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 27
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GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
THE average length of Gloucester co. is about 26 m., breadth on the west end 26, and on the east 21 m. It is bounded NE. by Bur- lington co., SE. by Atlantic co., SW. by Salem co., and a small part of Cumberland co., and NW. by the Delaware river. This county was first laid out in 1677, and had its boundaries definitely fixed in 1709. The SE. bounds were recently altered by the formation of the four eastern townships into Atlantic co. Gloucester co. is of alluvial formation. In the NW. part reeds and other vegetable deposits have been found many feet under ground. Further in the interior, sea-shells are discovered in the soil. The surface of the county is slightly undulating, the soil in the NW. half generally an admixture of clay and sand, and extremely fertile, yielding grain, grass, fruit, and vegetables in abundance ; the " Marl Region"
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passes through this part of the county, and immense benefit has of late years been derived from its use, whole tracts having been reno- vated by its agency. Large quantities of cordwood and timber are taken to market from the SE. part, which, excepting occasional cultivated clearings, is covered with a pine forest interspersed with villages, some of which contain glass-works. The county is wa- tered by many streams : those emptying into the Delaware furnish- the means of transportation for the products of the county to Phil- adelphia, the principal market for this section. The county is di- vided into 10 townships, of which Deptford, Gloucester, Greenwich, Newton, and Waterford, were incorporated in 1798. The follow- ing is the list of the present townships :-
Camden, Franklin, Greenwich, Union, Washington,
Deptford, Gloucester, Newton, Waterford, Woolwich.
The population of the townships now comprising Gloucester co., was in 1810, 14,684; in 1820, 17,895; in 1830, 20,267; in 1840, 25,445.
CAMDEN.
Camden* was formerly embraced in Newton township, from which it was set off, and incorporated into a city by a charter passed on the 13th Feb., 1828. The corporate limits of the city, containing in area about 2 square miles, are bounded on the N. and E. by Cooper's creek and Newton township, on the S. by Little Newton creek, and on the W. by the river Delaware. Within the liberties are included several farms and forests; the actual city extending in detached villages along the river, and leaving to the eastward "ample room and verge enough" for building and im- provement. The most northerly of these villages is Cooper's Point, at which place were established the first settlement and ferry ; the next and largest is Camden proper, lying east of Windmill Isl- and; further down are South Camden and Kaighn's Point, lying opposite the Philadelphia navy-yard, and reaching nearly to the southern boundary of the city. The population in 1830, was 1,987, and in 1840 it had increased to 3.366.
In 1678, Samuel Norris purchased the land now occupied by Kaighnton and S. Camden, of Edward Byllinge and trustees ; part of which was subsequently conveyed by him to Robert Turner, and by him to John Kaighn. Further up, a tract was located on the 20th Sept., 1681, by Wm. Royden, a purchaser from the trustees of Byllinge. This included the land between Kaighn's line and what is now called Cooper's-st. This tract was sold in 1689 to Wm. Cooper, who had before purchased "Pyne Point," the same now called Cooper's Point. A descendant of this individual, Jacob Cooper, bought from his predecessor 100 acres of land lying along
· Communicated for this work by Isaac Mickle, Esq., of Camden.
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the Delaware from Cooper's-st. to Joseph Kaighn's line, for " the sum of five shillings, as well as for the natural love and affection borne him" by the vendor. By a descendant of this gentleman the town of Camden was laid out, receiving its name from an Eng- lish nobleman who had shown himself favorable to the American colonists. As early as 1695, a ferry to Philadelphia was established here, and the place bore the name of Cooper's Point until changed to its present appellation .- (MS. Lecture by Dr. Mulford.) In the war of the revolution it was an outpost for the British during their occupancy of Philadelphia, and the remains of the barracks built by them are still visible on the farm of Joseph Cooper, Esq., at the Upper Ferry.
