USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 52
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Respectfully yours, LOUISA CRANE, (Now) Mrs. Charles E. Wortman.
P. S .- I herewith add a bit of Dover history. The late Charles B. Crane received the very first freight sent to Dover via Morris and Essex R. R. It was a consign- ment of leather from Jacob T. Garthwaite of Newark, N. J., and as there was no station at Dover, was locked in the corncrib of Mr. Wm. Ford.
An item of information about another Dover school teacher has strayed my way. Mrs. Josephine Peck of Michigan, a member of the Hurd family, related to the Byrams, has written that when she was a school girl, attending school in the Birch building, she went on the ice on Ford Pond one day and fell in up to her neck. Her teacher hurried to the pond and saved her life. He afterwards gave her a present of a book which she still treasures up. This happened about 1847-8. The teacher's name was Mr. Lefevre Overton.
Mrs. Phebe H. De Hart, of Bloomfield, N. J., July 16, 1913:
I called on her at her home and spent the morning. She said her memory was failing and would not attempt to answer some of the ques- tions which I asked.
She remembered Phebe Berry, who, when a little girl, was in her Sunday school class. Mrs. De Hart herself remembered going to Sunday school in "a brick building," in Dover. She remembered Peter Hoagland and his family, and Mr. Wyckoff, the first Presbyterian minister.
When asked about the religious meetings in the barn of the Daniel Lawrence house, a mile or two beyond the Mt. Fern church on the Chester road, she remembered distinctly attending such meetings in the big stone barn belonging to this house. Mr. Sherman, a circuit preacher of the Methodist church, would come around two or three times a year. When he arrived in the neighborhood he would go to the school house and an- nounce to the school that he would preach at such a time. Then the chil- dren would carry the news home to their parents and the people would all turn out and attend the preaching service. The preaching service was held in the school house, apparently, and some other religious service in the big barn, according to Mrs. De Hart. "Oh, how the people loved Mr. Sherman and loved to hear him preach !"
Mr. I. W. Searing, of Dover, says that his parents first met and got acquainted at these meetings in the big barn.
Mrs. De Hart used to visit at the Chrystal home, and at the Abijah Abbott home on the Rockaway road. She attended church at first in Rockaway, under Barnabas King. She is a petite old lady of dignified
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and gracious manners and her eyesight is failing, so that she sits with closed eyes most of the time, but her hearing is very good. When I asked if she remembered "Billy Ford," as I have heard him spoken of, she re- plied with great gravity that she was indeed acquainted with "William Ford." She was quite deliberate and wished to take time to think, and would not let me go until I had finally stayed to lunch. She had not heard so much about Dover in a long while and was very much pleased to have any one talk to her about the scenes of her childhood days. Having studied the subject so long I was able to ask questions and talk as if I had lived in Dover since 1800, almost. "In those days did the ladies dress up much in fine dresses when they went to church?" "I guess they did, the best they could. They had dresses of silk and satin and so on." "Did they have fine weddings in those days?" "Yes, they did." She was mar- ried when she was nineteen, in 1834.
THE DOVER SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHERS' SOCIETY OF 1833. Dover, October 15th, 1834.
Brother Segur :
Dear Sir: In accordance with your request, communicated to us by your letter of the Ioth inst., and also knowing, and feeling, the necessity of unity of effort which we have always been desirous of promoting. We, as teachers in the sabbath school would respectfully request, that the following additional particulars may be embodied in the Constitution (which accompanied your letter to us) under their appropriate heads, and in appropriate language :
Ist. That we recognize in our title our connection with the Rockaway society.
Our reasons for the above are that we may enjoy the spiritual, and pecuniary advantages arising from such a recognition.
2d. That the librarian shall report at least annually the condition of the library, the amount of the expenditures, what expended for, and also suggest the amount of appropriations necessary for the library and such other matter as he may think proper for the action of the teachers.
3d. That the officers of the society shall be elected annually.
