USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 66
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1722, LATHAM'S DEED TO JACKSON.
This Indenture Made the thirty first Day of the third month called May in the Eighth year of the Reign of our Lord George King of Great Britain &c and in the year of our Lord Christ one thousand Seven hundred and twenty and two Between John Jackson Son of James Jackson of Flushing in Queens County on Nashaw Island yeoman of the one part and Joseph Latham of Cow Neck in the bounds of Hemp- sted in the county & on the Island aforesaid yeoman of the other part Witnesseth that the said Joseph Latham and Jane his wife for and in Consideration of the Sum of five pounds currant Lawfull mony of New York to them in hand paid by the said John Jackson at & before the Ensealing & Delivery of these presents the Receipt whereof they doe hereby acknowledge themselves to be therewith fully Satis- fied and contented and thereof & of & from Every part thereof Doe acquit & Release the Said John Jackson and his Heirs Executors and administrators forever by these presents Have Given Granted Bargained & sold & by these presents they the Said Joseph Latham & Jane his wife doe Grant Bargain & Sell unto the Said John Jackson & to his Heirs and assignes forever all that Tract of Land Scituate Lying and being in the western Devition of the province of New Jersey in the Last Indian purchass made by the propriators above the falls Surveyed unto the Said Joseph Latham by John Reading Junior Surveyor May the 19th 1713 Pursuant to an order from Daniell Leeds one of the Surveyers Generall for the Said Devition which Said survey being Returned was approved of by the Commissioners & ordered to be entered on the Records July ye 30th 1713 Relation thereunto being had at Large Doth & may appear fully which Said tract of Land contains five hundred and twenty seven acres besides the usuall alowance for high way. Bounded Begining at a post Standing near to ye Southerly branch of Rariton north branch being also the corner of Joseph Kirkbrides Land thence Northeast twenty degrees fifty five chain & three Quarters to another corner post thence Southeast Seventy degrees one hundred chain to a corner Black oak Tree thence Southwest twenty degrees fifty five chain and three Quarters to another corner in Joseph Kirkbrides Line thence along the said Line North west Seventy degrees one hundred chain to the first mentioned corner which Said Lot or parcell of Land is known by no. 20 Together with all and Singular and hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining with the revertions and Remainders thereof and the Rents Ishues and profits of the Same To Have & to Hold all the above granted premisses with the appurtenances thereof unto the Said John Jackson his Heirs and Assignes To his and their own Sole & proper use benefit and behoofe from henceforth forever and the Said Joseph Latham and Jane his wife doth hereby Declare that at the time of the ensealling and delivery of these presents that they are the true Sole and Lawfull owners of the beforementioned premisses & Stood Lawfully Seized and possessed of the Same in their own proper Right of a good perfect & In- defeasable Estate of Inheritance in fee Simple Haveing in themselves full power and Lawfull authority to sell and dispose of the Same in manner as aforesaid And that the Said John Jackson his heirs and assignes shall & may henceforth forever Law- fully peaceably and Quietly have hold use ocupye possess and enjoy all the above- granted premisses with the appurtenances thereof ffree and clear & clearly acquited & discharged of & from all & all manner of former and other gifts grants bargains Sales Leases Mortgages Joyntures Dowers Judgments Executions Entaills forfeitures & of & from all other Titles troubles charges & encumbrances whatsoever had made Done or suffered to be Done by the Said Joseph Latham and Jane his wife their Heirs or Assignes at any time or times before the ensealling & delivery hereof
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and the said Joseph Latham and Jane his wife doth hereby these presents bind and oblige themselves & their Heirs Executors & Administrators to warrant & forever defend the Said John Jackson his Heirs and Assignes in the Quiet and peaceable possession of all the afore-bargained premisses against themselves & their Heirs and Assignes and against all and every person & persons whatsoever that shall lay any claim from by or under us the Said Joseph Latham or Jane his wife in witness whereof the Said Joseph Latham & Jane his wife hath set: to their Hands & fixed their Sealls the Day & year first abovewritten.
JOSEPH LATHAM seal
JANE LATHAM Seal
Signed Sealled & delivered in the presence of William Wills
William hutchings
Memmorandum that on the Twenty Eight Day of July 25 there Came the within named Joseph Latham and Jane his wife Personally before me Isaac Hicks Esq Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Queens County and acknowledged the within written Instrument to be their free and Voluntary Act and Deed and at the Same time the said Jane Latham being Privately Examined before me Declared that She Executed the within written deed freely without Threatening of Compelsion of her Husband.
