The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 56

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

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The next steamer was seen on the Dela- ware in the summer of 1797. The engine was built near Bordentown by Sam. Morey, of Connecticut, and the boat had paddle- wheels at the sides. In 1804 Oliver Evans, the Philadelphia inventor, constructed a ma- chine for cleaning docks at his shops in that city, placed it upon wheels connected with the engine, propelled it to the Schuylkill, there attached a stern-wheel, launched it and steamed around to the Delaware and up to Beverly, returning to the city the next day. In 1807 Robert L. Stevens brought around by sea the steamboat " Phoenix," which had been built at Hoboken by John C. Stevens, and in 1809 this boat was making regular trips to Bordentown, in charge of Captain Moses Rodgers. New York passengers were taken by stage from Bordentown to Washing- ton, N. J., and thence to New York by boat. A steamboat called the "New Jersey" was placed on the river during the summer of 1812, making regular trips to Whitehill, the landing next below Bordentown. The "Eagle," built at Kensington by Moses Rodgers, began running to Burlington in June, 1813, and from thence onward the fleet increased, the business of most of the vessels being, besides accommodating the local travel, to connect with the stage-lines across New Jersey and with the railroads when they superseded the older method of land travel. Passengers from Camden crossed the river by the ferries to reach the steamers, as they have

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

to do at present, no lines ever having been established from Camden.

FERRIES ON THE DELAWARE .- Rapid settling upon either bank of a great tidal river and upon the shores of its numerous navigable affluents, and prompted by busi- ness and social intercourse to frequent com- munication, public ferries became a necessity to the Swedish and English colonists as soon as they produced anything for barter or sale. The people of each nationality included men who, coming from the seaports of the old countries, were skilled in the construction and handling of small boats, and none gifted with the slightest prescience could have failed to foresee that in supplying the popular want of transportation across the streams there was to be a lucrative business done. It is likely enough that before the advent of the Friends, the Swedes had some system of ferriage be- tween their settlements in West Jersey and those on the other side of the Delaware, but there is nothing in any of the records to show for it or to give names and locations. But when the English Friends, with their clearer ideas of accommodating trade and travel, and their habit of placing public enterprises un- der the sanction of the law, took possession of the land, they recognized the occupation of the ferryman as one to be encouraged and regulated, and the requisite facilities for its conduct were soon provided.

It has been taken for granted by certain historians of the locality that anterior to 1687 there was no ferry on the Delaware below that by which the first road between New York and Philadelphia crossed the river at the falls ; but in Clement's " First Settlers in Newton Township " there is specific mention made of a ferry previously in existence, be- tween the Indian settlements on the opposite side of the river which was continued by the early English settlers of West Jersey, and lends force to the theory that one of their primary undertakings was to provide transit between the eastern and western

shores. This ferry ran between Shack- amaxon, the place of Penn's treaty, and the present Coopers Point, on the property conveyed to William Cooper, the survey of which is dated June 12, 1682. The latter named this estate Pyne Point, because of the heavy growth of the conifer-bearing trees upon it ; and it is one of the curious coinci- dences with which history is so plentifully pointed that this ancient ferry had its eastern terminus upon the land of the founder in America of the family which, in succeeding generations, so deeply engaged in the business of transportation across the Delaware. The origin of this ferry is not known, but as in 1682 a business meeting of Friends was held alternately at Thomas Fairman's house, on the Philadelphia side, and William Cooper's, on the Jersey shore, it is a sound conclusion that some occasional means of conveyance across the river had already been furnished. It is equal- ly probable that Cooper had some supervi- sion of this ferry, and that it bore some rela- tion to the controversy between William Roy- don and himself concerning the boundaries of their lands. Before the Pyne Point prop- erty of William Cooper was surveyed, Roy- don had made a survey lower down the river, with which the Cooper tract was found to interfere, and the dispute was not quieted until the second William Cooper, grandson of the first settler, purchased the larger part of the Roydon survey, in 1723. Roydon how- ever appears to have been the first to estab- lish a constant means of communication and in 1687 to have obtain a legalized monopoly of Delaware ferriage by himself, by the fol- lowing proceedings :

" Whereas, At a court held at Gloucester upon ye first day of ye first month in ye year 1688, it was presented to ye bench that a constant and com- mon ferry was very usefull and much wanted from Jersey to Philadelphia, and also that William Roydon's house was judged a place convenient, and ye said William Roydon a person suitable for that employ ; and therefore an order from ye court was then granted for ye establishment and fixing

