Daily Life in Colonial New Jersey

Colonial New Jersey (1664–1776) was a diverse, agrarian-commercial society shaped by geography, ethnicity, and the frontier.

1. Agriculture & Farming (Majority)

• Staple crops: wheat, corn, rye, flax, apples, cider.
• Livestock: cattle, pigs, sheep (exported to Caribbean, NYC).
• Large estates (East Jersey proprietors) + small freeholds (West Jersey Quakers).

2. Trade & Commerce

• Ports: Perth Amboy, Burlington, Salem – exported grain, timber, iron, livestock.
• Middlemen between NYC/Philadelphia and interior.
• Iron industry: Ringwood, Long Pond, Charlotteburg forges (bog iron).

3. Fishing & Whaling

• Coastal: cod, bass, oysters, clams (food & export).
• Whaling: Cape May, Cold Spring – shore-based, then offshore.

4. Crafts & Artisans

• Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, coopers, weavers, shoemakers, tanners.
• Ironworking: major (Andover, Oxford, Ringwood).

5. Domestic Life

• Women: cooking, spinning, weaving, dairying, childcare, herb gardens, preserving.
• Large families; high child mortality.

6. Education

• Quaker schools (West Jersey); Dutch Reformed, Presbyterian academies.
• College of New Jersey (Princeton, 1746) – Presbyterian.
• No public system; apprenticeship common.

7. Religion (Pluralism)

• Quakers (West), Presbyterians (North), Dutch Reformed (Bergen), Anglicans (East), Baptists, Lutherans, Jews (small).
• No established church; 1702 royal government tolerated diversity.

8. Social & Governance

• Town meetings (New England style) in East; county courts in West.
• Proprietary (1664–1702) → Royal colony (1702) → shared governor with NY (1702–1738) → own governor.
• Festivals: militia musters, quilting bees, barn raisings, religious fasts/thanksgivings.

9. Lenape (Delaware) Relations

• Initial trade (furs, land); Walking Purchase (1737) fraud; displacement to Ohio, Ontario.
• Some remained (Brotherton Reservation 1758–1802, first Indian reservation in colonies).

New Jersey's "breadbasket" role, religious tolerance, and strategic location made it a microcosm of colonial America.