History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 155

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 155
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 155

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HARBOR AND RAILROAD FACILITIES .- Although the hopes and expectations entertained by the found- ers of this city have not been realized, the natural advantages of this port for trade and commerce were not overestimated, and there are few cities which offer so many and so great inducements to manufac- turers, and such excellent facilities for shipping goods both by land and water to all parts of the globe. We have harbor facilities now for vessels of fifteen hun- dred tons burden, and United States engineers are at the present making surveys with a view of still further deepening the channel so as to admit the largest ocean steamers.

A large number of sloops, schooners, and other vessels are here centred, making continuous voyages to ports in the South and East, carrying coal, lumber, and oysters, also a general trade with foreign vessels arriving at different ports, they acting as " lighters," carrying the freight of these ships and steamers to ports where their goods are consigned. A bonded yard has recently been established here, and lighters bonded for carrying freight to and from New York line steamers to New York or are brought direct to

The Ashland Emery Company, now located in this city, on the identical spot where the Long Ferry Tavern stood, which was built in 1684 (during the i City, so that whether imported goods are taken in administration of Governor Gawen Laurie).

Emery is one of the hardest substances known, be- this port the duty need not be paid until the goods

635

CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.

are required for immediate use. This trade is now largely on the increase, and in a few years it is expected that it will more than double in quantity of freight.

Three great lines of railroad intersect here, which within a few years have opened this city to the use and requirements of commuters doing business in the néar cities of Elizabeth, Newark, and New York, and by the South Amboy line to Philadelphia. The fol- lowing facts are interesting: The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which runs northwest through the coal and iron regions of Pennsylvania and through the State of New York, connecting with the Erie, the Northern Central, and the New York Central Railroads, and carrying freights through to Lake Ontario without change of cars; the Pennsylvania, which with its branches furnishes transportation to all the great markets of the West and Northwest ; the New Jersey Central, connecting with the Camden and Amboy for Philadelphia and the South, and running through all the great watering-places along the coast. These three great lines with their connections furnish direct transportation to and from all the great inland markets of the United States and Canada. Besides these we have the Staten Island Railway and the steamer "Norwalk" direct to New York City, with very low rates of freight, especially by steamer. Thus we not only have the coal and iron region of Penn- sylvania and the great market of New York City at our very doors, but the most ample means of com- munication by land and water with all the markets of the world. We have also in our immediate vicinity an inexhaustible supply of as fine clay as can be found anywhere in the world, and the above facilities for its being carried to different parts of the country.

CLAY MERCHANTS .- John R. Watson established in 1836 the manufactory of brick for rolling-mills, lime-kilns, blast-furnaces, iron foundries, gas-works, tanneries, boiler- and grate-settings, glass-works, etc., fire-clay, fire-sand, kaolin, and ground cement. The firm is now known as Watson Fire-Brick Company. It is situated south of Mutton Hollow Brook and east of Hall's. The clays are mined out and carried to the brick-works at Perth Amboy, being there handy for shipping, etc. A large number of men are continually employed, and excellent work is turned out from the furnaces ready for market.

Some of the finest beds of clay are Inslee's pits on Perth Amboy road, also on the William Cut- ter's land a fine white fire-clay ; within a few years the Meeker and Philips clay pits have been opened, and over the hill south of these pits and southwest of Charles Anness' residence and just west of the Perth Amboy road several small pits in fire-clay have been dug by Mr. S. G. Phillips, and north of this and on the hill across the road from the Anness house there is an old pit where a little dark-colored clay was dug some years ago for making red brick at the Spa

Springs yard. This belongs in the laminated clay and sand bed, which is the great source of the red clay for the several yards along the Raritan and South Rivers.

W. H. P. Benton's clay pits are situated on the low ground west of the Perth Amboy road and the rail- road and south of the one of Mr. Philips. It was opened some eight years ago.

The Charles Anness & Sons' mines are just in the line of Woodbridge township. In this clay pit there is considerable irregularity and variation in the thick- ness of the several layers, and the vertical section of any given pit is not always representative of that immediately adjoining it. In the southernmost pits the following layers were observed :

1. Red shale drift .... 18 feet.

2. Yellow sand and gravel. 6 feet.

3. White sandy clay 3 feet.

4. Feldspar. 4-5 feet.

and is about ninety-one feet above high-water level.

