USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 5
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The most usual method of making such grants was upon a warrant issued by the board directing that a survey be made for a certain number of acres. By the authority of this warrant a survey was made by a deputy surveyor who sent his brief certificate and description and com- putation thereof to the office of the board, or of the surveyor general, as it is commonly called. Thereupon the surveyor general made a cer- tificate, called a "return," stating that the deputy surveyor had surveyed for the person entitled to it a tract of land as described. This "return" was recorded in the office in the book of "Surveys" and thereby became the muniment or evidence of title of the proprietor or purchaser.
There are in the office three very old books of Warrants and Surveys between the years 1673 and 1738. They are valuable from an historical point of view, but, by reason of our laws concerning the limitation of time in which actions for the possession of land may be brought, would be seldom referred to for the purpose of making title. In addition to these is the regular series of record books in which "surveys" or "returns" are recorded, beginning with 1719 and continuing in twenty- three books to date.
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The General Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey is a corporation. It is the oldest private corporation in this State doing business at the present time, and doubtless the oldest in this country It was never incorporated under the authority of any law. Its legal status in this respect, however, has been before the courts, and in the case of the Proprietors against the Force Estate, above mentioned, Vice Chancellor Pitney held it to be a corporation by prescription, and his holding was affirmed on appeal.
Its relation to the State of New Jersey and especially to the titles to the soil is anomalous. It had its origin in the grant of a King to his "dearest Brother," of a land far away beyond the seas, over two hun- dred and fifty years ago. Then it was a new land, roamed by wild beasts and inhabited by the Indians. Its attractions were a goodly land, a fertile soil, the allurements of adventure, and the freedom of the vast unpeopled domain. Its hardships were the privations of the primeval forests, and the separation from the ties of the mother land. This cor- poration still exists and is still doing business. It is a link between the present and the past. Through it we are reminded of the sacrifices of the men in the days that have gone, and of the rewards of their labors which we in this busy, prosperous, civilized land, are enjoying to the full.
CHAPTER VI. THE PROPRIETARY AND COLONIAL GOVERNORS.
The Proprietaries chose Robert Barclay, one of their members, to succeed Governor Carteret. He was a native of Scotland, having been born in 1648 at Gordonstown in Morayshire. After finishing his educa- tion in Paris he was inclined to accept the Roman Catholic faith, but eventually followed in the footsteps of his father, Colonel Barclay of Urie, and joined the recently formed Society of Friends. An ardent theological student, a man of warm feelings, and considerable mental powers, he soon became known as the leading apologist of the new doctrine. His greatest literary production was published in Latin in 1676 under the title of "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity," which is still the most important manifesto of the Quaker Society. His death at the age of forty-two years, October 3, 1690, robbed the Society of Friends of one of the most able exponents of its doctrines. Governor Barclay never visited New Jersey. His two brothers, John and David, however, became identified with the province. The former resided first at Elizabethtown, subsequently at Plainfield, and became a permanent resident of Perth Amboy about 1688, where he died in the spring of 1731 at an advanced age, with the character of a good neighbor and useful citizen. David, the other brother, came to the province in 1684, returned to Scotland, and sailed from Aberdeen in the summer of 1685 for America, but died at sea.
Thomas Rudyard, a lawyer and attorney of London, who had gained notoriety for his assistance in the trial of William Penn in that city, having received the appointment of deputy governor, arrived in the province in the early part of 1683. In his letters to parties in England he writes of making Elizabethtown his place of residence and of jour- neying to Philadelphia, stating that while there were salt marshes, the country was free from mosquitoes. He also writes that provisions were plentiful, there being vast oyster beds and fresh fish in abundance. The soil he pronounces as rich, and in his judgment without help it could be ploughed fifty years without decaying and could produce multitudes of winter corn.
