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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02945 1439
Gc 974.902 M75c Corwin, Edward Tanjore, 1834 -1914. Historical discourse on occasion of the centennial
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
ON OCCASION
OF THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
Reformed
Butch
Church,
OF
MILLSTONE.
BY
EDWARD TANJORE CORWIN, PASTOR.
1866.
NEWYORK : J. J. REED, PRINTER, 43 CENTRE STREET. 1866.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 .Fort Wayne, IN 48801-2270
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PREFACE.
THE Reformed Dutch Church of Hillsborough, at Mill- stone, celebrated her centennial anniversary on Saturday, August 11th, 1866. The following Historical Discourse was delivered by the pastor, on the morning of that day, in connection with appropriate religious exercises. On motion of Hon. A. O. Zabriskie, its publication was called for, with the request that notes and appendices be added. The writer has accordingly given it to the public, hoping that thereby, the memory of early times may be preserved, and also, (which is more important,) that by a proper appreciation of the past, Israel may understand what she ought to do in the future.
Having noticed shortly after his settlement at Millstone, that the church was rapidly completing her first century, he directed his attention, as time permitted, to her history, and in the course of a couple of years, the within material collected in his hands. The sources whence he has gathered his facts, were the Millstone Church Records, (which are complete, with the exception of four years, 1810-1814,)
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PREFACE.
and the records of some of the neighboring churches ; the minutes of Classis, and of the early Synod, and such local histories and biographical notices as could be found ; the Documentary and Colonial Histories of New York; the early Colonial Records at Amboy and Trenton, and some few private papers. He also feels particularly indebted to the "Contributions to the History of East Jersey," and other volumes, of Wm. A. Whitehead, Esq., which have proved of great value, both in facts given, and in directing to sources of information. Hon. Ralph Voorhees, of Middle- bush, loaned a number of papers, from which the facts concerning the church at Three Mile Run were gleaned, and for which the writer would express his thanks ; and also especially indebted is he to Mrs. E. F. L. Read, and Miss Sarah C. Souder, of Philadelphia, for their kind and valuable assistance in reference to the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Foering, the first regularly installed minister in this place. He would also take this opportunity of returning his thanks to Rev. Mr. Kiekenveldt and Mr. Louis H. Bahler, for valuable assistance in the translation of Dutch and German documents.
MILLSTONE, August 30th, 1866.
Millstone
Centennial Anniversary. August 11, 1866.
The following was the Programme of the occasion :-
Chant-(Ps. 90)-by the Choir.
Invocation : By REV. W. J. R. TAYLOR, D.D.
Reading of Scriptures-(Ps. 103) : By REV. C. C. VAN CLEEF. Prayer : By PROF. DE WITT, D.D.
Singing-Hymn 458.
Historical Discourse By the Pastor. Singing-Ps. 137, 3d Part. Benediction.
RECESS.
Singing-Ps. 87. ADDRESS BY REV. GABRIEL LUDLOW, D.D. (Reminiscences of Drs. Cannon and Schureman.) ADDRESS BY REV. P. D. VAN CLEEF, D. D.
REV. J. C. SEARS, D.D.
HON. A. O. ZABRISKIE.
" HON. F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN.
" PROF. JOHN DE WITT, D.D. Anthem by the Choir.
Doxology
Benediction.
PRESENT CHURCH OFFICERS,
PASTOR : EDWARD TANJORE CORWIN.
ELDERS :
RALPH TERHUNE SUTPHEN,
ROELOFF DITMARS,
JAMES LONGSTREET VOORHEES, JOHN SMITH.
DEACONS :
JOHN VREDENBURGH VAN NEST,
FREDERICK T. SMITH,
CORNELIUS HOAGLAND BROACH, JOHN STAATS.
