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 7
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" About 1720, the post set out from Philadelphia every Friday, left let- ters at Burlington and Perth Amboy, and arrived at New York on Sunday night ; leaving there Monday morning, on its peregrinations eastward.
" In 1722, a Philadelphia paper states that the New York post was ' three days behind his time, and not yet arrived.'
"In 1729, the mail between the two cities went once a week in summer, and once a fortnight in winter ; and this continued to be the case till 1754, when Dr. Franklin became superintendent, and improved the condition of the post-office materially. In October, notice is given that until Christmas the post would leave the two cities three times a week, at eight o'clock, A. M., and arrive the next day at about five o'clock, P. M. ; making thirty-three hours. After Christmas, 'being frequently delayed in crossing New York bay,' (the route was via Blazing Star ferry,) it would leave only twice a week. Further improvements were made in following years, and in 1764, 'if weather permitted,' the mails were to leave every alternate day, and go through in less than twenty-four hours; and such was the rate at which they travelled until the revolution put a stop to their regular transmission.
"In 1791, there were only six offices in New Jersey-Newark, Eliza- bethtown, Bridgetown, (now Rahway,) Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton. The total of their receipts, for the year ending October 5th, 1791, was $530. of which the postmasters received $108.20-leaving $421.80 as the nett revenue."
FIRST PRINTING-PRINTERS, ETC.
"The first newspaper printed in New Jersey was the New Jersey Ga- zette, the publication of which was commenced Dec. 5th, 1777. Imprint- ' Burlington, printed by Isaac Collins. All persons may be supplied with this Gazette at twenty-six shillings per annum. Advertisements of a moder- ate length are inserted for seven shillings and six-pence each the first week, and two shillings and six pence for every continuance ; and long ones in pro- portion.' It was printed on a folio sheet about one foot by eight inches. It was discontinued in 1786. Before this period, however, a magazine of some note was published at Woodbridge, in Middlesex county. It was styled ' The American Magazine,' was the first periodical in the province, and only the second monthly magazine of the kind on the continent. The first number appeared in January, 1758, and it continued to be issued monthly until March, 1760, when it was discontinued for want of patronage, and some years thereafter many copies were sold in sheets by the printer as waste paper. Each number contained about forty pages octavo, and in variety and interest it will compare with many modern publications in good repute. A history of America and a traveller's diary, were published in con- nection with each number, paged separately, in order to form distinct vol- umes at the end of each year. The appellation ' new,' was to distinguish it from its only predecessor, at Philadelphia, which, however, it superseded,-
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the publication being immediately relinquished on the appearance of this new competitor. The writer has never met with any of these magazines save in the New York Historical Library, and one volume which is in his own possession ; probably but few others exist.
" The New American Magazine was edited by the Hon. Samuel Neville, of Perth Amboy, under the cognomen of Sylvanus Americanus, and printed by James Parker ; and the two gentlemen who were thus instrumental in the introduction of a periodical literature into the province, certainly merit a place in the remembrance of Jerseymen.
" Samuel Neville had received a liberal education in England, and pre- vious to his coming to America, had been editor of the London Morning Post. Even the few memorials that are now to be found of him, indicate the possession of character and talents of no ordinary kind. Becoming in- terested in the soil of New Jersey from a connection by marriage with the Sonmans, (who were large proprietors and deeply involved in the concerns of the province at one time,) he came over about 1735, and settled at Perth Amboy, then the capital of the eastern division. He soon rose to eminence, and became a judge of the court of common pleas, mayor of Amboy, (then no trifling station,) second judge of the supreme court of the province, and filled several other important offices to the credit of himself, it is believed, and to the satisfaction of the government and the well-disposed among the people. He was a member at various times of the provincial assembly, and one of its strenuous supporters during the dissensions which occurred in Governor Morris's administration ; he was equally energetic in upholding the eastern proprietors in their difficulties with the rioters at Elizabethtown and Newark, and so exasperated were the latter against him in consequence of the ability displayed in protecting the rights of the proprietors, that threats of vengeance against him and his property were publicly made,-failing in execution, we have every reason to believe, not through any want of will on the part of those who made them.
