History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 44

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 44
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 44

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Allotments of 1736. It was, therefore, deemed best to repeat the measure of 1699, and make a further . the western part of the Elizabeth Town purchase, who

distribution of the landed domain of the town. A new generation, the grandchildren of the old planters, had come to years, and needed room to plant and build for themselves. A town-meeting was held ac- cordingly Nov. 8, 1736, and measures were taken to effect the desired object. 'Joseph Morse (the son of

Joseph, and the grandson of Peter Morse, both de- ceased) was chosen and duly qualified as the town surveyor; and John Megie was chosen, Nov. 14, 1737, one of the seven men, in place of Samuel Miller, whose growing infirmities of body unfitted him for service.3

The work confided to the seven men and the sur- veyor was duly and faithfully performed. The first forty-three lots were surveyed Dec. 27-29, 1736; Lots 44-164, Nov. 22 to Dec. 3, 1737; the additional survey, 1-109, Jan. 17 to Feb. 22, 1738; and Cor- son's survey of seven lots, Jan. 6, 1737. The whole of this large territory-the back country of the town -- was regularly laid out, and divided into two hun- dred and eighty one-hundred-acre lots, of all which due report was made at a town-meeting held March 28, 1738, for the distribution by lot of the respective shares to which each of the Associates, by their heirs and assigns, was entitled. The mode of allotment was determined by the following vote: .

"All such persons as shall have a first, second or third Lott Right within the ad Elizabeth Town purchase and in the first Division of the Lands to the Northward of the South mountain (Now to be drawn for) and have Disposed of or Conveyed any such Right or Rights to any per- son or persous whatsoever that he or they to whom sd Disposal or Con- veyauce ul sd first, second or third Lut Right has first been made or Coa- veyed as aforegd may and shall by virtue of this vote (asaforeed first made and conveyed) have the first Draugh of the alotmient of the Lands Now to be Drawn for iu the Division of the ad Lands and those that have the second Conveyance shall have the second Lot and so ou as aforesaid." +

Joseph Williams having died, and Jeremiah Crane by reason of age having become infirm, Messrs. Jona- than Dayton and John Ogden were chosen, March 13, 1739, committeemen in their place.

The new allotments gave occasion for renewed liti- gation with the proprietors and their assigns. Daniel Cooper held a proprietary claim to a portion of the lands thus surveyed and allotted. An action of tres- pass was therefore brought in his name "against Joseph Moss, John Crane, John Dennan, John Scud- der, John Terril, Samuel Norris, Sr., and Samuel Norris, Jr., the then Committee or Managers for the said Clinker Lot Right men." So they were styled in the bill, but erroneously, as only one of the num- ber, John Crane, belonged to the committee. The cause came on for a hearing in the May term of the Supreme Court, 1738, and the defendants pleading " not guilty" it was deferred for proof.5

James Logan, also about the same time holding by a proprietary claim, brought sundry actions of tres- pass and ejectment against a number of his tenants in

3 E. Town Book, B. 16, 17.

4 This latter survey included the greater part of the Passnic Valley south of Chatham, occupied at the present day to a great extent by de- scondants of these first occupants, of whom extended notices are given by John Littell in his "Genealogies of the First Settlers of Passaic Valley (and vicinity) abovo Chatham, with their Ancestors and Descendants, as far as cau be now nacertained, 1851." E. T. Book, B. 16, u. e. E. Town Book of Surveys. C. 1-60.

5 E. Town Bill, pp 49, 50. Ans, to Do., pp. 34, 35.

1 T. Book, B. 8.

2 E. Town Bill, p. 49.

177

TOWNSHIP OF ELIZABETHTOWN.

had also bought or taken leases of the town committee. Similar actions were brought in the August term of 1738 against Benjamin Manning and Wright Skinner, in the name of Daniel Axtell, deceased. In respect to one of these actions, the following record was made in the Town Book of the proceedings of a town-meet- ing held June 18, 1739:

" Agreed and Concluded, that m" Johu Blanchard mr Eduard Sale mr Jonathan allen mr william miller and mr thomas Clark are to cullact money of the Inhabitants of the purchase of Elizabeth town for Defray- ing the Charges in running out the said purchase By a Jury of Raviena In an action Depending Between Janies Logan plantiff and Joseph man- ning Defendant and a rule of Court made for ye same. (Aleo), mr John Crain and mr Jonathan Dayton are Impowered to Receine the money collected By mr John Blanchard mr Eduard Sale mr Jonathan allen mr william miller or thomas Clark and Dispose of the same in Defraying the Charges of Runing out the ed purchase to the Jury of Reviene or any other Charges which they the sd Mr. John Crain or Mr. Jonathan Day- ton shall think necessary in that affair."

As Logan's claim was in the extreme west of the purchase, and it was doubtful whether it was included therein, the court had ordered the question of fact to be determined by a jury of review.

At the same town-meeting the question of the New- ark boundary line came up again for consideration, and it was agreed

" That Justice Andrew Joline and Mr. John Blanchard aod Mr. Daniel Potter are Impowered by the Associates and Freeholders alove said to agree with the people of Newark to settle and ascertain a Division Line between the Town of Newark and Elizabethtown, and to take such measures and means as to them, the ed Justice Andrew Johne, Mr. John Blanchard, Mr. Daniel Potter, shall seem proper, in order to obtain tha said Division Line to be Established, and to have Reasonalla Satisfaction for their services in that affair."

The Newark people appointed, Oct. 24, 1739, Jona- than Crane, Esq., Col. Josiah Ogden, and Samuel Farrand, Esq., " a committee to treat with the people of Elizabeth Town about settling a Line between the two Towns."1 The line appears not to have been settled at that time, as it was still an open question fifteen years later.

We have thus traced the principal allotments of land in the old township of Elizabethtown, from which it appears that the colony of the original As- sociates was the mother colony, from which went out most of the first settlers into the townships, which were parceled off to the children and grandchildren of the original patentees as parts of the family pat- rimony. It was a princely inheritance, but it cost them a vast deal of time, expense, and perplexity to determine its exact bounds and to defend it against all trespassers.2

Organization and Civil Officers .- The township was not fully organized until 1693. Such a govern- ment, however, as the original colony required for its local purposes, in addition to the government of the province itself, was established among the first plan- ters in 1665. The infant plantation of Elizabethtown was not only the seat of the first general English gov-

ernment in East Jersey, but also of the first English government in the province. It was the capital of the province and port of entry for twenty-one years, hav- ing the government-house and custom-house, the resi- dent Governor and principal provincial officers, and the highest courts of judicature.

As has been seen elsewhere, Governor Philip Car- teret arrived at Elizabethtown and assumed the gov- ernment of the province in August, 1665. John Ogden was commissioned justice of the peace Oct. 26, 1665. Feb. 12, 1666, Capt. Thomas Young was ap- pointed one of the Governor's Council. Luke Wat- son was made constable, an office which at that time answered in the place of a 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 disposed of, the record of officers for the early years is somewhat meagre.

Aug. 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 Capt. William Sandford and Robert Treat in a special court con- vened in May, 1671.

In 1668, Robert Bond, Robert Vanquellin, 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, Sept. 16, 1692, high sheriff of the county of Essex; Isaac Whitehead and Benjamin Price, Jr., October 10th, justices of the peace tor Elizabeth Town; Henry Norris and John Lyon, November 2d, deputies to the Assembly ; George Jewell, December 3d, county clerk; Isaac Whitehead, Benjamin Price, Jr., and John Lyon, Jr., January 29th, judges of small causes; and, February 21st, Isaac Whitehead, lieutenant, and Daniel Price, ensign of the Elizabeth Town company of foot. Isaac- Whitehead was also appointed, Nov. 4, 1693, captain of the foot company, Daniel Price 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 bad a large estate on Long Island. James Emmet received the appointment in 1683 of chief ranger, an officer chosen by the county to look after the estrays.

