Scandals Mar the Sale of Loyalist Estates

As discussed in the prior article, auctions of Loyalist estates were held in Monmouth County starting in March 1779. Within a month, 70 estates were sold at public auction. Given the rush of activity and lack of precedent for holding these auctions, some irregularities were inevitable. But what occurred greatly exceeded mere irregularity. The affairs of Monmouth County’s Forfeiture Commissioners - Samuel Forman, Kenneth Hankinson, Jacob Wikoff, Joseph Lawrence - would be a concern of the New Jersey government for several years.

New Jersey Legislature Considers Problems with Monmouth County Estate Auctions

The first Loyalist estate auction occurred in Freehold on March 17. Just a week later, a petition was sent to the New Jersey Legislature regarding the “great & grievous complaints… made against the present, as well as the former proceedings of the Commissioners appointed by Law for taking charge of and disposing of the forfeited estates.” The legislature was asked to hear witnesses “so that justice may be done to the Commissioners.” Petitioners included Colonel Asher Holmes, commanding the Freehold and Middletown militias and Captain John Schenck, hero of the April 1778 raid against Brooklyn.

Another petition against the Forfeiture Commissioners, dated May 8, was soon sent to the Legislature. The petitioners alleged three misconducts: (1.) “not advertising sd real estate agreeable to law,” (2.) “not selling to the highest bidder,” and (3.) “selling the whole movable estate of an individual together, without letting people in general know what it [the estate] consists of." Holmes and Schenck signed this petition, along with other three militia officers (Barnes Smock, James Walling, and Hendrick Hendrickson), and other prominent citizens.

On May 17, the New Jersey Assembly considered petitions "setting forth that the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates in said County have been guilty of misconduct in execution & trust reposed in them.” It appointed a committee to investigate. The Legislative Council, the upper house of the legislature, established a commission of its own on May 25.

In June, Colonel David Forman, who purchased four confiscated estates, complained about one of those estates. Forman claimed he was misled regarding the value of Hendrick Van Mater’s estate. He wrote that the sale was conducted “without producing any inventory.” The estate “sold for something more than eleven hundred pounds… the commissioners then being asked for an inventory, said it had formerly been appraised for seventy pounds." The records of the Forfeiture Commissioners record that Forman purchased the estate for £2,725. The New Jersey Assembly read the petition and ordered depositions taken regarding the allegations.

Another scandal heard before the legislature involved the “Red House”—a handsome home in the village of Freehold that had belonged to John Longstreet (who became a Captain in the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers). At this auction, Mrs. Jane Forman was favored in her bidding against David Rhea, the Quartermaster agent for Monmouth County. Forman had made it known that she was buying the house for Longstreet’s orphaned family and the crier, an act of charity, rigged the bidding to get her the house. Depositions were taken and the auction was reversed—Rhea ultimately took the house.

In September, the New Jersey Legislature renewed its interest in the irregularities of the Monmouth County auctions. On September 20, John Van Mater, brother of Loyalist Daniel Van Mater, petitioned the legislature on behalf of Gilbert Van Mater, son of Daniel. The petition argued:

Several Negroes who had about twelve years ago been given by Daniel Van Mater (now a refugee in New York) to his son, Gilbert Van Mater, now seventeen years of age, were by the commissioners of the County seized and sold as property of Daniel Van Mater.

The Assembly referred the Van Mater to the courts because “the law is adequate to the relief of the petitioner." But the petition re-started discussion about events in Monmouth County.

Hearings Held into Forfeiture Estate Auctions

The next day, the Assembly again considered the Loyalist estate auctions in Monmouth County. It summoned ten prominent Monmouth Countians to testify. The four Forfeiture Commissioners were also summoned; they requested more time because “many of their witnesses are not yet arrived.” The Assembly proceeded on September 22.

Albert Covenhoven testified to irregularities in the sale of the Van Mater estate. He testified that "any person purchasing should pay the money immediately” and “that several persons said they could not buy a house on those terms.” He also testified that:

The goods were not present, but a mile or two distant; that several moveable estates were sold altogether, as Daniel Van Mater's, Hendrick Van Mater's & several negroes, as a man, wench & boy of Daniel Van Mater's were sold altogether, and not present.

