USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The history of Newark, New Jersey : being a narrative of its rise and progress, from the settlement in May, 1666, by emigrants from Connecticut to the present time, including a sketch of the press of Newark, from 1791 to 1878 > Part 4
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LAURENCE WARD was the first deacon of the First Church, and appears to have been well advanced in years when he came with the settlers from Branford. He died in 1669, leaving a reputation sweet and pure.
It may be said of all the early male settlers of Newark, that each was a man of mark in some one or other respect, even though the education of a man here and there only enabled him to make "his mark" in signing the " Fundamental Agreements." Altogether
28
A MILD TYPE OF ARISTOCRACY.
the band was a collection of picked men ; busy bees, and no drones. Small as was the community, it was not without its social leader- ship ; something of a mild type of aristocracy. At the time we are writing of, the prefix Mr. was applied to only eleven persons, namely : Mr. Abraham Pierson, senior, and Mr. Abraham Pierson, junior, Mr. Robert and Mr. Samuel Kitchel, Mr. Jeremiah Peck, Mr. Morris, Mr. Jasper Crane, Mr. Leete, Mr. Matthew Camfield and Mr. Obadiah Bruen. The rest were addressed or spoken of after a fashion most thoroughly democratic.
In order to arrive at a just idea of the character of the community established by such men as we have been describing, it must be remembered that at the time of the settlement there was established only the merest form of government anywhere in New Jersey. A year had scarcely elapsed since the arrival of Governor Carteret from England, and his publication of the Concessions, the first con- stitution, really, of what is now the State. The instrument guaran- teed to settlers the very largest liberty, civil and religious,-" any law, usage or custom in the realm of England, to the contrary not- withstanding." It also authorized, as already stated, the convening of a General Assembly, one branch of which was to be composed of representatives chosen directly by the people in their various loca- tions. The Assembly was empowered to appoint its own time of meeting, to constitute courts, levy taxes, build fortresses, make war, offensive and defensive, naturalize strangers, allot land to settlers, provide for the support of government, and ordain all laws for the general good, not conflicting, however, with those of England, nor in opposition to the Concessions of the Proprietors and their interest. But still there was really no regularly established government. Hence, the settlers of Newark were, from the very first, a law unto themselves. In addition to what the " Fundamental Agreements" provided, the settlers declared that " they will from time to time all submit one to another to be led, ruled and govern- ed by such magistrates and rulers in the town, as shall be annually chosen from the freemen from among themselves, with such orders and laws whilst they are settled here by themselves, as they had in the place whence they came ; under such penalties as the magistrates upon the nature of the offence shall determine." Without waiting for any General Assembly to convene they seized time and authority by their forelocks and provided themselves for the establishing of
-
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TOWN COURTS IN 1668-9.
Town Courts. The Town Records show that at a meeting held January Ist, 1668-9, the following item was approved :
"ITEM .- The Town hath agreed that there shall be two Courts in our town yearly, to hear and try all causes and actions that shall be necessary and desired within our compass and ACCORDING TO OUR ARTICLES ; and that the same shall pass by the verdict of a jury of six men ; and one of the times is to be the last fourth day of the week, commonly called Wednes- day, in the month of February; and the other is the second Wednesday of the next following month of September."
It is proper to add here that the settlers had authority from Carteret's government beyond that vested in them by the Conces- sions. It appears that in common with Woodbridge, Piscataway and other towns, Newark had a special agreement with the Proprietary Government extending its rights, privileges and authority. The special agreements with the two towns first named still exist, though that made with Newark has long since disappeared. There is the amplest evidence that it did exist, however. It consisted of fifteen articles. There is extant a record of the Proprietary Council, dated Sept. 14, 1747, in which it is distinctly stated that these articles "were settled with long thought and deliberation, and corrections and alterations mutually made, proposed and agreed to in them ; and that Captain Treat and Mr. Gregory, their agents in this affair, did read the Concession, and that one alteration proposed was con- cerning the quit-rent of a half-penny sterling per acre, to which Governor Carteret answered, 'I cannot grant any exemption from the payment of the half-penny per acre, it being all the advantage the Lords Proprietors reserve to themselves,' &c. To another alter- ation he said, 'as for the purchasers being out of purse, I cannot help them therein.' " In all that they did, therefore, it is clear that there was no improper assumption or unwarranted exercise of authority.
