USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 3
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CAPE MAY BEACH.
This beautiful resort, which increasingly attracts thousands upon thou- sands each season to its delights, is one of the most level of beaches along the entire Atlantic coast, and the finest. As it is one of the oldest, so it is one of the most charming of seaside resorts. By common consent it has been called "The finest beach in the world," wide, hard and smooth, free from anything save the finest sand tightly packed. It slopes so gradually into the sea that the thought of danger is never present and the rolling surges are enjoyed with the keenest zest.
The beach and its vicinage was a conspicuous health resort long before speculation founded the multitudes of resorts that now crowd the coast, and its history is rendered fascinating by the customs and traditions of a hun- dred years. Sea bathing here is enjoyed likewise under the stimulus of a bracing atmosphere that gives life and vigor to every inhalation and of
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bright, blue skies, and a keener zest is excited by the crisp, clear water of the Atlantic rolling ceaselessly over the level beach. The change, rest and pleas- ure thus afforded attract not only the best people of the land, but also tour- ists from all parts of the world have long included sea bathing at Cape May among the delightful reminiscences of their travel.
THE COLD SPRING PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In the organization of Christian societies in Cape May county the church above mentioned is the oldest but one, being effected at Cold Spring in 1714, as an outgrowth from the first presbytery of the country, that of Philadelphia, which had been organized as early as 1705. Their first house of worship was a log structure erected in 1718, and their first minister was the Rev. John Bradner, who was licensed by Messrs. Davis, Hampton and Henry, in 1714. This minister was a Scotchman who resided upon his own estate and gave his name to the little stream near the church. He served as pastor until 1721.
For a long period this church, the oldest in Lower township, was the only house of worship for a large extent of the country. In 1762 the struc- ture was changed from one of logs to one of frame, and a long time after- ward, in 1823, a brick building took its place. Like all other works of art, and even like modes of worship, this building has shown change from time to time. A writer upon the colonial period says:
"The meeting-house was never lighted except by the sun until singing- schools made it necessary to introduce candles. Night meetings in the meet- ing-house were considered improper, and the Presbyterians would have thought candles too suggestive of the superstitions of the church of Rome. There were no fire-places or stoves or other means of warming those old meeting-houses for many years after the colony was planted. * * The Lord's day began at sunset on Saturday. The early ministers regarded the Sabbath as a time for the public worship of God and for religious instruc- tion. The people came together at nine o'clock for the morning service, summoned by the beat of a drum, the town crier or the blowing of a conch- shell or horn. The old meeting-houses were crowded, for the people were anxious to attend the services on the Sabbath."
The old log meeting-house of the Cold Spring Presbyterian church and the later frame structure both belonged to the period of psalm-singing, the high pulpit, in front of which were ranged the deacons and the ruling elders, and the days of hour-glass sermons, upon special occasions the hour-glass inverted two or perhaps three times.
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
COUNTY BUILDINGS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
The location of the county seat of Cumberland county having been fixed, after considerable controversy, at Cohansey Bridge, the first steps toward erecting a court-house and jail were taken at the May meeting of the justices and freeholders of Cumberland, in 1750. In June, 1751, one hundred pounds were ordered raised by the 25th of December following toward building the court-house, the structure to be of frame, thirty-two feet long, twenty-two feet wide and two stories high, and to begin in March, 1752. The managers were: Elijah Bowen, David Ogden, John Brick and Ephraim Seeley. The contractor was Howell Powell, who partially completed the court-house in the spring and summer of 1752 and to whom was paid, as appears by the county collector's accounts, the round sum of three hundred pounds, which was probably the amount of the contract. Additional expenses were: In February, 1753, "Ordered that the sum of seventeen shillings and sixpence be paid to Ephraim Luley for rum and sugar at Alexander Moore's;" and the following year to Ephraim Seeley, "for raising dinner and time to pro- vide it, two pounds and seventeen shillings."
Rates of taxes for raising the first assessment of one hundred pounds were fixed as follows: "Young men, two shillings; men .... , one shilling; retailers of goods, ten shillings; mill, not less than two shillings and six- pence; above five shillings, and male slaves, one shilling." This original structure, however, remained standing but a brief period after its completion. At some date between December 6, 1758 and January 4, 1759, the building caught fire in the night from the flames of an adjoining house and was burned to the ground.
A second court-house, of brick, thirty-four by twenty-four feet in the clear, eighteen-inch walls for the first story and fourteen-inch for the second, was decided upon at a special meeting of justices and freeholders, to have a cupola on the roof in which to hang a bell, the bell being paid for by sub- scription. This second court-house was erected in 1759-60. The bell, cast in 1763 at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was then put in place and did duty there until 1844, when it was removed to the belfry of the West Jersey Academy, where it still remains a treasured relic of the past century and a half. In 1775-7 the second structure, located on the original lot in the middle of Broad street, was enclosed by a fence "to prevent the playing of ball." In 179I a stove was substituted for "open fireplaces."
The steady increase of population soon demanding a more commodious court-house, the matter for a considerable time was agitated, and in 1836 ad-
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ditional ground adjoining the jail lot was purchased for sixteen hundred dollars and is the location of the present court-house. In the meantime the eastern part of the county had increased rapidly in population and Millville became a strong rival as a location for the county seat. As the controversy progressed Fairfield also presented its claims. The three rivals were now Bridgeton, the original location, Millville and Fairfield. The matter was carried even to the state legislature and various laws pro and contra were enacted. Finally, upon a popular vote, the Brooklyn location was chosen, and in May of 1844 Benjamin Sheppard, Joseph W. Woodruff and Samuel Harris were appointed a building committee for a new and the present court-house structure. The building is of brick, forty by sixty feet in the clear; a lower story, used for jury rooms, ten feet in the clear, used as a court room, was completed by David F. Randolph, contractor, the cost of the entire structure, with appurtenances, being $10,674.43. The former court-house was sold for eighty-five dollars and torn down in 1844. In 1881 an addition was built onto the south end.
The first jail in the county was erected of logs, in March, 1748, at Green- wich, by Ananias Sayre and was used until 1754, when, on acount of frequent escapes compelling the county to pay the debts for which the prisoners es- caping were held, a new brick jail was erected, at Cohansey Bridge. The log jail at Greenwich was sold in 1764 for three pounds and five shillings. This second jail, of brick, twenty-four by thirty-four feet, an underground dungeon seven feet in the clear, and a second story eight feet in the clear, though almost as insecure as the former log jail, stood until 1790, in the meantime a jail-yard enclosed by a brick wall fourteen feet high having been added. In May, 1790, the third jail structure was commenced, the location being changed to "stand north of the old gaol, between that and Main street, so as to bound on said street." It remained standing until 1867. An interesting relic of this jail is the key, still in the possession of the editor of the Bridgeton Chronicle.
In February, 1866, the contract for the present jail structure was given to D. B. & W. C. Whitekar, this contract price being $22,839. It includes a fine residence for the sheriff, forty by twenty-two feet, two stories and attic, and adjoining jail fifty by forty-three feet, with middle cells and outside corridor. A division wall divides the cells into two parts, twelve each, built in two tiers of six cells each, each cell five and a half by seven and a half feet in size. This jail was completed in the fall of 1867.
Other county buildings are: The offices of the county clerk and sur- rogate, with fire-proof vaults for the preservation of the public records. A structure originally forty by thirty feet erected in 1816, added to in 1845,
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
with fire-proof record rooms added in 1860 and also in 1880; also the alms- house, first instituted and opened in June, 1810, but supplanted by the present almshouse in 1851. This building, erected at a cost of $9,129.73, is of brick, ninety-five by forty-six feet, and three stories high with basement. Each floor has fourteen rooms, with high ceilings, and well lighted and , ventilated. The building stands on an elevated site and is a landmark for many miles around. In 1870 a building for insane paupers was erected, at a cost of thirty-two hundred dollars.
VINELAND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AND HISTORICAL AND ANTI- QUARIAN SOCIETY, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
The general dissemination of knowledge throughout the community is more or less accurately reflected in the attention paid to the establishment of the public libraries. Before the settlement of Vineland had been erected into a borough, definite action had been taken in reference to this educa- tional feature. In May, 1876, a meeting was held by a number of gentlemen at the office of E. M. Turner for the purpose of organizing the Vineland Library Association. The undertaking met with cordial support, backed as it was by popular demand, and May 27 of that year a library was estab- lished and opened on Landis avenue, near Sixth street. The library has steadily grown in importance, the number of volumes now reaching into the thousands; and since its inception its growth has been materially advanced by liberal contributions of money and valuable books.
