Robert Treat

Robert Treat. , Robert Treat was a man of wealth, love, power, and dignity. Born in the year 1622, in England, he was the second son and fifth child of Richard Trott. Unfortunately, Treat's exact birthdate is unknown; however, there is a record of his baptism at Petminister, Somerset on February 25, 1624., In seeing the need to separate himself and the other spiritual brothers and sisters from the church members of old, he migrated himself and other Puritans from the intolerant religious environment by seeking peace and comfort to the "Promised Land" in the wilderness. The controversy over the union of the New Haven and Connecticut colonies resulted in the journey to which we now call Newark. Traveling from Milford in the Connecticut Colony, they sailed the high seas and made their way up the Passaic River one early May day in the year 1666., When the settlers reached the New World, Treat exclaimed, "I had expected that the governor cleared the plantation from all claims and encumbrances, and had given us quiet possession, which he promised to do but no sooner are we on which he promised to do but no sooner are we on the place and having our goods landed, than I and others are ordered off. You claim right as Hackensack Indians by being first here. We have the governor's order to take the land, but you say it is unpurchased." The governor acknowledged failure on his part to fulfill the contract, but implored the people to remain. When all was clear, preparations were made for the first residents to spend the night as comfortably as possible in the town they initially called Milford, and later called Newark., The marriage of Robert and Jane Treat was so highly successful that they were the forebears of 3,957 descendants through nine generations. As Newark's first magistrate, Robert Treat served in the first New Jersey Assembly. He stayed in Newark for only six years to assist in the growth process of this city. In the summer of 1672, Robert Treat, with his family, left to return to Connecticut. Treat lived with distinction for 37 years after leaving Newark. He fought vigorously in King Phillip's War. Was elected Governor of Connecticut in 1683 and won his colony's lasting gratitude in 1686 when he hid its charter in an oak tree (the Charter Oak) to keep it out of the hands of Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor of New England. The old soldier died in 1710 at the age of eighty-eight---forty-four years after his founding of Newark., In May of 1916, the 250th anniversary of Newark was celebrated. During this momentous occasion, two buildings were dedicated. One of those buildings was the Robert Treat Hotel.