History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 186

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 186
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 186

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The present Spottswood grist-mill, containing two runs of stones, was built by John Appleby about 1847, across the road from where it now stands, and was subsequently removed to its present location. It is owned by Isaac De Voe, and managed by Charles B. Hulit, lessee, who does a general merchant and cus- tom business, which was never larger than at this time.

About 1867, Whitehead & De Voe built a grist-mill on Overt's dock, at Washington, which was operated as such only about a year, and has since been in use as a store-house.

SHIP-BUILDING .- Jonathan Booraem began build- ing sloops and schooners at Washington, for river navigation, in 1824, and succeeding in the enterprise, subsequently built a large number of vessels, some of which are yet navigating South River. He trained his sons William, Nicholas, Thomas, and James iu the trade of ship-building, and some of them contin- ued the business after his retirement and death, mak- ing a reputation as ship-builders second to none. In 1832 he admitted some of his sons to partnership, and the firm was thereafter known as Jonathan Booraem & Sons until 1840, when the ship-yard passed into the possession of Nicholas and Thomas Booraem, who, under the firm-name of N. & T. Booraem, con- tinued the business until 1851, when Nicholas Boo- raem became the sole proprietor. In 1854 the firm of N. & T. Booraem was revived, carrying on the busi- ness until 1860, when Nicholas Booraem again as- sumed entire ownership, continuing to build vessels quite extensively until within a few years and to overhaul and repair them to the present time, one of the conveniences of his ship-yard being a marine railway of improved construction. Among vessels built by the Booraems were the " President," a sloop, and the schooners " Christopher Columbus" and "Jon-

1 See article on " Industrial Pursuits" in the history of Madisou.

2 See article on "Industrial Pursuits" in the history of Madison.

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athan Booraem." Besides many vessels for river navigation, they built some coasting schooners rang- ing from one hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty tons burden.

Maj. Samuel Peterson, who died many years ago, made his mark as a ship-carpenter, building at Wash- ington several large sea-schooners and one sea-steamer, which was rated first-class. At Old Bridge, Gen. Oba- diah Herbert had some few vessels built between 1837 and 1840.

THE FRUIT-CULTURE AND TRADE .- At a com- paratively early date large quantities of peaches were brought by wagons from West Jersey to tide-water at Washington for shipment to New York.

Samuel Whitehead, Sr., a native of England, came to America at the age of twenty and purchased and located on a large tract of land about four miles from Washington, with the intention of devoting hinself to agricultural pursuits, but engaged in the peach trade largely, buying from West Jersey and sending to the city markets. Finding the soil suitable for the cultivation of apple, peach, and other fruit trees, he planted the seed of several choice varieties of apples and peaches and gave his attention and industry to the cultivation of nursery stock, which he later set out, planting fine orchards, and becoming so success- ful as a fruit-grower as to attract general attention to that industry, in which the neighboring farmers engaged one after another until the cultivation of peaches was the leading pursuit of the land-owners for miles round about, and an immense trade grew up, of which Washington naturally became the depot. This trade flourished from 1825 to 1855, and was at its height about 1850. At first sloops, then schoon- ers, and later steamboats were employed in carrying fruit to New York, and from 1840 to the time when the business began to decline on account of failing crops from four to six steamers left Washington daily loaded to their utmost capacity with peaches. The business thus introduced by Mr. Whitehead, who gave to several kinds of peaches the names by which they are known in the markets to this day, gradually extended to neighboring counties and became impor- tant over a wide area, which was for years a leading source of supply to the fruit markets of New York.

SAND, CLAY, AND KAOLIN .- Retiring from fruit- culture with an ample fortune, Samuel Whitehead, Sr., established another trade, which ranks with the most important enterprises of the day, and has made all concerned in it wealthy. He searched for and found, upon the lands in East Brunswick and adjoin- ing townships adjacent to the river navigation, fire- sands and clay-moulding sands, and by the purchase of such sand and clay beds became in a few years al- most the only source of supply to New York and sur- rounding cities of those articles, employing a large number of men and teams in digging and carting them to docks, supplying freights to numerous ves- sels, thus affording profitable employment to hun-

