USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
The proprietor interests acquired by the Society of Friends induced members of that sect to emigrate to the province. Monthly meetings were held in East Jersey as early as 1686 at Perth Amboy and Wood- bridge. Their meeting houses were, however, demolished about the Revolutionary times, and in their old burying grounds in Woodbridge sleep the first of the sect in East Jersey. This burial ground in 1784 was sold to the Methodist Episcopal church.
Commissioners to determine the direction of the boundary line between East and West Jersey were not appointed until ten years after the deed of partition was drawn up. They were William Emly of Amwell, West Jersey, and John Reid, the deputy surveyor-general of the eastern portion of the province. Reid was a resident of the town of Perth, and was sent to America by the proprietaries in 1683 as a surveyor. It is said he was a gardener in his native country ; he was repeatedly a member of the Assembly, and in 1702 was appointed sur- veyor-general. He subsequently removed to Monmouth county and lived on a tract known as "Hortensia," on the east branch of the Hop river.
The commissioners did not seem to be governed at all by the deed of partition, but determined the direction of the line according to their own arbitrary pleasure. The deputy governor and several of the pro- prietors of West Jersey, however, acquiesced in their award and placed themselves under bonds in the sum of £5,000 to abide by the final decision. The next step was the actual running out of the line. The East Jersey proprietors and officials became anxious and appointed commissioners to wait upon the authorities of West Jersey to remind them of their contract and hurry their tardy steps so to have the line run as speedily as possible. In 1687 the line as far as a point on the south branch of the Raritan was surveyed to the present boundary line between Somerset and Hunterdon counties, there- fore, not to the Delaware river. To meet the conditions of the original agreement, a surveyor, George Keith, was furnished by the East Jersey authorities. Keith was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, an eminent Quaker, although originally a Scotch Presbyterian. He became acquainted with the leading Scotch proprietaries in his native land by teaching a son of Governor Barclay at Theobalds, Scotland. The pro- prietaries appointed him in 1684 surveyor-general, and he reached the
59
EAST AND WEST JERSEY
province the following year. He was induced by the Quakers of Phila- delphia in 1689 to leave Freehold, New Jersey, of which settlement he was the founder, to accept the superintendence of a school at that place. He did not, however, remain in this humble situation, but became among the Quakers a public speaker in their religious assemblies. Possessing quick natural talents improved by considerable literary attainments, he was acute in argument, ready and able in logical disputations and discussions of distinction in theological matters, but having great self- esteem he was apt to indulge in an overbearing disposition. His pecu- liarities of mind and temperament naturally made him assume the post of leader, and through his talents and energy he gathered around him followers in whom he inculcated an increased attention to plainness of garb and language and other points of discipline. With these religious tenets he connected the political doctrines of the abandonment of all forcible measures to uphold secular or worldly government, and the emancipation of negroes after a reasonable term of service.
These advanced doctrines caused a serious division in the Society of Friends, and as they did not meet with the general acceptance Keith expected, he became captious and indulged in censure and reproach, declaring only those that associated with him were true Quakers. Keith was charged with exercising an overbearing temper, also an unchristian disposition of mind in disparaging many of the Society of Friends, and his conduct was publicly denounced. His appeal to the general meeting of Friends at Burlington, as well as to the yearly meeting at London, where he appeared in person, and where his behavior was such as led to approval of the proceedings against him, brought his authority and influence to an end. Retaining a number of adherents in England, Keith abjured the doctrines of the Quakers and became a zealous clergyman of the Established Church of England. After officiating some time in the mother country, in 1702 he returned to America as a missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He preached in all the colonies from Massachusetts to North Carolina, his labors being very successful in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, where a large number of Quakers became converted to the doctrines and disci- pline of the Church of England. He returned to England and received a benefice in Sussex, where he continued until his death to write against the doctrines of the Quakers.
