USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 13
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 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
The surrender of New Amsterdam, in 1664, by the Dutch Governor, Peter Stuyvesant, to the English, represented by Sir Robert Carre and Governor Richard Nicolls, has already been noticed. It was a matter of course that the establishment of the English rule over the " We discovered a sail towards evening, which we approached and spoke to them. It was Peter Lawrenson and Jacob Cowenhoven, with a small sloop. They said they had been out to trade for venison. We both tacked together, with our sloops the same evening, towards the end of Staten Island, and cast there our an- chors just opposite the Raritan River, where we saw two houses with Southern Savages. Cowenhoven informed us that the English, in an open sloop, nineteen strong, sailed the day before up the Raritan River, where the Indians of the Newesing and Raritans were collected region between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers would cause the immediate and rapid extension of settlements in the Indian country beyond the Dutch frontier, and it does not seem improbable that some foreknowledge of King Charles' intention to expel the Dutch from their possession of New Netherlands was the prin- cipal cause which induced a party of about twenty English, all or nearly all of whom had previously lived in the New England colonies, but most of whom were then settlers on Long Island, to set out in a sloop from Gravesend, L. I., in December, 1663, and sail across the | together about three miles up on the River. bay to what is now Monmouth County, for the The Savages communicated the same. We re- mained that night before Raritan River in order to sail up the next morning and follow the English. In the morning the wind blew purpose of purchasing lands of the Indian sachems, with a view to settlement. Some ·knowledge of the movements and operations
-
---------------
2
1
1 +++
-
59
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
very heavily from the northwest so that we could not proceed up the Raritan River, and we were compelled to stay there all day. We determined then to send the Indian John by land to the savages of Newesings and Raritans, who were assembled about three miles up the Raritan River. This we did at once, with verbal orders that he should tell the Sachems of the Newesings and Raritans that we were laying with our sloop before the River, and we wished that they would come here and have a talk with us. We also told John to tell the Sachems if some English had arrived or were actually among them with the view to pur- chase lands of them, that they should not sell it to the English, as they had not even asked it of the Dutch Sachems on the Manhattans, and came there secretly. That if the Sachems of the Newesings wished to sell some land, that they should come to us and we would talk it over with them. John, as soon as the sun arose, departed to tell the Indians, while we remained before the River.
" December 9th .- We saw in the morning, about nine o'clock, the English sloop coming down ; we immediately raised our anchor and sailed towards them. Arriving near them, we asked from whence they came, on which the Captain, Christopher Elsworth, answered 'from the River.' We asked what he had done. He answered that he 'brought the English there.' We told him this was wrong ; it was against our Government to act in this manner, and that he should answer for it; on which Wil- liam Goulding cried out, ' It is well, it is well.' In the vessel were Charles Morgan, John Bowne, James Holbert, John Totman, Samuel Spicer, Thomas Whitlock, Sergeant Gybbings ; from the First Bay, a man named Kreupels-Bos; one from Flushing ; two from Jamaica [L. I.], and a few more whom we knew not, to twenty in number. On the same day, in the afternoon, about three o'clock, John, the Savage, returned, whom we had sent in the night to the Newe- sing Sachems, who were encamped at a consider- able distance from the Raritan River. John, the. Savage, brought to us six or seven savages, who told us that the English, before John, the savage, came to them, had arrived there and
presented the Savages with some rum and two fathoms of black wampum and one of white, after which they asked them if they would sell to them some land. In the mean time, John, our Savage, came, when the whole thing termi- nated and the English left.
