History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 169

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140

USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 169
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 169

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

John Howell remained in Mercer County twelve years, and upon the death of his father-in-law, George Geasarrh, in 1810, returned to Phillipsburg, to make his future home on the Geasarrh place. Joseph Howell says his father used to go over to Person's, on the mountain-side, to mill. Bidleman's mill, just down the river, below Phillipsburg, was much nearer at hand, but Bidleman did not care to do custom- work, for he was kept busy making flour for shipment down the river, and so the neighboring settlers, with a mill at their very doors, had to make a journey of four miles or more to get their grists ground.

The Bidlemans were a somewhat noted family be- cause of the prominence the elder Bidleman held hy right of being a merchant miller and the owner of a good deal of land, while his sons after him continued and enlarged the Bidleman business interests and made themselves known at home and abroad. The first of the name to settle near Phillipsburg is sup- posed to have been Valentine Bidleman, who lived there as early as 1770, and perhaps earlier. IIe bought considerable land on the river, and engaged not only largely in farming, but built two grist-mills, -one near the site of the Andover Iron-Works and one on the site now occupied by R. K. Shimer's mill.

Mr. Bidleman manufactured flour for the Philadel- phia market, and did a large and profitable busi- ness in shipping flour and grain to the down-river markets. He was so earnestly concerned in doing merchant milling that he found but little opportunity, or inclination perhaps, to grind grists for his neigh- bors, for merchant milling paid him infinitely better, and so the neighbors had to look elsewhere and some distance away for such accommodations. Later the Shimer mill fell to the possession of Henry Bidle- man, and the furnace-mill to Col. George Bidleman, sons to Valentine. Abraham, a third son, carried on a tannery, and, in connection with it, worked the farm now owned by Joseph Howell. Ellis, a fourth son, owned a farm that adjoined Abraham's on the east. Each of the two grist-mills had also the attach- ments of a distillery and a farm, and so, altogether, the Bidlemans were more than ordinarily strong in a business way. They carried on also a store near the lower mill, and there has been a small settlement there for many years. Just when the Bidlemans dis- appeared from the surface of events in this vicinity is not known, but their once extensive landed and other interests passed long ago from their hands. Not one of the name remains hereabouts.

In the northeastern portion of the town is a small hamlet called sometimes Uniontown and sometimes Stumptown. The latter name-bestowed, it is likely, in the days when stumps were the embellishing fea- ture of the landscape-clung to the locality pertina- ciously for years, and was indeed the only designation known for the village. Uniontown displaced it after a while as a more pleasantly expressive name; but "Stumptown" has refused to be utterly pushed aside, and to this day that appellation is used by many in alluding to the place.

Henry Segraves, aged now eighty-eight, was born in Stumptown in 1793, and says the village was in his boyhood quite as much of a settlement as it is to- day. With a faithful determination to remain fixed upon the rock of anti-progress, even while empires were crashing and history changing everywhere, Stumptown has, for a period of perhaps seventy-five years, continned unchanged in material features.

When George Segraves (father to Henry Segraves spoken of) located in Stumptown, in 1781, he found people there, but not in abundance, for that was a pretty early period in the history of Stumptown. Herman Shipman was living in a stone house now the dwelling of Lorenzo Drake. George Segraves, who came from New York, was the son of a school- teacher, who came from England to America early in the eighteenth century, and straightway began to teach school in York State. George himself was a boatman on the Delaware for a time after he came to Jersey. He died at the age of eighty.

One of Stumptown's earliest settlers, coming, per- haps, about 1790, was a man named Ennis. He was a carpenter, and soon after opened a carpenter-shop

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for the accommodation of himself and neighbors. He worked at the bench until the infirmities of age called a halt, when he relinquished his shop to his sons Alexander and John. In 1811, Henry Segraves was apprenticed to them, and in due time succeeded them in business. Segraves was a well-known car- penter in those days, and for thirty-five years fol- lowed his trade in the country roundabout. In 1816 he built a dwelling-house for Jacob Roseberry, and not long afterwards married one of Roseberry's dangh- ters. The house Segraves built in 1816 for Roseberry is now his own home.

