History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 2

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 2
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 2

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).

580

E. N. Dilte.

.between 580, 58I

HACKETTSTOWN.

Centenary Collegiate Institute. .facing 587

Portrait of George H. Whitney

588

Daniel Axford facing 592

T. G. Plate. .between 592, 693

44 T. S. Van Hora. .facing 693

GREENWICH.

Portrait of Daniel Hulshizer .facing 603

Robert S. Kennedy =

G04

Jesse Stewart

605

John R. Dickson

605

OXFORD.

Portrait of William Mackey .facing 614

. Lovi Mackey. .between 614, 615

Wesley Banghart. 614,615

= George Keyser facing 616

Benjamin B. Cooper GIG

= Michael Boyer .. between 616, 617

438 Joseph M. Roseberry 616, 617

Caleb Wyckoff

616, 617

William Chamberlin 616, 617

= Marshall P. Mackey facing 617

KNOWLTON.

Portrait of B. F. Ilowey.

Daniel C. Adams ....

636

BLAIRSTOWN.

View of Blair Hall facing 646

656

Portrait of John I. Blair

facing 634

Geo. F. Rose ....

Squire Dalrymple ..

Portrait of Jacob Coursen

Oscar Jeffery

CONTENTS.

HOPE.

PAGP

Portrait of James K. Sweyze facing G68

Caleb Swayze ... ...

669

G. H. Beatty

670

HARMONY.

Portrait of Poter Klino ....

677

William Merritt.

677

LOPATCONG.

Portrait of John F. Shipman. belweon 682, 683

Honry Seagraves.

= 682, 083

Joha H. Boyer ..

682, 683

Residence of Jobn C. Boyer ....

= 682, 683

FRELINGHUYSEN.

Portrait of Levi Lanning.

facing 691

Daniel Vilet. ... 695

William S. Van Horn. 695

FRANKLIN.

Portrait of James Lomerson. facing 709

44 Joha Cliao. 710

Williom Mckinney 14

711

Abraham Ilulshizer

711

3 Willing Croveling 712

= William Shipman. between 712, 713

Nicodemus Warno .. 712, 713

WASHINGTON.

PAGE

Portrait of Peter Cramer. .facing 720

John Gibson.

between 720, 721

A. M. Muno.

720, 721

= Jacob Wyckoff

720, 721

= George P. Wyckoff.

720, 721

Michael B. Bowers facing 721

John Vannatta

721

= Adam Wandliug.

722

= George Vusler.

facing 7:20

4 Willlam G. Dufford

James Skinner.

7:23

MANSFIELD.

Portrait of Wmn. Ramsey. .facing 728

Thos. Shields

730

Jno. B. Fisher.

Tunis H. Tuuison

731

= A. W. G. Wellor.

732

Jacob H. Miller.

733

= Geo. W. Taylor. faciog 735

44 Joo. C. Miller.

735

INDEPENDENCE.

Portrait of Robt. Ayers. .facing 738

Jacob Cummins. .between 740, 741

C. HI. Albertson

710, 7.11

44 Robert Ayers, Jr .faclag 741

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HISTORY

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES,

NEW JERSEY.

CHAPTER I.

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.

I .- DISCOVERY LY HENRY HUDSON.

THE history of Sussex and Warren Counties is so intimately interwoven with the early history of the State of which they are a part that a brief review of the latter seems to be a necessary preliminary step to the local work which is the design of the present volume.

New York and New Jersey were discovered and oc- pied by Europeans at nearly the same period,-the early part of the seventeenth century. Heury Hud- son, the discoverer of the noble river which bears his name, and which forms a portion of the eastern boun- dary of New Jersey, set sail from Amsterdam, Hol- land, under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company, on April 4, 1609, with a commission to dis- cover the Northwest Passage or to verify the dream of geographers of that period of a short cut between Europe and China. Hudson did not find the North- west Passage, but, what is vastly more important to commerce, he discovered the North River, and sailed up its broad and beautiful channel to about the point which is still the head of navigation by those palatial steamers which have taken the place of his " Vlic- boat," the " Half-Moon."

