USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 11
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 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
Under Van Twiller's successor, William Kieft, who held the reins of government from March 28, 1638, until May II, 1647, New Jersey came a little more to the front. Kieft seems to have been an irascible, domineering individual, with a limited amount of brains and an unlimited allowance of self-assurance-a sort of pepper-box dressed up in the clothes of authority. It is, of course, possible that our notions of his personality have been twisted by Washington Irving's caricature; but a study of Kieft's official acts prompts the belief that Irving did not depart very far from historic truth when he wrote in his veracious history the following lines regarding this product of the Dutch Colonial Service, "William the Testy."
"He was a brisk, waspish, little old gentleman, who had dried and withered away, partly through the natural process of years and partly from being parched and burnt up by his fiery soul, which blazed like a vehement rushlight in his bosom, constantly inciting him to most valorous broils, altercations and misadventures. * His visage was broad and his features sharp; his nose turned up with the most petulant curl; his cheeks were scorched into a dusky red-doubtless in consequence of the neighborhood of two fierce little gray eyes, through which his torrid soul beamed with tropical fervor. The corners of his mouth were modeled into a kind of fretwork, not a little resembling the wrinkled proboscis of an irritable pug dog; in a word, he was one of the most positive, restless, ugly little men that ever put himself in a passion about nothing."
That, rightly or wrongly, is the ideal of William Kieft which we are forced by the genius of Diedrich Knickerbocker, backed up by all the verit-
97
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
able history and evidence which have come down to us, to accept as a true presentment of the successor of "Walter the Doubter." At best, what we do know of veritable history brings him before us as a sort of opera bouffe hero with a touch of villainy running through all his actions. Before coming to America his career was clouded by scoundrelism-so much so that he was hanged in effigy in his native Holland. His ill fame had pre- ceded him to New Netherland, and when he landed at New Amsterdam on March 28, 1638, after his voyage across the Atlantic on board "The Herring," he was received with marked coldness. Possibly that did not worry him very much. His purpose was to win a fortune rather than to make friends. However, he turned his authority to some use, for he built a stone church inside the fort, laid out Pearl street for suburban residences of a high class, interested himself in the cultivation of orchards and gar- dens, instituted two grand county fairs, and by the liberal land policy- not only offering free passage from Holland, but giving an emigrant prac- tically free of cost a patent for as much land "as he and his family could cultivate, and requiring only an oath of fidelity to the States General to enable foreigners to hold land and acquire the status of citizenship-fie rapidly promoted new settlements, singly or in groups in his domains. Still, his first thought was to make money for himself. He established a distillery or brewery on Staten Island, owned and conducted by deputy, a stone tavern on the shore of the East River, and lost no opportunity of adding to his private fortune.
When Kieft, as a result of a petition from the colonists denouncing his venality, his arrogance, his ,tyranny and his needless Indian wars, was summoned to return to Holland, he carried with him on the ship among his personal property, something like one hundred thousand dol- lars, the practical results of his statesmanship. The vessel, "The Prin- cess," was hailed with ironical salutes as she weighed anchor and started on hier voyage with this precious personage on board, and the people did not even try to conceal their joy over his departure. The ship was wrecked on the English coast, however, and Kieft and his money went to the bot- tom.
While there is no clear evidence on the point, it seems likely that Kieft visited some portions of his Jersey domain, and it is certain that he was most zealous in his denunciation of the efforts of the Swedes to build up a new Sweden on territory which the held belonged to the States General. He was the more particularly wroth at this movement because its leader and governor was one who had held his own high position in New Amsterdam, Peter Minuit. In fact, on being apprised of the gather- ing strength of the Swedish colony, Kieft wrote Minuit upbraiding him 7
98
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
with his wrongdoings, and telling him, in effect, that as an ex-Governor of New Amsterdam he ought to have known better. But Minuit paid no at- tention to such complaints, and kept on the even tenor of his way; and Kieft, finding that the opposition governor did not heed his just reproaches, resolved to bestow no more thought upon him, but to let him go on his own evil and discourteous way.