The stay of Governor Rudyard in the province was but short, as his successor, Gawen Lawrie, was appointed deputy governor in July, 1683, but did not reach the province until the early part of the following year. Governor Lawrie was another Londoner, engaged in mercantile pursuits in that city. As his name indicates, he was of Scotch descent, a staunch Quaker. He settled many colonies of Friends in his domain, of which he was one of the twenty-two proprietaries. He took up his
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residence at Elizabethtown, and though strenuously urged to remove to Perth Amboy, of which town he was regarded as one of the founders, he steadfastly refused, as Elizabethtown, having grown to a place of some pretensions, could offer to his family, who accompanied him, more of the comforts of life than Perth Amboy, which was just entering upon its existence. His administration of affairs not only gave satis- faction to the other proprietaries but to those he ruled over. He was succeeded in 1686 by Lord Niel Campbell. This scion of nobility was a member of the Scotch clan of Campbells, a brother of the Earl of Argyle. He became identified with Argyle's expedition in connection with the Duke of Monmouth's unsuccessful attempt to prevent the accession of James II. to the throne of Scotland, and became obnoxious to the government, being subjected to much severity and persecution. He was arrested and gave a bond of £5,000 to confine himself to a radius of six miles around Edinburgh. The animosity against the Campbells became so universal, besides all Protestant heritors being required to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy, that Lord Camp- bell's only resource was in flight. Leaving his wife and family, he embarked for East Jersey in the autumn of 1685, having purchased a proprietary right, bringing with him or causing to be sent out after- wards a large number of settlers. The precise date of Lord Campbell's arrival in the province is not known, but he is mentioned in the pro- prietaries' minutes of November 27, 1685, as having "newly come out." His presence in the province led the proprietaries to avail themselves of his services as their deputy governor, and he was commissioned June 4, 1686, and entered upon his duties the ensuing October. A change in the political conditions of Scotland enabled him to return to his family, and he left East Jersey in March, 1687.
At the time of the departure of Lord Campbell for Scotland, Andrew Hamilton was a member of the governor's council and became acting governor of the province. A native of Scotland, while he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Edinburgh he was sent to East Jersey as a special agent for the proprietaries. He was continued in office after the consolidation of the Jerseys, New York and New England, under the control of Sir Edmund Andros, but when the latter was seized at Boston, Massachusetts, in April, 1689, Governor Hamilton sailed for England to consult with the proprietaries. He was appointed governor of both Jerseys, March 16, 1692, retaining this office until 1697, when he was superseded by Jeremiah Basse, notwithstanding that his rule was satisfactory to the colonies and proprietaries. So great was the disorder and maladministration under his successor that he was reappointed deputy governor August 19, 1699, holding the office until 1701, when he became deputy governor of Pennsylvania. His death occurred at Perth Amboy, while on a visit to his family, April 20, 1703. During his term
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as governor he resided in the Brighton house at Perth Amboy, which had been erected on grounds near the public square as the first govern- ment house by the proprietaries in 1684. Hamilton was the last of the proprietaries' governors ; wearied out with struggling with the settlers in 1702, they ceded to the crown their rights of jurisdiction, whereupon Queen Anne joined New Jersey to New York under the government of Lord Cornbury. Edward Hyde (Lord Cornbury) was one of the first officers to desert the cause of James II., his uncle by marriage, to join the standard of William of Orange, in 1688. He afterwards became a member of Parliament, but being harassed by creditors and desirous of leaving England, he eagerly accepted the appointment of governor of New York, tendered to him by Queen Anne. Of an arrogant, despotic disposition, also dishonest and grasping, incessant in his demands upon the legislatures of the two provinces, especially New Jersey, the cries of discontent of the oppressed colonies reached Queen Anne's ears. He was superseded in the spring of 1708 by Lord Lovelace, who did not reach New York until the close of the year. Lord Lovelace's administra- tion of affairs was of short duration, as he died early in the year of 1709.
