Bermuda Ties -Pew, Stillwell, Dorset, Wall, Van Deventer, Poling, Harriot
Bermuda Ties
By Vicky Moon 2012
[email protected]
Nicholas Stillwell and Catherine Van Keuren, widow of Charles Morgan, my 9th great grandparents.
Nicholas first wife was Rebecca Bayles daughter of John Bayles and Rebecca Whitney.
Nicholas parents were Nicholas Stillwell and Abigail Hopton,(his first wife) my 10th great grandparents.
Stillwell was his mother’s maiden name. His name was Cooke. He and his brother’s left England to avoid religions persecution. They used the name Stillwell instead of Cooke to keep their identity hidden. His brother John (Cooke) the famous “regicide” went back to England and was beheaded.
Nicholas Stillwell and Abigail Hopton’s son was Captain Richard Stillwell. Richard married Mary Cooke, his cousin. Richard’s son was Gershom Stillwell born 1683 Gershom married Elisabeth Grover, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Gershom’s son was John Stillwell born 1716 who married *Ann Wall in Monmouth County, New Jersey. John and Ann’s daughter Elisabeth Stillwell married Samuel Dorset in 1774 Monmouth County, New Jersey. Samuel parents were Joseph Dorset and Mary Van Deventer. Joseph’s parents were Joseph Dorsett born 1681 and Elisabeth Poling. Joseph’s father was James Dorset IIJames married Elisabeth(?) James was born in Bermuda and his parents were James Dorsett I and Ann Harriot.
*Ann Wall’s ancestry: The ancestry of the Wall family in America dates from an early history of the country. In 1640, Lady Deborah Moody, the widow of a Wiltshire baronet, organized an association of some 50 persons who came to America, and among them was Walter Wall. This association was first established at Lynn, Mass., remaining there until 1643, when they moved to Gravesend, Long Island. In the later part of 1657, Walter Wall, his brother Garret and others emigrated to New Jersey with their families, where they made a purchase embracing the present county of Middlesex, and part of the county of Monmouth. Walter Wall purchased a large tract of land in the neighborhood of Middletown, on a portion of which, known as Wall's Mill, and afterward as VanMeeter's Mill, was born Gen. Garret D Wall, who served several years in the United States Senate, and in several divisions of town lots and outlands of Middletown, Walter Wall found himself in the possession of much valuable land. The Wall family came to England as spies for William shortly before his invasion. That was not their Norman name but a contrived one to hide their identity from the locals who didn't like spies. They lived for centuries in Gloucestershire in and around Stroud and Dursley. In 1172 William de Wall accompanied the Earl of Pembroke on his invasion of Ireland. He was granted lands in county Limerick. He died in 1210 leaving four sons who started the Wall family in Ireland. Christening: 15 OCT 1617 St. Peter-St. Paul, Marlboro, Wilts, Eng.
Immigration: 1635 St. Christopher's
Note: aged 16y, transported to St. Christopher's in 1635, per p. 126 of Hotten’s Lists of Emigrants.
Event: Land 30 DEC 1667 Middletown Twp, Monmouth, NJ
Note: Original lot owner of Middletown & located upon a farm about 2 miles to the west of the center of the village; 30 Dec 1667, awarded lot #4,also lot #32 outside in the Poplarfield; 10 Jan 1676, paid quit-renton 244 acres in Middletown; 1677, paid on 240 acres in Shrewsbury.
1753, Jan. 19.Will of John Pew, of Middletown, cordwainer;
proved May 3, 1757, mentioned:
wife, Susanna; son, John Pew; daughter, Mary Wall; daughter, Ann
Dorsett; daughter, Katern Daveson; son,James Pew; son-in-law, Gerrat
Wall, and *James Dorsett, and son, James Pew, executors.
*Note: this James Dorsett was the son of Joseph Dorsett and Elisabeth Poling.
