History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 112

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 112
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 112

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Bergen, £664 88. Od .; Essex, £742 188. 0d .; Mid- dlesex, £872 68. 6d .; Somerset, £904 28. 0d .; Mon- mouth, 1069 28. 8d .; Morris, €723 88. Od .; Sussex, £593 58. 4d .; Hunterdon, £1368 168. 8d .; Burlington, £1071 13s. 4d .; Gloucester, £763 2x. 8d .; Salem, £679 128. Od .; Cumberland, £385 68. 8d .; and Cape May, £166 188. Od.

The remainder of this ordinance details the prin- ciples that should govern assessments and taxables, settles when the tax should be collected, and directs its payment by the county collectors to the provisional county committees.

Finally the Congress appointed Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset ; Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon; Daniel Hunt, of Hunterdon; Frederick Frelinghuysen, of

Somerset; Isaac Pierson, of Burlington; Azarialı Dunham,1 of Middlesex ; John Schureman, of Mid- dlesex ; John Hart, of Hunterdon ; Joseph Borden, of Burlington ; Jonathan Deare, of Middlesex ; Jona- than Baldwin, of Middlesex; Peter Schenck, of Somerset ; Ralph Hart. of Hunterdon ; and Nathaniel Heart, of Middlesex, or any three of them, with the president or vice-president, a Committee of Corre- spondence, with power to convene the Congress. The Congress then adjourned.

The second session of the Provincial Congress was held at Trenton, beginning on Saturday, Aug. 5, 1775, and continuing till Thursday, Aug. 17, 1775. In the interval, since its adjournment on the 3d of June, the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought, Washington had been appointed commander-in-chief, and it was becoming plain that the controversy be- tween Great Britain and the United Colonies was to be referred to the arbitrament of war. The object for which the Congress now met was to prepare for this dread alternative by taking efficient measures for the collection of the tax which had been levied at the former session and remained unpaid; to ascer- tain what persons refused to pay the same or to associate in the measures recommended by the Con- tinental Congress ; to provide for the government of the province and for the perpetuation of the Provin- cial Congress as the successor and substitute for the overthrown royal Governor and Colonial Legislature ; to perfect the organization of the friends of liberty by the election of county and township Committees of Observation and Correspondence ; to further perfect the bill passed at the preceding session for the regu- lation of the militia; and to appoint persons as a Committee of Safety, to act during the recess of the Provincial Congress and in its stead.

The number of deputies in attendance at this sec- ond session of Congress was eighty-three, four of the Essex deputies who were present at the former ses- sion being absent. The great body of the delegates was composed of those who were present in June, but in several of the counties there were changes; the only change in Middlesex County was the substitu- tion of Lucas Schenck for David Williamson.

The first business which occupied the attention of the Congress was to provide for the collection of the tax levied by the previous session, payment of which seems to have been avoided or refused in many in- stances. The persons authorized to collect the quotas of the several townships were required to pay the money collected by them to the county collector on or before September 10th prox., and if any re- fused payment a list of their names was ordered to be sent to their several committees, which committees were also ordered to send the names of such delin- quents, as well as of those who had refused to sign

1 Azariah Dunham and John Schureman resided in New Brunswick, Jonathan Deare and Jonathan Baldwin at Princeton, and Nathaniel Heard at Woodbridge.

457

MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.

the articles of association recommended by the Con- tinental Congress, to the next Provincial Congress. Provision was made for paying assessors and collec- tors of taxes for their services, and for refunding to the several county committees any surplus of the money raised by taxation that might remain over and above what should be needed for the public ser- vice.

The causes that made it desirable to have a new election for deputies to the Provincial Congress are very clearly set forth in the preamble to an ordinance which was adopted on Saturday, August 12th, the language of which evinces that all hope of a peaceful accommodation with the mother-country had nearly died out, and also illustrates the strict regard that was paid to the will of the people as the fountain of authority. "Whereas," says this grave document, "it is highly expedient, at a time when this province is likely to be involved in all the horrors of a civil war, and when it has become absolutely necessary to increase the burden of taxes already laid upon the good people of this colony, for the just defense of their invaluable rights and privileges, that the inhab- itants thereof should have frequent opportunities of re- newing their choice and approbation of the representatives in Provincial Congress, it is therefore resolved that the inhabitants in each county qualified to vote for representatives in General Assembly do meet together at the places hereinafter mentioned on Thursday, the 21st day of September next, and then and there, by plurality of voices, elect and appoint any number not exceeding five substantial freeholders as deputies, with full power to represent such county in Provin- cial Congress to be held at Trenton, in the county of Hunterdon, on Tuesday, the 3d day of October next." The remainder of the ordinance merely prescribes the routine details respecting the elections for deputies, and also of Committees of Observation and Corre- spondence.

