USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Old times in old Monmouth > Part 6
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" On Tuesday July 19th 1774, a majority of the Committees from the several town- ships in the county of Monmouth of the Colony of New Jersey met according to appointment at the Court House at Free- hold in said county ; and appearing to have been regularly chosen and constituted by their respective townships, they unani- mously agreed upon the propriety and ex- pediency of electing a committee to repre -. sent the whole county at the approaching Provincial Convention to be held at the city of New Brunswick, for the necessary purpose of constituting delegates from this Province to the general Congress of the Colonies and for all other such important purposes as shall hereafter be found neces- sary.
" They at the same time also recorded the following Resolutions, Determinations and Opmions, which they wish to be transmit- ted to posterity as an ample testimony to their loyalty to his British Majesty, of their firm attaéement to the principles of the glorious Revolution and their fixed and unalterable purpose, by every lawful means in their power, to maintain and de- fend themselves in the possession and en. joyment of those inestimable civil and re- ligious privileges which their forefathers, at the expense of so much blood and treas- nre, have established and handed down to them.
" Ist. In the names and behalf of their constituents, the good and loyal inhabi- tants of the county of Monmouth, in the colony of New Jersey, they do cheerfully and publicly proclaim their unshaken al- legiance to the person and government of his most gracious Majesty King George the Third now on the British throne, and do acknowledge themselves bound at all times, and to the utmost exertion of their power to maintain his dignity and lawful sovereignty in and over all his colonies in America; and that it is their most fervent desire and constant prayer that in a Prot- estant succession, the descendants of the illustrious House of Hanover, may con- tinue to sway the British sceptre to the latest posterity.
"2d. They do highly esteem and prize the happiness of being governed and hav- ing their liberty and property secured to them by so excellent a system of laws as
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that of Great Britain, the best doubtless in the universe ; and they will at all times cheerfully obey and render every degree of assistance in their power to the full and just execution of them. But at the same time will, with the greatest alacrity and resolution oppose any unwarrantable in- novations in them or any additions to or alterations in the grand system which may appear unconstitutional, and consequently inconsistent with the liberties and privi- leges of the descendants of free born American Britons.
"3d. As there has been for ages past, a most happy union and uninterrupted eon- nection between Great Britain and her colonies in America, they conceive their interests are now become so intimately blended together and their mutual de. pendence upon each other to be at this
time so delicately great that they esteem everything which has a tendency to alien- ate affection or disunite them in any de- gree, highly injurious to their common happiness and directly calculated to pro- duce a Revolution, likely in the end to prove destructive to both ; they do there- fore heartily disclaim every idea of that spirit of independence which has, of late, by some of our mistaken brethren on each side of the Atlantic, been so groundlessly and injuriously held up to the attention of the nation, as having through ambition, possessed the breasts of the Americanz .- And moreover they do devoutly beseech the Supreme Disposer of all events, gra- ciously to ineline the heart of our Soverign and all his Ministers, to a kind and im- partial investigation ot the real sentiments and disposition of his truly loyal American subjects.
"4th. Notwithstanding many great men and able writers have employed their tal- ents and pens in favor of the newly adopt- ed mode of taxation in America, they are yet sensible of no convictive light being thrown upon the subject ; and therefore, although so angust a body as that of the British Parliament is now actually endeav- oring to enforce in a military way, the ex- ecution of some distressing edicts upon the capital of the Massachusetts colony, they do freely and solenmly declare that in conscience they deem them, and all oth- ers that are, or ever may be framed upon the same principles, altogether unprece- dented and unconstitutional, utterly in- consistent with the true original intention of Magna Charta, subversive of the just rights of free born Englishmen, agreeable
and satisfactory only to the domestic and foreign enemies of our nation, and conse- quently pregnant with complicated ruin, and tending directly to the dicsolution and destruction of the British Empire.
