USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 19
USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 19
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The transportation facilities afforded to the country through which this river flows are valuable, as the Rancocas is a stream of good natural eapacity, and, +as commereial statistics show, is the medium of a heavy traffic. The trade of the Raneocas is carried on by means of numerous steam and sailing vessels and barges, the draught of which to the forks or june- The steamboat " Band-Box" followed the " Lafay- ette." The steamboat " Mayflower" succeeded the " Band-Box," and ran between Philadelphia and Centreton. The steamboat "Barclay" followed the "Mayflower," and ran until the building of the Camden and Burlington County Railroad, which car- ried the passengers and freight to Philadelphia, and the " Barclay" was withdrawn and sold to other par- ties. tion of the Mount Holly and Lumberton Branelies, seven miles above its mouth, is now limited to seven feet by the Coates and Newton bars; were they re- moved the average channel would be from twelve to fifteen feet. By the River and Harbor Act of Con- gress, dated 14th of June, 1880, through the instru- mentality of H. B. Smith, M.C. from the Second Congressional District of New Jersey, an appropria- tion was made for the examination of the Rancocas At present the agricultural traffic is carried in small sailing packets, which sail to accommodate the demands, and give good satisfaction to the farmers. River, and a statement of the character and dimen- sions of the obstructions to navigation and the cost of removing the same. In accordance therewith the " Rancoeas" is the ancient and aboriginal name of desired examination was made by engineers in the i the river. It bore the name when the first settlers employ of the United States during the fall of 1880, arrived upon it- shores. William Penn, in writing to his friends in England concerning the beauty of the Indian names, particularly spoke of the Rancocas. and on the 4th of January, 1881, a report was made by J. N. Macomb, colonel of engineers, to U. G. Wright, chief of engineers, brigadier and brevet major- A survey of the Burlington County front on the
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522
HISTORY OF BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
Delaware River was made by Charles Stokes, Jr., in 1876, for the Riparian Commission aforesaid, the original draught of which is on file in the said office of the chief engineer, upon which are described all the partienlars as mentioned in connection with the survey of the Rancocas. .
Villages .- RANCOCAS is a beautiful village on the Beverly and Mount Holly turnpike, nearly equidis- tant from the towns of Mount Holly and Beverly, and is connected with Centreton, Masonville, and Moores- town by the Centreton turnpike.
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In former times the neighborhood and even the river took the name of _incocas, from a mistaken idea _ that some of the leading men had that it was more purely Indian than Raneoeas, asserting the Indians had no r in their language, but we have the all- thority of an old Swedish map for the R in their de- seription of the river by the name of Rareleoquez. Early conveyanees of land designated it as the " Ran- cocas" or "Northampton River."
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It is in the memory of some now living when there was but one dwelling where the village now stands, a one-story building owned by Samuel Wills, and oceu- pied by Jacob Cowgill as a dwelling and weaver's shop, with two looms in the basement. This prop- erty has been enlarged and beautified by the late Ezra Haines and his worthy family, who are its present occupants.
Friends' meeting-house is on the north side of the turnpike, and was built in 1772; an addition was made to the original building some years later, and it is used as a place of worship by both branches of the Society of Friends. On the north of it are beautiful old oak- trees, representing a generation that is rapidly disap- pearing in this section.
time. He remained several years in charge of this school. He afterwards established a boarding-school for boys in the city of Burlington. From there he went to Haverford College, and was the president of that institution. He was an excellent man, and de- served the gratitude of the country at large and par- tienlarly of this community.
A briek school building was ereeted on the site of the old frame structure, and was used by Friends for school purposes. Another frame school building was erected by Orthodox Friends in the opposite end of the yard within the last forty years. Neither its date nor the date of the brick building is exactly known. The Orthodox sehool-house was given up to the public after the establishment of the present public school system, and previous to the building of the present briek school-house in Second Street.
Teachers who were identified with this school dur- ing the first part of this century were Jacob Knight, Susan Haines, Mordecai Matlack, Martha Haines, David Stokes, Merebiah Wright, Jarret Stokes, and William Stokes.
The teachers prominently identified with Friends' school sinee 1859 were Hannah A. Scattergood, Rachel G. Hunt, Catherine Underwood, Deborah Yerkes, Ellen Spencer, Emma Fussel, Mary Allen, Godfrey Hays, Rachel G. Hunt, Lizzie Hollinshead, Howard Stokes, and Charles Stokes, Jr., who taught the said sehool for seven successive winters.
