USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > Perth Amboy > Contributions to the early history of Perth Amboy and adjoining country : with sketches of men and events in New Jersey during the provincial era > Part 35
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It must be remembered that this is a partisan statement, passing over as lightly as possible the outrages committed. There was no necessity for firing the Court-House, nor the dwellings, nor for visiting upon the few prisoners taken the indignities, of which there are many traditionary accounts.
35 Simcoe's Military Journal, pp. the character of Lee's cavalry, waked 107-117. Colonel Lee says of this up the commissary about midnight, expedition :- " Simcoe executed his object completely, then deemed very important *
* * passing through a most hostile region of armed citi- zens ; necessarily skirting Brunswick, a military station; proceeding not more than eight or nine miles from the legion of Lee, his last point of danger, and which became increased from the debilitated condition to which his troops were reduced by previous fatigue. What is very extraordinary, Simcoe, being obliged to feed once in the course of the night, stopped at a depot of forage collected for the conti- nental army, assumed for his corps
drew the customary allowance of for- age, and gave the usual vouchers, signing the name of the legion-quar- termaster, without being discovered by the American forage commissary or his assistants. The dress of both corps was the same, green coatees and leather breeches ; yet the success of the stratagem is astonishing."-(Lee's Memoirs of the War, II., p. 9, note.) As Simcoe says nothing of all this, the correctness of the story may be doubt- ed. The time, too, is all out of keep- ing. " It was daybreak," says Simcoe. " before the cavalry left Amboy."
353
EVENTS DURING THE REVOLUTION.
Captain Voorhees of the Ist Jersey Regiment, was cruelly wounded by the Rangers, so that he lived but a few hours, although incapacitated, by an accident to his horse, from mak- ing any resistance. He was to have been married the next day. Dr. Ryker and Mr. John Polhemus were taken prisoners by Major Armstrong's covering party. The militia made six prisoners and killed three. Colonel Simcoe remained a prisoner until the last of December, having been most of the time in close confinement at Burlington, suffering under rigorous treat- ment in company with Colonel Billop,36 in retaliation for the hardships to which Capt. Nathaniel Fitz Randolph of Wood- bridge, and others, were subjected to.
British Major-general Phillips, Lieutenant-colonels Gordon and Norton, and American Major-general St. Clair, and Lieu- tenant-colonels Hamilton and Carrington met at Amboy early in March, 1780, for the purpose of arranging a general ex- change of prisoners.
On June 1st, 1780, a party of about 30 refugees from New York landed at Sandy Point on the Raritan, and proceeding thence to Woodbridge, made Justice Freeman, Mr. Edgar, and eight other persons prisoners, whom they carried off.
On the 4th January, 1782, a party of 300 British landed before day in the lower part of New Brunswick, and obtained possession of the town and retained it for some hours, but their object was apparently only to take possession of the whale boats, which having accomplished, they retired doing very little injury, having had four of their party killed. Under date of 11th January, Governor Livingston thus alludes to it in a letter to Lord Stirling.
"The enemy with about 300 men (a motley of British and refugees) have made an irruption into the City of Brunswick by water; have cap- tured Captain Haylies' (Quere Hyler's) gun boats (one of the first rates of New Jersey) and three whale boats, plundered two houses, carried off about five or six prisoners (some of them probably volunteers), and wounded five or six men. The extreme darkness of the night and the impossibility of collecting a sufficient force on so short a notice, they could not be repelled nor prevented from executing the object of their enter- prise, but the few men collected behaved with the greatest bravery, or in the charming language of General Burgoyne, "to a charm." 37
36 See page 95.
37 Stirling Papers in N. Y. Soc. Lib.
23
354
EVENTS DURING THE REVOLUTION.
Many instances of personal heroism and devotion to the interests of the colonies may be culled from contemporaneous papers, but neither the limits nor the scope of this volume will admit of their being introduced here. There is scarcely a town or village in the State that has not its local traditions or veritable accounts of " valiant doings in the country's cause," waiting for the patient chronicler to gather and preserve them. May this imperfect attempt to revive some of those relating to the district we have had under review, induce others to pur- sue similar researches in other quarters.
