USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume III > Part 22
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Thomas fell out with Penn because the great proprietor failed to reward him for writing his glowing book, with the office
of collector of quit-rents for New Castle county, Pennsylvania. By 1706 Thomas was back in America, settling on a farm at Prime Hook Neck, in the present State of Delaware. He died in December, 1714. Original copies of the "Account" are valued at a high figure. The most recent reprint is that of the Scribners in "Narra- tives of Early Pennsylvania, West Jersey and Delaware," published in 1912, and edited by Albert Cook Myers. J. F. F.
KENNEDY, Archibald, Revolutionary Soldier.
Archibald Kennedy, who after the death of Peter Schuyler, his father-in- law, became possessed of Petersborough, on the Passaic, opposite Newark, had a New York house at I Broadway. Just before the Revolutionary War he appar- ently left his town house to remain in New Jersey. Petersborough became known as Kennedy's Farms. Kennedy was suspected of being in sympathy with the British and was, in 1778, ordered to remove to Sussex county. Later he was permitted to return to his estate. He had been a captain in the royal navy, but in 1765 was relieved of his command for re- fusing to take stamped paper on his frigate.
His New York home is said to have been "one of the finest houses in the city, being a spacious two-story-and-attic building, with the entrance in the middle and two windows on each side of it, the frontage on Broadway being fifty-six feet." This mansion escaped the fire of 1776. It was occupied during the war by Mrs. Long, who kept a boarding house. After the Revolution, Isaac Sears, a mer- chant, popularly known as "King" Sears, occupied the house. About 1789 the man- sion was rented for a time to Don Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish representative
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in the United States. In 1790 it became a fashionable boarding school for young women, the school being conducted by Mrs. Graham. Later it became the resi- dence of Nathaniel Prime, and still later was converted into the Washington Ho- tel. It finally was demolished and the present Washington building was erected on the site.
Regarding the home of Colonel Peter · Schuyler, Petersborough, across the Pas- saic from New York, the book, "Land Titles in Hudson County," by the late Charles H. Winfield, gives this important information :
A part of the Sandford tract, which I take to be the farm and meadow named in Sarah Sand- ford's will, was purchased by Colonel Peter Schuyler, and thenceforth called Petersborough. By his will, dated March 21, 1761, proved May 28, 1762, Schuyler gave it to his only child, Cath- erine, wife of Archibald Kennedy, Earl of Cas- selis.
Kennedy and wife conveyed to James Duane June 13, 1765, the farm on New Barbadoes Neck (Petersborough), also two tracts near Secaucus, between the line of the Bergen lots and Pin- horne's creek and Cromkill, also Colonel Schuy- ler's interest in the commons (?) in trust for themselves. Duane reconveyed to them and to the survivor, June 15, 1765. The earl outlived his wife, and by will dated January 19, 1794, left his property in America to his sons, John and Robert.
I do not know how the interest of John passed to Robert, but in 1803 he sold the tract, where East Newark now is, to William Halsey. It was then a part of what was known as "Kennedy's Farm." In 1804 the name was changed to Lodi. Halsey laid out a part of his purchase into ninety building lots, of at least one acre each.
The site of Petersborough, the home of Colonel Peter Schuyler, was doubtless about opposite a point between Gouver- neur street and Fourth avenue. It was very near, if not actually on the spot. where the Kearny Thread Mills stand. There is in the "New Jersey Archives" an advertisement of a plot for sale, copied from the "New York Mercury" of May I,
1769, that would seem to locate quite accurately the site of Colonel Peter's place. The ploi of land advertised is said to be "lying on the banks of the Passaick about one mile from the church at New- ark," and that it "commands a most ex- tensive view of the river, and overlooks Captain Kennedy's farm, garden and deer park at Petersborough, to which it is opposite."
That Captain Archibald Kennedy's farm once belonged to Peter Schuyler is obvious, when it is remembered that Ken- nedy married Schuyler's only daughter, and through her acquired Petersborough. Oddly enough, the same issue of "The Mercury" contains the announcement of the marriage of Kennedy to Nancy Watts, his second wife. Through the Watts family the Kearnys became possessed of this estate, and General Philip Kearny in time came to occupy the land of Colonel Peter Schuyler. Kearny Castle still stands, but Petersborough is gone for- ever. The ground on which at present stands the Kearny castle in Kearny was a part of the Petersborough land.
