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By Frank R. Stockton
Originally published in 1896
I dwell upon the good qualities and high character
of the Lenape, because it was from their main body
that numerous tribes came across the Delaware River,
and became the first Jerseymen, or, if any one likes
it better, Scheyichbians. They settled in many pleasant places, building wigwam villages, many of which
have since grown into modern towns, and still bear
their old Indian names. In fact, the modern Jerseyman has had the good sense to preserve a great many
of the names given to rivers, mountains, and villages
by the first owners of the soil.But, after all, Scheyichbi was not sufficiently discovered
and settled for the purposes of civilization,
and its fertile soil waited long for the footsteps of the
new immigrants. These came at last from the east.
About the end of the fifteenth century there was
a strong desire among the maritime nations of Europe
to find a short passage to China and the East Indies.
It was for that reason that Columbus set out on his
sedition; but with his story we have nothing to do,
for he did not discover the continent of North Amerca.
and in fact never saw it. But after John Cabot
and his son Sebastian, then looking for a passage to
Cathav in the interest of the King of Englandmade a voyage to North America
and had contented themselves
with discovering Newfoundland,
Sebastian
came back again,
and accomplished a
great deal more. He
sailed along the coast
from Labrador to the
southern end of Florida,
and in the course of this
vovage discovered New Jersev. He made a map of the
whole coast, and claimed all the
country back of it for the King
of England.
There is no proof that Cabot
knew whether this country had
inhabitants or not. He saw it
from his ships; but he did not make any attempt to
settle it, and thus establish a legal right to the soil. He
simply declared it the property of the Crown of England,
and it is upon this claim that England afterward
based her right to the eastern coast of North America.
And so New Jersey was discovered from the east.
About a quarter of a century after Sebastian Cabot's
voyage, the French took up the idea that they would
like to discover something, and Francis I. sent an Italian
mariner, named John Verrazano, across the Atlantic Ocean.
After having sailed far enough, John Verrazano discovered
the coast of North America, which he called
"a new land never before seen by any man, ancient
or modern." He took possession of it in the name
of his king, and, in order to settle the matter, called
the whole coast New France. There is reason to believe that
Verrazano discovered the southern part of
New Jersey, for in sailing northward he probably
entered Delaware Bay.
But it appears that New Jersey was not yet sufficiently
discovered, and after having been left for a
long time in the possession of its true owners, the
Lenni-Lenape, it was again visited by Europeans. In
160 the celebrated Henry Hudson, then in the service
of the Dutch East India Company, started westward
to try to find a northwest passage to China. In
those bygone days, whenever a European explorer set
out to find an easy passage to the East, he was very
apt to discover New Jersey ; and this is what happened to Henry Hudson. He first discovered it on
the south, and partially explored Delaware Bay; then
he sailed up the coast and entered New York Bay,
and sailed some distance up the river which now bears
his name.
Hudson did more for New Jersey than any of the
other discoverers, for his men were the first Europeans
who ever set foot upon its soil. Some of them landed
in the vicinity of Bergen Point, and were met in a
friendly way by a great many of the original inhabitants.
But the fact that he found here possessors of
soil made no difference to Hudson : he claimed the
country for the Dutch. Five years afterwards, that
nation made a settlement at New York, and claiming
the whole of the surrounding country, including New
Jersey, gave it the name of New Netherland.
Thus was New Jersey discovered on the north ; and
after the efforts of four nations, – the Indians first,
the English under Cabot, the French, and the Dutch
(for Hudson was now in the service of that nation), –
it may be said to have been entirely discovered.
Authorities:
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
MSS. regarding Indians. Rev. John Heckewelder.
History of New Jersey." T. F. Gordon.
"History of New Jersey." I. Mulford.
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