History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 39

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 39
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 39

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).

The elerks of the courts were appointed by the Governor, und commissionett to hold during pleasure. There were, besides, one or more clerks of the circuit, who attended the sittings in the counties and kept their own minutes. A book containing sueh minutes

of the Oyer and Terminer and Circuit Courts held in most of the counties from 1749 to 1762 is preserved in the clerk's office of the county of Middlesex. The Oyer and Terminer, as well as the Circuit, was re- garded as a branch of the Supreme Court, and the proceedings therein were subject to its control. The clerks exercised the power of appointing deputies.

The Supreme Court was organized in 1704, and met once a year at Perth Amboy and Burlington. In 1714 it was required to meet twice a year in each place, and courts for the trial of issues were appointed to be held yearly in each county. Circuits were es- tablished in 1751, and subsequently the time for hold- ing them was fixed by the Supreme Court. They were held in Sussex County in May and November of each year, the Oyer and Terminer being held at the same time.

IV .- SUSSEX COURT-HOUSE AND JAIL.

The courts of the county were first held at the resi- dence of Jonathan Pettit, Esq., in Hardwick town- ship, in accordance with the ordinance of 1753. The locality is now known as Johnsonsburg, and lies within the present limits of Warren County. No court-house was ever erected there, although an effort was made to secure to that place the permanent seat of justice. On March 21, 1754,* the board of justices and freehoklers met at the house of Samuel Green, in the neighborhood, and appointed a meeting of all the qualified voters of Sussex to be held at the house of the said Samuel Green on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of April, 1754, " to elect a place to build a jail and court-house." The meeting was duly held, but was very thinly attended on account of the difficulty of getting there from the remote parts of the county. The jail was ordered to be built near Pettit's tavern, on lands of Samuel Green, at the expense of the county. Mr. Green gave an obligation, t in the pen-

* The following is n copy of the proceedings of the meeting, taken from the records of the board of justices and freeholders :

"At n mireling of Justices and Frecholders held for the County of Sussex nt the Dwelling house of Samuel Green the 21 Day of march Auno Domi 1734, Summoned by Virtue of a Late Art of the Governor, Council and General Assembly, Entitled an Act for the Erecting the upper parts of the County of Morris in New Jersey Inton Separate Contity, &c. In pereunuco Where of The said Justices and Freeholders have ordered thut Advertisements be Immediately put up in the most puldie places in tho subl County, lo Assemble all persons Qualified by law to elect a place to build a Goal nud Court House,-That the Election be held the Six - teenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth days of April Next.

" That the Pull shull be Continued from Day at the said Green's and nol be moved from place to place ; that the suid Justices and Freeholders shall Duly Attend the said Election as the Law in the Cuso further Directa,

" JOSEPH WILLITS,

" RICHAND LUSKY, JUSn.,

" RUIZ.ET WILLSON,

"ILHIK WESTUROOK,

" CORNELIU'A WRATHROOK, " Freeholders.

ABRAM VAN CAMPEN, JONATHAN PETTIT, THos. WOOLVERTON, SAM'L WILLSON, Fa.fra."

+ BOND OF SAMICEL GREEN:

" Know All men by these presenta that I Samuel Green of the Town. slip of Hardwick Do hereby Obligate myself my Heirs Execthere and

152

SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

alty of five hundred pounds, " to secure to the county of Sussex the liberty and use of the ground where the jail is built by Jonathan Pettit, while the court is continued there." Jonathan Pettit and Richard Lundy were appointed to superintend its erection .*

The jail was built of logs, and soon completed. This gave to early Johnsonsburg the sobriquet of " the Log Jail," by which it was familiarly known .; The board of justices and freeholders met in Pahaquarry and examined the bills for materials and labor. They were ascertained to amount to thirty-seven pounds two shillings ten pence .¿ The jail was not considered safe, and "the board appointed Samuel Wilson and

Administrators in the penal snm of Five Hundred Pounds Proclamation Money, conditioned to secure to the County of Sussex an uninterrupted Liberty and Privilege for the Use of the ground where the Goal is built by Jonathan Pittits while the Court is Continued there, and when Re- moved from thence the Liberty of taking away the Iron in the said Goal whenever the Justices and Freeholders for the time being shall think fit So to Do as Witness my hand and Seal this Eighteenth Day of April 1754.

