Fishing rights in the Delaware River were legally transferable, and that gives us a hint of what was happening at Raven Rock and Bull\u2019s Island in the 18th century. In 1782, Isaiah Quinby leased fishing rights in the Delaware River to various people. He may have done this before 1782, but this is the earliest record available.<\/p>\n
The first lease was given out on February 30, 1782 to Ann Quinby, Moses Quinby, John Woolverton \u201cand others.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> The second lease was given on March 17, 1786 to Aaron Quinby, Moses Quinby, Isaac Rittenhouse \u201cand others.\u201d Quinby also leased a fishery to George Wall of Pennsylvania on the same date, \u201cbeginning at the head of Bull\u2019s Falls and drawing out near the lower part of the island.\u201d Its formal name was the Prime Hope fishery, but it was more generally known by the very descriptive name of \u201cSnapjaw.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> When the property was sold in 1814, exception was made to allow continued access to the river for work on the Snapjaw fishery.3<\/a><\/sup> The Snapjaw came into possession of Jabez White in 1811, when he bought it from the heirs of George Wall.4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n By 1786, Isaiah Quinby had increased his holdings to 460 acres plus 100 acres unimproved. Sons Aaron and Moses Quinby were taxed with him as single men. In 1790, Isaiah Quinby was taxed on 255 acres and a fishery, while son Aaron was taxed on 150 acres, son Moses on 180 acres and son Job on 50 acres. This comes to 635 acres, which sounds like the original 625 belonging to Bull & Ladd plus 10 acres from Marmaduke Leet.<\/p>\n When Isaiah Quinby wrote his will in 1804, he left his fishery known as \u201cBullcap\u201d to his son James and daughter Martha Blackfan. Surprisingly, this fishery was not mentioned in D\u2019Autrechy\u2019s book. The will did not describe the location of this fishery, but it must have been in the vicinity of Bull\u2019s Island.<\/p>\n I have wondered if the Bulllcap might have been the same fishery that Isaiah Quinby leased on February 20, 1794 to his sons \u201cMoses Quinby, Aaron Quinby, James Quinby and others.\u201d This particular fishery is of special interest because of the exceptions in the lease. According to B. A. Sorby, this third lease allowed Mahlon Cooper and Robert Curry the privilege of building a mill dam across Bull\u2019s Creek on the south side of \u201cDead Creek\u201d with the idea of directing the waters of Bull\u2019s Creek down to Dead Creek, and thus improve the working of their mill. Bull\u2019s Creek was the waterway that separated Bull\u2019s Island from the rest of Amwell Township. \u00a0This is the earliest record of the presence of Mahlon Cooper and Robert Curry at Bull\u2019s Island.<\/p>\n