USA > New Jersey > Documents relating to the Colonial History of the state of New Jersey, Vol. XXV > Part 33
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JACOB STARN.
MADE his escape from the Sheriff of Sussex county. West New-Jersey, in January last, Edward Doughty, by trade a carpenter, about 40 years of age, redish hair, fair complexion, about 5 feet 9 inches high, well built; he lived formerly near Walpack, on Delaware, and is very much given to drink strong liquor. Any person, or per- sons, securing said Doughty, so as he may be brought to justice, shall be entitled to a reward of FIVE POUNDS proc. and reasonable charges, paid by me
JACOB STARN, Sheriff.
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BY virtue of several writs of Venditioni Exponas to me directed, on the 28th day of October next, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, will be exposed to sale, by public vendue, on the premises, a commodious brick messuage, tenement, plantation and tract of land thereunto belonging, contain- ing 300 acres, more or less, 40 of which is good meadow, about 80 acres of tillable land, a barn, stable, a brick kitch- en, and other out-houses; also a very good orchard. The whole under good fence, situate in the township of Dept- ford, on the northerly side of Woodberry Creek, near the town of Woodberry; late the estate of James Ward; seized and taken in execution by
Aug. 28, 1767. SAMUEL BLACKWOOD, Sheriff.
To be SOLD by the SUBSCRIBER,
A Valuable plantation, containing 120 acres of land, lying in the township of Chester, and county of Burling- ton, within nine miles of Cooper's-ferry, handy to mill and market, whereon is about 20 acres of good meadow, and more may be made, and well divided with post and cedar rails, with between 60 and 70 acres of upland cleared, well divided with ditches, and privy hedge there- on; with a good dwelling-house and kitchen, a well of good water at the door, a good barn and stables, corn crib and waggon-house, with other out-houses; a large bearing orchard of 300 apple trees, and other fruit trees; the up- land natural to English grass or wheat; the remainder part well timbered and watered. Any person inclining to purchase the same, may know the terms by applying to SAMUEL STOAKS, or EPHRAIM HAINES, living near the premises, or to the subscriber, living on the north branch of Newtown Creek, Gloucester county. JOB HAINES
-The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2024, October 8, 1767.
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EIGHT DOLLARS Reward.
STOLEN from Daniel Barrocloue, at Ten Mile Run, be- twixt Princeton and New-Brunswick; a dark brown HORSE, with a saddle and cloth on, almost new; six years old, very straight limbed, with a round body, a short thick head, thick neck, fourteen hands and an half high, a small scar scarcely discoverable, his mane and foretop being very thin, a little sore on his weather, with a Dutch collar rub- bed or dropped off ; a short switch tail, he trots, paces, and hand-gallops, of a dull carriage in riding but better in gears. The person supposed to have taken him, is a short thick man, with a grim countenance, and black curled hair; had on a blue coat, red jacket, red breeches, with some things tied up in a red silk handkerchief. Whoever takes up the aforesaid horse, (with the saddle if they can get it) and brings him to Mr. Barrocloue, as above, or to Garret Vaghte's near the same place, shall receive the above re- ward, with all reasonable charges, paid by
GARRET VAGHTE.
Cumberland County Sept. 26, 1767.
LAST night broke out of the goal of this county, New- Jersey, one Frederick Otto, a slender person, thin faced and much marked with the small pox, wears his own hair very long and tied behind : Had on when he went away, a light coloured sagathy coat, red flowered velvet or plush vest, a pair of black knit breeches and ruffled shirt. He has for some time past practised physic in said county. Whoever takes up said prisoner, and brings him to the goal from whence he escaped, shall have FIVE POUNDS re- ward, and if confined in any other goal, so that the sub- scriber may have him again, shall have THREE POUNDS reward, paid by
THEO. ELMER, Sheriff.
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All masters of vessels are forbid to carry him off at their peril .- The Pennsylvania Journal, No. 1296, October 8, 1767.
Brunswick, East-New-Jersey, Sep. 28, 1767. Mr GAINE,
If you think the following will be agreeable to your Readers, you will, no doubt, publish it, after dressing it suitable to the usual Correctness of your Press.
Soon after the Establishment of the Society of Arts, &c. in New-York, there appeared in your Mercury a gen- eral Invitation from said Society, for improving Hints that might be useful to Mankind, which induced me to write the following Letter to a Gentleman, a Member for Arts, viz.
