When King Charles II granted a charter for the colony of New Jersey, half a dozen of the 12 proprietors of this new settlement were Scots. The Scottish settlement was established in East Jersey; their founder and governor was Robert Barclay of Urie.

Some 700 Scots emigrated to East Jersey, now Newark, Montclair and the Oranges, during the 1680s. Most came from the areas of Montrose and Aberdeen, and about half were indentured servants. Until 1697, every governor of East Jersey was Scottish, and Scots held great sway in politics and the new settlement’s growing business interests. Scottish immigration continued into the following century, as Newark became a Royal Colony engaged in brisk trade.

South Orange, which was then part of Newark, was the agricultural part of town. South Orange Avenue was established early, and it’s not hard to imagine Scottish farmers and servants who had served out their indenture coming over the hill to find land that resembled home. Indeed, it’s no accident that our main thoroughfares, Valley and Scotland Roads, which intersect Montrose, are named for a distant land. Scots-influenced streets dot our local map; Argyll, Stirling, Melrose and Glen radiate outwards from our main avenues.

The West Montrose neighborhood, near Floods Hill, still has several streets whose names echo the early settlers. This area, bisected by a large stream that eddies into the Rahway River and dominated by the hill that leads upwards to the Newstead section of town, was early farmland. The names left behind by those farmers include Meeker, Highland, and Clark Street and Place.

Perhaps coincidence, perhaps a measure of the family’s influence, Clark was an important Scot in greater Newark. The Clark family spooled thread in Paisley, Scotland for generations. In 1855, George Clark was sent to New Jersey to run the American operation. By 1870, due to greater demand during Civil War years, Clark had nearly 1,000 employees for the trademark “O.N.T.,” which stood for Our New Thread. By the turn of the century, Clark employed some 8,000 employees. While many lived in Newark, South Orange was home to others, who brought their heritage with them to name their new hometown.

At the same time, Newark’s Scottish-born mayor, later congressman, Thomas Baldwin Peddie was making his fortune manufacturing leather knapsacks for the Union army.   When he turned his attention to philanthropy, he hired architect William Halsey Wood to design the Peddie Church. It stands still in Newark today, its thistle motif reflecting the ancestry of its founder.

For years, the church was a meeting place for those who looked to Scotland for their heritage. At the turn of the 20th century, Scottish immigration to Newark and the Oranges had peaked. Their heritage of political and business leadership in Newark and what we now call South Orange remains; the streets beneath our feet bear their names and mark the geography of the land they left behind.