USA > New Jersey > Biographical, genealogical and descriptive history of the first congressional district of New Jersey, Volume II > Part 4
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
young. Samuel Shourds, the father of the forementioned children, died in 1807 in his twenty-six year. He resided, at the time of his death, in Lower Penn's Neck, where his children were born. Mary Shourds married William Bradway, the son of Ezra and Mary Denn Bradway, of Lower Alloway's Creek. They have six children,-Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary, Anna, Rachel and Ellen Bradway. Thomas Shonrds was born the 8th of the 2d month, 1805, and married Sarah, the daughter of Joseph and Ann Mason Thompson, the Ioth of the Ist month, 1828. Joseph Thompson, her father, was the son of Joshua Thompson, a native of Elsinboro, and the great-grandson of An- drew Thompson, the emigrant, who landed at Elsinboro in 1677. Ann Mason, the wife of Joseph Thompson, was the daughter of John Mason, who was the son of Thomas Mason, and he was the son of John Mason who emigrated from England and landed at Philadelphia in 1684, and soon after- ward settled at Salem.
Thomas and Sarah Thompson Shourds had eight children: Anna T., Samuel (who died when about twenty months old), Thompson, Samuel (2d), Thomas M., Elizabeth T., Sarah W. and Mary Carpenter Shourds. Samuel Shourds (2d) died when he was in his nineteenth year. Sarah Ware Shourds died when she was in her twenty-first year. Elizabeth Thompson Shourds died when she was about thirty-one years old. Thompson, the son of Thomas and Sarah T. Shourds, was a carpenter and builder and followed that business in Philadelphia. He married Rachel, the daughter of Comly and Susan Tyson. They had three children,-William, Anna T. and Susan T. Rachel, his wife, is deceased, as is also their oldest child, Willie Shourds. Thomas Mason Shourds, the son of Thomas and Sarah T. Shourds, married Anna, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Brown, of Alloway's Creek, and had three children,-Sarah W., Mary and Thompson Shourds.
SUMMERILL FAMILY.
(The following sketch is taken from Shourd's History of Salem County, New Jersey.)
The Summerills were a large and ancient family of Upper Penn's Neck. The most reliable account of the family is that William Summerill and Thomas Carney emigrated from Ireland about 1725, and settled in Penn's Neck, Salem county. William Summerill soon after his arrival purchased a large tract of land near the old brick mill at the head of Game Creek. extending to Salem creek. He and his wife Mary resided on that part later owned by Benjamin and Rebecca Summerill Black, she having inherited
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
the property from her father. They had two sons,-Joseph and John. When his children were young he had the misfortune of losing his wife, soon after which he left the township of Penn's Neck and settled in Pitts- grove and there married a widow named Elwell. By this wife he had two daughters, one of whom subsequently married a Mr. Newkirk, and they be- came the parents of Garrett and Matthew Newkirk, of mercantile fame of Philadelphia.
An incident in connection with the introduction of those eminent men into business life in Philadelphia was related to the writer more than thirty years ago by an aged physician, then a resident of Pittsgrove. He said the father of Garrett and Matthew Newkirk was in the practice of going to the Philadelphia market with his poultry once in a year, which was common among the farmers of Salem county at that time. On one of his trips his eldest daughters accompanied him for the purpose of buying a new bonnet. Soon after they arrived in the city she went to one of the milliners and pur- chased herself one, and whilst waiting for it to be trimmed to her liking she was impressed with the idea that she would be glad to have the opportunity of learning the trade before she left. She asked the milliner in attendance if she would be willing to take her to learn the trade. The milliner replied in the affirmative; but when she mentioned the matter to her father he dis- couraged her and desired her not to undertake it. But her mind was settled upon it. She told her father that if he would pay her board whilst learning the trade, that would be all of his estate she wanted. He at last consented. After she had learned the business she set up on her own account, and in a few years accumulated a fortune. At the death of her father she obtained a situation in one of the dry-goods stores for her eldest brother Garrett, and in a short time afterward she found a situation for her younger brother, Matthew. Both of them eventually became successful and wealthy mer- chants in their adopted city. William Summerill, the emigrant, died in Pittsgrove, at a very advanced age.
