USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 81
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 81
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 81
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" Ilager, the Negro Woman, Brought to the Barr, and her Accusation being read, pleaded not Guilty, yett acknowledged she knew of the In- tended Mutther, and was present when her Master was mirthered, &c.
"John Hunt sworn ; The ed Hunt Declared the sajd muirthered per- son had been a living person, Only for the sil Hager who mett the said Hunt the Evening the Murther was done, between the said Higer's master's plantation and the House of John Gentiy, and that st Hager urged the said Hunt to go and kill her Master, and that the Negar Boy, named Benn, was with the said Hager when they mett, and so went near the House of the Murthered person, and that the s Hunt Sent the Ne- gar Boy for the Ifatchett wherewith he Committed the Murtber, &c.
"Jahn Hewett sworn; The sail Hewett declared that, one night, being upon the watch of the said Negars and others, heard som- bis- course oflereil between the said Hager and ye said Hunt, and the said Hunt said unto the said Hager, 'don't you remember the poyshn that you proposed to put in your Master's Broth or Milk ?' &o.
" The Negar Boy, Bean, brought to the Barr and his Accusation Being real, pleaded, not Guilty, &c.
" The prisoner att the Barr Comnfest that he Brought ye Hatchett to Hunt, the person that Committed the Marther, at the request of the said lunt, just before the Murther was Committed, and that he heand his Master Crying when murthering, and that he knew, when he Brought the Hatchett, ye sd Hunt Intended to kill his Master, de.
330
IHISTORY OF SALEM COUNTY.
" The Nagar May Slave nanie Strer, Bright to the Barr, and after his Accusation was telse prisonvypl del not Guilty.
" John Hont sworn, with that, that the prisoner att the Barr I.new nothing of the Interuled or Designed Murther nor had no hand in it. &c.
" The sald Justices, in Conjunction with the frecholders, found the sd Hager Guilty, and was Comdemand to be Burnt, ar.
" The said Justices, in Conjunction with the ffre-holders, found the said Negar By Guilty, and was Contomul to be Hanged by the Neck till dead, and then Hung up in Gibbetts, &e.
" The Justices, in Conjunction with the freehol lers, found the sid Negar Man, Seizer, not Guilty, and was Discharged, &c."
The sentences passed on Hagar and Ben were carried into effect at what is now Claysville, just be- yond the city limits.
At a Court of Oyer and Terminer held May 21st, and by adjournment May 27, 1817, John Hunt and Mary Williams were presented by the grand jury for the murder of James Sherron.
"John Innt, being Brought to the Barr. and being arergud pleaded Guilty."
" Mary Williams, being Brought to the Parr and arergnd, pleaded not Guilty, and puts her Self upon the Country."
" The jetty Jury Came into Court & Brought in Mary Williams not Guilty.
" The Court ordered the Jury out again."
" The petty Jury Came into Court, and Brought Mary Williams In Guilty of Kuowing of the intended Murther of James Shenton before it was Committed, and conscaling of the same."
"John Hant being Brought to the Barr, his Intisment being read, he could show no Cause why the Sentance of Death should not be past upon him ; he had Sent ince gave by ye Judge."
" Mary Williams Brought to the Barr and received Sentance; for the Knowing and Concealing the Intended Death of Mr. Sherron the Court finds her the Som of One Hundred pounds to his Majesty, and to remain in Custody till paid."
At the Court of Sessions in December, 1717, it was
"Ordered by the Court that the Garrett or upper part of the Conuty Gon! be for the use of a House of Correction for the use of the said County, and a whipping-post be erected therein."
The fee for whipping was afterward fixed by the court at five shillings for whipping at the public whipping-post, and two shillings and sixpence in the House of Correction.
Ilere is a copy of an indictment found in 1718 :
" At a Court of quarter Sessions of the peace, held for the County of Salem, at Salem, on the twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Days of De- sember, in the fifth year of his Majesty's Reign, &c., The jurriors for our Sovereign Lord the King. and the Body of the county of Salem, upon their Ouths and Solom Affirmations, do present, that William Stalkey, of the Presinet of penu's Neck, Vietulor. on or about ye Nin- teenth day of Desember, in the fifth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, George, by ye Grace of trod, of Great Brittian, France, and Ireland King &e., a Certain Common Tippling-House did keep, and on the said Day, and att Divers other times, did Suffer Divers Evil persons of Evil Conversation to Tipple on the Lopl s Day, Commonly called the sabiath- Day, to be Drunk and other Evil manners is Guilty of, Contrary to the Peace of our said Lord ye King, his Crown and Dignity, and against the form of good manners and the laws in such case made and provided. " Billa Vera.
