History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 174

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 174
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 174

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the British. Lead was scarce, and these pewter bullets, run in common moulds, were the substitute."

In 1787, Matthew Lane, of the Lane family, who settled east of Van Vleet's Mills about 1748 or 1749, was a merchant and postmaster at Pluckamin. The house in which he lived is still standing; the store adjoined it. It is now occupied by Mrs. Sarah Har- mer. He continued in business till about 1800. In this old house, now owned by Mrs. Cornell, of Som- erville, several of the prisoners-probably the officers -were confined after the battle of Princeton, and the glass in the windows yet bears the initials cut by their diamond rings. "The interior of this house has re- mained unaltered since the Revolution; the old- fashioned doors and cornice show the style of that day. The steps are remarkable for their easy ascent, and it is a popular tradition in the village that Gen. Washington rode up and down over them on horse- back; indeed, there are marks on the boards which, it is asserted, are the prints of his horse's shoes."* The old church was also used for confining prisoners, as a hospital, and as a store-house for forage.

Christian Eoff kept the tavern on the spot where the present tavern stands. Among other jokes attrib- uted to him is one to the effect that he substituted stones for hams in the wheelbarrow of Edward Hill, which the latter wheeled up a steep mountain-road before discovering the trick.

Dr. Scott, of New Brunswick, a prominent surgeon during the Revolution, attended the army to Pluck- amin and remained several days. His quarters were in the village, and he visited the camp several times each day. On the way he had to cross a plank over a deep gully with soft mud at the bottom. The irre- pressible Eoff, watching his chance, so shifted the plank that one end harely rested ou the bank, within an inch of the edge. Along came the surgeon in his brilliant uniform, with a proud, important tread. He struck the plank, and down he went into the slough.

About 1800, John Davenport, a native of England, came to this part of New Jersey from Connecticut, and purchased the property south of the village known as the Lafferty property. He married Margaret, the daughter of Ruloff Traphagen (who lived at the foot of the mountain south of the Lesser Cross-Roads, on the line between Bernard and Bedminster). He lived in the Lafferty house, and built an extensive tannery. He purchased large quantities of sumach, and pre- pared it for the use of morocco-manufacturers. He died in 1830, aged fifty-two. His remains lie in the Lamington churchyard. Ralph Davenport, of Pluckamin, is a son by his first wife; after her death Mr. Davenport married Mary, the daughter of John Boylan. Thomas, James, and Samuel Davenport, of Somerville, are his sons .; The old Lafferty house

# Jacob Magill, from articles published in the Unionist in 1870. + See sketch of Davenport family, p. 689, et seq., in this work.

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BEDMINSTER.

was torn down in 1879, and no vestige of house or other of the various business interests carried on there is to be seen.

In the war of 1812, William I. Hedges and .John Hunt came to Pluckamin, and both kept store,-IIunt in a part of the "old Barracks," as it was then called. Hunt a little later opened a recruiting-office in the building. About 1815 this old hostelry was torn down, and James Herod built the present dwelling upon the site. William 1. Hedges married a daughter of Christian Eoff, and kept store in Pluckamin until 1817, when he removed to Somerville. Jacob Locey came to Pluckamin about 1810. He was a hatter, and worked at his trade for several years; he was also a justice of the peace for many years, and post- master forty-five years. Ilis shop was close to his house, still standing on the west side of Main Street. John Van Zandt, whose mother was an Eoff, was born in Pluekamin, and became engaged in mercantile pursuits in his native village, continuing thirty-nine years. He now lives in Somerville, at an advanced age. Squire Elias Brown was born at Pluckamin. (He was a son of Abram Brown, who early purchased 130 acres in the vicinity.) He married the only dangliter of Col. William McEown. He was a farmer and justice of the peace, and owned 600 or 700 acres of land. Dr. McDowell relates many ancedotes of the squire and his wife; they are published in "Our Home" in 1873, to which the reader is referred.

Tho following is related by Mr. Magill and is of interest :

" Garrot Conover has in his house In Plackamin a tea-board or tablo which bears the hacka of Ilesslan swords. It belonged to his grand- futher, Abraham Conover, who lived on tho turnpike below Bound Brook. A notorious friend of the British living on Pluckamin Moun- tain guided a party to Conover's house and mado him get out of bed, harness up his team, and get 400 musketa from a pileof buckwheat straw on the back part of Abraham Brokaw's farm, whore they had been con- cenled by the Americans, and haul them to the British at New Bruns- wick. For this act Mr. Conover declared ho would punish the leader, and watched with his gnu several weeks, declaring he would shout him. At length he was caught, takon to the same house ho had Invaded, stripped, and covered with tar, and, Grandmother Conover volunteering her feather-bed for the occasion, it was ripped open and the scoundrel rolled in it till he was sufficiently arranged for the ostrich-like run that ho made when he was Ilbornted.

