USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 19
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
(V) Thomas, eldest son of Edward and Margaret (Wilson) Ogden, born in Bradley Plain, May 4, 1565; married, February 16, 1597, Elizabeth, daughter of John Samford, and had three children: I. Mary, born Janu- ary 12, 1598, died unmarried. 2. John, Sep- tember 3, 1600 ; married (first) May 4, 1627, Anne, daughter of Joseph Richardson, and (second) probably in Stamford, Connecticut, Judith, daughter of Lieutenant John Budd, the original purchaser of Budd's Neck, now a part of the town of Rye, Westchester county, New York. This John Ogden was one of the petitioners to Charles II for the charter of Connecticut, and in 1674 and 1675 was deputy governor of the state. He was instrumental in settling the boundary line between New York and Connecticut, and must not be confounded with his cousin John of Southampton and Elizabethtown, hereafter referred to. John Ogden, of Rye, died before August 7, 1682, when his widow Judith presented to the pro- bate court of Fairfield the inventory of his estate ; his descendants are numerous. 3. Mar- garet, July 1, 1601 ; married Samuel Hope.
(V) Richard, second son of Edward and Margaret (Wilson) Ogden, was born at Brad- ley Plain, May 15, 1568; married, May 2, 1592, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel and Mar- garet (Crane) Huntington. Children: I. Richard, born May 3, 1596, died in infancy. 2. Richard, September 18, 1597, died May 3, 1599. 3. Edward, July 21, 1598; married, De- cember 2, 1630, Elizabeth, daughter of Ed- ward and Alice (Dimery) Knight, of Wood- bury Hill, Worcester. 4. Elizabeth, Decem- ber 17, 1603, died in infancy. 5. Elizabeth, May 13, 1607, married Mr. Martin. 6. John, referred to below. 7. Richard, July 1, 1610,
85
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
died Fairfield, Connecticut, early in 1687; married, Bradley Plain, August 31, 1639, Mary, daughter of David Hall, of Gloucester, England. His sons, Richard and David, lived and died in Fairfield, and their descendants are there now, John, his youngest son, removed to Cohansey, New Jersey, and his descendants are numerous. Of his daughters, Hannah, married Sergeant Samuel Ward, Thankful, Daniel Silliman, Elizabeth, Daniel Meeker, and Elizabeth, who died before her father, John Pine. 8. David, June II, 1611, died with- out issue.
(V) John, son of Edward and Margaret (Wilson) Ogden, born September 19, 1571, married, May 2, 1592, Margaret, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Crane) Huntington. The record continues: "Margaret .Crane's nephew, Jasper Crane, emigrated to Newark, New Jersey, and his daughter Hannah mar- ried Thomas Huntington, son of Simon, who emigrated to Massachusetts, but died on the passage from England to Boston, in 1633."
(VI) John (2), fourth son of Richard and Elizabeth (Huntington) Ogden, was born in Bradley Plain, September 19, 1609, died in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in May, 1682. His youth and early married life were spent in the place of his birth and he seems to have prospered there, as October 18, 1639, he con- veys to Ezekiel Howard, of Bradley Plain, a garden, an orchard, four acres of pasture, and two acres of woodland, with appurtenances. This was shortly before he took ship with his wife and three infant children for the new world, where we find him in the following year, April 17, 1640, being granted the tract on Long Island known as the Shinnecock Hill to the west of Southampton, in the founding of which town he took one of the leading parts. At this time the Dutch in New Amsterdam were very desirous of building a new church for themselves, for their old one was in a very dilapidated condition, and as Captain David De Vries told the director general, "It is a shame that the English should see, when they passed, nothing but a mean barn in which public worship was performed. The first thing they do in New England, when they raise some dwellings, is, on the contrary, to build a fine church, we ought to do the same." Director Kieft had promised to advance some thousand guilders from the public chest and the remainder was to be raised by private sub- scription. Then came the marriage of the daughter of Dominie Bogardus, which was happily conceived of as a good time to raise
the fund required. So when the wedding party was in the height of good humor, and mellow with the host's good cheer, the director general called on the guests to subscribe. The disposition to be generous at such a time was not wanting, and each guest emulating his neighbor, a handsome list was made out. When the morning came, a few more were found desirous of reconsidering the transactions of the wedding feast, but Director Kieft would allow no such second thought. They must pay all without exception. Consequently the direc- tor entered into the following contract with the brothers, John and Richard Ogden :