Chapter XI .- Jeloodbridge.
* * " We but hear
Of the survivors' toil in their new lands,
Their numbers and success ; but who can number
The hearts which broke in silence at their parting,
Or after their departure ; of that malady
Which calls up green and native fields to view
From the rough deep, with such identity To the poor exile's fevered eye, that he Can scarcely be restrained from treading them."
WOODBRIDGE was one of the townships, the creation of which was contemplated in an agreement entered into by Daniel Pierce and his associates, with Carteret, Ogden, and Watson, December 11th, 1666. This agreement was con- firmed by a deed dated December 3d, 1667, and on the same day, Pierce was commissioned as Deputy-surveyor to run the boundary lines, and lay out the lands to the different associ- ates. On June 1st, 1669, a charter was granted and "thank- fully accepted " which erected the tract, said to contain six miles square, into a township to comprise not less than sixty families, and by a resolution adopted on that day, this number was not to be exceeded unless by special order of the town. 1
The following persons received patents from the Proprie-
1 East Jersey under the Proprietors, pp. 41, 183 .- Woodbridge Town Re- cords .- I have derived much satisfac- tion from inspecting the venerable and veritable "town book " which records the public acts of settlers from Feb- ruary, 1668-9 down to 1700. The first years' papers are not on record, Joshua Pierce having, for some reason not stated, retained them in his pos-
session. The existence of these re- cords has been little known or their contents little valued, but they contain much matter calculated to interest any one connected with the township. Among other items of record are the births , marriages and deaths for many years. Would that there were more towns in the State possessing such original materials for their history.
356
WOODBRIDGE.
tors, principally in the year 1670, for lands within the bounds of the township ; and were all, it is believed, actual settlers. The nine original associates were allowed to retain 240 acres of upland and forty of meadow in addition to the regular al- lotment to each freeholder, but at what time, or by what method, the first divison was effected has not been ascertained.
Acres
Acres
John Adams
97
STEPHEN KENT,
249
Ephraim Andrews (1673)
98
Stephen Kent, jr.
104
Thomas Auger or Alger
167
Henry Lessenby
88
Obadiah Ayres
171
George Little
100
Samuel Baker or Bacon
170
HUGH MARCH
320
Joshua Bradley
171
David Makany
168
JOHN BISHOP
470
Samuel Moore
6
356
John Bishop, jr.
2 77
Matthew Moore -
177
Matthew Bunn, " Mariner"
165
Benj. Parker " Joiner"
105
Thomas Blomfield
326
Elisha Parker (1675)
182
Thomas Blomfield, jr.
92
JOHN PIKE
308
John Blomfield
90
John Pike, jr.
91
John Conger
170
DANIEL PIERCE
456
John Cromwill
173
JOSHUA PIERCE
7 30
William Compton 3
174
Daniel Robins
173
ROBERT DENNIS
448
Robert Rogers
91
John Dennis
107
JOHN SMITH "Wheelwright "
512
Samuel Dennis
94
Samuel Smith (1676) -
103
John Dilly (1676)
94
John Smith, " Scotchman"
176
Hugh Dun
92
Isaac Toppan
172
Jonathan Dunham (1672)
213
Abraham Toppan
951
John French " Mason"
15
John Taylor "Blacksmith "
92
Rehoboth Gannit
448
Israel Thorne 8 1676)
96
Daniel Grasie
164
Robert Vanquellen, or La Prairie
175
Samuel Hale
167
Jonathan Haynes (1673)
97
John Watkins
92
Elisha Ilsley
172
Nathan Webster
93
HENRY JAQUES
John Whitaker
91
Henry Jaques, jr. 5
368
Richard Worth 9
172
And in addition to these we find in the list of Freeholders in the Town Register (but without date) :
2 In Town Book this quantity is given as 92.
3 Mary Compton, daughter of Wil- liam and Mary Compton, was the first child born in Woodbridge, (Novem- ber, 1668.) She married Caleb Camp- bell on 1st January, 1695-6, and died February 15th, 1735, aged 67 years and 3 months. Her grave is still marked by a head-stone, recording the fact above stated.
