USA > New Jersey > Ocean County > Historical reminiscences of Ocean county, New Jersey > Part 3
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salt works, broke the kettles, &c, and
In the Continental Congress, 1776, the stripped the beds, &c., of some people President of Congress was requested to who I fear wished to serve them ; they write to Gov. Livingston, of New Jersey, then crossed the river and burnt all ex- for two companies of militia to guard cept Derrick Longstreet's. After this salt works at Toms River.
mischief they embarked. The next day
Sabine, in his notices of Loyalists, they landed at Shark River and set fire says : " John Williams placed the signif- to two salt works, when they observed icant letter R., on the buildings of the fifteen horsemen heave in sight, which salt works at Toms River bridge, by or- occasioned them to retreat with great
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precipitation ; indeed they jumped into schooner Pope's Head, which was taken their Sat-bottomed boats with such pre- by the privateer Sally and Joseph, (un- cipitation that they sank two of them, der our command,) and carried into The enemy consisted chiefly of Greens, Cranberry Inlet in the Jersies, and there the rest of Highlanders. One of their delivered to the care of Mr. James Ran- pilots was the noted Thomas Oakerson." dolph, by our prize masters.
Sabine says, Thomas Oakerson had previously been ordered to be committed to jail for aiding Refugees, by Continent- al Congress, July 17th, 1776. The Greens, referred to, were from the reu- egade Jerseyman, who joined the British and formed a brigade, calling themselves the N. J. Royal Volunteers, placed un-
JAMES MARO. JOHN FISH."
The following extracts from papers published during the Revolution, give an idea of the stirring events that oc- curred in Toms River and vicinity :
"August 12th, 1778. We learn that on Thursday se'en night, the British ship der command of General Cortlandt Love and Unity from Bristol with 80 Skinner, and were called Greens, from hhds. of loaf sugar, several thousand their uniform.
The owners of salt works, along the bay experienced a streak of ill luck about this time, as within a week or so after the
bottles London porter, a large quantity of Bristol beer and ale, besides many other valuable articles, was designedly run ashore near Toms River. Since above raid a storm of unusual severity which, by the assistance of some of our destroyed many of the smaller works militia, she has been brought into a safe and caused the tide to rise several feet port and her cargo properly taken care higher than ever was known before, of." drowning cattle on the beach, floating that stood low on the water side, &c.
The cargo of this ship was advertised furniture out of lower rooms of houses, to be sold at Manasquan, on the 26th of
In October, 1778, the British destroyed Marshal.
the same month, by John Stokes, U. S. The articles enumerated in Chesnut Neck mills, at Tuckerton, &c., the advertisement show that the cargo and then despatched a detachment to must have been a very valuable one, destroy the salt works from Little Egg The Americans were not so lucky with Harbor to Toms River, but were pre- vented by the appearance of Count Pulaski's legion.
PRIVATEERS AT TOMS RIVER.
During the war of the Revolution, old Cranberry Inlet, then open, opposite Toms River, was often found to be a very convenient haven for privateers and their prizes. These privateers were generally fitted out in New England. The following notice of a prize brought here by Rhode Islanders, is from a cer- tificate in possession of Hon. Ephraim P. Emson :
" PROVIDENCE, Feb. 21, 1777.
" This may certify that Messrs. Clark and Nightingale and Capt. Wm. Rhodes have purchased here at vendue the jumped into the boat, hurrahing for the
the ship as with the cargo, as will be seen by the following :
"Friday, Sept. 18th, 1778. Two Brit- ish armed ships and two brigs came elose to the bar off Toms River inlet, where they lay over night. Next morning, be- tween seven and eight o'clock, they sent seven armed boats into the inlet, and re- took the ship Washington (formerly the Love and Unity,) which had been taken by the Americans ; they also took two sloops near the bar, and captured most of the crews. The captain of the ship, and his officers, escaped to the main in one of the sloop's boats. After they got ashore, a man named Robert McMullen,- who had been condemned to death at Freehold, but afterwards pardoned,
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British, and rowed off to join them. advertised by the U. S. Marshal, viz : Another Refugee named William Dillon, Schooner Hope and sloop Fancy, with who had also been sentenced to death at eargoes of pitch, tar and salt. Freehold and pardoned, joined this party On the 14th of May, 1780, Major John Van Emburgh, of the 2nd Middlesex mil- of British as pilot."
By the following extracts, it will be itia, and eight or nine men from West seen that the Refugees, MeMullen and Jersey, on a fishing party, were surprised Dillon, had been out of jail but a short time when they joined the British in this expedition :
in bed, at Toms River, by the Refugees, and put on board a vessel to be sent prisoners to New York ; but before the vessel sailed, they managed to escape.
