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DUNN FAMILY-- HUGH DUNN was prominent in Piscataqua where he was a landowner in 1663 . He was a devoutly religious man who encouraged the early settlers to holy living. He was most instrumental in organizing the Baptist Church of Piscataway in 1689. In 1670 he married Elizabeth the daughter of Francis Drake who had just settled in Piscataway. They had nine children who played a conspicuous role in Piscataway. Three of his sons are listed as early landowners : Hugh Jr.. Joseph and Daniel. He died in 1694.

PIONEER SETTLERS OF PISCATAWAY
The first grant to new settlers was made by Governor Carteret onDecember11, 1666 to DA N I E L PIERCE, JOHN PIKE and seven associates from Newbury, Massachusetts to whom he transferred t he tract from the Raritan River to the Rahway River for the price of 80 pounds: it comprised over 100 square miles and had ill-defined western borders. One week later, December 18 , 1 6 6 6 Pierce and associates sold one-third of their tract to JOHN MARTIN, CHARLES GILMAN, HUGH DUNN and HOPEWELL HULL for the sum of30 pounds. This second sale was undoubtedly-prearranged, since one of the twelve stipulations of Pierce with Governor Carteretwas the establishment of at least two settlements of 40 families each. Pierce and associates founded Woodbridge : the four pioneers founded Piscatawav. Two years later, the four were joined as Associates bv Benjamin Hull. brother of Hopewell; John Gilman, brother of Charles; Robert Dennis and John Smith. These 8 men with their families removed from the area of the Piscataqua river in New Hampshire. The Piscataqua river and its estuary meet the ocean at present day Ports mouth, New Hampshire. It presents one of the best deepwater harbors and thus attracted venture s o m e fishermen from England at an early period. The first grant for settlement was made i n 1 6 2 2 "for the purpose of rounding a plantation to cultivate the vine, discover mines and carry on fisheries and trade with natives." Settlements established after 1623 included Strawberry Bank, now the heart of Portsmouth; in1631, the name Pascattaway occurs, as well as New, Market and Durham,which reappear in Piscataway (and Strawberry Hill was the name of the old Sheep Common in Woodbridge). The area prospered greatly, mainly from lumbering, shipbuilding a n d fishing. Politically, it was a part of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Company) and sin c e t h e early settlers were mostly Baptists or Quakers, they did not escape the harassmen t o f a government that combined church and state. A few random notes illustrate the spiritof in tolera n ce that then prevailed. The venerable Governor Bradford in1648 discourses on the excommunication of a couple in Boston on account of the wife's pride in apparel: "She was a Godly woman but the Church's chiefest exceptions were against her wearing of some whalebone in the od ice and sleeves of the gown; he and she were willing reform the fashions of them, so far as might be without spoiling of their garment, yet it would not content (the Church) except they came full up to their size." In 1662 one Jonathan Dunham, 22 years old, was convicted a t Salem for slandering John Godfrey thus: "Is this witch on this syde of Boston gallows yet? " I n 1 6 64 laws against Baptists were passed, in 1654 four Quakers were put to death and the persecutions culminated in the Salem witch trials during which 32 persons were tortured and killed . Cotton Mather, the fierv preacher in Boston, advocated the way lay in of a ship carrying William Penn and some 100 Quakers. He proposed to sell "this lot of heretics and malignants" t o Barbadoes, "where slaves fetch good prices in rum and sugar." Puritans, Quakers and Baptists a l ike had suffered at the hand of the state church in England. but so intensely and obstinately were they concerned with life according to their interpretation of the Gospel, that the Puritans tolerated none but their own narrow path toward their goals. Heaven and Hell, salvation and damnation were very real and of vital concern. There is little doubt that one the ma i n springs for the migration to Piscatawav was the escape from Puritan rule. The founders we r e p i ous people to whom the promise of liberty of conscience in New Jersey was all-important . They were also enterprising, sturdy, pioneering families who were already experienced in wilderness settlement.