Before this, however, Hudson had anchored in the waters of New Jersey, in that grand old bay, the Delaware, which forms the outlet oceanward of the noble river which courses along the western borders of these counties, and which, cutting through the an- cient Pahaqualin Mountain, forms within their limits that marvelous phenomenon of nature the Water Gap. In sailing towards the east coast of America, Hudson encountered the ice-floes on the Banks of Newfound- land and changed his course southward. In conse- quence of this he entered Chesapeake Bay, and, coasting northward, soon cast anchor in the Dela- ware. Proceeding along the eastern coast of New

Jersey, he finally anchored inside of Sandy Hook on Sept. 3, 1609. On September 5th he sent his boat ashore southward in the vicinity of the Horseshoe to take the soundings of the depth of the water. " Here the boat's crew landed and penetrated into the woods in the present limits of Monmouth County," N. J. These were probably the first Eu- ropeans who set foot upon the soil of the State.

II .- OCCUPATION OF NEW NETHERLANDS.

Passing over the subsequent operations of Hudson and his return to Holland, we bestow a passing notice upon the first settlement of the New Netherlands by the Dutch, which immediately preceded the first colony planted in New Jersey by the Danes or Nor- wegians. In 1610 it appears that at least one ship was sent hither by the East India Company for the purpose of trading in furs, which it is well known continued for a number of years to be the principal object of commercial attraction to this part of the New World. Five years after Hudson's voyage a company of merchants, who had procured from the State -- General of Holland a patent for an exclusive trade on Hudson's River, had built forts and estab- lished trading-posts at New Amsterdam (New York), Albany, and the mouth of the Rondout Kill. The latter was a small redoubt on the site of what is now a part of the city of Kingston, N. Y. It was known as the "Ronduit," from whence comes the name of Rondout .* The fort near Albany was upon Castle Island, immediately below the present city, and the one at New York was erected on what is now the Battery.

On the 11th of October, 1614, the " United Com- pany" of merchants, above referred to, received their special grant. This conferred upon Gerrit Jacob Witsen, former burgomaster of the city of Amster- dam, and his twelve associates, ship-owners and mer- chants of Amsterdam, the exclusive right to "visit

· Brondhead'a Hist. of New York, vol. i p. T.

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

and navigate all the lands situate in America be- tween New France and Virginia, the sea-coasts of which lie between the fortieth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, which are now named New Netherlands, and to navigate, or cause to be navigated, the same for four voyages within the period of three years, to commence from the 1st day of January, 1615, or sooner." Having thus obtained the exclusive right to trade in the new country, they assumed the name and title of "The United New Netherland Company." This company took possession of the Hudson River, then called by them "De Riviere van den Vorst Mau- ritius," and carried forward their enterprise with commendable zeal. The Hollanders were a trading people, and their bartering- or trading-posts were es- tablished at points which were natural outlets for all the trapping regions tributary to the Hudson. This led in a short time to the settlement of those points. Determined upon the settlement of a colony, the States-General in 1621 granted the country to the West India Company; and in the year 1625, Peter Minuet arrived at "Fort Amsterdam" as the first Governor or director .*

The first emigrants under Minnet appear to have been from the river Waal, in Gelderland, and, under the name of "Waaloons," founded the first permanent settlement beyond the immediate protec- tion of the cannon of Fort Amsterdam. They settled at Brooklyn, opposite New York, and were the first who professionally pursued agriculture.+

III .- SETTLEMENTS AT BERGEN AND ON TIIE DELAWARE.

Meanwhile, a number of Danes or Norwegians, who accompanied the Dutch colonists to the New Nether- lands, had effected a settlement at Bergen,-so called from a city of that name in Norway. This was about the year 1618. In 1623 the West India Company dispatched a ship loaded with settlers, subsistence, and articles of trade. The vessel was commanded by Cornelius Jacobns Mey. He entered Delaware Bay and gave his name to the northern cape, which still retains it,-Cape May. He explored the bay and the

river, and at length landed and built a fort upon a stream called by the natives Sassackon (now Thunder Creek), which empties into the Delaware below Cam- den. The fortification was called "Fort Nassau," and its erection may be regarded as the first attempt to establish a settlement on the eastern shore of the Delaware.

