History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 204

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 204
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 204

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).

Sittings, 200; communicants, 57.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church of Metuchen .- This church is situated on the corners of Belle and Middlesex Avenues, in a beautiful part of the town of Metuchen. They first held services at the residence of H. C. Hardy, Esq., and in the year 1866 the use of the lecture-room of the Reformed Church was kindly offered, and here stated services were held, and a Sab- bath-school formed. The Rev. Alfred Goldsborough, a recent graduate of the Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, was appointed their rector. But he remained but a few months, he not having much encouragement or prospect of the building of a church. The following were the first wardens: William H. C. Hardy and Nathan Robins. For some time the ser- vices of Rev. Dr. Abercrombie, of Rahway, N. J., and others supplied this weak church. With the liberality of Messrs. Robins, Thorn, Strong, and others the pres- ent St. Luke's was built, and the first services held therein June 30, 1869. The beautiful rectory on Belle Avenue was soon erected. The Rev. Stephen P. Simp- son was called as rector in the year 1869; he came from Newark, N. J. The Rev. Lewis Norton is the present rector.

Sittings, 350; communicants, 65.

The St. Francis' (Roman Catholic) Church .- This neat edifice, erected in the year 1873 by the per- sonal efforts of Rev. Fathers Rogers and Duggan, of St. Peter's Church, New Brunswick, and also the earnest labors of Rev. Father Downs, the church has heen much benefited. The Rev. Father Bettoni is the present pastor, who, with the Woodbridge church, which are connected under his care. The church cost about six thousand dollars, and has some two hundred and fifty adults and children connected with the parish.

First Reformed Church of Metuchen. - This church was organized by Classes of the Reformed

846

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Dutch Church of New Brunswick, which met in Me- tuchen, Dec. 27, 1857, and received some thirty or forty letters of membership from the Presbyterian Church, from this colony, from the sister-church ; en- gaged in building their present beautiful edifice on a plot donated by D. G. Thomas, Esq., and the day of its dedication was named Aug. 5, 1858, when the ven- erable Rev. Dr. Bethune preached on the occasion. The first elders and deacons consisted of Albert Edgar, David G. Thomas, Smith Bloomfield, David Bloomfield, William F. Manning, Martin Compton, Henry Weston, and Charles E. Bloomfield. The first pastor, Rev. J. Bodine Thompson, was installed Feb. 15, 1859, and Nov. 6, 1866, he resigned to accept a call to the Reformed Church of Tarrytown, N. Y. Mr. Thompson was a graduate of Rutgers College and of the theological seminary of New Brunswick, and a son of Judge J. Thompson, of Readington, Somerset Co., N. J. His removal was much regretted by his congregation.

The second call to the pastorate in this church was made to Rev. Nicholas J. M. Bogart, who was installed Aug. 14, 1867; but his health caused him to resign Feb. 1, 1870. He also was a graduate of Rutgers College. In the fall of this year the church extended a call to the Rev. E. Lord from Adams, Jefferson Co., N. Y., who was duly installed and remained in charge, but was forced to sever his connection here on account of his continued ill health. He resigned in June, 1880, after seeing many added to this church in his ten years' pastorate. As one said, "A good man and beloved by the people."

The Rev. James Cruckshanks, from the pastorate of a church in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has now become the stated pastor. Value of church property, $10,000; sittings, 500; membership, 160; Sunday-school offi- cers and teachers, 15; scholars, 100.

Presbyterian Church of Metuchen .- Some time during Rev. Mr. Whitaker's administration as pastor of the Woodbridge Presbyterian Church, about 1763, a portion of the inhabitants residing in the southern part of the township (Metuchen) formed a separate congregation, subsequently known as the Second Pres- byterian Church of Woodbridge, and eventually as the Presbyterian Church at Metuchen.1 In 1790 a separation was effected from the Woodbridge Church after nearly thirty years of united action. Rev. Azel Roe officiated during this time alternately in the two congregations very acceptably, and continued among them during the Revolution.

