EAST NEW JERSEY -- MINUTE BOOK OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF NEW JERSEY, 1664-1683. A collection of manuscripts including the Minutes, transcribed for the use of Robert Barclay, of the Meetings of the Proprietors, 'A Register of all such materiall Orders and agreements as have been made by the Proprietors of East New Jersey as they stand in the Minute Booke', 6 June 1682 - 4 March 1683 [84], recording forty-one meetings held in London, 45 pages, folio; together with transcripts of over ninety letters and documents relating to the Proprietors and settlements in the colony, 1664 - 1683, approximately 240 pages, folio; 'Extracts from Robert Barclay's Journal or Pocketbook', 9 September 1682 - 28 March 1688, transcribed in a later hand, 31 pages, folio (small tears in lower margins); three manuscript and two printed maps of East Jersey, circa 1683, and three printed items, altogether approximately 316 pages, folio (340 x 210mm - 370 x 230mm), the Minutes and documents neatly written in brown ink, index (numbered 1 - 56), papered seal of the province ('Magna Sigilla Provinciae'), blank leaves, watermarked (similar to Heawood 1786, dating 1683/4) bound in late 19th century morocco.Shortly after Robert Barclay's election as Governor of East Jersey, transcripts were made for his use of all the principal documents, including charters, patents, concessions, commissions and correspondence, relating to the colony. In the Minutes of the Proprietors' meeting on 4 July 1683 William Dockrwa, their secretary and registrar, is instructed 'to cause to be drawn up in a Book what is necessary to be recorded out of the Minutes and such Letters and Papers as are fit to be registered, with a list of the title deeds etc'. Dockrwa's expenses on 14 December include 'Item. Copying of map of Perth and ye draught of Perth town for ye use of ye Gov. & the Scotch Proprietors'. He paid a clerk for 'registering in our book at 2s 6d per diem', and paid 'Mr. Sellers' for maps of the coasts of East Jersey and part of Staten Island, and charged for 'copying the long case of Navesink and two papers to be sent to Scotland'. The collection presented here comprises all the most important documents of the early history of East New Jersey.The documents include the Concessions of the Lords Proprietors (Berkeley and Carteret) to the 'Adventurers and Settlers', January 1664, essentially a promotional charter to attract immigrants, promote trade and bring the proprietors an income from quit rents. Freeholders are promised electoral rights, freedom of trade and religious liberty. Commissions for Philip Carteret (Sir George's 26 year old cousin) as Governor, and for officials. Instructions to the Governor promising every freeman that accompanies him 'Armed with a good muskett boare, twelve bulletts to the pound with ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of bulletts, with bandeleers and match convenient and six months provision for his own person, arriving there one hundred and fifty acres of land'. An interesting 'account of the seven setled townes and tracts before our purchase [1682]' describing Shrewsbury, Middleton, Piscattaway, Woodbridge, Elizabeth Town, Newark and Bergen, estimating the number of settled families at 700, the inhabitants at 3,500 and the area at 280,000 acres. Correspondence referring to land disputed with New York includes a series of letters and abstracts concerning the rebellious patentees of Navesink; the case of 'Azimes Farm lying over against New Yorke within the Province of East Jersey ... It is sayd to be the best ffarme in our Province ... [It] lyes on a neck of land where in half an hour the Tennant can carry anything he has on his ffarme to sell in New Yorke Markett'; and extracts of 8 letters on East Jersey's title to Staten Island.On the acquisition of East Jersey by the Twenty-four Proprietors, letters from the province reveal a state of chaos. Thomas Rudyard sends a long letter full of complaints of the officials left by the previous proprietors, their ignorance and 'knavery', their refusal to hand over their records and their abuse of their position. Discontent 'caused by want of surveys which keeps the arrivals from settling' is contrasted with 'the quietting and satisfying of all people in Pensilvania' by an 'expeditious placing of the Planters and Adventurers upon the land they must have'. Samuel Groome, the surveyor, has sounded the channel from Amboy to Sandyhooke and 'Rariton River is a good river and hath a good tide of floud', but the general reluctance to provide him with information is impeding him, and the Indians are unwilling to sell. 