History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 141

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 141
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 141

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An act having been passed by the Legislature " for the Ease and Benefit of the People call'd Quakers," the April meeting (21st), 1705, made out a certificate, to be used in case of necessity, which, under the pro- visions of the law, secured to the holder thereof ex- emption from military duty.

About this time there is spoken of building "ye meeting house and burial place."

The following extract will give the reader an idea of the strictness which was enjoined upon Friends in "ye olden time." They are not considered good Quakers

" If any men or woman friends young or old keep not themselves and children to plainness of apparrel as becomes our antient Christian pro- fession. If any men weare long lapped sleeves, coats folded on the sides, superfluous Buttons, broad Ribbands about their Hats or Gaudy flower'd or striped stuffs, or any sort of Perriwigs unless necessitated, & if any are necessitated then that it be as near ye colour ss may be to their own, & in respects resembling as much as may be a sufficient natural head of hair without the vain custom of being long behind or mounting on the forehead. Also if any woman yt profess the truth wear or suffer their children to wear their Gowus not plaio or open at the breast with gawdy stomachery, needless rolls at the sleeves, or live their mantnes or Bon- nets with Gawdy colours, or cut their hair & leave it out on ye brow or dress their heads high, or to wear Hoods with long laps, or Pinners plaited or gathered on ye brow or double hem'd or pinched, or wear long scarfs open before, or have their Gowns pinn'd upon heaps or plaits like the vain fashions of the world, or if any are found to wear or follow any other vain and needless fashion & dresses for as it hurts their growth 80 it also hurtbans the life in such as are careful & faithful it being not agreeable to that shamefacedness, plainness, and Modesty which people professing godliness with good works ought to be found in as the Holy Scriptures testify. That, therefore, friends be careful as much as may be nut to buy or sell any striped or flowered stuffs, and that all Taylors concern'd be advised not to make any gaudy or superfluous aparrel."

"If there be any superflons furniture in houses as double curtains and Vallants great Fringes, &c., that they be laid aside."

"If any accustom themselves or children to call the week, dayes, and

months the names given them by the Ir :athan in honor of their Gods it being contrary to scripture and our antient testimony."

" If any accustom themselves or children to speak the corrupt and unscriptural Language of you to a single person."

On the 21st of January, 1706, Nathaniel Fitz Ran- dolph informed the Friends that a plot of land of half an acre could be obtained for six pounds from John Allen. The deed for the land for the meeting- house and burial-ground is recorded in full, and the bounds are thus given :

" On the north by a highway, on ye west by land now in the possession of Benjamin Dunham, on ye south and east by land of the said John Allen," and is dated " the fourteenth day of the second month," 1707.

In 1709 the new building was commenced, twenty feet by thirty feet, and twelve feet high between " ye cell and plate," and not until the 16th of February, 1713, was the meeting-house completed that they were able to hold their first meeting.

" John Allen was requested to keep an eye on the burying-ground, to take care that no creature be turned in there."

" On the 20th November, 1714, after two months' consideration, it was ordered that a stable should be built to accommodate those coming to meeting with horses, to be twenty-five feet in length, sixteen feet in breadth, and six feet between sill and plate. It was to have a shingled roof, the sides and ends to be covered with boards. An agreement was accordingly made with John Vail to put up the building."

On Aug. 16, 1718, Henry Brotherton became janitor of the meeting-house.

" In September, 1719, John Vail was ordered to take down the glass (windows) in the meeting-house and alter it, and put up the shutters on ye fore side."

The Woodbridge Quakers had a very small circu- lating library, the Friends borrowing the volumes of the Monthly Meeting. The most popular book, if we may judge by the number of times it was called for, was entitled " New England Judged." Besides this there were "George Fox's Journal," " Robert Barck- lay's Apology," "The History of the Christian Peo- ple called Quakers," "Forced Maintenance," by Thomas Chalkley, and other works.

A Weekly Meeting was begun Oct. 16, 1725, at John Laing's, to accommodate the Friends who dwelt about him that were unable to attend the services in the meeting-house on account of the distance. John Laing lived at or near Plainfield, and it was cer- tainly a long distance for him to ride every " First day."

At the Monthly Meeting held in Woodbridge on the 18th of February, 1751, we find it stated that some Friends "having been concerned in setting up gravestones in our burying-ground, John Vail and Joseph Shotwell are desired to treat with them and to desire them to have them removed." On the 21st of April a report was rendered that some had taken

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

the stones down but had laid them on the graves. Others had not done even that, the stones remaining in their original positions. On the 18th of the next. month, however, it was reported that all the stones were taken down.

