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GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D v.27
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
2
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01292 2461
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421D v.27
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ARCHIVES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
FIRST SERIES.
Vol. XXVII.
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 direc- tion of the following 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 XXVII.
EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS, RELATING TO NEW JERSEY.
VOL. VIII. 1770-1771. '
PATERSON, N. J. : THE PRESS PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., 269 MAIN STREET.
1905.
1136419
PREFACE.
Much more space than usual is devoted in this volume to discussions of the political and economic questions of the day as contained in the American newspapers for 1770 -1771, and which had already figured in the public prints of the preceding two years, as shown in Volume XXVI of the New Jersey archives. The threat to buy no goods imported from Great Britain, which had been so effective in alarming the English merchants, and causing them to use their influence with the British Ministry to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act, led to the Non-Importation Agree- ment, as it was called, whereby the people of the various colonies pledged themselves not to import nor to use any goods of English manufacture, until such time as the Par- liament should repeal the acts imposing duties on tea and sugar, and the Ministry removed the punitive restrictions which they had inflicted upon Boston Port for its con- tumacy. This agreement, as is shown in the following pages, is still upheld by the adoption of resolutions by the freeholders, merchants and traders of Elizabethtown, of New Brunswick, of Essex County, of the students of Nassau Hall, of Sussex County, of Somerset County, of Burlington County, etc. These declarations uniformly pledged undying allegiance to King George III, but pro- tested against the "ministerial physicians," as they were called, who caused the Parliament to enact oppressive laws for the taxation of the colonies, and who interfered with their local government. When New York receded from the Non-Importation Agreement, the people of that city were
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PREFACE.
roundly denounced by various meetings. Sussex County threatened to send all her trade down the Delaware River to Trenton and Philadelphia, which must have caused the merchants of New York great dismay. The people of the colonies were by no means unanimous in their resistance to the British measures, especially by so drastic a scheme as the Non-Importation Agreement, and the non-purchase of English manufactures. Several Woodbridge people pro- tested that their names were used in that connection with- out their consent. A long argument against non-importa- tion is given on page 280.
A correspondent of one of the newspapers of the day proposes to incorporate "The United Company of New Jer- sey," designed to embrace the traders and merchants of the whole colony, and evidently looking to the organization of united action against the ministerial schemes.
The people were urged by many correspondents to use American manufactures. The senior students at Princeton in 1770 graduated in suits of American cloth. This dispos- ition to use American clothing stimulated the sheep in- dustry. It was estimated that Hunterdon County in 1768 had ten thousand sheep, and figures were offered to show the immense profit possible to farmers raising sheep.
The lawless measures that were resorted to by some too ardent patriots were deprecated by the more conservative citizens. Thus, Woodbridge gave notice that she "kept a supply of tar and feathers for ready application to those violating the Non-Importation Agreement," said outfit being stored in the center of the town near "Execution Dock," and in the neighborhood of "Liberty Oak," the significance of those terms being obvious to everybody. In the same town some recalcitrant importers were said to have been ducked in a convenient pond.
A "Jersey Farmer" deplores the degeneracy of the times; though "it is impossible to bear the parliamentary Impositions," at the same time the people were "encour-
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PREFACE.
aging and promoting every Species of Luxury, Dissipation and Excess, almost, that is practiced in our Mother Coun- try. The same News Paper shall contains Pieces wrote to Demonstrate our Poverty, and Advertisements of Stage Plays, Horse Races &c., whereby vast Sums of Money are thrown away for no useful Purpose of Life." He was especially bitter against fox hunting as a sport destruct- ive to fences and crops. "An Aged Farmer," a "Native of East New Jersey," replied indignantly that it "made his Blood run cold" to read such an article; that the people who indulged in fox hunting were usually good livers, and created a generous demand for the garden truck of the Jersey farmers sold in Phila- delphia. He pertinently asks how the farmers would dis- pose of their "Watermelons if it was not for the Assist- ance of Luxury ?"
Relief in cases of financial distress was sought by the act for the benefit of insolvent debtors, and the act to authorize the issue of one hundred thousand pounds in bills of credit. Unfortunately both bills were disallowed by the King, provoking a bitter feeling on the part of the peo- ple of the colony, which was voiced in an address presented by the Assembly to the Governor, expressing a deep disap- pointment at the disallowance of the latter act, which was calculated to stimulate trade in the colony, and commerce with New York and Philadelphia. Many unfortunate bus- iness men took advantage of the former act during a period of fifteen months which elapsed until the act was nega- . tived by the King.