'It sounds madness to me to attempt to buy all the Land of the Natives presently. [I have] talked to some very rational Sachems and Sacamachs'. The picture of inefficiency and corruption in the province is endorsed by William Penn, writing from Philadelphia to advise 'an Act to confirm other Concessions and a General Oblivion' with the removal of all former officials. 'The province is in a state of contest'.Further documents include Charles II's Patents to the Duke of York, 12 March 1664 and 29 June 1674, the Quinpartite Deed of Partition (1676), the Grant of Lady Carteret and the Trustees to the first twelve proprietors with related documents including George Carteret's Will, and the Duke of York's Indenture and Release to the Twenty-Four Proprietors, the Fundamental Constitutions and a schedule of 'Perfect Conclusions' or amendments to them. Instructions to Gawen Laurie, as Barclay's Deputy in the province from July 1683 include a memorandum for general circulation on the advantages of having 24 proprietors rather than one. Letters from the Proprietors to Rudyard and Groome urge them to find places advantageous for trade 'as much as you can upon Bayes, Rivers, Creeks ... where Shipps and Vessels may come' and encourage building at Ambo Point, in a postscript to William Penn noting 'Wee conclude that thy great affaire in thy owne Province will not as yet permitt thee to spend much time in East Jersey'.The Minutes of the meetings of the Proprietors record first the decision of the twelve to enlarge their number to twenty-four, the price of a 24th part being 'at least three hundred pounds sterling'. Robert Barclay's name appears on 14 September 1682, receiving 'a grant of a 24th part from Philip Ford, of a moietie of William Penn's 12th part' on the condition that he brings in four more purchasers. Subsequent decisions include the requirement of ¨50 from each proprietor for public stock, instructions for apportioning the Proprieties by casting lots, those for the Scots proprietors if possible to be cast together, and in Barclay's absence numerous instructions and papers are 'to be sent into Scotland'. Finally twenty-four pages are set aside to record the names of the Proprietors and 'of all such who have since been underpurchasers from each of them'. Barclay's journal is mostly a record of Scottish investments in the colony. 'March 9th 1685. Took post from York and came to London the 11th where I cleared all accts. with W D[ockrwa] and Thos. Hart and there was remaining only two twenty.. parts of a propriety of East Jersey unsold, one to me and one to them'. Three manuscript maps show in the first, part of East Jersey including Staten Island 'Being the Proprietors 1682/3' and Bergen, 'Hossimes Farm', similarly annotated, part of New York including 'Brookland' and 'Manhattas Island', extending in the South to Shrewsbury, Perth and Amboy Point, scale 6 miles = 90mm, drawn in brown ink, red ink and colourwash, size 660 x 505mm, on paper, cloth backed (large fragment torn from outer margin not affecting main area of map); the second, a plan of 'The Citty of Perth' including a description of Amboy Point, May 1684, 'there are 300 [acres] set apart for the intended Citty of Perth with its common ... the situacon is on a point in Sandy Hook Bay upon the land of East Jersey in America exceeding healthful and pleasant & lies very fit for great trade', the plan drawn in red ink, red and green colourwash, size 520 x 730mm, on paper, cloth backed (fragment of paper torn away from the lower margin, not affecting main area of plan, offsetting of red ink); the third of 'East Iarsey' by John Reid, 1686, depicting the area from the partition line between East Jersey and New York at Japan Creek in the North to Barnegat Bay in the South, including Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, Staten Island, Bergen County and part of Long Island, brown ink on paper, cloth backed, size 418 x 292mm (small tear at inner margin, small ink blots, light soiling); and two engraved maps, the first of The English Empire in y. Continent of America, by W. Binneman (R. Morden, London) 490 x 590mm. The second, showing West and East New Jersey and part of New York, by James Clerk, depicting animals, Indian settlements, the city of New York, 430 x 800mm (fragments worn away at lower margin), the maps all on guards.

