Part 13
Mattasink, Mattaconga and Mattaconck, forms of names given to certain boundmarks "of the land or island called Mattasink, or Welch's Island," Rockland County, describe two different features. _Mattaconck_ was "a swampy or hassocky meadow," lying on the west side of Quaspeck Pond, from whence the line ran north, 72 degrees east, "to the south side of the rock on the top of the hill," called Mattasinck. In the surveyor's notes the rock is described as "a certain rock in the form of a sugar loaf." The name is probably an equivalent of _Mat-assin-ink,_ "At (or to) a bad rock," or a rock of unusual form. _Mattac-onck_ seems to be an orthography of _Maskék-onck,_ "At a swamp or hassocky meadow." Surd mutes and linguals are so frequently exchanged in this district that locatives must be relied upon to identify names. _Mattac_ has no meaning in itself. The sound is that of _Maskék._
Nyack, Rockland County, does not take that name from _Kestaub-niuk,_ a place-name on the east side of the Hudson, as stated by Schoolcraft, nor was the name imported from Long Island, as stated by a local historian; on the contrary, it is a generic Algonquian term applicable to any point. It was met in place here at the earliest period of settlement in application to the south end of Verdrietig Hoek Mountain, as noted in "The Cove or Nyack Patent," near or on which the present village of Nyack has its habitations. It means "Land or place at the angle, point or corner," from _Néïak_ (Del.), "Where there is a point." (See Nyack, L. I.) The root appears in many forms in record orthographies, due largely to the efforts of European scribes to express the sound in either the German or the English alphabet. Adriaen Block wrote, in 1614-16, _Nahicans_ as the name of the people on Montauk Point; Eliot wrote _Naiyag_ (_-ag_ formative); Roger Williams wrote _Nanhigan_ and _Narragan;_ Van der Donck wrote _Narratschoan_ on the Verdrietig Hoek Mountain on the Hudson; _Naraticon_ appears on the lower Delaware, and _Narraoch_ and _Njack_ (Nyack) are met on Long Island. The root is the same in all cases, Van der Donck's _Narratschoan_ on the Hudson, and _Narraticon_ on the Delaware, meaning "The point of a mountain which has the character of a promontory," kindred to _Néwas_ (Del.), "A promontory," or a high point. [FN] The Indian name of Verdrietig Hoek, or Tedious Point, is of record _Newas-ink_ in the De Hart Patent, and in several other forms of record--Navish, Navoash-ink, Naurasonk, Navisonk, Newasons, etc., and Neiak takes the forms of Narratsch, Narrich, Narrock, Nyack, etc. Verdrietig Hoek, the northeastern promontory of Hook Mountain, is a rocky precipitous bluff forming the angle of the range. It rises six hundred and sixty-eight feet above the level of the Hudson into which it projects like a buttress. Its Dutch-English name "Tedious Point," has been spoken of in connection with _Pocantico,_ which see.
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[FN] Dr. Trumbull wrote: "_Náï,_ 'Having corners'; _Náïyag,_ 'A corner or angle'; _Náïg-an-eag,_ 'The people about the point.'" William R. Gerard wrote: "The Algonquian root _Ne_ (written by the English _Náï_) means 'To come to a point,' or 'To form a point.' From this came Ojibwe _Naiá-shi,_ 'Point of land in a body of water.' The Lenape _Newás,_ with the locative affix, makes _Newás-ing,_ 'At the promontory.' The Lenape had another word for 'Point of land.' This was _Néïak_ (corrupted to Nyack). It is the participial form of _Néïan,_ 'It is a point.' The participle means, 'Where there is a point,' or literally, 'There being a point.'"
Essawatene--"North by the top of a certain hill called Essawatene," so described in deed to Hermanus Dow, in 1677--means "A hill beyond," or on the other side of the speaker. It is from _Awassi_ (Len.), "Beyond," and _-achtenne,_ "Hill," or mountain. _Oosadenighĕ_ (Abn.), "Above, beyond, the mountain," or "Over the mountain." We have the same derivative in _Housaten-ûk,_ now Housatonic.
