Description:

Frelinghuysen Frederick

New Jersey County Clerk and Future U.S. Senator Certifies Sheriff’s Bond and Oaths

 

FREDERICK FRELINGHUYSEN, Autograph Document Signed, October 27, 1784, Somerset County, New Jersey. 1 p., 8.5" x 4.75".

 

Complete Transcript

"I do hereby certify that Robert Stockton Esqr on this twenty seventh day of October 1784, filed in my office a Bond with two Sureties for the sum of twelve hundred pounds, conditions for his faithfully executing the Office of Sheriff of the County of Somerset, that he took the oaths of Abjuration & Allegiance, & also the Oath of Office prescribed by law, before me

Fred Frelinghuysen

Clk of Somerset"

 

Historical Background

In September 1776, the New Jersey General Assembly passed “An Act for the Security of the Government of New-Jersey,” that required all public officeholders, both civil and military, to take Oaths of Abjuration and Allegiance. These oaths were as follows:

 

“I A B do sincerely profess and swear, (or, if one of the People called Quakers, affirm) that I do not hold myself bound to bear Allegiance to the King of Great-Britain. So help me God.”

 

“I A B do sincerely profess and swear, (or, if one of the People called Quakers, affirm) That I do and will bear true Faith and Allegiance to the Government established in this State under the Authority of the People. So help me God.”

 

In October 1777, the New Jersey General Assembly passed a law extending the requirement to all “those who are employed in the Distribution of Justice,” including all attorneys, members of juries, and schoolmasters. The law also empowered judges of inferior courts and justices of the peace to administer the oaths and keep a record of those who had taken them.

 

According to a 1781 “Act to require Sheriffs to give Security, and for other Purposes therein mentioned,” all sheriffs had to post a bond of “Twelve Hundred Pounds of Gold or Silver Money” to be kept by the clerk and to take the following Oath of Office:

 

“I A. B. do Swear (or if a Quaker, solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm) that I will well and truly serve the State of New-Jersey, in the Office of Sheriff for the County of                  that I will to the utmost of my Power, duly and faithfully execute, or cause to be so executed, all Writs and Precepts to me directed, and which shall come to my Hands, and will faithfully and truly return the same according to the best of my Knowledge and Abilities; that I will in no Case knowingly use or exercise the Office of Sheriff illegally, corruptly or unjustly; that I will neither directly or indirectly by any Means or Device, or under any Colour or Pretence whatsoever, in an Case accept, receive, take, use or enjoy, or consent to the accepting, receiving, taking, using or enjoying, any Fee or Reward, of or from any Person or Persons whatsoever for the impannelling or returning of any Inquest, Jury or Tales, to or in any Court within this State, other or more than such Fees or Rewards as now are or hereafter shall be allowed and established by some Law or Laws of this State, but will to the utmost of my Skill and Power truly and impartially impanel or cause to be so impaneled with all convenient and necessary Speed, all Jurors which it shall pertain to my Office to impanel, and will in all Things touching the Duties of the said Office of Sheriff, demean myself impartially and uprightly, as becometh an honest Man and a good Officer, to the best of my Skill and Understanding.”

 

 

Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753-1804) was born in Somerset County, New Jersey, and graduated from the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1770. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1774. He was a member of the Provincial Congress of new Jersey in 1775-1776, and served in the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of colonel. In 1779, he was a member of the Continental Congress, and from 1781 to 1789, he was the clerk of the Somerset County Court of Common Pleas. He was a member of the state ratifying convention for the U.S. Constitution in 1787. He represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate from 1793 to 1796, and served as a major general in 1794 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. He served in the New Jersey General Assembly in 1784 and from 1800 to 1804.

 

Robert Stockton Jr. (c. 1730-1805) was born in Princeton, and around 1750 married Helenah McComb, with whom he had at least six children. He served as quartermaster during the Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major. His home near Princeton was called “Constitution Hill,” and George Washington made the home his quarters in December 1776, when he and the Continental Army halted in Princeton on their retreat from New Brunswick. Stockton’s first cousin Richard Stockton (1730-1781) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Robert Stockton Jr. served as sheriff of Somerset County, New Jersey, from 1784 to 1786, and may also have been sheriff earlier, in 1776. By 1794, he was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Somerset County.

 

 

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