Notes on old Gloucester County, New Jersey, Volume I, Part 4

Author: Stewart, Frank H., 1873-1948, ed; New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania; Gloucester County (N.J.). Freeholders board; Gloucester County Historical Society (N.J.); Mickle, Samuel, 1746-1830; Archut, Raymond
Publication date: 1917-
Publisher: [Camden] New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania
Number of Pages: 362


USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > Notes on old Gloucester County, New Jersey, Volume I > Part 4


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"So the Justices and assessors and freeholders Doe order thirty pounds to be rased for the needs of the poor.


JOHN SOMERS, Chairman.


JAMES SOMERS SAMUEL RISLEY JOHN SOMERS FREDERICK STEELMAN THOMAS CHAMPAN."


March II, 1777, at a Town meeting held at Great Egg Harbor, County of Gloucester, the "following of- ficers are chosen:"


Freeholders


FREDERICK STEELMAN JOHN SOMERS, JUNER.


* By FRANK H. STEWART.


56


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


Surveyors of Roads


JOSEPH MAPES RECOMPENSE SCULL


Assessor


ELIAS SMITH


Collector


JOSEPH DOLE


Overseers of


ALEXANDER FISH


the Poor


THOMAS CHAMPAN


JOHN SCULL


Overseers of


JOSEPH SCULL


the Roads


JAMES STEELMAN


JOHN SOMERS, SR.


Inspectors


JAMES SOMERS


SAM'L RISLEY


Constables


JOHN ADDAMS


DANIEL STEELMAN


Town Clerk


SAMUEL RISLEY


In 1778 John Somers and Noah Smith were free- holders; Joseph Mapes, Recompense Scull, surveyors ; Elias Smith, assessor; John Scull, Joseph Scull, James Steelman, overseers of roads; Thomas Chamberlin, col- lector.


John Conenover and Thomas Thompson, overseers of the poor; John Somers, Jr., John Somers, Sr., Sanıl. Risley, commissioners of appeal.


No record of new township officers appears until the year 1783, when a full list is again recorded. It is evi- dent that during the Revolution township business lagged here, as elsewhere.


Jan'y 8, 1779, 150 pounds was to be raised for the use of the overseers of the poor of the township.


From 1775 to 1785 are records of the following named children who were placed as apprentices :


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 57


Apprentices


Masters.


ENOCH INSELL


DAVID SAYRS 1775


ISAAC SCULL


ABEL SCULL 1786


JOSHUA LAKE


JOSEPH INGERSOLL 1786


HANNAH ADAMS


DAVID SOMERS 1785


RICHARD MAPS


JAMES DEAL 1784


ENOCH SHAW


LEMUEL GARRISON 1785


SAMUEL HEX


JAMES ROBART 1785


BENJAMIN HOFMAN


PETER FRAMBES 1785


SULVANUS HOFMAN


ANDREW FRAMBES 1785


A foot note says these indentures may be seen at Jas. Steelman at Stevens Creek.


From 1789 to 1792 the names of the following ap- pear :


THOMAS CAMPBELL


WILLIAM READ


ANDREW BLACKMAN


ANDREW GODFREY


JAPHET IRELAND


DANIEL TILTON


THOMAS DOUGHTY


ELIAS SMITH


JONATHON RISLEY


JOSHUA SMITH


JOSEPH PLUMMER


JOHN ENGARSOL


JAMES BELANGIE


JONATHON BADCOCK


JOHN JEFFRIES


DAVID SAYRS


JOHN STUARD


THOS. CARTWRIGHT


DANIEL LAKE


JOSEPH ENGLISH


DANIEL BENEZET, JR.


DANIEL STEELMAN


THOMAS SOMEOR


RICHARD SOMERS and


DANIEL LEEDS


SOPHIA his wife


SAMUEL RISLEY and


RICHARD WESCOAT


JUDITH his wife


SAMUEL ENGLISH


JOHN WINNER


ARTHUR SELLERS


MARK SCULL


JONATHON JOHNSON


DAVID SCULL, SENR.


JAMES WEEMS


NOAH SMITH


SARAH SCULL


RETURN BADCOCK


MARY COVENOVER


SARAH STEELMAN


JAMES NELSON 4


5


58


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


RICHARD PRICE


JOSEPH BLACKWOOD


JOHN STEWART, JR. TIMOTHY BANDREF


JOHN STEWART, SR.


