History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 11

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148

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In 1742 the chiefs and sachems of the Iroquois nation met the Governor and others of the prin- eipal men of Pennsylvania in council at Phila- delphia, the real object of their having been called there by the Governor being to induce them to order the Delawares (who, in faet, were, and had been for many years, their conquered vassals), to remove westward from their domain in the valley of the Delaware River. The object was accomplished, and the order was given in open couneil by the Iroquois Sachem Connos- satego, addressed to the few Delaware chiefs who were in attendance. They had no alterna- tive but to obey, and the remnant of the ancient

and proud nation removed from their domain, many of them going to the Ohio River.

But this forced exodus of the Delawares had reference chiefly to the Minsi branch of the nation, whose country lay northwest of the Mus- eonetcong Mountains, and had little, if any, effect on the feeble bands in the eastern part of the province, for they had already become wholly insignificant in numbers, as is indicated in a letter written in April, 1749, by Governor Belcher, of New Jersey, to the Lords of Trade, in which he said: "Of Indians, about sixty families reside in the province, who are quiet and easy under his Majesty's Government." About three years prior to this, however, an alarm had been created among the people of this part of the province by a report that stranger Indians had come here from the North- west secretly, and in considerable numbers, being supposed to have been sent by the French in Canada to stir up the few New Jersey In- dians to hostility, and to take part with and assist them in depredation and bloodshed. Another theory was that the strange Indians who appeared so suddenly in this region had come as allies of a large body of white insurgents who had formed a partial organization to resist enforcement of the laws concerning land titles, and (as was alleged) had threatened to call the Indians to their aid. The following, having reference to the matter in question, is from the records1 of the Governor and Council of New Jersey :

" 1746, April 9th .- The Council received in- formation that tho' for Six years past no In- dian men had lived near Cranberry but Andrew and Peter, and that only two more had Lived for many years before that, who both, for misde- meanours by them Committed, removed thence to Crosswicks, yet within a few weeks before that information there were come forty fighting men of Indians to live there ; that about three weeks before that information, one Indian came who had a blue Laced Coat on, which, it was Said, he had got from the Governour of Canada, and he Lodged in the Informant's house one Night, and some of the other Indians told the

1 Col. Doc. 1, vi. 406.

THE INDIAN OCCUPATION.

Informant that he was a King of some Indians on Delaware, and that he was come to View that place and was to come and Settle there with his Indians, and that they expected they would be about Three hundred Indians there in all ; that the Neighbours thereabout were ex- tremely alarmed at this Number of Indians Coming to Settle there, where it's Esteemed impossible for such a Number to Live without Stealing or killing their Neighbours' Creatures. That the Cause pretended for Such a Nun- ber of Indians coming to Live there is, that they are to be taught the Christian Religion by one Mr. Braniard, and for that purpose they are to build a Town, a Church and a School- House upon the Land there of one John Fal- conar, of London, Merchant, upon which In- formation, upon Oath, a Copy was given to one of the Members of the Assembly to Shew it to the rest. Whatever truth there may be in the pretenee for these Indians gathering together in that place near the very Centre of this Province We know not, as we are well assured that the said Mr. Braniard has never made any applica- tion to this Government for Leave to gather those Indians there or to give any Notice to it of Such design, but . . . these things being compared with the threats of the Rioters given out at their Riot in September, 1745, Demon- strate that the Threat of their having the As- sistance of a hundred Indians to Support their pretentions, which was Esteemed ridiculous and impossible, is by these means likely to become possible, and as the Same [Indian] Andrew, whom the committee of the Rioters were tam- pering with, is the head of them, and pretends to give those Indians the Land they are to Live upon, it's Submitted how probable it Seems that this gathering of those Indians there may be in Consequence of what has been Concerted between the Said Andrew and the Said Com- mittee, which matter so Concerted, most probably, have been the foundation for the Threat afore- said "

