USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > A history of Monmouth and Ocean counties : embracing a genealogical record of earliest settlers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties and their descendants, the Indians, their language, manners and customs, important historical events. > Part 20
USA > New Jersey > Ocean County > A history of Monmouth and Ocean counties : embracing a genealogical record of earliest settlers in Monmouth and Ocean Counties and their descendants, the Indians, their language, manners and customs, important historical events. > Part 20
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"To be sold at vendue, on Monday, the 6th day of September, 1779, at the house of the subscriber in the township of Dover and county of Monmouth, viz: 200 acres of pine land, well timbered, about two miles below Toms River Bridge ; 50 head of cattle, 40 sheep, 6 horses, 10 hogs and 8 negroes, a set of blacksmith's tools, 200 bushels of wheat and rye, 20 acres of Indian corn, a quantity of tanned leather and tar, a variety of farming utensils and household goods too tedious to mention. Same time will be sold a valuable plantation, with a great quantity of fresh and salt meadows; a grist and saw mill, with plenty of timber; a valuable fishery, with 400 acres of land. All may be entered upon immediately. For terms, apply to the subscriber on the premises.
"JOHN ATTIN. "August 18, 1779."
The offering for sale of eight negroes, recalls a dif- ference between then and now.
Abiel Akins, who, for many years was the principal Justice of the Peace at Toms River, lived during the war, according to a tradition of old residents, on the south side of Toms River, on the place formerly the
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
residence of Anthony Ivins and subsequently of A. P. Stanton. His house was a stopping place for Rev. Ben- jamin Abbott, a pioneer of Methodism. It was burned by the British at the time when the village was burned. It is said that he subsequently resided on the north side of the river below the bridge. His ancestry is noticed in the sketch of the Akin family. For almost a generation he seemed to have performed most of the marriage cere- monies in his vicinity. The following were some parties married by him :
Dillon Wilbur to Leucretia Bird, October 14, 1795.
William Runnels (Reynolds ?) to Leonah Francis, August 10, 1795.
Gilbert Lane to Sarah Aumack, January 10, 1796. Abel Platt to Melah Letts, March 26, 1796.
David Rogers to Susannah Chadwick, May 1, 1796. James Wilber to Elizabeth Hopkins, June 26, 1796. Jacob Applegate to Margaret Luker, July 10, 1796.
About 1808 the Legislature passed a law for the re- lief of Abiel Akins, as he had met with reverses in busi- ness.
Moses Robbins was a matross in Captain Huddy's company, and was seriously wounded in the action at the Block House. He was one of the first to have a dwelling erected after the village was burned, and the sale of a captured prize was advertised to take place at his house in March, 1783. In 1792 he purchased timber land back of Toms River, and Holmes & Robbins' mill is mentioned the same year. In 1795 his heirs had a tract on the road from Toms River to Schenck's Mill, sold. From this it would seem probable that he died between 1792 and 1795. In the early part of the present century Elijah Robbins owned the land on which the Block House had been situated.
A matross was a member of an artillery company who assisted in loading cannon, and also carried a musket.
Aaron Buck was one of the two persons in the vil- lage who had the fortune of having their houses spared
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TOMS RIVER DURING THE REVOLUTION.
when the village was burned. It is supposed this was because he was related to the Refugee, William Dillon, the pilot of the British, Buck having married a daughter of Dillon's brother. Mrs. Studson's house was the other spared, and her house and Buck's afforded a tem- porary refuge for the unfortunate women and children whose homes had been burned by the British. Before the war he was a land owner, and in 1765 sold a tract near Toms River to Albertio Shockelia. He had two daughters, one of whom married Judge Ebenezer Tucker, for whom Tuckerton was named, and the other married John Rogers, ancestor of most of the Rogers family from Toms River to Cedar Creek. It is said that Aaron Buck was captain of a coasting vessel after the war, and eventually committed suicide by hanging himself on the rigging of his vessel as she lay in Toms River.
Captain Ephraim Jenkins, according to tradition, lived in the village of Toms River, and his dwelling was among those burned by the British in 1782. It is sup- posed that he was killed in the action at the Block House, and his family was left unprovided for. One of his child- ren was taken care of by one of the Prices at Goodluck, ancestor of Dr. T. T. Price, of Tuckerton. Captain Jen- kins was commissioned captain in Colonel Asher Holmes' battalion, June 14, 1780.