Quaspeck, Quaspeek, Quaspeach, "Quaspeach or Pond Patent"--"A tract of land called in the Indian language Quaspeach, being bounded by the brook Kill-the-Beast, running out of a great pond." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 53, 56, 70, 82.) The land included in the patent was described as "A hassocky meadow on the west side of the lake." (See Mattasink.) The full meaning of the name is uncertain. The substantival _-peék,_ or _-peach,_ means "Lake, pond or body of still water." [FN] As the word stands its adjectival does not mean anything. The local interpretation "Black," is entirely without merit. The pond is now known as Rockland Lake. It lies west of the Verdrietig Hoek range, which intervenes between it and the Hudson. It is sheltered on its northeast shore by the range. The ridge intervening between it and the Hudson rises 640 feet. It is a beautiful lake of clear water reposing on a sandy bottom, 160 feet above the level of the Hudson.
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[FN] The equivalent Mass. word is _paug,_ "Where water is," or "Place of water." (Trumbull.) Quassa-paug or Quas-paug, is the largest lake in Woodbury, Ct. Dr. Trumbull failed to detect the derivative of _Quas,_ but suggested, Kiche, "Great." Probably a satisfactory interpretation will be found in _Kussûk,_ "High." (See Quassaick.)
Menisak-cungue, so written in Indian deed to De Hart in 1666, and also in deed from De Hart to Johannes Minnie in 1695, is written _Amisconge_ on Pownal's map, as the name of a stream in the town of Haverstraw. As De Hart was the first purchaser of lands at Haverstraw, the name could not have been from that of a later owner, as locally supposed. Pownal's orthography suggests that the original was _Ommissak-kontu,_ Mass., "Where Alewives or small fishes are abundant." The locative was at the mouth of the stream at Grassy Point. [FN] Minnie's Falls, a creek so known, no doubt, took that name from Johannes Minnie. On some maps it is called Florus' Falls, from Florus Crom, an early settler. An unlocated place on the stream was called "The Devil's Horse Race."
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[FN] _Kontu,_ an abundance verb, is sometimes written _contee,_ easily corrupted to _cungue._ Dutch _Congé_ means "Discharge," the tail-race of a mill, or a strong, swift current. Minnie's Congé, the tail-race of Minnie's mill.
Mahequa and Mawewier are forms of the name of a small stream which constitutes one of the boundaries of what is known as Welch's Island. They are from the root _Mawe,_ "Meeting," _Mawewi,_ "Assembly" (Zeisb.), _i. e._ "Brought together," as "Where paths or streams or boundaries come together." The reference may have been to the place where the stream unites with Demarest's Kill, as shown on a map of survey in "History of Rockland County." Welch's Island was so called from its enclosure by streams and a marsh. (See Mattaconga and Mahway.)
Skoonnenoghky is written as the name of a hill which formed the southwest boundmark of a district of country purchased from the Indians by Governor Dongan in 1685, and patented to Capt. John Evans by him in 1694, described in the Indian deed as beginning on the Hudson, "At about the place called the Dancing Chamber, thence south to the north side of the land called Haverstraw, thence northwest along the hill called Skoonnenoghky" to the bound of a previous purchase made by Dongan "Called Meretange pond." (See Pitkiskaker.) The hill was specifically located in a survey of part of the line of the Evans Patent, by Cadwallader Colden, in 1722, noted as "Beginning at Stony Point and running over a high hill, part of which makes the Stony Point, and is called Kunnoghky or Kunnoghkin." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 162.) The south side of Stony Point was then accepted as the "North side of the land called Haverstraw." The hills in immediate proximity, at varying points of compass, are the Bochberg (Dutch, _Bochelberg,_ "Humpback hill"), and the Donderberg, neither of which, however, have connection with Stony Point, leaving the conclusion certain that from the fact that the line had its beginning at the extreme southeastern limit of the Point on the Hudson, the hill referred to in the survey must have been that on which the Stony Point fort of the Revolution was erected, "Part of which hill" certainly "makes the Stony Point." Colden's form of the name, "Kunnoghky or Kunnoghkin," is obviously an equivalent of Dongan's Schoonnenoghky. Both forms are from the generic root _Gún,_ Lenape (_Qûn,_ Mass.), meaning "Long"--_Gúnaquot,_ Lenape, "Long, tall, high, extending upwards"; _Qunnúhqui_ (Mass.), "Tall, high, extending upwards"; _Qunnúhqui-ohke_ or _Kunn'oghky,_ "Land extending upwards," high land, gradual ascent. The name being generic was easily shifted about and so it was that in adjusting the northwest line of the Evans Patent it came to have permanent abode as that of the hill now known as Schunnemunk in the town of Cornwall, Orange County, to the advantage of the proprietors of the Minisink Patent. [FN] Reference to the old patent line will be met in other connections.
