History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 10

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 10
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 10

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At the treaty of 1758 the entire remaining claim of the Delawares to lands in New Jersey was extin- guished, except that there was reserved to them the right to fish in all the rivers and bays south of the Rar- itan, and to hunt on all uninclosed lands. A tract of three thousand acres of land was also purchased at Edge Pillock, in Burlington County, and on this the few remaining Delawares of New Jersey (about sixty in number) were collected and settled. They remained there until the year 1802, when they removed to New Stockbridge, near Oneida Lake, in the State of New York, where they joined their "grandsons," the Stockbridge tribe. Several years afterwards they again removed, and settled on a large tract of land on Fox River, Wis., which tract had been purchased for their use from the Menominee Indians. There, in conjunction with the Stockbridges, they engaged in agricultural pursuits, and formed a settlement which was named Statesburg. There, in the year 1832, there remained about forty of the Delawares, among whom was still kept alive the tradition that they were the owners of fishing and hunting privi- leges in New Jersey. They resolved to lay their claims before the Legislature of this State and request that a moderate sum (two thousand dollars) might be paid them for its relinquishment. The person selected to act for them in presenting the matter before the Legislature was one of their own nation, whom they called Shawuskukhkung (meaning "wilted grass"),

9 See History of Sussex and Warren Counties.

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

but who was known among the white people as Bar- tholomew S. Calvin. He was born in 1756, and was educated at Princeton College, at the expense of the Scotch missionary society. At the hreaking out of the Revolution he left his studies to join the patriot army under Washington, and he served with credit during the Revolutionary struggle. At the time when his red countrymen placed this business in his hands he was seventy-six years of age, yet he proceedled in the matter with all the energy of youth, and laid before the Legislature a petition in his favor signed by a large number of respectable citizens of New Jersey, together with a memorial, written by his own hand, as follows :

" MY BRETHREN : 1 am old and weak and poor, and therefore & fit representative of my people. You are young and strong and rich, and therefore fit representatives of your people. But let me heg you for a moment to lay aside the recollections of your strength and of our weak- ness, that your minda may be prepared to exemine with candor the sub- ject of our claims.

"Our tradition informa ns-and I believe it corresponds with your records-that the right of fishing in all the rivers and bays sonth of the Raritan, and of bunting in all uninclosed lands, was never relinquished, but, on the contrary, was expressly reserved in our last treaty, held et Crosswicks in 175x. Having myself been one of the partira to the sale, -1 believe, in 1801,-I know that these rights were not sold or parted with.

" We now offer to sell these privileges to the State of New Jersey. They were once of great value to us, and we apprehend that neither tinie nor distance nor the non-use of our rights has at all affected them, but that the courts here would consider our claims valid were we to exercise them ourselves or delegate them to others. It is not, however, our wish thus to excite litigation. We consider the State Legislature the proper purchaser, and throw ourselves upon its benevolence and magnanimity, trusting that feelings of justice and liberality will induce you to give 118 what you deem a compensation. And, as we have ever looked up to the leading characters of the United States (and to the leading characters of thi- State in particular) as our fathers, protectors, and friends, we now look up to you as such, and humbly beg that you will look upon na with that eye of pity, as we have reason to think onr poor untntored fore- fathers looked upon yours when they first arrived upon our then exten- sive but uncultivated dominiona, and sold them their landa, in many instances for trifles, in comparison, as 'liglit aa nir.'

" From your humble petitioner, " BARTHOLOMEW S. CALVIN, " In behalf of himself and his red brethren."

In the Legislature the subject was referred to a committee, which, after patient hearing, reported favorably ; whereupon the Legislature granted to the Delawares the sum of two thousand dollars-the full amount asked for-in consideration of this relinquish- ment of their last rights and claims in the State of New Jersey. Upon this result Mr. Calvin addressed to the Legislature a letter of thanks, which was read before the two houses in joint session and was received with repeated rounds of most enthusiastic applause.

CHAPTER VII.

PHYSICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE FEATURES.

SOME of the early descriptions of this county, in- cluding adjacent territory, are exceedingly quaint and graphic. The following is from a document put forth by the Dutch government in 1661 .

