The Old Papers Continue Their Story-The Reverend John Duryea of the Bedminster Reformed Dutch Church-The Tax on Carriages-Somerset's Paupers-Daniel Melick's Voyage to Georgia-Slaveholding on The Old Farm. Aladdin, standing in the cave of the magic lamp, could with difficulty decide into which glittering pile of gems his hand should be thrust. We, too, feel this embarras de richesse in the presence of our heap of interesting manuscripts on the table. When each scrap speaks so eloquently of past generations, it is not easy to determine which one shall next claim our attention. At a venture we will take up a package of narrow papers that time has tanned to the hue of old gold. Ah! on looking through them we find that they do not belie their color, as they all treat of money. They are receipts for salary given by the Reverend John Duryea, the third clergyman of the Bedminster Reformed Dutch church. They extend over a period of several months of the years 1789 and 1790, and are issued to the church treasurer and to individual members of the congregation, in some instances being but for a few shillings. The domine evidently in part collected his own salary and often had difficulty in doing so. Even the treasurer was not always on time in his payments, as is made plain by the following exhibit :— Received Bedminster August 20th, 1789 of the Treasurer of the Congregation Mr. Guisbert Sutphen Esqr. the sum of Seventeen Pounds Thirteen Shillings & three pence, part of the Sallery which was Due the 8th of July 1789. £17, 13, 3. John Duryea. Recd. Bedminster Sept. 1, 1789 of Mr. Guisbert Sutphen, Esq. the sum of Two Pounds Eleven Shillings which was Due the 8th of July 1789. £2, 11, 0. John Duryea. This collecting by the minister from members of the congregation must have been attended by much inconvenience, as his parishioners were widely distributed, and their subscriptions, as is shown by a list in my possession, were often exceedingly small. That they were not inclined to pay even these meagre sums is told us by a writer in the tenth number of the Somerville magazine, "Our Home." He narrates that when the invitation to preach was extended to Mr. Duryea the call was conveyed to him by John Vroom, an explanation being made that there was but little money in the congregation but that all his temporal wants should be provided for. He preached several months without any payment being made, whereupon, after a regular morning sermon he thus addressed his people:-"You made certain promises to me if I would preach for you. Several sermons have been given and I have performed my part. A bargain thus made becomes a sacred contract. If you refuse, you are a congregation of story-tellers; and you, John Vroom, are the biggest liar of them all." From such a circumstance we may fairly deduce that while this preacher was under the sounding board restful sleep did not unbidden "creep from pew to pew." Jacob R. Hardenbergh, the Revolutionary pastor of Bedminster church, resigned in 1781 and removed to Rosendale on the Hudson, where he preached until 1786, when he was called to the presidency of Queen's, now Rutgers' college. For over two years the Bedminster people were without a minister, when Theodore F. Romeyn, the grandson of Domine Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, was called. His pastorate included the Raritan congregation, the Readington people having before this time secured a minister of their own. On the death of Mr. Romeyn in 1785 the two congregations united in calling the Reverend John Duryea. Born in 1760, he was licensed to preach by the New York synod in May, 1784. In this, his first charge, two thirds of his services were given to the Raritan congregation and one third to Bedminster, and he was bound by his call to preach alternately in Dutch and English. Mr. Duryea was a devout man and loved to preach, but his preaching did not satisfy the more intelligent portion of his people. His sermons were extempore and he was not inclined to over study in their preparation. Perhaps this rugged divine was apt at times to be too abrupt LAST CENTURY'S CARRIAGE TAX. 595 to suit all of his hearers; at any rate dissatisfaction with his pastorate spread, forcing him to resign his charge over the two churches in the autumn of 1788. At that time the Bedminster congregation severed its connection with that of Raritan, and Mr. Duryea continued to serve Bedminster for one year in connection with an unorganized body of hearers at White House and Pottersville in Hunterdon county. He then removed to Essex county, New Jersey, and finally died at the Notch, near the village of Little Falls, in 1836. In the last century it was not usual for farmers in Somerset county to own carriages. As a rule they were content with their white covered farm wagons, the bodies of which, on Sundays, were strewn with clean straw, while chairs from the kitchen served as seats. Aaron Malick in the year 1796 appears to have considered himself well-enough-to-do to warrant his riding in a fourwheeled carriage, and to warrant his paying the government a tax for the privilege, which at that time was a necessary consequence of such a luxury. Here