SIR, Read with Pleasure, your Secrety's Proposal contain'd in the New- York Mercury the 6th Instant, and am of Opinon, it will be attend- ed with many good Consequences to the Publick: And as you have
given a general Invitation to Arts, let me as a Mechanick, presume to lay before you, a Matter that, I think, may be of particular Use to the Publick, and especially to your City. You are now building a spacious Church, which I am informed the Gentlemen Trustees would cover with Copper: But as the Metal has a considerable Attraction with the Light- ning, they are affraid of ill Consequenses attending it; and that they are convinced, from Experience, that Slate, or Tiles, is too heavy for large and extended Roofs. I some few Days ago, proposed to Mr. Willis, the Undertaker of the Stone-Work, an Expedient that I conceive would an- swer the end, both to make a tight, light, lasting, and I might have ad- ded, a handsome Roof, that would have no more Attraction than Shingles and at the same Time it would be as secure from Fire as Copper. The Materials I proposed was Sole Leather; but as I have more maturely con- sidered this Matter, I believe it would be best, to have it dressed in a Manner that I think myself Master of Your City-Hall is covered with Copper, which must have been very expensive, and the whole Amount remitted to England; now if Leather properly managed, would resist the Rain, and Fire that might happen near it, which I conceive it would, it must of Consequence, have saved much Cash at home; It is true, a Leather Roof would be expensive, but then it will last many Centuries. Was I a Man of Fortune, I would venture to cover it with Leather, and leave the Trial to the Experience of an Hundred Years, before my Heirs should be intitled to the Principal or Interest of the Amount of the Leather. Had I been acquainted with any of the Gentlemen Trustees for the Church, I would have laid this Matter before them, however I make
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no doubt, if you think it worthy the Notice of your Honourable Society, and lay it before them, it may answer the same End.
I am, &c.,
HENRY GUEST.
This Letter was accordingly laid before the Society, and as I have not been favoured with any Objections to this Scheme, I cannot yet lay it aside, especially, as I have since been informed that Leather is an Non- electric; if so, it adds much Weight in my Opinion, to the Utility of a Leather Roof, Perhaps it may be thought, that using so much Leather may make it scarce, and raise the Price of Shoes, which might rather be against the Interest of the Publick: But that is an Objection, that I think I can shew will have no weight, especially to America; on the con_ trary, if it is thought necessary, I think I can demonstrate, that, with proper Management, we can reduce the Price of Leather to the Advan- tage of the Publick in general, and the Farmer in particular. But sup- pose the Experiment was made, with only covering the Steeples of Churches with Leather, as the Lightning generally strikes that Part of the Building that is most extended, the Cost will not be much; indeed in the End it will be cheaper than Shingles. I have observed in your Papers within a few Years past, many Churches in Europe and America have been damaged, and lately in France several People killed and almost the whole Congregation, with the Priest, struck senseless by Lightning I am far even from thinking Almighty Omnipotence cannot pierce his Lightning through Leather as easy as Copper, Tiles, Slate, Shingles, &c But at the same Time, he has given the Knowledge of the Nature of Lightning very much to our Understanding by the Effects of Electricity; and it is found, there is some Qualities in particular Bodies that Electric- ity has no Effect on: Why then should we not embrace the Gifts that Heaven has graciously enlightened us with for our Preservation. Sure we don't live in an Age of blind Superstition, or if we did, we would not act in many Cases so, that in Centuries past would have been thought presumtuous: And that I may be as useful as the Extent of your Paper, shall give my Opinion how Leather should be managed; at the same Time, am willing to stand corrected by any Brother Tanner that contrives a better Method to preserve Leather when exposed to the Weather: It must be dead, and, or in other Words, it must have no Remains of Horn in it, well sowered, the Grain lightly taken off, as the Grain will crack when long exposed to the Sun; let it be almost Wind-dry, dip it in warm Tallow and Bees-Wax, let it lay until all the Pores are filled, after which dry it, and stone it smooth: The Method to lay it on will be in the Man- ner of Sheets of Copper, then paint it, and if it is kept painted, I am of Opinion it will last a Thousand Years, or more.
I am, Sir, Your very Humble Servant,
HENRY GUEST.
P S. I beg leave to add a few Words, to apologize for my printing the Letter I addressed to the Honourable Society in New-York; when I assure them, that I am ready to abide by their Judgement, as to this Leather- Proof; now I have opened what before I had left in the Dark; and that my Motive is, that the Publick in general may reap Benefit, if they should judge it convenient to try this Experiment. H. G.
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PRINCE-TOWN, October 1, 1767.
