USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of Trenton, New Jersey : the record of its early settlement and corporate progress. > Part 8
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"With the Congressional Committee, with whom were Colonel Humphreys and Mr. Thompson, at high noon he entered a large boat elegantly adorned, and manned by thirteen skillful pilots of the harbor. They were all dressed in white sailor costume.
"A large number of smaller boats, handsomely fes- tooned, accompanied him. Flags were flying from every vessel in the bay. With vocal and instrumental music, with the discharge of artillery and the loud welcome of the people, he reached Murray's wharf, now Wall street, in the city of New York, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. Here he was received by George Clinton, the Governor of the State, and Richard Varick, the Mayor of the city, and on April 30th he was inaugurated first President of the United States."
It is of especial interest to recall the occasion of the death of General Washington, in which Trenton was deeply interested. Dr. John Hall, in his history, states that a public commemoration thereof was observed in Trenton on the fourteenth of January, 1800. By invita- tion of the Governor and Mayor, with the Rev. Messrs. Hunter, Waddell and Armstrong, on behalf of the citi- Isaac Smith Esat zens, President Smith delivered the oration, and it was published. The late Dr. Johnson, of Newburgh, who was then in college, relates in his Autobiography (edited by Dr. Carnahan, 1856) that a large number of students walked from Princeton to hear the oration. A procession was formed opposite the Episcopal church, from which a bier was carried, preceded by the clergy, and all passed to the State House, where the ceremonies were performed. At a certain stanza in one of the elegiac songs, "eight beautiful girls, of about ten years of age, dressed in white robes and black sashes, with baskets on their arms filled with sprigs of cypress, rose from behind the Speaker's seat," and strewed the cypress on the mock coffin.
One hundred years after General Washington passed through Trenton on the way to his inauguration, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, followed in turn the route taken by his predecessor. A special train of parlor cars conveyed the President and distinguished guests from the Capital of the United States to New York. A change of plans necessitated the abandon- ment of a popular reception in Trenton, and the train passed through the town to Elizabeth, where President Harrison was the guest of the late Governor Robert Stockton Green. A truly royal welcome awaited the successor of General Washington, and there the enthusiasm and patriotism of all New Jersey found its expression.
To commemorate this event, the New Jersey Historical Society, upon the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary, in May, 1895, presented President Harrison with a medal of superior beauty and workmanship, being tendered on the part of the society by President Scott, of Rutgers. President
H
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Scott in his address spoke of the part New Jersey had played in the formation of the Constitution. One of the few States to send delegates to the Annapolis convention, from which resulted the plan of a more perfect union, it was noteworthy that "James Madison sketched the national plan. William Paterson claimed and secured through the temporary Jersey plan the permanent and equal recognition of the States, and Oliver Ellsworth cleared the way for the blending plan in which the brightest life of each of these forces is conditioned upon the welfare of the other. James Madison and Oliver Ellsworth received their first lessons in statecraft at the knee of Princeton mother."
The medal is of solid gold, made by Tiffany. The face bears the likeness of George Wash- ington. The reverse contains words of advice from Washington and emblems of the society and the seal of the society. The officers of the society are : President, Dr. Samuel H. Pennington ; Vice Presidents, General William S. Stryker, Rev. Dr. George S. Mott, Jonathan W. Roberts ; Librarian and Treasurer, Hon. Frederick W. Ricord ; Corresponding Secretary, William Nelson ; Recording Secretary, Ernest E. Coe.
CHAPTER IX.
SOME EARLY DESCRIPTIONS OF TRENTON.
THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM EDMUNDSON-THE LETTER OF MAHLON STACY-SMITH'S DESCRIPTION -THE TRAVELS OF MARQUIS DE CHASTELLUX -- PRIEST'S MISTAKES-ELKANAH WATSON VISITS THE TOWN-"SALMAGUNDI"-BISSOT AND WANSEY-THE DUKE DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT-F. A. MICHAUX-GORDON'S "GAZETTEER."
HE HISTORICAL allusions to Trenton, eulled from a variety of sourees, give us interesting pen pictures of the town as it was in early days. These have been eited, in many eases, verbatim, so that the various phases of eity growth may be the more completely illustrated. The newspapers of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, which, with an occasional London gazette, alone circulated in colonial New Jersey, give us little or no information of a deseriptive character. From the journals of voyageurs, and particularly from the diurnal records of the traveling ministers of the Society of Friends, one must search for information. These excerpts include but a small portion of those which could be obtained, but are nevertheless arranged in such chronologieal order that the general growth of the town may be readily followed.