I allow this Deed to be Recorded
ISAAC HICKS.
Hartshorne Fitz Randolph, Deed for his home plantation : August 15, 1753.
THIS' INDENTURE made this fifteenth Day of August in the Year of Our Lord one thousand Seven hundred and fifty three, Between John Ford High Sherif of the County of Morris in the Province of New Jersey and Hartshorne Fitz Randolph of Woodbridge in the County of Middlesex and Province aforesaid of the other Part. Whereas a certain Writt of Our Lord the King Commonly Called a Fieri Facias, in the Term of August in the Year of Our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and fifty two, to the aforesaid John Ford then and yett High Sherrif of the County of Morris aforesaid being, was Directed and Delivered, by which same Writt the same Sherrif was Commanded that of the Goods and Chattles Lands and Tenements of John Jackson in his Bailiwick, he should Cause to be made as well the Sum of four hundred and Ninety Seven Pounds Nineteen Shillings and Eight pence Current money of New Jersey at Eight Shillings the Ounce, which Nathaniel Fitz Randolph and Hartshorne Fitz Randolph Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Edward Fitz Randolph junr. deceased Lately in the Supreme Court of Judicature, before Our Lord the King, at Perth Amboy in the province a foresaid Recovered against the said John Jackson of Debt, and also Eleven pounds nine Shillings and Seven pence Current money aforesaid, which to the said Nathaniel Fitz Randolph and Hartshorne Fitz Randolph in the said Court before the said Lord the King were Adjudg'd for their Damages which they had Sustain'd as well by Occasion of the Detention of that Debt as for their Costs and Charges by them about their Suit in that Behalf Expended, whereof the said John Jackson is Con- victed as appears of Record, and that the said Sherrif should have those moneys before the said Lord the King at the City of Burlington on the first tuesday in November then next, to Render to the aforesaid Nathaniel Fitz Randolph and Hart- shorne Fitz Randolph for the Debt Damages Costs and Charges aforesaid. And whereas the said John Ford Sherrif of the said County of Morris by Virtue of the said Writt Seized the Tract of Land and Tenement hereinafter Described belonging to the said John Jackson, and duly Advertised the Sale thereof to be the twenty ninth Day of May Last at Mendam-in the County of Morris aforesaid, - pursuant to the Directions of the Act of Assembly in that Case made and Provided, at which Sale the said Hartshorne Fitz Randolph was the highest Bidder, to witt, of the Sum of five hundred and fifty five Pounds Jersey Money at Eight Shillings the
Ounce - - NOW THIS INDENTURE WITNESSETH that the said John Ford Sherrif of the County of Morris aforesaid for and in Consideration of the Sum of five hundred and fifty five Pounds money at Eight Shillings the Ounce to him in hand paid, the Receipt whereof he doth hereby Acknowledge and thereof Dis- charge the said Hartshorne Fitz Randolph forever, Hath by Virtue of the Power Given him by the aforesaid Writt Granted, Bargained, Sold, Released, Enfeoffed and Confirmed, And by these Presents Doth Grant, Bargain, Sell, Release, Enfeofe and Confirm unto the said Hartshorne Fitz Randolph his Heirs and Assigns All that Tract of Land scituate Lying and being in the County of Morris aforesaid Begining at a Post standing near to the Southerly Branch of Rariton North Branch,
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being also a Corner of Land formerly Joseph Kirkbride's thence North East twenty Degrees fifty five chains and three Quarters to another Corner in the Line of said Kirkbride's thence along the said Line North West Seventy Degrees one hundred Chains to the first mentioned Corner, which said Tract or Parcell of Land is known by No. 20 and Contains five hundred and twenty Seven Acres besides the Usual Allowance for highways. Together with all Buildings, Fences, Improvements, Heredi- taments, Priviledges and Appurtenances whatsoever to the Same belonging or Ap- purtaining with all the Estate, Right, Title, Interest, property Claim and Demand whatsoever of the said John Jackson, or of him the said John Ford of in or to the Premisses hereby Granted or any Part or Parcell thereof. To have and To hold the above bargained premisses with the Appurtenances to him the said Hart- shorne Fitz Randolph his Heirs and Assigns, to the only Use, Benefitt and Behoof of him the said Hartshorne Fitz Randolph his Heirs and Assigns forever And the said John Ford doth for himself and his Heirs Covenant Grant and Agree to and with the said Hartshorne Fitz Randolph his Heirs and Assigns, that he hath neither done nor Suffered to be done any Act, Matter, or Thing whatsoever, whereby the Estate by these Presents Granted may or Can be any ways Defeated Charg'd or Incumbered. In Witness whereof the Partys to these Presents have interchangeably Sett their hands and Seals the day & Year first above Written.
