Early History of Morris County New Jersey

THE

　EARLY HISTORY

　OF

MORRIS COUNTY, NEW JERSEY,

　BY THE

　REV. JOSEPH F. TUTTLE, D.D.

PRESIDENT OF WABASH COLLEGE, INDIANNA

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READ BEFORE

THE N. J. HISTORICAL SOCIETY

May 20, 1869

_______________________

　NEWARK, N. J.

PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE

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1870

　

  THE EARLY HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.

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It is not my design to write an elaborate history of the County of Morris, but rather to make a few statements concerning it which seem to me to be interesting and important, since every community has a history which, if properly related, must be interesting and even important, at least to those who belong to it. In its beginnings and progress, it may have borne a very humble part in the grand drama which the world is acting and yet humble as that part may be, it was grand to those who acted it. There is not an old community or church in any old county in our State whose history has not a very considerable interest to the local antiquary and historian. It may never have held a very prominent position as related to the general commonwealth. It may be neither a Wittenburg or a Geneva, the center of moral revolution, a Runymede or Philadelphia rendered famous by some immortal scene, the birth of a Magna Charta or the publication of a Declaration of Independence. Its history spread out on the pages of general history may seem out of place or be eclipsed by the more distinguished deeds recorded on the same pages, and yet that humble history has the merit of being in a sense personal to ourselves. Here the fathers of such a community fought the battle of life, wrestled with the problems of moral responsibility, loved the loving, pitied the sorrowful, helped the weak, wept over the dying; here they laid the foundations of the social fabric as best they could, often in a very blind yet honest method, lived life as we now live it, and they died leaving their graves to us as silent monitors not to permit them to sink into forgetfulness. Although not as great as many who have lived, they are our forefathers, and the work they did for us merits a grateful record at our hands.

The beginnings of society in Morris County were plain people, many of whom had very little education. The records of the county and of several churches which date back far toward the first settlement on the Whippany River, prove this. I have spent not a little time and effort to fix a precise date to the foundation of society in the county, but with no marked success. In the year 1767, the Rev. Jacob Green, the third pastor of the Hanover Church, wrote what he called a "History of the Hanover Presbyterian Church." This is copied from a book in which Mr. Green recorded baptisms. In a preface to this manuscript record Mr. Green writes that "about the year 1710 a few families removed from Newark and Elizabeth, &c., and settled on the west side of the Pessaick River in that which is now Morris County. Not long after the settlers erected an house for the public worship of God on the bank of the Whippenung River (about three miles west of the Pessaick River), about one hundred rods below the Forge which is and has long been known by the name of The Old Iron Works. There was a church gathered in the year 17__. Nathaniel Hubbel was ordained and settled by the Presbytery of New York. About this time this place obtained the name of Hanover and became a township, but the place was most commonly known by the Indian name Whippenung. Mr. Hubbel continued to minister here till ______, when for some uneasiness between him and the people he was dismissed. This church then had no proper book of Records. And if Mr. Hubbel kept any church records upon paper of his own they were not left to those who came after."

Mr. Green began his ministry in 1746, when some of the pioneers were still living, and he could have easily found the date of settlement and given the names of the settlers and many facts of interest, but it is too often true that to those who are near the facts of which history is composed, those facts do not seem of great value, at least not enough to cause them to be carefully preserved. By way of extenuating "Parson Green" for not securing in permanent form these un-merchantable statements as to who the early settlers were and when they came and what they did, all of which were then within his easy reach, it may be alleged that he was a man of many callings, a very busy man. His salary was small, and he says this "led him to take more worldly cares and business than he could have chosen." His people encouraged him in this course, assuring him "that country congregations could not have ministers unless ministers would take some care to provide and help support their own families." He studied and practiced medicine, he had a school under his care, often wrote and executed wills for his patients and had a share both in a grist mill and a distillery. Some wag is said to have directed a letter to him with this somewhat comprehensive superscription:

"To the Rev. Jacob Green, Preacher,

And the Rev. Jacob Green, Teacher:

To the Rev. Jacob Green, Doctor,

And the Rev. Jacob Green, Proctor;

To the Rev. Jacob Green, Miller,

And the Rev. Jacob Green, Distiller"

In regard to his numerous avocations he said in his autobiography: "When I entered upon worldly schemes I found them in general a plague, a vexation, and a snare. If I somewhat increased my worldly estate, I also increased sorrow and incurred blame in all things except the practice of physick:"*

It is not hard to account for such a man’s neglect to collect and record history which was then too recent to seem of much importance, and yet it is very annoying that the good man who as pastor and physician was constantly meeting those who could have told him the very facts we so much desire to know, should not have interrogated the witnesses and recorded their answers.

The earliest reference to Morris County that I find, is in a letter of David Barclay, Arthur Forbes and Gawen Lawrie, to the Scots Proprietors of East Jersey, under date of March 29, 1684. In answer to query seventh, they say: "There are also hills up in the countrey, but how much ground they take up we know not, they are said to be stony and covered with wood and beyond them is said to be excellent land.† At that time the region thus mentioned must "have been terra incognita. How early it was explored and surveyed, I have not with certainty ascertained. The unvarying tradition has been that the first settlement was made at Whippany, and another tradition declares that Abraham Kitchel, grandson of the Rev. Abraham Pierson, Sen., of Newark, and the two brothers Timothy and Joseph Tuttle, were among the earliest settlers, but this is not verified by an examination of their deeds,‡ which

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* Dr. Green’s Christian Advocate, X. 52.

† E. Jersey under the Proprietors, 291.

‡ A deed still in possession of a descendant of Abraham Kitchel, dated May 5, 1713, and given by "John Prudden, quondam master," conveys a tract of ground in Newark to Abraham Kitchel, of Newark. In 1718, John Baldwin conveys a tract of ground to Abraham Kitchel, of Newark. On the 20th of May, l724, "Rebecca Wheeler, of Burlington," deeded to Abraham Kitchel 1075 acres east of Whippany River, a part of which is still occupied by one of his descendants, Joseph Kitchell, of Hanover Neck.

fix the date of Abraham Kitchel’s removal to Hanover in 1724, at least fourteen years after the original settlement is supposed to have been made. On the 2d of April, 1726, Timothy Tuttle conveyed to his "loving brother Joseph Tuttle, of Newark," certain real estate in that place. It is supposed - the deeds are not now to be had - that Timothy Tuttle removed to Morris County the year he sold real estate to his brother. On the 23rd of January, 1733-34, John and Samuel Johnson, of Newark, deeded to Joseph Tuttle, of the same place, some real estate in Newark, so that he was then still a resident there. Meanwhile, he had purchased, in 1725, a large tract of land on Hanover Neck, a part of which is still occupied by one of his descendants.

Who then did settle first at Whippany, and when did they settle there? It is very certain that there had been some settlement previous to 1718, for on the second day of that year one "John Richards, of Whipanong, in the County of Hunterdon, in the Province of New Jersey, Schoolmaster," was the owner of a tract of land which is now known as the Whippany Burying Yard, in the northwest corner of which, for many years, stood the First Presbyterian Church. At that date the "Schoolmaster," "for and in consideration," as he said, "of the love, good will and affection which I have and do bear toward my Christian friends and neighbors in Whippanung aforesaid, as also for the desire and regard I have to promote and advance the publick interest," gave the described tract of land for the site of "a decent and suitable meeting-house for the publick worship of God," as also for "a school-house, Burying Ground, Training field, and such like public uses." The lot contained three and a half acres. In the deed he speaks of his land as being "in the township of Whipanong, on that part commonly called Peurpenong, on the northeasterly side of the Whipanong River."

It is fair to infer that considerable progress had already been made, but at present I can give no information as to the precise facts. My conjecture is that the original settlers may have been squatters, making iron from the Succasunna iron ore, with the boundless forests in the region which they converted into coal. The tradition is that the ore was brought in leather bags on pack-horses from the great mine now known as "the Dickerson Mine," which at that time and for many years afterward exposed vast quantities of ore above ground.

As bearing on the question, it may be said that the copy of a deed may be seen in Trenton which indicates that in 1715 a tract of land had been surveyed in the present township of Morris.* No doubt somewhere still remain the facts in books of records, or unrecorded deeds and wills, which shall throw light on the settlement of Whippany.

In 1713 James Wills, an Englishman, bought of the East Jersey Proprietors a large tract of land in and about what is now called Ralstonville, about one mile west of Mendham. In 1722 James Pitney bought land of his brother which had previously been purchased of the Proprietors. It is impossible to determine at what date Mendham was settled. Even the proximate date of the founding of that church is only inferred as being previous to 1738, when its name is mentioned in connection with the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Dr. Hastings thinks it was about 1735 or 1736.† In 1745 Edmond Burnet made a deed of its yard and site to the Mendham Church, in which, with original orthography, he speaks of himself as "Edmond

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* East Jersey Records Liber F. 3, p 28.

† Hasting’s M.S. on Mendham

Burnnant, of Rocksiticus, in ye County of Sommerset in East nu Jareses in Amaracah," for certain reasons giving the congregation "A scairtain pees of parsel of land on which the meeting Hows Now Standeth."

It will be remembered that thus far the earliest definite fact ascertained is that in 1713 James Wills purchased a tract of land at Mendham, and that he probably settled on it at that time or soon after. At Hanover the settlement was "about 1710," but the actual dates as derived from deeds do not go back of 1715 and 1718, although it is evident that earlier purchases had been made. If we now cross the mountains west of Hanover, we come to the region in which another actual purchase was made at an early date. These facts were received from the late Richard Brotherton, of Randolph Township, a very intelligent and worthy Friend, who professed to make the statements from documents to which he had access and which are supposed to be still in existence. Mr. Brotherton says that one Joseph Kirkbride located a tract of land in the present township of Randolph, in Morris County, as early as 1713, containing 4,525 acres, besides the usual allowance for highways, also in the same year a tract of 1,254 acres bounded on the southwesterly line of the first tract. The Succasunna Mine lot was located in 1716, by John Reading and sold the same year to Joseph Kirkbride, containing 558 acres,* and after his death the tract was divided between his three sons, Joseph, John and Mahlon Kirkbride, except the mine lot, which was held by them in common until such time as the same should be sold.†

Mr. Richard Brotherton further states that the home-farm of Hartshorn Fitz Randolph was located July 30, 1730 (the survey being made by John Reading) and by him conveyed to Joseph Latham, who conveyed the same to John Jackson in 1722. The Executors of Edward Fitz Randolph (Nathan and Hartshorn Fitz Randolph) obtained a judgment against Jackson, and on the 15^th of August, 1753, John Ford, the Sheriff of Morris County, sold the land which was purchased by Hartshorn Fitz Randolph, who occupied it until his death, which occurred in 1807. He bought other lands adjoining until his farm contained 800 acres.