Mention made of the following clay-miners and dealers who are interested in the pits; in this Perth Amboy and on the line of roads from Woodbridge some of the finest kaolin clays have been found. The clay pits of Isaac Inslee, Jr., Merritt's kaolin pits, A. Hall & Son, Samuel Dally's fire-sand pit. Feldspar has been seen cropping out in the Easton and Amboy Railroad cut one mile west of Perth Amboy and east of the Eagleswood road. This was in the bottom of the cut.

I. H. Manning's clay pit is one and a half miles west of Perth Amboy, not far from the New Bruns- wick road.

E. F. Roberts' clay pits are situated south of the Easton and Amboy railroad, near the Woodbridge and Perth Amboy line, and a third of a mile north of Florida Grove.

These clay pits are so intersected with the Wood- bridge clays, and as there are a number of firms and individual owners in both the township of Wood- bridge and at Perth Amboy, what has been remarked for one is represented by the other. A number of owners may be mentioned, but a description given of the clays is all that is necessary. The source from whence the materials for this formation originated must be looked for to the southeast of the present strata. Though bordering upon and overlying the red shale and sandstone which lies to the northwest of it, there is not a fragment of those rocks to be found in any of these beds, nor any of their striking and characteristic red color to be perceived in them.

On the contrary, the materials of these beds are white, gray, or blackish, and if at all tinged with the reddish color of oxide of iron it is a yellowish-red, and not a purplish-red, like the red shale and sand- stone. The appearances all indicate that they have originated from the materials of disintegrated and partially decomposed feldspathic granite or gneiss, Mention may also be made of the kaolin beds, but

636

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

the above will be all that is needed to say of these valuable clay pits.

TERRA-COTTA WORKS .- This bank is at the head of " Mutton Hollow," as it is called, and the most westerly opening for clay in it. It shows consider- able variation in the several layers from the surface to the bottom of the pits. In some of the pits at the bottom there is a gravelly earth with some shaly ma- terials mixed with it. These kaolin pits are about a mile northwest of these works, and between the Woodbridge and Perth Amboy Railroads. The kao- lin is eight by ten feet thick, and is underlaid by a Lark sandy earth, occasionally called " black kaolin." They manufacture silica and white bricks also.

A. IIall Terra-Cotta Company are pushing forward buildings for pressing- and finishing-rooms, and brick- sheds seventy-eight by one hundred and thirty-five feet are about finished. The main room will be soon ready, as soon as the machinery is in place, about 1st May, 1882. The extensive manufacturing of brick and terra-cotta will be an impetus to business, and the employment of nearly three hundred men, and be the means of putting a large amount of money in circulation among our tradesmen.

A large number of clay pits could be named, which are employing a large number of miners, among them the E. Cutter Clay-Works, also S. G. Phillips, which were newly opened cast of the Woodbridge and Perth Amboy road, and a few rods west of Spa Springs station, in 1876, and are shipping large quantities of this superior clay.

Custom-House .- In 1683, Thomas Rudyard, the Deputy Governor, was instructed to take care that goods be not exported to New York and other places, but that all goods be brought to Perth Amboy as the port of entry of the province. By an order of Coun- cil of Proprietors, Aug. 14, 1687, the collector of the port of New York was directed to allow vessels bound to New Perth to proceed thither without first entering at his port, which they had previously been obliged to do, provided the government of East New Jersey would allow some person appointed by the govern- ment or receiver-general of New York to receive the customs and imports.1 This power having been ac- corded by the government of East New Jersey, Miles Forster was appointed by Governor Dongan "collec- tor and receiver at New Perth," on the 26th of No- vember, 1687, and was recognized as such by the Council of the province on the 30th of the same month, and he was directed to levy similar duties upon imports and exports to those levied at New York, which were as follows, the table showing what were the principal articles of trade at that time :

ON IMPORTS.

Rum, Brandy, and Distilled Spirits ...

4d. per gal.

Madeira, Fayal, St. George, Canary, Malaga, Sherry, And all sweet wines ..

Red, White, and Rhenish Wines.

£2 per pips. El per hılıd.

All other Goods from Europe ..

2 per cent. ad val.

All other Goods from other ports ..

12 per cent, ad val.

ON EXPORTS.

Beavers

9d. 6 Minks. 9d.

3 Duillings

Is. 6d. 4 Wolves 9d.

4 Chts ..

9d. 24 Mouse 9d.

2 Bears ..

9d.

10 Racoons ..

'P6

0 Martins. P6 3 Otters ..

18. 6d.

4 l'app8

9d. | 24 Mu-krats.

9d.

14 Fox Skins

9d. | 24 Deers. 9d.

All other peltry and skins equivalent to beaver, excepting ox, bull, and cow-hides.