" In 1752, while holding the office of second judge of the supreme court, Mr. Neville published the first volume of an edition of the laws of the province, in 2 vols. quarto, under the auspices of the provincial assembly,- the second volume not appearing until 1761. This was a valuable service to the province, simplifying greatly the labor of subsequent compilers. On the death of Chief justice Morris, he would probably have been raised to the vacant bench, but the infirmities of age rendered the performance of its duties impracticable. He died soon after, (October 27, 1764,) in the 67th year of his age, leaving a name unsullied by the slightest stain, so far as
the writer can discover. His wife preceded him to the grave, dying in 1755, and their simple headstones yet mark their places of sepulture in the yard of the venerable Episcopal church at Amboy. They left no children. A stranger to his blood and family, out of respect to the memory of a man whom he conceived worthy of a place among the eminent men of other days, recently caused the spot where his remains were deposited to be rescued from the neglect and decay to which time had assigned it.
" James Parker, the printer of the New American Magazine, was the son of Samuel Parker, of Woodbridge, and was born there in 1714. In 1725 he was apprenticed to William Bradford, the first printer in New York, who in that year commenced the publication of the New York Gazette. From some cause, not now known, he ran away from his employer in May, 1733, and was advertised in the Gazette of the 21st of that month ; but we find him
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again in New York, in good credit, and at the head of an establishment himself in less than nine years thereafter, and fostering no ill-will towards Bradford, to whom, at his death in 1752, he gives an excellent character in an editorial article published in his paper. The New York Gazette having been discontinued by Bradford, it was ' revived in the weekly Post Boy,' by Mr. Parker, in 1742-3 : where he had been residing previously is not known. This weekly sheet of folio foolscap, ' containing the freshest ad- vices, foreign and domestic,' advertisements, &c., issued from his press for many years, and is now one of the few sources of original information, whence the antiquary and historian can obtain a knowledge of the ‘ olden time.'
" In 1751 Mr. Parker established the first press in New Jersey at Wood- bridge, and from time to time printed the proceedings of the legislature and other official documents. In January, 1753, he commenced a partnership with William Weyman, which continued until January, 1759, he residing most of the time in Woodbridge, attending to the interests of the press there, which he conducted on his own account ; but the limits of a newspaper ar- ticle will not admit of an extended notice of Mr. Parker's business connections.
" In 1752 the ' Independent Reflector,' edited by William Livingston- afterward governor of New Jersey-and others, was printed by Parker and Weyman ; but the fear of men in authority, whose ire might be excited by its independent character, led the former to decline the responsibility of its continued publication. Although he remained connected with the presses in New York, he resided principally at Woodbridge, where, in 1758, he printed the magazine which has been noticed. In 1755 a partnership with John Holt, (who subsequently removed to New York and attended to the business there,) led to the establishinent of a press at New Haven, from which the 'Connecticut Gazette,' the first newspaper in that province, was · issued.
"In 1761 he printed the second volume of Neville's compilation of the laws of New Jersey,* the imprint being ' Woodbridge in New Jersey. Printed by James Parker, printer to the king's most excellent majesty, for the province.' In 1762 the press in New York was leased to Holt, but Mr. Parker resumed it in 1766, in connection with his son, (Samuel F.) and it was carried on by them until a few months before the death of the father in 1770. In 1764 Mr. Parker -Compiled and printed a 'Conductor Gener- alis' for justices of the peace, he then holding that office in Middlesex coun- ty, and the following year moved his press from Woodbridge to Burlington, for the accommodation of the author of the History of New Jersey, (Smith,) but on the completion of the work it was returned to the former place Twice was Mr. Parker brought before the assembly of New York for printing matter reflecting upon some of the 'pillars of the state,' and obliged to give up the authors, to pay fines, be confined, &c .; but, al though he may have been rendered more cautious, it is doubtful if his sentiments in favor of the rights of the people were changed by such logic. It would seem that he was ever an opponent to the oppression of the ' higher powers,' which in his day was too apt to be exercised. He died July 2d, 1770.
* " Thomas, in his History of Printing, states that he printed these laws in 1752 : the first volume was given to the public in that year, but all the copies the writer has seen bear the imprint of ' Wm. Bradford, printer to the king's most excellent majesty, &c.' "
OUTLINE HISTORY.
