Jersey City and Its Historic Sites

LAFAYETTE IN BERGEN.

On August 24th, 1779, General Lafayette and his troops marched on a foraging expedition from near Fort Lee to Bergen. On the morning of the 25th they arrived at the brow of the Hill and encamped about the large, old tulip tree, known as "oude Boom" to the early settlers and as the "King of the Woods" to those of later date. The locality is now known as Waldo avenue, between Henry street and Magnolia avenue. The tree was cut down December 20th, 1871. Lafayette's headquarters were at the Van Wagenen place on the northwest corner of Academy street and Bergen square. Mr. Taylor states, "in the orchard on the old parsonage site on northwest side of Square," where he entertained at dinner General Washington who came over from Hackensack. The dinner was cooked in the Van Wagenen weave-house and eaten under an apple tree. This tree was blown down in a gale on September 3d, 1821, and from a portion of it was made a very handsome cane, gold mounted and with this inscription, "Shaded the hero and his friend Washington in 1779; presented by the Corporation of Bergen in 1824." When Lafayette visited America in 1824, when he was on his way from Jersey City to Newark, there was a gathering of all the people of this vicinity to meet him at Riker's Tavern, Five Corners, which is still standing on the southwest corner of Newark and Summit avenues. Upon this occasion Domine Cornelison presented him with the cane, making a very appropriate address.

The farmers living near Guttenburgh during the Revolutionary War were ostensibly neutral, as the roads were often traversed by the soldiers of both parties. Stories are told of the bare and bleeding feet of the Americans cut by the sharp rocks, and many traditions of interest are connected with different places in that locality; notably with the old homestead known as the "Lake property." The story of one tragedy with a touch of the absurd, should be preserved. One bitter cold night in the winter of 1777-78, after all of the family in the old stone farm-house on the Lake property, except the good haus-frau, had retired to their beds, while she was still busy in the kitchen arranging her earthenware jars of milk before the wide fire-place preparatory to the morrow's churning, she was startled by the entrance of a party of English scouts who had come over from New York and attracted by the firelight shining through the wide kitchen window, had stopped to warm and rest awhile, leaving their horses tied to the trees. While they were enjoying the spirits in their flasks and the comfort of the fire, a party of American scouts that had come down the Hudson to reconnoiter, came along and seeing the tethered horses outside and the group of redcoats within, opened fire upon them through the window, killing them all. In the melee the milk jars were broken and the milk mingled with the blood of the dead scouts covering the floor. The old lady was terribly frightened, but her new guests came in and carried out the dead, and as the ground was frozen hard, buried them under the deep snow at some distance from the house; then they brought water from the well and asking for brooms scrubbed up the floor, and brought in fresh piles of wood and building up a great fire made themselves comfortable until daylight. Before leaving they made up a little fund to compensate their hostess for her broken jars and wasted milk.

SERGEANT CHAMPE.

After Andre's execution General Washington formed a plan to seize Arnold and bring him to the Jersey shore, first to punish him, second to exonerate from suspicions of treachery another of his Generals, St. Clair. Major Lee persuaded Sergeant Major John Champe of Loudon, Virginia, to attempt to carry out the plan. He was to desert to the British, join Arnold's American Legion and if possible bring Arnold within reach of American troops. About 11 o'clock on the night of October 20th, 1780, he started upon his perilous adventure; within half an hour his absence was discovered and reported to Major Lee who delayed the pursuit as long as he possibly could, but a little after twelve, troops started after the supposed deserter. At Union Hill Champe was only a short half mile ahead. Knowing that his flight to Paulus Hook would be intercepted, he started for the British patrol boats lying in Newark Bay near Brown's Ferry (near the Newark plank road). His pursuers were within two or three hundred yards of him, when he dismounted and running across the meadows plunged into the Bay and swam for the boats, calling for help. The British sent a boat for him and fired upon his pursuers. He soon established the innocence of the other Generals and sent word to Lee to meet him at Hoboken upon a certain night when he would deliver Arnold. But his plan miscarried owing to the fact that Arnold moved his headquarters to another part of the city. For a long time Champe endured many hardships, and was unable to escape and return to his comrades until serving under Lord Cornwallis at Petersburgh, Virginia.

BERGEN PATRIOTS.

