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 35
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The same year the Union Company organized the boys in
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like manner to take charge of their small engine, under the name of Union, No. 2.
In July, 1848, they procured a new suction engine of Mr. John Agnew, of Philadelphia.
In March, 1850, they, by their own request, were accepted under the city ordinance regulating the fire department, passed in 1847.
In June, 1851, they purchased a hose carriage from the Nep- tune Hose Company, of Philadelphia, at a cost of between four and five hundred dollars, and on the Ist of July, the carriage was brought home by the company. This carriage was run as the Neptune, the company being divided, one portion running the engine the other the carriage, though both under the same government. They continued these two organizations until 1854, when the Neptune was merged into the Hand-in-Hand, and the engine and carriage were run as one company.
In June, 1854, the engine purchased of John Agnew, in 1848, was sent back to the shop of Mr. Agnew, to be thoroughly over- hauled and rebuilt, and on the 7th of February, 1855, they re- ceived it, thoroughly repaired and repainted.
In February, 1859, they passed stringent resolutions against the action of the board of engineers in numbering the different companies, and instructed their engineer to use his best endeav- ors to have said resolution repealed, or to take any other action his judgment might dictate to restore harmony and good feeling throughout the department.
In March, 1867, they purchased a bell weighing nine hundred pounds, at a cost of about two hundred dollars.
The 2d of April, 1867, being the ninety-fifth anniversary of the organization of the company, James S. Kiger collated from the minutes a lengthy and highly-interesting history, which was read on that occasion, in the presence of a number of promi- nent citizens.
The Hand-in-Hand Fire Company may be said to be the mother of four companies at present in existence in our city.
First, they furnished the president of the Eagle, Gideon H. Wells, organized in June, 1821. The same year, and about four months later, they furnished a president for the Delaware Fire
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Company, in the person of Richard L. Beatty. In 1839 they organized the boys into a company, who volunteered to take charge of the small engine, and be under the control and gen- eral supervision of the Hand-in-Hand Company.
This was the original organization of the Good Will Fire Company, and in 1859, a number of the members withdrew and formed the America Hose Company.
The engine-house stood on the government lot, where the residence of Mrs. William E. Hunt now stands, after which it was removed into Academy street, on the southwest corner of the academy lot.
In June, 1850, it stood on Isaac Heulings' lot, in the rear of the American Hotel, at which time the board of directors re- ported they had sold the said house for eighty dollars. At this time the company entered into a contract with Joseph C. Potts for the use of the building in Chancery street, in the rear of the Chancery buildings, at an annual rental of fifty dollars for ten years. They remained here until the year 1861, at which time the city built the house in Willow street, now occupied by them. The company took possession, and moved the property and apparatus into it on Tuesday afternoon, September 10th, I86I.
The present steam fire engine was built by Messrs. Clapp & Jones, of the city of New York, and was received by a public parade July 3d, 1868. It is a horizontal motion engine, with one steam cylinder, eight and three-quarter inches in diameter, with nine inch stroke ; the pump is five inches in diameter, with nine inch stroke. The boiler is of a drop tube, constructed under Peter M. Kafer's patent of March 10th, 1868, is thirty- five inches in diameter, and four feet eight inches high, contain- ing one hundred and twenty-eight one and a half inch drop tubes, also twenty-two two inch, and thirty-three one and a half inch smoke flues. This engine weighs four thousand five hun- dred pounds, light, and five thousand two hundred and thirty pounds, loaded, ready and complete for service, and will com- mence working with fifteen pounds of steam, which can be generated in six minutes.
In the early part of the winter of 1868, a heating apparatus was erected in the engine-house, built under the patent of Peter
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
M. Kafer and Joseph M. De Lacy, bearing date May 7th, 1867, and January 7th, 1868. The object of this arrangement was to keep the water in the boiler of the engine at any degree of tem- perature desired, even boiling, as it has often occurred that the engine was worked from steam generated by this heater. This kept the engine at all times ready for service at fires in the im- mediate vicinity. It consisted of a furnace or stove, on which was arranged a small amount of tubing. This tubing being connected with the engine by two pipes to the boiler of the engine, the connecting cock was so well arranged that when the engine was pulled ahead, all were operated by the forward motion of the engine, and during its absence at a fire, the water would be heated in a small tank. This apparatus required no no other attention than to be supplied with two hods of coal every twenty-four hours.