"The Jerseyman" 1903-1905 (URL:
http://www.archive.org/stream/jerseyman19031905deat/jerseyman19031905dhttp://www.archive.org/stream/jerseyman19031905deat/jerseyman19031905d
eat_djvu.txt): James Dorsett came from Bermuda ... in 1676. Tlie place and
date of his birth are unknown. He had died in 1721. He was probably
unmarried when he came in.
Richard Stout and Penelope Taylor Van Princes (URL:
about:blankhttp://www.geocities.com/mayes_deb/stout/stout4.htm)
26 March 1678
Served on the jury at Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, when
Christopher Allmey was charged with taking a whale on the New Jersey
coast and converting it to his own use. (Allmey was found "guilty only
in matter of fact in taking and keeping one boat load of blubber, but
matter of law and costs of suite we leave to yet Court.)
Jurors: James Ashton, Robert Hamilton, Henry Marsh, William White,
Joseph Grover, Joseph Huitt, Thomas Cox, Richard Stout, Sr., George
Mount, James Dorsett, John Stout, Charles Eccles.
Dorsett Town Historic Cemetery, Holmdel, Monmouth Co., NJ (URL:
http://www.netlabs.net/hp/gjoynson/holmdeldorset.htm)--Hehttp://www.netlabs.net/hp/gjoynson/holmdeldorset.htm)--He settled here
in 1676; his descendants occupied the farm until 1840.
Abstract of Joseph Dorsett's will;
26 SEP 1741, Will of Joseph Dorsett, Middletown, Monmouth Co., NJ,
Proved 29 Oct 1741; wife Elizabeth, deceased son Samuel, children
John, James, Joseph, Rachel, Elizabeth; grandchildren Andrew &
Elizabeth; Martha not mentioned; Lib. C., p. 457
- Historical and Genealogical Miscellany; Early Settlers of New Jersey
and their Descendants, actual text:
1741, Sep. 26. Will of Joseph Dorset , of Middletown , yeoman, sick;
proved Oct. 29, 1741.
Elizabeth
Negroes
Deceased son, Samuel
Three sons, John , James and Joseph Dorset .
Grandson, Andrew Dorset , a minor, £25.
Six children, Rachel , John , James , Martha ,?? Elizabeth and Joseph
To son, James , his "long gun."
To son, Joseph , "my Cedar Bedstead and my other Gun."
Executors: friend, James Mott , and sons, John and James Dorset .
Codicil, Sep. 26, 1741. In case my "son Joseph should die of his
present sickness;" mentions Elizabeth , daughter of his son Joseph ;
in case of death of his son John , by his present illness, then his
share to the testator's son James .
Signed Joseph Dorset .
Inventory of Joseph Dorset . Amount £436-5-6 1/2. Taken Nov. 17, 1741,
by Corneles Dooren , Joseph Smith , Jarratt Wall .
1742. Inventory of Joseph Dorset 's Estate. To paid Doctor Mills ,
£5-16-5. To paid Dr. Nichols , £0-18-0.
James Dorset and Elisabeth Polings’s son James Dorsett Jr married Ann Pew. - Ann Pew’s parents were Reverand John Pew and Susannah Whitlock. Stillwell's Miscellany of NJ, v5p396:
- Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Vol. III 1751-1760
WILL of John Pew of Middletown, Monmouth Co., New Jersey, 19 Jan 1753.
wife, Susanna; son, John Pew; daughter, Mary Wall; daughter, Ann
Dorsett; daughter, Katern Daveson; son, James Pew; son-in-law, Gerrat
Wall and James Dorsett, and son, James Pew, executors.
- Will proved 3 May 1757: to wife Susanna; son John Pew; daughter Mary
Wall; daughter Ann Dorsett; daughter Katern Daveson; son James Pew;
son-in-law Gerrat Wall & James Dorsett, son James Pew, executors.
