Book ,^ri 4^ % THE EARLY DAYS ■-^^ (Sfi f AND EARLY SURVEYS OF EAST NEW JERSEY. By WILLIAM ROOME, OF P EQ UAl tl t C, N. J. en years after the above " agreement" such an entry on the minutes as the following : — "6th August, 1737, 'Whereas in October, 1730, a division of 2,000 Acres was ordered and advertising was entirely neglected, it is ordered that such division be two years after this date ; that after two years from this div- idends be ordered yearly thereafter till the whole undivided lands be laid out.' " * * * A— page 35. 38 On the same day, at the same meeting, a draft of an advertisement was presented to the Board by Joseph Murry and James Alexander, which gives us an inside view of the worlcing of the system, and also of the manner in which the shares of Proprieties were scattered at home and abroad. The draft is as follows : — " Whereas it is agreed by Council of Proprietors of the E. D. of New Jersey that there shall be a farther division of 2,000 A. to each Propriety or one twenty-fourth part of the said E. D. * * and after two years there shall be a further division until all said lands in common be divided and appro- priated * * are therefore to notify to all Proprieties, and share of Pro- prieties in said Eastern Division, whether inhabiting in Great Britain, or elsewhere, that they do either come, or send, or appoint in this Province proper persons to elect and locate all the past dividends of land due to them within the two years aforesaid — and after the said two years to elect and lo- cate the division of 2,000 Acres appointed as aforesaid, and such further yearly dividends of lands as shall from time to time be thought proper to be made. On failure thereof they must blame themselves if the best land be elected and divided before they come, and that the worst is left for them to divide afterwards, for that the interest of the said division, and of the Pro- prietors thereof has already much suffered by past delays, &c."* We find no record that the annual divisions ever took place. On the contrary thirty-six years after (Sept. 18, 1773,!) we find it ordered " that they proceed to make a dividend * * by allottment, and all persons holding any shares of Propriety, or part of shares which are not yet recorded or en- tered with the Register are required to bring to the Register as soon as pos- sible an account of said shares * * and the Register is required to in- form such persons of the mode of division now agreed on that they may class their shares of propriety with any other Proprietor that they can agree with in order to make up one-quarter of a propriety." * * The Register was also to inform such persons " in case it appears at any time before the last class of lots be drawn for, that any prior locations have been made with- in the bounds of any lot drawn for * * such person shall be entitled to an equal quantity of land of like quality * * on any lands unlocated." From the Minutes a year later (Sept. 17, 1774-+) ^^ would appear that at this time the Board were actually having the land surveyed " preparatory to a general division," for it was requested by them of the Surveyor General '• that he will not locate to any holder of Rights any part of the lots which have been so surveyed." But this work, and final division, appears to have never been accom- plished, probably interfered with by the War for Freedom which so soon followed. After that event the old plan was adhered to, for on the i6th Sept., 1785, the Board " Resolved that a Division be now made of 4500 Acres to each Propriety of one twenty-fourth part of the E. D. of New Jersey * * which division shall be called in future the fourth division." It can readily be seen by the above record how that the " rights" or " warrants" acquired by these divisions would become distributed among * Mln. Council A.— p. 48. . t lb. B— 149. t lb. p. 1T2. 39 many holders, and how they, selling parts of their shares to different buyers, the owners would soon become very numerous, and how these parties having rights, in their search for the best land, without any concert of action, would naturally fix upon and lay their warrants upon the same lots, or overlap their lots one upon another, not knowing of any prior location. And this was of continual occurrence. It was necessary for the buyer of rights to receive a deed for the same from the party from whom he purchased, and it was required that this deed be recorded in the office of the Board by their Register. The amount pur- chased was then placed to the credit of the buyer and deducted from the ac- count of the seller. It could thus be seen by the Board at all times how much land (or rights) stood to the credit of each mdividual. When a loca- tion was made by any person, the survey, made by a Deputy Surveyor, was sent in to the Surveyor General, and if correct, he, the Surveyor General, was ordered to issue a patent for the land, describing it as per the survey by courses and distances, and the number of acres which it contained were charged up against the " rights" of the party for whom the location was made. Often, after a lot had been located, sometimes for years, it was dis- covered that the land had been taken up by prior surveys, and as in law pri- ority of location held the land, it became necessary to the party holding the later survey to have the land resurveyed by a Deputy Surveyor, and the fact certified to by him that such a tract of land, or part of a tract, was mislocat- ed on a prior survey. The Board then issued a mislocation right to the un- fortunate party whose plantation lay on the top of another man's, which was placed to his credit on the books of the Register, and then he was in a posi- tion to sally out again to locate another tract with perhaps the same result. If the original party who made the later location had sold the land before the " lap" was discovered, the innocent purchaser must repurchase, or lose his land. His only recourse was to the party of whom he bought. We have thus shown the manner of dividing the land among the hold- ers of Proprietary rights. It remains to speak of the other plan sometimes employed — selling it, or what this implied, selling the rights either by pubHc or private sale to locate it. These rights, or warrants, issued to outside pur- chasers, or to those not belonging to the Board, were of the same force, and were in all things the same — having the same rights of location, as the war- rants divided to the proprietors. The plan generally was to sell in loo acre lots. It may be interesting to know what land (or right of location) was considered worth at various times during the last century. At a sale of J IOC acres 21 August, 1741, the price brought was ^21 ids per 100 acres. About si.\ty-six cents per acre. At a sale made in 1752, March 26, " to raise money to pay litigation and other expenses," 1500 acres were sold at public vendue and brought from ^25 to ;^27 per 100 acres. Ten years later, in 176 1 and 1762, five thousand two hundred acres were sold for from ,£75 to ^85 per 100 acres. The warrants were sometimes issued for "good rights" and sometimes for "pine rights," the latter implying the poorer land. We have explained the system of the Proprietors in locating their lands. 