USA > New Jersey > Documents relating to the revolutionary history of the state of New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421DAB V.1
M. L ..
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01802 7000
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421DAB V.1
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/documentsrelatin01stry
Victor H. Valhits July 23, 1908.
-
ARCHIVES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
SECOND SERIES. Vol. I.
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, WILLIAM S. STRYKER, AUSTIN SCOTT, EDMUND D. HALSEY, FRANCIS B. LEE, ERNEST C. RICHARDSON.
DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
VOLUME I.
EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS.
VOL. I. 1776-1777.
EDITED BY WILLIAM S. STRYKER, A.M., LL.D., ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY.
TRENTON, N. J. : THE JOHN L. MURPHY PUBLISHING CO., PRINTERS.
1001.
PREFACE. 1136435
Without waiting for the completion of the First Series of the New Jersey Archives, it was concluded some years ago to begin the publication of a Second Series, to extend through the Revolutionary period, and to include extracts from American newspapers and several volumes of un- published manuscript material. The newspaper extracts were secured by diligent gleaning among the files in the principal libraries of the country, and with an impartial disregard of the sentiments of the papers. It is believed they will prove of most fascinating interest, for the vivid pictures they present of contemporary events, and not the less so because of the often distorted views obtained from the want of that perspective to be had only by the lapse of time.
Very considerable progress was made by the late Gen- eral William S. Stryker in preparing this material for the press, and about half of the present volume was printed under his supervision, when he was compelled by ill-health to lay it aside several years ago. When his death occurred, October 29, 1900, the Committee of the New Jersey Historical Society, having charge of this department of its work, felt that it would be a fitting memorial to their beloved associate if this volume were completed and published with his name on the title page, where it most properly belongs. The Legislature of 1901 generously appropriated the funds for the purpose, and the Committee proceeded with the work. The principal
1
vi
PREFACE.
labor of seeing the volume through the press was cheer- fully assumed by Mr. Francis B. Lee, a member of the Committee, whose numerous valuable and most interest- ing notes attest the painstaking zeal with which he has discharged this voluntary task.
The authorship of notes contributed by other members of the Committee than General Stryker is indicated by their initials. W. N.
October 29, 1901.
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
Burlington, December 22, 1775.
DESERTED from the Second Battalion of the Continen- tal Army, raised in New Jersey, commanded by Col. Wil- liam Maxwell, and Captain William Falkner's company, now lying in Burlington Barrack's .- Christopher How- ard, Zedekiah Martin, Henry Mires, Isaac Butterworth, Samuel Ward, John Turner, William Watson, Elisha Stout, Thomas Holland, and William Biggins. This is to desire them, and all others who have absented them- selves from the three companies now lying in said Bar- racks, to repair to said place on or before the tenth day of January, and they may depend upon forgiveness for this first offence, but on failure may depend upon the punishment inflicted by a Court Martial, according to the nature of the offence.
WILLIAM MAXWELL,1 Colonel.
1 William Maxwell was a native of Greenwich township, Sussex county. At a meeting of the people of that county, July 16th, 1774, he was appointed on a com- mittee to co-operate with the other counties, and subsequently was elected a Deputy to the Provincial Congress which met at Trenton, in May, June and August, 1775 .- Minutes of Provincial Congress, 19, 169, 184. On October 28th, 1775, the Provincial Congress recommended him for appointment as Colonel of the Western Battalion of New Jersey, and on November 7th the Continental Congress appointed him, accord- ingly, Colonel of the Second Battalion, First Establishment .- Ib., 245 ; Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary Army, by William S. Stryker, 12, 16. The Con- tinental Congress appointed him, October 23d, 1776, Brigadier-General, and placed under him the four battalions raised on the Second Establishment, called "Max- well's Brigade."-Stryker, ut supra, 41-2. On May 11th, 1779, Maxwell's Brigade was ordered to the Susquehanna, on Sullivan's expedition. He resigned July 25th, 1780. " He commanded the Jersey line, during his entire term of service, as a general officer, and took an active part in every battle in which his brigade distinguished itself."-Stryker, ut supra, 64. " He served in the French War of 1755 as an officer of Provincial troops; was with Braddock when that officer was defeated, and fought under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. He was afterwards attached to the Commis- sary Department, and was posted at Mackinaw, holding the rank of Colonel. As
6
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1776
N. B .- All friends to American Liberty are requested. to be aiding and assisting in taking the above-mentioned