He also testified that parts of John Longstreet’s estate were arbitrarily divided: “An inventory was produced & shewn, that sundry articles were crossed out, which articles were not to be sold."

William Covenhoven testified to four irregularities at three auctions: (1.) “bids were made so fast that he could not distinguish them, nor knew when the minutes were out, at length the crier said it was Schenck's." (2.) “goods were sold, that there was some goods there, but not all, thinks the whole of the moveable estate was sold to Mr. Forman." (3.) "Mr. Forman held the watch when Leonard's place was sold, that they were bidding as fast as possible, when it was said time was out." And (4) "They sold waggons at Middletown for Stout’s place, which was said to be at Smock's Point, sold for £20, that the buyer afterwards got the waggons & said he would not take £100 for it."

John Schenck testified to bidding against Major Elisha Walton on Thomas Leonard's estate: “Mr. [Samuel] Forman said the time was out, & lowered the watch as he spoke, that as the word left Mr. Forman's, major Walton bid £25 more." The bid was allowed to stand and Walton won the estate.

Five respected Monmouth Countians (Captain John Schenck, Judge Kenneth Anderson, Sheriff Nicholas Van Brunt, Magistrate Garrett Longstreet) testified to auction bias in favor of “Mr. Dennis”: “They bid slow, then [the crier] put it off & took off an hour.” The crier then resumed the bidding and “run it on a while & then adjourned it five minutes." Then "Col. Forman said the time was out. After which Mr. Dennis bid £50, that he [they] saw the watch, that Dennis bid was near a quarter of a minute after the time was out."

Three auction criers (Daniel Harbert, Tunis Vanderveer, Joseph Schenck) hired by the Forfeiture Commissioners testified and asserted their innocence. Nathaniel Scudder testified in support of them, saying he "attended the sales one day & thought it was fair and equitable.” Justice Longstreet and Sheriff Van Brunt partially contradicted their earlier testimony by stating that the auctions they attended "were very fair." Cornelius Covenhoven testified that “they [the auctions] was fair from what was to be seen." Tunis Vanderveer (not the crier) testified in support of the auctions, stating that "the sale was put off an hour at his request” to give him the chance to appraise the estates. In so doing, Vanderveer unwittingly admitted to receiving preferential treatment from the Commissioners.

That same day, the Commissioners protested “that the charges [against them] are uncertain, vague & indeterminate.” They argued that the courts were better venues for considering the complaints against them “as the charges against your petitioners, if true, are all cognizable in the usual courts of law.” The Forfeiture Commissioners also prayed that “they may at least be allowed to be heard by council.” Finally, they asked to be compensated for the “very heavy expense procuring a great number of witnesses in their behalf which are kept here at an enormous charge.”

It is not clear if the Commissioners testified, but on September 29, the Assembly heard a bill to remove them. The next day, the Legislative Council issued a report on their conduct identifying six examples of misconduct. The commissioners:

(1.) "did not advertise certain lands one month [prior] in New Jersey Gazette before the day of sale";

(2.) "did not in advertisements particularly describe the premises being sold";

(3) "sold at Middletown fourteen plantations or tracts of land, not only a very stormy day when few people could be expected to attend, and [sold] some of them greatly under their saleable value";

(4.) "pretended to sell, by watch, or minute, though in some instances they took bids and struck off lands after the expiration of the time limited; yet in other cases the lands were struck off and the sale declared, while the people were bidding very fast";

(5.) "sold sundry articles to a very considerable amount without showing the same to the purchasers, that they might judge their value"; and

(6.) "sold the personal estate of several persons in a lump, without letting the people know the particulars of which they consisted."

The report condemned the Monmouth Commissioners for the "impropriety and illegality" of the auctions.

The Council then heard a resolution stating:

That Samuel Forman, Kenneth Hankinson and Joseph Lawrence, Commissioners appointed for taking charge of forfeited estates, having abused the trust reposed in them, to the great injury of the State, ought to be discharged from their appointment.

