USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 3
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
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A LOG CABIN, WITH MODERN ROOF
CHAPTER IV. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE RARITAN VALLEY.
The colonization of Elizabethtown stimulated and encouraged the settlement of the country laying west in the Valley of the Raritan. Dan- iel Pierce, with other associates residing in Newbury, Massachusetts, on May 21, 1666, entered into an agreement with Governor Carteret, John Ogden and Luke Watson, to settle two townships. The tract specified was known as Arthur Kull, or Amboyle, originally granted by Governor Nicolls to John Bailey, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson, extending from the Raritan river to the Rawack river and running back into the country, according to the Indian deed. In consideration of £80 sterling. one-half of this tract was transferred to Pierce, December 11, 1666. A week later he transferred to John Martin, Charles Gilman, Hugh Dunn and Hopewell Hull a third part of the land he had thus acquired. On December 3, 1667, Pierce was commissioned deputy-surveyor to lay out the bounds of a town to be known as Woodbridge, and to apportion the land belonging to each individual. On June 11, 1669, he and his asso- ciates received a charter which created the tract of land therein described (said to contain six miles square) into a township to consist of not less than sixty families. By a resolution adopted on that day, this number of families was not to be exceeded unless by special order of the town.
The nine original associates were John Bishop, Robert Dennis, Henry Jacques, Stephen Kent, Hugh March, John Pike, Daniel Pierce, Joshua Pierce, and John Smith, wheelwright, to designate him from another of the same name, who was a Scotchman. These associates were allowed to retain two hundred and forty acres of upland and forty of meadow in addition to the regular allotment to each freeholder. The Pikes, Pierces, Bishops, Jacques, Kents and Marches were from Newbury, Massachu- setts; Dennis, another of the associates, was from Yarmouth, in the same colony. John Smith was honored immediately after the organization of the town with the post of constable, later promoted to a deputy to the Assembly and an assistant judge. The town meetings were at first held at his house, he acting as moderator, and he appears to have been an esteemed citizen. There is no mention made in the records of his family, and his identity and his descendants become lost in the numerous Smiths in the vicinity.
John Pike seems to have become the prominent man of the town immediately after settlement; he was elected president of Woodbridge, became one of Governor Carteret's councillors, and was appointed captain of the militia. Major Zebulon Pike, of the Revolutionary War, and General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who distinguished himself in
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the War of 1812, were of this family. Daniel Pierce was a blacksmith, whose father first settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1637. He returned to Newbury, Massachusetts, soon after the settlement of Wood- bridge ; Joshua, his son, died in the latter part of 1670. Robert Dennis, though he held many offices in the township and was highly respected, owing to infirmities of body ceases to be mentioned after 1675. John Bishop was a carpenter, and though he held several prominent offices in the town there is no mention in any way to throw light upon his char- acter. Henry Jacques was also a carpenter. Stephen Kent, one of the earliest settlers of Newbury, was an old man on his arrival in New Jer- sey. Hugh March subsequently returned to Newbury.
The majority of the first settlers came from New England, and most of them were descendants from the Puritans. The inhabitants of Wood- bridge pursued the even tenor of their ways amidst the quietness and sobriety of a secluded agricultural people. Woodbridge had ten thou- sand acres for the town and twenty thousand for adjoining plantations, several of these being highly improved. A court house and prison were there, and the possession of a charter gave to the town a peculiar con- sideration in the province. At the time of the transfer of East Jersey to the twenty-four Proprietors, March 14, 1682, Woodbridge's population was estimated at six hundred. The inhabitants were loyal to the Dutch and English governors, to the proprietaries' interests or royal preroga- tives, whichever had the ascendancy. Plain Samuel Dennis, justice under English rule, became Samuel Dennis, schepen, when the Hol- landers temporarily gained the supremacy. The town with equal facility was transferred from the province of New Jersey to the schoutship of Achter Kull in the New Netherland.
