USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 6
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
and so runneth by, or through, or including Kent Isle through Chisapeask Bay to Piscata- way ; including the falls of Patowmecke River to the head or northernmost branch of that river, being three hundred miles due west, and thence northward to the head of Hudson's River fifty leagues, and so down Hudson's River to the ocean, sixty leagues, and thence to the ocean isles across Delaware Bay to the South Cape, fifty leagues; in all seven hun- dred and eighty miles. Then all Hudson's River, isles, Long Isle or Pamunke, and all isles within ten leagues of said province being; and note, Long Isle alone is twenty broad and .one hundred and eighty miles long, so that alone is four hundred miles compasse."
The full title of the pamphlet from which the foregoing is extracted is " A Description of the Province of New Albion and a Direction for ' Adventurers with small stock to get two for one and good land freely ; and for Gentlemen and all Servants, Labourers and Artificers to live plentifully, and a former Description, re- printed, of the healthiest, pleasantest and richest Plantation of New Albion, in North Virginia, proved by thirteen Witnesses ; together with a Letter from Master Robert Evelin, that lived there many years, showing the Particularities and Excellency thereof; with a brief of the charge of Victualling and Necessaries to trans- port and buy stock for each Planter and La- bourer there to get his Master fifty pounds per annum or more, in twelve Trades, and at ten pounds Charges only a man." And the work was addressed or dedicated by its author, Plan- tagenet, " To the Right Honorable and mighty Lord Edmund by Divine Providence Lord Proprietor, Earl Palatine, Governor and Cap- tain-General of the Province of New Albion ; and to the Right Honorable, the Lord Vis- count Monson, of Castlemain ; the Lord Sher- ard, Baron of Leitrim, and to all other, the Viscounts, Barons, Baronets, Knights and Gentlemen, merchants, adventurers and plant- ers of the hopeful Company of New Albion ; in all forty-four undertakers and subscribers, bound by Indenture to bring and settle three thousand able, trained men in our several Plan- · tations to the said Province."
The seductive title and high-sounding ad- dress of Plantagenet's work explains in a great degree the plan and character of the New Al- bion project. The chief, Sir Edmund Ployden, was called the Lord Palatine, a title and dig- nity which was to be hereditary, and in which was vested the power of government and the creation of barons, baronets and other orders of nobility, to whom were to be granted the man- ors into which the whole territory of New Al- bion was to be laid out. The Palatine gave a barony to Beauchamp Plantagenet and several others whom he created nobles, and also to each member of his own family ; and to his eld- est son, heir apparent and Governor, Francis, Lord Ployden, Baron of Mount Royal, a very large manor on the Elk River; to Thomas, Lord Ployden, High Admiral and Baron of Roymount, the manor of Roymount, including the site of the town of Lewes, Del .; and to the Lady Winifred Ployden, Baroness of Uvedale, a manor of that name, which was given "from its abundance of grapes ; producing the Tou- louse, Muscat and others." The residence of the Earl Palatine was the great manor of " Watcessit," near Salem, N. J. Plantagenet was made Baron of Belvill, with the grant of a manor of that name, containing ten thousand acres of land. An order of knighthood was also instituted, to be composed of persons of con- dition who would emigrate to the province and there assist in efforts to convert the native sav- ages to the Christian religion, and the members of this order were to be styled "The Albion Knights of the Conversion of the Twenty-three Kings,"-this being, as was supposed, the number of Indian " Kings " who lived and ruled within the province.
The royal patent of this territory to Sir Ed- mund Ployden provided that, " in order that the said region may outshine all other regions of the earth, and be adorned with more ample titles, the said region shall be incorporated into a Province to be nominated and called New Albion or the Province of New Albion ; to be and remain a free County Palatine, in no wise subject to any other," and it con- ferred on the Lord Palatine and his associ- ates, and their heirs and assigns, the full aud ab-
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THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.
solute right to and ownership of all the lands embraced within the grant, and also the power of government over it; the Palatine and his heirs and successors being invested with author- ity to make and enforce " fit and wholesome ordinations as well for keeping the peace as for the better government of the people ; provided, however, that such ordinations should be con- sonant to reason, and not repugnant to the laws, statutes and rights of the kingdom of England and Ireland, and so that they do not extend to the right or interest of any person or persons, of, or in free tenements, or the taking, distrain- ing, binding or changing any of their goods or chattels." Such laws and ordinances were to be made " with the counsel, approbation and assents of the free tenants of the Province or the major part of them," who should be called together for that purpose ; but it was also pro- vided that in case these could not be assembled without a delay that might be detrimental to the interests of the province, the Earl Pala- tine should exercise the law-making power alone,-thus, in effect, making his power abso- Inte with regard to the local affairs of the province.