40 and we will now notice the agents they employed in their work, and the man- ner of their doing it. Their chief land officer was the Surveyor General. He appointed the Deputy-Surveyors, who retained office during his pleasure without any re- striction as to number, examined their surveys and gave orders to have pat- ents issued it approved, signing each patent or return himself. The Depu- ties and chain-bearers must all be sworn, which often put the latter to se- rious inconvenience at the first, for on March 17, 1747, we find it recorded that the Board " considering the trouble and expense attending the present method of taking up land by reason of the chain-bearers being obliged to travel sometimes 20 or 30 miles or more to be sworn before a Justice of the Peace, are of opmion that trouble might be saved by obtaining a com- mission under the Great Seal empowering the Surveyor General, or his Dep- uties, to administer such oaths." The Deputies took the oath of office at the time of their appointment. The office of Deputy-Surveyor, however, was not a wonderfully lucra- tive one. In 1749, the Board ordered the Surveyor General to write to his Deputies and direct them not to exceed 10 shillings proclamation money per day for their services in the field, and that they be reasonable in making their draughts and maps. There does not seem to have been any definite regulation by which the Deputies were to act — each one surveying where he pleased, and as he pleased — -until 1785. A division of 4,500 acres was then made and the sur- veys of it were to be made subject to the following rules : — 1st. No survey to be made in quantity of less than 30 Acres. Unless, &c. * * SL proviso. 2nd. All surveys to be returned for the exact quantity, strict measure, and no allowance for highways or barrens. 3rd. No surveys to be made with short courses and frequent angles for the sake of leaving out poor land. 4th. All surveys be plotted and returned according to exact mensuration by the chain and observation of the compass, and that no natural bound of trees, rocks, &c., be mentioned in the return except in the begmning. 5th. No long and narrow survey to be made including swamps, rivers. &c., unless by particular order of the Board. In 1788 there was an addition to the Deputies' instructions requiring them to keep a book of all unlbcated lands surveyed, and the survey to be returned in one month. No other Deputy-Surveyor was to survey the same land — they must be accurate in their surveys, and were prohibited either di- rectly or indirectly trafficking in rights of location, or making surveys for their own use, either in their own names or in the names of others. The rules were as they should be, but many of them soon became a dead letter, and the Board paid but little attention to their enforcement — especially those requiring them to keep a book — not to survey where other Deputies had surveyed, which, indeed, could scarcely be avoided — to be ac- curate in their surveys, for it was well understood that many of the surveys were made by mapping without the Surveyor even going on the ground — 41 and not to locate or traffic in land, for some members of the Board were Deputy Surveyors and located their own rights. The fourth rule, forbidding that natural bounds be mentioned in the re- turn, was a very necessary one to protect the interests of the Board. The writer has in mind a very early survey in which a certain tree was designated in one of the courses, but about ten chains, or forty rods, has to be added to the length of the line mentioned in the return to reach the said tree ; and as the Courts hold that natural bounds are to be taken when established and undisputed, rather than courses and distances, the land has always been held and possessed up to that point, thus taking unfairly from the Board a considerable number of acres. Another survey of the same character con- taining according to the return about 275 acres, actually contains nearly 500 acres. Certainly facts not particularly calculated to impress one with either the accuracy or honesty of the early Deputy Surveyors. On the whole, when a person studies closely the motives and acts of the generations of the past, as shown in their daily business life as left by them- selves on record, the probability is that he will discover that the enchant- ment of the view of the honesty of the olden time so much lauded is caused mostly by its distance, and his conclusion will be that human nature was about the same a few centuries ago as now ; that the " old folks" were about as sharp at a bargain, as avaricious, over-reaching and as fond of the English pound, as the younger generations are of the Yankee dollar ; that the seed which has developed so largely in this generation was planted and tenderly cultivated in those which are gone by. We do not believe the pres- ent generation worse than the past, or more the worshipper of mammon, but do believe it in many respects — in benevolence and large open-heartedness for the suffering of the race — infinitely better. But to return. Sometimes when private parties wished to purchase large tracts they made direct overtures to the Board. This usually resulted in a commission being appointed by the Board to examine the lands and re- port as to their value, &c. Such a commission was appointed in the year 1764,* Messrs. Delancey and Rutherford being the committee, owing to a memorial having be re- ceived from Peter Hassenclever setting forth that he had lately arrived from Europe with the intention to prosecute the manufacture of iron in America, and had accordingly purchased the Ringwood iron works which was sur- rounded by a great quantity of vacant land of little or no other use than to supply said iron works with wood, and that he was willing to purchase a suitable quantity of land on reasonable terms. * * On the 14th Sept., 1764, the committee reported that Mr. Hassenclever wished 10,000 acres or thereabouts in five or six tracts on Long Pond River, not to exceed two miles distant from said river, or two miles from Ringwood furnace, and would give at the rate of ^30 per 100 acres. On the 1 2th September, 1765, the Committee reported that " agreeably to appointment we set out to take a view of the lands Mr. Hassenclever pro- • Mln. Council B.— p. 4. 42 posed to purchase on both sides of the Pequanack* river." As the features of the country are to-day as they were found by this committee over a hun- dred years ago, and as it very accurately describes a portion of the Northern section of our State, we will quote a part of the report : *' We find the land exceedingly rocky and mountainous. The mountains appear to be almost inaccessible along the river, some of them very bare of timber, others well timbered. In the whole tract we viewed we saw but two small pieces of swamp which were both taken up, and in the whole there did not appear to be fifty acres of plow land. The mountains * * very rocky and steep make up a very great proportion of the whole proposed to be purchased by Mr. H. * * From the place we entered upon this view for near three miles we could only travel along the edge of the river, the mountains on both sides being so rocky and steep that it was impossible to climb up them. * * In our opinion the land is entirely unfit for any purpose but that Mr. H. pro- poses to employ it in * * it will be for the interest of the Board to ac- cept his proposal." The result of which was the purchase of what is known as the Long Pond and Ringwood tracts, containing nearly 12,000 acres, by Mr. Hassenclever, and on which are many valuable iron mines, which have been extensively worked, some ever since that time. We will notice one other report of a similar committee, as it shows how the best land had been appropriated, and the worst left. It is from the com- mittee appointed to view lands which are now parts of the Denmark, Mount Hope and Hibernia tracts, a region also very rich in mineral deposits, mag- netic iron ore : " Friday, 22 October, 1772, we proceeded to the Middle forge and passed the mountain about one and a half miles to the Westward of the forge. In passing the hill we found it accessible from the valley and that the road had been made part of the way up, and that a great deal of wood had been cut and carried away. * * Went on foot and viewed Young's ninety-one acre tract (lying) along the South, or Green Mountain. This tract takes in much valuable timber by which the mountain is rendered almost useless to anybody else. Had these locations been carried up the mountain as they ought to have been, the general interest would not suffer as it must and has by these irregular surveys. * * We then proceeded up the valley, and here we found the same practices, the surveys approaching to or running at a greater distance from the mountains as the land was more or less timbered and good ; by this means the sides of the mountains that are accessible are of little or no value and will never be worth any man's while to lay rights on." The Committee, Cortlandt Skinner and John Johnson, then went to Hi- bernia yV/rwa^^ where they stayed all night. The balance of the report we omit as it contains only a description of the mountainous country with which we are already familiar. The instrument used in making the early surveys was almost exclusively the plain compass. The measurements were made by Gunter's chain, The bearings were taken by the point of the magnetic needle, which, being sub- • The Long Pond Klver. 