USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume I > Part 17
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Trinity Church already had been incorporated and sustained its own pastor, as did the Orange Church, that of the "Mountain Society." Complete separation of civil and ecclesiastical affairs in what was then Newark, was therefore brought about by the First Church's incorporation.
A REMARKABLE ROLL OF HONOR.
Over ninety young men were graduated from the College of New Jersey while it was in Newark, or received part of their education while here before the institution was removed. The list is a remarkable one, and the proportion of graduates who climbed to high places is surprising. This little group of young men whose minds were trained, whose faculties were cultivated and who were inspired to strive for greater things, here in Newark, exercised a profound influence upon the advancement of the country. It so happened that the College of New Jersey was established at just the right time to prepare men for the great struggle for independ- ence. The Newark graduates were men of middle life when the war came and their services were of incalculable value. The follow- ing list of the leading members of that little group of graduates or students of the college while in Newark will interest many and tell its own story line by line:
Class of 1748-Israel Read; trustee of Princeton, 1761-1793; A. M., Princeton, 1751. Richard Stockton ; trustee Princeton, 1757- 1781; clerk board of trustees, Princeton, 1757-1765; member of Provincial Council, New Jersey, 1768-1776; Judge Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1774-1776; member Continental Congress, 1776- 1777 ; signer Declaration of Independence; A. M., Princeton, 1751.
Class of 1749-William Burnet; surgeon Second Regiment, Essex county, N. J., 1776-1777; lieutenant colonel, physician and surgeon general, Eastern Department, Continental army, 1777- 1780; major, hospital physician, Continental army, 1780-1781; lieutenant colonel, chief hospital physician, Continental army, 1781- 1783; presiding judge Court of Common Pleas, Essex county, N. J., 17 -; A. M., Princeton, 1752. John Todd, A. M., Princeton, 1753.
Class of 1750-James Beard, A. M., Yale, hon. 1754. Alexander Clinton, A. M., M. D. Daniel Farrand, A. M., Princeton, 1753; also Yale, hon. 1777.
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Class of 1751-Jonathan Badger; tutor Princeton, 1752-1755; A. M., Princeton, 1754. Samuel Clark, A. M., hon. Yale, 1757. Alexander Gordon, tutor Princeton, 1752-1754. Robert Henry, A. M., Princeton, 1754. Samuel McClintock, A. M., D. D .; chaplain French and Indian War; chaplain 2nd New Hampshire Regiment, Continental army, 1775; A. M., Princeton, 1755; Yale, 1755; Har- vard, 1761, hon. D. D. Yale, 1791. Henry Martin, A. M., Princeton, 1754. Benjamin Youngs Prime, tutor Princeton, 1756-1757; A. M., Princeton, 1754; also Yale, 1761, hon .; M. D., Leyden, 1764. Robert Ross, A. M., Princeton, 1754; also Yale, 1754, hon. Nathaniel Scudder, member Continental Congress, 1777-1779; lieutenant colonel 1st Regiment, Monmouth county, N. J., militia, 1776; colonel of same regiment, 1776-1781 ; trustee Princeton, 1778-1781 ; member New Jersey Assembly, 1780-1781; A. M., Princeton, 1756; M. D.
Class of 1752-George Duffield, tutor Princeton, 1754-1756; trustee Princeton, 1777-1790; chaplain Continental Congress; chap- lain Continental army, 1776-1777; A. M., Princeton, 1755; D. D., Yale, 1785. Jeremiah Halsey, tutor Princeton, 1757-1767; trustee Princeton, 1770-1780; clerk board of trustees, Princeton, 1772; A. M., Princeton, 1755. Samuel Livermore, member New Hamp- shire Provincial Assembly, 1768-1770; judge advocate of Admiralty, New Hampshire, 1769; attorney, New Hampshire, 1769-1774; attorney-general, New Hampshire, 1776-1780; member Continental Congress, 1780-1782, 1785-1786; chief justice Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 1782-1790; member New Hampshire Constitu- tional Convention, 1788; United States representative from New Hampshire, 1789-1790; United States senator from New Hamp- shire, 1793-1801; president United States Senate, 1799-1800; president New Hampshire Constitutional Convention, 1791; A. M., Princeton, 1755; L.L. D., Dartmouth, 1792. Nathaniel Whitaker, A. M., Princeton, 1755; D. D., St. Andrews, 1767; also Dartmouth, 1780.
