USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Orange > History of the Oranges, in Essex County, N.J., from 1666 to 1806 > Part 4
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After the time of apple harvest, cider was as free, practically, as water, and more frequently offered to quench thirst. It was sent everywhere, shipped largely to southern ports, and became for a century or more a large source of revenue to the people.
THEIR SAW-MILLS.
The first saw-mill was built in 1695 .? It was on a stream near the town at the river. The next was on
I. The settlers having come from their well-tilled farms in the New Haven Colony, it is reasonable to infer that they brought with them young trees for their first planting.
2. See Newark Town Records, p. 108.
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History of the Oranges.
the Rahway River a short distance below South Or- ange, 1718. Samuel Harrison's saw-mill was in oper: ation in 1727, as appears by charges in his account book. How much earlier is not known. It was built on Wigwam Brook, a few hundred yards west of Day Street. It continued in operation during the most of the years of the last century. 1
Another saw mill, possibly as old as the last men- tioned, was the Dodd Mill; this was located a short distance north of Dodd Street, near Glenwood Avenue, and was the last in use in this part of the town. It is impossible to state when or by whom this mill was erected, but it had been in the possession of and operated by the various members of the Dodd family certainly for more than one hundred and fifty years before it was demolished in 1886. This old mill occu- pied almost the position of the building now used for the Sewage Disposal Works of East Orange.
BUILDING MATERIALS.
The timber used in buildings was hewn, and often with great skill. The shingles for roofing, and frequently for siding, were obtained from the cedar logs on the meadows between the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers. The remains of the ancient forest there are still to be seen from the railroad cars as the traveller passes over them. The lime which was used for building purposes was made from the shells which abounded on the coast, and which were found in numerous places in immense deposits made by the natives. The stone used was not quarried. It was gathered from the surface, roughly dressed, or split, if its formation admitted. The nails in use were wrought at the forge. A brook, known as Nailor's Brook, on the farm east of Soverel's
I. The dam which was built for the mill flooded the swamp west of it, and killed the thick growth of timber upon it. The result of thus exposing the low grounds to the sun and air is alluded to in the chapter on Topography.
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DODD SAWMILL.
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Home Life.
ice houses, derived its name from the nails and spikes made in that immediate vicinity. From an item in the Town Records, April 17, 1669, concerning a provision for nails for the "closing of the Meeting House," we infer that a forge was an appendage to other farm ap- pointments, and that nails were home-made.
HOME LIFE.
The houses were not usually built with cellars. It was only deemed necessary to excavate a space under the building of a size corresponding to the needs of the family for the preservation of their winter vegetable stores. It was reached by a trap door in the floor of the house. In the Revolutionary war this proved to be a convenient place to secrete valuables, when the houses were visited by the Hessian soldiers for plun- der. This writer has been a visitor at a house, where, during the war, the family warned of the approach of these enemies to their peace, stored their feather beds and other valuables in the big hole under the floor. When the British mercenaries arrived, they raised the trap door and seeing the beds and other things, seized the dye-pot which was at hand and emptied the con- tents upon them. Among other articles deposited were a Bible and hymn-book. These dye-stained relics were preserved in the family.
The most of the houses were of one-story ; some were two-stories in front and one in the rear. A large room on the ground floor was the living room, parlor and kitchen. The fire-place was capacious, large enough to admit a back-log of wood eight feet long, drawn to its place by a horse. 1
I. Calvin Dodd, who died a few years since at an advanced age, remem- bered the frequent pleasure he derived, when a boy, by riding into the house on logs intended for the family fire.
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History of the Oranges.
The furniture of this chief room was quite primitive, and as simple as were the habits of the frugal owners. The table for family use was so constructed as to admit of being turned, or folded, to form a long seat on the side of the room. A convenient and usually coveted seat was furnished beside the fire-place, by the dye- pot, one of the first articles provided in house-keeping. This was made of wood, strongly bound with hoops, low and covered with a well-fitting lid, ornamented often with a cushion.1 The dresser was one of the ornaments of the room. On it were arranged the table furnishings when not in use. They were very plain but enduring, and not much liable to breakage, for the plates and trenchers were of wood, turned, oftentimes quite artistically. The drinking cups, which were in common use, were made of gourds. Pewter plates and vessels came into use later in the century, and, being carefully polished, added to the attractions of the home.