" Mrs. Sarnh Conover relates that she has ofton heard her mother, Ida V. Gaston, any, that when Washington's army came from l'rincoton a commissary was sont ahend to roqueet the farmers to preparo foud for thon. Ilugo pots of meat were put ovor the firo, but whon the area came along they were su nearly starved that they lished it out with their bayoneta and ato it on their way."

Dr. William MeKissack was a physician in Plucka- min before removing to Bound Brook. Dr. McDowell relates the following story of him :

" He was a large burly man, with great tofondity of stomach. Doctors in those days, in vialting their patients, ulways took one drink at the honso. If thoy wished they could take two; uobody thought anything about It. . . . It was almost Impossible for a physician to be a subor Dian. Our friend wont from Pluckamin to Somerville one day after dinner la u sulky. Ilo necomplished hiserrand, thon drank freely. Night camo on. Ho supposed he had come there on horseback, and for- getting the sulky, mounted the horse and started for home. As ho rodo along the noise of wheela behind disturbed him. How dreadful it would bo to be run over on a dark night,-lo bo crushed to death all alone !

" Tarn oat behind ! Don't run over me" cried the doctor. Ilo felt re- assured, and rodo farther. Still those dreadful, dreadful wheels sounded behind. It was too much ! Again agony of fear broke forth into worda: 'Turn out there behind ! Tho oll doctor rides slowly on a dork night.' At lust Pinckamin was reached. To his dismay, he found the horeo atill attached to the sulky. He luul ridden the horse all the way and left the sulky, without an occupant, to follow behind."

Much that pertains to the history of Pluckamin will be found in the chapter on the Revolution and in other parts of this work. From 1830 the place has given way to other centres, and is now but an outly- ing village. It contains a church (Presbyterian), hotel, two stores, post-office, two blacksmith-shops, and about forty dwellings.

LAAGER CROSS-ROADS.

To-day the place has no importance. In 1775 it contained a hotel kept by John Sutphin ; two years later another one, across the way, was opened by John Finley. The road passing through here from east to west was laid out in 1745 along the north line of the Maj. Daniel Axtell tract. Jacob Magill, of the New- ark Journal, in 1870 gathered many of the Revolu- tionary incidents of the county and contributed them to the columns of the Unionist under the heading of " Somerset, Past and Present." The following will be of interest in this connection :

" Larger Cross-Roada las au almost inexhaustible fund of history. Here lived the fighting men who raised the quofas of Bedminster in the Rovolution, and hore train-bands met fer years to fight their battles o'or again over a glass of apple-juice of any age to suit the tasto. After the capture of Gon. Lee at Basking Ridge, the troops of this neighborhood were drawn up in line of battle expecting an attack, and bullets have frequently been found where they stood. The old men who came boro to drill on training-days had many u talo to tell of their adventures In the war. Oo a cortain night, when the army lay at Morristown, John Barclay, who lived north of the Cross-Ronds, and Malachi McCollum were placed on guard. The notorious Bill Stewart and his brother Laf- forty wore confined in jail, and it was the duty of these men to watch the prisoners. There happened to be in their rounds a barrel of hard cider, which they, with true soldierly instinct, soon discovered. Whether it was the cold or the cider we cannot say, but something made them de- cidedly ' blue,' and the prisonors, making ropes of their bed-clothes, es- caped. Esq. Potor Sutphin was in the army at the time, in Capt. Logan's company, and stayed the night of the occurrence with his brother-in- law, Capt. Robert Blair. The escapo of the prisoners caused great ex- citoment, and the two negligent cider-suckers never heard the last of it.

" A companion of these, and a right jolly ono, too, was Robert Littlo. lio wns a Hon in conrago, of powerfully -developed muscle, and one of the toughest voteraus of tho war. ITe related to those now living that the hardest fighting ho ever did was at the battle of Monmouth, when, In a hand-to-hond fight, they forced a body of Hleestana back through a brush fenco. A Scotchman, he loved his wife and reverenced the church, but was sometimes overcome by hia fondness fer a social glass."

Little afterwards lived and died in Branchburg, Ilis son, John, lived to an advanced age, and died in 1879. His children now reside in that township. Robert Little related the following to Dr. McDowell :

" Our company was na ragged na beggars. How could we help It ? Our pay was poor, our clothes wore wearing out, and we had nothing to re- placo them. At Inst tho time came to fix up again. The colonel Lewood the onder. I was then the tallor of the company. It was very easy to Issuo the command; to fulfill it was a different task. Wo could easily sew and patch, but where was the cloth to come from? Wo hanted, gathered from all the familles and friends around, and I, with my aceist- ants, went to work. We everhauled, patched and mended. We got the clothes in sach order that no rags were seen. A grand drome-parde was ordered. Our boys marched with head erect and a proud step. For ouce

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SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

for a long time they had a suit of clothes without any holes in them. The light-horse saw them: they became eovious. Then a second order was issued : 'Robert Little must fix up the light-horse and put them in as good condition as the infantry.' This order was harder to fulfill than the first one. We ransacked all the houses in the neighborhood a second time. We found cloth and other material. These we fixed up for the light-horse. Still we were a little behind; something else was wanting. The light-horse wore helmete, intended to be ornamented with horse- tails. We had none of them to epare. We were now in a serious fix. At last I hit upon a plan. I selected twenty of the youngest, smartest meo, I awoke them all at 12 o'clock at night. At that time they started, scoured the country for miles around. They drove up every cow they could find. And I tell you each cow went home with a piece off its tail ahont as long as my hand."

LESSER CROSS-ROADS.

This settlement commenced after the Revolution. The first hotel-keeper was John Melick, about 1780. A post-office was established about 1835. The Bedmin- ster church is a short distance below the corner. The first church was built about 1758, torn down about 1817, and the present one erected the next year. The hamlet contains a hotel, one store, post-office, black- smith-shop, carriage-shop, and fifteen or twenty dwell- ings.

PEAPACK.

This village is located on a road running north and sonth along Peapack or Lawrence Brook, and is a long and straggling village, extending about two miles. Before the beginning of the present century a saw- and grist-mill was built on the stream where the Jo- roleman mill now stands. Daniel Joroleman relates that when he removed to that place with his father, in 1808, there were but four honses there besides the mill,-those of William Logan, Hugh Gaston (stone), Levi Sutton, and Nicholas Ditmars where Mrs. Ann Tiger now lives. The Van Dorns lived a little west; their mill was built that year. In 1814, William Van Dorn built the residence at present occupied by his son, Lewis Van Dorn .* The first blacksmith was William Logan, father of Capt. John Logan ; the shop was opposite the school-house, where Robert Lay- ton now lives. Alexander Kirkpatrick was a sur- veyor and merchant here before 1800. Peter Doren, about 1814, erected a blacksmith-shop on the spot where now stands the shop of Henry Van Duyn. A school-house once stood where the cemetery now is ; John Herod and Stoffel Logan were teachers. A stone blacksmith-shop was erected in 1836, near Van Dorn's mill, by Ferdinand Van Dorn; one Cole was the blacksmith.

The village now contains a hotel, two grist-mills, post-office, two churches (Reformed and Methodist), four stores, three blacksmith-shops, three wheel- wrights, distillery, six perpetual lime-kilns, and nine set kilns.t

LAMINGTON.

The land on which this hamlet is located was pur- chased in 1741 by James Alexander and Daniel Don-

alson Dunstar, and consisted of 583 acres. The Presbyterian church had been built prior to this, on the ground occupied by the present building. In March, 1743, they conveyed the church and cemetery lot to the congregation. The Rev. James McCrea, the first regular pastor, in the early part of his pas- torate lived on the west side of the river, in a house later owned by the father of the Rev. Dr. Messler, of Somerville. He afterwards purchased a farm where George Mullen now lives, and still later the farm on which Peter Lane resides. Rev. J. Halsey purchased 105 acres on the east side of the Allematunk, known later as the parsonage. Feb. 24, 1772, he sold it to John Demund. July 1, 1784, William McEown pur- chased the property from Thomas Berry, executor of Mr. Demund, and the next day deeded it to the trus- tees of the Presbyterian Church of Bedminster. On this lot was built the parsonage of which the ruins are still standing.

In the old stone ruin on the bank of the river lived the Rev. William Boyd ; here he opened a classical school for young men. As was the custom in New Jersey, he owned slaves.}

During the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Boyd a singu- lar and eccentric woman, known as Betty McCoy, came to Lamington and united with the church. She soon became known far and near not only for her ec- centricities, but for her deep piety. This account of her is given :

"She was stolen away when a small child, by the Indians, and was never able to give any clue to the place of her birth or her parentago. She spoke about Minisiok, and probably was first taken there, and after- wards carried down into Virginia. Here she formed a plan to escape to the Revolutionary army. Being pursned, she hid in a brush-heap, and the savages set fire to nearly every pile of brush around her, expecting to burn her out; but tho heap where she was concealed escaped the conflagration. This ehe considered such a miraculous interposition of Providence that from that hour she became a devoted Christian. Reaching the army, she served as a vivandiere aod ministered to the sick and wounded through the eventful Sonthern campaign, aod though her voice was rough, her speech unlettered (for she never learned to read or writo), and her face homely, there never was a kinder norge than Betty McCoy. On the re- turn of peace she came north, and, finding her way to Lamington, though only about sixteen years of age, she commenced her mission, going from house to house scattering gospel seed in hor rough but earn- est way."

At the time Betty came to Lamington, Simon Suy- dam owned the most of the landed property. The people were interested in the story of her troubles and wanderings. Mr. Suydam offered lumber if the neigh- bors would build Betty a house. The offer was ac- cepted, and a small honse was erected ou a lot set apart for the purpose. Betty built a bruslı fence around it. She took charge of the church, which, with her spinning and visiting (for she was a welcome guest), kept her very busy.

* See biographical department of this township history.

+ Lime-burning started at Poapack as early as 1794, but it did not be- come very extensivo until 1830. There are now abont 200,000 bushels of unslaked limo produced annually.

# "June 13, 1806 .- Rev. William Boyd certifies that In the township of Bedminster he had born of a female slave a female child namod Hannah, June 28, 1805, which was duly registered in the clerk's office, and which gaid child I do hereby abandon and surrender to said township as a pau- per ofsaid township, agroeable to the Act of the Legislature, entitled An Act for tho Gradual Abulition of Slavery."

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BEDMINSTER.

POTTERSVILLE.

In the records of 1741 the name of Potter occurs in this section, it being a mention of one Richard Potter, owning land on both sides of the Lamington. Mills have existed here many years. Col. Jonathan I'otter, the father of Sering and Samuel, lived and died here. The village contains about 120 inhabi- tants, a Reformed church (erected in 1865), a grist- mill, and an agricultural implement manufactory. The property, except the old Potter homestead, is owned by Robert Craig. The place was founded by Sering Potter, who commenced the improvements which caused it to become a busy and thriving hamlet.

SCHOOLS.

It is difficult to gain any accurate information of the early schools of Bedminster, as the records were destroyed about 1845. In the early days the business pertaining to the schools was recorded with the other public business of the town. The earliest reliable information of the existence of a school-house is given in a record of a road laid out Jan. 6, 1759, "begin- ning at the westerly side of the brook that divides Bedminster and Bridgewater township at the school- house." Exactly where or who were the teachers we cannot ascertain. The next is in an account of a ball given at Pluckamin, Feb. 18, 1779, and published in the New Jersey Gazette of that year. "The entertainment and ball were held in the academy of the park." After fireworks in the evening " the company returned to the academy and concluded the celebration by a very splen- did ball." The exact locality of this "academy" is sup- posed to have been on the east side of the main street of the village, north of the residence of John Boylan, on the edge of a wood. The property was a few years ago a part of the farm of the late Dr. Henry Van Derveer. It is not known who were teachers, nor how long it had been in existence. The earliest school at Pluckamin within the memory of those now living was taught about 1810. At that time a school-house was standing about a mile west of the village, by the bend of the road opposite opposite Van Derveer Van Arsdale's house. Among the teachers were John Hardcastle, William Perrine, and " Master Welsh," who wore a gown when on duty and wielded the birch with vigor. Schools were not kept regularly, but only as some stray pedagogue chanced along. Folkert Dowe kept one at the Lesser Cross-Roads before 1818, in a house opposite the Bedminster church. In this year the Rev. Charles Hardenburgh, pastor of the Reformed Church of Bedminster, founded a classical school. It was kept in the second story of a district school-house at the Lesser Cross-Roads. A similar school had been established prior to this by the Rev. William Boyd, of Lamington. He came to that church as pastor in 1784 and died in 1807. A number of young men studied in the old parsonage, the ruins of which are still standing west of the churchyard.

The county was probably divided into school dis-

tricts in 1832, but no data are obtainable. In the other townships an amount was raised annually for school purposes, and without doubt that was the case in this. The election records of the township of Bridgewater for 1834 show the first school committee to have been elected that year. In 1867 the town- ship contained twelve school districts, as follows : Pluckamin, Lesser Cross-Roads, Holland, Union, Pea- pack, Lamington, Central, Foot of Lane, Larger Cross-Roads, Duchess, Pottersville, Union Grove. The whole number of children was 633; county sur- plus revenue interest, $294.73; State appropria- tion, $292.23; township appropriation, $1266; total, $1852.96.

The number of school districts reported in 1879 were nine, as follows:

Prapack (No. 1), Union Grove (No. 2), Bedminster (No. 4), Larger Cross- Roads (No. 5), Foot of Land (No. 6), Pottersville (No. 7), Lamington (No. 8), Pluckamin (No. 9), Burnt Mills (No. 10). Total number of children in township between five and eighteen, 728; total average number la attendance, 255; total value of property, $6160; total received from all sources for school purposes, $2802.78.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH.

A colony of German Lutherans from old German- town came to what is now Germantown in New Jersey before 1720, and rapidly spread in different directions, -some to the German Valley, others to Washington Valley, and to Spruce Run. Devotion to their faith led them to institute public worship as soon as possi- ble. The first place in this section known to have been used for that purpose was in the Washington Valley, where a portion of the Germans had settled. Prior to 1730 a log church was built, about a mile and a half east of the village, in the township of Bernard; it has long since passed away, and trees now grow upon the spot.

Upon the organization of the Lutheran congrega- tion in Germantown this church was abandoned, those who attended here uniting with that body. The date of the organization of Zion's Church is not definitely known, but it is said to have been formed in 1742. The oldest record in existence bears date 1749. Lutheran missionaries were here much earlier, as services were held in the log church mentioned and a log church near White House (the old burying-ground of which still exists). In 1748, John Albert Weygand preached on trial, and the next year was called by the society. Seventy-eight names were signed to the call, the signers being residents of Readington, Bed- minister, and Roxbury, as well as of Tewksbury. The names of the trustees were Baltus Pickel, Honnes Melick, Philip Phise, alias White, Caspar Ilender- shot, Lawrence Rulison, Samuel Barnard, David Melick, Jacob Kline, Adam Vockerot, Jacob Ship- man, George Sweet, and Joseph Hornbaker. It will be noticed that some of the names are still known in the township to this day. In 1756, at a meeting of the vestry of Zion's Church, it was "determined to

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SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

build a church at Pluckamin, Bedminster township, Somerset Co., to be called St. Paul's Church." A subscription-list was started, which was favorably re- ceived and largely signed. A copy of this list is here given, as fully as possible, a few names being illeg- ible .*

BEDMINSTER, Ye 7th Day of December, 1756.

A Subscription For Raising a Sum of Money For Building a Church In Bedminster town.

Whereas, the Members of the Lutheran Congregation In and near Bedminstertown Being Necessitated For a Place of Public Worship Thiok it a Proper Place to Erect a House for To Worship God and it is further Agreed By us the Subscribers That one-half of the Preaching on Every Other Sermon Preached By any Minister Chosen by the Said Lutheran Congregation Shall be in the English Language And the other in High Dutch. We therefore the undersubscribers Do Promise To Pay or Canse to be Paid The Sum or Sume Annexed to our Names for the uses abovementioned To any Person or Persons Chosen Collector of Said Money by the Said Congregation. The Money is not To be paid untill Said Church is a Building and the Money Wented for that Use. We most Humbly would Desire the assistance of all our well Mioded friends and Neighbors That are well wishers for Promoting So Good a Deseine To be helpfull to us and Subscribe such a Matter To this our undertaking which will be Excepted with Greatest Humility and thankfulness and will be Attending to the advancement of ye Glory of God.

s. d.

William Corle.

1 0

0 Lott Low.

1 0 0

Moses McGraw ....

1 0 0 Isaac Man .....

0 16

Aaron Louzader.

1 0

0 Rue Williems ...

0 Otto Perissen

Mary Alexander

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 174

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170