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UNIVERSITY^ 

PENNSYLVANIA. 
LIBRARIES 


THE  BURCHAM  FARM:  FROM  MARSH  TO  FARM  TO  FACTORY 


Patricia  Joan  Bovers 


A  THESIS 


in 


Historic    Preservation 


Presented  to  the  faculties  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in 
Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Requirements  for  the  Degree  of 


MASTER  OF  SCIENCE 


1995 


r>, 


,Q   C? 


V  U    ic^        \( 


David  Brownlee.   Professor,  History  of  Art,  Advisor 


-r? 


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Robert  St.  Geprge,  Professor,  Folklore  and  Folklife,  Reader 


David  G.  C^eLpflt-  Professor  of- Architecture 
Graduate  Group  Chairman 


'^^v^^A^^^/t^^j^'S'(i^^Sj^7&$ 


PENNSYLVANIA 


Table    of    Contents 

Introduction 

Chapter  One  --  History  of  Maurice  River  Area 

Section  One  --   History 

Early  History  and  Settlement 

Location  and  Description 

First    Settlers 

Europeans  in  South  Jersey 

The  Early  History  of  Maurice  River  Township 

Early  Surveys  of  the  Maurice  River  Area 

John  Hopman 

Section  Two  --  Woodcutting 
Lumbering  on  the  Maurice 
The  White  Cedar  Industry 

Section  Three  --  Industry  and  the  Maurice 
Iron 

Glass   Factories 
Millville's    Heyday 
Agriculture 

Chapter  Two  --  Marshland 

Section  One  --  Early  Uses 

Salt  marsh  in  Colonial  New  Jersey 
Cattle  in  the  Marsh 
Salt  Hay  Harvesting 

Section  Two  --  Technology  of  Salt  marsh 
Location   and  description 

Types  of  Salt  marsh:  Low,  Middle  and  High  Marsh 
The  development  of  salt  marsh 


Dyking  the  marsh:  What  is  dyking? 
How  do  dikes  work? 
Building  a  Dike 
Diking  Tools 
Marsh  Cedar:  Mining  and  Shingle  Cutting 

Section  Three  --  Administering  the  banks 
The  History  of  Diking 
Diking   Laws 
Corporate   Diking 
Meadow  Company  Organization 
Responsibilities    of    Officers 
The  Nineteenth  Century 
Class  Conflict  over  Diking 

Section  Four  --  Burcham  area  Meadow  Companies 
Millville  Meadow  Banking  Company 
Heirs  of  Learning  Meadow  Company 

Chapter  Three  --  Swedes  on  the  Delaware 
Section  One  --The  fight  for  the  Delaware  valley 

New  Sweden 

English  Puritans  in  Salem 

The  English 

The  Long  Finn  Rebellion 

New  Jersey 

John  Fenwick 
Section  Two 

First   Swedish   colonists 

Johan   Printz 
Section  Three  -  Life  in  New  Sweden 

Necessities   :Housing 

Food,  Clothing 

Agriculture:    Livestock,    Lumbering, 

Dykes  in  Raccoon 


I  I 


Section  Four  --  The  move  across  the  river  to  New  Jersey 

The  Beginnings  of  Unrest 

The  English  period 

Penn's  Campaign 

Permits  to  the  Swedes 

Settlement 
Section  Five  --     Inhabitants  of  Maurice  River  before  1720 

The  notes  of  Judge  Joshua  Brick 

Some  of  the  Early  residents  of  Maurice  River 
Section  Six  --  Why  John  Hopman  moved  to  Maurice  River 

Hans  Hopman,  early  Delaware  settler 

Hans'  son   Frederick, (#1) 

Hans  son  John  (#1) 

John  Hopman  #2,  Johannes  Frederickson  Hopman  of  Maurice 

River 

The  Maurice  River  Church 

Records  of  Moravian  Missionaries 

John  Hopman's  1746  Will 

Hopman's  decision  to  move  to  Maurice  River 

Nicholas  Hoffman 

Chapter  Four  -  Burcham  Period 
Bricks: 

History  of  the   Brick   Industry 

Brickmaking   Technology 

History    of    Millville    Brickyards 

History  of  Amaziah   Burcham's  brickyard 
The  House  and  the  People: 

The  farmhouse 

History  of  the   Burcham  family 

The  Farm  Today. 

