The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 64

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

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At the first election held under the new Consti- tution he was chosen by the people of Gloucester County to represent them in the Legislative Coun- cil. He and Richard Smith, who were the only members who took the affirmation of Friends, were appointed by the Council its representatives on the joint committee to form the Great Seal of the State.

Thus publicly assuming his share of the respon- sibilities of the American cause, he had become so marked a "rebel" that in the winter of 1777, when the British army was foraging in Gloucester County, he was compelled to flee from his house, which Lord Cornwallis seized and occupied as headquarters during the stay of his army in the neighborhood of Woodbury, the soldiers prying open the doors and cupboards with their bayonets, leaving marks that can still be seen.

He was continued by successive elections a mem- ber of Council for each year until 1782, being a diligent and leading member, rarely absent from his seat. There is scarcely a day when his name does not appear on the minutes in active participa- tion in the busy and difficult affairs of the times ; no member being oftener appointed on prominent committees and none reporting more important measures for the carrying on of the government than he.

During the recess of the Legislature in 1779, moved by the great suffering of the officers and troops of the Jersey brigade stationed at Eliza- bethtown for the want of sufficient clothing, he joined with Governor Livingston and seven others in a request to the treasurer to furnish clothing to the army in any amount not exceeding seven thousand pounds, agreeing to return that sum of money to the treasury if the Legislature should make no provision therefor. Upon this guarantee the clothing was furnished and the Legislature, at its next sitting, sanctioned it. He was chosen a member of the Council for Safety for the year 1778. At the election by the Legislature in 1783 he was the candidate for Governor in opposition to Livingston, who was elected.

To him belongs. the credit of taking, while the contest of the colonies for their freedom was yet undecided, the first step ever taken in the Legis- lature of New Jersey for the freeing of the slaves. On September 21, 1780, he introduced a bill enti- tled, "An act to abolish slave-keeping," which, on its second reading, after considerable debate, was, on account of the near close of the session, post- poned for the consideration of the next Legisla- ture. Early in the next session he was careful to call the subject to the attention of his fellow-mem- bers by moving for leave to bring in a bill entitled, "An act to abolish slavery throughout this State." But this was a philanthropic move too far in ad- vance of the times to be adopted by the Council, and it was lost. Firm, however, in his anti-slavery convictions, he did not abandon the subject, but waited until the colonies had won their independ- ence before he again urged it in the Legislature.

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

He was not a member of Council in 1782 or 1783, but was once more chosen in 1784 and on Novem- ber 4th he renewed his efforts to make New Jersey a free State indeed by moving for the appointment of a joint committee to enter into a " a free con- ference " on (among other things) the subject of the gradnal abolition of slavery within this State. But the Council was still not ready for so advanced a step and it was again lost.

At the joint session held at Mount Holly in December, 1779, he was elected president, or as it was then called, first judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas of Gloucester Connty for the full term of five years. The conrt minutes show that not- withstanding the claim upon his time the freqnent sessions of the Legislature cansed, he was regularly in attendance at every term of the court. On De- cember 21, 1784, he was re-elected first judge and sat at the term commencing on the third Tuesday in March, 1785, between which time and the 11th day of April, when his will was proven, he died. The exact date is unknown.

JOSEPH COOPER, JR., of Newton township, Old Gloncester County, born in 1691, was eldest son of Joseph and Lydia (Riggs) Cooper, and grandson of William and Margaret, the emigrants.

Joseph, Jr., was in many respects a remark- able man and his memory is well worthy of perpet- uation. He was early called to places of honor and trust, and was continued in them during life, being emphatically a man of action and affairs. For nineteen consecutive years he represented his county in the State Legislature, "in a manner sat- isfactory and acceptable, and," says Judge Clem- ent, the historiographer of Newton, "no like con- fidence has been extended to any representative of the constituency of this region." Smith, the historian, who knew him well, tells us that " he had steady principles and a nobility of disposition and fortitude superior to many," and relates, that at one of the tedious sessions in Governor Morris' times, when contrariety of sentiments had long impeded business, the Governor, casually meeting the repre- sentative in the street, said : "Cooper, I wish you would go home and send your wife." "I will," answered Cooper, "if the Governor will do the same by his,"-an anecdote illustrative of the polit- ical antagonism of the men, as well as deservedly expressive, says Smith, of the estimation placed npon the mental capacity of their respective wives.

Cooper was also treasurer of his town and judge of the Gloucester County Court. He and his cousin, John Cooper, of Deptford, a minister, with Wm. Evans, were the first trustees of Haddonfield Meeting in 1721, in which meeting he was an elder,

being called to the service in 1723. He resided on a farm deeded to him by his father in 1714, of four hundred and thirty acres of land on the south side of Coopers Creek, and his house stands near the junction of the present Haddon and Kaighn Ave- nues, within the city limits.