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" He had been long an invalid, and obliged to retire from business in a great measure for a considerable time before his death, which occurred at Burlington while residing there for the benefit of his health. He was a correct and neat printer, understanding his business perfectly, and at his death his contemporaries gave him credit for possessing a sound judgment and extensive knowledge, for industrious habits, integrity, benevolence of heart, and fairness of character. His career was certainly one of great and extensive usefulness. He was for some years postmaster in New York, performing its duties while carrying on his business in that city, which, of itself, one would think, would have been sufficient to engross all his time- for no one, unacquainted with the avocations of a printer in these days, can form an idea of the time which was devoted to the service of his customers. " If a man had a horse or cow to sell-a house to rent-a vessel to freight -a servant to hire, &c., &c .- he referred to the printer ; and it is amusing io look over the columns of the Post Boy and see the strange variety of em- ployments, pursuits, wants, and notices, to which Mr. Parker was made a party. At the time of his death he was comptroller and secretary of the post-office for the northern district of the British colonies, and held several local offices. Great respect was manifested towards his remains on their way from Burlington to Woodbridge for burial. The New York Journal of July 5, 1770, states that ' his remains were attended for five miles out of Burlington by a considerable number of gentlemen of that place, and at Amboy met by a like number who attended the corpse to Woodbridge, where a numerous congregation assembled at his house, and about six o'clock he was interred near his parents,* in the meeting-house yard. The service was performed by the Rev. Mr. Preston, minister of the church at Amboy.'
" The writer is indebted to Thomas's History of Printing-a valuable, though now a rare work on the typography of America, the only one on the subject-for most of the facts detailed in the foregoing notice of Mr. Parker. The most light, however, is thrown upon his character by his own newspapers and those of his contemporaries."
PRICES, PROFITS, CURRENCY, ETC.
"From various sources, the following statements, relative to the value of produce, have been obtained; those for the earlier years containing the prices established by authority :
1668. 1678.
1668. 1678.
Winter-wheat, per bush. 5s. 4s. 6d.||Barley, per bushel, 4s. 3s. 6d.
Summer-wheat,
4s. 6d. 4s.
Beef, per pound, 2d. 2d.
Peas,
3s. 6d.
Do. per bbl. (1675,) 50s. 40s.
Indian corn,
3s. 2s. 6d. |Pork, per pound, 33d. 3d. Rye, 66 4s. 3s. 6d. |Do. per bbl. (1675,) 70s. 60s.
"In 1675, tried tallow 6d. per lb. ; green hides 3d. per lb. ; dry hides 6d. per lb. ; good tobacco 4d. ; good bacon 6d.
"In 1677, 'ordinary-keepers' were authorized to charge for strong liquors, retailed by the gill, not exceeding 10s. 8d. per gallon ; per quart 2s. 6d. Good wine was to be 7s. per gallon ; cider 4d. per quart ; meals,
. " The head-stone of the father is yet standing, but there is nothing to designate the spot where the remains of the first printer in New Jersey were deposited."
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
each, 8d. ; oats 9d. per peck ; pasture of horse 6d. per day ; by the week, in summer, 1s. 6d. ; in winter Is. 8d.
" In 1684, Deputy Gov. Lawrie states that pork and beef were 2d. per pound ; wheat 4s. per bushel ; Indian wheat (corn) 2s. 6d. ; venison 1s. 6d. per quarter, or ld. per pound ; eggs 3d. per dozen ; oats 20d. ; barley 2s. ; mutton 3d. per pound. Their currency, at that time, was one fifth more than sterling ; to reduce the foregoing prices, therefore, to sterling money, one fifth must be deducted. Servants' wages were not under 2s. per day, besides victuals ; and at Perth Amboy, where buildings were going up, .they were 2s. 6d.
"In 1683, twenty-eight per cent. is stated to be the usual profit on goods brought from England ; but Samuel Groome observes, ' when I pay work- men and laborers, I pay them in goods rated cent. per cent., New York money. But then I must pay them two or three parts silver.'
