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 25
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 25
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411,848
309,019
230,473
Chambersburg.
1,396,428
419,164
386,546
202,880
1
540
HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
Amount of real estate taxable, 1880, 823,472,372. Amount of personal property taxable, 1880, $10,- 366,609.
Amount of eash on hand May 9, 1880, $13,120.36. Amount of tax raised, $65,000.
Appropriations for speeine purposes made by board of chosen freeholders :
Bridges $8,000.00
Court-house expenses.
6,250.00
Board of prisoners.
9,500.00
Courts
12.000.00
Justices of the peace .
2,50.00
Bonds payable, and interest
7,600,00
Coroners
8.0.00
Boards of election aud canvassers
1,000.00
Board of examiners
60.00
Asylum.
15,500.00
Printing and stationery
1,000 00
Officers' salaries.
6.000 00)
Extension of surrogate's office.
2.259.99
Constables
1,5+ 0.00
Incidentals
1,805,41
Total .. $76,175.40
Expenditures for the fiscal year ending May 9, 1881 :
Bridges.
$7,189.48
Court-house expenses
6,154.70
Board of prisoners
9,426.01
Courts ..
11,889.58
Justices of the peace.
2,790.36
Bonds payable, aud interest
7,595.50
Coroners ..
708.02
Board of election and canvassers. 990.70
Board of examiners
56.00
Asylum.
15,406.77
Printing and stationery
914.83
Officers' salaries.
5,816.61
Extension of surrogate's office.
2,359.99
Constables.
1,500.00
Incidentals
1,805.41
Total
$74,603.96
Agricultural .- We deeply regret that we are nn- able to avail ourselves of the last census taken to furnish correct agricultural statisties of the county. By the State returns of 1875 the produce of the county was given as follows :
Bushels of wheat
149,230
..
rve
16,505
Indian corn.
545,547
oats
428,143
64 barley
40
buckwheat
11,415
potatoes (Irishi)
22,207
potatoes (sweet)
9,724
Pounds of tobacco
17.516
wool
25,425
butter
500,342
: cheese.
2.095
{ Gallons of milk sold
209.507
Tons of hay.
28.767
Value of animals slaughtered Value of all live stock
.$1, 195,593
Number of horses
4,164 630
milch cows
6,801
working oxen.
other cattle
3,457
sheep ...
9.384
swine
6,738
Value of market garden produce.
$54,103
$65,251
Public Schools .- The present county superintend- ent of public schools, William J. Gibby, in his annnal school calendar, gives the apportionment of sehool moneys for the ensuing year, from Sept. 1, 1882, to Aug. 31, 1883.
From this official pamphlet we learn that Mercer County has fifteen thousand five hundred and nine. teen children, and will spend seventy-six thousand four hundred and thirty dollars and sixty-one cents :
on its sehools the coming year. exclusive of the special direet taxes levied in the school districts. The amount I apportioned to the different townships is :
Hopewell $6.405.01
Chambersburg $5.110.92
Ewing. 2.10: 55
Princeton . 6.022.02
Trenton.
37.513.78 West Windsor. 1.31.55
Millhamn.
2.455.46
Washington. 2.340,52
Lawrence ...
2.247.25
East Windsor. 3,232.02
Hamilton
4,241.93
The amount of school money raised by tax is de- termined by vote of the several school districts in the county, subject to the law of the State, and the per- centage is not necessarily uniform throughout the county. The number of school districts iu the county is fifty-fonr.
The county superintendent is William J. Gibby, of Princeton, and he, with Abel W. Hartwell and Wil- liam M. Lanning. constitute the board of examiners for the present year.
Mercer County has one hundred and thirteen pa- tients in the Trenton Lunatic Asylum, the largest number of any connty in the State, and double its quota, which is fifty-seven.
CHAPTER LVI.
THE PRESS.
THE printing-press is a mighty agency in the de- velopment of civilization. It is a great power in the family, in the church, and in the civil state. It en- lightens, quiekens, and energizes the mental and moral forces of society. To withhold from us the -- newspaper, the magazine, the pamphlet, the book, would be like denying us bread to eat, water to drink, and air to breathe. The power of the modern press has become a wonder in the world. The great cities are the centres of their operations. With New York on one side and Philadelphia on the other, New Jersey borrows or bnys so much from the press of those cities as greatly to lessen the work of her own printers. But notwithstanding the disadvantage . of our State iu this respeet, if it is a disadvantage, a printing-press, with its newspaper, can be found in every eonnty and in almost every village of our State.
