The 1753 - 1845 Boundary Line Records of Sussex & Warren Counties

Tucked away in the Sussex County Divisions of Land, Vol. B, is a complete set of extracts, dated 1753 through 1845, pertaining to the county divisions and precinct (township) partition records. Headings in elegant calligraphy set these pages apart from the preceding mid-19th century court business written in the every day hand of William L. Smith, then the elected County Clerk.  This compilation of material appears to be the last official act of Smith, who served five years in that position, for subsequent entries in Vol. B are in the handwriting of  his successor, Thomas I. Ludlum, elected in 1851.

"Records Relating to the Division of the County of Morris into two Counties, the Division of The County of Sussex into Precincts or Townships & also the Division of The County of Sussex into two Counties, Sussex & Warren, and Subsequently Division of the Townships in the County of Sussex" - Sussex Divisions of Land, Vol. B, p 418.

Sussex Centennary, 1853

While no context is given for this insertion into the record, Smith's intention may have been to gather together, for his successor's ease of reference, the history and particulars of boundary lines as they might relate to the future divisions of estate lands in Sussex County.  The footnoted extracts appear to be accurate facsimiles* of earlier publications, attesting to the meticulous efforts required of a county clerk.  


Another possible motivation for William Smith's work at the time may have been the first preparations underway for the Sussex County 1853 centennial celebration, for both Edsall's and Tuttle's addresses would be heavily footnoted, echoing the Smith compilation as well as earlier histories. Benjamin Edsell's foreword states he is "especially indebted to Thomas I. Ludlum, Esq., clerk of Sussex County, for giving me free access to the books and papers of his office."




Most interesting to this researcher in the Smith boundary line extracts are the various precinct signatories' full names, the place names within the landscape, and the occasionally noted location of freeholders' homes, including those of Warren County, set off from Sussex in 1824.  Though scattered throughout the 19th century histories, finding such material in one place is a delightful convenience. 

Mansfield Woodhouse Precinct, now Warren County, in 1754.

 

Partition line Between Sandiston and Montague August term 1801.

 In pursuance of a commission from the judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of May term last we the subscribers met at the house of Daniel Ennis on the 11th day of August 1801, agreeable to notice given and proceeded to run the following line Beginning at the Delaware River at the mouth of Abraham Westfalls Mill Brook near the lower end of Minisink Island ....  (Note the place name Abraham Westfalls Mill Brook is labeled White Kill in the earlier NJ - NY boundary map of 1769.)

White Kill (1769) later known as Abraham Westfall's Mill Brook (1801).

Householders and place names

1753 -1759: Great Pond (Lake Hopatcong), Japhet Byram, Henry Hughe, Ephraim Darby, Ash or Ask Swamp, Ebenezer Byram, David Luse or Leese, Thomas C Cove____,  Henry____, Benjamin Smith, William Schooley, Johannes [John] Depue, Johannis Cornelius Westbrook, Joseph Hull, Richard Gardiner, Richard Lundy, Gap of Packhoquarry Mountain commonly called the Water Gap, Minisink Mountain, Elijah Cole, Joseph Dennis, Hunter's Ferry, Redmund's land, Thomas Scott, Joseph Hixon, Thomas Thatcher, John Richey, mine hill, Col. Stout, young Samuel Green,  Bev___ Pond, Polly P__ Meadow, E___ Harris, Mott's Saw Mill, Edward ___'s Meadow, Ayers, Daniel Westfall, Jerimiah Kittle, Station Point, Col. John Leward, Francis Bernard, Esq. (Governor).

1782-1801:  Spruce Bank (a turn in the Pequest river), Jesse Force, Pepocottin bridge, White Pond,  red Meeting house on the Wallkill, Nathan White, Herman Millhaus, Daniel Ennis, Abraham Westfall's Mill Brook, White Rocks, ___ Decker, George Backster, Joseph Sharp, Jacob Ayres, White's Tavern, Aaron Prall, George Armstrong, Robert C Thompsen, ___ J. Reading.

1824 - 1829: Hardwick church (situated on the South side of the main road leading from Johnsonburg to Newton), John Lawrence, East & West Jersey line, Blue mountain, Nathaniel __axton, Thomas Gorden, Benjamin McCurry,  John Clay, Obadiah Pellet, Beemers Meeting house, Deckertown Church or Meeting house.

