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GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D v.24
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01268 4426
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D v.24
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ARCHIVES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
FIRST SERIES.
Vol. XXIV.
This volume was prepared and edited by authority of the State of New Jersey, at the request of the New Jersey Historical Society, and under the direction of the follow- ing Committee of the Society :
WILLIAM NELSON, GARRET D. W. VROOM, AUSTIN SCOTT, FRANCIS B. LEE, ERNEST C. RICHARDSON.
DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
COLONIAL HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
EDITED BY
WILLIAM NELSON.
VOLUME XXIV.
EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, RELATING TO NEW JERSEY.
VOL. V. 1762-1765.
PATERSON, N. J .: THE CALL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. - 1902.
PREFACE. 1136416
The contents of this volume indicate a steady and remarkably grat- ifying progress by the people of New Jersey in the years 1762, 1763, 1764 and 1765, in the arts of peace, and in economic development.
True, their commerce was menaced by French war vessels, but the American privateers made gallant reprisals, and Sandy Hook was the rendezvous of many a valuable trophy wrested from the enemy, until the treaty of 1763 brought a brief respite to the arms of Great Britain and France. Till then, the Northern frontiers of the English settle- ments were in constant dread of French and Indian incursions. In 1762 New Jersey passed an act for enlisting and maintaining an ef- fective force of 665 volunteers, a large proportion of whom fell vic- tims to the wily savages beyond Niagara. Our own borders were threatened by the restless Indians of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1763, necessitating the maintenance of a frontier guard of two hundred men along the Delaware, during the ensuing winter, to protect Sussex and Hunterdon counties from incursions. The Indians of New Jersey, gathered at Brotherton under the prudent and sagacious John Brain- erd, kept the peace, and were protected by the whites. The friendly Conestoga Indians at Lancaster, Pa., on the other hand, were treach- erously and most cruelly massacred by the palefaces, whereby new trouble was brewed for the whole region. It was not until the spring of 1765 that all fears of Indian uprisings were allayed.
The arrival of William Franklin early in 1763 marked the begin- ning of a very successful and harmonious administration, to continue for thirteen years, but destined to witness the end of royal dominion in the Province.
New Jersey was favored in having James Parker as Comptroller of the Post Offices in North America, with his office at Woodbridge. He was a man of broad views, and anxious to improve the postal facilities of the subordinate offices, such as New York and Philadel- phia, to which end he inaugurated, with the year 1764, a system of mails between those points three times a week, "if the weather per- mits." Gov. Franklin urged the importance of securing better postal facilities by the "Establishment of Ferries, the Erection of Bridges, the Improvement of Roads, and whatever else may contribute to prevent delays and interruptions to the Posts in passing." With commendable alacrity the Legislature responded, passing special acts for laying out a road from Newark to Powles Hook (now Jersey
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PREFACE
City), with ferries over the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, for a more direct road from Philadelphia through South Jersey, and for the appointment of Commissioners to lay out new and better high- ways between Philadelphia and New York. As the people were still too poor to bear the expense of these improvements by taxation, the merchants of those cities were appealed to for subscriptions. "The long wished for ferry" was "established and kept across the North River from Powles Hook to New York," in 1764, by an enterprising citizen, unaware that a similar ferry had been maintained almost exactly a century earlier, by virtue of a Patent granted by Gov. Philip Carteret. The increasing number of letters in the Philadelphia post office for residents of New Jersey indicated a steady growth of population within our borders, and doubtless led to the establishment of an office in Trenton in 1764. Post riders seem to have met with encouragement for not only continuing, but extending their routes for the delivery of letters and newspapers.
The rapid development of the iron industry of the Province is indi- cated by the frequent references to old and to many new mines, forges and furnaces, all of which appear to have been busy. Andover, An- derson, Kingwood, Union, Hacklebarny, Musconetcong, Durham, Oxford, Ringwood, Charlottenburg, Lamaton, Squire's Point and Greenwich are some of the names in Northern New Jersey herein mentioned-most of them familiar to this day, but the Mount Holly iron works, and the iron works on Ancocus creek have long ago dis- appeared, with the exhaustion of the bog ore there used, and the extensive mining operations in Morris, Sussex, Warren and Hunter- don counties. The account of the "Trenton steel works" seems very modern reading. A perusal of the numerous advertisements relating to these various enterprises will give a very fair idea of the condition of the iron industry in New Jersey one hundred and forty years ago -the number of furnaces and forges, and the appliances for running them. It is to the credit of those early operators that the modern owners of those regions are constrained to admit that it is very sel- dom that a new mine is sunk without disclosing the presence of former workers, so thoroughly did those pioneers explore and develop the mining properties.
