Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century, Part 19

Author: Sherman, Andrew Magoun, 1844-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : Howard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 576


USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 19


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31


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regiment of militia, resulted in the speedy apprehen- sion of Troop and Saunders, and more than fifty Tory recruits. Moody made his escape and subsequently emigrated to Nova Scotia.


On the eleventh day of August, Troop and Saun- ders were before the Council of Safety, at Morristown. It being ascertained that Troop was a lieutenant of the British Volunteers, he was sent under guard to Gen- eral Washington, for further examination. The choice between enlisting in the American navy, or standing trial upon the charge of aiding the enemy, was given to Saunders. Nine days of confinement and serious meditation in the county jail, on the part of this latter prisoner, resulted in his decision to enlist, and he was therefore sent under guard to Philadel- phia, where he would be received into the naval ser- vice. The Tory recruits captured with Troop and Saunders were placed in irons and marched under a strong guard of county militia to Burlington, by way of Trenton.


In the months of September and October, in the year 1777, the New Jersey Council of Safety was in session at Princeton. On the fifth of October, this body ordered eleven prisoners to be sent to the Mor- ris County Jail, where they were to be kept in close confinement; and this was accordingly done. Among this batch of prisoners were James Iliff and John Mee. By authority of the Council of Safety, the Court of Oyer and Terminer for Morris County, tried a large number of cases (nearly a hundred, it is said) for of-


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fenses committed outside the county. The trial of these cases occupied nearly three weeks. Of the num- ber tried, thirty-five were sentenced to death and thir- ty were pardoned on condition of their enlistment in the American army. On the second day of Decem- ber following the trial of their cases, Iliff and Mee were hanged on the Morristown Green. Not far from the present soldiers' monument probably stood the gallows on which these two men were "hanged until they were dead." Before their execution, Iliff and Mee were earnestly exhorted by Sheriff Carmichael to make a confession of their crimes, to which they in substance replied:


"We are guilty of no crime, save loyalty to the King of Great Britain; hence we have no confession to make."


Governor Livingston, in a letter under date of Jan- uary 7, in the year 1778, addressed to the British gen- eral in command of the King's troops in New Jersey, said:


"Iliff was executed after a trial by jury for enlisting our subjects, himself being one, as recruits in the British army, and he was apprehended on his way with them to Staten Island. Had he never been a subject to this State he would have forfeited his life as a spy. Mee was one of his company and had also procured our subjects to enlist in the service of the enemy."


From a Morristown militiaman, who was on duty at the county jail when the thirty-five Tory prisoners


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previously spoken of were sentenced, we learn that orders were given by the officer in command of the guard, that the wives of the condemned Tories, who might so desire, should be admitted into the jail to take a farewell of their husbands. Among those who did this was one devoted wife, who polished her hus- band's shoe, knee and stock buckles, and also his shoes. She washed his linen and his white pantaloons, and brushed his coat and hat, that he might present a gentlemanly appearance on the gallows. All honor to the noble wife! Truly she was loyal to her matrimon- ial promise to take him "for better or for worse." The officer in command of the jail guard came to the jail on the morning appointed for the execution of the thirty-five Tory prisoners above mentioned, and said to them:


"With two exceptions (those were Iliff and Mee), I offer you all a reprieve from the gallows if you will enlist in the American army for the remainder of the war. As fast as you say you will enlist you will be conducted under guard to the upper room of the jail, to remain there until your proper officer comes to enroll you and have you sworn."


One by one, after a little hesitation, the entire batch of condemned prisoners said, "I will enlist," and they were all placed under guard in the upper room. The father of one of the men reprieved-he was a Tory Dutchman from Bergen County-came up to the jail, and the son, catching sight of him, put his head out of the window and said:


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"How do you do, father?"


"What are doing up dere, my poy?" was the father's inter- rogative.


"I am reprieved," said the son.


"How's dat?" asked the father.


"I had the offer, if I would enlist for the rest of the war, and I have enlisted," was the son's answer.


"Listed among the rebels! I would rather have followed you to the gallows," was the old Dutchman's sturdy remark.


"Take care, you old rebel," exclaimed one of the jail guard, as he leveled his musket at the father, "or we will hang you up where your son was to go."