Robert Hunter, known as Brigadier Hunter, was appointed Lord Lovelace's successor. A Scotchman by birth, he had risen from a humble station to high military rank. He was the first of the royal governors of New Jersey who regarded the province with sufficient favor to secure upon its soil anything like a permanent home. Governor Hunter arrived at New York in September, 1709. It was an inauspicious period for his own comfort, immediately succeeding the unpopular and disorganizing administration of Lord Cornbury, his immediate predecessor, not living long enough to effect any radical change. Governor Hunter's endeav- ors were spent in harmonizing the discordant elements around him. His first message to the Assembly is pregnant with good common sense : "If honesty is the best policy, plainness must be the best oratory ; so to deal plainly with you, as long as these unchristian diversions, which Her Majesty has thought to deserve her repeated notice, reign amongst you, I shall have small hopes of a happy issue to our meeting * Let every man begin at home and weed the rancor out of his mind, and the work is done at once. Leave disputes of property to the laws, and injuries to the avenger of them, and, like good subjects and good Chris- tians, join hearts and hands for the common good." Such and similar pregnant sentences had effect in inducing more cordial feelings between the executive and representatives of the people, but it was a work of time. Governor Hunter's home in Perth Amboy was on a knoll south of St. Peter's Church, commanding a fine view of the harbor, bay and ocean. Here he often retired to obtain rest from the weighty cares which his administration of the affairs of New York brought upon him. His wife, the widow of Lord John Hay and daughter of Sir Thomas Orby,
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accompanied him to America. Her death in 1716, supplemented by failing health and his private interests requiring his presence in London, he left his government in 1719, never to return. On his arrival in England he effected an exchange with William Burnet, taking an office held by him in customs, and resigning in his favor the governments of New York and New Jersey. The post in the customs he retained for several years, but in 1727 was appointed governor of Jamaica. Age began to wear on the governor, and in 1732 he retired from public life ; his death occurred in 1734. He had failings common to all mankind, but there is abundant evidence of his possessing high integrity and other qualities characterizing the gentleman; the success which attended his administration, despite the unfavorable circumstances under which it was carried on, is ample proof that he was intelligent, able and perse- vering.
The successor of Governor Hunter derived his Christian name from William, Prince of Orange, who stood sponsor for him at his baptism. His education had been under the supervision of his father, the cele- brated Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, and author of the "History of His Own Times," and Sir Isaac Newton. Young Burnet's education was improved by travel and other advantages which had resulted in a combination of studiousness and affability. The knowledge of men and books made him a pleasant conversationalist, with a remarkable degree of assimilation among those he was thrown in contact with. An inordinate lover of books, he spent large sums in their acquisition, and this, coupled with unfortunate investments in South Sea schemes, crip- pled his income.
Governor Burnet received his appointment April 19, 1720, and assumed the government of New York on September 17. A few days afterwards he visited New Jersey and went through the usual forms of proclamations at Perth Amboy and Burlington. The governor was of large stature, combining with frank manners a dignified demeanor, his countenance expressed intelligence, amiability and humor combined. Governor Hunter, before the departure of his successor to America, informed him of the acquaintance he had made with leading men of New Jersey, which was extremely advantageous to him, as he entered society in the colony with some knowledge of the character as well as the social and political relations of the individuals composing it. The impressions thus derived led him to look forward to frequent and longer visits to New Jersey, and with that in view he purchased Hunter's resi- dence in Perth Amboy.
Governor Burnet was averse to leaving the middle colonies, but on the accession of George II., a place had to be made for a court sycophant. He was appointed governor of Massachusetts, but, independent of all private considerations, the habits and customs of the people of Massa-
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chusetts Bay were not so consonant with his own as those he had been familiar with for eight years. The mandate had, however, gone forth and he gracefully retired. He reached Boston on July 12, 1728, but his administration of affairs was of short duration, his death occurring Sep- tember 7, 1729.
The new governor of New York and New Jersey was John Mont- gomerie, a native of Scotland. He was bred a soldier, but after being a member of Parliament decided to enter upon the career of a courtier. He became groom of the bedchamber to then Prince of Wales, after- wards George II. On the accession of his patron to the throne, he received, April 15, 1728, the appointment of the governorship of New York and New Jersey. Governor Montgomerie, though a person of good character, was dull intellectually, and was modestly conscious of his deficiencies, therefore he had no controversies with the legislatures. They reciprocated by granting him supplies which they persistently refused to do for several of his predecessors. His administration was evidently cut short by his death, July 1, 1731, by smallpox, then raging in New York.
