interested in West Jersey, as accounting for his dismissal by the
Proprietors from his position as their deputy-governor in East
Jersey; but so far as the records of the period give an insight into
the motives actuating him in the administration of the affairs of
the Province, there is no evidence afforded of any want of interest
in its prosperity. As the result of his administration did not meet
their expectations of profit, it is not surprising that they should
have regarded it as due to some mistaken policy on his part. In the
appointment of a successor they were evidently led by the large influx
of population from Scotland to look among the Proprietors residing
there for a suitable person; and they therefore selected Lord Neill
Campbell, a brother of the Earl of Argyle, who was obliged to flee from
Scotland in consequence of his connection with that nobleman, who had
been beheaded June 30, 1685, after the unfortunate termination of his
invasion of that country. He left for East Jersey with a large number
of emigrants not long after that event, and reached the Province in
December of the same year.
Lord Neill was appointed deputy-governor June 2, 1686, for two years,
but his commission did not reach him until October, on the 5th of which
month it was published; and on the 18th he announced as his council
Gawen Lawrie, John Berry of Bergen, Isaac Kingsland of New Barbadoes,
Andrew Hamilton of Amboy, Richard Townley of Elizabethtown, Samuel
Winder of Cheesequakes, David Mudie and John Johnstone of Amboy, and
Thomas Codrington of Raritan.
It is a remarkable circumstance that the great diversity existing in
the characters, religions, pursuits, and political relations of the
Proprietors of East Jersey should have been overcome to such an extent
as to allow of harmonious action in the appointment of Lord Neill
Campbell. The Earl of Perth, a prominent member of the body, was one
of the jury that found the Earl of Argyle guilty of high treason; and
yet, stanch adherent as he was of James, he could consent to have his
interests in East Jersey taken care of by that earl’s brother. Robert
Barclay, with all the peculiarities of his peaceful sect, the advocate
of gentleness and non-resistance, was willing to be associated with a
stanch Scotch Presbyterian soldier, and join in commissioning him as
his subordinate. It is evident that private prejudices and feelings
were not allowed to interfere with whatever was thought likely to
conduce to the advancement of their pecuniary interests in East Jersey.
Lord Neill’s administration, however, was very brief. On December 10
of the same year, “urgent necessity of some weighty matters” calling
him to England, he appointed Andrew Hamilton to be his substitute, and
sailed, it is presumed, the March following, Hamilton’s commission
being published on the 12th of that month.
Andrew Hamilton had been a merchant in London, and came to the Province
with his family in June, 1686, as an agent of the Proprietors in
London. He at first declined accepting the position tendered him,
and Lawrie, who was one of the council, openly protested against his
appointment, because of his unpopularity with the planters; but his
authority having been confirmed by a commission from Governor Barclay
in August, 1687, all open opposition thereto seems to have ceased.
Hamilton appears to have been a man of intelligence, and to have acted
in a manner which he conceived to be calculated to advance the best
interests of the Proprietors without involving them with the people,
but it is doubtful if any great cordiality existed between the governor
and the governed at that period.
Before his death Charles II. had been led to call for a surrender of
the charter of Massachusetts Bay, and, meeting with a refusal from
the General Assembly, a writ of _quo warranto_ was issued in 1684.
The death of the King left the proceedings to be consummated by his
successor, whose rapacity prompted him to subvert the liberties of all
the colonies; and his pliant servant Andros, whom he had knighted,
was sent over with a commission that covered all New England. Sir
Edmund took up his residence in Boston, assumed the supreme authority
of Massachusetts, and the following year dissolved in succession
the governments of Rhode Island and Connecticut, taking to himself
all power and dominion, even beyond the limits granted by his royal
master.[712]
The Proprietors, finding it impossible to overcome the determination of
James to unite New York and New Jersey to New England under the same
government, deemed it advisable to abandon the unavailing contest,
and by acceding to the King’s design to obtain from him an efficient
guarantee that he would respect their rights to the soil. A surrender
of their patent, so far as the government was concerned, was therefore
made in April, 1688, James having agreed to accept it; and, the
Proprietors of West Jersey having acceded also to the arrangement, a
new commission was issued to Sir Edmund Andros, annexing both provinces
and New York to his government, and Francis Nicholson was appointed his
lieutenant-governor.
The course of Andros in accepting the simple acknowledgment of his
authority as sufficient, without revolutionizing the government and
dismissing the functionaries in office in New Jersey, was doubtless in
a great measure owing to the fact that the surrender by the Proprietors
of their right to govern rendered necessary the issuing of a new grant
to them from the Crown, confirmatory of all the immunities of the
soil; and until that could be perfected, it may have been considered
expedient not to disturb the existing regulations. It is nevertheless
remarkable that any considerations of the kind should have had so
mollifying an effect upon one whose arrogance, disregard of the rights
of others, and impetuosity of temper were so intrusively manifest as in
Edmund Andros.
By the seizure of Andros in New England in April, 1689, in anticipation
of the successful revolution in England in favor of William and Mary,
which promised the subversion of his authority not only there but also
in the other colonies that had been placed within his jurisdiction,
an opportunity was afforded the Proprietors of New Jersey to resume
all the rights and privileges of which they had been despoiled. But
there were impediments in the way. They were not sure of the support of
the people, and being separated,—some in England, some in Scotland,
and some in New Jersey,—it was not possible that unanimity of action
could be secured. Many of them, having been closely allied to King
James, were probably disposed to cling to him in his misfortunes, and
had the deputy-governor thrown off the responsibilities he had so
recently resumed as the representative of the Crown, for the purpose of
re-establishing the authority of the Proprietors, it would have been
attended with great doubt and uncertainty as to his success, the people
having so definitely manifested their preference for a royal government.
In April Hamilton received a summons from the mayor of New York,
acting as lieutenant of Andros; and, attended by the justices of
Bergen, repaired thither to consult upon the proper course to be
pursued in the peculiar situation of affairs prevailing in the two
colonies, but nothing of consequence resulted from the conference.
The deputy-governor on subsequent occasions was invited to similar
consultations in New York, but does not seem to have compromised
himself in any way with any party; and, as so much doubt existed as to
what was the proper course for him to pursue, he resolved in August to
proceed to England in person to advise with the Proprietors there. On
his way thither he was taken prisoner by the French, and appears to
have been detained in France until the May following, when he, being
then in England, resigned his position as the deputy-governor. From the
time of Hamilton’s departure for England until 1692 the inhabitants
of East Jersey were left to the guardianship of their county and
town officers, who seemed to have possessed all necessary powers to
preserve the peace. So also in West Jersey. The course of events caused
but little alteration in the general condition of the Province after
the surrender of the government to Andros in April, 1688, and the
subsequent suspension of his authority.
In 1687 George Keith, surveyor-general of East Jersey, under orders
from the Proprietors there, attempted to run the dividing line between
the two provinces, in accordance with the terms of the Quintipartite
deed of 1676; but the result was unsatisfactory to West Jersey, as it
was thought too great a quantity of the best lands came thereby within
the bounds of East Jersey. In September, 1688, however, a consultation
took place in London, between Governor Coxe of West Jersey and Governor
Barclay of East Jersey, with the view of perfecting a settlement of
Keith’s line, resulting in a written agreement signed and sealed by
the two parties; but nevertheless no satisfactory termination of the
matter was arrived at for many years. It was in 1688 that the “Board of
Proprietors of West Jersey” was regularly organized.