The spinning-wheel formed a feature in the furniture of all these mountain homes. Much taste was be- stowed upon this important instrument of the house- hold. It was made of hard wood, chiefly of white oak, and, sometimes of cherry, ornamentally turned. The art of turning in wood was honorable and profitable. John Ward, "the Turner," and John Ward, Jr., "the Turner," were prominent men in their day. A turn- ing mill was built, and operated by water power very early in the eighteenth century, on Nailor's Brook, east of Soverel's ice houses, of which mention has been made.
All the fabrics for wearing apparel and for home
I. The dyes used for domestic fabrics were obtained from sumac, bark of the black oak, chestnut and other trees. Imported dyes were an important article of commerce in New York.
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Home Life.
comforts were homespun. The flax was converted into linen, and the wool into garments. A suit of clothes could only be had by long and industrious preparatory effort. The sheep must be sheared, the wool cleansed and carded, the thread spun by busy hands at the spinning-wheel, and made ready for the loom, which, in its turn, committed it to the fulling mill, the dye- pot and the dressing process. In six months from the first steps in the process, the cloth was made ready for the tailor, who went from house to house to ply his trade. During all the last century, and in the early part of this, homespun was universally worn. A suit of English broadcloth was rarely seen. Dr. Wither- spoon, who died in 1794, in his description of New Jersey, remarks that "it may be depended on that there is not one in ten of the members of the Legisla- ture who is not clothed in the manufacture of his own family, for the greater part ; and many of them have no other clothing of any kind." Says another au- thority : " Time was when the proper care of the flax crop could take all the farmers' year, not to speak of weaving, bleaching and dyeing, which was often done after he and his boys had sown the seed for the next year's round of toil." Boots and shoes were also made at the homes of the people by the makers of them, itinerating from house to house, the material being furnished to their hand.
There was little call for shops in such a community. The few articles not produced by the people them- selves, such as hardware, ploughshares, leather, etc., were kept in small stock by some farmer of the neigh- borhood who opened his store upon call. The people, from the beginning of the settlement, were in commu- nication with New York. Here were obtained such groceries as coffee, tea, spices, etc., when needed ; sugar
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History of the Oranges.
and molasses were made from the sugar maple; and honey was largely produced, the best of which was made from white clover. Denton, an early historian, speaking of trade in New York, says that "the coun- try is full of all sorts of cattle, for which any sort of English goods, as, likewise, instruments of husbandry and building, with nails, hinges, glass and the like," may be had. He further says : "You shall scarce find a house but the south side of it is begirt with hives of bees, which increase after an incredible manner."
The sheep, which were brought with other stock at the first, increased to such a degree, and had become so valuable a species of plantation property that, in 1704, it was voted by the town1 "that there should be a shepherd hired for to keep the sheep." Four sheep masters were appointed to act for the township, who should hire the shepherd, and have a general super- vision of the flocks which ran at large on the common lands, each owner having his proper mark, as he was required to have for his horses, cattle and swine, which were duly recorded. For the further protection of the owners and the preservation of the sheep, a tax on dogs was enacted at a later day, providing that the assessors of the township when laying the other taxes, should assess the following sums, viz: "If one dog is kept by one family, one dollar. If two dogs are so kept, five dollars, and for every dog so kept above two, the further sum of twenty dollars." A heavy penalty was, by the act, inflicted upon the owner of a dog proved to have wounded or killed a sheep, and a for- feit of thirty dollars, if the dog was not killed within forty eight hours. We suppose this measure for the protection of sheep to be the origin of our dog tax of the present day.
I. See Newark Town Records, p. 117.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY ROADS.
T THE first public statute passed by the General
Assembly of the Province of East Jersey, made provision for the laying out and improvement of roads. This was in November, 1675, and thereafter two men were required to be appointed in each town for the laying out of new highways. In March, 1682, another law was enacted, creating the office of com- missioners, for the special purpose of making and settling highways, passages, landings, bridges and ferries, in the three counties of Essex, Bergen and Middlesex. 1
In the Newark settlement a sufficient number of highways had been opened near the river, at an early day, for the benefit of the people occupying "the Home Lotts." But the planters at the Mountain, who still retained their town residences, insisted upon greater facilities of communication between their homes and their plantations. They were entirely dependent upon the original Indian "paths." And they procured the passage of a resolution by the Town Meeting, on December 12, 1681, "That there shall be Surveyors chosen to lay out Highways as far as the
I. See Grants, Concessions, etc., of the Province of New Jersey, p. 256.
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History of the Oranges.
