A Short History of Jersey City

The European exploration of the land that was to become Jersey City is the beginning of the westward advance into the continent's vast expanses. In Jersey City is the spot where the Dutch established the first settlement in New Jersey. With the close proximity to New York City, the original communities of Jersey City were the scene of many stirring events during the war of Independence. The Jersey City of today is made up of what were originally small towns. In 1620 the condition of New Netherlands did not come up to the expectations of its promoters. To encourage settlers, tempting "freedoms and exemptions" were offered to those who would establish colonies within its territory. Michael Pauw, burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Achienhoven near Utrecht, considered acquiring the west bank of the Hudson River, which had not yet been appropriated. In 1630, he purchased that portion of Jersey City which now lies south of Hoboken and east of the Heights. It included Harsimus, Paulus Hook, and Communipaw.

Pauw called this land Pavonia, which he derived by Latinizing his own name. The appellation continues in use in Pavonia Avenue. Paulus Hook took its own name from Michael Paulusen, or Poulaz, who was in charge of the settlement in 1633. Ahasimus or Harsimus, as it is known at the present day, is an Indian name, and is spelled in historical documents no less than seventeen different ways. Communipaw enjoys the distinction of having been written in fifteen different ways; its origin is in doubt.

Pauw’s purchase rapidly inreased in value. The shore that it included was of considerable commercial value. The location was a favorite trading post with the Indians. From there they carried their peltries across the river to New Amsterdam. It was not long before the land's worth excited the envy of Pauw’s fellow directors of the Dutch West India Company, which had a monopoly of trade in this section of the country. They made so much trouble over the matter for Pauw that he gladly relinquished his acquisitions. In the latter part of 1633 the company erected two houses in Pavonia. These were the first regular buildings built on the west shore of the Hudson; one was located at Communipaw and the other at Harsimus. In June 1634, Jan Evertse Bout succeeded Poulaz as superintendent of the settlement, and he established his capital at Communipaw. Cornelius Van Vorst, who transferred the official residence to the house at Harsimus, succeeded him in 1636. Van Vorst was the founder of one of the leading families of Jersey City. His descendants are found as area residents even today. A street and one of the city’s parks still bears his name.

Van Vorst had no sooner settled himself in his official residence when a catastrophe occurred which has entered history as the first conflagration in the new colony of which any record is extant. Wouter Van Twiller, the head of the New Netherlands State, and Dominic Everardus Bogardus, who then represented the church, and who is famous as the husband of Aneke Jans crossed over the river to pay Van Vorst a visit of state. The latter had a well-stocked wine cellar, and entertained the representatives of state and church in a manner befitting their dignity. During the entertainment they became involved in a hot dispute, which fortunately was drowned in generous flagons of Van Vorst’s Burgundy. When the distinguished visitors departed for their homes. Van Vorst determined to give them a farewell commensurate with their exalted positions in the colony. So he fired a salute from a swivel, which was mounted, in front of his house. A spark from the cannon lit upon the roof and set fire to the dry thatch. In a short time the entire building was a heap of ashes.

In March 1638, William Kieft arrived in the colony as a director general. The following years were marked by bloodshed and suffering. Early in the settlement of the country the Dutch murdered an Indian in the presence of his young nephew. The lad promised to avenge the cruel death of his uncle. Years later, now a grown man, the Indian was eager to fulfill his vow. Kieft knew nothing of the Indian character, and was soon at swords’ point with the natives. He undertook to exact a tribute from them and to force its payment by arms. His exactions aroused the animosity of the Indians, and they began to regard him as their enemy. At this point the Indian who had seen his uncle murdered, waylaid and killed one of the colonists. Kieft demanded the surrender of the young man, but as he had only obeyed one of the unwritten laws of his race in avenging his uncle’s death, the chiefs refused to give him up. Another white man was soon afterward murdered by a drunken Indian, whom some of the colonists had taunted with being unable to use his bow while in liquor. He killed the man with his bow to prove that his tormentor lied.

Thus matters went on from bad to worse, until finally in 1634 Kieft issued an order for the massacre of the Indians. The natives had been attacked by their enemies, the fierce Mohawks, of the north, and had fled to the Dutch for protection. The Indians were huddled together around their camp fires one cold bleak night in February, thinking themselves secure under the protection of the Dutch. They were set upon a squad of soldiers, sent over from New Amsterdam by Kieft, and massacred. This act of genocide stains history of the Dutch occupation of New Jersey.

This massacre led to a bitter and relentless war between the Dutch and the Indians. Frequent attempts were made to secure peace, but the efforts only resulted in short lived truces. The entire blame was laid upon Kieft, and threats were made to depose him from office and send him back to Holland. He in turn attempted to shift the blame to the inhabitants of Pavonia, who, he declared, had urged him to destroy the Indians. This war, which was the first Indian war of the colony lasted 8 months, and spread poverty and misery throughout the settlement. Finally in the spring of 1645, peace was brought about, which was celebrated with "a grand salute of three guns." During the firing, one of the cannons - a brass six-pounder – exploded, killing Jacobsen Roy, the gunner.

