USA > New Jersey > Historical collections of the state of New Jersey : containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical desciptions of every township in the state. > Part 2
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Dr. Edward Carroll 319
Prof. Walter Minto. 380
Rev. James Caldwell
171
Mrs. Caldwell ..
1-1
Rev. Selah Woodhull.
219
Rev. Joseph Campbell.
498
Brigadier A. W. White.
Dr. John Chetwood.
172
Gen. Matthias Ogden
171
Guy Chew
280
Mary Orden
185
Dr. Jolin Condit
396
Mrs. Madelaine Paubel.
396
Hon. Abraham Clark 190
Gov. Win. S. Pennington.
185
Rev. David Cowell. 302
President Samuel Davies 279
Rev. John De Witt 318
Rev. J. Dickenson.
171
Amos Dodd
187
Rev. Aaron Richards 100
Rev. Jonathan Edwards. 278
Rev. T. F. Romeyn.
452
Hon. Charles Ewing. 303
R B. Faesch 396
Col. Jacob Spicer
193
Samuel Finley, S.T.D.
279
Jacob Spicer 199
Col. Chilian Ford. 397
Mrs. Judith Spicer 128
172
Rev. Win. Frazer
303
Gen. John Frelinghuysen ..
451
Rev. Jolin Frelinghuysen
452
Pres. S. S. Smith. 279
William Stewart .. 438
197
Thomas Kent ..
362
Col. Richard Varick
84
Christopher Kern
402 Rev. Elias Van Bunschoten.
313
Shepherd Kollock, Esq ..
172
Rev. John S. Vredenburg.
452
Mrs. Dinah Hardenbergh 317
Mrs. Anu Wade ...
199
Rev. J. H. Hardenbergl. 317
| Henry Waddell, D.D 303
Hon. H. D. Haliburton, and others 362
Capt. Cornelius Williams 199
I Pres. J. Witherspoon
Rev. Asa Hillyer 188
THOMAS P. JOHNSON, EsQ. 251
CAPT. JAMES LAWRENCE . 96
Gov. WILLIAM LIVINGSTON 162
GEN. EBENEZER ELMER
140
HON. JAMES SCHUREMAN 313
AARENT SCHUYLER . 155
CAPT. RICHARD SOMERS 64
HON HENRY SOUTHARD 416
Aaron Leaming, Esq .. 130
Dr. Most s Bloomfield. 326
Rev Robert M'Kean 309
Hon. David Brearly 303
President A. Burr ... 278
Rev. William Budd 106
Mrs. Maria Micheau
172
Rev. Isaac Pierson 188
Mrs. Ruth Pierson. 3:26
Gen. Enoch Poor ... 24
Gen. Jonathan Rhea. 303
Col. Israel Ford ... 397
Peter Sonmans, Esq.
Rev. Elihu Spencer.
Rev. Caleb Smith 167
Hon. Frederick Frelinghuysen.
460
Thomas Gordon
300
Capt. J. Swain and sons
Rev. Timothy Johnes
397
Rev. Daniel Taylor.
Gen. Zachariah Rossell. 354
187 Conrad Omensetter 497
Silas Condit, Esq ....
Capt. James Lawrence. 97
LORD STIRLING 445
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NEW JERSEY.
OUTLINE HISTORY.
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Soon after the voyages of Columbus, John Cabot and Sebastian his son, two Venetians, in the service of Henry VII. of England. were commissioned "to discover the isles, regions, and provinces of the heathen and infidels, which had been unknown to all the nations of Christendom, in whatever part of the globe they might be placed." Under this commission, on the 24th of June, 1497, the Cabots discovered the island of Newfoundland. From thence they sailed downward along the coast, it is believed, as far south as Cape Florida. It does not appear that they made any attempt to form settlements ; but they landed at various places, and took possession . of the country in the name of the English king.