* * * * *
It would be very gratifying to be able to state clearly, upon good
authority, the condition of New Jersey at this eventful period in its
history, and note its progress since its surrender to the English
in 1664, but from the imperfection of the details, the information
obtainable is not sufficiently definite to give satisfactory results.
That the population of East Jersey had largely increased there can be
no doubt. It was a constant cause of complaint by the government of New
York that the freedom from taxation and various mercantile restrictions
had tended greatly to increase emigration to East Jersey, much to the
detriment of New York; and the first towns, Newark, Elizabethtown,
and Middletown, drew large numbers from New England and Long Island,
leading to their becoming centres for the development of other towns
and villages. The new capital, Perth Amboy, became in a very few years
an important settlement, and both from Scotland and England numerous
families had already arrived and settled in various parts of the
Province; so that it is probable the increase during the quarter of a
century had been more than a hundred-fold, making the total number of
souls in East Jersey nearly, if not quite, ten thousand. There are no
figures upon which any correct estimate can be based of the increase in
West Jersey, but it may be safely considered as coming far short of the
eastern Province.
Of the five counties recognized in 1670 Monmouth was the most populous;
and of its three towns, Shrewsbury, Middletown, and Freehold, the
first was the most important. Essex County came next; Elizabethtown,
Newark, Acquackanock, and New Barbadoes being its towns, ranking in the
order in which they are named. Middlesex followed, with Woodbridge,
Piscataway, and Perth Amboy as its towns. Bergen stood fourth, with
its towns of Bergen and Hackensack; and Somerset came last, having no
specific townships. There were, of course, in all the counties small
settlements not yet of sufficient importance to be recognized as
separate organizations. In 1683 Bergen County was third in importance,
and Middlesex fourth.
One great hindrance to the development of the agricultural and mineral
resources of the two provinces was the want of roads and conveniences
to promote intercourse between the different sections. The only Indian
path ran from Shrewsbury River to the northwest limits of the Province,
and the only road opened by the Dutch appears to have been that by
which intercourse was kept up with the settlements on the Delaware, in
what is now Maryland. From New Amsterdam a direct water communication
was had with Elizabethtown Point (now Elizabethport), and thence by
land to the Raritan River which was crossed by fording at Inian’s
Ferry, now New Brunswick. Thence the road ran in almost a straight
course to the Delaware River, above the site of the present Trenton,
where there was another ford. This was called the Upper Road; another,
called the Lower Road, branched off from the first about five or six
miles from the Raritan, and by a circuitous route reached the Delaware
at the site of what is now Burlington; but the whole country was a
wilderness between the towns in Monmouth County and the Delaware River
as late as 1675.
The first public measures for the establishment of roads was in 1675;
two men in each town being clothed with authority to lay out the common
highways; and in March, 1683, boards were created in the different
counties to lay out all necessary highways, bridges, landings, ferries,
etc., and by these boards the first effective intercommunication was
established. The present generation have in constant use many of
the roads laid out by them. In July, 1683, instructions were given
to Deputy-Governor Lawrie to open a road between the new capital,
Perthtown, and Burlington; but, although his instructions were complied
with, and the road opened in connection with water communication
between Perth and New York, the route by way of New Brunswick was the
most travelled.
The character of the legislation and laws for the punishment and
suppression of crime was very different in the two provinces. The penal
laws in East Jersey partook more of the severity of the Levitical
law, originating as they did with the settlers coming from Puritan
countries, while those in West Jersey were exceedingly humane and
forbearing. In the one there were thirteen classes of offences made
amenable to the death penalty, while in the other such a punishment was
unknown to the laws.
As might reasonably be expected from its proximity to New Amsterdam,
the first church erected in New Jersey soil, of which any mention is
made, was at Bergen. This was in 1680, the congregation having been
formed in 1662. The first clergyman heard of in Newark was in 1667,
a Congregationalist, and the first meeting-house was built in 1669.
Elizabethtown’s first congregation was formed in 1668. Woodbridge
succeeded in getting one established in 1670, and its first church was
built in 1681. The Quakers immediately after their arrival in West
Jersey, in 1675, organized a meeting at Salem (probably the one which
Edmondson says he attended), and in 1680 purchased a house and had
it fitted up for their religious services. It is said that the first
religious meetings of the Quakers in New Jersey were held at Shrewsbury
as early as 1670, the settlers there, about 1667, being principally of
that denomination. Edmondson mentions a meeting held at Middletown in
1675. The first General Yearly Meeting for regulating the affairs of
the Society was held at Burlington in August, 1681. Local meetings were
held there in tents before a house was erected. John Woolston’s was the
first, and its walls were consecrated by having worship within them.
The Friends at Cape May in 1676, Cohansey in 1683, and Lower Alloway
Creek in 1685 secured religious services.
Middletown, in Monmouth County, had an organized Baptist congregation
in 1688; and Piscataway in Middlesex County one in 1689.
To what extent education had been fostered up to this period it is
difficult to determine. The first schoolmaster mentioned in Newark
was there in 1676; but Bergen had a school established under the
Dutch administration in 1661. The first general law providing for the
establishment and support of school-masters in East Jersey was not
passed until 1693.
The currency of both East and West Jersey during the whole period of
their colonial existence, for reasons which are not very apparent,
was more stable than that of the neighboring colonies. The coins of
England and Holland, and their respective moneys of account, were used,
and Indian wampum afforded the means of exchange with the Aborigines.
Barter was naturally the mode of traffic most followed, and tables
are now found showing the value set upon the different productions
of the soil that were used in these business operations, marking the
diminution in value from year to year as compared with “old England
money.” In 1681 an act was passed in West Jersey for the enhancing, or
raising, the value of coins, which was extended also to New England
money. About that time an individual, named Mark Newbie, increased
the circulating medium by putting into circulation a large number of
Irish half-pence of less value than the standard coin, which he had
brought with him from Ireland; and, as thought by some, continued
the manufacture of them after his arrival. The act of 1681, however,
was repealed the following year, and another passed making Newbie’s
half-pence equal in value to the current money of the Province,
provided he gave security to exchange them “for pay equivalent on
demand,” and provided also that no person should be obliged to take
more than five shillings on one payment.[713] No repeal of this act
appears in the records. It became inoperative probably in 1684, when
Newbie disappears from the documentary history of the period. This
supposition is in some measure confirmed by the passage of an act in
May of that year, making three farthings “of the King’s coin to go
current for one penny,” in sums not exceeding five shillings.[714]
The only attempt to regulate the value of gold and silver in East
Jersey was in 1686. Its object was to prevent the transportation
of silver from the Province by raising it above its true value in
all business transactions. Its evil tendencies, however, were soon
developed, and before the end of the year, at a subsequent session of
the same Assembly, it was repealed.