JOHN FORD, Shff.
Sealed & Delivered in the Presence of
the words (in the) & (August) & (Southerly) being first wrote on a Rasure-
Jacob Thorn John Smyth
Endorsed in handwriting of Hartshorne Fitz Randolph- Hartshorne Fitz Randolph
Deed for his home plantation
Dated August 15, 1753.
H. F. Randolph, M. La Fever, E. & Joel Coe: Line Settled, June 1, 1791 :
WHEREAS the first Line of a Tract of Land Surveyed and Returned to Joseph Kirkbride on the 12th of May 1713 and the last line of a Tract Returned to John Reading on the 14th of June 1716 hath by reason of the attraction of the needle or other cause, been held fenced (?) and improved in different courses and not on a direct Strait line from the Begining Corner of the Said Kirkbrides being a gum or pepperidge, to the last Corner of the Said Readings Survey, being a pine, both of which Corners being allowed to be the original bounds of the Respective Surveys, and there being no certain ancient landmarks whereby to determine the place where the said lines were first made and whereas Hartshorn Fitz Randolph the present possessor and owner of the Lands northward of the said lines, and Minard Lafever Ebenezer Coe and Joel Coe the present owners of the Lands Southward of the said Lines. Having mutually agreed to submit the Final Settle- ment of the said lines, so far as they are respectively Interested in the Lands ad- joining the said lines, to the Judgment and determination of Lebbeus Dod Silas Condict and Lemuel Cobb. and the said arbitrators having viewed the premises agreed that the said line of partition between the said parties so far as it affects the said parties should be a strait direct line from the said pine the last Corner of the said Readings Survey to or towards the said gum the begining Corner of the said Kirkbrides Survey, and having Run and Marked the same and among other Land marks fixed a post thirty Chains and ninety seven links from the said pine. as the Junction of the said surveys which is intended to be directly between the said two Corners or in the said direct line. and the said Hartshorn doth hereby for him- self his heirs Executors Administrators and assigns agree to the said Line so Settled as above and doth relinquish and forever Release and Quit claim all his right and Tittle to the Lands adjoining the said line on the south side thereof and the said Minard Lafever Ebenezer Coe and Joel Coe do for themselves &c &c on the north side for the true performance and confirmation whereof the said parties hereby bind themselves &c to each other &c in the penal sum of five hundred pounds current money of New Jersey.
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NEW JERSEY
In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals this First day of June Seventeen hundred and ninety one.
-1 HARTSHORNE FITZ RANDOLPH
MINARD LAFEVER
1 !: EBENEZER COE
JOEL COE.
Sealed & delivered in the presance of
his
JOHN X WILLIAMS
mark
NATHANIEL BONNELL
HARTSHORN F. RANDOLPH & MINARD LAFEVER
in presance of
SILAS CONDICT
The following receipt bears upon the question whether the Jacob Law- rence house near the city reservoir could have been built by "Isaac Hance," and by him finished on the day when Cornwallis surrendered, October 19, 1781.
Received October 1Ith 1782 of Hartshorne Fitz Randolph the sum of Twenty Eight Pounds Eleven Shillings & one Penny. It being in full of his moiety or half Part of the Building a sawmill in Partnership with Asaac Hance (as pr account £3- 6-3 p. Cash £ 11-5-0. His note of Hand for ££ 13-19-10 Payable the first Octr. next. Isay Reed.
THOS. Ross JUN.
Note-There seems to have been an Asaac or Isaac Hance old enough to build a saw mill in 1782. Hence he could have built a house in 1781. Hence it is still possible that this house was built and finished on the day when Cornwallis surrendered. It would be hard to get such a legend started with no basis in fact.
The above receipt was found among the papers of Silas Dell, in the office of James H. Neighbour, 1913.
Extracts from Munsell's History of Morris County, page 40, 1882:
The first forge at Dover was built, it is said, by John Jackson in 1722 on what is still called Jackson's Brook, near the present ( 1882) residence of Alpheus Beemer. Jackson purchased a tract of 527 acres of one Joseph Latham, including the site of this forge and much of the land west of Dover. (The town of Dover [ 1913] includes about 600 acres.) The ven- ture was not a successful one and in 1757 the forge passed into the hands of Josiah Beman and the farm into those of Hartshorne Fitz Randolph.