The Roseberrys were among the conspicuous early families. John Roseberry owned much land east of Phillipsburg, and lived in a stone house now oecu- pied as a residence by Allen Walters, not far from the present home of Henry Segraves. The structure is supposed to be more than a hundred years old. Rose- berry had five sons, named Jacob, Joseph, Godfrey, John, Jr., and William, and to each of them he gave a farmı.

Returning to the settlement at Uniontown, men- tion is offered that Charles Johnson, still living there, made a location at that place in 1817, when he set up a blacksmith-shop on the lot which is now occupied by his residence. The day that saw Johnson's arrival witnessed also the coming of John Van Ness, who, soon after, built the wheelwright-shop now carried on by Theodore Johnson. Henry Mellich had been the blacksmith at the village (as early as 1810), but before Johnson got there had abandoned the business. A few years before Johnson became a resident of Uniontown-perhaps 1812-John Sharp built the stone grist-mill now known as Holdern's mill. On the same stream near by Capt. Person had a mill in 1812, and had been carrying it on for some years, Mr. Johnson found Alexander and John Ennis the car- penters in the village, and another carpenter named James McGinley, who lived where John Melroy now lives. The grist-mill was then owned by Jacob Kline, an early settler in that neighborhood, and for years afterwards was known as Kline's mill.

Some time afterwards Melchor Van Horn opened a tavern on the present Michael Messinger place, but, according to the best obtainable authorities, Van Horn's tavern was not much of an affair.

John Sharp, the miller at Uniontown, lived for a while on the present Cline Roseberry place, which was originally settled by Isaac Hendershott, of whom mention has been made in connection with the settle- ment of Mathias Shipman.

Jesse Barber, Robert Barber, Michael Messinger, Charles MeCracken, Hiram Dewitt, Isaac Wilson, William Wilson, and Samuel Lambert were among moderately early settlers at Uniontown, but their time was considerably later than that of the Ennis and other families.

The Samuel Lambert spoken of, now living at Uniontown, came to New Jersey in 1821, and worked

that year as a hand on the farm of William S. Mel- lich, about two miles from Uniontown. In 1823 he worked on the same place for Christian Sharp, father- in-law to William Mellich. In the Mellich neighbor- hood at that time lived Moses De Witt, Barnett De Witt, James Mellich, John Metz, and Peter Ehine.

The Mellichs, of whom William Mellich was a de- scendant, were landowners in the neighborhood of Phillipsburg as early at all events as 1758, as is evi- denced by an old deed bearing date that year, and now in possession of William Shipman, of Green- wich. Jacob II. Mellich, who was born near Stew- artsville in 1790, lives now below Shimer's mill, upon a place he first occupied in 1820. The deed above referred to sets forth that on Nov. 28, 1758, John Mellich, of the township of Reading, in the county of Hunterdon, and western division of the province of New Jersey, sold to Godfrey Mellich, of Green- wich, in the township of Greenwich, and county of Sussex, a tract of land in the said township of Green- wich, lying upon the river Delaware, and containing 181 acres, "together with the woods, waters, mines, minerals, quarries, pastures, feedings, houses, barns, buildings, gardens, orchards, fields, fences, improve- ments, liberties, privileges, etc."

In the same year (1758) the Godfrey Mellich pur- chased of William Lovet Smith, of Springfield, in the county of Burlington, 150 acres in Greenwich for £100. Previous to that date the same William Lovet Smith deeded to John Sharp 150 acres of land. John Sharp was doubtless the man who built the stone mill at Uniontown, or else an ancestor of the miller.

