Supreme Court of New Jersey
Of the term of May in the year of our Lord one thousand
seven hundred and ninety nine
Essex County ss. John Den
complains of Richard Fen in the Custody of the Sheriff of the County aforesaid
for this (to wit) THAT WHERAS Gozen Ryerss the second Day of May
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine
at Elizabeth town in the County aforesaid had demised, sett, and
to farm lett, to the aforesaid John Den one Messuage, one Tenement, one Barn,
one Orchard, one Garden two hundred Acres of arable Land two
hundred Acres of pasture Land two hundred Acres of meadow Land, and two
hundred Acres of wood Land with their Appurtenances, situate, lying and being in
the Township of Elizabeth town in the County aforesaid, now or late in
the possession of John Stites
To have and to hold the Tenements aforesaid with the
Appurtenances, unto the said John Den and his assigns from the first Day
of May aforesaid then last past for during and until the
full End and Term of fourteen Years, and fully to be completed and ended
by virtue of which Demise the said John Den entered into the Tenements
aforesaid, with the Appurtenances and was thereof possessed until the said
Richard Fen on the second Day of the same Month of May with Force
and Arms, &c. entered on te Tenements aforesaid with the Appurtenances in
and upon the Possession of the said John Den, and ejected, drove out and amoved
the said John Den from the said Farm, his said Term not being yet ended, and
kept out and still keeps out the said John Den, so ejected, drove out and amoved
from his said possession, and then and there did other Injuries to the said John
Den against the Peace of this State and to the Damage of the said John den five
hundred pounds and therefore he brings this suit, &c.
For the Plaintiff,
John Doe, Richard Roe } Pledges,
&c.
Essex County ss. John Denn puts in his place Matthias Williamson Jun. his attorney
against Richard Fen in a pleas of trespass and ejectment &c.
Sir,
I am informed you are in possession or claim Title to the Premises in the above
Declaration of Ejectment mentioned or to some Part thereof and I being sued as a
casual Ejector, and having no Claim or Title thereto, do advise you to appear at
Trenton, on the first Tuesday in September next in the Supreme
Court of New-Jersey then and there to be held and by some Attorney of the same
Court cause yourself to be made Defendant in my stead, otherwise I shall suffer
Judgment to be entered against me by default, and you will be turned out of
Possession.
I am your Friend
Richard Fen
To Mr. John Stites
tenant in Possession of the Premises in this Declaration mentioned or of
some Part thereof,
Recorded in the Clerks Office of the Supreme Court in Book A
of Judgments folio 40.L
J..Rea? Clk
The aforesaid document was a printed
form, I have typed the hand written fill-ins in italics.
The use of fictitious John Den &
Richard Fen was common legal procedure to enable the recording of a land
transfer in a Court of Law. English Feet of Fines used a similar process.
This
Declaration of Ejectment may well refer to same property in the Chancery case
brought by John Stites against Gozen Ryers. No doubt obtained by Gozen Ryers on
the basis of a claimed mortgage default, and to give him the legal ability to
sell the property from under John Stites.
Acknowledgments to the New Jersey State Archives :-
Supreme Court - Ryers v. Stites, case file # 33235
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