LIFE UNDER THE NEW JERSEY
PALISADES
Compiled by Robert John
Bloomer & Alex Bennett
NEW YORK CITY FROM THE
NEW JERSEY SIDE OF THE HUDSON RIVER
Lastupdated-4-14-2015
WordsCount/29,429
The Hudson River Palisades
On March 4th, 1898 a huge explosion broke the morning silence
along the Hudson River Palisades. The blast echoed through the streets of New
York City 10 miles away. The origin of this explosion was Indian Head Rock on
the iconic Hudson River Palisade. With tons of dynamite and nitroglycerin
350,000 tons of rock were blasted from the cliff face to the river’s edge 500
feet below. The public outcry was almost as loud at the blast itself. This was
the final chapter for quarrying on the Palisades, and the closing chapter for
families who had lived at the foot of the cliffs for over a century. The blast
signaled the end of a way of life and during the next decade at least two men
recorded their stories of life under the Palisades. For over 70 years both men transported
Palisade stone to New York and sailed sloops from their family’s Pitching
Places. Captain John William Crum
(1828-1912) and later Benjamin Westervelt (1840-1919) recalled the life, the
people, the work and the history, of their years living below the Palisades.
The Palisades
proper extended a distance of about nine miles, and some think like a quarter
of this space was where permanent residences were located and these spots were
always selected where rising from 40 to 60 feet above the river where there was
a plateau from 200 to 500 feet in width, often quite level but generally with a
gentle slope toward the east. It is no
wonder that those who were born or located there in the first half of the 19th
century were loathe to move away, even the though their means of livelihood
were practically cut off before the close of that century.
The soil, of a
light clay, was rich and deep and most kinds of vegetation grew most vigorously
than anywhere else about. There is one old Pear tree still growing on the edge
of the bank with it roots now considerably exposed, the size of a forest tree. It was just as large 60 years ago and one of
the generation before said it was just as large in his early boyhood. Probably
this tree is hundreds of years old. (Italics
believed to have been written by Benjamin Westervelt in 1913)
The Search
This history began with a search for the descendants
of Captain Robert Bloomer of Westchester, New York. Captain Robert died during
the American Revolution and his family dispersed from Westchester County. It
was recorded in the 1870s that two of Robert’s sons had been boatmen living
under the Palisades. During the Bloomer research a surprising amount of unique
information was discovered concerning the community of river people who lived
under the Palisades Cliffs between Fort Lee and Alpine New Jersey. An amazing
amount of art reflecting the beauty and daily life along the Palisades was also
discovered. Most of the prominent
families who lived on this narrow strip of picturesque shoreline could call
John Frederick Van Wagoner (1750-1828)11
Grandfather or great-grandfather. The Allisons, Bloomers, Becker, Crums,
Normans, Pearcells, Van Wagoners, Whitlocks, and Westervelts, were all part of
an extended family circle that worked and lived at the foot of the magnificent
Hudson Palisades. This is an attempt to identify these family connections, record
their past, and separate historical fact from fiction.
From my earliest research the Bloomers of Bergen
County, New Jersey have been difficult to enumerate. A few sentences were provided in the 1880
Ulster County, NY family records of Orrin Bloomer and Virginia Hanford. They mentioned two Bloomer brothers who
sailed sloops from the Hudson Palisades to New York City, but nothing to
clearly identify their ancestry or descendants. Another branch of the Bloomer
family, one that Orrin was familiar with, but failed to mention, arrived in
Bergen County during the 1880s.
The second group of Bloomers was from New York
City. They were sons and daughters of
Thomas Bloomer (1800-1850). Benton H. and Andrew J. Bloomer arrived together
and were the sons of Thomas and Leah (Gillett) Bloomer. They had married into a
deep-rooted Bergen County, New Jersey family. The Carlock/Carlough, James Ackerson
(1794-1871), and Ackerman families all connected with these families and all
were life-long residences of Bergen County. James Bloomer, and other
descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaffett) Bloomer also arrived in 1885.
However, it is the early Bloomer boatmen that lived along the Palisade shore
that are being documented.
From early tax records it was determined that Captain
Robert & Elizabeth (Purdy) Bloomer’s sons, Anderson and Elisha, migrated
from Westchester County, NY to the Hudson Palisades before 1793. This was soon
after the American Revolution where their father, Robert, had served and died. It
is possible that Anderson and Elisha learned their river wisdom sailing sloops
from Sawpit (Now Port Chester, NY). This old town was named for its
shipbuilding activity. Here raw lumber was cut, shaped, and worked into fine
river craft. However, the navigation from Sawpit via Long Island Sound to New
York City by the East River could be difficult and was laced with hazards.
Sailing to New York City from the New Jersey Palisades was a shorter and safer
voyage. The Bloomer brothers made the
move to the New Jersey Palisades before 1790.
For more than one hundred years Bloomer Brothers
lived in this small community under the Palisade Cliffs and were involved in
Hudson River commerce that sailed from Bloomer Beach. Even today, up river from
where the George Washington Bridge crosses the Hudson River is called Bloomer
Beach. But because they were people of
the river, they left few early land records. In February of 1848 Anderson and
George Bloomer, the second generation of Bloomers Brothers, were granted the
right to erect a wharf on the Hudson.
With an initial home anchorage where the George Washington Bridge
crosses the New Jersey shore and just a few yards north of the Englewood Boat
Basin is where the Bloomers lived, worked, and buried their dead.
During the past few years an amazing amount of
information concerning the boatman and their extended families has been
discovered. These pages trace the descendants of many old Hackensack
families. It also traces Elisha and
Fanny (Van Wagoner) Bloomer, their children, grandchildren, and is a wonderful
example of the large number of descendants that can be produced from a married
couple in just a few generations.
Recalling Palisade History
In August of 1904 Jacob and Louise (Bloomer) Van
Wagoner sold their Palisades property to the Park Commission and moved to the
top of the Palisades. The Anderson
Bloomer family home located below Clinton Point and the first Undercliff school
would soon be gone. Benjamin Westervelt did his best to record his years along
the Hudson. However, in 1924 Louis and Bucky Crum were the last ones to move
from the Spook Rick area. The boys only moved as far as Alpine. There they lived while fishing for shad and
ells from their sloop. 8
In 1896 Captain John William Crum, a Bloomer uncle
and cousin, recorded his recollections of the way of life under the Palisades.
He recalled and recorded specific events along the Palisade section of the
Hudson where he lived and worked for so many years. In 1913 Benjamin
Westervelt, whose brother-in-law was George Bloomer, also recorded, with a
degree of nostalgia and sadness, his recollections of years gone by.
The changes
that have taken place in the physical appearance of the shore can only be
appreciated by one who has lived long enough to see them. The banks themselves have changed – the Mud
Flats, and the depth of the water are different, and many things that were in
great abundance are scarcely any more. The present Reminiscencer has seen more
changes take place than ever will be told. His Grandfather, 100 years ago
remembered when there were no steamboats, all the sailing vessels, principally
sloops, which carried from 60 to 80 tons, brought down the produce grown along
the river from Albany, and the interior, and at that time there was no Far
West, and the lands for many miles on either side were diligently cultivated,
and the staple crops grown. A man’s aspirations those days were quite as common
to own a vessel for carrying farm products to market, as later aspirations were
for the building and owning Railroads, Steamship lines and other big
businesses. Sic (Benjamin Westervelt 1913)
This reminiscing reveals a pedigree that connected
these boatmen, a fascinating glimpse into the Undercliff history, and the
camaraderie shared by boatman of the Hudson Palisades. Several of their stories recall events that
extended to both sides of the river before and after the American Revolution.
Ben related his grandfather, Henry Norman, was impressed (kidnapped) by the
British Navy before 1760. Henry escaped while in New York and then built and
operated the Black Horse Inn
near King’s Bridge. Verification of Ben’s recollection is recorded in the
history of Westchester County. However,
a New York City attorney, James Anderson Whitlock, compiled the most detailed
genealogical record fifty years earlier. James also kept an extensive journal
and diary of his travels to the California Gold Fields and his life’s history
in New York City. An adventurous young man, James recorded climbing to the top
of the Trinity Church steeple during its construction and across the Brooklyn
Bridge’s suspension system before it was completed in 1883. Construction began
in 1869.
In 2006 Alex Bennett, a New Jersey resident, was
exploring, recording, and restoring various cemeteries in Bergen County. After
he had been working in a cemetery in the Undercliff area for several days, an
unknown woman approached and said, “I have seen you here for the past few days,
this record may help you understand these people.” Alex was handed James Whitlock’s
collection. The lady disappeared and
remains unknown. Mr. Bennett discovered
the Bloomer Family History and
then contacted Robert Bloomer, author of the Bloomer history
In the 1850s James Anderson Whitlock, a Bloomer cousin
and Van Wagoner descendants began compiling a family history and his connection
to this same group of river people. James’ record was not discovered until
2004. Captain Crum’s, Westervelt’s and Whitlock’s records proved to be a
genealogical treasure and helped to solve a difficult genealogical puzzle of
Bloomer, Becker, Van Wagoner, Pearsall, Norman, Westervelt, and Crum family
connections. These records plus a 1978 article written by Stanley W. Bradley
titled The Story of Alpine provided wonderful insight into the daily lives of
these river people and their river vocations. Bradley obviously had access to
Westervelt’s record.
A Hudson River Periauger or Perogue was often seen
with the larger Sloop.
Earning A Living
There probably
were few places in this, or any other county, where so good a living could be
obtained with so little effort. The River, until it became polluted with vast
quantity of sewage, teemed with fish of every sort, and the Shad fishing during
some six weeks in the Spring was often profitable enough to support a family
for the rest of the year, and at any other season, even in mid winter, an
experienced person could go out and in a short time get fish in great
quantities. At low tide the soft clam
could be dug, and oysters broke free from the rocks and pilings, but there were
not oysters on the west side of the river expect as they formed on sunken
wreck, but on the Eastern shore one could at all times find oysters. It was a common thing on any still summer day
to observe a shark swimming about near the surface as indicated by his lack fin
that would be out of the water.
Porpoises were very plentiful and the huge Sturgeon would call attention
to his frolic by jumping his full length our of the water, and falling back
causing a resounding noise, but if you were not on the watch out you would see
nothing only the circle left on the surface.
Prolific on
the Palisades were the Shell Bark Hickory trees. Some forty feet tall, the wood
was hard and durable, used during the Shad run, and in furniture and cabinet
building. The nuts were sweet and eatable, forage for a variety of wild
animals, used for charcoal and other fuels.
Fox Grapes were also plentiful in at least three varieties free from the
Palisade’s harvest. (Ben Westervelt)
In defense of his life’s work Benjamin wrote: To understand the prosperity of the
Quarrymen, and those who owned Fleets of Boats, mostly, Sloops, one must
realize that the lower part of Manhattan Island has been filled out from
Greenwich Street to the North River, and Pearl Street to the East River by our
stone. A large part of this filling in has been contributed by stone carried
from along the River under the Palisades from Fort Lee to Closter, now called
Alpine. The stones quarried and carried for this purpose were always the loose
broken rock lying between the base of the Palisades and the River. The rock is
now called Talus by the scientist. Talus is rock that was supposed to have
fallen off during the cooling processes following the upheaval of the Palisade
Mountains. Ben also noted that the best years for quarrying were the 1850s.
The transportation of bulk commodities from Albany
to New York City and even along the Atlantic coast via the Hudson River was a
major occupation for hundreds of New Yorkers. The ship of choice for these
early Hudson River Boatmen was the Hudson River Sloop. Others sailed the larger
two-masted schooners or a smaller boat known as a Periauger. Long after the
first steam-powered ships sailed the Hudson the transition from sloop to steam
was slow and competitive. The transition from sail to steam was apparently
never made by this first generation of Palisade cousins.
The first steam-powered boat sailed the Hudson in
1803. For the next 20 years other Hudson River men fought the battle of
Fulton’s river monopoly. The distance from Albany to New York City was 150
miles and Fulton made the first round trip in 62 hours. He later commented on
his ability to overtake, pass and soon depart from any sailing sloop, periauger
or schooner regardless of wind or river conditions. That was not always true
and with a fair wind the sloop could often better her steam rivals. Fulton’s
voyage inaugurated a revolution in river competition and Fulton pursued a
steam-powered monopoly until 1824. From
1803, the stage had been set, and for the next 75 years the challenge between
steam and nature’s wind prevailed on the Albany to New York City run. More than
once, this river competition resulted in accidents and even death. The New York
steamboat monopoly developed from legal conflicts with the state of New Jersey
into physical conflicts between sloop and steam captains up and down the
Hudson.
“Breaking the
Fulton-Livingston Monopoly — 1820
A steamboat to compete with the
Fulton-Livingston steamboats was introduced by an Albany company as early as
1810, but this and other companies were promptly taken to court to block their
operations. The NY courts and State Legislature vigorously enforced the
restrictions on the use of steamboats other than those licensed by Fulton and
Livingston. The Fulton-Livingston Company and its supporters denounced
their competitors as rogues, rascals, lawbreakers and ingrates.”
The Hudson River boatman prided himself as master of
all nature could offer. Wind and sail was their choice of power. Blazing fire boxes with exploding copper
boilers filled with scalding water, burning cord wood, paddles that lashed and
churned the water, and smoke stacks with clouds of choking smoke and ash, were
considered an affront to the natural order and nature Herself. And adding to
these steam distractions the frequent exploding boiler would rocket across the
bay killing and maiming any who were in its path. It took sloop captains years of experience to
learn their river skills that had begun during their youth.
From deck hand to captain was a life-long journey
and half the journey was learning the subtle signs of river’s hazards, winds
and tides. The other half was the pride of ownership of a sleek wind powered
Hudson River Sloop. Unfortunately, the
opportunity that Fulton’s steam power offered was lost to the dedicated Bloomer
sloop master. The legal battles between New York and New Jersey industrial
titans would require the arbitration of US Supreme Court and money our Bloomer
cousins did not have. The death of the sloop and schooner did not arrive until
the mid 19th century when the steamboats began towing vast amounts
of cargo on barges and scows.
It is believed that the Bloomers, Crums and others
of the Palisades preferred to stay clear of the East River, Hell’s Gate and
Little Hell’s Gate. The swirling currents, rocks and shoals between Ward’s and
Randall’s Island were a graveyard for the inexperienced boatman. This section
of the river was a tidal deathtrap. The maelstrom of currents created by strong
ocean tides pushing in from the open sea up the Hudson into the East River
created giant whirling pools of brackish gray water where the shoreline was
littered with rocky outcroppings. Even a Hudson chocked with winter ice was
preferred to the East River. The thirty-mile round trip from Bloomer Beach to
the New York City docks was swift and easy. Bloomer cousins built, owned and
operated New York City docks, and other Bloomer cousins worked as cartmen.
These cartmen unloaded the market sloops and wheeled cargo to NYC street
vendors. Theophilus Bloomer (1836-1909),
son of Julia (Smith) Bloomer who was buried in the Undercliff cemetery in 1837,
sold feed and grain products in the lower end of Manhattan until his death.
The novelty of steam soon evolved into the sleek
steam ship, offering travelers’ leisure never experienced in human history.
Travel became less a necessity and a thing of leisure for the New York
wealthy. Opulent dinning, gambling, and
liquor added to the profits that the steam-powered vessel could produce. Cornelius Vanderbilt made the transition from
his father’s periauger, took the opportunity that steam powered offered, and
reaped the financial rewards. Meanwhile,
the sloop captains of the Undercliffs, failed to visualize the human cargo
potential, and as a result continued their financial river struggles. However,
this is not surprising. Stone from the New Jersey Palisades was free for the
blasting and was then transported to NYC with greater and greater frequency. New
Jersey stone, quarried by Bloomer friends and cousins, was paving the
ever-expanding streets of the ever growing New York City. Palisades stone was
also being used by the ever expanding railroads. The forest atop the Palisades
was superior and prior to the American Revolution the British Crown had
reserved this choice forest for British Naval vessels. After the Revolution the forest provided
timber, lumber and cordwood for the Bloomers, Crums and Beckers, and then there
was the annual spring Shad run.
Captain recorded that when he was a boy Cornelius Westervelt owned a sloop by the name of Catherine
Ann, and Dan Westervelt went with his father on the Sloop Cook and
afterwards owned a boat called the Brilliant.
Peter Wagner bought it and Captain Crum owned half a share in the Daniel
O. Archer a schooner. Peter R Valleau a sloop, and the Ruth T.
Hicks. Ruth was a very large
boat. A few months later Dan and Ben
Westervelt bought the sloop Margaret, was carried stone to the Wallabout Market
on Wallabout Bay for Eugene White.
The Hudson River Sloop
The Undercliff sloops averaged from 65 to 100 feet
with a single mast of 80 to 100 feet high.
A distinguishing feature of the sloop was its bowsprit and jibboom. On
some sloops these spits were over 40 feet long and were often the first point
of contact in riverboat collisions. The sloop was extremely seaworthy and known
as a very sturdy craft. In 1785 the 60-foot
sloop “Experiment” sailed from Albany around the Horn to China. These ships
could carry over one hundred tons of cargo, usually had a kitchen area and
could generally sleep a crew of four. Hudson River sloop captains often carried
passengers who would be lucky to find a comfortable seat among the pig,
chickens, or tons of other deck cargo. Farm produce was moved to New York City
markets and passengers were always secondary cargo to the Bloomers and
Undercliff captains.
The
Hudson River Sloop under sail. The mast was usually placed well forward giving
the sloop a large mainsail and small jib sail. Unlike other sailing vessels the
sloop had a fixed bowsprit. Rather than a wheel, the sloop usually had a long
tiller for steering. With the mainmast well forward, jibbing presented a particular
hazardous maneuver. The sloop had a large deck often used for dancing by the
Undercliff captains while moored at their homeport.
Hudson River
Schooner with Jib Boom and Bowsprit
However, the Bloomer, Crum, Becker, Westervelt,
Norman, Pearsall and Van Wagoner all sailed from the Undrecliff shoreline and
limited their sailing between Newburgh and New York City. These families and
their cousins were involved in every aspect of the lucrative river trade. The
Bloomers with Van Wagners, Westervelts, Crums and others had their family
“Pitching Place” where raw timber, and quarry stone, blasted from the Palisades
cliffs, was tossed from the heights to the riverbank below. This and other
cargo was then loaded on the family sloop and sailed to New York City. Other
family members built sloops, schooners and skiffs, constructed docks, fished
for shad, sailed farm produce to New York City and other cities along the Hudson.
Other Bloomer cousins sailed from their homeports at Newburgh, Fishkill,
Poughkeepsie, Marlborough, and New York City.
According to the 1862 NYC tax records Captain Bloomer was taxed $50.00
for his sloop Quick Step. (This is believed to be Capt. Charles Augustus
Bloomer son of Isaac and Abigail (Loveless) Bloomer of Ulster County.)
These river men and their river occupations are
easily identified when census records list them as waterman, boatman, ship
captains, fishermen, calmers, oystermen, quarrymen, and dock builders. In the
early 1800s Captain James Bloomer sailed his sloop Diligent from Newburgh to New York, but it was the related
families of Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Normans, and Pearsalls of Bergen County
who plied the river for their generations. Other family members supported the
shipping business by readying coal, lumber, produce, mending gill nets, and
quarrying stone for NYC markets. The term “Pitching Place” was applied to the
location where timber and stone was tossed off the Palisade cliffs to the
river’s edge below. These Pitching Places were associated with specific families
and held as guarded family possessions from one generation to the next. Captain Crum mentioned several by name in his
recollections:
Old Ben’s Pitching Place was right under Allison’s
homestead. Old Ben was most likely Ben Westervelt’s father (1816-1888) who
married Catherina Norman in 1836 captained the sloop Brilliant.
High Tom’s was another Pitching Place.
Dupeyster’s Pitching Place was over Jordan’s Quarry.
Jay’s Pitching Place was south of the Mott property.
Jeffery’s Pitching Place was down on the beach.
Bloomer’s Pitching Place was in front of Dana’s
Becker’s Landing
Becker’s Landing was a well-known boat landing
located on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River approximately 3 miles above
Fort Lee. In 1841 James Anderson Whitlock, then 10 years old, later recalled
his childhood visit to his grandfather’s home.
About the year
1841 I was spending my vacations with my Aunt, then residing at Becker’s
Landing, then having a good wharf, about three miles north of Fort Lee in the
west bank of the Hudson River. The house standing about 300 feet from the river
opposite the wharf has rooms on each side of the entrance with plaza in the
front-a detached house for cooking-washing was to the north with a covered way
from the main house.
To the south
of the main house was a large garden a bulkhead just below low water mark. In
the rear of the house was a road way. In the rear of the house was a road-way.
In the side hill on the other side of the road way was built a creamery about
10 by 15 feet and further to the north was a spring of fine water. The road-way
ran to the south up the side of the hill at the top was a terrace-a barn was at
the head of the road and beyond was an orchard, beyond that a small graveyard.
There was what was call a pitching off place from the top of the Palisades from
which wood was cast. There was a road
beyond which gradually ascending until the top of the Palisade was reached.
My grandmother
told me when I was a boy the she lived at the house during the Revolution in
1776 that one-day the Hepian sic (Hessians) made a raid on the house and
stripped her home of all edibles and other things. It was also recorded that the Hessians vandalized
the house by “plastering the walls with
pancakes and molasses after satisfying their hunger.” Grandfather would
hide in the field with his gun and shoot them as they left the house.
German Mercenary Soldiers were called Hessians
Becoming a Captain
The journey from deckhand to captain required years
of experience. Experience was the gatekeeper to success and a complete new vocabulary
was required. Poggy Tide, Apple Tree, Pear Tree moons, Witches Tide and
Worragut were all terms of special meaning to an experienced river man. The flood tides on the lower Hudson are hard
to predict. An incoming tide could glance off the opposite shore and push a
sloop far off course. Light sloops reacted slowly while deeply laden sloops
were swept forward on the cresting tide.
Even new dock, which narrowed the river, would change the water’s speed. At the crest of ebb or high tide the Hudson could
run at 15 miles an hour. The geographical knowledge required was just as
complex as the vocabulary necessary to navigate from New York to Albany. The Hudson Palisades were referred to as the
“Rocks.” Storm King Mountain on the
Hudson’s west bank and Breakneck Ridge on the east was a particularly hazardous
stretch of the river. Long before the American Revolution the Bloomers had
lived and sailed from these locations. Keeping this special river knowledge in
the family was a prerequisite for success. The Bloomers living in Orange County called
Storm King Mountain “Butter Hill.”
Storm King
Mountain and Breakneck Ridge flanked the river creating strong winds, currents
and congestion. William Bloomer was born 11 April 1749 on Butter Hill and
Benjamin Bloomer was born on Breakneck Ridge.
These New Jersey cliffs stretched from Jersey City
approximately 20 miles north to Nyack, New York. In February of 1848 George and Anderson
petitioned the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey to extend a pier into
the Hudson from their water front property. The Assembly granted them the right
to “erect and build a wharf upon and in
front of their land in the township of Hackensack.” By 1855 Anderson and
George Bloomer had developed their pitching place and dock facility to the
point where it was referred to as “Bloomerville.” Their property was just north of where the
Hudson River and George Washington Bridge now intersect. The area near the
bridge is still a popular commercial Shad fishing location and in colonial
times the small group of homes were know as Fishermen’s Village. As late as 1930 Bloomer Beach was still a popular location for Hudson River
recreation. The beach is located near the Englewood, N.J. Boat Basin.
