Forked River Mountains Tour
- Thread starter ecampbell
- Start date
We now know that George Sykes surveyed the Thomas Black Cedar Swamp at Black's stone in 1859. So T. Black was not a surveyor as some have thought. I have the survey map and didn't even know it until tonight. It shows various other stones with one possible incised stone nearby and maybe others.
Guy
Guy
Ben,
Many years ago, I learned from my good friend, the late Janice "Britton" Sherwood (died in 2006) that the Brittons were caretakers of the Stuyvesant Estate. Ed Britton and other members of the family lived in the large house among the exotic evergreens near Factory Branch on Lacey Road from 1909 until the tract was sold in, I believe, 1954. They were caretakers of the Stuyvesant Estate after Rutherfurd's death; the house served many of Stuyvesant's friends and relatives as a hunting lodge, which burned down in 1958. When the house was built and when Stuyvesant (b. September 2, 1842; d. July 4, 1907) acquired the tract I can not say. But I'm totally convinced that the story about deer pens (a deer park, if you wish) and deer drives at Aserdaten (a land tract as well as the name of the site where a "deer herder's" house and pens once stood) is absolutely true. Henry Branson, a relative of the Brittons, provided that service in the 1880s already while living in a house with his mother at the spot we have come to know as Aserdaten. While someone else may have preceded Branson in that role, I'm equally convinced that his name was not Asa Daton. That epithet was purely a figment of Henry C. Beck and his friend Ned Knox's imagination. The deer park story, to be sure, is not far fetched at all, especially when you consider that Stuyvesant established a 1000 acre Deer Park for his hunting friends on Allumuchy Mountain. Consider as well that Chatsworth Country Club hired deer herders to insure that their guests had something to shoot at. This European tradition was not just followed by the Stuyvesants.
Lost Town Hunter
Many years ago, I learned from my good friend, the late Janice "Britton" Sherwood (died in 2006) that the Brittons were caretakers of the Stuyvesant Estate. Ed Britton and other members of the family lived in the large house among the exotic evergreens near Factory Branch on Lacey Road from 1909 until the tract was sold in, I believe, 1954. They were caretakers of the Stuyvesant Estate after Rutherfurd's death; the house served many of Stuyvesant's friends and relatives as a hunting lodge, which burned down in 1958. When the house was built and when Stuyvesant (b. September 2, 1842; d. July 4, 1907) acquired the tract I can not say. But I'm totally convinced that the story about deer pens (a deer park, if you wish) and deer drives at Aserdaten (a land tract as well as the name of the site where a "deer herder's" house and pens once stood) is absolutely true. Henry Branson, a relative of the Brittons, provided that service in the 1880s already while living in a house with his mother at the spot we have come to know as Aserdaten. While someone else may have preceded Branson in that role, I'm equally convinced that his name was not Asa Daton. That epithet was purely a figment of Henry C. Beck and his friend Ned Knox's imagination. The deer park story, to be sure, is not far fetched at all, especially when you consider that Stuyvesant established a 1000 acre Deer Park for his hunting friends on Allumuchy Mountain. Consider as well that Chatsworth Country Club hired deer herders to insure that their guests had something to shoot at. This European tradition was not just followed by the Stuyvesants.
Lost Town Hunter
LTH:
I am working with TeeGate in an attempt to determine, once and for all, the source of this toponym. Meanwhile, I can tell you that the name “Aserdaten” predates Stuyvesant’s birth. The earliest documentary source for the place name known at this time is a manuscript map dated 1839. I have ordered a copy of deed from 1840 that also uses the name in the legal description and I should receive that deed copy by Saturday or Monday. Since the West New Jersey Surveyor General recorded the initial survey for the property in 1796 and no mention is made of the name “Aserdaten,” there is a 43-year window to closely examine the documentary record and identify the very first instance of its use as a property identifier.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
I am working with TeeGate in an attempt to determine, once and for all, the source of this toponym. Meanwhile, I can tell you that the name “Aserdaten” predates Stuyvesant’s birth. The earliest documentary source for the place name known at this time is a manuscript map dated 1839. I have ordered a copy of deed from 1840 that also uses the name in the legal description and I should receive that deed copy by Saturday or Monday. Since the West New Jersey Surveyor General recorded the initial survey for the property in 1796 and no mention is made of the name “Aserdaten,” there is a 43-year window to closely examine the documentary record and identify the very first instance of its use as a property identifier.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
I take it the information stating it got it's name from Asa Dayton is false then?