" It is under the best clymate in the whole world; seed may bee thrown into the ground, except six weeks, all the yere long; there ars five sorts of grapes which are very good and grow heere naturally, with divers other excellent fruits extraordinary good, and the fruits trana- planted from Europe far surpas-eth any there, as apples, pears, peaches, melons, etc. The land very fertile, produceth a great increase of wheat and all other graue whatsoever; heere groweth tobacco very good, it naturally abonnda, with several sorts of dyea, furrs of all sorts may bee had of the uxtivea very reasonable; atore of saltpeter; marvelous plenty of all kinds of food, excellent veneson, elkes very great and large ; all kind of land- and sea-fonle that are naturally in Europe are heere in great plenty ; the mountenouse part of the country stored with severall sorts of mineralle; great profit to be derived fromi traffique with the natives (who are naturally a mild peuple, aud very capable, and by the Grace of Gud) to be drawne out of their blind ignorance to the saving light of Jesus Christ. Heere may likewise be great profitt made hy fishing, whereby almudance of people may be employed with great and notable advantages.1

This description, though designed to cover the whole territory between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, was peculiarly applicable to the region bor- dering on Achter Kull, or Newark Bay, and its southern estnary. Daniel Denton, one of the original Elizabethtown Associates, writing in 1670, thus en- thusiastically describes the country :

" I may say, and say truly, that if there be any terrestrial happiness to be bad by people of all ranks, especially of an inferior rank, it must certainly be here. Here any one may turnish hinself with Land and live rent free, yea, with such a quantity of Land that he may weary himself with walking over his fields of corn andt all sorts of grain, and let his stock of Cattle amount to some hundreds he need not fear their want of Pasture in the Summer or Fodder in the Winter, the Woods af- fording a sufficient supply. For the Summer season, when you have grass as high as a man's kneea, nay, as high as his waist, interlaced with Pea-vines and other weeds that cattle much delight in, as much as a MAN can pass through, and these woods also, every mile or half mile, are furnished with fresh ponds, brooks, or rivers, where all sorts of Cattle, during the heat of the day, do quench their thirst and cool themselves. These bramka and rivers being environed on each side with several sorta of trees and Grapevines, the vines, Arhor-like, interchanging places and crus-ing thèse rivers, does shade and shelter them from the scorching beams of Sol's fiery influence. And how prodigal, if I may so say, hath Nature been to furnish the Country with all sorts of wilde Beasts and Fowle, which every one hath an interest in, and may hunt at his pleas- ure; when besides the pleasure in hunting he may furnish his house with excellent fat Veuison, Turkeys, Geese, Heath Hlens, Cranes, Swana, Ducks, Pilgeons, and the like, and wearied with that he may go x fishing, where the rivers are so furnished that he may supply himself with Fish before he can leave off the Recreativou ; where besides the aweetness of the Air the Country itself sends forth such a fragrant smell that it may be perceived at sra before they can make the land ; where no evil fug or rxpour doth no sooner appear but a Northwest or Westerly winde doth immediately dissolve it and drive it away. I must needs say tlint if there be any terrestrial Canaau 'tis surely here, where the Land floweth with milk and honey."

Van Tienhoven, secretary of New Netherland, writing in 1650, says,-

" The district inhabited by a nation called Raritangs ja situate on a fre-li-water river that flows through the centre of the low land which the Indians Cultivated. This vacant territory lies between two high mountains, far distant the one from the other. This is the handsomeat and pleasantret country that man can behold. It furnished the Indians with abundance of maize, beaos, pumpkins, and other tinits."?

The land covered by this county, with a consider- able extent beyond it, was granted by Governor Nicoll», in 1664, to the Elizabethtown Associates. The territory included in the patent extended from

1 New York Col. Documents, iii. 38-39.

" Ibid., i. 366-67. N. Y. Doc. Hist., iv. 29.

PHYSICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE FEATURES.

the mouth of the Raritan on the south to the mouth of the Passaic on the north, a distance in a straight line of not less than seventeen miles, and running back into the country twice this distance, or thirty- four miles. It embraced the towns of Woodbridge and Piscataway, the whole of the present Union County, part of the towns of Newark and Clinton, a small part of Morris County, and a considerable portion of Somerset, comprising about five hundred thousand acres, upland and meadow, in fair pro- portions, well watered by the Raritan, the Passaic, the Rahway, and Elizabeth Rivers, Thompson's, or Morse's Creek, and Bound Brook, diversified with level plains and ranges of hills of considerable eleva- tion, ordinarily classified as mountains ; the soil of the upland mostly red shale and clay loam, and a large part of it susceptible of a high state of cultiva- tion.

The Elizabethtown purchase, at the time of its early settlement, was proverbial for the fine and stately oak-trees which covered much of its upland. The following, which may be regarded as a sort of local ordinance for the protection of this timber, "passed by several of the proprietors, among whom was Governor Philip Carteret, in June, 1666, is among the rare documents which have been preserved. It reads as follows :

" Whereas I am informed by way of complaint from divers of the in- habitants of this Town that there are several persous thet do presume to fell and cut down the best of timber-trees in and ahont this Town, without any license or leave from those that are or may come to le the owners thereof, converting them to their own private advantage and profit, to the great destruction of timber for building, and the Lords Proprietora Wooda, and to the great discouragement of those that are already and that are to come to inhabit this Town : For the preventing thereof. and to avoid so great an inconveniency and destruction of this plantation as may eosue from permitting soch disorderly proceedings, I have thought fit, and do by these presents, together with the advice of my Council, will and coormand that no person or persons whatsoever shall presume to cut down or fell any timber-trees that are useful either for building, fencing, or making of pipe-staves in any house-lote not properly belonging to themselves, nor within the compuiss of three oniles of avy home-lot belonging to this Town, without license first obtained from the Governor, or leave from the owners of the land, upun the pen- alty of forfeiting the eum of Five Pounds sterling for every auch tree so fallen or cut down ; Provided, that it may and shall he lawful for any of the inhabitants of this town to clear their own lots and other lands to plant upoo, according to the act made the 30th day of April last past, and in su doing it shall and may be lawful for any of them to convert the wood and timber growing upon the same to their best nee and ad- vantage, and not otherwise.

" Given noder my hend at Elizabeth Town the 13th of June, 1666.

" PH. CARTERETT.

" JAMES BULL N,

"JOHN OGDEN."

Daniel Denton, of whom a brief account has al- ready been given among the original purchasers of the Elizabethtown grant, wrote a book, which was published in London, England, in 1670. It is en- titled " A Brief Description of New York, formerly called New Netherlands, with the Places thereunto Adjoining : Likewise a Brief Relation of the Cus- toms of the Indians there, by Daniel Denton." This work has been called by the late Gabriel Furman,

Esq., one of the members of the New York Histor- ical Society, and himself an accomplished historian, one of the gems of American history. It is the first printed description in the English language of the country now forming the States of New York and New Jersey. A new edition of it was published in London in 1701, and in 1845 a reprint was issued in New York by William Gowans, as the first of a series of American historical, biographical, and literary works, entitled, "Gowan's Bibliotheca Americana," with " An Introduction and Copious Historical Notes, by Gabriel Furman, member of the New York His- torical Society."

Denton, soon after the purchase of the Elizabeth- town grant, sold his share in the patent to Capt. John Baker, of New York, and Jolın Ogden, of North- ampton, and, it is believed, went to England some three or four years after. In March, 1665, he, to- gether with Thomas Benedict, represented Jamaica in the General Assembly of deputies held at Hemp- stead, in pursuance of the requisition of Governor Nicolls, and by which Assembly was formed the first code of laws for the English colony of New York, known as the " Duke's Laws." At the same Assem- bly the deputies adopted an address to His Royal Highness James, Duke of York, in which, among other things, it is stated, " We do publicly and unan- imously declare our cheerful submission to all such laws, statutes, and ordinances which are or shall be made by virtue of authority from your royal high- ness, your heirs and successors forever." The people of Long Island were displeased with this address, regarding it as too servile for freemen, and were exasperated to such a degree against the authors of it that the Court of Assizes, in order to save the dep- uties from abuse, if not from personal violence, thought it expedient, at their session in October, 1666, to declare that " whosoever shall hereafter any- ways detract or speak against any of the deputies signing the Address to his Royal Highness at the general meeting at Hempstead, they shall bee pre- sented to the next Court of Sessions, and if the jus- tices shall see cause, they shall from thence be bound over to the Assizes, there to answer for the slander upon plaint or information."