It is well to remember that among the very full and detailed instructions given by Queen Anne to Lord Cornbury in 1702 for the government of the province of New Jersey the following inhibition was laid upon the liberty of the press, viz. :
"Forasinnch as great Inconvenieneies may arise by the Liberty of Printing in our said Province, you arc to provide by all necessary Orders, that no per- son keep any Press for printing, nor that any Book, Pamphlet, or other Matters whatsoever be printed without your Leave and License first obtained."
The first printing-press established in New Jersey was that of James Parker in 1751 at Woodbridge. He printed the proceedings of the Legislature and
orchard products
$126,210
mules and asses
541
THE PRESS.
official documents, and in 1752 he printed the Inde- pendent Reflector, edited by that brave man William Livingston, who became the first Governor of New Jersey under the State Constitution, in 1776. But the fear of men in authority deterred Mr. Parker from publishing it for any considerable length of time.
There was very little printing done in New Jersey prior to the Revolution. James Parker, Shepherd Kollock, and Isaac Collins were the printers of that period. The first newspaper printed in New Jersey was the New Jersey Gazette, commenced Dec. 5. 1777, printed by Isaac Collins at Burlington, and it was re- moved from Burlington to Trenton March 4, 1778. Its files may be seen in the State Library at Trenton, and it contains a valuable record of events in this State during the Revolutionary war.
From the year 1778 the city of Trenton has not been without a printing-press, and without at least one weekly newspaper. This original New Jersey Gazette, though suspended for a few years, and though its name has been sometimes changed, as well as its proprietors and editors, still lives in the present State Gazette of Trenton.
As newspapers are usually made the organs of po- litieal partics, and receive their support mainly from those who agree in the views promulgated in them, we commonly' find two papers coexisting very soon after one has been established in a place. But it was not as easy a matter to start a paper a hundred years ago as it is now. And it was not till the year 1802, after Trenton became the capital of the State, that a second paper was established, and from that time to this there have been from two to three and four weekly newspapers published, and as many job print- ing houses maintained in the city, except for a short interval in 1828. And as facilities for distribution : have of late years been multiplied, and the advanced state of society demands an immediate report of pass- ing events as they occur, the weekly paper has become supplemented by the tri-weekly and the daily.
The New Jersey Gazette, which was established in 1778, was suspended in 1786, and the Federal Post took its place till 1791, when George Sherman and John Mershon revived the Gazette by the name of the New Jersey State Gazette, and continued it till 1797, when, after some change of proprietors, it again be- came the property of Sherman and others in 1799. In 1806, George Sherman became sole proprietor and editor. On or about 1829 it took the name of State Gazette, which it has retained till the present time, and it was in the Sherman family from 1791 till 1853. With very short interruptions, George Sherman edited it from 1791 to the time of his death, in 1829,-thirty- eight years,-and James T. Sherman, his son, edited it from 1829 till his death, in 1853,-twenty-four years,-making the period of sixty-two years that it was under the Sherman control and editorship. It was during that period of its history that its high reputation was made.
James T. Sherman, though he has been dead thirty years, is remembered by many citizens of New Jersey as a man of high honor, great integrity, and strong intellectual force. His editorials were clear, terse, logical, and manly. When any dishonest condnet or hurtful policy, any unfair or oppressive measures, in- jurions to the public welfare, aroused his indignation. he could pen as caustic and as powerful an editorial as any editor in the country. Though a strong par- tisan of the old Whig school, and always faithful to his colors, he condneted his paper with so much dig- nity and justice to all men, that the State Gazette was welcomed in all the families who read it. The name of Sherman might well be inlaid upon every sheet of paper upon which the State Gazette is printed, as its trade-mark.
The True American was established in 1801. James J. Wilson may be said to have been its editor and pro- prietor till his death in 1825, soon after which it was discontinued; and in 1828 a paper which had been established as a literary and religious paper in 1822, called the Emporium, by Stacy G. Potts and Joseph Justice, became a political paper and supported the election of Gen. Jackson.
Joseph Justice continued to publish this paper till 1843, when Joseph A. Yard published it till 1845. In 1849, Morris R. Hamilton became its editor, and he revived its original name and called it the True American.
In 1852, Judge David Naar became owner and editor, with Franklin S. Mills, assistant, and Judge Naar controlled the editorial chair until he became disabled by age and infirmity, since which his sons have succeeded him.
The True American has ever been a strong partisan paper, and Mr. Wilson during the first twenty years of its existence and Judge Naar during its last thirty years may be regarded as its veteran editors. They both were able writers and impressed themselves upon the paper.
These two papers have been the permanent and prominent newspapers of Trenton for nearly a cen- tury. Opposite in politics, both elaiming to be the recognized organs of their parties at the capital of the State, the American, Democratic, and the Gazette, Republican.
