History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 185

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 185
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 185

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It was further enacted that the inhabitants of East Brunswick should hold their first town-meeting at the inn of Stephen H. Barkalew, in the said town- ship, at the time appointed by law for holding the annual town-meetings in the other townships of Mid- dlesex County; and that on the first Tuesday of the following May the town committees of North Bruns- wick, East Brunswick, and New Brunswick (which was formed at the same time with East Brunswick) should meet at the inn of Saxon M. Tice, in East Brunswick, at ten A.M., to allot, divide, and assign to the townships of East Brunswick and New Brunswick such portions of all the real estate and personal prop- erty and of all surplus moneys of the parent town of North Brunswick then on hand as the taxable prop-

erty and ratables of those parts of the townships of New Brunswick and East Brunswick which were taken from the township of North Brunswick bore to the whole taxable property and ratables of the former town of North Brunswick, according to the last assessment, the townships of New Brunswick and South Brunswick to pay, in like proportion, ex- isting indebtedness of the township of North Bruns- wick, and the poor chargeable upon the old township to be divided according to the same rule of proportion between the three townships named.

The act also provided that at ten A.M., on the third Tuesday of the following May, the town committees of Monroe and East Brunswick townships should meet at the public-house kept by Mrs. Van Cleef at Spottswood, to effect a similar apportionment of as- sets, liabilities, and township responsibilities between the townships of Monroe and East Brunswick, in the proportion of the amount of real estate and the num- ber of taxable inhabitants of that portion of East Brunswick set off from Monroe to the whole amount of real estate and the number of taxable inhabitants of the township of Monroe as previously bounded.

That portion of the township of East Brunswick set off from Monroe was constituted a separate election district, to be known as the Spottswood Election Dis- trict of East Brunswick, and the first election therein was ordered to be held at the hotel of Mrs. Van Cleef, at Spottswood village.

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING .- The first town- meeting of the newly-erected township was held April 9, 1860, at the place appointed in the act. Stephen Martin was chosen moderator, and Henry Gordon clerk. The following resolutions were passed :

"On motion it was resolvad that tha sum of $550 ba appropriatad for tha poor, as wall as tha interest of tha aurplna revenue for purpose aforesaid.

" Resolved, That the aum of $500 ba appropriated for roads.

" Resolved, That the sum of $300 ba appropriated for incideutal ax- pansa8.

" Resolved, That tha anm of $3 per scholar for all childrau reaiding in tha township batween tha agea of five and eightean ba appropriatad for school purposea.

" Resolved, That the next meating be held at tan o'clock A.M., and that the vote at said meeting shall ba by ballot.

" Resolved, That the next fall and Stata election shall be held at the housa of S. H. Barkelew, in tha village of Washington.

" Resolved, That the next annual town-meeting be hald at the house of Enva Ayrea.

" Resolved, That threa conatables ba elacted io East Brunswick."

Civil List .- The following is a complete list of the officers elected at the first town-meeting :

B. F. Lloyd, judge of election ; Stephen Smith, as- sessor; S. H. Barkelew, collector ; Henry Gordon, clerk; Andrew Snowhill and James C. Stout, chosen freeholders; A. Vandewater, school superintendent; Leonard Appleby, R. S. Herbert, G. I. Snedeker, Furman Smith, and John Griggs, township commit- tee; Richard Serviss, overseer of the poor; Lewis W. Spencer and Jeremiah Rappelyea, surveyors of highways ; James Appleby, James Bissett, and George Lane, commissioners of appeals; Lemuel Barkelew,

1 There may have been others who resided within the present town- ship limits whosa names will be found in a similar liat in the history of South Brunswick or in that of South Amboy.

William Remaen. 142 8.

17 6

Cornelius Booraem ....