The popular antipathy to the lawyers still ran high. The mob prevented the holding of courts in Monmouth County, and the Council addressed the Governor on the subject of the excessive costs of the legal fraternity.
Another ebullition of the popular discontent was the dis- pute over the "Horseneck Purchase," commonly called the "Indian Purchase," in the upper part of Essex County.
viii
PREFACE.
The attempt of the East Jersey Proprietors to enforce their claims to these lands provoked very serious riots in Es- sex county, and filled the jail in Newark. Rioting and arson were indulged in for a while, until some of the of- fenders were rounded up and smartly fined or imprisoned.
The Governor sent a message to the Legislature on the subject of the Monmouth and Essex riots, and replies were addressed to him by the Council and Assembly on the same theme. The statements of some of the parties and of counsel on the Horseneck litigation are perhaps the fullest exposition of the history of this dispute which have yet been made. They fairly educate the questions at issue, and ought to settle any lingering doubt there may be in the minds of those interested as to the validity of the respect- ive titles of the East Jersey Proprietors, and of those claiming under the "Indian Purchase."
A far-sighted correspondent remarked upon the import- ance of improving the navigation of the Delaware river, and opening inland navigation to the "back inhabitants."
Premiums were offered for raising silk cocoons, as high as 20 pounds.
The northern boundary, which had been a standing grievance for many years to the people of Sussex county and Orange county, was established by a law of New York, soon concurred in by a similar act of the New Jersey Leg- islature.
The pleasant relations usually existing between the British troops quartered in the barracks at Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, New Brunswick and Trenton, are indicated by complimentary speeches exchanged by the authorities of New Brunswick and Perth Amboy and the officers of the 29th Regiment, on the occasion of the regiment being trans- ferred to the West Indies.
The advertisements of stages are another indication of the activity of traffic and trade between Philadelphia and New York, and between various towns in the province. A
-
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PREFACE.
stage ran from Powles Hook to Philadelphia in two days, the fare being 20 s., or $2.50, each way, or 3d. (three cents) per mile. In the spring of 1771 a stage ran from Burling- ton to Amboy, a boat leaving Philadelphia every Saturday, and the passengers embarking on Monday at Burlington in a wagon, by which they were conveyed the same day to Amboy, whence a boat conveyed them to New York. A new "flying machine" set out from Powles Hook Ferry every Tuesday morning, arriving at Philadelphia the next day at twelve o'clock noon. Another stage ran between Newark and Powles Hook twice a day, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The famous George Whitefield made one of his whirlwind trips through the Province, preaching to immense throngs of people on the way from Philadelphia to New York.
The death of James Parker, the first New Jersey print- er, a man of distinguished excellence as a citizen and in the art "preservative of all arts," is briefly announced in 1770, with the summary that "he left a fair character on which we have neither time nor room to enlarge." Isaac Collins announces the removal of his printing office from Phila- delphia to Burlington to take over the business of James Parker at the latter place.
A carpenter deplores the "conduct of many unmarried people of every class as so far from rendering a union de- sirable." Nevertheless, people went on giving and being given in marriage just the same as they have always done from the beginning of the world, and from the marriage announcements the brides seem to have been peculiarly at- tractive. "A young Lady eminently qualified -of render- ing the nuptial estate agreeable," was married at Mount Holly. "A Lady of serious and well disposed mind and endowed with every qualification to render the mar- riage state happy," was another bride. The daughter of Chief Justice Allen, of Pennsylvania, at her marriage was
×
PREFACE.
described as "a beautiful young Lady in Possession of every intellectual virtue."
The Trustees of Queens College were notified to meet at Hackensack on the first Tuesday in May, 1771, to decide where the College should be located.
Timothy Edwards advertises his house and land for sale at Elizabethtown. He was an uncle of Aaron Burr, who lived here with his sister for some time after the death of his parents. At the Princeton Commencement, in 1771, Aaron Burr, of the Junior Class, carried off the first pre- mium "for reading the English language with propriety, and answering questions in orthography," wherein many of his successors have not been equally fortunate. He was also awarded the second premium for "reading the Latin and Greek languages with propriety."
Newark quarry stone was advertised in April, 1771.