But Ployden's magnificent enterprise resulted in failure. He, with Plantagenet and about a dozen others, came to New Albion before 1640, and after (or during) an exploration of the whole of New Jersey by Ployden and the " Baron of Belvill," a place was selected within the " Manor of Watcessit," on the Delaware River, at or near the mouth of Salem Creek, where a small settlement was formed and a block-house built, which they called Fort Erewomec. This was the only settlement ever made or attempted to be made by the Lord Palatine and Knights of New Albion, and even in this they were largely assisted by a colony of Connecticut men, under the leadership of Capt. Nathaniel Turner, who, in the year 1640, came from New Haven to the Delaware, expecting to find the lands there unoccupied, except by Indians, and intending to be under no government' but that of the
'" The company, consisting of near fifty [?] families, sailed in a vessel belonging to one Lamberton, a merchant of New Haven, and Robert Cogswell was commander. . They touched at Fort Amsterdam on their voyage, and the
Connecticut colony. But finding that Ployden was there and in possession under a royal grant, they swore allegiance to him and made their settlement under his authority as Palatine and Governor of New Albion. But after a time the Dutch Governor, Keift, at New Am- sterdam, received information of their having located on the Delaware, within the bounds of New Netherlands, and thereupon, in the year 1642, he sent two vessels to the Delaware, with a military force, under orders to disperse and expel them from the country. In this enter- prise the Dutch were assisted by the Swedes on the Delaware, who, like the Hollanders, were jealous and fearful of English encroachments in the valley of that river. The united forces made a descent upon the settlement on Varck- en's Kill, burned the houses, seized the goods of the settlers, took some of the people prisoners and forced the rest to leave the country. Ac- counts do not clearly state what became of Ployden's party of knights, adventurers, etc., in this affair, but there is no doubt that they (there were not more than fifteen of them at most) were dispersed like the others. Nothing is found to show that they ever attempted to make any other settlement north of the Dela- ware. It has been stated that Ployden went to Maryland and Virginia, where doubtless he was
authorities at that place became thus apprised of the nature of the object they had in view. Governor Keift was too much alive to the movements of the English to allow him to look with indifference upon the present attempt, and he at once protested against it [unless they would consent to settle there ' under the Lords, the States and the noble West India Company, and swear allegiance and become subject to them, as the other inhabitants of New Netherlands have done']. The English commander replied that it was not their intention to settle under any government if any other place could be found, but that should they settle within the limits of the States-General, they would become subject to the government. The company then proceeded. They finally reached a place which they selected for a settle- ment, not far from the Delaware, on a small stream called Varcken's Kill [Salem Creek]. Whether these settlers were at all aware of the rights and claims of the Earl Palatine, of Albion, at the time they entered the province is unknown. But finding him in the country as the holder of a grant from the English crown, they were ready to submit to his rule ; and hence, upon being visited by per- sons commissioned by the Earl, they swore fealty to him as the Palatine of Albion."-Mulford's " History of Now Jersey, 1848.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
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accompanied by some or all of his few followers who were dispersed by the Dutch and Swedes in 1642. Both he and Plantagenet were, how- ever, several years later, engaged in explorations in what is now New Jersey. In 1648 they re- turned to England for the purpose of reviving the enterprise,' and making preparations to send forward another detachment of the " three thousand able, trained men" to people and plant their American domain; but, either on account of the political troubles which then agi- tated England, or from other causes, they were entirely unsuccessful. Neither of them ever returned to America, and the magnificent enter- prise of the Palatinate of New Albion was defi- nitely abandoned.