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of ye same. Whereto ye bench did then and there assent, and refferred to ye Grand Jury ye methodiz- ing of ye same and to fix ye rates thereof, which was by them agreed and concluded upon as here- under follows :

"Therefore we permit and appoint that a com- mon passage or ferry for man and beast be pro- vided, fixed and settled in some convenient and proper place between ye mouths or entrances of Coopers Creek and Newton Creek, and that ye government, managing and keeping of ye same be committed to ye said William Roydon and his assigns, who are hereby empowered and appointed to establish, fix and settle ye same within ye lim- its aforesaid, wherein all other persons are desired and requested to keep no other common or public passage or ferry.

"' And ye said William Roydon shall prepare and provide good and sufficient boats, with other conveniences suitable to ye said employ, to be in readiness at all times to accommodate people's actions, and shall take no more than six pence per head for such persons as shall be by him ferried over ye River and not more than twelve pence for man and horse or other beast, and so not exceed- ing twelve pence per head for any sort of beast so ferried over, as above said; except swine, calves and sheep, which shall pay only six pence per head and no more.' "

These proceedings are signed by Francis Collins, Andrew Robeson, John Wood, Christopher Watkins and Samuel Spicer, and on the 24th of April, 1689, the order was " entered, examined and recorded " by John Reading, recorder.

Roydon's ferry ran from Camden to Phil- adelphia, and there was a wide margin al- lowed as to its terminal points on either side of the river. He does not appear to have made a success of it, and in a few years sold it to the first William Cooper, who gave it in 1695 to his son Daniel, who the same year, obtained license from the Gloucester County Court " for keeping a ferry over the river to Philadelphia at the prices following :

"For a man and horse, one shilling and six pence; for a single horse or cow, one shilling and three pence ; for a single man, ten pence ; and when ten or more, six pence per head ; and six pence per head for sheeps, calfs or hoggs."

When Daniel Cooper died, in 1715, the ap-

praisement of his personal property included two ferry-boats, showing that he resided at the ferry and was its proprietor at the time of his death. In 1730 his son, the second William, petitioned Governor John Mont- gomerie for a license to keep a ferry " where one had been kept for more than forty years," which license was granted " with the exclusive right of ferry for two miles above and two miles below, so long as he accommo- dated the people, upon the payment of one shilling yearly on the feast day of St. Mich- ael the Archangel." This charter not only covered the middle ferry and the Coopers Point privileges, but it also extended below Kaighns Point, and as the first William Cooper had forty-five years before bought the Roydon ferry, the probability is that the Coopers in 1730 owned all the ferry rights except that of John Reading, who, on June 1, 1695, had been empowered by the court " to keep a ferry over Gloucester River (Tim- ber Creek), and from Gloucester to Wickaco : for a single man and horse two shillings and six pence; and four shillings per head for more than one horse and cow; and one shil- ling and six pence for a single man ; and one shilling per head when more than one from Gloucester to Wickaco ; and five pence per head for horses, cows, &c .; and two pence per head for man without horses or cattell over Gloucester River." Thus Reading had come into possession of a ferry between Gloucester Point and the former Swanson lands at the lower end of Philadelphia, while the Coopers owned and ran the ferries higher up the stream. As roads were straightened and im- proved, bridges built and the country more thickly settled, Cooper's ferries had the pref- erence with travelers, since the distance across the river was much shortened, with less risk and much greater speed. The later his- tory of the Gloucester ferries will be found farther on in this chapter. "The amount of business done at these ferries may be inferred from the number of inhabitants in

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this region in those days. The census of Gloucester Connty taken in 1737 shows a population of three thousand two hundred and sixty-seven, including one hundred and twenty-two slaves. A large proportion of these lived near some navigable stream, de- pending upon boats as a means of travel, and in going to Philadelphia they would nse their own transportation and not cross either at Gloucester or Coopers ferry. Also it has been seen that in 1715 Daniel Cooper had but two ferry-boats, no doubt of ordinary size and without capacity for carrying many people, which kind of evidence goes very far to prove that the means, though scanty, were sufficient for the wants of the public."