It is all plain enough when the records are examined. Schuyler's daughter Cath- erine married Archibald Kennedy, and the place became known as Kennedy's Farms. After her death, Kennedy mar- ried Miss Nancy Watts, of New York. The estate passed to the families of Watts and Kearny, and was last occupied by J. Watts Kearny, son of General Philip Kearny.
During the Revolutionary War, Cap- tain Kennedy, who was on half-pay in the British army, was placed by the Americans on parole. Attorney-General (afterward Governor) William Patterson seems to have been suspicious of the cap- tain. He wrote October 18, 1777, to Gov- ernor William Livingston a letter in which he said: "The well-affected in
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Newark are very uneasy about a certain Captain Kennedy who was laid under parole by the late convention. The un- easiness increases owing to the enemy's having a few days ago driven seventy or eighty head of fat cattle from his farm."
The site of Peter Schuyler's house, Petersborough, has been wrongly located by many writers, and sometimes confused with that of Colonel John Schuyler, lying opposite the mouth of Second River. The house of John is still standing, a hand- some colonial mansion, but that of Peter has long since disappeared.
The "New York Mercury" of Decem- ber 6, 1762, contained this advertisement : "To be sold at public vendue, on Monday the 13th inst, A lot of land, in Newark, lately belonging to James Still, lying for 8 acres, be the same more or less, whereon is a stone dwelling-house, situate very pleasantly on Passaick River, nearly op- posite the dwelling-house of the late Col. Peter Schuyler, deceased, which is com- modious either for a private gentleman, for a merchant, or for ship-building."
Schuyler died March 7, 1762.
J. F. F.
STEWART, Charles,
Revolutionary Colonel.
Colonel Charles Stewart was born at Gortlea, County Donegal, Ireland. His grandfather, Charles Stewart, was a Scotchman and an officer in the army of William of Orange. The grandson came to America in 1750 and settled in Hun- terdon county. He married a daughter of Judge Samuel Johnson. During and after the Revolution he resided at Union Farm, subsequently called Landsdown, near Flemington. At Stewart's home in Landsdown during 1796 died his friend. General William Maxwell, while on a visit there. Stewart died June 24, 1800,
and is buried at Bethlehem, Hunterdon county. A tablet to his memory there bears an epitaph by his friend, Chief Jus- tice Smith.
Stewart, who had been a member of the First Provincial Congress of New Jersey, was colonel of New Jersey's first regiment of minute-men. In 1776 he be- came a member of Washington's staff as quartermaster, or commissary-general, and held that office until the close of the war. He was a member of Congress in 1784-1785. It is said that Colonel Stew- art was a spare man of medium height. His blue eyes were sharp, but they could be kindly. His firmness is remembered. His portrait by Peale is preserved by his descendants.
Union Farm was located a few miles from what to-day is High Bridge. The name seems to have arisen from the fact that in 1742 William Allen and Joseph Turner, forming a union in a business enterprise, had bought the land for the purpose of establishing a great iron works. In 1771 the first partition was made of the ten thousand acres they had jointly owned. William Allen died in 1780, and his widow leased Union farm to Colonel Charles Stewart, who remained there some fifteen years.
Tradition persistently has claimed that during the Revolution a detachment of the American army lay encamped at Two Bridges, now Fairfield, but until recently there has been an absence of documentary evidence for the story. A recently dis- covered letter written at Two Bridges by Colonel Charles Stewart, quartermaster- general of the American army, confirms the tradition. This letter has been ac- quired by the New Jersey Historical So- ciety.
The camp was located on the extreme southeastern point of Morris county, which wedges itself between the Passaic
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and the Pompton rivers. The tourist at this place may pass from Essex to Morris county by a bridge over the Passaic, and then pass at once to Passaic county by the bridge that spans the Pompton. Here meet two rivers and three counties. On the point in Morris county stands the stately Post mansion, erected during the last decade of the eighteenth century by Thomas Dey, a son of Theunis Dey, who owned the house in Lower Preakness oc- cupied by Washington as his headquar- ters. Some Post married a Dey, and thenceforth the Posts occupied the man- sion at Two Bridges. Cornelius Post, who died at the age of eighty-five years, September 30, 1905, used to relate many traditions about the American troops en- camped at the point. He used to show where the camp was located near the fish- slank west of the house, and point out the spot where stood Derrick Dey's tav- ern in which Washington, Lafayette and other officers were at times entertained.