The partition line as run by Keith was not approved by some of the West Jersey proprietors, though the award subsequently received the sanction and approval of William Penn. Governor Coxe, of West Jersey, a just and public-spirited man, above the imputation of mere self-inter- est, claimed that East Jersey was getting the lion's share of the award. He openly repudiated the Emly and Reid award, and soon brought all the West Jersey proprietors to his way of thinking, with the exception
60
MIDDLESEX
of William Penn. The East Jersey proprietors began to take up lands at various places near the pretended line of partition, which Governor Coxe protested against, and ordered the surveyor of West Jersey to take up in the name of that province all lands west of the Millstone and Raritan rivers. This would include lands within three miles of Perth Amboy, the town of Piscataway, and Inian's Ferry.
The controversy over the lands continued until a compromise was effected by Governor Coxe and Barclay in London, September 5, 1688, each binding himself to fulfill the covenant in the sum of £ 5,000. The compromise partition line extended from the southwestern terminus of the Keith line to the north branch of the Raritan (called Pepack branch ), a distance of about sixty miles ; from there up the north branch to near its head, following what is now the boundary line between Somerset and Morris counties and coinciding with that line at the point where it strikes the Passaic river; thence it follows the Passaic, first southward and then northward to the mouth of Pequannock, and after ascending that stream to latitude 41°, turned directly east, running parallel to the Hudson river. The boundary line between New York and New Jersey had not at this time been finally determined, and was not for nearly seventy five years afterwards.
The compromise line continued to be the accepted partition line between the two provinces until 1743. An act was passed by the Legis- lature in 1719 appointing a commission to ascertain and determine the northern station point described in the grant of the Duke of York. According to the quintipartite agreement, the divisional line from the east side of Little Egg Harbor was to terminate on the Delaware river in latitude 41° 40'. This commission decided that at the Fishkill, the northermost branch of the Delaware river, on its east bank, at an Indian village called Casheightouch, was the north partition or division point between the provinces of New York and New Jersey, likewise between the eastern and western division of the latter province. This report and action of the commissioners and surveyors was fully concurred in, and ratified by the proprietors of the two New Jersey provinces. Though the West Jersey proprietors were anxious to run this new partition line, they lacked the necessary funds to pay their share of the expense. After many years of delay the East Jersey proprietors in 1743 assumed the responsibility of the expense and employed John Lawrence to run the division line. In running the partition line, Lawrence started on the east side of Little Egg Harbor and ran a random line to Cocheton; he then found the station point established in 1719, and taking his bearings, returned, making his corrections and marking the true line southward to the place of beginning. The line trees in the random line were marked with three notches on two sides. The side trees were marked with one blaze looking toward the lines. The mile trees were
61
EAST AND WEST JERSEY
marked respectively with the number of each mile and with three notches on four sides.
The establishment of the new partition line between the eastern and western divisions of New Jersey was to unsettle many titles of lands given by the respective proprietors. Many grants made by the West Jersey proprietors were found to be in East Jersey and vice versa. It was, however, mutually agreed that in such instances the equivalent should be given to the owners of unsurveyed land, on the other side of the partition line.