The hose carriage purchased by the Neptune Company and run under that name, has been in constant use ever since it was purchased, but being now nearly used up, the company are about negotiating for the purchase of a new one Such a one is now being built by Messrs. Kafer & Swan, of this city, members of the company, and known as a three-wheeled tender, con- structed on principles both scientific and practical, and intended to meet the wants of the department by being light, and easily managed and controlled.
The hand engine built by John Agnew, of Philadelphia, was sold about the Ist of June, 1867, to Charles Megill, of this city, as agent for a newly-organized company at Owensboro', Ken- tucky, which, on reception of the engine, retained the old name.
About the 27th of January, 1870, the company purchased a team of horses, which were accepted after due trial, and they were placed on duty February 11th, 1870.
Number of active members since date of organization, four hundred and thirty; contributing members, three hundred ; active members transferred to honorary list after five years' ser- vice, seventy-five; number of fires attended, of which a record has been kept by the company, three hundred and ten.
The following persons, members of the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company, have held prominent positions in our city, and in our state and national government :
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David Cowell, M. D., was a senior physician and surgeon in military hospitals; Renssalaer Williams was a justice of the peace, librarian of the Trenton Library Company in 1781, and one of the founders of the Trenton School Company, or acad- emy ; Joseph Clunn, captain in one of our state regiments in the American Revolution, and kept an inn, which bore the sign of "Alexander the Great ;" Alexander Chambers, one of the directors of the school-house in 1765, the first to establish Bloomsbury as a port for sloops ; Bernard Hanlon kept a woolen mill at Millham, and was also engaged in the auction business ; John Yard was a captain in the revolutionary war ; John Cape, was a lieutenant in the continental line, in the revolution ; William Douglass was a celebrated physician, and wrote a book entitled "A Summary, Historical and Political, of the First Planting, Progressive Improvements, and Present State of the British Settlements in North America, from 1749 to 1753;" William Tucker, captain in the revolutionary war; Isaac DeCou, high sheriff of Hunterdon county, and alderman ; Nicholas Bellville was at the head of the medical profession ; William Smith kept the hotel where Fitch, the inventor of the steamboat, hired a room, where he carried on the business of silversmithing, and the manufacture of silver and brass buttons for peddling ; Aaron Dickinson Woodruff was attorney-general of the state twenty-four years, mayor of Trenton three years, a member of the legislature, and was instrumental in, having Trenton selected for the state capital ; Richard Howell became an active member of the company during the time he occupied the gubernatorial chair ; George Holcomb was a major in the revolutionary army, and afterwards member of the house of representatives at Washington ; Jonathan Rhea was a major in the revolutionary army ; John Beatty was a celebrated physician, commissary-general of prisoners in the revolutionary army, ' president of the Trenton Bank from May, 1815, till his death, May 30th, 1826, president of the Trenton Delaware Bridge Company, and laid the foundation stone of the first pier, May 2Ist, 1804, was a member of the continental congress in 1776, and afterwards member of the house of representatives at
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
Washington ; Joseph Brittain was the principal owner of the lot on which the State House is built; Rev. Nathaniel Harris ; Lucius H. Stockton was district attorney of the state, and nomi- nated by President Adams as secretary of war; Samuel T. Machett, city treasurer ; Garrett D. Wall, United States senator ; Samuel L. Southard, United States senator, governor and chan- cellor of the state, secretary of the navy, attorney-general of the state, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and acting vice president of the United States.
The following were the officers of the Hand-in-Hand Fire Company in July, 1871 :
President, Charles B. Cogill; vice president, Joseph M. DeLacy ; secretary, James S. Kiger; assistant secretary, Thomas A. Dempsey ; financial secretary, Charles W. Biles ; treasurer, James A. Howell; foreman, Abram Swan; first assistant foreman, Charles W. Biles ; second assistant foreman, Michael Campbell; engineer, Andrew S. Groves; assistant. engineers, Joseph Nolen and Thomas A. Dempsey.