The " Mr. Braniard," to whom reference is made in this extract, was Brainerd, the famous missionary, who labored among the Indians in New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and others of the provinces, and who preached

for a long time at Cranbury, and at the oldl Presbyterian Church northwest of Monmouth Court-House. The description of the Indian wearing the " blue-laced coat," and represented to be a King, corresponds exactly with that frequently found of the Delaware King, Tecdy- usenng, who had doubtless on this occasion come down from the Susquehanna Valley to see and hear Brainerd,1 whom he had before met in Pennsylvania, and with whom he was on terms of cordial friendship. It is said that during Brainerd's term of preaching in this part of the province there were at times quite large numbers of Indians gathered to hear him. If so, the audiences must have been made up of those who came with Teedyusenng or of some other stranger savages, as it is shown by the preceding qnotation from the Conneil record that at the time in question the resident Indian population in this vicinity had dwindled to almost nothing. The Indian Peter, referred to, was a well-known character in the southern part of Monmouth County prior to and during the Revolution. The record of him is that he was remarkably fond of whiskey, and in conse- quenee became a vagabond, though not a vicious one. Abont 1775 he moved to the vicinity of Imlaystown, and built a cabin on the shore of a pond, from which he took large numbers of fish, which he sold to the white people, realizing in that way a sufficient amount to keep him quite well supplied with liquor. During his residence by the pond his squaw died and he was left alone. He lived some years after his bereavement, and was one of the last, if not the very last, of his race living in Monmouth County. The reason why he remained here living alone, so long after the other New Jersey Indians had been collected and placed together on a reservation, is not known, but it was doubtless his love of whiskey and the free life of a vagabond.

The right of the Indians to the ownership of the lands in New Jersey was recognized by the government of the province, and, as has already

1 The fact that Teedyuscung was also an owner of unsold Indian lands in this vicinity, as before mentioned, might have been a partial cause of his coming to Cranbury.

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

been mentioned, it was always required that the Indian lands should be fairly purchased before settlements were made on them. This was done, and large purchases were made from the natives from time to time, as the need of settlers required, so that most of the Indians had sold most of their lands prior to 1758, in which year, at a treaty council held at Crosswicks for the purpose, the whole of their remaining titles were extingnished, except that there was reserved to them the right to fish in all the rivers and bays south of the Raritan, and to hunt on all unin- closed lands. A tract of three thousand acres of land was also purchased at Edge Pillock, in Burlington County, and on this the few remain- ing Indians of New Jersey (about sixty in num- ber) were afterwards collected and settled. They remained there until the year 1802, when they removed to New Stockbridge, near Oneida Lake, in the State of New York, where they joined the Stockbridge tribe. Several years afterwards they again removed and settled on a large tract of land on Fox River, Wis., which traet had been purchased for their use from the Menominee Indians. There, in conjunction with the Stockbridges, they engaged in agricul- tural pursuits and formed a settlement, which was named Statesburg. At that place, in the year 1832, there remained about forty of the Delawares, among whom was still kept alive the tradition that they were the owners of fish- ing and hunting privileges in New Jersey. They resolved to lay their claims before the Legislature of this State and to request that a moderate sum (two thousand dollars) might be paid them for its relinquishment. The person selected to act for them in presenting the matter before the Legislature was one of their own na- tion, whom they called Shawuskukhkung (mean- ing " wilted grass"), but who was known among "From your humble petitioner, "BARTHOLOMEW S. CALVIN, " In behalf of himself and his red brethren." the white people as Bartholomew S. Calvin. Hle was born in 1756, and was educated at Princeton College at the expense of the Scotch In the Legislature the subject was referred to a committee, which, after patient hearing, reported favorably; whereupon the Legislature granted to the Delawares the sum of two thou- sand dollar -- the full amount asked for-in consideration of this relinquishment of their last Missionary Society. At the breaking out of the Revolution he left his studies to join the patriot army under Washington, in which he served with credit through the war. At the time when his red brethren placed this business in his hands he was seventy-six years of age, yet he | claims and rights in the State of New Jersey.

proceeded in the matter with all the energy of youth, and laid before the New Jersey Legisla- ture a petition in his favor signed by a large number of respectable citizens of the State, together with a memorial, written by his own hand, as follows :

"MY BRETHREN,-I am old and weak and poor, and therefore a fit representative of my people. You are young and strong and rich, and therefore fit representatives of your people. But let me beg you for a moment to lay aside the recollections of your strength and of our weakness that your minds may be prepared to examine with candor the subject of our claims.

"Our tradition informs us-and I believe it corre- sponds with your records-that the right of fishing in all the rivers and bays south of the Raritan, and of hunting in all uninclosed lands, was never relin- quished, but, on the contrary, was expressly reserved in our last treaty, held at Crosswicks in 1758. Having myself been one of the parties to the sale,-I believe in 1801,-I know that these rights were not sold or parted with.

