USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 19
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ticing physician here from 1844 until his death in 1880. For several years the trolley company conducted a pleasure park here when this was the terminus of their line.
Formerly the Colden House.
A Methodist Episcopal Church, was built here about thirty years ago. The present pastor is G. M. W. Fulcomer. An Episcopal Chapel formerly here was abandoned many years ago.
Changewater is the oldest town in this township, and one of the five towns in the county that had a name in 1769, the others being Hackettstown, Phillipsburg, Oxford and Bloomsbury, and all but one of these owe their early importance to the iron industry. Changewater has an excellent water power on the Musconetcong, which was early used to operate a forge or furnace for turning pig iron into bar iron. This forge was operated by Colonel Mark Thompson, and later by his son, Robert. The Thompson mansion, built of stone and brick, is now the property of Mr. Jacob Snyder.
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A variety of industries have been operated for a time at Change- water, among them a flouring mill, a picture frame factory, a snuff factory, by Bowers Brothers, who were bought out by the Tobacco Trust, and a woolen factory. The old Warren railroad, now a part of the D., L. & W. system, crosses the Musconetcong at this point on its way to Hampton Junction, where it connects with the New Jersey Central.
Changewater is near the site of an Indian village called Pelouesse, which was on the Musconetcong in 1715, when John Reading, Jr., was surveying there. It was on an Indian path that crossed the Musconet- cong, and led to another village in Hunterdon County, called Mon- saloquaks.
Along the road from Port Colden to Changewater is a small en- closure, in which are buried Carter and Parks, who were executed in 1844 for murdering the Castner family at Changewater. Mr. Cast- ner, one of the two children who escaped death by being behind a door at the time of the tragedy, is still living.
Jackson Valley is the name of the Pohatcong Valley between Washington and Karrsville. The Oxford tunnel of the D., L. & W. railroad opens at the south end into this valley.
Early settlers here were the Wyckoffs, Vannattas and Wellers. The Vanattas of Jackson Valley are descended from one of the brothers of Jacobus Vanetta, who settled at Foul Rift in 1740, and bought of the heirs of William Penn about 1,700 acres of land, on which he and his brothers settled.
One of the oldest families in New Jersey is descended form Claes Wyckoff, who came from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1636 and settled at Flatbush, Long Island. In 1656 he superintended the farm of Director Stuyvesant. His son, Cornelius Preterse Wyckoff, owned 1,200 acres of land in Hunterdon County, 300 acres of which he gave to his son, Simon, near White House, New Jersey, whose son, John Wyckoff, moved to Jackson Valley in 1771 with his son, Simon, who
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is the ancestor of all the. Wyckoff family in Warren County. Jacob Wyckoff, born in 1784, inherited the homestead, as did his son, John K., who was the father of George P. Wyckoff and of Jacob Wyckoff. Another son of Simon was Caleb, born 1774, who was the father of Simon, who settled near Belvidere, and whose son, Caleb, grandson, James, and great-grandson, William, have lived there since. George P. Wyckoff, after his marriage to Tamzen Carhart, in 1859, settled on the farm now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Abram Roseberry, at Port Colden. Here, or in the fine stone mansion adjoining, he lived until his death. His children are : Jacob Wyckoff, father of Mrs. Elmer Petty, Miss Edith Wyckoff, and John Wyckoff; Mrs. Abram Roseberry, of Port Colden, and Mrs. Wesley Fleming, of Washington. Jacob Wyckoff, brother of George P. Wyckoff, lived on the old Wyckoff homestead in Jackson Valley. His children are William and Elmer E.
At Roaring Rock is situated the reservoir of the Washington Water Company, which collects an abundance of water from a water- shed of 1,300 acres. In the cascade at Roaring Rock are a number of pot holes produced by the whirling action of water and gravel operat- ing for centuries. The pot holes here, as elsewhere, are incorrectly attributed to Indians, but the Indians never made or used them. The roaring rock is in Brass Castle Creek, said to be so named, as is the place, Brass Castle, from the log cabin of the earliest settler, Jacob Brass.
