USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume III > Part 20
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Captain Bray was a native of Kingwood, and was familiar with every boat and erossing along the river. Captain Gearheart was from Fleming- ton. To procure these boats, to eoneeal their
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plans from the Tories who were lurking about, and who would betray them at the first opportu- nity, to cut out these flat boats in the darkness of those cold winter nights, to float them down amid the rocks and through the rapids, to keep them from being crushed or swamped, was a task most difficult and hazardous. But it was successfully accomplished. Cornwallis was informed of this enterprise, and sent a detachment to seize these boats, but they could not find them, or were afraid to venture across the river in the face of those frowning batteries.
Dr. Mott also supplies a footnote for his assertion that the boats for the famous crossing were thus secured, which refers to "Dr. Studdiford's Manuscripts," and "History of Berks County," by W. W. Davis.
General W. S. Stryker, in his "Battles of Trenton and Princeton," has this to say regarding the collecting of boats :
The Durham boat was the ordinary means of transporting merchandise on the Delaware river, and of even sending iron ore from Oxford Fur- nace, in old Sussex county, New Jersey, to the market at Philadelphia during the forty years before and after the beginning of this century. A number of these boats had been carefully col- lected by men employed by Colonel Humpton, of the Pennsylvania Continental Line. For the last ten days Captain Jacob Gearheart, Captain Daniel Bray and Captain Thomas Jones, all officers of the Second Regiment, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, militia, had been busily employed in gather- ing all the boats of every kind on the upper waters of the Delaware and Lehigh rivers, and hiding them, with those previously collected, behind the thick woods of Malta Island, close to the west bank, and at the mouth of Knowles creek, where they were entirely hidden from the Jersey shore. These boats had been kept under careful guard and were now brought down some two miles to McKonkey's ferry, the selected place for the crossing.
This author appends a footnote, which reads as follows: "An affidavit of John Clifford on file in the War Department, Washington, D. C., states that he assisted Captain Bray in gathering twenty-five boats, and that the party met at Baptist-
town, Hunterdon County, N. J., about three miles from the Delaware River, to make their plans for that object."
Snell's "History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties" also refers to Cap- tain Bray's services in this enterprise, and quotes Dr. Mott's language.
These passages embrace about all that history has said about this patriot, but enough has been presented to prove that he was the leading spirit in the special work of securing the boats, though others accompanied him, and bore the same rank.
Tradition has considerable to say about that memorable trip up-country, detailing many incidents which can never be- either proved or gainsaid, but the plain facts of the case are forever established by the affidavit of John Clifford, made in 1838, for the benefit of Mary Bray, who was at that time petitioning for a pension on the basis of her deceased husband's Revolu- tionary services. It is as follows :
John Clifford, born January 10, 1749 (old style), states, November, 1838, that during the war he was a lieutenant of militia, and lived in the same neighborhood with Daniel Bray. The first tour of duty they performed together was when three companies were sent from Baptist- town, in Hunterdon county, to Easton, Pennsylva- nia, to collect all boats and water craft along the Delaware from Easton to Sherrods ferry, near Frenchtown, in order to facilitate the passage of the American army across the Delaware. The witness also said he and Bray performed another tour of duty together, meeting on the occasion at Ringoes. Lieutenant Clifford, in the company of Captain Gearheart and Daniel Bray, in command of a company then going to Elizabethtown, were completing their service. He also saw Bray in command of a company on his way to Mon- mouth.
Before relating the tradition of the ex- pedition for the boats, as handed down among General Bray's descendants, a brief biography of his life would be timely.
Daniel Bray, according to the record in his family Bible, was born October 12,
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1751, married, May 14, 1772, and died De- cember 5, 1819. His family was of Scotch origin. His father was James Bray, who lived near Baptisttown, and who in a will recorded at Trenton in 1758, mentions a son Daniel (a minor) to whom he be- queathed land. His grandfather was Rev. John Bray, who is mentioned as serving on a jury in Middletown, Monmouth county, in the year 1684. This clergy- man and his wife, Susanna, conveyed land to the Baptists at Holmdel, where a church was built, and where he preached in 1711.