On goods sold to the Indians 10 per cent. ad val, upon certain valu- ations.

In 1694 the Assembly of East Jersey, for the better encouragement of its trade, established a custom- house entirely distinct from New York, and the inde- pendence thus impliedly asserted caused the claims of the officers of New York to exercise authority in East Jersey also to be renewed, and for several years the greatest confusion prevailed from the attempts of the two governments to enforce obedience to their re- spective mandates. Thomas Coker was collector for Amboy in April, 1698, but on July 12th of the same year Charles Goodman was appointed collector by Edmund Fitz Randolph, surveyor-general of the cus- toms in America, and he was sworn into office on the 15th of that month. He remained in office until 1701, when he died, and John White (April 21st of that year) received the appointment under Queen Anne. And in this year, by a decision of the Queen's Bench in England, the contention with the New York custom-house was put to rest, and New Jersey's rights were fully established. At this time the pro- prietors were zealously engaged in upholding the rights of their capital as a port of entry, in opposi- tion to the rival claim and competition of New York. But they seem to have erred greatly in judgment as to the measures which would most effectually secure this object, both before and after the privileges of a port were obtained.2 Although legislation may have been an obstacle in the way of the commercial pros- perity of East Jersey, the principal cause of the de- cline of her port was the growing commercial import- ance of New York and Philadelphia. It appears that no vessel was built at Amboy until 1702. " Miles Forster received a town lot in consideration of his having built the first sloop in Perth Amboy belong- ing to the province, and to be navigated hence."

The same system was pursued after the surrender of the government to Queen Anne. The exportation of pipe and hogshead staves in 1714 to the neighbor- ing province was burdened with a duty of thirty shillings on every thousand, and twenty shillings per thousand were to be paid when shipped to any other part of the continent, the reasons given being the " great discouragement to the trade" of the province such exportation caused and the destruction of timber which was the result. In the year 1717 this was re- pealed, having been found, as might have been anti- cipated, " to be prejudicial to the inhabitants;" but in 1743, for fear there " might not be enough left for the necessary use of the Eastern Division," these duties

2 E. J. Ilist., p. 297.

1 Manuscript in the possession of William A. Whitehend, Esq.

637

CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.

together with others upon timber generally were revived, and the law continued in force until the Rev- olution. A duty was laid upon wheat in March, 1714, exported from the Eastern Division to any of the British colonies upon the continent of America, and as this law came in force at the same time as a law respecting staves, it shows that both were re- garded in a similar light and productive of like re- sults; and it appears that the repeal of these laws caused great discussion, as many pamphlets were published pro and con upon the subject. In the Phila- delphia Library among the pamphlets is one, entitled " Proposals for Trade and Commerce in New Jersey," published at this time. "In May, 1740, a bill was introduced into the Assembly for establishing two trading companies or bodies corporate for carrying on a Foreign trade, one of them to be located at Bur- lington and the other at Amboy." This attracted considerable attention, and it was printed for the in- formation of their constituents, postponing action upon it until some future period, but the proper time never arrived. To afford some idea of what the no- tions of the legislators of those days were in relation to commerce, the following synopsis of the bill is here introduced :

" After providing names and location for the com- panies, commissioners from the counties of Middlesex, Monmouth, Essex, Somerset, and Bergen were em- powered to record the names of all such persons as were disposed to become associated with the Amboy Company, and similar officials from the county of Hunterdon, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, and Cape May were to perform the same duty for the Burling- ton Company, the persons so subscribing to give se- curity, if in lands for double, and if in houses for treble the amount of their respective subscriptions. Such property to be the basis for the issue by the province of £40,000 of paper money,-twenty thousand to each company,-which was to be the capital upon which they were to trade; and so confident were they of success that it was provided for in the bill that for twenty days after the books were opened no persons were allowed to subscribe for more than one share, and for the second twenty days for not more than two shares, the shares being one hundred pounds each."

Whitehead remarks that "it was expected that in ten years the profits of the companies would be suf- ficient to sink the forty thousand pounds, but should such not prove to be the case then the property held as security was to become liable for any deficiency."

It was a mistaken policy to expect the foreign trade would entirely concentrate in Perth Amboy. There was considerable trade, as the arrival and departure of vessels are frequently noticed in the newspapers at that time, but the removal of the provincial govern- ment from that city and the enterprises of New York merchants withdrew what little foreign imports there were at that time. The following June 24, 1751, ar- rivals and departures from and to foreign ports and

coastwise, not including, however, ordinary coasting vessels not obliged to enter and clear, were :

Arrivals.