In the conduct of these purely local affairs everything was done by "agreements." Thus, they agreed to apportion among them- selves the town lands. They first agreed that the two companies of settlers should each establish the same neighborly contiguity they enjoyed in New England. That is to say, the company from Milford and New Haven, and the company from Branford, took up quarters separate from each other; so that neighbors continued neighbors as in the mother colony. Then, "after due preparation and solemnization," and submission " to the Lord for His guidance," the settlers cast lots for their "home-lotts."
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"THE FIRST CHURCH."
Paradoxical though the statement may appear, it is a fact that the First Church of Newark was, in reality, established even before Newark was settled. It existed in Branford more than twenty years before 1666, having been organized there in 1644. In October, 1666, the church, with its pastor, its deacons, its records and the major portion of its congregation, was simply translated from Branford to Newark; so that its "church work" may be claimed to have gone on almost uninterruptedly. Dr. Stearns, who may be regarded as excellent authority on such a subject, says: " The First Church, in Newark, appears to be the oldest fully organized church in the State of New Jersey." On September Ioth, 1668, steps were first taken to erect a place of worship. It was voted in town meeting to " build a meeting-house as soon as may be," and, "for the better carrying of it to an end," Deacon Ward, Sergeant Harrison, his son John, Sergeant Riggs and Micah Tompkins were appointed a committee to superintend the work. Deacon Ward and Sergeants Riggs and Harrison subse- quently entered into a contract to erect the building. The whole town helped in the matter -- some one way, some another. The size of the building was anything but imposing. It was 36 feet in length, 26 feet in breadth, and 13 feet between the joists, "with a lenter to it all the length, which will make it 36 feet square." It was eighteen months before it was so far finished as to be ready for use, even in part. The site of the building was near the spot now occupied by the engine house on the west side of Broad street, almost opposite the present plain, modest, but stately and sub- stantial structure which contains its archives and continues its mission. The site was selected by Pastor Pierson, Robert Treat and Deacon Ward. It was most properly called a meeting-house, as it was used for all public purposes as well as church services. It was man's temple as well as God's; was the scene of all civil and military proceedings, for the first forty years of the town's exist- ence. In 1675 the building was transformed into a possible house of refuge as well as a place of worship. At that time the Indian atrocities in New England were of such an alarming character that the inhabitants of Newark became apprehensive lest they should be suddenly assailed by the Hackensack Indians, or some other aboriginal tribe. Hence they fortified their meeting-house, had its walls lathed and the spaces filled up with stone and mortar, besides
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FRUITS OF AN HONEST INDIAN POLICY.
having two "flankers," made with palisades- shelter for the men- at-arms. At a meeting held early in January, 1676, Captain Swaine -- whose memory was vivid touching Indian horrors, for- asmuch as his own sister had been seized and carried off by a Pequot chief, in Connecticut, many years before-and Sergeants Johnson and Harrison were appointed to join with the commis- sioned officers in arranging for the fortification of the town. It appears to have been customary at both church and town meetings to have the meeting-house guarded by armed sentinels, and for church- men generally to have with them their arms, so as to be prepared for any emergency-any surprise by the Indians. However justifi- able these precautions were, it does not appear that their value was ever practically tested. There is no record of any attack having been made by the Indians on the Newark settlers. Indeed, the policy pursued by the latter towards the aborigines was, from the very beginning, just, honest, conciliatory and peaceful, in the fullest sense of the terms. Perfect amicability between the races prevailed, a natural sequence of fair and honorable dealing.
There were other uses for arms besides watchfulness of the Indians. Wolves and bears were numerous in the woods around Newark. So troublesome had the former become that, soon after the settlement, - the town offered a premium for killing them. From fifteen to twenty shillings was the price set upon the head of every grown wolf, and five shillings for a bear cub. There were Provincial laws to the same effect, but the town would pay for only such beasts as were slaughtered in its own bounds. Among the settlers, Sergeant Riggs seems to have been an especial terror to the wolves and bears. His possessions included a " wolf-pit." One James John- stone, writing to his friends in Scotland, encouraged them by remarking that the wolves " are nothing to be feared." He added that the people thought nothing "to be among them all night." Because of his own fears, when "lying out at night," the country people laughed at him. Even he, however, thought nothing of the rattlesnakes. They could be killed or passed by as people pleased, he said.
