USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 3
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As has been said elsewhere, Governor Philip Carteret arrived at Elizabeth Town and assumed the government of the province in August, 1665. John Ogden was commissioned justice of the peace October 26, 1665. February 12, 1666, Captain Thomas Young was appointed one of the governor's council. Luke Watson was made constable, an office which at that time answered in the place of sheriff, there being no general district or county requiring the services of the latter officer.
The town records prior to 1719 having been lost or secretly dis- posed of, the record of officers for the early years is somewhat meagre. August 24, 1668, Luke Watson was commissioned lieutenant and commander of a military company then organized, and John Woodruff, ensign. Robert Vauquellin and William Pardon were the first judges appointed, associated with Captain William Sanford and Robert Treat in a special court convened in May, 1671. In 1668, Robert Bond, Robert Vauquellin and William Pardon were members of the council ; John Ogden, Sr., and John Bracket, representatives in the house of burgesses ; James Bollen, secretary.
From 1682 to 1857 the territory we are considering was in the county of Essex. Isaac Whitehead was appointed, September 16, 1692, high sheriff of the county of Essex ; Isaac Whitehead and Benjamin Price, Jr., October roth, justices of the peace for Elizabeth Town ; Henry Norris and John Lyon, November 2d, deputies to the assembly ; George Jewell, December 3d, county clerk ; Isaac White- head, Benjamin Price, Jr., and John Lyon, Jr., January 29th, judges of small causes ; and, February 21st, Isaac Whitehead, lieutenant and
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Daniel Price ensign of the Elizabeth Town company of foot. Isaac Whitehead was also appointed, November 4, 1693, captain of the foot company, Daniel Price being appointed November 4, 1693, captain of the foot company, Daniel Price, Jr., being appointed at the same time lieutenant, and John Lyon ensign. Richard Townley also had been appointed, March 7, 1692, a member of Governor Fletcher's council of the province of New York. Mrs. Townley had a large estate on Long Island. James Emmet received the appointinent, in 1683, of chief ranger, an officer chosen by the county to look after the estrays. Rev. John Harriman and Jonas Wood were appointed, November 3, 1693, deputies, and again in 1694. Benjamin Ogden received, October 10, 1694, the appointment of sheriff; Ephraim Price, January 15, 1695, ensign ; and John Woodruff, January 29th, judge of small causes. Daniel Price was appointed, May 3, 1697, captain of the train bands ; William Brown and Ephraim Price, lieutenants ; and Richard Baker and Samuel Oliver, ensigns. John Woodruff (son of the old planter) received, May 30th, the appointment of high sheriff of Essex county ; John Harriman, (Rev.) and Andrew Hampton, December 1, 1698, were chosen deputies ; Robert Smith (the first of the name in the town) became, December 26, 1699, high sheriff ; and, February 15, 1699, George Jewell county clerk. In 1707 the town chose Captain Daniel Price as member of assembly ; 1708-9, Benjamin Lyon ; 1710, Joseph Marsh.
In 1710 Colonel Richard Townley, Benjamin Price, Jr., Daniel Price and Jonas Wood, were justices of the peace; John Hainds, constable ; and Samuel Melyen and Thomas Price were overseers of the highways for this town. Andrew Hampton and Richard Baker were on the committee for regulating the highways of the county. In 1711, Isaac Whitehead, Benjamin Price, Benjamin Lyon, John Woodruff and John Blanchard were justices ; John Hainds and Benja- min Meeker were constables ; and Benjamin Ogden, Jr., and Samuel Ogden were overseers of the highways. In 1712 the justices were the same ; James Seers and Samuel Ogden were constables ; and Samuel Winans and John Scudder were overseers of the highways. In 1713, constables, Ebenezer Lyon and William Clarke; overseers of the highways, John Craine and Joseph Kellsey. In 1714, constables, John Thomson and Benjamin Spinning ; overseers, Daniel Gale and Robert Little ; assessors, Captain Price and John Harriman. In 1715 and 1716, constables, Richard Harriman and Elijah Davis ; overseers, James Hainds, Jr., and Jacob Mitchell. In 1717, constables, Benja- min Bond, Nathaniel Whitehead and William Strayhearn ; overseers, Joseph Bond, John Lambert, Jeremiah Peek and Benjamin Parkhurst ; on the county committee of highways, Benjamin Lyon and Samuel Potter. In 1718, constables, Jolin Gould, Nathaniel Whitehead and William Strayhearn ; overseers of the highways, Edward Frazey,
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Benjamin Spinning, Robert Wade and Daniel Woodruff ; surveyors of the highways, Captain Daniel Price and James Sayre. In 1719, constables, William Strayhearn, Samuel Oliver, Jr., and Thomas Currey, Jr., and Joseph Marsh, Jr. In 1716 and 1721, Joseph Bonnel was chosen to the legislature.
