The following material is from History of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Including the Early History of Union County, by Rev. Edwin F. Hatfield (1868) published by Carlton & Lanahan, 200 Mulberry St., New York; Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Vol. I, 1631-1687, by William A. Whitehead, (1880) printed at the Daily Journal Establishment, Newark, N.J.; Annals of Staten Island, by J. J. Clute (1877), Press of Chas. Vogt, No. 114 Fulton St., N.Y; and Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, Vol. I, (1900), by Ira K. Morris, Memorial Publishing Co., 132 Nassau St., N.Y. Please note that there are footnotes. All of these will appear at the end of the article. King Charles II, son of beheaded Charles I, came to power 1660 after Cromwell died, and his reign was known as the most corrupt in English history. Charles II, the pleasure-loving king, had a court filled with people like himself-- avaricious and greedy. His loyal supporters before, during and after his exile included Sir George Carteret of the Isle of Jersey and Lord John Berkeley. George Carteret was born 1599, eldest son of Helier Carteret, Deputy Governor of the Isle of Jersey, a descendant of the Lords of Carteret in the Duchy of Normandy, a family of great respectability, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror. George married his first cousin Elizabeth Carteret daughter of his uncle, Philip Carteret and Ann Dowse. George and Elizabeth Carteret had three sons and five daughters. His sons were Philip (knighted 4 Jun 1670, killed in a naval battle 28 May 1672); James (became Governor of New Jersey when Gov. Philip Carteret was ousted by the citizens there); George (died 1656 unmarried). George, the father, entered the navy at an early age. In 1626 he was appointed joint governor of Jersey [Isle of Jersey] and in 1640 comptroller of the royal navy. In 1642 the post of Vice Admiral was offered him by Parliament, but declined in obedience to his royal master. He was knighted 9 May 1646, having rendered the king great service in the supply of ammunition. Withdrawing to his home in Jersey, his house, which he bravely defended as the last stronghold of the monarchy, became an asylum to the Prince of Wales [later Charles II] and others of the party. He followed his sovereign to France in 1652, was imprisoned in the Bastille at the instance of Cromwell in 1657, and subsequently banished from the kingdom. He repaired to Charles at Brussels in 1659, and was one of his escort when received by the city of London in 1660. He was appointed Vice Chamberlain and Treasurer of the Navy; was sworn of the Privy Council, and in 1661 elected to Parliament for Portsmouth. John Berkeley was the youngest son of Sir Maurice Berkeley. He was born in 1607, joined the army in the operations against the Scots in 1638, and was knighted 27 June the same year. In the Parliamentary war he served as Commissary General for the king [Charles I], as Governor of Exeter, and General of the royal forces in Devon. After the king's death he went abroad with the royal family, and in 1652 was made Governor of the Duke of Yorks household. May 19, 1658 he was created by royal favor Baron Berkeley of Stratton; and at the Restoration in 1660 he was sworn of the Privy Council. Both Carteret and Berkeley were proprietors in the Carolinas. The trials through which George Carteret and John Berkeley had passed during the civil wars, in which circumstances had brought them into great familiarity with the royal brothers, Charles and James, gave them great influence at court after the restoration. Lucrative offices were awarded them in and about the royal household, and frequent opportunities given of promoting their purposes of wealth and aggrandizement. During a period of peace Charles II decided it was time to get rid of the Dutch at New Amsterdam. The English claimed this territory by right of discovery. In Queen Elizabeths time, June 11, 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained letters-patent from the Queen empowering him to discover and possess any lands in North America then unsettled. It vested in him powers to rule over his colony provided the laws did not conflict with the Crown jurisdiction. Gilberts patent extended to his heirs and assigns. This was the first colonial charter granted by an English monarch. History tells us that Gilberts ship foundered before it could return home. Grants from the King to individuals in which right of government went with the soil were known as Proprietary Grants. Such a government would be in the nature of a subordinate principality, for the phrase Provided that such laws do not conflict with the laws of England was always included. Each grant also contained the words to his heirs or assigns. (New Jersey Genesis, pp. 284 et seq., West Jersey Propriety: Soil and Government, by Dr. Henry H. Bisbee, paper read before the Eastern States Archeological Federation Meeting at Trenton, N.J., October 27, 1956, and printed in Bulletin of the Burlington County Historical Society, May 1957.) Charles the Second, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defender of the faith etc., having on the 23rd day of April 1663 appointed Col. Richard Nicolls, Sir Robert Crane, George Cartwright Esqre. and Samuel Maverick commissioners to visit Massachusetts and to reduce the Dutch in New Netherland into subjection to the English, and having duly instructed them to proceed with the execution