In the winter of 1630-31, David Pietersen De Vries, in command of a vessel, arrived in the Delaware, but found that Fort Nassau had fallen into the hands of the Indians. He erected a fort, colonized his immi- grants, and returned to Holland. During his absence a feud arose with one of the native tribes, which ter- minated in the massacre of all the colonists. De Vries returned soon after with a new company, and, while he mourned the loss of his former companions, he narrowly escaped a similar fate. He was saved by the kindness of an Indian woman, who inform d him that treachery was intended. But, " disheartened by repeated disasters, the Dutch soon after abandoned the country, and for some years not a single European was left upon the shores of the Delaware."?

IV .- SWEDISH COLONY-NEW SWEDEN.

In 1637 two Swedish ships arrived in the Delaware, bringing a number of settlers. They were soon fol- lowed by other companies, and, in 1642, John Printz, a military officer, was sent over as Governor of the colony. He established himself upon the island now known as Tinicum, which was given him by the Queen of Sweden. Here he built a fort, planted an orchard, and erected a church and several dwellings, including a fine house for himself, which was called " Printz Hall." At the same time with the Governor came also John Campanius Holm, a clergyman and the future historian of the colony ; and in the same com- pany was Lindstrom, an engineer, who afterwards published a map of the Delaware and its adjacent parts. |

In the government of New Sweden, as that portion of New Jersey was then called, Printz was succeeded by his son, John Papegoia, who soon returned to Europe and left the control to John Claudius Rising. In 1655 the Dutch sailed from Manhattan with seven ships and six hundred men, under command of Gov- ernor Peter Stuyvesant, and fell unawares upon the Swedish settlements. Fort after fort fell into their hands; the officers and principal men were made prisoners and carried to New Amsterdam, while the Dutch retained possession of the country. They held the mastery of it and of the New Netherlands, how- ever, but a short time; for, in 1664, Charles II., King of England, sent over Col. Nichols with a tleet and army ; he made a complete conquest of New Amster-

* Ilist. and Antiq. of the Northern States ( Barber), p. 60.

+ At this period the English government seems to have been indiffer- ent concerning the continved occupation of the Dutch. The only mens- ure adopted to eflect their removal was the issuing of a grant, June 21, 1634, to Sir Edmund Ployden for the land they occupied. It conferred upon Sir Edmund the country between Cape May and Long Island Sound, for forty lengnes inland. This tract was erected into a free county palatine by the name of New Albion, and over it, with the title of " Earl Palatine," Ployden was made governor, he having, ne it is stated,-although the fact may well be doubted,-" amply and coplously peopled the same with five hundred persons." He, however, visited the province, and resided therein seven years, exercising his office as gov- ernor; but, although he may have assumed, on paper, his rights as lord of the soil by ginnting to varlons individuals large tracts of land, it is doubted that his authority was ever established over the few inhabitants that then dwelt within the limits of his domain, excepting those who niny have come over with him. There was, however, some emigration to " New Albion" ns late as 1650 .- Whitehead's Eust Jersey under the Pro- prietary Goreruments, pp. 8, 9. [The grant here referred to is given at length in " Huzard's Collection of State Papers," vol. i. p. 160.]

# list. Coll. New Jersey, 1844, p. Il.

¿ Barber's Hist. Coll. of N. J.

# Clay's " Annals of the Swedes." See also Plantagenet's " Now Al- bion" and Whitehead's " Enst Jersey under the Proprietors."

BRIEF REVIEW OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.

dam and the surrounding country, and all the Dutch possessions fell into the hands of the English.

V .- GRANT TO THE DUKE OF YORK-PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT.

Immediately after the surrender of New Amster- dam by Governor Stuyvesant, Charles II. granted the territory including New York and New Jersey to his brother James, the Duke of York and Albany, who in turn conveyed that portion of it now known as New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. This latter conveyance is said to be the first instru- ment in which the bounds of New Jersey are regn- larly defined. Berkeley and Carteret formed a consti- tution for the colony, and appointed Philip Carteret, a son of Sir George, as its Governor. Ile came in 1665, fixed the seat of government at Elizabethtown, por- chased land of the Indians, and offered such favorable terms to the settlers in New England as inducements to emigrate to Jersey that many came hither and lo- cated, principally at Elizabethtown and Newark.

