History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 12

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140

USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 12
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 12

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The memorial then goes on to recite in brief the history which we have already given relating to the findling, marking, establishing, and recording the north station-point, the running of the Lawrence line therefrom to the designated point at Little Egg Har- bor, in September and October, 1748, and its accept- ance as an absolute settlement by the proprietor- buth of East and West Jersey. The memorialists then give the following interesting bit of history respecting the settlement of the boundary-line with New York :

" That the division-line between the province of New York and News degrees of Haddon's Hover not being properly oncertained; and also by reason of the yenlos and sident protections of auch party to the prop- city and passionand the other, whereby and i disturbance arse and Huurders were committed on the borders of lathe provinces as to demand the Interposition of their respe tive legl-Intures whereupon in the year 1;64 sets were passed in luith provinces for sulquitting the property of Inside affected by the partition have to anch a smile of decision on his Titanic Majety should think proper

" That in consequence of the add nets, ble Bettannie Majesty thought proper to appoint aven commissioner for the determining of the mail matters in dispute. who meeting nt New York on the leth of July, Die,

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

did determine that the boundary-line between the two provinces should be a straight and direct line from the mouth of Mahackamack. on its junction with the Fishkill, or Delaware, to the latitude of 41 degrees on Jlud-ou's river.

" That the said controversy with New York then was deemed. as it al- ways before had been since the year 1719, only to affect the property of the proprietors of East Jersey and those holding midler them : josomuch that the thea legislature, upon application unule by the Eastern proprietors, re- fused to defray from the public treasury any part of portion of the ex- pence of settling the said boundary-line ; and the West Jersey proprietors thought themselves so little interested in the settling thereof that they even refused to join in the said application to the legislature, declaring that their stations were already fixed and that so they must remain ; by which means the proprietors of East Jersey were solely burthened with the great charge and expence of settling the said boundary, and which amounted to more than the sum of six thousand pounds, although the ex- peaces of their opponents in the province of New York were defrayed by the public at large.

"That by the said determination and decree of the Commissioners at New York, the said boundary-line terminated ou Delaware at a different place from the station agreed on in 1719, to the surprise and astonishment of many; though others endeavored to account for it hy the Comanis- sioners all being crown officers and some of them notorious!y under its influence, and that this new station gave large tracts of land to the gov- erument of New York, to grant as it thought proper, and which it has since done.

" That the proprietors of East Jersey very much disapproved of the said alteration on Delaware River, but as they imagined, as they still do and always shall, that it ouly affected them with respect to the boundary with New York, they, after much dispute thereon, did on certain conditions acquiesce, knowing the little probability of better success in a future contest between private individuale on the one part aud a royal govern- ment on the other.

"That the said alteration of the boundary on Delaware cut off from East Jersey wear two hundred thousand acres of land,* which had always been esteemed part of New Jersey, in every transaction respecting the suine, from the first grant thereof by the Duke of York to the late deter- mination aud decree; and that the East Jersey proprietors submitted to these losses and hardships, although very grievous and vexations; hoping that thereby there would be a termination of a tedious, disagreeable, und expensive dispute, and that from thence forward they would enjoy peace and tranquility."

With regard to the new line of partition proposed by the western proprietors, the memorialists say,-

"That supposing the quantity of lands surveyed by the Western pro- prietors to the Eastward of the Quintipartite line, run by Lawrence, to be equal to the quantity surveyed by the Eastern proprietors to the Westward thereof, then, if a settlement was to take place in which the pretended line was to be deemed the true one, the Eastern proprietors would have to render an equivalent for all lands surveyed in the said angle before the year 1719, which lands so surveyed would amount to many thousand acres, and which quantity as an equivalent by the said act might be lo- rated by the Western proprietors on any lands whatsoever surveyed since the year 1719, and also on many tracts surveyed before that time, and sold as aforesaid, many years ago to bona fide purchasers.

