USA > New Jersey > Morris County > History of Morris County, New Jersey > Part 10
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43
EARLY FORGES-ANDREW KING-PETER HASENCLEVER.
With White Meadow forge Guinea forge fell into the hands of Abraham Kitchel, who conveyed it in 1791 to Bernard Smith, who conveyed it to Isaac Canfield in 1802. Both these forges were afterward owned by Colonel Thomas Muir, whose family still own White Meadow and the mine and large tracts surrounding. Guinea forge was bought by Hubbard S. Stickle, who owned its site at the time of his death. Both forges have long been down.
The capacity of the forges built before the Revolution may be judged from a petition presented to the House of Assembly in September 1751, by the owners of bloom- aries in the county of Morris, "setting forth that they humbly conceive their bloomaries are not comprehended in the late law for returning the taxables of the province; and that there are many bloomaries in the said county that don't make more than five or six tons of iron in a year; and that therefore the profits of such forges cannot pay any tax, but many of them on the contrary must be obliged to let their works fall if any tax be laid on them; and praying the House will rather encourage so publick a benefit, and instead of laying a tax grant a small bounty upon every ton of bar iron fitted for market, and a receipt of the same being shipped for London pro- duced to the treasurer, according to a late act of Par- liament." No action appears to have been taken upon this petition.
The ore for these forges continued to be taken princi- pally from the Dickerson mine, on account of its greater richness and purity, though the great Jugular vein at Mount Hope and the vein at Hibernia had become known. The forgemen constituted a class by them- selves, handing down in many instances from father to son the trade they lived by. It was a day of simple habits and men lived on the plainest fare. Morristown was the chief source of supply, and many of the men made the trip on foot from the upper part of the county to that place once a week to get their supplies. From Henry Baker, of Mt. Pleasant, we have this incident of his grandfather, Andrew King, who was one of Colonel Ford's forgemen at Mt. Pleasant, and who at one time leased, as we have stated, the Dover forge of Josiah Beman.
On one of his visits to Morristown for supplies the store keeper recommended to him tea as a new article of diet, which he would find very agreeable. He took a package of it home, with a very general idea of the man- ner in which it should be prepared for the table, and his good wife, who had never seen the article before, attempted to make a pudding of it. The bag in which she had se- cured it burst in the boiling, and with great difficulty she succeeded in keeping it within bounds during the cook- ing. Of course no one could eat the unpalatable dish, and on being asked how he liked it when in Morristown again he replied they did not want any more of it. When he described the use they had sought to make of it, it created no little amusement in the store. He said they "could neither eat the pudding nor drink the broth." However, he was persuaded to make a new trial, and
with more definite instructions, and with wooden cups [and saucers and a new package the use of the beverage was inaugurated under more favorable auspices.
This Andrew King was a man of excellent character and thoroughly understood his business. By his industry and thrift he acquired considerable property, and he died when over 90 years of age, in Dover, where he owned a house and farm on the hill south of the Morris and Essex depot. One of his daughters married Jeremiah Baker, of Mt. Pleasant. A son, John King, acted as
clerk for Faesch at Mt. Hope and for Stotesbury at Hi- bernia, and finally in 1802 went with Nathan and David Ford to Ogdensburg, where they were the pioneers. Preston King, who it will be remembered was at one time collector of the port of New York, and committed suicide by jumping from a ferryboat in the North River, was a son of this John King.
An incident to illustrate the capacity of these early forges is thus narrated by the late William Jackson :- While Colonel Jacob Ford owned and worked the Middle forge he lived at Morristown. One Saturday evening he returned home in fine spirits and said to his wife: "Now, wife, you must make one of your largest short cakes, for I have made one of the largest loops ever made in the county. How much do you think it weighed ?" he asked his wife. Of course she could not tell and asked him how much. He answered, "It weighed 2814 pounds ! was not that a big one !"