These appointments, embracing a period of about ten years, may serve to show who they were of the second generation that were looked upon as men of activity and influence by their townsmen. In almost every instance they were the grandsons of the old planters, whose names are still represented in the town.
In 1740 the town committee consisted of John Crane, Jonathan Dayton, John Magie, Thomas Clarke, Andrew Joline, Joseph Mann and Andrew Craig. Robert Ogden (the second son of the name), a young lawyer, twenty-four years old, was chosen, October 2, 1740, town clerk. June 4, 1741, John Ogden was justice, and John Halsted and John Stiles freeholders. The same in 1742 ; William Chetwood sheriff of the county. The town committee in 1750 for conducting the defense of the bill in chancery were John Crane, Andrew Craig, William Miller, John Halsted, Stephen Crane, Thomas Clarke and John Chandler.
SUBDIVISIONS OF THE TOWNSHIP.
For a period of one hundred and twenty-eight years from the date of the original settlement the township remained undivided, the town laws and regulations and the authority of its magistracy extending over the whole area. At an early date, however, various hamlets and clusters of farm houses gradually sprung up in different localities. The facilities for navigation and the attractions of water privileges drew quite a number of early settlers to the banks of the Rahway river. Another group of planters, mostly of one family, gave name to the neighborhood called Lyons Farms. Still another, locating a few miles to to the west, gave name to Wade's Farms. . Soon after, a little to the north of west, just under the mountain, a few neighbors called their settlement by the name of Springfield. Seven miles to the west of the town proper Westfield began to attract settlers quite early in the eighteenth century. Two or three miles still west of this settlement were the Scotch Plains, where a large part of the Scotch emigration of 1684-6 found a pleasant home on the eastern side of the Green brook ; while at a later period, on the same side of the brook, two or three miles lower down, a few scattered habitations served as the nucleus of Plainfield, sixteen miles from the town proper, and yet within the township. Four or five miles over the mountains to the northwest of Westfield, and nearly as far to the east of Springfield, the beautiful valley of the upper Passaic very early drew from the other parts of the town a considerable number of hardy pioneers, to whose settlement was originally given the name of Turkey, afterward changed to New Providence.
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
In the administration of the township laws the several parts or neighborhoods were denominated "wards," as the Rahway ward, the Westfield, the Springfield, the Farins ward, etc., the last referring to Connecticut Farms. In the selection of civil officers for the town,- aldermen, councilman, town committee, constables, overseers of the poor, surveyors and overseers of highways, assessors, collectors, pound- keepers, as well as sheriff, coroner, marshal, or mayor of the borough,- due regard was had to the claims of these several wards.
As the population increased and churches and school-houses were built, these respective settlements began to feel the inconvenience of living so remote from the central authority, the seat of government in the town proper, and of being compelled to travel so far to the town meetings. Hence, one after another, they began to agitate the question of subdivision of the township, so as to give each of these localities a township of its own. Thus originated the townships, one after another, taking their legal places on the following dates : Springfield, 1793 ; New Providence, 1794, (organized independently in 1809); Westfield, 1794 ; Rahway, 1804 ; Union, 1808 ; Plainfield, 1847. The remaining townships were subdivisions of these at later dates.