This plantation passed under his will, by rever- sion and remainder, to his younger brother Isaac, and has since passed by heir female to the Cope fam- ily. He died Eighth Month 1, 1749, having surviv- ed all of his descendants except three granddaugh- ters. A plantation of six hundred acres on the south side of the sonth branch of Coopers Creek, which came to him from his grandfather William, the patriarch, he directed should be divided into three farms for his granddaughters. The farm- house on this tract was built before 1726, and stands near Peterson's mill, not far from Ashland Station. The Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, in their testimonial published on the occasion of his death, have placed on record ample evidence of the high estimation in which he was held by the Society of Friends.

JOSEPH AND SAMUEL COOPER, OF THE POINT .- Jos. Cooper, born at Coopers Point, Twelfth Month 1, 1735, a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Cole) Cooper, was fourth in descent from the emigrants, William and Margaret Cooper. He married Elizabeth Haines, and occupied the brick home- stead house, a portion of which yet stands on the corner of Point and Erie Streets, bearing on one of its gables the legend "B. + H. C., 1734," being the initials of his father, Benjamin, and his second wife, Hannah, who died without issne. In 1788 Joseph built the brick home at the Point, in the gable of which is set in black brick the initials

" C I+E 1788."

They lived in this house to an advanced age, and died without issne.

Mr. Cooper was a model farmer gentleman. Possessed of an independent fortune and cultivat- ing a highly improved plantation, he devoted his time and means to the advancement of improve- ments in agriculture and general farming. His orchards and grapery were most productive, and probably were in a higher state of cultivation than any in West Jersey; he was also the successful introducer of fruits and vegetables not indigenous to the soil of New Jersey. Dr. Pickering said of him that "he was the shrewdest man he ever knew, and possessed of the strongest mind." His ability was fully recognized by his neighbors and he was much employed in the church affairs

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THE CITY OF CAMDEN.

of the Society of Friends. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were widely known for their unfailing hospitality and were greatly respected in the com- munity at large. He and his brother Samuel (born Sixth Month 25, 1744) were stanch Whigs and patriots. They were both imprisoned by the Brit- ish and their property burnt, destroyed or appro- priated. Their lands were held by the enemy as an outpost to the army of occupation in Philadel- phia. The English General Abercrombie occupied the farm-house of Joseph as headquarters, while the Hessians and Scotch were quartered on the property of his brother Samuel at the ferry, who was kindly allotted the use of his own kitchen for the shelter of his family. Samuel, writing at this dismal period (May, 1778), says : " I can stand and see them cut, pull down, burn and destroy all before them and not think more of it than I used to think of see- ing a shingle burnt. When they (his Tory neigh- bors) tell me they will ruin me, I tell them I shall be able to buy one-half of them in seven years,"-a prediction literally fulfilled. In the same year Samuel was betrayed to the enemy by one of his domestics, and seized as a spy, was sent to Philadelphia. Escaping from his guard through the influence of a friend, he obtained a pass from the general commanding, saved his neck and re- joined his family, as he quaintly tells us, " to the great mortification of a great many of my old friends and new enemies, who stood in clusters and pointed at me as I was going to the General's, and followed me to see me go to Goal, (jail) where many of them said I should have been long ago- but alas ! they were all disappointed."

The substantial brick building at the ferry, marked on the gable with "S. + P. C., 1770," was the early home of Samuel and Prudence Cooper. It is now known as Coopers Point Hotel, and a por- tion is used as offices of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Company. The later years of his life were passed on his farm of three hundred and forty-three acres, called "Pleasant View" (now Pavonia), in Stockton township, where he died in 1812. John Hunt, a minister of note, made the following entry in his journal :

" Ninth Month 22, 1812. Heard of the death of Samuel Cooper, aged about seventy, an old schoolmate. He owned the ferry opposite Phila- delphia, and although he had great possessions and was counted rich, yet he retired from busi- ness, obtained a right among Friends, became a much approved man, and was very useful in the Society, and also open-hearted and kind in en- tertaining Friends, so that he will be very much missed in the neighborhood and in society."

Samuel and Prudence had had children,-Joseph, William, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth.