dreds and amassing a large fortune, taking rank at his retirement with the wealthiest men of the section. His sons had grown to manhood before this enterprise was fairly established, and Mr. Whitehead trained them thoroughly in all branches of the business, im- parting to each an accurate knowledge of the quality and suitableness of the material, which has proved of great benefit to them since their father, upon retiring about twenty years ago, transferred to them by sale his trade and extensive business, the firm being Whitehead Brothers, and its members, Charles, Wil- liam, James, and John. Since that time, when about ten thousand tons were shipped per year, the White- head Brothers have gradually increased the business, purchasing lands adapted to it in all directions, and shipping now an average of two hundred thousand tons of sand and clay per annum, having extended their trade as far east as Boston and to Philadelphia westward. The several departments of this immense trade are supervised by Charles Whitehead at Wash- ington, William Whitehead in New York, and John and James Whitehead on the Hudson River, the firm owning a number of large schooners, sloops, barges, and other vessels, all of which are employed in the transportation incident to their business, which is said to be so profitable as to clear quite a fortune every year.

W. S. Pettit's clay bank is near South River, and half a mile north of Washington. It is worked for the supply of the red brick yard near it and on the river. The following is the order of the several beds seen in the bank, and in the face of the hill above it, on the road leading west to the Old Bridge turnpike : (1) Reddish gravel and sand, 10 feet; (2) light-col- ored sandy clay, with layers of sand, 25 feet; (3) clay and sand alternating, 20 feet ; (4) cemented sand (stone) 3 to 5 feet; (5) black clay, 5 feet ; (6) lami- nated sand and sandy clay, containing lignite, at the bottom.

This level or working floor of the bank is eighteen feet above high water. Of the above-mentioned sub- divisions only 3, 4, and 5 are excavated, and of these No. 4 is thrown aside. The black clay (5) is very tough and solid, and is the best in the bank, contain- ing very little lignite and pyrite. In the bottom of the pit a light-colored sandy clay has been found, which burns hard and appears to be quite refractory, like the second quality of fire-clay. Northwest of the main bank there is an excavation for white sand, which is used in moulding. This lies below the level of the main bank, not more than ten feet above high tide. Just over it there crops out a dirty white sandy clay. Below the level of this sand, in the ditches northeast of the bank, there is sandy black clay, which goes down to tide-level. The pits across the road, and south of the main bank, furnish a light- colored clay, which burns to a paler shade. The bluish and the black clays of the main bank make a deep-colored red brick. The clay at the bottom is at

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

the same height of the Woodbridge fire-clay bed, and from its character and elevation may be regarded as part of it. Nothing definite is known of its thick- ness or of its character, except what has been learned from the surface specimens. The clays worked in these banks all belong to the laminated clay and sand beds, the source of nearly all of the best red brick clays dug in the State. In the old bank south of the kilns a black, pyritiferous and lignitic clay is seen.

The clay bank of the Newark Company is at the side of the New Brunswick road, close to and north- east of the village of Washington. The excavation has been confined within the ten and thirty feet con- tour lines above tide-level, corresponding to the heights at Pettit's bank, and the clays dug here are geologically the same as those at the latter place. This bank belongs to the same bed as the brick-clay bank of Sayre & Fisher, in Sayreville, and it has not been much worked for several years past. Northwest of this bank kaolin and a clayey sand crop out in the hill on the North Brunswick road. The top of this outcrop is eighty-five to ninety feet above high- water mark. The height is the same as that of the kaolin, which is worked on the Whitehead estate, southwest of the village of Washington, but it is one- third of a mile north of that locality, and conse- quently does not show any dip in the bed, correspond- ing more with the elevations of the bed as opened north of the Raritan, and showing the Whitehead bank to be exceptionally high.

The Whitehead kaolin bank is in the village of Washington, at the side of the Hardenburgh Corners road, near the top of the hill. It is covered by a red- dish sandy gravel, which is thicker westward in the higher ground. In the excavation for road material, this gravel appears in layers of irregular extent and thickness, with thicker strata of coarse sand. The kaolin (surface) has an elevation of eighty-two feet above mean high-water level, and the workable bed averages six feet in thickness. Under it there is a fine white sand, and then the black clay of the brick- clay bank. This kaolin is very white and rather coarse-grained, contains more white mica than is commonly found in the kaolins of other localities in this district, and is not regarded as a first-class article. According to a partial analysis it is composed as fol- lows: Alumina and sesquioxide of iron, 7.80 per cent .; silicic acid and sand, 89.40 per cent. ; water, 2.60 per cent. ; total (determined), 99.80 per cent.

