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F 142 CIGB7 Copy 2
ANNALS OF CAMDEN
CHARLES S. BOYER
1800
'S
Class E 142 CIGBy Book
PRESENTED BY copy2.
PRESENTED TO THE CONGRE SSIONAL LIBRARY BY THE BROOKLAWN JUNIOR WOM ENS' CLUB ~ BROOKLAWN CAMDEN COUNTY - NEW. JERSEY - - 1928 - 1929 · ·
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THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY
OF
CAMDEN COUNTY and CAMDEN CITY
BY CHARLES S. BOYER
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PRESIDENT CAMDEN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, LIFE MEMBER GLOUCESTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MEMBER PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
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PRIVATELY PRINTED
1922
1
FI12
Edition limited to 500 copies This is No.
The club 0.1.1928
COPYRIGHTED BY THE AUTHOR
19%2
THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY AND CAMDEN CITY
By CHARLES S. BOYER
Nearly sixty years prior to the founding of the city of Phila- delphia, the Dutch West India Company by virtue of its charter, had through Captains Cornelius Jacobese Mey and David Pieterson De Vries, taken possession of all of the country along the Delaware river. They established a small colony on its eastern bank, near the mouth of Timber creek, a few miles below the present city of Camden, and built a log fort, called Fort Nassau, to protect it against the ravages of the Indians. This was the first settlement, of which there is any authentic record, to be erected by Europeans on the shores of the Delaware and, though its existence was short-lived, it marks the beginnings of the present civilization in this part of the country. The trials, tribulations and ultimate fate of the little set- tlement around Fort Nassau has been so admirably told by Clay, Mickle and others,* that nothing further can be added to the story.
Passing over the period from 1633 to 1664, during which the Dutch and Swedes were struggling for control of the territory bounding on the Delaware river, we come to the English domination of the country. The latter exercised undisputed sway, until the War for Independence, except for the short period in 1673-74, when the Dutch recaptured New York and the adjacent country. It was during the occupancy by the English that the foundation of our early laws and customs was laid, the former being based on a set of rules and regulations, called the "Fundamentals," which had been agreed upon by the "Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants," while the customs closely followed the practices and precepts of the Quakers. It is quite true that there were a few Dutch and Swedish families in West
· Barker's Sketches of the Primitive Settlements on the River Delaware, O'Callighans His- tor of New Netherlands, Mickle's Reminiscences of Old Gloucester.
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Jersey, particularly in what is now Gloucester and Salem counties, but their peculiar customs and laws have left no especial impress on the later development of the country.
The manner in which the title to the lands in West Jersey passed from the English sovereign to others and finally to those who actually settled within the province involves many complicated legal questions. We will, therefore, only briefly touch upon the grants, leases and re- leases of these Crown lands in order that a clearer understanding may be had of the events leading up to the settlement of the colony.
The British laws vested title to all lands secured by discovery, or exploration, in the King, who could dispose of them in any way that suited his designs or purposes. In 1664, the Duke of York, afterwards James II, in order to mend his fortune, induced his brother, Charles II, to give him a large portion of the Crown lands in America, the consideration for the portion now called New Jersey, being "the payment, within ninety days after demand, in each year, of forty beaver skins." The patent gave the Duke of York also absolute authority to govern the province including the right to establish such laws and ordinances as were necessary, the only re- striction being that these laws should not be contrary to the "Laws of the Realm," and that the inhabitants of the territory should have the right to appeal to the King.
James, as soon as he had received this gift, dispatched Colonel Richard Nicols as his deputy governor and directed that the in- habitants should render obedience to his authority. The King also appointed a commission, consisting of Admiral Sir Robert Carre, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, to accompany Nicols and visit each of His Majesty's colonies for the purpose of adjusting all complaints and appeals. The fleet conveying the new deputy gov- ernor and commissioners arrived before New Amsterdam (New York) in August, 1664, and immediately demanded the surrender of the city and the forts erected by the Dutch, promising protection to all settlers who readily submitted to the government established under authority of the King of England. Governor Stuyvesant, after a show of resistence, capitulated to the superior forces under the com- mand of Nicols. The latter took possession, in the name of the King and subject to the government of his master, the Duke of York. Carre was at the same time directed to proceed to the Dela- ware, where the Dutch were still in control, and assume command of that portion of the country in the name of the King, with the promise "that all the planters shall enjoy their farms, houses, lands, goods
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and chattels, with the same privileges, and upon the same terms which they do now possess them,"* the only condition being that they shall "change their masters" from the West India Company, or the King of Sweden, to the King of England.
