The musical (and I
insist upon it that the Indian words are musical) names of

31

places that have so often rippled through the dewy lips of
dusky maidens a century or two ago seem by a potent
spell of sympathizing Nature to have been affixed forever
to the places all about us, as a "memento mori," to com-
pensate in some measure for the destruction of the people
who first applied those names. And so long as the Great
Falls of the Passaic are remembered in song or story or
the annals of the chronicler ; so long as the bare, scraggy
Preakness mountain rears its rude barriers skyward;
while the sonorous name Toiowa clings to the Falls neigh-
borhood ; and the peaceful valley of the Sicomac reminds
us of the Indians' hopeful burial-customs; and the
Singack still describes the sunken flats or valley ; and the
Wagararv yet reminds us of the river's abrupt bending at
Riverside; and the Pequannock ripples and dashes and
dances over its rocky bed as merrily as the vowels and
consonants of its appellation do over the tongue; while
the softly-spoken Wanaque recalls one of the most charm-
ing of valleys and prettiest of streams; or the name
Macop'm savors of delicious pickerel; or IVatchung de-
scribes the bold bluffs of Garret Mountain — while all
these aboriginal names cling to spots so familiar to us, and
so dear to many of us, even though their meanings be lost
to us, yet still we shall not utterly forget the mysterious
children of Nature who came and went, and whose
coming and going seem to us to have been only as a
shadow flitting across a sunny landscape.

THE EARLY GOVERNMENT OF NEW JERSEY.

But this paper has been extended beyond all intention
or expectation. The part of New Jersey history already
gone over is so fresh, and has had so little written about
it, that an unusual interest naturally attaches to it in the
mind of one with a taste for historical research.

At this late hour you will gladly pardon me if I give

32

but the merest outline of the leading subsequent events of
New Jersey history.

First let it be understood that this whole territory was
included in "Florida" by the Spaniards in 1 535 {vide
supra) ; in 1610 was called the "New Netherlands"; in
1648 was called "New Albion" by an ambitious English
adventurer; but retained the name "New Netherlands'
till 1664. New York and New Jersey were all this
time under one Dutch government, Wouter van Trviller
being sent out in 1630 by the West India Company, as
above stated. He was succeeded in 1 638 by Wm. Kieft,
a murderous, cowardly rascal, who early in 1643 insti-
gated his soldiers to commit one of the most atrocious
massacres recorded in history, upon a party of friendly
natives at Pavonia. The redoubtable Peter Stuyvesant
came after, and remained Governor, Director-General,
etc., of the whole country till 1664. Then the English,
who laid claim to the continent ever since Cabot dis-
covered it in 1497, again because Hudson was an Eng-
lishman, and again because a daring English captain
(Argal) had in 1613 or 1614 compelled the hauling
down of the Dutch flag over Fort Amsterdam. The New
Haven settlers were very jealous of their Dutch neighbors,
and once had the temerity to attack New Amsterdam,
but were promptly repelled by the doughty Stuyvesant.
Foiled, but not despairing, the New England people
called on the Protector, Cromwell, in 1653, to establish
the English claim to the New Netherlands, and he actu-
ally fitted out a fleet for the purpose, but an unexpected
peace with Holland stopped the meditated expedition.
Charles II succeeding Cromwell lost no time in assuming
the sovereignty over the Dutch possessions in America,
and then at once transferred that sovereignty to his
brother, the Duke of York, March 12, 1663-4, who in

33

turn (June 23-4, 1664) transferred to Lord John
Berkeley and Sir George Carteret the sovereignty over
what we call New Jersey. Up to this time this territory
had been identified with what is now New York, as the
New Netherlands, there being one Governor over the
whole country. The Duke of York on his accession to
the ownership sent out an expedition under Col. Richard
Nicolls to take possession, and Fort Amsterdam peace-
ably surrendered to him Sept. 3, 1664, when the place
was christened New York. The terms granted the Dutch
were so favorable that they generally remained and be-
came subjects of Great Britain. Col. Nicolls acted as
Governor over the united province for a year, and was
Court, Legislature and all. He prescribed the manner
of purchases from the Indians, and required a public
registry of all contracts with them for the soil, before their
validity would be acknowledged.

In the Duke of York's grant to Berkeley and Carteret
it was provided that the tract transferred to them should
thereafter be called Nova Caesarea or New Jersey —
because Sir George Carteret had been governor of the
Island of Jersey, in the English channel, and had there
afforded a refuge to the future Charles II. ( Whitehead's
E. /., pp. 30, 31.) The new proprietors in 1665 made
arrangements to induce settlements, and proclaimed a
written constitution for the government of the new colony
— perhaps the very first in America, for it went far
beyond the Dutch "Charter of Liberties" granted in
1 629. The government of the province was entrusted to
a governor (appointed by the proprietors), and a council
of 6 to 12 persons chosen by the governor, and an
assembly of twelve representatives, chosen annually by
the freemen of the province, and this Legislature was
given, virtually, absolute power in the government of the

34

province, so much so, indeed, that "no tax could be justly
imposed on them, without their own consent and the
authority of their own general assembly" — which right
they insisted upon, and successfully, too, as early as 1 680
(Whitehead's E. J., p. 81 ), or nearly a century before
that plea was generally raised by the American colonies,
and with far greater justification than in the case of most
of the others.

