USA > New Jersey > Morris County > History of Morris County, New Jersey > Part 3
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During the war New Jersey sent to the field forty regi- ments and five batteries. Her total number of men liable to military duty was 98,806. Of these 78,248 men were
called for by the government, and 88,305 were furnished, of whom 79,348 were credited to the State and 8,957 served in regiments of other States. The surplus over all calls was 10,057. The expenditures made by New Jersey in supplying troops during the war amounted to $2,894,384.99.
The historian Raum says: " During the entire war New Jersey had ample reason to be proud of her citizen soldiery, for on every battle field that their services were called into requisition they acquitted themselves nobly, and ably sustained the reputation of Jersey Blues."
CHAPTER V.
EDUCATIONAL, GOVERNMENTAL AND BENEVOLENT INSTI- TUTIONS-THE STATE ADMINISTRATION.
LTHOUGH from the well known character of the Dutch and Swedes who first settled New Jersey it is reasonable to suppose that they had schools as soon as there were among them a sufficient number of children, no record of the fact remains.
The English immigrants in East Jersey estab- lished schools in connection with. their churches. The Quakers who settled West Jersey were exceedingly care- ful to educate their children, and the first school fund in the province was derived from the rent or sale of lands on an island in the Delaware opposite Burlington set apart for that purpose.
Action in Newark concerning schools was first taken in 1676, and in 1693 the General Assembly of East Jersey authorized the election of school commissioners in the towns and recognized the principle of taxation for the support of schools.
A school fund of $15,000 was created by an act of the Legislature in 1816, and this was increased the next year. In 1818 the amount was increased to $113,238.78. In 1820 the inhabitants of townships were authorized to raise money by taxation for educational purposes, and in 1828 to raise funds in the same manner for the erection of school-houses.
In 1824 the Legislature enacted that the school fund should be increased by the addition to it each year of
In 1829 a school system was established, and in that year an appropriation of $20,000 was made for school purposes. This was followed by appropriations in sub- sequent years. In 1838 the school system was remodeled and the annual appropriation increased to $30,000. The constitution of 1844 prohibited the diversion of the school fund to any other purpose than the support of schools. An act of the Legislature in 1846 provided for the appointment of a State superintendent of public schools and for the election of township superintendents. It also modified the school system.
14
OUTLINE HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
The annual appropriation was increased to $40,000 in 1851 and to $80,000 in 1858. Teachers' institutes were established by law in 1854. The. State normal school was established in 1855, at Trenton, and the Farnum preparatory school at Beverly was founded in 1856, by Paul Farnum, who donated $70,000 for that purpose.
The State Board of Education was constituted in 1866 and in 1867 was revised, remodeled and greatly imî- proved.
Of the higher institutions of learning in this State its citizens are justly proud. In 1756 the College of New Jersey, which had been incorporated in 1746, was per- manently established at Princeton. A theological sem- inary was also founded at Princeton, by the Presbyterian denomination, in 1811.
The Queen's College was established at New Bruns- wick in 1770, under a charge from King George III. of England. In honor of Henry Rutgers its name was changed by act of the Legislature to Rutgers College. The Reformed Dutch Church founded a theological school at New Brunswick in 1771.
Burlington College, at Burlington, was chartered in 1846. It is under the management of the Episcopalians.
Seton Hall College, founded at Madison in 1856 and removed to South Orange in 1860, was chartered in 1861. It is a Roman Catholic institution. An ecclesiastical seminary is connected with it.
In addition to these there are many academies, theo- logical, commercial and special institutions.located in dif- ferent portions of the State, the character of which will not suffer by comparison with those of any other part of the country. There is probably no State in the Union which in proportion to its size affords educational facil- ities equal to those of New Jersey.
Previous to 1798 there was in this State no place of confinement for criminals except the county jails. In that year a prison was erected at Lamberton, at an expense £9,852. In 1820 it was enlarged by the addition of a wing. In 1838 a new prison was completed, at a total cost of about $180,000. Acts for the enlargement of this prison were passed in 1847, 1860, 1868 and 1877, and the entire cost up to that time was about $500,000.
In 1837 an act was passed making the old State prison a public arsenal. The building has been from time to time repaired and refitted, under authority of acts of the Legislature.
In 1791 the seat of government was fixed at Trenton, and in 1792 a State-house was erected, at a cost of about £4,000. The building was repaired in 1799, 1801, 1806, 1845 and 1850. Additions were made in 1863-65, 1871-73 and 1875.