"Appeared before me Cornelis van Tien- hoven, secretary in behalf of the General Priv- ileged West India Company, in New Nether- land, the Honorable William Kieft, Church- master, at the request of his brethren, the Church master of the Church in New Nether- land, to transact and in their name to conclude the following business : So did he as Church- master agree with John Ogden about a church in the following manner: John Ogden of Stamford and Richard Ogden engaged to build in behalf of said Churchmasters a church of rock-stone, seventy-two feet long, fifty feet broad and sixteen feet high above the soil all in good order and in workman like manner. They shall be obliged to procure the stone and bring it on shore near the fort at their own expense from whence the Church masters shall further convey the stone to the place where it is intended to build the church at their own expense. The Churchmasters aforesaid will procure as much lime as shall be required for the building of the aforesaid church. John and Richard Ogden shall at their own charge pay for the masonry, etc., provided that when the work shall be finished the Churchmasters shall pay to them the sum of two thousand five hundred guilders, which payment shall be made in beaver, cash, or merchandise, to wit: If the Churchmasters are satisfied with the work so that in their judgment the two thou- sand five hundred guilders shall have been earned then the said Churchmasters shall reward them with one hundred guilders more; and the further promise to John and Richard Ogden to assist them whenever it is in their power. They further agree to facilitate the carrying the stone thither, and that John and Richard Ogden may use during a month or six weeks the company's boat ; engaging them- selves and the aforesaid John and Richard Ogden to finish the undertaken work in the manner thev contracted. Done in Fort Am-
86
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
sterdam in New Netherland. (Signed) Wil- lem Kieft, John Ogden, Richard Ogden, Gys- bert op Dyck, Thimas Willett." (Albany rec- ords 3:31).
Director Kieft, who probably even then had in contemplation his plan of exterminating the Indians and was therefore desirous of provid- ing against future contingencies, had this new church built within the fort itself, although according to contemporary writers the people generally were opposed to such a site arguing that "the fort was already very small, that it stood on the point or extremity of the island whereas a more central position ought to be selected for the accommodation of the faithful generally, and in particular that the erection of a church within the fort would prevent the southeast wind reaching the grist-mill which stood thereabout and thus cause the people to suffer especially in summer through want of bread." Consequently the new church pro- ceeded rather slowly in building and it was two or three years before it was even advanced enough for services to be held in it in its unfin- ished condition. At length, however, the shin- gle roof was put on, and to commemorate the zeal both of the director-general and the com- monalty on this occasion a marble slab was placed conspicuously in front of the build- ing with the following inscription engraved thereon :
("Anno 1642, Willem Kieft, Directeur- Generael, heeft de gemeente desen Tempel doen bouwen," that is "In the year 1642 Will- iam Kieft Director-general, hath the Common- alty this Temple caused to be built." Writing in 1817, Judge Benson says that when the fort was taken down "a few years since," the mar- ble slab above alluded to was found with the Dutch inscription on it, buried in the earth, and then removed to the belfry of the church in Garden street, New York, belonging to the Dutch Reformed congregation. On the de- struction of the latter building by the great fire of 1835, the slab totally disappeared.
From the contract for this church it would appear that John Ogden had removed from Southampton to Stamford, but he did not long remain there, for after three years residence, during 1644, he and several other settlers, who had grown restive under the limited franchise granted them by the New Haven Colony, de- cided to try their fortunes under the Dutch government on Long Island and accordingly located themselves at Hempstead; and on making application to Director Kieft, received from him a patent to "the Great Plains." His
associates in this venture were the Rev. Robert Fordham, John Strickland, John Karman, John Lawrence and Jonas Wood. Here too he was unable to find a home which satisfied him, and we learn of him in 1647 obtaining permission from the authorities of Southampton to plant a colony of six families at "North Sea" (Great Peconic Bay) about three miles from South- ampton. Later this place became known as Northampton. About this time too, if not at an earlier period, John Ogden became inter- ested in the whaling industry which engaged his attention up to as late as 1668. January 30, 1650, the general court of Southampton gave him "free liberty without interruption from the Inhabitants of Southampton to kill whales vpon the South Sea (i. e. the ocean) at or within any part of the bounds of the saide towne for the space of seaven yeares next ensuing the date hereof and in that space noe liberty shall be granted to any by the saide inhabitants to any other person or persons to kill or strike any within the bounds of the saide towne." Three years later, August 21, 1654, this liberty was renewed to "Mr. Odell and Mr. Ogden and their company vpon the same termes with the exceptions following, Ist yf any whale come within Shinecock bay gut they the said company are not to medle with them, nor any other whale or whales wherein there is no sign of their killing them at sea, but they shall belong to the town as formerly, By the said signes of said company their killing any whale is to be understood by harping irons vpon them or" (the remainder of the record gone).