4 In Town Book 177.
5 Ibid 126.
6 Ibid 286.
Ibid 310.
8 Admitted "instead of his uncle Jedidiah Andrews."
9 These names are from the East Jersey Records, and see Elizabeth- town Bill in Chancery, p.98.
4
5
357
WOODBRIDGE.
Acres
Acres
Thomas Adams
Hopewell Hull
John Allen "Minister "
97 John Ilsley
97
John Averill
John Martin, Sen'r
255
William Bingley
186 Thomas Pike
Jonathan Bishop
John Trewman
97
Capt. Philip Carteret -
313
Lords Proprietors 1000
James Clawson, or Clarkson
For the Ministry
200
Jonathan Dennis
Maintenance of School -
- 100
-
The names in small capitals are those of the original asso- ciates ; those in italics are not found in a "list of each man's land " under date of 1682,-having either disposed of their rights or been admitted as freeholders subsequently-in which list there are, also, some variations in the quantity of land held by some of the individuals.
A second division of land-80 acres to each freeholder- was authorized in February, 1687, the allotments lying west of the highway leading to Elizabethtown ;- a third division of 50 acres each, was made in March, 1701 ; a fourth of sixty acres in 1706, and one of twenty acres the year following.
Most of the foregoing names will be still recognized as those borne by many families in the vicinity, and the following lists will show which of them were coupled with honorable distinc- tions in the first years of the settlement.
_
DEPUTIES TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
1668-9 Robert Dennis.
Samuel Moore.
1669-71
John Smith.
Samuel Moore.
1671-2 John Smith.
Robert Dennis.
1675 Samuel Dennis.
Thomas Blomfield.
1676
Matthew Bunn.
Ephraim Andrews.
1679-82 Samuel Dennis.
John Ilsley.
1682-3 John Ilsley.
Samuel Moore.
1684-5
John Ilsley.
John Bishop.
1685-6
John Ilsley.
Ephraim Andrews.
1686-7
Ephraim Andrews.
Ezekiel Blomfield,
1687-8
Samuel Dennis.
Samuel Moore.
1692 Ephraim Andrews
John Ilsley.
1692-3 Thomas Thorp.
Jolın Pike.
1693-4
Nath'l Fitz Randolph.
John Ilsley.
1696
John Ilsley.
John Pike.
1697-8
Samuel Dennis.
John Pike.
1699 John Worth.
Thomas Pike.
1700-1 Elisha Parker.
Adam Hude.
1701 Jonathan Dunham.
Jonathan Bishop.
1702 Elisha Parker.
John Compton.
358
WOODBRIDGE.
OFFICERS OF TOWNSHIP COURT.
Assistants.
1671
President. John Pike.
John Smith, John Bishop, senr., John Martin, Samuel Moore.
1672
Saml. Moore.
John Smith, John Pike, J. Bishop, senr.
1674
John Pike.
J. Bishop, senr., Thos. Blomfield, senr., Ste- phen Kent, senr., Samuel Dennis.
1679
Ephraim Andrews, John Ilsley.
1681
John Pike.
-
Ephraim Andrews, Samuel Bacon, John Ilsley, J. Bishop, senr.
1688
John Bishop.
John Ilsley, Nathl. Fitz Randolph.
1693
John Bishop.
Samuel Hale, Samuel Dennis, Ephraim An- drews.
Marshals or Sergeants.
Clerks.
1672
Samuel Hale.
Jonathan Dunham.
1681
Joshua Bradley.
Samuel Moore.
1687
Thomas Collier.
1692
Daniel Robbins.
Thomas Pike.
1693 John Bloomfield.
1695
Isaac Toppan.
1696
Abraham Toppan.
William Stone.
TOWN CLERKS.
