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F 142 .S6 M5
1800
Class
F142
Book
SGM5
1
CENTENNIAL HISTORY 1
2.68
231 OF
SOMERSET
COUNTY,
BY
ABRAHAM MESSLER, D. D. A.LE
CITY UFV WASHING -
SOMERVILLE, T C. M. JAMESON, PUBLISHER.
1878.
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Recat, Jag may 3/27
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INTRODUCTION.
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The shores of New Jersey were first trod by the feet of civilized men in September, 1609. The visitors were from the ship of Hendrick Hudson, who on the Third day of that month had brought his vessel within the waters of the Raritan Bay, and allowed his men to hold intercourse with the Indians on the Monmouth shore. On the sixth, a boat's crew passed the Narrows, and rounding the east shore of Staten Island, entered the Kills, and discovered Newark Bay. Returning in the evening this boat encoun- tered two canoes full of Raritan Indians, and one of the crew, John Colman, was slain by being shot with an arrow in the neck.
Another ship was sent from Holland in 1610 with goods to commence a traffic with the Indians. On the 11th of October, 1614, the West India Company was formed, the conntry named New Netherland and a regular intercourse and trade commenced. As early as 1620 settlers had built houses and occupied lands on the shores of New Jersey, adjacent to New Amsterdam, for which titles were granted, and on which improvements were made. But on the 20th of March, 1664, Charles II. King of England, granted to his brother James, Duke of York, "all that tract of land adjacent to New England, bounded on the East by the main Sea and part of Hudson River, and hath upon the West, Delaware Bay or River, and extendeth Southward to the main Ocean as far as Cape May at the mouth of the Delaware River," ignoring the discovery, occupancy and improvements made for the space of Forty Three years by the Hollanders, and resting title solely on the voyages of Cabot in 1497-8, along the coast of Labrador to the parallel of Gibralter and Verazzano in 1506.
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INTRODUCTION.
B. fine the Duke had actually taken possession of any part of this territory, In the 231 and 24th of June, 1664, he "excented deeds of lease and release to Lord John Berk- les and Sir George Carteret for the whole of that portion of it inehn led within the bounds of the State of New Jersey," and called it Neo Caesaria, in compliment to Carteret, who had been Governor of the Island of Jersey, and defended it against the Cranwellians.
On the sune day, he commissioned his brother Philip Carteret as Governor, who at once began to make prepara- tions to take possession of his Province. In August, of the same year he arrived in a ship at Elizabethtown-Point, having on board some thirty persons, part of them ser- vants. He found there a settlement of four families, and named it Elizabeth in honor of the wife of his brother, Sir George.
Between Berkley and Carteret, the Province was divid- ed in East and West New Jersey. The line between the two parts was to run from "the East side of Little Egg Harhoor, straight North through the country, to the ut- most branch of the Delaware River." This line was run by George Keith, Surveyor General of East Jersey, in 1687.
The line bygran at Little Egg Harbor and ran "North by West, 3 degrees and 4 minutes more Westerly, ) as th- compass then pointed, until it reached Dobie's Plan- tation on the South branch of Raritan River, ( a short dis- tance below the month of the Neshanic Creek ) thence along the rear of that and other plantations, until it intersects that part of the North branch of Raritan Riv- er which descends from a fall of water commonly known by the Indian name of Allamitung." This line was retravers- ed by John Chapman in 1721, but found to vary two de- grees and twenty-three minutes in thirty-four years. It was not satisfactory to the Western proprietors, and in 1743 it was again surveyed by John Lawrence. His line passed bear Somerville touching the white oak tree on the East side of the hoons . formerly owned by John M. Mann and intersecting the Delaware River near the month of Ding- man's Creek, several miles below the point originally des- ignated. The difference between the two lines was impor-
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INTRODUCTION
tant, since the angle or gore of land between them con- tained about 528.640 acres of valuable land.
Sir George Carteret died in 1679, and by his Will, da- ted December 5, 1678, left his widow. Lady Elizabeth, Executrix and Guardian of his grand-son Sir Phillip's son, named also George, devising East Jersey to certain Trus- tees for the benefit of his creditors (see Whitebead 82) who sold it finally to Wm. Penn, with Eleven other Quaker as- sociates for £3400. The deed of sale bears date Feb. 1 and 2, 1681 and 2.
