The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 109

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220

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In 1830, Edw. C. Knight entered mercantile life as a clerk in a store at Kaighns Point, now the southern part of the city of Camden, and contin- ued in that position two years. In 1832 he went to Philadelphia and was engaged as clerk in the grocery store of Atkinson & Cuthbert, at the South Street wharf on the Delaware River. In May, 1836, he established a grocery store on Sec- ond Street, giving his mother an interest in the business. A few years later he obtained a share in the schooner " Baltimore," and was engaged in the importation of coffee and other products of the West Indies to Philadelphia. In September, 1846, he removed to the southeast corner of Chest- nut and Water Streets and there carried on the wholesale grocery, commission, importing and re- fining business, first alone, and subsequently the firm of E. C. Knight & Co. was formed. In 1849 this firm became interested in the California trade, and owned and sent out the first steamer that ever plied the waters above Sacramento City. This firm also originated the business of importing mo- lasses and sugar from Cuba to the United States and has since been extensively engaged in the re-

fining of sugar. Two large molasses-houses and one extensive refinery at Bainbridge Street and one at Queen Street wharf, Philadelphia, have been operated by E. C. Knight & Co., and have been for the past twenty-five years. The size and capacity of the refinery can be comprehended when it is stated that it is usual to turn out from one thou- sand to fifteen hundred barrels of sugar per day.

But while for many years Mr. Knight has been looked upon as one of Philadelphia's most promi- nent and most honored merchants, he has of late been mainly recognized as one of the leading rail- road managers of the Quaker City. Years ago he was a director in the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg, the West Jersey and other railroad companies. Finally he became a director in the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. It was largely through his instrumentality, as chairman of a committee of the latter corporation, that the American Steamship Line, between Philadelphia and Europe, was established, and Mr. Knight was president of the steamship line in question. He finally withdrew from the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and thereafter his interests were centred elsewhere. He was a director in the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey and was from 1876 to 1880 its president. In 1874 Mr. Knight was chosen president of the Bound Brook Railroad Company, a position which he now holds. He was a director in the Philadelphia and Reading and in the North Pennsylvania Rail- road Companies.

Mr. Knight has at various times been connected with a number of institutions of high standing in this city. He has, however, withdrawn from all banking and trust companies except the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of which he is at present the vice-president.

While not an office-seeker, Mr. Knight is in every sense of the word a public man. In 1856 he was nominated by the American, Whig and Reform parties for Congress, in the old First Dis- trict of Pennsylvania. In 1860 he was an elector on the Republican Presidential ticket from the same district. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1873, his sound opin- ions and advice as a business man having material weight in the formulation of much of the best material in the present organic law of the Com- monwealth. In December, 1883, he was appointed a member of the Park Commission by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas.

In semi-public affairs Mr. Knight has likewise been a prominent factor. He is, and has for years been, one of the directors of the Union

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

League and is now one of its vice-presidents. He was also the president and one of the most active promoters of the Bi-Centennial Association of 1882.

Mr. Knight is in every sense of the word one of Philadelphia's most public-spirited citizens, and a man whose name is a synonym for integrity and honor.

On the evening of May 7, 1886, a banquet was given to E. C. Knight, and the Evening Bulletin of that date has an article in reference to it, a part of which we quote,-

" FIFTY YEARS IN BUSINESS, -A TESTIMONIAL, BANQUET TO MR. E. C. KNIGHT THIS EVENING AT THE UNION LEAGUE. - Fifty years ugo to-day Edward C. Knight, who, in the last half century, has de- veloped into one of the most prominent of Philadelphia's citizens, en- tered the grocery business on Secomil Street, opposite Almond. Ile was then but twenty-three years of age, but he soon evinced a re- markahle tact and commercial energy, and in a short time became tbe hrad of the firm of E. (. Knight & Co., which conducted the wholesale grocery, commission, importing, shipping and sugar re- finery business on a large scale. Some weeks ago a number of viti- zens conceived the idea of celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Mr. Knight's business career, and as a result of the move- ment then started, a banquet will be given this evening in his honor at the Union League. The Committee of Arrangements was or- ganized a month ago, with Mr. Jolin Wanamaker, chairman ; Mr. Wm. 11. Rhawn, secretary ; and Mr. Geo, S. Fox, treasurer ; the chair named the following sub-committees :

"Committee on invitations-Messrs. Thos, Cochran, Henry Lewis and Benj. Reiff. Committee on Dietingnished Guests-Messrs. Clayton MeMichael, E. H. Fitler and J. Wesley Anpplee. C'um- witter on Banquet -- Messrs. Joseph F. Tobias, Wm. II. Hurley and Geo, S. Fox. Committee on Speakers - Messrs. Alex. P. Coleeberry, Chas. II. Cramp and Hamilton Disston, The price of eubscriptions to the banqnet wae fixed at ten dollars per head and the number limited to two hundred, the capacity of the banqueting hall of the League.