Upon this the Bergen County Dutchman beat a hasty retreat from the Green, much to the amusement of those who witnessed the scene.


Another important case tried in the courthouse on the Green at Morristown, in the month of December, of the year 1777, was that of Alexander Worth, who was charged with "coming out of and going into the enemy's lines without the license required by law." He had been captured in Woodbridge, and was taken be- fore the Council of Safety, then in session at Trenton. Careful examination of the prisoner disclosed the fact that he was a tory soldier of the British army, found within the American lines. By order of the Council of Safety, Worth was sent under guard to Morris- town, where he was tried on suspicion of being a spy. He was found guilty, and was given the choice of be- ing burnt in the hand or enlisting in the Continental army to fight against the King.


"Death is preferable to fighting against the King,"


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was the heroic reply. He was, therefore, branded in the hand. The painful operation was performed by Sheriff Carmichael, of Morris County. The prisoner's hand and arm were securely fastened to a block of wood expressly prepared for the purpose, and the hot iron was then applied by the county official. Worth afterward returned to Staten Island.


Some of the more responsible Tories confined in the Morris County Jail at the period under considera- tion, were released from custody, on condition that they would remain within a mile of the courthouse, and return to jail when wanted by the authorities. Other prisoners from Bergen County were permitted, in compliance with their petition to the county court, to reside in Morris Township on parole; not, however, until they had given bonds that they would remain within one mile from the county jail. In response to their petition to the court, three prisoners from Essex County, were permitted to go to their own county jail, on condition that they should bear the expense. Sev- eral prisoners escaped from the old jail on the Morris- town Green; three in the month of December, of the year 1778, who were advertised by the sheriff.


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CHAPTER XIV.


"All desp'rate hazards courage do create, As he plays frankly who has least estate; Presence of mind, and courage in distress, Are more than armies, to procure success."


HE New Jersey Council of Safety, composed of his excellency the Gov- T ernor, and twelve or more represen- tative citizens, selected from vari- ous sections of the State, was a migratory body, so to speak, mov- ing about from place to place as local exigencies seemed to require. During the years 1777 and 1778, this important official body sat several times in Morristown. The mention of some of the local matters brought before the Coun- cil of Safety, while sitting at the county seat of Morris, may very appropriately be prefaced by a few words quoted from a local historian, and appear- ing in connection with his account of the counterfeit- ing operations in Morris County by Samuel Ford, and


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his highly respectable accomplices, just prior to the commencement of the Revolution. "We would fain pass by it, but truth is inexorable and the historian has no choice."


From the historically invaluable minutes of the Council of Safety, the following extracts are selected and presented, with their respective dates affixed:


June 18, 1777-"John Drummond, a prisoner committed by Captain O'Harra, was discharged upon taking the oath of abjuration and allegiance, there being no evidence against him."


June 21, 1777-"Benjamin Morgan, Esq., a prisoner in Morris County (committed by order of his excellency, Gen- eral Washington), petitioned to be removed from prison to some private house. Ordered that the said Benjamin Morgan be removed to the house of the widow (second wife of Mat- thew Lum) Jemima Lum, in Morristown, and there to remain or within one hundred yards thereof until further order of the Governor and Council of Safety or otherways discharged by due course of law; on his giving bond of two thousand pounds to remain there till discharged as above, which bond was executed accordingly."


June 21, 1777, afternoon session-"Mr. Peter Mackie being summoned before the Governor and Council as suspected of being disaffected to the State, and was offered the oaths of Abjuration and Allegiance and refusing the same, and appearing to be too dangerous to be suffered to go at large, was ordered to be committed to Gaol. *


"Peter Mackie offering to take the oaths after the warrant of commitment was made out, was sworn accordingly and discharged." This was evidently the identical Peter Mackee from whose land a Morristown "school hous" was removed in the year 1771, by order of the trustees of the Presbyterian church.


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June 28, 1777-"Robert Norris appeared before the board pursuant to citation and took the oaths of Abjuration and Allegiance to the government, as established by the Legis- lature of the State." Mr. Norris, it may be remarked, kept the Dickerson tavern while Captain Peter Dickerson, its owner, was absent in the military service of his country.


