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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02236 7343
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THE HISTORY OF -4 PETERSBURG, N. J.
Published by H. STANLEY CRAIG
1913 THE HERALD PRESS, TUCKAHOE, N .- J.
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1137069
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
In the following pages it has been our aim to give within moderate limits an account of the principal events in the history of the village of Petersburg. We do not flatter ourselves that the work has been perfectly done, but as much as could be obtained from imperfect records, and that which has come from various other sources has been recorded.
We wish to thank the people of Petersburg and vicin- ity for their hearty and unanimous support, which has made possible the success ot this enterprise.
THE PUBLISHER.
THE ABORIGINES
The first inhabitants of South Jersey, so far as history reveals, were Indians, the Lenni-Lenape or Dalaware branch of the Algonquins, whose home was originally in Ottawa, and whose last king, Nummy, is buried on Nummy Island, near Hereford Inlet. It is said that after his death all the Indians in this part of the country migrated to the banks af the Wabash river in Indiana. The name of the tribe living in Cape May county was the "Kechemechs."*
The houses or wigwams were sometimes together in towns, but were mostly movable, and occasionally built near a spring or other water, according to the conven- iences for hunting, fishing, basket-making, or other business of that sort, and were built with poles laid on forked sticks set in the ground, with bark, flags, or bushes on the top and sides, with an opening to the South, their fire in the middle. Their clothing was a coarse blanket or skin thrown over the shoulder, which covered to the knee, and a piece of the same tied around their legs, with part-of a deer-skin sewed round their feet for shoes. t
They long remembered kindnesses and seldom forgot to be grateful where benefits had been received, and on many occasions gave irrefragable proofs of liberality of sentiment, hospitality of action and impressions that seemed to promise a continuation of better things.t
During the dominion of the Dutch, hostile relations
*Stevens' History of Cape May County. tBarber & Howe's Historical Collections of New Jersey.
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N. J.
existed on two or three occasions. In 1630, thirty-two men were killed on the Delaware by the Indians, and they, refusing to surrender the authors of the crimes, brought on hostilities. In 1664 peace was permanently restored.
In 1755 a serious outbreak occurred. In 1758 a con- ference tookplace at Burlington with representatives from the several tribes, which resulted in another con- ference being held at Easton, Pa., at the request of the Indians; that being. as they termed it, "the place of the old council fire," where amicable relations were restored ; which remained undisturbed for several years .*
In 1757 an act was passed by legislature appropriating £1600 for the purchase of Indian claims; but the Indians living South of the Raritan preferred receiving their por- tion in land speciallv allotted for their occupancy, and harmony appears to have prevailed between the Indians and the whites .*
*Barber & Howe's Historical Collections of New Jer- sey.
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THE DISCOVERERS-THE PROPRIETORS
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In Jannary, 1609, the directors of the Dutch East India Company contracted with Henry Hudson, to fit out a vessel of sixty tons burden for a voyage to : India via Nova Zembla. He gave his crew, consisting of, twenty men, the choice of two routes of seeking the, Northwest passage, but; storms interfered and they were driven Southwest and in July reached Newfoundland, and sailed thence down the coast of Maine. Reaching Cape Cod, he named it New Holland. On August 28th, he reached the coast of Maryland, and, moving Northward along the shore, he entered the Delaware bay on August 29th, and coasted along New Jersey's shore. On Sep- tember 3d, he passed Sandy Hook and anchored in New York bay .. Sailing up the Hudson river as far as Troy, he found the river too shallow to proceed farther, and on September 23d, he returned Southward and on October 4th, sailed out from Sandy Hook for ' Dartmouth, Eng- land, where he arrived on November 7th. Here he was detained for a time by the English, finally arriving at Amsterdam in July, 1610 .*
In 1612 five ships were despatched for further explor- ation and trade. Among the officers of these were Henry Christiansen, Adriaen Block and Cornelius i : Jacobson May. Captain May, whose vessel had been fitted out at Hoorn, Holland, explored the Southern : coast of Long Island, which he found to be. twenty-five Dutch iniles in length. He also sailed along the coast of New Jersey, and he or later Dutchmen named Cape May.
* Romance of Discovery," by Win .. Elliot Griffis.
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N. J.
In 1615 Captain Cornelius Hendrickson, in the ship "Restless," sailed along the coast of New Jersey, giving the name "Eyerhaven" (haven of eggs) to what is now called Egg Harbor.
