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Governor Carteret sent agents into New England and other adjacent colonies and even to the mother country, with copies of the "Grant and Concessions." The liberal provisions of this remarkable document naturally attracted the attention of the restive inhabitants of Connecticut who were chafing under the rule of the ungodly who had invaded their settlements, had made their wicked assaults against God's elect and had abrogated one of their fundamental laws; so, they must seek a shelter elsewhere, the result of which transfer was the foundation of the largest city in New Jersey and one of the largest in the Union, prominent for the great variety and extent of its manufactures.

Newark was settled in 1666 by Puritans who came principally from three places in Connecticut-Guilford, Milford and Brandford. They were joined by a few other religious enthusiasts like themselves from New Haven and other adjacent localities, and they were all actuated by the same ruling purpose. They did not all leave their New England homes together or at the same time; their departures, however, were not many months apart; they were strict in the performance of any duty which they believed incumbent upon them and strangely mingled the severity of the Old Testament requirements with the divine love which Christ, their acknowledged Teacher and Guide, proclaimed as the only true foundation of his kingdom on earth. Tender and loving to wife and children, they demanded from them and from all who were in duty bound to obey them, prompt and implicit obedience to every command. They were merciless to the unrepentant sinner, inflicted the harshest punishment for crime and never forgave those who contemned authority. They claimed to be the saints of Christ's kingdom, and assumed the right to dominate over the lives and opinions of those who dwelt with them, or who sought shelter in their homes or in their community. All must conform to their mode of belief and Christian life. They were bigoted and intolerant, according to the modern notions of intolerance; but it must be remembered that they lived at a time when intolerance was almost universal; when tolerance was the exception to the general rule. They had braved the dangers of the ocean, the privations and hardships of a new life in the midst of a primeval forest, surrounded by savage foes; they had surrendered the delights of civilization and the associations of home and native land so that they might isolate themselves and enjoy their own peculiar notions of religious liberty. Having braved all this with a common purpose, they claimed the right to select from those who

might apply for admission to their community those whom they believed would comply with the rules they had established for their own guidance. In making this claim, they asserted nothing more than what any head of a family, who had established his home and rules for its guidance, might properly demand from any stranger who should seek a permanent shelter under his roof. Impressed with this idea, which was a ruling one with them, they enacted a law in their Connecticut home, that no one, unless he were a member of a Congregational church, should be permitted to vote or hold office. They also provided that only such should be admitted within their colony as land owners who could pass the scrutiny of the town meetings. These laws were annulled, and then, the sterner souls, who believed in such legislation, resolved to seek still another home, where they could enforce this rule to its fullest extent. The "Grants and Concessions" were brought to their notice and they concluded to avail themselves of the offers made therein and find a new home in New Jersey. But their removal from Connecticut was no hasty measure; it was carefully weighed and prayerfully considered. All possible precautions were taken to prevent failure and to learn all the facts which should direct their judgment. So, the Puritans of Milford sent Robert Treat, who, as appears by the records of the time, was their most prominent and reliable man, with some others from adjoining towns, to examine into the condition of affairs as they then existed in the province where such flattering inducements were held out to immigrants to settle. These agents visited Governor Carteret at Elizabeth Town and consulted with him about the place for a settlement and the terms. was first directed to the land on the east bank of the near the present location of the city of Burlington. however, was not satisfactory to the prospectors, and they returned to Elizabeth Town and again consulted with the governor. He induced them to examine the land on the Passaic River, north of Elizabeth Town, and after some negotiation, they selected the present site of Newark for their future home. The Hackensack Indians, a broken fragment of the great Lenni Lenape nation, roved over this part of the country and claimed it for their hunting and fishing grounds. Governor Carteret gave Treat and his companions a letter to the chiefs of their tribe to enable them the better to treat with them for the purchasing of the land.

Their attention Delaware River, That situation,

This was in the fall of 1665, and nothing more was done then, so far

as any purchase of the soil was concerned. In May, 1666, the colonists committed themselves, their families, their beloved pastor, their church records and communion service, their deacons, their household goods, to the keeping of some rude vessels of the day, sailed down the Connecticut River into Long Island Sound, out into the East River and to New York Bay, then through the Kill into Newark Bay and up the Passaic River, reaching their appointed destination.

The dangers and privations of this momentous voyage cannot be appreciated in these modern times when the appliances for speedy and comfortable travel are so multiplied. Their wives and children, their old gray-haired men and women, had been subjected to confinement in inconvenient vessels with no comforts and nothing to relieve the tedium of the journey except the slowly shifting landscapes through which they passed. After they had reached their goal and surveyed their promised Canaan, they could well believe their perils were over, their dangers past, and they might hope to rest quietly in their new homes and again raise their Ebenezer. But in this they were sadly disappointed. Mr. Robert Treat, some years afterwards, told the story of what happened to them, and his words will well describe their trials. He said, "But no sooner was the Company present got on the Place and landed some of their goods, than I with some others was by some of the Hackensack Indians, warned off the Grounds and [they] seemed troubled and angry that we landed any of our goods there, tho' first we told them we had the Governor's order: but they replied the land was theirs and it was unpurchased and therefore we put Goods on board the vessels again and acquainted the Governor with the matter." Subsequently peace was restored between the white settlers and the Hackensacks, and the land now occupied by the city of Newark was bought from the aborigines.