This Hartshorn Fitz Randolph is said to have been a devout Friend, and to have had in his employ a man who was a singular character and allowed by his master almost as many liberties as "the King’s fool." Tradition has preserved the following anecdote relating to the two, of the truth of which as much belief may be entertained as the circumstances may seem to warrant. It is said that on a certain Sunday morning, Mr. Fitz Randolph wished to go to the Quaker Meeting House on the opposite hill, but the brook was so swollen with rain as not to be very easily crossed. The man offered to carry him across on his back. When in the middle of the stream he stopped and said to Mr. Fitz R. "Will thee give me a quart of applejack if I take thee safely over?" "No, I will not; Go on," said Mr. Fitz R. "But say, will thee give it me? For if thee does not, I will let thee down into the water!" "I must not give thee that which will do thee harm." "But I say thee must give it me or I will let thee down into the water quickly!" was the reply of the impudent

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* Bounded on the northwest line and corners of the said tract of 4,525 acres, making together 6,337 acres, besides the usual allowance for highways, which belonged to the said Joseph Kirkbride.

† In 1744 Henry Brotherton, the grandfather of Richard – my informant – bought 125 acres of one of the Kirkbride heirs, and in 1753 his brother, James Brotherton, bought 200 or 300 acres on Mine Hill of the same estate.

fellow, whose motions indicated that he meant what he said. "Well I promise it, to give thee the applejack! Now go on," said the Quaker. "But swear that thee will give it me!" persisted the man. "Thee knows that I must not swear!" "But I say thee must swear that thee will give me the apple-jack, or I swear I will put thee quickly into this water!" "Well, well," said Mr. Fitz R.., "thee is very unreasonable, but thee has me in thy power, and so I swear that I will give thee the rum!" "There, now, Mr. Fitz Randolph, thee has done it!" exclaimed the man, with an ill-concealed chuckle, "thee has done it now! For thee has always said that a man that will swear will lie, and so I will let thee down into the water at any rate!" and he at once suited the action to the word, leaving his employer in no good plight physically or spiritually for the service he was designing to attend.

Mr. Brotherton states that Schooley’s Mountain received its name from one William Schooley, who was an early settler on it. His son William came to Randolph Township in 1713 and purchased several hundred acres - about 600 - of the Kirkbride family, including what is now Mill Brook, some three miles southeast of Dover. There, his son Robert Schooley built the first grist mill in that section of Morris County. Henry and Richard Brotherton, two brothers, and Richard Dell, married daughters of William Schooley, of Schooley's Mountain. Dell removed from Schooley's Mountain in 1759, to a tract of land which he purchased from the heirs of William Penn. This farm is two miles east of Dover, and on the south side of the Rockaway River. His son Thomas Dell bought land of the Kirkbride heirs a mile east of Mine Hill in the year 1786 and lived there until his death in 1850, when he was over ninety years of age. In 1756 that remarkable man, Gen. William Winds, from the east end of Long Island, purchased 285 acres of Thomas and Richard Penn and lived on the same until his death, October 12th, 1789. This farm is east of the village of Dover nearly a mile, and south of the point of Pine Hill. In 1757 Josiah Beaman, the brother-in-law of Gen. Winds, purchased 107 acres where Dover now is, and principally on the north side of the Rockaway River.

The tract of land south of the river where Dover stands, and including the water power which drives the Iron Mills at that place was located and purchased in the year 1745. In 1739 one Daniel Canel purchased a tract of the Kirkbride estate in the vicinity of Dover, and a part of it is still occupied by his descendants. It is said that during the hard winter of 1740, when the snow was very deep, this Daniel Canal was obliged to carry hay on his back two miles and a half to keep his cattle and horses alive.*

It has already been stated that in 1713 John Reading surveyed a tract of land which was conveyed to Joseph Latham, who, in 1722, sold it to one John Jackson, who built a forge on the little stream which puts into the Rockaway near the residence of Mr. Jacob Hurd. The forge was nearly in front of Mr. Hurd’s house. The first forge in Morris county was at Whippany, and this one, built by Jackson, a mile west of Dover, was probably the second. The wood for charcoal was abundant, and the mine on the hill not far distant. For some reason Jackson did not succeed in his iron manufacture, and was sold out by the Sheriff in 1753. I am not sure as to this John Jackson. James Jackson, of Newtown, L.I., the grandfather of the late Col. Joseph Jackson of Rockaway, had a son John among his twenty children. He was born march 9th, 1701. Joseph Jackson, son of the aforesaid James, was a resident near Dover, and with his son Stephen, was joint owner of what was "commonly known as Schooley's Forge," the beginning corner of which was

____________________________________________________________________________* Richard Brotherton’s MS. in hands of Rev. B. C. Megie.

"about one chain from Josiah Beaman’s house." When John Jackson was sold out by the Sheriff, Josiah Beaman bought the forge and it seems very probable that John Jackson's brother and nephew were the purchasers of a part of the forge built by John. This purchase was made in 1768, and the next year Joseph sold his right in that forge to "Stephen Jackson of Mendom, Bloomer." Stephen Jackson thus began his fortune in this humble way, and after a few years became the owner of the fine mill property at Rockaway, with large tracts of valuable lands. He once had the honor of entertaining Gen. Washington at his house, and was a man of great energy. He died in 1812.

My attempts to reach the ear1iest documentary dates concerning Rockaway have not been successful; but from careful examination I am led to conjecture that the settlement began not long after that at Dover, about 1725 or possibly as late as 1730, at which time a small iron forge was built near where the upper forge now stands in Rockaway. This statement embodies the opinion of some very aged men whose fathers had lived in the region from an early period. Among the men who worked that forge (whether the earliest is not known) were Abner Beach, grandfather of the late Col. S. S. Beach, and Isaac Beach, a nephew of his. The latter told his son Isaac, who died about twenty years ago, that he remembered to have seen an encampment of the Rockaway Indians a half mile south of the present village. The savages disappeared from the region a few years after the whites began to settle here, and were said to have been merged in the tribe of the Delawares. There was the remnant of an encampment also near where the Steel Furnace stands.

Among the early settlers in the vicinity of Rockaway and Dover, in addition to those named, may be mentioned Gilbert Hedden, spoken of in one deed as "a citizen of North Carolina," who built the first grist mill about half a mile below the Rolling Mill; David Beaman, a deacon in the church, chorister, miller, forgeman and a very busy man, who left property and numerous descendants, but whose grave is without a monument; Capt. Job Allen, a carpenter, a very public spirited man and good citizen whom influence in founding the church was very marked; Deacon John Clarke a most devout man, universally honored and "powerful in prayer," and some others. There are two men who deserve special mention; Moses Tuttle of Mount Pleasant, and John Jacob Faesch of Mount Hope. Moses Tuttle was the son of Col. Joseph Tuttle, of Hanover, and was born in 1732. His death occurred in 1819. He married Jane, the daughter of Col. Jacob Ford, sen., a great landholder in Morris county. About the time of his marriage, in 1756 he removed to Mount Pleasant, three miles west of Rockaway, for the purpose of managing his father-in-law's iron works. By inheritance and prudence he became possessed of a fine tract of land, on which several valuable mines were discovered. He was a justice of the peace and a leader in society. Anecdotes are told which show his shrewdness. A very athletic young woman made oaths that a young man had committed an atrocious assault on her. Squire Tuttle advised the young man to settle with her by offering her a sum of money tied up in a bag, which she at once received. The squire then directed the young man to take the bag from her by force, but she at once flung him from her as if he were a child, proving the falsity of the charge. She was at once arrested and punished for perjury.* Mr. Tuttle as the thrifty manager of a large forge property and real estate, once found himself to be a creditor to a considerable amount when the State Legislature made its worthless bills of credit a legal tender. This act of course reversed the course of nature so that the strange sight was to be seen of

____________________________________________________________________________ * Statement of Richard Brotherton

debtors chasing down their creditors. Mr. Tuttle left the country as if he were a criminal fleeing justice, and spent two years in the wilderness State of Kentucky to escape his too willing debtors! He has left many descendants who are among our most estimable people.

John Jacob Faesch was a native of Hesse Cassel, and came to this country in the service of the London Company, who owned extensive tracts of land at Ringwood, Long Pond and Charlottenburg, at each of which places they erected furnaces and forges. These were built and for a time managed by a German, whose name was Hasenclever, who brought over a number of Germans and among them Mr. Faesch, who for a time assisted and then superseded him about 1766. His successor, early in 1772 and possibly in 1771, was another remarkable man, Mr. Robert Erskine, of Scotland, a large number of whose papers have been deposited with the New Jersey Historical Society. In passing it may be stated that Hasenclever is said to have gone to Mount Hope with Faesch and died there. It has been currently reported that he left thirty pounds to the Rockaway church, on condition that his body should be buried under the pulpit, but I can find no record of any such money having been paid to the trustees, nor of his having been buried at Rockaway, although I suppose from the statements of old people, that he was buried there.

The London Company, as it was called, seems not to have been very successful pecuniarily, in the manufacture of iron. It could only make the crude iron and send it to England, all rolling and slitting mills in America being prohibited by the mother country, so that the business was conducted to the worst advantage. To cart the blooms and pigs thirty miles to New York, and then ship them three thousand miles, for conversion, was too heavy a cost for profit.