Peter Hasenclever, a German born at Remscheid, in 1716, came to this country about 1764 as the representa- tive of the London Company. Within three years he is said to have built a furnace at Charlotteburgh (on the borders of Morris county) and three miles further down stream a "finery forge," with four fires and two ham- mers, capable of making 250 tons of bar iron a year single handed and from 300 to 350 tons double handed; and a mile lower down still a second forge, of equal ca- pacity. He introduced many improvements in the manu- facture of iron and increased the capacity of the forges. Governor Franklin appointed a committee, consisting of Lord Stirling, Colonel John Schuyler, Major Tunis Day and James Grey, to examine into his acts in behalf of his company, with whom he had gotten into difficulty. This commission, reporting at Newark July 8th 1768, testified to the perfection of his iron works and to the fact that he had introduced many improvements in the manufacture of iron, some of which had been adopted in England. They said: " He is the first person that we know who has so greatly improved the use of the great natural ponds of this country as by damming them to secure reservoirs of water for the use of iron works in the dry season, without which the best streams are liable to fail in the great droughts we are subject to." They further said that he was the first to make old cinder beds profit- able; that he improved the furnaces by building the in- walls of slate instead of stones, which seldom lasted longer than a year or two, and by placing the stack under roof; that he only used overshot wheels, and "around the hammer-wheel, shafts with strong cast-iron rings,
7
44
HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
whose arms served as cogs to lift the hammer handle." The commission, whose members were all interested in iron works and mines, and so able to speak authoritatively, said these contrivances were new ones-"at least they are new in America." It may be interesting to know that Hasenclever was justified by a decision of Lord Thurlow in England after a long litigation, and that he was so successful as a linen manufacturer in Silesia that he refused as advantageous invitation from Benjamin Franklin to return to America.
After the Revolutionary war, and especially in the de- cade preceding and in that following 1800, many new forges were built, of larger size and some of them prob- ably occupying sites of others which had gone down. In a letter written to Richard Henry Lee in 1777 Wash- ington states that in " Morris county alone there are be- tween eighty and one hundred iron works, large and small." Unless the writer counted each fire of every forge it is impossible to verify this statement by locating the iron works, or even then unless some of those known to have been built at a later period were built on sites of older forges. Charcoal furnaces had been built before the war, but while ore and charcoal were so abundant, and the work of refining so little understood, there was sufficient demand for bloomary iron to make work for all the forges; and the time of greatest prosperity among the bloomaries was the earlier part of this century and before anthracite coal came into use.
Besides the forges mentioned, some of which were still in operation, the principal other forges of the county after the war were as follows:
Beginning at the head waters of the west branch of the Rockaway River we have nearest its source the Hopewell forge, near the boundary line of, if not within, Sussex county. It was built, tradition says, by Colonel Samuel Ogden, of Boonton, and was probably rebuilt by Samuel G. I. De Camp about 1812. It has long been idle, and is going to ruin.
The next forge, a mile below Hopewell, called "Russia," was built before 1800, and was long known as William Headley's forge. Prof. Cook places its erection as early as 1775. It was an old forge in 1806, when it was owned by William Fichter. It was owned in 1828 by Joseph Chamberlain, and is now by Jetur R. Riggs. Colonel Samuel Ogden conveyed the land on which it was built to Thomas Keepers in 1800; and Mrs. Davenport, Thomas Keepers's daughter, says that there were forges here and at Hopewell before 1800, which were called "Upper and Lower Farmingham forges." Situate as Russia forge is, just where the river issues from the mountains with a fall of twenty-five or thirty feet, the site was a most desirable one and was probably early taken up.
death, which occurred in 1862. He took the premium of the Morris County Agricultural Society over fifty years ago for making a ton of octagon iron in the shortest time. The premium was a silver cup, which is held as an heirloom in the family by his youngest daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Dalrymple, of Branchville, N. J. The forge has been repaired by Albert R. Riggs, its present owner, and is now in a better state of preservation than any other forge in Jefferson township.
The next forge, about one and a half miles below Swedeland, is Petersburg. This is a very old forge, some placing its erection as early as 1730. The land was lo- cated for Robert Hunter Morris and James Alexander, June 3d 1754. Jonah Austin mortgaged to Abraham Ogden, October Ist 1777. one quarter interest in the forge and lot called "Petersburg." It has also been called " Arnold's " forge, having once been owned by Jacob Arnold, of the Speedwell iron works. It has been transferred many times, but has now gone to decay. The site is owned by Lewis Chamberlain.
On a branch of the Rockaway River which comes in from the east below Petersburg is built the " Hard Bar- gain " forge, now owned by Stephen Strait. It stands on the same tract originally as the Petersburg forge, from which it is distant only a quarter of a mile in an air line. It was built about 1795, by an association of persons among whom were John Dow, Christian Strait, John Davenport and others. Though a one-fired forge it had at one time nine partners. In 1828 it belonged to Adams & Dean. The buildings are still in good repair, but have long been disused.