In 1810 a dwelling-house was built by the Society of Friends for the school-teacher, John Gummere, at the west end of the village as now laid out. The meeting-house, sehool-house, and two dwellings were the only buildings until after the building of Cen- treton bridge in 1831.
. In the meeting-house yard there was a frame school- The land upon which Rancocas is situated, the eastern part, was loeated by Dr. Daniel Wills, from : Northampton, England, in 1681, and was sold by his descendants for town-lots. The land on the west end was located by John Paine for Thomas Green, of It came into the ownership of Joseph Lundy by pur- chase ; lots were sold by Joseph Lundy, Samuel Wills, and Ezra Haines after the building of the Centreton bridge, and houses were erected. first to William Rogers, on the corner now owned and occupied by Jacob H. Leeds for store and dwelling; second, the lot on the opposite corner to Andrew Hollinshead, who built the store-house which is still there. house, where the youth of this section during half of the past century received their education, without regard to seet or color. It was an old saying in con- nection with Friends that " they never built a meet- ing-house but that they put a school-house beside . England, about the same time as the Wills location. it ;" in this way they were the educators of the public in West Jersey. In a neighborhood of Friends, with their meeting- and school-houses, they had no need of a parsonage; you always found an industrious, in- telligent, and honest people. In the beginning of the present century education received a fresh impulse in this neighborhood. John Gummere, a young man of limited education, but of remarkable mathematical mind and studions habits, began teaching in the old frame school-house at a salary of about two hundred
Lots continued to be sold by Lundy to numerous persons, and houses were erected until the whole of other on the Centreton turnpike, were occupied as we now see them.
dollars for twelve months; he taught reading seien- ; his two fronts, one on the Beverly turnpike and the tifically, and created a love for mathematical branches, soon had a school admired not only by the neighbor- hood but by the surrounding country, and at the He then opened Olive Street, running southwardly, and Second Street at right angles with Centreton turnpike. These lots were sold by Joseph Lundy, the elder. same time took up and mastered several branches of the. more abstruse studies and prepared himself to compile standard works on astronomy and surveying, the last of which is a standard work at the present Since the title has been in Joseph Lundy, the
522A
WILLINGBOROUGH TOWNSHIP.
preseut proprietor, he has opened and extended streets and sold lots to numerous persons, many of whom have built houses.
The Methodist Episcopal Church became vested of- a lot of land on Second Street by deed dated Jan. 1, 1845, from Collin Hackney and Eliza, his wife, to William Sharp, Micajah Dobbins, James Rogers, John A. Stockton, and Daniel Stephenson, trustecs. The church building was erected in 1846; admitted into the circuit in 1872. The first. minister was D. Stuart.
Edward Mesler appointed minister March, 1874. Number of members when he left, 104.
William Margrum appointed March, 1877. Num- ber of members when he left, March, 1878, 96.
J. Warthman appointed March, 1878. Number of members when he left, 99.
D. W. C. MeIntire appointed March, 1880. Num- ber of members when he left, 91.
The preseut minister, T. D. Sleeper, appointed March, 1882. Stewards of the church, Thomas Deacon, William Oldershaw, Benjamin B. Bishop.
The present trustees are Thomas Deacon. William A. Fish, B. Bishop, William Oldershaw, and Elwood Bounds. Their corporate name is the "Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Rancocas."
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The Protestant Episcopal Church held its first meeting in the Union League Hall. It became vested of a lot of land, with dwelling-house thereon, situated on the Beverly turnpike, by deed from John Bullock, dated 1864. The dwelling-house was taken down and the church building erected in 1865.
The St. Peter's parish was incorporated April 9, 1860.
The first minister was Henry P. Hay ; Franklin Gaunt was elected senior warden ; Lewis Fish, junior warden ; Elam R. Woodoth, Charles Funk, Thomas Budger, John R. Goldborough, and Edward A. Cox, +- Vestrymen ; Charles Funk, secretary of the parish.
The first members of the parish were Lewis Fish, Sarah Fish, Charles Funk, Rachel Funk, Edwin S. Woolman, Elam R. Woodoth, Thomas Budger, Sarah Ann Budger, Jane Budger, Lizzie Kelly, and Saralı Milliner.
The present senior warden, Charles Funk ; junior warden, John Smith ; vestrymen, John Pine, Jacob Bebee, and George Weadle; and Charles Albert Budger, secretary.