July 3, 1777-"The petition of Ben-Jamin Morgan, now in confinement in Morristown, was read, setting forth that he is desirous to take the oaths of abjuration and allegiance agreeably to law, and is willing to be circumscribed in his boundaries, and laid under such penalties as the board may think necessary; and praying that he may be permitted to return home. Agreed, that as the petitioner .was appre- hended by order of his Excellency General Washington, he is to be considered as a military prisoner, and therefore that the said petition be referred to the General."


August 21, 1777, afternoon session-"Agreed, that the Gov- ernor direct Major Benoni Hathaway to deliver the field- pieces and appurtenances, and also the powder you are to receive for the public use, to the commanding officer of the militia stationed along the frontiers near Staten Island, or to his order, taking his receipt or the receipt of the person by him authorized to receive it. *


"Mr. Kimble having been cited to appear before the board, informed the Governor by letter that he was, through indis- position of body, unable to attend. Ordered, that Justice (Benjamin) Halsey calling to his assistance another of the magistrates of the county of Morris, do wait upon the said Peter Kimble and take his recognizance to appear at the next Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace, to be held for the said county, and in the mean time to be of good behaviour."


With the gradual approach of autumn, in the year of 1777, with its more bracing air, the smallpox epi-


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demic, which for a period of nearly six months had raged uncontrolled among the inhabitants of Mor- ristown, began to subside, and by September I had so far ceased from its ravages that all fear of its continu- ance had passed away.


That some of the sick and wounded soldiers of the departed American army were, however, still in Mor- ristown, is evidenced by the following extract from the minutes of the trustees' book of the Presbyterian Church, under date of September 16, 1777:


"Agreed that Mr. Conklin, Mr. Tuthill, Mr. Lindsly and Mr. Stiles, or any two of them, wait upon some of the Doc- tors of the Hospital in Morristown and apply for a resigna- tion of the meeting-house, and if obtained, then to apply to the Commanding Officer at this post to remove the troops thence, and at their discretion to proceed further in cleansing and refitting the house for Public Worship and to make report of their progress in the premises at their next meet- ing."


There is considerable evidence, which will appear to the reader as he progresses, that the "Commanding Officer" at Morristown, at the period now passing un- der review, was none other than Colonel Benoni Hathaway. He seems to have had under his com- mand at the time, a regiment of militia.


The first meeting of the New Jersey Council of Safety held in Morristown, in the year 1778, occurred on January 9. Of this meeting, however, there is no record, so far as the writer is aware. On January 17, at a meeting of the Council of Safety, held at the coun-


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ty seat of Morris, it was "agreed that Mr. Kinney (ex- Sheriff Thomas Kinney, probably) be allowed the sum of forty shillings for providing the Council of Safety with firewood, candles and so forth, while they sat at his house." If ex-Sheriff Thomas Kinney be the "Mr. Kinney" referred to in the above cited min- ute (and it is almost certain he is), then the meeting of the Council of Safety alluded to was perhaps held in the house now known as the "Dr. Lewis Condict place," situated nearly opposite the Lyceum, on South street, which, at the period under consideration, seems to have been owned and occupied by ex-Sheriff Kin- ney.


Students of State history are aware of the enact- ment, soon after the commencement of the Revolu- tion, of a law fixing the prices at which certain speci- fied commodities should be sold by those engaged in trade. By not a few of the good citizens of New Jer- sey this law was regarded as arbitrary and unjust, be- cause, as they conceived, it was a plain violation of the natural law of trade, based upon the more funda- mental principle of personal liberty. It is very evident to one who carefully reviews the matter, that only as a temporary expedient, "a war measure," we would now term it, was the law in question justifiable. The independence of character exhibited by some of the Morris County remonstrants against this law, is truly refreshing to contemplate, however one may be in- clined to the opinion that they should have loyally ac- quiesced in its enforcement, as a temporary expedient.