1840 - 1845: Joseph Linn (surveyor), Richard R Morris, Thomas A. Dildine, Robert Van Kirk, Benjamin Chamberlain, Robert Mills, Holloway Bates,  heirs of John Ruttenford, Jonah Howell's Mill, Thomas house, Merritt Pinckney, Joseph Northrup, Solomon Roe, Peter G Demerest, Moses Woodruff, A. Boyles, John Snyder, James L. Hunt, William Martin, Seely Pow___, Lewis Sherman. 

Note:  Some people and place names carry through across the years and are repeated in bordering township lines.  Initialed stone boundary markers and variants of the main branches of the watershed have not been included.   

Warren County Addendum

In 1839, under an act of the New Jersey Legislature, Warren County commissioners would set off Hope, Franklin and Harmony Townships.  The recorded survey points of reference include numerous householder locations and place names within the landscape.

Warren County Townships, 1839.

      
1839:  William Tinsman, William Hawke, Joseph Coate, Z___Everitt, Anthony Kirkhoff, Taylor's Tavern, Anthony B Robeson,  County Poor House, Bloomsbury bridge, George Taylor, Merril's Brook, Brass Castle stream, William Runkle (Runkle's bridge), DeWitt's school house, John Stryker, Robinson's Rift (in the Delaware River), Doc'r Jabez Guiness, C__H. Valentine, Edward  Swayze, John VanKirk.

 ~~~~~

* Footnotes within the extracts:

'Allison' refers to the Samuel Allison edition of  Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey : from the surrender of the government to Queen Anne, on the 17th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1702, to the 14th day of January 1776 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112203945466

'Paterson' refers to  Laws of the State of New Jersey, revised and published under the authority of the Legislature, by William Paterson,1800,  http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112203945474

An 1830 Excerpt from Pike County's "The Northern Eagle and Milford Monitor"

Copies of the earliest Pike County newspapers are scarce, so this excerpted sketch of "Milford, Pike County" appearing under the byline, Milford Eagle, as reprinted in Samuel Hazard's The Register of Pennsylvania, Vol 5, April 3, 1830, p 214, may well be the only version of the article in existence. The author of the sketch, as submitted to the paper, is not named.

Alfred Mathews, in History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania, states the first paper appeared in 1827 as The Eagle of the North.  After continuing for a year or more as The Eagle of the North, the paper becomes The Northern Eagle and Milford Monitor under the editorship of Benjamin A. Bidlack, in 1828.  The December 11, 1829 issue is published by Francis A.L. Smith.  The Eagle and Monitor appears in 1831 with J. H. Westfall printer and publisher.

Historical Collections of the State of  Pennsylvania, Sherman Day, 1843

Milford, Pike County

"... Our public buildings are a court house, meeting house, and an academy, all new and handsome buildings.  Of private houses, there are about 60, containing a population of at least 300.  There are two grist mills; two saw mills; one fulling mill; one carding machine works; one oil mill; four blacksmith shops; two turning lathes by water; one printing office; a post office; seven stores, including an apothecary's shop; eight taverns; one tannery; of professional characters, we have one minister of the Gospel; one school master; three doctors; six lawyers; of  mechanics, there are two wagon makers; two cabinet makers; one coach maker; one patent pail maker; two hatters; two painters; three masons; five carpenters; four blacksmiths; one tanner and currier; two saddlers and harness makers; two millers; two mautua [mantua, i.e. women's dress makers]; one trunk maker; six shoemakers, and four tailors.

By this it will seem that a few more mechanics are wanted, such as chair makers, gunsmith, watch maker, turner, and some more carpenters and masons, &c. -- Milford Eagle

Click to Zoom In

The 1830 census listing heads of household of the village of Milford, based on the known residents, Francis A. L. Smith, Samuel Dimmick, Andrew Armstrong, and Cyril [C.D.] Pinchot, can be found beginning approximately here. See also Mathews' essay on Later Settlers, and the Resource Inventory of the Milford Historic District. The village of Milford was not set aside as a borough until 1874.  The following update would appear in Volume 6 of The Register of Pennsylvania:

Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, Vol. 6, 1830, p 96.

"The work of erecting the court-house was begun in 1814 and the stone building still standing and used as a jail was completed in 1815... At first there was no bell upon the court-house, and when the judges and lawyers and persons interested were to be summoned, the sheriff mounted the cupola and blew most piercing blasts upon a huge tin horn. This was superseded by a huge triangle, upon which the sheriff or a tipstaff dealt resounding blows that were not unmusical, and this, in turn, gave way in 1844 or 1845 to the bell which for many years announced at proper seasons that justice was about to be judicially administered. Mathews, Chapter 1, Civil History, p 836.