43 ject to many influences to divert it from its true bearing, the courses indica- ted and read from it were often very far from true. Especially was this so in the Northern and mountainous part of the State where magnetic iron ores abound — where the needle is sometimes deflected ten, twenty, and even as many as sixty degrees, and where, indeed, it is seldom that it bears the same at any two points on a straight line. But this would not have been without remedy had the land been correctly surveyed. But some of the locations were made by mapping, no surveying done — some of them partially by map- ping, and partially by surveying — others again were made by actual surveys, but Wxiich were done in the unscientific and incorrect manner hereafter described. Owing to this lack of system the difficulty which the modern surveyor has to encounter in trying to locate the old surveys in their proper places is apparent, especially when to the above statement is added the fact that the original measurements were all made without levelling — on the syrface of the ground, through valleys, and over plains and mountains. Had either surveying or mapping been adhered to, such difficulties would not exist, at least to any great extent. If all of the lands had been located by mapping, the surveyor in laying them out could turn the angle without regard to the needle, and place the lines in their proper places, and the true bounds of the lots would be defined : or had they been correctly surveyed by the plain compass, he could easily retrace the old lines, as the course the needle indicated at the angles at the time the survey was made would be the same at all times thereafter (allowing for its well known de- clination) even at angles where magnetic ores abounded, if the ground re- mained undisturbed. But as it is usually impossible to know the manner in which a tract was originally located, the resurveys have been made sometimes by the needle, and sometimes by angles, as the judgment or inclination of the surveyor has prom.pted, and the result has been the clashing of lines, the lapping of tracts, quarrels among neighbors, and lawsuits interminable. We have in our possession the original manuscript books and surveys of several of the old Deputy Surveyors. In one, beginning in 1798 and end- ing in 1808, we find many unsurveyed or partially surveyed tracts such as already referred to. We copy a couple by way of illustration : — " Feb'y i8th, 1807. Surveyed for * * all that tract of vacant land situate &c. * * Beginning at a small dog-wood tree being the 3rd corner of a tract &c. * * thence (i) N 64*= W, then began at the same place (2) N 10" E 1 1 chs. 50 links, (3) S 84° E gch. 90 1. to a white oak by a rock. (4; North 39'' W to ist line to about 22 chains, and the last as long again." It is self evident that the above is no lot of land at all, only a series of lines enclosing nothing, and the farther that the 4th line was extended the farther it would be from meeting with the first. But this was a trifling dif- ficulty to be overcome by the pioneer surveyor. The return as sent in to the Surveyor General, and as the patent for the lot was granted, is as follows : — " Beginning at a white oak marked standing at the North East end of a large rock * * thence running (i) N 84'' W 9 chs. 90 Iks, (2) S 10° W II chs. 50 1., (3) N 64'' W 33 chs, 60 Iks, (4; N 50° E 29 chs. 80 Iks, (5) S 39° E 30 chs. 30 Iks to the beginning containing 63 39-100 acres." 44 It will be seen that the original starting point was abandoned entirely, and the white oak was now made the beginning and all of the courses except the first one reversed, which, when the bearing is different, (owing to the local attraction,) at the two ends of the same line, locates the survey in an entirely different manner, and being certified to by the said Deputy, and showing a correct survey on paper, the Surveyor General, as said before, granted a patent for the lot. As might be expected, the bearings at the angles on the ground to make the different lines meet at their proper lengths of chain, are quite dif- ferent from the paper bearings, not only the local or mineral attraction having to be taken into consideration and allowed for, but also the uneven- ness of the surface of the ground, the lot being composed of mountain and swamp. What wonder then that when the pugnacious owner of such a sur- vey, giving his deed a literal interpretation, and claiming his land in accord- ance thereto, even though it conflicts with and takes from the survey of his neighbor, which is probably no more correct, that a legal war should ensue, or even, indeed, if a personal and physical rencontre should take place as has often happened. The above lot has twice been the subject of litigation — each time owned by different persons. Two days after, the same Deputy Surveyor " surveyed" another lot in the same locality beginning at the same white oak tree ; thence running (i) North 38 chains, (2) East 13 chains, (3) South —to make 50 acres, at 17 shillings per acre. The return and patent for this lot appears as follows : — I North 39 chains — 2 East 13 chains — 3 South 39 chains — 4 West 13 chains, containing 50 70-100 acres — making a complete parallelogram 13 chains wide and 39 chains long, the angles being all right angles. .^ No doubt the said Deputy supposed that if the time every came for him to actually survey the said lot, it would be an easy matter to place so simple a survey correctly on the ground, but in the practice, working from the point of his needle, he would no doubt have been completely non-plus.sed. The peculiarity of the lot is that the ist line runs along the foot of the West side of a mountain, the third line along the East side of the same. The second hne partly crosses it, and the fourth is on nearly level ground at the foot of the point of it. Owing to the irregularities of the ground and the mineral at- traction at the angles, he would have found his third line swinging so far to the Westward that his fourth line would be only eight, instead of thirteen chains long, and if he reversed his fourth line from the beginning, and reversed the third also, he would have found the same result happen as to his second line ; that, strangely enough, then being only eight chains long from the third to the second corner. If the lot is correctly surveyed, and the angles properly turned and the full distances given on each line, it comes in contact with other rights. In one case the owner does not get his required quantity of land. In the other he provokes a conflict with his neighbor if he insists on getting it, and then whether he gets his land or not, he inevitably gets a law-suit. Sometimes, as we have before remarked, no surveying whatever was done, the returns being made entirely by mapping out surveys already lo- cated, and mapping lots adjoining to them, and sending them to the office as 45 actual surveys and receiving