Captain Joshua Studson, who was killed by the Refugee John Bacon, December 1, 1780, lived along the edge of the river, just below the bridge. He was ap- pointed a lieutenant in Colonel Asher Holmes' battalion, June 14, 1780, and was also a captain in the privateer service. In the latter part of 1780 he took two prizes, the sehooner "John " and the sloop "Catharine," on the south side of Staten Island. The Admiralty Court, to adjust his prize claims, was appointed to be held at Mount Holly, Jannary 1, 1781. Just a month before this he was killed. It is said that a few years after his death his widow married a man at Toms River named Cham- berlain.
James Lippencott's house was one at which sales took
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
place during the war. In 1791 Samuel Pease (Pearce ?) and wife sold to James Lippencott land in old Dover township. And in 1792 James Lippencott. bought land of William Cox and wife, Richard Smith and wife, William Smith and wife, John Hoskins, Sr., and John Hoskins, Jr., and Edward Pole, all in same township.
James Mott, Jr., was another prominent man around Toms River during the early part of the war. He proba- bly lived easterly of the village on the bay, on or adjoin- ing the place subsequently owned by the late James Cook. His property is thus described in an advertise- ment published in Collins' New Jersey Gazette in Septem- ber, 1779:
" To be Sold: A valuable tract of land adjoining Barnegat Bay, near Toms River, in the town of Dover, Monmouth county, containing about 1,000 acres, about 280 acres of salt meadow, 30 acres of cedar swamp (part of which is very good), about 50 acres of upland, cleared and fenced with cedar; a new frame dwelling house thereon, 20 feet by 26, with two fire-places on first floor, and a stone cellar under the same; also a kitchen ad- joining, 16 feet square, with a brick oven, and a well at the door; the remainder woodland. The land is good for rve, Indian corn, for raising stock, and is as well situ- ated for manufacturing salt as any in New Jersey. It will be sold together or be divided, as shall suit pur- chaser. For terms apply to Abiel Akins, Esq., at Toms River, or to the subscriber on the premises.
" JAMES MOTT, JR."
In March the same advertisement in substance was published, but application to be made to Joseph Salter, Toms River, and "to be sold for Continental bills of credit or loan certificates."
There was a James Mott captain in the militia, stationed at Toms River. He was appointed major, and resigned June 18, 1776. In 1776, James Mott was a member of the Legislature from Monmouth. The name appears as a property owner in Middletown, 1778 and 1790, and also in Shrewsbury township. He purchased land in Dover township in 1795. He was probably re- lated to Joseph Salter, who at one time owned a tract on
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TOMS RIVER DURING THE REVOLUTION.
the bay, possibly the same advertised by Mott, as Joseph Salter married a Mott.
Edward Thomas, of Black Horse, Burlington county, owned a place adjoining James Mott's, which he thus de- seribed in an advertisement published in 1777 :
" A plantation in Dover township, adjoining Barne- gat Bay, bounded by lands of James Mott and Pennsyl- vania Salt Works; 300 acres, 70 acres salt meadows, remainder good timber land ; soil good for corn and rye, and with small expense (by bringing seaweed) will be good for raising wheat. On it a log house, also a cellar dug and walled, 20 by 26, and frame timber, &c., sufficient to build. Well located for erecting salt works."
Edward Thomas was a member of the militia com- pany that came along shore in pursuit of the Refugee Bacon, and finally killed him near West Creek.
Joseph Salter at one time owned a place near the bay, possibly the same once owned by James Mott, to whom he was related by marriage. He was at Toms River as early as 1774, and a relative, Thomas Salter, had purchased considerable land in the township twenty-five or thirty years before. He was a member of the Provin- cial Assembly in 1775. He was appointed Lientenant- Colonel in the militia, but soon resigned. In the minutes of the New Jersey Provincial Congress, October 21, 1775, it is stated that-
"Joseph Salter, Esquire, having returned his com- mission of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment of Militia for the County of Monmouth, and desired leave to resign the same :
" Resolved unanimously, that his resignation be ac- cepted."
His first wife was Sally, daughter of Samuel Holmes, by whom he had a son William. His second wife was Huldah Mott, by whom he had several children, some of whom came into possession of the place at Toms River, which eventually was purchased by James Cook, who in 1859 sold the same to Gavin Brackenridge, who in turn sold it to Thomas Gilford, and in the description of the land occurs the following clause :
" Excepting thereout one hundred and fifty acres
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
lying on the west side, conveyed by Sarah Salter, Eliza- beth Salter, Margaret Salter and Hannah Salter to Garret Irons, which said tract of land is henceforth to be de- scribed and known by the name of Ballantrae."