"SAM'L GREEN. [SEAL]

" Scald and Delivered in the presence of

" JAMES ANDERSON,

" MAUR: ROBESON,

" JOHN WRIGHT.

" A True Copy of The Original."

* "At a meeting of the Justices and Frecholders held at Samuel Green's in Ilardwick Township the Eighteenth Day of April 1754, Or. dered by Unanimous Agreement that the whole Cost of Building the Goal by Jonathan Pettit shall be paid at the Expense of the County of Sussex ; That Jonathan Pettit is Appointed to finish the Iron work and Richard Lundy, Juur. to agree with the workmen to finish the Back and Chimney and to be Done before the Next Court.

" DERIK WESTBROOK, ABRAM VAN CAMPEN, " CORNELIUS WESTBROOK, JOHN ANDERSON, JONATHAN PETTIT, SAM'L WILLSON,

" JOSEPH HULL, " JOSEPH WILTITS,

" RICHARD LUNDY,

MAUR : ROBINSON,

" ROBERT WILLSON,

Esip's."

" WILLIAM IIENEREE,

"JAMES ANDERSON,

" Freeholders.

+ New Jersey Historical Collections.

Į "SUSSEX

COUNTY. )

" At a meeting of the Justices and Frecholders chosen for said County held at Pahaquary the Eighteenth Day of June, 1751, in order to Adjust the accompts of Building the Gaol by Jonathan Pettit and to Raise Money for Defraying the Cost thereof, which now amounts to the Sum of £37 2s. IOd. as per Accts of Sundrys, Approved and Allowed, Appears, and for paying the Tax for killing Wolves and Panthers, Unanimously agreed that the sum of Ono Hundred Pounds Proc: shall be Raised for said Use to be paid to the County Collector on or before the first Day of October Next Ensuing. Also Ordered the said Assessment to be made Agreeable to the Tenor and Direction of a late Act entitled An Act for the Support of Government of this Province. And whereas, the said Gaol is not finished as it ought to be, Ordered that Sam1 Wilson Esqr and Richard Landy, Jun, agree with workmen to finish it as they shall Judge needful, and charge the County Dr. for it and draw nn Order on the Collector to pay said Cost, and also that the Iron remaining unused be sold by said Wilson and Lundy for ensh and applyd towards paying the Cost of making two pair of Hand-Cuffs and Shackles and other Ne- cessary Uscs.

" JOSEPH WILLITS, " JOSEPH IJULI, "HENRY KIKENDOL, " JOHANAS WESTBROOK, " CORNELIUS WESTBROOK, " RICHARD LUNDY, JUN", " ROBERT WILLSON, " Freeholders.

ABRAM VAN CAMPEN, JAPHETH BYRAM, SAMI WILLSON, ABRAM VAN AUKEN, Esgrs."

Richard Lundy, Jr., to finish it as they should judge needful." This they did, and the additional work swelled the cost to forty-one pounds three shillings one penny, about thirty pounds of which was for iron and blacksmithing, leaving for work, boards, etc., about eleven pounds.

This building was used nine years as a jail, and a watchman was paid five shillings a day (of twenty- four hours) for watching it. Yet the prisoners es- caped, and the sheriff would plead "clearance of damages" on account of the unsafe condition of the prison. The county, however, became responsible for the amount of about six hundred pounds ou account of the "flight of imprisoned debtors," about fourteen times the sum originally expended in erecting the jail.