paten's therefor. The above illustrations show how difficult it is to properly place such surveys on the ground when at last it becomes necessary. We have already referred to the loose manner of doing the work when surveying was actually done. The following will show the way of doing it : The Deputy-Surveyor, when on a land expedition, would sally out on horseback, his compass duly boxed, and his chain in his saddle-bags behind him. Arriving at the point where the land lay which was to be surveyed, and where by previous appointment his assistants were to be found, the first step was to cut a straight stick about four feet long, and about an inch and a quarter in diameter, for a " Jacob's staff." The bottom of this was sharp- ened to fit tightly into a hollow iron socket so that it could be " jabbed" deeply enough in the ground to stand perpendicularly, the top was made to fit a socket containing a ball so as to level the compass, and on this the com- pass was placed. Nine sometimes, sometimes ten, small sticks were cut to put down at the ends of the chain in measuring, and a pole about the size of a large fishing pole was cut for a flag staff. All things being now ready, the compass was placed at the beginning point and the bearing decided on, taken, and the flag-man sent ahead and placed in position. The compass was then removed to the flag-man's point, but no back sight left at the point it was removed from. The bearing was here again taken at the same de- gree as before (by the needle's point) and the flag-man again sent forward, and this was continued until the survey was completed — the chain-bearers following directly after the surveyor as nearly on the line as practicable. The necessary result of this mode of surveying without back sights, was, that, owing to the local attractions the needle at almost every station where bearings were taken would be deflected to the right, or the left, and a zigzag line would be run. But the above describes the more accurate manner of making the early surveys. Often no flag was used ahead at all The sur- veyor would set up his compass, and with the remark that a certain tree, rock, or some other object ahead was on the line, or within a rod, or a rod and a a half of it, perhaps, on either side, as the case might be, he would direct his chain-bearers to " go for it" and they would all start for the place designated. On arriving at the point the surveyor would set up his compass again at about the suppo.sed spot, and take his bearing, the course again going to, or near, some other object ; and perhaps about this time his chain-bearers would come up after having made innumerable crooks in the chain in pass- ing through brush or swamps, or around rocky ledges, or other natural ob- structions, even if they had not gotten some rods off the true line. When it was conceded that the chain had been carried " too crooked" an allowance would be made by guess " to make the distance about right." And this mode would be continued until the lot was completed. Still another difficulty and one sometimes almost insurmountable in now finding the true location of the early surveys, was the lack of care in the surveyors in choosing and designating their beginning points ; and this is, at this day, a very fruitful source of litigation, for if the beginning is gone it is often next to impossible to tell exactly where the lot was originally placed. 46 A favorite beginning point was a tree. Sometimes it was referred to as standing so far from some other tree, or object, but often as in a survey now before us simply "beginning at a Black oak tree marked," the survey lying in Hunterdon County, and it is fair to presume that searching for this Black oak tree in Hunterdon County in the year of our Lord 1729, the date of the survey, would be fully equal to the task of hunting for the proverbial needle in the haystack. But sometimes they began at things even more transitory than a live tree, though that was liable to be cut or destroyed at any time, for one survey now a hundred years old begins "at an old stump, now rotten." Another favorite place for beginning surveys was at the junc- tion of streams, and at springs of water, both of which often change much in position during a course of years from overflows, or natural washings of the stream, especially if they happen to be situated in low, marshy, or sandy ground. Often they began at, or so far from, somebody's house, and in many instances the house and its former occupants have disappeared, neither leaving any trace behind, nor any one now remembering their having ever existed. Sometimes as if even the above objects were too permanent, and too eas- ily found, a local piece of history was made the starting point, as a survey recorded in West Jersey : Beginning at the place where Bill Smith " licked" Ed. Brown ; or another of about the same character in East Jersey beginning at a black oak " with a knife in it." It is said that when the survey was made one of the party drove the blade of his knife in the tree and broke it off, hence the record. The tree, the blade, and the parties interested in the transaction, are now all gone. We would say here, however, en passant, that in our practice we have found many trees marked by the Deputy Surveyor, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty years ago, still sound and vigorous and showing their scars of record faithfully. The portion of the country thus located is not an isolated case. The whole of the Northern part of the State was thus surveyed originally ; lots lapping on each other the rule, not the exception. The courts dispose of laps by giving the land to the holder of the first survey ; but often a large portion of another man's land has to be run over for the owner of a given lot to find the lines of the remnant of his tract. Of course it was just as likely for two surveys to diverge, and run from each other, leaving a strip or gore of unlocated land between them, as it was for the surveys to lap. This led to the practice of taking up " sweep" surveys, some covering as many as twenty-five thousand acres of land — a whole sec- tion of country — and then after deducting out all the tracts before located, all the balance, including said "gores and strips," became the property of the enterprising owner of the sweep survey. From all of which the reader by this time must be convinced of the in- terminable confusion of the lines of the early surveys of New Jersey. As before remarked, had the Lords Proprietors, or after them the Board of Pro- prietors, properly surveyed the State as the lands came into demand, all this would have been avoided. But it was not done ; and their short-sightedness or penuriousness, or both, has entailed on the people of New Jersey, land boundary troubles which it will take centuries to obliterate. CHAPTER VL Miscellaneous. State Control of the Boards of Proprietors, and of the Records. — The Board and Books During the Revolution. — Timber Thieves. — An- ecdotes, &^c., &^c. We have already seen that after the surrender of the right of govern- ment to the Crown in 1702, the East and West Jersey Proprietors, having their offices respectfully in Perth Amboy and Burlington,* exercised no other public functions than attending to the business of locating and selling, and the general management of their lands. The Governor of the whole prov- ince was appointed by the Crown, first in connection with the Province of New York, but afterward as a separate colony. The Legislature was chosen as heretofore by the people, and sat alternately at Perth Amboy and Bur- lington. The first meeting of the Assembly under the authority of the Crown was at Perth Amboy, 10 October, 1703. The Proprietors had now become, as it were, simply a corporation of private citizens. They had been confirmed by the Government in their title to their lands, and were protected in