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domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init
action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/goodspeedhist/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114The Hammond Maps of Hunterdon County proprietary tracts are a wonderful resource for county historians. Many of the property owners shown on these maps drawn by D. Stanton Hammond in 1963 were the first Europeans to claim title to this part of the state of New Jersey. What happened to those properties in succeeding years has always fascinated me and provided wonderful material for my articles.<\/p>\n
So far, I have written about Samuel Green (\u201a\u00c4\u00faSamuel Green of West NJ\u201a\u00c4\u00f9) and his relations, especially the Opdyckes, the Wrights, Richard Bull, the surveyor, and Edward Kemp (\u201a\u00c4\u00faFirst Landowners of Hunterdon County\u201a\u00c4\u00f9). Other early proprietors I have written about were John Reading, Daniel Robins, Dorothy Metcalf, Edward Milner, John Lewis, John Calow, and Peter Fretwell.<\/p>\n
Lately, I have been writing about early settlers in the Haddon Tract.1<\/a><\/sup> The Haddon Tract was one of many surveyed in the Lotting Purchase of 1703. Adjacent to the Haddon Tract was a property surveyed for John Cook in 1714–my subject for today.<\/p>\n John Cook, Sr. was typical of many of the proprietors of West New Jersey. He was a brazier who lived in London and had enough extra cash to purchase shares in the new province. He was unlike many proprietors because he actually made the trip to the Province of West New Jersey and took up residence first in Burlington and later in Philadelphia. He was present in Burlington by 1694 when he was listed as a debtor in the estate of Thomas Lambert.<\/p>\n By 1698 John Cook had died. There was no estate recorded for him in New Jersey because he had died in Pennsylvania. However, a guardian was named for his son John, Jr. who was still a minor. That guardian was Peter Fretwell, a Quaker tanner of Burlington County. The fellowbondsman was Henry Grubb, a victualler and also a prominent man in Burlington.2<\/a><\/sup> In 1712, John Cook, Jr. was old enough to exercise his inherited proprietary rights which allowed him to have a tract of 800 acres surveyed in Amwell Township.3<\/a><\/sup> Two years later, on May 28, 1714, the tract was resurveyed and recorded again.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Surveyed unto John Cook 800 acres of land and land for highways in ye Lotting Purchase ye 3d day of ye 3d mo\u201a\u00c4\u00f4th 1712 bounding as followeth Beginning at a white oak for a corner and from thence by ye bound of John Butcher\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s land North 34 chains to a second corner from thence East 12 chains to a white oak for a third corner from thence North 103 chains to a 4th<\/sup> corner from thence by Daniel Robins land west 64 chains to a fifth corner from thence South by ye lands of John Haddon 137 chains to a 6th<\/sup> corner from thence East 53 chains to ye first mentioned corner. Surveyed by Tho. Sharp Dept Surveyor, 28 May 1714<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJohn Cook, Sr. and Jr.<\/h3>\n