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 148
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 148
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The proprietaries had previously shown their con- findence in him by placing in his charge, when he came to the province, a cargo of goods worth seven hundred and fifty pounds with which to purchase Indian titles.
The will of Groom is dated Aug. 21, 1682, and he died in the course of the following year, leaving on the stocks unfinished the first vessel built in East
Jersey. He never brought his family to this prov- ince.
William Haige. It is recorded that when Rud- yard removed Groom as surveyor-general and receiver- general he appointed William Haige to these offices. He was one who came to the settlement at the earli- est period, and had the respect and confidence of the people of the colony. Groom soon after died, and Haige continued the duties of his office until the arrival of George Keith in 1685. Haige, in 1685, married Mary, daughter of Deputy-Governor Laurie ; he died Jan. 1, 1688, leaving no issue.
William Dockwra owned several town-lots, and it was to his exertions and those of his friends that the prosperity of this town was largely due. Dockwra was appointed receiver-general and treasurer of the province July 6, 1688, on the death of William Haige. We find him first mentioned in the East Jersey records July 20, 1683, where he is styled " Merchant of the parish of St. Andrew, Undershaft, London," and he has secured for himself some fame by having originated the " Penny Post" in that city.
" The people" mentioned by Laurie were laborers sent over in order to obtain the grants for headlands, in accordance with "the concessions," Dockwra re- ceiving a portion of their earnings. Some forty came at different times, besides some on account of the Scottish proprietaries generally ; and we are also in- formed that many of the Scotch servants and poor families who came over had cattle, etc., given them.
Dockwra died in 1747, leaving a large number of children, but no account has been preserved of any of them who came to America.
Benjamin Clarke was a stationer, and came with his son Benjamin in 1683. It is supposed he built himself a house in Amboy, on the south side of Mar- ket Street, near the junction with Water Street. The next year his wife came over (1684). There is an account from a letter of Charles Gordon, "Sent from Amboy to Edinburgh under date of March, 1685;" he says, " Neither are we altogether destitute of Books and Clergy, for Rev. George Keith, who ar- rived three weeks since with some others (they were all winter in Barbadoes), hath brought mathematics, and Benjamin Clarke a library of books." James Johnstone also writes to his brother, and alludes to the "good stationer's shop of books at New Perth." Mr. Clarke died, leaving his son Benjamin heir to his property, in 1689. Nothing is known of any of his family at the present time.
George Keith was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, an eminent Quaker, and subsequently an Episcopa- lian missionary. He was appointed in 1684 surveyor- general, but did not arrive in the province till the next year. Being naturally a leader among the people, through his talents and energy he soon gathered a party composed of many Quakers, inculcating in- creased attention to plainness of garb and language and other points of discipline. He was the cause of
CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.
dissensions among the colonists, and in June, 1692, " a declaration was drawn up in which both he and his conduct were publicly denounced," and from that time his authority and influence were at an end. He returned to his home in Scotland, where he remained for a few years, when he returned to America, as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in 1702. His labors were very successful, and he continued until his death to minister to Episcopal Churchies and to write against the doctrines of the Quakers.
Lord Neil Campbell, brother of the Earl of Perth, was a gentleman universally esteemed. On account of his having espoused the liberal cause in Scotland he was cited to appear before a council in Edinburgh in 1684. But leaving his wife and family, he came here in the fall of 1685, having in August purchased the proprietary right of Viscount Tarbet, bringing with him, or causing to be sent out immediately after- wards, a large number of settlers for whom, subse- quently, headlands were granted to him. His presence in the province led the proprietaries to avail them- selves of his services as their deputy-governor, cir- cumstances inducing them to remove Laurie from that post ; he was commissioned on the 4th of June, 1686, and entered upon his duties the ensuing October. The change of a number of other offices soon followed. John and Archibald, sons of Lord Neil Campbell, were also obliged to seek refuge in America from the hostility of the English government.
Archibald Campbell died in May, 1702. No men- tion is made of any issue. He and his brother held lots in Amboy, and a ravine in the north part of the town bears the name of " Campbell's Gully."
