History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 193

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 193
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 193

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ship centrally, and near its western limit flows into Millstone River. The Camden and Amboy Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad crosses the northwest- ern part of the township, forming a junction at Jamesburg with the Freehold and Jamesburg Rail- road, and the extension of the latter to Monmouth Junction in South Brunswick.

The area of Monroe is 22,000 acres. In 1880 its real estate was valued at $1,029,000; its personal property at $395,200; the total taxable valnation being $1,129,000. The voters numbered 635. The county tax was $6815; the school tax, $2237. In 1840, two years after its organization, its population was 2453, and ten years later it was 3004. In 1880 it was 3016.

Early Settlement and Pioneer Life.2-In colonial days, when the first settlements were made in this vicinity of which we now find any mention, New Jersey was divided into the provinces of East and West Jersey, and the Duke of York, under date of March 14, 1682, had confirmed the sale of the prov- ince of East Jersey to the twenty-four proprietors, including James, the Earl of Perth, and Robert Bar- clay, from whom the title to a part of Edmund Rue's farm was acquired, with only three intermediate changes. The representatives of the proprietors ap- pear to have been very active in disseminating favor- able accounts of this section, and the first settlers were very enthusiastic in their descriptions of their new homes and prospects.

Further inducements were made by the proprietors in 1684, granting fifty acres to each head of a family settling in the province, and twenty-five acres for each of the other members of his household. Under this provision James Johnstone came from Edinburgh in December, 1685, and settled on the southeastern bank of the Manalapan, near Spottswood, and within the present borders of Monroe. He soon purchased ad- ditional land, extending towards the Matchaponix, and was doubtless the first person to reclaim land in the township.

A little later William Davison, son of Robert Davi- son, also from Scotland, settled on a tract of land commencing abont two hundred feet southeast of the residence of Isaac S. Buckelew, in Jamesburg, ex- tending beyond Daniel R. Schenck's and including most of the land now known as the Davison tract. His descendants have been numerous, and have done much towards improving the land and advancing the agricultural interests of that vicinity. His nephew,3 Paul Davison, who died seven or eight years ago, was well known, and the widow of his son, William W.

2 In the preparation of this chapter, as elsewhere, the historian has, by permission, made free use of the historical address delivered by T. Wilton Hill, Esq., at Jamesburg, July 4, 1876.

8 Some statements above regarding the relationship of William Davi- eon to members of the family of a later generation conflict somewhat with the version given in Mr. Hill's address. Peter V. Davison is au- thority for the change, the family Bible seemingly confirming its pro- priety.

1 By M. O. Rolfe.

798

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Davison, the venerable Sarah Davison, is still living in the family of the late Abram S. Davison, of which her grandson, Peter V. Davison, is the nominal head. Abram S. Davison and his sisters, Nancy, Margaret, and Rebecca, were children of William W. Davison. Abram S. married a daughter of Peter Voorhees. His children, Peter V., Benjamin D., Isaac S., Wil- liam H., Sarah V., and Anna M., are all living at and near Jamesburg.

The letters written by the first settlers to their friends at home describing the country and offering inducements for the latter to follow them were quaintly interesting. The following is a specimen :

" Wolves are so far from troubling men, that if a man should lay a glove upon a carcass or their prey they will yell but not come nigh it. You cannot come nigh a rattlesnake but they will rattle with their tail, whereby a man is advertised either to kill them or go by them. They frequently charm the squirrels or other little beasts off the tops of the treee into their mouth, and that without touching them with their teeth, which if they did they would poison themselves. The flea that is trou- blesome on the low and marshy grounds is not found on the uplande. I am mightily well pleased with my coming over, neither do I think I could live again in Scotland. It is a place that produces many fine fruits and physic herbs. The woods are stored with wild deers, conies, wolves, bears, raccoons, some beavers, and several other beasts which have fine fura, and fish and water-fowl for the killing. The timber are mostly oak of all sorts, walont and chestnut. Strawberries grow very thick npon the ground amongst the trees, 80 that some places in the woods are in summer, as it were, covered with a red cloth. The land is ex- cesding good which is yet to take up, much better than what is in- habitsd. There is very much 'syder' here which is our principal drink. The Indian natives are not troublesome any way if we do them no harm, but are a kind and loving people: The men do nothing but hunt, und the women they plant corn and work at home. They come and trade among the Christians with skine or venison, and in the summer-time they aud their wives come down the rivers in their canoes, which they make themselves of a piece of a great tree like & little boat, and thers they fish and take oysters. What I most earnestly desire of you for the encouragement of this plantation is that you would be instrumental to send ne over some ministers, who I dare engage shall ever afterwards be thankful."