The Resolution Fire Company was organized on the 4th day of February, A. D. 1804, and incorporated on the 28th day of December, A. D. 1824. The minutes relating to the organization do not contain anything of special importance. They simply refer to the organization and its object, without even giving the names of those who took a prominent part in the organization. From what we can gather from the minutes we conclude that Zachariah Rossell was called to the chair, and that he con .- tinued to be the president of the company for many years thereafter. The ink with which the secretary's name was written has grown so very pale that we are not able to make it out. The minutes of the Resolution, from the date of its organization until 1805, do not make mention of anything more than trials of the engine, and the mere fact that meetings were held. Among the most prominent members of the Resc- lution were Zachariah Rossell, president; Samuel Evans, secre- tary ; John R. Smith, Lambert Rickey, Timothy Curlis, Robert McNeely, Charles Ewing, William Hise, William Boswell, John Buckman, John Probasco, William Vanhart, Jasper S. Hill, Wil-
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
liam Kerwood, William Clossen, John Rossell, James J. Wilson, William Gould, Peter Forman, Israel Taylor, Seth Wright, Daniel Coleman, Evan Evans, David Johnson, Thomas C. Ster- ling, John Howell, Joseph M. Bispham, Charles Burroughs, Wil- liam Potts, Samuel R. Hamilton, Thomas J. Stryker, Timothy Abbott, Jr., Stacy G. Potts, Philemon Dickinson, William C. Brannin, Henry B. Howell, Edward W. Scudder, Jasper Scud- der, James B. Coleman, and Charles Parker. Many of the above-named gentlemen have long since died, while some are still with us, and are engaged in the active pursuits of life.
The rules and regulations of the Resolution Fire Company were very different from what they are now in the various fire. companies. The membership was divided into committees, namely, the ladder committee, the alarm committee and the bucket committee. Each committee was required, under penalty of a fine, to attend strictly to the duties assigned it.
This company had one very peculiar rule, which was that of holding a meeting one week after every fire. This was done in order to give the members who were absent from fires an opportunity of explaining their absence.
Zachariah Rossell seems to have occupied the position of president of the Resolution during nearly the whole of its existence, and the office of secretary was filled by Samuel Evans, Charles Burroughs, Charles Parker, Edward W. Scudder, Charles Moore, and Benjamin Moorehouse. The company at first had what was called a bucket engine, which in 1839 was given to a party of boys who pulled it to fires until the Good Will Company came in possession of it.
In the minutes of July 6th, 1837, we find the following : " The committee appointed to inquire of the expense of a suc- tion engine made the following report : 'Mr. Farnum, of New York, offers to furnish an engine, possessing the combined powers of a suction and propelling engine, for the sum of four hundred and fifty dollars. He guarantees the engine to throw water one hundred and fifty feet horizontally, and to be worked with perfect ease by ten men. By means of an engine of this construction the water may be drawn from any reservoir in the
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
city, and propelled to any point that the length of hose will reach.
" 'Respectfully submitted.
"' THOMAS J. STRYKER,
""' WILLIAM C. BRANNIN.'
" The committee are authorized to accept the proposition of Mr. Farnum, and purchase the engine and sell the old one to the best advantage possible."
The engine, when completed, was received by the company in due form. It was a mahogany engine, and was much admired by the citizens. In those days an engine of that kind was con- sidered a big thing.
The only bill we find unpaid by the Resolution Fire Company was a bill of Stacy Potts for seventy-five cents, for oiling hose ; the company thinking the bill too large, referred it back to Thomas J. Stryker for correction. We presume this bill still remains unpaid, as there is nothing on the minutes to show that it was ever satisfied.
The initiation fee of the Resolution Fire Company was three dollars.
In the minutes of October 2d, 1848, we find the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :
"First. That Resolution Fire Company do hereby agree to recognize the members of the Good Will Fire Company as associate and constituted members of this company, they con- senting thereto, to enjoy all the privileges and be subject to all the duties of this company.
"Second. Resolved, That the united members be divided into three sections ; that the duty of No. I section, on the alarm of fire, be to take charge of the Resolution fire engine ; No. 2 to take charge of the Good Will engine ; No. 3 to take charge of the hose carriages and apparatus.
" Third. Resolved, That the first meeting of the united com- panies be held at the call of the Resolution Fire Company.
"Fourth. Resolved, That the secretary be requested to pre- sent these resolutions to the Good Will Fire Company at their meeting this evening, and report at the next meeting of the company."
