Documents relating to the Colonial History of the state of New Jersey, Vol. XXVII, Part 37

Author: New Jersey Historical Society; Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Paterson, N.J. : Press Printing and Publishing
Number of Pages: 746

USA > New Jersey > Documents relating to the Colonial History of the state of New Jersey, Vol. XXVII > Part 37

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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of bellows, for the stove in the church, quite new. The church wardens and vestrymen of said church offer the above reward to any person or persons, who shall be able to discover this sacrilege, so that the villain or villains may be apprehended, con- victed, and for such an atrocious crime duly pun- ished.

N. B. The person suspected is one who calleth himself WILLIAM DAVIS, came from Philadelphia last Friday, went to Newcastle on Sunday, and as it is very probable, committed the robbery in that church on Sunday night, came to Wilmington on Monday, was seen very early on Tuesday morning, walking with a pair of bellows in his hand, on board of Mr. George Gordon's shallop; in which he also had a man's and a woman's saddle, a calicoe pillow case and some other bundles supposed to contain stolen goods, as the saddles and some other things were stolen in Wilmington that night. He left Mr. Gordon's shallop in Philadelphia on Wednesday, taking the above mentioned goods along with him, in order to carry them on board the Burlington stage. This man then had on and wore, an old blue great coat, a lightish grey under coat, a striped cali- coe jacket, striped ticken trowsers ; was about 5 feet 8 inches high, fair complexion, sandy hair, red locks, middling large, on each side of his face, and had one of his hands very much cut, as it is supposed, from breaking the window of the church.

TEN POUNDS REWARD. | Stolen from the house of JOSEPH TUCKER, junior, in Spring-

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field, in the borough of Elizabeth, East New-Jersey, on the 16th of September last viz. Two suits of cloaths, one of a light purple colour, broad-cloth, the other blue; two red waistcoats, one of everlasting, the other broadcloth; two good beaver hats, one with a broad gold lace on ; one pair of white worsted stockings, one pair of blue yarn ditto ; one fine shirt ; a pair of silver knee-buckles, and a silver stock- buckle ; one pair of buckskin breeches, very little worn ; one striped bordered waistcoat ; one redish brown Barcelona handkerchief of a changeable col- our, and sundry other articles. The above cloaths were stolen by a person who goes by the name of THOMAS KENAUR or CONAR, who broke open the house of the said Tucker ; also a chest and cup- board, in which the cloaths lay : He is about five feet six inches high, thick set, and has black hair, and very much addicted to lying. Whoever apprehends the above described thief, and secures him in any of his Majesty's gaols, so that he may be brought to merit his just reward, shall receive the above sum of TEN POUNDS by applying to the subscriber.

JOSEPH TUCKER, Junior.

N. B. It is thought he is gone towards Virginia, and it is probable he will wear some of the above cloaths.

Cumberland County, New-Jersey, September 30, 1771.

WHEREAS I the subscriber, being under confine- ment in the gaol of the said county for debt, hereby give notice to all my creditors, that I intend to apply to the next sessions of general assembly of this prov-

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ince for relief ; of which all persons are hereby re- quired to take due notice. JOHN SWINFEN.

-The Pennsylvania Fournal, No. 1505, Oct. IO, 1771.

NEW-YORK, October 10. | Friday evening the ship Lady Gage, Capt. Kemble, arrived here from London, in 9 weeks, with the following passengers, besides 34 privates for his Majesty's 29th regiment, now lying in New-Jersey, viz: Thomas Woldridge, Esq ; and Capt. Crozier of the 29th, with their Ladies ; Capt. Corantz, J. Gordon, Esq; attorney general of East-Florida, Dr. Savage, of Virginia, Lieut. Farmer of the 18th, Lieut, Merr, Ensigns Beaumont, Maunsell, and Williams, Mr. Garbrand, Mr. Humphreys, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Rhodes, &c. . .

On Wednesday the 2d Instant was held, at Perth- Amboy, the annual Meeting of the Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Clergy- men in the Communion of the Church of England in America ; when a Sermon, adapted to the Occasion, was preached by the Rev. Dr. Chandler.1 His Ex- cellency Governor FRANKLIN, and several Gentle- men of the first Rank among the Laity, who are

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members of the Corporation, were so kind as to at- tend ; and the largeness of the Collection made, in Church, for the Use of the laudable Institution, is greatly to the Honor of the Congregation that were present.

-The New-York Journal, or The General Adver- tiser, No. 1501, October 10, 1771.