To promote sabbath school instruction, and to secure a more efficient and sys- tematic organization of the sabbath schools in this place,
We, the undersigned, do hereby agree to form ourselves into an association, under the title of the "Dover Sabbath School Teachers' Society," and having unani- mously adopted the following rules and regulations, pledge ourselves to submit to and be governed by them, viz .-
ARTICLE Ist. Every Teacher that shall be duly Elected shall become a member of this Society by signing his or her name to this Constitution.
Art. 2d. This Society shall meet as often as once in each week to examine their Lessons for the succeeding Sabbath, to appoint Teachers when necessary, and to attend to any business connected with the school or Library, said meetings to be opened and closed with prayer.
Art. 3d. The Officers of this society shall consist of a Superintendent and Librarian, and, if found necessary, other officers may be appointed, who shall be Elected by a majority of the members of this society.
Art. 4th. It shall be the privilege and duty of the Superintendent to preside at all meetings and to superintend the general concerns of the society & School. Teachers are not to oppose his management in the school, on the Sabbath, for the time being, but may bring up any objections to his course, at their weekly meetings, which are designed to correct any improprieties and secure the best interests of the school.
Art. 5. The duty of the Librarian shall be to take charge of the Books belonging to the Library, in connection with the superintendent, and also to act as secretary of this society.
Art. 6. The Teachers, at their weekly meetings, shall adopt such rules & regula- tions with regard to furnishing and replenishing the Library with Books, to the manner of giving them out, and the penalties for damages &c as shall seem to them proper and expedient.
Art. 7. Whenever the Teachers or a majority of them shall think the interest of the school and society will be promoted by Electing a new superintendent or Librarian or other such officers as may belong to this society, it shall be their duty
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to do so, And shall select suitable persons from among the members of this society to fill said offices, who shall receive 2/3s of the votes of this society, to become duly elected.
Art. 8th. No Resolution passed at any meeting of this society, touching the General rules and regulations of the school, such as the appointment of teachers, the Election or removal of officers &c shall be final, till approved by a majority of the members of this society who shall be present at the next regular subsequent meeting.
Art. 9. Each individual who shall sign this constitution gives a solemn assurance to his associate Teachers that they will seek the best interests of the school, and will seek God's blessing upon their Labours connected with the school, And also endeavour to be punctual in their attendance at the time of opening the school, and also in attending the meetings of said society.
And if, at any time, circumstances should occur which would cause them to be absent on the Sabbath, to endeavour to procure another person to take charge of their class until their return.
Art. 10. Every person who shall sign this constitution shall have the privilege of withdrawing his or her name from this society whenever he or she may think proper.
Art. 11. These Bye Laws & regulations may be altered, improved or amended from time to time, as the necessity of the case may require, provided 3/4 of the members of this society concur therein.
Dated July 10, 1833.
Agreeable to appointment, we, the undersigned, met and having perused the above form of a constitution for the Dover S. School Society, do recommend it to our Brother and Sister teachers and shall feel much gratified if the foregoing Rules & Regulations shall be unanimously adopted.
F. A. HINCHMAN, SIDNEY BREESE, JOHN S. PULSIFER,
BENJ'N F. HARRISON, ELIEZER LAMSON, O. A. HARRISON.
John Andrew Briant, of Rockaway, July 2, 1913.
I found Mr. Briant in his home on Maple street. He had just returned from his trip up town. He was born Dec. 23, 1819. His grandfather was Andrew Briant, who lived in Springfield, New Jersey, during the Revolution. The British came and burned the town. Grandfather Briant snatched up such household effects as he could throw hastily into his wagon-including one of the old-fashioned long clocks-whipped up his horses and drove off amid flying bullets. He had his wife and children on board, but stopped to rescue old Hanus Briant and wife, but they refused to leave their old home, so he had to leave them to the mercies of the British. When the British commander saw their plight, he gave orders to leave them undisturbed and not to burn their house. The family in the wagon then escaped to the wilds of Dover, where they evidently con- sidered themselves far beyond the reach of the foe. The grandfather took up land at Center Grove. Dover was then a very small village.
