USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 8
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The first session of the Morris County Court of
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
which, so far as is now known, any record has survived, was held on March 25, in the year 1740. In the minutes of this initial session of the court it is referred to as the "General Sessions of the Peace," and the first mat- ters to receive its attention were the laying out of the townships of Pequonock, Hanover and Morristown. From the minutes of the Morris County Court above mentioned, now bearing the marks of age and of con- tinuous usage, the following extract is presented, showing the action of the "General Sessions of the Peace" of the infant county, by which Morristown, as a township was originally established :
"And that a certain road from the bridge by John Day's, up to the place where the same road passes between Benja- min and Abraham Persons, and thence up the same road to the corner of Samuel Ford's fence, thence leaving Samuel Ford to the right hand, thence running up the road that leads from the old Iron Works toward Succasuning, crossing Whippening bridge, and from thence to Succasuning, and from thence to the great pond on the head of Musconecong, do part the township of Hanover from the township of Mor- ris, which part of the county of Morris lying as aforesaid to `the southward and westward of said roads, lines and places is ordered by the Courts to be and remain a township, dis- trict or precinct, and to be called and distinguished by the name of Morristown."
Thus it will be seen that what had almost from the day of its settlement by the whites, about the year 1710, been called West Hanover and New Hanover, and, beginning with about the year 1738, had come to be popularly called Morristown, was, on March 25, of
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the year 1740, officially and legally named Morris- town, by the "General Sessions of the Peace," of Mor- ris County, New Jersey.
The composition of the Morris County Court at its initial session, held as we have seen on March 25, of the year 1740, does not appear in the book of minutes; but as given in the minutes of the second session of the court, held on March 26, in the same year, it was com- posed as follows: "The justices were: John Budd, Jacob Ford, Abraham Kitchell, John Lindsley Jr., Tim- othy Tuttle, Samuel Swesey." At the session of the county court last mentioned, the following township of- ficers were appointed for the term of one year : "Zach- ariah Fairchild, Town Clark and Town Book-keeper ; Matthew Lum, Assessor; Jacob Ford, Collector ; Ab- raham Hathaway and Joseph Coe Jr., Freeholders ; Benjamin Hathaway and Jonathan Osborn, Overseers of the Poor; Joseph Bridden and Daniel Lindsley, Surveyors of the Highways; Stephen Freeman and John Lindsley, Esq., Overseers of the Highways; Is- aac Whitehead, Alexander Ackerman and William Duglas, Constables." At the same session of the court a license was granted Jacob Ford for the keeping of a tavern and inn in Morristown.
Before presenting the form of the license as granted by the County Court of Morris, to Jacob Ford, it may be said that at the May term of the Hunterdon County Court, held at Trenton, in the year 1738, petitions were presented by Jacob Ford and Abraham Hathaway, ask- ing for the renewal of their licenses to keep a tavern
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and inn at New Hanover for the year ensuing; and both were granted. The license granted Jacob Ford at the second session of the Morris County Court, in the year 1740, was really, therefore, a renewal of the li- cense granted him at Trenton about two years pre- viously. Following is an exact transcript of the license :
"Jacob Ford, Esq., Presenting A petition to the Court Pursuant to A Late Act of the General Assembly of this Province for the Granting him A License to Keep a publick house and Inn in Morris town where he Now Lives the Court on reading the Same Ordered the Same to be filed & he having Entred into A Recognizance pursuant to Said Act the Court grants Said Jacob Ford Said License for one year now next Ensuing. Jacob Ford, Joseph Howard and David Wheeler Entered into recognizance Pursuant to the Directions of said Act."