Upon these various voyages Holland set up her claim. to the country which she named "New Netherlands," extending from Cape Cod to Cape Henlopen .*
In 1629 the Southern part of New Netherlands was granted to two Dutch patrons named Godyn and Blom- ert, but they made 110 attempt to settle the country.
The English crown had never recognized the claims of the Dutch to the country, and an armament in command of Richard Nicolls was sent out, and he demanded of Governor Stuyvesant the surrender of the country. The Dutch chose to save their homes rather than to risk losing them in war, and on September 8, 1664, New Amsterdam was surrendered and the New Netherlands ceased to exist.
In 1664, King Charles II made a grant of the country as far south as the Delaware to his brother, James, Duke of York. The latter granted the province between the Hudson and the Delaware rivers to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. In honor of the latter, who was governor of the Isle of Jersey, this American domain was named New Jersey.
Berkeley and Carteret at first held the property jointly, but later Berkeley sold his share to Edward Billinge, who found it necessary to assign for the benefit of his creditors. William Penn was one of the assignees, and the State was held jointly by Carteret and Penn as agents for Billinge. It was mutually agreed by Car- teret and Penn to separate the country into East and West Jersey, Penn and his aosociates receiving the latter,
*Ridpath's History of the United States.
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THE DISCOVERERS --- THE PROPRIETORS
In 1687 Dr. Coxe, of London, who had already be- come a large land-holder, purchased of the he.rs of Bil- linge their interests in the soil and government. In 1688, he also having become an acknowledged West Jersey Proprietor, purchased 90,000 acres of land in Cape May County. In 1691 he made an agreement with a body of forty-eight persons, designated as the West Jersey Society, to sell his property, and the following year it was conveyed to them for the sum of £90,000, This society, through their agents, continued to make sales of land until 1756.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
A trading station had been established at Bergen in 1618, but the first permanent settlement was made at Elizabethtown in 1664. In 1623 Fort Nassau wa- built where Timber Creek empties into the Delaware River, by Captain May, and he was made governor of New Netherlands. The fort was soon abandoned, however, and his company returned to Holland.
In the early days of the Colony, the wild coast, from Sandy Hook to Cape May was uninhabited, save by iso= lated and often temporary settlements of beach men. Until well within the eighteenth century pirates lay at the entrance of the Delaware Bay and off Sandy Hook. The first settlement of the seashore front of Cape May County was due to the shad fisheries. Cattle raising was an important industry in the early days of the county .*
Colonists from New England and Long Island came to Cape May as early as 1638, as is shown by a deed recording a purchase of land from the Indians by Capt. Nathaniel Turner, which bears the date of November 24th, 1638.
In 1691 Cape May was beginning to settle very fast; seemed to hold out good advantages to the adventurer. f
In November, 1682, Cape May was erected into a county, "being a place well sitnate for trade," its boundaries including the present Maurice River Town- ship in Cumberland and the southwest portion of the modern Atlantic County.
*Lee's New Jersey as a Colony and as a State. Ex- tract from Journal of Aaron Leaming.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT
Daniel Leeds in his "Almanack" for the year 1701 says:
The freeholders in Cape May County in September, 1699 were seventy."
In 1726 there were in Cape May County: White males above sixteen years of age, 209; females, do., 156; white inales under sixteen years of age, 148; females, do., 141; total whites, 654; colored males above sixteen years of age, 8; females, do., 5; colored males under sixteen years of age, 1; females, do., 0; total colored, 14. Total number of inhabitants, 668 .*
*Extract from letter of Gov. Burnet, in Colonial Documents, Archives of New Jersey, Vol. V.
THE YOUNG FAMILY*
Henry Young, the first of the name in the county, was an Englishman. "He was impressed, when very young, on a man-of. war, from which he made his escape to a vessel bound to Philadelphia. Here, to elude pur- suit, he was secreted in a hogshead in the hold of the vessel, and as soon as they got to sea, he was released, but not until nearly exhausted for want of fresh air." ( Quotation from Stevens' History of Cape May County, which agrees, in the main, with the family tradition re- garding him.)
After landing in this country, he made his way to Long Island, where he associated himself with the whalers residing there. With these men, he made whal- ing voyages to Cape May, the party making their head- quarters at the whaling settlement of "Cape Town," or 'Town Bank."
The old Cape May County records, on file in the Sec- retary's office at Trenton, gfve the name of Henry Young as one of those "known to be whalers," who came to Cape May prior to 1700, His name does not appear in the list of those who located land prior to 1700, and it seeins probable that he did net permanently settle in the county until about 1707, in which year his "ear-mark" for branding cattle was recorded.