From a variety of causes, the English took no further advantage of their discoveries till nearly a century afterwards. In 1534. Queen Elizabeth of England, by patent, granted to Sir Walter Raleigh authority to discover, occupy, and govern " remote, heathen, and barbarous countries," not previously possessed by any Christian prince or people. Under this commission, Raleigh and his asso- ciates sent two ships to America, commanded by Amidas and Bar- low. These men landed at Roanoke, took possession of the coun- try for the crown of England, and called it Virginia. An attempt was made to establish a settlement in 1585 and in 1590, both of which were unsuccessful. In 1606, King James, without regarding Raleigh's right, granted a new patent of the country of Virginia. the bounds of which were considered as extending from the south- ern boundary of North Carolina to the northern boundary of Maine. This tract was divided into two districts ; the one called North, the other South Virginia. The southern district was granted to Sir Thomas Gates and his associates, chiefly resident in London, and therefore styled the London Company. North Virginia was grant- ed to Thomas Hanham and his associates, who were styled- the Plymouth Company.
In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English mariner, in the service of the Dutch East India Company, in attempting to find a passage through the American continent, entered Delaware bay, on the 28th of Ju- gust. Finding the navigation somewhat difficult, on account of shoal water, he proceeded but a short distance. Following the eastern shore of New Jersey, he anchored his ship (called the Half. moon) within Sandy Hook, on the 3d of September, 1609.
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
On the 5th of September, Hudson (as it appears from his journal) sent his boat ashore, for the purpose of exploring and sounding the waters lying to the south, within Sandy Hook, and forming now what is called the Horse-shoe. Here the boat's crew landed, and penetrated some distance into the woods, in the present limits of Monmouth county. They were very well received by the natives, who presented them very kindly with what the journal calls " green tobacco," and also with "dried currants," [probably whortleberries,] which were represented as having been found in great plenty, and of a very excellent quality.
"On the 6th of September, Hudson sent a boat manned with five hands to explore what appeared to be the mouth of a river, at the distance of about four leagues from the ship. This was no doubt the strait between Long and Staten islands, generally called the Narrows. Here, the writer of the journal observes, 'a good depth of water was found,' and within a large opening, and a narrow river to the west ; in which it is evident he refers to what is now called the Kills, or the channel between Bergen Neck and Staten island. In exploring the bay and the adjacent waters, the boat's crew spent the whole day. On their way in returning to the ship, towards night, they were attacked by the natives, in two canoes ; the one carrying fourteen men, the other twelve. A skirmish en- sued, in which one of Hudson's men, named' John Colman, was killed by an arrow, which struck him in the throat ; and two more were wounded. The next day the remains of Colman were in- terred on a point of land, not far from the ship, which from that circumstance received the name of Colman's Point; and which, probably, was the same that is now called Sandy Hook."
On the 11th of September, Hudson sailed through the Narrows, entered the river which bears his name, which it appears he ex- plored as far as Albany. On the 4th of October, Hudson came out of the river, and, without anchoring in the bay, proceeded direct- ly on his voyage to Europe.
" The Dutch immediately began to avail themselves of the ad- vantage which the discovery of Hudson presented to their view. In 1610, it appears that at least one ship was sent hither by the East India Company, for the purpose of trading in furs, which it is well known continued, for a number of years, to be the principal object of commercial attraction to this part of the new world. In 1614, a fort and trading-house were erected, on the spot where Al- bany now stands, and called Fort Orange; and about the same time another fort and trading-house were established on the south- west point of Manhattan island, and called New Amsterdam. The whole colony received the name of New Netherlands."
The precise date of the first European settlement, within the limits of New Jersey, does not distinctly appear. It is believed that the first settlement commenced at Bergen, about the year 1618, by a number of Danes or Norwegians, who accompanied the Dutch colonists who came over to New Netherlands. It appears that, as
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
carly as 1614, a redoubt was thrown up on the right bank of Hud- son river, probably at the present Jersey City point.
In 1621, " the privileged West India Company" was formed in Holland : this company, in 1623, dispatched a ship, under the com- mand of Cornelius Jacobse Mey, with settlers, fully provided with means of subsistence, and with articles of trade. Mey entered Delaware bay, and gave his own name to its northern cape, which it still retains, [Cape May.] He explored the bay and the river, and at length landed, and built a fort at Techaacho, upon a stream called by the natives Sassackon. This stream, now called Timber creek, empties into the Delaware, a few miles below Camden. The fortification was called Fort Nassau, and its erection may be con- sidered as the first attempt to establish a settlement on the eastern shore of the Delaware.