763

James Jernee, and William Hardenbrook, constables ; John Hoey, S. H. Barkelew, B. F. Lloyd, Enos Ayres, and James Jernee, pound-keepers ; Andrew J. Dis- brow, Ambrose Dobbs, and Leonard L. F. Appleby, justices of the peace; Phineas M. Skinner, George H. Snowhill, and I. L. Cole, judges of election in the Spotswood precinct ; and Murrill Mundy, clerk of the same.

The following civil list embraces the names of the principal township officers chosen at the ensuing and subsequent elections :

CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS.

Jamea C. Stout, 1861-65, 1867-71.

Zenas Van Deventer, 1868.

Andrew Snowhill, 1861-62.

Jamea Bissatt, 1869-70, 1872-76.

Henry Stulta, 1863-65.

Charles P. Blew, 1871-76.

Leonard L. F. Appleby, 1866.

Isaac N. Blew, 1877-78.

J. Biddla Herbert, 1866.

Abial Price, 1877-79.

Daniel B. Martin, 1867.

Peter Hoey, 1880-81.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Frederick Stults, 1861, 1868, 1876, 1881.

Heory Gordon, 1870-71. Joba Hoay, 1871.

Ambrosa Dobbs, 1861, 1866, 1872, 1877.

John B. Polhemus, 1871. Stoddard W. Stout, 1872-78.

Alfred Stulta, 1865.

Stepbea Martin, 1875.

Merrill Mundy, 1865.

Isaac Anderson, 1876-81.

Aber Lee, 1876-77.

TOWN COMMITTEEMEN.

Leonard Appleby, 1861-62.

Jobn Griggs, 1861-62. John Culvar, 1861-63.

Charlea P. Blew, 1861-65, 1878, 1881.

Joseph H. Bloodgood, 1861.

James Rua, 1862-65.

Joseph Applegata, 1863.

Stephen Palmer, 1863.

Francis A. Williama, 1864.

Wilson Honsel, 1864-65, 1867-72, 1874-75.

Marrill Mundy, 1864, 1871-72. Stapban T. Christian, 1865, 1868.

Daniel B. Martin, 1865, 1868. Garret I. Snediker, 1866.

John C. Cozzens, 1866.

John O. Cozzens, 1878-80.

Jehial Petty, 1866.

David V. Stonaker, 1878-79.

Joel B. Carhart, 1866.

Thomas Smith, 1878.

Eli Shafer, 1881.

TOWNSHIP CLERKS.

Heary Gordon, 1861-65, 1867-74. William H. Smith, 1866.

William J. Bissett, 1875-77. David Serviss, 1878-81.

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS.

William A. Appleby, 1861, 1863-65. | R. J. Brumagen, 1866-67.

ASSESSORS.

Samuel Gordon, 1861-63, 1867-70.

Isaac N. Blew, 1864-65.

Richard Serviss, 1871-75, 1879, 1881.

Daniel Harbert, 1866. Maximillian J. Fronimiel, 1876-78.

COLLECTORS.

Theodore F. Appleby, 1861-63, 1866.

William W. C. Barkelew, 1872. Charles II. Connet, 1873.

Daniel Morgan, 1864, 1865.

Stoddard W. Stout, 1874-75.

Abrabam Barkelew, 1876-78.

Georga Roader, 1879, 1881.

The above civil list embraces only that period dur- ing which East Brunswick has been an independent township. During the protracted period of the civil

connection of the township with North Brunswick, and its later partial connection with Monroe, citizens within its present borders were prominently identified with the civil affairs of the two parental townships ; the names of Jonathan Combs, Evert Van Wickle, James Crommelin, and others, residents within the present township limits at an early date, appearing often among those of North Brunswick officials, while those of Leonard Appleby and some of his contempo- raries figured conspicuously in the records of Monroe before East Brunswick was erected.

