Sunset at Gowanus Bay

Sunset at Gowanus Bay
Sunset at Gowanus Bay, Henry Gritten, 1851

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Jacob Brewer Deed, East Jersey Land Records

File no. 46 from Abstracts of Monmouth County Court Papers, Part II, is not a copy of any original document. It is simply a piece of correspondence that was received by William B. Bogardus. I have included it because it does provide a source for the location of the original should anyone wish to view it. It also provides the opportunity to mention a valuable set of books for researching in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

No. 46 East Jersey Land Records: Jacob Brewer

The author of this letter cites page 439 of East Jersey Land Records, Book A-3, for a deed dated 25 April 1755, in which Jacob Brewer of Swan in Monmouth County, purchased land from Joseph Kinnan and his wife, Ruth, of Somerset County. The land was located in Shrewsbury. It appears that part of this land was later sold by Jacob Croxson to Joel Lippincott in 1808, and in that deed, Jacob Croxson mentions his grandfather, Jacob Brewer (see the previous post).

I am not certain whether the author of the letter viewed the original deed itself, or if he/she is referring to a published abstract of the deed.

Richard S. Hutchinson has authored a series of books abstracting East Jersey Land Records. They are published by Colonial Roots and are available through Amazon.com. They are also available at Colonial Roots' own website (and possibly other retailers although I have not checked for them). East Jersey was a province in British colonial America from 1674 until 1702. It consisted of the land area that had previously been claimed by the Dutch colony of New Netherland, and encompassed the counties of Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth. After 1702 it was combined with the Province of West Jersey to form the Province of New Jersey. The land records from the colonial period are located at the New Jersey State Library in Trenton. The Genealogical Society of Utah has filmed the records and the microfilm is available through the Family History Library. To date, the FHL has not placed digital images of the film online, and until they do so, locating a specific deed can be a time consuming task. The books of abstracts of these deed records created by Richard S. Hutchinson are a terrific aid for locating deeds and for getting a preview of just who and what is mentioned in them before one spends the time and effort required to view the original. The various volumes cover a stated range of years, however, many of the transactions were actually conducted in earlier years. For example, this deed was drawn up in 1755, but is found in East Jersey Deeds vol. A3 which covers the years 1763 to 1766 (see FHL film #460037). Although I have not viewed it myself, I would guess that the abstract of this deed would be found in Richard S. Hutchinson's East New Jersey Land Records, 1763-1766.

BGB 407

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