On May II, 1647, Peter ( Petrus) Stuyvesant landed in New Amster- dam and assumed the reins of government, vice Kieft, then crossing the high sea with his boodle and disgrace. Like that of his predecessor, we find it difficult to estimate this man's character correctly, for at the very mention of his name there arises before us Irving's masterpiece of carica- ture ---- Peter the Headstrong. Stuyvesant's notions as to the Divine authority of rulers, his contempt for the people generally, his arro- gance, his irascibility, his tyrannical spirit, his interfering, contentious disposition, his narrow-mindedness and his cocksuredness, soon made him as unpopular as ever Kieft had been; and it was not long before he had quarrels of all sorts on his hands, both with the church and the State, with patroons as well as with the citizens who dwelt within the shadow of the Stadt Huys. He was even summoned to Holland to give an account of his policy, but he declined to go. In 1653 New Amsterdam got a new charter, giving it a large measure of self-government, but Stuyvesant would have none of it; and although it became the law, it remained prac- tically in abeyance for many years. By and by, when the people began to understand his character rightly, to appreciate his courage, his solicitude for the welfare of the population, his profound respect for authority, his clear judgment and simplicity of heart, they got along better with him, and fought his peculiarities without in the least forgetting the respect due to a fairly honest gentleman of mediaeval nctions, who meant well toward them all in his heart of hearts, and who, in spite of his notions as to the source of government, was in many ways a stanch supporter of liberty and progress. Under him New Netherland prospered exceedingly, and if in his dealings with the English he threw in a principality in a boundary dispute, he fairly preserved peace, cultivated as carefully as he could and as circumstances permitted, the good graces of the aborigines and the British, and proved a strong and fairly progressive executive.
We have already recorded Stuyvesant's dealings with what he re- garded as his southern domain, and the upstart province of New Sweden, which, when occasion offered, he cruslied out of existence by the horrible arbitrament of war. When the victory was fully accomplished, Peter at once brought the arts of the statesman into play. He made the change of government fall as lightly as possible on the Swedish subjects who re-
-
99
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
mained and who acknowledged his authority by taking the prescribed oath of allegiance, and when he returned in triumph to New Amsier- dam he left behind as vice director Johannes Paul Jaquet. Under Stuy- vesant several large tracts of land in New Jersey were bought from the Indians so as to be opened up to settlement, notably one at Bergen, but the scheme of colonization did not mature quickly, and Stuyvesant and his council paid little attention to New Jersey, being too busy elsewhere. Still, Gordon thinks that there was even then a road more or less lined with the houses of settlers between the colonies on the Hudson and those on the Delaware.
In 1654 the English government in Maryland laid claim to the shores of the Delaware. Agents were sent to the various settlements to enforce this claim by argument and threat, and there was talk of submitting the dispute to arbitration, but Stuyvesant would have none of it, and, after making a show of force, Maryland abandoned its claims and left the Dela- ware, in peace.
But a much more aggressive foe had to be reckoned with. In 1640 the New Haven commonwealth, in pursuance of its policy of colonial ex- pansion which was destined to disturb so often the redoubtable Peter's peace of mind, especially in connection with Long Island, had bought land from the red men on both shores of the Delaware, intending to use it for the purpose of the settlement of several colonies. The territory was de- clared to be under the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, and in 1641 a colony was dispatched so as to enter upon possession and perfect the dec- laration. They were looked upon as interlopers by the Swedish as well as by the Dutch. Kieft, then Governor of New Amsterdam, was not a man to stand much trifling, so as soon as he heard of this movement, he sent two ships to the scene, with quite an army; which attacked the settlers, burned their houses and carried away all they could as prisoners. This practically ended the authority of New Haven in that direction, although it did not abandon hope. It tried to attempt to win by negotiation what it failed to retain by its own strength. But these negotiations failed. "In 1649," writes Professor Alexander Johnston. "Governor Eaton, of New Haven, made another appeal to the commissioners (of the united colonies of New England), for help; but . the commissioners were not disposed to enter upon a quarrel at the time: they would refuse to assist any per- sons from any other colony who should attempt to settle the Delaware purchase without the consent of New Haven, but they would not maintain the claims of New Haven against the Dutch by force. The failure of this scheme was a blow from which New Haven never recovered." We read, however, of another expedition from New Haven to the Delaware, in
100
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
