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.

Revolutionary War Damage Estimates, 1783, Upper & Lower Smithfield

The treasure trove of 18th century records on the Pennsylvania frontier published by the PA State Archives include this 1783 compilation of damages sustained by the residents of Upper and Lower Smithfield, in then Bucks County, from the soldiers and adherents of Great Britain during the Revolutionary War. The period of time covered by the estimate is 1775 through 1782; the township assessors are not named.  

John Emmons, David Vanauken, George Sallady, Cornelius Dewitt, Elijah Middagh, Simeon Westfal [Westfall], Joseph Shawers.

Joseph Cole, Joseph Ridder [Rider], Zachariah Shenkins, James Vanauken, Esq., Henry Peterson, Abraham Decker, James Shimers [Shimer], Lewis Meid, William McCarty, John McCarty, John Conklin, Israel Wells, Peter Quick, Morgan Deshay, George Heatter [Heater], William Halbert [Holbert]  

 .

 James Rosencrans Osterhoud, Ephraim Ferguson, Thomas Quick, Benjamin Hains [Haines?], James Wells, Benjamin Cartright [Courtright], John Emmons, John Taylor, Elias Decker, Cornelius Decker, John Rosencrans, Andrew Dingman [Jr.], Samuel Decker, John [Johannes Sr. or Jr.?] Vanetten [Van Etten]

  .

