Originally published in 1907
SOON after the discovery of the Hudson River in 1610 by Captain Hudson, merchants of Holland were allowed by the Dutch Government to take possession of its shores. Under conditions stipulating that those who planted colonies of 50 adults would be entitled to 16 miles of river front, provided they satisfied the Indians for the land taken, one Michael Pauw, in 1630, obtained from the Indians, through the Director of the Council of New Netherlands, the right and title to the lands which now comprise Hoboken.
In the deed conveying these lands they are named Hobocan Hackingh, Hackingh signifying land and Hobocan being the Indian word for tobacco-pipe. The natives were accustomed to procuring a stone from these lands out of which they carved pipes.
In the writings of Robert C. Sands, Vol. II, 1834, descriptive of Hoboken, appears the following statement: “It is a fact not generally known that there is or was an old town in Holland called Hoboken, from which no doubt this place was named. A copy of an old work on medicine by a Dutch physician of the name of Hoboken is in the library of one of the eminent medical men of this city (New York).”
The ownership of Pauw became unpopular, and in 1635 the title to the lands became vested in the West India Company upon payment by them to Pauw of 26,000 florins or $1,040. For nearly two years after this the settlers were at war with the Indians, the result of the treatment they received from the whites by whom they had been scorned in their social intercourse, cheated in commercial transactions, and even plundered and slain. This, the first Indian war, terminated in 1645 when a treaty was signed. War with the Indians broke out again in 1655, in which year the Indians once more took possession of the soil.
In 1658 the land now comprising Hoboken together with other territory located between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers was deeded by the Indians to Petrus Stuyvesant for eighty fathoms of wampum, twenty fathoms of cloth, twelve kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle and one barrel of strong beer.
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Tags: Michael Pauw, Peter Stuyvesant