John A. Briant was brought up at Center Grove. He went to school at Mill Brook in an old school house that was located on the smaller brook, further up the stream to the right than the present school house at the fork of the streams. Who were the teachers in this Mill Brook school? Maria, Phebe, and Melitta Condict, sisters of Dr. I. W. Condict, then taught school there, in succession. Two of them went to China as missionaries in 1830, and afterwards returned to this country.
Dr. A. W. Condict informs me that Melitta Condict afterwards mar- ried a Mr. Grover, and now ( 1913) survives him, and is living in Romeo, Michigan, at the age of 98. She bought all the bonds that Dover issued for the building of the East Side School, also the bonds issued for the Succasunna school.
Mill Brook was a larger and more thriving place than Dover in those
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days, about 1829-30. It had a grist mill, two saw mills, a fulling mill for making cloth, a Methodist church, and a school. Halma Cisco had the fulling mill. He afterwards left a thousand dollars to the Methodist Episcopal church there, which was built in 1832. John A. Briant was "brought in" at this church. He has been a good Methodist for 77 years. He has been the leader of the choir of the Methodist church in Rockaway for thirty years. His wife sang a beautiful leading soprano and he sang tenor. He learned music at the Mill Brook school. Henry Extell of Morristown used to come over to Mill Brook and teach singing every night in the week for one dollar a night.
Mr. Briant's wife was named Harriet Coe. He recently attended the funeral of a relative, Ferdinand Briant of Center Grove. The services were held at Mt. Freedom. He was very much delighted with Mr. Osborne's discourse and the beautiful "quartet" or four-part singing of the choir.
In early days the Methodists of Dover used to hold religious services in the little red school house, where Birch's feed store now is. The Presbyterians worshipped in the Stone Academy. In 1838 Rev. James O. Rogers, a Methodist minister of Rockaway, was appointed to preach in this Dover public school.
He built the First Methodist church of Dover. That is what he was "appointed" for. He just got on his horse and scoured the country and collected money to build the new church.
Richard Brotherton was the mouthpiece of the Quakers in the early days. He was known as a perfect honest man. In the Quaker meetings he sat up front on the platform and when they had sat through the meeting and it was time to go he just tapped on the floor with his cane and the meeting was over. That took the place of a benediction. They all got up, shook hands, and went out-not a word. Thomas Dell owned a farm near Mt. Fern and his son Thomas after him.
Dover was a center for the General Training of the militia for the County. John Briant used to come down to Dover to see the General Training, with all the Captains, and Colonels, and Generals drilling their troops. He also came down to Fourth of July celebrations of the olden time, when they had orations, and chorus singing, and a parade. There was a Mr. Jackson, an able man, who taught school in Dover.
When I was speaking with Mr. Briant I spoke of today as Tuesday, but he at once corrected me and showed me how to keep account of the day of the week. He brought out a piece of board on which he had written, the first thing that morning the name "Wensday." The next day he will turn the board over and write Thursday. Then he will erase the "Wensday" and can thus keep his reckoning about the days of the week as they pass.
Mr. Thomas B. McGrath of Rockaway married Ella M. Cooper, one of the Samuel Cooper family. See Margaret L. King, of Ironia.
Mr. David Berry of Rockaway, July 2, 1913.