"July 22nd, 1778. We learn that at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at
Toms River, then, did not seem quite Monmouth in June last, the following as desirable a place for a pleasure resort as it is at the present day. Ancient pa- pers do not mention whether the Major was successful in catching fish ; all we know is that he got caught himself.
parties were tried and found guilty of burglary, viz : Thomas Edmons alias Burke, John Wood, Michael Millery, William Dillon and Robert McMullen. The two former were executed on Friday About the middle of December, 1780, n British brig in the West India trade was captured and brought into Toms last, and the other three reprieved. At the same time, Ezekiel Forman, John Polhemus and William Grover were tried | River. This brig had ron short of water and convicted of high treason, and are to be executed August 18th next."
and provisions, and, mistaking the land for Long Island, sent a boat and four
On the 9th of December, 1778, it is men to obtain supplies. The militia announced that a British armed vessel, hearing of it, manned two boats, and bound from Halifax to New York and went out and took her. She had on richly laden, came ashore near Barnegat. board 150 hhds, of rum and spirits, which The crew, about sixty in number, sur- our ancestors pronounced "excellent," rendered themselves prisoners to our from which we conclude they must have militia. Goods to the amount of £5,000 considered themselves competent judges were taken out of her by our citizens, of that article. With the British, rum and a number of prisoners sent to Bor- must have been deemed a necessity, as dentown, at which place the balance of in almost every prize it formed an im- of prisoners were expected.
About March, 1779, the sloop Success came ashore in a snow storm, at Barne- gat. She had been taken by the British brig Diligence, and was on her way to New York. She had a valuable cargo of rum, molasses, coffee, cocoa, &c., 011 board. The prize master and three hands were made prisoners, and sent to Princeton. In the case of this vessel and the one previously mentioned, it is possible that the Toms River militia aid- ed, as the name Barnegat was frequently applied to places generally along Barne- gat Bay.
portant part of the cargo.
The British ship Molly was driven ashore in a snow storm, abont this time, on the beach, and her prize erew made prisoners and sent to Philadelphia.
In the same month, December, 1780, Lieutenant Joshua Studson, who lived in the village of Toms River, with some militia, crossed over the bay to old Cran- berry Inlet to intercept some men en- gaged in contraband trade with the ene- my at New York, when he was shot and instantly killed by the Refugee captain, John Bacon, the particulars of which have been given in describing Revolt-
In February, 1779, a sale at Toms tionary events relating to Forked River River, probably prizes and cargo, was nud vicinity.
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The 19th of March, 1782, it is an- [and all on board were drowned in the nounced that the privateer Dart, Capt. bay Wm. Gray, of Salem, Mass., had arrived In December, 1778, Capt. Alexander, of the sloop Elizabeth, of Baltimore, was taken by the British ; but he was permit- ted to leave in a small boat, and landed at Toms River Inlet. at Toms River with a prize sloop taken from the British galley Black Jack. The next day he went with his boat and seven men in pursuit of a British brig near Cranberry Inlet. Unfortunately for It was during the war, in 1778, that Rev. Benjamin Abbott expounded the then new principles of Methodism to the people of Toms River, first at the house of Esquire Abiel Aikens, and then at an- other place; and had here, as he says in his journal, "a happy time." Capt. Gray, instead of taking a prize he was himself taken. For a long time af- ter, the people of Toms River wondered what had become of him. In August following, they heard that after he got outside the inlet, he was taken prisoner and carried to Halifax, and subsequently released on parole. He stated that he was well treated while a prisoner. WARETOWN REMINISCENCES.
A few days after Capt. Gray was taken prisoner, the British attacked and burned Toms River, the details of which are too lengthy to give here. This attack on Toms River was the last affair of any note that occurred here during the war, but south of Toms River several events of local importance took place. The Refugee Davenport made a raid on Fork- ed River, with 80 men, and was himself killed off Oyster Creek, in June. In October, Bacon attacked and killed sev- eral men on the beach about a mile below Barnegat light-house. In December oc- ourred the skirmish at Cedar Creek bridge, when young Cooke was killed, and in the following spring, Bacon him- self was killed near West Creek.
During the war, interesting events outside of military matters occurred at Toms River.
