The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 54

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

USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of Camden county, New Jersey > Part 54

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

authorized the abandonment of that part of the pike from Pine Grove to Camden, and the remainder is still in use.

The Gloucester turnpike is a gravel road built on the line of an old plank-road, and extends from Gloucester City to Woodbury, a distance of four and a half miles. The act of Assembly granting the charter was ap- proved by the Governor of New Jersey March 5, 1850. The incorporators, who al- so became the first board of directors, were Thomas S. Ridgeway, Benjamin T. McMur- trie, Cooper B. Browning, Joshua P. Brown- ing and Wm. S. Doughten. The first presi- dent of this company after its organization was Benjamin McMurtrie, and the first sec- retary and treasurer was Charles Hay. The officers for 1886 are Joseph Hatch, presi- dent ; J. Lynn Truscott, treasurer ; and Edmund E. Read, Jr., secretary ; who, to- gether with Henry C. Clark and Samuel P. Lippincott, constitute the board of directors of the company.

The Williamstown and Camden Turnpike Company, chartered February 28, 1849, was authorized to raise stock to the amount of fifty thousand dollars and to construct a turnpike of stone, gravel or plank between the points named in its title. Joel Bodine, William Corkney, Edward Brewer, Hiram Morgan, John W. Mickle, Edward Brown- ing and David E. Marshall were appointed commissioners to solicit subscriptions. The construction of the railroad led to the aban- donment of part of the road, and on the 24th of March, 1852, the Williamstown and Good Iutent Turnpike Company was char- tered, with John Bodine, David E. Marshall, Richard H. Tice, Samuel Rommel, John F. Bodine, Joseph Nicholson, William Taylor, William Tweed and Samuel D. Sharp as commissioners. The road was built from Blackwood to Williamstown and is now in operation.

The Stockton and Newton Turnpike Com- pany was chartered March 18, 1859, with

349

PUBLIC INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

John M. Kaighn, Joseph M. Cooper, Charles Kaighn, Henry B. Wilson and William S. Doughten commissioners, with power to build a turnpike from Kaighn Point through Stockton to the Haddonfield turnpike, and from the city on the straight road, being a continuation of Market Street, to an intersec- tion with the Haddonfield turnpike.

The Camden and Blackwoodtown Turn- pike Company became an incorporated body by an act of the Assembly March 24, 1855, to construct and operate a turnpike between the points named in the title of the bill. The capital stock was fixed at twelve thou- sand dollars, with the privilege of increasing the same to twenty-five thousand dollars, the par value of each share to be twenty-five dol- lars. John W. Mickle, John M. Kaighn, John D. Glover, Arthur Brown, Abraham Brown- ing, Joshua Sickler, Charles S. Garrett, John North and Isaac W. Mickle were designated as commissioners to open books and receive subscriptions. Soon after the road was con- structed through Mount Ephraim and Chews Landing to the present village of Black wood, a distance of ten miles, where it connected with the Good Intent and Williamstown turnpike. A grade of thirty feet width was established and a good road-bed secured, which has since been improved to an excel- lent condition. The office of the company is at Mount Ephraim. The officers for 1886 are William Nicholson, president; Joseph M. Haines, treasurer ; Benjamin Tomlinson, secretary. John Shubert, Samuel C. Cooper, Thomas Scott and John D. Glover, with the officers named, form the directory. The ex- ecutive committee of the company is com- posed of Joseph M. Haines, John D. Glover and Benjamin Tomlinson, who have personal supervision of the road, which is well patron- ized.

The White Horse Turnpike Company was incorporated January 27, 1854, having authority to build a pike on the White Horse road from the junction of Haddonfield and

Camden turnpike to where it crosses the road leading from Haddonfield to Clem- ents Bridge. On the 17th of March, 1855, authority was given the company to extend the pike from its termination, along the White Horse road, to the White Horse tav- ern, and March 6, 1857, to Long-a-Coming (Berlin). The corporators of the road were John W. Mickle, John Gill, Samuel Nichol- son, Joseph B. Tatum, Isaac Z. Collings, Samuel S. Willits and Joseph B. Cooper.

The Camden and Atlantic Turnpike Com- pany was incorporated March 25, 1852, with an authorized capital of fifty thousand dol- lars, and privilege of building a turnpike or plank-road from Haddonfield, through Long- a-Coming, Tansboro', Blue Anchor and Wins- low, in Camden County, and Weymouth and Emmelville to Hamilton Bridge, in Atlantic County, but it was inoperative.