March 31, 1650, John Ogden began his prominent public career in Southampton by being made a freeman by the general court along with Thomas Topping. After this, not only is he one of the most frequently chosen jurors, but from October 7. 1650, to October 6, 1652, and from October 7, 1655, to October 6, 1663, he served as one of the three town magistrates. Beginning with the year 1656 he also has a record of continuous service as one of the two representatives of the town at the assembly in Hartford. March 6, 1657, he was one of the six men chosen at the town meeting to arbitrate concerning the land at South- ampton which was claimed by the men of Easthampton. On April 30, following he was selected as one of the forty men who were to "have half a pound of powder apeece deliv- ered * * * out of ye magazen." For some reason or other the town had divided its ox pasture into two divisions separated from each
87
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
other by a five rail fence, and June 2, 1657, the town voted that "Edward Howell and John Ogden should adjudge unlawful cattle and horses in the ox pasture (i. e. those be- longing in one division and found in the other ), and turn them out. They shall also judge if fence of ox pasture is sufficient and whosoever is found defective in their fence shall make it sufficient by seven nights they having notice by the next 3d day at night upon forfeiture of 5s a pole for every neglect and if found within the ox pasture after being turned out by the aforesaid men they shall forfeit 2s a beast to be levied by way of execution." May 5, 1658, by a majority vote of the town meeting "John Ogden is directed to send over all money in constable's hands to discharge the town's debts and to act in the town's behalf in anything he conceived may redown to the good of the town." And again November 25, 1659, he was one of the twelve men chosen by the town to "regulate the town papers and writings to cashiere those that are in their Iudgement vnnecessary and put select documents in con- venient form for the towns vse. Also to select all laws from the law book at Hartford that apply to the town." Each man was to forfeit to the town 2s, 6d per day if he did not have "reasonable cause for his absence" while the board was sitting.
March 7, 1651, Richard Mills, the school- master and town clerk, sold his homestead to John Cooper, Jr., but in doing so infringed apparently upon the rights of John Ogden, who March 10, 1651, entered an action of tres- pass against Mills with regard to the property, Mills retaliating the same day with a counter action against John Ogden. The following day the court found a verdict for John Ogden in both suits and sentenced Mills to pay 40S, damages and costs. John Ogden then began suit against John Cooper and the court again found for Ogden, assessing the defendant 2d and costs, and upon Cooper's appealing to the general court that body, November 3, 1651, again decided in John Ogden's favor. About a year later, February 25, 1652, John Ogden is again brought into court, this time as defend- ant in a suit brought against him by Mr. John Stanborough "in an action of debt in the behalf of Mr. Robert Scott of Boston merchant," and on the ensuing March I, the case is settled by arbitration.
John Ogden was also called upon to settle the private as well as the public affairs of others. April 4, 1654, the general court order- ed that "Mr. John Ogden Sen & Jonas Wood
shall bee prizers of the goods and chattells be- longing to Wm. Paine of late deceased ;" and at the quarter court, March 1, 1658, John Ogden and Samuel Clark are appointed ad- ministrators for the estate of Mark Meiggs, who with his father Vincent, brother John, and wife Avis had been residents of North Sea since 1651. Meiggs had left a will, leav- ing his property to his wife for her life and after her death to Samuel, son of John Lum; but apparently had made no provision for the payment of his debts, for when the adminis- trators reported that they had "sold at an out- cry" six items belonging to the estate, the court ordered that the proceeds be handed to John Ogden and Samuel Clark in payment of Meiggs debts. Three of these items had been bidden in by John Ogden for f13, IOS, namely, four shotes, for £2, 4s; two yearling bulls and a calf for £5, IOS; and two ewes, two lambs, and "half of a calf" for £5, 16s. Two of the remaining three items, the "half of a three year old and half of a two year old," and Meiggs house and lot had been bought by John Scot who, however, did not pay for the second item, and was consequently ordered by the court to pay the marshall £2 "for contempt of court order and court charge."