Denton's preface to his book is as follows, and shows a quaint and subtile humor in his style, of which we get freqnent glimpses also in the body of the work :

" READER,-I Have here through the Inetigation of divers Persone in England, nod elsewhere, presented you with a Brief but true Relation of a known sod unknown part of America. The known part which is either inhabited or lieth orar the sea I have described to yon, and I have writ nothing but what I have been an eye witness to all or the greater part of it. Neither can I safely exy was I willing to exceed, but was rather willing the place itself should exceed my Commendation, which I question not will be owned by those that shall travel thither. For the unknown part, which is either some placee lying to the Northward yet undiscovered by any English, or the Bowels of the earth not yet opened, though the natives tell oauf Glittering Stones, Diamonds, or Pearl in the one, and the Dutch hath boasted of Gold and Silver in the other ; yet I

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

shall not feed your expectation with any thing of that nature; but leave It till a better di-covery shall make way for such a Relation. In the mean time accept of this from him who desireth to deal impartially with every one."

The following are some of the descriptions given in his book :1

"That Tract of Land, formerly called The New Netherlands, doth Con- tain all the Land which lieth in the North parts of America, betwixt New England and Maryland in Virgin a, the length of which Northward into the country, as it hath not been fully discoveredl, so it is not cer- tainly known. The breadth of It is abont two hundred miles. The prin- cipal Rivers within this Tract are lindson's River, Raritan River, and Delewertmy River. The chief Islands are the Manahatana Islaud, Long Island, and Staten Island."

" Within two leaguee of New York lieth Staten Island, it bears from New York west something southerly. It is about twenty ariles long, and four or five broad. It is, most of it, good land, full of timber, and produceth all such commodities as Long Island doth, besides tin and store of irvo-ore, and the Calamine stone is said likewise to be found there. There is but one town npun it consisting of English and French, but is capable of entertaining more inhabitants; betwixt this and Long Island is a large bay, and is the coming in for all ships and vessels out of the sea. On the north side of this i-land After-skull River puts into the main land on the west side, whereof is two or three towns, but on the east side but one.2 There is very great mar-hes or miesdows on both sides of it, excellent good land, and good convenience for the settling of several towus; there grow black walnut and locust, as there duth in Vir- ginia, with mighty tall, straight timber, ns good as nny in the north of America. It produceth any commoditie Long Island doth

" Westward of After-Kull River before mentioned, about eighteen or twenty unles, runs iu Raritan River northward into the country some score of miles, both sides of which river is adorned with spacious mea- dows, enough to maintain thousands of cattle, the woodland is likewise very good for corn, stored with wild beasts, as deer, and elke, and an in- numerable multitude of fowl, as in other parts of the country. This river is thought very capable for the erecting of several towns and vil- lages ou each side of it, no place in the north of America having better convenience for the maintaining of all sorts of cattle for winter and summer food. Upon this river is no town settled, but one at the month of it.8 Next this river westward is a place called Newasuna, where is two or three towns and villages settled upon the seaside, 4 but none be- twixt that and the Delaware Bay, which is about sixty miles, all of which is rich champnin country, free from stones and indifferent level ; sture of excellent good timber aud very well watered, having brooks or rivers ordinardy, one or more in every mile's travel."5

Denton's instructions to immigrants are well worth copying for the light they throw on the earliest method of obtaining lands and effecting settlements. He says,-

" To give some satisfaction to people that shall be desirous to transport themselves thither (the country bring capable of entertaining many thousands), how and after what manner people live, and how Innd may be procured, etc., I shall answer that the usual way is for a company of peuple to join together, either enough to make a town, or a lesser num- ber; these go with the consent of the Govervor and view a tract of land, there being choice enough, and finding n placs convenient for a town, they return to the Governor, who upon their desire adnuits them into a colony, and gives them a grant or patent for the said laud, for themselves and associates. These persons being thus qualified, settle the place, and tuke in what inhabitants to themselves they shall gre canse to admit of, till their town be full; these a-sociates thus taken in have equal privi- leges with themselves, and they make a divisi .u of the land suitable to every man's occasions, no man being debarred of such quantities as he huth occasion for, the rest they let lie in common to the whole town."