Mountain, if need be." The surveyors were chosen at the same time; but the new roads were not laid out, or, if laid out, were not built. It was easier to obtain the favorable vote of their friends and neighbors, than to have action under it. And so the old "paths" con- tinned ; widened, perhaps, for the passage of an ox- team ; but always straggling, rudely-made, and im- perfectly kept. Meanwhile the number of the plan- tations was rapidly increasing; they reached from Bloomfield and Cranetown (now Montclair) on the north, to South Orange. There was frequent occasion for the planters to visit each other ; and on the Sab- bath and Town Meeting day, at least, it was necessary for them to repair to the "Towne by the River." And their demand for proper highways gradually became louder, and more and more persistent.
Suddenly in 1705, the other settlers were awakened to a proper sense of their neglect, and, as is usual in such cases, sought to make ample atonement therefor by extraordinary and unnecessary activity. On a single day, the commissioners laid out and recorded twelve new highways, of which seven were in the Mountain district. In the public records of our county, we find the following entry : 1
"High-Ways and Roads laid out by the Commis'rs for Newark in the County of Essex, 8th Oct., 1705.
"First a Road from Town to the Foot of the Moun- tain, or Wheeler's, as the Path now runs, as streight as the Ground will allow.
"An other Road from said Road South, by a line of mark'd trees, to Joseph Riggs House.
"An other Road from said Riggs to Town, to run by a path as streight as may be, and by a Line of mark'd Trees, from first mention'd Road North, at Foot of said Mountain.
I. Book A of Essex Co. Roads, pp. 5-7.
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YACK
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EARLY ROADS
TIVES
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Early Roads.
"An other Road running by a line of marked Trees unto Anthony Olieve's House.
"An other Road running from s'd Anthony's House to first mention'd Road, by a Line of mark'd Trees and path to the other Road running from s'd An- thony's Road to Caleb Ball's House, by path and marked Trees.
"An other Road running N. E. from s'd Road to Town, by a path and Nuttman's line.
* * * *
* *
"An other High-way from the way at the Foot of the Mountain, running up to the top of the Mountain, beginning on the North side of Amos Williams House ; thence in the line between Amos and John Johnson as near as may be to Rocks, North to the Notch."
It must be confessed that it is not possible to locate all of these several roads with certainty. And, yet, tradition helps us somewhat.
The one which is first described, that is: "from Town to the Foot of the Mountain, or Wheeler's," was probably almost identical with the "Crane road " in Newark, and our existing Main Street in East Jasper Crane Orange and Orange, and a part of Northfield Avenue between St. Mark's Church and the Heckscher home- stead in West Orange. The Crane road began at the head of Market street, near the present Court-House, in Newark, and passed the residence of Jasper Crane at High Street, and ran thence through the present Warren Street to Roseville. The name of Crane road was given in compliment to Mr. Crane. In the west- ern section, the only change that has been made in the location of the road since 1705, is for the distance of a few hundred feet at Great Meadow Brook. The ter- minal point was Nathaniel Wheeler's, at "the Foot of
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History of the Oranges.
the Mountain ": being the property now occupied by naVanil wheell'on Mrs. Georgiana L. Heckscher. His house is said to have been built in the south-eastern corner of the tract.
The language of the commissioners' return of the road, to wit: that it is to be laid out "as the Path now runs, as streight as the Ground will allow," ex- plains the curiously winding and indirect course of the existing highway. It occupies the original Indian trail, and turns to the right or to the left just as the natives had deviated from a straight line, in order to avoid the bushes and swamps which lined its course as recently as the beginning of the present century.
