Author Archives: H. Husted

About H. Husted

I'm an Electronic Resources Librarian interested in better public access to New Jersey documents, history, and genealogy.

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How to Link your State Library Card to Google Scholar

December 9, 2024Research Library Spotlight No Comments

H. Husted

Remote access to State Library Information Center databases is restricted to New Jersey state employees and Thomas Edison State University staff and students.

How to Set Up Links to Full Text from NJSL in Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a popular public search engine for academic and scholarly literature, serving metadata and citation details for many academic subject areas and disciplines.

Did you know you can use Google Scholar to seamlessly access content licensed by the State Library Information Center? If you are a State employee or TESU student or staff member, all you need is your State library card.

Login with your Google account to https://scholar.google.com/
Click the Settings option from the top left navigation.
Click Library links.
Search for New Jersey State Library.
Add the following libraries as applicable and click Save.

If you are a TESU student or TESU staff

Add New Jersey State Library – Access from NJSL. This enables linking to content we license from EBSCO.

Screenshot of Google Scholar settings page showing library access links for "new jersey state library" with two options listed. An arrow with the text "TESU users, add the first option" points to the first option: New Jersey State Library - Access from NJSL. The second, unchecked option, shows New Jersey State Library Information Center - ProQuest Fulltext

If you are a State employee

Add both options: New Jersey State Library – Access from NJSL and New Jersey State Library Information Center – ProQuest Fulltext. This enables linking to content we license from both EBSCO and ProQuest. ProQuest is exclusively licensed for State employees.

Search Results

After updating your settings, when you search Scholar, you will see download links to the right of the search result.

screen capture showing google scholar results with NJSL links for "New Jersey Air Quality" search

NJSL Discovery Search: the Other Google

The State Library licenses EBSCO’s Discovery Search for an integrated research experience for our users. Like Google Scholar, you can search Discovery without a library card but articles can only be accessed after login.

Our Discovery Search from EBSCO is a search engine that incorporates results from a broader range of sources than what Google Scholar indexes.

our library catalog
our scholarly eBook collections (EBSCO, Gale)
many of our databases, including HeinOnline and NewsBank
our New Jersey State Publications Digital Library

One more linked search engine: PubMed

PubMed is used by medical professionals and researchers for articles indexed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and is the most trusted source for locating medical research. PubMed is free, but to access articles use the linked version for State employees and TESU.

Contact Us

Reference Services is available to assist State employees and TESU researchers tailor a search strategy or track down needed content. Contact us by email or call us at 609-278-2640, option 4.

Abigail Sharp: New Jersey’s One Witch

July 17, 2024Research Library Spotlight No Comments

H. Husted

The colonial province of New Jersey never tried anyone for witchcraft. The only legal record concerning a “witch” is the lawsuit brought by Abigail Sharp of Woodbridge, New Jersey against Abraham Shotwell.

Sharp v. Shotwell

closeup of Supreme Court case file; the handwritten text says "Abig. Sharp v. Ab. Shotwell" — Courtesy New Jersey State Archives ; Department of State

On May 13, 1727, Abigail Sharp sued Abraham Shotwell for trespass on the case in the amount of £500, citing harm to her business, her reputation, and her social life, as well as exposing her to the threat of unwarranted prosecution. Shotwell had publicly accused her of witchcraft, describing supernatural events he claimed he had witnessed, including her taking the shape of a cat on top of his house and bewitching his horse, which died.

Abraham Shotwell pleaded not guilty. There is no information on the ultimate decision of the case.

The three pages that comprise her lawsuit are the only record we have that the events occurred and it seems to have been forgotten until the case became an object of public interest in the 19^th century.

The suit was filed in Middlesex County and is in the collection of Supreme Court case files at the New Jersey State Archives. See “Abigail Sharp v. Abraham Shotwell.” Case 38755. New Jersey State Archives Supreme Court Case Files, 1704-1844. https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/SupremeCourt.aspx. A scanned copy is available to download.

A Transcription of the Lawsuit

Spelling, grammar, and line breaks are preserved from the original.

The original handwritten account of the lawsuit — Courtesy New Jersey State Archives ; Department of State.

