USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 74
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 74
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 74
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Rev. Andrew J. Hay became the next pastor, Oct. 1, 1867, and remained until May, 1870, and was suc-
ing the winter of 1870-71 the church experienced the greatest revival it has ever known in its history, as a result of which seventy-four persons were baptized. In 1874 a rece-s for the pulpit was added to the house, heaters put in, and other improvements made. la 1 187S they paid off the last debt on their church prop- erty. After a very successful pastorate of a little over ten years Mr. Dare resigned, July 1, 1830. The next
Greenwich Episcopal Church. - Nicholas and Leonard Gibbon, the first proprietors of a large por- tiou of the land in this township, were Episcopaliaus, and built a church on land belonging to them. It was occasionally used for service by the rector of the church at Salem, after being consecrated in due form by Rev. Phineas Bond, a clergyman from New Castle, Del., and Rev. John Pearson, of Salem, in 1722, hy the name of " St. Stephen's." The Gibbons arrangel with the rector at Salem to serve this church, but the current of religious life did not run that way, and with the death or removal of its originator- it dwindled away. Leonard Gibbon and his wife were
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TOWNSHIP OF GREENWICH.
buried in the chancel. The building was of brick, and was removed nearly fifty years ago. A few tomb- stones could be seen a short time ago. The bodies of Gibbon and his wife were removed to the Presbyterian yard by some of his descendants.
MASKELL EWING was the oldest son of Thomas Ewing and his wife, Mary Maskell, and was born at Greenwich in 1721. His father was one of the Scotch- Irish emigrants who came from Londonderry to Long Island in 1718, and pretty soon from that place to Greenwich. The grandfather had fought with dis- tinguished bravery at the battle of Boyne Water, and received from King William a sword, which was after- wards brought to this country and worn by a grand- son during the Revolutionary war. Persons more or less remotely connected with this family are numer- ous in different parts of the United States. The late Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, who was a member of Presi- dent Taylor's cabinet, was a grandson of Thomas and Mary. Ilis daughter is now the wife of Gen. Sherman.
Maskell Ewing received only such an education as the schools in his neighborhood could furnish, but he made good use of his opportunities, and was an in- telligent, well-informed man.
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Mr. Ewing was held in high esteem by his fellow- citizens. In 1761 he was appointed surrogate, and held the office until the Revolution. In 176? he was appointed sheriff, cicenting the duties of that office the legal term of three years. He was a justice of the peace before the Revolution, but when that event occurred he declined holding any office under the new government, upon the ground that baving sworn allegiance to the king he could not conscientiously take the oath of abjuration required by the new law, and rather than do so he preferred to pay a fine and give security for his good behavior as those laws re- quired. After the acknowledgments of our independ- once by the treaty of peace he was appointed a judge of the pleas, holling the office until his death. Although more conscientious about the change of allegiance than others equally intelligent and honest, it need but be inferred that he was properly classed among the "disaffected." His children were earne-t Whigs, one of them, Dr. Thomas, having joined in burning the tea, and afterwards served with distinc- tion in the army.
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SAMUEL FITIMIAN, second son of William and Margaret Fitbian, of East Hampton, L. I., was mar- ried March 6, 1679, to Priscilla, daughter of Thomas and Mary Bennet, of Southampton. His sons, Jo- siah and Samuel, settled in Greenwich, Salem Co., about the year 1705.
Josiah, second son of Samuel and Priseilla Fithian, was born May 6, 1685, and married Nov. 7, 1706, to Sarah, daughter of Philip Dennis, a minister of the Society of Friends.
He was married to Abigail, daughter of the first Thomas Maskell, of Greenwich. His only child, a
daughter, was married to Dr. Thomas Ewing, and was the mother of the late Dr. William B. Ewing. Hle died in the year 1752.
Samuel Fithian, son of Josiah and Sarah Fithian, was born Oct. 12, 1715, and married Sept. 3, 17.11, to Pluebe, daughter of Ephraim Seeley, of Bridgetown, whose brother Ephraim married his sister. Ilis commission as sheriff of Cumberland County, in the reign of George II., is dated Feb. 5, 1750. He was a justice, a judge, and was chosen by his fellow-citizens to represent them in the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775.
His wife died March 12, 1764. While a member of the Provincial Congress, or soon after his return from one of its sessions, he had an attack of paralysis, which terminated bis active and useful life, Nov. 2, 1777.