Mr. Berry showed me a number of old deeds of property, made out to Titus Berry: I. Deed signed by John Jacob Faesch (the autograph evi- dently by one accustomed to the German script) to Titus Berry of Pe- quanack £ 68 2 s. 4 d. 1788. 2. Israel Canfield of Morristown to Titus Berry 1802. 3. May 22, 1801. Silas Condict of Morristown to Stephen Losey of Byram in Sussex Co. $82.00 Signed by Joseph Cutler, Lewis
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Condict, Joseph Lewis. 4. June 9, 1794. John Cory of Mendham to Titus Berry. Signed John Cory, Benj'n Lamson, James Swaney. 5. Jan. 10, 1804. John Doughty, Morristown to Titus Berry. Signed Jno. Doughty, John J. Faesch, Stephen Jackson. 6. Nov. 23, 1787. William Winds of Mendham & John Cory of Mendham. Signed William Winds, Moses Ross, Benjamin Lamson. 7. April 10, 1789, Robert Ayers, of Pequannock, yeoman, to Titus Berry, Taylor. 8. April 12, 1791. Reuben Ayers of Woodbridge in Middlesex Co. Taylor, & Titus Berry. 9. March 21, 1805. Stephen Jackson to Titus Berry. 10. Signed by William Burnett.
Diary of Mrs. Sarah C. Berry, wife of Asa Berry, who lived on the old farm in Dover. Beginning Jan. 1, 1836:
Thursday, 24 March, 1836. This day have had the blessed priviledge of meeting the Maternal Association of R and it was a delightful season to my soul to call on God in his own appointed way and to meet the dear sister in Christ and spend a few of our fleeting moments as they are bearing us on to the judgment seat to pray for the dear children that God has given us and told us to bring them up for him.
Tuesday, April 5. Why am I so anxious for the body which is so soon to be food for the worms? Why am I groveling in the dust so much? Awake my sluggish soul.
Thursday, 21 April. This day I have had the priviledge of attending the meeting of the Maternal Association of R and may my mind be deeply impresst with the responsibility that is resting on Mothers of the present day.
Sab. 24. Heard Mr. Newton this day in the church. He is a missionary among the Cherochee Indians.
Dec. 27, 1838. Dedication of the Methodist church in Dover.
Mrs. L. M. Crittenden, June 30, 1913 :
* * * It is some years since I saw the Jackson genealogy but I think it probable that John Jackson, who bought land in Dover, and built the forge, was my husband's great grandfather. His mother was the daughter of Stephen Jackson of Rockaway. In my young days there was a barn on the place, once owned by General Winds. It was called the old Winds barn. * * *
I have been interested in the Huguenot celebration in New Rochelle. My ancestral line, on my mother's side, is from a Huguenot who was born in Normandy (Lawrence De Camp) about 1645, came to New Amsterdam with other Huguenots in 1664. I have the direct line down to my mother.
LOUISA M. CRITTENDEN.
From a history of the Stiles family in Kentucky and Missouri with a sketch of New Jersey and other kindred by LaFayette Stiles Pence : Lebanon, Ky., 1896.
Mary Stiles, died 1830-1, married Moses Hurd. Children: 1. Jacob Stiles Hurd, married Mary Hoagland in 1823; kept tavern in Dover; father of John Ward Hurd, donor of Hurd Park, who married ( 1) Hawley, (2) King. 2. Ezekiel Munson Hurd, married Phebe Hoagland. 3. Nancy Hurd married Andrew Baker. 4. Moses Hurd married Mary Pragnall. 5. Malinda Hurd born 1805, married Manning Rutan. 6. Elizabeth Hurd. 7. Maria Hurd, married Thomas Kirkpatrick. 8. Harriet Hurd, married E. Peck.
Jacob Stiles Hurd left a daughter, Emma Caroline, who married Jacob VanDeventer.
E. Munson Hurd's children: Mary, William, Edward, Andrew D .; Cornelia, who married Simeon D. Rose; Miss M. F. Rose is daughter of last named.
Nancy Hurd married Andrew Baker. Her children are: Emily Baker, born 1824, married Henry Byram, her son is Andrew B. Byram; Jeremiah Baker, married Salmon; Adeline Baker, married Thomas Post ;
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Louisa M. Baker, married Jas. R. Beemer ; Elizabeth Ann Baker, married David Jardine; Adolphus Baker, married (I) Kanouse (2); Augustus Baker, married
Moses Hurd, Jr.'s children are: Harriet Hurd, Mary Lib. Hurd, married Peter VanDerhoof ; Frank (dec.), Minnie, married Thomas Tone. Malinda Hurd married Manning Rutan : child, Eugene Rutan.