As the stripping is light and the drainage easy, this bank is cheaply worked.

The brick-clay bank of Willett & Yates is almost connected with the above-described kaolin bank, being a few yards southeast of the latter, in the village of Washington. The strata between the top of this bank (fifty-nine feet elevation ) and the bottom of the kaolin (seventy-six feet) are not seen, except- ing in the gentle slope of hill, and as to these there is

some uncertainty. The several subdivisions of the bank and their relation to the kaolin are expressed in the following order, beginning at the top of the hill at the gravel-pit :

(1) Reddish sand and gravel, 10 to 15 feet; (2) kaolin, workable bed, 6 feet; (3) black clay, with layers of sand partially obscured, 35 feet ; (4) yellow, loamy clay, 1} feet ; (5) black pyritiferous clay, 6 feet ; (6) bluish, clayey kaolin, 4 feet ; (7) slate-colored clay, 5 feet; (8) clay full of pyrite, 1} feet ; (9) bluish kaolin, 1 foot.

Blue clay is at the bottom of the digging, which is 22 feet above the level of the water. No. 3 occupies the interval between the kaolin near the top of the hill and the top of the working face of the clay bank. In No. 8 there is very much of both lignite and pyrite, and it is sometimes called pyrites . clay. Layers 6 and 9 are sands which are known in the bank as kaolins. They are mixed with the .clays for bricks. No. 7 is very tenacious, burns hard, is quite refractory, and free from pyrite, and is con- sidered the best clay in the bank. The working face of the bank stops at the bottom of this, although in the drains and in the eastern part of the bank, nearer the yards, lower clays have been dug; the several clays and sands are mixed together in using them for the brick.

James Bissett's clay bank is on the west bank of South River, one mile southeast of Washington. There is here at the top yellow sand and gravel 8 feet thick, then a grayish clay 1 foot thick, then a kaolin- like sand, which is about 8 feet thick. Then comes the black clay, thick layers of which alternate with very thin seams of white sand and sandy clay. This is a very solid, tenacious clay, has a specific gravity of 1.778 to 1.812, and is superior for hrick. The height of the black clay outcrop is 22 feet above high-tide level, and the bottom of the digging is 10 feet below the same plane. At the bottom the clay is more sandy. It burns very red. The materials of the sev- eral layers are generally mixed together, and all put into common red brick. At the top there is over the black clay and the kaolin a grayish streak of clayey sand, which is said to be hard to burn. Neither the top clay nor the kaolin over the black clay are used. Mr. Bissett found a whitish clay in a pit and boring about 100 yards west of his residence, at a depth of 22 feet beneath the surface, in ground 40 feet high ; con- sequently this clay was nearly 20 feet above high- water level.

About twenty years ago 3000 tons, perhaps, of pot- ter's clay was dug near Old Bridge, in the Snake Hill, and at the tide-level, by Andrew J. Disbrow. As worked the bed was 8 feet thick, and was underlaid by sand. There was about 25 feet of top dirt over it. The clay was of a greenish slate color. An analysis of a specimen gave the following percentages :

Alumina, 19.85 ; silicic acid, 24.55; water (com- bined), 5.70; sand (quartz), 44.80; titanic acid, 1.00;

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EAST BRUNSWICK.

potash, 1.90; soda, 9.32; sesquioxide of iron, 1.00; water (moisture), .90. Total, 100.02.

These figures indicate a composition suitable for pottery, corresponding as they do quite closely with the stoneware clays of this district. This outcrop, from its elevation, appears too low for the stoneware clay, unless there is a curve in the line of strike of that bed, which is not sustained by any other fact ; hence it seems more reasonable to regard this clay as part of the South Amboy fire-clay bed, though in composition and character it is allied to the stone- ware clays.

Higher up in the side of Snake Hill, and 50 feet above tide-water level, there is another layer of light- colored sandy clay. It has not been worked, and none of it has been examined.

Northwest of this, and nearer the New Brunswick road, on the same property, clay has been dug in two small openings at intervals during the past forty years. These pits are about 100 feet above the level of the tide. This clay has been used in making drain- pipe. Specimens from near the surface of the ground are drab-colored, sandy, and streaked with yellow earth. The same clay has been struck, as is supposed, in several wells on the high ground in this neighbor- hood.