Class of 1753-Daniel Isaac Brown, prothonotary, Bergen county, N. J., 1776; member New Jersey Constitutional Convention, 1776; major Fourth Battalion, New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists), 1778, 1780; A. M., Princeton, 1758; also Columbia, 1758, hon. John Harris, member South Carolina Provincial Congress. Robert Harris, trustee Princeton, 1761-1815; A. M., Princeton, 1759; M. D. Lewis Ogden, clerk Prerogative Court,. New Jersey, 1765-1772; member New Jersey Provincial Congress, 1776; member of com- mittee drafting New Jersey Constitution, 1776. Nathaniel Potter, A. M., Harvard, 1758, hon. Joseph Shippen, jr., captain in Colonel Clapham's regiment, Pennsylvania Provincial troops, 1756-1758; brigade major, 1758; lieutenant colonel, 1758-1762; secretary Province of Pennsylvania, 1762-1776; Pennsylvania commissioner to Indian Treaty, 1768; judge of County Court, Lancaster, Pa., 1789-1810.
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Class of 1754-Benjamin Chapman, A. M., Yale, 1761, hon. John Ewing, tutor Princeton, 1756-1758; professor natural philos- ophy, University of Pennsylvania, 1758-1759; provost University of Pennsylvania, 1779-1802; A. M., Princeton, 1757; also U. of P., 1759; D. D. Edinburgh, 1773. Ezra Horton, A. M., Yale, 1772, hon. Hugh Knox, A. M., Yale, 1768, hon .; D. D. Glasgow, 17 -. David Mathews, mayor of city of New York, 1775-1776; judge of Police Court, New York City, 1777; major New York Loyalist troops; register New York Court of Admiralty, 1782; attorney general Cape Breton ; commander-in-chief at Cape Breton ; A. M., Columbia, 1758, hon. Jonathan Odell, surgeon and chaplain British army, 1776; councilor and secretary Province of New Brunswick, 1785; A. M., Princeton, 1757. Sylvanus Osborn, A. M., Yale, 1757, hon. Benaiah Root, A. M., Dartmouth, 1784, hon. Josiah Sherman, chaplain 7th Connecticut Regiment, 1777; A. M., Harvard, 1758, hon .; also Yale, 1765, hon. William Shippen, jr., fellow Edinburg Medical College; professor anatomy, Philadelphia Medical College, 1765-1792; chief physician Flying Camp, 1776; director general General Hospital Department, 1777-1781; professor of anatomy and surgery, University of Pennsylvania, 1792-1808; trustee of Princeton, 1765-1796; A. M., Princeton, 1763; M. D., Edinburgh, 1761. William Thomson, tutor Princeton, 1755-1756. Noah Wad- hams, A. M., Yale, hon.
Class of 1755-Jonathan Baldwin, steward Columbia, 1756 (?), 1757 (?) ; steward Princeton, 1757 (?), 1773, 1781-1782; member New Jersey Provincial Congress, 1775; A. M., Princeton, 1758. Benoni Bradner, private New York Line, Continental army ; A. M., Princeton, 1758; also Yale, 1758, hon. Thaddeus Burr, member Connecticut Assembly, 1769-1771, 1775-1776, 1778-1779; justice of the peace, Fairfield county, Conn., 1777-1778, 1782; high sheriff of Fairfield county, 1779; member of Connecticut Constitu- tional Convention, 1778; A. M., Yale, 1759, hon. William Craw- ford, surgeon general Ruggle's regiment, French and Indian War; chaplain Colonel Fry's regiment, and of Colonel Abijah Willard's regiment, French and Indian War; surgeon, British army, Fort Pownal, 1764-1765; justice Penobscot River and Bay; A. M., Har- vard, 1761, hon .; M. D. Joseph Montgomery, master Nassau Hall Grammar School, 1757-1758; tutor University of Pennsylvania, 1759-1760; chaplain Delaware regiment, Continental army, 1776; brigade chaplain, 1778-1780; member Pennsylvania Assembly, 1780-1781; member Continental Congress, 1780-1784; A. M., Princeton, 1758; also Yale, 1760, hon .; also University of Penn- sylvania, hon. Isaac Smith, tutor Princeton, 1757-1758; colonel 1st Regiment, Hunterdon county, N. J., militia, 1776-1777; judge New Jersey Supreme Court, 1777-1795; United States Representa-
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tive from New Jersey, 1795-1797; fellow New Jersey Medical Society ; A. M., Princeton, 1758; also University of Pennsylvania, 1761, hon.
