USA > New Jersey > Morris County > History of Morris County, New Jersey > Part 94
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As an offshoot of this "Charities Aid Association " we have " The Morris County Children's Home," incor- porated December 6th 1881, which is to be located in a commodious house rented for the purpose at Parsippany; the object being to furnish a temporary home for desti- tute children who have become a public charge, where | in the owners and possessors.
they can be properly cared for, trained and educated. The county is authorized to pay $1.50 per week for each child toward their support. This sum paid by the county will not be sufficient, and the institution will be in part dependent on voluntary contribution.
ABSTRACT OF THE PROPRIETORS' TITLE.
BY MONROE HOWELL.
In 1497 Sebastian Cabot, sailing under the English flag, discovered and touched upon various places along the shores of what is now the United States (Hakluyt's Voyages). It is from this first visit that the English title to the country was derived. It was afterward visited and to some extent settled by the Dutch and Swedes, but without recognized title.
March 12th 1664 Charles II. of England granted to his brother James, Duke of York, all the lands between the west side of the Connecticut River and the east side of Delaware Bay, together with the right of government .- Leaming and Spicer's Grants, Concessions, etc., page 3.
June 24th 1664 James Duke of York conveyed to Join Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret that part of the above grant which lies between the Hudson and the Del- aware and south of a straight line drawn from 41º north latitude on the Hudson to 41º 40' on the Delaware .- Leaming and Spicer, page 8.
July 30th 1673 New York and New Jersey were taken by the Dutch .- Whitehead's " East Jersey under the Pro- prietors," page 73.
February 9th 1674 New York and New Jersey were re- stored to the English .- Whitehead's " East Jersey under the Proprietors," page 77.
June 29th 1674 Charles II. renewed his grant to James Duke of York .- Leaming and Spicer, page 41.
July 29th 1674 James Duke of York renewed his grant to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret .- Leaning and Spicer, page 46.
July Ist 1676 the " quintipartite deed " was executed. By this deed the province was divided into East and West Jersey. East Jersey was confirmed to Sir George Car- teret, and the partition line was described .- Leaming and Spicer, page 61.
February Ist and 2nd 1683 the widow and other exec- utors of Sir George Carteret sold East Jersey to William Penn and eleven others, and within the same year twelve other proprietors were joined to the above .- Whitehead's "East Jersey under the Proprietors," page 103.
March 14th 1683 James Duke of York confirmed the title to East Jersey to the twenty-four proprietors .- Leaming and Spicer, page 141.
November 23d 1683 Charles II., by letter to the gov- ernor and council of East Jersey, recognized the propri- etors' right to the soil and government .- Leaming and Spicer, page 151.
August 1st 1684 a board of commissioners comprising all the proprietaries in the province was organized .- Whitehead's " East Jersey under the Proprietors,"-page 141.
November 13th 1684 the first meeting of the council of proprietors was held, and semi-annual meetings of this body are still held regularly .- Gordon's History of New Jersey, page 67.
April 15th 1702 the proprietors surrendered the powers of government to the queen .- Leaming and Spicer, page 609.
April 15th 1783 the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States of America (Art. 6) estab- lished the title to all property not previously confiscated,
52
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HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
The proprietors' right of property in lands above water is unquestioned, but their right in lands under water has been the subject of much discussion and litigation. The decision adverse to their rights in the case of Mar- tin v. Waddell, 16 Peters, page 367, by the majority of the judges of the United States Supreme Court, has been accepted by many persons as a final settlement of the question. - But the opinion of the respectable minority of that court was so strongly in favor of the rights of the proprietors that there seems good ground for a re-exam- ination of the whole case, or if not of the whole at least of some peculiar parts included in it.
The original grant to the proprietors was in consider- ation of a competent sum of money, and, in addition to all the lands in the described boundaries, gave "all rivers, mines, minerals, woods, fishings, hawkings, hunt- ings and fowlings, and all other royalties, profits, com- modities and hereditaments whatsoever," etc. .
In 1687 the proprietors of East Jersey say they "bought it with their money, having paid above twelve thousand pounds for it, and are notwithstanding forced to buy every acre over again at a considerable rate from the Indians."-New Jersey Archives, Vol. I., page 535.