of their commission, did, by his royal patent, bearing date the 12th day of March 1664, give and grant unto his dearest brother James, Duke of Yorke, his heirs and Assigns, a vast domain, including all the land from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay, together with full and absolute power and authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern and rule all such subjects of the King, his heirs and successors, as should from time to time adventure themselves into any of the parts or places so granted. This grant was for the whole of New Netherland and was an astute political maneuver because at the time the grant was made it was under Dutch rule. Essentially what the King said was: You can have this land if you can take it. The Duke of York was Lord High Admiral of the Navy and immediately made plans to conquer his newly granted land. He commissioned Colonel Richard Nicolls, who was to become Governor of New York after it had been conquered, to head up a force of 450 men with their officers and four ships to carry them to America. This was a secret mission. The ships were the Guinea (flagship) of 36 guns, the Elias of 30 guns, the Martin of 16 guns and the William and Nicholas of 10 guns. The four ships under Sir Robert Holmes had been making reprisal attacks on Dutch possessions at Cape Verde and the Guinea coast before crossing the Atlantic to capture the New Netherlands. The four ships, called frigates in the surrender document at New Amsterdam, were redirected from the North African coast to England where troops boarded along with commissioners, Sir Robert Crane, George Cartwright Esqre. and Samuel Maverick. James Bollen came with Col. Richard Nicolls on one of the four ships. The fleet left England in April 1664 and arrived at Boston in late July 1664. They stayed a month at Boston; the commissioners purpose was to explain to the leaders in Massachusetts and Connecticut the reasons for the impending English annihilation of the Dutch. The English commissioners were met with a chilly reception by the New Englanders, but eventually John Winthrop, John Pynchon and others accepted the idea of English control of New Netherland. Winthrop had previously gone to England in 1662 to get a charter for Connecticut, and of course knew Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley. In late August 1664 the four ships with John Winthrop, John Pynchon, the Springfield merchant who represented the Massachusetts General Court, and other New Englanders aboard, sailed from Boston down to New Amsterdam. The fleet passed outside Long Island and dropped anchor in Nyack, now Gravesend Bay. The first offensive act was the capture of a block house on Staten Island on the 30th of August. Nicolls confronted Peter Stuyvesant, who although prewarned, could not muster enough forces to resist. He delayed for ten days. Winthrop and Pynchon told Stuyvesant that they werent there to discuss, they were there to demand the surrender, and Nicolls aimed his guns at the fort. Stuyvesant gave up without a shot being fired. The formal surrender was on Monday, 8 Sept 1664. Winthrop and Pynchon signed the surrender document, but Stuyvesant did not. The Dutch Governor stumped out of Fort Amsterdam which the English Governor, Richard Nicolls, entered and re-named Fort James. Those signing for the Dutch were John De Decker, Nicholas Verleet, Samuel Megapolensis, Cornelius Steenwick, Oloffe Stevensen Kortlant and Jaams Cousseau. Those signing for the English and New Englanders were Richard Nicolls, Robert Carr, George Cartwright, John Winthrop, Samuel Wyllys [brother-in-law of John Pynchon], Thomas Clarke and John Pynchon. Nicolls deputed Capt. James Bollen as one of the persons to receive the surrender of the fort at New Amsterdam, and the town was re-named New York in honor of the Duke of York. Bollen had accompanied Nicolls on one of the four ships, or perhaps was even a Captain of one of the ships. Nicolls appointed Bollen Commissary of Ammunition at Fort James in New York. On 4 Oct 1664 Nicolls granted to men of the Elias land on Staten Island. Commander William Hill received 500 acres; Lt. Humphrey Fox 300 acres. Six days later Nicolls granted James Coleman, master's mate and master 250 acres; Andrew Dennis, purser, 250 acres; Bradbury Clark, surgeon 250 acres; Nicholas Pengelly, gunner, 250 acres; Thomas Comes, carpenter, 250 acres; Henry Miller, botswain, 250 acres; Ambrose Winne, captains steward 250 acres; Simon Man and John Hughes, gunner's mates, 250 acres. The Elias returned to England with her officers and crew, and none of them ever returned to claim their land. Before Nicolls and his fleet had even arrived at Boston, the Duke of York, on 24 Jun 1664 had conveyed his patent from his brother, the King, the right of sale as well as possession and rule, the territory now known as New Jersey, to Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley in as full and ample manner as it had been conveyed to himself -- transferring to these court favorites all his rights, titles, and authority to and over the land in question. This was a proprietary grant, and Carteret and Berkeley completed and signed on 10 Feb 1664/5 The Concessions and Agreement of the Lords Proprietors of New-Caesarea, or New Jersey, to and with all and every of the adventurers, and all such as shall settle or plant there. Nicolls didnt know of this grant when he became Governor of New York in September 1664, and had already patented land in New Jersey to a number of settlers.