During May 1647, Petrus Stuyvesant entered upon office of the director general of the colony of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant learned from the experience of his predecessor and adopted a policy of conciliation toward the Indians. This resulted in an eight years’ peace, during which the colony on the Jersey Shore grew and prospered. In 1655 the war broke out again, and was brought about by that luscious fruit, the peach. Henry Van Dyke had a farm on Manhattan Island, which ran from what is now Broadway, just south of Trinity Church, to the river. Along the water’s edge he planted a peach orchard. The fruit was new to the Indians, and when they became acquainted with its deliciousness, Van Dyke’s orchard became a sore temptation to them. They used to cross the river from Pavonia in their canoes and rob Henry’s trees. This aroused the righteous wrath of Henry's good frau. An effort was made to catch the marauders, but the nimble son of the forest easily eluded the slow going Dutchman. All efforts to catch him were in vain. It was determined to load with lead the next prowler found within the orchards. One night a dusky form was seen stealing among the trees, and the guards fired. It was an Indian maiden. When the watchers reached her side, she was dead. This incensed the natives, and a band of eighty of them crossed the river one night and attacked Van Dyke, who had taken refuge in a neighbor’s house. Van Dyke was wounded in the breast with an arrow, and his neighbor was cut down with a tomahawk. The guards, however soon put the Indians to flight. The natives fled back to Pavonia and resolved to avenge themselves upon the inhabitants of that section. They began the attack as soon as they landed. In a short time, the entire settlement was laid waste. With the exception of one family, all who did not flee were murdered. The cattle were all killed and everything combustible was burned. The Indians even crossed over to Staten Island and continued their depredations there. The raid lasted three days. Every white man was driven from the Jersey shore, and for the next five years, the country remained in the sole possession of the natives.

The Dutch settlers fled to New Amsterdam to escape the Indians. As time went by, they began to long for the fruitful fields and wooded slopes of Pavonia. Besides the occupations they were engaged in on the island were not all congenial. The former residents of Pavonia, began to importune Governor Stuyvesant for permission to return. Thinking to reconcile the savages further Stuyvesant purchased over again the land bought by Pauw and received a deed signed, or rather marked, by nine of the chiefs with appropriate ceremonies. In order to guard against any further depredations by the Indians, the council decreed that the village should be formed at a place which could be easily defended. A place on the hill, now Bergen Avenue just south of Journal Square, was selected for the village. It was further decreed that the land should be distributed by lot. Those who proposed to settle here were obliged to make a beginning within six weeks after the drawing. Also, they were to provide for the common defense with at least on person capable of bearing arms. Some time between August and November 1660, the village was surveyed and laid out and the name Bergen was bestowed upon it. There is much controversy among historians as to the derivation of the name, whether it was taken from the Dutch verb Bergen, meaning to save, or was bestowed in honor of the capital of Norway, or came from Bergen op Zoom.

The village was laid out in a square, 800 feet on each side. Two roads (or streets) crossed it at right angles, and another ran around it. The settlers erected palisades about the outside street to protect the village from the Indians. Where the two streets crossed in the center of the square there was a public plot about one hundred and sixty by two hundred and twenty-five feet. The plot remains today, and is Bergen Square today. Academy Street and Bergen Avenue cross it at right angles almost as they did (though not by those names) over three hundred years ago. The village prospered and grew so rapidly that every lot inside the stockade was occupied by the next May and a local government was formed. Tielman Van Flack was appointed sheriff, and a local court of justice was erected, with the right of appeal to the director general and council of New Amsterdam. Communipaw was made a village separate and distinct from Bergen in September 1660. It was surveyed and laid out into lots, and the work of fortifying it with palisades was commenced. But the settlers did not enter into the work with any degree of enthusiasm, and tried to shirk their duty. The work was not completed in 1663, when commissioners were appointed to complete the palisades. This was necessary for the Indians still lurked in the country and occasionally committed outrages.

In March 1664, Charles II of England, who claimed to own New Netherlands, gave the territory to his brother James, Duke of York. In May and expedition sailed from England to enforce the gift by taking formal possession of the country. The Dutch were informed of their danger and took steps to fortify themselves against invasion. While the English expedition was on its way across the Atlantic, James conveyed his grant to Lord John Berkley and Sir George Cartaret, and the name of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey was bestowed upon the land on the west bank of the Hudson. The name was given in honor of Sir George, who was born on the Island of Jersey. The Duke of York’s expedition, unaware of the transfer, landed on New Amsterdam September, under the leadership of Colonel Nichols, and by the articles of capitulation it was agreed that the people should continue free denizens and retain possession of their lands and goods and dispose of them as they chose. They were also to enjoy their own customs regarding inheritances.

In February following, Sir Phillip Cartaret, a brother of Sir George, was appointed governor of New Jersey. In the latter part of July 1665, he assumed the government. Sir Phillip Cartaret changed the courts and local government so that they conformed more to the English form. On September 22, 1668, Governor Cartaret granted the village a charter, and it became the "Towne of Bergen." The "Towne" grew rapidly, and was in a prosperous condition in March 1672, when war broke out again between the English and the Dutch. On July 30, 1673, the Dutch captured New York, as New Amsterdam had been named by the English. Three days later they sent a summons to surrender to the inhabitants of Bergen. Since the Bergenites were more Dutch than English, they lost no time in taking another oath of allegiance to their "High Mightiness the Lords States General of the United General of the United Netherlands and His Highness the Prince of Orange," and "the true Christian religion according to the word of God and the synod of the Dordrecht taught in the Netherland Church."

The authorities of New Orange, as the Dutch named New York after its recapture, anticipated the return of the English and set to work to prepare for it. The fortifications were extended and strengthened, and a sort of militia was formed of the inhabitants of New Orange and Bergen. The services of the militia however were not required, for in the peace made between the Dutch and the English in 1674 the providence was restored to the English. Although there were dissensions among the inhabitants and quarrels with the governors, nothing happened to mar the progress of the town of Bergen until the war of Independence broke out. In 1714 it was found
that the charter of 1668 was inadequate for the needs of the large community the town had then become, and Queen Anne gave it a new one, which is still known as Queen Anne’s Charter.