His property, or plantation, as it was then styled, was located where the Palermo station of the Reading Railway now stands, and extended in a westerly direction to Cedar Swamp Creek, within the present limits of Petersburg,
Written by Ray Wynn.
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THE YOUNG FAMILY
Henry Young was a man of considerable education, as is evinced by certain of his papers which are still in ex- istence and by the various positions of responsibility which he held under the Colonial Government and the West Jersey Society.
He was King's (or Colony ) Surveyor in 1716, Deputy Surveyor for the West Jersey Society in the years 1727, '29, '30, '33, '35, '39, '45, '46 and '50, according to surveys and drafts now in the possession of the Young family, and, probably in other years as well, as the list of drafts and surveys is rather incomplete. It is said that he used the mariner's compass in making his sur- veys and that he did work upon the old Coxe survey. He was Commissioner of the Peace in 1722 and 1733: Sheriff, 1722-'23; Loan Officer, 1733-'42, '46-'53 and '65; Surrogate, 1741 -'67; Judge of the Court of Cape May County, 1722-'67; Member of the New Jersey As- sembly, 1730, '33-'40, '44 and '45; Major of Cape May and Salem Regiment, Militia of the Province, 1739; Col- onel in Militia in "King George's War." 1748; Colonel in Regiment of Foot in Canadian Expedition, French and Indian War, 1756. He was also a scrivener. Beas- ley, in his "Early History of Cape May County," says of him: "Judge Young was an extensive land-holder. He was a surveyor and scrivener; and no one of those times was more highly respected, or acted a more prom- inent or useful part."
He was married three times, the names of his first two wives being at present unknown; his third wife was Phoebe Norton, from the lower part of the county. He died April Sth, 1767. and was buried in the family burying ground upon his plantation, at what is now Palermo. Of this burying ground, which stood back of the present school house at Palermo, no trace now re- mains, the wooden and stone markers having rotted
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N, J.
away or been removed.
So far as can be ascertained from the old records, he had the following children: Abigail, married Joseph Ludlam; Phoebe, married William Robinson; Deborah, married first, Cornelius Hand, second, Jeremiah Hand, third, Clement Daniels; Stephen, married Anne Job, married Mary Norton; Henry, 2d, married Millicent Townsend; Tabitha, married John Townsend; Uriah, married Rachel Griffing; Elizabeth, married Col. John Mackev; Millicent, single.
Henry Young, 2d, born March 5th, 1746, inherited, among other things, the tract fronting upon the Cedar Swamp Creek between the mouth of Sluice Creek and a small creek below the present Upper Bridge, and ex- tending iu an easterly direction to the Butter and Old Landing roads. Here, at 110 great distance from the road leading from the Lower to the Upper Bridge across Cedar Swamp Creek. he built himself a house, of which at the present day, nothing butt the cellar remains.
He served during the Revolutionary war, being an Ensign in Capt. James Willets Jr.'s Company, Cape May Battalion, New Jersey Militia.
He died November 6th, 1795, at the old homestead near Sluice Creek, and is buried in the Young family burying ground upon the place now owned by William Tyler. His wife was Millicent Townsend, daughter cf Samuel Townsend, and is buried beside him.
Their children were: Seth, married Martha Steelman; Samttel Townsend, married Olive Pedrick; Henry, 3d, married Whilamina Pedrick; Alexander, married Abi- gail VanGilder; Stephen inarried Millicent Badcock; Millicent, married John Stites.
Upon the death of Henry Young, 2d, his property was divided into six portions. His son, Stephen, born October 13th, 1780, inherited the old homestead near
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THE YOUNG FAMILY
Sluice Creek, and lived there from the time of his mar- riage until about 1812 or 1813, at which time he built a house at the Lower Bridge, where he had for some years conducted a shipyard and a general store; the former being located upon the east side of Cedar Swamp Creek, a short distance below the Lower Bridge, and the latter at the eastern end of the bridge. The original store is the kitchen of the present house. At the time that Stephen Young moved from the property on Sluice Creek to the Lower Bridge, he built a new store, now used as a cottage upon the property, and standing beside the wharf. He also built a house in front of the old store. Later, when the needs of his family required it, he built the eastern wing of the house as it now stands.
He was an extensive builder of vessels and for many years conducted a trade with the West Indies, using his own schooners to carry it on1. The hull of one of his vessels, the ''Niagara." still lies upon the west bank of the creek, a short distance below the Lower Bridge.