STOLEN out of the pasture of the subscriber, the 8th inst. a dark brown gelding, rising four years old, supposed to be better than 14 hands high ; he paces and trots, one of his hind feet is white, and the rest has a few specks of white also; has a speck in his forehead, a long dock, is newly shod before, the fore part of his hind hoofs is pear'd off, and flat footed. - - - Stolen also from the subscriber at the same time, a hunters saddle, newly mended before and be- hind, green cloth housen considerably worn. The above is supposed to be taken by a person who passed by the name of John Davis, a native of Ire. land; he was not explicit in his discourse, but spoke rather short ; a likely looking middle siz'd smooth skin'd fellow, about 22 years of age, and black curl'd hair ; had on and took with him when he went off, a light colour'd sagothee coat, a blue pea jacket, a striped silk do. without sleeves, lappel'd, a pair of light coloured stocking breeches with black knee bands, besides a bundle of other cloaths, which can- not be particularly described, as he was a transient person. Whoever takes up and secures the said horse without the thief, so that the owners may have him again, shall have the reward of Five Pounds, and

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together with the thief Seven Pounds, paid by me WILLIAM SMITH of Elizabeth-Town, Rahway, County of Essex, East-New-Jersey.

TO be run for on Thursday the 31st inst. round the new course at Powles Hook, a match for Thirty Dollars, between Booby, Mug, Bastard, and Quick- silver, to run twice round to a heat; to carry catch riders, and start precisely at two o'clock.

THE Public are hereby notified, That the GRAM- MAR SCHOOL, in Hackinsack, is continued ; where the Languages, Book-keeping, and Mathematics, &c., are taught with Care and Fidelity.

PETER WILSON. -The New York Gazette ; and the Weekly Mer- cury, No. 1042, Oct. 14, 1771.

PHILADELPHIA, October 21. | On the 12th Inst.1 departed this Life, near Gloucester, in New-Jersey Mr. EDWARD EVANS (Father of the late Rever- end NATHANIEL EVANS) a Gentleman of exem- plary Piety and Virtue. His remains were brought to this City and decently interred in Friends' Bury- ing Ground.

-- The Pennsylvania Chronicle, No. 249, October 14 to October 21, 1771.

Messieurs HALL and SELLERS,

Please to insert the following in your useful Paper, and you will oblige your constant Reader.

I observe, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2230,

1 See note on the Rev. Nathaniel,Evans, N. J."Archives, 25:121, 482.

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that his Excellency WILLIAM FRANKLIN, Esq ; has is- sued a Proclamation, whereby we are informed of . his Majesty's Royal Disallowance of two Acts of the Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey; one of which Acts authorised Justices of the Peace, in the said Province to try and determine Actions of Debt, &c. of Ten Pounds and under.1 As a Well-wisher to the Prosperity of the Province, I cannot but lament the Loss or so useful and beneficial a Law, which has been in Force near two Years, to the intire Sat- isfaction of the People (the Lawyers only excepted) particularly of those who it was executed upon, not one of whom, that I have heard of, has made the least Complaint against it. The small Cost that arises upon an Action before a Justice of the Peace, which, if Execution was granted and served, is but Six Shillings and Nine-pence, or Seven Shillings and Three-pence, unless the Matter was contested, and even then rarely exceeded Twenty Shillings. The Advantage that Accrued to the Public from this use- ful Law, may be deduced from a Number of Facts ; Justices of the Peace being dispersed over the Prov- ince, consequently Suits were prosecuted at much

1 " An Act to Erect Courts in the several Counties in this Colony for the Trial of Causes of Ten Pounds and under," was passed by the Assembly and sent up to the Governor and Council for concurrence, November 16, 1769. It was passed by the Council, with amendments, November 24, and returned to the Assembly, who accepted two of the amendments and rejected the others, and so notified the Council, the same day. On the 28th the Council receded from the amendments re- jected by the Assembly, and the bill finally passed. The Governor gave his as- sent to the act, December 6, 1769 .- N. J. Archives, XVIII., 69, 83-85, 89, 103. It was disallowed by the King in Council, in June, 1771 .- 1b., 217, 219. The Legislature thereupon enacted a new measure, a supplement to "An Act for the speedy recov- ering Debts from Six Pounds to Ten Pounds in the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas of this Colony for small Fees," in order to meet the Royal objections, and this received the Governor's assent on September 26, 1772 .- Ib., X., 333; XVIII., 349. A new Act was passed in 1775 .- Allinson's Laws, 468.