While the iron industry was advancing by leaps and bounds, much faith was manifested also in the copper mines at Rocky Hill1 and at New Brunswick. We are assured by an advertisement that the latter mine was (in 1765) yielding "excellent solid oar," and that a smelting house was to be built. After the fashion of mining enterprises gen- erally, the improvements were only in contemplation.
The Legislature sought to encourage new industries by offering
1Most exhaustively described in Bulletin No. 225, of the Geological Survey of the United States, August, 1904.
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PREFACE
bounties for the raising of hemp and flax, and the culture of silk. The former project met with much success, but the planting of mul- berry trees was no more productive of silk than was the morus multi- caulis craze of 1839 and 1840.
The student of economic conditions in those days will derive a great deal of information from the advertisements of farms, houses and other properties for sale, with their descriptions of the residences and other buildings, the land under cultivation, the orchards of apple, peach and other trees, the cattle, horses and farm appliances. The people were seeking better and more improved modes of living and working-often, as the desired sales suggest, in advance of their ability to pay. But progress is usually made through and over fail- ures, and the Province at large reaped the benefits of these attempts, which sometimes were beyond their day. The farms advertised are better than formerly, and new tracts are offered in remoter districts of the Province.
The lawyer interested in tracing the title to lands where early deeds are missing will often find a helpful clue in reading the descriptions of the location, area, and sometimes of the metes and bounds of the properties advertised for sale in the following pages, and the adver- tisements generally will be of absorbing interest to those engaged in studying family history.
The merchants and manufacturers also had their vicissitudes, then as now. It was in response to a very general demand that the Legis- lature in 1765 enacted a statute for "the relief of insolvent debtors." Within six months more than one hundred and fifty persons availed themselves of its provisions. Long and ill-judged credits were too often the cause of these failures. Says a cynical and impatient mer- chant, in appealing to his debtors in 1762 to come forward and settle, "If I trust some of my customers one month, they will scold if I demand it in nine or ten."
Education is making steady progress. The "College of New Jer- sey" is graduating larger classes each year, and the importance of the Princeton institution is recognized by the newspapers of the day, which are frequently publishing news items relating to it. There are some indications, indeed, of the existence of a judicious "literary bureau" to keep the public well informed concerning the condition and prospects of the thriving young College. A grammar school is established at Princeton in 1764, under the auspices of the trustees and faculty, and in the same year is printed at Woodbridge a History of the College, with a copperplate "Prospect of Nassau Hall."
There are other signs of an awakened interest in education. Al- though a schoolmaster at Pompton is accused of robbing a fellow lodger at the tavern, there are fewer accounts of escapades on the part of members of the calling. The advertisements are less uniformly
viii
PREFACE
persistent in seeking "sober" persons to take charge of schools, that qualification being apparently taken for granted. Moreover, there is developing a certain esprit de corps among the profession, as evinced by several teachers in the neighborhood of Moorestown in 1765, who resented the reported slurs on their ability by one of their number, and met together at that place to "vindicate our Cause, and make our Ability appear to this extraordinary Judge of Literature, as he affects." The assailant, thus challenged, prudently failed to appear ; as he candidly confesses, "six to one is too great odds." Moreover, he denied having uttered the slanderous imputations alleged, as to all of his accusers, but with a sly intent to divide their forces he avows that as to two of them he did not declare that they were "ignorant and incapable of their Undertaking," "except I called him [sic] an Ass, and he called me what I never was." From which it would appear that the schoolmasters of those days did not always set a fair example in the amenities of good behavior and temperate speech. That some of them, at least, were hardworking, would ap- pear by the announcement of John Reid, in 1764, that he had started a school at Trenton, which opened at "6 o'Clock A. M. with Morning and Evening Prayers." The Rev. Samuel Kennedy conducted a school at Baskinridge, which was long famous for the character of the men it turned out. Elizabethtown and Burlington also boasted superior schools, and the latter city witnessed the introduction in 1763 of probably the first co-educational school in New Jersey, if not in America. A special attraction offered by a schoolmaster at Second River, in 1762, was the fact that he would relieve parents of boarding-scholars from providing lodging and wood for their chil- dren, engaging himself to procure the same "on reasonable terms."
