USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. I > Part 27
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" In testimony thereof have thereto set our hands the day and year above.
" JOSHUA ANDERSON, WILLIAM GREEN,
RALPH and SAMUEL HUNT, JOHN BURROUGHS,
. JOHN BANBRIDGE, ISAAC and JOSEPH REEDER,
JONATHAN DAVIS, THEOPHILUS PHILLIPS,
ROBERT and JOHN LANNING, and others."f
Notwithstanding the care which the first settlers took to secure good titles for their lands, many of them afterwards had to buy the second time or relinquish them ; and several did give up the lands, with the improvements they had made, and settle in other parts of the country, rather then pay for them again.
The provincial legislature, in 1694, enacted that the inhabi- tants above the St. Pink, or Derwent (Assanpink), in the province, should belong to Burlington.}
In May, 1701, Andrew Heath and William Spencer were appointed assessors of the township of Hopewell, and Nathaniel
* Lawrence.
t Book of Deeds A A A, p. 8, in secretary of state's office.
# Leaming & Spicer, p. 532.
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Petit, collector .* These persons lived near the Falls, except Mr. Heath, who lived on the farm now owned by Mr. Joseph B. Anderson, in Ewing township.
From the year 1700, the settlement of the township was increased by persons from Long Island, East Jersey, and other parts. Messers. Daniel Howell, Ebenezer Prout, Isaac Reeder, John Burroughs, Charles Clark, Richard Scudder, Robert Lan- ning, Jacob and John Reeder, William Reed, Simon Sacket, John Deane, John and Abiel Davis, Jonathan Davis, and others, settled in what is now Ewing, as appears from their deeds and family records ; and in April, 1703, Mr. John Hutchinson (only son and heir of Thomas Hutchinson, who died intestate,) con- veyed a lot of land to the inhabitants of Hopewell as a place of burial. The instrument conveying the lands is as follows, and may be found on page 114, A A A, folio 105, at the secretary of state's office, Trenton :
"John Hutchinson, of Hopewell, county of Burlington, &c., to Andrew Heath, Richard Ayre, Abiel Davis, and Zebulon Haston, t of the same county, &c., hath granted to the said Andrew Heath, &c., a piece of land on į the easterly side of the highway leading between the house of the said John Hutchinson and Andrew Heath, &c., containing two acres, in trust for the inhabitants of the said township of Hopewell and their succes- sors, inhabiting and dwelling within the said township, forever, for the public and common use and benefit of the whole town- ship, for the erecting and building a public meeting-house thereon, and also for a place of burial, and for no other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever."
This probably was the first house built for public worship in the township of Hopewell and for Trenton, and probably the
* Leaming & Spicer, p. 583.
¡ Zebulon Haston lived on the place owned by the late Amos Reeder, which was bought by Isaac Reeder in 1707, of Mr. Haston.
{ This lot has, within the last twenty-five years, been sold by the trustees of the Episcopal Church in Trenton to Ralph Lanning, and lies on an eminence about thirty rods northeast from his dwelling, and north of the State Lunatic Asylum.
·
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first in the state, except that of the Quakers. It was occupied by the Episcopalians until their church was built in Trenton, and occasionally for many years afterwards. A portion of the foundation is still standing, and in it the stone which still con- secrates the memory of Samuel Tucker, president of the second provincial congress of New Jersey, and state. treasurer, as well as that of his wife, and several prominent citizens of Trenton of that day.
The Friends who had left England, on account of the perse- cution raised against them for their religion, sought an asylum on the peaceful shores of the Delaware, where they have, undis- turbed, enjoyed the privileges of religious, as well as civil free- dom. For many years they had no public buildings for worship, but their meetings were held in private houses.
" Governor William Penn, who, in the year 1683, issued an order for the establishment of a post-office, requested Phineas Pemberton carefully to publish the information on the meeting- house door, that is, on the door of the private house in which the Society of Friends were accustomed to meet. It was usual for Friends settled about the Falls (or Fallsington, in Bucks county ), to assemble at the houses of William Yardley, James Harrison, Phineas Pemberton, William Biles, and William Beakes. For the meeting-house at the Falls was not built till 1690, nor the one at Burlington till 1696, nor the one at Bristol till 1710."*
The meeting house in Trenton city was built in 1739. This date was formerly on the building, but when it was repaired, in 1838, in rough-casting it they covered the date completely over, which certainly was an error on their part, as it should have been left as a monument, to designate a period prior to the struggle for American independence. ¡
The building is located on the corner of Hanover and Mont- gomery streets. It has been occupied for the same purpose since its erection up to the present time. The door of the entrance to the meeting-house was on the south side of it, facing Hanover
*" Friends' Miscellany," vol. vii., p. 29.
t In 1872 this date was again placed on the eastern end of the building.
