USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > First church in Newark : historical discourses, relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark; originally delivered to the congregation of that church during the month of January, 1851 > Part 4
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+ At a general town meeting, 25th and 26th Jan., 1669-70. " Item. It is by a full consent of all agreed upon, that none of the common lands lying within our town or highways, so far as our articles will allow of, shall at any time be given or disposed of to any man's propriety, without the consent of every freeholder or received inhabitant of the town; as the land about the frog pond or training place ; the land before William Camp's towards the end in the front of those lots, as also
That towards the landing place in the middle street, is the Park or Military Common.
That against Aaron Blatchley's and John Ward's, is Washington Park, formerly Market Place,
That against Robert Dalglesh's, is the old " watering place" on the south side of Market street, near the Court House.
The old or first training place was the spot on which the first meeting-house stood, near the frog pond.
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32
ROBERT TREAT.
all the transactions of the town of Newark during the first fourteen years ; its magistrate, the president of its town court, and chosen regularly every year for the first five or six years, as first on its list of deputies to the General Assembly. He was an active, energetic, and perhaps restless man, who had aided already in the commencement of two or three new settlements, and, as early as the year 1651, had been only prevent- ed by the "injustice and violence of the Dutch" (so he thought it) from establishing yet another on the banks of the Delaware, whereby " the gospel," he said, " might have been published to the natives, and much good done, not only to the Colonies at present, but to posterity." *
Next comes Robert Treat-the flower and pride of the whole company-who came to the Colony of New Haven when a young man, and was early advanced to posts of influence and trust. To his wise energy New- ark owes much of its early order and good manage- ment. Having served the town in various capacities- as its Clerk, and, with Jasper Crane, as one of its magis- trates and deputies to the Assembly-he left several of his children here as a most acceptable donation to the new settlement, t and returned in the year 1672 to Con-
* Trumbull, vol. 1, p. 197. The leaders in the enterprise were Jasper Crane and William Tuttle. This is probably the set- tlement near Cape May, of which Dr. Macwhorter speaks. (Century Sermon, p. 8.) The people of New Haven Colony had purchased land of the Indians on both sides of Delaware bay and river, and had agents and a trading house there; but I have seen no evidence that they suc- ceeded in actually commencing a settle- ment. See Hazard's State Papers, vol. ii.
t "The children of Robert Treat, who settled in Newark, were John, who died August 1, 1714, aged 65 ; his daughter Sarah married to Jonathan Crane, Esq., a son of Jasper Crane, Jr .; and his daughter Mary, the wife of Deacon Aza- riah Crane. On the home-lot of Gover- nor Treat, which was occupied by the descendants of his daughter until the commencement of the present century, now stands the house of worship of the First Presbyterian Church,"-S.H. Congar.
33
SAMUEL SWAINE.
necticut. There at once he was advanced to the magis- tracy of the Province. Becoming a Major of militia, he distinguished himself in various military operations against the Dutch and Indians; and, at the battle of "Bloody Brook," when the "Flower of Essex" fell, turned the tide of success at a desperate moment, and saved the colonists from being overrun and destroyed by a savage foe. He was the Governor of Connecti- cut for many years, and his name is one of the bright- est on her early rolls .*
Samuel Swainet deserves notice as having been con-
* See Trumbull's Hist, Conn., vol. 1, p. 341, &c., Everet's Orations, ("Battle of Bloody Brook.") "It is the tradition," says Trumbull, "that Major (afterwards Governor) Treat received a ball through the brim of his hat, and that he was the last man who left the Fort in the dusk of the evening, commanding the rear of the army." "He that commanded our forces then and now us," say the Legislature of the Colony, "made no less than seven- teen fair shots at the enemy, and was thereby as oft a fair mark for them."
Gov. Treat was in the Chair when, Sir Edmond Andros attempting to seize the charter of the Colony, the people extin- guished the lights in the Assembly room, and Capt. Wadsworth secretly conveyed the precious instrument of liberty to a place of security in a hollow tree, since called from that circumstance the "Char- ter Oak." He was at a very advanced age when he retired from public life. Trum- bull says of him, (vol. 1, p. 432,) "He had been three years a magistrate, and thirty- two years Governor or Deputy-Governor of the Colony. He was elected magis- trate, May, 1673, Deputy-Governor, 1676, and Governor, 1683. To this office he was annually elected fifteen years until 1698. He was then chosen Deputy-Gov- ernor until the year 1708. He died about two years after, July 12, 1710, in the 85th year of his age. Few men have sustained
a fairer character or rendered the public more important services. He was an ex- cellent military officer ; a man of singular courage and resolution, tempered with caution and prudence. His administra- tion of Government was with wisdom, firmness and integrity. He was esteemed courageous, wise and pious. He was ex- ceedingly beloved and venerated by the people in general, and especially by his neighbors at Milford where he resided." He married Jane, daughter of Edmund Tapp, one of the "seven pillars" on which the Church at Milford laid its foundation work. (See Lambert's Hist. Col. New Haven, pp. 100, 137.)