" WILLIAM VICKARY. " THOMAS VICKARY. "JACOB HEDRICKSON."
In 1718 the court prescribed the following priees at houses of entertainment :
" Wine att Nine pence per pint ; Bear and Ale at four penice pe. quart ; Sydr, till ye first of August, att foir pence pr gunst: New Spir, mule after the first day of July, at 34 je quart; Sydr, Royal, att Nine pence Quart; Metheglin at Nine pence pr Quart ; Rume att 41 pr gal.
" Hyatt for Man, Each Meal, Agence; La deing for Fach, 2- pi mal " Intera, att Figliah Hay or draynd & dow Hay, in Stable et hem Six pence; for un layad March Hay, 24 hours, three peace ; Date, 0) shilling by yo jook, and so in proportion; Horse pasture, 21 hours, I. pence."
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Ten years later the prices were :
" For each nih of punch made with double tofined sugar and alle g and a half of rum, nineponce : with single refined sugar, eightjunio with Muscovado sngar, sevenpence; for each quait of tiff, made w t half a pint of rum, in the same, nineponce."
In February, 1733-34, it was ordered by the court that
" Mary Kelly, for abusing the judge, Mr. Acton, in her mistne havior t him in the execution of his office, do receive ten lashes ou ber bare bara for her contempt, at the public whipping-pust."
The last instance of the infliction of corporal pun- ishment here occurred in the summer of 1840. The whipping-po-t then stood in the rear of the elerk and surrogate's office, where it remained, a memento of the barbarism of a bygone age, till the present office: were erected.
CHAPTER LVI. ..
EARLY ROADS, MEADOW IMPROVEMENTS. AND NAVIGATION.
THE first thoroughfare in the county of Salem was the King's Highway. In November, 1681, it wa- enacted
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" that there shall be a highway surveyed and set forth between Dail'ng. ton and Salem, the saque to be begun at or before the first day of the second month next; and that twenty men in the whole shall be a; . pointed for the said work, ten thereof from Burlington and ten fiom Salem." 1
This was six years subsequent to the establishment of Fenwick's colony. It must be remembered that settlements were first made on the streams which were navigable to some distance in the interior, and that these were the avenues of communication and transportation during many years. As settlements multiplied and increased, land comninnications were established between them by what were then consid- ered the most convenient routes, or by routes which wound through regions where the settlements hap- pened to extend. Many of these, as time wore on and cireninstances changed, were found not to be the most feasible. and were abandoned for others better adapted to the changed circumstances.
The next important road, after the King's High- way, was the Salem and Morris River road, that ran vin Quinton's Bridge from Salem to Greenwich, and : thence to Morris River. This was laid out by eom- missioners appointed by the court in 1707. In 1709. Bartholomew Wyatt, Benjamin Acton (surveyor . and John Mason were appointed by the court, an.l laid the Salem and Cohansey road by way of Han- enek's new bridge, and thence by way of John Mason's (now Maskell's; mail to Greenwich.
1
331
GENERAL HISTORY.
In 1711 a commission, of which Benjamin Acton was one, was appointed to lay out a road from Salem to Fort Point, near Redroe Morris' house. This road is still in existence as originally laid. The old Penn's Neck road ran from the foot of Market Street. in Salem, and passed along the route of the old Camden stage-road about a mile, then passed west a mile and a half, till it >truck Salem Creek, which it crossed, over the old Trap eau-eway and bridge, into Penn's Neck, and traversed that township lengthwise. The bridge was removed, and so much of this road as lay in Mannington township was vacated in 1811, at which time the street in Salem, then called New Street (now Griffith), was laid out, and the bridge at the foot of that street crossing Salein Creek was built.
Meadow Improvements.1-In the latter part of the seventeenth, indeed to the middle of the eighteenth, century what is now Salem County was largely made up of tide-flooded meadow and fresh-water swamp.