Class of 1756-Alexander Martin, member North Carolina Assembly, 1774-1775; presiding judge District Court, Salisbury county, N. C., 1775; lieutenant colonel 2nd North Carolina regiment. 1775; colonel, 1776-1777; member North Carolina Senate, 1779. 1782, 1785-1788, 1804-1805; speaker North Carolina Senate, 1780- 1782; acting governor North Carolina, 1781; governor North Caro- lina, 1782-1785, 1789, 1792; United States Senator from N. C., 1793- 1799; member United States Constitutional Convention, 1786; trustee University of North Carolina, 1790-1807; president board of trustees University N. C., 1792-1793; A. M., 1759; L.L. D., Princeton, 1793. Josiah Ogden, A. B., Columbia, 1758, hon. Jesse Root, Captain Hartford, Conn., volunteers, 1776; lieutenant colonel Connecticut volunteers, 1776-1777; adjutant general Connecticut, 1777; justice of peace, Hartford county, Conn., 1777; member Connecticut Senate, 1778-1780; member Continental Congress, 1778-1783; State Attorney, Conn., 1785-1789; judge Connecticut Supreme Court, 1789-1796; chief justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1796-1807 ; A. M., Yale, 1766, hon .; L.L. D., Yale, 1800. Azel Roe, trustee Princeton, 1778-1807; moderator General Assembly, 1802; D. D., Yale, 1800.
Class of 1757-Caleb Barnum, chaplain Western Division, Con- tinental army; A. M., Princeton, 1760; also Harvard, 1768, hon. Nicholas Bayard, alderman, New York City. Noah Benedict, fellow at Yale, 1801-1802; A. M., Yale, 1760, hon. Caleb Curtis, member Massachusetts Assembly, 1787; member Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, 1788; A. M., Princeton, 1760. Timothy Edwards, justice of the peace, Essex county, N. J., 1767; member Massachusetts Provincial Council, 1775-1780; commissary Conti- mental army; probate judge, Berkshire county, Mass., 1778-1787; commissioner to Indians; commissioner on New York-Massachu- setts boundary ; A. M., Princeton, 1760. William Kirkpatrick, trus- tee Princeton, 1767-1769; A. M. Princeton, 1760. Alexander Mac- whorter, pastor of old First Church of Newark, N. J., before, during and after the War for Independence; chaplain Knox's Artillery Brigade, N. J .; president Charlotte Academy, North Carolina, 1779- 1780; trustee Princeton, 1772-1807; A. M., Princeton, 1760; Yale, 1776, hon. Joseph Reed, president Pennsylvania State Convention, 1775; lieutenant colonel and military secretary Washington's staff, 1775-1776; colonel and adjutant general Continental army, 1776- 1777; member Continental Congress, 1777-1778; attorney general of Pennsylvania, 1778-1780; member and president Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council, 1778-1780; trustee of Princeton, 1780-
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1785; trustee University of Pennsylvania, 1782-1785; A. M., Prince- Bon, 1760; also University of Pennsylvania, 1760, hon. James Smith, professor of chemistry and materia medica, Columbia, 1767- 1770; M. D., Leyden, 1764. Stephen Sayre, captain Suffolk county, N. Y., militia, French and Indian War, 1759; sheriff of London, England, 1773-1774; secret agent in Longon, Eng., for France, 1792; A. M., Harvard, 1766, hon. Samuel Taylor, 2nd lieutenant Brewer's Massachusetts regiment, 1775 (?) ; A. M., Yale, 1765, hon. John Treat, tutor Princeton, 1758-1760; chaplain Continental army ; A. M., Princeton, 1760. Henry Wells, A. M., Yale, 1760, hon .; M. D., Dartmouth, 1802.
CHAPTER XI. THE GREAT NEWARK RIOTS-FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS -COLONEL PETER SCHUYLER-NEW ROADS --- FIRST STAGE LINES.
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CHAPTER XI.
THE GREAT NEWARK RIOTS-FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS-COLONEL PETER SCHUYLER-NEW ROADS-FIRST STAGE LINES.
T HE last important demonstrations on the part of the people against the Lords Proprietors, the monarchs of the land, began in Newark and Essex county in 1745, almost simul- taneously with the establishment of the College of New Jersey in the town, and continued intermittently during the time that the college was here. It was the War for Independence, in fact, that ended them. In 1745, New Jersey was called upon to take her part in the struggles of the colonies against the French and the Indians, and the people of Newark and of Essex were to a greater or less extent involved in the wars that followed each other quite closely during the next twenty years. This chapter, therefore, is taken up largely with the troubles over the land and the wars, two influences of tremendous force in preparing the people for the mighty struggle for full independence which was to follow. The land troubles showed the people what they could accomplish against those high in authority when they stood with fearlessness and determination for what they believed to be their rights, and the wars developed their military ardor and fitness for the field.