The first action for the regulation of the State library was taken in 1804, when 168 volumes had accumulated. From this humble beginning the present State library has grown.
The first effective movement toward the erection of an asylum for the insane was made in 1844, when a com- mission for the selection of a site was appointed by the Legislature. . A site was selected about two miles from
Trenton. A building was erected within a few years, and additions have from time to time been made to it as necessity has required.
In 1868 an act was passed authorizing the appointment of a commission to select a site for an additional lunatic asylum and to commence its erection. A site was selected three miles from Morristown, and 430 acres of land were purchased. An extensive building was erected, at a cost, including land, furniture, etc., of $2,250,000, and in 1876 292 patients were removed to it from the Trenton asylum.
A soldiers' children's home was incorporated in 1865, and in 1866 it became a State institution. It was closed in 1876, the State having expended on it more than $346,000.
An act for the establishment of the " New Jersey Sol- diers' Home " was passed by the Legislature in 1865, and a building in the city of Newark was completed in 1866, at a total cost of more than $32,000. It has been supported by annual State appropriations.
By an act of the Legislature in 1865 a reform farm school for boys was established. The farm is near James- burg, Middlesex county, and includes nearly five hundred acres.
A State industrial school for girls was established in 1871, and a farm of about 80 acres in the township of Ewing, near Trenton, was purchased in 1872.
In 1854, by an act of the Legislature, a geological sur- vey of the State was authorized, and since that year annual appropriations have been made for the prosecution of the work. This survey has not only added valuable contributions to geological science, but has aided ma- terially in the development of the mineral and agricultural resources of the State.
The New Jersey Historical Society, which was organ- ized in 1845, was incorporated in 1846. It has its library and collections at Newark.
The constitution of New Jersey which was adopted July 2nd 1776 continued to be the fundamental law of the State till 1844, when a convention of delegates assembled on the 14th of May to frame a new constitution. They concluded their labors on the 29th of June. The con- stitution which they formed was submitted to the people on the second Tuesday in the following August, and adopted by a large majority. A more complete sep- aration of the different departments of government and an extension of political and civil privileges were the notable changes which were made from the former constitution. No further change was made till 1873, when the wants of the State seemed to require further modifications of its fundamental law, and a com- mission was appointed by authority of the Legislature to propose amendments to the constitution. Twenty-eight amendments were proposed, and they were submitted to the people at a special election September 7th 1875, and all were adopted. Although no radical change was made by these amendments many provisions were introduced in keeping with the progress of the age, among which were the elimination of the word " white " from the constitu-
15
GOVERNORS OF NEW JERSEY-INDUSTRIES.
tion and the substitution of the word "free " for " public" in the paragraph relating to schools.
The following is a list of the governors of New Jersey under the different regimes, with the year of their ap- pointment or election:
Previous to the division of the province: Carstiansen, 1614; Peter Minuit, 1624; Wouter Van Twiller, 1633; William Kieft, 1638; John Printz, 1642; Peter Stuy- vesant, 1646; Philip Carteret (English) 1664; Edmund Andross, 1674.
After the division: East Jersey-Philip Carteret, 1676; Robert Barclay, 1682; Thomas Rudyard, 1682; Gawen Lawrie, 1683; Lord Neil Campbell, 1686; Andrew Ham- ilton, 1687; Edmund Andross, 1688; John Tatham, 1690; Joseph Dudley, 1691; Andrew Hamilton, 1692; Jeremiah Basse, 1698; Andrew Bowne, 1699; Andrew Hamilton, 1699; West Jersey-Commissioners, 1676; Edward Byl- linge, 1679; Samuel Jennings, 1679; Thomas Olive, 1684; John Skene, 1685; Daniel Coxe, 1687; Edward Hun- loke, 1690; Society of Proprietors, 1691; Andrew Hamil- ton, 1692; Jeremiah Basse, 1697; Andrew Hamilton, 1690,
Province of New Jersey under the English govern- ment: Lord Cornbury, 1702; Lord Lovelace, 1708; Rich- ard Ingoldsby, 1709; Robert Hunter, 1710; William Burnet, 1720; John Montgomerie, 1728; Lewis Morris, 1731; William Cosby, 1732; John Anderson, 1736; John Hamilton, 1736; Lewis Morris, 1738; John Hamilton, 1746; John Reading, 1746; Jonathan Belcher, 1747; John Reading, 1757; Francis Bernard, 1758; Thomas Boone, 1760; Josiah Hardy, 1761; William T. Franklin, 1763.