" Your memorialists therefore first beg leave to observe that, as the assigns of Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley were each entitled to miities, or equal half parts of New Jersey, so it was therefore intended that the line of partition should make the two divisions equal; and this was the idea and intention of the contracting parties to the Quintipartite dred; but from the ignorance and infant knowledge of those times with respect to the geography of this country, they imagined that the division in the said deed made, from the North station point, in the Intitude of 41 degrees nnd 40 minutes, to Little Egg Harbour, would nearly effect that object, as in those days every one expected that the same North point would bound the claims of New York; that this idea and opinion that the divisions wore and ought to be equal to each other was maintained and preserved for many years alter the execution of the Quintipartito derd, and was never once doubted or opposed until Dr. Coxe, who had purchased some shares of West Jersey propriety, about the year 1687, maintained to the contrary."

* Two hundred and ten thousand acres, sworn to by Edward Bancker, Jr., before James Duune, Esq., mayor of New York, July 28, 1784.

The memorialists conclude their petition by hoping "that it will be evident to all that there eannot be any just ground or pretense for the late claim of the West Jersey proprietors, and that it would be much more consonant to reason and equity if, since the late determination and decree at New York, the proprie- tors of East Jersey were to demand a part of what has hitherto been deemed West Jersey. .. . For since two hundred thousand acres of land, which by the said division were intended to be part of East Jer- sey, have been taken from the same, whereby the equality of the two divisions has been destroyed, . . . your memorialists, the proprietors of East Jersey, are advised that they have a just and equitable claim to demand and receive from the West Jersey proprietors the quantity of one hundred thousand acres, being the one-half of the said quantity cut off as aforesaid by the New York boundary-line."

VI .- THE KEITHI LINE.

The straight line on the map of New Jersey extend- ing from the eastern side of Little Egg Harbor to the South Branch of the Raritan, forming in part the bounds of the counties of Burlington, Monmouth, Middlesex, and Somerset, is known as the Keith line. In 1683 an agreement was entered into be- tween Robert Barclay, Governor, and the proprietors of East Jersey, on the one part, and Edward Byllinge, Governor, and proprietary of West Jersey, on the other part, for running the partition-line between their respective divisions, by which agreement the deputy Governors were authorized to make as "equal a division of the said provinee as they can." Accord- ingly, in pursuance of the said agreement, Lord Niell Campbell, Governor, and Capt. Andrew Hamilton and John Campbell, of East Jersey, and John Shene, deputy Governor, and Samuel Jennings, Thomas Olive, George Hutchinson, Mahlon Stacy, Thomas Lambert, and Joseph Pope, of West Jersey, all of whom were proprietors of their respective divisions, and by their conduct acquiescing in the said equal divis- ion, did enter into bonds to stand to the award of John Reid and William Emley, who were appointed to de- termine the said line of partition, and "who accord- ingly did award that the said line should run from Little Egg Harbor North Northwest and 50 minutes more Westerly," which was more than twelve degrees to the westward of the quintipartite or Lawrence line, and was so run because "John Reid and William Einley, as well as the parties to the said bonds, were, by living in New Jersey, better acquainted with the quantity of land in each division than the parties to. the quintipartite deed." The line so awarded was afterwards run, in 1687, by George Keith, surveyor- general of New Jersey.

VII .- A FEW ATTESTED FACTS AND FIGURES.

We append herewith a statement of the quantity of land in the respective divisions of New Jersey, and

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

the difference in each according to the different lines of partition, fixed and proposed, made from actual survey and attested upon oath :

" The angle ur gore of land which Eust lost in the controversy with New York amounts to about 210,000 uvres. "The remaining quantity of land in New Jersey, leing the whole nuwant of the State, is nbont 1,375,970 acres. "Therefore, suppmming a line was drawn dividing the State luto two equal half parts, and which would be the line of partition be- tween East and West Jersey, cach division would then contain 2,187,985 acres. " Supposing Keith's Ine, extended to the Delaware River, ta he the line of partition between Euxt nud West Jersey. The quantity of land in Euxt Jorsey would then be abont 2.211,9.10 neres. "The quantity in West Jersey. 2,161,040 neres. " And East Jersey would then contain 53,800 acres moro thun West Jer- sey .*

"Supposing the Lawrence line to bo the lino of partition. The quantity of land In West Jersey would then he ulwont 2,689,680 achis. " The quantity In Ennt Jersey .. 1,681,200 acres. "And West Jersey would then contain 1,003,390 acres more than Fint Jersey.t

" Supposing a line to be drawn from the Malukamack (proposed line of 1775) to be the line of partition. The quantity of land in West Jersey would then be alumut .. 3,119,260 acres.

