USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 21
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After the West Jersey Society obtained the control of the Indian pur- chase of Dr. Coxe, in 1692, Cape May was made a county with its present boundaries, and divided into four townships, viz., Dennis, Lower, Midde and Upper. When Jacob Spicer died on September 17, 1765, he made provision in his will "for council gifts of five pounds each to the religious institutions of the Quakers in the upper precinct, Baptists in the middle
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precinct, and the Presbyterians of the lower precinct." (Steven's "History of Cape May County.") Thus Cape May, like old Middletown, settled by the same class of people, was naturaily divided into three distinct religious communities, characteristic of the people who gathered in the first centers of location.
The oldest organized religious body was that of the Baptists of the Middle precinct. Very early a little congregation gathered at the house of George Taylor. He was probably related to the Taylors of Middletown, Monmouth county, who were at their coming to New Jersey English Bap- tists, seafaring men and merchants. His children bore the same names that Edward Taylor, of Middletown, gave to his children. The same year that the Middletown congregation was organized by Thomas Killingworth and John Ashton became its pastor, the Rev. Elias Keach, son of the famous Benjamin Keach, of London, who signed the Confession of Faith of one hundred congregations in England and Wales in 1689, ordained "one As- ton or Ashton a deacon of Cape May." Obadiah Holmes settled at Co- hansey, and James Ashton, of Middletown, Monmouth county, purchased lands there. Deacon Ashton, of Cape May, was probably his son. In 1712 the church was organized under its first ordained pastor, the Rev. Nathaniel Jenkins, a Welshman, who had lately come to America-to the Welsh Baptists of Welsh Tract, Delaware-with his wife, Esther Jones. They had "nine children, viz .: Hannah, Phebe, Nathaniel, (his successor) Tabitha, David, Jonathan, Esther, Abinadab and Jonadab ; these married into the families of the Shaws, Ser- leys, Downeys, Harrises, Pooles, Lakes and Taylors. The members who formed Jenkins' church, June 24, 1712, and followed his teachings were, viz., "Arthur Cresse, Seth Brooks, Abraham Smith, William Seagrave, Jonathan Swain, John Stillwell, Henry Stites, Benjamin Hand, Richard Bonns, Ebenezer Swain, William Smith, John Taylor, Abraham Hand, Christopher Church, Charles Robison, Easter Jenkins, Ruth Dean, Lydia Shaw, Elizabeth Hand, Jeruthy Hand, Hannah Wildair, Sarah Hiscox, Elizabeth Stillwell, Elizabeth Taylor, Hannah Taylor, Hannah Stites, Margery Smith, Elothes Smith, Ruth Swain, Mary Swain, Mary Creese, Mary Osborn, Abagail Buck, Elizabeth Robison and Mary Jennings. (Steven's "History of Cape May County".) A number of the above names are associated with the families of New England descent who set- tled upon Long Island, Staten Island and at Elizabeth Town, viz .: Cresse, Stillwell, Swain, Osborn, Smith, etc. Arthur Cresse and John Stillwell both owned land upor Staten Island.
The first Presbytery of Cape May county was that of Philadelphia, or- ganized in 1705, and the first licensed pastor of the Lower Precinct was the
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Rev. John Bradner. The church records prior to 1754 were lost. Johnson in his "History of Salem" states that "the present supporters of the Presby- terian church are principally the descendants" of those who purchased an old parsonage, probably about 1754, viz. :
Humphry Hughes,
Samuel Eldridge,
George Hand,
Recompence Jonathan Furman,
John Parsons,
Ezekiel Eldridge,
Col. Jacob Spicer,
Eleanor Newton,
Shamgar Hand,
Joseph Wilden,
Joshua Gulicksen,
Nathaniel Norton,
Samuel Johnston,
Nathaniel Rex,
Constant Hughes,
Yelverson Crowell,
Cornelius Schellenger,
Josiah Crowell,
Jehu Hand,
William Mulford,
Nathaniel Hand,
William Matthews,
Barnabas Crowell,
Samuel Bancroft,
Jehu Richardson,
Eleazer Nocault,
George Crawford,
Joshua Crofferd,
Benjamin Stites, Jeremiah Hand,
Samuel Foster,
John Matthews.