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
The minutes of December 8th, 1848, contain the following : .
" A resolution from the Good Will Fire Company was consid- ered and accepted and ordered to be placed on the minutes, in lieu of those passed at the meeting of this company, and the secretary of this company gave the Good Will Fire Company . notice of the same. The following was the resolution :
' Resolved, That this being an auxiliary company to the Reso- lution Fire Company, its members be admitted to all the privi- leges of the members of the Resolution Fire Company.'
" On April 2d, 1849, the members of the Resolution Fire Company severally resigned, and the secretary was authorized to hand all the books and effects to the president of the Good Will Fire Company.
" BENJAMIN MOOREHOUSE, Secretary."
The Good Will Fire Company was formally organized on the 24th of January, 1848, but having become auxiliary to the Reso- lution Fire Company, dates its organization from February 4th, 1804. Previous to this organization a number of gentlemen had formed themselves into a company, calling themselves the Good Will Company, and used the old bucket engine, as it was called, this being the same engine that was used by the Resolu- tion Company previous to the one which was purchased of Mr. Farnum in 1837.
Charles Moore presided at the meeting held in the City Hall on the 24th of January, 1848, and Peter B. Geary acted as sec- retary. At this meeting Charles Moore, William D. McClain, and Benjamin K. McClurg were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws.
The next meeting was held on the 7th of February, 1848, at the City Hall, Charles Moore in the chair ; Peter B. Geary, sec- retary. At this meeting a committee, consisting of McClurg, McClain, and Gray, was appointed to procure hats and capes. On motion, the secretary was requested to prepare a petition to present to common council, asking for the sum of seventy-five dollars, to make repairs on engines. The engine used by the Good Will Company after it had formally organized was the same one used by the gentlemen above alluded to, who called themselves the Good Will Company. The said sum of seventy-
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five dollars was granted by council, which, together with the money raised by subscription, was used in having the engine changed into a suction engine, and in making other repairs on the same.
At the meeting held on the "4th of February, 1848, a consti- tution and by-laws were adopted. This meeting was held at the printing office of B. F. Yard. The following persons signed the constitution : Charles Moore, John McMilnor, William B. McClain, Benjamin K. McClurg, David Pullen, Peter B. Geary, James F. Starin, George E. Curslys, Richard Callis, John M. Tunison, Jacob S. Yard, and Aaron Dansbury.
At the meeting held on the 3d of April, 1848, the committee on hats and capes made a report that the hats and capes were to cost two dollars and sixty-four cents per pair, which report was adopted.
Peter B. Geary held the position of secretary until October 2d, 1848, when Benjamin K. McClurg was elected to fill the vacancy,
At the meeting held October 9th, 1848, the following resolu- tion was adopted :
" Resolved, That this company, being an auxiliary com- pany to the Resolution Company, its members be admitted to all the privileges of the members of the Resolution Fire Com- pany."
This resolution, it will be remembered, .was received and adopted by the Resolution Fire Company.
The following supplement to the charter of the Resolution Fire Company was passed by the legislature February 9th, 1860 :
" WHEREAS, By resolution passed at a regular meeting of the Resolution Fire Company, held October 2d, 1848, it was resolved that all the rights and privileges of the said Reso- lution Fire Company be extended and transmitted to the Good Will Company of Trenton-
" Ist. And be it enacted by the senate and general assembly of the state of New Jersey, That the corporate name of this com- pany be changed to the Good Will Fire Company of Trenton, New Jersey.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
" 2d. And be it enacted, That the said company may increase the number of its members to one hundred and fifty, and may increase its capital stock to one thousand dollars.
" 3d. And be it enacted, That all provisions to the act to which this is a supplement, inconsistent with this act, be and are hereby repealed."
The first regular election of officers in the Good Will Fire Company was held on Thursday evening, February 10th, 1848. The following persons were elected officers: Charles Moore, president ; P. B. Geary, secretary ; John M. Millnor, treasurer ; Charles Moore, Benjamin K. McClurg, William B. McClain, Richard Callis, and James F. Starin, directors.