Passing down the Rockaway River about one and a half miles we come next to Woodstock forge. This is of comparatively recent origin, having been built about the year 1825, by Ephraim Adams, James L. Dickerson and Stephen Adams. The tract of land (1,748 acres) upon which it stands was returned to Skinner & Johnson for Thomas Kinney in 1774. This forge never made a large quantity of iron, the fall in the stream being insufficient to give proper hammering capacity to draw out the iron when made. It belongs to Zopher O. Talmadge, who uses it as a distillery.
The next forge below Woodstock is the Upper Long- wood forge, which stands in the same tract of 1,748 acres as the Woodstock. It is a very old forge and large quantities of iron have been made there. John De Camp became its owner about 1798 and it is said to have been rebuilt by him on a new foundation, a freshet having carried out the old works. De Camp, who carried on the forge until 1817, was a brother of Joseph, Lemuel and David De Camp, all of whom were more or less en- gaged in iron manufacture. An anchor shop was at one time attached to this forge, in which large quantities of anchors were manufactured and many men employed. The forge buildings have fallen or been torn down, and the property, containing some 2,000 acres of land, is now owned by John Kean, of Elizabeth.
The next forge, a mile lower down, was called the "Swedeland forge." It was built by John Dow, Cor- nelius Davenport and Jacob Riker, before 1800. Dow was the leading spirit in the enterprise. In 1806 Colonel John Stanburrough took possession of the premises, and The next forge in order and a mile lower down the he operated the forge more or less at intervals until his stream is the Lower Longwood forge, standing on the
45
FORGES ON THE ROCKAWAY.
same tract of 1,748 acres above mentioned. It is said to have been built by Ebenezer Tuttle and Grandin Morris, about 1796, and bought by Canfield & Losey in 1806. From them it passed into the hands of Black- well & McFarlan. It is now the property of John Hance, but has long ceased to be a forge.
Below Lower Longwood was the old Speedwell or Ford forge, already spoken of.
For much of the above information respecting the forges on the upper Rockaway we are indebted to Horace Chamberlain, of Oakridge, formerly a member of the Legislature from this county, a gentleman whose local knowledge and lifelong experience as a surveyor have made him very familiar with the history especially of the northerly part of the county.
Next in order is the "Valley forge," within sight of the track of the Morris and Essex Railroad, which was built by Jared Coe and Minard Lefever, probably before or during the Revolutionary war. Prof. Cook places the date at 1780. It came into the hands of Canfield & Losey about 1800, and was burned down in 1814. Jeremiah Baker, the son-in-law of Andrew King, and who had already commenced to acquire the large property which he afterward possessed, built it up with an agreement to purchase; but after working it for a year Canfield & Losey took it back, and Baker bought it a second time of Blackwell & McFarlan, who had succeeded to the bus- iness and property of Canfield & Losey, in 1817. This was with an understanding that Blackwell & McFarlan should take all the iron he made. In 1828 it again burned down, and was rebuilt by Mr. Baker. In 1875 it was burned a third time, while rented by Messrs. Mc- Clees, of New York, from Henry and William H. Baker, to whom their father had devised it. It has not been rebuilt.
The next forge on the west branch, and just before its junction with the east branch of the Rockaway, is Wash- ington forge, which was built by Charles Hoff and his brother-in-law Joseph De Camp about the year 1795. Charles Hoff sold his half to Joseph Hurd in 1808, and the De Camp heirs theirs to Joseph Dickerson, who owned the whole in 1828. It was run by Henry McFarlan until within a few years.
Beginning at the head waters of the east branch of the Rockaway River, or, as it is called, Burnt Meadow Brook, the first forge was the " Burnt Meadow forge," or "Denmark," owned by Harriman & Sayre, and Jacob Ford jr., as we have seen, in its beginning. In 1806 the Fords sold to Benjamin Holloway, who built the present or last forge. Hubbard S. Stickle stated that he man- aged for Holloway from December 1806 to December 1807, while it was being built. The old forge had then entirely disappeared. Holloway failed in 1818, and in 1823 It was bought by George Stickle (father of Hubbard S. Stickle), who sold it in 1821 to John Hardy. John M. Eddy bought in 1841 and carried it on for several years, when it fell into the possession of Edward R. Biddle, then the owner of Mt. Hope. It finally, in 1858, came to the possession of Ernest Fiedler, of New York
city, to whose heirs it still belongs. It has long been disused.
