USA > New Jersey > Scheyichbi and the strand : or, early days along the Delaware ; with an account of recent events at Sea Grove ; containing sketches of the romantic adventures of the pioneer colonists ; the wonderful origin of American society and civilization > Part 9
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But what have all these well-known facts to do with Jesse Hand and his offenses, he of ante-revolutionary fame? Well, the simple fact is, that gentleman and patriot utterly confounded, astonished, and dis- gusted his neighbors by his audacity in presuming to ride over the very route we have described, and others thereabout : the first man in the history of the world to traverse the roads and beaches of Cape May in the pretentious dignity and effeminate luxury of a top carriage. It was none of your modern affairs from Kimball, Brewster, or Rogers,
YYY
PUBLIC BATH-HOUSE, SEA GROVE.
60
A TALE OF LOVE AND DEVOTION.
but a solid, old-fashioned "chair," heavy enough, hard-riding enough ; but what of that? Had not Aaron Leaming traveled on horseback to the Legislature ? Had not everybody else ridden in horse carts year after year? And now Jesse Hand presumed upon a new and amazing fashion before their wondering eyes. History records no popular tumult, except of tongues, about the matter, but Jesse Hand never fully regained the regard of some people, and jealousy and distrust, like a curse, followed his new-fangled equipage; and though he and his gen- eration are long since dead, yet the writer hath knowledge of traditions that, still drawn by attenuated and discouraged equines, a very Wander- ing Jew of vehicles, Jesse Hand's carriage still peregrinates, at a toilsome pace, the interminable, sandy, woodland roads of Jersey.
As to the part which Cape May took in the Revolution, Dr. Maurice Beesley, in his "Early History of Cape May," writes as follows : " In the contest of our forefathers for independence, nothing praiseworthy can be said of the other counties of the State that would not apply to Cape May. She was ever ready to meet the demands made upon her by the Legislature and the necessities of the times, whether that de- mand was for money or men. Being exposed, in having a lengthened water frontier, to the attacks and incursions of the enemy, it was neces- sary to keep in readiness a flotilla of boats and privateers, which were owned, armed, and manned by the people, and were successful in de- fending the coast against the British as well as refugees. Many prizes and prisoners were taken which stand announced in the papers of the day as creditable to the parties concerned. Acts of valor and daring might be related of this band of boatmen, which would not discredit the name of a Somers, or brush a laurel from the brow of their com- patriots in arms. The women were formed into committees for the purpose of preparing clothing for the army, and acts of chivalry and fortitude were performed by them which were equally worthy of their fame and the cause they served. To record a single deserving act would do injustice to a part, and to give a place to all who signalized themselves would swell this sketch beyond its prescribed limits." Yet, on another page, the doctor cannot forbear telling the story of the de- votion of Sarah, the sister of Captain Nicholas Stillwell, the young Mrs. Griffing. Captain Moses Griffing being a prisoner on the infa- mous and murderous "New Jersey Prison Ship," where the dying, the dead, the famished and famishing were promiscuously huddled together, Mrs. Griffing, " actuated by a heroism which woman's love alone can inspire," bravely made her way for a hundred and fifty miles through a most dangerous country, swarming with enemies, romantically re- solved to see and rescue him, or die in the attempt. The devoted wife called at the camp of Washington by the way, who gave her in charge an English captain to exchange; she reached New York in safety, and finally persuaded Sir Henry Clinton to release her husband; the ex-
70
SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
change was made, after a long and painful suspense, and the patriotic wife enjoyed the happiness she deserved.
And thus the men and women of " the time that tried men's souls" fought the battle of English liberty on the soil of America ; and to-day the citizen of Britain may find in the extent and stability of his free- dom abundant reason to rejoice in the result of a contest which, begin- ning in the colonies as successful revolution, culminated in the mother country in the achievements of liberal and progressive reform.
Notwithstanding the perturbations of war, or the changing policies of peace, Cape May prospered, and gradually enlarged its population. It was, however, no "Lotus Land," where the sdontaneous produce of the soil supported the inhabitants in corrupting sloth, to breathe an enervating air. Every ocean breeze of Cape May is an ethereal tonic, pure as the quintessence of the elixir of life. There are no long-pre- vailing, exhaustive extremes of torrid heat, and winter, comparatively brief, is only rigorous enough to destroy the germs of malaria, to superpurify the atmosphere with its frosts, and brace anew the vital powers of man and beast. The necessary pursuits of the pioneers were all manly, demanding hardihood, muscle, and courage; develop- ing strength, heroism, and force of character.