"Among the more prominent gentlemen who have been tendered invitations and who are expected to be present are : President Gar rett and Vice-President King, of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company ; ex-Senator Cattell, of New Jersey ; Governor Pattison, Attorney-General Cassidy, Chief Justice Mureur, ex-Governor Bedle, Chancellor Runyon and Chief Justice Beasley, of New Jersey, Mayer Smith and Geo. B. Roberte.

" The toasts and addresses will be as follows: 'Our Guest,' re spunded to by Mr. Knight ; ' The State of Pennsylvania, ' Attorney- General Cassidy : 'State of New Jersey,' A. G. Cuttell ; ' Judiciary of Pennsylvania,' Chief Justice Moreur ; 'City of Philadelphia,' Mayor Smith ; ' Grverr's of Philadelphia,' John Hongh ; ' Our Mann- facturers,' Jas. Dobson ; 'The Press,' Colonel Clayton McMichael ; 'Commercial Association of Philadelphia,' John Price Wetherill."

The banquet was a great success and a well mer- ited compliment to an honorable business career of fifty years.

THOMAS SHARP, one of the party who came over in September, 1681, was the nephew of Anthony Sharp, of Dublin, a wealthy merchant, who became possessed of several shares of the propriety and conveyed to Thomas a part, who, upon his arrival, acted as the agent of his uncle in the sale and loca- tion of the remainder. He was then a young man and soon gained the confidence of his companions

and became the leader in many directions. His records of the events of the time are unquestioned authority. He became constable of the Irish Tenth in 1682, and acted with the same authority as sher- iff. He was active in the organization of the county of Gloucester and has left the account of that action in the court records. He was made clerk of the new county and was also a surveyor. The maps, surveys, memoranda and other papers are of much value, both for historical purposes and for determining land titles. In 1685 he was chosen member of Assembly. In 1689 he laid out the town of Gloucester and in the same year was appointed one of a commission to run the boundary line between Gloucester and Burlington Counties. In 1700 he was appointed one of the judges of the county of Gloucester, and was also one of the trustees of Newton Friends' Meeting, and no doubt assisted in the erection of the first house of wor- ship. He surveyed the lot and wrote the deed for the Haddonfield Meeting in 1721. His name ap- pears upon the records of Burlington, Salem and Woodbury oftener than that of any other man of the time in which he lived.

In the division of the large tract of land he says, "I took the forks, or lower end of the land next towards the river." Upon this he built, cleared part of it for farming purposes and improved some meadow land. On the map executed by himself, his house is marked as being on the bank of New- ton Creek. In 1708 he was made ranger of the county, and in 1723 began to keep the records in the town-book of Newton, which he continued till 1728, when his son Samnel succeeded him. He died the next year, 1729, and was probably buried in the old Newton burying-ground. He married Elizabeth Winn in 1701, by whom he had eight children. In 1723 he gave to his son Samuel part of the homestead property and part to his son John, who, in 1731, sold to his brother Samuel and moved to London, where he carried on the business of a weaver. Samuel sold the land to Tobias Hol- loway. The property was known as the Bur- roughs Farm and later was owned by the Cham- pions. A danghter, Elizabeth, married John Hol- lowell, of Darby, Pa., where her descendants are numerous.

Mark Newbie's tract in the division is marked by Thomas Sharp as lying opposite to William Bates', and his house as being nearly opposite that of of Bates. He was an Englishman, a resident of London and a tallow chandler and a member of the Society of Friends. The persecutions against the Society had led him, with many others, to re- move to Dublin, with a view of emigrating to

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THE TOWNSHIP OF HADDON.

America. He joined Sharp, Bates, Thackara and others, and came with them. It was at his house the first religious meeting of Friends was set up and continued until the meeting-house was built, in 1684. He also was the founder of the first bank in the State of New Jersey.