Having thus provided for the perpetuation of the civil government of the province, the Congress turned its earnest attention to the more effective organization of the military strength of the colony. To this end a series of resolutions were adopted, of which the follow- ing is a summary : The county and township com- mittees were instructed to send the names of their several officers of militia to the Provincial Congress, or to the Committees of Safety it should appoint, that they might be duly commissioned, reserving to the Congress the appointment of all officers above the rank of captain, save those already appointed under the ordinance of the last Congress. It was ordered that the militia of Bergen and Salem should each compose one regiment; of Essex, Middlesex, and Somerset, each two regiments; of Morris and Sus- sex, each two regiments ; and one battalion ; of Bur- Jington, two regiments and a company of rangers; of Monmonth, three regiments; of Hunterdon, four regiments ; and of Gloucester, Cumberland, and Cape

May, respectively three, two, and one battalions,-in all equal to about twenty-three regiments. Disobe- dience or irregular behavior on the part of officers while on duty was ordered to be reported to the com- mittees of their respective counties, who were empow- ered to suspend offenders and report the charges and evidence against them to the Committee of Safety, or to the next Provincial Congress, for their action. Those inhabitants between the ages of sixteen and fifty who should refuse to enroll themselves and bear arms were to be required to pay four shillings per month as an equivalent, or upon their refusing such payment were to be reported to the Provincial Congress or the Committee of Safety, "to be dealt with as they shall direct." Persons who had signed the muster-roll and neglected to attend on mustering day were to be fined two shillings for each such absence (the fines of par- ties under age to be paid by their parents or masters), not to exceed two fines in a month, and be reported to the Township Committee and the next Congress. The moneys so received of delinquents by the several captains to be applied for defraying the expenses of instructing and equipping their companies. Each pri- vate soldier was to be furnished with good arms, powder, and ball by the county or Township Com- mittee when he was himself unable to procure them. The precedence of rank in the militia was established in the following order : 1, Essex; 2, Salem ; 3, Glon- cester ; 4, Morris ; 5, Sussex ; 6, Cape May ; 7, Mon- mouth ; 8, Somerset ; 9, Bergen; 10, Cumberland; 11, Middlesex ; 12, Hunterdon ; 13, Burlington. But no reason was assigned for this particular order, nor is it easy to conceive of one. Besides the above twenty-three regiments of militia, it was ordered that four thousand able-bodied effective men be en- listed as volunteers and enrolled under officers ap- pointed and commissioned by the Provincial Con- gress, but nominated by the county and township committees, who should be denominated " Minute- Men," and who should hold themselves in constant readiness on the shortest notice to march to any place where their assistance might be required " for the de- fense of this or any neighboring colony," who should also pay due obedience to their officers, " agreeably to the rules and orders" of the Continental or Provin- cial Congress, or during the recess of the latter of the Committee of Safety. These minute-men were to be mustered in companies of sixty-four men each, officers included, of which six companies were to be raised in each of the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Morris; five each in Somerset, Sussex, and Bur- lington; eight in Hunterdon ; four each in Bergen and Gloucester; three each in Salem and Cumber- land; and one in Cape May; and they were to be formed into ten battalions,-one each in Bergen, Es- sex, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset, Morris, Sussex, Hunterdon, and Burlington, and one in Gloucester and Salem. The three companies from Cumberland and one from Cape May were to act as independent

458

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

companies of light infantry and rangers. It was stip- : understanding their wishes. It was no longer a ulated that these minute-men should receive like pay as the Continental army, should be furnished with camp equipage and provisions, be provided for if wounded or disabled, that they should serve for four months, and should have precedence of rank over the militia.

