USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 73
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By the whites who subsequently settled in the vicinity this sect have been loosely mentioned as "Dunkers," "Shakers," "Shaking Quakers," etc., but the Rogerenes belonged to none of these denominations; they were established here before any of these sects were in existence and before Mother Ann-organizer of the Shakers-was born.
They were not celibates; they held to the family relation, not to the community of persons or property ; they did not celebrate the seventh day of the week; they did not sing or dance in their worship-in these regards they were not like any of the above named sects. They observed no set day as a Sabbath, claiming that since the death of Jesus all days are alike and all are for honest labor and for loving God and the neighbor. Their working on Sunday and their "testifying" against clergymen who preached for hire led to unpleasant collisions with other sects. Tradition affirms that in 1770 a company of Rogerenes, men and women, from Schooley's Moun- tain, entered a meeting in the Presbyterian Church at Mendham and dis- turbed the service by sewing and knitting and by disparaging comments on "the hireling preacher" and that they were forcibly ejected therefor. Sub- sequently the same company repeated the misdemeanor at Basking Ridge and suffered by fines and flogging. But no such misconduct has been at- tributed to the Mountain Pond community. After the erection of the Presbyterian church at Succasunna (circa 1762), a few of the women of that colony would rarely come to the Sunday morning service in summer ; declining to enter the church, they would sit upon their horses near the open windows and knit during the service, and the only offense urged against them was that they rode away in unseemly haste after the benedic- tion. When we remember that in those so-called "good old days" the ser- mons were often two hours long, it is scarcely surprising that these women should hasten to their dinners.
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They said no grace at their meals and held that all prayer should be mental-not articulate, unless "the spirit" compelled utterance; hence at their meetings absolute silence prevailed until "the spirit" moved to audible prayer or exhortation. They held to the Lord's Supper and the immersion of penitents. Their immersions were in the Mountain Pond and during the summer all their religious meetings were held upon its margin. Some account of these assemblages has been gathered by the writer from the orally transmitted descriptions by the other white settlers who located in the neighborhood before the Rogerenes removed and who sometimes went to worship with them in their "temple of the grove." It was a grassy slope in the shade of a cluster of venerable oaks which stood so near the verge that their foliage was mirrored on the shimmering surface of the water. The women brought with them low stools (and sometimes spinning wheels) and aligned them along one side of the slope, while the men, with their hats on, seated themselves upon the turf in decorous rows at the other side. Then came the solemn hush of the period of introspection, a long and im- pressive duration of motionless silence, during which the women (some of them exceedingly comely to look upon) sat demurely gazing at their hands crossed in their laps, and the men, with tightly folded arms, sat bolt upright, while the sunbeams danced upon the wavelets of the pond, and, piercing the swaying boughs, wrought mosaics of gold and emerald upon the sward. This period was usually terminated by the rise of some one whom "the spirit" impelled to speak ; then hands were quickly uncrossed and arms un- folded and neither thereafter were idle for an instant. The women applied themselves to knitting, sewing or spinning and the men to basket-making or other noiseless occupation until the speaking ended and the assemblage dispersed.
They believed it to be sinful to employ medicines or physicians, prayer and the laying on of hands being the only righteous remedies. But one malady came among them against which these means proved to be inef- ficacious-indeed the laying on of hands served to communicate the disease instead of curing it. It was the itch. After many months of consultation (and scratching) they devised a plea which released them from their dilemma without violence to conscience; they agreed that the itch is not a sickness, but an attack of a species of vermin which they might destroy as they would rats, catamounts or other noxious animals. Accordingly they applied the "brimstone and lard" and were cured.
The names of only two of these families have been ascertained- Rogers and Vail, the former being probably related to the founder of the sect. The colony remained here until about the beginning of the Revolution, when all of the original company were dead; then they loaded their goods upon wagons and, turning their backs upon the homes of their childhood and the graves of their sires, started on a journey toward the wilderness and the sunset. Their removal was probably decided by economic con- siderations alone; apart from these, no reasons appear to have obtained. They were not persecuted here; they lived in amity with their neighbors, red and white. The number of white settlers near them was too small to menace them in any way. Although they were squatters and had made no effort to acquire title to the lands they occupied, no one was seeking to dispossess-indeed the tract upon which the greater portion of their clear- ings was located was not purchased from the proprietors until several de- cades later.
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The Rogerenes announced to their neighbors that they were emigrating to the "Redstone Country," but they did not settle there in a separate com- munity as they had lived here. Some families located in western Pennsyl- vania, but it would appear that they made no attempt to maintain a distinct religious society. Some of them joined the Dunkers, one family with which the present writer has had correspondence allied itself to the Friends, but most of the old colony joined any sect that was conveniently near.