Rev. John Harriman and Jonas Wood were ap- pointed, Nov. 3, 1693, deputies, and again in 1694. Benjamin Ogden received, Oct. 10, 1694, the appoint- ment of sheriff; Ephraim Price, Jan. 15, 1695, en- sign ; 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,

1 Newark Town Records, p. 134. E. Town Book, p. 20, 0. 8. " See chapter on Litigations.

178

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

lieutenants ; and Richard Baker and Samuel Oliver, ensigns. John Woodruff (son of the old planter) re- ceived, May 30th, the appointment of high sheriff of Essex County ; John Harriman (Rev.) and Andrew Hampton, Dec. 1, 1698, were chosen deputies ; Robert Smith (the first of the name in the town) became, Dec. 26, 1699, high sheriff; and Feb. 15, 1699-1700, George Jewell, county clerk.

In 1707 the town chose Capt. Daniel Price as mem- ber of Assembly; 1708-9, Benjamin Lyon; 1710, Joseph Marsh.

In 1710, Col. 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 high- ways for this town. Andrew Hampton and Richard Baker were on the committee for regulating the high- ways of the county. In 1711, Isaac Whitehead, Ben- jamin Price, Benjamin Lyon, John Woodruff, and John Blanchard were justices ; John Hainds and Ben- jamin Meeker were constables ; and Benjamin Ogden, Jr., and Samnel Ogden were overseers of the high- ways. In 1712 the justices were the same; James Seeres and Samuel Ogden were constables; and Samuel Winans and John Scudder were overseers of the high- ways. In 1713, constables, Ebenezer Lyon and Wil- liam Clarke; overseers of the highways, John Craine and Joseph Kellsey. In 1714. constables, John Thom- son and Benjamin Spinning; overseers, Daniel Gale and Robert Little; assessors, Capt. 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 Stray- hearn ; overseers, Joseph Bond, John Lambert, Jere- miah Peek, and Benjamin Parkhurst; on the county committee of highways, Benjamin Lyon and Samuel Potter. In 1718, constables, John Gould, Nathaniel Whitehead, and William Strayhearn ; overseers of the highways, Edward Frazey, Benjamin Spinning, Rob- ert Wade, and Daniel Woodruff; surveyors of the highways, Capt. Daniel Price and James Sayre. In 1719, constables, William Strayhearn, Samuel Oliver, Jr., and Thomas Currey ; overseers, David Morehouse, Samuel Oliver, Jr., and Joseph Marsh, Jr. In 1716 and 1721, Joseph Bonnel was chosen to the Legisla- ture.1

These appointments, embracing a period of about ten years, may serve to show who they were of the second generation that were chosen to office, and were looked upon as men of activity and influence by their townsmen. In almost every instance they were the sons or 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, Oct. 2, 1740, town clerk. June 4, 1741, John Ogden was justice, and John Halsted and John Stiles free- holders. 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, Ste- phen 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 undi- vided, the town laws and regulations and the author- ity of its magistracy extending over the whole area. At an early date, however, various hamlets and clus- ters of farm-houses gradually sprung up in different localities. The facilities for navigation and the at- tractions of water privileges drew quite a number of the early settlers to the banks of the Rahway River. Another group of planters, mostly of one family, gave name to the neighborhood called "Lyon's Farms." Still another, locating a few miles to the west, gave name to " Wade's Farms," better known as " Connectient Farms." Soon after, a little to the north of west, just under the mountain, a few neigh- bors called their settlement by the name of "Spring- field." 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 immigration of 1684-86 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," afterwards changed to " New Providence."

In the administration of the township laws the several parts or neighborhoods were denominated "wards," as the Rahway Ward, the Westfield, the Springfield, the Farms Ward, etc., the latter referring to Connecticut Farms. In the selection of civil offi- cers for the town-aldermen, councilmen, town com- mittee, 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

1 Records of Court, at Newark.

179

BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH.

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 an- other, they began to agitate the question of subdivision of the township, so as to give to each of these locali- ties a township of its own. Thus originated the town- ships, one after another, taking their legal places at the following dates: Springfield, 1793; New Provi- dence, 1794 (organized independently in 1809); West- field, 1794; Rahway, 1804; Union, 1808; Plainfield, 1847. The remaining townships were subdivisions of these at later dates. We shall do no more than men- tion them here, as their separate histories will be found in another department of this volume.

