The latest issue of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey is out (vol. 86, no. 1), and the first article, “Burlington Waterlots Surveyed,” is just amazing. C. Miller Biddle, a descendant of the original Biddle family, has written a detailed description of the ownership of the water lots in the town of Burlington when they were first laid out.
He has also given us succeeding owners, sometimes into the early 19th century. He begins with the London side of town, west of High Street, and I gather he will eventually treat the Yorkshire side as well. Dr. Biddle’s research is truly impressive, and I expect these articles will be the last word on the subject, so be sure to look out for future installments.
It has been awhile since I’ve written anything about the chronology of early West Jersey, but I’m glad I waited, for I just recently got my hands on a PhD. Dissertation by Frederick R. Black that has opened my eyes to events in the 1690s and solved some mysteries for me. It is entitled The Last Lords Proprietors of West Jersey; The West Jersey Society, 1692-1702, and is available from Rutgers Library, Special Collections, through inter-library loan. I can’t recommend it enough.
I am no expert on the Lenape language. In fact, like most people, I am clueless. Recently someone asked me if I knew the meaning of a Lenape creek name, Octoraro. This is the answer I sent him:
The Burlington County Court Book has little to offer about Thomas Greene, but there was one incident witnessed by him that tells us a lot about life (and death) in West New Jersey in the 1680s.
The original post on Thomas Greene included a story about his appearance as a witness in a disturbing court case. It came at the end of a long post, and I realized afterwards that it deserved its own space. You can read it here.
It’s been a long time since I wrote anything about the Green family. It was Samuel Green who got me started on this series of posts about early West New Jersey. Now that I’m up to 1690, it’s time to take another look at the Greens.
In 1689, affected by the uncertainty of the times, the West Jersey Proprietors wrote to Daniel Coxe that they would proclaim him governor if he would just provide his own writ of quo warranto. They “stressed the urgency of the situation” but Coxe, who also felt the uncertainty of the times, delayed his answer for several months.1
I am going to collect in this post (and add to it over time) the sources used for the early history of the Province of West New Jersey. It will serve as a way to collect in one place all the sources used, and at the same time, make each post a little less cumbersome to read (I hope).
In a previous post related to Dr. Daniel Coxe, I described a lawsuit involving himself and John Hooke. Hooke had hoped to establish a settlement in America for Dissenters persecuted by the popish policies of Charles II and James II. Once the Glorious Revolution had taken place, things took on a different complexion.
In this post [under “Early Estates”], I mentioned a source identified by William Nelson in Abstracts of Wills, N. J. Archives, as “Burlington Records.” This mystified me but I did not pursue it. Fortunately for me, a reader, Jeff Moore, took the trouble to visit the State Archives and ask Bette Epstein about it. She informed him that the record is titled “Burlington Records 1680.” Jeff referred me to this link on the NJDARM website where the Records are listed as Reel 6, GSU #459321. Jeff pointed out that the GSU number is the same as the Family History Catalog film number (“FHL”), and that a film of the records can be obtained from the Family History Library.
Once again, Jerseyman has caught me by surprise. He has published a fascinating post relating to early maneuvering before the first Quaker settlers arrived in the Delaware River.
Under instructions from the Quaker trustees, James Wasse and Richard Guy had a survey made by Richard Hancock, which was published by John Thornton and Robert Green and titled “A Mapp of Virginia Mary-land, New-Jarsey, New-York & New England,” probably around 1677 or 1678. It showed three designated areas for settlement, one being at “Bethlem” which became Gloucester, another called Antioch where Salem was located, and the third was 5000 acres at the Falls.
