USA > New Jersey > Historical collections of the state of New Jersey : containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical desciptions of every township in the state. > Part 19
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The following additional particulars of this event, are derived from Mr. Thomas Beese. ley, of Cape May, then a boy, and a witness of the action. The brunt of the fight was sustained by Capt. Riggins and John Peterson, several of the militia having at the com- mencement jumped overboard and swam ashore, while others sneaked into the cabin. Riggins killed 4 or 5 of the enemy on their attempting to board. He fired his musket twice, and then made such good use of the breech, that at the end of the contest there was little left besides the barrel. Peterson was wounded by one of the refugees, who, thereupon, was about finishing him by cleaving his head open with an uplifted broad- sword, when his little son shot the man dead. Every refugee not killed was wounded, and some desperately. A boy only escaped, and a fox which was brought on board the day previous by one of the slain, who had joined them at the mouth of the river. There were a number of fowls on board, all of which were killed. The brave Capt. Riggins lived to a good old age, having died only a few years since.
FAIRFIELD.
This township was named from Fairfield in Connecticut, from which it was partially settled. It is about 11 miles long, 6 broad, . and bounded northerly by Deerfield, Greenwich, and Hopewell, from the two last of which it is separated by the Cohansey river, E. by Millville, and S. by Downe and the Delaware bay. The land in the township produces good crops of corn, wheat, and oth- er grain. There are some excellent tracts of land on the Delaware bay. The surface is generally level. Many of the present inhab- itants are descendants of the Harrises and Ogdens from Fairfield, Connecticut ; and the Batemans and Diaments from Long Island. About the year 1695, the first road laid out in the county was made from Fairfield to Burlington, and passed through an Indian settle- ment, a little east of Bridgeton, at a locality at present known as the " Indian Fields." The township contains 7 stores, 2 grist-m., 1 saw-m .; cap. in manufac. $44,015; 5 schools, 114 scholars. Pop. 1,935.
Cedarville, on Cedar creek, 8 miles SE. of Bridgeton, is a village scattered a mile and a half on the road, and contains 2 Presbyte- rian, a Methodist, and a Baptist church, 2 stores, an oakum factory, a tannery, saw-m., &c., and about 100 dwellings. Fairton, 4 miles from Bridgeton, has a Methodist church, and about 50 dwellings. New England Town is a small scattered settlement where there is a Presbyterian church.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
The three Presbyterian churches in this township were until a few years since one. The original church was constituted by emigrants from Fairfield, in Connecticut, in the year 1697, who purchased that tract of land lying on the south side of Cæsaria river, or Cohansey, and the Delaware bay. It has been generally supposed that their minister made one of their number, whose name was Rev. M. Bradnor ; next to him was Rev. Mr. Exile. About the year 1705, the Rev. Howel Powel, from Wales, became the pas- tor-then, in 1719, Rev. Mr. Hooker-then, in 1727, the Rev. Daniel Elmer, from Con- necticut, became the settled minister until 1755-then, in 1756, the Rev. William Ram- sey became the pastor, until 1771, when he died. In 1773, the Rev. William Hollings- - head became the pastor, and so continued until 1783, when he removed to Charleston, South Carolina .- Johnson's Hist. of Salem. In 1789, the Rev. Ethan Osborne, from Litchfield, Connecticut, was settled over this congregation. In 1839, he preached his half-century sermon. He still continues pastor over the original congregation, now much diminished by the division.
GREENWICH.
The extreme length of this township is 6, with an average breadth of about 3} miles, and is bounded N. by Stow creek, E. by Hopewell and Cohansey creek, which separates it from Fair- field, S. by Delaware bay, and W. by L. Alloways Creek, Salem co. The township contains 3 stores, 1 grist-m. ; cap. in manufac. 815,362 ; 3 schools, 105 scholars. Pop. 918. The land was pur- chased from the Indians about the year 1677, who, judging from the excavations in the earth, still to be seen, and the quantities of stone mortars, axes, and Indian arrow-heads found, must have here had a considerable settlement. This is corroborated by tradition. The first purchasers of the soil were Nicholas and Leonard Gibbon, from England, and the first settlers from New England and Ireland. In the graveyard is, or lately was, a stone with this inscription :- " Here lies Deborah Swinney, who died April 4, 1760, aged 77 years. , She was the first white female child born at Cohansey." Making the subtraction, it appears she was born in 1683.
