USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 2
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Thus was the colonization of New Jersey again deferred ; the ravages of the Indians also was a check to making any permanent settlement. Treaties, however, were consummated with them and the territory repurchased by Governor Stuyvesant, with the intention of erecting a
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fortified town. There had, however, been no village located prior to 1660, but in the month of August of that year the right to establish a village in Achter Kull was granted to several inhabitants. It was named Bergen, from a small village in Holland. The village, located on a hill, now known as Jersey City Heights, grew rapidly, and in May, 1761, there was not a vacant lot inside of the fortifications. This was the first per- manent settlement on the soil of New Jersey.
At the time of dismemberment of New Netherland by the English, in what was known afterwards as West Jersey, in the present counties of Gloucester and Burlington, there were a few Swedish farmers and not to exceed three Dutch families established at Burlington; it contained not even a hamlet. In East Jersey, whose hills had been praised by Verrazzani and the soil trodden by the mariners of Hudson, there were in its trackless and forest depths extending from the seacoast to the waters of the Raritan and Delaware outside of the settlement at Bergen, savages who roamed at will, undisturbed by the white man.
The emigrants from Holland were of various lineage, for that country had long been the gathering place of the unfortunate. Refugees from persecution flocked to her boundaries from England and continental Europe. She housed from the heart of Bohemia those who were swayed by the voice of Huss, the Separatists from England, the Huguenots from France, the Protestants from the Reformation, the Walloons from Belgium-all came to her hospitable soil, and from there emigrated to the New Eldorado in the Western Continent. These early Dutch set- tlers were generally persons of deep religious feeling, honest and consci- entious, adding to these qualities industry and frugality, and the majority were prosperous. Their buildings followed the Holland style of archi- tecture, being one story, with a low ceiling, with nothing more than the heavy and thick boards that constructed the upper floor laid on mon- strous broad and heavy beams ; this portion of their dwelling they utilized to store their grain, and for spinning of wool, sometimes being divided into sleeping apartments. The fireplaces in these abodes were unusually large, sufficient to accommodate the whole family with a comfortable seat around the fire. The buildings were built large enough to admit of hanging within them meat to smoke. The settlers were reluctant to form acquaintance with strangers, lest they should be imposed upon, but when a friendship was formed it proved lasting. They were clannish in their relations to each other ; when one of the community was wrongly involved or in trouble, especially in litigation, they were as one man.
At the time of the subjection of New Netherland by the English, the colonists were satisfied ; very few embarked for Holland ; it seemed rather that English liberties were to be added to security of property. The capitulation of the Dutch and Swedes early in October, 1664, placed the Atlantic seacoast of the thirteen original colonies in possession of Eng- land. The country had become a geographical unity.
DUKE OF YORK AND ALBANY Afterward James II., King of England
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The English claim to the territory occupied by the Dutch had never been relinquished, and in 1664 Charles II. determined to remove from the heart of his American colonies the Dutch supremacy. The Duke of York had purchased in March, 1664, the claims of Lord Stirling under grants which he had received from the extinct council of New England, and had received from the King, his brother, a charter for the valuable tract between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers, which was New Nether- land's territorial limits. New York was the name bestowed on this province. Energetic measures were promptly taken for the seizure of New Netherland. three ships being dispatched with six hundred soldiers, having on board Colonel Richard Nicolls, Colonel George Carteret, Sir Robert Carr and Samuel Maverick, as commissioners. On Friday, August 19th, the fleet cast anchor in the outer bay of New Amsterdam. The sur- render of Manhattan was demanded the following day, but Stuyvesant retorted by a spirited protest, doubting if His Majesty of Great Britain was well informed, and asking if in time of peace it was judicious to demand a capitulation that would offend Holland. His argument or threats produced no effect upon the English commander, who refused to protract negotiations and threatened an immediate attack. Mortifying as it was for the doughty old soldier to surrender without a struggle, Stuy- vesant was compelled to submit to circumstances; the majority of the inhabitants were unwilling to run the risk of an assault to which they could not hope to offer any effectual resistance in defense of a govern- ment with which they were discontented, and against another which many among them were secretly disposed to welcome. A liberal capitu- lation was arranged, and upon Monday, August 29th, the Dutch authori- ties surrendered the town and fort to the English, who immediately took possession. Colonel Nicolls was proclaimed deputy governor, and the people quietly submitted to the sway of the conquerors.