The English evacuated Paulus Hook November 22, 1783. It is said that during the Revolution there were only fourteen families in Bergen whose sympathies were with the Colonies. Among these were some very devoted patriots whose memory should be cherished. Prominent among them are the names of Mrs. Jane Van Reypen Tuers and her brother Daniel Van Reypen. Mrs. Tuers lived at the old Tuers house, the site of which is now occupied by the Armory on the corner of Mercer street and Bergen avenue. During the time the British occupied New York the American prisoners in their hands suffered for food and Mrs. Tuers carried to them sacks of provisions every week. From the weight of the heavy burthens she injured her shoulder and arm so seriously that she was crippled for the remainder of her life.

Upon these occasions she used to go to "Black Sam's" Tavern, which was a rendezvous for the English officers. One day, under pledges to not reveal the source of her information, Black Sam told her that he had overheard British officers talking of a conspiracy in the American Camp. She told her brother, Daniel Van Reypen, who went to Hackensack ostensibly to visit relatives; he saw General Wayne, and saying that he could trust him, advised him to mark every tent in the camp as there was a conspiracy. General Wayne sent the warning to Washington; thus was Arnold's treason learned three days before the capture of Andre. General Washington offered Mr. Van Reypen a reward in money to which he replied, "No, I do not serve my country for money; but in case I am taken prisoner by the English I would like to be released," upon which Washington said "that the best hostages should be given for him." Mr. Van Reypen built and lived in the house still standing on Fairmount avenue, No. 320, a little west from Bergen avenue. Mrs. Tuers died in 1834, and her remains lie in an unmarked grave in lot 136 of the cemetery on Bergen avenue, east of the church.

General Bayard, who owned an estate at Hoboken called Castile—since known as Castle Point—was at one time friendly to the Americans, but later he became a very pronounced Tory and very vindictive towards all who sympathized with them. At one time Mr. Daniel Van Reypen was arrested and taken before him, when General Bayard greeted him with the question, "Old man, where is your rebel coat?" Mr. Van Reypen responded, "The coat does not make the man, it is the heart." Later, Mr. Van Reypen met General Bayard in New York, near the river, when General Bayard threatened to strike him with his riding whip, to which Mr. Van Reypen coolly replied that if he did, he would throw him off the dock, and the angry General passed on.

Another sister of Mr. Van Reypen's had an amusing encounter with a loyalist friend, a Mrs. Outhout, who was constantly assuring her that the rebels would be defeated and that "there would be a devil of a stroke very soon." When Cornwallis surrendered, Mrs. Van Horn quietly reminded her of her prophesies and asked "if this was the stroke?"

Catherine Van Winkle and her younger sister Maria were very heroic girls whose names should not be forgotten. They often carried messages from Lafayette to Washington at Belleville; on one occasion they walked there in the night to warn Washington of a plot of the English to surround and capture him. To their quick wit an American soldier owned his life. He was at their father's house, an old stone house a little south of Colonel Spier's burying ground, near where Highland and Idaho avenues now cross, when a party of English soldiers surrounded the house in search of him. The girls hid him between the feather and straw beds of their bed, and then retired, and when the English entered the room to search for him were seemingly sound asleep. The English prodded with their bayonets under the bed and searched every closet and corner but failed to find him. Catherine married a Mr. Sheppard and was a well-known and beloved character on the Hill until comparatively recent times; born in June, 1763, she lived to be one hundred years and six months old, and was bright, cheerful and active to the last. Her remains lie in an unmarked grave in the cemetery opposite the Dutch Reformed Church. Washington appreciated the loyalty of the family and was a guest of their father's, sometimes dining there. One branch of the Van Winkle family still have in their possession a handkerchief left by Washington upon an occasion of his staying over night at the Stuyvesant Tavern.

EARLY CUSTOMS.

It is to be regretted that so much has been forgotten of the early customs and habits of former generations of this locality. For a long time the city grew slowly; in comparatively recent times the farms have been changed into city lots and the occupations and amusements have taken different forms. Even traditions of early customs does not reach much farther back than the beginning of the present century; but, owing to the Dutch tenacity of clinging to inherited customs, it is probable that the manners of eighty and a hundred years ago were not so very different from those of their ancestors, especially as they retained the quiet, simple life of a farming community. The great holiday of the year, looked forward to alike by the old people, young men and maidens and the children, was New Year's Day. Christmas was observed by a service at the church, and not by gifts and friendly reunions; all the jollity was reserved for New Year's day. Then the mother or the grandmother brought out the bag of Spanish silver dollars, and each child was allowed to take out one as a New Year's gift. In every house was a store of "oley koecks" and New Year's cakes, a sort of "jumble" or cookey, in shape either oblong or round, stamped with a design of a vine, or bird, or flower, from a wooden stamp; these were kept ready to give to the bands of visiting children who went from house to house wishing the inmates a "Happy New Year." The young people went for long sleighrides to neighboring towns, or friendly calls; the older people made visits in the evening, dropping in upon their friends without an invitation and staying to supper. After the New Year's festivities, the "quilting parties" were the favorite social entertainment, when the young women spent the afternoon in quilting the elaborate patch work or other quilts; some were made of homespun woolen cloth and instead of cotton, wool was used as a filling, and the quilting was in most elaborate designs of vines and flowers. The young men came to supper and the evening was spent in games and dancing. Then came the "Husking bees" in the fall, varied by occasional "Apple-paring bees," but the latter were more unusual. The women made occasional afternoon visits, guests coming soon after the mid-day dinner and staying to tea.

