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eir mind for keen trading as well as their rigid economy and integrity。

One character; Jacob Spicer; a prosperous colonial; insisted on having everything made at home by his sons and daughtersshoes; clothes; leather breeches; wampum; even shoe threadcalculating the cost of everything to a fraction and economizing to the last penny of money and the last second of time。 Yet in the course of a year he used 〃fifty…two gallons of rum; ten of wine; and two barrels of cyder。〃 Apparently in those days hard labor and hard drinking went well together。

The Cape May people; relying almost entirely on the water for communication and trade; soon took to piloting vessels in the Delaware River; and some of them still follow this occupation。 They also became skillful sailors and builders of small craft; and it is not surprising to learn that Jacocks Swain and his sons introduced; in 1811; the centerboard for keeping flat…bottomed craft closer to the wind。 They are said to have taken out a patent for this invention and are given the credit of being the originators of the idea。 But the device was known in England in 1774; was introduced in Massachusetts in the same year; and may have been used long before by the Dutch。 The need of it; however; was no doubt strongly impressed upon the Cape May people by the difficulties which their little sloops experienced in beating home against contrary winds。 Some of them; indeed; spent weeks in sight of the Cape; unable to make it。 One sloop; the Nancy; seventy…two days from Demarara; hung off and on for forty…three days from December 25; 1787; to February 6; 1788; and was driven off fifteen times before she finally got into Hereford Inlet。 Sometimes better sailing craft had to go out and bring in such distressed vessels。 The early boats were no doubt badly constructed; but in the end apprenticeship to dire necessity made the Cape May sailors masters of seamanship and the windward art。*

* Stevens; 〃History of Cape May County;〃 pp。 219; 229; Kelley; 〃American Yachts〃 (1884); p。 165。


Wilson; the naturalist; spent a great deal of time in the Cape May region; because of the great variety of birds to be found there。 Southern types; like the Florida egret; ventured even so far north; and it was a stopping place for migrating birds; notably woodcock; on their northern and southern journeys。 Men of the stone age had once been numerous in this region; as the remains of village plats and great shell heaps bore witness。 It was a resting point for all forms of life。 That much traveled; adventurous gentleman of the sea; Captain Kidd; according to popular legend; was a frequent visitor to this coast。

In later times; beginning in 1801; the Cape became one of the earliest of the summer resorts。 The famous Commodore Decatur was among the first distinguished men to be attracted by the simple seaside charm of the place; long before it was destroyed by wealth and crowds。 Year by year he used to measure and record at one spot the encroachment of the sea upon the beach。 Where today the sea washes and the steel pier extends; once lay cornfields。 For a hundred years it was a favorite resting place for statesmen and politicians of national eminence。 They traveled there by stage; sailing sloop; or their own wagons。 People from Baltimore and the South more particularly sought the place because it was easily accessible from the head of Chesapeake Bay by an old railroad; long since abandoned; to Newcastle on the Delaware; whence sail… or steamboats went to Cape May。 This avoided the tedious stage ride over the sandy Jersey roads。 Presidents; cabinet officers; senators; and congressmen sought the invigorating air of the Cape and the attractions of the old village; its seafaring life; the sailing; fishing; and bathing on the best beach of the coast。 Congress Hall; their favorite hotel; became famous; and during a large part of the nineteenth century presidential nominations and policies are said to have been planned within its walls。



Chapter X。 Scotch Covenanters And Others In East Jersey

East Jersey was totally different in its topography from West Jersey。 The northern half of the State is a region of mountains and lakes。 As part of the original continent it had been under the ice sheet of the glacial age and was very unlike the level sands; swamps; and pine barrens of West Jersey which had arisen as a shoal and island from the sea。 The only place in East Jersey where settlement was at all easy was along the open meadows which were reached by water near the mouth of the Hudson; round Newark Bay; and along the Hackensack River。

The Dutch; by the discoveries of Henry Hudson in 1609; claimed the whole region between the Hudson and the Delaware。 They settled part of East Jersey opposite their headquarters at New York and called it Pavonia。 But their cruel massacre of some Indians who sought refuge among them at Pavonia destroyed the prospects of the settlement。 The Indians revenged themselves by massacring the Dutch again and again; every time they attempted to reestablish Pavonia。 This kept the Dutch out of East Jersey until 1660; when they succeeded in establishing Bergen between Newark Bay and the Hudson。

The Dutch authority in America was overthrown in 1664 by Charles II; who had already given all New Jersey to his brother the Duke of York。 Colonel Richard Nicolls commanded the British expedition that seized the Dutch possessions; and he had been given full power as deputy governor of all the Duke of York's vast territory。

Meantime the New England Puritans seem to have kept their eyes on East Jersey as a desirable region; and the moment the Connecticut Puritans heard of Nicolls' appointment; they applied to him for a grant of a large tract of land on Newark Bay。 In the next year; 1665; he gave them another tract from the mouth of the Raritan to Sandy Hook; and soon the villages of Shrewsbury and Middletown were started。

Meantime; however; unknown to Nicolls; the Duke of York in England had given all of New Jersey to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret。 As has already been pointed out; they had divided the province between them; and East Jersey had fallen to Carteret; who sent out; with some immigrants; his relative Philip Carteret as governor。 Governor Carteret was of course very much surprised to find so much of the best land already occupied by the excellent and thrifty Yankees。 As a consequence; litigation and sometimes civil war over this unlucky mistake lasted for a hundred years。 Many of the Yankee settlers under the Nicolls grant refused to pay quitrents to Carteret or his successors and; in spite of a commission of inquiry from England in 1751 and a chancery suit; they held their own until the Revolution of 1776 extinguished all British authority。

There was therefore from the beginning a strong New England tinge in East Jersey which has lasted to this day。 Governor Carteret established a village on Newark Bay which still bears the name Elizabeth; which he gave it in honor of the wife of the proprietor; and he made it the capital。 There were also immigrants from Scotland and England。 But Puritans from Long Island and New England continued to settle round Newark Bay。 By virtue either of character or numbers; New Englanders were evidently the controlling element; for they established the New England system of town government; and imposed strict Connecticut laws; making twelve crimes punishable with death。 Soon there were flourishing little villages; Newark and Elizabeth; besides Middletown and Shrewsbury。 The next year Piscatawa and Woodbridge were added。 Newark and the region round it; including the Oranges; was settled by very exclusive Puritans; or Congregationalists; as they are now called; some thirty families from four Connecticut townsMilford; Guilford; Bradford; and New Haven。 They decided that only church members should hold office and vote。

Governor Carteret ruled the colony with an appointive council and a general assembly elected by the people; the typical colonial form of government。 His administration lasted from 1665 to his death in 1682; and there is nothing very remarkable to record except the rebellion of the New Englanders; especially those who had received their land from Nicolls。 Such independent Connecticut people were; of course; quite out of place in a proprietary colony; and; when in 1670 the first collection of quitrents was attempted; they broke out in violent opposition; in which the settlers of Elizabeth were prominent。 In 1672 they elected a revolutionary assembly of their own and; in place of the deputy governor; appointed as proprietor a natural son of Carteret。 They began imprisoning former officers and confiscating estates in the most approved revolutionary form and for a time had the whole government in their control。 It required the interference of the Duke of York; of the proprietors; and of the British Crown to allay the little tempest; and three years were given in which to pay the quitrents。

After the death of Sir George Carteret in 1680; his province of East Jersey was sold to William Penn and eleven other Quakers for the sum of 3400 pounds。 Colonies seem to have been comparatively inexpensive luxuries in those days。 A few years before; in 1675; Penn and 

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