" The West India Company, under whose direction the enterprise had been attempted, endeavored, by the offer of many advantages, to induce others to engage therein. They even granted charters to individuals, giving to them the exclusive right to large portions 'of land, subject only to the Indian claim. A number of persons took advantage of this privilege, and sent out agents to select and purchase tracts. One was obtained, in this way, thirty-two miles in length, and two in breadth, upon the western side of the bay .. Another, sixteen miles square, on the peninsula of Cape May, was bought of nine Indian chiefs; and other portions were taken up in a similar manner."
"The possessors of these claims formed an association among themselves, having in view the permanent settling of these lands, as well as the prosecution of trade. They dispatched a vessel, un- der the command of David Peiterson De Vries. He left the Texel December 12th, 1630, and arrived in the Delaware in the course of the winter. It is stated that De Vries found none of the Euro- peans who had preceded him, and that Fort Nassau had fallen into the hands of the Indians. Misfortune also awaited the new set- tlers. Having erected a fort, the commander returned to Holland ; and during his absence a feud arose with one of the native tribes, which at length terminated in the massacre of every one of the colonists."
" De Vries returned shortly afterward with a new company, and while he mourned the loss of his former companions, he narrowly escaped a similar fate. Pressed for provisions, he was compelled to conceal his resentment, and to continue an intercourse with the natives ; and they, under the pretence of giving a supply, directed him to proceed up the river and enter the Timmerkill, a small stream, now called Cooper's creek. He was saved by the kindness of an Indian woman. She informed him that treachery was in- tended, and that the entire crew of a vessel had already been de- stroyed in that place. . .... Disheartened by repeated disasters, the Dutch soon afterward abandoned the country ; and for some years not a single European was left upon the shores of the Delaware."
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OUTLINE HISTORY. .
"It was next visited by another people, the Swedes. It is not casy to determine the precise objects of the Swedish immigrants, or upon what ground their claims were founded. By one of their own historians, it is said that they had acquired the right both of the English and of the Dutch, either by grant or by purchase ; but this declaration is wanting in other support. At a subsequent pe- riod, indeed, after they had been some time in the country, applica- tion was made by Chancellor Oxenstiern, the Swedish embassador, to have the rights of the English yielded up; but it does not ap- pear that even then any agreement was concluded. But whatever was the nature of their claim, the Swedes proceeded in the prose- cution of their plans. Extensive grants had been made by the government, giving to certain companies the full right to the lands they should purchase of the natives, and conferring also the power of making laws, subject only to the control of the crown."
" In the year 1637, two Swedish ships arrived in the Delaware, bringing a number of settlers. They landed on the western shore, but purchased lands on both sides of the river. They were soon followed by other companies ; and in the year 1642, John Printz, a military officer, was sent over as governor of the colony. He es- tablished himself upon an island called Tennekeng, or, as the word is now pronounced, Tinnicum ; and this island was given to him in fee by the Swedish queen. Here he erected a fort, planted an or- chard, and built a church and several dwellings. For himself it is said he built a fine house, and called it, from his own name, ' Printz Hall.' At the same time with the governor came John Campanius Holm,* a clergyman, and the future historian of the colony; and in the same company was Lindstrom, an engineer, who afterward published a map of the Delaware and the adjacent parts."
" If ever the Dutch had relinquished the claim to their posses- sions upon the Delaware, they seem to have paid but little regard to the agreement ; for we soon find them again established at Fort Nassau, and attempting settlements at other places. For a time the country was occupied by the two nations in common ; and it is hinted, by some writers, that an agreement was concluded between them in order to resist the pretensions made by the English. How- ever this may be, a difference soon arose between themselves ; and the Swedes, either aggravated by injury or injustice, or moved by a feeling of jealousy, made a demand for the surrender of certain places held by their rivals. The demand being refused, the places were taken by force; and the violence thus committed was the commencement of general hostilities. The Dutch had powerful aid at hand, in the settlements of their countrymen at New Am- sterdam ; and Stuyvesant, the governor at that place, immediately departed, with a strong force, to the Delaware."