The Berlin and Haddonfield Turnpike Company, incorporated in 1875, was also in- operative.

RAILROADS.

THE CAMDEN AND AMBOY RAILROAD AND TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, which was the first built of all the railroads in West Jersey, was incorporated by act of the Legislature February 4, 1830, with a capital stock of one million dollars, in shares of one hundred dollars each, the company having the privilege to increase it to one million five hundred thousand dollars. The president was John Stevens, who had projected the first railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, Pa. Traffic arrangements were made with the lines of stages and steamboats crossing the State between New York and Philadelphia ; and Mr. Stevens, with the aid of steam ou the railway, said that a speed of fifteen miles an hour might be safely reached, and the journey from one city to the other made in six hours, which he considered would " be found to be sufficiently rapid for all practical purposes." The charter provided that the State might subscribe to one-fourth of the

350

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

stock on or before January 1, 1831, but this right was never exercised. The company was empowered to build from Camden to some point on Raritan Bay, the road-bed to be not more than one hundred feet wide, with as many tracks as might be needed. The charges were limited to ten cents per mile for each passenger, and eight cents per ton per mile for transportation of freight. The company was exempted from State tax- ation, in lieu of which it was required to pay to the State ten cents for each passenger and fifteen cents for each ton of freight carried. It was also stipulated that if the Legislature should authorize the construction of any other railroad across New Jersey, from New York to Philadelphia, which road should commence and terminate within three miles of the terminals of the Camden and Amboy, then these head and tonnage dues should cease, and the other road should be liable to the State for a tax not less in amount than the sum payable by this company. Suitable steam or other vessels were required to be provided at each terminus to make connec- tions with New York and Philadelphia. The road was to be begun within two and completed within nine years, and the State reserved the right to purchase it after the expiration of thirty years, at a valuation to be fixed by law. By an act passed February 4, 1831, the State agreed to take and pay the installments upon a thousand shares of the stock and appoint a director ; but if an- other railway was constructed between Phil- adelphia and New York, the shares were to revert to the company, and the State was to receive no more dividends from them. To further shield the road from competition, it was stipulated that it should not be lawful to construct another railroad across New Jersey, within three miles of the Camden and Amboy, until after the nine years allowed for the completion of the latter.

On February 15, 1831, this company and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company

were consolidated by an act of the Legisla- ture ; they were made jointly liable for con- tracts entered into by either, and were for- bidden to charge more than three dollars passenger fare between Philadelphia and New York ; it was required that both rail- way and canal should be completed within the nine years, and if one was finished before the other, the finished work was to be for- feited to the State. By an act of March 2, 1832, the State accepted one thousand shares of the joint capital stock, and the companies contracted that if within a year after the completion of the road from Bordentown to Amboy, the transit duties and the dividends on these shares did not amount to thirty thousand dollars, they would pay the defi- ciency to the State, and so annually thereafter. They determined to build a railroad from Spottswood to New Brunswick as soon as a line united New Brunswick with the Hud- son River, and the State bound itself not to grant a franchise to any competing road without the assent of the consolidated com- panies. This complicated legislation grew out of the desire of the State to make the railroad projectors pay well for their monop- oly, while the latter purposed to shut out any rivalry and to make it the interest of the State to vest in their hands the control of all rapid transit between the two principal cities of the country. But there was so little con- fidence in the feasibility of railroads at the time the first began to be constructed, that the Legislature of New Jersey inserted in the charter a provision that it should be annulled if the company abandoned the road or failed to keep it in repair for three successive years.

In February, 1833, thirty-five miles of track had been laid between Sonth Amboy and Bordentown, at a maximum cost of eighteen thousand dollars per mile, and pas- sengers and freight were transported in car- riages drawn by horses. The rails were of cast-iron, laid upou blocks of stone or wooden sleepers, three feet apart. According to Gor-