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
THE histories of the individual churches of Christ are worthy of preservation, because they represent the efforts of particular communities, to carry forward, at least in their own localities, those glorious principles of heavenly truth, which the Saviour brought from heaven, and which when understood and appropriated, will regenerate mankind. Each faithful church stands as the representative of the kingdom of Heaven, of the triumphs of righteousness, on the earth. Her history must therefore ever be the record of noble deeds of piety and love ; of steady, earnest effort in the work of enlightening, benefiting, and saving men ; of pure devotedness to the Spirit and cause of the Master. It is true, indeed, that each church lives in an atmosphere of sin, that the imperfections of even the friends of Christ, tend often greatly to obscure her glory, so that in her efforts to build up the cause of truth and righteousness, the world may look upon her as a simple belligerent, having no superior aims to her opponents ; nevertheless, each church is a little rill, helping to make up the ever-swelling tide of Christian influence, which is flowing onward with resistless volume, to purify and save our race. And if a church's history, as a whole, represent progress in this direction ; if it show souls gathered into the kingdom ; if a community have been leavened with Christian truths, or better still, with Christian practices, and been made to appreciate, and exhibit, the Eternal Law of Love-then has that church
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
accomplished a great and glorious mission. She has per- formed her part, though imperfectly, in the grand manœu- vres of that great army, whose Captain is Jesus Christ, and by which army, in all the harmony of the plan, which shall ultimately be developed even to our understandings, shall the world be conquered to the obedience of the faith.
It should, therefore, be a profitable task for us, as a church, at this marked period of our history, to glance over the past, that our memories may be refreshed, and our souls quickened anew, as we enter upon the second century of our career. For with each succeeding age, is the church of Christ called to higher duties and responsibilities, to greater self-denials and boldness in the cause of the Master- a proper understanding of which ever-expanding duties, it would be sad for her to fail to appreciate. But while dwelling upon and getting almost lost, perhaps, in interest- ing details, yet let us ever remember that the ultimate objects of history are, by understanding the Providence of God, to enable us to mount from the experience of the past to higher elevations in the future.
I am requested by the Consistory to give to-day, not only a history of the church, but also as necessarily introductory to it, a brief sketch of the civil settlement of this region. The civil history, before the period of our church, naturally divides itself into two parts. First, the Dutch sway, lasting from the first settlement of the country for a little more than half a century,* (1609-1666) ; and second, the English sway, lasting for a little more than a century, (1664-1776).
* The Synod of Dort (1618-19,) was held just before the time that the Dutch emigration fairly began. The Dutch West India Company, which gave great impetus to emigration, was chartered in 1621; the monopoly of the company was abolished in 1638.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
During the Dutch sway, the central portions of New Jersey, including of course our own localities, remained entirely unsettled, and almost untrodden by the foot of a European .* The Dutch clung to the shores of the great rivers on either side of our State, and to the immediate vicinity of the noble harbor of the western world. t Per- haps the yet vivid remembrance of the encroaching seas of Holland, which they loved to fight so well, kept them so near the coast ; perhaps their paucity of numbers, though they had reached 10,000 before the English conquest ; perhaps the hostilities of the Indians, in the interior, with whom they had had some misunderstandings, though the natives of the soil, in all our State, only numbered 2,000 ;} or perhaps their love of trade, and a mariner's life, or still other reasons, may have kept them along the shores of the larger bays and rivers. And although some grants of large tracts of land, covering portions of our county, § were
* Mr. Rockhill Robeson, now living at Weston, has informed me, since this was written, that private papers in his family state that his ancestry settled on the Millstone Branch of the Raritan in 1642, and in 1666 moved to Philadelphia.
+ A few Dutch had penetrated and settled near Hackensack, as early as 1644 .- Whitehead's East Jersey, p. 277.
# The Indians of New Jersey were divided among twenty petty kings, of whom the king of the Raritans was the greatest. About 1655 there was quite a slaughter by the Indians, around New Amsterdam, Pavonia, Staten Island, and Long Island. In 1640 the.Raritan Indians had been wrongfully accused of theft, and a number of them killed .- Riker, p. 37.
The seat of the Raritan kings was upon an inland mountain (prob- ably the Nechanic mountain, which answers approximately to the description) .- Sce Whitehead's E. J., p. 24.
§ Augustine Herman received, in 1651, a square of land, having the Raritan from Amboy to North Branch for its southern side .- White- head, pp. 19, 37, 38.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
made during the Dutch government of the country, yet not a single Dutch settlement was made in the interior. *
The English, meanwhile, claimed the territory of the New Netherlands by right of prior discovery, t but did not make very strenuous efforts to conquer the Dutch, ¿ until 1664 ; and among other reasons or pretexts, one was that the Dutch refused to allow the people of New England to settle in the New Netherlands. The conquest was made unexpectedly, and therefore easily, and a little more than two centuries ago, the Dutch sway passed away from America forever.
