History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

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 5
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 5

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" We now offer to sell these privileges to the State of New Jersey. They were once of great value to us, and we apprehend that neither time nor distance nor the non-use of our rights has at all affected them, but that the courts here would consider our claime valid were we to exercise them ourselves or delegate them to others. It is not, however, our wish thus to excite litigation. We consider the State Legislature the proper purchaser, and throw ourselves upon its benevolence and magnanimity, trusting that feelings of justice and liberality will induce you to give us what you deem a compensation. And, as we have ever looked up to the leading characters of the United States (aud to the leading characters of this State in particular) as our fathers, protectors, and friends, we now look up to you as such, and humbly beg that you will look upon us with that eye of pity, as we have reason to think our poor uututored fore- fathers looked upon yours when they first arrived upou our then exteu- sive but uncultivated dominious, and sold them their lands, in many instances for trifles, iu comparison, as 'light as air.'

" From your humble petitioner, " BARTHOLOMEW S. CALVIN, " In behalf of himself and his red brethren."

In the Legislature the subject was referred to a committee, which, after patient hearing, reported favorably ; whereupon the Legislature granted to the Delawares the sum of two thousand dollars,-the full amount asked for, in consideration of this relinquish- ment of their last rights and claims in the State of New Jersey. Upon this result Mr. Calvin addressed ' to the Legislature a letter of thanks, which was read before the two houses in joint session, and was received with repeated rounds of most enthusiastic applause. The letter was as follows:

"TRENTON, March 12, 1832.

" Bartholomew S. Calvin takes this method to return his thanks to both houses of the State Legislature, and especially to their committees, for their very respectful attoution to and candid examination of the Indian claims which he was delegated to presont.

"The final act of official intercourso between the State of New Jersey and the Delaware Indians, who once owned nearly tho whole of its terri- tory, has now been consummated, and in a manner which must redound to the honor of this growing State, and, in all probability, to the prolon- gation of the existence of n wasted yet grateful poople. Upon this parting occasion I feel it to be an inenmbent duty to boar the feoblo tribute of my praise to the high-toned justice which, in this instance, and, so far as I am acquainted, in all former times, has actuated tho councils of this commonwealth in dealing with the aboriginal Inhabitants.

" Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle ; not an acre of our land have you taken but by our consent. These facts speak for them- selves and need no comment. They placo the character of New Jersey

NEW JERSEY UNDER DUTCH AND ENGLISH RULE.

In bold relief and bright example to those States within whose territorial limits our brethren still remain. Nothing save bonisons can fall upon her from the lips of a Lenni Lenape.

"There may be some who would despise an Indian benediction; but when I return to my people, and make known to them the result of my mission, tho enr of the great Sovereign of the universe, which is still open to our cry, will be penetrated with our Invocation of blessings upon the generous sons of New Jersey."

While this Indian elaim was under consideration the cause of the Delawares was voluntarily supported by a distinguished son of Somerset County, the Hon. Samuel L. Southard, who, at the close of a most pow- erful and eloquent appeal, made before the committee, in favor of the petitioners, said, " 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 transfer,-a fact that no other State of the Union, not even the land which bears the name of Penn, can boast of."

"Many years previous to the settlement of the Raritan by the whites," says the late Hon. Ralph Voorhees, " the Indians had a path running through the State, extending from the Falls of the Delaware, at Trenton, to the first fording-place across the Rari- tan, near New Brunswick. From thence it ran to Elizabethtown. It is described in many of the old deeds as ' the Indian Path.' Its course was along the highest grounds, and it . . . struck ravines as nearly opposite to each other as possible, by which it was made to avoid steep hills,* They thus easily carried to market their furs and other salable articles."t

Other Indian paths were one from Lambertville, through Mt. Airy, Ringos, and Reaville, to Newark, which later became the "Old York Road," and an- other, which "came in from the north through the valley at Clarksville, the gateway for all the tribes who threaded their way down the great valley of the Wallkill, or erossed over from Pennsylvania at the forks of the Delaware."; This Indian highway led down to the wigwams on the Assanpink, crossing the east and west path at Ringos .¿

CHAPTER III.

NEW JERSEY UNDER DUTCH AND ENGLISH RULE.

Swedish Settlement-Occupation by the Dutch-Subjection to the Eng- lish in 1601-Governors Carteret, Andros, etc .- Graut to the Duke of York, nud transfor to Berkeley and Carteret-Edward Byllinge- Quaker Emigration and Settivment-Tho two Jerseys consolidated- Governors, down to 1776.