David Bloomer (1803-1836), brother of George and
Anderson, captained a sloop and when he died his ship’s cook, Jake Van Wart,
married David’s widow, Catherine (Pearsall) Bloomer. Davis and Catherine’s twin
boys Hiram and Solomon sailed the Hudson in their own sloops from 1855 until
the early 1900s. Catherine’s brother Lewis Pearsall also captained a sloop, and
in 1870 Lewis’ son Oliver Horton Pearsall, who married Catherine Van Wagoner,
captained a steamboat.
Captain John W. Crum recorded that during the 1850s
it was common to see 150 sloops tied gunwale to gunwale along the Palisade
shoreline. Capt. Crum identified many of these sloops and their captains by
name: The Dock Builder was owned and operated by Jake Van Wagoner.
William and John Norman sailed the Ellen Jewett. The Daniel O. Archer,
New World, and Isaac Newton were all skippered at various times
by Captain John W. Crum. The Sailor’s Fancy captained by Tom Jackson.
Hiram and Solomon Bloomer had the sloops Edwin Smith, Margaret, and Elias
Hicks, Captain Becker built and owned the Ajax, George and Robert T.
Bloomer captained the Bright. (Jacob Van Wagoner had married David
Bloomer’s daughter Louisa Bloomer. Louisa’s daughter married Oliver Horton
Pearsall). Peter Pearsall, a brother of Catherine’s, captained a Periauger, the
Crystal. (A Periauger is a small two masted sloop without a bowsprit or
headsail.) There were many other sloops
build and sailed from Hackensack and along with the river occupation came
river, congestion, hazards, accidents and deaths.
Shad Fishing
Driving
50-foot long Hickory poles into the river bottom required skill and balance.
Shad Fishing was a great food source for Native
Americans as well as the early colonialist and the largest run on the Atlantic
seaboard was up the Hudson River, past the New Jersey Palisades, to the once
pristine streams in the Catskill Mountains. As the Shad left the Atlantic Ocean
fresh water triggered the end of their lifecycle and the lower Hudson the fish
could still be caught at their prime condition. However, even as early as 1825
the Troy Dam limited up stream access to the migrating Shad. These migratory
fish were just another bounty offered up by the Hudson and in the early spring
of 1778 it was the Shad run that saved the starving troops at Valley Forge.
Shad fishing was a major industry and a major
occupation of an eclectic group of Palisade dwellers. On November 26, 1861
Cesar Hannibal an African American and reported to have been an emancipated
Bloomer slave8, Jim Cunningham, Tom
Snyder and John Dowell, drown in the same boating accident. This was the same
date of the steamship Francis Siddy’s accident, which seems to have
overshadowed the drowning. No record of the
incident except that recorded by Captain Crum’s could be discovered.
Most of the families along the Hudson shoreline
profited from the annual run. Benjamin Westervelt wrote as if individual
families controlled local fishing grounds, and that his father had one of the
best fishing areas on the Hudson. Before the1840s Fyke nets and other trapping
nets were used. After that date gill nets were stretched out and hung from
hickory poles. In Fisherman’s Village near Englewood Cliffs, preparation for
the season began in early winter with the readying, and repair of nets as long
as 500 feet. Bloomer, Crum and Becker families were no doubt working every
winter on their nets and readying them for the coming year. During the spring Shad run Hickory poles, as
long as 50 feet, would be pounded into the river’s muddy bottom with nets hung
between them. This signaled the
approaching run. These annual spring
spanning runs were huge and a great deal of money could be made each spring
from Shad fishing. The spring run and strong river currents created a chaotic
tangle of large and small boats with nets full of migrating Shad. Gill nets
were hauled out at the crest of high tide, the fish collected, the nets cleaned
and readied by the next incoming tide. This created a twice a day scramble as
boatmen collected the day’s catch on each changing tide.
In 1913 Ben described in detail the method of shad fishing
and noted that his father made a great deal of money from Shad fishing because
he had the best fishing grounds.
The catching
of Shad was always by using huge poles sunk into the deep water and mud across
the tide, but not in mid-channel, where it would require longer poles than
could be conveniently handled. Perhaps, it would have been impossible. The poles were always of Oak or Hickory, and
usually spliced to get them of sufficient length, say 45 or 50 feet lone, which
were stuck into the soft tough mud twelve or fifteen feet, and about
twenty-five feet apart. These were called the Fishing Row and varied from
twenty-eight to forty in number. The fishing season varied according to weather
we had an early or late spring, usually beginning the latter part of March and
ending the early part of May. It required experience and skill to properly set
these poles, which were on an average of more than six inches in diameter at
the butt end. It was not considered
creditable work if they did not stand straight in line and on a still day at
the Shad Pole setting period, you could hear in various directions, the Down,
down, down, in chorus by each gang who were setting their poles.
On each pole
was a strong hoop, made of a Hickory sapling, with a stone fastened to it
weighing perhaps twenty-five pounds. And on opposite sides of the hoop a rope
was tied about six feet long, called the foot-rope, and on each pole just about
at low water mark, two other ropes were tied called the arm ropes, and the ends
sewed into a square seaming rope with an eye on each of the corners, was put
between the poles and the lower corners fastened to the foot rope and the two
lower corners fastened to the arm ropes. The nets were lifted every six hours,
at the slacking of the tide or called the Ebb lift, and the Flood lift. At the Ebb lift there was usually no trouble
in getting hold of the arm rope, but at the Flood lift, the arm rope was perhaps
six feet in depth, and two wooden hooks were carried in the boat for reaching
for the arm rope in winter. The best fish was of course on the flood tide, as
the shad going up to fresh water to spawn and the great catches were when they
had a full moon, and big flood tides, though often the catch on the ebb tide
was also good, either the temperature of conditions of the weather caused the
fish to make no effort to stem the current. Two men might lift the nets and
take out the firs, but as the lifting could only be done at the slacking of the
tide, and had to be finished before it changed, or they would be likely o lose
the fish that were gilled or laying in the bad of the net, for that reason the
third man was important, and when fish were plentiful a fourth man was
desirable. It was not uncommon thing at the height of the fishing, for a boat
to bring in 500 shad from one lift, and often take 1000 in twenty-four
hours.
The fisherman,
at the beginning of the season made an arrangement with a Commission Merchant
to sell their fish, usually for one cent a piece. A small sail boat called a
Smack came from the Market once and if the fish were very plentiful, twice
during the twenty-four hours, to take the shad from the fisherman, and the
compensation for that was usually one cent a piece, and the price something’s
during the early sixties had been as low as one cents per shad. If they averaged .15 apiece, the fisherman
felt that he was getting a good price. As
late as the Seventies, the fisherman made arrangements with his neighbors or
friends and permitted them to pick out the largest roe shad for .25 during the
season. Sturgeon was looked upon as on of the annoyances to the Shad Fisherman. Almost invariably the huge fellows went
through the nets breaking them badly.
Occasionally ne would get tangled up and landed. They would take perhaps several days
weighting four to six pounds bur there was no sale for any of them, and the
sharp nosed sturgeon would often be extricated from the net with impatience,
his neck broken by striking him on the gunwale of the boat and then he would be
thrown overboard. The round nosed ones, and sometimes the others, would be
thrown into the boat, but anyone might have them for the asking.
Ben Westervelt’s description of arm-ropes and foot-ropes
is not clearly understood, but the 25-pound rock must have weighted the bottom
of the net. Perhaps the Hickory hoops
allowed the gill net to move up and down the poles with the changing tide. Twice
a day the nets were removed and taken to shore. There river debris would be removed
and the nets mended. The season started
with the blooming of the Forsythia or when the Hickory buds were as big as a
mouse ear.
Floating drift nets were also used which moved
up and down the river with the changing tides. To avoid tangling with regular
river traffic, nets were weighted and hung below the surface from twelve-foot
ropes attached to buoys. Undoubtedly,
the 144 shad caught in 1896 by Anderson and George Bloomer would have been a
pitiful day’s fishing in the early 1800s.
Whether attached to Hickory poles or buoys, the linen gill nets were the
primary method of fishing and it took several brawny men to work them while a
third maneuvered the boat against the strong river currents. The catch would then, as now, be taken to
lower Manhattan’s Fulton Street Market. Gill netting and river pollution
contributed greatly to the rapid decline of Shad and Sturgeon on the Hudson
during the late 19th Century.
However, even today the area near the George Washington Bridge and
Bloomer Beach is a preferred commercial Shad fishing area.
Shad fishing
at the Palisades circ 1865, Courtesy Albany Institute
Danger on the River
A review of the newspaper Brooklyn Eagle and Verplanck’s book The Sloops of the Hudson revealed that river collisions,
exploding boilers, and drowning deaths were all too frequent. The long sloop’s
bowsprit was often involved. The new steam engines and boilers were also a
major problem. The infant power source was totally unregulated, had little
engineering, and few safety features for the ever larger and more powerful
boilers. Just like the Titanic, speed, and luxury were the primary concern. The
boiler room crew was only there to feed the growing appetite for speed with
little or no concern for the potential disaster they were servicing.
In 1824 the sloop Neptune was capsized and
twenty-five passengers drowned. On the
18th of July 1853 at one in the morning, while 90 passengers
slumbered among a small amount of cargo, the steamer Empire State’s wheelhouse
was swept off her deck when it collided with the bowsprit of a sloop. The
boiler exploded, eight died and many others were injured. That same October, a
sloop near Esopus Meadows rammed the steamer Hendrick Hudson. On October 26,
1859 off Fort Washington a schooner cut across the bow of the New World. In an effort to
avoid a collision a steam valve was quickly closed causing enough damage to
sink the opulent steamer. The captain was able to ground the New World and she
only sank to the upper deck.
On June 25th, 1852 at 3:15 p.m. the Steamboat
Ship Henry Clay was enroute from Albany to New York City with Bloomer cousin Capitan
John F. Tallman (1815-1875) in command.
As the ship neared the Undercliff community a fire broke out in the
engine room. The ship was over loaded with 500 passengers many women and
children. The steamer carried just two life boats, and had not a single life
preserver to handle the panicked passengers.
As the flames leaped high into the night sky, Captain Tallman swung the
ship hard-over toward the Riverdale, NY shoreline and was able beach the
burning craft bow first. (It was later reported that Captain Tallman was
bedridden in his cabin and Thomas Collyer the ship’s builder was giving the orders.) As the flames raged a midship, heavy smoke
and flames began billowing from the engine room. As Collyer or Tallman ordered
the ship into the wind toward the distant New York shoreline, the wind whipped
the flames toward the stern and trapped the domed the passengers. Most of the now panic stricken passengers had
been forced toward the stern. Few passengers were able to escape to the bow.
Johanna (Madsen) Hanford and her one-year old daughter,
Joann, were among the throng fleeing toward the stern. Mother and daughter were Bloomer cousins from
Ulster County who had lost their father and husband just the year before. Cyrus
Hanford, Johanna’s husband, was only 23 years old when he died. As the flames engulfed the steamer, the
trapped passengers on the stern had little choice. The stern was 140 feet from
the bow but still in deep water. The only choice became oblivious, jump into
the swift Hudson River or be consumed by the ever ragging and encroaching flames.
Johanna with hundreds of others jumped into the river. Once in the water, Johanna did her best to
save her little daughter and keep their heads above swift cold water. Unfortunately, most of the passengers could
not swim and they grabbed at anything or anyone still afloat. For only a few
minutes the water was filled with struggling trashing bodies. And then one-by-one they were swept away
disappearing into a dark watery grave. Only
a handful of passengers managed to reach the New York shore. Neither Johanna or
her little daughter survived.
For several days, lifeless floating bodies were
pulled from the Hudson along the New Jersey Palisade shoreline. Joann’s body
was recovered the next day, but her mother was never found. It was later claimed that the Henry Clay and
the Steamer Armenia had been racing toward New York City. It was later alleged
that the Clay had even forced the Armenia to slow and change her course to avoid
colliding on the two-mile-wide river.
On the moonless night of 21 November 1861 the sloop
W.W. Reynolds was sailing 2 miles south of Poughkeepsie when she was rammed by
one of the fastest steamers on the Hudson, the 325 foot Francis Skiddy. The Skiddy
had just left the dock at Poughkeepsie and was near full speed when the silhouette
of the Sloop Reynolds was observed dead ahead. Too late to turn, the sloop’s
long bowsprit penetrated the Reynold’s galley window and struck one of the two
boilers causing a huge explosion. Tons of scalding water showered down on the
fireman Isaac Bloomer and Isaac was instantly scalded to death. Two other
fireman and several passengers added to the death toll. Isaac was from Newburgh
and is believed to be the son of Isaac and Phoebe (Sawyer) Bloomer. (A detailed
account of another river collisions is found in the 1846 US Supreme Court case
of (Newton vs. Stebbins). On the 5th
of November 1864 the Skiddy was involved in another collision. Several accounts stated that the 1861
accident happened because the W.W. Reynolds was becalmed, sails down, no
lights, and at anchor when rammed by the Francis Skiddy. Almost 100 years later the USS Arizona
suffered a like incident.
On a dark moonless night in 1934 the USS Arizona was
steaming in the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the Pacific Ocean near
Bellingham, Washington. James Robert Bloomer, Seaman First Class, was at the
wheel. Mid channel, three fishing boats were at anchor, without lights, and waiting
for the morning sun. The fishing vessels had no chance and several lives were
lost as the Arizona completely crushed one boat. The Arizona attempted to render aid, but the
small craft had been cut in half. (James
Robert Bloomer was the compiler’s father.)
Captain
William Jordan, nicknamed Pony, Cesar Hannibal, John Dowdell, Jim Cunningham,
and Tom Snyder; all residents of the Undercliffs were drowned in the same
boating accident which was recorded in the Rockland Journal on December 7th,
1861. The article reported that when Captain Jordan’s body was recovered it was
missing $500.00. A risky maneuver was
jibbing a sloop. Jibbing required special attention of all hands and could be
dangerous. Not only did the captain worry about other vessels on the river as
the sloop turned with the wind, but the heavy mainsail boom, unless controlled,
would swing across the deck with enough force to snap the mainmast. Tom
Jackson, brother of Sugar Jackson, was caught in the rigging of his Sailor’s
Fancy and pulled headfirst overboard during a jib. Tom’s two sons, Samuel
age 28 and Nicholas 23, rushed to the aid of their father. But, Tom drowned before he could be pulled
back aboard and his wife and ten children were left without a husband and
father. During the summer of 1866 while
jibbing, the sloop James Coats was
rounding West Point, when the main sail caught around the neck of Benjamin Hunt
severing his head. Poor Ben’s head flew overboard leaving his bleeding body on
deck.6 River accidents were happening to
family members as late as 1924 when Andrew “Bucky” Crum was crushed in his
skiff by a New York steamer. In the 1900 census Bucky and his brother, Luther,
were still living at Edgewater and listed as fisherman and dock builder. (In
1904 Isaac Bloomer, son of Anderson, lost two fingers and badly mangled his
hand while working at a saw mill in Monmouth County.)
The Isaac
Newton and New World were lost the same year right off Bloomer’s
Beach. The Newton burned to the water line with her cargo and the Isaac
Newton sank. Captain Crum who was on the river carrying a load of flammable hay
was forced to watch the Newton burn from the deck of his Daniel O. Archer. Pickle Town got its name when a market
sloop the Diamond sank off Fort
Washington. To the delight of many Undercliff families, the large cargo of
cucumbers and pickles washed up on the New Jersey shore just north of Englewood
dock. After the incident the area was called Pickletown. The Undercliff community
was always alert, ready, eager and willing to salvage items floating down the
river.
Hazards were not limited to the river. Tom Lusk born
in 1811 in Ireland was a Quarryman who had built the road on the Mott property.
Captain Crum recorded that one day he and Jim Quinn, another Irishman born in
1824, were in the quarry blasting large rocks. The captain called for Tom to
come away, but before he could move the charge was set off and a large piece of
the rock cut clean across Tom’s throat and he was killed. Thomas Lusk, Quarryman and Jim Quinn appear
on page 42 of the Bergen County 1850 census. In 1860 Jim is listed with a
family and still working in the quarry.
William Wiley, stepfather of Captain Crum, lost his sight while working
in the Quarry. This seems to be the quarry owned by David Jordan (1793-1867)
who’s sons John and Obadiah captained the sloops Novelty and Gratitude. Both
sloops transported rock to New York. Ellen Jordan, sister of Obadiah and John,
was Captain Crum’s wife.
In 1832 New York City suffered from a Cholera
epidemic. The daily harvest of life was recorded in New York newspapers. Henry Crum, Captain Crum’s father, died of
river born disease in 1836. David Bloomer died during the same year and may
have suffered from the Cholera. Captain Crum’s maternal grandfather was John
Becker. Grandfather Becker (1773-1830) built the sloops Perseverance, Ambition, Enterprise, and Ajax at his Undercliff
shipyard. During the 1860s the sloop Perseverance was sailed by John
Lyon Collyer (1810-1889). He sailed out
of Red Hook in Dutchess County. John’s
brother, Thomas (1818-1861), build the stately and opulent steamboat Daniel Drew. Their father was
Moses Wakeman Collyer (1784-1841) 6
During the 1850s the Bloomers all came down with
Scarlet Fever and an Indian doctor arrived. Allison recorded that the Indian
arrived on a scow and would always say, “Zounds, how my scow can go.” Bradley
related the same story, but recorded the Indiana arrived on a Periauger, went
into the woods, collected some herbs, mixed them up, and after the Bloomers
took the concoction they were all cured. The Indiana doctor reportedly was well
acquainted with William H. Allison, usually stayed with him, and taught him
many things about the mixing of herbs. Bradley’s comments portray this Indiana
character as arriving on a Periauger, was mysterious and added that the entire
community contracted the “Scarletain” The old Indian would say, I arrived on the tide and depart with the
wind.
During the early 1880s the sons of George Bloomer
(1808-1883) George, Anderson & David continued their father’s prosperous
river business. The boys worked for their father on their schooner scows Three
Sisters and the Corsair. The brothers also built a
scow schooner and constructed a dock on the Hackensack River at River Edge. On
August 1, 1893 their scow and load of brick sank while tied to their Hackensack
dock. It took a week to unload the bricks and raise the scow. During the “great
flood” of October 16, 1901 George and Anderson Bloomer lost cordwood, coal and
lumber stored at their Hackensack dock.
Benjamin Westervelt recorded that he, Anderson
Bloomer and Jacob Van Wagoner were contracted by the People’s Line to recover
the cargo of a sunken steamer near the Undercliffs. According to Benjamin the
trio worked all winter recovering copper sheets, knives, and steel bars. Other
cargo was apparently smuggled to friends. The Crowley got two barrels of
Almonds, the Allisons two barrels of cranberries and Ben got a box of soap.
Benjamin Westervelt’s version of the recovery
indicates that this was the Steamer Isaac Newton.
The Isaac Newton burns off the Palisade Beach.
Harper’s Weekly Dec 19, 1863
The Isaac Newton and New World were sister steamer’s
belonging to the People’s Line and were lost the same year off the New Jersey
Palisades.
The Newton had been plagued with accidents her
entire career and her 1863 fire lit the Undercliff beach. Ben stated. “I was very cold the night of the
wreck. It was about six or seven o’clock
and Ben Westervelt and Neal Norman saw the wreck, and thought if there was
anyone on board they would help them. The Isaac Newton was all ablaze, and
somebody had taken all the passengers off.
There was only one person burned, said to have been a stowaway or coal
carrier. While the people were at supper
live coals fell into the supper room in the lower cabin, and this was due to
the boiler blowing up.” This
description appears to have been the incident that took place the night of
December 3, 1863.9
While Ben Westervelt had been on the Jersey shore,
Captain Crum was on his sloop the Daniel
O Archer. His account…. “Captain Crum was steering, he had a load of
hay on board, which he was bring to Allisons. His brother Peter Crum, Wagoner,
and Bill Allison were on the boat. Billy Allison said, you better not go too
close, on account of this hay, and Peter Crum said Luff, Luff, her. But Capt.
Crum said, do you want to burn up your own boat, so he steered ahead. Capt Crum
says there is no mistake about it, but that the people got lots of things off
the Isaac Newton.” sic
The New
World also went down off the Palisades right in front of Captain Crum’s
house and he ran out to help. His account….. “The New World broke her piston Rod and the vessel sunk. He never
got nothing, but many people got things that were stored on the vessel and
swept ashore. Dan Crowley and Bill Rooney, who came from Closter, were seen
right after the wreck on Crum’s old homestead, in front of which the New
World went down. Dan Crowley was
only a poor Quarryman, getting $15.00 per month, and Capt Crum saw them draw a
trunk ashore and later Crowley brought Bloomers boat. David D. Crane and
Rooney bought the William Johnson. These two boats, the Isaac Newton
and the New World lay off the Jersey Flats.” Sic.
(Daniel Crawly, quarryman, and family are listed in the 1860 Hackensack
Census.)
In 1978 Bradley quoted: “Albert Crum, born April 13, 1877 later wrote. I had three brothers, all
boatmen, who hauled paving blocks to New York for the streets, also brick from
the Haversack brickyard, as well as fishing in the seasons. We had a very nice
settlement under the Palisades with a dock, along with the Bloomers and the Van
Wagoners. They each had their own
gardens of vegetables and flowers. It
was called Fisherman’s’ Village. There were no stores, and we had to row across
the river for supplies. We had schooners, sailboats, sloops and small skiffs,
and had to travel with the wind and tide.” There seems to be some misinformation
in this story.
Albert was born 5 May 1894. It was his oldest
brother Henry Raymond Crum that was born on April 13th 1877 and
there were six brothers. All these boys were the sons of John H. and Elizabeth
(West) Crum. John H. Crum was the son of Theophilus Crum and nephew of Captain
John William Crum and these events must have taken place just before the turn
of the 19th century. It is interesting that over one-hundred years
had passed since these family connections had been make and the Bloomers, Crums
and Van Wagoner were still working together and coordinating their efforts to
produce a successful life on the ground their Third Great grandfather, John
Frederick Van Wagoner, had called home.
Social Life and The People
While life along the river was dangerous, there were
lighter river monuments. Captain Crum recorded how the boatman of Hackensack
often sailed across the Hudson to Manhattan for a “boys-night-out” in New York
City. Captain John Crum, who reportedly had a wonderful voice, would be induced
to sing the “American Boy” at Benson’s Tavern, while his friends sipped bottles
of Champagne. Their favorite tavern was located on Lispenard Street and is now
the home of Nancy’s Whiskey Pub. Pompey the Fiddler would play for all the
local dances that were sometimes held on the deck of a Bloomer sloop or more
often in the abandoned Power Houses. When Pompey died, Sheephead Bill replaced
the old fiddler, but it was not the same. The “Old Jug” was apparently a local
tavern and on some weekends the boatmen drunk on the New Jersey side of the
Hudson. On one occasion after a Saturday
night of heavy drinking that lasted well into Sunday morning, Captain Crum
insisted he be taken home via a circuitous route to avoid the prying eyes of
Edgewater churchgoers. In later years (1890) George, Anderson and David had
community clambakes at “Bloomer Brother Grove” near River Edge.
