USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > The first century of Hunterdon County, state of New Jersey > Part 3
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The people have mostly fled into the Jerseys. * * The enemy made but few prisoners, murdering almost all that fell into their hands, of all ages and both sexes." The inhabitants of New Jersey, roused by these sufferings of their neighbors, and fearing for their own towns, prepared to resist the foe. Governor Belcher despatched troops promptly from all parts of the province, to
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the defence of the western frontier. Col. John Anderson, of Sussex County, collected four hundred men, and secured the upper part of the State. During the winter of 1755 and 1756 marauding parties of French and Indians hung around this western border. To guard against their incursions, a chain of forts and block houses was erected along the mountain and at favorable points on the east bank of the Delaware. Although the inroads of the savages were infrequent, and consisted of small bands, yet the fear which all felt that their mid-night slumber might be broken by the war-whoop, was sufficient to keep them in a constant terror. Many left their homes.1 A loud call was made upon the Assembly for increased means of defence. This was done, and the force was placed under the command of Col. DeHart.2
As an additional measure of protection a treaty was made with Teedyuscung, whereby the Delaware and Shawnees on the Susque- hanna were reconciled. The Legislature appointed a committee, who met the Indians of this State at Crosswicks, in the winter of 1756. Their grievances were heard patiently, and then reported to the Legislature, which passed acts in 1757 to relieve them. One of these grievances was, that the Indians had not been paid for certain tracts of land, which had been taken from them. The only portion of Hunterdon, which came within these claims, was a tract of twenty-five hundred acres claimed by Teedyuscung himself, " beginning at Ringos, and extending along the Brunswick road to Neshannock Creek, thence up the same to George Hattens, thence in a straight course to Petit's place, and so on to a hill called Paatquacktung, thence in a straight line to the place of the begin- ing, which tract was reserved at the sale." i. e., between Ringos and Copper Hill. The Legislature gave the commissioners power to appro- priate £1,600 to purchase a general release of all these claims, one- half of which was to be devoted to paying the Indians residing to the
1 Tradition says that people hid themselves in the openings of the mines, at Union.
2 Gordon's New Jersey, pp. 122 and 124.
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south of the Raritan. This offer was accepted, and a treaty concluded at Easton, October 26th, 1758, and thus ended all difficulties with the Indians in New Jersey.1 This pacification was greatly aided and quickened by an association founded in Philadelphia in 1755, called "The Friendly Association, for regaining and preserving peace with the Indians by pacific meas- ures." Another cause which contributed to this happy result, was that Teedyescunk, who was King of the 'Delawares and a chief of very wide influence, was a Christian. He became such in 1749, and was baptized by the name of Gideon.1 Also we may suppose that the influence of John Reading, from 1757 to June, 1758, the acting Governor, while most of these negotiations were in progress, would be exerted in behalf of liberal measures toward the Indians, inas- much as his early experience as surveyor in Hunterdon County when it was yet a wilderness, and his subsequent residence in this frontier region, would well qualify him to know their wrongs and their needs, while the piety which adorned his life, would lead him to that charity which overlooks ignorance,
Governor Reading had then entered his seventy-third year; and the fact that, at such an advanced age, he occupied so important and prom . inent position is of itself evidence of the estimation in which he was held. He was a true Jerseyman, from boyhood identified with the interests of the State, and particularly with the growth of Old Hunterdon, by the side of whose ancient thoroughfare, the Old York Road, in the graveyard of the old Amwell Church, his ashes lie
John Reading and Elizabeth his wife, the father and mother of the Governor, emigrated from England with their two children, John and Elsie. They were Quakers, and left their country on account of the persecution to which the Quakers were subjected They settled in the town of Gloucester, New Jersey, previous to
2 Smith's New Jersey, chap. 23, which contains all the particulars.
1 This fact of his being a Christian is obtained from the manuscripts of Dr. Studdiford, already mentioned.
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the year 1683, as he was that year a member of the Council, meeting in Burlington. He was a landholder in and about Gloucester, of which town he was Recorder from 1693 to 1701, inclusive. He was one of the proprietors of West Jersey and a prominent member of the Council, being often appointed on important committeess. He, with William Biddle, Jr., and John Mills, was sent to purchase in 1703, the great tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres, between the Raritan and the Delaware. He was a surveyor and appointed one of the commissioners to define the boundary line between New York and North Jersey, in 1719.1 He removed to his tract of land above Lambertville, where he died, and was buried in the ground of the Buckingham Meeting House in Buck's County, Pa.
