USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 65
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Benjamin Lyons carried on a large shoe business here in 1793. David Lyons was one of the magistrates, and had an office until 1815. Moses Thompson opened up the first blacksmith shop, in 1780, and afterward his son, Isaac Thompson, engaged in the business. One other son was a wheelwright.
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James Williamson, one of the oldest living representatives of Lyons Farms, came to this place in 1838. He was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1819, and is the eldest son of William and Mary (Parrot) Williamson of that city. The father was a blacksmith also. James Williamson learned the trade of John Greene at Clinton, New Jersey. After coming to Lyons Farms he worked at his trade for Mr. Meeker until 1846 and then began business on his own account, which he continued fifty-two years. His son, William H. Williamson, is his successor, and is carrying on a successful business.
Mr. Williamson married Margaret Ann, daughter of William Lyons, of Lyons Farms. Her mother's maiden name was Thankful Rich. There were born to this union the following children : Amanda, wife of C. C. Bailey ; Sarah E., wife of John Doremus ; Thankful A., wife of N. O. Woodruff ; Hettie ; Alice, wife of Lewis Dutcher ; Mrs. Elsie Morris; William H., who married Phoebe Tichenor and has one child, Lulu ; James; and Isaac.
THE EVERGREEN CEMETERY.
Prior to the year 1828 the early settlers were interred at Connecticut Farms and Elizabethtown churchyards. On March 10, 1853, the association for the interment of the dead at the Evergreen cemetery was organized under the general act of the legislature. The grounds are beautifully situated, near the village, on the road to Elizabeth, and are tastefully kept and ornamented. The following were the first officers of the board of trustees : Richard T. Haines, president ; Francis B. Chetwood, vice-president ; Josiah Q. Stearns, treasurer ; and William F. Day, secretary. On the 13th of December, 1858, when the grounds were dedicated, the late Rev. David Magie, of Elizabeth, made the dedicatory remarks, and the Rev. Robert Street the prayer. The present officers are as follows : Charles Russ, president ; E. B. Woodruff, vice-president ; Edward S. Atwater, secretary and treasurer; Henry M. Looker, superintendent.
CONNECTICUT FARMS.
This little village, now known by the name of Union, is situated near the centre of the township, and is a historic place. The village was settled by many from Connecticut, as before mentioned, and it is in the midst of a beautiful section of the country, with comfortable farm houses, well cultivated fields, fine orchards, etc. The place contains two or more stores, a few shops, an old tavern or inn, a good school and a church.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The first settlers of this township traveled four or five miles every Sabbath day, and back again, to worship in the church at Elizabeth- town. About the year 1730, or probably a few years before that date, they organized into a separate religious society, and built a little frame
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house, that stood until the dark days of the Revolution, when the building, with some private residences, was burned to the ground by the British. Among the dwellings thus destroyed were those, east of the church, belonging to Benjamin Thompson, Moses Thompson, John Wade, and Robert Wade, and the house belonging to Caleb Wade, at the . foot of the hill south of the church. The body of Mrs. Caldwell was conveyed to the house nearly opposite, belonging to Captain Henry Wade. The circumstances of this painful tragedy have been described in earlier portions of this history.
At a meeting of the presbytery, in Morristown, May 7, 1783, the following record was inade.
A petition from the congregation of Connecticut Farms for the assistance of presbytery in building a meeting-house was brought in and read. The presbytery advise that congregation to send proper persons to their respective congregations under their care to solicit benefactions for the above purpose, and recommend to the ministers and elders of each of the congregations to take such methods as they shall think proper to promote this benevolent design.