Joseph and Samuel had a brother Benjamin, of Haddonfield, who, by his first wife, Prudence Barton,. had an only son, James B. Cooper, born March 6, 1753, soldier and sailor, who served on laud and sea, filling honorable and responsible positions in army and navy during two wars-1776 and 1812. He served with distinction in the War of '76, under Lee and Marion, and his services in the navy during the War of 1812 were especially recognized and honored by the President. Commander Cooper died at Haddonfield, in the ninety-third year of his age, being the last survivor of Lee's Legion and the senior commander in the United States navy. (See page 60.)

Joseph Cooper, one of the subjects of this sketch, being ehildless, named in his will a grand-nephew, Joseph W. Cooper (son of William), born Seventh Month 22, 1799, as the chief beneficiary under that instrument, devising to him the lands in Cam- den lying near the Upper Ferry, the same being a large part of the original survey made by William Cooper in 1680.

Samuel Champion Cooper, of Coopers Point, counselor-at-law, son of Joseph W. Cooper, is the representative of this branch, and the able and ex- perienced manager of their large estates.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND LAND TRANS- FERS ON THE SITE OF SOUTH CAMDEN .- The foregoing, in its large divisions, comprise the orig- inal Cooper and Roydon surveys. Below the tract on the river was the tract surveyed to Samuel Norris, in May, 1685. He bought a share of Pro- priety of the trustees of Edward Byllynge, in 1678, and located several traets of land in different parts of West Jersey, of which this was one. On October 12th following he leased twenty aeres of this survey to John Ashton, who built a house upon it, and sold the remainder of the survey to Robert Turner, September 21, 1686, and who bought the lease of Ashton, May 5, 1689. The meadow lots, which lay on both sides of Little Newton Creek (Kaighns Run), and had been divided between the settlers at Newton, part were sold as follows : No. 1 was sold by Stephen Newbie, son of Mark, to John Kaighn, July 20, 1699. No. 2 was sold by Thomas Thackara, June 16, 1693, to John Burrough, who conveyed to Robert Turner, July 6, 1696, and he to John Kaighn, Tenth Month (Jau- uary) 14, 1696. No. 3 William Bates conveyed to his son Jeremiah, November 10, 1693, who sold to John Kaighn, March 1, 1697. No. 4 Thomas Sharp sold to Robert Turner, April 12, 1693, who sold to John Kaighn, Tenth Month 14, 1696.

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

No. 5 Robert Zane left, by will, twenty-four and three-fourths acres, also fronting on the river, Eleventh Month 27, 1694, to his three sons, -- Nathaniel, Elnathan and Robert. This was sold to John Kaighn, Eleventh Month 6, 1698, and Tenth Month 1, 1702. No. 6, originally laid out to Turner, was sold to John Kaighn, Tenth Month 14, 1696. All these lots lay on the north side of the stream. On the same date the last was purchased, and by the same deed Robert Turner also sold to John Kaighn four hundred and fifty-five acres, lying north of the meadow-lands and Kaighns Run, embracing part of the Norris survey and ex- tending from Line Street to Little Newton Creek. John Kaighn was evidently a native of the " Isle of Mau." He was a carpenter and came to By- berry about 1690. In 1693 he married Ann For- rest, widow of William Forrest and daughter of William Albertson, of Newton township. A daughter was born to them, June 24, 1694, who was named Ann. The mother died July 6th fol- lowing, and the daughter died, unmarried, in 1715. John Kaighn purchased of Robert Turner four hundred and fifty-five acres of land, as above stated, and part of the remainder of the meadow lots within a few years. In the same year (1696) he married, as a second wife, Sarah, the widow of Andrew Griscom and sister of John Dole, who then lived in Newton township. Andrew Griscom, the first husband of Sarah (Dole), was the owner of a tract of land adjoining that lately bought by John Kaighn, and it was also a part of the Norris survey. The title to the tract is not known, but in 1723 it was the property of John Kaighn.

Andrew Griscom had two children by his wife,- Tobias and Sarah. From Tobias the family name is still known in this region. William Griscom (of Haddonfield before and during the Revolution ) was his son. Another son, Samuel, was a carpenter, lived in Philadelphia and assisted in building In- dependence Hall.

John Kaighn, after his purchase of land in Newton township (now Camden), settled upon it and built the house now owned by Charles Mc- Alister. By his second wife he had two sons,- John, born December 30, 1700, and Joseph, born December 4, 1702. His wife died soon after the birth of Joseph. Jane Kaighn, mother of John, then living at Kirk on the Isle of Man, addressed a letter, dated August 26, 1702, "To John Kaighn, Linener, in West New Jersey, nigh on Delaware river side, opposite to Philadelphia city, America," in which she informed him of the death of his father and other family news. On the same sheet Johu Kaighn wrote an unfinished letter to his

mother, without date, in which be said that he had "lost two good and loveing wives in a few years' time, and left alone with young babes, the youngest still at nurse." He married, in 1710, as a third wife, Elizabeth Hill, of Burlington. In 1699 John Kaighn was chosen as one of the judges of Gloucester County, and served three years. In 1708 he became one of the trustees of Newton Meeting, and, in 1710, represented Glou- cester County in the Legislature. He died in 1724 and his will was proved June 12th, in that year, by which he left a house and lot in .Philadel- phia to his wife, Elizabeth, and his real estate in Newton township to his two sons, John and Joseph.