There seems to be an interesting mix of society
under the cliffs. Free slaves were just as welcome as any other member of the
community. Pompey the fiddler was identified by Captain Crum as living north of
Closter near John Jordan. Pompey’s home was most likely in the Negro community
called Skunk Hollow which was four miles north of Alpine atop the Palisade
Cliffs. Pompey had a large family and a
wife named “Suchie.” Listed in the 1860 p. 62 in Hackensack is Thomas Jackson
and wife “Sukey.” Thomas was born in New Jersey in 1810 and had seven children.
Thomas is also listed living in Hackensack in 1850, 1860, and 1880. In the 1880
he is listed with his 100-year-old mother, Elizabeth Jackson. Elizabeth or
Betty is listed with other children in the 1860 census. Captain Crum also mentioned
another Negro, Tom Jackson, who owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy and drowned by having
his leg broken as he was knocked overboard. Crum stated that Thomas, sloop
captain, was well respected by the community. There are two Thomas Jackson
families. One married to Flora and another married to Sukey. Thomas J. Jackson
with his wife Flora owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy.
Ben Westervelt identified Jim Cunningham as the town
drunk called, “Whack Me Jug.” Captain Crum alleged that Cunningham had drowned
in a boating accident with Tom Snyder. Whichever! Jim, an Irishman, is not listed
in census records after 1860. Apparently the condition of Cunningham’s sobriety
was judged by his ability to jump over his whiskey jug. Ben Westervelt also wrote William O. Allison
as a small boy found Cunningham dead on the beach with his, ever present,
whiskey jug in hand. Cunningham was buried in place right on the beach with
only a stick for a marker. (Tom was most
likely buried in the Undercliff cemetery.) Ben mentioned that liquor was hard
to find and drinkers would travel to Annette’s at Fort Lee to purchase whiskey,
while other crossed the river to New York. When Tom Snyder discovered that a
son of Fanny (Bloomer) Brooks treated cattle with rubbing alcohol, Tom Snyder
would adulterate or someway alter the alcohol and drink it down. This was John
Brooks born in 1854 who was living with his sister in 1880 Abbie (Brooks)
Becker wife of William.
Tom, according to Westervelt, was living with the
Bloomers, left the area for Spuyten Dyvil after the incident and worked for Al
Luther’s father a Bloomer cousin. Westervelts version of events differs from
Captain Crum’s concerning the lives of Cunningham and Snyder[1]. However, life on the river was always risky
and pictures portray the risk involved during shading. A swamped boat or a fall
into the chilly swift water was most always fatal. After a series of drowning
in the Hudson, an 1860 addition of The
Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper advised river residents should learn to swim
Gossip was always a problem in a small community and
the Palisade community was no exception. It seems that Anderson Bloomer went to
Keyport to tend a sick woman named Sarah Adamson. According to Captain Crum
Sarah won Anderson away from Aunt Mary his wife, and later Anderson used to
bring his new wife to his own house under the Palisades. Anderson later brought
a place on the Shrewsberry and lived there with Sarah. (Shrewsberry is a
township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Anderson died on the 21st
of May 1887, but in the 1880 census enumeration he was still recorded with Aunt
Mary.)
Captain Crum’s memories were recollections that
appear to be based on interviews conducted in 1898 and again in 1913. The
unique aspect of Capt. Crum’s document is the short descriptive paragraphs
describing specific events, the river life style, and individual family
relationships along the Hudson Palisades. Captain Crum’s sister, Mary Ann, had
married George W. Bloomer (1808-1883) and Crum dedicated many paragraphs to the
Bloomer family.
Captain Crum
wrote a paragraph titled “Millerwrights.” It explained why in 1840 Anderson Bloomer and
Evanda Allison, believing the end of the World was at hand, sold their property
and gave their money away. (Millerites were a popular religious sect.) Anderson, wanting to cover other options,
gave his money to his brother, George. When the anticipated date of October 23,
1843, passed and the end of the world did not come, George returned Anderson’s
money. Benjamin Westervelt recorded that his father was also a firm believer in
the Millerite Movement. Other characters of the community were also discussed. Sarah
M. Matthias who lived with the Bloomers during her 1850 tenure as Under Cliff’s
schoolteacher was from a strong Methodist background. Her father and
grandfather were both ministers of the gospel in New York. Sarah’s grandfather,
John Barnet Matthias, a prominent and well respected Methodist preacher was so
taken with Miller’s movement that he and 58 members of his congregation left
his church on Eastern Long Island and join the Millerwrights. 12
During the 1840s Millerism moved from rural regional
camp meetings into the American religious spotlight. Astronomical events just
happened to coincide with William Miller’s predictions and gave his religious
end of the word reasonable creditability. So, in the early morning of October
23, 1843, just before sunrise as the first rays of light across the heights
along the Hudson River, George Bloomer and thousands of others believers along
the Hudson Palisades scrambled to prominent high places to await William
Miller’s anticipated moment. When the
morning passed as usual, William Miller recalculated and adopted April 18, 1844
as the new correct date. After 1844 passed
as usual William Miller’s popular movement fell from the American religious
scene.
Some of the community characters named by Crum were
Crazy Allen, Sheephead Bill, the Fat Woman who lived with the Bloomers and said
she could cross the Hudson in an eggshell, Humpy Back Frank Sheriden. Frank was
full of fun and lived in the area during the 1860s. Cornelius Campbell lived
north of Clinton’s Cove and was most often drunk, as was John the Babe, and
Abraham Copeman.
Abraham Copeman, the Undercliff bachelor and
handyman, was living with the Anderson Bloomer family in 1850. Also listed were
Sarah Mathias and her two sisters. Sarah was listed as the first schoolteacher
in the community and school was conducted on the Bloomer property. Ben Westervelt dedicated a long paragraph to
Abraham in his reminiscing. Ben recalled that Abe, always dressed in a colorful
vest and was often drunk, lived near the school. All the schoolboys would make
fun of Abe on their way to school until he would swear at them to go away. The boys thought it was great fun to annoy
Abe and make him swear. Abe constructed a small one-man skiff for Jacob Van
Wagner. The boys would pile into the boat just to see how many it would take to
swamp the little craft. Ben stated that
one fall the school was moved to Tenafly and he went once and never went back. That
was the end of the tricks played on Abraham Copeman.
Cornelius Myers married one of Rueben Brook’s
daughters, Mary. He was a very hard case and would fight at the drop of a
hat. He would put a stone in his sleeve,
use it like a sap and hit people with it.
Striping the boats, was popular during the 1860s,
and a way of personal expression. Each sloop captain would paint his sloop as
many colors as possible in an attempt to out-do each other.
School
Teachers
Benjamin Westervelt as well as Captain John Crum
dedicated several paragraphs to Undercliff schoolteachers. The first school was
held, according to Ben, in A & G Bloomer’s Grocery Store. During the 1840s
“Daddy” Hopkins, who professed to be
a Methodist Minister, lived with the Bloomers, was married but had no family,
was the first schoolteacher. The second
teacher, Sarah Mathias age 26, and
her two sisters were living with the Anderson Bloomer family in the 1850. Sarah was the daughter of Uncle Barney
Mathias and had lived at Greenville or Bergen Point. Sarah, her father,
Barnet canal boat captain, and siblings have a second enumeration in Hudson
County in 1850. There had been a school at the Liberty Pole where Captain Crum
attended for six weeks. The school was later moved to Tenafly. Samuel C. Moses was listed as the third
teacher. No additional information could be discovered. Zenus Campbell, a teacher listed by Ben, was listed in the 1860 Hackensack
census. “He was a well-educated, an
important character in the community, and a friend of the Bloomers.” A William
M. Rice, b. 1839, Teacher is listed in the 1863 draft eligible roster of
Hackensack. A minister replaced William Rice as teacher.
It was noted that Samuel Moses was paid $125.00
during the 1840s8. Sarah Mathias was
listed with the Bloomer household in 1850 as a teacher. There seems to be
something wrong with the order. Ben
recorded that one day while at Recess, when all the boys and girls were out at
play, Moses stood in the doorway and drew a picture of all them so well that
when he finished it was very easy to distinguish each one. Abe Bloomer had been sitting on the Rock at
the time the picture was sketched and he was also included in the picture. Moose had the distinction of being in the new
schoolhouse and he taught there for about three years. The school was not kept
regularly at the time, and they only held it for what they call Two Quarters.
It was called at the time District No. 13. They paid the teachers about $150.00
a year.
The Genealogy
The common ancestor that linked these men and women
was John Frederick and Mary (Harp) Van Wagoner. John’s father arrived from
Germany before the American Revolution and from John’s ten children spring
hundreds of Hackensack Van Wagoner cousins.
Elisha Bloomer married Fanny Van Wagoner and Anderson
Bloomer married Fanny’s sister Margaret before 1800. These Van Wagoner sisters,
born before 1780, were the daughters of John Frederick and Mary Harp. The Bloomer brothers were engaged as Hudson
River boatmen until the untimely death of Margaret in 1808. Anderson then returned to Ulster County, NY
and he soon followed his wife to an early grave. That left Elisha and Fanny (Van Wagoner)
Bloomer to carry on the Bloomer name in the Hackensack area. While both Elisha
and Anderson were producing children in the early 1800s, Anderson left a will
in Ulster County, NY naming his children, and his descendants were well known
as New York City businessmen. Elisha on the other hand has no clear pedigree of
descendants. Of the many Bloomers living
in Bergen County in the 1850s it is not clear which were Elisha’s children.
James Whitlock’s diary added a William Bloomer to the same generation as Elisha
and Anderson, and according to Whitlock, William married Susan another daughter
of John Frederick Van Wagoner. However, nothing more has been discovered
concerning William and Susan (Van Wagoner) Bloomer. William is not enumerated
in any early Bergen tax records.
There is a previously unrecorded William Bloomer who
appears with a NYC Bloomer family in 1860. This William was born in 1778 and
could possible be the contact between the marriage of cousins Harriet Bloomer
and Hiram Bloomer. Elisha and Anderson Bloomer are listed in early1800 Bergen
County records and Elisha continues to be enumerated into the 1820s. By the
1830s Elisha’ s name was joined in Bergen records by his sons, David, George
Washington, and Anderson Bloomer.
In 2006 an extensive genealogy and chronology
surfaced authored by James Anderson Whitlock son of James Cannon and Margaret
(Becker) Whitlock. James Whitlock was a great-grandson of John Frederick Van
Wagoner. The material is dated October 10th, 1849, with Whitlock’s
address as 135 Wooster Street, New York City. A second NYC address with a date of
February 1853 is also on the cover page.
As the
Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Westervelts, and Normans, James Whitlock was a
descendant of the Van Wagoner family and James provided page after page of data
related to his personal life, and the lives of the three preceding generations.
The record contained thousand of facts
of Becker and Van Wagoner genealogy, and
The shallow drafted Scow Schooner
had been
recorded over an extended period of time (1850-1900). It is clear that James’
intention was to compile a genealogical record, and enumerate the descendants
of John Frederick Van Wagoner (1740-1810) and Christian Becker (1735-1800?). Many entries were followed with notations and
dates as to when and where the information had been obtained. James also named
cities, states, and towns where cousins were living. Other entries were recorded without notes or
documentation. It is doubtful that the
entire document can ever be fully verified with primary research. However, even
after a few months of review the document has proven tantalizingly factual and
cousins were located in cities James had mentioned. James
had an impeccable cursive style. Perhaps, his experience as a law clerk for
several NYC law firms during the 1840s developed this skill. His legal
profession may have added to his professional approach when collecting and
documenting family history.
Shad fishing near the Hudson
River Palisades
Along with the Whitlock document came a record of
interviews with Captain John William Crum (1828-1910), son of Henry and Maria
(Becker) Crum. Captain Crum’s reminisces are less of a genealogy than Whitlock’s
document, but still wonderful reading to any historian. The 1978 Story of
Alpine is also of great interest and recounts many of the same tales as the
earlier material.8 These documents were compiled at different
periods, but have a common family pedigree to the Van Wagoner and Becker family
tree. Captain Crum made no mention of the Whitlock information, but did mention
James as a lawyer cousin living in New York City. This gives both documents a
point of comparison, and a common point of interest to the many descendants of
the Becker, Crum, Norman, Bloomer, and Van Wagoner families.
The Whitlock
record is entirely different than Captain Crum and Westervelt’s recollections.
James was starting with both sets of great-grand parents and compiling their
descendants. The result is a record of three generations of family history. It
is full of specific dates, locations, family relationships, descendants, and
information that has the potential for verification. Margin notes dating
correspondence with addresses of cousins who provided information adds greatly
to the authenticity of his record. The
entire handwritten record is extensive and only part has been transcribed, but it
covers the first three generations of history.
. 
During a single day in 1896
George & Anderson Bloomer caught 144 Shad, a record that lasted two years.
Three Sturgeons were also caught.
Sources
1. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.
2. New
England Ancestors. Org. Death Notices from New York Evening Post 2802-2890., Salt Lake City LDS Lib.See
also Virginia Hanford information. Age 32 years at death.
3. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.Published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from
1830-1871.
4. The
Story of Englewood Cliffs, by James J. Greco
5. Art and Pictures courtesy of
New York Historical Society
6. Sloops of the Hudson River, by William E. Verplanck & Moses W.
Collyer, 1908
7. The Bergen County Historical Society
has a five-page history of George, Anderson, and David Bloomer
8. Ancestry.Com has on-line
information titled Crossroads of History, The Story of Alpine, by Stanley W.
Bradley, 1978, This article has many details of the Undercliff community. LDS
Film#
9. Hudson River Steamboat Catastrophes: Contests &
Collisions, By J. Thomas Allison
11. Find A Grave has a listing for John Van
Wagoner death date 8 Oct 1828 age 73 years. Dumont, New Jersey
12. Journal of the Department of History
(The Presbyterian ...https://books.google.com/books?id=- WzUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&dq=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KPQCVZjnOJCzogSVr4LoCg&ved=0CC MQ6wEwATgUhttps://books.google.com/books?id=-WzUAAAAMAAJ
End Note:
Genealogical science and computer aided
research is ever evolving. As more records are made available this database
will be enhanced, corrected, and expanded.
Anyone is welcome to a copy of the James Whitlock diary and other basic
research to develop their own conclusions and pedigrees. With the addition of other databases change
is inevitable. That is the nature of family research.
Benjamin
Westervelt commented that “Jake Van Wart and old man Luther were soldiers and
Hiram and Solomon kept their guns.”
This seems to indicate that Jake and Luther were of the same generation.
Census records indicate that Allen Luther father was Allen D. Luther and would
have been the Luther married to a daughter Elisha Bloomer. Both Crum and Westervelt stated that Luther
and Bloomers were related. In 1913 Crum recorded that a daughter of Elisha
married a Luther.
Capt. Crum wrote that Catherine
(Pearsall) Bloomer had a brother John Pearsall. John was a boatman who sailed
the Extra. There is a John Pearsall
listed in Hackensack in 1860 as a boatman with a birth year of 1813
Belinda Brooks, daughter of Reuben
Brooks, married her step-mother’s son Solomon Bloomer. Solomon and Belinda (Brooks) Bloomer raised a
child (Gertrude Katherine Myers). Gertrude was the daughter of Belinda’s sister
Mary (Brooks) Myers. Gertrude was always known as Gertrude Bloomer.
LIFE UNDER THE NEW JERSEY
PALISADES
Compiled by Robert John
Bloomer & Alex Bennett
NEW YORK CITY FROM THE
NEW JERSEY SIDE OF THE HUDSON RIVER
Lastupdated-4-14-2015
WordsCount/29,429
The Hudson River Palisades
On March 4th, 1898 a huge explosion broke the morning silence
along the Hudson River Palisades. The blast echoed through the streets of New
York City 10 miles away. The origin of this explosion was Indian Head Rock on
the iconic Hudson River Palisade. With tons of dynamite and nitroglycerin
350,000 tons of rock were blasted from the cliff face to the river’s edge 500
feet below. The public outcry was almost as loud at the blast itself. This was
the final chapter for quarrying on the Palisades, and the closing chapter for
families who had lived at the foot of the cliffs for over a century. The blast
signaled the end of a way of life and during the next decade at least two men
recorded their stories of life under the Palisades. For over 70 years both men transported
Palisade stone to New York and sailed sloops from their family’s Pitching
Places. Captain John William Crum
(1828-1912) and later Benjamin Westervelt (1840-1919) recalled the life, the
people, the work and the history, of their years living below the Palisades.
The Palisades
proper extended a distance of about nine miles, and some think like a quarter
of this space was where permanent residences were located and these spots were
always selected where rising from 40 to 60 feet above the river where there was
a plateau from 200 to 500 feet in width, often quite level but generally with a
gentle slope toward the east. It is no
wonder that those who were born or located there in the first half of the 19th
century were loathe to move away, even the though their means of livelihood
were practically cut off before the close of that century.
The soil, of a
light clay, was rich and deep and most kinds of vegetation grew most vigorously
than anywhere else about. There is one old Pear tree still growing on the edge
of the bank with it roots now considerably exposed, the size of a forest tree. It was just as large 60 years ago and one of
the generation before said it was just as large in his early boyhood. Probably
this tree is hundreds of years old. (Italics
believed to have been written by Benjamin Westervelt in 1913)
The Search
This history began with a search for the descendants
of Captain Robert Bloomer of Westchester, New York. Captain Robert died during
the American Revolution and his family dispersed from Westchester County. It
was recorded in the 1870s that two of Robert’s sons had been boatmen living
under the Palisades. During the Bloomer research a surprising amount of unique
information was discovered concerning the community of river people who lived
under the Palisades Cliffs between Fort Lee and Alpine New Jersey. An amazing
amount of art reflecting the beauty and daily life along the Palisades was also
discovered. Most of the prominent
families who lived on this narrow strip of picturesque shoreline could call
John Frederick Van Wagoner (1750-1828)11
Grandfather or great-grandfather. The Allisons, Bloomers, Becker, Crums,
Normans, Pearcells, Van Wagoners, Whitlocks, and Westervelts, were all part of
an extended family circle that worked and lived at the foot of the magnificent
Hudson Palisades. This is an attempt to identify these family connections, record
their past, and separate historical fact from fiction.
From my earliest research the Bloomers of Bergen
County, New Jersey have been difficult to enumerate. A few sentences were provided in the 1880
Ulster County, NY family records of Orrin Bloomer and Virginia Hanford. They mentioned two Bloomer brothers who
sailed sloops from the Hudson Palisades to New York City, but nothing to
clearly identify their ancestry or descendants. Another branch of the Bloomer
family, one that Orrin was familiar with, but failed to mention, arrived in
Bergen County during the 1880s.
The second group of Bloomers was from New York
City. They were sons and daughters of
Thomas Bloomer (1800-1850). Benton H. and Andrew J. Bloomer arrived together
and were the sons of Thomas and Leah (Gillett) Bloomer. They had married into a
deep-rooted Bergen County, New Jersey family. The Carlock/Carlough, James Ackerson
(1794-1871), and Ackerman families all connected with these families and all
were life-long residences of Bergen County. James Bloomer, and other
descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaffett) Bloomer also arrived in 1885.
However, it is the early Bloomer boatmen that lived along the Palisade shore
that are being documented.
From early tax records it was determined that Captain
Robert & Elizabeth (Purdy) Bloomer’s sons, Anderson and Elisha, migrated
from Westchester County, NY to the Hudson Palisades before 1793. This was soon
after the American Revolution where their father, Robert, had served and died. It
is possible that Anderson and Elisha learned their river wisdom sailing sloops
from Sawpit (Now Port Chester, NY). This old town was named for its
shipbuilding activity. Here raw lumber was cut, shaped, and worked into fine
river craft. However, the navigation from Sawpit via Long Island Sound to New
York City by the East River could be difficult and was laced with hazards.
Sailing to New York City from the New Jersey Palisades was a shorter and safer
voyage. The Bloomer brothers made the
move to the New Jersey Palisades before 1790.
For more than one hundred years Bloomer Brothers
lived in this small community under the Palisade Cliffs and were involved in
Hudson River commerce that sailed from Bloomer Beach. Even today, up river from
where the George Washington Bridge crosses the Hudson River is called Bloomer
Beach. But because they were people of
the river, they left few early land records. In February of 1848 Anderson and
George Bloomer, the second generation of Bloomers Brothers, were granted the
right to erect a wharf on the Hudson.
With an initial home anchorage where the George Washington Bridge
crosses the New Jersey shore and just a few yards north of the Englewood Boat
Basin is where the Bloomers lived, worked, and buried their dead.
During the past few years an amazing amount of
information concerning the boatman and their extended families has been
discovered. These pages trace the descendants of many old Hackensack
families. It also traces Elisha and
Fanny (Van Wagoner) Bloomer, their children, grandchildren, and is a wonderful
example of the large number of descendants that can be produced from a married
couple in just a few generations.
Recalling Palisade History
In August of 1904 Jacob and Louise (Bloomer) Van
Wagoner sold their Palisades property to the Park Commission and moved to the
top of the Palisades. The Anderson
Bloomer family home located below Clinton Point and the first Undercliff school
would soon be gone. Benjamin Westervelt did his best to record his years along
the Hudson. However, in 1924 Louis and Bucky Crum were the last ones to move
from the Spook Rick area. The boys only moved as far as Alpine. There they lived while fishing for shad and
ells from their sloop. 8
In 1896 Captain John William Crum, a Bloomer uncle
and cousin, recorded his recollections of the way of life under the Palisades.
He recalled and recorded specific events along the Palisade section of the
Hudson where he lived and worked for so many years. In 1913 Benjamin
Westervelt, whose brother-in-law was George Bloomer, also recorded, with a
degree of nostalgia and sadness, his recollections of years gone by.
The changes
that have taken place in the physical appearance of the shore can only be
appreciated by one who has lived long enough to see them. The banks themselves have changed – the Mud
Flats, and the depth of the water are different, and many things that were in
great abundance are scarcely any more. The present Reminiscencer has seen more
changes take place than ever will be told. His Grandfather, 100 years ago
remembered when there were no steamboats, all the sailing vessels, principally
sloops, which carried from 60 to 80 tons, brought down the produce grown along
the river from Albany, and the interior, and at that time there was no Far
West, and the lands for many miles on either side were diligently cultivated,
and the staple crops grown. A man’s aspirations those days were quite as common
to own a vessel for carrying farm products to market, as later aspirations were
for the building and owning Railroads, Steamship lines and other big
businesses. Sic (Benjamin Westervelt 1913)
This reminiscing reveals a pedigree that connected
these boatmen, a fascinating glimpse into the Undercliff history, and the
camaraderie shared by boatman of the Hudson Palisades. Several of their stories recall events that
extended to both sides of the river before and after the American Revolution.
Ben related his grandfather, Henry Norman, was impressed (kidnapped) by the
British Navy before 1760. Henry escaped while in New York and then built and
operated the Black Horse Inn
near King’s Bridge. Verification of Ben’s recollection is recorded in the
history of Westchester County. However,
a New York City attorney, James Anderson Whitlock, compiled the most detailed
genealogical record fifty years earlier. James also kept an extensive journal
and diary of his travels to the California Gold Fields and his life’s history
in New York City. An adventurous young man, James recorded climbing to the top
of the Trinity Church steeple during its construction and across the Brooklyn
Bridge’s suspension system before it was completed in 1883. Construction began
in 1869.
