USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > Perth Amboy > Contributions to the early history of Perth Amboy and adjoining country : with sketches of men and events in New Jersey during the provincial era > Part 14
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THE BARBERIE FAMILY.
Among the thousands of Protestants who left France to escape the evils imposed upon them by Lewis XIV., were the ancestors of the Barberies. They settled at New Rochelle, in the State of New York. The burial-ground of St. Peter's Church contains the only visible memorial of the residence in Amboy of any descendant of the family. A plain stone bears the inscription " JOHN BARBERIE, aged 50 years, died July 23d, 1770."
The name first enters upon the records in March, 1702-3, in a petition to the proprietors for a house-lot-the prayer of which was granted on condition that the house should be built within a year. The petitioner is presumed to have been the father of John Barberie above mentioned, and the same gen- tleman whose name is met with as one of the Council of New York or New Jersey, during the administrations of Governors Hunter, Burnet, and Montgomerie.
There is a traditionary statement that the subject of this sketch-the possessor of the tomb-stone-was the eldest of four brothers (none of the others, however, resided in Amboy) who, through some folly or superstition of their parents, shared but two names among them : the first being called John, the second Peter, the third John-Peter, and the fourth Peter-John.
97 Philip Kearny, in his will, dated 1770, mentions this farm as having been " lately" bought by him at Sher- iff's sale. In October, 1754, Mr. Ne- vill having been elected to the Assem- bly (then holding the office of Judge) a petition was presented, proclaiming him ineligible. A New York Editor remarks thereon, " it would seem very
strange that an office which the house has not thought deserving of more than £25 salary per annum should deprive a gentleman of another place, because similar to the Judgeship of King's Bench in England." Appa- rently no action was had upon the petition.
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Mr. Barberie was a gentleman of pleasing manners and address, occasionally marred by exhibitions of temper, and ex- tremely proud of his birth and family connections. His resi- dence was the house of late years known as the Lewis Place. At the time of his death he was Collector of Customs for the Port, and " well respected in that office." He married Ger- trude, daughter of Andrew Johnston, elsewhere mentioned in these pages ; they had five sons and four daughters.
PETER was a merchant in Amboy, in partnership with his uncle, John Johnston, and afterward removed to New York, where he died, leaving a widow and children.
JOHN was a Captain in the 2d Battalion of Cortlandt Skinner's Bri- gade, raised during the revolution, and after the war retired to St. Johns, in the Province of New Brunswick, where he died in 1818, aged 67. He was Colonel of Militia and a Magistrate of the County. A son, Andrew, became a Member of the Provincial Assembly of New Brunswick.
OLIVER commenced the study of Law in the office of Cortlandt Skin- ner, subsequently entered the British Army, and became a Lieutenant in the Loyal American Regiment. He married a daughter of his legal pre- ceptor, and one of his sons now holds an honorable post in the Army or Navy of England. He died in the Province of New Brunswick.
LAMBERT died unmarried.
ANDREW was placed in the Navy, and was shot on board of an English vessel of war during the revolution.
SUSANNAH married her cousin, John L. Johnston, of Spotswood, and had several children.98
FRANCES married James Throckmorton, of Monmouth County.
CATHERINE became the wife of Mr. Henry Cuyler. Mr. C. died in Newark, in May, 1774, aged 28, and was buried under a pear tree in what was afterward the orchard of Col. Samuel Ogden, north of what is tech- nically known as " the Stone Bridge." Mrs. Cuyler is thought to have died at Amboy. They left several children.
GERTRUDE died young, and unmarried.
THE WATSON FAMILY.
On what is now the site of Mr. John Manning's house, in the ancient metropolis, a site commanding an extensive view of the broad bay, formed by the confluence of Arthur Kull Sound with the Raritan-of the shores of Monmouth County and Staten Island, and, far beyond, of the Atlantic Ocean- a site such as a painter might naturally be disposed to select for his residence, there lived before the Revolution, the first limner of whom the American annals of art make mention.
98 See pedigree of Heathcote family in Bolton's Westchester.
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JOHN WATSON came to this country from Scotland about the year 1715, and died August 22d, 1768 ; aged 83 years. His remains lie interred in the rear of St. Peter's Church.
" After his first visit to America," says Mr. Dunlap in his History of the Arts of Design, "the painter returned to Eu- rope, and brought thence to his adopted country many pictures which, with those of his own composition, formed no incon- siderable collection in point of numbers, but of their value we are ignorant. It is, however, a fact that the first painter, and the first collection of paintings of which we have any knowledge, were planted at Perth Amboy."