There are some reminiscences connected with the early history of Camden which it may not be uninteresting to record. In 1632. when Capt. De Vries returned from Holland, and found the friends he had left on the Delaware river murdered, and all the forts in possession of the perfidious natives, " he was compelled to pardon," says Gordon, " where he could not safely punish." He entered into negotiation with the Indians, and his first care was to obtain pro- visions, under the pretence of furnishing which the natives decoy- ed him into Timmerkill, or Cooper's creek, where they designed to murder him and his crew, as they had already others in the same place on a former occasion. The persons thus betrayed, are sup- posed by some to have been the colonists left. a few years before by Capt. Mey, in Fort Nassau, and by others the crew of a vessel from Virginia. De Vries, not suspecting any snare, would have met a similar fate, but for the kindness of an Indian woman, who boarded his vessel by stealth, informed him that one company had already been slaughtered in that place, and put him on his guard against the meditated assault of her kindred. It is probable that the scene of the intended massacre was that part of Cooper's creek which lies opposite Ward's Mount: for here the bank rises abruptly on one side to a considerable height, while the channel is partially filled with stones which have rolled down from the hill. Having grounded the vessel, which was small, the Indians could have assailed her with stones and arrows from the precipice, and made her crew an easy sacrifice. This incident concurs with a thousand others, to show that kindness is an essential quality of the female heart, whether it beat in the savage or the belle; and the true lover of virtue cannot but regret that the name of De Vries' benefactress, because unknown, must remain forever unhon- ored and unsung .*
Windmill Island was formerly connected with the Jersey shore at Cooper's Point. The writer has before him a MS. letter from one Wm. Brown to Thomas Penn, dated " Philad., 8th mo. 20th, 1761,"-from which the following is an extract : " I am now willing to offer two hundred and fifty pounds for the whole island, rather than take the lease proposed ; tho' John Kinsey, in his life-time, advised me to get a Jersey right for
* The incident here related forms the groundwork of a well-written tale in Miss Les Lie's Magazine, called " Yacouta, a Legend of West Jersey."
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V.F
VIEW OF CAMDEN, FROM PHILADELPHIA.
The engraving shows the appearance of Camden, as seen from Walnut street ferry, Philadelphia. Windmill or Smith's Island appears in front of the city. The canal, for steam ferry boats through the island, is seen on the right.
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it, as there had been great strife with the Jersey people about the grass, (tho' they tell me where the grass grew then, it's gone, and gathered in this place,) and as that was not called an island when our worthy proprietor bought the islands in the river with the lower counties ; which I accordingly did. And, as a Jersey man informed me,. he could or did, when a boy, wade all the way from Cooper's Point to it; and now it is very shoal and stony all the way over, so that they claimned the right to it, till I bought it of a Jersey proprietor. Nevertheless, as our proprietors claim it, I am willing to pay them for it, if I can have the whole for what I dare venture to give." The wharf's having narrowed the western channel, and thrown an increased volume of water to the eastward of the island, it is now severed from the Jersey shore. It now is most generally called Smith's Island, from a man who purchased the Messenger of Peace, a Dutch vessel, which brought out the news of the treaty of Ghent. The vessel, being condemned, was run upon the northwest corner of the island, and turned into a pleasure-house, in which parties and dances were frequently held until 1841. In olden times the island was used as the place of execution for pirates. In 1798, three were hung there at one time, and were left some days on the gibbet, a terrible example to "all others in like cases offending."
This island and bar being a great obstruction to the ferry navigation between Camden and Philadelphia, the legislature of Pennsylvania authorized a ferry company, incorpo- ted by New Jersey, to cut a canal through it. The work was begun in 1837, under the superintendence of Charles Loss, Esq., engineer of the Camden and Amboy railroad company, and of Joseph Kaighn, John W. Mickle, and Edwin A. Stevens, of the board of direction of the ferry company ; and was completed at a cost of about $40,000. It is now passable at all tides, and greatly facilitates the intercourse between the two sides of the river.
Within the memory of those living, the whole locality of Cam- den was tilled as a farm, with but a few dwellings along the shore, occupied by ferrymen. Then, long lines of black-cherry and mul- berry trees stood in the highways, and numerous apple orchards allured the holyday and truant boys from Philadelphia. Towards the end of the last century, indeed, the eccentric William Cobbett and Matthew Carey fought a duel on a spot now the heart of the city, unperceived by any one but their seconds. Camden is exclu- sively the fruit of the nineteenth century, and her past growth warrants every hope from the future. It is even now a place of much business,-containing 17 mercantile stores, 5 churches, (Friends, Episcopalian, Baptist, and Methodist,-the latter having one house for the whites and another for the blacks,) a bank, 3 newspapers, 8 hotels, 4 lumber-yards, and many mechanical and manufacturing establishments. There are several public gardens, resorted to, during the summer, by thousands from Philadelphia,- to which place there are 6 ferries, constantly plying, at low rates. A bridge from Camden to Philadelphia was talked of some 30 years ago, and Mr. Edward Sharp procured the necessary enactments from the two legislatures. A street a hundred feet wide was laid out as a starting-place in Camden, and was called Bridge Avenue. But the project failed for want of funds, and the avenue is now occupied by the Amboy Railroad. ' From Camden, roads diverge in all directions ; and it is the termination of two railways,-that from Amboy, of which we have spoken. and another from Wood- bury the shire-town of Gloucester co.