James Bray aided in establishing an "Old School Baptist Church" at Baptist- town, and there in all probability young Daniel Bray attended as a boy, as he afterward did as a man. It is said that he spent several years on the river as a "waterman," handling boats. This ex- perience was valuable to him in after life. He was popular and energetic and early known as a leader in the cause of free- dom. He married, on May 14, 1772, Mary Wolverton, daughter of Dennis Wolver- ton, whose house still stands, far down the lane back of the Kingwood Methodist Church. They drove to Ringoes for the ceremony. The bride was twenty-two years of age, having been born November 2, 1750, and the groom twenty-one. Soon after the wedding they settled on a tract of timber land west of the King's High- way, in Kingwood, where they both lived till death.
The children of this union were: Eliza- beth, born January 24, 1775, married Ed- ward Rittenhouse, December 18, 1791 ; Delilah, born February 1, 1777, married Jonathan Rittenhouse, July 10, 1796; John, born May 25, 1779, died January 29, 1818; Jonathan, born June 25, 1781, mar- ried Elizabeth Kuhl, February 14, 1805; Hannah, born April 28, 1783, married Jonathan Blackwell, October 25, 1801 ;
James, born August 2, 1785, died March 16, 1785; Susannah, born December 6, 1786, married Israel Batemen, May 20, 1820; Andrew, born December 12, 1789, married Sarah, daughter of Elisha Rit- tenhouse (date unknown) ; Sydney, born December 15, 1791, died June 2, 1803 ; Wilson, born December 21, 1793, married Mary West, daughter of Thomas, Decem- ber 4, 1316: Daniel, born July 20, 1795, married Elizabeth Kirk, of Philadelphia, February 1, 1827; Garner, born Decem- ber 15, 1797, died January 15, 1798; and Mary, born October 10, 1801, died April 25, 1812.
Their first home was built of logs, and from his log house as lieutenant and cap- tain the young husband went forth on his monthly tours in the cause of freedom, being sometimes under the command of superior officers of the Second Regiment of Hunterdon County, and at others under the command of officers of the Conti- nental regulars. In the petition for a pen- sion before mentioned his widow stated that, with it, she was filing three commis- sions granted to her husband during the war, one as second lieutenant, another as first lieutenant, and a third as captain, the last signed by Governor William Living- ston. She said that "he served all his regular monthly tours, from the com- mencement of the war to its termination, hired no substitute, nor missed a tour when his turn came." She stated that through age and infirmities she was un- able to specify the particular services, but she thought that he was in a tour at Princeton in the beginning of winter, just before the birth of her child, which was in February, 1777, and that he was about three months at the camp at Paramus, without returning home, and as captain during the time.
As the daughter of Dennis Wolverton, of Kingwood, she was married, May 14,
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1772, to Daniel Bray, by Rev. Mr. Fraser, of the Church of England, who at that time resided in Ringoes, township of Am- well, Hunterdon county.
These tours were apparently the regu- larly recurring expeditions of the New Jersey militia, to reconnoitre, to attack outlying posts of the enemy, to join in battle with the Continentals, or to do spe- cial military work as occasions demanded. It appears that various officers and com- panies took turns in going out, and in the interims of their service, they attended to their farms or other vocations. Perhaps the cause was never in as much peril as it appeared to be at dark periods, for behind the visible regular army were always the reserves of State militia, ready at critical junctures to fill up the gaps, while mean- while sustaining at home the resources of the country.
When Daniel Bray left home for his monthly tours, his slave, Joseph, attended to the farm and stock, and protected the family. Joseph and his wife, Phillis, lived to a great age. In a corner of the old "Rittenhouse" Cemetery, now Rosemont, is a stone inscribed, "in memory of Jo- seph, a faithful colored servant of Daniel Bray. Sr." It is said that General Bray never allowed the colored people in his service to be called slaves-they were always servants. He gave them an op- portunity for religious and educational improvement. He built this particular couple a cabin a hundred yards south of his own house, and it was still standing up to recent times, though now a pear tree and a well are all that remain to indi- cate the spot.
The ire of the general was once aroused by a rough practical joke played on the old negro, long after the war. Some dull wags wrote a cruel message on his wall with phosphorus, telling him he would be lost, and the shock laid him down in bed.
There are sworn affidavits on file at Washington showing that Captain Bray was in service at Paramus, Passaic, Woodbridge, Passaic Falls, Springfield, Monmouth (where he fought in the bat- tle), Byers Mill ( where he helped capture about ninety wagons with plunder), Eliz- abethtown Point (as lieutenant, before the Declaration was signed), New Bruns- wick, Quibbletown and Germantown. Two of the affidavits refer to his being a captain in the battle of Monmouth. It is evident that he was very active as a sol- dier, and frequently away from home.