He first descended upon the fort at Elsingburg, and, having cap-
* The latter name, Holm, "was added because of Stockholm being the place of his residence."-Clay's Annals of the Swedes.
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
tured the garrison, proceeded at once to the reduction of other places. The Swedes had no adequate means of resistance, and were finally compelled to give up all their possessions. The fort on the island of Tenneking, with all the improvements, fell into the hands of the conquerors. These occurrences took place toward the close of the year 1655. Thus terminated the Swedish au- thority."*
* Printz, the governor of New Sweden, (as this part of the country was called,) con- tinued his authority till he returned to Sweden, about 1654, having first deputed his son, John Papegoia, governor in his stead. Papegoia soon returned to Europe, and left the government to John Claudius Rising. "Soon after Mr. Rising became governor, he invited ten of the Indian chiefs to a friendly conference. It was held at Tinnicum, on the 17th of June, 1654. He saluted them, from the Swedish queen, with assurances of her favor, put them in mind of the purchase of the lands already made, and requested a continuation of their friendship. He distributed various presents among them, and gave a good entertainment to them and their company. They were much pleased, and assured him of a faithful affection. Mr. Campanius has given a very particular account of this conference, in which he represents one of their chiefs, named Naaman, as making a speech, in the course of which ' he rebuked the rest for having spoken evil of the Swedes, and done them an injury, hoping they would do so no more, for that the Swedes were very good people.' He also observed that ' the Swedes and the Indians had been as one body and one heart, and that thenceforward they should be as one head, at the same time making a motion as if he were tying a strong knot ; and then made this compari- son, that as the calabash was round without any crack, so they should be a compact body without any fissure.'
Campanius represents the Indians as having been frequent visitors at his grandfather's house. In the conversations he there had with them, we are told, ' he generally succeed- ed in making them understand that there was one Lord God ; that he was self-existent, one and in three persons ; how the same God had made the world from nothing, and created man, from whom all other men had sprung ; how Adam afterward, by his diso- bedience, had sinned against his Creator, and involved in the penalty of that sin all his descendants ; how God sent upon earth his only Son, Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, for the redemption and salvation of mankind ; how he died upon the cross, and was raised again the third day ; and, lastly, how after forty days he ascended to heaven, whence he will return at a future day to judge the quick and the dead, &c.' The Indians took so much interest in these instructions, and seemed so well disposed to em- brace the Christian religion, that Mr. Campanius was induced to learn their language, that he might the more effectually bring them acquainted with these great truths. He translated the catechism into their language; and, if he did not convert many of them to the Christian faith, they at least acquired so much knowledge of it as to be led to see and admire its great beauty and excelleney.
The above facts suggest the remark, that the Swedes may claim the honor of having been the first missionaries among the Indians, at least in Pennsylvania ; and that, per. haps, the very first work translated into the Indian language, in America, was the trans- lation of Luther's Catechism, by Campanius.
Notwithstanding Gov. Rising's disposition to live upon good terms with his Dutch neighbors, the Swedes were soured by the encroachments they had made upon their ter- ritory. in building a fort at Sandhuken, or Newcastle ; and, finding remonstrance useless, soon came to the determination to drive the Dutch back to the eastern side of the river. They accordingly, in the year 1654, took Fort Cassimir by storm, and expelled the Dutch ; after which, the fortifications were greatly strengthened and improved by the engineer, P. Lindstrom, and it was named Trefalldigheet, or Trinity Fort.
The Dutch had too good an opinion of their own numbers and prowess, not to feel disposed to retaliate on the Swedes the injury they had received in the loss of their fort. Yet they went to work with caution, resolving, when they gave the blow, to make it the more felt from its being sudden and unexpected. There seems to have been a want of good faith, or at least the practice of some deception, on the part of the Dutch, as we are told by Campanius that ' the differences appeared to have been amicably settled, in the year 1654, between the Swedish governor, John Rising, and the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant.' This amicable settlement scems to have been only a cloak to prepa-
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
The country upon the Delaware, now entirely under the control of the Dutch, was governed by directors, who received their ap- pointment from the governor of the colony at New Amsterdam. The first who exercised the office was Johannes Paul Jaquet, who was succeeded by Peter Alricks, Hinojossa, and William Beekman. These officers granted lands, and their patents make part of the titles of the present possessors. At this period the Dutch acquired large tracts of country upon the eastern side of New Jersey ; and it may be reasonably supposed that there were some settlements on the road between the colonies on the Hudson and Delaware.