New Jersey and Pennsylvania legislation regarding the ferries between the two prov- inces was not always cotemporaneous, but in the main the acts of each were in harmony. In 1700 Pennsylvania ordered that no ferry- man be permitted to ply the river Delaware " in this government " withont first giving bond that " they shall not carry out of or into this province any strangers that may be suspected of piracy or being criminals or run- aways." In 1718 the second William Cooper obtained from the Pennsylvania As- sembly a confirmation of the franchises which he enjoyed in New Jersey, the Assembly, on February 22d of that year, passing an act for "erecting a ferry at or near the land of Dan- iel Cooper, deceased," and also " to Glonces- ter in the Western division, N. J." On August 18, 1727, another act was passed " for establishing a ferry from the city of Philadelphia to the landing at or near the house of William Cooper, and another from or near the city bonnds to Gloucester, in New Jersey."

The landings on the Philadelphia side are said to have been at Market (then High) Street and below it, except the onc known as the "Old Ferry," which was between Market and Arch Streets. The Pennsylvania act of 1727 conferred the ferry jurisdiction upon

the Common Council of Philadelphia, which it exercised by appointing Sylvanus Smont as ferryman, with a lease of one year, termin- ating in September, 1728. Smout worked in conjunction with the Coopers, and in 1735 the Penns confirmed the right of the muni- cipal corporation to make grants of ferry privileges from Cohocksink Creek to beyond the south bounds of the city. After Smout, William Rawle, brother-in-law of William Cooper, was appointed ferryman on the Pennsylvania side, with a seven years' lease, for which he paid thirty pounds per annum. He died before February 24, 1748, as on that date Cooper, who was one of his execu- tors, applied for a new lease in his own name, to run until Francis Rawle, son of William, should attain his majority and be able to un- dertake the business for himself. The younger Rawle got the lease for himself in 1755, and as he was also dead at its expira- tion, in 1763, it was awarded to his widow, Rebecca Rawle, and his executors paid the rental up to March, 1769.

William Cooper, son of Daniel and grand- son of William, in 1723 came into posses- sion of all the Roydon lands, and in 1744 conveyed to his son Daniel one hundred acres of land, including the site of the Federal Street ferry. The site of the old ferry was a little sonth of the foot of Cooper Street, and was probably abandoned abont 1755 or 1760, as it was not mentioned even in the deed from William Cooper to his son Jacob in 1764, which conveyed to him the property on the river between a point a short distance north of Cooper Street, south to near Arch Street. The history of the ferries will be given under their different names.

The primitive boats of the settlers were small skiffs, but as the demands of transpor- tation increased, they were succeeded by the wherries. These were capital craft and most admirably adapted to their work. They were from twenty-five to forty feet long, with a beam of one-third their length, were clink-

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er-built, and their long, sharp prows were shod with iron, which protected them from being cut through when they were driven against the floating ice in the winter passages. If the river was hard frozen, they were placed upon runners and dragged across by hand. Women and children were then allowed to remain in the boats, but the able-bodied men were expected to work their passage at the ropes. For the ferriage of horses, cattle, vehicles, etc., there were the " horse-boats," huge, flat-bottomed scows, propelled by enor- mous sweeps, that under opposing conditions of tides might take an hour to make the

crossing. The immediate forerunner of steam was the marvelous construction known as a " team-boat," which had wheels upon its sides, the motive-power of which was furnished by horses working on some boats in the fashion of a treadmill and on another pattern traveling in a circle at the ends of horizontal arms which had a cogged gearing to the shaft. Eight, nine or ten horses were employed in a boat of this class, which was a vast improvement upon manual labor at the oars and no mean approximation to steam- power. The year was divided by the ferry- man into summer and winter seasons, one extending from March to December, and the other from December to March. After the Revolutionary War the business became sys- tematized and by general consent the ferry- men established a uniform scale of summer prices-For each passenger, twelve and a half cents ; for wagon and horses, one dollar and a half ; for man and horse, fifty cents, and for cattle per head, fifty cents. In the winter this tariff was doubled, and the senior ferry- master decided when the advance was to be made. He gave the signal for the double tolls by ordering the horse-boats from their anchorage in the river to the wharves. Dr. Fisler gives these names of some of the team- boats : The " Ridgway," built by Benjamin Reeves, which ran from the foot of Cooper Street ; the "Washington," which plied be-

tweeu Market Street, Camden, and Market Street, Philadelphia ; the " Phoenix," " Moses Lancaster," "Constitution " and " Independence."