Ix the year 1637 two Swedish ships arrived in the Delaware, bringing a number of settlers. They were

. This accounts for the many bonds and crooks in the road afterwards laid out upon it, nud which subsequently beenme the dividiug-line be- twern the counties of Somerset nud Middlesex.

+ R. Vorhees, In " Our llome. "

# The First Century of Hunterdon County, p. In.

¿ A store was kept at Ringes, to which in the early day the Indians resorted from a conel lerable distanco.

soon followed by other companies, and, in 1642, John Printz, a military officer, was sent over as Governor of the colony. He established himself upon the island now known as Tinicum, which was given to him in fee by the Queen of Sweden. Here he erected a fort, planted an orchard, and built a church and several dwellings, including a fine house for himself, which was called "Printz Hall." At the same time with the Governor came also John Campanius Holm, | a elergyman, and the future historian of the colony ; and in the same company was Lindstrom, an engi- neer, who afterwards published a map of the Dela- ware and its adjacent parts."

In the government of New Sweden, as that portion of the State was then called, Printz was followed by his son, John Papegoia, who soon returned to Europe and left the government to John Claudius Rising. In 1655 the Dutch sailed from Manhattan with seven ships and six hundred men, under the command of Governor Peter Stuyvesant, and fell unawares on the Swedish settlements. Fort after fort fell into their hands, the officers and principal people were made prisoners and carried to New Amsterdam, while the Dutch retained possession of the country .**

[ The latter name, Holm, " was added because of Stockholm being the place of his residence."-Clay's Annals of the Suredes.

" We find I'inntagenet (Plantagenet's " New Albion"), in 1649, com- plaining of the settlements of the Swedes und Dutch within New Albion, and of the adherence of the English settlers to thom rather than to the authority of the ourl-palatine. Plantagenet published o pamphlet in 16-18, entitled " A Description of the Province of New Albion, and n Di- rection for Adventurers with small stock to get two for one, and good Innd freely : And for Gentlemen, and all Servants, Imbourors, and Arti- ficere, to live P'lentifully," etc. It is dedicated "To tho right honourable and mighty Lord Edmund, by Divine Providence, Lord Proprietor, Earl- Palatine, Governour, and Captain-Generall of the Provincoof New Albion ; and to the Right Honourable the Lord VIcount Monson of Castlemain, the lord Sherurd Baron of Letrim : nunl to all others the Viconnta, Barons, Harouets, Knights, Goutlemen, Merchants, Adventurers and Planters, of the hopeful Company of New Albion; In all, Il undertakers and sub- scribers, bound by Indenture to bring and arttle 3000 able trained men in our enid soverall Plantations in the said Province." The author of the pamphlet was " Beauchamp Plantagenet, of Belvll, In Now Alldon, Esquire, one of Company," whose manor of Belvil, containing ten thou- sund acres, he had obtained under the province seat .- Whitehead's Furt Jersey under the Proprietors.

** " The next who came there were the Dutch ; which was between Forty and Fifty Years agoe, though they made but little Improvement, only Imilt Two or Three Houses, upon an Island (called since by tho English) Stacies Island; and it remained so, till aluit the year 1075, in which King Charles the Second or the Duke of York (his Brother) gave the Countrey to Edward Billing. in whose the, one Major Fenwick went thither, with some others, and built a pretty Town, and called it Salam ; and in a few Years after o Ship from London, and another from Hull sailed thither with more People, who went highor up into the Countrey, and built there u Town, and called It Burlington, which is now the chief- est Town in that Countrey, though Kulam is the ancientest. . . . The Into Governor for, who bought that Country of Edward Billing, encouraged and promoted that Town [Burlington] chleBy, In setting his Agents aml Deputy-Governors there (the same Favours are continued by the Voice- West- Jersey Society, who now manage Matters there) which brings their Assem- Ilies and chief l'ontts to be kept there ; and, by that means it is become a very famous Town, having a great many stately Brick Houses In it. The Countrey Inhabited by the Christims is divided Into four parts or counties, the' the Tenth part of it is not yet peopled." In another con- nection the author names the four divisions as " ' Burlington, Glocester, Salam, aud Cape-May' counties."