John, the son, was born June 6th, 1686, and died November 7th, 1767. He and his sister, when children, were taken to England by their mother to be educated. She remained with them nine years, attending to their education ; the father living in this country. On the return of the son, it was found that he had embraced the doctrines of the Presbyterians, to which he was ardently attached all his life ; and so his descendants have continued. He married Mary Ryerson, a sister of Col. P. Ryerson, then in the British service. He succeeded to the greater part of his father's estate, and followed his father's occupation. In 1712 to 1715 he surveyed tracts for parties in Burlington, who were locating lands through the Amwell Valley, under the grants of the dividend of 1703. At the same time, with an eye to a valuable purchase, which a surveyor would be supposed to have, he secured for himself six hundred acres along the south branch, two miles from Flemington; where afterwards, on a beautiful site, he built the Reading home- stead, now occupied by Philip Brown. He is said to have planted the walnut trees growing there. He owned three mill properties, including the farms now in possession of Barton, Stothoff, Deats,
1 Smith's New Jersey, p. 412.
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Ewing, Clark and Brown. He was a member of " His Majesty's Council," from 1728 to death, and Vice President for ten or twelve years. On the death of Governor Hamilton in 1747, the govern- ment devolved on him, until the arrival of Governor Belcher, with whom he had the most friendly and intimate connection. He was one of the first Trustees of Princeton College. His name is at the head of the list in 1748. On the death of Governor Belcher, in August, 1757, he succeeded a second time to the administration, in which he continued until June, 1758, when he was superseded by the arrival of Governor Bernard. His influence and services and money were freely bestowed to lay the foundation of religions privileges, educational advantages and national freedom, upon which we are now building. At the ripe age of eighty-one his long, useful and honored career ended, amid the quiet of that beautiful spot, which, under his cultivation, had emerged from a forest into a garden.
He had a large family of seven sons and three daughters. Five of the sons settled near him, and perpetuated the moral and religious influences of their sire. They were prominent in church matters, and took a lively interest in the Revolutionary struggle. The youngest son, Thomas, was Captain of the 6th Company of the 3d Battalion of the Jersey Brigade, who were mustered in during February, 1774. He served until the Battalion was discharged. A grandson, John, entered the company of his uncle, as Ensign. In January, 1777, he was promoted to First Lieuten- ant in a Company of another Battalion in which he continued until September, 1780. Another grandson, Samuel, was appointed First Lieutenant in Captain Stout's Company of the "Jersey Line," first establishment, December 18th, 1775. He was taken prisoner at Three Rivers, June 8th, 1776. He became Captain, February 5th, 1777, and Major of the First Regiment, December 29th, 1781, and served until the close of the war.1 Yet another, Charles, was
1 Officers and Men of New Jersey in Revolutionary War, pp. 69, 86, 97.
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Lieutenant of the Third Regiment, Hunterdon, and afterwards Captain.
The Governor's oldest daughter, Ann, married Rev. Charles Beatty, one of the first graduates of the Old Log College of Neshaminy, Pa. He was a co-worker with the Tennants in this State, and a prominent clergyman all his life. They were the progenitors of a numerous line of descendants, some of whom have been conspicuous in Church and State. On the female side, eight married Presbyterian ministers. One of the sons, General John Beatty, was in the Revolutionary war, and so was his brother, Colonel Erkuries Beatty. For many years John was one of the prominent citizens of Trenton, being the first President of the Bridge Company, and of the Trenton Bank. Elizabeth, another daughter of Governor Reading, married John Hackett, from whom Hackettstown derived its name.
By the year 1738 the upper part of the county had become so filled with settlers that they petitioned the General Assembly to erect a new county, because the distance to Trenton, where the courts were held, was inconvenient, and to reach it, expensive. Yielding to this petition, a new connty was set off, comprising all the upper part of the old above the present boundaries between Hunterdon and Morris and Warren. The new county was called Morris. Although thus shorn of more than half its territory; Hunterdon soon became the wealthiest and most populous of all the counties. Monmouth came next and Burlington third. Somerset was fourth and Middlesex fifth. Wheat was the principal produc- tion. The flour was sent to Philadelphia and New York. The State was remarkable for mill-seats even at an early day. And in no part were they so numerous as in this county. Along the north and south branches, they were situated only a few miles apart.
