USA > New Jersey > Cape May County > The history of Cape May County, New Jersey : from the aboriginal times to the present day > Part 5
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"In the Upper Township, William Goldens, Sen. and Sr., Rem Garretson, John and Peter Corson, John Willets, John Hubbard, and soon after Henry Young, were the pioneers, and at a later day John Mackey at Tuckahoe and Abraham and John Vangilder at Petersburgh. In Dennis, being a part of the old Upper precinct, we find on the seaboard Jo- seph Ludlam, John Townsend, Robert Richards and Sylva- nus Townsend, sons of John, Benjamin Godfrey and John Reeves, who were amongst the earliest settlers.
"Dennisville was settled upon the south side of the creek, in or about 1726, by Anthony Ludlam, and some few years afterwards the north side by his brother. Joseph, both being sons of Joseph Ludlam, of Ludlam's Run, seaside. David Johnson was here in 1765, and owned at the time of his death, in 1805, a large scope of land on the north side of Dennis Creek. James Stephenson purchased of Jacob Spi-
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THE SETTLERS AND THEIR NEW HOMES.
cer, in the year. 1748, the property now owned and occupied by his grandson, Enoch, now aged over eighty-five years. East and West Creek were settled by Joseph Savage and John Goff, the last of whom was here as early as 1710. He had a son, Jolin, and his numerous descendants now occupy that portion of the county.
"In the Middle Township, we may name on the seaboard, in the order in which they resided, Thomas Leaming, John Reeves, Henry Stites, Shamgar Hand, Samuel Matthews and John Parsons, William and Benjamin Johnson, Yelver- son Crowell and Aaron Leaming, first, were first at Goshen, « the latter with the ostensible object of raising stock.
"Cape May Court House has been the county seat since 1745. Daniel Hand presented the county with an acre of land as a site for the county buildings erected at that time. But litle improvement was made until within the present cen- ury, the last twenty -five years having concentrated a suffi- ciency of inhabitants to build up a village of its present ex- tent and proportions, embellished by the county with a new and commodious court house, and by the people with two beautiful churches, one for the Baptist and another for the Methodist persuasion.
"Henry Stites, ancestor of all in the county of that name, came to the country about or in the year 1691. He located two hundred acres of land, including the place now belong- ing to the heirs of Eli Townsend. He made his mark, yet lie afterwards acquired the art of writing, and was justice of the court for a long series of years, being noted such in 1746. He left a son, Richard, who resided at Cape Island, and he a son, John, from whom the Lower Township Stites have descended. His son, Isaiah, who died in 1767, and from whom the Stites of the Upper and part of the Middle Township have descended, lived on the places now occupied by his grandsons, John and Townsend Stites, at Beesley's Point. The Middle Township Stites, below the court house, are descendants of Benjamin Stites, who was probably a brother of Henry, and was in the county in 1705.
"John Willits was the son of Hope Willets, and was born here in 1688, married Martha Corson in 1716, left three :sons, Isaac, James and Jacob. He was judge of the court
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
many years, a member of the Legislature in 1743, and was . living in 1763."
Henry Young was impressed in England, his native coun- try, when very young, on board a man-of-war, from which he made his escape to a vessel bound to Philadelphia. Here, to elude pursuit, he was secreted in a hogshead in the hold of the vessel, and as soon as they put to sea he was relieved., but not until nearly exhausted for want of fresh air.
The members from Cape May objecting to the restriction placed on their court, by not allowing it to try cases over £20, and having to take them to Salem or Burlington, the. Assembly passed an act on May 12, 1697, placing the court on the same equality with other county tribunals ins the colony.
In the same year, May 12, 1697, "An Act for a road to, and from Cape May" was passed.
"Whereas the inhabitants of Cape May county do rep- resent themselves as under extreme hardship for want of a road from Cape May, through their county to Cohansey, in order to their repair to Burlington to attend the public services: Be it enacted by the Governor, &c., that George. Taylor and John Crafford (Crawford), be commissioners appointed to lay out a road from Cape May the most con- venient to lead to Burlington, between this and the Ioth of September next."
It was ordered likewise that the expense be borne by the inhabitants of Cape May until such time as those lands through which the road goes are settled. This road, so .. important to the convenience and travel of the people of the county, was not finished till 1707. Prior to this the county was completely isolated from the upper districts of the State by the extensive bed of cedar swamps and marshes stretching from the headwaters of Cedar Swamp Creek to the headwaters of Dennis Creek, and no communication could have been held with Cohansey or Burlington except. by the waters of the Delaware, or by horse-paths through the swamps that constitute the barrier.