In his younger days Stephen Young was a sea captain. He held a number of public positions: Member of the Board of Freeholders, 1823, '29-'33, '45, '47-'49 and '54; Justice of the Peace, 1814-'25, Judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, 1847; Postmaster at Petersburg, or Littleworth as it was then called, on two separate occasions previous to 1856, at which time he was succeeded in office by Peter Corson. He served in the War of 1812-15, in the Militia of Cape May County. in defense of the seacoast.
He died October 16th, 1857, at the Lower Bridge. His wife, who was Millicent, daughter of Joseph Bad- cock, died November 30th, 1865. Both are buried in the Seaside Cemetery, Palermo, N. J.
They had the following children. Sarah, married Joshua Swain, Jr .; Phoebe, married Benjamin I. Wynn;
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N. J.
Millicent, married Lewis P. Kinsey; Reuben, married Emma Corson; Joseph, married Harriet B. Wales; Henry, married Jane S. Towusend; Rachel, single, Eleanor, single; and Eliza, single.
Of these children, Reuben, born October 26th, 1803, lived upon the property at Cedar Springs, now owned and occupied by Miss Sallie B. Young, until his death, which occurred February 2d, 1842. He was killed by a falling log in the saw mill which then stood upon the Mackey place, now the residence of Miss Millicent Young. His family afterward moved to Middletown. He is buried in the Seaside Cemetery at Palermo.
Joseph Young, born December 1st, 1807, succeeded his brother, Reuben, upon the property at Cedar Springs. He died June 10th, 1889. His wife died October 27th, 1889, Both are buried in the Seaside Cemetary.
They had six children: Edmund L. B. W., married first Mary Smith, second Elizabeth Rand; Bentley W., married Judith Morris; Howard married Levisa Smith; Josephine, married David Cresswell; Sarah B., single; Mary E. single.
Bentley W. and Sarah B. Young lived upon the old place. Bentley W. Young died November 2d, 1907, and is buried in Petersburg Churchyard.
Henry Young, born February 16th, 1813, located upon the Mackey place, where he died March 4th, 1890. His wife died January 7th, 1899. Both are buried at Calvary Cemetery, Ocean View, N. J. They had two children: Stephen T., and Millicent.
Stephen T. (1840-1912), son of Henry and Jane S. Young, married Margaret Reed, and had three child- ren: Harriet, died in infancy; Henry, married Han- nah Endicott; Rachel, married William Loughlin, and has three children, William, Margaret and Robert.
The Young family have been property owners in
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THE YOUNG FAMILY
Petersburg from a date prior to the settlement of the place, down to the present day, and residents for nearly as long a period, their having been six generations of then in a direct line of descent.
The original Young plantation came down to the eastern bank of Cedar Swamp Creek. As previously stated, Henry Young, 2d, inherited a portion of this property, his half-brother, Job Young, and his half- sister, Tabitha, who married John Townsend, inheriting the rest. The western limit of Job Young's property was about where the present Upper Bridge over Cedar Swamp Creek stands. So far as is known, the property inherited by Tabitha Townsend did not come within the limits of Petersburg.
Seth, a son of Henry Young. 2d, lived for several years upon the property now belonging to William Tvler. He afterward moved to the Shore Road, where he lived in the house occupied by Smith Marshall, a Palermo.
Samuel Townsend Young, Seth's brother, also lived upon the Tyler place, afterward moving to the vicinity of Palermo. He was killed by a runaway team upon the Shore Road.
It is said that Henry Young, 3d, another brother of Seth, lived for a time upon the place, afterward moving to Middletown. He was killed in a runaway accident upon the Tuckahoe road above Petersburg.
Seth Young, Samue. T. Young and Henry Young, 3d, are buried in the old Young burying ground upon the Tyler place. The wives of the last two named are buried in the Methodist churchyard at Marmora, both of them, according to family tradition, being opposed to being "buried in the open fields."
Both Joseph and Henry, sons of Stephen Young, were sea captains in their earlier days. After quitting the
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N. J.
sea, they farmed extensively, and Henry was also interested in the manufacture of brick, having a yard for that purpose upon the Mackey place.
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THE MACKEY FAMILY*
Among the more prominent of the old families of Petersburg was the Mackey family, now extinct in the direct line.
John Mackey, the first of the name in the county was a Quaker, of Irish, or Scoch=Irish descent, He came between the years 1740 and 1745, and after several years spent in the southern end of the county, in the vicinity of Cape May Court House, located upon what is now known as the Mackey place, in Petersburg.