The 1815 - 1873 Pike County Courthouse, Milford, Pennsylvania.

The September 4, 1830 issue of The Register of Pennsylvania would carry a brief description of the village of Stroudsburg under the byline Pike County Eagle.

Pike County, Pennsylvania, 1814 - 2014

I arrived home this morning and found a treasure on the doorstep, a rare hardcover edition of the program for the Bi-Centennial Celebration of Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania 1733* - 1933.  An auspicious start to this, the 200th year of the formation of Pike County, 1814 - 2014, and an opportunity to examine the history of the first Pike County Court & Courthouse, explore  available Pike County records and vintage county land owner maps.

(c) Pike County Historical Society, 1933

Much of the material in the 1933 Bi-Centennial book is excerpted or paraphrased from The History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania by Alfred Mathews; Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & Co.; 1886.  Mathews' work can present difficulties when attempting to source his oral histories, traditional stories and claimed legends of the county, so proceed with caution. There is, however, lots of substantial material from state & county records: 

THE COURTS.- The first court "in and for the county of Pike" was held in the house latterly occupied by Mrs. Lee, in a room of good size up-stairs, and the county offices were crowded into the same house. The earliest entry that can be found upon the oldest book of records in existence is that of a court December 6, 1814, Associate Judges John Coolbaugh and Daniel W. Dingman "being present." The case entered was that of James Wallace against John Barnes. The action was made returnable January 16, 1815. A transcript from a justice's docket was entered, showing judgment for the plaintiff of one hundred and ninety-eight dollars.

...Judge Daniel W. Dingman sat upon the bench as associate judge for a period of twenty-six years, dating from the erection of the county, and his confrere, Associate Judge John Coolbaugh, held his exalted position nearly as long.

... The county commissioners first elected- Hezekiah Bingham, Cornelius Case and John Lattimore- held their initial meeting November 2, 1814, and after producing and filing their certificates and qualifications according to law, elected John Cross their clerk, at a salary of one hundred and fifty dollars per year, and Francis A. L. Smith, treasurer.

When they came to the consideration of the probable expenses of the county for the ensuing year, the board resolved to levy a tax of half a cent upon the dollar on all taxable property in the county. They then proceeded to the appointment of assessors in those townships, in which none had been elected according to law, viz.: in Palmyra, Moses Killam, Jr., with Erastus Kimble and Simeon Chapman as assistants; in Lackawaxen, John Crissman, with Mordecai Roberts and Jeremiah Barnes, assistants; in Upper Smithfield, Edward Mott, Jr., with Jacob Quick and George Westfall, assistants; in Delaware, Solomon Westbrook Jr., with Cooper Jagger and Everett Hornbeck, assistants; Middle Smithfield, Alexander Biles, with Daniel Jaynes and Andrew Eighlenbergh [Eilenberger], as assistants. (Note portions of Middle Smithfield would be set off to Monroe County.)

 

Pike County Courthouse of 1874 on the left, the original Courthouse & Jail of 1814 on the right

...The work of erecting the court-house was begun in 1814 and the stone building still standing and used as a jail was completed in 1815. It was substantially constructed of native boulders hewn square on the outer side, and the thoroughness with which its walls were laid puts to shame much more recent workmanship. The contractors were Dan. Dimmick, Jacob Quick and Samuel Anderson. At first there was no bell upon the court-house, and when the judges and lawyers and persons interested were to be summoned, the sheriff mounted the cupola and blew most piercing blasts upon a huge tin horn. This was superseded by a huge triangle, upon which the sheriff or a tipstaff dealt resounding blows that were not unmusical, and this, in turn, gave way in 1844 or 1845 to the bell which for many years announced at proper seasons that justice was about to be judicially administered.

This building served as court-house and jail until 1873, when the present court-house was constructed, and the county offices were within its walls until 1851, when a small brick building was erected in front of the site occupied by the present court-house. This was built under contract by George P. Heller.  The present handsome brick court-house, containing all of the county offices and a commodious court-room, was built in the years 1872-7[4], the first action being taken at the February and September Sessions of court in 1871.