However, the Council did not vote on the resolution to remove the Commissioners. On November 10, the Assembly re-heard the bill to remove them and also opted not to vote on the bill.

The Legislative Council returned to the Monmouth Forfeiture Commissioners on December 16. That day, it debated a new resolution to remove them from office, but the resolution failed by a 5-6 vote. The Council then passed a resolution, 8-3, to refer to the charges against the Commissioners to the state’s Attorney General.

The Attorney General be & is hereby ordered to commence as an action on behalf of the State, of at least one hundred pounds damages against the Commissioners, for selling the forfeited estates in Monmouth, for the neglect of their duty & the illegal conduct in the execution of their offices as Commissioners; and that he prosecute to the same effect without delay.

The Council declined to vote on another resolution to remove the Commissioners on December 21.

Continued Problems with Estate Forfeiture Auctions

With their positions secure, the Commissioners returned to their duties. In January, they advertised in the New Jersey Gazette that estate purchasers "are desired to make immediate payment or be prosecuted without any distinction.” The advertisement was printed for three consecutive weeks. The threatening tone may have led to new complaints against the Commissioners. The New Jersey Assembly again debated a bill to remove the Commissioners in February, but never voted on it. Other bills were considered in March and September, but they were never voted on either. In October 1780, the Legislature received a new petition, with 72 signatures, complaining of the conduct of the Commissioners. The Assembly re-read the bill to remove the Commissioners, but declined to vote.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner who kept the financial records, Jacob Wikoff, resigned. In his resignation, he said he “faithfully served in said office” but resigned due to unspecified “difficulties and inconveniences.”  His books include curiously large expenses, such as: £912 in court fees; £1,005 in attorney fees; £1,191 "cash paid for collecting, keeping, selling & c. forfeited estates," and £4,916 for "commissions on" estates. These last two entries likely include fees paid by the Commissioners to themselves.

Disappointed by the scandals and lower-than-expected revenues, the New Jersey Legislature suspended Loyalist estate auctions in June 1781. Later that year, the State attempted to assert control over the Forfeiture Commissioners. A November 24 report compiled by the Council noted that Jacob Wikoff still owed the state £688. A month later, Governor William Livingston criticized Forfeiture Commissioners for profiteering by taking in high-value currencies and paying out low-value currencies (several currencies were used in Revolutionary New Jersey). He wrote, "[they] have plundered us out of thousands by trading with money, and afterwards paying us at great depreciation."

In 1782, the State appointed an agent in each county for examining and settling the accounts of the Forfeiture Commissioners—Joseph Stillwell for Monmouth County. With this new check in place, auctions resumed. But Stillwell soon became embroiled in a dispute with Sheriff John Burrowes, who sued Stillwell in the New Jersey Supreme Court for refusing to partition a 1,200-acre confiscated estate in Dover Township (thereby making it unaffordable to all but a few potential purchasers).

In 1785, the Forfeiture Commissioners still had unsettled accounts with the State. In March, Samuel Forman, one of Monmouth Commissioners, wrote in the New Jersey Gazette regarding “the particular circumstances of the Monmouth Commissioners' supposed debt.” He wrote:

The subscriber thinks it very right that delinquents should be exposed, but does not look on himself as one. The supposed debt had been paid twice; the payments returned to the disadvantage of the state. A receipt in discharge is now given.

But the accounts of the Monmouth Forfeiture Commissioners remained unsettled for another decade.

Finally, on November 14, 1795, the Assembly sought to settle matters regarding “that final judgment against a number of fugitives, whose estates were forfeited.” New Jersey newspapers then advertised a hearing would be held regarding fifteen Loyalist estates “to provide for the restoration of certain minutes or records of the court of Common Pleas in the county of Monmouth which have been lost, embezzled or destroyed.” In March 1796, the Legislature passed a law authorizing Monmouth County’s Court of Common Pleas “restore” the missing records and settle accounts.