1668-78, Samuel Moore-1688-92, Samuel Dennis-1692-93, Thomas Pike-1694, Samuel Dennis-1695-1707, Thomas Pike. (From 1707 to 1711 it is uncertain who held the office.) 1711-1730, Moses Rolph-1732- 1756, Edward Crowell-1757-1768, Nathaniel Fitz Randolph-1769-1774, Daniel Moores-1775-1776, Robert Fitz Randolph. (From 1776 to 1783, there are no entries in the records.) 1783, David Frazee-1784, Charles Jackson. (There is another break in the records from 1784 to 1788.) 1788-1793, James Paton-1794, Robert Ross, jr .- 1795-1799, Ichabod Potter.
The post of Constable was not a very desirable one, and a change appears to have been made every year, so that scarcely a prominent settler escaped the honor in the course of time. The offices in the militia were first conferred, in 1675, upon John Pike, Samuel Moore and John Bishop, as Captain, Lieutenant, and Ensign respectively ; and thereafter, the Pikes, Bishops and Samuel Hale appear to have monopolized the military honors for several years.
Little novelty is afforded the chronicler in the events which mark the passage of months and years amid the quietness and sobriety of a secluded agricultural people. Coming from New England and most of them of Puritan parentage, the inhabi-
359
WOODBRIDGE.
tants of Woodbridge pursued the even tenor of their way with a staidness becoming their origin, undisturbed by the turmoil of the world around, and, it would seem, but little affected by the strife of parties with which the Province was so early afflicted. Secure in the possession of their lands-for the existence at any time of any difference of moment between them and the Proprietaries has not been discovered-they were alike loyal to the Dutch and English Governors, to Proprietary inter- ests or Royal prerogatives, whichever had the ascendency ; and it is somewhat ludicrous to observe with what ease, plain " Samuel Dennis, Justice," under the English rule, became " Samuel Dennis, Skeepen," when the Hollanders had the supremacy ; and the town with equal facility was transferred from the Province of New Jersey-to the "Schoutship of Achter Kol in the New Netherlands."
But intending only to embody in these pages a few items, exhibiting in some measure the progress of the town in its infancy, I will not attempt a connected narrative, where the observance of system must detract from the interest which the contemporaneous records throw around the matters re- ferred to.
The town was named after the Rev. John Woodbridge of Newbury, Massachusetts ; and its original projectors, withsome . of its most prominent residents, deserve notice.
DANIEL PIERCE, " Blacksmith," and his son, Joshua Pierce, although among the first to move in the enterprise of establishing the town, do not appear to have exerted any special influence in the management of its affairs. The father on his arrival in America, first settled at Watertown, Mass. ; thence, about 1637, he removed to Newbury, where, in 1652, he purchased considerable property of a nephew named John Spencer,10 and his interests there induced him to return to Massachusetts soon after the settlement of Woodbridge, and he
10 MS. Letter from Joshua Coffin," Esqr., of Newbury-and see Coffin's History of Newbury.
360
WOODBRIDGE.
died in Ipswich, December 26th, 1677, leaving one son, Daniel, who was a resident of the same town.
Joshua, the son, born May 15th, 1642, had died in Wood- bridge, about the latter part of 1670, and a month subse- quent to his death, the birth of a son Joshua is recorded. There is a previous record of the birth of a daughter on March 18th, 1668, on "the fifth of the week, about break of day."
Daniel Pierce left his property in Massachusetts to his son Daniel (born in Watertown, 1636), and his heirs male ; with the proviso that it should "never be sold nor any part divi- ded"-a condition, however, which was violated in subsequent years. He had been twice married-to his last wife, Anne Mil- ward, December 26th, 1654. She died, November 29th, 1690.
In the graveyard of Newbury, Mass., the tombstone of Daniel Pierce, the son, is yet to be seen, bearing the following inscription :
"Here lyes interred what was mortal of ye Honorable DANIEL PIERCE, Esq., who, having faithfully served his generation both in church and mili- tary station, fell asleep, April ye 22d, 1704, aged 60 years.
" Here lies interred a soul indeed, Whom few or none excelled; In grace if any him exceed, He'll be unparalleled."