But with this change of government, the emigration from Holland virtually ceased. The Dutch families in this country (excepting the more recent immigrants), have all been here, it may be safely said, for more than two cen- turies, or about seven generations. But with the English conquest, a new period of colonization and settlement of * the territory of our present State began.
The English sway lasting for 112 years, divides itself into three marked periods; viz., under Carteret, for eighteen years, under the Proprietors for twenty, and the rest of the time, seventy-two, under the crown. The New Netherlands extended from the borders of Connecticut to the Delaware River. But as the English fleet started on their mission of
* We of course except the remarkable Dutch settlement, long lost in the wilderness, of Minisink, begun in 1634 .- See Gordon, p. 10.
t Sebastian Cabot, in 1498, sailed along the coast.
# In 1634 England granted to Sir Edmund Ployden and his associates all the lands between Long Island Sound and Cape May. This was erected into a free county palatine, to be called New Albion, and it is said he ruled over five hundred people. (?) He returned to England in 1741. The Dutch offered to sell out at one time, but not being accepted, they finally refused to sell altogether.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
conquest, so certain did Charles II., king of England, feel of accomplishing it, that he gave the territory of the Dutch to his brother James, Duke of York and Albany; and he in turn, while the fleet was yet on the sea, to raise money for his extravagances, ceded a large part of his newly acquired territory west of the Hudson, that is, the territory of our present State, to Sir George Carteret, and Lord John Berkeley. Philip Carteret, a brother of Sir George, was appointed governor, which position he held with slight in- terruption* for eighteen years, (1664-1682,) and this is the first period of the English sway.
During his administration, there was a large English im- migration to this State, both from Old England and from New. The policy of Carteret and Berkeley, was very lib- cral. They published and scattered their offers to settlers, in what were called, " Grants and Concessions," which were nothing else than a sort of republican constitution, t mem- bers elected by the people, forming part of the legislature } and grants of 150 acres of land being given to every man, and smaller quantities to women and to servants, after a time, who would come and settle, provided the men and servants could come armed with a musket and provision for a few months. The population of the province was thus vastly increased by English settlers, who located around
* In 1673 the Dutch re-conquered the State and held it for one year. In 1679, Andross, governor of New York, made Carteret a prisoner for a time, endeavoring to unite New Jersey to New York, but without success.
t They contrasted it with that of Carolina, which was aristocratic .- Whitehead's E. J. p. 308.
# The first legislative assembly was held in 1668, when Bergen, Eliz- abethtown, Newark, Woodbridge and Middletown, were represented. These were at that time the only towns.
-
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Amboy, Woodbridge, Elizabethtown and Newark. But no settlements were made during this time up the Raritan, or on its tributaries, although a few grants of land in this county, on the north of the Raritan, were given .*
But during this time, Berkeley having failed, West Jer- sey was set off as his portion to be sold for the benefit of lis creditors, and East Jersey remained to Carteret. The first division line soon after run, (1676,) is the present western bound of our county, that is, south of the South Branch of the Raritan. But Sir George Carteret, dying in 1679, East Jersey, his property, was sold for the settling of his estate, and after some legal manœuvering for three years, it finally became, in 1682, the property of twelve proprietors, all Quakers, with William Penn at the head.+ Each of these ' sold out one half of his interest to another person, so that in this same year, East Jersey became the property of twenty-four proprietors, embracing almost every religious sect .¿ This was done from motives of policy.
*John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke Watson, of Long Island, pur- chased the tract formerly purchased by Augustine Herman, for articles valued at $ 200. The same Indians sold the same tract, twice, (1651 and 1664.) It was bought by permission of Gov. Nicholls, not knowing at the time of the cession already of New Jersey to Carteret and Berke- ley. This was ultimately the cause of the great Elizabethtown bill in chancery respecting the lands north of the Raritan, about a century ago, and which, after many years of litigation, was dropped at the Revolu- tion, and never revived.
t They paid £ 3,400 for East Jersey. Their names were : William Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groom, Thomas Hart, Richard Mew, Ambrose Riggs, John Haywood, Hugh Hartshorne, Clement Plumstead, Thomas Cooper, and Thomas Wilcox, who at once sold out his interest.