PS
if you want to find out whats on Black's backside let me know,have shovel,will work for food
Guy:
Rutherford Stuyvesant was born Stuyvesant Rutherford, the son of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd and Margaret Chanler Rutherfurd (the change from “furd” to “ford” is intentional and accurate in this narrative). In 1847, his great uncle by marriage, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, died. In his will, after listing all of his devises and bequests, he devised to his nephews, Gerard Stuyvesant, Hamilton Fish, and Stuyvesant Rutherford, “all the rest, residue and remainder of his estate, real, personal, and mixed. This devise to the said Stuyvesant Rutherford is on condition that he shall cause himself to be called by the surname of Stuyvesant, and by no other surname whatsoever.” As a result, his parents applied to the New York State Legislature for a legal name change. The lawmakers passed the enabling legislation on 28 October 1847. Hence, he permanently changed his name to receive his inheritance. By 1859, at the tender age of 17, he was already worth $2 million dollars. His primary retreat was at Tranquility, Allamuchy, Sussex County, New Jersey.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Jerseyman & Guy,
It appears that I pretty much have consulted many of the same sources as you. I have a copy of the Board of Proprietors' 1796 survey of 1400 acres (regrettably sans the name Aserdaten) that clearly describes the boundaries of the tract. Like you, I have for many years attempted to establish the first time the name "Aserdaten" appeared in a survey, deed or map. Thus the manuscrip map of 1839 and additional research you are doing is of great interest to me. Do you have a copy Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family Vol. I & Vol. II by Rutherford, Wm. Kenneth & Anna Clay (Zimmerman). 1986?
Lost Town Hunter
It appears that I pretty much have consulted many of the same sources as you. I have a copy of the Board of Proprietors' 1796 survey of 1400 acres (regrettably sans the name Aserdaten) that clearly describes the boundaries of the tract. Like you, I have for many years attempted to establish the first time the name "Aserdaten" appeared in a survey, deed or map. Thus the manuscrip map of 1839 and additional research you are doing is of great interest to me. Do you have a copy Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family Vol. I & Vol. II by Rutherford, Wm. Kenneth & Anna Clay (Zimmerman). 1986?
Lost Town Hunter
LTH:
Today I spent a little bit of time running names through the SGO survey book index and then checking the surveys on microfilm. I have found at least one later survey associated with the original 1796 survey. I have not yet completed this process, but I do expect to find others before I finish up. I will certainly keep you posted on progress!
Best regards,
Jerseyman
LTH:
I do not have the set in my library, but I do have access to it through a subscription website, but I have looked at it for quite a while.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
I do not have the set in my library, but I do have access to it through a subscription website, but I have looked at it for quite a while.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Jerseyman,
Regrettably I do not own a set of these volumes that were privately published, though I've leaved through Elizabeth Morgan's set many years ago. Never got back to examine them more thoroughly, however. Elizabeth said they are "an aid to explain the complex ownership of the Lacey Tract ...."
LTH
Regrettably I do not own a set of these volumes that were privately published, though I've leaved through Elizabeth Morgan's set many years ago. Never got back to examine them more thoroughly, however. Elizabeth said they are "an aid to explain the complex ownership of the Lacey Tract ...."
LTH
With a little luck Jerseyman, maybe you will find that good ol' Asa Dayton was begat in Pestletown.
this requires an excavation.might have to wait till next winter now with the heat cranking most days but I have shovels and the swamp is right there to jump in and cool off if you want to do it in summer.Ben,
Check out this document. Also notice how Aserdaten is spelled.
Guy
With a little luck Jerseyman, maybe you will find that good ol' Asa Dayton was begat in Pestletown.
Read the chapter in Jersey Genesis and you will believe that Asa Dayton was begat in Beck's head. Lets look at just a few of the facts. Beck writes:
"But none of these theories matched up with Ned's earlier conclusions that Aserdaten was a man and our later deductions that there was a man, surely, with the PROBABLE name of Asa Dayton."
About Aserdaten:
"Even now, Ned and I are not quite sure there was a man. He MAY have existed; we do not know."
What others said to Beck:
Beck asks...."But who was this Aserdaten and what on earth became of him?'
"GUESS he was the man who started the deer ....I never saw him as I remember."
Beck asks questions:
"Why wasn't Aserdaten there himself? Where was he when the Branson's were there?"
Uncle Till looked hard at me. "I don't know," he said. "Anyhow, I don't recall his name was Aserdaten."
"What was his name?"
"I don't know."
"Was it Dayton? Was he Isaiah Dayton, PERHAPS?"
"Could ha' been."
Guy & Ben, too,
Touche! Thanks for further clarifying what I stated above. The name "Asa Dayton" as a synonym for Aserdaten "was purely a figment of Henry C. Beck and his friend Ned Knox's imagination." Re-read the chapter titled "The Adventure of Aserdaten" in Beck's Jersey Genesis (1945), and you'll agree with Guy and me.
For many years Beck ran newspaper articles imploring the public's assistance in helping him find the place Aserdaten and subsequently the mystery man, Asa Dayton. After many failures, Beck found the place with the public's help. However, none of the pineys intimately acquainted with the Forked River Mountains had, of course, ever heard of an Asa Dayton. Nonetheless, Beck persisted with his newspaper inquiries! Suddenly in 1959, as revealed in a Star-Ledger article, he received a lettter from Ed Britton (b. 1903) of Bamber acknowledging, "I would like you to know that Asa Dayton was a man. He raised deer in a park near Bamber for the Stuyvesant Estate... Our great uncle Henry Branson moved into the house after Asa Dayton died, to carry on the work...." {Ben, this item should sound familiar.} It is clear that Ed Britton never read Jersey Genesis, though he obviously read several of Beck's newpaper articles seeking information about the mysterious Asa Dayton. It is quite possible, I will concide, that oral history of the Britton family recalls a man that possibly preceded their uncle Henry. But this man's name was not Asa Dayton, a name that Beck implanted in Ed's mind.
