Victory
Parade
Victory
Parade
CHAPTER I
The Colonial Period
BY EDWIN ROBERT WALKER
SOME people think that that country is happiest which has no history. This obviously is not true; but, on the contrary, that country is happiest whose history is told in monument and story; and this is so of political subdivisions of a State, as well as of the State itself.
In the history of Trenton the first thing that arrests our attention is the early name of the place and its origin. The first settlement, as will hereafter appear, dates from the year 1679, at which time the region on the river in the vicinity of what is now Trenton was known as the Falls of the Delaware. All the authorities agree upon that point. A few white men were at the Falls in the seventeenth century, before the settlement of 1679, or passed through them in voyages on the river, but no permanent settlement was made until the coming of Mahlon Stacy and the other Friends, or Quakers, in the year mentioned.
An early description of the Falls, and certainly the first after the settlement was made, is that given in the Journal of a Voyage 1679-1680 by Dankers and Sluyter under date of Friday, November 17, 1679. 1 The entry, which is quoted in full below (p. 33), tells among other things of the travellers’ disappointment in the “falls,” which they found to be “nothing more than a stretch of about two miles in length where the river is full of stones almost across it, which are not very large, but in consequence of shallowness the water runs rapidly and breaks against them, causing some noise.” And this condition is recognizable today, although the bank of the river from Calhoun Street down to the Assunpink Creek has been filled out from the narrow fringe of land along the Sanhican (formerly called the Water Power) to a considerable extent, covering many of the rocks and sandbars, which, except in times of high water, were formerly discernible from the bank.
1 In ancient times there was much confusion about the calendar, and in the year 46 B.C. Julius Caesar undertook to put an end to it by the arrangement known as the Julian calendar, or Old Style (generally written O.S.). This continued until 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the present calendar, known as the Gregorian calendar, or New Style (generally written N.S.). (See Fiske, History of the United States.)
In Great Britain the New Style was not adopted until the passing of the New Style Act, which carne into operation in 1752, the discrepancy by that time amounting to eleven days. Opportunity was taken at the same time to fix the official commencement of the year in England at January 1, the date which had been taken as the commencement of the year under the Gregorian calendar and which had been adopted in Scotland in 1600. Up until 1752 in England the official date of the new year had continued to be March 25. (See Philip, The Calendar, p. 22.) Thus it happens that in England prior to 1752, dates between January 1 and March 25 were often referred to by both of the years, and we frequently find such references a “February 25, 1679-80” (which means that that date was in 1679 O.S. or 1680 N.S.). But the month of November, the ninth month O.S., or the eleventh month N:S., was always the November that we know, being in the late fall, for these calendars made no difference in reference to the month as related to the tropical or solar year. Hence Friday, the 17th day of November, 1679, noted in the Journal of a Voyage, would be the 28th of November by the present calendar.
The most conspicuous example of this change of dates is afforded by Washington’s Birthday. It will be remembered that Washington was born February 11, 1732, but a discrepancy of eleven days existed between the Julian and the Gregorian calendars, which latter was adopted by Parliament in 1752. This discrepancy was corrected by advancing the date eleven days, since which time Washington’s Birthday is regarded as occurring on February 22 of each year; and is always celebrated on that day.
Dr. Hall in his History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton says that the Falls of the Delaware was not only the first, name given to that part of the river where Trenton was afterwards built, but was used for more than a century to denote the general locality. Mr. Raum, speaking in his History of Trenton, of the Dutch and Swedes who preceded the English in this country, referred to their fortifications on the Delaware, by them called the South River, near Gloucester in New Jersey, and also on the Hudson, or North River, in New York, 2 and remarked that the Yorkshire commissioners chose the purchase from the Assunpink, or Falls of the Delaware, to Rancocas Creek.
2 As this passage indicates, the Delaware was formerly called the South River, and the Hudson the North River; in New York City the Hudson is still commonly called by that name.
Mahlon Stacy and the other Quakers, whose names, unfortunately, have not been handed down, came to the Falls in 1679 (quaintly written “Ye ffalles of ye De La Warr”), landed at Burlington in December 1678, which latter place had been settled in 1677. They did not give any distinctive name to the place here but were content to call it the Falls, but after William Trent in 1714 made his purchase of Mahlon Stacy the younger of 800 acres at the Falls, lying on both sides of the Assunpink Creek and extending inland for a considerable distance, being the remainder of the Stacy holdings there, the town was called Trent’s-town, sometimes Trent-town, and finally Trenton. Says Mr. Lee in his history of Trenton: “ ‘The Falls’ was not dropped for years - in fact, it was in common use until the Revolution.” Trent himself called the town Trenton in 1719. 2a
2a See deed, William Trent, of Philadelphia, merchant, to James Macombs, of the town of Trenton in the county of Hunterdon, January 4, 1719, for a lot of land in the “Town of Trenton.” Liber T, p. 334, Office of the Secretary of State.
There is one other name which it is said to have borne at one time, and that is Littleworth. It is spoken of both by Dr. Hall and Mr. Raum, and by both repudiated as a name for the settlement. Dr. Hall says that if the first name given to the settlement was Littleworth, the disparaging title must have been disdained by Stacy, who pronounced it a most brave place whatever envy or evil spies might speak of it. Mr. Raum, likewise, says that it has been asserted that the first settlement of Trenton was called by the Indians Littleworth, in consequence of its liability to be destroyed by flood in the river; that his impression, however, was, that the inhabitants never recognized it as the name of the town; that Mahlon Stacy in his letters written in 1680 dates them from “the Falls of Delaware”; that if the inhabitants ever called any part of Trenton by that name they must have referred to the low lands between Front Street and the creek, then filled up; that he was not prepared to dispute its being the name of the town at its earliest settlement, but he had grave doubts of its being the fact. Apparently the name, if ever used, must have been in the spirit of jest. Assunpink Creek, oftentimes misspelled Assanpink (although with good authority) was formerly called St. Pink or Sunpink, and also was called the River Derwent, as old deeds will show. That Assunpink is the proper spelling of the name appears from the fact that Dr. Brinton, the eminent authority on the Lenni Lenape, says that in their dialect the word is pronounced "Assun," meaning a stone.
Dr. Hall speaks of Trent-Town Falls and also says that the fact that “Trent’s-town” or “Trent-town” was growing to a respectable condition is indicated by the direction of the governor in 1719 that the county courts should be held there. Mr. Raum says that the place was first called Trent’s-town and was named Trenton as early as the year 1719.
Peter Kalm, a Swedish professor and traveller who was here in 1748, says that “in Trenton there are two small churches, one belonging to the Church of England and the other to the Presbyterians, and that the landlord said that twenty-two years ago, when he settled here, there was hardly more than one house.” 2b But Dr. Hall says: “When it is said that the landlord told Kalm that in 1726 there was hardly one house in Trenton, either the Swede did not understand the Jerseyman, or the host spoke at random; for if as early as 1719 the courts sat in Trenton, it is not probable that such a selection would be made seven years before there was ‘hardly a house.’” 2c Here is an explanation and refutation of the story, to which, doubtless, all will agree.
2b Kalm, Travels in North America, Vol. I, p. 220.
2c Hall, History of the Presbyterian Church, Trenton (2nd ed.), p. 58.
Of course one could write the history of Trenton by commencing with the first settlement at the Falls of the Delaware in 1679, simply stating that Mahlon Stacy, accompanied by certain Friends, called Quakers, settled there at this time; but this would manifestly not be very satisfactory. Almost all histories commence at a date anterior to that which is first treated of in the narrative. For instance: Smith begins his History o f Nova Caesarea or New Jersey with a brief review of the discovery of America. In writing the Colonial history of Trenton I have chosen to go back to the English conquest of 1664, and set out the letters patent from King Charles II to his brother James, Duke o f York; then the grant from the duke to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret; :and then on down to Stacy and Trent. I have set out in full the old and singular letters patent which Charles II employed to convey New Jersey with other lands in North America to his brother the duke, believing that, since the ordinary reader rarely sees the law books or official archives which contain the grant in full, it will prove to be a matter of great interest.
Let it be remembered that the first name of the Province, now the State, was Nova Caesarea 3 or New Jersey. In the word “Caesarea,” in several documents from which I have quoted, the suffix is written “ia” instead of “ea,” and in so quoting I have retained the original spelling. The Province was so called in honor of Sir George Carteret, who was one of the grantees of James, Duke of York, in the deed for Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, and who was lieutenant-governor of the Island of Jersey in the English Channel and had successfully defended its possession for Charles I against the parliamentary army of Cromwell. Mr. Nelson in an address on Sir George Carteret, delivered before the New Jersey Historical Society (Vol. XII), says that the natives of Jersey erected a town on the eastern coast of the island on the site of a Roman encampment, it is believed. This seems to be the sum of the learning on the subject, and indicates, of course, that the name is derived ultimately from Julius Caesar, the Roman emperor.
3 In The Americana it is stated that the word should be pronounced “Ses-a-rea.”
Without further introduction the Colonial history of Trenton will be given on the following pages.
THE aborigines are familiarly known to us as the Delaware Indians. They were known to themselves as the Lenni Lenape. 4
4 The following account is excerpted from an address made by the author before the New Jersey Historical Society at Newark, October 31, 1917; not expecting it to be printed, the authorities were not quoted. It was, however printed later. See Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, New Series, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 193. Works which may, be consulted are The American Nations, by Rafinesque; The Lenape and Their Legends by Brinton; and other standard works to be found in all large libraries. - The Author.