The De Witts, now a numerous family in Warren County, trace their origin in America to three brothers by name l'eter, Abram, and Isaac De Witt, who came to America from Holland some years before the begin- ning of the Revolution. They located in New Jersey,- Peter and Isaac in Harmony township, Warren Co., and Abram on the place in Lopateong township now occu- pied by Moses De Witt, his grandson. The De Witts were men famous in their day and generation for feats of manly strength, and in physical development were noted the country over as men out of the common. The three brothers-Peter, Abram, and I-aac-were soldiers in the Federal army during the Revolution, as was Peter's son, Barnett, who entered the service toward the close of the war, and saw considerable active service. He was at one time in charge of a bevy of Tory prisoners confined at the old forge at Hughesville, and on another occasion performed sim- ilar duty at Easton. Barnett, son to Peter De Witt, married a daughter to Peter Geasarrh, a farmer living on the river near l'hillipsburg, and in 1810 he moved with his family to the place now the home of his son Barnett, who when he came to the place with his father was five years of age. His residence on that farm therefore has now counted upwards of seventy years.

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About that time-1810-George Brakeley came from Pennsylvania and made a settlement close at hand, upon land now owned by Dr. Lott. Christian Sharp, neighbor to Barnett De Witt, was there before 1810, and near there, too, lived Abram De Witt and a Ger- man named Dreisbach.

III .- TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

The township now known as Lopatcong was in 1851 erected from the townships of Greenwich and Harmony, and called the township of Phillipsburg, from the village of that name. The Legislative act creating the township was approved March 7, 1851. It reads as follows :

" Be it enacted, etc., That all that part of Greenwich and Harmony townships in the county of Warren lying within the boundaries and de- scriptions as follows-to wit : Beginning in the Pennsylvania line in the river Delaware, one mile below the middle of Lopatcong Creek, where it empties into the said river Delaware; thence in a straight line to the corner line of the townships of Greenwich, Franklin, and Harmony; thence in a direct line to a corner que half a mile east of the north corner of Moses De Witt's house; theuce continuing the same course to the line between the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the river Delaware; thence down said line in the river Delaware to the place of beginning, shall be and hereby is set off from the townships of Green- wich and Harmony in the county of Warren and called the township of Phillipsburg. The inhabitants of the township of Phillipsburg are constituted a body politic and corporate in law, and shall be styled and known by the name of The Inhabitants of the township of Phillips- burg in the county of Warren, and shall be entitled to all rights, power, authority, privileges, and advantages, and subject to the same regulations as the inhabitants of the other townships in said connty of Warren are or may be entitled or subject to by the existing laws of this State. The first meeting of the inhabitants of the township shall be held at the hotel of Henry Bowers, in the village of Phillipsburg, on the second Monday in April next."

Robert S. Kennedy, William R. Sharp, and Robert Cline were appointed to run the division lines under the act.

The first town-meeting was accordingly held at the house of Henry Bowers, in Phillipsburg, April 14, 1851. The meeting was organized by the appoint- ment of Charles Sitgreaves as moderator, and G. A. Coob as clerk. It was thereupon resolved to divide the town into nine road districts, apportioned as follows :

No. I, to commence at Howell's, running to the Harmony line, Asa Heitsman, Overseer No. 2, commencing at the foot of Easton Hill and running to Harmony, Chas. Segraves, Overseer. No. 3, commencing at Mellich'e and running to the Greenwich line, John I, Kitchen, Overseer. No. 4, road running up Low's Hollow, Marinins Low, Overseer. No. 5, from P. Skillman's to the Harmony line and Greenwich corner, Peter Skillman, Overseer. No. 6, from the Uniontown school-honee to Green- wich line, Wm. Cline, Overseer. No. 7, road running by Wm. Hamlin's to Joseph Howell's, Wm. Hamlin, Overseer. No. 8, from Ihrie's to the Morris turnpike, Peter Rhoad, Overseer. No. 9, from Easton Ilill to Greenwich line, G. G. Palmer, Overseer.