These names represent the New England and Long Island Puritar seamen and whalers and wool raisers, the Dutch Calvinists of Long Island, and the Scotch Presbyterians of Monmouth county, New Jersey. The Crowells were descended from Joseph Crowell, of Woodbridge, New Jer- sey, an identified servant of William; Dockwra, merchant of London. whose sons, Yelverton (or Yelverson) and Joseph settled in Cape May. John Crawford, "gentleman of Ayrshire, Scotland," then of Middletown; and his wife, had two sons, George the elder, and John the younger. George inherited the estate left by his father in Middletown. To John, his father gave a home at Middletown and 280 acres at Waakaack. The latter was sold to Elisha Lawrence a few months before John Crawford bought 300 acres on New England Creek, Cape May. He was a "mariner" and a member of the Whale Fishing Company. His wife's name was Abigail. He and his brother, George, had sons named George, Joshua and Job, and each had a daughter, Elizabeth. Recompence Jonathan Furman was de- scended from Jonathan Forman, a Scotch Presbyterian of Freehold, Mon- mouth county.
For a time the Rev. Samuel Finley, afterward president of Princeton College, was pastor of the Cape May Presbyterian church. His wife was Rebecca Breese, the daughter of Samuel Breese, born at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, 1667. His father, Sidney Breese, married Mary Alexander, and came from Shrewsbury, England, to Shrewsbury, New Jersey. Elizabeth,
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Finley and Rebecca Breese, married Rev. Jedediah Morse, the geographer, and they were the parents of Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, "one of the world's greatest benefactors, in- ventor of the magnetic telegraph."
To the "Upper Precinct" came very early (1691-2) the Quakers, Christopher Leamyeng (now Leaming), Jacob Spicer, John Townsend, John and Peter Corson, Japhet Leeds, Elizabeth Garretson, Peter White, the Goldens, Henry Young, John Willits, Isaac Bennet, Joseph Ludlam, Henry Stites, etc. The first meeting house was called "The Old Cedar Meeting House." These Quakers came originally from Long Island, but some of them passed through Staten Island, Middletown, Shrewsbury, Burlington or Gloucester and back again to the seacoast. The Leamings, Spicers, Townsends, Ludlams and Stites were of good English stock, and came from Long Island.
Peter and John Corson were of Dutch descent from Long Island or Staten Island. In 1840 their descendants in Upper township, Cape May, numbered fifty-two families. John Townsend emigrated from England to Long Island previous to 1680, and about 1690, with his wife, "cleared lands and built a cabin and mill on the site of Thomas Van Gilder's."
The story of Henry Young is a romance of the sea. "He was im- pressed in England, his native country, when very young, on board of a man-of-war, from which he made his escape to a vessel bound to Phila- delphia. Here, to elude pursuit, he was secreted in a hogshead, in the hold of the vessel, and as soon as they put to sea he was relieved; but not until nearly exhausted for want of fresh air." Such was the story of many a sailor boy and emigrant of the seventeenth century. Some ran away from home in a wild spirit of adventure, many fled from cruel environ- ments, but, saddest of all, many-very many-little children were kidnapped and carried to the Colonies to be sold as slaves and apprentices.
The Quakers of Cape May long held their own faith and did not revert to the Church of England. They did not come under the influence of Keith's preaching, but slowly, as their descendants multiplied, they inter- married with the Baptists and Presbyterians of the other townships and be- came prominenty identified with them.
The merchants and seamen remained longer "toilers of the sea" than their fellow colonists of Monmouth. The soil of Monmouth was fertile and tempted its owners to stay at home and profit by its products, but the soil of Cape May was sandy, and only adapted to the raising of grains and tobacco, where the oak timber lands were cleared. The marshes and river banks or sedgy margins gave good pasture for the cattle and sheep.
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When the hour came to take up arms for independence the descendants of the Old Whig seamen and yeomen of Cape May remained Whigs almost to a man. There was little, if any, of the spirit of Toryism among them. Like Old Monmouth, Cape May lay at the mouth of a great river and near a great city. She suffered bitterly but was unfailing in her heroic constancy.
Not far from where the Delaware sweeps around the eastern side of the city of Philadelphia, two of the large rivers of New Jersey arise and flow down toward the bays and inlets of the coast, whose breakwaters are the sandbars built by the waters of rivers and ocean. Along the banks of the rivers and their tributary streams the pine trees have gathered deep and dark, their tall tops breathing the soft, warm airs of the gulf stream. Through every needle, bough and trunk down to the deepest rootlet, creeps the life of the ocean. Over their heads gathered the briny mists that in descending feed the streams at their feet, and filtering through the sands of ancient beaches nourished cach stately stem. These rivers, forests and beaches were like those from which the Saxon Vikings built their ships and sailed across the north sea to colonize England.
"Seventy ells and four extended On the grass the vessel's keel ; High above it, gilt and splendid Rose the figure-head ferocious With its crest of steel.