351

PUBLIC INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

don's Gazetteer of that year : "The remainder of the road, from Bordentown to Camden, is in progress, and is being constructed of wood faced with iron bars, it being supposed that it will not be employed more than two or three months in the year, and will therefore not require the strength of the portion be- tween Bordentown and New York." A first train passed over the entire length of the road in October, 1834. It was drawn by the engine "John Bull," which had been built in 1831 for the company by George and Robert Stev- enson, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. The dimensions of this first locomotive which crossed the bounds of old Glou- cester County were as follows: Cylinders, nine inches diameter, twenty inches stroke ; one pair driving-wheels, four feet, six inches diameter ; one pair front wheels of same diameter. The hubs were of cast-iron, the spokes and rims of wood, and the tires of wrought-iron ; weight of engine, about ten tons. The builders landed it at Philadel- phia in August, 1831, from whence it was taken to Bordentown in sections on a sloop. There it was put together on a piece of track three-quarters of a mile long, which was all that the company had then permanently laid down. A tender and water-tank was con- structed by mounting a whiskey hogshead upon a four-wheeled platform car, and the connection between the pumps and the tank was made by a leather hose supplied by a Bordentown shoemaker. Steam was raised on September 15th, and, in the presence of the officers of the road, the engine was run over the bit of track. On November 12th the engine was given a public trial, the members of the New Jersey Legislature and promi- nent railroad men and engineers being in- vited to witness it. Isaac Dripps was en- gineer, Benjamin Higgins did the firing and Robert L. Stevens supervised affairs. Then the engine was retired until brought into ac- tive service on the completion of the line, in 1814, and for thirty-three years afterward it

did regular duty. In 1876 the historic en- gine was exhibited at the Centennial.

It is interesting to observe the ideas and experiments of early inventors concerning locomotive, steamboats and traction engines. When compared with the perfection reached in this direction to-day, we notice that Oliver Evans, about the year 1804, constructed what he called a steam-carriage, which cor- responded in many respects to the "John Bull " engine above-named. This some- what novel carriage was exhibited on the roads near Philadelphia, and propelled for a short distance amid much enthusiasm.

The total cost of the sixty-four miles of the Camden and Amboy road was eleven million two hundred and twenty-one thou- sand six hundred and ninety-six dollars, and it was finished in 1837 through to the Camden water-front at Broadway. The sur- veys had been begun on June 16, 1830, by Major John Wilson and his assistant engi- neers, and in the middle of January, 1833 passengers passed between Bordentown and Amboy by train, and between Bordentown and Philadelphia in the steamer " Trenton." A year afterward the rails had been laid to within eleven miles of Camden, with which connection was made by horse-power. The United States mail was sent for the first time from the Philadelphia post-office to Camden, to be sent to New York, on Decem- ber 29, 1834. The entire track from Cam- den to Amboy was in full use by the early spring of 1835, and a newspaper noted it as "one of the most extraordinary instances of rapid traveling on record, that passengers were taken from Philadelphia to New York, distance computed to be ninety-four miles, in four and three-quarters hours, including the land and water transportation."

This was the great route of travel between Philadelphia and New York until the con- struction of the more direct line via Trenton and Jersey City. By an agreement made in January, 1867, the United Companies, the

352

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Com- pany and the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, which owned the line between New Brunswick and Jersey City, were consolidated as the United Rail- road and Canal Companies of New Jersey, on the basis of an equal division of profits be- tween the three railroads and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company. In May, 1871, all these properties were leased for nine hundred and ninety-nine years to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company under a guarantee of dividends of ten per cent. upon the capital stock, and, after a long and bitter resistance in the courts, the lease was con- firmed by an act of the New Jersey Legisla- ture approved March 27, 1873.

ANDREW HEATH, one of the first con- ductors on the Camden and Amboy Rail- road, and for many years captain of the ferry-boat for the same company, during a period of more than a quarter of a century, was familiarly known to thousands of trav- elers who passed between the cities of New York and Philadelphia. He was born in 1812 in Germantown, Pa., and was a son of Charles Heatlı and Amy Pedrick, his wife, both of whom were prominent members of the Society of Friends. Andrew Heath, after obtaining his education in the Friends' School of his native town, learned the tan- ner's trade with his father, and followed that occupation until he attained his majority. He then, upon the completion of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, became one of its first conductors, moved to Camden, where he resided the remainder of his life, and contin- ued in the employ of the company until his death. After retiring from the position of railroad conductor he was made captain of the steamboat "Washington," belonging to the railroad company, which conveyed its passengers from Walnut Street wharf, Phila- delphia, to Tacony, carrying the passengers of the Camden and Amboy and Philadelphia and Trenton Railroads. After the companies