t Not Swarne, as all the histories have it. "Samuel Swaine's daughter Elizabeth was the wife of Josiah Ward, and subse- quently of David Ogden, who left four sons, David, John, Josiah and Swaine. Col. Josiah (who went over to Episcopacy) was the ancestor of the late David B. Og- den, Esq. The lamented Mrs. Caldwell, of Elizabethtown, was a descendant of David Ogden. Joanna, another daugh- ter of Lieut. Swaine, married Jasper Crane, Jr., and hence, though the names of Treat and Swaine may not be found in our City Directory, their representatives are very numerous."-S. H. Congar.
It is not improbable that Col. Josiah owed his name to the affection of his mo-
3
34
THE OLD CORN MILL.
stantly chosen for " the third man" among the deputies to the General Assembly to supply the place of either of the others who might fail, and as such having repre- sented the town instead of Jasper Crane in the first General Assembly ever held in the Province, He was a mill-wright by trade,* and a Lieutenant by office, and
ther for the memory of her deceased hus- band.
There is a tradition that Elizabeth Swaine was the first to land on the shore of Newark, having been merrily handed up the bank by her gallant lover, in his ambition to secure for her that mark of priority. She was then, says the same tradition, nineteen years of age, which corresponds, as Mr. Congar informs me, to the record of her baptism.
* The old corn mill situated on "Mill Brook," near the present Stone Bridge, and erected by Lieut. Swaine's skill, de- serves a passing notice as among the primitive public institutions of "our town upon Passaic river." It was the next considerable undertaking after the meet- ing house, and liberal offers were at first made to any who would volunteer in the work, "for the supply of the town with good grinding." But " none appearing to accept the town's motion and encour- agement," the next step was " to set upon it in a general way ; and moving to Lieut. Swaine about the matter, he made some propositions to the town," and they final- ly came to an agreement to give him for his services, "twenty shillings by the week and three pounds over for his skill," unless, as the agreement ran, " he shall see cause to abate it, which, if he should see cause to do, the town will take it thankfully." On these conditions did the worthy func- tionary engage "to improve his time and skill to the best advantage," "give his best advice about the building of the dam and leveling the ground as the town shall need him," and, with the aid of Mr. Robert Treat, Henry Lyon, John Brown and Stephen Davis, made choice of as the town's committee "to appoint and oversee the work, and that, as near as they can, in
an equal and proportionate way, and to keep a clear and distinct account of each man's work and layings out about the work ;" together with that of Thomas Pierson and George Day, appointed "to call forth the men to labor" at the proper times, "as the committee shall agree upon," carry the whole work "on to an end " as soon as conveniently he can. Forth goes, moreover, a trusty commis- sion at the town's command " upon the discovery, to see if they can find any suita- ble stones for mill-stones," and, the whole body politic being thus fairly enlisted, a speedy completion of the work was no doubt confidently anticipated. But pri - vate enterprise was after all found more reliable; and at the end of one year, the work still lingering, a bargain was made with Robert Treat and Sergeant Richard Harrison to build the mill and all its ap- purtenances, keep it in repair, furnish the same with a good miller, and for a fixed rate of tolls "grind all the town's grists into good meal." For their encourage- ment the exclusive right to all mill privi- leges on that brook were guarantied, " with all the town's grists from time to time, all stones capable of mill- stones in the town's utmost limits and bounds," the timber which before had been prepared, all the lands formerly granted and " entailed to the mill" in all respects as their own lands, thirty pounds in current articles, and " two days work of every man and woman that holds an al- lotment in the town." With this encour- agement the work went on apace; the thirty pounds were gathered by a rate " in like manner as the rate for Mr. Abra- ham Pierson," and Saturday and Monday of each week being agreed upon as " grinding days," the sturdy planters'
35
DEACONS TOMPKINS AND LAWRENCE.
was raised to the captaincy of the Newark forces in 1673, shortly after Captain Treat returned to Connect- icut.