This extract is from n qualnt old volume bearing the lengthy title ul

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

The subjection of the Dutch in the New Nether- lands to English rule in 1664 is a matter of history so familiar to every intelligent American reader that it is not necessary to dwell upon it. Immediately after the surrender of New Amsterdam (New York) by Governor Stuyvesant, Charles, King of England, granted the territory to his brother, the Duke of York, who in turn conveyed that portion of it now known as New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This latter conveyanee is said to be the first instrument in which the bounds of New Jersey are regularly defined. Berkeley and Carteret formed a constitution for the colony, and appointed Philip Carteret, a son of Sir George, as its governor. He eame in 1665, fixed the seat of government at Eliza- bethtown, purchased land of the Indians, and offered so favorable terms to the settlers in New England as inducements to emigrate to Jersey that many eame hither and located, prineipally at Elizabethtown and Newark .*

In 1673 the Dutch retook New York, but by the treaty of the following year the territory of both that province and New Jersey reverted to the Eng- lish, who continued in undisturbed possession until the war which secured the independence of the United States of America. Doubts having arisen as to the validity of the title of the Duke of York, a new patent was issued in 1674, and Edmund Andros was sent over as Governor. Philip Carteret, who had returned to England in 1672, returned in 1675, and was welcomed by the people, who had been uneasy and disaffected under the arbitrary rule of Andros.

Lord Berkeley, dissatisfied with the peeuniary out- look of his colonization scheme, disposed of his in- terest to John Fenwieke, in trust for Edward Byllinge, both members of the Society of Friends. He received the sum of one thousand pounds for the tract of land then called "New West Jersey," embracing about one-half of the State as now constituted. The division

between East and West Jersey was made by Carteret and the trustees of Byllinge, July 1, 1676. The line of partition was agreed on " from the east side of Little Egg Harbor, straight north, through the coun- try, to the utmost branch of Delaware River." This line was extended from Little Egg Harbor as far as the South Branch of the Raritan, at a point just east of the old York road. It was run by Keith, the sur- veyor-general of East Jersey, but was deemed by the West Jersey proprietors to be too far west, thereby encroaching on their lands, and they objected to its continuanee. On the 5th of September, 1668, Gov- ernors Coxe and Barelay, representing the respective interests, entered into an agreement, to terminate the dispute. It was that this line, so far as run, should be the bound, and that in its extension it should take the following course : From the point where it touched the South Branch, " along the baek of the adjoining plantations, until it tonehes the north branch of the Raritan, at the falls of the Allamitung,; thence run- ning up that stream northward to its rise near Sucea- sunny." From that point a short straight line was to be run to touch the nearest part of the Passaie River. Such a line would pass about five miles north of Morristown. The line was to be continued by the course of the Passaie as far as the Paquaniek, and up that branch to forty-one degrees north latitude, and from that point in "a straight line due east to the partition-point on Hudson River between East Jersey and New York." This line gave to the northern part of West Jersey the present counties of Warren and Sussex, and portions of Morris, Passaic, and Bergen. The Coxe-Barclay agreement was not carried into ef- fect, although the division-line constituted the eastern boundary of Hunterdon County until Morris County was erected, in 1738.

Edward Byllinge beeame so embarrassed in his financial ventures that in 1676 he was compelled to assign his interests to William Penn, Gawen Lowrie, and Nicholas Lueas, all Quakers, "to be used for the benefit of his creditors." Prior to this, however, he had sold a number of shares, and the trustees sold many shares to different purchasers, who there- by became proprietaries in common with them. Fenwieke soon after made a similar assignment. As these trustees were Quakers, the purchasers were mostly members of that body. Two companies were formed, one in Yorkshire, the other in London, both intent on colonization in America, and in the same year some four hundred persons came over, most of them persons of considerable means. Daniel Coxe was connected with the London Company, and one of the largest shareholders ; subsequently he became the owner of extensive traets of land in old Hunter- don County.

At that time persecution in England was driving the Quakers to America as to a haven of religious tol-

" An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania and of West-New-Jersey in America. The Richness of the Soil, the Sweetness of the Situation, the Wholesomness of the Air, the Navigable Rivers, and others, the prodigious Enerease of Corn, the flourishing Condition of the City of Philadelphia, with the stately Build- ings, and other Improvements there. The strange Creatures, as Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and Fowls, with the several sorts of Minerals, Purging Waters, and Stones, lately discovered. The Natives, Aborogines, their Lan- guage, Religion, Laws, and Customs; The first Planters, the Dutch, Sweeds, and English, with the number of its Inhabitants; As also a Touch upon George Keith's New Religion, in his second Change since he left the

QUAKERS. With a Map of both Countries. By Gabriel Thomas, who resided there about Fifteen Years. London, Printed for, and Sold by A. Baldwin, at the Oxon Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1698." It is dedicated to " Friend William Penn,"and in his preface Mr. Thomas says, ". . . Tho' this Country has made little Noise in Story, or taken up but small room in Maps, yet thus munch with great Justice may be said of it, that not- withstanding the Difficulties and Inconveniences the First English Colo- nies met with before they wore well settled there, yet the mighty Im- Drovements, Additions, and Advantages that have been made lately there, are well worth Communicating to the Publick, und I am sensible they will be well received."