The contract for the foundations was let to S.S. Van Auken, but afterwards rescinded and the work was done by the commissioners and sub-contractors.  The contract for building was let March 2, 1872, to A.D. Brown, for $26,096. He was afterwards allowed considerable sums for extra work. The cost of this edifice as completed has been, after careful computation by competent persons, fixed at about $45,0O0.

The people of Milford raised about $1000, purchased two town lots adjoining the public square and donated them to the county as a proper site for the building.  ~ Chapter I, Civil History. A fully searchable version of the Mathews' work is available at Hathitrust here.  

Cornerstone of the Pike County Courthouse, presented by John Fletcher Kilgour

Laying of the Corner Stone of the New Court House at Milford-Imposing Ceremonies-Fine Address by Rev. John Reid.
According to announcement the corner stone of the nwe Court House at Milford was laid yesterday afternoon.  A large concourse of people, among them representatives of nearly every part of Pike county, witnessed the ceremonies. ...

After the address, an ode was sung by the choir, when C. W. Bull, esq., announced the following articles to be place in the box to be sealed in the corner-stone:  Copy of report of the Grand Juries recommending a new court house and list of their names, order of court thereon.  Copy petition of commissioners to the court for an order to issue bonds of the county, order thereon.  Resolution of commissioners to build Court House, state of plan, contracts, &c. Copy of list of subscription to purchase lot to donate to the country as a site for the Court House.   Historical sketch of the county, public buildings, courts, &c.

Contents of the Courthouse Corner Stone, 1872.

List of officers of the court, county, representatives and resident members of the bar.  Cross's map and book of the county.  Milford Herald, Pike County Democrat, N.Y. Observer, Advocate and Journal, Public Ledger.  A court house Bond.  Rules of court, commissioners check.  Silver dollar issue of 1872, presented by J. Wallace Heller.  Copy of address delivered by Rev. John Reid.  Holy bible.  Copy of order of exercises.  Full set of the national fractional currency of the present issue, presented by W. H. Armstrong.  Treasurer's deed, bond and list of Treasurer's sale of 1872.

September 15, 1874.

The original Pike County Courthouse, which now houses the Sheriff's Office, is the second oldest courthouse in the State of Pennsylvania.

By the fall of 1874 the new courthouse was completed.  The Evening Gazette would note the approximate county population at the time was 9,000 inhabitants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pike County Court House,  c 1875.

 
 

Researching the Records of Pike County Online

Researching the county has always been problematic; Land Records, Deeds and Wills for the present boundaries of Pike County can be found in Bucks County through 1751, Northampton County through 1798, and Wayne County through March of 1814. FamilySearch.com, besides census records, has added browse only Probate Records for Bucks, Northampton and Wayne Counties should one care to wade through the material with the above dates in mind. Abstracts of Northampton County Wills & Estate Records, 1752-1802 is a helpful tool for pinpointing probate dates in order to find the original material in the browse only records as above. The Land Records Indices can be found on the PA State website here or in this fully searchable transcription for the Northampton Co Warrant Register as hosted by the State.  

County Maps

1872, F. W. Beers, Topographical Map of Pike Co., Pennsylvania Historic & Museum Commission or here, Library of Congress.  Loads of land owners, schools, roads, etc on this great Beers map.

Beers Map of Pike Co PA, 1872, detail Lehman Township

Pike County Township Warrantee maps, Pennsylvania Historic & Museum Commission:
Blooming Grove, Delaware, Dingman, Greene, Lackawaxen (North), Lackawaxen (South), Lehman, Milford, Palmyra, Porter, Shohola, Westfall. These maps are a treasure for the Minisink family researcher, the only such maps in the Tri-States NY NJ PA area.

Based on the Warrantee surveys, the 19th century John Cross map of Pike Co.: A map of the county of Pike, Pennsylvania : shewing the location and form of the original surveys with the numbers by which they are designated on the commissioner's books of said county : also the townships, streams, roads, plank roads, railroads, canals, and principal places is available from the Library of Congress.

Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for the County Seat, Milford: 1885, 1897, 1905, 1912. Apparently the other villages & towns of the county were too small for Sanborn to include in their database.

Reseaching Pike County Records On Site

The Pike County Historical Society, at 608 Broad St, Milford, abounds in resources: newspaper clippings, family files, local history books, obituaries and cemetery records. The staff will conduct research for a fee or allow you to research for a donation.  An 1877 Map of the Borough of Milford is among the many items on display. The Pike Co Administration Building, at 506 Broad St in Milford, holds volumes of Wills, Deeds, and oversize editions of each of the Township Warrantee Maps.

McLaughlin House, 1904, home of the Pike Co Historical Society

To the best of my knowledge only one Provincial Pennsylvania settler of the Minisinks survived two frontier wars and each incarnation of County - from Bucks to Northampton to Wayne to Pike - and that is Captain Johannes Van Etten, (1732 - 1815) Northampton County Militia,  who died the year after Pike County was formed. He rests alongside his second wife, Rachel Williams, in a quiet corner of Milford Cemetery.

 photo (c) 2013 Michael J Harding

Special thanks to Milford Borough Secretary, Lizanne Samuelson, Joseph White, & Michael Harding.

Notes

*As of this date, I've located no warrant for land as early as 1733, nor evidence that Thomas Quick, Sr. held such patent.  A lengthy discussion on the historical records can be found in our entry on Van Etten's 1756 Account of the Death of Thomas Quick. 

The Mathews history, without source or footnote, states:
About the year 1733 a Hollander named Thomas Quick emigrated from the Fatherland to the colony of New York, and not long afterwards located on the Delaware, in what afterwards became known as Upper Smithfield, and still later as Milford, Pennsylvania. His circumstances were equal to those of the affluent Dutch immigrants of that period. He pitched his tent considerably in advance of his predecessors, and, according to the testimony of his descendants, was the pioneer settler of Milford. Quick erected a log cabin, cleared land and built a barn, which he stored with wheat and maize, the fruits of his industry. 

In Early Pennsylvania Land Records as transcribed on Ancestry.com (subscription) shows a Petition to James Logan, Philadelphia, 1727:  ...Jacobus Bruin, John Hamilton, Joseph Wheeler, Thomas Quick & Hendrick Schoomaker presented a Petition to purchase parcels of vacant land on this side Delaware of the Indians, who claim it, in order to make settlements for themselves...  There is, however, no evidence as yet if this is the Thomas Quick who held the Warrant of 1750 in present day Pike County.

It is likely Thomas Quick settled on the land before 1750, the provincial warrant being issued after the fact. Perhaps more material will come to light in the future.

Quick's Mill tract on the Vandermark Creek, Milford Township Warrantee Map

William Smith's 1807 Legacy to the Clark & Schoonover Families

While reading through the Pennsylvania Probate Records for Wayne County, I happened upon the Last Will & Testament of William Smith, farmer, of  Middle Smithfield Township, dated 8 April 1807, probated on 20 January 1808, on pages 7 and 8 of Will Book I. Needless to say, the Smith family trees are quite vast, on both sides of the river, and not trees I have ventured to explore.  What struck me about this Will was the complexity of the family connections within the legacies:  to his wife Elizabeth, a minor William Clark (son of John Clark) and four members of the Schoonover family - Rudolphus, Benjamin & James (sons of Rudolphus), and William Schoonover:

Additionally, William Smith leaves $12 each to William, son of James Smith and to Levisha (Levicia?), daughter of William Schoonover. William appoints as Executor his trusty friend, Benjamin Schoonover, witnessed by John Heller, Jeremiah Wurtzell (sp?) and Jonathan Jones.

No doubt there are family connections among these folk but no William Smith detail appears in the wonderful Schoonovers In America website with the exception of a 1805 Walpack Dutch Reformed Church baptism of a child (namesake) William Smith Schoonhoven, son of James Schoonhoven [Schoonover] & Elizabeth Brooks:

Further clues adding to the mystery are the same or another William Smith married to a Susanna (1st wife?) on the same page of the Minisink Valley Reformed Dutch Church Records, and a later baptism of child Elizabeth Smith Clark, daughter of William Clark & Sarah Schoonover in 1817.  Perhaps this is the young William Clark, son of John Clark, named heir of William Smith? 

Before the Northampton Co Orphan's Court in 1771, a William Smith is chosen by Rudolphus Schoonover, Jr. as his guardian regarding matters of his father's estate. I will leave it to the courageous Clark, Smith or Schoonover/Schoonhoven researchers to unravel this mystery! 

