East Jersey

“ But the New York Assembly attempted to exercise control over East Jersey and to levy duties on its exports. The two provinces were soon on the eve of a little war. For twelve or fifteen years East Jersey was in disorder, with seditious meetings, mob rule, judges and sheriffs attacked while performing their duty, the proprietors claiming quitrents from the people, the people resisting, and the British Privy Council threatening a suit to take the province from the proprietors and make a Crown colony of it. The period is known in the history of this colony as "The Revolution." ”

“ The Duke of York, owner of all the land in the New World which had once belonged to Holland, shortly gave part of it to two of his friends, who called their tracts East and West New Jersey. The owner of West New Jersey did not keep his share long, but sold it to some Quakers, who settled near Bur ́ling-ton. East New Jersey was likewise sold to William Penn and others; but both provinces were given up to the crown in 1702. New Jersey—as they were now called—was under the same rule as New York—until 1738, when it became a separate colony. ”

“ It was entitled A Brief Account of the Province of East Jersey in America, published by the present Proprietors, for information of all such persons who are or may be inclined to settle themselves, families, and servants in that country.
[717] It was styled A Brief Account of the Province of East New Jersey in America. Published by the Scots’ Proprietors having interest there, For the information of such as may have a desire to Transport themselves or their Families thither; wherein the Nature and Advantage of, and Interest in, a Forraign Plantation to this Country is Demonstrated. ”

“ The population of East Jersey at the beginning of the eighteenth century was, according to Governor Lewis Morris, "about eight thousand souls"; [229] while that of Pennsylvania and Delaware may have been 20,000, at least one-half of whom were English Quakers. Later in the century more exact figures are ascertainable. Virginia in 1724 was still the largest with 65,000; Maryland ran it close with 53,000. Pennsylvania and Delaware had steadily increased owing to immigration to 32,000; and New York, which in 1705 had had 25,000 people, had by 1724 increased to 30,000. ”

“ Indian deed for the lands from Oldman's creek to Timber creek, in New Jersey. 1677, Oct 10. Indian deed for the lands from Rankokas creek to Assunpink creek, in New Jersey. 1678. Dec'r 5. The will of Sir George Carteret, sole proprietor of East Jersey, ordering the same to be sold. 1680, Feb. 16. An order of the King in council for the better encouragement of all his Majesty's subjects in their trade to his Majesty's plantations, and for the better information of all his Majesty's loving subjects in these matters. Lond. Gaz. No. ”

“ On the one hand, fierce persecution urged him on; England and Germany seemed to be bent on driving out their most energetic and high-souled children. On the other, the way opened gradually and safely. In 1675, he was induced to become a manager of West New Jersey. After five years experience he bought East New Jersey in 1681, and in the same year the King granted him, by charter, the fine tract adjoining, now called Pennsylvania. ”

“ The southern half of New Jersey is almost a dead level, covered with pine and oak forests, growing on a sandy soil. A slightly elevated ridge, however, runs in a southwesterly direction between Delaware Bay and the Atlantic, though much nearer the former than the latter, and divides the waters that flow westward from those that run toward the east. ”

“ This section leads the state in the manufacture of embroideries and is second only to Paterson in that of silk goods. Other industries are machine shops, marine construction, and the manufacture of pianos, lamps, lard, and rubber goods. In Secaucus vegetable gardening is important.
South of Jersey City lies the city of Bayonne, which is the third city of the state in the value of manufactured products. Its frontage on New York Bay on the east, Newark Bay on the west, and Kill van Kull on the south, gives it exceptional facilities for deep-water transportation. ”

“ New Jersey is well provided with transportation facilities. Railroads which approach New York City from the west or Philadelphia from the east necessarily traverse its territory. New Jersey, therefore, has a greater railroad mileage in proportion to its area than any other State. The mileage increased from 560 in 1860 to 2109 miles in 1890, and 2242 miles in 1900. The terminals of the lines centring in New York City are on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. ”

“ These three subprovinces are especially well shown in the southern section of the Atlantic slope. They are less well developed in the northern section, and even where the topography is comparable the underlying rock structure is different. In New Jersey a fourth belt, the Triassic formation, is interposed between the Coastal Plain and the Highlands corresponding to the Piedmont Plateau. North of New Jersey the Coastal Plain has little development, though Long Island and some small areas farther east and northeast are to be looked upon as parts of it. ”

“ New Jersey is in the track of storms, which cross the continent from the west. The south and east winds blowing from the ocean toward the storm centers bring with them much moisture and insure the state an ample rainfall. ”

“ The site purchased fronts on Jersey avenue, with fifty-one feet on Montgomery street, and fifty feet on Mercer on the block east of Jersey avenue.
The library has established fifteen stations. These will be increased as there is demand. In the reading room three hundred and ten periodicals and newspapers are on file, and it is well patronized every day of the year. ”

“ And now to compass the beauty of Jersey. The walks should be around and across the south-west and south-east corners, from Town to La Corbière, and to Gourey, the northern coast from Le Tac to St. John’s, and thence to St. Martin’s. A pony may carry us to any of the northern villes, from which we may reach the magnificent points of the northern coast, or a carriage may take us along the Devonian valley of St. ”

“ Among the products are electrical lamps and appliances, woolen and worsted goods, colored labels, cream separators, chemicals, rubber goods, and iron and steel products. Besides being an attractive center for residences. Orange is a very productive industrial center. Its principal industry is the manufacture of hats. East Orange has long been famous because of its superior attractiveness for dwelling purposes and is filled with beautiful homes. While the high cost of land does not invite manufactures, several large industries are located here. ”

