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provide the conditions for their spiritual and intellectual growth. They had brought their beloved pastor with them and he became one of the objects of their special care. As soon as circumstances would permit, they made haste to erect a house in which their minister, as they delighted to call their venerable pastor, could preach the word of God to his flock; then, that accomplished, they employed a schoolmaster and built a school house, thus providing for the education of their children. By a fundamental law of their colony only those who were members of a Congregational Church were allowed to hold office or to vote. The voters were therefore the Church and the State; each had the same interests and the same supporters; there was no division of their interests, and all were equally enlisted in providing at one and the same time for both. There was no strife, no bickerings; the colonists went on their quiet way, industriously striving to build up their own future and at the same time to strengthen and encourage the whole community.

At the town meeting held January, 1668, Jasper Crane and Robert Treat were chosen "Deputies or Burgesses, for the General Assembly, for the Year Insueing; and Lieut. Samuel Swaine is chosen as Third man in case of either the other Failing." Mr. Crane failed to attend and Robert Treat and Lieut. Samuel Swaine appeared in the first Legislature of New Jersey as the delegates or representatives from Newark. On the record Lieut. Swaine's name appears as Swarne, but this is a palpable error.

The land purchased from the Indians by the men from Jamaica was of much greater extent than was needed for the colonists at Elizabeth Town. That deed was made to John Bailey, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson and their associates. Denton's name is not mentioned in the confirming deed, but it was admitted by the other parties that he had an interest in the land. Governor Carteret and John Ogden bought the estate of Denton and Bailey and thus became with Luke Watson tenants in fee, in common, of the whole grant. An arrangement was made on the 21st day of May, 1665, with Daniel Pierce and his associates, to form two other townships out of the property conveyed by the Indian Deed. One of these was Woodbridge and the other Piscataway, adjoining each other, and both now in the county of Middlesex. Woodbridge is situated between Rahway and Perth Amboy, and at one time was annexed to Amboy. It had a prominent position in the colony in its early history. The Legislature was held there on several occasions; a

court house and a jail were built at this place; but it was not situated like Amboy, at the mouth of a large river and on the sea with an excellent harbor in front of it; nor like Rahway did it command a position suitable for manufacturing; it therefore remained only a pleasant country village, little more than a hamlet, with a Presbyterian and an Episcopal Church, an academy and a few stores.

On the 11th of December, 1666, Carteret, Ogden and Watson in consideration of eighty pounds sterling, conveyed to Daniel Pierce, for the purpose of carrying out the arrangement made in May preceding, one half of the tract "known as Arthur Cull or Amboyle;" extending from the Raritan River to the Rahway, or as it is called in the deed to Pierce, the Rackawack, and running back into the country an indefinite distance, but following the description on that line found in the Indian deed. On the 3d of December, 1667, this deed was confirmed by an• other of the same general character, on the back of which Pierce indorsed the names of his associates, who were Joshua Pierce, John Pike, John Bishop, Henry Jaques and Hugh March, or Marsh, of Newbury, Stephen Kent of Havahall (Haverhill?), Robert Dennis, of Yarmouth and John Smith of Barnstable in New England. The land thus conveyed to Pierce was laid out by him as deputy surveyor and each associate received his proportion. This was done very early in the history of Woodbridge. Two of these associates, John Bishop and Robert Denis, were sent as delegates or representatives from Woodbridge to the first Legislature of New Jersey and they were present and took part in the proceedings.

Daniel Pierce was appointed deputy surveyor and as such officer he not only apportioned the property to its owners, but also laid out Woodbridge by bounds, six miles square, as a township. On the 1st of January, 1669, Carteret granted a charter to Woodbridge of a character more liberal than any other ever granted in any country. This charter contained some most remarkable provisions. It granted perfect self government to the inhabitants; they had the power to institute courts; to elect their own magistrates, their military officers, their justices; to choose their ministers, to whose support each inhabitant was obliged to contribute according to his substance; two hundred acres of land were apportioned for the use of the minister and one hundred acres for a free school, which could never be diverted from these purposes, but should remain devoted to them forever; land was set apart, also, for building a church, a school house and for a market

place and these properties thus apportioned to these purposes were freed from quit rent; perfect tolerance in matters of religion was guarantied for all denominations; any inhabitant differing from the others in religious belief might call any minister he pleased; all causes between citizens for the enforcement of contracts were to be tried by courts in stituted by the inhabitants; criminals were also to be tried and punished, if convicted, by their own courts; imprisonment for debt was abolished, except in cases of fraud in the inception of the debt, or attempting to defraud creditors by leaving the country; free trade was established with no excise or tax except such as might be imposed by the Legislature for defraying public charges. These were some of the provisions contained in this wonderful document. It was signed by the Governor and his Council and afterwards confirmed by Berkeley and Carteret.

Woodbridge, at one time, contained within its bounds the city of Rahway, the flourishing village of Metuchin and some hamlets. But Rahway long since outstripped its parent township and became independent, and Metuchin is growing rapidly beyond it.

