• T HE LADI ES A ND TH E I N DIANS the Hackensack Indian s, Oratam, by Reginal d Mc Mahon whose name als o has been spelled i n va r ious w a ys. I t i s not of Women i n c olo n ial times, it is record h o w long the t wo k new often said , were dominated by each oth e r but i t i s d o c u me nted their husban ds wi th few r ights, that the Sachem co n sidered her legal or by cu s tom. While his friend . f r equently true, experience in historical research teaches Oratam lived a long l ife, saw caution of this old saw for the coming of the white man, there were exce p tions. fought against him in war, and lived to see the English In the lat e 16 00' s and ear l y go vernment r eplac e the Dutch i n 1 700's t h ree women c ome t o mind 166 4 . His home , at least in wno were involved in Bergen later years, was along the eas t County history and who were bank of Overpeck Creek, possibly associated with the Indians of at the "Indian Castle" mention e d our area. They were Sarah in an old deed. It was located Roelofse Kiersted, her daughter in today's Palisades Park Blandina Kiersted Bayard, and although village houses ma y have Blandina's daughter-in-law, been situated in many ad j acent Rachel Van Balen Bay ard. areas. The Indian name along t he western slope of the Palisad e s Sarah Kiersted [there are was "Awapaugh" and it has been varia t i o ns of spelling ] was born suggested that it was i n t he Netherlands around 1625 subsequently corrupted to and came to New Netherland at "Overpeck". about the age of five with her p a rents Roelf Jansen and Anneke Oratam died at a very old age J ans. but his exact number of years has never been . ~ocumented She was married June 29, 1642 despite a later guess of to Hans Kiersted , a surgeon ninety. Death, however, likely employed by the Dutch 'West India came in 1667 and in the early Company. The doctor was German, part of that year . born in Magdeburgh, capital of Prussian Saxony, about 1612. It The aged Sachem did not forget is said he came to New Amsterd a m Sarah Kiersted who now was a in 1638 with the new Dutch widow as Dr . Kiersted died in Director- General William Kieft. 1666 . On October 21, 1667 i t The couple had ten children and was recorded that "there lived on the Island of appeared before the Governor tw o Manhattan. Indyans, the one called Wapomock, a Sachem; the other Sarah's role as wife and a Tantequavis, who did then seemingly perpetual mother did declare [that] Ora tome the not deter her from acting as an Chiefe Sachem of Hackingsack , interpreter between the Indians did about three or foure year s and the white man. It is not before he dyed , promise to give ce rtain how she became skilled unto Mrs. Sarah Kiersteed, a in the r e d man's tongue but certaine Parcell of Land, lying perhaps it was t hrough her upon the Hackinsack' Neck , which father who was a fur trader. the said Oratome, a little before his death did confirm in Mrs. Kiersted's most well the presence of these Indyan s known association with the red and others" that he "freely gave men was with the Chief Sachem of it" to Mrs. Kiersted "in Bergen County Historical Sodety Page 4 P.O. Box 55 iv Ed e, NJ 07661 • consideration of the friendship transferred to the present City hee had received from her ." He and the o r iginal gradually lost also em ph asized "that his will its identity as a place name. there i n shou l d bee performed." A provision in the patent was The document also recited that that "Sarah Kiersteed shall "this last summer" [1677}, the settle or cause same to be "Land was markt out, according settled within three years", a to the Indyans direction, who clause which many early were witnesses to the said Gift patentees failed to achieve, [which) reaches from one side of vOiding such grants. Kiersted, the Neck to ye other" . however, placed tenants on the l a nd and it is among the first The red me n who carried out regions in Bergen County to be ' Oratam's directive signed with continuously occupied. Sarah mark s . Sachem Wapomock's sold her patent some years later resembled a closing parenthesis to Epke Jacobson [Banta]. mark while the "mark of Tantequavis" was a distinctive It is of interest that stick figure of an animal Hackensack Neck was cons i dered rearing on hind legs. Oratam's prime propert y . The Dutch mark, of course, did not appear established the Achter Col but his well known signature colony here with headquarters at looked much like an inverted Bogota but it was destroyed in numeral 3 . 