The recently discovered document is a letter written by Colonel Stewart to Dep- uty Quartermaster Moore Furman, of Trenton. It is dated Two Bridges, Octo- ber 13, 1780. The army was encamped along the north side of the Passaic from Two Bridges to Totowa. Washington was at Lower Preakness. Later, Novem- ber 27, the army moved to Morristown for winter quarters. The letter throws light upon camp life and incidentally comments upon the baseness of Arnold, recently turned traitor. Thus it begins :
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DEAR SIR :- Your favor of the 6th Instant came to hand last night, it had been carried as far as Robinson's house, Gen'l Arnold's former quarters near West Point, this brings that son of iniquity again in our way, indeed he is in the thoughts of everybody belonging to the army. No doubt be- fore this his address has come to your hands, 'tis said to be a performance of William Smith's and from the religious strokes in it perhaps it is. Andre's fate was supported by him with every
mark of firmness & personal resolution. It is a pity he went that way, but he assured General Clinton had it in his power to save him by giving up Arnold, but he would not take the hint and concluded we dare not execute Andre. He mis- took.
Flour has come on pretty briskly for a few days and we have now at least a week's supply on hand. My letters from Philadl. inform that much is expected before winter and I hope it will be got along to camp. Harassed and distressed as Jersey has really been beyond the sufferings of any other State, yet I expect if the food was col- lected and over on the East side of Delaware it would be forwarded somehow to the Army.
Stewart's letter goes on with comments on camp affairs. "It gives me pleasure," he says, "that you continue your friendly advice and aid to Colonel Neilson. Timo- thy find it not a little troublesome to keep things agoing in Camp, perhaps he re- forms too fast, some say he does. The army are already soured, old Dr. Craig says 'it won't do for them folks to squeeze too hard, it wont do.' I think the Doctor generally hitts the mark pretty right. We hear Gen'l Gates is recalled G. Green will go in his place. He will find it trouble- some work but will make it do
"I mean Morris Town as a post of as much consequence for the winter as the situation of our army will admit, and I hope winter quarters will permit a large Magazine to be collected. I agree with you that it is hard to ask the Southern Waggons to come here and will do every- thing in my power to prevent it, as soon as the roads get broke, and our supplys at Camp are so regular as to admit of any being dropt at Morris Town.
"As I always had satisfaction in doing business with you and never was dis- appointed in your exertions for our sup- port, it cannot but give me pleasure to hear from you as often as you can drop me a line, and you may be assured in my troubling you with a note frequently. I am, with great regard, your obed' servant,
CHARLES STEWART.
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Some of the allusions in Stewart's let- DECKER, Caton L.,
ter to men and events will be clearer after a word or two of explanation. The American army broke camp at Tappan on October 7, 1780, and moved "to the country in the neighborhood of Passaic Falls." The forage about Tappan had been exhausted and the new site was ex- pected to yield a sufficient supply. The army encamped along the Passaic Val- ley from Two Bridges to Totowa, now Paterson.
Washington made his headquarters at the Theunis Dey mansion, still standing in Lower Preakness. Some of the off- cers were quartered at Derrick Dey's tav- ern in Morris county, at Two Bridges, and nearby was the camp of the soldiers. Colonel Stewart appears to have made his headquarters at this place.
Colonel or "Doctor" Craig went to Morristown and chose the site for the winter camp, to which from the Passaic on November 27, the army moved. The Southern wagons bearing supplies found it a long journey to Two Bridges, and Stewart, as will be seen from his letter, hoped to arrange things so the wagon loads might be left at Morristown, which place was on the road the wagons took from the Delaware to the Passaic.
Moore Furman, the deputy quartermas- ter-general, whom Stewart so cordially commends for his services to the repub- lic, was a well-known resident of Tren- ton. His epitaph may be read under the porch of the Old First Presbyterian Church of Trenton. A book containing letters written by him during the Revolu- tion was published in 1912 by the Colo- nial Dames. A sketch of his life appears in volume i, on page 306, of this Cyclo- pedia. He died March 16, 1808.
J. F. F.
Public-Spirited Citizen.
The death of Caton L. Decker, which occurred at his late home at 117 William street, East Orange, New Jersey, April 7: 1913, deprived that city of one of its leading business men, who was a mer- chant and banker for many years, a man of excellent characteristics and manly qualities which endeared him to a wide circle of friends who estimated him at his true worth.
