Charles the Second, King of Great Britain, Ireland, &c., granted, by letters patent in the year A.D. 1663, to his brother James, Duke of York, all lands from the west side of Connecticut river to the east side of Delaware bay.

The following year, 1664, the said Duke of York, in consideration of the sum of ten shillings lawful English money to him in hand paid, did grant and convey to John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, all that tract of land adjacent to New England and lying to the westward of Long Island, to be called New Caesarea, or New Jersey.

Soon after this purchase, a division of the territory appears to have been made by the parties, which line so established, constitutes the division or boundary between East and West Jersey, Lord Berkeley taking the western portion and Carteret the eastern. Nothing worthy of notice appears to have transpired in the western section for a period of eleven years from the aforesaid date. After which, in the year 1675, John Fenwick, a member of the Society of Friends, acting as trustee or agent for one Edward Byllyngs, purchased the whole of West Jersey from Lord Berkeley. The price paid for the same does not appear.

Soon after this purchase, Fenwick, with a company of friends, sailed from London, and in due time arrived safely at the lower part of this new colony, at a place which he named Salem, being the same as at the present time in the county of Salem, the principal street of which still bears the name of Fenwick.

Some time subsequently a dispute arose between Byllyngs and his trustee, Fenwick, which they themselves not being able to settle, resulted in the appointment of three arbitrators or commissioners on the part of Byllyngs to negotiate with Fenwick, and the difficulty was finally adjusted. One of the arbitrators was the worthy William Penn, just then in the bloom of life and vigor of manhood, (whose name and character will go down to posterity gathering blessings with the increase of time,) while engaged in settling this dispute, first conceived the idea of founding the province of Pennsylvania. Fenwick appears to have received for his services as trustee or agent for Byllyngs, a certain portion of the lands of the new colony, viz: lying below Oldman's creek, which creek the Indians called Mosacca, but Fenwick called it Berkeley river.

The fact of the Fenwick title to lands below Oldman's creek is apparent from an old warrant now in my possession in good keeping, having the seal of FENWICK attached, and dated at the Fenwick government the 26th day of the 6th Month, A.D. 1682, granting one thousand acres of land to Rodger Pedrick, and lying on the west side of said creek, or Berkeley river, which embraces the site where Pedricktown now stands. The grants or title to the lands above Oldman’s creek all appear to have been given by Byllyngs and his last appointed commissioners or trustees. This is the case with the lands in question, for we find by deed dated the 26th and 27th days of the 7th month, July, A.D. 1681, Edward Byllyngs and trustees convey to John Clark, of London, (brewer,) a whole share of proprietary land in the western division of the province of New Jersey. The number of acres does not appear on the face of this deed, but we find by reference thereto in after deeds, that the quantity was one thousand acres, more or less, with the usual allowance, &c., five hundred acres of which were located on the northwest side of Edwards creek, a branch of Mantoes creek, and five hundred on the southeast side of said creek, in the township of Greenwich, in the county of Gloucester. John Clark dying intestate, the whole of said lands descended to his eldest son, John Clark, Jr., of Hackney, in the county of Middlesex, England, gentleman, who by deed, dated the 26th and 27th days of July, 1702, conveys his whole right in said lands to Benjamin Alford, of New England, in America. This appears to be the first time the name of America is mentioned in any of the grants. Benjamin Alford dying without a will his whole estate descended to his son John Alford, who by deed dated the 20th and 21st days of June, 1720, conveys five hundred and fifty acres of said lands to Robert Gerrard. Here appears to be the date of the first survey made after the general location, and begins at a stake standing on the westerly side of Great Mantoes creek, and runs a southwesterly course sixty-nine chains to John Eglington's line; thence with said line southeastward, sixty-seven chains; and thence eastwardly to Edwards creek; and thence down the same to Mantoes creek aforesaid; and thence down said creek to the place of beginning. It may here be observed that Edwards creek (which took its name from Edward Byllyngs) emptied into Mantoes creek at that time near where the Swedesboro railroad now crosses the same, which is some three-fourths of a mile from its present junction, the cause of which will be hereafter noticed in its proper place. The said Robert Gerrard by deed dated June 2d, 1727, purchased of John Eglington one hundred acres adjacent to the aforesaid tract.