In the month of December, 1685, an arrival of more than ordinary interest occurred. A vessel freighted with Scotchmen, upon whom persecution had wrought its work of purification, and whose souls had been tempered for patient endurance by sore trials and misfortunes, anchored in the harbor of Amboy, after a long and disastrous voyage of fifteen weeks, the cir- cumstances of which, with the events attending the embarkation of the emigrants, are deserving of special notice. Mr. John Welsh, Mr. Samuel Amot, and many others had appeared before the Council, also George Scot, of Pitlockie, who was fined for contempt, and many others. A decree in 1674 had passed against those who "kept conventicles." They were perse- cuted, and came on account of their liberty of con- science. Many were imprisoned. Margaret Rigg (Lady Pitlockie) was fined a thousand marks. This was the cause of such a large number emigrating to East Jersey.
Scot, as early as May, had chartered the "Henry and Francis, of New Castle, a ship of three hundred and fifty Tun, and twenty Guns, Richard Hutton, Master." They left Leith the 5th of September, 1685, and those of the passengers who felt safer on board had been waiting for a long time to sail. The follow-
ing is the list, but all cannot now be given. Many died out of some two hundred or more who came. Those names are marked with a star who died on the voyage.
Robert Adam.
Janet Lintron.
Lady Aithernie .*
Gawen Lockhart.
John Arbuckle.
Michael Marshall.
Rev. William Aisdale .*
John Marshall.
John Black.
John Martin.
George Brown.
Margaret Miller.
Robert Campbell.
George Moor (Muir).
David Campbell.
Gilbert Monorg or Monorgan .*
William Campbell.
Jean Moffat.
John Campbell.
John Muirhead.
Christian Carie.
James Muirhesd.
John Crichton.
William McCalmont.
John Corbet.
Jobn McEwen.
Andrew Corbet.
Walter McEwen (McIgne).
John Corsan (Casson).
Robert McEwen.
Agnes Corhead .*
John McQueen (McEwen).
Barbara Cowan.
Robert Mclellan.
Marjory Cowan.
Margaret McLellan.
William Cunningham .*
Patrick Cunningham.
William Douglass.
John McKeuman.
William Mc Millan.
Isabel Durie.
John McGhie .*
John Frazer.
William Niven.
Thomas Finlater .*
William Oliphant.
Elspeth Ferguson.
Andrew Paterson.
Janet Ferguson:
John Pollock.
Margaret Ferret (Forrest).
Johu Ramn.
John Foord.
Rev. Archibald Riddel.
James Forsyth.
John Forman.
John Gray.
Eupham Rigg.
Thomas Gray .*
Marion Rennie.
Thomas Graham .*
John Renwick.
Grisel Gemble.
James Reston.
William Ged .*
Thomas Russel.
Fergus Grier.
Peter Russel .*
James Grier (Grierson).
Christoplier Strang.
Robert Gilchrist.
William Sprat.
John Gilfillan.
(McAgnes Stevens Tannis.)*
Bessie Gordon.
William Spreul.
Annabel Gordon.
Thomas Shelston.
Katherine Govan.
John Swinton.
John Smith.
John Henderson.
John Siuton* (Seton.)
Adam Hood.
George Scot.
Charles Ilomgall.
Margaret Scot.
Eupham Scot.
Janet Symington .*
Thomas Jackson .*
James Sittingtoun.
Annabel Jackson.
John Turpnie.
George Johnson.
William Turnbull.
Jobu Juhnstone.
Partrick Urie.
James Junk.
Julın Vernur.
John King.
Mra. Vernor.
John Kippen .*
Jobn Watt.
John Kincaid.
Patrick Walker.
James Kirkwood.
James Wardrope.
John Kirkland .*
Elizabeth Whitelaw.
John Kellie.
Grizel Wutherspoon.
Katherine Kellie .*
William Wilson.
John Kenuie.
Robert Young .*
Margaret Leslie.
They were charged five pounds sterling for each adult, and those who were unable to pay that amount for their passage were, on their arrival, to serve four years, and at the expiration of that time to receive twenty-five acres and a suit of new clothes. They
39
John Hutchinson .*
John Hodge .*
William Jackson.
John Targat.
John Hanie.
Mrs. Riddel.
Willian Rigg.
- Mclellan.
Andrew Mclellan .*
Charlee Douglass.
605
606
HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
bad set sail from the harbor of Leith on the 5th of September, 1685, and the many deaths were from fever, which assumed a malignant type on shipboard. Seventy of the passengers are believed to have died on the ocean.
After their arrival considerable difficulty took place on account of those who had come over without pay- ing their passage-money, and Mr. Johnstone tried to prevail upon them to serve the four years, in accord- ance with the terms before mentioned, in considera- tion of the expense incurred by Scot for their trans- portation. This they would not agree to, and suits were commenced to compel them. The following verdict was rendered in several suits : " We Jurours finde for the plf wh five pounds sterling debt and costes of suite."