Y esterday the annual Commencement of the College of New-Jersey, was held in this Town, in the usual Manner, when the following young Gentlemen were ad- mitted to the Degree of Batchelor of Arts: Francis Bar- ber, Samuel Cunningham, Francis Curtis, Richard Dev- ens, Jacob Hasbrouck, Elias Jones, Nathaniel Ramsey, William Schenck, Samuel Stockton, Josias Stoddard, and Hugh Vance.1 And several young Gentlemen were ad- mitted to the Degree of Master of Arts.
1 The following sketches are from Alexander's "Princeton in the Eighteenth Century:"
Francis Barber, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, after graduating, took charge of an Academy at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. The school soon became distinguished. Alexander Hamilton was prepared for college under Mr. Barber. At the commencement of the Revolution he offered his services to the country, and on the 9th of February, 1776, he was appointed, by the Legislature, Major of the Third Bat- talion, New Jersey troops, and on November 8th was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Regiment, and on January 1st, 1777, he received his commission from Congress. Soon after this he was appointed Assistant Inspector-General under Baron Steuben. Colonel Barber was in constant service during the whole war. Although a strict and rigid disciplinarian, always scrupulously performing his own duty, and requiring it from all under his command, yet so bland were his manners, and his whole conduct so tempered with justice and strict propriety, that he was the favorite of all the officers and men, and highly valued by Washington. He served in the Northern army under General Schuyler; was at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth, and in the latter was se- verely wounded. In 1779 he served as Adjutant-General with General Sullivan in his memorable expedition against the Indians, where he distinguished himself and was again wounded. In 1780 he was con- spicuously engaged with the army in New Jersey, and was at the battle of Springfield. In 1781 he accompanied the Jersey Line to Virginia, and was at the investment and capture of the British at Yorktown. The dav on which the Commander-in-Chief intended to communicate the intelligence of peace to the army, a number of the officers, with their families, were invited to dine with him, and among others Colonel Farber and his wife. He was acting at the time as officer of the day in place of a friend. While on duty, and passing by the edge of a wood where some soldiers were cutting down a tree, it fell on him, and both rider and horse were instantly crushed to death.
Richard Devens was born at Charlestown. At his graduation at Princeton, in 1767, he stood at the head of his class. For three years he was engaged in teaching in various schools in New York and New Jersey. In 1770 he was appointed tutor in the College, where he re- mained until 1774, when in consequence of too close and intense appli- cation to his studies he became insane, and so far as known he never recovered his reason.
Nathaniel Ramsay, a brother of David Ramsay, the historian, after graduating, studied law and became eminent in his profession. When the war of the Revolution began, he joined the Maryland Line as a Major, and soon rose to the rank of Colonel. At the battle of Mon- mouth he particularly distinguished himself. From 1785 to 1787 Colonel Ramsay represented Maryland in the Continental Congress. He re- sumed and continued his practice of law in Baltimore until his death, which occurred October 25th, 1817.
William Schenck was a native of Allentown, New Jersey. He was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1771 and ordained in
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The Trustees, sensible of the many Advantages arising from the Constitution of a Faculty consisting of learned Professors in the several Branches of Science, chose the following Gentlemen for this Purpose; the Rev. Mr. Sam- uel Blair, of Boston, President and Professor of Rhetoric and Metaphysicks; The Rev. Mr. John Blair, of Fog's Manor, Pennsylvania, Professor of Divinity and moral Philosophy; Doctor Hugh Williamson, of Philadelphia, Professor of Mathematicks and natural Philosophy, and Mr. Jonathan Edwards,1 Professor of Languages and Log- ick.
These are all the Professors that the low State of the College Funds will admit of at present, but it is proposed to increase their Number as soon as their Finances shall enable the Trustees to support them. And it is to be hoped that so judicious an Appointment will, with the Divine Blessing, increase the Utility of this important Institu- tion, and render it a still more extensive Blessing to Man- kind. 2
T HE Members of the New-Jersey Medical Society, and those Gentlemen who stand Candidates for Ad- mission, are hereby notified, that their next stated General
1772. After preaching at various places in New York and New Jersey, he was finally settled. in 1780, at Pittsgrove and Cape May, where he remained until 1787, when he removed to Ballston, New York. Toward the close of 1793 he removed to Huntingdon, Long Island, and was in- stalled pastor of the Presbyterian Church, December 27th of that year. In 1817 he left Huntingdon and removed to Franklin, Ohio, where he was pastor for several years, and died September 1, 1822. Mr. Schenck was the grandfather of the Hon. Robert C. Schenck, Minister to Great Britain.
Samuel Witham Stockton was a brother of the elder Richard Stock- ton. In 1774 he went to Europe as Secretary of the American Commis- sion to the Courts of Austria and Prussia. While abroad he negotiated a treaty with Holland. He returned to New Jersey in 1779, where he held various public offices. In 1794 he was Secretary of State of New Jersey. Mr. Stockton lost his life by being thrown from a carriage in the streets of Trenton, June 27th, 1795.