Courts were subsequently held at Wolverton's tay- ern, in the same neighborhood, but the place and the accommodations were designed to subserve only a temporary purpose. Accordingly, at the earliest con- venient period, Abraham Van Campen, Esq., was dispatched to Perth Amboy with a petition of the people to the General Assembly, praying for authority to erect a court-house and jail, and on Dec. 12, 1761, that body passed an act granting the desired privilege and ordering that the building be erected "on the plantation in possession of Henry Hairlocker, within half a mile of said Hairlocker's dwelling-house; the particular spot to be fixed, with the consent of the owner of the land, by a majority of the Justices and Freeholders of said County." The owner of the land occupied by Hairlocker was Jonathan Hamp- ton, Esq., a citizen of Essex County, and he, in con- junction with the board, took the matter immediately in hand and decided that the course from Hair- locker's dwelling should run south, " which brought the site of the court-house in the meadow below. However, by stretching the chain they managed to crowd the site partly up the hill, and there it re- mains till this day. Although the fault is invaria- bly attributed to a blunder of the Legislature, it is not true. The Legislature did not require the board and the owner of the land to take any particular course in running out the half-mile from Hairlocker's dwelling, and consequently, if the local authorities so managed as to land it in a ditch, they alone are to blame."

For the purpose of building the court-house a tax of five hundred pounds was at first levied upon the county in 1762, to which other assessments were added during the two following years. "The total cost of the building and furniture was two thousand one hundred pounds proclamation money,-equal to five thousand six hundred dollars." The managers under whose direction the building was erected were Abraham Van Campen, Jacob Starn, and John Hackett .¿ In 1763 the cells, or that portion which

¿ Tho following is the authority under which this committee acted:

"We, the Justices and Froeholders, convened this day nt the house of

Henry IInirlocker, havo elected and chosen Colonel Abraham Van Cam-

CONTINUATION OF THE CIVIL HISTORY OF SUSSEX.

was devoted to the purposes of a jail, were so far completed as to admit of the confinement of prisoners therein.

During the May term of 1765 courts were opened] in the building, and the managers delivered it to the board of justices and frecholders as a finished edifice. " Devoted originally to the conservation of royal nu- thority, it became in a few years the agent and ex- ponent of republican equality and justice. For a period of seventy-nine years this solidly-constructed temple of justice, unaltered in its external appearance, firmly resisted the ' corroding tooth of Time,' and re- tained its identity amidst surrounding change and in- novation. In 1844 the ohl edifice was enlarged. Its strep angular roof disappeared; its gray walls, which had withstood the blasts of eighty winters, re- ceived a coating to cover their nakedness, and massive pillars, surmounted by a corresponding entablature, adorned its front, entirely obscuring the familiar out- lines of the old buikling. Thus enlarged and reno- vated, it stood until Thursday, Jan. 28, 1847, when it was destroyed by fire. Immediate measures were taken for its reconstruction, and the present commo- dious court-house arose upon its ruins."

CHAPTER IL.

CONTINUATION OF THE CIVIL HISTORY OF SUSSEX.

I .- DEED OF CONVEYANCE BY JONATHAN HAMP- rox.

THE land upon which the court-house stands, with the public green annexed, was conveyed to the board of chosen frechoklers of the county of Sussex on Aug. 31, 1764, by Jonathan Hampton, Esq., of Essex County. It was through the exertions of Mr. Hamp- ton that the Legislature was indneed to select New- ton as the county-seat in place of Stillwater, more centrally located in the county and then pressing its claims ns the most formidable competitor. Mr. Hampton also conveyed land for an academy at Newton, and the same now forms a part of the cem- etery near the Episcopal church. We give below a verbatim copy of the deed for the court-house lot and public square in Newton, taken from the records :

pou, Jneub Staru, and John Hackett to be managers and directors of the Court-House nud Gnol to bo erected xanthward of the house of Henry Hab locker aforesaid. In witness whereel we have herennto set our henda this J3th of May, 1762.

" Justices :

" ROBERT MUMIURTRIE, " NATH'I. P'ETTIT.