Potter's clay at the river-level is seen in the bank up the stream, in the village of Old Bridge, where it is two feet thick. It is thought it cau be traced to the southwest as far as Outcalt's mills, above Spotts- wood.

With the trade in sand and clays, brick-making and pottery are closely allied. Both of these branches of industry have been extensively plied in East Brunswick.

BRICK-MAKING .- At Washington and in its vicin- ity a very extensive business has been done for some time past in the manufacture of common hard brick. Immense quantities of brick are shipped from Wash- ington annually.

John Griggs established the first yard a little later than 1850, which he operated about nine years. After a period of inactivity the premises were owned suc- cessively by Messrs. Johnson and Servison, finally passing into the possession of the present owner, W. S. Pettit.

Wynant Griggs began to manufacture brick just previous to 1860, selling out after a time to William Wright. This brick-yard has several times changed hands, now being known as Price's.

The Washington Brick and Clay Company was in- corporated in 1869. The brick-yard is connected with Willett's dock by a horse railroad about three-eighths of a mile in length, by means of which the brick are conveyed to navigation. The area of the yard is nearly three acres. The Yates brick-yard adjoining is an enterprise of more recent date.

In 1869 the East Brunswick Brick Company was organized by Messrs. James Bissett, William De Voe,

Jacob F. Rue, and Charles H. Bissett. William De Voe retired from the business in 1870 and Jacob F. Rue and Charles H. Bissett in 1875, since which time it has been managed by James Bissett.

POTTERIES .- Some time after the Revolution a pottery was started at Old Bridge by Gen. James Morgan and Jacob Van Wickle, which was in op- eration till about 1828. The building they had used went to ruin, and was torn down about 1840. About 1815 some of the Bissetts established a pottery on the wharf at Old Bridge, which was in existence as such until about 1830.

Jacob Eaton and Samuel Stout had a pottery at Washington about 1825-45, where the residence of John Jacob Bissett now is.

About 1840-60, Samuel Whitehead was extensively engaged in the manufacture of white and stoneware in a building on Jackson Street, Washington, which was erected by him as a pottery, and is still standing.

THE WOOD TRADE .- Formerly there was an ex- tensive trade carried on in this township in lumber and wood, the latter being by far the larger of the two. Under the impulse given to local business by this trade the villages of Washington and Old Bridge grew considerably until it began to flag and land in all directions was cleared and fitted for cultivation. It also furnished employment to many watermen,. who made these two villages their headquarters.

MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES .- In 1823, Rob- ison Thomas was making paint in Washington within the present limits of Theodore Willett's brick-yard.

A tannery was built at Spottswood about 1808 by Matthias Prest. It was not successful, and was aban- doned after a few years. George Lane had a tannery and shoe-factory there from about 1833 to about 1853, and for some years later manufactured a limited quan- tity of shoes.

At Old Bridge one of the Van Wickles managed a fanning-mill manufactory, 1835-40 or thereabouts. Another was established about the latter date by Leonard Appleby and James C. Stout, and continued until about 1850.

On the site of the Railroad Mills, near Spottswood, John Browne started a distillery about 1806, and con- ducted it as such about twelve years. About 1818 it was converted into a snuff-mill.

James C. Stont began distilling apple brandy and whisky at Old Bridge about 1835, and did quite an extensive business until his death in February, 1878. His son, S. W. Stout, succeeded him, making apple brandy only, the amount of his business depending on the plentitude of the apple crop. This industry has created a market at Old Bridge for apples, which are hauled in in their season by the farmers for sev- eral miles around. John H. Disbrough for some time previous and subsequent to 1835 had a distillery at Spottswooo.

For a few years past a fruit-canning factory has been in operation on Crommelin's Creek.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

About 1875, William Dill converted his snuff-factory at Old Bridge into a saw-mill, which is still in exist- ence and at times in operation.

The hominy-mills of John Outcalt were established on the historical mill-site of Weechqueechley, the half- breed Indian, in 1870, the snuff-mill, in the manage- ment of which he had succeeded his father, John D. Outcalt, being remodeled to adapt it to the present enterprise, which occupies three two-story buildings and affords employment to seven hands. About one hundred and four thousand bushels of corn are con- sumed in this mill annually, most of which is brought from Monmouth County. The hominy is put up in five- and ten-pound packages and shipped to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Gilbert Brown started the first and only manufac- tory of clothing at Old Bridge in 1872. The materials are cut and the garments trimmed in New York. Twenty hands are kept busy in Brown's factory mak- ing the garments, and a business which averages six thousand dollars annually is done.