A still older organization, founded soon after the settlement of the place, is the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society,-a kind of society the fruits of which, whenever instituted, are seldom foreseen save by its founders. The preservation of documents and the relics of antiquity have but little interest for most people. The founding of an historical society coincident almost with the settlement itself and the consequent preservation of its local history for future use, the ancestry and former residences of the original settlers, the founding and progress of the settlement, and the early story of the erection of schools, churches and other public buildings, all care- fully arranged, is a contribution to the history of Vineland that will become more and more valuable as the years advance.
The first officers of the society were: President J. W. Morton; vice-pres- ident, Timothy Hoyt; secretary, Hosea Allen; assistant secretary, Mrs. William Bridges; treasurer, Mrs. O. D. Graves. Meetings were regularly held and the deepest interest was taken in founding the purposes of the organization, with the result, as above foreshadowed, that Vineland, now a consequential borough and entirely unique in its history among all the
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
local developments of the state, has its origin and growth accurately measured in the archives of its historical association. Even the first building, erected on the town plat by E. W. Fletcher, was purchased by the society and placed upon their lot in Peach street to be preserved as the very be- ginning of the place.
When it is recalled that nothing, however trivial, that occurred in the remote past, is insignificant to the historian, but, on the contrary, that many of the critical points of history are determined often by the chance preser- vation of common-place events, it will be seen that for benefit the future historian, through the faithful work of the Vineland Historical and Anti- quarian Society, will have smooth and uninterrupted sailing.
SHOURDS FAMILY.
(The following account is taken from Shourd's History of Salem County, New Jersey.)
History informs us that soon after William Penn purchased the province of Pennsylvania he travelled through parts of Germany and Holland on horseback, inviting the inhabitants of those countries to emigrate to his newly acquired province in North America. Among those that ac- cepted his invitation was Cornelius Shoverede, a stadtholder of one of the provinces of Holland, who with his family arrived at Phila- delphia in 1684. They lived in a cave near Germantown for a short period, and subsequently Mr. Shoverede purchased three hun- dred acres of land opposite where Bordentown, New Jersey, now is. There was a large stone placed at one corner of the allotment, with his initials cut on it, and the writer, in company with the late Hector Ivins, who at that time resided near by, visited the place of his ancestor, where he lived and ended his days. His wife's maiden name was Sophina Weimar, and most of their children were born in Holland. Their names were Samuel. Catharine, Ester, Sarah and Sophina. The youngest married Zebulon Gaunt in 1715, and their children were Samuel, Zebulon, Israel, Hannah, Mary and Sophina Gaunt. Of these children Samuel married Hannah Woolman, and their seven children were Judah, Asher; Reuben, Elihu, Peter, Sarepta and Elizabeth.
Samuel, the son of Cornelius and Sophina Shoverede, married Sarah Harrison, of Philadelphia; and he and his wife, Sarah Shoverede, had a large number of children. Two of the youngest located themselves at Tuckerton, and that generation of the family changed the spelling of their name from Shoverede to Shourds. Mary, the daughter of Samuel and
-
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
Sarah Shourds, married Jonathan Pettit, and they resided at Tuckerton; and their house was standing a few years ago in a commanding situation, near Barnegat bay. Their son, Joseph Pettit, married Sarah, the daughter of Elisha and Mary Woodnutt Bassett, of Mannington; they had issue- Woodnutt, Jonathan and Mary Pettit. Daniel, the son of Samuel and Sarah Shourds, married Christiana Bellange, who died the 21st of the 10th month, 1822, aged ninety years. They had six children, Samuel, John. Daniel, Shady, Hannah and Amy Shourds. Samuel, the eldest, married Hannah Gray, and they had nine children,-Gray, Thomas, Samuel, Ben- jamin, John, Asa, Job, Daniel and Elizabeth Shourds. John, of this family. married Sarah Johnson and they had five children,-David, Joseph, Hannah. Reuben and Ruth Shourds.
Samuel, the son of Daniel and Christiana Shourds, as stated in the Shourds genealogy, married Hannah Gray, a sister of Samuel Gray. The Gray family, Mr. Shourds thinks, were of Monmouth county. Samuel Gray and his wife had four children: Charles F. H. Gray; Jesse, who resided near Pemberton, New Jersey; Hannah and Charity Gray. Charles F. H. Gray came to this country in company with his father many years ago and married a daughter of Joseph C. Nelson, an eminent land surveyor, of Pitts- grove. Charles and his wife have several children. He has filled many and various township offices. His father, Samuel Gray, ended his days at his son's house. Charles' grandfather and one of his uncles emigrated to Genesee county, New York, more than half a century since. in company with Samuel and John Shourds.