The great day among the men came in June at the general muster of the militia, or "General Training Day." This dated from the early days of Bergen, the first militia having been organized June 30th, 1663. All men between eighteen and forty-five (or fifty) years of age were required to meet upon that day each year to go through military evolutions. All who absented themselves without a valid excuse were subject to a fine. There was a company at Hackensack, one at New Durham, one at Bergen and another at Bergen Point. The several companies of the county formed a brigade and met at different places on successive years, more frequently at New Durham or Bergen. Colonel Sip was a colonel of militia and John I. Van Horn a captain. Both served in the war of 1812-14. Captain Van Horn was in charge of a rough block fort at Sandy Hook. He used to say that there was nothing to do only when an American ship was being chased by the enemy, their guns afforded it protection and enabled it to get safely into port. The war of 1812-14 being largely a naval war, the militia of this locality did not take a very active part in it. But during the war, the fort at Paulus Hook was held by Drum Major John G. Sexton of the militia and six men under his command. One great enjoyment of "Training Day" with the Bergen Company was the supper they always had at the tavern on Bergen avenue. This supper was a great event, looked forward to through many months. While all meals at this tavern were held in high esteem, upon this one day there was an unusually fine menu. The praises of those gastronomic successes are still sung by such of the fortunate participants as are still with us.

One peculiar custom among the Bergen Dutch, handed down from generations even to recent times, has been that the masculine head of the family always cut the smoked beef (a never failing dish) and the bread. Formerly the bread was baked in large loaves in yellow earthen dishes in a brick oven, and put upon the table uncut, then as each person wished a slice the head of the house, holding the bread against his breast, cut off a portion. Generally they lived very plainly; sauerkraut, which was such a favorite dish among the Mohawk Valley and Albany Dutch, seems to have been almost unknown here. Pound cake was a favorite recipe and in the early part of this century the Communipaw housewives carried their butter and eggs to certain bakers in Greenwich street, New York, to have their pound cake baked for them. Their recipe for crullers was very similar with the addition of a little more flour. In all well regulated houses "Oley Koecks" were indispensable; there was quite a difference in the way of making them, some recipes are plain doughnuts of raised bread dough, sweetened and spiced only. The following is a more elaborate recipe of 1750:

"One pint of milk, one cup fresh yeast, flour to make a stiff batter, mix at night; in the morning add five eggs, two cups of sugar, one cup of shortening, (half butter and half lard), one teaspoonful soda, flour to make like bread dough, let stand until light, which will be two or three hours; have ready chopped apples sweetened and flavored with nutmeg and raisins; roll out and cut in pieces about four inches square, place a tablespoonful of apple on each square, double over and pinch together, drop in hot lard to fry."

"Dried Biscuits, (Old Dutch): Take one and a half pints warm milk, one cake compressed yeast, one teaspoonful salt and flour enough to make a sponge. When light, which will probably be in half an hour, add one-fourth pound of butter, and knead with flour to about the consistency of bread. Let rise again and then mould each biscuit in two parts, putting one on the top of another, that they may be broken open more easily. Put in pans and let rise before baking. When baked break open and put in the warming oven until thoroughly dried."

"Soft Waffles, (Old Dutch): One quart of milk, make a batter with flour, raise with yeast, when light add four eggs, one-quarter pound of melted butter and a little salt. Beat all together, let rise again, and add half a cup of sugar. Eat with sauce."

Old waffle irons with initials of early owners and the date are still in existence; one has A. D. 1709.

"Fried Spack and Opples: Take slices of pickled pork, fry them well, then take slices of apple and fry in the hot fat; if the apples are sour, put a little molasses or brown sugar over them, when the apples are brown, turn over and brown on the other side; serve with the slices of pork laid around the edge of dish. If the apples are sweet, do not use sweetening."