The reputation of Mr. Faesch in the community was good, both as a man of business and integrity. That Mr. Erskine had no confidence in him, in either respect, is evident from his private letters and from the fact that as the London Company's agent he sued him to compel him to refund property alleged to be retained unlawfully by him. In his letter to Cortlandt Skinner, Esq., in reference to "the bills in Chancery, filed against Mr. Faesch," he names £400 as the sum in litigation. In his correspondence with his employers, in 1772 and ‘73, he criticizes his predecessor mercilessly as one who "without the consequence your business gives, any man will be a cipher; if he has conducted it dishonestly will be less than one. * * * * I cannot say I have observed in him, or any of his works, the least spark of genius. * * * * It is a criterion of genius I think, to be communicative from inclination, of which Mr. Faesch is the reverse." In one of these letters he says that "the farmers in the invirons have been spoilt by Mr. Hasenclever." The Scotchman probably underrated the German's integrity, but as to his abilities as a business man we know that he finally came to bankruptcy, or nearly so, although the Mount Hope estate was a very productive one during the war, through government contracts. Faesch’s reputation, in Morris county, as a man of honor was very high, and his mistakes at Ringwood were probably not the results of dishonesty but such as any man in such a place might easily and without blame make.

It was a popular and widely believed tradition, that the English government, believing that the Americans were mainly dependent on the London Company’s works for iron, made an arrangement with that Company to destroy them, in order to injure the Colonies in the difficulties which were evidently approaching. It is very possible that some such proposition may have been made, but the only evidence I can find at any attempt to carry it out is in the destruction of the works at Charlottenburgh, and the fact, stated to me by some old men, that in the forests about those works, they have often seen coal pits which seem to have burned down many years before, but the coal was not used, showing a violent suspension of business at some time. These works were destroyed and the common belief is that it was done by direction of the Home Company. Still it must be admitted that the basis of the rumor is quite shadowy. For an iron mill to burn up is not so very extraordinary, certainly not so extraordinary, as for a conspiracy to burn several mills to have escaped the notice and record of such a vigilant manager and patriot as Mr. Erskine.

And here let me indicate a few meager facts about Ringwood, the headquarters of the London Company, as possibly aiding some one who may attempt to write its history as it deserves. I infer from records at Trenton, that "the Ringwood Company" preceded the London Company. April 15, l740, Cornelius Board sells to Josiah 0gden, John 0gden, Jr., David Ogden Sen., David 0gden, Jr. and Usal 0gden, all of Newark, called "the Ringwood Company," sixteen acres of land at Ringwood for sixty-three pounds. February 1st, 1764, Joseph Board sells to Nicholas Gouverneur of New York, and David Ogden Sen., six acres and a half for six pounds ten shillings. The same day Joseph Board conveys to the company "a tract of laud scituate lying and being at Ringwood, near the Old Forge and dwelling house of Walter Erwin." The tract was of the same size and price as the previous one. July 5th, 1764, The Ringwood Company sell to "Peter Hasenclaver, late of London, Merchant," for £5,000, all the company’s lands at Ringwood, in Bergen - now Passaic - County. The deed states that on the property there are "erected and standing a Furnace, two forges, and several dwelling houses." It speaks of "Timothy Ward’s forge," also of the "Old Forge at Ringwood." The deed is signed by David Ogden, Sen., David Ogden, Jr., Samuel Gouverneur and Nicholas Gouverneur. John and Uzal 0gden deed their share to Hasenclever on the same day, but in a separate conveyance. Hasenclever also bought land in vicinity of Ringwood of Joseph Wilcox and Walter Erwin that same year, also a tract of sixty-eight acres of David Ogden "lying in the mountains between the two rivers, Romapock on the east Wanque River on the west, at a place called Rotten Pond, in the County of Bergen." He also bought of one Delaney and others 10,000 acres, three miles from Ringwood, at £30 per 100 acres. October 28, 1765, Hasenclever bought ninety-eight acres of Lord Stirling.* The extent of the company’s estates may be inferred from these scanty notes, and at the same time the date of the London Company's organization may be fixed as in 1764, when Peter Hasenclever, their agent, began the purchase of those forges and tracts of land at Pompton, Ringwood, Long Pond and Charlottenburg, all in Bergen County as then constituted. From some intimations in the letters of Joseph Hoff at the Hibernia Works with Lord Stirling I infer that the company claimed some right in the mines at Hibernia.

Hasenclever at once began to enlarge the old works and build new ones at each of the places just named. After a time, as already stated, Mr. Faesch became the manager in place of Hasenclever, who probably was not equal to the task on account of ill health. Almost the only knowledge we have of Faesch’s stewardship at Ringwood and its dependancies, we derive from his successor, Erskine. It is evident, however, that the London capitalists had grown weary of furnishing capital to carry on works which were unproductive of dividends, and for that reason sent a man in whom they ____________________________________________________________________________ * East Jersey Records Liber B 3, pp. 66-73, 78, 84, 118, 234.

had entire confidence to look after their interests and manage them with plenipotentiary powers. What he thought of Mr. Faesch is intimated in his letters, as already cited, but to his personal friend Ewing, in Scotland, he speaks without reserve, but I think, with unnecessary harshness. Mr. Faesch’s entire subsequent career refutes the charge, to which there is only one fact that suggests the unpleasant suspicion of having misappropriated his employer's funds. I refer to his purchase of several thousand acres at Mt. Hope, immediately after leaving Ringwood.

I have in my possession the copies of letters of Mr. Robert Erskine, in his own handwriting to Mr. Walter Ewing and his "very dear cousin Rev. Mr. Fisher." The first is dated March 17, 1773, and the second March 18, and both written at New York. The first letter contains some items of interest concerning the extent of the London Company's business and Mr. Erskine's opinion as to its management previous to his taking charge. He speaks of its being "two whole years and upwards since I saw them" – certain relatives in Scotland. The date of this and the following letter so early in 1773 – march 17 – and the particular Knowledge shown of the Company's business, makes it evident that he must have reached Ringwood at least as early as the previous year, 1772, if not in 1771. Mr. Erskine continues, "but let me apologize for my partial silence and leave it to those concerned to find an excuse for their total. The concerns of the company for whom I am engaged are very great, the amount of their inventories at New Year in iron, goods, cattle and moveables alone was upwards of £30,000 currency; the annual circulation of cash and supplies is between £20,000 and £30,000. Before I came here this property was in the hands of a set of rascals, as I can now fully prove; the company suffered impositions from all quarters, many of which I have put a stop to, but not all. I have rid me of the greatest part of those who deserved no confidence, have discovered my predecessor in the management to have been guilty of a most infamous breach of trust, confirmed under his own hand, and which makes it necessary to commence a suit in Chancery against him. The bringing things to the length I have done has required all my address. The affairs of my employers still require the whole of my attention. I am convinced the works may be carried on to profit were all those concerned honest. I have eight clerks, about as many overseers, forgemen, founders, colliers, wood cutters, carters and laborers to the amount of five or six hundred. The care of this centers in me, besides cash accounts of £1,000 or £1,500 per month, rendered monthly, to bring such an undertaking into a proper train of going on, is certainly not a small task. This is my apology."

The second letter, to his "Rev. and very dear cousin," presents the writer in another phase and a better one, and at the same time furnishes a view of the condition of society among the mountains as related to church privileges. "I heard of the loss of my Dear Cousin, Mrs. Fisher (by Mr. Pajan's son, who arrived here last summer), with no small concern. The God whom you serve has no doubt supported you and will carry you through this valley of tears with joy, but oh, my dear cousin, I beg an interest in your prayers. You will see by my letter of apology to Mr. Ewing, for writing so seldom, how I am involved in the cares of this world. Were it not for a wicked heart, however, the business I am engaged in ought rather to lead me to God than make me forget him, as I have seen much of his Provenance since I came here. There is no place of worship near where I live. Some German clergymen come only about five or six times a year. I have of late, however, procured supplies from the presbytery here, and have agreed for supplies once in two months, which they have promised to appoint. This expense I defray, and if the farmers and neighbors join in subscription we may have a clergyman once a month or oftener"

How extended the trust of Mr. Erskine was, may be inferred further from the fact that he applied to the general Congress after the war began, and also to Gen. Washington to have his men exempt from military duty except in special exigencies. He had a company of his own men organized, equipped and drilled, and ready on very short notice to march. Erskine himself was for a time the captain of the company. He was in the American service as Geographer or Topographer, and there are some maps still in existence of his drafting. The papers in the possession of the Historical Society show that he was a very ingenious draftsman and mathematician.

The difficulties of his position and also the manner or his meeting them are set forth in his letters to his London employers during the years 1774, ‘5 and ‘6. They also present the state of affairs and of public sentiment at that time as seen by a very intelligent witness. Thus in June, 1774, he says: "I have no doubt that a total suspension of commerce to and from Great Britain will certainly take place. Such I know are the sentiments of those who even wished a chastisement to Boston. If in want of friends here, it will be difficult even with microscopic search to find them. Gracious God avert the consequences." June 17 he writes: "The Virginians, who are the soul of America, take the lead. We have not yet heard from the southward, but from what has appeared hitherto, the whole colonies seem to look on that of New England as a common cause." In August he writes: The southern colonies as they are more warmly situated, so they seam more warmly to oppose the present measure; the Carolinians exceed those of Virginia, if possible, but over the whole continent there is a feeling and sensibility for the mother country. They have not yet forgot their friends, their relations and their benefactors. These will powerfully plead in the breasts of the Congress, and I hope in a barest degree counterbalance that warmth which injuries, real or imaginary, naturally create. What is concluded on then may be the dictates of necessity and not of resentment, and therefore I think a non-exportation plan will be a dernier resort and not entered into at present."