Appendixes 
A  Burcham  Deeds 
B  Gricco  Deeds 
C  Clunn  Deeds 
D  Millville  Meadow  Companies 


1 1 1 


Acknowledgements 

I  would  like  to  thank  the  following  people  for  their  invaluable 
help  with   this  thesis: 

Laurence  Ball 

Leverett    Ball 

Fola  Bevan  and  the  staff  of  the  Millville  Historical  Society 

Daniel   Bluestone 

Joan  Britton  Bovers 

William    Bovers 

Betty  Erickson   Briggs 

David  Brownlee 

Burcham   family 

Richard  Castagna,  Mike  Ryan  and  the  Aerial  photos  Division  in 

Trenton 
Susan  Ceccaci 
Michael  Chiarappa 
Peter  Craig 

Cumberland  County  Courthouse  research  staff 
Dan  Drombrowski  and  the  N.J.  Geological  Survey  Office  in  Trenton 
Bette  Epstein  and  the  staff  of  the  N.J.  State  Archives 
Herbert  and  Kathryn   Fithian 
Margaret  Hickey 
Carl  and  Ragnhild  Holm 

Pat  Martinelli  and  the  Wheaton  Village  Library 
William  Nixon  and  the  staff  of  the  Cumberland  County  Historical 
Society 
Tom    Piatt 

Paul  Schopp  and  the  Camden  County  Historical  Society 
Kim  Sebold 
Robert  St.  George 
Rudy  Strauss 

Robert  Thomas,   Millville  City   Engineer 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richard  Wetherby 
William    Wetherby 
Dale  Wetstein 
Carl    Williams 
Christa    Willmanns-Wells 
Pat   Witt 


IV 


List    of    Illustrations 

Figure  One,  page  viii: 

Aerial  view  of  Burcham  farm,  c.  1990  taken  by  Dale  Wetstein, 
Millville  photographer,  and  owner  of  Steelman's  Photo. 

Figure  Two,  p.  26: 

Two  types  of  Salt  Hay  found  at  the  Burcham  farm,  drawings 
done  after  Britton  and  Brown 

Figure  Three,  p.  34: 

Photographs  of  early  dyking  instruments  --  the  mud  skiver  and 
the  heart-shaped  shovel,  taken  from  Robert  Sim. 

Figure  Four,  p.  46: 

Map  of  New  Sweden  drawn  for  the  Federal  Writers  Project  of 
the  Works  Progress  Administration,  State  of  New  Jersey,   1938, 
which  was  sponsored  by  The  N.J.  Commission  to  Commemorate  the 
300  Anniversary  of  the  Swedes  and  Finns  on  the  Delaware. 

Figure  Five,  p.  82: 

Map  of  divisions  of  Johannes  Hopman's  land  in  1746 
a  composite  of  two  sections  of  survey 

Figure  Six,  p.  83: 

1714  Scott  Survey 

Figure  Seven,  p.  84: 

Proprietary  Survey  of  1691.  The  Bartlett  tract. 

Figure  Eight,  p.  85: 

Drawing  of  Swedish  Church  at  Maurice  River. 

Figure  Nine,  p.  91: 

Advertisement  in  the  Farm  Journal  Directory,  Bridgeton,  N.J. 
edition,    1880. 

Figure  Ten,  p.  96: 

Site  plan  of  the  Burcham  brickyard  in  1940,  drawing  done  from 
a  negative  on  file  at  the  State  Aerial  Photos  Division,  9  Ewing 
Street,  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 


Figures  Eleven  --  Thirteen,  pp.  99-101: 

Illustrations   of   brickmaking   equipment  that  was   similar  to 
equipment  used  at  the  Burcham  brickyard.     Illustrations  were  taken 
from  advertisements  in  issues  of  The  Clayworker  that  were  found  at 
the  Burcham  farm  in  1961. 

Figure  Fourteen,  p.  102: 

Circa  1960  photos  of  the  Burcham  farm  taken  by  Dale  Wetstein. 
Includes  view  of  remains  of  early  brick  kiln,  old  barge  used  for 
hauling    bricks. 

Figure  Fifteen,  p.  103,  104: 

1904  photos  of  the  two  brickyards  at  Millville  --  Hess  and 
Golden's  and  the  Burcham's.  Photos  taken  for  the    Geological  Survey 
of  N.  J. 

Figure  Sixteen,  p.  105: 

The  Clavworker.  front  page  of  1893  edition,  a  trade  magazine 
found  under  carpeting  laid  in  the  first  brick  addition  in  1907  (at  the 
time  of  the  Gothic  renovation)  for  insulation. 

Figure  Seventeen,  p.  106: 

Invoice  sent  by  the  Burcham  brickyard,  property  of  Dale 
Wetstein,  Millville  photographer  and  owner  of  Steelman's  Photo. 

Figures  Eighteen  --  Twenty,  pp.   113-116: 

Photographs  of  the  Burcham  Farmhouse.     Historic  photographs 
courtesy  of  Dale  Wetstein,  Richard  and  Bill  Wetherby,  and  Janice  and 
Jeannette  Burcham. 

Contemporary  photos  taken  by  Herbert  Fithian,  William  Bovers  and 
Patricia    Bovers. 

Figures   Twenty   -   Twenty-four,   pp.    117-121: 
Architectural    Drawings   of  the   farmhouse 

1)  Early  wood   frame  building.   Building   with   first  brick  addition 

2)  Farmhouse  after  1907:   Basement,   First  floor 

3)  Farmhouse  after  1907:  Second  and  Third  floors.  Section 

4)  Farmhouse  in  1995:  Basement,   First  floor 

5)  Farmhouse  in  1995:,  Second  and  Third  floors 


Figure  Twenty-five,   p.   124: 


VI 


Photographs  of  Janice  and  Jeanette  Burcham  working  on  their 
farm. 

Figure  Twenty-six,   p.   128: 

Site  plan  of  the  Burcham  property  in  1994. 

Figures  Twenty-seven  and  Twenty-eight,  pp.   129,   130: 

Charles  Hartman's  Maps,  which  are  kept  in  the  Special 
Collections  Division  of  the  Alexander  Library  at  Rutgers  University, 
include 

1)  The  Scott  survey 

2)  The  Squibb  and  Byerly  surveys 


VI  I 


Vil 


^\\\\i\[U  J  M.J.    i^qo 


Introduction 

The  Burcham  farm  at  Millville,  New  Jersey,  is  the  last  dyke 
farm  on  the  Maurice  River.     It  is  also  the  only  known  dyke  farm  in  the 
states  of  New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  many 
dyked  meadows  that  lined  the  waterways  of  the  Delaware  valley  in 
the  nineteenth  century.     It  is  a  property  that  has  been  dyked 
continuously  since  1814,  and  was  probably  dyked  before  that  time. 

Historically,   dyking  was  a  critical  technology,   playing   a   major 
role  in  the  development  of  the  region.     Dyking  enabled  early  farmers 
to  grow  good  crops  without  fertilizer  and  without  the  expense  of 
clearing  forest  land.     This  was  essential  for  farmers  in  the  wooded 
swamplands  of  the  Delaware  valley,  where  travel  was  accomplished 
mostly  by  water,  where  clearing  the  dense  forest  was  very  difficult, 
where  lands  wore  out  easily,  and  fertilizers  like  marl  were  not 
readily  available.     Early  farmers  relied  on  the  fertility  of  dyked 
marshland,  and  colonial  laws  record  dyking  in  New  Jersey  as  early  as 
1711. 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  dyking  marshland  became  a 
corporate  affair,  one  that  was  mandated  by  the  state.     Agriculture  in 
South  Jersey,  as  in  Delaware,  began  to  rely  on  the  increased 
profitability  of  meadow  lands.     The  Burcham  property  was  also  a 
part  of  this  period  of  universal  dyking,  when  its  banks  were 
maintained  by  the  local  Milville  Meadow  Banking  Company,  a  group 
that  shared  the  costs  of  maintaining  their  contiguous  banks,  or 
dykes.  During  this  period,  the  Maurice  and    Cohansey  rivers  were 
dyked  for  many  miles. 

In  1865,  the  Burcham  farm  found  a  new  and  more  profitable 
use  for  its  dyked  lands  --  a  brickyard  --  becoming  Amaziah 
Burcham's  New  Jersey  Drain  and  Tile  Works  in  1867.    Gradually  the 
brickyard  would  be  equipped  with  the  most  up-to-date  brickmaking 
equipment  available,  producing  as  many  as  15,000    bricks  a  week 
from  clay  deposits  that  were  accessed  by  the  dyked  marsh. 

The  conversion  of  the  farm  to  a  industrial  site  was  timely, 
coinciding  with  a  boom  of  the  nascent  glass  making  industry  in 

1 


Millville.     The  industrial  town  was  expanding  rapidly,  and  bricks 
were  badly  needed  to  build  it.     From  1865  until  1942,  the  dykes  on 
the  property  were  maintained  for  this  brickyard/farm,  a  unique 
landscape  on  which  brick  workers  cut  wood  from  the  forest  to  fire 
the  brick  kilns,  and  lived  on  the  property,  while  being  fed  by  the 
produce  of  the  farm. 

The   Burcham's  farm   is  not  only  significant  for  its   historic 
technology,  however.     It  is  also  a  significant  historically,  as  it  is 
Cumberland  County's  only  physical  link  to  the  landscape  of  its  first 
Swedish  settlers  --  the  pioneers  of  1700-1740.     The  Burcham  farm 
takes  on  this  Swedish  identity  through  its  first  owner,  Johannes 
Hopman,  who  bought  800  acres  on  the  east  side  of  the  Maurice  river 
in   1737. 

Recently,  cultural  geographers  have  been  able  to  verify  the 
accounts  of  early  historians  like  L.Q.   Elmer,  who  wrote  that  Swedish 
settlers  were  living  along  the  Maurice  for  several  decades  before 
the  first  deeds  were  sold  there  in  1720.     These  pioneers  lived  in 
what  is  now  referred  to  an  an  extralegal  land-use  pattern  that  was 
the  result  of  the  legal  confusion  over  ownership  of  South  Jersey 
deeds.    It  seems  likely  that  some  of  the  Hopmans  were  in  the  area 
before  they  bought  title  from  the  English,  as  Nicholas  Hopman  last 
appeared  in  the  church  records  of  his  old  church  in  1731,  seven  years 
before  he  bought  property  at  Maurice  River. 

John  Hopman  moved  to  the  river  from  the  Swedish  settlement 
at  Raccoon  Creek  (now  Swedesboro)  following  a  Swedish  migration 
that  began  about  1700  and  was  heaviest  between  1720  and  1740. 

According  to  local  tradition,  Hopman  was  the  first  to  dyke  his 
lands  on  the  Maurice,  and  his  1746  will  establishes  that  he  had 
begun  before  that  date.    The  survey  of  his  lands  that  was  included 
with  the  will,  establishes  a  direct  link  to  the  dyked  landscapes  built 
by  the  early  Swedish  pioneers  throughout  the  Delaware  Valley. 
These  Swedish  farmsteads  are  described  extensively  by  Peter  Kalm 
in  the  1740's.     This  landscape,  while  it  is  maintained  by 
technologies  that  are  very  changed  from  the  mud  and  shovels  of  the 
Swedish   pioneer's   is   still  an  evocative  artifact  of  the   river-loving 
Swedes  of  the  past. 