The Duke of York conveyed the country between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. As the extensive tract was thinly inhabited, the proprietaries offered favorable propositions to settlers. Absolute freedom of worship, and a Colonial Assembly, having sole power of taxation and a share of the legislation of the province, were among the principal inducements. The new grant was named Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey, from the island home of Sir George Carteret ; the first name, however, was finally dropped, as it was not popular with the settlers.
The two proprietors were ardent sympathizers of the royal cause, and had been in the service of Charles I. Berkeley was the youngest
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son of Sir Maurice Berkeley and joined the royal army in operations against the Scots in 1638. In the Parliamentary war he was commissary- general for the King, governor of Exeter, and general of the forces in Devon. After the death of the King he went abroad with the royal family, and was made governor of the Duke of York's household. Hav- ing been created Baron Berkeley of Stratton at the time of the Restora- tion, he became a member of the Privy Council. Carteret was a son of Heller Carteret, deputy governor of the Isle of Jersey. The family was of French extraction, descended from the Lords of Carteret in the Duchy of Normandy, and had been connected with English history since the time of William the Conqueror. George Carteret entered the royal navy at an early age and for great services rendered the King he was knighted. At the time of the Civil War he withdrew to his home in Jersey, which he bravely defended as the last stronghold of the monarchy, and it became an asylum for the Prince of Wales and others of the royal party. He followed Charles II. to France and at the instigation of Cromwell was imprisoned in the Bastile and subsequently banished from the kingdom. Charles II. being in Brussels in 1659, he repaired thence and was one of his escort when the King was received by the city of London the follow- ing year. Sir George after the Restoration was appointed vice-chamber- lain and treasurer of the navy ; also a member of the Privy Council, and represented Portsmouth in Parliament.
The trials through which these two lords had passed during the Civil War had brought them into intimate familiarity with the royal brothers and gave them great influence at court, lucrative offices were provided for them, and opportunities given them to promote their wealth and aggrandizement. The gifted Winthrop, who visited England after the Restoration to procure a new charter for Connecticut, by his representa- tions of the colonies had unwittingly excited the greed of the corrupt and wily parasites of the royal court.
Berkeley and Carteret having received information of the territory west of the Hudson river, became eager to secure an investment in west- ern lands. The Duke of York having by his patent the right of sale as well as that of possession and rule, on June 24, 1664, conveyed to them for a competent sum of money the territory now known as New Jersey, which was then considered the most valuable of the Duke's territory. The concessions and agreements of the Lord Proprietors of New Jersey having been completed and signed Feb. 10, 1665, Captain Philip Carteret, a distant relative of Sir George, was commissioned governor of the new province. Robert Vauquelin (Sieur des Prairie) of the city of Caen in France, was appointed surveyor-general.
Philip Carteret was born on the Isle of Jersey in 1639. He was the eldest son of Helier de Carteret, attorney-general of Jersey, and Rachel, his wife ; and a grandson of Peter De Carteret, jurat of the Royal Court
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of Jersey. By inheritance he was Seigneur of the Manor of La Huigue, Parish of Saint Peter, Jersey, but these honors did not prevent him leaving his native land to assume the government of a province in the New World. His early training on the Isle of Jersey, which retained the spirit of feudalism longer than more travelled parts, hardly fitted him to govern a people in whom the seeds of liberty and self-government seemed already sown.
