USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of the land titles in Hudson County, N.J., 1609-1871 > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
Aud beit further cuacted by the Authority aforesaid, That as well all & singular as any or either of the Powers hereby vested in the said Com-
2.4
LAND TITLES.
missioners shall and may be executed by the Majority of them and the Survivors and Survivor of them and the Majority of such Survivors .- Provided always That Nothing Contained in this Act shall be Deemed, Construed or Understood to Affect or destroy any Claim Right or Title of the General Proprietors of the Eastern Division of this Province to the premises or to any part thereof and Saving Also to His Majesty his Heirs and Successors all his Rights therein as if this Bill had not passed.
COUNCIL CHAMBER.
December 7th, 1763. This Bill having been Three Times Read in Coun- cil Resolved that the same do pass By Order of the House L. M. ASHFIELD.
November 29th, 1763. This Bill having been Three Times Read in the House of Representatives Resolved That the same do pass By Order of the House
ROBERT OGDEN, Speaker.
Decembr 7th, 1763. I Assent to this Bill Enacting the same & Order it to be Enrolled
WM. FRANKLIN.
The Commissioners appointed by the foregoing act caused to be surveyed every foot of land lying east of the Hackensack in this county, and the result is recorded with great care and particular- ity in their Field Book and Maps, which were filed, as directed in the seventh section of the above act. By an act of the Legisla- ture approved March 3, 1848, the Field Book and Maps on file in the Clerk's office of Bergen County were required to be filed in the office of the Clerk of Hudson County. They were so filed. But the copy in the Secretary of State's office being in.better preser- vation, and of no particular utility in that place, there was a gen- cral desire among the people of the county to secure it, whereupon by an act of the Legislature, approved March 3, 1853, the Clerk of Hudson County returned the one then in his office to the Clerk of Bergen County, and received and filed the one then in the office of the Secretary of State.
NOTE 1 .- The reader is indebted to Delos E. Culver, of Jersey City, for the following observations on terrestrial magnetism and its effect on the magnetic needle. His long experience and well- known ability as a practical surveyor and civil engineer make hin an authority on the subject. He says :
25
LAND TITLES.
" Paradoxical as it may appear, many surveyors do not under- stand the action of the magnetic current upon the needle, and many others but imperfectly. In order to make the needle useful, the laws which govern its movements should be known.
" The magnetic fluid or current sweeps continually from the south to the north magnetic pole, sometimes increasing in intensity, at others decreasing over the earth and beneath its surface on waving meridian lines. The direction of this current at any given point is the magnetic meridian.
" The magnetic poles, however, are constantly moving around the true poles, changing the direction of the current, and with it the direction of the needle, thus accounting for its secular decli- nation. There is also an annular declination of the needle, caused by the revolution of the earth upon its axis, which is completed every day, and another declination, superimposed upon the others, caused apparently by the earth's nearing and receding from the sun each year, its maximum effect being exhibited in January when the earth is nearest the sun.
" Of course, so far as land surveying with the needle is concerned, the secular declination only need be observed. The following extract from the American Encyclopædia of observations made in London and Paris will illustrate this, showing how the north end of the needle travelled eastward at London until the year 1657 : " From that time (1657) the westerly declination began, and con- tinned until it began to be thought it would ever move in that direction, until it pointed south. In Paris the casterly declination did not disappear until 1663, and there also the needle travelled westerly until 1814, when it pointed 223° towards the west. It then began to flag, and in 1817 the needle began to return towards the north. The same result was not noted in London until the year 1819, when the needle pointed N., 25° W. ; " this time, of about 162 years, marking one-half the period of the revolution of the magnetic pole around the true pole. There are two lines passing over the earth's surface upon its opposite sides, on which the needle will point due north and south. Such a line, at the present time, passes very near the City of Detroit in Michigan, and is steadily moving westward. On the cast side of this line the variation of the needle is to the west, increasing in amount with the distance from it. On the other side of the line of no
4
26
LAND TITLES.
variation the declination of the needle is towards the east. So, it will be seen that at any locality the course of the needle will not be exactly the same after the day upon which it is taken until about 160 years have passed by.