It is difficult at this time to determine how many of those who came to the province remained in the vicinity of Amboy. A few eventually settled in and about Woodbridge and Metuchen, but most of them removed to New England.
William Jackson was also one that was banished; he was a cordwainer by trade. He left Amboy and went to New York.
The following were to be delivered to Robert Bar- clay, Governor of the province, under date of 7th August, 1685, on condition that they should be trans- ported to East New Jersey: George Young, John Campbell, John Swan, James Oliver, James Stuart, John Jackson, John Gibb, Gilbert Ferguson, Colin Campbell. Then in the canonicate tolbooth : John Gilliland, Thomas Richard, William Drennan,1 Wil- liam MeIlroy,1 Archibald Jamieson.1 Then in the Laight Parliament-house tolbooth of Edinburgh : John McKello, Alexander Graham, Duncan Mc- Ewen, Malcolm Black, John McAulin, Donald Moor, John Nicol.
William Niven is also mentioned as being sent in banishment. He was placed on board of a vessel at Leith, destined for Virginia; but on arriving at Gravesend, in consequence of the non-appearance of the charterer of the vessel, the master put them all ashore rather than retain the charge of them longer, and they nearly all reached their homes, after an absence of some nine months.2
It is with considerable interest that we give the following account. Nivens was to be sent to Vir- ginia ; but after bis arrival at home in Scotland he followed his trade and lived quietly, refraining from any objectionable conduct, save that he attended not the authorized religions services until the 29th July, 1684, when he was taken from his bed at midnight and carried to the Glasgow tolbooth, where he lay in irons for three weeks. He was then examined, but nothing of a serious character was elicited. He
refused, however, to take the oath of allegiance, and was sent into Edinburgh under guard with five others, fettered in pairs, and confined in irons until May, 1685, when upon a charge of having some acquaint- ance with treasonable documents he and others were sentenced to immediate execution.
Circumstances occurring which led to a postpone- ment, he was suffered to remain, subjected to all the miseries of imprisonment in Dunnottar Castle, of which, as so many of the emigrants were subjected to them, it will not be irrelevant to give some ac- count.
The vault in which about a hundred men and women were pent up all summer was under ground, ankle-deep in mire, with but one window overlooking the sea. They were without any conveniences for sitting, leaning, or lying ; and, indeed, so full was the place that little more than sitting room was afforded. Stifled for want of air, stinted for both food and water, and subjected to the direful influences of the impurities which necessarily collected, it was miracu- lous that they did not all die. Many did, and others became afflicted with diseases. An attempt was made by several of them, including Niven, to escape by the window which has been mentioned. They succeeded to the number of twenty-five in creeping along the face of a precipice, at the hazard of their lives, to some distance from the fort before the alarm was given ; but fifteen of them were retaken and bar- baronsły used. Beaten, bruised, and bound, they were laid on their backs and obliged to undergo various processes of torture.
Niven, who was among those retaken, as well as Peter Russell, another of the emigrants, and others, were laid upon a form, their hands bound, and matches placed between their fingers; these were kept burning "equal with their fingers" for three bours withont intermission. Some died under this torture; some were so badly burned that the bones were charred, and Niven himself lost oue of the fingers of his left hand.
Such, faintly sketched, were some of the trials which those in Dunnottar Castle were obliged to undergo, and it can cause no surprise that to escape them a voluntary expatriation was gladly acceded to. Scot's proposition to the council was profited by, and Niven and others should have entered into an engage- ment whereby they were to be transported to New Jersey.
Christopher Strang was the son, it is believed, of Christopher who was executed on Dec. 7, 1666, for treason, and his head was exposed at Hamilton and his right arm affixed to the public posts of Lanark. It is possible this person was the progenitor of the family of Strangs in this country.
Rev. David Simson's name is found among those for whom headlands were claimed by Lord Neil Campbell. He is also mentioned, Aug. 14, 1685, or- dering his bonds to be given up, which had been re-
I They were sentenced to have their left ears cut off by the common executioner.
2 Wadrow, ii. pp. 475, 476.
607
CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.
quired of him some months before, he having been confined in the prison and now was to be liberated, as he was to leave the kingdom, and the cessation of his ministerial services as he was going to New Jersey.
