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THE SICKLES FAMILY
Originally published in 1900 |
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THE SICKLES FAMILY had much to do with the early settlement of
Hudson and Bergen Counties. Zacharias Sickles, the common American
ancestor of the family, was a native of the City of Vienna, Austria, who
soon after reaching manhood drifted to Amsterdam, Holland, where he
entered the military service and was sent with a fleet on a cruise to
Curacoa, where he remained until 1655. In the service he attained the
rank of Adelbor,st or Cadet. In 1655 Governor Stuyvesant paid a visit to
the island where Sickles was on duty. The latter accompanied the Governor to New Amsterdam and soon after attached himself to the garrison
at Fort Orange (Albany). In 1653 he became a tapster at New Amsterdam,
and upon the surrender by the Dutch to the British in 1664 lie married
Anna, daughter of Lambert Van Vaelkenburgh, and went to work to gain
a livelihood as a carpenter. In 1671 he was elected " town herder," which
office he held for thirteen years on a salary of 18 fielders a head for the
season. He was appointed rattle-watch, so called from the rattle used to
give warning in making his nightly rounds. He was also for some time
crier to call the people together on needed occasions, and porter or keeper
of the city gates, to close there at night and open them in the morning.
In 1669 lie purchased a lot of land in Bergen, N. J., on which his eldest son, Robert, settled. The children of this son scattered through Bergen County, where many of Zacharias's descendants still reside. IIe had nine children, the eldest of whom was Robert, who married Gertrude Redden- hause and located at Bergen, where he was a prominent resident, and left a large family. His son William, born in October, 1704, married Elizabeth Cooper, and removed to Rockland County, N. Y., from which locality his numerous descendants spread south into Bergen County, where their de- scendants are still found.
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UrbanTimes.com |