* East Jersey Records; Whitehead's East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments.

+ Now the Lamington Falls.

THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT OF EAST JERSEY.

eration and social equality. Emigration commenced in the spring of 1677, and on the 16th of June in that year the ship " Kent" arrived from London with two hundred and thirty passengers. This was the second ship "to the Western parts." Next arrived the " Wil- ling Mind," John Newcomb commander, with sixty or seventy more. Several settlements were started, and West Jersey became, as early as the year 1680, quite populous. Burlington was founded, and be- came the principal town. There the land-office for the whole province of West Jersey was located, and there all deeds were recorded.

In 1681, Samuel Jennings, having received a com- mission from Byllinge as deputy-governor, came to West Jersey, called an assembly, and with them agreed upon a constitution and form of government. From this time on assemblies were held each year, courts were established in several places, and "jus- tice was administered in due course of law." Jen- nings' successors in the executive department were Thomas Olive, John Skeine, William Welsh, Dan- iel Coxe, and Andrew Hamilton. The last-named continued as Governor until the proprietary charter was surrendered to the Crown.

In the years 1701 and 1702 there occurred many dis- sensions and disturbances in both the east and west provinces, but the proprietors, finally wearied of con- tending with one another, and with the people, drew up an instrument whereby they surrendered their right of government to the crown,4 which was ac- cepted by Queen Anne, April 17, 1702. This was the end of proprietary government in New Jersey ; thence- forward, until 1776, it was under royal rule.

The queen consolidated both Jerseys into one proy- ince, and commissioned Lord Cornbury as Governor of both New York and New Jersey. In this capacity he acted from 1703 until 1708, when, giving heed to

* Seo Smith's " New Jersey," pp. 360-573, and " Grants and Conces- slons," pp. 508-609, for some of the documents connected with the no- gotiations, and many others are In the New Jersey Cok nial Documents. The proprietaries who signed away the sovereignty of Last Jersey were Peter Sommans, Joseph Ormston, Charles Ormston, Edward Antill, George Willocks, Francis Hancock, sir Thomas Lane, Paul Dominique, Robert Mitchell, Josoph Brooksbank, Edward Richter, Michael Watts, Clement Plumstead, Robert Burnet, Miles Forster, John Johnston, Mich- nel Hawdon, John Barclay, David Lyell, Thomas Warne, Thomas four- don, Thomas Barker, Thomas Cooper, Gilbert Mullison, Richard Haset, and William Dockwon. Three of these-those in italics were of the twenty-four who nineteen years presious had received the grant from the Duko of York, And it was said in 1759 thut sixty four yours aller the grant to the twonty-four (1716) there was not a male descendant of the whole umber enjoying "n foot of luund in East Jersey"excepting the right of the Penns and two or three small plantations occupied by tho Hartshornes and Warnes,-a reflection which should " abate our autor In the pursuit of lands and wealth, and make us think ourselves, at best, but tenants in common to the blewings which the earth produces and co-heirs of the gifts of nature."-".I l'icket Commentary of the first settling of New Jersey by the Europeans; and an account or fair delust of the origi- nal Indian Buurt Jersey grands, and other rights of the like tonur in Frat Neto Jersey, Digested in order. New York, printed by Samuel Parker, liau." This little work, containing many interesting remarks resjy ting men und things In New Jersey, is in the Philadelphia Library, the only copy ever seen or heard of by the writer .- Fast Jersey under the I'mprictors, William A. Whitehead, p. 220.

the grievous complaints made against him by the peo- ple, the queen revoked his commission. He was sue- ceeded by John, Lord Lovelace, but his death (which verurred May 5, 1709) threw the government into the hands of Lieutenant-Governor Ingoldsby. Governor Hunter's administration commeneed in 1710; in 1720 he resigned in favor of William Burnet. Afterwards officiated John Montgomery, 1727 to 1731; William Cosby, 1731 to 1736; John Anderson, also in 1736; John Hamilton, 1736 to 1738. In the summer of the last-named year a commission arrived to Lewis Mor- ris as Governor of New Jersey, separate from New York; he served until his death, in 1746. He was followed successively by President Hamilton, 1746; John Reading, 1746; Jonathan Beleher, 1747; John Reading, 1757; Francis Bernard, 1758; Thomas Boone, 1760; Josiah Hardy, 1761; and William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, in 1763,-the last royal Governor, he being deposed, arrested, and sent a prisoner to Connecticut in 1776.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT OF EAST JERSEY.