The Dutch occupation and government of New Netherlands remained undisturbed (except by the comparatively unimportant events above ' narrated) for more than half a century after the visit of Argall, at New Amsterdam, in 1613. The director, superintendent, or Governor who was in command at that time was Hendrick Corstiaensen, whose successor was Peter Min- uit, who came to New Netherlands as Governor, with full powers from the States-General, in 1624, and was succeeded in that office by Wouter Van Twiller, in 1633. He, in turn, was suc- ceeded by, in 1638, William Keift, who, as has already been mentioned, made war upon and dispersed the English who had scated them- selves in the valley of the Delaware River in 1642. Four years later (1646) the redoubtable old Dutch warrior, Peter Stuyvesant, came to the Governorship of New Netherlands and held it for eighteen years, and until dispossessed by the power of England.
King Charles the Second, being firmly seated on the throne of England after the sub- sidence of the storms of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, and being resolved to enforce the long dormant claims of the English crown to the sovereignty of all the North American continent, made a royal grant and patent (dated March 12, 1663-64) to his "dearest bro-
ther James, Duke of York and Albany," and his heirs and assigns, etc., of " All that Part of the main Land of New England, beginning at a certain Place called or known by the Name of St. Croix, next adjoining to New Scotland in America ; and from thence extending along the Sea Coast unto a certain Place called Petua- quine, or Pemaquid, and so up the river there- of to the farthest head of the same as it tendeth Northward ; and extending from thence to the River of Kenebeque, and so upwards by the shortest course to the River of Canada North- ward. And also, all that Island or Islands, commonly called by the several Name or Names of Matowacks or Long Island, scituate, lying and being towards the West of Cape Codd and the Narrow Higansetts, abutting upon the Main Land between the two Rivers there, called or known by the several Names of Conecticut or Hudson's River, together also with the said River called Hudson's River, and all the Lands from the West side of Conecticut to the East side of Delaware Bay. And also, all those several Islands called or known by the Names of Martin's Vineyard and Nantukes, or other- wise Nantuckett."
The consideration to be paid by the Duke of York or his assigns was, "yearly and every year, Forty Beaver Skins when they shall be demanded, or within Ninety Days thereafter." And the grant to the duke embraced not only the right of property, but "full and absolute Power and authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern and rule all such the subjects of us, our Heirs and Successors, as shall from time to time adventure themselves into any the Parts and Places aforesaid, or that shall or do at any time hereafter inhabit within the same according to such Laws, Orders, Ordinances, Directions and Instruments as by our said dearest Brother or his Assigns be established."
This grant, as will readily be seen, included all of the present State of New Jersey, the greater part of Maine, the sea islands of Massa- chusetts, a part of Connecticut and all of Long Island and Staten Island, together with a part or all of the remainder of the State of New York. And, in order to put the .said grantee, the Duke of York (and through
1 It was at this time that Plantagenet's " Description of New Albion," etc., was published, for the purpose of re- awakening the enthusiasm of the original associates and · bringing in others.
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THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.
him the crown of England), in possession of the territory included in the patent,- covering, as it did, nearly the whole of the Dutch New Netherlands,-the King sent out four ships, under command of Sir Robert Carre, carrying also an adequate military force, and Colonel Richard Nicolls, whom the grantee, the Duke of York, had designated and commissioned as his Governor, the object of the expedition being to wrest from the Dutch the territory included in the royal patent. The fleet arrived at New · Amsterdam in August,1 1664, and demanded the surrender of that place and of all New Netherlands, which demand was, after a few days' parley, acceded to by Governor Stuyve- saint, and the surrender was made on the 27th (O. S.) of that month. Thus the Dutch power over New Netherlands passed away, to be re- vived nine years later, and then, after a few months' continuance, to be extinguished forever.
While the fleet under Sir Robert Carre was yet at sea, between England and New Amster. dam, another change of proprietorship of the country between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers was made by the granting of that terri- tory by the Duke of York (June 24, 1664) to " John, Lord Berkeley, Baron of Stratton, and one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, and Sir George Carteret, of Saltrum, in the County of Devon, Knight, and one of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council," 2 the territory conveyed being described as follows :
'Governor Stuyvesant had been apprised several weeks before, by Thomas Willit, of the coming of the fleet and its object, though war had not then been declared between England and Holland.