1643 . Almost two years later, on Soon after the Dutch had June 24, 1669, Sarah received an surrendered New Netherland to official patent from the the English , a set of deeds was Province of New Jersey for drawn. On October 5, 1664, Oratam's gift. It was granted "Oratum as Sagamore and sole by Captain Phillip Carteret, Proprietor of Hackingsack Governor, his council, and the ... be i ng on the maine land over New Jersey Proprietors for "the and against this Isle of neck of land that was given her Manh atans" and "for a good by Oratan the Indian Sachem of consideracon [sic) to me in hand Hackensack [note modern paid" granted to Edward Grove, spelling] lying and being Commander of his Majesty's between Hackinsack River and the frigate Martin, "all that River called Overpecks Creek". Land ... knowne by the name of Ha ckingsack Neck" . The Hackensack Neck patent Governor Richard Nicholl s also consisted of 2260 "acres of had drawn a government patent to upland and meadows English Crave for the same land "which measure of good and Barron is not Inhabited or Planted". [b arren ] land". ' It was part of The property was bounded "with a the original Indian localit y River on one side which runs up later known as Old Hackensack North East" [Ove rpeck Creek] and and would e n compass today's "on ye other with a River whic h Ridgefield Park, Bogota, and runs up North" [ Hackensack southern Teaneck!· The Dutch River] .. Reformed Church of Hackensack was organiied here in 1686 and Curiously, neiiher instrl.1ment when the congregation erected of conveyance was ' signed, its first house 'Of worship in witnessed or acknowledged and 1696 on the west bank of the therefor not ~ legally valid. The river, the ' Hackensack name was reason is not of record but one Bergen County Historical Sodety P.O. Box 55 Page 5 River Edge, NJ 07G61 possibility is that the English from the Indians at Ramapo and had prepared the documents in adjacent areas. the expectation that Oratam would sell. It is tempting to UFor diver good causes and speculate that Oratam alread y several kindnesses" as well as u had promised, verbally, to give "sundry goods and wares , the land to Sarah Kiersted as nineteen Indians conveyed the noted previously. lands to widow Bayard as " Being the right owners and natural In any event, Sarah ended her proprietors". Among the widowhood in 1669 when she nineteen were four women whose married Cornelius Va n Borsum. names come down to us as Upon his death she married for Nanwaweron, Cominamaugh, Noundam the third time in 1683 to Elbert and Weamquandewangh. Elbertsen Sloothoff. It is said t hat land in Manhattan was The land was then thought to granted to Van Borsum in 1 67 3 be in the Province of New York because of Sarah's role as but later the greater part was interpreter in negotiating a determined to be in New Jersey. treaty by Dutch Governor Pe te r The Bayard f amily never secured Stuyvesant with the Hudson Rive r a governme n t patent for the Indians. There is no record of purchase and this oversight children by Sarah's subseque nt became a source of husbands and s he died in New controversary. York where her will was prob ated October 21, 1693. In the meantime, Blandina had established an Indian trading As a footnote , there is a post in a frame house she had story that Sarah receive d a built in present Mahwah. Long beaded pouch from the childre n since gone, it was situated just of Oratam. A colorful artifact north of the historic Laroe·Van made of red cloth and small Horn House on Ramapo Valley beads, it is in possession of a Road. Although sometimes at Kiersted descendant. Also of Mahwah, Blandina lived in interest is that she was honored Manhattan and to aid in the by many Sarah's baptized in running of the establishment she later Kiersted families. enlisted her daughter-in-law, Rachel Bayard and Rach el's The fifth child of Dr. nephew, Lucas Kiersted. Kiersted and Sarah was Blandina, baptized June 8, 1653. In 1674 The Indian tra d e likely she married Peter Bayard, son of involved the exchange of cloth, Samuel Bayard and Anna beads, pots and pans, axes, Stuyvesant, sister of Dutch etc., for the red mens ' fu rs.