USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 15
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1 Hon. Edwin Salter.
" A son or nephew of Josiah Southwick settled at Mount Holly about 1700.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
colony. After that time the Friends were comparatively free from persecution in New England.
John and Job Throckmorton, ancestors of the numerous Throckmortons of the present time in Monmouth County, were settlers here between 1665 and 1667. They were sons of John Throckmorton, who, with Thomas James, William Arnold, Edward Cole and Ezekiel Holliman (or, more properly, Holman), came over from England in the same ship with Roger . Williams, and all of whom are mentioned by Williams as his friends and associates in an account written by him in 1638.1 John Throckmorton was among the first settlers at Providence, R. I., and was afterwards in West- chester, N. Y., with Ann Hutchinson. After she was killed by the Indians he still held his lands in Westchester and on Long Island, but returned to Providence, where he spent most of his time and held his citizenship.
John Smith came to the Monmouth great tract with the early settlers, and was the first " schoolmaster " of Middletown. He was the same person who, with three others, accom- panied Roger Williams on his first exploring journey to Rhode Island. Edward Smith, who was also a settler in Monmouth, left Massachu- setts Bay with John Smith, the teacher, because of the persecution against them as Baptists.
Richard Hartshorne came to the province of New Jersey in September, 1669, and located himself in Middletown, Monmouth County. Sandy Hook was first held under a grant to him in 1667. He was a Quaker by profession, and an account of the country written by him and circulated in England induced considera- ble emigration. A letter from him, dated Nov. 12, 1675, is one of a collection printed in 1676, a fac-simile of which is in the New Jersey Historical Society Library. He soon attained popularity in East Jersey, but did not enter into public life until early in 1684, when he was appointed one of Deputy-Governor Law- rie's Council. In the succeeding year he was elected to the General Assembly from Middle- town ; was chosen Speaker in 1686, and con-
tinued to hold that position until October, 1693, and again from February, 1696, to March, 1698, when he became one of Governor Basse's Council. He still continued to hold his seat as a member of the Assembly, and filled both positions until the surrender of the government to the crown.2 He was a brother of Hugh Hartshorne, one of the twenty-four proprietors, who is mentioned as "Citizen and Skinner of London " in Leaming and Spicer, p. 141.
Eliakim Wardell, who was one of the asso- ciate patentees of Monmouth, had lived near Hampton, N. H., where he and his wife were persecuted, imprisoned, whipped and finally banished because of their Quaker principles. They then removed to Rhode Island, which colony, although it offered to the Quakers a more peaceful and safe asylum than they could find elsewhere in New England, was yet objec- tionable to them in some respects.3 Mr. War-
2 This account of Richard Hartshorne is found in New Jersey Archives, Series 1, vol. i. p. 220.
3 " In regard to Quakers in Rhode Island, the toleration extended to them was not so unrestricted as in New Jersey, for the General Assembly of that colony endeavored to compel them to bear arms, which was contrary to the dictates of their consciences, in an important point in their religious faith. The General Assembly of Rhode Island declared that ' In case thev, the said Quakers which are here, or who shall avise, or come among us, do refuse to subject to all duties aforesaid, as training, watching and such other engagements as other members of civil societies, for the preservation of the same in justice and peace ; then we determine yea, and we resolve to take, and make use of the first opportunity to inform our agent resident in England that he may humbly present the matter . They declared that they wished no damage to the principle of freedom of conscience ; but at the same time their demands of the Quakers that they should 'train,' or in other words, perform military duty, was certainly an effort to compel them to act contrary to the dictates of their conscience in an essential part of their religious be- lief. This effort to compel them to 'train ' may account for the fact that many members of that sect who had been persecuted in Massachusetts, and sought refuge in Rhode Island, did not become freemen there, but only made a temporary stay, and when the Monmouth Patent was granted, they came to that county with the original settlers, where from the outstart they were allowed all the privi- leges enjoyed by other settlers, some of their number being elected as deputies to frame laws and to other of- fices, at the first election, as well as at subsequent elec- tions. They were not required to ' train' against their conscientious convictions. Besides which it may be added
I Backus' " History of the Baptists."
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EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
dell removed from Rhode Island to New Jer- wy, where he became one of the early settlers on the Monmouth patent, and was the first sheriff of the county, appointed in 1683.