In 1751, in May, their first Quarterly Meeting was held in Woodbridge village at the " meeting-house." Heretofore this important body had met in Shrews- bury. . John Shotwell and Edward Fitz Randolph were the representatives from Woodbridge Monthly Meeting.1

Robert Willis was one of the most active ministers of the sect in this part of the country. He often made journeys to other places, to the edification of those among whom he sojonrned. On the 17th of April, 1760, he informs the Woodbridge Friends that " he has been under an Ingagement of minde for sum time to Vissit the meetings of friends in the . Sonthern Provinces." His proposed trip was ap- proved, and a commendatory certificate was given to him. Sarah Shotwell was also known as a speaker and a pattern of humility and faithfulness. After her death a memorial was written by a committee, John Webster and Abner Hampton, which was adopted in the June Monthly Meeting.

The senior John Vail (there were three Johns) had some eminence several years before as an instructive teacher of the truth. Likewise was William Morris at one time an honored and useful minister, who " went about doing good."

That the society began to wane in Woodbridge and grow in other towns is made a matter that the Friends in Rahway and Plainfield in 1766 take cognizance of : " As Friends Feel a spring of Love in themselves, they chearfully Give up to Go and partake with their Brethren at Woodbridge ;" and on the 19th of April, 1769, the Monthly Meeting held its last session in Woodbridge.

The "selackness and Indifferency" of the Wood- bridge members were freely discussed in the Novem- ber meetings at Rahway.

During the Revolutionary war, 1776, the meeting- house was occupied by soldiers. Joseph Shotwell, Benjamin Shotwell, Abraham Shotwell, John Hay- dock, John and Hugh Webster are appointed to in- quire in what manner they have taken possession thereof, and whether they obstruct Friends from meeting quietly therein. "And they report they took possession of it without leave from any Friends ; they at times continue there yet, but don't much in- terrupt Friends in time of Meetings." (And at this time they must have held their meetings, yet the record goes on to say that in 1769 they held their last meetings.) The following are a few of the names of the Quakers who resided in Woodbridge and vicinity : William Bloodgood, 1700; Charles Brook, 1788 ; John Atkinson, 1727; Samuel Alling,

1728; Thomas Burling, 1770; Henry Brotherton, 1710; Cowperthwait Copeland, 1750; Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, 1712; Samuel and Joseph Fitz Randolph, 1720; John Griffith, 1709; Thomas Gach, 1721; Jonathan Harned, Joseph Hampton, Solomon Hunt, 1729; Mootry Kinsey, 1764; John Laing, 1741; Joseph Marsh, 1750; George, Samnel, David, Ben- jamin, Hugh, and George Pound, Jr .; William, Isaac, Titus, John, Jacob, Joseph, Abraham, Samuel, Daniel, and Joseph D. Shotwell; Shobel Smith ; Samuel, Isaac, Benjamin, Abraham, Webster, Jacob, and William Thorn ; John, Stephen, Isaac, Ephraim, Clarkson, David, and Edward Vail ; Morris, Smith, Isaac, and William Webster; Jeremiah and James Wilson. The old meeting-house has long since been demolished, and in or about the year 1784 the lots, including the Friends' burying-ground, came in pos- session of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Burial-Grounds .- No doubt in the early history of this township there were many private or farm burial- plots, but they have been so sadly neglected (real estate frequently changing ownership, and many of these places being plowed over) that at the present day there is no trace or remembrance of scarcely any of them.

PRESBYTERIAN BURIAL-GROUND .- It is said to be one of the oldest burying-ground« in this State, and contains not only the remains of the earliest set- tiers but many of those who were noted worthies in the Revolutionary war.

The following record : "Samuel Hale and Adam Hude were appointed on the 29th of September, 1703, to Repair the meeting-house and Hang the Gates of the Burying-Place," and in 1705 a sum of money was levied for repairing the graveyard fence. It is sup- posed that many were buried here long before the church was built in 1675. Here are the graves of such ancient worthies as the warlike Capt. Matthew Moore, who died, aged sixty-six, Feb. 24, 1732. The family of Pikes are here sleeping their last sleep. Capt. John Pike has no stone to mark his grave, but his son, Judge John Pike, died August, 1714, aged seventy-five years. Edward Crowell, born 1680, aged and living seventy-six years. He was twenty-five years the Woodbridge town clerk. Joseph Gilmans, born 1678, died 1733; Maj. Richard Cutter, born 1682, died 1756; Jonathan Inslee, who was born in 1686, and was buried in December, 1744. Here lie James, Benjamin, and Ichabod Smith, born in the previous century, and resting near each other. Sarah, the wife of Samuel Parker, and daughter of William Ford, lies buried here, her death being recorded as having occurred in October, 1768. Capt. Daniel Britton, a prominent man in the township in his day, died in 1733, and his children lie asleep around him. At the rear of the church, almost within its afternoon shadow, is placed to rest the great Woodbridge judge, Adam Hude, in his eighty-fifth year. IIe died on the 27th of June, 1746. Near him reposes his worthy