These first settlers in Newark were men of substance, considering the times and the circumstances, and brought considerable wealth with them; their minister, the Rev. Abraham Peirson, being rated as the wealthiest man among them.

They first made a purchase from the Indians of the land which extended to the foot of the Orange Mountain, from the Passaic, southward to the lands of Elizabeth Town, and northward to a boundary somewhat indefinitely described. The land thus bought was sufficiently designated, however, so that it is known that it included the modern sites of Newark, Belleville, Bloomfield and the Oranges. The consideration paid to the Indians was "sixty double hands of powder, one

hundred barres of lead, twenty axes, twenty coates, ten guns, twenty pistolls, ten kettles, ten swords, four blankets, four barrels of beere, ten paires of breeches, twenty howes, [hoes?] eight hundred and fifty fathom of wampum, ten ankors of licqueurs, or something equivalent, and three trooper's coates." This purchase by the colonists from the aborigines occasioned thereafter great difficulties between the Lords Proprietors and the inhabitants of Newark; they insisted that as they had been obliged to pay the Indians for the land, they were not bound to pay any rent to the proprietors, and it was many years before the question was finally settled.

Before leaving their Connecticut home, the immigrants made a solemn compact, which was either then or afterwards reduced to writ ing and signed by them and their associates. This compact played a prominent part in the town's history and was called the "fundamental agreements." Twenty-three signatures of former inhabitants of Brandford were appended to it and undoubtedly before they left Connecticut. Forty-one actual settlers, who were on the ground in the new colony, signed it there. The most of these, if not all, were heads of families, and their names are represented to-day in Newark, with very few, if any exceptions. The agreements were signed at Brandford the 30th of October, 1666, and at Newark on the 24th day of June, 1667.

According to the most reliable accounts that can now be reached, there were about thirty families who thus founded Newark.

At some places, exactly where can only be conjectured, the original colonists met together, at the very beginning of the history of this "our town on the Passaick," and solemnly resolved that "the aforesaid persons" from Milford, Guilford and Brandford, "together with their associates, being now accepted of, do make one township, provided they send word so to be any time between this and the last of October next ensuing, according to fundamentals mutually agreed upon, do desire to be of one heart and consent, through God's blessing with one hand they may endeaver the carrying on of spirital concernments as also civil and town affairs according to God and a Godly government, there to be settled by them and their associates." The majority of the "aforesaid persons" referred to in this resolution were in all probability, immigrants from Milford, for, at first, the new settlement was called Milford. Scot's "Model of the Government of the Province of New Jersey," published in 1685, speaks of Newark, "alias Milford" and says that it was the most compact town in the province and “has

about 100 families and about 500 inhabitants." It was, however, very early called Newark in the records of the town. Those records, kept by Captain Robert Treat, mention a committee of eleven as being appointed to order and settle the concernments and people of the place " and that this committee mutually agreed that the agents from Guilford and Brandford do take up and hold till June in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven." Great care was taken to prevent any persons becoming settlers in "our town upon Passaick River" except those who were of good character and of like religious opinions with themselves, for no one could be admitted unless he "bring due testimonials to the Committee there."

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Deut. 1-25
Exod. 18-31

"1st. That none shall be admitted freemen or Burgesses within our Town upon Passaick River in the Province of New Jersey Deut. 11, 15 but such Planters as are members of some or other Congre gational Churches, nor shall any but such be chosen to Magistracy or to Carry on any part of Civil Judicature, or as deputies, or assistants, to have power to Vote In establishing Laws and making or Repealing them or to any Chief Military Trust or Office. Nor shall any But such Jerem. 36-21 Church Members have any Vote in such elections; Tho' all others admitted to Be Planters have Right to their proper Inheritance, and do and shall enjoy all other Civil Liberties and Privileges, According to all Laws, Orders, Grants, which are, or hereafter shall be made for this Town.

"2nd. We shall with Care and Diligence provide for the maintenance of the Purity of Religion professed in the Congregational Church. Whereunto subscribed the Inhabitants from Branford."

So here in Newark was established a law of perfect intolerance.

The colonist were a busy people. No drones were permitted in that hive of industry and thrift. It is very much to be regretted that no historian of the day has written of those times; it would be intensely interesting reading for the descendants of the first settlers in Newark. The industrious habits, the sober sedate characteristics, the sensible thrift, the honest economy, the soul-felt enduring piety and the homely virtues of these founders of the great city have survived in many of its residents, who trace their lineage back to such ancestry.

All the public business of the colony for more than one hundred and fifty years was transacted at their town meetings, which were held at several stated times during the year. Officers were regularly appointed,

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