JOEL FITHIAN, eldest son of Samuel and Phobe Fithian, was born Sept. 29, 1748. He received the principal part of his education from Mr. McGalliard, an Irishman or Scotchman, who had been trained for the ministry. In the years 1776, 1777, and 1778 he was elected sheriff of Cumberland County, being the first sheriff elected by the people, and serving during a period of his country's history when such service was attended with peril as well as difficulty. He was elected captain of a military company which was raised while the war of the Revolution was in prog- ress, and composed of young men weil qualified for the service, of which Isaac Mulford was lieutenant ; John Worthington, ensign ; and Josiah Seeley, John Woodruff, Levi Leake, and Joel Miller, sergeants. This company was engaged in the battle of Princeton, and it is believed in that at Monmouth, as well as in several other encounters with the enemy. He was elected a representative in the Legislature of New Jersey in 1779 and 1791-93, and a member of the Legislative Council in 1798, but being a decided Federalist, when the Democrats gained the political ascendeney in 1800 his career as a civil office holder was ended.
PHILIP VICKERS FITHIAN was born Dec. 29, 17-47, and was the oldest son of Joseph Fithian and his wife, Ilannah Vickers. His father was a son of Jo- siah Fithian, and grandson of Samuel Fithian, who came from East Hampton, on Long Island, to New England Town, Fairfield, about the year 1098.
Philip V. Fithian having received a good prepara- tory education at a classical school taught by Rev. Enoch Green, at Deerfield, entered the college at Princeton, and graduated there in 1772, during the presidency of Rev. Dr. Witherspoon.
Mr. Fithian was licensed to preach Dec. 6, 1774. Ilc does not appear to have been ordained, but he immediately commenced to preach in different places, and among others at Great Egg Harbor and else- where on the sea-shore. Shortly after he received This license, viz., on the night of December 22d, the tea was borned at Greenwich, a transaction in which
HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
it has been always understood he took a part, with his classmate, Andrew Hunter, Jr .. who, like himself, war a licensed preacher.
In the summer of 1776 he was appointed chaplain in the army, and was with the troops in the fall of that year, during the disastrous operations at Long Island and White Plains, upon one occasion taking part with his musket in an engagement with the . that position until I808, when he resigned and took army. On the Sth of Detober he died from an attack of dysentery. Ile left no descendants.
ANDREW HUNTER was born about the year 1715. in Ireland, and it is believed emigrated first to Virginia. He came to New Jersey in the year 1744, when he was taken.on trial for the ministry by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, by which he was
the division of the church into two parties, called "the Old Light and New Light, the New Brunswick being the leading Presbytery on the New Light side, while the old Pre-bytery of Philadelphia was at the head of the Old Light party. He preached at Deer- field and Greenwich, both of which churches were without pastors and inclined to the New Side, espe- cially at Greenwich, where Whitefield. had preached to a large assembly with great effect in 1740.
These two churches united and called Mr. Hunter as their joint pastor, as it would seem, as one church worshiping in two different places nearly twelve miles apart. He re-ided at Greenwich, and was . acenstomed to preach two Sabbaths in succession | in the Presbytery of Huntingdon, and continued their there, and on the third Sabbath at Deerfield. In 1754 the Greenwich people purchased a fine par- sonage farm adjoining the south line of the farm now owned by John S. Holmes, shortly after which Mr. Hunter took up his residence there, where he continued during the remainder of his life. In 1760 the connection with the Deerfield congregation was dissolved, and he confined his labors to the Green- wich people, who were scattered over a considerable distance, including part of Bridgeton, in his diy usually designated as "Cohansey Bridge." He some- times preached in the court-house at this place.
He died at the parsonage July 28, 1775.
ANDREW HUNTER, JR., was the son of a brother, who was at one time an officer in the British army, and was born in Virginia. He came to New Jersey while a youth and resided with his unele; was a student at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1772. Having studied theology under the direction of his uncle, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia iu 1779, and was then sent by that body as a missionary into destitute parts of Pennsyl- vania and Virginia.
fle wa- at his uncle's in December, 1774, and took a part in burning the tes at Greenwich : and after the unele's death he preached sometimes to his con- gregation. In the year 1775 he was appointed a chaplain in the American army, and about this time he married a lady of Cumberland County.