In October 1774 he writes that "the Oliverian spirit in New England is effectually roused and diffuses over the whole continent, which, though it is now pent up within bounds, a few drops of blood let ran would make it break out in torrents which 40,000 men could not stem, much less the handfull Gen. Gage has, whose situation is far from agreeable. The masons and carpenters who began to build barracks have left off work. Tradesmen of the same kind have been engaged here - New York - but on second thoughts have refused to go. Were he to come to extremities he no doubt might sacrifice thousands, but in the end would be cut off. I don't see, therefore, how he can procure comfortable winter quarters without either abandoning the place or, like Hutchinson's addresses, publicly recant. The rulers at home have gone too far. The Boston Port bill would have been very difficult of digestion, but not allowing Charters the due course of justice, and the Canada bills, are emeties which cannot possibly be swallowed and must be thrown up again to the bedaubing of the administration, who seem to have utterly forgot that they had the same spirit to contend with as at home, without the same advantages of turning it into a different channel by bribery and corruption. I have never disguised my thoughts to you on any subject since I came to this country. You will therefore excuse my freedom on political concerns."

The rhetoric of the last letter was more forcible than elegant, but the writer is evidently in earnest in his attempt to arrest the unwise measures of the home Government. In October 1775 he thus writes: "The communication with my native country may soon be cut off. The prospect is very gloomy and awful. God in his providence seems to have determined the fate of the British Empire, which is likely to be rent in pieces. I do not believe, however, that there is a man of sense on this continent who desires such a disjunction provided they are not drove to it by absolute necessity, but if forcible measures are persisted in the dire event must take place, which may God in his mercy yet prevent." In the same month he writes again: "The situation of this country and my own makes me truly anxious. * * * * I shall add that the generality of people at home are totally wrong in their ideas of this country and its inhabitants, who being now in arms must by next spring be looked upon as equal to the same number of regular troops, not only to do them justice, but that their opponents may have proper ideas of the business they go upon if the enterprise of subduing them be persisted in, which, however, I hope in God will not be the case. Perhaps the Petition of Congress may afford a proper opening for a negotiation. Should that be rejected as the last, then God have mercy on us all. All hope of reconciliation will be cut off. That sword which has hitherto been drawn with reluctance will then be whet with rage, madness and despair, and the ports thrown open to all nations for assistance and trade, which it is impossible for the British Navy totally to prevent. Gracious Heaven prevent things from being brought to this pass, or that a total separation should take place between friends so dear!" In the same letter Mr. Erskine speaks of "the general orders of Congress for all the colonists to be arrayed from 16 to 50 years of age" and of some inconveniences he is suffering at the works by "several stout fellows going off and enlisting." "It will be moved at the Congress to-night for the inhabitants of this place to provide for the safety of their wives, children and valuable effects. God knows, therefore, how long the communication with England, may remain open and when you will have an opportunity to hear in a regular way again."

May 3, 1775, from New York, Mr. Erskine writes: "The people, as I have said before in private letters, are sincerely in earnest everywhere. I have even been applied to for Gunpowder by the principal people of the County of Bergen in the Jerseys, in which your Iron Works are situated, where they, who till now hardly thought anything of the matter, are forming into regular disciplined bodies as fast as possible, which is the only business attended to at present anywhere. Gen. Gage is shut up upon salt provisions in Boston, from whence it is allowed he could not stir ten miles had he 10,000 men; for 20,000 men who now beyond doubt can fight, are entrenched without the town, and 30,000 more were sent home again as superfluous at present. But I leave particulars to the newspapers, and am sorry the times have furnished a subject so foreign to my former correspondence. The present subject I have adopted from the general voice which held it necessary that all who corresponded with England should be explicit in declaring the situation of this country, which is beyond dispute indissolubly united against the British Ministry and their acts, to which the Americans will never subscribe but in characters of blood; nor since blood has been shed do I believe a hearty reconciliation can again take place unless blood seals the contract." A week afterward he writes: "Nothing now is attended to but arms and discipline. Even the Quakers of Philadelphia have taken arms, and two companies of that persuasion were formed last week. * * * The seaport towns may be beaten down if the ministry think proper, but no force they can send will be able to penetrate ten miles inland. 'Tis perfectly astonishing they have carried things so far. The fishery bill, the allegations of cowardice, &c, have exasperated the whole continent to the last degree." Again of the 10th of June, he writes: "I beg leave to give you my sentiments respecting an accommodation, which there is not the least prospect of being effected by force of arms soon if at all, for the universal diligence in learning and application given to military affairs must soon convert the people of this continent into regular troops. * * * * They have their eyes about them and are determined to be free or die. There is no doubt, however, that a hearty reconciliation would immediately take place were they put on the same footing as in ‘63 and the right of taxation given up, for independency is not their aim. Such a wish was never expressed or hinted at either in the last or present Congress."

In a letter May 23, 1775, He exclaims: "My heart bleeds for my native country." In August he writes, that "had the ministry designed to render the opposition to their measures as effectual as possible, they could not have hit upon a better method than the steps they have pursued." "Sept. 5. The people are in general longing for intelligence from England, but however ardent and sincere their desires are for a happy and amicable reconciliation, they are in general prepared and preparing for the worst." Dec. 5th, he tells his employers that whatever takes place "I shall continue to act for your interests and the preservation of your property as well as I can." Dec. 6th, he is in great trouble about protested bills in consequence of the troubles of the country, and then he exclaims: "Oh! my country! to what art thou driving? This gives me piquant distress indeed. How long will madness and infatuation continue? Oh God, justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Excuse me, it is neither treason nor rebellion to wish the kings of the earth would imitate the Sovereign of the Universe. Civil war, subjects, and kindred bloodshed, and for what? Because the Ministry of Britain have adopted the prejudices and resentments of a Governor and his petty partisans of one of the provinces. Heavens! What a figure the present annals will make in history."

In a communication dated December 2, 1775, to the "Colonel and other officers of the 1st Battalion of Continental Troops raising in the Jerseys," Mr. Erskine gives a copy of his own commission, which deserves to be reported in full "In Provincial Congress, Trenton, New Jersey, 17 August, 1775. This Congress being informed by John Fell, Esq., one of the Deputies for the County of Bergen, that Robert Erskine Esq., hath at his own expense provided arms and accoutred an independent company of Foot Militia in said County, do highly approve of his zeal in the same, and do order that he be commissioned as Captain of said company. A true copy from the Minutes. Wm. Paterson, Sec’y."

This commission Erskine copies in order to have the officers of the battalion rectify the irregular proceedings of one Yelas Meade, who was enlisting his men contrary to the exemption of Congress; such enlistments seriously interfering with the business at the Works. He says his company "consists of forgemen, carpenters, blacksmiths and other hands, whose attendance is daily required. I dare say, however, that there is not a man belonging to it but would willingly lend his aid in a case of extremity when every consideration must give way to the salvation of the country" He further says, "I have been at a very great expense in arms, uniform and discipline, and he closes his letter "with the sincerest wishes of success to the friends of the British Constitution and the Liberties of America."

On the 10th of February, 1746, he wrote to his London employers, among other things, that "brave Gen. Montgomery has fallen before Quebec, and makes the third hero who has expired before its walls. We have some extracts from the English papers to the 17th of November; it makes me happy to see their complexion a little more favorable to a reconciliation. But shilly-shally undetermined procrastination and insidious maneuvers will not do. This country is too much on their guard, too well prepared and too much exasperated to attend to anything but plain English. It is the height of folly to hope to disjoin them. Unless the Ministry treat with the Congress they need not attempt treating at all, for were any colony base enough to break the Union, could they dare do it? No. Open on all sides, their being attacked on their skirts and sea-coasts by their European enemies is an happy alternative to that of being destroyed from all quarters; besides it is not in human nature to deliberate in the alternative, after engagements so short, in a quarrel that has gone so far, a fact so obvious that I hope all scrupulous punctilios will be got over and a cessation of arms and a repeal of the obnoxious acts take place, and then I trust Great Britain will regain the confidence and esteem of this country, provided she shows a hearty and speedy disposition to do them justice." Under the same date he encloses his "cash account for January," and add, "this – the profitable running of the Works - with a speedy settlement of the present disputes, would give me the highest satisfaction, but speedy the settlement must be if it all. A continuance of hostilities and another campaign and the burning a few more defenceless towns and such acts of wanton mischief, will most undoubtedly make the breach irreparable."

These quotations present the Ringwood manager in a light that reflects credit on him as one who clearly read the signs of the times and interpreted those signs honestly to his British employers. It is very evident that, he desired the Revolution to be arrested by the honest retraction of their odious measures by the British ministry, and the faithful cession to the American colonies of the rights which they justly claimed. Were there no other sources of information than these letters, it would be evident that their writer was a warm advocate of the Americans in their dispute with the mother country, but taken with other proofs, they present Robert Erskine in a noble attitude in the struggle which he predicted in such strong language, together with its issue.

He died at Ringwood, and his grave occupies a retired spot about a quarter of a mile from the ruins of the old Ringwood Furnace, near the road leading from Ringwood to West Milford. There are only two graves at this place, these laying side by side, the one that of Robert Erskine and that other that of his former clerk, Robert Monteath. Mr. Erskine's monument is of gray marble, is supported in a recumbent position by a brick wall about one foot high and bears the following inscription:

"In Memory of

Robert Erskine, F. R. S.

Geographer and Surveyor General

To the Army of

The United States;

Son of the Rev. Ralph Erskine,

Late Minister at Dunfermline

In Scotland.

Born

September 7th, 1735.

Died

October 2d, 1780,

Aged 45 years

And 25 days."

I am tempted here to copy an autograph letter from Margaret Erskine, "the loving and affectionate mother" of Robert, which shows the canny Scotch woman not too prudent about "the Lotry tickets, their being a few that gets anything that way," and yet who says "I will be glad to hear if you get anything that way, and what you payd for your ticket." It is evident from the letter that he had sought a Professorship at Glasgow.