" December 10th .- We departed again from Raritan River, accompanied by two Indians, who were acquainted with the lands of the New- asings. We went down the bay and arrived at the creek which enters between Rensselaer's Pier1 and the said point ; we met here again Christo- pher Elsworth in his little sloop, and the Eng- lish sitting on shore near the creck. We went with our boat on shore and went towards them, along the strand. When we approached them we saw every one standing with their weapons. When the Sheriff, Charles Morgan, and John Bowne advanced towards us, I asked them what their business was. They answered they were trading. We replied: If they went to trade, why had they such a strong force with them ? They said Indians were villains and could not be trust- ed; and therefore they went in such numbers. We told them we were informed they came to purchase land from the Indians. They answered : 'We only went there to see the lands.' We again told them that they ought not to undertake to purchase any land of the Indians, as the largest part was already purchased by the Dutch. John Bowne then asked me, ' under what Govern- ment I presumed that they resided?' I answered that they lived under that of the States-General, and under that of the Director-General and Council here. To which he replied : 'Why, then, are we not permitted to trade and explore lands as well as you ?' I answered him that they ought not to undertake to purchase any lands from the Indians, except they had previ- ously obtained the consent of Governor Stuyve- sant and Council; to which John Bowne replied : ' It shall be well.' Then said Christopher Els-
1 " In the old Dutch records the Navesink Highlands are sometimes called Rensselaer's Point or Hook, and some- times Rensselaer's Pier. This last name no doubt origin- ated from the appearance of these hills to a vessel far out at sea. The adjoining lowlands lying below the horizon, the hills project boldly and squarely out and resemble a pier or wharf. to those on a vessel far out on the ocean." - Hon. G. C. Beekman.
60
HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
worth, 'I told them the same before, that they should not do it.' Govert Loockermans told them then : 'ye are a party of traitors, and you act against the Government of the State.' They said 'the King's patent is quite of another cast.' Loockermans asked 'from whom have you your pass ?' and they answered 'from the Manhat- tans.' Loockermans retorted, 'Why do you act, then, against the State?' To which Charles Morgan answered : 'Sek noty bey affet'
"The English had their savage with them, who was of the Newasings, and had a hand in the murder of Mispath's Kil,1 as our savage in- formed us, whom we had taken with us in our sloop and carried hither, and his name was Quikems, living on the Newasing River at the land called Townsing. We left the English along shore and went up the river about four miles, along the shore under the West Hills, where the country is very mountainous. On the opposite side, as the savage informed us, the soil was very poor, but some good land, -old [Indian] corn-fields and some planting-ground, which I had before explored with Courtelyou. Then we crossed the hilly part, about nine miles, and perceived by a sign on board that Chris- topher Elsworth with his sloop and the English had entered the River. We remained before it during the night. December 11th .- The wind being southwest, we resolved to sail towards the Manhattans, which we did."
In this account it is noticeable that the Eng- lish people, by their sneering retort to the Dutch, who accused them of being traitors,-viz .: "the king's patent is quite of another cast,"-showed a fore-knowledge that the English sovereign was about to make a grant of the country to the Duke of York, and to send a fleet and land force to place him in possession of it. It is also to be noticed that both the Dutch and the Eng- lish were distrustful of the Indians, the Dutch having a guard of ten soldiers, and the English being there in strong force and armed. That the Dutch were familiar with the region ad- jacent to the rivers and other navigable waters is evident through the whole narrative, and
especially where the writer mentions the old Indian corn-field "and some planting-grounds, which I had before explored with Courtelyou." They had sailed up and down the rivers and kills in pursuit of their vocation as traders, but they had made no attempt to plant any settle- ments there. On this occasion they told the English that they (the Dutch) had already purchased the greater part of the lands from the Indians; but this was false, and was only told for the purpose of driving the English away. The Dutch had bought no land of the Indians in this region, nor is anything found tending to show that they had ever thought of such pur- chase ; but when they found that the English were here for that purpose, their jealousy became aroused, and they at once sent their "Indian John" up the river with the message "that if the Sachems of the Newasings wished to sell some land, they should come to us and we would talk it over with them." The tenor of the entire narrative shows plainly enough that at that time there were no permanent settlements of white people within the region referred to.
Among the names of the men composing the party of land-seekers from Long Island, as given in the preceding account, are those of William Goulding, John Bowne, "Sergeant Gybbings " (Richard Gibbons), Samuel Spicer and others, who soon afterwards became land-owners and settlers within the territory of Monmouth County. They made two or three other journeys from Long Island to the south shore of the bay, and finally concluded the purchase from the sachems of the three "necks" of land known by the Indian names of Newasink, Navarumsunk and Pootapeck, the first-named being bought first, and the two others included in a subsequent pur- chase.2 Newasink was the region lying between
2 The tract of Newasink was purchased from the chief. Poppamora, and his people. All the expense of the pur- chase, including the payment to the Indian in money, black and white peague, guns, one anchor of brandy, tobacco, clothing, wine, the services of men and boats for several voyages made, and for the recording of the deeds in New . York was £149 6s. 10d.