The earliest English name given to the land now occupied by the city of Trenton was "The Falls," or, as the early records have it, "ye ffalles of ye De La Ware." That the locality was very early so ealled is proved by the journal of William Edmundson, traveling minister of the Society of Friends. Leaving Shrewsbury, in Monmouth county, in the year 1675, he traveled southward to Maryland, and thus deseribes the incidents of his visit. One of a party starting with an Indian guide, they lost their way and retraeed their steps to the Raritan river. There they found a small path leading to Delaware Falls. Thus says Edmundson :
"We travelled that day, and saw no tame creature. At night we kindled a fire in the wilderness and lay by it, as we used to do in such journeys. Next day, about nine in the morning, by the good hand of God, we came well to the Falls, and by his providenee found there an Indian man, a woman, and boy with a eanoe : so we hired him for some wampampeg to help us over in the canoe ; we swam our horses, and though the river was broad, yet got well over, and by the directions we received from friends, travelled towards Delawaretown, [probably Neweastle, ] along the west side of the river. When we had rode some miles, we baited our horses and refreshed ourselves with such provisions as we had, for as yet we were not come to any inhabitants."
The designation of "The Falls" probably died out by 1750, but a sentiment lingered around the name for many years. As late as 1824, there was incorporated in Trenton "The Bible Society of Delaware Falls."
In 1680, Staey wrote "From the Falls of Delaware in West New Jersey " (Trenton) : "This is a most brave place. * * *
* * We have wanted nothing sinee we eame hither. * They [the immigrants] improve their lands and have good erops." Staey indieates the immobility of the North English farmer when he says "I wonder at our Yorkshire people that they rather live in
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servitude *
than stir out of the chimney corner and transport themselves to a place
* where they might know better things."
An extremely interesting pre-Revolutionary view of the vicinity of Trenton may be had in Smith's History ( 1765). The river navigation above Trenton was confined to the troughlike boats, forty or fifty feet long, square above the head and sterns, sloping fore and aft. They were six or seven feet wide, and drew about two feet of water, with a tonnage of five or six hundred bushels of wheat. These Durham boats were especially strong, and were constructed to "run" the rapids during the spring and fall freshets. In Burlington county, which lay to the south of Assanpink creek, pork was a staple for West India trade, with beef, mutton, cheese and butter for Philadel- phia markets. Of Hunterdon county, in the southern corner of which Trenton was situated, Smith says it "is the most populous and opulent county in the Province. The land is generally good for tillage ; wheat the staple. * * The courts are held at Trenton, a place of eoncourse and lively trade. It stands at the head of the tide and in a high pleasant situation ; the inhabitants have a public library."
In the "Travels of the Marquis de Chastellux," about the year 1785 (vol. I., p. 168), he records his trip from the classic and martial ground of Princeton. He further says :
" I arrived early at Trenton, having remarked nothing interesting on the road, unless it be the beauty of the country, which everywhere corresponds with the reputation of the Jerseys, called the garden of America. On approaching Trenton, the road descends a little, and permits one to see at the east end of the town the orchard where the Hessians hastily collected and surrendered prisoners." He gives a brief review of the battle of Trenton, of which it is truly said that it "was neither honourable or dishonourable for the Hessians; but which proves that no troops existing can be reckoned on, when they suffer themselves to be surprised." At dinner he found his "headquarters well established in a good inn kept by Mr. Williams. The sign of this inn is a philosophical, or if you will, a political emblem. It represents a beaver at work, with his little teeth, to bring down a large tree and underneath is written Perserando." Governor Livingston, who was for so long the object of Tory vengeance that he was obliged to constantly change his abiding- place, visited the Marquis, who speaks of His Excellency as "an old man mueh respected and who passes for a very sensible man." The Frenchman and the Governor took a "little walk before dinner," examining the environs of the town. At dinner were the Marquis, the Governor, Colonel Moyland, M. de Gimat and two aides-de-camp of General Lafayette. A Justice of the Peace in Trenton on business and a Captain of American Artillery "came and set down at table with us without any ceremony ; it being the custom of the country for travellers when they meet at the hour of dinner to dine together." The dinner was excellent ; the wine rare and dear ; and, although the Justice and the Captain knew that the repast was to be charged to the Marquis, they "set off without saying a word to me on the subject."