"Dear Robbie, I received your’s this day I wrot to you this day eight days with a shipmasters recept for a box to you with some linnings which youl have got by this time. I shall be very glad that I am in a mistake about your being oblidged to be present as a candedat for y" vacancy at Glesgow it was the openean of your Brother and many others that you should be present but if it is needless it may be they may cause you yet for to be sure the professerss is not pleased with that Bachannan but it is like as y" D of Argyl is hear he will oblidge them to take him fit or unfit if it serves his turn I think you have got a suffisceant swack- of his Gress as I hope you will expect no favours from him it would be a great mercy if you could think of doing something hear for I am afrayd you will get some offers to go to Jeamcky Gebrealter or some of the colonys abroad which would be very desagerable to me. You may be sure I would be very glad to see you hear for I almost desper of ever seeing you and if you go farther abroad it will certeanly be the case I hope you will take care not to medle with Lotry tickets their being few gets anything that way Garvok gave out 100 pounds ster. for tickets and they came out all blanks. I will be glad to hear if you get anything that way and what you payed for your ticket. I hope it will be as you say that the people you stay with are religeuss sober folk but I thought it best to let you see my Brothers letter that you might be on your gaird - I hope the Lord himself will keep his hand about you and keep you out of evel company for to be sure their are many temtations in and about-London and allmost in every place I am Dear Robie your loving and affectnat Dunferm (date torn off). Mother Margaret Ersine"

As already said, it was in 1772, that Mr. Faesch was superceded in the management of the London Company's Works by Mr. Erskine. Previous to 1770, Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., of Morristown - his widow was Washington's hostess during his second winter in Morristown - is said to have purchased some 2,000 acres of the land which afterward constituted a considerable part of the large tract bought by Mr. Faesch. Col. Ford built a forge some three miles north of the Mount Hope mansion, than known as Burnt Meadow, but subsequently Denmark. He there built a house and lived a year or two. Col. Ford was at Denmark as early as 1768, because that year he is mentioned in the Rockaway Trustee book as occupying "Pue No. 3" in the first meeting house. For some reason he was dissatisfied with Denmark as a residence, and in 1770 built the stone mansion at Mount Hope. This is still standing and I may add that I saw a pane of glass in one of its windows on which was the diamond-cut autograph of Samuel Ogden, of Boonton, with a date which I have forgotten. This relic was lost on repairs being made on the house.

In 1772 Mr. Faesch removed to Mt. Hope,* and the late Col. Joseph

____________________________________________________________________________ * I have not seen the deed for lands purchased from Col. Ford, Jr., but the fact is known that he bought the Mount Hope house and a large tract of land with it that year. Sept. 12, 1772, he bought of William Burnet and John

Jackson, of Rockaway, says that Faesch built the Mount Hope Furnace in that year, and gradually enlarged his purchases until he was said to own ten thousand acres, the most of which was wood land. He became the lessee of the Hibernia Works at some time during the war and cast a large amount of shot and shell for the Government. Gen. Washington and staff once visited him at Mount Hope, and he was regarded as a thoroughly loyal man, entering into the war with great zeal. It is said that he was successful in his business as an iron master until, at the close of the war, foreign importations broke him down. After the war he removed to Morristown and purchased the old magazine which stood on the southeast comer of the Square. This he converted into a dwelling and occupied it until his wife died, Feb. 5, 1788. After this he removed to Old Boonton, and died of dropsy May 26, 1799, at that place, aged 70 years. He was buried at Morristown. Mr. Faesch was said to be skeptical in his religious opinions, but one of the promptest supporters of the Rockaway church, giving as a reason for the apparent inconsisten6y that "religion was a very good thing to keep the lower classes in proper subordination!" His autograph may be seen on several subscription papers of the parish, and the flourish at the end was in form like a pipe. He married Miss Elizabeth Brinkerhoff, of Parsippany, and left two sons and two daughters. The sons, John Jacob and Richard, never married, and died whilst yet young men. One of the daughters died about 1848. She was not married. The other married a Mr. Wm. H. Robinson and had two daughters, one of whom married Robert I. Girard, of New York, and died about 1848 or ‘9, leaving children and the other was living in California in 1851. Mr. Faesch himself married for his second wife a widow Lawrence, whose maiden name was Leonard, her mother being a Kearney.* There were no children by this marriage.

In his day John Jacob Faesch was one of the great men of Morris County, regarded as its greatest iron-master, one of its richest men and one of its most loyal citizens. The robbers Moody and Claudius Smith several times attempted to rob his house but provided with arms by the Government and surrounded with his own men, he was not a very pleasant object of attack by the bandits.

As mention has been made of Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., as one of the early settlers of the upper part of Morris County, I may add that he was the son of Col. Jacob Ford, Sen., and that after his sale of Mount Hope to Mr. Faesch, he returned to Morristown. He held a commission in the American army, built a powder mill at Morristown, and saw some service, but shortly after Washington led his army into winter quarters, early in January, 1777, Col. Ford died of pneumonia, Jan. 11, aged thirty-nine. Eight days afterward - Jan. 19 - his father, Col. Jacob Ford, Sen., died of fever, aged seventy-three years.† By order of Gen. Washington, the son was honored with a military funeral. His descendants are among the most honored citizens of the County.

____________________________________________________________________________

Johnson for £1,246 7s. 6d. Proclamation, a tract of land in Pequannock, measuring 6,200 acres, out of which certain tracts are reserved. May 8, 1772, he bought of "Abraham Ogden a tract in Mendham Township known and called Jackson's Mine, containing ten acres for £10." He also bought, Nov. 6, 1772, another tract in same township of four 42-100 acres for £33 18s. 6d. And Feb. 1st, 1773, he bought of Jacob Ford, Jr., - "both of Pequannack

Township" - a small tract of land "at a place known as Mount Hope," for £5. East Jersey Records, Liber G, 3 pp. 96, 237, 9, and 290.

* Whitehead’s Amboy, p. 92.

† Morristown Bill of Mortality, 20.

Not far from Mount Hope is Hibernia, at the head of the "Horse Pound" Valley, and situated between two steep mountains about four miles north of Rockaway. At one time no little interest was connected with this place and some men who figured there. The land was taken up and the works built earlier than either at Denmark or Mount Hope. I am not able to give the precise date, only it was prior to October 28, 1765.*

It will be noticed that in 1765 John Johnson had iron works at "Horse Pound," as Beach Glen was then called, from the fact that near the upper end of the valley the Indians, and perhaps early settlers, had log enclosure made, in which to catch the horses that had been running wild over the mountains during the summer. The names of Lord Stirling, Benjamin Cooper and Samuel Ford, are connected with the original building and ownership of the Hibernia Works. The history of Lord Stirling is fully set forth in a volume published under the auspices of the Historical Society.

Benjamin Cooper was the son of Judge Daniel Cooper, and in 1763 I find that "Benjamin Cooper & Co." held "pew No. 6" in the old Rockaway meeting house. Lord Stirling was the "Company." It is said that Ford and Lord Stirling built Hibernia Works. The former became a notorious character, and as a part of his villainous career was run at Hibernia, it will be interesting to record a few things concerning him.

Mr. Whitehead, in his paper on "The Robbery of the Treasury in 1768," describes Ford as "an artful rogue, an Englishman by birth but married and having relations in New Jersey."† In this he is mistaken. In the census of New Jersey, taken in 1771-‘2,‡ is the following item: "Widow Elizabeth Lindsley, mother of Col. Jacob Ford, was born in the city of Axford, in Old England, came to Philadelphia when there was but one house in it, and into this Province - New Jersey - when she was but one and a half years old. Deceased April 21st, 1772, aged 91 years and one month." Samuel Ford was the grandson of this estimable lady.§ He was regarded as a very ingenious man, ____________________________________________________________________________

* At this time Samuel Ford and his wife Grace - daughter of Abraham Kitchel - for the sum of £265 13s 4d, sold to James Anderson, of Newtown, Sussex County, "one equal and undivided third part of all and every of the Respective five following lots of land hereinafter mentioned, and scituate in the Township of Pequanack, in the County of Morris aforesaid, about one mile and a half above John Johnson’s Iron Works, &c." Lots number one, two, three and four contain ten acres each, strict measure, and number five ten acres and thirty-four hundredths. This land is described as part of a "lott of land returned to Col. Jacob Ford, and recorded at Perth Amboy in Book S, 4 p. 350." The same conveyance of Ford to Anderson speaks of "outhouses, buildings, barns, Furnaces, &c., mines and minerals, &c.," as included in the deed. The deed is acknowledged "before me, Joseph Tuttle, Esq., one of the Judges of His Majesty's inferior Court of Common Pleas, held at Morristown, July 9, 17660." On the same day, Oct. 28, 1765, Samuel Ford and his wife Grace, sold to Benjamin Cooper, of Newtown, Sussex County, for the same sum, "one equal and undivided third part of all and every" of the same "five lotts of land" as described in the conveyance to Anderson – East Jersey Records Liber D. 3 pp 42-6.

† Proceedings N. J. Historical Society, V, p. 63.

‡ Historical Society Library.