James Dorsett and Ann Pew’s daughter Mary Dorsett married Richard Herbert Jr. His parents were Richard Herbert Sr. and Martha Dorsett. This was Martha’s first husband. Her second husband was John Carmen. Martha’s parents were Joseph Dorsett and Elisabeth Poling. Richard Herbert Sr’s parents were Thomas Herbert and Mary Bowne of Thomas Herbert was from Devonshire, Bermuda. Thomas parents were Richard Herbert and Bridget Cooke of England. Captain Richard Herbert Captain Herbert is
listed as a member of the "Virginia Company of London" page 3, on the
fifth and sixth lines down. (URL:
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/7003/vacompany.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/7003/vacompany.html)
- Also see Records of the Virginia Company of London, vol. 4, p. 363
He was ELEC: ABT 1638 Councilor, Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain
In 1638, Richard
Herbert was elected Councilor in Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain.
Source: "The Adventurers of Bermuda": A history of the island from its
discovery until the dissolution of the Somers Island Company in 1684,
page 402. (URL:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/ViewSource.aspx?tid=236349&pid=-202953990http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/ViewSource.aspx?tid=236349&pid=-202953990
6&eid=-123370441&se=1&aid=-123370441&cid=-1656062800&pg=0,38)
Census: ABT 1663 Norwood, Bermuda, age 63, w/mother-in-law
Ancestry.com gedcom: Brett
mentioned in Norwood's survey as living on #19 with his mother-in-law
Mrs Cooke on two shares of land belonging to Mr. [George] ffetcher.
(Location: Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain). Source: Memorials of
the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas Or Somers Islands
(URL:
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/ViewSource.aspx?tid=236349&pid=-202953990http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/ViewSource.aspx?tid=236349&pid=-202953990
6&eid=-123531462&se=1&aid=-123531462&cid=-1656109888&pg=0,38)
He died in Bermuda. HARBERT Wills E. Vol 1. P. 91.
Inventory of estate of Capt. RICHARD HARBERT, lately decd, August 25,
1664, taken before Capt GEORGE HUBBARD, Councillor of Devonshire
Tribe.
In the Grounds: 1 black cow & calf, 2 cows & 1 black bull. 1 young
bull calf 1 young heifer, 5 hoggs.
Page 83
In outward room: 1 ? h. . . . bedstead with the furniture. 1 old box
with clothes 1great chest, a beame & scales with leaden weights.
Several pieces of earthen ware. 1 trundle bedstead & furniture,
several pieces of pewter, old 7 new 1 chest in her chamber. 3 trays, 2
platters, 1 case of bottles & 2 lamps. 3 prs sheets, 2 small boxes, 1
Bible, 2 chests, 1 chair & 2 small stools, 1 table & forme, 1
tablecloth & napkins, “His wearing clothes & Hat”
In another room: 2 old chests & bedstead. 1 square box. 1 copper, 1
stool
In Kitchen: All the iron ware, 2 brass skillets. Old brass kettles.
Old cross Sawes & 2 hand sawes. Hoes, Axes, Tubs, pails & piggins. 6
jars. Last year?s Tobacco.
Total Appraisement £82.17.0. Appraisers: JOHN HARRIOTT, JONOTHAN
TURNER. Against the estate: To Mr. THOS CLARKE for rent of MARTIN
POTTER?S land £6 To legacies out of old Oneday?s estate not pd £1
To ROBERT BURTON & R. HUNT £4.9.0
MRS BRIDGETT HARBERT hath averred upon oath that this is a just
inventory of all goods, chattels & debts belonging to her late decd.
Husband, Capt RICHARD HARBERT, Sept. 1664. HENRY TUCKER, Sect.
Bridget Cooke’s father was Anthony Cooke. Anthony Cooke of St.
Georges, Bermuda, Great Britain - Jury duty, Assizes held at St.
Georges, also on 23-25 March 16302. Source: Bermuda under the Sommer
Islands Company: 1612-1684, Civil Records, vol. 1 p. 31, also p. 134. RESD: 5 JUL 1653 Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Great Brigain, renter
05 JUL 1653,
Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain - Anthony Cooke presently occupying
and renting land in Devonshire, Bermuda belonging to John Johnson of
London, England; also mentioned in document dated 20 Jan 1654. Source:
Bermuda under the Sommer Islands Company: 1612-1684, Civil Records,
pp. 23, 216.