North Carolina and Georgia also suspended Loyalist estates. Historian Esmond Wright argued that the confiscation of Loyalist estates, whatever the defects, were useful because they kept potential Loyalists at home and at least nominally loyal. That may be true, but the unprofessional conduct and likely corruption of some of the commissioners was an unquestionable blemish on the new nation, and Monmouth County’s auctions were among the worst.

Related Historic Site: Monmouth County Historical Association Museum

Sources: New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 35, #81; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, box 35, #81 and #83; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #41; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 37, #78; Monmouth County Commissioners for Forfeited Estates, Rutgers University Special Collections; Edwin Salter, Old Times in Old Monmouth (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970) p 48; Richard C. Haskett, “Prosecuting the Revolution,” in American Historical Review, vol. 49 (April 1954), pp. 585-6; Riccards, Michael P. "Patriots and Plunderers: Confiscation of Loyalist Lands in New Jersey, 1776–1786," New Jersey History, vol. 86 (1968) p 18-24; Allan Nevins, The American States during and after the Revolution, 1775-1789 (1924; rpt. New York: Augustus M. Kelly, 1969), p 508; Esmond Wright, ed., Red, White and True Blue: The Loyalists in the Revolution, (New York: AMS Press, 1976) p 146; Petition, New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #46; "Monmouth County, New Jersey - Forfeited Estates in the Revolution in the Revolution," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 10, July 1925, pp. 316-21; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, May 13, 1779, p 97; "Forfeited to the State: Curious Documents of the Revolutionary Period," Red Bank Register, October 27, 1897. Monmouth County Historical Association's articles file; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, April 23, 1779, p 101; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1776) p35, 38, 57, 67, 94-5; Account Book, NJ State Archives, Dept. of Treasury, Auditor's Acct. Books, Book B, Ledger A, reel 181, #468; Petition, Monmouth County Historical Association, J. Amory Haskell Collection, folder 22, Document C; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 20, 1779, p 167; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 21, 22, and 30, 1779, p 170-187; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 14, #48; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, box 38, #83; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, Manuscripts, box 35, #83; New Jersey State Archives, Bureau of Archives and History, Manuscript Collection, box 14, #49; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1779) p89; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1776) p35, 38, 57, 67, 94-5; Leonard Lundin, Cockpit of the Revolution the War for Independence in New Jersey (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950) pp. 286-8; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 29 and November 10, 1779, p 10; Library of Congress, Early American Newspaper, New Jersey Gazette, reel 1930; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, February 23-24, 1780, p 120-122, 124-126; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, March 7 and 9, 1780, p 144-161; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, September 14, 1780, p 259; Jacob Wikoff to Thomas Seabrook, Monmouth County Historical Association, Cherry Hall Papers, box 15, folder 7; The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, October 30 and November 3, 1780, p 10-16; J. T. Main, The Sovereign States, 1775-1783 (New York: New Viewpoints, 1973), pp. 290, 314; Ruth M. Keesey, "New Jersey Legislation Concerning Loyalists," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, vol. 79 (1961), p 90; Journals of the Legislative Council of New Jersey (Isaac Collins: State of New Jersey, 1781) p16; William Livingston’s sentiments are in Riccards, Michael P. "Patriots and Plunderers: Confiscation of Loyalist Lands in New Jersey, 1776–1786," New Jersey History, vol. 86 (1968) p 22; New Jersey appoints Joseph Stillwell as estate forfeiture agent, New Jersey State Archives, Dept of Defense, Military Records, Revolutionary War Copies, box 10, #43A; Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, December 14, 1782, p 59; New Jersey State Archives, Supreme Court Records, #5188; Petition, New Jersey Gazette, June 25, 1783; New Jersey Gazette, March 28, 1785; A List of Names of Those Persons Whose Estates were Confiscated, Great Britain, Public Record Office, Audit Office, Class 12, Volume 85, folios 43-46; New Jersey Chronicle, January 2, 1796; The Laws of the State of New Jersey, (Newark: Matthias Day, 1800), p198-9.