The celebrated Swedish naturalist, Professor Kalm, in his botani- cal explorations of these provinces, visited this part of the country, in 1748, and this is his description of the city of Elizabeth as it appeared that year. When at Fairfield he said :
Elizabeth Town is a small town about twenty English miles distant from New Brunswick ; we arrived there immediately after sun-setting. Its houses are mostly scattered, but well built, and generally of boards, with a roof of shingles and walls covered with the same. There were likewise stone buildings. A little rivulet passes through the town from west to east ; it is almost reduced to nothing when the water ebbs away, but with full tide they can bring up small yachts. Here are two fine churches, each of which made a much better appearance than any one in Philadelphia. That belonging to the people of the Church of England was built of bricks, had a steeple with bells, and a balustrade around it from which there was a prospect of the country. The meeting house of the Presbyterians was built of wood, but had both a steeple and bells, and was, like the other houses, covered with shingles. The town house made likewise a good appearance, and had a spire with a bell. The banks of the river were red, from the reddish limestone. Both in and about the town were many gardens and orchards ; and it might truly be said that Elizabeth Town was situated in a garden, the ground hereabouts being even and well cultivated. At night we took our lodgings at Elizabeth Town Point, at an inn, about two English miles distant from the town, and the last house on this road belonging to New Jersey. The man who had taken the lease of it, together with that of the ferry near it, told me that he paid a hundred and ten pounds of Pennsylvania currency to the owner. October 30th we were ready to proceed on our journey at sun-rising. Near the inn where we passed the night we were to cross a river, and we were brought over, together with our horses, in a wretched half- rotten ferry. The country was low on both sides of the river, and consisted of meadows. But there was no other hay to be got, than such as commonly grows in swampy ground, for as the tide comes up in this river, these low plains were sometimes overflowed when the water was high. The people hereabouts are said to be troubled in summer with immense swarms of gnats or mosquitoes, which sting them and their cattle. This was ascribed to the low, swampy meadows, on which these insects deposit their eggs, which are afterwards hatched by the heat.
CHAPTER VI.
BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH TOWN.
N the 8th day of February, 1739, Lewis Morris being captain- general, governor and commander-in-chief of the province, and which was in the thirteenth year of George II., the borough of Elizabeth was given an act of incorporation. The charter constituted the Passaic river from the mouth of Dead river to the Minisink crossing, the western boundary of the borough. The territory was nearly coterininous with the present Union county. On the south west, however, it included nearly the whole of the town of War- ren, in Somerset county. It was to be known "by the name of Free Borough and Town of Elizabeth." It appointed Joseph Bonnell, Esq., "Mayor and Clerk of the Market," coroner also; John Blanchard, Esq., recorder ; Andrew Joline, Matthias Hatfield, Thomas Price, John Ross, John Crane, and Thomas Clarke, Esqrs., aldermen ; Noadiah Potter, John Halsted, Nathaniel Bonnel, Samuel Woodruff, Samuel Marsh and Jonathan Hampton, Gent., assistants and common council ; William Chetwood, Esqr., sheriff; Jonathan Dayton, chamberlain ; Thomas Hill, marshal ; John Radley, George Ross, Jr., Daniel Marsh and John Scudder, assessors; Robert Ogden, John Odle, John Terrill and William Clark, collectors ; James Townley, high constable ; and Robert Little, Nathaniel Price, Richard Harriman, John Looker, John Craige, Daniel Dunham, to be petit constables ; Henry Garthwait, Cornelius Hetfield, John Radley, Senr., John Allen, Ephriam Marsh and Daniel Day, overseers for the poor ; and Michael Kearney, Esqr., common clerk.
The incorporation of the borough was followed the same year by the scenes and excitements of the "Great Revival." The year follow- ing, 1741, witnessed one of the most remarkable panics to which a slave-holding community are ever liable. It was caused by the report of a negro conspiracy in New York to burn the city and murder the white population. Recorder Horsmanden in his "History of the Negro Plot," says "During the progress of this affair one hundred and fifty-four negroes were committed to prison ; of whom fourteen were burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, seventy-one transported, and the rest pardoned or discharged for want of proof. Twenty white persons were committed, of whom four were executed."
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
The " Account Book of the Justices and Freeholders of the County of Essex," contains the following for this county :
June 4, 1741, Daniel Harrison sent in his account of wood carted for burning two negroes ; allowed cury 0. 11.0. February 25, 17472 Joseph Heden acct. for Wood to Burn the Negroes. Mr. Farrand paid allowed 0.70. Allowed to Isaac Lyon 4 curry for a load of Wood to burn the first Negro o. 4. o. At the latter meeting were present Matthias Hatfield, Justice Eliz. Town ; John Halsted, freeholder for Eliz. town. At the former John Ogden, justice ; John Halsted and John Stiles, freeholders for Elizabethtown. Zophar Beech was allowed 7 s. for Irons for ye Negro that was burnt.
"Possibly" says Dr. Hatfield "there were three burned at the stake." William Chetwood of the towu was then sheriff.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CORPORATION OF THE BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH UNDER THE ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW JERSEY, ENTITLED
AN ACT "TO ESTABLISH AND CONFORM THE CHARTER RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH."