There were two houses standing near each other, both be- longing to Mr. Watson, one of them being appropriated to these paintings, which it is said covered the walls ; but before the Revolution, this house had decayed and been demolished. The other, occupied by the painter himself, and which disap- peared during the struggle, was of wood, having its window- shutters covered with "heads of heroes, and of kings with awe-inspiring crowns "-owing their existence to the taste and talents of the painter.
When he became a resident of Amboy, he was extremely poor, but his circumstances improved from the exercise of his profession and from a small legacy left him, and with increas- ing riches came their too frequent attendant, a thirst for more. His penurious habits, and his love for unlawful interest, gained for him, even among his neighbors, the titles of miser and usurer, and an extremely irascible disposition prevented the growth of any attachment to him, in those around. He was unmarried, and his family consisted of himself, a nephew, and a niece, for whom he had sent to Scotland soon after his es- tablishment at Amboy.
What became of Mr. Watson's collection of paintings is not known, and as none of his own of any size have come down to us, we are left comparatively in ignorance of his proficiency in the art. I have, however, in my posses- sion a number of miniature sketches in India-ink, made by him, which are tolerably well executed, and among them a series of drawings of himself, at different ages, from one
.
From an Original Sketch in the possession W.A Whitehead
JOHN WATSON. Portrait Painter, 1715,- 1768.
LITH. OF SARDNY & CO NEW YORK.
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of which the likeness accompanying this notice of him was taken. 99
" Alexander Watson, the nephew, who had been a midshipman in the British Navy "-the quotation is from Mr. Dunlap's work-" superintended his business when the uncle became too infirm to paint or even examine bonds and mortgages, and shared his frugal fare with the cheering hope of a blessed change when the old man should 'shuffle off his mortal coil.' But 'hope deferred maketh the heart sick.' The painter became blind, and deaf, and bed-rid, but still he lived. In this condition the old man remained several years. The nephew, anticipating the hour in which he was to become lord of money, houses and lands, used to speak of it as that which must soon come 'in the course of nature,' but in the mean- while had no power over the revenue.
"During this period, which is called proverbially the time of ' waiting for dead men's shoes,' the house wanted repairing ; but the bed-rid man turned his deafest ear to any proposal involving the expenditure of money for that or any other purpose. The hand grasped the world's idol with the greater intenseness as the hour approached on which its hold must be relaxed for ever. The nephew, trusting to the uncle's incapacity of moving or hearing, and finding tradesmen willing to trust to the kind course of nature, determined to prevent the decay of the property he felt an heir's affection for, and concluded his bargain with the carpenters for a new roof.
" Accordingly the house was unroofed and re-roofed, while the owner was living in it, perfectly unconscious of the important operation which was in progress over his head. The strokes of hammers, however, occa- sionally reached his ear, penetrating the obstacles interposed by art and nature, and the heir was startled by the question 'What is the meaning of that pecking and knocking that I hear every day ?' The nephew, taken by surprise, answered: 'pecking ? pecking? Oh! ay! 'tis the woodpeckers ; they are in amazing quantities this year-leave the trees, and attack the roofs of the houses-there is no driving them off.' When the roof was finished, the saucy birds ceased pecking."
The old man at last died, and the nephew inherited his property. So soon as it came into his possession, he started off "in search of a wife," and although a short, red-haired man, of very unprepossessing appearance, with no mental qualifications to counterbalance those outward defects, his travels were not in vain. He returned to Amboy, bringing with him a very amiable and interesting woman as his wife, whom he had met with at Westchester, New York. They resided after their return to Amboy, in the house now occu- pied by Mr. William King, nearly in front of old Watson's premises.
99 Among these sketches are like- Judge Bunnel, and other distinguish- nesses, apparently original, of Gov. ed men, showing that some notoriety Burnet, Gov. Keith, of Pennsylvania, was enjoyed by the painter. Governor Spotswood, of Virginia,
A
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Mrs. Watson died very suddenly, being struck with death while riding with her husband in 1774.100 After her death, Mr. Watson resided on a farm, above the " great gully " bor- dering on the Raritan, in those days called "Florida," and left it in 1776, to flee from the storm which threatened the adherents to the royal cause in New Jersey. The property of his uncle he had wasted in ill-judged schemes, and by in- judicious management, and what he left behind him was con- fiscated. He finally died in New York. Mrs. Watson bore him two sons, who removed to Westchester.
Miss Watson, the niece of the painter, became the wife of Dr. John Waterhouse, whose grave is yet to be seen in the rear of St. Peter's Church, and after his death she married John Terrill of New York. Mrs. Sophia Brown, remembered by most of the present population of the place-having died as recently as August, 1837, aged 80,-was her daughter by her first husband. She had several children by Mr. Terrill.
