The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-24
AN ANCIENT DORP."
Communipaw Will Send a
List of Relics to the
Chicago Fair.
AUTOGRAPH
General Green's Mush Dish and
Rutger Van Horne's
Cattle Brand.
AUTOGRAPH

us W~aSDluSCOu IRVING SaW III 10 Cdii tudt
part of Jersey City on which the Statue
Of Liberty impolitely turns her back, is
as conservative a section as one may
meet in a days journey around Hudson.
1t mas its old Dutch name. its cid Dutch
church, its old Dutch cookery, set down
in "Ye Old Dutch Receipt Book and it's
old Dutch ramilies. as active as barnacles.
Lafayette. Its next %neighbor, in fact a
part of itself, with a sadly modern French
name, is full of Vans and Van Ders Il
doorplates with names Just as strongly
favored with Holland and Holland aris-
tocracy. There is a field for ar antiuuar y
in Communipauw (being sure to give it
that old Dutch u before the W., and it
may as we'll be said right here that the
anLiquary has made an appearance. The
chairman of the Committee on Revolu-
tionary and Colonial Relics for the
Chicago Fair has found out what a field
is there, and the treasures of china. sill
yer and mahogany are being catalogued.
Two years ago there was a house on
what is now Philip street, fronting the
bay, that bore across the front the letters
1904. 1t was built of stone, yellowed and
moss grown. and a de~ad-and-gone Van
Horne had raised it nearly ninety years
ago. Before that there had been on the
same spot the little house that RutQer
Van Horne had built on land he bought
of the indians, when he came here from
Holland early in the sixteen hundreds.
(Notice that Rutger bought the land of the
indians. please). Up in tue garrett was q
great cupboard stretching away under
the caves, and the small girl who was al
lowed to peer into it saw patchwork
quilts with bits of gowns that the very
first settlers" wore. There We're flax
wheels ana linen wheels, fails Il
Cradles" yes, n real cradles for young
Dutch settlers, too, and farming tools
whose uses are almost forgotten. whose
very names are passing out of mind.
But the march of civilization was too
much for the old house. One day a
spark from q foundry that had planted
itself down In old Rutgers cabbage patch
set fire to the roof, aud the whole thing
blazed up as Rutger himself would have
done il the hot-headed old Dutchman had
heard of modern improvements" so near.
him. So now of all those. priceless relics.
that Lafay cite has seen and Washington
Irving described, hardly ANYTHING was
left to Mr.. and Mrs. John Van Horne.
who owned the house. but a queer old
iron used to brand cattle, when old Rut-
ger distinguished them from his neigh
bors' by the letters r. V. H. Strange TO
say, there las not been an r. V. 81. in the
family since, surely not q Rutger V. II.
OLD DUTCH HE1RLOOMS.
Across the street Is the great Babcock
mansion. not the least of who's attrac-
tions is the sun-dial on the front lawn.
still marking away time as ii clocks.
modern UPSTAIRS, had not yes made an
appearance. The sun-dial dates away
back to Washington, but it will not go
to the Fair, fancy.
Communipaw IL nothing If not Dutch.
It's old church is the Dutch Reformed,
and it has even Il dominic straight from
Holland, but he is a recent Importation.
and cannot be included in the list of
relics. The very most "Dutchy" thing
ia the place (using the word in its real
meaning) is an old Dlack-letter Testa-
ment, owned by Mrs. S. d. T%ompkins, of
Communipaw venue. The language is
cid Dutch, the imprint 1888. There is
still another, a large ''parior size" family
Bible, 178 years old, also owned by Mrs.
TomDkins, and besides. one of the first
umbrellas ever brought to this country.
Of course you know that it is not 30 very
long that we have had umbrellas over
here. This one is of green silk, the ferule
Of hammered silver. the handle a human
head carved in ivory, its expression some
thing between extreme joy and IN attack
of cholera morbus. Mrs. Robert Nc
Knight. of Pacific avenue, has a queer
WHX uOlI. uIOuHn dlCutt L uSU v
years ago, and showing very few signs of
age. You remember the queer, little
smirk that all those big statues of
Buddha have? Well, this doll has just
the same. 1t is made by turning up the
tips of the lips and slanting the eyes Il
little.
If the you would like to see how the
little girls learned to sew in those days,
Mrs. j. Warren Hardenbergh's samplers
will SHOW you. They are on brown linen.
with the alphabet aud various moral
truths worked in dark brown wool.
Among her other antiques are a set of
brass candlesticks and several shutters.
THE PEN is MIGHTIER THAN THE RATCHET
Ifyou would like TO SEQ how the Father
of His Country wrote his name. Mrs.
Almeoa Culyer, formerly of Lafayette,
now residing ON Madison avenue, could
show you an autograph letter from the
General, relating to unintelligible mill
tary affairs, IL signed with his own
particular autograph, in which he alb
breviales his first name Co." Ii is sur
prising how much alike Georges auto
graphs were, as much 80 as these of Mr..
b. K. Bruce. which may be found upon
certain useful pieces of green paper.
Mrs. G. M. Shipman, of Suydam
avenue, count among her colonial pos
sessions a precious table cloth, spun and
woven more than a century and a half
ago. This Is DY no means the only Such
-elic-there is a pair of sugar tongs, pearl
and silver, that has nearly reached it's
second centennial, inc several other
pieces OF antique plate. The candlesticks
that go with the plate are in possession
of another member of the family residing
in New York. Surely the Colonial Relics
Committee should hear of these for they
once lighted the immortal George. 1t
was in Trenton, just after the war, when
Washington was to stop over night at an
inn the town. The inn-keeper owned no
lamp or candlestick sufficiently gorgeous
for his great guest. and SO this massive
silver pair were loaned for the occasion.
GENERAL GREEN'S PoRRINGEB,
Mention was made III these columns a
few days since OF Il china bowl owned by
Mrs, w. E. Marvin, of Communipaw
avenue, whose age exceeded 165 years.
Since then the history OF the bow has
been told to the committee. showing that
Major General Green, OF Revolutionary
fame, has eaten from it. Mrs. Marvin,
who was a Miss Clark, Is descended, on
the maternal side, from the great fighter,
and this was once mis- property. Near by
are TWO medallion cups BROUGHT from
China just after the Revolution by a
Spencer, Charles Spencer / think his
name was. and since preserved in the
family. Miss Isabelle Westcott, of Braun
hall avenue, has two more of the set.
Mrs Marvin's cnps stand on an antique
mahogany dresser whose color has been
rowing richer and deeper for the last
sides. brass rods round the top. hand
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