In 2006 Alex Bennett, a New Jersey resident, was
exploring, recording, and restoring various cemeteries in Bergen County. After
he had been working in a cemetery in the Undercliff area for several days, an
unknown woman approached and said, “I have seen you here for the past few days,
this record may help you understand these people.” Alex was handed James Whitlock’s
collection. The lady disappeared and
remains unknown. Mr. Bennett discovered
the Bloomer Family History and
then contacted Robert Bloomer, author of the Bloomer history
In the 1850s James Anderson Whitlock, a Bloomer cousin
and Van Wagoner descendants began compiling a family history and his connection
to this same group of river people. James’ record was not discovered until
2004. Captain Crum’s, Westervelt’s and Whitlock’s records proved to be a
genealogical treasure and helped to solve a difficult genealogical puzzle of
Bloomer, Becker, Van Wagoner, Pearsall, Norman, Westervelt, and Crum family
connections. These records plus a 1978 article written by Stanley W. Bradley
titled The Story of Alpine provided wonderful insight into the daily lives of
these river people and their river vocations. Bradley obviously had access to
Westervelt’s record.
A Hudson River Periauger or Perogue was often seen
with the larger Sloop.
Earning A Living
There probably
were few places in this, or any other county, where so good a living could be
obtained with so little effort. The River, until it became polluted with vast
quantity of sewage, teemed with fish of every sort, and the Shad fishing during
some six weeks in the Spring was often profitable enough to support a family
for the rest of the year, and at any other season, even in mid winter, an
experienced person could go out and in a short time get fish in great
quantities. At low tide the soft clam
could be dug, and oysters broke free from the rocks and pilings, but there were
not oysters on the west side of the river expect as they formed on sunken
wreck, but on the Eastern shore one could at all times find oysters. It was a common thing on any still summer day
to observe a shark swimming about near the surface as indicated by his lack fin
that would be out of the water.
Porpoises were very plentiful and the huge Sturgeon would call attention
to his frolic by jumping his full length our of the water, and falling back
causing a resounding noise, but if you were not on the watch out you would see
nothing only the circle left on the surface.
Prolific on
the Palisades were the Shell Bark Hickory trees. Some forty feet tall, the wood
was hard and durable, used during the Shad run, and in furniture and cabinet
building. The nuts were sweet and eatable, forage for a variety of wild
animals, used for charcoal and other fuels.
Fox Grapes were also plentiful in at least three varieties free from the
Palisade’s harvest. (Ben Westervelt)
In defense of his life’s work Benjamin wrote: To understand the prosperity of the
Quarrymen, and those who owned Fleets of Boats, mostly, Sloops, one must
realize that the lower part of Manhattan Island has been filled out from
Greenwich Street to the North River, and Pearl Street to the East River by our
stone. A large part of this filling in has been contributed by stone carried
from along the River under the Palisades from Fort Lee to Closter, now called
Alpine. The stones quarried and carried for this purpose were always the loose
broken rock lying between the base of the Palisades and the River. The rock is
now called Talus by the scientist. Talus is rock that was supposed to have
fallen off during the cooling processes following the upheaval of the Palisade
Mountains. Ben also noted that the best years for quarrying were the 1850s.
The transportation of bulk commodities from Albany
to New York City and even along the Atlantic coast via the Hudson River was a
major occupation for hundreds of New Yorkers. The ship of choice for these
early Hudson River Boatmen was the Hudson River Sloop. Others sailed the larger
two-masted schooners or a smaller boat known as a Periauger. Long after the
first steam-powered ships sailed the Hudson the transition from sloop to steam
was slow and competitive. The transition from sail to steam was apparently
never made by this first generation of Palisade cousins.
The first steam-powered boat sailed the Hudson in
1803. For the next 20 years other Hudson River men fought the battle of
Fulton’s river monopoly. The distance from Albany to New York City was 150
miles and Fulton made the first round trip in 62 hours. He later commented on
his ability to overtake, pass and soon depart from any sailing sloop, periauger
or schooner regardless of wind or river conditions. That was not always true
and with a fair wind the sloop could often better her steam rivals. Fulton’s
voyage inaugurated a revolution in river competition and Fulton pursued a
steam-powered monopoly until 1824. From
1803, the stage had been set, and for the next 75 years the challenge between
steam and nature’s wind prevailed on the Albany to New York City run. More than
once, this river competition resulted in accidents and even death. The New York
steamboat monopoly developed from legal conflicts with the state of New Jersey
into physical conflicts between sloop and steam captains up and down the
Hudson.
“Breaking the
Fulton-Livingston Monopoly — 1820
A steamboat to compete with the
Fulton-Livingston steamboats was introduced by an Albany company as early as
1810, but this and other companies were promptly taken to court to block their
operations. The NY courts and State Legislature vigorously enforced the
restrictions on the use of steamboats other than those licensed by Fulton and
Livingston. The Fulton-Livingston Company and its supporters denounced
their competitors as rogues, rascals, lawbreakers and ingrates.”
The Hudson River boatman prided himself as master of
all nature could offer. Wind and sail was their choice of power. Blazing fire boxes with exploding copper
boilers filled with scalding water, burning cord wood, paddles that lashed and
churned the water, and smoke stacks with clouds of choking smoke and ash, were
considered an affront to the natural order and nature Herself. And adding to
these steam distractions the frequent exploding boiler would rocket across the
bay killing and maiming any who were in its path. It took sloop captains years of experience to
learn their river skills that had begun during their youth.
From deck hand to captain was a life-long journey
and half the journey was learning the subtle signs of river’s hazards, winds
and tides. The other half was the pride of ownership of a sleek wind powered
Hudson River Sloop. Unfortunately, the
opportunity that Fulton’s steam power offered was lost to the dedicated Bloomer
sloop master. The legal battles between New York and New Jersey industrial
titans would require the arbitration of US Supreme Court and money our Bloomer
cousins did not have. The death of the sloop and schooner did not arrive until
the mid 19th century when the steamboats began towing vast amounts
of cargo on barges and scows.
It is believed that the Bloomers, Crums and others
of the Palisades preferred to stay clear of the East River, Hell’s Gate and
Little Hell’s Gate. The swirling currents, rocks and shoals between Ward’s and
Randall’s Island were a graveyard for the inexperienced boatman. This section
of the river was a tidal deathtrap. The maelstrom of currents created by strong
ocean tides pushing in from the open sea up the Hudson into the East River
created giant whirling pools of brackish gray water where the shoreline was
littered with rocky outcroppings. Even a Hudson chocked with winter ice was
preferred to the East River. The thirty-mile round trip from Bloomer Beach to
the New York City docks was swift and easy. Bloomer cousins built, owned and
operated New York City docks, and other Bloomer cousins worked as cartmen.
These cartmen unloaded the market sloops and wheeled cargo to NYC street
vendors. Theophilus Bloomer (1836-1909),
son of Julia (Smith) Bloomer who was buried in the Undercliff cemetery in 1837,
sold feed and grain products in the lower end of Manhattan until his death.
The novelty of steam soon evolved into the sleek
steam ship, offering travelers’ leisure never experienced in human history.
Travel became less a necessity and a thing of leisure for the New York
wealthy. Opulent dinning, gambling, and
liquor added to the profits that the steam-powered vessel could produce. Cornelius Vanderbilt made the transition from
his father’s periauger, took the opportunity that steam powered offered, and
reaped the financial rewards. Meanwhile,
the sloop captains of the Undercliffs, failed to visualize the human cargo
potential, and as a result continued their financial river struggles. However,
this is not surprising. Stone from the New Jersey Palisades was free for the
blasting and was then transported to NYC with greater and greater frequency. New
Jersey stone, quarried by Bloomer friends and cousins, was paving the
ever-expanding streets of the ever growing New York City. Palisades stone was
also being used by the ever expanding railroads. The forest atop the Palisades
was superior and prior to the American Revolution the British Crown had
reserved this choice forest for British Naval vessels. After the Revolution the forest provided
timber, lumber and cordwood for the Bloomers, Crums and Beckers, and then there
was the annual spring Shad run.
Captain recorded that when he was a boy Cornelius Westervelt owned a sloop by the name of Catherine
Ann, and Dan Westervelt went with his father on the Sloop Cook and
afterwards owned a boat called the Brilliant.
Peter Wagner bought it and Captain Crum owned half a share in the Daniel
O. Archer a schooner. Peter R Valleau a sloop, and the Ruth T.
Hicks. Ruth was a very large
boat. A few months later Dan and Ben
Westervelt bought the sloop Margaret, was carried stone to the Wallabout Market
on Wallabout Bay for Eugene White.
The Hudson River Sloop
The Undercliff sloops averaged from 65 to 100 feet
with a single mast of 80 to 100 feet high.
A distinguishing feature of the sloop was its bowsprit and jibboom. On
some sloops these spits were over 40 feet long and were often the first point
of contact in riverboat collisions. The sloop was extremely seaworthy and known
as a very sturdy craft. In 1785 the 60-foot
sloop “Experiment” sailed from Albany around the Horn to China. These ships
could carry over one hundred tons of cargo, usually had a kitchen area and
could generally sleep a crew of four. Hudson River sloop captains often carried
passengers who would be lucky to find a comfortable seat among the pig,
chickens, or tons of other deck cargo. Farm produce was moved to New York City
markets and passengers were always secondary cargo to the Bloomers and
Undercliff captains.
The
Hudson River Sloop under sail. The mast was usually placed well forward giving
the sloop a large mainsail and small jib sail. Unlike other sailing vessels the
sloop had a fixed bowsprit. Rather than a wheel, the sloop usually had a long
tiller for steering. With the mainmast well forward, jibbing presented a particular
hazardous maneuver. The sloop had a large deck often used for dancing by the
Undercliff captains while moored at their homeport.
Hudson River
Schooner with Jib Boom and Bowsprit
However, the Bloomer, Crum, Becker, Westervelt,
Norman, Pearsall and Van Wagoner all sailed from the Undrecliff shoreline and
limited their sailing between Newburgh and New York City. These families and
their cousins were involved in every aspect of the lucrative river trade. The
Bloomers with Van Wagners, Westervelts, Crums and others had their family
“Pitching Place” where raw timber, and quarry stone, blasted from the Palisades
cliffs, was tossed from the heights to the riverbank below. This and other
cargo was then loaded on the family sloop and sailed to New York City. Other
family members built sloops, schooners and skiffs, constructed docks, fished
for shad, sailed farm produce to New York City and other cities along the Hudson.
Other Bloomer cousins sailed from their homeports at Newburgh, Fishkill,
Poughkeepsie, Marlborough, and New York City.
According to the 1862 NYC tax records Captain Bloomer was taxed $50.00
for his sloop Quick Step. (This is believed to be Capt. Charles Augustus
Bloomer son of Isaac and Abigail (Loveless) Bloomer of Ulster County.)
These river men and their river occupations are
easily identified when census records list them as waterman, boatman, ship
captains, fishermen, calmers, oystermen, quarrymen, and dock builders. In the
early 1800s Captain James Bloomer sailed his sloop Diligent from Newburgh to New York, but it was the related
families of Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Normans, and Pearsalls of Bergen County
who plied the river for their generations. Other family members supported the
shipping business by readying coal, lumber, produce, mending gill nets, and
quarrying stone for NYC markets. The term “Pitching Place” was applied to the
location where timber and stone was tossed off the Palisade cliffs to the
river’s edge below. These Pitching Places were associated with specific families
and held as guarded family possessions from one generation to the next. Captain Crum mentioned several by name in his
recollections:
Old Ben’s Pitching Place was right under Allison’s
homestead. Old Ben was most likely Ben Westervelt’s father (1816-1888) who
married Catherina Norman in 1836 captained the sloop Brilliant.
High Tom’s was another Pitching Place.
Dupeyster’s Pitching Place was over Jordan’s Quarry.
Jay’s Pitching Place was south of the Mott property.
Jeffery’s Pitching Place was down on the beach.
Bloomer’s Pitching Place was in front of Dana’s
Becker’s Landing
Becker’s Landing was a well-known boat landing
located on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River approximately 3 miles above
Fort Lee. In 1841 James Anderson Whitlock, then 10 years old, later recalled
his childhood visit to his grandfather’s home.
About the year
1841 I was spending my vacations with my Aunt, then residing at Becker’s
Landing, then having a good wharf, about three miles north of Fort Lee in the
west bank of the Hudson River. The house standing about 300 feet from the river
opposite the wharf has rooms on each side of the entrance with plaza in the
front-a detached house for cooking-washing was to the north with a covered way
from the main house.
To the south
of the main house was a large garden a bulkhead just below low water mark. In
the rear of the house was a road way. In the rear of the house was a road-way.
In the side hill on the other side of the road way was built a creamery about
10 by 15 feet and further to the north was a spring of fine water. The road-way
ran to the south up the side of the hill at the top was a terrace-a barn was at
the head of the road and beyond was an orchard, beyond that a small graveyard.
There was what was call a pitching off place from the top of the Palisades from
which wood was cast. There was a road
beyond which gradually ascending until the top of the Palisade was reached.
My grandmother
told me when I was a boy the she lived at the house during the Revolution in
1776 that one-day the Hepian sic (Hessians) made a raid on the house and
stripped her home of all edibles and other things. It was also recorded that the Hessians vandalized
the house by “plastering the walls with
pancakes and molasses after satisfying their hunger.” Grandfather would
hide in the field with his gun and shoot them as they left the house.
German Mercenary Soldiers were called Hessians
Becoming a Captain
The journey from deckhand to captain required years
of experience. Experience was the gatekeeper to success and a complete new vocabulary
was required. Poggy Tide, Apple Tree, Pear Tree moons, Witches Tide and
Worragut were all terms of special meaning to an experienced river man. The flood tides on the lower Hudson are hard
to predict. An incoming tide could glance off the opposite shore and push a
sloop far off course. Light sloops reacted slowly while deeply laden sloops
were swept forward on the cresting tide.
Even new dock, which narrowed the river, would change the water’s speed. At the crest of ebb or high tide the Hudson could
run at 15 miles an hour. The geographical knowledge required was just as
complex as the vocabulary necessary to navigate from New York to Albany. The Hudson Palisades were referred to as the
“Rocks.” Storm King Mountain on the
Hudson’s west bank and Breakneck Ridge on the east was a particularly hazardous
stretch of the river. Long before the American Revolution the Bloomers had
lived and sailed from these locations. Keeping this special river knowledge in
the family was a prerequisite for success. The Bloomers living in Orange County called
Storm King Mountain “Butter Hill.”
Storm King
Mountain and Breakneck Ridge flanked the river creating strong winds, currents
and congestion. William Bloomer was born 11 April 1749 on Butter Hill and
Benjamin Bloomer was born on Breakneck Ridge.
These New Jersey cliffs stretched from Jersey City
approximately 20 miles north to Nyack, New York. In February of 1848 George and Anderson
petitioned the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey to extend a pier into
the Hudson from their water front property. The Assembly granted them the right
to “erect and build a wharf upon and in
front of their land in the township of Hackensack.” By 1855 Anderson and
George Bloomer had developed their pitching place and dock facility to the
point where it was referred to as “Bloomerville.” Their property was just north of where the
Hudson River and George Washington Bridge now intersect. The area near the
bridge is still a popular commercial Shad fishing location and in colonial
times the small group of homes were know as Fishermen’s Village. As late as 1930 Bloomer Beach was still a popular location for Hudson River
recreation. The beach is located near the Englewood, N.J. Boat Basin.
David Bloomer (1803-1836), brother of George and
Anderson, captained a sloop and when he died his ship’s cook, Jake Van Wart,
married David’s widow, Catherine (Pearsall) Bloomer. Davis and Catherine’s twin
boys Hiram and Solomon sailed the Hudson in their own sloops from 1855 until
the early 1900s. Catherine’s brother Lewis Pearsall also captained a sloop, and
in 1870 Lewis’ son Oliver Horton Pearsall, who married Catherine Van Wagoner,
captained a steamboat.
Captain John W. Crum recorded that during the 1850s
it was common to see 150 sloops tied gunwale to gunwale along the Palisade
shoreline. Capt. Crum identified many of these sloops and their captains by
name: The Dock Builder was owned and operated by Jake Van Wagoner.
William and John Norman sailed the Ellen Jewett. The Daniel O. Archer,
New World, and Isaac Newton were all skippered at various times
by Captain John W. Crum. The Sailor’s Fancy captained by Tom Jackson.
Hiram and Solomon Bloomer had the sloops Edwin Smith, Margaret, and Elias
Hicks, Captain Becker built and owned the Ajax, George and Robert T.
Bloomer captained the Bright. (Jacob Van Wagoner had married David
Bloomer’s daughter Louisa Bloomer. Louisa’s daughter married Oliver Horton
Pearsall). Peter Pearsall, a brother of Catherine’s, captained a Periauger, the
Crystal. (A Periauger is a small two masted sloop without a bowsprit or
headsail.) There were many other sloops
build and sailed from Hackensack and along with the river occupation came
river, congestion, hazards, accidents and deaths.
Shad Fishing
Driving
50-foot long Hickory poles into the river bottom required skill and balance.
Shad Fishing was a great food source for Native
Americans as well as the early colonialist and the largest run on the Atlantic
seaboard was up the Hudson River, past the New Jersey Palisades, to the once
pristine streams in the Catskill Mountains. As the Shad left the Atlantic Ocean
fresh water triggered the end of their lifecycle and the lower Hudson the fish
could still be caught at their prime condition. However, even as early as 1825
the Troy Dam limited up stream access to the migrating Shad. These migratory
fish were just another bounty offered up by the Hudson and in the early spring
of 1778 it was the Shad run that saved the starving troops at Valley Forge.
Shad fishing was a major industry and a major
occupation of an eclectic group of Palisade dwellers. On November 26, 1861
Cesar Hannibal an African American and reported to have been an emancipated
Bloomer slave8, Jim Cunningham, Tom
Snyder and John Dowell, drown in the same boating accident. This was the same
date of the steamship Francis Siddy’s accident, which seems to have
overshadowed the drowning. No record of the
incident except that recorded by Captain Crum’s could be discovered.
Most of the families along the Hudson shoreline
profited from the annual run. Benjamin Westervelt wrote as if individual
families controlled local fishing grounds, and that his father had one of the
best fishing areas on the Hudson. Before the1840s Fyke nets and other trapping
nets were used. After that date gill nets were stretched out and hung from
hickory poles. In Fisherman’s Village near Englewood Cliffs, preparation for
the season began in early winter with the readying, and repair of nets as long
as 500 feet. Bloomer, Crum and Becker families were no doubt working every
winter on their nets and readying them for the coming year. During the spring Shad run Hickory poles, as
long as 50 feet, would be pounded into the river’s muddy bottom with nets hung
between them. This signaled the
approaching run. These annual spring
spanning runs were huge and a great deal of money could be made each spring
from Shad fishing. The spring run and strong river currents created a chaotic
tangle of large and small boats with nets full of migrating Shad. Gill nets
were hauled out at the crest of high tide, the fish collected, the nets cleaned
and readied by the next incoming tide. This created a twice a day scramble as
boatmen collected the day’s catch on each changing tide.
In 1913 Ben described in detail the method of shad fishing
and noted that his father made a great deal of money from Shad fishing because
he had the best fishing grounds.
The catching
of Shad was always by using huge poles sunk into the deep water and mud across
the tide, but not in mid-channel, where it would require longer poles than
could be conveniently handled. Perhaps, it would have been impossible. The poles were always of Oak or Hickory, and
usually spliced to get them of sufficient length, say 45 or 50 feet lone, which
were stuck into the soft tough mud twelve or fifteen feet, and about
twenty-five feet apart. These were called the Fishing Row and varied from
twenty-eight to forty in number. The fishing season varied according to weather
we had an early or late spring, usually beginning the latter part of March and
ending the early part of May. It required experience and skill to properly set
these poles, which were on an average of more than six inches in diameter at
the butt end. It was not considered
creditable work if they did not stand straight in line and on a still day at
the Shad Pole setting period, you could hear in various directions, the Down,
down, down, in chorus by each gang who were setting their poles.
On each pole
was a strong hoop, made of a Hickory sapling, with a stone fastened to it
weighing perhaps twenty-five pounds. And on opposite sides of the hoop a rope
was tied about six feet long, called the foot-rope, and on each pole just about
at low water mark, two other ropes were tied called the arm ropes, and the ends
sewed into a square seaming rope with an eye on each of the corners, was put
between the poles and the lower corners fastened to the foot rope and the two
lower corners fastened to the arm ropes. The nets were lifted every six hours,
at the slacking of the tide or called the Ebb lift, and the Flood lift. At the Ebb lift there was usually no trouble
in getting hold of the arm rope, but at the Flood lift, the arm rope was perhaps
six feet in depth, and two wooden hooks were carried in the boat for reaching
for the arm rope in winter. The best fish was of course on the flood tide, as
the shad going up to fresh water to spawn and the great catches were when they
had a full moon, and big flood tides, though often the catch on the ebb tide
was also good, either the temperature of conditions of the weather caused the
fish to make no effort to stem the current. Two men might lift the nets and
take out the firs, but as the lifting could only be done at the slacking of the
tide, and had to be finished before it changed, or they would be likely o lose
the fish that were gilled or laying in the bad of the net, for that reason the
third man was important, and when fish were plentiful a fourth man was
desirable. It was not uncommon thing at the height of the fishing, for a boat
to bring in 500 shad from one lift, and often take 1000 in twenty-four
hours.
The fisherman,
at the beginning of the season made an arrangement with a Commission Merchant
to sell their fish, usually for one cent a piece. A small sail boat called a
Smack came from the Market once and if the fish were very plentiful, twice
during the twenty-four hours, to take the shad from the fisherman, and the
compensation for that was usually one cent a piece, and the price something’s
during the early sixties had been as low as one cents per shad. If they averaged .15 apiece, the fisherman
felt that he was getting a good price. As
late as the Seventies, the fisherman made arrangements with his neighbors or
friends and permitted them to pick out the largest roe shad for .25 during the
season. Sturgeon was looked upon as on of the annoyances to the Shad Fisherman. Almost invariably the huge fellows went
through the nets breaking them badly.
Occasionally ne would get tangled up and landed. They would take perhaps several days
weighting four to six pounds bur there was no sale for any of them, and the
sharp nosed sturgeon would often be extricated from the net with impatience,
his neck broken by striking him on the gunwale of the boat and then he would be
thrown overboard. The round nosed ones, and sometimes the others, would be
thrown into the boat, but anyone might have them for the asking.
Ben Westervelt’s description of arm-ropes and foot-ropes
is not clearly understood, but the 25-pound rock must have weighted the bottom
of the net. Perhaps the Hickory hoops
allowed the gill net to move up and down the poles with the changing tide. Twice
a day the nets were removed and taken to shore. There river debris would be removed
and the nets mended. The season started
with the blooming of the Forsythia or when the Hickory buds were as big as a
mouse ear.
Floating drift nets were also used which moved
up and down the river with the changing tides. To avoid tangling with regular
river traffic, nets were weighted and hung below the surface from twelve-foot
ropes attached to buoys. Undoubtedly,
the 144 shad caught in 1896 by Anderson and George Bloomer would have been a
pitiful day’s fishing in the early 1800s.
