New Englanders in a New Land: Newark in the Proprietary Period, 1666-1702 – A Virtual Book Talk

Join Timothy J. Crist as he discusses his new book, New Englanders in a New Land: Newark in the Proprietary Period, 1666–1702 (Rutgers, 2026), which explores the founding and evolution of Newark as a self-contained Puritan community.

New England Puritans from the former New Haven Colony settled Newark in 1666. Guided by John Davenport’s “Discourse about Civil Government in a New Plantation Whose Design is Religion” (1663), they aimed to implement “the Kingdom of Christ in the Congregational Way.” Their fierce determination to establish scripture-based government in a close-knit township and only admit settlers who promised to maintain “the purity of Religion professed in the Congregational Churches” often put them in direct conflict with New Jersey’s proprietary government. In addition, their egalitarian approach to allocating land diverged sharply from the proprietors’ headright system, adapted from the West Indies and Carolina, that rewarded the use of indentured servants and enslaved labor with larger distributions of land.

This study provides a fresh interpretation of the founding and settlement of Newark as a self-contained New England community, including negotiations with Native Americans, formation of godly self-government, gradual allocation of township land, and introduction of slavery. To establish their New England way, Newarkers resisted the proprietary government to the point of rebellion, bringing into stark relief the inherent conflict between two sources of authority, one scriptural and community-based and the other royal and proprietary.

This event is free and open to all, but registration is required. Click here to register.

After registering, you will receive an email with information about attending the webinar.   

Email any questions to programs@14beacon.org. 

Speaker

Timothy J. Crist is a co-founder and president of the Newark History Society. After earning his BA from Yale University and his PhD in history from University of Cambridge, he headed a bibliographical research project at Yale and then held executive positions at Prudential Financial. Tim has also served as chair of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and president of the Newark Public Library. In addition, he has been a volunteer transcriber for CLA’s New England Hidden Histories project for the last decade.