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[FN] The patent to Capt. John Evans was granted by Gov. Dongan in 1694, and vacated by act of the Colonial Assembly in 1708, approved by the Queen in 1708. It included Gov. Dongan's two purchases of 1784-85. {_sic_} It was not surveyed; its southeast, or properly its northwest line was never satisfactorily determined, but was supposed to run from Stony Point to a certain pond called Maretanze in the present town of Greenville, Orange County. Following the vacation of the patent in 1708, several small patents were granted which were described in general terms as a part of the lands which it covered. In order to locate them the Surveyor-General of the Province in 1722, propounded an inquiry as to the bounds of the original grant; hence the survey by Cadwallader Colden. The line then established was called "The New Northwest Line." It was substantially the old line from Stony Point to Maretanze Pond (now Binnenwater), in Greenville, and cut off a portion of the territory which was supposed to have been included in the Wawayanda Patent. Another line was projected in 1765-6, by the proprietors of the Minisink Patent, running further northeast and the boundmark shifted to a pond north of Sam's Point, the name going with it. The transaction formed the well-known Minisink Angle, and netted the Minisink proprietors 56,000 acres of unoccupied lands. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 986.) Compare Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 164, 168, 171, 172, and Map of Patents in Hist. Orange Co., quarto edition.
Reckgawank, of record in 1645 as the name of Haverstraw, appears in several later forms. Dr. O'Callaghan (Hist. New Neth.) noted: "Sessegehout, chief of Rewechnong of Haverstraw." In Col. Hist. N. Y., "Keseshout [FN-1] chief of Rewechnough, or Haverstraw," "Curruppin, brother, and representative of the chief of Rumachnanck, alias Haverstraw." In the treaty of 1645: "Sesekemick and Willem, chiefs of Tappans and Reckgawank," which Brodhead found converted to "Kumachenack, or Haverstraw." [FN-2] The original is no doubt from _Rekau,_ "Sand, gravel," with verb substantive _wi,_ and locative _-ng,_ or _-ink_; written by Zeisberger, _Lekauwi._ The same word appears in _Rechqua-akie,_ now Rockaway, L. I. The general meaning, with the locative _-nk_ or _-ink,_ is "At the sandy place," and the reference to the sandy flats, at Haverstraw, where Sesegehout presumably resided. There is no reason for placing this clan on Long Island.
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[FN-1] _Sesehout_ seems to have been written to convey an idea of the rank of the sachem from the Dutch word _Schout,_ "Sheriff." _K'schi-sakima,_ "Chief, principal," or "greatest sachem." In Duchess County the latter is written _t'see-saghamaugh._
[FN-2] Haverstraw is from Dutch _Haverstroo._ "Oat straw," presumably so named from the wild oats which grew abundantly on the flats.
Nawasink, Yan Dakah, Caquaney and Aquamack, are entered in the Indian deed to De Hart as names for lands purchased by him at Haverstraw in 1666. The deed reads: "A piece of land and meadow lying upon Hudson's River in several parcels, called by the Indians Nawasink, Yan Dakah, Caquaney, and Aquamack, within the limits of Averstraw, bounded on the east and north by Hudson's River, on the west by a creek called Menisakcungue, and on the south by the mountain." The mountain on the south could have been no other than Verdrietig Hoek, and the limit on the north the mouth of the creek in the cove formed by Grassy Point, which was long known as "The further neck." Further than is revealed by the names the places cannot be certainly identified. Taken in the order in the deed, _Newasink_ located a place that was "At (or on) a point or promontory." It is a pure Lenape name. _Yan Dakah_ is probably from _Yu Undach,_ "On this side," _i. e._ on the side towards the speaker. _Caquancy_ is so badly corrupted that its derivative is not recognizable. _Aquamack_ seems to be the same word that we have in Accomack, Va., meaning, "On the Other side," or "Other side lands." In deed to Florus Crom is mentioned "Another parcel of upland and meadow known by the name of _Ahequerenoy,_ lying north of the brook called Florus Falls and extending to Stony Point," the south line of which was the north line of the Haverstraw lands as later understood. The tract was known for years as "The end place."
Sankapogh, Indian deed to Van Cortlandt, 1683--Sinkapogh, Songepogh, Tongapogh--is given as the name of a small stream flowing to the Hudson south of the stream called Assinapink, locally now known as Swamp Kill and Snake-hole Creek. The stream is the outlet of a pool or spring which forms a marsh at or near the foot of precipitous rocks. Probably an equivalent of Natick _Sonkippog,_ "Cool water."