NATH. SIPPLE


WILLIAM BEASTON


ELIJAH BARRET


JAMES JEFFRYAS


JOSEPH SAWENS


JEREMIAH SMITH


THOMAS POWNERS


From a few pages of indemnifying bonds concern- ing the poor children of Great Egg Harbor twp., we are able to record the overseers of the poor, also the bonds- men :


Overseers


Bondsmen


Feby 1772 HUGH MCCOLLUM AMOS IRELAND


EDWARD HIGBEE EVE SMITH


-


July


1772 DAVID SAYRS


ANDREW CARSON


JACOB SOMERS


AMOS IRELAND


ISAAC SCULL JOHN AARONS


ABNER DOUGHTY


1774 JOHN INGERSOLL JOSEPH SCULL


DAVID SAYRS


LEMUEL SAYRS


1776 SAMUEL RISLEY JAMES STEELMAN


GIDEON BADCOCK RETURN BADCOCK


Throughout the book, which is very dilapidated, are several entries regarding stray hogs and cattle.


The reversed rear part of the township book, to the number of about one hundred pages, is filled with copies of Apprenticeship papers carefully made out by the over- seers of the poor. The first thirty pages are missing, so that the first of these records now begins in the year 1779 and the last in 1832.


59


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


The apprentices, as a usual thing, were to be taught to read and write, and in some instances arithmetic as far as the single rule of three.


The amount of wearing material due at the expira- tion of the contract was always carefully specified, and it is noticeable as time progressed that the expiration terms became more favorable for the apprentice. In the later years a suit of broadcloth, a cow or a heifer was not un- common.


The principal businesses to be learned were black- smithing, wheel-wrighting, seamanship, husbandry, house- work, spinning.


Inn and Tavern Licenses'


In the ancient records of Gloucester County fre- quent mention is made of road-side taverns. The license applications showing the signatures of hundreds of the best known men of their times were examined, and I copied the application of the Queen of all, Ann Risley, whose tavern was known far and wide for its generous and gracious hospitality. The fish, clams, oysters and crabs of Little Egg Harbour Bay and its tributaries, not to say anything of the sugar, molasses and rum from the West Indies made the tavern of Ann Risley known all over the province. Ann was just as famous in 1770 as the multi-millionaire hotel owners of Atlantic City are to-day, and it would be a safe bet to make that her meals were just as good. Some one should erect a monument on the site of Ann Risley's tavern. Year after year her license was renewed. On April 10, 1770, Edward Bowen and David Scull were her bondsmen for twenty pounds each, and her application for this year is copied in full.


To the Honourable Bench of the Justices As- sembled at Gloucester.


Most Honourable Bench


The humble petition of Ann Risley, Widow of Great Egg Harbour Township, Gloucester County in the Province of West New Jersey Humbly shew- eth that your petitioner having kept tavern near Abesekom Bridge in the said township for several years past hath thought proper to acquaint your honours that she hath built her an house with stab- ling and other conveniences for the entertainment of travellers thereby doth humbly entreat your Honours to grant her a license to continue the same, it being a suitable stage, there being no other within


* By FRANK H. STEWART.


62


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


ten miles and in vindication of the truth of this likewise of her character several of the principal in- habitants of said province have thought proper to set their hands hereunto. Your Honours taking the same into consideration will oblige your petitioner to ever pray.


ANN RISLEY.


ROBERT MORSS


JOHN INGERSOL


OBADIAH REID


JOHN LEEDS


JOHN SOMERS


FELIX LEEDS


FREDERICK STEELMAN


HENRY SMITH


JOHN KAID or REID?


DANIEL LEEDS


GEORGE PAYNE


NEHEMIAH LEEDS


JOSEPH COVENOVER


RICHARD COLLINS


BENJAMIN BRUSH


JOHN SOMERS


BURNET RICHARDS


JOHN COVENOVER, JUN'R


RICHARD WESTCOT


RICHARD SOMERS


ABNER DOUGHTY


MICAJAH SMITH


LEVI GENSLY ?


