Chatham Township, New Jersey incorporated as an independent borough and its former village boundaries were expanded between 1891 - 1899 with annexed portions of rural lands that had formerly been within the township. The settlement of Chatham had been established in 1710 as "John Day's Bridge" and, in 1773 when New Jersey was an English province, adopted the name of "Chatham" to honor William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, a British supporter of the colonial cause. This village also had been within Morris Township and it was an active community in the Revolutionary War. On August 19, 1892, Chatham seceded from the new township
Earl of Northumberland Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland was created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders were the House of Percy ("alias" Perci), who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages. The heirs of the Percys, via a female line, were ultimately made Duke of Northumberland in 1766. <section begin=Percy Family/> William de Percy, 1st Baron Percy, who came from the village of Percy in Normandy, was in the train of William I. After arriving in