Christopher Allmy, who was at one time Lieutenant (or Deputy) Governor of Rhode I-land, was one of those who came from that wiony to settle on the Monmouth lands, in 1665 of 1666. He afterwards became one of the wociate patentees, and remained an inhabit- ant of Monmouth County for several years, during which time he ran a sloop with consid- «rable regularity (except in the inelement sea- woon of the year) between Wakake Landing and the Rhode Island ports. In Monmouth County he became involved in a great number of lawsuits, by which he was nearly ruined, and he finally left New Jersey and returned to Rhode Island.
CHAPTER VI.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES (Continued).
WHEN Governor Richard Nicolls signed the Monmouth patent and other grants of land in New Jersey neither he nor any other person in America knew of the fact that soon after Sir Robert Carre sailed from England with his fleet, carrying Nicolls and a land force for the purpose of dispossessing the Dutch at New Amsterdam, and while that fleet was still on its way thither, the Duke of York hul, as before noticed, conveyed (June 24, 166;1) all his right, title, and interest, of every kind whatsoever, to and in the territory lying Itween the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, who, being thus invested, not only with the proprietorship of the soil, but also with the right and authority of government over its inhabitants, proceeded to appoint and com- mi -- ion Captain Philip Carteret as their Gov-
ernor, and to frame and execute certain "Con- cessions," intended to promote the rapid settle- ment of their purchase.
Captain Carteret arrived in the province in the latter part of the summer of 1665, and at once proceeded to publish his commission as Gover- nor of New Jersey, and also " The Concession and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Jersey, to and with all and every, the Adventurers, and all such as shall Settle and Plant there." This document, which was executed by the proprietors on the 10th of February, 1664-65, contained the fol- lowing promises of grants of land and privi- leges, viz : " And that the Planting of the said Province may be the more speedily promoted : We do hereby grant unto all Persons who have already adventured to the said Province of New Caesarea or New Jersey, or shall transport themselves or Servants before the first Day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty-five, these following Proportions, viz: To every Freeman that shall go with the first Governor from the Port where he embarques, or shall meet him at the Rendezvous he appoints, for the Settlement of a Plantation there, arm'd with a good Musket, bore twelve Bullets to the Pound, with ten pounds of Powder and twenty pounds of Bullets, with Bandilears and Match convenient, andwith six Months' Provision for his own Person arriving there, One Hundred and Fifty Acres of Land, English Measure; and for every able Servant that he shall carry with him, arm'd and provided as aforesaid and arriving there, the like quantity of One Hun- and Fifty Acres, English Measure : And who- soever shall send Servants at that Time shail have for every able Man Servant he or she shall send, armed and provided as aforesaid, and shall arrive there, the like quantity of One Hundred and Fifty Acres: And for every weaker Servant or Slave, Male or Female, ex- ceeding the Age of fourteen years, which any one shall send or carry, arriving there, Seventy- five Acres of Land : And for every Christian Servant exceeding the Age aforesaid, after the Expiration of their Time of Service, Seventy- five Acres of Land for their own use."
that the first settlers here conducted themselves so justly and friendly towards the Indians that they had little or no " vasion to ' train' for fear of them."-Hon. Edwin Salter.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
To such as, not going out with the first Gov- ernor, but who should go to the province be- fore the 1st of January, 1665, four-fifths of the before-mentioned quantity of land was promised, according to their respective classes, which quantity was to be reduced to three- fifths for persons of each class, who should go " with an intention to plant," during the year ending January 1, 1666, and to two- fifths of the first-mentioned quantities, respec- tively, to those who should go out in the third year, ending January 1, 1667; every patent to be signed by the Governor (or Deputy-Gov- ernor), and a majority of the Council and sealed with the seal of the province, and to contain an accurate description of the tract granted to the person entitled to it under the Concession, "to hold to him or her, his or her Heirs or As- signs forever, yielding and paying yearly to the said Lords Proprietors, their Heirs or Assigns, every five and Twentieth Day of March, ac- cording to the English Account, one half-penny · of lawful Money of England for every of the said Acres, to be holders of the manner of East Greenwich, in free and Common Soccage; the first payment of which Rent to begin the Five and Twentieth Day of March, which shall be in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy, according to the English Account." And the Governor and Council were especially directed and charged by the pro- prietors in their Concessions as follows: "They are to take care that Lands quietly held, planted and possessed Seven Years after its being duly surveyed by the Surveyor-General or his Order shall not be subject to any Re- view, Re-survey or Alteration of Bounders, on what pretence soever, by any of us, or by any Officer or Minister under us. 1 . . We do also grant convenient Proportions of Land for High-Ways and for Streets, not exceeding One Hundred Foot in Breadth in Cities, Towns and Villages, etc., and for Churches, Forts, Wharf's, Kays, Harbours and for Publick Houses ; and to each Parish, for the use of their Minis- ters, Two Hundred Acres, in such Places as the General Assembly shall appoint,"-all lands
laid out for the purposes named to be " free and exempt from all rents, taxes and other charges and duties whatsoever."