"Then they launched her from the tressels, In the ship-yard by the sea ; Never ship was built in Norway Half so fine as she!" -Translation of the "Saga of Olaf," H. W. Longfellow.
Landing in England with his family and clansmen the Viking selected his home. "The settlement consisted of a number of families holding a dis- trict, and the land was regularly divided into three portions. There was the village itself, in which the people lived in homes built of wood or rude stone work. Around the village were a few small enclosures or grass yards for rearing calves and baiting stock; this was the common farm- stead. Around this was the arable land, where the villagers grew their corn and other vegetables; and around this lay the common meadows, or pasture land, held by the whole community, so that each family could turn its cattle into it, subject to the regulations of an officer elected by the people, whose duty it was to see that no one trespassed on the rights of his neighbor, or turned too many cattle into the common pasture. Around the whole colony laid the woods and uncultivated land which was left in its
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natural wild state, where the people cut their timber and fuel, and pas- tured their pigs in the glades of the forests." ("English Villages," by P. H. Ditchfield. )
Centuries passed, and descendants of those Viking colonists, having been conquered by their civilized kinsmen of Normandy, having received the religion of Christ, having experienced every political change from a democracy to an absolute monarchy and back again to a republic, came to New Jersey and established just such towns as their forefathers had planted in England. The educated and often wealthy merchants and seamen of the cities of the North Sea reverted to the democratic simplicity of their fore- fathers in the forests of a new world. The "Peace be still" of Christ, in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, had forever hushed the savage in each breast and the man-the hero-was greater and stronger than ever before.
The section of New Jersey covered by the lines and watered by the two rivers which flow into Great Egg Harbor and Little Egg Harbor is the scene of the historical romance and heroism of the maritime life of the commonwealth. It is divided into Atlantic county, formerly part of Glou- cester, and the eastern part of Burlington county. There were few settlers in the pines-only a few lumbermen, charcoal burners, etc .- in the early times, but the bays and inlets were frequented by whalemen and merchants as at Cape May, and gradually settlements were made. When the Quakers of the "Upper Precinct" of Cape May held their first meetings they were joined by two men from the opposite side of Great Egg Harbor, John Somers and John Scull. On November 29 and 30, 1695, Thomas Budd, of Philadelphia, merchant, deeded lands at Great Egg Harbor to John Somers, of West Jersey, husbandman; Jonathan Adams, of Long Island, New York, yeoman ; John Scull, "late of Long Island, New York," yeoman; Jonas Valentine, late of Long Island, New York; Peter Cowanover, late of Long Island, New York, yeoman, and John Gilbert, senior, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, yeoman. These men were also whalemen. John Somers settled at Somers' Point. His descendant, Captain Richard Somers, of the United States Navy, son of Colonel Richard Somers, of the Revo- lution, was given command of the "Nautilus," which sailed with the Medi- terranean Squadron under Commodore Preble, in the summer of 1803. While maintaining the blockade off Tripoli, this Captain Somers con- ceived and volunteered to execute the plan of running the ketch "Intrepid" "in the double capacity of fireship and infernal" into the harbor among the Tripolitan corsairs. A tremendous explosion and a flash of light in the darkness was all that was ever known of the fate of Captain Richard Somers. But the Jersey seamen who sailed with that squadron would "spini yarns" and sing ballads of "Cruising down on the coast of old Bar-ba-
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ree," to the boys who became soldiers and sailors of the Civil war. Many a boy was tempted or induced to leave his home by the recital of those tales of the corsairs and Barbary pirates. How could sailor or boy fail to feel the thrill of patriotism at the narration of deeds that made the old powers of Europe wonder! A new power had brought peace and security to the Mediterranean where it had not been known since Admiral Blake, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, had rescued English slaves and obtained indemnity for English ships taken by the Barbary pirates.