Whether attached to Hickory poles or buoys, the linen gill nets were the
primary method of fishing and it took several brawny men to work them while a
third maneuvered the boat against the strong river currents. The catch would then, as now, be taken to
lower Manhattan’s Fulton Street Market. Gill netting and river pollution
contributed greatly to the rapid decline of Shad and Sturgeon on the Hudson
during the late 19th Century.
However, even today the area near the George Washington Bridge and
Bloomer Beach is a preferred commercial Shad fishing area.
Shad fishing
at the Palisades circ 1865, Courtesy Albany Institute
Danger on the River
A review of the newspaper Brooklyn Eagle and Verplanck’s book The Sloops of the Hudson revealed that river collisions,
exploding boilers, and drowning deaths were all too frequent. The long sloop’s
bowsprit was often involved. The new steam engines and boilers were also a
major problem. The infant power source was totally unregulated, had little
engineering, and few safety features for the ever larger and more powerful
boilers. Just like the Titanic, speed, and luxury were the primary concern. The
boiler room crew was only there to feed the growing appetite for speed with
little or no concern for the potential disaster they were servicing.
In 1824 the sloop Neptune was capsized and
twenty-five passengers drowned. On the
18th of July 1853 at one in the morning, while 90 passengers
slumbered among a small amount of cargo, the steamer Empire State’s wheelhouse
was swept off her deck when it collided with the bowsprit of a sloop. The
boiler exploded, eight died and many others were injured. That same October, a
sloop near Esopus Meadows rammed the steamer Hendrick Hudson. On October 26,
1859 off Fort Washington a schooner cut across the bow of the New World. In an effort to
avoid a collision a steam valve was quickly closed causing enough damage to
sink the opulent steamer. The captain was able to ground the New World and she
only sank to the upper deck.
On June 25th, 1852 at 3:15 p.m. the Steamboat
Ship Henry Clay was enroute from Albany to New York City with Bloomer cousin Capitan
John F. Tallman (1815-1875) in command.
As the ship neared the Undercliff community a fire broke out in the
engine room. The ship was over loaded with 500 passengers many women and
children. The steamer carried just two life boats, and had not a single life
preserver to handle the panicked passengers.
As the flames leaped high into the night sky, Captain Tallman swung the
ship hard-over toward the Riverdale, NY shoreline and was able beach the
burning craft bow first. (It was later reported that Captain Tallman was
bedridden in his cabin and Thomas Collyer the ship’s builder was giving the orders.) As the flames raged a midship, heavy smoke
and flames began billowing from the engine room. As Collyer or Tallman ordered
the ship into the wind toward the distant New York shoreline, the wind whipped
the flames toward the stern and trapped the domed the passengers. Most of the now panic stricken passengers had
been forced toward the stern. Few passengers were able to escape to the bow.
Johanna (Madsen) Hanford and her one-year old daughter,
Joann, were among the throng fleeing toward the stern. Mother and daughter were Bloomer cousins from
Ulster County who had lost their father and husband just the year before. Cyrus
Hanford, Johanna’s husband, was only 23 years old when he died. As the flames engulfed the steamer, the
trapped passengers on the stern had little choice. The stern was 140 feet from
the bow but still in deep water. The only choice became oblivious, jump into
the swift Hudson River or be consumed by the ever ragging and encroaching flames.
Johanna with hundreds of others jumped into the river. Once in the water, Johanna did her best to
save her little daughter and keep their heads above swift cold water. Unfortunately, most of the passengers could
not swim and they grabbed at anything or anyone still afloat. For only a few
minutes the water was filled with struggling trashing bodies. And then one-by-one they were swept away
disappearing into a dark watery grave. Only
a handful of passengers managed to reach the New York shore. Neither Johanna or
her little daughter survived.
For several days, lifeless floating bodies were
pulled from the Hudson along the New Jersey Palisade shoreline. Joann’s body
was recovered the next day, but her mother was never found. It was later claimed that the Henry Clay and
the Steamer Armenia had been racing toward New York City. It was later alleged
that the Clay had even forced the Armenia to slow and change her course to avoid
colliding on the two-mile-wide river.
On the moonless night of 21 November 1861 the sloop
W.W. Reynolds was sailing 2 miles south of Poughkeepsie when she was rammed by
one of the fastest steamers on the Hudson, the 325 foot Francis Skiddy. The Skiddy
had just left the dock at Poughkeepsie and was near full speed when the silhouette
of the Sloop Reynolds was observed dead ahead. Too late to turn, the sloop’s
long bowsprit penetrated the Reynold’s galley window and struck one of the two
boilers causing a huge explosion. Tons of scalding water showered down on the
fireman Isaac Bloomer and Isaac was instantly scalded to death. Two other
fireman and several passengers added to the death toll. Isaac was from Newburgh
and is believed to be the son of Isaac and Phoebe (Sawyer) Bloomer. (A detailed
account of another river collisions is found in the 1846 US Supreme Court case
of (Newton vs. Stebbins). On the 5th
of November 1864 the Skiddy was involved in another collision. Several accounts stated that the 1861
accident happened because the W.W. Reynolds was becalmed, sails down, no
lights, and at anchor when rammed by the Francis Skiddy. Almost 100 years later the USS Arizona
suffered a like incident.
On a dark moonless night in 1934 the USS Arizona was
steaming in the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the Pacific Ocean near
Bellingham, Washington. James Robert Bloomer, Seaman First Class, was at the
wheel. Mid channel, three fishing boats were at anchor, without lights, and waiting
for the morning sun. The fishing vessels had no chance and several lives were
lost as the Arizona completely crushed one boat. The Arizona attempted to render aid, but the
small craft had been cut in half. (James
Robert Bloomer was the compiler’s father.)
Captain
William Jordan, nicknamed Pony, Cesar Hannibal, John Dowdell, Jim Cunningham,
and Tom Snyder; all residents of the Undercliffs were drowned in the same
boating accident which was recorded in the Rockland Journal on December 7th,
1861. The article reported that when Captain Jordan’s body was recovered it was
missing $500.00. A risky maneuver was
jibbing a sloop. Jibbing required special attention of all hands and could be
dangerous. Not only did the captain worry about other vessels on the river as
the sloop turned with the wind, but the heavy mainsail boom, unless controlled,
would swing across the deck with enough force to snap the mainmast. Tom
Jackson, brother of Sugar Jackson, was caught in the rigging of his Sailor’s
Fancy and pulled headfirst overboard during a jib. Tom’s two sons, Samuel
age 28 and Nicholas 23, rushed to the aid of their father. But, Tom drowned before he could be pulled
back aboard and his wife and ten children were left without a husband and
father. During the summer of 1866 while
jibbing, the sloop James Coats was
rounding West Point, when the main sail caught around the neck of Benjamin Hunt
severing his head. Poor Ben’s head flew overboard leaving his bleeding body on
deck.6 River accidents were happening to
family members as late as 1924 when Andrew “Bucky” Crum was crushed in his
skiff by a New York steamer. In the 1900 census Bucky and his brother, Luther,
were still living at Edgewater and listed as fisherman and dock builder. (In
1904 Isaac Bloomer, son of Anderson, lost two fingers and badly mangled his
hand while working at a saw mill in Monmouth County.)
The Isaac
Newton and New World were lost the same year right off Bloomer’s
Beach. The Newton burned to the water line with her cargo and the Isaac
Newton sank. Captain Crum who was on the river carrying a load of flammable hay
was forced to watch the Newton burn from the deck of his Daniel O. Archer. Pickle Town got its name when a market
sloop the Diamond sank off Fort
Washington. To the delight of many Undercliff families, the large cargo of
cucumbers and pickles washed up on the New Jersey shore just north of Englewood
dock. After the incident the area was called Pickletown. The Undercliff community
was always alert, ready, eager and willing to salvage items floating down the
river.
Hazards were not limited to the river. Tom Lusk born
in 1811 in Ireland was a Quarryman who had built the road on the Mott property.
Captain Crum recorded that one day he and Jim Quinn, another Irishman born in
1824, were in the quarry blasting large rocks. The captain called for Tom to
come away, but before he could move the charge was set off and a large piece of
the rock cut clean across Tom’s throat and he was killed. Thomas Lusk, Quarryman and Jim Quinn appear
on page 42 of the Bergen County 1850 census. In 1860 Jim is listed with a
family and still working in the quarry.
William Wiley, stepfather of Captain Crum, lost his sight while working
in the Quarry. This seems to be the quarry owned by David Jordan (1793-1867)
who’s sons John and Obadiah captained the sloops Novelty and Gratitude. Both
sloops transported rock to New York. Ellen Jordan, sister of Obadiah and John,
was Captain Crum’s wife.
In 1832 New York City suffered from a Cholera
epidemic. The daily harvest of life was recorded in New York newspapers. Henry Crum, Captain Crum’s father, died of
river born disease in 1836. David Bloomer died during the same year and may
have suffered from the Cholera. Captain Crum’s maternal grandfather was John
Becker. Grandfather Becker (1773-1830) built the sloops Perseverance, Ambition, Enterprise, and Ajax at his Undercliff
shipyard. During the 1860s the sloop Perseverance was sailed by John
Lyon Collyer (1810-1889). He sailed out
of Red Hook in Dutchess County. John’s
brother, Thomas (1818-1861), build the stately and opulent steamboat Daniel Drew. Their father was
Moses Wakeman Collyer (1784-1841) 6
During the 1850s the Bloomers all came down with
Scarlet Fever and an Indian doctor arrived. Allison recorded that the Indian
arrived on a scow and would always say, “Zounds, how my scow can go.” Bradley
related the same story, but recorded the Indiana arrived on a Periauger, went
into the woods, collected some herbs, mixed them up, and after the Bloomers
took the concoction they were all cured. The Indiana doctor reportedly was well
acquainted with William H. Allison, usually stayed with him, and taught him
many things about the mixing of herbs. Bradley’s comments portray this Indiana
character as arriving on a Periauger, was mysterious and added that the entire
community contracted the “Scarletain” The old Indian would say, I arrived on the tide and depart with the
wind.
During the early 1880s the sons of George Bloomer
(1808-1883) George, Anderson & David continued their father’s prosperous
river business. The boys worked for their father on their schooner scows Three
Sisters and the Corsair. The brothers also built a
scow schooner and constructed a dock on the Hackensack River at River Edge. On
August 1, 1893 their scow and load of brick sank while tied to their Hackensack
dock. It took a week to unload the bricks and raise the scow. During the “great
flood” of October 16, 1901 George and Anderson Bloomer lost cordwood, coal and
lumber stored at their Hackensack dock.
Benjamin Westervelt recorded that he, Anderson
Bloomer and Jacob Van Wagoner were contracted by the People’s Line to recover
the cargo of a sunken steamer near the Undercliffs. According to Benjamin the
trio worked all winter recovering copper sheets, knives, and steel bars. Other
cargo was apparently smuggled to friends. The Crowley got two barrels of
Almonds, the Allisons two barrels of cranberries and Ben got a box of soap.
Benjamin Westervelt’s version of the recovery
indicates that this was the Steamer Isaac Newton.
The Isaac Newton burns off the Palisade Beach.
Harper’s Weekly Dec 19, 1863
The Isaac Newton and New World were sister steamer’s
belonging to the People’s Line and were lost the same year off the New Jersey
Palisades.
The Newton had been plagued with accidents her
entire career and her 1863 fire lit the Undercliff beach. Ben stated. “I was very cold the night of the
wreck. It was about six or seven o’clock
and Ben Westervelt and Neal Norman saw the wreck, and thought if there was
anyone on board they would help them. The Isaac Newton was all ablaze, and
somebody had taken all the passengers off.
There was only one person burned, said to have been a stowaway or coal
carrier. While the people were at supper
live coals fell into the supper room in the lower cabin, and this was due to
the boiler blowing up.” This
description appears to have been the incident that took place the night of
December 3, 1863.9
While Ben Westervelt had been on the Jersey shore,
Captain Crum was on his sloop the Daniel
O Archer. His account…. “Captain Crum was steering, he had a load of
hay on board, which he was bring to Allisons. His brother Peter Crum, Wagoner,
and Bill Allison were on the boat. Billy Allison said, you better not go too
close, on account of this hay, and Peter Crum said Luff, Luff, her. But Capt.
Crum said, do you want to burn up your own boat, so he steered ahead. Capt Crum
says there is no mistake about it, but that the people got lots of things off
the Isaac Newton.” sic
The New
World also went down off the Palisades right in front of Captain Crum’s
house and he ran out to help. His account….. “The New World broke her piston Rod and the vessel sunk. He never
got nothing, but many people got things that were stored on the vessel and
swept ashore. Dan Crowley and Bill Rooney, who came from Closter, were seen
right after the wreck on Crum’s old homestead, in front of which the New
World went down. Dan Crowley was
only a poor Quarryman, getting $15.00 per month, and Capt Crum saw them draw a
trunk ashore and later Crowley brought Bloomers boat. David D. Crane and
Rooney bought the William Johnson. These two boats, the Isaac Newton
and the New World lay off the Jersey Flats.” Sic.
(Daniel Crawly, quarryman, and family are listed in the 1860 Hackensack
Census.)
In 1978 Bradley quoted: “Albert Crum, born April 13, 1877 later wrote. I had three brothers, all
boatmen, who hauled paving blocks to New York for the streets, also brick from
the Haversack brickyard, as well as fishing in the seasons. We had a very nice
settlement under the Palisades with a dock, along with the Bloomers and the Van
Wagoners. They each had their own
gardens of vegetables and flowers. It
was called Fisherman’s’ Village. There were no stores, and we had to row across
the river for supplies. We had schooners, sailboats, sloops and small skiffs,
and had to travel with the wind and tide.” There seems to be some misinformation
in this story.
Albert was born 5 May 1894. It was his oldest
brother Henry Raymond Crum that was born on April 13th 1877 and
there were six brothers. All these boys were the sons of John H. and Elizabeth
(West) Crum. John H. Crum was the son of Theophilus Crum and nephew of Captain
John William Crum and these events must have taken place just before the turn
of the 19th century. It is interesting that over one-hundred years
had passed since these family connections had been make and the Bloomers, Crums
and Van Wagoner were still working together and coordinating their efforts to
produce a successful life on the ground their Third Great grandfather, John
Frederick Van Wagoner, had called home.
Social Life and The People
While life along the river was dangerous, there were
lighter river monuments. Captain Crum recorded how the boatman of Hackensack
often sailed across the Hudson to Manhattan for a “boys-night-out” in New York
City. Captain John Crum, who reportedly had a wonderful voice, would be induced
to sing the “American Boy” at Benson’s Tavern, while his friends sipped bottles
of Champagne. Their favorite tavern was located on Lispenard Street and is now
the home of Nancy’s Whiskey Pub. Pompey the Fiddler would play for all the
local dances that were sometimes held on the deck of a Bloomer sloop or more
often in the abandoned Power Houses. When Pompey died, Sheephead Bill replaced
the old fiddler, but it was not the same. The “Old Jug” was apparently a local
tavern and on some weekends the boatmen drunk on the New Jersey side of the
Hudson. On one occasion after a Saturday
night of heavy drinking that lasted well into Sunday morning, Captain Crum
insisted he be taken home via a circuitous route to avoid the prying eyes of
Edgewater churchgoers. In later years (1890) George, Anderson and David had
community clambakes at “Bloomer Brother Grove” near River Edge.
There seems to be an interesting mix of society
under the cliffs. Free slaves were just as welcome as any other member of the
community. Pompey the fiddler was identified by Captain Crum as living north of
Closter near John Jordan. Pompey’s home was most likely in the Negro community
called Skunk Hollow which was four miles north of Alpine atop the Palisade
Cliffs. Pompey had a large family and a
wife named “Suchie.” Listed in the 1860 p. 62 in Hackensack is Thomas Jackson
and wife “Sukey.” Thomas was born in New Jersey in 1810 and had seven children.
Thomas is also listed living in Hackensack in 1850, 1860, and 1880. In the 1880
he is listed with his 100-year-old mother, Elizabeth Jackson. Elizabeth or
Betty is listed with other children in the 1860 census. Captain Crum also mentioned
another Negro, Tom Jackson, who owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy and drowned by having
his leg broken as he was knocked overboard. Crum stated that Thomas, sloop
captain, was well respected by the community. There are two Thomas Jackson
families. One married to Flora and another married to Sukey. Thomas J. Jackson
with his wife Flora owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy.
Ben Westervelt identified Jim Cunningham as the town
drunk called, “Whack Me Jug.” Captain Crum alleged that Cunningham had drowned
in a boating accident with Tom Snyder. Whichever! Jim, an Irishman, is not listed
in census records after 1860. Apparently the condition of Cunningham’s sobriety
was judged by his ability to jump over his whiskey jug. Ben Westervelt also wrote William O. Allison
as a small boy found Cunningham dead on the beach with his, ever present,
whiskey jug in hand. Cunningham was buried in place right on the beach with
only a stick for a marker. (Tom was most
likely buried in the Undercliff cemetery.) Ben mentioned that liquor was hard
to find and drinkers would travel to Annette’s at Fort Lee to purchase whiskey,
while other crossed the river to New York. When Tom Snyder discovered that a
son of Fanny (Bloomer) Brooks treated cattle with rubbing alcohol, Tom Snyder
would adulterate or someway alter the alcohol and drink it down. This was John
Brooks born in 1854 who was living with his sister in 1880 Abbie (Brooks)
Becker wife of William.
Tom, according to Westervelt, was living with the
Bloomers, left the area for Spuyten Dyvil after the incident and worked for Al
Luther’s father a Bloomer cousin. Westervelts version of events differs from
Captain Crum’s concerning the lives of Cunningham and Snyder[1]. However, life on the river was always risky
and pictures portray the risk involved during shading. A swamped boat or a fall
into the chilly swift water was most always fatal. After a series of drowning
in the Hudson, an 1860 addition of The
Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper advised river residents should learn to swim
Gossip was always a problem in a small community and
the Palisade community was no exception. It seems that Anderson Bloomer went to
Keyport to tend a sick woman named Sarah Adamson. According to Captain Crum
Sarah won Anderson away from Aunt Mary his wife, and later Anderson used to
bring his new wife to his own house under the Palisades. Anderson later brought
a place on the Shrewsberry and lived there with Sarah. (Shrewsberry is a
township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Anderson died on the 21st
of May 1887, but in the 1880 census enumeration he was still recorded with Aunt
Mary.)
Captain Crum’s memories were recollections that
appear to be based on interviews conducted in 1898 and again in 1913. The
unique aspect of Capt. Crum’s document is the short descriptive paragraphs
describing specific events, the river life style, and individual family
relationships along the Hudson Palisades. Captain Crum’s sister, Mary Ann, had
married George W. Bloomer (1808-1883) and Crum dedicated many paragraphs to the
Bloomer family.
Captain Crum
wrote a paragraph titled “Millerwrights.” It explained why in 1840 Anderson Bloomer and
Evanda Allison, believing the end of the World was at hand, sold their property
and gave their money away. (Millerites were a popular religious sect.) Anderson, wanting to cover other options,
gave his money to his brother, George. When the anticipated date of October 23,
1843, passed and the end of the world did not come, George returned Anderson’s
money. Benjamin Westervelt recorded that his father was also a firm believer in
the Millerite Movement. Other characters of the community were also discussed. Sarah
M. Matthias who lived with the Bloomers during her 1850 tenure as Under Cliff’s
schoolteacher was from a strong Methodist background. Her father and
grandfather were both ministers of the gospel in New York. Sarah’s grandfather,
John Barnet Matthias, a prominent and well respected Methodist preacher was so
taken with Miller’s movement that he and 58 members of his congregation left
his church on Eastern Long Island and join the Millerwrights. 12
During the 1840s Millerism moved from rural regional
camp meetings into the American religious spotlight. Astronomical events just
happened to coincide with William Miller’s predictions and gave his religious
end of the word reasonable creditability. So, in the early morning of October
23, 1843, just before sunrise as the first rays of light across the heights
along the Hudson River, George Bloomer and thousands of others believers along
the Hudson Palisades scrambled to prominent high places to await William
Miller’s anticipated moment. When the
morning passed as usual, William Miller recalculated and adopted April 18, 1844
as the new correct date. After 1844 passed
as usual William Miller’s popular movement fell from the American religious
scene.
Some of the community characters named by Crum were
Crazy Allen, Sheephead Bill, the Fat Woman who lived with the Bloomers and said
she could cross the Hudson in an eggshell, Humpy Back Frank Sheriden. Frank was
full of fun and lived in the area during the 1860s. Cornelius Campbell lived
north of Clinton’s Cove and was most often drunk, as was John the Babe, and
Abraham Copeman.
Abraham Copeman, the Undercliff bachelor and
handyman, was living with the Anderson Bloomer family in 1850. Also listed were
Sarah Mathias and her two sisters. Sarah was listed as the first schoolteacher
in the community and school was conducted on the Bloomer property. Ben Westervelt dedicated a long paragraph to
Abraham in his reminiscing. Ben recalled that Abe, always dressed in a colorful
vest and was often drunk, lived near the school. All the schoolboys would make
fun of Abe on their way to school until he would swear at them to go away. The boys thought it was great fun to annoy
Abe and make him swear. Abe constructed a small one-man skiff for Jacob Van
Wagner. The boys would pile into the boat just to see how many it would take to
swamp the little craft. Ben stated that
one fall the school was moved to Tenafly and he went once and never went back. That
was the end of the tricks played on Abraham Copeman.
Cornelius Myers married one of Rueben Brook’s
daughters, Mary. He was a very hard case and would fight at the drop of a
hat. He would put a stone in his sleeve,
use it like a sap and hit people with it.
Striping the boats, was popular during the 1860s,
and a way of personal expression. Each sloop captain would paint his sloop as
many colors as possible in an attempt to out-do each other.
School
Teachers
Benjamin Westervelt as well as Captain John Crum
dedicated several paragraphs to Undercliff schoolteachers. The first school was
held, according to Ben, in A & G Bloomer’s Grocery Store. During the 1840s
“Daddy” Hopkins, who professed to be
a Methodist Minister, lived with the Bloomers, was married but had no family,
was the first schoolteacher. The second
teacher, Sarah Mathias age 26, and
her two sisters were living with the Anderson Bloomer family in the 1850. Sarah was the daughter of Uncle Barney
Mathias and had lived at Greenville or Bergen Point. Sarah, her father,
Barnet canal boat captain, and siblings have a second enumeration in Hudson
County in 1850. There had been a school at the Liberty Pole where Captain Crum
attended for six weeks. The school was later moved to Tenafly. Samuel C. Moses was listed as the third
teacher. No additional information could be discovered. Zenus Campbell, a teacher listed by Ben, was listed in the 1860 Hackensack
census. “He was a well-educated, an
important character in the community, and a friend of the Bloomers.” A William
M. Rice, b. 1839, Teacher is listed in the 1863 draft eligible roster of
Hackensack. A minister replaced William Rice as teacher.
It was noted that Samuel Moses was paid $125.00
during the 1840s8. Sarah Mathias was
listed with the Bloomer household in 1850 as a teacher. There seems to be
something wrong with the order. Ben
recorded that one day while at Recess, when all the boys and girls were out at
play, Moses stood in the doorway and drew a picture of all them so well that
when he finished it was very easy to distinguish each one. Abe Bloomer had been sitting on the Rock at
the time the picture was sketched and he was also included in the picture. Moose had the distinction of being in the new
schoolhouse and he taught there for about three years. The school was not kept
regularly at the time, and they only held it for what they call Two Quarters.