Joseph, the eldest son of William and Mary Summerill, settled in Wil- mington, Delaware, and engaged in the shipping and blacksmithing busi- ness. He married and had two sons and two daughters; both of his daughters married sea captains. His sons, Joseph and Nehemiah, became merchants in Philadelphia, but finally failed, causing also the failure of their father. After this they removed to the interior of Pennsylvania, where it is said some of their family still remain.
John, the youngest son of William and Mary Summerill, married Naomi Carney, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Carney, of Carney's Point. The Carneys purchased a large tract of land on the Delaware river, being a part
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of the Bowtown tract of sixteen hundred and forty acres that formerly be- longed to Matthias Nelson, he being a Swede. John Summerill and his wife Naomi C. owned and lived on the property that his father purchased when he first settled in New Jersey. It was later owned and occupied by Benjamin and Rebecca S. Black, as before mentioned. The old mansion house was burned during the war of the Revolution by a marauding party from the British fleet that was lying in the Delaware river opposite Helms Cove. There is now a large iron pot in the possession of the Summerill family that was in the old family mansion when it was burned: it certainly is quite a centennial relic. John Summerill (Ist) died comparatively a young man, leaving a widow and four sons,-John, Jr., Joseph, Thomas and William .- and two daughters,-Mary and Rebecca. Naomi, their mother, proved a parent indeed. She remained and carried on farming and raised and edu- cated her six children. She never married again.
John Summerill (2d) married Christiana Holton and had nine children. James and Josiah died minors. Their father was a successful agriculturist and at his death was the owner of a large quantity of excellent land in the township of Upper Penn's Neck. He lived to be nearly four-score years, leaving four sons and two daughters,-John (3d), Naomi, Garnett, William, Ann, and Joseph C. Joseph Summerill, the second son of John (Ist), mar- ried Mary Linmin and had two children,-William and Mary,-both of whom are deceased. William Summerill, a son of Joseph, married Elizabeth A. Crispin. He purchased the James Manson farm in Mannington, near Salem, and resided thereon until his death. He left a large number of chil- dren. William Summerill's children's names are not now accessible, except- ing three of the sons,-James, Robert and Henry, who are residents of Upper Pittsgrove.
Mary, the daughter of Joseph and Mary L. Summerill, married Stephen Straughn. He is deceased. Thomas, the son of John and Naomi Carrey Summerill, married Elizabeth Borden, and they both died young, leaving a number of young children. One of the sons was married, and left two sons. Hannah, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth B. Summerill, married Sam- uel Holton; she is deceased, leaving one son. Elizabeth, a daughter of Thomas Summerill, married Somers Barber; the latter is deceased and leaves two children. William, a son of John and Naomi Summerill, died a young man, unmarried. Mary, a daughter of John and Naomi Summerill, was twice married. Her first husband's name was Clark, and after his death she married John Holton. They left three sons,-Thomas, Samuel and Andrew Holton: The last named is living; the two oldest brothers are deceased.
John Summerill (2d) died in 1854 and left seven children. The eldest
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
son, John Summerill (3d) died in 1865, aged sixty-two years. He was above mediocrity in mental abilities. In early life he became an active politician, was elected to the state legislature when a young man and was subsequently chosen a state senator and served the full term with entire satisfaction to his constituents. He was affable and very pleasing in his manner. His wife was Emily Parker. At his death he left two sons,-John (4th) and Joseph C. Summerill, both of whom are storekeepers and large dealers in grain at Helms Cove, a short distance below Penn Grove. There their father com- menced same business in 1829.
Naomi, the daughter of John (2d) and Christiana H. Summerill, married Robert, the son of James and Elizabeth Newell. Robert and his wife after their marriage resided in the township of Mannington. They had three sons and one daughter. John S. Newell, their eldest son, married Emma, the daughter of William Morris, late of Sharptown. They have one child, Rob- ert. Their daughter Josephine married Edward A. Vanneman, of Upper Penn's Neck, and he is deceased, leaving children. The two younger sons of Robert and Naomi Newell are Robert, Jr., and James. Garnett, the second son of John and Christiana Summerill, was a farmer and owned and resided on the property that was previously owned and occupied by Peter Carney, the youngest son of Thomas Carney, Sr. Garnett married Mary Borden, of Sharptown, and they had four children,-James, Annie, William G. and John M. D. James is deceased; Annie married Henry M. Wright; William J. and John M. Summerill are unmarried. William, the third son of John and Christiana Summerill, married Hannah Vanneman. He resided in Upper Penn's Neck. He and his wife had two sons,-Josiah and Daniel V. Sum- merill,-both of whom were married and reside on farms near Penn Grove.
