USA > New Jersey > Cape May County > The history of Cape May County, New Jersey : from the aboriginal times to the present day > Part 23
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290
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
Beesley. The doctor was an elder brother of Thomas H. Beesley, who succeeded him in public life a few years later. Young Maurice Beesley obtained a good education by his own diligent work, and then began the study of medicine with Dr. Theophilus Beesley, of Salem. He graduated in 1828, and shortly after began practicing his profession at Cape May Court House, remaining there about a year. Afterwards he removed to Dennisville, where he actively practiced for fifty-three years. Dr. Beesley was sent to the Legislature by the people from 1840 to 1842, and the two years following he served in the Legislative Council. He was. actively interested in the laws perfecting the management of the insane institutions in the State. In 1845 he became a member of the New Jersey Historical Society, and contrib- uted to its library often valuable historical records.
In 1866, upon the taking effect of the new school law, he was appointed superintendent of public instruction for Cape May county, and served efficiently in that capacity until 1881, when he resigned on account of failing health. He dearly loved nature. "His researches into the origin of the burned juniper forests of Dennis Creek are of great and last- ing value," says a writer, "being the standard authority to this day." He died January 13, 1882, aged 78, and his remains lie in the cemetery at South Dennis.
William Smith Hooper, who, in 1856, was elected Sheriff and served three years, was born at Tuckahoe, September 10, 1816, and was the last male descendent of his line when he died. His father, who came from South Carolina, and who was a nephew of William Hooper, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, was drowned in the Delaware Bay when the lad was 4 years of age. His mother was Abagail Smith, a daughter of Captain William Smith, of the Revolutionary army. When young he was bound to Rich- ard Smith Ludlam (Assemblyman in 1847 and cousin of his mother). Young Hooper served as clerk in Mr. Ludlam's store and mill at Dennisville, and afterwards at the Man- sion House in Cape Island. When he became of age he went to the banks of the Ohio River, crossing the Allegheny Mountains by stage, and engaged in purchasing and selling lumber in the towns along the river, and, for a time, was
291
THE DECADE BEFORE THE REBELLION.
clerk in a counting house in Covington. His health failing him, he came back to Cape May county and resided at Den- nisville, where he held township offices. He came to Cape Island, and in 1853 he was a member of the City Council of Cape Island, and in 1855 was Recorder of the city, and at the same time a member of the Board of Freeholders. He enlisted for the war with Mexico, but did not go. At the breaking out of the Civil War he entered Company A, Sev- enth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, being mustered into service for three years and commissioned corporal August 23, 1861, and was promoted to sergeant July 15, 1863. He
-
WILLIAM S. HOOPER.
was in all the important battles with the regiment during the service, being mustered out October 7, 1864. He be- came an invalid in the service, and remained so until his death. In 1872 he was chosen tax collector of Cape May City, and was re-elected five times, serving until 1878. In 1884 he was chosen a member of the Board of Freeholders again, and served in the board from 1886 to 1891. He was a member of the Cape Island Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, a director of the Cape Island Turnpike Company. In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the Republi- can party, when he became a believer in its principles. He died in Cape May City on August 20, 1896, being within.
295
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
twenty days of his Soth year. His remains are interred in Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery, Seaville.
The mail service in the year 1857 was irregular, the at- tempts being made to get two and sometimes three mails a week. The mails were all carried by the stage lines. The "Ocean Wave" of April 16, this year, tells of the need of a. daily mail and of the delays in the following article:
"We need a daily mail. That we have no direct mail communication between Cape Island and Cape May C. H., our county seat, but once a week, is a fact known to all. A letter written here on Wednesday may go direct to the Court House on Thursday, and an answer be returned on Saturday, by the Bridgeton mail; but at any other time in the week our letters must be sent up by the Bayside mail, on Mondays. Wednesdays or Fridays to Tuckahoe, and there stopped till the next down mail to the Court House. thus performing a journey of nearly fifty miles, while the distance is only thirteen miles direct from here to the Court House."