All the earliest towns in Essex, Union, and Mid- dlesex Counties-Newark, Elizabethtown, Wood- bridge, and Piscataway-were patented and settled in the manner described, the Associates having two principal objects in view,-first neighborhood, and second protection from hostile Indians. By inducing their neighbors and acquaintances to join them in settling the new colony they could have congenial associates, and by their numbers and combined strength could better protect themselves against at- tacks from the savages, and overcome many of the obstacles of wilderness life which could hardly be successfully encountered by single individuals. Dur- ing the earliest period most of the towns and settle- ments were built compactly together and fortified as a defense against the Indians, and it was made a con- dition that the settlers should provide themselves with arms and ammunition. This was properly the New England method of settlement, adopted first by the prudent and sagacious people of those colonies, and carried with them wherever they planted new settlements further westward. Wherever this mode was adopted in New Jersey, it was either wholly among New England people or by those who bor-" rowed the idea from them. It will give some con- ception of the penetrating power of the now all but universal Yankee idea to say that this method of building towns in a solid, compact form to defend themselves against the Indians preceded their advent into New Jersey, and that the astute Dutch Governor Stuyvesant, in issuing proclamation for the erection of the compact and fortified town of Bergen in 1658, enforces his recommendation by quoting the example of the people of New England. Bergen was the first town of this sort erected in East Jersey, but the idea was a " Yankee notion" which had found its way among the Dutch.

The settlements we are to treat of in Union and Middlesex Counties were originally, to a very large extent, made by New England people. Such were the earliest settlers throughout all of Union County, who first planting themselves where the city of Eliza- beth now stands, spread northward and westward to and beyond the present county limits, and such were the earliest settlers of Woodbridge and Piscataway, which formed originally most of the county of Middle- sex. The early settlers of Amboy were mostly Scotch and English, and the other towns were settled by a more composite class of inhabitants. Among the New England and English emigrants were many Friends or Quakers, who came at an early time, and whose excellent qualities of character and contributions to the general weal will not be overlooked in making up the award of history.

1 Denton's work was originally published in 1670; a new edition was isened in London in 1701.

2 The last mentioned was Bergen, on the Neck, and the others Newark, Elizabethtown, and Woodbridge, three towns having all been founded previous to 1670.

8 What town was it?

4 What towns and villages?

5 Dentoni, pp. 14, 15.

GOVERNMENT OF PHILIP CARTERET.

CHAPTER VIII.

GOVERNMENT OF PHILIP CARTERET.

ELIZABETH TOWN was the seat of the first English government in New Jersey. It must be borne in mind that the Duke of York in 1664 sold that por- tion of his possessions in America lying west of the Hudson River, to which the name of Nova Casarea, or New Jersey, was given, to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, two of the lords of the Privy Council of King Charles, and that upon the char- ter or constitution known as the "Concessions and Agreement" the Lords Proprietors established a gov- ernment for the province, appointing Philip Carteret Governor, and sending him over with plenary author- ity to administer the civil affairs of the colony. It so happened that at the time of Carteret's arrival the enterprising Elizabethtown Associates had unwit- tingly prepared a capital for him in the wilderness by locating their town and making a promising be- ginning in the way of improvements. We quote the following from Mr. Hatfield's History :

" Scarcely has the new settlement got fairly under way, the ground about the creek been cleared, and the evil made ready for the sowing of the winter grain, when tidinge reach them from New York of H serions change in their prospects. Word is brought that the Duke of York has sold the territory west of Hudson's River to two of the Lords of the Council, who have eent over a deputy to arrange the matter with Guv- ernor Nicolle, and take possession, in their name, of the newly-created province. As a matter of course the coming of the new Governor is awaited with no little aoxiety.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 10

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224