The Gazette became a tri-weekly in 1840 and a daily in 1847.
The Trenton Daily was issued from the office of the Emporium in 1839. This was the first daily paper issued in Trenton.
Among the various editors who are mentioned as connected with the press in Trenton there are several who were men of liberal education and of editorial ability, but as their connection with it was for a very short period we have noticed particularly only the veterans.
It will be seen by reference to the accounts of the press in l'rineeton that a weekly newspaper called
542
HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
the Princeton Packet was established in that village . on the 4th of July, 1829, changed the name to New as early as 1786, the year the first Gazette in Trenton . Jersey State Gazette and afterwards to State Gazette, was suspended, and was continued for a year or two. which title it still bears. William Sherman was for We hear nothing of another press there till 1824, a short time its editor. After the death of George Sherman his family conducted the paper a few years, . no publisher's name appearing. ever since which time there have been one or more, on which at least one weckly newspaper has been continuously printed and published, besides many magazines, pamphlets, books, and miscellaneous mat- ter.
The notable printers in Princeton have been David Borrenstein, and John T. Robinson and his sons.
The press at Hightstown and Hopewell has been so recently introduced that it has not been able to make much history. Two weekly newspapers are , published at the former place, and one at the latter, and a weekly is also published at Chambersburg.
A more particular history of the press in its several localities in the county has been prepared and is as follows :
The Press in Trenton .- The first newspaper pub- lished in the State of New Jersey was the New Jersey Gazette, which was first issued at Burlington, Dec. 5, 1777. It was a weekly journal, nine by fourteen inches, and the subscription price was twenty-six shillings, or five dollars and twenty cents per annum.
On the 4th of March, 1778, the paper was removed to Trenton, and the office was located at the corner of Greene and East State Streets, in a wooden build- ing. By reason of insufficient patronage and the high price of paper, the publication was discontinued after the 27th of November, 1786.
About six months after the suspension of the Ga- zette, the Federal Post, or the Trenton Weekly Mercury, was established. The office was on the north side of Front Street, nearly opposite the present St. Michael's Episcopal Church. What was originally King (now . Warren) Street was then Front, and Queen (now Greene) was Back Street. It was ten by sixteen inches in size, and was published weekly at four pence per week. In consequence of the scarcity of paper its . size was on the 3d of October, 1788, reduced to nine by fifteen inches, and it was changed to a semi- weekly at two dollars per annum. It became a weekly again October 21st.
George Sherman and John Mershon on the 5th day . of March, 1791, commenced the publication of the New Jersey State Gazette in a two-story framed build- ing, adjoining the Trenton House on the south. Jan. 3, 1797, it was purchased by Matthias Day, and its name was changed to the State Gazette and New Jersey Advertiser. July 9, 1798, Gershom Craft and William Black purchased it and changed its name to Federalist and New Jersey Gazette. On the 26th of March, 1799, it became the property of Sherman, Mcrshon & Thomas. May 11, 1802, Sherman & Mershon became the proprietors, and the name was again changed to the Trenton Federalist.
On the death of John Mershon, Dec. 16, 1806, George Sherman became editor and proprietor, and
In 1836 it was published in an alley opposite St. Michael's Church, with James T. Sherman as editor, and in 1839 it was removed to the northeast corner of Warren and State Strects, where it was published by James T. Sherman and Henry Harron. Jan. 14, 1840, they commenced the issue of a tri-weekly, and Jan. 12, 1847. of a daily paper, which is still con- tinued. William Brown and Thomas C. Borden pur- chased it Feb. 1, 1853, and Mr. Borden retired from the establishment March 1, 1854. In the autumn of that year Mr. Brown sold to Edmund Morris. From July 30, 1855, to May 12, 1857, it was published by C. D. Tolles.
July 17, 1857, Jacob R. Frceze was publisher, and Enoch R. Borden, associate editor, and its name was changed to Daily State Gazette and Republican.
It was purchased by William Brook and Jonathan Vannote, Sept. 25, 1865, and by John L. Murphy and Charles Bechtel, July 10, 1869, and removed to the corner of State and Greene Streets, where it has re- mained till the present time.
The publication of the True American was com- menced March 10, 1801, at an office in Market (now State) Street, by Matthias Day and Jacob Mann. James J. Wilson became a partner June 28, 1802. Matthias Day retired November 3d in the same year, and Mr. Mann Feb. 9, 1803. It was then conducted by Wilson & Blackwell till 1811, when Blackwell re- tired, and Mr. Wilson continued its publication till his death, in 1825, after which it was conducted for Mrs. Wilson by W. L. Pratt, who purchased it in 1826, and continued its publication till 1828, when it was purchased by George Sherman, the publisher of the New Jersey State Gazette, and discontinued.