Educational. -- PUBLIC SCHOOLS. - At this time data cannot be secured upon which to base a particu- lar history of the schools of the township in the ear- lier period of its civilization. Teachers and pupils have long since passed away, leaving no record of the schools of the time in which they lived, and the oldest living residents do not recall events connected with the earlier period of educational history. It is probable that from the time of the first settlement of any number of families contiguously within the present borders of the township measures were em- ployed, as the exigencies of the times required, to establish and maintain schools under the successive regulations made by governmental authority to that end. Possibly the first regularly constituted public schools in the territory now embraced in the town- ship were put in operation under the provisions of the act passed by the East Jersey Council in 1693, authorizing the appointment of a schoolmaster for each town, and sanctioning the employment of force to compel reluctant tax-payers to contribute their share for the support of public schools, and maintained with varying success until superseded by other public schools, opened at a later period by authority of the school laws of the State of New Jersey, and such select schools as have in all sections of the country borne so prominent a part in the advancement of the cause of public education. Doubtless a school of some sort was established in the settlement at South River (now the town of Washington) about as early as at any point within the limits of East Brunswick; but our information respecting this district reaches no farther back than the beginning of the present century, when a then old school-house stood on a hill near the grove which has so often been the scene of the summer fes- tivities of the adjacent population. Frederick Stults, still living at an advanced age, taught a school in this building during 1824 and 1825. The present school- house was built in 1838, and was a one-story brick building. In 1852 it was enlarged, and another story was added to it, at a cost of $580. It was again reno- vated and repaired in 1867, at an expense of $900. It is now regarded as too small for the accommodation of the children of this populous district, and a new and more commodious building is felt to be a pressing ne- cessity, but the project of erecting one has not as yet assumed any tangible form. Ira Gage Barnes taught a school at South River as early as 1829.

Ebanezer Drury, 1867-72. Luther H. Hatfield, 1867, 1868. Orlando Perrine, 1867.

Abnar Lee, 1869-70.

Jacob F. Rua, 1869-73.

Joseph D. Johnson, 1869-70, 1877.

Charlea Tanner, 1871. Abial Prica, 1872.

William J. Bissett, 1873-74. Conrad Kuhlthan, 1873. Albert W. Wilson, 1874-75. George Gordon, 1875-78, 1880-81.

Georga Roeder, 1876-77. Mount Davison, 1876. William H. H. Da Voa, 1877. Hezekialı Smith, 1877.

Joha B. Polhemua, 1866.

Richard Serviss, 1867-70. Daniel L. Martin, 1871.

EAST BRUNSWICK.

Andrew J. Disbrow, 1866, 1879. Laonard L. F. Applaby, 1870-71.

764

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

The earliest schools at Spottswood are not remeni- bered by any one now living, nor can the date at which the first public school-house there was erected be accurately fixed. The establishment of schools there was probably contemporary with a like advance- ment at Washington, and by some is claimed to have occurred at a date somewhat earlier. There was a school-house there as early as 1805, and Joshua Pit- tingu taught in it in 1806. It was torn down some- thing less than twenty years ago, and has been super- seded by the building now in use. Amusing stories of events connected with early schools at this place have been told by some of the old men of the vicinity who were school-boys there years ago. It is related by Judge John Perrine that it was common for the scholars to bar out the teacher if he manifested a de- sire to continue the regular sessions of the school dur- ing the interval between Christmas and New Year's, a period always eagerly claimed by the youth of that day and this as their peculiar season of jollity and freedom from the restraints of the school-room.

An early teacher at Old Bridge was the man who became famous during the Mexican war, and is known in history as Gen. Shields. When the first public school-house was built there is not now known. One which was long known as an old school-house gave place to the more modern structure now in use only a year or two ago.

Under the school law of the State of New Jersey the township was divided into districts, which have from time to time since undergone changes in bound- aries and in number. Some of them are of late and one or two of comparatively recent origin. At this time there are eight districts, known by name and number as follows: Brick School-House, No. 30; Washington, No. 31; Lawrence Brook, No. 32; Sum- mer Hill, No. 33; Dunham's Corners, No. 34; Old Bridge, No. 45; Spottswood, No. 36; South River, No. 74. The latter had only just been formed when this work went to press.