Superior Court of the term of May in the thirteenth year of
King George
Middlesex: Abigail Sharp complains of Abraham Shotwell in Custody &
For that, whereas the said Abigail is a good true faithfull
And honest subject of our Lord the King now & hath been
Of good name fame conversation & condition & as Such
As well[?] among her neighbors as other faithfull subjects
Of our Said Lord the King always hitherto hath been
Esteemed called & reputed & soberly modestly & Religiously
From the time of her nativity hitherto hath always lived
Without any scandal or suspicion of felony witchcraft
Inchantment or diabolical conversation with wicked
& unclean spirits or another other hurtfull or unlawfull
Crime whatsoever. Nevertheless, the aforesaid Abraham
Not ignorant of the premises but contriving & malitious-
Ly intending the same Abigail unjustly to injure
Her good name fame & reputation to hurt Distract
From & damage & to cause her to suffer & undergo
The pains & penalties by the Laws of England & of
This province upon those that are guilty of witchcraft
& have commerce & familiarity with unclean &
Wicked spirits ordained to be inflicted the Same
Abraham on the last day of March in the year of
Our Lord one thousand seven hundred & twenty
Seven at Woodbridge within the county of Middlesex
Aforesaid in the presence & hearing of many of the
faithfull subjects of our Lord the King now falsely &
maliciously openly & publickly spoke uttered
& spread abroad of the same Abigail those false [??]
& defamatory English words following namely Nab
Sharp (meaning the said Abigaill) is an old witch &
Had been flying all night & that he saw her (meaning
The Said Abigail) as he was coming home early in
The morning & She was just lighted in a [??] of
Bouns & also that the said Abraham of his further
[next page]
Further malice against the same Abigail. Thereon & that
Same Abigail further to blacken scandalize & hurt
in the manner aforesaid afterwards to wit on the day
& year & at the place aforesaid presence & hearing
Of many of the faithfull subjects of our said Lord
the King now falsely maliciously openly & publickly
Spoke uttered spread abroad & with a loud voice
Published of the same Abigail these other false feigned
Scandalous & defamatory English words following
Namely Abigail Sharp is a witch & that he heard a
Noise on the top of his house & he saw her meaning
The said Abigail in the shape of a cat and also that
The said Abraham of his further malice against the
Said Abigail shown & the same Abigail further to
blacken scandalize & hurt in the manner aforesaid
afterwards to wit on the day year & at the place afore
Said in the presence & hearing of many of the faithfull
Subjects of our said Lord the King now falsely &
Maliciously openly & publickly spoke uttered spread
Abroad & with a loud voice published of the same
Abigail these other false feigned Scandalous & Defamatory
English words following namely Nab Sharp that old
Witch (meaning the said Abigail) bewitched that horse
That lies dead in my field. She meaning the said
Abigail, brought him there just now all mealy from
The mill, by Reason of the Speaking uttering
Spreading abroad & publishing of which several
False feigned scandalous & defamatory English words
The same Abigail – not only in her good name found
Credit[?] & Reputation which she heretofore had is
greatly hurt & worsted but hath been put in danger
Of being indicted of felony & witchcraft & is drawn[?]
Into so great hatred & infamy that all the people
Of this Province do refuse to have commerce &
Society with her & in getting of her livelyhood
& doing of her business she is many ways hurt
[next page]
Wherefore the said Abigail saith that she is worsted & hath
damage to five hundred pounds & thereof she bringeth
this suite.
Wm. Smith Quod[?] plg[?]
[Post script]
Middlesex: So Abigail Sharp puts in her place William Smith her attorney
against Abraham Shotwell in a plea of trespass upon the
Case

Who was Abigail Sharp?

Nothing is known of her origins, the outcome of the case, or anything else at all in any source that I can find.

I have not yet found a published genealogy or primary source that includes an Abigail Sharp that could possibly be her, but there are clues in the lawsuit to her possible identity.

Abigail brought the lawsuit herself, which may indicate she was either unmarried or widowed. Shotwell disparagingly called her an “old nab” in 1727; if she was, say, 50 years old at the time, that would have her born about 1675 or earlier. At that age, she could be a New Jersey native born to one of the early Sharp settlers in East or perhaps West Jersey, or she was herself an immigrant.

There are a handful of Sharp families settled in New Jersey by 1727. My current working theory is she is a sister or cousin to a pair of Sharp brothers who immigrated from Scotland and settled in Woodbridge. Abigail was in the same generation as William and John Sharp. William Sharp married a Mary Smith. Abigail’s lawyer was William Smith; I have not yet confirmed his identity.