About forty years ago "Big " Samuel Merritt built a forge on a little brook running out of Gravel Dam, on what is called the Garrigus place, near Denmark; but it was a small affair and soon abandoned.
The next forge down the stream was "Middle forge," already mentioned. In 1773 Colonel Jacob Ford sen. conveyed this forge to Colonel Jacob Ford jr., and in 1778 the executors of Jacob Ford jr. conveyed it to John Jacob Faesch, who ran it in connection with his works at Mount Hope until his death, June 28th 1800. General John Doughty, as commissioner appointed to sell the lands of Faesch, conveyed it to Moses Phillips jr., who rebuilt and ran the forge for a number of years. Under him it was called the "Aetna forge." In 1839 it came into the hands of Samuel F. Righter, who conveyed it in 1853 to his brother George E. Righter. He ran it till within a few years, when it was permitted to go to decay. The United States purchased the forge seat in 1880 with the large tract of land around it of Mr. Righter, and the government is now putting up extensive powder maga- zines there. For this purpose no other place was found to contain equal advantages. It was very easy of access to the seaboard, possessed a valuable water power, and the tract was as secluded as could be desired.
The next forge is the Mount Pleasant forge, already spoken of. Here were at one time a four-fire forge above the bridge and a smaller one below. The upper or large forge was down before the beginning of this century; the lower one was standing to within a few years.
The Rockaway River after the union of its two branches flows first through Dover, where were the old Josiah Beman forge and Schooley's forge (the Quaker iron works), already mentioned, and, it is said, a forge built by Moses Doty. Of these only one survived to the present century and became merged in the extensive iron works of Canfield & Losey, which will be spoken of hereafter.
Below Dover the first forge on the Rockaway River was the old iron works of " Job Allen," where is the present forge at Rockaway, of which an account has been given.
The lower forge at Rockaway was built by Stephen Jackson, after he had sold his interest in the upper one and found Faesch unwilling to sell it back to him. He had served as captain of militia cavalry in the Revolu- tionary war, and in the severe winter of 1780-I was occu- pied with his company reconnoitering the enemy's lines below Short Hills. In this service he contracted a pul- monary disease which he supposed would terminate fatally, and in this belief sold his forge to Faesch. Afterward, recovering his health, he tried in vain to re- purchase it. A freshet in the winter of 1794-5 formed an ice dam below the upper dam and on his own land. He was prompt to act on this suggestion, building the next year the lower dam and forge at Rockaway, which he sold in 1809 to his son Joseph. It remained in his
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HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
possession until 1852, when he conveyed it with the rolling-mill to Freeman Wood. It was never afterward used as a bloomary forge. It was used in the manufac- ture of steel, but only for a short time, and was then suffered to fall to pieces after the last war.
A mile below the village of Rockaway a stream joins the Rockaway River, coming from the north, known as Beaver Brook. It is made up of three principal streams -the White Meadow Brook, upon which were built the White Meadow forge and Guinea forge already men- tioned; the Beach Glen Brook, upon which were the Hibernia forge and the Beach Glen forge (the old " Johnson iron works"); and the Meriden Brook, upon which were the Durham forge, the Split Rock forge and the two Meriden forges.
Hibernia forge was built by William Scott after the furnace there went down. It ran but a short time, and has been gone for forty years at least. Of the Beach Glen forge mention has already been made.
Durham forge, at Greenville, was built by Ebenezer Cobb, about the year 1800. Its site belongs to the estate of Andrew B. Cobb, deceased; but though the dam still retains a pond there is nothing left of the forge but the heavy castings, which vegetation has almost covered up.
The Split Rock forge was built about 1790, by a Mr. Farrand. It was bought by Colonel Lemuel Cobb, and formed part of that large tract of about 3,000 acres at Split-rock which was divided among his three heirs- Andrew B. Cobb, Mrs. William C. H. Waddell and Mrs. Benjamin Howell. The forge in the division fell to Andrew B. Cobb, and still forms a part of his estate. The old bloomary fires, however, have been replaced by a Wilson deoxidizer, which, by a process that introduces the ore heated and mingled with heated pulverized char- coal to three fires arranged around one stack, makes a charcoal bloom similar to that of the old-fashioned fire, but much more rapidly.
