NEW JERSEY
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The first people to live on the land now known as New Jersey were the Delaware Indians. Anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 Delaware Indians lived in the area when the first Europeans arrived. Their name means “original people” or “genuine people” They spoke an Algonquian dialect. Around 1524, Giovanni de Verrazano became the first European to explore New Jersey. He sailed along the coast and anchored off Sandy Hook. The colonial history of New Jersey started after Henry Hudson sailed through Newark Bay in 1609. Hudson worked for the Netherlands, so he claimed the land for the Dutch. It was called New Netherlands. In 1664 the Dutch lost New Netherlands when the British took control of the land and added it to their colonies. They divided the land in half and gave control to two proprietors: Sir George Carteret (who was in charge of the east side) and Lord John Berkley (who was in charge of the west side). The land was officially named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Carteret had been governor of the Isle of Jersey. Eventually, governing power was transferred back to England. For many years, New Jersey shared a royal governor with New York. The governorship was finally split in 1738 when New Jersey got its own governor, Lewis Morris. In 1776 New Jersey declared itself an independent state and joined the colonial side in the Revolutionary War. In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights. In 1790, Trenton officially became the state capital of New Jersey. William Livingston became New Jersey's first state governor. During the Civil War, New Jersey provided 31 regiments (groups of soldiers), including cavalry (soldiers on horseback) and infantry (soldiers on foot). Over 25,000 New Jersey men fought for the Union, and New Jersey soldiers participated in almost every major Eastern battle. |
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Cypher of
the United East India Company |
Cypher of
the Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie (Amsterdam Chamber) (Print of a wooden stamp, Coll. Penningcabinet R.A.
107 |
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The east coast of North America was explored in 1524 by Giovanni de Verazzano. In 1609 the territory east of the Delaware and around the mouth of the Hudson was taken into possession by Henry Hudson for his client, the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). In 1614 the Nieuw Nederland Compagnie was founded which was handed over to the West Indian Company (GWC) in 1621. In 1623 the territory was made the Province of Nieuw Nederland (or Nova Belgii) In 1603 a cypher was adopted for the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie by the Lords XVII. This consisted of the letter V, O and C. On the seal of the Company was a three-masted sailing vessel. For the Westindische Compagnie also a cypher was used. This consisted of the letters G,W and C (Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie). Several seals of the Company with such a cypher have been preserved. [1] The cypher is also on the facade of the West India storehouse and in the West-India House in Amsterdam. Provisional statutes for the colony were drawn up in 1624
by the Lords XIX of the GWC. According to this statute a Director General
would be appointed and the commerce would be controlled by the Company. The
first Director General was Cornelis Jacobsen May (1624-’25) and probably it
was he who used the seal of the Colony for the first time. On it was, within
the legend SIGILLVM NOVI BELGII a coat of arms Argent, a beaver per bend
proper, within a bordure Orange, a string of wampum. An ancient crown of a
count, consisting of a diadem with 13 pearls, was also used in this time on
the coats of arms of the Dutch provinces. [2]
Seal of
Nieuw Nederland The Dutch were mainly interested in the fur trade. In it beaver fur was of great importance. For example, the cargo of the ship ‘T Wapen van Amsterdam consisted in 1626 of 7246 beaver skins on a total of 8183 skins. As a payment the local population accepted strings of a kind of shells, called wampum. This wampum was a usual currency in the Dutch era, the value depended of the length of the string. The colour orange on which the wampum is lying in the arms, refers to the Princes of Orange and to Prince Maurice (1618-’25) who was also Stadholder and Captain Admiral General of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The coat of arms with the beaver was used until the end of Dutch rule in 1664 and probably still in 1673-’74. Be it that the trade was reasonably good, the colony nevertheless was a failure, mainly because of the small number of colonists. Therefore the settlement was exchanged by the Lords XIX with the British for Surinam from which a profitable sugar growth and slave trade was expected. On 18 August 1664 four english frigates appeared on the roads of the Hudson and Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor (from the government of Peter Minuit (1626-’31) the ruler was called a Governor instead of a Director General), handed over his rule to the British on 7 December. For the British the taking over was mainly of strategic importance because now the whole American eastcoast from Terre Neuve down to the Caraibian was now in British hands. Nieuw Amsterdam The government of Nieuw Nederland colony was established in Nieuw Amsterdam, counting during GWC rule about 900 inhabitants. For Nieuw Amsterdam at first a coat of arms was designed in 1630, consisting of the arms of the city of Amsterdam with a chief with a beaver. On the shield the Imperial crown as on the arms of Amsterdam charged with the letters GWC and supported by two beavers. Later the arms became Gules, a pale Sable charged with three crosses saltire and between two flanks Argent. On the shield a beaver for crest an above all a shield with the GWC cypher. In 1664 Nieuw Amsterdam was renamed New York and the city is now situated in New Jersey State. |