There were about fifteen hundred people in Cape May County in 1758, with an estimated income of about twenty-two thousand dollars. When the war of 1812 began, the Cape had a population of three thousand five hundred persons, its commercial importance having in- creased in a greater degree. The final war with England was a naval contest ; the interest of Cape May in such a struggle may be inferred. From first to last, in the various wars for freedom and independence, the waters in view from the towers of Sea Grove have been the scene of many naval conflicts. An interesting volume might be written of events when a British fleet lay constantly over against Henlopen ; when they captured and burned the small craft of the bay, and in their launches cruised about, threatening to land and ravage the Cape.
What a romantic chapter the account of the watchful coast guard would make! And what an exciting scene it must have been, when the fast Yankee frigate, Alliance, then under Commodore Barry, fled out of the Delaware, to avoid a hopeless contest, and made her way to Rhode Island at the rate of fourteen knots an hour, running down the Speedwell and seizing two sloops of war, to fly back to the shores where her timbers grew, and land her wounded commander in the port of Boston! Then there was the first naval conflict of the Revolution, fought by the Hyder Ally, under the gallant Captain Barney, a privateer with four nine-pounder guns and one hundred and twenty-six men, which stole down from Philadelphia disguised as a merchantman, to attack the General Monk with eighteen nine-pounder guns and one hundred and fifty men on board. When the captain cried "Board !"
71
WHY AMERICA WON IN THE FIGHT.
his men were to fire; when he cried "Fire!" they were to board. Alongside the Monk, Barry shouted his first command. The brave English crowd to repel boarders; the Hyder Ally rocks from stem to stern ; everything that can carry a bullet explodes in the very faces of the foe. "Fire !"-in a flash the Yankee cutlasses are on the English deck! Doubly duped, twice tricked, the Monk surrendered: two- thirds of her crew were dead and wounded; but four were killed and fifteen hurt on board the privateer.
Another fight, turning the other way this time. A large American privateer, beset by a fleet of British launches, just off Cape May shore. A long fight, and a close one, until the vessel manœuvering too near the strand, strikes, and by and by goes to pieces in the breakers.
And so a book might be written of the waters around Cape May, as a scene of war and bloodshed. But to what good end ? It could not prove that English hearts were cowardly, or that Americans were more than the world admits them to be. America won, in the last fight with England, because of finer modeled, better rigged, and more " handy" vessels ; and because on those vessels, for the first time, long- range guns and cannon were supplied with " sights," and trained with the deadly accuracy of the rifle on the mark. It was the thunderbolt against the hail-storm; it was precision against mass; it was the rifle against the shot-gun; it was invention against routine; and science won, as it will forever in any fight. To-day, England sights her guns with telescopes ; she clothes her warrior-ships in sevenfold steel ; she buoys them with cork; she lights them with electricity; she drives them by steam, like avalanches ; and by steam handles guns of eighty tons like toys, in the recesses of invulnerable turrets ! Well, cannot the United States do as much? They have done, and are doing, better.
At the extreme point of Cape May, in the centre of Sea Grove beach, a tall spar bears aloft the flag of the American Union. Near by, a neat but peculiar building attracts the scrutiny of the observer. This is the United States Signal Station, and there keen-eyed vigilance watches and notes the skies, the clouds, the winds, the seas, and all the grand phenomena and minute signs of nature. On lofty moun- tains, amid deserts, by great lakes, everywhere throughout the terri- tory of the United States, are similar posts of observation, and every- where the same untiring watchfulness. The telegraphic wire links all these points together, and connects all with the central observatory at Washington.
It may be an overcast afternoon in September; nothing especially betokens danger, but vessel after vessel comes down the bay, catches sight of the station, and quietly passes behind the gigantic breakwater above Henlopen. An English ship sweeps down the coast, the cross of Britain bravely borne above her canvas; she too sights the station,
72
SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
and turns her helm, and bears sail, to gain, ere nightfall, sea-room and an offing. Night comes early, and with night the storm. The two great lights answer each other's glances across the bay, over seas which howl and show flashes of foam, like wolves snarling white- fanged in the tempestuous darkness! But the ships are safe, folded like sheep in a quiet place; for all day long the danger signal has been displayed, and they have learned to heed it; and that is an American idea, deserving fuller development, and worth more than the war-ships of the world.