These were of great importance during the Revolution, in supplying with flour that part of the army which hovered between New York and Philadelphia. The iron interest about Union contributed largely to its prosperity. The soil was better adapted
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to grazing and wheat than was the country to the south. In 1748 the Raritan Landing was described as a "Market for the most plentiful wheat country for its bigness in America." In 1765 there were within the county, nine Presbyterian churches, Low Dutch, one; German, one; Episcopal, three ; Quaker, two; Baptist, two.
We now approach the great struggle with the mother country. The Provincial Congress of New Jersey, in August, 1775, directed fifty-four Companies, each of sixty-four minute men, to be organized, allotting to each county a specific number. Hunterdon's quota was from twenty-five to fifty per cent. above the other counties. The members of this Congress from Hunterdon, were Samuel Tucker, John Mehelm of New Germantown, John Hart and John Stout of Hopewell, Jasper Smith and Thomas Lowry of Flemington, Charles Stewart and Daniel Hunt of Bethlehem, Ralph Hart, Jacob Jennings, Richard Stevens and John Stevens, Jr., of Round Valley, Thomas Stout, Thomas Jones, and John Bassett.
Charles Stewart resided at Landsdown near Clinton. On his return home, he called a meeting at Abram Bonnel's Tavern, and a Regiment of minute-men was raised, probably the first it the State.1 He was a leading spirit in this movement, and rendered important services, from the commencement of the struggle to its final triumph. Many distinguished loyalists were among his friends, who made every effort to retain him on the King's side, but in vain. He was Colonel of the First Regiment of minute men in this State; then Colonel of the Regiment of the line. By commission from Congress in 1776, he became one of Washington's Staff, as Commissary General, which position he occupied until the close of the war. General Washington and his wife were frequently at his house. His grand daughter; Mrs. Bower, who, after the war, in Philadelphia , received marked attention from Mrs. Washington,
1 The first Company of Volunteers offered to the Governor, under the first call of President Lincoln, was from this county-from Flemington.
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relates the following, respecting the economy practiced by Mrs. Washington : "She ravelled a set of old satin chair covers, inherited by her. She had the material carded and spun, and with the addition of cotton yarn, woven in alternate broad and narrow stripes, the broad being of white cotton and the narrow of crimson silk. Out of this fabric, she had two morning dresses made for herself." His daughter, Martha, married Robert Wilson, a young Irishman of education, who came to this country and volunteered in the continental army, soon after the battle of Lexington. He was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown. Captain Wilson died at his home in Hackettstown, in 1779, at the early age of twenty-eight. Mrs Wilson was distinguished for beauty and for a brilliant and cultured mind.1
After the war, General Stewart moved to Flemington, where he occupied a house near the residence of John C. Hopewell, and owned a large farm which extended to Coxe's Hill. He held a leading position in his adopted State, and was her representative in the Congress of 1784 and 1785. After much important public service, he died in Flemington, June 24th, 1800, aged seventy-one years. General Stewart was the son of Robert Stewart, and was born at Gortlea, Donegal County, Ireland, in 1729. His grandfather, Charles, was a Scotch Puritan, and an officer of dragoons in the army of William of Orange, and fought bravely at the battle of the Boyne, for which services he received a handsome domain in the north of Ireland, called Gortlea. Puritan ideas and a love of liberty impelled the grandson to emigrate to America, before he was twenty-one years of age, in 1750. He became a favorite at the house of Judge Johnson, whose daughter, Mary, he married. His enterprise, industry and education, enabled him to acquire a large property; and at Landsdown, near Hampden, where the south branch makes one of its loveliest windings, he erected a mansion, which yet stands to call forth the admiration of the
1 Mrs. Ellet in " Women of the American Revolution," devotes a chapter to Martha Wilson.
3
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traveler. The estate remains in the possession of his descendants. He was of medium height, spare in flesh, with a keen blue eye, expressing intelligence, kindness, bravery and firmness. His portrait, executed by Peale, is still preserved.