DANIEL SMITH


THOMAS CHAMBERLAIN


HUGH MCCOLLOM


James Steelman also kept a place of entertainment in his house in the lower end of Gloucester Co. (now At- lantic) for several years. His application for a license for the year 1770 was signed by


RECOMPENSE SCULL ELISHA SMITH


FREDERICK STEELMAN NEHEMIAH LEEDS


JOSEPH INGERSOL CHRISTOPHER LUCAS


RICHARD SOMERS


DANIEL LAKE


Archibald Moffett, later a Captain of Militia during the Revolution, and the owner of a fleet of boats carrying merchandise from Carpenter's Landing to Philadelphia, via Mantua Creek, and at his death the most extensive land owner in Gloucester County and the ancestor of over five hundred living descendants, including a couple


63


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


of our own members, kept a licensed tavern at his house in Greenwich Township. His 1770 license application is signed by


SAMUEL SHIVERS JOHN WEST ?


MICHAELL FISHER, JUN'R Jo HUGG


JOHN BARNES


WILLIAM TOMLIN


RESTORE ESTLACK


S. BLACKWOOD


During the War of 1812, when 82 years old, his house was used as a recruiting station by the U. S.


His bond dated June 19, 1770, is signed by Daniel Cozens and Jo Hugg.


Mary Hutchinson was also granted a license to keep a tavern at the house where she lived in Woolwich town- ship. Her application was signed by


JOHN MAYHEW ABRAHAM NELSON


WILLIAM MORGAN


BODO OTTO


STANFORD MAYHEW


MATTHEW NIEWKIRK


JACOB ELWELL ISAAC FLANNINGHAM


DAVID DUBOIS ISAAC ALBERTSON


MICHAEL RICHMAN S. BLACKWOOD


Her bondsmen were James Budd and Thomas West.


Joseph Tatem was also an Inn keeper, and he was granted a license for his house in Deptford Township in 1767. Those who signed his application were :


JAMES WARD SAMUEL FLANNINGHAM


JOHN SPARKS*


JOSEPH WARD


ISAAC BALLENGER


BENJAMAN RAMBO


WILLIAM HARRISON LUKE GIBSON


CALEB BEEKHAM ABRAHAM CHATTIN ?


SAMUEL PERCE


SIMON SPARKS


JAMES BROWN JOHN DUELL


WILLIAM FLANNINGHAM JONATHON MORGAN'


* Ancestor of Chairman of our Membership Committee. ** Ancestor of our Historian.


Slavery in Old Gloucester *


Slavery existed here as elsewhere in New Jersey, but there is plenty of evidence to show that many of the slave owners were opposed to it.


In a dilapidated book in the basement vault of the Gloucester County Court House, at Woodbury, is a rec- ord of a few of the slaves who were freed.


According to this book it was somewhat of a for- mality to free a slave. The owner would appear with the slave before two of the overseers of the township and two of the Justices of the Peace, who would ex- amine the slave for soundness of mind and body and age, to determine capacity for self support. The names of most of the slaves were fanciful or Biblical, such as Ishmael, Levi, Jeremiah, Aaron, Roger, Tab, Flora, Violet, Rintha, Phillis, Boston, Coffee, Tabby, etc., etc.


There were a few slaves in New Jersey at the out- break of the Civil War, and it is not unlikely that some of them were owned in the confines of Old Gloucester.


The first record in the Manumission Book is John Gill, Sr., who freed a slave on Nov. 23, 1787.


Joseph Hugg, March 26, 1788.


Lize Smith late Price, widow of Robert Friend Price,


- Esq., Blanche Price, Hannah Albert late Price and Mary Price, freed a slave May 24, 1788.


Hannah Wilkins, late Hannah Matlack, widow of Joseph, freed one on Dec. 7, 1789.


Amy Hunter, Jan'y 6, 1791.


Hugh Creighton, Apr. 18, 1791.


David Cooper and Samuel Allinson, on Dec. 27, 1774 freed a negro woman named Catherine, and her five children born on various dates ranging from 1758 to 1772.


* By FRANK H. STEWART.


66


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


The following persons also set slaves free on the dates mentioned :


Joseph Bates, Aug. 12, 1791.


Joseph Hugg and Elizabeth Hugg, Dec. 1, 1789.


Susannah Taylor, Oct. 22, 1789.


James Hurley, Jan. 3, 1782.


John Gill, May 31, 1792.


Jacob Stokes, May 31, 1792.


Edward Gibbs, Aug. 30, 1792.


Marmaduke Cooper, Dec. 17, 1792.


Joseph Hugg, July 16, 1793.