The name bestowed upon New Jersey by the Indians was “Shejachbi” (pronounced as if spelled “Sha-ak-bee”). They claimed the whole area comprising New Jersey. Their great chief, Teedyescung, stated at the conference at Easton, Pa., in 1757, that their lands reached eastward from river to sea. When I was a boy I assumed the word “Delaware” to be an Indian name, evolved by the savages themselves and by them bestowed upon the river and bay. Originally, however, it was three words, “De La Warr,” the name of an ancient English family ennobled in the time of Edward II, who reigned from 1307 to 1327. It is undoubtedly of Norman origin. The particular scion of that ancient house for whom the Delaware River and Bay, and the State of Delaware, were named, was Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, born July 9, 1557. It was from the lordly title of this distinguished nobleman and adventurer that we get our present name “Delaware.”
The name Lenni Lenape is not pronounced as spelled, that is, the last word is not. That, phonetically, would be Len-apee, but it is to be pronounced as though spelled “Len-au-pay.” The river known to us as the Delaware they called Lenape Wihittuck, meaning river or stream of the Lenape.
Whence came the Indians? Rafinesque, in The American Nations, says that the annals of the Lenni Lenape contain an account of creation, telling of Kitanitowill, a god, the first and eternal being, who caused the earth, water, sun, moon and stars. This legend also tells of a bad spirit, Makimani, although the theory about an Indian Satan seems not to be accepted by some historians, - nor does it seem that such a being was believed in by the Lenape when the white men first went among them.
These annals of the Lenni Lenape given by Rafinesque tell also of a flood and of the passage of the Indians and their settlement in America. From whence they passed does not appear, and doubtless this mystery is destined to remain forever unsolved.
It will probably be a matter of some surprise to most to learn that there is authority for believing that New Jersey was a wilderness, uninhabited by human beings until the year 1396, when King Wolomenap (Hollow Man) led his people into the Delaware Valley where they settled and overran New Jersey. The Reverend Mr. Beatty, in his mission from New York in 1766 to the western Indians, received from a person whom he credited the following tradition, which he had in turn had from some old men among the Delaware tribe:
That of old time their people were divided by a river, and one part tarried behind; that they knew not for a certainty how they first came to this continent, but gave this account:
A king of their nation, when they formerly lived far to the west, left his kingdom to his two sons; the one son making war upon the other, the latter thereupon determined to depart and seek some new habitation. Accordingly he set out, accompanied by a number of his people, and after wandering to and fro for the space of forty years, they at length came to the Delaware, where they settled three hundred and seventy years before [that is, before 1766, which thus would make the date 1396]. The way they kept account of this was by putting a black bead of wampum every year on a belt which they used for that purpose.
Rafinesque gives a list of Lenape kings and says their annals tell of Wolomenap (Hollow Man) the 77th, and that he was king at the Falls of the Delaware (Trenton); the first one there, according to the legend.
The earliest white travellers in this part of the country looked upon the natives as simply savages and but little different from the wild beasts about them. They therefore did not trouble themselves to study their institutions or traditions; all of that has been done in comparatively recent times.
The Indians found here by the first explorers and travellers were splendid physical specimens, well built and strong, with broad shoulders arid narrow waists, dark eyes, white teeth, and coarse black hair, of which the men left but a single tuft on the top of the head .to accommodate an enemy’s scalping knife. There were few that were crippled or deformed.
As they lived mainly by hunting and fishing, their habitations, which were called “wigwams;” were temporary structures which could easily be removed when occasion required. They generally slept on skins or leaves spread on the bare ground, though some had crude board floors.
From these humble lodgings no one was ever turned away and the generous hospitality of the Indians was noted with admiration by travellers. The Indians’ dinner generally consisted of meat and vegetables, cooked in the same vessel, which was rarely, if ever, cleansed. His breakfast generally ,consisted of maize (or Indian corn), pounded in a mortar till crushed, and them boiled. This was his ach-poan, whence comes the native “corn-pone,” which we all know and, I may say, all like. Their thirst was quenched by drinking the broth of boiled meat, or by drafts of pure water. They had no intoxicating liquors until the advent of the white man. Their only stimulant was tobacco, which they smoked in pipes manufactured by themselves.
The Lenape did not depend solely on the trophies of the chase for their subsistence. They were, to a comparatively large extent, engaged in agricutlture and raised a variety of edible plants, corn, beans, sweet potatoes and squashes, among them. A hardy variety of tobacco was also cultivated.
The art of the potter was not unknown to the Delawares, and their skill in bead work and feather mantles, and dressing animal skins, excited admiration. Their weapons were mostly of stone, but there was considerable native copper used for arrow heads and also for pipes and ornaments. They had paints and dyes made from vegetables and minerals found in their neighborhood.
Although they were usually clad in the skins of animals they had learned to make a coarse cloth from the fiber of nettles and other plants which they twisted and wove with their fingers. They made ropes, purses and bags in the same way, and had needles made of small bones and wooden splints, with which they were quite dexterous. Like all primitive people the Indians were very fond of ornaments and adorned themselves with shells and beads and other articles skilfully and decoratively fashioned by themselves. The white beads made by the Indians were called “wampum” and the blue, purple or violet ones “suckanhoch.” They were made of shells and other suitable materials. Used first merely for ornamentation, this wampun came to be so much in demand that it assumed the character of currency and it was so used by the white settlers as well as the Indians as neither had any other kind of money. Some white men tried to make wampum but their crude product was promptly rejected as counterfeit.
The Indians were never very numerous in New Jersey, at least not after the advent of the white settlers. It has been estimated that in 1648 there were in the various tribes about two thousand warriors all told, which would make a total population of about eight thousand. After this date they disappeared rapidly. In 1721 they were said to be few and friendly, - the fewer the more friendly, doubtless.
Kalm, a Swedish traveller, who spent some time here in 1748, observed that the disappearance of the native population was principally due to two agencies, - smallpox and brandy. It will be remembered, I believe, by everyone, that intoxicating liquors were sold to the Indians by the whites even in defiance of Colonial statutes forbidding it. The practice of violating the excise law, which we have every reason to believe still goes on, appears, therefore, to be of ancient origin and to be founded upon considerable historic precedent.
The names, number and position of all the New Jersey tribes have not been ascertained, but it is known that about 1650 the tribe occupying the area around the Falls of the Delaware, where Trenton now stands, was named “Sanhican.” Their chief was Mosilian, who commanded about two hundred braves at the Falls. An artificial stream of considerable beauty, paralleling the Delaware River and running along the southwesterly boundary of the city, built originally to supply water power to mills, but now disused for that purpose, has been named Sanhican Creek.
The Sanhicans were noted for the manufacture of stone implements, making beautiful lanceheads and arrowheads of quartz and jasper. There are several vocabularies of their dialect extant.
Teedyescung, Oraton, Mosilian and the other sachems and sagamores of old Schejachbi (New Jersey) have long since gone to the happy hunting ground, and the remnant of their tribes is on a reservation in the Far West, perishing as a type and destined to become extinct as a people.
THE history of land titles in Trenton is the history of land titles in the State of New Jersey generally, and they are part of the history of the State, particularly of this locality.
They are of more than passing interest, and because they are but little known to the residents of Trenton, I think they should be here given in some detail.
By the year 1664 there were considerable English colonies settled in the northern and eastern parts of what is now New Jersey, and King Charles II, considering a Dutch and Swedish colony in the heart of his dominions in America to be a menace to his government, determined to dispossess them. There were several such Dutch and Swedish settlements on the Delaware River below what is now Trenton. For the purpose mentioned, King Charles II evidently intended that his brother the Duke of York, afterwards James II, should make the conquest in his name, and on March 20, 1664, by patent granted unto the duke a tract of land in North America, including New Jersey. These letters patent, 5 in the quaint language, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or rather lack of it, are herewith given in full for the enlightenment of the readers of this history:
5 “Letters patent” is the name of an instrument executed by a government to grant a right; as, a patent for a tract of land. See Bouvier, Law Dictionary, Rawle’s 3rd rev., Vol. II, p. 1935.
CAROLUS SECUNDUS DEI GRATIA Anglie Scotie francie & hibine Rex fidei defensor &c. Omnibus ad quos p’sentes littere perve’n’int sal’tm. Inspecimus Irrolutamen quasdam I’eas n’ras paten’ sub mango Sigillo n’ro Anglie sigillat’ geren’dat’apud Westm’ duodenimo die Marcij Anno regni n’ri sexto decimo p’charissimo fratri n’ro Jacobo Duci Ebor’ confect’ in rotul Cancellor nre’ p’dre irrolulat at ebm de recordo remanen in nec verba : 6
6 Translation: “Charles the Second, by grace of God King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all to whom the present letters have come, greeting. We have examined the Registry of the Rolls, certain of our letters patent under our Great Seal, bearing the seal of England, given at Westminster on the twelfth day of March, in the sixteenth year of our reign, executed for our very dear brother James, the Duke of York. In the Rolls our Chancellor registers them and the same remain of record in these words.”