Ballantrae means a settlement or place by the sea or water; an appropriate name for the tract.
Joseph Salter was summoned before the Council of Safety in April, 1777, and Isaac Potter and Daniel Griggs, of Toms River, gave some evidence against him, of which the purport is not given, and he was committed to Bur- lington jail.
John Lawrence, who was committed to the same jail the same week, was charged with high treason. He was an agent to furnish British protection papers.
Possibly Salter had accepted papers giving British protection, but in October of the same year he took the oath to the Provincial Government, and was released. He remained about Toms River until about May, 1779, when he removed elsewhere. It is said that he founded Atsion Furnace, in Burlington county, in 1770. His son Richard lived at Toms River in the early part of the present century. He had a son James, who was proba- bly the James Salter, treasurer of the State of New Jer- sey in 1799, and who died December 19, 1803.
Captain Samuel Bigelow was engaged in the privateer business, and some of his prizes are noticed in the account of Privateering at Toms River. He seems at times to have had charge of barges, or whale-boats, then in common use by both Americans and British for ser- vice in bays and on the ocean near the inlets. He is rated as "mariner" in the roster of officers and men of the Revolution. His residence is described in a survey made in 1773. as on the north side of Wrangle Brook, thirty chains above Randolph's saw-mill, which was at the junction of Wrangle Brook with Davenport.
Edward Wilbur took up land before the war, in 1762, three-quarters of a mile north of Toms River. When the village was burned in 1782, the house of a Wilbur, situated about the same distance from the river, was not
23.
TOMS RIVER DURING THE REVOLUTION.
burned, possibly because it was too far off, or because related to the Dillon family, as Dillon Wilbur, somewhat prominent just after the war, received his name from the Dillon family.
John Wilbur was a member of Captain Joshua Hud- dy's company, and was rated as a matross.
James Dillon was quite noted around Toms River before the war. In 1761 he took up land above Toms River on one of its branches. In 1762 he was taxed 10s. 3d. In 1763, it is said, he claimed to own "Toms Island," subsequently known as Dillon's Island. He had a daughter who married Aaron Buck, and it is proba- ble he was related to the Wilbur family, as a member of it was named Dillon Wilbur.
William Dillon, the noted Refugee scoundrel, was imprisoned at one time in Freehold Jail under sentence of death, but was either pardoned or escaped, probably the latter, as he soon after appeared at Toms River as a Refugee pilot. He engaged in contraband trade between New York and Egg Harbor, and his vessel was captured by Captain Grey, a New Englander, who came in his vessel to Toms River. The Admiralty Court, to try the claim of the captors of Dillon's vessel, was called at Freehold, by notice signed by Esquire Abiel Akins, to meet March 16, 1782. Within a week after, Dillon was piloting the British expedition which burned Toms River. After the war he left with other Refugees for St. Johns, New Brunswick, where he was in 1783 given town lot number 1,019.
Benjamin Johnson, just before the war, and proba- bly during the war, lived in the north or north-easterly part of the village. A person of the same name had a dwelling house on the south side of Toms River, towards Sloop Creek, in 1741, some thirty odd years before the war. Benjamin Johnson is named as deceased in a sur- vey in 1788. The family appears to have been among the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Toms River.
Benjamin Smith lived on the west side of Long Swamp, where he built a new house just before the war. A per-
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
son of this name was a member of the militia from old Monmouth. Members of the Smith family were among the earliest who received patents for land in what is now Ocean county, some of whom resided in old Middletown township, to which the first members came from Rhode Island.
David and Thomas Luker were among members of the Monmouth militia. The family was among the first to settle at Toms River. Daniel Luker's dwelling is re- ferred to in a survey in 1747. Luker's Ferry, over Toms River, is mentioned 1749 and subsequently, and Luker's Branch and Luker's Bridge also named previous to the Revolution. The name is generally given in old records of surveys as Luker, but it is also given as Lucar and Louker. The names Looker, Lucar and Lenker apparently are of the same origin. Among earliest settlers of Eliza- bethtown were Lookers, and members located at Wood- bridge, in Middlesex.
Richard Bird, commonly known as "Dick " Bird, the Refugee, lived near Toms River, and perhaps of the family of William Bird, who, in 1773, lived on the south side of Toms River at Eagle's Point. About the same time John Bird lived near Forked River. "Dick " Bird was killed during the war by the Americans. He had relatives, it seems, in the lower part of what is now Berkely township.