Within three months after the Duke of York obtained his patent, and even before his deputy governor and the King's commissioners had reached America, the Duke had in consideration of a competent sum of money, conveyed to Sir George Carteret and John Lord Berkeley that portion of his original grant now within the bounds of the state of New Jersey, including the "right to rule." Both of these grantees had been loyal followers of the Stuarts and were also in- terested in lands in the Carolinas. Carteret was enthusiastic over the colonization idea, but Berkeley was only interested in the new country as a medium through which he could quickly recoupe his declining fortune. The latter soon discovered that the development of the country would take a long time to accomplish and that the ultimate pecuniary returns were doubtful at best. After holding his interest for ten years, he decided to sell his undivided share as soon as he could do so without loss. Edward Byllinge and John Fenwick, two prominent English Friends, learning of this decision, entered into negotiations and finally purchased the Berkeley share for 1000 £, the deed being made, however, in the name of Fenwick, because the financial affairs of Byllinge, who was a brewer, and previously reputed to be wealthy, had begun to assume a serious turn. Very shortly afterwards, Byllinge became a bankrupt and transferred all his property, including his equity in the West Jersey lands, to trustees, consisting of William Penn, Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, who were to manage the same for the benefit of his creditors.
During the proprietorship of Cartaret and Berkeley, the lands, as already noted, were held by them as "tenants in common," but after the Dutch re-conquest of 1673 and the subsequent return of the country into English hands, a new situation confronted the pro- prietors. In order to give him an unquestionable title to his grant, Cartaret secured from the Duke of York a new instrument confirming to him the upper portion, subsequently known as New East Jersey, while the Quaker contingent, under the leadership of William Penn assumed that the balance of the province, called New West Jersey, was included in the Fenwick-Byllinge purchase, and that the original conveyance from the King held good.
A question arose, however, as to the dividing line between the
* Smith's History of New Jersey, p. 48.
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two parts, and in 1676 an agreement was signed by the parties in interest, called the "Quintipartit Deed," whereby the boundary lines be- tween the two portions was presumably settled. This deed was signed by Sir George Carteret on the one hand and William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, and Nicholas Lucas, as trustees, and Edward Byllinge, as the direct purchaser of the Berkeley share, on the other part. By this instrument, the division line between East and West Jersey was established as running from Little Egg Harbor Inlet to a point on the Delaware river in the northwest corner of the state. The exact location of this line was the subject of much discussion in the General Assembly and the Proprietor's Council and was not definitely settled until 1767. Up to the latter date there was much friction between the proprietors of the two provinces over the ownership of lands adjacent to the line, or lines, which it was attempted from time to time to fix. The two surveys which had the greatest prominence were those run by George Keith in 1687 and the Lawrence line fixed in 1743.
It appears that one of the principal assets that Byllinge had at the time of his bankruptcy was his interest in the West Jersey lands and his trustees promptly turned their attention to the conversion of this property into tangible and definite shape. As the grant had never been surveyed, its area and character were unknown, so that it could not be offered for sale by "metes and bounds" and the trustees, there- fore, devised the plan of dividing the estate into one hundred shares, or proprieties, of which ten were awarded to John Fenwick, as representing his equity in the original purchase, and the other ninety parts were offered for sale.
The purchaser of these shares, or rights, did not secure title to a definite tract of land in West Jersey. They merely obtained an undivided, indefinite and undefined interest in the land, which carried with it no right to a division of the land until a dividend had been declared by the commissioners, or their successors, the council of proprietors. The original dividend of each proprietor's share was 5200 acres, which was increased by subsequent dividends, until a total of 35,000 acres was assigned to each propriety.