It’s also noteworthy that Abigail had the means to hire a lawyer to sue Abraham Shotwell. Abigail Sharp was a businesswoman. She claims in the lawsuit that she suffered not only from a bad reputation as a result of the slander, but that “all the people of this Province do refuse to have commerce & Society with her & in getting of her livelihood & doing of her business she is many ways hurt.” Shotwell also claimed that when she brought him to the dead horse, she was “all mealy from the mill”.

What was Abigail’s business? Did she work at the mill? Woodbridge is the site of New Jersey’s first grist mill, founded by Jonathan Singletary Dunham. Dunham’s daughter married Samuel Smith, and it was their daughter Mary who married the immigrant William Sharp.

In other witchcraft cases, it’s been noted by historians that accusers are motivated by fear of the Other, xenophobia, and jealousy. There is sometimes a financial disparity between the accused and the accuser, with the accuser wanting to take down someone of higher financial status.

If Abigail is a Scot, I wonder whether xenophobia played a part in Shotwell’s accusation (as it did in the Pennsylvania witchcraft trial discussed below); her accuser, Shotwell, was a New Yorker of English descent. Scotland and England at the time shared a long, fraught history of distrust.

If I am able to identify her further, I will update this blog.

Abraham Shotwell, being male with an unusual name, is easier to locate. He is probably if not certainly the Abraham Shotwell who was born say 1692 in Long Island and was of Piscataway when he died in 1757. He would have been in his thirties when he made his accusations, which he had to have known endangered her life. It had been only thirty years since the last witchcraft executions in the future United States, the Salem trials of 1692. While we can say today with hindsight it would have been unlikely for Abigail to be prosecuted for witchcraft, in 1727 it remained on the books as a capital crime.

East Jersey Witch Law of 1668

In the general assembly of East Jersey held in May, 1668, among the dozen “Capital Laws,” is the following law authorizing prosecution for witchcraft: “If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death.”

closeup of page in Leaming and Spicer's 1758 book "Grants, concessions, and original constitutions of the province of New-Jersey" depicting the law against witchcraft "ITEM.—If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death." — “ITEM.—If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death.”

This and other works are available in our list of Historical Compilations of New Jersey Law.

West Jersey, which operated independently and published its own laws, had no such mention of witchcraft in its laws. After 1703, when East Jersey and West Jersey were combined into the new province of New Jersey, the witchcraft law was in effect statewide.

Mount Holly Witches?

The other notable mention of witchcraft is a 1732 article published in the Pennsylvania Gazette on the witches of Mount Holly, who are celebrated today with an annual Witches Ball. Read the article here: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0056.

The absence of any supporting documentary evidence, the jovial tone of the article, and the absence of any personal names as would surely be expected all point to this being a probable fabrication by the Gazette under its editor, noted prankster and joker (among other titles), Ben Franklin. There are those who were more than willing to believe the story, including the author of an 1894 article in New Jersey Law Journal.

New Jersey’s Enduring Witch Heritage

Margaret Mattson, the only woman tried for witchcraft in Pennsylvania, was bailed out by her husband Nils Mattson and son Anthony Nilsson Long to the sum of 50 pounds. She was tried by a jury of mostly English Quakers who found her not guilty of witchcraft, but guilty of “the fame of being a witch” (i.e. she had a bad reputation). Margaret, her husband, and their son were Finns who had endured a traumatic migration to the New Sweden colony in 1654 on an overcrowded ship in which a third of the passengers died. However Nils Mattson prospered and was a landholder when the English Quakers moved in. While their rights to own property were for the most part respected by the English, there was tension as many of the prime locations were already developed by the Swedes and Finns. Many sold their land in Philadelphia, and a number moved to Gloucester and Salem counties.

In February 1684, she and her co-accused were tried for witchcraft in the new state of Pennsylvania’s Provincial Council, with William Penn serving as judge. In the midst of the accusations and trial, her husband sold off his farms in Pennsylvania. After the trial, he and Margaret relocated across the river to Gloucester County, New Jersey to live with their son. Witchcraft was never a crime in West Jersey. Son Anthony Nilsson Long was a prominent man, serving as constable of Gloucester County the same year his mother was tried as a witch across the river. Anthony had five children and there are surely descendants of Margaret Mattson living in New Jersey today.