soon as he heard that the Colonies which bordered on the Atlantic had resolved to resist the Crown to the death rather than be enslaved, he resigned his commission in the British army, marched on foot to Trenton, and tendered his services to the Provincial Congress, then in session. They were accepted and a Colonel's commis- sion bestowed upon him, with orders to raise a battalion to march for Quebec. He succeeded in enlisting a fine body of men, and was engaged in recruiting when the meeting of the Sussex County Committee of Safety was held, August 10th and 11th, 1775, of which he was chosen Chairman. He took up his line of march, according to orders, but the defeat of Montgomery occurred before he could possibly reach Que- bec, and nothing remained but to return to headquarters. He was soon after raised to the rank of Brigadier-General, and served with distinction in the battles of Ger- mantown, Monmouth, Brandywine, Springfield, Wyoming and elsewhere. His per- sonal frankness and the absence of all haughtiness in his manners made him a great favorite with the soldiers; but his merits, as is too often the case, excited envy ; some of the officers, who boasted a more aristocratic lineage than he could claim, showed much jealousy of his advancement, and [in 1780] when one of this class succeeded in obtaining promotion over his head, he resigned his commission. He enjoyed to the last the special regard of Gen. Washington, who frequently eulogized him in his letters. Unfortunately for biographical purposes, Gen. Maxwell's house took fire just after the close of the Revolution, and all his valuable papers and cor- respondence were destroyed."-The First Sussex Centenary, Newark, 1853, p. 60. An eloquent inscription, written by his friend and compatriot, Gov. Richard Howell, is. placed over his remains, in the graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church of Green- wich township, setting forth that he was the oldest son of John and Anne Maxwell and that he died November 4th, 1796, in the 63d year of his age :
IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE
OF THE
UNITED STATES,
HE TOOK AN EARLY, AN ACTIVE PART;
A DISTINGUISHED MILITARY PARTISAN,
HE AROSE, THROUGH DIFFERENT GRADES OF THE AMERICAN ARMY, TO THE RANK OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL;
A GENUINE PATRIOT,
HE WAS A WARM AND DECIDED FRIEND
TO THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF HIS COUNTRY ;
IN PRIVATE LIFE, HE WAS EQUALLY DEVOTED TO ITS SERVICE,
AND TO THE GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY OF WHICH HE WAS A MEMBER,
AN HONORABLE AND CHARITABLE MAN, A WARM AND AFFECTIONATE FRIEND, A ZEALOUS ADVOCATE OF THE INSTITUTIONS AND AN ACTIVE PROMOTER OF THE INTERESTS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION .- Ib., 60, note.
7
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1776] ·
men, if seen after the aforesaid tenth day of January .- The Pennsylvania Packet, January 1, 1776.
Since the foregoing was put in type the following additional particulars have been furnished the writer by George Maxwell Robeson, ex-Attorney-General of New Jersey and ex-Secretary of the Navy :
General William Maxwell was born near Newtown Stewart, in county Tyrone, Ireland. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and was the son of John and Anne Max- well. He came to this country with his father when nearly a man grown. His father settled at Greenwich, in the then county of Sussex, now Warren county.
William entered the Provincial army as an officer. He was at the taking of Quebec by Wolfe, and was one of Washington's Provincials in the Braddock Expedi- tion against Fort Duquesne, and he was at the defeat of that unfortunate General. For his military services at that period he received from the British crown a grant of land near where Tarrytown is now located. The papers with regard to this grant were, however, lost in the burning of his house just before the close of the Revolutionary War.
At the time of the breaking out of the Revolution he was in the Provincial army, holding the rank of Colonel, and was stationed at Mackinaw. Upon receiving news of the first hostilities he resigned his commission and started for home on horse- back. His horse dropped dead in New York State somewhere near the New Jersey line, but he pushed on on foot until he reached Sussex county, where he immedi- ately began to raise troops for the patriot cause.
No portrait of General Maxwell is known to exist, but according to family tradi- tion he was a tall, stalwart man, with large bones. He had a florid complexion, large grey eyes, and his hair was dark brown, almost black-iron grey during the Revolutionary War. His manner was bluff but hearty, and from his Scotch descent and accent, his soldiers called him "Scotch Willie."
His father lived in Greenwich with his wife, a younger son, Robert, and two daughters. On one occasion the house was raided by a party of Tories. They ran- sacked the house, beat the old gentleman, and gave Robert a violent blow on the head, which injured him very severely. The wife and daughters were forced to flee to the woods for safety. General Maxwell, as soon as he was able, got leave of ab- sence from the army and with a party of soldiers pursued the Tories. He captured them and hanged them promptly, it is said, without judge or jury.
