History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men, Part 1

Author: Woodward, E. M. (Evan Morrison) cn; Hageman, John Frelinghuysen
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 1
USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 1

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محدود صر

Gc 974.901 B92wo v.2 1585813

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02246 7473

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016

https://archive.org/details/historyofburling02wood

HISTORY

OF BURLINGTON AND MERCER

COUNTIES.

NEW JERSEY

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF MANY OF THEIR

PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN.

V.C. 2

MAJOR E. M. WOODWARD

AND

JOHN F. HAGEMAN.

ILLUSTRATED.

PHILADELPHIA: EVERTS & PECK. 1883.

PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., PHILADELPHIA.

445

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.

1585813

iron spiked on top. This was found to be useless for Daniel Gaskill was also the first po-tmaster at Jaek- sonville. The office was subsequently placed in Fort's store, where it remained for twenty-four years, when Watson W. Fenton, the present postmaster, was appointed, and the office removed to his store. a heavy locomotive, and steam-power was abandoned and horse-power employed till 1850. when the whole enterprise was abandoned, and in 1873 or 1874 the road became the Kinkora and Lisbon Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and fully equipped for pas- The next tavern-keeper was Thomas Egley, on the southeast corner of the streets. There was a small house standing there, and he built the additions, : making the hotel its present dimensions. He was succeeded in the tavern business by his daughter Betsey and his grandson George Alfred Egley. The subsequent landlords have been --- Pool, Benjamin Clevenger, Joel Lippincott, F. Gaskill. - Haines, David Gordon, and Ellis B. Gilbert, who kept till sengers and heavy freight. About the time of the reopening of the railroad the millionaire tobaeconist of New York, Mr. P. Lorillard, purchased a large tract of land immediately adjoining the village on the north, where he has fitted up in the most approved manner the largest stock-farm in the State, where are bred the best and fastest stoek of horses in the world. Since the advent of Mr. Lorillard's stock-farm the village has grown to nearly double its former size, . the spring of 1881, when the hotel business at Jack- owing to the large number of men employed on his sonville was abondoned. plantation.

- The pioneer blacksmith of Jacksonville was Thomas Tooley, who was succeeded by Thomas Phares. His shop stood on the site now occupied by the residence of Miss Meribah Swem, near the large buttonwood- tree.

The first wheelwright at this place was Miles King, father of the venerable Charles King. The shop stood in what is now the garden of Mrs. Annie Atkinson and Elizabeth King. The King shop stood for many years.

There was prior to 1800 an old tannery on the Thomas property, which went to deeay many years ago.

The pioneer shoemaker was Charles Schuyler, whose shop stood opposite the present residence of John Gaskill, owner of a portion of the old Wright property. William Sutphin and Daniel Gaskill were also among the early shoemakers of Jacksonville. Among the oldest inhabitants of this village are Hannah Haines, aged ninety-one; Charles King, eighty-two; Elizabeth King, eighty; Nancy Fest, seventy-eight ; and Meribah Swem, seventy-five.

There is at present in the village an old Methodist Church, which has been unnsed for the last two er three years, and is fast going to decay; a Presbyte- rian Church, occupied occasionally ; store and post- office, by W. W. Fenton ; wheelwright-shop. br J. .. Boulton; two blacksmith-shops, John Read and Abe! Gaskill.

Schools .- The earliest record we ean find zelating to schools in Springfield township is the following from Hon. Barclay White's "Notes on Springfield Township" :

"On the 30th day of July, 1743, Jonathan Hough, son of Daniel Hough, leased for a term of fifty years to Caleb Shreve, John West, Michael Atkinson, Jo- seph Lamb, Julius Ewan, Jacob Shinn. Abraham! Merritt, James Langstaff, Yeoman and Benjamin Carter, and Isaac Cowgill, planters, one arre of land for the use of a school house near the improved tifs leading from Bridgetown to the now dwelling-hon-" of the said Jonathan flongh with the road that bond-

The pioncer tavern at this place was built on the present sice of the Presbyterian Church, and kept by Daniel Gaskill, and subsequently soll to Nathan : of Nathan Wilson, at the crossing of the great quad Bowne, who removel it and built a wheelwright- -- shop, and finally converted into a tenant-hoase.

The Roman Catholic Church at this place was built in 1880, loeated on the north side of the turnpike, adjoining the Lorillard property.

There are at present in the village two churches, sehool-house, tavern, two stores, S. R. Wetherill and Robert Beal ; two blaeksmiths, John A. England and Elwood Cox; one wheelwright, Joseph Hensler ; post-office, John Phares, postmaster.