In 1881 the number of children of the school age in East Brunswick was 793, divided as follows among the several districts: District No. 30, 52; No. 31, 234; No. 32, 66; No. 33, 48 ; No. 34, 92; No.35,64; No. 36, 147; and No. 74, 90. The total amount re- ceived from all sources for public school purposes was $350 each in Districts No. 30, 32, 33, 34, and 35, $825 in No. 31, and $518.39 in No. 36. The value of school property in the several districts was as follows in 1880: District No. 30, $1000; No. 31, $1500; No. 32, $800; Nos. 33 and 34, $1200 cach ; No. 35, $1250; and No. 36, $2500. The average attendance in the several districts during the time the schools have been kept open (averaging eight and eight-tenths months) has been 23 in No. 30; 74 in No. 31; 12 in No. 32; 18 in No. 33; 27 in No.34; 25 in No.35; and 44 in No. 36. It is estimated that in the town- ship 177 children attended private schools, and that 200 attended no school during the year. The school-

house in District No. 30 will seat 50 scholars ; that in District No. 31, 66 ; that in District No. 32, 80; that in District No. 33, 80; that in District No. 34, 50; that in District No. 35, 75; and that in District No. 36, 100. These buildings are all of them in fair and some of them in excellent condition. Two male and seven female teachers were employed in the town- ship, the former at an average salary of $43.50, the latter at an average salary of $32. District No. 74 having been only recently formed, has as yet no sta- tistics other than the number of school children within its borders.

A BRANCH OF RUTGERS COLLEGE .- Under the supervision of Rev. Jacob R. Hardenbergh, a branch of Rutgers College was established at Spottswood in 1830 with the object of preparing classes to enter Rutgers for the senior year, affording the same facili- ties and the same course of study, with the same thorough system of instruction, that characterized Rutgers College, at a cost for board and other ex- penses considerably lower than at New Brunswick, and holding ont special inducements to many living in the vicinity, who were thus enabled to live at home and enjoy the same educational advantages that were afforded to inmates of the college at New Brunswick. The successive teachers were Thomas O. Daniels, a graduate of Princeton; Jacob B. Gaddis, of Mill- stone, N. J., a graduate of Rutgers College ; James Schureman Johnson, son of Dr. Johnson, then a res- ident physician of Spottswood ; and John O. Brown, a resident of Rutgers College. The first and only class prepared here finished in 1834, under the tuition of Mr. Brown, and entered Rutgers College for the senior year, after which the Spottswood branch was discontinued, and the building which it had occupied was converted to public school purposes.

REV. WILLIAM O. WARD'S ACADEMIC SCHOOL .- In 1830, Rev. William O. Ward opened an academic school at Spottswood, where he was then rector of the Episcopal Church. It was patronized mostly by New Yorkers, though some of the students lived at and near Spottswood, and all, or nearly all, were members of families attached to the Episcopal Church. The school was, in fact, regarded as a rival to the branch of Rutgers College just allnded to, which was con- ducted, like the main institution, under the auspices of the Reformed Dutch Church, and at times the feelings of hostility of supporters of each against the other were marked. The course of study pursued at this school was thorough, and the instruction such as to render it measurably successful for some years.

REV. J. C. VAN LIEW'S SCHOOL .- From 1844 to 1848 Rev. John C. Van Liew, then pastor of the Re- formed Dutch Church at Spottswood, conducted a private school at that place, which was patronized by fifty or sixty students, and was at the time one of the best educational institutions in New Jersey of its class, Rev. Mr. Van Liew having occupied a foremost position among educators in the State.

765

EAST BRUNSWICK.