The church in Metuchen at this time must have been rather a rude structure. By the kindness of Mr. Hampton we were showu the place where it stood upon the upper end of Main Street, in the old burial-ground, next to Mr. Vanderhoven's lot or resi- dence.

The first official record is dated June 2, 1784.

1 East Jersey Hist., Woodbridge, p. 389.

There were no trustees for the church appointed, but collectors were named for the purpose of looking after the finances of the church and to pay the amounts to their pastor, Rev. Mr. Roe. There were sixty-four seats up- and down-stairs, with one aisle, as was common in those days in most of the churches. A high pulpit with sounding-board .? We well re- member these early churches without chimneys built, as no stoves were used, only the little tin foot-stove that had a cup to hold a coal of fire, which was gen- erally supplied by the near neighbor. The size of this church was twenty-five by thirty-six feet.

This church was incorporated in the year 1787 as the Second Church of Woodbridge. The following trustees were elected, they being the first : Benjamin Manning, John Conger, John Ross, Ebenezer Ford, Ellis Ayers, Timothy Bloomfield, Robert Ross.

In 1792, after an extensive revival of religion, when large additions were made to the church, it was de- cided to enlarge this meeting-house by adding some fifteen feet, building of chimneys, and having its roof changed (perhaps new shingled), some £300 was ex- pended. Mr. Jonathan Freeman was empowered to do the work.

Mr. James Manning was chosen a ruling elder April 15, 1793. Rev. Mr. Roe's services were retained for one-third of the time authorized by the Presbytery of New York, which met at Orange, May 9, 1793. " But another account says that the church dissolved their connection with Woodbridge, and Rev. Mr. Roe was not supplying the congregation." He must have been very old; he remained with the First Church, Woodbridge, until his death, in 1818.

In the year 1794 a call was made to Rev. Henry Cook, of Morris County, at a yearly salary of £120, and he accepted the charge of the Metuchen Church, May 1, 1794.

The parsonage was purchased in 1795 for £200, and was where Mr. Ellis F. Ayers lived. In the year 1805 the salary of the pastor, Rev. Mr. Cook, was raised to $400, and in 1807 the parsonage grounds was enlarged by an addition of a small lot, and also more land was added to the burial-ground.

In the year 1813, Lewis Thornal and Richard Ross were made the elders. In 1814, Robert Ross, Jr., and David Kelley were appointed as choristers, and per- haps Mr. William Lover was also appointed, as he was a singing-master and taught singing-schools iu the neighborhood.

In 1824 the pastor, Rev. Mr. Cook, died at the age of fifty-five, and after a pastorate of thirty years. It was a great loss to this church. He was buried in the old burying-ground, and a stone with a suitable in- scription placed over the grave. An extensive revival visited this church in 1818, when over one hundred were added to its communion. The Rev. Holloway Whitfield Hunt received a unanimous call at a salary

2 Dr. E. M. Hunt, Hlist. of Metnchen.

847

RARITAN TOWNSHIP.

of four hundred dollars with parsonage, and which he accepted and was installed April 29, 1828. He mar- ried a Miss Henrietta Mundy, of this place. He was born at Kingwood, Hunterdon Co., N. J., March 31, 1800. He was the son of Rev. Gardiner A. and Ruth Page Hunt, afterwards of Harmony, N. J. During his pastorate extensive ingatherings to the church occurred, and in 1834 a new church was in contem- plation forty by sixty. Messrs. Stelle Manning, Wil- liam M. Ross, and many others were its prime movers. It was finished and dedicated Jan. 30, 1836. Mr. Hunt, after a useful term of years, retired from the church, and for several months there was a va- cancy, when Rev. Peter H. Burghardt was called. He accepted and was installed Nov. 30, 1847, and his pastorate continued until June 5, 1850.

