VI. That wherever there is a convenient plot of land lying together containing twenty-four thousand acres, as we are informed will more especially be at Barnegat, it be divided and marked into twenty-four parts, a thousand acres to each propriety, and the parts being made as equal as can be for quality and situation; the first comers presently settling, are to have the choice of the division, and where several stand equal in that respect upon equal terms and time of settling, it be determined by lot. And that such properties as are in the rights of minors or widows, which as by accident may want proxies, or be ignorant of things there, may not be prejudiced, and yet such plots may not remain unsettled, the Deputy Governor and Commissioners are allowed to let small parts in the chief places of settlement, upon the shares of such proprietors at some small fee per annum to poor families, not exceeding fifty acres to a family to secure the quantity."

In old patents and surveys, all the water from Little Egg Harbor to the head of the bay near Manasquan was called Barnegat Bay and the land adjoining was often called Barnegat.

The following is a list of early surveys in what is now Ocean county. The large tracts were for proprietary rights. The smaller tracts were what were called "headlands." As previously stated, the proprietors, in their grants and concessions, agreed to give to actual settlers a certain number of acres for each head in the family; to each man 120 acres; to his wife 120 acres; to each child 90 or 60 acres, etc. The settler could take this land all in one body or part in one place and part in another.

The following sketch of Mr. Mills is by Rev. George A. Raybold, author of Methodism in West Jersey, whose ministrations in Ocean and Monmouth counties some fifty years ago ara favorably remembered by many old citizens.

"Mr. Mills was a native of Monmouth, of Quaker descent. The fire of patriotic feeling induced him, Quaker as he was, in 1776, to enter the American army in which he became an officer. He was taken prisoner by the British and was sent, after being changed from one vessel to another, to the West Indies. At length he was carried to Europe, from whence at the close of the war, he returned home and again settled in New Jersey. About the year 1792 the Methodist preachers came into the region of country where he resided. His wife solicited him to hear them, but he resisted, stating his belief that he had been so wicked his day of grace was past. By a remarkable dream he was at length convinced that there was mercy for him. He then attended the means of grace, until as he sought the Lord with all his heart, he soon found peace. He became a member of the first class formed in the vicinity of Shrewsbury in Monmouth. Soon after, he began to exhort others and was appointed class leader; and in the spring of 1799 he was received into the traveling connection. His labors as an itinerant began on Milford circuit, Delaware, from whence he was sent to various places and finally returned to Jersey.

In 1813 he was sent to Freehold, the place of his nativity and the first field of his Christian efforts. The soldier who had faced death at the cannon's mouth on the land and on the sea, now, as his end approached, in reality felt no fear. He had a presentiment of his death and told his wife that "death seemed to follow him everywhere." His zeal in religious matters increased. The last time he left home he gave his wife sundry directions and advice in case he should die. He started as well as usual, and filled all his appointments, preaching most fervently until a short time before his death. On the fourth of December he left Long Branch, met class, and then returned to Mr. Lippencott's at the Branch. On Sunday morning he went into a room in Mr. Lippencott's to prepare for the service in the church, which was to commence at half-past ten o'clock. The congregation was then collecting and the family, thinking he stayed too long in the chamber, sent in to know the cause and found him fallen in a fit of apoplexy, almost deprived of sense. After a time he revived a little and on being asked if they should send for medical aid he replied: "The Lord is the best physician." At about twelve o'clock the stupor and other unfavorable symptoms returned; he lingered until about six the next morning and then peacefully departed for a world of rest.

In the year 1812, the year previous to Mr. Mills being sent to preach in Freehold circuit, the number of members embraced in the charge was seven hundred and thirty-six.