" In Hudson County, according to my experience, and from the average of many surveys made from the monuments and courses laid down on the map and field-book, made by the Commissioners in 1764, I determined, to my satisfaction, that here the easterly declination of the needle terminated in the year 1810, and that the average yearly movement before that time was at the rate of 3 3-10 minutes per annum. I found exceptional cases where it would require as much as 4 minutes per annum correction to make the courses agree with the monuments, and others again where less than two minutes would do it. But allowance must be made for imperfections of instruments, local attraction, errors made in observing or recording bearings, etc.
" I would advise surveyors and others, where the title of valuable land is to pass by description based upon needle courses, to care- fully note the date of the survey, and have the same go into the instrument conveying the title. The importance of this will at once be seen when it is stated that a variation of 3 3-10 minutes per year will swing the lines of a piece of land of-100 rods long in ten years 16 feet out of its former position unless the proper cor- rection for the time since the survey was made, is made. From an observation of the position of the North Star, made on the even- ing of May 29, 1871, at Jersey City, the declination of the needle from the true meridian was shown to be 7º 55', the course of a true north line being N., 7° 55', W."
NOTE 2 .- The land in these grants was measured by the Morgen. containing nearly two acres. An explanation of this measure as it prevailed in the olden time may be useful for a full understand- ing of the Dutch Patents. A Rhineland rod was the Dutch measure for land. It contains 12 feet and 42 inches, English measure. Five of these made a Dutch chain, which consequently contained 61 feet and 112 inches. Twenty-five such rods in length and twenty-four in breadth makes a Morgen, which consists of 600 square Dutch rods .- Moulton's Hist. of N. Y., i. 334.
NOTE 3 .- The rod spoken of in the Notes to the Field Book is the Dutch rod.
THIS IS ONE OF THE FIELD BOOKS
Both of the GENERAL & of each PARTICULAR Partition and Division of the COMMON LANDS of the TOWNSHIP of
BERGEN.
En Two Parts.
The FIRST com- prehends the FIELD WORK of
The General Bounds and Limits of the ) Township, the Location of the Patents ! and Grants, & The GENERAL PAR- TITION of the COMMON LANDS.
From Page I to 121.
The SECOND comprehends the FIELD WORK of the PAR-) TITION and DIVISION (or SUBDIVISION) of the COM- Į MON LAND allotted to the respective PATENTS or GRANTS.
From Page 12I to 221.
Filed in the Secretary's office at Perth Amboy, March 2d, 1765. JOHN SMYTH, Reg'r.
Filed in the office of the Clerk of Hudson County, March 15, 1853. R. GILCHRIST, CI'k.
As a caution to all who may hereafter be imployed in surveying within the Township of Bergen, the Commissioners have thought it necessary to Note that they found an attraction more or less in most Parts of the Town- ship, and more especially towards the Northern Bounds, where they found it in some Places near five Degrees.
*1
Part First. *
THIS IS ONE OF THE FIELD-BOOKS
Of the General PARTITION of the COMMON LANDS of the Township of BERGEN
Made in pursuance of a LAW of the Province of New Jersey in Amer- ica pass'd in the fourth Year of the Reign of his present Majesty King George the third, entitled
"Ant Att appointing Commissioners for finally setling and deter- mining the several Rights, Titles and Claims to the Common Lands of the Township of Bergen, and for making a partition thereof in just and equitable Proportions among those who shall be adjudged by the said Commissioners to be entitled to the same."
The General Partition by the said Act directed was performed by Six of the Seven Commissioners therein named, to wit, Jacob Spicer, Charles Clinton, William Donnaldson, Azariah Dunham, John Berrien and Abraham Clark Jun'; Samuel Willis the Seventh Commissioner declined and did not attend the Service .* Those Six Commissioners who
* It is worthy of observation that not one of these commissioners lived in the county where the lands to be surveyed lay. Two of them were from Essex County ; two from Middlesex; one from Somerset; and two, with the surveyor, George Clin- ton, Governor of New York during the Revolutionary war, were from the State of New York.
JACOB SPICER,
The son of Col. Jacob Spicer, was born in Cape May County, in 1716. In 1744 he became a member of the General Assembly, which position he held for twenty-one years. He married (1st), Judith, daughter of Humphrey Hughes ; (2) Deborah, widow of Christopher Leaming. In 1756 he purchased the interest of the West Jersey Society in Cape May County, constituting what has since been known as the Vacant Right. He was appointed with Aaron Leaming to revise the laws of the State. The result of their labors may be found in "Leaming and Spicer's Collection," published without date, " Printed at Philadelphia, by W. BRADFORD, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the Province of New Jersey." He was a mer- chant and surveyor, a man of exemplary habits, and strictly faithful in his business relations. He died in 1765, and was buried at Cold Spring.