JACKSONVILLE is a small village of ninety-four inhabitants, located in the western part of the town- ship, and four miles from the county-seat.

The pioneer settlers, owning the land in and around Jacksonville, were Daniel S. Zelly (who owned most of the land on the west side of the village), Solomon Thomas, on the east, and Staey Haines. father of Elwood Haines, owned three hundred acres on the northeast side of the town. The Thomas property is now owned by Nathan Lippincott.

The pioneer merchant at this place was Abel Gas- kill, who opened a store here in 1815, in the house now owned by his son Thomas Gaskill. He subse- quently moved on to the Hancock farm, one and a half miles east of Jacksonville. Mr. Gaskill was not only the pioneer merchant, but was the pioneer weaver of this part of the township.

Samuel Fort was the next merchant at this place, locating here about 1820. He succeeded Gaskill in his store, on the corner where the old tavern-house now stands, where he remained one year, then moved across the road, where his widow, Mrs. Nancy Fort, now lives. Here he continued in business till about 1840. Other parties, including Mrs. Fort, have kept a store in operation in this building till the carly spring of 1882. Aaron Robbins, Frank Hancock, Daniel Kimble, and Allen Hullings are among those who have kept store here. Mr. Fort, the original proprietor, died April 19, 1866.

---

446

HISTORY OF BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

from John West's gate to Hanover road, they paying therefor a yearly rent of one penny, if demanded ; this acre lay at the northeast end of Caleb Shreve's Mount." This school-house was built of logs.

For the early history of other districts we have no data, and can only give extraets from the "Report of State Board of Education for 1880."

SCOTT DISTRICT, No. 37 .- Total amount received for school purposes, 8307.84; value of school property, $700; total number of children in district, 77; total scholars registered, 46; average attendance, 20; months' school, 9; one female teacher employed at $30 per month.

WILLOW GROVE DISTRICT, NO. 3S .- Total cash re- ceived for school purposes, $400; value of school prop- erty, $200; total children in district, 63; total regis- tered, 55; average attendance, 21; months taught, 11; one female teacher employed at $32.72 per month.

OLD SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT, No. 39 .- Total cash for school purposes, $500; school-room rented; total scholars in district, 64; total registered, 61; average attendance, 31; months taught, 11; one female teacher employed at $35 per month.

MOUNT DISTRICT, NO. 40 .- Total cash received for school purposes, $300; value of school property, $800; total number of children in district, 85; total registered, 66; average attendanee, 32; months taught, 10.5; one male teacher employed at $33.33 per month.

JULIUSTOWN DISTRICT, No. 41 .- Total cash for school purposes, $310.81 ; value of school property, $1200; total scholars in district, 139 ; total registered, 113; average attendance, 56 : months taught, 10; one male teacher employed at $55.78 per month. For school-house see history of "Juliustown."

JOBSTOWN DISTRICT, No. 42 .- Total cash for school purposes, $449.92 ; value of school property, 8500. We think this must be an error in the printed report, as this school-house is now being built (in 1880), and the Juliustown school-house is the old Methodist Episco- pal Church, much smaller than the new Jobstown sehool-house. Total children in district, 110; total registered, 93; average attendance, 59 ; months taught by male teacher, 10.

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT, No. 43 .- Total cash re- ceived for school purposes, $300. School-room rented. Total number of children in district, 64; total regis- tered, 44; average attendance, 18: months taught, 10; one male teacher employed at $31.30 per month.

Churches .- There are in this township several places set apart for the purpose of religious worship, as follows :

this vicinity. The old church edifice, windowless and doorless, stands like an old man, weak and worn, tottering upon the verge of eternity. One by one the old veterans have departed, until the old edifice is left alone, and occupied only by the bats and moles who find in its loneliness a congenial dwelling-place.

Jacksonville Presbyterian Church .- This is of more recent date than the Methodist Church, and presents comparatively quite a respectable appear- once, yet it is no doubt fast following in the footsteps of its companion, just gone before. Who the origin- ators of this church were, echo only answers, Who? The meeting-house is occupied semi-occasionally, the pulpit being supplied by some philanthropie young man from Princeton, or some dyspeptic old gentle- man from the city, who desires the exhilarating in- fluence of the free and fresh country air upon his weakened lungs.

When the church was formed or the meeting-house built is a matter of uncertainty by nearly or quite all the dwellers in Jacksonville.