The first grist-mill is mentioned in 1671, and was followed by another
in 1679, hand-mills being generally used. The first saw-mill was
erected in 1682. In 1683 Deputy-Governor Rudyard, in a letter to a
friend, says that at that time there were two saw-mills at work, and
five or six more projected, abating “the price of boards half in half,
and all other timber for building; for altho’ timber cost nothing, yet
workmanship by hand was London price or near upon it, and sometimes
more, which these mills abate.”
The cider produced at Newark was awarded the preference over that
brought from New England, Rhode Island, or Long Island. Clams, oysters,
and fish received well merited commendation for their plentifulness and
good qualities.
In 1685 the iron-mills in Monmouth County, belonging to Lewis Morris,
were in full operation; but it was not until some years had elapsed
that “the hills up in the country,” which were “said to be stony,”
were explored, and the mineral treasures of Morris County revealed.
Gabriel Thomas, in 1698, mentions rice among the products of West
Jersey, adding that large quantities of pitch, tar, and turpentine were
secured from the pine forests, and that the number of whales caught
yearly gave the settlers abundance of oil and whalebone.
CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.
THE relations existing between New York and New Jersey, during the era
of discovery and settlement, necessarily led to their being jointly
noticed by all the early writers, and as they have been referred to
in what has preceded this chapter,[715] it is thought unnecessary to
comment further upon their revelations. Attention will therefore be
given to those whose object was the making known the peculiarities, the
advantages, and attractions of New Jersey independent of New York.
The first of these was an issue by John Fenwicke of a single folio
leaf, in 1675, containing his proposals for planting his colony of New
Cæsarea, or New Jersey. A copy was for sale in London in 1853,—perhaps
the same copy sold at the Brinley sale to the Pennsylvania Historical
Society. It is printed in _Penn. Mag. of Hist._, vi.
In 1682 the Proprietors of East Jersey published a small quarto
of eight pages, giving an account of their recently acquired
province.[716] This publication is not now obtainable, and it is
doubtful if any copies have been seen for several generations. It is
the basis of all the information respecting East Jersey contained in
_The Present State of His Majesty’s Isles and Territories in America_,
etc., by Richard Blome (London, 1687), which is frequently quoted,
though abounding in errors. Although the original edition may not now
be met with, the _Brief Account_ may be found reprinted in Smith’s
_History of New Jersey_, and in _East Jersey under the Proprietary
Governments_. It gives a very fair and interesting account of the
Province, and doubtless aided in inducing adventurers to embark for the
new Eldorado.
In 1683 a small quarto of fifteen pages, including the titlepage, was
published in Edinburgh for the Scotch Proprietors, of similar purport
to the foregoing.[717] The only copy of the original, known, is in the
possession of Samuel L. M. Barlow, Esq., of New York. This was used
when the work was reproduced in the New York _Historical Magazine_,
second series, vol. i.[718]
In 1684 a work of greater pretensions, comprising 73 pages, 12º, was
published in London, entitled _The Planter’s Speech to his neighbours
and countrymen of Pennsylvania, East and West Jersey; and to all
such as have transported themselves into new Colonies for the sake
of a quiet, retired life. To which is added the complaints of our
Supra-interior inhabitants_. The title and introduction of this volume
are all that have been met with. They will be found in Proud’s _History
of Pennsylvania_.[719] The author’s name is not known, but it would
seem that his object was more to impress upon his “dear friends and
countrymen” their moral and religious duties as immigrants, than to
portray the advantages of the section of country particularly referred
to.
The purport of the treatise is thus summarized by Proud: “Divers
particulars are proposed as fundamentals for future laws and customs,
tending principally to establish a higher degree of temperance and
original simplicity of manners,—more particularly against the use
of spirituous liquors,—than had been usual before. Everything of a
military nature, even the use of the instruments thereof, is not only
disapproved, and the destruction of the human species thereby condemned
in this _Speech_, but likewise all violence or cruelty towards, and
the wanton killing of, the inferior living creatures, and the eating
of animal food are also strongly advised against in those proposed
regulations, customs, or laws, with the reasons given, etc., to the
end that a higher degree of love, perfection, and happiness might more
universally be introduced and preserved among mankind.”
In 1685 the most interesting and valuable of all the early publications
was issued in Edinburgh,[720] reference to which has been made on a
preceding page. The author, George Scot, of Pitlochie, was connected
by descent and marriage with many distinguished families in Scotland,
which connection probably led the Proprietors to confide the
preparation of the work to him, as his extensive circle of friends
and acquaintances would be likely to insure for it a more general
acceptance, particularly as he was ready to add example to precept by
embarking himself and family for East Jersey. Accompanied by nearly two
hundred persons, he sailed from Scotland about Aug. 1, 1685, but before
the vessel reached her destination Scot and his wife and many of their
fellow-passengers were no longer living. One daughter, Eupham, became
the wife of John Johnstone the ensuing year. Mr. Johnstone was one of
her fellow-passengers. Their descendants became numerous, and for years
before the war of Independence, and since that period, they filled high
civil and military stations in East Jersey.
The author of _The Model_ begins his work with a learned disquisition
upon the manner in which America was first peopled, and then proceeds
to meet and overcome the various scruples that were presumed to operate
against its further settlement from Scotland, by arguments drawn
from sacred and profane history and from the consideration due their
families and the country; concluding with a portrayal of the advantages
to be secured by a residence in East Jersey, and the superiority
of that colony over others in America and the West Indies. In this
respect the value of the work to the historian is very great, as
numerous letters are given from the early settlers, presenting minute
descriptions of various localities and their individual experiences
in a manner calculated to produce a correct and, at the same time,
a favorable impression upon their readers. The original edition is
exceedingly rare, only ten copies being known, but the New Jersey
Historical Society has caused it to be reprinted as an appendix to the
first volume of its _Collections_, thus placing it within the reach of
all.[721]
The year 1685 gave also to the world the interesting book of Thomas
Budd, entitled _Good Order established in Pennsilvania and New
Jersey_.[722] Mr. Budd arrived at Burlington, in West Jersey, in
1678, and during his residence there held many important offices; was
associated with Jenings on the committee appointed in 1684 to confer
with Edward Byllynge, and it was while he was in England that his book
was printed. He probably removed to Philadelphia after his return
to New Jersey. He made another brief visit to England in 1689, but
continued to consider Philadelphia as his residence until his death
in 1698. Mr. Budd’s work exhibits the possession of intelligence and
public spirit to a remarkable degree. Some of his suggestions as to the
education which should be given to the young in various pursuits show
him to have been an early advocate of what are now termed Technical
Schools, and are deserving of consideration even at this late day.
The original work is seldom seen, but in 1865 a reprint was given to
the public by William Gowans, of New York, having an introduction and
copious notes by Mr. Edward Armstrong, of Philadelphia.
In 1698 Gabriel Thomas published a small octavo of forty-six pages on
West Jersey, in connection with a similar work on Pennsylvania, with a
map of both colonies. He was then, it is thought, a resident of London,
but he had resided in America about fifteen years, the information
contained in the book being the result of his own experiences
and observation.[723] The book was dedicated to the West Jersey
Proprietors, and its intent was to induce emigration of all who wished
to better their worldly condition, especially the poor, who might in
West Jersey “subsist very well without either begging or stealing.”