The Rancocas Library. - The first meeting to consider the subject of organizing a library was held in the frame school-house, Rancocas, second month 14, 1859.
Charles Stokes was appointed president, and Samnel C. Woolman secretary.
A committee was appointed to prepare a constitu- tion for the government of the company.
Forty-one persons subscribed as members; each subscription was five dollars.
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Daniel Wills, Sammel Williams, James S. Hansell, Samuel Haines, David Ferris, and James S. Hillyard.
Charles Stokes was elected president of the board ; Samuel C. Woolman. secretary ; and James S. Hill- yard, treasurer ; Jervis S. Woolman, first librarian.
The first library room was over Jacob Leed's store.
The library as first started consisted of one huu- dred and twenty-seven volumes. Subscribers to the Rancoeas Library in 1859: James S. Hansell, Daniel Wills, Joseph Hillyard, Samuel Williams, William R. Wills, S. C. Woolman, Charles Wills, William L. Martin, J. H. Leeds, Amos Buzby, David Ferris, Charles Stokes, Henry W. Wills, Jarret Stokes. Wil- liam Stokes, Elizabeth H. Burr. Evan R. Tomlinson, Matson Matlock, William H. Deacon, R. D. Wool- man, George B. Borton, P. P. and Lucy Haines, J. Hemper Dobbins, John Hillyard, William A. Scat- tergood, Dr. G. S. Woolman, Benjamin Buzby, Ben- jamin Hillyard, Uriah Borton, Benjamin Ridgway, William Woolman, Chalkley Stokes, Addie Haines, Daniel Wills, Jr., John Woolman, Samuel Haines, Stacy Haines, James Mellvaine.
The present directors of the library werc appointed Jan. 2, 1882; they are Joseph W. Hillyard, J. B. Hillyard, Evans R. Tomlinson, William L. Martin, John W. Hillyard, Spencer Haines, and S. Lee Haines. Dr. William L. Martin was elected presi- dent ; Spencer Haines, secretary ; and John W. Hill- yard, treasurer and librarian.
Union League of Rancocas .- During the late Rebellion the excitement of the hour instigated many citizens to express their patriotism in words where they had not other means of exereisiug it ; this led to an association known throughout the Northern States as the Union League. Such a society was organized in Rancocas in 1861, and held regular meetings in a hall over the blacksmith-shop until after the close of the war.
Order of United American Mechanics .- Meet- ings are held in what was formerly the Union League Hall. The charter is dated March 28, 1873. Charter members, Charles Funk, William A. Fish, Samuel Lippincott, Theodore Rodman, John Hunt, John Pine, Matthias B. Triant, William Rogers, James Barryams, George A. Elberson, William Oldershan, Edwin B. Haines, Richard R. Lippincott, John M. Wells, William Mortland, Uriah B. Funk, and Sam- uel H. Vansciver. Present number of members, forty-five. Charter was given by the State Council, and signed by John W. Haycock, Counsellor of State Lodge; Joseph H. Shinn, Secretary of State Lodge. "Done in the city of Camden on the 28th day of March, 1873. Affixed thereto the seal of the State Lodge. Lodge entitled, 'Willingborough Council, No. 97.'"
Hall over the Blacksmith-Shop .- Original mem- bers, James S. Hillyard, James Mellvaine, William R. Wills, William Mortland, Evan R. Tomlinson, George
The first directors appointed were Charles Stokes, . B. Borton, Isaac L. Woolman, Nathan S. Roberts, B ..
522B
HISTORY OF BURLINGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
D. Woolman, Jervis S. Woolman, Samuel J. Wills, Samuel C. Woolman. The first officers were: President, George B. Borton ; Secretary, Samuel C. Woolman ; Treasurer, James S. Hillyard ; Executive Committee, Isaac L. Woohan, William R. Wills, and Jervis S. Woolman. The foregoing association was identical with the Union League. The property is still owned by the association. The present officers are: Presi- dent, William R. Fish ; Secretary, William R. Wills : Treasurer, Evan R. Tomlinson.