"The currency of New Jersey, throughout the whole of its colonial ex. istence, was of a much more stable character than that of the neighboring provinces ; so that we at no time meet with such a state of things as is de- scribed in the following extract from Madam Knight's Journal. She refers to Connecticut, in 1704. 'They give the title of merchant to every trader, who rate their goods according to the time and specie they pay in, viz : pay, money, pay as money, and trust. "Pay" is grain, pork, beef, &c., at the prices set by the general court that year ; " money" is of eight rials, or Boston-bay shillings, (as they call them,) or good hard money, as sometimes silver coin is termed by them-also wampum, (viz. Indian beads,) which serve for change ; "pay as money" is provisions, as aforesaid, one third cheaper than as the general court sets it ; and "trust" is as they and the merchant may agree for time.' Of course the price of every article varied with the difference in pay.
"In November, 1764, the heads of nearly fifty families, in and about Elizabethtown, entered into an engagement to retrench the usual unneces- sary expenses of funerals and mourning, 'as the giving of scarfs, gloves, and liquor, at funerals, and wearing black apparel as mourning; nothing but a black crape round the arm being allowed for the future.' The follow- ing September, Thomas Clark, Esq., one of the judges of the county, was buried ' according to the new mode, none of his relations or friends appear- ing in mourning, and no liquor being given at the funeral.' This was one of the economical measures adopted in anticipation of the troubles of the revolution ; and in 1765 it was concurred in by the best families in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia."
Continental Money .- " A witty old gentleman, who kept an account of its rapid depreciation, used to say that a fast-trotting horse could not keep pace with it. An old merchant, who preserved a scale of its depreciation, gave it as follows, to wit :
.
Value of $100 in Specie, in Continental Money.
1777.
1778.
1779.
1780.
1781.
January,
105
325
742
2934
7400
February,
107
350
868
3322
7500
March,
109
370
1000
3736
0000 !
April,
112
400
1104
4000
May,
115!
400
1215
4600
June,
120
400
1342
6400
July,
125
425
1477
8900
August,
150
450
1630
7000
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
1777.
1778.
1779.
1
1780.
1781.
September,
175
475
1800
7100
October,
275
500
2030
7200
November,
300
545
2308
7300
December,
310
634
2593
7400
Nothing '
" From an original bill of my friend Col. Allan McLane,* a purchase of 1781, to wit :
Capt. A. McLane
Bo't of W. Nicholls-
Jan. 5, 1781 : 1 pair boots
600
6} yds. calico, at 85 ds.
752
6 yds. chintz, at 150 d.
900
43 yds. moreen, at 100 d.
450 50
4 hdkfs. at 110
400
8 yds. quality binding, $4
32
skein of siik
10
If paid in specie, £18 10s.
$3,144 50
Rec'd payment in full, for Wm. Nicholls : JONA. JONES."
" In 1682, the pay of members of assembly was fixed at four shillings per day, and the following year it was decreed that they should be fined fire shillings per day when absent. In 1686, the pay was reduced to three shillings, to be paid in money, pork, or corn ; 'being desirous to ease the charge of the country in paying great salaries, as much as in us lies.' In 1693, the pay was increased to five shillings, and councillors were to have six. The Bergen members were allowed pay for two days' travel, going and returning, and those from other counties for one day ; excepting the members from Woodbridge and Amboy, who received no allowance. The pay of the governor was at first only fifty pounds, with four shillings a day extra during the sessions of the assembly.".
REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES.
" In November this year, [1737] came to these provinces, by land from Boston, (where he had arrived from London,) Sheck Scidit, a native of Berytus, in Syria, (about sixty miles north of Jerusalem.) He was said to be prince of Syria ; but the credentials he produced under the sign-manual and privy signet, called him Unus ex nobilibus civitatis Berytus ; having letters of safe passport, and recommendation to the charity of those where he passed.
" He was reported to have suffered much for his religion in his own country, being by profession a member of the eastern church, though situ- ate under the Mahometan or Turkish government, and a tributary prince of that empire. His pretence was-
"That a greater quota of soldiers was exacted from him than he was able to furnish, having other tribute to pay, and his country, by several years' distress from locusts, and blasts of other kind, so impoverished, that both quota and tribute could not be collected ; that the grand seignior taking umbrage at this, sent for his head ; of which he, by means of the Czarian embassador, having received private intelligence, fled to the Czarina's court; that in the mean time his country was seized, and his wife and children kept prisoners : while there, the Czarina gave him expectations, that in her treaty with the Turks, she would take care and provide for him when peace was made ; that after some stay at the Russian court, he obtained letters recommendatory to their embassador at London ;' and being by this means
* Father of the late secretary of the treasury.