Charles the second by the grace of Gode &e To all to whome these p’sents shall come greeting know yee that wee for divers good causes & considerat’ons vs therevnto moveing have of our espec’all grace certaine knowledge & meere mot’on given & granted and by these p’sents for vs, our heires & Successors doe give & grant vnto our dearest Brother James Duke of yorke his heires & Assignes all that part of the Mayne land of New England begin’ning at a certaine place called or knowne by the name of St. Croix next adioyning to new Scotland in America and from thence extending along the Sea coast vnto a certaine place called Pemaquie or Pemaquid, and soe upp the River thereof to the furthest head of the same as it tendeth Northwards and extending from thence to the River of Kinebeqine and soe vpwards vy the shortest course to the River Canada Northwards And alsoe all that Island or Islands comonly called by the severall name or names of Mattewacks or Long Island Scituate Lying & being towards the west of Cape Codd & the Narrohigansetts abutting vpon the Maine land betweene the two Rivers there called or knowne by the several names of Conectecutte & hudsons River togeather alsoe with the said River called hudsons River and all the land from the West side of Conectecutte River to the East side of Delaware Bay and alsoe all those seu’all Islands called or knowne by the names of Martin Vinyards & Nantukes otherwise Nantiket togeather with all the lands Islands Soyles Rivers harbours Mynes Mineralls, Quarries Woods Marishes Waters lakes fishings hawking hunting & fowling and all other Royalties profitts com’odities & hereditaments to the said severall Islands land & p’misses belonging & apperteyning with their and every of their app’ten’nces and all our estate right title Interest benefit advantage clayme & demand of in or to the said lands & p’misses or any part or p’cell thereof and the revert’on & revert’ns remainder & remainders togeather with the yearly & other the rents reven’ues ‘ p’fitts of all ‘ singuler the said p’misses of every part & parcell thereof To have & to hold all & singuler the said lands Islands hereditaments & p’misses with their & every of their app’ten’ces .hereby given and granted vnto or hereinbefore ment’oned to bee given & granted vnto our said dearest brother James Duke of yorke his heires & assignes forever To the onely p’per use & behoofe of the said James Duke of Yorke his heires & assignes forever To be holden of vs out heires & Successors as of our Mannor of East Greenwich in our County of Kent in free & com’on soccage & not in Capite or by Knights service yeelding & rendring and the said James Duke of yorke doeth for himself his heires & assignes covenant & promise to yeeld & render vnto vs our heires & Successors of & for the same yearly & every yeare fortie Beaver Skinnes when they shall be demanded or within ninety dayes after And we doe further of our speciall grace certaine knowledge & meere mot’on for us our heires & Successors give & grant vnto our said dearest brother James Duke of yorke his heires Deputies Agents Comissioners & Assignes by these p’sents full & absolute power & authority to correct punish pardon governe & rule all such the Subjects of vs our heires and Successors as shall from time to time adventure themselves into any the parts or places aforesaid or that shall or doe at any time hereafter inhabit within the same according to such Lawes Orders Ordinances direct’ons & instruments as by our said dearest Brother or his Assignes shall be established And in defect thereof in cases of necessity according to the good descret’ons of his deputies, Comissioners Officers or assignes respectively as well in all causes and matters Capitall & Criminall as civill, both marine & others Soe alwaies as the said .Statutes ordinances & proceedings bee not contrary to but as neare as conveniently may bee agreeable to the Lawes Statutes & governm’t of this our Realme of England And saveing & reserving to vs, our heires & Successors the receiving hearing & determining of the Appeale & Appeales of all or any person or persons of in or belonging to the Territories or Islands aforesaid or in or touching any Judgemt or Sentence to be there made or given And further that it shall & may be lawfull to & for our said dearest brother, his heires & assignes, by these p’sents, from time to time, to nominate make constitute Ordeyne & confirme by such name, or names Style or Styles as to him or them shall seeme good And likewise to revoke discharge change & alter as well all & singular Governors Officers & Ministers wch hereafter shal be by him or them thought fitt & needfull to bee or vsed within the aforesaid parts & Islands And alsoe to make ordeyne & establish all manner of Orders Lawes direct’ons Instruc’ons formes & ceremonies of Governmt & Magistracy fitt & necessary for & conc’ning the Governmt of the Territories & Islands aforesaid Soe alwaies as the same be not contrary to the Lawes & Statutes of this our Realme of England but as neare as may be agreeable therevnto and the same at all times hereafter to putt in execut’on or abrogate revoke or change not only within the p’cincts of the said Territories or Islands but alsoe upon the Seas in goeing & comeing to & from the same as he or they in their good discret’ons shall thinke to bee fittest for the good of the Adventurers & Inhabitants there And wee doe further of our especiall grace certaine knowledge & meer mot’on grant ordeine & declare that such Governors Officers & Ministers as from time to time shall be authorized & appointed in manner & forme aforesaid shall & may have full power and authority to vse & exercise Marshall Lawe in cases of Rebellion insurrect’on & mutiny in as large & ample manner as our Lieutenants in our Counties within our Realme of England have or ought to have by force of their com’ission of Lieuten’ncie or any Law or Statute of this our Realrne And wee doe further by these p’sents for us, our heires & Successors, grant vnto our said dearest Brother James Duke of yorke his heires & assignes that itt shall & mad be lawful to & for the said James Duke of yorke his heires & assignes in his or their discret’ons from time to time to admit such & soe many person & p’sons to trade & traflupue unto & within the Territories & Islands aforesaid and into every or any part & p’cell thereof And to have possesse & enjoy any Lands or hereditamt in the parts & places aforesaid As they shall thinke fitt according .to the Lawes Constitut’ons and Ordinances by our said brother, his heires deputies Com’issioners & assignes from time to time to bee made and established by vertue of & according to the true intent & meaneing of these presents, and vnder such condit’ons, reservat’ons and agreements as our said brother his heires or assignes shall set downe order direct and appoint and not otherwise as aforesaid. And wee doe further of our especiall grace certaine knowledge & meere mot’on for vs our heires and Successors give and grant to our said deare Brother his heires and assignes by theis presents that it shall and may bee lawfull to & for him them or any of them att all and every tyme and tymes hereafter out of any our Realmes or dominions whatsoever to take leade carry and transport in and into their voyages and for and towards the Plantac’n our said Territories and Islands, all such and soe many of our loving Subjects or any other strangers being not prohibited or vnder restraint that will become our loving Subjects and live vnder our allegiance as shall willingly accompany them in the said voyages togeather with all such Clothing Implements furniture and other things vsually transported and not prohibited as shall bee necessary for the Inhabitants of the said Islands & territories and for their vse and defence thereof and mannageing and carrying on the Trade with the People there and in passing and returning to and fro yeelding & paying to vs our heires & Successors the Customes and duties therefore due & payable according to the Lawes and Customes of this our Realme And wee doe alsoe for vs our heires & Successors, graunt to our said dearest Brother James Duke of yorke his heires and assignes and to all and every such Governor or Governors or other Officers or Ministers as by our said Brother his beires or Assignes shall be appointed to have Power and authority of Government and Com’and in or over the Inhabitants of the said Territories or Islands that they and every of them shall and lawfully may from tyme to tyme and at all times hereafter forever for their severall defence and safety encounter expulse repell and resist by force of armes as well by Sea as by land and all wayes and meanes whatsoever all such person & persons as without the speciall Licence of our said deare Brother his heires or assignes shall attempt to inhabit within the severall precincts and Limits of our said Territories and Islands And alsoe all and every such person and persons whatsoever as shall enterprise or attempt at any time hereafter the destruct’on invasion detriment or annoyance to the parts places or Islands aforesaid or any parte thereof And lastly our will and pleasure is and wee doe hereby declare & grant that these our letters patent or the Inrollment thereof shall bee good and effectuall in the lawe to all intents & purposes whatsoever Notwithstanding the not reciteing or ment’oning of the p’misses or any parte thereof or the meets or bounds thereof or of any former or other letters patents or Grants heretofore made or granted of the p’misses or of any part therof by vs of any of our progenitors vnto any other person or persons whatsoever Bodies politique or corporate or any act lawe or other restraint incerteinty or imperfect’on whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Although expresse ment’on &c In witness &c. Witnesse ourselfe at Westminster the twelfth day of March in the sixteenth yeare of our reigne pip’m Regem Nos antem tenorem L’arum paten p’decan ad requisito’em Johannis Fenwick Armigeri duximus exemplificand per presentes In cujus eri Testimoniu'm has L'ras nr'as fieri fecimus paten Teste meip'o apud Westm’ quinto decimo die Junij Anno regni nostri vicesimo septimo
( Lacon
Wm Clitch ) |
in Cancellar.
R |
|
Exammat.
per nos |
(
et
) |
anglis
7 |
(
Tho. Estromb ) |
7 Translation : “In witness &c. Witnesse ourselfe at Westminster the twelfth day of March in the sixteenth yeare of our reigne by the King himself. The previous tenor of our letters patent through the crown lawyers for the examination of John Fenwick, Major, we have considered attested through these presents. In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be patent, I myself witness, at Westminster, on the fifteenth day of June in the twenty-seventh year of our reign.
( Lacon
Wm. Clitch) |
In the
Office of the |
|
Witnessed
by us |
(
and
) |
English
Chancellor |
(
Tho. Estromb ) |
of the
Rolls.” |
The author is indebted for this and the preceding translation to the Hon. James F. Minturn, Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, an apt Latin scholar, who gives assurance that the translations are correct; and that the clauses are a combination of old English, French and Latin, containing abbreviations and contractions which were in use at the period.
The Duke of York being thus seized in fee of the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, by his deeds of lease and release 8 bearing dates June 23 and 24, 1664, did grant and convey the Province unto John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. That deed of lease includes therein an exact, and the first, description of New Jersey. It is as follows:
ALL that Tract of Land adjacent to New England and Lying and being to the Westward of Long Island and Manhitas Island and bounded on the East part by the Maine Sea and part by Hudsons River and hath Vpon the West Delaware Bay or River and extendeth Southward to the Maine Ocean as farre as Cape May at the mouth of Delaware Bay and to the Northward as farre as the Northernmost Branch of said Bay or River of Delaware, which is in fourty one degrees and fourty minutes of Lattitude and Crosseth over thence in a Straight Line to Hudsons River in fourty one degrees of Lattitude which said Tract of Land is hereafter to be called .by the name or names of New Cesarea or New Jersey. 9
8 Lease and release are ancient species of conveyance. The manner was this: A lease for a year being made by the owner, he afterwards made a release of the freehold or reversion (belonging to himself) to the same person, which vested the fee in that person, the tenant then in possession. See 2 Blackstone’s Commentaries, *339.
9 This description is from the original manuscript in the archives of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark. - The Author.