Horse racing offered popular attractions at Powles Hook and at Newark.
Inoculation was practiced by Dr. Pew, of Elizabeth.
The famous Orrery of Rittenhouse was almost finished in April, 1770, and the college at Princeton was anxiously awaiting the arrival of that remarkable invention.
There was much discussion over the proposed exten- sion of the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in civil suits to ten pounds, and many correspondents figured out to their own satisfaction how the costs of litigation would be increased, while others proved just how much would be saved by the proposed act.
Quack doctors were advertising their nostrums and miraculous cures to such an extent as to call forth action by the New Jersey Medical Society to prevent the same. The "royal balsam and pelius polychristum" seems to have been a popular cure-all. A "Studens Medicenae" points out some of the harm done by these empiricists.
A grisly sight was presented in the woods between Long Pond and Charlottesburg, in the present Passaic county,
xi
PREFACE.
of a "man lying on his back with his head cut off and laid on one of his arms."
Patrick Brainey quite naturally resents a statement ac- cusing him of feloniously taking certain goods, "as perhaps may be something prejudicial to his character."
As usual, a good deal of light is thrown upon the social conditions of the times by the advertisements of runaway servants and slaves. A negro man "had on an iron collar around his neck," an evidence of the debasing influence of slavery. A man who was committed to the Burlington jail on suspicion of being a runaway servant, says, "When he left his master, he had an iron collar on his neck, but soon got it off." Other descriptions of these unfaithful servants and absconding slaves tell of a rollicking Irishman who had "fair Hair tied behind, had on a red Hat, with a. blue half-worn surtout coat with brass buttons on the side, and a double cape." Another was " a chunky well set black fellow, very talkative, and pretends to be very re- ligious." "A carpenter's apprentice, knock-kneed, with a dark complexion, down look, dark eyes, dark hair, wears a tie." Another wore a "gray colored coat and Jacket with horn buttons, new leather breeches, with black horn but- tons, Russia shirt, black worn stockings, new shoes; also a caster hat, wears it cocked." An indented servant man who ran away from Shrewsbury "keeps his mouth much open." Another, it is said, "will drink to excess, and then is noisy, likes to sing songs." A negro lad "of yellow cast and by trade a chimney sweep." A runaway servant was "much given to liquor and chews tobacco, when in liquor noisy and quarrelsome."
We have this picturesque description of the uniform of an Irish fifer who deserted from the 29th Regiment of Foot at Perth Amboy: "He was born in the regiment, and had on when he went away a short yellow Coat, vest Red, red Fluting down the Collar, red Wings and linings, his Coat laced with drummer's Lace, white Linen waistcoat and
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PREFACE.
breeches, Black cape bound with white Tape. The Num- ber of the Regiment in the front and Scarlet Worsted feather around the upper part of the front."
The descriptions of the many houses, mills, mines, farms and orchards advertised for sale are full of interest and instruction.
It is to be hoped that the biographical and other notes may be helpful, while special pains have been taken to make the index a complete key to the contents of the vol- ume.
JULY 25, 1907.
1
Newspaper Extracts.
Improving the navigation of Delaware and Schuyl- kill are objects really worthy of public attention ; not only because improvements should first begin at home, and those which may be made at the lowest expence, and are most immediately necessary, should be first essayed-but for the following reasons : The former of those rivers leading from Philadelphia far beyond the northern bounds of the province, into the Mohocks country, when made navigable, will not only induce our own farmers above the mountains, in Northampton, to bring the produce of their labour to the city of Philadelphia, which they now constant- ly send to Æsopus and New-York, but command all the inland trade of West New-Jersey above-and of the new settlements in York government, to the northward.
Clear the Delaware from obstructions, which is all that is necessary to a good navigation, the waters of the river being plentiful and constant, and we shall not only secure our own trade above the North Mountain, but command the inland trade of West New-Jersey and a considerable part of New- York.
Whether, therefore, we intend by improving our inland navigation, to enable the back inhabitants to
2
NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS. [1770
raise and bring their produce to our own market ; or to induce the people of Jersey and the back parts of New- York to furnish our merchants with commodi- ties for exportation, or take into our design, the se- curity of the skin and fur trade with the natives, all of them point out the Delaware and Schuylkill as ob- jects most worthy of our attention. . PATRIUS.1
November 30th died at Burlington, in the fifty- sixth Year of his Age, PETER BARD, Esq ; formerly a Merchant in this City. His Death was very soon followed by that of his Son, SAMUEL BARD, Esq ; At- torney at Law, who died at Bristol, on the 14th of December, in the twenty-ninth Year of his Age.2- Pennsylvania Chronicle, No. 156, January 1-8, I770.