CHARLES CLINTON
Was born in the County of Longford, Ireland, in 1690 ; died November 19, 1773, in the town of New Windsor, then in Ulster, now Orange Co., New York. His grand-
30
LAND TITLES.
took upon them the execution of the said Act, were severaly duly sworn before one of the Justices of the Supreme Court to exercise and perform the Trust and Services required of them severaly by that Act fairly and impartially according to the Directions thereof; and the best of their Skill & Judgment; as may appear by the certificates filed in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Bergen; true copy's whereof are in the Words following, to wit,
"'These are to certify that on the Eighteenth Day of January one thou- sand seven hundred and sixty four personally appeared before me Samuel Nevill, Esq', Second Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Province of New Jersey, William Donnaldson, Azariah Dunham, John Berrien, and Abraham Clark Junr, four of the Commissioners named and appointed by an Act of the General Assembly of the Prov- ince of New Jersey ; pass'd the last sessions at Burlington, Entitled- an Act appointing Commissioners for finally setling and determining the several Rights, Titles and Claims to the Common Land of the Township of Bergen, and for making a Partition thereof in just and equitable Proportions among those who shall be adjudged by the said Com- missioners, to be entitled to the same."
father was an adherent of Charles I., and after the defeat of the Royalists fled to the north of Ireland. Ilis mother was the daughter of a captain in the Parliamentary army. He and a number of his friends chartered a ship and sailed for America, May 20, 1729. This company in 1731 selected a place for a permanent settlement, and called it "Little Britain," in New Windsor. He was a farmer and land surveyor, and was appointed Surveyor-General, and Judge of the Common Pleas in Ulster. In 1756 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the militia, and served under General Bradstreet in the expedition against Fort Frontenac (now Kingston), Canada. His sons James (father of DeWitt Clinton) and George accompanied him in this expe- dition. Vide Appleton's Encyclopedia and Eager's History of Orange County.
WILLIAM DONNALDSON.
Concerning William Donnaldson nothing whatever has been learned, except (if he was the man) that he kept a tavern, and resided on the road between New Brunswick and Princeton, at the junction of the Rocky Hill road. This is ascertained by the map of the survey of the county line, made by Az. Dunham.
AZARIAH DUNHAM.
Col. Azariah Dunham was born in the township of Piscataway, N. J., in the early part of the eighteenth century. His family settled in the township as early as 1670. He married Mary Ford, of Morristown, and settled at New Brunswick, where be built a mansion on what was originally known as Main, then Burnet, and still later as Little Burnet or Water street. He was a very prominent man, and enjoyed a large share of the public confidence. He was rigidly just, extremely accurate, and highly intelligent. At an early day his name often appears in the minutes of the Courts of Middlesex County as arbitrator to settle matters in dispute or litigation. He was a civil engineer, in which capacity his services were in great demand, both by private parties and public bodies. June 20, 1765, he was appointed by the Legis- lature one of the commissioners "to view the grounds and make a straight and perfect survey from Bordentown to Kingston, and from Trenton as near as may be, through Princeton, Kingston, New Brunswick, Elizabethtown, and Newark to Second River ; also from New Brunswick to Perth Amboy, and from Perth Amboy to
31
LAND TITLES.
And each of them took an Oath to the following Purport,-That, they and each of them would execute and perform the Trust and Ser- vices required of them severally by the said Act fairly and impartially according to the Directions thereof, and the best of their Skill and Judgment. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand * the *2 Day and Year above mentioned :- Signed Samuel Nevill.