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In the fourties of the 17th century Sir Edmund Plowden, a british lawyer, tried to found a new palatinate with the name of New Albion. In 1648 he designed the coat of arms represented on a medal of the Order of the Knights of Albion, founded by him. The arms are: Arms: parted per pale: a hand armed with a crowned sword per pale, point upwards. In chief a crown in base an open book In the sinister part are the arms of Sir Edmund himself: Azure, a fess dancetty of two points, on each point a fleur de lis, Or Crown: Of five points Supporters: Two
stags Sable, with antlers and crowns
about their necks Or. Motto: SIC SVOS VIRTVS BEAT (Their
Power so Blessed). [3]
Coat of
arms of Edmund Plowden On Edmund Plowden’ s tomb in inner wall of the
Romanesque Round of Temple Church in London. Nothing has come of the palatinate. In 1655 the territory was occupied by Peter Stuyvesant, and the swedish colonists who had settled there under the the aegis of the Swedish Sòderkompaniet, became citizens of Nieuw Nederland. [4] |
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Occupying, upon the Delaware, a position analogous to the Dutch on the Hudson, were the Swedes, who during their occupancy of the Zuydt Rivier extended colonization operations into West Jersey from ‘The Falls’ at Trenton to the Cohanzey. This was during the fourth, fifth, and sixth decades of the 17th century. Most of these attempts were abortive, except in the counties of Camden, Gloucester and Salem. Inasmuch as the Dutch confined their claims to quarreling with the Swedish Governors, until the bloodless war of 1655, it is to be taken for granted that all Sedih commissions and state papers designed for West Jersey Settlements would bear the seal of the Province of New Sweden |
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Seal of
New Sweden Arms: The crowned Royal arms of King Charles X of Sweden, surrounded by a
garland of laurel Legend: SIGILLUM REGIS RI CINQUE CANCELLARIA |
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Arms of Johann
Björnsson Printz, Governor of New Sweden, 1643-‘53 Arms: Or, a saltire between a five-pointed star in chief and in base,
Azure Crest: An hour glass proper |
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In 1664 Nieuw Nederland was taken by the English. King Charles
II gave the region between New England and Maryland to his brother, the Duke
of York (later King James II & VII), as a proprietary colony. Later James
granted the land between the Hudson River and the
Delaware River that would become New Jersey to two friends who had been loyal
to him through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley
of Stratton. On the seal used during their rule their coats of arms are placed
crosswise, combined with their cyphers. [5] The legend reads: SIGILLUM PROVINCIÆ CÆSAREA NOVÆ.
Seal of
Berkeley and Carteret
The
arms of Carteret were: Arms:
Gules, four fusils Argent and a canton of the field,
a left hand Argent Crest: A
squirrel sejant eating a nut Supporters:
Two wingwed stags Motto: LOYAL DEVOIR The
arms of Bekeley were:
Arms:
Gules, a chevron between 10 crosslets patée 4, 2 1,
2 and 1, Argent. |
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The two proprietors of New Jersey tried to entice more settlers to New Jersey by granting land to them and by passing Concession and Agreement, a document granting religious freedom to all inhabitants of New Jersey; the British Church of England allowed no such religious freedom. In return for land, settlers paid annual fees known as quitrents. The proprietors appointed Philip Carteret as the first governor of New Jersey, who designated Elizabethtown as the colony's capital. However, the two proprietors found collecting the quitrents difficult, and on 18 March 1674 Berkeley sold his share of New Jersey to the Quakers. This sale divided the province into East Jersey and West Jersey. The exact line between West and East Jersey generally corresponded to the Keith Line between present day South and North Jersey and was created by George Keith. However, the line was constantly the subject of disputes. With the 1676 Quintipartite Deed more accurate surveys and maps were made resulting in the Thornton Line, drawn around 1696, and the Lawrence Line, drawn around 1743, which was adopted as the final line for legal purposes. In the eighties of the 17th century King James II attempted to annul the grants of East and West Jersey which he himself, as a Duke of York, had delivered to Carteret and