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The Council of Safety while in session at Morristown, in the year 1778, was called upon to deal with several cases of the violation of the law alluded to. For ex- ample it was:


"Ordered that Benjamin Pitney be summoned to attend this board, on Tuesday morning next at 10 o'clock. * * * Agreed that his excellency draw upon Mr. Jonathan Ballwin for 500 pounds weight of bullets of different sizes, if so many can be spared, to make up the deficiency in lead to be run into bullets at this place."


"On the twenty-seventh of January, in the year 1778, Ben- jamin Pitney being called before the board, and it being proved upon oath that he had spoken disrespectfully of an act of the Legislature lately passed for regulating the prices of produce, and so forth; agreed, that he be bound for his appearance at the next Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Morris, which he accordingly was, with James Puff Locey, his surety, in £300 each. Agreed, further, that the said Pitney be fined £6.o.o for the breach of the said law in selling shoes for more than the stipulated price, and also that he forfeit the sum of four dol- lars and a half, the price the said shoes were sold at."


If any reader of local history, not conversant with original sources of information, has ever doubted the oft-repeated statement of the meeting, during the Revolution, of the Council of Safety at the Presbyter- ian parsonage, he need doubt no longer; for at a meet- ing of the above mentioned body, held in Morristown, on the thirty-first day of January, in the year 1778, it was "Agreed that there be paid to the Rev. Mr. Jones for firewood and candles provided for the Council of


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Safety, during their sitting at his house, the sum of £4.00."


In a communication from the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., published a few years since in the Christian Advocate, appear the words: "General Washington spent many an hour with my old ances- tor (Rev. Timothy Johnes) in that house (the Presby- terian parsonage) while he was quartered in Morris- town."


It was not alone with local matters that the Council of Safety was required to deal, for under date of Feb- ruary twenty-sixth, in the year 1778, the following minute of one of their meetings held at the county seat of Morris is recorded :


"Four deserters from the British army were brought before the board. Whereupon, Agreed that they be delivered over to the disposal of General Pulaski, and that they be allowed sixty dollars for four stand of arms brought with them from the enemy."


On the tenth of March, in the same year last men- tioned,


"Samuel Titus was called before the board, and it being proved that he had asked for five pounds of butter more than the law allows, agreed that he be fined the sum of £6.0.0 for the breach of the law in so doing and forfeit the sum of thir- teen shillings and nine pence, the price asked for the butter aforesaid." "Agreed that Gerardus Duychinck for certain goods sold to Joseph Lindly, upon his own confession, incur the following fines and forfeitures, viz., etc."


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Such is a portion of the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Safety, held in Morristown on the first day of May, in the year 1778. A list of the fines and forfeitures imposed upon Mr. Duyckinck is also an- nexed, the aggregate amount of which must have im- pressed this Morristown merchant with the fact of the unprofitableness of violating a law legally enacted and with public sentiment supporting it.


"Ordered that there be paid to Benoni Hathaway, for re- pairing carriages and moving field pieces by the order of the Council of Safety, the sum of £4.18.3."


In the light of the foregoing extract from the min- utes of the body whose deliberations we are review- ing, it is evident that "bustling Benoni Hathaway" was a very useful man in the cause of freedom, at home no less than, as will in due time be seen, on the field of battle. That he was also a responsible man, the following minutes of the meeting of the same body held at Trenton on the seventeenth of March, in the year 1778, amply proves :


"Agreed that Colonel Hathaway receive from Mr. Ogden, at Boontown, the 20,000 flints sent or to be sent into this State, by Mr. Archibald Mercer, from Boston (first paying to Ogden at Boontown for the cartage) and to be account- able for them when properly called upon."


On the thirtieth day of April the Council of Safety was in session at Morristown again, and among the delicate matters disposed of was this:


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"That Mrs. Esther Troup, the wife of John Troup, to- gether with her child have leave to pass to her husband in the enemy's lines, upon condition that she do not return into this State during the present war, and that she take with her, her own and her child's wearing apparel."


Commencing with May 6, and closing with August 26, in the year 1778, the Council of Safety held no less than seven different meetings at Morristown. From the minutes of these meetings the following extracts arranged in chronological order, are presented:


"Agreed that there be paid to Captain John Lindley the sum of £7.10.6 for the amount of what he paid to Doctor Jones for the cure of a wound his son John received in the service."


