Newton Township (formerly the Newtown Precinct and Newtown Township) is a defunct

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

that was located in Sussex County, in northwestern

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, in the United States. The township was established as a precinct in 1751, the township is first mentioned in a description of its boundaries in the sessions of the Court of Common Pleas in Morris County. Before the establishment of Sussex County on 8 June 1753, Morris County controlled the sparsely populated areas in the northwestern corner of New Jersey and spanned the territory of three present-day New Jersey counties: Morris, Sussex, and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

. After ceding territory on several occasions new municipalities were created, Newton Township ceased to exist on 11 April 1864.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''
(Trenton, New Jersey: Bureau of Geology and Topography, 1969). Accessed 3 November 2012. The Newtown Precinct, after some divisions, was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial 104 townships by an act by the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

on 21 February 1798.

Boundaries and divisions

Original boundaries, 1751

The boundaries of Newtown Township at its creation were, as follows:

Therefore We humbly pray that we may be erected into a Township or Precinct as followeth, Beginning at Musconetriunk where the Quintipetite Line crosses said Musconetriunk Thence running up Musconetriunk to the great Pond to the North west Corner thereof from thence a North east point to the ewYork Line Then Northerly by York Line till they come to the foot of Pequale Mountain Thence SouthWesterly along the foot of said Mountain till it meet with the aforesaid Quintipolite Line Thence along said line to the place where it began. To be called by the Name of New Town.Morris County Clerk’s Office (Morristown, New Jersey). ''General Sessions of the Peace Court of Common Pleas, 1740–1754'', 377

The Quintipartite Line referenced in this description is the boundary line agreed upon in the 1675 agreement to divide the proprietary colonies of

East Jersey The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

and

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often ...

. After several attempts to survey this boundary, it was accurately drawn in 1743 as the

Lawrence Line The Lawrence Line was a boundary line or partition line drawn through the Province of New Jersey during the colonial period, dividing it into the Province of West Jersey and the Province of East Jersey. The line was created by surveyor John Lawre ...

. Today this line exists in as the boundary between Stillwater and Hampton Townships—Hampton Township being part of the original territory of Newtown Township. ''Pequale Mountain'' is a references to Pahaqualong Mountain, and old name for

Kittatinny Mountain Kittatinny Mountain (Lenape: Kitahtëne) is a long ridge traversing primarily across Sussex County in northwestern New Jersey, running in a northeast-southwest axis, a continuation across the Delaware Water Gap of Pennsylvania's Blue Mountain ...

. ''Great Pond'' refers to

Lake Hopatcong Lake Hopatcong is the largest freshwater body in New Jersey, United States, about in area. Located from the Delaware River and from Manhattan, New York City, the lake forms part of the border between Sussex and Morris counties in the state's n ...

and ''Musconetriunk'' is the

Musconetcong River The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It flows through ...

Municipalities formed from Newton Township

Portions of the township were taken to form Wantage Township (30 May 1754), Hardyston Township (25 February 1762), Frankford Township (10 April 1797), Byram Township (9 April 1798), Sparta Township (14 April 1845) and Lafayette Township (14 April 1845). On 11 April 1864, the remaining portions of Newton Township were split up to create Andover Township, Hampton Township and Newton Town, at which point Newton Township was dissolved.

References

{{coord, 41.042, -74.741, type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title 1798 establishments in New Jersey 1864 disestablishments Former municipalities in Sussex County, New Jersey Former townships in New Jersey Populated places established in 1798