Lastly, the accused witch of East Hampton, New York, Elizabeth Garlick, spared at trial by John Winthrop Jr. in 1658, has a strong New Jersey connection; most of her grandchildren left Long Island for Cape May and south Jersey when land became available in the 1680s and 1690s. Widespread endogamy means if you have colonial Cape May roots, there is probably a witch grandmother sitting in your tree.

New Jersey LGBT Bars 1930s-1960s in ABC Bulletins

July 17, 2024Research Library Spotlight No Comments

H. Husted

Use this map to visualize locations of pre-Stonewall New Jersey bars serving LGBTQ patrons, as described in ABC Bulletins from the 1930s to 1960s.

Download map data: CSV | Excel

Research in the ABC Bulletins collection digitized by the State Library Information Center identified 150 bulletins in which the presence of a queer person was noted. All locations have been added to the map above. This map is considered comprehensive, but corrections and additions are welcome.

Trigger warning: Bulletins linked in this post and on the map may contain homophobia, descriptions of mistreatment, and slurs. These are historical documents and do not reflect current social norms or acceptable language.

Update: On 29 June 2021, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal vacated the decisions of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) that resulted in penalties against bar owners serving LGBT patrons in the 1930s-1960s. This map has been updated to note when licensees were included in the Attorney General’s directive, and also includes seven locations that were not issued a pardon, locations in which the charges were dismissed, bars accused of lewdness between queer people after 1967, and appeals and court challenges to decisions, for a total of 150 decisions.

See the Attorney General’s press release and the directive with an appendix listing the bars.

ABC Bulletins in New Jersey State Library Digital Collections

The State Library Information Center has a large and growing repository of digitized State Documents, preserving and making them available free online for lawmakers, lawyers, State employees, and the general public. Part of our commitment to preserving New Jersey history involves identifying, digitizing, and making available State publications relating to marginalized and disenfranchised populations. These include the State Asylum reports, documents and publications on Black New Jerseyans’ history, documents on women’s suffrage, and documents on civil rights.

The Bulletins of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) are an important primary source for the social history of nightlife, entertainment, law enforcement, crime, and bar culture in New Jersey. Additional background information about the ABC collection can be found in Alcoholic Beverage Control Bulletins reveal social history of New Jersey by Caitlyn Cook.

Notably, the ABC Bulletins contain significant descriptions of queer culture and LGBTQ people’s relationships to the law and each other, in a time in which being one’s authentic self in public involved significant personal risk.

How and why did the ABC Bulletins document queer public life?

Post-prohibition legislation led to establishment of the ABC, whose director was empowered by law to create regulations for consumption of alcohol. Then as now, a liquor licensee had requirements to uphold state regulations.

Bar owners who tolerated customers perceived by ABC agents as gender non-conforming broke Rules 4 and 5 of the ABC State Regulations No. 20. Conduct of Licensees and Use of Licensed Premises. ABC Agents who had witnessed people being queer in public provided testimony that described clothing, posture, and timbre of voice to assign charges of “female impersonation” and “male impersonation”, often in combination with other violations, but occasionally the presence of queer people was enough to bring a case and penalties against bar owners.

Rules 4 and 5 were used against bars who served and hired queer people. — Number 20, rules 4 and 5. From Rules and regulations, effective July 1, 1950, https://dspace.njstatelib.org/handle/10929/21186

The regulations were based on ABC’s moral mandate, as expressed in 1955 by Commissioner Davis, “It is clear that homosexuals may well have a harmful effect on some members of the public. Furthermore, where they congregate and conduct themselves in the manner hereinbefore related, they are a threat to the safety and morals of the public.” (Bulletin 1063, Item 1)

Penalties were strict from the outset. In 1941, Acting Commissioner Garrett sets a precedent minimum charge of 15 days suspension for first offense on rule 5, presence of female impersonators. (Bulletin 474, Item 1) Long license suspensions for multiple or recurring violations (sometimes up to 180 days) could drive some bars out of business. Peter Clyment, who operated an unnamed Gloucester City bar in 1942, was compelled to sell his bar license and never operate again, partly for employing two unlicensed entertainers from Philadelphia as “female impersonators.” (Bulletin 491, Item 2)

Being Visibly Queer

The Peter Orsi case in 1939 (Bulletin 326, item 1), and the appeal (Bulletin 390, item 1) established a “you know one when you see one” precedent cited in subsequent cases, in a case where the only disallowed activity was queer people on the premises.