 ~~~

Note:  

A Benjamin Smith married Catharina Schoonhoven c 1740s, and a William & Elisa Cath. Smith witnessed the baptism of the daughter of Andries Dingman & Cornelia Kermer in 1762.

James, his wife Elizabeth Brooks, and  their son William Smith Schoonover are all buried at the  Reformed Dutch Church Burial Ground  Bushkill, Pike County, PA. Located on Hogback Rd, at the so-called Indian Cemetery in Bushkill, Pike County, are a number of Smith & Schoonover graves.

Elizabeth
wife of James Schoonover
born
Mar 12, 1787
died
Feb 3 1858
Aged 70 years 10 mos 17 ds

Will pages 7&8 - "Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-28791-35531-91?cc=1999196&wc=M99F-HBY:n1284673525 : accessed 05 Mar 2014), Wayne > Wills 1798-1872 vol 1-2 > image 15 of 483.

Van Etten's 1756 Account of the Death of Thomas Quick

Browsing through issues of historical Pennsylvania newspapers, available online through the Philadelphia Free Library, a major piece of the Thomas Quick, Sr. puzzle fell into place with this contemporary account.  I've been gathering proof of his residency and death for some time but hadn't quite reached the stage of refuting some of the lore & speculation surrounding the elder Quick and his notorious namesake, son Tom Quick, Jr.

On January 29, 1756, The Pennsylvania Gazette published extracts of a letter from John Van Etten which adds significant detail (and long overdue corrections) to later accounts of the time, place, and death of Thomas Quick, Sr. during the French and Indian War:

(c) NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.

Transcription:

By a Letter from Mr. John Van Etten*, of Upper Smithfield, in Northampton County, there is Advice, that on the 17th Instant**, one Thomas Quick, a Man above 70 Years of Age, was killed, scalped, stripped naked, and most cruelly cut in many Places, by the Indians :  That two other Men were killed and scalped at the same Time, belonging to Capt. Weeiner[sic] of the Province of New York, who had come over with said Quick to guard him while he should grind a Quantity of Wheat for some of the Neighbours :  That a Saw-Mill, Grist Mill, and very good Dwelling-house, belonging to Quick, were all burnt :  That a large Barn, Barracks, and a great Quantity of Wheat, the Property of one Cornelius D[e]witt, together with his Dwelling house, and all his Household Goods, which for some Time had been moved into the Jerseys, and brought back again but the Day before, were all destroyed :  That one Solomon Decker, as he was going to said Quick's Mill with a slea [sleigh?] load of Wheat, was fired at by some Indians, but not hurt; however he was obliged to leave his slea, and the Indians coming up to it, took the Bags, threw the Wheat that was in them all over the Ground, but carried the Two Horses, Gears [harness] and Bags with them : And that Mr. Van Etten's own Barn, Barracks, and all his Wheat, are likewise burnt, and three of his best Horses, with Gears, carried off by the Enemy; which gives him Reason to think, by then carrying off Horses and Gears, that they are building a Fort in the Swamp, betwixt where he lives and Susquehanna.  He adds, that he is well informed there are a Number of Frenchmen among the Indians.

* The author, Capt. John Van Etten of Fort Hyndshaw, is clearly distinguished from his brother Johannis [Johannes], in this letter addressed by him to Gov. Robert Hunter Morris of Pennsylvania on July 24th, 1756. John Van Etten also served as  a Northampton County Provincial Officer:  Justice of the Peace (1752-1754) and Coroner (1759, 1760).

** The word, Instant (often abbreviated inst.) refers to a recent occurrence in the present or current month.


This places the incident clearly within the context of a raid which killed not only Quick but his escort of two NY militia men, a raid which ranged over many miles from the Van Etten farm to the Quick Mills in present Milford Borough to the DeWitt farm in the span of one day.  The names of the escort remain unknown. 

Much as been written about the circumstances of this family, including Vernon Leslie's failed efforts to find a deed or deeds for the elder Quick which would establish him as a property owner in the Province of Pennsylvania, as outlined in Chapter 2, Where Was Quick's Mill?, in his frequently cited work The Tom Quick Legends, 1977.

The earliest record of Thomas Quick in the region is dated 27th of December, 1734:
"Thomas Quick requests one hundred Acres of Land near Matchepeconck on the Delaware River, on which he designs to build a Corn Mill there being none there about." ~ Minutes of the Board of Property and other References to Lands in Pennsylvania. Ed. by William Henry Egle, Harrisburg, C.M. Busch, State Printed, 1894, Minute Book K, page 55.