" The quantity in East Jersey. 1,:56,710 mrred. " And West Jersey would then contain 1,802,550 acres moro than Eust Jersey.t

"The angle or gore of land between Keith'e and Lawrence's line con- Inine about 528,6-10 ACT(8. "The angle or gore between Lawrence's line and a line to be drawn from the Mahackamuck would contain abont .. J29,5k0 Acres. " Porsonally appenred before me James Dunne, Esq., Mayor of tho ('ity of New York, Evert Baucker, Jun., one of the surveyors of this city, ap- jointed hy authority, who being duly sworn on the Holy Ernugelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that he, this demment, has with great care and attention made the calculations and comparisons horeto an- toxed, respecting the quantity of land contained in New Jersey, and in the angles or gores made by the differont Hues in the said computation mentioned; that the above computation was tunde from Mr. Rutzer'e general Map, compiled the most part from actual survey; and that ho doth verily bolleve the number of neres above sjus illed to be as true and just as computations made from Maps of thut scale will adtuit ; and that he has not knowingly added to or dindulshed from any of the above numhors.

" Sworn this 28th day of July, 1751.

" JAMES DUANE, Mayor."

"EVENT BANCKER, Jun.

CHAPTER VIIL.

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

I .- THE SITUATION IN 1774 AND 1775.

SUSSEX COUNTY being undivided at the time of the Revolution, our history of this period will of course cover the territory now included in Warren County. This large and respectable portion of New Jersey was perhaps more exposed than any other to the savage allies of tirent Britain during the struggle for independence, owing to its frontier situation along the Delaware River, which had been the theatre of attacks upon the infant settlements during the latter part of the colonial period. Here, however, had been

nurtured a brave and hardy people, whose experience in savage warfare had rendered them familiar with military discipline and the use of arms. They were a people, moreover, who had inherited from their Huguenot, Dutch, Scotch-Irish, and Puritan ances- tors a native love of liberty, and who were not with- out some training in the ideas and principles of self- government.

Such were the people of these counties when the premonitory notes of the Revolution began to be sounded in 1774. They were about thirteen thousand in number, and had among them men capable of taking the lead in any emergency, as well as a large majority who were ready to follow wherever patriot- ism and duty might call them in support of a canse which was then uniting the people of every colony in resistance to the oppressive measures of the British government. It may be said, in general terms, that the people of this portion of New Jersey were as patriotic, forward, and active, both in the incipient stages of the struggle and in the actual conflict of arms, as any portion of the province, or, indeed, as any portion of the colonies at large. Leading men of these counties were represented in the first move- ment- looking to the establishment of a general body which should exercise advisory jurisdiction over public affairs during the crisis that all felt was im- pending.

The resolutions adopted in 1774 by the several counties of New Jersey were very similar in tone and form, and very much like those adopted generally by towns and counties throughout the colonies. Those passed by a meeting of citizens of Sussex County were drawn up by Hon. John Cleves Symmes, of Walpack, afterwards a colonel in the army, a member of the Continental Congress, and a judge of the Su- preme Court of New Jersey. We find these resolu- tions recorded as follows :

SUSSEX COUNTY RESOLUTIONS.

" At a meeting of a number of Frechollers and inhabitants of the Cimuty of Sussex, in the Province of New Jersey, at the Court House in Newton, in the said County, on Saturday, the 16th of July, A.B. 171.

" High Hughes, Esquiro, Chairman.

" Il. Resolved, That it is our duty to render true and faithful allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, and to support and maintain the just dependence of his Colonies upon the Crown of Great Britain, ut- der sho enjoyment of our Constitutional rights and privileges.

"Ed Resolved, That it Is undoubtedly our right to letuvedl only by our own current, given by ourselves or our Representatives; and that the late Arts of Parli ment for imposing taxes for the purpose of raising a rev. enne in Amorien, and the Act of Parliament for shutting up the pwitt of Beton, are oppressive, unconstitutional, and injurious in their principles to American freedom, and that the Istonians are considered by us na auf- fering in the general cause of Ameil a.