As Grahame puts it: "Thus the whole of New Jersey
was promoted at once from the condition of a conquered
country to the rank of a free and independent province,
and rendered in political theory the adjunct, instead of
the mere dependency, of the British empire. It would
not be easy to point out, in any of the political writings or
harangues of which that period was abundantly prolific, a
more manly and intrepid exertion for the preservation of
liberty, than we behold in this first successful defence of
the rights of New Jersey. One of the most remarkable
features of the plea which the colonists maintained, was
the unqualified and deliberate assertion, that no tax could
be justly imposed on them without their own consent and
the authority of their own provincial assembly. The re-
port of the commissioners and the relief that followed,
were virtual concessions in favor of this principle, which
in an after age was destined to obtain a more signal
triumph in the national independence of North America."
{Grahame' s Col. Hist, quoted by Judge Field, ut supra,
pp. 38, 39.)

Philip Carteret, brother^ of Sir George, was commis-
sioned as Governor in 1 665, sailed for New Jersey, and
landing at Elizabethtown gave that spot (settled a year
or two earlier) its name, in honor of his brother's wife.
He made arrangements to settle Perth Amboy and

i[A fourth cousin. Note, 1912.]

35

Woodbridge, and the former was the seat of government
of East Jersey for a century afterwards, and to this day
there are deposited there the earhest registers of land-
titles and transfers, from 1676-1702.^ In 1668 Gov.
Carteret summoned the first Assembly, which met at
Elizabethtown, fifteen years before the first Assembly of
New York. Bergen sent Casper Steenmetts and Bal-
thazar Bayard to this first Legislature in New Jersey. At
this time and for some years later, judicial powers were
also vested in the Governor and his Council. {Field^s
Provincial Courts of N. /., pp. — .)

Under the new government the land was granted on
condition of the payment of a yearly quit-rent to the pro-
prietors, of half a penny an acre. In 1 672, on one plea
and another, many of the settlers refused to pay this rent,
and anarchy ensued. Governor Carteret went to Eng-
land (leaving John Berry as Deputy), and had his
authority confirmed by the Duke of York and King
Charles himself, and Berkeley and Carteret.

Now the Dutch suddenly swept down on the country
and again took possession of the quondam "New Nether-
lands," but they interfered with no individual rights, and
the code of laws promulgated "By the Schout and Magis-
trates of Achter Kol Assembly," held at Elizabethtown,
Nov. 18, 1673, was very mild. A few months later
peace was declared between England and Holland, and
the American provinces were restored to the English.

Now the Duke of York obtained from King Charles a
new patent for New York and New Jersey, and sent out
Edmund Andros as Governor, July 1 st, 1 674, all former
grants being reaffirmed. About this time Carteret's title

^[An error. These records were transferred to Trenton, in accord-
ance with an Act of the Legislature, passed November 25, 1790.
Note, 1912.]

36

was renewed by the King, and the Duke gave him indi-
vidually the northern half of New Jersey, and Philip
Carteret returned to assume the rule of the province. The
southern or West Jersey half of the province had been
sold by Lord Berkeley, and a few years later passed into
the hands of a company. The two halves of the Province
were thenceforward, for nearly a century, known as East
Jersey and West Jersey, sometimes having two Gov-
ernors, and always having two Assemblies, and their
government, mode of selling lands, etc., were entirely
different. The line between the two Provinces gave no
end of trouble for sixty years. The general course of that
line as laid out in 1 687 may be noticed on any county
map of New Jersey.

Gov. Andros of New York continually interfered with
Gov. Carteret, and finally assumed authority over East
Jersey, at Elizabeth, in 1680; brutally seized Carteret,
carried him to New York, and had him tried by a special
court on a charge of unlawfully assuming authority. The
court refused to convict, though ordered to do so by
Andros, but Carteret was required to stay away from
East Jersey, while Andros went over to Jersey and asked
the Assembly to confirm him in possession. This they
nobly refused to do, and asserted that the great Magna
Charta and the "Concessions" of the Lords Proprietors
were superior to his claims, or even to a subsequent decree
of royalty itself! A few months later the Duke of York
disclaimed Andros's acts, and Carteret was restored to
the government of East Jersey. Sir George Carteret
dying in 1679, devised East Jersey to certain trustees,
who offered it for sale to the highest bidder, and in 1 681 -2
it was bought by Wm. Penn and eleven other Quakers,
for £3,400, and they took in twelve other associates.

Z7

Gov. Carteret died December, 1682, and was buried in
New York — the precise place being unknown.

He was succeeded by others from time to time, who
ruled with indifferent success, the people gradually grow-
ing more discontented, till in 1 702, in response to the
popular demand,^ the Lords Proprietors resigned the gov-
ernment to the English Crown. For some years New
York and New Jersey were under one Royal Governor,
but this did not suit the Jerseymen, who were ever jealous
of their liberties, and thereafter they were given a Gov-
ernor of their own. Of the events that led to the Revolu-
tion, there is not time now to speak. Suffice it to say, that
New Jersey was in the van of patriotic colonies, and her
Provincial Congress proclaimed the independence of the
Province, July second, 1 776, — two days before the
immortal Declaration of the United Colonies at Phila-
delphia. New Jersey's part in the subsequent Revolution,
and her career from then till now has been glorious, and
unmarked by a single stain on her bright escutcheon.
7 hat it may be ever so, should be our earnest wish and
constant endeavor.

^[And conceding the doubtful legality of the royal grant of
Charles II, alienating from the crown its sovereignty over New
Jersey.]

':M':r

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