William Biddle, of West Jersey, a Quaker, and one of the Proprietors with William Penn, owned and deeded lands to Nicholas Brown on Little Egg Harbor in 1699. He was probably the son of Jolin Biddle, a socinian divine much persecuted both by the Church of England and all Calvinists. because of his disbelief in the doctrine of the Trinity. Cromwell ban- ished him to Scilly and "allowed him one hundred crowns a year for his. maintenance," until the troubles had subsided, when he was set at liberty. After the restoration he was imprisoned in Newgate, where he died in 1662. William Biddle, of New Jersey, had a son, William, who became a. merchant of Philadelphia, and married "an amiable lady, the daughter of Nicholas Scull," who for "many years was the surveyor-general of the proprietary government of Pennsylvania." He was probably descended from John Scull, of Great Egg Harbor. William Biddle and his "amiable lady" had a son, Nicholas Biddle, born September 10, 1750. He entered the British Navy, but in 1773. wishing to join an Arctic expedition to find the northwest passage, he "laid aside his uniform" and "shipped secretly as an able seaman" on board the "Carcase," one of the two ships about to sail. Horatio Nelson (later Lord Nelson), the hero of the battle of Tra- falgar October 21, 1805), sailed in the same vessel and he and Nicholas Biddle became cockswains during the voyage. When the Colonies re- volted, Nicholas Biddle returned to Philadelphia and entered the newly created navy of the Colonies under Commodore Hopkins. At the close of 1776 he was given command of the "Randolph," a new frigate of thirty- two guns. In his first short cruise from Philadelphia he quelled a mutiny excited by some English prisoners who had wished to join his crew, and had entered Charleston harbor to refit defective masts. Again sailing, he had, just out of Charleston, captured four Jamaica vessels on their way to London. The government of South Carolina then gave him command of a little squadron of four vessels beside his own, and fifty continental in- fantrymen as marines. After cruising off Barbadoes and capturing several prizes, he with the "Randolph," thirty-two guns, "Fair American," four- teen guns, "Polly," sixteen guns, and "Notre Dame," sixteen guns, engaged on March 7, 1778, the British line of battleship "Yarmouth," sixty-four
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
guns. Captain Biddle fell severely wounded in the thigh. To prevent confusion lie called for a chair, and when his vessel was blown up twenty minutes later he was sitting on deck still in command. Only four out of. three hundred and fifteen survived this disaster, the cause of which has never been known.
The history of the Pennington family is a succession of sea romances and records of honorable statesmanship. In 1643 Ephraim Pennington, who had come from England, took the oath of allegiance to the New Haven Colony. He was probably related to Isaac Pennington, "a zealous; Quaker" and son of a mayor of London. As early as 1675 his son, Eph- raim Pennington, was holding land in Newark, New Jersey. His grandson,. Samuel Pennington, son of Judah, married Mary Sanford. She was de- scended from Captain William Sanford, of Barbadoes. Governor Cart- eret granted to him a patent for lands between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, which he named New Barbadoes. Another large tract was granted to Captain John Berry. Both of these captains were members of the Deputy Governor Lawrie's Council until October 5, 1686, and in every way were prominent in the earliest settlement of New Jersey. Richard, the son of Captain John Berry, married Nidemia, the daughter of Cap- tain William Sanford. His will, dated January 2, 1690-91, and probated September, 1694, mentions his wife, Sarah Whartman, "while some Con- siderable Reasons Engaged us to Consaile our marriage." The children were Katherine, Peregrine, William, Grace, Elizabeth and Nidemia, wife of Richard Berry. The wife was executrix, assisted by Colonel Andrew Hamilton, James Emctt, Gabriel Meenviel and William Nicholls. This was accompanied by the "certificate" of "Richard Vernon that he joined together in matrimony William Sanford and Sarah Whartman in the presence of Captain William Cowell, John Spencer, and others on board. the pink 'Susan' in the river of Surenam." Dated March 27, 1677. Ten years after the marriage, Sarah Whartman signed an acknowledgment "that she did not, as required by deed of foefment of April 24th, 1677 (about one month after the marriage), from William Sanford, improve the estate, set over to her trust for Nidemia Sanford, eldest daughter of William, and her own natural children, Catherine, Peregrine, William and Grace. They were probably born after the secret marriage, judging from their ages at the time of their deaths. William, son of Captain William Sanford, was also member of the Council under Governor Andrew Ham- ilton, His Excellency Lord Cornbury, His Excellency Lord Lovelace, and Colonel Richard Ingoldsby. During the war of the Spanish succession, William Sanford, beund to New York from Carolina, was chased by a French privateer and made a narrow escape into Sandy Hook Bay. Mary
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Sanford, who married Samuel Pennington, was his great-granddaughter. They had ten children. The sixth was William Sanford Pennington, Gov- ernor of New Jersey from 1813 to 1815. His younger brother, Nathan, vol- unteered in the Continental State Troops during the Revolution, when only nineteen, and nearly died of starvation while a prisoner of the British in Quebec, Canada. He married Margaret Westcott Leonard, daughter of Colonel Richard Westcott, also famous in the Revolutionary history of Atlantic county. Others of the name of Pennington have since been well known both on the sea and on the land.