Philip Carteret, the Governor, resided permanently at Elizabeth where the Proprietaries had a house built for him having an orchard and ground attached to it He married a daughter of Richard Smith, of Long Island. a widow Lawrence, in April, 1681. Murrary in his notes on Eliza- bethtown, says on the authority of tradition, that he died and was buried there. His Will is dated Dec. 10, 1682, and he died soon after. He had from his brother a grant of 2000 acres of land, and owned by purchase several other tracts, but never realized any profits from any of them. In his Will be directed his body to be placed in Gov Stuyvesant's vault in New York, if liberty could be obtained, otherwise a grave to be purchased in the Church of New York. Where his remains rest, is not positively known.
On the 14th of March, 1682, the Duke of York confirmed the sale of the Province by giving a new grant, and Robert Barclay became Governor. He was a Quaker friend of Wm. Penn. He was superseded September of the same year by Thomas Rudyard. ( See Whitehead, 88, 92.) Rudyard subsequently appointed Gawn Lawrie deputy, and again Lord Neil Campbell, who remained in the coun- try less than a year. At the death of Barclay, Andrew Hamilton became Governor-in-Chief until June, 1689. He then vacated his authority and returned to Europe, but came back again in 1692. and resumed his position, but was superseded by Jeremiah Basse. The Provinces were united in 1702 and placed under the Government of Queen Anne.
Carteret's government of the Province of East Jersey was
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INTRODUCTION.
not either successful or happy. Audros, of New York, claimed supreme authority in New Jersey as a dependency of New York, deposed Carteret, took him prisoner and conveyed him to New York ant tried him, but his proceed- ings were finally overruled, and Carteret resumead his posi- tion and antherity in the Province; but still we find an un- settled state of public opinion and the "tumultu mus spirits" are frequently alluded to. The claim and collecting of qnit-rents seem to have been the principal ineiting causo. and though it continued under him and his successors some 38 years, the Proprietary Government proved finally a total failure On the 17th of April 1702, the proprie- tors of both East and West Jersey, sought the protection of the British Crown, and conceded all their rights of Government to the English Queen. (Ste S. 211, 218.) She committed the administration of it to her kinsman, Edward Hyde Lord Cornbury, a grandson of the Earl of Clarendon. the great English Chancellor. The instruc- tions given him, together with the concessions and agree- ments which he published on assuming the government. formed the Constitution under which New Jersey lived and prospered until the Revolution. They formed. in fact, a safe and liberal Constitution ! It is almost a phenomenon in political history, that so much liberty should have ema- nated and been conceded to a new State by such a tyran- nical Governor.
In Carteret's time there appear to have been only four Counties, Bergen, Essex, Mitdlesex and Monmouth. We find in the Laws passed by the Assembly convened at Amboy, November 5. 1675, provision made for the hold- ing of two Courts in Bergen, on the first Tuesday in March, and the last Wednesday in September, for Eliza - beth and Newark, the County of Essex, two Courts on the second Tuesday in March, and third in September ; for the two towns of Navesink, constituting Monmouth County, two Courts, on the last Tuesday in March and first in Sep- tember ; for Woodbridge and Piscatawa, constituting the County of Middlesex, two Courts, third Tuesday in March and second in September.
Besides these there was to be a monthly Court for the
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INTRODUCTION.
trial of small causes under 40 Shillings, held on the first Wednesday of every month, in each town, by two or three persons chosen by the Freeholders, one of whom was to be a Justice of the Peace.
There was also a Court of Assizes, or the Bench and Provincial Court, held once in a year at Woodbridge, or where the Governor and Council appointed. This was the Supreme Court, and appeals could only be taken to it from the County Courts when the sum involved was less than £20. From the Supreme Court appeal was to the Governor and Council.
Under the Proprietors, the Government consisted of the Governor with his Council, and the Deputies elected by the Frecholders in the several Townships. The first Legislative Assembly in Carteret's time, met at Eliza- bethtown on the 25th of May, 1668, and consisted of the following members :
GOVERNOR .- Philip Carteret.
MEMBERS OF COUNCIL .- Cap. Verlet, Mr. Daniel Pierce, Mr. Robert Bond, Mr. Samuel Edsall, Mr. Robert Van Quellen, Mr. Win. Pardon, Mr. James Bollen, Secretary.
BURGESSES AND REPRESENTATIVES .- Mr. Caspar Steen- inets, Mr. Balthazar Bayard for Bergen ; Mr. John Ogden, Sen'r, Mr. John Bracket, for Elizabethtown ; Cap. Robert Treat, Mr. Samuel Swarne, for Newark, upon Piskawack River ; Mr. John Bishop, Mr. Robert Dennis, for Wood- bridge ; Mr. James Grover, Mr. Robert Bound, for Middletown ; Idem, for Shrewsbury.