Name of the Town .- The name of the town had evidently not been determined at the date of Baily's deed (Sept. 8, 1665), or it would have been mentioned in that document. It is, therefore, quite probable that in this case tradition reports truly when it affirms that the town took its name from the Lady Eliza- beth, wife of Sir George Carteret. Of this lady Sam- uel Pepys, one of her familiar friends, bears this testi- mony during the following year, Oct. 15, 1666: "She cries out at the vices of the Court, and how they are going to set up plays already. She do much cry out upon these things, and that which she believes will undo the whole nation." It is well to know some- thing of her from whom is derived the honored name of ELIZABETH TOWN.1

CHAPTER XXVI.

BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH.

IT was doubtless the difficulties experienced in con- ducting the extensive and intricate affairs of public business in town-meeting, and the doubtfulness of the authority claimed in some instances by the com- mitteemen, that led the principal men of the town to seek a CHARTER OF INCORPORATION, by means of which they could more promptly and thoroughly transact the public business. The time was oppor- tune. New Jersey, after having been for thirty-five years an appendage of the province of New York, under a succession of Royal Governors residing in the city of New York, had at length, after repeated remonstrances and entreaties, obtained a position in- dependent of the other provinces, with one of her own citizens, Lewis Morris, as Governor. His long famil- iarity with the territory and with the people as a pri- vate citizen and in public office had made him ac- quainted with the towns and their need. Joseph Bonnel, a man of commanding influence at home, had represented the town in Governor Morris' first Legislature (1738-39), of which he had been choseu Speaker, from which position he had been transferred

by the Governor to the bench of the Supreme Court, having been appointed, May, 1739, second judge, Robert Hunter Morris being chief justice.2

A petition, therefore, was prepared and circulated praying Governor Morris to procure from his Majesty the King a charter of incorporation for the town as a free town or borough. It was extensively signed, the first names being in order as follows: "Joseph Bonnel, Andrew Joline, Thomas Price, John Ross, John Blanchard, John Crane, Thomas Clark, Mat- thias Hetfield, Noadiah Potter, John Halstead, Na- thaniel Bonnel, Samuel Woodruff, Samuel Marsh, Jonathan Hampton, William Chetwood, Edward Thomas, and Cornelius Hetfield." These were the leading men of the town, representing both of the parties into which it was divided, and both of the religious denominations. As Judge Bonnel's name leads the petition, it is quite likely that he himself had prepared it and presented it.

The petition was favorably received and a charter granted by his Majesty Gcorge II., bearing date Feb. 8, 1740. It constituted the Passaic River, from the mouth of Dead River to the Minisink Crossing,3 the western boundary of the borough. The territory was nearly coterminous with the present Union County. On the southwest, however, it included nearly the whole of the town of Warren in Somerset County. It was to be known " by the name of the Free Bor- ough and town of Elizabeth." It appointed Joseph Bonnell, Esq., "Mayor and Clark of the Market," and coroner also; John Blanchard, Esq., recorder ; " Andrew Joline, Matthias Hatfield, Thomas Price, John Ross, John Crane, & Thomas Clark Esqrs," aldermen; "Noadiah Potter, John Halstead, Na- thaniel Bonnel, Samuel Woodruff, Samuel Marsh & Jonathan Hampton Gent," " Assistants and Common Councill ;" " William Chetwood Esq"," sheriff; Jona- than Dayton, chamberlain; Thomas Hill, marshal ; " John Radley, George Ross, Junior, Daniel Marsh & John Scudder, assessors ; Robert Ogden, John Odle, John Terrill & 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 Sen', John Allen, Ephraim Marsh & Daniel Day," " Overseers for the Poor;" and "Michael Kearney, Esq"," common clerk.

