USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the city of Trenton, New Jersey : embracing a period of nearly two hundred years, commencing in 1676, the first settlement of the town, and extending up to the present time, with official records of the population, extent of the town at different periods, its manufactories, church history, and fire department > Part 34
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These gentlemen continued to act in that capacity until 1751, when Obadiah Howell was elected president.
The regular meetings of the company were held once a year, and a special meeting was held on the Monday night next after a fire.
The oldest complete constitution of the company in their possession was adopted February 13th, 1792, and commences as follows :
" Articles of the Union Fire Company of Trenton, instituted the 8th day of May, 1747; revised and corrected the 5th day of May, 1783; revised and amended the 13th day of February, 1792."
The original constitution was signed by the following mem- bers : Hezekiah Howell, Conrad Kotts, Charles Axford, Benja- min Smith, Joseph Milnor, John Singer, Abraham Hunt, Isaac Barnes, George Ely, James Ewing, Moore Furman, Samuel Leake, Samuel W. Stockton, Maskell Ewing, James F. Arm- strong, Samuel Taylor, Joseph Brumley, William Tindall, Rob- ert L. Hooper, Pontius D. Stelle, John Potts, and James M. Mckinley.
From the above names it will be observed that the Union Fire Company was composed of some of the very best citizens, men prominent in public life, and also members of the Presbyterian Church, of which Rev. James F. Armstrong was pastor at that time.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
The company was incorporated by an act of the legislature, December 29th, 1824.
Its incorporators were Isaac Barnes, Samuel McClurg, Daniel Bellerjeau, John R. Tucker, James Hillman, and John D. Green.
In 1772, the company purchased a small engine of James Gibbs, of Philadelphia, which was worked by two men, they being Peter Smythe and Joseph Milnor.
In 1786, they purchased a larger one of Parmel Gibbs, also of Philadelphia, for one hundred pounds.
June 5th, 1786, the president informed the company that Mr. Parmel Gibbs, who made the new engine, was in town, and that they were called to determine about said engine, which engine not being satisfactory to the company, Mr. Gibbs agreed that the company should keep the same on paying him fifty pounds now, until he could make one that would be satisfactory. Mr. James Ewing and Charles Axford were appointed a committee to settle with Mr. Gibbs.
August 7th, it was ordered that " Mr. Barnes do purchase ma- terials to repair the little engine, and that the treasurer do pay for the same." At the same date, M. Ewing and Charles Ax- ford, Jr., reported that they had waited on Mr. Gibbs, and paid him fifty pounds, as directed, and had entered into an agree- ment with him to make a new engine for the company, for one hundred pounds, and to use the present engine until the new one was completed.
November 6th, 1786, Isaac Barnes, who was ordered to pur- chase materials for finishing the little engine, reported that he had complied with the order, and the treasurer was directed to pay the account, one pound seventeen shillings and four and a half pence ; but that in his opinion an addition to the pipe was necessary ; when he was ordered to get the pipe lengthened.
August 6th, 1787, the clerk reported that one of the pumps belonging to the large engine was out of order, and Mr. Barnes had repaired the same at the cost of five shillings.
February 5th, 1791, it was ordered that " Messrs. Armstrong and Taylor be a committee to have a good trail rope put to both engines, and a necessary harness for one horse for the large en- gine." The members being at one time required to give an account as to whether they had done their duty, it is entered
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
that "Mr. Armstrong, the ladder man No. I, attended and brought forth his ladder and hook to the late fire.
August 6th, 1788, the company having no house for their small engine, Mr. Hezekiah Howell offered them ground to build one on, adjoining his house and church lot, and Mr. Charles Axford, Jr., agreed to undertake the building of the same.
February 4th, 1788, Mr. Axford reported that, agreeably to the order of the company, he had built a house for the small engine, and that it wanted a lock.
November Ist, 1790, the small engine-house was removed opposite, on the lot of Miss Barnes. This house was built on the corner of the lot of St. Michael's Church, and afterwards removed opposite, near where the Third Presbyterian Church now stands.
