USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > Centennial history of Somerset County [New Jersey] > Part 2
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One Van Nest was employed by him in Spain to give him notice of Philp's plans and purposes ; and what is more wonderful, he copied every night whatever Philip had written during the day, relating to the affairs in Holland, and sent it to William He continued to do this for sev- eral years and yet escaped from Spain with his head on his shoulders ! Those who know how suspicious the Tyrant of Spain was, will never think it any less than a mira- cle, or at least a special influence of a watchful Provi- dence, that protected him. So much depended on William being able to circumvent Philip, that the Almighty it would seem allowed him to fall into the snare laid for him, and all his secrets to be betrayed to his enemy. It must have demanded no small amount of circumspection to circumvent such a suspicious master of craft, and to deceive him for so long a time ; the success shows how much was ventured in those evil days from the purest patriotism. If any clue to his practices had been obtained, the most cruel and painful death would have been his im- mediate punishment. It may even have had something to do with the emigration of the first Van Neste to New Neth- erlands, for such a man was never safe while Philip lived; he came to America the same year in which Frederick Hen- ry Stadtholder and Prince of Orange died, and when the troubles at home were by no means settled. But whether the imigrant was in anyway connected with the agent of William of Orange, we cannot determine, Perhaps he was only a farmer, and sought our shores with a view of better- ing his worldly estate. The first imigrant settled on Long Island 34 years before Peter Van Nest came to Raritan, and bore the same name, A part of the original farm was sold subsequently to the church, and on it Rev. John Frelinghuy - sen built his house, when he returned from Holland and suc- ceeded his father in the Church of Raritan. It remained in possession of the church until after the resignation of the Rev. John Duryea, when it was sold to pay the debt which was owing him by the disaffected in the church. Another Van Nest, was Vice Admiral under De- Ruyter, in 1666, and fought the British under the Earl of Albemarle off the North Foreland ; in which engagement
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the most astonishing endurance was manifested, and the ships of Van Nest and Van Tromp were entirely dis- abled and had to be abandoned, but neither of them thought of giving up the fight. The next year he blocked the mouth of the Thames, whi'e De Ruyter was threaten- iug the British coast.
The third purchase of land in Somerset County, is da- ted Nov. 19. 1681, and extended from the west line of the former plot. that is from the east side of the land, formerly owned by JJohn M. Mann, to the foot of the mountain at Pluckamin ; and on the Raritan, the west line was the west point of the Island in front of R. H. Veghte's property, thence, running north, until it intersected a west line from the point of the mountain where the east line terminated. It embraced all the land between Caleb Miller's property on the east, and the old Patterson farm on the west, and extended north. nearly up to the village of Pluckamin. a broad and valuable tract, including some of the most beau'- tiful farms in our vicinity, and on it, on Peter's Brook, stood the old Van Neste mansion, in which "Prince George" lived and died, but which has since been demol- ished.
The Indians selling it, were called Pawark and Manansa- mit, and the purchaser was Robert Van Quillen. It in- cluded the Island before mentioned, which was known by the Indian name of Mataniqne.
The whole splendid plot of rich land when surveved, was divided into six portions. On the east side, joining the river, Graham and Winder had 1900 acres, north of them, Samuel Winder had 500 ; north of this, D. D. Dunstar owned 760 acres. Returning again to the river, John - Robinson had 660, Archibald Riddle, 300 ; north of this plot, Sir John Dalrymple, 500 ; leaving a large plot north of it still unappropriated.
Who were the first settlers on this tract of land. and where the first house or houses were erected, we are not advised. It is probable however, that it was either where John M. Mann lived, or where the residence of Rev. F. F. Cornell is at present located. The large plot of low land south of these points was a favorite corn ground of the
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Indians and had no forest on it, and was called by them Racka-wacka-hack.
At a very early period the Coejeman property was pur- chased and the Meddagh house afterwards J. M. Mann's is mentioned by John Lawrence, as being on the line be- tween East and West Jersey, which he ran in 1719, and the large white oak tree still standing on the cast side of the house was marked by him as being in that line. An- other mark of the same line is still visible in a stone plant- ed on the south bank of the river by the roadside. nearly in front of the house which John V. Veghte erected for his own residence, previons to removing to his father's. This line is called the "Quintipartate line," and extended from Little Egg harbor to a point on the Delaware in 41 de- grees latitude. It was made for the purpose of dividing the claims of Sir George Carteret and the assigns of Lord Berkley and separated the Province of New Jersey into Eas t and West Jersey ; a division continuing as long as the Proprietary Government lasted.
