Guide to the John Lawrence (1709-1794), Surveyor Papers 1719-1857 MG 258

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary
Historical Note
Scope and Content Note
Restrictions
Access Points
Related Material
Administrative Information
Bibliography

Container List

Documents


Guide to the John Lawrence (1709-1794), Surveyor Papers
1719-1857
MG 258
The New Jersey Historical Society
52 Park Place
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Contact: NJHS Library
(973) 596-8500 x249
library@jerseyhistory.org
https://www.jerseyhistory.org
© 2006 All rights reserved.
The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher
Inventory prepared by James Lewis, August 2001, as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. March 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English.


Descriptive Summary

Creator: Lawrence, John, 1709-1794.
Title: John Lawrence (1709-1794), Surveyor
Papers
Dates: 1719-1857
Abstract: This collection consists of 17 items pertaining to the Lawrence line and the East-West Jersey border including a field book and papers kept by John Lawrence and others dating from 1719-1857
Quantity: .01 linear feet
Collection Number: MG 258

Historical Note

In 1674, Sir George Carteret (1610-1680) and Lord Berkeley (1607-1678) divided New Jersey into East and West Jersey with the signing of the Quintipartite Deed. The line was resurveyed in 1676 by Nathan Keith, and the resulting border, called Keith’s Line ran between Carpenter’s Point in the north and Little Egg Harbor in the south. In 1702, Queen Anne gained control over the two provinces and united them, however, the proprietors still had some political power and continued to dispute the dividing line between East and West Jersey. In 1725, councils from the two halves met to discuss the demarcation of the border between the two provinces and negotiations dragged on until 1743 when the East Jersey Council appointed John Lawrence (1709-1794) to run the line. A number of dividing lines were drawn after Lawrence’s line, in part because his line favored East Jersey.

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Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of 17 items pertaining to the Lawrence line and the East-West Jersey border including a field book and papers kept by John Lawrence and others dating from 1719-1857. The papers are arranged in chronological order and follow the field book.

The field book contains notes kept by Lawrence while he was surveying the border between East and West Jersey from 1752-1772.

The papers consist of a number of other surveyors’s notes on the Lawrence Line including notes by George Sykes in Upper Springfield, New Jersey in 1857, and by George Brinley in 1839 regarding the “correction” of Lawrence’s line. There are also 3 survey maps, 2 of them drawn by Thomas Gordon, of the demarcation line between East and West Jersey.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff.

Use Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials.

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Access Points

The entries below represent persons, organizations, topics, forms, and occupations documented in this collection.
Subject Names:
Lawrence, John.
Sykes, George.
Subject Topics:
Boundary disputes–New Jersey.
Surveyors–New Jersey.
Surveys–New Jersey.
Subject Places:
New Jersey–History–Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.
Document Types:
Field notes.
Land surveys.
Maps.

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Related Material

For more John Lawrence surveys and information on the border between East and West Jersey see:

Manuscript Group 210, Surveyors’ Journals

Manuscript Group 244, Ferdinand John Paris (fl. 1734-1759) Papers

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 258, John Lawrence (1709-1794), Surveyor
Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

The source of this collection is unknown.

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Bibliography

Edwin Platt Tanner, The Province of New Jersey: 1644-1738. (New York, NY: Columbia University, 1908).

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Container List

Documents

Box Folder Title Date
1 1 John Lawrence’s Field book 1752-1772
1 2 John Lawrence’s Index to Field book n.d.
1 3 John Lawrence’s Journal Extracts 1743
1 4 John Lawrence’s Field Book Correction Line Between East and West Jersey 1743
1 5 Robert Walter et al. Report Extracts 1719
1 6 Robert Walter, et al. Copy of Report n.d.
1 7 Anthony Dennis’s Extracts from Field Notes 1768
1 8 Extracts from a “Book published by the East Jersey Proprietors…relative to the Quinte Partite Line” 1785
1 9 “Notes of the running of Lawrence’s Line between E and W Jersey from the shore road to Prospertown” 1839
1 10 David Ryerson Extract from Field notes 1841
1 11 David Ryerson and Edward Westeads–Copy of notes and observations on Lawrence’s Line n.d.
1 12 Caleb H. Valentine Copy of Field notes 1841
1 13 George Sykes’s “Extract Liber B of Deeds and Patents Page 53 in the Secretary of State’s Office in Trenton” 1851
1 14 Notes n.d.
1 15 Thomas Gordon Survey Map n.d.
1 16 Thomas Gordon Survey Map n.d.
1 17 Survey Map n.d.

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