Bar owners, entertainers, and guests routinely gave testimony arguing they were not queer, only perceived as such in ways that were arbitrary. The Commissioner typically dismissed all such claims if his agents gave detailed testimony describing behavior and appearance outside what he considered normal. As can be imagined, bar owners and their lawyers tried a variety of ways to defend their businesses, bringing in psychiatrists and even a sociologist as defense witnesses. To support a charge of “obscene conduct by entertainer”, agents provided extended descriptions of verbal interactions, as well as comedy and burlesque performances by “Joe” on multiple dates in November 1951. Joe testified that he was a married man and that his performances were not indecent, and he was not impersonating a female, he impersonated a variety of entertainers, one of whom was Hollywood star Helen Morgan. (Bulletin 953, Item 1) At the time of a 1959 raid on Anthony’s in Paterson, bar manager Ruth Murphy Loomis stated she observed no unusual conduct among them and asked, “‘Tell me one thing: These people who you call homosexuals, gays or whatever you call them – what are they supposed to do?’ and that the agent replied, ‘I can’t answer that.’” (Bulletin 1289, Item 7)

In 1959, the commissioner wrote that clothes alone were not the determination someone was queer, describing a group at the Rutgers Cocktail Bar as “obviously homosexuals as indicated by their appearance and actions, including their manner of speech, their walk, gestures and other mannerisms.” (Bulletin 1133, Item 2) It took the New Jersey Supreme Court case, One-Eleven Liquors, v. ABC, (decided November 6, 1967) to remove the prohibition on “well-behaved” queer people using bars. See Whitney Strub and Timothy Stewart-Winter (Nov 30, 2017). “Remembering One Eleven Wines, a Pre-Stonewall Win Against Homophobic State Surveillance.” Slate.

The Supreme Court case did not exactly end the harassment of queer people in bars. Almost two years later, there was a 14 June 1969 raid on the Gold Nugget in New Brunswick. Three transgender or gender nonconforming women sitting in a bar were arrested and searched but were released and the charges dropped under “recent ruling by the director that the mere presence of female impersonators in a licensed premises, without more, e.g. overt acts of lewdness of their engaging in immoral activity is not violative of Rule 4 of State Regulation No. 20.” (Bulletin 1933, Item 4)

The Silver Lining

Reading in some cases dehumanizing descriptions of queer people in our grandparents’ generation is upsetting. Bulletins are historic documents of the period, and contain what we would today describe as slurs, homophobia and codified disrespect for queer lives.

It is ironic that the detailed testimony used to punish and drive out of business bars where queer people could find each other, also preserves rare descriptions of underground queer culture and personal life. There are detailed and vivid descriptions of fashion; cabaret, comedy, and drag performances; and sometimes funny conversations between queer patrons, bar owners, and ABC agents. Some bulletins preserve inadvertent tributes to romance, joy, and tenderness between queer people. Notable among these are a description of Freddie and Renee dancing together at the Clover Leaf Inn in Hamilton (Bulletin 1159, Item 1) and descriptions of couples dancing and being physically affectionate at Paterson’s NY Bar in 1955. (Bulletin 1063, Item 1)

At Anthony’s in Paterson in 1959, an agent stated, “a large number of the males wore loud sweaters, loud shirts and multicolored scarves.” (Bulletin 1289, Item 7) We know in the summer of 1966, butch and gender nonconforming women or transgender people at Jack’s Star Bar in Newark wore t shirts and “zipper fly pants”, one person wearing a “man’s haircut with side burns” and another “a heavy rock and roll hair-do combed back, sweeping back to his [sic] side of the temples.” (Bulletin 1667, Item 3)

Agents described what sounds like a drag show at the Secaucus Copa Club in March 1956: “the same male musician, now in padded house-dress and wearing a wig, sang an indecent parody of a popular song to a guitar player. Thereafter another performer sang a double entendre song to a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary.” (Bulletin 1112, Item 1) At Hoover’s Tavern, Morris Plains in 1963, a performer named Jim gave a saucy performance, while “two of the apparent homosexuals placed their arms about each other’s waist while they were talking, rolled their eyes at each other and made endearing motions.” (Bulletin 1521, Item 1)

Queer New Jerseyans of the 1930s through the 1960s demonstrated incredible bravery being queer in public when so much could be lost with an arrest. Bar owners risked and sometimes lost their livelihoods by providing space to queer patrons. Being queer and gender nonconforming in public still sometimes presents a risk, but increasingly New Jersey is a safer place to live and thrive.