The publication of a literary and religious paper called The Emporium was commenced by Stacy G. Potts and Joseph Justice on the 23d of June, 1822. The office was in a framed building in Warren Street. In 1827 it became political, and advocated the clection of Gen. Jackson.
Mr. Potts retired from the concern in 1830 to accept a clerical position, and Mr. Justice continued to pub- lish the paper, with Joseph C. Potts as editor. A tri-weekly elcetioneering sheet was commenced in August, 1838, and discontinued in October of the same year. Dec. 2, 1839, the Trenton Daily was issned from the same office, and continued till March 2, 1840. No tri-weekly or daily paper had previously been published in Trenton.
In 1843 the Democratic Union was issued from the same office. Its purpose was to promote the election of George T. Olmstead, an independent candidate for sheriff of Mercer County.
-
543
THE PRESS.
The Emporium was published by Joseph A. Yard from February, 1843, till 1845, when the Newark Evening Post was consolidated with it, and the pub- lication was continued by Samuel G. Arnold.
In 1846 it was conducted by Brittain & Jones, then by Samuel J. Bayard, and about 1849 it came under the charge of Morris R. Hamilton as editor and owner, with William Magill, publisher, and was re- moved to Greene Street, near the City Hall. Mr. Hamilton changed its name to the True American. In 1852, David Naar became the owner and editor, with Franklin S. Mills as associate, and in 1866 it was purchased by Joshua S. Day, Joseph L. and Moses Naar. Judge Naar removed it to the corner of Warren and Front Streets.
Franklin S. Mills commenced the Sheet Anchor April 23, 1844, and on the 12th of July, 1845, sold it to Robert Gosman, who changed its name to the Trenton Journal.
The Daily News was first published at the office of the Trenton Journal on the 2d of March, 1846; but it was soon purchased and united with the Emporium by Brittain & Jones.
The Plaindealer, an anti-monopoly paper, was eom- meneed by Joseph C. Potts and John C. Webster in 1845. When Mr. Potts took charge of the Emporium, the Plaindealer was merged with it.
The Argus, a Democratic paper, was published by Peter Lott and B. F. Vaneleve at No. 9 East Front Street in 1835. It continued only about a year.
The New Jersey Temperance Herald was published in 1843 by William M. Whitley. It was first issued from the office of the Sheet Anchor, No. 49 Warren Street, then from an office in East State Street.
The Clay Banner, a campaign sheet, was published in 1844 by Charles W. Jay.
The Trentonian was commenced in 1848 by Charles W. Jay, Franklin S. Mills, and Joseph Justice, Jr., on the southeast corner of State and Greene Streets, which may properly be called Printing-House Corner from the length of time it has been used as a publish- ing-place. It was afterwards conducted by Charles W. Jay, Israel Wells, and Asher Beatty. It ceased to exist about 1851.
The Weekly Visitor and New Jersey Temperance Sen- tinel was published at No. 21 East State Street, first in 1846 by James S. Yard, then by him and Benja- min F. Yard, and finally by Benjamin F. Yard alone. It ceased to exist in 1851.
The Reformer and New Jersey Temperance Advocate was established in December, 1852, by Henry B. Howell. It was first a monthly publication, then a semi-montlily, and finally in 1855 it became a weekly. It was first issued from No. 5 West State Street_then from the office of the State Gazette, and finally after the purchase by Mr. Howell of the Weekly Visitor + office from No. 21 East State Street.
The Republican Privateer, a campaign paper, was published in 1852 by Charles W. Jay.
The Mercer Standard, a weekly paper, was com- menced in 1854 by J. Madison Drake, at No. 53 Perry Street.
The Free Press, a weckly, was published by Enoch R. Borden, at No. 21 East State Street.
The Monitor was commenced in February, 1864, by Dorsey Gardner. at Murphy & Bechtel's office, but was removed to No. 79 Warren Street. It eontinned only about a year and a half.
The Volunteer, a campaign paper, was published in 1865 by Charles W. Jay, at the Monitor office.
The weekly Union Sentinel was started March 1, 1866, by Charles W. Jay, and on the 7th of May, 1870, he commenced the publication of the Darby Sentinel. The paper was purchased Oct. 3, 1870, by Jacob R. Freese, and Theodore W. Freese became the editor. It was removed from the corner of State Street and Sterling's Alley to No. 25 West State Street.
The Emporium is a daily newspaper established in 1867, claiming to be independent in politics, and edited and published in Trenton by John Briest.
