USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 15
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The Mansion House was built by Andrew Smith in 1828, and conducted by a Mr. Ridgway.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1842 on land donated by Andrew Smith, and the parsonage in 1849. The church is connected with the Columbia charge, and is now served by Rev. Mr. Fowler.
The land on both sides of the Paulins Kill, beginning about two miles from the Delaware and extending to Walnut Valley, formed a tract of 1, 100 acres surveyed to John Hyndshaw in 1729. The Beck, Brugler, Smith, Bartow, Cowell, Angle, Brands and other families settled on this tract, which Hyndshaw owned in part till 1762.
What is claimed to be the most beautiful reinforced concrete bridge in America crosses the Paulins Kill at this point, at a height of one
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hundred and thirty-five feet. It was completed in 1911 by the D., L. & W. railroad for the use of its new main line.
Zion Chapel is the name of the church, and Chapel Hill the name of the school, built near what was once Wolftown, several houses of which were on the farm now owned by Mrs. G. W. Cummins. Religious services were held at the house of Zenos Everitt until the building of the school house in 1836, which was used until a small church was built in 1851, which was replaced by the present one in 1875.
Abram Brands built a fine residence near Zion Chapel, where his son-in-law, John Albertson, now resides. The Brands family of War- ren County is descended from Jacob Brands, who came from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, about 1775, and settled on a farm two miles from the Delaware River, owned by his brother-in-law, Aaron Feistler. Jacob Brands had one daughter and three sons, namely: David, the father of Jacob D., David, James, John B., Mrs. William Blair, Mrs. D. Silverthorn and Mrs. D. Brown; Jacob, the father of Daniel B., David I., and of three daughters; and James, the father of William, John, David, Jacob, and of Mrs. James Lisk.
Centerville, or Knowlton, is mainly noted for possessing the old Knowlton Presbyterian Church, which was built in 1802. The Knowl- ton Presbyterian Church was originally organized as the "First English and German Congregation in Knowlton," the first records of which are of the year 1766. The church came under the care of the New Bruns- wick Presbytery in 1775. The following is part of a report made in 1803 to the Presbytery :
"The Presbyterians, who were the most numerous, and a consider- able number of High Dutch Calvinists, together with a small body of Episcopalians, all worshipped in a stone church which had been erected many years since, near the banks of the Delaware River, into which the clergy and people of all denominations were reciprocally admitted. But this house being situated on one side of the township, rendered it inconvenient for the great body of the people to attend public worship, and that therefore the three congregations before mentioned had sub- scribed liberally towards erecting a large and convenient building for
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public worship in a pleasant spot and nearly in the center of the town- ship."
This, the first building on the present site of Knowlton Church, was erected in 1802. It is just on the border line between Blairstown and Knowlton. A log meeting house occupied a site across the road from the present church in the early days.
Warrington, or Kill Mills, or Knowlton Mills, was once a thriving little place one mile from the Delaware River, on the Paulins Kill. Here were a mill run by John Titman, and later by H. H. Stires; a blacksmith shop, a public house, known as Foster's Hotel, or as Leida's Hotel, and a slate mill. None of these are now there. The Titman mill was moved by Mr. Stires to Cedar Grove, where it took the place of Mackey's mill, that had been destroyed by fire. The water power at Warrington was bought by the Eastern Pennsylvania Power Com- pany, with the intention of utilizing it for producing electricity. The new line of the D., L. & W. railroad passes through the place.
Polkville is two and a half miles from Columbia, and was named for President Polk. It has a store long known as Flummerfelt's. Drs. Wilson and Bond once practiced here.
Some years ago an important industry near the Water Gap was carried on by the Delaware Water Gap Slate Company, of which the moving spirit was Captain Benjamin F. Howey, late Sheriff and mem- ber of Congress, who came to Warren County in 1855. The first man to carry on successfully a slate business in Warren County was Owen Evans, who came from Wales in 1825. A Mr. Schofield started the industry in 1820.
The most conspicuous work of man in this region is the new route for the D., L. & W. railroad from Slateford, Pennsylvania, to Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. It is twenty-eight miles long, and will shorten the time to New York, by a half hour or more. In Knowlton are the bridge over the Delaware River and the viaduct over Paulins Kill Val- ley, at Hainesburg, both of reinforced concrete.
CHAPTER XXV.
LOPATCONG.