Through  the  Hopmans,  the  farm  becomes  a  rich  example  of  a 
forgotten  people  --  the  disgruntled  Swedish  pioneers  who  preferred 
the  isolation  of  the  unbroken  frontier  to  the  English  cultural 
dominance  of  the  English  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware. 

Today,  the  historic  landscape  is  a  working  farm,  maintained  by 
the  dedication  of  two  sisters,  Janice  and  Jeannette  Burcham,  the 
granddaughters  of  the  nineteenth  century  brick  maker.     For  them, 
maintaining  the  dykes  is  a  constant  and  expensive  struggle  with  New 
Jersey's  severe  winter  storms  and  strict  Wetlands  regulations.     They 
would  never  consider  doing  anything  else.     If  their  dykes  were  to 
wash  out,  their  home  and  a  large  chunk  of  the  history  of  the  area 
would  be  gone,  and  could  not  be  re-built. 

What  was  once  a  marsh,  became  a  farm,  and  then  a  brickyard. 
Today  it  is  the  last  of  the  dyked  farms  on  the  Maurice,  though  it  is 
no  longer  a  commercially  viable  site.    What  comes  next?    Marsh 
again? 


Chapter  1 .  Section  1--  Early  History  and  Settlement 

Before  we  can  consider  the  role  of  the  Burcham  farm  as  a 
historical  artifact,  we  must  first  establish  a  basic  understanding  of 
the  farm's  physical  landscape  and  historical  setting.  Chapter  One 
begins  this  process  with  a  description  of  its  location  and  early 
settlement,  followed  by  a  discussion  of  the  developing  economy. 

Location  and  Description 

Cumberland  County  is  located  in  the  southernmost  part  of  New 
Jersey,  bounded  on  the  southeast  by  Cape  May  County  and  on  the 
southwest  by  the  Delaware  Bay.   It  was  established  in  1 747,  and 
divided  into  six  townships,  one  of  which  was  called  Maurice  River. 
Maurice  River  included  all  the  land  on  the  east  side  of  Maurice  until 
1 802,  when  Millville  was  set  off  as  a  separate  township. 

The  Maurice  River  runs  southeast  through  Cumberland  county 
for  50  miles,  draining  an  area  of  about  400  square  miles.    It  is  one 
of  two  major  rivers  in  the  county  (the  Maurice  and  the  Cohansey) 
that  empty  into  Delaware  Bay. 

Two  types  of  soil  are  found  in  the  county.  One  type,  which  is 
found  south  of  the  Cohansey  river,  is  sandy.  North  and  west  of  the 
Cohansey,  the  soil  is  clay  and  sandy  loam.  Salt  marsh  lines  the 
shore  along  the  Delaware  Bay  and  the  lower  sections  of  the  Maurice 
river.  The  marsh  land  is  made  up  of  blue-green  marl,  shells,  sand- 
encrusted  iron  deposits,  (known  as  "bog  ore")  and  ochre.  Upland 
areas  consist  of  sandstone  and  pudding  stone  cemented  by  iron  ore. 

In  Millville,  a  dam  impounds  the  Maurice  river  into  a  reservoir 
of  about  900  acres,  probably  the  largest  artificial  lake  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  The  dam  is  1/2  mile  from  the  wharves  of  Millville 
and  forms  the  head  of  tidal  influence. 

The  Burcham  farm  is  at  the  southern  limit  of  Millville 
township,  on  the  line  between  Millville  and  Maurice  River  Township. 
It  Is  bordered  by  the  east  side  of  the  Maurice  river  and  the  north  side 
of  Menantico  Creek 


Native  American  History' 