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less Expence to the Parties, than if they had been brought into the County Courts, the Courts being held, in some Counties, Forty or Fifty Miles from the extreme Parts of the County ; the Loss of Time, and private Expences of the Parties are very consider- able ; the unreasonable private Fees that the Attor- nies too often demand, and the extravagant Bills of Costs which they charge, make every Cause that is brought into the County Courts, cost the poor Debt- or at least Three Pounds more, than if it had been determined before a Justice of the Peace,

The Gentlemen of the Law say, that Disputes are not determined so well before a Justice of the Peace, as in the Upper Courts ; but as few Appeals were brought, I must conclude, that Matters were gener- ally settled according to Equity. In the County of Burlington there has not been one Appeal, that I have heard of, since this Law has been in Force, which proves, to a Demonstration, the usefulness of the Law ; for had the Parties been dissatisfied with the Justices Determinations of Disputes, they would undoubted have appealed. From the best Enquiry that I have made, there were between Eighty and One Hundred Actions brought before Justices of the Peace in the last Year, in the County of Burlington, where the Debt due, or Demand, has been from Six to Ten Pounds, and allowing Three Pounds saved to the Parties in each Action, which is below the Mat- ter, and reckoning Ninety Actions in the County yearly, makes a Saving of Two Hundred and Seventy Pounds in the Year ; and from the Proportion that Burlington County pays of the Sinking-fund Tax,

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there would be saved upwards of Two Thousand Pounds a Year in the Province, if this Law had con- tinued in Force ; a Sum nearly sufficient to support the Civil Government of the Province. This Calcu- lation is made in the most favourable Manner, as I am persuaded Burlington County has as little Suing in it, for its Bigness, as any County in the Province, owing to its being one of the richest. I cannot find that there is any Law now in Force in the Province, that authorises Justices of the Peace to determine an Action of Debt of One Shilling, and how long the Public will be satisfied, in this Situation, is not what I shall undertake to determine.

AN INDEPENDENT FREEHOLDER.

Nottingham, September 23, 1771.

LIST of LETTERS remaining in the Post-Office, Philadelphia.

A. Adam Allenson, Salem.

B. John Booth, Salem County; Joseph Branden, (4) Bordentown.

C. David Collins, Woodbury; Thomas Cooper, Mount-holly ; Rev. Nicholas Collean1, Raccoon.

1 The Rev. Nicholas Collin, of Upsal, Sweden, Theologiae Studiosus, was ap- pointed by the Swedish Consistory, Curate to the Swedish church, May 19, 1769, and was sent to America by the Swedish government, in 1770. In an account of the Swedish missions, entered by himself in the record of the ancient church at Swedesboro (formerly Racoon), New Jersey, he relates that he arrived here May 12, 1770, as minister extraordinary, and officiated throughout the mission, but es- pecially at Racoon and Penn's Neck, until the departure of Mr. Wicsell, in the autumn of 1773. In 1775 Mr. Collin was Dean of the Swedish parishes in America. By letters to the Archbishop and Consistory of Upsal, dated July 8, 1778, he ur- gently solicited his recall. He had then officiated for above eight years in the mission, and was consequently entitled to preferment at home. Moreover, the dis- ordered state of affairs here owing to the war, made it seem imperative that he should leave, and he threatened to return home in the following spring, without waiting for a recall. (During the year 1777 he was regarded by the Americans as a spy, and was threatened with death .- Penn. Mag., 15:482. And for his account of

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E. Robert Ewing, East Nottingham.