The following gentlemen subscribed the sum of one pound ten shillings each, for the purpose of purchasing a new en- gine in July, 1785: Samuel Leake, Samuel W. Stockton, Maskell Ewing, James Mott, Aaron Dunham, James F. Arm- strong, Samuel Taylor, Joseph Brumley, William Tindall, Rob- ert L. Hooper, John Potts, James M. Mckinley, Pontius D. Stelle, Thomas Atkinson, Peter Gordon, Randle Rickey, George Ely, Peter Payan, Philip Fester, Albert M.' Collins, Lewis Evans, Roger Parmele, Jonathan Doane, John Rickey, Jr., John Raum.
In 1798, James Ewing was elected president, John Sutterly, secretary, and Peter Gordon, treasurer. At that time the com- pany was composed of thirty-two active members. The annual expenses at this time were about four hundred dollars, exclusive of the cost of fire buckets and extraordinary expenses. The company had two engines, one stationed in Trenton and one on Mill Hill. Ellett Tucker was captain of the large engine, and John Sutterly of the small one.
In 1810, Benjamin Smith was elected president, the number of members being forty-three.
In 1813, Isaac Barnes was elected president, the number of members being twenty-eight. This year the company added six fire ladders and seven fire hooks to their apparatus. The
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
same year the company resolved to pay one dollar to the person who should first ring the Presbyterian and State House bells for an alarm of fire.
Up to the year 1822, all the members of the company were required to be house-holders in this city. In this year the con- stitution was so amended as to admit young men as members. The same year the two engines were sold, and the one now in Pennington was bought by the company.
In 1823 the company built a house in State street, near the Government House, at an expense of three hundred and fifty dollars.
In 1832, they purchased their double-decker of the Reliance Company, of Philadelphia, and on October 3d, 1848, they had it rebuilt by John Agnew, of Philadelphia, and in July, 1849, they had a new suction put in it. It was sold in March, 1855, to a company in Belvidere, for four hundred dollars. In 1836, they removed their house from the government lot to Academy street, near the old buttonwood tree.
In March, 1856, the company purchased a hand engine, piano style, of Mr. Button, of Waterford, New York, at an expense of twelve hundred dollars.
In August, 1864, the company sold this engine to the Union Fire Company, of Lambertville.
October 3d, 1865, they received the steamer now in use by the company.
It was built by Mr. Button, of Waterford, New York, and is . a third-class engine.
June 14th, 1870, they purchased their iron-gray horses.
The company at present has sixty-four active members. Its officers are Jacob R. Freese, president ; Daniel Lodor, vice- president ; James F. McClurg, secretary ; Joshua Jefferies, trea- surer.
Among the members of the Union Fire Company we find the following who have held prominent positions among their fellow- men :
Rev. James F. Armstrong, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in 1787, and chaplain in General Sullivan's brigade in 1777; John Beatty, physician, commissary-general of prisoners
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
in the revolutionary war, president Trenton Bank, president Delaware Bridgeª Company, member of continental congress in 1776, and member of house of representatives at Washington ; Isaac Collins, publisher " New Jersey Gazette " in 1777, printer of the first Testament and Bible issued from the press in this country ; Thomas [Cadwalader, the first chief burgess of Tren- ton in 1746; Joseph Clunn, captain in a state regiment in 1776; John Dagworthy, Jr., was a merchant; Maskell Ewing was clerk of the assembly twenty years; James Ewing, auditor in 1785, member of the legislature in 1774, and mayor from 1797 to 1803; Moore Furman, deputy quartermaster-general, and first mayor of Trenton in 1792; Peter Gordon, captain in the revolutionary war in 1777, commissioner on damages sustained by the inhabitants of this state in 1781, and state treasurer eighteen years; Abraham Hunt, merchant; Robert Lettis Hooper, vice president of council, and the man who first laid out Mill Hill and Bloomsbury for a town; William Churchill Houston, receiver of continental taxes from 1782 to 1785, clerk of the Supreme Court from 1781 to 1788, professor of mathe- matics and natural philosophy in Princeton College, five times elected member of Congress, first in 1779, one of the commis- sioners at Annapolis who suggested the convention which formed the constitution ; John P. Kennedy, chief engineer of the fire department ; Samuel Leake, counselor-at-law ; Joseph Milnor, merchant ; James Mott, state treasurer in 1785 ; Imlah Moore, chief engineer ; Rev. John Mott, captain in the revolu- tionary war; William Boswell, sheriff and United States assessor . of internal revenue ; William Napton, sheriff, member of assembly, and mayor ; Joel Parker, governor; Samuel P. Parham, chief · engineer ; Jonathan S. Fish, member of assembly, city treas- urer, and chief engineer ; Andrew Reed, treasurer of Trenton ; Cornelius Ringo, adjutant-general continental army ; Samuel Witham Stockton, secretary of the American commission to the courts of Austria and Prussia, alderman of Trenton in 1792, and secretary of state in 1794; William Tindall, clerk in com- missary department in the revolutionary war, commissioner to go east to exchange prisoners with the Indians, collector of revenue for this district; Samuel Tucker, sheriff of Hunterdon, mem-
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
ber of assembly, president of continental congress, justice of the Supreme Court, state treasurer, and chairman of the provin- cial committee of safety ; James W. Wall, United States senator.