CONNELI 4 WESTDIRNIK,

HINDRE' KISKESUAAL,

PETER SOHANIK,

BENs. Mrt't Ltol'on, EUR'X DAHIN. ANDREW WILSON,

THE DEED.ª

"TO ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE to whom three P're-ents mas cular, Greeting : Know ye that I. Jonathan Hampton, of E-sex and I'ninince of East New Jersey, for divers just and good causes and considerations me thereunto moving, and vaperbilly for and in consideration of the mity of five shillings lawful money of said Province to me In hand paid Infore the enriquing and delivery of these prevents by the Chosen Freehalde of the County of Sussex, according to Act of Assembly In such casee mule and provided in New Jersey, the recript whereet I, the said Jonathan Hampton, doth neknowledge and am fully satisfied, contented, and jrdd, Hath given, granted, Bargained, Sold, Aliened, Conveyed, and Confirmed, und by these Presents do fully, freely, clearly, and absolutely give, grout, bargain, dell, convey, and Contum to the above freehul lers and to their Successore in Office all that Trust or Parcel of Land situate, lying, auf bring in the Township of Newton, In the County of Sussex and Province nforesnid, Beginning at a Stake nud Stone Standing one chnin North forty-right degrees East from Ephraim Darly's beginning Corner, and thence South forty-eight degrees West three chains and Eighty links to a Stone planted in said Darby's Line: thence North forty-two degrees West zeven C'haius and a half to nuother Stone then North forty-eight degrees East, two Chain- and Seventy-three Links to a Stake four links North from the North-West Corner of the Court-House of mid County of Sussex ; then North Eighty-Six links: then Est eighty-three links, then South Ninety links to the North-East corner of said Court-House; then East Sixty and Six Huks; then south forty-two degrees Last six Chains nud forty-Ove links to the beginning corner containing two Arres and Eight-tenths be the same more or less, together with all the Appur- tendances to the same belonging or nay wise appertaining thereunto, To have nud to hold, all and singular, the above-g unted premises and every part thereof unto them the sail Freehollers and their Successors in Office for the use of the Court-House Yard & Green so long as the Court- House and Courts shall be continued there to the Sole and only purper nap, benefit, and behuof of the said Frecholders aint their Successors 11 Office. And 1, the said Jonathan Hampton do for myself, my heirs, Ex- ecutors, and Administrators, with them the said Freeholders and their Successors further Covenant to Warrant and Defend them the said Free- holders and their Succesurs in Office in the Quiet and Penceable posses. sion of all the alune-granted quem ses and every part thereof for the use nhove Butd against the just and lawful claim of all und every person in persons whatsoever lawfully claiming the same or any part thereof. In Testimony wherenf, I. the said Jonathan Hampton, have hereunta set my hand mil affixed my Seal this thirty-first day of Angust in the fourth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the third, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &e, and in the Year of Our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and sixty-for.

" JONS. HAMPTON.

" Scaled and Delivered in the presence of

" EPH. DARBY,

" ISAAC WINANS.

" True Cupy.

" N. B. the above deed acknowledged before All'rm Van Campen, 11 of the Judges."

11 .- NOTES FROM THE FREEHOLDERS' RECORDS.

The expenditures of the county for 1754 were ninety-six pounds sixteen shillings. This was chiefly for building the " log jail" and to pay the bounty on wolves' scalps.

" M a meeting of the Justices and Frechehlers the fourteenth day of May, 175, the County Collectors n compis being andited it appears that the wild Collector received El0, 7 61, for the use of the County "

The county collector was Thomas Woolvert m. E-4., and the treasurer was Samuel Smith.

" May 12, 1700,-Agreed that there shall be paid to Jer miah Comly Russell for a Record for the County und a Soul for the same, £1 12 .. Agreed to pay W. Wagner for making and putting a lock on the field. neconling tu agreement, { Ifhe."

Thomas Woolverton, Esq., served as collector of the county till the summer of 1759. He appears tu

" The dead was delivered to Mr. Hampton to Thomas Anderson, I . March 31, 17sk, to have the same cutetel on record. Itfris onied ju Book B, folio 145.