Iu the fall the Rev. Robert J. Finley accepted a call to this church, and was installed on the 14th of November, 1850. He was the son of Rev. Dr. Finley. He had studied law, and soon after entered upon its practice in the city of Cincinnati. But after a while he relinquished it for the ministry, and after laboring for some years in the South and having acted as the agent of the American Colonization Society, in 1850 he settled over this church, where he preached ac- ceptably until October, 1857. During that time the church was enlarged to its present size. It may be said justly that Mr. Finley was a useful and honest Christian clergyman, and this church parted with him with regret; many were added to the church during his pastorate. He died at Talladega, Ala., July 2, 1860, where he had the charge of the Presbyterian Institute.

The Rev. Gardner S. Plumley, of New York City, received a call in January, 1858, which he accepted, and on April 28, 1858, he was installed as pastor. He was born at Washington, D. C., and attended Yale College, where he graduated in 1850, also at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and in the year 1855 was pastor of the Bloomingdale Church in New York. "Within the last few years the property of the church has been improved. A spire was erected in 1863, and a bell was purchased in 1865."1

In 1876, Rev. Mr. Plumley resigned the pastorate, after a number of years of great usefulness in this church.

Rev. James Gilbert Mason accepted a unanimous call as pastor to this church, which had been supplied for several months after Dr. Plumley's resignation. He was installed April 24, 1877. He was born at the town of Jonesborough, East Tennessee, attended Wil- liams College, was pastor of the North Church at Washington City, D. C.

In connection with this church there is a flourish- ing Sabbath-school, and also four mission schools, under the care of the officers of the church. The number of sittings is seven hundred and fifty, commu-

nicants two hundred and seventy-five. The following are the present elders : Cornelius Voorhees, William C. Martin, John J. Clarkson, Augustus Blackford, Francis Grimstead, Robert Bruce Crowell, Benajah M. Kelly, James A. Grimstead.

Burial-Places. - Piscataway and Stelton burial- grounds are among the oldest places of interment in the township. Here for nearly two hundred years has lain the dust of the pioneers. Among the older monuments is that of George Drake's wife, Eliza- beth, who was buried in 1768 at the age of fifty-six, and has the following flattering testimonial upon her tombstone :

" Frugal like Martha aa a wife, And lived Mary's godly life."

There is Edward Griffith's grave. He died March 23, 1813, aged seventy-five years. Upon the stone we read these words : " He worthily fulfilled the office of Deacon in this church [Baptist] near 50 years." Ephraim Martin's death occurred in his seventy- third year, on the 28th day of February, 1806. William Drake's wife, Hannah, sleeps near at hand, buried in March, 1797, in the forty-first year of her age. Fitz Randolph Drake died Oct. 6. 1791, aged seventy-five, and his body is slumbering here. Rev. Edmund Dunham, Capt. Andrew Drake, Elizabeth Sutton, and many of the other old-time people are buried here.

There are a few private farm burial-lots, but most of the stones have been removed and many of the graves have been leveled even with the soil.

METUCHEN OLD AND NEW GRAVEYARDS .- The old venerable graveyard on the line of the railroad at Metuchen contains many moss-covered headstones of the pioneers and their descendants for many genera- tions :

Henry Allen died April 10, 1783, in ye age of 43.

Reuben Ayres died March 22, 1793, in hie 63d year.

Timothy Bloomfield died January 18, 1813, in his 74th year.

Capt. Smith Bloomfield washed ashore from schooner " Lafayette" while on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean, September 26, 1826, in his 27th year.

David Compton died May 7, 1789, aged 67 years.

Doctor John Cool died August 14, 1823, aged 49 years.

John Campbell died October 15, 1731, aged 73 years. This monument ja of rough hlue slate, with quaint inscriptions that are hard now to decipher.

Neil Campbell died October 16, 1777, in his 43d year.

Richard Carmon died December 22, 1768, in his 71st year, and his BOD (Richard, Jr.) died May 4, 1769, in his 36th year.

Lewis Evens died Oct. 25, 1776, in his 32d year.

James Eddy died August 19, 1792, in his 82d year.

Ebenezer Ford died July 15, 1797, in his 58th year.