Will: 28 SEP 1654 Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain, will of Anthony Cooke Note:
Ancestry.com gedcom: Brett
Cooke. 28 SEP 1654, Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain. Actual text:
Anthony Cooke, planter, (1650 according to Hallett): planter, w Ann
ch: Bridget HARBERT (w of Richard, ch: Richard, Anthony), Ann WHALLEY;
exec: w Ann, son in law Capt. Richard HARBERT wit: Richard HARBERT,
Richard SMITH. Source: Early Bermuda Wills 1629-1835, p. 116.
Hallett's Early Bermuda Wills has a date of 28 Sep 1650.
Actual text: Will of ANTHONY COOKE, Sept. 28, 1654
planter, w ANN daughter Bridget HARBERT wife of Capt. Richard HARBERT,
silver cup and negro. Daughter Ann WHALLEY, negroes. Two grandchildren
Richard & Anthony HARBUT, boat and appurtenances; Executors: Wife Ann,
son in law Capt. Richard HARBERT wit: Richard HARBERT, Richard SITCH
(SMITH ?)
Source: Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century: Genealogical Notes from
Bermuda, p. 30.
Death: AFT 28 SEP 1654 in Devonshire, Bermuda, Great Britain
"The Jerseyman" 1903-1905 (URL:
http://www.archive.org/stream/jerseyman19031905deat/jerseyman19031905dhttp://www.archive.org/stream/jerseyman19031905deat/jerseyman19031905d
eat_djvu.txt): James Dorsett (son of Joseph and Elizabeth Dorsett) was
born December ye 29th, in ye Year of Our Lord, 1710.
Calendar of New Jersey Wills (URL:
http://www.archive.org/stream/calendarofnewjer03newj/calendarofnewjer0http://www.archive.org/stream/calendarofnewjer03newj/calendarofnewjer0
3newj_djvu.txt)
1761, March 11. Dorsett, James, of Monmouth Co.; will of. Wife,
Ann, the use of my plantation, along with my two sons, Joseph
and James. Son, Andrew, £50, and % of my salt meadows at Canas-
kunk. Sons, James and Joseph, my land where I dwell, which land
is to be sold after death of my wife. Daughters, Elizabeth and
Mary Dorsett, household goods. Sons, Joseph and James, the rest of
my salt meadows. Title to be given to Elias Bayley, to whom I have
sold land. The land formerly belonging to my brother, Samuel, to
be sold. Executors -- my wife, son Joseph Dorsett, and John Wil-
liams, Sr., of Freehold. Witnesses -- Richard , John Dorsett,
Rachel Pearse. Proved June 14, 1762. Lib. H, p. 130.
1609 A fleet of 9 ships owned by the Virginia Company of London set sail from Plymouth, England with fresh supplies and additional colonists for the new British settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. The fleet is commanded by Admiral Sir George Somers onboard the flagship, the Sea Venture. During a vicious storm the Sea Venture strays from the fleet and flounders on Bermuda’s reefs. Somers manages to land all 150 crew and colonists onshore without the loss of a single life.
1609 The Virginia company established Bermuda. The company had to recruit settlers. The goal was money. They were harsh to Indians and slaves.
1610 Somers and his crew manage to construct not one but two new ships; the Deliverance and Patience. The 2 ships set sail for Virginia leaving behind a couple of men to stake a claim to the island. On arrival in Jamestown they find the colony decimated by starvation, illness and attacks by Indians. The supplies they bring from Bermuda save the colonists. Somers returns to Bermuda on the Patience to collect new supplies. Unfortunately, he falls ill and dies on his second visit to the island.
1610 James Dorsett I was born in England and married Ann Harriot in Southhampton, Bermuda, on April 22, 1629.
1612 The Virginia Company sends a party of 60 settlers to Bermuda under the command of Governor Thomas Moore and lays claim to the island and begins construction of the capital, St George. The Virginia Company sells the island to the Bermuda Company.