The shares, or proprieties, were sold as any other property and sales of all sorts of fractional parts of a propriety became numerous, the usual divisions being quarters, eights, sixteenths, thirty-seconds, and sixty-fourths. Tanner* states that the usual price paid for a whole propriety was about £365. Another cause for the sub-divisions
* "The Province of New Jersey," p. 15.
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may be traced to transfers through inheritance .* Thus the number of proprietors increased rapidly and the entire character of the pro- prietorship changed. As the body of land-owners became so large, the old plan of control and supervision became inadequate and it was necessary to devise a new method of handling the land problem. At a meeting of a majority of the resident proprietors, each holding not less than one-thirty-second of a propriety, held in Burlington in February, 1687-88, it was agreed to place their "public affairs as Proprietors" in the hands of a "Council of Proprietorst of the Western Division of New Jersey," six of whom should be elected annually by the Proprietors of Burlington county and five by the Gloucester County Proprietors. This body was "empowered to act and plead in all such affairs as do and shall generally concern the body of the said Proprietors." The association still holds its annual elections and goes through all the long established customs including the holding of an assembly in the building at Burlington. Its activities are today, however, more formal than real, although oc- casionally the question of a land title comes before the Board for adjustment or settlement.
Another organization, founded on the original purchase of the interests of Dr. Daniel Cox,¿ came into existence in 1691, under the name "The West Jersey Society."§ This society which was owned by persons living in England and officered by non-residents, secured, for a consideration of £4800, to be paid upon the execution and delivery of the deed and a mortgage on one-third of the estate as security for a further payment of £5000 in one year, twenty pro- prieties in West Jersey, together with certain lands in East Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania. It also claimed the rights of gov- ernment under the Byllinge grants and for nearly ten years exercised these functions, under more or less turbulent conditions, and not without vigorous opposition from holders of proprieties secured direct from Byllinge's trustees. In the exercise of governmental rights the society was not a success, but as a purely business company it returned large dividends to its shareholders.
The "Council of Proprietors," above noted, and the "West New
* Many of the original proprietors never came into the Province, but disposed of their in- terests to intending settlers in such proportional parts as suited the means of the prospective emigrant.
+ During the following year the number of members of the Council was reduced to nine, five from Burlington and four from Gloucester County.
# Dr. Cox styled himself "Chief Proprietor and Governor of West New Jersey." He was physician to Queen Mary and later to Queen Anne.
§ A full account of this Society is given by John Clement, see Proceedings of the Surveyors' Association of West Jersey, pp. 118-148.
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Jersey Society" carried on their plans for the sale and settlement of unoccupied lands independently until 1700, when Governor Andrew Hamilton as "General Agent and Factor" of the Society, and repre- senting the largest single propriety interest, was elected president of the Council. A truse was thereby concluded between the clashing factions which continued until the death of Hamilton. From 1702, the Council passed through many stormy periods, being beset from without by the arbitrary stand of the Royal Governor and from within, by the grasping desires of its various members. The West New Jersey Society closed out its land interests in New Jersey in 1814 to Benjamin B. Cooper, but is said to still maintain its organ- ization in England.
In "The Camden Mail" of May 20, 1844, appeared the follow- ing notice, copied from the "London Times" (March 18, 1844) of a meeting of the Society :
WEST JERSEY SOCIETY
"A general court of proprietors is to be held at the Chambers of William Whiteside, Esq., the secretary, No. 63 Lincoln's-inn- fields, on Monday, the 25th day of March, inst., at 3 o'clock, precisely, for examining the accounts for the year preceeding, and electing a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and committee men for the ensuing year."