It is to be noted, however, that in 1743 a tract of 91 acres was located by Joseph Shotwell, which covered most of the village of Dover, on both sides of the river from where the Morris and Essex railroad crosses it to below Bergen street, and it was said to be at a place called "the Quaker Iron Works."
In 1769 Josiah Beman, "bloomer," mortgages to Thomas Bartow the same tract, "being that which John Jackson formerly lived on and whereon the forge and dwelling house which was his did stand," and which land was "conveyed to him by Joseph Prudden by deed dated April 7, 1761 ; excepting out of this present grant nine acres on which the forge stands sold by him to Robert Schooley."
It further appears from other deeds that the indebtedness secured by this mortgage was contracted in 1761, probably when the purchase was made of Prudden. In 1768 Joseph Jackson and his son Stephen purchased of Robert Schooley one fire in his forge. The next year Joseph Jackson conveyed his interest in the forge to his son. Josiah Beman, the owner
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as it appears, as early as 1761, of this Dover forge, was a brother of David Beman of Rockaway, the brother-in-law of General Winds and the grand- father of the late Thomas Green of Denville. He lived in the long, low house in the village of Dover and standing on the north side of the mill pond. He is described as a man of great piety, a regular attendant upon the church at Rockaway and of very simple habits.
Beman sold his forge to Canfield & Losey in 1792, and the new firm enlarged the business by the erection of rolling-mills, etc.
In 1748 the land on both sides of the river at Rockaway was located by Colonel Jacob Ford, and the tract was said to include "Job Allen's iron works." * These iron works were built, as near as can now be as- certained, in 1730. *
It is evident that about the years 1748-50 a great advance was inade in the manufacture of iron. In 1741 a "humble representation" was made to Lewis Morris, governor of the province, asking that the British duty on importations be removed. * But in 1750 an act of Parliament was trans- mitted to the governor "to encourage the importation of pig and bar iron from his Majesty's colonies in America and to prevent the erection of any slitting mill, rolling mill, etc., under penalty of £200.
Much of the information about forges on the upper Rockaway was obtained from Horace Chamberlain, of Oakridge, surveyor.
Gordon's Gazetteer of New Jersey, 1834-Dover had a bank with a capital of $50,000 and the right to extend it to $150,000. 30 dwellings, an academy and church in one building. Jackson's mine, 3 miles from the Dickerson mine. The Succasunna mine was located in 1716 by John Read- ing. It was sold the same year to Joseph Kirkbride, 558 acres. Kirkbride located in 1713 4,525 acres, also 1,254 acres=5,779 acres.
Tuttle Papers-In 1744 Henry Brotherton, brother of Richard, bought 125 acres of a Kirkbride and in 1753 his brother, James B., bought 200-300 acres at Mine Hill.
Thomas Dell bought land of Kirkbrides a mile east of Mine Hill in 1786 and lived there till he died in 1850, then over 90 years old.
In 1756 General Winds from east end of Long Island bought 275 acres of Thomas and Richard Penn and lived there, south of the point of Pine Hill.
In 1757 Josiah Beaman, brother-in-law of Gen. Winds, bought 107 acres in Dover on north side of Rockaway river.
In 1739 Daniel Carrel bought of Kirkbride estate near Dover.
Richard Brotherton's manuscript was in the hands of Rev. B. C. Megie when he wrote for the History of Morris County.
In 1713 Joseph Latham bought land here.
Jackson's forge was probably the second one in the county. Rocka- way began soon after Dover, in 1725-30.
The savages disappeared a few years after the whites came in.
From Mrs. Ella W. Livermore, Aug. 15, 1913:
I have some old Randolph letters, one written in 1811, which places Hartshorne's death four years before that date, making his death 1807.
Richard Brotherton was called by all "Dicky Brotherton." I remember him distinctly driving up to the door two or three times a week with fresh meat. He was a butcher. He always wore the broad brimmed hat and long coat and he was a dear, good, old man.
The first postmaster appointed for Dover was Jacob Losey. I have understood that David Sanford and Mr. Sidnev Breese were deputies under Jacob Losey. My father, John Marshall Losey, was Postmaster for many years and I am quite sure that he succeeded Jacob Losey by appointment. Sanford and Breese had acted be-
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tween Jacob Losey and my father's time. At my father's death in 1857 my mother, Maria B. Losey, was appointed in his place and continued until her death, in February, 1863, when Ephraim Lindsley was appointed. From his time I have not kept trace of it. During my mother's administration I attended to the duties for her, until I married, when a cousin took my place.