their business of dividing and selling it, and for the conducting of their business were a law unto themselves ; but be- yond this they were entirely subject, as any other citizen, and amenable to the laws ; and as on their action depended largely the stability of the land titles of the Province for all time, the Legislature early saw the necessity of snch legislation as would put their records on not only a permanent, but public basis. As early as 1719 an act was passed with the following pre- amble : — " Whereas the surveys of lands, and the quantities held thereby in this Province, have frequently been uncertain and difficult to be discovered, by reason of the otfice of Surveyor General has not been duly established and regularly kept within the respective divisions. * * Be it enacted, that the Surveyor General of the Eastern division, or his deputy, shall hold a public office in the city of Perth Amboy, for all the Eastern division of this Province ; and the Surveyor General of the Western division, or his deputy, shall hold a public office in Burlington, for the western division of this Prov- ince." By the further terms of this act the said Surveyors General were em- powered to demand, and sue for, if necessary, all books, maps, &c. " which may be of general use in proving the rights of the Proprietors, or of persons * Burlington was first settled In 1667. PertU Amboy In 1681. 48 claiming under them," but they were to redeliver with all convenient speed such of them as were the property of particular persons, after they had taken an authentic copy of them, or recorded them in their books. The Surveyor General was required to give security in the sum of ^looo for the delivering up all such records to his successor in office. Said books, &c., to be kept in their respective offices " for public use and view." " Such records may be pleaded as evidence in the courts," &c. It is probable, both from the terms of the foregoing act, and from other evidence, that the books of the Proprietors were at this nuicli scattered — some, probably in the hands of the different officers, some in the hands of individual proprietors. Their early governmental records were also badly mixed up with their early land records. Appreciating this state of. affairs, we find 22 August, 1725,* the Board of Proprietors ordering an abstract of " the records, grants, and all other things concerning titles of lands in the Eastern Division of this Province, be made," though like so many of their resolutions it seems that the work was not done till some years aftervvards.t Here it may be interesting to note the minuteness of detail with which the said owners of the Eastern Division of New Jersey dealt out work and sup- plies to their subordinates. On the 5th Oct., 1725, they agreed that 6 shil- lings per diem be given to Michael Kearney, and 6 shillings per diem to Al- exander McDowell, for making an abstract of the records for all the time they shall be employed in making same, employing themselves six hours per day. The scribes in our public offices of this day would not be enabled to support much style, or " sport" to any great extent on the maximum wages of one shilling per hour. They would have also been guarded against the wasteful use of supplies, for it was at the same time agreed, that " the Treas- urer do purchase a ream of good Dutch paper, a large book of ten or twelve quires of large paper, quills, and ink-powder for that purpose." As still further evidence of how badly the records became mixed we find the Board themselves complaining of the (act, as follows : — " March 6, 1739, Whereas the Board finds great difficulty and expense in settUng their accounts of what lands have been taken up on their respec- tive proprieties by reason that the books of records formerly belonging to the Proprietors were delivered by Thomas Gordon, Register, to James Smith who superseeded said Gordon * * in 171 5. And whereas the said James Smith was also Secretary of this Province at the same time, and having both those offices kept the books belonging to each without distinc- tion, and upon his death the whole past, to the present Secretary, as books belonging to the Secretary's office * * it is ordered to demand the books of records of Patents, &c. of the Secretary, and that the Register do such recording." It seems the Proprietors allowed this " mixing" to go on for twenty- four years before taking action on the subject. A few years after the Revolutionary war the Legislature of New Jersey ceased to be migratory, and by act passed Nov. 25, 1790, Trenton became the seat of Government for the State, and Perth Amboy and Burlington • Minutes Council Book A . t The first 10 books In the Proprietors' ofQce In Perth Ainboy are certifled copies of the parts desired of books In See'y State's office, at Trentou, transcrlbeii 1T43-1T4T. 49 were deprived of the honor (?) they so long held. But the Legislature, still with an eye open to the public weal, forgot not the land records in which every section of the State was so vitally interested. In 1825 an act was passed appointing commissioners to purchase a convenient lot of land m Burlmgton, "the title whereof shall be vested in the State of New Jersey, and to erect thereon a building of materials not liable to be destroyed by fire * * for the safe keeping of the records, writings, maps, &c., belonging to the office of the Surveyor General of the W. 1). of this State." Six hundred dollars was appropriated for the land and building. After the building was completed it was made incumbent on the Surveyor General to remove all the books and papers into it. Also Commissioners were appointed by the same act to procure land and put up a similar building, at a similar expense, at Perth Amboy in the Eastern Division, the same limitations and restric- tions to be imposed upon the commissioners as on those of the Western Division. The said buildings were both erected, and since their completion have been the depositories of the land records of their respective divisions, under the keeping of the Boards of Proprietors. (The building now occu- pied in Perth Amboy is not the one built in compliance with this act.) 'J he Board and Books During the Revolution. In the War for Independence New Jersey bore even more than her full share of the burden. Besides furnishing her whole proportion of men and means to carry on the conflict, her soil, lying between New York and Phila- delphia, became the tramping ground — the scene of sanguinary battles, and continual raids — and subject to rapine and pillage alike from the armed enemy, the native tories, and the lawless of our own army ; and owing to the peculiar position in which the title to the public lands were placed, no new locations of land could be made, for there was no authority from which to derive title. The Proprietors as a body were broken up and scattered. Those in Europe, and some in this country, espoused the cause of the King. Many of those who remained in the Province were loyal to its cause. For nine years this chaotic state of affairs continued — from the time of the dis- persion of the Board to the time of its again granting patents — barring the interests of the people, and the growth of the State. On the 19th January, 1776, a survey was recorded, lying in Sussex County, in Book S. 7, page 292. The Earl of Stirling Surveyor General. In looking casually through the book no person would observe the long break between this date, and that of the next survey. No blank space, not a word, not even a line drawn to indicate that the next lot was not recorded on the morrow. On the 20th of April, 1785, the next survey is recorded, ly- ing in Mendom, Morris County, John Rutherfurd, Surveyor General. The fact shows somewhat of the character of the men of the times — men of deeds more than of words. What a history was made for our State and Nation between