March 18,
When the first settlers arrived in West Jersey, they applied to the commissioners for permission to locate a definite tract of land and, if the applicant was entitled to the same, an order was made upon the Surveyor-General to have a survey made, provided no previous survey had been recorded for the land specified in the order. The method of making these early surveys was very crude and in- teresting. If the area was a large one, the surveyor, compass in hand, mounted his horse and rode over the bounding lines of the tract until, by the gait of his horse, he deemed he had covered a sufficient distance to enclose the required acreage. The survey was then entered in the Surveyor-General's office and this constituted the title. The surveyor was always careful to allow a surplus, as he was hardly likely to be called to task by the commissioners, but was sure to hear from the purchaser, if the quantity on subsequent survey had been found to have been underestimated. As was to be expected, subsequent re-surveys frequently disclosed many irregularities in the
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original surveys and in order to have a perfect title, if the acreage so returned was in excess of the quantity to which the holder of the "right" was entitled, the settler usually purchased from some owner a share, or portion of a share, sufficient to cover the excess of land alloted. While among the earlier inhabitants, the greater number held proprietary interests, others purchased the rights to definite number of acres from one of the proprietors for which the latter usually received about ten pounds for each one hundred acres. Such purchasers had no voice in the early governmental affairs.
After the general plan for handling the original division of land has been worked out, the next step was the development of the coun- try, for which it was necessary to induce settlers to emigrate to a new and almost unknown land. The first propriety rights were taken as has already been noted, either by the creditors of Edward Byllinge in settlement of their claims against him, or were sold to well-to-do Quakers. Many of these, however, preferred living in England and only became identified with the plan of settlement be- cause of the profit it promised. There were, however, among the Byllinge creditors a number of Quakers who were anxious to get away from the persecutions to which they had been so often subjected. Through the influence of this small group many others were induced to join forces and prepare to seek homes in the new and untried country-virtually self-devoted exiles. The company which finally gathered together was made up of two groups, one from Yorkshire, headed by Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pearson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy,* and the other from London, headed by Thomas Olive, Daniel Wills, John Pennford, and Ben- jamin Scott. Each of these groups had purchased a one-tenth division of the province. The ship "Kent" sailed from London in the Summer of 1677 for West Jersey with 230 passengers, including the commissioners appointed to treat with the Indians and organize a form of government. On entering the Delaware river, they sailed along the easterly shore until they reached Raccoon creek, where they landed and spent the Winter, while the commissioners examined the country and settled upon the terms of purchase from the Indians. The commissioners bought three tracts of land in the order of their purchase as follows: from "Rankokus" creek to Timber creek, be- tween "Old Man's" creek and Timber creek, and the third, from "Rankokus" creek to "St. Pink" creek at the Falls of the Delaware.
In looking about for a town-site it was finally decided by the
* West Jersey Records, Liber B., part 1, pp. 131 and 138.
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Yorkshire men to locate at Burlington, while the London represent- atives selected a site at Arwaumus (near the present location of Gloucester City). Before anything definite, however, had been done, the two groups decided that they "being few and the Indians numerous" it would be a wiser policy to combine their settlements. The present site of Burlington (or Bridlington as it was then called) was therefore selected and in October, 1677, the settlers began build- ing their first habitations. Two early Dutch travellers* describe these houses as follows :
"they make a wooden frame, the same as they do in Westphalia and at Altoona, but not so strong; they then split boards of clapwood, so that they are like Cooper's pipe staves, except that they are not bent. These are made very thin, with a large knife, so that the thickest end is about a pinck "(little finger )" thick, and the other is made sharp, like the edge of a knife. They are about five or six feet long, and are nailed on the outside of the frame, with the ends lapped over each other. They are not usually laid so close together, as to prevent you from sticking a finger between them, in consequence either of them not being well joined, or the boards being crooked. When it is cold, and windy the best people plaster them with clay."
The passengers on the "Kent" were, however, not the first English speaking people to come to West Jersey. In 1675, John Fenwick and a few others arrived in the ship "Griffith" and settled at Salem, where they had firmly established themselves by the time the York- shire and London parties reached their destination. Fenwick was a former officer in Cromwell's Army who had become converted to the Quaker doctrine and was associated with Byllinge, as already noted, in the purchase of the province.