 Henry Barnet, Henry Lawall, Peter Trexler, Commissioners of Northampton County

~~~~~

Pennsylvania Archives, Series 1, Vol. 9, Samuel Hazard, 1854.

HathiTrust edition.

Google eBook edition.

  
  

A Portrait of Moses Chauncey West, circa 1865

As happens in exploring the history of a neighborhood one can be sidetracked by a clue which sends one off in an entirely different direction.  While researching 19th century photographers of the Tri-State NJ NY PA region in the Library of Congress' digital collection, I happened upon an elegant carte de visite portrait, with the penciled notation M. C. West, taken at the Branch's Photograph Gallery, Port Jervis N.Y. from the  William A. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs. This research would lead in turn to the following brief sketch of the lives of Moses Chauncey West (1833-1914), his wife Emma Martha Myers (1844-1908), and their ancestral West and Myers families in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

"M.C. West" Branch's Photography Gallery

 

By 1830 the first instance of the surname as a head of household, free African American man, William West, appears in the Pike County, Pennsylvania census records. By 1840 Enos J West  and family are living in Dingman Township, Pike County.  The Margaret "Peggie" West family household in 1850 includes Titus West, age 95, born in New Jersey, Chauncey West, age 17, occupation Miller, and the namesake of Enos J. of 1840, Enos, age 6.

Chauncey West, born in PA, US Census 1850, Pike Co PA

By 1850 in Milford Township, two West children, females Cordelia, age 14, and Harriet, age 10, are living in the households of the Widow Cornelia DeWitt and Edwin Eldred, Esq. respectively. Chauncey's future wife, Emma Martha Myers is found, age 9, in the household of  Sarah Scuremon, age 78, a free African American woman living in Frankfort Township Sussex NJ.

Two heads of household Harry and Henry West also appear in the Sussex Co NJ census records of 1840, and in 1850, Prince West, age 37, is residing in Sandyston and Harry, age 61, in Walpack townships NJ.

Prince West, US Census 1850, Sandyston Township NJ.

		Harry West, US Census 1850, Walpack Township, NJ
		By 1860, both Chauncey and Emma are living in the village of Newton, Sussex Co, NJ, Chauncey working as a miller, Emma as a servant.  In November of that year they would be married.
		US Census NJ 1860 ~ Village of Newton, Northrup household, MC West, Mulatto, Miller, $400.

US Census NJ 1860 ~ Village of Newton, Nelden household, Emma Myers, Black, Servant.

To the Clerk of Sussex Co. N.J.
"I hereby certify that Moses Chauncey West of the Township of Newton, and Emma Myers of the Township of Frankford, were by me united in Marriage on the 29th day of November, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty." ~ GW Lloyd, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Frankford N. J.

New Jersey Marriages, Moses Chauncey West & Emma Myers, 29 Nov 1860.

The family settled briefly in Minisink village, Orange Co NY in 1865, moved to Wantage in NJ by 1870, before finally settling in Middletown NY before 1880.

Chancey West family, US Census, 1880, Middletown, Orange Co NY

The Pike County Press would report a visit from Chauncey to his brother Linford, who served in Co A, 41st Regiment during the Civil War.  Linford joined the Delaware Chapter of the G.A.R in 1884.

Pike County Press., January 17, 1896, p 1.

M. CHAUNCEY WEST DIES IN NEW JERSEY

Respected Colored Resident Passes Away at Advanced Age

"Moses Chauncey West died suddenly at the home of his son, Edgar A., of East Rutherford, N. J., on Friday. October 10, 1914, at 3 p. m. in the 81st year of his age, having been born on March 4, 1833, at Milford, Pike County, Pa. He was the son of Enos J. and his wife Margaret Santica [?] West, his mother having attained the age of 95 years at her death, which occurred in the year 1895. The deceased was a respected colored citizen of this city, having been a resident thereof for over 40 years, 29 of which he was employed as a grist miller at the Houston mill. Having obtained a liberal education at the Milford Academy, in which village he grow to manhood, it enabled him to transact business pertaining to his calling. In 1860 the deceased was married to Emma M. Myers, daughter of William Myers, of Branchville, N. J., who departed this life in 1908. He is survived by three children: Edgar A., of East Rutherford, N. J.; Mrs. Harriet A. [Turner] Warner [2nd marriage] and Mrs. Bernetta W.[West] Reynolds, and four grandchildren Bessie L. Westfall, Kenneth C. Hallock, Alma [d.1937] and Chauncey [West] Reynolds [1905-1985], all of this city; also by two sisters, Miss Helen A. West, of Milford, Pa. and Mrs. William Franklin, of Port Jervis. Mr. West was a Republican in politics and had the honor of being nominated by the Prohibition party for the important office of Assessor for the city of Middletown, and at one time was elected delegate to the Republican convention of this city. Funeral services will be held at his late home, 82 Sprague this city, on Sunday, October 11, at 2 p. m. Brother J. J. Harris, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, will have charge of the services." ~ Middletown Daily Times Press, October 10, 1914, p 8.

 Chauncey & Emma Myers West

"Most Wretchedly Spelled" ~ Variants of Maghagh-kamieck