This title gave the purchasers rights in all the lands and general property in the province, and also in the government. The right of government was ex- ercised till-1702, when it was surrendered to the queen. The whole property was subject to the rights of its In- dian owners, and the grant from the king gave the pro- prietors the exclusive privilege of purchasing from the Indians. See William Penn and others on this sub- ject. (Gordon's New Jersey, pages 40, 41.) This priv- ilege, though contested in the earliest provincial courts, was always sustained, and at the session of the first Legislature after the proprietors' surrender of the gov- ernment the law first enacted was that "for regulating the purchasing of lands from the Indians." (Neville, page 1.) This law forbade with heavy penalty any per- sons purchasing lands from the Indians except by au- thority of the proprietors; declared all such purchases previously made illegal, and required the possessors to take title from the proprietors within six months thereafter.
The Indians highly valued their rights of fishing, as the references to them in their deeds of sale show, and the immense quantities of shells piled in heaps at all convenient places along the shores bear witness that they improved these rights to great profit. There are a hundred acres or more of land at South Amboy which are covered from six to eighteen inches deep by these Indian shell deposits. The soil about Communipaw is full of them, and they can be seen along all the creeks and bays from South Amboy to Cape May.
The proprietors purchased all these rights of the Indians, and paid satisfactory prices for them. The pur- chases were generally made in tracts of a few square miles each, until nearly the whole State was covered by their deeds. Many of these deeds are recorded in the proprietors' books and in the secretary of state's of- fice. At an assembly of all the Indian tribes of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, held at Easton, Pennsyl- vania, October 8th-26th 1758, two deeds were executed by the Indians and their attorneys. One of these, by the Dela- wares, was for all the land south of a line drawn from Sandy Hook up the Raritan River and its north branch to the Alamtong (Lamington) Falls, and. from thence to the Delaware River at the Paoqualin Mountain (Water Gap). In this the boundary along tidewater is low water mark. The other deed, executed by the Minisink and Pompton Indians, was for all that part of the State lying north of the above-mentioned division line and the said act or acts so to be passed the particular titles
terminated at the north by a straight line drawn across the country from the mouth of Tappan Creek, in latitude 41º north, on the Hudson, to Cochecton, in latitude 41° 40' north, on the Delaware. These deeds were exe- cuted and the purchases made by the governor and council for the proprietors, at their expense. (See Direc- tions, etc., Leaming and Spicer, page 37. The deeds in Book 12, pages 85 and 89, secretary of state's office.) In 1832 Bartholomew S. Calvin, a Delaware chief and representing that tribe, memorialized the Legislature for certain fisheries in the southern tract, which he said had never been sold by the Indians. The Legislature did not acknowledge the legality of his claim, but in sheer compassion gave him $2,000 and received a deed of re- lease from all further claims. This, as Gordon says in his History of New Jersey (page 65), was done on "principles of justice, humanity and sound policy. No pecuniary benefit resulted directly to the treasury, as she [the State] possessed in her own right not a single acre of the soil. This by every title, legal and equitable, was fully vested in the proprietaries respectively of East and West Jersey."
When the proprietors in 1702 surrendered the right of government to the crown it was distinctly expressed by the English Board of . Trade, who had the matter in hand at that time, that the proprietors only desired to secure their rights in such things as are matters of property. (Leaming and Spicer, page 607). In the discussions be- tween the proprietors and the British Board of Trade respecting the surrender (Leaming and Spicer, page 590), the proprietors ask that " all lands, goods and chattels of felons, felons of themselves, deodands, fugitives, persons outlawed and put in exigent, waifs, estrays, treasures trove, mines and minerals, royal mines, wrecks, royal fish that shall be forfeited, found or taken within East Jersey or by the inhabitants thereof within the seas ad- jacent, remain to the proprietors, with all other privi- leges and advantages as amply as in the grant and confirmation to them of the 14th March 1683." The answer of the Board of Trade is: "This article may be reasonable except as to the goods and chattels of tray- tors, fugitives, and persons outlawed, which is matter of state; nor can right accruing to the proprietors from the seas adjacent be well circumscribed. The grant also of 1683 ought to be duly considered, and such particulars therein as are proper may be allowed of without such a general and undetermined reference."