William Summerill did a large amount of public business in his native county, having been one of the judges of the Salem courts, and was also one of the directors of the Canal Meadow Company. This canal was projected as early as 1801 by John Moore White and Michael Wayne, two eminent lawyers of West Jersey, who at that time owned a large tract of low land and meadow bordering Salem creek. They, in conjunction with Joseph Reeve, who resided near Sharptown, made an application to the state legislature for a law to cut a navigable canal for a twofold purpose. The said canal was intended to carry off the waters that flowed down the upper branches of Salem creek into the river. instead of a circuitons route of more than twenty miles to the Delaware river by the course of Salem creek, and only two miles and four rods by the canal. The contemplated canal was dug but proved a failure. It was attempted later to open it deeper, but it was soon abandoned as impracticable. Some seven years since there was an application made to
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
the state legislature for a new law for the purpose of taxing all the owners of the low lands and meadows that lay above John Denn's canal to the head of tide-water, to defray the expenses of digging a canal large enough for navigation, and also to stop the creek some distance below the contem- plated canal. The meadow was surveyed by the commissioners chosen for that purpose, which survey amounted to seven or eight thousand acres, and a tax was assessed on said meadow by a second commission elected for that purpose, agreeably to their law. The directors decided in cutting the new canal on the site of the old one, about half a mile below Hawk's bridge, that was dug nearly seventy years previously. Through the energy and perse- verance of Elisha Bassett, William Summerill, George Biddle, David Pettit and Robert Walker, the work was commenced and the canal was completed so as to be navigable, and Salem creek completely stopped about fifty rods below the canal where it empties into that creek. This public work was un- dertaken against great opposition by some of the owners of land that lay bor- dering on Salem creek, notwithstanding it is likely to prove one of the greatest public benefits of the kind ever undertaken and fully consummated in Salem county. In regard to navigation it enables owners of land in Upper Penn's Neck, a large part of Mannington and Piles Grove townships as well as the owners of extensive meadows and low-lands that lie below the dam, to send the products of their farms to market without much cost. The com- plete draining by the canai makes their meadows more than twofold more profitable than heretofore.
Ann, the daughter of John and Christiana Summerill, married Benjamin Black. They owned and resided on the old homestead farm of the Summer- ill's, as heretofore mentioned. They have two daughters. Joseph, the youngest son of John and Christiana Summerill, was a Methodist clergy- man, of which religious society, it is thought, most of the Summerill family are members. Joseph married Sarah I. Vanneman, and has six children .- three daughters and three sons,-Hannah, Christiana, Louisa, Joseph C., Thomas C. and Daniel Vanneman Summerill. At his death, Thomas Carney (Ist) left two sons-Thomas and Peter Carney-and two or three daughters. As was the custom in that day, he devised all his real estate to his sons. His daughters, particularly Naomi, his eldest daughter, who married John Sum- merill (Ist), did not inherit any of her father's real estate. Thomas Carney, Jr., left one daughter to inherit his large estate, who afterward married the late Robert G. Johnson of Salem. Peter Carney, the brother of Thomas, left two daughters. One of them married Benjamin Cripps, of Mannington, the other daughter married John Tuft, of Salem, but died young, leaving one son,-Sinnickson Tuft.
II-C
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
There is a singular circumstance connected with the Carney and Sum- merill families that does not often occur. Naomi Carney Summerill's descendants, after a lapse of nearly a century, owned the larger part of the landed estate that belonged to her two brothers, Thomas and Peter Carney, including several large and valuable farms.
JAMES D. TORTON.
James D. Torton, who for the past three years has been the able and popular mayor of Penn Grove, Salem county, is one of the native sons of the county, his birth having taken place in Quinton township, February 24, 1840. From his early manhood he has been faithful to the duties devolving upon him as a citizen of this great republic; and when in the dark days of the civil war the Union was threatened he responded to her call for assistance from her loyal sons and nobly fought for her preservation. None the less, in days of peace and prosperity, he has fulfilled the duties which fall to the share of every good citizen, casting in the background his personal interests in order that the welfare of the majority might be subserved.
