Originally all of Hudson County, and the southern end of Bergen County, was included in this Township of Bergen, and although there were in latter years settlements in different parts of the county, they were all governed by Bergen township.
On Octobr 14, 1656, Nicholas Verleth married Anna, the sister of Governor Stuyvesant, (mentioned in aforesaid deed) who was also the widow of Samuel Bayard. and on February 5, 1663, he received from Governor Stuyvesant a grant of 138 morgens of land, which is now Hoboken and North Hudson. Varleth died while in possession of this land in 1675, and from his heirs, Samuel Bayard, his step-son derived title. William Bayard, one of the latter's descendents, was the owner, and in possession when the Revolutionary War broke out.
After the City of New York had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the patriot army had been driven back toward the Delaware, Mr. Bayard, who at first had been active in the cause of the colonies, withdrew his assistance, and on May 1, 1777, joined the army of the King; for this act his property was confiscated to the State, and advertised by the commissioners of forfeited estates to be sold. On August 25, 1784, the tract of land which comprises West Hoboken, was sold by Commissioner Wm. Herring, and among the buyers at this sale were John Stevens, who bought almost all the property north of Stevens street, this property afterwards became the property of the Hoboken Land Improvement Company. On May 6, of the same year, Wm. Jackson became the owner of a large tract of land adjoining Stevens parcel. On March 21, 1785, Cornelius Van Vorst bought another large piece of this land which comprised the middle western part of the town.
A short time after these sales the owners sold parcels to other people, among whom were the De Motts, Traphagens, Van Reipens & Van Winkle's.
A large tract of land in the southeastern part of our town was in 1770, owned by a man named Merselis. From his heirs it passed into the hands of our late citizen, John Syms.
As I stated previously, all of this territory was part of the Township of Bergen, but this old town was soon to become a thing of the past, because one by one, boroughs began to seceed from her, until on February 22, 1840, the whole southern part of Bergen County was formed into the County of Hudson, and instead of Bergen Township being the only municipality, the new county was divided into five townships, viz.:—Bergen (which comprised all of North Hudson and what is now Bergen in Jersey City), Harrison, Jersey City, and Van Vorst.