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street, and on the east gable was the inscription above men- tioned
It seldom happens but that disasters of some kind befall the settlers of a new country. Change of climate, modes of living, the air, the soil, and other causes, not unfrequently occasion sickness and great mortality among them. This was the case, to a very alarming degree, among the first settlers on James river, Virginia, and also among those who landed on Plymouth rock, in Massachusetts. And many of the inhabitants of the vicinity of the Falls were visited with sickness, and were removed by death, by a malignant fever, which prevailed among them in 1687, both in Pennsylvania and New Jersey .*
Phineas Pemberton says, "that on the 16th of 3d montn, (that is March 16th), 1687, there was 'a great land flood,' and on the 29th a rupture." This is supposed to refer to the forma- tion of the island at Morrisville, opposite the Trenton bridge, which was at the time separated from the mainland.
The flood here referred to is probably the same as that men- tioned by Mr. Smith, as occurring in 1692,t and there appears to be an error in one of the dates, for it is supposed that so great a rise in the waters as to overflow the banks on the Penn- sylvania side of the Delaware river, at the falls, must have swept away the settlement on the lowlands, at the mouth of the Assan- pink ; and yet, this is said not to have occurred till 1692. The lands on the Jersey shore might, however, have been much higher than on the Pennsylvania side, and probably they were, as they were tilled till many years afterward.
Kalm, a Swede, who travelled in this country in 1748, says, " that his landlord in Trenton told him that twenty years before (1728), when he settled there, there was hardly more than one house."
In August, 1814, Mrs. Jemima Howell (youngest daughter of Mr. John Burroughs), who was born in the year 1724, informed a citizen of Trenton, that although she could not tell when the
*" Friends' Miscellany," vol. vii., p. 31.
t Smith's History, p. 208. .
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frame church (in Ewing) was built, yet she remembered that she had helped to scrub it, seventy years before. She said she also well remembered when there were but two or three small houses where the city of Trenton is built, and that it was woods from the neighborhood of the frame church to Mahlon Stacy's mill, on the Assanpink, the place lately occupied by Col. Edward B. Bingham, as a paper mill; that they had only a foot-path for many years after, and that the farmers carried their grain to market on pack horses.
Kalm says that in 1748 there were near a hundred houses in Trenton. The probability is, from the description he has given of the town, that he included the buildings on the north and south side of the Assanpink. He also says that there were two small churches-one belonging to the Church of England, and the other belonging to the Presbyterians. As Nottingham and Hopewell were settled almost entirely by Friends, there is reason to suppose that they were among the first to erect places of pub- lic worship, which was probably the fact, as their house was built in 1739. Nearly all the first buildings in the original city were on or near the York road (now Greene street), which led from Mahlon Stacy's mills.
When the assembly made the county of Hunterdon in 1714, they enacted that the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Ses- sions should be held alternately at Maidenhead (Lawrenceville) and Hopewell, " until a court-house and gaol for the county should be built .*
An act was passed April 9th, 1679, " that the county courts should be held at one time in one town, and another time in another town,"f and accordingly they were held for the county of Hunterdon, in Maidenhead, in the months of June and December, and in Hopewell in March and September, from June, 1713, to September, 1719. The first courts in the county were held at Maidenhead on the second Tuesday of June, 1714, but at what house we are not informed.
* Laws and Ordinances, vol. i., p. 100, in State Library at Trenton.
t Leaming & Spicer, p. 116.
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Afterwards they were held at the house of Theophilus Phillips, William Osborn, Mr. Horner, and Daniel Bailey.
In Hopewell they were held first and subsequently at the house of Andrew Heath and the house of Robert Lanning, (the place afterwards owned by the heirs of Nathaniel Lanning).