Update 14 Dec 2021: added municipalities and counties to locations spreadsheet: CSV | Excel

How to Find New Jersey State Publications Online

December 9, 2024Research Library Spotlight No Comments

H. Husted

Research strategies for finding New Jersey government documents online

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Using Ratables for New Jersey Genealogy

December 9, 2024Genealogy Blog Research Library No Comments

H. Husted

What are ratables?

Ratables are lists of heads of household compiled in order to levy a tax. Heads of household were typically males and in some cases widows. These taxes were levied periodically from 1773-1822.

Tax rates were based on a number of variables set by the New Jersey General Assembly, such as how many “improved” (i.e. arable) acres were owned, how many and what type of livestock, whether you owned a carriage, and how many servants and enslaved persons were contracted and owned.

The specifics of what was taxed and at what rate changed when each new tax was issued. Information collected about the taxpayer varied based on what was being taxed for the period of that ratable.

Reproduction of an archival ratable from Somerset County, New Jersey take from 1784 Book, 1778, page 10. The ratable is a handwritten grid with persons' names down the lefthand column. The top row headings describe what information is collected about the persons taxed. — A ratable from Somerset County, 1784. Courtesy New Jersey State Archives ; Department of State

What can you do with ratables?

Ratables are an important primary source for pre-1830 genealogy research in New Jersey.

The first set of ratables was issued in 1773-1774, while New Jersey was a province, then regularly until 1822. There was no statewide census of colonial New Jersey. The federal census returns for New Jersey conducted from 1790-1820 are lost; the first available statewide census return for New Jersey is 1830. There are less census returns available for New Jersey than any other state. Genealogy researchers use ratables as a census substitute.

Lists of all known taxpayers in a town and lists of all known taxpayers with the same surname facilitate cluster genealogy, name studies, local history studies, and brick wall research.

Revolutionary Census of New Jersey

There are several published transcriptions and compilations of tax lists. The Revolutionary Census of New Jersey compiled by Kenn Stryker-Rodda is the most used. This index groups individuals by last name from three different ratables: 1773-1774, 1778-1780, and 1784-1786. There is no complete set of ratables for all regions in this time period, so by using these three sets, all townships are covered.

“For the revolutionary period there is at least one list for each of the townships into which the thirteen counties of the colony/state were divided… Two successive lists have been incorporated into this index whenever possible, as individuals were sometimes omitted from a list, and because names were spelled differently even by the same assessor.” (Stryker-Rodda, p. v.)

Reproduction of the back of a twelve shilling note, printed 1776. The text at the top reads "Twelve Shillings. To Counterfeit is Death." Below the text is a large central image of a leaf bordered by a pattern of asterisks, stars and other symbols. The bottom of the shilling has the text "Burlington in New-Jersey, Printed by J. Collins, 1776." — reverse of a New Jersey twelve shilling note, printed in 1776

The index is alphabetical by last name, and includes their township. For the financial details and to see all taxpayers of the same town listed together, you can refer back to the transcriptions of the ratables published in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey. A “code” in the front of the book indicates which issue of GMNJ contains the transcription. The New Jersey State Library has a complete set of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey available for in-library use.

What can you learn from ratables?

The account of the taxpayer’s property lists several features of his wealth. Tax was calculated by multiplying these numbers by rates. For example, the tax burden for a householder in 1773/1774 ranged from 2 shillings to £4. Those who owned a furnace or glass-house could be taxed up to £10. There are a number of carve-outs and exemptions, similar to modern tax policy.