The sequestered spot where the Mountain Pond Rogerenes laid their dead is upon the Silver Spring property, little more than a furlong from the present shore of Lake Hopatcong. Upon a green hillside, which slopes toward the rising sun, all of the original community and most of their children lie in "the dreamless sleep that lulls the dead." Here are indica- tions of scores of graves; some remain as moldering heaps, some are de- pressed, but most are level with the turf. Many are marked by rough, untooled stones, picked up on the rocky fields, but many more lack even these rule memorials to show that beneath them buried mortals await the resurrection. Some of the later settlers were interred here after the de- parture of the Rogerenes, and four burials have been made within the memory of persons living in the vicinity, one burial being that of a child of the late George Lurk. The grass still grows among the old mounds, but the space which the Rogerenes cleared has long been covered by a growth of forest trees-hickories, oaks and chestnuts-some of them a foot and a half in diameter, springing out of the graves.
Our visit to this humble God's acre is on a perfect morning, when a summer sky domes the world. Standing above the lowly graves we look across a landscape clad in its loveliest garb and flooded with golden sun- shine. The languorous air is redolent of wild perfumes and everything about us is suffused with the charm and beauty of sweet summer-time. No discordant sound from the noisy haunts of men disturbs the peaceful retreat of these, for whom life's fitful fever is forever past. The tranquil stillness is unbroken, save by the twitter of birds and the sigh of the soft wind in the leafy boughs above us. We behold here no pretentious mon- uments, no boasting or lying epitaphs, not even the rudest sculpture to recall the names and years of the unhonored dead asleep beneath our feet. They were imprisoned and persecuted, ridiculed as fanatics and scourged as criminals-yet above their poor ashes we mentally bare our heads in obeisance to the memory of these lowly people, whose simple creed made them love God and their neighbor every day in the week. Peace to their ashes !
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Pages.
Introductory-First Settlements-Establishment of Local Government ... I-5
CHAPTER II
Organization of Morris County-Subdivision of Townships-Early Turn- pike Roads-The Morris Canal-Morris & Essex Railroad-Modern Transportation Facilities 6-13
CHAPTER III
Educational Institutions-Public Schools-Churches 14-19
CHAPTER IV
The Iron Industry-Early Forges-The Clinton Iron Works-Charcoal Furnaces-Slitting and Rolling Mills-Anthracite Furnaces . 20-33
CHAPTER V
Political History-Early Court Officials-The Judiciary-National Politics 34-42
CHAPTER VI
The Revolution-Preliminary Meetings-Military Preparation-Morris County Troops in the Field-Morris County in the Civil War .. 43-53
CHAPTER VII
Bench and Bar of Morris County-Distinguished Jurists and Lawyers- Present Day Practitioners-Narrative by Henry C. Pitney, Jr., Esq. ... 54-86
CHAPTER VIII
Banks and Bankers-State Bank at Morris-Later Institutions-Banks under National Bank Act-Trust Companies 87-96
CHAPTER IX
The Medical Profession of Morris County-Medical Societies-Distin- guished Practitioners-Narrative by Dr. Henry W. Kice .. 97-140
CHAPTER X
The Townships-Morris-Hanover-Pequannock-Chatham-Randolph- Passaic-Rockaway-Roxbury-Washington-Chester-Boonton-Jef- ferson-Mendham-Montville-Mount Olive-Denville. . . 141-195
CHAPTER XI
The Boroughs-Madison-Drew Theological Seminary-Chatham-Butler -Rockaway-Wharton-Netcong-Mount Arlington-Mendham-Flor- ham Park
CHAPTER XII 196-221
Morristown-Early History-Public Officers-County Buildings-Schools and Academies-Libraries-Churches-Y. M. C. A .- Hospitals-Banks -Newspapers and Printers-Washington at Morristown-Narrative by Rev. Dr. Buckley-Fort Nonsense-Municipal Officers-Lodges and Societies . 222-264
CHAPTER XIII
Boonton-Early History-Iron Industry-Schools-Municipal Government -Banks 265-274
CHAPTER XIV
Chatham-Narrative by Charles A. Philhower, M.A. . 275-324
CHAPTER XV
Dover-Narrative by Prof. Charles D. Platt. . 325-497
CHAPTER XVI
Present Day Dover 493-497
CHAPTER XVII
The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, by James Cummings Vail. 498-502 CHAPTER XVIII The Rogerenes-Narrative by Theo., F. Wolfe, M.D., Litt.D 503-506
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ADDENDA
The Foreword to this volume does not express the obligations of the publishers to Mr. James Cummings Vail, for his narrative concerning the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph; nor to Theo. F. Wolfe, M.D., Litt.D., for his article on The Rogerenes. The page in question had gone through the press before these contributions were in type.