2 Berkeley had commanded the English forces against the Scotch in 1628. He was one of the King's favorites and was appointed a member of the Privy Council, but was forced to resign the office because of the discovery of some of his grossly corrupt transactions. Then the Duke of York took him in patronage, but he was again detected and disgraced.
Sir George Carteret had been a distinguished naval officer and Governor of the Isle of Jersey, in the English Channel, to which King Charles fled to escape capture by the troops of the Commonwealth. Carteret defended the place and the King with the most determined valor and energy against the Parliamentary forces, which service was never forgotten by the King, who ever after held Carteret as one of his . expecial favorites. He was created a baronet in 1645, and |
" All that Tract of Land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the Westward of Long Island and Manhitas Island, and bounded on the East, part by the main Sea, and part by Hudson's River, and hath upon the West, Delaware Bay or River, and extending Southward to the main Ocean as far as Cape May, at the Mouth of Delaware Bay; and to the Northward as far as the Northernmost Branch of the said Bay or River of Delaware, which is in forty-one Degrees and forty Minutes of Latitude, and crosseth over thence in a strait Line to Hudson's River in forty-one Degrees of Latitude; which said Tract of Land is hereafter to be called by the Name or Names of New Caesarea or New Jersey . . . to the only use and behoof of the said John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, their Heirs and Assigns, forever ; yielding and render- ing therefore unto the said James, Duke of York, his Heirs and Assigns, for the said Tract of Land and Premises, yearly and every year, the sum of Twenty Nobles of lawful Money of England, if the same shall be lawfully Demanded, at or in the Inner Temple Hall, London, at the Feast of St. Michael the Arch- angel, yearly."-Leaming and Spicer, pp. 8-11.
By this grant to Berkeley and Carteret of the territory that now forms the State of New Jersey, the Duke of York also conveyed to them the right of government over the same territory,-a right and power which had been given him by the King's letters patent, to which especial reference was had in the duke's release to the new proprietors The laws by which this province was to be governed were to be made by a General Assembly of delegates from the people,3 and to be approved by a Gover-
various lucrative offices were given him, but, like Berkeley, he was proved grossly dishonest, and was expelled from the House of Commons for corrupt practices. Both he and Berkeley were notorious for their peculation and breaches of faith, but they had stood by the King in disaster and ex- ile, and when he regained the throne he remembered their fidelity and turned a deaf ear to complaints against them.
3 A General Assembly of delegates convened at Elizabeth- town on the 26th of May, 1668. The settlement of what is now Monmouth County had been commenced by John Bowne and others in 1664, and by 1668 a large number of settlers had gathered at the "two towns of Navesink," as they were then called, meaning Middletown and Shrews- bury. In the first General Assembly of 1668 these settle- ments were represented by James Grover and John Bowne. At the next session, held in November of the same year, the deputies sent by the two towns were Jonathan Holmes, Edward Tartt, Thomas Winterton and John Hans (Hance) ; "but they refusing to take or subscribe to the Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity but with Provisos, and not submit- ting to the Laws and Government, were dismissed."-Leam- ing and Spicer, p. 85.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
nor and Council appointed by themselves. Im- mediately after the duke's release to them they appointed Philip Carteret as their Governor of New Jersey, " with power," as was express- ed in their instructions to him, "to nominate and take unto you twelve able men at most, and six at least, to be of your Council and Assist- ance; or any even number between Six and Twelve, unless we have before made choice of or shall choose all or any of them." These instructions to Governor Carteret, and also his commission, were dated February 10, 1664- 65. He arrived in the province in the summer of 1665, published his commission, and duly assumed the government.