The same source gives the facts that in Cape May county, from returns of assessors and statistics otherwise obtained, t'at farm products had increased by 1857 over the products in 1850 by 50 per cent., and that since the United States census of 1850 the price of land in the county had nearly doubled.
In the election of the fall of 1857 there were but 541 votes polled in the county. Downs Edmunds, Jr., was chosen Assemblyman: Elijah Townsend, Jr., Surrogate, and Wil- liam S. Hooper Sheriff. In the election of the succeeding year the slavery question was beginning to agitate the peo- ple. There were the American, People's and Democratic parties. The result was that Downs Edmunds, Jr., Amer- ican, and Abram Reeves, People's, were chosen Senator and Assemblyman respectively. In 1859 Reeves was re-elected to the Assembly on the American ticket.
In 1858 the Cape Island Gas Company had been estab- lished, and the rates charged for gas was $6.00 per one thou- sand feet burned, and the rent of the meters was $3.00 per year.
293
THE DECADE BEFORE THE REBELLION.
Downs Edmunds, Jr., served three years in the Assembly, 1856, 1857, 1858, and was elected and served a full term in the Senate, serving in the Legislatures of 1859, 1860 and 1861. He was born at Fishing Creek, October 29, 1813, and was the son of Downs Edmunds, an esteemed resident of lower Cape May county. He was a man of considerable business qualifications, being a farmer, merchant and, for a number of years, was agent at Cape May for the steam- boats plying between Cape May and other places. He was a member of the Board of Freeholders for several years. On June 3, 1884, Governor Abbett appointed him a Judge of Common Pleas Court for Cape May county, and he served out the unexpired term of Abraham Reeves. He was an adherent of the Republican party. He died at his West Cape May home April 1, 1890, aged 77 years.
Abraham Reeves, who was elected to the Assembly when Mr. Edmunds was chosen Senator, was a son of Abijah Reeves, of the War of 1812, and was born in Lower township October 22, 1802. He was a man of commanding presence, six feet in height. He was known as "Uncle Abe" to every one. His educa- tional advantages were limited, it being said of him that he never spent but three months in a school. He, however, was a man of good judgment and integrity. He served two terms in the Assembly and was twice appointed a Judge of Common Pleas Court, holding the position when he died. For a number of years he was a chosen Freeholder, and held many township offices. He served several years as president of the County Bible Society, was an elder of the Cold Spring Presbyterian Church. He was at first a Whiig, and then a Republican in politics. He died May, 1884.
In the year 1860 Cape May was passing out of one epoch into another. The old stage coach was soon to give way to the railroad train. The impending conflict of affairs which terminated in the War of the Rebellion was becoming intense. No better way of ascertaining the condition of the county at this time can be had than by recourse to the statistics here presented. The population consisted of 7130 persons, divided as follows :
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
WHITE.
FREE COLORED.
TOWNSHIPS.
Aggre'te
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Dennis ..
765
790
1555
2
1
3
1558
Lower, (including Cape Island.
826
849
1675
77
113
190
1865
Middle ..
1032
1053
2085
40
30
70
2155
Upper.
788
754
1542
C7
5
10
1552
Total.
3411
3446
6857
124
149
273
7130
$6128.00, and for public roads, $1700.00. poses: For support of the county, $3899.47; for schools, county were $11,727.47, it being used for the following pur- county was $872,364.00, and the total taxes assessed in the lishments. The value of the assessable real estate in the 523 separate farms and thirty-eight manufacturing estab- There were in the county 1465 families, 1600 dwellings,
the production for the year ending on June I is here given: Farming was the principal occupation of the residents, and
294
295
THE DECADE BEFORE THE REBELLION. .
Acres of Land
LIVE STOCK.
TOWNSHIPS.