In 1673 the Dutch retook New York, but by the treaty of the following year the territory of both that province and New Jersey reverted to the English, who continued in undisturbed possession until the war which secured the independence of the United States of America. Doubts having arisen as to the validity of the title of the Duke of York, a new patent was issued in 1674, and Edmund Andros was sent over as Governor. Philip Carteret, who had re- turned to England in 1672, returned in 1675, and was welcomed by the people, who had been uneasy and disaffected under the arbitrary rule of Andros.

Lord Berkeley, dissatisfied with the pecuniary out- look of his colonization scheme, disposed of his in- terest to John Fenwicke, in trust for Edward Byllinge, both members of the Society of Friends. Ile received the sum of one thousand pounds for the tract of land then called "New West Jersey," embracing about one-half of the State as now constituted. The division between East and West Jersey was made by Carteret and the trustees of Byllinge, July 1, 1676. The line of partition was agreed on "from the east side of Little Egg Harbor, straight north, through the coun- try, to the utmost branch of Delaware River." This line was extended from Little Egg Harbor as far ns the South Branch of the Raritan, at a point just enst of the Old York Road. It was run by Keith, the sur- veyor-general of East Jersey, but was deemed by the West Jersey proprietors to be too far west, thereby encroaching on their lands, and they objected to its continuance. On the 5th of September, 1668, Gor- ernors Coxe und Barely, representing the respective interests, entered into an agreement, to terminate the dispute. It was that this line, so far as run, should be the bound, and that in its extension it should take the following course: From the point where it touched the South Branch, "along the buck of the adjoining plantations, until it touches the North Branch of the

Raritan, at the falls of the Allamitung,* thence run- ning up that stream northward to its rise near Succa- sunny." From that point a short straight line was to be run to touch the nearest part of the Passaic River. Such a line would pass about five miles north of Morristown. The line was to be continued by the course of the Passaic as far as the Paquanick, and up that branch to forty-one degrees north latitude, and from that point in "a straight line due east to the partition-point on Hudson River between East Jersey and New York." This line gave to the northern part of West Jersey the present counties of Warren and Sussex, and portions of Morris, Passaie, and Bergen. The Coxe-Barclay agreement was not carried into ef- feet, although the division-line constituted the eastern boundary of Hunterdon County until Morris County was erected, in 1738.

Edward Byllinge became so embarrassed in his financial ventures that in 1676 he was compelled to assign his interests to William Penn, Gawen Lowrie, and Nicholas Lucas, all Quakers, "to be used for the benefit of his creditors." Prior to this, however, he had sold a number of shares, and the trustees sold many of them to different purchasers, who thereby became proprietaries in common with them. Fenwicke soon after made a similar assignment. As these trustees were Quakers, the purchasers were mostly members of that body. Two companies were formed, one in Yorkshire, the other in London, both intent on colonization in America, and in the same year some four hundred persons came over, most of them of considerable means. Daniel Coxe was connected with the London Company, and one of the largest shareholders; subsequently he became the owner of extensive tracts of land in old Hunterdon County.

At that time persecution in England was driving the Quakers to America as to a haven of religious tol- eration and social equality. Emigration commenced in the spring of 1677, and on the Ioth of June in that year the ship " Kent" urrived from London with two hundred and thirty passengers. This was the second ship "to the Western parts." Next arrived the " Wil- ling Mind," John Newcomb commander, with sixty or seventy more. Several settlements were started, and West Jersey became, as early as the year 1680, quite populous. Burlington was founded, and be- came the principal town. There the land-office for the whole province of West Jersey was located, and there all deeds were recorded.

In 1681, Samuel Jennings, having received a com- mission from Byllinge as deputy-governor, came to West Jersey, called an assembly, and with them agreed upon n constitution and form of government. From this time on assemblies were held each year, courts were established in several places, and "jus- tice was administered in due course of law." Jen- nings' successors in the executive department were

. Now the LamIngton Falls.

SUSSEX AND WARREN COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Thomas Olive, John Skeine, William Welsh, Dan- iel Coxe, and Andrew Hamilton. The last named continued as Governor until the proprietary charter was surrendered to the Crown.

VI .- PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT OF EAST JERSEY.