§ His father's name was Samuel. He married Grace, the daughter of Abraham Kitchel, of Hanover, and sister of Aaron the Congressman. Her great-grandfather was the Rev. Abraham Pierson, sen., of Newark. Her niece Mrs.

and from Benjamin Cooper’s confession, and Ford's rejoinder, I infer that the business of counterfeiting was agitated before the latter sold out his Hibernia interests to Anderson and Cooper, in 1765. Mr. Whitehead intimates that Ford went to Ireland in 1769, "for improvement in the profession,"* but Rivingston’s New York Gazette of July 22d, 1773, says that "Ford went to Ireland six years ago, and to England eighteen months ago." He made two trips across the ocean in the prosecution of his business. The sale of the Hibernia Works I suppose was to raise the means to make the voyage in 1765. He was back in 1766 and we find under date of June 28, 1766, in the minutes of Privy Council of New Jersey, that the Governor signed a warrant on the Treasury "to the Hon. John Stevens, Esq., for sending an express into this Colony to inform the inhabitants of a large sum of Jersey bills of credit being arrived in a vessel from England." There can be little doubt that this was the fruit of Ford’s professional visit to Ireland, then reputed to furnish the most skillful counterfeiters in the world. "Whilst in Ireland he married au interesting young Irish girl, with whom he is said to have received some money. On reaching this country she was well nigh crazed on finding that Ford had a wife and children. This was one of the worst acts of his wicked life."†

In the letter which Ford wrote to Cooper, after his own escape from the Morris Jail, he berates Cooper for his "attrocious falsehood" in charging on him the robbery of the Treasury at Perth Amboy, and then speaks in terms of virtuous indignation because in the confession "You describe me as being the chiefest promoter and first introducer of the money-making affair," as he pleasantly denominates counterfeiting. He then adds this sentence, "Did you not in the time of our distressed circumstances at the furnace [Hibernia] first move such a scheme to me?" From the deed of two-thirds of the Hibernia property in 1765, it is fair to infer that he then sold out all his interest there, and in connection with his own letter, just quoted, it seems to me clear that "the money- making affair" was in progress as early as that time. Further it seems probable that he sold his property in order to go to Ireland that very fall or the next spring, and that his return was made known by the arrival in June, 1766, of a ship with "a large sum of counterfeit Jersey bills of credit." With this harmonises the fact, that in 1767 he was residing in New York where he was arrested "on a charge of uttering false New Jersey bills of credit.‡

It is evident that after his return from Ireland he sought a more secluded place for his business, and found it in a swamp island on the Hammock, midway between Morristown and Hanover. The late Sheriff Robertson, of Morris county became the owner of the house Ford lived in, on the Hammock, and in repairing it found some of his counterfeiting tools in the walls where they had been secreted by Ford, many years before. In July, 1768, the robbery of tile Treasury took place, and Ford's letter to Cooper with other testimony leaves the strong suspicion that he was the planner and executor of that crime. This is confirmed by the confessions which Cooper, Haynes and Budd made under the gallows, all pointing, as is said, to Ford as ____________________________________________________________________________

Eunice Pierson, of Rockaway, who lived to the extraordinary age of ninty-three years, once told me that, Samuel Ford was a handsome man but "he was a great grief to his friends."

* Proceedings N. J. Historical Society, V, 53.

† Dr. Timothy Kitchel heard his father say that this young woman was afterward married to an Irishman, and lived at Whippany many years.

‡ Mr. Whitehead’s Papers, Proceedings of N. J. Historical Society, V, 52.

the Treasury robber, but there is no direct proof of the charge, and Ford himself denies it.

In the Pennsylvania Gazette, of Sept. 29, 1773, we find the substance of Cooper’s confession. "He confessed himself privy to the robbery of the Treasury at Amboy, and that he received £300 of the money; that it was concerted by Ford, and perpetrated by him and three soldiers then quartered there; that the plan was first to attempt to carry off the iron chest, and if that failed, next to take the key from Mr. Skinner’s bedroom, and to kill him or any person who should discover them, end that afterwards if any of them should be suspected or convicted, they were to turn King’s evidence and accuse Mr. Skinner as being an accomplice with them. When some of them were shocked at this proposal, as thereby an innocent person might lose his life, Ford replied, "No, damn him, he will only be condemned, he has friends enough to save him from the gallows."’ That after breaking into the Treasurer’s office, adjoining his bedroom, they attempted to carry off the chest, but finding it difficult set it down again and breaking open a desk in the room in hopes of finding money, they there found an old key to the money chest, which was rusty and thought unfit for use (the key then in use being in Mr. Skinner’s bed-room); with this old key they opened the iron chest, and thereby the lives that would have been exposed were probably preserved" I copy this not to vouch for its truth but as supplying a needed document in this singular history.*

The emission of counterfeit money had grown into an alarming evil, and it was generally believed that Samuel Ford was the leader of the gang. Accordingly, on the 16^th day of July, 1773 he was arrested and imprisoned at Morristown. During the night or the next day after his arrest, he escaped, "being aided," as Mr. Whitehead says, "by his confederate, King, rival veteran in villany." This John King was probably "John King, late under-Sheriff of Morris county," and thus was able to aid in his jail-breaking > Moreover, deputy-Sheriff King was before the Privy Council in February, 1774. The Sheriff, Kinney, was himself indicted for allowing the escape of so dangerous a prisoner. Indeed some pretended to believe that Kinney, and others higher in society, were implicated in the crime.† Certain it is that very little care was taken to hold the rogue, and the pursuit of him was not very vigorous. He first fled to a lonely spot on the mountain, between Mount Hope and Hibernia, and staid in "Smultz’ Cabin," a deserted cabin in an old colliery.‡ The late James Kitchel, of Rockaway,§ when fourteen years old, was one Sunday at the Rockaway meeting house, and saw Sheriff Kinney arrest Abraham Kitchel as a guide, for his posse, to Ford’s hiding place. Greatly excited, the boy ran home, but on the way stopped to tell one John Herriman the occurrence. He says that this man stript off his coat and ran straight over the meadows for Hibernia, for "Smultz’ Cabin." The Sheriff took the matter leisurely, although Mr. Kitchel, his guide, said to him publicly, "I know where Ford is and will take you to the spot, but you know you dare not, for your own sake, arrest him!" At last, at a leisurely pace, they reached the cabin, and sure enough Ford was gone. "There, Sheriff," said Kitchel as they entered the cabin, "is where Sam Ford has been secreted, and you would

____________________________________________________________________________

* Mr. Whitehead’s paper, already referred to, gives a succinct narrative of the principal circumstances, and their bearing on subsequent events,

† When the Sheriff sold out what little property Ford had left, even to a tin cup filled with milk for the babe, his son said to him "I have seen you in my father’s shop."

‡ Statement of his niece, Mrs. Eunice Pierson.

§ Mrs. Pierson’s brother.

rather give your horse, saddle and bridle than to find him here now!" The Privy Council regarded Kinney as "blameable for negligence in his office,

respecting the escape of Ford" He was indicted for it, and the Council advised the Governor "to prosecute the said indictment at the next court."*

It was a widely prevalent opinion in Morris County, as has been stated, that some men in high positions were interested in Ford's "money-making business," which he pleasantly calls "a piece of engenuity." Four men were convicted in Morris County and one in Sussex County, and all sentenced to be hung: Benjamin Cooper, of Hibernia, Dr.: Benjamin Cooper, of Hibernia, Dr. Budd, Samuel Haynes, David Reynolds and one Ayres. Reynolds was a common man, with no strong social connections, but Cooper, Haynes and Ayres were Justices of the Peace. Cooper’s own father, Daniel Cooper, was one of the Judges of the Court that tried him. Dr. Budd was a physician greatly esteemed in the County for his social position, and also for his reputed skill in his profession. Indeed, so great was the latter, that this bad business and his having been sentenced to death in consequence of it did not prevent his retaining his practice. One of his patients, a very inquisitive woman, the first time she had occasion for his services, asked him naively "how he kind of felt when he came so near being hanged. Dr. Budd died of putrid fever Dec. 14, 1777, aged thirty-nine years.† Of the four Morris County convicts, Cooper, Haynes and Budd were reprieved the morning of the day appointed for their execution.‡ The substance of Cooper's confession has already been given, and the minutes of Privy Council show that in a trial instituted by Lord Stirling against Col. Samuel Ogden and Samuel Tuthill, Esqs., for unfair dealing in the taking of affidavits and confessions "in the County of Morris, in or about the months of August, September and October last – 1773 - relative to the counterfeiting of the paper bills of credit of this province the Robbery of the Treasury of this Province," Budd and Haynes had both made confessions, for the minutes direct that "Wm. DeHart, Esq., bring with him the affidavits of Budd and Hayes, taken after they were released from Gaol, and the original paper which he – DeHart – received from Haynes wife." These affidavits I have not seen, nor the substance of them, but the whole series of incidents, taken together, looks as if they also told the same story as Cooper did, charging on Ford the Amboy robbery. And I can not refrain from expressing the feeling which an examination of all the accessable records as well as traditions leave on my mind, that while Samuel Ford was a very great villain, he was acting his villainy in very respectable company, a part of which did not get to court and the scaffold as some others did. Reynolds, the least guilty of the whole was hung, having been arrested on the testimony of a brother Irishman, who after the execution manifested the most lively grief.

How long Ford was concealed in the vicinity of Hibernia is not known, but his letter to Cooper was proved by Joseph Morris, his brother-in-law and Jonathan Ford, his brother, September 8, l773. I have carefully examined the files of the Pennsylvania Gazette for 1773, and also Rivington’s New York Gazette, and am surprised to find how dilatory the Sheriff and Governor were in their efforts to arrest Ford. He broke jail on the 18^th of July, and was known to be in concealment not far away during the entire month of August, and perhaps longer, yet Sheriff Kinney does not get his offer of reward published until August 5th in the Rivington; and the Pennsylvania Gazette does not get the Governor’s proclamation until December 1st. It is not until

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* MS minutes of Privy Council.

† Morristown Bill of Mortality, 41.

‡ Minutes Privy Council MS. Proceedings N. J. Hist. Soc. V, p 51.

September of the same year that the last named paper begins to publish items concerning the pursuit of Ford, and then we have items in the issues of

September 22d, 29^th, October 20th, December 1st and 9th, 1773, and January 26, 1774.

From the best authority, I learn that Ford made his way to what was called the Green Brier Country, among the mountains of Virginia, where he assumed the name of his mother's family, Baldwin. He there was a silversmith, and formed a partnership with another. During a severe illness he disclosed his real history to his partner’s wife, who so sympathized with him that after his recovery and the death of her own husband, she married him, so that he had his third living wife. His oldest son, William Ford, and Stephen Halsey (son of Ananias), visited him in Virginia, where they found him with "a great property," a new wife and some promising young Baldwins. It is possible that this distinguished Jerseyman, "who left his country for his country's good," may be the ancestor of some of the Virginia Baldwins who have figured in public life. The Jersey visitors asked the new wife if he had not deceived her, but she said she knew all his past history, and she had no fear of his returning to New Jersey. They described Ford as a "most melancholy man." He professed to his son and Mr. Halsey his penitence, a grace that led to a religious life, which must have been somewhat weak in its nature, as it did not lend him to abandon his adulterous relations and do justice to the excellent woman in New Jersey, whom he left to sustain her family without a farthing’s aid from him.