. The people of New England had viewed with longing eyes the lands located about the Achter Kull and on the Raritan. They had crossed the Sound from the colony of New Haven, invading Long Island, where they could scarcely gain a subsistence on its poor and barren soil, and were desirous of locating on the more fertile lands. They may have been, however, actuated by political reasons ; the people of New England under the Protectorate had enjoyed the utmost freedom in the admin- istration of civil affairs, and it was natural that on the restoration of Charles II. they should feel some misgivings as to the security of their rights and liberties. The colonists of New Haven were strongly embued with republican sentiments, and it was with the greatest reluctance that they consented to proclaim the new monarch and to congratulate him on his accession to the throne.
The thoughts of the people of Connecticut at this time turned to the more liberal government of New Netherland, and negotiations were entered into with Governor Stuyvesant by those who had settled on Long Island, for lands at Achter Kull on Newark Bay. The first of those applicants was John Strickland, a resident of Huntington, Long Island, in behalf of himself and other New England people. This application was received by the Director-General at an opportune time, as the Dutch rulers had decided upon the policy of inviting republicans disaffected on account of the restoration of the English monarchy, to settle in their dominions, where they could enjoy civil and religious freedom. The Dutch West India Company had also adopted a charter of "Conditions and Privileges" of a very liberal character. Mr. Strickland, therefore, received a favorable answer to his application, but no settlement was effected.
The people of New Haven Colony were also further disturbed by the action of the General Court of Connecticut, which sent its governor, John Winthrop, to England to procure a charter for the colony to em- brace the territory "eastward from the line of Plymouth colony, north- ward to the limits of Massachusetts colony, and westward to the Bay of Delaware, and also the islands contiguous." It was not strange that the liberal proposals of the Dutch government should meet with favorable reception in the towns of the New Haven Colony. A deputation was sent to New Amsterdam to make further inquiry and ascertain the character of the lands to be settled. This deputation was courteously entertained
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by the governor and council, and made so favorable a report that a second deputation visited New Amsterdam, with power to negotiate with Governor Stuyvesant for the settlement of a plantation near the Raritan river.
This attempt to effect a settlement failed on account of one condition which the Director-General and the Council of New Amsterdam were unwilling to concede. The New Haven people wanted absolutely an independent community with all the rights of self-government. They were to gather a church in the congregational way ; the right of calling a Synod by the English churches that might be gathered in New Nether- land for regulation of their ecclesiastical affairs; the right to administer. justice in civil matters within themselves by magistrates of their own selection, without appeal to other authorities; the purchase of the lands by the Dutch government from the natives and a full conveyance thereof to the associates forever; none to be allowed to settle among them except by their own consent ; the right to collect debts-and a written charter stipulating these rights in full. All these conditions were freely granted except the concession of self-government without appeal, which would give the proposed colony greater liberty than was enjoyed by the other towns and settlements of New Netherland. The delegation insist- ing upon the fullest concession of popular rights, the conference was broken off. Although the negotiations were renewed at subsequent times, no satisfactory results were arrived at during the continuance of the jurisdiction of the Dutch. Later, in 1663, occurred the revolt against the Dutch government by the English people of Long Island, who placed themselves under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. An attempt made by a party of twenty Englishmen from Long Island to land at the mouth of the Raritan river with the intention of purchasing a plantation from the Indians, was frustrated by an armed party sent for that purpose by Governor Stuyvesant.
Immediately upon the assumption of the government by Colonel Nicolls, the attention of those settlers who several years before sought removal to Achter Kull, was directed again to this inviting region. An association was formed, and several of their number were dispatched to New York to secure from the governor liberty to purchase and settle a plantation. Four weeks after the surrender of New Amsterdam, Gov- ernor Nicolls granted the petition of John Ballies, Daniel Denton, Thomas Benydick, Nathaniel Denton, John Foster and Luke Watson, for the settlement of a plantation of New Jersey. A tract of land was purchased of the Indians; in a deed given by them the names of John Bayley, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson appear, while in the official confirmation given by Governor Nicolls the names of John Ogden of Northampton and Captain John Baker of New York are added. The tract is described as bounded "on the south by the Raritan river, east
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to the sea which divides Staten Island from the main land, to run north- wards up the bay until you come to the first river, and to run westward twice the length of the breadth of the tract from north to south." This tract contained 500,000 acres upland and meadows, in fair proportions, well watered, diversified with level plains and ranges of hill of consider- able elevation, the soil of the uplands being mostly of clay loam and shale susceptible of a high state of cultivation. It extended from the mouth of the Raritan on the south to the mouth of the Passaic on the north, a distance of seventeen miles, and running back into the country thirty-four miles, embracing the towns of Woodbridge, Piscataway, Union county, parts of the towns of Newark and Clinton, a small part of Morris county, and a considerable portion of Somerset county.