John Doby, Robert Hardie, John Forbes, and John Cockburn arrived in 1684. Coburn was a mason, and built David Mudie a stone honse. Forbes was a brother to the Laird of Barula, and after his arrival here he had a plantation near the Gordons and Fnl- Jertons, on Cedar Brook, now in Raritan township. From a letter he appears to have left Scotland with- out the knowledge of his friends.
John Emott came to this province, but it is not known at what date, supposed to have been before the purchase by the twenty-four proprietaries. The Long Ferry Tavern was kept by him in 1685, and the following year he was appointed secretary of the province, and on the 10th December of that year his name appears in the first notice of the Amboy militia, being appointed lieutenant of a "company of train bands, consisting of the inhabitants of Amboy Perth under the command of the Honorable Lord Neil Cambell." He was also appointed clerk of the County Court and Court of Sessions.
John Barclay was a brother of Governor Robert Barclay, and came to this province about the same time that Mr. Emott arrived. He held numerous positions of trust. In 1688-89 he was a depnty sur- veyor under George Keith, and succeeded him as surveyor-general, receiving the appointment together with that of receiver-general April 6, 1692. Thomas Gordon leaving the province for England, Mr. Bar- clay was appointed 25th November, 1695, deputy- secretary and register. On the 6th Angust, 1698, he was made register of the Court of Chancery and one of the commissioners of the Court of Small Causes, in 1700 be received the clerkship of the County Court of Common Right of the Supreme Court and Court of Sessions, and in 1704 he represented Amboy in the Assembly. He died in the spring of 1731 at an advanced age. He had a son John, but little is known of him.
David Barclay, brother also of Governor Barclay, came in 1685 ; also John Loofborrow, “ miller ;" Ben- jamin Griffith in 1687, he became a commissioner of the Minor Court in 1696 ; John Watson, " merchant ;" Peter Watson, " planter ;" Thomas Knowles, " sta- tioner ;" and Robert Bridgman, "merchant," arrived in 1684. The two brothers, Stephen and Thomas Warne, were the sons of Thomas Warne, one of the " twenty-four" who was a merchant of Dublin. They came in 1683. Thomas and Robert Fullerton arrived in October, 1684. Thomas with his wife and ten servants settled near the borders of the city of Plain- field, and also had house lots in Ambo Point. They were brothers to the Laird of Kennaber, intelligent men, and according to Mr. Whitehead were enchanted with the province. "The weather here," says Thomas,
" is constantly clear. The sun rises and sets free of clonds." John Reid in 1683 brought his wife with him and resided at Amboy for some years after his arrival, becoming of some note among its inhabitants. He was (June, 1686) on account of his services in drawing maps of the province given a grant of two hundred acres of land in Monmouth County called Hortensia, on the east branch of Hope River, where he resided in 1686. He had a danghter Anna, who became the wife of Capt. John Anderson, of Mon- mouth.
Miles Forster's name appears in the records in 1684 as deputy to William Haige, the receiver and surveyor- general. He was one of the most prominent of the early settlers, holding many important positions in connection with the revenue. Upon the opening of the port of Amboy he was collector and receiver of the customs under Dongan the Governor, Nov. 30, 1687. It appears that in the year 1689 he became engaged in commercial pursuits in New York and there made his residence, and he is mentioned as a merchant in that city in 1695, and was appointed in 1690 one of the executors of Col. Lewis Morris. He left New York and resided in Amboy many years before his death, where he built the first sloop launched at that port, and received from the Board of Proprietors the grant of a town lot. He died in 1710. William Bradford, the printer of New York, was one of his executors. His wife Rebecca was a daughter of Gawen Laurie. They left one son (William) who lived in the island of Barbadoes in 1721, and was alive in 1729, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary.
David Mudie, after his arrival in November, 1684, from Montrose, Scotland, with four children and thir- teen servants (no account of his wife), built "a good, hansome house, six rooms off a floor with a study, two stories high above the sellers, and the garret above." This was of stone, and considered at that time a great achievement. He also erected a " horse- mill," which he believed would be worth one hnn- dred pounds per year. He was a man of great energy of character, and one of the most valued residents of Amboy. He was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Right, and was one of the Governor's coun- cil during the administration of Lord Neil Campbell and Andrew Hamilton.
