Historic documents often meet their tragic endings swiftly and tragically. In 1850, Bernards Township was known to have had a massive fire at the home of the township administrator, burning all of the township’s documents, including its founding Charter. Now, with a bit of research and some digital technology, a local resident has recreated a rendering of the Charter of Bernardston.
On May 24, 1760, the Governor of New Jersey, Governor Francis Bernard, received its official declaration as a township from England’s King George II. The town’s name was originally Bernardston in honor of the Governor, but it later became Bernards Township, joining its neighbors Bedminster and Bridgewater as officially chartered townships recognized by the British crown.
The project started when, on the 2016 Charter Day, volunteers from the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH) couldn’t locate a copy of the charter they had previously displayed at the annual Charter Day celebration. “After looking at what we had, I realized that even the copy of our charter was not the right charter, stated Brooks Betz, a local resident who volunteered at the local historical society.
“After doing some digging, I found out that the charter we had was actually a journal entry in a Perth Amboy tax journal.” After Charters were approved, they went to the regional tax office and paid a fee to officially register the document. Betz then set out to find it’s similar Charter, the 1740 Bedminster Charter. “I couldn’t believe what I found,” state Betz. “Betz tracked down the original Bedminster Charter in a art gallery warehouse in Queens, New York”. When I finally got to see the Charter of Bedminster in person, I realized that the wording was almost exactly the same. The monarchy used a charter template!”
Brooks Betz, Researcher
After identifying the transcripts of both charters, the process of recreating the charter was fairly straightforward. The Charter replica is a combination of the wording from the Bernardston Charter and the “look and feel” of the Bedminster Charter, which most likely had the same dimensions, configuration, and similar graphics. Betz noted, “As they say, the rest was history.”
The Astor Estate, home to the Bernards Township Municipal services in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, honors this rendition of the Charter of Bernardston with a framed copy of the Charter print that was presented to Bernards Township.
In addition, a new interactive exhibit was created where people could sign a copy of an enlarged charter during Charter Day Streetfair & Festival, held annually in Bernards Township, usually on the third Saturday in May.
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