those two dates so silently passed over ! From the record of the " Mmutes of Council," however, we get a glance of what the Board of Proprietors did (all that they could do) during these years of war, turmoil and confusion. On April 13th, J 776, they held a 50 meeting at Perth Amboy. Present: the President, Wm. Burnet, H. John- son, J. Johnson, Executor of Andrew Johnson, Henry Cuyler, William Bland and John Smith. Ordinary business was transacted. No mention of adjournment is made as always heretofore, and the minutes abruptly term- inate. Whether when in the midst of their deliberations they were alarmed by the British, or whether from some other cause the meeting was so sud- denly drawn to a close, we shall never know. And the vacation was a long one. What occurred, as to the Board, during the time following, we glean from the minutes of a meeting held at Princeton, 5 June, 1782. The record is as follows : — •' The disorders and confusions that took place on the disputes and war between Great Britain and America, and the divided situation of the Pro- prietors of the E. D. of N. J. having prevented the regular and stated meet- ings of the Board, nine* of the members of the said Board met at the house of James Wall's near the Court House at Freehold in the County of Mon- mouth on the nth and continued to the 14th of August, 1778, whose pro- ceedings were as follows; ' At a special meeting nth Aug. 1778, met by public advertisement in the newspapers, present, James Parker, John A. Johnston, John Stevens, Junior, Walter Rutherfurd, John Wm. Stevens, Burnet, Elias Bland, John L. Johnson, Isaac Sharp, Samuel Sharp.' " At this meeting came up the question of parties stealing timber off of Propriety lands, and " also having considered that the Surveyor General's and Register's office at this present time cannot be made use of (the books having been carried away) and having considered what mode in this present exigency they should fall upon to insure a title to purchasers of vacant lands, as aforesaid (referring to parties who wished to purchase vacant land at the salt works on the sea shore), it is agreed and ordered that after sales made by agreement or public outcry, a warrant of the survey should issue to the purchaser directed to the Surveyor General to la)' out such lands * * to be signed by all of the Proprietors here present, and to be minuted in a book kept by the clerk till the surveys can pass through the proper offices." " The Proprietors here present taking into consideration the apparent ne- cessity of their meeting * * it is agreed by all the members present that there should be a general meeting of the Proprietors on the 2nd Tuesday in September next, the stated day of meeting ; but as it may be dangerous and inconvenient to meet at Perth Amboy the stated place, it is agreed they meet at New Brunswick." * * This meeting never took place, for the minutes proceed : " Afterward a number of the members of said Board convened at the house of Jacob Ar- nold, Esq., at Morristown, Morris County, 23 April, 1782, when several mat- ters were deliberated on and some measures taken * * but their not be- ing a sufficient number to form a Board they adjourned to meet at Prince- ton the 3rd June, 1782." Some met on the third, but there were not a sufficient number of mem- bers to form a Board, and they adjourned ftom day to day until a sufficient number arrived. At this meeting Robt. Morris and John Rutherfurd ap- plied for a seat in the Board. • Recites ten. 51 When the books of the Proprietor's office were carried awa)' to New York, or by whom it was done, the records do not disclose, but no doubt it was done by or at the instance of John Smith, the Register, in whose cus- tody they were, in New York. We have an interesting report from John Rutherfurd of his unsuccessful attempt to get the books back before the close of the war. At this meeting he informed the Board that in conse- quence of what the Proprietors had agreed to in Morristown, Mr. Stevens had obtained a pass from the Government permitting him to go to New York for the books and files of papers in the hands of John Smith, Register, and contiimed : — •' Cientlemen, in pursuance of your instructions, and the permission of Gov. Livingstone obtained by Mr. Stevens, I repaired to Elizabethtown the loth May, and the next day passed over to Staten Island where Gen'l Skin- ner commanded * * and was happy to rind that he saw the propriety of sending the Proprietors Books and papers to New Jersey and that he agreed to give his consent for that purpose. Gen. Skinner accompanyed me to New York and introduced me to John Smyth. * * Mr. Smyth said he would act agreeably to the instructions of the Proprietors in town. The next day I heard that General Delancey * * was violently opposed to the delivery of the books, that he had been round to the different Proprietors to con- firm them in his opinion, and had exacted a promise from Mr. Smyth not to deliver the papers but with the concurrence of the Proprietors in town. Gen'l Delancey was just about sailing for England and lest he should oppose me, as there was no hopes of his receeding, I determined to keep my business private until his departure. *' In a few days I waited on Gen'l Robertson. * * Mr. Smyth de- clared that altho he was averse to the measure of sending out the books yet still he would not oppose it * * and would act entirely in his official capacity as Register of the Proprietors to whom he thought himself amena- ble. I then spoke to Stephen Skinner * * Mr. Ashfield * * Heath- cote Johnson * * and was opposed. I then called a meeting of them * * but they seemed so blinded by passion, and actuated by a reflection on their own situation * * they would not hearken to any thing said to them. Their chief argument was their estates by law were already con- fiscated and all that could be discovered was sold, that their shares of pro- priety were alone untouched because the particular parts were unknown and that the delivery of the books would tend to designate their shares, &c. &c. " As the first mode of application had failed I adopted another. * * Mr. Smyth seemed to be actuated entirely by a rectitude of intention. * * I had an order signed by nine Proprietors * * authorizing me to go to New York to make the requision of the papers. This I showed him as the act of the Board of Proprietors and which he a sworn officer of the Board was bound to obey. I was happy to find he conceived it his duty to com- ply with it. I was for hurrying them from town immediately, but Mr. Smyth thinking it incumbent on him to mention it to the other gentlemen, they applied to Gov. Franklin and got him to go with them to Sir Guy Carle- ton's and Gen'l Robertson's. * * Gen'l Robertson sent for me and said he was informed of the order of the Proprietors in New Jersey, and that I had acted in a very extraordinary and impudent manner in carrying on a secret negotiation between persons in rebellion and others within the Brit- tish line and ordered me to desist from any other proceedings."* Signed, Princeton, June 4, 1782. John Rutherfurd. • Minutes of Council B, page 195. 