The name of Johannis Decker is men- tioned among those who settled in the town of Montgomery, Orange county, New York, between the years 1678 and 1778, and it is practically authenticated that he was either a son or grandson of Abraham Decker, the American progeni- tor, who came from Holland and settled in Copake, New York, about 1757. Ja- cob Decker, grandfather of the late Caton L. Decker, was a native of Orange coun- ty, New York, from whence he removed to Chemung county, same State, where he married Eunice Kelsey, according to tradition the first white child born in the town of Ashland, Chemung county, New York. born March 16, 1789, daughter of Abner Kelsey. Among their eight chil- dren, six sons and two daughters, was Harrison Decker, father of the late Caton L. Decker, born at Wellsburg, New York, May 5, 1820, died October 10, 1874. He was a well-known operator in the oil fields of Pennsylvania for many years, and a leading man in his community. He mar- ried Harriet Tubbs, daughter of Charles Tubbs, who was a lineal descendant of William Tubbs, of Duxbury, Massachu- setts, who was made a freeman of Plym- outh Colony in 1637, and in June of the same year was one of those who volun- teered for service in the expedition against the hostile Pequot Indians who were then
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committing serious depredations and otherwise proving a menace to the colo- nists. Mrs. Decker died in 1878. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Decker, as follows: Charles M., born in 1850, a leading merchant in East Orange ; Caton L., of whom further; Frank T., born in 1857; Annie, born in 1860; Guy, born in 1862; J. Frost, born in 1868.
Caton L. Decker was born at Wells- burg, Chemung county, New York, De- cember 16, 1854. He attended the schools of his native town, and being an attentive student acquired an excellent education. At an early age he began to earn his own livelihood, being employed in various oc- cupations. Later, in young manhood, in partnership with his brother, Charles M. Decker, he engaged in the grocery busi- ness in New York City, and shortly after- ward they purchased a grocery business in East Orange, formerly owned by Ben- jamin F. Cairnes, and under the style of Charles M. Decker & Brother conducted an extensive and profitable business. Both brothers were men of experience and in- tegrity, and these characteristics, com- bined with great sagacity and rare judg- ment, were active factors in the success which crowned their well-directed efforts. In due course of time the business be- came the largest of its kind in the entire State, they conducting branch stores in various towns, including all the Oranges, Montclair, Bloomfield and Morristown, and enjoying the patronage of the wealthi- est and most select residents of that sec- tion of New Jersey. Caton L. Decker de- voted the greater part of his time to the purchasing of the stock, making a care- ful study of the numerous articles handled in a first-class grocery establishment, and the success attained was ample proof that his judgment could be relied upon. All of their stores occupied good locations, being in the center of the business area. and their window display attracted im- mediate attention.
Caton L. Decker was also interested in other enterprises which had for their ob- ject the upbuilding of the Oranges. He was one of the founders of the People's National Bank of East Orange, and served as a director from its organization until his death. He took an active interest in the public institutions, schools and libra- ries, and contributed generously to the support of the North Orange Baptist Church, and of which his wife has been a member since the age of fourteen years. She has been active in the Sunday school and the various societies of the church, serving in the capacity of secretary of the Woman's Benevolent Society for twenty- five years, composed of the women, and her mother and grandmother were con- stituents of the church. Mrs. Decker has also been an active factor in the char- itable societies of her community.
Mr. Decker was of a kind and genial disposition, had a wide circle of close per- sonal friends and his counsel and advice were often sought. He derived his great- est enjoyment in his home, surrounded by his family to whom he was devotedly attached.
Mr. Decker married, in 1875, upon at- taining his majority, S. Alice Hoyt, born in Orange, New Jersey, daughter of George and Sarah Elizabeth (Taylor) Hoyt, a great-granddaughter of Daniel Hoyt, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and a descendant of old New England stock in many lines. Children: 1. Ed- mund Lockwood, married Margaret Gould; children: Jennette, Edmund, Margaret, Gould Caton. 2. Harriet, died at the age of three weeks. 3. Florence M., wife of Robert Albert Palmer, of New York City ; children: Robert Caton and Jean. 4. Harold Caton. 5. Ernest Guy, died at the age of nineteen years. 6. Alice Mable. 7. Blanche. 8. Reginald Harrison, married Aubrey Von Hoffe. 9. Dorothy. 10. Nelson.