We would not advance the notion that the pioneer settlers of Salem County found no upland or elevated ground. On the contrary, they did find high lands, covered with oak and other valuable timber, and from which the original settlers, and the several genera- tions following, have proved their discernment by realizing from the timber growth and the cultivation of the soil good returns in acquired wealth and constituted, in its highest points has an elevation of one hundred and sixty feet above sca-level. Con-e- quently it is comparatively undulating and billy.
The Colonial Legislature of New Jersey, the middle healthy, happy homes. The county, as at present i of the seventeenth century, seemed to realize to some extent the topographical and geological character of the province. And this, no doubt, was the case from the fact that members of the Provincial Assembly
But it is of the meadow and low lands we, in this . were pioneers from lands in Europe having similar portion of our work, would more particularly make : formation and character as those of " New Casaria," some note.
Commencing at the north point of the county, we find the mouth of Oldman's Creek, that stream mean- dering its whole length through low or meadow lands, forming the line between the counties of Salem and Gloucester. On both sides of this stream, ten miles in length, are these meadow lands. Coming south, we find along and bordering on Delaware River meadow lands, only occasionally interrupted by narrow projections of upland to the river-bank. Thus coming to the south corner of the county, we find Stow Creek, the dividing line between Salem and Cumberland Counties. Be- tween these north and south points, into the Dela- ware River open Baulger Creek, Salem River, Allo- ways Creek, Mad Horse Creek, and Hope Creek, with other small streams, all having their course and source into and through large bodies of tide meadow land. And these are the low lands alluded to pre- viously as found by the pioneer settlers of this county in the state as formed by nature, the home of the otter, muskrat, mink, etc., as also feeding-ground and cover for wild fowl, -- swan, geese, dnek, etc. To use animal and fowl for sustenance and comfort came to the first settlers as a matter of nece-sity, and to
utilize these low lands seems to have come to them as naturally as the clothing of their persons with the furs, or the satisfying of the appetite with the meat of the living animal and fowl. Tradition has it that an attempt was made in the latter part of the six- teenth century to improve and utilize a portion of these meadow lands bordering on Salem River. Dikes and banks were made, inclosing a small body of the low land, and the same was cultivated to rice. As there was no cavesdropper or modern newspaper correspondent of this advanced age peeping around, success or failure cannot be reported. Certain it is, however, the pioneer settlers of this county did really at a period of their occupancy here turn some of these low lands to profitable use. And with pride it may be stated their successors. to the present generation, have utilized, improved, cultivated, and made profit- able much of the low land of Salem County, while the present value of these lands may be quadrupled by the present and coming generation. The Hol- lander and the Swede, two hundred years ago, had but a erude and partial idea of drainage and land improvement, and we of the present age have small practical experience in scientific grading and drain- ing. But it must and will come to the greater benefit of this whole county.
for among the earlier colonial statutes were those providing for entting water-courses, erecting banks and dikes. Indeed, a more advanced idea of im- provement by drainage was brought to the attention of the Colonial Legislature in the year 1770. In that " year a petition was presented to the .Assembly asking "a law for power to allow certain and any persons in- terested to cut a canal from Salem Creek to the river Delaware, and from the data attainable it was at about the same place where the present canal in Lower Penn's Neck is now a fixed fact and in daily nse. One hundred and thirteen years ago the occa- piers of these lands, citizens of this county, conceived the idea of a work that should make valuable thou- sands of acres of land then comparatively worthless. Yet a hundred years passed before the work was done. There are seventy thousand acres of land in this county yet undrained and uncultivated. These invite more energy, more application of scientific knowledge and united effort. It is for the pre-ent and coming generation to say whether less shall be done in the next hundred years than in the last.
The Legislature of New Jersey in 1778 passel a law authorizing the owners of meadow and swamp land to form themselves into bodies corporate, and to bank and drain the same. Under this law there have
1 By Samuel Prior.
332
HISTORY OF SALEM COUNTY.
been organized in this county seventy-one bank meadow companies. Whether these are all as orig- inally formed, or whether some of them have been dissolved or merged one in another cannot be ascer- tained. The county record- show as follows :
Salem City, Eve bank mon low companies incorp . mated and organized. Eisinbors township, eight tan' m wduw companies incorporated ail organize J.
Lowet Al. ways Creek, fourteen Tank moa low companies incorporated and! organizAl.
Upper All .ways Creek, on- bank Diea low company incorporated and organized
Manningtoon township, eighteen bank meadow companies incorporated and organized.
