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IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS - 07/27/2008
(by Richard Townsend - OpEd Columnist - July 30, 2008)
Early settlers & The Peach Tree Indian War
Editor’s note: Drive around Suburban Trends’ various towns and you will find streets named after the Rickers, Posts, Ryersons and the like. Richard Townsend’s new column, ‘In Their Footsteps,’ which is scheduled to appear weekly each Sunday, will highlight a number of the leading families, who over time came to settle in this area.
In 1650, Captain Adriaen Crijnen Post sailed from Amsterdam, Holland to New Amsterdam (New York City) with his wife Claertje Moockers and at least one daughter, Maria Moockers Post, aboard the “New Netherlands Fortune” and arriving Dec. 19 of that year. With him were 20 families who were under his supervision to setup a private colony on Staten Island.
Captain Post was born in The Hague, Netherlands and was in his 30’s when he took to responsibility of superintendent over the soon to be ill-fated colony. He had previously sailed to South America and the Caribbean Islands and was familiar with the hardships and rewards of colonization under the Dutch.
Maria Moockers Post was baptized in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil on June 6, 1649. She was one year old when the family set sail for Staten Island. By 1655 the couple had five children. On Sept. 15, of that year, the colony was destroyed in an Indian uprising.
One Hendrick Van Dyke shot a native woman for stealing peaches from one of his trees in the fledgling settlement at Bergen (Jersey City). The conflict was called “The Peach Tree Indian War”. The Indians attacked settlements in and around New Amsterdam on both sides of the Hudson. Twenty-three persons were killed on Staten Island, and 67 were taken prisoner, including Captain Post, his wife, their five children and a servant girl.
Captain Post had previously cultivated friendly relations with the Hackensack Indians and familiarized himself with their language. The then flourishing Staten Island colony was destroyed along with many other settlements in and around New Amsterdam. His life was undoubtedly spared due to his previous conduct with the natives. Captain Post negotiated his release with fourteen fellow prisoners to go to New Amsterdam to ask the Director-General for powder and lead in exchange for all the captives. By Oct. 26, all of the prisoners were released.
Baron Van der Capellen was the owner of the colony, and remained in Holland. When he received news of the disaster he first ordered Captain Post to return to the Staten Island Colony and build a fort to secure their provisions. With no remaining homes or shelter, the Captain and his family were starving under the winter sky along with the livestock. Van der Capellen’s creditors began to harass Captain Post for payments of the Baron’s debts. The soldiers at New Amsterdam refused to return to Staten Island. Captain Post’s health failed and the attempt at colonizing Staten Island by individual enterprise failed. The island was then purchased by the West India Company.
On August 22, 1661, 19 persons petitioned the West India Company for tracts of land on the island, Captain Post being one of the grantees. Although he held land in the newly reforming colony, Captain Post removed to Bergen purchasing 55 acres in 1661. In 1662 he was one of the petitioners to have a clergyman settled at Bergen, and promised to contribute 20 florins for the church yearly. Captain Post died in 1676, his wife died in 1677, both at Bergen.
Adrian Post, son of Adrian Crijnen Post & Claertje Moockers, married Catrintje Gerritse Van Wagoner. He and thirteen other partners acquired the Acquackanonk Patent stretching along the west bank of the Passaic River to the Great Falls of Paterson. By 1714 the entire tract including today’s Passaic, Clifton, and Paterson was divided and sold. By the third generation, Pieter Post, born in Hoboken, removed to Pompton and joined the Dutch Reformed Church in 1736. Pieter Post was among the first settlers in Pompton (at Riverdale). The Post family is represented to this day in what was then Pompton Township. Many of the descendants of Adriaen and Claertje Post have become prominent citizens following in a proud tradition of civil service and private enterprise.
In a future article, the migration of the Van Wagoner family to Pompton will be highlighted as we follow in their footsteps.
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