Among the early settlers of Woodbridge were the Bloomfields; Thomas and his son Thomas became freeholders in 1670. The elder Bloomfield was a carpenter by trade, and his grandson, Captain John Bloomfield, was in Colonel Dayton's Third Continental Regiment in 1776. The Comptons came to Woodbridge when it was a vast forest, William being the pioneer settler, and he was the first white man to cut down the timber. His daughter Mary was the first white child born in the township. John French worked at his trade of mason and builder at an early date. The Gannitt and Grasie families were of Huguenot descent who settled upon Staten Island and subsequently came to New Jersey. Samuel Hale came from Newbury, Massachusetts, was a surgeon, held official relation in the Assembly, and in framing the charter of the township. Samuel Morse was the first town clerk and held the office for a score of years. He and his brother Matthew made New Jersey their permanent abode from the time of their arrival. Benjamin and Elisha Parker were not relatives, but they came about the same time to Woodbridge; Benjamin was a freeholder in 1670; Elisha first settled
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in Woodbridge in 1675, was appointed high sheriff of the county of Middlesex in 1694, represented the county in the Provincial Assembly and was a member of Governor Hunter's council. Richard, the ancestor of the Connerly family, was of Scotch descent, and came to Woodbridge in 1680. He settled near the "Blazing Star Ferry," on the Kill Von Kull, and probably kept the ferry, near which he lived. He was a joiner by trade. George Lockhart, a practitioner of physic, is mentioned in 1679 as residing in Woodbridge. Peter Dessigny was another practitioner of physic, or "chirurgeon," and was living in the township in 1692. The Rev. Archibald Riddell was a passenger on the ill-fated ship "Henry and Francis" that brought Scot's cargo of Scottish Covenanters to America ; he officiated as pastor to the people of Woodbridge during his enforced residence in America. Another passenger on Scot's vessel, Robert Mclellan, bought a plantation in Woodbridge, having as an inmate of his family Rev. Mr. Riddell. They sailed for Europe together in 1689. but Mclellan subsequently returned and took possession of his lands in Woodbridge. Adam Hood or Hude was also a passenger in the "Henry and Francis ;" he is styled in the old records as a weaver ; he purchased in 1695 lands in Woodbridge, and became in 1718 one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex county, and soon after the presiding judge, acting in that capacity until 1733.
The affairs of Woodbridge were managed as in New England at town meetings, and in January, 1699, it became necessary to make it obligatory to attend these meetings under a penalty of nine pence for non-attendance, and upon refusal to pay the fine the delinquent was to be turned out of the meeting house. The early residents deemed it necessary to prepare against Indian attacks, and a rate was levied to provide ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of lead; the prison was ordered to be fortified by stockades of a half or whole tree of nine feet long at least, to provide a place of safety for the women and chil- dren, but it was never occupied. A ranger of the woods was appointed to prevent danger threatened by the French and Indians. These are the only occurrences on record intimating the existence of any appre- hended difficulty with the natives. The first grist mill in the township was erected in 1670-71 by Jonathan Dunham, and a saw mill was built on Rahawack river by James Bishop in 1682. In February, 1703, John Clake (or Cleak) was encouraged to put up a fulling mill by a grant of twenty acres of land on the Rahawack. The first tavern was established by Samuel Moore in 1683, where rum could be had for three shillings per gallon. The killer of wolves was allowed from ten to twenty-five shillings for each head.
The early associates of Piscataway came principally from the region watered by the Piscataqua river, which now is a portion of the boundary line of Maine and New Hampshire. It is the Indian name of one of the
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eastern tribes, and the orthography of the town's name was changed soon after its settlement to its present form. The original grantees were Hugh Dunn, Hopewell Hull, John Martin, Charles Gilman, Robert Dennis, John Smith, John Gilman and Benjamin Hull. The names first mentioned in the contracts and assignments of lands in this town- ship were the Gilmans in 1675; the Blackshaws, Drakes, Hands and Hendricks in 1677; the Dotys (Doughtys) and Wolfs in 1678; the Smal- leys, Hulls and Trothers in 1679; the Hansworths, Martins and Higgins in 1680; the Dunhams, Laflowers (Laforge) and Fitz Randolphs in 1681 ; the Suttons, Brindleys, Bounds (Bound) and Fords in 1682; the Grubs and Adams in 1683; the Pregmores in 1684; the Davises and Slaughters in 1685; the Chandlers and Smiths in 1689.