Lower Pean's Neck, seventeen bank meadow companies incorporated and organized.
Upper Pena's Neck, eight bank maddow companies incorporated and organized.
so ago, vessels were built, and trade carried ujur: floating bottoms, and commercial transactions up ci wings of the wind, now the plow, the reaper ani - Minder present the holder of the swamp lands with. heavy crops of grain.
In Salem County there is still much of the swamp and undrained lands. This need not be. The in .- proving. intelligent tiller of the soil will not long allow it to so remain.
When the son of the farmer of salem County -hall see in the improved and uuimproved land of the eounty and State, and the moral, social, and family relations as they have been and are at present those attractions that are neither ephemeral nor vain, ba: solid, lasting, and pure, he will increase his individual happiness, add to the good of the community, exakt the statue of his county, and think no more of the
The first upon record of incorporated and organized bank meadow companies is "Stony Island Meadow i silver of Nevada, gold of California, cattle ranch or Company," formed in the year 1794. This is in Lower sheep-fold of the West, nor fear the cyclone and tor- nado that destroys alike man and dwelling, but settle down upon the land of his fathers, drain the last swamp and boz, enjoy his abundance, live to good old age, and not die by the bowie-knife or revolver. Penn's Neck township, adjacent to Salem Creek, bor- dering thereon, where the first bridge crossed said : creek from Penn's Neck to Salem. This was a toll- bridge, and probably the first bridge built in the lower section of the State. The road leading from Navigation in Salem County .- The navigable streams in and bordering on Salem County are Old- ; man's Creek. Salem River, Alloways Creek, and Stow Creek. Ou all these commerce is to some extent carried on, and prior to the railroad era these stream, were important avenues of travel and transportation. this bridge to Salem was over whist wes known as the " Old Trap Causeway." The creek at this point and the "Sicay Island Meadows" have to within a few years been noted as being the home of a family of otters. Three years since a very large one was killed there.
The first " meadow company" organized in Man- nington was known as the " Tide Mill Meadow Com- pauy," at the head of Fenwick Branch of Salem Creek, 1796; the first in Salem, " Keasby Meadow Company," 1796. Perhaps all the others have organ- ized, under the law of 1788, since the commence- ment of the present century.
On Oldman's Creek trade is carried on as far as Auburn ( formerly Sculltown), about eighteen miles from its mouth. To Pedrickstown, five miles from the Delaware, ves-els of no more than five feet draught can Muss at any time. Beyond that point sloops of light dranght, and shallops, pass by taking advantage of the tide.
Alloways Creek is navigable to Allowaystown,
Thus, then, as it now is, several thousand acres of : more than twenty miles from its mouth in the Dela- these low lands are reclaimed from the flood of tides, . ware. Twelve miles of this distance, or to Quinton's and have brought gras-, grain, and wealth to past and Bridge, sloops of not heavy draught, aud barge-, can pre-ent owners. To these will continually be added : pass over at low tide. others yet unimproved. Indeed, the salt marsh of Stow Creek is navigable to a landing about two miles below Canton. Formerly vessels passed to Can- ton village, but the channel has become obstructed by sediment, so that they cannot pass with the facility of former times. The navigation of the stream i- mostly accomplished by " carrying the tide." the county-which embraces several thousand acres of land at the head of Delaware Bay-will, ere au- other fifty years have passed, be reclaimed from its wild state and be made to produce in abandance cereals now so bountifully gathered from improved meadows and uplands.
The commerce on these creeks consists mainly in Of the other class of low lands, swamps and basins, i such articles as are consumed by the people residing nature seems to be inviting man to assist her in in the region through which they pass, and the grain and other products of those regions. Of course the carrying trade from these regions has changed with the changing circumstances that time has bro ught. With the disappearance of the fire-ts that once cov- ered the surface the trade in cordwood and timber has given place to the shipping of the produce which grows on the fields where these forests stood. For- merly. before the excellent white oak timber the I , abounded here was exhau-tel, ship-building was an making the-e useful and profitable. Some of these have heretofore been the source and supply of mill- power. Evaporation, cultivation, and the cutting off of upland spring-, the past and present generation, has so much reduced the accumulation of water in mill- ponds as to render necessary the substitution of steam for water-power. And the same causes have so much reduced the natural Bow of water at the head or source of small streams that where, but a decade of
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333
GENERAL HISTORY.
important industry on these ereeks, and vessels to the amount of thousands of tons were annually launched in this county. Vessels of all sizes, up to more than five hundred tons, have been built and launched here. Where formerly large amounts of grain were pro- dneed the attention of farmers in the western town- ships has been more and more directed to the raising of vegetables and fruit, as the market for these has become more active, and this change has necessitated a corresponding change in the facilities for carrying away produce, and also for bringing manures. At Quinton is a manufactory of glass, and much of the ware produced is carried away through Alloways Creek. Barges ascend the affluents of these creek- for short distances at high tide.