į The names of the additional purchasers, were, James, Earl of Perth, John Drummond, Robert Barclay, (the first Governor), David Barclay,
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
These proprietors liberally governed their territory, and it is under them that the Raritan and Millstone valleys began to be settled. Their sway lasted, with some little interrup- tions, from 1682, for twenty years. Each of them had an equal interest in the territory, and either of them could have his share* set off to him in lands unappropriated, or conld sell out his interest or a portion of his interest, or jointly, they could deed away any tract of land, which was gener- ally done by a fully authorized agent. Within two years after East Jersey became the property of the proprietors, the South side of the Raritan, from below New Brunswick to Bound Brook, t was laid out in nineteen lots,¿ having in general, a little less than half a mile of river-front, and about two miles in depth, extending in this vicinity, to the neighborhood of Middlebush, and the most of these were in process of improvement. The last one of these lots hav- ing its face on the Raritan immediately below Bound Brook, followed the curve of that river, and extended back almost to the mouth of the Millstone, or to the present farm of Henry Garretson, and with the adjoining plot on the South, was owned by Mr. William Dockwra, the two containing 000 acres; and behind these, facing the Millstone, were a
Robert Gordon, Arent Sonmans, Gawen Lawrie, Edward Byllinge, James Braine, William Gibson, Thomas Barker, Robert Turner, and Thomas Warren.
* One share or propriety, contained 10,800 acres.
+ John Inions & Co., bought on Nov. 1st, 1681, two lots, where now stands New Brunswick, containing a mile of river-front, and two miles of depth. In 1683, Middlesex was assessed £ 10 in a tax of £ 50, being one of the four counties then existing. In 1694, a permanent ferry was Established at New Brunswick. - Whitehead's Amboy, p. 269.
# See first map of East Jersey, made in 1685, which locates these lots. (Library of Historical Society, Newark.)
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
couple of lots reaching to the present farm of Benjamin Smith, the lower, containing 800 acres, and belonging to George Willox; and the upper, containing 500 acres and belonging to Mr. William Dockwra, before mentioned. On the north side of the Raritan,* from Bound Brook to the North Branch, and extending back to the Blue Hills, as they were called, six large plotst had already been survey- ed and laid off to as many parties or companies ; while the large tract of land on the south, extending from the month of the Millstone, three and a half miles up the Raritan, to an island, just above the present covered bridge, and thence running south by west, about two miles; and east, two miles to the Millstone, on a line which is said to be the pre- sent northerly line of Mr. James Elmendorf's farm,t this tract containing 3,000 acres, (exclusive of 250 acres of meadows), § having been bought a few years before, by a company consisting of Capt. Anthony Brockholls, William Pinhorne, John Robinson, Capt. Mathias Nicholls, and Samuel Edsall, was in the year 1685 confirmed to Royce & Co., of New York, and to be thenceforward known by the name of Roycefield.| So that the only lands taken up on
* In 1685 John Forbes took up about 400 aeres of land on the Raritan, about twenty miles above Amboy, for the purpose of improvement and speculation .- See Whitehead's E. J. p. 321.
t Beginning at Bound Brook, the names of these owners were : Rud- yard, Codrington, White,-Graham, Winder, & Co .- Robinson, and Lord Neill Campbell.
¿ Peter G. Quick.
§ These meadows had been formerly granted to James Graham, John White, Samuel Winder, and Cor. Courzen .- Liber A. 273, Amboy Records.
| The bounds were : beginning at a place called "Hunter's Wigwam" on the Millstone River, thenee north by west, two miles to a fresh brook called Manamtaqua; thenee north by east and north north-east, to the Raritan River, opposite the west end of a small island, formerly
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
the Millstone in the year 1685, were these two plots near its mouth, on the east side, owned by Willox and Dockwra, (now called Weston,) and the one on the west side, owned by Royce, excepting a little plot, at the mouth of Stony Brook," away up the stream solitary and alone in the wil- derness, which had previously been purchased by Dr. Henry Greenland. What a change in 180 years! Where all is now smiling farms, interspersed with Christian temples, then roamed the savage ; and only seldom, and timorously too, had civilized man ventured to break the stillness of the scene, by his adventurous tread.
Within six years after the proprietors began to dispose of the land, the population along the Raritan had so increased, t that they had the new county of Somerset # set off from
belonging to Robert Vanquellin, and now in possession of John Robin- son ; and thence down the Raritan three and a half miles ; and up the Millstone to the place of beginning.
