In 1693 he was granted the ferry franchise over Gloucester river, and on the Delaware from Gloucester to Wicaco, Philadelphia. The record of the grant is still preserved, and is of interest, in that it shows how the early fathers guarded public interests and placed a limit on the charges of public carriers. The following is from the court records, under date 1 June, 1693: "The Grand Jury consenteth to and presenteth the proposals of John Reading, for keeping a ferry over Gloucester River, and from Gloucester to Wickaco, at ye prices following. That is to say for a single man and horse two shillings and six pence; and four shillings per head for more than one horse or cow, and one shilling and six pence for a single man, and one shilling per head where more than one from Gloucester to Wickaco, and five pence per head for horses, cows, etc., and two pence per head for man without horses or cattle, over Gloucester River. To all which ye Bench Consents." (History of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties, page 109.) Colonel Reading was one of the largest landed proprietors in the province. Mention has been made of his purchase, in 1677, of one-sixth of a propriety, or onesixth of one equal one-hundredth part of the province; also of his extensive holdings of town-lots in Gloucester. Of his further acquisitions these may be noted: oneeighth of a propriety, purchased of Maurice Trent in January, 1695-6;* fifteen hundred acres, purchased the following month of James Read ; † the propriety of Andrew Robeson (one-hundredth part of the province), purchased in September of the same year; four thousand acres, purchased in February, 1700-1, of Sarah Welch and Susanna Turner ; ‡ and one-eighth of a propriety, conveyed to him by William Biles in 1704.§ From the first settlement of West New Jersey until 1681 the public affairs of the province were conducted by commissioners acting under appointment of the proprietors. During the latter year a complete colonial government was established, and a legislative assembly chosen, which body assumed the power to manage the landed interests of the proprietors. This continued until 1687, when the assembly declined further superintendence of the interests especially belonging to the proprietors, and signified to them that they might choose a convenient number from among themselves to transact the business of the proprietors; whereupon they found it expedient to enter into an agreement, in part as follows: "WHEREAS by experience it hath been found, that the concerns particularly relating to the proprietors of the province of West New-Jersey, by reason of the great difficulty of getting them together, upon several emergent occasions, have been greatly detrimental not only to the carrying on and progress of the same necessary and public concerns, but also very chargeable and burthen * Gloucester Deeds, G, 3, 74. † Ibid., 110. some to the said proprietors, especially those of them who live at a great distance; and also complained of by the members of the general assembly, as taking up a great part of their time, in an affair particularly relating to the proprietors; and finding that the affair touching the public concerns of the said proprietors, may be carried on with far less charge and burthen to the whole, and with more effect by such numbers of persons, as by the proprietors shall be esteemed fit and qualified on their behalf, to transact and agitate their public affairs as proprietors: We therefore, underwritten proprietors of the province aforesaid, being met together at Burlington, in the same province, this fourteenth day of the twelfth month, anno 1687, by a general appointment of the same proprietors ; do therefore unanimously agree together as followeth, (viz.) That eleven proprietors within the said province, shall be yearly and every year, nominated, elected and chosen, by and amongst the said proprietors, to be commissioners and trustees at a day certain; six whereof in the county of Burlington, and five within the county of Gloucester, in the province aforesaid; who shall be, and are impowered to act and plead in all such affairs, as do, and shall generally concern the body of the said proprietors of the same province, as fully and effectually as if the whole body of the same proprietors were together. On this agreement, with some variations afterwards, is founded the present constitution of the Council of Proprietors of West Jersey, which body has had continuous existence since the agreement was made, annual elections having taken place at Burlington for the choice of its members. John Reading is named in the agreement as one of the first councillors, then styled "commissioners and trustees." The other members chosen were: Samuel Jennings, Thomas Olive, William Biddle, Elias Farre, Mahlon Stacy, Francis Davenport, Andrew Robeson, William Royden, William Cooper, and John Wills, all of whom were men of prominence. Samuel Jennings had been governor of the province, speaker of the assembly, and member of the governor's council; Thomas Olive was at the head of the commissioners who governed affairs from 1677 until the more stable government was formed in 1681, when he became speaker of the assembly, and in 1684 and 1685 the governor ; William Biddle, the emigrant ancestor of the family of that name in Philadelphia, had served in the assembly, the governor's council, and as justice of the courts of Burlington county; Elias Farre had been of the governor's council and a member of the assembly; Mahlon Stacy had served in both these capacities, as also did Francis Davenport and Andrew Robeson; William Cooper had served four years in the assembly, and William Royden and John Wills were large and influential land-owners. All of these had preceded Colonel Reading to the province, and his selection to a seat in the council was a compliment to him, as well as evidence that he was regarded by his co-proprietors as a man of high character and possessed of the ability required for administrative functions. That he met the best expectations of the proprietors is shown by his annual re-election to the council until his decease. At a meeting of the council, held the following year, Colonel Reading was * Smith's History of New Jersey, 199–200. |