According to the New Jersey Archives, he married, on April 25th, 1746, Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Henry Young. He became an extensive landholder, and, so far as known, occupied the following public positions: Freeholder; 1764; Justice of the Peace, 1767; Justice of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 1773; Lieutenant Colonel, Cape May County Militia, 1771. In 1777 he was elected by the people Colonel of the Cape May County Regiment, and probably served with the battalion in the battle of Germantown. He resigned his commission in March, 1778, being succeeded by Colonel Nicholas Stillwell. He was Commissioner of the Peace in 1777.
Colonel Mackey's wife died suddenly of heart disease, sometime prior to 1784. The Colonel died in Septem- ber, 1784. Both himself and wife were buried in the family burying ground upon the Mackey place.
Until quite recently the place of their burial was in doubs; but through the researches of the late Dr. Zelo-
*Written by Ray Wymm.
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N, J.
pherd Hand, of Montclair, N. J., a descendant of the Colonel, it was definitely shown that it could only be upon the Mackey place. At that time it became known that Mr. Stephen T. Young had discovered what ap- peared to be a gravestone, while plowing in one of the lower fields some twelve years before. In the fall of 1910 an effort was made to locate this stone and it was finally found. In the spring of 1911 another stone, evi- dently the marker of the grave of Mrs. Mackey was found within a few feet of the first one. The stones had either fallen, or had been turned down and plowed under by someone who was cultivating the field. The burying ground is located southeast of the present house near the edge of the woods. in accordance with the Friends' custom, the stones are plain markers with no lettering upon them. They are irregularly triangular in shape and roughly hewn from the quartz rock which is more or less common in that section.
Colonel Mackey and his wife had six children: Abi- gail, married Captain James Willets; Martha, married Darius Corson; Tabitha, married Captain Hope Willets; Phoebe, married first, Joseph Badcock, second, Joseph Corson; Elizabeth, married Henry, son of Job and Mary Young, and grandson of Judge Young; John, married Elizabeth
John Mackey, Jr., born 1764, died December 13th, 1837, inherited all of the Mackey property in Cape May County, including the plantation of 740 acres, known as the Mackey place. He never added to his possessions, but was repeatedly selling his property in order to raise ready money. A short time before his death, he conveyed the last of his property to Thomas Williams, of Tuckahoe, in return for "the comfortable support of the said John Mackey for and during his natural life." From this it can only be inferred that he
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THE MACKEY FAMILY
led a life of idleness and ease. His life of self-indulgence and lack of initiative leads to the conclusion that he was not a tower of strength in time of distress. (Note. --- . The above is taken from data collected by Dr. Hand. ) Both John Mackey and his wife were buried in the Aetna Cemetery, at the Head of the River.
John Mackey, Jr., had three children: Elizabeth, married John Williams, of Tuckalioe; Sarah, married Joseph Corson: John, 3d, according to Dr. Hand, died without issue.
Of Abigail, Martha Elizabeth and Tabitha Mackey, daughters of Colonel John Mackey, but little is known.
Phoebe Mackey, daughter of the Colonel; who mar- ried as her first husband, Joseph Badcock, lived in a house which stood about where the Butter Road joins the road leading from the Lower Bridge to Marmora. The house has long since disappeared.
Joseph Badcock was the grandson of Joseph Badcock, who came to Cape May County and purchased land of the Company in London in or about 1691; and who died about 1709-'10. He served as a private in Captain James Willets, Jr's., company of the Cape May County Battalion, New Jersey Militia. He was afterward lost at sea and his widow married Joseph Corson, by whom she had six children, four sons and two daughters. By her first marriage with Joseph Badcock, she had two daughters, one of whom, Millicent, married Stephen Young. of the Lower Bridge.
In connection with the old Mackey plantation, there is an interesting note in Jacob Spicer's diary, under date of February 22, 1757: "John Mackey's house is 40x20, single story, with hip, for which Joseph Edwards is to get the timber, frame, cover, make the window frames, sashes, put in the lights, make the outside doors and lay the floors for £16, and find himself and work-
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THE HISTORY OF PETERSBURG, N. J.
me11. Mackey to fird the lath sawed and shingle fit for covering." This house stood to the northeast of the present house upon the Mackey place and faced south.
The Mackey place was sold to Smith Hand, and after his death it came into the possession of Charles Hand, of whom it was purchased by Stephen Young, of the Lower Bridge. At the latter's death it was divided among certain of his heirs.
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