History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 136

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 136
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 136

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Gray Sulphuret of Copper is massive, sectile, has a dark lead-gray color, and is seen sometimes in the form of roundish grains in the altered shale rock.

Copper Pyrites is found also; it is massive, of a bright yellow color, and is a mixture of the sulphurets of copper and iron.

Copper has likewise been found in the First Moun- tain, in the gorge at Chimney Rock, at the old Bridge- water copper mine, southeast of Martinville, at the north end of the First Mountain, south of Plueka- min, and in other localities. Deep shafts have been sunk at some of these places, but hitherto without success or profit enough to encourage operations. Recently it is claimed that a new method of sepa- rating the ore has been discovered, by which the silver which it contains is preserved and is sufficient to pay all expenses, leaving the copper which it contains as a clear profit. This is particularly said to be true of the copper ore in the neighborhood of Plainfield. We can only add, if it should, after sufficient trial, prove to be true, it may bring into operation a new industry

in our vicinity, and render the treasures which have long been claimed to be hid in our mountains avail- able for economic purposes. There are so many lo- calities in our counties where these ores exist that snecess in mining them will certainly prove to be an extensive source of wealth.

IRON ORES.

The ores of iron are not so abundant in this district as in the more northern counties of the State: the formations are not of such a character as to admit of it. Iron is found only in Azoic or primitive rock, and as these are found only in a small part of Som- erset, large beds of ore are not to be expected. On the geological map of the State, only one spot in Somerset is marked as having an iron mine. It is in Bernard township, north of Madisonville, on the line of Morris County.

The ore is a black oxide of iron, and is more or less magnetic. When quite pure it contains 74.4 per cent. of iron and 24.6 of oxygen. Its color is black in mass, and also in powder; it gives a black streak when scratched, and has a metallic Instre. Its crystal- line form is a regular octohedron ; but, as found most commonly, it consists either of irregular grains or of compact masses.

The iron mine in Bernard township, on the south end of Mine Mountain, was opened many years since. It is located on the extreme border of the gneiss. It has never been much operated, and is at present in ruins. It is principally remarkable as being the only iron mine in Somerset County.

OTHER MINERALS.

The sulphate of barytes has been found a mile west of New Brunswick ; perhaps this is not in Somerset, but it once was. The specimens are opaque, having a yellowish color and a foliated structure, but others exhibit crystals which are translucent and have a bluish tint. It is much sought after by persons who deal in paints, and is valuable in commerce.

Plumbago or graphite occurs about a mile and a half east of Peapack. It is found generally in thin lamina, in the granite gneiss and crystalline lime- stone. On tho farm of Elias Engleman a bed four or five feet thick occurs in the gneiss rock, forming the southeast bank of a deep ravine, but it is not pure, and has not been made available.

MAGNESIAN LIMESTONE.

By these terms we designate the common blue lime- stone of New Jersey. When free from other sub- stances it contains fifty-four per cent. of carbonate of lime and forty-six per cent. of the carbonate of mag- nesia, and may be, therefore, properly characterized as magnesian limestone. The age of this rock is de- termined by its position above the Potsdam sandstone and beneath the fossiliferous Trenton limestone. In New Jersey it is destitute of any fossiliferous remains and lies near the gneiss, and, so far as it has been ob -

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SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

served, is separated from it only by a thin layer of sandstone. It is fine-grained and not at all crystal- line, and its lustre is somewhat vitreous. It varies in color from a drab to pale blue, and in some instances is almost black. It is comparatively soft, and effer- vesces when any strong acid is applied to it. In some localities it is almost a pure dolomite, from the large amount of magnesia which it contains, and in still other localities quartz crystals have been found in it. It ordinarily occurs in beds of from six or eight inches to two feet in thickness, and between these it is not uncommon to find thin layers of calcareous slate or shale, while in others it is so intermixed with extra- neous substances that it will not slack when burned. It occurs in New Jersey in a long narrow series of parallel belts extending from the northeast to the southwest. The strata are not horizontal, but are folded or doubled up about certain lines or axes which correspond with their longest direction.

In some cases these strata are folded upwards, and again, in others, downwards. It does not occur by itself, but is found separated from, and yet surrounded by, other rocks.

At Peapack there is a bed of this limestone, ex- tending into Morris County, in length about fourteen miles, and varying in breadth from an eighth to a quarter of a mile. It has been extensively used for burning into quicklime. It is employed in making mortar, but its most extensive use has been in agri- culture. In fact, the use of it has changed the face of the country for miles around Peapack, and added largely to its agricultural productiveness.