In the southeastern portion of the township lived members of the Fields family, whose ancestor came from England and settled at New- port, Rhode Island, in an early day. He removed to Flushing, Long Island, from whence John Field passed into New Jersey, purchasing 1,050 acres lying between Bound Brook and New Brunswick, along the Raritan river. The Garretsons were of Dutch stock, the first of the fam- ily emigrating from Holland in 1658. A descendant, Hendrick Garretson, was at Richmond, Staten Island, and in 1698 purchased of Jacques Poil- lion a farm upon the Raritan river. John Smalley is named as a free- holder in 1691. The Martins and Dunhams were from Dover, New Hampshire, and of the latter family Rev. Edward Dunham was the first clergyman of the Seventh Day Baptist church in Piscataway. Among the first members of this church were Thomas and John Fitz Randolph, who resided in the center of the township. They were descendants of Edward Fitz Randolph, a scion of an ancient family of Yorkshire who traced their ancestry to Count Herald Fitz Randolph, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England and upon whom he settled various estates. The American ancestor, in company with his widowed mother, came to New England in 1630; he married at Barnstable, Massachu- setts, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Blossom, and with his wife and their unmarried children: John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Thomas, Benjamin and perhaps Hope, removed from Massachusetts to Piscataway in 1668. Edward Fitz Randolph was a man of note and is mentioned in the rec- ords of Barnstable, Massachusetts, as one of the earliest settlers of that town; he died shortly after coming to New Jersey. Edward Slater was a freeholder in the township in 1683, and owned a large number of acres ; he was the first clerk of the courts of the county. Vincent Rug- nion, the name afterwards becoming Runyon, was of Huguenot descent ; he removed to Piscataway in 1677, and was allotted land on the Raritan river. Therefore, by a cursory examination it can be readily seen that the first settlers of Piscataway were of more mixed nationality than the New England settlers of Woodbridge.
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The original settlers in the vicinity of New Brunswick were Dutch and French Protestants. There were, however, in 1683, some English and Dutch plantations on the Raritan above and below the present city of New Brunswick, while the central part was only a swamp. In June, 1681, John Inian and company purchased from the Indians a tract of land embracing ten thousand acres on the south side of the Raritan river opposite the township of Piscataway. This tract afterwards became known as the Raritan lots, and is now the lower edge of New Bruns- wick, running along the river to near Bound Brook. The tract was soon afterwards surveyed and laid out into nineteen lots having in general less than a half of mile of river front and about two miles deep, aggre- gating about six hundred and forty acres. John Inian purchased two of these lots in what is now New Brunswick; to the north of his pur- chase, lots were sold to Gibbons, Inian, Bainbridge, Bridgeman, Miller, Jones, Clements, Antill and Dockwra. South of Inian's purchase, Thomas Lawrence bought three thousand acres; this tract subsequently came into the possession of Cornelius Longfield and Governor Barclay, while that of Inian was purchased by Philip French, who laid out streets upon it and cut it up into building lots and farms.
The first Dutch on the Raritan came about 1683, principally from Long Island. The condition of affairs cannot be better illustrated than giving extracts from a Scotchman's letter to his brother in Edinburgh. He writes that the Indians are nothing to fear, the country being as peaceable as anywhere else. There are no bears, nor ravenous beasts except wolves, which are harmless; snakes are not to be noticed, as they give timely warning of an attack by the rattling of their tails. Oxen are so well taught they go sometimes in a plough or cart without horse or without a gad-man. Horses and cattle are as cheap as in Scot- land. The air, he writes, is healthful, the soil fruitful, Indian corn yielding commonly two or three hundred fold and oats twenty fold. He informs his brother that there were several reasonably good towns in the prov- ince of more than eighty families each, that they were no poor people, and the liquor they used was cider, as there was a great store of fruit. The old inhabitants, he states, are a most careful and infrugal people, their profession most part Protestants, a few Quakers, and some Ana- baptists, but there was a lack of preachers and he hoped his brother would be instrumental in filling this want.