Monday, the IIth of Jannary, 1790, Aaron Ogden, Esq., having produced a commission to be clerk of the borough of Elizabeth, was duly qualified into that office, according to law, hy the mayor of said borough ; thereupon the said clerk proceeded to qualify according to law John D. Hart, Esq., to he mayor; Elias Dayton, Esq., to be recorder, and Jeremiah Ballard, Stephen Crane and Robert Wade, Esqs., to be aldermen ; and Messrs. John Hendricks, Obediah Meeker, John Tucker and Samuel Tyler to be common councilmen of the said borough, -the said mayor, recorder and aldermen having severally produced their commissions for their respective offices, and said common councilmen having been appointed by law ; Moses Austin and William Southwell, having been by law appointed constables of the said borough, were severally qualified duly into office hy said clerk.
At a meeting of the corporation of the horongh of Elizabeth, in common council assembled, at the house of Samuel Smith, inn holder within said borough, on Monday, the IIth of January, 1790.
Present : John D. Hart, Esq., mayor ; Elias Dayton, Esq., recorder.
Jeremiah Ballard, Stephen Crane, Robert Wade, aldermen.
John Hendricks, Obediah Meeker, John Tucker, Samuel Tyler, common councilmen. The following rules and orders were proposed, put to vote and agreed to :
I. That every member give his attendance precisely and punctually at the time and place to which they shall be called or adjourned ; any neglect or trivial excuse will he esteemed an abuse and contempt of the corporation.
2. On their meeting at the time and place appointed they shall speedily form themselves into order, and the mayor, deputy mayor, recorder and senior aldermen present shall preside.
3. They shall immediately proceed upon business upou which they are met, to which they shall all attend without conversing upon subjects foreign from the business before them.
(Rules 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 governed parliamentary debate. )
9. No drink shall be introduced during the sitting of the corporation.
Elias Dayton and Jeremiah Ballard, Esqs., were appointed a committee to report to the board and to procure a proper place for the holding of the borough courts until a court house be built.
The corporation adjourned till Thursday, the 21st inst., to meet at this place at ten o'clock in the forenoon.
At the meeting on January 21st, William Darby, David Crane, Jesse Clark and John Scudder were qualified as common councilmeu before Mayor John D. Hart, and Jedediah
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Swan, Esq., produced his commission for an alderman, and was duly qualified ; also on the same day Henry Norris qualified as one of the constables of said borough.
At this meeting the only business transacted was the ordering that "the first thing done be to raise money for a court house and gaols; and that {1,250 be raised by tax for a common hall and gaol of brick." Elias Dayton, Jeremiah Ballard, Stephen Crane, Samuel Tyler and Jedediah Swan were appointed a committee to "procure plans and contract for and procure bricks and other necessary materials" for the buildings.
At a meeting held on February 1, 1790, Isaac Woodruff produced his commission as deputy mayor, and qualified before the clerk. Samuel Potter and Benjamin Petit also qualified as common councilmen, and seem to have completed the list of borough officials. The corporation at this session decided to build the common hall separate from the jail, and set the dimensions of the former at not more than 36 x55 feet. The building was to contain three rooms, one for the court room, another for the grand jury and a third for the petit jury. These plans were subsequently altered.
COURT HOUSE OF THE BOROUGH.
The first court house of the borough of Elizabeth was burned by the British, together with the Presbyterian church edifice, in 1780. The next court house was erected in 1797, and had been occupied only about eleven years when it was reduced to ashes, April 2, 1808, and a poor lunatic, Andrew Ross, perished in the flames. Moses Austin, high constable of the town, had been the occupant and keeper of the house for many years. Measures were immediately taken by the corporation for its reconstruction. Aldermen Thaddeus Mills and Richardson Gray, with the recorder, Andrew Wilson, were appointed a building committee, and means taken to obtain the needed funds. A year passed and the work was not done. Captain William Dayton was substituted on the committee for Mr. Wilson. It was not until the winter of 1810-II that the building was in a condition to be occupied. This building continued to be used for the town courts until after the formation of the county of Union, in 1857, when it was enlarged and reconstructed into the present commodious county court house.
Governor Jonathan Belcher resided in the borough of Elizabeth from November, 1751, until his death, August 31, 1757. He had previously, from the time of his appointment as governor of New Jersey, resided in Burlington, where the legislature also convened. Finding the air of that place did not agree with him, he removed to Elizabeth Town, where his official business and correspondence were carried on ever after.
CHAPTER VII.
THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.