The territory that is now known as Lopatcong and Phillipsburg was organized as Phillipsburg Township in 1851. It retained this name until 1862, when Phillipsburg was incorporated as a town, and the remainder of the township was called Lopatcong, which included, until 1903, that portion of Phillipsburg known as Ingersoll Heights, which was then taken from the township and added to the town.
Low's Hollow is the name of a locality in the eastern end of the township, where was built in 1903 a reservoir as a water supply for Phillipsburg, but especially for the Ingersoll-Rand Drill Company, which was at that time building its splendid plant, which furnishes com- pressed air drills wherever man seeks nature's treasures in the ground.
Delaware Park is a suburb of Phillipsburg, on the macadamized road leading to Belvidere. It is only a half mile from the trolley at Phillipsburg, and recently organized a fire company with a modern. chemical fire extinguisher.
The largest peach orchards in Warren County are those of Joseph Crater's sons, near Uniontown. They contain forty thousand trees.
The only industry besides the pursuit of agriculture in this town- ship is the quarrying of a fine quality of soapstone by Mr. Allen, who employs a dozen men.
Among the early settlers in this township were Matthias Shipman, Matthias Brakeley, George Boyer, John Roseberry and Abram DeWitt. De Witt's brothers, Peter and Isaac, settled in Harmony, not far away. All of these families have been closely connected with the history of Warren County to this day.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MANSFIELD.
Mansfield Township derives its name from the Presbyterian log church built in the old burying ground at the fork in the roads, below the new Washington Cemetery. The church was called the Mansfield Wood House, and this was the name given to the township when it was formed from Greenwich in 1754. The name became Mansfield when Warren County was separated from Sussex in 1824. Washing- ton was formed from the western part of the township in 1849, leaving Mansfield with its present boundaries.
A splendid macadamized road runs from east to west through the township, from Hackettstown past Newburg, Beattystown, Penwell, Stephensburg and Anderson to Washington. It was completed in 1911.
The Morris and Essex division of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad runs east and west through the township and closely paralleling it are the Morris Canal and a trolley line.
The Musconetcong Creek supplies excellent water powers at Beattystown, Stephensburg and Penwell.
The school houses in Mansfield are at Karrsville, Port Murray, Anderson, Egberts, Rockport and Beattystown.
Beattystown was long known as Beatty's Mills, from the owner of the first mill built here, and run by the excellent water power furnished by the Musconetcong. The mill was later owned for many years by J. B. Fisher, later by Judge White, and is now owned by L. T. Labar.
Stewart Martin was tavern keeper here at the time of the Revolu- tion, and fed some' of the captured soldiers of General Burgoyne's army, who were on their way from Saratoga to the South.
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The turnpike running through Beattystown was built in 1812, and on it three hundred men, drafted for the war of 1812, were led by Captain Jacob Henry after being fed at the public house then kept by Benjamin Leek. The road is now finely macadamized.
Ziba Osmun, Sr., built in Beattystown the first distillery in Mans- field, which distilled only pure apple jack. A grain distillery was operated before 1825 by Elisha and Edward Bird.
James Fisher was the first postmaster of the office established in 1835, which is now in charge of Jacob Skinner.
Mr. Williamson gave the land for the first school house, in which religious services were held on alternate Sabbaths by Presbyterian and Methodist preachers. The Beattystown Presbyterian Church was built in 1893, and a fine manse added in 1910. Rev. Dr. Richardson Gray is the pastor of this and of the church at Rockport. Dr. Gray served ten years as a medical missionary in India, and in this county was pastor at Broadway and at Port Murray before being called to his present charge.
The ancestors of the Marlatt family in Warren County were two brothers, John and William. The latter had a blacksmith shop at Beattystown, and had nine sons and five daughters. Their descend- ants are scattered widely over the county.
The Shield's hematite mines near Beattystown have produced some very valuable ore, but are not worked at present. They were opened in 1870 by Thomas Shields, John C. Miller and John Fisher. They are now owned by L. T. Labar and Mrs. Rittner. The Shields homestead is owned and occupied by L. T. Labar, who married a daughter of Thomas Shields. Mr. Labar is the most extensive prop- erty holder in the vicinity, owning the grist mill with its fine water power; a limestone quarry, at which Reed & Son burn a fine quality of lime, and a wood working plant employing a dozen hands. Mr. Labar supplies the town with excellent soft water from a spring on the hillside.
L. T. Labar is a member of the family of that name, three
.
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brothers of which, Peter, Charles and Abraham, came from France to Philadelphia before 1730, and shortly afterward made their way to within two miles of the Water Gap, where they settled and were the first to clear land between the Lehigh River and the Water Gap. Peter's son, George, died in 1874, aged over one hundred and eleven years.