Governors of the State: William Livingston, 1776; William Paterson, 1791; Richard Howell, 1794; Joseph Bloomfield, 1801; John Lambert, 1802; Joseph Bloom- field, 1803; Aaron Ogden, 1812; William S. Pennington, 1813; Mahlon Dickerson, 1815; Isaac H. Williamson, 1817; Peter D. Vroom jr., 1829; Elias P. Seeley, 1832; Peter D. Vroom, 1833; Philemon Dickerson, 1836; Wil- liam Pennington, 1837; Daniel Haines, 1843; Charles C. Stratton, 1844; Daniel Haines, 1848; George F. Fort, 1851; Rodman M. Price, 1854; William A. Newell, 1857; Charles S Olden, 1860; Joel Parker, 1863; Marcus L. Ward, 1866; Theodore F. Randolph, 1869; Joel Parker, 1872; Joseph D. Bedle, 1875; George B. McClellan, 1878; George C. Ludlow, 1881.
CHAPTER VI.
MINERAL RESOURCES-INDUSTRIES-CANALS AND RAIL- ROADS-POPULATION.
EW JERSEY is rich in mineral deposits. Among the best mines of zinc in the United States are those of Sussex county, which have been long and extensively worked. Copper is also found in several places. As early as 1719 a mine was discovered in Morris county that had evidently been worked by the early Dutch settlers. Iron is the most important mineral in the State. It is found in the counties of Morris, Sussex, Warren, Passaic, Hunterdon and elsewhere. In Morris county mines were worked as early as 1685, and there
are mines in the State that have been worked for a cen- tury and a half and that still are productive. A smaller proportion of the ore mined in this State is smelted here than formerly. As facilities for transportation have in- creased larger and larger quantities have been taken away, especially to the coal producing regions. Many hundred thousand tons are annually produced. In Monmouth county there was a smelting furnace and forge as early as 1682, and what was then a large business was carried on. Space will not permit an account in detail of the mines that have been worked or of the furnaces and mills that have been established in the State. The value of the ore mined and of the iron produced amounts to many millions of dollars annually.
The surroundings of New Jersey have greatly influenced the character of its industries, as in the case of other regions. In early times its agriculture was similar to that of the first settlements elsewhere; but as time went on, and the cities of New York and Philadelphia increased in size and the facilities for transportation to these cities became greater, the productions of the soil were gradu- ally changed to meet the demands in these cities, till New Jersey has come to be not inappropriately termed the "market garden of New York and Philadelphia." The cultivation of small fruits has within a comparatively recent period become an important industry in many lo- calities, and the sterile soil in some of the lower counties has been made productive by the use of fertilizers, par- ticularly of the marl which abounds along the coast.
At an early period only such manufactures were en- gaged in as were necessary to supply the wants of the settlers. Saw-mills, grist-mills and clothieries of course sprang up in all settled parts of the State. The excel- lent water power furnished by the streams, the natural facilities for transportation existing here, and the exist- ence of an abundance of raw material led to the estab- lishment of different kinds of manufactories in various localities before the commencement of the present cen- tury.
The introduction of steam as a motor, and the increase of facilities for bringing hither material and carrying away manufactured products, led to the establishment of other branches of manufactures and the extension of those already existing; and as time went on and the population of the State increased manufacturing inter- ests assumed a constantly increasing importance, till New Jersey has become one of the most important manufacturing States in the Union. It may reasonably be predicted that, with the advantages of location and facilities for transportation possessed by New Jersey, it will maintain its position in the front rank among manu- facturing States.
Of the many canals which have been chartered by the State the principal were the Morris and the Delaware and Raritan. The former was chartered in 1824 and was completed between Phillipsburg and Jer- sey City in 1836, connecting the waters of the Hudson .and Delaware rivers. The Delaware and Raritan was finally chartered in 1830, and the canal was completed
16
OUTLINE HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
between Bordentown, on the Delaware, and New Bruns- wick, on the Raritan, in 1834.
As early as 1815 a railroad, either of wood or iron, was chartered from the Delaware river near Trenton to the Raritan near New Brunswick. This was the first rail- road chartered in America. It was never built.