And, after accepting the surrender, Queen Anne in her instructions to Lord Cornbury, the first royal governor, directed him to secure the rights of the proprietors by proper legislation. Section 36 of the instructions is:
"Our will and pleasure is that, for the better quieting the minds of our good subjects, inhabitants of our said province, and for the purpose of settling the properties and possessions of all persons concerned therein (either as general proprietors of the soil under the first original grant of 'said province made by the late King Charles II. to the late Duke of York, or as particular purchasers of any parcels of land from. the said general proprietors), you shall propose to said General Assembly of our said province the passing of such act or acts whereby the right and property of the said general proprietors to the soil of said province may be confirmed to them according to their respective rights and title; together with all such quit rents as have been reserved or are or shall become due to the said general proprietors from the inhabitants of our said province; and all such privileges as are ex- pressed in the conveyances made by the said Duke of York, excepting only the right of government, which re- mains in us. And you are further to take care that by
395
TITLE TO LANDS UNDER WATER.
and estates of all the inhabitants of that province and other purchasers claiming under the said general proprie- tors be confirmed and settled, as of right does appertain, under such obligations as shall tend to the best and speediest settlement or cultivation of the same; pro- vided always that you do not consent to any act or acts to lay any tax on lands that lie unprofitable."
Section 37 is: " You shall not permit any other person or persons besides the said general proprietors or their agents to purchase any lands whatever from the Indians within the limits of their grant."
That everything which was matter of property still re- mained with the proprietors is evident from the act of the Legislature in relation to settling the partition line between New York and New Jersey, which was passed February 23d 1764 (Allison, New Jersey Laws, page 265, Chap. 397), and which is entitled " An Act for sub- jecting the estates of the general Proprietors of the East- ern Division of this Colony to the indemnification of this province from any expense in running the line between New Jersey and New York." In running this boundary the proprietors were subject to an expense of £7,000, and a loss of more than 342,000 acres of land which they had purchased of the Indians, and they received no indication from the State that this loss was of any public importance.
It is only within comparatively recent times that the productive value of lands under water and the advan- tages pertaining to them have come to be appreciated in East Jersey. But as long ago as 1756 Jacob Spicer, of Cape May, purchased from the proprietors' agent all the rights of the West Jersey proprietors in Cape May county. These rights consisted mainly of the natural privileges- that is, the rights of fishing, fowling, etc., in the sounds, bays, creeks, and thoroughfares which border the shores of the county. These rights were afterward sold to the inhabitants of the four townships of that county, and the following is a brief of their title and legislative action on it: First Deed .- West Jersey Society to Jacob Spicer sen., dated August 2nd 1756, for all their lands, etc., in Cape May county. Second .- Jacob Spicer sen. to his son Jacob Spicer jr., dated May 6th 1762, devising all his rights to the shell, scale and fin fisheries in said county. Third .- Deeds of lease and release, dated August 3d 1795, between Jacob Spicer jr. of the first part, Franklin Davenport of the second part, and John Lawrence jr. of the third part, for the same in order to cause proceedings in court of chancery whereby a common recovery of the said common or fisheries might be had in the supreme court, confirming Spicer's title. In the supreme court of New Jersey in September 1795 such recovery was had, and Spicer held the estate therein in fee simple, Fourth Deed .- Jacob Spicer and wife to one hundred and twenty-two (by name) inhabitants of the Lower town- ship, dated November 9th 1795. The Legislature passed acts February 5th 1813 and February 26th 1839 incor- porating said owners in each township for 25 years, and extending 20 years, granting them corporation powers to make by-laws and regulations as to the management and use of said fisheries, impose penalties on tresspassers, etc. Also an. act March 23d 1859 extending the term 20 years longer, the owners thus holding by legislative grant and judgment of New Jersey supreme court in addition to or in confirmation of the title from Spicer. An act was passed in March 1879 extending 20 years longer all fish- eries whose charter expired that year.