About 1726 John conveyed his interest in the home property to his brother, Joseph Kaighn, who held it until his death, in 1749. He (Joseph) in 1727 married Mary, daughter of James Estaugh, of Philadelphia, and niece of John Estaugh, of Haddonfield, by whom he had five children,- Joseph, John (who became a physician, and died unmarried), Isaac (who died in his minority), James and Elizabeth.

In 1732 John Kaighn, Jr., the eldest son of John Kaighn, and brother of Joseph, married Abigail Hinchman, and as a blacksmith followed his busi- ness at Haddonfield for several years, and removed to a farm on Newton Creek, where he died in 1749, and was buried in the old Newton grave-yard. His children were Sarah, Elizabeth, Samuel, John and Ann. His widow, Abigail, about 1750, married Samuel Harrison, of Gloucester. She sur- vived her second husband, and died in 1795, at the house of her son-in-law, Richard Edwards, at Taunton Iron-Works.

The family of Kaighns and the Kaighn estate came down through the line of Joseph and Mary. Joseph in his will, dated May 7, 1749, says, in de- fining a boundary between part of his lands, “ Be- ginning at the Delaware River, thence east up the middle of the lane." This lane was afterwards ex- tended, and is now Kaighn Avenue.

The children of Jos. Kaighn and Mary Estaugh Kaighn, who succeeded to the estate, were Joseph, James, John, Isaac and Elizabeth. To James was left part of the estate south of the lane (Kaighn Avenue), to Joseph part of the land south and to John, Isaac and Elizabeth, the land north of the lane. Elizabeth married - Donaldson. Joseph, the eldest son of Joseph, upon receiving the land on the south side from his father, in 1749, built, a few years later, the house long known as the Ferry House, yet standing, but is now de- voted to other uses. He married Prudence Butcher,

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THE CITY OF CAMDEN.

by whom he had four children, but one of whom, Joseph, arrived at maturity, and in 1795 married Sarah Mickle, a daughter of Joseph Mickle. A man of ability and positive convictions he early became a prominent citizen, being frequently elected by the Whig party, to which he belonged, to the State Legislature, both to the house of As- sembly and to the Council. He was one of the small band of far-seeing people who believed in the feasibility, as well as the desirability, of a rail- road between Philadelphia and New York, and in the Legislature became a most earnest advocate of the granting of the charter for The Camden and Amboy Rail Road, and largely through his efforts its passage was secured, he being one of the in- corporators and a director till his death, and one of the party who first went over the proposed route of the road. While in the Legislature he was an influential member of the committee that built the State prison at Trenton. Early interested in ferries he was prominent in the establishment of the first steamboat running from Kaighns Point to Philadelphia, and was a director in the Federal Street ferry from its organization until his death. Throughout his life he was a most publics-pirited man and widely known throughout the State. He died February 23d, 1841, his wife surviving him until 1842. Their children were John M., who married Rebecca, daughter of Benjamin Cooper ; Charles, married to Mary Cooper, of Woodbury ; William R., married Rachel Cole (Burrough), widow; and Mary, who married John Cooper, of Woodbury. The children of James were Isaac; Mary, died young; John, married Elizabeth Bartram ; Elizabeth, married Jonathan Knight; James; Hannah, married Benjamin Dugdale; Sarah; Mary; Ann, who died in 1880, aged eighty- eight years ; and Charity and Grace (twins), both now deceased. The lands of James that lay north of the dividing line and on the river, were laid out into lots in 1812, and from that time to the present, adjoining lands have been gradually laid out and built upon until the entire Kaighn estate is now laid out into streets and lots.