Soon after 1722, Moses Hurd came from Dover, New Hampshire. His dwelling was on the same site or nearly so, as that of the Hurd Homestead where John Ward Hurd died. The first house on this lot was a log house. Then a long double house was built near the street. The house where John W. Hurd died was built back of this and so close to it that planks were laid across from the rear of old house to front of the new one and the furniture moved across on them. Then the old house was torn down. Stated by Miss M. F. Rose, as she heard it from John W.
From Old Family Letters :
New Jersey, Morris Co., Randolph, February 13, 1812. Dear Nephew (Lewis Stiles) : I would have to prove Grace Homer had separate estate if I made my money. Ask David (Stiles) about that, the debt is honest and just. We are all well at present, hoping to you the same. I remain your affectionate uncle till death,
MOSES HURD.
Morristown, Jan. 30, 1818.
Dear Cousin : *
* * Mathias has commenced to keep a little store in Dover.
No one to oppose him, he will likely do well. He has settled in Jersey for life.
*
*
Your cousin, ISAAC FORD PIERSON.
Saratoga, N. Y., Nov. II, 1825.
Dearest Cousin : I am here in search of health. They are digging a canal from Delaware to Paterson, which passes between Rockaway and our home. *
* Mahlon Munson married Henry Parsons' daughter, who is rich. Jacob and Munson Hurd are both married. They each married a daughter of Peter Hoagland. Nancy Hurd married Andrew Baker, and has done well.
MATHIAS KITCHELL.
Rockaway, N. J., Feb. 26, 1847.
Dear Cousin : Aunt Eunice Pierson boards with Charity at Dover. She liked to have burned up in the house in Pennsylvania. Isaac Pierson has 22,000 acres in Pennsylvania, brings lumber down the canal. Rockaway has six stores, two taverns, lot 50 feet front by 100 feet deep sell for $100-on a boom. The lowering of the tariff, as I was in the iron business, like to have ruined me. It has gone down from $85 and $90 a ton to about $50, and had I not had a large farm to depend on, would have broke me up. Mahlon Munson owns the "Old Stiles farms," and
is well off.
*
MATHIAS KITCHEĻL.
Dover, N. J., Sept. 2, 1848.
Dear Cousin : * * I married Henry Parson's daughter, Eunice, have seven chil- dren, the oldest twenty-four, youngest eight-Henrietta, Mahlon, Charles, Rhoda, Emeline, Mary and Robert. Polly's (Hurd) husband is living. Their son came from Mexico six weeks ago from the war. Jonathan Ball sold his interest in Jacob (Stiles) estate to Stiles Pettibone. Present my love to all my cousins.
Yours truly, MAHLON MUNSON.
To Capt. Lewis Stiles.
From J. Wellington Briant, Coal Office, Dover, July 7, 1913:
Referring to what John A. Briant of Rockaway had told about his grandfather's leaving Springfield in 1780:
Honas (pronounced Hahnus) or Hahns (German, Hans) meaning
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John-Briant, the old father in Springfield, would not leave his house to escape with his son, when the British were burning the village. His house was riddled with bullets, but when the British commander looked in and saw this old, white-haired man sitting there, he gave orders not to disturb him and saved the house. In Hatfield's History of Elizabeth we are told that four houses were spared at that time, and used by the British to house their wounded men. Old Honas Briant came from Amsterdam, Holland. His son, Andrew Briant, married Rachel Meeker. She was born in 1734.
Rev. Jacob Briant, called "Priest" Briant, because of his venerable appearance and way of life, was a man much beloved and revered by his people. He was a real pastor of the people, a friend to every one in his flock. He had long, silvery hair that hung down on his shoulders. He was a very devout man. (This was sixty years ago from 1913,-1853.) He belonged to another branch of the Briant family. His tomb- stone may be seen in the Mt. Freedom burying ground. See also the old records of the church. He supplied the pulpit of the church at Mt. Freedom and also preached in four school houses in outlying districts, preaching in them by rotation, on Sunday afternoons. They were Center Grove, Shongum, Wolfe school house, beyond Golden Corner at Frank Merchant's, and one other.