1 Rev. Mr. Dally's Hist.

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WOODBRIDGE.

companion, over whose grave are written these words : | " Here Lyes ye Body of Mrs. Marion Nude, wife of Adam Flude, Esq., For ye space of 46 years dearly beloved in Life and lamented in death. She lived a Patern of Piety, Patience, meekness, and affability, and after she had served her generation in ye love and fear of God, in ye 71st year of her Age, fell asleep in Jesus Nov. ye 30, 1732." Also Henry Freeman, born in 1670, and dying in his ninety-fourth year. All around us as we stand on the conse- crated ground are the unpretending memorials of Revolutionary men and women. Here is the sepul- chre of Gen. Nathaniel Heard, who died aged sixty- two, Oct. 28, 1792; Capt. Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, the brave and dashing chieftain ; Capt. David Edgar, the spirited cavalryman ; Lieut. James Paton, the courageous Scotch patriot; Maj. Reuben Potter, the faithful friend of liberty ; and a host of others here take their " rest profound." Col. Samuel Crow, Col. Benjamin Brown, Capt. Ellis Barron, Capt. Abraham Tappen, Gen. Clarkson Edgar, and Capt. Matthias Sayers, of Revolutionary fame, are surrounded by many of the "rank and file," and they wait in the quiet graveyard for the grand reveille, when the army of the Lord shall shine in the clouds of heaven, and the dead in Christ shall awake to swell its numbers and shake the gates of Death with their martial tread.

How suggestive of other days is the mere mention of the names of those who have "gone down the valley." Judge Jeremiah Manning, Dr. John G. Wall, Justice Henry Freeman, Timothy Brewster, William Jones, Robert Coddington, Samuel Jaques, Robert Lacky, Thomas Haddon, William Brown, John Alston, David Harriot, all of these and many more are gathered within the hallowed precincts of this cemetery. Mr. Dally says in his history it is probable that there are two thousand graves, and in Dr. H. R. Stiles' volume of inscriptions there are nearly twelve hundred, and doubtless as many more are without stones.

EPISCOPAL BURYING-GROUND .- In this burial- place, which dates back to about the year 1714, are a number of graves without headstones, and probably some of them may have been the graves of the Rolphs, Jennings, Olden, Glover, Bishops, Hull, Hodgson, Mollesons, Higgins, Wetherel, Walker, Bur- row, Wright, and many others, and as they were the first who espoused the cause and were the helpers in building Trinity Church, Woodbridge, it may pos- sibly be that they are buried here. A few of the earliest dates are :

John Alston (son of David and Mary), died April 1, 1772, aged twenty-nine years.

Joseph Barron, born Oct. 13, 1796 ; died July 17, 1838.

Mary Bunn, died Dec. 30, 1750, aged thirty-seven years.

Benjamin Dunham, died Dec. 31, 1715, in bis thirty-fifth year.

Capt. Samuel Henshaw's wife, Catherine, died Oct. 17, 1768, in her twenty-fifth year.

Samuel Jaques, died May 1, 1780, aged seventy-two years.

Nathaniel Pike, died Sept. 29, 1766, in his forty- second year.

QUAKER BURIAL-GROUND (now Methodist burial- ground) .- The deed for the land for the meeting-house and burying-ground is recorded in full, and the bounds are thus given : "On the North by a highway on ye West by land now in the possession of Benjamin Dunham & on ye South and East by Land of the said John Allen. Deed dated 14th day, 2d month, 1707, Agreed that Lands design'd for Burying-Place be fenced with Posts & Rails, & John Louf borrow & Joseph Fitz Randolph were desired to endeavour to git some- body to do it. Sept. 20, 1729, this recommends the oversight of the burying-ground to Daniel Shotwell, and Desires that friends or such others as may have leave to bury there be careful in the future to Dig and Leigh the Corps as near to each other as may be with conveniency." In 1751 complaint is made that " Some friends have sett up Grave Stones, and John Vail and Joseph Shotwell are to treat with them for their removal." The burial-ground in 1784, with their meeting-house, was sold to the Methodist Episcopal Church.1 In this old Quaker burying-ground are sleeping their last sleep the first of this sect in East New Jersey. It is now part of the Methodist Episcopal Church property, and used for cemetery.

