172 EARLY HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY. 



prietor, partly imbedded in the sand, which has probably lain there 

 since the time of the whalers. 



First Court, 



At a Court held at Portsmouth (supposed to be Town Bank or 

 Cape May Town) on the 20th March, ] 693, which is the first of 

 which we have any record, the following officers were present, 

 viz : — Justices — John Wolredge, Jeremiah Bass,* John Jervis, Jo- 

 seph Houlden, and Samuel Crowel. Sheriff — Timothy Brandreth. 

 Clerh — George Taylor. Grrand Jury — Shamgar Hand, Thomas 

 Hand, William Goulden, Samuel Matthews, John Townsend, Wil- 

 liam Whitlock, Jacob Dayton, Oliver Johnson, Christopher Leayeman, 

 Arthur Cresse, Ezekiel Eldredge, William Jacocks, John Carman, 

 Jonathan Pine, Caleb Carman, John Reeves, and Jonathan Foreman. 



"A rule of Court passed, the grand jury shall have their dinner 

 allowed them at the county charge ;" a rule that would seem reason- 

 able at the present day, when grand jurors have to pay their own 

 bills and serve the county gratis. 



" Their charge being given them, the grand jury find it necessary 

 that a road be laid out, most convenient for the king and county, 

 and so far as one county goeth, we are willing to clear a road for 

 travelers to pass." "John Townsend and Arthur Cresse appointed 

 Assessors; Timothy Brandreth, Collector; Shamgar Hand, Trea- 

 surer ; Samuel Matthews and William Johnson, Supervisors of the 

 Bead; and John Somers for Egg Harbor. At same Court, John 

 Somers was appointed Constable for Great Egg Harbor." " The 

 Court likewise orders that no person shall sell liquor without a 

 license, and that £40 be raised by tax to defray expenses, with a 

 proviso that produce should be taken at ' money price' in payment." 

 The above appointment by the Court of John Somers for Supervisor 



* This is supposed to be the same Jeremiah Bass who was agent for the West Jersey 

 Society in 1694 and 5, for Cape May, at which time he resided at Cohansey, and next year 

 at Burlington ; was appointed governor of the State in 1698, and departed for England 

 in 1699. [Mulford, 261.] A Jeremiah Bass figured at Snlem from 1710 to 1716, as an 

 attorney ; and a member of the Legislature from Cape May, from 1717 to 1723 : but whether 

 the same, or a relative, is uncertain. 