This was the second church, which has now been occupied for over a hundred years. Their first pastor was Rev. Simeon Horton, who was installed in the year 1734, and who continued for twelve years. After a vacancy of two years, Rev. James Davenport came, in 1748, and remained for a few years, when Rev. Daniel Thane, a native of Scotland, was appointed over this church, and remained until 1757. The fourth pastor was Rev. John Darby, who was a descendant of one of the old settlers at Elizabethtown (1758), and who remained for a few years. He died December, 1805, at the advanced age of ninety years. As to how the pulpit was supplied the next five or six years there is no account given, but in the winter of 1765 the Rev. Benjamin Hait (Hoyt) became their pastor. He was a native of Norwalk, Connecticut, and a graduate of the College of New Jersey. His ministry here from the beginning was in troublesome times, and terminated by his death, June 27, 1779. The church was without a pastor for eight years. We find that after the death, by the ruthless hand of the enemy, of Rev. Mr. Caldwell and his wife, a Mr. Noble Everett supplied for a year the scattered congre- gation, when the Rev. Peter Fish, of Newtown, Long Island, was called, and served for ten years, or until 1799, when Rev. Samuel Smith was in- stalled. He was a graduate of Columbia College. He died of bilious fever one year and three days after his settlement, October 10, 1801, at the age of thirty-three years. His immediate successor, in 1802, and the eighth pastor of this church was Rev. Stephen Thompson, a native of Mendham, New Jersey. He continued his labors for thirty-three years. He was dismissed in 1834, and removed to Indiana, where he remained until his death, May 31, 1856, in his eighty-first year. The Rev. Robert Street was pastor from 1835 to 1886, and is still living in Roselle, this town. Mr. Street was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, June 12,
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1806. His father, Robert Street, and mother, Rachael Sims, were members of the Society of Friends. Mr. Street having been drawn to the ministry as a profession, his preparation for preaching was pursued first at the academy at Williams College, and finally at the theological seminary at Princeton, New Jersey. Rev. Charles S. Convers has had charge of the church from 1886 to the present time. The church has a membership of one hundred and fifty souls.
The Methodist society in West Roselle have a flourishing church now, under the pastorate of Rev. Robert Elliott. The building is small, but sufficient for the present membership.
CHAPTER XXXII.
LINDEN TOWNSHIP.
INDEN township was set off as a township in February, I86I. In area it embraces twenty-eight hundred and fifty-three acres ; it contains three school districts, and formerly comprised one of the finest farming sections in the
country. Long since, however, the large farms were cut up into smaller ones, and more attention was paid to the raising of garden produce to supply the demand of the city market. The soil is a clay loam, with here and there a sandy loam.
Roselle and Linden are thriving villages, the former being a station on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, two miles from Elizabeth city. All the way trains from Newark and Elizabeth center here, making some one hundred and fifty-two connections daily. It has a population of nine hundred and ninety-six people, and is becoming a place of con- siderable importance.
Linden, situated on the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, about midway between Elizabeth and Rahway, contains a large number of fine dwellings, has three churches, factories, etc. The census report of this township in 1890 gives a population of two thousand and fifty-seven.
Trembly Station, on the Long Branch Road, is also in this town- ship. A family by the name of Trembly settled here at an early date. One Jean Traubles (John Trembly), of this town, a Huguenot, married Marie (Mary), daughter of Peter Nue (Noe), a French refugee, in 1689. They resided on lands which run to Staten Island Sound. Pater (Peter) Trembly, son of John, owned a skiff, which was used in crossing the sound from a point in the meadow which jutted out and which was called Ferry Point.
During the Revolutionary war the British soldiers used this point for crossing, and crossed and recrossed here many times during the night when on pillaging tours from Staten Island. On the night of December 14, 1780, a party of these royal horse thieves, under the command of the celebrated Lewis Robbins, came over and captured old David Miller, some of his sons, and his horses, but, because of the infirmities, paroled the old man, and then proceeded to Peter Trembly's, whom they seized and robbed of all his money and papers, but being frightened at the sound of a gun, paroled their prisoners and fled.
EARLY SETTLERS.
Linden township was first settled in common with Elizabethtown, of which it originally formed a part. Stephen Crane was among the.
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early settlers of this town. He was born about 1640 and died in 1700. He owned one hundred and fifty-six acres of land on the borders of Union and Linden, the old homestead standing just over the line. The place is better known by the "Oak Tree Well."
Joseph Halsey, son of Isaac and grandson of Thomas, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was born in Southhampton, Long Island, about 1668. He took up his residence near the Wheat Sheaf tavern. He was one of the associates and one of the memorialists in 1700. He married Elizabeth Haines, and the names of his children were Sarah, Abigail Rebecca, Joseph, Hannah, Phebe, Daniel, Isaac, Rachael, Deborah, Nancy. Joseph Halsey died in April, 1725.
William Cramer came in 1665. He is one of those who took the oath of allegiance and fidelity February 19, 1665. He was from Southold, Long Island, where he married the sister of Caleb Carwithy. He owned large estates in Linden. He was appointed, April 27, 1670, an associate, as well as constable of the town, in place of William Piles.
