themify 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 West Jersey Assembly met in May of 1687. The minutes of their meeting are not included in Leaming and Spicer\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Grants and Concessions, so for many years, people thought they had not met at all. We know of two matters undertaken by the Assembly in 1687. The first was the problem of the Province\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s debt. Despite the fact that taxes had been levied, they could not be collected. Much of this was due to the scarcity of coin, which had to come from abroad. By May of 1687 the debt had risen to \u00ac\u00a31,250.<\/p>\n
There was only one commodity that West New Jersey had in abundance, and that was land. So, Thomas Budd volunteered to assume the entire debt himself in exchange for 15,000 acres of land in the province. At the end of this session, on May 25th, 24 proprietors signed a deed granting Budd the 15,000 acres. They were William Alberson, Henry Ballenger, John Barton [Boarton], Thomas Barton, William Bate, Francis Beswick, William Budd, Symon Charles, Francis Collins, William Cooper, Bernard Devonish, Thomas Gardner, Thomas Harding, John Hugg, Thomas Mathews, William Peachee, John Reading, Andrew Robeson, William Roydon, John Shinn Sr., Percifall Towle, William Watson, Gilber Wheeler, and Daniel Wills Sr.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The other matter of concern to the Assembly was the time it had to spend on managing sales of proprietary shares and surveys of land. People were selling fractions of fractions of shares, and it was too much for a part-time governing body. They asked the Proprietors (many of whom were also members of the Assembly) to take over this burdensome task. A group of 59 proprietors (including John Reading and Gilbert Wheeler) met together after the session and decided to send James Budd to England to consult on this with Gov. Daniel Coxe. While Budd was in England, Coxe gave him power of attorney to sell his lands in West New Jersey. Budd returned to Burlington in the company of one Adlord Bowd, whom Coxe had named to be his agent in West New Jersey, which is confusing given the power of attorney granted to Budd. Bowd (or Bowde) soon became ill (perhaps West-Jersey didn\u201a\u00c4\u00f4t agree with him) and hired James Budd to survey properties for Daniel Coxe. I mention all of this because Adlord Bowde\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s name will one day show up on a survey of 30,000 acres in Hunterdon County. I am assuming that James Budd also returned to West-Jersey with Gov. Coxe\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s approval for creation of a board of proprietors independent of the Assembly.<\/p>\n 1687 was also a year of scarcity for West New Jersey residents, as described by Samuel Smith, who wrote that crops \u201a\u00c4\u00fain great part failed.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 He did not say why the crops failed but described the hardship of families subsisting on fish or the generosity of more prudent neighbors. Some were driven to gathering \u201a\u00c4\u00faherbs.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 There might have been a Jamestown situation if a ship from New England had not arrived in Philadelphia \u201a\u00c4\u00faladen with corn, which proved an agreeable supply.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Additional ships followed, preventing a disaster. (Note that in the 1680s, the word \u201a\u00c4\u00f2corn\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 generally meant wheat, which grew in England; our American corn was not yet a major commodity.)<\/p>\n The winter of 1687 must have been a severe one, probably a continuation of the frigid weather the first settlers experienced in 1677 (which I wrote about earlier<\/a>). Today we call it the \u201a\u00c4\u00faLittle Ice Age.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 Unfortunately, in 1687 no one in West New Jersey was recording the temperatures, so there is no specific information available about weather patterns. It seems likely that crops failed due to conditions that were colder and wetter than normal, something a little worse than the summer of 2009.<\/p>\n The Proprietors of East New Jersey were aware that New York had appealed to the king for relief from the advantage that East New Jersey enjoyed with respect to customs duties. They feared that the king might solve the problem by joining East-Jersey to New York. There had never been friendly relations between the two provinces, so the prospect was not appealing to the East-Jersey Proprietors.<\/p>\n To pre-empt New York, the Proprietors of East New Jersey sent their own petition to the king in June 1687 (which you can read here<\/a>), asking that their province be joined with West New Jersey rather than with New York, and that ownership of the soil be separated from the right to govern the inhabitants. The Proprietors were first and foremost investors and were not about to give up control over sales of land.<\/p>\n The king passed the petition on to the Lords of Trade, who had been expecting both New York and the New Jersey provinces to voluntarily relinquish their right to govern to the crown. No doubt Gov. Coxe in London was busy negotiating for West-Jersey, but we have no information on that. The situation was temporarily resolved in 1688 (to be described in a future post).