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CHETWOOD, Dr. George R., Physician, Honored Citizen.
There is no profession or line of busi- ness that calls for greater self-sacrifice than the profession of medicine, and the successful physician is he who through love of his fellow-men gives his time and attention to the relief of human suffering. The late Dr. George R. Chetwood, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was one of the ablest representatives of his noble calling, although he had retired from it for some time prior to his death. His descent is from one of the old families of the State, and his grandfather, Judge John Chet- wood, was a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Dr. John Chetwood, son of Judge John Chetwood, was a well known physician in Elizabeth, and died in 1837 of the cholera.
Dr. George R. Chetwood, son of Dr. John Chetwood, was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in May, 1802, and died there. After a suitable preparatory education, he matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Philadelphia, and was graduated from this institution with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For a con- siderable period of time he was an in- structor in the institution from which he had been graduated, then took up the practice of his profession in Elizabeth. Subsequently he removed to New York City, practiced there ten years, then re- turned to Elizabeth. His practice was a large and lucrative one, and after his re- tirement from it he spent much time in travel. He visited Europe a number of times, and also traveled considerably in this country, during all these journeys writing very interestingly of his impres- sions by the way. For many years he served as a director of the First National Bank of Elizabeth, with which institu-
tion various other members of his family had been connected, one of his brothers being at one time president. He was an ardent supporter of the Republican party, active in political affairs and served as State Senator.
Dr. Chetwood married (first) Anna, a daughter of General Dayton, of Eliza- beth, but had no children by this mar- riage. He married (second) in 1878, Blanche Grapain De Sansteree, born in Paris, France, a daughter of Charles Gra- pain De Sansteree, and a relative of Maria Theresa, and who assisted Napoleon with a loan of fifteen million dollars in order that he might carry on his campaign. Children : George L., a resident of New- ark; Blanche Emilie Marie, deceased.
HEDDEN, Clarence M.,
Manufacturer, Enterprising Citizen,
The history of the great business under- takings of modern times is still to be writ- ten, for as yet it is an unopened book. When the romance enveloping commer- cial enterprise shall be told in language intelligible to the people, then shall it be known that many a Waterloo has been fought, lost and won, within the four walls of an office, just over the wire, with no other means than the scratch of a pen, a mere word, but backed by a will, a brain. With modern methods, discoveries and inventions, business has place only for those who combine the capacities of both the general and the diplomat, and these qualities were united in full measure in the person of the late Clarence Myers Hedden, of Newark, New Jersey. In his business undertakings, Mr. Hedden dis- played those qualities which had made of his ancestors the devoted patriots who added prestige to the ancient name of the family, to which it is necessary to give brief mention.
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The name of Hedden, Hodden and Hod- don is of ancient origin, and has many cor- ruptions, such as Headen, Hedde, Hedin, Headden and Heady. It is a distinctly English name, although it is also met with in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The armorial bearings betray the fact that members of the family were participants in the Crusades. Coat-of-arms-Quarterly first and fourth argent, a saltire engraved sable. Second, argent a saltire engraved between four roses gules. Third, or, a bend chequy argent and sable. In the center over the quarterings is a crescent argent. Crest-An eagle erased or. Motto -Suffer.
Jared, or Gerard, Hadden, was born about 1608, and was the first of this fam- ily to come to America. He probably came in the fleet with Winthrop, as he is among the first hundred men admitted from the Boston church prior to the ar- rival of other freemen in May, 1634. In 1632 he settled at Cambridge, where he was made a freeman. He was a tailor and planter ; was a proprietor of Salis- bury, Massachusetts, in 1640, receiving land in the first division, and was of those who removed to the west side of the Powow four years later. He was a com- moner, and taxed in 1650; was one of the first settlers in Amesbury, 1654-55, where he received land, 1654-64 ; received a seat in the meeting house, 1667, but was a member of the Salisbury church, 1677-87. He received "children's land" in Ames- bury for his daughter in 1659, and a "township" for one daughter in 1660. In 1680 he was a selectman. His death oc- curred at Amesbury in 1689; his will, dated January 20, 1686-87, was proved March 20, 1689-90, and mentions his daughters, Mary and Sarah, and their children, and Elizabeth Huntington and Ensign John Weed, of Amesbury. He married Margaret -- , who died March
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