French refugees or Protestants would find it also to their interest
to remove thither where they might live “far better than in Germany,
Holland, Ireland, or England.” The modes of life among the Indians, and
the prevailing intercourse between them and the settlers were fully
discussed, as well as the natural productions of the country and the
improvements already introduced or in progress.
In 1699 two pamphlets were published in Philadelphia, referring to the
difficulties in West Jersey between the people of the Province and
Edward Byllynge in 1684, which led to the despatch, by the Assembly,
of Samuel Jenings and Thomas Budd to confer in person with Byllynge.
The first of these publications was aimed at Jenings, who was accused
of being the head of “some West Jersians” opposed to Byllynge, and
emanated from John Tatham, Thomas Revell, and Nathaniel Westland,
although published anonymously.[724] Jenings took exceptions to many
of its statements and answered it under his own name in a small quarto,
boldly asserting his innocence of the serious charges made against
him.[725] These publications throw considerable light upon a portion of
West Jersey history which is very obscure, and have been used in the
preparation of the foregoing narrative. They are both exceedingly rare,
and historians are indebted to Mr. Brinton Coxe, of Philadelphia, for
having them reprinted in 1881.
The Journal of William Edmundson has been referred to as furnishing
some interesting items respecting New Jersey during the period we
have had under review.[726] He visited the Province in 1676, and his
statements respecting the condition of the country and his interviews
with prominent Friends are valuable.
In addition to these publications, there are in the Secretary of
State’s office at Trenton the original records of both the East Jersey
and West Jersey Proprietors, which were transferred from Perth Amboy
and Burlington about the middle of the last century, copies only being
left in the original places of deposit.
The foregoing references include all the works published, prior to
the surrender of the government of New Jersey to the Crown in 1703,
relating to the history of the Province, previous to its separation
from New York; but others were published subsequently which throw
much light upon that early period, although not written for that
purpose exclusively. Thus in 1747 the renowned Elizabethtown Bill in
Chancery was drawn and put in print by subscription the same year,[727]
which will ever be acknowledged as a structure of valuable materials
illustrative of the conflicts between the Proprietors and their
government and the discontented settlers. The bill was principally
drawn by James Alexander, who during a long period was a prominent
lawyer in both provinces. A Scotchman by birth he came to America in
1715, and shortly after his arrival entered the Secretary’s office,
New York, and was deputy-clerk of the Court in 1719. Throughout his
life, which did not terminate until April 2, 1756, he held very highly
important positions in both New York and New Jersey, and was the owner
of large land tracts in both provinces.[728] This bill, notwithstanding
its great length and complicated nature, is drawn with much ability and
makes out a very strong case for the plaintiffs. The defendants’ claims
would seem to be, beyond controversy, invalid; but other matters were
introduced rendering the case one not easily disposed of.
The answer to the Bill in Chancery was filed in 1751 and printed in
1752,—the counsel for the defendants being William Livingston,
afterward Governor of New Jersey, and William Smith, Jr., who became
Chief-Justice of New York, and subsequently, after the war of
Independence, Chief-Justice of Canada. The copies now extant are very
rare.[729] Although not as voluminous it was fully as prolix as the
document which prompted it. Notwithstanding the great amount of labor
which this case required both in its preparation and argument, it was
never brought to a conclusion. The Revolution of 1776 effectually
interrupted the progress of the suit, and it was never afterward
revived. Both bill and answer, however, and other smaller publications
which resulted from the trial of the case, must ever be considered as
valuable historical documents, emanating as they all did from parties
more or less interested in the questions involved, and consequently
earnestly desirous of eliciting every fact that could throw any light
upon them.[730]
The first general history of New Jersey was that of Samuel Smith,
published in 1765.[731] It is valuable to all examining the early
history of the State, from the author’s having had access to, and
judiciously used, information obtained from various sources not now
accessible. He gives some interesting letters from early settlers,
elucidating the events comprehended in the period we have had under
review; and although, as might naturally be expected, errors are
occasionally found in it, Smith’s _History of New Jersey_ has ever
been deservedly considered a standard work.[732] Proud, whose _History
of Pennsylvania_ contains much matter referring to West Jersey that
is usefully arranged, acknowledges his indebtedness to Smith, and
gives him the credit of being “the person who took the most pains to
adjust and reduce these materials into nice order, as might be proper
for the public view,” previous to his own undertaking; and the old
historian, if cognizant of what is taking place in his native State at
this late day, must be gratified to find how freely modern writers have
transferred his pages to their books, even though no acknowledgment of
indebtedness to him has been made.
In 1748 the acts of the General Assembly of New Jersey, from the
time of the surrender of the government to the Crown in the second
year of Queen Anne, were published under the supervision of Samuel
Nevill, second Judge of the Supreme Court of the Province, and, in
consequence, the popular party were aroused into having the early
grants and concessions also arranged and published. About 1750 a
committee was appointed to collate the early manuscripts connected
with the proprietary grants, and subsequently Aaron Leaming and Jacob
Spicer were empowered to have them printed, and to them does the credit
belong of giving to their fellow-citizens the admirable compilation
that is generally quoted under their names.[733] It contains all the
agreements, deeds, concessions, and public acts from 1664 to 1702, and
the object in view by their compilation and the estimate in which they
were held are apparent from a remark of the compilers in their preface.
“If our present system of government,” say they, “should not be judged
so equal to the natural rights of a reasonable creature as the one that
raised us to the dignity of a colony, let it serve as a caution to
guard the cause of liberty.”
This volume has been of great value to members of the Bar and of the
Legislature, as well as to the historian, as it has preserved many
documents the original depository of which is not now to be found.[734]
At the present time, however, the State of New Jersey is publishing,
under the direction of a committee of the Historical Society, a series
of volumes entitled the _New Jersey Archives_, which is intended to
include all important documents referring to the colonial history of
the State, however widely the originals may be scattered in other
depositories,—including all of interest now preserved in the Public
Record Office of England,—and will probably be the authoritative
reference hereafter for documentary evidence relating to the whole
colonial period.[735]
The first volume issued by the New Jersey Historical Society as their
Collections was published in 1846, and contained “East Jersey under
the Proprietary Governments.”[736] The author wrote his work fully
sensible of the necessity for verifying much that had been allowed
to pass as history, by seeking for and using original sources of
information; and the volume elucidates many events that are alluded to
in the preceding chapter.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
EDITORIAL NOTE.—The _New Jersey Archives_ will contain every essential
document noted in _An Analytical Index to the Colonial Documents
of New Jersey in the state-paper offices of England, compiled by
Henry Stevens, edited with notes and references to printed works and
manuscripts in other depositories_, by William A. Whitehead, New York,
1858.