Having secured absolute proprietorship, measures were taken for a speedy and effective occupation of the domain. The precise date when the settlement of what was to become Elizabethtown, was actually com- menced is not known. When, on July 29, 1665, Governor Carteret arrived on the good ship "Philip" at New York, with a party of thirty settlers, including eighteen male servants, a number of whom were French, he allowed but a few days to elapse before taking possession of the new province. Arriving at the Point, the entrance of the creek, where the Connecticut settlers had laid out their town, he was met by the settlers gathered about the landing to receive the newcomers. Gov- ernor Carteret submitted his credentials to Ogden and his townsmen. The enterprising settlers had unwittingly prepared a capital for the new governor in the primitive wilderness, and made a promising beginning in the way of improvements.
The settlers of the first two or three years were mainly of one class and of the same origin, almost wholly New Englanders from Long Island and Connecticut. Very few of the planters for the first five years came over directly from the Mother Country. Governor Carteret, anx- ious for the growth of the new province, confirmed the grants of Gov- ernor Nicolls; although they were repudiated by the Duke of York, he was lenient in forcing the terms of the concessions, and allowed the Hempstead Code of Laws to stand. He purchased a lot from one of the associates and established a residence, and, with a hoe carried on his shoulder, thereby intimated his intention to become a planter. He sent word far and wide through the colonies that New Jersey was open for settlement under the protection of a governor. Two years passed, the province commenced to grow, ships came and went, bringing settlers and merchandise; the Puritans of Connecticut obtained a grant on the Passaic river. In April, 1668, the governor issued his first call for a General Assembly to meet at Elizabethtown, May 25, 1668. It was in session five days, and enacted the Elizabethtown Code of Laws. This code differed but slightly from the Hempstead Code of Laws formulated
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in 1664 at Hempstead, Long Island. Differences, however, arose between the governor and delegates; the former dissolved the Assembly, and for two years refused to call another, carrying on the government with the aid of his council.
In the meantime the Lord Proprietors were involved in financial troubles in England; Berkeley had been detected in the basest corrup- tion and had been deprived of office; Carteret was accused of being a defaulter of the funds of the navy. These circumstances led to a renewal of a scheme to annex New Jersey to the province of New York, in which Colonel Nicolls had always been interested. Measures were accordingly taken by the Duke of York to further this scheme, which was nearly consummated, but by some turn of the political wheels, the two proprietors regained royal favors, received appointments in Ireland, retained possession of their charter, and Elizabethtown remained the seat of government, the residence of the governor and his officials.