Carteret sent agents to Massachusetts Bay and the other eastern colonies to publish there the Concessions, with a favorable account of the ad- vantages offered by New Jersey, for the purpose of inducing people to come from New England " and make settlements in this province. Many. did come from that region, but of all who, prior to the year 1682, came to settle on lands now embraced within the county of Monmouth, few, if any, did so on account of the proprietary Concessions or with the intention of claiming lands under them. They yielded a sort of qualified allegiance to the government of the pro- prietors, without acknowledging or recognizing their ownership of the soil of the territory em- braced within the Nicolls' grant. They regarded the Monmouth patent as their good and suffi- cient title to the lands on which they settled, and in support of that claim they referred to the language used by the Duke of York in his com- mission to Colonel Nicolls as his deputy and agent, dated April 2, 1664, viz.,-“ I do hereby constitute and appoint him, the said Richard Nicolls, Esq., to be my Deputy Governour within the Lands, Islands and Places aforesaid, to perform and execute all and every the Pow- ers which are by the said Letters Patent granted
2 The following affidavit, taken before Joseph Cott, Febru- ary 4, 1675, and found in the New York Colonial Docu- ments, mentions the situation of affairs with regard to set- tlements in New Jersey at the time of Carteret's arrival ; also his sending agents to New England to secure settlers :
" Silvester Salisbury, of New Yorke, Gent., maketh outh that in or about the yeare 1665, he being then at New Yorke, there arrived Philip Carteret, Esqr., at New Jersey, in America, in a Ship called the Philip, wch sd ship was 100 tuns & had then aboard her about 30 servants & severall goods of great value, proper for the first planting & setling of the Colony of New Jersey, & this deponent sayeth that at the time of ye arrival of the sd ship, there were about four families in New Jersey (except some few at New Sinks, [Navesinks] that went under the nomen of Quakers), and that ye gd Philip Carteret, after his arrival there, landed ye sd servants and goods and applied himself to ye planting and peopling of y" s" Colony, & that he sent divers persons into New England & other places to publish ye concessions of ye Lds Proprietrs and to invite peopleto come and settle there, whereupon, & within a year's time or thereabouts, severall p'sons did come with their families and settled there in severall towns. .
1 Leaming and Spicer, page 20.
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EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
unto Me to be executed by my Deputy, Agent or Assign." In pursuance of the full power thus given, and not revoked by the Duke, they said, Nicolls had granted the Monmouth patent, and it was therefore a good and valid title. On the other hand, the proprietors referred to the fact that the Duke of York had sold and trans- ferred the province to them several months prior to the " pretended " granting of the Mon- mouth patent by Nicolls ; that the New Jersey lands at that time belonged to them (Berkeley and Carteret) and not to the Duke of York ; that therefore, his Governor and agent, Nicolls, had at that time no power or right to transfer those lands ; and that the Monmouth patent, as well as all other grants1 made by him, of lands in New Jersey, was void. These, in brief, were the arguments and claims on both sides, and, without entering more fully on the merits of the case, it is sufficient to say here that the disa- greement between the various proprietors, on the one hand, and the patentees and their rep- resentatives and assigns, on the other, resulted in a controversy of title, which continued for more than a century.