Hugh Vance received his license to preach from Donegal Presbytery about 1771, and in 1772 was ordained and settled as pastor of Tusca- rora and Back Creek Churches in Virginia, where he died December 31st, 1791.
1 Son of Jonathan Edwards, President of the College of New Jersey, 1757-58. For a notice of Dr. Edwards, see N. J. Archives, XXIV., 634. 2 Published also in the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2025, October 15, 1767.
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Meeting, will be on Tuesday the 10th of November fol- lowing, at the House of Mr. William Hicks, in Prince Town, when and where all concern'd are desired to give their Attendance.
The Society beg Leave to inform the Gentlemen Prac- titioners in the Western Division of this Government, that it was through mistake, the former Advertisements, re- specting the forming, &c. said Society, were confin'd to the Eastern Division, it ever being the true intent and Meaning of the first Proposers thereof, as well as the So- ciety's, after formed, that the same should be general, and include the whole Government.
MOSES BLOOMFIELD, Secry.
Woodbridge, East New- Jersey, October 4, 1767.
-The New York Mercury, No. 832, October 12, 1767.
To BE SOLD,
A Valuable Plantation, containing about 150 Acres, of which upwards of 40 are of the best and richest drained or banked Meadow, mostly well brought into Timothy and other English Grass, of which it bears a large Burthen yearly; near 50 Acres of the upland cleared, on which are a good Dwelling-house, Barn and Orchards of excellent Fruit, such as Apples, Peaches, and Cherries, sufficient for the Use of the Plantation; it is situated in Hopewell, Cumberland County, New-Jersey. The House stands open to Cæsarea River, alias Cohansey Creek, on which the Meadow lies, and being on a rising Ground, com- mands a very fine Prospect, is about three Miles from the Courthouse, and convenient to Mill, and several Meet- ings, 45 Miles distant from Philadelphia. For further
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Particulars, enquire of the Subscriber, living on the Prem- ises.
NATHANIEL HARRIS, junior. -The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2025, October 15, 1767.
NEW-YORK.
Oct. 22. We hear, the worthy Rev. Mr. M'Kean, Mis- sionary for Amboy, departed this Life on Saturday last, at the Seat of his Father-in-Law Edward Antill, Esq; at Rariton Landing.1-The Pennsylvania Chronicle, No. 40, October 26, 1767.
1 The Rev. Robert Mckean was b. July 13, 1732, the son of William McCain and Letitia Finney, his wife. William McCain was b. in Ire- land in 1707, and coming to America in early life with his mother, Susan McCain, settled with her at Chatham, New London, Chester county, Penn., where he kept tavern until 1741, thereafter for four years at Londongrove, and later at Londonderry, in the same region. He d. Nov. 18, 1769.
Robert Mckean (as he wrote his name) studied for the ministry, probably under the Rev. Francis Allison. D. D., and having been or- dained in England, in 1757 was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to be a missionery of the Church of England, at New Brunswick, his labors, however, often extending so far afield as Piscataway, Spotswood, Woodbridge, and more distant settlements in Central New Jersey. On taking charge of his mission he wrote home to the Society, January 8, 1758, that he "arrived at New Brunswick on the 16th of Dec., and was kindly re- ceived by his congregation, and had officiated regularly to them from that time." Writing again from New Brunswick, Feb. 5, 1758, to the Rev. Dr. Peter Bearcroft, Secretary of the Society, he says: "Since my arrival here I have wrote to you by two different Conveyances, one by the Pacquet, and another by means of a friend via Ireland. In them I have troubled you with a particular account of my Voyage and other proper occurrences, as also the kind reception I have met with and the happy prospect I have as yet in my mission." Young as he was, his indefatigable zeal and marked ability were speedily recog- nized. The College in Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsyl- vania) conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M., in 1760. When Gov. Thomas Boone arrived in New Jersey, in July, 1760, the clergy of the Church of England waited upon him with an address, presented by a committee of three, of whom Mr. Mckean was one. He served on a similar committee to address Gov. Josiah Hardy in November, 1761. He was regular and faithful in his attendance upon the convention of clergy which met in Philadelphia, April 30-May 5, 1760, to discuss the affairs of the church in Pennsylvania and the Lower Counties; he and Mr. Samuel Cook, "two of the Society's worthy Missionaries of New Jersey, [attending] with the kind inten- tion of giving their best advice and assistance in promoting the de- signs of the Convention." When the pulpit of St. Peter's church at Perth Amboy became vacant, in 1761, the people of that congregation "had so much their hearts set on Mr. Mckean" that they were "ut- terly averse" to the Society's selection, and were correspondingly glad when the appointee declined to leave Litchfield, Conn., and in the course of a year Mr. Mckean was transferred to Perth Amboy, where he arrived in February, 1763, with a notification of his appoint- ment as Missionary, his services being restricted to that parish ex- clusively, at the request of the vestry. In 1764 Woodbridge was placed in his care, he visiting it once every three weeks. In these charges