" 5th. As they, on the one hand firmly believe that the inhabitants of the Massa- chusetts colony in general, and those of the town of Boston in particular, are to all intents and purposes as loyal subjects as any in all his Majesty's widely extended dominions ; and on the other, that (al- though the present coercive and oppressive measures against them may have taken rise in some part from the grossest and most cruel misrepresentat.on both of their disposition and conduct ) the blockade of that town is principally designed to lead the way in an attempt to execute a dread- ful deep laid plan for enslaving all Amer- ica. They are therefore clearly of opinion. that the Bostonians are now eminently suffering in the common cause of Ameri- ean freedom, and that their fate may probably prove decisive to this very ex- tensive continent and even to the whole British nation ; and they do verily expect that unless some generous spirited meas- ures for the public safety be speedily en- tered into and steadily prosecuted. every other colony will soon in turn feel the per- nicious effects of the same detestable re- strictions. Whence they earnestly entreat every rank. denomination, society and profession of their brethren. that; laying aside all bigotry and every party disposi tion. they do now universally concur in one generous and vigorous effort for the encouragement and support of their suf- foring friends, and in a resolute assertion of their birth right, liberties and privileges. In consequence of which they may reason- ably expect a speedy repeal of all the ar- bitrary edicts respecting the Massachusetts government, and at the same time an ef- fectuat preclusion of any future attempts of the kind from the enemies of our hap- py Constitution. either upon them or any of their American brethren.
"6th In case it shall hereafter appear to be consistent with the result of the delib- eration of the general Congress, that an interruption or entire cessation of com- mercial intercourse with Great Britain and even ( painful as it may be ) with the West Indies, until such oppressive Acts te re- pealed and the liberties of America fully restored. stated and asserted, will on this deplorable emergeney be really necessary and conducive to the public good, they
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promise a ready acquiesence in every mea- sure and will recommend the same as far as their influence extends.
"7th, As a general Congress of Deputies from the several American Colonies is pro- posed to be held at Philadelphia soon in September next, they declare their entire approbation of the design and think it is the only rational method of evading those aggravated evils which threaten to involve the whole continent in one general calam- itous catastrophe. They are therefore met this day, vested with due authority from their respective constituents, to elect a committee to represent this county of Monmouth in any future necessary trans actions respecting the cause of liberty and especially to join the Provincial Conven-
tion soon to be held at New Brunswick, ( colonies, about to delegate to a number of for the purpose of nominating and consti- tuting a number of Delegates, who in be- half of this Colony may steadily attend to said general Congress and faithfully serve the laboring cause of freedom and they have consequently chosen and deputed the following gentlemen to that important trust viz ; our countrymen a power equal to any wherewith human nature alone was ever invested ; and as we firmly resolve to ac. quiesce in their deliberations, we do there- fore earnestly entreat them, seriously and conscientiously to weigh the inexpressible importance of their arduous department, and fervently, to solicit that direction and Edward Taylor Jolin Anderson assistance in the discoarge of their trust, John Taylor Dr Nathaniel Scudder which all the powers of humanity cannot John Burrowes John Covenhoven atford them ; and we do humbly and ear- Joseph Holmes Josiah Holmes nestly beseech that God, in whose hand Edward Williams James Grover are the hearts of all flesh and who ruleth John Lawrence. them at his pleasure, graciously to infuse ' Edward Taylor being constituted chair- man and any five of them a sufficient number to transact business. And they do beseech, entreat, instruct and enjoin them to give their voice at said Provincial Convention, for no persons but such as they in good conscience and from the best information shall verily believe to be am- ply qualified for so interesting a depart- ment ; particularly that they be men bigh. ly approved for integrity, honesty and up rightness, faithfully attached to his Maj- esty's person and lawful government, well skilled in the principles of our excellent constitution and steady assertors of all our civil and religious liberties. into the whole Congress a spirit of true wisdom, prudence and just moderation ; and to direct them to such unanimous and happy conclusion as shall terminate in His own honor and glory, the establishment of the Protestant succession of the illus- trious House of Hanover, the mutual weal and advantage of Great Britain and all her Dominions and a just and permanent con- firmation of all the civil and religious lib- erties of America. And now lastly, under the consideration of the bare possibility that the enemies of our constitution may yot succeed in a desperate triumph over us in this age, we do earnestly ( should this prove the case ) call upon all future generations to renew the glorious struggle for liberty as often as Heaven shall afford them any probable means of success.
.
