News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-01-24

| York.
In the Ramapo Mountains Just west
| of the Erie Railroad, near the village of
| Suftern, and within thirty miles of New
York, remarkable race has lived for
hundred years or more. For the want
OF better name the people are called
negroes, though there is not full blood
ed negro IN the colony that lies scattered
through the mountains for ten miles on
each side of the boundary between New
York and New Jersey. They number
in all, perhaps, 800 souls, and have a
history peculiarly their own. Their
traditions and customs are different
from any other race or community in
this country.
Northern New Jersey, and the ada
cent parts of New England, were settled
by the Dutch, who pushed into that re-
glon from New Amsterdam, before the
latter became the city of New York. Slav-
cry was then, as it was for years after
ward, recognized institution, and the
sturdy Dutch farmers were not averse to
holding property in the form of human
chattles. They carried their slaves into
this vii lerness TO work upon the Jersey
meadows, to clear the timbered valleys
and uplands and to till the farms. When
slavery was abolished in the two States, |
early IN the present century, the mas |
ters made provisions for their former
slaves by giving them sections of land |
back in the mountains. Here they built |
their rude log cabins, cleared small |
patches of ground and began to enjoy
their new life of freedom in their own
rude way.
Cut otffrom companionship with their
old masters and the whites, they soon
became half savage race, and mingled
readily with the Indians, who were still
numerous throughout the wilds. The
colony, in generation or two, became
half African and half Indian, and par
took of the natures of both. As rule
their farming was confined to raising
enough corn and potatoes for their own
consumption, but most of their time was
spent IN hunt ng and trapping, for the
mountains were filel with every variety
of game known to this section. In time
the full-blooded Indians disappeared,
unable to stand content with the civili-
zatlon which gradually crept nearer to
their mountain preserves. But their
haf breed descendants have remained,
AS game became scarcer, the wild, illit-
crate mountaineers were driven to the
settlements, where they would work for {
q few days a. time, secure enough to {
supply their immediate wants and then {
return to their haunts again. As labor
ers, however, they are generally shiftless ]
and unsteady, and not to be depended
on for long at time. !
In appearance these people present | ]
many strange pecuharities. While some
possess Indian features almost entirely ,
negro features will predominant in {
others, while many have strange
of both. Some are black, others {
almost copper cOlOred; the <inky woOlly
laif Of the TfdIGn may be found hm6fg
children of the Same family. Occasion
ally strain of white blood may be in
5roduced among the tribe, and generally !
with the effect of softening both COM
plexion and features. A number of the j
men from this cause resemble Span {
ards, while some of the women, in whom '
white blood predominates, are even
beautiful.
A few years ago some of the Christian '
people of Sutfern and Ramapo conceived |
he idea of bringing this little race un- l
Ter the influence of religion and educa- I
5ion, and reclaiming them from their {
half barbarous condition. The result 1
was the establishment of q church in the j
west of the little village of /
The church building is Of +
lewn logs, in solid, romantic notch in !
the mountains. During the week the l
church is used for school, where the 1
little ones take their first lessons in the l
branches under the tuition :
Of young white woman who acts as
teacher. The interior of the church is q
single room, the hewn logs forming the {
walls, and the gable roof the only ceiling. t
Church services on Sunday are some :
times conducted by the Presbyterian
minister from Ramapo, at other times '
by some elder or lay preacher among
Nothing could be more |
earnest or devout than these services by {
the mountaineers in their log temple in ]
The Wilderness. The love for melody is 1
very strong among these people, and |
music forms an important part of their {
devotional service. Among them are
some good voices, unframed, but sweet
as notes from the wild birds of their
native woods. On Sundays the little
church is filled with their weird melody, {
which floats upward, mingling with the l
hymn of the mountain brook and the {
softer praises of the great forest.
The old slaves, when they were freed, 8
the names of their old Dutch |
masters, which they have continued to |
hold to the present day. The principal c
families are known as the Van Dunks, t
the Manus, the De Frees and the De &
Groots. Their old masters have passed t
away and have been forgotten, but their i
slave descendants have perpetuated '
their names in way of which they little 7
dreamed a hundred years ago.-N. Y.
C0nlnpcrcidL Ad0eTtjSer.