Four hundred dollars were voted for road-tax, and $1 per scholar as school-tax. A reward of $25 was voted at the same town-meeting for the capture and conviction of the murderer or murderers of the infant child found in the Morris Canal." At the same meet-

* The murderer was not found; nor was the murderer of Edna John- son, a young woman found dead in the canal in 1874. A man named Gould was tried for her murder but acquitted.

ing a vote being taken whether the township of Phil- lipsburg should remain a township or be set back to Greenwich, it was carried by a large majority to re- main the township of Phillipsburg. The voters then proceeding to an election of township officials chose the following :

Judge of Election, Barnett De Witt ; Assessor, John Segraves ; Collector, Lowrance Lonimason; Justice of the Peace, Jacob Cline; Town Clerk, Wm. R. Beers; Constable, John Segraves; Surveyors of High- ways, J. P. Winters and Wm. H. Hamlin ; Freeholders, Moses De Witt and John M. Roseberry; Commissioners of Appeals, Peter Skillman, Nelson Løke, and Jacob C. Reese; Superintendent of Schools, Jacob R. Lovell ; Town Committee, Enoch Green, Wm. Han- lin, Henry Segraves, Thomas Reese, Wm. Mellich ; Overseers of the Poor, Wm. R. Stone and Wni. Cline; Pound-Keepers, Jacob Lefler and Nelson Stryker.

From 1852 to 1863 the following persons served in the township offices named helow :

JUDGES OF ELECTION.

1852, Barnett De Witt; 1853-54, J. T. Rarick ; 1855-57, J. Green; 1858- 59, Valentine Mutchler ; 1860, C. S. Mellich ; 1861-62, Wm. Hamlin.

COLLECTORS.

1852-57, Lowrance Lommason; 1858-60, A. K. Metz; 1861-62, W. K. Metz.

CLERKS.

1852, W. R. Beers; 1853-54, William Hayden; 1855, W. R. Beers; 1856- 58, L. M. Teel; 1859, E. C. Cline; 1860, J. G. Hnlehizer; 1861-62, J. S. Weldon.

FREEHOLDERS.

1852-53, Moses De Witt; 1854-55, Barnett De Witt; 1856-57, J. Green; 1858-60, Charles Reese; 1861, Lowrance Lommason; 1862, P. K. Snyder.

TOWN SUPERINTENDENTS.

1852-53, J. R. Lovell ; 1854-55, J. C. Kent; 1856-60, J. R. Lovell ; 1861- 62, J. B. Weldon.

In 1861 the incorporation of the town of Phillips- burg eliminated a small tract of territory from the township. The similarity of the names of town and township occasioned more or less confusion, and so, in 1863, in response to a petition of the citizens of Phil- lipsburg township, the name thereof was changed, hy act approved March 18th of that year, to Lopatcong, after the creek of that name. The first town-meeting of the township of Lopatcong was held at the house of J. A. Yonng, April 13, 1863. The township chose annually, from 1863 to 1881, the following-named persons to serve as mentioned :

JUDGES OF ELECTION.

1863-67, William Hamlin; 1868, P. K. Snyder; 1869-70, Barnett De Witt ; 1871-72, Moses De Witt; 1873-74, Jacob Allehouse; 1875, George Mutchler; 1876-79, Jacob Allshonse; 1880-81, Clark Cole.

CLERKS.

1863-78, J. B. Weldon; 1879-81, John Melroy, Jr.

FREEHOLDERS.

1863, P. K. Snyder; 1864-67, George Mutchler, Jr .; 1868-70, William Ilamlin ; 1871-73, Wendell Messenger; 1874-75, J. H. Boyor; 1876- 81, Moses De Witt.

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.

1863-67, J. B. Weldon.t

COLLECTOR.

1863-81, W. K. Metz.

+ Office abolished.

HENRY SEAGRAVES.

Henry Seagraves, son of George and Rachel (Mer- rill) Seagraves, was born Sept. 15, 1793, and survives in 1880.

His paternal ancestors came from England. On account of the limited circumstances of his parents young Seagraves was at the early age of ten years obliged to go out into the world to care for himself. For seven years he met the obstacles incident to humble circumstances and the competition of boys born of wealthy parents. He early in life learned self-reliance and industry, and these inestimable lessons were the foundation principles upon which his future success rested.