There are three edifices most prominent at Sea Grove, the Light- House, the Signal Station, and the Pavilion : they typify the Nation and the Age; they actualize the beneficence of Popular Government, the philanthropy of Science, and the power of Moral Sentiment, in the sublimity of Religious Freedom : these, rather than batteries, armies, and navies, are the conquering forces of the future.
To show the critical and useful nature of the work done by the United States Signal Service, and as a matter of information, the fol- lowing table is introduced; of the value of such statistics no well-in- formed person need to be advised.
The records of the United States Signal Service show the following figures for the three most prominent resorts on the New Jersey coast :
MEAN DAILY HUMIDITY.
Cape May.
Atlantic City.
Long Branch.
MEAN DAILY TEMPERATURE.
Cape May.
Atlantic City.
Long Branch.
July ...
88.3
85.7
78.4
July.
69 2
70.3
71.4
August ..
78.8
79.0
77.4
August
68.8
69.5
69.9
September.
78.9
83.0
80.0
September
68.6
67.8
67.5
3 months.
82.0
82.6
78.6
3 months.
68.9
69.2
69.6
Thus it is seen that Cape May is the coolest place along the coast, and as dry as Atlantic City.
The village of Cape May escaped the ravages of war. Once, in 1812, the Poictiers, a British line-of-battle ship, appeared off the place, and threatened it with bombardment unless it was supplied with water ; the cheap ransom was paid at once, and the enemy sailed away. While the English fleet lay in Delaware Bay, in 1812, its officers managed to keep, so far as personalities went, on very good terms with the people of Cape May, and made "The Beach" what it is now, a place of health- ful, free, and gay resort. The village of Cape May, though loyal, was hospitable, and the chronicles assure us that its amusements were shared by friends and foes together in the greatest amity, and that, when the fleet of Albion sailed away at last, more than one of the heroes and heroines of the time gave evidence of their faith, by obedi- ence to the command, " Love your enemies."
In 1812, the present site of Cape May City was already the location
73
OLD-FASHIONED FROLICS AT CAPE MAY.
of a considerable hamlet ; even then popular as a place of resort in summer. "Cape Island" was purchased of Dr. Coxe, through his agents, by William Jacoks and Humphrey Hughes, in 1689-a tract of five hundred and forty-six acres, or more. Jacoks sold to Thomas Hand, and Randall Hewit bought an interest in the Island. Hand, Hewit, and Hughes held the property until 1700, and it was long cul- tivated and fertile land. But in the mean time the settlement increased, and the corn-fields were narrowed. In 1829, Watson, the annalist, visited Cape May City, "a village of about twenty houses," says he, " and the streets were very clean and grassy."
Very rapidly after the war of 1812 Cape May began to assume a dis- tinctive character as a watering place, and its history from that time becomes modified accordingly. Gradually the fashions of Cape May have changed-are changing still, and not for the worse.
For an idea of the earlier methods of travel, and the ways and manners of sea-side visitors in the olden time, nothing can be better than the following, from Lippincott's Magazine : "Strange old sloops and bateaux used in those times to move slowly down the Delaware, bearing eager Philadelphians on pleasure bent. Other sojourners would drive miserably down in their dearborns, dragged by tired nags through the interminable sandy road from Camden. On the adoption of steam for navigation, a modest steamboat was conducted by Mr. Wilmon Whilldin, and cut its way down the long Delaware in what was deemed a fleet and stylish manner, greatly improving the prosperity of the place. The customs of those earlier times were very primitive and democratic. Large excursion-parties of gay girls and festive gentlemen would journey together, engaging the right to occupy Atlantic Hall, a desolate barn of a place, fifty feet square, whose proprietor was Mr. Hughes. Then, while the straggling vil- lagers stared, these cargoes of mischief-makers would bear down upon the ocean, ducking and splashing in old suits of clothes brought in their carpet-sacks, and gathering the conditions of a fine appetite. The major-domo of Atlantic Hall, one Mackenzie, would send out to see what neighbor had a sheep to sell; the animal found, all the visitors of the male sex would turn to and help him dress it. Meantime, parties of foragers would go out among the farmers around ravaging the neighborhood for Indian corn. When the mutton was cooked and the corn boiled, an appetite would have accumulated sufficient to make these viands seem like the ambrosia of Olympus. Those were fine, heart-hold times, and when our predecessors at Cape May went down for a lark, they meant it and they had it. At night, when dead- tired after the fiddling and the contra-dances, the barn-like hall was partitioned off into two sleeping-rooms by a drapery of sheets. The maids slept tranquilly on one side the curtains, the lads on the other. Successive days brought other sports,-fishing in the clumsy boats,
74
SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
rides in hay-wagons over the deep white roads, the endless variety being supplied, after all, by the bathing, which was always the same and ever new. These primitive bivouacs were succeeded by a steady service of steamers on the Delaware and the erection of substantial and civilized hotels."