Between the governor and the popular branch of the government had grown up an irreconcilable difference. The Assembly, though the governor refused to convene it, met in 1670, again March 26, 1671, adjourning to May 14, 1671. It was then called the Assembly, or the House of Burgesses, and deputies were present from Elizabethtown, Newark, Bergen, Woodbridge and Piscataway. The governor refusing to preside over the Assembly either in person or by deputy, the members appointed Captain James Carteret, a son of Sir George, who was then residing in Elizabethtown, presiding officer. The occasion of Captain Carteret being in Elizabethtown was that he was on his way to North Carolina to take possession of his newly acquired domain as landgrave. He had been requested by his father to call upon Governor Carteret to confer with him in respect to the affairs of the province. The captain seems, in order to conciliate the aggrieved planters, to have taken their side, as on his elevation as presiding officer of the Assembly he issued a warrant for the arrest of William Pardon, the secretary of the House, for refusing to deliver the acts and proceedings of the Assembly, which had been destroyed by the order of the governor. Pardon was arrested, but made his escape, fleeing to Bergen, where Governor Carteret and his council were in session. The executive and his council issued a docu- ment at Bergen, May 28, 1671, declaring his purpose that unless the people would declare their submission in ten days he should proceed against them as mutineers and enemies of the government. Pardon was appointed to read this proclamation before a town meeting; an order was issued for his arrest, his house was broken into, and all his movables carried away. The governor, by the advice of his council, determined to lay the grievances of the province before the Lord Pro- prietors. Thereupon he sailed for England with some of his officials, appointing John Berry deputy governor in his place. Captain James
SIR EDMUND ANDROS
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Carteret occupied the government house at Elizabethtown, making frequent visits to New York, and on April 15, 1673, married Frances, daughter of Captain Thomas Delavall, merchant and mayor of that city. He had hardly completed his honeymoon when he received dispatches and instructions from his aged father requiring him to retire from the scene of conflict and look after his patrimony in Carolina. Just at this juncture, in July, 1673, New York surrendered to the Dutch rule. By the treaty of Westminster, concluded the following year between Eng- land and Holland, all conquests were mutually restored; New Jersey consequently again passed into the hands of the English.
Governor Carteret returned from England in November, 1674, Berkeley had sold his half of the province, and Sir George Carteret had become sole proprietor of East Jersey under a new patent from the Duke of York, who had received a new charter from Charles II. Time had softened the animosity of the people, and Governor Carteret was warmly welcomed. Life at the court of the Stuarts had confirmed Carteret in his opinions, and the Dutch rule had strengthened the spirit of freedom in the people, and the same disagreement arose almost at once. Not content to let old grievances drop, Carteret revived the old questions of land patents and other matters of former dissensions. The people offered to compromise, but the governor refused to recede from his position, and the people were obliged to yield. A season of comparative peace followed, and the province developed under Carteret's rule.
The same ship in which Carteret sailed from England brought as a passenger Sir Edmund Andros, a kinsman, the newly appointed governor of New York. Later he became governor of all the colonies, and in his attempt to extend his jurisdiction over New Jersey came in conflict with the government of Carteret, and also with the desires and interests of the people, who united in common cause against a formidable enemy, and all former animosities were forgotten. In March, 1680, Andros notified Carteret that he intended to take military possession of the province and to erect a fort at Sandy Point. Carteret was decided in his opposition, but the dogmatic Andros in a cowardly way effected the capture of the governor, confining him in prison. Carteret was brought to trial for presuming to exercise jurisdiction within the bounds of His Majesty's letters-patent granted to the Duke of York. The jury, how- ever, declared him not guilty, and he was acquitted, but an order was appended to the judgment of the court requiring him to give security that he would not exercise jurisdiction either civil or military in the province of New Jersey. Upon his release on parole, Carteret appealed to the new government, and occupied his leisure in leading the life of a private citizen at Elizabethtown, improving his estate, the erection of a new house, and in getting married. In March, 1681, on receipt of letters from England, Governor Carteret resumed office by proclamation
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and took up the controversy with the people, which remained a matter of litigation until the Revolution intervened. The heirs of Sir George Carteret having sold their interests in East Jersey, the governor was superseded in November, 1682, by Deputy Governor Thomas Rudyard. His death occurred soon afterwards, December 10, 1682, in his forty- fourth year, undoubtedly hastened by the exposure and ill treatment at the time of his arrest by Andros.
Carteret was an honorable man of good character, and sincerely tried to govern his people well, according to his lights. Unfortunately he was a Royalist, believing in the divine rights of kings, and could have had little sympathy with the Puritan religion and Roundhead politics. Taken as a whole, his governorship cannot be considered a failure. He was a man of good moral character, firmness, even temper, and simplicity. East Jersey developed under his rule without check or failure. He showed possibly a lack of adaptability, but he came to the colonies to rule, not to be ruled by those under his authority.
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