The Assembly convened on May 26th, and the sessions closed on the 30th, adjourning to meet again on the 3d of November. It met at the time appointed, but ad- journed finally on the fourth day, and seven years elaps- ed before another was convened.
The country under all the disadvantages experienced, advanced in population, however, and now, when again united contained 20,000 inhabitants, of whom 12,000 belonged to the East, and 8,000 to the Western portion. They were principally Dutch, Swedes, Scotch, English and New Englanders.
The following may be mentioned as Governors of New
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INTRODUCTION.
Jersey after the union of the two Provinces : After Lord Cornbury was superceded in 1708, Lord Lovelace occupied his place in 1709, then Ingoldsby, Hunter, Burnet, Mont- gomery, Cosby, Hamilton. Morris, Belcher, Bernard and Franklin ; who was finally displaced by the outbreak of the Revolution.
The Province flourished from its first settlement, and in 1737 contained 47.402 inhabitants. These had increased in 1745 to 61,383. In 1790, eight years after the Revolu- tion, it numbered 184,139.
SOMERSET COUNTY.
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CHAPTER I.
The first settlement on lands embraced in Somerset County, began in the year 1681. On the first day of No- vember in that year John Inians & Co., secured a title for two lots, embracing the land on which the City of New Brunswick now stands, having a mile of river front and two miles in depth. From the North of Imans & Co., to Bound Brook, there were laid out 19 lots, having a lit- tle less than one-half a mile on the river. and extending two miles in depth. The last of these lots with an al- joining plot on the south side, was owned by William Dock- wra and contained 900 acres. Behind these, facing the Millstone, were two other lots ; the lower containing 800 acres, and belonging to George Willox, and the upper containing 500 acres was the property of Dockwra. From the month of the Millstone three and a half miles to ca Island in the Raritan River (in front of R. H. Veglie's residence) thence South by West two miles, and east tvo miles to Millstone River, containing 3000 acres, exclusive of 250 acres of meadow, had been previously deeded to C'apt. Anthony Brockholls, William Penhorn, John Robin- son, Mathew Nichols and Samuel Edsall. The land was sold to John Royce & Co., of New York in 1685 and was to be known in future as Roycefield. The bounds as given in the deed of transfer were "beginning at a place called Hunter's Wigwam on Millstone River, thence north
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SOMERSET COUNTY,
by east, and north east to the Raritan River, opposite the West end of a small Island formerly belonging to Robert Van Quellen, and thence down the Raritan three and a half miles and up the Millstone to the place of beginning." Farther up the Millstone were twelve plots of 12000 acres owned by Polhemus Cortleyou. Lott and others located in 1701. John Harrison and William, his father, owned land at Rocky Hill. It was known after- wards as the Berrian place; and Washington wrote his farewell address in the house in which the Berrian's lived. For more specific information in reference to the early land titles, we can only refer to Corwin's Memorial.
On the north side of Raritan commencing at Bound Brook, was secured on the 4th day of May, 1681, the first land title. It was made by two Raritan Indians- Konackama and Queromak. The consideration was 100 pounds paid them in goods, the receipt of which from Phil- ip Carteret, Governor of New Jersey, was acknowledged on the deed itself. The individuals to whom it was grant- ed, were P. Carteret, John Palmer of Staten Island, Gent., Gabriel Minville, Thomas Codrington, John White, John Delavalle, Richard Hall and John Royce, of the city of New York. The land embraced in it extended from the mouth of the rivulet, now called Bound Brook, and by the natives, Sacunk ; thence along the Raritan River on the North side, to a brook called Raweighweros-Middle- brook-and from thence northward to a certain Stony Hill ; thence easterly to Metapes Wigwam, at the mouth of Cedar Brook, where it unites with Green Brook. and thence southerly along Bound Brook, to the place of be-
ginning. This purchase included all the land now covered by the village of Bound Brook, up to the mountain, and
west to Middlebrook, and was named by the Indians Rakahova-wałaby. It was divided into five portions ; John Royce had 877 acres ; Thomas Codrington 877 acres next to him ; the Proprietors 1170 acres next to Bound Brook ; Thomas Codrington 1000 on the rear, next to Chimney Rock and the mountain. The remainder, north of the plot, belonging to the Proprietors, was not surveyed
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SOMERSET COUNTY.
immediately and entered, and we cannot, therefore, desig- nate the owners.