It was called at the time District No. 13. They paid the teachers about $150.00
a year.
The Genealogy
The common ancestor that linked these men and women
was John Frederick and Mary (Harp) Van Wagoner. John’s father arrived from
Germany before the American Revolution and from John’s ten children spring
hundreds of Hackensack Van Wagoner cousins.
Elisha Bloomer married Fanny Van Wagoner and Anderson
Bloomer married Fanny’s sister Margaret before 1800. These Van Wagoner sisters,
born before 1780, were the daughters of John Frederick and Mary Harp. The Bloomer brothers were engaged as Hudson
River boatmen until the untimely death of Margaret in 1808. Anderson then returned to Ulster County, NY
and he soon followed his wife to an early grave. That left Elisha and Fanny (Van Wagoner)
Bloomer to carry on the Bloomer name in the Hackensack area. While both Elisha
and Anderson were producing children in the early 1800s, Anderson left a will
in Ulster County, NY naming his children, and his descendants were well known
as New York City businessmen. Elisha on the other hand has no clear pedigree of
descendants. Of the many Bloomers living
in Bergen County in the 1850s it is not clear which were Elisha’s children.
James Whitlock’s diary added a William Bloomer to the same generation as Elisha
and Anderson, and according to Whitlock, William married Susan another daughter
of John Frederick Van Wagoner. However, nothing more has been discovered
concerning William and Susan (Van Wagoner) Bloomer. William is not enumerated
in any early Bergen tax records.
There is a previously unrecorded William Bloomer who
appears with a NYC Bloomer family in 1860. This William was born in 1778 and
could possible be the contact between the marriage of cousins Harriet Bloomer
and Hiram Bloomer. Elisha and Anderson Bloomer are listed in early1800 Bergen
County records and Elisha continues to be enumerated into the 1820s. By the
1830s Elisha’ s name was joined in Bergen records by his sons, David, George
Washington, and Anderson Bloomer.
In 2006 an extensive genealogy and chronology
surfaced authored by James Anderson Whitlock son of James Cannon and Margaret
(Becker) Whitlock. James Whitlock was a great-grandson of John Frederick Van
Wagoner. The material is dated October 10th, 1849, with Whitlock’s
address as 135 Wooster Street, New York City. A second NYC address with a date of
February 1853 is also on the cover page.
As the
Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Westervelts, and Normans, James Whitlock was a
descendant of the Van Wagoner family and James provided page after page of data
related to his personal life, and the lives of the three preceding generations.
The record contained thousand of facts
of Becker and Van Wagoner genealogy, and
The shallow drafted Scow Schooner
had been
recorded over an extended period of time (1850-1900). It is clear that James’
intention was to compile a genealogical record, and enumerate the descendants
of John Frederick Van Wagoner (1740-1810) and Christian Becker (1735-1800?). Many entries were followed with notations and
dates as to when and where the information had been obtained. James also named
cities, states, and towns where cousins were living. Other entries were recorded without notes or
documentation. It is doubtful that the
entire document can ever be fully verified with primary research. However, even
after a few months of review the document has proven tantalizingly factual and
cousins were located in cities James had mentioned. James
had an impeccable cursive style. Perhaps, his experience as a law clerk for
several NYC law firms during the 1840s developed this skill. His legal
profession may have added to his professional approach when collecting and
documenting family history.
Shad fishing near the Hudson
River Palisades
Along with the Whitlock document came a record of
interviews with Captain John William Crum (1828-1910), son of Henry and Maria
(Becker) Crum. Captain Crum’s reminisces are less of a genealogy than Whitlock’s
document, but still wonderful reading to any historian. The 1978 Story of
Alpine is also of great interest and recounts many of the same tales as the
earlier material.8 These documents were compiled at different
periods, but have a common family pedigree to the Van Wagoner and Becker family
tree. Captain Crum made no mention of the Whitlock information, but did mention
James as a lawyer cousin living in New York City. This gives both documents a
point of comparison, and a common point of interest to the many descendants of
the Becker, Crum, Norman, Bloomer, and Van Wagoner families.
The Whitlock
record is entirely different than Captain Crum and Westervelt’s recollections.
James was starting with both sets of great-grand parents and compiling their
descendants. The result is a record of three generations of family history. It
is full of specific dates, locations, family relationships, descendants, and
information that has the potential for verification. Margin notes dating
correspondence with addresses of cousins who provided information adds greatly
to the authenticity of his record. The
entire handwritten record is extensive and only part has been transcribed, but it
covers the first three generations of history.
.
During a single day in 1896
George & Anderson Bloomer caught 144 Shad, a record that lasted two years.
Three Sturgeons were also caught.
Sources
1. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.
2. New
England Ancestors. Org. Death Notices from New York Evening Post 2802-2890., Salt Lake City LDS Lib.See
also Virginia Hanford information. Age 32 years at death.
3. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.Published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from
1830-1871.
4. The
Story of Englewood Cliffs, by James J. Greco
5. Art and Pictures courtesy of
New York Historical Society
6. Sloops of the Hudson River, by William E. Verplanck & Moses W.
Collyer, 1908
7. The Bergen County Historical Society
has a five-page history of George, Anderson, and David Bloomer
8. Ancestry.Com has on-line
information titled Crossroads of History, The Story of Alpine, by Stanley W.
Bradley, 1978, This article has many details of the Undercliff community. LDS
Film#
9. Hudson River Steamboat Catastrophes: Contests &
Collisions, By J. Thomas Allison
11. Find A Grave has a listing for John Van
Wagoner death date 8 Oct 1828 age 73 years. Dumont, New Jersey
12. Journal of the Department of History
(The Presbyterian ...https://books.google.com/books?id=- WzUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&dq=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KPQCVZjnOJCzogSVr4LoCg&ved=0CC MQ6wEwATgUhttps://books.google.com/books?id=-WzUAAAAMAAJ
End Note:
Genealogical science and computer aided
research is ever evolving. As more records are made available this database
will be enhanced, corrected, and expanded.
Anyone is welcome to a copy of the James Whitlock diary and other basic
research to develop their own conclusions and pedigrees. With the addition of other databases change
is inevitable. That is the nature of family research.
Benjamin
Westervelt commented that “Jake Van Wart and old man Luther were soldiers and
Hiram and Solomon kept their guns.”
This seems to indicate that Jake and Luther were of the same generation.
Census records indicate that Allen Luther father was Allen D. Luther and would
have been the Luther married to a daughter Elisha Bloomer. Both Crum and Westervelt stated that Luther
and Bloomers were related. In 1913 Crum recorded that a daughter of Elisha
married a Luther.
Capt. Crum wrote that Catherine
(Pearsall) Bloomer had a brother John Pearsall. John was a boatman who sailed
the Extra. There is a John Pearsall
listed in Hackensack in 1860 as a boatman with a birth year of 1813
Belinda Brooks, daughter of Reuben
Brooks, married her step-mother’s son Solomon Bloomer. Solomon and Belinda (Brooks) Bloomer raised a
child (Gertrude Katherine Myers). Gertrude was the daughter of Belinda’s sister
Mary (Brooks) Myers. Gertrude was always known as Gertrude Bloomer.
11 Whitlock genealogy compiled
in 1855
[1]
William O. Allison
wrote that a daughter of Elisha Bloomer married a Luther and lived at Kings
Bridge.
LIFE UNDER THE NEW JERSEY
PALISADES
Compiled by Robert John
Bloomer & Alex Bennett
NEW YORK CITY FROM THE
NEW JERSEY SIDE OF THE HUDSON RIVER
Lastupdated-4-14-2015
WordsCount/29,429
The Hudson River Palisades
On March 4th, 1898 a huge explosion broke the morning silence
along the Hudson River Palisades. The blast echoed through the streets of New
York City 10 miles away. The origin of this explosion was Indian Head Rock on
the iconic Hudson River Palisade. With tons of dynamite and nitroglycerin
350,000 tons of rock were blasted from the cliff face to the river’s edge 500
feet below. The public outcry was almost as loud at the blast itself. This was
the final chapter for quarrying on the Palisades, and the closing chapter for
families who had lived at the foot of the cliffs for over a century. The blast
signaled the end of a way of life and during the next decade at least two men
recorded their stories of life under the Palisades. For over 70 years both men transported
Palisade stone to New York and sailed sloops from their family’s Pitching
Places. Captain John William Crum
(1828-1912) and later Benjamin Westervelt (1840-1919) recalled the life, the
people, the work and the history, of their years living below the Palisades.
The Palisades
proper extended a distance of about nine miles, and some think like a quarter
of this space was where permanent residences were located and these spots were
always selected where rising from 40 to 60 feet above the river where there was
a plateau from 200 to 500 feet in width, often quite level but generally with a
gentle slope toward the east. It is no
wonder that those who were born or located there in the first half of the 19th
century were loathe to move away, even the though their means of livelihood
were practically cut off before the close of that century.
The soil, of a
light clay, was rich and deep and most kinds of vegetation grew most vigorously
than anywhere else about. There is one old Pear tree still growing on the edge
of the bank with it roots now considerably exposed, the size of a forest tree. It was just as large 60 years ago and one of
the generation before said it was just as large in his early boyhood. Probably
this tree is hundreds of years old. (Italics
believed to have been written by Benjamin Westervelt in 1913)
The Search
This history began with a search for the descendants
of Captain Robert Bloomer of Westchester, New York. Captain Robert died during
the American Revolution and his family dispersed from Westchester County. It
was recorded in the 1870s that two of Robert’s sons had been boatmen living
under the Palisades. During the Bloomer research a surprising amount of unique
information was discovered concerning the community of river people who lived
under the Palisades Cliffs between Fort Lee and Alpine New Jersey. An amazing
amount of art reflecting the beauty and daily life along the Palisades was also
discovered. Most of the prominent
families who lived on this narrow strip of picturesque shoreline could call
John Frederick Van Wagoner (1750-1828)11
Grandfather or great-grandfather. The Allisons, Bloomers, Becker, Crums,
Normans, Pearcells, Van Wagoners, Whitlocks, and Westervelts, were all part of
an extended family circle that worked and lived at the foot of the magnificent
Hudson Palisades. This is an attempt to identify these family connections, record
their past, and separate historical fact from fiction.
From my earliest research the Bloomers of Bergen
County, New Jersey have been difficult to enumerate. A few sentences were provided in the 1880
Ulster County, NY family records of Orrin Bloomer and Virginia Hanford. They mentioned two Bloomer brothers who
sailed sloops from the Hudson Palisades to New York City, but nothing to
clearly identify their ancestry or descendants. Another branch of the Bloomer
family, one that Orrin was familiar with, but failed to mention, arrived in
Bergen County during the 1880s.
The second group of Bloomers was from New York
City. They were sons and daughters of
Thomas Bloomer (1800-1850). Benton H. and Andrew J. Bloomer arrived together
and were the sons of Thomas and Leah (Gillett) Bloomer. They had married into a
deep-rooted Bergen County, New Jersey family. The Carlock/Carlough, James Ackerson
(1794-1871), and Ackerman families all connected with these families and all
were life-long residences of Bergen County. James Bloomer, and other
descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaffett) Bloomer also arrived in 1885.
However, it is the early Bloomer boatmen that lived along the Palisade shore
that are being documented.
From early tax records it was determined that Captain
Robert & Elizabeth (Purdy) Bloomer’s sons, Anderson and Elisha, migrated
from Westchester County, NY to the Hudson Palisades before 1793. This was soon
after the American Revolution where their father, Robert, had served and died. It
is possible that Anderson and Elisha learned their river wisdom sailing sloops
from Sawpit (Now Port Chester, NY). This old town was named for its
shipbuilding activity. Here raw lumber was cut, shaped, and worked into fine
river craft. However, the navigation from Sawpit via Long Island Sound to New
York City by the East River could be difficult and was laced with hazards.
Sailing to New York City from the New Jersey Palisades was a shorter and safer
voyage. The Bloomer brothers made the
move to the New Jersey Palisades before 1790.
For more than one hundred years Bloomer Brothers
lived in this small community under the Palisade Cliffs and were involved in
Hudson River commerce that sailed from Bloomer Beach. Even today, up river from
where the George Washington Bridge crosses the Hudson River is called Bloomer
Beach. But because they were people of
the river, they left few early land records. In February of 1848 Anderson and
George Bloomer, the second generation of Bloomers Brothers, were granted the
right to erect a wharf on the Hudson.
With an initial home anchorage where the George Washington Bridge
crosses the New Jersey shore and just a few yards north of the Englewood Boat
Basin is where the Bloomers lived, worked, and buried their dead.
During the past few years an amazing amount of
information concerning the boatman and their extended families has been
discovered. These pages trace the descendants of many old Hackensack
families. It also traces Elisha and
Fanny (Van Wagoner) Bloomer, their children, grandchildren, and is a wonderful
example of the large number of descendants that can be produced from a married
couple in just a few generations.
Recalling Palisade History
In August of 1904 Jacob and Louise (Bloomer) Van
Wagoner sold their Palisades property to the Park Commission and moved to the
top of the Palisades. The Anderson
Bloomer family home located below Clinton Point and the first Undercliff school
would soon be gone. Benjamin Westervelt did his best to record his years along
the Hudson. However, in 1924 Louis and Bucky Crum were the last ones to move
from the Spook Rick area. The boys only moved as far as Alpine. There they lived while fishing for shad and
ells from their sloop. 8
In 1896 Captain John William Crum, a Bloomer uncle
and cousin, recorded his recollections of the way of life under the Palisades.
He recalled and recorded specific events along the Palisade section of the
Hudson where he lived and worked for so many years. In 1913 Benjamin
Westervelt, whose brother-in-law was George Bloomer, also recorded, with a
degree of nostalgia and sadness, his recollections of years gone by.
The changes
that have taken place in the physical appearance of the shore can only be
appreciated by one who has lived long enough to see them. The banks themselves have changed – the Mud
Flats, and the depth of the water are different, and many things that were in
great abundance are scarcely any more. The present Reminiscencer has seen more
changes take place than ever will be told. His Grandfather, 100 years ago
remembered when there were no steamboats, all the sailing vessels, principally
sloops, which carried from 60 to 80 tons, brought down the produce grown along
the river from Albany, and the interior, and at that time there was no Far
West, and the lands for many miles on either side were diligently cultivated,
and the staple crops grown. A man’s aspirations those days were quite as common
to own a vessel for carrying farm products to market, as later aspirations were
for the building and owning Railroads, Steamship lines and other big
businesses. Sic (Benjamin Westervelt 1913)
This reminiscing reveals a pedigree that connected
these boatmen, a fascinating glimpse into the Undercliff history, and the
camaraderie shared by boatman of the Hudson Palisades. Several of their stories recall events that
extended to both sides of the river before and after the American Revolution.
Ben related his grandfather, Henry Norman, was impressed (kidnapped) by the
British Navy before 1760. Henry escaped while in New York and then built and
operated the Black Horse Inn
near King’s Bridge. Verification of Ben’s recollection is recorded in the
history of Westchester County. However,
a New York City attorney, James Anderson Whitlock, compiled the most detailed
genealogical record fifty years earlier. James also kept an extensive journal
and diary of his travels to the California Gold Fields and his life’s history
in New York City. An adventurous young man, James recorded climbing to the top
of the Trinity Church steeple during its construction and across the Brooklyn
Bridge’s suspension system before it was completed in 1883. Construction began
in 1869.
In 2006 Alex Bennett, a New Jersey resident, was
exploring, recording, and restoring various cemeteries in Bergen County. After
he had been working in a cemetery in the Undercliff area for several days, an
unknown woman approached and said, “I have seen you here for the past few days,
this record may help you understand these people.” Alex was handed James Whitlock’s
collection. The lady disappeared and
remains unknown. Mr. Bennett discovered
the Bloomer Family History and
then contacted Robert Bloomer, author of the Bloomer history
In the 1850s James Anderson Whitlock, a Bloomer cousin
and Van Wagoner descendants began compiling a family history and his connection
to this same group of river people. James’ record was not discovered until
2004. Captain Crum’s, Westervelt’s and Whitlock’s records proved to be a
genealogical treasure and helped to solve a difficult genealogical puzzle of
Bloomer, Becker, Van Wagoner, Pearsall, Norman, Westervelt, and Crum family
connections. These records plus a 1978 article written by Stanley W. Bradley
titled The Story of Alpine provided wonderful insight into the daily lives of
these river people and their river vocations. Bradley obviously had access to
Westervelt’s record.
A Hudson River Periauger or Perogue was often seen
with the larger Sloop.
Earning A Living
There probably
were few places in this, or any other county, where so good a living could be
obtained with so little effort. The River, until it became polluted with vast
quantity of sewage, teemed with fish of every sort, and the Shad fishing during
some six weeks in the Spring was often profitable enough to support a family
for the rest of the year, and at any other season, even in mid winter, an
experienced person could go out and in a short time get fish in great
quantities. At low tide the soft clam
could be dug, and oysters broke free from the rocks and pilings, but there were
not oysters on the west side of the river expect as they formed on sunken
wreck, but on the Eastern shore one could at all times find oysters. It was a common thing on any still summer day
to observe a shark swimming about near the surface as indicated by his lack fin
that would be out of the water.
Porpoises were very plentiful and the huge Sturgeon would call attention
to his frolic by jumping his full length our of the water, and falling back
causing a resounding noise, but if you were not on the watch out you would see
nothing only the circle left on the surface.
Prolific on
the Palisades were the Shell Bark Hickory trees. Some forty feet tall, the wood
was hard and durable, used during the Shad run, and in furniture and cabinet
building. The nuts were sweet and eatable, forage for a variety of wild
animals, used for charcoal and other fuels.
Fox Grapes were also plentiful in at least three varieties free from the
Palisade’s harvest. (Ben Westervelt)
In defense of his life’s work Benjamin wrote: To understand the prosperity of the
Quarrymen, and those who owned Fleets of Boats, mostly, Sloops, one must
realize that the lower part of Manhattan Island has been filled out from
Greenwich Street to the North River, and Pearl Street to the East River by our
stone. A large part of this filling in has been contributed by stone carried
from along the River under the Palisades from Fort Lee to Closter, now called
Alpine. The stones quarried and carried for this purpose were always the loose
broken rock lying between the base of the Palisades and the River. The rock is
now called Talus by the scientist. Talus is rock that was supposed to have
fallen off during the cooling processes following the upheaval of the Palisade
Mountains. Ben also noted that the best years for quarrying were the 1850s.
The transportation of bulk commodities from Albany
to New York City and even along the Atlantic coast via the Hudson River was a
major occupation for hundreds of New Yorkers. The ship of choice for these
early Hudson River Boatmen was the Hudson River Sloop. Others sailed the larger
two-masted schooners or a smaller boat known as a Periauger. Long after the
first steam-powered ships sailed the Hudson the transition from sloop to steam
was slow and competitive. The transition from sail to steam was apparently
never made by this first generation of Palisade cousins.
The first steam-powered boat sailed the Hudson in
1803. For the next 20 years other Hudson River men fought the battle of
Fulton’s river monopoly. The distance from Albany to New York City was 150
miles and Fulton made the first round trip in 62 hours. He later commented on
his ability to overtake, pass and soon depart from any sailing sloop, periauger
or schooner regardless of wind or river conditions. That was not always true
and with a fair wind the sloop could often better her steam rivals. Fulton’s
voyage inaugurated a revolution in river competition and Fulton pursued a
steam-powered monopoly until 1824. From
1803, the stage had been set, and for the next 75 years the challenge between
steam and nature’s wind prevailed on the Albany to New York City run. More than
once, this river competition resulted in accidents and even death. The New York
steamboat monopoly developed from legal conflicts with the state of New Jersey
into physical conflicts between sloop and steam captains up and down the
Hudson.
“Breaking the
Fulton-Livingston Monopoly — 1820
A steamboat to compete with the
Fulton-Livingston steamboats was introduced by an Albany company as early as
1810, but this and other companies were promptly taken to court to block their
operations. The NY courts and State Legislature vigorously enforced the
restrictions on the use of steamboats other than those licensed by Fulton and
Livingston. The Fulton-Livingston Company and its supporters denounced
their competitors as rogues, rascals, lawbreakers and ingrates.”
The Hudson River boatman prided himself as master of
all nature could offer. Wind and sail was their choice of power. Blazing fire boxes with exploding copper
boilers filled with scalding water, burning cord wood, paddles that lashed and
churned the water, and smoke stacks with clouds of choking smoke and ash, were
considered an affront to the natural order and nature Herself. And adding to
these steam distractions the frequent exploding boiler would rocket across the
bay killing and maiming any who were in its path. It took sloop captains years of experience to
learn their river skills that had begun during their youth.
From deck hand to captain was a life-long journey
and half the journey was learning the subtle signs of river’s hazards, winds
and tides. The other half was the pride of ownership of a sleek wind powered
Hudson River Sloop. Unfortunately, the
opportunity that Fulton’s steam power offered was lost to the dedicated Bloomer
sloop master. The legal battles between New York and New Jersey industrial
titans would require the arbitration of US Supreme Court and money our Bloomer
cousins did not have. The death of the sloop and schooner did not arrive until
the mid 19th century when the steamboats began towing vast amounts
of cargo on barges and scows.
It is believed that the Bloomers, Crums and others
of the Palisades preferred to stay clear of the East River, Hell’s Gate and
Little Hell’s Gate. The swirling currents, rocks and shoals between Ward’s and
Randall’s Island were a graveyard for the inexperienced boatman. This section
of the river was a tidal deathtrap. The maelstrom of currents created by strong
ocean tides pushing in from the open sea up the Hudson into the East River
created giant whirling pools of brackish gray water where the shoreline was
littered with rocky outcroppings. Even a Hudson chocked with winter ice was
preferred to the East River. The thirty-mile round trip from Bloomer Beach to
the New York City docks was swift and easy. Bloomer cousins built, owned and
operated New York City docks, and other Bloomer cousins worked as cartmen.
These cartmen unloaded the market sloops and wheeled cargo to NYC street
vendors. Theophilus Bloomer (1836-1909),
son of Julia (Smith) Bloomer who was buried in the Undercliff cemetery in 1837,
sold feed and grain products in the lower end of Manhattan until his death.
The novelty of steam soon evolved into the sleek
steam ship, offering travelers’ leisure never experienced in human history.
Travel became less a necessity and a thing of leisure for the New York
wealthy. Opulent dinning, gambling, and
liquor added to the profits that the steam-powered vessel could produce. Cornelius Vanderbilt made the transition from
his father’s periauger, took the opportunity that steam powered offered, and
reaped the financial rewards. Meanwhile,
the sloop captains of the Undercliffs, failed to visualize the human cargo
potential, and as a result continued their financial river struggles. However,
this is not surprising. Stone from the New Jersey Palisades was free for the
blasting and was then transported to NYC with greater and greater frequency. New
Jersey stone, quarried by Bloomer friends and cousins, was paving the
ever-expanding streets of the ever growing New York City. Palisades stone was
also being used by the ever expanding railroads. The forest atop the Palisades
was superior and prior to the American Revolution the British Crown had
reserved this choice forest for British Naval vessels. After the Revolution the forest provided
timber, lumber and cordwood for the Bloomers, Crums and Beckers, and then there
was the annual spring Shad run.