"Copenny" Friends' Meeting. - The Friends' meeting-house at "Copenny" is nearly half a mile east of Jacksonville, beautifully situated in the grove upon the right bank of the sparkling little brook me- andering down through the dell. This is one of the ancient historie landmarks of the latter century. Built of stone in 1775, it has stood through four bloody wars in which the United States have been engaged, and yet sullenly bids defiance to the ruth- less tooth of time. During the Revolutionary war the Copenny meeting-house was used upon one or two occasions as a hospital, and tradition, with its silver tongue, says that two or three severe skirmishes between the Yankees and British took place near here, while the troops were passing to and from Phil- adelphia.

Near by the meeting-house is the little old school- house which tradition says has been the companion of the meeting-house for the last century, and the general appearance of the two would naturally prove the assertion.

Juliustown Methodist Episcopal Church .- But little can be learned of the Methodist Church in this place beyond what is herewith given as found in the old records, now in possession of the younger official board. The pioneer Methodists of Juliustown having gone to their rest without leaving proper records of the church's doings, we can only give the organization in 1824 and the present condition of the society.

"Whereas a number of persons, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Juliustown, in the town of Springfield, having no place of worship wherein to assemble for that purpose except & private dwelling, did call a meeting of the members of said church and agree to issue subscription papers among the several persons in Juliustown and churche-

Methodist Episcopal Church, Jacksonville .- When or by whom a society was organized at this hamlet we are unable to state, neither could we ascer- tain the name of the pioneer preacher or class-leader. However, a meeting-house was built at this place several years ago, and for some time was the religious , friendly to the cause of religion. These subscription home for many of the old veteran cross-bearers in . papers were issued on the 24th of March, 1224."

447

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP.

At a meeting of the members of said church (of Friends' Meeting. - ARNEY'S MOUNT MEET- which there is no date) it appears that they agreed to . ING .- " On the 3d day of 8th month, 1743, sundry give public notice of their intention to become a body . Friends belonging to the upper part of Mount Holly politie. This notice having been put up ten days, ac- eording to law, the members of said churen did meet on the 28th of April. 1824. and regularly elected .Jacob Egbert, Daniel Ireland, William Swem, Ben- jamin Stidfole, Clayton Githens, William Keeler, and Joseph J. Sleeper. Meeting, made application in writing to Burlington Monthly Meeting for liberty to hold a meeting for worship on the first day of each week, during the winter season, at a school-house standing near Caleb Shreve's Mount, which the meeting took under con- sideration, and at the next meeting did eonsent that May 5, 1824, the above-named persons, eleeted for ance of the duty of their office, as may be seen by the following minutes, taken at that meeting : they hold a meeting according to their request, com- trustees, met and were sworn to the faithful perform- : meneing from the beginning of 10th month." The meeting continued to be repeatedly attended, and in 1776 a Preparative Meeting was established. At this time it numbered in members, adults, 53; minors, 51 ; total, 104.

" Be it remembered, that on the 5th day of May, 1824, personally came and appeared before me, the subscriber, one of the justices of the peace in and for the county of Burlington, James Egbert, Daniel Ireland, William Swem, Benjamin Stidfole, Clayton Githeus, and William Keeler, Jr., and were severally sworn and affirmed to support the Constitution of the United States of America, the oath of allegiance prescribed by law, and the oath for the faithful performance of their office of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the village of Juliustown.

" Taken before me the 5th day of May, 1824.

"J. J. SLEEPER, Justice."

The trustees then proceeded to business, and eleeted Daniel Ireland, president ; J. J. Sleeper, secretary ; and William Swem, treasurer.

William Swem, Benjamin Stidfole, and Clayton Githens were appointed a committee to purchase a lot and to erect a meeting-house on it.

Nov. 29, 1824, the committee met with the mem- bers, and reported the ehureh built, but was not ready to report particulars.

At this meeting a resolution was adopted to hold the sessions of the Sunday-school in the church.

At a subsequent meeting the committee reported the cost of lot thirty-three dollars, and that the meet- ing-house had cost four hundred and five dollars and ninety cents.

The lot purchased by the committee is the one upon which the village school-house stands, and known as District No. 41, and the school-house is the original Methodist Episcopal Church of Julius- town.

At a subsequent meeting, held Feb. 1, 1830, the following trustees were duly eleeted : Clayton Gith- ens, president ; William Swem, treasurer; Benjamin Stidfole, secretary ; Jonathan R. Cliver, Revel Bunn.