On the 16th of October, 1680, the Duke of York relinquished all his pretensions to East Jersey in favor of the grandson and heir of Sir George Carteret," soon after which Andros returned to England. Sir George died in 1680, and by his will, dated Dec. 5, 1678, left his widow, Lady Elizabeth, executrix of his estate and guardian of his grandson and heir, George, a son of Sir Philip, and devised to Edward, Earl of Sandwich, John, Earl of Bath, Hon. Bernard Gren- ville, brother to the Earl of Bath, Sir Thomas Crewe, Knight, Sir Robert Atkyns, Knight of the Bath, and Edward Atkyns, one of the barons of the Exchequer, and their heirs, among other lands, all his property in East Jersey, in trust for the benefit of his creditors. These trustees, failing to find a purchaser by private application, offered it at public sale to the highest bidder, William Penn with eleven associates, most of whom were Quakers, and some already interested in West Jersey, becoming the purchasers for three thou- sand four hundred pounds.f Their deeds of lease and release were dated the 1st and 2d of February, 1681-82, and subsequently each of them sold one-half of his respective right to a new associate, making in all twenty-four proprietaries .¿ In the following year the Duke of York confirmed this sale by issuing a new grant to the proprietors, their names there appearing in the following order : James, Earl of Perth, John Drum- mond, Robert Barclay, David Barclay, Robert Gor- don, Arent Sonmans, William Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groom, Thomas Hart, Rich- ard Mew, Ambrose Rigg, John Heywood, Hugh Hurts- horne, Clement Plumstead, Thomas Cooper, Gawen Lawrie, Edward Byllinge, James Brain, William Gib- son, Thomas Barker, Robert Turner, and Thomas Warne, those in italics being eleven of the twelve original purchasers; Thomas Wilcox:, the twelfth, having parted with his interest, Feb. 27, 1682, to David Barclay .¿

There was a strange mingling of professions, re- ligions, and characters in these proprietaries, among them being, as an English writer ohserves, "high- prerogative men (especially those from Scotland), dissenters, papists, and Quakers."|| The first twelve

purchasers, however, were mostly, if not all, Quakers, and, as some of their associates were of the same re- ligious faith, they had a controlling influence in the body, which fact may explain why Robert Barclay, of Urie, a Quaker and a personal friend of William Penn, was selected to be Governor of the province. It was a worthy choice, as he was a man of learning, of religious zeal, and of exemplary character.T Such was the esteem and confidence in which he was held by his fellow-proprietaries that they subsequently commissioned him as Governor for life; nor was he required to visit the province in person, but was allowed to exercise his authority by deputy. For this office he selected Thomas Rudyard, an eminent lawyer of London and one of the proprietaries.

Soon after his arrival Rudyard selected as his coun- selors Col. Lewis Morris, Capt. John Berry, Capt. John Palmer, Capt. William Sandford, Lawrence Andress, and Benjamin Price, before whom he was sworn into office (Dec. 20, 1682) as deputy-governor. The previous "Concessions" were confirmed, and the Assembly called by Rudyard, which held three ses- sions during the year 1683 at Elizabethtown, " passed several acts of importance tending to the well-being of the province," Among these were acts remodeling the criminal and penal codes, etc., and " An Act di- viding the province into four counties, and appointing a high sheriff for each." The county of Bergen in- cluded all the settlements between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, and extended to the northern bounds of the province; Essex, all the country north of the dividing-line between Woodbridge and Eliza- bethtown and west of the Hackensack ; Middlesex, all from the Woodbridge line on the north to Cheese- quake Harbor on the southeast, and back southwest and northwest to the province bounds; and Mon- mouth comprised the residue. A point of variance between the deputy-governor and Groom, the sur- veyor-general, led to Barclay's supersedure by Gawen Lawrie, a London merchant and a proprietary, who was already deeply interested in West Jersey:

Although most of the proprietaries resided in Great Britain, still emigration and transfers of proprietary rights soon brought to East Jersey many persons who were directly interested in the soil,-resident prop- erty-holders,-who Aug. 1, 1684, established a " Board of Proprietors," composed of "all the proprietaries that might be from time to time in the province," and was designed "to act with the deputy-governor in the temporary approval of laws passed by the Assembly, the settlement of all disputes with the planters," etc. This board continued to have prominent control within the province "of those concerns which were connected with the proprietary titles to the govern- ment and soil." ** Great pains was taken by the pro- prietary government to avoid a collision with the

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 2

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