"Mince Pie, (Old Dutch): Seven bowls chopped tart apples, three bowls chopped meat, seven pounds of sugar, one gallon cider (not sweet), seven nutmegs, four tablespoonsful cinnamon, two tablespoonsful cloves, two pounds of raisins, one pound of currants, one pound of citron, salt and pepper."

"Buling Pudding, (Old Dutch): Four quarts of water, let it come to a boil. Add one pint of rice, two cups of sugar, one-fourth pound of cinnamon, one tablespoonful of salt, and buckwheat enough to make a very stiff batter. Boil half an hour. Put in pie dishes and when cold cut in slices and fry."

"Buckwheat Pudding, (Old Dutch): Have one quart of water boiling. Mix two cups of buckwheat meal to a smooth batter with cold water; stir this mixture into the boiling water; add to this one slice of raw, fat salt pork chopped fine, one cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful each of ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon and salt. Simmer one hour, stirring frequently. Pour into a deep dish to cool. When cool this will leave the dish easily if sufficiently cooked. Slice, fry brown and serve with powdered sugar."

These two puddings recipes are still used in Holland.

Cookstoves were not introduced until about 1825 or later, the cooking being done over an open fire. In the wide fire-place was fastened at one side the "crane," a swinging iron bar, on which were hung iron pot hooks, or trammels, upon these were swung the pots and kettles for cooking. These were cleaned from soot and smoke by rubbing them in the sand. The fire was built with a large log for back log, resting on andirons, and in front and above it were piled smaller sticks and chips of wood. They used kettles of different sizes made with three iron feet, long handled frying pans; bake kettles—broad, shallow kettles with iron covers upon which hot coals were piled; skillets, a small iron pot, holding from one to two quarts, with short handles and three iron feet, to set on a bed of coals in front of the fire to cook little messes. Meats were roasted suspended by a string before the fire and twirled from time to time, or in tin Dutch ovens, which were open towards the fire. Bread, cake, etc., were baked in the brick oven. The ordinary bread used was of rye and Indian meal. The brick ovens were prepared for baking by building a hot fire in them and when the wood was burned to coals it was shovelled out and the bread, etc., put in and the oven securely closed. A long handled shovel called a "peel" or a "slice" was used to put the things in to bake. Beside the fire-place stood shovel and tongs, and usually there hung there a bellows for blowing up the fire when low, and a turkey's wing to brush up the hearth. The first stoves used were the Franklin and many of those used in Bergen were cast by Martin Ryerson at Pompton, N. J. Coal was not used for fuel until about 1826, and at first in grates only.

The killing of their own beeves and pork was practiced by the farmers of Bergen and Communipaw as late or later than 1840. They lived almost entirely upon the produce of their farms. In November they killed and laid up their year's supply of meat. The skins of the beeves were sent to the tanner who cured them for the half; from their share the boots and shoes for the family were made by a shoemaker who came to the house to work. This custom was kept up until 1825.

In the early days there were large tracts of white cedar along the western slope of Bergen Hill, on the old swamp road to Belleville which led from the Newark Turnpike and near Sikakes. From this cedar the farmers had casks made in which to keep their salted meats. Fresh meats, sausages, in immense quantities, head-cheese, and "roellachoje" (a pickled preparation of beef tongue and tripe) were kept in a cool garret. The first butcher in Jersey City was John W. Holmes, who started about 1814; he was succeeded in 1816 by Henry Drayton, who came to Jersey City from Somersetshire, England, but city ways and conveniences did not reach Bergen and Communipaw for many years later. It is said that the first huckster known in Jersey City was a character called "High, Low, Jack," who, in the '60's, began to go about from house to house selling clams and huckleberries. His cries were a constant amusement to the children, who used to follow him in crowds.

During the first quarter of this century, wool from their sheep was spun and wove at home; the spinning was done by the women of the family, sometimes assisted by young women who "went out spinning." Men went about to do the weaving. On some places there were weave houses, in others there was a weave room in the cellar. When the cloth was woven it was usually dyed blue; a blue dye tub being kept to dye the stocking yarn and cloth. Later the cloth was sent to the fullers, then tailoresses came to the house and made it up into clothing for both men and women.

The women went to New York to market, carrying butter and eggs to sell, and there are traditions in some families of their avoiding the "Mill and Church road" on their return, and climbing over the rocks, in the long walk from the ferry, fearing that they might be robbed of their store of silver dollars, carried in the large pocket, fastened about the waist and worn under the dress skirt. A story is told of a very philosophic old lady who sold buttermilk which her customers accused her of diluting with water. The proceeds she invested in a silver tankard. Upon her return from New York in a row-boat across the river, it was so rough that in the rocking of the boat the parcel with the tankard fell overboard and was lost. "Well," exclaimed the old lady, "let it go, it came from the water and has gone back to the water."