Poplopen's Creek, now so written, the name of the stream flowing to the Hudson between the sites of the Revolutionary forts Clinton and Montgomery, south of West Point, and also the name of one of the ponds of which the stream is the outlet, seems to be from English _Pop-looping_ (Dutch _Loopen_), and to describe the stream as flowing out quickly--_Pop_, "To issue forth with a quick, sudden movement"; _Looping_, "To run," to flow, to stream. The flow of the stream was controlled by the rise and fall of the waters in the ponds on the hills, seven in number. The outlet of Poplopen Pond is now dammed back to retain a head of water for milling purposes. It is a curious name. The possessive _'s_ does not belong to the original--Pop-looping Creek.
Assinapink, the name of a small stream of water flowing to the Hudson from a lake bearing the same name--colloquially _Sinsapink_--known in Revolutionary history as Bloody Pond--is of record, "A small rivulet of water called _Assin-napa-ink_" (Cal. N, Y. Land Papers, 99), from _Assin,_ "stone"; _Napa,_ "lake, pond," or place of water, and _-ink,_ locative, literally, "Place of water at or on the stone." The current interpretation, "Water from the solid rock," is not specially inappropriate, as the lake is at the foot of the rocks of Bare Mountain. At a certain place in the course of the stream a legal description reads: "A whitewood tree standing near the southerly side of a ridge of rocks, lying on the south side of a brook there called by the Indians _Sickbosten_ Kill, and by the Christians Stony Brook." [FN] The Indians never called the stream _Sickbosten,_ unless they learned that word from the Dutch, for corrupted Dutch it is. The derivative is _Boos,_ "Wicked, evil, angry"; _Zich Boos Maken,_ "To grow angry," referring particularly to the character of the stream in freshets.
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[FN] Adv. in Newburgh Mirror, June 18, 1798.
Prince's Falls, so called in description of survey of patent to Samuel Staats, 1712: "Beginning at ye mouth of a small rivulet called by the Indians Assin-napa-ink, then up the river (Hudson) as it runs, two hundred chains, which is about four chains north of Prince's Falls, including a small rocky isle and a small piece of boggy meadow called John Cantton Huck; also a small slip of land on each side of a fall of water just below ye meadow at ye said John Cantonhuck." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 99.) Long known as Buttermilk Falls and more recently as Highland Falls. In early days the falls were one of the most noted features on the lower Hudson. They were formed by the discharge over a precipice of the outlet waters of Bog-meadow Brook. They were called Prince's Falls in honor of Prince Maurice of Holland. The name was extended to the creek in the Staats survey--Prince's Kill.
Manahawaghin is of record as the name of what is now known as Iona Island, in connection with "A certain tract of land on the west side of Hudson's River, beginning on the south side of a creek called Assinapink, together with a certain island and parcel of meadow called Manahawaghin, and by the Christians Salisbury Island." The island lies about one mile south of directly opposite Anthony's Nose, and is divided from the main land by a narrow channel or marshy water-course. The tract of land lies immediately north of the Donderberg; it was the site of the settlement known as Doodletown in Revolutionary history. The name is probably from _Mannahatin,_ the indefinite or diminutive form of _Mannahata,_ "The Island"--literally, "Small island." The last word of the record form is badly mangled. (See Manhattan.)
Manahan, meaning "Island"--indefinite _-an_--is a record name of what is now known as Constitution Island, the latter title from Fort Constitution which was erected thereon during the war of the Revolution. The early Dutch navigators called it Martelaer's Rack Eiland, from Martelaer, "Martyr," and Rack, a reach or sailing course--"the Martyr's Reach"--from the baffling winds and currents encountered in passing West Point. The effort of Judge Benson to convert "Martelaer's" to "Murderer's." and "Rack" to "Rock"--"the Murderer's Rock"--was unfortunate.