In 1784-85, Mr. Hunter resided in Bridgeton, and taught a classical school in part of the house then owned and occupied by Mirs. Seeley, widow of Cul. Ephraim Seeley, now occupied by Mrs. Paulding. ou Broad Street.
lle was appointed Professor of Mathematics and .Astronomy in 1804 in Princeton College, occupying charge of an academy in Bordentown. He was soon appointed a chaplain in the United States navy and stationed at the navy-yard in Washington. He died in 1823.
SAMUEL LAWRENCE, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Greenwich from 1821 to 1847, was born in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1795. He was licensed as a preacher May 28, 1745. This was after , licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia
+ in the year 1823. The Bridgeton and Greenwich congregations becoming vacant by the death of Mr. Freeman, he was engaged as a stated supply of the united churches, and preached his first sermon in Bridgeton, Nov. 23, 1823. In the ensuing spring these churches separated, and Mr. Lawrence received a call as pastor of the Greenwich Church, and was or- dained and installed in November, 1824.
In the year 1817, Mr. Lawrence resigned his pas- torate of the Greenwich Church, and after acting for some time as a missionary under the direction of the Presbytery of West Jersey, he removed to Penn-yl- vania and took charge of the church of Perryville, pastor until 1857 ; after which time he was employed by that Presbytery as an itinerant preacher until his death, Ang. 30, 1875.
MARK REEVE came with Fenwick's company in the "Griffin," as a servant of Edward Champneys, who married Fenwick's daughter Priscilla. It has been said that those who came to America without any estate, and relying entirely on their own exer- tions, frequently became possessed of greater influ- ence and property than those whose circumstances at first were more prosperous. This was exemplified in Mark Reeve. His mental endowments and native force gave him an influential position in the colony. and he became possessed of large tracts of land. After the expiration of his term of service with Edi- , ward Champneys, he purchased a plantation in Man- nington, on the south side of Fenwick's Creek, on which he re-ided until after the death of Fenwick. He soon took a prominent position in the public affairs of the colony, and was a member of the- As- sembly that met at Burlington in May and September, 1688, and in November, 1655. The executors of Fen- wick conveyed to him, Aug. 9, 1686, a sixteen-acre lot at Greenwich, beginning at the second landing on the northeast side of the main street, and running up the street sixty-four perches to a stake. He built a house upon this property, and conveyed it to Joseph Browne, late of Philadelphia, Dec. 4, 1656. reserving a right of way to a piece of ground containing twenty
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TOWNSHIP OF GREENWICH.
-quare fect, where his wife was buried. This is the property well known as the Sheppard whart property at Greenwich, it having been in the John Sheppard family since Dec. 16, 1700, and it is now owned by one of his lineal descendants, Philip G. Sheppard. A view of this property is among the illustrations of this work.
Mark Reeve's first wife, whose name is not known, was buried on this property, as above mentioned. He married as his second wife Ann Hunt, a widow, of Pennsylvania, on Dec. 3, 1650, the day before he sold to Browne. He had become the owner of a large tract of land in Back Neck, on the other side of the Cohan- sey, opposite Greenwich, on which he built a house, and to which he removed from Greenwich. He was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, and in 1698 he and James Duncan applied to Salem Monthly Meeting and obtained assistance in building a meet- ing-house at Greenwich, on a part of the lot he for- merly owned, and which has ever since been used by the Friends for religious purposes. He died in No- vember or December, 1694, leaving his widow, Ann, and children,-Charles, Mark, and Joseph, the latter by his second wife, among whom he divided his landed estate. Ilis descendants were among the leading citizens of that community, retaining their estates there until about 1820 to 1820, when the last of them sold their property and removed from that neighborhood.
10 Fairfield about the year 1690, two of whom were brothers, and the other two also brothers, and cou-ins of the others. Their names were Thomas, David, John, and James. Thomas purchased two hundred and fifty acres of land in Shrewsbury Neck in 1698. "Shepherd," whose first name is not stated, was a member of the Assembly from this county, then a part of Salem, in 1709. Thomas had two sons, Moses and David, and perhaps others. Moses, born about 1700, married in 1722 Mary Dennis, a Friend. He lived on the two hundred and fifty acre- which he inherited as " son and heir" of his father, and was a member of the Old Cohan-ey Baptist Church. Ile was elected a member of Assembly from Salem County in 1744, previous to which time, and as early as 1734, he removed to the north side of the Cobansey. In 1752 be made his will, which was proved Jan. 19, 1753.