"8th. As under the present operation of the Boston Port Bill, thousands of our re- spected brethren in that town must neces- sarily be reduced to great distress, they feel themselves affected with the sincerest sympathy and most cordial-commiseration; and as they expect, under God, that the final deliverance of America will be owing, in a great degree, to a continuance of their virtuous struggle, they esteem themselves bound in duty and in interest to afford
them every assistance and alleviation in their power ; and they do now in behalf of their constituents, declare their readi- ness to contribute to the relief of the suf- fering poor in that town; therefore they request the several committees of the country, when met, to take into serious consideration the necessity and expedien- cy of forwarding under a sanction from them, subscriptions through every part of the Colony, for that truly humane and laudable purpose ; and that a proper plan be concerted for laying ont the product of such subscriptions to the best andvantage, and afterwards transmitting it to Boston in the safest and least expensive way.
"9th. As we are now by our Committees in this, in conjunction with those of other
" May this notification, by some faithful record, be handed down to the yet unborn descendants of Americans, that nothing but the most fatal necessity could have wrested the present inestimable enjoy- ments from their ancestors. Let them universally inculcate upon their beloved offspring an investigation of those truths,
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respecting both civil and religious liberty. which have been so clearly and fully stated in this generation. May they be carefully taught in all their schools; and may they never rest until, through Divine blessing upon their efforts, true freedom and liber- ty shall reign triumphant over the whole Globe.
"Signed by order of the Committes, " EDWARD TAYLOR Chairman"
BOSTON GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES MON- MOUTH CONTRIBUTIONS.
The patriots of Monmouth promptly and freely contributed to the suffering in- habitants of Boston. In forwarding their first contribution " they entreated their brethren not to give up, and if they should want a further supply of bread to let them know it."
On the 21st of October, 1774, a letter was written on behalf of the Bostonians, to the citizens of Monmouth, in which they say :
" The kind and generous donations of the County of Monmouth in the Jersies we are now to acknowledge and with grateful heart's to thank you therefore, having received from the Committee of said county, per Captain Brown, eleven hundred and forty (1140) bushels of rve and fifty barrels of rye meal, for thesuffer- ing poor of this town which shall be an- plied to the purpose intended by the don- ors ; and what further cheers our hearts, is your kind assurances of a further sup- ply, if necessary, to enable us to oppose the cruel Parliamentary Acts, levelled not only against this town, but our whole Constitution."
" COMMITTEES OF OBSERVATION AND INSPEC- TION.
" FREEHOLD December 10th 1774.
" In pursuance of the recommendation of the Continental Congress and for the pres- ervation of American Freedom, a respect able body of the freeholders of Freehold township met at the Court House and unanimously elected the following gentle- men to act as a Committee of Observation and Inspection for said township :
John Anderson Hendrick Smock
John Forman John Covenhoven
Asher Holmes
Dr. Nath'l Seudder
Peter Forman David Forman
Dr. T. Henderson. .
" The committee were instructed by their constituents to carry into execution the several important and salutary measures
pointed out to them by the Continental Congress and without favor or affection to make all such diligent inquiry as shall be found conducive to the accomplishment of the great necessary purposes held up to the attention of Americans."
Upper Freehold, Dover and Middle- town formed similar committees, and noti- fied the Freehold committee.
Shrewsbury however failed to appoint a committee. This may have been owing to the prevalence of Quaker principles in the township. An attempt by the patri- ots of Shrewsbury was made to have a Committee appointed, as will be seen by the following copy of an advertisement put up in this township :
" ADVERTISEMENT.
"SHREWSBURY January 2nd- 1775.
" Agreeable to the Resolutions of the late General Continental Congress-The Inhabitants of the town of Shrewsbury. more especially such as are properly qual- ified for choosing Representatives to serve in the General Assembly are hereby warn- ed to meet at the house of Josiah Hal- stead, in said Shrewsbury, on Tuesday the 17th of this instant January at noon, in order to choose a Committee for the seve- ral purposes as directed by the said Con- gress.
" As the method ordered by the Congress seems to be the only peaceable method the case will admit of, on failure of which either confirmed Slavery or a civil war of course succeeds ; the bare mention of either of the two last is shocking to hu- man nature, more particularly so to all true friends of the English Constitution.
"Therefore it becomes the indispensable duty of all such to use their utmost en- deavors in favor of the first or peaceable method. and suffer it not to miscarry or fail of its salutary and much desired effects by means of any sinister views or indo- lence of theirs. Surely expecting on the one band to be loaded with the curses arising from slavery to the latest posteri- ty, or on the other hand the guilt of blood of thousand of their brethren and fellow Christians to lay at their door and to be justly required at their hands.