(1) Not until 29 Nov 1664 did James, the Duke of York, write to Nicolls about the grant of New Jersey to Carteret and Berkeley, and it was James Bollen who showed Nicolls the letter from Berkeley and Carteret announcing their grant from the Duke. Nicolls was dismayed and believed the Duke had granted away an area of land more extensive and valuable than that which he had retained. Nicolls patents were made null and void later, much to the consternation of those who had received them. On the same date as that of the Concessions (10 Feb 1664/5) Sir George Carteret, who had absolutely no desire or intention to occupy his newly acquired land in America, appointed his fourth cousin, Sir Philip Carteret, age 26, to be Governor of New Jersey. On this same date Robert Vauquellin, Sieur des Prairie, was appointed by Sir George Carteret Surveyor General of New Jersey. The ship Philip was also put in commission and furnished with men and supplies for the new colony. The Philip was detained (probably on account of the war with the Dutch, which had begun in March 1665, that rendered navigation hazardous) until the last of April; and then it set sail from English waters just as the Great Plague began to gather up its more than 60,000 victims in London. Vauquellin most probably resided on the Isle of Jersey prior to coming to America. He accompanied Capt. Philip Carteret Jan 1664/5 to England. Treacherous weather forced the ship Philip to Virginia in May 1665. There Carteret spent some weeks before finally sailing for New York. At Virginia Carteret directed via Winthrop that his correspondence be sent to James Bullaine in New York. He may have done so on orders from Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley. Its possible that James Bollens appointment as Secretary of the Province was made by Carteret and Berkeley and the appointment was to take effect when Philip Carteret arrived in New York, because on 29 July 1665 Bollen was waiting for Sir Philip Carteret and his entourage of some thirty passengers, mostly Frenchmen from the Channel Islands,(2) when they arrived at New York. Bollen joined Carteret and the other passengers from the ship Philip and he then went with them to New Jersey to join the Ogden Company (John Ogden, Jeffrey Jones, Luke Watson, John Baily, et al.) who had previously settled there. The town was named Elizabethtown in honor of the wife of Sir George Carteret. Bollen took up his post as Secretary of the Province and the lives of Carteret, Vauquellin, William Pardon (secretary to Gov. Carteret) and Bollen became inextricably intertwined. Bollen was to keep a record of all public affairs, all grants of land by the proprietors, and conveyances of real estate by the inhabitants. He became a Justice of the Peace and performed practically all of the early marriages in Elizabethtown. The affairs of Elizabethtown moved on very quietly and harmoniously during the first two years after Carterets arrival. Under the proprietary concessions the freemen would elect twelve deputies to join with a governor and councilors appointed by the proprietors to form a general assembly empowered to pass laws. Carteret appointed as his council Nicholas Verlett and Samuel Edsal of Bergen, Robert Bond of Newark, Daniel Pierce of Woodbridge. The Deputy Governor, John Berry, presided over the council, and Bollen, Pardon and Vauquellin also served as ex-officio members. On April 7, shortly after the council was formed, Carteret called upon the freeholders of Bergen, Newark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, and the Navesink towns each to elect two representatives to sit in the lower house. Bergen elected Caspar Stynmets and Balthazar Bayard; Elizabethtown, John Ogden, Sr., the founder, and John Brackett, the surveyor; Newark, Robert Treat and Samuel Swain, two of the earliest settlers; Woodbridge, John Bishop, a first proprietor, and Robert Dennis, a signer of the towns charter; Middletown, James Grover and John Bowne, both Monmouth patentees. Bowne also agreed to represent Shrewsbury, which had not chosen representatives. Piscataway sent no delegates to the first assembly. The first General Assembly of New Jersey convened at Elizabethtown and was constituted 26 May 1668. The Legislature remained in session five days and passed several Acts or Laws. The laws were few and simple and in almost every instance nearly verbatim from the Hempstead Code or the Connecticut Code of 1650. At the November session a radical difference of opinion, which must have been foreseen, between the Governor and the people, in respect to the rights of the people and the power of the legislature, was very soon developed. Carteret disregarded the express provisions of the Concessions and refused to call an Assembly for the next two years, preferring to rule the province at his own pleasure by means of his complaisant Council. He interfered in the local affairs of the town -- claiming, as he did, the prerogative of presiding in person or by proxy in their town-meetings; of admitting whom he pleased as freeholders; and of allotting the town-lands as rewards to his servants. The people could not but regard all such proceedings as unwarranted acts of usurpation. Carteret had no sympathy for the townsmen he ruled, and his regulations and requirement of quit rents to the Lords Proprietors were an abomination to the settlers. He failed to live up to the original Concessions. He