The  first  residents  of  the  Burcham  farm  were  members  of  the 
Unalachtigo  Indian  tribe  who  summered  on  the  property  for  several 
centuries  before  the  arrival  of  the  white  man.   While  they  left  no 
written  evidence  of  their  civilization,  they  left  a  great  quantity  of 
archaeological  data  in  the  muddy  banks  of  the  river.  Arrowheads, 
pottery  shards,  and  oyster  shells  line  the  marsh  below  the  Burcham 
farm  today,  indicating  the  location  of  an  Indian  village.   Imprints 
made  by  two  long  houses  in  the  mud  of  the  marsh  adjacent  to  the 
Burcham  property  establish  the  exact  site  of  one  of  their  camps  at 
the  head  of  the  Menantico.^ 

The  Indians  were  drawn  to  the  Maurice  for  the  same  reasons 
that  the  Europeans  would  be  --  the  easy  navigability  of  the  river  and 
the  abundant  plant  and  wildlife  found  there.   They  established 
clusters  of  small  wood  huts  along  the  Maurice's  high  places,  and 
returned  to  these  camps  every  Spring.   From  these  camps  they 
launched  canoes  for  hunting  and  fishing  expeditions,  then  returned  to 
smoke  the  fish  and  oysters,  muskrats,  deer  and  wild  fowl  to  save  for 
the  winter. 

Unalachtigo  women  gathered  wild  vegetables  and  fruits  and 
grew  corn,  beans,  squash  and  tobacco  along  the  river  in  the  fertile 
forest  land.  They  did  not  clear  the  forest,  but  simply  planted 
vegetables  between  the  trees. 

The  excellent  clay  found  at  the  head  of  the  Menantico  attracted 
the  Unalachtigos  as  keenly  as  it  would  Amaziah  Burcham  several 
centuries  later.   Indian  women  needed  good  workable  clay  to  make 
their  cooking  pots,  and  the  Burcham  site  has  some  of  the  best  Cape 
May  age  clay  in  the  county.  Gritty,  loamy,  sometimes  very  sandy 
clay,  it  slakes  slowly  because  the  clay  particles  in  it  are  evenly 
distributed  and  hold  the  clay  grains  together.^    Indian  women  made 

'    Ann  Shillingsburg  Woodruff  and  F.  Alan  Palmer,  The  Unalachtigo.  Original  People  of 
Cumberland  county.  Cumberland  County  Historical  Society  publication,  1973. 

2   Most  recently,  this  property  was  owned  by  the  Dr.  Gricco  of  Vineland  for  rental  income.  It 
can  be  accessed  by  Schooner  Landing  Road.  In  1  81  5,  it  was  owned  by  John  Lanning,  Jr.  The 
dikes  washed  out  on  this  property  in  1 960.  Five  lots  are  for  sale  there  now. 
^   Heinrich  Ries  and  Henry  B.  Hummel,   The  Clavs  and  Clay  Industry  of  New  Jersey.  Volume  6 
of  the  final  report  of  the  state  geologist,  Trenton,  1 904,  p.  346 

5 


pots  for  cooking  by  simply  adding  water  and  crushed  oyster  shells  to 
the  clay,  then  firing  it  with  a  bit  of  charcoal. 

Europeans  in  South  Jersey 

The  history  of  Europeans  along  the  Maurice  begins  about  1623 
when  the  Dutch  explorer  and  Governor  of  New  Amsterdam,  Cornelius 
May,  sailed  down  the  Delaware,  and  named  the  New  Jersey  cape  for 
himself.   He  may  also  have  named  the  Maurice  river  after  the  Dutch 
regent.''    It  was  known  as  Prince  Maurice's  River  before  1  692. 

The  Dutch  claim  to  South  Jersey  was  disputed  by  the  Swedish, 
however.   Mey's  military  colony  at  Camden,  N.J.  was  followed  by  a 
Swedish  fort  on  the  Delaware  that  was  built  about  1 636.   In  1 642, 
the  Swedes  built  a  second  fort,  Fort  Elfsborg,  near  Salem,  New 
Jersey  .   English  settlers  were  also  in  the  region  by  1  641 ,  and  about 
1 664,  their  navy  took  possession  of  South  Jersey  by  force.   The 
British  king  began  selling  tracts  in  South  Jersey  at  this  time,  and 
many  Swedish  and  Dutch  settlers  had  to  buy  title  to  their  lands  from 
the  English,  despite  previous  claims,  deeds  or  Indian  purchases. 