In 1843 a movement was made in the State Legislature to emulate the
action of New York in securing from the English Archives copies of
its early historical documents; and in the next year the judiciary
committee made a report on the subject, which is printed in the preface
of this Index, p. vii. This, however, failed of effect, as did a
movement in 1845; but it made manifest the necessity of an historical
society, as a source of influence for such end; and the same year
the New Jersey Historical Society was formed, of which Mr. Whitehead
has been the corresponding secretary from the start. This society
reinforced the movement in the State Legislature; but no result being
reached, it undertook of its own action the desired work, and in 1849
gave a commission to Mr. Henry Stevens to make an analytical index of
the documents relating to New Jersey to be found in England. This being
furnished, the State legislature failing to respond in any co-operative
measures for the enlargement of it from the domestic records of the
State, Mr. Whitehead undertook the editing, as explained in the title,
and appended to the volume a bibliography of all the principal printed
works relating to New Jersey up to 1857. Mr. Stevens’s enumeration
began with 1663-64, the editor adding two earlier ones of 1649 and
1651. But a small part of the list, however (13 pp. out of 470),
refers to the period covered by the present chapter, and many of those
mentioned had already been printed.
The _Sparks Catalogue_ shows “Papers relating to New Jersey,
1683-1775,” collected by George Chalmers, which are now in Harvard
College Library.
Some of the later general histories of the State may be mentioned:—
_The History of New Jersey from its Discovery to the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution_, by Thomas F. Gordon, Trenton, 1834. There is a
companion volume, a Gazetteer.
_Civil and Political History of New Jersey_, by Isaac S. Mulford,
Camden, 1848. The author says “no claim is advanced for originality or
learning,” his object being to make accessible scattered information in
a “simple and compendious narrative,” which is not altogether carefully
set forth. A new edition was issued in 1851 in Philadelphia.
_The History of New Jersey_, by John O. Raum, 2 vols. Philadelphia,
1877, is simply, so far as the early chronicles are concerned, a
repetition mostly of Smith and Gordon, though no credit is given to
those authorities.
A few of the local histories also deserve some notice:—
_Contributions to the Early History of Perth Amboy and adjoining
Country_, by William A. Whitehead, New York, 1856. The author says,
“No attempt has been made to clothe with the importance of history
these desultory gleanings.” It has a map of the original laying-out,
following what is presumed to have been an original survey of 1684.
_An Historical Account of the First Settlement at Salem in West
Jersey_, by John Fenwicke, Esq., chief proprietor of the same; with R.
S. Johnson, Philadelphia, 1839, 24º. pp. 173. Mr. Johnson’s memoir of
Fenwicke is in the New Jersey Hist. Soc. Proc. iv.
[Illustration: COLONIAL BOUNDS, 1656.]
The Hon. John Clement, of Haddonfield, has prepared a _History of
Fenwicke’s Colony_.
The two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Burlington was
celebrated Dec. 6, 1877, when the late Henry Armitt Brown delivered an
oration, presenting the early history in a rhetorical way.
_Reminiscences of Old Gloucester, ... New Jersey_, by Isaac Mickle,
Philadelphia, 1845.
_History of Elizabeth, New Jersey, including the Early History of Union
County_, by the Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield, New York, 1868. The author
differs from the writer of the present chapter with respect to the
merits of the conflict between the Proprietors and the people. The
foot-note references are ample.
_History of the County of Hudson from its Earliest Settlement_, by
Charles H. Winfield, New York, 1874.
_Historical Sketch of the County of Passaic, especially of the First
Settlements and Settlers._ Privately printed, by William Nelson,
Paterson, 1877.
_The History of Newark, New Jersey, being a Narrative of its Rise and
Progress from May, 1666_, by Joseph Atkinson, Newark, 1878; a book
giving, however, only in a new garb, the older chronicles of the place.
It gives a map of the town as laid out in 1666.
* * * * *
The annexed sketch-map is an extract from a map entitled, _Le Canada,
ou Nouvelle France, etc., par N. Sanson d’Abbeville, geographe
ordinaire du Roy_, Paris, 1656, and by its dotted lines shows the
limits conceded by the French to the different colonies of the
northern seaboard of the present United States, a few years before
the establishment of New Caesaria. New England was defined on the
east by the height of land between the waters of the Penobscot and
the Kennebec, and on the northwest by a similar elevation that turned
the rainfall to the St. Lawrence. New Netherland stretched from Cape
Cod to the Delaware, where it met New Sweden, which lay between it
and Virginia,—the Maryland charter not being recognized; nor was the
absorption of the territory of the Swedes the year before (1655), by
the Dutch, made note of. The map-maker, in defining these limits,
pretends to have worked on English and Dutch authorities; but the
Plymouth colonists would have hardly allowed the annihilation to which
they were subjected, and the settlers of Massachusetts would scarcely
have recognized the names attached to their headlands and harbors,
and never having any existence but in Smith’s map, which the royal
geographer seems to have fallen in with.
NOTE ON NEW ALBION.
BY GREGORY B. KEEN.
_Late Professor of Mathematics in the Theological Seminary of St.
Charles Borromeo, Corresponding Secretary of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania._
THE English did not attain supreme dominion in New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, or Delaware until the grant of King Charles II. to his
royal brother, the Duke of York, in 1664; yet the history of these
States and that of Maryland would not be complete without specific
mention of the antecedent attempt to settle this part of America, made
by the unsuccessful colonist Sir Edmund Plowden.
This person was a member of a Saxon family of Shropshire, England,
whose antiquity is sufficiently intimated by the meaning of its
surname, “Kill-Dane,”—being the second son of Francis Plowden, Esq.,
of Plowden, Salop, and grandson of the celebrated lawyer and author of
the _Commentaries_, Serjeant Edmund Plowden, a Catholic, who declined
the Lord-Chancellorship of England, offered him by Queen Elizabeth,
lest he should be forced to countenance her Majesty’s persecutions
of his Church.[737] In 1632, this gentleman, who like his ancestors
and other relatives was a Catholic,[738] and at that time resided in
Ireland,[739] in company with “Sir John Lawrence, Kt. and Bart., Sir
Boyer Worsley, Kt., John Trusler, Roger Pack, William Inwood, Thomas
Ryebread, Charles Barret, and George Noble, adventurers,” petitioned
King Charles I. for a patent, under his Majesty’s seal of Ireland, for
“Manitie, or Long Isle,” and “thirty miles square of the coast next
adjoining, to be erected into a County Palatine called Syon, to be
held of” his “Majesty’s Crown of Ireland, without appeal or subjection
to the Governor or Company of Virginia, and reserving the fifth of
all royal mines, and with the like title, dignity, and privileges to
Sir Edmund Plowden there as was granted to Sir George Calvert, Kt.,
in New Foundland by” his “Majesty’s royal father, and with the usual
grants and privileges to other colonies,” etc. And a modified form of
this prayer was subsequently presented to the monarch, in which the
island spoken of is called “Isle Plowden,” and the county palatine “New
Albion,” and the latter is enlarged to include “forty leagues square of
the adjoining continent,” the supplicants “promising therein to settle
five hundred inhabitants for the planting and civilizing thereof.”