Michael Tompkins* and Richard Lawrence,} who
boys, each mounted on horseback with sacks of grain en croupe, may at length be imagined wending their cheerful way from either extremity of the settlement to where the huge timbers of the rude edifice groaned to the rushing waters and whirling mill-stones; and the miller, full of bustle and importance, was seeking to fulfill his promise "to attend to his grind- ing" and "do as for himself to secure every man's grist" from harm or loss "till it be closed under lock and key," when his responsibility was to be ended. Thir- teen years later, Robert Treat having re- turned to Connecticut, and Sergeant Har- rison perhaps growing old, the right to the mill was conveyed, with the town's consent, to the three younger Harrisons -- Samuel, Joseph and George-who as- sumed all the attendant obligations and responsibilities as mentioned in the "cov- enant" made between the town and their father. Further than this, concerning the fate of the old corn mill, this deponent saith not. (Town's Records, pp. 13, 14, 15, 29, 37, 45.)
* The following notices of the Tomp- kins family were gathered by Mr. S. H. Congar from the Milford Church records : "Michael and Mary Tomkins were re- ceived as church members 12th Decem- ber, 1643 ; Seth, son of Michael Tomkins, was baptized in 1649; Micah, " son of brother Tomkins," was baptized at New Haven in 1660. Mr. C. adds : " I have no doubt that Michael Tomkins was the man who hid the Judges in Milford. Tomkins's name does not appear in Mil- ford books after the settlement of New- ark, that I can find." The story of the hiding of the regicide Judges is pleasant- ly told by President Stiles in his " His- tory of the Three Judges of King Charles I, viz: Major Generals Goffe and Whal-
ley and Col. Dixwell," pp. 88, 89. "From their lodgment in the woods the Judges removed and took up an ayslum in the house of Mr. Tomkins in the centre of Milford, thirty or forty rods from the meeting house. 1 have frequently been in this house of Tomkins's. It was standing since 1750, and perhaps to 1770. In this house the two Judges resided in the most absolute concealment, not so much as walking out into the orchard for two years." Mr. Treat, he adds, was in the secret, and a few others. The house is thus described : " It was a building, say twenty feet square, and two stories ; the lower room built with stone wall and con- sidered as a store; the room over it with timber and wood, and used by Tomkins's family as a work or spinning-room." " The family," he adds, " used to spin in the room above, ignorant of the Judges being below. Judge Buckingham tells me this story, the only anecdote or notice I could ever learn from a Milford man now living. While they sojourned at Milford, there came over from England a ludicrous cavalier ballad, satirizing Charles's Judges, and Goffe and Whalley among the rest. A spinstress at Milford had learned to sing it, and used some- times to sing it in the chamber over the Judges ; and the Judges used to get Tomkins to set the girls to singing the song for their diversion, being humored and pleased with it, though at their own expense, as they were the subjects of the ridicule. The girls knew nothing of the matter, being ignorant of the innocent device, and little thought that they were serenading angels." Deacon Tompkins is first mentioned as Deacon in the Town Records, Dec. 29, 1670. (Rec., p. 31.)
t Deacon Lawrence first appears by that title in the Records, Jan. 2, 1670-1. (Rec.,
36
FIRST SETTLERS.
succeeded Lawrence Ward in the office of deacon, and were probably elected about the time of his decease, appear to have been men of true worth and considera- ble influence in the community.
Besides these, there were Matthew Camfield* and Obadiah Bruen, Robert Kitchell, formerly one of the " seven pillars" of the Church in Guilford, and his son Samuel, married to Grace, daughter of Abraham Pierson, senior, John Curtis, and Jeremiah Peck, and Thomas Morris, and Thomas Luddington. There were other Piersons, Cranes, Tompkinsest and Wards.§ There were Baldwins,| and Burwells, T and Blatch-
p. 32.) He was one of the Branford party, a cousin of John Catlin. There were two as was Tompkins of the Milford. Proba- bly both were appointed at the same time.
* Matthew Camfield is said to have come from Norwalk. He had four sons, Samuel, Ebenezer, Matthew and Jonathan. Jonathan died Nov. 26, 1688, and left his property to his two brothers. Samuel Camfield settled in Norwalk, and received his portion of his father's estate there. The will says : " He shall have nothing here."
+ She was, it is said, his second wife. His first wife was Elizabeth Wakeman, married in 1651.
# Seth Tompkins, son of Michael, does not appear among the first subscribers, but soon after. He must have been only 17 years of age when the first party arrived. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Kitchel. The name of Jonathan Tomp- kins appears among the original subscri bers.