Priest, the English traveler, in America 1793-97, made the curious mistake that has until this day marked the visits of voyageurs. He remained in Trenton over night, but left before sunrise the next morning, a circumstanee he much regretted, as he wished to see the falls so worthy the attention of a traveler. He had confounded the Trenton falls, or Delaware river rapids, of a descent of about eighteen feet in six miles, with the Trenton Falls of West Canada creek, New York. Francis Baily, President of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, who visited New Jersey in 1796, says of the falls, "these do not deserve the name of falls, being nothing more than a ledge of rocks reaching across the river, and obstructing the navigation for large vessels."
Elkanah Watson, in his Memoirs, credits Trenton with only seventy dwellings, situate prin- cipally on two narrow streets running parallel (now Broad and Warren), whilst the travels of the Duke de la Rochefoucault, Liancourt (1795-97), gives the town three hundred houses, mostly wooden, those on the high street being best, "but very moderate in their appearance." Isaac Weld, Jr., published his travels in 1799, and credits the town with two hundred neatly-built houses, four churches and commodious streets. Melish, in his travels, in 1806-07, makes Trenton "a handsome little town, containing about two hundred houses."
The situation of the town seems to have something that takes the French eye. In 1805, General Moreau established his residence on the opposite bank of the river, and Joseph Bonaparte was disappointed in the purchase of a site adjoining (now in) the town, before he settled a few miles below. Moreau's mansion was burnt down on Christmas day, 1811. The stable became a
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
manufactory. Upon his first arrival the General resided "at the seat of Mr. Le Guen, at Morris- ville." By virtue of an act of Legislature (March 5th, 1816), the cstate of one hundred and five aeres was sold by Moreau's executor, three years after his fall at Dresden. It may have been the reputation of the river seenery that gave the hint to the wits of "Salmagundi," in the journal of an imaginary traveler : "Trenton-built above the head of navigation, to encourage commerce-capital of the State -- only wants a castle, a bay, a mountain, a sea, and a volcano, to bear a strong resem- blance to the bay of Naples." ("Salmagundi," by Irving, Paulding, &c., 1807. ) (Hall. )
Brissot, the Girondist, who died by the guillotine in 1793, was here in 1788. "The taverns," he writes ("Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats-unis, fait en 1788," J. P. Brissot de Warville, I., p. 148), "are mueh dearer on this road than in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I paid at Trenton for a dinner 3s. 6d. money of Pennsylvania. We passed the ferry from Trenton at seven in the morning. The Delaware, which separates Pennsylvania from New-Jersey, is a superb river. The prospect from the middle of the river is charming. On the right you see mills and manufactories ; on the left two charming little towns which overlook the water. The borders of this river are still in their wild state. In the forests which cover them there are some enormous trees. There are like- wise some houses, but they are not equal, in point of simple elegance, to those of Massachusetts."
In 1794, an English tourist says of our town : "The houses join each other, and form regular streets, very much like some of the small towns in Devonshire. The town has a very good market, which is well supplied with butcher's meat, fish, and poultry. Many good shops are to be seen there, in general with seats on each side the entrance, and a step or two up into each house." The market prices on the day of this visit were, beef Sd., mutton 4d., veal 4d. "This was dearer than common on two accounts ; the great quantity lately bought up for exportation upon taking off the embargo, and the Assembly of the State being then sitting at Trenton. Land here sells, of the best kind, at about ten pounds [twenty-seven dollars] an acre." ("Journal of an Excursion to the United States in the Summer of 1794," by Henry Wansey, F. A.S., a Wiltshire clothier. )
The Duke de la Rochefoucault, about 1784, makes this entry in his journal : "About a quarter of a mile beyond Trenton is the passage over the Delaware by a ferry, which, though ten stage- coaches daily pass in it, is such that it would be reckoned a very bad ferry in Europe. On the farther side of the river the retrospect to Trenton is, in a considerable degree, pleasing. The ground between that town and the Delaware is smooth, sloping, decorated with the flowers and verdure of a fine meadow. In the environs of the town, too, are a number of handsome villas which greatly enrich the landscape." ("Travels in 1795-97," vol. I., p. 549. ) In April, 1795, Peter Howell advertised a "two-horse coachee" to leave Trenton for Philadelphia every Wed- nesday and Saturday, at eleven o'clock. Fare for a passenger, 12s. 6d .; fourteen pounds of baggage allowed.
