Historical Collections of the State of 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 object of this work is to give an account of the most important and interesting events which have occurred in the State of New Jersey, together with geographical descriptions and numerous engravings. In selecting the extracts which are introduced in the course of the volume, care has been taken to avoid dry detail and tedious official documents, which usually appear in regular, formal history, and to give those selections likely to interest the feelings, refresh the memory, and instruct the mind.

We are aware there are historical items in these pages which may seem to some too trivial, or perhaps loo much beneath what is termed the dignity of history. It may be observed, however, that we are not always competent judges of what may be valuable or interesting to posterity. Much important information has undoubtedly been lost to the world by fastidious views on this subject; and of that preserved, much at the time considered comparatively insignificant, has proved the most useful and instructive.

In view of the great variety of subjects introduced, and the almost impossibility of producing a publication of this kind without errors and imperfections, it is with a degree of diffidence that it is submitted to the public, especially when we consider who are to be our readers. Travellers, in giving accounts of foreign countries, can make statements at random which may pass for truth, when there is none at hand able to detect their errors. This publication will come before many persons who have better means of information and more knowledge on some subjects introduced than can reasonably be expected from the authors. This is especially true in relation to the descriptive part of the hook, for we were obliged to obtain much of that kind of information at second hand, and consequently were liable to adopt the errors or misrepresentations of many informants.

In collecting the materials for this work, we ha