Francis Jeffrey owned land on the south side of Toms River, and probably resided within a short dis- tance of the village during the war. He was a member of the Monmonth militia. The name Francis has been preserved in the family for two centuries. John Jeffreys and Humphrey Jeffreys were also members of the militia during the Revolution.
Edward Worth owned land on the south side of Toms River, and probably lived within a very few miles of the village. John Worth was a member of Captain Walton's Light Dragoons, and William Worth was in the Monmouth militia and also in the Continental army.
John Williams resided near Toms River, and during
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BARNEGAT.
the war was interested in the store-house for salt at Toms River, on which he marked the letter "R" to save it from being destroyed by the British. He, or a person of the same name, owned lands in old Dover township, and a saw-mill on Cedar Creek twenty years before the war ; also lands near Meteteconk.
George Parker, John Parker and Joseph Parker were members of Captain Joshua Huddy's company in the Block House. After the war members of the family lived near Toms River. In 1797 George Parker and Abraham Parker bought of Isaac Gulick "lands at mouth of Toms River, known as Dillon's Island," which they sold in 1799 to Abel Middleton, of Upper Freehold. Benjamin Par- ker had a tar kiln on Little Hurricane in 1795.
Jacob Jacobs took up land in 1761 east of Long Swamp, not far from Dillon's Island. The line of his land here is referred to in a survey in 1775.
In 1760 Jacobs' saw-mill, on the south side of Toms River, is named, and after that date Jacobs' branch and Jake's branch are frequently named, probably from Jacob Jacobs. He left Toms River, and in 1779 he was over- seer of Speedwell saw-mill, formerly called Randle's (Randolph's) mill, on the east branch of Wading River, which mill was advertised for sale in February, 1779, by Benjamin Randolph.
The names of many of the leading citizens of Dover township, as it was at the close of the war, will be found in the extracts from the old Dover Town Book.
BARNEGAT.
The village of Barnegat derives its name from the inlet, which was originally called Barende-gat by the first Dutch discoverers on our coast. Barende-gat, meaning an inlet with breakers, was subsequently corrupted by the English to Barndegat, and finally to Barnegat.
Among the first whites who settled at Barnegat and vicinity, tradition says, were Thomas Timms, Elisha Parr, Thomas Lovelady, Jonas Tow (pronounced like the word
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
now) and a man named Vaull. Thomas Lovelady is the one from whom Lovelady's island, near Barnegat, takes its name. The first settlers seem generally to have located on the upland near the meadows, on or near the Collins, Stokes and Mills farms. There was a house built on the Collins place by Jonas Tow, at least as early as 1720. The persons named above as the first comers, do not appear to have been permanent settlers, and tradition fails to state what became of any of them, with the exception of Jonas Tow, who it is said died here.
Among the first permanent settlers, it is said, were William and Levi Cranmer, Timothy Ridgway, Stephen and Nathan Birdsall and Ebenezer Mott ; and Ebenezer Collins followed soon after. The ancestor of the shore Rulons was also an early settler. Tradition says he lived on the road to Cedar Bridge two or three miles west of the present village of Barnegat and on the place known in late years as the Corlies place.
The first permanent settlers at Barnegat, as well as at other places along shore, appeared not to have pur- chased titles of the proprietors until several years after they came. The first land taken up from the proprietors, it is said, was the tract of 500 acres, bought by Timothy Ridgway and Levi Cranmer, September 9th, 1759, of Oliver Delancey and Henry Cuyler, Jr., agents for the proprietor, William Dockwra. This tract included the lot upon which the Quaker church is built, but the main portion lay south-easterly. The land along shore was originally divided off into two tracts of about a thousand acres, by John Reed, surveyor, and alloted in alternate divisions to the proprietors; William Dockwra having for his portion a large part of the land on which stands the village ; next north came Robert Burnett's, and then Lord Neill Campbell's. Lochiel brook, between Barnegat and Waretown, it is said, was named in compliment to Campbell's estate in Scotland.
The first Cranmer family at Barnegat lived in the tract purchased as above mentioned, and their dwelling was on or near the site of the one owned in modern times
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BARNEGAT.
by Captain Isaac Soper, and subsequently by Captain John Russell.
The Rackhow road was laid out by Peter Rackhow, a son of Daniel Rackhow, who once lived in the place now owned by Samuel Birdsall, Esq., Waretown. Rack- how, it is said was a Dutchman, who eventually changed his name to Richards. He had two sons-Peter, above named, who was a reputable young man, and another who joined the Refugees, went off with them and was not heard of afterwards.