Little is to be learned of interest in reference to the development of the lands mentioned prior to the beginning of this century. The old building standing on the State Reform School farm remains as a link connecting the eighteenth century with the present. Tradition alone tells us that it was built during the French war of 1754-56, and used for the detention of French prisoners. In the old graveyard attached to it are found some old headstones bearing date pre- vious to that time. On the Monroe side of the Manalapan there can still be seen the remnants of a dam that was in use by the Forge Company, Messrs. Perry, Corne & Hays, before the Revolution. This side of the brook the land was included in what was known as the Faulkner tract, and as late as 1758 was inhabited mostly by Indians; the patent line, reach- ing from a point marked by a peculiar stone, still well preserved, on the farm of Edmund Rue, at the edge of Manalapan Brook, thence along the farm of Alexander Redmond and others, may still be traced to the Delaware River.

On the farm of Alexander Redmond and adjoining the land of the Widow Lane was the Brainerd settle- ment, and there was the scene of the distinguished

labors of the great missionary. Rev. Mr. Brainerd first preached to the Indians in the woods between Stockbridge and Albany, N. Y., but without much apparent success. He then about 1745 turned his attention to the Indians at the forks of the Delaware and at Crossweeksung, this section, where his labors were crowned with remarkable success. He and his brother John also at one time labored in the Wyom- ing Valley in Pennsylvania. "His 'Life and Diary Among the Indians,' " wrote an eminent English divine, " exhibits a perfect pattern of the qualities which should distinguish the instructor of rude and barbarous tribes,-the most invincible patience and self-denial, the profoundest humility, exquisite pru- dence, indefatigable industry, and such a devotedness to God, or rather such an absorption of the whole soul in zeal for the divine glory and salvation of men, as is scarcely paralleled since the age of the apos- tles." Imagination pictures Brainerd, earnest in purpose, eloquent in speech, gracious in manner, persuasive in conversation, doing his work among the Indians in the primitive forests of Monroe, inter- ested solely for their spiritual and mental develop- ment and the consequent improvement in their temporal affairs, and his name seems, like those of Heckewelder and Eliot, a reproach upon the "Indian policy" now pursued by a powerful government towards the remnant of a once numerous and in many respects admirable people.

When Alexander Redmond purchased the property in 1841 many cellars, showing the former location of houses in the Brainerd settlement, were visible, and he long retained stones that had been used as hearths, as well as many relics of the Indians exhumed there. The old apple- and cherry-trees of the settlement were then quite numerous. Some of the apple-trees still remain. The brook from which this grove takes its name was called by them " Wigwam Brook," and has its source in springs located in their settlement. In the life of John Brainerd, published by the Pres- byterian Board, the year 1754 is spoken of as one of great despondency for the missionary, as " Bethel, to procure which as their permanent home David Brain- erd had paid the debts of the Indians, amounting to some ninety pounds, and aided them to clear its forests with his own labor, was now passing from their hands forever." A short time after the Scotch society which had supported him in his missionary field withdrew that assistance, and Brainerd sought other service. In this connection it is interesting to read an old deed in the possession of Mr. Alexander Redmond, by which it appears that on the 12th of July, 1754 (the year above mentioned), the Rev. John Brainerd conveyed to Peter Deremer the land adja- cent to Wigwam Brook, including lands now owned by Mrs. James Redmond, Alexander Redmond, Ed- mund Rue, and the estate of James Buckelew. The historic character of this locality becomes still more interesting when we remember that Brainerd's help-

799

MONROE.

mate was the Rev. William Tennent, at that time the remarkable and powerful pastor of the old Tennent Church in Monmouth County. After Brainerd went to Newark, in 1755, the Scotch society made an agreement to give him twenty-five pounds per annum for visiting the congregation once a week, catechising their children, and sometimes administering thie com- munion on the Lord's day, hoping thereby to keep the Indian congregation together.1 Previous to 1738 some Presbyterians, mostly from the Cranbury neigh- borhood, and certain members of the Church of England owned a house of worship conjointly which stood in School District No. 32, in Monroe, where the "Old Church" school-house now is. . The two sects are thought to have separated in the years men- tioned, and nothing later is known of the church or its Episcopalian worshipers, who about that time seem to have become sole owners.2