Among your list of the old Dover pupils there is one, George B. Sanford, who is in the United Express Company, New York, and resides in Newark, 781 South Tenth Street, tel. Waverly 910 W. He would be interested in anything per- taining to Dover.
The first Henry McFarlan I know nothing about, except as Grandmother spoke of him. He was an Irishman and the business of Jacob Losey and Israel Canfield fell into his hands. As far as known he was a good and honorable business man and he arranged for Jacob Losey to be always taken care of. The next generation did not do it.
The second Henry McFarlan and wife I knew and entertained them at my home many times. He and his wife lived a very quiet and retired life. Both were de- voted to their books and they possessed a fine library.
I think it was about the latter part of 1700, somewhere near 1797, when Jacob Losey was appointed Postmaster. John Marshall Losey held the position by govern- ment appointment for many years, until 1857. I am almost sure he succeeded "Uncle Jake."
Has any one ever spoken to you of the "school house rock"? Just above Mary Rose's house is a large rock. Years ago it was called "School house rock" and all of the children thought they had performed quite a feat when they walked up the steep hill to it. It was said to be marked with an Indian's foot. Many a time I have crawled over that rock to find the imprint of the foot. I never found it. Two years ago when I was at Miss Rose's I walked to the rock. It has been half buried under the dirt by the cutting through of a street. The shade around it used to be very dense. The sunlight scarcely ever touched it.
From " A History of Thomas Canfield and of Matthew Canfield," with a Genealogy of their Descendants in New Jersey, Compiled by Frederick A. Canfield, Dover, N. J., 1897 :
Israel Canfield, the son of Abraham and Sarah (Sealy) Canfield, was born July 3d, 1759, probably at New Vernon, N. J. He died August 27, 1841, in Morristown, N. J. He married Rachel Ogden Wetmore in 1803.
He was a private in the New Jersey State Troops during the War of Independence. As a member of Captain Thomas Kinney's Company he, at the age of 17, was one of the guards that escorted Gov. William Franklin, under arrest, to Wethersfield, Conn.
He was an active business man and owned large tracts of mineral and timber lands in Morris and Sussex Counties, New Jersey. In 1791 he subscribed 25 pounds for Morris Academy stock. In 1792, with Jacob Losey, he built a dam, forge, rolling and slitting mills, and a nail factory at Dover, N. J. In 1793 he was one of the managers in charge of the construction of the new Presbyterian Church building in Morristown, N. J. In 1795 he was the senior partner of the firm of Israel & David S. Canfield, merchants in Morristown. In 1799 he was elected Sheriff of Morris County. In 1798 he was one of the original proprietors of the Morris Aqueduct, which he built. In 1801 he was an incorporator of the Morris Turnpike Company. In 1806 he held a similar position in the turnpike company which built the road from Morristown, via Chester, to Easton, Pa.
In 1812 he was elected Justice of the Peace. In 1814 he was presi- dent of the Morris Fire Company. In 1816 he subscribed $200 to the fund raised to purchase the "Morristown Green." In 1816 the firm of Canfield & Losey in Dover having succumbed to the depression in the iron business that succeeded the "War of 1812," he retired from active
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business. He lived in Morristown. He is buried in the yard of the First Presbyterian Church in that town.
The firm of Canfield and Losey conducted the iron works at Dover from 1792 to some date in 1816. The above brief recital of works and deeds indicates the energy and the range of activity of a man whom we can claim as one of "The Makers of Dover," although his residence was in Morristown. For a quarter of a century he maintained in partnership with Jacob Losey the chief industry of Dover, and acquired much of the mining and other real estate which was later purchased by Mr. Henry Mc- Farlan, the next great name on the list of "The Makers of Dover."
We see the series of names emerging from the page of history,- the names of those who conducted the great industry on which the pros- perity of the town was chiefly founded :- John Jackson, 1722-1753; Josiah Beaman, 1753-1792 ; Canfield & Losey, 1792-1817; Blackwell & McFarlan (Mr. Blackwell retiring soon) from 1817 to 1880; Judge Francis S. Lathrop then formed a company from the stockholders of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and continued the business.
William Hunt Canfield, son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Hunt) Can- field, was born about 1795, and died July 30, 1821, at Morris Plains, N. J. He and his cousin William Hunt formed the firm of "Hunt & Canfield." They opened the first store ever in Dover, in the old frame building that stood behind the engine house on Sussex street. He was also in the employ of Canfield & Losey, iron manufacturers in Dover. He is buried in the yard of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, N. J.
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