A great event to the children was the yearly candle-making in many families; they were all allowed to make a few little candles for themselves when they were so fortunate as to be the happy possessors of toy candlesticks. Candle-making was quite a long and wearisome process. First the proper length of candle wicking was doubled over long slender rods, and the ends twisted together to form the wick of the prospective candle. The number of these upon a rod depended upon the size of the candle to be made, whether six or eight to the pound. These were prepared the day before the dipping was done. In the early morning long pieces of scantling were laid upon two saw-horses, and across these scantlings were laid the rods with the wicks hanging down. At one side was placed a large "cauldron kettle" filled with hot melted tallow into which the operator dipped the rods of wicks. The kettle of hot tallow was kept replenished and the dipping process was repeated again and again until the candles were of the required size. After being properly cooled they were slipped from the rods, the wicks cut off and they were carefully packed away in boxes. Later candle moulds were invented, which made it very much easier than the old method.

In dress the women did not wear the ornamental caps, such as were worn in Holland, but very plain ones; neither did they wear as many petticoats as their sisters across the sea, three or four usually being the limit. It was not the custom here in Bergen, to set apart a dower chest for each daughter, to which yearly additions were made of household and personal linen, and a silver spoon, as was practiced by some of the Holland families in Albany and in some parts of Pennsylvania. Upon marriage each daughter was given a little store of linen; upon the death of her father, perhaps a little money; but, as a delightful old lady told me, "the land and the property mostly went to the sons, the girls were expected to marry money." Under the old Dutch law both sons and daughters became of legal age at twenty-five. The girls were carefully trained in household arts and in the use of the needle. Little girls under nine years of age wrought elaborate samplers. It was a common practice to make the pillow cases with an insertion of drawn work in linen at the closed end of the case, under which showed the bit of red cloth sewed on the end of the pillow; the open end of the pillow case was left untrimmed.

Children were taught to be very courteous to their elders; upon meeting any one in the street little girls curtesied and the boys made a bow. The Bergen Dutch women and their daughters were very practical thrifty women, most excellent housewives and devoted mothers. Both men and women devoted themselves in the most matter of fact way to the duties of life, never allowing anything less serious than a funeral to disturb to any great extent the routine of daily life. I have heard of a bride brought home upon her wedding day to her father-in-law's house, who, upon the first evening started out to milk the cows, saying she "preferred to take up the duties of her new position at once." I have heard also of a bridegroom, a merchant who attended to his usual duties upon the morning of his wedding day, and after the ceremony returned again to his store.

Slavery existed until 1820, when all slaves were made free at twenty-five years of age. The old slaves were cared for during the remainder of their lives. It was for the colored people that the first Sunday School in Bergen was opened in 1828, in the garret of the school-house. Many of the slaves ran away to New York and Connecticut. Those who went to New York lived in cellars or wherever they could find shelter. When any of them died their friends always brought them back to Communipaw to bury them, and their funerals were held at the old Garrabrant stone house, which used to stand on what is now Philip street. One peculiar feature was that on every coffin was placed a bunch of freshly plucked spearmint. They were buried on the Garrabrant farm in what is now Lafayette, and also on the Van Reypen place.

A hundred years ago, lotteries were held in great esteem, as a popular means of raising funds to build churches, colleges, schools, roads, prisons, and charitable institutions. The first ever drawn in this locality was at Paulus Hook in 1773, and in 1824 a "Queen's College Literature Lottery" was advertised in Jersey City. Some of Jersey City's most reputable people were engaged in lotteries and accumulated fortunes in the business. Later the Legislature passed laws making it illegal and the parties then conducting a lottery in Jersey City removed their business to Wilmington, Delaware, where it was carried on for many years.

JERSEY CITY.

Paulus Hook with its ferry rights passed from the possession of the Van Vorst family to Anthony Dey of New York, on March 26th, 1804. The consideration was an annuity of $6,000 in Spanish milled dollars. Dey conveyed it to Abraham Varick, who on the 20th of the same month conveyed it to Richard Varick, Jacob Radcliff, and Anthony Dey. These men were eminent and successful lawyers in New York and became the founders of Jersey City. They divided their purchase into one thousand shares, associating others with themselves. A map of the property was issued and a sale of lots was advertised for May 15th, then adjourned to June 12th, 13th and 14th. Upon the 10th of November, 1804, the Legislature passed an act incorporating the "Associates of the Jersey Company." This bill was drawn up by Alexander Hamilton. To this corporate body Radcliff and Dey conveyed Paulus Hook, February 1st, 1805. For fifteen years the Associates possessed the government and shaped the destinies of the town and their influence lasted long after the original members of the company were all dead. The corporation still exists and owns much valuable property.