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The following summary account of the death of Hutchinson Heberton by the hands of Singleton Mercer, (Feb. 10th, 1843,) is copied from the newspapers published at the time. Mercer was subsequently tried for murder at Woodbury, and acquitted :
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GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
On Tuesday and Wednesday last, considerable talk was produced by the sudden dis- appearance of a young and handsome girl, aged about 16, named Sarah Mercer, the daughter of Thomas Mercer, 33 Queen-st., one of the most wealthy and respectable in- habitants of Southwark. A young man of this city, namned Hutchinson Heberton, was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in her abduction, and taken before Alderman Mitchell, at the instance of the girl's brother, who threatened him then with instant death if he refused, but was' discharged in consequence of the girl's return to her parents on Wednesday evening. It was ascertained, however, that Heberton had seduced the young girl, and that she had gone to a vile house where he had been in the habit of · meeting her. .
Miss Mercer's absence, as well as her return, according to all statements, was volun tary. The anguish of the family at the knowledge of the dishonor that had fallen upon the daughter, no tongue can tell nor pen describe. To wipe out the stain so far as it was possible so to do, a marriage was proposed to the seducer. This was declined on his part, and the brother of the seduced then challenged him. This was also declined. The infuriate brother, stung almost to madness, determined not to be baulked in his revenge. He watched the movements of Heberton, and having ascertaincd that he was to leave the city on Friday afternoon or evening in a carriage, by way of Camden, he managed to discover the same in the strect, when he employed one of Vanselver's vchicles, driven by a young man, to whom Mercer gave instructions, pointing out the carriage, to lose sight of it on no condition, but keep close to it, and wherever it went to follow after it. In this carriage, in company with Heberton, was seated his legal friend and adviser, Jas. C. Vandyke, Esq., from whose office the deceased had left, with the avowed object of preventing a meeting with the misguided and excited Mercer. After having driven through several streets, the carriage entered the ferry-boat John Fitch, then lying at Market-st. wharf. Mercer, following after, leaped from his vchicle unobserved, and con- cealed himself behind a box on board the boat, armed with. one of Colt's six-barrellcd pistols. Shortly after, the carriage wasdriven on board with the blinds drawn up ; and when within a few yards of the Jersey shore, Mr. V. got out of the same, walked around, it is presumed, to see that all was safe, when Mercer approached the carriage and fired four balls into it in quick succession. One of them proved fatal, taking effect under the left shoulder-blade, and penetrated the heart. Heberton was conveyed to Cake's tavern, in Camden, where he expired in a few minutes. The murderer was immediately arrest- ed, and upon his person was found the pistol, two barrels of which still retained their charge. His conduct during the remainder of the evening is represented as having been wild and frantic, evidently laboring under the most intense excitement.
The parties in the above lamentable drama are of the most wealthy and respectable character. Of the Mercers I have partly spoken ; and will only add, that the name of the murderer is Singleton Mercer-for the past two or three years a clerk in the store of Carson and Newbold, South Wharves-not yet twenty years of age-fond of society and the world. The murdered Hutchinson Heberton, was the son of the late Dr. Heb- erton, an estimable man, and who died possessed of great wealth. He is also related to the Messrs. Hebertons, merchants, Matthew Newkirk, and numerous other wealthy and respectable citizens. He was about 26 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches, and considered one of the handsomest young men in Philadelphia. He formerly wore a mustache, but had it shaved off on Wednesday last. He resided with his widowed mother, Ann Heberton, Ninth-st., near Arch, where his lifeless body was conveyed on Saturday afternoon about 4 o'clock.
Young Mercer was taken, by the Sheriff of Gloucester co., to the Woodbury jail, to await his trial for the dreadful dced he has committed, about 1 o'clock yesterday, ac- companied by two cousins and an attorney. He appeared perfectly calm and collected.
DEPTFORD.
Deptford is about 7 m. long, 6 wide. Bounded NW. by the Dela- ware river, NE. by Union and Gloucester, SE. by Washington, and SW. by Greenwich. Its surface is undulating, soil well-cultivated and highly productive in fruit and vegetables. There are in the township, 5 woollen fac., 1 cotton fac. ; 3 fulling-m., 2 saw-m. ; cap. in manufac. $32,900 ; 7 schools, 662 scholars. Pop. 2,570.