In September, 1719, the courts were held in Trenton. "It having been represented to the governor that the holding the courts alternately in Maidenhead and Hopewell was attended with inconvenience, in March, 1719, he recommended that the courts should be held and kept in Trenton from the month of September next ensuing."*
The magistrates present at the first court in the county, held at Maidenhead, were John Bainbridge, Jacob Bellerjeau, Philip Phillips, William Greene, John Holcomb, Samuel Greene, and Samuel Fitch. There is a tombstone in the burying ground at Lamberton, containing the name of John Bainbridge which states, " he was a gentleman of great merit, and having the con- fidence of the people, was called to fill many important offices in the colony." And he was no doubt the ancestor of the Bain- bridges in this part of the country, and of the late gallant Commodore Bainbridge. .
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William Greene and John Reading were the first assessors of Hunterdon, and Ralph Hunt, the first collector-these offices at that time being county instead of township offices, as they now are. .
The first grand jurors were William Hixson, Daniel Howell, Robert Lanning, Henry Mershon, Richard Compton, George Woolsey, Joseph Reeder, Jr., Thomas Standling, Richard Scudder, Timothy Baker, John Burroughs, John Titus, Samue Everett, John Ely, and Richard Lanning.
John Muirheid, high sheriff, complained to the court in 1714 and 1717, and in June, 1719, and in March, 1720, that there was no gaol (or jail) for the county.
In 1728-9, John Dagworthy, Esq., high sheriff complained
* Laws and Ordinances, p. 223, State Library at Trenton.
x
1
1
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to the court that the jail was so out of repair that escapes took place daily. " Ordered to be repaired."*
In 1714, the land became the property of Colonel Trent, and in 1719, if not before, the courts were held here part of the time under the act of April, 1676, "directing them to be held in the towns alternately."
In 1824 it was enacted "that the Supreme Court for the county of Hunterdon, be held in July, at Trent's-town."
About the year 1721, a log jail for the county was built at the forks of the road leading from Trenton to Pennington, and from Pennington to the Eight-Mile-Ferry, nearly opposite the residence of the late Jesse Moore, Esq.
From the complaint of the sheriff it appears that neither the jail nor the character of the inhabitants was much credit to the county if the criminals were so numerous and the prison so weak that escapes occurred daily.
Although the sheriff complained to the court of the daily escapes from the jail, there does not appear on the record of the court many criminal cases presented by the grand jury.
They found a bill at one term of the courts against a man " for stealing a book called the New Testament," and at another court against a man " for stealing a horse bill." Besides these, but very few bills were found.
A few years afterwards some of the most interesting trials took place which ever came before this court, in which the Rev. John Rowland was tried for theft, and the celebrated Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. William Tennent, pastor of the Church at Freehold, and Joshua Anderson and Benjamin Stevens, promi- nent members of the Presbyterian Church at Trenton, were tried for perjury.
The following is an account of that most singular affair :
"About the year 1744, there was an unusual attention to religion in this part of the country. The Rev. William Tennent and the Rev. John Rowland were considerably in- strumental in calling the attention of the people to spiritual concerns.
* Minutes of the Court, vol. ii.
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" Mr. Rowland's popularity and success was very great among all ranks of people, and this drew upon him the enmity of those who disregarded religious truth, and among the number was the Chief Justice of the state.
" The Chief Justice at this time was the son of Lewis Morris, Esq., then governor of the state. He was a member of the council as well as being at the head of the judiciary. The appointment of young Morris to this office was highly reprobated by the people, who opposed the union of the legislative and judiciary, and more especially as this union was in the person of the son of the governor .*
" At this time there was a man traveling about the country by the name of Tom Bell, of notoriously bad character, who had been indicted in most of the middle colonies, yet by his ingenuity and cunning had contrived to escape punishment. It happened one evening, that Mr. John Stockton, of Princeton, met with Bell at a tavern in that place and addressed him as Mr. Rowland. Bell told him his mistake. Mr. Stockton informed him that his error had arisen from his remarkable resemblance to Mr. Rowland.
" This hint was sufficient for Bell. The next day he went into a neighboring town in Hunterdon, where Mr. Rowland had preached once or twice, and introduced himself as the Rev. Mr. Rowland who had before preached for them ; and he was invited to officiate for them the next Sabbath.
" Bell received the kindest attention of the family where he staid until the Sabbath, when he rode with the family in their wagon to the church.