He became Surveyor General of the Province of Pennsylvania. At the outset of the difficulties with the mother country, he earnestly espoused the cause of the colonies, and took the active part already stated. He was buried in the family ground of Bethlehem Presbyterian Church. His life-long friend, ' Chief Justice Smith of Trenton, wrote his epitaph in these lines :
HE WAS AN EARLY AND DECIDED FRIEND TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND BORE THE IMPORTANT OFFICE OF COMMISSARY GENERAL OF ISSUES TO UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE.
HIS FRIENDSHIPS WERE FERVID AND LASTING, AND COMMANDED BOTH HIS PURSE AND HIS SERVICES.
HIS HOSPITALITY WAS EXTENSIVE AND BOUNTIFUL ; THE FRIEND AND THE STRANGER WERE ALMOST COMPELLED TO COME IN.1
Some of his descendants have continued in the service of their country to this day. One of his grandsons, Charles Stewart, son of Samuel Stewart, was born in Flemington, where his father lived,
1 For this sketch of General Stewart, I am indebted to his grand-daughter, Mrs. Hoyt of Landsdown, widow of the late Captain Hoyt. It is taken from a family record.
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near the Presbyterian Church. He was a class-mate, at Princeton, of Dr. Hodge and Alexander Wurts, Esq., and graduated in 1815. He first studied law and then afterwards theology, and went as a missionary to the Sandwich Islands, from which he returned in 1825, on account of the failure of his wife's health. In 1828 he received the appointment of Chaplain in the Navy, in which office he continued until 1862, visiting all parts of the world. He wrote several books on foreign travel which were received with great favor. He died in 1870 at Cooperstown, New York, at the age of seventy-five. A son of his was graduated with General Mcclellan at West Point. He served the country faithfully during the war, having had charge, for the greater part of the time, of the engineers' department at Fortress Monroe, for which important post he was selected on account of his peculiar fitness. Since the war, he has been put in command of the United States Engineer Corps at San Francisco.
In the work of raising troops, Colonel Maxwell was also very active and efficient. He lived about a mile east of Clinton. After the war he removed to Warren County. He commanded the battalion which was sent to Canada, and, with Morgan and Colonel Philip Johnson, both natives of this county. was engaged in the siege of Quebec. He also took a conspicuous part in the battles of Germantown, Brandywine, Trenton and Monmouth. As a soldier and patriot he had few superiors. He served his country faithfully all through the war, and died at Colonel Stewart's house at Landsdown in 1796, where he was taken suddenly ill, while on a visit, and expired in a few hours.
Another member of this Provincial Congress of 1775, who represented this county, and who afterwards took an active part in the Revolution, was John Mehelm. He emigrated to this country from Ireland. We first hear of him as a schoolmaster in Berk's County, Pa. He was a handsome writer and a fine scholar. He purchased one hundred acres of land and a mill, on the north branch near Pluckamin, since known as Hall's Mills. Here during
1151647
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the Revolutionary war he manufactured flour, which was used by the army while lying at Pluckamin, and encamped at Morristown. He was Colonel of the Fourth Regiment, Hunterdon, and was on the staff of Major General Dickerson. He was also Quartermaster General and continued a pure and able patriot. He was often associated with John Hart. He was also the friend and companion of Washington, whom he often met that winter, when Washington passed through Pluckamin on his way to the headquarters at Mor- ristown. Colonel Mehelm was a member of the Provincial Con- gress, which met at Burlington June 10, 1776. This was a revolu- tionary body, and was in full sympathy with that spirit of independ- ence, which in less than a month renounced allegiance to the British crown. A committee was appointed, consisting of Livingston, Witherspoon, Mehelm and Patterson, who boldly defied the Gov- ernor, and summoned him to appear before the Assembly. For his refusal to submit to the orders of the body, Governor Franklin was sent a prisoner to Connecticut, and William Livingston was appointed in his stead, who served the State in that capacity from 1776 to 1790. By him Colonel Mehelm was appointed Surrogate for the counties of Hunterdon and Somerset, which office he held until 1801, when he was removed.1
I think Hunterdon county may claim General Morgan as one of her sons. Tradition states that he was born on the farm owned by Major Dusenberry, near New Hampton. There are still visible the remains of an old fire place, which is said to belong to the log house in which Morgan was born. Dr. John Blaine, of Perryville, who has devoted much attention to the early history of this neighbor- hood, was told this by persons whose mother and aunts lived less than a mile from the residence of the Morgan family. They further stated that when he became large enough to drive a team he went to Pittstown, where he drove a pair of oxen for the proprietors