East Jersey under the Proprietors, 1680 to 1702-Robert Barclay und Thomas Rudyard-Collision with the Province of New York-Gov- ernors Barclay, Dudley, Hamilton, etc .- Opposition to Governor Basso -Opposition to the Proprietary Government-The Crisis -- Surrender to the Crown, iu 1702.

Ix the preceding chapter have been given in outline the events occurring in the province under Governors Carteret and the tyrannical Andros up to the time of the division of New Jersey into an cast and a west division. We then traced more particularly the for- tunes of the latter. In this chapter it is intended briefly to portray the varying events in the history of East Jersey under the proprietary government.

On the 16th of October, 1680, the Duke of York relinquished all his pretensions to East Jersey in favor of the grandson and heir of Sir George Carteret,t soon after which Andros returned to England. Sir George died in 1680, and by his will, dated Dee. 5, 1678, left his widow, Lady Elizabeth, executrix of his estate and guardian of his grandson and heir, George, n son of Sir Philip, and devised to Edward, Earl of Sandwich, John, Earl of Bath, Hon. Bernard Gren- ville, brother to the Earl of Bath, Sir Thomas Crewe, Knight, Sir Robert Atkyns, Knight of the Bath, and Edward Atkyns, one of the barons of the Exchequer, and their heirs, among other land-, all his property in East Jersey, in trust for the benefit of his creditors. These trustees, failing to find a purchaser by private application, offered it at public sale to the highest bidder, William Penn with eleven associates, most of whom were Quakers, and some already interested in

+ Hill in Chancery, p. 8.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

James.

[THE DUKE OF YORK-JAMES II.]

[SIR GEORGE CARTERET.]

Jokerklay [SIR JOHN BERKLEY, PROP'R.]

S [GOV. P. CARTERET]

EAndros

[SIR EDMUND ANDROS.]

[EDWARD HYDE, LORD VISCOUNT CORNBURY.]

F. Kyllinga [EDWARD BYLLINGE, PROPRIETOR.]

Barday [GOV. ROBERT BARCLAY.]

This Carington, [THOMAS CODRINGTON, PROPRIETOR.]

[LORD NEILL CAMPBELL.] Will Campbell

Robert Saugrillo

[ROBERT VAUQUELLIN, PROPRIETOR.]

THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT OF EAST JERSEY.

West Jersey, becoming the purchasers for three thon- sand four hundred pounds,* Their deeds of lease and release were dated the Ist and 2d of February, 1681-82, and subsequently cach of them sold one-half of his respective right to a new associate, making in all twenty-four proprietaries.t In the following year the Duke of York confirmed this sale by issuing a new grant to the proprietors, their names there appearing in the following order: James, Earl of Perth, John Drum- mond, Robert Barclay, David Barclay, Robert Gor- don, Arent Sonmans, William Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groom, Thomas Hart, Rich- ard Mew, Ambrose Rigg, John Heywood, Hugh Harts- horne, Clement Plumstead, Thomas Cooper, Gawen Lawrie, Edward Byllinge, James Brain, William Gib- son, Thomas Barker, Robert Turner, and Thomas Warne, those in italics being eleven of the twelve original purchasers; Thomas Wileor, the twelfth, having parted with his interest, Feb. 27, 1682, to David Barclay.#

There was a strange mingling of professions, re- ligions, and characters in these proprietaries, among them being, as an English writer observes, "high- prerogative men (especially those from Scotland), dissenters, papists, and Quakers."¿ The first twelve purchasers, however, were mostly, if not all, Quakers, and, as some of their associates were of the same re- ligious faith, they had a controlling influence in the body, which fact may explain why Robert Barclay, of Urie, a Quaker and a personal friend of William Penn, was selected to be Governor of the province. It was a worthy choice, as he was a man of learning, of religious zeal, and of exemplary character. | Such was the esteem and confidence in which he was held by his fellow-proprietaries that they subsequently commissioned him as Governor for life ; nor was he required to visit the province in person, but was allowed to exercise his authority by deputy. For this office he selected Thomas Rudyard, an eminent lawyer of London and one of the proprietaries.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

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