In  1  675,  a  group  of  English  Quakers  following  John  Fenwick 
established  themselves  in  Salem,  New  Jersey. 

The  Early  History  of  Maurice  River  Township 

Salem  County's  first  official  record  of  settlers  on  the  Maurice 
was  made  in  1  684,  when  the  "Old  road"  was  laid  from  Salem  to 
Maurice  River. "^      By  1  694,  Swedes  were  seen  on  the  river  by  Gabriel 
Thomas,  a  Quaker  from  England,  who  was  visiting  the  area.   He 
published  his  account  in  London  in  1  698,  describing  the  Maurice  as 
an  amazingly  abundant  place,  a  river  where  Swedes  killed  geese  "for 
their  feathers  only,  leaving  their  carcasses  behind  them." 

In  fact,  the  first  few  settlers  on  Maurice  River  are  generally 
agreed  to  have  been  Swedes.^'    Gushing  and  Sheppard  cite  as  evidence 


^  There  is  also  a  local  tradition  that  the  river  was  named  for  a  Dutch  ship  that  was  stranded  on 
a  sandbar  in  tthe  1 7th  century.  For  details,  see  Herbert  Vanaman, 
5   Thomas  Gushing  and  Charles  Sheppard.  History  of  Gloucester.  Salem  and  Cumberland 
Counties.  Philadelphia:  Everts  and  Peck,  1  883,   p.  51  6 

^  Ibid.,  p  51 4.  LQ  Elmer  and  Joshua  Brick  also  concur.   See  Chapter  3  on  the  Swedes. 

6 


the  1  720  land  deeds  from  the  English  to  the  Swedes.  But  surely 
there  were  settlers  there  in  small  numbers  by  1  684,  when  the  old 
road  from  Salem  to  Maurice  River  was  laid.   By  1  700,  a  small  number 
of  lumberers  and  cattle  owners  were  living   near  Buckshutem  Creek,'' 
and  a  Swedish  log  cabin  that  is  still  standing  (Caesar  Hoskins')  in 
Mauricetown  was  built.   English  Quakers  were  in  Salem  and  Cape 
May,  and  some,  like  Aaron  Leaming,  were  also  buying  land  in  the  area. 
The  few  early  residents  existed  as  a  marginal  part  of  the  Salem 
County  community,  living  along  the  waterways  and  traveling  by 
water  to  Greenwich,  the  nearest  town.   There,  two  prominent 
Quakers  —  Wood  and  Sheppard  --  ran  a  successful  dry  goods  store. 
Goods  were  paid  for  with  bonds  printed  by  the  store. 

Michael  Iszard,  Jr.,**      was  an  early  resident  of  Maurice  River.   He 
moved  down  to  the  west  side  of  the  Maurice  in  1  704,  selling  his 
lands  in  Greenwich.   Daniel  England  was  another  early  settler.   His 
sawmill  (Izard's'^      in  1  756)  was  operating  on  Buckshutem  Creek 
before  1 705.   Peter  Erickson  was  another.   He  was  given  a  land  grant 
on  the  Maurice  by  the  Indians  in  1  694  for  his  services  as 
interpreter!". 

The  small  number  of  Maurice  River  settlers  had  grown  by  1  705, 
as  the  old  road  from  Salem  to  Maurice  River  was  re-built  that  year." 
By  1718,  the  number  of  residents  was  still  larger,  as  Salem 
officials  appointed  a  constable  for  the  area.  By  1 728,  a  second 
constable  was  appointed,  but  the  settlers  lived  at  large  spaces  from 
one  another.   Still  there  was  no  real  town  on  the  Maurice. 


''  Buckshutem  Creek  joins  the  Maurice  on  its  west  side,  at  the  same  point  that  the  Menantico 

joins  it  on  its  east  side. 

