Talk:Shepard Kollock

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"Shepard Kollock was an editor and printer who was active in colonial New Jersey during the period of the American Revolutionary War. His New Jersey Journal became the second newspaper published in New Jersey. It was established by Kollock at his press in Chatham, New Jerssey during 1779. This paper became a catalyst in the revolution."

Please note that Shepard Kollock lived and worked in Chatham, New Jersey. Your article stated Chatham Township and the link went to Chatham Township, New Jersey. No township government existed at that time. I have changed the link to the original article, where all of the references to Kollock exist. Another editor has deleted all of the history that used to be on that page, but at least that is where all of the reference material is.

Chatham is the village founded in the very early 1700s, while it was part of the Dutch New Netherlands, at the crossing of the Fishawack (Passaic river) along the Indian Minisink Trail that became Main Street and ran from the river to Morristown (called Hanover at the time) and ultimately to Mendham and Chester. One of (the village of) Chatham's earliest names was, Day's Bridge, for the man who built the first bridge across the river at that point. After it became a British colony of New Jersey, that very same village was renamed Chatham to honor the British prime minister (William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham) who was most favorable toward the colonists in issues with the British government.

The village has never been very large -- it has always been a small, pedestrian friendly, community with a strong and valuable central location of trades and services. Kollock's press was there because Chatham was a complex community that could support a press among its other services. The colonial tavern and inn near the crossing still existed until a fire in the later part of the twentieth century. Many other early 1700 structures there, remain and display their dates of construction. Main Street developed westward from that point, following the Indian trail.

Almost a century after its founding, the village was included in a township created in 1806 as a form of local government in the post-revolution state of New Jersey (U.S.A). The township government included several colonial villages or settlements and was called Chatham Township to honor William Pitt again. The township government oversaw the villages of Chatham, Bottle Hill (which became Madison), and Avon (which became Florham Park), and scattered small settlements of a few homesteads. The village of Chatham never became Chatham Township, it was governed by it. The township never became a village, it was a government form.

Later the township governance area was reduced in size, with its three major settlements seceding from under its control to regain their independence, including Chatham and the other two mentioned above. After reforming a local government as a village on August 19, 1892, the colonial settlement, Chatham, soon adopted the borough form of government on March 1, 1897 when that form of local government was first made available to communities in New Jersey. It is still only 2.4 square miles in area. Its current form of local government remains as a borough.

To this day, Chatham Township has never had a town or village center. Originally, it was a governing body over several entities. It lost the major villages within its boundaries when they seceded and reformed under other forms of local government. What remained of the Chatham Township area was well off "the beaten path" and had no transportation links to the bustling communities that thrived along Main Street, then Route 24, from Chatham to Morristown and continued to Chester or along the railroad that was built parallel to the main route through the towns. After WWII, the rural nature of Chatham Township gave way to housing developments, the residents of which then had to take advantage of automobiles to reach towns for services, jobs, and transportation. Because of all the homes that have been built, it now is a community of sorts, without a town, but quite distinct. Parts of Chatham Township are closer to other communities than to Chatham, and those residents avail themselves of stores and transportation links in those towns.

Now I would link your Chatham reference in the article to "Chatham, New Jersey" as the article was until just recently, but changes have been made to that article that no longer make any sense.

There used to be two articles, Chatham, New Jersey and Chatham Township, New Jersey. But no more... Now there are three articles and none of them make any sense. The entire history of the village dating from the very early 1700s has been deleted or shifted to the township that was created in 1806 and the history of the village that now has a borough form of government is defined only by its current form of government and the title has been changed to reflect that. Another article was created that stretches the mind by asserting that Chatham, New Jersey doesn’t mean, Chatham, New Jersey, but rather the recently joined school systems into a regional district and a library that has extended its services to the residents of the township. Furthermore the authors of the changes to the articles assert that no one can determine in which municipality they live anymore... this being a recent phenomenon, and being called “modern usage” even though the joint systems expressly state that they serve “The Chathams”.

Efforts made to correct this situation have been met with hostility, threats, pettiness, cronyism, and dominance behavior to exceed any I have seen in Wikipedia. So there is no link you can make now to where Shepard Kollock ought to go.

At least, please know that Shepard Kollock could not have lived in Chatham Township, it did not exist in 1779, nor for almost thirty years after that. Nor did he live in the euphemistically substituted, Chatham Borough, New Jersey. He lived in the village that had existed for almost seventy years before he published from it. It was founded almost three hundred years ago. It still exists and is called Chatham, New Jersey... secretly known by thousands... but no one will ever be able to figure that out from our encyclopedia since the changes.

In short, as elsewhere in New Jersey in the 1890's, the built-up area seceded from the farmlands so the ratables didn't have to pay to educate the farm kids. So? In 1779, this issue had not yet arisen; New Jersey had not yet devised a system of public education. In 2006, it is moot; there's a regional school district. Septentrionalis 14:37, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Elizabeth Daily Journal has been defunct for 15 years

The quote about the Elizabeth Daily Journal being in continuous publication is not true. The paper folded in 1992.

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Simplemines 01:30, 3 May 2007 (UTC)simplemines

Doubtless originally from The Story of New Jersey (1945). Septentrionalis PMAnderson 14:55, 3 May 2007 (UTC)