"3d. Remofred, That it is the oplulun of this meeting that Arninies and unanimity in the Coluties, and an agreement not to use any articles im- ported fromn Great Britain or the East Indien (umfor such restrictions as may bo agreed upon by the Gonorul Congress hereafter to be appointed by the l'olanda), may be the most effectual means of averting the dan. gers that are justly approhended, and socuring the Invaded rights and privileges of America.

"4th, Hemdeed, That wo will join, with the greatest cheerfulures, the othor conutles of this Province in souding a Committor to meet with thugo frvw other counties, at such Une and placo as they shall appoint, In order

* And 20,945 acres more than one-half of the State.

+ And 501,605 acres more than one-half of the Stato.

# And 931,275 acres more than que-half of the State.

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

to choose proper persons to represent this Province in a General Congress of Deputies sent from each of the Colonies,

"5tb. Resolved, That we will faithfully and strictly adhere to such reg- ulations and restrictions as shall be agreed upon by the members of said Congress, and that shall by them be judged expedient and beneficial to the good of the Colonies.

" Gth. Resolved, That the Committee hereafter named do correspond and consult with the Committees of the other connties in this Province, and meet with them in order to appoint Deputies to represent this Province in General Congress.

" 7th. Resolved, That we do appoint the following gentlemen our Con- mittee for the purpose above mentioned: Hugh Hughes, Nathaniel Pet- tit, Thomas Van Horne, Thomas Anderson, Archibald Stewart, Abia Brown, John B. Scott, Esquires, Messrs. E. Dunlap, Mark Thompson, William Maxwell."

The provincial convention to which the above- named delegates were appointed convened at New Brunswick on July 23, 1774, when the persons named in the following commission were duly chosen to rep- resent the province of New Jersey in the General Congress which convened in Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774:

" To James Kinsey, William Livingston, John De Hurt, Stephen Crane, and Richard Smith, Esqs., and each and every of you :

" The Committees appointed by the several counties of the Colony of New Jersey to nominate Depnties to represent the sante in the General Congress of Deputies from the other Colonies in America, convened at the City of New Brunswick, have nominated and appointed, and hereby do nominate and appoint, you and such of you Deputies to represent the Colony of New Jersey in the said General Congress.

" In testimony whereof the Chairmen of the said several Committees have hereunto set their hands, this twenty-third day of July, in the four- teenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third, and in the year of our Lord, 1774.

"Signed :

" WILLIAM P. SMITH. JACOB FonD.

" JOHN MOORES.

ROBERT JOHNSON.

" ROBERT FIELD. ROBERT FRIEND PRICE.

" PETER ZABRISKIE.

SAMUEL TUCKER.

"EDWARD TAYLOR. ILINDRICK FISHER.

" ARCHIBALD STEWART .*

" ABIA BROWN .*

THOMAS ANDERSON .* MARK THOMPSON."*

At this date, although the people of the colonies were ardently fired with the spirit which subsequently brought forth the Declaration of Independence, and were determined to maintain their rights as British subjects, a separation from the mother-country was not contemplated. The first Continental Congress, which convened in September, 1774, and that which followed it, in May, 1775, breathed an earnest desire to settle the controversy amicably, and the cry for reconciliation and redress was continued with more or less frequency until it was lost in the "clash of resounding arms." The blood spilt at Concord and Lexington convinced the people that all attempts at reconciliation were futile, and cemented the colonies in one grand and united purpose to declare and main- tain their independence.

The last visible link connecting the people of Sus- sex and Warren with royalty was broken by the action of the board of freeholders in the following order, adopted May 10, 1775:

" Ordered, That the Sheriff be pald the sum of four ponnds, it being money advanced by him to discharge the Judges' expenses of two Su-

preme Courts; and this Board orders that, from hencefurth no Judges' ex- penses shall be paid by this County."

This was simply giving the Crown-appointed judges of the county notice to quit,-that from henceforth their services were not desirable and would not be paid. This has been called Sussex County's declara- tion of independence. Certainly it has the merit of being brief and thoroughly practical.

IT .- "THE SPIRIT OF '76."