Note. - These two surveys must have embraced the lands on which now stand the village of Berkley, most of the town of Clarksboro', Clark’s Landing, the railroad depot at Clarksboro'. Thomas D. Brown's nursery, the alms house farm, &c. We will here just notice that John Alford aforesaid, by deed dated November 1, 1740, conveys his other half of the one thousand acres before mentioned, and lying on the southeast side of Edwards creek, to John Haines, of Goshen, neither place or kingdom mentioned. This must have included the lands in the township of Mantua, now owned by Samuel Haines, Charles Shoemaker, John Haines, James B. Albertson, James Beckett and others. Four years after this purchase, the said John Haines built the larger part of the present brick mansion house, now owned by James B. Albertson, which is in good keeping, after the lapse of near 130 years. A considerable portion of said lands continues in the Haines family to the sixth generation.

We will now return to the alms house property. Robert Gerrard aforesaid, by his last will and testament dated the 20th day of the 6th month, 1784, directed that his real estate in general should be sold by his executors, viz: his wife Margaret, son William, and Joshua Lord, who by their deed bearing date the 1st day of the 10th month, 1752, convey the whole 650 acres to Thomas Gerrard, who by deed dated the 13th day of November, 1752, conveys 253 acres, being a part of said tract, to Sarah Bickam, who married James Wood, and they by deed dated August 6, 1756, convey the same to William Gerrard, and he by deed of the same date sells the same to Daniel Lippincott and wife, who by deed dated April 1st, 1757, convey the same to Thomas Coles. Thomas Gerrard aforesaid, by deed of conveyance dated November 11th, 1752, sells 420 acres of the land bought of the executors of Robert Gerrard, to William Gerrard aforesaid, who by his deed dated the 26th day of 12th month, 1755, conveys the same to Restore Lippincott, who and wife by their deed bearing date the 15th day of July, 1759, sell to Thomas Coles aforesaid, 66 1/2 acres, and to John Chester at the same time 6a., 3r., 15p. of meadow, and the said John Chester, by deed dated December 15, 1759, conveys the same to Thomas Coles, who by deed dated May 21, 1762, conveys 64 3/4 acres of the 73 1/2 acres in the two last pieces mentioned, to James Hinchman, who and wife by their deed dated January 15, 1765, conveys the same to Restore Lippincott aforesaid. The said Restore Lippincott now owns of the original Clark tract 411 acres, and the said Thomas Coles 216 1/2 acres. Thomas Denny, High Sheriff of the county of Gloucester, by deed dated the 25th day of June, in the 3d year of the reign of George the Third, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., A.D., 1763, sells all the lands of Thomas Coles, in the county aforesaid, by virtue of a writ issued out of the Supreme Court, principally in favor of Samuel Hugg, a blacksmith, to the aforesaid Restore Lippincott, who has now become the owner of the whole half of the original proprietary right of the said John Clark, lying on the northwest side of Edwards creek, with one hundred acres additional bought from the Eglington tract amounting to 672 1/2 acres, with the usual allowance, &c. From corroborating circumstances, it appears that Restore Lippincott, during the next fifteen years, accomplished the great task of straightening Edwards creek, by cutting thoroughfares across several of the bends thereof, and, with the assistance of William Haines, dug an entire new water course or canal from Gerrard's dam to Great Mantua creek, (here we first discover the name of Mantua for the creek, instead of Mantoes, as heretofore,) a distance of some 100 rods, at a width of about thirty feet and four in depth. This accounts for the entrance of Edwards creek into Mantua creek at the present time, being very different than formerly, as before alluded to. At the mouth of this canal flood gates were laid, which effectually kept the tide from flowing up the same. At some considerable distance up said creek, and nearly on the lower bounds of the present Alms House farm, the said Restore Lippincott conceived the idea of building a grist mill, preparatory to which he purchased of John Haines, by deed dated the 14th day of the 5th mo., 1777, fifty-three acres of land and marsh, lying on the south-east side of said Edwards creek, for the purposes of a mill pond. The project of the mill, after much labor and expense, was abandoned, on account of the flatness of the stream and valley, and consequent difficulty in obtaining a sufficient fall of water. There had been two grist mills in early times further up said stream, above the tide, one of which was called Room's Mill, and upon its going down, another known as Cozens' Mill (near where Leppee's Mill now stands) was erected, which also going down about the date last mentioned, perhaps led to the idea of the new mill, in our narrative, to supply their place. Elijah Cozens, one of the owners of the mill above noticed bearing his name, was a deputy surveyor and scrivener, many of whose maps and writings have frequently come into my hands. The said Restore Lippincott, by deed dated the 3d day of 7th Month, 1778, conveys the whole of his lands to his son William Lippincott, which by a survey now taken is found to contain 800 acres. About this time we find a sweeping warrant issued by the Council of Proprietors, to one John Hind, (goldsmith) of London, Great Britain, bearing date the 4th day of August, 1755, recorded in the Surveyor General's Office, at Burlington, for forty thousand acres of land unappropriated in West New Jersey, and that the Sheriff of Burlington county, by deed dated September 29, 1787, sells to one John Lee three thousand eight hundred and fifty acres of said land; and the said John Lee, by deed dated the 1st day of 2d Month, 1789, conveys 53 1/2 acres thereof to the said William Lippincott.