The fisheries along the Delaware are all held under grants from the proprietors, and they extend to the mid- dle of the river. They are of great value. The right in them is recognized in our State laws, and the title has never been questioned until the recent sale of some of
the shore by the riparian commissioners has tresspassed on the fisheries, and a case has been made up in regard to the ownership, which is now awaiting trial before the United States district court.
The right to hold oyster lands as the property of the original proprietors has been contested in several cases before our State courts, and has been decided against them (Arnold v. Mundy, I Halstead, page 1); but the Legislature by its acts has recognized the rights of in- dividual property in these oyster beds, as in the case of Shark River, where individual owners hold leases from the county of Monmouth for lands under water which are planted with oysters; and the common sense and practice of the people all along the seashore, and the bays, creeks and sounds of salt water recognize the rights of property in grounds planted with oysters, and such grounds are respected as individual property and con- sidered of great value.
The council of proprietors has in many instances made grants of land under water, and persons taking title from them still hold possession.
The practice of the proprietors from the beginning has been to sell any land which parties desiring to purchase would improve; considering that sales of this kind, if the conditions of sale were fulfilled, would enhance the value of those lands which remain unsold. This is ex- pressly stated in the grants and concessions, and it is further made a condition in those early grants of head- lands and patents which require only the yearly payment of a half penny an acre, or in some cases much less. (" That if any plantation so granted shall, by the space of three years, be neglected to be planted with a suffi- cient number of servants, as is before mentioned, that then it shall and may be lawful for us otherwise to dis- pose thereof in whole or in part, this grant notwithstand- ing."-Leaming and Spicer, page 25.) - And it evidently was for the protection of the proprietors in their unim- proved or then unproductive lands that the clause was inserted in the instructions to Lord Cornbury, that he should " not consent to any act or acts to lay any tax upon lands that lie unprofitable." This agreement still holds, and lands that have never been sold, or if sold have never been improved according to conditions of rent, still belong to the proprietors. Such lands are now coming to be in demand, at considerable prices. The oyster grounds in the navigable waters, and the mud flats bare at low tide or covered by water too shallow for navigation, are in some cases of great productive or pros- pective value. The ownership of all these by the suc- cessors of the original owners, from whom they pur- chased them, is just and equitable. The demand for them for useful purposes is now so immediate that we think it is due to the proprietors and to the State to have the titles fully investigated and the questions at issue settled.
THE ELEVENTH NEW JERSEY REGIMENT.
The following account of the services of the 11th N. J. volunteers is from a letter by Major Thomas J. Hal- sey, of that regiment, to Hon. Edmund D. Halsey:
The first engagement was that in front of Fredericks- burg, in which the regiment lost two men only; but we had been under fire and the regiment stood up to its work. Our next engagement was the hard fought battle of Chancellorsville. We were then in the Ist brigade, 2nd division, 3d corps. The regiment went into that fight on the afternoon of May 2nd 1863. After fighting until dark put an end to the contest we lay on our arms all night.
396
HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
On the morning of the 3d the contest was renewed, and it was a most terrific fight. My company (E) suffered proud of her gallant sons, as they stand second to none. terribly. I took into the fight 54 men; seven were killed outright and twenty wounded, of whom two died from the effects of their wounds. I was shot through the THE VILLAGE OF BUTLER. By ISIDOR LEWI. thigh about 9 o'clock, and was carried to the rear by three of my men, one of whom-Sergeant James McDavit, of Dover -- was shot through the head and fell dead by my side; and Lieutenant E. E. Newberry was shot through the leg. The regiment did splendid work, losing 157 killed and wounded.
At the battle of Gettysburg, the record shows, the 11th put in good work, as every field officer and all the captains but one were killed or wounded. Captain D. B. Logan, a most splendid officer, from old Morris, was killed in the fight.
Having sufficiently recovered from my wound, I joined the regiment in August at Beal's Station, and, finding myself the senior officer, took command until Colonel McAllister's return.
The next battle was at Locust Grove, on the 27th of November 1863. We had a hard fight. The Excelsior brigade on our right and the 26th Pennsylvania on our left gave way, being hard pressed, and the 11th, being left alone, had to follow suit.