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
taken notice of, he obtained the credentials aforesaid, with which he trav. elled through most of the corporations in England, where it was thought he collected two thirds or three fourths of what was due from him to the grand seignior ; but was nevertheless encouraged to come to America, where he also received considerable.
"Contributions were made for him in New York and New Jersey ; he was everywhere received with distinguished respect ; it was said he received from the different congregations in and about Philadelphia, two hundred and fifty pounds.
" He was a well-proportioned, lusty man, with a grave aspect, and clothed after the eastern manner, with a turban on his head, and wore whiskers, spoke and wrote the Arabic language ; his conversation and de- portment were graceful and easy, and seemed to bespeak him of a noble education.
" At Philadelphia he met with a handsome entertainment, his expenses were borne while he stayed, and provision was made for him in the vessel he went."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
" In the summer of this year, [1749] three natives of Greenland passed through the province, dressed in seal-skins, with the hair on after the man- ner of their own country ; they were two young men and a young woman, converted to the Christian religion by the Moravian missionaries : they had left Greenland about two years before in a Moravian ship, (which had car- ried a house ready framed, for worship, to be erected there, that country affording no wood for building,) and had since visited the brethren in seve- ral parts of Europe ; as England, Holland, and Germany. Their eyes and hair were black, like the Indians here ; but their complexion somewhat lighter. Two Indian converts from the Moravian mission at Berbice, near Surinam, were also with them : they together went to the Moravian set- tlement at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania ; there they met with some Dela- ware and Mohickon Indians, converts also of the Moravians; and though their native lands are so vastly remote as the latitude of 5, 41, and 65 north, yet what they observed of each other's hair, eyes, and complexion, convinced them that they were all of the same race : they could find, how- ever, no similitude in their several languages."
In November, 1726, " a small earthquake was felt ; it began between the hours of ten and eleven at night."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
September 5th, 1732, " about noon a small shock of an earthquake was felt."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
" The 7th December, this year, [1737] at night, was a large shock of an earthquake, accompanied with a remarkable rumbling noise ; people waked in their beds, the doors flew open, bricks fell from the chimneys ; the con- .sternation was serious, but happily no great damage ensued."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
" About the 22d of the month called February, [1741] appeared to these provinces, in the east, and continued upwards of six weeks, a comet or blazing star, with a long bright tail ; it was supposed to be near the equi- noctial at its first appearance, but moved five degrees near north in twenty. four hours, and continued moving till it disappeared; toward the last it was very much increased in length of tail and bigness."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
"The 18th of November, [1755] at four o'clock in the morning, was a ·considerable shock of an earthquake, which lasted about two minutes ; the
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OUTLINE HISTORY.
weather for seven days successively before, had been remarkably clear and will, and all that night vas so, with a clear full moonshine ; the two days following continued also very still and clear, not a cloud to be seen till to- ward evening of the second day after it happened. It did not begin with so much of a rumbling noise as that in 1737, but was thought not to fall short in the concussion."-Smith's History of New Jersey.
" The 20th of the month called July, [1764] at about forty minutes past seven in the evening, an uncommon ball of fire was seen in the northeast, about fifty degrees above the horizon ; it took its course nearly northwest ; its diameter seemed as large or larger than the sun, especially at one time, when it opened so as to seemingly separate. It appeared like sheets of fire inclining together ; its sound as it went in some places, was said to resemble that of a great fire urged by a strong wind ; it kept near one height all the way, till it had crossed the meridian to the north about twenty degrees ; there a small cloud seemed to attract it ; mounting higher, just as it approached the outward edge of the cloud, it appeared to shatter into innumerable pieces." -Smith's History of New Jersey.
" The Rev. Mr. Sandel (says Mr. Clay in his Annals of the Swedes) has noticed some meteorological and other occurrences which happened in his time. He states, that on Michaelmas-day, the 10th of October, 1703, a quantity of snow fell, that laid on the ground for twenty-four hours; and that the oldest people said such a thing had not before happened in their time. On the 18th of the same month, in the evening, a hurricane arose, which did great damage. In Maryland and Virginia, many vessels were cast away, several driven to sea, and no more heard of. Roofs of houses were torn off, and large trees blown down. The storm reached to England, where also it was destructive.
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