1 Another grant made by Governor Nicolls of lands in New Jersey was called the "Elizabethtown Grant." On the 26th of September, 1664, John Bailey and others ap- plied to Nicolls for permission to purchase from the In- dians certain lands bordering on Raritan River (on the north side) and the kills, which permission was given by the Governor September 30th. The lands were purchased from the sachems October 28th in that year, and the pur- chase was duly confirmed by the Governor, who, on the 16th of December following, issued his patent to John Baker and associates for the land purchased from the In- dians ; being of a certain described extent along the river and kills, and "to run West into the country twice the length of the Breadth thereof, from the North to the South." This was the Elizabethtown grant, which embraced the present sites of Elizabeth, Newark, Rahway, Plainfield, Piscataway, Woodbridge and Perth Amboy.
"This grant," says Whitehead (Col. Hist. N. J., 1, i. 17), " occasioned for many years great disorder in the Province. Having been granted by Governor Nicolls after the Duke of York had granted New Jersey to Lord Berk- ley and Carteret, the rights of Baker and his associates were contested by those claiming through them, and the litigation that ensued was not ended when the war of the Revolution commenced and put an end to all such contro- versies. The 'Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery,' printed in 1747, and the ' answer' thereto, printed in 1759, throw , all needful light on the subject."
The proprietors intended their government in New Jersey to be mild and, as nearly as might be, unobjectionable to the people, whom they hoped by that means to appease, and easily win over to allegiance and submission. But as their chief object was to realize pecuniary advantage from their proprietorship of the province, they were not long in showing their determination to compel all settlers to take patents from them, and having taken them, to pay the required quiet-rents. This (especially the payment of the rents) the Monmouth patentees and those holding under them were equally determined not to do. Still, they had their misgivings as to the result of a controversy with the proprietors. In July and August, 1667, they addressed commu- nications to Governor Nicolls asking advice, and evidently expecting from him a strong assurance of the validity of his grant to them as against the proprietors; to which, on the 10th of August, the Governor replied,-
" Your address to me, bearing date ye 26th day of July, and your letter of ye 4th of Au- gust by the hands of James Grover, is received. In answer to it I shall not deny you my advice. Now as I have contributed on my part to your first settlement, soe I think I must to remove such doubts and questions now remaining amongst you. In the first place, you must rest satisfied with the assignment made by his Royal Highness, the Duke of York, unto Lord Berke- ley and Sir G. Carteret, of all the lands lying on the west side of Hudson's River, wherein your tract is included. You must submit to ye Governour and government established in ye Province of New Jersey. You may depend safely for your title to ye land upon the Patent granted unto you by me, and I am confident when you speak with Capt. Carteret [the Gov- ernor] he will assure you of the same, that your lands are lands to yourselves, paying only such moderate acknowledgement as the rest of your naibours doe, or may doe hereafter.
"Having briefly given you answer to the head of your questions, it remains only that I must not pass over your kind expressions toward me without detaining you with my best assur- ances that whenever I can at any tyme contrib- ute more to your prosperity you shall not faile
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
of further assistance. August 10th, at Fort James, in New York.
" Your loving Friend,
" R. NICOLLS. " To the Inhabitants at Newasink."
This letter of Colonel Nicolls was not very comforting to the Monmouth patentees and as- sociates. It simply told them that they would be allowed to retain their lands (just as all other settlers were allowed the same privilege) by submitting to the proprietary government, and paying the quit-rents required by Berkeley and Carteret. This latter part was what they partic- ularly wished to escape, and which eventually they did escape in a very great degree; but they were finally convinced that it was safest and best for them to hold their lands under titles from the proprietors. In May, 1672, they petitioned Governor Carteret for confirmation of their titles and privileges under the Nicolls patent, which address and petition elicited the following, which, however, was not as favorable to them as they had hoped,-viz. :
"NEW JERSEY, May 28, 1672.
" Upon the address of James Grover, John Bowne, Richard Hartshorne, Jonathan Holmes, Patentees, and James Ashton and John Hanse, Associates, impowered by the Patentees and Associates of the Towns of Middletown and Shrewsbury unto the Governor and Council for Confirmation of certain Priviledges granted unto them by Colonel Richard Nicolls, as by Patent under his Hand and Seal bearing Date the 8th Day of April, Anno Domini One Thou- sand six Hundred Sixty-five, the Governor and Council do confirm unto the said Patentees and Associates these Particulars following, being their Rights contained in the aforesaid Patent, viz .:
" Imprimis .- That the said Patentees and As- sociates have full Power, License and Authority to dispose of the said Lands expressed in said Patent, as to them shall seem meet.