Towns and Hamlets .- A portion of the city of Rahway is situated in what was formerly the northerly part of this township. The hamlets of Uniontown, Ford's Corners, Houghtonville, East Woodbridge, and Edgar, with their pretty and substantial homes and school-houses, bear the impress of that contentment which is nowhere so generally prevalent as in the agricultural and rural districts. The city of Perth Amboy lies in the southeast corner of the township, and Staten Island just over the Sound on the east.

THE TOWN OF WOODBRIDGE .- This ancient town has within a few years largely increased in popula- tion and general importance. It contains many of the principal summer residences of New York fami- lies, and has a population of nearly twenty-five hun- dred. There are five churches,-Episcopal, Presby- terian, Methodist Episcopal, Congregational, and Catholic, which is more especially for the benefit of the miners and laborers employed in the extensive clay pits and potteries in the township. There are eight public schools, with an annual State appropri- ation of over five thousand dollars, which with the revenue from taxation, etc., gives a total of near six hundred dollars for each district per annum. There are nearly four hundred buildings in the town, a number of stores, including the post-office. The Amboy and Woodbridge Railroad station is nearly

1 See Quakers of Woodbridge.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

in the centre of the town. The Dime Savings- Bank is opposite the Methodist Church. There are brick and clay yards situated on Berry Street. The town has a neat appearance, with many wide avenues and streets. This town is a desirable loca- tion for home residences.

LEESVILLE, or LEESTOWN, now within a short time called Leestown, is a hamlet near the city of Rahway, settled at a very early date by a family of Lees. It contains many of the early homesteads as they were built a century ago, and many of them still in pos- session of these same families.

Printing-Press in Woodbridge .- The following is an interesting account of James Parker, the first printer of Woodbridge, who was born here in 1714. His father, Samuel Parker, boru June 1, 1674, was the son of Elisha Parker, who removed to Woodbridge from Staten Island about the year 1675. James Par- ker was apprenticed to William Bradford, the first printer in New York, in 1725. In 1751, Mr. Parker established his press in this town,-the first in this State. It is supposed that the office was located on the lot north of Dr. Samuel P. Harned's residence. In cultivating land near this spot there has been found metal types at different times. There was printed upon this Woodbridge press the legislative proceedings and many public documents. In 1753 he published the New American Magazine, and this was the first periodical published in the State. Each number contained forty pages octavo, and was filled with a variety of entertaining and instructive matter. It was issued monthly until March, 1760, edited by Samuel Nevill, of Perth Amboy, who wrote under the nom de plume of "Sylvanus Americanus."

In 1761 the elder Parker printed on his Woodbridge press the second volume of "Nevill's Laws of New Jersey," and in 1764 he printed a " Conductor Gen- eralis," intended as a guide to justices of the peace. " He was a correct and neat printer, understanding his business perfectly."

The Woodbridge printing-office was burned to the ground by a band of Tories during the Revolution.1

HISTORIC INCIDENTS.

In April, 1697, an ordinance was adopted against the running at large, unless sufficiently fettered, of all fages more than a year old.

Question. What were fages ?

The first saw-mill in the township was erected by Jonatban Bishop on Rahawack River in 1682.

The first school that is spoken of was in 1689, when James Fullerton was " to be entertained as schoolmaster." 2

In 1671 some apprehensions were entertained respecting the Indians, and a rate was levied to provide for an expedition against them, ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of lead being the total quantity of war material required, but there is no account given of the prosecution of the enterprise, or of any actual danger incurred.

In September. 1675, in accordance with an order of the Governor and Council, it was resolved to fortify the prison forthwith by stockades of a half or whole tree, of " nine feet long at least," in the expectation of an attack from the natives, with the view of providing a place of safety for the women and children, but it was never occupied.

In April, 1690, a ranger of the woods was appointed to join similar per-

1 So say Robert Coddington and othere.

: E. J. Ilist.

sons from other neighboring towne, "in order," using the worde of the record, " to prevent a danger" (before it comes to our homies) "threatened by the French and Indisos." He was to be paid twenty shillings per week, and Mr. Lyon was subsequently paid £1 5s. "for his charges with the Indians." This year the duty could not have been long per- formed.