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S TOLEN, out of a Pasture, (on Wednesday Night, the 14th of this Instant, October) near Davis's Mills, upon the North Branch of Raritan, a likely bay Horse, with a black Mane and Tail; the Mane hangs parted, a small Star upon his Forehead, about 15 Hands high, paces, trots and gallops well; 7 Years old; a Horse of great Courage, and very lively, being part blooded : there are upon his Back some few white Hairs under the
he labored with indefatigable zeal and assiduity, and manifestly had the confidence of the older clergy. His own experience of the hard- ship laid upon young Americans who were obliged to go to England for ordination made him an ardent and perhaps intemperate advocate of the plan of appointing American Bishops-a cause so ably urged hy Dr. Chandler. Mr. Mckean studied medicine, and was a successful practitioner in that profession, and so much esteemed among his fel- low medical men that he was one of the seventeen who organized the New Jersey Medical Society, in July, 1766, and was elected its first President. His parishioners did not object to his practicing, but they -- at least some of them-did find fault when he sent in his bills. He also seems to have taught school at Perth Amboy.
Mr. McKean m. Isabel Graham Antill, Feb. 19, 1766, at Christ church, Shrewsbury. She was a dau. of Edward Antill, 2d, of New Brunswick, and Anne Morris, his wife, dau. of Gov. Lewis Morris. She is said to have been "a young lady of very gay and independent spirit, not calculated to enhance the domestic happiness of the mis- sionary." In his will, dated Sept. 13, 1767, he describes himself as "Clerk, Missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, at Perth Amboy." He mentions his wife, but no children. He died at Raritan Landing, near New Brunswick, at the residence of his father-in-law, Edward Antill, 2d, October 17, 1767, after a long and wasting illness. Writing to the Society, October 12, 1767, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, of Elizabethtown, says: "Wasted away with a tedious disorder, the worthy, the eminently useful and amiable Mr. McKean is judged by his physicians to be at present at the point of death." He adds: "A better man was never in the Society's service." The lamented young clergyman was buried in St. Peter's churchyard, Perth Amboy, where a monument erected by his brother, Thomas Mckean-a Signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, Chief Justice and afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania- bears this inscription: "In Memory of The Rev. Robert Mckean, M. A., Practitioner in Physic, &c., and Missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to the City of Perth Amboy :- who was born July 13th, 1732, N. S., and died Oct. 17th, 1767, An unshaken Friend, an agreeable Companion, a rational Divine, a skillful Physician, and in every relation in life a truly ben- evolent and honest man, Fraternal love hath erected this monument." Genealogy of the Mckean Family, by Roberdeau Buchanan, Lancaster, Pa., 1890, 8-9, 13; A Record of Christ Church, New Brunswick, by the Rev. Alfred Stubbs, New York, 1850, 9: Historical Collections relating to the American Colonial Church, edited by William Stevens Perry, D. D., Volume II., Pennsylvania, 1871, 270-273, 295-305, 380, 381, 410; History of St. John's Church, Elizabeth Town, by Samuel A. Clark, Philadelphia, 1857, 85, 96, 110, 118-119; Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy, by William A. Whitehead, New York, 1856, 225, 228-9, 291, 391, 392, 409; N. J. Archives, 1st Series, IX., 338, 340; XX., 262, 434, 468, 636; XXIV., 457; XXV., 472-3; N. Y. Colonial Documents, VI., 610; VII., 497; Woodbridge and Vicinity, by Rev. Joseph W. Dally, New Bruns- wick, 1873, 130-132; A Collection of American Epitaphs, by Rev. Timothy Alden. A. M., New York, 1814. No. 1045; Historical Collections of the State of New Jersey, by John W. Barber and Henry Howe, Newark [1844], 309; Edward Antill and His Descendants, by William Nelson, 1899. 24-25; History of Medicine in New Jersey, and of Its Medical Men, by Stephen Wickes, A. M., M. D .. Newark, 1879, 329-330; Transactions of the New Jersey Medical Society, 1766-1800, Newark, 1866. passim .:
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