Thomas Terrill came here from Southold, Long Island, where, in 1675, he had a considerable estate. He was probably the son of Roger Terrill (Tyrrel), one of the founders of Mulford, Connecticut, in 1639. August 19, 1696, he bought of William Cramer a plot of land in this town, to which he removed. He died in 1725. The names of John, Josiah, Roger and Thomas are also mentioned.
Robert Morse and his son Peter came to the town from Massachu- setts in an early day. Mr. Morse owned some sixty acres of land in this township. The homestead was on Thompson's creek (Morse's creek). He was a tailor as well as planter, and one of his sons was a surveyor. Peter died in May, 1702. William Meeker (frequently Meaker), John Hinds and William Johnson came here at an early date. Meeker was probably connected with the grist mill on Mill creek, in 1669. "He was appointed October 7, 1667, to be loader to mill for a twelvemonth to goe, in all seasons except in unreasonable weather." He was town constable in 1711. His son Joseph kept a country store. Benjamin, another son, was a carpenter, and both were planters.
THE OLD WHEAT SHEAF INN.
In Revolutionary times there were several famous stopping places in the town of Linden, for the accommodation of the traveling public. Of these inns Hurd's and Crane's were situated near the station of the New Jersey Central Railroad, " Elmora," but no trace of thein can 110W be found. But the Old Wheat Sheaf Inn is a historic house still in good repair, and it was famous in its day. A gentleman by the name of Wilkinson kept it a long period before the battle of Connecticut Farms, and Ephraim Clark kept it at that time. It was built on lands owned by Louis Baker, and probably not far from 1745. John Halsey opened the house after Mr. Clark's death, and in 1815 a grand celebration took
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place there, commemorative of the proclamation of peace at the close of the war. Mr. John Yates, in 1837, after the death of Mr. Halsey, became the landlord ; married widow Halsey, and kept the house until his death, in 1843. He was one of the first blacksmiths at the Wheat Sheaf. It was next owned by Oliver Halsey, his son, from 1844 to 1849; and then by John Truax and his brother William. John B. Day took possession in 1857 and owned this "wayside inn " for over thirty years. The property is now owned by Mr. Banta.
SCHOOLS.
The first school house in this town was built, nearly opposite the Wheat Sheaf hotel, on the south side of King George's highway, or Rahway avenue. It was a wooden structure, sixteen by twenty feet, the ceiling being seven feet high, with a box stove in the center of the room. The Old Academy was presided over at one time by a Mrs. Dooley, and it is related of her, that whenever corporal punishment wasadministered she was accustomed to put her baby in the desk. Mr. Cotton, the first teacher, taught there nearly forty years. This school house, which was in district No. I, was occupied till 1820, when a new building was erected, about twenty rods north of the hotel, in the present limits of district No. 4. In 1837 a new school house was built, near the residence of Benjamin Tucker, and was occupied till 1871, when a more com- modious and pretentious structure, costing one thousand eight hundred dollars, was built.
The first school known to have been held in district No. 2 was near the residence of S. O. Roll. The building was erected in 1786, and was occupied till 1825. The name of the first teacher was Samuel Vander- hoven. In 1825 a new house was built, near the residence of Hampton Eddy, and was replaced, in 1870, by another costing two thousand dollars.
LINDEN VILLAGE.
The names of Wood, Winans, Roll, Marsh, Craig and Stiles represent the owners of the land where the village of Linden now is. In the year 1864 the old homestead now occupied by Mr. Meeker Wood, and the Blancke homestead, on one side and the old house of Mr. S. J. Stimson on the other side of the railroad were about the only houses in the place. Following we give liberal extracts from a historical discourse delivered on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dedication of the Reformed church, of Linden, New Jersey, by Rev. Oscar Gesner. In speaking of the early inhabitants of the village, Mr. Gesner says:
Mr. Ferdinand Blancke is undoubtedly the father of the town, and at this writing he is still living. It was in the year 1865 that Mr. Blancke purchased a large tract of land, began to build a town, and called it Linden. Previous to this there was a station here, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, called Wheatsheaf. We have been told by some of
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the first inhabitants of the place that the depot then consisted of an old box car, and it was the custom of those who were obliged to go to the city to have a pair of boots with which they could wade through the mud. When they arrived at the depot these were changed for city shoes, the mud boots left in the depot until the return, when another change was effected, the mud boots were donned and the city shoes were carried in the hand. Surely there has been some improvement since then. Among the very first settlers of the new town were Mr. William Toothe, Mr. A. E. Knopf, Mr. Walter Luttgen, Mr. S. J. Stimson, Mr. C. T. Warren, Mr. Herman Brahe, Mr. Albert Cole and Allan Cole, Colonel Rose and a few others; and the first institution established was a school. A school-house association was formed, and by them a building was erected on the Forty- acre road, opposite Blancke street-the same building with some alterations and improve- ments is now the Methodist church.