THE PARKER FAMILY.
Between the years 1670 and 1680, several individuals by the name of Parker established themselves at different places in East Jersey, and it is probable they were nearly related to each other, if not members of the same family. In Elizabeth- town, were Benjamin 101 and John Parker ; 102 in Monmouth County, we find Peter, Joseph 103 and George Parker ; and in Woodbridge, was ELISHA PARKER, the ancestor of the pre- sent Amboy family of that name-one of the few remaining of those inhabiting the place previous to the war of independ- ence.
The first grant of land to " Elisha Parker, senior, Yeoman,
100 " As I remember the story," says Mr. Dunlap, in a letter to the author- "She was riding out with her husband, being in perfect health, and when re- turning through Woodbridge, she sud- denly exclaimed, 'I see two suns !' and fainted. She was brought home, and died." The New York Gazette, however, of March 10th, 1774, says :
"Last week, died at the Blazing Star, on her way to this city, Mrs. Watson, wife of Alexander Watson, Esq., of Perth Amboy."
101 Admistration on his estate grant- ed to Martha Parker, March 10th, 1683. 102 His last will dated in 1702.
103 Administration granted on his estate to Jediah Allen, May 15, 1685.
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of Woodbridge," was for 182 acres on the highway leading to Piscataway, under date of April 19th, 1675 ; and it is pre- sumed that shortly afterward he removed to Woodbridge, from Staten Island, where he had previously resided. In No- vember, 1694, he was appointed High Sheriff of the County of Middlesex ; in 1707 he represented the county in the Pro- vincial Assembly, of which body he continued a member for two years, and in 1711 was appointed a member of Governor Hunter's council. His residence is said to have been the house which, until a few years back, was for a long period the parsonage of the Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge. He died June 30th, 1717, and his memory is associated with the characteristics-as enumerated by his contemporaries-of a good father, a kind master, and a sincere Christian. Mr. Parker appears to have been three times married, and had several children. Those by his first wife (Elizabeth -) were as follows :
I. THOMAS, who resided in Woodbridge, early in life, 104 but probably re- moved to Staten Island ; as one of his name, residing on the island in 1687, sold some lands in Woodbridge; and nothing is known of his descendants in the vicinity of the place of his birth. His children, by Mary -, were David, born May 1st, 1676; Thomas, born March 9th, 1682-3 ; Elisha, born August 20th, 1684; Joseph, born Sept. 18th, 1690; Benjamin, born Jan- uary 4th, 1692-3 ; and George and Eliza (twins), born March 30th, 1695.
II. ELISHA, 105 who, in 1681 was styled " Weaver," and afterward, in 1701, " Merchant, of Woodbridge," was, in 1709, captain in the provincial forces, and attached to the commissariat, being charged with the duty of furnishing supplies to the troops then engaged on the Canadian frontier. About 1712, or 1715, he removed to Perth Amboy, and died, April 16, 1727, unmarried and much regretted, being eminent for his piety. He left his property in equal proportions to his three half-sisters, Elizabeth, Ursula, and Mary.
III. SAMUEL, born March 1st, 1669, died Dec. 27th, 1672.
IV. MARY, born December 3d, 1672, married Daniel Robins, Nov. 27, 1691.
V. SAMUEL, born June 1, 1674.
By his second wife, Hannah Rolph (died October 14th, 1696), whom he married March 26th, 1691, he had :-
I. ELIZABETH, born Dec. 23d, 1691, died March 13tlı, 1692.
II. JOHN, born Nov. 11th, 1693. He was the grandfather of the pre-
104 In October, 1680, his father gave Sept. 7th, 1680, seven acres in Wood- him 60 acres of upland, and 15 acres of Raritan meadow.
bridge, part of his " home lot, lying on the west side of the highway that goeth
105 He purchased from his father, from the prison to the meeting-house."
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sent elders of the family. He married, Sept. 16th, 1721, Janet, daughter of Dr. John Johnstone. He held the rank of Colonel in the provincial forces the same year, but I am not aware that he was ever called into service. From 1726 to 1728, he was engaged in business in New York, as a merchant, but appears to have always resided at Amboy, and to have been one of its most valued citizens. The stone part of the old Parker mansion, familiarly termed "the Castle," was built by him. Besides seve- ral minor offices which he held at different periods, he was appointed by Governor Burnet, in October, 1719, one of his council, and continued a councillor from that time until his death in 1732. In his will he left two hundred pounds "for extraordinary schooling and teaching one or more of my sons the Latin and French tongues, regard being chiefly and in the first place had to the eldest." His widow lived until Feb. 16th, 1741. Their children, besides one son who died in infancy, were :
Elisha, who was bred to the profession of the law, under James Alexander, was licensed May 3d, 1745, and attained to some emi- nence. He married Catharine, daughter of James Alexander, and died of consumption, March 14th, 1751, in his 47th year. He left no children. His widow married Walter Rutherfurd, then an officer in the army, and was the mother of the late John Rutherfurd, of Belleville.