H. Rev. James Hannah,1 Pitts-town.

I. Edward Irwin, Mount-holly.

M. William M'Dowell, Haddonfield.

R. David and Samuel Robinson, Hopewell.

W. John Whitehill, Pequa; JeremiahWalton, Green- wich.

events in 1778, see Penn. Mag , 14: 219.) Finally, the King of Sweden, on Novem- ber 22, 1782, granted his recall. By that time, however, affairs had improved, with the end of the war, and he concluded to remain a short time. He was rector of the churches named from 1773 until July, 1788. and for seven years provost of the mission. - Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware, by the Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay, D. D., second edition, Philadelphia, 1858, pp. 122-125 His narrative, as entered in the Swedesboro Church records, December 10, 1791. is published in full in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 16: 349-358. "The Parish of Racoon," says the Rev. Israel Acrelius, writing in 1758, "lies upon the east side of the river Delaware, in the Province of New Jersey ... Under the name of Ra- coon is understood the Swedish church and parish, which, extending the width of three Swedish miles, may be called the only one in the Province, with the excep- tion of Pennsneck. Racoon is also the name of the navigable stream which emp -. ties into the Delaware, and upon which the church stands. The name comes from the river which the Indians called Memiraco and Naraticon ; but the Swedes in former times, Araratcung, Ratcung, and now, finally, Racoon ; in Swedish or- thography, Racuun. "-Acrelius, Hist. New Sweden, 314. The site was bought for a church there, by deed dated September 1. 1703, and a church erected 1n 1704 .- 1b., 318. "The congregation of Pennsneck is in the Province of West New Jersey, in the Government of Burlington, Salem county, in the Townships of Upper and Lower Pennsneck, Pilesgrove and Mannington, on the east side of the Delaware, and along its strand. " A site for a church was secured from Jean Jaquett, who gave two acres of land for the purpose, by deed dated January 8, 1715, in the middle of the Neck, on the highway. "The building of the church was immediately commenced, but it was not completed until March 31, 1717, when it was consecra- ted and called St. George's church. It is twenty-four feet square, built of logs, and weatherboarded. "-Acrelius, op cit., 322-323. On August 10, 1785, Mr. Collin was appointed by the King of Sweden rector of Wicaco and the churches in con- nection therewith. "The parish of Wicacoa, " writes Acrelius, in 1758, " is in the Province of Pennsylvania, and its members live partly in the city of Philadelphia, and partly in various surrounding districts- Wicacoa, Moyamenzing, Passayungh, a district along the Schuylkill, Kingsess, Bond's Island, and Pennypack, in Phil- adelphia county : Kalkonhook, Amasland, and Matzong in Chester county. " A site was given for a church in 1697, and the church erected, being dedicated July 2, 1700, as "Gloria Dei. "-Hist. New Sweden, 202-207. During the ensuing vacancy at Racoon and Penn's Neck, Mr. Collin says : "I gave the congregations every at- tention consistent with my distant situation and multiplicity of business. At Swedesboro I performed divine service every third Sunday during the summer and autumn of 1796, and at longer intervals the two following years. I likewise visited some worthy members in their sickness, and preached some funeral ser-

1 Probably the Rev. John Hanna is meant, of whom a sketch by the late Dr. Henry Race appears in The Jerseyman, Flemington, 1895, III., 13.

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TO BE SOLD

That most agreeably situated and valuable FARM, (late Mr. Saltar's) in New-Jersey, where the sub- scriber now lives, on the river Delaware, about two miles below Trenton Falls. The whole farm con- tains about 360 acres of land, 154 of which is excel- lent low meadow, in fine improvement, and divided into eight several fields, well fenced, and the whole

mons. Besides, I made frequent journeys for settling the business of the new church. Penn's Neck could not possibly obtain the same share of service, yet I officiated a few times at that church, and also preached occasionally at houses on afternoons, after finishing the service at Racoon. " In the meantime he sought to secure a settled minister to fill the vacancy. Ultimately (in 1790) the Rev. John Croes was engaged by the vestry, and continued to serve the church for many years. The church now ceased to be a mission, dependent on the bounty of the Swedish King, and became affiliated with the Episcopal church in America. Sub- sequently Mr. Croes was elected the first Bishop of New Jersey .- Clay's "Annals," 129-130. " At the time Dr. Collin received his appointment as rector of these churches (at Wicaco, etc.) the Swedes began to feel the necessity, from the little knowledge of the Swedish language remaining among them, of having clergymen set over them, who had received their education in this country," and accordingly the vestry of the Wicaco church directed the wardens to notify the Archbishop of Upsal: " As the Rev. Mr. Collin has expressed a desire of returning to his na- tive country shortly; whenever his majesty of Sweden shall think it proper to grant his recall, the mission to these congregations will undoubtedly cease." The relation which was then expected to be so brief, extended over nearly half a cen- tury. Dr. Collin "presided over these churches for a period of forty-five years: in which time he married 3375 couple, averaging about eighty-four couple a year. Dr. Collin, during the whole period of his ministry, was held in high esteem by his congregations. He possessed considerable learning, particularly in an acquaint- ance with languages, . . . He was a member, and for some time one of the vice presidents, of the American Philosophical Society, and was also one of the found- ers of the 'Society for the commemoration of the landing of William Penn.'" Clay's "Annals," as cited, pp. 126-127. In 1799 Dr. Collin translated a considerable portion of Acrelius's "History of the Swedes on the Delaware," for the use of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller, of Princeton, who was then engaged in preparing his "Church History." Dr. Miller appears to have turned this translation over to the American Philosophical Society, by whom it was transferred to the New York Historical Society (organized in 1804), which published the same in its Collections, New Series, 1841, Vol. I., pp 401-448. Dr. Collin's unabated interest in the Swedes- boro church, nearly twenty years after leaving it, is shown in an impassioned let- ter he wrote, April 30, 1804, to Dr. James Stratton, near Swedesboro, protesting against the proposed sale of a tract of land which had been devised to the old church .- Penn. Mag., 14: 211. Dr. Collin died at Wicaco. October 10, 1831, in his 87th year. His portrait, from a drawing evidently made in his extreme old age, by R. G. Morton, and engraved on stone by Neusam, is prefixed to Clay's "Annals," quoted above, 1st ed., 1835, and is inserted in the 2d ed. opposite p. 118. His wife, Hannah, died of yellow fever, in Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1797, aged 48 years, two months, and is buried in the old Gloria Dei churchyard, in South Second street.