<\/p>\n In 1687 (I cannot give an exact date), Thomas Howell of Gloucester County wrote his last will and testament. The fact that he referred to Gloucester County in his will shows how the fact of the county\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s existence had been accepted by this time. The County is said to have been named for Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, who died in 1660 at the age of 20. He had been raised as a Protestant during Cromwell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Protectorate and was later regarded as the \u201a\u00c4\u00f2lost leader\u201a\u00c4\u00f4 of the Stuart opponents, which gives you a hint of the political leanings of Gloucester County residents.<\/p>\n Thomas Howell referred to his wife as \u201a\u00c4\u00fanot living with testator.\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 She was still residing in England, and he did not know if she was alive or dead. If she came to America, the will allowed her to have the household goods. Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s will mentioned sons Daniel and Mordecai and three unnamed daughters. His property consisted of a farm of 100 acres, and another of 250 acres, plus personal property. Surprisingly, he named his second-oldest son Mordecai his executor rather than eldest son Daniel. The will was witnessed by Moses Lakin, William Willis and Stephen Penston.<\/p>\n I do not have the original documents pertaining to his estate. (It is times like this that I wish I were living next door to the State Archives.) There is some confusion in the abstract, which states that the will was proved on March 9, 1686\/87. And yet, on June 1, 1687, Thomas Howell of West Jersey, planter, sold 100 acres in Coopers Creek to Richard Wright. The property bordered Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s other land and Francis Collins.2<\/a><\/sup> Since the new year in those days did not begin until March 1st,\u00ac\u2020 I think we can conclude that the will was recorded in March 1688, not 1687.<\/p>\n The Inventory of his estate was recorded on October 29, 1687 and amounted to \u00ac\u00a3154.8.7. It was made by Stephen Penston and George Goldsmith. On November 3, 1687, son Mordecai submitted a bond as administrator of the estate, with Stephen Penstone of Gloucester and James Hill of Burlington as fellow bondsmen. The next day, Mordecai Howell of Cooper\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Creek mortgaged the farm of 250 acres to Stephen Penston and James Hill, to hold them harmless for their role as fellowbondsmen.<\/p>\n The abstract adds an interesting note. There was a nuncuputive (i.e., spoken) will attached to the letters of administration granted to Mordecai Howell, recorded at Burlington, rather than Gloucester.3<\/a><\/sup> It would be interesting to see if there is more to this story.<\/p>\n Thomas Howell\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s wife Katherine apparently traveled to America after her husband\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s death. I have a note (from an unidentified source) that her son Mordecai traveled to England to get her. We do know that she settled in Philadelphia with her son Daniel and did not die until October 1695. She wrote a will mentioning sons Daniel (the eldest) and Mordecai, and also Daniel\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s daughter Hannah Howell.<\/p>\n I neglected to mention in my entry for 1686 that John and Elizabeth Reading had a son that year, born on June 6, 1686. They named him John Reading, Jr. He would be their only son, and a great help to his father in later years.<\/p>\n In his capacity as clerk to the Gloucester County Court, John Reading recorded the first marriage in the county this year.<\/p>\n In 1687, \u201a\u00c4\u00faJohn Reding\u201a\u00c4\u00f9 appeared on the Tax List of the Lower Division of Gloucester County at Timber Creek with 560 acres and 5 head of cattle. The only others there were Mrs. Bull with 500 acres and John Ithell with 1000 acres. Mrs. Bull was Sarah, widow of Thomas Bull, living with her sons Richard and Thomas, and daughter Sarah. Thomas Bull had died without a will in 1686, probably in November. Administration had been granted to his widow Sarah. In 1687, Daniel and John Reading made an inventory of his property in Gloucester. The sons, Richard and Thomas, were not quite of age, I believe, so nothing further was done with the estate until the 1690s. Samuel Green was about the same age as Richard and Thomas Bull and may have been living with this family.<\/p>\n In November, John Reading, yeoman of Gloucester County, conveyed 250 acres to Matthew Medcalf of same.4<\/a><\/sup> Later on, Mathew’s widow Deborah would acquire a large acreage in Hunterdon County.<\/p>\nThe Council of Proprietors<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Adding Injury to Insult <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
East New Jersey\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s Pre-emptive Action<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
The Howell Family<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Reading and Bull Families<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
Thomas Budd In Trouble<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n