James, who will be more particularly noticed on a subsequent page.
Mary, who died unmarried February 25th, 1813, in her 86tl year, and was buried in St. Peter's Cemetery; where most of the family were interred, although no monuments mark their graves as in her case.
John, who is more particularly noticed below ; and
Lewis Johnston, born Dec. 9th, 1731, who died February 2d, 1760, in his 29th year, of consumption, while preparing himself for the bar ; having sought for health in vain by a sea voyage, and residence in another climate. Several poetical effusions, in which he bewails the loss of strength and vigor in melancholy strains, are preserved.
By his third wife, Ursula Crage (Craig), to whom he was married Sept. 27th, 1697, and who survived him, he had :-
I. Elizabeth, who was born March 21st, 1698-9, and married James Johnston, of Monmouth County.
II. Ursula, born Dec. 21st, 1700, died unmarried.
III. Mary, born Dec. 22d, 1702, died unmarried.
IV. Edward, of whom no information has been obtained, excepting that he was baptized by the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, of the first Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, April 30th, 1716.
JOHN PARKER, the last above mentioned, was born No- vember 7th, 1729 ; received a mercantile education, and from October, 1745, to May, 1750, served as a midshipman on board H. M. ship Chester, Capt. Spry. In 1751 he went on a voyage to Jamaica, as supercargo of a vessel ; from June to Septem- ber, 1752, was in Virginia, and in April, 1754, went to New- foundland, on similar commercial enterprises. In the cam- paigns of 1755 and 1756, against the French, he commanded
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a company in the 4th battalion of the Royal Americans, and after the capture of Colonel Schuyler, at Oswego, being the senior officer, the command of such of the New Jersey forces as were not involved in that disaster, devolved upon him.
Captain Parker was then in his 27th year, a bold and energetic officer, and the surrender of Oswego seemed to him uncalled for. In a letter to his brother, at Amboy, dated "Fort Eagle, August 18th, 1756," he says :
"I am busy preparing for an attack hourly expected. * * * * My love to all friends, and you may venture to tell them, that Jack Parker will never be taken in this poor, little, footy fort, without losing more than five, if all the force that was at Oswego comes against him; how that affair was managed I don't know, and therefore suspend judgment.
"Col. Schuyler, Capt. Skinner, his brother Jack, and all the officers that were there are well and untouched, except Col. Mercer, who was killed ; Capt. Patten of Shirley's, Ensign Walter of Schuyler's, wounded ; five men killed." 106
The remainder of the year was spent by Capt. Parker amid the excitement, the hardships, and sufferings of the border warfare ; and the ensuing August (1757) found him holding the rank of Colonel, at Fort William Henry, the melancholy fate of whose garrison, was one of the most remarkable events of the campaign; and there he came near losing his life, even be- fore the capitulation, the dangers of which he also shared ; having been born, as his brother observes in a letter in the au- thor's possession, " under an unlucky planet." The circum- stances of this affair were as follows : On the 21st July, Colo- nel Parker, with a detachment of about 350 men, officered by three of his captains (Woodward, Shaw and -- -) and six or seven of his subalterns, together with Captains Robert
06 The following extract is from a letter, written by Capt. Parker's bro- ther, James, dated Albany, August 25th, 1756.
"Every thing is kept a secret at head- quarters, and it is only supposed by per- sons that know but little about the mat- ter, that if Gen. Webb should receive accounts that it (Oswego) is not taken he will strip the carrying place of as many men as possible and march im- mediately to relieve it, after being joined by Sir William Johnston, with about 500 militia, and 300 Indians,
which numbers it is said he has got together, which in the whole, including Battoe men, 'tis supposed will make up about 2,500 men :- quite sufficient, in my opinion, under a good officer to answer that end." He says that the Earl of Loudon had received a letter two days before from Capt. Parker, which had pleased him, and mentions a probability, which was, however, never realized, that Capt. P. would ob- tain the command of a company of Rangers in the Regular Service.
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Maginnis and Jonathan Ogden, and Lieutenants Campbell and Cotes of the New York regiment,-went out in boats to attack the advanced guard of the enemy at Ticonderoga.
