Bergen Township, New Jersey (1661–1862)

Last updated

Bergen Township was a township that existed in the U.S. state of New Jersey, from 1661 to 1862, first as Bergen, New Netherland, then as part Bergen County, and later as part of Hudson County. Several places still bear the name: the township of North Bergen; Bergen Square, Old Bergen Road, Bergen Avenue, Bergen Junction, Bergen Hill and Bergen Arches in Jersey City; Bergen Point in Bayonne; and Bergenline Avenue and Bergen Turnpike in North Hudson.

Contents

New Netherland

The name Bergen was originally given to the peninsula between the Hudson River and Hackensack River by the European settlers to New Netherland. There are various opinions as to the origin. Some believe it comes from the Dutch word bergen, which in the Germanic languages of northern Europe means hills, [1] and could describe the most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades. [2] A more farfetched interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch word bergen, meaning to save or to recover, inspired by the settlers return after they had fled attacks by the native population during the Peach War in 1655. Others say it is so called for the town of Bergen, North Holland in the Netherlands or (less likely) Bergen op Zoom, also in the Netherlands or the city of Bergen in Norway. [3] Another theory is that the Dutch residents named their city after an early Scandinavian settler of New Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen, who arrived in Manhattan in 1633 as a ship's carpenter. Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan and later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island, none of which were in Bergen Township. [4] From Bergen, Norway, he was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of New Amsterdam. [5]

Previous European settlements in present-day Hudson County included a small town called Communipaw (at the current Liberty Science Center) and other settlements that were all within Pavonia, which included only the lands surrounding of Harsimus Island (Harsimus), Aressick (Paulus Hook) and Hobocan Hacking (Hoebuck), all of which had been burned to the ground twice after an unprovoked massacre of Native Americans in 1643 at Communipaw and a series of raids and reprisals between the Netherlanders and the Lenape that followed, in what is known as Kieft's War and the Peach War. In late 1654 a series of land grants were made for farms for lands at Achter Col behind Kill Van Kull. [6] In 1658, Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland, negotiated a deal with the Lenape, and re-purchased the area, naming it Bergen, "by the great rock above Wiehacken," then taking in the sweep of land on the peninsula west of the Hudson and east of the Hackensack River extending down to the Kill Van Kull at Bergen Point and Constable Hook. [7] Bergen was founded by settlers who wished to return to the west bank of Hudson's River and located the village at what is today's Bergen Square. Its semi-independent government was granted on September 5, 1661, by Stuyvesant, as part of his efforts regain a foothold on the North River's western shore and expand beyond New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan, under the condition that a garrison be built. It is the first permanent European settlement and oldest municipality in what would become the state of New Jersey. [8] It became and remained the seat of government for the province until 1709, when the British moved it to Hackensack, which was seen as more centrally located. [9]

Colonial America

In 1664, a negotiated surrender gave control of New Netherland to the English and on September 22, 1668, the original town charter was confirmed by Philip Carteret, the first English provincial Governor of New Jersey. [10] [11] The Treaty of Westminster finalized the Dutch capitulation in 1674, and the area officially became part of the proprietary colony of East Jersey. In 1675, it was divided in four administrative districts, or counties: Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Bergen. On March 7, 1683, the garrison/village at Bergen and surrounding areas became a town within Bergen County.

In 1710, when Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, was enlarged to include what had been part of Essex County, the village of Hackensack (in the newly formed Township of New Barbadoes) was seen as being more easily reached by the majority of Bergen County's inhabitants, and hence was chosen as the county seat (as it remains today). Bergen was re-established by royal charter on January 4, 1714. [10]

Bergen Township was created by the New Jersey Legislature's Township Act of 1798 on February 21, 1798, as one of the first group of 104 townships formed in New Jersey. [10] Bergen County was thus split into two parts: Bergen Township to the south, and Hackensack Township to the north. As originally constituted, Bergen Township included the area between the Hudson River on the east, the Hackensack River to the west, south to Constable Hook and north to the present-day southern border of Bergen County.

Secession and dissolution

During its 200-year history the township was diminished in size through various secessions until it finally dissolved.

On January 28, 1820, Jersey City was formed within Bergen Township, and in 1838, was reincorporated as a city independent of Bergen Township. [10]

On February 22, 1840, the New Jersey Legislature created Hudson County from southern portions of Bergen County. [10] The new county included the entirety of the original Bergen Township (including Jersey City) and the portions of Lodi Township south of today's Paterson Plank Road, an area known as New Barbadoes Neck.

