1929 Vol. 1 No. 3 September
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VOL. f, No. 3 Sept"1st, 1929 Gtrhrlpusnulr Ouunt1tr Wintnrirsl Surirtg 1929 r930 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES PROGRAM OF THE YEAR'S ACTIVITIES NEW MEMBERS-NECROLOGY SPECIAL HISTORICAL ARTICTES WILLIAM W. SCOTT GEORGE H. BURKE MAX SCHRABISCH D. STANTON HAMMOND CHARLES E. DIETZ DR. WILLIAM H. RAUCHFUSS TEMPORARY MUSEUM AND OFFICIAL HEADQUARTERS FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY BUILDING BROADWAY AND AUBURN STREETS, PATERSON, N. J. WILLIAM WINFIELD SCOTT I @\nlflurrulr 6,santgTfiixtnrtrul Surivlg VOL. I, No. 3 Sept. 1st, 1929 CONTENTS Officers and Committees 3.4 The Founding of Passaic 5.6 William Winf;eld Scott Aboriginarvesriges or . z .t4 ,t::;Z#ffi:ft" The True Reformed Chulh of . / Ir.l9 Dr. William-Passaic H. Rauchfuss . 20'21 AlbertHenryHeusser : ' ' 'j - Dean McNulty 72.?.4 : G eorge H. Bur\e The Pennington Park Mansion . L ' . ' ' ZJ'zg D. Stanton Hammond and Charles E. Dietz Necrology 30 . / / . ). .. , NgW MembgfS - 31 Program of Meetings and Activities for the Season lgIg.1 9 3 0 i . 32 ',F=-/,'f--r.GP' \.-,-' TEMPORARY MUSEUM AND OFFICIAL HEADQUARTERS FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY BUtLDtNG BROADWAY AND AUBURN STREETS, PATERSON, N. J. DAVIDSON PRESS 192.t94 coDwrN AvE. Paterson, N. .1. THE PASSAIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OFIF'ICERS AND COMMITTEES L929-1930 President . / . Cnanrns E..Dtntz ' FirstVice.President . , HoN. Wlrrru W. Scorr SecondVice.President . / . Gnoncr WlNtnns Third Vice.President . Dn. Josnen H. KnNNa -- ' Secretary. , . , Jurn G. Ptnncn Treasurer . , . , RoBERTP.Bnoors Historian. }loN.HnNnyW.Grnnrrtrr Curator . - - . , EDWINA.LeoNrrano EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Consisting of the above officers together with the following: Mrs. Joseph A. Bergen Walter A. Lucas Mrs. Elizabeth K. Bunnell James F. Morton Mrs. William S. Carr Emma B. Reuchfuss D. Stanton Hammond Filbert L. Rosenstein Edwin N. Hopson, Jr. Mrs. David Wilson Mary G. Jackson ARCHIVES AND PROPERTY COMMITTEE Edr,i'in A. Leonhard, Chairman Hon. William B. Gourley George F. Winchester Garret A. tlobart John- R. Wilson Robert D. Benson Royal E. Terhune James M. Dunn John O. Benson FINANCE COMMITTEE Robert Williams, Chairman George A. Schultze qeorge Frank J. Bradley -Winters Charles L. Auger James Sweeney William A. Kearns President and Treasurer Ex,officio Robert J. Nelden . N{EMBERSHIP COMVITTEE Mrs. Elizabeth Bunnell, Chairman Edwin A. Leonhard Mrs. William S. Carr Mrs. Charles R. Beatty Mrs. F. B. Conant Leigh B. Bergen ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE Mrs. Joseph A. Bergen, Chairman Sevilla K. Dormida Fred Bena Arthur J. Harris Mrs. William S. Carr GENEALOGY AND BIOGRAPHY COMMITTEE Eleanor lvtombert, Chairman D. Stanton Hammond Mattie Bowman Mary G. Jackson Robert P. Brooks Mrs. George P. Winchester THE PASSAIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICITY COMMITTEE William A. Carr, Chairrnan Dr. William H. Rauchfuss George H. Burke Hon. William W. Scott Susan Contesse William L. R. Wurtz James Gabelle CHURCH HISTORY COMMITTEE Dr. William H. Rauchfuss, Chairman Hon. John V. Hinchliffe Rev. William J. Carlin Filbert Rosenstein Rev. D. S. Hamilton H. H. Schoonrnaker CURRENT HISTORY AND SCRAP BOOK COMMITTEE Walter A. Lucas, Chairrnan Helen M. Downey William H. Belcher Catherine M. Farrelt Anna C. Birdsall Fred Rear Mrs. Alfred Crew George F. Winchester HISTCRIC SITES AND EVENTS COMMITTET George Winters, Chairman Hon. Henry W. Gledhill Joseph A. Bergen Harry B. Haines Robert P. Brooks Max'well P. Steiker PUBLICATION COMMITTEE Hon. Henry W. Gledhill, Chairman Daisy S. lvlodemann D. Stanton Hammond Julia G. Pierce Mrs. Ruth G. Harding Mrs. Charles Simon, Jr. TOPOGRAPHICAI, AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY COMMITTEE D. Stanton Hammond, Chairman I Clarence Hortcn Robert D. Benson Charles W. Mason Russell B. Evans WARS AND SOLDIERS' GRAVES COMMITTEE Lieut. Andrew T. Derrom, Chairman John Grimshaw, Jr. Major Augustus Van iGeson Emma *8. Rauchfuss Hon. Edgar H. Ellis ANCIENT CEMETERIES COMMITTEE Edwin N. Hopson, Jr., Chairman Harry C. Crosby Joel E. Crandall Mary L. Mclane PRE,HISTORY AND GEOLOGY CONIMITTEE Russell B. Evans, Chairman James F. Morton Otto Benz Car? Schondorf Frank A. Donelly PHOTOGRAPHY COMMITTEE Frank M. Rich, Chairman Fred T. Thompson Vernon Royle NUMISMATIC COM1VIITTEE Nehemiah Vrceland Edward A. Browne John J. Fitzgerald SPECIAL BUDGET COMMITTEE Dr. Joseph H. Kenna, Chairntan Edwin A. Leonhard Robert P. Brooks George Winters Charles E. Dietz THE FOUNDING OF PASSAIC 250 YEARS AGO By WILLIAM WINFIELD SCOTT City Historian of Passaic, )rl. I. For perhaps twelve hundred years previous to A. D. 1678, the Lenni Lenape tribe of the Algonkin nation of Indians was considered the owner and possessor of all land now included in the limits of the present city of Passaic. As is well known in process of time Ch arles II, of England, ignored the title of the Indians by