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The first attempt to effect a settlement on the eastern shore of the Delaware, is be- lieved to have been made within the limits of this township. About the year 1621, the Dutch West India Company dispatched a ship containing a number of persons fully provided with the means of subsistence, and articles of trade, under the command of Cornelius Jacobse Mey. This navigator entered Delaware bay, and gave his own name to its northern cape. He explored the bay and river, and at length landed and built a fort on Sassackon, now Timber creek, on the NE. boundary of the township, and named it Fort Nassau. "The spot is one of great interest. Perhaps no vestiges now remain to mark the place ; but it should be sought out and held in careful remembrance. The rocky shore at Plymouth has almost become a nation's shrine-multitudes meet there - together, on each returning year, to offer the homage of grateful hearts to Him who guides the affairs of men. There are age and infancy-the man in his strength, and the maiden in her beauty and bloom ; a people are gathered as to one home, and a holy bond of brotherhood seems to encircle the whole. The spot upon the Delaware may not be so rich in interest. The chain connecting the events at that place with our present con- dition, may not be so perfect and entirc. The actors were not our own people. But still, this was the first movement of civilized man upon our soil ; and we again say, let the place be held in remembrance."*
" The site of old Fort Nassau is said to have been upon the farm of the Howell fam- ily, just below the mouth of Timber creek. The colonists soon fell beneath the toma- hawk of the Indians. They were induced on some pretence, it is said, to enter Cooper's creek, with their vessel, on board of which they were attacked at great disadvantage and murdered."
View in Woodbury.
Admonesson, 3 miles E. of Woodbury, contains a cotton factory with 1,200 spindles, 60 power-looms, and employs about 40 hands. There are about a dozen dwellings in the vicinity. Jobsville and Westville contain respectively a few dwellings. Woodbury, the seat of justice for Gloucester co., is pleasantly situated on Wood- bury creek, near the centre of the township, 9 m. S. of Philadel- phia, and 39 from Trenton. The annexed view was taken on the N. bank of the creek, near the residence of Mrs. Harriet Arm- strong ; on the left is shown the bridge over the stream, just be- yond which is the terminating point of the railroad from Camden. The large building, near the centre of the view, is the Friends meeting-house. The cupola of the courthouse is seen in the dis- tance. There are in Woodbury the county buildings, all brick, ex-
* From the Historical Lecture delivered by Dr. Mulford, before the Camden Lyceum in the spring of 1842.
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cepting the prison, which is of stone; 1 Friends meeting-house, 1 Presbyterian church, (a large handsome brick structure,) a Meth- odist church, also of brick, 1 newspaper printing-office, 12 mercan- tile stores, 2 classical schools, an academy, 2 public libraries, sev- eral benevolent societies, 110 dwellings, and about 1,000 inhabit- ants. Several small vessels sail from here to Philadelphia with the produce of the country. The village is neatly built, and has many fine dwellings. In its vicinity are many fine orchards of ap- ples and plums. Woodbury was first settled in 1684, by Richard Wood, a native of Perry, in Lancashire, England. He had come over with the first settlers of Philadelphia. Leaving his family in that city, he ascended the creek in a canoe, and, with the aid of the Indians, erected a rude dwelling. The whole process of build- ing, and removing his family, was accomplished in the short space of one week. A brother shortly after arrived, and settling higher up the stream, named the locality Woodbury.
It seems the little colony soon became short of provisions, and none being nearer than Burlington, the male colonists started off in canoes for that place to obtain some. A storm prevented their return as soon as expected-the provisions left for the women were exhausted-and the poor creatures, overwhelmed with grief, looked for nothing but starvation in a strange land, with none of their kin- dred near to sooth their dying moments. Thus were they grouped together at the bend of the creek, near where the graveyard now is, watching, with tearful eyes, the flowing tide, and listening in vain for the sound of the returning paddles, when an Indian wo- man appeared on the opposite bank, saw they were in trouble, and stopped. By their signs, she understood their wants, and then dis- appeared in the shade of the forest. In an hour or two, (for she had gone several miles,) she returned, loaded with venison and corn bread. These she placed on a long piece of bark, and, walk- ing a good way to tideward, set it afloat, and gave it a push across. It came to where the white women were, and its contents saved their lives ; for their husbands returned not until such a length of time, that, but for her, starvation would have been inevitable.