Having encamped for the night on an island in the lake, three batteaux were sent out towards the main land to recon- noitre, which were taken by the enemy, and the intentions of the detachment, in consequence, discovered.
On the morning of the 22d the boats moved forward to- wards a point where they expected to meet the advanced party, and decoyed by three batteaux, which were placed there by the enemy, the whole detachment eagerly landed, where an ambush of about 300 men had been stationed ; and at the same time forty or fifty boats came out from behind the point, effectually cutting off the irretreat. A desperate con- flict ensued, which resulted most disastrously for the Ameri- cans. Colonel Parker and Capt. Ogden, with seventy or eighty men, being all that escaped death or capture. The three Jersey captains were killed, one of them, Woodward, having jumped overboard after being severely wounded. 107
The success was so complete that the ardor of the French army revived, and they renewed their exertions toward the capture of Fort William Henry. Thrice had Montcalm been obliged to draw off his forces from before it, but he now re- turned to the attack under the most favorable circumstances, and the fort fell on the 9th of August.
Colonel Parker having escaped the dangers which attended the capitulation, returned to New Jersey, the provincial forces having been disbanded in consequence of the terms agreed upon, which prevented their serving against the French for eighteen months. But he was too fond of a military life to remain inactive when his services could be ren- dered available. He consequently returned to the frontier in the spring of 1759, and participated in the events of the campaign of that year, having purchased a company in the 60th Royal American regiment. He was also attached to the expedition which, in the beginning of 1762, sailed to the West Indies, with the view of reducing the French islands ;
197 N. Y. Mercury, August 1st, 1757; Mante's Hist. of Late War, 1772, p. 85 ; Smollett's England, &c.
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being then in command of a company in the 27th regiment, which he had purchased for £1,300 sterling, selling his pre- vious commission for £1,100. He was at the taking of Mar- tinico, but exposure in that climate, and the fatigue con- nected with the service, affected his health, and he fell a vic- tim to disease, February 15th, 1762, and was buried at Port Royal.
Having ever led an unsettled life, consequent upon his military career, Mr. Parker never married. He was bold, cou- rageous and active, but his public services secured to him but little fame, and less wealth. 108
JAMES PARKER was the only child of John Parker, senior, who left issue. He married Gerturde, only daughter of the Rev. William Skinner, and was the father of the present elders of the Parker family.
Like many others of the young gentlemen of Perth Amboy, he entered the provincial military service, and in August, 1746, embarked for the northern frontier, as captain of one of the six companies raised for the expedition of that year. His orders from acting Governor John Hamilton, and other papers connected with his command, are in my possession. It is thought, however, that his military services terminated with the campaign109 (unless a residence of some duration in Albany in 1756 may have had some connection with the army move- ments), and he afterward engaged in mercantile business in New York, with Mr. Beverly Robinson,-his transactions being principally with the West Indies, some of them in part- nership with Andrew Johnston ; and in 1750-51 he made a voyage to Jamaica, upon affairs connected with these com- mercial projects.
Soon after this he took up his abode permanently at Amboy. His time was much engrossed in attending to the large landed
108 It is somewhat singular that the surrender of Oswego, which he con- sidered so unfortunate for all concern- ed, was the cause of promotion to two of his companions-the Skinners- (see pages 113 119) while his own suc- cess in escaping a similar disaster re- sulted in no benefit to him whatever.
109 Among the Rutherfurd MSS. is an account of his command, dated March 9, 1747 : 72 Privates on duty, 1 absent on furlough, 2 in fort at Albany, 1 discharged, 6 dead, 16 deserted-3 Commissioned Officers.
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interest possessed by the family, and in executing the duties of various local offices conferred upon him : among others being that of Councillor under Governor Franklin, to which he was appointed in October, 1764, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death of Chief Justice Morris. Mr. Parker took a promi- nent part in the proceedings of the Council, and many of the addresses and other documents emanating from that body dur- ing his connection with it, were written by him. In 1771, and in other years, he was Mayor of Amboy, and in April, 1775, was appointed with Stephen Skinner and Jonathan Deare, a delegate from Amboy to the Provincial Congress, but he did not attend its sessions. The deep interest he had at stake led him to pursue a course different from that adopted by most of his family connections, by preserving a strict neutrality in word and deed, between the royalists and provincials. He took no office, and endeavored to keep himself aloof from the party dissensions of the time, removing his family in Novem- ber, 1775, to a farm in Bethlehem, Hunterdon County, where they resided until the peace in 1783,110 when they removed to New Brunswick, and two years thereafter returned to the family mansion at Amboy.
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