A charter was granted to him at the session of the Legislature in May, 1682, which provided "that Mark Newby's half-pence called Patrick's half- pence, shall from and after the eighteenth instant pass for half-pence current pay of the Province, provided he give sufficient security to the Speaker of the House, and provided no person or persons shall be obliged to take more than five shillings in one payment."

He died in 1683, and his bank was discontinued. The half-penny was struck in Ireland after the massacre of Roman Catholics in 1641, simply to commemorate the event, and did not circulate as coin in the old country. It, however, was brought here in quantities, and being recognized by the Legislature in the charter to Mark Newby, it an- swered their purpose for several years. Mark Newby was a member of the Assembly in May, 1682, and was selected a member of the Governor's Council. He was also one of the commissioners for the division of land in the province and one of the committee of ways and means to raise money for the use of the government. He left a widow, Hannah (who, in 1685, married James Atkinson), two sons, Stephen and Edward, and two daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth, all of whom came to this country with their father.

Stephen Newby, in 1703, married Elizabeth Wood, daughter of Henry, and settled on the homestead and died in 1706, leaving two children,-Mark and Hannah; the former died in 1735, and Hannah married Joseph Thackara. Edward Newby, in 1706, married Hannah Chew, and settled on the north of the fork branch on three hundred and fifty acres of land his father owned. He died in 1715 and left several children, of whom Gabriel married and left a son John, who, March 14, 1764. conveyed all the unsold land to Isaac Cooper, in whose name and family it still remains.

Elizabeth, a daughter of Mark Newby, in 1714, married John Hugg, whose first wife was Priscilla Collins. They resided near Gloucester, where Lit- tle Timber Creek falls into Great Timber Creek. It is through the families of Hugg and Thackara that the family is now represented in the county. Rachel Newby, a daughter of Mark, probably the eldest child, married Isaac Decou, in 1695, and settled in Burlington County, where part of the family still resides.

Thomas Thackara, who settled above Mark Newby, went from near Leeds, England, to Dub- lin, to escape persecution, as did many of the Friends. He was a "stuff weaver," and, in 1677, was one of the gran tees of the deed made to Robert Turner, William Bates, Mark Newby and others, for real estate in New Jersey, and in 1681 he came to this country with the party of emigrants who had decided to settle upon the Third or Irish Tenth. He was the first to separate his interest from the others, and took two hundred and fifty acres as his share; and in 1695 he purchased two hundred acres of land of Isaac Hollingsham, part of the Robert Turner tract, which extended his es- tate from Newton Creek to Coopers Creek. The tract of two hundred and fifty acres first taken up embraced the old Newton graveyard, near which the old meeting-house stood. His house was situ- ated on the site of the present farm buildings on the John Campbell farm, where he continued until his death, about 1702. The land, except sixty acres, descended to his son Benjamin, who con- veyed fifty acres to his brother-in-law, John East- lack, and devised the remainder to his son Joseph, who resurveyed it in 1760. It passed to his son Stephen, and from him to his sons, Joseph, James and Thomas, and from them to strangers.

Thomas Thackara became a member of the first Legislature in 1682, and in the same year was ap- pointed, with Mark Newby and William Cooper, one of the judges of the court for the Irish Tenth, and there continued until 1685. He was appoint- ed one of the land commissioners of the province and was, with William Cooper, selected by the So- ciety of Friends to sign the address of the Newton Meeting to the Yearly Meeting of London, protest- ing against the conduct of George Keith. His first wife died in a few years, and in 1689 he was married to Hepzibah Eastlack, a daughter of Francis Eastlack, at the house of James Atkinson. His children were Benjamin (who, in 1707, married Mary, a daughter of William Cooper, who settled at Coopers Point), Thomas, Hannah, Sarah and Hepzibah. Benjamin died in 1727 and left three children,-Joseph, Hannah and Mary. Hannah Thackara, daughter of Thomas, married John Whitall, at her father's house, in 1696, at which time her father presented her a deed for sixty acres of land, part of the homestead estate. It is now included in the Decosta property.