Pollepel Eiland, a small rocky island in the Hudson at the northern entrance to the Highlands, was given that name by an early Dutch navigator. It means, literally, "Pot-ladle Island," so called, presumably, from its fancied resemblance to a Dutch pot-ladle. Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter wrote the name in their Journal in 1679-80, indicating that the island was then well known by that title. On Van der Donck's map of 1656 the island is named Kaes Eiland. Dutch _Kaas_ (cheese) _Eiland._ Dankers and Sluyter also wrote, "_Boter-berg_ (Butter-hill), because it is like the rolls of butter which the farmers of Holland take to market." Read in connection the names are Butter Hill and Cheese Island. The same writers wrote, "_Hays-berg_ (Hay-hill), because it is like a hay-stack in Holland," and "_Donder-berg_ (Thunder-hill), so called from the echoes of thunder peals which culminated there." The latter retains its ancient Dutch title. It is eminently the Echo Hill of the Highlands. The oldest record name of any of the hills is _Klinker-berg,_ which is written on the Carte Figurative of 1614-16 directly opposite a small island and apparently referred to Butter Hill. It means literally, "Stone Mountain." The passage between Butter Hill and Break Neck, on the east side of the river, was called "Wey-gat, or Wind-gate, because the wind often blowed through it with great force," wrote Dr. Dwight. The surviving name, however, is _Warragat,_ from Dutch _Warrelgat,_ "Wind-gate." It was at the northern entrance to this troublesome passage that Hudson anchored the Half-Moon, September 29th, 1609. Brodhead suggested (Note K, Vol. I) that Pollepel Island was that known in early Dutch history as Prince's Island, or Murderer's Creek Island, and that thereon was erected Fort Wilhelmus, referred to by Wassenaer in 1626. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 35.) The evidence is quite clear, however, that the island to which Wassenaer referred was in the vicinity of Schodac, where there was also a Murderer's Creek.
Hudson, on his exploration of the river which now bears his name, sailed into the bay immediately north of Butter Hill, now known as Newburgh Bay, on the morning of the 15th of September, 1709. After spending several days in the northern part of the river, he reached Newburgh Bay on his return voyage in the afternoon of September 29th, and cast anchor, or as stated in Juet's Journal, "Turned down to the edge of the mountains, or the northernmost of the mountains, and anchored, because the high lands hath many points, and a narrow channel, and hath many eddie winds. So we rode quietly all night." The hill or mountain long known as Breakneck, on the east side of the river, may be claimed as the northernmost, which would place his anchorage about midway between Newburgh and Pollepel Island.
Quassaick, now so written, is of record, _Quasek,_ 1709; "Near to a place called _Quasaik,_" 1709-10; _Quasseck,_ 1713; "_Quassaick_ Creek upon Hudson's River," 1714. It was employed to locate the place of settlement of the Palatine immigrants in 1709--"The Parish of Quassaick," later, "The Parish of Newburgh." It is now preserved as the name of the creek which bounds (in part) the city of Newburgh on the south. "Near to a place called Quasek," indicates that the place of settlement was located by the name of some other place which was near to it and generally known by the name. The late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan read it, in 1856: "From _Qussuk,_ 'Stone,' and _-ick,_ 'Place where,' literally, 'A place of stone,'" the presumed reference being to the district through which the stream flows, which is remarkable for its deposit of glacial bowlders. The correctness of this interpretation has been questioned on very tenable grounds. _Qusuk_ is not in the plural number and _-uk_ does not stand for _-ick._ Eliot wrote: "_Qussuk,_ a rock," and "_Qussukquan-ash,_ rocks." _Qussuk,_ as a substantive simply, would be accepted as the name of a place called "A rock," by metonymie, "A stone." No other meaning can be drawn from it. It does not belong to the dialect of the district, the local terms being _-ápuch,_ "Rock," and _-assin,_ or _-achsûn,_ "Stone." Dr. O'Callaghan's interpretation may safely be rejected. William R. Gerard writes: "The worst corrupted name that I know of is _Wequaskeg_ or _Wequaskeek,_ meaning, 'At the end of the marsh.' It appears in innumerable forms--_Weaxashuk, Wickerschriek, Weaquassic,_ etc. I think that Quassaick, changed from Quasek (1709), is one of these corruptions. The original word probably referred to some place at the end of a swamp. The word would easily become Quasekek, Quasek, and Quassaick. The formative _-ek,_ in words meaning swamp, marsh, etc., was often dropped by both Dutch and English scribes." This conjecture would seem to locate the name as that of the end of Big Swamp, nearly five miles distant from the place of settlement. My conjecture is that the name is from Moh. _Kussuhkoe,_ meaning "High;" with substantive _Kussuhkohke,_ "High lands," the place of settlement being described as "Near the Highlands," which became the official designation of "The Precinct of the Highlands." _Kussuhk_ is pretty certainly met in _Cheesek-ook,_ the name of patented lands in the Highlands, described as "Uplands and meadows;" also in _Quasigh-ook,_ Columbia County, which is described as "A high place on a high hill." The Palatine settlers at _Quasek,_ wrote, in 1714, that their place was "all uplands," a description which will not be disputed at the present day. (See Cheesekook, Quissichkook, etc.)