52 The next meeting was held in Perth Amboy, 14 Sept., 1784, and the Board met again on the 13th of April, 1785, and then the Sur^'eyor General and Register laid before the Board a list of the books of Records and min- utes of the Proprietors of East New Jersey, consisting of thirty-two books which were sent out to the Surveyor General from New York bv Mr. Smvth as being all of the books in his custody. It seems to be the prevailing sentiment among the earlv .settlers of a country that a free and unauthorized use of the timber and wood growing on the public domain is not only allowable but justifiable. This idea seems not only to get deeply rooted in the minds of the first settlers themselves, but is transmitted to succeeding generations, so that as long as the tempta- tion continues, it seems impossible to eradicate the practice. Even men who pass in the community for good, moral, and religious men, who are in- deed upright in their dealings with their neighbors, are often found at the practice, and see no particular harm in cutting, usirtg, or carry mg away tim- ber from the public lands. And this applies with equal force to-day to New Jersey, Tennessee or Minnesota, or to wherever large tracts of land are held by the Government, or by any other public proprietors. The Proprietors of New Jersey early had cause to complam of this prac- tice, and in 1748 appointed a committee to wait upon the General Assem- bly to enforce the laws against stealing timber off their lands. In 1761 they complain again of the destruction of timber made by saw mills and iron works, and appointed trustees to look after it, and to begin prosecutions ; and so from time to time we find complaints of the unlawful practice. It is not strange that to many of those having such views of the rights of the public proprietors the private rights of the owners of large tracts were not more sacred in their eyes, especially if the owner was a non- resident, and the pilfering could be done with impunity ; and in the wooded and mountainous part of the State families have existed for generation after generation almost entirely on their thefts of wood, bark, hoop-poles, &c. The expertness with which education and long practice has fitted them to pursue the business without detection is almost marvelous. Bark is often peeled from the trees as high as it can be reached and the trees left standing, as the blows from the axe in cutting them down, or the falling of the tree, might lead to the thief's detection. Where property has been closely watched, the thief has been known to crawl up to a hoop-pole and cut it off while kneeling, by a few well directed blows of a sharp hatchet, then carefully drawing it down would lie on his back, and pulling the pole past him, carefully trim off limb after limb, and thus one pole after another. A story is told of John Rutherfurd, who owned many thousand acres of the timber lands of Northern New Jersey. He used sometimes to travel through his possessions on horseback and alone, prospecting, looking out for squatters, &c. On one occasion in passing through a small settlement he found the people busily occupied in " raising" a log building. The parties and the traveler were unacquainted with each other. Mr. Rutherfurd stopped, and, after viewing the proceedings awhile, asked the object for 53 which the building was to be used. One of the parties answered, " for a church." " Where did you get your logs.?" he asked. "Oh, over the hill yonder, out of old Johnny Rutherfurd's woods," was the bold and candid re- ply. The old man's countenance remained unmoved, but with a determined manner he exclaimed, " I am old Johnny Rutherfurd, and I tell you what it is, the only condition on which I'll let you put up this church, and not have every one of you indicted, is that your preacher preaches a sermon once ev- ery year on the sin of timber stealing," and the old man turned and rode away. To the credit of the "churchmen" be it said, they fulfilled their part of the contract, and such a sermon was preached every year as long as the building was used for a church. A story is also told of a hoop-pole thief. Frequent, or in fact continual stealing, had entirely obliterated m his mind the distinction as to the owner- ship of lands or timber, and from trespassing on the Proprietors, he came to stealing from his neighbors, regarding whatever he could lay his hands on, without fear of detection, as his own. He had on one occasion cut a large load of hoop-poles off the land of a near neighbor, and after carrying them out to a by-road for convenient loading on a wagon, he returned home to get his team to haul them out to market. During his absence, his neighbor, the owner of the poles, happened that way, and discovering the trespassing done, to save his property, proceeded to load the poles on his own wagon. While thus engaged, the thief, little thinking of the turn affairs had taken, drove heedlessly nearly up to the loading team before he discovered it ; but it was too late now to retreat. Putting on an innocent face he drove bold- ly by his neighbor, and with the remark that farther on Mr. B. had sold him a load of wood which he was going to get, he continued his way. Then after getting fairly out of sight and hearing, he plied himself to cutting more poles, on another man's land, but did not deem it safe to take them out that night, so about dusk proceeded with empty wagon to return home. It so hap- pened that the neighbor who had taken out the poles, lived some distance from Ghe public road, and out of sight of it, and thinking to take his load to the market on the morrow, had unhitched his team at the mouth of his lane, leaving his loaded wagon standing there in readiness for the morning. And this was the situation, when tlie thief, bewailing his misfortune in losing the poles he had worked so hard to cut, arrived at the lane. It took him but a moment to decide. With silence and dexterity the load was quickly trans- ferred to his own wagon, and soon he was on his way to market, and by the time the next morning that his non-plussed, disappointed and vengeance- swearing neighbor, was taking home his empty wagon, he had the proceeds of his ill-gotten booty in his pocket. Times change ! and of this fact one is forcibly reminded in looking through old documents and records, and how often does this thought recur at the frequency of the reference in the old papers to negro slavery. We can at the present time hardly realize to what an extent this became an " in- stitution" in New Jersey. Wills bequeathing them, bills of sale selling them, indentures binding them, papers advertising absconding ones, are met with constantly among old documents. But it gives us all the more respect for 54 their masters when we find that even in spite of its being so intimately woven with their social system and every day life, they could see and ap- preciate its evils, and that by mutual consent, without outside pressure, more than six decades ago, they instituted means to permanently extinguish the system among them. But though times change, it is often not difficuk to discover in some habit or custom of the past, the germ of a present usage. For instance, on Oct. 31. 1730, liberty was granted to John Johnston (and others named) "for one year, or thereafter during the Proprietors pleasure, to hunt and hawk within certain designated boundaries, reserving to the Proprietors and their servants like privilege, in consideration to deliver to said Proprietors at Am- boy ferry a fat doe at every November meeting, and a good fat turkey, or wild gray goose, to be delivered at the March meeting." Now it is well known that the Council of Proprietors to this day are famous for good din- ners at the time of their stated meetings ; and who knows but the yearly fat doc, or turkey or wild goose, was only the forerunner of the pres- ent more elaborate repast ; and in the license to John Johnson to hunt and hawk, we may detect something akin to our modern gan)e laws. Yes, times and customs change .' sometimes perhaps not for the better in particular things ; but on the whole we believe the world is advancing, not only in material, but in moral developeraent. Even the Board of Pro- prietors in 1772 gave their public sanction to a scheme which the better class of men, and the laws of most of the States, now condemn as an im- moral practice; for " the President laid before the Board an account of Hen- drick Fisher, Esq., one of the managers of the late Provincial lottery, of tickets purchased therein by the late and present Treasurer by order of the Board for their use, the balance being ^94 los., which