1651, but for some reason or other the ship containing the settlers put into the harbor of New York, and Stuyvesant, on learning of their busi- ness, seized the vessel, confiscated its papers, and ordered the adventurers to return at once to Connecticut, or otherwise he would ship them to Hol- land. That was the last effort Stuyvesant seems to have made to pre- serve his territory to the south of the Hudson. His hands were getting full of trouble in other directions. In November, 1683, we find that the people of Jamaica, on Long Island, held a public meeting to protest against Stuyvesant's misgovernment and oppression. Connecticut had won a foot- hold on Long Island and held it with grim determination. In the eastern section the rule of Connecticut was practically supreme, and even in the western end the people as a whole would have welcomed any relief at that time from the Governor and his Council; and although Peter foamed and waxed indignant, sent remonstrances and appeals to Holland, and threat- ened to build a fort at Oyster Bay to overcome the English, he did noth- ing very effective. In fact, to his sorrow, he found he was receiving no adequate support from the United Provinces, or even much in the way of practical aid from his subjects in New Netherland. Long Island had virtually passed from his grasp and into that of Connecticut, when, by the issuance of a patent on March 12, 1663, King Charles II conveyed to his brother, the Duke of York, all of New Netherland, and the question of the possession of Long Island assumed a new phase. The charter gave to the Duke or his appointees all legislative and judicial power over the vast territory, from the western bank of the Connecticut River to the east- ern shore of the Delaware, including practically New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, subject only to appeal to the crown. When the grant was made it looked on the face of it like a worthless compliment ; but the Duke and his advisers and associates seemed fully to understand the current train of events, and to appreciate the importance of the gift, and they at once set to work to realize on it as a valuable asset. In Jan- uary, 1664, Captain John Scott, of Gravesend, who had formerly been an officer under Charles I, but had left England in the Cromwellian time (banished, some said, for cutting the girths of the Protector's horses, and fined five hundred pounds), and who probably inspired the grant by speak- ing of its probabilities, returned to Long Island from a visit to England. He had evidently been intrusted with very high power by the Duke of York and his advisers, but, desiring to fortify himself in all possible ways before proceeding to put his mission into effect, with that in view he se- cured the appointment of Magistrate over Long Island from Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut. Armed with this document, Scott crossed the sound to Long Island, and with one hundred and fifty followers boldly
IÓI
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
proclaimed Charles II as King. He raised the English flag in Brooklyn and thrashed a boy for refusing to doff his hat to the emblem. This was on January II. Then he passed in quick succession through the other Dutch towns.
By this time Stuyvesant had recovered from his astonishment at the doings in Brooklyn, and sent a commission to interview: Scott and learn what the trouble was. On January 14 they met at Jamaica, and Scott
Gov. STUYVESANT,
plainly told them that Stuyvesant had no standing in the case; that the entire New Netherland territory belonged to the Duke of York, and he meant to hold it. A truce was, however, patched up, and on March 3.
102
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
Stuyvesant unbent in the stress of circumstances so much that he pro- ceeded in solemn state to Jamaica, and there in a personal interview dis- cussed the whole matter with the wild and victorious Scott. It was ar- ranged that the English towns on Long Island were to remain under the flag unfolded by Scott without any interference for twelve months, until the respective home governments had time to settle the destiny of the provinces. Stuyvesant could really force no better terms. His treasury was empty, the government from which he got his warrant paid a deaf ear to his remonstrances and appeals for aid, the people were restless and discontented, and even the Dutch seemed ready to revolt, while the Eng- lish settlers openly defied him, and defied with impunity. In his despair Stuyvesant, as many a greater tyrant before and since has done, bethought of asking the advice and counsel of the people, a proceeding he would never have tolerated for a moment earlier in his career. So he called a General Assembly of delegates from the different towns to consider the condition of affairs, and it met on April 10, 1664, in the City Hall of New Amsterdam. Nothing practical came of the meeting, however, but the territory between the Hudson and the Delaware was not represented in this fateful gathering, a fact which speaks eloquently of what small account it was in the body politic at the time. So things drifted along, the English steadily advancing on the Dutch territory, not only on Long Island, but on the Hudson, until at the end of August, 1664, an English fleet under Colonel Richard Nicolls passed in through the Narrows and took possession of the harbor; and on September 8 Stuyvesant was forced to sign the capitulation by which his authority passed into the hands of the English, and the New Netherland was transferred into the possession of the Duke of York. Peter Stuyvesant retired to his bouwerie in high dudgeon, but helpless in his peril, and the rule of the Dutch for a time passed away.
