Most of our readers would be cheerfully content to own two or three acres of undeveloped land in Warren. But what if you owned 3000 acres, nearly 25% of the township's total land mass? At a conservative $100,000 per acre, that's a plot worth $300 million, give or take a million. What is a dream today was reality 300 years ago. On May 20, 1690, the East Jersey Proprietors "Surveyed and Laid out for William Dockwra a Tract of Land lying on the East Side of Pasaick River" that encompassed the entire northeast corner of the township, including what is now Union Village, Smalleytown, Plainfield Gardens and all points in between. The 1690 deed described the tract in surveyor's terms: "Beginning at the Mouth of the small Run on the said River which is the Corner Bound[ary] of Land formerly conveyed to [Dockwra] on the North West Side of the said River and from thence Runing over the River South 154 Chains thence West South West 247 Chains thence North 166 Chains more or less to the River opposite to the upper Corner of Robert Barclay's Land on the said River and thence as the River runs down to where it began containing after Allowance for Barrens etc. three thousand acres, bounded North by Passaick River and round the other Sides by Land unsurveyed." Dockwra's 3000 acres on today's map is bounded north by the Passaic River, east by the Warren Berkeley Heights Township border, south by a line along the crest of the Second Mountain and west by a line parallel and about 3/4 mile west of Old Stirling Road. Dockwra's 3000 acre tract in what would become Warren Township was due south of another 2000 acres he owned that bordered the Passaic River in what is now Long Hill and Bernards Townships. Dockwra also owned 1000 acres in Green Brook and Dunellen, 2800 acres bordering the Raritan River on what was known as the Raritan Lotts, as well as thousands of additional acres throughout central Jersey. One of Warren's largest Colonial era landowners, Dockwra was a merchant in London during the later half of the 17th Century. Possibly of Irish descent, Dockwra (or Dockwray/Dockwrae, as the name is variously spelled) is best known in England as the founder of London's first penny postal system. In 1683 .... " according to The Dictionary of National Biography .... "Dockwra established a penny postal system in the metropolis. There existed at this time no adequate provision for the carriage of letters and parcels between different parts of London. Dockwra set up six large offices in the city, a receiving house was opened in each of the principal streets, every hour the letters and parcels taken in at the receiving houses were carried to the grand offices, by one set of messengers, sorted and registered, and then delivered by another set of messengers in all parts of London. In the principal streets near the Exchange there were six or eight, in the suburbs there were four, deliveries in the day. All letters and parcels not exceeding one pound in weight, or any sum of money not exceeding 10 Pounds, or any parcel not more than 10 Pounds in value, were carried to any one place within the city for a penny, and to any distance within a given two mile radius for twopence." Dockwra's penny post, forerunner of today's postal system, appears to have been successful, although Dockwra himself was eventually dismissed from his post as Comptroller of the Penny Post in 1700 for "injuring the trade of the post office porters." According to Lord Macaulay, however, more than likely Dockwra lost his post because of the threat his system posed to the Royal postal monopoly. In 1702 Dockwra petitioned Queen Anne for compensation, pleading that six of his seven children were unprovided for. He died on Sept. 25, 1716, "aged near 100." From early Colonial documents, we know that he married Katherine Mudie, that his sons, William and George, were probably living in 1695/97, when they inherited property in Perth Amboy from John and Margaret Carrington, possibly relatives, and that his daughter, Margaret, survived him by at least 22 years. Dockwra never came to New Jersey, although in a letter of April 1685 to Deputy Governor Lawrie, he states his intention "to reside among you if Providence permitt me ...." Dockwra's connection to Warren dates to 1683 when he joined the East Jersey Board of Proprietors. "William Dockwra, who had purchased the [Samuel] Groom proprietary in 1683, took an active interest in settling the province,'" wrote John E. Pomfret in his work, The Proprietors of East Jersey. "He had invested 100 Pounds in the Scottish proprietor's cargo of 1683 and during the next two years he sent out 35 indentured servants. Next to the Sonmens' heirs, Dockwra paid the largest charges in support of the province .... In 1685 he purchased 7/40 of the Thomas Cox share and 1/2 of Mew's share. Outweighing his substantial landed interest, however, was his conspicuous role on the council of proprietors. He proved himself invaluable to the London men, who in March 1685 granted him 1,000 acres for 'his fidelity, care, and pains in negotiating the public affairs of the province. Later he was voted an additional 1,200 acres for his services as their agent. Meanwhile, in July 1688, he became receiver general and treasurer, and in November 1690 he was appointed secretary and register ...." "Andrew Hamilton, the Scottish merchant, acted as Dockwra's proxy and agent in the province, and the two worked together for their mutual advantage. Dockwra took up other choice lands throughout the province ...," securing lands on the Manalapan, on Crosswicks Creek, 3,000 acres on the Millstone River, 2,000 acres on the Passaic above the falls in 1688, 3,000 at the head of the Assinpink, land in Perth Amboy, a tract at Wickatunk and Barnegat, and an additional 4,600 acres between the Millstone and Assunpink. "In fact, there was hardly a portion of East Jersey lands in which he did not share." Vastly powerful in his role as executive secretary of the proprietors, Dockwra's 15 year tenure came to an end in 1702 when the Board removed him from his offices after hearing charges that he had accepted bribes, issued unauthorized orders and tampered with the minutes of the proprietors' meetings. Pomfret, who calls Dockwra "an ambitious, self seeking man whose arbitrary conduct led to his repudiation," admits that Dockwra may have acted no differently than many of his co proprietors. Other authorities suggest that some of the charges against Dockwra may have been trumped up by his enemies, the same folks who brought about the downfall of Peter Sonmans, Dockwra's closest associate on the Board. |