John Ogden's real estate transactions, while he sojourned on Long Island were quite exten- sive. Beginning with his grant of the Shinne- cock Hill, April 17, 1640, his share in the patent of the Great Plains from Governor Kieft in 1644, we find him steadily increasing his holdings up to 1659, when he begins to dispose of them again, piece by piece until by the end of 1667 he has sold out all of his interests. February 21, 1649, "It is granted by the major parte of this towne (i. e. South- ampton ) that Mr. Ogden and his company shall have Cow Neck and Jeffery Neck for their owne proper Right ; also that they shall have for their planting Land in either or both of said necks three hundred 24 Acres of said Land provided they settle vpon it and vpon the same grant they are to have all the meadow betwixt the brooke by the Sachems house and Hogneck spring for their proper Right provided it bee not above a mile from the sea side the North Sea ; Vpon these conditions following first that they must pay to all Common Rates with the Towne after the rate of nine hundred pounds according to the takeings vp of those men that dwell in the Towne; 21y that Hee shall plant there six familyes or more that shall there Live and have there abode: 31y that In Case that the whole bounds of the Towne come to bee
88
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
stinted for Cattell then they must bee stinted for summer feed as they are that live at the towne : by the same Rule in Common Rates as aforesaid is alsoe included the misters meenes." April 15, 1656, we find the entry, "Mr Ogden acknowledgment yt Mr. Odell his lotment in Sagaponack devision belongeth to him," June 5. 1657, he bought Samuel Dayton's house and home lot "and five acres in the ten acre Lotts and four in coopers neck and two acres more in another place also he bouyht the meddow belonging to it." January 10, 1658, the town meeting granted him "that part of swamp that lies against his lot in Coopers lott ;" and May 12, 1659, he purchased from Wyandanch, sachem of paumanicke and his son Weeaya- comboune, another large tract of land. About two weeks after this last purchase, John Ogden began to get rid of some of his accumulated real estate holdings, and May 25, 1659, he re- cords the following acknowledgments : that "hee hath sould vnto Ellis Cooke and Isaac Will- man the division of Sagaponack at mecox that was formerly Goodman White's which lieth for twe acres;" and that he "hath sould vnto Ellis Cooke and Isaack Willman one allotment of Sagaponack division numb 32 that was for- merly Isaack Willman allso hee acknowledgth he hath sould vnto Ellis and the said Isaac anothr lott that was fermely in the hands of Mr Ioanes at mee cooks in numb 33 also an- othr lot lately in the hands of Iohn Iseevp & Jonas Bour Numb 35 also an acre and half lately in the hands of Iohn White and Ionas Bour lying between Edward Ioanes and Isaack Willman." Between this date and February 2, 1663, John Ogden also sold to John Scot a part of the land he had received from the In- dian sachem Wyandanch; and the ensuing March 1, 1663, he sold to Ellis Cooke "the land he bought of William Ludlam, at Me- cocks, one parcel being all that field that vpon the laying out of that division lay betweene the highway next the millers and the next creek on the east or southeast the other parcel lying on little neck on the west side of the creek which is on the west side of Arthur Howells land and was sometime in possession of Rich- ard Woodhull." From the above sales it would seem that John Ogden was determined not to remain a subject of England under a monarch- ical rule, for he begins to get rid of his land and to lay his plans for removing to a country then under the more democratic government of the Dutch at the same time that Charles II was coming back to his throne. On April 12, 1664. just before he set out for his last
pilgrimage to New Jersey, he sold "and deliv- ered to his uncle (i. e. his cousin) Mr. Iohn Ogden (of Rye) his houseing and home lot with all ye land lying at the reare thereof and allsoe his fifteen accres lying at the Long Springs ald alsoe the priviledges to a fifty pound lot." This property was sold by John Ogden, of Rye, September 7, 1665, to his own son-in-law, John Woodruff ; and he in turn on the same date sold it to Robert Wooley. Sep- tember 6, 1665, John Ogden of Southampton sold ~"all his land lying neere the north sea howses in that place comonly called the field by the Clay pits (except ye quantity of two poles all along by the ditch side therein to digg or delve it to the ditch) vnto Iohn Rose of ye said north sea him his heyres and assings for ever. As alsoe hee ye said Mr. Iohn Ogden hath sould and delivered one peece of meadow of his lying in Cow Neck vnto him the said John Rose the said meadow being bounded by Tho Shaw his meadow on the west side and ye said lohn Rose his meadow on the north- ward side." September 8, 1666, he sells to John Langton a "50 of commonage ;" and No- vember 2, 1667, he completes the severing of his connection with the town of Southampton by the following document: "Know all men by these presents that whereas I Iohn Ogden of Elizabeth Towne in New Jersey take myself to have true right and title to one hundred acres of meadow ground or salt marsh lying