Clinton Township Newsletter

1 3 A u g u s t 2 0 1 4 MATT'S SMALL ENGINE REPAIR • Fix, Repair and Service Lawn Tractors • All Makes and Models! • Spring Special: FREE Pick-up and Delivery for Lawn Tractors • Small Shop• Reliable • Fast Turn-Around • Very Honest • Work Guaranteed! Call Anytime: Matt Harrison cell: 908.296.3951 Joseph f. Trinity Steven d. Farsiou 47 MAPLE AVENUE, SUITE 7 FLEMINGTON, NJ 08822 908.824.7265 w w w. T r i n i t ya n d Fa rsio u . c o m • PERSONAL INJURY • EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION • CRIMINAL/MUNICIPAL COURT • ANTI-BULLYING LAW • GENERAL CIVIL LITIGATION t h e h u n t e r D o n C o u n t Y C u l t u r a l a n D h e r i t a g e C o M M i S S i o n "Jersey, By Any Other Name..." Part 2 b Y f r a n k C u r C i o The name James the Duke of York gave to his property between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers did not go gently onto the map. Between 1603 and 1664, there was a whole mess of troubles in England, too boring to go into here. Suffice to say that the father of Duke James, King Charles I, was beheaded by the Puritan rebels who established a military junta to rule England. All members of the royal family were fair game for the chopping block. There is a group of islands in the English Channel near France that have been part of Britain since the Norman Conquest of 1066. Although part of Britain, these islands are so close to France, they were occupied by Germany during World War II, and English didn't become an official language there until late in the 2 0 t h C e n - t u r y . C o l - l e c t i v e l y k n o w n a s the Channel Islands, the largest was called Cae- s a r e a f o r over a mil- lennium. The prox- i m i t y t o France ac- counts for its ancient name. The story has it t h a t o n c e old Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (France), he decided to do likewise to Brit- ain using the Channel Island as his staging area. He set up his HQ on the large island and his name was applied to it well into the 18th and 19th Centuries. During the time of the Puritan junta, Carteret managed to keep the bailiwick of Caesarea firmly in the Royal corner. In fact, after the beheading of their father, Duke James and his older brother Prince Charles were given sanctuary on the Island of Jersey, saving their lives. With the restoration of the crown in 1664, Prince Charles became King Charles II, and made his kid brother, James, the largest landlord in the world by giving him a big chunk of the "king's land" in North America. The Duke named the part of the land he re-gifted to Carteret and Berkley Nova Caesarea (New Jersey) to honor their loyalty to the crown. That's how the name Jersey came about, but that begs some ques- tions. What does the word "jersey" mean? Are "Jersey" and "jer- sey" related? If so, how are they related? The cloth called jersey comes from the Island of Jersey where the weaving style was developed. Whether it's a team jersey or a jersey T– shirt, it's the same word that's our state's name. In a sense, this means that the New Jersey Devils wear a Jersey jersey! But to find out what the word jersey actually means has turned out to be quite convoluted. The fact that as late as the 1700s, Jersey was spelled "Iarsey", "Iersey", "Gersey", and "Jarsey" doesn't help... More next time (October) Frank Curcio 1729 Map of New England, New York, New Jersey and "Pensilvania" "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." – omas Edison

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