" Think well of this before it be too late. and let not the precious moments pass."
A number of the citizens of Shrewsbury assembled at the time and place mention- ed in the advertisement but they failed to appoint a committee. The following shows the conchision to which the meet-
.
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ing came. It concludes more like a Qua- ker Meeting epistle than a town meeting resolve :
" Extract from a letter to a gentleman in New York dated Shrewsbury N. J. Jan- uary 18th 1775.
" In consequence of an anonymous ad- vertisement fixed up in this place, giving notice to freeholders and others, to meet on Tuesday the 17th inst in order to choose a Committee of Inspection etc, be- tween thirty and forty of the most respect able freeholders accordingly met and after a few debates on the business of the day, which were carried on with great decency and moderation it was generally agreed (there being only four or five dissenting votes) that the appointment of a commit- tee was not only useless, but they were chairman.
apprehensive would prove a means of dis- turbing the peace and quietness which had hitherto existed in the township, and would continue to use their utmost en- deavors to preserve and to gaurd against running upon that rock on which, with much concern, they beheld others, through an inattentive rashness, daily splitting "
The Freehold Committee of Observation and Inspection at a meeting held March 17th, 1775, took up the case of Shrewsbury township, and after stating the subject in a preamble they resolved that from and after that day they would esteem and treat the citizens of Shrewsbury as ene- mies to their King and country and de- serters of the common cause of Freedom ; and would break off all dealings and con- nections with them "unless they shall turn from the evil of their ways and testi- fy their repentance by adopting the mea- sures of Congress."
The New Jersey Provincial Legislature, in May following, authorized other town- ships to appoint delegates for Shrewsbury, but the same month the refractory town- ship, as will be seen by the following, chose delegates and also a committee of Observation, and so the unpleasantness ended.
SHREWSBURY FALLS INTO LINE.
"At a meeting ~f Freeholders and Inhab- itants of the township of Shrewsbury this 27th day of May 1775, the following per- sons were by a great majority, chosen a committee of observation for the said town agreeable to the direction of the General Continental Congress held at Philadelphia September 5th 1774 viz.
Josiah Holmes John Little Jos. Throckmorton Samuel Longstreet Nicholas Van Brunt David Knott
Cor, Vanderveer Benjamin Dennis Daniel Hendrickson Samuel Breese Thomas Morford Cornelius Lane.
Garret Longstreet
" Ordered : That Daniel Hendrickson and Nicholas Van Brunt, or eitherof them, do attend the Provincial Congress now setting at Trenton, with full power to rep- resent there, this town of Shrewsbury. And that Josiah Holmes, David Knott and Samuel Breese be a sub committee to pre- pare instructions for the Deputy or Depu- ties who are to attend the Congress at Trenton.
"Josiah Holmes was unanimously chosen JOSIAH HOLMES.
"Chairman and Town Clerk."
FREEHOLD PATRIOTS INDIGNANT .- NOVEL
PROCEEDINGS.
March 6th, 1775. A Tory pamphlet entitled + Free Thoughts on the Resolves of Congress by A W. Farmer " was handed to the Freehold Committee of Observation and Inspection for their opinion. The committee declar- ed it to be most pernicious and malignant in its tendencies and calculated to sap the foundation of American liberty. The pamphlet was handed back to their con- stituents who gave it a coat of tar and turkey buzzards feathers, one person re- marking that "although the' feathers were plucked from the most stinking of fowls, he thought it fell far short of being a proper emblem of the authors odious- ness to the friends of freedom and he wished he had the pleasure of giving the author a coat of the same material."
The pamphlet in its gorgeous attire was then nailed to the pillory post.
The same committee severely denbunc- ed a Tory pamphlet written by James Rivington, editor of Rivington's Royal Ga- zette, the Tory paper, printed in New York.
By the following resolves it will be seen that the citizens of Upper Freehold favor- ed arming the people if necessary, to op- pose the tyrannical acts of Great Britain. A striking illustration of the stirring events of that perilous time is found in the fact that before a year had elapsed some of the prominent men in this meet- ing were aiding Great Britain to the best of their ability by voice, pen or sword :
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UPPER FREEHOLD RESOLUTIONS.