Steam was first used in 1810, but to a lim- ited extent, and often a return was made to the team-boats. The first steam ferry-boat was built in 1810 by James Bispham and was commanded by Captain Ziba Kellum, and ran from Camden to Market Street. It is au unsettled question whether this boat ran from Kaighns Point or Cooper Street ferry. Shortly after James Springer built one. In 1813 William Cooper built the " Rebecca." It was not until the ferry companies were or- ganized that ferry-boats were fitted for run- ning through ice and making regular trips in the winter.

Messrs. Toy and Reeves, of Federal Street Ferry, in 1835, at the request of many citi- zens, tried the experiment of running a night boat, but were obliged to abandon the enterprise for want of support. The ferry companies being better able to sustain loss than individuals, later began night trips and continned them. The Camden and Philadel- phia Ferry Company put on the first night boat July 4, 1842; the last boat left Camden at nine o'clock and Philadelphia at half-past nine P.M.

The steam ferry-boat "State Rights," built in 1835, was the first boat furnished with cabins. The necessity of life-saving appliances was not apparent until the disas- ter occurred to the ferry-boat " New Jersey," March 15, 1855. From that time, ferry-boats were fitted with life-preservers, cork cushions and other appliances not only for saving life but for extinguishing fire.

In 1828 there were twelve steam ferry- boats in service between Philadelphia and Camden, among them being the " William Wray," the " Philadelphia " and the " Min- ette," alias the " Dandy," which took passen- gers to and from Joseph Laterno's Vauxhall Garden, Market and Fourth Streets, Cam-

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den. In 1843 there were fourteen steamboats, costing seventy thousand dollars,-two from Coopers Point to Arch Street and Kensing- ton (or Shackamaxon), two from English's (Cooper Street) to Arch Street, three from lower side of Market Street (one of which connected with Callowhill), two from Cake's (upper side of Market Street), two from Ellwell's (Federal Street) to foot of Walnut Street, two from Kaighns Point to foot of South Street and one be- tween Gloucester and Greenwich.

COOPERS POINT FERRY, now the Cam- den and Atlantic Ferry, is the oldest in the county to continue. The Point was the prop- erty of William Cooper, who settled upon it in 1680, and doubtless operated a ferry dur- ing the summer of 1682, when the Friends were holding a six weeks' business meeting at Shackamaxon and his place. The precise time the ferry was regularly established is not known, but that it was in operation be- fore 1708 is ascertained from the deed of Willian Cooper to his son Joseph, dated February 18th, in that year, to whom he conveys two hundred and twelve acres, in- cluding the ferry at Coopers Point. Joseph Cooper conveyed one hundred and twenty- two acres of the tract of two hundred and twelve to his son Benjamin, including the ferry, May 2, 1728, who operated it until July 1, 1762, when he conveyed it to his son Samuel, who soon after built the ferry-house now standing and used in part as the office of the Camden and Atlan- tic Railroad Company. The ferry was con- ducted by him many years. About 1800 it passed to his son William, who conducted it until his death, in 1849. William Cooper had, in 1813, built the steam ferry-boat " Rebecca " (named after his wife), it being the first steamboat used at that ferry and the third on the river. The " Rebecca " also became known as the " Aunt Becky." A peculiarity of this steamer was the boiler, the shell of which was of wood clamped

with iron bands. Her single wheel was at her stern, and being the first vessel of the kind on the stream she got a second nick- name-" The Wheelbarrow." She was com- manded by Captain Lannery and Captain Fred. Roth. She was succeeded by the "Citizen," "The Old Coopers Point," and the "Kensington," which ran to Poplar Street. In 1855 the " Leo" was put on and ran to Vine Street; "Tallacca ;" " Arasapha," built in 1861 and which was the first iron ferry-boat with beam engine on the Dela- ware; "Old Atlantic," in 1865; and "Coopers Point," in 1879.

In 1849, the Coopers Point Ferry passed to Joseph W. Cooper, son of William, who ran it until 1854, when he sold it to the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company, who owned it one year, when it again came into the possession of Joseph W. Cooper, who formed a company and applied to the Legis- lature for a charter for The Coopers Point and Philadelphia Ferry Company, which was granted and approved February 20, 1856. The corporators named in the act were Joseph W. Cooper, Samuel R. Lippin- cott, John C. Dacosta, Joseph Ellis, Walter D. Bell, Isaac H. Wood, Benjamin W. Cooper, who were also named as directors.