The Coejeman family came here as early as 1736. They were Hollanders, but came to the Raritan from Coejeman's on the Hudson river, and built the ancient brick house still standing in Raritan village. It was a very large and ex- pensive mansion for that day. When they moved into'it, it is said, they brought a "wheelbarrow "load of silver plate." Staats Coejeman, an officer in the navy, some 40 years since, we believe, to have been the last male descendant.
Andrew Coejeman of Raritan, was the son of Barent Pi- eterse Coejeman's, who with his mother and three brothers, David, Jacob and Arent imigrated from Holland, to Ren- sellaer's Wyck 1636. They came originally from Utrech. Barent worked in the Patroons Grist Mill until 1645, then superintended his Saw Mill, then rented a farm and final- ly in 1683, with the consent of the Commissioners at Alba- ny, purchased from the Kaats Kill Indians a large tract of land some twelve or fifteen miles south of the city, on the west side of the river. The inducement was the favorable situation of the land for the erection and running of Saw Mills. The purchase began at a point on the shore called Sieskasin opposite the middle' of Jan Ryerson's Island
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and ran south to the mouth of Peter Bronck's Kill, as Coxsakie Creek was then called, following up the creek to its scource, the line then ran west until it struck the head waters falling into the Hudson River. The land on the waters flowing west into the Schoharie Creek belonged to the Mohawks. From this point the line went north until it reached the lands of the Patroon, and thence along the south side of his patent to the Hudson River A patent was obtained for this land, some eight miles in length west, and nearly ten along the river side from Gov. Lovelace. April 9, 1693. A slight dispute arose with the Patroon about his jurisdiction, but in August 6, 1714, Queen Anne confirmed the whole to him and his heirs forever. Barent Pieterse Coejemans had five children, Andreas, Samuel and Peter,-sons,-and Aryantye and Jannetye, daughters. The eldest of these sons, Andreas or Andrew came to Raritan and built as above. It was a large brick house four rooms and a hall. one and one-half stories.
The family were buried near it but the grave stones are lost.
Andrew Coejemans, of Raritan, married a daughter of Dr. Samuel Staats, of Albany, and had four daughters and a son, Samuel Staats Coejeman. The daughters married as follows :
Catherine, an Irish gentleman named Neilson, by whom she had three children, John, James and Gertrude, and resided in New Brunswick.
Gertrude married Abraham Lott, and had four children, Catharine, Cornelia, Gertrude and Abraham.
Johanna married Col. White, and had three children, Gen. Anthony Walton White, who resided on the Raritan below New Brunswick, and Mrs. Governor Paterson and Mrs. Bayard.
Moyaca was a cripple and never married. She died at the house of Col, John Neilson, where she had been re- siding with her brother's children of whom Col. Neilson and Gov. Paterson had been appointed executors and Guardians.
Andrew Coejeman, son of S. Staats Coejeman, married
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Anettje Schuyler, and had two children, Gertrude and Andrew.
Andrew married Jane Vandoren, and had three sons, Samuel Staats, John Neilson and Abraham Vandoren, all died and with them the name became extinct on the Rari- tan. Gertrude married George Farmer, and had one son and four daughters.
Andrew Coejeman also purchased of John Royce 400 acres on south side of Raritan-to be called Roycefield.
Many years since, the writer of these notes spent a night in the old Co. jeman mansion on the Hudson, and saw the full length portrait of the Lady Coejeman which is pre- served there. In a little Dutch bed in a large room in the second story of the old stone house, we dreamed of the olden times, and had many visions of stately dames in ruffs and high heels and stays passing before our mind. It was quite a romance in our young life. and the memory of it has never been defaced. It brought the past near- er than we had ever realized it before.
Robert Van Quillen, the purchaser of this third tract on the Raritan, figures quite largely in our early history. His character, however, is somewhat dubious. He may be called a Frenchified Dutchman, or, perhaps more properly a Dutchified Frenchman. He is represented as being a native of Caen, in France, and called De La Prie, and again La Prie. He was Surveyor General of the Province of East New Jersey for some time, and naturalized March 8, 1669. Beside his valuable possession on the Raritan, he had at an earlier date located for himself a large tract of land south of the Raritan, opposite Amboy, which one of the early Scotch settlers speaks of as being "but mean land." His purchase of the Indians on the Raritan, was on speculation, and he did not long retain the title of his possessions, and never lived in Somerset. His residence was at Elizabethtown.