The more arduous duties of citizenship were distributed so equally and fairly that there seems to have been no shirking, no evasion. Each person had his duty defined and imposed according to fitness and position, and everything worked almost with the
32
THE DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP.
regularity of clock-work. The highways had to be kept in order, the fences to be made and kept in repair, the meadows ditched and the woods burned, but each of these public duties were promptly executed by the persons severally assigned to do one or the other. With regard to ditching, the Town Records have an order, bearing date of June 10th, 1669, setting forth that every man was required to work one day for each £200 of estate he possessed ; "two rods in length is to be taken for a day's work. The planters are divided into two companies, of which Sergeant Riggs is to command the one, and Sergeant Harrison the other ; and every man must set up stakes marked with the two first letters of his name at each end of his work, so that the surveyor may know whether he has done his part, and how he has done it. The men are to come out and work in succession, as they are called by their leaders, notice having been given the day previous." Burning the wood was likewise an opera- tion of serious character, and was done under the supervision of a committee annually chosen. Every man, "from 16 up to 60," was required to work his day. The procuring and laying in wood for the use of the pastor devolved on a committee of two, appointed every quarter. There appears to have been but one public duty which was not regularly and properly performed. As in later and more important periods, freemen neglected to fulfil their functions as voters. Under the town laws, it was the duty of every planter to attend public meetings and vote on all public questions. Not even the imposition of fines could induce general observance of this duty. Some planters would stay away and let others bear the responsibility of government. It would thus appear that the forefathers were no better, in at least one respect, than their descendants. They set a sad example of shirking an important public duty. In 1676, indeed, the evil of non-attendance at town-meeting had become so serious that an order was adopted that "The drum is to be beaten twice in fair weather ; the first drum is to be beaten as far as Sergeant Harrison's gate, and the second at the meeting-house, about half an hour after, at which time every planter shall be at the place of meeting to answer to his name." The penalty was "6 c." for tardiness, fifteen pence for a half day's absence, half a crown for a whole day, and two shillings for retiring before adjournment. Besides the fine, absence for any part of a day lost a man his vote. In 1680, 1683 and 1690, this
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VOTING-MODIFYING THE OLD LAWS.
order was unanimously renewed; but it seems to have been impossible to enforce it strictly. The Puritan forefathers of Newark seem to have made a marked distinction between public worship and public meeting. Possibly the attendance at church was so regular and general that there was no occasion for fines ; but it is certain that no record exists of any such imposition as in the cases of delinquent attendants on town meetings. Another matter seems to have proven impracticable from an early date-the severely restrictive investiture of the suffrage. As we have seen, the power to vote was vested in " church members only," under the " Funda mental Agreements." So long as the settlers were "a close corporation,"-a communion of Puritans-there was, of course, no trouble. Just as soon, however, as the stranger began to come within their gates, and to be permitted to settle amongst them, it was found advisable to modify this "iron bedstead " rule, as it has often been termed since. Soon the bars had to be let down. The record of a town meeting, held March Ist, 1677, just prior to the death of the elder Pierson, shows that it was declared "that all and every man that improves lands in the town of Newark, shall make their appearance at town meetings, and there attend to any business that shall be proposed, as any of the planters do, and be liable to any fine, as others, in case of their absence, &c .; and also that the clerk is to set their names in a list and call them, as others are called." Nevertheless, the old law was still unrepealed. We find that in August, 1685, eight years later, Messrs. William Camp and John Baldwin, Jr., were chosen a committee " to go from house to house of those as have not subscribed to our fundamental covenant, and return their answer to the town." Meanwhile, as the original settlers began to grow feeble and to experience the closing of " life's fitful fever," the " covenant " gradually passed into obsoleteness.