N the enactment of the "Boston Port Bill," March 25, 1774, which closed the port and transferred the seat of government to Salem, the parliament of Great Britain acted in a spirit of pure vindictiveness. When the news of the passage of this obnoxious measure reached this country, May 10, 1774, the colonists arose in fury to resent the insult. Town meetings were immediately called, whole counties assembled, and the provinces met in congress,-in fact, the whole American people determined to stand by the people of Boston in their opposition to British oppression. This spirit was manifested in the highest degree by the people of Elizabeth. A sturdy band of patriots, led by such men as William Livingston, William Peartree Smith and Elias Boudinot, -men who were able to wield a controlling influence,-were then in power. Stephen Crane, Esq., was the mayor of Elizabeth Town; Ephraim Terrill was deputy mayor; John Blanchard, Elias Dayton, John Ross, Abraham Clark, Ephraim Marsh, and William Livingston were of the corporation.
There were a few people in sympathy with the British, and some were conservative ; but the great majority were bravely loyal. They were impatient to give expression to their indignation at the wrongs inflicted upon them and also to extend their feeling to the people of Boston. A formal meeting was held at the court house in Newark, June IIth, when it was decided to invite a provincial convention to assemble immediately to appoint delegates to a general congress.
The gentlemen appointed on the committee to carry into effect these decisions, were : Henry Garritse, of Aquackanock ; Joseph Riggs and Isaac Ogden, of Newark ; while the other six, -Stephen Crane, William Livingston, William P. Smith, John D. Hart, John Chetwood and Elias Boudinot, Esquires, -were of Elizabeth. There- after Elizabetlı was inade the headquarters for the patriots of the province.
The several county committees, with a circular letter issued by the Essex committee, met at New Brunswick, July 21, 1774, when Stephen Crane of Elizabeth was chosen to preside. James Kinsey, William Livingston, Jolin D. Hart, Stephen Crane and Richard Smith were made delegates to a general congress. Of these five men three were from Elizabeth. The general congress met at
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Philadelphia in September and October. When the results of their deliberations were published it gave renewed energy to the determina- tion of the people to resist the oppression of the British.
Mr. Hatfield tells us that "the Essex County Committee of Correspondence issued a call for town meetings, to organize the respective towns for the more vigorous prosecution of the measures recommended by congress." In compliance with this call, the free- holders of this town met at the court house on Tuesday, December 6, 1774, Stephen Crane, Esq., in the chair when a large committeee was chosen for the above mentioned purpose, viz : Jonathan Hampton, Matthias Williamson, Elias Dayton, Isaac Woodruff, William Barnett, William Herriman, Oliver Spencer, George Ross, Edward Thomas, Cornelius Hetfield, John Blanchard, Ephraim Terrill, Abraham Clark, Robert Ogden, Jr., Jeremiah Smith, Richard Townley, Jr., Samuel Shotwell, David Miller, Thomas Woodruff, John Clawson, Jonathan Dayton, Ephraim Marsh, Recompense Stanbury, Jedediah Swan, William Parsons, Samuel Potter, William Bott, Jonathan Williams, Christopher Marsh, Isaac Wynants, Daniel Halsey. Stephen Crane, John D. Hart, William Livingston, William P. Smith, Elias Boudinot, and John Chetwood, Esquires, were unanimously re-elected, for the borough of Elizabeth, on the Essex County Committee of Correspond- ence. It was then voted, " that two certain pamphlets lately published, -the one entitled 'A Friendly Address, etc.,' and the other under the signature of 'A Farmer,' which the committee described as 'containing many notorious falsehoods evidently calculated to sow the seeds of disunion among the good people of America, grossly mis- representing the principles of the present opposition to parliamentary taxations, vilifying the late congress and intending to facilitate the scheme of the British ministry for enslaving the colonies,'-be publickly burnt in detestation and abhorrence of such infamous pub- lications." These pamphlets were accordingly committed to the flames before the court house.
The first named pamphlet was the production of the Rev. Myles Cooper, D. D., president of King's College, New York. Such was the popular indignation against him, that his house was sacked, May 10, 1775, and he, barely escaping the hands of the mob, took refuge on board a ship of war, and fled to England. His Majesty gave him a pension of two hundred pounds per year. The latter pamphlet was entitled, "Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774," by "A Farmer." It was written by Isaac Wilkins, subsequently Rev. Dr. Wilkins, of Westchester county, New York. He wrote also, "The Congress Canvassed ; or an Examination into the Conduct of the Delegates." It may have been to this last that the vote of censure refers. He too fled to England, in May, 1775, but returned the next year.
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