Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-02-26
Curious Old New jersey.


The natives are not the only strange
things in Cape May county, writes a
Cape May City correspondent to the
New York !Satn. 1t has been a peculiar
land ever since Capt. Mey first set foot
on its point, long before New England
was fairly started At one time all the
county was owned by man named
Cox, who got tired of his bargain and
returned to England, leaving an agent
at Perth Amboy to attend to his inter
ests. Quakers had purchased a large
part of the land and settled upon it.
They wished to secure the rest to be
held as common property for each com
munity. One of the brothers named
Spicer was deputed to 90 to Ambov and
make the purchase. Spicer made the
lon r and returned safely, but with
the deed made out in his own name in
stead OF IN that Of the communities. 1t
was subsequently discovered that Spicer
mad got CoX's agent drunk, and had
then induced him to sell the land to
himself for trif1ing consideration.
When Spicer died, he left much of the
land that remained unsOld to the
churches in the three townships. He
also bequeathed to the people of the
county, to be enjoyed in common for
ever, the ''shell and floating fish priv
leges that is, the right to fish and
catch oysters and CLAIMS in the waters
OF the county. Although the state long
since laid successful claim to the own
ership of all these lands under tide
water, it has by successive acts of the
Legislature guaranteed to the people of
the county for various terms of years
the rights granted by the Spicer will.
large part of the land in the county
is now held under deeds from this
Splcer, and even to this day many per-
sons refuse to recognize the right of the
state to tidewater running through their
lands, and cannot understand how their
titles under deeds dated long before the
state was created can be set aside. The
''Spicer heirs" still maintain an organ
ization, and meet annually to regulate
the affairs of that part of the estate the
title to which is in them, although the
use of it was willed away or has since
been purchased.
In olden times Cape Mey, now be-
come Cape May, was expected to be a
great whale-fishing center Whales
then moved in large schools within
sight of the beach. To encourage the
fisheries, ''whalesmen's rights were
granted to the crews of the boats. The
chief of these was the privilege of US
ing, free of rental, plots of land along
the beach upon which to build boat
houses and other structures necessary to
the business, in order that no time
might be lost in getting the boats to sea
when school appeared. The whales
were quickly driven to more remote
waters, but the embellishments rights"
remained, and as, for convenience, the
roads Of the villages had generally been
run to the beach beside the whalesmen's
boat-house, the right" became, in the
course of a century, valuable beach
front, corner lots in summer resort
The last of them was not extinguished
until few years ago, when it was nee
esSary to search all over the country for
the heirs of the old whaleboat crews
and secure releases from them of the
ancient rights" before good title
could be given to purchasers OF the land.