The second road is also easily ascertained. It ran from the main road-that is, the one from the Town to Wheeler's- "South, by a line of mark'd Trees to Joseph Riggs' House." Tradition says that its start- ing-point was at or near Wheeler's house, and that it proceeded southwardly in a straight course to the cor- ner near the present dwelling-house belonging to Mrs. Jeptha B. Lindsley ; and thence, following the line of the existing Valley Road and Ridgewood Road, to the present South Orange Avenue, at a point opposite the Church of the Holy Communion. The stone house of Joseph Riggs stood on the Jos Riggs north-westerly corner of Ridge- wood Road and South Orange Avenue, on the lot now occupied by the rectory of the said church. Soon after 1800, and for a reason now forgotten, the first section of the road was abandoned, and was laid out anew in such manner as to begin at a point near St. Mark's Church, and to proceed to the Lindsley corner by the winding course now occupied therefor.
JOSEPH RIGGS' HOUSE.
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Early Roads.
There is no difficulty in understanding the first part of the description of the third road. It was intended to run " from said Riggs' [House] to Town." That is clearly the existing South Orange Avenue. But no man may positively interpret the meaning of the words which follow : "and, by a Line of mark'd Trees from first-mention'd Road North, at Foot of said Mountain." The "first-mentioned Road " is the road from Town to Wheeler's. Can it be that the words in question refer to another road, which was to be laid out from the main road northwardly to Tory Corner, or Williamsville ? This would naturally be over the ground now occupied by Valley Road. But there was then a big swamp there, which interfered with road- making. And it is stated that the first Valley Road was not made until after 1750. Perhaps, it was "laid out" in 1705, but not "opened " and worked until the actual growth of the neighborhood demanded it.
The fourth road "unto Anthony Olieve's House" probably started at a point near Nathaniel Wheeler's (on the Heckscher tract), and ran in an irregular man- ner to the Oliff house, contiguous to the present Oak Anthony C Bend in Llewellyn Park. It may have been the original of the private road now leading into Hutton Park. At all events, it could not have been needed in 1705 for a public way. And, when the Oliff house was abandoned, the upper part of the road might have been disused, and at length closed up by general consent.
We do not know where to place the fifth road. It is described as " running from s'd Anthony's House to first-mention'd Road, by a Line of mark'd Trees and path, to the other Road running from s'd An- thony's Road to Caleb Ball's House, by Path and
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History of the Oranges.
marked Trees." Now,it is certain that, in 1704, Edward Ball conveyed to his son Caleb a tract of land containing fifty acres, and lying north of the lot of Azariah Crane. One of Mr. Crane's farms was situa- ted in Cranetown (now Montclair), and it is possible that Caleb Ball's residence adjoined it, on the north. If so, we may be justified in supposing that the fifth- ' described road had its initial-point at Anthony Oliff's house, and ran thence in a northwardly direction to Caleb Ball's house in Cranetown. Or, it may have started at Oliff's house, and have followed the course of the ravine southeastwardly to the present gateway of Llewellyn Park, on the Valley Road. Within the last fifty years, there was an ancient cart-path in that ravine, through which wood and farm produce were brought to the highway from the fields lying near the top of the mountain. On the accompanying map of "Early Roads" the fourth and fifth roads are sug- gested by dotted lines : we do not dare to be more positive as to their location.
Nor do we find any person who ventures to locate the sixth road, "running N. E. from s'd Road to Town, by a path and Nuttman's line." It was, per- . haps, near the town, and intended to be a cross-road to Bloomfield.
But, the seventh road seems to be the original Eagle Rock Road ; which was laid out anew in 1733. It was described, in 1705, as "An other Highway from the way at the Foot of the Mountain, running up to the top of the Mountain ; beginning on the North side of Amos Williams House; thence in the Line between Amos and John Johnson as near as may be to Rocks, North to the Notch." And, in 1733, as "Beginning at the house of David Day, thence running as the road now runs to a certain chestnut tree standing near the house of Amos Williams, said tree standing on the
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Early Roads.
north-east side of said highway ; thence running as the road now goes between the fences of Amos Wil- Anos Williams liams and Thomas Wil- liams ; thence turning to the left hand over a small brook, and so running up said brook to the mountain ; thence running north of a certain Notch, called and known by the name of the Great Notch, to the top of the Mountain."
The first Amos was the brother, and the second a son, of the original settler Matthew Williams. The road evidently began, in each survey, at or near the bridge over Wigwam Brook, in Tory Corner.