Tice Mount, of English descent, located very early at Matchaponix, now known locally as "Texas," in the northeastern part of the township, and died there at an advanced age. His sons were Joseph and Hugh Taylor Mount, and he had daughters named Catharine and Rebecca. Joseph married a daughter of Henry Dellatosh, and located on the Alexander Redinond farm, near Jamesburg. His children were quite numerous, but only one son, Morgan, lived to manhood. Of his daughters, Elsie married Joseph Cosner, Polly married Benjamin Hayes, and lives at Freehold, and Catharine is unmarried. Hugh Tay- lor Mount married Catharine, daughter of Cornelius Johnson, and both lived to a ripe old age. Their children were named Cornelius J., Catharine, Tice, Joseph, Rachel, and Ellen. Cornelius J. married Nancy Davison, daughter of William Davison, and both are living, he aged eighty-three, she aged sev- enty-five. Their sons, John, Alfred, and William H. Mount, are well known. The former married Ellen, daughter of Thomas Day; the latter, Amanda, daughter of Paul Davison.

Peter Mount, who has been dead many years, was another early settler at Matchaponix, as was John Rue, who owned a good deal of land, and was often referred to as " rich Johnny Rue." His sons were named Isaac, Joseph, and John, and none of then are now living there. Tice Rue was another early comer in that neighborhood. His sons were Tice, Joseph, Matthias, and John. Matthias' deatlı was so sudden, and the circumstances surrounding it so strange, that it will long be remembered how he was taken suddenly ill in the court-room at New Bruns- wick years ago and died almost immediately. John, a son of Matthias, is living at Matchaponix. Edmund, a son of John and a grandsou of Tice Rue, resides near Jamesburg. Cornelius Johnson was an early resident in the same section, and was a man of some

prominence, taking a leading part in matters of im- portance. We find his name among those of the subscribers to the fund for the erection of the Pres- byterian Church at Cranbury, which was pledged between 1785 and 1788. He had sons named Wil- liam, Cornelius, Reuben, and Tice. William married Rebecca Tone. Cornelius became a physician, and for many years lived and practiced his profession in Spottswood. He married into the Schureman family of New Brunswick. Reuben married Phebe De Witt, of Cranbury ; Tice (first wife), Ann, daughter of James Cottrell; and John, Polly Tone, a sister of William's wife.

Another family of Mounts than the one previously mentioned are quite numerous in Monroe. They are the descendants of (1) Joseph B. Mount, who died about 1840 at the age of eighty-four. His children were named William, Samuel, Brittain, John, Joseph, David, Lewis, Barbara, Mary Ann, Catharine, Susan, Lucinda, Lydia A., and Hannah. (2) William lived and died in the township a few years ago, aged ninety-six. His sons were Joseph, Samuel, Benja- min, Augustus, and William, some of whom are dead, and none of whom live in Monroe. He had daughters named Mary Ann, Barbara, Hannah, and Elizabeth. (3) Samuel went West and died there, leaving no family. (4) Brittain also went West and married there, and at his death left two sons. (5) John married Sarah Bennett, by whom he had children named Joseph B., Aaron, John, Henry, Brittain, Ursula, Hannah, Sarah Ann, and Helen. Joseph B. married Margaret Applegate, and is living in Monroe. His son, John H. Mount, is a farmer. Another, Daniel A., is a wheelwright at Half-Acre. Other sons of his are named Charles B., William, and George, and he has daughters named Eleanor, Sarah, Caroline, and Anna. (6) Joseph is a resident of Monmouth County. (7) David married Elizabeth A., daughter of Furman Applegate, and is a farmer and resident of Monroe, having children named Joseph H., John A., Benjamin L., Hannah L., Ann, Amelia, Irene, and Sarah L. (8) Lewis is a resident of Canada, and there married.

William Day settled in Monmouth County in 1720. He had two sons, John and William. The former located early in Monroe, and reared a family there. The latter remained in Monmouth County, and his sons settled in Monroe, where the descendants of both are numerous.

At Matchaponix Joseph Perrine was an early set- tler. He was a descendant of one of two brothers, who were the progenitors, as is supposed, of all of the name in America. They were named Henry and Daniel Perrine, and were natives of France. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) they fled from La Rochelle, Lower Charente, France, and in company with others embarked for America, the hope of the Huguenots, in a large sailing-vessel named the "Caledonia," which entered the bay at

1 For further mention of Brainerd and his own account of some of his meetings, ses the history of Cranbury.

2 Sas history of Cranbury.

800

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Amboy in so dilapidated a condition as to be unable to make a landing and stranded, and was abandoned on the southeastern shore of Staten Island. Joseph Perrine, who was a large landowner at Matchaponix, had six sons, one of whom, John, inherited a portion of the tract and settled on it. He had eight children, of whom one is John, known as ex-Judge Perrine, now, at the age of eighty-four, a resident at Bloom- field Mills, in East Brunswick, near Spottswood. He was early and long a surveyor and conveyancer, and at different times and places a merchant for nearly forty years. Elected a justice of the peace in 1825, he served more than thirty years. He was elected a member of the New Jersey Council in 1834; was judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County, 1837-64, serving much of the time as presiding judge ; was appointed a master in chancery in 1851, and was a member of the New Jersey Legislature, 1866-67. His sons are prominent business men of South Am- boy.