Berkeley. The project had long been considered by the King and bore fruit in 1688 in a commission to Governor Andros dated 7 April of that year to include New York and the Jerseys in his jurisdiction, which jurisdiction, up to that time, had only circumscribed practically what is now New England. As early as 18 September 1685, Governor Thomas Dongan wrote that ‘A New Seal of this Province is very much wanting,’ to which Secretary Sunderland, from the Court at Windsor, replied on 16 August 1687. The King appointed a seal for ‘Our Province of New York and the Territorys depending there upon in America,’ thus including the Jerseys. The seal is thus descibed in a warrant, under date of 14 August 1687, ‘being engraven on the one side with Our Royal Effigies on Horsback in Arms over a Land-skip of Land & Sea, with a Rising Sun and a Scrole containing this Motto Aliusq et Idem, and our Titles round the circumference of the said Seal. There being also engraven on the other side Our Royal Arms with the Garter, Crown, Supporters & Motto, with this Inscription round ye Circumference Sigillum, Provincie Nostræ Novi Ebaraci &c in America... and that it bee to all intents and purposes of the same force & validity as any former seal within our said Province, or as any other seal whatsoever appointed for the use of any of Our Plantations in Americai is or hath been.’ This seal was ordered defaced on the 16th day of April, 1688 (at the death of James II), and in its place the Great Seal of New England be used. An order was issued to Governor Dongan to deliver his seal to Sir Edmond Andros, which was broken in New York City in September of that year. For both parts of the province a seal of its own was used
The seal
of the Eastern Proprietors before 1701 The two mottoes of the seal of the Eastern Prorietaries in
letters of Sable, RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION,’ ITS : GOD : GIVETH
: INCREASE’ and around the whole ‘The : Seal : of : the : Province : of : East :
Jersey: in : America. This seal was probably
destroyed upon the surrender of the government in 1702. On the seal of West Jersey was the allegory of
Prosperity holding two cornucopia, sitting before a tree and the motto REDDE CAESARE QUE CAESARIS (To the Emperor what is of the Emperor) in
chief. All within the legend: SIGILLUM
PROUINCIÆ CÆSARIS OCCIDENTALIS IN AMERICA 1687
Seal of
West Jersey 1687
Seal of
the Western Proprietors On the seal of the
Western Proprietors there are a tree, a balance and a pair of compasses; it
has no motto but the legend reads: WEST
NEW JERSEY PROPRIETORS. |
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Upon the union of the Jerseys in the year 1702 Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, was appointed by his cousin, Queen Anne, Governor of New York and the Jerseys. Upon the 3rd day of May, 1705, a warrant for a new seal for the ‘Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon in America’ was issued. It was engraven upon one side with the royal effigies, with two Indians kneeling and offering presents, with the royal titles around the circumference, and upon the other side with the royal arms, garter, crown, supporters, motto Semper Eadem, and this inscription, ‘Sigillum . Provinciæ . Nostræ . Novi . Eboraci . in . America.’ Whilst this seal was in preparation Lord Canbury, on the 8th of July 1705, requests from the Lords of Trade a new seal as ‘the old one is very much worn.’ A seal had already been sent for New Jersey, as Secretry William Papple so advised on the 28th of July, 1705. “Upon 24 Juky 1710, Governor Hunter returned the seal of New Jersey broken in council, which was laid before Queen Anne late in October or early in November of that year. “In July, 1718, Governor Robert Hunter received the new seals for New Jersey, which had been issued by a warrant from George I. to Governor Hunter, dated Hampton Court, October 8, 1717, wherein the King directs the Governor on receipt of the ‘new Seals’ to cause ‘the former Seal to be broke before you in Council and then to transmit the said former Seal so broken to our Comrs for Trade and Plantations to be laid before Us in Council as usual.’ “This seal was engraven with the Royal Arms, Garter, Supporters, Motto and Crown, with this inscription round the same, ‘Sig : Provinciæ nostræ de Nova Cæsarea on America.’ “From New York on the 11th of Juy, 1718, Governor Hunter transmitted the old seal which was broken at ‘a Council in the Jerseys,’ and which, ‘according to His Ma’tys Commands and by the Same Ship (which is still here by Contrary winds), is sent to the Lords of Trade and Planation. “This seal of George I. lasted until the accession of his successor. Upon the 17th of November 1727, a warrant was issued from the Board of Plantations to ‘Mr. Rollos His Majesty’s Seal Cutter to prepare new Seals for His Majesty’s Plantations in America.’ “The order from council included all the colonies and plantations in America. The general direction commanded the insertion of the King’s particular arms and foreign titles as in the Great Seal of the Kingdom. To the seal cutter discretion was given in contracting words. The seal was the same as that of 1717, with this addition, ‘in an outward Circle’’Georgius II DEi Gratia Magnæ Britaniæ Franciæ Et Hib : Rex Fid : DEfensor Brunsvici et Luneburgi Dux. Sacri Romani Imperij Archi Thesaurius et Elector.’The ship bearing this seal was cast away, and the symbol of authority lost. However, under date of December 17, 1731, another was ordered. “The 20th day of October, 1760, in Court at Saville House, George III directed Governor Thomas Boone, through an order from the Secretary William Pitt, that His Excellency continue the use of the former seal. Upon the 29th of the same month a circular letter was addressed from the Lords of Trade to the Governors in North America informing them that warrants for using the old seals were in preparation, together with proclamations for continuing officers at their employments, order for the alteration of the liturgy, and the like. A general order was issued from Whitehall, 2 December 1760, from John Pownall, Secretary of the Lords of Trade and Plantations, and directed to Mr. Major, engraver of Seals, that he engrave ‘new ones for the Colonies.’ With the exception of ‘Georgius Tertius´ for ´Georgius Secundus´ the seal of New Jersey underwent no change. “William Franklin, the last colonial governor of New Jersey, writing from Burlington under date of October 6, 1767, aknowledges to the Earl of Shelburne the receipt of an new seal for New Jersey and a warrant for the use thereof. The old seal was returned and was defaced at Saint James on the 20th of April, 1768, together with the seals of some of the West Indies, South Carolina, Georgia, Nova Scotia, New York, and Massachusetts Bay. `From 1702 until 1738, when New Jersey was separated from New York, the seals of the two colonies were identical in obverse and reverse. After 1738 New Jersey assumed Nova Cæsarea in place of Nov Eborarci.` |
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The Arms
and Great Seal of the State of New Jersey The achievement of the State of New Jersey was adopted by law of the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey. Upon the 27th day of August 1776, the legislature of the State of New Jersey met in the town of Princeton. On the 10th day of September 1776 Senator John Fell, of Bergen, brought to the Lower House a resolution from Council, who ‘having taken into Consideration that it will necessarily take up some Time to get a Proper Great Seal prepared for the Sealing of such Commissions as have usually passed under the Great Seal and that it will be necessary for the publick Good that Sundry Commissions should issue before such Great Seal can be made: therefore “’Resolved: - That the Seal of Arms of His Excellency William Livingston, Esquire, Shall be
deemed and taken as the Great Seal of this State till another shall be made.’ “In which the Assembly concurred, and Messrs
Dick and Covenhoven acquainted Council thereof. This seal
was used from October 1776 until May 1777.
Coat of
arms of Robert Livingston (1654-1728) Grandfather of William
Livingston These arms are described by William Livingston: “Quarterly 1st and 4th Argent three gilliflowers gules, slipped Propper within
a double tressure umber florevest, the name of LIVINGSTON; 2nd
quartered 1st and last Gules a chifron Argent, a rose between two lyons
counter rampant of the field 2nd and 3rd Argent three Martlets Gules, the
name of HEPBURN of Waughtenn 2nd quarter Sable a bend between sic
billets Or the name of CALLENDER, your liveries is green faced up wh
whytt and red green and whytt passments. Crest: a ship in distress Motto: SPERO MELIORA [6] “The Joint
Committee of the 6th of September through its
chairman Mr. Richard Smith, reported to both Houses on the 3rd of October,
‘That they have considered the Subject and taken the
Sentiments of several intelligent Gentlemen thereon: and are of the Opinion
that Francis Hopkinson, Esq. should
be immediately engaged to employ proper Persons at Philadelphia to prepare a
Silver Seal, which is to be round, of two and a half Inches diameter, and
three-eights of and Inch thick, and that the Arms shall be three Ploughs in
an Escutcheon; the Supporters, Liberty and Ceres, and the Crest, a Horse’s
Head; these words to be engraved in large Letters round the Arms videlicet, “ THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY.”’ “Mr. Hopkinson was ordered to ‘draw on the Treasury of this State for the Expence’ of the Great Seal. |
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When the drawings
of the Great Seal of New Jersey came from the brush of Pierre Eugène Du
Simitière (†1784), he had placed beneath the crest of the horse’s head an
earl’s helmet, and had inserted below the escutcheon ‘MDCCLXXVI.’ No legislative sanction exists for these
alterations.
Great Seal
of New Jersey As by Du Simitière, 1777 That Du Simitière
did exceed his authority is shown by the fact that in many of the printed
representations of the great seal, as upon the title-pages of the State laws,
the printers discarded both helmet and date and made their own designs based
on the report of 1776. “Throughout the
range of New Jersey’s official publications no less than a score of designs
of the great seal are to be found. The supporters are often reversed, whilst
the horse’s head faces either dexter or sinister over the escutcheon. The
widest liberties were taken with the supporter Ceres, her cornucopia being in
all imaginable positions. Not until Morton A.
