Manuscript Group 132, New Providence, New Jersey Township Committee Records, 1812-1843
Archives
Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs
Manuscript Group 132, New
Providence, New Jersey Township Committee
Records, 1812-1843, 0.25
linear feet / 5 volumes
Call Number: MG 132
Account book for the town of
New Providence in Union County, 1812-1814; duplicate tax assessments compiled by
Cornelius Mulford, 1813-1819; and minutes of the New Providence town committee,
1829-1843.
New Providence Township, Union County,
previously known as Turkey, was established on November 8, 1809. The
township was a 13 square mile area bounded by Summit Township in the northeast,
Westfield Township in the southeast, Warren Township, Somerset County in the
south, Chatham and Morris Townships of Morris County in the northwest, and the
Passaic River in the west. The First, Second and Third Mountains
surrounded the township, which is also dotted by valleys. In 1720, Peter
Willcoxsie and John and Phebe Badgley came from Long Island to settle the area,
however, New Providence proper (or Turkey as it was then known) was settled from
1736-1738 mainly by English settlers.
Source:
W. Woodford Clayton, History of Union
and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Their
Pioneers and Prominent Men (Philadelphia, PA: Everts and Peck, 1882).
This collection was donated in part by
Stephen S. Day, 1910.
This collection consists of an account
book, minutes, and assessments from the township of New Providence dating from
1812-1843. It consists of five volumes.
The account book details salary payments
made to members of the New Providence Township Committee, and the records for
state and county tax and a dog tax from 1812-1814.
The minutes of the New Providence Township
Committees date from 1829-1843 and discuss the receipt of money from
individuals, the school fund, the State, County and Township tax, and the dog
tax. The committee also charged Thompson Sturges for taking property
belonging to Raty Hedges, and appropriated money, raised by the dog tax, for
farmers whose sheep were killed or wounded by dogs. The committee also
appointed officers for the following year at the meetings and discussed the
creation of the Passaic District in April of 1843.
The remainder of the collection contains
assessments carried out by Cornelius Mulford (1757-1823) of properties in New
Providence from 1813-1819. The assessments have an alphabetical listing of
owners, their acreage, land values, horses, cattle, men, merchants, saw mills,
grist mills, slaves, riding chairs, tan vats, distilleries, amount of
certainties, amount of state, county and Poor tax, dog tax and road tax.
Folder |
Title |
Dates |
|
1 |
Account Book |
1812-1843 |
|
2 |
Minutes |
1829-1843 |
|
3 |
Assessments |
1813 |
|
4 |
Assessments |
1819 |
|
5 |
Assessments |
1819 |
Prepared by James Lewis, July 2001 as part of the “Farm to City”
project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.
Submit a request to copy part of this collection