He was one of Gov. Carteret's first council, in 1668- having as his associates Capt. Nicholas Verlett, Daniel Pierce, Robert Bond and Samuel Edsall. In 1674, during the administration of Gov. Colve, he is reported as hav- ing carried away a variety of goods from the house of Gov-
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ernor Carteret, in Elizabethtown, which he declined to re- store ; whereupon an order was issued from Fort William Henry. in New York, for his arrest, in company with one Singleterry, to be brought before the Governor. The ex- planation given is, that he held the goods ont of friend- ship to Gov. Carteret, and in his interest : which is prob- able, since Carteret had been, as it is now conceded, un- justly expelled from his rights as proprietor and Governor under the Duke of York's grant, and was soon after re- stored to his former position. When such restoration had taken place, in 1674, Van Quellen was appointed one of his council together with Capt. John Berry, William San- ford and John Pike, and Messrs. Lawrence Anderson and John Bishop Sr. ; Robert Bollen being Secretary of the Board. He seems also to have been concerned in the Elizabeth purchase, as appears from the oath of Jeremiah Osborn. appended to the Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery. In fact he was a greedy, grasping adventurer in his land speculations.
Though owning lands along the Raritan, his residence was constantly at Elizabethtown, which had become, not only the home of the Governor and the place where the Legislature met, but besides, a place of considerable im- portance, comprising within its limits at least 700 inhabi- tants, with 40,000 acres of land under cultivation. The Governor is said to have had a house, orchard and farm within the town limits, indicating that he was surrounded with all the comforts possible in a new settlement.
One of the very best plantations embraced in this third purchase, was owned at the opening of the Revolution by a lawyer named Peregrine Lagrange, who, from conviction and choice, took the part of the British Government in the conflict which ensued. As a consequence his property was confiscated and sold at public auction. It was purchased by William Patterson, afterwards Governor of the State, and one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the Uni- ted States, or soon after came into his possession ; and is still known as "The Patterson Farm," and on it he resid- ed for several years. Here, in a stone house, some eighty years ago, Mrs. Van Rensellar, wife of Gen. Stephen Van
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Rensellar, commonly known as the "Patroon of Albany," was born and grew up to early girlhood. She retained a vivid and grateful memory of the old home on the Raritan, and after the death of her husband, intended to purchase it and make it her residence ; but being urged by her dangh- ters first to consent to accompany them for a year to France, she returned only to die in a few months after reaching her home in Albany ; and the purpose failed.
It is one of the instances which prove the power of early associations. Probably when she came to see the old home- stead she would have been greatly disappointed, and de- terred from carrying out her intentions.
Dirk Middah resided on the place owned by John M. Mann, as parly as 1699, and his name is among the first on the Church records. It was one of the most desirable locations on the Raritan, overlooking those beautiful mead- ows which lay south between it and the river. The old white oak tree, already referred to, standing on the east side of the house is a memorial of the olden time. It stood there in 1743, one hundred and thirty-five years since. When John Lawrence marked it as in the Quintapate line, it was already a large tree, and it ought to be left stand- ing as long as vitality remains in it, as a landmark of the past. When Lawrence came to the south side of the river it was evening, and he sought for quarters for the night. He was promised accommodations, in the house of a Mr. Fulkerson, ( who lived near the present cemetery), but when he came there, the good wife did not relish the idea of admitting strangers to her domicile, and scolded her husband to such a degree, that Lawrence thought best to decamp ; and he went back towards Roycefield, where he found a house without a scolding dame, and slept in peace. He gives quite an amusing account in his journal of his disappointment and the lady who occassioned it.
The fourth purchase of land from the Indians on the Raritan, extended from the western boundary of the last mentioned plot up to the junction of the north and south branches. This place was called by the natives, Tuck-a- rama-hacking, From this point the line ran cast of north to a place nearly equidistant between the North Branch
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and Lamington river, at or near what was the late turn- pike bridge above Burnt Mills ; thence due east, until it met the line of the former purchase ; and thence south to the place of beginning. The aboriginal owners conveying this land, are called Pawark, Cowalanuck, Manamasamet Aguamapamund ! The purchasers were John Robinson, ~ William Pinhorn, Richard Jones, and Matthey Taylor .- The consideration was. "certain goods mentioned in the deed," and the date Nov 19, 1681.