Early settlers here were the Wandlings, Wellers and Johnsons. Jacob Wandling, the first of the name in Warren County, settled at Brass Castle, where he was a blacksmith, and was the father of Jacob, John, Henry, Adam and Catherine. All of his family moved to Penn- sylvania, excepting Adam Wandling, who was born in 1769, continued at blacksmithing in a log shop built by his father until he built a stone one in 1817, in which his industry earned him 500 acres of land. The sons of Adam Wandling were John, Jacob, James, Peter, Daniel and Adam. Adam, Jr., was born in 1816, erected a grist mill and saw mill
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at Brass Castle, and dealt extensively in lumber and grain. He mar- ried Elizabeth Lomerson, and was the father of Elizabeth (Wilcox), William Clark, and Mary Catherine (Vough), and by a second wife of Enoch C., Robert C., Lewis J., and Addie C.
Bowers Foundry, on the Pohatcong Creek, near Brass Castle has been the seat of an important industry conducted by one of the oldest families in the township. Jacob Bowers came from Germany and set- tled in Warren County. He had several daughters and two sons, Jacob and Christopher. Jacob, Jr., was born in 1770, and settled on a farm at Bridgeville, New Jersey, where he married a sister of the Rev. George Banghart. The children of Jacob, Jr., were Andrew, Jacob, Garner, Michael B., John C., and two daughters. One of these chil- dren, Michael B. Bowers, learned to manage an iron foundry at Sarepta, New Jersey. He married Hannah Quick, and had two sons, Robert Q. and John. For his second wife he married Mary Horn- baker, and had Sering, Mary and George. Michael B. Bowers carried on a foundry and plow manufactory near Brass Castle from 1829 till 1869. He was succeeded by his son, Sering, and he by his cousin, Robert Q. Bowers, Jr., from Hackettstown. Robert Q. Bowers, a son of Michael B., purchased in 1858 the foundry at Hackettstown. His sons are Michael B. and Robert Q., Jr.
The Fitts family of this township is descended from Christopher Fitts, a soldier of the war of 1812, who came from his father's farm on Scott's Mountain to a farm of his own in this valley. His children were Samuel, Jonathan, Jacob, John and Sarah Ann. Of these, John is the father of John W., Enoch G., Joseph, Henry and Jesse C.
Pleasant Valley is a name that clung for many years to the spot now a suburb of Washington, where a water power on the Pohatcong operates a grist mi'l long known as Mattison's Mill.
George Weller, the proprietor of a numerous family in Warren County, came from Germany and settled in Washington Township
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about 1750, building the old homestead house in 1769. One of his sons was Peter Weller, born 1761, died 1855, and his sons were George born 1788; Samuel, born 1795 ; Joseph, 1797; Elisha, 1800, and Jesse, born 1804; the latter lived on the original homestead and died there in 1877.
CHAPTER XXXII.
WASHINGTON BOROUGH.
Washington Borough was organized in 1868 from the central and most populous part of the township of the same name. It is the most recent of the incorporated towns of Warren County, and the most recently settled of all the large towns. The name is taken from the "Washington House," which was a brick tavern built by Col. William Mccullough, in 1811. One tavern preceded this, and was owned by Samuel Carhart.
Col. William McCullough has the distinction of being considered the founder of both Asbury and Washington. He was a large owner of land in the valley between the two places. He was born in 1759, and lived at Hall's Mill, later Asbury, until 1811, when he moved to Mans- field. Of his family, William McCullough married Sarah, daughter of Lawrence Lomerson; one of his daughters married William Van Ant- werp, another Major Henry Hankinson, whose farm comprised most of the land in the town north of Washington avenue. Major Hank- inson sold his property to Gershom Rushling about 1830, and in 1837 Rusling offered for sale "500 town lots in Washington village."
Col. Mccullough died in 1840. On his tombstone we read: "He was a member of the Legislative Council for a number of years, served upwards of thirty years as one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Sussex and Warren Counties." He was a colonel of militia.
The northwestern part of Washington was once the farm of Major Cornelius Carhart, a part of which is in the possession of his descendants to this day. He is the ancestor of all bearing the name in Warren County. He came to this vicinity in 1753 with his cousins, the
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Warnes, from Monmouth County. In the Continental army he was captain, and later third major in the Third Regiment of Hunterdon County. He was often called Colonel. His sons were: Robert, born 1760; Charles, born 1763; Cornelius, born 1765; Samuel, born 1777; and John, born 1779.