In chapter on Bench and Bar, page 83, the statement that Hon. Francis Child was reappointed Circuit Judge, is an error; he served' but one term, from 1893 to 1900. His death occurred September 28, this year (1914).
INDEX
Anthracite Furnaces, 32. Assembly, officers of, 35.
Banks and Banking, 87; State Bank at Morris, 87; Union Bank of Dover, 88; Morris County Bank, 89; Iron Bank, Morristown Bank, 90; First National Bank of Moristown, 90; Mineral Bank of Dover, First National Bank of Madison, Boonton National Bank, First National Bank of Butler, 90; Farmers and Merchants, Boonton, 90; Peoples' National of Dover, Citizens' National of Netcong, Morristown Sav- ings Institution, 93; Miners' Savings of Dover, Chester Savings, Madison Savings, Morris County Savings, 94; Morristown Trust Co., American Trust Co., 95; Dover Trust Co., 96; in Rocka- way, 209; in Madison, 202; Trust Com- pany of Morristown, 251; in Boonton, 273.
Baptist Church, in Mt. Olive, 192; in Morristown, 24I.
Bench and Bar, 54; John Whitehead, 54; Gabriel H. Ford, 55; Mahlon Dick- erson, 56; Philemon Dickerson, Oliver H. Henry, 58; Henry A. Ford, 59; George K. Drake, 60; Jacob W. Miller, 61; William W. Miller, 63; N. W. Weise, Jacob S. Smith, 67; E. W. Whelpley, 68; H. J. Mills, 70; Lyman A. Chandler, Vancleve Dalrymple, 71; Francis L. McCulloch, Ira C. White- head, 64; John R. Brown, J. J. Scofield, 66; Theodore Little, 72; Augustus W. Bell, 73; Jacob Vanatta, 74; Henry C. Pitney, 75; Alfred Mills, 80; J. C. Youngblood, A. C. Canfield, 81; George T. Werts, 82; Francis Child, 83; C. F. Axtell, F. H. Beach, 84; present members of county bar, 85.
Bloomingdale, 204.
Book publishing, early, 290.
Boonton, 265; early iron works, 266; Churches, 269; Schools, 272; Munici- pal government, 273.
Boonton Township, 181.
Budd Lake, 191.
Butler, 204. Charcoal Furnaces, 29.
Chatham, geography, 275; Indian occu- pation, 276; early settlements, 278; Revolutionary history, 284; early news- papers, 289; early book publishing, 290; churches, 300; schools, 304; roads, 308; hotels, stores, 309; industries, 312; lawyers and physicians, 315; slavery, 318; Civil War, 319; modern growth, 321 ; borough officials, 323.
Chester, 178.
Chester Township, 177.
Civil War, 51; Regiments-7th N. J., 51; Southard's Engineers, 15th N. J., 52; 27th, 30th and 33d, 53; other troops, 319.
Congregational Church, in Chester, 178. Congress, Members of, from Morris County, 36.
Cotton manufacturing, 144.
County Clerks, 34.
County Judges, 35.
County Officers, 42.
Denville Township, 194. Distilleries, 188.
Dover, 325; early schools, Dover Academy, 327; Lawrence homestead, 356; old school records, 369; Presbyterian church, 413; M. E. church, 423; old Quaker meeting house, 425; an old account book, 450; early deeds, 452; old advertisements, 470; industry and business, 477; bicen- tennial school exercises, 485; present day Dover, 493.
Drew Seminary, 18, 200.
Dutch Reformed Church, Pompton, 150; Montville township, 189.
Educational institutions, 14; in Morris- town, 229, 232; in Chatham, 304; in Dover, 326.
Elections, 36.
Electric roads, 12.
Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, 498.
Episcopal church, 199.
Ferromonte, 154. Flanders, 191.
Florham Park Borough, 220. Fort Nonsense, 259.
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Friends (Quakers), 154, 425. Geography, I.
German Valley, 174. Hanover Township, 142.
Hospitals, 121; Morristown Memorial, 121; All Souls, 122; Dover, 123; St. Francis, 123; Tuberculosis, State Hos- pital for Insane, 124; New Jersey State, 145; in Morristown, 247.