§ Two John Wards, whose names ap- pear among the original subscribers, be- longing to the Milford party, were usually distinguished as John Ward, senior, or Sergeant Ward, and John Ward Turner or Dishturner. John Ward Turner was a nephew of Deacon Lawrence Ward and
of the same name and profession subse- quently, probably the latter a son of the former. (Town Book of Surveys, &c., pp. 1, 13, 54.)
| Two Baldwins were among the origi- nal subscribers-John, senior, and John, junior. Benjamin Baldwin was also among the first settlers. John Baldwin, senior, was among those who had special grants made them by the town "for staying on the place so much the first summer." In 1673, he with three others had deter- mined to remove to what was called "Barbadoes Neck," then recently pur- chased of the Dutch, but they were pre- vented from remaining there by a defect in the title. John Baldwin, junior, became prominent in the affairs of the town after a few years, and was chosen to the highest offices. They were both men of moderate estate. Benjamin Baldwin was a weaver. (Town Records.)
T Only one Burwell appears among the original subscribers, viz: Ephraim. But Zechariah was also among the first set- tlers. Zechariah and Elizabeth Burwell had numerous children, who were con- nected by marriage with several promin- ent Newark families.
37
FIRST SETTLERS.
leys, and Harrisons, and Johnsons* and Lyons.+ There were Penningtonst-Ephraim and his two young sons, Ephraim and Judah. There were Riggses- Sergeant Edward, and his two sons, Edward and Jo- seph. There were Dods,§ and Browns, | more than one. There was a Ball and a Bond, a Camp and a Catlin, a Davis and a Day, a Freeman and a Hunting- ton, a Lyman and a Linle, a Rose and a Plum. There was Robert Denison with "his mark," and John Brooks with "his mark." There was Hugh Roberts, and Hans Albers, and Robert Dalglesh, and Jonathan Sargeant, T and Martin and Daniel Tichenor, and Joseph Walters, and Nathaniel Wheeler, and John Rogers-in all, sixty-three at the beginning, and more afterwards,
There were two Johnsons among the the original subscribers-John and Thom- as; the former of the Branford and the latter of the Milford party. Thomas Johnson became one of the most promin- ent men in the settlement. He was one of the committee of eleven chosen at the preliminary town meeting, and during his life occupied successively almost every gradation of office. His residence was on the north-east corner of Broad and Walnut streets, the site now occupied by Grace Church.
+ Henry Lyon removed after a few years to Elizabethtown, but seems to have been unwilling to lose his Church privi- leges here ; for under date of July 24, 1680, we find the following : "It is voted that Henry Lyon hath a right to, and shall have a seat in the meeting house, paying proportionably with his neighbors."- (Town Records, p. 80.) He was the first Town Treasurer of Newark. There was also a Samuel Lyon, and a Thomas, who made "his mark" among the Branford men.
# Ephraim Pennington was a young man, married at Milford, Oct. 25, 1667, to Mary Brocket. Ephraim and Judah must have been born in Newark. Lands were
surveyed to them in the right of their father, after his decease, as appears by the Town Book of Surveys, " half to Ephraim and half to Judah.'
§ The Dods were all minors when they came to Newark, their father, Daniel D., having died in Branford in 1664-5. But the eldest, Daniel, became of age soon af- ter, and his name appears in the " sure list" by which the lands were divided, though not among the first signers of the fundamental agreements. His sister Mary was the wife of Aaron Blatchly , married before they came to Newark. (See Dod's East Haven Register, Appen- dix, p. 18.)
| John Brown, senior and junior, were among the subscribers of the fundamen- tal agreement, and both of the Milford party. When Mr. Treat returned to Con- necticut, John Brown, Jr., was chosen to succeed him in the office of Town Clerk.
T Jonathan Sargeant was the ancestor of the Rev. John Sargeant, father and son, missionaries to the Indians, and of the Hon. John Sargeant, late of Philadelphia. In 1669 he had lands assigned him on con- dition that he would "abide in the town and follow his trade." Town Rec., p. 27.
38
CHARACTER OF THE SETTLERS.
whose virtues served their generation, and whose faults, if any they had, have long since passed into ob- livion .*
But though there is little left now by which to indi- vidualize these venerable men, the records of their corporate acts and the works they accomplished, point them out as men of no ordinary excellence. Strict Puritans we have already called them; and they seem to have possessed all the virtues of the Puritan, with scarcely one of the faults alleged against that ancient race.+
It would be difficult to find a more perfectly well- regulated community anywhere, than that which they established here on the banks of the Passaic. All their affairs were conducted on the most perfect sys- tem. The public burdens were carefully distributed among the settlers, in proportion to their estates ; and where services were to be performed in common, every man under their several leaders had his place fixed and assigned him, that there might be no neglect, delay or interference. Whether the work were to clear the highways of the obtruding vegetation,¿ make or re-
* Besides the names above mentioned, the "sure list" of every man's estate made in 1667, contains those of John Bostwick, Thomas Staples and Alexander Munrow, Another list, made the same year, contains those of Benjamin Fenn, Mr. Leete, John Gregory, Eleazer Rogers and John Rockwell. Mr. being then a title of distinction, is applied in these lists to eleven persons, viz : Messrs. Ab. Pierson, senior and junior, Robert and Samuel Kitchel, Jeremiah Peck, Morris, Jasper Crane, Robert Treat, - - Leete, Matthew Camfield and Obadiah Bruen. Others had military titles.