Improved
Unimproved
Cash Value
of Farms
Horses
Asses & Mules
Milch Cows
Working Oxen
Other Cattle
Sheep
Swine
Value of Live Stock
Upper
3393 14448 $322,500 $13,780
159
0
449
55
626 419
458 834,164
Dennis
3555 12462
260,600
10,985
142
11
413
53
6781
526
508
33,070
Middle
7235 15347
512,950
21,785
312
1
685
45
868 1219 1225
64,579
Lower .
5345
6163
366,350
20,200
250
6
441
0
430
453
641
43,090
Total.
:19528 48420 81462,400
$66,750
863
21
1988|153
2602 2617 2832 $174,903
Value of Farming Im-
plements and Ma-
chinery
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
Pro luce during year ending June 1.
TOWNSHIPS ...
Wheat, bu. of
Rye, bu. of
Indian Corn,
bu. of
Oats, bu. of
Wool, lbs. of
Peas and Beans,
Irish Potatoes,
Sweet Potatoes,
Buckwheat, bu. of
Value of Orchard
Products
Wine, gallons of
Upper.
3816
1283
20120
1550
904
64
6059
2769
646
$207
15
Dennis.
3971
714
24560
2980
1152
39
8151
2889
742
150
0
Middle .
7106
342
45480
8109
2495
21
13100
9942
1835
615
43
Lower .
6415
73
30285
7350
720
133
9218
6100
790
775
0
Total
21308
2411
120445 19989
5271
257
36429
21700
4013
$1837
58
bu. of
bu. of
Inil. of
296
297
THE DECADE BEFORE THE REBELLION.
The average monthly wages of a farm hand was $12.00; the day laborer's, with board, seventy-five cents per day; the day laborer's, without board, $1.00; carpenter's average daily wages, $1.50; weekly wages of a domestic female, with board, $1.00, and without board, $2.25 per week.
The number of manufacturing establishments was thirty- eight, in which there was $79,658.00 invested. The value of material used in a year was $60,846.00, out of which the annual productions amounted to $75,320.00. Seventy- eight males and seven females were employed.
There were twenty-seven schools in which thirty-two teachers were employed, teaching 2373 scholars at an annual cost of $7586.00. There was one academy, the one at Cold Spring (M Williamson's), in which one teacher was en- gaged, and which had thirty students, which was run at an expense of $760 per year. There was one library in the county, in which there were 1550 books. Throughout the county there were twenty-one churches of various denom- inations, with an aggregate accommodation for 9056 per- sons, and valued at $58,900.
The mode of travel to and from the county was either by stage or vessel up to 1863. The steamers during the sum- mer seasons made round trips from Philadelphia and New York once every two days, and sometimes there was a daily communication by water in this season with Philadelphia. But at other seasons of the year the water route was more uncertain.
The stages ran by way of Bridgeton and Tuckahoe. The "Bridgeton stage" passed through the bay shore towns from Cape Island to Bridgeton, while the "Tuckahoe stage" passed through the villages on the seashore side of the county, going to May's Landing and thence to Philadelphia These routes were subject to change. The stages, before the advent of the railroads, carried the mails, and, when approaching the villages. the driver would always herald their approach by tooting a big horn. Then the village folk would gather around the primitive postoffice to get a letter or hear the latest news from the "United States Ga- zette" (now the "North American"), of Philadelphia, which seemed to be the principal newspaper read in the county.
298
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
The fare between Philadelphia and Cape May, one way only, was $3.50 per passenger.
The Bridgeton stage, which in 1856 was owned by James Whitaker, left Cape May on Mondays and Thursdays at 5 in the morning, winter and summer, and passed through the villages of Cold Spring, Fishing Creek, Green Creek, Dy- ers Creek, Goshen, Dennisville, Leesbury, Dorchester, Port Elizabeth and Millville, arriving at Bridgeton on the same evening at 4 o'clock. There the passengers took another stage and went on to Philadelphia. The returning days were Wednesdays and Saturdays, which gave the team of horses a day's rest between times. Those who drove these stages the longest were Henry C. Mulliner, William Heben- thal, better known throughout the county and to his passen- gers at the time as "Dutch Billy."