The present neat and commodious church edificc, located near the centre of the town, was built in 1869. The present preacher in charge is Rev. Joseph Wiley; local preacher, Rev. S. H. Wiley ; trustees, S. H. Wiley, John H. Powell, Joseph A. Norcross, Samuel Hartman, William S. Gratz, J. H. Hoffman.

Prezent membership, seventy-four; value of church property, four thousand dollars.

This meeting-house was constructed of logs. Eph- raim Tomlinson, in his journal, says, "On the 20th day of 6th mo., 1771, I was at the marriage of my son-in-law. John Gardiner, at the log meeting-house. hard by Julytown."

2d mo. 13, 1775, Jonathan Hough, J., conveyed to "Daniel D. Smith, Samuel Shinn, Samuel Allison, John Comfort, Peter Ellis, Edward Black, and John Hilliard, the survivor or survivors of them, in trost. one acre, two rods, and twenty-five perehes of land, to and for the purpose of building a meeting-house thereon, for the people called Quakers, and for a place to bury their dead." During 1776 a stone meeting-house was ereeted thereon.

2d mo. 17, 1800, the wooden portion of this build- ing was mostly consumed by fire. It occurred in the daytime, and when there was much snow on the ground. The lower floor was saved from burning by throwing snow upon it.

In 1809, during the night following the funeral of Mary Hough, wife of Jonathan Hough. the building was again burned. This time the walls alone were uneonsumed, and remained of sufficient strength to support the present structure, which was soon ereeted.

This meeting is now known as the Mount Arney Meeting, from the fact of the mount being owned by Arney Lippincott, subsequent to its being owned by Shreve, henee the name " Arney's Mount." Meetings are held here regularly on the first and fifth days.

OLD SPRINGFIELD MEETING, located in the north- east part of the township, in the Newbold neighbor- hood, was set up probably as early as 1723 or 1725. where meetings have been held quite regularly since that time.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN BLACK.

The Sundayschool connected with this society was organized in 1524, and is at present under the The progenitor of the branch of the family her .. Wii- eame to America in the ship " Martha, " and smith di :: Burlington County, N.J. His descendant, John Black. superintendence of W. S. Gratz, with a membership . liam Black, a native of Burlington, Yorkshire, England, of seventy pupils, and an average attendance of forty- five.

448

HISTORY OF BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

was born Feb. 17, 1752, was a general of militia, and owned a large tract of land iu the town-hip of Spring- field. His children were Thomas, Mary, John, and Caleb, of whom John is the subject of this sketch, and was born on the homestead in Springfield, Dcc. 18, 1788. He spent his minority on the farm and in obtaining a practical education, and so competent was he that at the age of twenty-one he was employed to survey an important public road. He was a good mathematician, and, although unexcelled in the knowledge of surveying, he never depended upon it for a livelihood, but chose farming, which he made , Mrs. Black was well educated, a good conversation. his main business through life. He had a practical knowledge of agricultural chemistry, and the appli- cation of both mineral and vegetable manures to dif- ferent kinds of soil. The subject of under-draining lands for the better production of grain or grass early engaged his attention. He put in one of the first un- der-drains in the State of New Jersey, and afterwards by the same method drained large tracts of land with great success. Outside of his agricultural pursuits he was largely interested in banking, insurance, and the public weal.

In 1815, the year after the founding of the Farmers' Bank of New Jersey, at Mount Holly, Mr. Black was chosen its president, and filled that office efficiently and satisfactorily for a period of nearly sixty con- secutive years. During the trying times of 1837 his executive ability was found equal to the task, and by his personal effort lie carried the bank safely through. The Mount Holly Fire Insurance Company was in- ! corporated in 1831, with Mr. Black as its president, and the day of his death found him still a trusted officer, having served during the forty-four years of its existence. When the subject of railroads was first agitated he saw their importance to commercial in- terests, favored their construction and backed them with his capital. He was one of the projectors and largest stockholders of the Delaware and Atlantic Railroad Company and its presiding. officer, and a large stockholder in the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, and an original subscriber to its stock, and always an active promoter of every enterprise tending to benefit mankind and lessen mantial labor.

Christian religion, and observed it unostentation-ly yet firmly throughout his life. He was tenacious of his opinions, clear-headed in conducting whatever busi. ness engaged his attention. judicious and vigilant, and a man of sterling characteristics. He died after !! short illness, June 24, 1875. His wife, whom he mar- ' ried Dec. 21, 1816, was Sarah, a daughter of Daniel Newbold, of Newbold (now Biddle's) I-land, in thy Delaware. Daniel Newbold afterwards owned and resided upon the "Wigwam Farm," near Mount Holly, and was a representative citizen of the county.