Two of the best known and most popular officers of the navy of the United States, who, by their gallant deeds made its creation a demand of the people against the political policies of those in control of government, were Commodore Bainbridge and Captain James Lawrence. They were descended from the Anabaptist and Quaker merchants and seamen who first settled in Monmouth' and Burlington counties, New Jersey. Their remote ancestors were the Saxon Sea Kings, from the peninsula of Den- mark, who colonized the eastern counties or shires of England. Through generation after generation, for centuries their people had belonged to the sea.
Commodore William Bainbridge was the son of Dr. Absalom Bain- bridge, who was born in Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville) near Trenton, New Jersey, and Mary Taylor, of Middletown. As early as 1684 Joseph Bainbridge, of New York, merchant, purchased land on the Raritan River. In 1695 John Bainbridge and Sarah, his wife, owned lands in Maidenhead. John, Junior, a carpenter, lived in Crosswicks ; Edmund, probably the oldest son of John Bainbridge, of Maidenhead, resided at home, inheriting the father's estate. His wife's name was Abigail. Their fourth son, Absalom, born at Maidenhead, graduated at Princeton, and for a while practiced medicine in his native village. After his marriage he moved to New York city. He was a Tory and a surgeon in the Loyalist Volunteer "Skinner's Brigade." Mary, his wife, was the daughter of John Taylor, of Middle- town. George Hutcheson, of Sheffield, England, distiller, brother-in-law of William Taylor, of Dore, Derbyshire, England, granted one-thirty-second of a share of West Jersey to the latter in trust for Samuel Taylor, stuff weaver, January 29, 1677-8. These papers were lost. On September 27-8, 1681, Samuel Taylor bought his one-thirty-second of George Hutcheson. He now resided in Crosswicks. A memorandum of a deed, dated Septem- ber 5-6, 1678, from George Hutcheson, of Sheffield, England, to Edward Taylor, of Brigghouse, County of York, England, Gentleman, for "1/8 of one of the three-ninetieths parts of West Jersey." Later, Edward Tay- lor sold lands in Burlington. As early as March 17, 1677, Charles Haynes
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sold 150 acres of land in Middletown to Edward Taylor. He also purchased iand there in 1688 and again in 1692. Samuel and Edward Taylor, of Crosswicks and Middletown, were probably related, and one of them was probably the ancestor of John Taylor, sheriff of Monmouth county. He is said to have been the grandson of Edward Taylor and son of George Taylor of Garret's Hill. Just a few years before the Revolution, John Taylor built the fine old colonial house in Middletown which was owned by Edwin Beekman when it was burned a few years ago. There Dr. Ab- salom Bainbridge, of West Jersey, married Mary Taylor. John Taylor was a Tory, and his property was about to be confiscated, when George Craw- ford, great-grandson of John Crawford, of Middletown, purchased the lands, or held them in trust. After the marriage of George Crawford to Mary Seabrook, and later to Eleanor Schanck, he resided in the house with John Taylor, and there they for several years carried on a mercantile busi- ness. William Bainbridge assisted in making the survey, and signed the deed which conveyed the property to George Crawford in 1792. For many years sailors who had known the merchants, John Taylor and George Craw- ford, and some who had sailed with the Commodore, were accustomed to visit the old home at the west end of Middletown street.
Captain James Lawrence, of the "Chesapeake," whose dying words have become the synonym for heroic perseverance, was related to many of the families of Monmouth. He was born in Burlington, New Jersey, on October 1, 1781. Almost a century and a half had passed since his first ancestor had sailed from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He was William Lawrence, a boy twelve years old. When about forty-two years of age he became one of the Middletown Patentees. Before 1670 he had been a town overseer and constable of Middletown. On December 3, 1670, James Mills ("formerly shipmaster and lying in James River in Virginia") and William Lawrence, came before Edward Tartte, town clerk of Middle- town," to have a former sale of land made void :" Whereas James Mills had formerly received a bill of sale, of William Lawrence, sometime an In- habitant of Middlesborough upon Long Island for his house and lands there, etc." William Lawrence purchased lands from the Scotch Proprietors in Manasquan, Barnegat and near Perth Amboy. Through the purchase of the proprietary claim of David Toschacke, Laird of Monyvard, who had demanded of John Campbell the attendance of a "footman in velvet" when he attended as a Proprietor "at Parliament in East New Jersey" in 168.4. William Lawrence became a Proprietor. By a tripartite agreement between. "Donald Mackquirreck, of Murderer's Kill, Orange county, New York, David Toshack, of Minevcard, Scotland, and William Lawrence, of Mid- (lletown, Monmouth county," the latter became possessor of all the share of
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