 Nicholas Scull's map of The Improved  Part of the Province of Pennsylvania, surveyed before but published three years after Thomas Quick's death, is the first to note the location of the tract in then Upper Smithfield township.

Site of Quick's Mill on the 1759 Nicholas Scull Map

   
The 1766 survey as recorded in the Pennsylvania Land Records confirms the 1750 tract name as Quick's Mill located on the Milford Township Warrantee Map, a portion falling within the present day boundary of Milford Borough and along the present day Vandermark Creek.

Quick's Mill tract on the Vandermark Creek, Milford Township Warrantee Map

Terrain view of the Vandermark Creek at Milford PA: 

View Minisink Valley Genealogy in a larger map

Two 1750 Warrants for land granted to Thomas Quick are found on the Ancestry.com (subscription)  Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952.  The first ...adjoining or near Cornelius DeWitt above the Minisinks and and the second ...on Sawcreek about two miles from other Land granted him this same day. (Note Northampton County was set off from Bucks County 14 October 1751 shortly after the Warrants were issued.)

In 1761, William Ennes, Quick's son-in-law, husband of his daughter Elizabeth and appointed Administrator of the estate, was ordered to sell at auction the plantation of 200 acres to settle Quick's debts:  Northampton Co PA, Orphans' Court Records, Vol B* index, page 41

 

Researching the records of Pike County, formed in 1814, led me to the ledger, Entry of Deeds Acknowledged, Vol A, which records the auction of Unseated Lands sold for back taxes under the Commonwealth's Act of Mar. 13, 1815, P.L. 177. As required under that Law, each lot of unseated land lists the Warrantee's name and requires the County Treasurer, as Grantor, to issue a new Deed.  The opening page of this ledger states:

At an adjourned Court of Common Pleas held at Milford in and for the County of Pike on the eleventh day of June A.D. Eighteen hundred and Sixteen Present John Coolbaugh, Esq. and Daniel W Dingman, Esq. Judges of Said County the following Deeds were duly acknowledged in open court by Francis A L Smith, Treasurer of the said County according to Law.

Entry of Deeds Acknowledged, Vol A, pages 2 & 3

The following pages 16 and 17 from this ledger are but a brief example of the dozens and dozens of entries over multiple pages listing Thomas Quick as the Warrantee for the properties (most sold as town lots) and Treasurer Francis A L Smith as Grantor (Seller.)

Entry of Deeds Acknowledged, Vol A, Page 16

Among the Grantees (Buyers) purchasing land in 1816 as originally waranteed to Thomas Quick in 1750 are: p13, Daniel Dimmick, Mason Dimmick, Daniel W Dingman, Joseph Holbert, Joseph Jackson, James Barton, Jabez Rockwell; p15, Daniel Dimmick, Henry Van Camp, Jabez Rockwell, Thomas P Gustin, Joseph Mufsi, William Holbert, Daniel W Dingman, John Lattimore, Mason Dimmick, George Bowhannan; p17 George Bowhannan, Joseph Mufsi; p19, Joseph Mufsi; p21 Samuel ?, James Barton, Jabez Rockwell, John Brodhead, Henry Van Camp, David Wheeler; p23, David W Ridgway.

Entry of Deeds Acknowledged, Vol A, page 17

It is a fascinating glimpse of the 18th & early 19th century settlers into the Pennsylvania Minisinks, who are named across page after page of this ledger housed at the Pike Co Administration Building in Milford PA.

With biting wit, Stephen Crane's 1892 essay, Not Much of A Hero.  Examining the Record of "Tom" Quick, Indian Slayer.  A Notorious Character of Pioneer Times in Pennsylvania - His Monument Discreetly Silent as to His Virtues,  evaluates one small community's effort to lend glory to a gory tradition.

The record of treachery and brutalities committed by both sides during the French and Indian War is without question. Jay C. Richards' volume, Flames Along the Delaware: The French & Indian War in the New Jersey Frontier and Northampton County, Pa. summarizes these events and compiles excerpts of newspaper articles and extracts of inhabitants' letters from 1755-1758.  Richards did not include the Van Etten letter.

*"Pennsylvania, Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch, Northampton > Orphans' Court records 1752-1795 vol A-E > image 43 of 511.