The quintipartite division, by which name it became known, was accepted and acquiesced in by the proprietors of both the eastern and western sections, until the time of the settlement in 1772 of the boun- dary line between New Jersey and New York. Three years after the establishment of the New Jersey and New York boundary line, the proprietors of the western division commenced to claim that the tripar- tite indenture agreed upon by the commissioners of New York and New Jersey expressly stipulated the north station point. The present boundary line between New York and New Jersey established the northwest boundary point at Carpenter's Point on the Delaware, thirty miles south of Cocheton, thereby over two hundred thousand acres of land were taken from New Jersey. Hence they alleged that at whatever point the boundary line between New York and New Jersey terminated on the Delaware river, the partition line should terminate there also. This was the origination of the proposed line of 1775, and in that year the proprietors of West Jersey petitioned the authorities of New Jersey that the partition line might be changed. This on account of the Revolutionary War was never acted upon by the Legis- lature. A petition of similar import and intent was presented to the Legislature in October, 1782. The proprietors of East Jersey remon- strated against this petition, claiming it would be more consonant to reason and equity, since by the late determination and decree of the boundary line between New York and New Jersey the proprietors of East Jersey should demand of the proprietors of West Jersey one hun- dred thousand acres, being one-half of the quantity cut off from their territory by the New York boundary line. The quantities of land accord- ing to the lines of partition fixed and proposed were as follows: The angle or gore which East Jersey lost in the controversy with New York, amounted to 210,000 acres; this left in what is now the State of New Jersey, 4,375,970 acres, the half of which is 2,187,985 acres. If the Keith line extended to the Delaware river was to be the line of partition, East Jersey would have contained 2,214,930 acres, West Jersey 2,161,040 acres, the average being in favor of East Jersey to the extent of 53,890 acres. By the Lawrence line, West Jersey contained 2,689,680 acres, while East Jersey contained 1,686,290 acres, a difference of
62
MIDDLESEX
1,003,390 acres in favor of West Jersey. By the proposed line of 1775, West Jersey would have contained 3,119,260 acres, while the number of acres allotted to East Jersey would have been 1,256,710 acres, the difference in favor of West Jersey being 1,862,550 acres. There is no doubt, however, that there was more barren and unprofitable land in West Jersey than in the eastern division. The proprietors of West Jersey had divided their entire holdings amongst themselves except the rights of minors and people abroad, the amount in 1765 being esti- mated at 2,625,000 acres. East Jersey at this time was supposed to have located nearly 468,000 acres of good land, and 96,000 of pine lands. The rights in East Jersey sold for twenty shillings an acre for lands valuable for cultivation, and ten shillings an acre for pine lands, while in West Jersey the rights for a hundred acres could be obtained for from one hundred to one hundred and twenty shillings.
This closes the history of the partition division lines, which was the important controversy in the province of New Jersey in the eighteenth century. Reconveyance of land titles, the establishment of county and town boundary lines, caused the demarcation between East and West Jersey to become an instance of the past.
CHAPTER IX. THE EARLY COURTS.
The first County Court of Middlesex county was held at Piscataway, June 19, 1683, Samuel Dennis presiding as president or judge, assisted by five assistants, namely: Edward Slater, James Giles, Captain John Bishop, Samuel Hall and Benjamin Hall. The clerk of the court was John Pike, Jr., and in accordance with the minutes there was but a single case tried at the town.
The second court was held at Woodbridge, September 18, 1683, and thereafter courts were held alternately at Piscataway and Woodbridge, until June 18, 1688, when a session was held for the first time at Amboy. From that time until 1699 the courts were held alternately at these three places. The minutes of the courts between 1699 and 1708 are defective, but in the latter year a Court of Sessions for the counties of Middlesex and Somerset was held at Perth Amboy, and for a long time after this date courts were held at that city only.
Stocks and whipping posts were used for punishment for crimes ; criminal cases of theft were punished by fines double the value of the goods stolen. This method of dispensing justice was no doubt due to the fact that there were no jails for incarceration of the prisoners. The first grand jury by the minutes was empanelled September 16, 1684, at Woodbridge. John English, a servant of Hopewell Hull, of Piscataway, having met his death by drowning in the Raritan river, May 25, 1685, the coroner of the county, Samuel Hull, of Woodbridge, empanelled a coroner's jury and held an inquest. The jurors after due deliberation, rendered a verdict that water was the only cause of the late lamented servant's death.
The minutes of the court show that an indictment was presented by the grand jury against Captain John Bishop and Samuel Dennis for being the principals in a duel, but we have no evidence what punish- ment was inflicted on these disturbers of the peace of the community. Owing to the troubles incident to the close of the proprietary govern- ment, the courts appear not to have been regularly held. The last County Court convened at Perth Amboy on the third Tuesday of Sep- tember, 1699. The first Court of Sessions for the county of Middlesex under the Queen Anne or the provincial government, of which there is any record, though royal commissions had been issued as early as 1703, was held at Perth Amboy on the second Tuesday of September, 1708, Peter Sonmans, Esq., presiding as judge; Cornelius Longfield, John Tuneson and John Drake, justices; and John Bishop Clark, clerk. Scarcely a session of the court was held but suits, petty and vexatious, oftentimes malignant, were brought by neighbors against each other,
64
MIDDLESEX
while fornication, adultery and rape were a few among the many grosser crimes that were passed upon.