is the proof: THIS IS TO CERTIFY, THAT AARON MELICK OF BEDMINSTER in the County OF SOMERSET-hath paid the Duty of two Dollars upon a four Wheel Carriage called A LIGHT WAGGON Owned by him, HAVING FRAMED POSTS & A TOP, & RESTING ON WOODEN SPARS-to be drawn by two Horses-for the Conveyance of more than one Person; for the Year to end on the 30th Day of September 1797. September 19, 96. Receid Sept. 1796. Samuel Annin Collector of the Revenue, 10th Division of New Jersey. This carriage tax was imposed by congress in the general impost bill of 1794. It created much dissatisfaction, especially among the republicans. The carriage-makers claimed this tax to be unconstitutional, and carried the question to the supreme court; but the government was sustained, and the law remained in force until Jefferson and the republicans came into power. The impost on pleasure-wagons was removed in 1802, together with many other obnoxious impositions; the effort caused a bitter contest in congress between the federalists and republicans, the debate lasting for five days. The result was considered a great triumph for Jefferson's administration, and, of course, was bitterly deplored by the federalists; they urged that the carriage tax had been only paid by the rich, and quoted in proof the fact that Virginia had six hundred and sixty-six coaches paying tax while Massachusetts had but ninety-nine. He is Now turn your eyes, and we will look on poverty. poor whose expenses exceed his income. This is the kind of poverty that harasses a man and makes him truly miserable, for sooner or later he is struggling in the vain endeavor to keep up a hollow show. Such a person is waging an unequal fight against that well equipped foe, reality, armed with the weakest of all weapons, pretence. The Bedminster citizens now brought into view by our old papers are not of this unhappy class. They have robbed poverty of at least one of its stings, by honestly acknowledging their indigence. They are the county paupers. In the last century there were in New Jersey neither almshouses nor poor-farms. In some counties, notably in Hudson, it was the custom to sell the paupers at auction to the lowest bidder; the amount bid was paid to the buyer by the overseers of the poor, which bound him to mend the pauper's clothes, to furnish him with a good bed, with washing, lodging and victuals for one year, during which time the pauper was to work for the buyer as much as he was able. All new clothing was supplied by the county. The Old Stone House for three generations furnished overseers of the poor for Bedminster township. After the justices of the peace had passed upon the application of a pauper for maintenance it was the duty of the overseers to provide for the impoverished-one a comfortable home, generally with a farmer. The amount paid for a year's support -judging from the bills before me-varied considerably, depending somewhat upon the condition of the paupers, and their ability to aid the families with whom they were living. On the twenty-fifth of January, 1797, James Wintersteen received from "Daniel Melick, one of the overseers of the poor," forty-two shillings "in full for keeping Widow Mahew;" while on the eighteenth of March, of the same year, Simon Hagerman, Jr., received seven pounds, ten shillings, "for keeping Leaney Rush a pauper on s'd Town." On the twenty-third of December, 1803, Elizabeth Castner was paid "Twenty Dollars in full for the support of Salley for the year Ending next Town meeting Day," while the following bill shows that in the next year double that amount was paid for a pauper's support : THE CARE OF BEDMINSTER PAUPERS. Mr. Dan'l Melick, overseer of the poor for Bedminster, Dr. May 5 To Keeping Margaret Biderman a pauper 54 Snuff Rec'd May 14th 1804 from Dan'l Melick the above sum of Forty Dollars and seventy five cents Catherine Berger. It was the duty of the overseers not only to secure comfortable homes for their charges, but to clothe them and to furnish them with extra necessaries. Thus we find that on the seventh of January, 1804, John Demund was paid "$2.50 for making a suit of clothes for Gideon Berry, a pauper." We may suppose that this charge did not include the cloth. On the twenty-sixth of April, the same year, Levi Sutton, a farmer living near the lower lime-kiln on the Peapack road, was paid "One Dollar and twenty-five cents for 10lbs of pickle pork for Joseph Richardson last fall." The next bill is interesting because of its introducing us to a prominent Bedminster citizen of that day :— Mr. Daniel Melick, Overseer of the Poor 1796 Augt 3d To 2 Yds Lining "2 Sks thread " 1 Thimble To Nicholas Arrosmith Dr. 3 £ 76 Rec'd of Daniel Melick overseer of the poor, the above 18 0 £ 2 31 Nich's Arrosmith. Nicholas Arrosmith was a contemporary of Daniel Melick, and a near neighbor, living just over the brook. In 1792 he purchased from Robert Gaston the property now known as Schomp's mills, rebuilding the grist and saw mills, and improving the water-power. He also farmed extensively, and kept a general store which was located on the east side of the Peapack road, just beyond the bridge. At that time the road mounted the hill |