also granted lands and Association membership to his servants and others without the approval of the council. Luke Watson and John Woodruff were among the leading men of the town and devoted to its interests; but because they disobeyed Carteret in some way, he revoked their militia commissions on 31 Oct 1670. In the spring of 1671 Carteret granted privileges and a houselot to his servant Richard Michell. This was contrary to the fundamental agreements of 1665/6, made in town-meeting and consented to by the Governor. It was a clear case of usurpation on the part of Carteret. If tolerated in this instance, it might be followed by many others, and presently the town would be overrun by Frenchmen and other foreigners claiming an equal share with themselves in the plantation. The Elizabethtown citizens were not prepared to succumb to the fancies and fiats of the cavalier lordling, sent over the ocean by a couple of corrupt speculators, to exercise arbitrary rule over them. On 19 Jun 1671 it was agreed by the Major Vote that Richard Michel should not enjoy his lott given him by the Governor. It was agreed that there should some goe the next morning and pull up the said Michel's fence. William Meeker, Hur Tomson, Samuel Marsh, Sr., Joseph Meeker, Jeffrey Jones, Nicholas Carter, John Ogden Jr., and Luke Watson tore down Michell's fence, pulled clapboards from his house, and pigs went into Michell's property and destroyed his garden. It was a day to be remembered in the annals of Elizabeth; a day for the inauguration of an open and determined resistance to all usurpation, and a manly defense of their vested rights. Carteret brought the culprits to trial, but the community would not uphold any verdict. They were fed up with Philip Carteret. The affairs of the proprietary government reached a crisis in the spring of 1672 over the refusal of the New Englanders in Elizabethtown to pay rents. In the summer of 1671 Capt. James Carteret,(3) son of Sir George, arrived in New York. He had been sent over by his father to claim his property in the Carolinas, but probably on the suggestion of his father, stopped off in New Jersey to confer with Gov. Philip Carteret in respect to the affairs of the Province of New Jersey, which were then getting to be quite complicated. James was graciously received and sat in on important meetings with New York and New Jersey officials. [There's a lot missing here.] Then in the spring of 1672, the New Jersey Assembly consisting of members from Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, Piscataway, Newark and Bergen, were fed up with Sir Philip for many reasons. Quit rents were one of the main complaints, but lately they were angry because of the trial of Meeker, Jones, Watson, Carter, etc., for their role in destroying Michells residence and for giving away land in Elizabethtown, they called upon Capt. James Carteret to be President of New Jersey. He accepted the post. Gov. Philip Carteret and William Pardon, having destroyed the records of the General Assembly of 26 Mar 1672, found the atmosphere of the town somewhat dangerous and fled to Bergen. Secretary James Bollen and Robert Vauquellin took Philip Carterets papers into safekeeping and refused to give them up. On 25 May 1672 Capt. James Carteret ordered Constable Meeker to arrest William Pardon, Gov. Carterets secretary. Pardon escaped and joined Philip Carteret in Bergen. On 28 May refugee Governor Philip Carteret issued a proclamation declaring the deputies for Elizabethtown, Newark, Woodbridge, New Piscataway and Bergen as Muteeneers and as Enemies to the Government. A plain declaration of war and of evil portent. The breach was irreparable. How it is that Capt. James Carteret, the son of one of the Lords Proprietors was led to take sides with the town against the Governor, is not clear. Armed with the Proclamation of the refugee Governor, Pardon returned 3 June to overawe his old neighbors and to read the document in town-meetings, as was required of each of the towns. But he was once more arrested by Meeker and kept prisoner for three weeks. Again he escaped and returned to Bergen. On Jun 15, 1672 the Council met and advised Governor Philip Carteret to go to England and tell Sir George Carteret what was going on in New Jersey. The first part of July Governor Philip Carteret left the country and returned to England, Capt. Berry of the Council having been appointed by Carteret, Deputy to officiate in his Absence. Carterets officials, Bollen, Vauquellin and Pardon, with Samuel Moore, the Marshal, accompanied him to England. Samuel Moore, a leading citizen of Woodbridge, was taking to the proprietors the Councils version of the troubles, which said that some of the elected deputies had not taken the oath of allegiance and an illegal assembly elected James Carteret president of the province. Gov. Philip Carteret remained in England, but the others returned early May 1673, having arranged everything to their satisfaction and obtained all necessary authority from the Duke of York and the two Lords (George Carteret and John Berkeley) to subdue the people and to sustain Philip Carteret as Governor of New Jersey. They brought also a letter dated 9 Dec 1672 from the King, to Deputy Governor Berry and his Council, confirming their authority, and requiring them to exact from the settlers all due obedience; thus making for the first time the Governor and Council officers of the Crown. Instructions were also sent from Berkeley and