The deed of release from the Duke of York to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret followed the next day, and for the sake of informing the readers of the titles assumed by the Duke of York, and recited concerning Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, the commencement of that deed is here given
THIS INDENTURE Made the ffoure & Twentyeth day of June in the Sixteenth yeare of The Reigne of our Sovereigne Lord Carlis the Second by the Grace of God of England Scotland ffrance and Ireland King Defender of the ffaith &c Annoq Dni 1664 BETWEENE his Royall Highnesse James Duke of Yorke and Albany Earle of Vlster Lord High Admirall of England and Ireland Constable of Dover Castle Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Gouvernour of Portsmouth of the one part John Lord Berkeley Baron of Stratton and one of his Manes most Honoble Privy Counsell and Sr George Carterett of Saltrum in the County of Deven K’nt And one of his Ma’ties most honoble Privy Counsel of the other partt WHEREAS his said Matie King Charles the Second by his Letters Pattents Vnder the great Seale of England bearing Date on or about the Twelfth day of March in the Sixteenth yeare of his said Manes Reigne Did for the Considerac’ons therein menc’oned give and Graunt vnto his said Royall Highnesse James Duke of Yorke, his heires and assignes, &c.
And now Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret owned the fee simple or absolute estate in the whole of the Province. They were each seized of one moiety, or half part of the whole, but were not seized in severalty, that is, were not each seized of a certain one-half area without interest in the other. They were seized according to legal expression, “by the half and by the whole.” They were joint tenants, and, as such, were seized by the half or moiety and by all; each had an entire possession, as well of every part as of the whole. 10 Being thus seized, Lord Berkeley sold his moiety, or undivided half part, of the Province to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Byllynge and his assigns. Upon the request of Byllynge, William Penn, Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas became trustees for the performance of Byllynge to his creditors. 11
10 Blackstone’s Commentaries, *181.
11 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 89.
The next step in this devolution of title is what is called the Quintipartite (five-party) Deed, made the first day of July, 1676. The parties were Sir George Carteret of the first part, William Penn of the second part, Gawen Lawrie of the third part, Nicholas Lucas of the fourth part, and Edward Byllynge of the fifth part. By this deed the parties divided the Province into two parts by a straight line running from the northwest corner of the Province on the river Delaware at the line dividing New Jersey from New York (just below Port Jervis), and extending southward to the east point of Little Egg Harbor. They were called in the quintipartite deed East and West Jersey.
Most of the inhabitants at that time were in East New Jersey, that part known as West New Jersey being practically unsettled. A dispute existed concerning the true line of division in the quintipartite deed between the proprietors, freeholders and inhabitants of the two Provinces for many years. Different lines were run by surveyors, but as all left the soil of what is now Trenton far to the westward, Trenton was therefore always in West Jersey, and we were consequently never interested in the controversy. By the quintipartite deed Sir George Carteret, as is well known, had East Jersey granted to him, and Penn, Lawrie and Lucas, as is equally well known, had West Jersey granted to them, in trust for Byllynge.
Being thus seized in severalty, namely, absolute ownership, of West New Jersey, Penn, Lawrie and Lucas (together with John Eldridge and Edmond Warner, grantees of certain lands from Edward Byllynge) directed a letter to Richard Hartshorne dated London, the “26th of the 6th month [August], 1678,” informing him of the use of his name in a commission and instructions which they had sent to James Wasse, a copy of which was sent to Fenwick to inform him and his friends that they had divided with Carteret and had sealed deeds of partition; that they had all that side on the Delaware River from one end to the other, the line of partition being from the east side of Little Egg Harbor, straight north through the country to the uttermost branch of the Delaware River (just below Port Jervis), with all the powers, privileges and immunities whatsoever, theirs being called West New Jersey and Sir George’s called East New Jersey; 12 that no man was to be arrested, condemned, imprisoned or molested in his estate or liberty but by twelve men of the neighborhood; that no man was to lie in prison for debt, but that his estate satisfy as far as it would go, and he be at liberty to work; and that no person was to be called in question or molested for his conscience. Many more matters were mentioned in the concessions.
12 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 80.
These proprietors, Penn, Lawrie and Lucas, on the “18th of the sixth month [August] 1676,” sent instructions from London to James Wasse and Richard Hartshorne and Richard Guy or any two of them, to act for them, and, among other things, to find out if Fenwick were willing to peaceably let the land he had taken up of the natives (Indians) be divided into one hundred parts, according to their and his agreement in England; 13 if Fenwick and his people refused to let the land they had taken up of the natives be divided, and refused to join with them, they were authorized to let the country know in what capacity Fenwick stood, that he had no power over the estates of any man or woman more than any other person, and that the land he took of the natives consisted of ninety parts for the use of Penn, Lawrie and Lucas, and ten parts for Eldridge and Warner (the assigns of Fenwick). 14 Then Penn, Lawrie and Lucas addressed an epistle to their “dear friends and brethren” in which they stated, among other things, that one moiety or half part of the Province was for the right of Lord Berkeley and was sold by him to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllynge and his assigns; 15 that a division had been obtained between Sir George Carteret and them as trustees; that the now divided moiety was to be cast into one hundred parts, lots or proprieties; ten of which upon the agreement made between Byllynge and Fenwick 16 were settled and conveyed unto Fenwick, his executors and assigns, by way of satisfaction for what he became concerned in in the purchase from Lord Berkeley and by him afterwards conveyed to Eldridge and Warner; that the ninety parts remaining were to be exposed to sale on behalf of Byllynge. 17
13 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 83.
14 ibid., p. 85.
15 ibid, p. 88.
16 ibid., p. 89.
17 ibid., p. 90.
Among the purchasers of lands in West New Jersey were some Friends (Quakers) in Yorkshire, and some Friends in London; who each contracted for considerable shares for which they had patents.
Among the Yorkshire Friends or Quakers, who were principal creditors of Byllynge, were Thomas Hutchinson of Beverly, yeoman, Thomas Pearson of Bonwick, yeoman, Joseph Helmsley, of Great Kelk, yeoman, George Hutchinson of Sheffield, distiller, and Mahlon Stacy of Hansworth, tanner, all of England, to whom several creditors made assignments of their debts, which together amounted to £2450 Sterling, and they took in satisfaction of the same, seven full, equal and undivided ninetieth parts of West Jersey; and the same was conveyed to them, their heirs and assigns by William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas and Edward Byllynge, by deed bearing date the “1st day of the month called March, 1676.” On the same date, from the same persons in satisfaction for other debts to the amount of £1050 Sterling, three other full and undivided ninetieth parts of West Jersey were also conveyed. 18
18 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 92 n.
In “THE CONCESSIONS AND AGREEMENTS of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Province of West New-Jersey, in America,” 19 it was provided in Chapter I that the Province should be divided into one hundred parts as occasion required, - that is to say, for every quantity of land they should lay out from time to time to be planted and settled upon, they should first, for expedition, divide the same into ten equal parts or shares, and for distinction’s sake mark in the register and upon the trees belonging to every tenth part. After the same was so divided and marked the commissioners were to grant unto Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pierson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy, or their lawful deputies, or particular commissioners, for themselves and their friends, who were a considerable number of people and might speedily promote the planting of the said Province, the right to enjoy free liberties to make choice of any one of the said tenth parts or shares which should first be divided and set out, being also done with their consent, and to plant upon the same as they saw fit; and afterwards any other person or persons who should go over (from England to America) and inhabit, and have purchased to the number of ten proprieties, should and might have liberty to make choice of any one remaining parts or shares to settle in. 20 The surveyor or surveyors whom the proprietors deputed or appointed, should have power to survey, lay out or bound all the proprietors’ lands, and for all such lands as should be granted from any of the proprietors to the freeholders, planters, or inhabitants, and a particular territory thereof, to certify to the register to be recorded. 21 These grants and concessions were dated the “3d day of the month commonly called March,” 1676.
19 New Jersey Archives, Vol. I, p. 241.
20 ibid., p. 241.
21 New Jersey Archives, Vol. I, p. 243.
On December 5, 1681, Samuel Jennings, Governor of West Jersey, Thomas Olive, Thomas Budd, Benjamin Scott, Thomas Gardner, Daniel Wills, Mahlon Stacy and Thomas Lambert, as commissioners, signed certain methods for settling the regulation of lands 22 whereby they provided, among other things, that the surveyor should measure the front of the river Delaware, beginning at Assunpink Creek (which flows through the heart of what is now Trenton), and from thence down to Cape May; that the point of the compass might be found for running the partition lines between each tenth; that each and every tenth, or ten proprieties, should have their proportion of front of the river Delaware and so far back into the woods as would make or contain 64,000 acres for their first settlement, and for the subdividing the Yorkshire and London two-tenths. 23
22 Smith, History of New Jersey, pp. 130, 134.
23 ibid., p. 13 I.
As already seen, the five settlers, Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pierson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy, purchased seven and three, making ten, of the ninety parts or proprieties (exclusive of Fenwick’s ten) of West New Jersey, and thus became entitled to an entire tenth, and they chose the upper tenth, between Assunpink Creek (at what is now Trenton) and Burlington, and became entitled to have surveyed and set off to them that tenth in proper proportion, as chosen by them. 24 Burlington was selected as the southern line of the first tenth, - Yorkshire.
24 ibid., p. 98.
In 1703 a purchase was made by the Council of Proprietors of West Jersey of land lying above the Falls of Delaware. 25 Apparently the location of lands purchased from the Indians was sometimes made long after their appropriation and settlement on them by the white men, and this appears to be the case in this instance.
25 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 96 n.