, alist, and a woman of high moral and Christian ex- cellence. She was born Feb. 23, 1780, and died June 1, 1869. Their children are John Black, Jr., a gradu- ate of Princeton College, was a farmer for many years on the " Wigwam Farm," and died in 1880, leaving children,-Daniel Newbold, died in infancy ; Emily Newbold, resides with her brother Alfred; Edgar Newbold, a graduate of Princeton, read law, and was admitted to the bar, but subsequently engaged in agriculture, and resides at "Hog Island," on the Delaware, where he is one of the largest and most successful farmers in Pennsylvania : Charles New- bold, was graduated at Princeton, read law with Chan- cellor Green, in Trenton, and George Wood, of New York, and was admitted to practice at the latter place in 1847, and has practiced his profession there since 1849; and Alfred Lawrence Black, also a Princeton graduate, resides on the old homestead, is a large farmer, and one of the directors of the Farmers' Bank at Mount Holly. This homestead was settled in 1685, and came into possession of the family in 1698, one hundred and eighty-four years ago (1882).

THOMAS BLACK.

Thomas Black, son of John Black, was born on the homestead of his ancestors in Springfield township, Ang. 5, 1784. His youth was spent on the farm and at school. When twenty-five years of age he settled upon the farm now owned and occupied by Charles N. Black, and crected the present residence. He mar- ried, Dec. 29, 1814, Mary G., daughter of Thomas Wood, of Chesterfield towuship, who bore him eight children,-John W., who with his brother Thomas resides at " Indian Hill," and own a property to which their father removed, and erected the present resi- dence in 1840; Edward and William (twins), the former residing at Vincentown. Burlington Co .. and the latter in California; Thomas; Anva Matilda, wife of Charles Nickle, resides at Bordentown. N. J .; Elias L., deceased ; Mary G., deceased, was the wife of Charles Wills, of Mount Holly, N. J. ; and Read- ing W., who died in Texas.

Mr. Black took a deep interest in local and State legislation, and he was influential in the support of measures and drafting resolutions at a meeting of the citizens of the county held at the court-house in 1832 for the purpose of expressing their sentiments respect- ing the ordinances of South Carolina and the procla- mation of the President, at which it was resolved to support the President in every constitutional measure necessary for the execution of the laws and for the suppression of nullification, secession, and disunion, and maintaining the integrity of the Union. His Mr. Black died March 1, 1864, in the eightieth year cultural pursuits, in which he was recognized as one patriotism was strong and his influence felt by his : of bis age. His active years were devoted to agri- fellow-citizens in support of the Union cause during the late civil war. He was a devout believer in the ' of the leading and controlling mien of his day.

Thomas Black .

449

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

Throughout his long life he exerted a wide influ- ence as a most successful and progressive farmer, and enjoyed the confidence and respect of a wide cirele of acquaintances and friends.

But little or no farming is carried on in this town- favor. Mrs. Black died in the fall of 1878. The an-, ship, most of its inhabitants being of a seafaring

He was in polities formerly a Whig, but upon the birth of the Republican party became one of its ardent supporters, though he never sought political cestral history of the Black family will be found in connection with the sketch of John Black.

CHAPTER XLI. WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.1

Descriptive .- The township of Washington is lo- cated on the southwestern border of the county adja- cent to the Atlantic County line. In dimensions it is fourteen miles in length by six miles in breadth. It is bounded on the north by Shamong township, on the south by Mullica River, on the east by Randolph township, on the west by the Atsion River, which separates it from Atlantic County. In 1840 the popu- lation was one thousand six hundred and thirty (in- cluding Randolph township, which has since been organized ), and in 1880 it was only nine hundred.

Washington is especially prodigal in the abundance of her mineral products. Rich mines of iron ore abound in the northern part of the township. The extensive works of the Batsto Iron Company, which were located at the hamlet of Batsto Furnace, for the purpose of working the products of the mines. gave when in operation employment to many laborers in their various departments. These furnaces used mostly what is known as box iron ore, a sort of de- posit made by the iron springs, and is of excellent quality.

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History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men, Part 1

Author: Woodward, E. M. (Evan Morrison) cn; Hageman, John Frelinghuysen Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Woodward, E. M. (Evan Morrison) cn; Hageman, John Frelinghuysen
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1096