William Lippincott, during the next twenty years from the date of his father’s deed, sells off to sundry persons various parts and parcels of his lands, which, with sundry parts before conveyed from time to time, and excepted in the several deeds, without giving particulars, thereby reducing the quantity retained by him to two hundred and fifty acres, and builds the stone mansion house, which was standing on the premises when conveyed to the county of Gloucester. On the 29th day of 1st month, 1798, William Lippincott and wife (whose maiden name was Beckett, and one of the original owners of a part of the lands of Elmer W. Cooper, near Bridgeport,) convey all their lands to William White. He was a deputy surveyor and an excellent scrivener, and who, upon being called on by the Society of Friends of Upper Greenwich, to assist them in making choice of a new site for their meeting-house, in the place of the old one known as "Solomon's," after viewing a number of places, coming to the spot where the present Greenwich meeting-house now stands, stuck down his compass staff, saying, "Here is the right place."

In the following spring William Lippincott removes with his family to Canada, purchasing lands about twelve miles westward from Niagara Falls, and settles thereon. In the year 1800 William White builds the stone barn, with his name and date engraven upon a large stone, and placed in the west end thereof, which was standing when the farm was conveyed to the county, and taken down a few years thereafter. William Lippincott, after spending five years in Canada, returned with his family to New Jersey, and purchases of William White, by deed dated the 7th day of the 2d month, 1803, all and the same lands, which he had before conveyed. The difference in price as per deeds was $833.25 in favor of the last sale. The said William Lippincott, by his last will and testament, bearing date 18th day of the 5th month, 1824, bequeathed the homestead farm to his son Restore Lippincott, who, by deed of assignment dated the 7th day of the 4th month, 1841, conveys the same to William Mickle and George Craft assignees, for the benefit of his creditors, and the said assignees, by deed dated the 20th day of the 10th month, A.D. 1841, convey the homestead farm containing 180 acres to Elizabeth Lippincott, who, by deed dated the 14th day of the 6th month, June, A.D. 1860, conveys 107 acres thereof to the county of Gloucester, on which the present Alms House buildings were soon after erected, the boundaries of which are as follows: Beginning at a stone in the middle of the Lawrenceville and Red Bank turnpike 1.54 chains from the centre of the culvert over a small stream, and thence running eastwardly to Edwards creek, and thence up the same by low water mark, southwardly to a station in a general bend in said creek, and corner to the said Elizabeth Lippincott’s other lands, and thence by a direct line south westwardly, to a stone standing some distance southward from a famous spring of water, known as Rattlesnake spring, (but how it obtained the name the writer cannot tell). It is nevertheless a fountain of most pure water, issuing from a rock, and supplies the whole wants of the Alms House. From the stone last mentioned the boundary line is northwestward to a stone lettered "G.C., 1860," in the middle of the turnpike road above mentioned, and thence along the same a northeasterly course to the place of beginning, containing, by actual survey taken at the time, the number of acres before mentioned. On the 2d day of the 6th month, June, A.D. 1864, the said Elizabeth Lippincott conveys to the county another small piece of marsh for mud to mend the meadow banks, adjoining said farm on the south, at the general bend in the creek before noticed, containing ninety hundredths of an acre.

William Gerrard, in his deed to Restore Lippincott, dated the 26th of 12th month, 1755, as noticed in its place, reserves one-half acre of land for a family burying ground forever, but where it is located, or whether it ever was used as a burial place, none can tell, as no traces thereof appear. The Lippincott family, however, instituted a small burial ground across a valley, and on a rising hill in front and at some distance from the mansion house, soon after it came into their possession, in which the interments of the family from time to time were made; and the said William Lippincott before mentioned, in his last will directed the enclosure of the ground by a good stone wall, which was carried out by the aforesaid Elizabeth Lippincott, under the immediate supervision of the writer, and when the deed was made to the county for the farm, this venerable little spot was reserved. The said Elizabeth Lippincott in her last will (though not interred in said burying ground) bequeathed a legacy sufficient to keep the same forever in repair. The Alms House grave yard has been laid out right along side of the foregoing, on a sandy hill amid the shady pines, where one after another of the inmates of the institution, as they pass off the stage of action, are quietly laid away.

WILLIAM HAINES.