After the war he settled down to hard work, clearing and improving his large farm. Old people have related to a grand- son of the general's, who is still living, how passing by the farm they used to see the stalwart veteran in the fields, and hear from hint always a cheery greeting. He built the house which still stands at Kingwood about the year 1800, and also the substantial stone barn, which is as solid as a fort. The old blacksmith shop where he had his horses shod still re- mains, though long since abandoned. At Prallsville, a well preserved old stone store, where he obtained his supplies, is still standing.
General Bray was of striking appear- ance, and dignified in his bearing, so much so that when he with his wife, before the marriage of his son, Wilson Bray, came down the lane dressed in blue coat and trousers and buff vest, his prospective daughter-in-law, Mary West, from an upper window, according to her own con- fession, fell to trembling, and became very nervous.
Mrs. Susan Sargent, a granddaughter, once thus described his appearance as being "A very large man, not very tall, but powerfully built, with a rather promi- nent nose and generous ears." She re- membered seeing him "only in his mili- tary suit, with his epaulets and brass but-
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tons on his coat, kneebuckles, with sash and sword at his side, and with his high- topped boots and spurs, and his large military coat thrown back over his shoul- der, with his cocked hat set on his beauti- tul white hair, he was a magnificent look- ing man." He wore a seal on his watch fob.
The epaulets here spoken of were for years owned by Miss Elizabeth K. Bray, · a granddaughter, together with his cap- tain's epaulets, his flint and his Masonic emblems. He was an officer of Unity Lodge in 1788, and the first lodge of Hun- terdon county is said to have met in his house.
No painting of General Bray has yet been brought to light, though there is one of his wife in the possession of a descend- ant.
An eye witness related to Stacy B. Bray this incident in his grandfather's life. When the militia was training at Ringoes. about 1812. with special zeal in view of the war, then threatening with Great Britain, General Bray, as commander, was driving about on his fine military horse directing operations. He noticed that Captain John Lambert was about to touch off the can- non, and said : "Don't shoot yet, my horse is a little treacherous." He then spurred his steed, but almost immediately the salute was fired, and with a rear the startled animal threw the rider past his head. to which, fortunately, the general clung, and landed on his feet in front. He drew his sword and said, with great heat : "What do you mean by disobey- ing orders in that way?" But Captain Lambert dryly replied: "If we are going to have war, your horse had better get used to the smell of gun-powder."
The tradition, or, better, the traditional details, of the gathering of the boats were related by the late Stacy B. Bray, never before having appeared in print to his
knowledge. The story, according to the narrator, has been related before many a fireplace in the old days, and among the families of the Murfits, the Boyds, the Merrick3, the Parrys, the Hoaglands, the Brays and others on both sides of the river. "Tradition," says Mr. Bray in this connection, "may or may not be true. When, however, tradition, is based on historical data and sworn testimony, it is accepted." The story in brief is as fol- lows :
After a council of war held in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, which is identified with the one held at the Merrick House, west of New Hope, about December 20, a trooper was sent across the ferry operated by Abram and John Coryell, located where Lambertville is now situated, with a letter to Daniel Bray, Kingwood. It had been finally decided to make an attack on Trenton, and wher one of the council had expressed a doubt as to the probability of securing enough boats Washington had said: "Leave that to me."
Then he said he knew a young fellow up in Kingwood named Daniel Bray, one of his trusted officers. who had never failed in any duty given him to do, and that he lived near the river and knew every ford and ferryboat from Coryells to Easton. He would bring all the craft needed in good time.
It must be remembered that the boats used in the crossing from Trenton to Pennsylvania on December 8 were all down stream below Trenton Fails and were to be used for simultaneous cross- ings at Bordentown and Trenton, while Washing- ton would cross at McKonkey's ferry, eight miles above Trenton. It would have been impossible to get the boats up stream under the circum- stances, hence others must be brought down from above.