"We now offer to sell these privileges to the State of New Jersey. They were once of great value to us, and we apprehend that neither time nor distance nor the non-use of our rights have at all affected them, but that the courts here would consider our claims valid were we to exercise them ourselves or delegate them to others. It is not, however, our wish thus to excite litigation. We consider the State Legislature the proper purchaser, and we throw ourselves upon its benevolence and magnanimity, trusting that feel- ings of justice and liberality will induce you to give us what you deem a compensation. And as we have ever looked up to the leading characters of the United States (and to the leading characters of this State in particular) as our fathers, protectors and friends, we now look up to you as such, and humbly beg that you will look upon us with that eye of pity as we have reason to think our poor, untutored forefathers looked upon yours when they first arrived upon our then extensive but uncultivated dominions and sold them their lands, in many instances for trifles, in compari- son. as 'light as air.'

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.

Upon this result Mr. Calvin addressed to the Legislature a letter of thanks, which was read before the two Houses in joint session, and was i received with repeated rounds of most enthusi- astie applause. The letter was as follows:

"TRENTON, March 12, 1832.

"Bartholomew S. Calvin takes this method to re- turn his thanks to both Houses of the State Legisla- ture, and especially to their Committees, for their very respectful attention to, and candid examination of, the Indian claims which he was delegated to present.

"The final act of official intercourse between the State of New Jersey and the Delaware Indians, who once owned nearly the whole of its territory, has now been consummated, and in a manner which must re- dound to the honor of this growing State, and in all probability to the prolongation of the existence of a wasted, yet grateful people. Upon this parting ocea- sion I feel it to be an incumbent duty to bear the feeble tribute of my praise to the high-toned justice which, in this instance,-and, so far as I am acquainted, in all former times,-has actuated the councils of this commonwealth in dealing with the aboriginal inhabitants.

"Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle; not an aere of our land have you taken but by our consent. These facts speak for themselves and need no comment. They place the character of New Jersey in bold relief and bright example to those States within whose territorial limits our brethren still remain. Nothing save benisons can fall upon her from the lips of a Lenni Lenapè.

"There may be some who would despise an Indian benediction; but when I return. to my people and make known to them the result of my mission, the ear of the great Sovereign of the universe, which is still open to our cry, will be penetrated with the in- vocation of blessings upon the generous sons of New Jersey."

While this Indian claim was under consider- ation the cause of the Delawares was vohin- tarily supported by the Hon. Samuel L. South- ard, who, at the close of a most powerful and eloquent appeal, made before the committee in favor of the petitioners, said,-" It is a proud fact in the history of New Jersey that every foot of her soil has been obtained from the In- dians by fair and voluntary purchase and trans- fer, a fact that no other State of the Union, not even the land which bears the name of Penn, can boast of."

CHAPTER V.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TITLES.

THE first time that the soil of Monmouth County was ever trodden by the feet of white men was on the 5th of September, 1609, when a boat's crew belonging to Captain Henry Hud- son's little ship, the " Half-Moon," landed upon the southern shore of Sandy Hook Bay (at a place which eannot now be identified), and trav- eled thenee a short distance inland, returning later in the day to the ship, and there giving en- thusiastie accounts of the majestie forest-trees, and the strange wild flowers and fruits, and people that they had seen in their short journey of exploration. The incidents of this land trip by Hudson's sailors into the woods of what is now the county of Monmouth have already been more fully mentioned in a preceding chap- ter, as also the subsequent killing of one of their number-John Colman-by the Indians, and the interment of his body in the sands of the Momnouth shore, at a place which they named in his memory "Colman's Point." It was the first burial of a white man in the soil of the present State of New Jersey; but the location of the spot where his comrades made his lonely grave can never be known.

From that time, for more than half a century, the Dutch, claiming the right to all this region by virtue of Hudson's discovery, held possession of it (though only nominally as concerned the interior portions) undisturbed, except tempo- rarily by the appearance of Captain Samuel Argall with his ship and soldiers at New Am- sterdam, in 1613, as has already been noticed. During all that long period the Hollanders had established a town where New York now is, and another at the site of the present city of AAlbany, with straggling settlements at several interme- diate points on the Hudson River, and two or three small ones along the Hackensack, as far south as Newark Bay, called by them the Ach- ter Koll ; but these remained their frontiers, while beyond them, to the west and sonth, and also southeastwardly to the ocean shore, the country still remained a wilderne -- , and in pos- session of the native Indians. Among them a

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

few of the more adventurous Dutchmen from New Amsterdam had penetrated for a short distance up the kills and rivers ; but their visits were for purposes of trade only, and not made with a view to the forming of settlements.