abandoned that route of travel across the Delaware River, and constructed the bridge at Trenton, Captain Heath, in the same em- ploy, conveyed passengers in his boat, which plied between Philadelphia and Camden. The "State Rights," a large steamer, was placed on this line; Mr. Heath became its captain, and held that position until his death, on August 23, 1871. His gentle- manly and courteous manners made him very popular with the travelers and highly ap- preciated by the officers of the company. In 1838 he was married to Matilda Pike, of Berks County, Pa., by whom he had seven children, of whom Charles, Amy, Edwin and Andrew died within a period of three days of diphtheria, during the prevalence of that disease in Camden.

Robert F., the second son, is now register of Camden County and also extensively en- gaged in the manufacture of straw goods in Philadelphia. Matilda is married to James B. Boyer, of Camden, and they now reside in New York City. John, the youngest sur- viving son, was married to Jennie Thistle, of Philadelphia, and now is an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at their office in Fourth Street, Philadelphia.

PROJECTS THAT CAME TO NAUGHT .- After the Camden and Amboy Railroad was built, a desire began to grow among the people for a railroad connecting Camden with the Atlantic coast, and on March 10, 1836, an act was passed which granted a charter to the "Camden and Egg Harbor Railroad Company," with an authorized capital of two hundred thousand dollars. The corpo- rators were Jesse Richards, Samuel B. Finch, Timothy Pharo, Ebenezer Tucker and Wil- liam McCarty. The route was to be from Camden to Quaker Bridge, in Burlington County, thence to McCartyville or Wading River, thence to or near Tuckerton. The company was authorized to build a branch to Great Egg Harbor Bay. This road was never built. Four years later a notice of ap-

353

PUBLIC INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

plication to the Legislature of New Jersey was made, December 12, 1840, for an act to incorporate a company under the name of "The People's Railroad Company," with a capital of one million dollars, and power to construct a railroad from some point on the Delaware at or near Camden, or between Trenton or Camden, to the city of New Brunswick. In the case of this application no charter was granted, but in a few years after charters were granted and roads were built.

THE CAMDEN AND ATLANTIC RAIL- ROAD, extending from Coopers Point, Cam- den, to Atlantic City, a distance of fifty-eight and three-fourths miles, was chartered by the New Jersey Legislature March 19, 1852. The incorporators as named in the charter were John W. Mickle, Abraham Browning, Joseph Porter, Andrew K. Hay, John H. Coffin, John Stanger, Jesse Richards, Thos. H. Richards, Edmund Taylor, Joseph Thompson, Robert Risley, Enoch Doughty and Jonathan Pitney, who were empowered to open books and receive subscriptions to stock.

A meeting for that purpose was held at the "Arch Street House," Philadelphia, then kept by Thompson Newkirk, on the 24th day of June, 1852. After the entire amount of five hundred thousand dollars, in ten thou- sand shares, was subscribed, the stockholders elected the following-named persons as di- rectors : Wm. Coffin, Joseph Porter, Andrew K. Hay, Thos. H. Richards, Enoch Doughty, Jonathan Pitney, Stephen Colwell, Samuel Richards and Wm. Fleming. The board or- ganized by electing Alexander K. Hay, president, and Samuel Richards, secretary and treasurer, as temporary officers. Richard B. Osborne was engaged as the engineer. He made the survey and the work of con- structing the road was immediately com- menced. On November 19, 1852, the ferry property at Coopers Point, the western ter- minns of the projected road, was purchased of William Cooper for forty thousand dol- lars. Hon. Thomas P. Carpenter was chosen

counsel for the company. In October, 1853, the road was formally opened from Coopers Point through Haddonfield to Long-a-Com- ing (now Berlin), a distance of sixteen and a half miles, and on July 4, 1854, the entire road was completed to the ocean and the first trains ran over the route on that day.

Soon after the completion of the railroad a telegraph line was extended by the company along the entire route. In 1865 this line was leased by the American Telegraph Company and subsequently by its successors, the West- ern Union Telegraph Company.

The Camden and Atlantic Railroad, as completed in 1854, was the first railroad to be constructed across the State of New Jersey to the ocean, and thus became an influential factor in developing the internal resources of the State.