In the year 1752, the number of "freeholders" or real estate owners in Morris County, was about 450; which estimate is based upon a census "taken by virtue of a rule of the Supreme Court by John Ford Sheriff of the County of Morris, this thirty-first day of August, A. D. 1752." Of this number of freeholders, nearly two-fifths were residents of Morris Town. A prac- tically accurate list of the freeholders of Morris Town is here appended :
"George Armstrong, Charles Allin, Ebenezor Allen, Jonah Allin, William Armuld, Samuel Armund, Robert Arnuld, Ben- jamin Baley, David Brant, Herick Benjamin, Henry Burg,
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John Beadel, Jacob Beadle, John Brookfield, John Burwell, Solomon Bates, Soloman Boyles, Samuel Baley, Thomas Bridge, William Broadwell, Benjamin Coe, Benjamin Con- ger, Benjamin Carter, Daniel Cooper, David Comton, Ezeakiel Cheevers, Ellis Coock, Frances Caterlin, Francis Caterlin, Jr., Jacob Carle, Joseph Coe, Jonathan Conklin, Isaac Clark, John Cramer, James Colwell, Jacob Cline, Joseph Coe, Jr., John Clark, James Cole, Peter Cundict, Philip Cundict, Peter Cline, Robart Chambers, Seth Croell, Stephen Conkling, Thom- as Coe, Thomas Cleverly, Thomas Canem, Uriah Cutler, Wil- liam Crane, William Cumton, John Day, Samuel Day, Thomas Darling, Hir Esborn, Richard Easton, Richard Easton, Jr., Benjamin Fowler, Benjamin Freeman, Ebenezor Fairchild, Gorshom Fairchild, John Feper, Jacob Ford, James Frost, Joseph Fairchild, Joseph Fouler, Richard French, Samuel Frost, William Frost, Zacheriah Fairchild, David Goddin, Henry Gardner, Jonas Gobel, Jacob Garagrace, Robart Gobel, Simeon Gobel, Thomas Gurin, William Gardner, Jr., Zopher Gilder- sleave, Abraham Hatheway, Abraham Hatheway, Benjamin Hatheway, Benjamin Halsey, Seth Hall, Benjamin Hatheway, Jr., Daniel Hayward, Ezra Halsey, Gilbort Headey, Jonathan Hatheway, John Holoway, Joseph Hayward, Isecker Hunter- ton, Shadrach Hayward, Samuel Hutson, Simeon Hatheway, Jeremiah Johnson, Peter Kimbol, Thomas Kint, Cread Lud- lum, Daniel Lindsley, David Lum, David Leonard, Juniah Lindsley, John Lindsley, Josiah Lee, Joseph Lacey, Mathew Lum, Peter Layton, David Moore, David Muer, James Miller, John Marsh, John Muchmore, Soloman Munson, Samuel Munson, Timothy Mills, William Miller, Abraham Person, Benjamin Parker, Daniel Prost, Henry Primrose, Isaac Price, Joseph Prudden, Joseph Person, John Parkest, Nathaniel Park- er, Zebulon Potter, Daniel Rattan, Daniel Roberts, Giddeon Riggs, Jonathan Reaves, John Robart, James Rogers, Na- thaniel Rogers, Peter Rattan, Richard Runyon, Sam- uel Ross, Samuel Robarts, Daniel Sears, Joseph Stiles, Jonathan Stiles, Samuel Sutton, Samuel Sayer, Benoney
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Thomas, Caleb Tichnor, David Trobridge, Jesper Totten, Jes- per Totten, (Jr. 2), Mathias Tyson, Samuel Totten, Samuel Tuttle, Sylvenus Totten, Thomas Tomson, William Tharp, Bliker Witenac, Daniel Walling, Henry Wick, John Wade, Joseph Wood, Isaac Whitehead, Jonathan Wood, Joseph Wingit, Luis Wiens, Rubin Wingit, Samuel Whitehead."
We have seen that the sessions of the Morris County Court were at first held in the tavern of which Jacob Ford Esq. was the proprietor. How long this arrangement continued it is difficult now to determine with certainty, although it is safe to presume that the court continued to sit at the Ford tavern, and, pos- sibly, at the residences of other Judges of the Morris County Court, in Morristown, until the erection of a courthouse. It was during the year 1755 that the first courthouse, a rude log structure, was erected near the centre of what is now the Morristown Green; we say, "What is now the Morristown Green," for it then had no existence, not even, so far as is now known, in the imagination of the fathers. What is now the Morristown Green was probably as late as the year last mentioned, simply a vacant, and nearly square, lot, com- prised in the large tract of land, then owned by the Presbyterian church, and known as the "meeting house land," the "parsonage land," and "the green."
This primitive courthouse served the purpose, also, of a jail, and here, for a period of fifteen years "im- partial justice," it is to be hoped, "held her equal scales ;" until the year 1770, when a new building was erected on land purchased of the First Presbyterian
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church, as may be learned from the following entries in the trustees' book of said organization :
"May 17, 1770, the trustees being Duely Called and met at the county hous (the log structure erected in the year 1755, near the middle of what is now the Green), and agreed to Convey a Part of the meating hous Land to the freeholders of the County of Morris for the Benefit of the Court hous." "June 7, 1770, the trustees met & Gave a Deed for one acre of Land on which the Court hous (the log structure near the middle of what is now the Green) standeth to three majes- trets and the Freeholders of the County of morris."