In a few years, the settlers learned that the much feared Indian was a peaceful individual if treated with ordinary justice. Some of those who had settled at Burlington and others who had lately arrived from England began to spread over the country. In March, 1681-82, a company of Irish Quakers secured surveys for one hun- dred acres of land at the mouth of Little Newton creek (later known as Kaighn's Run or Line Ditch) and sixteen hundred acres on Newton creek extending from the Delaware river to about Collings- wood. Closely following these settlers came Richard Arnold, whose lands are now occupied by the New York Shipbuilding Co .; William
* "Journal of a Voyage to New York, etc. 1679-80," by Dankers and Slyter in Memoirs of Long Island Hist. Soc., Vol. 1, p. 173.
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Roydon, Samuel Cole, William Cooper, and Samuel Norris, all of whom owned at one time land within the present city limits of Camden; Francis Collins whose land is now partly covered by the village of Haddonfield ; Richard Matthews, Joshua Lord, John Ladd, and the Woods (John, Constantine and Jeremiah), early land owners along Woodbury creek; John Hugg, Samuel Harrison, Andrew Robeson and Richard Bull, whose surveys laid between Newton and Timber creeks.
GOVERNMENT
It is hard to imagine :a more desolate, or uninviting place for people reared to city, or town life in England in which to settle. The territory included in these early surveys was a vast wilderness covered by a dense forest and almost impenetrable underbrush. Here and there, adjacent to the rivers and creeks were meadow lands, which offered grazing for cattle, but were not suitable for permanent culti- vation. The first efforts of the settlers were directed to clearing and cultivating the upland, building their temporary homes and cutting pathways through the woods, so that they might communicate with their neighbors.
With the form of government under which they were to live, these early settlers were not concerned, so long as it secured for them religious tolerance and freedom of thought, as was promised under the "Concessions and Agreements of West Jersey," adopted by the new proprietors in 1676-7.
In order to understand succeeding events, it is however, necessary, even at the expense of repeating what has already been said, to further consider the terms under which these people left their homes in England to settle in a new and undeveloped country. According to the "Concessions," we have already seen that West Jersey was di- vided into ten equal parts, called Tenths, and each of these was further divided into ten proprieties-a total of one hundred full portions. Only five of the Tenths are mentioned in any of the early legislation, namely, the First, or Yorkshire Tenth, extending from the Falls of the Delaware (Trenton) to Rancocas creek; the second, or London Tenth, embracing the land from Rancocas to Pensauken creeks; the Third, or Irish Tenth, extending from Pensauken to Timber creeks, the Fourth Tenth, including the lands between Timber creek and Oldman's creek, and the Salem Tenth, bounded by Oldman's and Cohansey creeks.
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For the first year, the Proprietors residing in England were to appoint the resident commissioners and for the next two years they were to be chosen by "the proprietors, freeholders and inhabitants re- siding within the Province." These commissioners were not only to supervise the division of lands, but also, to exercise general control over the governmental affairs of the colony. In 1681, the commis- sioners were in accordance with the "Concessions" to be succeeded by a General Assembly and Council, composed of representatives from each "Tenth," selected "not by the common and confused way of crys and voices, but by putting Balls into Balloting Boxes."
Each representative was to "be allowed one shilling per day during the time of the sitting of the Assembly, that thereby he may be known to be the servant of the people; which allowance of one shilling per day is to be paid to him by the inhabitants of the pro- priety or division that shall elect him."
The first representatives in the General Assembly for the Third Tenth, which included what afterwards became old Gloucester County, were as follows :
1682-Representatives in the May meeting of the General As- sembly :
WILLIAM COOPER
THOMAS THACKERY
MARK NEWBIE
ROBERT ZANE
Member of Council :
MARK NEWBIE
Representatives in the November meeting of the General As- sembly :
WILLIAM COOPER ROBERT ZANE
THOMAS THACKERY
1683-Representatives in the May meeting of the General As- sembly :
WILLIAM COOPER MARK NEWBIE
HENRY STACY
FRANCIS COLLINS SAMUEL COLE THOMAS HOWELL
WILLIAM BATES
Member of Council :
FRANCIS COLLINS
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1684-Representatives in the May meeting of the General As- sembly :
WILLIAM COOPER ROBERT TURNER
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