In January, 1778, the sloop Two Friends, Capt. Alexander Bonnett, of Hispaniola, was cast away near Barnegat, with 1,600 bags of salt, 48 hhds. molas- ses, also a lot of rum, sugar, etc. Only 160 gallons of rum saved. The shore people went to their assistance, but one man was lost. Capt. Bonnett then shipped as a passenger in the sloop En- deavor, at Toms River, for New York ; but, sad to relate, while she lay at anchor in the inlet a storm parted the cable
By the side of the main shore road through Waretown, adjoining the farm of ex-Senator Samuel Birdsall, is a grove where a century ago was a grave yard in which, among others, was buried Abra- ham Waeir, from whom Waretown derives its name. His tombstone is still pre- served, though removed from its original place, and the inscription upon it reads thus :
" In memory of ABRAHAM WAEIR, Died March 24th, 1768, Aged 85 years Whose inocent life Adorned true light."
In the inscription, a letter is left out of the word innocent, as will be seen by the above copy. In the same grave yard was another tombstone, a rude affair, a remnant of which is preserved ; the in- scription on it is only partially legible, the following being all that can be deci- phered :
"E. WAEIR.
Year 1757."
In the grave yard commonly known as the "Birdsall burying ground," are to be found the following inscriptions upon tombstones, the first named of which is the most ancient in the village, if not in the county :
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" Here lyes ye body of WILLIAM CARBEL Died Sept. 15, 1742 Aged 54 years."
Another reads :
"In memory of ISAAC STANSBERY Who departed this life Oct. 10, 1803, in the 64th year of his age.
[Representation of two cannons crossed. ]
Reader, remember, as you pass by. As you are now so once was I, As I am now so you will be, Therefore prepare to follow ine."
From the cannons crossed, it would be inferred that the deceased be- longed to the ordnance branch of the military service.
while at Waretown-among which may be mentioned the men making axe han- dles, baskets, etc., the women sewing and knitting during their religious meet- ings, as related by the late Judge Jacob Birdsall, Jeremiah Spragg and other old residents of Waretown and vicinity -- are "corroborated by the notices of them in New England and Long Island histories. Their building, used for meetings and schools, we have understood was in the field a little south-easterly of Capt. T. Corlies Newbury's residence.
FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE AT WARETOWN.
About sixty years ago a sad event oc- curred at Waretown, which is thus de- seribed by the late Hon. Jacob Birdsall, who was a witness to the melancholy affair :
Abraham Waeir, from whom Ware- town derives its name, was a member of "A blacksmith named George Soper, or Sopher as I understand some of his descendants now spell the name, and his wife Betsey then lived in a house standing about one-hundred and fifty yards to the the eastward of where Taylor C. New- bury now lives. One very cold winter's night about twelve o'clock, an alarm of fire was made at my father's house by Mr. William Predmore, and upon look- ing out of the window we saw that Geo. Soper's house was on fire. Mr. Pred- more hurried on and got there just in time to save a young man named Brown, who was apprentice to Soper. When Brown got out, the house was beginning the sect generally called Rogerine Bap- tists, though they themselves seemed to prefer the name of Quaker Baptists. A company of Rogerine Baptists eame from New London, Conn., to Schooley's Mountain in Morris county in New Jer- sey, in 1734; and after remaining there three years, they removed to Waretown and remained here from 1737 to 1748, eleven years, and then the greater part of them returned to Sehooley's Moun- tain. The principal members at Ware- town were Abraham Waeir, John Colver and --- Mann. The Waeirs, tradition says, did not go with the rest to School- ey's Mountain, but remained here, and to fall ; he had nothing on but his night their descendants removed to the head of clothes, and Mr. Predmore had to lend Barnegat Bay or near Squan. The him a part of his own wearing apparel. Colvers and Manns went with the others It was then discovered that Mrs, Betsey to Morris county, and in 1790 the Roger- Soper was in the fire. It seemed that ines were reduced to two aged persons her husband was over to Mr. Hillman's whose names were Thomas Colver and on business-attending a trial, I think. Sarah Mann ; but the posterity of John I did not reach the house until after it Colver, who appears to have been the fell in, and then I witnessed as awful a leader here, is yet numerous in Morris sight as human being can behold; the county, and of him more particular men- husband so frantic that he could hardly tion will be made in giving a sketch of be kept from rushing into the fire where the Rogerine Baptists. The traditionary his wife lay, a mass of burning flesh accounts of the peculiarities of this seet plainly to be seen by all present.
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Heaven grant that I may never look up- on such a sight again ! There had been some company there the previous even- ing, and among the visitors was Mrs. Ann Haywood, wife of the late James Haywood, of Mannahawken, Mrs. Hay- wood, previous to her marriage, had lived with Mrs. Soper, and from her testimony and other evidence, there was no doubt but that the unfortunate affair was caused by liquor."