".Just before they reached the church, Bell discovered that he had left his notes behind, and proposed to the master of the family, who rode by the wagon on a fine horse, to take his horse and ride back, that he might get his notes and return in time for the services. To this the gentleman assented, and Bell mounted the horse, rode back to the house, rifled the desk of his host, and made off with the horse ; and wherever he stopped he called himself the Rev. John Rowland.
* Mulford's History, p. 345.
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"At this time the Rev. Messrs. Tennent and Rowland, with Mr. Joshua Anderson and Benjamin Stevens, were in Maryland or Pennsylvania, on business of a religious nature. Soon after their return to New Jersey, Mr. Rowland was charged with the robbery. At the court, the judge with great severity, charged the jury to find a bill. But it was not until they had been sent out the fourth time, with threats from the judge, that they agreed upon a bill for the alleged crime.
"On the trial, Messrs. Tennent, Anderson, and Stevens, appeared as witnesses, and fully proved an alibi : for they testified that on the day the robbery was committed they were with Mr. Rowland, and heard him preach in Pennsylvania or Maryland.
" So Mr. Rowland was acquitted, to the great disappointment and mortification of his persecutors. Their enmity to religion, however, led them industriously to seek occasion, if by any possible means, they might bring disgrace and ruin upon these servants of God.
"There were one or two circumstances which seemed to inspire the. hope that their malicious feelings might yet be gratified. The testimony of the man who had been robbed was positive that Mr. Rowland was the robber ; and several persons who had seen the man who called himself Rowland, in possession of the stolen horse, corroborated his testimony.
" But Mr. Rowland was out of their power. He had been acquitted. 1
"Their vengeance, therefore, was directed against those persons by whose testimony Rowland had been cleared, and they were accordingly accused of perjury, and on ex parte testimony, the grand jury found bills of indictment against Messrs. Tennent, Anderson, and Stevens, 'for willful and cor- rupt perjury.'
" Now the enemies of the gospel and revivals of religion appear to have thought that their end would be easily accomplished and that disgrace would be brought on religion, its ministers, and professors, for Messrs. Anderson and Stevens were pious men. These indictments were removed to the Supreme Court. But Mr. Anderson, living in the county, and feeling his entire
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innocence of the crime of which he was charged, and being unwilling to lie under the imputation of perjury, demanded a trial at the first Court of Oyer and Terminer.
" He was accordingly tried, pronounced guilty, and sentenced to stand on the court-house steps one hour with a paper on his breast, on which was written in large letters, 'this is for willful and corrupt perjury.' And the sentence was executed upon him in front of the court-house, which stood on the spot where the Trenton Bank now stands, in Warren street.
" Messrs. Tennent and Stevens were bound over to appear at the next court.
"They attended, having employed Mr. John Coxe, an eminent lawyer, to conduct their defence. Mr. Tennent knew of no person living by whom he could prove his innocence. His only resource and consolation was to commit himself to the Divine will ;* and considering it as probable that he might suffer, he had prepared a sermon to preach from the pillory, if that should be his fate. On his arrival at Tren- ton, he found Mr. Smith of New York, one of the ablest lawyers in America, and a religious man, who had volun- teered to aid in his defence ; also Mr. John Kinsey, one of the first counselors of Philadelphia, who had come by request of Gilbert Tennent (his brother) for the same purpose.
" Messrs. Tennent and Stevens met these gentlemen at Mr. Coxe's the morning before the trial was to come on.
" Mr. Coxe wished them to bring in their witnesses, that they might examine them before going into court. Mr. Tennent replied that he did not know of any witness but God and his own conscience. Mr. Coxe replied, ' If you have no witnesses, sir, the trial must be put off; otherwise, you will most certainly be defeated. Your enemies are making great exertions to ruin you.'
"' I am sensible of this,' said Mr. Tennent, ' yet it never shall be said that I have delayed the trial or been afraid to meet the justice of my country. I know my innocence, and that God
* His affectionate congregation felt deeply interested in his critical situation, and kept a day of fasting and prayer on the occasion .- " Log College."
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whom I serve will not give me over into the hands of the enemy. Therefore, gentlemen, go on with the trial.' Messrs. Smith and Kinsey, who were religious men, told him that his confi. dence and trust in God as a Christian minister of the gospel were well founded, and before a heavenly tribunal would be all- important to him, but assured him that they would not avail in an earthly court, and urged his consent to put off the trial. But Mr. Tennent utterly refused.