By certain deeds of lease and release hereinafter to be referred to, it was recited that on the last day of February and first day of March, 1676, William Penn, Gawen Lawrie, Nicholas Lucas and Edward Byllynge, leased and conveyed unto Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pierson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy, seven full, equal and undivided ninetieth parts of the Province of West Jersey; and by agreement between them they sold and conveyed unto John Robinson and Thomas Lambert in trust to reconvey unto Mahlon Stacy two whole and entire proprieties; which was done. 26 These two proprieties, being two one-hundredths of West New Jersey (they were expressed to be in ninety parts, which, as seen, were above the Fenwick or Salem tenth, the other ten one-hundredths parts) and this entitled Mahlon Stacy to have surveyed to himself, and to locate and settle upon, vast tracts in West Jersey, and he did therefore by certain surveys made by the surveyor-general of the Council of Proprietors take up land on both sides of the Assunpink Creek, which now flows through the heart of Trenton, amounting in all to more than three thousand five hundred acres. 27
26 Deed of Release recorded in the office of the Secretary of State in Book BBB of Deeds, pp. 123ff.
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27 See map just above, made by John T. Temple, Esquire, counsellor at law, and published in the Trenton Times, Trenton, April 30, 1913. See also, Revell’s Book of Surveys, pp. 69, 76, 109, 134, Secretary of State’s Office; also Leed’s Book of Surveys, p. 23; Book A of .Surveys, pp. 6, 17, 35; Book M-1 of Surveys, p. 36, .Surveyor General’s Office, Burlington; also New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXI, pp. 361, 362, 371, 381. It would also appear that some of these surveys to Stacy were made after the land had been deeded by him. And some of them indicate duplications, that is, duplications not as to surveys, but as to place of recordation; for instance, the survey of 1000 acres to Mahlon Stacy in New Jersey Archives, Vol. XXI, p. 361, appears to be a duplicate recording or entry of the survey found in Revell’s Book of Surveys, p. 69, also Book A of Surveys, p. 6. By calculating the quantity of land surveyed to Mahlon Stacy (omitting seeming duplications) it would appear that more than 3500 acres were taken up .by him at the Falls of Delaware, extending back along Assunpink to Shabbaconck creek, in all upwards of five square miles.
On plat “EEE,” Stacy to Trent, 1714, will be found seventeen markings apparently of buildings, besides the mill. On tract “D,” adjoining, will be found two similar markings, one labelled “Scot house” and the other “Petty’s house.” Also on the map of Trenton, 1714, below, are similar marings, labelled “R. Beakes house,” and two other smaller buildings. It may therefore fairly be assumed that the similar markings on the tract conveyed to Trent were houses, although such of them as might have been barns, granaries or other buildings cannot be told. However, it is fair to say that a considerable proportion of them were dwelling houses. This leads to the conclusion that Mahlon Stacy’s estate of Ballifield, which included tract “EEE,” was laid out and built somewhat upon the manor plan. A manor, says Mr. Blackstone, because the usual residence of the owner, seems to have been a district of ground, held by lords or great personages, who kept in their own hands so much land as was necessary for the use of their families and servants. The other lands they distributed among their tenants. (See Blackstone, Commentaries, Vol. II, p. *90.) A manor in America is defined to be a tract of land occupied by tenants who paid rent to the proprietors.) (.See Webster, New International Dictionary, 1928, p. 1313.)
So it would appear that Mahlon Stacy, the proprietor of Ballifield, built tenements which were occupied by renters. The houses and buildings are clustered together, doubtless for protection, for it could not be known in the very beginning what sort of trouble the settlers might have with the Indians. They doubtless went forth to cultivate the lands without their houses being scattered over the territory near to the place of their operations, just as is done in many places, notably in Europe at the present time.
A description of the land in the plat “F and G,” will be found in the conveyance from Samuel Atkinson and Ruth (Beakes), his wife, to William Trent, March 12, 1718, recorded in Book DD of Deeds, pages 378 and 379, in the office of the Secretary of State.
The markings indicating the State House, Old Barracks and Delaware Street, were put in by Mr. Temple at the time the plat was made, for greater certainty of starting point, location, etc.
Mahlon Stacy died April 3, 1704, leaving a last will and testament 28 wherein he gave and devised unto his son, Mahlon Stacy, the younger, his plantation Ballifield, together with the mill and other houses and buildings, lands and meadows, which remained to him, the older Stacy, at the time of his death. By deeds of lease and release 29 on August 16 and 17, 1714, Mahlon Stacy the younger conveyed unto William Trent eight hundred acres of land lying on both sides of the Assunpink Creek, being the Stacy plantation, Ballifield, of five hundred acres, and three hundred other acres adjoining thereto, which passed to him by the will; and which were the remainder of the elder Stacy’s lands here.
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28 Will bound in Vol. IV of Unrecorded Wills, p. 87, Office of the Secretary of State. This means that the original, not a copy, was bound up.
29 Release recorded in the Office of the Secretary of State in Book BBB of Deeds, pp. 123, &c.
A description of what Mahlon Stacy the younger sold and William Trent purchased, will be found in the deed just mentioned, from which the following is taken:
Now this indenture witnesseth that the said Mahlon Stacy for and in consideration of the sume of fourteen hundred pounds money according to the Queen’s most Royal proclamation . . . Hath granted bargained and sold aliened enfeofed conveyed and confirmed and doth by these presents fully and clearly and absolutely grant Bargain sell aliene Enfeofe Convey and Confirm unto the said William Trent his heirs and assignes for ever all that his plantation and Tract of land whereon he now dwelleth lying by the river Delaware in the Counties of Burlington and Hunterdon aforesaid containing 800 ackers of land and swamp with all and all manner of buildings Houses out houses Sellers storehouses Grist mills Boulting Mills and there apurtenaunces Mill stones Stables Orchards Gardens Meadows pastures Water courses Rivers Springs fencings hedgings ditchings and all and singuler other improvements be what they will belonging or appertaineing to the said plantation and tract of land.
Out of the tract, however, were excepted sixty acres sold by Mahlon Stacy, the elder, to Hugh Staniland, and afterwards by his son and heir Thomas Staniland to several persons (not named); and also a lot whereon William Yard dwelt, containing one acre more or less; and another small lot whereon Jacob Bailerjeau dwelt, containing one acre more or less; the latter two lots being sold by Mahlon Stacy the younger.
The eight hundred acres conveyed by the deed are expressed to begin by the river Delaware at a black walnut tree, corner of Nathaniel Petit’s plantation. 30 Roughly speaking, the tract extended from the Delaware River, between the State House and the Old Barracks, to a point near the old reservoir adjacent to Pennington Avenue; thence back into the country a long distance, and over to the Assunpink Creek; thence down the creek to a point near the present Pennsylvania Railroad station; thence over to a place near the high school on Hamilton Avenue; thence by a line down to the Delaware River, below the mouth of the Assunpink Creek; and thence up the river to the place of beginning. 31
30 See tract “D,” map, which was originally in the ownership of Mahlon Stacy, and came to Nathaniel Petit mediately from Mahlon Stacy himself. Platting reveals the fact that the black walnut tree stood between the State House lot and the lot of the Old Barracks; so there was the starting point.
31 See tract “EEE” on the map.
William Trent being thus seized in fee of 800 acres of land which was for many years in the heart of Trenton (and which has now expanded beyond it), he, and afterwards others claiming under him, made deeds to various people for lands here.
Title here, shortly, is derived thus: King Charles II to his brother, James, Duke of York; the Duke of York to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret; Lord Berkeley to John Fenwick in trust for Edward Byllynge, as to his undivided half; Sir George Carteret, William Penn, Gawen Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, in trust for Edward Byllynge (the Quintipartite Deed, which divided the Province into East and West Jersey, East Jersey going to Sir George, and West Jersey to Penn, Lawrie and Lucas in trust for Byllynge); Penn, Lawrie, Lucas (added trustees) and Byllynge to Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Pierson, Joseph Helmsley, George Hutchinson and Mahlon Stacy; the last five named to John Robinson and Thomas Lambert in trust to convey two whole and entire proprieties to Mahlon Stacy, which they did; Mahlon Stacy to sundry parties. 32 Some conveyances having been made by him before he left England, and Mahlon Stacy the younger, devisee of Mahlon Stacy the elder, conveyed to William Trent the 800 acres of remaining lands situate on both sides of the Assunpink Creek, Trenton. 33
32 See map, pp. 22-3, and explanation E, p. 25.
33 It is a common mistake to say that Mahlon Stacy purchased 800 acres on both sides of the Assunpink Creek (though it is never stated from whom). This mistake even appears in histories. What the elder Stacy did was to take up more than 3500 acres here by survey from the Council of Proprietors, and his son, Mahlon Stacy the younger, sold the remaining 800 acres to William Trent.
Such being the history of land titles in this vicinity, it will now interest us to know exactly how the Province was reduced into possession by the English.
After the making of the letters patent whereby title to Nova Caesarea or New Jersey, among other lands, was conveyed by Charles II in his brother James, Duke of York, and before the deeds of lease and release by the duke to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, and on April 26, 1664, before any formal declaration of war, Sir Robert Carre was sent to America with a small fleet and some land forces, to put the duke in possession of the country. 34 The expedition arrived at the Hudson River in the latter part of 1664. The land forces, consisting of 300 men, were under the command of Colonel Nicolls. The Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, being unprepared for this attack, and knowing of defects of the Dutch title and their inability to make defense, after some argument was prevailed upon to surrender. The treaty on behalf of the English and Dutch contained many covenants, among them that the States General. 34a should freely enjoy all farms and houses; that all people should continue denizens, 35 and enjoy their lands, houses, goods, ships, wheresoever they were within the country and dispose of them as they pleased; that the Dutch should enjoy the liberty of their consciences in divine worship and Dutch discipline.
34 Smith, History of New Jersey, P. 35.
34a Generally known as Holland. Nelson’s Encyclopaedia, Vol. VIII, P. 457.
35 A denizen is an alien born, but who has obtained letters patent to make him an English subject. See I Blackstone’s Commentaries, *374.
The fort and city of New Amsterdam (New York) having been surrendered, most of the Dutch inhabitants remained and took the oath of allegiance to the British government, and many of them and their descendants have remained there ever since; hence the Knickerbockers of New York.