Shortly after the first settlement, the town of Greenwich, which is 6 miles SW. of Bridgeton, was laid out. The main street was then made about 2 miles in length, and 100 feet in width, and an Episcopal, a Presbyterian, and a Friends meeting-house erected. The village, which is much scattered on this road, now contains about 100 dwellings. In 1697, fairs were established at Cohansey, as this country was then called, and held semi-annually in April and October ; which for many years were much resorted to by traders from Philadelphia. After the formation of Cumberland co., the court was first held at Cohansey, May, 1748, and a log jail erected. " Attorneys' names appearing, were Daniel Mestayer, Rose, and Hartshorne : the court sat in the meeting-house. Judges, John Brick, Richard Wood, John Remington. Sheriff, Ananias Sayre. Clerk, Elias Cotting." In December sessions of this year, the court adjourned, and ordered the clerk to make the writs re- turnable to Cohansey Bridge, now Bridgeton, where the courts since have been held.
Johnson gives the annexed historical sketches of religious socie- ties in Greenwich.
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Protestant Episcopal Church at Greenwich .- Two of the emigrants from Gravesend, in England, were brothers, to wit, Nicholas and Leonard Gibbon ; they purchased about 6,000 acres of land near to Cohansick, or, as it is now called, Greenwich, which they endeavored to settle by inviting their countrymen to emigrate and locate theniselves there. Nicholas, the elder brother, built for himself in the village a good and substan- tial brick house, which, in those days, was considered elegant for that part of the coun- try in which he resided, until about the year 1740, when he removed to the town of Sa- lem. That house is now, or has been years past, in the possession of the Wood family. Leonard Gibbon, the other brother, built a good and convenient stone house for his resi- dence, on his part of the land, about, perhaps, two miles from Greenwich. Nicholas Gibbon, Samuel Hedge, and Capt. James Gould carried on mercantile business together, as spoken of before, and Gould being located in New York, the exports of the produc- tions of that part of the country were consigned to him. The Gibbons, probably being the most wealthy, and having a greater quantity of land to dispose of than others of the adventurers, erected a neat, comfortable brick church, of the Episcopal order, in the village, for the purpose of accommodating their own and neighbors' families. When it was finished, they had it consecrated in due form by Rev. Phinehas Bond, a clergyman from New Castle, and John Pearsons, the settled minister of the Episcopal church of Saint John's in Salem. The consecration of the church took place in the year 1729, and was named Saint Stephen's. The Gibbons contracted with Mr. Pearson to officiate in their church for them as often as he could be spared from his Salem .church ; but as the tide of emigration set toward that part of Cohansey, so did the religious feelings of the community tend toward the Quaker, Baptist, and Presbyterian sects, until, as a dis- tinct body of Christians, the Episcopalians in a few years dwindled away.
Baptist Church at Cohansey .- So early as about the year 1683, some Baptists from Tipperary, in Ireland, settled in the neighborhood of Cohansey. The most prominent persons were David Sheppard, Thomas Abbott, and William Button. In 1685, Obadiah Holmes and John Cornelius came from Long Island, and settled there. The Rev Tho- mas Killingsworth officiated in that church in 1690. In 1710, Rev. Timothy Brooks emigrated from Swansey, in Massachusetts, and united there. Obadiah Holmes used to preach for the people; both he and Killingsworth were judges in the court of Salem. Killingsworth used to preach -occasionally in the house of one Jeremiah Nickson, in Penn's Neck. He was succeeded by Rev. Timothy Brooke, and he by Rev. William Butcher-then Rev. Nathaniel Jenkins-then Rev. Robert Kelsey, who was from Ire- land-and he by Rev. Henry Smally, whose life of great usefulness, as a fervent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, was protracted to this present year, 1839.
Presbyterian Church at Greenwich .- The Presbyterians received a deed of gift for a lot of land from Jeremiah Bacon, to Henry Joice and Thomas Maskell, in trust for the Presbyterian church and congregation, as early as the month of April, 1717; but in consequence of the parsonage house being burnt in 1739, all the books and papers be- longing to the pastor and congregation were destroyed. As emigrants flocked into Co- hansey from New England, Long Island, Wales, and Ireland, it is very probable that a Presbyterian society was formed about the year 1700, or earlier. It has been generally believed that a Mr. Black was the first pastor-then the Rev. Ebenezer Gould was in- stalled as pastor, in 1728. The members and contributors to the old brick building which was taken down in 1835, after standing 100 years, were-Ebenezer Gould, the pastor,
Josiah Fithian,
William Watson, Elias Cotting, Samuel Clark, Benjamin Dare, Thomas Ewing, Abiel Carll, Thomas Buryman, Abraham Reeves, Jonathan Sayre, Nathaniel Bishop, Samuel Miller, John Miller,
Jonathan Holmes, Thomas Waithman, Matthias Fithian,
Constant Maskell, John Woolsey, Ananias Sayre, Aaron Mulford, Charles Fordham, William Perry, Belbe Sheppard, Francis Brewster, James Caruthers, Thomas Read, Benjamin Wooten, John Woodruff, Noah Miller, Joseph Moone, John Pagget, Harber Peck,
Nehemiah Veal, Nathaniel Harris, Francis Julis,
John Shaw, Philip Vickers, John Keith, Uriah Bacon, Robert James, Stephen Jessup, Moses Platts, Samuel Morfelt, John Fairlaw, Joseph Simkins, James M.Knight, Charles Campbell,
John Alexander, Ebenezer Ash Smith,
Nathan Lupton,
James Crawford,
James Robinson,
Nathaniel Moore,
John Tyler, John Plumer,
William Tullis, Elias Davis,
Deborah Keith, Mercy Maskell,
Samuel Bacon, Josiah Parvin,
Thomas Pagget.