Stilles’ edition of the laws of 1854 is there any attempt toward artistic
execution of the seal on the part of State printers. “A variety of
mottoes occur; but among the earliest is that used in the Joseph Justice
edition of the laws (1821), wherein the words ‘Liberty
and Prosperity’ are found. [7] |
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Arms of
New Jersey, 1791 As on te Constitution of 1787. By Doolittle, 1791 The number of ploughs reduced to one. On the scroll
beneath the shield: INDEPENDENCE MDCCLXXVI.
Achievement
of New Jersey, 1876 |
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The Senate and
General Assembly of New Jersey by an act, approved 26 March 1928 designated
the Great Seal of the State as follows: “ The Great Seal
of this State be amended in description, and engraved as amended, on silver
of the size and dimensions as heretofore; and that the arms be three ploughs
in an escutcheon, azure; supporters, Liberty and Ceres. The Goddess Liberty
to carry in her dexter hand a pole, proper, surmounted by a cap gules, with
band azure at the bottom, displaying on the band six stars, argent; tresses
falling on shoulders, proper; head bearing over all
a chaplet of laurel leaves, vert; overdress, tenné; underskirt, argent; feet
sandaled, standing on scroll. Ceres: Same as Liberty, save overdress, gules;
holding in left hand a cornucopia, or, bearing apples, plums and grapes
surrounded by leaves, all proper; head bearing over
all a chaplet of wheat spears, vert. Shield surmounted by sovereign’s helmet,
six bars, or; wreath and mantling, argent and azure. Crest: A horse’s head,
proper. Underneath the shield and supporting the goddess, a scroll azure,
bordered with tenné, in three waves of folds; on the upper folds the words ‘Liberty
and Prosperity’; on the under fold in Arabic numerals, the figures ‘1776,’
These words to be engraved round the arms, viz., The
Great Seal of the State of New Jersey.’” [8]
Present
Great Seal of New Jersey 1928 design Æ In the head of this article: George Sotter, Great Seal of the State of New Jersey, stained glass window, 1929. For State House Annex. Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, (photo courtesy James A. Michener Art Museum archives). |
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Crest. |
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Description: That for the regiments and separate battalions of the New Jersey Army National Guard: From a wreath of colors, a lion's head erased Or collared four fusils Gules. Symbolism: The original settlements in the State were English and Dutch. The coats of arms of both countries bear lions. The original proprietor was Sir George Cateret whose arms bore the four red lozenges. Background: The crest for color bearing organizations of the State of New Jersey was approved on 5 July 1922. |
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Distinctive Unit Insignia |
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Description: A Gold color metal and enamel device 3.10 cm in height overall consisting of a Blue shield bearing the authorized crest for the Army National Guard of the State of New Jersey blazoned: On a wreath of the colors Argent and Gules, a lion's head erased Or (Gold) charged on the neck with four fusils conjoined of the second. Symbolism: The original settlements in the State were English and Dutch. The coats of arms of both countries bear lions. The original proprietor was Sir George Carteret whose arms bore the four red lozenges. As the predominant permanent settlement was of English origin, the twists of the wreath are white and red. Background: The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the State Staff Corps and Departments, New Jersey National Guard on 8 November 1928. It was redesignated for Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and noncolor bearing units of the New Jersey Army National Guard on 8 July 1971. The insignia was redesignated effective 1 October 1982, for Headquarters, State Area Command, New Jersey Army National Guard. |
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Shoulder Sleeve Insignia. |
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Description: On a Blue shield 6.35 cm in width and 7.94 cm in height, the crest for the New Jersey National Guard: On a wreath of the colors Argent and Gules, a lion's head erased Or langued Gules and collared with four fusils of the like. Symbolism: The original settlements in the State were English and Dutch. The coats of arms of both countries bear lions. The original proprietor was Sir George Carteret whose arms bore the four red lozenges. As the predominant permanent settlement was of English origin, the twists of the wreath are white and red. Background: The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved for Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, New Jersey National Guard on 21 September 1955. It was amended to correct the wording in the description on 7 October 1955. The insignia was redesignated with description amended effective 30 December 1983, for Headquarters, State Area Command, New Jersey National Guard. (TIOH Dwg. No. A-1-167) |
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© Hubert de Vries 2017-08-31
Heraldry of the World