His brother John, who was next to him in age, was a Lieutenant in the First Jersey Establishment and afterwards a Captain in the service. He served at one time on General Maxwell's Staff with the rank of Major. It is related that he one day rode into camp at Morristown with a full company of one hundred stalwart soldiers from Sussex, to the surprise and delight of Washington.
Captain John Maxwell's eldest son was George Clifford Maxwell, Jefferson's United States District Attorney, and member of Congress from New Jersey in 1811- 13, elected as a Democrat. He married Miss Rachel Bryant, and they had two children-
1. A son, John Paterson Bryant Maxwell, who was a member of Congress from New Jersey from 1836 to 1840, and died in Belvidere, November 14th, 1845.
2. A daughter, Anna Maria, who married William P. Robeson, of Oxford Furnace, and their eldest son is the George Maxwell Robeson from whom the above informa- tion was derived, who was also a member of Congress from New Jersey from 1878 to 1882.
Captain John Maxwell had also a younger son, William, and two daughters. -W. N.
·
8
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
[1776
To be SOLD, in Mount Holly,
Three Dwelling Houses, with about an Acre of Ground to each House, Part of which is Meadow, a small Stream of Water running through each Lot. On the Premises is a very convenient Situation for a Mill, if the Water of an adjoining Saw-mill was led across the Road, 4th of .
which Water is also to be disposed of by the Subscriber, living on the premises, to whom, or to Richard Wells, of Philadelphia, Application may be made for further Particulars.
JACOB PARKER. -The Pennsylvania Gazette, January 3, 1776.
TRENTON FERRY and PLANTATION.
Whereon Mr. Rensellear Williams1 now lives, to be LETT for one or more years, together with the TAVERN, Farm, &c., usually rented therewith, and to be entered upon the first day of March next. Any person of proper activity and spirit, suitable for such a situation, and able to give good security for the rent, shall, upon application, receive all due encouragement; none other need apply. For terms, enquire of Daniel Coxe,2 Esq; at Trenton, or Doctor Redman, in Philadelphia .- The Pennsylvania Gazette, January 3, 1776.
1 Rensselaer Williams was a well-known citizen of Trenton during the Revolu- tionary War. He was a Justice of the Peace and Librarian of the Trenton Library. He aided John Fitch to obtain from the Legislature of New Jersey exclusive privi- leges for the navigation, with steam, of the Delaware river. When he left the inn at Trenton Ferry he lived just above Stacy Potts' house, on King street, and kept the inn of the " Royal Oak." He fell dead on the street, nearly opposite the State House, in December, 1796, at the age of 64. See Hall's History of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, p. 252, and Stryker's Trenton One Hundred Years Ago.
2 For a sketch of Daniel Coxe (the fifth of the name), see 1, N. J. Archives, X., 226, note. His wife was a daughter of Dr. John Redman.
9
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1776]
FORTY SHILLINGS, Reward.
Run away on First day, the 24th instant, from the sub- scriber, living on Newtown Creek in Gloucester county an English servant lad, about 5 feet 4 or 5 inches high, named Thomas Day, but probably may change it, about 20 years of age, wears his own light coloured bushy hair ; had on, when he went away, a half worn beaver hat, cloth coloured upper jacket, very much worn, under it a Wilton coatee, much on the reddish cast, buckskin breeches, much wore and broke on the knees, coarse homespun shirt, quite new, grey yarn stockings, lately footed, old shoes, with plated buckles. Whoever takes up and secures the said servant, so that his master may get him again, shall be entitled to the above reward, from
BENJAMIN THACKREY,
It is likely he will make for Dunmore, as he came from that way, and is a great Tory.
December 27, 1775. -The Pennsylvania Gazette, January 3, 1776.
New York, January 8th [1776] .- Last Monday Night, John Van Horne,1 Esq., of ROCKY HILL, in NEW JERSEY, was married to Miss HEARD, Daughter of Colonel NA- THANIEL HEARD,2 of WOODBRIDGE, in said Province ; a very agreeable and accomplished young Lady.
1 John Van Horne was a descendant of John Van Horne, who in 1707 bought of William Dockwra 6,800 acres of land at Blawenberg, Somerset county, near Rocky Hill .- Historical Discourse on occasion of the Centennial Anniversary of the Reformed Dutch Church of Millstone, by Edward Tanjore Corwin, pastor, New York, 1866, p. 16, and map prefaced. Washington's headquarters, where he wrote his farewell address to the army, November 2d, 1783, were quite near the Van Horne residence.