Thomas H. Hughes, Jonas C. Miller, R. S. Ludlam, and the Messrs. McMakin were among the first to erect large and commodious board- ing-houses. Increasing custom demanded multiplied conveniences, and a host of varied places of entertainment grew up, from the small and modest restaurant to the monster hotel with its fifteen hundred guests at once. Meantime private cottages became numerous, the resident population enlarged, and a city was built up "where," says a writer in 1856, " a few years ago corn grew and verdure flourished." It would be a pleasant task to note the particulars of such a progress in full, and the reader could not fail of interesting information, but the work is left for another pen, or a future time. Material increase and prosperity is not the final test of development, and the scope of the present discussion demands attention to other and important matters.
§ Man is a religious being ; the impulse to worship, an ineradicable instinct of his undying soul. Tyranny is the trait of the brute ; it is the bestial element in man which offends against the prerogative i of reason, and seeks, in intolerance, despotism over the spirit. Ambition and avarice enlarged their efforts to aggrandize themselves in the colonization of New Jersey ; but, after all, the settlement of the State is found to be due, through persecution, to the love of liberty and the principles of religion.
" America," says an eminent historian, "was secured from bigotry by her welcome to every sect ; each rallied round a truth, their collision could but eliminate error. The eclectic American mind struggled for universality while it asserted freedom. The Old World looked to the American Colonies for the benefit of commerce, for mines, for natural productions, but received revolutions,-the consequence of moral power." At Cape May, in as great a degree as in any other place, influences were early at work tending to hospitality of opinion and a broad and catholic spirit. Counting the whalemen as the pioneers of the county, Calvinism was the form of faith earliest introduced, but the Swedish Lutherans soon exerted an influence upon the community, and the Baptists and Quakers, not long after, were added as a powerful element. The English Church was strong on the shores to the west of the bay, where, for a time, the Reverend William Becket, an author and poet, held a broad parish. It had its adherents at Cape May also, but its connection with the monarchy, as an established Church, weak- ened its influence at the Revolutionary period.
The Baptists are said, in " Benedict's History of the Baptists," to have arrived at Cape May from England and formed a church as early
75
" THE SCUM OF THE REFORMATION."
as 1675. Johnson, in his sketch of Salem, says the same; but Dr. Beesley supposes a mistake in the date, as there is no record of a white population until 1685, none of a Baptist church until 1711. Else- where the doctor writes, "History throws no light on the original occupiers of the soil. Conjecture only can be consulted on the sub- ject." It is quite probable that some of the Mennonist Baptists of Plockhoy's colony may have escaped to Cape May, from the spoliation of Carr, in 1664, with Swedes and Dutch from Christina and New Amstel,-refugees for the same cause.
The Baptists, "the scum of the Reformation," as they were called, were the democrats of the Protestant Church; the Calvinists aspired for theocracy, and made the Church dominant in the State ; the Church of England took " submission" to royal prerogative as a "badge," and Luther taught that it was "a heathenish doctrine; that a wicked ruler may be deposed." But, plebeians themselves, the Baptists were consist- · ent, and unflinchingly dealt with the relations of life, threatening an end to kingcraft, priestcraft, and feudalism. Hosts of the peasantry of Germany perished in the persecutions against the Baptists ; arrogantly they were trodden under foot, and scorn and reproach heaped upon their memory. As might be expected, wherever the Baptists found shelter in America, in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, they became a power, witnessing for independence, republicanism, and free religion.
One of the early pastors of the Baptists at Cape May was Nathaniel Jenkins, a Welshman, born in Cardiganshire in 1678. He arrived in America in 1710, and assumed his position in the church at Cape May in 1712. Mr. Jenkins was a man of character and ability, with fair education ; from 1723 to 1733 he was a member of the Assembly ; he was also a trustee in the Loan Office, and a local deputy and attorney of Governor Hamilton, in all of which positions he served with honor. Not long after the Baptist pastor became a legislator he had the oppor- tunity of doing the state some service and distinguishing his princi- ples. The emigrants from New England, accustomed to puritanical rigor, quite conscientiously strove for a long time to engraft their perse- cuting policy upon the institutions of New Jersey. When Mr. Jenkins was first a member, a bill was brought into the Assembly to punish such as denied the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, etc., etc. This the Baptist legislator opposed with all a Welshman's zeal and action. "I believe the doc- trines in question," said he, "as much as the promoter of that ill- designed bill, but will never consent to oppose the opposers with law, or with any weapon save that of argument." "Accordingly, the bill was suppressed, to the great mortification of those who wanted to raise in New Jersey the spirit which so raged in New England."