Feb. 1, 1879, V. Henry Rothschild established a shirt-factory at Spottswood in a building formerly oc- cupied as a snuff and tobacco-factory. During the busy season about one hundred hands are employed, and fifty-one No. 8 and forty-one No. 2 sewing- machines are operated. The average output is five hundred dozen shirts per week, which are shipped to Mr. Rothschild's New York house, at the corner of West Broadway and Leonard Street. The factory is superintended by Mr. Leonard Appleby.

There is also a shirt-factory at Washington, in a building which was some years ago occupied as a carpet- and rug-factory.

Churches. - ST. PETER'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SPOTTSWOOD .- From a brief account of the early history of this church, compiled from various sources by Rev. John M. Ward, sometime rector, it appears that about thirty residents, mainly settlers from Staten Island, who were descendants of members of the Church of England, had collected materials and raised the first building in 1757, but it was not fit for use until 1759, the first service therein being held by Rev. Mr. Skinner, missionary at Amboy.

There is reason to believe that services were held at intervals some time before the church was built, as the Rev. Mr. Skinner wrote in 1747, " My circuit is from Amboy to South River, thence to Piscataway, and thence to Amboy." In another letter he men- tions crossing the river "two miles" wide, and thence over a sandy road "twelve miles" to South River. This agrees quite well with the distance by the old road to Spottswood, and there was no settlement of any note nearer Amboy.1

After this time Rev. Mr. Mckean, a missionary at

New Brunswick, officiated part of his time, 1760-62. The communicants then numbered twelve. In April, 1768, Rev. William Ayres was appointed missionary by the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel" to the churches at Spottswood and Freehold. This report of the first year shows that he baptized twenty- two children and four adults. In 1787 he was elected rector and removed from his former residence on the glebe, located between the two churches, to Spotts- wood (bringing with him a small but valuable library from England), and there resided until 1799.

During his ministry (Nov. 23, 1773) a charter for the church was granted by William Franklin, the last royal Governor of New Jersey. In the words of the charter, the corporators beside Rev. Mr. Ayres were "Right Hon. David Carnagie, commonly called Lord Rosehill, John Lewis Johnston, Frederic Buck- lew, John Rue, Thomas Newton, John Barclay, Jr., Joseph Perrine, James Rue, David Stout, Samuel Neilson, Richard Lott, James Abraham, and John Perrine, all freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Spottswood, within the South Ward of the city of Perth Amboy, in the County of Middlesex." The first wardens, as named in the charter, were Lord Rosehill and John Lewis Johnston, the other lay- men corporators being designated as vestrymen.

Mr. Ayres resigned in 1799 and removed to Vir- ginia. The next rector was Rev. Andrew Fowler, who remained but fifteen months, after which the services of Rev. Mr. Cotton from New Brunswick were obtained at intervals for a short period.

Beginning in 1802, Rev. John Croes (afterwards bishop), of New Brunswick, officiated " half his time" till 1803, when he became rector, remaining till 1809, when impaired health induced him to resign.

Until 1822 there was no settled minister and there were but occasional services. In 1816 the church was finished, having been before this time merely inclosed with shingles. The Rev. John M. Ward took charge in 1822, and in 1824 became rector. He resigned in 1835, and was for many years rector at Mamaroneck, N. Y., but eventually, on account of impaired health, resigned and returned, residing at his former home until his death. There are some yet living who regard his cheerful and genial nature with affectionate re- membrance.

In 1836, Rev. John Jones officiated a short time. Rev. Thomas Tauser was in charge one year, in 1837 and 1838. He was succeeded by Rev. Robert B. Croes (son of the bishop), who was rector 1838-40. In 1842 Rev. Isaac Smith took charge as rector aud resigned in 1847, removing to Piscataway. Rev. Joseplı F. Phillips succeeded the same year and resigned in 1858. During the ministry of Rev. Mr. Phillips, in 1850-51, the old church was taken down and the present one built on the same site and com- pleted so far as to have services hield in it. The church is of wood, and in style it partakes of the perpendicular Gothic, being from designs of Frank

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 186

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