David Davis and Rachel his wife, March 25, 1794. Thomas Wilkins, June 9, 1794.


Joseph Cooper, Dec. 15, 1796.


Elizabeth Room and Barzilla Room, July 17, 1795. William Eldredge, July 29, 1791.


Susannah Taylor, Oct. 11, 1791.


Thomas Carpenter, March 2, 1792.


Thomas Clark, July 4, 1800.


Joseph Hugg, Esq., Apr. 4, 1800.


Abigail Ellis, John Blackwood and Samuel Ellis, Administrators of the estate of Joseph Ellis, dec'd Aug. 20, 180I.


Henry Roe, Aug. 14, 1801


Elisha Clark, June 20, 1802.


Isaac Mickle, April 14, 1803.


James B. Caldwell and Solomon Combs, Dec. 3, 1803.


Elisha Clark, acting Execr. of Elijah Clark, Dec'd, Dec. 6, 1802.


Randall Sparks, Execr. of John Sparks, Esq., Dec'd Mar. 30, 1804.


Samuel W. Harrison, Sept. 8, 1804.


Joseph Hugg and Elizabeth Hugg, Dec. 1, 1790.


James Stratton, June 23, 1806.


John and Jacob Stokes, Execrs. of Jacob Stokes, May 14, 1805.


67


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


Beulah Graisebury, widow of James, Oct. 3, 1807.


Abigail Stokes, widow of Jacob, Oct. 3, 1807. James Hurley, Dec. 24, 1807. Henry Wood, Nov. 18, 1807.


John Browning, June 3, 1809.


Wm. Hugg, Aug. 4, 1812.


Stuard Beatty, Sept. 28, 1812.


The slave record book is apparently very incomplete because it will be noticed that some of the freedom papers were not recorded until several years after they were granted. Any one interested in the question of slavery should search the unrecorded papers that number thou- sands and are stowed away in fifty large boxes in the Court House Building, covering a period of over two hundred years.


1.8 Miles


Salem


MILESTONE ON KING'S HIGHWAY


FROM A PHOTO BY REV. EDGAR CAMPBELL


"The King's Highway"*


About 1681 the General Assembly at Burlington passed an act to survey and set forth a public highway between Amboy and Burlington and thence to Salem, along the Indian trail through the primeval forest. This was destined to become a very important highway, as it was laid six rods, or about one hundred feet wide, and connected the capitals of East and West Jersey, Amboy and Burlington, and long before the advent of railroads it was a much traveled thorofare between New York and Philadelphia. When my father, Amos J. Peaslee, was a boy, he lived near Bordentown (1825) and enjoyed going to that place to see the stage coaches arrive from New York and transfer passengers to boats for Phila- delphia. From Burlington, the Highway was laid through Mt. Holly, Moorestown, Haddonfield, passing near the home of Elizabeth Haddon, for whom the place was named, thence on to Timber creek, which it crossed on a bridge a little further up stream than the present structure, thence through Westville on to Woodbury, crossing that creek a little below Broad street, near the home of ex-Surrogate Livermore, on through Woodbury -diverging a little from Broad street. At the south end of the town it passed over line of present road to Mantua, until near the toll-gate, where it took south- westerly course by way of Parkville Station to Mantua Creek-crossing the same beside the present bridge. John Pierson, born 1805, who lived to be a little over one hundred years old, told the writer he had traveled the old road when a boy, with his father. The road was straightened to its present course in 1812. In doing so,


* By GIDEON PEASLEF.


70


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


they desired to locate the bridge over Mantua Creek a little further down stream, to make the route more di- rect from Mantua Grove to Mount Royal, or Berkley, or Sandtown, as it was then called, but found it so difficult to secure a proper foundation, they erected the new bridge beside the old structure, so the depression on the east of the present roadway and immediately beside it marks the line of the "King's Highway." After crossing Mantua Creek and looking to the northwest, about one half mile distance, on the old Tatum, now Jacob Nolte, farm can be seen, according to a Pennsylvania botanist, the largest oak tree within one hundred and fifty miles of Philadelphia. Measurement in 1905-six feet from the ground-a circumference of twenty-five feet two inches, height ninety feet, spread of branches one hundred and sixteen feet ; near this tree the great emancipator first saw light. An account of his life states that father Tatum fixed up an old hen house for a temporary dwelling for his daughter-located near the Great Oak, as it was then called-and in it Isaac Tatum Hopper was born in the year 1770. Passing through Mount Royal, in which place is an old graveyard, neatly enclosed by wall, which belongs to the Episcopal Church-in 1770 a church was erected here where the congregation worshiped until the present house in Clarksboro was built. One Thomas Clark, was a very prominent member of the old con- gregation. Passing through Mount Royal, where the railroad to Salem intersects the stone road, stands an old stone dwelling that in those days was used for a hotel, which they called "The Death of the Fox." A fox was once killed in a clump of bushes just south of the building, where the sportsmen in those days sallied forth astride a horse, accompanied by a dog and gun, in quest of the wary animal. Who first reached the victim and secured the coveted brush, with which he decorated his hat, hastened to the old Inn, where he was soon surrounded by his fellow hunters who assembled there