On Salem River a more considerable commerce than on all the other streams has always been carried on. At all times of the tide this river was navigable for a distance of twenty miles, and by carrying the tide vessels ascended as far as Sharpstown. Prior to 1825-30 the commerce on this river was carried on wholly by means of sailing-vessels, and regular pas- senger packets plied between Salem and Philadelphia as late as 1828. Of course trade was carried on with New York and with ports south ou the Atlantic coast. Salem was, in 1682, made a port of entry, and so continued during three-quarters of a century.
The first steamboat that entered Salem River was the "Congress," in 1819. In 1824 the steamboat "Lafayette" made a few regular trips, and was then discontinued ; and following her the " Albemarle,' in 1825, made two trips. She was burued at her wharf at the foot of Arch Street, Philadelphia, and no regu- lar steamboat line was established till 1827, when the steamer " E-sex" was put on the route. At that time from seven to nine hours were required for a trip be- tween the two places. Since then improvements in steamboat navigation have shortened the time of pas- sage to from three to four hours. From that time to the present quite a number of steamboats have ran regularly on this route, though some were only for short periods. At the present writing the steamers "Reybold," " Clyde," and " Perry" make regular trips. In addition to this passenger and freight line a line of barges, towed by tugs, is engaged in carry- ing heavy freight, and there is a considerable amount of tonnage carried in sailing-vessels. On this stream, more than on the others in the county, the character of the commerce has changed. Formerly, as on the other streams, the produce of the region and articles of consumption by the people constituted the most of the freight, but with the establishment of the manu- factories at Salem the bringing hither of raw materials and carrying away manufactured articles has come to form a large portion of the business.
Prior to the establishment of railroad communica- tion with Salem County nearly all the travel between the vicinity of Salem and "the outside world" was by means of steamboats, in their season. This travel
has amounted, in latter year-, to from sixty to one hundred thousand passengers in a season. In about one-half the full number of years the boats have been able to run, without interruption, during the entire winter. The number traveling by this route in sum- mer is about as great as in former times, the number of railroad passengers being about equal to the it- crease of travel. The amount of freight carried to and from the port of Salem has steadily increased with the increase of population and manufactures. Appropriations have been made by Congre>< for the improvement of navigation at the month of Salem River, and under these dredgings have been made to keep clear the channel.
Canals-Denn's Canal .-- The first shortening of navigation on Salem River, by Deun's Canal, was commenced between 1820 and 1830, and completed between the latter year and 1840. The canal is one- half mile in length, and by it a shortening is effected of two miles.
Penn's Neck Canal .-- In 1800 a charter was granted by the Legislature for the Penn's Neck Canal Com- pany, and all the necessary powers were conferred, but a sufficient amount of stock was not taken. and nothing was, at that time, done. Several supplements to this charter were, at different times, passed, but no attempt at construction was made till some years afterward, when the work was entered on, but was soon abandoned. Finally an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the taxation of meadow and low lands bordering on Salem River to defray the expense of constructing this canal, and under this act the canal was completed. A Jam was thrown across the river below the point where the canal joins it, and all navigation above that point passes through this canal. It is nearly two miles in length, and has a capacity equal to the river above it. It passes from "the Delaware to Salem River at a point twenty miles above the mouth of the latter, by the course of the stream. The distance savel by this canal on the route to Philadelphia from the point of its junction with Salem River is thirty-five miles.
CHAPTER LVIL.
MARKETS AND FAIRS-BOUNDARY QUESTION, AND FISHING RIGHTS.
Markets .- A market was established by law in 1682, and was to be held every Tuesday, near the old wharf, then. known as the "lower landing." Whatever was brought to town for sale was to be taken there, where the sale opened at 11 A.t., and any person who purchased goods before that hour was subject to a fine, half of which the informer was to receive, and the other half to be for the public use.
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