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
The Rev. Ebenezer Gould continued the pastor of that church from the year 1728 to 1740, when he removed to Long Island. This church was favored by the supplies of the Rev. Samuel Finley, the celebrated preachers George Whitefield, Tennant, and oth- ers, during all which times there was a remarkable revival of religion among that people. Whitefeld, in a letter to his friend, dated Salem, 20th November, 1740, says,-" Yes- terday, at Cohansey, the Spirit of the Lord moved over the whole congregation; what reason have we to be thankful for the great things that we both see and hear !"
In 1746, the Rev. Andrew Hunter was ordained pastor over the united churches of Greenwich and Deerfield. He continued to serve both those churches until 1760, when he confined his labors to the Greenwich church until his death, which was in July, 1775 And here I must be permitted to mention, that he was an ardent friend to the liberties of America, and, like his friend and coadjutor in that noble cause, the Rev. Samuel Eaken, took an active part both in and out of the pulpit, and upon all suitable occasions, to arouse the spirit of the people against the oppressive measures of the British gov- ernment.
After the decease of Mr. Hunter, the church relied upon supplies until April, 1782, when the Rev. George Faitoute was installed pastor. He continued to officiate there until 1790, when he removed to Jamaica, Long Island, where he became the pastor of that church, and so continued until he died in a good old age.
In 1792, a Presbyterian church was organized in Bridgeton, and a union being agreed upon by the two churches, the Rev. Mr. Clarkson took the oversight of them in 1794, and so continued their pastor until 1801, when he relinquished his charge, and settled in Savannah, in Georgia. In 1805, the Rev. Jonathan Freeman became their pastor, and continued until his death, which was in November, 1822. The present incumbent, Rev. Samuel Lawrance, succeeded Mr. Freeman.
Shortly after the destruction of the tea in Boston, the East India tea company determined to try whether they might not meet with better success in sending a cargo into the Cohansey. Accordingly the brig Greyhound, with a cargo of tea bound to Philadelphia, came up the river and discharged at Greenwich, depositing the tea in the cellar of a house standing in front of the market ground. In the evening of Thursday, Nov. 22d, 1774, it was taken posses- sion of by about 40 men, disguised as Indians, who deliberately . conveyed the chests from the cellar, piled them in an adjoining field, and burnt them in one general conflagration.
" The names of these bold and determined patriots," says John- son, " deserve to be handed down to the latest posterity ; and as far as can be recollected I herewith cheerfully record them. First, Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, Richard Howell, afterward a major in the army, and Gov. of New Jersey ; David Pierson, Stephen Pierson, Silas Whitecar, Timothy Elmer, Rev. Andrew Hunter, Rev. Philip Tith- ian, Alexander Moore, jr., Clarence Parvin, John Hunt, James Hunt, Lewis Howell, Henry Stacks, James Ewing, father of the late chief-justice of New Jersey, Dr. Thomas Ewing, father of the present Dr. William Bedford Ewing, Josiah Seeley, and Joel Fith- ian, Esquires.
"This bold act of these men, (for they were all young fellows,) produced much excitement in the lower counties with such persons who secretly were disposed to favor the British interest. They were loud in their denunciations against these patriots, for what they called ' such wanton waste of property, and that they deserved to be severely handled for it.' The owners of the tea, finding that some commiseration for their loss had been excited among the people in the neighborhood, thought proper to try whether they
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
could not obtain remuneration by having recourse to suits at law. Therefore, previous to the sitting of the supreme court, in April, 1775, Capt. Allen, John Duffield, Stacy Hepburn, and others, brought as many as half a dozen suits for damages against some of the whigs. The advocates for the plaintiffs were Gen. Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Petitt.