JOHN PIKE seems to have become the prominent man of the town immediately after the settlement. He, as well as the Pierces, Bishops, Jaques, and Marches,-was from New- bury in Massachusetts of which he was one of the first settlers, in 1635. He returned thither in April, 1671, for a limited time with the view of disposing of the property belonging to himself and son.11 He had previously been elected President of Woodbridge, and in that year (1671) was chosen to be one of Governor Carteret's council. After 1675, when he was ap-
11 He filled several offices, and was an active citizen of Newbury. On one occasion, in May, 1638, it is recorded that " John Pike shall pay two shil-
lings and six pence for departing from the [town ] meeting without leave and contemptuously."-Coffin's History of Newbury.
361
WOODBRIDGE.
pointed "Captain " of the militia, he was uniformly distin- guished by that title.
His lands, which are described as lying " west of Straw- berry Hill, alias the Sheep Common, 12 were granted to him at a meeting of the associates, December 9th, 1667, and they were confirmed to him by the Governor, in February fol- lowing.
On the 30th June, 1685, he married Elizabeth Fitz Ran- dolph, of Piscataway, and died in January, 1688-9, leaving the following children ; all of them, it is thought, by a pre- vious wife :
John, who filled at different times various offices, and died August 13th, 1714, aged 75. His gravestone is yet standing in the Woodbridge Pres- byterian Cemetery. He married Feb. 2d, 1675, Elizabeth Stout, of Mid- dletown, and left several children.
Thomas, who received as a part of his legacy from his father a "half right in my book, writ by David Dickson :"- some indication of a scar- city of literature in those days.13 He was three times married. . His first
12 A triangular piece of ground set apart for a sheep-common in Septem- ber, 1669, including a hill on the road to Amboy. Under the influence of pro- gressive improvement the hill, like many other old landmarks, has nearly vanished. The writer remembers it with its naked summit for many years crowned with an old school-house which, like. Ichabod Crane's, had nu- merous posts and sticks against doors and windows impeding egress, but offering no special hindrance to ad- mission.
13 This is presumed to have been Dickson's "Therapeutica Sacra." On the 25th July, 1661, he applied to the Privy Council of Scotland for their license and privilege to print it, now translated into English by himself. The Council appointed Mr. Andrew Fairford to revise it, and report if it was fit to be reprinted. " Now indeed the world was changed in Scotland," says old Wodrow-" when Mr. Fair- ford is pitched upon to revise Mr. David Dickson, professor of divinity, his books," (I. p. 244.) This divine was one of the presbytery of Edin- burgh, and " outed " for not conform- ing, but died in 1662. The following year, the application to the Council was renewed by his son, and it being
made evident that "that excellent book is upon a subject the managers needed not be afraid of, and did not in the least concern politics, or their government in church and state, but was entirely calculated for the promo- ting of real godliness and practical re- ligion, and hath been singularly use- ful unto thousands,"-it was ordered, on Oct. 13th. 1663, "The Lords of Council do hereby licentiate and give warrant to the printing of a book called Therapeutica Sacra, translated out of Latin into English by Mr. David Dickson." (Wodrow, &c. I. p. 376.) The copy in the possession of the Pikes was probably one brought to Wood- bridge by the unfortunate immigrants of 1685. The scarcity of books was not confined to the Pike family: in Joshua Pierce's inventory, (1672,) amounting to 131l. 3s., " books and other small things," were valued at only 30 shillings ; Stephen Kent's, (1679,) contained " one great bible and another book,"-and most others do not mention books at all. The Rev. Seth Fletcher's, of Elizabethtown, (1682,) was a notable exception, his estate was valued at 5591. 5s. 8d., of which his books formed the consid- crable item of 175l. 4s. 4d.
·
362
WOODBRIDGE.
wife, Elizabeth Parker, he married, Jan. 25th, 1686. She died September 12th, 1688, and on August 14th, 1689, he married Hester Bunn, by whom he had children, and she dying in 1694, he married Mary Philips, June 30th, 1699.
Joseph, who was killed by Indians, at Haverhill, Mass., September 4th, 1694.
Hannah, who married Obadiah Ayres, and died May 31st, 1689.