Before adjourning the Congress passed a series of resolves, which I summarize as follows : Recommend- ing persons whose religious principles would not allow them to bear arms to contribute the more liberally for the relief of their distressed brethren in the several colonies ; requiring that before persons received mili- tary commissions they should sign the " Association;" appointing Jonathan D. Sergeant, of Somerset, treas- urer of the province ; and recommending the several county committees immediately to employ gunsmiths to make the arms necessary and wanting in their coun- ties, in conformity with the direction for their manu- facture set forth by the Continental Congress.1

The Congress then appointed Henry Fisher, of Somerset, Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon, Isaac Pear- son, of Burlington, John Hart, of Hunterdon, Jona- than D. Sergeant, of Somerset, Azariah Dunham, of Middlesex, Peter Schenck, of Somerset, Enos Kelsey, of Somerset, Joseph Borden, of Burlington, Frederick Frelinghuysen, of Somerset, and John Schureman, of Middlesex, a Committee of Safety to act during the recess of Congress, and thereupon adjourned " to the 20th day of September next, unless sooner convened by the Committee of Safety."2

Up to this time the Provincial Congress had been purely provisional. Its deputies had not been elected in conformity with any law that had been enacted by any really representative or authorized body, but had been chosen on the informal call only of self- constituted or spontaneous meetings or conventions in the several counties. The grave exigencies of the times, as was stated in the preamble to the act of the Provincial Congress providing for a new election of deputies by the people, which has been already quo- ted, now demanded a formal resort to the people as the source of power and authority for a choice of those who were to represent and legislate for them, and whose acts would probably convert them into rebels against the arms of Great Britain or into pusillanimous supplicants for her clemency and pro- tection. Accordingly the Provincial Congress which met at Trenton on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 1775, and con- tinued its sessions until the afternoon of Saturday, October 25th, was composed of deputies just elected by the people, fresh from among them, and fully

provisional body, but was a regularly elected repre- sentative assembly. Its powers were peculiar and undefined. The royal authority had been tacitly superseded, though still existing in form ; royal charters were held in abeyance; royal writs were 1 disregarded; royal Governors, Legislatures, and other officers were suspected, set at naught, and emptied of power. There was as yet no constitution in the form of a written instrument ; and save as it was restricted by the operation of the common law, and of former statutory enactments, and by sufferance of old forms and usages, or held in check hy a regard for the opin- ions and interests of those who brought it into being, there was no limitation upon its powers by any in- strument then existing to which they or the people of the province acknowledged fealty. They could and did imprison, exile, confiscate, lay taxes, emit money, exercise power over life and death, call out the militia, and levy war.

The new Congress consisted of forty-eight dele- gates, whose names are appended in a note,3 and nine of whom were also members of the House of Assem- bly, five each from Essex, Morris, Sussex, Hunter- don, Burlington, Gloucester, and Salem, two each from Bergen, Middlesex, and Cumberland, three each from Somerset and Monmouth, and one from Cape May, but in voting each county had only one vote, as ordered by the previous Congress. On the first day there was not a quorum present, the min- utes stating that "several of the deputies" assembled. On the following day, Oct. 4, 1775, it organized with Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon, president; Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset, vice-president ; and John Me- helm, of Hunterdon, secretary. On a subsequent day John Carey, of Salem, was appointed secretary, with Abraham Clark, of Essex, and Charles Stewart, of Hunterdon, assistants.

This session was a busy, earnest, and laborious one. The minutes of the Congress reveal the revolutionary state of the province, the unrest and agitation that

I The recommendation of the Continental Congress was in the follow- ing term" : "That it be recommended to the makers of arms for the use of the militia that they make good substantial muskets, with barrels three fect and a half in length, that will carry an ounce ball, and fitted with a good bayonet and steel ramrod, and that making such arms be encouraged in these United Colonies."-Passed July 18, 1795.

2 For proceedings of Committee of Safety see next chapter.

3 Bergen, John Demareat,* 1 Jacobus Post. Essex, Abraham Clark, Lewis Ogden, Samuel Potter, Caleb Camp, Rob- ert Drummond.

Middlesex, Azariah Dunham,* John Dennis.

Morris, William Winda,* William DeHart, Jacob Drake, Silas Condit, Ellis Cook.