The new courthouse and jail erected in the year 1770, was a one-story frame structure, about thirty-five feet in depth and forty-five feet in length, shingled on all four sides, and on the roof. It extended out to about the centre of what is now the street passing in front of the United States Hotel, and faced to the northwest, or toward the pres- ent site of the above named building. By way of con- firmation of this statement as to the location of the old Morris County courthouse, it may be said, that when, a few years since, the macadam road was in process of construction in front of the United States Hotel, some of the foundation stones of the old courthouse were dis- covered about one-third of the distance out from the curbstone of the present Green walk.
Underneath the front veranda of the above named hotel may be seen several oaken timbers which once formed part of the old jail on the Green. These tim-
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bers are filled with wrought iron, handmade nails, driv- en into them to prevent the escape of prisoners by cut- ting their way out.
The narrow lane running in front of the new, or second, courthouse, was dignified by the name of Court street. Of the courthouse of the period now passing under review, it has been said by an antiquarian : "Nor was the old Court House any way inferior to these (other buildings around the Green) as a relic of antiquity, a sort of curiosity shop, standing in its en- closure on what then and for many succeeding years was called 'the Green,' perhaps because no grass grew on its face."
Near the courthouse and jail stood the pillory, which, however, owing to the increase of enlighten- ment, was not used after the year 1796, although as late as the year 1803, its decaying stump remained as a silent reminder of a heathenish mode of punishment inflicted upon men created in the image of God.
Five pounds, we are informed, was the price paid by the county of Morris for the one acre of land, "strict measure," on which the new courthouse and jail was erected-a building, the story of which would alone make to all lovers of local history, particularly, a volume of thrilling interest. The reader may be will- ing to tarry a few moments at this juncture of our story to listen to the relation of a single incident-that of one Uriah Brown, and his mysterious disappearances from the "debtor's room," which was one of the special fea- tures of the old courthouse. Uriah, as may be inferred,
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was a victim of the infamous law requiring imprison- ment for debt, which, with advancing civilization, has disappeared from the pages of our statute books. In the apartment where Brown was confined, was a large, old-fashioned fireplace, about half way up the massive chimney of which strong iron bars had been placed, to prevent the escape of prisoners by way of that sooty exit. For several nights in succession, loosening one of the iron bars, Brown would stealthily ascend the spacious stone chimney, and by way of the low roof (the building at that period was, the writer presumes, only one story in height) gain terra firma, where he doubtless accomplished all the sweet pleasure of his will. Early in the morning following, however, the deputy sheriff, who had rooms in the building, would be rudely roused from his uncompleted slumbers, by a knock at his door. Hastening, on the first morning, at least, to ascertain the nature of the urgent business re- quiring his untimely awakening, he would be blandly greeted by the migratory jailbird, who, fearing arrest as a jail-breaker, was naturally solicitous to resume his comfortable day quarters in the "debtor's room." Fail- ing to draw from Uriah Brown the explanation of his escape, the deputy sheriff was left to infer that some accomplice had stolen his keys, and permitted the prisoner to go free. The repetition of Brown's dis- appearance and reappearance resulted in the conclu- sion on the part of the officials that he was devil-pos- sessed, and only the expressed resolution of the said superstitious officials to bind him with chains, forced
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from Uriah's lips the confession that the removal of one of the iron bars in the great chimney flue made the open door for his mysterious escapes. As will be seen at a later stage of our story, the Uriah Brown incident just related, interesting in itself as it may be to our readers, is insignificant in comparison with the series of important events and occurrences associated with the courthouse and jail, and its auxiliary, the detested pil- lory, in subsequent years. A second story, it may be here remarked, was added to the courthouse and jail of which the reader has just heard, during the year 1776. A cupola and bell were also among the im- provements made in connection with the raising of the one-story structure. The addition of the second story to the courthouse and jail, as will in due time appear, was a necessity required by the exigencies of the crit- ical period through which Morris County was then passing.
Thanks to the patriotic spirit of the Morristown Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the site of one corner-the southwest-of the Morris County courthouse and jail of the Revolutionary pe- riod, is now marked, approximately at least, by an up- right, unhewn stone, to whose face is fastened a bronze tablet bearing the following suggestive inscription : "1770-1827. Here stood the Court House and Jail at the time of the American Revolution. Marked 1904 by the Morristown Chapter D. A. R." The dedicatory exercises were of an interesting character and may, at
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a later stage of our story, receive the attention due the importance of the occasion.
