I just checked John T. Cunningham, The East of Jersey, for some hard data on partially remembered stuff. Shortly before the English took New Amsterdam and the associated lands claimed by the Dutch (from the Ct. River to the Delaware), Long Island, and other coastal islands, the Charles II, recently restored, gave his brother, James, Duke of York, the area. (March 12, 1664). James was to be the sole proprietor of the lands, with "full and absolute power & authority to correct, punisyh, pardon, governe & rule all such Subjects of us .. who shall from time to time adventure themselves into any the parts or places aforesaid." Shortly after, the British took the Dutch colony. Even while the British were sailing to take New Amsterdam, James decided (in reward for past, present, and future favors) to grant an area of his new lands -- the present New Jersey -- to supporters John Berkeley and George Carteret. The Carterets were lords of the island of Jersey, the last stronghold of Stuart support against Cromwell. The new proprietors had the right to sell and charge rent on any land in New Jersey -- despite previous claims by native groups or Dutch or Swedish settlers already in the area. Theoretically, there were to be negotiations with the Indians, although what the early deeds meant to the Indians or the authority of those who signed the deed is unclear. John Cunningham in The East of Jerseym NJHS, 1992, writes: The Concessions and Agreements are far too long to detail here. Briefly the document guaranteed a quite liberal measure of self government in a popularly elected assembly that would work with the governor and his appointed council. " p 26. The document granted land, but not governance, a problem which was to surface and resurface during the rest of the century. The split between East and West Jersey came about a bit later. Some was a result of the transfer of land as the Dutch were briefly given back NJ, and then granted it back to England. At that time James, now James II, under pressure from powerful Quaker businessmen, granted some of the lands in NJ to them. (1676). The maps and lines drawn in London were not very accurate, of course, and the subject of controversy for years to come. So New Jersey had two sets of proprietors, and (most of the time), one agreed-upon proprietary governor, and one council and assembly (most of the time, but I stand to be corrected on that.) The basic shape of NJ, and its future politics, was in a sense set early, with West Jersey centered around Trenton and East Jersey around Elizabeth. The problem of who actually governed NJ was finally settled under William and Mary in 1702, when a Royal governor was appointed. Interestingly, the Proprietors did not give up their rights at the time of the Revolution, as did those in other "proprietary" colonies such as S. Carolina. Until quite recently, any piece of NJ land that was not already claimed (and a few pieces did exist in the sharp hills of the north and Pine Barrens of the south) belonged to the proprietors and had to be purchased from them. The East Jersey Proprietors went out of business about two years ago -- although most of their income in recent years had been from genealogists and lawyers seeking titles. The records are now with the State Archives. Hey, this was harder than I thought. Richard Haycook wrote: > [email protected] wrote: > > > > If someone in early 1700's in Chester Co. was said to have come from 'SALEM > > WEST JERSEY' -- where would that be?? > > > > Before NEW Jersey became "New" It was called East Jersey and West > Jersey. The line ran approximately from the upper NW corner (now Sussex > County, near High Point and Port Jervis) to about where Atlantic City is > now. Therefore Salem is still in the same place it is now (Salem > County? in south Jersey). At that time it was in West Jersey. > I'm not sure when the changeover was made but I've seen newspaper > articles in the 1840/50s refer to is as West/East Jersey (perhaps old > habits are hard to break?) . However every census I've looked at before > 1850 calls it New Jersey. > I recall the E/W references being used mostly in the 1600s and 1700s > --- not that I was there, you know! BTW Chester County is in > Pennsylvania (among other states), not East/West/New Jersey. > Cheers Rich in NH