Gambling in the guise of lotteries was still encouraged, such schemes being advertised for the benefit of the Bound Brook bridge across the Raritan river; to meet the expenses of the commissioners to lay out highways; for St. Mary's church in Burlington; for St. Peter's church in Amboy; for the College of New Jersey, and for the erection of the Sandy Hook Lighthouse. (The lottery for St. John's church, Newark, mentioned on page 82, is doubtless for a Delaware church.)
Horse racing is becoming a favorite pastime, courses at Elizabeth- town and Woodbridge being well patronized, and much attention is being paid to the improvement of the breed of horses, by the importa- tion of choice thoroughbreds.
The famous George Whitefield again sweeps across New Jersey like a whirlwind, with his fiery preaching, arousing the consciences of thousands and tens of thousands to whom he speaks in the open air, with a voice reaching the farthest person in his vast audiences.
Wrecks are frequent along the Jersey coast-at Sandy Hook, Bar-
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PREFACE
negat, Cohansey and Cape May, as well as at intermediate points. It is a great boon to those that "go down to the sea in ships" when the Sandy Hook lighthouse sends out its welcome rays across the water, at once a welcome and a warning, in June, 1764. It was a New York enterprise, it is true, but unquestionably many a citizen of New Jersey bought tickets in the Lighthouse lottery, in order to promote a great public benefit-and incidentally in the hope of winning a prize.
We are initiated into the respective merits of "likely men and women, boys and girls," from Gambia, the Windward coast, the Guinea coast, and other points in Africa, who are offered for sale as slaves, suitable for house work or farm service. There is no hypo- critical cant about the importation of these unfortunate wretches for the good of their immortal souls, or as a punishment for Ham's indis- cretion. With brutal frankness they are classed simply as chattels. The advertisements of runaway negroes contain fewer indications than formerly of their barbarous treatment. There are no descrip- tions of chains or manacles, nor of branding, or other tokens of sav- agery on the part of former owners.
The details of the personal appearance, the names and the clothing of runaway servants, and escaped prisoners, continue to be among the most diverting of these old-time Newspaper Extracts. The Sher- iff of Essex county who advertises two escaped prisoners in 1762 is evidently moved with feelings of indignation at their inconsiderate conduct, when he declares that one of them "talks thick and palaver- ing when drunk, which is as often as possible;" and that the other is "a lusty, dirty, slouching Butcher, much Sun-burnt, wears a cut Wig, seldom combed, has sore Eyes, often drunk." Surely if they had any self-respect those two fellows would have returned to cus- tody, merely to resent and prove false these bitter caricatures. Most of the runaway servants seem to be "talkative," or ready with the tongue, and were doubtless too intelligent to remain willingly in bondage, and too eager for a knowledge of the world to be tied long to one place. Was it a Lord in disguise who figured as a runaway "Servant Man, a Shoemaker by Trade?" Listen to his picturesque garb: "Had on, when he went away, a green Ratteen Coat, with a Collar, and flowered Metal Buttons, a white Swanskin Waistcoat, light brown Breeches, with brown Horn Buttons, light blue Yarn Stockings, and half-worn Calf-skin Shoes, one of them patched on the Toe, and yellow carved Buckles." It is easy to believe that many "a romance and many a tragedy is hidden in these advertisements of runaway apprentices and servants, men and boys, women and girls : tales of offenses, trivial or serious, expiated by banishment and en- forced servitude for a time; of younger sons voluntarily exiled to win fame and fortune single-handed in the new world; of rightful heirs feloniously spirited away beyond reach of their proper inher-
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PREFACE
itance, and sold into white slavery by heartless kinsmen; of broken fortunes and broken hearts, seeking solace or repair amid scenes far removed from their griefs. Surely there is much to be read here that does not appear on the surface, as revealing human weaknesses, infirmities and passions, that are much the same in 1904 as in 1762-5. But even as a curious study of social conditions in the former days these advertisements will repay a careful perusal.
That was a needed reform instituted at Elizabethtown in 1764, when it was resolved to reduce the cost of those functions by "dis- pensing with Scarfs, Gloves and Liquors."