The Camden and Amboy Railroad Company was char- tered in 1830, and in 183r was consolidated with the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company. The first train of cars passed over its entire length in 1833.
By reason of the proximity of New Jersey to the great commercial metropolis of the country the railroad system of the State has grown to far greater proportions than that of many States. There are now within its limits nearly two thousand miles of railroad.
The rapid growth of the city of New York has come to exert a potent influence on the portions of New Jersey contiguous thereto. The numerous lines of railroad that diverge from points on the Hudson river opposite to that city afford to people engaged in business there such facilities for quick transit that thousands of such have their residences along these avenues of travel, and pass
daily to and from the city. It is not extravagance to look forward to a time when the entire region for many miles from New York will become practically a part of that city.
Seaside summer resorts have sprung up at various points along the coast, and these too are annually in- creasing in number and importance. Anticipations which may at first be considered wild can also reasonably be entertained concerning these.
The population of the State by counties in 1880 was as follows:
Atlantic.
18,706|Middlesex 52,286
Bergen 36,790 Monmouth
55,535
Burlington 55,403
Morris. 50,867
Camden
62,941 Ocean
14,455
Cape May 9,765 Passaic.
68,716
Cumberland
37,694|Salem
24,580
Essex
189,8 1.9 Somerset.
27, 161
Gloucester
25,886|Sussex.
23,553
Hudson
1 87,950
Union
55,571
Hunterdon 38,568 Warren 36,588
Mercer.
58,058|
Total 1,130,892
HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
BY HON. EDMUND D. HALSEY.
CHAPTER I.
THE INDIANS IN POSSESSION-EARLY BOUNDARY LINES- THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
B EFORE the year 1700 the territory now called Morris county was probably in the undis- turbed possession of the Indians. During the times of the Dutch supremacy in New York people of that nationality had settled upon the flat lands bordering on the Hudson and spread themselves northward into the coun-
ty of Bergen. After 1664 the English from Long Island and New England, by way of Elizabethtown and Milford, as Newark was then called, began to dispute with the Hollanders the settlement of the eastern part of the State. The English, Quakers, Swedes and Dutch had become established upon the Delaware and were commencing to look inland; but there is no evidence that an actual set- tler had as yet disturbed the aborigines in their posses- sion of the unbroken wilderness which extended from Orange Mountain to the "Great Pond." So distinct were the settlements upon the Hudson and the Delaware that their separation into East and West Jersey, so sin- gular to us now, was a natural one. The line between the two divisions, described as a " streight lyne from the said Creeke called Barnegat to a certaine Creeke in Delaware River next adjoyneing to and below a certaine Creeke in Delaware River called Rankokus Kill, and from thence up the said Delaware to ye northermost branch thereof, which is in fforty-one degrees and fforty minutes of Latitude," was a fruitful source of dispute. In 1687 Keith, the surveyor-general of East Jersey, ran this line from Little Egg Harbor as far as the south branch of the Raritan, but it was deemed by the West Jersey proprietors too far west, and they objected to its continuance any farther. On September 5th 1688 Governors Coxe and Barclay, repre-
senting the opposite sides, stipulated that the line should be extended to the north branch of the Raritan, near Lamington Falls; thence up the river to its rise on Suc- casunna Plains, and from there to the " nearest part of Passaic River;" thence up the Passaic and Pequannock to the 4Ist degree north latitude, and thence due east to the partition point on the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York. This line passed about five miles north of Morristown, and seemed to be regarded as the division line, but not invariably or for any length of time. The line run by John Lawrence in 1743, which passes through Budd's Lake (the " ninety-three mile tree " standing just north of the lake), was finally settted upon as the true one; but until after the Revolution the pro- prietors of West Jersey claimed to the compromise line of Coxe and Barclay, or to a line running from Barnegat Inlet to Port Jervis, and the proprietors of East Jersey claimed to the line of Keith, continued to the Delaware. John Barclay, Arthur Forbes and Gawen Lawrie, writ- ing to the Scots proprietors March 29th 1684, say : "We cannot positively answer, to give an account of the whole length and breadth of the province. But we are informed that it is a great deal broader than ye expected, for those who have traveled from the extent of our bounds on Hudson River straight over to the Delaware River say it is 100 miles or upwards. We shall know that certainly after a while, for the line betwixt us and New York is to be run straight over to Delaware River, about three weeks hence, and after that the line betwixt us and West Jer- sey; after which we shall be able to give a true account of the bounds of that province. * * * There are also hills up in the country, but how much ground they take up we know not; they are said to be stony, and cov- ered with wood, and beyond them is said to be excellent land." Endeavoring to give as flattering an account as they could of the settlements in the province and their extent, in their reports to their friends in the old country, no mention is made of any nearer Morris county than Newark.