Lewis Morris became acting governor of New Jersey ad interim, serving until the arrival of the newly appointed governor, William Cosby. There were prospects of a popular administration at the outset of the new executive's government. Governor Cosby was a strict mili- tary disciplinarian, a colonel in the British army, of an arbitrary and haughty disposition, and his act of keeping the same Assembly for six years without dissolution made him very unpopular. His death occurred May 10, 1736, while still an incumbent of the executive chair
At the death of Governor Cosby, the government of New Jersey devolved on John Anderson, the president of the council, but he too died in less than three weeks and was succeeded by the next eldest councillor, John Hamilton. The new executive was a son of Andrew Hamilton, governor under the proprietaries, and was born in Scotland. He first appeared in public life as one of Governor Hunter's council in 1713, and also served in the same position during the administrations of Governors Burnet, Montgomerie and Cosby. He continued to admin- ister the government until the summer of 1738, when he was relieved by the appointment of Lewis Morris as governor of New Jersey, inde- pendent of New York. Colonel Hamilton, by which title he was known, tradition states possessed a high and overbearing temper, which in connection with domestic trials rendered his declining years, invalid as he was, a period of great distress and unhappiness. He resided at Perth Amboy in a spacious dwelling overlooking the broad bay formed by the junction of the Raritan river and the Sound with Sandy Hook inlet. His administration of the affairs of the colony was notable for two events-the granting of the first charter to the College of New Jersey,
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and the aid the colony gave towards the Canadian Expedition in the French and Indian Wars.
Lewis Morris, the first royal governor of New Jersey independent of New York, was an American product. He was the son of Richard Morris, an officer in Cromwell's army, who emigrated from England to the West Indies and afterwards came to New York, purchasing three thousand acres, a part of which became Morrisania. Here the governor was born in 1671 ; he studied law, and at the age of twenty-one became a judge of the Superior Court of New York and New Jersey. He became a member of the governor's council, and bitterly opposed Lord Corn- bury. As a member of the Assembly he was the author of the complaint against his lordship which was formulated by that body, and he in person presented it to Queen Anne. It was mainly through his endeav- ors that the division was effected between New York and New Jersey in 1738, and he became governor of the latter, holding the office until his death at Kingsbury, New Jersey, May 21, 1746. Colonel Hamilton again became invested with the chief authority, occasioned by the vacancy due to the death of Governor Morris, but he had for a long time been very infirm, and before the close of the year he also died, and was succeeded by the next oldest councillor, John Reading.
The vacancy caused by the death of Governor Morris was filled by the appointment of Jonathan Belcher. His predecessor in office resided in Trenton, New Jersey, Governor Belcher chose Elizabethtown as his place of abode, it offering more attractions than Perth Amboy. The newly appointed executive by birth was a New Englander, his grand- father, Andrew Belcher, being on record as early as 1646 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father, a second Andrew, was a provincial counselor, a man of wealth. At Cambridge, on January 8, 1682, the governor was born, spending his early life among surroundings of wealth and culture. A graduate of Harvard College, he sailed for Europe and spent six years amidst the court life of the Electorate of Hanover, where he made the acquaintance of the future George I. of England. Retiring to New Eng- land, he became engaged in mercantile trade, and in 1729 was sent to England as the agent of the Massachusetts Colony. He returned to Bos- ton the following year with a commission appointing him governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Governor Belcher in his early life was not bred to the ways of economy, therefore in his manhood days he spent money with a prodigal hand and an elegant liberality. A man of society and of the world, he loved intrigue, and he attempted to instill into politics some of the methods of trade. This brought him into contention with the Legisla- ture of Massachusetts ; his insistence for a fixed salary as governor was opposed by the people. This difference of opinion was submitted to the British courts and the governor was fully vindicated. He then was
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offered the appointment of governor for New Jersey, which he accepted in 1747, landing at Perth Amboy from the British man-of-war "Scar- borough" on the morning of August 8 of that year. Governor Belcher maintained a successful administration for a decade of years, which was terminated by his death at Elizabethtown, August 31, 1757. He was a benevolent patron of the College of New Jersey, and to that institution he left his extensive library.
The next governor of New Jersey was Sir Francis Bernard, educated at Oxford University. At the time of his appointment he was engaged in the profession of law in London. He landed at Perth Amboy from His Majesty's ship "Terrible," June 14, 1758. His administration was of short duration, but received the warm approbation of the people of New Jersey. He was transferred to become governor of Massachusetts, and left Perth Amboy, where he had resided during the term of his office, in the month of July, 1760, for his new assignment.