For nearly thirty years, from 1717 to 1745, there was little friction between the people and the Lords Proprietors over the land, simply because the latter did not attempt during that period to enforce their title or to recover their quit-rents. Large tracts of lands in East Jersey had, however, under the ancient Carteret title, gotten into the hands of two men, Robert Hunter Morris, a son of Governor Morris, and James Alexander, the former the chief justice in the colony and the latter the colonial secretary.
"These gentlemen," says Gordon in his History of New Jersey, "with other extensive proprietors, during the life of Governor Morris and towards the close of his administration, commenced
&
V.
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actions of ejectment and suits of recovery of quit-rents against many of the settlers. These immediately resorted to their Indian titles for defence, and formed an association, consisting of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the eastern part of Middlesex, the whole of Essex, part of Somerset and part of Morris counties; who were enabled by their union and violence to bid defiance to the law, to hold possession of the lands which were fairly within the Indian grant." Other persons, however, who had no title to the lands they held under the Indian grants, took advantage of this uprising of the "associators," joining with them to save their own lands under the cloak spread by the holders of Indian titles.
"The prisons," continues Gordon, "were no longer competent to keep those whom the laws condemned to confinement. * During several consecutive years ' all persons confined for like cause or on charge of high treason and rebellion from resisting laws were released at the will of the insurgents, so that the arm of the government was in this regard wholly paralyzed. Persons who had long holden under the proprietors were forcibly ejected, others compelled to take leases from landlords whom they were not disposed to acknowledge, whilst those who had the courage to stand out were threatened with, and in many instances received, personal violence."
Governor Belcher and his Council took a very dark view of the situation. They were strongly disposed to treat the offenders as rebels and traitors to the Crown, with much the same spirit as that which animated the King's officers a quarter of a century later when the War for Independence broke in all its fury. They drew up a riot act, which they sent to the Assembly, modeled after that of England, making it a felony without benefit of clergy, "for twelve or more, tumultuously assembled together, to refuse to disperse upon the requisition of civil authority." The Assembly rejected the bill, despite the ragings and fomentings of the Gov- ernor and his Council. The people's representatives were, in fact,
' From 1745.
3
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more or less strongly in sympathy with the people, although they more than once vehemently condemned the inadequate military force to reduce the rioters to subjection or to guard prisons.
It is impossible for us to-day to determine to how great a degree the Governor and those about him, and the people on the other hand, were in error. A number of the Governor's Council were Lords Proprietors who for three generations had been held in something closely akin to abhorrence by the people. The latter had much justice on their side and were thrown into a state of violent protest at the very mention of the proprietary rights to the land. They were made even more indignant by a petition to the King submitted by the Lords Proprietors in 1749, in which the course of the people in protecting their titles to the land was portrayed in insulting and arrogant language, with a view to stirring the home government to suppress the people by force, as traitors to the Crown. The Assembly filed a counter petition with the King in which it was asserted:
"That the proprietaries of East New Jersey had, from the first settlement, surveyed, patented and divided their lands, by Concessions among themselves, in such a manner as from thence many irregularities had ensued, which had occasioned multitudes of controversies and law suits about titles and boundaries of land. That these controversies had subsisted between a number of poor people on the one part and some of the rich, understanding and powerful on the other part." The petition also asserted that, in the Assembly's opinion, the disorder of the people in no way indicated any disaffection to the King or his government, but was caused by an uneasiness that sprang from a fear that the pro- prietaries might be powerful enough to so influence the courts and the courts' officers as to wrest their land from them by legal procedure.
THE JAIL DELIVERY OF 1746.
The greatest disturbances occurred in Newark; indeed, this community and Essex county have usually been in the lead in every public movement since the very days of the founders. "We have
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just now received," remarked the New York Weekly Post-Boy, in its issue of January 20, 1746, "the following account of a very extraordinary riot at Newark, on Thursday last, viz .: The day before, one Nehemiah Baldwin, with two others, were apprehended there by order of the Governor in Council, for being concerned in a former riot, and committed to jail. In the morning one of them offer'd to give bail, and the sheriff for that purpose took him out in order to carry him to the judge. But on their way thither, a great number of persons appeared armed with cudgels, coming down from the back settlements,3 immediately rescued the prisoner in a very violent manner, contrary to his own desire. Upon this the sheriff retreated to the jail,+ where he raised thirty men of the militia, with their officers, in order to guard it; but by two o'clock in the afternoon the mob being increased to about 300 strong, marched with the utmost intrepidity to the prison, declar- ing that if they were fired on, they would kill every man. And after breaking through the guard, wounding and being wounded, they got to the jail, which they broke open, setting at liberty all the prisoners they could find, as well debtors as others, and then marched off in triumph, using many threat'ning expressions against all those who had assisted the authority. Several of the guard as well as of the mob were much wounded and bruised, and 'tis thought one of the latter is past recovery. What may be the consequence of this affair, is not easy to guess."