Captain recorded that when he was a boy Cornelius Westervelt owned a sloop by the name of Catherine
Ann, and Dan Westervelt went with his father on the Sloop Cook and
afterwards owned a boat called the Brilliant.
Peter Wagner bought it and Captain Crum owned half a share in the Daniel
O. Archer a schooner. Peter R Valleau a sloop, and the Ruth T.
Hicks. Ruth was a very large
boat. A few months later Dan and Ben
Westervelt bought the sloop Margaret, was carried stone to the Wallabout Market
on Wallabout Bay for Eugene White.
The Hudson River Sloop
The Undercliff sloops averaged from 65 to 100 feet
with a single mast of 80 to 100 feet high.
A distinguishing feature of the sloop was its bowsprit and jibboom. On
some sloops these spits were over 40 feet long and were often the first point
of contact in riverboat collisions. The sloop was extremely seaworthy and known
as a very sturdy craft. In 1785 the 60-foot
sloop “Experiment” sailed from Albany around the Horn to China. These ships
could carry over one hundred tons of cargo, usually had a kitchen area and
could generally sleep a crew of four. Hudson River sloop captains often carried
passengers who would be lucky to find a comfortable seat among the pig,
chickens, or tons of other deck cargo. Farm produce was moved to New York City
markets and passengers were always secondary cargo to the Bloomers and
Undercliff captains.
The
Hudson River Sloop under sail. The mast was usually placed well forward giving
the sloop a large mainsail and small jib sail. Unlike other sailing vessels the
sloop had a fixed bowsprit. Rather than a wheel, the sloop usually had a long
tiller for steering. With the mainmast well forward, jibbing presented a particular
hazardous maneuver. The sloop had a large deck often used for dancing by the
Undercliff captains while moored at their homeport.
Hudson River
Schooner with Jib Boom and Bowsprit
However, the Bloomer, Crum, Becker, Westervelt,
Norman, Pearsall and Van Wagoner all sailed from the Undrecliff shoreline and
limited their sailing between Newburgh and New York City. These families and
their cousins were involved in every aspect of the lucrative river trade. The
Bloomers with Van Wagners, Westervelts, Crums and others had their family
“Pitching Place” where raw timber, and quarry stone, blasted from the Palisades
cliffs, was tossed from the heights to the riverbank below. This and other
cargo was then loaded on the family sloop and sailed to New York City. Other
family members built sloops, schooners and skiffs, constructed docks, fished
for shad, sailed farm produce to New York City and other cities along the Hudson.
Other Bloomer cousins sailed from their homeports at Newburgh, Fishkill,
Poughkeepsie, Marlborough, and New York City.
According to the 1862 NYC tax records Captain Bloomer was taxed $50.00
for his sloop Quick Step. (This is believed to be Capt. Charles Augustus
Bloomer son of Isaac and Abigail (Loveless) Bloomer of Ulster County.)
These river men and their river occupations are
easily identified when census records list them as waterman, boatman, ship
captains, fishermen, calmers, oystermen, quarrymen, and dock builders. In the
early 1800s Captain James Bloomer sailed his sloop Diligent from Newburgh to New York, but it was the related
families of Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Normans, and Pearsalls of Bergen County
who plied the river for their generations. Other family members supported the
shipping business by readying coal, lumber, produce, mending gill nets, and
quarrying stone for NYC markets. The term “Pitching Place” was applied to the
location where timber and stone was tossed off the Palisade cliffs to the
river’s edge below. These Pitching Places were associated with specific families
and held as guarded family possessions from one generation to the next. Captain Crum mentioned several by name in his
recollections:
Old Ben’s Pitching Place was right under Allison’s
homestead. Old Ben was most likely Ben Westervelt’s father (1816-1888) who
married Catherina Norman in 1836 captained the sloop Brilliant.
High Tom’s was another Pitching Place.
Dupeyster’s Pitching Place was over Jordan’s Quarry.
Jay’s Pitching Place was south of the Mott property.
Jeffery’s Pitching Place was down on the beach.
Bloomer’s Pitching Place was in front of Dana’s
Becker’s Landing
Becker’s Landing was a well-known boat landing
located on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River approximately 3 miles above
Fort Lee. In 1841 James Anderson Whitlock, then 10 years old, later recalled
his childhood visit to his grandfather’s home.
About the year
1841 I was spending my vacations with my Aunt, then residing at Becker’s
Landing, then having a good wharf, about three miles north of Fort Lee in the
west bank of the Hudson River. The house standing about 300 feet from the river
opposite the wharf has rooms on each side of the entrance with plaza in the
front-a detached house for cooking-washing was to the north with a covered way
from the main house.
To the south
of the main house was a large garden a bulkhead just below low water mark. In
the rear of the house was a road way. In the rear of the house was a road-way.
In the side hill on the other side of the road way was built a creamery about
10 by 15 feet and further to the north was a spring of fine water. The road-way
ran to the south up the side of the hill at the top was a terrace-a barn was at
the head of the road and beyond was an orchard, beyond that a small graveyard.
There was what was call a pitching off place from the top of the Palisades from
which wood was cast. There was a road
beyond which gradually ascending until the top of the Palisade was reached.
My grandmother
told me when I was a boy the she lived at the house during the Revolution in
1776 that one-day the Hepian sic (Hessians) made a raid on the house and
stripped her home of all edibles and other things. It was also recorded that the Hessians vandalized
the house by “plastering the walls with
pancakes and molasses after satisfying their hunger.” Grandfather would
hide in the field with his gun and shoot them as they left the house.
German Mercenary Soldiers were called Hessians
Becoming a Captain
The journey from deckhand to captain required years
of experience. Experience was the gatekeeper to success and a complete new vocabulary
was required. Poggy Tide, Apple Tree, Pear Tree moons, Witches Tide and
Worragut were all terms of special meaning to an experienced river man. The flood tides on the lower Hudson are hard
to predict. An incoming tide could glance off the opposite shore and push a
sloop far off course. Light sloops reacted slowly while deeply laden sloops
were swept forward on the cresting tide.
Even new dock, which narrowed the river, would change the water’s speed. At the crest of ebb or high tide the Hudson could
run at 15 miles an hour. The geographical knowledge required was just as
complex as the vocabulary necessary to navigate from New York to Albany. The Hudson Palisades were referred to as the
“Rocks.” Storm King Mountain on the
Hudson’s west bank and Breakneck Ridge on the east was a particularly hazardous
stretch of the river. Long before the American Revolution the Bloomers had
lived and sailed from these locations. Keeping this special river knowledge in
the family was a prerequisite for success. The Bloomers living in Orange County called
Storm King Mountain “Butter Hill.”
Storm King
Mountain and Breakneck Ridge flanked the river creating strong winds, currents
and congestion. William Bloomer was born 11 April 1749 on Butter Hill and
Benjamin Bloomer was born on Breakneck Ridge.
These New Jersey cliffs stretched from Jersey City
approximately 20 miles north to Nyack, New York. In February of 1848 George and Anderson
petitioned the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey to extend a pier into
the Hudson from their water front property. The Assembly granted them the right
to “erect and build a wharf upon and in
front of their land in the township of Hackensack.” By 1855 Anderson and
George Bloomer had developed their pitching place and dock facility to the
point where it was referred to as “Bloomerville.” Their property was just north of where the
Hudson River and George Washington Bridge now intersect. The area near the
bridge is still a popular commercial Shad fishing location and in colonial
times the small group of homes were know as Fishermen’s Village. As late as 1930 Bloomer Beach was still a popular location for Hudson River
recreation. The beach is located near the Englewood, N.J. Boat Basin.
David Bloomer (1803-1836), brother of George and
Anderson, captained a sloop and when he died his ship’s cook, Jake Van Wart,
married David’s widow, Catherine (Pearsall) Bloomer. Davis and Catherine’s twin
boys Hiram and Solomon sailed the Hudson in their own sloops from 1855 until
the early 1900s. Catherine’s brother Lewis Pearsall also captained a sloop, and
in 1870 Lewis’ son Oliver Horton Pearsall, who married Catherine Van Wagoner,
captained a steamboat.
Captain John W. Crum recorded that during the 1850s
it was common to see 150 sloops tied gunwale to gunwale along the Palisade
shoreline. Capt. Crum identified many of these sloops and their captains by
name: The Dock Builder was owned and operated by Jake Van Wagoner.
William and John Norman sailed the Ellen Jewett. The Daniel O. Archer,
New World, and Isaac Newton were all skippered at various times
by Captain John W. Crum. The Sailor’s Fancy captained by Tom Jackson.
Hiram and Solomon Bloomer had the sloops Edwin Smith, Margaret, and Elias
Hicks, Captain Becker built and owned the Ajax, George and Robert T.
Bloomer captained the Bright. (Jacob Van Wagoner had married David
Bloomer’s daughter Louisa Bloomer. Louisa’s daughter married Oliver Horton
Pearsall). Peter Pearsall, a brother of Catherine’s, captained a Periauger, the
Crystal. (A Periauger is a small two masted sloop without a bowsprit or
headsail.) There were many other sloops
build and sailed from Hackensack and along with the river occupation came
river, congestion, hazards, accidents and deaths.
Shad Fishing
Driving
50-foot long Hickory poles into the river bottom required skill and balance.
Shad Fishing was a great food source for Native
Americans as well as the early colonialist and the largest run on the Atlantic
seaboard was up the Hudson River, past the New Jersey Palisades, to the once
pristine streams in the Catskill Mountains. As the Shad left the Atlantic Ocean
fresh water triggered the end of their lifecycle and the lower Hudson the fish
could still be caught at their prime condition. However, even as early as 1825
the Troy Dam limited up stream access to the migrating Shad. These migratory
fish were just another bounty offered up by the Hudson and in the early spring
of 1778 it was the Shad run that saved the starving troops at Valley Forge.
Shad fishing was a major industry and a major
occupation of an eclectic group of Palisade dwellers. On November 26, 1861
Cesar Hannibal an African American and reported to have been an emancipated
Bloomer slave8, Jim Cunningham, Tom
Snyder and John Dowell, drown in the same boating accident. This was the same
date of the steamship Francis Siddy’s accident, which seems to have
overshadowed the drowning. No record of the
incident except that recorded by Captain Crum’s could be discovered.
Most of the families along the Hudson shoreline
profited from the annual run. Benjamin Westervelt wrote as if individual
families controlled local fishing grounds, and that his father had one of the
best fishing areas on the Hudson. Before the1840s Fyke nets and other trapping
nets were used. After that date gill nets were stretched out and hung from
hickory poles. In Fisherman’s Village near Englewood Cliffs, preparation for
the season began in early winter with the readying, and repair of nets as long
as 500 feet. Bloomer, Crum and Becker families were no doubt working every
winter on their nets and readying them for the coming year. During the spring Shad run Hickory poles, as
long as 50 feet, would be pounded into the river’s muddy bottom with nets hung
between them. This signaled the
approaching run. These annual spring
spanning runs were huge and a great deal of money could be made each spring
from Shad fishing. The spring run and strong river currents created a chaotic
tangle of large and small boats with nets full of migrating Shad. Gill nets
were hauled out at the crest of high tide, the fish collected, the nets cleaned
and readied by the next incoming tide. This created a twice a day scramble as
boatmen collected the day’s catch on each changing tide.
In 1913 Ben described in detail the method of shad fishing
and noted that his father made a great deal of money from Shad fishing because
he had the best fishing grounds.
The catching
of Shad was always by using huge poles sunk into the deep water and mud across
the tide, but not in mid-channel, where it would require longer poles than
could be conveniently handled. Perhaps, it would have been impossible. The poles were always of Oak or Hickory, and
usually spliced to get them of sufficient length, say 45 or 50 feet lone, which
were stuck into the soft tough mud twelve or fifteen feet, and about
twenty-five feet apart. These were called the Fishing Row and varied from
twenty-eight to forty in number. The fishing season varied according to weather
we had an early or late spring, usually beginning the latter part of March and
ending the early part of May. It required experience and skill to properly set
these poles, which were on an average of more than six inches in diameter at
the butt end. It was not considered
creditable work if they did not stand straight in line and on a still day at
the Shad Pole setting period, you could hear in various directions, the Down,
down, down, in chorus by each gang who were setting their poles.
On each pole
was a strong hoop, made of a Hickory sapling, with a stone fastened to it
weighing perhaps twenty-five pounds. And on opposite sides of the hoop a rope
was tied about six feet long, called the foot-rope, and on each pole just about
at low water mark, two other ropes were tied called the arm ropes, and the ends
sewed into a square seaming rope with an eye on each of the corners, was put
between the poles and the lower corners fastened to the foot rope and the two
lower corners fastened to the arm ropes. The nets were lifted every six hours,
at the slacking of the tide or called the Ebb lift, and the Flood lift. At the Ebb lift there was usually no trouble
in getting hold of the arm rope, but at the Flood lift, the arm rope was perhaps
six feet in depth, and two wooden hooks were carried in the boat for reaching
for the arm rope in winter. The best fish was of course on the flood tide, as
the shad going up to fresh water to spawn and the great catches were when they
had a full moon, and big flood tides, though often the catch on the ebb tide
was also good, either the temperature of conditions of the weather caused the
fish to make no effort to stem the current. Two men might lift the nets and
take out the firs, but as the lifting could only be done at the slacking of the
tide, and had to be finished before it changed, or they would be likely o lose
the fish that were gilled or laying in the bad of the net, for that reason the
third man was important, and when fish were plentiful a fourth man was
desirable. It was not uncommon thing at the height of the fishing, for a boat
to bring in 500 shad from one lift, and often take 1000 in twenty-four
hours.
The fisherman,
at the beginning of the season made an arrangement with a Commission Merchant
to sell their fish, usually for one cent a piece. A small sail boat called a
Smack came from the Market once and if the fish were very plentiful, twice
during the twenty-four hours, to take the shad from the fisherman, and the
compensation for that was usually one cent a piece, and the price something’s
during the early sixties had been as low as one cents per shad. If they averaged .15 apiece, the fisherman
felt that he was getting a good price. As
late as the Seventies, the fisherman made arrangements with his neighbors or
friends and permitted them to pick out the largest roe shad for .25 during the
season. Sturgeon was looked upon as on of the annoyances to the Shad Fisherman. Almost invariably the huge fellows went
through the nets breaking them badly.
Occasionally ne would get tangled up and landed. They would take perhaps several days
weighting four to six pounds bur there was no sale for any of them, and the
sharp nosed sturgeon would often be extricated from the net with impatience,
his neck broken by striking him on the gunwale of the boat and then he would be
thrown overboard. The round nosed ones, and sometimes the others, would be
thrown into the boat, but anyone might have them for the asking.
Ben Westervelt’s description of arm-ropes and foot-ropes
is not clearly understood, but the 25-pound rock must have weighted the bottom
of the net. Perhaps the Hickory hoops
allowed the gill net to move up and down the poles with the changing tide. Twice
a day the nets were removed and taken to shore. There river debris would be removed
and the nets mended. The season started
with the blooming of the Forsythia or when the Hickory buds were as big as a
mouse ear.
Floating drift nets were also used which moved
up and down the river with the changing tides. To avoid tangling with regular
river traffic, nets were weighted and hung below the surface from twelve-foot
ropes attached to buoys. Undoubtedly,
the 144 shad caught in 1896 by Anderson and George Bloomer would have been a
pitiful day’s fishing in the early 1800s.
Whether attached to Hickory poles or buoys, the linen gill nets were the
primary method of fishing and it took several brawny men to work them while a
third maneuvered the boat against the strong river currents. The catch would then, as now, be taken to
lower Manhattan’s Fulton Street Market. Gill netting and river pollution
contributed greatly to the rapid decline of Shad and Sturgeon on the Hudson
during the late 19th Century.
However, even today the area near the George Washington Bridge and
Bloomer Beach is a preferred commercial Shad fishing area.
Shad fishing
at the Palisades circ 1865, Courtesy Albany Institute
Danger on the River
A review of the newspaper Brooklyn Eagle and Verplanck’s book The Sloops of the Hudson revealed that river collisions,
exploding boilers, and drowning deaths were all too frequent. The long sloop’s
bowsprit was often involved. The new steam engines and boilers were also a
major problem. The infant power source was totally unregulated, had little
engineering, and few safety features for the ever larger and more powerful
boilers. Just like the Titanic, speed, and luxury were the primary concern. The
boiler room crew was only there to feed the growing appetite for speed with
little or no concern for the potential disaster they were servicing.
In 1824 the sloop Neptune was capsized and
twenty-five passengers drowned. On the
18th of July 1853 at one in the morning, while 90 passengers
slumbered among a small amount of cargo, the steamer Empire State’s wheelhouse
was swept off her deck when it collided with the bowsprit of a sloop. The
boiler exploded, eight died and many others were injured. That same October, a
sloop near Esopus Meadows rammed the steamer Hendrick Hudson. On October 26,
1859 off Fort Washington a schooner cut across the bow of the New World. In an effort to
avoid a collision a steam valve was quickly closed causing enough damage to
sink the opulent steamer. The captain was able to ground the New World and she
only sank to the upper deck.
On June 25th, 1852 at 3:15 p.m. the Steamboat
Ship Henry Clay was enroute from Albany to New York City with Bloomer cousin Capitan
John F. Tallman (1815-1875) in command.
As the ship neared the Undercliff community a fire broke out in the
engine room. The ship was over loaded with 500 passengers many women and
children. The steamer carried just two life boats, and had not a single life
preserver to handle the panicked passengers.
As the flames leaped high into the night sky, Captain Tallman swung the
ship hard-over toward the Riverdale, NY shoreline and was able beach the
burning craft bow first. (It was later reported that Captain Tallman was
bedridden in his cabin and Thomas Collyer the ship’s builder was giving the orders.) As the flames raged a midship, heavy smoke
and flames began billowing from the engine room. As Collyer or Tallman ordered
the ship into the wind toward the distant New York shoreline, the wind whipped
the flames toward the stern and trapped the domed the passengers. Most of the now panic stricken passengers had
been forced toward the stern. Few passengers were able to escape to the bow.
Johanna (Madsen) Hanford and her one-year old daughter,
Joann, were among the throng fleeing toward the stern. Mother and daughter were Bloomer cousins from
Ulster County who had lost their father and husband just the year before. Cyrus
Hanford, Johanna’s husband, was only 23 years old when he died. As the flames engulfed the steamer, the
trapped passengers on the stern had little choice. The stern was 140 feet from
the bow but still in deep water. The only choice became oblivious, jump into
the swift Hudson River or be consumed by the ever ragging and encroaching flames.
Johanna with hundreds of others jumped into the river. Once in the water, Johanna did her best to
save her little daughter and keep their heads above swift cold water. Unfortunately, most of the passengers could
not swim and they grabbed at anything or anyone still afloat. For only a few
minutes the water was filled with struggling trashing bodies. And then one-by-one they were swept away
disappearing into a dark watery grave. Only
a handful of passengers managed to reach the New York shore. Neither Johanna or
her little daughter survived.
For several days, lifeless floating bodies were
pulled from the Hudson along the New Jersey Palisade shoreline. Joann’s body
was recovered the next day, but her mother was never found. It was later claimed that the Henry Clay and
the Steamer Armenia had been racing toward New York City. It was later alleged
that the Clay had even forced the Armenia to slow and change her course to avoid
colliding on the two-mile-wide river.
On the moonless night of 21 November 1861 the sloop
W.W. Reynolds was sailing 2 miles south of Poughkeepsie when she was rammed by
one of the fastest steamers on the Hudson, the 325 foot Francis Skiddy. The Skiddy
had just left the dock at Poughkeepsie and was near full speed when the silhouette
of the Sloop Reynolds was observed dead ahead. Too late to turn, the sloop’s
long bowsprit penetrated the Reynold’s galley window and struck one of the two
boilers causing a huge explosion. Tons of scalding water showered down on the
fireman Isaac Bloomer and Isaac was instantly scalded to death. Two other
fireman and several passengers added to the death toll. Isaac was from Newburgh
and is believed to be the son of Isaac and Phoebe (Sawyer) Bloomer. (A detailed
account of another river collisions is found in the 1846 US Supreme Court case
of (Newton vs. Stebbins). On the 5th
of November 1864 the Skiddy was involved in another collision. Several accounts stated that the 1861
accident happened because the W.W. Reynolds was becalmed, sails down, no
lights, and at anchor when rammed by the Francis Skiddy. Almost 100 years later the USS Arizona
suffered a like incident.
On a dark moonless night in 1934 the USS Arizona was
steaming in the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the Pacific Ocean near
Bellingham, Washington. James Robert Bloomer, Seaman First Class, was at the
wheel. Mid channel, three fishing boats were at anchor, without lights, and waiting
for the morning sun. The fishing vessels had no chance and several lives were
lost as the Arizona completely crushed one boat. The Arizona attempted to render aid, but the
small craft had been cut in half. (James
Robert Bloomer was the compiler’s father.)
Captain
William Jordan, nicknamed Pony, Cesar Hannibal, John Dowdell, Jim Cunningham,
and Tom Snyder; all residents of the Undercliffs were drowned in the same
boating accident which was recorded in the Rockland Journal on December 7th,
1861. The article reported that when Captain Jordan’s body was recovered it was
missing $500.00. A risky maneuver was
jibbing a sloop. Jibbing required special attention of all hands and could be
dangerous. Not only did the captain worry about other vessels on the river as
the sloop turned with the wind, but the heavy mainsail boom, unless controlled,
would swing across the deck with enough force to snap the mainmast. Tom
Jackson, brother of Sugar Jackson, was caught in the rigging of his Sailor’s
Fancy and pulled headfirst overboard during a jib. Tom’s two sons, Samuel
age 28 and Nicholas 23, rushed to the aid of their father. But, Tom drowned before he could be pulled
back aboard and his wife and ten children were left without a husband and
father. During the summer of 1866 while
jibbing, the sloop James Coats was
rounding West Point, when the main sail caught around the neck of Benjamin Hunt
severing his head. Poor Ben’s head flew overboard leaving his bleeding body on
deck.6 River accidents were happening to
family members as late as 1924 when Andrew “Bucky” Crum was crushed in his
skiff by a New York steamer. In the 1900 census Bucky and his brother, Luther,
were still living at Edgewater and listed as fisherman and dock builder. (In
1904 Isaac Bloomer, son of Anderson, lost two fingers and badly mangled his
hand while working at a saw mill in Monmouth County.)
The Isaac
Newton and New World were lost the same year right off Bloomer’s
Beach. The Newton burned to the water line with her cargo and the Isaac
Newton sank. Captain Crum who was on the river carrying a load of flammable hay
was forced to watch the Newton burn from the deck of his Daniel O. Archer. Pickle Town got its name when a market
sloop the Diamond sank off Fort
Washington. To the delight of many Undercliff families, the large cargo of
cucumbers and pickles washed up on the New Jersey shore just north of Englewood
dock. After the incident the area was called Pickletown. The Undercliff community
was always alert, ready, eager and willing to salvage items floating down the
river.
Hazards were not limited to the river. Tom Lusk born
in 1811 in Ireland was a Quarryman who had built the road on the Mott property.