THE HOME BOARDING-SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN. -This institution is the outgrowth of a select school started in the upper part of the village of Old Bridge by Miss A. E. Conover in 1849. It was opened in one room of a cottage, which was burned in 1880, and continued there six months. In the mean time Miss Conover, perceiving that circumstances favored the establishment of a permanent school, erected a small school-house for the accommodation of her class, which now forms a part of a tenement-house owned by her.

The families resident at and near Old Bridge ex- tended to Miss Conover a liberal patronage, and her school gradually increased in numbers as well as in popularity abroad till it became apparent that a boarding-school would meet with a remunerative pa- tronage, Miss Conover being frequently solicited to accept the care of children as inmates of her home as well as members of her class. To meet this demand she enlarged her residence in 1865, and prepared for the accommodation of boarding pupils, receiving such as came and continuing the instruction of day pupils from the neighborhood until 1879, when the number of the first-mentioned class had so increased that she deemed it advisable to conduct the institution as a boarding-school exclusively, which is kept entirely within her residence.

The location of this school is very pleasant, and as healthy as any portion of the State. The character- istics of the house and its surroundings are such as to justly entitle the establishment to the name of the "Home Boarding-School." The care bestowed upon the inmates by Miss Conover is such as to make them feel like members of a common household, which takes the place of their respective homes to a remarkable degree. Scholars are received at any time and re- tained during vacation if desired. The terms are as low as is consistent with the accommodations and the thorough course of rudimentary instructions offered, and the establishment is easily and quickly accessible from New York and Philadelphia and intermediate points.

OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS .- At different periods other private schools of lesser note have been taught in the township. A successful one has been main- tained at Washington, most of the time since 1861, by Mrs. Caroline Kline; and another for some time past by Mrs. C. H. Woolston, wife of the pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Industrial Pursuits .- The fine water-power af- forded by South River at Spottswood and in the vicinity of that village was made available by man- ufacturers at a period so remote that its date cannot be recalled. When white settlement there begun a half-breed Indian had the water-power now utilized by Outcalt's hominy-mills and a considerable acre- age round about, where he was operating a primitive saw-mill. This person must have inherited a share of both the enterprise and the mechanical ingenuity

of his white progenitors, whoever they may have been, if he constructed and operated this mill, as it is believed he did, though by some it is claimed that the mill was probably built for him by some adven- turesome Europeans who had doubtless penetrated, at a very early period, into this then almost unin- habited region from some settlement at a distance. The name of this man is said to be correctly spelled Weechqueechley, and it is pronounced by many Wa- queeley, a pronunciation which by others has been corrupted into MeQueely. This property afterwards came into the possession of the Johnstons, represen- ted at Spottswood in 1773 and probably much earlier by John Lewis Johnston, and has been long since by them conveyed to others.

The " Forge Company," composed of James Perry, Peter Corne, and Thomas Hays, played an early and conspicuous part in the primitive industrial history of this section. An old map made by the surveyor- general of New York, without date, but reasonably believed to have been drawn about 1750, and indi- cating the various parcels of real estate belonging to the "Forge Company," showed the location of a grist-mill on the site of the present old red mill occupied partially by the snuff-factory of Isaac De Voe & Son. This spot was named on the map " Penkridge." The forge proper, with a trip-ham- mer, was drawn on the margin of the map, and was on or near the site of the old saw-mill recently de- molished. The " Forge Company" possessed many tracts or lots of land, which had been purchased evidently with the purpose of "charcoaling" the wood thereon for use in the manufacture of iron. There are sometimes found the remains of a coal- kiln, covered by the sandy soil and iron slag in such quantities as to interfere with digging about the site. At the time of the Revolution it appears the mem- bers of the company became refugees and fled to England, their property becoming forfeited in conse- quence after the success of American arms led to the establishment of a national government. In Decem- ber, 1796, at a general auction sale, which was prob- ably ordered by the State authorities, of various landed property formerly belonging to the "Forge Company," the mill-seat was " struck off" to Daniel Lott for £1275. In 1801 it was sold by the sheriff to Robinson Thomas. In 1819 the title to a half, and in 1827 to the remaining half, ownership in the mill- seat was purchased by John H. Disborough, who instituted enterprises there which belong to the more modern industrial history of the township.