After the organization of the Union Fire Company, and pre- vious to that of the Hand-in-Hand, there was a company in ex- istence called the Restoration, but we have been unable to get any history of it, from the fact of not being able to find any records relating to it. The only knowledge we have of it is contained in the records of the Hand-in-Hand Company, when in 1789 they gave up their engine to the Hand-in-Hand Com- pany, upon condition that they put it in repair, in which case they were to keep it until the Restoration Company reorganized, when they had a right to demand their engine, paying the ex- . penses of repairing ; and at the time of fire they expected an equal benefit from said engine.
The Hand-in-Hand Fire Company was organized April 2d, 1772, at the house of Renssalaer Williams. The original mem- bers at the date of organization were Joseph Toy, David Cowell, M. D., Renssalaer Williams, Isaac Pearson Rodman, Archibald William Yard, Joseph Clunn, Richard Borden, and Samuel Bel- lerjeau.
The constitution adopted at the date of organization pro- vided in the first article, "that each member, within the space of three months from the date of the adoption of the same, should provide himself, at his own proper cost and charge, two leather buckets, one bag, and one convenient basket ; the bag to be made of strong osnabergs or wider linen, to contain at least three yards, with a running string at the mouth ; which buckets, bag, and basket shall be marked with the name of the person to whom they belong and company, and shall be hung up near the front door, as conveniently as may be, for view, in each mem- ber's house, to be ready at hand, and to be applied to no other use than for preserving our own and our fellow-townsmen's houses, goods, and effects from fire; that each new member who shall be hereafter admitted shall provide themselves in like manner, within three months after his admission." And in case they were not provided, or, after being provided, were not kept in order, a fine of two shillings was imposed for each
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
bucket so neglected, and for bag or basket, one shilling each, unless they were lost or rendered useless by a fire, in which case the loss was to be made up as soon as possible by the treasurer, out of the company's stocks.
On the first notice of fire, "they were immediately to repair to. the place, with their buckets, bag, and basket, and there employ their best endeavors to extinguish the same ; and if any house or houses, goods, and effects belonging to any member of the com- pany were likely to be consumed, two of them were immedi- ately to repair to the door of each such house or fire, there to stand and deliver such goods as may be saved into the hands of such persons as they shall think proper to intrust them with, to be carried to some place appointed by their owner," where one or more was to attend them until they could be conveniently restored to or secured for the owner ; and the others members should, if there be occasion, divide themselves as near as may be to be equally helpful, and that they were to be ready and will- ing to help and assist all others. And in case of default in doing this duty, they were to forfeit and pay five shillings, unless. they could give a sufficient reason to the company at its next meeting.
On the first alarm of fire in the night-time, every member was to cause two or more lights to be set up in his windows; and such of the company whose houses might be thought in danger, were required to place candles in every room to prevent confu- sion, and that their friends might be able to give them the more speedy and effectual assistance.
They held their meetings on the first Thursday in every other month. The clerk served two months, commencing at the top "of the roll, and each one in rotation acted as clerk, and for re- fusal to serve theywere fined five shillings. They met, in addi- tion, on the first Thursday evening after each fire.
The treasurer was elected by ballot, at the regular meetings in April and October, and was, in addition, president of the com- pany.
They possessed fire hooks and ladders, which were purchased immediately upon their organization.
August 6th, 1772, a proposition was made to raise money to
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
assist the company in purchasing a fire engine, and that a scheme be set on foot to be called the " Fishing Island Lottery," and for that purpose Messrs. Chambers, Cowell, and Williams were appointed managers to report to the company.