1616 Slaves brought to Bermuda.
1629 After this year ,James Dorsett II was born on Bermuda.
1639 Deed mentions James Dorsett who occupied the west of the south side of Warwick.
1643 Lady Deborah Moody came from Lynn, Massachusetts to Gravesend for religions freedom.
1647 Society of “friends” under direction of George Fox.
1649 Somers island had been unsuccessful trolling for ministers to send to Bermuda. The Company proposed that Bermuda Government council install holy and unshakeable men as “readers” in each of the 8 tribes. It took several years before enough men could be found.By 1655 the company confirmed 7 “readers” fro various tribes.
1650 Bermuda Quakers were using the words thee and thou.
1651-1655 Bermuda Witchcraft outbreak, 3000 people 12 accusations and 5 executions.
1652 Richard Pinder from England was “convinced” (became a Quaker) He traveled as a Quaker to Bermuda and other islands. George Rofe also traveled as a Quaker to islands.
1657 By Pinder and Rofe’s preaching, several inhabitants were “convinced” (became Quakers)
They separated from their usual way of worship.
1660 William Sale, Governor, 2 “friends” went to Bermuda.
1660 “Converts” were made in Bermuda, Jamaica, Nevis and Suriname
1660 William White who escorted Jane Hopkins and Elisabeth Page to Bermuda converted to Quaker and was among the “convinced”
1664 See Rebecca Bayles above. John Bayles and others petitioned Governor Nicholls for permission to buy land from the Indians. This 370,000 acres was 17 miles between Raritan and Passaic Rivers. I find it interesting that Middletown is in this area . The deed was dated October 28, 1664. John did not live on the land. On Sep 8, 1665 he Sold his interest in the Grant to Philip Carteret, then Governor of New Jersey. (Deed recorded in Trenton, NJ).*See note.
1674 West New Jersey land was sold to a group of Quakers.
1676 James Dorset came from Bermuda and took a patent of land from the “Proprietors”
About 500 acres lying in the township of Middletown. He died in 1721.
1676 George Stevenson of Bermuda was committed to prison for being a Quaker.
1679On Bermuda, Ann, the wife of James Dorsett were fined because they were Quakers.
July 1679 Warwick Tribe - listed Quakers
James Dorset, Elizabeth Bentley, widow Margery, her daughter, William Homer and his wife, Patience Bullock, Stephen Bullock and his wife, Patience Tatim, Merriam Bullock, for absenting themselves from their parish church for a month last past censured to pale 4 S. per for their absence as aforesaid.
Patience Bullock and her daughter Marian, Stephen Bullock and Marie his wife, Patience Tatim, Dorcas, wife of Martin Taylor, Ann, wife of James Dorset for absenting themselves from church - 3 Lords daies.
From "Genealogical Study of the Family of Josiah Fisher, Wilson Sanborn & Alberteen Eaton" Compiled by Helen (Burgess) Lindhorst, privately published 1978, revised 1993:
Nehemiah Tatom was a Councilor and Senior Surgeon in the Warwick Tribe in Bermuda. He married Patience Bullock, daughter of William and Patience (Painter) Bullock. He died before 1691.
His religion is unknown; however his wife was a Quaker. In 1661 he was fined by the Parrish Church in Warwick for the absence of his wife and daughter. In January 1677, his wife, Patience, was again fined for nonattendance.
The Tatum Narrative has many explanations as to absences and fines of Nehemiah’s wife, Patience nee Bullock, from the Church of England's services. The Quakers did not fare too well as further reading in Tatum Narrative explains. Nehemiah was sympathetic but remained in Parish Church. His son did marry into and belong to a Quaker community when be went to Flushing Long Island, New York.
There are quite a few Quaker names interspersed throughout the Tatum family history, i. e. Paynter(Painter), Bullock, Dorset, Taylor, etc.