In August, 1850, the company purchased a new engine, built by Young & Son, Philadelphia, at a cost of two thousand dol- lars. The color was red, and it was then considered a very hand- some engine. On receiving the same the company paraded ninety men, fully equipped with red hats, red shirts and black pants. This engine they used until they procured their present steamer, which was built at the Amoskeag works, Manchester, N. H., and received on the 20th of February, 1864. The steamer cost thirty-two hundred and fifty dollars, and is consid- ered one of the best steam engines in Trenton.
The first engine-house occupied by the Good Will Company was situated on Front street, near Willow. It was an old one story house. The next house occupied by them was situated on Warren street, on the north side of Coleman's mill. This was also an old one story house, with two planks for a floor to run the engine on ; an old stove was rolled against the door for a lock.
In 1849, application was made to council by the company for a new house, and in the same year one was built on Washington street, which, at that time, was considered a beautiful building for an engine company. It occupied this house until 1861.
Before removing therefrom, the company purchased a lot of land on Warren street, where it is now located, from Samuel K. Wilson, which was afterwards conveyed to the city in con- sideration that the city would put up a new house on said land. This the city agreed to do, and until it was completed,
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
the company housed its apparatus in the building occupied by Casper Martino, on Greene street. The house it now occupies is a two story brick building, large and convenient, and is one of the best and finest engine-houses in the city. The company has spared no expense in furnishing the rooms in this building, the parlor being fitted up as neatly and beautifully as any pri- vate parlor in the city of Trenton. The building has been re- cently enlarged by the addition of a stable. This addition makes a fine meeting room on the second story, and avoids the necessity of using the large parlor.
The large tower in the rear of the engine-house was com- menced in November, 1869, and was completed in the course of four or five months thereafter. It is seventy feet high, and sup- plies a much-needed want. The alarm bell hanging therein was purchased by the company January Ist, 1870, of Meneely & Son, of Troy, New York, at a cost of eleven hundred dollars. It weighs nineteen hundred and ninety-seven pounds. The tone of this bell is unsurpassed by any bell in Trenton. It can be heard in any part of the city, and whenever it strikes it is the signal for fire. The Good Will Fire Company deserves a good deal of credit for procuring such a bell. The members of this company pulled their engine by hand until the 4th of July, 1871. Before this date, however, they had purchased two large and beautiful black horses, at a cost of six hundred and seventy- five dollars, but did not put them into service until the 4th of July, 1871. The membership of the company is three hundred, of which number one hundred and thirty-three are fully equip- ped, active members. The remaining number is made up of honorary and contributing members.
The present officers of the company are-president, Charles Moore; vice president, William H. Barton ; secretary, Charles G. Hillman ; assistant secretary, Charles W. Krier ; treasurer, A. K. Perry ; collector, Sylvester Van Syckel, Jr .; foreman, Frank H. Taylor; assistant foreman, Richard Degraw ; steam engineer, Thomas Boyd.
Charles Moore has filled the office of president since the or- ganization of the company, and the office of secretary has been filled respectively by Peter B. Geary, Benjamin K. McClurg, Charles Megill, Frank H. Taylor, and Charles G. Hillman.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
Among the oldest members of the Good Will Fire Company, now living, are Henry B. Howell, Charles Moore, James Kelly, Thomas E. Boyd, James E. Hillman, James H. McGuire, Felix McGuire, Jacob Langstine, William Pearson, John R. Pearson, James H. Morris, Charles Megill, Charles Bechtel, John L. Gor- don, David Campbell, James Wylie, John W. Cassidy, Franklin S. Mills, John Clowney, Henry J. Bennett, and Harvey Howell.
The Good Will Company was the first equipped fire company in Trenton, and no one can or will deny that it did very much toward creating a spirit of emulation in the department ; and through its earnestness and activity, and the co-operation of the other companies, the department grew and became the pride of every fireman and every citizen.
Since their organization, the members of the company have taken five regular excursions : two to Easton, Pa .; one to Phila- delphia, on which occasion they took part in the great firemen's parade as guests to the Hibernia Fire Company, No. I ; one to Providence, R. I., as guests of the whole fire department ; and the last to Charlestown, Mass., and Newport, R. I. In Charlestown they were the guests of the Howard Fire Company, and at New- port the guests of No. 5. Upon all these occasions they were heartily received and kindly cared for. They have received many visiting fire companies, and have always extended to them their hospitalities in the largest degree.
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