EAST NEW JERSEY -- MINUTE BOOK OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF NEW JERSEY, 1664-1683. A collection of manuscripts including the Minutes, transcribed for the use of Robert Barclay, of the Meetings of the Proprietors, 'A Register of all such materiall Orders and agreements as have been made by the Proprietors of East New Jersey as they stand in the Minute Booke', 6 June 1682 - 4 March 1683 [84], recording forty-one meetings held in London, 45 pages, folio; together with transcripts of over ninety letters and documents relating to the Proprietors and settlements in the colony, 1664 - 1683, approximately 240 pages, folio; 'Extracts from Robert Barclay's Journal or Pocketbook', 9 September 1682 - 28 March 1688, transcribed in a later hand, 31 pages, folio (small tears in lower margins); three manuscript and two printed maps of East Jersey, circa 1683, and three printed items, altogether approximately 316 pages, folio (340 x 210mm - 370 x 230mm), the Minutes and documents neatly written in brown ink, index (numbered 1 - 56), papered seal of the province ('Magna Sigilla Provinciae'), blank leaves, watermarked (similar to Heawood 1786, dating 1683/4) bound in late 19th century morocco. Shortly after Robert Barclay's election as Governor of East Jersey, transcripts were made for his use of all the principal documents, including charters, patents, concessions, commissions and correspondence, relating to the colony. In the Minutes of the Proprietors' meeting on 4 July 1683 William Dockrwa, their secretary and registrar, is instructed 'to cause to be drawn up in a Book what is necessary to be recorded out of the Minutes and such Letters and Papers as are fit to be registered, with a list of the title deeds etc'. Dockrwa's expenses on 14 December include 'Item. Copying of map of Perth and ye draught of Perth town for ye use of ye Gov. & the Scotch Proprietors'. He paid a clerk for 'registering in our book at 2s 6d per diem', and paid 'Mr. Sellers' for maps of the coasts of East Jersey and part of Staten Island, and charged for 'copying the long case of Navesink and two papers to be sent to Scotland'. The collection presented here comprises all the most important documents of the early history of East New Jersey. The documents include the Concessions of the Lords Proprietors (Berkeley and Carteret) to the 'Adventurers and Settlers', January 1664, essentially a promotional charter to attract immigrants, promote trade and bring the proprietors an income from quit rents. Freeholders are promised electoral rights, freedom of trade and religious liberty. Commissions for Philip Carteret (Sir George's 26 year old cousin) as Governor, and for officials. Instructions to the Governor promising every freeman that accompanies him 'Armed with a good muskett boare, twelve bulletts to the pound with ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of bulletts, with bandeleers and match convenient and six months provision for his own person, arriving there one hundred and fifty acres of land'. An interesting 'account of the seven setled townes and tracts before our purchase [1682]' describing Shrewsbury, Middleton, Piscattaway, Woodbridge, Elizabeth Town, Newark and Bergen, estimating the number of settled families at 700, the inhabitants at 3,500 and the area at 280,000 acres. Correspondence referring to land disputed with New York includes a series of letters and abstracts concerning the rebellious patentees of Navesink; the case of 'Azimes Farm lying over against New Yorke within the Province of East Jersey ... It is sayd to be the best ffarme in our Province ... [It] lyes on a neck of land where in half an hour the Tennant can carry anything he has on his ffarme to sell in New Yorke Markett'; and extracts of 8 letters on East Jersey's title to Staten Island. On the acquisition of East Jersey by the Twenty-four Proprietors, letters from the province reveal a state of chaos. Thomas Rudyard sends a long letter full of complaints of the officials left by the previous proprietors, their ignorance and 'knavery', their refusal to hand over their records and their abuse of their position. Discontent 'caused by want of surveys which keeps the arrivals from settling' is contrasted with 'the quietting and satisfying of all people in Pensilvania' by an 'expeditious placing of the Planters and Adventurers upon the land they must have'. Samuel Groome, the surveyor, has sounded the channel from Amboy to Sandyhooke and 'Rariton River is a good river and hath a good tide of floud', but the general reluctance to provide him with information is impeding him, and the Indians are unwilling to sell. 