MAESSEX-L Archives
Archiver > MAESSEX > 2001-09 > 0999484226
From: <>
Subject: Re: [MAESSEX] Settling Woodbridge NJ
Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2001 22:33:09 -0400
In-Reply-To: <3B923AE5.AF82F351@erols.com>
At 09:57 AM 9/2/01 -0400, Stanleigh I Ayres wrote:
>Researching Obadiah Ayers/Ayres, etc. Families Pike, Ayers, Worth moved
>from Haverhill to Woodbridge, NJ about 1663. Woodbridge town web site
>says it was named after Reverend John Woodbridge. All seem to be
>Presbyterians. Was it cheap land or religion? Anyone have a source?
>Thanx
>
>Stan Ayres
Stan, Hope the following helps.
Florence
The following is from:
The Story of an Old Farm or Life in New Jersey in the 18th Century - A
collection of stories relating to life in a small New Jersey Town in the
19th century.
Beginning on page 106:
When Governor Carteret landed he found on the site of his new capital four
families, as the nucleus of a
population. These people claimed title to the land they
occupied. In the previous year a large area of
territory had been purchased from Staten Island Indians by some
Long Islanders. Governor Nicolls,
acting as the deputy of the Duke of York, patented, in December,
1664, this Indian purchase to John
Ogden, Luke Watson and their associates, eighty in all. At the
time of the governor's issuing this grant
he had no knowledge of the duke's having divested himself of all
rights to the lands in question by the
conveyance to Berkeley and Carteret. There is abundant evidence
that Governor Carteret, on
discovering that Nicolls had patented so valuable a portion of
his principals' domain, was greatly at a loss
what course to pursue. At first, it appears that to some extent
he conceded to these prior settlers their
rights under the grant, and, unhappily for the future comfort of
himself and his grantees, attempted to
disarm opposition by following a conciliatory course. In
furtherance of this policy, before 1666 he
purchased, individually, John Bailey's interest in the patent,
and acted in concert with the other owners.
But eventually the lords-proprietors refused to recognize that
they had any rights in the premises,
claiming that the grant by Nicolls was void and of no avail, as
it was impossible that he, acting as deputy,
could pass a title that no longer vested in the duke. This grant
has become historically known as the
Elizabethtown patent. The claims of Berkeley and Carteret and
their successors came frequently in
conflict with those of the Elizabethtown associates and their
assigns, giving rise to legal commotions that
continued until the Revolution. The history of these
complexities is embalmed in a suit, instituted on the
thirteenth of April, 1745, by the Earl of Stair and others
against "Benjamin Bond and some other Persons of Elizabethtown." The bill
filed at that time in Chancery made a voluminous
document, which was published by James Parker in 1747, and,
familiarly known as "The Elizabethtown
Bill in Chancery," is to be found in the library of the New
Jersey Historical Society.
The recipients of this princely gift of New Jersey from the merry King
Charles, and his more churchly
but none the less vicious brother, James, soon found that to
give value to their estate it was necessary to
secure inhabitants. In the autumn of 1665, through their
representative, Philip Carteret, the newlyarrived
governor, they wisely dispatched agents into New England, who
published what was known as the
"Concessions and Agreements of the Lords-Proprietors." These
publications, by their liberal
inducements, such as property in estates and liberty in
religion, resulted in quite a migration to New
Jersey. The agreements as to lands were very advantageous to
settlers. They stipulated that the area of
the province should be divided into parcels of from twenty-one
hundred to twenty-one thousand acres.
These plots were to be subdivided into seven parts, one of which
was to be reserved for the
lords-proprietors, while the remaining six-sevenths of each plot
were to be held for distribution, free of
cost except quit-rents, among such persons as might come to
occupy and plant the same. These latter
were called headlands, and the fundamental rule by which they
might be acquired was in this wise: all
persons arriving in the province within a certain limited time
were entitled to receive grants for a
stipulated number of acres, paying to Berkeley and Carteret a
yearly quit-rent of a half-penny per acre.
The quantity of land to be granted to settlers depended upon the
time of their coming, the size of their
families and the number of people they brought with them, either
as free servants, indented servants, or
slaves: the number of acres per head varied from thirty to one
hundred and fifty.
The immediate result of the publication of these "Concessions"
in New England was the advent of
people who established three important settlements in New
Jersey. Among those who removed to the
province in response to this invitation were John Martin,
Charles Gilman, Hugh Dun and Hopewell Hull.
Making their way westward, along the Indian path that stretched
from Elizabethtown-point to the Delaware, they reached an attractive spot
on the high levels bordering
the Raritan, where a few log huts had already been erected on
the site of an old native village. Being
pleased with the locality, they applied for, and received on the
eighteenth of December, 1666, a grant for
a large area of territory. To this point they brought their own
and numerous other families from
Piscataqua, in the province of Massachusetts--now Maine,--of
which the name, Piscataway, is a
corruption. Of this place, more, hereafter.
Another consequence of the distribution of copies of the
"Concessions" in the East, was the arrival in
New Jersey of John Pike, Daniel Pierce and seven associates,
from Newbury, Massachusetts. They
entered into an agreement on the eleventh of December, 1666,
whereby, on the third of December,
1667, they received from Governor Carteret and some of the
Elizabethtown associates a grant of land,
embracing what is now the township of Woodbridge. They, as the
representatives of at least sixty
families, on the first of June, 1669, were granted a charter
creating a township covering six miles square.
The name of their new settlement was derived from their late
pastor, John Woodbridge, of Newbury. In
laying out this township it was agreed that Amboy-point should
be reserved, to be disposed of by the
lords-proprietors as the seventh part to which they were
entitled under the "Concessions," and which, in
the original agreement with Pierce, Pike and others it was
settled should stand for one thousand acres of
upland and meadow. This available and attractive spot was
afterwards selected as the place of
government. Among the persons allotted lands by the governor and
his associates, and the most of
whom, it is believed, settled on their estates, were the
following: John Pike, Daniel and Joshua Pierce,
Obadiah Ayres, Henry Jaques, Thomas Bloomfield, Elisha Parker,
Richard Worth, John Whitaker,
Jonathan Dunham, Hugh Dun and Robert Van Quellen. Most of the
newcomers were from Newbury
and Haverhill, Massachusetts, though a few families had planted
themselves at this point in 1665, having
reached the province with Governor Carteret by the ship, Philip.
John Pike was the ancestor of that
General Zebulon Montgomery Pike who in the year 1806 wrote his
name among the clouds on one of
the loftiest peaks of the Rocky mountains. Thomas Bloomfield was
the ancestor of one of New Jersey's later governors.
Obadiah Ayres and Richard Worth were sons-in-law of John Pike,
who may be called the patriarch of
the settlement. Worth, either because of his name or his
virtues, seems to have been much more highly
esteemed by his father-in-law than was Ayres, as John Pike in
his will left the latter six-pence, while the
former received the munificient bequest of one shilling. Another
legacy of this will is interesting, as
showing the scarcity and value of literature in those early
times. He left to his son, Thomas, a "half right
in my book, writ by David Dickson." Robert Van Quellen, also
known as De La Prie and La Prairie,
emigrated from Holland, but is said to have been a Norman,
coming originally from Caen. He early
became an important man in the colony. Governor Carteret secured
his services as a member of the
first council, and for many years he was surveyor-general of
East New Jersey. In addition to his
holdings in Woodbridge township he became a large owner of lands
on the upper Raritan, and his name
is a frequent one in connection with old New Jersey titles.
This thread: