USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 2 > Part 35
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Scobeyville School District, No. 3, contains one hundred and two seholars. Before 1820 a school-house was erected on land of Daniel Pol- hemus, on a lane off the main road. This was used until 1851, when the present house was ereeted on land of Thomas Guest.
Hillside School District, No. 4, has forty-six children of school age. Prior to the school es- tablished at the "Phalanx," children attended school at the old house not far from Scobeyville. In 1844, when the society that later became the Phalanx was in active operation, a school was opened and kept by them until they failed. The district was then known as the Phalanx · District, and was not abolished until December
21, 1865, at which time the present distriet was formed and the school-house built.
Montrose School District, No. 5, embraces parts of Middletown and Atlantic townships and contains one hundred and fourteen children. The seliool-house, which is in Atlantic town- ship, was ereeted over twenty years ago.
Robbins School, No. 53, has forty-seven school children. A school-house was erected in this section in 1873 and school opened in Oeto- ber of that year.
THE NORTH AMERICAN PHALANX .- In the northeastern part of Atlantie township, between Hop and Yellow Brooks, on the road leading to Leedsville, in Middletown township, and five miles from the town of Red Bank, is the location which, from the year 1844 to 1855, was oceu- pied by a company or society known as the North American Phalanx, a community of dis- eiples of Fourier, the essence of whose doetrine was that there should be a universal guarantee of the results of all labor, a just distribution of those results and economical methods of production, distribution and consumption by co-operation in communities.
Albert Brisbane and Parke Godwin were mainly responsible for the interesting experi- ment that was continued eleven years. Mr. Brisbane's translations of certain of Fourier's writings were published in the New York Tribune and elsewhere, while Mr. Godwin's arguments in favor of a practical test of the French philosopher's ideas were attracting attention. Brook Farm was then in existenee, and there were other less ambitious experiments elsewhere. Those whose thoughts were bent on attaining a perfect system of living were eager for opportunities to test their various plans. The Phalanx had for its members people from the middle of New York State and from Albany, at which latter place the society was informally organized in 1842 or 1843, with Allen Warden as president, and Nathan R. French treasurer. A committee then appointed to seleet a tract of land on which to settle examined various places in New Jersey, and finally decided on the tract above referred to, in Atlantie township, which tract of six hundred and seventy-three aeres was purchased January 1, 1844, by Allen Warden,
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Thomas Guest and Nathan R. French, of Hen- driek Longstreet and Daniel Holmes, for the sum of fourteen thousand dollars.
The society then numbered about fifty per- sons, of whom about twenty -nearly all of whom were men - took possession of the tract in 1844, and lived in two small farm-houses,- one an old Dutch building,-which were stand- ing on the property. Before the next spring they had built a three-story frame building, one-half of which is now standing, and then the wives and children of those who had spent the winter there moved to the place.
On the 26th of December, 1844, notice was given that application would be made to the next session of Legislature for an act to incor- porate "The North American Phalanx." This was not accomplished until 1848, when a certifi- cate of incorporation was issued. The capital stock of the society was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, of which thirty-five thousand and seventy dollars was required to be paid in. The day fixed for the act to take effect was January 1, 1850.
On the 2d of February, 1850, the land and buildings which had been purchased by Allen Warden and others, with the property that had afterwards accumulated, amounting in all to $39,863.44, was transferred by Stephen F. Wheeler to "The North American Phalanx." Additions had been . made to the buildings ; a grist-mill, saw-mill, smith-shop, offices and other buildings were erceted, including the General Phalanx building, which contained the dining-room, worship and dance-hall, besides offiees. A school was established, and was taught by a Frenchman, named Guillaudeau, a member of the society, who was also the post- master.
On the 17th of April, 1854, the grist-mill, saw-mill, smiths' shops and offices of the Phalanx were destroyed by fire, causing a loss of nine thousand dollars. This disaster, added to other troubles that had arisen, brought about the fail- ure of the Phalanx scheme. The mills had been a principal source of revenue, and their loss was a fatal blow. There was a conflict of opinion as to whether to rebuild them where they had been or in the neighboring village of Red Bank.
This dispute was seized upon by those who had the most foresight, as a pretext for withdrawing. They could not make the money that they felt their talents would command in open competi- tion with the world. The colony had at one time numbered nearly two hundred, but it was not large enough .. The industries had not been varied enough even for the little number there. There was not eapital sufficient to establish other lines of work. The project had failed of the success that was anticipated, and the Phalanx ceased to exist in April, 1845, and the members gradually withdrew and dispersed. Charles Scars, John B. Angell and Thomas Guest were appointed to dispose of the property. The real estate was advertised to be sold October 3, 1855, and the inovable property on the 5th of Decem- ber in the same year. The Phalanx lands are now the property of John B. Angell (at one time president of the Phalanx), Thomas Guest (a member), John Bueklin (also a member), Col- man and Richdale, James Bray and Burrows Walling.
A description of the place by one who visited it in 1883, together with a rather rambling and highly-colored aecount of what was done there by the Phalanx people during the eleven years of their occupaney, was printed in a eity news- paper 1 of the time, and is here given, ---
" The Phalanx is a large tract of land shut off from the country road by a wild and luxurious growth of brush and shrubbery. Once beyond this natural screen the visitor finds himself in a charming, and at the same time an astonishing, place. A dam trans- forms a little brook into a placid lake at the foot of a majestic lawn leading up to a city row of frame houses, built at right angles to an enormous structure some- thing after the style of a watering-place hotel. Other large buildings are to be seen through the trees and across the farms, and, if one did not know the truth, it would be difficult to decide in a glance whether the place was dead and deserted or whether it still con- tained a population.
"The pond, the lawn and the trees are in the main the victims of continued neglect. The big, hotel-like place is evidently not inhabited. But the road is apparently in constant use ; smoke curls from the cottage chim- neys ; now and then a man, woman or a pair of romp- ing children pass from one house to another, and the calls of a ploughman to his sweating horses ring
1 New York Sun, September 30, 1883.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
through the grove. A stranger's second judgment would be, after he had seen a big, factory-like build- ing further along the road, with parlor furniture in view through the windows, that there had onee been a much larger number of people in the inclosure ; that they had lived in the big hotel and carried on various industries in the other houscs, and that now only a few remained, and these were scattered about the place, some of the work-houses being turued into homes, some of the homes being abaudoued and the only work being farming. And this would be in a general way the truth about the place.
" Farming was at first the only means of livelihood of the Phalanx people, and those who engaged in it knew so little about it that Mr. John Bueklin, who was then and has ever since been a farmer there, says that when two of the cattle got their horns locked in the woods the men sent to the house for saws with which to cut off their horns, and when they attempted to drive a farm-wagon through an open gateway they managed to break down the gate-posts on either side of the opening. They bought poison marl, too, and thus made good ground sterile. John Bucklin was head of the farming group and Mr. Nathau Freneh, now head of the firm of French & Co., produee com- mission merchants in New York, was the only other man who knew anything about farming. In time, however, the farming became very profitable, though there was more land than was ever utilized in that way. In time, too, other industrics were added. Black silk stocks were then in vogue, and these were manufactured there. There was also a machine-shop, a blacksmith-shop and a flouring-mill. The latter grew to be the principal source of profit. From grinding their own grain they came to grinding that of the neighborhood, aud then to shipping it from New York and sending it back in the shape of flour of a good quality.
" At the highest point of success in the Phalanx the plaee presented a very interesting study. There were one hundred and forty people1 there, and their home was the big building now standing that has been likened to a hotel. Its dining-room was also its ball- room, and as it is to-day, there are not many halls in New Jersey as large, as handsome or as well-built as it is. At the further end is a great oil-painting of some sanguine philosopher's dream of a model Fourierite city, looking a little like a world's fair- ground and somewhat resembling a Western railroad centre, mainly composed of passenger and freight de- pots. Here the service at the tables was performed by waiter-girls,-the wives, daughters and sisters of the Phalanx men. Herc, also, they did their cooking and heating by steam. In all New Jersey there was not another such kitchen or restaurant. The food
was excellent and the cooking elaborate. Work was thus furnished for women whose time was not wholly taken up in their own familics, and who, iu the world at large, would have had no such opportunities for Inaking themselves useful and comfortable. Here, also, and in various other ways, children, who, if they had been anywhere else, would have found no way to add to the family ineonie, worked at odd jobs. The restaurant workers formed several groups in what was called the household or domestic series. This series incluced the kitchen, laundry, waiting (at table), sewing and several other groups.
" An idea may be had of how the whole work was divi- ded up by the reports in the New York papers of the first funcral at the Phalanx. Seven years passed before a death occurred, and Mr. James H. Martin's was the first funeral. In the procession to the tomb President Sears led the way. The body followed, attended by six members of the Kitchen Garden Group, of which the deceased man had been the head. The members of this group all bore, in rest, their hoes as emblems of their profession. These were draped. A hoe and spade, draped and crossed, rested on the cof- fin. Then followed the family, then the Agricultural Series, headed by its chief, Mr. John Bucklin, and thus composed :
1, the Market Garden Group, with draped hoes in rest ; 2, the Marling Group, with piekaxes and shov- els in rest, draped ; 3, the Farming Group; and 4, the Orchard Group, all with their implements draped.
Mr. G. B. Arnold headed the various groups in the Domestic Series, appointed with the properimplements draped. Dr. E. Guillaudeau headed the Festal Series, bearing Humboldt's Cosmos, as a symbol of all knowl- edge, draped, and Mr. J. Warren earried a flute, draped. Another teacher carried a roll of music, draped. Chief J. B. Angell, heading the Live Stock Series, was followed by the groups in that department, leading four robust farm-horses with head-stalls draped, and as many grave oxen with their horus in mourning. The Manufacturing Series, headed by Mr. N. R. French, with a draped miller's staff, presented the mil- lers with their tools, the carpenters with theirs, the iron and tin-workers and the woodmen each with an appropriate implement, and each implement draped. The ceremony at the grave was not unlike a similar one in the outer world. Nothing was said to startle or shock the most orthodox Christian.
"This gives an idea of the industrial distribution in the colony. Everybody worked at what he or she eould do best, and the pay was regulated partly by the rates of wages elsewhere and partly by the nature of the work and the number employed at it. It was part of the theory that disagreeable work, such as had to be performed and yet could not be with pleasure undertaken by anybody, should command the high- est pay. An applicant for membership served a year's probation, and in that time, having been put at all the sorts of labor, was certain to demonstrate what
1 This statement is too small. There were, as before stated, nearly two hundred people at the Phalanx at one time.
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ATLANTIC TOWNSHIP.
work he was best fitted for, and also whether his moral character and mental inclination were such as the colonists would eare to introduce in their society. Everybody with one idea came there to air his notions and there was not a crank in the country who could personally, or in writing, present his views but was heard from. The Phalanxers held to what was whole- some, honest and practical all throughout their co- operation, and there never blew for an instant during their eleven years of existence thie faintest breath of seandal there. That this could only have been the re- sult of the mnost earnest and watchful endeavors must be apparent to whoever considers what sort of mate- · rial composed the army that knocked at the gates for admittance.
" And yet the Jersey people thought then, and think now, that it was a free-love community. They could not understand the colony at all. The simple fact that the Phalanx girls and women wore the Bloomer costume settled this point in the rural mind. - . The Phalanx girls found the short skirt and long trousers the best costume when at work, washing, serubbing, waiting on table, moving about near ma- chinery, toiling in the fields and elsewhere. They loved the dress so, that they shaped silk and satin into it and danced in it on Fourier's birthday and other grand occasions.
"The home life and the rearing of children were exemplary. All the intellectual pastimes of the city- folk, lectures, concerts, readings, plays and the pos- session of the daily papers, the magazines, a fine library, and an exceedingly well-equipped school were enjoyed there. The style of living at first in- dulged in proved not to have been warranted by the income of the colony; and an old ex-chief, who put everything as tersely as possible, said yesterday that "they never prospered until they came down to the bed-rock of griddle-cakes and sorghum.' They were, in the main, shrewd and practical people, whose ex- travagances, such as the funeral of Chief Martin, were due to extreme earnestness rather than mere senti- ment; and the very men who led in that quaint pa- rade all attained at least moderate distinction and prosperity in the world afterward. Charles Chapin invented the sewing-machine hemmer; Mr. Nathan French is conspicuous in mercantile circles in New York; Mr. Benjamin Urner's is a familiar name. The Angells, the Bucklins, the Colemans and a score of others have prospered beyond most people. George B. Arnold's magic ruffle revolutionized one industry; and George Arnold, the poet of Bohemia, did not die so young but that he left his name in people's minds.
"After eleven years the colony broke up, .. . and so came the end, when outside creditors received one hundred cents on the dollar, and insiders sixty-five cents. But not a man of them nor a woman would or will admit that the scheme thus tested is not prac- · ticable, or that their venture can fairly be called a
failure. They love the memory of the Phalanx; and some of them, among the most substantial and pros- perous people in rich old Monmouth County, love the Phalanstery itself, and still live and carry on their callings there in the happy expectation of rest- ing at last in that favored place."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
THOMAS G. HAIGHT, son of William Haight, was born November 10, 1790, on what is called the Morrisdown farm, half a mile east of Colt's Neck, where he resided until he was about thir- ty-eight years of age. He prepared for college in New Brunswick, under the Rev. Mr. Croes (afterwards Bishop Croes), and graduated at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, 1812. He was married to Miss Van Marter, March 8, 1824. In 1828 he settled at Colt's Neck, where he resided until his death. After he graduated, he read law for some time in Philadelphia, but never pursued the study to take license. He devoted himself chiefly to agriculture, and was one of the most scientifie and successful farmers in the county .. He had eight children, -- three daughters and five sons.
The intelligence and worth of Mr. Haight early drew the attention of his fellow-citizens to him as a suitable man to represent the county in the Legislature ; and though reluctant to leave his home and his farm, he was prevailed upon to be a candidate, and was elected to the Assembly in 1831, where he soon became a leading member. He served in that body six years, and in 1837, during the stormy and cx- citing time of Mr. Van Buren's administration, he was elected Speaker of the House, in which office he acquitted himself with great credit, and in a manner highly acceptable to all parties. He was one of the members from Monmonth County of that memorable convention which met in Trenton, May 14, 1844, and formed the present Constitution of the State. He was often solicited to become a candidate for Congress, but his domestic habits and his love for home led him to refuse all such solicitations. He was one of the three founders of the Young Ladies' Seminary at Freehold, Judge John Hull and the Rev. D. V. McLean being the others.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
About a year before the death of Mr. Haiglit, he, with Mr. McLean, prepared and published an address to the people of Monmouthi County on the subject of erecting a monument in commem- oration of the battle of Monmouthi.
The death of Mr. Haighit occurred on the 1st of September, 1847, when he was nearly fifty- seven years of age. At the time of his decease the attention of his fellow-citizens was strongly turned to him as a candidate for Governor at the succeeding election ; and had he lived, there is scarcely a doubt but that he would have been selected. He was beloved by all parties, and known throughout the whole State of New Jer- sey as an upright, clear-headed, honest man.
It was in private life that the character of Mr. Haight slione most conspicuously. He was very domestie in his habits, pceuliarly fond of his family, and entirely unambitious of public stations or public honors. His intelligence and probity gave him great influence in the comniu- nity in which he lived, in advising and settling the business affairs of his neiglibors who had · fewer advantages than himself. To such neigli- borly aets he freely devoted much of his time, without fee or reward ; and this, with his frank and courteous manner, greatly endeared him to all who knew him.
THE FAMILY OF SCHENCK .- The Schencks of Monmouth County are descended from Roelof Schenek Van Nydeck, who, with his brother Jan, emigrated to this country from Holland in 1650. The particular place from whence they came was probably Doesberg, in the province of Guelderland, where, it appears, their father was born. He was a son of Martin and a grand- son of General Peter Sehenck and his wife, Joanna Van Seharpenseel, and General Peter was a brother of tlie celebrated General and Sir Martin Schenck, with whom his brother fought and was one of the most successful, daring and enterprising commanders in Holland in the time of the war of the revolution there. Tracing them baek, they were descended from four Der- icks in suecession, and then from two Heinrichs, or Henrys, in succession, going back to 1346, and who were lords of the manorial estates of · Afferden, Wachtendonk and Blyenbeek, Affer-
den and Blyenbeck lying on the Maas River, above the town of Gennep, and Wachtendonk on the Nioss River, above the town of Gelden. Passing baek one or two unknown generations, they were descended from Ludolphus, Wilhelmus and Christianus, going back to 1225, and then through Christianus, a second son in the family of Sehencks, the barons of Tautenberg, going baek to 330. The descendants of Christianus were known as the Scheneks Van Nydeek, so ealled from the town of Neideggen, lying on the river Roer, some eighteen miles east of Aix-la- Chapelle, where no doubt Christianus had an estate or residence. ·
Roelof Schenck Van Nydeck, the eniigrant to this country, married, first, in 1660, Neeltje, daughter of Garret Van Couwenhoven; mar- ried, second, in 1675, Annetje Wyckoff; and married, third, November 30, 1638, Catharine Cregin, of New York, widow of Stoffen Hoag- land. He settled at Flatlands, where, in 1661, he obtained a patent for forty-six aeres of land, and subsequently purchased lands until he must have owned some three hundred aercs and the one-half of the mill occupied by his brother John. At one assessment for taxation his ratables were the next highest in the town, and at another subsequently taken they were the highest. He was among the first enrolled as a member of the church of Flatlands, and no doubt among its principal supporters. When a bill was pro- eured for the chureli, his subscription was the highest on the list. He was appointed by Gov- ernor Leisler captain of cavalry in Kings County, and at several different times held the office of justice of the peace and once that of schepen, or judge, and in general in publie affairs was among the leading men in the colony.
Roelof had three sons-Martin, John and Garret-and seven daughters.' Martin was left the homestead at Flatlands, and his descendants have principally remained on Long Island. John and Garret emigrated in 1696 or 1698 to Mon- mouth County, and together with Cornelius Conwenhoven, who married their sister Mar- garet, settled in Pleasant Valley on a five hun- dred acre tract of land purchased of John Bowne, merchant of Middletown.
Garret Schenck was born October 27, 1671,
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and died September 5, 1745. Married, about 1693, Neeltje, daughter of Koert Voorhees. He resided on the farm now occupied by Theodore Rapelyea, and built the spacious old mansion still standing there in good order. He acquired a large property and in different parts of the country, among which, in company with John Couwenhoven, the grandfather of the present John Conover, was a six thousand acre tract of land at Penn's Neck purchased of John Penn. When the First Reformed Church of Freehold was organized, in 1709, he was one of the two first deacons, and from 1721 to 1727 he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey. He had five sons-Roelof, Koert, Gar- ret, Jan and Albert-and five daughters.
The second Garret Schenck was born August 30, 1712, but did not live to see old age, as he deceased at the age of forty-five, August 20, 1757. Married, in 1737, Jane, daughter of William Couwenhoven of Long Island. He remained on his father's homestead in Pleasant Valley; had three sons -- William, John and Garret-and seven daughters.
John, son of the second Garret, was born August 28, 1745, and died on his eighty-ninth birth-day, in 1834; married, July 31, 1767, Maria, daughter of Tunis De Nise and Fran- cinke Hendrickson. He settled on the farm in Pleasant Valley adjoining his father, now occu- pied by his grandson, David Schenck, and also for a time carried on the business of a fuller and then a saw-mill. While yet a young mar- ried man, and surrounded by a large family of young children, the War of the Revolution came on and he ardently embraced the patriotic cause, and as occasion called for, took up arms and at times engaged actively in the fight. He became captain of militia, and was a bold and enterprising officer and possessed of influence. It is said that soon after the beginning of the war he was approached by a Loyalist and asked what he would take to embrace the royal cause. He answered, "The whole of Europe cannot buy me; give me liberty." Such was the value of his example and influence, and so obnoxious was he to the enemy, that his sister Anna, living on Long Island and in the midst of the foe, overheard some British officers talking about
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