'It sounds madness to me to attempt to buy all the Land of the Natives presently. [I have] talked to some very rational Sachems and Sacamachs'. The picture of inefficiency and corruption in the province is endorsed by William Penn, writing from Philadelphia to advise 'an Act to confirm other Concessions and a General Oblivion' with the removal of all former officials. 'The province is in a state of contest'. Further documents include Charles II's Patents to the Duke of York, 12 March 1664 and 29 June 1674, the Quinpartite Deed of Partition (1676), the Grant of Lady Carteret and the Trustees to the first twelve proprietors with related documents including George Carteret's Will, and the Duke of York's Indenture and Release to the Twenty-Four Proprietors, the Fundamental Constitutions and a schedule of 'Perfect Conclusions' or amendments to them. Instructions to Gawen Laurie, as Barclay's Deputy in the province from July 1683 include a memorandum for general circulation on the advantages of having 24 proprietors rather than one. Letters from the Proprietors to Rudyard and Groome urge them to find places advantageous for trade 'as much as you can upon Bayes, Rivers, Creeks ... where Shipps and Vessels may come' and encourage building at Ambo Point, in a postscript to William Penn noting 'Wee conclude that thy great affaire in thy owne Province will not as yet permitt thee to spend much time in East Jersey'. The Minutes of the meetings of the Proprietors record first the decision of the twelve to enlarge their number to twenty-four, the price of a 24th part being 'at least three hundred pounds sterling'. Robert Barclay's name appears on 14 September 1682, receiving 'a grant of a 24th part from Philip Ford, of a moietie of William Penn's 12th part' on the condition that he brings in four more purchasers. Subsequent decisions include the requirement of ¨50 from each proprietor for public stock, instructions for apportioning the Proprieties by casting lots, those for the Scots proprietors if possible to be cast together, and in Barclay's absence numerous instructions and papers are 'to be sent into Scotland'. Finally twenty-four pages are set aside to record the names of the Proprietors and 'of all such who have since been underpurchasers from each of them'. Barclay's journal is mostly a record of Scottish investments in the colony. 'March 9th 1685. Took post from York and came to London the 11th where I cleared all accts. with W D[ockrwa] and Thos. Hart and there was remaining only two twenty.. parts of a propriety of East Jersey unsold, one to me and one to them'. Three manuscript maps show in the first, part of East Jersey including Staten Island 'Being the Proprietors 1682/3' and Bergen, 'Hossimes Farm', similarly annotated, part of New York including 'Brookland' and 'Manhattas Island', extending in the South to Shrewsbury, Perth and Amboy Point, scale 6 miles = 90mm, drawn in brown ink, red ink and colourwash, size 660 x 505mm, on paper, cloth backed (large fragment torn from outer margin not affecting main area of map); the second, a plan of 'The Citty of Perth' including a description of Amboy Point, May 1684, 'there are 300 [acres] set apart for the intended Citty of Perth with its common ... the situacon is on a point in Sandy Hook Bay upon the land of East Jersey in America exceeding healthful and pleasant & lies very fit for great trade', the plan drawn in red ink, red and green colourwash, size 520 x 730mm, on paper, cloth backed (fragment of paper torn away from the lower margin, not affecting main area of plan, offsetting of red ink); the third of 'East Iarsey' by John Reid, 1686, depicting the area from the partition line between East Jersey and New York at Japan Creek in the North to Barnegat Bay in the South, including Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, Staten Island, Bergen County and part of Long Island, brown ink on paper, cloth backed, size 418 x 292mm (small tear at inner margin, small ink blots, light soiling); and two engraved maps, the first of The English Empire in y. Continent of America, by W. Binneman (R. Morden, London) 490 x 590mm. The second, showing West and East New Jersey and part of New York, by James Clerk, depicting animals, Indian settlements, the city of New York, 430 x 800mm (fragments worn away at lower margin), the maps all on guards.