SNUFF MANUFACTURE .- The manufacture of snuff and tobacco, long so prominent an interest at Spotts- wood, was introduced by Messrs. Daniel Snowhill and William Dill at a comparatively early date. Dill died about 1838, and Snowhill about 1840, the former having withdrawn from the business some years be- fore. Mr. Snowhill was succeeded by his son, An- drew Snowhill, and he by Andrew Snowhill & Sons,

766

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

who ceased operations about 1850. About 1868-78, George H. Snowhill, of the same family, was exten- sively engaged in the manufacture of fine-cut tobacco and cigars, commanding a large trade throughout the surrounding country.

In 1840, John Appleby purchased the Spottswood mill and water-power of Andrew Snowhill, who had bought it of the administrators of the will of John H. Disborough, and converted the old paper-mill into a tobacco and snuff-mill, the machinery for which Mr. Appleby removed from "Texas," as a locality in Monroe township is now known, where he had begun the manufacture of snuff in 1836. He conveyed the mill-seat in 1858 to his son, William Appleby, and Isaac DeVoe, who continued the business, which in the earlier years of the late civil war was so exten- sive as to require the use of twenty mortars or " mills," as they are commonly called. The war and the con- sequent taxation, with its incidental annoyance, re- duced the business, besides changing its mode and character. It is, however, gradually recovering its former magnitude. In 1865, Isaac De Voe became sole owner, and the business is now continued by Isaac De Voe & Son.

John D. Outcalt had a snuff and tobacco manufac- tory at Spottswood about 1845. He was succeeded by his son John, who abandoned the business in 1870 to embark in a manufacturing enterprise of a different kind.

About 1818, John Browne, who had been on the ground in another line of business about twelve years, converted a distillery, two miles southwest of Spotts- wood, into a snuff-mill, which he operated nine years, and then sold it to William Dill and William Per- rine, who, between four and five years later, sold out to Leonard Appleby, who, in 1866, was succeeded by Appleby & Helme. In 1879, George W. Helme be- came sole owner of the establishment, now known as the Railroad Mills. The mill is now a large brick building, the old wooden structure having most of it long since disappeared.

The Tecumseh Snuff-Mills of Skinner & Co. were established in May, 1854, by Phineas M. Skinner & Son, on the historical paper-mill property 1 on the Machaponix, in Madison township, near Spottswood, and are in a certain sense to be accounted among Spottswood industries.

John Dill, a son of William Dill, put a snuff-mill in operation at Old Bridge previous to 1860, and at his death was succeeded by his son William Dill, who continued the business until about 1875. A snuff-mill was operated for a time at Bloomfield. The Bloom- field mill-site is located partially in this township and partially in Madison. The manufactories which have been successively in operation there have been on the Madison side of the river, though the residence for many years of Judge Perrine, the former owner, on

the same property, and within the borders of East Brunswick, has obtained for the place a claim to local mention.2

GRIST-MILLS .- The grist-mill known as the " old red mill," now occupied by Isaac De Voe & Son as a snuff-factory, was built by John Hilliker, from Staten Island, early in this century, on the ground long since occupied by the early grist-mill of the Forge Com- pany. There has been evidence discovered that the previous mill had been burned, as in relaying the floor of the red mill cinders and scorched corn were dng up. The red mill was controlled at various times after Hilliker severed his connection with it by John H. Disborough, George H. Snowhill, and William Con- over. John H. Disborough converted a part of the building and power into a paper-mill some time sub- sequent to 1827, and it was continued as such (a por- tion of the time by Beebe & Disborough) till 1840, when the property passed into the hands of John Ap- pleby as has been stated.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 185

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