(1) Peter Vanderhoof settled at Rhode Hall1 about 1775, and was a farmer and a prominent man in his day, holding the office of justice of the peace many years. His children were named David, John, Peter, Michael, and Ann. (2) David married Mary Barclay and located across the present township line in South Brunswick, near the homestead, and had a son named Alfred, and two daughters named Margaret Ellen and Mary Ellen. (3) John died a bachelor. (4) Peter married and settled at New Brunswick. (5) Michael married Margaret Van Pelt and remained on the family homestead at Rhode Hall, and his sons, David, John, and Peter, all lived there.

Early in the last century (1) James Gulick settled at Rhode Hall, and became a farmer and blacksmith. He married Elizabeth Snediker, and had a family of five sons and a daughter. The sons were named Da- vid, Moses, Aaron, James, and Isaac. The daughter was named Rachel. (2) David married Catharine Scott and removed to New York, where he was a merchant until 1828, when he purchased the place in South Brunswick since known as the Gulick farm, where he lived until his death, about 1835. His family consisted of a sou named Alexander and four daughters named Eliza, Mary, Jane, and Nancy. Eliza married Henry Van Aken and resides on the farm. (3) Moses removed to New York and died without issue. (4) Aaron married Agnes Force and resided on the homestead, keeping a public-house, and dying there at the age of ninety-two. His chil- dren were Eliza, Mary, David, Sarah, Rachel, and Emeline. Rachel married George T. McDowell, and lived and died at the old homestead. (5) James went to New York and engaged in the mercantile business, and served the city five years as recorder and two years as chief engineer of the fire department. He

was also superintendent of the Croton water-works, and died at the age of seventy-five. (6) Isaac mar- ried Millicent Calvin, and was in trade in New York.

The McDowell family, mentioned in the history of South Brunswick, had as their progenitor Thomas McDowell, who located at Rhode Hall in 1774, and who, after marrying Mary Thompson, née Williamson, kept the old Williamson tavern. His descendants are numerous, and some of them have attained promi- nence. E. A. McDowell, a well-known actor, is a great-grandson of his, and a son of his grandson, Thomas McDowell, of Washington.

At a date considerably anterior to the Revolution (1) Anthony Applegate located in the southern part of the township, on the road from Hightstown to Englishtown, and near the "Red Tavern." During the war he was awakened in the night by some one at the door demanding entrance. Leaping from his bed, he hastily threw open the door, when he was shot by a band of desperadoes outside. Who they were and in what manner Applegate had incurred their enmity was never ascertained. He was a quiet and unobtrusive man, and had not taken a decided stand either for or against the colonies, and could hardly have been marked as a victim on political grounds. Two of his children were named Thomas and Abigail. (2) Thomas married Sarah Baird, who died, more than one hundred years of age, in 1881, and lived on the place where his father settled, and reared a family of seven children, named Lydia, Anthony, David B., Thomas, Sarah, Abigail, and John. (3) Lydia married John Wycoff and lived in Mercer County. (4) Anthony espoused Helen Riggs, and after her death Edna Perrine. His children were Cornelia, who married Stephen Box and removed to Indiana ; John, Kenneth, Mary Ann, and Ida, all of whom died young; Thomas, who married Helena Voorhees and emigrated to Nebraska; Helena, who became Mrs. Luther Dey, and after his death Mrs. Egbert Brown, removing to Cranbury; Sarah Ann, who married Frederick Applegate and resides in the "Red Tavern" neighborhood; Harriet, who is the wife of Thomas C. Mount, of Cranbury ; Abbie, who mar- ried Levi Opdyke and lives in East Brunswick; David B., who married Rebecca Hutchinson and lives at Red Tavern ; and John P., Disbrow, and Gertrude, who live on the homestead.

James Snediker, of Holland Dutch nativity, located near the South Brunswick line, where he was an ex- tensive farmer, and lived to the age of one hundred years. He reared a large family, some of whom are residents of the township.