New Jersey Staats Journal (German) is a weekly, published by E. C. Stahl.
The Trenton Herald is a weekly newspaper, pub- lished by E. C. Stahl.
The Trenton Record is a weekly, published by Daniel W. Morrison.
The Sentinel is a weekly devoted to the interest of the eolored population, and is edited by R. Henri Herbert.
Beecher's Magazine was a quarterly published by Mr. Beccher while he was connected with the busi- ness college in Trenton. It lasted only a short time, but was a publication of considerable value and good reading.
Flowers' Family Magazine is a literary monthly, es- tablished in Trenton in 1878 by William P. Flowers, editor and publisher.
New Jersey Home Magazine is a literary monthly of fifty-two pages by Mrs. A. E. C. Maskell, editor and publisher.
New Jersey Methodist is a monthly established in 1879 by Rev. George Hughes, editor and publisher.
The Trenton Times is a new evening paper, edited by Lawrence S. Mott. Just established.
The Press in Princeton .- Princeton had almost won the honor of issuing the first weekly newspaper in the State of New Jersey. The Princeton Packet and General Advertiser was the first newspaper pub- lished in Princeton. It was established in May, 1786, and published weekly by James Tod. It was neatly printed on a sheet ten by eighteen inches in size, with three broad columns on a side. It had a neat head- letter, with a vignette of Nassau Hall between the words Princeton Packet. How long it was contin- ued we have no means of ascertaining. The last number we have seen was a number in the second volume, June 28, 1787.
.
544
HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
1
The Princeton Religious and Literary Gazette. a : lished by him till 1861. It retained its political com- weekly newspaper, was commenced in May, 1824. edited by the Rev. Robert Gibson and printed by Borrenstein. It was not long continued.
The New Jersey Patriot, printed and published by Borrenstein, a weekly newspaper, was commenced in 1825. It was at first a political paper, and in 1827 it became a literary one. After a few years it ceased for want of patronage.
-
A Series of Tracts was opened monthly in 1824. published by Borrenstein at sixty-two and a half cents a year, making a volume of three hundred pages.
The American Journal of Letters, Christianity, and Civil Affairs, edited by Rev. Robert Gibson, and published weekly. It contained four pages, with four coluiuns on a page. It was filled with solid reading. Its first number was issued April 2, 1825.
The American Magazine of Letters and Christianity, published by T. C. Gibson and printed by Borreustein, was published Jan. 1, 1826, aud took the place of the Journal. It was a monthly, at three dollars.
The Princeton Courier and Literary Register was a weekly newspaper published about four years from 1831, first by Dr. West & Connoly, then by Baker & Connoly, and lastly by Bernard Connoly alone. It had a vignette of Nassau Hall and adjoining build- ings. Priee, two dollars. It had five columns ou a page, and was published weekly. It espoused the cause of Jackson and Van Bureu in the Presidential campaign of 1832. It was soon after discontinued, when Mr. Conuoly removed to Freehold.
The American System and Farmers' and Mechanics' Advocate was a weekly newspaper, commenced and edited by Dr. L. V. Newton, and published by Robert E. Hornor. Its first number was Sept. 7, 1832. It was a eampaign journal and in the interest of the Whig party, with Clay and Sergeant on the Presi- dential tieket. Dr. Newton withdrew, and it assumed the name of the Princeton Whig.
Monthly Journal of Education, edited by E. C. Wines, printed by Moore Baker, Vol. I., No. 1, 1835. It de- voted mueh attention to common-school education, but it was discontinued when Mr. Wines withdrew from the Edgehill High School.
The Princeton Whig, into which the American Sys- tem was merged in 1832, was owned and edited by Robert E. Hornor. It was Whig in its politics, strongly partisan. Mr. Hornor was a descendant of the original Quaker family of Hornor, numbered among the first settlers at Princeton. He was widely Princeton by Gen. Harrison, and was well known to political leaders at Washington and at Trenton. He sold his paper in 1851, just before his death, to John T. Robinson, who had been its publisher.
The Princeton Press was only another name for the : Princeton Whig, given to it by John T. Robinson after he purchased of Mr. Hornor. It was edited and pub-
plexion, but lent its influence to the Know-Nothing or American party when that organization first loomed up into prominence.
Mr. Robinson died in 1862. He was the inventor of a power printing-press, which he manufactured at his own foundry and machine-shop in Princeton for sale. He was a judge of Mercer Pleas, mayor of Princeton, postmaster in Princeton at the time of his death, having been appointed by President Lincoln. Ile was also a ruling clder in the Second Presbyte- rian Church.
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