It belongs to the magnesian limestone, and ap- proaches to a true dolomite in its composition, as we have said. As a stone it is fine-grained generally, but in some places assumes a sub-crystalline form. In one place it appears as a calcareous conglomerate, consisting of quite large, rounded masses of limestone in a calcareous paste. In some of the quarries there are shaly beds interposed between the strata, and it has a variety of color, passing from a drab to a red and dark gray. In one place there is at the bottom of the quarry eight feet of dark sub-crystalline rock overlaid by about thirty feet of a light-gray, fine- grained limestone. In another the reddish layers seem to alternate with the paler varieties. The burning of lime has been one of the most active industries in the vicinity of Peapack, and has been prosecuted actively for a long time. The drab-colored and reddish beds were used with full success for water-lime in building the Morris Canal.

At Pottersville, cast of the Lamington River, there is an outerop of limestone of a light color. It is also found to extend on the west side of the stream, and is reached there in sinking wells. Its area is evidently contracted, for the red shale and gneiss leave but a small space unoccupied by rock exposure. In this locality it is a dolomite limestone with a slight admix- ture of foreign matters.

AZOIC PERIOD.

It only remains now briefly to describe that part of the primitive or Azoic formation which finds a loca- tion within the bounds of this county. Properly speaking, there is no granite within its borders. The formation is what is denominated gneiss, and dis- tinctively consists of quartz, feldspar, and mica, but having these materials, especially the mica, arranged in planes, so that it breaks rather easily into slabs or flags. In some places hornblend takes the place of the mica, and then, properly, it is sicnite or sienitic gneiss. On the other hand, granite is an unstratified crystalline rock, of a gray or fleshy-red color. It dif- fers from gneiss in not having the mica in planes and in having the granular form. The varieties are gneis- soid granite, in which the mica has traces of regular arrangement; graphic granite, having quartz and feldspar without mica, and having the particles so arranged as to resemble hieroglyphic characters; por- phyritic granite, having the feldspar in distinct crys- tals; and sienitic granite, containing both hornblend and mica.

Granite is regarded as the oldest rock, having been formed into masses while the earth was passing from a semi-fluid to a solid state, before any living thing, plant or animal, had begun to exist upon its surface. When it is found upon the surface of our globe it has evidently been protruded from its lower place by some tremendous force, bearing up with it the strata which had been formed over it, and raising them, in some places, almost to a vertical position ; so that they seem to stand on their edges, leaning against the granite by which they have been lifted up. Hence it is found on the apex of all our primitive mountains, notably the great Appalachian range, which extends north- east and southwest throughont our whole continent from near the Gulf of Mexico to Newfoundland. In our district it is found only in those portions which approach the primitive Appalachian range, and it appears in such a position as to demonstrate the fact of its precedence of all other rocks in age. It seems to come out from under them in some places ; in others they lie up against it; or again, in others, they butt up against its steeply-inclined strata, as against a per- pendicular wall.

Its composition gives us quite a variety of different forms. In some places feldspar makes up from two- thirds to three-fourths of its material, and the rest a mainly pure quartz. Sometimes hornblend is found in such quantity as to give it its color; at others it makes up the largest portion of its mass. This, how- ever, is not common. The quartz is generally in grains, which are flattened in the direction of the stratification, and range in size from a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch in thickness. In some coarse-grained specimens the grains of quartz are quite large and not so much flattened. The feldspar also varies in its color and in the ease of decomposition, and gives character to the rock. It is often so hard and unchangeable that it

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LAND PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS.

might be taken for quartz. In some instances it is opaque and harsh to the touch, crumbling easily, while in others still it is entirely decomposed, forming a mass of soft earth, with the quartz grains giving it still a form of stratification. Its color varies from bluish flesh-color to white and opaque, with a few specimens which display a greenish tinge. In a word, the gneiss in our district, while it preserves its distinguishing characteristics, displays the greatest variety in form in its appearance and composition.

The Azoic formations in this county are not the most extensive, and yet they occupy an important space. Bernard township, north of Mine Brook, is composed entirely of gneiss, and it extend- westward to the Peapack Valley, where the blue limestone crops out from under it cast of the brook.