MUNICIPAL CHANGES.

At various times the city limits have been extended, and various acts of Legislature have changed the governing power. In 1820 the Legislature passed an "Act to Incorporate the City of Jersey, in the County of Bergen." On the 23d of January, 1829, the corporate name was changed to "The Board of Selectmen and Inhabitants of Jersey City." On February 22d, 1838, the governing power was vested in the "Mayor and Common Council of Jersey City." It now ceased to be a part of Bergen Township and became a separate municipality. Dudley S. Gregory was the first Mayor of Jersey City. He served in that capacity in 1838-'39-'41-'58 and '59. He lived in the building now used as a post office on Washington street, in what is still a pretty part of the city, with its four park corners on Washington and Grand streets. Mr. Gregory was a man of wealth and of public spirit; he imported a large number of European shade trees, among them the variety of "horse chestnut" which has become a favorite shade tree throughout our eastern states, to such an extent that our native horse chestnuts or buckeyes are scarcely known in the east, the principal difference being that the native varieties have smaller clusters of flowers which shade from a yellow or pink tinge to a deep pink or dull red. On March 8th, 1839, the city boundaries were extended along the northerly side of First street to the center of Grove street, thence southerly into Communipaw Bay to the line of South street, extended. Hudson County was set off from Bergen County in 1840. The township of Van Vorst, founded in 1804 by John B. Coles, was separated from the township of Bergen, March 11, 1841; it included all that portion formerly known as Ahasimus. In March, 1851, it became a part of Jersey City.

In 1869 there was an effort made for the consolidation of the several cities and townships in Hudson County, east of the Hackensack river, into one under the name of Jersey City. At the election held October 5th, 1869, Jersey City, Bergen and Hudson City became one. The latter had been taken from the township of North Bergen and incorporated as the "Town of Hudson in the County of Hudson" on March 4th, 1852. On the 11th of April, 1859, it was incorporated as the "City of Hudson," with powers of government vested in a mayor and common council. In 1873 the town of Greenville was annexed to Jersey City by legislative act. Greenville was originally a settlement of German families on a part of the Gautier tract. Lafayette was never a separate municipality; the name was given by a land company to the Garrabrant farm when it was bought and mapped out in town lots in 1856. The lots did not sell well until after the war.

FORMING THE CITY.

In the map of the new city prepared by the Associates, the streets were laid out at right angles and one thousand three hundred and forty-four lots were laid down. The eastern boundary was Hudson street, which was laid in the water with the exception of a small piece of upland that extended outward at Morris street. The southern boundary was South street, later called Mason street, and a few years ago vacated by the city. Harsimus was the northern boundary. It was nearly circular upland, of which the greatest extent was from one hundred feet north of Montgomery street to one hundred and seventy-five feet south of Essex street. More than half of the site for the proposed city was marsh and land under water. The westerly boundary was a line drawn from the east side of South street to a point near the corner of First and Washington streets. It was the plan of the Associates that the western border should front on a tide water canal, an island city, bordered by piers and docks and surrounded by navigable water. The Jersey City Journal's History of Jersey City claims that the city has lost commercial prestige by the failure to carry out that idea, also that another and even greater blunder was committed by the filling in of Mill Creek, which had been navigable by small sloops. The new city met with many discouragements; New York claimed jurisdiction over all lands under water up to low water mark on the Jersey shore. Alexander Hamilton and Joseph Ogden Hoffman, as counsel to the Associates, gave a guarded answer that New York had no right to land under water at Paulus Hook. This boundary dispute was not settled until 1889. Mr. Van Vorst would not accept an equivalent for the annuity, which affected deeds and prevented many from purchasing the lots.