James Flatt died Ang. 8, 1800.

Ellis Freeman died Feb. 11, 1773.

John Freeman died 1764.

Joseph Freeman died March 12, 1797.

Doctor Matthias Freeman died Sept. 23, 1831, in hia 57th year.

Dr. Melancthon Freeman died Nov. 11, 1806, in his 60th year.

David and Phebe Goodfellow died September, 1789.

Daniel Hampton died April 15, 1795, aged 50 years.

Peter Knapps died March 17, 1760, aged 50 years.

Samuel Kelly died November 22, 1780, in his 63d year.

Rachel Laforge died July 26, 1801, aged 19 years.

Capt. Leonard died May 9, 1803, in his 50th year. He served during the Revolutionary war, doing valiant service.

1 Dr. E. M. Hunt's History.

848

HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Nathaniel Levuard, formerly of Huntingdon County, died Sept. 11, 1797, aged 72 years.

Mr. Eliakim Martin died May 18, 1782, in his 69th year.

James Martin died May 10, 1776, in his 67th year.

John Morris died January 2, 1788, in hie 45th year.

Daniel McGregor died October 27, 1806, aged 59 years. " He donated the sum of $395 to the church."

Capt. William Manning died Sept. 26, 1814, in hia 75th year. " He was eminently nseful in life, and at his death left a donation of $700 for the support of the Gospele in this church."

Dr. Robinson Monday died May 26, 1833, aged 22 years.

Jonathan Rowland, born June 10. 1768, died May 20, 1827.

Matilda Stivera died April 15, 1307, in his 38th year.

Thomas Streamback died Feb. 11, 1812, in his 23d year.

Also are buried here at an early date the Thomals, Terrys, Thatcher, Tappin, Thicksion, Thorp, Tal- mage, Warren, Vanderbergh, Voorhees, Van Sickin, Vanderhoover, Taylor, Vermule, Watson, Wales, Wooding, and Wilson.

In the new cemetery between the church and par- sonage lie interred many names represented in the old colonial ground, such as the families of Edgar, Wilson, Taylor, Vanderhooven, Manning, Fitz Ran- dolph, Thomal, Tappen, Thorp, Tabon, Thomas, Terry, Schuerman, Throckmartin, Sofield, Savidge, Sherwood, Stivers, Soaper, Noe, Potter, Nicholas, Mundy, Frazee, Ayres, Acken, Allward, Bloomfield, Bloodgood, McKnight, Clark, Crowell, Compton, Campbell, Crow, Clarkson, Conger, Cook, Kelly, Daniels, Evens, Eddy, Fourat, Freeman, Foster, Griffing, Hampton, Hall, Hull, Humpries, Hunt, Martin, Morris, and many others.

Villages and Hamlets. - BONHAMTON, named after Nicholas Bonham, one of the first settlers of this part of Middlesex County, having become a freeholder in 1682-83, and so recorded as owner of lands by allotment. This is one of the most ancient settlements in the county.

The following is an extract from the letter of an officer while at camp, and dated Bonhamton, April 15, 1877 :

" A detachment under the command of Capt. Alexander Paterson, of the Pennsylvania Twelfth Regiment, commanded by Col. Cook, attacked the Piquet Guard of the Enemy at 2 o'clock this morning, about four hundred yards from Bonhamtoo, and after a short but obstinate engage- ment the whole of the guard, twenty-five in number, were either killed or taken prisonera, Lieut. Frazier of the Seventy-firat Regiment was killed on the spot. The enemy, though advantageonsly posted, did not attempt to support their guard, but retired with precipitation to their works. Our officers and soldiers behaved with the greatest coolness and courage on this occasion. Their conduct would do honor to the beat dis- ciplined troops. We had Lieuts. McAlharton and Reily, of Col. Cook's Regiment, wounded not mortally."