Departures.

2 ships.

2 snows.

3 snows.

7 brigantines.

8 brigantines.

18 sloops.

13 sloops.

10 schooners.

2 shallops.

The imports from foreign ports for the same time were :

39,670 gallons rum.

437 pounds naval stores.

31,600 gallons molasses.

123 pipes wines.

333,968 pounds sugar.

12,759 bushels salt.

The exports for foreign ports for the same time

werc

524 pounds flour.

14,000 pounds hemp.

168,500 pounds bread.

And small quantities of butter,

314 pounds beef and pork.

17,941 bushels grain.

banıs, beer, flax-seed, bar iron, and lumber.

Mr. Russell in his work on America, printed in 1778, estimated the commerce of the province at the commencement of the Revolution to be twice as great as it was in 1751.

The " fee book of Jonathan Deare," naval officer at Amboy, is now in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society, showing the number of entrances and clearances from June 8, 1784, to Feb. 8, 1788, three years and eight months, to have been as follows :

Entrances.

Clearances.

Snows

Snows.

Brigs Ketch

Ketch

Schooners.

Schoovers

Stoops

52 50

These vessels were mostly from Nova Scotia, St. Eustatia, St. John's, St. Croix, Tobago, Barbadoes, England, and Madeira, etc.

The following is a list of the collectors at the port of Perth Amboy since the establishment of the gov- ernment of the United States to the present time. No complete list, only what have been mentioned prior to these dates, can now be found or previous to the Revolutionary war :

John Halsted, Ang. 2, 1789. Andrew Bell, March 18, 1800. Daniel March, Juve 13, 1801. John Heard, June 1, 1802. Phineas Manning, Feb. 25, 1806. Daniel Perrine, April 15, 1809. Aaron Hazard, June 12, 1812. John Brewster, April 1, 1818. Robert Arnold, Jan. 20, 1821. James Parker, April 1, 1829.

Joseph W. Reckless, March 11, 1833.

David K. Schenck, June 23, 1838.

Charles McKnight Smith, July 10, 1841.

Francis W. Brinley, Aug. 24, 1843.

Solomon Andrews, June 15, 1844. James A. Nicholls, May 6, 1845.

Charles MeKnight Smith, July 31, 1849.

Francis W. Brinley, March 26, 1853. Amos Robbins, June 16, 1857.

J. Lawrence Boggs, 1861-69.

Dr. C. McKnight Smith, 1869-74.

Lt. W. R. Coddington, March, 1874, to March, 1875.

Col. C. II. Houghton, March, 1875, to 1882.

The following persons have been connected with the customs as deputy collectors :

D. R. Schenck, 1853-57. Louis V. B. Howell, 1857-61. J. Forbes Morris, 1861-69.

Jacob L. Martin, 1861-69.

Lieut. W. R. Coddington, 1861-74. Maj. J. Kearney Smith, 1874-82.

Brigs.

Sloops 33

- 38

638

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

As inspectors :

Maj. J. Kearney Smith, 1861-74. | Lient. J. H. Tyrrell, 1869-82.

Fire Department .- Previous to the Revolution the larger proportion of houses in this city were built of wood, and there was no means in force for the speedy arrest of fires, yet endeavors had been made to effect some arrangement, and a letter in the possession of Mr. Whitehead, the historian, from Elias Bland, dated New York, May 15, 1767, says,-

"I bope the worthy gentlemen of your corporation will not suppose I want to impose on them respecting the fire-engine which comes here- with, with a certificate from the person who has the care of those belong- ing to this city. I had three ; two of 'em wanted something done to 'em, owing to being long out of use. This now sent has wanted nothing done. Stoutenburgh says it is a very good engine, and (unless abused) will last forty years. However, if not approved let it come back per Thompson (who was the only navigator between New York and Amboy at that time) at my expense."

The value of the engine was " 20 guineas at current Exchange."

By an act passed by the General Assembly author- izing the corporation to raise by a tax on the inhab- itants among other things "to purchase a fire-engine with the necessary paraphernalia, and to dig public wells," what is now known as the "Town Well," at the junction of Smith and High Streets, was prob- ably dug.

Perth Amboy Water Company was organized in the month of January, 1881, and the company bave built their reservoir at the Eaglewood Park. Water is dispensed throughout the city, having in case of fire a pressure of over forty-two pounds from stand-pipe main in any part of the city. Capi- tal, $100,000. President, William Hall; Secretary, C. C. Hommann; Treasurer, William Stiger. Di- rectors, William Hall, Alfred Hall, J. G. Garretson, William Runkle, E. R. Pearce, Patrick Conway, and William King.