Ruth, who married Abraham Tappan, Nov. 9th, 1670. There is a document on record dated April 9th, 1678, which warrants a supposi- tion that Tappan was not always sane. He agrees that his wife shall re- turn to her father's house with her children, taking with her such articles as she and her father may deem necessary in consequence of the extremity of her distressed condition in respecto f sicknesses and illnesses, and on the 14th the witnesses appear before the Secretary of the Province and testify that Tappan was then "in his senses. " 14° Domestic difficulties led to their separation for some time, but in June, 1687, having agreed again to live together, Captain Pike bestowed upon them a tract of land.15 They had several children. Tappan returned to Newbury, and died there, in 1704.16 The name in the Records is, at first, given as Toppan.
There were two other daughters, Mary and Sarah, and one son, Samuel ; but it is presumed they did not survive their father.
Captain Pike died with his "fair fame " impaired through calumnious assaults, the effect of which the General Assembly by two solemn acts, at two different times, subsequently en- deavored to counteract.
In September, 1684, he and his son John were convicted of felony in consequence of some goods being found secreted in their house, and under this imputation the father died. The good that men do is " oft interred with their bones" 'tis said, and it seems that the remembrance of all that Captain Pike had done for the infant settlement and province availed little towards rescuing his name from the obloquy thus cast upon it. Ten years afterwards, in 1694, the matter was brought to the notice of the Assembly, and it was enacted that " the said John Pike [the son] together with the family afore- said be restored to their former good name, and to all other immunities, equal with any of their majesties' liege people, as if never any such thing had been,"-and they pronounced it lawful for John Pike or his family to commence an action for
14 E. J. Records II. Lib. 1, p. 141,
15 Ibid. V. D. p. 32. The Captain in his will also mentions his son-in-law, Obadiah Ayres, and Richard Worth- the former receiving six pence and the latter one shilling.
16 A copy of his will is in my pos- session. He left all his property to a brother, John Tappan, he having been at great charge and expense in keeping him in his old age, and a small legacy to a son of his wife.
363
WOODBRIDGE.
defamation of character against any one "reproaching or scandalizing them." This was still insufficient to bridle the tongues of Rumor, and in 1698, it was enacted that whoever should defame the family " directly or indirectly" or by im- plication, by words, speeches, reports, libels, revilings, or any other manner or way whatsoever, by reason, cause, or occa- sion of the said judgment,"-should be liable to a prosecution at the instance of any of the posterity of the said Captain John Pike and his son. These acts, it is stated, were passed only after " diligent search and inquiry by evidence and clear proof" presented to the Assembly.17 They inculcate a use- ful lesson-that it is much more easy to inflict a wound on that sensitive portion of man's nature-his character-than it is to cure one.
The graves of John Pike, who died February 1st, 1761, aged 43 ;- Joseph Pike, who died Feb. 16th, 1730, aged 36 ; -James Pike, who died, May 15th, 1761, aged 39 ;- an- other James, who died February 18th, 1759, aged 33 ;- great-grandchildren of the first John Pike ;- Mary the wife of James, who died February 18th, 1757, aged 32 ; Zebulon Pike, son of John Pike, junr., who died February, 6th, 1763, aged 70 ;- and Nathaniel Pike, who died Sept. 22, 1766, aged 42 ; - are yet designated by stones in the Wood- bridge Cemeteries. Major Zebulon Pike, of the revolutionary war, and his son, General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who distin- guished himself during the last war with Great Britain, were of this family.
ROBERT DENNIS, another of the associates, was from Yar- mouth, Massachusetts. On the 3d December, 1674, being " by the providence of God disabled from managing and carry- ing on his outward occasions," he transferred to his children, Jonathan, Joseph and Elizabeth, all his property (the real estate to the sons, and to the daughter " two cows, five yearlings, with all his moveables in the house "), on condition that they should allow himself and wife (Mary) a comfortable maintenance
17 Grants and Concessions, pp. 339, 375.
364
WOODBRIDGE.
" for meat and drink, washing, lodging and apparel " during their lives. 18
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