conveying all land in New Jersey to his brother, the Duke of York, and from him through mesne conveyances,East Jersey became vested in the Lords Proprietors, who granted patents or deeds for the lands, but not until there was produced a deed from the Indians. The first white man to settle in what is now the city of Passaic was Hart, man Michielse, who, by deed, dated April 4, 1678, purchased from the Indians an island in the Passaic River, now part of Acquackanonk Park, in the First Ward, where he at once settled. An event so manifestly important to the people of our city was worthy of being marked by a fitting celebration in April, 1978, the 2i0th anniversary of this 6rst deed, in order to have an important historic fact impressed upon the minds of the local public, particuiarly the youth, but there was no ceiebra, tion, nor anything to nrark the event, owing to public apathy. Fortunately, however, there had been erected on June 18 of last year a tablet of wood, inscribed as follows: "This tabiet is erected to the memory of lf artman Michielse, the first white man to set foot in this county, who, on April 4, 1678, set, tled on this spot then known as 'Meneheniki Island', which he then purchased from the Indians." The erection of this table,t was by the Passaic County Historical Society. The event is worthy of being mar:ked by amore permanent tablet. Adjoining the island were two contiguous tracts of land containing nearly three hundred acres, purchased from the Indians by Christopher Hoagland, a NewYork fur dealer, in May, 1678, and by him conveyed to Hartman Michielse on February 15, 1679. The latter subsequently divided the same with his three brothers, two of whom settled thereon. This land was known as the "Point" ald today is covered by huge mills, bu.sinesshouses and dweliings. Hartman's objects in making these purchases were to establish upon the island a fur trad, ittg post with Indians, and, by acquiring the adjacent land, to protect it from competitors. He was so well satisfied with his purchases that he set about to interest, in addition to his brot_hers,ten othcr'rll"n, ail of Communipaw (J.r, sey City), fourteen in all, in the purchase of an adjoining tract of thousands of acres called Acquackanonk, which embraced not only all remaining land now comprising the city of Passaic, but inciuded the present cities of Ciifton and Paterson, for which a deed was obtained from the Indians, dated March 27, 1679. The name Michielse became Vreeland, and this family for many years were the largest real estate o'uvnersin the county. While Christopher Hoagland had obtained a patent Jrly 15, 1678, simul. taneously with the deed from the Indians for the "Pointn' land, Hartman, owner of the island, and the fourteen men who purchased Acquackanonk, like many others in East Jersey, denied the necessity for securing patents, claiming that Indian deeds were all that was necessary. A controveriy- followed lastin[ four years, and ended only when thc Governor, by letter dated February 79, t-Ogt,+. " THE PASSAIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY notified all persons that claims of title under Indian deeds would not stand; that under them tt].y had acquired no title and would have none unless they secured a patent, failure to obtain which would work forfeiture of the land. They soon obtained patents. From a legal standpoint, deeds from Indians conveyed no title to the land, the real present, title, as held at - being derived frorn the English Sovereign, who claimed it by right of discorery and conquest. The only right-In the Indians possessedwas that of occupancy, but with no title to the fee. the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice Taney held, in the case of Martin et al. vs. Waddell, as reported in 16 Peter, 347 : "Th e English possessionsin America were not claimed by right of conquest, but by right of discovery. According to the principles of international la'uv,then understood by the civilized powerJ of Europe, the Indian tribes of the new world were regarded as mere temporary occupants of the soil; and the absolute rights of property and dominion were held to belong to the European nations by which any portion of the new country was first discovered." In an earlier case Chref Justice Marshall, of the same court, in the case reported in 6 Church, I42 (Fletcher vs. Peck), held: "That the nature of rhe Indian title, which certainly is to be respected by all courts until it be legiti" mately extinguished, is not such as to be absolu'tely repugnant to seisin in fee on the part of the State." In our own State, in the case of the Mayor and Common Council of New. 'Watson ark vs. George et al., Hon. David A. Depue, Justice of the Supreme Court, held' "By the English common law, the title to lands in this State was vested in the English Crown; and it is a fundamental principle in English Colonial jurisprudence that all titles to lands in this colony passed to individuals from the Crown, through the Colonial or Proprietary authorities." The Indians never assumed to own lands in severalty.