71


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


to lubricate their exhausted muscles and joints before disbanding from the chase.


The friends of "John Barleycorn" were no better prohibitionists then than they are now. In those days, was a well in the middle of the "Highway," with a road passing on either side of the pump, which brought forth very good water much used to refresh man and beast wearied from traveling the sandy roads then so prev- alent. A shed was attached to the north end of the hotel, under which was located a pump which drew water from the well through a pipe. When the gravel turn- pike was built, in 1852, the wooden pump was drawn out and a large stone capped the well. The writer re- members the old stick lying beside the road when he was a boy. Passing through Clarksboro the "Highway" was shaded at Mickleton with a fine large old oak- measured in 1912-circumference, six feet from ground, 17 feet 4 inches; height, 91 feet ; spread of branches, a little less than 100 feet-it was damaged by a leaky gas pipe and taken down in 1914. Nearby stands the old Friends' meeting, erected in 1798 in place of one located near Solomon's Graveyard, destroyed by fire. The pres- ent site was donated by Samuel Mickle and Samuel Ton- kin. From the gallery of the house the writer has heard William Haines give many good sermons. His son, William P. Haines, called the "fighting Quaker" be- cause he went with a New Jersey regiment to the Civil War, here delivered a very interesting address about the "old oak," which he published with a good picture of the old landmark. He spoke of the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania halting under its branches when riding to Salem on horse back. Cornwallis's men have rested here after their labor of burning the old Tonkin House, just below, so you see, the fine tree sheltered friend and foe under its branches. The home of Tonkin was in the south of Mickleton ; place now occupied by John C. Heri- tage. The fine old stone house is quite a historic build-


72


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


ing, having been burned twice. During the Revolution the farm was occupied by Bodo Otto. A member of his family was surgeon in charge of a hospital at Valley Forge. The house was burned either in the fall of 1777 or summer of 1778 by the British; it was burned by acci- dent some years later, and rebuilt in 1819.


Edward Tonkin, who succeeded his uncle, Samuel Tonkin, in the ownership of the farm, took great inter- est in and soon began to raise some exceptionally fine cattle. About 1835 we began to hear talk of two un- usually large and fine oxen. The "Big Cattle" were heralded far and wide-statesmen, governors, congress- men and persons of all classes came to view and admire them. An English nobleman passing through Philadel- phia came down to see them and told Mr. Tonkin he was interested in cattle raising in England, yet he had never seen any oxen to equal them. The old Salem mail stage often halted and gave the passengers fifteen or twenty minutes to look at them. It was not unusual to see six or eight carriages standing by the wayside while the occupants were admiring the cattle. One winter's Sunday, the sleighing being excellent, the visitors began to arrive early in the morning and continued in crowds the entire day; a member of the family kept an account ; the number was over 1,000. Mr. Tonkin employed an Englishman, Thomas Pacy, to take care of them. The currycomb and brush were used on them daily. An excavation was made in the ground about three feet deep, sloped at one end and roofed over; into this they were allowed to go, to be protected from the extreme heat of summer. In February, 1838, they were sold to a firm in Washington for the sum of $3,500. On the 24th of February, 1838, a huge box, built on four wagons, passed up the road, and every one living on the road for miles knew that the "Big Cattle" were to be taken away. This box was built by Messrs. Reeve, at Alloway, who took the measurements of the covered bridges-to insure the