Major Cornelius Carhart was the son of Robert Carhart, and grandson of Thomas Carhart, who married Mary Lord, daughter of Rebecca Phillips Lord, and granddaughter of Major William Phillips, who came to Boston in 1675. A sister of Rebecca Phillips married John Alden, the son of Priscilla and John Alden, made famous in "The Courtship of Miles Standish," by Longfellow.
The southwestern part of Washington was formerly the farm of George Creveling, who settled here in 1812. He was the father of Jacob V. Creveling, born in 1809. Johannes Creveling, born in Hol- land, in 1706, is the ancestor of all bearing the name in this vicinity. He settled in Bethlehem township, Hunterdon County, and had eleven children, the sons being William, Henry, Andrew, Johannes, Peter and Jacob. Jacob Creveling settled near Bloomsbury, in Warren County, and there his son George and grandson Jacob V. were born. Dr. Will- iam S. Creveling is also a grandson of Jacob.
Washington early went by the name of Mansfield-Wood-House, after the Presbyterian church of that name. This was later contracted to Mansfield, which was the post-office name until after 1851. This was not due to any preference for the name of Mansfield, but to the fact that there was already one Washington in New Jersey.
In business importance Mansfield, or Washington, was over- shadowed for more than a century by Oxford, whose furnace was begun in 1741, and by Changewater, where a forge was operated before 1769. Port Colden and Washington were of equal importance until the railway station and junction was established at Washington in 1856. Since then, the growth of the town has been phenomenal, and it ranks as the second in the county.
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The Warren railroad crosses the Morris and Essex railroad at Washington. Both of these are now a part of the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western railroad, and give excellent railroad accommoda- tions in every direction. The Morris Canal was an important means of communication for fifty years, or until railroad competition prac- tically ruined its freight business.
The trolley line connecting Washington with Phillipsburg was made a success by the energetic efforts of Robert Petty. It is now con- solidated with the lines in Easton, Pennsylvania, and the line will shortly be extended to Hackettstown and Waterloo, where a connection will be made with lines reaching the great cities in the east.
The first physician to practice in this vicinity was Margaret (or "Peggy") Warne, who lived at Broadway. She was a sister of Gen- eral Garrett Vliet, and traveled on horseback with saddle bags, ยท as did all the physicians of the early days. Dr. Hugh Hughes practiced here between 1816 and 1822; Dr. Cole from 1840 until 1880; Dr. Mattison from 1850 until his death, forty years later; Dr. Glen from 1856 until 1880; Dr. Herrick from 1859 until 1883; Dr. William Stites from 1874 until his death in 1900; Dr. Baird (at one time speaker of the Senate of New Jersey) from 1877 until 1888. The physicians at present practicing in Washington are Dr. C. B. Smith, who is also mayor; Dr. C. M. Williams, Dr. F. J. LaRiew, Dr. G. Young, Dr. Bergen, Dr. Mckinstry, and Dr. T. S. Dedrick, who was with Commodore Peary on one of his expeditions in search of the North Pole, and had the unique experience of living two years with the Eskimos, adopting from necessity their manner of life in every partic- ular.
The Mansfield-Wood-House Presbyterian Church is one of the three oldest Presbyterian churches in the county, the other two being Greenwich and Oxford. The first settled Presbyterian pastor in the county was John Rosbrugh, who was made pastor of all three churches about 1755, and served till 1768, when he became pastor of the
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churches in Hunter's Settlement, Pennsylvania, and Craig's Settle- ment, Pennsylvania. He became chaplain in the Continental army, and was murdered by British troops after the battle of Trenton.
The original Mansfield-Wood-House, or log church, was built about 1741, in the old burying-ground below the present cemetery. A stone church was erected on the same spot after 1765, at which date the log meetinghouse was gone, but it still retained the name until 1822, when it became the Mansfield Presbyterian Church. The present brick church was erected in 1837, and the parsonage added in 1860. In 1877 the name was changed to "The First Presbyterian Church of Washington, New Jersey," by a special act of the legislature. The present pastor is the Rev. Dr. Johnson, following a long line of very able men, among whom are the Revs. William B. Sloan, J. R. Castner, Dr. C. D. Nott and Dr. E. B. England.