Carteret to the Governor and Council -- a paper explanatory of the Concessions -- and a Declaration to the People of the Province. One of the provisions of the declaration was that no man was eligible to vote or to sit in the assembly who did not hold lands by patent from the proprietors. Early July 1673 Capt. Bollen delivered a letter to Capt. James Carteret from his father, Sir George Carteret, who ordered his son to tend to his property in the Carolinas, thus putting an end to his interference in New Jersey, and James Carteret then took passage on a sloop, Samuel Davis, captain. The sloop was captured by the Dutch on July 11 near a southern port, and Capt. James Carteret and his wife Frances (nee Frances Du La Val, d/o Thomas Du La Val, Mayor of New York), were put ashore in Virginia. Samuel Hopkins (who had been living with Capt. James Carteret and who later became secretary under John Ogden) was accompanying Capt. James Carteret and he told the Dutch that New York could easily be taken. And it was. Hopkins, a zealous advocate of the peoples rights, had been identified with the popular party in Elizabethtown, and doubtless welcomed the advent of the Dutch forces and the change of government as likely to put an end to the vexations to which he and his neighbors had been so long subjected. The whole situation in New Jersey suddenly changed. The Dutch War Council then took over, consisting of Admirals Cornelius Evertsen and Jacob Benckes, Captains Anthony Colve, Nicolaes Boes and Abram Van Tyll. Later the council was reduced to Benckes, Evertsen and Colve; and in September 1673 Colve was appointed governor and he administered the conquered territory from Fort James, renamed Fort Willem Hendrick. New York was changed to New Orange; Albany was changed to Williamstadt. Under Dutch rule, John Ogden, Samuel Hopkins and Jacob Melyn were elected Schepens [sheriffs] of Elizabethtown. The several towns chose their Deputies, and these met together and made their nominations for Schout and Secretary. On 1 Sept 1673 Mr. John Ogden was elected Schout and Mr. Samuel Hopkins elected Secretary of the six towns [Elizabethtown, Newark, Woodbridge, Piscataway, Middletown, Shrewsbury]. John Ogden was essentially in charge of all English settlements of New Jersey. Ogden and Hopkins were directed by Governor Colve to take an inventory of the estate of the late Governor Philip Carteret. (He wasn't dead he had just been ousted as Governor of New Jersey and had gone to England.) Vauquellin was arrested by Ogden [for refusing to turn over Gov. Carterets papers] and he was sent to New York. On Sept 9 Vauquellin was examined by the Council. When he appeared before the court he was not the least bit humble. To the contrary he was arrogant and haughty and he was so overbearing and insolent that he practically thumbed his nose at the court when he boasted that the English would be back. Vauquellin was found guilty not only of proud and contemptuous disdain for authority, but of insurrection against the lawful government and was condemned to be banished as an example to others. The Dutch rule was terminated, and the treaty of 9 Feb 1673/4 gave New York and surrounding areas back to the English. Berkeley had sold out 18 Mar 1673/4 his half of the province for £1000 to John Fenwick, in trust for Edward Byllinge, of the Society of Friends. Sir George Carteret had thus become the sole proprietor of the eastern moiety of the province. A new patent for the whole territory was given 29 June 1674 to the Duke of York; by whom East Jersey was reconveyed to Sir George Carteret in as full and ample manner as the same had been granted himself. The Concessions, so remodeled as to give to the Governor the control of the Legislature and deprive the people of all original jurisdiction, were re-issued July 31 and the same day Capt. Philip Carteret was newly commissioned as Governor. After a two-year absence Philip Carteret returned 31 Oct 1674 and resumed his original position in New Jersey without any change of opinion on how to rule. He came over from England in the same vessel with Col. Edmund Andros, newly appointed Governor of New York. Carterets residence abroad for the space of two years and his attendance during this period upon a court so aristocratic and corrupt, had evidently not induced him to be a whit more tolerant of the principles and spirit of the Puritan settlers of the town than before. The governors coming was the renewing of the old troubles. He was still obnoxious to the settlers. In December he issued a proclamation that in order to be commissioned for any office a person must patent his land according to the Concessions of 1665. He gave instructions to Vauquellin to make a survey of Newark, Elizabeth, Piscataway and Navesink and insisted that the quitrents be paid. Elizabethtown said it would pay £20 quitrent in consideration of township lands eight miles square, but that wasnt good enough. Vauquellin insisted that each and every owner pay quitrents. By September 1676 the majority in Elizabethtown had reluctantly taken out warrants of survey, but no deeds. Residents from other places in New Jersey also tried to avoid having their names on the quitrent rolls. Meantime Carteret had another problem to deal with -- Edmund Andros -- later known as the tyrant of New England. There had been problems with Andros about who owned Staten Island, and problems about New York ports and New Jersey ports and just who owned what and what ports had to pay tariffs to New York. Andros who claimed a grant from the King that was to combine his governorship of New Jersey and New York with the rest of New England, bided his time, jousting with Carteret in New Jersey, but when Sir George Carteret died in Jan 1679/80, Andros began his move. In 1680 Sir Philips right to the Governorship of New Jersey was questioned by Andros, who continued to insist he was governor of New York and New Jersey and ordered Carteret to submit to him. Carteret continued to refuse. Finally Carteret was dragged out of his house naked and thrown in jail on Andros orders.