1 first came to Linden in the spring of 1871. I came to preach as a candidate for a church about to be organized. There were at that time about forty houses within the bounds that I have mentioned. Now there are about one hundred and twenty within the same bounds. I can recall forty-five families who were here then, though some of them lived beyond the bounds we have given.
In 1871 the depot was on this side of the railroad track. There were only two tracks, now there are four. There was a board walk on Wood avenue, from the depot to Henry street, and from Washington avenue to the Forty-acre road on Blancke street. Wood avenue was only just opened beyond Henry street.
REFORMED CHURCH.
One of the first buildings in Linden was a school house. In this building religious services began to be held some time during the fall or winter of 1866. Ministers of all denominations were given a hearty welcome. The church record says that the first Sabbath school was established in May of the year 1867. The school record places the date of a union Sabbath school at June 14, 1868. After various vicissitudes and some tribulation, it was determined to organize a church under the auspices of the Reformed (Dutch) church in America. Accordingly, on the 10th or IIth day of May, a delegation from the south classis of Bergen met to lay the corner stone. Rev. Mr. Gesner and several other speakers addressed the assemblage, and the stone was laid.
The organization was made with only eleven members, of whom six are now dead. Soon after the organization Mr. Gesner received a formal call to become pastor of the church, on a salary of one thousand dollars per year and the parsonage. He took charge in June, holding services first in the school house, but only in the afternoons, the Epis- copal brethren using it on Sabbath mornings. In the latter part of June, 1871, he was installed as pastor, and at Christmas of the same year the church building was completed and dedicated, the venerable and ever-to-be revered Chancellor Ferris, ex-chancellor of the Univer- sity of New York, pronouncing the dedicatory service. In the evening of that same day a grand wedding took place in the church. It was the first service after the dedication, the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hood. By mutual agreement the first pastorate ended on the Ist of March, 1875. Up to September 12, 1874, the church had raised from all sources $24,360.81.
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There was a church property, which, with all the appurtenances, had cost, without the lot, $17,673.00, upon which there was a debt of $8,500. On the 22d of July, 1875, the classis of Newark ordained Howard H. Van Vranken, a licentiate of the classis of Michigan, and in the evening of the same day installed him as pastor of this church. Mr. Van Vranken was a good preacher, an earnest, hard worker and a faith- ful pastor.
His resignation took effect October Ist, 1877. He was here during the dark days of Linden, and when he left, the church was virtually disbanded, but twenty-one souls were added to the membership under his ministry. In October, 1877, the classis of Newark reorganized the church. A new consistory was elected and properly installed ; Rev. Mr. Gesner was again called to the pulpit, and at the reorganization it was agreed that the church should be a free church, supported entirely by the voluntary contributions of the people, and it has so remained to this day. Rev. Mr. Gesner had charge of the pulpit for about eight years, and, with the exception of about two years, when Mr. Kommers supplied the church, he has been the only resident minister of the place. The present incumbent is Rev. Mr. Sherwood.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Linden attended services in Rahway and other places until the year 1874, when the presiding elder granted a supply from Rahway. The Rev. H. D. Opdype, from Rahway, began preaching on Sabbath afternoons. In 1875 Rev. Alexander Craig, with the help of some students from Drew Theological Seminary, held regular services. The school house was purchased, seated and refitted, and a Sunday school was organized. In 1878 the building was erected. There is no pastor of the church at the present time.
GRACE CHURCH, PROTESTENT EPISCOPAL,
of Linden, was organized in 1875. They had formerly attended service at Rahway and Roselle and have built a neat Gothic structure, east of the station, but have no regular rector.
ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL.
No Episcopal society had been organized in Roselle until 1870, when Rev. H. B. S. Martin came to the aid of a few members who had moved from New York and were desirous to have a church in this place where they could attend without going to a distance. In the summer of that year ground was broken on Fourth avenue, which had been but lately opened in the village.