It will be noticed in the picture of the Morris Coun- ty courthouse and jail, as a two-story structure, with its quaint cupola and vane, and as it appeared between the years 1776 and 1827, that the detested pillory is rep- resented as standing a few feet in front of the north- west corner of the building. There is ample evidence, however, upon which to base the unqualified statement that the pillory stood about seventy-five feet due south of the courthouse and jail, which, from a point of the sidewalk in front of and across the street from the present (1905) postoffice, would locate the pillory about forty feet back from the sidewalk in the direc- tion of the parsonage of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In the picture of the courthouse and jail will be no- ticed, also, a well-curb, with an old-fashioned sweep, represented, and rightly, as the writer believes, as hav- ing been situated a few feet in the rear of the building in question. By whom, or when this well was dug, it is doubtless impossible now to definitely determine; as to the when, however, the index finger of probability seems to point in the direction of the theory that almost simultaneously with the erection, in the year 1755, of the primitive log courthouse on what is now the Mor- ristown Green, the springs thereof were loosed, and its refreshing waters began to flow, and to entitle it to the application to itself of the following words of Miss Eliza Cook, the poetess :
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Traverse the desert, and then you can tell What treasures exist in the cold, deep well, Sink in despair on the red, parch'd earth,
And then ye may reckon what water is worth.
At the risk of the seeming prematureness of the of- fering of the following suggestions-if they have a basis in fact we confess our inability to substantiate them-they will, notwithstanding, for lack of a more opportune time, be here presented: For nearly two score years prior to the opening of the Revolution, the waters from the "old well" on the Green may have quenched the first of the then loyal Jersey subjects of King George. During the smallpox epidemic in Mor- ristown, in the year 1777, when many of Washington's soldiers were confined in the Presbyterian and Baptist houses of worship, then used as hospitals, the cool waters from the "old well" in the rear of the court- house and jail, may have assuaged the burning thirst of not a few of the victims of the dire disease which had fallen relentlessly upon the hamlet nestled among the hills of northern New Jersey. It is a well-established fact that during the Revolution several Tories were hanged in Morristown, probably from the limb of some convenient tree in the vicinity of the courthouse and jail; and that their untimely exit from this fair world was rendered more comfortable by the administration of a "cup of cold water" from the depths of the "old well" on the Green, is but a reasonable tribute to the quality of mercy existent in the breasts of their execu- tioners.
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Nor is it, by any means, outside the bounds of rea- son to presume, that during his frequent walks across the Green, during the years 1777, 1779 and 1780, the immortal Washington may have lingered long enough to refresh himself with a draft from "the cold, deep well."
With the rapid flight of years the primitive well- sweep gave way to the more convenient well-curb, with overhead wheel, and rope and bucket to bring the sparkling waters from the quiet depths below. This means of water drawing was in due course of time succeeded by the more modern pump, by which the needs of its numerous patrons were supplied-patrons, who, as the years rolled on, had come to cherish a com- mendable sentimental regard for the "old well" on the Green, whose beginnings had been in the dim distant past "whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." To the ears of the writer there has come the report that nearly a quarter century ago a few interested (?) citizens of Morristown, dominated ap- parently more by the spirit of commercialism than by the spirit of sentimentalism, insisted that the water in "the cold, deep well" on the Green was unwholesome, and hence its use as a beverage for man should be discontinued, and the well be obliterated by filling in, as a means of escape from a much "talked of" epi- demic. The writer wonders-this much in parenthe- sis-whether the epidemical fear of two and a half decades ago was the forerunneer of the epidemical panic in our fair city of more recent years, the subjects
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of which insisted (and successfully) upon the oblitera- tion, by the filling in or draining, of several pretty bod- ies of water, which for many years had furnished amusement for our youth, and gratification for the esthetic. If, as a recent author says : "Within your- self lies the cause of whatever enters into your life. To come into the full realization of your own awakened interior powers, is to be able to condition your life in exact accord with what you would have it"-it may be the cause of the apprehended epidemic above al- luded to, may lie within rather than without.