154

SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

have died about that time, at his residence, in New- ton, for on May 9, 1759, "the Justices and Free- holders met at the house of Thomas Woolverton, Esq., in Newton," and on the 20th of September fol- lowing they met "at the house of Widow Woolver- ton," in the same village, at a special meeting to choose a county collector in Mr. Woolverton's place. Two candidates were nominated, Samuel Lundy and Ephraim Darby,-as the record says, "to be voted for, and the majority of votes carried it in favor of Samuel Lundy to be County Collector."

Among the items paid by the county in 1760 we find "Cash paid to Ephraim Darby for Judge Nevels expenses the sum of £192 19s. d." This sum, we take it, was paid to Judge Neville for holding Oyer and Terminer in Sussex County, which was probably the first instance of that court being held in the county.

In 1761 the board of justices and freeholders met at the house of John Downy, in Hardwick. The usual sum of one hundred pounds was ordered to be assessed upon the taxable property of the county. The collector had been in the habit of being delin- quent in small sums in the payment of the taxes to the treasurer, and the board resolved not to tolerate this lax way of doing business, and so ordered "that the County Collector shall pay the said money imme- diately on demand after he shall receive the same or any part thereof, towards defraying the debt now out- standing for wolves' and panther,' heads and other necessary expenses, which shall or may be ordered by the Justices and Freeholders of said County."

In 1774 the quotas of assessment for the towns of the county were as follows:

€

This, with a balance in the treasury of £5G 108. 5d., made the sum-total for the county .£1185 118. 2d.

The taxes increased rapidly during the Revolution. From July, 1777, to Sept. 27, 1778, the amount col- lected was £5868 48. Sd. Of this amount, £43 10s. 3d. was from militia fines. From Sept. 27, 1778, to May 8, 1779, the tax collected in the connty was £8054 158. 10d. Peter B. Shaver was duly elected county collector July 8, 1777. The following certificate appears Oct. 22, 1779 :

" We have examined and cast the receipts by Mr. Shaver to this time, and find them amount to £17,9.32 28. 9d."

Signed by Timothy Symmes, Gabriel Ogden, and Charles Rhodes.

The following, under date of Oct. 7, 1779, shows that all the money collected was not genuine :

"Ordered that the Counterfeit money in the late County Collector's hands paid into him as tax, the loss shall ly on the whole County."

This item follows :

" Ordered that the Laws of this State be brought by Timothy Symmes, Esq., into this County at the expense of the County."#

The following statement is copied from the free- holders' records, folio 77 :

" A list of the Quotas of the several Townships in the County of Sus- sex settled January 13, 1781 :

May Tax.

Ang. and Jan. Tax.

Sandistown

€3,059

£7,723

Hardistown

10,728

27,086

Knowltown.

16,227

40,974

Mansfield

11,437

28,874

Hardwick.

26,909

67,934

Greennge

15,995

40,381

Oxford.

12,910

32,592

Wantnge.

6,381

16,109

Newtown

12,777

32,250

Wallpack

4,089

11,838

Monticue

3,924

9,906

£125,336 £315,673

The addition of these totals makes a grand aggre- gate for the county of £441,009 for 1781. At the bottom of the certificate is written "True Copy." Signed by Guisbert Sutfin, John Cortright, Japheth Byram, Jacob Stoll, Joseph Gaston, and Manuel Hover.

At a meeting of the justices and freeholders of the county, Nov. 10, 1780,

" Timothy Symmes was by a Majority of the votes elected County Col- lector. Voted that the County pay a fine inflicted on Mr. Ogdin by the Treasurer for not Conveying Taxes to him. Voted that three Inudred ponuds in the hands of the former Collector be paid to Mr. Ker to dis- charge the Collector's Fine, and cost if sufficient. Voted that Timothy Symmes and Wm. Anderson draw up a petition to the Assembly and put the Names belonging to this Board to it, praying that they will pass an Act to enable the Treasurer of this State to receive £1695: 1 : 6 of old Jersey Money from the former Collector-little more in the hands of the Town Collectors of the same Money."