" May 4th 1775. This day, agreeable to previous notice a very considerable num- ber of the principal inhabitants of this township met at Imlaystown.
"John Lawrence Esq. in the chair : When the following resolves were unanimously agreed to :
" Resolved, That it is our first wish to live in unison with Great Britain, agree- able to the principles of the Constitution ; that we consider the unnatural civil war which we are about to be forced into. with anxiety and distress but that we are determined to oppose the novel claim of the Parliament of Great Britain to raise a revenue in America and risk every possi- ble consequence rather than to submit to it.
" Resolved. That it appears to this meeting that there are a sufficient num- ber of arms for the people.
" Resolved. That a sum of money be now raised to purchase what further quantity of Powder and Ball may be necessary ; and it is recommended that every man capable of bearing arms enter into Com- panies to train, and be prepared to march at a minutes warning ; and it is further recommended tothe people that they do not waste their powder in fowling and hunting.
" A subscription was opened and one hundred and sixty pounds instantly paid into the hands of a person appointed for that purpose. The officers of four com- panies were then chosen and the meeting broke up in perfect unanimity.
" ELISHA LAWRENCE. Clerk."
THE OUTLAWS OF THE LINES.
Among the most noted of these scoun- drels may be mentioned Lewis Fenton, Jacob Fagan, Thomas and Stephen Burke alias Emmons, Ezekiel Williams, Richard Bird, John Bacon, John Giberson, John Wood, John Farnham, Jonathan and Stephen West. DeBow aud Davenport.
Bird and Davenport appear to have op- erated principally in old Dover township. Giberson's head quarters appear to have been in the lower part of Burlington. from whence he made occasional raids into Staf- ford, then the southern township of Mon- mouth county.
In speaking of the Pine Robbers, Howe's Collections give several items derived chiefly from traditionary sources, relating to some of these notorious scoundrels. We give their substance below. appending occasional corrections and a large amount of additional matter. The compiler of the above named work derived his infor- mation from aged citizens of the country over three score years after the events re- ferred to occurred. By comparing their traditionary accounts with letters written from Freehold and vicinity at the time, it will be seen that they differ only in minor details.
in speaking of Howell township, Howe says :
" Superadded to the other horrors of the Revolutionary war in this region, the pines were infested with numerous robbers, who had caves burrowed in the sides of sand hills, near the margin of swamps, in the most secluded situations, which were cov- ered with brush so as to be almost undis- cernable. At dead of night these miscre- ants would sally forth from their dens to plunder, burn and murder. The inhabi tants, in constant terror, were obliged for safety to carry their muskets with them into the fields, and even to the house of worship. At length, so numerous and an- dacious had they become, that the state government offered large rewards for their destruction, and they were hunted and shot like wild beasts, when they were almost entirely extirpated."
The first of whom we shall speak is
LEWIS FENTON.
Fenton was originally a blacksmith, and learned his trade at Freehold. On one occasion he robbed a tailor's shop in that township. Word was sent him that if he did not restore the clothing within a week he should be hunted and shot. Intimida ted by the threat, he returned the proper ty accompanied by the following fiendish note :
".I have returned your d ---- d rags. In a short time I am coming to burn your barns and houses, and roast you all like a pack of kittens."
In August, 1779, this villain, at the head of his gang, attacked, at midnight, the dwelling of Mr. Thomas Farr, in the vi- cinity of Imlaystown. The family. con- sisting of Mr. Farr and wife (both aged persons) and their daughter, barricaded the door with logs of wood. The assail- ants first attempted to beat in the door
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with rails, but being unsucessful, fired | cient papers published during the war say through a volley of ball:, one of which it was DeBow. Of the two Burkes alias Emmons, Thomas and Stephen, we shall have occasion to speak before concluding. broke the leg of Mr. Farr. Then forcing an entrance at the back door, they mur- dered his wife and dispatched him as he By the following extract it will be seen that the brutal attack by Fenton and his gang on Thomas Farr and family. occurr- ed in Jury, instead of August, as stated in the foregoing traditionary account from Howe : lay helpless on the floor. His daughter, though badly wounded, escaped, and the gang, fearing she would alarm the neigh- borhood, precipitately fled without wait- ing to plunder.
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