The first inn or public house in Barnegat was estab- lished in 1820 by David Oliphant, on the site of the pres- ent one, at the corner of the main shore road and the road to the landing.
The well-remembered old public house of Eli Col- lins was occasionally patronized fifty or sixty years ago by distinguished visitors, among them the noted Prince Murat with quite a train of servants. He was one of the most expert hunters of his day. Murat was a large pow- erful man and of remarkable powers of endurance-able to tire out almost any other hunter or gunner he met.
Another celebrated personage who occasionally stopped here was Lieut., or Captain Hunter, of Alvarado fame. Once, as le drove up, an hostler stepped out to attend to his horses and addressed him by name. Capt. Hunter was surprised to find himself addressed so famil- iarly by so humble a personage, and upon inquiry found that the hostler had once held some office in the Navy, and been on a man of war with him up the Mediter- ranean, and while there had acted as Hunter's second in a duel. Hunter replied: "Proctor, I know you, but I don't know your clothes!" Proctor had considerable natural ability, but it was the old story, liquor sent him on the down grade. Frank Forrester (William Henry Herbert) the great authority and noted writer on field sports, was evidently well acquainted here, as his writ- ings show wonderful familiarity with this section. Uncle Eli Collins' house and the lower tavern once kept by David Church were old well-known headquarters for
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH AND OCEAN COUNTIES.
gunners from distant places. Speaking of gunners, re- minds us of one who stopped once at the lower tavern with a fierce bull dog. The landlord told the gunner to keep his dog away from a yard where he had a loon wounded in his wings, as the loon might hurt the dog. The idea of a loon or any other wild fowl hurting his bull dog amused the gunner, and he offered to bet fifty dollars that his dog would kill the bird. The landlord took the bet, the dog was let in, but in an instant the loon picked out the dog's eyes by suddenly darting his sharp bill in quick succession.
During the Revolutionary war, parties of both Refugees and Patriots, as they traveled up and down shore, would stop at the houses of the Barnegat Quakers and demand victuals, but on the whole, the residents suffered less during the war than did those of any other place along shore, except perhaps West Creek. They had, however, but little reason to congratulate them- selves on this score, as they suffered enough after the war; for then in time of peace, on account of their con- scientious scruples against militia training and paying fines for non-attendance, they were continually harrassed by lawsuits, arrests, fines and executions, and imprisoned or property sold for non-compliance with militia laws. The once notorious Esquire William Platt, of old Dover township, bore no enviable name among the Quakers for his vexing them with suits on this account.
During the Revolution quite extensive salt works were carried on at Barnegat, on the meadows near the farm of Mr. James Mills, by the Cranmers, Ridgways, and others. The usual plan to manufacture salt was to seek some place on the salt meadows where no grass could grow. By digging wells in these bare places, the water was found to be strongly impregnated with salt- The water from these wells or springs was put in large boilers with a kind of arched oven underneath, in which a fire was built. After most of the water was boiled away, the remainder, thick with salt, was poured into baskets of sugar-loaf shape, made to allow the water to
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
drain out. One of these curious-shaped baskets was pre- served and in possession of the late Uncle Eli Collins as late as 1860.
The remains of shell beds on the farm of James Mills; Esq., and at other places show that the Indians at Barnegat, long before the whites came, caught shell fish in great quantities. Some of course were eaten here, but the principal object of the Indians appeared to be to prepare a quantity to take back with them. This was generally done by roasting and then taking them out of the shell, stringing and drying them in the sun.
RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
The first preachers who visited any part of the New Jersey shore of whom we have any account, belonged to the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers. This society established a meeting at Tuckerton in 1704, and built a meetinghouse there in 1709.
The first religious society established in Ocean County was probably that of the Rogerine Baptists, a company of whom came to Waretown about 1737 and remained here about eleven years and then left. They were singular people in their ideas of worship. Among other peculiarities, the members took work to meeting with them, and during services the men made axe and hoe handles, the women knit, sewed, &c. The principal member of the society was Abraham Waeir, from whom Waretown derives its name. It is probable they held meetings in a building used as a schoolhouse.
An Episcopalian clergyman named Rev. Thomas Thompson, visited Barnegat and Manahawkin while he was a missionary in old Monmouth, from 1745 to 1751, and on his return sent Christopher Robert Reynolds, who was a schoolmaster of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," to labor at these two places, but on account of his age and infirmity he re- mained but a short time.
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