Comparing Ratable Data
What information was collected and what abbreviations were used in the published transcriptions
1773-1774 Ratable	1778-1780 Ratable	1784-1786 Ratable
a number without a letter: number of acres of improved land c: number of horses and/or cattle gm: grist mill hh: householder ms: merchant shop rc: riding chair s: servants or enslaved persons sm: single man sm&h: single man who keeps a horse v: vessel (boat)	a number without a letter: number of acres of improved land c: horned cattle ex: exempt h: horse(s) h&l: house and small lot hh: householder p: hog(s) rc: riding chair s: enslaved persons sm: single man who works for hire sm&h: single man who keeps a horse u: acres of unimproved land £: amount out at interest	a number without a letter: number of acres of improved land c: horned cattle ex: exempt gm: grist mill h: horse(s) h&l: house and small lot hh: householder p: hogs

Other Indexes to Ratables

Jackson, Ronald Vern, ed. New Jersey Tax Lists, 1772-1822. five volumes. American Tax List Indices. Salt Lake City, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1981. This work is an alphabetical index of taxpayers and includes the taxpayer’s name, town, county, and date they appeared on the tax list. It is not comprehensive, does not include all lists or even all counties. The contents are also searchable as part of Ancestry’s database New Jersey, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1643-1890.
Norton, James S. New Jersey in 1793: An Abstract and Index to the 1793 Militia Census of the State of New Jersey. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1973. This is a transcription of ratables created as a result of an NJ Law of 30 Nov 1792 “to take a list of all and every free and able-bodied white male Citizen, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five Years.” Those who did not serve and paid a $3 tax, as well as certain occupations, are listed as “exempt.” There are no extant 1793 ratables from Bergen, Cape May, Salem, and Somerset, but the author reconstructed a list of these men from other sources.

How to Access Ratables at the New Jersey State Archives

Of the total number of ratables recorded, only about a thousand (4% of the total) still exist. Almost all original extant ratables are in the collections of the New Jersey State Archives.

Until recently the Archives’ tax ratables were available only on microfilm, in person, or by request. As of spring 2024, the Archives has begun to publish high quality scanned ratables on their website.

Visit the record for the Tax Ratables (1768-1854) series. From here, click the link titled Finding Aid with Scanned Images. This page has links to currently available scans in their collection; more will be added over time.

“This series includes original tax ratables from the period 1773-1822, as well as photocopies of several tax lists currently in the custody of various historical societies.” Ratables are part of the New Jersey General Assembly Collection.

Questions about access to ratables should be directed to the New Jersey State Archives. Researchers are welcome to browse the print indexes listed to ratables above and issues of the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey in the NJ State Research Library on the fourth floor of the New Jersey State Library.

Selected New Jersey Colonial and Revolutionary Legislation on Ratables

If you have additional citations or references, please send them to the author.

An Act to Settle the Quotas of the Several Counties in This Colony for the Levying Taxes. (6 Dec 1769) Acts of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Jersey (Allinson), chapter CCCCXCV, https://books.google.com/books?id=Yd81AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA317#v=onepage&q&f=false

An Act for the Raising of Four Battalions. (27 Nov 1776) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter IX, http://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?page=9&collect=njleg&file=001&zoom=100

An Act for Better Regulating the Militia. (15 Mar 1777) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter XX, http://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?page=26&collect=njleg&file=001&zoom=100

An Act to Raise a Fund by Taxation for discharging the Debts and defraying the necessary expences [sic] of the State of New-Jersey. (26 Mar 1778) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter XXIII, https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?collect=njleg&file=002&page=0056&zoom=100

Some of the above acts created exemptions; other legislation creating and modifying exemptions

An Act for Encouraging the Manufacture of Paper in the State of New Jersey. (20 Jun 1778), Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?collect=njleg&file=002&page=0088&zoom=120

An Act to encourage William Parker, William Corlies, Richard Lippincott, Jeremiah Borden and Laurence Hartshorne, to erect Salt-Works in the State of New-Jersey. (5 Oct 1776) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter VIII, https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?collect=njleg&file=001&page=0008&zoom=120

An Act for Granting a Bounty upon Wool, Flax and Hemp, Raised and Sold within the State of New-Jersey. (14 Apr 1778) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter XXII, article 56, https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?page=55&collect=njleg&file=002&zoom=120

An Act for the Speedy and Effectual Recruiting of the Four New-Jersey Regiments in the Service of the United States. (3 Apr 1778) Acts of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, chapter XXIV, section 24), https://njlaw.rutgers.edu/cgi-bin/diglib.cgi?collect=njleg&file=002&page=0070&zoom=120