History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 14

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

USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth county, New Jersey > Part 14

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).

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 foree for the purpose of dispossessing the Dutch at New Amsterdam, and while that fleet was still on its way thither. the Duke of York had, as before noticed, conveyed (June 24, 1664) all his right, title, and interest, of every kind whatsoever, to and in the territory lying between 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- mission Captain Philip Carteret as their Gov-

that the first settlers here conducted themselves so justly and friendly towards the Indians that they had little or uo occasion to 'train' for fear of them."-Hon. Edwin Salter. :

ernor, and to frame and execute certain " Con- eessions," 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 Cresarea 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 shall 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- cerding 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."

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 traet 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 Aeres, to be holders of the manner of East Greenwich, in free . and Common Soecage ; 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 ns. 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, Wharfs, Kays, Harbours and for Publiek Houses ;

and to each Parish, for the use of their Minis- | peopling of ye sa Colony, & that he sent divers persons into ters, Two Hundred Acres, in such Places as the General Assembly shall appoint,"-all lands

laid ont 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 2 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 gorernment of the pro- prictors, 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 Doeu- ments, mentions the situation of affairs with regard to set- tlements in New Jersey at the time of Carteret's arrival ; also bis sending agents to New England to secure settlers :

" Silvester Salisbury, of New Yorke, Gent .. maketh osth 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, weh 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 sa 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 sd Philip Carteret, after his arrival there, landed ye sd servants and goods and applied himself to ye planting and

New England & other places to publish ye concessions of ye Lds Propriet's 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.

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 Nieolls of lands in New Jersey was ealled the " Elizabethtown Grant." On the 20th of September, 1664, John Bailey and others ap- plied to Nieolls 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 Jolin 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 (Vol. list. N. J., I. 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 comniu- 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 ve 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 yon. 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 Iludson'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 laud 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 ine 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

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 Nieolls 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 partie- 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 Ilanse, 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 Couneil do confirm unto the said Patentee- 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, " JOIN 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 proprietors' 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 ;

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- Dance 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 Cæsarca, 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 our said Province, by elaiming a Right of Pro- priety both of land and Government.1 For such as pretend to a Right of Propriety to

peaceable and well-minded Inhabitants, within Governor and our Couneil to dispose therefore,

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 choire 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, shall in the first place take a full view of each neck of

Land and Government within our Province by virtue of any Patent from Colonel Richard Nicolls, as they ignorantly assert, we utterly disown any such thing. A Grant they had from him upon such Conditions which they never perform'd : For by said Grant they were obliged to do and perform such Acts and Things as should be appointed by His Royal Highness or his Deputies ; the Power whereof remains in us by Virtue of a Patent from his said Royal Highness, bearing Date long before these Grants; which hath been often declared by our Governor (and now ratified and owned under the sign Manual of his said Royal High- ness to Colonel Lovelace, bearing Date the 25th of November, 1672), who demanded their sub- mission to their Authority, and to Patent their Land from us, and pay our Quit Rent according to our Concessions; which, if they had done, or shall yet do, we are Content that they shall enjoy the Tract or Tracts of Land they are settled upon, and to have such Privileges and Immunities as our Governor and Council can agree upon ; but without their speedy compli- ance as above said, we do hereby Order our in whole or in part for our best Advantage, to any other Persons. And if any Person or Persons do think they have injustice or wrong done by this, our positive Determination, they may address themselves to the KING and Coun- cil ; and if their Right to that Land or Gov- ernment appears to be better than ours, we will readily submit thereunto. . That all Grants of Land, Conveyances, Surveys or any other Pretenees for the Hold of Land whatso- ever within our said Province, that are not de- rived from us, according to the Prescriptions in our Concessions, and entered upon Record in our Secretary's Office in our said Province, we

Land commonly called Newasink and Narumsunk, and to give report of the same, to the best of their judgment and observation, as to the quantity of upland and meadow, that soe a fair and equal division may proceed, whereby the lymits of each Town might bee appointed and set down with all convenient expedition. That is to say, between this and the first of February ; and that good observation, as well of quality as of quantity, may be given in. that soe encl: neck might be peopled in such fitt proportion as shall be thought most fitt and equall."

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

declare to be null and void in Law. That the Constable of every respective Town within our Province shall have Power by War- rant from our Governor to take by way of dis- tress from every individual Inhabitant within their respective Jurisdictions, their just Propor- tion of Rent due to us yearly, beginning the 25th Day of March, 1670, and for his Charge and trouble abont the same, if they refuse to deliver it at some convenient Place which the said Constable shall appoint within their re- spective Jurisdictions, by the 25th Day of March, yearly ; the Constables only to be ac- countable to our Receiver-General : And altho' our Concessions say it shall be paid in current or lawful Money of England, yet at the request of our Governor and Council, we shall accept of it in such Merchantable Pay as the Country doth produce, at Merchant's Price, to the value of Money Sterling; and if by this Means we cannot obtain our Rent, then the Marshal of the Province shall be impowered, as above said, to collect the same at the Charge of such the Inhabitants as do refuse to pay at the Time and Places aforesaid." 1

And in the same document the proprietors declared that " No Person or Persons whatso- ever shall be counted a Freeholder of the said Province, nor have any Vote in electing, nor be capable of being elected for any Office of Trust, either Civil or Military, until he doth actually hold his or their Lands by Patent from us, the Lords Proprietors."

This declaration of the proprietors was not satisfactory to the patentees, associates and pur- chasers under the Monmouth grant, and in May, 1673, John Bowne and James Grover, on behalf of the people of the Navesink settle- ments, petitioned the Governor and Council to make no decision or conclusion as to the rights of the Nicolls patentees until they could make an address to the proprietors, whose decision upon such address they would acquiesce in. This petition was forwarded to England and received, September 5, 1673, by Sir George Carteret (Lord Berkeley having sold his inter- est, and so ceased to be a proprietor, in the pre-

ceding March). Sir George replied, in his instructions to the Governor, dated July 31, 1674, which were in the main but a reiteration of the proprietors' declaration (before quoted) of December 6, 1672; but he added,-" As to the Inhabitants of Navysink, considering their faithfulness to the Lords Proprietors,2 that upon their Petition their Townships shall be survey'd and shall be incorporated, and to have equal Privileges with other Inhabitants of the Province, and that such of them who were the pretended Patentees, and laid out Money in purchasing Land from the Indians, shall have in consideration thereof Five Hundred Acres of Land to each of them, to be allotted by the Governor and Council in such Places that it may not be prejudicial to the rest of the Inhabitants ; and because there is much Barren Land, after Survey taken, the Governor and Council may give them Allowance;" the allotments of five hundred acres and allowance to be made by the Governor and Council, inde- pendent of all action by the General Assembly.

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.

History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 14

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