FOREWORD

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No words more fully express the intent of this compilation, properly called Some Gleanings, Historic and Genealogical, than those voiced by the Psalmist, when he says:

"Which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us * * * That the generations to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children." (Psalm lxxviii.)

Years ago the compiler came into the possession of some fragmentary notes, collected by one of his earlier ancestors, comprising data relating to the numerous families who were identified with the history of Bergen County, N.J., in colonial days. Among these families was that of WESTERVELT, and after tracing his own line of descent through this and allied families, the work became so interesting that he was led to make further researches, to preserve at least an outline of the history of that family for this and future generations.

It is a source of honest and commendable pride to an American, that his ancestors for many generations in this land have done their part as self-supporting citizens in their several periods, for their neighborhood, their colony, their State and their country; as well as a satisfaction to know that at the birth of the Republic, or in the period of its peril, they took a part in the making of this government and in establishing its independence.

Our ancestors had the foresight and courage to cross the ocean in insecure and insignificant craft, to fell the primal forests, to build log cabins, to turn the virgin soil, and they also had the wisdom to create the conditions which their descendants have enjoyed for centuries.