These are the only occurrences on record intimating the existence of any apprehended difficulty with the natives,3

The proprietaries in their concessions having directed that in "laying out lands for cities, towns, villages, or other hamlete the exid lands should be divided into seven parte, one-seventh part whereof to be by lot laid out," for then it was provided, ou granting the charter to Wood- bridge, June 10, 1669, " That Ambo Point be reserved towards the thou- sand acres of upland and meadow that is reserved to be disposed of by the Lord Proprietors in lieu of the seventh part mentioned in the con- cessions," and that " the nine huodred acres of upland are to be in sod about Ambo Point, as it is now surveyed by the surveyor-general, and the hundred acres of meadow is to be laid out by the said surveyor in the most convenient place nearest adjacent to the said Ambo Point." This reservation of " Ambo Point" at this early period for the immediate ad- vantage of the Lord Proprietors is no slight proof of the sound discrimi- nation and judgment of the Governor of State, Carteret.

Elisha Parker, son of Elisha Parker, purchased from his father, Sept. 7, 1680, seven acres in Woodbridge, part of his "home lot, lying on the west side of the highway that goeth from the prison to the meeting- house."

From a newspaper printed in New York (Mercury, 1760), "It says that Governor Thomas Boone, who was appointed to succeed Governor Bernard, reached Amboy by land from New York on Thursday, July 3, 1760." lle had been detained some time in the latter city. "The Gov- ernor was escorted on his way through the County of Essex by a troop of horse coormanded by Capt. Terrill, of Elizabethtown, and through the County of Middlesex by a troop under the command of Capt. Parker, of Woodbridge. On his approach to Amboy he was met by the mayor and officers of the corporation, and conducted by them into the city.

In the year 1732, William Eier " bein dead," this gentleman's houses and lands, near the middle of the town of Woodbridge, were advertised for sale.

On the 2d of April, 1776, Capt Bloomheld's company of the Third Regi- ment of Jersey troops arrived, crossing the Raritan from South Amboy in the afternoon; but the barracks being already occupied by Col. Heard's militia, they were oblged to proceed to Woodbridge and thence the next day to Elizabethtown. On the 10th the company re- turned, and from that time to the 28tb, when they again marched to Elizabethtown, they were engaged in throwing up intrenchorente under the direction of Maj. F. Barbour, of the First Battalion.

The Virginiu Gazette of Aug. 10, 1776, contains the following extract from a letter written by an officer in the Second Battalion of Philadel- phía, dated Amiboy, July 22d :

" We arrived here on Saturday morning from Woodbridge with our battalion, except Captain Wilcox's company, who are stationed at Smith faro on Woodbrick Neck. We are now in full view of the enemy, only separted by the Sound; our men are in high spirits and longing for an opportunity to have a skirmish.

" Yesterday Col. Atlee's battalion came in and marched along the beach ; they made a good appearance, and I think alarmed the enemy not a little. We could distinctly see a number of officers observing with spy-glasses, and their men drawn up in line appeared greatly sur- prised." We have in all about fifteen hundred men. It is supposed the enemy have about one thousand men opposite ns."

" The New American Magazine" was the first periodical of any kind printed in New Jersey, and only the second monthly magazine on the continent. Each number contained about forty pages octavo. Jan- uary, 1758, James Parker, editor, & monthly periodical, published at Woodbridge, called the "New American Magazine." A history of America And a traveler's diary were published in connection with each number, paged separately, in order to form distinct volumes at the end of each year. The appellation " New" was to distinguish it from its ouly predecessor at Philadelphia, which, however, it superseded, the pub- lication being immediately relinquished on the appearance of this new competitor.

And to Mr. Parker the credit of establishing the press in New Jersey at Woodbridge, and from time to time printed the proceedings of the Legislature and other official documents.

In January, 1753, ho commenced a partnership with William Wey-

3 Records of the township.

579

WOODBRIDGE.

man, which continued until January, 1759, he residing most of the time io Woodbridge, attending to the interests of the press there.

The ancient elm in Woodbridge, N. J., fronting the Elm-Tree Tavern, from its decsyed state has been cut down. The trunk was hollow, and measured thirty-two feet in circumference, capable of accommodating fifteen men standing upright within. One limb measured fifteen feet in circumference. About half a barrel of honey, of exquisite quality and flavor, was found in the tree. This was in 1837.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 141

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224