Mr. Mndie selected his plantation on South River, at a distance of two hours' sail, and says of it in one of his letters, " I mind to settle some of my servants there against the middle of this month (March, 1685). I am provided with six coarse horses, oxen and swine sufficiently in number for any plantation for the first year; the land I have settled on in my judgment is extraordinarily good." All this indicates the posses- sion of pecuniary resources such as the majority of the settlers did not enjoy.1
1 Contributions to East Jersey History.
608
HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
The family of Walls came about the same time as Mr. Mndie. The place of their nativity is not known. Garret and Walter were brothers. They appear to have been quite prominent at Amboy for a short time, but removed to Monmouth County. Garret Wall had a son John, who was father of James Wall, who be- came a resident of Amboy and the ancestor of Dr. John Golen Wall, who practiced as a physician in both Amboy and Woodbridge. The Hon. Garret D. Wall, who for a long period bore a distinguished part in the public affairs of New Jersey, was a son of James Wall.
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
CITY OF PERTH AMBOY .- (Continued.)
Civil History of Amboy .- Amboy had no special municipal charter till in the early part of the eighteenth century. "The various county officers and courts pre- served order and regulated its police; and its existence as a town was soon recognized by admitting one or more representatives from it to the General Assem- bly, which held its first session in Amboy in 1686. In the year 1698 it was allowed two members, and that number continued to be its quota until the war of independence." 1
The first charter was obtained from Governor Rob- ert Hunter Aug. 24, 1718,2 and incorporated the city under the name of "The Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of Perth Amboy." Among the petitioners for the charter arc mentioned John Johnstone, Thomas Gordon, John Hamilton, George Willocks, John Barclay, William Eier, John Stevens, William Hodgson, William Frost, Henry Berry, John Sharp, Thomas Turnbull, Andrew Red- ford, and Alexander Walker, men prominent in the affairs of the town and province at that period.
The mayor, clerk of the market, sheriff, and water- bailiff were appointed by the Governor. The recorder and town clerk held their offices according to the tenor of their commissions, no particular term being specified. The aldermen, assistants, chamberlain, coroners, overseer of the poor, and constables were elected by a majority of the freeholders, and the as- sistants not to be chosen until it was known who were to be aldermen. The sergeant-at-mace (which meant that the mayor of the city should have a mace borne before him) was to be appointed by the mayor with the approval of the Common Council, and, to- gether with all the other officers, was required to be " of good capacity." The overseers of the poor and constables who should refuse to take the oath of office and enter upon their respective duties were to be fined five pounds, and others were to be elected in their stead, who should be held similarly liable should they decline the honors conferred.
The mayor, recorder, and aldermen constituted the City Court, and held a term once a month for action of debt, and none bnt free citizens were allowed to ex- ercise " any trade, art, or mystery, saving during the times of fairs," which, with market-days, were duly authorized.
A common seal was adopted, and is used at the present time by the city. It has the following device : on the dexter a hunting-horn, and over it "Arte-non- Impetu;" on the sinister a ship riding at anchor in the harbor, under it " Portus Optimus." Around the seal is the following motto : " Sigilium Civitatis : Perth Amboyen Sis."
Mr. Whitehead, the historian, says, "There are very few notices of the place to be found, and none at all, having any pretensions to accuracy, upon which any estimate can be based of its growth either in popu- lation or wealth. Some improvement, however, was the result of the privileges secured to it by its charter, but from that time to the present writers have been obliged uniformly to deplore the disappointment which has attended the plans projected for its pros- perity. In 1738, it is stated, planters had not re- sorted to it as was expected, notwithstanding its com- modious situation, and the lapse of years brought no change."
In 1739-40, Governor Morris, although he expressed an opinion that the harbor is preferable to that of New York,-" easier to be entered or departed from, and of the two more safe,"-yet finds an argument for the establishment of another seat of government upon the fact that it was "a poor, inconsiderable place."3 Yet there were hopes expressed that Amboy would eventually become a fixed trading port, and at various times legislation was looked to for the pur- pose of enlarging its commerce, but it was attended by few beneficial results. Governor Belcher arrived August, 1747, and the city authorities in their address to him say, "the city of Perth Amboy is not only most commodiously situated for a place of trade, but it lias one of the best harbors for shipping upon the conti- nent, and yet hath hitherto struggled with many diffi- culties; nevertheless, by your excellency's favor and kind protection, which we humbly pray for, we hope will flourish amongst us." In his answer the Gov- ernor said, "I have hardly ever seen a place more pleasantly situated for health, and more commodi- ously for trade, and you may depend on everything on my part to render it a flourishing city." He dis- appointed the inhabitants by taking up his residence at Elizabeth Town, but his successors who resided at Amboy gave convincing evidence that the patronage of royal Governors could not alone make a flourish- ing city.4
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