We also give a second extract from the same letter:

"Post neur Bonhamton, May 11, 1777, eaya, 'I have the pleasure to inform you that yesterday part of Gen. Stevens' division attacked the Royal Highlandera and six companies of light infantry. It was a bold enterprise, they being posted within two miles of Bonhamton and about the same distance from Brunswick. The action continned about one hour and half. The Continental troope behaved well and drove in the piquets at Bonhamton, attacked and drove the Highland- ers out of a wood they had taken possession of near to Piscataway Town. The enemy were reinforced but were again compelled to give away. They were reinforced a second time, when upon dne consideration of our situation with respect to the enemy's different posts (at Brunswick, Raritan Landing, and Bonhamton) it waa judged advisabla to retire.

The retreat was made in excellent order, and our losa ia inconsiderable. I congratulate you on this advantage obtained over the enemy's best troops. The Highlanders, obstinately brave, were too proud to eurren- der, which cost many of them dear.'"

Bonhamtown is five miles northeast of New Bruns- wick, on the turnpike road leading to Woodbridge, from which it is distant six miles. It contains a few dwellings, store, tavern, and district school-honse No. 18, and a Union Chapel. It is mostly a farming com- munity. There are also a number who are engaged in manufacture of bricks and fire-clay. A small branch railroad, called the Clay Company's, runs from this town to the Raritan River, where vessels are Ioaded.

FORD'S CORNER and SAND HILLS, small settle- ments, are just on the line of Woodbridge township. The Amboy Railroad branches pass through. The hamlet contains a store and school-house. Highland Park, as it is called, is situated on the Raritan River, in the southerly part of the township and opposite the city of New Brunswick. It is a desirable loca- tion for suburban residences, and already contains many handsome mansions, with fine grounds, drives, and other accessories.

The village (or town) of PISCATAWAY is one of the earliest of settlements, dating back to 1668. In modern times it has been nearly described as "three miles northeast from New Brunswick, and one mile from the Raritan River, on the turnpike road from New Brunswick to Woodbridge, containing an Epis- copal Church, a Baptist Church, a store, and some ten or twelve dwellings in a tolerably fertile country. This was an old Indian village, and is remarkable for having been the seat of justice for Middlesex and Somerset Counties as early as 1683. At that period the courts were holden sometimes at this place and sometimes at Woodbridge."

METUCHEN .- The following account of this village we find, with many other historical records of the olden times, in Rev. Joseph W. Dally's very interest- ing story of a New Jersey township: Metuchen begins to figure in the records in 1701. John Comp- ton was chosen surveyor of the highways in "Ma- tuching for that year." Metuchen, an Indian chief, tradition declares to have inhabited that section be- tween 1630 and 1700. It is asserted that the warrior is buried on a farm ncar the village. Metuchen is therefore of Indian etymology, the meaning of which is " high hill ;" and local authority says that it was a descriptive name given by tlie tribe of Raritans be- cause of the undulating character of the country. Hence the chief who held sway there was called Me- tuchen, chief of the rolling land.1

In the freeholders' meeting, held Jan. 9, 1724, Jus- tice Hude presiding, it was voted that certain pieces of lands should lie perpetually common, among which were these : " A plot at Metuchen adjoining the south- west corner of Israel Thomell's land; one lying

1 Dr. E. M. Hunt'a pamphlet.

849

RARITAN TOWNSHIP.

before Moses Rolph's door (John Allen's house-lot forming the rear boundary); and one, as the clerk describes it, 'on the end of Strawberry Hill, next the town, between the road that leads to Amboy and the dwelling-house of Ephraim Andrews, deceased.'" These commons were to be devoted to " publique uses" only, such as " the building of school-houses, market-places, etc."

Soon after the British camp was formed at Bon- hamton, a Mr. Compton, grandfather of Henry Comp- ton, was visited by the British, who had learned that two of his sons were serving in the Continental army, and telling him to pack up his bed and furni- ture, gave him the old gray horse and a wagon and sent him away. They then burned his house and out- buildings and stole his six horses, thirty head of cattle, and fifty sheep. Mr. Compton's dwelling stood by the brook between Metuchen and Bonhamton. The camp at the latter place was composed of five British regiments. The officers occupied the house now the dwelling of Benjamin Tappin, owned at the time by the grandfather of Jerome Ross.