1 From an article in "Our Home," October, 1773, entitled "Pluckamin One Hundred Years Ago," by A. W. McDowell.
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of a business there. About 1750 he went to Virginia. Rogers in his "Heroes and Statesmen of America," puts his birthplace in Durham, Pa. This mistake might easily arise from the fact that the family appears to have been connected with the iron companies of the day, and may have lived for a time in Durham. In Appleton's Encyclopædia, edition of 1861, his birth is stated to be in New Jersey in 1736. He was in Braddock's expedition in 1755. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was living in Frederic, now Clarke county, Virginia. Immediately he started for Boston, in command of a company of riflemen, all of whom, like himself, were expert marksmen. He accompanied the expedition of Arnold to Quebec, where he was captured. During that captivity he declined the offer of a Colonelcy in the British army. On his release, toward the close of 1776, he was appointed Colonel of a rifle regiment This was just in season for him to render those valuable services during Washington's retreat through New Jersey, which endeared him to that commander. His corps of riflemen was the terror of the enemy, and the pride of the Continental army all through the war. Few names are more distinguished during that struggle than General Daniel Morgan.
Associated with Colonel Stewart in his patriotic measures, and conspicuous too, was Colonel Philip Johnston, his brother-in-law. Johnston was the oldest of seven children, and was born in 1741. His father, Judge Samuel Johnston, was a Colonial magistrate thirty years before the Revolution. The family were from Scot- land, and belonged to an ancient barony in Anandale. They were a warlike clan and a great terror to the border thieves. Philip left his class in Princeton College to serve in the French war in Canada, from which he returned with military honor and reputation. This fact drew many to his standard, when he called for volunteers in 1776. He was appointed by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey to the command of the First Regiment. At the head of this regiment he went into the battle of Long Island. He was one of the bravest in that hotly contested fight. Force's Revolutionary
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Archives gives the following extract from a Philadelphia journal of the day : "We hear that in the late action on Long Island, Col. Philip Johnston, of New Jersey, behaved with remarkable in- trepidity and fortitude. By the well-directed fire of his battalion the enemy were several times repulsed, and lanes were made through them, until he received a ball in his breast, which put an end to as brave an officer as ever commanded. General Sullivan, who was close to him when he fell, says that no man could behave with more firmness during the whole action." Just as he was leaving home for the seat of war, he went into the room where his little children were in bed, and, kissing them, he kneeled down and commended his family to God in prayer. One of those three daughters, Mary, became the wife of Joseph Scudder, and was the mother of Dr. John Scudder, the world-renowned missionary to India.1
Another prominent patriot in that neighborhood was Captain Adam Hope, who commanded a company of New Jersey Militia (Second Regiment), in the battle of Monmonth. After General Lee's capture, forty of his army on their way to Easton came through Clinton. They stopped at Captain Hope's house and his wife got breakfast for them.
Another was Colonel Bonnell, who established his tavern in 1767 near Clinton. It became a centre for resort to all that section. The first meeting to raise minute-men was held there.
In the neighborhood of Flemington was Colonel Hugh Runyon, who was a bold and fearless officer, full of energy and action amid scenes of danger. Joseph Capner, ancestor of the Capners in Flemington, married one of his daughters.
Captain Joseph Stout commanded a Company of Regulars, in which Samuel Reading, a grandson of the Governor, and Aaron
" These facts are taken from an article in the "Christian Intelligencer," by Rev. Wm. Hall, January 25, 1877. The correctness of them is asserted by Mrs. Hoyt, grand-daughter of Col. Stewart.
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Lane were Lieutenants. Stout was killed at the battle of Brandy- wine, September 11th, 1777. When the men went into service in 1776, we find Captain William Chamberlain's Company from Amwell. Soon after this, he was promoted to Major, and Nathan Stout was Captain ; and Philip Service and Christopher Fisher, Lieutenants. Beside these two Stouts, were two other, James and Samuel, who were Captains. David Sehomp of Reading, was a Captain in Washington's Secret Service for years, and as such traversed swamp and hill, from the Delaware to the Hudson.
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