The point at the mouth of the Raritan river is first mentioned in the deed of Augustine Heermans by the name of Ompage. In the subse- quent deed to Bailey, Denton and Watson, no particular name is given to either the point or country, but the next year, Bailey transferring his rights to Philip Carteret, calls the country, Arthur Cull or Emboyle, which was written Amboyle; from these names Ambo was derived and conferred upon the point. In granting the charter of Woodbridge, it
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was specified that one thousand acres should be reserved in and about Ambo Point, one hundred acres of which were to be laid out in the most convenient place adjacent to the point. This reservation is a proof of sound discrimination and judgment of Governor Carteret, as it was a most eligible site for the situation of a city. He most likely had in mind the opposition to his authority shown at Elizabethtown, which induced him to recommend the removal of the seat of government to some place where the interests of the proprietaries would be more regarded. The transfer of the province into other hands and the death of Carteret prevented the realization of his plans. The new proprietaries also were interested in establishing a city at the point, and contributed £ 1,200 in furtherance of the project, but their deputy governors were slow in making progress, and it was not until 1684 that any effective steps were taken. In that year, Lawrie, the then deputy governor, received positive orders to remove the offices of government from Elizabethtown to what was then called the new town of Perth.
In the month of December, 1685, an arrival of more than ordinary interest occurred at the Point. A vessel freighted with Scotchmen upon whom persecution had wrought the work of purification and whose souls had been tempered for patient endurance by sore trials and misfortunes, anchored in the harbor. They were Scotch Covenanters, members of the Cameronians, a sect of Scotch Presbyterian dissenters. James I. had enforced on his Scottish subjects a liturgy which the people abhorred. This exercise of the royal prerogative led in 1638 to the formation of a covenant in behalf of the true religion and freedom of the Kirkdom. The organization of the Scottish Presbytery was still further completed in the adoption of the Presbyterian form of church govern- ment, a Calvinistic confession of faith, and the two catechisms, which documents are still the standard of the Scottish Kirk. The act of English and Scottish parliaments against conventicles, the legalized persecutions, with other irritating matters, exasperated the Covenanters to a point where they thought forbearance ceased to be a duty. They therefore took up arms against the royal power and were disastrously beaten, and many executed and imprisoned. They largely were inhabitants of the Lowlands of Scotland, the Highlanders being generally adherents of the Roman Catholic religion or the Church of England. To these people America offered a refuge, and through the exertions of George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie, early in May, 1685, a ship of three hundred and fifty tons named the "Henry and Francis" of Newcastle, England, was char- tered. On September 5, 1685, the vessel left the harbor of Leith, Scotland, having on board nearly two hundred passengers, some of whom had been on board since the previous summer. The voyage was long and disastrous, fifteen weeks being consumed in crossing the ocean. A fever of a malignant type broke out, and the meat, owing probably to the
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length of time which had elapsed since the vessel was chartered, became offensive and uneatable. As many as seventy died at sea, among whom was George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie, his wife also, her sister-in-law, Lady Althernie, and her two children.
The charge for transportation as publicly announced was £5 sterling for each adult, and to each of those who were unable to pay for their passage was promised twenty-five acres of land and a suit of new clothes on the completion of four years' service to those who advanced the requi- site amount. After their arrival, considerable difficulty took place on account of those that had come over without paying their passage money. An attempt was made to have them serve their four years' indenture in consideration of the expense incurred by Scot for their transportation. This they would not agree to, and suits were brought. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff of £ 5 sterling and costs. It is a difficult matter to determine how many of these Scotch Covenanters became permanent residents of Perth Amboy. A large number of them returned to Eng- land; others, on the accession of William and Mary to the throne of England, returned to their native land. A more detailed account of those that remained in Perth Amboy will be given in the history of that city in this work.
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CHAPTER V. THE EAST JERSEY PROPRIETORS.
The following with relation to the East Jersey Proprietors, by Adrian Lyon, registrar of the Board of Proprietors of East Jersey, was read at the meeting of the Woman's Branch of the New Jersey Historical Society at Newark, May 10, 1916:
On June 24, 1497, John and Sebastian Cabot, sailing under the author- ity of Henry VII. of England, reached North America, unfurled the royal banner and took possession in the name of the King. From this is derived the English title. On March 12, in the sixteenth year of the reign of Charles II., 1664, he granted to his brother James, Duke of York, the lands from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay, together with the right of government.
On June 24, 1664, James, Duke of York, granted to John Lord Berk- ley, Baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret, of Saltrum, Knight, two of His Majesty's most Honorable Privy Council, "all that tract of land adjacent to New England and lying and being to the westward of Long Island and Manhitas Island, and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson river, and hath upon the west Delaware bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May at the mouth of Delaware bay ; and to the northward as far as the northermost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, which is 41º 40' of latitude, and crosseth over thence in a straight line to Hudson's river in 41 degrees of latitude; which said tract of land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New Caserea or New Jersey." This conveyance was by the common form of lease and release, and conveyed the soil only, but did not transfer the right of government.