One might say that this is a case where Henry Beck has turned the table on the local pineys, a case in which he has swamboozled the piney instead of the customary reverse. Eileen Hand, a nature guide at Batsto in the 1950s and 1960s told me a story about a Beck excursion she attended with a couple of her piney friends in search of cannonballs alledgedly concealed in Mordecai Swamp. When Beck asked an array of questions on numerous other subjects, the pineys responded with some far fetched answers that were anything but the truth. At the conclusion of the trip, Eileen pulled Beck aside and said to him in her Irish boldness, "Reverend Beck, I noticed you were eagerly taking notes. You're not planning to publish this? What they told you was nothing but lies." Beck just smiled. Many local historians claimed that Beck was a cronic victim of tall tales.
In the Asa Dayton incident I must say to piney Ed Britton , you've been had!
Touche! Thanks for further clarifying what I stated above. The name "Asa Dayton" as a synonym for Aserdaten "was purely a figment of Henry C. Beck and his friend Ned Knox's imagination." Re-read the chapter titled "The Adventure of Aserdaten" in Beck's Jersey Genesis (1945), and you'll agree with Guy and me.
For many years Beck ran newspaper articles imploring the public's assistance in helping him find the place Aserdaten and subsequently the mystery man, Asa Dayton. After many failures, Beck found the place with the public's help. However, none of the pineys intimately acquainted with the Forked River Mountains had, of course, ever heard of an Asa Dayton. Nonetheless, Beck persisted with his newspaper inquiries! Suddenly in 1959, as revealed in a Star-Ledger article, he received a lettter from Ed Britton (b. 1903) of Bamber acknowledging, "I would like you to know that Asa Dayton was a man. He raised deer in a park near Bamber for the Stuyvesant Estate... Our great uncle Henry Branson moved into the house after Asa Dayton died, to carry on the work...." {Ben, this item should sound familiar.} It is clear that Ed Britton never read Jersey Genesis, though he obviously read several of Beck's newpaper articles seeking information about the mysterious Asa Dayton. It is quite possible, I will concide, that oral history of the Britton family recalls a man that possibly preceded their uncle Henry. But this man's name was not Asa Dayton, a name that Beck implanted in Ed's mind.
One might say that this is a case where Henry Beck has turned the table on the local pineys, a case in which he has swamboozled the piney instead of the customary reverse. Eileen Hand, a nature guide at Batsto in the 1950s and 1960s told me a story about a Beck excursion she attended with a couple of her piney friends in search of cannonballs alledgedly concealed in Mordecai Swamp. When Beck asked an array of questions on numerous other subjects, the pineys responded with some far fetched answers that were anything but the truth. At the conclusion of the trip, Eileen pulled Beck aside and said to him in her Irish boldness, "Reverend Beck, I noticed you were eagerly taking notes. You're not planning to publish this? What they told you was nothing but lies." Beck just smiled. Many local historians claimed that Beck was a cronic victim of tall tales.
In the Asa Dayton incident I must say to piney Ed Britton , you've been had!
Ted, I noted you correctly call it Bamber, and not Bamber Lake. Thank you good sir. After all, we don't live in the lake!
Yes, that 1959 article in the Star Ledger is what made me think I had "discovered" the answer to what Aserdaten was.
I guess the main thing is to trace back the ownership of the property and look for clues as to why it may have been named the "Aserdaten Tract."
Do we know if the Rutherford Stuyvesant purchased the Lacey tract, or was it in his family for a while and he inherited it? Remember that he was related to Peter "Peg Leg" Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New York, which I believe at that time included New Jersey. He ended his days living on a farm on Manhattan Island in the British colony of New York, and may have still owned land in New Jersey.
I guess the main thing is to trace back the ownership of the property and look for clues as to why it may have been named the "Aserdaten Tract."
Do we know if the Rutherford Stuyvesant purchased the Lacey tract, or was it in his family for a while and he inherited it? Remember that he was related to Peter "Peg Leg" Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New York, which I believe at that time included New Jersey. He ended his days living on a farm on Manhattan Island in the British colony of New York, and may have still owned land in New Jersey.
Ben,
Your question is a good one, one to which I don't have an answer yet. Perhaps a perusal of the Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family can shed some light on that and provide us with a date of acquisition of the Lacey/Aserdaten tract.
Cheers,
Lost Town Hunter
Your question is a good one, one to which I don't have an answer yet. Perhaps a perusal of the Genealogical History of the Rutherford Family can shed some light on that and provide us with a date of acquisition of the Lacey/Aserdaten tract.
Cheers,
Lost Town Hunter