Karrsville is situated near the center of Mansfield, on the Pohat- 'cong. It is named from the Karrs, who were early settlers here.
Industries that have flourished here were McCrea's tannery, . Ketchum's saw mill, William Johnson's saw mill and factory, E. G. Barber's distillery and Mitchell's distillery. A half mile down the Pohatcong from Karrsville was a grist mill known for many years as Larison's Mill. It was previously owned by G. H. Taylor. It was destroyed by fire a few years ago and was not rebuilt.
Timberswamp is a name applied to the Pohatcong Valley between Mt. Bethel and Karrsville. It is noted for being the stoniest place in the county. The valley is paved with large bowlders, deposited here by the great glacier, the icy streams from which washed away the finer sand and gravel.
Jacksonvalley is the name of the Pohatcong Valley between Karrs- ville and Washington. Early settlers in it were the Wyckoffs, Gard- ners, Wellers, Winters and Vanattas. Vannest's Gap, in the extreme northwest corner of Mansfield, allowed passage to the D., L. & W. rail- road for some years while the Oxford tunnel was building. The Oxford tunnel is a single opening 3,500 feet long for a double track, but through it only one train is allowed to pass at a time. The engineer in charge of its construction was James Archibald. General Robert McAllister was one of the contractors, and it was finished in 1862.
Port Murray is situated on the Morris Canal and D., L. & W. railroad, and until 1911 was the terminus of the trolley line from Phillipsburg. It has the only railroad station in the township. The town dates from the completion of the canal in 1834. Aaron Bryant
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An Inclined Plane on the Morris Canal.
built the first house, Moore Furman the first store, and William Morton the first hotel. The principal industry is the terra cotta tile works operated by the National Fire Proofing Company, on a deposit of clay that is unexcelled for quality and inexhaustible in extent. Mr. J. Ford Henry is the manager. It is now manufacturing mainly bricks.
The Mansfield Baptist Church was organized in 1842. The present pastor is the Rev. Robert Chew.
The Methodist Episcopal Church has as its present pastor the Rev. W. L. Hadsell, who also serves the Mt. Bethel church.
Dr. H. M. Cox was for many years the only physician in the township. He later practiced in Washington. Dr. J. H. Smith was here for a time and, now Dr. Funk, at Port Murray, is the only prac- ticing physician in Mansfield.
One of the first settlers in the vicinity of Port Murray was Samuel Ramsay, who came here before 1800 from Hunterdon County. His children were Thomas, John, Samuel, Betsey, Mary and Robert. His
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son, Samuel, and grandson, William, followed him in possession of the old homestead.
Anderson, formerly called Andersontown, is so called from its first settler, Joseph Anderson, who came here in 1787. In 1790 he built the hotel which he, James Anderson and son, Joseph, conducted for many years. They were succeeded by Jonathan Pidcock, and he by Mr. Hann. Joseph Anderson built here a distillery that was operated from 1810 to 1852.
Peter Weller, son of Peter and grandson of George Weller, all of Washington Township, came to Anderson in 1812 and purchased the land ever since known as the Weller farm. His son, Abraham W. G. Weller, was born in 1814, and lived there until his death. The Morris Canal, the D., L. & W. railroad and the trolley line pass through the farm.
The Methodist Episcopal Church at Anderson was built in 1859. At present it is connected with Mt. Lebanon, and J. L. Brooks is the supply.
William Little built a grist mill here in 1798. Dr. Beavers began practice in Anderson in 1790, and Dr. John Ball practiced here for a. year before his death in 1838.
Rockport is on the Morris Canal, and, while the D., L. & W. rail- road passes through the town, it never had a station here. The trolley line from Phillipsburg to Hackettstown is expected to reach here shortly. The Davis, White, Husselton, Osmun and Stewart families have long been identified with this locality, which is mainly agricultural. At present there are ten houses in the village. Twenty years ago many fine peach orchards could be seen in this vicinity, but they have all dis- appeared.
The Rockport, or Second Mansfield Presbyterian Church, was built in 1845, on land given by David C. Davis. Rev. Mr. Hunt, of Schooley's Mountain, was the first pastor. Rev. Richardson Gray is the present pastor of this church and also of the Beattystown Presby- terian Church.