* This can hardly be the Stony Brook, now known by that name, above Princeton, but must be another stream near Rocky Hill, then called by that name. Reed, on his map in 1685, locates him on Stony Brook, but not above fourteen miles above the mouth of the Millstone.
t The great thoroughfares from Amboy and Brunswick to the Dela- ware were laid out about this time. In 1682, the population was about 4,000 (Smith, p. 161.) In 1689, it was estimated at 10,000.
# Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth, the first counties, were made in 1682, the eastern and northern bounds of Middlesex being then about the same as now, and running westward to the limits of the prov- înce (which had not yet been fixed by survey). In 1687, the division line between East and West Jersey was first run, and this became the western bound of the new county of Somerset. But this line, the own- ers of West Jersey always insisted, bore too much to the west; there- fore, in 1743, another line was run, which passed through the centre of our present township of Hillsborough, being altogether east of Nechanic Mountain, and of which the line between Stillwater and Newtown town- ships, in Sussex county, is still a vestige .- See Gordon, p. 73.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Middlesex, although it was not till some time after, that the bounds of the new county were made to include the Valley of the Millstone, * in this vicinity. But it was now a stir- ring period of settlement and colonization. Glowing ap- peals were made respecting the desirability of the lands on the Raritan and its branches, and the large patentees had hardly received their grants before they found many eager purchasers for smaller tracts. On June 10th, 1688, Wm. Dockwra, for having induced large emigration from Eng- land and Scotland to New Jersey, received patents for 2,000 acres in the valleys of the Millstone t and Raritan, and for 3,815 acres on the tributaries of the Millstone,-to be after- wards located. He also came into possession of many other immense tracts of land, in various parts of the province. He was a Scotchman by birth, but at this time a merchant in London. The proprietors had such confidence in him, that they gave him full powers of attorney to cede lands in East Jersey at his own option. But, sad to say, he abused their confidence, to his own interest, and was subsequently superseded.± IIe died in 1717.§
The present turnpike line, between Somerset and Middlesex, was fixed in 1766 .- Early Records of New Brunswick, Map.
t "The western part of Middlesex County is watered by Millstone River, which runs through a pleasant valley belonging to Mr. William Dockwra, of London."-Extract from Oldmixon's Hist. Brit. Emp., fur- nished by W'm. A. Whitehead, Esq.
These lands were mostly on the east side of the Millstone, extending from the present farm of Mr. Cropsey, more than two miles up the river. He also came into possession of 6,800 acres in Montgomery township, north of Blawenburgh, in 1706, which he sold the next year to John Van Horne.
# Governors Rudyard and Lawrie had acted a similar part, with lands on the Raritan, and with a similar fate.
§ Mr. Dockwra was never in this country.
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· HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
About 1690, Capt. Clement Plumstead obtained a large grant of land, including the territory of our present vil- lage. William Plumstead (probably a brother,) had lands to the north-west, in the vicinity of the farm of the late Henry Wilson. Clement Plumstead's land extend- ed up the Millstone two miles, to what is now Black- well's Mills, and west, to the road leading by the pres- ent John P. Staats' house to Cross Roads. Thomas Barker had the next plantation up the stream, having a mile and a half of river front, and extending west as far as Plumstead's ; while Mr. Hart and Walter Benthall owned the next two plantations, which carry us up to the hills this side of Princeton.
The next large plot of land in this vicinity was purchased or inherited by Peter Sonmans .* His father, Arent Son- mans, was one of the twenty-four proprietors, t and who, at length, became possessed of five full shares of East Jersey. In 1693, his son Peter obtained a deed for about 36 square miles of the western part of our present township of Hills- borough, and a large part of Montgomery. His line began near Clover Hill,¿ and ran S. E. along the present county
* Mr. Sonmans was a native of Holland, having been educated at Leyden, and held important offices under the Prince of Orange, after he became King William III. He was Surveyor-General of Jersey for four years, a member of the Council, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and represented the County of Bergen in the House of Assembly. He was a churchman by profession, but gave land for a dissenting church at Hopewell, and for a Dutch Church at what is now Harlingen. He is said to have borne a bad character .- Col. Hist. N. Y., vol. v., pp. 204, 328, 535.
t Probably this tract had not been laid off to Arent Sonmans in his life-time. Peter may have inherited his father's interest, merely.
# Beginning at the south corner of a tract of land, of 3,000 acres, for- merly laid out to Peter Sonmans, on the South Branch, fronting south- east by east, 3º more easterly, and running along the division line of
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