The favor sought was immediately conceded, and the King’s warrant,
authorizing the issue of a patent to the petitioners, and appointing
Sir Edmund Plowden “first Governor of the Premises,” was given at
Oatlands, July 24, the same year;[740] in accordance with which, a
charter was granted to Plowden and his associates above mentioned,
by writ of Privy Seal, witnessed by the Deputy-General of Ireland,
at Dublin, June 21, 1634.[741] In this document the boundaries of
New Albion are so defined as to include all of New Jersey, Maryland,
Delaware, and Pennsylvania embraced in a square, the eastern side of
which, forty leagues in length, extended (along the coast) from Sandy
Hook to Cape May, together with Long Island, and all other “isles
and islands in the sea within ten leagues of the shores of the said
region.” The province is expressly erected into a county palatine,
under the jurisdiction of Sir Edmund Plowden as earl, depending upon
his Majesty’s “royal person and imperial crown, as King of Ireland;”
and the same extraordinary privileges are conferred upon the patentee
as had been bestowed two years before upon Lord Baltimore, to whose
charter for Maryland that for New Albion bears very close resemblance.
Two of the petitioners, Worsley and Barret, afterward dying, “the whole
estate and interest” in the grant became vested in the seven survivors,
and of these, Ryebread, Pack, Inwood, and Trusler, in consideration of
gifts of five hundred acres of land in the province, abandoned their
claims, Dec. 20, 1634, in favor of “Francis, Lord Plowden, son and
heir of Sir Edmund, Earl Palatine,” and George and Thomas Plowden, two
other of his sons, their heirs and assigns, forever. The same year,
apparently,[742] Plowden granted to Sir Thomas Danby a lease of ten
thousand acres of land, one hundred of which were “on the northeast end
or cape of Long Island,” and the rest in the vicinity of Watsessett,
presumed to be near the present Salem, New Jersey, with “full liberty
and jurisdiction of a court baron and court leet,” and other privileges
for a “Town and Manor of Danby Fort,” conditioned on the settlement
of one hundred “resident planters in the province,” not suffering
“any to live therein not believing or professing the three Christian
creeds commonly called the Apostolical, Athanasian, and Nicene.”
[Illustration]
The plans of the Earl Palatine were simultaneously advanced by the
independent voyages of Captain Thomas Yong, of a Yorkshire family, and
his nephew and lieutenant, Robert Evelin, of Wotton, Surrey, undertaken
in virtue of a special commission from the King, dated Sept. 23, 1633,
to discover parts of America not “actually in the possession of any
Christian Prince.”[743] These persons sailed from Falmouth, Friday, May
16, 1634, and arriving between Capes Charles and Henry the 3d of July,
left Virginia on the 20th to explore the Delaware for a “Mediterranean
Sea,” said by the Indians “to be four days’ journey beyond the
mountains,” from which they hoped to find an outlet to the Pacific
Ocean, affording a short passage to China and the East Indies. On the
25th they entered Delaware Bay and proceeded leisurely up the river
(which Yong named “Charles,” in honor of his sovereign), conversing and
trading with the savages, as far as the present Trenton Falls, which
they reached the 29th of August, and where they were obliged to stop,
on account of the rocks and the shallowness of the water. On the 1st
of September they were overtaken here by some “Hollanders of Hudson’s
River,” whom Yong entertained for a few days, but finally required to
depart under the escort of Evelin, who afterward explored the coast
from Cape May to Manhattan, and on his return made a second ineffectual
attempt to pass beyond the rocks in the Delaware.[744] Both Yong and
Evelin “resided several years” on this river, and undertook to build a
fort there at “Eriwomeck,” in the present State of New Jersey. Tidings
of their actions were frequently reported to Sir Edmund Plowden, and in
1641 was printed a _Direction for Adventurers and Description of New
Albion_,[745] in a letter addressed to Lady Plowden, written by Evelin.
Books concerning the province were likewise published, it is said,[746]
in 1637 and 1642.
About the close of 1641, the Earl Palatine at length visited America
in person, and, according to the testimony of Lord Baltimore,[747] “in
1642 sailed up Delaware River,” one of his men, named by Plantagenet
“Master Miles,” either then or about that time “swearing the
officers” of an English settlement of seventy persons, at “Watcessit”
(doubtless the New Haven colonists at Varkens Kil, now Salem Creek,
New Jersey[748]), to “obedience” to him “as governor.” Plowden’s
residence was chiefly in Virginia, where, it is recorded, he bought
a half-interest in a barque in 1643;[749] and it is probable that he
had communication with Governor Leonard Calvert, of Maryland, since a
maid-servant belonging to him accompanied Margaret Brent, the intimate
friend of the latter, on a visit to the Isle of Kent, in Chesapeake
Bay.[750] The longest notice of him during his sojourn on our continent
occurs in a report of Johan Printz, Governor of New Sweden, to the
Swedish West India Company, dated at Christina (now Wilmington,
Delaware), June 20, 1644,[751] the importance of which induces the
writer to translate the whole of it. Says Printz,—
“In my former communications concerning the English knight, I have
mentioned how last year, in Virginia, he desired to sail with
his people, sixteen in number, in a barque, from Heckemak to
Kikathans;[752] and when they came to the Bay of Virginia, the captain
(who had previously conspired with the knight’s people to kill him)
directed his course not to Kikethan, but to Cape Henry, passing which,
they came to an isle in the high sea called Smith’s Island, when they
took counsel in what way they should put him to death, and thought it
best not to slay him with their hands, but to set him, without food,
clothes, or arms, on the above-named island, which was inhabited by
no man or other animal save wolves and bears; and this they did.
Nevertheless, two young noble retainers, who had been brought up by
the knight, and who knew nothing of that plot, when they beheld this
evil fortune of their lord, leaped from the barque into the ocean,
swam ashore, and remained with their master. The fourth day following,
an English sloop sailed by Smith’s Island, coming so close that the
young men were able to hail her, when the knight was taken aboard
(half dead, and as black as the ground), and conveyed to Hackemak,
where he recovered. The knight’s people, however, arrived with the
barque May 6, 1643, at our Fort Elfsborg, and asked after ships to
Old England. Hereupon I demanded their pass, and inquired from whence
they came; and as soon as I perceived that they were not on a proper
errand, I took them with me (though with their consent) to Christina,
to bargain about flour and other provisions, and questioned them until
a maid-servant (who had been the knight’s washerwoman) confessed the
truth and betrayed them. I at once caused an inventory to be taken
of their goods, in their presence, and held the people prisoners,
until the very English sloop which had rescued the knight arrived
with a letter from him concerning the matter, addressed not alone
to me, but to all the governors and commandants of the whole coast
of Florida. Thereupon I surrendered to him the people, barque, and
goods (in precise accordance with the inventory), and he paid me 425
riksdaler for my expenses. The chief of these traitors the knight has
had executed. He himself is still in Virginia, and (as he constantly
professes) expects vessels and people from Ireland and England. To all
ships and barques that come from thence he grants free commission to
trade here in the river with the savages; but I have not yet permitted
any of them to pass, nor shall I do so until I receive order and
command to that effect from my most gracious queen, her Royal Majesty
of Sweden.”