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The territory which had been so summarily wrested from Governor Stuyvesant by Sir Robert Carre and Governor Richard Nicolls, in 1664, was retaken by the Dutch in an equally sudden and unexpected manner in 1673. War had been declared in March, 1672, by Charles the Second, of England, and Louis the Fourteenth, of France, against the States of Holland, and the latter had, in consequence, dispatched a squad- ron of vessels to operate against the commerce and possessions of their enemies in the West Indian seas and along the coast of the conti- nent of North America. This Dutch fleet having made very extensive captures in the West Indies, sailed northward to the Carolinas, and thence to Chesapeake Bay and the James River, where they also took a large number of small prizes ; and having learned from some of the passengers on one of these prizes that New York was then very weakly defended, they sailed there without delay, and finding the situation there to be as had been represented to them (Governor Lovelace being absent, and the fort only garrisoned by a small number of . men under command of Captain Manning), they at once sent a summons to surrender, which was acceded to without any attempt at defense by the commandant, and the Dutch admirals took possession of the fort and town on the 30th of July, 1673.
The circumstances which induced the Dutch commanders to move so promptly on New . York, and enabled them to effect so easy a cap-
ture of the fort and town, are explained in an affidavit of " William Hayes, of London, mer- chant," before Edwyn Stede, December 2, 1673.1 This deponent " did declare that he, the said Hayes, being a prisoner in Virginia on board the Dutch Admiral Euertson, of Zeeland, in company with Binkhurst, Admirall of Am- sterdam, in company wth fiue other friggots & a fire ship, who had taken eight Virginia Mer- chant Ships and sunk fiue after a hott dispute & the saide Dutch fleete with their prizes being goeing out of James River, mett wth a Sloope, then come from New Yorke, which Sloope they took & Examined the Master in what condi- cion the said New Yorke was, as to Itts defence, & promised the said Master, by name Samuel Dauis [Davis], to giue him his sloope againe & all that they had taken from him iff he would tell them the true state of that place, who told them in ye hearing of this Examinant that New Yorke was in a very good condicion, & in all respects able to defend itselfe, hauing re- ceiued a good supply of armes and ammuni- cion from his Royall Highness, the Duke of Yorke, wth aduice of their designe on that place, wob made them resolue to steere another course & not goe to New Yorke," when one
1 New York Colonial Documents, vol. iii. p. 213.
2 This part of the story is told by another, who was pres- ent at the taking of the sloop by the Dutch, as follows : " Moreouer, this man saith that he stood at the Cabbin doore & heard the Generall demand of the Mr of the Sloope, Samuel Dauis by name, what force they had at New Yorke, & tould him if he would deale faithfully wth him he would giue him his Sloope and cargo againe; the said Sloope's Master replyed that in the space of three hours the Gover- nor Louelace could raise fiue thousand men & one hundred and fifty piece of Ordinance, mounted fit for service upon the wall ; upon this the Dutch Generall said, if this be true, I will giue you yor Sloope & Cargo & neuer see them. Then the enquired of one M' Hopkins, who tould them he thought there might bee between sixty and eighty men in the ffort, and in three or foure days' time it was possible they might raise three or foure hundred men, & that there was thirty or thirty-six piece of ordinance up- pon the wall, that a shot or two would shake them out of their carriages ; then all they' cry was for New Yorke, to which place they came, and this Captine stood ther on the Deck and saw them land by the Governor's Orchard about six hundred men . . taken before me the date above said [August 8, 1673.]
" NATHAN GOULD."
-New York Colonial Documents, vol. iii. p. 200.
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THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.
Samuell Hopkins, a passenger in ye said sloope & Inhabitant at Arthur Call, in New England, & a professor there, did voluntarily declare to y Dutch that what the said Dauis had in- formed was alltogether false ; that New Yorke was in no condicion to defend itselfe agt the Dutch ; but they had a few canons mounted, and those that were upon such rotten carriages that one discharge would shake them to pieces & dismount the canon ; that there were but few men in armes in the ffort ; that any considerable number could not be easely drawn together ; that the Governor was absent, being gone to C'anedicott to visitt Governor Winthrope, all web encouraged the Dutch to visitt that place, w" was presently taken by them ; Where the said Hopkins yet continues & had encouraged the Dutch to proceede to the takeing of Arthur Cull, having discovered to them allso the weakness of that place ; And this Examinant saith that the said Hopkins had formerly made his aboade with Capt James Cartrett, & fur- ther saith not."
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