The Rancocas Lyceum Association was organ- ized in 1860. The first meeting was held in the brick school building. The object of the society was mu- tual improvement and entertainment of a literary character. The meetings were a success from the be- ginning, and before the first session was over the fame of the lyceum had extended throughout the county of Burlington, and the society was a county as well as a neighborhood institution. Albert Hansell served the association a number of years as president, and . the membership included the most of the naines of the intelligent part of the community, who welcomed the residents from other neighborhoods, and encour- aged them to take part in the exercises. During the first sessions of the lyceum the debates were the most noticeable feature. Richard R. Lippincott, Albert Hansell, Charles Stokes, Jr., and Cyrus Moore for a long time wielded the weapons of debate. The in- teresting discussions soon induced persons from other localities to attend the lyceum, and in a short time Rancocas Lyceum enrolled among its debating mem- bers such controversial giants as Harry Herr, of Hainesport ; Capt. Bailey, Col. J. H. Haffey, and Dr. Phillips, of Beverly ; William R. Lippincott, of Fel- lowship; George Wills, of Marlton ; Charles Parry, of Cinnaminson ; Levi Proud, of Medford; and Dr. Janney, of Cinnaminson, who delighted to meet each other as intellectual antagonists, and at the same time they increased the interest and entertainment of the + lyceum by their quick wit, sparkling satire, and pol- ished logic.
Entertainments of this character gathered immense crowds of people, and the school-house was too small to accommodate them. This necessity for a larger room for the lyceum instigated a few of the public- spirited citizens of the neighborhood to organize an association for the building of a public hall, which was completed in 1877, and the lyceum was held in the new building the following winter with increased success. The hall, which has a seating capacity of five hundred, was always crowded both in seating and standing room. Ladies took an active part in the exercises, which consisted of readings, recitations, dialogues, tableaux, and charades. Horace and Jacob Haines, of Cinnaminson, added much to the enter- tainment by rendering selections from Shakespeare and other dramatists. The debates still continued one of the most interesting features. The association continued under the same programme until 1880, a and founded the village of Cooperstown.
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period of ten years. In 1881 the association arranged for a new order of excreises by establishing a course of lectures and readings, which proved very suc- cessful. For the lyceum season of 1882 a similar entertainment is arranged under the name of the "Rancoeas Lyceum Lecture Course.'
Rancocas Hall was built in 1877. It was de- signed to accommodate the Rancocas Lyceum. Two young men interested in the lyceum, Charles Stokes, Jr., and Empson Garwood, induced some of the members of the lyceum and a few of the capitalists of the neighborhood to take stock in such a company. Accordingly a meeting of the stockholders was held in the briek school building, the association organ- ized, and trustees appointed.
Stores .- There are at present two stores for general merchandise, one kept hy Jacob H. Leeds and the other by Richard R. Lippincott, both of which have a good custom from the surrounding country.
Mills .- A steam flour-mill is owned and managed by Haines Brothers.
There are two blacksmith- and a wheelwright-shop, owned and conducted by Theadore Whiteraft and William Fish.
Spencer Haines keeps a warchouse for agricultural implements, where the farmers of the surrounding country purchase their machinery.
The Post-Office was established May 1, 1833. The first postmaster was Samuel Stokes, Jr., who kept it in his store, which was in the building erected by Andrew Hollinshead on the north side of the Bev- erly turnpike. The mail at that time was carried by stage from Philadelphia. The present postmaster is Richard R. Lippincott.
The village is located on a ridge which slopes gently to the Rancocas River. It is surrounded by a beau- tiful agricultural district, the fertility and pleasant appearance of which will compare favorably with any agricultural district in the Middle States.
The village has easy access to Philadelphia and New York, by railroad from Masonville, by the Bur- lington County Railroad. aud all other qualities which go to make up a delightful place of residence.
Public school district No. 31 became vested of a lot by deed dated -, from Joseph Lundy, at the end of Second Street, as laid out by said Lundy, the said lot being the end of Second Street. Here, in the middle of a street, a two-story brick building was erected in 1874, and dedicated to publie school pur- poses. The first teacher was Sally Mortland.
The population of Rancocas at present is about 300.
COOPERTOWN received its name from William Cooper, father of the author, James Fenimore Cooper, whose mother was a danghter of Richard Fenimore, of Old Willingborough. On the ercetion of the first house where the village now stands, William Cooper called the place Coopertown. Later in life Mir. Cooper moved to Otsego Lake, Otsego Co., N. Y.,
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522c
WILLING BOROUGH TOWNSHIP.