(4) Bollen and Vauquellin immediately took possession of his papers, and traveled, one to Maryland, the other to Boston over land, and both to England, in order to remonstrate. Five weeks later Carteret was found not guilty at a trial and the Court told him to go home and not assume any political or military role. He wrote to Bollen, who was in England, about his arrest and trial and advised him what to do. Governor Carteret to Captain Bollen Elizabethtown, New Jersey, July 9th, 1680 Captain Bollen, Sir, Yours from Farefield [Fairfield, Conn.] dated the 18th May, which was directed to George Jewel [NOTE George Jewel was a witness to the will of Philip Carteret], it was a Month before it came to my Hands; and your other two Letters by John Willsons Wife of the 8th June, and 21st, being three Weeks after, before I received them, which was by reason of the long Passage of the Vessel. I could gladly have wished that I could have written to you when you were in New England, but could not with safety in the Time of my Imprisonment, which was five Weeks before they brought me to my Trial, and this being the first Opportunity, with Convenience, that I have had since your Departure, which goeth by Mr. George Heathcott, for England, giving you an Account of Sir Edmund Andross, Proceedings. When I came to my Tryal my Intentions at first was not to have entered a Plea, and to have protested against the Jurisdiction of the Court; but finding the Court to be over ruled by him, was forced to enter a Plea, and pleaded not guilty of what he alledged against me in my Presentment; and also was ready to make out and justify my Actings as Governor of New Jersey, to be legal and by Virtue of Power derived from the King; to which purpose recommended to the view of the Court, my Commission with other Instructions to manifest the same, which was delivered with a Charge to the Jury, who after a perusal of the same by the Jury, was to make a return of their Verdict concerning it, with their Verdict in Matter of Fact, which was thus brought in by the Jury: The Prisoner at the Bar not Guilty--Upon which he [Andros] asked them Questions and demanded their Reasons--which I pleaded was contrary to Law for a Jury to give Reasons after their Verdict given in; nevertheless he sent them twice or thrice out, giving them new Charges, which I pleaded as at first to be contrary to Law, notwithstanding the last Verdict of the Jury being according to the first brought in by them, the Prisoner at the Bar not Guilty, upon which I was acquitted accordingly, as you will [see] by a Copy of my Tryal which I here inclose do send you, with the rest of Sir Edmund Andross Proceedings against me--If you cannot find the Book amongst Sir George Carteret, where all the Proceedings of New Jersey are Copied in, as Deeds Transports or the like from his Royal Highness to Sir George Carteret, you will find the said Book in the Hands of Mr. Holder, the Dukes Auditor: Also to be mindful as there hath been a new Dividend or Alteration of the worst [?west?] Part of the Province where the Quakers do live from this, to take this opportunity for to have it renewed, that we may know the certain Bounds and Distinction of both; and do likewise advise you to address yourself to the Commissioners of the Custom-House, to whom I have also sent Copies of Sir Edmund Andross Transactions, and also desire their Assistance to my Lady Carteret in this Business; and likewise to make acquainted of the same both Sir Edward Carterets, Doctor Darvall, Mr. DeMaresque, Capt. Meservie, and the rest of my Friends and Acquaintance there, to be Assistants for our relief in this Case; and if possible they can to endeavour their utmost means for the obtaining our Powers again, and all Things to be confirmed and run in the former Channel with us as they did before. I have written to my Lady Carteret, about Amboy, and some other concerns of my own, for which I would pray you to use your utmost endeavours to have a grant of my request therein, and what lies in my Power shall not be wanting for the Supply of your Children, and mindfullness of your Concerns here. By this opportunity of Mr. Heathcott, Capt. Dyre is intended for England, by which I thought good to advise you, to be observant in his Motions, that he doth not Sware and Romance against us, as he did the Time before, and by all opportunities that I may hear from you, and to be very diligent of our concerns in England, leaving no Stone unturned that may be for our good, and as often as need doth require, shall not be wanting in doing my Part in Writing to you by all Opportunities that doth present, the like I expect from you and so remain. . . Your assured loving Friend, P.C. Carteret returned to his residence in Elizabethtown and devoted himself to the improvement of his estate. He married April 1681 Elizabeth (Smith) Lawrence, widow of