The  preceding  chapter  described  the  royal
grants  and  the  occupation  under  them,  of  the
Dutch,  the  Swedes  and  the  English,  from
the  grant  of  1621  to  the  settlement  of  the
Dublin  colony  on  the  third  or  Irish  tenth,
which  comprised  the  territory  now  embraced
i  in  Camden  County.  Soon  after  the  meeting
of  the  Assembly  in  November,  1685,  the
proprietors,  freeholders  and  inhabitants  of
the  third  and  fourth  tenths,  who  had  been
subjected  to  many  inconveniences  for  the
transaction  of  public  business  by  reason  of
the  distance  from  the  county-seat  of  Burling-
ton and  Salem,  met  at  Arwames  (Gloucester
Point),  pursuant  to  public  notice,  on  the  26th
of  May,  1686,  during  the  administration  of
Governor  Samuel  Jennings,  and,  after  much
discussion  and  mature  deliberation,  adopted
a  Constitution  for  the  government  of  the  ter-
ritory lying  between  Pensauken  Creek  and
Oldmans  Creek,  it  being  the  third  and
fourth  tenths,  to  which  they  gave  the  name
Gloucester  County ;  it  thus  became  the  only
county  in  West  Jersey  organized  directly
through  the  action  of  its  own  people.  This
Constitution  provided  for  the  holding  of  courts
at  Gloucester  and  Red  Bank,  and  for  the  elec-
tion of  county  officers.  It  also  prescribed  the
details  of  legal  practice  and  provided  for  the
recording  of  the  marks  of  hogs  and  cattle.  The


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  OLD  GLOUCESTER.