Somerset, Hendrick Fisher,* Cornelius Van Muliner, Ruloffe Van Dyke.

Sussex, William Maxwell, Ephraim Martin, Thomas Potts, Abia Brown, Mark Thompson.

Monmouth, Edward Taylor,* John Covenhoven, Joseph Holmea.

Hunterdon, Sammuel Tucker, *John Mehelm,* John Hart, Charles Stew- art, Augustine Stevetison.

Burlington, Isaac Pierson, Joho Pope, Samuel How, Johu Wood, Jo- aeplı Newbold.

Gloucester, John Cooper, Joseph Ellis, Thomas Clark, Elijah Clark, Richard Somers.

Salem, John Holme, Edward Keashy, Benjamin Holme,* John Carey. Cumberland, Theophilus Elmer,* Jonathan Ayars.

Cape May, Jesse Hand.

1 1 Deputies marked * were also members of the House of Assembly.

459

MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.

prevailed among the people, and the industrious preparation that the patriots were making for the war that they perceived was soon to roll towards them. The minutes also reveal the steady growth of the democratic principle of equality among the people, counting a man a man whether he owned property or whether he did not. Petitions flowed into the Con- gress on a multitude of subjects from every county and from nearly every township,-from committees, municipal corporations, and individuals,-questioning the election of some of the deputies to the Congress, and of members of the county and township Commit- tees of Observation and Correspondence; eraving military commissions or objecting to some that had been issued ; soliciting the appointment of particular field, regimental, and other officers, or indicating a preference between candidates ; presenting the choice of companies that had been formed for one regiment rather than another ; praying that money at interest and also mechanics and lawyers be taxed ; from nu- merous quarters and from all parts of the province urging strongly that all who pay taxes, whether free- holder or otherwise, be admitted to vote at the elec- tions for deputies to the Provincial Congress ; asking that elections be by ballot, that suits at law for the recovery of debt be conditionally suspended until the final settlement of the dispute between Great Britain and the Colonies; that persons (mostly Quakers and · loyalists) who refused to pay the tax ordered by the former Congress be compelled to do so, and that the making of saltpetre, cartouch-boxes, etc., be eneour- aged. All these petitions received respectful consider- ation, and the action that was taken upon them was dispassionate, wise, independent, and dignified.

Besides the consideration of these petitions, which, as a purely popular body, deriving its power and even its very existence from the will of the people, it could not and did not disregard, the Congress was engaged in receiving and scrutinizing the reports of the "as- sociations" and committees that had been formed in the various townships and counties ; in corresponding with the Continental Congress as to the raising, equip- ment, organization, footing, payment, and forwarding of troops; and with the Congresses and Committees of Safety of other colonies, and the county and town- ship committees of the province, on subjects pertain- ing to the general welfare; in examining into the state of the finances of the province, and estimating the expenditure that would be required for the arm- ing, equipment, and maintenance of the militia, etc., and for carrying on the government; in preparing ordinances for the regulation of the militia, for raising additional troops, for enforeing the former taxes and levying new ones, for raising money by the emission of bills of eredit, and for the apprehension of desert- ers. Their attention was also largely occupied in examining and deciding upon complaints that were showered upon them, denouncing loyalists and sym- pathizers with Great Britain, and in considering

public and private grievances of every form and variety.

. It will be perceived that the "Ordinances," as all formal and grave enactments of this body were styled, which were passed by the Provincial Congress were of a fundamental character, embracing the evolution of a State and the administration of eivil govern- ment within its bounds, while it was itself passing through a period of revolution, and was threatened with civil war within and invasion from without. The machinery was to be adjusted to an edifice whose walls were yet unbuilt, and the greatest wisdom and prudence, mingled with courage and fortitude, were required for the undertaking. To this difficult work the Congress addressed itself with equal industry and devotion, and every portion of the task received the anxious deliberations of the deputies unremittingly given by day and by night.