" Mr. Coxe then told him that there was a flaw in the indict- ment, of which he might avail himself. After hearing an explanation from Mr. Coxe, respecting the nature of the error, Mr. Tennent declared that he would rather suffer death than consent to such a course. Mr. Stevens, however, seized the opportunity afforded, and was discharged.
" Mr. Tennent assured his counsel that his confidence in God was so strong, and his assurance that He would bring about his deliverance in some way or other, was so great, that he did not wish them to delay the trial for a moment.
" Mr. Coxe still urged Mr. Tennent to have the trial put off, and considering Mr. Tennent's refusal as manifesting a want of Christian meekness and prudence. But Mr. T. insisted that they should proceed, and left them, they not knowing how to act, when the bell summoned them to court.
" Mr. Tennent had not walked far before he was met by at man and his wife, who asked if his name was not Tennent.
" He told them it was, and asked if they had any business with him.
" The man said they had come from the place in Pennsylvania or. Maryland where, at a particular time, Messrs. Rowland, Tennent Anderson, and Stevens had lodged, and in the house where they were ; that on the next day they had heard Messrs. Tennent and Rowland preach ; that a few nights before they (the man and his wife) had left home, on waking out of a sound sleep, both had dreamed that Mr. Tennent was at Trenton, in the greatest distress, and that it was in their power, and theirs only, to relieve him. This dream was twice repeated to them both, and so deep was the impression made on their minds, that
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they had come to Trenton, and wished to know of him what they were to do.
" Mr. T. took them before his counsel, who, after examining them, and finding the testimony of the man and his wife full and to the purpose, were perfectly astonished. Before the trial began, another person came to Mr. T., and told him that he was so troubled in mind, for the part he had taken in the prose- cution, that he could find no rest, till he had determined to come out and make a full confession. Mr. T. sent this man to his counsel. Soon after Mr. Stockton, from Princeton, appeared, and added his testimony.
"On trial, the advocates of the defendant so traced every movement of Mr. Tennent, on the Saturday, Sabbath, and Monday, the time of the theft and robbery by Bell, that the jury did not hesitate to acquit Mr. Tennent.
" Thus was Mr. Tennent, by the remarkable interposition of Divine Providence, delivered out of the hands of his enemies."*
Colonel William Trent was a gentleman of great respectability, and was for several years speaker of the house of assembly of Pennsylvania, and in September, 1723, he was chosen speaker of the house of assembly of New Jersey. In this year William Trent and John Reading were appointed commissioners for the county of Hunterdon. Mr. Trent died December 25th, 1724.t It is supposed by some that he died in Philadelphia, but I believe it is not known to a certainty.
In 1726, the legislative assembly granted to James Trent, the oldest son of William Trent, the exclusive use of the river Delaware for a ferry, two miles above and two miles below the falls. The ferry above the falls has been in use until within the last .thirty years, and was a short distance above Calhoun street, while the one below the falls was used until the Delaware bridge was erected in 1804-5. This last ferry was on the direct route between New York and Philadelphia.
*" Log College," by A. Alexander, D. D., p. 189.
t Smith's History, p. 419.
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CHAPTER XV.
1744-1757.
Meeting of New Jersey Troops-Troubles between the governor and the two houses-The Indians favor the French and oppose the English-Plan of union proposed-Not satisfactory to the English or the people of the provinces-Virginia raises troops and places them under command of Colonel Washington.
A FTER the formal declaration of war by the English, March 24th, 1744, and the matter was laid before the assembly of New Jersey, by President Hamilton, on the 12th of June, they resolved, as stated in a previous chapter, to raise and equip five hundred men for this service. The enterprise met with such favor, that, in less than two months, six hundred and sixty men offered for enlistment. From these five companies were formed for this province, and the sixth was transferred to the quota of New York. These troops under the command of Colonel Philip Schuyler, reached the appointed rendezvous at Albany, on the 3d of September, and found the proposed expedition had been abandoned, in consequence of the failure of England to send forward the forces promised by them ; they remained until autumn of the next year, serving to overawe the Indians, and protect the frontier from their incursions and depredations The pay promised by the crown was tardily forwarded, and. the troops at the rendezvous became impatient in consequence of the delay. Not so with New Jersey, for the bounties promised them was punctually paid, and the state made ample provision for their comfort. In consequence of the failure on the part of England to pay them, the New Jersey troops mutinied in April, 1747, and determined to leave, with their arms and
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