The celebrated French naturalist, F. A. Michaux, son of A. Michaux, sent over by Louis XVI. for botanical research, passing in 1802, gives us this paragraph : "Among the other small towns by the roadside, Trenton seemed worthy of attention. Its situation upon the Delaware, the beautiful tract of country that surrounds it, must render it a most delightful place of abode." ("Travels of Franeois André Michaux.") By an act of March 3d, 1786, the Legislature granted André, the traveler's father, permission to hold land, not exceeding two hundred acres, in any part of the State for a botanical garden. There is a memoir of Francois (who was the author of the "North American Sylva") in the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," vol. XI. Three years before the above-mentioned act, the French Consul for New Jersey offered in the King's name all kinds of seeds whenever a botanical garden should be established. The Legislature (December 10th, 1783) made the ingenious reply that as soon as they established such a garden they should be glad to receive the seeds.
In 1834, Gordon's "Gazetteer" of New Jersey was issued. In the description of Trenton it says that there is in the city "a state house 100 x 60 feet, with bow at either end, cupola and bell the building is of stone, stuccoed in imitation of dark granite," together with the Gov- ernor's residence, three fire-proof offices, a bank incorporated in 1804, an academy, three boarding and day-sehools for females and several common schools. Trenton, in loeal parlance, included the villages of Mill Hill, Bloomsbury and Lamberton, then in Burlington county. The churches were Episcopal, Presbyterian, Friends', Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist and African Methodist. Trenton proper included 425 dwellings, 13 taverns, about 30 stores ; Mill Hill
1
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THE CITY OF TRENTON.
had 78 dwellings, 4 stores and 4 taverns ; Bloomsbury had 145 dwellings, 2 stores and 5 taverns, and Lamberton 64 dwellings, 2 stores and 2 taverns. A line of steamboats ran daily to Phila- delphia and stages three times per diem to that city, as well as New York. Local lines served Princeton and the rural districts. The State Prison, at Lamberton, had accommodation for 150 convicts. "The framed bridge over the Delaware," having a span of 1, 100 feet, double carriage- way and foot-paths, "resting on the cords of, and suspended from, a series of five arches supported on stone piers," was " much admired for its lightness grace and strength." Two cotton mills on the Assanpink, with 5,400 spindles, one mill for power looms, and on the Delaware two mills for looms are mentioned. The Trenton Falls Company, incorporated 1831, which, with the canal, " have given new life to business and enterprise," were anticipated factors in the development of the city.
A most enthusiastic and truthful exposition of the advantages of Trenton as a manufacturing center, closes the description. Attention is called to the location of the town on river and canal, in the midst of a fertile agricultural country where labor is plenty and provisions are cheap ; with facilities for obtaining coal and one railroad projected to New York and two practically completed to Philadelphia, one from Morrisville and the other from Bordentown, and, above all, "convenience in obtaining raw material, unfailing power for its manipulation and a chance of and ready access to the best markets of the country."
CHAPTER X.
THE CORPORATE HISTORY OF THE CITY OF TRENTON. TRENTON BEFORE THE CHARTER OF 1792.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TRENTON'S GROWTH-COUNTY LINES, WITH TRENTON AS THE SHIRE TOWN-
THE ORGANIZATION OF TRENTON TOWNSHIP-THE EARLY JAIL-CHARACTER OF THE TOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAST CENTURY-TRENTON'S COLONIAL CHARTER-THE VILLAGE BECOMES A BOROUGH TOWN-ITS BOUNDARIES -- THE OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES-THE CHARTER BECOMES UNWIELDY AND IS SURRENDERED-A NOTICE OF TRENTON'S FAIR AND MARKET.
PROPER view of the corporate history of the city of Trenton leads us to the very beginnings of town life. Unlike so many cities which have grown by fitfully embracing great sections of rural territory, Trenton has increased from within, outward. This is the converse of the proposition usually presented. The corporate history of many cities is the history of the environs which they have absorbed. Trenton had no small towns around her-lesser satellites-except, of course, South Trenton, Chambersburg and Millham, which, though under separate governments, were, nevertheless, an integral part of herself. The history of Trenton is the history of the city-not the record of the near-by townships.
Thus, as the corporate record is purely evolutionary, the germ lies in the town as "The Falls of the Delaware."