The second purchase, -of Navarumsunk and Pootapeck Necks from several sachems-amounted to £359 10s. in the same kind of outlay as the first. The account was ren- dered to the patentees and associates July 6, 1670.
' The murder, previously referred to, of Aert Theunissen Van Patten, who was killed by Indians in October, 1643,
. while on a trading expedition.
·
61
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
the bay and Navesink River, and extending northeast to the Highlands of Navesink,1 em- bracing the site of old Middletown. Navarum- sunk was the " neck" lying between the Nave- sink and Shrewsbury Rivers, including the place where the Shrewsbury settlement was afterwards made, frequent references to "Shrewsbury on Navarumsunk" being found in old records. The " neck" of Pootapeck is supposed to have been that lying south of Shrewsbury. River. The western and south western bounds of these Indian purchases were too vaguely defined to be iden- tified at the present day.
Soon after the surrender of New Netherlands by the Dutch to the English, and the establish- ment of the authority of the Duke of York by his Governor, Colonel Richard Nicolls, the latter issued (in the fall of 1664) a printed proclama- tion, which he caused to be widely distributed, for the purpose of promoting the formation of new settlements in the country under his jurisdiction. It was as follows :
" The Conditions for new Planters in the Territories of his Royal Highness, the Duke of York.
" The Purchases are to be made from the In- dian. Sachems, and to be recorded before the Governour.
" The Purchasers are not to pay for their Liberty of Purchasing to the Governour.
" The Purchasers are to set out a Town and inhabit together.
"No Purchaser shall at any Time contract for himself with any Sachem without consent of his Associates, or special Warrant from the Governor.
" The Purchasers are free from all manner of Assessments or Rates for five Years after their Town Platt is set out, and when the five years are expired they shall only be liable to the pub- lick Rates and Payments, according to the cus- tom of other Inhabitants, both English and Dutch.
" All Lands thus purchased and possessed shall remain to the Purchasers and their Heirs as free Lands, to dispose of as they Please.
" In all Territories of his Royal Highness Liberty of Conscience is allowed, provided such Liberty is not converted to Licentiousness, or the Disturbance of others in the Exercise of the Protestant Religion.
" The several Townships have Liberty to make their particular Laws, and deciding all small Causes within themselves.
"The Lands which I intend shall be first Planted are those upon the West side of Hud- son's River, at or adjoining to the Sopes ;2 but if any number of Men sufficient for two or three or more Towns shall desire to Plant upon any other Lands, they shall have all due Encourage- ment, proportionable to their quality and under- takings.
"Every Township is obliged to pay their Minister according to such Agreement as they shall make with them, and no man to refuse his Proportion, the Minister being elected by the Major part of the Householders, Inhabitants of the Town.
" Every Township hath the free choice of all their Officers, both Civil and Military, and all Men who shall take the Oath of Allegiance, and are not Servants or Day Labourers, but are admitted to enjoy a Town Lot, are esteemed free Men of the Jurisdiction, and cannot forfeit the same without due Process in Law.
" R. NICOLLS."
The people from Long Island and the New England settlements who had commenced their negotiations with the Indian sachems in Decem- ber, 1663, and subsequently concluded the pur- chase from the natives of the tracts of Newasink, Navarumsunk and Pootapeck, having thus already complied with the first of the conditions prescribed for such as wished to obtain lands, under Nicolls' proclamation, made early applica- tion to the Governor for a grant to cover the In- dian purchases which they had made and others which they intended to make of adjacent lands ; upon which, in April, 1665, the Governor issued to them a patent, as desired, of which the follow- ing is a copy :
" To all to whom these presents shall come, I, Richard Nicolls, Esq., Governor, under His
' A tract at the Highlands was reserved by the Indians, it being the same on which Richard Hartshorne afterwards heated.
? Esopus.