Hurd Park, 480.
Iron Industry, 20; First forge at Dover, 20; Allen's Iron Works, 21; Shongun Forge, 22; Johnston Iron Works, 22; Hopewell Forge, 24; Swedeland Forge, 24; Hard Bargain, Valley Forge, 25; Burnt Meadow, 26; Durham, 27; other forges, 28; in Randolph township, 152; in Rockaway, 159; in Chester, 177; in Jefferson, 182; in Boonton, 266.
Iron Mines, 32. Jefferson Township, 181. Kenvil, 168.
Lake Hopatcong, 167.
Lutheran Church, 174.
Madison Borough, 196; Churches, 197;
Drew Theological Seminary, 200;
Municipal Government, etc., 202.
Medicine, 97; Morris County Medical Society, 101; early records of, 102; members of, 106; officers of, 1816-1913, 108; members, 1913, 109; early practi- tioners, 110; at German Valley, Madi- son, Chatham, 114; at Rockaway, 115; at Morristown, 1870-1913, 118; promi- nent practitioners, 125.
Mendham Borough, 218; churches, schools, 219.
Mendham Township, 184.
Methodism, 15; statistics, 17.
M. E. Church at Whippany, 145; Mt. Freedom, 154; Mill Brook, 155; Rocka- way, 164; Succasunna, 169; Montville, 190; Madison, 199; Morristown, 241 ; Boonton, 270; Dover, 423.
Militia in Revolution, 50.
Montville Township, 187.
Morris Canal, 9; Morris Canal and Bank- ing Company, 10.
Morris County, organization of, 7; first officers, 7.
Morristown, first settlers, 3; history, 222; Revolutionary events, 223; Trans- portation, 224; incorporation, 225; Fire Department, 226; Water Works, 227; city officials, 228; county buildings, 228; Schools, 229, 232; Morris Acad- emy, 230; Female Institute, 231; Li- braries, 233; Churches, 236; Y. M. C. A., 244; Cemeteries, 246; Hospitals, 247; Banks, 251; Newspapers and Printers, 253; Hotels, 255; Washing- ton's Headquarters, 255; Soldiers' Monument, 262; Lodges and Societies, 262.
Morris Township, 141.
Mount Arlington, 216; churches, schools, 217.
Mount Freedom, 154.
Mt. Olive Township, 190. Mt. Tabor, 146.
Netcong Borough, 214; churches, 215; schools, 216.
Newspapers, etc., 253, 289.
Paper Works, 143, 150.
Passaic Township, 156; Revolutionary reminiscences, 157.
Pequannock Township, 148.
Port Morris, 168.
Presbyterian Church-at Whippany, Par- sippany, 144; Mt. Freedom, 154; Rock- away, 163; Succasunna, 169; Pleasant Grove, 176; Chester, 178; Jefferson, 183; Mendham, 186; Mt. Olive, 192; Madison, 196; Morristown, 236; Boon- ton, 269; Dover, 413.
Prosecutors of the Pleas, 35.
Public Schools-in Morris township, 142; Hanover, 145; Pequannock, 151; Ran- dolph, 156; Rockaway, 165; Succa- sunna, 170; Washington, 173; German Valley, 174; Chester, 179; Boonton township, 181; Jefferson, 184; Mend- ham, 187; Montville, 189; Mt. Olive, 192; Madison, 202; Morristown, 229; Boonton, 272; Dover, 325, 485.
Railroads, Morris & Essex, 11; later roads, 12.
Randolph Township, 152.
Revolutionary War, 43; leaders in, 44; military preparation, 46; organization of troops, 47; Washington, 255; events in Chatham, 284; events in Morris- town, 223.
Rockaway Borough, 207.
Rockaway Township, 158; Revolutionary incidents, 162.
Rogerenes, the, 503.
Roman Catholic Church-at Whippany, 145; Randolph, 155; Rockaway, 164; Morristown, 243; Boonton, 271.
Roxbury Township, 166.
Savings Banks, see Banks and Banking. Schooley's Mountain, 171.
Sheriffs, 34. Slavery, 318.
Slitting and Rolling Mills, 31. Succasunna, 168.
Surrogates, 34.
Town Meeting, first, 4.
Townships, first, 6.
Trust Companies, see Banks and Bank- ing
Turnpike Roads, 7.
U. S. Senators from Morris County, 36.
Washington, at Morristown, narrative by Rev. Dr. Buckley, 256.
Washington Township, 171.
Wharton Borough, 211; churches, schools, 213.
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