The first Court of Common Pleas to be held in New Brunswick was in January, 1778, and in the minutes of the court July 21, 1778, there is the first mention of a courthouse at that place, the barracks located on King street (now George) between Paterson and Bayard streets inclu- sive being used as a courthouse and jail for the county. The barrack buildings were built of stone, being one hundred feet front by sixty feet in depth.
Each town was obliged by law as early as 1668 to keep an "ordinary" or tavern for relief and entertainment of strangers, under a penalty of forty shillings for each month's neglect; the innkeepers alone were permitted to retail liquors in quantities less than two gallons. This quantity was however reduced in 1677 to one gallon, and in 1683 the innkeepers were debarred the privilege of recovering debts in excess of five shillings. The Assembly, however, authorized the keepers of "ordi- naries" to retail strong liquors by the quart. These laws led to great exorbitances and drunkenness in several of the towns, occasioned by persons selling liquor in private houses. These abuses in 1692 led to the establishment of an excise law by the Legislature, which was, how- ever, repealed the following year, and the licensing of retailers confined to the governor. Fines were inflicted for drunkenness, the penalty being one shilling, two shillings, two shillings and sixpence, for the first three offenses, with corporal punishment should the offender be unable to pay the fines : if unruly, he was put in the stocks until he became sober. The fines not being excessive, did not cause the check of intemperance, and in 1682 offenders were treated more rigorously ; each offense incurred a fine of five shillings, and if not paid, the stocks received a tenant for six hours : constables for not performing their duties were fined ten shillings for each offense. The increase of punishment seems to have stimulated the vice, which may have been attributed to the removal of restrictions on the sale of liquors in small quantities.
The tavern rates were fixed by law, and as late as 1748, with the standard of money at eight shillings to the ounce, the following were the established prices :
Shillings Pence 10
Hot meal of meat, etc.
Cold meal of meat, etc.
7
Lodging, per night
4
Rum by the gill
1
Brandy by the gill
6
Wine by the quart
2
S
Strong beer by the quart
5
Cider by the quart
Metheglin by the quart
I
4 6
The observance of the Lord's Day was strictly enforced; all servile work was to be abstained from, also unlawful recreations and unneces-
65
THE EARLY COURTS
sary traveling; disorderly conduct was punishable by confinement in the stocks, fines, imprisonment or whippings. Under the administra- tions of the royal governors many of these early prohibitions were modified, the use of ardent spirits began to be considered necessary. Keepers of public houses were not to allow "tippling on the Lord's Day, except for necessary refreshments." The taking of God's name in vain was punishable by a shilling fine for each offense. This law was amended by a special act in 1682, the penalty being increased to two shillings and six pence; if not paid, the offender was to be placed in the stocks or whipped.
All prizes, stage-plays, games, masques, revels, bull-baitings, and cock-fights, which excited the people to rudeness, cruelty, looseness and irreligion, were discouraged, and punishable by courts of justice in accordance with the nature of the offense. The curfew laws were enforced ; night-walkers or revellers after nine o'clock were to be secured by the constable till morning, and unless excused, to be bound over to appear at court. The resistance to lawful authority, by word or action, or the expression of disrespectful language referring to those in office, was made punishable either by fine, corporal punishment, and, previous to 1682, by banishment from the province. Liars were included as penal offenders; a second offense was punishable by a fine of twenty shillings, and if not paid, the culprit received corporal punishment or was put in the stocks. There was no established Thanksgiving days, like those introduced into New England in an early day. The General Assembly in 1676 designated the second Wednesday of November "a day of thanksgiving for God's mercy in preserving and continuing peace in the midst of wars around and about the province." "In consideration of the great deliverance of our nation from a horrid plot of the Papists to murder the King and destroy all the Protestants," a day of thanks- giving was celebrated November 26, 1679. By a proclamation of the governor, June II, 1696, a day was appointed to celebrate by prayers the discovery of "an unsuccessful barbarous conspiracy of Papists against the life of William III." These three are all the thangsgiving days on record previous to the surrender of the government by the proprietors. Under the royal governors the first thanksgiving day there is any record of was November 28, 1750; a second one was October 24, 1760, to return thanks for successes in Canada; and a third was pro- claimed August 25, 1763. The only fast day of which there is any notice extant previous to the Revolution, was April 25, 1760.
