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IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS - 08/03/2008
(by Richard Townsend - OpEd Columnist - August 06, 2008)
Coming to the Pequannock Valley
In Richard Townsend’s first column, the first settlers left Staten Island for New Jersey. Now, they’re moving west toward what is now western Passaic and northern Morris counties.
Gerrit Gerritsen Van Wagoner sailed aboard the ship “The Faith” from Holland and arrived in New Amsterdam on Dec. 23, 1660 with his wife, Annetje Hermansse, and at least two children, Catrina and Gerrit. He was from the ancient town of Wagenigen on the banks of the Rhine in Gelderland.
Gerrit immediately settled at Bergen (Jersey City) and was appointed to the position of magistrate for Bergen by Director General Petrus Stuyvesant. Gerrit was also one of the petitioners for the settlement of a clergyman at Bergen, and like Adriaen C. Post, he pledged to contribute six florins yearly toward support of the church.
Governor Philip Cartaret gave Gerrit Van Wagoner a patent for four parcels of land in and about Bergen, about 100 acres in all. On one parcel, one of the oldest homes in Jersey City still stands. Gerrit was one of the 14 purchasers of the Acquackanonk Patent, comprising what is today Passaic, Paterson and Clifton.
Also among the patentees was Adrian Post, who married Catrina Gerritsen Van Wagoner. Gerrit never left Bergen, but like Adriaen C. Post, some of his children moved west into the Acquackanonk Patent.
An interesting article related to the patentee is a certificate of character found in Nelson’s History of Paterson. It is translated:
We, burgomasters, schepens and councillors of the city of Wagening, declare by these presents, that there appeared before us Hendrick Elissen and Jordiz Spiers, citizens of this city, at the request of Gerrit Gerritsen and Annetje Hermansse, his wife. They have testified and certified, as they do by these presents, that they have good knowledge of the above named Gerrit Gerritsen and Annetje Hermansse, his wife, as to their life and conversation, and that they have always been considered and esteemed as pious and honest people, and that no complaint of any evil or disorderly conduct has even reached their ears; on the contrary, they have always led quiet, pious and honest lives, as it becomes pious and honest persons. They especially testify, that they govern their family well, and bring up their children in the fear of God, and in all modesty and respectability. As the above named persons have resolved to remove and proceed to New Netherland, in order to find greater convenience, they give this attestation, grounded on their knowledge of them, having known them intimately, and having been in continual intercourse with them for many years, living in the same neighborhood. In testimony of the truth, we the burgomasters of the city, have caused the private seal of the city to be hereto affixed. Done at Wagenigen, 27th November, 1660. By the ordinance of the same. J. Aquelin
Charles Sprague’s “The First Families of Paterson” records the following poem:
When our children turn the page,
To ask what triumphs mark’d our age –
What we achieved to challenge praise,
Through the long line of future days –
This let them read, and hence instruction draw:
“Here were the many bless’d
Here found the virtues rest,
Faith link’d with Love, and Liberty, and Law;
Here industry to comfort led;
Her book of light here learning spread;
Here the warm hear of youth
Was woo’d to temperance and truth;
Here hoary age was found,
By wisdom and reverence crown’d.
By the second generation, Johannes Van Wagoner and his wife Catlyntje Helmigse Van Houten had migrated up the Passaic, Pequannock and Pompton rivers to Wynockie Plains, Pompton (Haskell), and established a farm by 1750.
Gerrit’s son Gerrit had married Neesje Pieters Mersellis and had established a farm at Preakness. Garrit Hermanus Van Wagoner and his wife Annetje Sip had established the farm on Ryerson’s Pond (Pompton Lakes), which became the home of his daughter Helena and her husband Arent Schuyler, still standing near the Schuyler Bridge.
A future article will highlight the migration of the Van Houten family as we follow in their footsteps.
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