The great centres of industries were about West Creek, and Dennis Creek, which was reached by water. At the latter place ship building was conducted on a large scale. Most of the store business of the county was done there, and these businesses did not decline until the railroad opened and made the means of transportation a more easy matter.
The people of this county held many meetings during the eight years preceding 1863, when the Cape May and Millville Railroad was finally opened to Cape May.
There were schemes and routes laid out for many roads, and during the year 1857 the proposed "Cape May and Atlantic" Road had meetings held all over the county. The directors of it were Ebenezer Westcott, Joshua Swain, Jr., Hezekiah W. Godfrey, Matthew Whilldin, Dr. Henry Schmoele, Daniel E. Estel, Abraham L. Iszard, William Schmoele and Lilburn Harwood. Elias Wright was the en~ineer in charge.
( 1 September 2, at a public meeting at Cape Island, Down's Edmunds, Jr., David Reeves, John West, Waters B. Miller ~~ d Joseph Ware were appointed to confer with the West Jeis " Railroad about building a road through the county. On :' ~~ 7th of August, preceding, Dr. Schmoele, Matthew Whilldin, Waters B. Miller and . Joseph Ware (then Mayor) were appointed at a public meeting to confer with the Camden and Atlantic Road for the same purpose.
299
THE DECADE BEFORE THE REBELLION.
The Council of Cape Island was asked to subscribe $10,000 for the enterprise, which it finally did on April 24, 1860. "Matthew Whilldin was paid by this Council also to procure the right of way for a road from property owners.
Joseph S. Leach, editor of the "Ocean Wave," and Charles B. Dungan, who was president of the company which finally built the road and who was the contractor also, de- serve, with others, a large share of gratitude from the present residents of Cape May county for their untiring efforts in getting the road hiere. On May 13, 1863, the Board of Freeholders passed a resolution allowing the Cape May and Millville Railroad the right to lay rails over Cape Is- land bridge, and within a few days thereafter the railroad was opened to Cape May. It was not until August 29, 1879, that it was united with the West Jersey Railroad. Since then the great Pennsylvania system has secured control and thus has given to Cape May unnumbered advantages, and cheap excursion rates from all over the country. The open- ing of the road caused much prosperity.
Charles B. Dungan was born in Holmesburg, Pa., in 1813. He remained there for twelve years, attending the public schools.
A blind gentleman from Brooklyn, N. Y., who was visit- 'ing Holmesburg, took a strong liking to him, and induced his mother, who was a widow, to allow him to take the boy "with him upon his return home. Young Dungan remained "with this gentleman until his death, a period of five or six years, acting as his clerk and companion. He was then apprenticed to Gideon Cox, a dry goods merchant, whose place of business was at the corner of Eighth and Market :streets, Philadelphia. When he attained his majority he went in to business for himself in Philadelphia. His store was robbed, and everything of value carried off. Not being able to resume his business, he secured a clerkship in the ·office of the Northern Liberties Gas Works, eventually be- ·coming one of its officers.
He then engaged in the business of building gas works, constructing those in the cities of Washington, D. C .; Frer ·ericksburg, Va .; Reading, Pa .; Hartford and New Haven, Conn., and other cities, seventeen in all. In 1850, when,
300
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
through ill health, he had virtually retired from business, he was the possessor of large means.
He was induced to take an interest in the construction the Hoosac Tunnel, in Massachusetts. This work was be- ing successfully prosecuted, when the great panic of 1857 overtook them, and in consequence became so involved' that he was never able to resume work on it, the State tak- ing it up after the war and completing it.
He then became interested in the managements of city passenger railways in Philadelphia, and was for several years president of the Fairmount and Arch Street Road. He conceived and carried out its consolidation with the Heston- ville Road.