Hannah Carteret, a titled lady, of whom there was a portrait, was a connection of the Carterets of Elizabeth, N. J. She married Cornelius Briant, from whom, on the mother's side, J. Wellington Briant is de- scended. On the father's side he is descended from the Andrew Briant who escaped from Springfield.
From Mr. Hulbert, postmaster in Mt. Freedom, over 80 years old :
Mt. Freedom, on the highway from Newark to Newton and Penn- sylvania. Sometimes thirty teams would stop for the night at the tavern. Traffic from Pennsylvania came through by wagon. Two trips a day by stage coach from Newark to Newton. In early times had to go to Mendham or Succasunna for mail.
The name Mt. Freedom was changed to Walnut Grove by a man who set up a tavern and had some walnut trees in front of it. Afterwards the people had the name changed back to Mt. Freedom. This man had the first postoffice in the village and had the name entered as Walnut Grove P. O.
From James Lincoln Hurd, Morris St., Dover, July 9, 1913:
Mr. Hurd has a very complete account of the Hurd family, which has cost him many miles of travel, and much research. He has about three thousand names. The name is found in the forms Hurd, Heard, and Hord, perhaps Hard.
It is stated in the "History of Morris County," published in 1882, that Moses Hurd came from Dover, New Hampshire, to Old Tye, New Jersey, and that the name, Old Tye, was changed to Dover in connection with this fact. But the fact appears to be that the first Hurd to conie to Dover, New Jersey, was Josiah Hurd, whose tombstone, with appropriate dates, may be seen in the graveyard of the Presbyterian church at Suc- casunna, and, morover, he came from Killingworth, Connecticut. The legend about Dover, New Hampshire, may have got started in connection with the Heard Garrison House of that place, which was famous as being the only fort which withstood the Indian attack and massacre of
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June 27, 1689. The poet Whittier, in his poem, "Snowbound," refers to relatives of his who had a part in that deadly encounter with the Indians :
Our mother, while she turned her wheel Or run the new-knit stocking-heel, Told how the Indian hordes came down At midnight on Cocheco town, And how her own great-uncle bore His cruel scalp-mark to fourscore.
John Hurd, civil engineer, born in Somerset County, England, came over in the ship Mary and John, and landed at Plymouth, March 20, 1630. (See Stiles' History of Ancient Windsor, Ct.) John Hurd was among the first settlers in Windsor, Ct., and in 1644 was in Stratford, Ct. (See Orcutt's History of Stratford, Ct., Vol. I, p. 113.) This is the original immigrant.
Adam Hurd, born 1611, was a son of the above John Hurd. Adam Hurd had a son John Hurd, who married Anna Judson. This John Hurd died in 1683. His son Ebenezer Hurd, born Nov. 9, 1668, married Sarah Lane.
He was famous as the great mailrider of Connecticut. His son Josiah, born Nov. 5, 1701, married Phebe Buell in 1725. He is buried in Killing- worth (now Clinton), Conn. His son Josiah, born in Killingworth, Ct., on June 7, 1734, removed to Morris County, N. J., and married Hannah Brown of Bottle Hill. He settled in Dover, N. J., somewhere about 1756. He died June 29, 1807, and his tombstone may be seen near the Pres- byterian church at Succasunna. He was a private soldier in the Revolution. His son, Moses Hurd, born Oct. 4, 1771, married Mary Stiles. He died 1831. His son, Jacob Hurd, born Oct. 4, 1798, married Mary Hoagland. He died Aug. 6, 1871. He kept a noted tavern in Dover. His son, John Ward Hurd, born Aug. 12, 1827, married (1) Hawley, (2) King. He died Dec. 31, 19II. He was the donor of Hurd Park.
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