62
HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
Royal Highness, the Duke of York, of all his Territories in America, send greeting : Whereas, there is a certain Tract or Parcel of Land within this Government lying and being near Sandy Point upon the Main; which said parcel of Land hath been with my Consent and Ap- probation bought by some of the Inhabitants of Gravesend, upon Long Island, of the Sachems (chief proprietors thereof), who before me have acknowledged to have received Satisfaction for . the same; to the end the said Land may be planted, manured and inhabited, and for divers other good Causes and Considerations, I have thought fit to give, confirm and grant, and by these Presents do give, confirm and grant unto William Goulding, Samuel Spicer, Richard Gibbons, Richard Stout, James Grover, John Bown, John Tilton, Nathaniel Silvester, Wil- liam Reape, Walter Clark, Nicholas Davies, Obadiah Holmes, Patentees and their Associ- ates, their Heirs, Successors and Assigns, all that Tract and Part of the main Land, begin- ning at a certain Place commonly called or known by the Name of Sandy Point, and so running along the Bay, West North West till it comes to the Mouth of the Raritan River; from thence going along the said River to the Westermost Part of the certain Marsh Land which divides the River into two Parts, and from that Part to run in a direct South West Line into the Woods Twelve Miles, and then to turn away South East and by South until it falls into the main Ocean ; together with all Lands, Soils, Rivers, Creeks, Harbours, Mines, Minerals (Royal Mines excepted), Quarries, Woods, Meadows, Pastures, Marshes, Waters, Lakes, Fishings, Hawkings, Huntingsand Fowl- ing, and all other Profits, Commodities and Hereditaments to the said Lands and Premises belonging and appertaining, with their and every of their appurtenances, and of every Part and Parcel thereof. To Have and to Hold, all and singular, the said Lands, Hereditaments and Premises, with their and every of their Ap- purtenances hereby given and granted, or here- inbefore mentioned to be given and granted, to the only proper Use and Behooff of the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, Suc- cessors and Assigns forever, upon such Terms
and conditions as hereafter are expressed, that is to say : that the said Patentees and their A>- sociates, their Heirs or assigns, shall within the space of three years, beginning from the Day of the Date hereof, manure and plant the aforesaid Land and Premises, and settle there one Hun- dred Families at the least ; in consideration whereof I do promise and grant that the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, Sue- cessors and Assigns shall enjoy the said Land and Premises, with their Appurtenances, for the Term of seven years next to come after the Date of these Presents free from Payment of any Rents, Customs, Excise, Tax or Levy whatsoever ; But after the expiration of the said Term of Seven years the Persons who shall be in the Posses- sion thereof shall pay after the same Rate which others within this, his Royal Highnesses Territories, shall be obliged unto. And the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, Suc- cessors and Assigns, shall have free leave and liberty to erect and build their Towns and Vil- lages in such Places as they in their Discretions shall think most convenient, provided that they associate themselves, and that the Houses of their Towns and Villages be not too far distant and scattering one from another; and also they make such Fortifications for their Defence against an Enemy as may seem needful. And I do likewise grant unto the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, Successors and A -- signs, and unto any and all other Persons who shall Plant and Inhabit in any of the Land aforesaid, that they shall have free Liberty of Conscience, without any Molestation or Disturb- ance whatsoever in their way of Worship. And I do further grant unto the aforesaid Patentecs, their Heirs, Successors and Assigns, that they shall have Liberty to elect by the Vote of the Major Part of the Inhabitants five or seven other Persons of the ablest and discreetest of the said Inhabitants, or a greater Number of them (if the Patentees, their Heirs, Successors or Assigns shall see cause) to join with them, and they together, or the Major Part of them, shall have full Power and Authority to make such peculiar or prudential Laws and Constitu- tions amongst the Inhabitants for the better and more orderly governing of them as to them
-----
...
-4
63
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
shall seem meet ; provided they be not repug- nant to the publick Laws of the Government ; and they shall also have Liberty to try all Causes and Actions of Debt and Trespass arising amongst themselves, to the Value of Ten Pounds, without Appeal, but that they remit the hearing of all Criminal Matters to the As- sizes of New York. And furthermore I do . promise and grant unto the Patentees and their Associates aforementioned, their Heirs, Succes- sors and Assigns, that they shall in all Things have equal privileges, Freedom and Immuni- ties with any of his Majesty's subjects within this Government, these Patentees and their As- sociates, their Heirs, Successors and Assigns rendering and paying such Duties and Ac- knowledgements as now are or hereafter shall be constituted and established by the laws of this Government, under the Obedience of his Royal Highness, his Heirs and Successors, pro- vided they do. no way infringe the Privileges above specified. Given under my Hand and Seal at Fort James, in New York, on Manhat- ans-Island, the 8th Day of April in the 17th year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., and in the year of our Lord God, 1665.