On July 30, 1673, New York and New Jersey were taken by the Dutch. On Feb. 9, 1674, a treaty of peace restored the country to the English, and they continued in undisturbed possession until the war of Independence.
Because the country was conquered by the Dutch and afterwards restored to the English, Charles II., on June 29, 1674, gave a new grant to James, Duke of York, similar to the former grant, and on July 29, 1674, James, Duke of York, gave another grant to Sir George Carteret for that part of New Jersey as far southward as Barnegat creek.
On July 1, 1676, the quintipartite deed was executed between Sir George Carteret, William Penn, Gawen Lawry, Nicholas Lucas, and Edward Billinge, by which East New Jersey was confirmed to Sir George Carteret, and the partition line between East Jersey and West Jersey was described. This division line ran from the east side of Little Egg
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Harbour to a point on the Delaware river where it was intersected by the old partition line between New York and New Jersey as intended by the original grant from the Duke of York to Berkley and Carteret. This point was at 41º 40' latitude, and was some distance above the point where the river curves sharply to the west. This results in throw- ing the division line farther to the west than can be readily understood by those who have in mind the most northerly point of the State as it now exists. The situation can readily be seen by reference to the map in Smith's "History of New Jersey." This line is commonly known as the Lawrence line, because it was run by John Lawrence, a surveyor, in 1743.
Sir George Carteret died in 1680. By his will he left his widow, Lady Elizabeth, executrix of his estate and guardian of his grandson and heir and devised to six persons all his property in East Jersey, in trust for the benefit of his creditors. These trustees were Right Hon. John Earl of Bath, Thomas Lord Creive, the Hon. Barnard Greenvill, Esqr., brother of the said Earl of Bath, Sr. Robert Atkins, Knight of the Bath, Sr. Edward Atkins, Knight, one of the Barons of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer. On March 16, 1680, by a writing, they declared "that all Pattents of any Lands in the said Province granted or to be granted to any Person or Persons whatsoever shall hereafter be made in the name only of the Right Honble the Lady Elizabeth Carteret, widdow, the Relict and sole Executrix of the said Sr. George Carteret, deceased, and grandmother and gardian to Sr. George Carteret Baronet Grandsone and heir of the said Sr. George Carteret deceased." These trustees offered said property in East Jersey at public sale to the highest bidder. William Penn and eleven associates purchased it for £3,400, and it was conveyed to them on Feb. 2, 1682. Each of these twelve proprietors subsequently sold one-half of his respective right to a new associate, making twenty-four in all.
On March 14, 1682, the Duke of York confirmed the title of the twenty-four proprietors to East Jersey by name as follows : Right Hon. James Earl of Perth, the Hon. John Drummond, Esq., of Lundy ; Robert Barclay, Esq., and David Barclay, Junior, Esq., of Eury ; Robert Gordon, Esq., of Cluny ; Arent Sonmans, Esq., of Wallingford, all in the Kingdom of Scotland; William Penn, Esq., of Worminghurst in the county of Sussex; Robert West, Esq., of the Middle Temple, London; Thomas Rudyard, gentleman, of London ; Samuel Groom, mariner, of the parish of Stepney in the county of Middlesex; Thomas Hart, merchant, of Enfield, in the county of Middlesex ; Richard Mew, merchant, of Stepney, aforesaid; Ambrose Rigg, gentleman, of Gatton Place in the county of Surry ; Thomas Cooper, citizen and merchant-taylor, of London ; Gawen Lawry, merchant, of London; Edward Billing, gentleman, of the city of Westminster, in the county of Middlesex; James Braine, merchant, of
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London; William Gibson, citizen and haberdasher, of London; John Haywood, citizen and skinner, of London; Hugh Hartshorne, citizen and skinner, of London; Clement Plunsteed, citizen and draper, of London; Thomas Barker, merchant, of London; Robert Turner, merchant, and Thomas Warne, merchant, both of the city of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland. These included the twelve original proprietors with the exception of Thomas Wilcox, who had sold his entire interest to David Barclay. This grant is recorded in the office of the East Jersey Pro- prietors in Book A, page 53.
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