These are to certify that on the Seventh Day of March one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four personally appeared before me John Ber- rien Esqr third Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Prov- ince of New Jersey Charles Clinton one of the Commissioners named & appointed by an Act of General Assembly of the Province of New Jersey Entitled,
" An Act appointing Commissioners for finally setling and determin- ing the several Rights, Titles and Claims to the Common Lands of the Township of Bergen, and for making a Partition thereof in just and equitable Proportions among those who shall be adjudged by the said Commissioners to be entitled to the same,"
And took An Oath, that, he would execute and perform the Trust and Services required by the said Act fairly and impartialy according
Elizabethtown." May 20, 1765, he was selected by the Justices and Freeholders of Middlesex to run the division line between Somerset and Middlesex, which had be- come " dubious." I have seen a copy of the map of this survey completed May 9, 1766. It was accompanied by a field-book ; and the two accurately described the line and the public highway from New Brunswick to the Province line, west of Princeton. They preserve the names of all the inhabitants living along the road, and note the exact locality of their farms and houses; and also exhibit the extent of Princeton and New Brunswick at that day.
In May, 1775, he was elected to the General Assembly. In the autumn of that year he and other patriotic members of the Assembly absented themselves to meet and confer with patriots from the several colonies in the city of New York. Their absence was noticed by Governor Wm. Franklin, who sent a message to the Assembly complaining of it. Accordingly, November 17, 1775, the House passed the following resolution :
"Several members of the House being absent, whereby the Public Business has been greatly retarded, Ordered, That the Sergeant at Arms do give Notice forthwith to Benjamin Holmes, Robert Friend Price, John Combs, John Wetherill, Azariah Dunham, and William Winds, Esquires, to attend their Service here immediately."
The patriotic members of the Assembly were aware of, and sympathized with the causes which led to their absence ; and a few days later voted a leave of absence to them.
In 1775-6 Colonel Dunham was a member of the Provincial Congress of this State, and by that body was appointed one of the Committee of Safety, which sat, with extraordinary powers, during its recess. He was an active member of the Pro- vincial Congress, and was on committees to draft various important measures : among others, a "resolution respecting apprehending deserters from the Continental troops ;" an "ordinance to compel payment of tax of £10,000 in 1775, from such persons as have refused to pay the same;" also an " ordinance for emitting £30,000 of credit," and for the purchase of saltpetre. etc., in 1775. He was one of the Masters to review companies raised in the Province in 1775-6; and one of the committee "to adjust and settle the accounts of powder furnished to Earl Sterling by Somerset, Brunswick, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth" in 1775. In 1776 he was Lieut .- Colonel of the 2d Bat-
32
LAND TITLES.
to the Directions thereof, and the best of his Skill and Judgment. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand the Day and Year above- said. Signed John Berrien.
These are to certify that on the fifth Day of April one thousand seven hundred & sixty-four personally appeared before me John Berrien third Justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature for the Province of New Jersey Jacob Spicer one of the Commissioners named and appointed by an Act of General Assembly of the Province of New Jersey pass'd the last Sessions at Burlington-Entitled,
" An Act appointing Commissioners for finaly setling and determin- ing the several Rights, Titles and Claims to the Common Lands of the Township of Bergen and for making a Partition thereof in just and equitable Proportions among those who shall be adjudged by the said Commissioners to be entitled to the same," and took an Oath to the following Purport, That, he would execute and perform the Trust and Services required of him by the said Act fairly and impartially accord- ing to the Directions thereof, and the best of his Skill and Judgment. In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my Hand the Day and Year above mentioned. Signed John Berrien.
talion Middlesex Militia ; but resigned in order to devote himself to the duties of " Superintendent of Purchases" for the Province, and of " Commissioner to raise troops "-positions to which he had been appointed by the Provincial Congress, and which he held until the close of the war. He was appointed one of the signers of the Jersey Bills of Credit for the Eastern Department of the State. He embarked a large part of his ample means in the cause of his country, and died at a ripe old age in 1790.
JOHN BERRIEN,
The grandfather of the late John MePherson Berrien, of Georgia, was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province, February 20, 1764. He was a surveyor, as appears by the following sneer of the Tory historian of New York, William Smith. Referring to the death of Chief-Justice Morris, he says : " Frank- lin has put Charles Read in his place upon the bench, and filled up Read's with one John Berrien, a babbling country surveyor, not fit to be a deputy to any sheriff in England."-Contributions to East Jersey History, 180. Notwithstanding Smith's opinion, there ean be no doubt that he was a man of integrity and ability, or the Legislature would not have associated him with such high-toned gentlemen as com- posed the Commission. He died in the latter part of April, 1772, leaving a widow and six children.