A record of the grand jury and court of 1689 contains the following: "We the grand jury order that if any person will hang a gate anywhere between Joshua Carmans and
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THE SETTLERS AND THEIR NEW HOMES.
old Elizabeth Carmans, and clear the old road to the gate, and from the gate to the mill, they may do it, and that shall be the road; and if that wont do, let them hang a gate in the old road." The same court presents John Coston for being drunk, and Henry Stites for breach of Sabbath in driving cattle and slaughtering a steer. Joseph Ludlam was admonished in court, "that for time to come he be care- ful in taking an oath, and to mind to what it doth relate to."
Gabriel Thomas, in his history of West Jersey in 1698, gives us the following particulars, viz: "Prince Maurice River is where the Swedes used to kill the geese in great numbers for their feathers (only), leaving their carcasses behind them. Cohansey River, by which they send great store of cedar to Philadelphia city. Great Egg Harbor (up which a ship of two or three hundred tons may sail), which runs by the back part of the country into the main sea; I call it back because the first improvements made by the Christians was Delaware river-side. This place is noted for good store of corn, horses, cows, sheep, hogs; the lands thereabouts being much improved and built upon. Little Egg Harbor Creek, which takes their names from the great abundance of Eggs which the swans, geese, ducks, and other wild fowls of those rivers lay thereabouts. The con- modities of Cape May County are oyl and whalebone, of which they make prodigious quantities every year; having mightily advanced that great fishery, taking great numbers of whales yearly. This county, for the general part of it, is extraordinary good and proper for the raising of all sorts of cattell, very plentiful here, as cows, horses, sheep, and hogs. &c. Likewise, it is well stored with fruits which make very good and pleasant liquors, such as neighbouring country before mentioned affords."
Among those who purchased land of Dr. Coxe were Wil- liam Jacoks and Humphrey Hughes, whose plots amounted to 340 and 206 acres respectively, mentioned in the fore- going list of purchasers of the West Jersey Society lands. Their lands were what is now a part of Cape May City, then called. 1700, Cape Island. The distance from the sea across the island to the creek was 265 perches. As the deed calls for a line of marked trees, it must have been on
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
the upland, at which place the distance has been greatly reduced by the inroads of the sea since that time. They held this land individually until 1700 and "tilled the land to the water's edge." Jacoks afterward sold his interest to Thomas Iland, one of the original settlers of Cape Island. Randal Hewitt, another Cape May county settler, who first bought lands of the Society, purchased land within the limits of Cape Island. The first public improvement that is chronicled is the building of a causeway to the island in 1699 by George Eaglesfield, for the accommodation of the public.
John Crawford's purchase from the West Jersey Society, on April 1, 1699, was of 300 acres, which bounded on New England Creek, in Lower township, for more than a mile, and two-thirds a mile up the shore northerly. The land is said to lie for a quarter of a mile under water. George Crawford, a son of John, and George Eaglesfield, who built the causeway to Cape Island, in 1699, built a mill on this property, which was patronized by the residents of the county pretty liberally. We are told that a part of the strip of land washed away by the action of the waters of the Delaware Bay stood Town Bank, or the original Cape May Town, or New England Town, as it was severally known.
In December, 1699, owing to the increase in court busi- ness, three new "circular judges" were appointed by the Assembly of the colony of New Jersey, all of which were to hold court, with civil and criminal jurisdiction, on the 20th day of February and October of each year, at Cape May. On the 20th of December, the same year, 1699, we find the following as officials: Justices, Shamgar Hand, Jacob Dayton, William Golding, Samuel Mathews and John Townsend; Sheriff, Ezekiel Eldridge; Clerk and Re- corder, Timothy Brandereth; Coroner, Joseph Whildin; and Provincial Judges for the Colony, with jurisdiction in Cape May, Francis Davenport, Edward Hemlock and Jonathan Beer.
The Assembly at the same tinie passed an act giving Cape May three representatives in the Assembly instead of five.
CHAPTER IV. LIFE EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century we find Cape May county with probably between four and five hundred settlers, scattered along both the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean shores of the county, and find homes in an almost barren . wilderness scattered along the uplands ad- jacent to sounds between Great Egg Harbor and Cape May. Those who did not go whaling began farming their recently purchased lands and spending their time in the sounds and thoroughfares fishing, claming, oystering and hunting for wild fowl, where such were then abundant.