" As soon as this transaction was known, a meeting of the whigs took place, and they immediately resolved to raise, and did raise, a considerable sum of money to defend their friends in the contro- versy. Accordingly, they forthwith retained on the side of the whigs, as their counsellors, Joseph Bloomfield, George Read, of New Castle, Elias Boudinot, of Elizabethtown, and Jonathan Dick- inson Sargeant, of Philadelphia, who used to practise in the courts of the lower counties previous to the American revolution. Jo- seph Bloomfield appeared as attorney for the whigs-' On motion of Mr. Sargeant, for Joseph Bloomfield, attorney for the defendants, ordered that the plaintiffs, being non-resident, file security for costs, agreeable to act of assembly, before further proceedings be had in these causes.' Frederick Smyth, the chief-justice, held the oyer and terminer in Cumberland county, next after the burning of the tea, and charged the grand jury on the subject, but they found no bills. He sent them out again, but they still refused to find any bills, for this plain reason-they were whigs. The foreman of that patriotic jury was Daniel Elmer. But as the American contest soon became serious, and hostilities were carried on in different parts of the states, the suits were dropped, and never after renewed."
In the revolutionary contest, the inhabitants of the county upon the shore of Delaware bay were frequently alarmed and sometimes plundered by the refugees. When the British fleet ascended the Delaware to attack Philadelphia, a party of armed men landed and destroyed some cattle upon the salt marsh between the Cohan- sey and Stow creeks. On the appearance of a few militia they precipitately returned to their ships.
The soil of the township is very fertile, and highly cultivated. The inhabitants are nearly equally divided between Presbyterians, Baptists, and Friends. There are 2 fine libraries. A line of mail stages runs twice a week to Philadelphia ; and the communication by water is almost continuous-the Cohansey being one of the best navigable streams in the state, and its mouth, at all seasons, a se- cure harbor for vessels under 15 feet draught.
HOPEWELL.
Hopewell is 11 m. long by 4 in breadth,-and is bounded N. by Upper Alloways Creek, Salem co., S. by Fairfield, E. by Fairfield and Deerfield, and W. by Greenwich and Stow creek. The Co- .hansey forms its eastern and southern boundary line. The surface is slightly rolling,-the soil, a clay loam. The township contains
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
5 stores, 1 forge, 1 flouring-m., 2 grist-m. ; cap. in manufac. 825,150 ; 12 schools, 973 scholars. Pop. 2,220.
Bridgeton, the seat of justice for the county, is partially in this township. Roadstown, on its western border, about 4 m. from the courthouse, was early settled by the Mulford family, from Long Island. It contains a Baptist church and about 40 dwellings. Shi- loh, 2 m. NE. of Roadstown, has about 25 dwellings and a Seventh- day Baptist church.
This church arose about the year 1737. The founders were John Swinney, Dr. Elijah Bowen, John Jarman, Caleb Barrett, Hugh Dunn, Rev. Jonathan Davis, Caleb Ayres, and some others, with their families. 'About the year 1790, a schism took place among them-one part of the society holding the doctrine as promulgated by Winchester, (which was that of Universalism,)-the other party retaining the creed of their fore- fathers.
MAURICE RIVER.
This, the eastern township of the county, is, in extreme length, 19 m., breadth 10 m. It is bounded NE. by Hamilton and Wey- mouth, Atlantic co., SE. by Upper and Dennis Creek, Cape May co., S. by Delaware bay, W. by Downe, and NW. by Millville. The soil is light, excepting on the margin of the streams, and a consid- erable portion of its surface covered with pines. There are in the township 6 stores, 2 glass-houses, 7 grist-m., 4 saw-m. ; cap. in manufac. $48,060 ; 8 schools, 280 scholars. Pop. 2,143.
This township derives its name from the river forming its west- ern boundary, called by the Indians the Wahatquenack. Its present name was given to it from the circumstance of a ship, " the Prince "Maurice," being burnt by the Indians, and sunk, about half a mile below Mauricetown, at a reach in the river known as the "no man's friend." The Swedes very early formed settlements on Maurice river, at Dorchester and Leesburg,-probably between 1637 and 1654. There was, anciently, a Swedish church a quarter of a mile above Spring Garden ferry, on the eastern bank of the river. Some tombstones in the graveyard still exist. Among the descendants of these people are the Mosslanders, Vanamans, Peter- sons, Millers, Cobbs, &c.