To return to "the pump on the Green"-it is reported that peremptory steps were taken to remove it, and fill in the well; which was prevented, however, by the prompt and energetic action of sentimental residents of Morristown, who had the water chemically ana- lyzed, and found to be pure and wholesome. The "pump on the Green" was subsequently made an issue in local politics, with the result that the old iron pump is still standing, and the well it not filled in. Shall it not be permitted to remain as a suggestive landmark for "generations yet unborn," that
When to the sessions of the sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past,
they may, in national crises which it is not impossible may come, be animated by the same measure of patriot- ism which carried the fathers through the times that "tried men's souls ?"
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CHAPTER V.
"Sincerity,
Thou first of virtues, let no mortal leave Thy onward path, although the earth should gape, And from the gulf of hell destruction rise,- To take dissimulation's winding way."
MONG the early settlers of what is now Morristown there were a few A persons, at least, of the Baptist be- lief, who until their organization in- to a church, may have occasionally attended the Presbyterian services inaugurated, as we have seen, as early as the year 1734 at the place above named. In his history of the Baptist Church in America, Benedict says :
"As early as 1717 one David Goble, with his family of the Baptist persuasion, removed to this place (West Hanover) from Charleston, S. C., and some ministers of the same or- der began to preach at their house; a small company, after many years of patient effort, were collected as a branch of
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old Piscataway, which in 1752 was formed into a distinct church."
The writer is of the opinion that the first date (1717) mentioned in the above-cited extract may be inaccurate ; that the arrival of Mr. Goble in West Hanover, and the inauguration of Baptist services there, may have oc- curred somewhat later than the year 1717. Of the ac- curacy of Mr. Benedict's statement, however, with the exception of the date in question, there is appar- ently no reason to doubt. At the period under consider- ation West Hanover, as our readers will doubtless be interested to learn, extended from what is now the quiet hamlet of Monroe, with its pretty chapel, on the east, to the Passaic River at Van Doren's mill, on the west; and from what is now Morris Plains, on the north, to the edge of the Great Swamp, on the south. In view of the meager population of the period, it will readily be seen that the settlement, which a few years subsequent- ly became Morristown, was but sparsely inhabited. The Baptists of West Hanover resided, for the most part, on what is now known as the Mountain Road, or Mt. Kemble Avenue, as it is also called, leading toward Basking Ridge and New Vernon. The centre of the Bap- tist population, however, seemed to have been in the neighborhood of what is now popularly known as the "Brick Schoolhouse" (situated about three miles south of the Morristown Green), in which religious services are now frequently held. These Baptist pioneers in West Hanover were as tenacious of their doctrinal be-
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liefs as were their brethren of the Presbyterian faith of theirs ; hence our readers need not be greatly surprised to learn that for several years-probably a score-they not infrequently worshiped on Sunday with those of their own persuasion at Piscataway, in the vicinity of New Brunswick, of which church some of them, at least, were at the time members.
The Baptist church at Piscataway was organized in the year 1689, and it is, therefore, in point of age, the mother of the numerous churches of the same per- suasion now existing in New Jersey. A journey of about fifty miles, on horseback, and perhaps on foot, through a wilderness broken only by their own blazed path, to enjoy the privilege of worshiping God ac- cording to the dictates of their own individual con- sciences, furnishes a most impressive illustration of the profound sincerity of those pioneers of the Baptist faith in Morris County; sincerity of which Lady Cud- leigh says :
Oh, that I could to her invite All the whole race of human kind; Take her, mortals, she's worth more Then all your glory, all your fame; Than all your glittering, boasted store, 1
Than all the things that you can name. She'll with her bring a joy divine; All that's good and all that's fine.
On the eighth day of June, in the year 1752, eleven persons of the Baptist faith residing in Morristown, ob-
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tained letters of dismissal from the mother church at Piscataway, for the avowed purpose of organizing a church of their own faith at the first named place ; and on the eleventh day of August, of the same year, "The Baptist Church at Morristown" was regularly organ- ized by Elders Isaac Eaton, Benjamin Miller and Isaac Steele, all members of the mother church. By the ad- dition of six new members by baptism, on the day of its organization, the membership of the infant church was increased to seventeen, representing eleven famil- ies. The names of the eleven persons dismissed from the mother church at Piscataway-who constituted the nucleus of the young church-were Daniel Sutton, Jonas Goble, John Sutton, Melatiah Goble, Jemima Wiggins, Daniel Walling, Ichabod Tomkins, Sarah Wiggins, Mary Goble, Naomi Allen and Robert Goble. All these Gobles may have been and probably were the children of the David Goble, who, as historian Ben- edict states, removed from Charleston, S. C., to West Hanover, in the year 1717.
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