We then went into winter quarters, and I was sent to Trenton on recruiting service. I rejoined the regiment in April following.
On the morning of May 4th 1864 the grand old Army of the Potomac, under Grant, took up the line of march to find Lee and a battle. It did not take us long to find him, ready for a fight, and we had plenty of it. On the 5th we struck the enemy on the Brock road. On the 6th the fighting was terrible. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon Lee massed his forces and tried to break the center; but it was of no use, as our boys were behind works. We punished him most terribly. Many of our men shot over 100 rounds of ammunition apiece.
It was a series of fights from that time on until we ar- rived in front of Petersburg, in which the 11th regiment was in every engagement. On the 16th of June we had a hard fight, keeping it up until 2 o'clock next morning. The firing was incessant. In that engagement Captain Layton of Jersey City was killed, and many of our men were killed or wounded. On the 21st the regiment was sent to the skirmish line and remained on the line all night. On the 22nd we had a hard fight with General Birney in command (General Hancock being unwell). By some oversight there was a gap on our left, through which General Mahone brought his division, completely flank- ing us, capturing 1,600 prisoners, among which number I found myself. I thus remained in the sunny south un- til the next March, when I was exchanged. I rejoined the regiment near Appomattox, and had the extreme sat- isfaction of heading the regiment in the march through the city of Richmond on our way home.
Below is a list of the Morris county men in Company E of the Irth regiment who were killed or died from disease: Sergeant James McDavit, William H. Sweet and Dan- iel Talmadge, killed at Chancellorsville; Sergeant E. Sturtevant, Thomas Tinney and Jacob Miller, killed at Gettysburg; Joshua Beach, wounded and taken prisoner at Locust Grove, and died in prison; Isaac Odell, Colum- bus Shauger and Cyrus Talmadge, died of disease.
It will be seen from the above that the company lost ten men by bullets and disease of the 63 that went from Morris county.
I can truly say that all the men but three or four acted their part well and did splendid service. Company E was the finest company in the regiment, and I was proud of it.
which we were engaged, and New- Jersey may well feel
The youngest village in Morris county-Butler-is sit- uated in Pequannock township, on the Pequannock River and on the line of the New York, Susquehanna and West- ern Railroad. It was until recently that portion of the village of Bloomingdale located in Morris county.
Butler has about 1, 100 inhabitants, and has grown up around the factory of the Rubber Comb and Jewelry Company, which gives employment to about 800 persons, two-thirds of whom are men, the remainder women and children. This factory, a view of which is given here- with, is the largest hard rubber factory in the world, its buildings covering an area of upward of four acres in its present incomplete condition; additions being in the course of erection as we go to press.
The "Newbrough Hard Rubber Company " con- structed the nucleus of these works some years ago; also the large raceway, nearly two miles long, which now sup- plies the works with water sufficient to drive two large turbine wheels, which, together with a two hundred horse power engine, give the power for the vast quantity of ma- chinery employed.
"The Union Vulcanite Company," which succeeded the Newbrough, made very few if any improvements, and in December 1876 the Rubber Comb and Jewelry Com- pany became possessors of the factory, consisting at that time of one one-story building 50 by 200 feet. It was at this time that S. S. Sonneborn, one of the most ex- perienced rubber manufacturers of this country, whose experience as a practical manufacturer extends now over a period of a quarter of a century, entered the abandoned factory. Surrounding himself with able scientific assist- ants, whom he had met and been associated with in Europe, and being himself a model of energy and indus- try, he soon resurrected the manufacture of hard rubber at this place, and became a powerful competitor to the then larger manufacturers.
Among the more prominent of Mr. Sonneborn's assist- ants might be mentioned William Kiel and J. P. Lange.
The buzz of the water wheel and the clatter of ma- chinery were again heard in the quiet mountain valley and served to attract people from the neighborhood. Just at this time some factories near by, giving employment to large numbers of hands, had suspended operations, and the roads leading to "the rubber works " were thronged with sturdy men seeking a new field for their labors, a new home. The number of hands in the factory soon in- creased from 60 to upward of 200; houses began to spring up; the factory grew daily; its products became known and were sought in the market, and thrift and general prosperity were everywhere apparent.
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