Colonel Carre and the commissioners, with the ships under his command, were then sent on an expedition into the Delaware Bay and River, to reduce the inhabitants there. 36 On his arrival at New Castle (Delaware) the Dutch and Swedes, following the example of their capital, New Amsterdam, capitulated and surrendered their fort. Articles were duly signed and contained, among other provisions, one that the people should enjoy liberty of conscience in church discipline, as formerly. 37 The parties to this agreement were Sir Robert Carre, on behalf of His Britannic Majesty, and the burgomasters, on behalf of themselves and all the Dutch and Swedes, inhabitants on Delaware Bay and River. 38
36 Smith, History of New Jersey, pp. 46, 47.
37 ibid., p. 48.
38 ibid., p. 49.
There was some sort of recapture by the Dutch of New York and New Jersey in 1673, largely theoretical, however, and they were again yielded to King Charles II by the treaty of peace, February 9, 1674, signed at Westminster; the sixth article of the treaty restored this country to the English. To prevent any dispute that might arise upon the plea of the property being alienated from the first purchasers, the King by his letters patent bearing date June 29, 1674, granted unto the Duke of York, his heirs and assigns, the several tracts of land in America which by the former letters patent had been granted to him, of which New Jersey was a part; and in this year, upon the application of those to whom Lord Berkeley had assigned the land, the duke made them a new grant of West New Jersey. 39
39 Smith, History of New Jersey, pp. 110, 111.
This last-mentioned conquest is not treated seriously by the historians, and the grants of confirmation are rarely referred to. They were doubtless unnecessary in view of the uninterrupted possession of the grantees here. They certainly are now of no legal, and very little historical, value. They may be waved aside without further ado.
Nothing has been said about the title of the Indians to the land in the Province of Nova Caesarea or New Jersey; nor has it been shown how they were quieted with reference to their claims of title in West Jersey. Some statement therefore on that subject should be made. Actual title to the soil was derived from the King of England, who claimed it by right of discovery and conquest. The Indian title was a possessory one, that of an occupant only, and was not of the fee, which is absolute ownership. Taking deeds from the Indians was therefore a sort of buying one’s peace in the possession and occupancy of the soil in which the grantee or purchaser had the fee. The Indians had no ownership in “severalty,” which means that they did not own lots or tracts whereon they dwelt themselves or which were in possession of their tenants, but their ownership of the land, such as it was, was common to the tribe. 40 Purchasers and settlers were obliged to obtain deeds for the Indian title, which they did, and usually for very inconsiderable amounts, being generally paid in such things as blankets, looking-glasses, fishhooks, firearms, fire-water, and so on.
40 “The Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, New Series, Vol. II, No. 4, p. 193.
The council of proprietors of whom Mahlon Stacy, Thomas Gardner, John Wills, George Deacon, Christopher Wetherill, Samuel Jennings and John Reading were members, in session at Burlington June 28, 1703, certified that the council having taken into consideration the request of proprietors for a third dividend or taking up of land, answered by saying that they had lately made an Indian purchase of land situate above the Falls of Delaware, and that those persons were required to meet with the council that they might be more particularly informed concerning the purchase, its terms and conditions. 41 The proprietors were entitled to take up shares out of this purchase. 42 Doubtless many did, though such particular conveyances do not concern our history.
41 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 96 and note.
42 ibid., p. 97.
IN THE tenth month (December) Old Style, 1678, the ship Shield arrived from Hull, England; Mr. Raum in his history says that it was December 10. 43 The Shield entered Delaware Bay and sailed up to Burlington, where it stopped. The river froze during the night and the people from the boat went ashore across the ice in the morning. In her came Mahlon Stacy, his wife and children and several servants, men and women. The others who came in the same ship were: William Emley (for the second time), with his wife, two children (one of whom was born on the way), and two men and two women servants; Thomas Lambert, his wife, children and several men and women servants; John Lambert and servant; Thomas Revell, his wife, children and servants; Godfrey Hancock, his wife, children and servants; Thomas Potts, his wife and children; John Wood and four children; Thomas Wood, his wife and children; Robert Murfin, his wife and two children; Robert Schooly, his wife and children; James Pharo, his wife and children; Susannah Fairnsworth, her children and two servants; Richard Tattersal, his wife and children; Godfrey Newbold; John Dewsbury; Richard Green; Peter Fretwell; John Fretwell; John Newbold; one Barns, a merchant from Hull; Francis Barwick; George Parks; George Hill; John Heyres; and several more. 44
43 Raum, History of Trenton, p. 42. This is apparently the only place that that exact date in December 1678 appears; and no authority is cited in verification. The “10” undoubtedly refers to the month only.
44 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. 108.
While in England Mahlon Stacy had acquired his interest in West Jersey, and was one of the Quakers from Yorkshire who selected the Yorkshire tenth as a place of residence; he settled at the Falls of the Delaware, apparently the most eligible spot, where he built a grist mill. He and his family and some of the other Quakers, who intended to settle at the Falls, must have stayed with their friends all winter at Burlington, where there was a town and houses already erected, and doubtless he and they came to the Assunpink in the early spring of the year 1679, on the breaking up of the winter. 45 This would appear from the book called Journal o f a Voyage 1679‑1680, previously referred to herein, and published by the Long Island Historical Society in their Memoirs, 1867. And the reason is obvious. The Quakers did not arrive in Burlington until December 1678, and it would have been quite impossible to start to build the mill and houses until after the spring thaw in 1679. The principals in that adventure were Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, two priests of a sect called Labadists which taught a mysticism as primitive Christianity and believed in community of property among Christians. 46 These men were sent on a tour of observation through New York and adjoining Provinces for the purpose of the settling of a colony of their coreligionists. 47 They sailed from Amsterdam, Holland, June 14, 1679, 48 and sailed for home from Boston July 23, 1680. 49
45 In Raum’s History of Trenton it is stated, p. 50, that the first settlements were made by Friends at the Falls of the Delaware about the year 1676, but this appears to be a palpable error. No authority is given for it, and it is at variance with all the authorities, documentary and otherwise. The true date is 1679.
46 Webster’s New International Dictionary, p. 1200.
47 Journal of a Voyage, Introduction, p. xxx.
48 ibid., p. 14.
49 ibid., p. 392.
In the course of their journey through New Jersey Dankers and Sluyter arrived at the Falls of the South River (the Delaware), on Friday, November 17, 1679, according to the date given in the Journal. Their account of the place, being as it is the first written narrative of the settlement, is so important that it is here given in full:
Resuming our route, we arrived at the falls of the South river about sundown, passing a creek where a new grist-mill was erected by the quakers, who live hereabouts in great numbers, and daily increase. But it seems to us as if this mill could not stand long, especially if the flow of water were heavy, because the work was not well arranged. We rode over here, and went directly to the house of the person who had constructed it, who was a quaker, where we dismounted, and willingly dismissed our horses. The house was very small, and from the incivility of the inmates and the unfitness of the place, we expected poor lodgings. As it was still daylight, and we had heard so much of the falls of the South river, or, at least, we ourselves had imagined it, that we went back to the river, in order to look at them; but we discovered we had deceived ourselves in our ideas. We had supposed it was a place where the water came tumbling down in great quantity and force from a great height above, over a rock into an abyss, as the word falls would seem to imply, and as we had heard and read of the falls of the North river, and other rivers. But these falls of the South river are nothing more than a place of about two English miles in length, or not so much, where the river is full of stones, almost across it, which are not very large, but in consequence of the shallowness, the water runs rapidly and breaks against them, causing some noise, but not very much, which place, if it were necessary, could be made navigable on one side. As no Europeans live above the falls, they may so remain. This miller’s house is the highest up the river, hitherto inhabited. Here we had to lodge; and although we were too tired to eat, we had to remain sitting upright the whole night, not being able to find room enough to lie upon the ground. We had a fire, however, but the dwellings are so wretchedly constructed, that if you are not so close to the fire as almost to burn yourself, you cannot keep warm, for the wind blows through them everywhere. Most of the English, and many others, have their houses made of nothing but clapboards, as they call them there, in this manner: they first make a wooden frame, the same as they do in Westphalia, and at Altona, but not so strong; they then split the board of clapwood, so that they are like cooper’s pipe staves, except they are not bent. These are made very thin, with a large knife, so that the thickest end is about a pinck (little finger) thick, and the other is made sharp, like the edge of a knife. They are about five or six feet long, and are nailed on the outside of the frame, with the ends lapped over each other. They are not usually laid so close together, as to prevent you from sticking a finger between them, in consequence either of their not being well joined, or the boards being crooked. When it is cold and windy the best people plaster them with clay. Such are most all the English houses in the country, except those they have which were built by people of other nations. Now this house was new and airy; and as the night was very windy from the north, and extremely cold with clear moonshine, I will not readily forget it. Ephraim and his wife obtained a bed; but we passed through the night without sleeping much. 50
50 Journal of a Voyage, p. 172. There is another Journal of this voyage. It is entitled Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680. It was published in 1913, and is in the New Jersey State Library. It attributes the writing of the Journal to Danckaerts, spelling the name differently from that in the former and other edition, and giving authority for it. In the introduction it says that the translation differs very little from that made in the copy published by the Long Island Historical Society; and, by comparison, the translation concerning Friday; November 17, 1679, giving an account of the visit of the priests to the house of Mahlon Stacy at the Falls of the Delaware, is exactly the same.
In the succeeding entry, which concerns the next day, Saturday, the eighteenth of November, 1679, the Journal commences by the statement that after breakfast, about ten o’clock, they embarked for their journey down the river. So it will be seen that everything that is pertinent here has been included.