The claim of the English, founded on prior discovery, to the ter- ritory now occupied by the Dutch, was never abandoned. As early as 1640, a number of emigrants from the New Haven colony set- tled on the left shores of the Delaware; and it is said that some of their descendants are to be found in Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May counties. The attempts of the English to form settle- ments on the Delaware were resisted, both by the Swedes and Dutch. In one instance their trading-house was destroyed; in others, their goods were confiscated and their persons imprisoned. These proceedings occasioned long and angry controversies between the New England and Dutch governments.
In the year 1664, Charles II. resolved upon the reduction of New Netherlands. Before any formal declaration of war with Holland, Sir Robert Carr, Col. Richard Nichols, and some others, with a small fleet and some land forces, were sent over to take possession of the territory. This expedition arrived before New Amsterdam the latter part of the year 1664. Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor, though a brave soldier, was, on account of the defenceless state of the place, obliged to surrender. Sir Robert Carr, with two frigates, was sent to compel the submission of the colony on the Delaware ; " which he effected with the expenditure of two barrels of powder and twenty shot."
Immediately upon the subjection of the Dutch, and even before this had been accomplished, Charles, the English king, made an extensive grant of territory to his brother, the Duke of York. This was done by a royal charter, dated 20th of March, 1664. Upon the 23d of June, in the same year, the duke conveyed a portion of this territory to two other persons, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. The conveyance to these individuals was made by an in- strument in the form as follows:
" This indenture, made the three-and-twentieth day of June, in
rations for more effectual hostility ; for ' the next year, on the 30th of August, the Dutch sailed from Manhattan, or New Amsterdam, (now New York,) with seven ships, and six or seven hundred men, under the command of the said Stuyvesant ; and fell und- wares on the Swedish settlements.' Assailed under such circumstances, and by such a force, resistance was of little avail. One Swedish fort after another fell into the hands of the invaders, who 'laid waste the houses and plantations, killing the cattle, and plun- dering the inhabitants of every thing they could lay their hands on.' The officers and principal people were made prisoners, and carried to New Amsterdam ; while the Dutch retained possession of the country."-Clay's Annals of the Swedes.
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
che sixteenth year of the Raigne of our Sovreign Lord Charles the Second, by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith-Anno Domine 1664. Be- tween his Royal Highness James Duke of York and Albany, Earl of Ulster, Lord high Admiral of England and Ireland, Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Governor of Portsmouth, of the one part, John Lord Berkeley, Baron of Stratton, and one of his majestie's most honorable privy Council, and Sir George Carteret of Sattrum in the County of Devon, Knight, and one of his majestie's most honorable privy Council, of the other part, Witnesseth that said James Duke of York, for and in consideration of the sum of ten shillings of lawful money of England, to him in hand paid, by these presents doth bargain and sell unto the said John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, all that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of Long Island. Bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river, and hath upon the west Dela- ware Bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May at the mouth of Delaware Bay, and to the north- ward as far as the northernmost branch of said bay or river of Delaware, which is in forty-one degrees and forty minutes of lati- tude, and worketh over thence in a straight line to Hudson's river- which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name, or names of NOVA CESAREA, or NEW JERSEY."*
This appears to be the first instrument in which the bounds of New Jersey are regularly defined. In addition to the consideration of ten shillings, mentioned in the above agreement, there was to be a rent of " one pepper-corn," to be paid on the day of the nativity of St. John the Baptist, if legally demanded. "The two proprie- tors formed a constitution for the colony, securing equal privileges and liberty of conscience to all, and appointed Philip Carteret governor. He came over in 1665, fixed the seat of government at Elizabethtown, purchased land of the Indians, and sent agents in- to New England to invite settlers from that quarter. The terms offered were so favorable, that many accepted the invitation."
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