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FIGHTING FIRE-LOSS OF LIFE.
Fires have been so frequent in the ex- tensive forests of Ocean county, that it is a hopeless task to attempt to enumerate them or describe in detail the exciting scenes they have occasioned. Often thousands of acres are swept over and tens of thousands of dollars worth of timber are burned in a very short time. With a high wind, the roar of the fire in the woods, the fearful appearance of the sky, the flames leaping from tree-top to tree-top and running along the dried
with the flames often leaping over their heads or on the ground escaping and surrounding them, is too familiar to our old citizens to need describing.
About fifty years ago, a fire broke out in the woods between Oyster Creek and Forked River, and many persons from Waretown and Forked River endeavored to subdue it. A sudden shift and increase of the wind brought the flames down with such rapidity upon the men that they had to run for their lives toward the nearest body of water, which happened to be the old Frank Cornelius mill pond on Forked River ; but one man named George Collins, of Waretown, missed the right road, and was overtaken by the flames and burned to death. His shoes were left to mark the spot where he was burned, for twenty or thirty years after.
AN EXCITING DAY AT WARETOWN.
Perhaps the most exciting time in the history of Waretown was during the last war with England, when Commodore Hardy, of the British man-of-war Ramil- lies, on March 31st, 1813, sent several large barges into Barnegat Inlet to burn the Greyhound and other vessels there. The citizens of Waretown feared a repiti- tion of the scenes enacted by the noto- rious Admiral Cockburn in Virginia and Maryland, plundering and burning dwellings, insulting women, &c., and women and children fled from the village to dwellings back in the woods as far as the late Moses Headley's place, and the excitement spread to Forked River and other places. But before the barges had finished all the work assigned to them, they were recalled by signal guns from the Ramillies, lying off the bar, caused by the discovery of a ship at sea which they wished to overhanl.
MISCELLANEOUS TRADITIONS.
The following items relating to Ware- leaves and bushes on the ground make town were derived from aged citizens an appalling scene never to be forgotten; living from fifteen to twenty years ago in and the exciting work of fighting fire, this and adjacent villages.
Abraham Waeir, it is said, came from near the Hurlgate above New York, where he had a mill which was destroyed by a flood. He had sons here named Thomas and Timothy, and perhaps other children. The Waeirs lived on the place owned in recent years by Hon. Jacob Birdsall, and had two saw-mills. A canoe was dug out of one of their old mill dams in recent years by Judge Birdsall near his residence ; how it came to be thus buried seems to be unaccountable.
During the Revolution, one of the most noted salt-works on Barnegat Bay was Newlin's, near Job Headley's land- ing, beside which were others less noted above and below. Most of those works were destroyed by the British during the war, but some were rebuilt.
The Brown family, of Waretown, it is said came originally from Goshen, N. Y.
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Samuel Brown seems to have been one the Refugees, and was not heard of after of the early friends of Methodism in this the war. Daniel Rackhow, Senior, had a brother on Staten Island, and descend- ants of the Rackhows changed their name to Richards. place, and among Methodist pioneers who made their home with him was the cele- brated Bishop Asbury. The Headleys, it is said, also came from New York State, as probably did the Chamberlains, the first comers of whom located above Waretown on the Camburn place and ou Oyster Creek where James Anderson now lives. Samuel Bennett, the first of the Bennetts, of Waretown and Barne- gat, of whom we have heard, came from New England. David Bennett, we have been informed, kept the public house at Waretown, during the Revolution.
The first settler on the Soper place, between Waretown and Barnegat, ac- cording to the late Jeremiah Spragg, an aged citizen of Barnegat, was John Per- kins, whose daughter married James Spragg, father of Jeremiah ; Mr. Perkins came from England during the old French War, and located near Soper's Landing, and subsequently sold out to Joseplı Soper, ancestor of the numerous Soper families in this vicinity and elsewhere. The first house built on the beach, oppo- site to Waretown, according to Mr. Spragg, was by Thomas Rogers. It was located near the Inlet, and in it lived Rog- ers and also James Spragg, father of Jere- miah ; and during the Revolution they witnessed many exciting scenes, such as shipwrecks of war and merchant vessels and contests between the British and Americans in efforts to capture crews and cargoes. The first Soper in New Jersey, was Thomas Soper, who landed in West Jersey, in 1678; the old mem- bers of this family had a tradition that they were of Huguenot descent.