JARRETT STORES, a prominent citizen of the county ; met the stern opposition of his parents, whose judg- of Burlington and State of New Jersey, departed , ment he respected, and whose influence caused hint this life on the 18th of the 9th month, A.D. 1870. He was the son of Charles and Tacy Stokes, and traced his genealogy to Thomas Stokes, of London, England, who came to America in the ship " Kent" in 1677, and settled near Burlington. to abandon the prospect and adopt farming, the occu- pation of his father. A tract of fifty acres of timber adjoining the homestead was cleared, and the stump- land assigned him upon which to commence his agri- cultural pursuits. The necessary buildings were Jarrett Stokes was born in the township of Willing- borough, 4th mo. 23, 1823, in which township he always resided, and with which he was identified. erected and the property given into his possession and management. In 1848 he united his de-tinies with Martha, the daughter of William and Hannah Hillyard, and moved with her upon the aforesaid premises, and occupied the new buildings thus erected in the midst of stumps without a tree left standing of the giant old forest that had lately been removed. Having become reconciled to the idea of being a farmer, he went earnestly at work. plowing, grub- bing, and draining the ground, and in a very short time changed the appearance of his small farm, and reduced to subjection the wild nature of the soil. He soon purchased another tract of land, known as the Park Landing farm, adjoining, containing one hun- dred and twenty-nine acres of land, the greater part of which was covered with timber, and the balance considered worthless for farming purposes, which farm he immediately cleared of woods and began im- proving. He erected new buildings, and in a short time made of it one of the best and most productive farms in the township. He then came in possession of another tract of timber-land containing fitty aeres, adjoining the original fifty acres toward the north. This he cleared of wood, grubbed, plowed, and drained, and reduced to a farming and productive state. This changed his original farm of fifty acres of stumps to one of the largest and most improved farms in the county, one of the most productive, well fenced, drained, and stocked. He then turned his attention to beautifying his residence and the grounds and building around it, and lived to enjoy one of the most beautiful lawns and attractive homes in the country.
In childhood he was fond of the pastimes and amusements which engage the attention of boys. He entered into their pleasures with vigor and earn- estness, which traits of character distinguished his career through life. He commenced attending school at an early age, going to the Friends' brick school- house in Rancocas, where he received the first rudi- ments of an English education. From the Friends' school he entered the " Franklin Park Boarding- · School," under the management of Mayberry Mc- Veigli, a celebrated institution of learning for that day, the reputation of which extended throughout the States. Here he engaged in the higher and more ab- struse branches of study. His intellectual powers were good. He was quick to comprehend, which made study easy and the acquisition of knowledge a pleasure. He made rapid progress as a scholar, and mastered the various branches there taught. Gram- . mar, rhetoric, geometry, and astronomy were favorite studies. Algebra he substituted for arithmetic in his complicated calculations in business life. History he was fond of, both as a study and pastime. At school he became acquainted with its general outlines. On leaving school he continued the study. He traced the history of man and government from their dawn throughout the various ages recorded. His purpose was to become conversant with the rise and fall of governments, to learn the secrets of their prosperity and the causes of their decline. It was a study of all others which most baffled his ability to understand how, in the institutions of government, to avoid the causes of decline. In his close perusal of the biog- raphies of distinguished men, their subordinates and subjects, he was strong in his convictions that human nature was always the same in its innate form ; that man always possessed the same passions, powers, dis- positions, and weaknesses; that in his conclusions, drawn from history, to the extent that law-makers and those who sway the destiny of nations are wise and just, to that extent will legislation and society's doings be conducted in a manner conducive to the country's glory and the government's prosperity.
he was required to work upon his father's farm, de- veloping his physical along with his mental powers. Ou leaving school he manifested a disposition for professional life. He was fond of the studies of chem- istry, philosophy, and anatomy, and was strongly in- clined to make a special study of medicine, which
In addition to his agricultural improvements he found time to take an active part in public improve- ments. His first distinguishing effort was in 1851, in the institution of "the Beverly and Mount Holly Turnpike and Plank-Road Company," which was extended through his premises along the front of his residence, and which company he served as director and secretary for many years.
After changing the wild nature of his lands to an easy state of production and got his system of farm- ing established and under way, he thought he would return to his mental pursuits and practice civil en- gineering, and do general public business thereunto,
During the vacation seasons, while attending school, . as had been the custom of his father. This plan an- swered but a short time. He so soon established a business that he had not sufficient time to attend to both it and the farm. Being naturally of a proti- sional turn, he became fond of public writing and , general surveying, and concluded rather than not to attend well to both to reduce his farming operation.
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