was ordered to be paid." How much the whole investment was we do not know, but the •" balance" seems a goodly sum to expend for such a purpose. In some things, however, we are in these days but little, if any, ahead -of the olden time. About 1680, George Marcellas was granted a license to trade with the Indians, " providing he does not sell them any kinds of liquors, or strong drink by Retaille to be drunk, or spent by them in his house, but may sell it to them by wholesale in cask to be carried by them into the country, and there to be spent upon their own plantations." How much are our legislators in advance of this now, when in their tender solicitude for the peace and comfort of the rum-seller they give him a license to sell, but the liquor not to be drunk on the premises — the drunken quarrelsomeness to be vented on the innocent wife and family of the drinker at home .'' When we come down to every day life and get at the direct habits of the people we find things very much then as now. In the private books of James Alexander, a Proprietor, and once Surveyor General, we find the commonplace entry May i, 1716, "I owe Wm. Thompson for a pair of boots. I had also a pair of hupples and another pair of boots in place of the 55 former because they were very bad, which upon selling the first he promised to give me if they proved not good, ^i 5s. 9|d." Disputes and sharp dealing were known then as now in spite of the "honesty of the olden time," as witness the following from the same books : — " March, 17 18. I am owing to Edward Vaughan for books bought of him at the price they could be bought at in England with the expense at 50 per cent, which amounted to about £21 sterling, but by not knowing the true prices gave hand for ^50 York which he insists to have with interest — therefore its dependency in chancery." And how like the present day is this entry: — "Sept. 28, 1819. Gave my wife £^j 8s in gold." And how the modern lawyer will recognize the following: — " Feb'y 15, 1731, Paulus Vanderbeek retains James Alexander as his Attorney to defend (a certain ejectment suit) and now gives a pistol retainer and promises to pay all necessary disbursements and fees." Until railroads became the medium of transportation for farm produce, the crops grown in Sussex County and in the Southern part of Orange Coun- ty, New York, were hauled by team to New York City. Down the valley of the Pequanac River, over the old Paterson and Hamburg Turnpike road to the head of Pompton Val'ey, and then by the Pompton and Newark Turn- pike through Bloomfield and Newark to New York, was a favorite route. In the Fall and Winter for the first three days of the week the road was lit- erally alive with the teams of the farmers going down with butter, grain, flour, pork, (Sic, and the last three days witnessed their return. A rough, free and easy, rollicking set of yeomen they were. Taverns, as they were then called, were plenty along the route, and " applejack" was in those times pure, at about a shilling per quart, and Boniface prospered. But with all their love and habit of drinking they were not by any means drunkards, or spend- thrifts. They bought their whiskey by the quart as a matter of economy, and it was seldom they became too drunk to attend to business. Their horses' feed, and sometimes their own, they carried with them. One shilling per night was the price of lodging, and one shilling per meal if they patron- ized the landlord's table ; also one shilling per night for stable room for their team if they found their own horse feed. A country tavern bar-room in the evening, then, presented a rough, but comfortable appearance. Congregated on a cold night, around the large open fireplace on which hissed and crackled a cart load of oak, or hickory, sending out a cheering warmth and light ; the crowd partook of their hot-toddy, told their tales, and cracked their jokes, and good nature and mirth generally prevailed. Frequently odd and eccentric characters were among the party whose presence would add zest to the mirth of the occasion. Such an oddity was old Buckeye D K , who has left a large and respectable posterity be- hind him. Large and portly, fond of fun and good cheer, his appearance among the crowd was always hailed with delight, and was a signal for grand sport. Eccentric in habit and dress, he always in cold weather wore an overcoat reaching to his heels, a piece of cart-rope tied around his waist answering the end of belt or buttons, and beneath its capacious folds he could stow away an unlimited quantity of " old apple" without getting un- 56 balanced by his load, and then, when in good spirits, with stories and jokes, often practical and rough, but always good natured, the fun for the crowd went on late into the night. A story is told of his good-heartedness. On one occasion he took a load of pork to New York, and the price not suiting him; he vowed that he would throw it off the docks before he would let the speculators have it at their own price, and none who knew old Buckeye doubted that he would be as good as his word. In the meantime, while try- ing to bring the buyers to terms, a woman whose appearance denoted pov- erty, came to his wagon and timidly inquired the price of his pork. Through a little questioning he found out where she lived, and insisted on her buying a hog, and he would take it home for her, She protested that she had not money to pay for so much, but he insisted, and finally prevailed on her to mount the wagon. On the way the woman still protested, and Buckeye still insisted that she had money enough until they arrived at her door. Then it was the work of but a few moments for the powerful countryman to trans- fer two of his finest porkers to the poor woman's kitchen, and while she de- clared that she could not pay for them, he mounted his w agon and drove away in high glee at the " joke" he had played upon her. On another occasion an old friend from " down the country" hearing that Buckeye had a yoke of oxxn for sale, drove to his place to barter for them. He arrived about the middle of the afternoon, but could not prevail on Buck- eye to " talk oxen" or show them to him, he saying that there was time enough in the morning, and the balance of the day was spent in keeping the darkies (all the large farmers in New Jersey had a plenty of blacks seventy- five years ago) carrying up cider and applejack. On the next morning with- out saying a word about the cattle. Buckeye ordered up his team and invited his friend to ride with him and see some of the country. The objections of the friend and his assertions that business made it necessary for him to be at home, made no impression on the host — all went for nothing with Buckeye and the whole day was spent in riding from tavern to tavern, and in having what Buckeye called a " roaring good time." On one pretext and another he thus detained his old farmer friend until on the fourth day he finally sold him the oxen at a fair price, and the old man hurried off as rapidly as possi- ble to get beyond reach of Buckeye's exuberant hospitality. But those days have long since gone by. The old taverns are mostly closed, many of them entirely gone ; but few old fashioned fire-places remain. The valley of the Pequanac now re-echoes the whistle of the locomotive, in- stead of the Sussex teamster ; and the sound of the fast rolling car wheels has taken the place of the slow-rumbling and hard creaking over the rocky road of the heavily loaded Sussex wagon ; and with the change the genus " Sussex teamster" has died out — his race is extinct. And thus we have briefly traced from the beginning the history of the early surveys and early days of East New Jersey. If we have added anything to the knowledge already possessed of the settlement and surveying of the country, and have interested the reader, in this we find both a reason and excuse for having written.