In a note to Smith’s History of New Jersey 51 under a letter from Mahlon Stacy to William Cook of Sheffield, dated at the Falls of the Delaware, 1680, it is stated that the inhabitants of West Jersey had theretofore either pounded their corn or ground it with hand mills; but about that time Olive built his water-mill near Rancocas Creek; and “this year” (not stating what year) Stacy finished his mill at Trenton; the two were the only mills that ground for the country for several years after their arrival. Although it has been generally thought, by reason of this note being under a letter dated 1680 (which makes no mention of the mill), that the date of the letter indicates that the mill was finished in 1680, this is not necessarily the case, and there is no real conflict in dates between the statement in the Journal of a Voyage and that in the note to Smith’s History. Therefore, the conclusion is that the mill was built in 1679 and finished late in that year, certainly on or before November 17, 1679, and it could not well have been started until the spring of the same year.
51 p. 114.
 |
Lossing, the historian, as is well known was also an artist, and visited the scenes of the battles and other places of interest of the Revolution and made sketches of the principal objects. He visited Trenton in November 1848 (as appears by a marginal note in his book) and made a drawing showing that portion of the mill still standing, as well as a portion of the creek. He said:
This view is from the north side of the Assanpink, a few rods above the bridge, looking south. The bridge, seen upon the right, is built of stone, and very strong, and is upon the site of the old one. The creek is curbed by a dam near the bridge and forms the sheet of water seen in the picture. The old “Stacy Mill” of the Revolution, the largest building in the sketch, was quite dilapidated from the effects of fire and flood, when I was there. 52
52 Lossing, Field Book of the Revolution, Vol. II, p. 233.
The building of the mill is also referred to by the late Rev. Dr. John Hall, Francis B. Lee, Esq., General William S. Stryker and Mr. Raum. 53
53 Hall, History of the Presbyterian Church, Trenton (2nd ed.), p. 10; Lee, History of Trenton, 1895, pp. 16, 17; Stryker, Trenton One Hundred Years Ago, p. 19; Raum, History of Trenton, p. 180 n., and p. 235.
The Journal of a Voyage says the mill was erected when they (Dankers and Sluyter) were here, and that the house was small and the inmates uncivil. That the house was small and airy and the wind came in through the crevices, was undoubtedly due to the fact that the dwelling must have been hastily constructed along with the mill and other houses in the spring and summer of 1679, and was only temporary, as we shall see hereafter. The incivility of the inmates toward their guests, if a fact, seems reprehensible to us of a more refined generation, but undoubtedly was due to the Stacys being austere Quakers, and Dankers and Sluyter clergymen of a very peculiar sect, for Quakers and ministers of the Gospel had very little regard for each other in those days. Probably something was said by somebody present which provoked some disagreeable controversy, and which led to the caustic remark of the voyager. Dankers and Sluyter were not mild men. It is stated in the Journal of a Voyage 54 that they went on board the Amsterdam packet, on which there were different kinds of people, “all wicked.” In particular, they frequently disparaged the Quakers and said derogatory things of them. 55 Of course everybody with whom they disagreed was “wicked,” and they doubtless shared the prevailing opinion, which was decidedly against the Quakers. The Rev. John Talbot, a minister of the Church of England, residing in Burlington, in 1703 wrote the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel:
The Quakers compass sea and land to make proselytes; they send out yearly a parcel of vagabond Fellows that ought to be taken up and put in Bedlam rather than suffered to go about raving and railing against the Laws and Orders of Christ and His Church and for why: Their preaching is of cursing and Lyes, poysoning the souls of the people with damnable errors and heresies. 56
54 p 4.
55 See pp. 176, 182, 244.
56 Schuyler, History of St. Michael’s Church, Trenton, pp. 4, 5.
The Quakers were no more tolerant or courteous toward their opponents. In the title page of one of their books they express the abhorrence they felt toward one of their former associates, as follows:
The Apostate convicted . . . in which his apostacy from the Truth and enmity against it is manifested, his Deceits, Hypocracie and manifold prevarications are discovered, his false Quotations, Lyes and Forgeries out of the Quaker Books are detected, etc. 57
57 ibid., p. 5.
In what contrast was the comparatively spacious house in which Mahlon Stacy died twenty-five years after the visit of Dankers and Sluyter, is attested by his will, 58 in which he said:
And also I give the use and benefit of the two Parlours and the chamber over the Parlours to Rebecca, my wife, and all the orchards on the south side of the dwelling house, and free liberty at all times to use the pump for Water, and also of her own choice to keep Cows and Cut Hay for winter fodder &c. during her life.
58 Office of the Secretary of State, Vol. 4 of Unrecorded Wills, p. 87.
As stated in the Journal of a Voyage, in the late fall of 1679 there were many Quakers at Trenton and they daily increased. This undoubtedly means that many of the Friends who accompanied Stacy on the Shield in 1678 came up from Burlington to the Falls of the Delaware with him in the spring of 1679, for the purpose of forming a settlement here, which is further evidenced by his building a grist mill at this place at that time; and many other habitations also must have been built.
This locality was then known, and its name was quaintly written, as “ye ffalles of ye De La Warr,” and was called for short “The Falls.” By 1685 a number of people, says the historian Francis B. Lee, came to the new town to join their fortunes with those of Stacy. 59
59 Lee, History of Trenton, 1895, pp. 17, 18.
The list of proprietors was for the first time printed in Mr. Lee’s History, which gives all the landholders of the first (Yorkshire) tenth. It includes the names of plantation holders in Trenton and vicinity as the record stood in 1684, as follows:
| Robt Stacy | John Shinn | Marmaduke Hawsman |
| Tho Revell | Tho : Budd | Antho : Woodhouse |
| Seth Smith | Tho : Curtise | Willm Black |
| the 3 brothers | John Butcher | Tho :ffarnsworth |
Wheelwrights |
Samuel Barker | Peter Harrison |
| Tho Bowman | John Curtise | Byran Morehouse |
| Tho Budd | John Browne | Tho Theakes |
| Richard Guy | Michael Newbold | Mathew Watson |
| Nathaniell West | Persifall Towle | Thomas Wood |
| Tho : Singleton | John Antram | John Wood |
| Tho Terry | John Woolston | Robt Wilson |
| Mordecay Bowden | Godfrey Hancock | Willm Hickson |
| John Goslinge | Henry Stacy 59a | Roger Parke |
| John Cripps | Willm Biddle | Thomas ffoulke |
| Joseph Blowdes | Jno Underhill | ff rancis Davenport |
| Tho Wright | Samll Andrews | Samuell Wright |
| Edmund Stuart | Samll Borden | Thomas Wright |
| John Long | Willm Beard | Joseph Stone |
| Samll Oldale | John.Snoden | Thomas Lambert |
| Elias ffare | John Hooten | Thomas Tindall |
| ffrancis Boswock | Henry Stacy 59a | George Hutchinson |
| Daniel Leeds | John Horner | Jno Pattison |
| Robert Young | Willm Barnes | Willm Lasswell |
| John Daye | Daniel Bason | Robt & John Murfin |
| Eleazer ffenton | George Goforth | Robt Pearson |
| Tho Sharman | John ffullwood | Joshua Wright |
| Robt & Tho : Scholey | Andrew Smith | Tho : Lambert |
| John Rogers | Peter ffretwell | Willm Emley |
| James Pharoe | Hugh Staniland | Thomas Bartin |
| George Hutcheson | Mahlon Stacy | John Pancras |
| John Lambert |
59a This name (Henry Stacy) is repeated in the original minutes of the Supreme Court, called the “Court Booke,” once for 500 acres, and once for 100 acres, and it probably refers to the same person owning different lots. - The Author.
North of the Assunpink was practically terra incognita, says Mr. Lee; one authentic record remains, throwing light upon the life of the people at the Falls, and that is the Court Book, wherein the first officers elected by the people of Burlington County, to serve for Trenton 60 as well as for Burlington, are set out. It shows that William Emley was elected sheriff for one year to serve from St. Pink (Assunpink) to Old Man’s Creek; Thomas Wood was elected constable at “ye Falls and ye Liberties thereof”; Thomas Revell, registrar; and Daniel Leeds, surveyor. 61 That the Falls and its vicinity had grown to sufficient size to require the services of a constable proves that the population of what is now Trenton had increased with considerable rapidity. 62
60 So called by Mr. Lee for certainty of locality, but not then so named.
61 Lee, History of Trenton, p. 18.
62 It is pertinent to make some observations on the office of constable. That, like justice of the peace, has indeed sunk to a low estate in some instances in present times, but in ancient times it was a high office. High constables were first ordained, according to Blackstone, by the statute of Westminster (13 Edw. I, A.D. 1285), though they were known as efficient public officers long before that time. They were appointed for each franchise or hundred, by the leet (court), or, in default of such appointment, by the justices of the quarter sessions. Their first duty was that of keeping the King’s peace, and in addition they served warrants, returned lists of jurors, and performed various other services enumerated in Coke’s Institutes. (See Bouvier, Law Dictionary, Rawle’s 3d rev., Vol. 1, p. 625.) And James, Duke of York, in his release to Berkeley and Carteret, describes himself as Constable of Dover Castle. - The Author.
The use of liquor and sundry regulations in early Burlington are of interest, says Mr. Lee:
Upon the eighth and ninth of August, 1682, it was “ordered by the Co’rt that noe Person or Persons keeping or that shall keep an ordinary or Inne within the jurisdiction of this Court shall from & after ye Tenth day of August instant, take more than two pence for an Ale Quart (Winchester meazure) of good wholesome Ale or strong beere. And Benjamin Wheat and Henry Grubb are by ye Co’rt appointed to bee Ale Tasters and to goe to ye measures for Ale and beere, according to ye order above, untill ye next Gen’all Assembly or further order.” Again, upon the twentieth of February, 1682, the court ordered that after the first day of March "”cyder shall not be sold for more than four pence ye Quart and yt Rumme from and after ye tyme afores’d shall not be sold for more than one shilling six pense ye Quart.” 63
63 Lee, History of Trenton, p. 18.
64 Leaming and Spicer, Grants and Concessions (1664-1702), p. 442.
65 ibid., p. 443.
66 ibid., p. 489.
67 ibid., p. 498.