The first Methodist Episcopal services in Washington were held in the parlor of John P. Ribble's hotel, which had been engaged by Gershom Rusling for that purpose. Later services were held in the school house, but a change of school trustees resulted in locked doors and barred windows when time for services came around. A church was begun in February, 1825, by "a frolick to haul brick" and by gifts of material and labor the edifice was finished in 1826. Gershom Rusling, father of General James F. Rusling, of Trenton, was recording steward and class leader of this church for twenty-five years, and an exhorter for thirty-five years. This was the first church building erected within the corporate limits of Washington. It was replaced in 1856 by a larger structure, which was further enlarged in 1864 and dedicated in 1865 by Bishop Simpson. The present church, than which none in Warren county is more beautiful, was erected in 1895. In 1873 a number of the congregation withdrew to form a new organization at Port Colden. Oscar Jeffrey, Esq., has been a member of the official board for forty-six years. The present pastor is Rev. F. L. West.
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7
.
M. E. Church, Washington, N. J. The finest Church in Warren County.
St. Joseph's Church was built in 1872, by Rev. Patrick E. Smyth at a cost of $10,000. Rev. Henry Ward, who took charge of the parish in 1888, was very active and held services at Schooley's Moun- tain, Waterloo, Danville, Vienna, Allamuchy and Harker's Hollow. The present pastor is the Rev. John Caulfield.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized before 1860, and a church building erected in 1879-1882. Rev. P. Singleton is pastor.
The Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in 1872 as a mission of the church at Hackettstown, but has never met with the prosperity expected. A chapel was erected on Broad Street in 1886.
The Baptists erected a church here in 1886. Rev. S. B. Williams is the present pastor.
The earliest burying ground in the vicinity of Washington was the churchyard of the old Mansfield Woodhouse Presbyterian Church.
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Interments were doubtless made here as early as 1744, although no inscriptions can be found as early as this. The Washington Cemetery Association purchased of Simon Youmans in 1870 land for the beautiful new cemetery near the old burying ground, and has added to it by successive purchases. St. Joseph's Cemetery, just outside of the borough limits, was consecrated by Archbishop Carrigan in June, 1880.
The children of early residents of Washington went to school in a log school house near the old Mansfield Woodhouse Church, and later to one on the site of the Pleasant Valley school house. The first school house within the borough limits was built about 1811, on land given by Colonel Mccullough, on the site of the Methodist Episcopal chapel. This was used until 1862, when a new school house was built on the present site, and was rebuilt after a fire in 1874,- at a cost of $24,000, and enlarged in 1886 at an additional expense of $4,500.
The old Washington House, from which the town takes its name, was built by Colonel William McCullough, on the site of the Hotel Windsor, in 1811. It was destroyed by fire in 1869, and rebuilt by Van Doren & Son, under the name of the "Van Doren House." More recently it has been known as the New Windsor, or Hotel Windsor, and is owned by Robert Petty and conducted by A. A. Cable. The St. Cloud was known as the Verandah before 1868, when its name was changed to the Union Hotel. Nicholas Martenis and C. F. Staats were among the predecessors of the present owner, Cyrus Baker. The present Washington House, opposite the railroad station, was opened by James Nolan in 1879, and is now conducted by Harry Knowles.
The First National Bank of Washington was organized Novem- ber 10, 1864, with James K. Swayze as its president, and Philip H. Hann as cashier. Its successive presidents have been James A. Swayze, Aurelius J: Swayze, Philip H. Hann, Joseph B. Cornish and Johnston Cornish. William Rittenhouse has been its efficient cashier for many years. The Washington National Bank was organized by Robert Petty, its present president. William B. Titman, of Belvidere, was
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president from its organization until his death, in 1902. William Eilenberger has been its cashier from the first. Its directors at once bought the handsome and valuable business block known as the Matti- son or Beatty or Opera House Block, giving it a splendid location that had been occupied for years by the older bank.
Washington possesses an excellent privately owned gravity water supply coming from a reservoir at Roaring Rock, two miles away. The reservoir collects water from a watershed of two square miles, a great part of which is owned by the water company, that uses every effort to protect the purity of its supply. The water system was established in 1881. The good water pressure makes easy the work of the volunteer fire department, which has had several disastrous fires to deal with, mostly connected with the industries of the town, which require a large stock of inflammable material for their successful operation.
MAND STEWART
- WASHINGTON; N.
J
Typical Washington Homes.
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Washington built in 1910 a splendid sewer system, at a cost of $60,000, consisting of many miles of pipe, the largest of which is eight inches, leading down to a mile from town, where, on land bought of Michael Meagher, an efficient sewage disposal plant has been con- structed.