The children of Moses were Rachel, born in 1723. married ---. Remington, and hal a son Mo-e -; Nathan, born 1726 (by the will of his father became the owner of the two hundred and fifty acres, and would have inherited it as oldest son and heir, which in 1753 he sold to John Reeve, he became a Friend ;
John (20) born 1730; Sarah, born 1732, married Providence Lullam, and died 1782; Moses (34) bort 1737 (was a merchant in Philadelphia, then lived at Chel-ingham, aud was a Friend, died in 1820 ; Mary. born 1741.
John Shepherd (20) was received by the Monthly Meeting of Friends as a member in 1754, and in 1756 he married Priscilla, daughter of Richard Wood- sen. In 1766 be purchased the house built by Mark Reeve in 1656 at Greenwich Landing, since greatly enlarged and improved, with the sixteen-acre lot on which it was situate, and established himself in business there, soon becoming a rich and prosperous merchant. In 1772 he was elected a member of the Assembly from the county of Cumberland.
John Sheppard (3d) succeeded his father in the business at the Landing. Hle was much respected by his neighbors, and in 1798 was elected a member of the Legislature as John Sheppard, Jr., but, having taken the side of the Federalists, he did not again succeed. He married Mary, daughter of Mark Miller, son of Ebenezer Miller, the surveyor, a woman greatly beloved by all who knew her. He died in 1855, in the eighty-ninth year of his age.
RICHARD WOOD was born at Greenwich in tice year 1755. Ile was the third of that name who lived in that vicinity. Their ancestor, also named Richard. emigrated to America from Bristol, England, in 1682, as one of the friends or followers of William Penn. Two of his children, Richard and Walter, came to
JOIN SHEPPARD, the third of that name res- ident in the county, was born at Greenwich 1st , South Jersey about the year 1720, and purchased a month 29, 1707. This family is one of the oldest , large tract of land on what was then called Gravelly and now one of the most numerous in the county, ' Run, now Stow Creck. Richard married Priscilla the tradition being that four of the name from Ire- land, originally Baptists, then written Shepherd, came , died in infancy. He lived on the place where George
Bacon, and they had thirteen children, many of whom W. Sheppard, one of his descendants, now lives, and died there in 1759. He was buried in a family burial- ground on the place, which is still maintained and kept in good order.
Richard Wood (2:1) was born in 1723, and learned the trade of a cooper, which for a time he followed in the town of Greenwich, and was a man much re- spected and of good business capacity.
Richard Wood, the cooper, had two wives. His first wife was Hannah Davis, of Welsh descent. His second wife was the widow of Job Bacon. During the latter years of his life he had a sufficient property to cuable him to retire from business, and was one of the judges of the Cumberland Court of Common Pleas. He purchased and lived in the house on the cast side of the main street of Greenwich, originally built by Nicholas Gibbon in 1793.
Richard Wood (3d) was a man of superior intellect, well educated in the branches of learning taught at a good school maintained by the Friends in his native place, and for a few years was him-elf the teacher. He- in entered into mercantile business at the Land- ing. as a partner in the firm of Sheppard, Daniels & Wood, a very prosperous concern. The firm, how-
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
ever, did not last very long. Sheppard having bought out his two partners, who stipulated not to set up a rival business for three years. During this interval Wood built the store-house, still standing, at the southwest corner of Main and Willow Streets, and carried on a successful business there several years. About the same time he erected the dwelling-house on the opposite corner of Willow Street, now owned and occupied by his son, Dr. George B. Wood, and cultivated one of the best farms adjoining thereto in that neighborhood. Ile thus accumulated a large fortune, which, like that of most landed proprietors, became considerably reduced a few years after the clese of the war with Great Britain in 1812-15, but remained ample to the close of his life, iu 1822.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HON. THOMAS E. HUNT.
The Ilunt family are of Scotch-Irish ancestry, Robert Hunt, the earliest representative in the county, having come from the north of Ireland, and settled in Shiloh, Cumberland Co., where he was an indus- trious farmer. He married Rebecca Ayars, daughter of a reputable farmer in Shiloh, and had one sou, Bartholomew. Mr. Hunt, on the death of his wife, removed to North Carolina, while his son grew to manhond, acquired the trade of carpenter, married a Mrs. Wood, of Irish birth, and had children, -- James B., John, William, Reuben, Esther, and Elizabeth. John married and left two sons, Richard and John, .