Details

EAST NEW JERSEY -- MINUTE BOOK OF THE LORDS PROPRIETORS OF NEW JERSEY, 1664-1683. A collection of manuscripts including the Minutes, transcribed for the use of Robert Barclay, of the Meetings of the Proprietors, 'A Register of all such materiall Orders and agreements as have been made by the Proprietors of East New Jersey as they stand in the Minute Booke', 6 June 1682 - 4 March 1683 [84], recording forty-one meetings held in London, 45 pages, folio; together with transcripts of over ninety letters and documents relating to the Proprietors and settlements in the colony, 1664 - 1683, approximately 240 pages, folio; 'Extracts from Robert Barclay's Journal or Pocketbook', 9 September 1682 - 28 March 1688, transcribed in a later hand, 31 pages, folio (small tears in lower margins); three manuscript and two printed maps of East Jersey, circa 1683, and three printed items, altogether approximately 316 pages, folio (340 x 210mm - 370 x 230mm), the Minutes and documents neatly written in brown ink, index (numbered 1 - 56), papered seal of the province ('Magna Sigilla Provinciae'), blank leaves, watermarked (similar to Heawood 1786, dating 1683/4) bound in late 19th century morocco.

Shortly after Robert Barclay's election as Governor of East Jersey, transcripts were made for his use of all the principal documents, including charters, patents, concessions, commissions and correspondence, relating to the colony. In the Minutes of the Proprietors' meeting on 4 July 1683 William Dockrwa, their secretary and registrar, is instructed 'to cause to be drawn up in a Book what is necessary to be recorded out of the Minutes and such Letters and Papers as are fit to be registered, with a list of the title deeds etc'. Dockrwa's expenses on 14 December include 'Item. Copying of map of Perth and ye draught of Perth town for ye use of ye Gov^. & the Scotch Proprietors'. He paid a clerk for 'registering in our book at 2s 6d per diem', and paid 'Mr. Sellers' for maps of the coasts of East Jersey and part of Staten Island, and charged for 'copying the long case of Navesink and two papers to be sent to Scotland'. The collection presented here comprises all the most important documents of the early history of East New Jersey.

The documents include the Concessions of the Lords Proprietors (Berkeley and Carteret) to the 'Adventurers and Settlers', January 1664, essentially a promotional charter to attract immigrants, promote trade and bring the proprietors an income from quit rents. Freeholders are promised electoral rights, freedom of trade and religious liberty. Commissions for Philip Carteret (Sir George's 26 year old cousin) as Governor, and for officials. Instructions to the Governor promising every freeman that accompanies him 'Armed with a good muskett boare, twelve bulletts to the pound with ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of bulletts, with bandeleers and match convenient and six months provision for his own person, arriving there one hundred and fifty acres of land'. An interesting 'account of the seven setled townes and tracts before our purchase [1682]' describing Shrewsbury, Middleton, Piscattaway, Woodbridge, Elizabeth Town, Newark and Bergen, estimating the number of settled families at 700, the inhabitants at 3,500 and the area at 280,000 acres. Correspondence referring to land disputed with New York includes a series of letters and abstracts concerning the rebellious patentees of Navesink; the case of 'Azimes Farm lying over against New Yorke within the Province of East Jersey ... It is sayd to be the best ffarme in our Province ... [It] lyes on a neck of land where in half an hour the Tennant can carry anything he has on his ffarme to sell in New Yorke Markett'; and extracts of 8 letters on East Jersey's title to Staten Island.

On the acquisition of East Jersey by the Twenty-four Proprietors, letters from the province reveal a state of chaos. Thomas Rudyard sends a long letter full of complaints of the officials left by the previous proprietors, their ignorance and 'knavery', their refusal to hand over their records and their abuse of their position. Discontent 'caused by want of surveys which keeps the arrivals from settling' is contrasted with 'the quietting and satisfying of all people in Pensilvania' by an 'expeditious placing of the Planters and Adventurers upon the land they must have'. Samuel Groome, the surveyor, has sounded the channel from Amboy to Sandyhooke and 'Rariton River is a good river and hath a good tide of floud', but the general reluctance to provide him with information is impeding him, and the Indians are unwilling to sell. 'It sounds madness to me to attempt to buy all the Land of the Natives presently. [I have] talked to some very rational Sachems and Sacamachs'. The picture of inefficiency and corruption in the province is endorsed by William Penn, writing from Philadelphia to advise 'an Act to confirm other Concessions and a General Oblivion' with the removal of all former officials. 'The province is in a state of contest'.