By virtue of an act passed January 21st, 1709-10, the boundaries of the counties of New Jersey were further divided and ascertained. Much uncertainty had existed, giving rise to manifold inconveniences. Burlington, which then contained Trenton, or the Falls, was bounded, in part, by "the Line of Partition between East and West Jersey, thence along the said Line of Partition by Maidenhead and Hopewell to the northermost and uttermost Bounds of the Township of Amwell, thence by the same to the River Delaware." Trenton was thus politically dependent upon Burling- ton, as she had been for a score of previous years.
The growth of the up-river settlements became more vigorous, and in 1713-14 the Legislature passed an act (March 11th) providing that all the "upper parts " of West Jersey "lying North- wards of or situate above the Brook or Rivulet commonly called Assanpink be erected into a county," which, in honor of Governor Robert Hunter, who had recently been appointed by the Crown, was called Hunterdon county. Until 1727-28, Hunterdon elected her representatives to Assembly with Burlington. King George II. having instructed the Governor to issue a writ, the Sheriff returned the names of John Porterfield and Joseph Stout as Assemblymen. Henceforth Hunterdon county exercised her rights in electing her members of the Lower House.
It will be remembered that Trenton, as "ye ffalles," was the center of the townships of Nottingham, Maidenhead (Lawrenceville), Hopewell and Amwell, being constabularies of old Burlington. In 1713-14, the upper parts of Burlington, or all that territory lying north of the Assanpink and bounded on the east by the Province line, became the county of Hunterdon. It
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appears at this carly period as if rivalries existed between the towns of Hopewell and Maidenhead ( Lawrenceville) for the honor of holding the county courts. By Ordinance of April 7th, XIII. of Anne, it was therein specifically directed that the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Ses- sions should be held alternately at Maidenhead (Lawrenceville) and Hopewell, "until a court- house and gaol for the county should be built." In accordance with this provision, the courts sat in Maidenhead in June and December and in Hopewell in March and September.
At this early time the courts met in the churches and not infrequently in private houses. Among those whose homes were used for this purpose were Theophilus Phillips, William Osborne, Horner, and Daniel Bailey, in Maidenhead. When the court sat in Hopewell, it was held first and subsequently at the house of Andrew Heath and the house of Robert Lanning (the place afterwards owned by the heirs of Nathaniel Lanning).
No action seems to have been taken concerning the erection of a common jail. John Muirheid, High Sheriff, complained to the court in 1714, in 1717, in June, 1719, and in March, 1720, that there was no gaol for the county. This is in no sense surprising, inasmuch as the county of Hunter- don practically had two capitals. Indeed, the crisis in Hunterdon's affairs came in September, 1719, when the courts first sat in Trenton. The executive power of the Colony was called upon to settle the matter. It having been represented to the Governor that the holding the courts alternately in Maidenhead and Hopewell was attended with inconvenience, in March, 1719, he finally directed that the COURTHOUSE courts should be held and kept in Trenton from the month of September next ensuing.
The establishing of the county court in the village of Trenton was one of the most prominent, if not the most prominent, factors in the future development of the town. Located in the extreme southwestern por- tion of old Hunterdon THE OLD COURT HOUSE AND JAIL. county, it drew to itself the varied interests of the upper Delaware Valley. Not only the settlers of Maidenhead, Hopewell and Amwell, but later the newer townships of upper Hunterdon, such as Readington, met on court days. The Palatinate farmer and the Scotch-Irish immigrant who drifted from Pennsylvania, the Hollander from the Raritan Valley and the staid Quaker plantation-owner from the Burlington county townships of Notting- ham, Chesterfield and the Hamptons, joined hands. Court days brought a varied population, of many raees and faiths, and formed the basis for a Fair, from which grew much of the economic prosperity of all colonial towns.
Trenton now became divorced from the townships, for in March, 1719, "the court ordered that the bounds of Trenton be entered on record as followeth : beginning at the landing on the Delaware river, in Nottingham, running up said river to the mouth of Jacob's creek ; thence along said ereek to the King's road, to a run called Jacob's run ; thence up said run to Thatcher's swamp, along a run that runs into Shabbakonk, and over Shabbakonk, including Ralph Hart's plantation, to the line that divides Hopewell from Maidenhead ; thence along said line till it comes to the line of Mr. Trent and Thomas Lambert's land ; thence along said line betwixt Mr. Trent and Thomas Lambert to the Delaware river, and so along said river to the first-mentioned station."
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