. a physician, and settled in Salem County. Elizabeth married James Johnson, and lived until her death in Road-town. Esther married Seeley Fithian, and lived aud died upon the homestead.
who settled in Springfield, Ohio. William became | irrespective of party. ITis death occurred Jan. 19,
died June 6, 1822 ; third, to Mary H. Shipley, whose death occurred Nov. 9, 1828, and a fourth time to Miss Sarah, daughter of Arthur Clark. She wax born Nov. 10, 1801, and died Dec. 16, 1873. Their children were Charles E. (deceased), Thomas E., and Mary C. Thomas E. was married Dec. 16, 1863, to Cornelia MI., daughter of Samuel C. Fithian, who has had three children, Sarah E., and a son and daughter who died in infancy. Mrs. Hunt having died, he married again on the 23d of January, 1879, Miss Margaret E., daughter of Henry E. Thomas, of Philadelphia. Their children are James B. and Frederick T. Mr. Hunt removed to the farm in Greenwich where the later years of his life were spent. Ile was an active politician and an earnest champion of the Old-Line Whig party until the formation of the Republican party, when he became equally enthusiastic in the advocacy of its principles. He was for a period of years a member of the board of freeholders, and held other township offices. Hle also represented his district in the Legislature of the State. His religious belief was in sympathy with the creed of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was an active member and an elder. Mr. Ilunt pos- sessed great business capacity, combined with strict integrity, which gave him a commanding influence in the community. He was benevolent and kindly in his instincts, with a purity of character and a genial manner which made all men his friends, and caused his death to be generally regretted. Hlis official career was marked not only by sound judgment on all public questions, but by the most serupulous honor. ITis moral character no less than his signal abilities commandled the deference of his associates, 1 1859.
HON. REUBEN HUNT.
James B. was born in Stow Creek township, and The subject of this sketch is the son of James B. Ilunt, whose ancestry having been given in the sketch of his son, Thomas E., need not be repeated here. Reuben Hunt was born Feb. 9, 1785, in Green- wich, in the house now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Eliza E. Kellogg. His youth was spent here, first in attendance upon such advantages of education as were at command, and later upon the farm, where he gave a willing hand to the cultivation of the land his father owned. On the death of the latter, in 1824, he became the occupant of the homestead, which con- tinued to be his home during his lifetime. He was married to Mrs. Phabe Watson, daughter of Thomas Noble, of Greenwich, who was of English birth. Their children are Mary MI., James, who died at the age of twenty-two, and Eliza E. Mary M. (deceased) became in connection with his trade of cooper a farmer and merchant. He married Sarah, fifth daughter of Maskell Ewing, and grandfather of Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, late United States senator. Their children were Thomas E., Reuben, William F., and two who died in infancy. Mr. Hunt served during the war of the Revolution, was present at the battle of Trenton, and was during his later life a judge of the County Court, and a citizen of much influence. He died Aug. 5, 1824, in his seventy-first year. Ilis son, Thomas Ewing, was born March 2, 1783, in Greenwich, his lifetime residence. flis early advantages, though limited, were improved, after which he engaged in teaching,. and ultimately pur- chased a farm at Stathems Neck, which was for many years his home. Later he became owner of the farm . married Jonathan Y. Leaming, of Greenwich, and left now the residence of his son, Thomas E. Hunt. He was four times married,-first to Margaret Johnson, who died Dec. 23, 1816; second, to Eliza Parvin, who
tour children,-James, who died in 1866 ; Rebecca, who married Robert MI. Rocap, of Bridgeton ; Renben, who married Esnla Compton, and served with credit
Thomas & Hunt-
Ruben Hunt
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Samuel Watson
Ho Pliation
TOWNSHIP OF GREENWICH.
during the late war ; and Frank II., who married Clara Capron, and is a farmer. Eliza E. Hunt married Reuben Kellogg, and has one child, Ruth E .; who married Charles E. Wallis, of Maryland, and has chil- . Road-town, as are also his wife and daughter.
dren,-Margaret D. and Reuben I1. K. Mr. Hunt was a stanch Whig in his political principles, and easily espoused the platform of the Republican party on its organization. IIc filled the offices of justice of the peace and commissioner, and was in 1822 elected free- . holder of his township. Ile also represented his con- stituents in the State Legislature. Mr. Hunt was a man of much activity and energy, and participated in all measures which redounded to the general welfare. though naturally modest and unobtrusive in his de- ineanor. . He was upright, hone-t, and earnest in ; defense of the right. His judgment and fidelity were frequently called into requisition in the execution of . important trusts. The death of Mr. Hunt occurred July 27, 1865, and that of Mrs. Hunt Oct. 20, 1858.
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