"Agreed that Captain Arnold be allowed 40s. for the use of his room for the Council of Safety." So the New Jersey Council of Safety evidently sat within the walls of the fa- mous Arnold Tavern.


"Agreed that Captain Morrison for enlisting as substi- tutes certain convicts whom he knew to have been before en- listed in their own right, be summoned to attend this board." In the light of this fact, which is only illustrative, how apt are the words: "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not en- quire wisely concerning this."


"Agreed that Colonel Hathaway be desired to furnish a Sergeant and five men to guard a number of prisoners from this place to Gloucester, and that he direct them to draw ra- tions where they can and keep a regular account of their ex- penses, to be laid before the Council of Safety on their re- turn."


"Ordered that 15,000 of the Flints, now in the posession


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of Major Kelsey, in Princeton, be sent for and lodged in the care of Colonel Hathaway at this place."


"Agreed that the Gaol Guard at Morristown be increased with twelve additional men, and that Colonel Hathaway be ordered to detach so many men from his regiment for that purpose."


"Agreed that Colonel Hathaway be authorized to deliver to General Winds, or his order, any number of the 15,000 flints belonging to this State and lately lodged in his hands by order of this board."


"July 13th, 1778, the Trustees (of the Presbyterian Church) met at Docr. Tuthill's; present, Mr. Conklin, Mr. Tuthill, Mr. Stiles, Mr. Lindsley, Mr. Mills and the President; agreed that Mr. Tuthill, Mr. Stiles and Mr. Mills be a com- mittee to wait on Doct. Draper and inform him of the Law of this State Relative to Billeting of Soldiers, and that the committee or either of them be Impowered to prosecute such Person or Persons who may take possession of the meeting house or other property of the Trustees contrary to the said Law, and that they make report what they have done in the premise to this Board at their next meeting."


From the foregoing extract from the minutes of the Trustees' book of the Presbyterian Church of Mor- ristown, it is a fair inference that while the members of the "Old First Church" were second to none in ar- dent patriotism, and in devotion to the cause of free- dom, they were not unaware of their legal rights. While necessity required it, they were willing to wor- ship God under the blue canopy; but when that neces- sity ceased they preferred using a house of worship with a shingled roof, and comfortable seats and pro- tection from the elements.


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Not alone from the minutes of the Council of Safe- ty, held in Morristown, do we glean information con- cerning the affairs of the county seat of Morris during the years of 1777 and 1778. In the New Jersey Ga- zette, also, through the medium of advertisements and announcements therein appearing, is light thrown up- on the condition of affairs in the patriot hamlet nestled among the hills of northern New Jersey. Under the date of February 21, in the year 1778, the following announcement appeared :


"Any person properly recommended who understands the business of a riding-chair maker and would be willing to act in the capacity of a journeyman may meet with good encour- agement by applying to Frederick King at the postoffice in Morris-Town, who carries on the business. Said King would also be willing to take a young lad of a good character as an apprentice."


Frederick King, who removed to Morris County from Long Island, in the year 1762, was the first post- master of Morristown, his son Henry succeeding him in the office. Frederick King seems, from the press announcement just quoted, to have been postmaster at Morristown in the year 1778, although a local histor- ian states that he was appointed to the office in the year 1782, by Postmaster-General Ebenezer Hazard. The building in which the postoffice was located stood about on the site of the present (1905) Methodist Epis- copal Church.


As early as the year 1778, Morristown, with its pop- ulation of about 250 souls, had two silversmiths, or


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jewelers, as they are now called. They were Cary Dunn and John Dickerson. The latter was the son of Captain Peter Dickerson, and the following advertise- ment, in the New Jersey Gazette, which appeared under date of August 24, in the year 1778, will prove of interest:


"Any person that understands the silversmith's business, or that of repairing watches, and inclines to work journey- work at either, will find good encouragement by applying to John Dickerson, at Morris-Town."


The battle of Monmouth occurred on the twenty- eighth day of June, in the year 1778. Morristown was honorably represented in this battle of Moll Pitcher renown. An interesting reminder of this circumstance has survived in the form of the following announce- ment in the State press, under the date of July 24, of the year last mentioned:




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