His grandfather, William Torton, a native of Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, was a shoemaker by trade. He died at his home in Salem county, New Jersey, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, leaving two sons to perpetuate his name. John, who was a practical, successful farmer of Lower Penn's Neck township, died in 1855, when in the seventy-third year of his age.
Thomas Torton, the father of our subject, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and in his youth mastered his father's trade, that of shoemak- ing, following it to some extent throughout life, and also carried on a farm. He was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, upright and pub- lic-spirited, noble and conscientious, and beloved by a large circle of ac- quaintances. In 1842 he became a resident of Penn's Grove, where he passed his remaining years, his death taking place in 1861, when he was in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
For a wife Thomas Torton chose Ann Duer, a daughter of James Duer, the first Methodist Episcopal class-leader in Camden, New Jersey. Several children blessed their union, namely: William D., who was born in Camden, New Jersey, Salem county, this state, is now residing near Penn's Grove and is a lighthouse keeper; Sarah, deceased, formerly the wife of Augustus Cann, of Penn Grove; Mary, the widow of Benjamin Hinchman, of Camden; Louisa (Ist), who died an infant at Pennville; Elizabeth, deceased, formerly
Ares De Toston
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CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY.
the wife of William S. Bowen, of Camden; Louisa (2d), who died when six years of age, at Pennville; James D., the subject of this sketch; Louisa (3d), the widow of George Kirk, now living in Salem; John W., who was an em- ploye at Dupont's powder-works and on retiring from active business spent his last years at Penn Grove; and Thomas J., of Penn Grove, and now one of the fish wardens of the state of New Jersey.
James Duer, the maternal grandfather of James D. Torton, was first married to Miss Reeves, by whom he had four children: Ann, Rebecca, the wife of William Sharp; Mary, the wife of Isaac Fogg; and William. For his second wife he married Miss Venable, of Camden county, this state, and their children were: Hetty, Mrs. Richard Bender; Elizabeth, Mrs. William Bender; Charlotte, Mrs. Alfred Williamson; and James,-all residents of Camden.
When he was a lad of about sixteen years, James D. Torton determined to learn the carpenter's trade. He yielded to a boyish desire to sail the high seas for a period, and in August, 1862, when twenty years of age, he en- listed in Company K, Twenty-fourth Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, and served for one year as a private soldier. He participated in numerous engagements, the principal ones being the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. When he was mustered out of the army, in August, 1863. he returned to his home and customary pursuits for a time, but afterward enlisted in the government service, in the navy department, being ship car- penter on the celebrated Tuscarora, which vessel was the one used to convey Jefferson Davis to Fortress Monroe after his capture, and General Reagan and Alexander Stephens as well.
In 1866 Mr. Torton came to Penn Grove, where he was united in mar- riage with Hannah, the daughter of Michael K. and Sarah (Cook) Dalbow, her father a well-to-do farmer of Upper Penn's Neck township. Her father died when in his seventy-fourth year, and her mother at the age of seventy- two years. Their children were: Hannah M .; Phoebe, the wife of Charles Mattison; William and Herbert E., of Penn Grove; Samuel, of New Mexico; Maggie, the wife of J. Ford Thompson; Daneline, the wife of Jonathan Denny; and Louisa, deceased.
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During the years 1867-8 Mr. Torton was engaged in carpentering and house-building, and at the end of that period bought out the undertaking business of Augustus Cann, and has conducted it successfully for more than three decades. He is much respected in this locality and deserves the high place which he occupies in the esteem of all.
In 1892, when Penn Grove was made a borough, he was elected its mayor and acted in that capacity for one year, then being succeeded by D. B. Sum-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
merill; and in 1896, he was again chosen as mayor by the voice of the peo- ple, and he still continues to hold that responsible position. For twelve years he has served as the coroner, serving now a three-years' term; besides which he has been a member of the board of education and the president of the county board of trustees. Fraternally he is identified with the Odd Fellows, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Heptasophs and the Order of American Mechanics, in all of which he has held offices,-a fact telling plainly of his efficiency and popularity.
COLLINS B. ALLEN.