The principal settlements in the lower part of the county at the time were about New England Creek. Town Bank and Cold Spring, and at Middletown (now Cape May Court House), in the middle part of the county.
It was during this time that the famous Captain Kidd was practicing his depredations along the coast by pri- vateering and the like. He is reported to have buried his plunderings in the sands along the coast, and Cape May's :sands has been said to contain some of them. Near Cape May Point a tree known as Kidd's tree was in existence near the light house until about 1893. In a report of the Lords of Trade to the Lord's Justices, under date of Att- gust 10, 1699, Captain Kidd and other privateersmen are spoken of, and their landing at Cape May with goods taken "on the East Indian coast are mentioned.
The officers appointed for Cape May on May 12-25, 1700, were Shamgar Hand. John Townsend, Jacob Dayton, Samuel Mathews, Thomas Stanford, William Mason. Jus- tices; Edmund Howel, Sheriff; Timothy Brandreth, Clerk and Recorder; Jonathan Osborne, Coroner, and John Crawford, King's Attorney.
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
The appointments for the following year are recorded as follows:
May 12-21: Justices, Shamgar Hand, George Taylor,. William Mason. (These three a quorum) Jonathan Os- bourn, Thomas Stanford and Arthur Cressis; Sheriff, Cae -- sar Hoskins; Clerk, Timothy Brandereth; Coroner, Samuel! Mathews; Provincial Judges, Edward Hunlock, George. Deacon and Jonathan Beer; Assessors, John Creesey and. Jacob Spicer; Collector, William Shaw.
At this same time Cape May's members of the Assembly were increased from three to five members, and the change in 1699 "hath occasioned an unexpected dissatisfaction."
A petition of the inhabitants of West Jersey, dated May 12, this year, asking that the colony be taken under the- King's immediate control, was signed by Shamgar Hand,. Joseph Shaw and George Taylor, of Cape May.
In the year 1702, when Queen Anne began her reign in England, many important changes were made in the colony of New Jersey, the colonies of East and West Jersey were. united under one Royal Governor, Edward, Lord Cornbury, whose province also included the colony of New York. The government of New Jersey's colony was to be com- posed of the Royal Governor, twelve counsellors, nomina- ted by the crown, and an Assembly of twenty-four repre- sentatives, who were to meet alternately at Perth Amboy and Burlington. The Assembly consisted of two members. each from the towns of Amboy and Burlington, and two each from the counties of Bergen, Essex, Somerset, Mid- dlesex, Monmouth, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem and' Cape May, and the Assemblyman was compelled to be a. land holder of at least one thousand acres before he was. qualified to act. In the same year the West Jersey Society resigned all its governmental rights to the crown owing to, the rapidly multiplying difficulties which were besetting the- proprietors.
Peter Fretwell, the first member from the county after the surrender, and the first on record that ever represented her, belonged to Burlington. He was a Friend and a co -- temporary of Samuel Jennings, as the record of the monthly meet there attests, and came over in the ship.
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LIFE EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
‘Shield, in 1678, with his brother, John Fretwell, Mahlon Stacy, Thomas Revel and others. Revel was at one time a resident of Cape May. It is probable that no resident of Cape May at the time had 1000 acres of land, and that was why Fretwell, a non-resident, was selected to represent the county in the Assembly for a period of twelve years. It is not known that Jacob Huling, who was a member in 1716, or Jeremiah Bass, from 1719 to 1723, ever resided perma- nently in Cape May county. The balance of the list of representatives were all legitimately Cape May men, and taken in a body were the bone and sinew of the county.
Dr. Beesley says: "Of some of those ancient worthies in the list we know but little, except that they held important offices of trust and responsibility. Others among them seemed to live more for posterity than themselves, by in- diting almost daily the passing events of the times, and they are consequently better known and appreciated. Their writings at that day might have seemed to possess but little attraction, yet they have become interesting through age, and valuable as links in the chain which connects our early history with the reminiscences and associations of times more recent, and to carry out this connection it will be the duty of some faithful chronicler to unite the history of those times and the present, which is so rapidly giving place to the succeeding generation, by a descriptive and truthful account, more full and complete, as the data and material incident to later times are more abundant and illustrative."
The first survey of Rumney Marsh, afterwards called Middletown, and then Cape May Court House, was made by Jeremiah Hand in 1703.