On the 18th day of December, 1666, a week after Daniel Pierce received his first deed, he conveyed a third of the land described in that deed to John Martin, Charles Gilman, Hugh Dunn and Hopewell Hull who, with some associates, formed the township of Piscataway. It was, at first, called New Piscataqua and is supposed by some to have received that name from a settlement in Maine called Piscataqua, whence came, as is claimed, some of its first settlers; but that is problematical. Piscataqua in New Jersey occupied the site of an old Indian village and it is more than probable that the name originated in some Indian appellation of that village or other neighboring locality. In the early history of the colony, courts were held alternately here and at Woodbridge; and, at one time, Piscataway was the seat of justice for Middlesex and Somerset counties. It is now an incorporated township with several villages included within its bounds, but has very little influence over the affairs of the State. It was not represented in the first Legislature, nor until the General Assembly which met on the 5th of November, 1675, when John Gilman and Hopewell Hull represented the town still called Piscataqua. Hopewell Hull was one of the grantees of Daniel Pierce and John Gillman, was probably a relative of Charles, another of his grantees. The first settlers seem to have been Baptists; the second Baptist church in New Jersey was established here by the first settlers, one of whom, Hugh Dunn, was the first preacher.

Middletown and Shrewsbury were included in the grant made by the Monmouth patent to which reference has been made.

A romantic incident is connected with the first settlement of Middletown. The exact date of the occurrence cannot be ascertained, but it was several years before Governor Carteret came to New Jersey and while the Dutch had the control of the New Netherlands, and about the time of the Indian wars in New England. A Dutch vessel sailing from Holland for New Amsterdam had nearly reached its place of destination when it was unfortunately shipwrecked near Sandy Hook. The passengers, however, were all saved and reached the shore. Among them was a young Dutchman and his bride, to whom he was married just before leaving Holland.

The Indians of this part of the country had been hostile and the passengers fled as soon as possible to Manhattan Island. The young Dutchman, however, was too sick to be moved, and remained at the Hook with his wife, who refused to leave him. As the other passengers left, they promised to send aid as soon as possible, but before help could reach them a band of savages came upon the man and his wife, killed him, mangled the woman brutally, and left her for dead. She revived sufficiently, however, to make her way to a hollow tree where she remained for several days, subsisting upon the fungi she found there. The Indians left a fire burning which she kept alive for warmth. A few days after, two Indians, one a young and the other an old man found her, and after a warm discussion whether she should be killed, one of them threw her across his shoulder, carried her to his wigwam, near Middletown, nursed her, dressed her wounds, and she finally recovered. She remained some time with her captor, until the Dutch learning that there was a white woman with the Indians, sent after her. The old Indian gave her freedom and the right to go with her white friends to New Amsterdam. Here she soon made the acquaintance of Richard Stout whom she married and became the ancestress of the numerous family of Stouts found in New Jersey. After her marriage to Stout, she visited the place of her captivity and finally made a settlement in Middletown with her husband and some of his friends. The old Indian who saved her life used frequently to visit her. One day one of his visits, he warned her, in confidence, that the savages intended to murder the settlers. He had provided a canoe hidden at a place on the shore, into which she gathered her children and with them rowed away to New Amsterdam.

She had told her husband, but he

refused to believe her and remained. After his wife left, he, becoming alarmed, assembled his neighbors and gave them the information his wife had imparted to him. Arrangements were made to repel the attack, if one should be made. At midnight, the dreaded war whoop was heard, but during a parley between their assailants and the settlers, the Indians were told that the whites were armed and prepared for the assault and would fight them to the death if they persisted. Peace was declared and a treaty made which was never violated. This must have been before the Monmouth patent, which was made in 1665. That patent was made to Richard Stout, James Grover and John Bound and their associates The name of Richard Stout, one of the grantees, was the same as that of the husband of the young Dutch woman who was rescued by the old Indian. Whether he was the same or not, cannot be certainly ascertained, but, in all probability, he was. If he were, it is fair to presume that some, if not all, of these grantees were already settled in Middletown.

In 1661 some residents of Gravesend, on Long Island, had attempted to land on the shore of New Jersey, near Middletown, and settle there, but were warned off by the Dutch.

By the Monmouth patents, its patentees were vested with the right of legislation, so far as Nicholls, acting as governer under the Duke of York, could grant it. He made this provision by that patent: "I do further grant unto the aforesaid Patentees, their heirs, successors and assigns, that they shall have liberty to elect by the vote of the major part of the Inhabitants, five or seven other persons of the ablest and discreetest of the said Inhabitants or a greater number of them (if the Patentees, their heirs, successors or assigns shall see cause) to join with them, and they together, or the major part of them shall have full power and authority to make such peculiar prudential laws and constitutions. amongst the Inhabitants for the orderly governing of them as to them shall seem meet." In pursuance of this authority, a legislative body. called a General Assembly, composed of the patentees and delegates elected from three towns, Middletown, Shrewsbury and Portland Poynt, was held at Shrewsbury on the 14th of December, 1667. It certainly exercised legislative functions, passing laws for the government of the three towns, and appointing officers, prescribing their duties. It met again in the month of June succeeding and then gave full scope to its law making powers. This was a purely local body and its jurisdiction, as to extent of country, was exceedingly limited. It was however, the

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