William Dunlap, the historian of early American art, resided with the Van Hornes at this time, and gives an interesting picture of them. He says: "Mr. John Van Horne was a man of uncommon size and strength, and bulky withal," and he relates an amusing incident when Van Horne, to shame one of his black boys, chased and ran down an agile porker, and looked up triumphantly, just as Wash- ington and his suite trotted into the yard. See Hist. Collections of N. J., 462.
2 Nathaniel Heard was a member of a family then and subsequently prominent in the annals of Woodbridge, N. J. On January 7th, 1775, he was chosen one of a
-
10
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
[1776
THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY for the Colony of New Jer- sey are to meet on Tuesday the Ninth Day of January,
"committee of observation " from Woodbridge .- Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jersey, Trenton, 1879, pp. 42, 45. He was one of the ‘ delegates elected by Middlesex county to the Provincial Congress, which met at Trenton, in May, June and August, 1775 .- Ib., 169 He was appointed Colonel of the First Regiment, Middlesex ; Colonel, Battalion "Minute Men," February 12th, 1776; Colonel, Battalion, "Heard's Brigade," June 25th, 1776 ; Brigadier-General Commanding, ditto ; Brigadier General, militia, February 1st. 1777 .- Official Register. of Officers and. Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, by William S. Stryker, Trenton, 1872, p. 349.
On January 3d, 1776, the Continental Congress ordered Col. Heard, with 500 or 600 Minute Men and three companies from Lord Stirling, to disarm all the Tories in Queens county, Long Island, which he did with great promptness. An officer under him wrote : "He is indefatigable, treats the inhabitants with civility and the utmost humanity." He carried off nearly 1.000 muskets, four colors of Long Island militia, and nineteen of the principal disaffected persons, and made 319 others swear that they had concealed no arms from him. He received the thanks of the local com- mittee for his prudence in the execution of his duty, and the compliment of a bitter attack in doggerel verse by the Tories, of which this is a specimen :
"Col. Heard has come to town, In all his pride and glory ; And when he dies he'll go to Hell, For robbing of the Tory."
-Documents and letters intended to illustrate the Revolutionary Incidents of Queens county, by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., New York, 1846, pp. 41-8; Calendar of N Y. Revolutionary Manuscripts, I., 218, 235, 334 ; Bancroft, VIII., 276; Memoirs L. I. Hist. Soc., II., 34-40; III., Docs., 170. On February 12th, 1776, the Provincial Congress ordered him to take 700 troops to Staten Island, to hold it against the enemy .- Minutes, 363. When the Provincial Congress decided June 16th, 1776, to arrest Gov. William Franklin, that delicate task was entrusted to Col. Heard, the Congress "reposing great con- fidence in [his] zeal and prudence," and he promptly placed him under arrest the next (Sunday) morning .- Ib., 457-8-61 ; N. J. Archives, X., 719-20. The Continental Congress having ordered Franklin to be sent to Connecticut, Heard set out thither with his prisoner, but halted with him at Hackensack, for which he was sharply reproved by Washington .- Minutes Provincial Congress, 475; Sparks's Washington, III., 446-8. Two or three weeks later Heard was busy, under orders from Washington, picking up suspicious characters at Amboy and on Staten Island .- Sparks's Washing- ton, III., 451-2. His brigade was engaged in the disastrous battle of Long Island, in the subsequent retreat to Fort Lee, and thence southerly through New Jersey .- Force's Archives, 5th series, II , passim; Memoirs L. I. Hist. Soc., III., passim; Sparks's Washington, IV , 432 ; N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1878, p. 404. Letters written by him from headquarters, Raritan, March 16th and April 1st, 1777, show his vigilance in detecting and arresting a British spy, and in taking care of British deserters .- N. J. Revolutionary Correspondence, 45 ; Penna. Archives, V., 262. On June 17th, 1777, he reports from Pompton the arrest of several persons "charged with taking away in an unlawful manner some tea stored at Paramus, * *
* supposed to be near four hundred weight."-N. J. Rev. Cor., 69. On October 2d, 1778, his command marched from Woodbridge for Hackensack .- Sparks's Washington, VI., 75; Gaines's N. Y. Mer- cury, passim. Heard's rigorous punishment of the enemies of American liberty made the British very bitter against him, and during 1776-7 they burned down two dwell- ing-houses, a bolting-house, a hatter's shop, a weaver's shop, wagon-house and a stable, besides carrying off his cattle, horses and crops, to his damage £2,189, 17, 6,.
11
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1776]
Inst, at the House of Jacob Hyer, in Princetown, at two o'Clock. All the Members are desired to attend, as there are several Matters of Importance to be laid before them. SAMUEL TUCKER.1.