Was "marriage a failure" in the seventh decade of the eighteenth century? If so, the fact was not exploited in the divorce court, but frankly in the columns of a newspaper in New York or Philadelphia, wherein the aggrieved husband warned all persons not to trust the errant or obstinate wife. In at least one case the wife advertised her husband, and gave public notice that she would pay no debts of his contracting. Without doubt most of these domestic infelicities were reconciled; but William Carter, of Trenton, was the only husband manly enough to proclaim the fact, and withdraw his embargo on his wife's contracting of debts.
We have here, also, the advertisement of the "Doctor" who cured blindness; the two-page list of goods for sale in what must have been a real "department store" at Burlington so long ago as 1764; the tale of the pedlar attacked and robbed on a lonely road; of the wonderful steer weighing 1700 lbs. killed at Elizabethtown in 1763; of sacrifice sales by assignees for the benefit of creditors; and of many other quaint and curious relations, some of which might date from yesterday, but all going to make up a vivid picture of life in New Jersey one hundred and forty years ago.
All these interests are suddenly overshadowed by the burning polit- ical question raised by the Stamp Act. The columns of the news- papers teem with criticisms, appeals, warnings, and denunciations of this bold measure of the British Parliament to assert its right to tax the Colonies for Imperial purposes. Fortunately, in New Jersey even the officials at least tacitly agreed to treat the Act with contempt. Governor Franklin was as non-committal as possible, but granted marriage licenses without the hated stamp. The Chief Justice, ap- pointee of the Crown though he was, called a meeting of the Bar, and got from them a declaration that they would recognize writs that were unstamped, and that they would sooner sacrifice their practice than make use of stamps. The two men appointed to dis- tribute the stamps in New Jersey promptly resigned, at the request of the citizens. A minor official in New Brunswick who evinced a disposition to enforce the Act was hanged in effigy, denounced as a traitor, and threatened with a more evil fate. Even so highly re-
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PREFACE
spected and honored a citizen as the Speaker of the Assembly was compelled to resign because he had not been as outspoken as desired in expressing hostility to the measure in the Stamp Act Congress. So the Stamp Act was never for a moment recognized or enforced in New Jersey, nor was there any serious attempt to put it into exe- cution. Nevertheless, the people were prodigiously aroused over this threatened invasion of their liberties. Here began a contest between England and her Colonies only to end with their complete Indepen- dence. The development of this conflict will appear in the subse- quent volumes of these Archives.
The long-promised History of New Jersey Printing and New Jer- sey Newspapers of the Eighteenth Century was substantially com- pleted, when the manuscript was consumed in the Paterson fire of February 9-10, 1902. The material, which had been gathered during a period of ten years or more, had to be accumulated anew, but time and opportunity have not offered for re-writing the History, which is therefore again deferred to a later volume.
PATERSON, N. J., July 25, 1904.
Newspaper Extracts.
I The subscriber, lived at the King's-Arms and Fountain tavern, in New-York, as a waiter, have taken the house wherein James Thompson lived, in New- Brunswick, now the sign of the White Hart, and has a compleat house and stable, where all gentleman travellers that will be pleased to favour him with their custom, will meet with genteel accommodations, by their Most Obedi- ent Servant,
MICHAEL DUFF.
-- The New York Mercury, January 4, 1762.
January 7.
TO BE SOLD,
A Plantation and tract of land situate near Trentown at the Falls of Delaware in the Province of Pennsylvania containing about 700 Acres lately belonging to William Allen Esq; the land is good, very well Timberd A tract of 1000 acres situate in Richfield Township or the great Swamp adjoining lands of William Logan, Joseph Pike and James Melvin. And a tract of land situate in Hill- town, adjoining lands of Thomas Jones, and James Irwin, Tavern-Keeper. Whoever inclines to purchase any of the said tracts may apply to Laurence Growden at Trevose in the County of Bucks who will make a good Title to the same upon payment of one third part of the Consideration money and giving Bond and mortgage of the Lands Pur- 2 chased, payment of the remainder in any reasonable time
2
NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS. [1762
with Interest .- The Pennsylvania Journal, No. 996, Jan- uary 7, 1762.