73


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


passage through them. The hindermost wheels of the wagons were lowered somewhat, by excavating the ground, so as to lessen the incline of the bridge by which they were driven into the box. The box had a partition which was put in place when the first one had entered. Twenty horses and mules were used to haul them to Camden, where they arrived late in the afternoon, and found the tide so low they could not be put on the boat. This story was narrated by the late Daniel L. Pine, on April 13, 1903, in the writer's hearing: A pilot, then living, told him that Sunday morning, February 25, he saw them hauled to R. R. Ferry at the foot of Bridge Avenue, and placed on the steamer "State Rights," and landed at the foot of Walnut Street, Philadelphia. This was a boat especially constructed to carry the railroad passengers in the early days of the old Camden and Amboy R. R., and was the only ferry boat whose gang- way was wide enough to admit of two wagons abreast. Once in Philadelphia, the horses were taken away and the wagons moved by men grasping a rope after the old manner of handling fire engines. One was taken to Washington and slaughtered; the other, after being ex- hibited in several cities, was taken to New Orleans and killed. Their weights were 3,750 and 3,800 pounds.


Just below the Tonkin's farm the "Highway" took a southeasterly course to avoid Craft's Hill, passing by the places now occupied by John G. Roberts, Walter Heritage, back of Theodore Brown's, by the house of his grandfather, John Brown, on to Swedesboro, passing very near the home of former Governor Stratton -- crossing Raccoon Creek a little north of the present bridge-there are persons who believe it passed the oppo- site end of the old Episcopal Church-but I have been unable to find any record of such course ; passing through Swedesboro it took the Sharptown route on through that village, then to Salem.


Many large old oaks can be seen from this traveled


5


74


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


"Highway"; not the least of these was the fine old Monarch, still standing near the road's terminus in Friends' Graveyard, Salem, N. J. Measurements, by Joseph B. Livezey, in 1905, circumference at the earth, twenty-eight feet three inches; spread of branches, one hundred and eighteen feet four inches. There is much speculation as to the age of these old trees; the last one mentioned must have seemed very ancient to Robert J. Burdette, who told a whole audience in Salem the tree was four years older than the Atlantic Ocean, and no one seemed to question his authority for the statement.


Several old mile stones have been resurrected near Swedesboro and reset along the present road-marked respectively "18, 19, 20 miles to Coop's Fy. S.," at the top-bottom of the stone, "to Salem 1773." A portion of the distance indicated must have been measured on the "Kings Road," which started at Cooper's Ferry and intersected the "Highway" near Westville.


Many have heard the oft told romance said to have occurred along the Old Highway, between Park- ville R. R. Station and Mantua Creek. In Elizabeth Haddon's hospitable home many English Friends were entertained, who felt concerned to come to this coun- try on religious visits. Upon this important occasion, a company of Friends started from Haddonfield on horse- back to attend meeting in Salem. In passing through the ravine, which is still visible just south of Parkville Station, her saddle girth became loose (?) accidentally. She called upon John Estaugh, a young minister in the party, to adjust it. After the others had passed on and they were alone, she took the opportunity to tell him she believed the Lord had sent him to this country to be a life companion for her. It took the young man rather unawares. He told her the Lord had commissioned him to perform an extensive religious visit and could not give her proposition much attention until that service was accomplished. After performing the religious visits, he


75


NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.


returned; their marriage resulted in 1702, and they lived happily together until his death, in 1742. About 1744 she wrote some account of the life and religious labors of John Estaugh, published by one Benjamin Franklin, a printer in Philadelphia. I saw in Haddonfield recently a copy of the publication.


Samuel M. Janney in his "Memoirs of Friends" says of Elizabeth Haddon: "Her father having lands in New Jersey, proposed to settle upon them and sent persons to make suitable plans for their reception, but being prevented from coming, his daughter Elizabeth, then a maiden less than twenty years of age, came over, with her father's consent, and fixed the habitation where he proposed to have done. She was endowed with good natural ability, which being sanctified by divine grace, rendered her eminently serviceable as a benefactor of the poor, a sympathizer of the afflicted and an influen- tial member of religious society."


Clarksboro, N. J., Jan. 25, 1917.


MORAVIAN CHURCH, on King's Highway, Swedesboro to Sharpstown FROM PHOTO BY E. W. HUMPHREYS


The Moravian Church * At Oldmans Creek, Gloucester County, N. J.


The early history of a religious movement is largely the personal history of those who founded it. No factor enters more largely into the establishment of any new movement than the personality of those who promote it.




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