On the expiration of the first six months, the treasurer re- ported stock on hand to the amount of five shillings ; number of persons joined during the year, twelve.
June 3d, 1773, Alexander Chambers, Isaac Pearson Rodman, Joseph Clunn, and Josiah Appleton, Jr., were appointed a com- mittee to settle the lottery account with the managers of said lottery, and on the 25th of the same month they reported as follows : "Balance in hands of David Cowell, twenty-five pounds two shillings four-pence ; Joseph Toy, nine pounds fourteen shillings four and a half-pence; Archibald William Yard, twelve pounds five shillings."
The first fire the company attended was November 25th, 1773, which was a building owned by Hezekiah Howell.
From the date of organization till the regular meeting in December, 1776, the company kept up its regular meetings, until the war of the revolution, when the enemy was quartered here, and those favoring the cause of America had to flee, and the company ceased to hold meetings until February 11th, I779.
At the first meeting in 1779, the treasurer reported that he had in hand thirty-one pounds six shillings and four-pence. At the same meeting, Alexander Chambers and Renssalaer Wil- liams were appointed a committee to wait on the Restoration Fire Company, to ascertain whether they would unite with them, or whether they would give their engine up to this com- pany, upon condition that they put it in repair. On the 4th of March, 1779, the committee reported that they had waited on the Restoration Company, and that they agreed that "the Hand-in-Hand Company shall take the engine and keep it till they form a company, and then they have a right to demand the engine, paying the expenses of repairing the said engine, and at the time of fire they expect an equal benefit of said engine."
Jacob Benjamin was appointed to provide a pipe for said engine, and at the next meeting he reported that said pipe was
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
done at Philadelphia, and "presented a bill of one hundred and seventy-five pounds for the same, which was more than the stock of the company ; a subscription was started for the purpose of raising the amount, and Jacob Benjamin and Josiah Appleton were empowered to go about and receive the same.
In April, 1780, the treasurer reported that, on account of the depreciation of currency, he had not been able to collect what was due the company, whereupon it was unanimously agreed that the debts should be paid double what they were at the time.
It was not till June, 1780, that the company had doors and locks to its engine-house, and in August a bill for a lock was presented to the company for sixteen pounds seventeen shillings and six-pence. At this time the first continental money, to the amount of eight pounds, was received for fines, and bills were presented for repairs to engine, for new engine pipe, and re- pairing engine-house doors, to the amount of two hundred and thirty-two pounds ; also for putting a new bottom in the engine, forty-one pounds five and shillings.
In 1782, the clerk was authorized to hire out the ladders of the company at the rate of one shilling per day.
In 1784, Mr. Isaac De Cou presented the company with a new ladder, for which he received a vote of thanks, and the lad- der was ordered to be hung up at the house of Mr. Chambers, where William Reeder then resided, and the clerk was ordered to notify the members of the company to give their assistance in removing the engine-house from the place where it then stood to the lot of Abraham Hunt. In those days it was customary to locate an engine-house on any vacant lot, and for it to remain there until the owner desired possession of the lot.
The engine must have been a very small one, for in April 1789, James Machett and Isaac De Cou, were appointed to work the engine at fires.
In August, 1793, Richard Howell, then governor, became a regular active member of the company, and in April, 1796, he was chosen treasurer.
Permission was given the company to hang up one of their ladders in the market-house.
In June, 1798, it was ordered " that the engine-house be re-
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
moved from the road, and placed on stone pillars close by the house where Mrs. Taylor lives, (in State street, where "Manning's Building " now stands,) over the old cellar, and flush with the fence."
In February, 1801, General John Beatty reported new rules for the company, separating the offices of treasurer and presi- dent, and making a director who was to fill the position of presi- dent.
Under the new articles, in April, 1801, General John Beatty, was elected director ; Alexander Chambers, treasurer ; Jonathan Rhea, clerk, and Alexander Witherup, engineer.