Although a young man who has not yet reached his prime, Mr. Allen is a farmer of prominence and influence in Salem county, New Jersey, where he was born August 9, 1866. His birthplace was the old Bassett homestead, in Mannington township, and his parents were Samuel B. and Hannah D. (Bassett) Allen, well-known farmers of that township. His great-grandfather was Enoch Allen, of Mullica Hill, Gloucester county, where he owned two farms and resided all his life, following the arts of husbandry. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and died May 18, 1834, at the age of eighty-three years. His children were as follows: William, born November 26, 1775, died November 11, 1817; Martha, born March 13, 1778, died Octo- ber 12, 1822; Hannah, born August 11, 1780, married Samuel Moore, and died January 17, 1808; Rosanna, born April 20, 1783, married Thomas Cole, and died March 23, 1862; Enoch, Jr., born May 3, 1785, died April 8, 1831 ; Rachel, born February 4, 1788, married Benjamin Bacon, April 29, 1807, and died October 26, 1813; Priscilla, born December 8, 1789, died August 20, 1833; Samuel C. was the grandfather of our subject; Ann, born February 4, 1796, married A. Guarward, and died April 24, 1859, and Isaac was born February 17, 1802.
Samuel C. Allen was born July 28, 1798, at Mullica Hill, Gloucester county, this state, and became one of the foremost farmers of his section of the country. He owned a large farm of two hundred acres and was very successful in his farming operations. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and his life was such that he commanded universal respect. He married Sarah Pancoast on February 2, 1820, who presented him with four children, namely: Martha P., born November 17, 1820, and married John W. Hazelton, a farmer of Mullica Hill, by whom she had seven children- Stacy, Samuel, Sarah, Collins, Ella, Abbott and John; Hannah Ann, born
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December 17, 1822, and died September 25, 1828; Collins, and Samuel P., the father of our subject.
Samuel P. Allen was born January 2, 1828, in Gloucester county, and for forty-five years has cultivated land in the neighborhood. He was one of the most prominent men of the county and a staunch Republican. He was a freeholder, served on the township committee, was assessor of the township for three years, overseer of the highways, surrogate of Salem county and held a number of minor offices. In 1894 he retired from active life but re- tained his active interest in the Society of Friends of the Salem meeting. In January, 1851, he was joined in matrimony with Miss Hannah D. Bassett, who is now in her sixty-eighth year. Their children are Anna V., who was educated in the Bristol Boarding School, and married Jonathan B. Grier, by whom she has one child, Frank; two sons were born to them and named Frank, one dying in infancy and one at the age of five years; another child died in infancy; and the fifth, Collins B., is the subject of this sketch.
Collins B. Allen received his education in the district schools of his native township and those of Salem. Leaving school he entered upon his career as an agriculturist and has followed that vocation since with the great- est success. He was appointed an officer in the state prison at Trenton, New Jersey, and lived there while discharging the duties of his office, but again returned to his farm and has since been engaged in its management. This farm comprises one hundred and seventy-five acres of good land, which Mr. Allen has kept in the high state of cultivation in which it had been placed by his father-in-law, Wyatt W. Miller. He conducts this work on a business basis and has reduced it to a science, instead of doing as so many so-called farmers who follow in the beaten paths and make a bare living by their labors. He studied the diseases and care of stock under Dr. Cooper, and is a castrator of skill who does a good deal of work in this line throughout the southern part of the state.
Mr. Allen was married February 3, 1892, to Miss Hettie M. Miller, a daughter of Wyatt Wistar Miller, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Three bright children have been added to their family circle-Elsie M., born October 22, 1893; Mary Griffin, born July 9, 1896, and Elizabeth Wistar, born February 10, 1899. The family are members of the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends and are among the most respected and esteemed citizens of the county. Mr. Allen is a Republican and takes an active part in the political situation here. He is the district clerk of the school board of Mannington township and as such has charge of the schools of the township. He is also acting in the capacity of town clerk and on the executive committee, and loses no opportunity, often making the opportunity
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST
in fact, of advancing the interest of the county. It is such men as Mr. Allen that have been a power in the past, that pushed Salem county to the front in the commercial world and gave her the standing she now enjoys.
GEORGE W. PRESSEY.
America has taken the lead among the nations of the world in industrial inventions. Her agricultural improvements, machinery and mechanical ap- pliances are unequaled in any land and her inventors have simplified labor, reduced the cost of production and largely augmented trade. Mr. Pressey, of this review, is one who has produced a number of important inventions which have proven of great benefit to the industrial world and which have brought to him a handsome financial return, so that he is now able to live a retired life. He makes his home in Hammonton, where he is both widely and favorably known.
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