Portions of the township were taken to form Van Vorst Township (April 12, 1841, annexed by Jersey City on March 18, 1851), North Bergen Township (April 10, 1843), Bergen town (March 24, 1855, ultimately annexed by Jersey City on May 2, 1870) and Bayonne Township (April 1, 1861). [10]

The remaining portions of the township were absorbed by Bergen town, in a sort of reverse takeover, and the township was dissolved on March 11, 1862. [10]

North Bergen was incorporated as a township on April 10, 1843, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature, from Bergen Township. Portions of the township have been taken to form Hoboken Township (April 9, 1849, now the city of Hoboken), Hudson Town (April 12, 1852, later part of Hudson City), Hudson City (April 11, 1855, later annexed by Jersey City), Guttenberg (formed within the township on March 9, 1859, and set off as an independent municipality on April 1, 1878), Weehawken (March 15, 1859), Union Township and West Hoboken Township (both created on February 28, 1861), Union Hill (March 29, 1864) and Secaucus (March 12, 1900). [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

New Barbadoes Township was a township that was formed in 1710 and existed in its largest extent prior to the American Revolutionary War in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Township was created from territories that had been part of Essex County that were transferred by royal decree to Bergen County. After many departures, secessions and deannexations over the centuries, New Barbadoes Township exists presently as Hackensack, which adopted its present name in 1921.

Hackensack Township was a township that was formed in 1693 within Bergen County, New Jersey. The township was created by the New Jersey Legislature as one of the first group of townships in New Jersey. Bergen County, which had been created in 1682, was thus split into two parts: Hackensack Township to the north, and Bergen Township to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Hill</span> Lower part of the Hudson Palisades, New Jersey, United States

Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Hill, New Jersey</span> Place in New Jersey, United States

Union Hill was a town that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, from 1864 to June 1, 1925, when it merged with West Hoboken to form Union City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Square</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district. A commercial residential area, it contains an eclectic array of architectural styles including 19th-century row houses, Art Deco retail and office buildings, and is the site of the longest continually-used school site in the United States. Nearby are the Van Wagenen House and Old Bergen Church, two structures from the colonial period. St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church founded by early Egyptian immigrants was one of the original Coptic congregations in New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavonia, New Netherland</span> European settlement on the Hudson River

Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the seventeenth-century province of New Netherland in what would become the present Hudson County, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vriessendael, New Netherland</span>

Vriessendael was a patroonship on the west bank of the Hudson River in New Netherland, the seventeenth century North American colonial province of the Dutch Empire. The homestead or plantation was located on a tract of about 500 acres (2.0 km2) about an hour's walk north of Communipaw at today's Edgewater. It has also been known as Tappan, which referred to the wider region of the New Jersey Palisades, rising above the river on both sides of the New York/New Jersey state line, and to the indigenous people who lived there and were part of wider group known as Lenape. It was established in 1640 by David Pietersen de Vries, a Dutch sea captain, explorer, and trader who had also established settlements at the Zwaanendael Colony and on Staten Island. The name can roughly be translated as De Vries' Valley. De Vries also owned flatlands along the Hackensack River, in the area named by the Dutch settlers Achter Col. Parts of Vriessendael were destroyed in 1643 in reprisal for the slaughter of Tappan and Wecquaesgeek Native Americans who had taken refuge at Pavonia and Corlears Hook. The patroon's relatively good relations with the Lenape prevented the murder of the plantation's residents, who were able to seek sanctuary in the main house, and later flee to New Amsterdam. The incident was one of the first of many to take place during Kieft's War, a series of often bloody conflicts with bands of Lenape, who had united in face of attacks ordered by the Director of New Netherland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achter Kol, New Netherland</span>

Achter Kol was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, administered by the Dutch West India Company. At the time of their arrival, the area was inhabited by the Hackensack and Raritan groups of Lenape natives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen, New Netherland</span> Origin of the New Jersey settlement

Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square, Bergen began as a factory at Communipaw circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River across from New Amsterdam, under whose jurisdiction they fell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Neck</span> Peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, United States

Bergen Neck is the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City. Its southernmost tip, Bergen Point, is separated from Staten Island by the Kill van Kull, which is crossed by the Bayonne Bridge.

Oratam was sagamore, or sachem, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century. Documentation shows that he lived an unusually long life and was quite influential among indigenous and immigrant populations.