" RICHARD NICOLLS.
"Entered in the office of Record in New York, the Day and Year above written.
"MATHIAS NICOLLS, Secretary."
This grant by Governor Nicolls was and is known as the "Monmouth Patent." It em- braced parts of the present counties of Middle- sex and Ocean, and all of what is now the county of Monmouth, except the township of U'pper Freehold and the western part of Mill- stone. The patentees and their associates commenced their settlements immediately1 at Middletown and Shrewsbury, and during the >ummer and fall of 1665 a large number of jwople, nearly all of whom were from the
Long Island and Rhode Island settlements, had made their permanent homes at these points. During the succeeding four years their num- bers increased quite rapidly, so that in the year 1670 there were at Middletown and Shrews- bury and in the region to the westward and northwestward of those places, within the limits of the present county of Monmouth, more than the requisite number of one hundred families.2 The following list embraces nearly all those who were at that time settlers or owners of shares of the lands of the Indian purchases. A few of those who were owners of lands did not settle on them, but the greater part of the names here given were those of heads of families, and the remainder, except the few non-resident share-owners, were single men, but actual set- tlers. The list of names, giving also, so far as known, the previous residence of each, is as follows:
From Massachusetts Bay .- George Allen, William Gifford, John Jenkins, Richard Sadler, Edward Wharton.
From Rhode Island.3-John Allen, Chris- topher Allmy, Job Allmy, Stephen Arnold, James Ashton, Benjamin Borden, Richard Bor- den, Francis Brindley, Nicholas Brown, Abra- ham Brown, Henry Bull, Robert Carr, George Chutte, Walter Clarke, Thomas Clifton, Wil- liam Coddington, Joshua Coggeshall, John Coggeshall, Edward Cole, Jacob Cole, Joseph Coleman, John Cook, Nicholas Davis, Richard Davis, William Deuell, Benjamin Deuell, Thomas Dungan, Roger Ellis and son, Peter Easton, Gideon Freeborn, Annias Gauntt,
' John Bowne, Richard Stout and three others, with their families,-five families in all,-came and made their settlement in the spring or summer of 1664, nearly a year before the patent was issued. .
2 It appears that there were about that number settled at the two towns and vicinity as early as 1668. At a " General Assembly" of the settlers, held at Portland Point (the Highlands) on the 4th of June in that year, it was :
"Ordered, upon full debate hereof, that noe more per- sons whatsoever, either purchasers, townsmen or others, shall hereafter be admitted or taken in, there being in numbers about 100, as near as att present can be found ; or if it be found there are not soe many, yet notwithstand- ing noe moor are to be from henceforth admitted as afore- said."
3 Many of the settlers who came to Monmouth County from Rhode Island and Long Island had previously lived in the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and had left there on account of the religious persecution to which they had been subjected.
64
HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
Zachary Gauntt, Israel Gauntt, Daniel Gould, John Havens, Robert Hazard, Samuel Holli- man, Obadiah Holmes, Jonathan Holmes, George Hulett, Richard James, William James, William Layton, James Leonard, Henry Lip- pett, Mark Lucar (or Luker), Lewis Mattux, Edward Pattison, Thomas Potter, William Reape, Richard Richardson, William Shaberly, Samuel Shaddock, Thomas Shaddock, William Shattock, William Shearman, John Slocum, Edward Smith, John Smith, Edward Tartt, Robert Taylor, John Throckmorton, Job Throckmorton, Edward Thurston, Eliakim Wardell, George Webb, Bartholomew West, Robert West, Robert West, Jr., Thomas Win- terton, Emanuel Woolley.
From Long Island .- John Bowne, Gerrard Bowne, James Bowne, William Bowne, Wil- liam Compton, John Conklin (earlier from Sa- lem, Mass.), Thomas Cox, John Cox, Richard Gibbons, William Goulding, James Grover, James Grover, Jr., William. Lawrence, Barthol- omew Lippincott, Richard Lippincott, Richard Moor, Thomas Moor, John Ruckman, Nathaniel Sylvester, Benjamin Spicer, Samuel Spicer, John Stout, Richard Stout, John Tilton, Peter Tilton, Nathaniel Tompkins, John Townsend, John Wall, Walter Wall, Thomas Wansick, Thomas Whitlock.
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.