Lord Cornwallis was stationed in Woodbury, in the winter of 1777, with a body of British troops. His head-quarters were in the dwelling now owned and occupied by Amos Campbell, Esq. It had been vacated on the approach of the enemy. The soldiers pried open the doors and cupboards with their bayonets, marks of which remain to the present day. The following anecdote illustrates the generosity of disposition of this officer. Some of the soldiers seized upon a valuable cow belonging to a strong whig, who called upon his lordship and requested the restoration of his property. Corn- wallis questioned the man upon his political principles. He en- deavored, though unsuccessfully, to conceal them. Soon after his arrival at home, the animal was returned to him. The lamented Capt. James Lawrence, of the U. S. navy, was once a student at the village academy, and resided with his brother John Lawrence,
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Esq. He is remembered as an amiable youth, quiet in manner, and genteel in person.
COUNTY RECORDS .- The oldest book of records in the Clerk's office of the county ex- tend from 1686 to 1712, embracing a period of 26 years. The courts were intended to be holden at Gloucester and Red Bank alternately, but for some reason not explained by the records, the latter place was soon abandoned ; probably on account of the inconveni- ence of the location. Four or five county justices were generally in attendance, forming the bench. The courts of March and Dec., 1692, and Sept. 1694, were presided over by Edward Hunloke, deputy governor, in person. Sept. 1698, the Hon. Jeremiah Bass, governor, was present ; and in March, 1700, the Hon. Andrew Hamilton, governor, pre- sided. Bass appears to have been decidedly unpopular-officers and jurors could scarce- ly be procured-and the courts under his administration did little more than meet and adjourn. Hamilton, on the contrary, was a general favorite-six magistrates sat with him, when in the county-some of the most respectable and extensive families in the county can claim members of that tribunal for their ancestry. The minutes of a court held in June, 1703, concludes thus : " Here ends the Proprietary Government of ye Pro- vince of West New Jarsie, in America." Allegiance to the crown is acknowledged at the conclusion of every court afterwards, by inserting the phrase "God save the Queen." (The proceedings of the next court, after the Declaration of Independence was issued, prove that a disposition to alter the phraseology very materially was predominant. In this instance "God save the People" brings up the rear ; and the worthy recorder ap- pears to have entertained no conscientious scruples about the waste of ink.)
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The first tax that was levied was for defraying county expenses, in 1697. Provincial taxes commenced in 1692. The first ferry to Philadelphia was from Gloucester ; appli- cation for the keeping of one was granted by the court to William Royden, in 1687 ; the next application was for one over Gloucester river, (Timber creek,) in 1693, which was granted ; in 1695, applications for the present middle ferrry at Camden, and from Gloucester to Wickaco (Greenwich Point,) were granted ; the first to Daniel Cooper, the other to John Reading: the court established the rates. John Champion was authorized to establish a ferry over Cooper's creek in 1702. A wolf bounty was established in 1688; and in the following year a direct tax was laid for defraying the expenses incurred there- by. Panthers appear to have been included. The county was first divided into town- ships, or constablewicks, in 1694, according to an act of assembly. Waterford, New- ton, Gloucester, Deptford, and Greenwich, were the original townships.
At the court held in Dec., 1695, it was ordered, " That a prison be, with all convenient expedition, built, 16 feet long, 12 feet wide in the clear, and 8 foot high ; to be made of loggs, with a floor of loggs above and below, covered with cedar shingles, and a parti- tion in the middle." A modification of the above order was made at the next court. The dimensions were altered to 20 by 16 feet ; also a " courthouse over the same, of a convenient height and largeness, covered of and with cedar shingles, well and workman- like to be made, and with all convenient expedition finished." In 1708, an addition was ordered upon the following plan : "That it join to the south end of the old one ; to be made of stone and brick, 12 foot in the clear, and 2 story high, with a stack of chimneys joining to the old house ; and that it be uniform in breadth to the courthouse from the foundation." Sept. 1690, two prisoners were convicted of burglary : the sentence was, that they should be burnt in the hand to the bone with the letter T, or be sold to the master of some vessel in Barbadoes, Jamaica, or other adjacent island, for the term of 5 years. Both chose transportation. Licenses for houses of entertainment were first granted in 1692 ; three were applied for-all in the town of Gloucester. Dec. 1693, Richard Whitaker was tried, and found guilty of selling rum to the Indians, contrary to the laws of the province. Sentenced to pay £3, with costs of suit. March, 1700, the court ordered that such assemblymen as require pay, receive 3 shillings per day for each day's service, with allowance for one day going up, and another day coming down. In 1706, William Leak, of Egg Harbor, was fined £1 10s. 6d. for contempt of authority.
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