Probably about the time of Cooper’s arrest, or previous to it, he sold his interest at Hibernia to Lord Stirling who was already a joint owner, and his arrest was at Hibernia in I773. I have seen no deed of sale by either Cooper or Anderson, but can only say that Lord, Stirling was reported to be the sole owner of the works when he rented them to Mr. Faesch. This must have been subsequent to July 10, 1778, at which date I find a letter to Lord Stirling, from Charles Hoff, his manager at Hibernia, reporting to him what he was doing. Joseph Hoff, the son of Charles Hoff, Sen., of Hunterdon County, was for some time the manager of the Hibernia Works.* The letters of which I have copies from the brothers Joseph and Charles Hoff, reach from May 17, 1775, to July 10, 1778. From these we learn that powder was scarce, that "the weather is so very warm (August 25, 1775) that if I do not have rum for the people I fear they will be more sickly;" that, June 30, 1775, "in conversation with Lord Stirling this week at this place, he told me it was his candid opinion that every kind of intercourse between New York and Jersey would be immediately cut off by the port of the former being shut;" that in the spring and summer of 1776 attempts were made to cast cannon at Hibernia, with no great success, although "last night we made a trial at casting one of the guns, but, unfortunately for us, we brought the furnace too low and it missed in the Breach, all the rest was sound and good;" that, Sept. 2, 1776, "I lament much Lord Stirling's situation at present;† hope, however, he may be exchanged for some persons of equal rank in our custody; the dangerous situation of property of all kinds gives me sensible concern,

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* I have copies of several letters from him to Robert Erskine, Lord Stirling, "Messrs. Robt. and Jno. Murray," Col. Moylan, Murray, Samson & Co., and "Col. Knox, at Fort Washington, in the State of New York;" also some from his younger brother, Charles Hoff, who at his death succeeded him in the management. The original book is in the possession of Joseph T. Hoff, Esq., of Mount Pleasant – P.O. address, Dover, N. J.

† Then a prisoner with the English. See Collections Hist. Soc., Vol II p.103.

for you in particular and the province in general, I hope, however, to hear more favorable accounts soon, tho’ indeed the crisis seems to be arrived, which must decide the fate of New York one way or the other; happy for us that we have so secure an asylum from danger." He then tells his correspondent "We have made two small canon," which he asks to have tried. He writes to Col. Knox for help, "to support the business and complete the job." July 27. 1777, Charles Hoff, who succeeded Joseph, writes to Governor Livingston that "we are now boring and preparing for trial four or five cannon of three pounders, and are of opinion that they will prove good, which would be of great use in the artillery. We made last year, for the publick service, upwards of one hundred and twenty tons of shot of different kinds, many tons of which are here still. I shall ever think myself happy and in my duty to my country, to contribute by every means in my power in opposing that tyrranical spirit which is now exhibited in the British nation, and shall be ready to obey any commands from your Excellency for that end." That their capacity for iron making was not large, is evident from the statement of the manager to his New York correspondents, that we make 15 or 16 tons weekly," which pig-metal, I have sold some for £12, some for £I5, some for £2O and some for £30 per ton." The Hoffs wanted to make cannon, and so write to Col. Knox, saying, "we would willingly engage to make a quantity of shot of any kind and try at some cannon – say 6 or 9 pounders - &c. We are persuaded our iron will answer for cannon, as we have proved the first we made to be good." Charles Hoff, in 1778, says the Government gave exemption to twenty-five men for the Hibernia Works, which caused an abundance of Candidates for the places. The same year (July 4, 1778), Mr. Hoff wrote a card on the subject of "a good many deserters, both of the British troops and Hessians, who are come in and sent to Philadelphia." He seeks to engage some of these for cutting wood, making charcoal, doing work as mechanics, and other employments. His brother, John Hoff, was sent to Philadelphia, with particular instructions as to kind, number and pay. He did not succeed in the plan. Mr. Faesch employed several Hessian at Mount Hope, most of whom remained in this country after the war.*

It will be seen that Hibernia and Mount Hope both have claims on our interest, in discussing the early history of Morris County.

Let me before closing this paper gather up a few dates and facts concerning other parts of the county. From a manuscript "history of the Congregational Church,"† I learn that "the tract of land now constituting the township of Chester, was surveyed and run into lots in 1713 and 1714, and began soon after to be settled with emigrants from Southhold, L. I., who had been brought up in the Congregational church planted there by their fathers, and were by conviction and profession attached to its doctrines and customs. It was in their hearts to do as their fathers had done, plant a church of the same faith and form of government as that in which they had

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* Among the incidents of the war was the robbery of Charles Hoff's house and stables, by a gang of follows from the neighborhood of Ramapo, led, as was said, by the notorious Claudius Smith. They came suddenly into the house in the early evening, compelled the family to get supper for them, stole what jewelry, plate, fine goods and horses they could, and made off for the mountains again with their plunder. In 1790 Capt. Joseph Board, who resided in the vicinity of Ringwood, wrote Mr. Hoff concerning some of the miscreants who came to a bad end. Smith and his party shot down one Lieut. Clark, who had been their pursuer, but the murderers were themselves overtaken in their hiding place and all shot.

† Compiled by Rev. Abner Morse.

been baptized and to which they owed so much. Having settled from one to three miles apart, in a country to be cleared of heavy timber, with their private buildings to erect, roads, bridges and fences to make, and families to support, it is wonderful that they, as early as 1747, should have been able to erect a commodious house of worship with pews and galleries to seat an audience of 400. This house stood about six rods west of the present meeting house."

The Presbyterian church, at Chester, was organized in 1752, and began its meeting house about 1755.

A manuscript account of "the Evangelical Lutheran church of German Valley, Morris county, New Jersey," has this record: "This part of our county appears to have been settled in part by Protestant Germans, some time about the year 1740. This settlement of Germans, together with others in Hunterdon and Sussex counties, was visited as early as the year 1745, by the Rev. H. M. Muhlenbergh, D.D., so justly distinguished for his learning, piety and patriotism. With his name, and the names of his sons, the early history of these German settlements, as well as the history of the entire American Lutheran church, is richly interwoven. The Lutheran church, of Ger- man Valley, was originally incorporated with Lutheran churches in the above named counties, the principal one of which was located at New Germantown, Hunterdon county. The more distinct history of these churches commenced with the year 1767, at which time, through the agency of the Rev. H. Muhlenbergh, those churches obtained a charter of incorporation from George III, King of Great Britain, executed by William Franklin, Esq., Captain-General and Governor of the Colony of New Jersey, "at his office in Burlington." The first church built at German Valley was a log house of very crude construction, which, in 1775, gave place to the Union church owned by the Presbyterians and Lutherans."*

In the north-eastern part of the county settlements were made very early. Dr. Schenck, for several years the pastor of the Reformed church, at Pompton Plains, says that the first settlements in that region were made on the east side of the Pompton river, in what is now, Passaic county. "At the opening of the year 1700, it is probable there were but five or six white families in this valley - that is, on the east side - and probably none on the Plains, or west side of the river. The first families came from New York, and were, some of them, at least, members of the Dutch church, or their fathers were. A few families also settled, in 1700, in the vicinity of the Ponds. The earliest notice we have of preaching, in this region of country, was at the Ponds, in 1710. The first house of worship was built in 1735-6, and dedicated April 7^th, 1736. This was also on the east bank of the Pompton river, a little below where what was then called the Pompton river empties into the Pequaunac, and on lands formerly belonging to the Schuyler family. It was probably taken down in 1770. The first church erection at Pompton Plains was planned in 1769, and finished, so as to be used, in 177l. Its pews were not made until afterwards.† Dr. Schenck says, the first purchase of lands in the Pompton valley, from Indians and proprietors, included the great body of the land in the valley. If some lover of local history would spend a few days among the Ryerson, and other local families, of Pompton, Ringwood, and Bloomingdale, in the examination of deeds, and

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* MS sketch of German Valley Lutheran Church, by Rev. E. D.

† Copy of Dr. Schenck’s Paper in Minutes of Pompton Plains Church.

compare these with the Records at Amboy and Trenton, the date of settlement in that region could probably be settled, since these families are said to have been among the first in that region, and their descendants still live there.

The name of the county and its shiretown has elicited some inquiry. A few paragraphs concerning the genealogy and name of the county, will close this paper. In 1709 the Provincial Legislature passed an act, defining and naming several counties. The county of Burlington, then included all the present counties of Hunterdon, Mercer, Morris, Sussex, and Warren. In 1713 the same authority divided Burlington county so as to set off by itself the county of Hunterdon, in honor of Robert Hunter, the Governor of New York and New Jersey. Hunterdon then included the present counties of Hunterdon, Mercer, Morris, Warren and Sussex. On the 15^th of March, 1738-9, the Provincial Legislature passed an act which set off from Hunterdon, the territory include in Morris, Sussex and Warren, and named it Morris, evidently in honor of its Governor, Lewis Morris, who about a month previous had been appointed the first Governor of New Jersey, as a Province distinct from New York.* For several years, according to Allinson, the most of the citizens of Morris county must have been practically disfranchised, since it appears that until the passage of an act, May 10th, 1768, and confirmed by the King in Council, December 9^th, 1770, they voted in Hunterdon as formerly; being allowed "from time to time, as occasion shall be, to appear at Trenton, or elsewhere in said county of Hunterdon, and there to vote and help to elect and choose Representatives for the said county of Hunterdon, after the same manner as formerly before the making of this act."†

As to the early settlement of Morristown, my information is quite meager, although I have given a great deal of time to the search for it, and must now hand it over to the local historian. A single record at Trenton shows that surveys had been made in Morris township, about the time of the surveys in Mendhem, Chester, Randolph and Hanover townships. The first purchase on the west side of Pompton river, according to Dr. Schenck, was made about the year 1700; those in Mendham, Chester, Randolph, in 1713-14; on the 27th of November, 1758, Frederick Miller bought land in Rockaway valley, above Boonton, of "William Allen and Edward Shippen, executor of Humphrey Murray deceased, of Philadelphia," which land belonged to a tract surveyed unto James Bollen, for Legatees of George Hutchinson, deceased, containing 1666 acres.‡

As late as 1738 the name of Morristown was West Hanover, as is evident

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* Papers of Governor L. Morris, 29.