His next venture was the building of the Millville and Cape May Railroad, in 1863, of which he was contractor and president. He was not only public-spirited, but whole- souled and generous to a fault. His purse was always open to the needs of others, to the church and to any worthy benevolence which claimed his attention. He was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian church and a consistent professor of Christianity.
He died at his home in Cape May City on Wednesday. January 1I, 1888.
Thomas T. Townsend, who was a prominent sea captain before the war, has done a good work for posterity in pre- serving many historical records. He was born about 1812, and when young was a clerk in the store of Jeremiah Leaming at Dennisville. He then became a blacksmith,. and later a sea captain, commanding at different times: eleven vessels. He retired in 1863. His historical docu- ments were gathered since then. He died April 24, 1894
CHAPTER XXII. OPENING OF THE CIVIL WAR.
The attention of our reader is now turned to the part our people took in the War of the Rebellion, in which Cape May men did honor to themselves and to their State and country. As soon as the Confederates seized Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, the spirit of patriotism spread over Cape May county in as great a degree as anywhere else in the Union. In the autumn previous the people of the county had voted by a large majority for Mr. Lincoln for President. In every village the people assembled in public meetings and pledged their support to the Union. Military organizations were formed throughout the county. The Cape Island Home Guards, under command of Captain John West; the Seaville Rangers, under the care of Captain Joseph E. Cor- son, and a company at Cape May Court House, under the command of N. N. Wentzell, were quickly organized. "Long Tom," the only cannon in the county, which had been used in the War of 1812, was brought out, and the Board of Free- holders, on May 7, were asked to repair its carriage, which they, however, refused to do, being composed at the time of men not in sympathy with President Lincoln. On the same day Captain West's communication, asking for aid for the "Home Guards," was also disregarded by the board. But, as more serious events happened in the border States, the Board of Freeholders at last realized that they must do something, and therefore their sympathies were turned in for the Union.
On May I Henry W. Sawyer, of Cape Island, offered his services to Governor Olden, and was subsequently given a commission in the First Cavalry. He had already per- formed service for the Governor and in Washington, which is told of later on.
On the IIth of June the Board of Freeholders gave N. N.
302
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
Wentzell permission to use the Grand Jury room in the Court House for drilling purposes. Immediately previous: to this the board also passed a resolution giving to the family of Mr. Sawyer $6.00 per month as long as he remained in. the service of either the United States or New Jersey.
Simultaneous with these movements for the recruitment: and organization of troops, the State authorities were en- gaged in other important labors. Realizing the necessity of means of prompt and constant communication with all. parts of the State, the telegraph line to Cape May, which had. been abandoned by the company, was at once ordered to be put in working order at the expense of the State; and, as- a further means of defense, a maritime guard was established. along the line of the coast, consisting of patriotic citizens living adjacent thereto. Waters B. Miller, then a member of the Board of Freeholders from Cape Island, sent the fol- lowing telegram to the Governor concerning the abandoned. Philadelphia and Cape Island Telegraph Line:
"Philadelphia, April 21, 1861.
"Governor Olden :- The telegraph line to Cape Island has not been in operation for several months. The company, it is said, have abandoned it. The line should be put in. working order to communicate with government vessels off the Capes. It will cost about $500. Shall I have it put in order? W. B. Miller, of Cape May."
The Governor forthwith ordered Mr. Miller to repair the line, which was quickly done, the work costing in all $779.08.
In order to prepare for an earnest Union meeting, on Friday, June 21, 1861. a meeting was held in Court House village, at which J. F. Craig presided and A. L. Haynes acted as secretary, to arrange for the celebration of the Fourth of July. The following Committee of Arrange- ments was appointed: Dr. John Wiley, Dr. Coleman F. Leaming, Dr. Jonathan F. Leaming, Hon. Thomas Beesley, Judges Holmes and Samuel Springer. The committee sub- sequently met and appointed a County Committee, consist- ing of the following persons: Thomas Williams, Joseph E. Corson, Richard B. Stites, Charles Ludlam, James L. Smith, Henry Swain, Stephen Bennett, Franklin Hand, John
303
OPENING OF THE CIVIL WAR.
