Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in the Burying Grounds of the First Presbyterian Church and St. Johns Church at Elizabeth, New Jersey

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The settlement of Elizabethtown was the first within the bounds of New Jersey made by New England people. The Purchase of the land from the Indians was made by John Baily, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson of Jamaica, L. I., October 28, 1664, and the Patent granted by Gov. Nicolls to Capt. John Baker, John Ogden, John Baily, Luke Watson and their associates, confirming the Indian deed, bears date December 1, 1664. John Ogden of Northampton had bought out Denton's interest, and Capt. John Baker of New York was probably allowed an interest in consideration of his services as interpreter. Gov. Nicolls when he signed this patent was no doubt ignorant of the deed from the Duke of York to Berkley and Carteret made on the 24th day of June previous. Dr. Hatfield in his history of Elizabeth, thinks it probable that a formal occupation was made upon the land between October and December 1664, and that occupation by actual settlers soon followed. Mr. William A. Whitehead, in his last edition of East Jersey under the Proprietors, gives proof that when Gov. Philip Carteret arrived in 1665, but four English-speaking families were to be found in New Jersey, pioneers of the Jamaica Colony. The patent granted by Governor Nicolls and the Indian purchase were relied upon in after years by the citizens as giving them a good title independent of that of Berkley and Carteret, but the latter grant was prior to the Nicolls patent and a vast amount of litigation was caused by these conflicting grants, lasting until the Revolutionary war put an end to it.<br><br>The first meeting house was of wood and of a very humble style of architecture. It was replaced by a new church in 1724, fifty-eight feet in length and forty-two feet in width. An addition in the rear of sixteen feet was made in 1766. On the night of January 25, 1780, a party of British troops and refugees, numbering nearly four hundred, crossed on the ice from Staten Island to Trembly's Point and were led by thre