From the Second Generation in Bermuda (Nehemiah Tatam, Councillor for Warwick Tribe):
Nehemiah Tatam of the second generation of Bermudians was Councillor for Warwick Tribe, as had been Samuel Tatam the first settler (Colonial Records, Vol.V.B. 1661-1676).
Find him serving on the Jury in Dec. 1662, June 1670, Dec 1672 and 1677 Dec assize Mr. Nehemia Tatum nisi primo Juror. April 1679 on Grand Inquest; Feb 1681- Juror.(Vol VII, 1676-1689)
Nehemiah was sued for Debt for Rent 326 lbs of Tobacco for Year 1676(Vol VII, 1676-1689)*
Listed as being from Sandy Tribe which would be out by Somerset-Warwick in mid island.
The cultural belief in the existence of witchcraft and persecution of those suspected of such, began in England in earnest c1645. The superstition appeared in Bermuda under the last term of Josiah Forster as Governor 1650. For almost 30 years before, the church had instructed the populace to present all sorcerers, enchanters, charmers, figurecasters, or "whoever hath or seemeth to have any consultation with the divell". Documentation of actions against such people first appear in the records in 1651 with the assize held at St George's charging Jeane Gardiner and Anne Bowen as witches. Elizabeth Page acquitted. Jane Hopkins found guilty, sentenced to death, hanged by the neck till dead 5 Jan 1654/5 Elisabeth and Jane had been passengers on the Mayflower.
Laws were made very early on forbidding Quakers and Catholics to remain on the island. The Quakers were constantly persecuted from the beginning. Many were imprisoned and finally sent away.
Each settler of Bermuda who had amassed a lot of land added a number of poor who had no place to go. Propertyless Bermudians found Quaker ideas appealing and the powerful landowners felt threatened by them.
*noteNew Jersey
The first settlements in New Jersey were made by the Dutch along the western bank of the Hudson, with one on the Delaware at Fort Nassau; but these settlements were insignificant, and the history of the colony properly begins with the occupation of the territory by the English. New Jersey was included in the grant of Charles II to his brother James, the Duke of York, in 1664. The same year James disposed of the province to two of his friends, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, and it was named in honor of the latter, who had been governor of the island of Jersey in the English Channel. The next year Carteret began to colonize his new possessions. He sent his nephew, Philip Carteret, as governor, who, with a company of emigrants, made the first settlement at Elizabethtown, so named in honor of Sir George's wife. A still larger number came from New England, especially from New Haven, because of the great dissatisfaction in that colony with its forced union with Connecticut. These Puritans founded Newark and adjacent towns.
Carteret granted a form of government in what was known as the "Concessions," which granted religious liberty to Englishmen in the new colony, and a government to be carried on by a governor, council, and an assembly of twelve to be chosen by the people, and no taxes were to be laid without the consent of the assembly. A farm, free for five years, was offered to any one "having a good musket... and six months' provisions,"1 who should embark with the governor, or meet him on his arrival; while those who came later were to pay a half-penny an acre quitrent. The first assembly met in 1668, and the severity of the code of laws adopted plainly indicated the Puritan domination of the colony. After a session of but five days it adjourned, and met no more for seven years. The first quitrents fell due in 1670; but many of the settlers refused to pay rent, claiming to have received their lands from the Indians, the real owners, or basing their right to titles confirmed by Governor Nicolls of New York. The people rose in rebellion, elected an illegal assembly, and called James Carteret, illegitimate son of the proprietor, to be their governor. But Sir George did not sustain his son, and the rebellious government fell to the ground.
The settlers, however, quietly tilled their farms and gave little heed to matters of government. Not even the reconquest of New York (which included New Jersey) by the Dutch, in 1673, cause any serious disturbance of the New Jersey farmers. The constant commotion between Carteret and his colony discourage Lord Berkeley, and he sold his interest in the province to two English Quakers, John Fenwick and Edward Byllynge. The latter soon became a bankrupt, and his share passed into the hands of trustees, the most prominent of whom was William Penn -- and thus we are introduced to the most famous of American colony builders.