An carly settler on the place now owned by Hon. Samuel Birdsall, tra- dition says, was a Dutchman named Daniel Rackhow ; one of his sons was a reputable young man, named Peter, who run out the Rackhow road, near Barne- gat, and who died comparatively young ; another son, Peter Rackhow, Jr., joined
The first Camburn at Waretown, whose name has been preserved, was William, who, according to the late Dan- iel Camburn of Waretown, a grandson, and other aged descendants, came when seventeen years old, with his father from New England, probably from Nantucket ; before and after coming here, the first Camburns went to sea on whaling voya- ges. William Camburn's father, origi- nally settled on the place nearly opposite Judge Birdsall's lane, on which in late years lived Captain Job Falkinburg, and subsequently Capt. Amos Birdsall, and some of William's first companions were Indian children.
The Birdsall family originally came from Long Island, probably from Oyster Bay. Amos Birdsall, a prominent citizen of Waretown in the early part of the present century, was during the war of 1812 captain of the schooner President, and was captured by the British. In later years he was better known as Es- quire Birdsall.
Ralph Chambers, another respected citizen of Waretown, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and seriously wounded at the battle of Plattsburg. As he was somewhat forehanded, he would not go in the hospital for soldiers to risk the at- tendance there, but went to a private house and paid for his surgical and other attendance out of his own pocket. Mr. Chambers, we believe, had the honor of being the oldest regular subscriber for a newspaper in Ocean County, having taken the old Trenton State Gazette for between forty and fifty years.
The Eayres came originally from Bur- lington County, and were among the first settlers there. The Bowkers, or Bogers, as the name is sometimes spelled, we believe, are also from Burlington Coun- ty ; Samuel Boger was a soldier in the
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Revolution, from Burlington. Predmores are said to be from Middle- sex County ; the first of the name we have found in New Jersey, owned a large tract of land at New Brunswick, in 1684, and then, as now, the name was some- times given as Prigmore. The old mem- bers of the Penn family, who came from Bass River or thereabout, and located a few miles back of Waretown, claimed that they were descended from the cele- brated William Penn, though by bar sinister. This is probably true ; none of William Penn's sons bore the irre- proachable character of their father. Thomas Penn, son of William, had left- handed children, and from these the Ocean County Penns probably descend. The late Jesse Penn bore a remarkable resemblance to the life-sized portraits of William Penn.
MORMONISM IN OCEAN COUNTY.
In 1837, Elder Benjamin Winchester preached the first Mormon sermon in Ocean county, in a school house, in New Egypt. Winchester was from the State of New York, and one of the early disciples of Joseph Smith. He contin- ued for some time to hold regular servi- ces here, and in his discourses gave mi- nute account of the alleged original dis- covery of the golden plates of the Book of Mormon near Palmyra, New York, by Joseph Smith, and their translation by him and Sidney Rigdon, and claimed that they were deposited by a people two thousand years before, whom they said were the Lost Tribes of Israel. He also preached in neighboring places. He made some fifty converts, who were baptized ; among them was Abraham Burtis, who became a preacher, and a large number joined the society at Horn- erstown, where they finally built a church, and where a good many respect- able people adhered to the faith. The church has since gone down, but a few noted for sincerity, industry, and frugal- people remain favorably impressed with ity.
The | the principles. The excitement extended to Toms River, and here too they built a small church, on the south side of the river, which is remembered as the first building in which the Ocean County Courts were held after the county was established, and before the court house was built. Their preachers also went as far south as Forked River, where they made a considerable impression, and baptized some in the mill pond-the preacher complimenting one convert, it is said, by saying, after immersing her, that he saw the devil as big as an owl leave her !
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mor- monism, visited New Egypt, Horners- town and Toms River, in 1840, and sealed a large number, some of whom are probably still living. William Smith, brother of the prophet, frequent- ly preached at New Egypt ; he preached the funeral sermon of Alfred Wilson, who was originally a Methodist, but be- came a Mormon preacher. James L. Curtis, originally a Methodist, also be- came a Mormon preacher. The present successor of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, as head of the Mormon Church, is John Taylor, who has also preached in Ocean county, and was probably the last who preached as far south as Forked River. He held forth some twenty-five or thirty years ago, in the old Forked River school house, and his sermon, to the writer, seemed to differ but little from an old-fashioned Methodist sermon on the necessity of salvation, as he made but little allusion to the peculiar tenets of Mormonism. About twenty-five or six years ago many Mormon converts left Ocean county for Salt Lake City, among whom were Joseph Chamberlain and family, of Forked River, and a number of respectable families from Toms River. They encountered serious hardships in crossing the plains. It is generally con- ceded that the Mormon converts were
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