The deed is recorded at Ambov, ic L. I. page 146, and may still be seen by the antiquary. We have been thus specific, because it marks the time when civilization and the enterprise of improvement entered the precincts of Old Somerset. We may wonder why so long a time as that which elapsed between 1609 and 1681, should have inter- vened, but we must remember that all great things are small in their beginnings, and often long delayed in their progress.
The first deed, introduces us to some names which have an historical interest. Codrington settled on the west side of the plot-of which he was part owner-on the banks of Middlebrook, and became a man of extensive influence in the county. His name is still borne by some of the inhabitants of Somerset. The location of his habi- tation called Racawacabana, may be indicated by saying, it was recently owned by Dr. Samuel Swan ; it passed, soon after the Revolution into the hands of John Camp- bell, nephew of Lord Neil Campbell, at one time Deputy or Lieutenant Governor of East Jersey, and subsequently into others ; and finally into its present owners. It is one of the three first homesteads formed in our county.
Royce, another of the owners under the first deed, lived first at Piscataway and then in what has since been known as Roycefield, near the late residence of John J. Staats - He was a merchant in New York, but came to Somerset county-probably soon after the date of this Indian purchase. He owned or claimed to own, a tract of 20,000 acres on the south side of the Raritan, about which some dispute existed. Andrew Hamilton, the Governor, writes of him in 1700, that "he had an old patent which contains 20,000 acres, but because the stations were uncertain and the boundaries would not meet, he addressed the propri- etors at home for a new patent, which he had, and ob- tained about 6000 acres, for which he was to pay £5 a year for the whole, instead of 1-2 per acre, and the pro- prietors, forgetting to make him surrender his old patent, he now claims 20,000 by it, and so takes away upon Mill-
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SOMERSET COUNTY.
stone River from Mr. Hart, and on the Raritan, from Mr. Plumstead and Mr. Barker, considerable tracts of land ; so that he uses both patents-the old one if he can, and the new one if the old fail him ; it was a great oversight. He is the very leader of the troublesome sort of the peo- ple, and it is he that infuses the motive in them of hold- ing to their Indian titles." This is not favorable altogeth- er, to Mr. Royce. He, however, managed to maintain his position and influence, and was chosen the same year one of the Representatives of New Jersey in the Colonial Legis- lature ; in his office as such, he questioned the authority of Gov. Hamilton to call a Legislative Assembly-in- sisting that it was not safe to act without the King's ap- probation. It appears that he had been one of the council of Hamilton, appointed on his arrival and entrance upon office in 1692. His associates were Capt. Isaac Kings- land, Capt. Andrew Browne, John Inians, David Mudie, James Dundas. Samuel Dennis, John Bishop and Lewis Morris. One of his descendants (it must have been) occu- pied the same position in Gov. Franklin's council when the Revolution commenced, and encouraged the capture and supersedure of the Governor when it became necessary to displace him. When the family sold their possesions and when they retired, is not known to the present writer. The name is still met with in New York city, and is also in existence in Northern New York and in Vermont. John Royce was a man of activity and energy in his day, and has left his trace upon our history in an unmistakable way. As one of the early pioneers, he is not to be forgotten, and ought not be suffered to pass without commanding his appropriate meed of honor. He was at all times a man of the people, and could be depended upon when resistance to authority was necessary to the defence of their rights. We esteem him as a true patriot.
The other names included among the signers of the deed, with the exception of Gov. Carteret, do not occur again in any documents or history of which we have any knowledge. They were citizens of New York, and, probably, never had any other connection with the affairs of our county, ex- cept that for a time they had a title to a portion of land in
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SOMERSET COUNTY.
it. Nor did Gov. Carteret in any special way connect him- self with Somerset. Hisresidence was at Elizabeth, and his only association with us, is, in his being a native of the Island of Jersey ; which being under the Government of England, brought him here as a place man.
The second land title in Somerset County is dated De- cember 12th. 1681 in the same year in which the foregoing was given It is signed by four Indians, viz : Machote, alias Keneckome, Awips, Negacape and Pamascome. The grantees are James Graham, Cornelius Corsen and Sam- nel Win ler. The consideration is £120 ; and the bound- aries are from Raweighweros, (Middlebrook), on both sides of the Raritan to a place called Rackahackawac, (apparently according to an ancient map, ) the line be- tween Caleb Miller and the late John M. Mann, and run- ning on this line north until it reaches the mountain, and along the mountain until it reaches Middlebrook, and down said brook to the place of beginning. It included three plots based on the river, and at least five north of them along the mountain.