Capt. William Lawrence of Tew's Neck, L.I., and daughter of Richard Smith and Sarah Folger. Richard Smith was a patentee of Smithtown, L.I. Elizabeth brought with her seven children: Mary, Thomas, Joseph, Richard, Samuel, Sarah, and James Lawrence. Carteret resumed office by proclamation 2 Mar 1680/1; and in his triumph over Andros was disposed to stretch his prerogative to the utmost, agitating Elizabethtown and other parts. He had learned nothing by his troubles and his long-continued association with the people. Carterets devoted followers had previously found the situation at Elizabethtown unbearable. Vauquellin, a Frenchman, who never really did get along with his Puritan neighbors, took up his abode in Woodbridge. Bollen sold out to Henry Lyon and also went to Woodbridge to live. Pardon retired to New York to engage in merchandise. Carteret made his will, dated 10 Dec 1682 just before his death, which undoubtedly was brought on by his mistreatment when arrested and when in jail.(5) He was aged 44 when he died. He had no children. His widow married in 1685 Col. Richard Townley, by whom she had issue. Instead of identifying himself as much as possible with his townsmen, Carteret seems to have pursued a course that he must have known would bring about their prejudices. From the time of the first collision with the people in 1668, he persisted in excluding from his council and confidence the very best men in the community, putting in office and persistently retaining such parasistes as Bollen, Vauquellin and Pardon, who were notoriously rejected and despised for their sycophancy. His administration must be regarded as a complete failure, as it was opposed almost from the beginning by the worthiest men of the Colony. He had no party in the town outside of the clique that came with him and lived on his favor and patronage. Sir George Carteret, who had died 14 Jan 1679/80, devised all his property in East Jersey to Trustees for the benefit of his creditors. Fruitless attempts were made for two or three years to obtain a purchaser, though the whole territory with the right of jurisdiction was offered to Lord Norreys and others for less than £6000. The government of the Province in the meantime was administered in the name of The Right Honorable The Lady Elizabeth Carteret, Baroness, Widow, The Relict and Sole Executrix of the Right Honorable Sir George Carteret, Knight and Baronet Deceased Late Lord Proprietor of the said Province, and Grandmother and Guardian to Sir George Carteret Baronet Grandson and Heir of the said Sir George Carteret Deceased, the Present Lady Proprietrix of the Province aforesaid. The Province with the Jurisdiction of the People was at length disposed of to the highest bidder in January 1681/2. The sum paid for the property and privileges was £3400. The purchasers were an Association of twelve persons, residents of London and its vicinity, the most of them connected with the Society of Friends, William Penn, Thomas Rudyard and Samuel Groome being of the number. (1)Nicolls had given land patents already for two extensive plantations -- one between the Raritan and the Passaic Rivers, and the other below Sandy Hook and the Raritan, afterwards Middletown and Shrewsbury. The patent was of large dimensions and extended from the mouth of the Raritan on the South, to the mouth of the Passaic on the North, a distance, in a straight line, of not less than seventeen miles; and running back into the country twice this distance, embracing the towns of Woodbridge and Piscataway, the whole of Union County, part of the towns of Newark and Clinton; a small part of Morris County, and a considerable portion of Somerset County, containing about 500,000 acres. Gov. Philip Carteret seems not to have objected to these grants but rather to have been gratified at the speedy prospect of peopling his new colony. At that time the thought had not entered his mind that the Indian purchase (by John Bayly, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson) and Nicolls Grant were of no validity. (2)Carteret had brought with him in the ship Philip eighteen male servants, belonging to Sir George and himself, a portion of whom were Frenchmen, probably from the Island of Jersey: John Dejardin, Doctr Rowland, Claude Vallot, Richd Pewtinger, Richard Michell, Richard Skinner, William Hill, Henry Hill, Erasmus House, John Tayler, John Clarck, William ____, Claude Barbour, Chas Seggin, Dan Perrin, John Mittins. Robert Wallis, Joan alias Peter. In the first importation must have been included some female servants -- Mariah Torell, Susannah Poulain, and Ellen Prou (all French) being of the number. Carteret's immigrants were a distinct class, in an inferior station, with whom the original planters had but little congeniality and familiarity. (3)James was sent by his father to America to represent him as one of the lords proprietors of Carolina. In the same year 1671 he was in New York; 1672 arriving in New Jersey where his father was proprietor. In Apr 1673 he married Frances du la Val, d/o Thomas, Mayor of New York. James and Frances set out for the Carolinas but the ship was captured by the Dutch and they were set ashore in Virginia. Records show that in 1674 he was a resident in Bahamas, West Indies in which his father held land. By 1676 he was back in New York where he bought Bedlows Island from Elizabeth Bedlow, widow of Isaac. In 1758 the island was purchased by the city of New York when it was called Kennedys Island. In October 1677 James was nominated as Magistrate at Harlem. He died 1682. Hatfield has the following on James Carteret -- The last that is known of him is very deplorable. Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, the Labadist travelers, being at Harlem, N.Y., Oct. 6, 1679, were under the necessity of spending the night at a house constantly filled with people, all the time drinking, for the most part, execrable rum. Dankers says -- Among the crowd we found a person of quality, an Englishman, named Capt. Carteret, whose father is in great favor with the king, and he himself had assisted in several exploits in the kings service. The king has given to his father Sir (George) Carteret, the entire government of the lands west of the North river, in New Netherland, with power to appoint as governor whom he pleases; and at this present time there is a governor over it, by his appointment, another Carteret, his nephew, I believe, who resides at Elizabethtown, in New Jersey. This son is a very profligate person. He married a merchant's daughter here, and has so lived with his wife that her father has been compelled to take her home again. He runs about among the farmers, and stayes where he can find most to drink, and sleeps in barns on the straw. If he conducted himself properly, he could be not only governor here, but hold higher positions, for he has studied the moralities, and seems to have been of a good understanding; but that is all now drowned. His father, who will not acknowledge him as his son, as before, allows him yearly as much only as is necessary for him to live. From the fact that his father disowned him on account of his profligacy to his later years, grew, most probably, the report of his having been an illegitimate son -- utterly inconsistent, as it is, with the above statement, and other well-ascertained facts previously adduced in these pages. James Carteret, it is probable, did not long survive his father, who died Jan 14, 1679/80. (4). . . after many Debates and Disputes, we [Carteret & Andros] concluded to decide it [who was governor of New Jersey] rather by Arguments than Arms, but the Rancor and Malice of his [Andros] Heart was such, that on the 30th day of April last, he sent a Party of Soldiers to fetch me away Dead or alive, so that in the Dead Time of the Night broke open my Doors and most barbarously and inhumanly and violently halled me out of my Bed, that I have not Words enough sufficient to express the Cruelty of it; and Indeed I am so disabled by the Bruises and Hurts I then received, that I fer I shall hardly be a perfect Man again. . . Jasper Danckaerts [Dankers] account in his Journal of 1679: At length he [Andros] corrupted one of Carterets domestics, for Carteret had no soldiers or fortifications, but resided in a country house only. He then equipped some yachts and a ketch with soldiers, arms, and ammunition, and despatched them to Achter kol in order to abduct Carteret in any manner it could be done. They entered his house, I know not how, at midnight, seized him naked, dragged him through the window, struck and kicked him terribly, and even injured him internally. They threw him, all naked as he was, into a canoe, without any cap or hat on his head, and carried him in that condition to New York, where they furnished him clothes and shoes and stockings, and then conducted him to the fort and put him immediately in prison. When they seized him at Achter kol the armed boats had gone home, and the seizure was accomplished through treachery. Two of the head men of Carteret [Bollen and Vauquellin] immediately took possession of his papers, such as were of importance to him and travelled, one to Maryland, and the other, crossing the upper part of the North river, to Boston over land, and both to England, in order to remonstrate. The governor [Andros] sent immediately to Achter kol, took possession of the place, posted up orders, and caused inquiries to be made for the man who had set Carterets man [Bollen] over the river, but without success. While Carteret was in prison he was sick, very sick, they said, in regard to which there were various surmises. (5) I give & bequeath my Soul to Almighty God that Gave it me in full Assurance that I shall be made Partaker of Eternal Life by & through the Merrits of my most Dear and blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ my Saviour, and my Body to be buryed in such decent manner as my Executrix shall think meet in the Vault at Governr Stephensons Bowry, if Liberty may be obtaind, otherways Liberty to be purchasd in the Church att New York. All his Estate in New Jersey he gives to his most deare Wife Elizabeth Carteret and her heirs; he then adds: And all my Negroes and other Servants, excepting Black Jack who Ja. sett free from servitude from and after the Day of my Burial. Unto my Mother Mrs. Rachell Carteret if she be yett living All that my Mannor House, Edifice and Buildings with all my Lands, Tenements & Hereditaments within the Island of Jersey: in case of her death, to be equally conveyed to my Brothers and Sisters children of my said Mother. He appoints his deare Wife sole Executrix; and desires his well-beloved friends Thomas Rudyard and Robert Vicars of Elizabeth Town aforesd to be assistant to my said Executrix appointing them to be my Trustees and Supervisors. The witnesses to the Will are Robert Vicars, Isaac Swinton, James Emott, George Jewell and Martha Symes. It was proved 30 Dec 1682.