The Baptist church was from six to seven miles north of Sea Grove,
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SCHEYICHBI AND THE STRAND.
at what is now the district of Cape May Court-House; there Mr. Jen- kins died and there is his grave.
The early presence and work of the Baptists at Cape May perhaps left fewer to adhere to the Quakers. There were a number of Friends at the Cape in the early days, but they never became as numerous as in Cumberland and other counties. Neither the Friends nor any others have been persecuted at Cape May. Quakers generally went where they were not wanted, but needed ; sometimes their peculiar principles subjected them to loss, even at Cape May, but no persecution appears to have been intended. Thomas Leaming, who came to Cape May in 1692, and became a whaleman, and then a farmer, seems to have been a Quaker; among other things he records : " In 1706, I built my house. Samuel Matthews took a horse from me worth £7, because I could not train." "Training" would have prevented the levy, and paying the fine for contempt would have saved the horse from sale ; Quaker prin- ciples forbade one and the other ; it was hard upon Thomas Leaming, . but what could Samuel Matthews do with a Christian who would not fight-nor swear!
Within the memory of the elder people of this generation, a Quaker meeting-house stood in the northern part of Cape May County, and there the tradition is that year after year, every First-day, two old Quakers got together, and silently sat out the hours ; furthermore, these Friends were not friendly, not on speaking terms, and so spake not at all. By and by one of the old men died, and then the survivor sat alone, scarcely more solitary, no whit more silent, until at last he too came no more. But the part the Quakers took in founding Cape May County has not been without a permanent effect for good,-and there are men to-day everywhere who, could they but learn to hold their tongues as faithfully as the two in the above story, "the world would be the better for it !"
Pre-eminently, Calvinism has appealed to the human intellect. The Democratic State, Free Church, and Common School arose together. The Church which invoked thought, as a co-worker with zeal and faith, gave guarantees to progress; the Antinomians of Massachusetts ad- vanced beyond Geneva, and in Connecticut, where Calvinism enjoyed a hundred years of peace, Massachusetts was left behind. There reli- gious pride was forgotten; predestination was less considered than philanthropy ; persecution was abandoned, and reason and charity were made the basis of law. "Virtue," said the great Connecticut Presby- terian divine, Jonathan Edwards, " consists in universal love." From the churches of Connecticut were drawn the men and women who planted Presbyterianism at Cape May; there also freedom and peace favored the finest developments, and the influence of Calvinism may be recognized in the stability, thoroughness, and intelligence which have characterized the people.
VANINGEN-SNVOER
BATH-HOUSE, SEA GROVE.
77
HISTORY OF COLD SPRING CHURCH.
The first Presbyterian church in Cape May County was established at Cold Spring, two miles to the north of Sea Grove; its earliest chronicles have disappeared, but it is recorded that the first minister was the Rev. John Bradner, a native of Scotland. Mr. Bradner was a candidate for the ministry when invited to Cold Spring, but Rev. Allen H. Brown, in his "Outline History of the Presbyterian Church in West South Jersey," says he had no authority to preach, and it marks the unorganized state of Church affairs at the time, that Messrs. Davis, Hampton, and Henry, the three nearest ministers, took the re- sponsibility of examining and licensing him in March, 1714, he being ordained May 6th, 1715. In 1721 Mr. Bradner was removed to Goshen, Orange County, New York, still keeping, however, his connection with the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Mr. Bradner died before September, 1733. The estate now occupied as the parsonage, consisting of some two hundred acres, was conveyed by him, for the use of the pastor of this Church, to Humphrey Hughes, George Hand, John Parsons, Joseph Weldon (Whilldin), James Spicer, and twenty-seven others. Mr. Bradner was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Finley, who, as a resident at Cape May, often officiated, though not settled there. Mr. Finley was distinguished for learning and personal holiness; the great revival among the Presbyterian and Baptist churches from 1740 to 1743 was regarded as, in a large degree, God's blessing upon his labors; in 1761 he became President of Princeton College ; he was made a doctor of divinity, by the University of Glasgow, in 1763, and, after an active and useful life, died in remarkable peace and happiness, at Philadelphia, July 16th, 1766, being then fifty-one years of age.
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