Swain, William J. Bate, Abraham Reeves, Jacob Corson, Waters B. Miller, S. R. Magonagle and Colonel John West, Committee on Grounds and Seating were: William Ross, William H. Benezet, George Ogden, Joseph Holmes and Charles Mills. Committee for Obtaining Speakers and Music: Dr. J. F. Leaming, Dr. C. F. Leaming. Committee on Resolutions: Rev. Moses Williamson, Drs. Coleman F. and Jonathan F. Leaming.
This celebration was held and the residents of the whole county participated in it.
During the early summer Samuel R. Magonagle, editor of the "Ocean Wave," at Cape Island induced the follow- ing persons to enlist for the war, who signed the roll in the Baptist Church there: Samuel R. Magonagle, George W. Smith, Richard T. Tindall, Joseph Hand, David Reeves, Jr., Charles H. Weeks, William S. Hooper, Samuel R. Lud- lam, Harry L. Gilmour, Walter S. Ware, W. S. Ware, Wil- liam B. Eldredge, Albert J. Cassedy, James T. Smith, John W. Kimsey, Nicholas T. Swain, Stephen D. Bennett, Joseph W. Johnson, John Mecray, Townsend T. Ireland, Stephen Pierson, James Burns, Caleb Warner, Thomas S. Stevens, Benjamin Redheffer, Joseph W. Ireland, Charles S. Hays, Charles J. Silver, T. Fletcher Jacobs, Jonathan C. Stevens, John Stites, Owen S. Clark, Walter A. Barrows, Patrick Kerns, Swain S. Reeves, Edward Filkin and Lewis H. Cresse. Nearly all of them finally went to the front. Wal- ter S. Ware was not accepted because of his youthfulness.
With those who went to Trenton from Cape May county to join the First Cavalry Regiment were Thomas S. Stevens and Joseph Hand, who were enrolled and mustered in as privates in Company F, Fourth Regiment Infantry, on Au- gust 15, for a period of three years. Mr. Stevens remained with his regiment until August 17, 1864, when he was mus- tered out at Trenton. Mr. Hand served until he was dis- charged from the service on account of disability at De Camp U. S. Army, General Hospital, David's Island, New York harbor, on October 7, 1862.
The Fourth Regiment arrived in Washington on Au- gust 21, and was assigned to the brigade of General Philip Kearney, known as the First Brigade. The regiment took
304
HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
part in the following engagements: West Point, Va., May 7, '62; Gaines Farm, Va., June 27, '62; Charles City Cross Roads, Va., June 30, '62; White Oak Swamp, Va., same day; Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, '62; Manas- sas, Va., August 27, '62; Chantilly, Va., Septemberber I, '62; Crampton's Pass, Md., September 14, '62; Antietam, Md., September 17, '62; Fredericksburg, Va., December 13 and 14, '62; Fredericksburg, Va., May 3, '63; Salem Heights, Va., May 3 and 4, '63; Gettysburg, Pa., July 2 and 3, '63; Fairfield, Pa., July 5, '63; Williamsport, Md., July 6, '63; Funktown, Md., July 12, '63; Rappahannock Station, Va., October 12, '63; same place, November 7, '63; Mine Run, Va., November 30, '63; Wilderness, Va., May 5 to 7, '64; Spottsylvania, Va., May 8 to 11, '64; Spottsylvania C. H., Va., May 12 to 16, '64; North and South Anna River, Va., May 24, '64; Hanover C. H., Va., May 29, '64; Tolopotomy Creek, Va., May 30 and 31, '64; Cold Harbor, Va., June I to 3, '64; before Petersburg, Va. (Weldon Railroad), June 23, '64; Snicker's Gap, Va., July 18, '64, and other skirm- ishes and battles following, none of which the Cape May men were in as members of the Fourth Regiment.
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