From the very first the settlers seem to have fully appreciated the benefits of education. Although there were among the list of original subscribers to the "Fundamental Agreements" more than one who was just barely equal to the task of making " his mark," we find it recorded that one Richard (supposed to be Richard Hone, the first pauper in the town) was " admitted a freeholder on condition of his setting his name to our agreements, and he has promised to set about learning to read, which was an encouragement to them herein." This was in 1671. In 1676, seventeen years before the
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EDUCATION-SETTLING BOUNDARY LINES.
Provincial Assembly enacted any law on the subject of education, the schoolmaster was abroad in Newark. John Catlin was appointed to the office, and was required, by the order of the town, to " do his faithful, honest and true Endeavor to teach the Children or servants of those as have subscribed, the reading and writing of English and also Arethmetick if they desire it ; as much as they are capable to learn and he capable to teach them, within the Compass of this Year."
Nothing, perhaps, could more fully illustrate the character of the first settlers, and of their neighbors in the sister settlement Eliza- bethtown, than the circumstances attending the fixing of the boun- dary line between the two settlements. The commissioners from Newark were: Jasper Crane, Robert Treat, Mathew Camfield, Samuel Swaine and Thomas Johnson ; from Elizabethtown, John Ogden, Luke Watson, Robert Bond and Jeffrey Jones. On the 20th of May, 1668, these worthies met in the open air on an elevated point of land, named then and long after known as Divident Hill. The line agreed upon ran from " the top of a little round hill named Divident Hill ; and from thence to run upon a Northwest line into the country," until it reached Watchung Mountain. What took place in connection with the agreement is described in an affidavit made in 1743, by an eye-witness, an old man who was called upon to give evidence in the famous legal dispute between the Elizabeth- town people and the Proprietors.' This venerable witness stated upon oath : " That he heard Governor Treat tell after what manner the line was settled between the two towns; and that it was done in so loving and solemn a manner, that he thought it ought never to be removed , for he (the Governor) himself being among them at that Time prayed with them on Dividend Hill (so called) that there might be a good agreement between them; * * * * and the Gov- ernor said that, after the agreement, Mr. John Ogden (being one of the first purchasers) prayed among the people, and returned thanks for their loving agreement, and the Governor also said that, if the Newark people differed with the Elizabethtown people concerning that line, that he believed they would never prosper."
It has been appropriately suggested that if any spot in this vicin- ity deserves a monument, it is Divident Hill. " The pagans of classic days," says Dr. Stearns, " would have been sure to erect there a splendid temple of Concord." If, however, no granite or marble
"DIVIDENT HILL,"-DIVIDING NEWARK AND ELIZABETHTOWN.
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THE HILL SANCTIFIED BY PRAYER.
memorial crowns the " hill sanctified by prayer," its historic interest can never die as long as pure poetry conveying ennobling sentiment is preserved, such poetry and sentiment as are embodied in the following beautiful lines, written by Mrs. E. C. Kinney, the gifted wife of an honored and distinguished son of Newark :
"DIVIDENT HILL."
1129687
Pause here, O Muse ! that Fancy's eye May trace the footprints still, Of men that, centuries gone by, With prayer ordained this hill ; As lifts the misty veil of years, Such visions here arise
As when the glorious past appears Before enchanted eyes.
I see, from midst the faithful few Whose deeds yet live sublime-
Whosc guileless spirits, brave as true, Are models " for all time," A group upon this height convened- In solemn prayer they stand- Men, on whose sturdy wisdom leaned The settlers of the land.
In mutual love the line they trace That will their homes divide,
And cver mark the chosen place That prayer hath sanctified ;
And here it stands-a temple old, Which crumbling Time still braves; Though ages have their cycles rolled Above those patriots' graves.
As Christ transfigured on the height The three beheld with awe, And near his radiant form, in white, The ancient prophets saw ; So, on this suminit I behold With beatific sight, Once more our praying sires of old, As spirits clothed in light.
A halo crowns the sacred hill, And thence glad voices raise
A song that doth the concave fill- Their prayers are turned to praise ! Art may not for these saints of old The marble urn invent ;
Yet here the Future shall behold Their Heaven-built monument.