" Voted that the Goul and Court Ilonse be repaired by Sherif Ker at his own discretion and that his account be laid before the board at their next meeting.

" Voted that eight thousand pounds Continental moneyt be levied by a Tax on the County and Collected with the next tax that is levied on the County."

July 23, 1781, £8000, Continental money, was as- sessed upon the county, the quotas being divided among the several townships as follows :

Ilardyston

688

Newton ..

$19 8

Wantnge ..

409 4

Oxford.

827 19

Mansfield.

733

Sandysion

195

Knowlton

1040

Walpack.

319

Hardwick

1726

Greenwich

1025

Montague ..

251

" A hard-money tax of £600" was also levied, and proportionally divided among the townships. From Oct. 15, 1781, to April 22, 1782, the tax collections of the county amounted to £18,119 158. 9d., of which

* These were the laws passed by the new Legislature under the con- stitution of 1776.

+ This is the first nollce of Continental money we meet with in the record. It was about this time taking the place of the "old Jersey money" referred to above, and hence the desire to get an act of the Leg- islalure to substitute the former for the latter.

Newton.

131

Mansfield.

Greenwich

163

Oxford

112

Knowlton

121

Walmck.

Moningue,

Sumlyston

Wantnge

229

Hardwick

Hardyston

117

1555

THE BOUNDARY-LINE CONTROVERSY.

£6316 18. 8d. was in specie and the balance in "State Money and Certificates." These assessments were Innde, the record tells us, " by virtue of an act passed at Trenton the 26th of December, 1781, for Raising the sum of One hundred and fifty thousand pounds in Money and Certificates; also an Act passed the 29th December to provide for the defence of the Frontiers and for defraying the expenses of the Gov- ernment of this State."

The tax of this year was payable quarterly, March 25, June 25, April I, and July 1, 1782.

"June 1x, 178 ..- Ordered that the County Collector Call on tho Estuto of John Hackett, Abrum Van I'mmpen, and Jacob Starn, deceased, und settle with them for the sum of Two Hundred Pounds, with the interest due thereun, alvamed by the Treasurer of the then Provinces to pur- chase Htcil Corn for the use of the Inhabitants t Also to call on Nu- thandel Pettit, Faq., for their account of the Notes delivered him to be proscented for the flour delivered .;

In pursuance of an order of the justices and free- hollers, March 14, 1783, the following letter, ad- dressed to the town collectors of the several town- ships, was written, and twenty copies of it sent to the said collectors :

" NEWTOWN, Hith May, 1783.

"Site,-I am ordered by the Justices & Frecholders at their lust meet- Ing to Notiy all the delinquent Collector that unless they do Come In und mako payment in thhity days from the inte hurest to prosecutu for the Arearuges due-you will therefore take notice.

"I um your very hble serv't "EDWARD DU'sLAP, Cy. Colfr."

It is but just to say that collecting taxes at this date-the close of the long, and exhausting seven years' war of the Revolution-was no easy task. The strength and resources of a people whose endurance and sacrifice will ever be the wonder of the world had become so depleted, and the currency so depre- ciated, that collecting and paying the heavy taxes promptly were next to impossible. The list of those to whom the above notice was sent embraced some of the best men of the county,-Peter De Witt, of Newton ; George Armstrong and Stephen Shiner, of Hardwick ; John Decker and James Cudeback, of Wantage; Edmund Palmer and David Johnson, of Mansfield; John Lundy and Reuben Manning, of Knowlton ; William White and Jacob Wyckoff, of Oxford; Thomas Van Kirk, of Hardyston; Peter Kinney and John Schooley, of Greenwich; Guisbert Suthin and Edward Lodar, of Sandyston ; Abraham Van Campen and Ezekiel Schoonover, of Walpack ; Josephus Westbrook and James Brink, of Montague.

The difficulty about the tax question at this date will be seen by the following extract copied from the records :

" 17×3, May Term. - The Grand Jury of the County presented? the Jus-

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 39

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