The first of these west of Middlebrook were assigned to John Palmer and contained 877 acres. The second be- longed to John White, contained also 877 acres. The third remained unappropriated ; and on the north R. L. Hooper, Alexander McDowell, James Hooper, and "the heirs of Hooper," had large possessions. The exact amount included in this purchase is not stated, but it con- tained many broad acres, and would now be a princely inheritance, Somerville stands on it ; and besides this, more than thirty farms, whose fertility is unsurpassed by any portion of the county of Somerset were included in its wide extent.
None of the original purchasers of this plot seem to have had permanent connection with New Jersey, except Winder and Graham. Winder resided originally on Stat- en Island, hut about this date, or soon after, he married a daughter of Gov. Rudyard and resided at Cheesequakes in Monmouth Co. ; at the close of his life he lived at Amboy. He was a man of influence in the province, and. composed one of the council, chosen by Lord Neil Campbell, when
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SOMERSET COUNTY.
he assumed the government of East Jersey in 1686. Thomas Codrington, of whom we have heretofore spoken was another one of the members of the same council ; the others were Gawen Lawrie, and Major John Berry, of Bergen and Isaac Kingsland of New Barbadoes, and Capt. Andrew Hamilton, of Amboy, Richard Townley, of Elizabethtown, and David Mudie and John Johnstone also of Amboy.
On this plot of land the earliest permanent settlements along this part of the Raritan, were formed. According to the declaration of John Worth of Elizabethtown, Cod- rington, Royce, White, Peter Van Nest, Jerome Van Nest, the Tunison's and Graham came and located here sixty years previous to 1741, or in 1681, the very year this land was bought. The residences of Royce and Cod- rington we have already designated. The Van Nest house was, it is said, on the very spot now occupied by D. Frelinghuysen's residence, and the Tunison's located where John C, Garretson now resides. But the residence of Gra- ham we have not ascertained. He was a prominent man in the Province-more than once of the executive council, and he resided in the county somewhere on the river. He was a man of influence in those days, and yet he may not have remained any length of time on the Raritan, At all events, his name does not occur again in any histo- rical documents with which we have formed acquaint- ance, referring to the progress of events in the county, Jerome VanNest and Peter settled permanently on the Rari- tan, and their descendants are yet among our most re- spectable citizens. But the original farm on which they first located has now for many years been in other posses- sor's hands. The Tunisons, Cornelius and John, came here from Fort Orange, now Albany, and were originally from the vicinity of Utrech, in Holland. The name is found early in collonial annals, and was prominent in more than one way ; and it has become widely extended in our State. They were respectable from the beginning. When the First Church of Raritan was organized on the ninth day of March, 1699, John Tunison was elected the first Elder, and Peter Van Nest the first Deacon. On the
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SOMERSET COUNTY.
Saturday previous Jerome Van Nest had a daughter named Judith, baptized, and Peter Van Nest also a daughter Jaquemina. The place where these services were held must have been at the house of either Tunison or Van Nest, probably the latter ; and if so it would determine that the organization of the First Church was where D. Frelinghuysen now resides. From all the circumstances, we think this is almost certain.
If we should attempt to realize the state of things ex- isting at that time, it might not vary much from the following imaginary picture Four small dwellings, com- posed of logs standing not far from the smooth flowing river, in contracted spaces of cleared land, with a dense forest all around them-unbroken and almost impenetrable are the only human habitations in all the wide space now so thickly inhabited. Along the river side, in the low- lands, there were some open spaces on which Indians had practiced their rude efforts to raise a little corn and a few beans and pumpkins. Here hay could be moved, or the cattle might find pasture, There was plenty of game and fish, but all of what we now regard as the necessaries of life, besides these, were hard to be obtained. Amboy or Elizabethtown, or perhaps Innian's Ferry, now New Brunswick, might supply some of them, but certainly not many. The roads had been cot ont of the dense forest, and were difficult of passage with any wheel carriages, provid- ing they had such things, which is not very probable ! They may have been lonely sometimes, but they had the comfort of having ample space for their energies ; and they had no bad neighbors to annoy them. But they began a great work by laying firmly the foundations of agriculture, commerce, religion and education for future generations. They must have been earnest men, full of self reliance; and yet not anticipating much of what has since been realized. The Van Nestes' came here from Long Island, and had been in the country from an early day. A Peter Van Nest came to New Amsterdam as early as 1647. He was the common ancestor of all those who at present bear the name. The family had some promi - neuce in Holland in the time of William the Silent .-
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