W HEREAS a certain William Gill took from the sub- scriber, innholder, living at Griggs Town, Somer- set county, a brown horse about 14 hands high, with a small star in his forehead, one hind foot white, (thought to be on the near side) with some white spots on his sides, occasioned by carrying tin baskets ; trots, paces and gallops, on his pace logy ; about 9 years old. There was also taken away at the same time a hunting saddle, with light coloured housen fringed and an old curb bridle. Said Gill is remarkable for having a flat nose, somewhat crooked, a talkative person, given to liquor. Had on a light coloured surtout coat, with black horn buttons, his under coat a mixed colour, inclining on the red, a black velvet waistcoat, the hind parts black callimancoe, a pair of buckskin breeches, something sul- lied, plated buckles, ruffled shirt, white neckcloth, dark coloured hair, mixed with grey, and club'd up with a
as appears by his affidavit recorded in a MS. volume in the State Library. His dwelling houses were two and a half stories high, with four rooms on a floor, well furnished, fifty feet in length. It is needless to say that he was never reimbursed for his great sacrifices for his country. Capt. Montresor, of the British army, says sneeringly, that he was a tavern-keeper, and unwittingly pays a high compliment to his usefulness to the American cause by saying that it was one of the great blunders of the British that they did not buy him over to their side .- N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1881, p. 136. Gen. Heard lived in Woodbridge, on the southeast corner of the junction of the old post-road and the road from Amboy. He had three sons-John, James and William-and four daughters -Whitehead's Perth Amboy, 193, note. John and James also served in the army with distinction. It may be added that Gen. Heard was appointed one of the trustees of the free school of Woodbridge, in the charter given in 1769. In 1776 he was elected town collector, and the people also voted to continue him as school trustee. He died at Woodbridge, October 28th, 1792, aged 62 years .- Dally's Woodbridge, passim .- W. N.
1 Samuel Tucker of Trenton, N. J. He was at one time Sheriff of Hunterdon county. On October 4th, 1775, he was made President of the Provincial Congress of the State and as such he signed the Constitution of July 2d, 1776. On September 4th, 1776, he was made one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. In the latter part of the same year he took British protection. He died in 1789, aged 67.
12
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
[1776
false tail. Whoever takes up said horse and secures him, so that the owner may get him again, shell have Three Pounds reward, or six Pounds for the horse and thief, from
BENJAMIN SKILLMAN.
Morris County, ss. B Y order of the Judges of the In- ferior Court of Common Pleas in and for the county of Morris. Notice is hereby given to all the creditors of Samuel Martin, an insolvent debtor, now confined in the common gaol of said county, that they be and appear before two of the said Judges at the Court House in Morris-Town, in said county, on Monday the 29th, day of January, inst. at 2 o'clock in the after- noon, to shew cause, if any they have, why an assign- ment of the said debtor's estate may not be made to such persons as shell be then appointed, and he be discharged from his confinement, according to the directions of an act of the province of New Jersey, entitled, "An act for the relief of insolvent debtors."
THIS Is TO GIVE NOTICE,
1 THAT there is to be sold in Spanktown,1 in East-New- Jersey, a dwelling-house fronting the country road, and the rear joining Raway river, two stories high, 21 feet by 28, very convenient for a shopkeeper or any publick business. Any person inclining to purchase the said house, may apply to the subscriber, living on the 'premises, who will agree on reasonable terms, and give a good title for the same.
DANIEL THORP.
1 Now Rahway.
13
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1776]
JOSEPH HALLETT,
Has for SALE, at the House of Doctor BURNET, in Newark, New Jersey :
A N Assortment of DRY GOODS and IRONMONGERY, amongst which are, Bath and common Coatings, Hunters, Forrest Cloths, Broad Cloths, Ribbands, Shalloons, &c. Also, Whitechapel Needles, Knives and Forks, Locks, Hinges, Tacks, &c. &c.
WANTED immediately,
A T the HIBERNIA FURNACE, in Morris county, New Jersey, belonging to Messrs. ROBERT and JOHN MURRAY, of New York, a Number of Wood Cut- ters. Two SHILLINGS and NINE PENCE per cord will be given, and the Balance paid as soon as the Quantity agreed for is compleated, by the subscriber, living at the Works.
Dec. 7th, 1775. JOSEPH HOFF.1
-New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, January S, 1776.
TO BE SOLD,
Or RENTED for a term of years,
A PLANTATION in the township of Amwell, Hun- terdon county, West-New-Jersey, containing one hundred and sixty-six acres, fifty where of is covered with wood, and as much more is, and may be made, good meadow ; the rest pasture and fit for tillage : A strong new fence goes round the lines, with convenient partition fences,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.