Of a piece with their dealings with one another, with their neigh- bors, and with the Indians, were the dealings of the forefathers with the Proprietors. It will be remembered that in the Concessions the Lords Proprietors exacted from the settlers a small quit-rent of a half-penny per acre, to be paid annually on, and after, March 25th, 1670. While with other settlements, notably with Elizabethtown, great trouble arose touching these rents, resulting in serious and almost interminable litigation, as well as riotous and disorderly demonstrations, and while the people of Newark had disputes and differences with the Proprietors, in common with other settlers, there yet remains indisputable evidence that in all their transactions with Governor Carteret, and his successors, the people of this place, as a people, demonstrated a scrupulous regard for what they considered the right. The Elizabethtown settlers seem to have early developed a disposition to revolt against the Proprietors' authority. Albeit they had formally and solemnly agreed to the provisions of the Con-
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A PEOPLE JEALOUS OF THEIR REPUTATION.
.
cessions, and acknowleged the rights of the Proprietors, many of them set up a claim that they held the lands under authority from Col. Nicolls, the agent of the Duke of York, and therefore were not bound to pay the quit-rents. The 25th of March, 1670, was first pay day ; but, as the author of " East Jersey under the Proprietors" remarks, " its arrival caused the suppressed passions of those inimi- cal to the existing government to break forth at once in violent and decided opposition." The Governor appears to have feared that the Newark people might be influenced by the spirit of their neigh- bors and show reluctance in meeting their obligations. Accordingly, he wrote to them a month prior to the arrival of the day. They seem to have felt somewhat indignant that their honor should thus have been impugned. In their reply to the Governor we have a new and interesting glimpse of their character. The Governor's letter being read and discussed in town meeting, it was agreed: "After all due salutation presented by the constable, to our worshipful Governor, we, the inhabitants and freeholders of the town of Newark, do, by him, make returns to the said Governor's writing as followeth, viz .: That they do hold and possess their lands and rights in the said town, both by a civil and divine right, as by their legal purchase and articles doth and may show. And for the pay- ment of the half-penny per acre for all our allotted lands, according to our articles, and interpretation of them, you assuring them (the lands) to us, we are ready, when the time comes, to perform our duty to the Lords or their assigns." And perform it they did. Henry Lyon, the first town treasurer, (also the first tavern keeper,) and Thomas Johnson, the constable, were duly chosen to collect a quantity of wheat from the settlers, equivalent in value to the amount of the rents, money not being plenteous-barter, indeed, being the rule and not the exception. Treasurer Lyon and Constable Johnson were also duly deputed to deliver the wheat to Governor Carteret, at Elizabethtown, on the very day the claim was due. A high tribute to the integrity of Newark during all its early his- tory is the declaration by the Proprietors seventy odd years subse- quent to the date above, that, "so far as they knew, neither they nor their predecessors from the first settlement of the Province to this day, ever had any controversy in law or equity with the people of Newark." While all this is true, it must be confessed that there is evidence to show that some inhabitants of Newark felt a strong
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HIGH TRIBUTE TO NEWARK'S INTEGRITY.
sympathy in common with the Elizabethtown people. Here it is necessary to slightly digress.
On April 7th, 1668, Governor Carteret issued a proclamation for the election of a General Assembly, two representatives from each town. "Newark upon the Peshawack River" chose Robert Treat and Samuel Swaine. The Assembly met May 26th, and sat till the 30th, when it adjourned till November 3d. That day having arrived, it reassembled, but owing to serious and growing dissensions with the Governor's Council, it sat only four days and then adjourned sine die. Meanwhile the breach between the Governor and the governed grew wider. Governor Carteret undertook to control without an Assembly, and with laws that had either never been properly enacted or had expired by limitation. The result was that his authority fell into widespread contempt, and in 1672 a consider- able number of the malcontents from various towns actually set up another Governor, a worthless, dissolute, illegitimate son of Sir George Carteret, Philip's cousin. Him they dragged from his proper obscurity, and pushed forward as the figure-head of a rev- olutionary movement, which, as set forth in the Bill in Chancery, " imprisoned the Secretary and Receiver General, and others, and obliged Governor Carteret to fly to England to complain of these proceedings." To round the narrative of this matter, it may be stated that in England the Governor was entirely sustained ; but, owing to the temporary overthrow by the Dutch of the English rule in New York and New Jersey, during the years 1673-74, he did not return for about two years.
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