ABRAHAM CLARK
Was born at Elizabethtown, February 15, 1726. He was the only child of Alder- man Thomas Clark. He married Sarah Hetfield in 1743. In early life his particular studies were mathematics and law, which fitted him for surveying and giving legal advice. He was not by profession a lawyer, but gave advice gratuitously. This procured for him the honorable title of the " poor man's counsellor." His services were frequently sought as arbitrator in questions concerning land titles. Under the Colonial Government he was High Sheriff of Essex, and Clerk of the Assembly. At the breaking out of the Revolution he became a member of the Committee of Public Safety. He was appointed a Delegate to the Provincial Congress, June 21, 1776. A few days after his appointment he affixed his name to the Declaration of
33
LAND TITLES.
And date the said William Donnaldson, Azariah Dunham, John Berrien and Abraham Clark, Jun' the four Commissioners first sworn as aforesaid did immediately thereafter make and subscribe a Notice in the Words following, to-wit,
" To all whom these Presents may concern and particularly to such as claim any Interest in the Common Lands of the Township of Bergen in the County of Bergen in the Eastern Division of the Prov- ince of New Jersey.
authercas by a late Law of the said Province-Entitled an Act appointing Commissioners for finally setling and determining the several Rights, Titles and Claims to the Common Lands of the 'Township of Bergen and for making a Partition thereof in just and equitable Propor- tions among those who shall be adjudged by the said Commissioners to be entitled to the same, Certain Persons are therein named as Com- missioners of whom we the subscribers are the Major Part; And Whereas we have severally taken the Oath by the said Act required ; Now therefore towards the Execution of the Trust in the said Commissioners or the Major Part of them reposed ; we the (*) Subscribers Do hereby give *3 public Notice that at ten o'clock in the Forenoon of Tuesday the Sixth Day of March next at the House of Stephen Bourdett at Wehawken in the said Township of Bergen ; we or a Majority of the said Commis- sioners will meet to survey, run out and ascertain as well the Bounds and Limits of the said Township of Bergen as the Bounds of each and every Patent and Grant contained within the Bounds & Limits of the said Township ; And we do also request all Persons concerned or claim- ing Lands within the said Township to produce to us some or one of us their original Patents, Deeds or Grants or true attested Copies thereof within all convenient speed that we may be truly informed of their Rights and Claims in due Season, And also copies of all such Title Deeds whereon any Claims are grounded against the Extent of the General Bounds of the said Township; And all these we desire to have on or before the twenty-first Day of February next. Given under our Hands
Independence. He was elected to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, November 30, 1776, and with the exception of 1779, was annually re-elected until 1783. In 1788 he again had a seat in the National Legislature. In the mean time he was a frequent member of the State Legislature. While in this position he became known, though unjustly, as the " Father of the Paper Currency." In 1787 he was appointed a member of the State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, but owing to ill health did not take his seat. In 1789 he was appointed a Commissioner to settle the accounts of the State with the United States. At the next election he was again chosen as representative in Congress, which position he held until a short time before his death. He retired from public life on the ad- journinent of Congress, June 9, 1794. He died in the autumn of 1794 from the effects of coup de soleil, and was buried in the churchyard at Rahway. Over his grave is the following inscription :
Firm and deciled as a patriot, Zealous and faithful as a friend to the public, He loved his country, And adhered to her cause In the darkest hour of her struggles Against oppression.
5
34
LAND TITLES.
the Eighteenth Day of January in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four.
Signed
S
WILL. DONNALDSON, Az. DUNHAM, JOHN BERRIEN, ABRA CLARK, JUNR
As by the same original Notice filed in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Bergen may appear, a true copy of which said Notice was printed and published in two of the public News Papers commonly called the New York Gazette and Mercury, to wit, in the Gazette Num- bers 267, 268, 269, 270, and in the Mercury Numbers 639, 640, 641, 642 as by the same News Papers refference being thereunto had may appear ; And the said Commissioners so qualified having met pursuant to said notice did appoint Jonathan Hampton of Elizabeth Town in New Jersey and George Clinton* of Ulster County in the Province of New York to be Surveyors of the Lands so to be divided, and they were accordingly severally sworn to execute and perform the Trusts and Services required of them by the said Act in due Form of Law before Mr. Justice Berrien as may appear by the Certificates thereof filed in the office of the Clerk of the said County of Bergen true copies whereof are in the Words fol- lowing, to wit,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.