In March, 1804, Colonel John Stevens, who had bought the confiscated estate of William Bayard, known as Castile, founded the city of Hoboken. One of the first measures was to build a road to Hackensack and to the Five Corners to bring travel from the different villages to his ferry. In December, 1804, the Associates organized the Newark Turnpike Company, which built the road now known as Newark avenue from Warren street to the Hackensack river. Through lower Jersey City it was a macademized road through a marsh. Previous to this there were but three roads in Harsimus—one the causeway leading to Paulus Hook now known as Newark avenue, second "the road to church and mill." This followed what is now the line of Henderson street, along the shore of Harsimus Cove to First street, where a bend carried it to the corner of Grove street and Newark avenue; thence it followed the present line of Newark avenue to Monmouth street, along the foot of a sand hill which was the site of an earthwork outpost erected by the British during the Revolution. The last vestige of this hill, at the corner of Mercer and Brunswick streets, was removed in 1894. From this hill, nearly on the line of Railroad avenue, the road ran to Prior's Mill on Mill Creek just below the Point of Rocks, thence by what is now Academy street to the village of Bergen. The third road began near the Van Vorst house on Henderson street and ran northwesterly to a point where Jersey avenue and Second street now intersect; thence at an angle to the base of Bergen Hill, where it crossed the road built by Stevens to Hackensack.

The Associates built several little piers and a retaining wall along the east side of Hudson street from Grand to Essex, which served as a wharf for light draught vessels. They partly graded several streets and set out along them some six hundred shade trees, among them some Lombardy poplars, of which almost the only survivor is, or was recently, still standing near Mills' Oakum works on Wayne street. Lombardy poplars were introduced into this country by Andre Michaux, a French botanist, who came here in 1786 with letters from Lafayette to Washington. He was authorized by the New Jersey Legislature to acquire an alien's title to two hundred acres of land and to "establish a Botanical Garden at Bergen." His place was known as the "Frenchman's Garden," and is now included in the "Macpelah Cemetery." The Associates reserved land for churches, a school, a shipyard and a public market. They urged Robert Fulton to establish his works in Jersey City and sold to him a block of ground for $1,000 on five years time without interest. The deed was dated November 3d, 1804. His foundry was on the corner of Green and Morgan streets, with a dry dock in front of it; here he built his first machinery for propelling a vessel by steam. The first steam boilers were of copper and wood was used for fuel.

THE FERRIES.

In 1804 Joseph Lyon, of Elizabethport, leased the ferry and moved the landing and stairs about midway between Grand and York streets, the slip opening diagonally up the river. There were two row-boats with two oarsmen each and extra oars for the passengers to use if they were in haste to cross, and two periaugers. In 1805 the Associates built a new tavern of brick, known as the Hudson House. It is still standing on Grand near Hudson street, and is part of the Colgate Soap works. Between this hotel and the ferry landing was a semi-circular plot around which the stages would run to unload their passengers. In the center of this plot was a willow tree which was sometimes used as a whipping post. Winfield tells that as late as 1814 a white-headed old man here received thirty-two lashes. The newspapers of the day advertised over twenty daily stage lines, besides the irregular stages, communicating with all parts of the state, and farmers wagons, even from Pennsylvania, brought produce to New York by way of this ferry. Horses and wagons were lifted on to the sail boats, but the ferriage was so expensive that in general the produce and freight was put upon the boats and the teams and wagons left in the stables of the Hudson House. The ferry site has been frequently changed. Its second removal was to the foot of York street; on April 1st, 1839, it was changed to the corner of Montgomery and Hudson streets; in 1856 the block east of Hudson street was filled in and the landing was changed to its present location.

In the fall of 1809 several Newark gentlemen subscribed $50,000 to start steam ferryboats, and Fulton was asked to construct such a boat as he would consider suitable for the purpose. In March, 1811, they obtained the lease of the ferry and the right of landing on the New York side. Two boats were built by Charles Brown, a noted ship-builder of New York, who had built the Clermont in 1807 for Fulton, and whose shipyard was on East river near Fourth and Sixth streets. They were eighty feet in length and thirty feet in width. The boats were named the Jersey and the York. The Jersey was the first boat finished and began her regular trips on July 17th, 1812. A passenger on its first day wrote to the "Centinel of Freedom," "I crossed the North river yesterday in the steamboat with my family in my carriage, without alighting therefrom, in fourteen minutes, with an immense crowd of passengers. I cannot express to you how much the public mind appeared to be gratified at finding so large and so safe a machine going so well. On both shores were thousands of people viewing this pleasing object." There was a grand entertainment to celebrate the occasion given at Lyons Tavern, to the Mayor and Common Council of New York and others.

