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History -
Historical
Societies, Libraries, and Museums |
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Brief
History of
Burlington
County
NJ
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Although officially incorporated
on
May 17, 1694,
the rudiments of
Burlington
County
government were established with
Burlington
County
on
March 25, 1681
and were in effect before William Penn laid out the city of
Philadelphia.
The City of
Burlington,
founded in 1677, was once the capital of
West Jersey.
The Lenni-Lenape Indians were the aboriginal owners of the county.
In October, 1677 a group of English debarked from the ship
Kent
and founded the town of
Burlington.
The American Indians sold more and more of their lands to the new
settlers until finally, in 1801, there remained less than 100 adult
American Indians on the Indian Mills reservation, which was the
first American Indian reservation in the
United States
and the American Indian's last dwelling place in
Burlington
County.
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1692,
boundary set with Gloucester County.
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1693, Gloucester County
boundary repealed.
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1710, boundaries more definite.
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7 March 1837, part set off to form Atlantic County.
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1838, part
transferred to Mercer County.
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15 February 1850, Ocean County
set off.
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1857,
boundary with Ocean County
clarified.
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1891,
Egg
Harbor
township transferred to Ocean County.
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1902, parts
added from Camden and Atlantic counties.
This county derived its name from the town of
Burlington,
which was settled by English Friends. It is a long tract, extending
from the
Delaware river
to the
Atlantic ocean;
being the only county that reaches across the width of the state. It
is bounded NNW. by the
Delaware
river, N. by Mercer County., ENE. by Monmouth County., SE. by the
Atlantic Ocean,
and SW. by
Atlantic
and
Gloucester
County.
The county is of an alluvial formation, composed of sand, gravel,
loam and clay, and its surface is generally level or undulating. In
the interior, a few miles from the
Delaware,
is a strip of fertile land several miles wide, on which are some of
the finest farms in the state, highly cultivated, and much improved
by the marl which abounds there. The prominent agriculture products
of the county are wheat, corn, rye, oats, grass, beans, and
potatoes. Beyond the above tract, for about forty miles, nearly to
the sea-shore, the whole country is generally a light sandy soil
covered principally with pines, in which are but a few inhabitants,
who are occupied in cutting timber for transportation, or are
employed in the glass works and iron foundries scattered here and
there over its surface. Along the sea-shore is a narrow strip of
fertile land. The SE. part of the county is watered by the Little
Egg Harbor river and its branches, which flow to the ocean; the NW.
by the Rancocas, Crosswicks creek, and other streams emptying into
the
Delaware.
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By 1840
Burlington
County
was divided into the following 11 townships, all of which,
except
Washington,
were incorporated in 1798:
Burlington,
Evesham,
Mansfield,
Washington,
Chester,
Hanover,
Northampton,
Willingboro,
Chesterfield,
Little Egg Harbor, and
Springfield.
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Today
Burlington
County
remains the state's largest county in area (covering 827 square
miles). It is currently comprised of 40 municipalities.
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Homes and sites associated with
Thomas Paine, Ulysses S. Grant, Clara Barton, Alice Paul, and
other people historically famous, are located in
Burlington County,
New Jersey.
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For History of
Burlington
County
New Jersey,
also see:
HISTORICAL
SOCIETIES & LIBRARIES
HISTORY
(& OTHER) MUSEUMS
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