Justice John Summers - Sussex/Warren, New Jersey
Hello,
I have been looking for information about John Summers who was allegedly a judge in Warren County, NJ for 20 years.(Warren County was created from Sussex County in 1824). I have looked and looked to no avail until I found a couple of articles in some historical newspapers:
Date: 1820-11-23;
Paper: Palladium of Liberty
There is a list of names for three locations: Morris, Sussex, and Bergen
Here are the names for Sussex:
Judges: John Johnson, Charles Carter, Robert Thomson
Justices: John Summers, Daniel Vliet, Samuel D. Westfall, Frederick Kinney, Jacob Hann, William Cook, Robert D. Stewart, James Steele
Commissioners: William Little, jun, Aaron Decker, Robert Carr, David D. Chandler, Joseph Edsall, Samuel Johnson, Gershom Coursen
This is followed by a list of names that appear to be officers in the military (commissions or promotions?)
The exact same information was published:
Date: 1820-11-21;
Paper: Centinel Of Freedom
under the headline:
Appointments in Joint-Meeting, November 15, 1820
Here are my questions.
1) Can somebody explain "Justice" to me?In my mind, a justice is associated with a supreme court, but I do not find any John Summers associated with the New Jersey Supreme Court. Are we talking about Justices of the Peace, or some kind of lay position like that?
2) Does anybody have any information about this particular John Summers?I believe there were potentially two John Summers in Sussex in 1820, a father and son - John Summers Sr. born abt 1751 married to Anna Van Deren, and John Summers Jr. born 1784 married to Jane Gardner.If you have any information about these families, please let me know.
Many thanks!
Mary Ann