This plot was afterwards surveyed and divided as fol- lows : William Pinhoin, had deeded to him, March S, 1697, 500 acres on the east side and 160 on the river ; Lord Neil Campbell, Jan. 9, 1685, had 1650 acres-em- bracing all the land between Pinhorn and the junction of the two branches, and extending north as for as Pinhorn's grant extended. Immediately north of these two grants and including all that remained on the east side of North Branch, William Ackman had 400 acres ; Archibald Riddle 300 ; and Sir John Dalrymple 500 acres. The land on the west side was taken by John JJohnson, while Lord Neil appropriated to himself another 1000 acres and other smaller proprietors, whose deeds extended west and em- braced land beyond the western line of the Indian grant and reached the present boundary of Branchburgh township took the balance, Their names were Michael Hawden, George Willocks, Miles Foster and Thomas Gordon, and their deeds all bear the date of 1703.
None of the individuals who had, in this way, become proprietors of land, occupied their possessions except Lord Neil Campbell ; Matthew Taylor is not mentioned again ; Pinhorn resided on the Passaic river near Bellville, and was a man of some note in his day. He was a member of Gov, Basse's council in 1698 from Bergen county. His associates were Thomas Codrington, of Somerset, and Thomas Warne, of Middlesex. He was also interested with Kingsland and Berry in settling and cultivating lands on what has long beet. known as Barbadoes-Neck, but more recently, Rutherford Park ; a man of intelligence culture and talents ; probably an emigrant from the Island of Barbadoes, whence Kingsland and Berry had come.
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Lord Neil Campbell was a brother of the Duke of Ar- gyle and was concerned with him in the unfortunate expe- dition in favor of "the handsome Duke of Monmonth." the son of Charles 11., and Lucy Warters. Besides being himself implicated in au enterprise which proved a desper- ate failure, and sent scores of honest and honorable men to a premature and bloody grave, he had two sons, John and Archibald already in New Jersey, who had been also com- promised in the same unfortunate rebellion against the Gov- ernment. John is mentioned as early as 1685, with his wife and three children and eleven servants, as a resident in New Jersey. He was the owner of 1870 acres of land on the west side of South Branch, beginning near Corle's Mills and extending west to the township line. John Campbell, with John Dobie, John Drumond, Andrew Hamilton, owned all the land from Holland's brook up to where the west line of Branchburgh meets the South Branch. Their deeds are dated Nov. 9. 1685, the autumn of the year in which he left Scotland. But it is not known to the present writer that he ever resided on this land.
Lord Neil Campbell was appointed Deputy Governor by the proprietors of East New Jersey for two vears on the 4th of June 1685, and reached the Province in the ensuing October. His residence was on his plactation on the banks of the Raritan ; the property is now owned by George McBride. He had sent 65 servants to settle on it previous to his coming. He must have arrived in Septem- ber. On the 5th of October his commission was read, and on the 18th his council named. It consisted of Gawen Lawrie, Maj. John Berry, of Bergen, Isaac Kingsland of New Barbadoes, Captain Andrew Hamilton of Amboy, Richard Townley of Elizabeth, Samuel Winder of Cheese- quakes, David Mudie, John Johnson of Amboy and Thom- as Codrington of Raritan.
But whatever motives may have induced Lord Neil Campbell to come to New Jersey aud assume the adminis- tration of its affairs, his stay was very short. On the 10th of December he appointed Anthony Hamilton his substi- tute, being, as is said, constrained by the urgent necessity of some weighty affairs, to return to Scotland, What
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were the "weighty affairs" and what the necessity of at- tending to them is not explained. He remained However permanently in his Scottish home, and left his interests here to be attended to by his sons.
If his absence was in- tended to be temporary, it was a disappointment, for it proved to be perpetual. The reason of it is not apparent. The aspect of things had probably changed in Scotland, or else some important pecuniary interest required his atten- tion there. He had been appointed, no doubt, so far as the proprietors were concerned, as a matter of policy, and it had succeeded, to a certain extent at least, for it induc- ed imigration to some extent.