This enterprise in its inception was by capitalists and business men regarded as " ex- tra hazardous." The applicants for the charter met with no opposition before the Legislature, for no one suspected the road would be built. There were no towns of any size on the proposed line, but few manu- facturers, and absolutely nothing at the east- ern terminus, save the broad expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

The arguments that a railroad would bring the extensive tracts of waste land into market at last induced the owners of these lands to move in the matter and after many consulta- tions the work was begun. The opposition and annoyances that follow all such under- takings were attendant on this, and often the projectors saw nothing short of insolven- cy and individual ruin surrounding them. As any town was reached, a line of passen- ger cars would be put on, which produced some revenue and encouraged the stockhold- ers. Occasionally rumors were afloat that the work would be abandoned and the slow manner in which the grading and track-laying east of Winslow was conducted seemed to confirm this story. At last the meadows

354

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

were crossed and the terminal point on Abse- com beach was reached. Visitors looked out upon the ocean. They were surrounded by a barren but a high beach, where the bathing was all that could be asked.

Out of the sand, the sedge and the slashes arose a town filled with a permanent, as well as a transient population, seeking after health, recreation and fortune.

The line of the road is now crowded with towns immediate and towns prospective, with farms and factories where hundreds of people are employed and obtain a comfortable live- lihood. On either side the soil has been cleared and found suitable for all the crops adapted to the climate. Abandoned water- powers are utilized either for cranberry- growing or manufacturing. Grapes and all the small fruits grow luxuriantly and make a profitable yield to the growers, thus main- taining a population on the soil where noth- ing had before been produced.

Dividends upon the stock of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company have been paid as follows :

October 1, 1872, three and one-half per cent. on the preferred stock ; November 15, 1873, three and one-half per cent. on the preferred stock ; October 1, 1874, seven per cent. on the preferred stock and three and one-half per cent. on the common stock ; May 1, 1875, three and one-half per cent. ; Octo- ber 1, 1875, three and one-half per cent .; January 15, 1876, two per cent. ; April 15, 1876, two per cent .; July 15, 1876, two per cent. ; October 16, 1876, two per cent., all on the preferred, and Jan- uary 15, 1877, two per cent. on common stock ; No- vember 1, 1879, three and one-half per cent. on the preferred stock ; April 19, 1880, three and one- half per cent. on the preferred and common stock, payable in preferred stock-scrip; November 15, 1882, four per cent. on the preferred stock ; Feb- ruary 1, 1884, seven per cent. on the preferred stock.

The dates of election and terms of office of the several presidents have been as fol- lows:

Andrew K. Hay, June 24, 1852, until April 1, 1853; Jobn C. Da Costa, April 1, 1853, until April 6, 1855 ; George W. Richards, April 6, 1855, un-

til July 13, 1857; John Brodhead, July 13, 1857, until October 22, 1863; Joseph W. Cooper, Octo- ber 22 to December 18, 1863 ; Robert Frazer, De- cember 18, 1863, until October 23, 1873; Andrew K. Hay, October 23, 1873, until March 16, 1876 ; William Massey, president pro tem., November 18, 1875, until March 16, 1876; John Lucas, March 16, 1876, until October 25, 1877 ; Charles D. Free- man, October 25, 1877, until February 22, 1883; William L. Elkins, February 22, 1883, and Wil- liam J. Sewell, vice-president, March 3, 1883, until the present time.

The several secretaries and treasurers have been elected as follows :

Samuel Richards, secretary pro tem., June 24, 1852; J. Engle Negus, secretary and treasurer, August 25, 1852; Samuel Richards, secretary pro tem., September 28, 1852 ; Robert Frazer, secretary and treasurer, November 5, 1852 ; Horace White- man, secretary and treasurer, December 18, 1863 ; Daniel M. Zimmermau, secretary and treasurer, December 21, 1871; Daniel M. Zimmerman, sec- retary, February 22, 1883, until the present time; William Taylor, treasurer, February 22, 1883, un- til the present time.

The officers of this road are :

President, William L. Elkins; Vice-president, William J. Sewell; Secretary, Daniel M. Zim- merman ; Treasurer, William Taylor. Directors : William L. Elkins, James B. Dayton, Frank Thomson, Richard D. Barclay, Thomas H. Dudley, Joseph N. Du Barry, William C. Houston, Ed- mund E. Read, Henry D. Welsh, William Bettle, John B. Hay, Enoch A. Doughty, Crawford Miller.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 54

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