Hackensack was the exonym given by the Dutch colonists to a band of the Lenape, or Lenni-Lenape, a Native American tribe. The name is a Dutch derivation of the Lenape word for what is now the region of northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack rivers. While the Lenape people occupied much of the mid-Atlantic area, Europeans referred to small groups of native people by the names associated with the places where they lived.

Communipaw is a neighborhood in Jersey City in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and the site of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near Liberty State Park Station through the neighborhoods of Bergen-Lafayette and the West Side that then becomes the Lincoln Highway. Communipaw Junction, or simply The Junction, is an intersection where Communipaw, Summit Avenue, Garfield Avenue, and Grand Street meet, and where the toll house for the Bergen Point Plank Road was situated. Communipaw Cove at Upper New York Bay, is part of the 36-acre (150,000 m2) state nature preserve in the park and one of the few remaining tidal salt marshes in the Hudson River estuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harsimus</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment on the north to Christopher Columbus Drive on the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard. It borders the neighborhoods of Hamilton Park to the north, Van Vorst Park to the south, the Village to the west, and the Powerhouse Arts District to the east. Newark Avenue has traditionally been its main street. The name is from the Lenape, used by the Hackensack Indians who inhabited the region and could be translated as Crow’s Marsh. From many years, the neighborhood was part of the "Horseshoe", a political delineation created by its position between the converging rail lines and political gerrymandering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Vorst Park</span> Populated place in Essex County, New Jersey, US

Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive. Much of it is included in the Van Vorst Park Historical District.

Curries Woods is a neighborhood in the southern part of Greenville in Jersey City, New Jersey bordering Bayonne. It was named after James Curie, who was on the town Committee for Greenville when it was its own Township in the 19th century. The area remained rural until the later part of the century when the Central Railroad of New Jersey built a line connecting ferries to Elizabeth, New Jersey and New York City. Currie's Woods still remained untouched through the late part of the century and it was valued for its woods, rocky shore and dunes on Newark Bay. A lot of the land was eventually lost, but a tract was set aside in the early part of the 20th century. A small cemetery, the Old Greenville Cemetery, was nearby. This park lost much of its land to the city's largest Housing Authority project in 1959, except a small tract in Bayonne, Mercer Park.

Bergen-Lafayette is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey.

The English Neighborhood was the colonial-era name for the towns in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, along the Hudson Palisades between the Hudson River and the Hackensack River, particularly around its main tributary, Overpeck Creek. The region had been part of the Dutch New Netherland colony of Bergen, whose main town was located at Bergen Square in modern Jersey City. The name refers to the geography of the region, bergen being the Dutch word for hills. Earlier attempts at settlement at Achter Col and Vriessendael had been compromised in conflicts with the precolonial population, bands of the Lenape known by their exonyms, the Hackensacks and the Tappans.

Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck (1606–1690), also known as Abraham Isaacse Ver Planck, was an early and prominent settler in New Netherlands. A land developer and speculator, he was the progenitor of an extensive Verplanck family in the United States. Immigrating circa 1633, he received a land grant at Paulus Hook in 1638.

References

  1. "Walking Tour of the Bergen Square". Archived from the original on 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  2. "Indigenous Population". Archived from the original on 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
  3. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njhudson/genhistory_hudson_bergen_2.html. Archived 2011-05-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Bergen, Teunis G. (October 12, 1876). "The Bergen Family; Or: The Descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, One of the Early Settlers of New York and Brooklyn, L. I." J. Munsell via Google Books.
  5. Lee, Francis Bazley (October 12, 1907). "Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey". Lewis Publishing Company via Google Books.
  6. History of New Netherland, E.B. Callaghan (c)1855
  7. History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, p. 62, accessed March 29, 2007
  8. Jersey City: America's Golden Door, accessed March 19, 2007. "Jersey City, the second largest city in New Jersey, is the site of the first permanent European community in the state."
  9. JERSEY CITY HISTORY OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT FROM EARLY DUTCH DAYS TO THE PRESENT TIME, accessed March 19, 2007."Until 1709, Bergen Village (around Bergen Square, Jersey City) was the county seat and the sessions of the court were held there, but after this date, the village of Hackensack was designated as being more centrally located and more easily reached by the majority of the inhabitants, and hence was chosen as the county seat of Bergen County (which it remains) and the courts were moved there."
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 145.
  11. "Hudson Co. NJ — History — Formation of Bergen and Hudson Counties". Rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2008-11-01.

Sources

Further reading

40°46′01″N74°02′17″W / 40.767°N 74.038°W / 40.767; -74.038