New Jersey,
SS.
By Order of the Hon.
Monmouth County, John Anderson, John Tay- lor and James Lawrence, Esquires, Three of the
1 The article is nearly four columns long.
2 Peter Bard, 2d, was the second son of Peter Bard, a Huguenot who settled in Burlington early in the eighteenth century, and who died in 1734. The son was born in Mt. Holly in 1714. and was a merchant in Philadelphia as early as 1746. In 1752 Peter Bard and Company were the owners of the Mt. Holly iron works, which they offered for sale in 1758. In 1751 he was appointed administrator of an estate in Mt. Holly, from which it has been inferred that he was then living there. In 1754 he took up, in the right of his deceased elder brother Bennet Bard, four tracts, of 528 acres, near Mt. Holly, which he sold, June 22, 1764, probably on account of failing health. He died at Bridgetown (Mt. Holly), Burlington county, November 30, 1769. His son, Peter Bard, junior, "a youth of uncommon merit," died at Bur- lington June 12, 1769. Another son, Samuel Bard, who was licensed as a counsel- lor at law of New Jersey. November 3, 1761, and who practiced at Bristol, Bucks county, Penna., died at that place on December 14, 1769, in his twenty-ninth year. His will, dated November 27, 1768, proved December 20, 1769, directs his executors to sell all his lands and property, consisting of a brick house at Mt. Holly, and a tract adjoining the iron works, which he bought of his father; the proceeds, after payment of debts, to go to his wife, Mary Bard. Executors-his father, Peter Bard, and Zachariah Rossell .- N. J. Archives, XII., 667, note; XIX., 180, 539; XX., 184; Proceedings West Jersey Surveyors' Association, 110; West Jersey Wills, Liber No. 14, folio 135.
3
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1770]
Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for said County, that Michael Henderson, John Dennis, Lewis Dennis, Rice Fielder, Benjamin Kallim, Thomas Van Kirk, Aaron Decamp, William Preston, Benjamin Parker, jun., John Parker, William Hank- inson, jun., Andrew Mains, John West, James Magee, Lawrence Taylor, John Hanson, jun., Charles Lucas, Margaret Lucas, his Wife, William Van Kirk, jun., and Obadiah Worthley, all Prisoners for Debt in said Goal, were this 28th Day of Decem- ber, qualified to their Schedules of their Effects, pur- suant to a late Act of Assembly entitled, "An Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors ;" made this present Tenth Year of his Majesty's Reign, &c.1 Now these are to give Notice to the Creditors of said Debtors, that they be together at the Court House of said County, on the 25th Day of January next, to shew Cause, if any they have, why the said Debtors Estates should not be assigned for the Use of their Creditors, and their Bodies discharged from Goal, pursuant to said Act.
1 The relief of insolvent debtors, particularly those imprisoned for debt, was the subject of constant legislation from at least as early as August 16, 1733. Usu- ally, the acts were for limited terms, and were then revived or extended. The act of Nov. 17, 1743, was revived by act of June 6, 1751, limited to Sept. 2, 1752. An act of June 8, 1753, applied to those in prison Sept. 1, 1754, and was extended to August 1, 1755. An act of October 22, 1757, applied to those actually in prison Sept. 22, 1757. An act of December 5, 1760, applied to those actually in prison November 25. 1760. It was revived by act passed December 4, 1761, and again by act passed December 7. 1763, applying to those in prison October 1, 1763, and extending to Ju- ly 1, 1764. The act was revived June 20, 1765, by an act which was limited to ten years, but was repealed June 28(?), 1766. It was again revived May 10. 1768, apply- ing to those in prison April 12, 1768. Another act was passed December 6, 1769, and still another on March 27, 1770, which was disallowed by the King, June 7, 1771. The prisoners were allowed, on giving bail, to have "the liberty of the prison lim- ts," which under later acts were defined by the boards of justices and freehold- ers, and were usually an area within a mile or two of the county jail.
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NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS. [1770
To BE SOLD, OR LET.