Of the two forges at Meriden, one on the north side and the other on the south side of the public road, the upper one was built shortly after Split Rock and possibly by the same parties, the lower one by Peter Hiler, about 1820. Colonel John Hinchman, of Denville, once owned this lower forge; from him it passed to John Righter, of Parsippany. Both forges have been down for many years.
Below the mouth of Beaver Brook, at Denville, Den Brook enters the Rockaway from the southwest. Upon this stream were the Shongum, Ninkey, Cold-rain and Franklin forges, which have been mentioned.
Near the Rockaway River in Rockaway Valley, on a brook coming from the hills on the west, James Dixon built in 1830 the forge which was operated for about thirty years by him and his two sons Cyrus and William.
On another little stream which joins the Rockaway at Rockaway Valley, and about two miles north of the Valley church, a forge was built by John Deeker about 1825 and called Deeker's forge. It was running to within a few years of the last war.
Following down the Rockaway the next forge is
Powerville forge, built in 1794 by William Scott. In 1836 Scott built the rolling mill on the same property. In the division of Colonel Scott's real estate this fell to his son Elijah D. Scott, who by deed and devise con- veyed it to Thomas Willis, in whose family the property still remains. The forge is yet in working order, though like the one at Rockaway used principally for working over scrap.
Three miles below Powerville on the Rockaway is Old 1
Boonton, of whose slitting-mill mention will be made hereafter. In connection with this mill was a four-fire forge, which long survived the other mills and was in op- eration until a late date.
Besides the forges mentioned there were in the county several others. Benjamin Roome writes that Simon Van Ness had a forge on the Morris county side of the Pe- quannock River, about one and a half miles above Bloom- ingdale, which was worked by Robert Colfax as late as about 1811, when a freshet tore it to pieces and it was not rebuilt.
In 1821-2 Hubbard S. Stickle built the Montgomery forge, on Stone Meadow Brook, a tributary of the Pe- quannock, about two miles above Stony Brook. It is no longer in operation.
About the same time Timber Brook forge was built near Greenville, on Copperas Brook, a stream running north into the Pequannock, by John Dow. It was owned in 1828 by George Stickle, and afterward by Matthias Kitchel. Since the death of Mr. Kitchel it has been suf- fered to go to decay.
On the stream running south into Lake Hopatcong were built two forges. The upper one, called the " Well- done "-since shortened into Weldon-forge, was built by Major Moses Hopping, probably about 1800. The land was located in 1793. The forge now belongs to Hon. William E. Dodge, of New York. The lower forge was built shortly before the other, probably in 1795, by Daniel and Joseph Hurd, and called by them "New Partners."
On the Musconetcong River there were several forges, but mostly on the Sussex side of the river.
June 5th 1764 Benjamin and Thomas Coe deeded to Garret Rapalye " all one half of a certain forge with one fire, and one equal undivided half part of five acres of land which was surveyed for the use of s'd forge, with half of the stream or water only (excepting what the saw- mill now standing upon the same premises draw), stand- ing, lying and being upon Musconetcong River, in the province of New Jersey aforesaid, near the uppermost falls below the mouth of the Great Pond." January Ist 1768 Rapalye leased to Joseph and John Tuttle, who were brothers and living then in Hanover, his iron works for five years at £300 a year, reserving the right to build a furnace on one end of the dam. The Tuttles were to deliver all the iron they made to Rapalye in New York for £28 per ton for refined iron, and £24 per ton for Whippany or bloomed iron, but the prices to vary with changes in the market. This lease was so onerous that it caused the failure of the Tuttles.
47
FORGES ON THE RARITAN AND PEQUANNOCK.
In the New Jersey Gazette, 1778, is noticed the sale of Smith and the Day brothers. It has long since gone into a large tract of land " at the head of the Musconetcong River, about 35 miles from Elizabethtown and 4 from Suckasunny Plains, containing about 3,000 acres, having on it a large forge with four fires and two hammers, *
* * which is now under lease for eight and a half tons of bar iron per annum." Rapalye mortgaged this forge to a London merchant, and on foreclosure of this mort- gage it was sold in 1809 by the sheriff to Thomas Cad- wallader, a lawyer of Philadelphia. September 25th
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