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Mount Bethel is so named from the Methodist Episcopal Church of that name. The first settler that we know of at this place was Dr. Robert Cummins, a surgeon in the Continental army in 1776, who set- tled here right after the war. He and Dr. Kennedy, of Johnsonsburg, were the only two physicians in the county at that time, and they fre- quently traveled twenty or thirty miles making professional calls. They traveled, as did every one else, on horseback, with their crude drugs in saddlebags. Dr. Cummins was a member of the Scotch-Irish family of that name in Montour County, Pennsylvania. He owned large tracts of land in this neighborhood. He died leaving no children, and is buried in the Mt. Bethel churchyard.
Residents in Mt. Bethel before 1800 were Andrew Bray, Martin Ryerson and Richard Gardner, who had the land at this place surveyed to him on a warrant from the proprietors of West Jersey.
Dr. Cummins induced James Egbert to come to Mount Bethel in 1790 from Staten Island. He was a tanner by trade, and built a tan- nery here and bought a great deal of land. He built the handsome stone church and owned it personally, but finally gave it to the Metho- dist Episcopal Conference. Hence it was known for many years as Egbert's Church, and the name Egberts has about supplanted the earlier name of Mount Bethel for the place. James Egbert died in Morris- town in 1846.
A Baptist church was built here at some time before 1810, when it was bought by Mr. Egbert and used for Methodist Episcopal ser- vices until the stone church was built. Bishop Asbury says in his journal on May 11, 1811 : "Friday to James Egbert's. Bethel Chapel has been bought and refitted for the Methodists. I preached in it."
Penwell, or Pennville, is largely south of the Musconetcong, and hence out of Warren County.
Andrew Miller was the first of the Miller family to settle in War- ren County. He came from Newton, New Jersey, and settled on 1,000 acres of land near Penwell, where he kept an inn before the Revolution.
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It is said that General Washington and his army encamped on this farm for a night. The children of Andrew Miller were Daniel, Polly, Susan, Philip and Henry. One of Henry's children was Jacob H. Miller, father of Sarah Ann, Henry, Mary, Jacob, William H., Emeline, Stewart B. and Maude Alice. Another son of Henry Miller was John C. Miller, father of Edwin Miller.
One of the first directors of the County House was Daniel Axford, who had a fine farm in the vicinity of the Poor Farm. The Axford family is one of the very oldest in Warren County, and the first of the family, John Axford, located 1,600 acres of land in the valley between the County House and Oxford. Daniel Axford was a great-grandson of the first settler, and always took an active interest in the affairs of the county. He was twice elected to the Legislature, and as Sheriff from 1836 to 1839 he inflicted the last penalty of a public whipping in the county. He was one of the founders of the Belvidere Bank, and of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. His children were Mrs. William Drake, Margaret, wife of Rev. R. Van Horne, and Mrs. Isaac S. Dill.
The County House, or Poor Farm, of Warren County was pur- chased in 1830 of Nathan Sutton for $8,950. It contains 396 acres of the finest land in the county. Large buildings, steam heated, give every comfort to the inmates. It is supplied with water piped from a reservoir fed by springs in the neighboring mountains. The stewards of the County House have been William McDonald, Samuel Lowder, T. H. Tunison, L. H. Martenis, J. R. Teal, Samuel Frome, H. R. Tunison, Mr. Rais- ley and Goodward Leida.
Among the earliest settlers in this part of the township was James Bird, the father of Elisha and Edward Bird. A daughter of Elisha Bird married James Fisher, who came here from Virginia in 1809, and is the father of John B. Fisher, and grandfather of James Fisher, Esq., of Hackettstown.
CHAPTER XXVII.
OXFORD.
Oxford derives its name from one of the two earliest settlers in the township-John Axford, whose name was pronounced Oxford. This township was one of the parts into which Greenwich was divided in 1754, and from its territory have been formed Knowlton, Blairs- town, Hope, Belvidere and a part of Harmony.
The first settlers in Oxford Township were John Axford, who came here in 1726 with George Green, who settled at Green's Pond at the same time. They came with a warrant from the proprietors authorizing them to locate any unsurveyed land. Tradition has it that they climbed a tree on one of the mountains at Oxford, in order to better observe the country, and that from this tree Green saw and chose the level land at the south end of the pond, and Axford chose 1,600 acres of the level land between Oxford and Pequest Furnace, his land running from mountain to mountain. Axford built his log cabin near the stone spring house, not far from Oxford Depot, since known as Charles Scranton's Spring, and George Green built his near the pond that has since borne his name, now in Hope Township, but for many years in Oxford. These were the first permanent settlers that we know of in Warren County.