Run away on the 30th of November last, from the Sub- scriber, living in the Township of Deptford, and County of Gloucester, in West New-Jersey, a Servant Lad, be- tween 18 and 19 Years of Age, named William Butter- worth, this Country born : Had on when he went away, An old light coloured Jacket, a Pair of new Buckskin Breeches, a new Felt Hat, an old fine Shirt, with a Patch on the Coller, one coarse Shirt, a Pair of Neats Leather Shoes, with Brass Buckles, old Sheep black Stockings, broke on the Knees. He is about 5 Feet high, of a yellow- ish Complexion, has long strait yellowish Hair; has taken his Master's Part of his Indenture with him, and has crossed the River into Pennsylvania. Whoever takes up and secures the said Servant, so as his Master may have him again, shall have Thirty Shillings Reward, and reasonable charges, paid by
Joseph Gibson Springfield, Burlington County, January 4, 1762.
ABSCONDED, the 14th Day of December last, one Joseph Macmein, a Weaver, a short thick-set Fellow, dark Eyes, short grey Hair, mostly wears a Cap, pale-faced, Pock- marked, speaks hoarse, mostly wears a Leather Apron, to hide his being much bursten, and appears to be about 50 Years of Age; his Wife (as he has lately married) went with him, her name is Mary, a short, thick-set Woman, flat-faced, redish Hair, and is about 30 Years of Age. They have clandestinely taken with them sundry Weaver's Implements a Bag with Feathers, and sundry other Things; likewise a small Horse and Mare, and went over Cooper's Ferry into Philadelphia, the 15th of De- cember, and is supposed to be gone towards Kent County.
3
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1762]
Any Person that will, by a Letter, or otherwise, first give an Account of where he may be found, and brought to Justice, shall have Three Pounds Reward, paid by either of us,
Jonathan Fox, James Ginins
N. B. Any Person that will discover him, may have an Opportunity to send a Letter from Philadelphia to Burlington, and if directed to Mr. Lambert Barns's Care, he will immediately send it to the Subscribers .- The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1724, January 7, 1762.
Newark (in East Jersey) January 1, 1762. Monday last the Anniversary of the Festival of St. John the Evan- gelist, was observed here by the Antient and Honourable Society of Free Masons.1 They walked in regular Pro- cession from the Lodge to Church, where an excellent Sermon was preached, by the Reverend Mr. Brown,2 from Ist Peter 2d Chapter, 15, 16, 17 verses. After Church they returned back to Dinner, accompanied by several of the Clergy and Magistrates, and concluded the Day in decent Mirth .- The New York Mercury, January II, 1762.
To be Sold, by Richard Stevens David Newburn's fine, Farm, on which the Ferry is kept, containing about 500 Acres, 270 of which are good low Land and Meadow, the rest exceeding fine Upland chiefly in Wood .- Also two Farms, containing about 300 Acres of Land, each near Paulins kiln, in East New-Jersey : Now in the Possession of Laurence Schnyder and Christopher Adams, being Part of a Tract said Stevens lately bought of Abraham Taylor, Esq; at Philadelphia .- The Pennsylvania Jour- nal, No. 997, January 14, 1762.
1 St. John's Lodge, No. 1.
2 Rector of Trinity Episcopal church.
4
NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS. [1762
January 21.
Doctor STORK,
SURGEON and OCULIST to Her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of WALES,
Acquaints the public, that he is to continue in Philadelphia till the latter End of February next : such as are in need of his assistance, may apply to him at his Lodgings near the New Meeting-house in Arch-street.
We the Subscribers are induced, not only in Gratitude to Doctor STORK, but likewise for the Benefit of the Pub- lic to communicate the Recovery of our Sights from Blind- ness, by his Operations. This is to certify that I Thom Roberts of Hopewell, near Trenton, being de- prived of Sight for two Years, was by Dr. Stork restored to it again .- The Pennsylvania Journal, No. 998, January 21, 1762.
New-York, January 25. The Storm on Sunday the Ioth Inst. has made prodigious Devastations in several Parts of the Government of New Jersey. Five or six Mill-Dams upon one small Stream in the West Part of Woodbridge. A fine new Bridge built last Summer, and but just finished in the Fall, which cost above £300, across Raritan River, at a Place called Bound-Brook, was swept away, and some Pieces of it found 30 Miles below. At. New-Brunswick, and the Landing, the Water was all over their lowest Streets, and many Stores and other Houses, with Goods therein damaged. As there had been Snow on the Ground, and a Thaw of three or four Days before the Storm came on, the Sea-Water rising so high pre- vented the Freshes going off so speedily as it otherwise would, and the great Rains falling at the same Time gives Room to think that more Damage is done throughout the Country, than we yet have Account of.
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