The trooper proceeded six miles north from Coryells to Kingwood, where at midnight he aroused Captain Bray, who, after ordering his horse saddled, returned with the orderly to Cor- yell's ferry, where, it is alleged, Washington met him. It is said that John Coryell ferried Wash- ington over, and that he introduced his brother Abram to the general at the "Ferry Hotel," and that Washington was provided with an upper room, where he gave the young captain his in- structions with regard to the boats. He told him to secure every boat on the Delaware from the
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Lehigh river down, and expressed his confidenee in him. Bray said he would try, and then started eff in the night to find his helpers. He first rode to the home of Captain David Jones, four miles inland, and from there to Flemington, where he roused up Captain Gearheart.
They were informed of the projeet and re- quested to piek out men for it. They met at Rin- goes, and then finally at Baptisttown. They went northward in three seetion of companies, break- ing up into small groups as though on a hunting expedition, carrying flint-loeks, dressed in linsey suits, and wearing rabbit and 'coon skin caps. They kept inland, not approaching the river till near the Lehigh. From thence downward they cut out by night the boats of every ferry, the Durham boats, and all other craft suitable for transporting the army.
It was a perilous undertaking, as every one who has come down the Delaware rifts at night knows. Rocks and shoals must be avoided, the treacherous rapids must be deseended earefully, with the river running from six to eight miles an hour. When there is added the cold wintry night, with exposure to biting winds, on a dark and icy river, the danger is intensified. But it was suc- cessfully accomplished.
According to the affidavit, Captain Bray's com- pany brought twenty-five boats. These were hidden behind Malta Island (once near the present Lambertville, but sinee washed away by the river), which with its dense timber shielded them from observation. When they were wanted that Christmas eve they were floated down eight miles (not two, as General Stryker says,) to Me- Konkey's, where they did memorable and effee- tive serviee in transporting to vietory the troops of Washington.
The boats played a very prominent part in the attack on Trenton. For all time Washington crossing the Delaware will be one of the most dramatic incidents of the great struggle. Art has fixed it upon eanvas, history has dwelt upon it. But few eyes beheld that little band of men risking life and health through the long nights. bringing the boats to Washington.
The office of the Adjutant-General of New Jersey contains the following record of Daniel Bray, who has been celebrated in song and story for securing the boats on the Delaware river in 1776 for the use of Washington :
Daniel Bray was commissioned second lieu- tenant. Company of Foot, Sceond Regiment, Hunterdon county, New Jersey Militia, Colonel Joseph Beavers, August 31, 1775; lieutenant, Captain Gearheart's company, Seeond Regiment, Hunterdon County, New Jersey Militia, Colonel Joseph Beavers; first lieutenant, Captain Gro- wendyke's company (Seeond Company, King- wood) of Foot, Second Regiment, Hunterdon county, New Jersey Militia, Colonel Joseph Beavers, June 30, 1776.
In eomniand of his company detailed to collect boats and other river craft on upper Delaware river, for General George Washington's army on their retreat through . New Jersey from New York, fall of 1776. He was at battles of Mill- stone, New Jersey, February, 1777; Germantown, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1777, and Monmouth, New Jersey, June 28, 1778; eaptain of Fourth Regiment, Hunterdon county, New Jersey Militia, Colonel John Taylor, October, 1778; captain Sec- ond Regiment, Hunterdon County (New Jersey) Militia, Colonel Joseph Beavers, June 30, 1779; captain Sixth Company (Kingwood), Second Regiment. Hunterdon County (New Jersey) Militia. April 12, 1,80; captain company of New Jersey State Troops: served to the elose of the Revolution.
In 1903 Joseph F. Folsom wrote "The Ballad of Daniel Bray." which has been frequently reprinted. It may be seen in "Patriotic Poems of New Jersey," com- piled by W. C. Armstrong, and in "His- toric Trenton" by Louise Hewitt.
J. F. F.
RANDOLPH, Lewis V. F., Man of Broad Activities.
Lewis V. F. Randolph, accountant, di- rector, treasurer and president of rail- ways, banker, manager of estates, mayor, exchange president, traveler, poet, ranch- man, horticulturist, publisher and lec- turer, has had a widely varied and unique career.
He was born May 16, 1838, at Somer- ville, New Jersey. His parents were Enoch Manning Fitz Randolph and Mary A. Van Syckle. The families of Fitz Ran-
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dolph and Van Syckle have had their homes in New Jersey for nearly two hun- dred and fifty years, participating in Colo- nial and Revolutionary struggles. The former family is a very ancient one. and is traced through more than thirty con- secutive generations for a thousand years, from Rolf. the Scandinavian warrior, who married Gisela, the daughter of the King of France. It was Massachusetts Pilgrim stock early in the seventeenth century, and has made Central New Jersey its headquarters for about a quarter of a mil- lennium.