Captain Crum recorded that one day he and Jim Quinn, another Irishman born in
1824, were in the quarry blasting large rocks. The captain called for Tom to
come away, but before he could move the charge was set off and a large piece of
the rock cut clean across Tom’s throat and he was killed. Thomas Lusk, Quarryman and Jim Quinn appear
on page 42 of the Bergen County 1850 census. In 1860 Jim is listed with a
family and still working in the quarry.
William Wiley, stepfather of Captain Crum, lost his sight while working
in the Quarry. This seems to be the quarry owned by David Jordan (1793-1867)
who’s sons John and Obadiah captained the sloops Novelty and Gratitude. Both
sloops transported rock to New York. Ellen Jordan, sister of Obadiah and John,
was Captain Crum’s wife.
In 1832 New York City suffered from a Cholera
epidemic. The daily harvest of life was recorded in New York newspapers. Henry Crum, Captain Crum’s father, died of
river born disease in 1836. David Bloomer died during the same year and may
have suffered from the Cholera. Captain Crum’s maternal grandfather was John
Becker. Grandfather Becker (1773-1830) built the sloops Perseverance, Ambition, Enterprise, and Ajax at his Undercliff
shipyard. During the 1860s the sloop Perseverance was sailed by John
Lyon Collyer (1810-1889). He sailed out
of Red Hook in Dutchess County. John’s
brother, Thomas (1818-1861), build the stately and opulent steamboat Daniel Drew. Their father was
Moses Wakeman Collyer (1784-1841) 6
During the 1850s the Bloomers all came down with
Scarlet Fever and an Indian doctor arrived. Allison recorded that the Indian
arrived on a scow and would always say, “Zounds, how my scow can go.” Bradley
related the same story, but recorded the Indiana arrived on a Periauger, went
into the woods, collected some herbs, mixed them up, and after the Bloomers
took the concoction they were all cured. The Indiana doctor reportedly was well
acquainted with William H. Allison, usually stayed with him, and taught him
many things about the mixing of herbs. Bradley’s comments portray this Indiana
character as arriving on a Periauger, was mysterious and added that the entire
community contracted the “Scarletain” The old Indian would say, I arrived on the tide and depart with the
wind.
During the early 1880s the sons of George Bloomer
(1808-1883) George, Anderson & David continued their father’s prosperous
river business. The boys worked for their father on their schooner scows Three
Sisters and the Corsair. The brothers also built a
scow schooner and constructed a dock on the Hackensack River at River Edge. On
August 1, 1893 their scow and load of brick sank while tied to their Hackensack
dock. It took a week to unload the bricks and raise the scow. During the “great
flood” of October 16, 1901 George and Anderson Bloomer lost cordwood, coal and
lumber stored at their Hackensack dock.
Benjamin Westervelt recorded that he, Anderson
Bloomer and Jacob Van Wagoner were contracted by the People’s Line to recover
the cargo of a sunken steamer near the Undercliffs. According to Benjamin the
trio worked all winter recovering copper sheets, knives, and steel bars. Other
cargo was apparently smuggled to friends. The Crowley got two barrels of
Almonds, the Allisons two barrels of cranberries and Ben got a box of soap.
Benjamin Westervelt’s version of the recovery
indicates that this was the Steamer Isaac Newton.
The Isaac Newton burns off the Palisade Beach.
Harper’s Weekly Dec 19, 1863
The Isaac Newton and New World were sister steamer’s
belonging to the People’s Line and were lost the same year off the New Jersey
Palisades.
The Newton had been plagued with accidents her
entire career and her 1863 fire lit the Undercliff beach. Ben stated. “I was very cold the night of the
wreck. It was about six or seven o’clock
and Ben Westervelt and Neal Norman saw the wreck, and thought if there was
anyone on board they would help them. The Isaac Newton was all ablaze, and
somebody had taken all the passengers off.
There was only one person burned, said to have been a stowaway or coal
carrier. While the people were at supper
live coals fell into the supper room in the lower cabin, and this was due to
the boiler blowing up.” This
description appears to have been the incident that took place the night of
December 3, 1863.9
While Ben Westervelt had been on the Jersey shore,
Captain Crum was on his sloop the Daniel
O Archer. His account…. “Captain Crum was steering, he had a load of
hay on board, which he was bring to Allisons. His brother Peter Crum, Wagoner,
and Bill Allison were on the boat. Billy Allison said, you better not go too
close, on account of this hay, and Peter Crum said Luff, Luff, her. But Capt.
Crum said, do you want to burn up your own boat, so he steered ahead. Capt Crum
says there is no mistake about it, but that the people got lots of things off
the Isaac Newton.” sic
The New
World also went down off the Palisades right in front of Captain Crum’s
house and he ran out to help. His account….. “The New World broke her piston Rod and the vessel sunk. He never
got nothing, but many people got things that were stored on the vessel and
swept ashore. Dan Crowley and Bill Rooney, who came from Closter, were seen
right after the wreck on Crum’s old homestead, in front of which the New
World went down. Dan Crowley was
only a poor Quarryman, getting $15.00 per month, and Capt Crum saw them draw a
trunk ashore and later Crowley brought Bloomers boat. David D. Crane and
Rooney bought the William Johnson. These two boats, the Isaac Newton
and the New World lay off the Jersey Flats.” Sic.
(Daniel Crawly, quarryman, and family are listed in the 1860 Hackensack
Census.)
In 1978 Bradley quoted: “Albert Crum, born April 13, 1877 later wrote. I had three brothers, all
boatmen, who hauled paving blocks to New York for the streets, also brick from
the Haversack brickyard, as well as fishing in the seasons. We had a very nice
settlement under the Palisades with a dock, along with the Bloomers and the Van
Wagoners. They each had their own
gardens of vegetables and flowers. It
was called Fisherman’s’ Village. There were no stores, and we had to row across
the river for supplies. We had schooners, sailboats, sloops and small skiffs,
and had to travel with the wind and tide.” There seems to be some misinformation
in this story.
Albert was born 5 May 1894. It was his oldest
brother Henry Raymond Crum that was born on April 13th 1877 and
there were six brothers. All these boys were the sons of John H. and Elizabeth
(West) Crum. John H. Crum was the son of Theophilus Crum and nephew of Captain
John William Crum and these events must have taken place just before the turn
of the 19th century. It is interesting that over one-hundred years
had passed since these family connections had been make and the Bloomers, Crums
and Van Wagoner were still working together and coordinating their efforts to
produce a successful life on the ground their Third Great grandfather, John
Frederick Van Wagoner, had called home.
Social Life and The People
While life along the river was dangerous, there were
lighter river monuments. Captain Crum recorded how the boatman of Hackensack
often sailed across the Hudson to Manhattan for a “boys-night-out” in New York
City. Captain John Crum, who reportedly had a wonderful voice, would be induced
to sing the “American Boy” at Benson’s Tavern, while his friends sipped bottles
of Champagne. Their favorite tavern was located on Lispenard Street and is now
the home of Nancy’s Whiskey Pub. Pompey the Fiddler would play for all the
local dances that were sometimes held on the deck of a Bloomer sloop or more
often in the abandoned Power Houses. When Pompey died, Sheephead Bill replaced
the old fiddler, but it was not the same. The “Old Jug” was apparently a local
tavern and on some weekends the boatmen drunk on the New Jersey side of the
Hudson. On one occasion after a Saturday
night of heavy drinking that lasted well into Sunday morning, Captain Crum
insisted he be taken home via a circuitous route to avoid the prying eyes of
Edgewater churchgoers. In later years (1890) George, Anderson and David had
community clambakes at “Bloomer Brother Grove” near River Edge.
There seems to be an interesting mix of society
under the cliffs. Free slaves were just as welcome as any other member of the
community. Pompey the fiddler was identified by Captain Crum as living north of
Closter near John Jordan. Pompey’s home was most likely in the Negro community
called Skunk Hollow which was four miles north of Alpine atop the Palisade
Cliffs. Pompey had a large family and a
wife named “Suchie.” Listed in the 1860 p. 62 in Hackensack is Thomas Jackson
and wife “Sukey.” Thomas was born in New Jersey in 1810 and had seven children.
Thomas is also listed living in Hackensack in 1850, 1860, and 1880. In the 1880
he is listed with his 100-year-old mother, Elizabeth Jackson. Elizabeth or
Betty is listed with other children in the 1860 census. Captain Crum also mentioned
another Negro, Tom Jackson, who owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy and drowned by having
his leg broken as he was knocked overboard. Crum stated that Thomas, sloop
captain, was well respected by the community. There are two Thomas Jackson
families. One married to Flora and another married to Sukey. Thomas J. Jackson
with his wife Flora owned the sloop Sailor’s Fancy.
Ben Westervelt identified Jim Cunningham as the town
drunk called, “Whack Me Jug.” Captain Crum alleged that Cunningham had drowned
in a boating accident with Tom Snyder. Whichever! Jim, an Irishman, is not listed
in census records after 1860. Apparently the condition of Cunningham’s sobriety
was judged by his ability to jump over his whiskey jug. Ben Westervelt also wrote William O. Allison
as a small boy found Cunningham dead on the beach with his, ever present,
whiskey jug in hand. Cunningham was buried in place right on the beach with
only a stick for a marker. (Tom was most
likely buried in the Undercliff cemetery.) Ben mentioned that liquor was hard
to find and drinkers would travel to Annette’s at Fort Lee to purchase whiskey,
while other crossed the river to New York. When Tom Snyder discovered that a
son of Fanny (Bloomer) Brooks treated cattle with rubbing alcohol, Tom Snyder
would adulterate or someway alter the alcohol and drink it down. This was John
Brooks born in 1854 who was living with his sister in 1880 Abbie (Brooks)
Becker wife of William.
Tom, according to Westervelt, was living with the
Bloomers, left the area for Spuyten Dyvil after the incident and worked for Al
Luther’s father a Bloomer cousin. Westervelts version of events differs from
Captain Crum’s concerning the lives of Cunningham and Snyder[1]. However, life on the river was always risky
and pictures portray the risk involved during shading. A swamped boat or a fall
into the chilly swift water was most always fatal. After a series of drowning
in the Hudson, an 1860 addition of The
Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper advised river residents should learn to swim
Gossip was always a problem in a small community and
the Palisade community was no exception. It seems that Anderson Bloomer went to
Keyport to tend a sick woman named Sarah Adamson. According to Captain Crum
Sarah won Anderson away from Aunt Mary his wife, and later Anderson used to
bring his new wife to his own house under the Palisades. Anderson later brought
a place on the Shrewsberry and lived there with Sarah. (Shrewsberry is a
township in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Anderson died on the 21st
of May 1887, but in the 1880 census enumeration he was still recorded with Aunt
Mary.)
Captain Crum’s memories were recollections that
appear to be based on interviews conducted in 1898 and again in 1913. The
unique aspect of Capt. Crum’s document is the short descriptive paragraphs
describing specific events, the river life style, and individual family
relationships along the Hudson Palisades. Captain Crum’s sister, Mary Ann, had
married George W. Bloomer (1808-1883) and Crum dedicated many paragraphs to the
Bloomer family.
Captain Crum
wrote a paragraph titled “Millerwrights.” It explained why in 1840 Anderson Bloomer and
Evanda Allison, believing the end of the World was at hand, sold their property
and gave their money away. (Millerites were a popular religious sect.) Anderson, wanting to cover other options,
gave his money to his brother, George. When the anticipated date of October 23,
1843, passed and the end of the world did not come, George returned Anderson’s
money. Benjamin Westervelt recorded that his father was also a firm believer in
the Millerite Movement. Other characters of the community were also discussed. Sarah
M. Matthias who lived with the Bloomers during her 1850 tenure as Under Cliff’s
schoolteacher was from a strong Methodist background. Her father and
grandfather were both ministers of the gospel in New York. Sarah’s grandfather,
John Barnet Matthias, a prominent and well respected Methodist preacher was so
taken with Miller’s movement that he and 58 members of his congregation left
his church on Eastern Long Island and join the Millerwrights. 12
During the 1840s Millerism moved from rural regional
camp meetings into the American religious spotlight. Astronomical events just
happened to coincide with William Miller’s predictions and gave his religious
end of the word reasonable creditability. So, in the early morning of October
23, 1843, just before sunrise as the first rays of light across the heights
along the Hudson River, George Bloomer and thousands of others believers along
the Hudson Palisades scrambled to prominent high places to await William
Miller’s anticipated moment. When the
morning passed as usual, William Miller recalculated and adopted April 18, 1844
as the new correct date. After 1844 passed
as usual William Miller’s popular movement fell from the American religious
scene.
Some of the community characters named by Crum were
Crazy Allen, Sheephead Bill, the Fat Woman who lived with the Bloomers and said
she could cross the Hudson in an eggshell, Humpy Back Frank Sheriden. Frank was
full of fun and lived in the area during the 1860s. Cornelius Campbell lived
north of Clinton’s Cove and was most often drunk, as was John the Babe, and
Abraham Copeman.
Abraham Copeman, the Undercliff bachelor and
handyman, was living with the Anderson Bloomer family in 1850. Also listed were
Sarah Mathias and her two sisters. Sarah was listed as the first schoolteacher
in the community and school was conducted on the Bloomer property. Ben Westervelt dedicated a long paragraph to
Abraham in his reminiscing. Ben recalled that Abe, always dressed in a colorful
vest and was often drunk, lived near the school. All the schoolboys would make
fun of Abe on their way to school until he would swear at them to go away. The boys thought it was great fun to annoy
Abe and make him swear. Abe constructed a small one-man skiff for Jacob Van
Wagner. The boys would pile into the boat just to see how many it would take to
swamp the little craft. Ben stated that
one fall the school was moved to Tenafly and he went once and never went back. That
was the end of the tricks played on Abraham Copeman.
Cornelius Myers married one of Rueben Brook’s
daughters, Mary. He was a very hard case and would fight at the drop of a
hat. He would put a stone in his sleeve,
use it like a sap and hit people with it.
Striping the boats, was popular during the 1860s,
and a way of personal expression. Each sloop captain would paint his sloop as
many colors as possible in an attempt to out-do each other.
School
Teachers
Benjamin Westervelt as well as Captain John Crum
dedicated several paragraphs to Undercliff schoolteachers. The first school was
held, according to Ben, in A & G Bloomer’s Grocery Store. During the 1840s
“Daddy” Hopkins, who professed to be
a Methodist Minister, lived with the Bloomers, was married but had no family,
was the first schoolteacher. The second
teacher, Sarah Mathias age 26, and
her two sisters were living with the Anderson Bloomer family in the 1850. Sarah was the daughter of Uncle Barney
Mathias and had lived at Greenville or Bergen Point. Sarah, her father,
Barnet canal boat captain, and siblings have a second enumeration in Hudson
County in 1850. There had been a school at the Liberty Pole where Captain Crum
attended for six weeks. The school was later moved to Tenafly. Samuel C. Moses was listed as the third
teacher. No additional information could be discovered. Zenus Campbell, a teacher listed by Ben, was listed in the 1860 Hackensack
census. “He was a well-educated, an
important character in the community, and a friend of the Bloomers.” A William
M. Rice, b. 1839, Teacher is listed in the 1863 draft eligible roster of
Hackensack. A minister replaced William Rice as teacher.
It was noted that Samuel Moses was paid $125.00
during the 1840s8. Sarah Mathias was
listed with the Bloomer household in 1850 as a teacher. There seems to be
something wrong with the order. Ben
recorded that one day while at Recess, when all the boys and girls were out at
play, Moses stood in the doorway and drew a picture of all them so well that
when he finished it was very easy to distinguish each one. Abe Bloomer had been sitting on the Rock at
the time the picture was sketched and he was also included in the picture. Moose had the distinction of being in the new
schoolhouse and he taught there for about three years. The school was not kept
regularly at the time, and they only held it for what they call Two Quarters.
It was called at the time District No. 13. They paid the teachers about $150.00
a year.
The Genealogy
The common ancestor that linked these men and women
was John Frederick and Mary (Harp) Van Wagoner. John’s father arrived from
Germany before the American Revolution and from John’s ten children spring
hundreds of Hackensack Van Wagoner cousins.
Elisha Bloomer married Fanny Van Wagoner and Anderson
Bloomer married Fanny’s sister Margaret before 1800. These Van Wagoner sisters,
born before 1780, were the daughters of John Frederick and Mary Harp. The Bloomer brothers were engaged as Hudson
River boatmen until the untimely death of Margaret in 1808. Anderson then returned to Ulster County, NY
and he soon followed his wife to an early grave. That left Elisha and Fanny (Van Wagoner)
Bloomer to carry on the Bloomer name in the Hackensack area. While both Elisha
and Anderson were producing children in the early 1800s, Anderson left a will
in Ulster County, NY naming his children, and his descendants were well known
as New York City businessmen. Elisha on the other hand has no clear pedigree of
descendants. Of the many Bloomers living
in Bergen County in the 1850s it is not clear which were Elisha’s children.
James Whitlock’s diary added a William Bloomer to the same generation as Elisha
and Anderson, and according to Whitlock, William married Susan another daughter
of John Frederick Van Wagoner. However, nothing more has been discovered
concerning William and Susan (Van Wagoner) Bloomer. William is not enumerated
in any early Bergen tax records.
There is a previously unrecorded William Bloomer who
appears with a NYC Bloomer family in 1860. This William was born in 1778 and
could possible be the contact between the marriage of cousins Harriet Bloomer
and Hiram Bloomer. Elisha and Anderson Bloomer are listed in early1800 Bergen
County records and Elisha continues to be enumerated into the 1820s. By the
1830s Elisha’ s name was joined in Bergen records by his sons, David, George
Washington, and Anderson Bloomer.
In 2006 an extensive genealogy and chronology
surfaced authored by James Anderson Whitlock son of James Cannon and Margaret
(Becker) Whitlock. James Whitlock was a great-grandson of John Frederick Van
Wagoner. The material is dated October 10th, 1849, with Whitlock’s
address as 135 Wooster Street, New York City. A second NYC address with a date of
February 1853 is also on the cover page.
As the
Bloomers, Crums, Beckers, Westervelts, and Normans, James Whitlock was a
descendant of the Van Wagoner family and James provided page after page of data
related to his personal life, and the lives of the three preceding generations.
The record contained thousand of facts
of Becker and Van Wagoner genealogy, and
The shallow drafted Scow Schooner
had been
recorded over an extended period of time (1850-1900). It is clear that James’
intention was to compile a genealogical record, and enumerate the descendants
of John Frederick Van Wagoner (1740-1810) and Christian Becker (1735-1800?). Many entries were followed with notations and
dates as to when and where the information had been obtained. James also named
cities, states, and towns where cousins were living. Other entries were recorded without notes or
documentation. It is doubtful that the
entire document can ever be fully verified with primary research. However, even
after a few months of review the document has proven tantalizingly factual and
cousins were located in cities James had mentioned. James
had an impeccable cursive style. Perhaps, his experience as a law clerk for
several NYC law firms during the 1840s developed this skill. His legal
profession may have added to his professional approach when collecting and
documenting family history.
Shad fishing near the Hudson
River Palisades
Along with the Whitlock document came a record of
interviews with Captain John William Crum (1828-1910), son of Henry and Maria
(Becker) Crum. Captain Crum’s reminisces are less of a genealogy than Whitlock’s
document, but still wonderful reading to any historian. The 1978 Story of
Alpine is also of great interest and recounts many of the same tales as the
earlier material.8 These documents were compiled at different
periods, but have a common family pedigree to the Van Wagoner and Becker family
tree. Captain Crum made no mention of the Whitlock information, but did mention
James as a lawyer cousin living in New York City. This gives both documents a
point of comparison, and a common point of interest to the many descendants of
the Becker, Crum, Norman, Bloomer, and Van Wagoner families.
The Whitlock
record is entirely different than Captain Crum and Westervelt’s recollections.
James was starting with both sets of great-grand parents and compiling their
descendants. The result is a record of three generations of family history. It
is full of specific dates, locations, family relationships, descendants, and
information that has the potential for verification. Margin notes dating
correspondence with addresses of cousins who provided information adds greatly
to the authenticity of his record. The
entire handwritten record is extensive and only part has been transcribed, but it
covers the first three generations of history.
.
During a single day in 1896
George & Anderson Bloomer caught 144 Shad, a record that lasted two years.
Three Sturgeons were also caught.
Sources
1. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.
2. New
England Ancestors. Org. Death Notices from New York Evening Post 2802-2890., Salt Lake City LDS Lib.See
also Virginia Hanford information. Age 32 years at death.
3. New
England Ancestors.org Marriages
published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from 1830
to 1.Published in the Christian Intelligencer of the Reformed Dutch Church from
1830-1871.
4. The
Story of Englewood Cliffs, by James J. Greco
5. Art and Pictures courtesy of
New York Historical Society
6. Sloops of the Hudson River, by William E. Verplanck & Moses W.
Collyer, 1908
7. The Bergen County Historical Society
has a five-page history of George, Anderson, and David Bloomer
8. Ancestry.Com has on-line
information titled Crossroads of History, The Story of Alpine, by Stanley W.
Bradley, 1978, This article has many details of the Undercliff community. LDS
Film#
9. Hudson River Steamboat Catastrophes: Contests &
Collisions, By J. Thomas Allison
11. Find A Grave has a listing for John Van
Wagoner death date 8 Oct 1828 age 73 years. Dumont, New Jersey
12. Journal of the Department of History
(The Presbyterian ...https://books.google.com/books?id=- WzUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&dq=%22Barnet+Matthias%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KPQCVZjnOJCzogSVr4LoCg&ved=0CC MQ6wEwATgUhttps://books.google.com/books?id=-WzUAAAAMAAJ
End Note:
Genealogical science and computer aided
research is ever evolving. As more records are made available this database
will be enhanced, corrected, and expanded.
Anyone is welcome to a copy of the James Whitlock diary and other basic
research to develop their own conclusions and pedigrees. With the addition of other databases change
is inevitable. That is the nature of family research.
Benjamin
Westervelt commented that “Jake Van Wart and old man Luther were soldiers and
Hiram and Solomon kept their guns.”
This seems to indicate that Jake and Luther were of the same generation.
Census records indicate that Allen Luther father was Allen D. Luther and would
have been the Luther married to a daughter Elisha Bloomer. Both Crum and Westervelt stated that Luther
and Bloomers were related. In 1913 Crum recorded that a daughter of Elisha
married a Luther.
Capt. Crum wrote that Catherine
(Pearsall) Bloomer had a brother John Pearsall. John was a boatman who sailed
the Extra. There is a John Pearsall
listed in Hackensack in 1860 as a boatman with a birth year of 1813
Belinda Brooks, daughter of Reuben
Brooks, married her step-mother’s son Solomon Bloomer. Solomon and Belinda (Brooks) Bloomer raised a
child (Gertrude Katherine Myers). Gertrude was the daughter of Belinda’s sister
Mary (Brooks) Myers. Gertrude was always known as Gertrude Bloomer.
11 Whitlock genealogy compiled
in 1855
[1]
William O. Allison
wrote that a daughter of Elisha Bloomer married a Luther and lived at Kings
Bridge.
11 Whitlock genealogy compiled
in 1855
[1]
William O. Allison
wrote that a daughter of Elisha Bloomer married a Luther and lived at Kings
Bridge.