Samuel and his brother John Shourds sold their property at Tuckerton over fifty years ago. Samuel rented a farm in Back Neck, Cumberland county, and resided there for several years, and John Shourds rented property of the late Dr. Thomas Rowen, in Penn's Neck, and he and his family resided there several years. Samuel and his brother John sub- sequently removed to New York with their families, excepting David, the eldest son of John Shourds, who married and settled in the township of Lower Penn's Neck; he was the father of the Joseph Shourds of that township. Samuel Shourds and his brother John purchased large tracts in parts of Monroe and Genesee counties, New York. The greater part of their land was then in its primitive state, it being soon after the Erie canal was completed, but their property advanced rapidly in value and the natural result was they became quite independent in a few years.
An uncommon circumstance occurred a few years before Samuel and John's death. Desirous of visiting their native place once more before their death, they came to Woodstown to visit Jonathan and Hannah
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
Smith, the latter being their sister, and all four of them went to Tuckerton by land. Samuel was then in his eighty-ninth year, his brother John two years younger, Jonathan Smith in his eighty-eighth year, and his wife Han- nah eighty-two years old. When they arrived at the place of their nativity what pleasing and also sad reflections they must have had in recurring back to the days of their youth. How many of their former friends and associates had gone to their final resting place! There was one, however, who resided at Great Egg Harbor, their brother Daniel, who was still living to receive his aged relatives.
Daniel, the son of Daniel and Christiana Shourds, married Rebecca Leeds, and their children were named William, Phebe, Matilda and Daniel (2d). Shady, the daughter of Daniel and Christiana Shourds, married Walter Wilson, of Burlington city, and their only child was William, who died a minor. Hannah, the daughter of Daniel and Christiana Shourds, born about the year 1765, married Jonathan Smith, a lineal descendant of Richard Smith, of Long Island. They had three children,-Jerusha, Eliza- beth and Jonathan Smith. Jerusha married Samuel, the son of William White, of Woodstown, and their children were Mary, Samuel, William, David, Wilson and Jonathan. Jonathan married Lydia Waddington. a daughter of Aaron Waddington, of Elsinboro. Elizabeth was twice married. Her first husband was Clement Hinchman, and they had a daughter, Clem- ence Hinchman. Her second husband was William Cawley, a son of Samuel Cawley, Jr. Elizabeth, the daughter of Jonathan and Hannah Smith, was twice married. Her first husband was Daniel Bowen, M. D., a native of Bridgeton. They had one son, Smith Bowen, who married Ann Bisham, a daughter of Samuel Bisham, of Philadelphia, and they have three children, Mary Elizabeth, Anna Stoke and Samuel Bisham Bowen. Elizabeth Smith's second husband was Hosea Fithian, M. D., a son of Jonathan Fithian, of Cumberland county. They had three children,-Hannah, Mary and Eliza- beth. Elizabeth, their mother, died in 1854. Jonathan, the son of Jonathan and Hannah Smith, married Hannah, a daughter of Jacob Davis, of Piles Grove, and they had four children: Mary E .; Samuel, who died young; Jonathan and Ellen Smith.
Samuel, the son of Samuel and Sarah Shourds was born the 24th of the 7th month, 1718. The latter was a clock and watch maker, and followed his trade in Bordentown, New Jersey. His wife was Taminson, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Pancoast, of Burlington county. Taminson was born the 29th of the IIth month, 1725. Benjamin, the son of Samuel and Taminson P. Shourds, was born the 7th of the Ist month, 1753. He sub- sequently married Mary, the daughter of William and Rachel Silvers, of
*
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
Piles Grove, and they had seven children,-Thomas, Rachel, Samuel, Rhoda, William, Mary and Benjamin. Thomas, the eldest, died the 23d of the 11th month, 1778. Rachel, the eldest daughter of Benjamin and Mary Shourds, married Jervis Hall of Mannington, as his second wife. In this family were two children,-Casper and Rachel Hall. Rachel, their mother, died when her children were young. Casper Hall died in 1819, when he was about eighteen years old. Rachel, the daughter of Jervis and Rachel S. Hall, married Josiah, the youngest son of Samuel Nicholson, of Mannington, and they had two or three sons and one daughter: Hannah Nicholson, who married George Radcliff and has children; and Josiah, who has been de- ceased many years and whose widow, Rachel, resides in the city of Salem, and is a teacher in one of the public schools of that city.