The company operated the ferry from that time until January 24, 1872, when the Cam- den and Atlantic Railroad Company pur- chased the property and have since operated it in connection with their railroad. They have at present three boats,-the " New At- lantic," " Arasapha," and " Coopers Point " -- that run to Vine Street, Philadelphia.

Samuel C. Cooper served as manager for the ferry company for ten years preceding its sale to the railroad company.

The Kensington and New Jersey Ferry Company, incorporated about fifteen years ago, extends from Coopers Point to Ken- sington (Shackamaxon Street, Philadelphia). This ferry is now under the control of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company,

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and on it the steamboat "Shaekamaxon " is run.

THE FEDERAL STREET FERRY .- The site of the Federal Street Ferry was granted, with one hundred acres of land, to Daniel Cooper in 1744, who, a few years later, doubt- less established a ferry at that place. In 1764 he erected a mansion known after- wards as Parson's Hotel, and inserted a slab with the letters "D. M. C., 1764," which were for Daniel and Mary (West) Cooper. Joshua Cooper, son of Daniel, took charge of the ferry and conducted it until 1803. It was left to him by will from his father, dated in 1768, although he did uot possess the property until several years later. In 1796 it was connected with the main roads from Burlington by a road along the river, intersecting the Cooper Street Ferry, theu owned by Daniel Cooper, his nephew. Joshua Cooper, in 1803, leased the Federal Street Ferry to Richard Thorne for a term of eight years. Its ownership passed from Joshua Cooper to his brother James, who, before 1820, sold it to John Wessels, who also in that year kept a store at the foot of the street west of the Ferry House, and who ran the ferry many years, and at his death, in 1830, left it to his son, Samuel D., who, in 1832, sold it to Jacob Ridgway. Boats ran to Areh Street and to Market Street, Philadelphia. At the former point Ridgway owned the Arch Street House, and at Market Street he removed the old ferry hotel and built the Ridgway House in 1837. The ferry prop- erty in Camden embraced all the land, with the improvements thereon, between Arch and Federal, west of Second Street, with much ground south of Federal, pleasure gardens taking up much of the latter. Ridgway en- larged the Ferry House by building a wing on Federal Street, built a row of frame houses on Arch Street, and made many other improve- ments, all of which, together with two hotels in Philadelphia, he sold in 1838 to the Cam- den and Philadelphia Steamboat Ferry Co.

In December, 1786, Joseph Wright, of Philadelphia, established the "Lower Ferry," which also landed at Federal Street, starting on the western side from Robert Waln's wharf, below the drawbridge. It touched at Windmill Island, where Wright erected a half-way house and announced that " passen- gers would always meet with hearty welcome and a hospitable fire in the cold season to warm and refresh themselves while waiting for an opportunity of evading those large fields of iee which generally float up and down with the tide and obstruet the passage during winter."

Wright's enterprise of the half-way house was the seed of an ambitious projeet that sprouted iu the minds of some citizens of Camden, the most prominent of whom was Edward Sharp. They conceived, about the year 1818, the notion of building a bridge between Camden and Windmill Island, from which access to Philadelphia by a short ferry would be easy. A bridge company was incorporated by the New Jersey Legis- ture, aud in order to accommodate the expected travel, Sharp laid out Bridge Ave- nue in Camden, in 1820, but the scheme fell dead because of the lack of investors in the stock of the company.

Under the Wessel ownership of this ferry, Joseph Wilds and Benjamin Reeves were ferry-masters. From 1825 to 1835 Reeves and Isaiah Toy were partners, the former keeping the ferry-house at the foot of Market Street, Philadelphia, and the latter the ferry- house at the foot of Federal Street, in Cam- den. Following Toy was John Kinsell, aud with him ends the list of private managers.

Neither Joshua Cooper of 1769, Richard Thorne of 1811, nor even John Kinsell of 1840 would know the Federal Street Ferry were they now living to take a survey of it. As late as 1850 the ferry slips were as far east as Delaware Street, and the process of filling up and moving the landing westward had been going on for more than half a century.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 56

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