Industries that have flourished in Washington were the boatyard, a tannery, the wagon factories, a shoe factory, a silk mill, and several piano-back factories. But the industry that has made Washington famous is the manufacture of pianos and organs. The first musical instrument maker in Washington was John A. Smith, who began making melodeons about 1850. Before 1860 Robert Hornbaker began the manufacture of organs here, and this was the beginning of an industry that has made Washington, New Jersey, known to the uttermost parts of the earth. Daniel F. Beatty was the first to employ extensive advertising to this business, and if a disastrous fire had not crippled him financially he would have reaped a great reward. Alleger, Bowlby, Plotts and others engaged extensively in the business. At present Cornish & Co., who have done a constantly increasing business for the past thirty years, have this field to themselves, and they fill it admirably.
A promising new industry is that of the Washington Casket Com- pany. It is the outgrowth of an enterprise started by J. P. Deremer in June, 1909. In 1910 he became associated with P. Frank Haggerty and others, and in all a capital of $40,000 was employed. The whole plant was destroyed by fire in May, 1911. The Washington Silk Mill is prosperous under the ownership of Louis Roessel & Co., of 80 Greene Street, New York.
Washington has a very active and energetic Board of Trade, which has rendered invaluable service to the town in locating new industries. Its efficient secretary is Wesley Fleming.
Skalla's Park and Amusement Pavilion has become a familiar part of the life of the town.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ORGANIZATIONS.
One of the first needs of our early communities was a meeting house. By this they did not mean merely a church, for the first meeting houses were used for every sort of public meetings and most of them never became churches. Our first meeting houses were built of logs, like every other structure in the county. Here the town meeting was held, and the first local governments established. These meeting houses offered the most available places for the preaching of itinerant missionaries of various denominations, who were always welcome. As time went on, taverns became the meeting places for elections and other secular affairs, and the meeting houses were left more and more for preaching services. Many a neglected graveyard is the only reminder of the former existence of a log meeting house which never became a church; that is, it was never taken under the care of any denomination, and never had a settled pastor.
One of the most singular things happened to one of these log meeting houses in our county which had been used by three congrega- tions for many years. One of these insisted on always having the morning service and, on being informed by counsel that they had no more right to it than the other two as long as they owned it in common, some zealous members gathered one moonlight night and moved the log church piece by piece to a neighboring lot that was owned by one of their congregation! This happened about 1802, and is the only instance in which a church was stolen bodily.
The Scotch Presbyterians were among the very earliest settlers of the county, and they brought their intense religious zeal with them. They issued the first call from this county for preaching. In 1739
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"there came before the Presbytery a supplication for supplies of preach- ing in Mr. Barber's neighborhood, near Musconnekunk," as Dr. Junkin finds in the minutes of the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Just where this was, we may never know. Some claim it to be Greenwich and others are just as sure that it is old Mansfield Woodhouse. These locations both fail- to comply with the condition of being "near the Musconetcong." Both congregations have had a Barber family in them. Is it not possible that people from both of these places may have listened to preaching at an intermediate point where there was a meeting house on the Musconetcong? Such a place is Asbury, where yet a knoll is called "Church Hill," once the site of a log church and of a cemetery. If this were the case, then both of these congregations could trace con- nection with "Mr. Barber's neighborhood." Else one or the other is wrong.
The Lutheran and German Reformed missionaries were early in the field in Warren county, as might be expected from the great number of Germans in our early population. They usually worshipped in union churches, together with the Presbyterians. The "Old Straw Church," now known as St. James Lutheran, dates back to 1760, and as early as 1733 Lutherans were living in the county. In 1749 seventy- eight names were signed to the call of John Albert Weygand, the second regular pastor of the Lutheran churches in this part of the State. St. James is really the mother church to all the other Lutheran churches now in the county, which are St. John's Lutheran and Grace Lutheran, of Phillipsburg and Stewartsville Lutheran. The German Reformed churches all became Presbyterian sooner or later.
The Friends, or Quakers, held public meetings for the worship of God as early as 1745 at Quaker Settlement, where was built the only Quaker church in the county, on four acres of land presented by Richard Penn in 1752. This and the church at Quakertown, Hunter. don county, served the Quakers who were scattered over the county, mainly in the Pequest Valley, for a hundred years, by which time the
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members of the sect had become scattered or drawn to other denomina- tions.
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