The Dutch colonists at that time living along the Hudson were merely traders, and most of them had come to America for that especial purpose. But they had about them none of that bold spirit of pioneering enterprise which impels men to seek new homes in the forest ; and so, although for the sake of gain they frequently ventured on trading journeys among the Indians, whom they (not without good cause) regarded with distrust and dread, they chose to smoke their pipes and drink their schnapps in quiet and comparative safety at their settlements on the Hudson, the Hackensack and Long Island, rather than take the trouble and incur the dan- ger of opening new plantations and forming new settlements in the interior. And these are the reasons why the region of country now em- braeed in the county of Monmouth remained without white inhabitants until the Dutch power was overthrown in New Netherlands, and the country was brought under English rule.

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 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

of this party, during their visit to the Navesink and Raritan Indians, is to be gained from the following extraets from vol. xxi. of the Albany Records ; being an account of a trip to the same region, and within two or three days of the same time, by a party of Hollanders (evidently traders) from New Amsterdam, viz .: "1663 .- Voyage to Newesing [Navesink] made in the Company's sloop, and what happened during the trip. There were on the sloop Captain Martin Creger, Govert Looekermans, Jacques Cortelyou, Peter Zevel, with ten soldiers, two sailors and the Sachem, with a savage from Staten Island.

" 6th December .- Wesailed from the Manhat- tans [New York] about three o'clock and arrived about evening, at 6 o'clock, at Staten Island, where the Saehem of said Island, with the savage, went on shore. They remained about an hour and then returned. Hoisting again our sail, we sailed through the Kil Van Kol, arrived at the back of Shutter's Island upon shallow water, east our anchor and stayed there until next ebb tide. We raised our anchor again about three in the morning and rowed down with the ebb to the Creek behind Staten Island. Somewhat later in the morn- ing we hoisted our sail and tacked until the ebb tide was over, and then again cast our anehor. The flood tide being gone about two o'clock in the afternoon, we raised the anchor and tacked again.

" 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 taeked together, with our sloops the same evening, towards the

Charles' intention to expel the Dutch from their end of Staten Island, and cast there our an- possession of New Netherlands was the prin- eipal cause which induced a party of about

chors just opposite the Raritan River, where we saw two houses with Southern Savages. twenty English, all or nearly all of whom had ; Cowenhoven informed us that the English, in previously lived in the New England colonies, an open sloop, nineteen strong, sailed the day before up the Raritan River, where the Indians of the Newesing and Raritans were collected together about three miles up on the River. 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 but most of whom were then settlers on Long Island, to set ont in a sloop from Gravesend, L. I., in December, 1663, and sail across the bay to what is now Monmouth County, for the purpose of purchasing lands of the Indian sachems, with a view to settlement. Some knowledge of the movements and operations

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, 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, eame, when the whole thing termi- who were assembled about three miles up the | nated and the English left.

Raritan River. This we did at onee, with verbal orders that he should tell the Saehems 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 ns. 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 eame there seeretly. That if the Sachems of the Newesings wished to sell some land, that they should come to ns 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 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 Pier 1 and the said point ; we met here again Christo- pher Elsworth in his little sloop, and the Eng- lish sitting on shore near the ereck. 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- " December 9th,-We saw in the morning, about nine o'clock, the English sloop eoming 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 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 the River.' We asked what he had done. He largest part was already purchased by the Dutch. answered that he 'brought the English there.' John Bowne then asked me, 'under what Govern- We told him this was wrong ; it was against ' ment I presumed that they resided?' I answered our Government to act in this manner, and that they lived under that of the States-General, that he should answer for it; on which Wil- and under that of the Director-General and liam Goulding cried ont, ' It is well, it is well.' Council here. To which he replied : "Why, 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.], ' ously obtained the consent of Governor Stuyve- 1

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 eneamped at a consider- able distance from the Raritan River. John, the Savage, brought to us six or seven savages, who told ns that the English, before John, the savage, came to them, had arrived there and | HIon. G. C. Beekman.

then, are we not permitted to trade and explore lands a- well as you ?' I answered him that they ought not to undertake to purchase any lands from the Indians, except they had previ- sant and Council ; to which John Bowne replied : . It shall be well.' Then said Christopher Els-

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 11

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148