In January, 1804, the director was instructed to make inquiry for what sum a good engine might be procured, and that a sub- scription list be circulated to raise money to procure a good and competent engine, and in February he reported proposals from Philip Mason, of Philadelphia, whereupon he was instructed to contract for a competent engine, the price not to exceed four hundred dollars, and in April he reported that he had contracted with Philip Mason, for a third-class engine, at the price of three hundred and sixty dollars, which was delivered in June of the same year, whereupon a committee was appointed " to have a suitable house built on the spot where the old one now stands on the government lot, and have the old house and engine moved and fixed in some convenient spot on the side of Warren street, above the tavern-house now owned by the heirs of Mark Thom- son."
The new engine required six persons to manage it.
This year application was made to the common council for fifty fire buckets, to be deposited around town for use in case of necessity.
At the fire on the 7th of January, in the buildings occupied by Thomas Potter, P. Douglas, and Thomas Cain, a number of buckets belonging to the company were lost, whereupon the clerk was ordered to set up two or three advertisements, giving a description of the lost buckets, which were finally found in a brick-pond, considerably damaged.
In July, 1805, it was proposed by the Hand-in-Hand Company to bring the two engines together for trial. At the same time a committee was appointed to wait on the other fire companies to
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
know whether they would join in procuring new hose, and to in- quire the price of the best quality. The committee reported that they could do nothing in consequence of the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia.
In January, 1806, they again reported that the other compa- nies would not join them in procuring new hose ; they, there- fore, did not purchase any at that time, but in January, 1808, they purchased fifty-two and a half feet, at a cost of nineteen dollars and ninety-seven cents. This was the first hose the company ever had.
In 1804, the old engine and engine-house were removed from the government lot, and a new house was built for the new engine, and the old house was removed to the corner of John Chambers' lot, in Warren street, near where the feeder of the Delaware and Raritan Canal now is.
On the 7th of July, 1804, General John Beatty resigned as president of the company, having filled the position eight years.
In January, 1810, the subject of building one or more cisterns, or erecting pumps for the purpose of securing a more sufficient supply of water in time of fire, was agitated, The other com- panies failing to take action in the matter, nothing was at this time done.
In January, 1814, the company thinking it necessary for a more speedy and general alarm in case of fire, Garret D. Wall, Jacob Hester, and Thomas Ryall were appointed a committee to cause the academy, Presbyterian Church, and State House bells to be rung immediately upon an alarm of fire ; this was also adopted by the Resolution Company, and a premium of one dollar was offered to the person who should first ring either of the above bells, and fifty cents to the person who should ring the second or third bells. The clerk was also ordered to pro- cure an iron bar for the purpose of raising the cover of the cis- terns, and also two chains to be affixed to the plugs of the logs.
April, 1815, it was resolved to strike out the article in the con- stitution requiring members to keep buckets, and in January, 1816, the clerk was ordered to procure for the use of the com- pany twenty-one leather buckets, to be kept in the engine-house, and lettered with the words "Hand-in-Hand," but in October
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
he was ordered to get the buckets numbered and to distribute the same among the members, keeping a register of the persons and numbers of the same.
Upon the resignation of General Beatty as president, in 1808, Aaron Dickinson Woodruff was elected, and held the position until his death, in 1818, when Gideon H. Wells was elected to the position.
In October, 1821, Richard L. Beatty requested permission to withdraw his name from the company in consequence of his appointment as president of the Delaware Fire Company, of Bloomsbury.
In June, 1821, Gideon H. Wells withdrew from the company, having been elected president of the Eagle Fire Company, of Mill Hill, on the 15th of June of that year.
On the 29th of December, 1824, the company was incorpo- rated by an act of the legislature, with the usual corporate pow- ers. The capital stock was not to exceed two thousand dollars, but this was increased, in 1867, to ten thousand dollars.
During the summer of 1825, Alexander Chambers, who had been president of the company nearly three years, and treasurer about seventeen years, was removed by death.
October 2d, 1828, a resolution was adopted to admit young men under twenty-one years of age, this being the first company that admitted minors. Joseph G. Brearley, being under the age of twenty-one, was the first one admitted under this rule.
In January, 1837, Dr. John McKelway and John Titus were appointed a committee to sell the small engine at private sale.
Previous to 1839 the meetings had been held at the houses of the members, but that year common council set apart a room in the City Hall for the meeting of the different fire companies. There were at this time three companies, the Union, Hand-in- Hand, and Resolution.
This year they appointed a committee of three to organize the boys who had volunteered to take charge of the small engine, under the control and general supervision of the company. The boys called their engine the Hibernia.
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