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dry enough for any kind of grain or hemp, for which the soil is particularly adapted. The cleared upland contains about 120 acres, properly divided, and in good fence. The remainder is very good wood and timber land, a very fine outlet or range for cattle and horses, both above, and on the river below. The orchard is large, thrifty, and of the best grafted fruit, both for Cyder and house use. The garden is large, neat, well inclosed, and stored with a variety of the very best table fruit. The house, barn, stables, smoke-house, and other out-houses, are all in good repair. About 200 tons of hay, with about 50 acres of wheat and rye in the ground, will also be disposed of, if chose, together with several farming Negroes, men, women and children, breeding mares, young and old horses, a large stock of cattle, hogs, sheep, and farming utensils of all kinds, &c., boats, net, &c. there being some valuable fisheries on the river, with- in the lines .- The elegant situation of this place, and the noble prospect it commands, both for extent of view, as well as lawn and water scenes, must ever recommend it as a seat to any gentleman of taste, and for sport none excells, particularly for the gun and angling, in the different seasons, many other ad- vantages attend it both as a valuable and profitable farm, as well as a genteel seat, that are too numer- ous to be described here, and better understood on a view of the premises ; which, if not sold within six months from the date will then be leased for a term of years. If the purchase money be well secured, and interest regularly paid, the principal may remain 8 or ten years, if agreeable, or more.

WILLIAM PIDGEON.

Bow Hill, October 10, 1771.

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THIRTY SHILLINGS REWARD.

WAS lost, or stolen from the subscriber, living in Salem, New Jersey, on the 10th of September last, a SILVER WATCH, with a China face and silver cock piece, maker's name Sol. Hughes, London, No. 197, steel chain, two brass keys, and a silver seal. Any person who has or may find the same, shall re- ceive the above reward, upon delivery of the watch to Jacob Hollinshead, watch and clock maker, in Salem, or to the subscriber ; and it is hoped that if it should be offered for sale, information thereof will be given as above, for which the person informing shall receive the same reward, provided the watch is recovered for the owner, by

WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM. 1 N. B. All Watch-makers are desired to stop her. -The Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 2234, October 17, 1771.

Princeton, New-Jersey, October 1, 1777. W HEREAS Rebecca, the wife of the subscriber, has eloped from me, and behaved very bad ; likewise defiled his bed: This is therefore to forbid all persons not to trust her upon my account, as I will pay no debts of her contracting since her elope- ment. JAMES RATSFORD.

-The Pennsylvania Journal, No. 1506, October 17, 1771.

THE Subscriber having been unanimously chosen to succeed Mr. Barber, as master at the school at New-bridge, in Hackinsack, he will use his utmost endeavours to merit the approbation of all con-

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cern'd, by his care and attention in the Education of his pupils, whom he will instruct in all the necessary branches of English learning, and fit for College in the most expeditious and accurate manner.

The situation is remarkably healthy, and delight- ful, abounding with the best provisions.

The Scholars may be boarded for £14 Pr. Ann. which is from 4 to £6 cheaper than at any of the neighboring schools.

The school will be opened on monday next the 14th of October, 1771, by the public's

most obedient humble Servant, JOHN WRIGHT. -The New York Journal, or The General Ad- vertiser, No. 1502, October 17, 1771.

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Documents relating to the Colonial History of the state of New Jersey, Vol. XXVII, Part 37

Author: New Jersey Historical Society; Nelson, William, 1847-1914 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Paterson, N.J. : Press Printing and Publishing Number of Pages: 746

Author: New Jersey Historical Society; Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Paterson, N.J. : Press Printing and Publishing
Number of Pages: 746