It accorded to the mayor, aldermen, and Common Council all the rights, immunities, and privileges usually granted to bodies corporate, as will be seen by reference to the exceedingly voluminous docu- ment itself.+

Of the above-named officers of the new corpora- tion, Andrew Joline had been collector for this town

1 E. T. Bill, p. 28. Per contra, see Ans. to E. T. Bill, p. 20.

2 Anal. Index of N. J. Docmts., p. 175.

3 Indian trail leading from tide-water at the mouth of Shrewsbury River to Minisiuk I-land in the Delaware.

4 Murray's Notes, pp. 28-44.

180

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY

from 1734 to 1738, and justice as early as 1735. His death occurred not later than 1742. William Chet- wood had been sheriff of the county as early as 1735, succeeding Benjamin Bonnell. Joseph Bonnell, Thomas Price, and Matthias Hatfield had been jus- tices.

The town had from the first been the leading town in East Jersey. In 1734 the rates for Essex County were as follows: For Elizabeth Town, £56 00; for Newark, £44 14 0; for Acquackanong, £14 7 3. Agreeably to the action of the town, June 18, 1739, the line was drawn separating Essex County from Middlesex and Somerset Counties, for which the fol- lowing charges were paid :

To Mr. Joseph Bonnall, "for procuring a Writ or Warrant for Running the Division Line" ..

£2 14 0

To Williao Chetwood, sheriff, for time and expenses.

6 0

To Jobn Blanchard. surveyor,

To John Crane,

To Nathaniel Bounel,

1 19 IO

To Daniel Pottar,

1 6 0

February 27, 1740.

During the first sixty years of the settlement the newspaper was unknown. Posters and verbal tradi- tions were institutions in those days. The meeting- house door was the principal bill-board where adver- tisements were posted, so as to be read by the people who gathered there on Sunday, which occasion was also the chief one for the diffusion of intelligence and gossip, whether of domestic and local occurrences or of provincial and foreign events. The Boston News- Letter, a half-sheet paper (twelve by eight inches), started April 24, 1704, the Boston Gazette, commenced in 1719, and the New England Courant (issued at Boston Aug. 17, 1721) may, one or all of them, have scattered a stray sheet in this community now and then, but of that there is no evidence. So far as known the New York Gazette, the first weekly paper ever published in that city, was the first to make an appearance in Elizabeth Town. It was issued by William Bradford, Oct. 16, 1725 ; a small affair, to be sure, at first, but the herald of a new era to the city and all the country round about. This humble periodi- cal brought the people of New York and the neigh- boring places into familiar and accurate acquaintance with passing occurrences of the greatest interest, and was made also the vehicle of communicating one with another. The advertisements were few and brief, and the news items exceedingly meagre. But occa- sionally a paragraph appears shedding light on the social and commercial interests and history of the town. Some of the items in this old paper are as fol- lows :

" Run away from Solomon Bataa of Elizabeth Town, a Nagros Man, culled Clun-a, aged abont 27 years old, has got with him a llomspou Coat of Linan and Wool, with Brass Buttona, an Ozanbrig Vest with black Buttona aod Button holes, and an old striped Vest, Leuthar Breeches, new Homeapun Wosted Stockings, black Shoes with Buckles; ha has a Hat and Cap, and he can play upon the Fiddle, And speaka Eng lish and Dutch. Whoaver can take up the said Negro, and bring him tu his said Master, or sacure him nud give Notica, so that huis Mnater can

have him again, shall have reasonable Satisfaction, besides all reasonabla Charges.11

Mr. Bates' name first occurs Nov. 9, 1714, in the old " Record of Ear Marks for Elizabeth Town ;" but he seems to have had no connection with the Associ- ates. His name occurs also in "the Morristown Bill of Mortality," p. 13, as having died of old age (100), November, 1771. His widow died also of old age, March 18, 1787, ninety-seven years old. They must have removed to Morristown at an early day. Claus, or Nicholas, formerly belonged to Daniel Badgley. He was arrested and restored to his master. But he had a persistent propensity to have his own way, and less than two years afterwards Mr. Bates complains that he had taken himself away again, and this time,

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 44

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