William Elliot Griffis

“ Being of the most intensely “Continental” spirit, they, with their fellow Americans, must needs face the storm of the Revolution, which divided households into Tories and Patriots. Lest they should not have enough discipline of tongue, temper, body, and spirit, it pleased Providence to transfer quickly the seat of war from the Eastern colonies into the very garden of the Dutch churches in New York and New Jersey. ”

“ Washington did not lean upon a reed when he depended upon the sturdy patriotism and loyalty of “the Dutch Belt,” extending from Albany to Manhattan, and up the Raritan valley towards the Delaware. In the darkest hours, the Father of his Country found his safest asylum among the New Jersey Dutchmen. The river margins of the Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic, and Raritan are rich in authentic traditions of heroism and romance, for the whole weight of the Dutch Church and people was found on the side of true republicanism. ”

“ Domine Eilardis Westerloo, born at Groningen, 1738, reached the New World and settled at Albany in 1760. Wise, conciliating, and peaceful, in the hottest period of the church strife — that is, when friction between the Old World and the New World notions was at flaming heat — he gained the respect and confidence of both parties. ”