We propose now to cease dealing here with historical data concerning New Jersey : that will be sufficiently done in other sections of this work. What we desire to do in the remainder of this chapter is to rapidly review the personal traits of the more prominent of the men who ruled in New Jer- sey. From time to time these rulers ceased to be appointed, and received their honors at the hands of their fellow citizens. Governor Nicolls does not seem, although nominally ruler over the territory, to have exercised much if any authority, and the same may be said of his immediate successors. It seems that as soon as the Duke of York obtained his charter for New Am- sterdam he at once began to make it be of some practical value. So he made a sale of what is now New Jersey to Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley, and these "Lords Proprietors of the Province of New Jersey."
103
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
as they called themselves, lost no time, in their turn, in putting their pur- chase in such order as to yield some return. So they drew up a scheme of "Concessions and Agreements" for the government and protection of in- tending settlers, and then threw open their territory to colonists. The latter they styled "adventurers," and among other things it provided for absolute freedom of conscience in all matters pertaining to religion. That was the rock on which New Jersey was founded. To the other contents of this "Concession and Agreements" document we will again return.
Neither of these Lords Proprietors ever saw their vast domains in America-vast because, in addition to New Jersey, they held proprietary rights in Carolina. But as soon as possible they sent over a party of emi- grants, designated Philip Carteret (a brother of Sir George and who was in charge of the expedition) as Governor of New Jersey, and he with his companions settled at Elizabeth, where a colony had already established itself, and so the modern story of New Jersey formally begins. Governor Nicolls, anxious of the sale and the setting up of the separate government of Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey, had been planning for colonizing the territory himself-had in fact issued a patent to the first settlers at Eliza- beth-and was disposed to look upon Philip Carteret and his associate "adventurers" as a gang of land pirates. But the documentary evidence which the latter brought, and advices from home, convinced him that he had no jurisdiction over that part of the territory he had won, and so he abandoned all pretense of interest in it. Carteret, it is said, found four families making up the settlement at Elizabeth. But he hardly had time to get rid of his "sea legs" than he found a request from Connecticut asking that permission be given for the establishment of a colony from Milford on the banks of the Passaic. The request was readily granted, and led to the foundation of Newark. In fact, much of New Jersey's early popula- tion-its true pioneers-was made up of people who sought in it freedom of worship. In its territory Quaker and Episcopalian, Puritan and Pres- byterian, Baptist and anti-Baptist, might dwell together in peace and harmony and in the enjoyment of the fullest degree of personal liberty. In this respect New Jersey was the land of religious freedom and tolera- tion, which New England emphatically was not, and New York was also not, only in a less conspicuous degree.
Carteret certainly developed the qualities of a good colonizer, and seems to have lost no opportunity of advertising in the colonies, as well as in the Netherland, the advantages of settlement within his bailiwick. He was a busy man all through his long tenure of official life, and troubles seemed to accompany him all through. It was not until 1668 that he was able to call together the first skeleton meeting of the legislature. Some
104
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
of the earlier settlements, such as those at Shrewsbury and Middletown, refused to recognize his authority. Organized by them, and under the leadership of James Carteret, a natural son of Sir George, who had been sent over here to be out of the way, an opposition government of New Jersey was set up in 1672. It was the work of a genuine "adventurer," but the times were favorable to it, and the legislature it set up claimed to be the real law-making body of the province. James Carteret declared himself Governor, but could show no written authority, yet so seriously was the business of the Colony interrupted that Philip Carteret went to London in order to explain matters and have a clear understanding of the situation. . This was all arranged to his satisfaction, and Philip returned to America and assumed all his administrative prerogatives. In 1763 Lord Berkeley sold his interest in the province for some five thousand dollars to John Fenwick and Edward Byllinge, noted Quakers, and this led to the great incursion of the Society of Friends into West Jersey, the first set- tlement being made on the bank of a creek to which Fenwick gave the name of Salem. When Governor Colve and his opera bouffe government took possession of New York, and turned it back to New Netherland, Car- teret found himself out of office, Colve claiming New Jersey along with the rest. But that farce did not last long. The Dutch abandoned New Amsterdam forever, and Carteret resumed his vocation of ruling all New Jersey until (in 1676) the province was divided into two parts, East Jer- sey and West Jersey, and he received a new appointment as Governor of the former half.