The land now in the city of Camden, lying south and east of Kaighns Run and to Newton Creek, was located by Robert Turner, of whom an account will be found in the history of Haddon township; four hundred and twenty acres adjoining Newton Creek, and two hundred acres on the river were located by Richard Arnold, which was surveyed March 1, 1700. He sold it to Martin Jarvis, who, in the same year, sold two hundred and eight acres to John Wright, who sold to John Champion ; the rest of the tract passed to Jacob Coffing. In 1790 the

greater part of the land became the estate of Isaac Mickle, Jr. A portion of the land lying on the Delaware River, south and west of Kaighns Run, was sold by Turner to Archibald Mickle, then of Philadelphia. He was a native of Lisburn, a town in the county Antrim, Ireland, and a member of the Society of Friends. With many others of the same faith, he left his native land and came to this country and landed in Philadelphia August 2, 1682. He was by trade a cooper, and probably remained in that city several years, as coopers were in con- siderable demand along the sea-coast. In 1686 he married Sarah Watts, in the Philadelphia Meeting, of which he was a member.

In 1690 he purchased two hundred and fifty acres of land in Newton township of Robert Tur- ner. It was near the head of the south branch of Newton Creek, adjoining land of Francis Collins. It afterward passed to Joseph Lowe, who settled upon it. The meadow lands on Kaighns Run passed from the original proprietor to others, and that on the south side of the run was conveyed with other lands to Robert Turner, at one time the largest land-owner in Newton township. On the 16th of May, 1697, Archibald Mickle pur- chased of Robert Turner four hundred and seventy- six acres of land and thirty-two acres of the mea- dow lands. The purchase fronted on the Delaware and extended along Kaighns Run. A house occu- pied by Thomas Spearman was on the land at the time of purchase and it is shown on the Thomas Sharp map of 1700 as being on the bank of the river between the meadow lots and the south line, and where the old Isaac Mickle house is situated. At this place Isaac Mickle resided until his death, in 1706. By his will the estate was left to his widow, Sarah, and to his children - Samuel, Daniel, Archibald, Joseph, James, Sarah (wife of Ezekiel Siddons), Mary (wife of Arthur Powell) and Rachael (wife of Benjamin Cooper). The widow bought the rights of Samuel, Daniel, Saralı, Mary and Rachel, and upon her death, in October, 1718, the real estate, by her will, was devised to Archibald, James and Joseph, who, by quit-claim dated March 20, 1727, conveyed to each other these lands in severalty in equal division. The eldest son (John) of Archibald married Hannah, the daughter of Wm. Cooper (2d), and in 1703 settled in Gloucester township, where he died in 1744. He was appointed judge of Gloucester County in 1733, and served several years.

Of the lands now in Camden City, the portion inherited by Joseph passed to the Kaighn family, and the land of Archibald and James in later years came to Isaac Mickle, Sr., a grandson of Ar-

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

chibald and Sarah, who married Sarah Burroughs and in 1780 conveyed the land to his nephew, Isaac Mickle, Jr.

This last-mentioned property remained in the Mickle family many years and is now the southern portion of the city, and laid out in avenues and town lots.

Isaac Mickle, author of "Reminiscences of Old Gloucester," was a descendant of the family.

The fisheries along the Mickle lands were in 1818 conducted by John W. Mickle, one of the de- scendants.

Martin Jarvis, of whom mention is made, was a son of John Jarvis, of Roscoe, Kings County, Ire- land, and a Friend, who, in 1688, with his son . Martin, came to New Jersey to avoid the persecu- tion of the Papists. They first stopped at the house of George Goldsmith, in Newton township, but in 1691 the father settled in Cape May County and in 1701 returned to Ireland, and Martin pur- chased land on Newton Creek, as mentioned. In 1705 he bought a house and lot in Philadelphia, on the west side of Second Street, between Market and Chestnut, where he resided until his death in 1742, aged sixty-seven years. He married Mary Cham- pion, a daughter of John, who settled on Coopers Creek.

Prior to 1761 the only roads that led to Coopers Ferries were mere bridle-paths, but on the 8th of June in that year commissioners laid out on the line of Cooper Street a road from the King's High- way leading from Haddonfield, four poles wide, to Cooper's Ferry-it being the old Roydon ferry near the foot of Cooper St., then kept by Daniel Cooper, son of William, the grandson of Wm. Cooper, the first settler. In the next year the bridge was built across Coopers Creek at the eastern end of Federal Street and the road widened and improved to the Cooper Street Ferry. This was the Great Road to Burlington. In the same year Benjamin Cooper laid out a road from his ferry, now the Camden and Atlantic Ferry, to the new bridge over Coopers Creek. That road was later Main Street and is now mostly occupied by the track of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. The Haddonfield road joined the road from Coopers Creek bridge to the ferry at what is now Fifth Street. On December 7, 1763, a road was laid from Coopers Point to the bridge over Timber Creek. It left the ferry road below Front Street and near the old Ferry House. Federal Street was laid out as a road about 1764 (when the ferry was established), Plum Street in 1803-all converging towards Coopers Creek bridge.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 64

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