Lewis V. F. Randolph came to Plain- field at the age of six, with his parents, and has been a resident of Plainfield dur- ing the greater part of his life. Learning to read at the age of four, he continued of studious habit ever afterward. His edu- cation was chiefly at Mauriac Academy in Plainfield. At the age of thirteen he was well prepared to enter college, was a well- grounded grammarian, a good scholar in French and had acquired somewhat of Spanish. In Latin he had read Cæsar, Virgil and Horace. In Greek he had stud- ied grammar and composition and had read Zenophon. In ancient and modern history he stood well, and had excelled in geography, arithmetic, algebra, geometry and physics-or, as it was then called, natural philosophy. He knew by heart many of the world's more famous poems and orations, and took a leading part in public exhibitions of school elocution.
His father died, after a brief illness, at the age of forty-one, when Lewis was but ten. The father was a poet and teacher, and also a manufacturer. He inherited his name from his mother's father, Enoch Manning, a Revolutionary soldier, and brother of the first president of Rhode Island College, afterwards Brown Uni- versity. Enoch's father's father, Captain Joseph Fitz Randolph, was also a Revo-
lutionary hero. Enoch lived a devoted Christian life, but he left little to his fam- ily except his good name. His fortune had been swept away in the tariff troubles of about 1840.
Lewis went from the academy to earn a living for his mother and sisters. He was the oldest child and the only son. In his earliest days he was in frail and deli- cate health. He had no difficulty in his youth, or afterwards, in finding work. During a life of about four score of years, every position he has occupied has come to him without his going after it. Each position he has filled with entire efficiency and success. For three years he was a mercantile clerk. Though as yet a mere boy, he both studied and taught at odd times. He taught a grammar class for some years in the evening-all the pupils being mechanics and clerks older than himself. He helped to organize a literary society whose continued usefulness ex- tended over a period of eighteen years. Before he was sixteen he taught a Bible class in a Sunday school, and continued in charge of it for nineteen years, retiring only when changing his place of resi- dence-the class having then a member- ship of sixty. He had joined the Baptist church before leaving the Mauriac Acad- emy. In his youth he was active in liter- ary matters. He wrote much for news- papers and magazines, and published a cantata which was acceptably performed. He moved with his mother and sisters from Plainfield to Newark meanwhile, and remained there until after marriage.
From mercantile service he went to bank service. In 1854 he took a place in the American Exchange Bank in New York, finding the increased compensation a welcome means of family comfort. Each year found him advancing in responsi- bility and income. Early in 1863, with his mother's blessing, he enlisted as a
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RESIDENCE OF LA. V. F. RANDOLPH, PLAINFIELD, N. J.
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private soldier in the Union army. It was at the darkest hour of the country's peril, when the Confederate army was invading Pennsylvania, and a little while before the battle of Gettysburg. He was twice promoted, and, after the emergency cam- paign of 1863, he was honorably mustered out as a sergeant, being at the time ill of a tedious fever contracted at the end of his government service. In later life he was commander of a Grand Army post.
The year 1864 saw him improved in health and back in the employment of the American Exchange Bank, and passing from it, with the cordial recommendation of the president, to the service of the Illi- nois Central Railroad Company. He had become an expert accountant, and as such he took up a difficult problem for the rail- road. Having solved it, he was invited to take a responsible place in the money department of the company in Chicago. It was a period when a great volume of State bank currency was in circulation, and Mr. Randolph was an expert in cur- rency and counterfeits. On returning to the East for a brief vacation. he was un- expectedly impressed into the service of the New York office of his company, in connection with another emergency, and was made private secretary to the presi- dent, then W. H. Osborn. Later his re- sponsibilities were increased and he was appointed assistant treasurer. The treas- urer was in failing health, and Mr. Ran- dolph discharged the duties of the treas- urership for many years. In 1875 he was elected treasurer by the board. He was the youngest treasurer the company ever had. In the meantime he had been elected to the directorship, in 1873, and for a long period he took an active part in directing the policy of the railroad. Those were the conservative and prosperous years of the Illinois Central railroad, when the concern earned from eight to ten per cent. for its shareholders, charged construction
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