The soil formed by the decomposition of the gneiss rocks is not so rich in vegetable matter as the alluvial formations of the river-valleys, and not equal in pro- ductiveness even to the limestone soils, but still they' are capable of being improved by fertilizers, and they then yield a generous return for the labor or culture bestowed on them. A large portion of these soils re- mains still in wood, and, where the hills are steep and mountainous, are likely to continue so for years to come. The gneiss hills hold in reserve the timber, which certainly is one of the most important and essential productions of our soil. So it becomes evi- dent on reflection that in the economy of Providence everything has its own place, and what is first sought is not always the most important and valuable. In times to come the woodlands of our district will, we opine, have a value second to no other part of it.

CHAPTER IL.

LAND PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS.

Indian Tribnie to Jersey's Honorable Denlings-First and Second In- dian Purchases-Early Soltlements-The Scotch-Early Dutch Sel- tlere, their Ways and Customs, Style of Hullling, etc. - List of Persons who purchased Land in Somerset County north of the Raritan.

" IT is a proud fact in the history of New Jersey that every foot of her soil has been obtained from the Indians by fair and voluntary purchase and trans- fer,-a fact that no other State of the Union, not even the land which bears the name of Penn, can boast of." These words were uttered hy the Hon. Samuel L. Southard, of Somerset County, before the Legislature of New Jersey, on the occasion of the purchase of the last remaining rights owned by the Delaware Indians in this State in 1832. On the same occasion, Shawus- kukhkung, an educated Delaware, who had been chosen by his people to present their claims and peti- tion, said, in an address to the Legislature,-

" Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle; not an acre of our land hare you taken but by our consent. These facts speak for themselves, and need no comment. They place the character of New Jersey in bold relief and bright example to those States within whose territorial limits our brethren still remain. Nothing save benisons can full upon her from the lips of a Lenni Lenapi."

These words were true ; the tribute which they ex- press is deserved. It was over the policy of the pro- prietors, as of the provincial and State authorities, to recognize the possessory title of the Indian tribes to the lands of which they were found in occupation, and it was an established principle that no title to lands could be perfeet unless based on a purchase from the aborigines of their rights in the same. Of course this principle was acted on in Somerset County, as in all other parts of New Jersey.

The territory of Somerset County was embraced in several purchases, the principal of which are here mentioned. The first Indian purchase within the boundaries of this county was made May 4, 1681, from two Raritan Indians (presumed to have been chiefs) named Konackama and Qureromak, of a tract extending from the mouth of the stream now known as Bound Brook (called by the Indians Sacunk), thence along the Raritan River on the north side to a brook called Raweighweros (now Middle Brook ), and thence northward to a certain Stony Hill ; thence easterly to Metape's wigwam, at the mouth of Cedar Brook, where it unites with Green Brook, and thence south- erly along Bound Brook to the place of beginning. This tract-called by the natives Rakahova-walaby- included the site of the present village of Bound Brook, thence west to Middlebrook, and north to the mountain. The price paid to the Indians was one hundred pounds in goods. The purchasers named in the deed were Philip Carteret, John Palmer, of Staten Island, Gent., Gabriel Minville, Thomas Codrington, John White, John Delaville, Richard Hall, and John Royce, of the City of New York. The tract thus purchased "was divided into five portions. John Royce had eight hundred and seventy-seven acres; Thomas Codrington, eight hundred and seventy-seven acres next to him; the proprietors, cleven hundred and seventy acres next to Bound Brook; Thomas : Codrington, one thousand acres on the rear next to Chimney Rock and the mountain. The remainder, north of the plot belonging to the proprietors, was not surveyed immediately."*

The date of the second purchase from Indians of lands in Somerset County is Sept. 12, 1681. The names of the Indian granters were Machote alias Ke- neckome, Negacape, Awips, and Pamascome, who, for a consideration of one hundred and twenty pounds, sold to James Graham, Cornelius Corsen, and Samuel Winder a tract as follows :

" Extending from Raweigh weros ( Middle Brook), on both eldes of the Raritan, to a place called Rackahackawar (apparently according to au

· Rov. Dr. Abraham Mealor's "Centennial History of Somerset County," from which all extracts In this chapter having reference to land titles and settlements are taken, unless otherwise credited.