† Allinson’s Laws of New Jersey, 109, 206-7.

‡ This warrant bears date, March 14th, 1714-15. This tract is said in the deed to be surveyed to the said James Bollen, for the legatees of Hutchinson, dec’d, "for his Lot, of No. 21, within the New Purchase made of the Indians, above the falls of the Delaware river," and it is said to have been "surveyed unto the James Bollen, in three several pieces, and near a place called Wippanung, in the county of Hunterdon, in the mouth of May, 1715. (E. Jersey Records Liber F. 3.) On the 1st of June, 1760, "the Right Honorable William, Earle of Stirling, and Lady Sarah, Countess of Stirling," for the sum of £2,902, sell to Col. Staats Long Morris, of New York, 967

37-100 acres in the township and county of Morris, which tract is said in the deed to have been originally surveyed in 1715. (E. Jersey Records, Liber F. 3, p. 28.)

from the record made by the Rev. Gilbert Tennant, of his visit in July, of that year, to "West Hanover." I suppose it must have been a question agitated among the people soon after the county of Morris was set off from Hunterdon, whether the county town should not receive the name of the Governor also; but the first official use of it, that I have discovered, is two years after the organization of the county. The following record in the first volume of minutes of the Court of Common Pleas, for Morris county, is an important addition to the history of the county and is given entire.

"MARCH 25th, MDCCXL.

General Sessions of the Peace.

"The Court taking into consideration the necessity of dividing the county of Morris into Proper Townships or Districts, for having proper officers within every such Township or District, and more especially for such officers as are to act in concert with other Townships, we therefore order and Determine that from henceforth a certain Township, bounded on Pissaic river, Poquanock river, to the lower end of the great pond at the head thereof, and by Rockaway river and the west branch thereof, to the head thereof, and thence cross to the lower end of said pond, and shall henceforth be called Poquanock Township, District or Precinct. "And that a certain road from the Bridge, by John Days, up to the Place where the same road passes between Benjamin and Abraham Pierson's, and thence up the same road to the corner of Samuel Ford’s fence, thence leaving Samuel Ford to the right hand, thence running up to the road that leads from the Old Iron Works towards Succasunning, and crossing Wippenung Bridge, and from thence to Succasunning, and from thence to the great pond on the head of Musconecung, do part the Township of Hanover from the Township of Morris, which part of the county of Morris, Lying, as aforesaid, to the Southward and Westward of said roads, lines, and places, is ordered by the Court to be and remain a Township, District or Precinct and to be called and distinguished by the name of Morris Town.

"The court adjourned till nine o'clock to-morrow evening"*

It seems probable that the court acted thus in view of petitions from the people, but, however that may be, this settles definitely the name of the town and, as I think, disposes of a suggestion of a different origin for the name made by myself on a previous occasion.†

It is worth while here to state that the First Presbyterian church of Morristown, was actually organized the same year with the county of Morris, 171738, although its organization was attempted three years previous, but as is stated, in a deed made by the trustees of that church to the Justices and Freeholders of the county, September 7th, 1771, "on the 8th day of September, A.D. 1756, his late Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq., Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in, and over, the Province of New Jersey, &c., did make and grant, under the great seal of said Province, unto Benjamin Hathaway, Charles Howell, Henry Primrose. Benjamin Bayles, Thomas Kent, Benjamin Cox and Samuel Roberts (by the name of the Trustees of Presbyterian church of Morristown), a Charter, investing them and their successors with full powers to receive, and give grants of lands for the useand benefit of said Presbyterian church, &c." The object of this conditional conveyance, in 1771, was to furnish the Justices and Freeholders, of the county with right to "a certain Lot of land commonly called the Gully," "containing one acre, strict measure," "for the sole use and purposes of a Court House, Gaol, and other necessary uses, for the Court House, Gaol, &c., as long as the said Court House shall remain on said lot or the said County applies the same to those purposes only, and no longer." The consideration was "the sum of £5, current money of the Province aforesaid, at eight shillings the ounce, to them in hand paid, &C., and also that said Justices and Freeholders, do constantly and continually keep full and in passable repair, that part of the hereafter mentioned lot of land commonly called the Gully." The names of the church Trustees in Sept., 1771, were Henry Primrose, Benjamin Bayles, Benjamin Cox, Samuel Roberts, Joseph Stiles, Samuel Tuthill, Stephen Conkling. The name of Benjamin Bayles is signed with "his mark."

[ Minutes of the Court of Common Pleas, for Morris county, N. J., Book No. 1, P. 2. In July, of same year John Kinney, was proclaimed Sheriff, and licensed to keep tavern in Hanover. † Pres. Quar. Rev., vols. VI, 289, April, 1868. ]

The Trustees and Freeholders, of Morris county, at the same date, were Robert Gould, Lemuel Bowers and Josiah Broadwell, Esquires, Justices; and Freeholders, Matthew Lum, Matthias Burnet, Noah Beach, Jacob Gould, Jacob Ford, jr., Hartzhorne Fitz Randolph, Jacob Drake, Jabesh Bell, and John Stark. The subscribing witnesses to the dead [sic] were Timothy Mills, jr., and Joseph King, and it was acknowledged before Jacob Ford, sen.* The court house and jail were on the northwest corner of the square. On the lst of April, 1816, the Trustees of the church, for the sum of sixteen hundred dollars, made over their reserved rights in what is now the public square, to certain gentlemen named, on certain conditions that the ground might be ornamented and improved, but not built on "except for a meeting house, a court house and jail, and a market house:" and if "at any time thereafter the county of Morris should cease to use the land now occupied for the court house and lot, for that purpose, the same should be considered part of the green or common, subject to the conditions aforesaid."

This paper, already too long must be concluded. I regret that it cannot be made fuller and more explicit. The older members of the Society, who may have tried their hand at writing local history, will appreciate my difficulties, and the young members will do so as soon as they attempt the same thing for any locality east of the Delaware, or west of the Hudson.

Let me then sum up the facts ascertained with more or less certainty.

The earliest purchases of lands in the County of Morris, so far as I can learn, were in Pequannock Township, in the vicinity of Pompton Plains, on the west side of the river from the Proprietors and Indians, as early as "the opening of 1700," when there were "five or six families" on the opposite side of the river. The first settlers were from New York, Long Island, and probably Bergen County, New Jersey, as then constituted.

The church there dates back to 1735 or ‘6.

* I regret not to be able to give my authority for these facts. By some mistake, at the time I made the quotations, I neglected to note the reference, but from the fact that these deeds, alluded to, are among notes which were taken when examining the East Jersey Records, at Trenton, I infer that I found these also In Liber F., 3, East Jersey Records, but am not sure. I am too far from Trenton to verify my inference.

The next probable date is that at Hanover, near Whippany Presbyterian Church, at the Old Iron Works, and is "about'1710." The earliest actual date is the deed to James Bollen, "near a place called Whippenung in the County of Hunterdon, in the month of May, 1715." The same year we find a tract surveyed in the town and County of Morris. In 1718, John Richards, schoolmaster, deeded to his neighbors, for use of a church, school house, training ground, burying yard, &c., the ground now occupied for the cemetery at Whippany. This defines the date of Hanover Church as 1718.

The earliest surveys and purchases at Mendham, Chester, Randolph and Mill Brook (near Dover), were made in 1713. The great Dickerson Mine was purchased in 1716. Iron Works were built at Whippany "about 1710," and a forge near Dover in 1722. This defines the beginning of things at Dover.

About 1725 or ‘30 settlements began at Rockaway, and forges were built on different streams at Rockaway, Denmark, Middle Forge, Ninkee, Shaungum, Franklin and other places, from the year 1725 to 1770.

Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., built Mount Hope in 1770, and sold to Mr. Faesch in 1772, in which year the furnace was built by the latter.

The "Ringwood Company" organized in 1740, and sold out to the "London Company" in 1764. Hasenclever was the first manager of the London Company, then Faesch, and then Robert Erskine. The lands of this company are said to have been confiscated during the Revolution. German Valley was settled by Germans about 1740, visited by Dr. Muhlenberg in 1745, and its church actually built in l747. The Rockaway Presbyterian Church dates back to 1758, some thirty years after the first settlement.

The County of Morris was organized in 1738, and its first Township of Hanover, a region of country of indefinite extent, previous to this date, while it belonged to Hunterdon.

Morristown received its name in 1749 from the Court of Common Pleas, and three townships deferred, Hanover, Morris and Paquannock.

Pompton Plains, indeed, we may say, Pequannock, as a section, was settled by Holland Dutch; Hanover, Morristown and Chatham, by people from Newark, Elizabeth and New England; Mendham and Chester, from Long Island and New England; Randolph and Rockaway, by Holland Dutch and a promiscuous assortment of people from various localities, among them what was than Essex County; and German Valley by Germans. Not a few Quakers from Burlington County were among the pioneers.

It would be pleasant to note some changes in the country since Reading first struck his tripod in Morris County, and the trip hammer at Hanover, Dover and Rockaway first rang its music among the forests, and the last remnants of the Indians vanished from the Rockaway and Musconetcong, but this would transcend my purpose. Let me commend the work of collecting the early history of this beautiful County to our young historians.

Transcribed by Dave Burnett - October 2008