William Bates, a carpenter, in 1670, lived in the county of Wicklow, Ireland, and was a regular at- tendant at meetings of Friends, at one of which he was, with others, seized, taken to jail and confined several weeks. The persecution of Friends con-

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

tinued, and many were discussing the question of emigration. In the grant from Edward Byllinge and trustees and others to Robert Turner, linen draper, of Dublin ; Robert Zane, serge-maker, of Dublin; Thomas Thackara, stuff-weaver, of Dub- lin. William Bates is also mentioned as carpenter and of the county of Wicklow. It will be remem- bered that Robert Zane preceded the others to this country and selected a site on which they were to settle. William Bates, for some reason unknown, located two hundred and fifty acres on the south side of the middle branch of the stream, while the others were on the north side. Two years later he made another survey adjoining, and of the same number of acres, and also purchased a tract of Robert Turner adjoining, which is now known as the Ridgeway and Eldridge lands. His house was located on the Ridgeway farm, near the mouth of Bates Run. He, as a carpenter, doubtless planned and constructed the old log meeting- house at Newton, in 1684. In 1683 and 1684 he was a member of the Legislature from the Irish Tenth. He died in 1700, and left children who had reached maturity,-Jeremiah, Joseph (who, in 1701, married Mercy Clement), Abi- gail (married Joshua Frame, in 1687), Wil- liam and Sarah. The latter became the wife of Simeon Ellis. Jeremiah married Mary, a daughter of Samuel Spicer, settled on part of the original tract, and left it to his son William. The greater part of the estate is now owned by Joseph C. Hollinshead, Edward and William Bet- tle. It was on the Bates tract the Camden and Philadelphia race-course was built, in later years, an account of which is here given.

George Goldsmith, who Thomas Sharp describes as " an old man," came over in the pink called " Ye Owner's Adventure," with the other settlers, and was the last of the six who formed the early settlement of Newton. He was a poor man, and had no rights to property. It is evident, however, that he was authorized to locate five hun- dred acres for one Thomas Starkey, as he was al- lowed to do so, and his right was included in the tract of seventeen hundred and fifty acres. In the division of this tract his survey ex- tended from Newton Creek to Coopers Creek. Upon close investigation it was found Starkey fail- ed to complete the title, and Goldsmith induced Robert Turner to take out a title to the survey and to give him one hundred acres for his trouble, as was the custom. This was done, and Turner granted to Goldsmith one hundred acres, in two tracts-eighty acres on the north branch of Newton Creek, and twenty acres evidently at the mouth of

the same, as is shown by Thomas Sharp's map. This last tract was of the land located by Sharp, but, in 1700, appears to be Turner's. The deed passed from Turner to Goldsmith 30th of Ninth Month, 1687, and was sold by him the next day to Stephen Newhy. He purchased eighty acres of land, adjoin- ing his upper lot, of Francis Collins. This increased his tract to one hundred acres, and it is marked on the creek "about as high as the tide flows." The place is still known as Goldsmith's Field. He built a grist-mill at the place where the present mill of J. J. Schnitzins is located. The land is known as the James Dobbs farm. The remainder of the Goldsmith-Starkey tract of five hundred acres Robert Turner sold, in 1693, to Isaac Hollingsham, whose son Isaac later sold it to Sarah Ellis, widow of Simeon. Her son Joseph settled upon it and in time it passed out of the name, but still remained in the family, and was bought by Jacob Stokes, who, in 1749, married Priscilla Ellis.

Goldsmith appears to have owned other lands, as, in 1693, he sold rights to William Albertson, and, in 1694, land to Nicholas Smith, in 1695 one hundred acres to John Iverson, and in 1697 one hundred acres to Margaret Ivins. This land was all in Newton towship, and near the place of his first settlement. He evidently moved from this region, as his name disappears soon after. .

Robert Turner, although never a resident of New Jersey, was interested with the first settlers of Newton, and was one of the grantees of the deed made, in April, 1677, for real estate in New Jersey. He was an Irish Quaker, and engaged in merchandising in the city of Dublin. After the grant of the territory of Pennsylvania to Wil- liam Penn, with whom he was intimately associa- ted, he closed his business in Ireland and removed to Philadelphia in 1683. Mention has been made of his dealings with George Goldsmith ; he also purchased other and large tracts of land in the township, parts of which are now in the city of Camden. The land of the Graysburys, on the south side of the main branch of Newton Creek, was located by him, and during the first five years of the settlement he was probably the largest land- owner. In 1685, although not resident of the colony, he was chosen a representative of the Third Tenth in the Legislature of West New Jer- sey. His lands in the township were gradually sold to others, who settled upon them.