During this year Cape May's militia was put under the command of Captain Joshua Newbold, who was given by his commission of August 7, 1703, charge of the Salem and Gloucester militia. The second French and Indian war against the English colonists of New England and Nova Scotia had then commenced. We have no records to show, however, that any Cape May men went to battle in this conflict, which lasted until 1713. On the 16th of August, 1703, Daniel Coxe was made the colonel of a foot regi- ment belonging to the counties of Burlington, Gloucester,
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
Salem and Cape May. Daniel Coxe was the eldest son of. Dr. Daniel Coxe, and was baptised in London, August 31, 1673. He probably accompanied Lord Combury to Amer- ica in 1702, by whom he was appointed commander of forces in West Jersey. He was known as Colonel. He- doubtless returned to England in 1704, for this year he was. in London waging a vigorous defense against some of the. attacks of some of the New Jersey proprietors. He came. back to America in 1706, and was appointed by Cornbury one of the Associate Judges of the Supreme Court. He was a Quaker, but finally eloped with a maiden of that faith, and was married at three o'clock in the morning un- der the trees, by firelight, by Cornbury's chaplain. Lord Lovelace, in 1708, made him a member of council, but he was removed by Hunter in 1713. He died April 25, 1739- He was often in the Legislature from Burlington, Glouces- ter and Salem counties.
During this period the whaling industry had not abated, and the inhabitants sought the aid of the government, and the Lawrences, before mentioned, were granted the follow- ing commission, which is given in its original spelling :
"Edward Viscount Cornbury, Captaine Generall and Governor in Chiefe in and over her Majestes Provinces of New Jersey, New York and all the Territory and tracts of Land depending thereon in America and Vice Admirall of the Same &c. To Joseph Lawrence, James Lawrence Greet- ing You are hereby Lycencd and authorized to fit out two boates to fish for, kill Cut up, try for your proper use and advantage what whales or Other Royall fish you Can or may find on the Coust of this Province of New Jersey be- twixt Sandy hook and barnegat Inlett as also to take and secure all boates, barques, ships and other vessells or things that may be cast away or Otherwise stranded on the Said Coust and within the said Destrict and when Secured you are forthwith to give me an acc't of the Same in order to receive further Direction from me the Said Lord Viscount Cornbury paying unto me or to such as I shall apoint to Receive, one twentyeth part of all the Oyle and bone of the Whales and Such Other fish as by Virtue of this Lycence they shall take and kill All the Charges of takeing,.
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LIFE EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Killing and trying the Same being first Deducted. Given under my hand and Seale this IIth day of December Anno. Reg, Reg Anna Nunc Anglico 31 annoq Dom 1704.
Cornbury
By his Excellency's order J. BASS.
In another part of the record, under date of April 8,. 1728, is found a document addressed to "Jacob Spicer Gen- tleman," being signed by Basse and Cornbury, instructing Spicer to
"Take possession into Custody all boates, Sloopcs,. Partes, Shipps or other Vessels or things that may be calvin ashore, Ract or Otherwise stranded on any part of the Westerne Shore of the bay or River Delaware or on any of the Sholes being within the Same and a Long the Sea Coast of the Provinces of New Jersey to the high Sand of Never Sinkes and Sandy hooke and to Secure and save the Same until such time as you shall Give notice to ine thereof and receive further Directions from me. As also all whales or other Royall fish that may be driven a shore within the sd. District to take into Custody. Cutt up and by such ways and means as is most proper to secure."
Peter Bard, Nathanael Jenkins and Aaron Leamyeng. were at the same time cach given a like commission.
The following newspaper extracts are interesting:
"Boston News-Letter," from March 17 10 24, 1718, says: "Philadelphia, March 13 .- We are told that the whale men catch'd six whales at Cape May and twelve at Egg-Har- bour."
"The Pennsylvania Gazette" of March 13-19, 1729-30, . says :
"On the 5th of this Instant March, a Whale cann ashore dead about 20 mile to the Eastward of Cape May. She is a Cow, about 50 Foot long, and appears to have been killed by Whalemen: but who they are is yet unknown. Those who think they have a Property in her, are advised to make their Claim in Time."
"The Pennsylvania Gazette," March IT-18, 1735-6, says: "Philadelphia, March 19. * * On the 25th of Fcb. last. there were two Whales killed at Cape May, the one is ashore on Cape-Island, and the other on the upper
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
end of the Cape, on the East Side; 'tis suppos'd they will yield about 40 Barrels of Oil each; the one was 3 Years old, and the other a Yearling; the Whale-men are in hopes of killing more, for they have lately seen several on the Coast, near the Cape."