Thomas Boone, appointed to succeed Governor Bernard, reached Perth Amboy by land from New York, July 3, 1760. The ensuing day the oath of office was administered and his commission was published with the usual formalities. There was nothing important in the matter of legislation during Governor Boone's brief term. On June 18, 1761, it was announced in New York that Governor Boone had been on April 14, 1761, appointed to the chief authority in the province of South Carolina.
His successor, Josiah Hardy, arrived at New York on His Majesty's ship "Alcide," October 22, 1761, and he was met seven days later on his landing at Elizabethtown Point on his way to Perth Amboy by Governor Booth, Lord Stirling, the members of the council, gentlemen and magis- trates of the borough of Elizabethtown, with a military escort com- manded by Captains Terrill and Parker. Though the governor met the legislature at four different sessions, but little of any important legislation was passed. Owing to some differences arising between his superiors in England relative to the appointment of judges, he was recalled in 1763 and gave place to William Franklin, the last of the colonial governors of New Jersey.
The birth of this last royal governor of New Jersey is shrouded in mystery ; that it took place somewhere in the province of Pennsylvania is undisputable. The year is commonly acknowledged to be 1731, and that he was the only son, and illegitimate at that, of the noted patriot, Benjamin Franklin, is an established fact. Of his maternal parentage nothing is known; whether he received a mother's care and love is not a matter of record. The sage philosopher in writing of his son in 1750 says, "Will is now nineteen years of age, a tall, proper youth, and much of a beau. He acquired a habit of idleness in the expedition, but begins of late to apply himself to business, and I hope will become an indus-
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trious man. He imagined his father had got enough for him, but I assured him that I intend to spend what little I have for myself, if it please God that I live long enough ; and as he by no means wants acute- ness, he can see by my going on that I mean to be as good as my word." The expedition alluded to was one or more campaigns in which the younger Franklin served in the Pennsylvania forces on the northern frontiers before he was of age, rising from a subordinate position to the rank of captain. On his return to Philadelphia from his military exploits, he became in a great degree a companion and assistant of his father in his various scientific and professional pursuits, and subsequently him- self entered into official life. He acted as comptroller of the General Post Office, also was clerk of the Provincial Assembly, and when his father was sent to the frontiers of Pennsylvania to build forts accom- panied him. Dr. Franklin was appointed in June, 1757, colonial agent at London, and his son sailed with him for Europe.
Young Franklin on his arrival in London entered upon the study of law in the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1758. His travels with his father through England, Scotland, Flanders and Holland, gave him the opportunity of improving his mental and personal attainments which such favorable circumstances naturally afforded. Like his father, his society was courted by men of the highest literary and scientific acquirements, therefore he could not help to imbibe in such environments a taste for similar pursuits, and we find that when the University of Oxford conferred upon his talented father the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws for great proficiency in the natural sciences, the son was thought worthy of that of Master of Arts for having distinguished himself in the same branches of knowledge.
It was in August, 1762, that he was appointed through the influence of Lord Bute, without any solicitation on the part of his father, governor of New Jersey. He had previously undergone a close examination by Lord Halifax, Minister of American Affairs, who deemed it advisable on account of his colonial birth and youth, he at that time being only thirty years of age. Governor Franklin arrived with his bride, Miss Elizabeth Downs, at the Delaware river, in February, 1763, and arrived at Perth Amboy on the 24th. He first took lodgings at Burlington, and finally took up his permanent residence there until October, 1774, when he removed to Perth Amboy. Almost immediately after his entrance upon his duties in New Jersey, the attitude of the British min- istry towards the colonies began to excite the people. Governor Franklin was favorably disposed towards the colonies as long as no direct oppo- sition to the authority of Parliament was manifested. He was visited by his father in 1775, who zealously strove to draw him over to the side of the colonies ; their conversations at times exhibited a degree of warmth not favorable to continued harmonious intercourse, but each failed to convince the other of the impropriety of the course he was pursuing.
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