Early surveys of land in Oxford were the Colonel John Alford tract of 1,250 acres, comprising all of the level farm land from Belvi- dere to the foot of Foul Rift, and reaching back to Scott's Mountain, and the William Penn tract of 1,250 acres at Belvidere and vicinity, both of which were made in October, 1716. There was also surveyed to Will- iam Penn at about the same time 1,735 acres between the river and mountain, and extending from Foul Rift to Hutchison's. A tract
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including Manunkachunk Mountain and the plain at its foot was sur- veyed to John Reading in 1715. On Scott's Mountain Charles Coxe located a tract adjoining the Colonel Alford tract, and extending to the tract of John Blair, which included the present Pierson, Becker and other farms.
One of the most conspicuous objects in the topography of Oxford is Mount No More, which rises to a height of 1, 145 feet, standing out boldly from the Delaware Valley 800 feet below. It is now owned by Mr. Noe Trahan. The highest point of Scott's Mountain is in Harmony, just beyond the line of Oxford, where the summit rises to a height of 1,259 feet. Jenny Jump Mountain has an elevation of 1,079 feet, or 680 feet above Green's Pond, in the valley below.
Oxford, or Oxford Furnace, was for many years the most im- portant town in Warren County, for here was the only iron furnace for producing the pig iron which the many forges of the early days needed in order to make bar iron. After 1809, when the making of iron was suspended, Oxford lost its prestige and other towns began to excell it.
The first store in Warren County was started here in 1741 by Aaron Depue, long before there were any stores in Easton, Phillips- burg or Bethlehem. Mrs. H. A. Croasdale has the old ledger of this store, beginning with 1743, and from it we learn that people came hither as far as thirty miles to do their trading. Nicolas Dupue sent his Indian boys, Mark Anthony and Paxinosa, from Shawnee with orders for goods to this store at Oxford.
The old stone mansion known as the Shippen House was built by Jonathan Robeson, about 1744, and was transferred to the. Shippens with the furnace property. In 1804 Major Roberdeau, one of the owners of the furnace property, occupied the house, and we read in William Johnson's journal that "In the afternoon Mrs. Roberdeau, accompanied by Major Roberdeau with the German flute, played on the
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piano forte and added her vocal powers thereto." This (February, 1804) is the first mention we find of a piano in Warren County.
Jonathan Robeson came to Oxford from Quakertown, Hunterdon County, and built a charcoal furnace that produced its first iron on March 9, 1743. The old furnace still stands, and was actually in operation in competition with more modern ones until 1882. At first the product was two tons a day, which needed seven hundred bushels of
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Ruin of Old Oxford Furnace. Built by Jonathan Robeson 1741-3. Made Cannon Balls for Washington's Army. (By permission of J. Howell, copyright 1909).
charcoal for its production. By 1800 the furnace was making three tons a day, and the use of so much charcoal laid bare all the hills within hauling distance, so that the furnace was discontinued between 1809 and 1831. At the latter date, owing to the completion of the Morris Canal, fuel was again obtainable, and the furnace was started up under the management of William Henry, Esq., who as early as 1834 used the hot blast and obtained a patent for it. The new process enabled the old furnace to produce four tons a day, and later, when the stack was
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made higher, the output ran up to ten tons a day. The original output of two tons a day was sufficient to supply the forges for miles around with pig iron, and allow of shipping some to Philadelphia. For this purpose it was carted to the Delaware, at the foot of Foul Rift, and carried on Durham boats to Trenton and Philadelphia. Much of the early iron went into chimney backs, which often had a device cast on them, such as a lion and unicorn, with the words "Honi, soit qui mal y pense," or "Dieu et Mon Droit." After the Revolution the device changed. The earliest date found on a casting made at Oxford is 1755. During the Revolution the Tory owners of the New Jersey iron furnaces shut down their works, but the iron was needed more than ever for cannons and balls, so the new government did not hesitate to take charge and operate them by men who were excused from military duty for so doing.
The iron interests at Oxford were owned by the Robesons until about 1780, when Dr. William Shippen, Nicholas Biddle and David Roberdeau (afterward surveyor-general of the United States) became the owners. It was operated by Conrad Davis from 1806 till 1809, when operations were discontinued until 1831. Before 1831 the furnace property had come into possession of Morris Robeson, Esq., son of the founder. His widow leased it from 1831 to 1842 to Henry Jordan & Company, who manufactured stoves until 1839, when Messrs. + George W. and Seldon T. Scranton took charge and made mainly car wheels.
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