At the age of seventeen he went to learn the ear- penter and cabinet trade with Ennis Bros., with whom he remained until he reached his majority, at which time he started business for himself.

At about the age of thirty he made his first pur- chase of ten acres of land, upon which he built a house which he made a home, where he has resided since, and from that time he gradually increased in property, and at the age of fifty he was the possessor of a large tract of land.

Most of his life has been spent in earrying on his trade, and many of the most substantial residences in the vicinity where he resides are the result of his design and work.

Mr. Seagraves was one of the nine original stoek- holders to charter the Phillipsburg National Bank,

and is the only surviving one of the number in 1880, having been a director since its organization.

He is a member of the Lutheran Church, and one of the board of trustees.

His good business ability has led his fellow-men to honor him with places of trust and responsibility, and as a member of the Democratic party he has officiated as one of the township committee for upwards (f twenty years, and has held the office of freeholder.

Mr. Seagraves is only another of the long list of self-made men whose life began with overhanging clouds, but in due time was surrounded with all the comforts of this world.

He married, in 1817, Miss Hannah, daughter of Jacob Rosebury, of Lopatcong township. Of this union have been born twelve children, seven of whom are living :

Caroline, born Jan. 25, 1818, wife of Abram Menck, of Lambertville; Mary A., born May 4, 1819, wife of George Hitsman, of Lopatcong ; Sarah C., born May 17, 1821, died Aug. 5, 1868; Charles, born Feb. 3, 1823 ; Hamilton, born Oct. 29, 1824, died Feb. 24, 1855; Lewis, born July 29, 1826 ; Rachel, born Aug. 6, 1828, died May 11, 1872; Eliza, born Aug. 6, 1828, wife of Henry Walters, of Phillipsburg ; Martha S., born Aug. 1, 1830, died Dec. 24, 1860 ; Louisa, born Jan. 29, 1832, diced Ang. 5, 1854; Christiana, born Nov. 24, 1834; and Henry M., born Aug. 21, 1837.

JOHN F. SHIPMAN.

John F. Shipman was born in Lopatcong township, formerly Greenwich, Feb. 2, 1809. His grandfather, Matthias Shipman, served as a colonel in the Revolutionary war with con- siderable distinction, and was a resident of Lopateong. His father, Isaac, born in the same township on the homestead, reared a family of six sons and six daughters, all of whom raised families except one, and of whom four are living in 1880,-viz., Philip, Jesse, William, and John F. Isaac Shipman was in every sense of the term a representative man. He was for many years justice of the peace, sheriff of the county for one term, and a member of the State Legislature for three terms. He was a member of the same church as his father,-the Lutheran,-and an elder of the same for many years.

John F. Shipman resides upon a part of the original homestead of his grandfather. His education from books was confined to the com- mon schools. His life has been that of a quiet and peaceable farmer. He married, Nov. 6, | knew her.

1832, Rachel, daughter of John Smith, of Greenwich, of which union have been born two sons and seven daughters,-viz., Isaac, born Oct. 13, 1833, died young; John, born May 10, 1836, died young; Sarah Elizabeth, born March 27, 1839; Mary Margaret, born Dee. 6, 18-12, wife of George Koch, of Harmony ; Catherine, born November, 1845, at home; Isabel, born Nov. 3, 1848, wife of John W. Stryker, of Lopatcong; Emma, born March 10, 1850, wife of James Kline, of Centreville, Pa.

Mr. Shipman, like his ancestors, was firmly intrenehed in the principles of the old Whig party. Upon the formation of the Republican party he became a supporter of its principles, although he has been no aspirant after place in his party. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, and has been for many years an eller in the same.