Mahlon Stacy’s home plantation comprised five hundred acres on both sides of the creek at the Falls, which he called “Ballifield,” for his ancestral home in England. His own dwelling there was called “Dore House.” His mill was built on the south bank of the Assunpink Creek, adjacent to the road called York Road, afterwards Queen Street, then Greene, and now Broad Street. As already stated, he died at his home, Ballifield, April 3, 1704. In the record of burials in Liber K of the Friends Chesterfield Monthly Meeting (Trenton and Crosswicks being subsidiary to the Chesterfield Meeting) is an entry that Mahlon Stacy was buried the 5th day of the 2nd month (April) 1704, at the burying place in Nottingham in the county of Burlington. This refers to the early Quaker burying ground in the extreme southwesterly part of Riverview Cemetery. His grave is now unmarked, although originally there probably was a very small stone erected over it after the manner of marking graves by the Quakers of those days. The inventory of his estate, bound up with the will, shows he left personal property valued at £1034 0s. 6d. Beside the provision for his wife he said in his will:
I give and bequeath unto my sonn Mahlon Stacy his heirs and assigns forever, all that my plantation whereon I now dwell, called “Ballifield,” together with the Mill, and all other houses, and Buildings, Lands, Meadows, and pastures, &c. containing 500 Acres of Land, more or less, when he shall attain the age of one and twenty years, and also, all my Land lying on the south side of greater Shabba-cunck, and all other lotts, shares or portions of Land throughout the sd province of Nova Cesarea aforesd, not yet taken up, and which shall at any time hereafter become due, and of right to me, belonging.
Mahlon Stacy married in England Rebecca Ely, and left surviving him one son, Mahlon, the younger, and five daughters. Two daughters were born in England, but two others and the son were born at the Falls. Mahlon Stacy, the younger, the one continuing to bear the surname, married Sarah Bainbridge, but died childless in 1742, and the name Stacy of this family became extinct. The daughters all married and numerous descendants of theirs are still living in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. 68
68 Mackenzie, Colonial Families of the United States, Vol. V, p. 524; see also Ely, Revell and Stacy Families, Fleming H. Revell Co., p. 138.
Mahlon Stacy appears to have been considerable of a letter writer, and his epistles were probably numerous and quite lengthy. In Smith’s History of New Jersey 69 is an abstract of a letter from himself to his brother Revell 69a and some others, dated the 26th of the 4th month (June), 1680 (O.S.), together with an abstract of one of his letters to William Cook of Sheffield, England. 70 Even as abstracts they are very voluminous. Another letter of Stacy’s, to his friend George Hutcheson of England, is in possession of the New Jersey Historical Society of Newark. It is dated at the Falls of the Delaware, the 12th of the 6th Month (August), 1680 (O.S.). While it is principally devoted to religious utterances it nevertheless has an eye to the main chance, namely, the prosperity of the Province in general and of the Friends in particular. As it has never before been published in full it is here so given:
DEARLY BELOVED FREIND, & BROTHER:
In the Blessed Truth of Jesus do I dearly Salute Thee, thy dear Wife, and all tender Freinds, with whom I have been Conversant, and amongst whom my Spirit hath been Refreshed; my dear Love in the Lord salutes them all, desiring as one traveling for the Good and Prosperity of all that love the Lord Jesus; that Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may be multiplied amongst them abundantly, that they all may be compleatly furnished, wanting nothing, being made able to stand in the Stormy Day, which is hasting on to try the Foundation of all Proffessions: In which it shall be said, Woe to the Wicked; for it shall go ill with them in that Day, when they shall come to receive the Reward of their Doings. But to the Righteous, it may be well said; It shall go well with you, even all of you, that have born the Name of Jesus; for the Reward of my Love is given you, saith the Lord; and great shall be your Peace and Portion for ever. Amen.
Dear Friend, Thine of the 23d, iith moneth, 1679, I have Received with great Gladness and Acceptations, as a Token of thy endeared Love and Care, with thy tender Desires for us, and grave Counsel to us: all which I dearly accept of, knowing it was the Flowings-forth of a Soul Fil’d with Love to the Heritage of God in these Parts. For the watering of whom God had fil’d the Hearts of His Servants with His pure Love, precious Life, and Streams of Living Refreshment, for the Comforting of Jacob in his Travels and Tryals, and for the gladding of Israel in the Day of Exercise. So, although we are separated as to the Outward, (a little Scattering as I
may say) yet the God of Life abounds in His Love to His Little Flock, dayly extending His Peace (as a River) to His Remnant; And is determined, of a small Number, to make a Great and Strong Nation: And this I plainly saw before I left my Native Country; and the Lord is Mightily bringing it to pass, in His Removing the Heathen that know Him not, and making Room for a better People, that fears His Name. ‘Tis hardly credible to believe, how the Indians are wasted in Two Years Time; and especiall the last Summer: and how the English are encreased both in Cattle and Corn, in a little time.
Things go exceeding well with Friends, since they were settled, and our Meetings are duely Kept. The Lord our God is with us, and the Shout of a King is amongst us, Glory, Glory to the Lord our God for ever! I perceive you have strange Reports concerning Us, and our Country; yet our Condition is far otherwise than is represented unto you: for our Land yields its Strength to us in a plentiful manner and we enjoy Fulness of Good Things: The greatest want is that of our Friends; yet the Lord is adding to our Number greatly; and in a short Time, this Place will be Populated. Friends are generally Healthful and well. Mine, and my wifes dear and tender Love salutes Thee and Thine, with all the Faithful in the Lord; and that the fountain of the Love of God may be your dayly Refreshment and Consolation, prayeth
Thy Endeared, & Loving assured Friend,
MAHLON STACY.
69 p. 111.
69a This must have been his (wife’s) brother-in-law, Lionel Revell, who had married Ruth Ely and was then residing in Sheffield. See Ely, Revell and Stacy Families, pp. 142, 143.
70 ibid., p. 113.
Stacy was a canny citizen himself, for in his letter to William Cook of Sheffield, above referred to, he said among other things:
I, with eight more last winter, bought a good ketch [a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel] of fifty tons, freighted her out at our own charge, and sent her to Barbados, and so to sail to Saltertugas, to take in part of her lading in salt, and the rest in Barbados goods as she came back; which said voyage she hath accomplished very well, and now rides before Burlington, discharging her lading, and so to go to the West-Indies again; and we intend to freight her out with our own corn. 71
71 Smith, History of New Jersey, p. l14.
There is another letter, 1680, from Mahlon Stacy to his brother Revell (probably his wife’s brother-in-law, see note 69a), in which he says he had travelled through most of the places that were settled and had seen orchards laden with fruit. 71a Now, some people might think that there were orchards hereabout, which indicated earlier settlers. Not so. In the first place, Stacy does not declare that he found orchards here, and in the second place, there could not have been any orchards laid out by Englishmen because it takes several years for fruit trees to bear. The first English settlements were at Salem, 1675, Burlington, 1677, and Trenton, 1679, so that even at Salem, settled four years before Trenton, there could have been no bearing orchards there planted by the English; but we must remember that the Dutch and Swedes were in South Jersey (south of here) many years before the English and they remained and amalgamated with the permanent English settlers. It may have been their orchards that are referred to; besides, Stacy likely visited the English settlements in East Jersey which had been established several years before, and some orchards might have been seen there.
71a ibid., p. 111.
This, it will be observed, was in 1680, within the second year of his arrival here. He continued to be a man of energy and prosperity, as the land he owned and left and the inventory of his estate abundantly show. He lived here a quarter of a century - from 1679 to 1704 - and his son and devisee sold the remnant of his land in this community to William Trent ten years after his death, namely, in 1714. The Stacys, father and son, lived here altogether thirty-five years; the son moving to Mount Holly after selling to William Trent, who, unfortunately, lived only three years after becoming a resident at the Falls in 1721, though the place was afterwards named “Trenton” in his honor.
THERE will now be considered the advent and life in these parts of William Trent, a man of address, ability and property; one who attained high office in the Colony, and if the memoir concerning him be somewhat brief, it is due to the fact that he lived here only three years, - from 1721 to 1724. While his accomplishments here were great, they were crowded into a comparatively short time and, necessarily, are briefly told.
William Trent came to Philadelphia soon after it was settled in 1682, from Inverness, Scotland, where he had been born. He was a merchant and man of considerable wealth. He became a member of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania in 1703, and member of the Assembly there in 1710, 1715, 1719, and was speaker in 1718-19. He, with another, fitted out in 1709 a sloop of war for service in the war of England against France, and with others owned a sloop at Burlington. In 1714 he purchased from Mahlon Stacy, the younger, eight hundred acres of land, which had passed to him under his father’s will; it lay on both sides of the Assunpink Creek at the Falls of the Delaware, and afterwards he bought still additional land from others in 1718-21. He removed to his new purchase in 1721, and had a township laid out which he called Trent’s Town. He was commissioned by Governor Burnet of New Jersey to be Colonel of the Hunterdon County Militia, and represented Burlington County in the Assembly in 1722, becoming speaker in 1723. He was made judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Hunterdon County in 1719, and was appointed chief justice of New Jersey in 1723; he died in 1724. He was twice married; first, to Mary Burge, by whom he had three sons, James, John and Morris, and one daughter, Mary; second, to Mary Coddington, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and William. The first died in infancy, but William became known as Major Trent. 72
72 Schuyler, History of St. Michael’s Church, Trenton, Appendix I, pp. 339, 340. For further particulars, see also pp. 337-44.
Chief Justice Trent built Bloomsbury Court, still standing on South Warren Street, Trenton. This was before he moved here, and is said to have been in 1719. He probably spent the summers here before coming permanently. The mansion is of bricks brought here from England as ballast. A wooden addition was made by Mr. Redman during his occupancy of the dwelling which might well be torn down and thus leave the property standing exactly as built by Colonel Trent. 73