There were other roads in early use, and that remain unto this day, which were not regularly surveyed. One of them was the road leading from Cranetown (Montclair,) to Orange; entering our Main Street at the Park House, or by way of the present Washington Street at Brick Church, in East Orange. It is alleged that our existing Park Street follows the precise lines of the former Cranetown Road. Of equally early ori- gin was the road from Wardsesson (Bloomfield,) to East Orange ; and which is now known as Prospect Street. And so with the Swinefield Road : in use by the aborigines in their journeys from the Hudson to the Delaware rivers. Originally, a "path," it branched off from our present Main Street, at the Brick Church ; and, running through Tory Corner, crossed the Moun- tain at Eagle Rock. From Tory Corner westward to the top of the Mountain it was laid out as a common highway in 1705, and afterwards in 1733. Until the speculation-times of 1836 and 1837, the whole high- way was called the Swinefield Road. But building- lots were more valuable when located on a "street," rather than on a country " road." And, so the high- sounding name of Washington Street was given to all
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History of the Oranges.
that part of the highway which lies east of Tory Cor- ner. And the late Llewellyn S. Haskell, in 1855, called all that part of it which ascends the mountain by the more appropriate name of Eagle Rock Road.
"Scotland Lane," in Orange, was opened and in use as far back as 1721. It is spoken of in a conveyance for real estate, made in that year. In 1730, the exist- ing Centre Street, in Orange, was designated as "a highway"; but it was not formally laid out until 1809. And "Harrison street," in East Orange, "was laid out by the surveyors in 1796; and yet it must have been in use long before that date. Indeed, the surveyors' return speaks of it as an existing "lane."
In primitive days there was a sufficiency of high- ways, as regards their number. But they were poorly constructed, and badly kept. In opening them to public travel, little was done beside moving back the fences, and establishing them upon the new lines. A swamp was overcome by throwing in a few loads of unbroken stone, from the adjoining fields ; perhaps, by a few logs, laid down as a corduroy pavement. Road- overseers were chosen annually, and the inhabitants were "warned out" at uncertain periods, whenever it might interfere the least with farm work, for the pur- pose of "keeping the roads in repair !" The over- seers had little conception of the true principles of road-making, and were for the most part content to plow up the gutters, and to throw the rich soil back into the middle of the carriage-track ; while the farm- ers and shoemakers, who were "working out their taxes," seemed to have no other object in view than to make each day's labor a short one. No one appre- ciated the value of good roads. Such of us as were in the habit of driving in Essex county, forty years ago, will remember the deep, tenacious, mud of Cen-
Early Roads. 53
tre and Scotland streets, in Orange, in the Spring and Autumn months ; and their bones will ache anew, in the recollection of the physical tortures of the passage from South Orange to Newark, over the scantily- covered rocks in the old South Orange Road, during the whole twelve-month. Blessed be the memory of Mac-Adam and Telford forever !
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY LOCAL INDUSTRIES.
N the year 1710, a large tract of rough, wild land on the banks of the Passaic River, opposite Belleville, was purchased by Arent Schuyler. It was a part of what was then known as Barbadoes Neck, which ex- tended from the bay between the entrance of the two rivers, Hackensack and Passaic, about seven miles north, to Boiling Spring, now Rutherford Park.
In 1719, Mr. Schuyler's attention was called by his colored man to a specimen of rock which he had found on the tract. Its weight and peculiar appearance led him to regard it as something valuable. Upon inves- tigation, it proved to be copper ore containing 80 per cent. of the metal. The ore was very abundant, but for reasons unknown the mine was not worked much in the first owner's day. He died in 1730.1 But Mr.
I. That it was worked earlier than 1730 appears from a letter of Gov. Hunter to the Lords of Trade, November 12, 1715, in which he notices the want of small currency in New Jersey, and recommends them to obtain a grant for coining copper farthings, as they will " find by the Custom House books in Bristol, where there was imported from New York about a Tonn of ore in July or August from a copper mine here brought to perfection." (New Jersey Archives, IV. 222.) Also, on April 17, 1721, the Surveyor of New York signified to the Lords of Trade that "the copper ore which now rises very rich and in great plenty in a new discovered mine of one Mr. Schuyler in New Jersey. * * * There is shipt on board, etc., for Holland, one hundred and ten casks of said copper ore, which we have not as I can find, any law at present to prevent." (Ibid. Vol. V., 7.)
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