Printz’s opposition to Plowden’s encroachment within his territory
was never relaxed, and was entirely successful. In the course of his
residence in America, the Earl Palatine of New Albion visited New
Amsterdam, “both in the time of Director Kieft and in that of General
Stuyvesant,” and, according to the _Vertoogh van Nieu Nederland_,[753]
“claimed that the land on the west side of the North River to Virginia
was his by gift of King James [Charles] of England, but said he did not
wish to have any strife with the Dutch, though he was very much piqued
at the Swedish governor, John Printz, at the South River, on account
of some affront given him, too long to relate; adding that when an
opportunity should offer, he would go there and take possession of the
river.” Before re-crossing the ocean, he went to Boston, his arrival
being recorded in the Journal of Governor John Winthrop, under date
of June 4, 1648, having “been in Virginia about seven years. He came
first,” says the Governor, “with a patent of a County Palatine for
Delaware Bay, but wanting a pilot for that place, went to Virginia,
and there having lost the estate he brought over, and all his people
scattered from him, he came hither to return to England for supply,
intending to return and plant Delaware, if he could get sufficient
strength to dispossess the Swedes.”
Immediately on reaching Europe, Plowden set about this task, and,
to obtain the greater credit for his title as “Earl Palatine of New
Albion,” both in and out of that province, as well as recognition of
the legality and completeness of his charter, submitted a copy of the
latter to Edward Bysshe, “Garter Principal King of Arms of Englishmen,”
who received favorable written opinions on the subject from several
serjeants and doctors of laws, which, with the letters patent, were
recorded by him Jan. 23, 1648/9, “in the office of arms, there to
remain in perpetual memory.”[754] At the same time (December, 1648)
there was published another advertisement of Plowden’s enterprise,
entitled _A Description of the Province of New Albion_,[755] by
“Beauchamp Plantagenet, of Belvil, in New Albion, Esquire,” purporting
to contain “a full abstract and collection” of what had already been
written on the theme, with additional information acquired by the Earl
Palatine during his residence in America.
[Illustration: Insignia of the Albion Knights]
The work is dedicated “To the Right Honourable and mighty Lord Edmund,
by Divine Providence Lord Proprietor, Earl Palatine, Governour, and
Captain-Generall of the Province of New Albion, and to the Right
Honourable the Lord Vicount Monson of Castlemain, the Lord Sherard,
Baron of Letrim, and to all other the Vicounts, Barons, Baronets,
Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants, Adventurers, and Planters of the
hopefull Company of New Albion, in all 44 undertakers and subscribers,
bound by Indenture to bring and settle 3,000 able trained men in our
said severall Plantations in the said Province,”—the author, himself
“one of the Company,” professing to “have had the honour to be admitted
as” the “familiar” of Plowden, and to “have marched, lodged, and
cabbined” with him, both “among the Indians and in Holland.”[756] It
opens with a short treatise “of Counts or Earls created, and County
Palatines,” followed by an adulatory account of the family of the
Proprietor, and a defence of his title to his province, comprising
some original statements with regard to the Dutch[757] and Swedes.
Specific mention is made of several tribes of Indians dwelling in New
Albion, and of numerous “choice seats for English,” some of which have
been approximately identified.[758] “For the Politique and Civill
Government, and Justice,” says the writer, “Virginia and New England
is our president: first, the Lord head Governour, a Deputy Governour,
Secretary of Estate, or Sealkeeper, and twelve of the Councell of
State or upper House; and these, or five of them, is also a Chancery
Court. Next, out of Counties and Towns, at a free election and day
prefixed, thirty Burgesses, or Commons. Once yearly these meet, as
at a Parliament or Grand Assembly, and make Laws.... and without
full consent of Lord, upper and lower House, nothing is done.” “For
Religion,” observes the author, “I conceive the Holland way now
practised best to content all parties: first, by Act of Parliament
or Grand Assembly, to settle and establish all the Fundamentals
necessary to salvation.... But no persecution to any dissenting, and
to all such, as to the Walloons, free Chapels; and to punish all as
seditious, and for contempt, as bitterly rail and condemn others of the
contrary: for this argument or perswasion of Religion, Ceremonies, or
Church-Discipline, should be acted in mildnesse, love, and charity, and
gentle language, not to disturb the peace or quiet of the Inhabitants,
but therein to obey the Civill Magistrate,”—the latter remarkable
programme of universal tolerance in matters of faith being probably
designed to protect Catholic colonists in the same manner as the famous
“Act concerning Religion” passed by the Maryland Assembly the following
year. The book closes with some practical advice to “Adventurers,” and
promises all such “of £500 to bring fifty men shall have 5,000 acres,
and a manor with Royalties, at 5_s._ rent; and whosoever is willing so
to transport himself or servant at £10 a man shall for each man have
100 acres freely granted forever.”
The only evidence we possess that any result flowed from this fresh
attempt to promote emigration to New Albion is derived from documents
in the Public Record Office at London,[759] stating that March 21,
1649-50, a “Petition of the Earl of New Albion relating to the
plantation there” was “referred to the consideration of the Committee
of Council;” that April 3, 1650, it was “referred to the Committee for
Plantations, or any three of them, to confer with the Earl of Albion
concerning the giving good security to Council, that the men, arms,
and ammunition, which he hath now shipped in order to his voyage to
New Albion, shall go thither, and shall not be employed either there
or elsewhere to the disservice of the public;” and that June 11, 1650,
“a pass” was “granted for Mr. Batt and Mr. Danby, themselves and seven
score persons, men, women, and children, to go to New Albion.” We have
no other proof of the sailing of these people, nor any knowledge of
their arrival in America.
In 1651, there was offered for sale in London, _A mapp of Virginia_,
compiled by “Domina Virginia Farrer,”[760] designating the territory
on the Delaware as “Nova Albion,” as well as “Sweeds’ Plantation,”
with a note: “This River the Lord Ployden hath a Patten of, and calls
it New Albion; but the Sweeds are planted in it, and have a great
trade of Furrs.” On the Jersey side of the stream are indicated the
sites of “Richnek Woods,” “Raritans,” “Mont Ployden,” “Eriwoms,” and
“Axion,” and on the sea-coast “Egg Bay,” all of which are mentioned in
Plantagenet’s _New Albion_.