Lincoln Hose Company, No. 1 .- The following list of officers who were elected Feb. 19, 1882, to serve for the ensuing year : Foreman, Lewis Franke ; First Assistant Foreman, James Dunham ; Second Assistant Foreman, Ambrose Wood ; Treasurer, G. W. Coutts ; Secretary, A. C. Phillips.

Secret Societies .- RARITAN LODGE, No. 61, F. and A. M. Date of January, A.L. 5863. In their by- laws, published in 1873 :

Section 1. This lodge shall be known and desig- nated as Raritan Lodge, No. 61, A. F. and A. M., under the jurisdiction of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Ac- cepted Masons of the State of New Jersey.

The following were the officers in 1881 :

Past Masters, Isaac D. Ward, William P. Dally, Frederick W. Harper, William King, Jr., Eber H. Hall.

Officers for 1880-81: Joseph Marsh, W. M .; Aime B. Marsh, S. W .; George H. Tice, J. W .; R. H. Marsh, Treas .; F. W. Gordon, Sec .; William King,

Jr., S. D .; W. A. Slaight, J. D .; Thomas Macan, M. C .; A. G. St. Clair, M.C .; George W. Mercer, Steward ; Samnel G. Miller, Steward; Philip Gabriel, Tyler; Thomas Macan, Eber H. Hall, William King, Jr., trustees.

Regular communications the second and fourth Thursday evenings of each month.

Election of officers in the month of December.

A beautiful lodge room over the bank building, corner of Smith and Rector Streets.

LAWRENCE LODGE, No. 62, I. O. of O. F .- The following is the list of officers: John G. Martin, N. G .; George Adair, V. G .; Joseph Efenbach, Sec .; George W. Dubois, P. S .; George Foster, Treas.

Their regular meeting night is on Friday, at 7.30 o'clock.

ALGONQUIN LODGE, No. 44, K. of P .- They have considerable of a membership. The following: Wil- liam C. Rhodes, C. C .; Louis H. Frank, V. C .; Wes- ley G. Gardiner, M. of E .; Garri Jacobi, M. of F .; A. W. Slaght, Treas.

Their regular time for meeting is on Monday even- ings.

ENDOWMENT RANK, SECTION 427, K. of P .- The following officers for 1881 : Adam Eckert, Prest .; John E. Wood, Vice-Prest .; E. B. P. Kelley, Ex'g Physician ; Charles Walters, Jr., Guard ; Frederick F. Fox, Treas. and Sec .; David F. Noe, Chapl .; James H. Woglom, Guide ; George Liddle, Sent.

Their regular meeting is second Thursday evening of each month.

GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC .- Major Dandy Post, organized April, 1870; Joseph L. Crowell, P. C .; J. Kearney Smith, Adjt.

Meets the first and third Tuesday evenings of each month.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

ALFRED HALL.

Alfred Hall, manufacturer, of Perth Amboy, is a New Englander by birth, having been born May 22, 1803, in Meriden, Conn. On his father's side he is of English, and on his mother's side of French ex- traction. Both his father, Avery Hall, and his mother, Sarah Foster, were natives of Connecticut, his father being a farmer at Meriden. The early education of Alfred Hall was obtained in the public schools of Meriden. Later he removed with his parents to Great Barrington, Mass., continuing his studies in the schools of that place. At the age of seventeen he taught school at the centre of Tyring- ham, Mass. His father owned a large tract of land about fifty miles southwest of Cleveland, to which Alfred and his brother Seldon, who is now a resident of Ohio, started for the purpose of clearing off a portion of the timber. They performed the journey

alar Pab is the

Alfred Hall

639

CITY OF PERTH AMBOY.

of seven hundred miles on foot, going by way of Albany and Rochester (the latter place being then a mere collection of log huts), and thence through Buffalo and Cleveland, reaching their destination a month after leaving home. Their first work was the erection of a log hut. Three months later the re- mainder of the family joined them, making the journey in wagons drawn by oxen. The clearing in the forest now became the family homestead. Alfred Hall having a natural aptness for mechanical work, was frequently called upon to help his neighbor pioneers in preparing their log homes. Alfred re- mained at home about one year, after which he went to Silver Springs, Pa., to engage in school-teaching, remaining about two years, when he returned to his father's home, built for himself a log cabin near by, and settled down as a permanent citizen of the then forest community. During the several years of his residence in this place he served as postmaster, trustee of the township, and justice of the peace.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 155

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