Rhoda, the daughter of Benjamin and Mary Shourds, married John, the son of John and Susan Denn, of Mannington, and their five children are Rachel, Mary, Susan, Ann and Rebecca; the last mentioned died young. John Denn, Jr., died in Mannington before he arrived at middle age. Soon after that event Rhoda Denn removed to the town of Salem with her children. She was above mediocrity in intellect and remarkable for self- denial, and was a recommended minister in the Society of Friends for a number of years. Her communications in public meetings were not ex- tended to a great length, but she possessed a faculty of condensing and saying in a few words much for her hearers to reflect upon. She has been deceased a number of years. Her daughter, Rachel Denn, became the second wife of Professor John Griscom, the son of William and Rachel Denn Griscom. They resided in the city of Burlington until his death, and soon afterward she returned to Salem. Mary, the second daughter of John and Rhoda Denn, died a young woman, unmarried. Susan Denn, the third daughter, remains single. She and her sister, Rachel D. Griscom, keep house together, on Broadway, in Salem. Anna, the fourth daughter, married William Gibbons, of Philadelphia, and has two children, Susan and Mary Gibbons. William, their father, has been deceased several years. Their son Henry died in the West Town boarding school. He was a promising and interesting youth, and if his life had been spared we have no doubt that he would have made his mark on the sands of time. Anna Gibbons and her daughter Susan reside in the city of Salem.
William, the son of Benjamin and Mary Shourds, married Martha, the daughter of Peter and Mary Andrews, of Mannington. Peter was a native of Great Egg Harbor. His wife Mary was the daughter of Whitten and Martha Huddy Cripps, of Mannington.
(Mr. Shourds frequently alludes to the Cripps family in his history, with-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
out stating their ancestry. It is an old family of England. Nathaniel, the first of whom the author has any knowledge, was the son of John Cripps. born about 1656. He married, in England, Miss Grace, a sister of James Whitten, who located land in Lower Mannington at the first settlement of Salem county. Nathaniel Cripps and his wife Grace came to America in 1678 and settled in Burlington county. By tradition he was the founder of Mount Holly. They had six children,-John, Benjamin, Samuel, Virginia, Theophila and Hannah Ann Cripps. John, the eldest son. married Mary Eves, of Haddonfield. Benjamin, the second son, married Mary Hough. Their children were Whitten, who in 1759. married Martha Huddy. John, their second son, died a minor; Hannah married Samuel Mason, of Mannington in 1756, a son of Thomas Mason, of the same place; and Cyntha married James Bonsall, of Darby, Pennsylvania. Whitten Cripps subsequently was the owner of land estate of his great uncle, James Whitten. He had two children: Benjamin, who married the daughter of Peter Carney. of Upper Penn's Neck; and Mary Cripps, who married Peter Andrews, a native of Egg Harbor.)
Resuming attention to William and Martha Shourds we state that they had four children, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin and William Shourds. Rachel married Thomas Mullineux, of Ulster county, New York, who is deceased, and she lived at Mount Holly, Burlington county, this state. Mary Shourds lived in the city of Philadelphia, and remained single. Benjamin, the eldest son, resides in Philadelphia, and was a bricklayer by trade. He mar- ried and has several children. William Shourds was twice married. For his first wife he married Hannah Yardly, by whom he had three children,- Martha, Letitia and Hannah. For his second wife he chose Rebecca Rainer. Mary, the daughter of Benjamin and Mary Shourds, married Samuel Hewes. of Delaware county, Pennsylvania; they are both deceased, leaving one son,-Charles Hewes. Samuel Shourds, the second son of Benjamin and Mary Shourds, was born the 6th of the 9th month, 1781, and married Eliza- beth, the daughter of Jacob and Mary Carpenter Ware. Jacob was the great-grandson of Joseph Ware, the emigrant, who came to this country in the ship Griffith, as a servant, and landed at Salem the 5th of the 10th month, 1675. Jacob's wife was Mary Carpenter, the daughter of William and Mary Powell Carpenter. William was the grandson of Joshua Carpenter, of Phila- delphia. He was born in the state of Delaware and came to this county about the year 1745 or '6 and married Mary, the daughter of Jeremiah Powell, Jr., who was several years younger than her husband. They had four children,-Mary, William, Powell and Abigail. Samuel and Elizabeth Shourds had three children,-William, Mary and Thomas. William died
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