(1) Cornelius Van Dorne located near Prospect Plains (now so called) at an early date. His wife was Sophia Snediker. Their children were Cornelius, Jr., Grace, Elizabetli, Henry, Isaac, Sophia, Sarah Ann, and Eliza. (2) Cornelius, Jr., died unmarried. (3) Grace became the wife of Daniel Voorhees, now of Piscataway. (5) Elizabeth married Michael Camp,

1 For an account of other settlers at Rhode Hlall than those here men- lioned, see the history of South Brunswick.

801

MONROE.

and both died in the township. (6) Henry married Elizabeth Stults and located at Prospect Plains. Cornelius, James, William, John H., Gideon, Ellen, Sophia, Mary, and Elizabeth were their children. The only one of these now resident in Monroe is Mary, now Mrs. Daniel I. Day, living at an advanced age at Union Valley. (7) Isaac married Ruth Rudd and removed to Toms River, N. J. (8) Sophia died young. (9) Sarah Ann married Martin Nevius and removed to New Brunswick. (10) Eliza espoused John Vanderhoof and lived near Prospect Plains.

Another settler in the vicinity of Prospect Plains was Henry Stults, who located there in the latter part of the last century, He married Ellen Cortelyou. Their children were Albert, Peter, Jacob, William, Ralph C., Henry, Mary, Elizabeth, Ellen, and Kate. Albert married Martha Van Dorne; Peter, Charity Salters ; Jacob, Margaret Snediker; William, Eliza Snediker ; Ralph C., Hannah Dey; Henry, Rose Snediker ; Elizabeth, Henry Van Dorne ; Kate, . Lewis Dey. All of these lived in the township and reared families. Ellen died unmarried ; Mary mar- ried Asa Applegate and lived at New Brunswick.

Items of War History .- In 1778, when the British evacuated Philadelphia and the American army pur- sued, the memorable days, June 26th to 28th, found the inhabitants of this township alert, especially as Washington's army passed almost within hailing dis- tance from the locality of Jamesburg.

" William Lyon, a Continental soldier, died in this township in 1841. He served throughout the war of the Revolution, and was in most of the actions in which the Jersey troops were engaged. About the time of the battle of Trenton, as he was marching with his feet bare and bloody over the frozen ground, he took from a clothes-line near a dwelling a pair of stockings. The lady of the house came out and re- proached him for the act. He answered her by simply pointing to his lacerated feet. Further argument was unnecessary. She went back in tears. Washington saw him, and tapping him on the shoulder said, "My brave boy, you deserve a better fate !"

" Ah," replied the heroic soldier, " there is no dan- ger of my feet freezing as long as the blood runs !" 1

The war of 1812-14 had its patriots from Monroe, and pensioners of that war lived there many years.

The soldiers' monument in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church at Cranbury bears the names of heroes from Monroe who gave their lives in their country's service during the Rebellion. It is remembered, to the honor and credit alike of Monroe and the committee who had the matter in charge, that in response to the demand of the President for the township's quota of soldiers in 1864 a subscrip- tion was raised to defray the expense of placing the requisite number of men in the field, and so generous was the response that only fifty per cent. of the money

subscribed was required, and the remainder was re- turned to the subscribers pro rata. The committee consisted of Ezekiel Silvers, Gilbert S. Davison, and Isaac L. Buckelew.

Organization .- By authority of the Council and General Assembly of New Jersey it was enacted, Feb. 23, 1838, that all that portion of the township of South Amboy lying west of the Matchaponix and South Rivers be established a separate township, to be known as Monroe, and the inhabitants of the territory designated were constituted a body politic and cor- porate by the name of " the Inhabitants of the Town- ship of Monroe, in the County of Middlesex."

Provisions were made in the act for the assumption of assets and liabilities by the townships of South Amboy and Monroe in the proportion of the taxable property and inhabitants within the limits of their territory respectively, and for the division between the two towns of the paupers chargeable to South Amboy prior to the erection of Madison from its terri- tory. It was provided that the poor-house farm, pre- viously belonging to the township of South Amboy, with the buildings and improvements thereon, should thenceforth belong to the townships of Monroe and South Amboy in the proportion of the tax assessed to the inhabitants residing within the bounds of each on the last duplicate, to be held by them in common. The first town-meeting of Monroe was appointed to be held " at the house of Jacob Vancleef, inn-keeper, on the second Monday of April, 1838." A portion of East Brunswick was taken from Monroe in 1860, and a portion of Cranbury in 1872.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 193

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