The ordinance to compel the payment of the ten thousand pounds tax of the previous Congress re- quired collectors to return the names of delinquents to the county committees, which committees were or- dered to make " distress on the goods and chattels" of the said delinquents, and after five days' notice by advertisement, to sell them at publie vendue, any sur- plus remaining after satisfying the tax and costs to be returned to the owner. Provision was made to fill vacancies in the office of collector. Where owners of large and profitable traets of land were non-residents, and the taxes were thus avoided, the goods and ehat- tels of the tenant or agent were made liable to be dis- trained and sold in satisfaction of the tax, and the tenant was authorized to deduct the amount out of the rent. Appeals in cases of alleged excessive tax- ation were allowed to the county committee, who might order the amount remitted to be repaid, but no appeal was permitted to be heard until the assess- ment had been first paid. Severe pecuniary penal- ties were preseribed for non-performance or neglect of duty by collectors, or for their failure to pay over the moneys collected, which penalties might also be enforced by distress and sale of their goods and chat- tels, or in case of default by collectors, when suffi- cient property could not be found, their " bodies" might be taken and confined until the moneys and costs were fully paid.

The estimate of the amount required for the "de- fense of the colony," as finally arrived at, was the result of a prolonged consideration by a special com- mittee, and of several earnest debates. It finally cul- minated in ordering the purchase of three thousand stand of arms, ten tons of gunpowder, twenty tons of lead, one thousand cartouch-boxes, two medicine chests, four hundred tents, with the necessary furni- ture, besides canteens and knapsacks, and two thou- sand blankets. It also appropriated one shilling per man per day for troops in actual service until they arrived at the place of destination ; £8585 as a fund for the payment of troops for one month when in

460

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

actual service ; £300 for axes, spades, and intrench- ing tools; #500 for a train of artillery ; and #1000 as a bounty of " one shilling a pound" for the manu- facture in the colony of "any quantity not exceed- ing 20,000 pounds of saltpetre on or before Jan. 1, 1777."

In order to meet these expenses - the Congress deemed it be necessary that the sum of £30,000 proc- lamation money should be immediately emitted in bills of credit for the use of the colony, and it ap- pointed a committee, consisting of Hendrick Fisher, John Hart, John Mehelm, Theophilus Elmer, and Azariah Dunham, to draft an ordinance for that pur- pose, with provision to " sink the money" so emitted, and designating the commissioners to purchase and procure the articles enumerated in the foregoing esti- mate. The ordinance drafted by this committee and adopted by the Congress appointed Samuel Tucker, Abraham Hunt, Joseph Ellis, and Alexander Cham- bers commissioners for the western division of the province, and Hendrick Fisher, Azariah Dunham, Abraham Clark, and Samuel Potter commissioners for the eastern division, with authority to contract with artificers for or otherwise purchase the articles named in the estimates, and to supply the troops of the colony when called into action in this or any of the neighboring colonies with one month's subsist- ence, provided that no provision for the same were made by the Continental Congress. To defray these expenses the sum of £30,000 in proclamation money was ordered to be printed, to pass current in all pay- ments within the colony, as follows : five thousand seven hundred hills, each of the value of £3; six thousand bills of £1 10s. Od. each ; four thousand bills of 15 shillings each, and three thousand bills of 6 shillings each, which when printed were to he de- livered to Hendrick Fisher and Azariah Dunham, of the eastern division, and to John Hart and John Carey, of the western, who were to be the signers thereof for the respective divisions (those for the western division in conjunction with John Cooper, one of the treasurers of the colony for the western division, and those of the eastern division in con- junction with John Dennis, also one of the treasurers of the colony for the eastern division). The ordi- nance details with the utmost minuteness, and an exactitude that illustrates the wary circumspection of our ancestors, how the bills shall be signed, conn- tersigned, counted, inspected, receipted for, sworn to, protected from fraud or peculation, etc., and provides for a tax to be levied annually in 1784, 1785, and 1786 for sinking and retiring the bills emitted. The apportionment of this tax among the counties indi- cates the then relative wealth of each as follows : Portion of the £10,000 tax to each county : Hunter- don, £1363 168. 8d. ; Burlington, £1071 138. 4d. ; Mon- mouth, £1069 2x, 8d .; Somerset, £904 28. Od. ; Mid- dlesex, £872 68. 8d .; Gloucester, £763 2s. 8 .; Essex, £742 18%. Od .; Morris, £723 88. 0d .; Salem, £679

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 112

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