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Description
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A brief recounting of the history of the East and West Jersey proprietors, the Keith line, and the Lawrence Line. Includes information on the Delaware-New Jersey boundary and the New York-New Jersey boundary.
Part two of a two part article. |
Full Text
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Part Two
As we have learned, New Jersey's boundary disputes have been numerous. One of the most famous was the dispute as to whether or not Staten Island belonged to New Jersey, as the Hudson River bounds both sides of it.(Snyder 19)
New Jersey lasted only about ten years as a single colony. In 1674 Berkely sold his share of New Jersey to Quaker John Fenwick for 1000 pounds, as a result of financial hardship. During that year, the Dutch also returned New Jersey to England, after having briefly captured it. John Fenwick was a major in Crowmell's army and a newly converted Quaker.
Because of this, the King of England and the Duke of York had to reissue the charters of 1664. The Duke was unhappy with Berkeley's sale of his share, and so confirmed Carteret's deed, but ignored Fenwick's.
This land fell into dispute not only with Berkeley's sale to Fenwick, but also by a claim by a Quaker colleague Edward Byllynge, who claimed Fenwick had used Byllynge's money to purchase the land.
Fenwick, angry, journeyed to America with some other Quakers via the Griffin, arriving September 23, September 1675 near Salem. Once here, he purchased hunting and occupancy rights to parts of what is now Salem and Cumberland counties from the Lenape. Legend purports that this agreement was signed under the "Salem Oak" in the Quaker cemetery.
Meanwhile, Byllynge and others were still upset with Fenwick's monetary dealings. Fenwick sold most of his share to four other Quakers, one of whom was William Penn. Fenwick sought William Penn to arbitrate on the matter of Byllynge. The result of this 1676 arbitration was the Quintipartite Deed, dividing the colony into West and East New Jersey. Penn declared that Fenwick did not "own more than one-tenth of the whole of West Jersey, and that the other nine-tenths went to the hiterto defrauded creditors and Byllynge."(Sickler 20)
This did not settle the creditors' claims, however; Govenor Andross of New York jailed Fenwick for his claim.
In 1680 the Duke confirmed the deed of West Jersey.(Snyder 23). In 1682 Fenwick sold all of West Jersey to Penn, except for "Fenwick's Grove", 6,000 acres in Mannington Township, Salem County. Fenwick died in 1683, but ownership disputes continued.(Wacker 22)
The division of East and West Jersey began in Little Egg Harbor and commenced northward to 41.40' north latitude on the Delaware River--the non-existant branch (Fleming 11).
From the time the Quintipartite Deed named this line it was drawn on maps, and not always correctly; however, the line was not officially surveyed until 1743.
During the time period before its official survey, East and West Jersey found themselves taking very different paths of self-government.
Prior to 1702, both provinces were controlled by multiple proprietors and with property ownership rights. In 1702 royal Govenor Edward, the Lord Cornbury, reunited East and West Jersey.
Meanwhile, in East Jersey, George Carteret died in 1680. His rights to East Jersey were bought by twelve men (including William Penn), primarily Quakers. In 1683 each man added a partner, making a total of 24 men. Govenors, surveyors general, etc. were appointed by the group.(Snyder 23) A Board of Proprietors of East Jersey was formed in 1685, and still exists today out of Perth Amboy.
West Jersey, on the other hand, found itself with the governmental control resting in the hands of the few, although there were more than one hundred proprietors in 1680. In 1692 the West Jersey Society was formed. In 1688 a group was chosen, later known as the Council of Proprietors of West New Jersey, to administer land ownership.(Snyder 24)
Finally, in 1687 the East/West Jersey line was surveyed. George Keith, surveyor general of East Jersey, was hired by John Reid of East Jersey and William Emley of West Jersey. The path Reid and Emley chose to survey was west of the Quintipartite deed line.
Keith surveyed in 1687 commencing at Little Egg Harbor, and for reasons unknown, stopped at Three Bridges on the Raritan River.
Soon the complaints came; Daniel Coxe, a London physician who owned a million acres but had never visited America, complained that the line was unfair.
The following year Robert Barclay of East Jersey (also from England, never saw America), decided on a new line. It would encompass Keith's line so far as it was surveyed and would then head north in a more easterly direction.
This line became known as the Keith line, or the Keith-Coxe-Barclay line. Much of our county divisions are based on this line even to this day.
The Quintipartite line, which was originally meant to be the division of East and West Jersey, was surveyed by John Lawrence in 1743. The Lawrence line, to this day, is used in deeds to private property.
As Snyder says, "The confusion about the lines is understandable--and persistant."(26)
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Bridgeton Dollar. October 9, 1930. Page 10.
Fleming,Thomas. New Jersey: A History. New York. WW Norton and Co., 1977.
Harrison, Charles. Salem County: A Story of People. Norfolk, The Donning Co. 1988
Sickler, Joseph, History of Salem Conty, New Jersey. Salem. Sunbeam Publishing Co. 1937
Snyder, John P. The Mapping of New Jersey: The Men and the Art. Rutgers University Press, Rahway NJ. 1973.
Wacker, Peter O. Land and People: A Cultural Geography of PreIndustrial New Jersey. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 1975.
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