His wife, a devoted woman to every good work, died May 11, 1869, esteemed by all who

John Hd Boyer

JOHN H. BOYER was born Jan. 21, 1827. His grandfather was George Boyer, who was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1776. In March, 1800, he located in the township of Lopateong, Warren Co., N. J., upon the farm that is still occupied by his descendants. His occupation through life was that of a farmer. He died Jan. 10, 1868.

His son, Michael Boyer, father of our subject, was born March 26, 1804; he succeeded his father in carrying on farming pursuits on the homestead-farm, and passed away Sept. 10, 1869. In politics he was a Democrat, and was a member of the Oxford Pres- byterian Church, officiating as one of its elders. Hc was a man of usefulness in the community in which he dwelt, and one who enjoyed the respect and esteem of all. His widow resides in Belvidere, N. J.

John H. Boyer passed the earlier years of his life upon the home-farm in Lopatcong, attending the district school of his locality, and completing his education at a select school in Easton, Pa. He gave his principal attention through life to agricultural pursuits, cultivating the old home-farm. He was a man of integrity in all the relations of life, a liberal contributor to all worthy objects, and one who en- joyed the confidence and esteem of many friends. In

polities he was a Democrat, though never a seeker after political place. He filled the office of free- holder of his township for two years, and was for many years a director in the Phillipsburg National Bank. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Stewartsville, where he filled the office of trustee. A few months preceding his death he removed to Stewartsville, Greenwich township, where he died Aug. 27, 1876.

His widow, who survives him, was formerly Sarah H. Cline, daughter of John Cline, of New Village, N. J. Their marriage occurred Feb. 18, 1847, and resulted in the birth of three children, of whom the first died in infancy ; the others were John C., born Aug. 3, 1850; and Annie E., born April 17, 1853, wife of Caleb Cline, of Harmony township.

John C. Boyer occupies the old homestead, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Stewartsville, being a member of the board of trustees and church treasurer.

A view of the family homestead, together with the late residence of John H. Boyer at Stewartsville. appears elsewhere in this work. The principal im- provements on the farm were made by John II. Boyer, the residence having been built in 1857.

RES OF THE LATE J. H. BOYER AT STEWARTSVILLE NJ.

RES. OF JOHN C. BOYER , LOPATCONG TP. WARREN CO N.J.

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IV .- RELIGIOUS.

GREEN BRIDGE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

In 1875 the Methodists living in and near the lo- cality known as Green Bridge-a suburb of Phillips- burg-built a church and effected a church organiza- tion under the direction of Rev. William N. Scarls, then in charge of the Main Street Methodist Episco- pal Church of Phillipsburg, at which place the mem- bers of the new congregation had been worshiping. About forty members gave in their names as members at the outset, and of them George Mutchler was chosen class-leader. The church was occupied as soon as the lower story was finished, but before the upper portion could be completed a high wind played such havoc with the structure that it was adjudged unfit for oc- cupancy. In 1879, therefore, a new house of worship was built on Main Street. The trustees are Jacob Young, Joseph Young, Daniel Bowers, William Moyer, and James Price. The pastors of " Green Bridge" have been Revs. Terbush, Egbert, Sharp, and Martin. The membership ( February, 1881) is 65.

V .- SCHOOLS.

One of the earliest schools in Lopateong (or what is now Lopateong) of which there appears to be any knowledge was taught in 1801 in a log school-house by "Old Cohen," somewhat famous as a fat man. That house stood near where Joseph Howell lives, in i District No. 9. In 1803 a stone house replaced the log cabin. These schools were at the time mentioned used not only by tlie children of Phillipsburg, but by children who came some miles to attend them. Jo- seph Howell, now an octogenarian, went to that school in 1810, to a teacher named Simpson. Mr. John Feit says he has heard his father tell about at- tending school in 1790 in a log school-house that stood in a corner of the garden now attached to his (John Feit's) residence. One of the teachers of that time was Mr. Stewart, an Irishman. The trustees of School District No. 9, in 1881, were Edward Paulus, Sept. 10, 1869, at his residence in the town of Belvi- George Price, and Mr. Shively.

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 169

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1140

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140