The spirit of New Jersey at this time, no less than that of the whole country, is well set forth in the following extract :

"They had tried petitions in vain ; now they would try powder. The Provincial Congress in that year ceased petitioning the king of Great Britain, but continued to press their petitions on the 'King of kings' in behalf of 'the lives and properties, the re- ligion and liberties, of their constituents, and of their remotest posterity.' Accordingly, the ministers of Trenton were invited to officiate, 'in order that the business of the day might be opened with prayer for the above purposes.' In that Congress you will notice the names of Chetwood, Boudinot, Ogden, and Van Cortlandt, of Essex; Nathaniel Heard and Schurman, of Middlesex; William Hard, William De Hart, Jonathan Stiles, Peter Dickinson, Jacob Drake, Elias Cook, and Silas Condit, of Morris ; Frederick Frelinghuysen and Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset; Archibald Stewart, Edward Dumont, Wil- liam Maxwell, and Ephraim Martin, of Sussex ; with good men too numerous to mention from these and other counties. Whether they adopted the rule which was in force in the Assembly in 1672, I do not learn, -' that every member of the House shall during the debate behave himself with gravity and decency ; and any member who during any debate shall deviate from the subject-matter thereof, or attempt to ridicule any other member on the contrary side of the matter, shall pay half a crown.' But, with or without rules, these men did behave with gravity and decency, and went to work as men who had not merely the 're- ligion and liberties of their constituents in their keeping,' but the 'remotest posterity' also. Every resolution was like the full pulsation of liberty, which was then beating in the heart of America. 'The high and mighty exalted William Franklin,', as Philip Livingston, Jr., called the Governor of New Jersey, tried to rein them up, but found that the peo- ple had fed so lustily on what they called 'popular rights' as in mettlesome mood to take the bit in their teeth and run where and as fast as they listed, the driver to the contrary notwithstanding. Without consulting the Governor, they organized regiments and commissioned officers, and, among others, 'the field-officers of the first regiment of Sussex County.'}

* Members of the convention from Sussex County, including that por- tion now embraced in Warren.

+ Governor Franklin soon became an open loyalist, and was deposed from his office.

# Oct. 20, 1775,-Prov. Cong. N. J., p. 66.

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

Saltpetre was at a premium, and they wanted it to be 'good merchantable saltpetre,' so that the powder made from it would not 'hang fire.' Moreover, their proceedings were enlivened by sundry evidences that New Jersey abhorred Tories and was successful in bringing some of them to repentance. These sturdy men were not careful to inquire whether the Tory was a minister, an esquire, or anybody else. Two esquires in Sussex were thus dealt with. If a Tory, he must repent or perish. Meanwhile, the people of Sussex astounded this Congress by two petitions, signed by a great number of persons, praying that 'all who pay taxes may be admitted to vote.' The farmers of Essex also showed some signs to be con- sidered in petitioning that 'money at interest, law- yers, etc., be taxed.' It also appears that the farmers of Morris County had been so greatly agitated by the 'alarming account of the battle of Lexington' as to ineur a debt of one hundred and eighty pounds 'in raising of minute-men, in May last.' The fathers of Sussex County showed 'an eye to the main chance' in petitious to restrain shopmen from raising the price of their goods. In fact, the whole province was in a ferment : Tories were called to repentance ; strollers, vagabonds, horse-thieves, and other nui- sances were summarily abated; the freemen of the State gathered around the altar of Liberty, and 'pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor' to the defense and triumph of popular rights. They hardly knew what was to come of it; but, having put their hand to the plow, they did not look back."

III .- SUSSEX COUNTY COMMITTEE OF SAFETY.

Sussex County was not slow in organizing. Com- mittees of Safety were established in all her townships. Delegates from these formed a County Committee of Safety, which met in the court-house at Newton once a month. The proceedings of this committee, with the exception of the minutes of a single meeting, found and preserved by the late Benjamin B. Edsall, Esq., have unfortunately been lost. We quote Mr. Edsall's remarks respecting this document, and the leading facts derived from it, found in his " Centennial Ad- dress," as follows :

" This committee exercised a general supervision over the township organizations, provided means for promoting the popular cause, and procured the oath of abjuration to be administered to every citizen of the county, carefully noting down the names of those who refused, with the grounds upon which they based such refusal, and causing the reeusants to be pre- sented by the grand inquest of the county, to the end that they might appear in court and openly recant or give bonds for their peaceable behavior. The minutes of the sittings of this important committee were care- fully written out for the information of subordinate committees, and, with a little care, might have been preserved; but, like the great mass of local memoranda

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 12

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1140

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140