Further documents include Charles II's Patents to the Duke of York, 12 March 1664 and 29 June 1674, the Quinpartite Deed of Partition (1676), the Grant of Lady Carteret and the Trustees to the first twelve proprietors with related documents including George Carteret's Will, and the Duke of York's Indenture and Release to the Twenty-Four Proprietors, the Fundamental Constitutions and a schedule of 'Perfect Conclusions' or amendments to them. Instructions to Gawen Laurie, as Barclay's Deputy in the province from July 1683 include a memorandum for general circulation on the advantages of having 24 proprietors rather than one. Letters from the Proprietors to Rudyard and Groome urge them to find places advantageous for trade 'as much as you can upon Bayes, Rivers, Creeks ... where Shipps and Vessels may come' and encourage building at Ambo Point, in a postscript to William Penn noting 'Wee conclude that thy great affaire in thy owne Province will not as yet permitt thee to spend much time in East Jersey'.

The Minutes of the meetings of the Proprietors record first the decision of the twelve to enlarge their number to twenty-four, the price of a 24th part being 'at least three hundred pounds sterling'. Robert Barclay's name appears on 14 September 1682, receiving 'a grant of a 24th part from Philip Ford, of a moietie of William Penn's 12th part' on the condition that he brings in four more purchasers. Subsequent decisions include the requirement of ¨50 from each proprietor for public stock, instructions for apportioning the Proprieties by casting lots, those for the Scots proprietors if possible to be cast together, and in Barclay's absence numerous instructions and papers are 'to be sent into Scotland'. Finally twenty-four pages are set aside to record the names of the Proprietors and 'of all such who have since been underpurchasers from each of them'. Barclay's journal is mostly a record of Scottish investments in the colony. 'March 9th 1685. Took post from York and came to London the 11th where I cleared all accts. with W D[ockrwa] and Thos. Hart and there was remaining only two twenty^.^. parts of a propriety of East Jersey unsold, one to me and one to them'.

Three manuscript maps show in the first, part of East Jersey including Staten Island 'Being the Proprietors 1682/3' and Bergen, 'Hossimes Farm', similarly annotated, part of New York including 'Brookland' and 'Manhattas Island', extending in the South to Shrewsbury, Perth and Amboy Point, scale 6 miles = 90mm, drawn in brown ink, red ink and colourwash, size 660 x 505mm, on paper, cloth backed (large fragment torn from outer margin not affecting main area of map); the second, a plan of 'The Citty of Perth' including a description of Amboy Point, May 1684, 'there are 300 [acres] set apart for the intended Citty of Perth with its common ... the situacon is on a point in Sandy Hook Bay upon the land of East Jersey in America exceeding healthful and pleasant & lies very fit for great trade', the plan drawn in red ink, red and green colourwash, size 520 x 730mm, on paper, cloth backed (fragment of paper torn away from the lower margin, not affecting main area of plan, offsetting of red ink); the third of 'East Iarsey' by John Reid, 1686, depicting the area from the partition line between East Jersey and New York at Japan Creek in the North to Barnegat Bay in the South, including Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth Counties, Staten Island, Bergen County and part of Long Island, brown ink on paper, cloth backed, size 418 x 292mm (small tear at inner margin, small ink blots, light soiling); and two engraved maps, the first of The English Empire in y^. Continent of America, by W. Binneman (R. Morden, London) 490 x 590mm. The second, showing West and East New Jersey and part of New York, by James Clerk, depicting animals, Indian settlements, the city of New York, 430 x 800mm (fragments worn away at lower margin), the maps all on guards.

More from Books

View All