The "Pennsylvania Gazette" of 1742, reported two whales at Cape May early in April.
In 1704 the general sessions of the peace were ordered by Governor Cornbury to be held at the house of Shamgar Hand on the fourth Tuesdays of March, June and Septem- ber, and on the first Tuesday in January. The Ancient Judge of the Supreme Court was to hold court there on the first Tuesday of June. At the same time John Townsend, Shamgar Hand and William Goulder were appointed a commission for laying out, regulating, clearing and pre- serving the common highways. Jeremiah Basse was au- thorized to administer the civil and military oaths authorized by Parliament.
In 1705 the grand jury decided to have a prison built "13 feet by 8, and 7 feet high in the first story, upon the Queen's Highway, eastwardly of Gravelly Run." Stocks and whipping posts were ordered at the same time.
A license was granted this year from Governor Cornbury to Captain Jacob Spicer, of the sloop Adventurer, owned by John and Richard Townsend; burden, 16 tons. She traded from Cape May to Philadelphia and Burlington, and no doubt was considered a vessel of some magnitude in those days. The next year the sloop Necessity was built and owned by Dennis Lynch. After this vessels were built and sailed in different directions.
During 1704 and 1705 the Assembly ordered that £2000 be raised every year for the support of the colony, the ap- portionment for Cape May county being, in 1704, £63: II .: 4, and for 1705, f65: 4: 6. The Receiver-General of the colony received in 1705, by John Hand, £61: 16: 4, and in 1706, by John Hand again, £54: 14: I : 2.
The first doctor known in Cape May county was Rich- ard Smith, of either Egg Harbor or Cape May, who was in 1705 given a license to practice "Cirurgery and Phisiq."
In 1705 Cape May was again reduced to one represen-
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LIFE EARLY IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
tative in the Assembly. This same year more military of- ficers were appointed for Cape May, as follows: Samuel Mathews, captain of militia; Ezekiel Eldridge to be lieu- tenant of the same company; and William Mason to be an ensign of militia. In a civil capacity Shamgar Hand and "Timothy Brandreth were appointed Assessors; John Hand, Collector, and Shamgar Hand, Samuel Mathews, William Golding, Thomas Hand, William Mason, Benjamin God- frey, Peter Carson Le Bore and John Townsend, Justices of the Peace.
In 1706 Shamgar Hand and William Golden, commis- sioners for that purpose, laid out the road from Egg Har- bor to Cold Spring, and thence to Town Bank, as follows: "Beginning at a bush near the water's edge on Great Egg Harbor River (Tuckahoe River), and from said bush along William Golden's fence to the gate post; from thence along the fence to the corner thereof; then by a line of marked trees to the first run; thence to the head of John Coston's branch; thence to the head of dry swamp; thence to the head of Joseph Ludlam's branch; thence around the head of John Townsend's branch to the going over the branch between Abraham Hand's and Thomas Leonard's; thence to the bridge over Leonard's branch; thence to the bridge over the branch towards the head of William Johnson's land, so on to the bridge over the Fork branch; thence to the bridge over John Cressee's Creek; thence to the bridge over Crooked Creek, so by a line of marked trees to the bridge over Gravelly Run; thence to the bridge over Cres- see's Creek; thence to the old going over at John Shaw's; thence to the old going over at William Shaw's branch; thence to the head of John Taylor's branch; thence to the turning out of Cold Spring path, so on by a line of marked trees, partly along the old road down to the bayside, be- tween George Crawford's and the hollow."
In 1707 John Townsend and Shamgar Hand, commis- sioners, laid out the road from the head of John Townsend's Creek to the cedar swamp and through it to a place called "Ludley's bridge, and toward Marice River as far as the county goeth." Thus, after fourteen years of hard talking, for it appears that nothing else had been done until now,
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HISTORY OF CAPE MAY COUNTY.
the road through the cedar swamps, lying between the- headwaters of Cedar Swamp Creek and Dennis Creek (thenz called Cedar Creek, Sluice Creek being named Dennis), was laid out, and according to records of the first Thomas. Leaming, completed this year. It is a question by what route the inhabitants had communication with the other parts of the colony, as they appear to have been completely isolated until this road was made. This improvement was ;. always a county road until 1790, when the road over Den- nis was made, after which time the former seems to have. been abandoned.
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