The commission of Edmund Andros seemed to make him the su- preme representative of the Duke of York wherever the lands of the lat- ter's patent extended. So Andros, on assuming the office of Governor of New York in 1674, claimed among other matters to be the supreme author- ity in New Jersey. Being backed up in his notions by whatever military and naval force there was, it proved an easy matter to sustain any claim he chose to make, and he not only enforced his claim but placed Carteret under arrest. The firmness of the legislature, however, defeated Andros' purpose. Then it was seen, even in England, that he had exceeded the spirit if not the let- ter of his commission. Sir George Carteret died in 1679, but his affairs were managed by his widow (Lady Elizabeth, after whom the town of Elizabeth was named) for her son, and she peremptorily ordered that no orders from Andros in East Jersey, at any rate, should hold good, and soon after Andros received direct instructions from his own royal master to leave New Jersey alone.
.
The division of New Jersey into East and West lasted for some twenty-six years, from 1676 until 1702. Succeeding Carteret in the Gov-
105
HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
ernorship of the eastern division were Robert Barclay, 1682-90; Thomas Rudyard, 1682-83; Gawen Laurie, 1638-86; Lord Niel Campbell, 1686-87; Andrew Hamilton, 1687-88; Edmund Andros, 1688-89; John Tatham (rejected) 1690; Colonel Joseph Dudley (rejected) 1691; Andrew Ham- ilton, 1692-97; Jeremiah Basse, 1698-99; Andrew Bowne, 1699; Andrew Hamilton, 1699-1702.
This group forms for the student of colonial history a most interest- ing theme for consideration and study. Carteret retired in 1682, and died a year or two later. When Sir George Carteret died, East Jersey was sold to a syndicate consisting of William Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groome, Thomas Hart, Ambrose Riggs, John Hayward, Hugh Hartshorne, Clement Plumsted, Thomas Cooper and Thomas Wil- cox. Rudyard seems to have been the executive head of this syndicate. They did not last long, for in February, 1682, a new syndicate took pos- session. This was headed by the Earl of Perth, and included John Drum- mond, Robert Barclay, David Barclay, Robert Gordon, Arent Somnans, Gawen Laurie, Edward Byllinge, James Braine, William Gibson, James Barker, Robert Turner and Thomas Warne. The number was soon after- ward increased to twenty-four.
Robert Barclay, who became nominally Governor in 1682, by vote of his Associate Proprietors, never saw America. He was the proprietor of the estate of Ury in Scotland, a leader in the Society of Friends, and author of the once famous "Apology for the Quakers." However, al- though personally he was not acquainted with the territory of which ne was the nominal head, his influence upon its destinies was very great. He used it for colonizing purposes, and through him large colonies of Quakers were induced to settle in New Jersey. When chosen as Governor, the appointment was for life, but he was empowered to rule by deputy, and did so until the close of his honorable career in 1690. To American readers the name of "Barclay of Urie" will be familiar through the stirring poem which John G. Whittier wrote under that title, the hero being the father of the titular governor.
Gawen Laurie, also one of the Proprietors, was appointed by Barclay as Deputy Governor, and came over to America and entered upon the discharge of his duties with zeal and discretion. A stanch Quaker, he was essentially a man of peace, and successfully administered affairs for some three years. He settled many colonies of Friends in his domain, and sat- isfied both those over whom he ruled and those whose servant he was, the other proprietors. In 1687 he was succeeded by Lord Niel Campbell, brother of the ninth Earl of Argyle, whose appointment was based mainly on the fact that he had got mixed up in a political scrape in his own land,
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.