At that time Plowden was still in England,[761] and we do not know
that he ever returned to his province. In his will, dated July 29,
1655, he styles himself “Sir Edmund Plowden, of Wansted, in the County
of Southton [Southampton], Knight, Lord, Earle Palatine, Governor and
Captain-Generall of the Province of New Albion in America,” and thinks
“it fit that” his “English lands and estates be settled and united
to” his “Honour, County Palatine, and Province of New Albion, for the
maintenance of the same.” In consequence of the “sinister and undue
practises” of his eldest son, Francis Plowden, by whom, he says, “he
had been damnified and hindered these eighteene yeares,” “his mother, a
mutable woman, being by him perverted,” he bequeaths all his titles and
property in England and America, including his “Peerage of Ireland,”
to his second son, Thomas Plowden, specially mentioning “the province
and County Palatine of New Albion,” whereof, he says, “I am seized as
of free principality, and held of the Crowne of Ireland, of which I
am a Peere, which Honor and title and province as Arundell, and many
other Earledomes and Baronies, is assignable and saleable with the
province and County Palatine as a locall Earledome.” He provides for
the occupation and cultivation of New Albion as follows: “I doe order
and will that my sonne Thomas Plowden, and after his decease his eldest
heire male, and if he be under age, then his guardian, with all speed
after my decease, doe imploy, by consent of Sir William Mason, of Greys
Inne, Knt., otherwise William Mason, Esquire, whom I make a Trustee
for this my Plantation, all the cleare rents and profits of my Lands,
underwoods, tythes, debts, stocks, and moneys, for full ten yeares
(excepted what is beqeathed aforesaid), for the planting, fortifying,
peopling, and stocking of my province of New Albion; and to summon and
enforce, according to Covenants in Indentures and subscriptions, all my
undertakers to transplant thither and there to settle their number of
men with such as my estate yearly can transplant,—namely, Lord Monson,
fifty; Lord Sherrard, a hundred; S^r Thomas Danby, a hundred; Captain
Batts, his heire, a hundred; Mr. Eltonhead, a Master in Chancery,
fifty; his eldest brother Eltonhead, fifty; Mr. Bowles, late Clerke of
the Crowne, forty; Captain Claybourne, in Virginia, fifty; Viscount
Muskery, fifty; and many others in England, Virginia, and New England,
subscribed as by direction in my manuscript bookes since I resided
six yeares there, and of policie a government there, and of the best
seates, profits, mines, rich trade of furrs, and wares, and fruites,
wine, worme silke and grasse silke, fish, and beasts there, rice, and
floatable grounds for rice, flax, maples, hempe, barly, and corne, two
crops yearely; to build Churches and Schooles there, and to indeavour
to convert the Indians there to Christianity, and to settle there my
family, kindred, and posterity.”
[Illustration: Farrer map of Virginia (1651)]
To each of eleven parishes in England, where he owned land, he left
forty pounds; and directs that he be buried in the chapel of the
Plowdens at Ledbury, in Salop, under a stone monument, with “brasse
plates” of his “eighteene children had affixed at thirty or fourty
powndes charges, together with” his “perfect pedigree as is drawne
at” his “house.” He “died,” says “Albion,” “at Wanstead, county of
Southampton, in 1659,” his will being admitted to probate in the
Prerogative Court of Canterbury, July 27 of that year.[762] Thomas
Plowden survived his father forty years, but what benefit he derived
from the inheritance of New Albion does not appear. His own will is
dated May 16, 1698, and was admitted to probate in the Prerogative
Court of Canterbury the 10th of the following September. In it he
describes himself as “Thomas Plowden, of Lasham, in the county of
Southton, Gent;” and after leaving all his children and grandchildren
“ten shillings a piece of lawfull English money,” proceeds: “I do give
and bequeath unto my son Francis Plowden the Letters Pattent and Title,
with all advantages and profitts thereunto belonging, And as it was
granted by our late Sovereign Lord King Charles the first over England,
under the great Seal of England, unto my ffather, Sir Edmund Plowden,
of Wansted, in the County of Southton, now deceased, The province and
County palatine of New Albion, in America, or in North Virginia and
America, which pattent is now in the custody of my son-in-law, Andrew
Wall, of Ludshott, in the said County of Southton, who has these
severall years wrongfully detained it, to my great Loss and hinderance.
And all the rest and residue of my goods, chattles, and personall
Estate, after my debts and Legacies be paid and funerall discharged, I
give and devise unto my wife, Thomazine Plowden, of Lasham.”[763]
That Plowden’s claim to the territory of New Albion was not forgotten
in America, appears from the following allusions to it. In a
conversation recorded by the Swedish engineer, Peter Lindström,[764]
as occurring in New Sweden, June 18, 1654, between the Swedes and
“Lawrence Lloyd, the English Commandant of Virginia,” concerning the
rights of their respective nations to jurisdiction over the Delaware,
the latter laid particular stress upon the fact that “Sir Edward Ployde
and Earl of Great Albion had a special grant of that river from King
James.” On the other hand, on occasion of the embassy of Augustine
Herman and Resolved Waldron on behalf of the Director-General of New
Netherland to the Governor of Maryland, in October, 1659, Plowden’s
title was spoken of by them as “subretively and fraudulently obtained”
and “invalid;” while Secretary Philip Calvert affirmed that “Ployten
had had no commission, and lay in jail in England on account of his
debts, relating that he had solicited a patent for _Novum Albium_ from
the King, but it was refused him, and he thereupon applied to the
Viceroy of Ireland, from whom he had obtained a patent, but that it
was of no value,”[765]—allegations, it is understood, of interested
parties, which therefore possess less weight as testimony against the
rights of Plowden. At the same time the title of the Earl Palatine
to his American province was recognized in the last edition of Peter
Heylin’s _Cosmographie_, which was revised by the author, and published
in London in 1669,[766] and in Philips’s enlarged edition of John
Speed’s _Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain_ and _Prospect of the
Most Famous Parts of the World_, printed in London in 1676.[767]
From this period the history of New Albion is more obscure. There is
proof, however, of the residence in Maryland, in May, 1684, of certain
Thomas and George Plowden, affirmed, on grounds of family tradition,
by persons who claim to be descended from one of them, to be sons of
a son of the original patentee, who had brought his wife and children
to America to take possession of his estates, but had been murdered
by the Indians. That the ancestral jurisdiction over the province was
never entirely lost sight of, is shown by the circumstance that the
title peculiar to it was constantly retained by later generations of
this race.[768] Just before the American Revolution, Charles Varlo,
Esq., of England, purchased the third part of the Charter of New
Albion, and in 1784 visited this country with his family, “invested
with proper power as Governor to the Province, ... not doubting,” as
he says, “the enjoyment of his property.” He made an extended tour
through Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland,
and distributed among the inhabitants a pamphlet,[769] comprising a
translation in English of the Latin charter enrolled at Dublin, copies
of the lease to Danby, and the release of Ryebread and others, before
referred to, an address of the “Earl Palatine of Albion” to the public,
and conditions for letting or selling land in New Albion. He likewise
issued “a proclamation, in form of a handbill, addressed to the people
of New Albion, in the name of the Earl of Albion,”[770] and published
in the papers of the day (July, 1785) “A Caution to the Good People of
the Province of New Albion, _alias_ corruptly called, at present, The
Jerseys,” not to buy or contract with any person for any land in said
province.[771] He formed the acquaintance of Edmund (called by him
Edward) Plowden, representative of St. Mary’s County in the Legislature
of Maryland, a member of the family already mentioned, and endeavored
to interest that gentleman in his schemes. Finding his land settled
under the grant to the Duke of York, he also sought counsel of William
Rawle, a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, and “took every step
possible,” he affirms, “to recover the estate by law in chancery, but
in vain, because judge and jury were landowners therein, consequently
parties concerned. Therefore, after much trouble and expense,” he
“returned to Europe.”[772] Varlo’s last act was to indite two letters
to the Prince of Wales, reciting his grievances and appealing for
redress, but conceived in such a tone as would seem to have precluded
a response.[773] Thus ended this curious episode in the history of
English colonization in America.[774]
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