There are references in the Records of the province, to the following persons as having emigrated and settled per- manently about this time, viz ; Dec. 16, 1864, Gawen Lawrie and 8 persons ; William Haize S ditto ; the Pro- prietors, 22 besides 2 overseers ; Captain Thomas Pear- son Nov. 24, 1684, 14 ; William Dockwra Dec. 14, 1684, 24 ; and subsequently ten more ; John Barclay, 6 in 1683; Robert Fullerton 9, John Campbell 8, Andrew Hamilton 10, David Mudie 17, Lord Neil Campbell 56, James Johnson 9, John Forbes 4, George Keith 6, Charles Gor- don 5, in all nearly 200 persons. These imigrants re- mained, and many of them became afterwards prominent men in the affairs of the province. About the same time, also, George Scot, of Pitlochie wrote and published a work entitled "the model of the Government of East Jersey in America ;" in which, great encouragement was attempted to be given to emigration to that beautiful and promising region. There is a curious conveyance on record (says Whitehead) under date of Dec. 16, 1684, by which one Moneybaird, makes over to John Campbell, the son of Lord Neil Campbell, all his interests in Perth Amboy, in consideration of the said Campbell's sending a footman to wait on Moneybaird during Parliament in New Jer- sey, and holding his stirup. Great things were expected, and there were men who saw visions in those days, as in our more humdrum and money getting age-greater things than will ever be realized. Archibald Campbell, another son of Lord Neil Campbell, came to New Jersey in 1684,
6
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immediately after the termination of his uncles expedition. He had been engaged in this raid from the Highlands, as well as his father. Two sons of Argyle, John and Charles, and their consin, the Archibald Campbell of whom we are writing, were sentenced to death and forfeiture of estate ; but the sentence was afterwards so far modified as to re- mit the penalty of death. Archibald Campbell died in May 1702. and it is uncertain whether he left any children. John had died before him, in December 1689 leaving one son and two daughters. John Campbell who built and owned the Herbert Mills, and Alexander Campbell who lived last on the Codrington place were descendants. There is an old Bell used in the Academy of Bound Brook, which belonged to Campbell. It has an inscription dated 1734 at Amstereodam-Amsterdam-and is a valuable relic of the olden times. It is said that Archibald Campbell used it in calling in his slaves from their field labors, He lived in Baronial stvie on Herbert's Island and called it Kells Hall, and employed a numerous company of men and maidens in his house and farm labors.
The plantation of Kell's Hall was owned about the time of the Revolution, by Cornelins Van Horn, a merchant of New York, and about 1800 it came into the possession of George Smock. It has always been considered one of the most valuable farms on the Raritan.
John Campbell resided in a house which stood near the river banks, almost directly south of the Railroad Depot in Bound Brook. It has only recently been removed, and it will be remembered by the more aged inhabitants, as an old dilapidated mansion which had had great pretentions, and was in its last days inhabited by a family of Jews,
Alexander the last of the Campbells resided ou the Cod- vington place and died some 40 years since. So far as we know or have been able to ascertain there are no male rep- presentatives of Lord Neit Campbell living in New Jersey at the present time.
The Argyle family was, and is still, one of the most prominent among the aristocracy of Scotland. Lord Forn who's had married a daughter of Queen Victoria is a lin- eal descendant of the Duke of Argyle who was the brother
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of Lord Neil Campbell, and uncle of John and Archibald Campbell.
The plantation of Lord Neil Campbell on the Raritan, in process of time passed into the hands of William Cook ; then John Elmendorf inherited it, and left it to his son Peter, who sold it to the present proprietor, Immediate- ly east of this farm, a Mr Potter, of Philadelphia owned some fonr hun Ired acres of land. It passed from him in to the hands of JJohn Simonson, Esq., and is now owned in part by the heirs of Peter V. Staats, deceased. A por- tion of it the late Gusbert B. Vroom of New York, pur- chased, and his family resided there for some time after his death.
On the west side of South Branch, commencing at Hol- land's Brook and proceeding south there were five deeds given, each one extentding west to the township line, viz : First, April 25, 1687, to Andrew Hamilton 510 acres ; next John Drumond 1000 acres Nov. 9, 1685 ; next, An- drew Hamilton same date 750 acres ; next, John Camp- bell, one of the sons of Lord Neil Campbell, same date 1874 acres ; next, John Dobie same date 395 acres ; which brings us up to the South Branch and the inter- section of the township line, in other words to "the Hookee." West of this line and sonth of the river, was all included in "the Lotting purchase" which extended up to the New Jersey Society's lands," That purchase included the Cushetonk Hills (Pickels mountain) Round Valley and all the land west to the Delaware !
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