As late as January 21st' 1707 the Legislature passed
18
HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
an act defining the boundaries of the then nine counties of the State, and exhibited an ignorance of the geography of the upper portion of the State only to be accounted for by the fact that that region was uninhabited except by Indians and wandering hunters. The bounds of Essex county ran up the "Rahway River to Robeson's branch; thence west to the division line between the Eastern and Western division aforesaid, and so to follow the said di- vision line to Pequaneck River, where it meets Passaick River; thence down Passaick River to the bay and sound." The lines of Burlington county followed the same par- tition line "to the northernmost and uttermost bounds of the township of Amwell; thence by the same to the River Delaware;" thence down the Delaware to the place of beginning. This arrangement placed part of Morris. county in Essex and part in Burlington. The division line referred to was evidently the Coxe and Barclay line, as Keith's division line of 1687 or its continuation did not run within miles of the Pequannock or any of its trib- utaries. Lawrence's line, still farther to the east, inter- sected only the head waters of the Walkill.
March 11th 1713-14 all the upper part "of the said Western Division of the province of New Jersey lying northward of, or situate above, the brook or rivulet com- monly called Assanpink " was created a county, to be called Hunterdon.
The Indians who inhabited northern New Jersey at the time of the first settlement by the whites were the Lenapes or Delawares, who are treated of on page 7. The Minsi tribe, called by the English Muncys, extended from the Minisink, on the Delaware, where they held their council seat, to the Hudson on the east, to the head of the Sus- quehanna and Delaware rivers on the north, and on the south to the Musconetcong and Lehigh hills. Tribes of the Iroquois or Mengwe also roamed through the country at will. The different tribes of these Indians were often called by the whites after the Indian names of the rivers along which they dwelt. Hence we have the Whip- panongs, the Pomptons, the Rockawacks, the Parsippa- nongs, the Minisinks, the Musconetcongs. A very favor- ite place with these aboriginal tribes was the Great Pond, now called Lake Hopatcong; and the traces of their sojourn there are treated of in the history of Jeffer- son township.
The Indians who inhabited this region appear to have been very peaceably disposed, as there are no records or traditions of any fights or massacres with or by them, and no settler appears to have been disturbed by them. The scene of Tom Quick's wonderful adventures is laid far- ther west and north, on the head waters of the Delaware. The aborigines lingered in the neighborhood until the middle of the eighteenth century, when they seem to have finally disappeared from the county, but not from the State. As late as 1832 an act was passed authorizing the purchase, from the Delaware Indians who had removed from this State to Michigan, of all their rights in all the territory of New Jersey. The Indian paths from one lake to another or from the seashore westward were the first roads of the county, and are often referred to in old
deeds and land titles. The Pequannock valley was one of their traveling routes, as there was a path, called the Minisink path, running through "the Notch," crossing the Passaic at Little Falls, thence passing along the foot of the hills to Pompton and so up the Pequannock river toward the Delaware.
The first actual settlement by the whites was probably in the northeastern part of the county, near Pompton Plains. On the 6th of June 1695 Arent Schuyler, in be- half of himself and his associates, Major Anthony Brock- holst, Samuel Byard, George Ryerson, John Mead, Sam- uel Berrie, David Mandeville, and Hendrick Mandeville, purchased from the Indians all the territory lying between the Passaic on the south, the Pompton on the north, and between the foot of the hills on the east and on the west; and in November of that year purchased 5,500 acres ly- ing east of the Pequannock river, of the proprietors of East New Jersey. The next year Schuyler, Brock- holst and Byard purchased a tract of 1,500 acres or there- abouts, and other lands, on the west side of the river, including all the present Pompton Plains. The houses of these men, so far as can be ascertained, were built upon their first purchase, east of the river; but it is alto- gether probable that in 1700 settlers had begun to make improvements on the purchase of 1696 in Morris county. If this be the case the honor of the first settlement of the county is due to the Dutch.
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