In the early part of the eighteenth century lotteries were prevalent throughout the colonies, schemes were introduced into New Jersey, and the Legislature in 1730 passed an act prohibiting both lotteries and raffling, as their frequency had given opportunity for ill-minded persons to cheat and defraud the honest inhabitants of the province. This act
Mid-5
66
MIDDLESEX
referred more particularly to lotteries for the disposal of "goods, wares and merchandise." Those who were inimical to its provisions or who were blind to their deleterious influences, appear to have thought lot- teries for money not affected by it, and in 1748 there was hardly a town that did not have some scheme on foot. At New Brunswick there was a lottery to relieve one Peter Cochran from imprisonment for debt; another at the same place was to complete a church and build a parson- age, the capital prize being £ 100. Johannes Ten Brook advertised at Raritan Landing in Piscataway township, a lottery, the prizes being real estate; another of the same kind was advertised by Peter Bodine, the prizes being 195 lots located at Raritan Landing, which was described "as a market for the most plentiful wheat country of its bigness in America " In the estimation of the Legislature "the ends did not sanc- tify the means," and towards the close of 1748 an act was passed depre- cating the increase of lotteries and their attendant vices, "playing of cards and dice and other gaming for lucre or gain," and prohibiting the erection of any lottery within the province under heavy penalties. This act was evaded by having the lotteries drawn outside of the province. In 1758 the provincial government authorized a public lottery to raise money to purchase certain lands from the Indians. This example was immediately seized upon as giving a license to the practice again to an unlimited extent. In the year 1759 a lottery to raise £1,500 for the benefit of a church in New Brunswick was started. This lottery was to be drawn on "Biles Island," and the highest prize was £ 1,000. The Legislature again interposed in 1760 by an act to prevent "the sale of tickets in lotteries erected outside of the province, and to more effectually prevent gaming ;" but with great inconsistency by the same act revived three public lotteries for the same object as that of 1758. Schemes appear to have decreased in some measures for a few years, but notwith- standing legislative enactments, means were found to evade the designs of the law-makers, and lotteries continued to exist more or less numerous until the Revolution.
The introduction of slavery in New Jersey was coeval with its settlement. There were no preventive measures adopted, and it is doubtful with the then prevailing views relative to the slave trade that any legal measures could have been devised for its prohibition. The Concessions of 1664-65 offered as an inducement to each freeman who would emigrate to Nova Cesarea one hundred and fifty acres for himself, and the same quantity of land for each able man-servant, and seventy- five acres for every weaker servant or slave over fourteen years of age that might accompany him. The quantity of land for the weaker servant or slave decreased in the three ensuing years, and in the third year the emigrant was entitled to only thirty acres of land for such dependents.
Whether any slaves were actually brought into New Jersey under the Concessions is doubtful, but if so they must have been few in
67
THE EARLY COURTS
numbers, and after the government passed into the hands of subsequent proprietors it is uncertain if any were introduced. The East Jersey records do not designate any of the servants brought over as slaves, and in all real estate deeds the word is not made use of, which it would have been if there were slaves to receive a less quantity of land than other servants. Thus the proprietors cannot be charged with the encouragement of the importation of slaves at the period of settlement, although there is no doubt of the existence of slavery before the transfer of the province to the Crown. As early as 1696 the Quakers of New Jersey united with those of Pennsylvania to recommend to their own sect the propriety of no longer employing slaves, or at least to cease from further importation of them; this example does not appear to have been followed by other denominations of Christians.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.