+ As to the puritan rigidity of the peo- ple, take the following testimony of a Scotchman, lately came among them in 1684: "Most part of the first settlers came out of New England, very kind and loving people ; kinder than in Scotland or England." (See Peter Watson's letter, Whitehead, p. 302.)
# "Stubbing the highways in the town," is the expression used in the Rec- ords. In this work all men from 16 to 60 years of age were required to labor as they were called out. Records, p. 51.
39
DISTRIBUTION OF BURDENS.
pair the fences, ditch the meadows," burn the woods,t use the common lands for the pasturing of cattle, pay the public charges, or carry Mr. Pierson's wood to his door-all was regulated with the precision of a mili- tary manœuvre, and each man knew his part and his time. Only one service seems to have been performed with great reluctance, and that was the attendance upon town meetings ; and here, in spite of fines over and over imposed on the delinquents, the voters seem to have continued long to disregard their high privi- leges and franchises.§
A curious order about ditching the geant Ward's should give the required meadows is recorded at length in the notice to begin. In this work, likewise, Town. Records, pp. 17, 18, under date of every man from 16 years to 60 was to work his day. (Town Records, pp. 13, 46, 74, 188.) June 10, 1669. Every man is required to work one day for each £200 of estate. Two rods in length is to be taken # The following extracts from the Town Records shows the habits of the people in this particular : for a day's work. The planters are di- vided into two companies, of which Ser- geant Riggs is to command the one, and Sergeant Harrison the other, and every man must set up stakes marked with the two first letters of his name at each end of his work, so that the Surveyor may know whether he has done his part, and how he has done it. The men are to come out and work in succession as they are called by their leaders, notice having been given the day previous.
+ The burning of the woods seems to have been a very serious operation. Every year a committee was appointed and clothed with power to say when and only when the work should be undertaken. On the appointed day, at beat of drum, every planter was required, on penalty of a fine, to present himself at "the com- mon place of meeting, and then and there come to an agreement with his neighbors as to the best manner of proceeding for the best good of the town," and neither in woods nor meadows nor about the fences was any fire to be set until at early morning hour the beating of the drum from Thomas Johnson's up to Ser-
"Nov. 24, 1679 .- It is agreed that two men in each quarter shall be appointed to look after the carrying in Mr. Pierson's wood this year,and take care that it is done seasonably, and also to see that every one as is yet behind for the last year do first car- ry their load of wood; and for their pains and care shall be exempted from their load of wood. Mr. Johnson and George Day for their quarter, and Mr. Kitchel and David Ogden for their quarter, Deacon Lawrence and John Ward Turner for their quarter, and John Walters and Thomas Pierson, junior, for their quarter are chosen ; every quarter to go out when the men see cause to call." Rec., p. 76.
§ It is a curious fact that the privilege of voting in public affairs, exclusive as it was, should have been so little valued. We do not hear of any fines imposed by these same rigid Puritans for neglect to attend public worship; but absence from town meetings was treated as a very se- rious offence. After various attempts to remedy the evil, without success, an or- der was adopted in the year 1676, to this
40
LOVING AGREEMENT.
Differences there were from time to time between man and man, but they were generally soon set- tled by means of mutual agreements, or at worst by a Committee specially appointed for that purpose. Of this a beautiful example is to be seen in the adjustment of the boundary between the towns of Newark and Eliz- · abethtown. It stands on record, that Jasper Crane, Robert Treat, Matthew Camfield, Samuel Swaine and Thomas Johnson, commissioned with full powers from the town of Newark, met with John Ogden, Luke Watson, Robert Bond and Jeffrey Jones, bearing a similar commission from the sister settlement, on a lit- tle round hill named thenceforth Divident Hill .* There, it is said on the authority of an old man who testified on oath that he received the account from one : of the parties, Robert Treat first led them in prayer " that there might be good agreement between them ;" and when their task was ended, "John Ogden prayed among the people, and gave thanks for their loving agreement."+ Nor is it strange that the devout and
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