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SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

ancient map), the line between Caleb Miller and the late John M. Maun, and running on this line north until it reaches the mountain, and along the monntain nntil it reaches Middle Brook, and down said brook to the place of beginning. It included three plots based on the river, and at least five north of them along the mountain. The first of these west of Middle Brook was assigned to Jobn Palmer, and contained eight hundred and seventy-seven acres. The second belonged to John White, contain- ing also eight hundred and seventy-seven acres. The third remained nnappropriated; and on the north R. L. Hooper, Alexander McDowell, James Hooper, and ' the heirs of Hooper' had large possessions. The exact amount included in this purchase is not stated, but it contained many broad acres, and would now be a princely inheritance. Somerville stands on it; and, besides this, more than thirty farms whose fertility is unsurpassed by any portion of the county of Somerset were included in its wide extent."

On the 19th of November in the same year two Indians named Pawark and Manansamit sold to Robert Vauquellen* a large tract,

" extending from the west line of the former plot-that is, from the east side of the land formerly owned by John M. Mann-to the foot of the mountain at Pluckamin, and on the Raritan the west line was the west point of the island, in front of R. H. Veghte's property; thence running north until it intersected a west line from the point of the mountain, where the east line terminated. It embraced all the land between Caleb Miller's property on the east and the old Paterson farm on the west, and extended north nearly np to the village of Plnckamin, a broad and val- nable tract, including some of the most beautiful farms in the vicinity, and on it, on Peter's Brook, stood the old Van Nest mansion, in which 'Prince George' lived and died, but which has since been demolished. The tract included the isinnd, before mentioned, which was known by the Indian name of Mataniqne. The whole splendid pint of rich land when enrveyed was divided into six portions. On the east side, joining the river, Graham and Winder had nineteen hundred acres; north of them, Samnel Winder had five hundred ; north of this, D. D. Dunstar owned seven hundred and sixty acres. Returning again to the river, John Rob- inson had six hundred and sixty, Archibald Riddle three hundred; north of this plat, Sir John Dalrymple five hundred, leaving a large plat north of it still unappropriated."

On the same date as that of the last-mentioned purchase, John Robinson, William Pinhorn, Richard Jones, and Matthew Taylor bought, for the consid- eration of "certain goods named in the deed," from the Indians Pawark, Cowalanuck, Manansamit, and Agnamapamund, a tract as follows :

"Extending from the western bonndary of the last-mentioned pint up to the junction of the North and South Branches. This place was called by the natives Tuck-n-ramn-hacking. From this point the line ran east of north to n place nearly equidistant between the North Branch and Lamington River, at or near what was the Inte turnpike-bridge above Burnt Mille; thence due eost until it met the line of the former purchase, and thence sonth to the place of beginning. . . . This plat was afterwards eurveyed and divided as follows: William Pinhorn hnd deeded to him, March 8, 1697, five hundred acree on the east side and one hundred and eixty on the river; Lord Neill Campbell, Jan. 9, 1685, had one thousand six hundred and fifty ncree, embracing all the land between Pinborn and the junction of the two branches, und extending north as far as Pinhorn's grant extended. Immediately north of these two grants, and including all that remained on the east side of North Branch, William Ackman had four hundred acres, Archibald Riddle three hundred, and Sir John Dal- rymple five hundred acres. The land on the west side was taken by John Johnson, while Lord Neill approprinted to himself another one thousand acres, and other emaller proprietors, whose deede extended west and em- braced land beyond the western line of the Indian grant and reached the present boundary of Branchburg township, took the balance. Their names were Michael Hnwden, George Willocke, Miles Foster, and Thomas Gordon, and their deeds all bear the date of 1703."

* The name is found differently spelled in the old records,-as Vau- quillen, Voquillen, Voquillin, Vanquellio, Vanquillin. In Dally's "Woodbridge and Vicinity," p. 38, It is mentioned as Voquilin, alias Vucklin, alias Vanquuillon, alias Liprary, alias Laprairie, etc.

In regard to the early settlements in what is now Somerset County, the authority above quoted (Rev. Dr. Messler) says the first was made in 1681:

"On the first day of November in that year John Inians & Co. secured a title for two lote, embracing the land on which the city of New Brune- wick now stands, having a mile of river front and two nules in depth. From the north of Inisns & Co. to Bonnd Brook there were laid ont nineteen lots, having a little less than one-half a mile on the river and extending two miles in depth. The last of these lots, with an adjoining plot on the south side, was owned by William Dockwra and contained nine bundred acres. Behind these, facing the Millstone, were two other lote, the lower containing eight linndred ncres and belonging to George Willox ; and the npper, containing five hundred acres, was the property of Dockwra. From the month of the Millstone three and a half miles to an island in the Raritan River (in front of R. H. Veglite's resi- dence), thence south by west two miles, and east two miles to Millstone River, containing three thousand acres, exclusive of two hundred and fifty acres of meadow, had been previously deeded to Capt. Anthony Brockholls, William Pinborn, John Robinson, Mathew Nichols, and Samnel Edsall. The land was sold to John Royce & Co., of New York, in 1685, and was to be known in future as Roycefield. The bounds ae given in the deed of transfer were ' beginning at a place called Hunter's Wigwam, on Milletone River, thence north by east and northeast to the Raritan River, opposite the west end of a small island formerly belonging to Robert Vanquellen, and thence down the Raritan three and a half miles and up the Millstone to the place of beginning. Farther np the Millstone were twelve plats of twelve thousand acres owned by Polbemns Cortleyou. Lott and others located in 1701. John Harrison and Wil- liam, his father, owned land nt Rocky Hill."

Upon the tract first mentioned as having been pur- chased from the Indians (May 4, 1681), two of the purchasers-Thomas Codrington and John Royce- became settlers :

" Codrington settled on the west side of the plot, of which he was part owner, on the banks of Middle Brook, and became a man of extensive influence in the connty. His name is still borne by some of the inhab- itants of Somerset. The location of bis habitation, called Racawacahana, may be indicated by saying it was recently owned by Dr. Samuel Swan ; it passed, soon after the Revolution, into the hands of John Campbell, nephew of Lord Neill Campbell, nt one time Depnty or Lientenant-Gov- ernor of East Jersey, and subsequently into others, and finally into pos- session of its present owners. It is one of the first three homestends formed in the connty. Royce lived first at Piscataway, and then in what has since been known as Roycefield, nenr the late residence of John J. Stants. He was a merchant in New York, but come to Somerset County probably soon after the date of this Indian purchase. He owned, or claimed to own, a tract of twenty thonennd acres on the sonth side of the Raritan, nbont which some dispute existed. Andrew Hamilton, the Governor, writes of him in 1700 that 'he had an old patent which con- taine 20,000 acres, but because the stations were uncertain and the boundaries would not meet he addressed the proprietors at home for n new patent, which he had, and obtained nhout six thousand acres, for which he was to psy five pounds a year for the whole, instead of one- half per acre, and the proprietors, forgetting to make him surrender hia old patent, he now claims twenty thousand by it, and so takes a way upon Millstone River from Mr. Hart, and on the Raritan from Mr. Plumstend and Mr. Barker, considerable tracte of land ; so that he uses both patents, -- the old one if he can, and the new one if the old fail him; It was a great oversight. He is the very leader of the troublesome sort of the people, and it is he that infuses the motive in them of holding to their Indian titles.' This is not favorable altogether to Mr. Royce. He, how- ever, managed to maintain his position and influence, and was chosen the same year one of the representatives of New Jersey in the colonial Legislature."

Of the persons named as purchasers of the second Indian tract before mentioned, it is not known that any became settlers upon it, though two of them, James Graham and Samuel Winder, came to live in the province. Other settlers, however, were very soon attracted to the rich lands embraced in the pur- chase :

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LAND PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS.

"The earliest permanent settlements along this part of the Raritan wore formed on It. According to the declaration of John Worth, of Elizabethtown, Codrington, Royce, White, Peter Van Nest, Jerome Van Nost, the Tuntsons, and Grahamn came and located here sixty years pre- vlona to 1711, or in 1681, the very year this land was bought. The resi dences of Royce and Codrington have already been designated. The Van Nest honse was, it is suid, on the very spot now occupied by D. Fro- linghuyson's residence, and the Tunisona located where John C. Garret- son now resides. But the residence of Graham has not beon ascertained. Ile was n prominent minn in the province, more than once of the execu- tive council, and he resided in the county somewhere on the river. lio was a man of influence in those days, and yet he may not have reminined any length of time on the Raritan. . . . Jerome Van Nest and Peter settled permanently on the Raritan, and their descendants are yet among our most respectable citizens. But the original farm on which they first located has now for many years been in other possessors' hands. The Tunisons, Corneljnannd John, came here from Fort Orange, Dow Albany, and were originally from the vicinity of Utrecht, in Holland. The Dame la found early In colonial ennals, and was prominent in more than one way ; and It hoe become widely extended in the State."

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 136

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170