The town of Metuchen is situated nearly in the centre of Raritan township. The Pennsylvania Rail- road has there stations, and runs continuous trains to and from New York and the Eastern and Western cities, making this a desirable point for residents doing business in the adjacent cities of New Bruns- wick, Newark, and New York, and there are some of the finest villas that have been built within a few years scattered along these beautiful avenues. There are five churches, post-office, hotel, a number of stores, including bakery, confectionery, butcher- and car- penter-shops. School District No. 15 have built a neat academy, situated on Middlesex Avenue near the terminus of Union Avenue. Prospect Hill, a very peculiar elevation, in nearly a circular form, and strongly resembling many of the Indian mounds of the West, the summit of which commands a fine view of the adjacent country.

The Eastern and Amboy Railroad (a branch of the Lehigh Valley route) has regular connection with this road at the Water Tanks, where passengers change cars for the Amboy and Lehigh Valley Rail- road, then passing on to the depot at Metuchen, where passengers can change for New Brunswick and Phila- delphia, or continue in same train to Elizabeth, Newark, and New York. This town has so many desirable points for the convenience of the residents that in a few years the prospects are that it will double its population.

Post-Offices .- It is said that a post-office was first established in 1832 in Metuchen by one Lewis Thomas, for nearly nine years, when Mr. George B. Stelle was then the postmaster. For many years since the office had been established in Upper Me- tuchen, and after its removal to near the centre or lower part of the town near the depot the following gentlemen have held the position as postmaster :

July 23, 1841, R. R. Freeman, and after holding it for nearly four years, in 1845 Mr. Ezekiel Merritt was placed in charge. The following have held the posi- tion : Freeman Edgar, Ezekiel Merritt, Thomas Van Siclen, 1853; J. J. Clarkson. I. E. Van Geisen, and the present postmaster, Albert Acken. The Stelton post-office has been established but a few years. Jo. seph France, 1870-71; Augustus Steele, postmaster, I873-82.

NEW DURHAM, situated just on the border of this township and Piscataway, is a hamlet composed of a number of families and a school-house.

There are a number of smaller settlements or clus- ters of houses, school-houses in other parts of the township.

MENLO PARK, situated on the Pennsylvania Rail- road, is a beautiful location on high ground. It has its post-office, " Edison Electric Light Manufactory," and a copper-mine.

NEW DOVER, a small settlement a short distance from Metuchen, has one store, a church, school-house, and post-office.

STELTON is a growing village on the line of Penn- sylvania Railroad, about four miles from New Bruns- wick. It has a church, school-house, store, and post- office. Its appearance is neat ; the dwellings in good taste; streets laid out with shade-trees ; the town is surrounded by a farming community. There is a large number by the name of Stelle, who were first settlers here in 1668, and from which the village re- ceived its name.

Manufacturing Interests .- Some of the finest fire- clays, similar to that in Woodbridge township, which is of great value and manufactured at different points in Raritan township.

The Raritan Ridge Clay Company,-Mrs. Augustine Campbell who is treasurer,-miners and shippers of clay, sand, and kaolin. Their banks and docks are on the north shore of the Raritan River.

A. M. Mervin, manufacturer of building-brick on the Raritan River near Ford's Corner.

At Bonhamton and other points clay has been mined. At Menlo Park a copper-mine has lately been worked. Here are the electric light factories of Thomas A. Edison.

There is water-power sufficient in this township for all needed purposes of use in manufacturing and steam-power. The Pennsylvania Road gives all facili- ties required. Their track passes through this town- ship east and west, while the Lehigh Valley, passing through from Easton and the coal-fields to Metuchen, gives all needed fuel to the factories and private dwellings. It is said that over two hundred and fifty thousand tons pass through this town to Perth Amboy every year.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 204

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