I give Fulton's description of the boats as quoted by Winfield in his History of Hudson County: "She is built of two boats, each ten feet beam, 80 feet long and five feet deep in the hold; which boats are distant from each other ten feet, confined by strong transverse beam knees and diagonal traces, forming a deck thirty feet wide and eighty feet long. The propelling water wheel is placed between the boats to prevent it from injury from ice and shocks on entering or approaching the dock. The whole of the machinery being placed between the two boats leaves ten feet on the deck of each boat for carriages, horses and cattle, etc.; the other having neat benches and covered with an awning, is for passengers, and there is also a passage and stairway to a neat cabin, which is fifty feet long and five feet clear from the floor to the beams, furnished with benches and provided with a stove in the winter. Although the two boats and space between them give thirty feet beam, yet they present sharp bows to the water and have only the resistance in the water of one boat of twenty feet beam. Both ends being alike and each having a rudder she never puts about.

"The dock is one hundred and eighty feet long and seventy feet wide, the bridge is fastened to the middle of the bulkhead. The boat being only thirty feet wide and the dock seventy, leaves twenty feet vacant on each of her sides; in each of these twenty feet spans and in the water are floating stages, made of pine logs, which lie favorably to the boat for thirty feet, and these run diagonally to the extreme end of the wharves, so that the boat when coming in hits within the seventy feet and the stages guide her direct to the bridge."

In 1813 the York, built on the model of the Jersey, was completed and placed on the ferry. It is said that "they ordinarily took an hour and a half to make a trip." They started at sunrise from each side of the river and ran all day, every half hour, by "St. Paul's Church clock." The fares were collected on the boat during the passage over. The Jersey was in service for many years and finally being condemned, was broken up and sold to Mr. Isaac Edge, who built a stable from its planks and beams. From a portion of this wood two canes were made, which are still treasured in the Edge family.

The Ferry Company had a very unfortunate experience; they sank all of their capital and in 1824 were obliged to assign their lease to Francis B. Ogden, Cadawalder D. Colden, and Samuel Swartout, who secured a new lease for fifteen years and six months from November 1st, 1825. They were to provide two good steamboats, but were afterwards permitted to use a team-boat in place of one. They were also to provide row boats. They bought and placed on the ferry the Washington. Within a year Messrs. Ogden and Swartout transferred their interest to Mr. Colden; he failed to make it remunerative and surrendered the lease to the owners, "the Associates of the Jersey Company." January 1st, 1831, they leased it to the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company. By renewals the lease was continued until 1853, when the Railroad bought up the stock of the Associates and became the owners of the ferry. The first night boat was put on in June, 1835. The line to the foot of Desbrosses street was started in 1862. These ferries were transferred to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1871. Among the various schemes to secure patronage for the ferry by bringing people from New York, was the erection in 1825 of a large amphitheatre on the south side of Sussex street, between Hudson and Green streets, on land leased from Mr. Drayton, Sr. For about two months large numbers, mostly from New York, gathered here on Fridays to witness the fighting of bulls, bears, buffaloes and dogs.

EDGE'S WINDMILL.

A quaint and interesting landmark of lower Jersey City, for some thirty years, was the windmill near the corner of Montgomery and Green streets; to be exact, it stood upon a pier one hundred feet in length, seventy-five feet north of Montgomery street, and fifty feet east of Green street. According to the family traditions this mill, an exact duplicate of one owned by himself in Derbyshire, England, was sent by Mr. Edge, Sr., to his son Mr. Isaac Edge, soon after he settled in Jersey City in 1806, in appreciation of his success in the New World. Every part was marked to insure its proper erection. The motive power was a windmill upon an octagonal stone tower seven stories in height. The fans on the wings were originally of canvas, but these were destroyed by a September gale in 1821, when Mr. Edge replaced them with iron fans. It was quite a celebrated mill and considered the best in America. It faithfully ground its grists until taken down in 1839 to make room for the New Jersey Railroad tracks; but its days of usefulness were not over, it was removed to Town Harbor, L. I., from there it was taken to Southold, L. I., where it continued to do good work until destroyed by fire on June 25th, 1870.

In connection with the mill Mr. Edge started a bakery, which not only supplied Jersey City people with their daily bread at twenty-five cents a loaf, but ships also. The bakery stood on the southwest corner of York and Green streets. It was burned in 1811, but Mr. Edge rebuilt it and the building is still standing. The family still have in their possession the ledger of the old mill and some of the entries are very interesting. The accounts were kept in English currency until 1816. In 1812 flour was sold at the mill for eighteen dollars per barrel. Abraham Reynolds paid one pound, sixteen shillings to have forty-five bushels of wheat ground and three shillings and six pence for its ferriage across the river. The freight on three barrels of bread sent to Sandy Hook was four pounds, four shillings, three pence. James Parker received for his labor only five shillings a day, while Jabez Spinning received thirteen shillings. Mr. Edge lived at the corner of Green and York streets on the water front.