One cannot approach the history of the Minisink region without happening upon the works of Edward Manning Ruttenber (1825-1907), a passionate amateur linguist, ethnographer, and historian. He worked throughout his life as a newspaper editor and would publish The Newburgh Gazette and Daily News.

This excerpt from Ruttenber's last book, Indian Geographical Names, serves well as an introduction to the compilation of Maghagh-kamieck variants drawn from 18th century sources which follow.

Footprints of the Red Man, Indian Geographical Names, p 223 & 224

18th Century Variants of Maghagh-kamieck

• Deed of Conveyance Maugaukemeck, c 1700, Ulster County Clerk Archives, keyword search: Tetsoord.

• Neighbourhood of Wagachkemeck, 1716, Tax Assessment List for the County of Ulster [present day Orange County NY].

•  Mackaghkamack, 1721, Petition to His Excellency William Burnet, Esq. Captain General and Governeur in Chief of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey.

• Will of Paiere [Pierre] Guimard, 1726, of Wagachkemeck, Ulster County [present day Orange County NY].

• Mohocamac, 1755, A general map of the middle British colonies, in America.

• Mahakamack, 1756, Newspaper account of an Indian raid which killed Gerardus Swartwout, Samuel Finch and Peter Westphalen [Westfall] The Pennsylvania Gazette, Issue 1444, Page 2.

• Mehoccomick, 1769, Rittenhouse & Montresor, surveyors, letter to the Commissioners for settling the boundary line between the colonies of New York and New Jersey.
  

• Mahacamack or Neversink River, 1769, Three maps of northern New Jersey.

• "...the Fork at the Mouth of the Mahakamack River," 1769, Newspaper article on the colonial NY NJ Boundary Partition Line, The New-York Gazette or the Weekly Post-Boy, Issue 1398, Page 3.

• Mah a g kamack River, 1775, A map of the Province of New York.

• Mahagkasmack R, 1776, The Provinces of New, and New Jersey; with part of Pensilvania [sic].

• Mohockamack Fork & Mohockamack Creek, 1779, A chorographical map of the Province of New-York in North America.

• Mohocamac and Mohoccamac, 1779, Letter from George Washington to Maj. Gen. John Sullivan also Mohocamac, 1779, letter from George Washington to Maj. Gen. Alexander McDougall, see also Washington's Questions & Answers Regarding a Proposed Expedition Against the Six Nations, 1779.

• Mahakamack River, 1781, A map containing part of the Provinces of New York and New Jersey.

"The Fork or Branch at the Mouth of Mahacamack...1769"

Robert Grumet, in Manhatten to Minisink: American Indian Place Names in Greater New York and Vicinity, 2013, notes under the heading Machackemeck:  Mechagachkamic (1649), Magagamieck (1694), and Magagkamack (recent). Royden Woodward Vosburgh's Machackemeck in Minisink Valley Reformed Dutch Church Records also appears in his work Machackemeck Gravestone Inscriptions, both published in 1913.

Maghaghkamik Church sign, 1938

Machackemech Burying Ground, Port Jervis NY

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

The Minisink Subscribers to the 1810 "Fifty-Three Sermons on the Heidelbergh Catechism"

The New York Public Library's rare copy of the 1810 English language translation of the Dutch edition of Fifty Three Sermons on the Heidelbergh Catechism, by the Rev. John Vanderkemp, is notable for the bound in Subscriber pages featuring a list of well-to-do patrons who underwrote the cost of publication, often in return for a discount. Typically this would be the first print run as delivered to the subscribers - subsequent runs would lack these pages further reducing the cost.  The list of subscribers, a virtual Who's Who of the Dutch Reformed Church in America in 1810, is fascinating for its helpful bracketing of community place names or congregations & heads of families in the Minisink Valley from a period when other records are scarce.  New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania tax and census records offer additional details of subscribers' residence during this time period.  

Surnames variants of the Clove, Flatbrook, Mehakkemack, Menissing, Shappanack and Walpeck families include:  Bennet, Carmer, Carpenter, Cole, Cuddebeck, Depuis, Ennes, Force, Gomar, Hoornbeek, Lambert, Little, Middagh, Neerpass, Quick, Rosencrans, Rowles, Swartwout, Titsworth, Van Aken, Van Bunschooten, Van Campen, Van Gorden, Van Neste, Van Nimwegen, Van Noy, Van Vliet, Vredenburg, Westbrook and Westfall.

James Bennet, Mehakkemack	Wm Titsworth, Clove
Benj. Carpenter, Mehakkemack	Revd. Elias Van Bunschooten, Clove
Benj. Cuddebeck, Mehakkemack	James Van Vliet, Mehakkemack
William Cuddebeck, Mehakkemack	Joseph Van Noy, Mehakkemack
Martin Cole, Mehakkemack	Garrit Van Aken, Mehakkemack
James Carmer, Shappanack	James Van Aken, Mehakkemack
Benjamin Depuis, Menissing	Evert Van Aken, Mehakkemack
Joseph Ennes, Esq. Menissing	Joseph Van Gorden, Mehakkemack
Revd. James G. Force, Walpeck	James Van Gorden, Mehakkemack
Elias Gomar, Mehakkemack	Martin Van Gorden, Mehakkemack
Peter Gomar, Mehakkemack	Joseph Van Aken, Mehakkemack
Benj.  Hoornbeek, Mehakkemack	Daniel Vredenburg, Mehakkemack
S. Lambert,    Mehakkemack	Herman Van Nimwegen, Mehakkemack
Wm. Little,   Mehakkemack	Peter Van Neste, Esq. Flatbrook
Levi Middagh, Mehakkemack	Abm. Van Campen, Esq. Shappanack
Simon Middagh, Mehakkemack	John D. Westbrook, Menissing
David Morrow, Mehakkemack	John I Westbrook, Menissing
Jacob Quick, Mehakkemack	Severin Westbrook, Menissing
Simon Rosecrans, Shappanack	Wm Westbrook, Menissing
Wm. M. Rowles, Mehakkemack	Abm. Westfall, Menissing
Peter Swartwout, Mehakkemack	George D. Westfall, Mehakkemack
	Daniel B. Westfall, Mehakkemack