Port Elizabeth, the principal village, is on a small creek about half a mile E. of Maurice river, and 16 m. SE. of Bridgeton. The following is a view of the place as it appears on approaching it from Millville. The large structure on the left of the engraving is the Methodist church, the building with a spire is the academy, and the covered bridge on the left is over the Manamuskin creek. There are also in the village extensive glass-works, for the manu- facture of window-glass, managed by Germans,-a Friends meet- ing-house, and about 800 inhabitants. The village was laid out about 1790, by Elizabeth Bodeley, a widow lady from Salem co., who owned the land. There were then a few houses in the place. It was thereupon made a port of entry, and named in honor of this
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
:
Northwest View of Port Elizabeth.
lady. The Methodist church was erected soon after. In 1827, the old building was taken down and the present substantial edifice reared. A few years after the Methodist church was built, the Friends erected their meeting-house. There are also 4 other churches in the township-viz., 1 Methodist at Leesburg, 1 do. at Cumberland furnace, 1 do. at Morris River Neck, and a Baptist, in the southern part of the township, which is used for a schoolhouse. Marshallsville, in the extreme eastern part of the township, on Tuckahoe river, 25 m. from Bridgeton, has about 40 dwellings, and extensive glass-works, for the manufacture of window-glass, owned. by Dr. Randolph Marshall and others. Considerable ship-building is carried on there. Bricksboro, (founded by Joshua Brick, Esq.,) Leesburg, and Dorchester, are small villages on Maurice river.
The principal portion of the following, relating to witchcraft, &c., in this vicinity, was delivered in a lecture before the Camden Ly- ceum, in the winter of 1841-2.
In 1817 or '18, the hotel in Port Elizabeth was supposed to be possessed by an invisi- ble spirit. At dusk there commenced, at intervals, in different apartments of the house, a clattering of the windows, as if the sash had been violently struck with the hand. The neighborhood, alarmed, nightly assembled to witness this strange occurrence. More than a week elapsed ere the imposition was detected. Its author was discovered to be & young and artful colored girl, who, soon as it became dark, would skip from one room to another, give the terrifying knock, and then hasten back to the family with a counte- nance expressive of fear. On detection, she declared she had been bribed by an old witch in the village. There is another dwelling at Ewing's Neck that, about the same time, had been successively abandoned by two tenants on account of its being haunted ; and there was one room so particularly favored by invisible spirits that not any one dared occupy it. The door would mysteriously fly open, sometimes a dozen times an hour, without the intervention of human agency. The building stood tenantless for several months. At last a person was found who had the hardihood to occupy it. As our in- formant was one day passing, he was invited by the tenant to examine into the mystery. It was soon solved. The door was not hung perpendicularly-the upper part having an inclination backward-and, the latch being rather loose, any little jar would cause it to suddenly fly open and forcibly strike against the wall. The evil was remedied, and the spirits returned no more.
In olden times, when the belief in witchcraft was prevalent, and the power of charms admitted, it was customary to hang upon the neck by a string a piece of dried beef cut in the shape of a heart, with two needles stuck on in the form of a cross, as a protection
315249 1821205
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CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
against witches. Another safeguard was in the horse-shoe, which originally was nailed boldly over doors, and in places open to the eye; but as superstition dispelled before the light of a later day, those who pertinaciously clung to the ways of their fathers placed it out of sight, under the door-steps, or in some other covert spots ; or else they would apply it to some ostensibly useful purpose, such as a hook to the well-sweep, or as a catch to receive the gate-latch. It is well known, that in the spring it is customary to take off the shoes from horses, and allow them to roam over wet meadows, so that their hoofs, which become hard and brittle in the winter, may be softened by the dampness. In those times, instead of taking off all the shoes, one was left to answer the valuable purpose which this piece of iron was supposed to effect. Another favorite place for the shoe, was on the inside of the hinder axle of wagons; and even to the present day it may be found nailed to the under side of the wheelbarrows of the negroes in the Phila- delphia market. .
Another harmless piece of superstition was in powowing. When a person was afflict- ed with the fever and ague, or a burn, some individual invested with a knowledge of this secret was called in to operate. It consisted in mumbling over in a confused manner, certain unknown texts of Scripture, when, if the patient had faith, a cure would instan- taneously follow. This secret could not be imparted by the possessor, excepting to one of the opposite sex. The author of the lecture gives an anecdote of an occurrence wit- nessed by himself, tending to show that even in our time humiliating instances of such weaknesses are found. While waiting on one occasion, at Philadelphia, for the ferry to Camden, he overheard two young ladies in the room with him, express impatience at the delay of the doctor. In a few minutes this individual appeared, in the person of a vul- gar looking colored man. He rubbed his hands over a sort of cancerous wart on the lips of one of the females, and after muttering some gibberish language, pronounced the sore healed : and then pocketing $5 as his fee, disappeared. Whether the wart was healed, our informant has neglected to testify.
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