The parish church stands on the highest elevation in this town- ship, and is built in the old style of English architecture, at a cost
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of about seven thousand dollars. Mr. Martin was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Dennison, in 1872, and he, in 1876, by Rev. Witt C. Byllesley. The present pastor, the Rev. Wyatt Hannah, came in 1874. Mr. Hannah is a graduate of Durham, England ; also of London, England ; also of Harvard, Massachusetts, and of the Eclectic Medical College, of New York. The church is in a flourishing condition at the present time, having a membership of three hundred. Mr. Richard Kipling, one of the founders of the society, has held the office of senior warden from the time of the organization. Mr. A. W. Patterson is junior warden and also Sabbath-school superintendent.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The birthplace of the First Presbyterian church, of Roselle, was in the little school house on the side of North avenue, just west of Walnut- street bridge, and the birthday was June 12, 1868. Thirty-six persons united in membership under a covenant. John Seaton and Aaron D. Hope, elders. Trustees were David Mulford, Aaron W. Smith, N. D. Stiger, John W. Mulford, William S. Williams, Aaron Clark, 2d, and Rezeau Brown. The church building was erected by John Mulford, and subsequently a west wing was added, the total cost being $1,343-75. The corner stone was laid September 19, 1868. Edison's electric lights were introduced, and it was the first church in the world to be so lighted. October 27, 1871, the parsonage was purchased at a cost of $5,500. In 1891 the new building was erected at a cost of twenty-one thousand dollars, the old building being used as a chapel. The present member- ship is two hundred and forty. The pastors have been as follows: Rev. A. H. Sloat, Cranford, first pastor ; Dr. John F. Pingry, called June 21, 1869, was succeeded June 13, 1870, by Rev. Charles A. Briggs, who occupied the pulpit until his appointment, in March, 1874, to a professor- ship in the Union Theological Seminary, New York, when he in turn was succeeded by the present pastor, J. Alstyne Blauvelt, in May, 1874. A healthy, vigorous Sabbath school, in keeping with the spiritual tone of the church work, is also maintained.
BAPTIST CHURCH.
This organization in Roselle grew out of a union Sabbath school which met at Wheat Sheaf. Accordingly, June 19, 1870, the Baptist Bible school was organized, and August 4, 1872, at the residence of Mr. George Marlor, another meeting was held, and in pursuance thereto, September 18th, at the home of Mr. George Sulton, nineteen Baptists enrolled as constitutent members as follows : James P. Hallett, Henry L. Dexter, George Marlor, George H. Sutton, R. M. Crane, Dennis C. Crane, William Crane, James Noxon; Sisters Mary Crane, Sarah Hallett, Jane Dexter, Florence E. Sutton, Martha Marlor, Mary Lanning,
4I
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Helen Noxon, Mrs. Aaron Faitoute, Anna R. Crane, Laura S. Crane, Lizzie J. Faitonte.
October 14, 1872, a meeting was held in the hall of the school house. Rev. Franklin Johnson, D. D., of Newark, was chosen mod- erator, and Rev. Joseph Buchanan, of Scotch Plains, clerk. Articles of faith were drawn up, and a regular Baptist church organized. Ser- vices were held first in the upper hall of the school house. July 30, 1874, a church building was authorized and on June 5, 1876, a new church edifice was dedicated, the sermon being preached by the Rev. Thomas Armitage, D. D. The building cost ten thousand six hundred and eighty-five dollars. Pastors, Rev. J. V. Stratton, January 5, 1873-7; Rev. R. F. McMichael, 1877-9; Rev. William Hump- stone, 1879-81; Rev. W. W. Pratt, supply, 1881-2; Rev. I. W. Brinkerhoff, supply, 1884-5; Rev. L. O. Grenelle, 1885-7; supplies until 1889; Rev. H. R. Goodchild, 1889-95; after which two supplies followed, when the present pastor, Rev. John Miller, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, commenced his labors the first Sabbath in May, 1896. The Bible school now numbers ninety-five. The church membership is seventy-one.
JAMES W. HOPE,
BAPTIST CHURCH, ROSELLE a prominent contractor of Roselle, was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey in 1849. He was educated in Nazareth Hall, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and at the age of nineteen years applied himself to the business of building. He came to Roselle in 1866 with the Roselle Land & Improvement Company, and soon afterward engaged in contracting. Many of the best residences in Roselle are of his construc- tion, and his success has placed him among the solid men of the borough.
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