“ They are prosperous manufacturing centers with industries of national importance. In East Newark the most important manufactures are sewing thread and shade rollers. In Harrison the industries are varied and the products include iron and steel, incandescent lamps, steam pumps, roller bearings, elevators, steel and tin toys, electric wire, trunks, brass products, tools, metal novelties, castings, and machinery. In Kearney the important manufactures are linoleums, yarns, twine, glue, oils, fertilizers, ships, and castings. ”

“ The soil of New Jersey is not generally so fertile as that of the states which have been named, being sandy along the sea-coast, and hilly in the interior. Although this state has an extensive sea-coast yet, as there are few very commodious harbors, to vie with that of New York on the one side and of Philadelphia on the other, it has but little commerce:—These cities import almost all the foreign articles and dispose of most of the manufactures and produce of this state. ”

“ Surely all the young hands have been filled with the pilgrim's-flower, the epigæa, the trailing arbutus, the beloved May-flower of olden and of modern time.
In the Middle States many plants are found which New England does not furnish. New Jersey is famed for woodland treasures; not only Orange Mountains, but the pine-barrens, show many a charming blossom, and the dweller at the West finds on the flower-tinted prairies a profusion which the Eastern fields can not approach. ”

“ Northern New Jersey was recognized as one of the riskiest regions of the United States. Time out of mind, American readers have noted, with the short-lived American anger, the many newspaper tales of Paterson and anarchy, of New Jersey and New Thought, of socialistic ranters hailing from this or that semi-foreign community, in one of the oldest states in the American union, whose battlefields in our first war for freedom are spread on many glorious pages of our country’s history. The battlefields of Jersey are different now, and are not so glorious. ”

“ This winter life in New Jersey, of men and officers from New England, the Middle States, Virginia, and the South, appears to us now as very interesting, and in many ways a curious life. Into a quiet country neighborhood there came an entirely novel element,—an army which had not come there to fight, but to live.
Washington's first winter in New Jersey was spent in Morristown in 1777. This place was chosen because it was a productive country, and well situated for sudden expeditions against the enemy in that part of the State. ”

“ Therefore pardon me, if I glance one moment at the geographical [Pg 107] position of this State, and its Railroad Usurpation in the name of State Rights.
Look on the map, or, better still, consult your own personal experience in the journey from Washington to New York, and you will find that New Jersey lies on the great line of travel between the two capitals of the country, political and commercial. There it is, directly in the path. It cannot be avoided, except by circuitous journey. On this single line commerce, passengers, mails, troops, all must move. ”

“ On the road again the next morning, over the ferry, into the cars with sliding panels and fixed windows, so that in summer the whole side of the car may be made transparent. New Jersey is, to the apprehension of a traveller, a double-headed suburb rather than a State. Its dull red dust looks like the dried and powdered mud of a battle-field. Peach-trees are common, and champagne-orchards. Canal-boats, drawn by mules, swim by, feeling their way along like blind men led by dogs. ”

“ For the sake of your State—for the sake of her reputation throughout the world—for your own sakes—and those of your children, and their children yet to be—say to the world that New Jersey shares in the spirit of this age,—that New Jersey is not a survival of the Dark Ages,—that New Jersey does not still regard the thumbscrew as an instrument of progress,—that New Jersey needs no dungeon to answer the arguments of a free man, and does not send to the penitentiary, men who think, and men who speak. ”

“ On the 22d of November, 1855, a small company of us—three gentlemen and two ladies—left New York harbor in the schooner Louisa Dyer, of 150 tons burden, bound to the island of Jamaica. By nightfall we had lost sight of the last faint trace of New Jersey soil. New Jersey is sometimes jocularly said to be out of the Union; but on that day the two of us who were leaving our native land for the first time, entertained no doubt of its solidarity with that country of which it afforded us the last glimpse. ”

“ And in spite of her spacious and resounding past, New Jersey’s name now seems to mean incorporations and mosquitoes and sea-bathing and popcorn-crisp rather than either legend or romance. But with the coming of the Great War strange things are stirring in the world, and in the farthest corners of the land the earth is shaken by the tramp of new armies. In the skies by day and night there is a sign. And the things one does not believe can happen may be happening, even in New Jersey. ”

“ Last winter legislative action was begun looking to the including of the whole of Hudson County in the Jersey City of the future, thus giving it an area of nearly thirty-nine thousand acres, and a magnificent water front of about seventy miles along the Hudson, the Kill von Kull, Newark Bay, the Passaic and the Hackensack, giving the city almost unlimited business possibilities. The city is already the center of several of our great railroad lines, and year by year is steadily growing in commercial strength and population, which is now nearly one hundred and ninety-six thousand. ”

“ In order to pass from Cape May to Atlantic City one takes a long circuit by rail through the Jersey sands. Jersey is a very prolific State, but the railway traveler by this route is excellently prepared for Atlantic City, for he sees little but sand, stunted pines, scrub oaks, small frame houses, sometimes trying to hide in the clumps of scrub oaks, and the villages are just collections of the same small frame houses hopelessly decorated with scroll-work and obtrusively painted, standing in lines on sandy streets, adorned with lean shade-trees. ”

“ They are of simple well-proportioned architecture, of a distinctive type, less luxuriant, massive, and exuberant than those across the river in Pennsylvania, although both evidently derived from the Christopher Wren school. The old Jersey homes seem to reflect with great exactness the simple feeling of the people and to be one expression of the spirit of Jersey democracy.
There were no important seats of commerce in this province. Exports of wheat, provisions, and lumber went to Philadelphia or New York, which were near and convenient. ”