" II. That no Ministerial Power or Clergymen shall be imposed on or among the Inhabitants of the said Land, so as to inforce any that are contrary minded to contribute to their main- .tenance.
"III. That all Causes Whatsoever (Crimi- nals excepted) shall first have a hearing within their Cognizance, and that no appeals unto higher Courts, where Sentence have been passed amongst them, under the Value of Ten Pounds, be admitted.
"IV. That all Criminals and Appeals above the Value of Ten Pounds, which are to be referred unto the aforesaid higher Courts, shall receive their Determination upon Appeals to his Majesty, not to be hindered.
"V. That for all Commission Officers, both Civil and Military, the Patentees, Associates and Freeholders have Liberty to present two for each Office to the Governor, whom they shall think fit, one of which the Governor is to Commissionate to execute the said Office ; and that they have Liberty to make peculiar prudential Laws and Constitutions amongst themselves, according to the Tenor of the said Patent."
" PH. CARTERET. " JOHN KENNY,
" LORDUE ANDRESS,
"SAMUEL EDSALL,
" JOHN PIKE, " JOHN BISHOP."
This compromise arrangement by Governor Philip Carteret and his Council with the people of Monmouth did not meet the approval of Sir George Carteret or the later proprietors. It had the effect, however, to quiet the people for some time; but afterwards, when the proprietors in effect ignored the agreement made by their own Governor with the Nicolls patentees, a new and more determined opposition arose, but it was manifested through their deputies in the General Assembly of the province.
On the 25th of November, 1672, the Duke of York, in a letter to Colonel Lovelace, his Governor at New York, in referring to the matter of the Nicolls patents in New Jersey, says he wrote Governor Nicolls on the 28th of November, 1664, notifying him of the re- lease to Berkeley and Carteret, and requiring him (Nicolls) to recognize the proprietor-' rights of soil and government in New Jersey, and to give his best efforts and assistance to secure them in the quiet possession of them ;
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EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.
and he continues : "I am informed that some contentious Persons there do lay Claim to cer- tain Tracts of those Lands, under Colour of pretended Grants thereof from the said Colonel Nicolls, . . . and therefore I would have you take Notice yourself, and when Occa- sion offers make known to the said Persons, and to all others, if any be pretending from them, that my Intention is not at all to counte- nance their said Pretensions, nor any other of that kind, tending to derogate in the least from my Grant above mentioned, to the said Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, their Heirs and Assigns. .
On the 6th of December, 1672, eleven days after the date of the Duke's letter of instruc- tions to Lovelace, the "Lords Proprietors of New Caesarea, or New Jersey," issued a "Decla- ration . . . to all Adventurers, Planters, Inhabitants, and all other Persons to whom it may Concern,". including the following :-
"We being made very sensible of the great disorders in the said Province, occasioned by several Persons, to the great Prejudice of our- selves, our Governor and Council, and all other peaceable and well-minded Inhabitants, within our said Province, by claiming a Right of Pro- priety both of land and Government.1 For such as pretend to a Right of Propriety to
1 The people of the "two towns of Navesink " assumed the right of government under the Nicolls patent, and until about 1672 held sessions of "General Assembly," which was made up of patentees, associates and general dep- uties, and which also acted as a court. and was sometimes called the General Court. It was held at Middletown, Shrewsbury and Portland Point. At one of the sessions of this body, held at Shrewsbury, December 14, 1667, it was declared,-
"That every person who hath right to debate and deter- mine off things pertaining to the orderly settlin' of the land may upon all meet occasions exercise liberty by way of vote. That is to say, such men as shall be made choice off by the general Vote off the Inhabitants, with the proper number of Persons expressed in the charter or Grand Patent, and have full power and Charge to make all pub- lique Laws and orders, authentique, or the major Part of them soe chosen, which Privilege is granted only to the number of purchasers. The towns-men, chosen inhabi- tants, holders of shares of land, are hereby restricted and confined to their own Town affairs, according to the second proposition. It is ordered that three men out of each Town, that is to say, two of them to be Surveyors, "hall in the first place take a full view of each neck of
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