In the year 1692 James, Joseph and Benjamin Graysbury, brothers and ship carpenters, camne from the Island of Bermuda to Philadelphia, and the next year purchased five hundred acres of land mentioned above of Robert Turner. James

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THE TOWNSHIP OF HADDON.

died in 1700, and left his share of the estate to his son James and two sisters, who, in 1722, sold their interest to James, who had settled upon it. Joseph, one of the brothers, died without issue, and his interest passed to James, his nephew. In 1720 the children of Benjamin sold their interest in the tract to James. Before the death of the brothers, and in 1696, John Willis, a ship carpenter of Philadelphia, bought fifty acres of the tract. It was at the head of navigation of the branch, and the locality was later known as Atmore's Dam. John Willis built at the place a small brick house, one and a half stories high, with a hipped roof, small windows and low, narrow doors. The main road leading from Philadelphia to Egg Harbor, crossed the stream at the place, and the house was used as a tavern by Joseph Kirlee, whose son John, in 1718, sold the property to Thomas At- more, by whom it was owned until his death, in 1773, when it passed to Caleb Atmore, who, in 1783, sold it to Benjamin Graysbury. The original Graysbury tract includes the late Joseph Few Smith (now William Bettle) estate on the east and other lands westward. The old Graysbury grave- yard is on this tract. The Atmore Dam is men- tioned in old records and papers, and was built to protect the meadows in the vicinity from overflow by the tides.

Francis Collins, who came to this country about 1678, was a bricklayer of London and a Friend. He was married in 1663, and conducted his busi- ness in that city. For his adherence to the prin- ciples of the Friends he was imprisoned with many others. The Friends' Meeting-house in the parish of Stepney, in the city of London, was de- stroyed by a mob, and in 1675 Francis Collins rebuilt it. In 1677 he, with Richard Mew, of Ratliff, and John Bull, of London, both merchants, purchased of Edward Byllynge, certain shares of propriety in New Jersey, He came to this country soon after with his wife and family, composed of a son Joseph and several daughters. He appears to have resided near Burlington, and in 1682 erected the Friends' Meeting-house in that place, and in the next year built the court-house and market- house, for which he received one thousand acres of land and two hundred pounds in money. The first land taken up by him was in Newton town- ship, and embraced five hundred acres. The sur- vey bears date October 23, 1682. Two days later four hundred and fifty acres adjoining was sur- veyed in his right. The first tract was located on the west side of the King's road, and the new part of. Haddonfield is built upon it. The next survey was adjoining to the southwest and extended

to the south branch of Newton Creek. To secure a landing on Coopers Creek, he located one hun- dred and seventeen acres, which later he sold to Richard Gray, whose son John, in 1746, conveyed it to Ebenezer Hopkins. It is now mostly owned by the heirs of John E. Hopkins and Joseph C. Stoy. He settled upon the tract, and first located and built a house on the hill south of the village of Haddonfield, and named the homestead "Mount- well." It afterward passed to his son Joseph, by the first wife, and later to Samuel Clement, who erected the house that was destroyed by fire in 1874. The site is now occupied by Reilly's Seminary. The house when first built was isolated and about five miles from the Newton settlement, and even in the year 1700 Thomas Sharp marked on his map but five houses between Mountwell and Newton.

Francis Collins was active in the political affairs of the colony, and in 1683 was chosen a member of the Assembly to represent the Irish Tenth, and returned in 1684. Upon the election of Sam- uel Jennings as Governor of the State, in May, 1683, Francis Collins was selected by him as one of his Council. He was in this session also ap- pointed a commissioner to divide lands and to regu- late lines.

Upon his return to the Assembly, in 1684, he was selected as one of the judges of the courts of West Jersey, which position he held for several years.

On the 21st December, 1686, Francis Collins married, as his second wife, Mary Goslin, a daughter of Thomas Budd, and at that time the widow of Dr. John Goslin, of Burlington; later he removed to Northampton, Burlington County, where he died about 1720. His first wife died soon after his settlement in this country, leaving him six children-Joseph, Sarah, Rebecca, Priscil- la, Margaret and Elizabeth. He owned large tracts of land and, from time to time, conveyed portions to his children. Sarah married Dr. Rob- ert Dimsdale and settled on Dimsdale Run, a branch of Rancocas Creek, in Burlington County, where her husband erected a large brick house. In 1688 he returned to England and died in 1718, after which his widow returned to Haddonfield and lived until her death, in 1739. In 1714 her father deeded her a tract of four hundred and sixty acres, extending from near Haddonfield southwesterly to the south branch of Newton Creek. April 1, 1725, Sarah Dimsdale sold the tract to Simeon Breach and Caleb Sprague, who, the next year, divided it. It is now the estate of the Hinchmans, Nicholsons, Willits and others.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 109

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220