The province was soon after this divided (1676) into two parts: East Jersey, which was retained by Carteret, and West Jersey, which now became the property of the Quakers. The line between them was drawn directly from Little Egg Harbor to the Delaware Water Gap. The year before the division Fenwick had led a few colonists and settled at Salem, but the first important settlement in West Jersey was made in 1677, when two hundred and thirty people sailed up the Delaware and founded Burlington, and within two years several hundred more had made their homes in the vicinity. Two wholly separate governments were now set up, and they were as different as white from black. The stern New England Puritans had settled in East Jersey in sufficient numbers to give coloring to the laws, and in these laws (enacted by the first assembly before the division) we find enumerated thirteen crimes for which the penalty was death. In West Jersey the government was exceedingly mild. A code of laws with the name of Penn at the top gave all power to the people, and made no mention of capital punishment. This was the first example of Quaker legislation in America.
When Edmund Andros was governor of New York, in the later seventies, he claimed authority over the Jerseys also, as the property of the Duke of York. He arrested and imprisoned Governor Philip Carteret of East Jersey, but the courts decided against Andros, and the Jerseys continued their own separate existence.
In 1680 George Carteret died, and two years later East Jersey was sold at auction to twelve men, one of whom was William Penn.2 Each of these twelve men sold half his interest to another man, and thus East Jersey came to have twenty-four proprietors, and they chose Robert Barclay, a Scotch Quaker, governor for life. Everything went smoothly under their mild government; but this tranquility was soon to end.
When James II became king of England he demanded the charters of the Jerseys on writes of quo warranto, leaving the ownership of the soil to the people, and united East and West Jersey to New York and New England under the government of Andros. At the fall of the king and the expulsion of Andros the Jerseys were left in a state of anarchy, and so it continued for more than ten years. The heirs of Carteret and the Quakers laid claim to the colony; and New York made a similar claim. After a long season of confusion it was decided to surrender the whole colony to the Crown, and in 1702 New Jersey became a royal province. Queen Anne, who was now the reigning monarch, extended the jurisdiction of New York's governor over New Jersey, and this arrangement continued for thirty-six years, when in 1738, the two colonies were finally separated.
New Jersey, numbering some seventy-five thousand inhabitants in 1760, was settled almost wholly by English people. A few Dutch, Swedes, and Germans were scattered here and there, but no in such numbers as to affect society. The Quakers occupied the western part, while the eastern portion was settled by emigrants from England, New England, and a few from Scotland and the southern colonies. Almost the entire population were farmers. The numerous towns were little more than centers of farming communities. The colony was guarded, as it were, on the east and west by the two great colonies of New York and Pennsylvania, and it escaped those peculiar perils of frontier life with which most of the other settlements had to contend. This was doubtless the chief cause of its rapid growth. New Jersey was also singularly free from Indian wars, the people living on the most friendly terms with the red men, with whom they kept up a profitable trade in furs and game.
Footnotes
1One seventh of the land was to be reserved for the proprietors and two hundred acres in each parish for the minister. See Winsor, Vol. III, p. 424.[return]
2The price paid was £3400 sterling.[return]
Source: "History of the United States of America," by Henry William Elson, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1904. Chapter VII pp. 146-149. Transcribed by Kathy Leigh.
Sources:
Bermuda Colonial Records Vol. III 1676-1689
The Friend Vol. 98, no. 26, page 302
Bulletin of Friends Historical Society Vol. 5-6
Witches, Wifebeaters, and Whores Common Law and Common Folk in early America.
Elaine Forman Crane.
Witchcraft in Bermuda 1650-1696
The History of Quakerism, Elbert Russell
Historical and genealogical Misc. relating to Settlements and Settlers of N.Y. and N.J.John E. Stillwell
The Jerseyman Vol, 9 No. 1908
The Bermuda islands: An account of their scenery, climate ..., Volume 1
By Addison Emery Verrill
Internet family trees