This demonstration reminds one of the daring defiance of the constituted authority late in the seventeenth century and described in a previous chapter, occurring at the same place and for much the same cause. Now, however, the people had an organization which they did not possess in the earlier riots. The "associators" were sprinkled all through the county, and could be assembled swiftly, as the above account tells of the mob growing to large proportions in a few hours, in response to the call for action sent
" In September of the same year.
" From what are now Springfield, the Oranges, Montclair, Bloomfield, &c.
' At Broad street, just south of Branford place.
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in every direction, no doubt. In this we see the genesis of the "minute men" of the Revolution. In the boldness and determina- tion of the "associators" we discern the same courage that char- acterized the colonists in the struggle with the Crown thirty years later. At this time Essex county's population (as the county, much larger than at present, was defined) was about 7,000, which included 450 slaves. The total population of the entire province of New Jersey was about 32,000.
GOVERNOR BELCHER'S WARNING.
Commenting upon this disturbance, Governor Belcher, in his speech to the Assembly in 1746, said: "His Majesty's Attorney General will lay before you an account of a great riot, or rather insurrection, at Newark. This was a natural consequence of one that was some time before that; and though I did what by advice of his Majesty's Council they judged at that time sufficient to put a check to an evil that had too great a probability of growing bigger, and to prevent its doing so; yet (as appears) it was without the effect intended. So open and avowed an attempt in defiance of the government and contempt of the laws, if not High Treason, make so nigh approaches to it, as seems too likely to end in Rebellion, and throwing off his majesty's authority, if timely measures be not taken to check the intemperance of a too licentious multitude; I therefore recommend this matter to your most serious consideration."
The Governor's warning in the light of subsequent events seems to-day almost prophetic. But it is certain the people of Essex at that time never so much as thought of striving to throw off the yoke of Great Britain, and they were almost immediately to show their devotion to the King by springing to arms to defend his domains against the French and the natives.
A little more light, although from a prejudiced source, is shed upon the temper of the people of Essex and their methods of operation during the period now under consideration, in the peti- tion of the Lords Proprietors to the King in 1747, in the following:
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"that since the first riot in Essex *
* they, the said rioters, have gone on like a torrent, bearing down all before them; dis- possessing some people of their estates, and giving them to their accomplices and dividing the spoil; the keeping daily in armed numbers, and traveling often in armed multitudes to different parts of the Province, for those purposes; the presuming to establish the courts of justice and appointing captains and officers over his Majesty's subjects ; the laying and collecting of taxes."
The Assembly denied the truth of the above, but from other sources it is plain enough that there was considerable of fact in it. The Essex "associators" were clearly the most powerful and best organized throughout all the Province, and that they did travel about the adjacent counties urging their neighbors to stand firm for what they deemed their rights, is well established. Whenever any of the rioters were brought to trial it was next to impossible to get a jury to convict them.
There were several jail deliveries in Newark, and the crowds were always daring and determined. The "associators" seem to have held their meetings openly, often posting notices announcing them on tavern doors and other prominent places.
Almost the entire county of Essex-and the exceptions were usually those holding office under the provincial government-was openly or secretly allied with the "associators." When asked why they sided with the rioters, well known men would say that while they had no personal concern in the troublous state of affairs, they felt their neighbors were being wronged by the Proprietors and "would assist them and see it out." It was estimated that about one-half of the rioters held their lands under Proprietary titles, that about a fourth had both Proprietary and Indian titles and "that of the remaining quarter great numbers have no pretence to any right either Proprietary or Indian, and but a very few have Indian right only." From this it is quite clear that the vast majority of the people of Essex were fighting for a principle, and not alone to promote their selfish personal interests.
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ESSEX COUNTY THE BATTLEGROUND.
In 1755 a statement was made to the Governor by a committee of the Assembly which concluded as follows: "That the riots which have disturbed the peace of the Province since the year 1745 have been principally committed by the people of the county of Essex, and the said people on the society's said tract, who we hope . are generally sensible of their errors, and that no more opposition may come from them to the course of justice and legal proceedings as to the many riots committed within two years past near the line of New York and this Province."
After 1755 we hear little more of land riots for fifteen years. In 1770 they broke out with renewed fury and were practically the last stroke in accomplishing Newark's preparedness for the war for liberty, as we shall see in the next chapter.
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