on ye side of a bay commonly Paeconnet or Pehickoneck next or towards Southampton lands ald alsoe whereas formerly I have given and granted all my right in and title to ye said meadows vnto the said town of Southampton on Long Island (my said right being derived from Wyandanca Sachem of Meantauket) I doe hereby assume and confirme vnto the said towne my whole Interest in the premises they and their assigns or successors to have & hold ye same forever from mee and my heirs or assigns or from what I have done or may doe or any in my name may cause to bee done. Witness my hand this 2 of November An Dom 1667. Iohn Ogden. In presence of Iohn Rich- bell Ionas Houldsworth." Although he thus several all legal connection with his late resi- dence, John Ogden still left his name to be associated with various bits of the locality, and from then on to 1708 we find in the old deeds references to "Ogden's Pond," and "Ogden's Neck." There were also most probably other traces of his work that a more careful inspec- tion of the records would afford especially as February 17, 1661, Christopher Foster and
89
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
Henry Pierson were ordered to assist John Ogden and Samuel Clark "to lay out the land which (according to a vote passed January 22, 1660) was granted vnto the North Sea Inhabi- tants whoe are to satisfy sd men for their labour in laying out ye sd land and what ever the sd layers out act and doe in laying out any pt or parcell of land as aforesaid it being according to theire discretion it shall stand authentick forever to them to whom it Shall in particular belong'
November 29. 1659, John Ogden contracted with the town to put a floor and seating in the meeting house at an estimated cost of £60, the cost to be taken from moneis due from the Indians by virtue of covenants and court orders held at Hartford. It would seem as if £40 in excess of the above amount would be due from the Indians within five years and John Ogden was to pass this sum to the town authorities. He agreed that there should be no disturbance with the Indians in collections and that they should not be held for debt or be dis- possessed of their property should they leave it in the mean time. At this time the Shinne- cock Indians owed John Ogden £400 for which their chief. Wyandandanch, stood sponsor. February 11, 1663, the Shinnecock Indians made a treaty with the English, according to which the Indians were to obey the English laws, be privileged to take up grievances with other Indian tribes, and to "pay the £40 due the English of Southampton and relieve John Ogden of said debt." As they did not pay, however, John Ogden, November 7, 1667, em- ployed John Howell and Henry Pierson as his attorneys to collect it. It is possible that the only recorded mortgage obtained by John Ogden on his house and home lot for £42. 15s, dated August 17, 1663, about six months before the treaty mentioned above, was connected with this debt.
September 25, 1664, John Bailey, Daniel Denton. Thomas Bennydick, Nathaniel Den- ton. John Foster and Luke Watson, applied to Governor Nichols for permission to pur- chase land in New Jersey from the Indians. The permission was granted September 30, and on October 28, following, John Bailey, Daniel Denton, and Luke Watson obtained from the Indians a deed for all the land "bounded on the South by a River commonly called the Raritan River, and on the East, by the River which parts Staten Island and the Maine, and to run Northward up After Cull Baye till we come to the first River which setts Westward out of the Bay aforesaid and
to runn Westward into the County twice the Length as it is Broad from the north to the South of the aforementioned bounds." The consideration received by the Indians for this tract was "twenty fathom of trayden Cloth two made Cotes two gunnes two kettles ten barres of Lead twenty handfulls of Powder foure hundred fathom of white wampum or two hun- dred fathom of black wampom," the whole valued at £36, 14s. The grantors were Mattano, Manamowaone, and Cowessomen of Staten Island, but the deed was only signed by Mattano. December 2, 1664, Governor Nichols confirmed the deed to John Bailey and Luke Watson, of Jamaica, Captain John Baker, of New York, John Ogden, of North- ampton, "and their associates." It is doubt- ful, however, if any others than the four men- tioned were at that time interested. Baker had been allowed to participate in the benefits of the purchase without contributing to its ex- pense, probably in return for his services as interpreter ; and November 24, 1665, when the final payment was made to the Indians, Gov- ernor Carteret bought up Bailey's interest and John Ogden, Denton's; and consequently in the transfer to be noticed presently to Daniel Pierce and his associates, the only signers of the deed are Carteret, Ogden and Watson. they being the only persons interested in the title. The payments to the Indians were made by John Ogden, and appended to the Indian deed is the following receipt on account : "Re- ceived of John Ogden in part of the above specified foure hundred feet of wampum I say Received one hundred fathom of wam- pum by mee the 18 of August 1665, Mattano, Sewak Herones, Warinanco of Staten Island."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.