A Very fine Plantation, agreeably situated within one Mile (and in Sight) of Princetown College, containing 116 Acres, 25 of which is excellent Meadow, II Acres of Woodland, the Remainder arable, and the Whole in the best Repair : On which is a neat well-finished new Stone House, two Stories high, with a framed Building, and Stone Kitchen ad- joining the same: The Buildings together being 70 Feet in Front. There is a Well of good Water by the Door, a large well built Barn : 40 by 45 Feet, compleatly finished, with good Stables for Horses, and Stalls for a Number of Cattle : Also an Orchard, of the best Fruit Trees, a good Garden, and a Spring- House, built of Brick, with a never-failing Spring in it, within 50 Yards of the House. And as said Plan- tation is situated at a small Distance from Princetown and several Merchant Mills, there is always a good Market, and the highest Price given for every Kind of Produce. The Subscriber has also to dispose of a Negro Wench, about 23 Years of Age, with a Male Child of one Year old: The Wench is very handy, and understands all Kinds of Country Business. Likewise one Dozen Milk Cows, one Dozen Sheep, and two fine Breeding Mares. Any Person inclining to purchase, by paying one Third of the Purchase Money down, may have Time for the Payment of the Remainder, by paying Interest, and giving Security if required. The above Plantation may be entered upon the first of April next, therefore should it be agreeable to any Person to purchase or rent said Plantation, they may be fully informed of the Terms,
5
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1770]
by directing a Line, or personally applying to the Subscriber, living on the Premises.
Decem. 20, 1769. WILLIAM COAT.
-N. Y. Gazette or Weekly Post Boy, No. 1409, January 1, 1770.
The Ship from the Granades that was drove ashore near Sandy-Hook, is entirely lost, but the Cargo, all saved.
To be Sold, at Public Vendue,
On the first Day of March next, upon the Premises. A Valuable Plantation, the Property of the late James Williams, deceased : situated in the South Ward of the City of Perth-Amboy, at about three Miles Distance from the Cheesquack's Land- ing, containing Two Hundred Acres, about forty Acres already cleared, of which there are between twelve and fifteen Acres of good improved Meadow, and much more can be made at a small Expence : The Soil of the Upland is well adapted to produce both Rye and Indian Corn; On it there are two Houses, a Dutch Barn, and a bearing Orchard, the Wood Land extremely well timber'd ; easy Payments will be given. Any Person inclining to become a private Purchaser before the Day of Sale may know the Conditions, by applying to William Burnet, or John Johnston, at Perth-Amboy, or to John L. John- ston, in the above mentioned South Ward.
Perth-Amboy, Dec. 23, 1769.
-N. Y. Journal or General Advertiser, No. 1409, January 4, 1770.
6
[1770
NEW JERSEY COLONIAL DOCUMENTS.
NEW-YORK.
Jan. I. The Brig Jupiter, Capt. Byers, mentioned in our last to have run on the East Bank, was brought into the harbour last Friday night, with great difficulty : Most of the cargo of flax-seed is damaged, but the vessel may be repaired again
Trenton Goal, December 28, 1769.
THIS is to give notice, there was committed to my custody, by William Clayton, Esq ; as a runaway ap- prentice on the 24th day of October last, THOMAS SANDAMAN, this is to inform his master or sheriff that he run away from, that they come and pay charges and take him away, or he will be sold to pay cost and charges, on Saturday the 20th day of January, 1770, by me
PETER HANKISON, Goaler. -The Pennsylvania Journal, No. 1413, Fanu- ary 4, 1770.
W HEREAS the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey, have passed an Act for the Re- lief of Insolvent Debtors, at their last Sessions : We the Debtors now Prisoners in the County of Middle- sex, intend to take the Benefit of said Act and by Order of Jonathan Frazee, and Stephen Skinner, Esqrs., two of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, of the said County, do hereby desire all our Creditors to take Notice accordingly, and appear at the House of Elijah Dunham, in Perth Amboy, on Tuesday the 30th Day of January Inst. at 3 o'Clock in the Afternoon, to shew Cause (if any they have) before the said Stephen Skinner, and Jonathan Fra-
7
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1770]
zee, Esqrs, why the said Prisoners Estate should not be assigned to Assignees to be then appointed, for the Benefit of their Creditors, and the Prisoners dis- charged from their Confinement, agreeable to said Act. Dated Perth-Amboy, January 8, 1770.
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