Q  The  son  of  Michael  Issard  who  moved  from  Chester  County,  PA,  to  Greenwich,  NJ,  before 

1688. 

^  Gushing  and  Sheppard  say  the  mill  was  probably  owned  by  Gabriel  Izard,  future  owner  of  the 

Burcham  property,  but  other  researchers  disagree.  See  John  Downer,  History  of  the  Iszard 

family,  a  paper  on  file  at  the  Gloucester  County  Historical  Society.  Downer  believes  it  was 

owned  by  John  Izard  who  died  in  1  769  and  owned  cattle,  hogs,  and  a  1  /3  share  of  a  trading 

vessel  that  was  likely  shipping  wood. 

^  0  Peter  Craig,  The  1 693  Census  of  Swedes  on  the  Delaware.  Winter  Park,  Florida:  Studies  in 

Swedish  American  Genealogy,  1993,  p.  72  and  Salem  Deeds,  Liber  6,  p  194. 

^  ^  Gushing  and  Sheppard,  History  of  Gloucester.  Salem  and  Cumberland  Counties,  p.  518.  It 

crossed  the  river  at  Greenwich. 

7 


In  1720,  Swedish  settlers  began  leasing  large  tracts  of  land 
from  the  West  Jersey  proprietors.   Examples  include  Joseph  Lord, 
Joseph  Thompson  and  Andrew  Errickson,  who  leased  lands  from 
Thomas  Byerly.12    After  four  years  of  leasing,  Erickson  was  able  to 
buy  his  tract  outright  in  1724.  John  and  Peter  Peterson  bought 
tracts  about  1  730.   John  Hopman  bought  his  tract  in  1  737.   Doubtless 
these  early  settlers  were  there  to  make  money  on  the  lucrative 
lumber  trade. 

By  1 743  a  Swedish  Lutheran  church  was  built  on  the  River, 
just  south  of  the  Burcham  farm.   John  Hopman,  first  owner  of  the 
Burcham  farm  donated  the  land  for  the  church.'-^   It  had  a 
congregation  of  60  parishioners. 

By  1  747,  Cumberland  County  was  created  from  the  lower 
portion  of  Salem  County.  The  new  county  included  3,000  residents. 
On  the  first  tax  lists  in  1751,  "Prince  Maurice's  prescinct",  which 
was  the  name  for  all  the  territory  east  of  the  river ,  listed   51  men 
with  families,  and  1  2  single  men.   Four  sawmills  were  also  listed  in 
the  tax  lists--  Aaron  Leaming's,  Frederick  Hofman's,  Isaac  Sharp's 
and  Gabriel  Vanemon's.  The  Erixons,  the  Hofmans,  the  Peterson, 
Isard,  Jones  and  Vanamon  families  were  among  the  landowners 
listed.   This  may  not  have  included  all  the  residents  of  the  area, 
however. 

Early  Surveys  of  the  Maurice  River  Area 

The  area  that  would  later  become  Millville  was  located  in  two 
tracts  surveyed  to  Richard  and  Thomas  Penn  before  1  776.  They  had 
inherited  the  land  from  their  father  William  Penn  (son  of  the  founder 
of  Philadelphia)  and  their  brother  John  Penn. 

The  survey  on  the  east  of  the  river  consisted  of  1 9,962  acres. 
In  1 776,  Richard  Penn  conveyed  9,461  1  /2  of  these  acres  to  four 
wealthy  men  from  Burlington,  who  built  a  sawmill  and  a  60-acre 


'  2  Andrew  Errickson  bought  the  same  tract  from  Byerly  in  1  724. 

'  ^  The  site  is  today  the  property  of  Rudy  Strauss,  and  is  marked  by  a  Moravia  sign  on  Delsea 
Drive.  The  church  building  disappeared  many  years  ago,  and  most  of  the  graveyard  has  fallen  in 
to  the  river.  The  last  few  gravestones  were  moved  years  ago.  An  old  stone  still  marks  the 
corner  where  the  graveyard  once  was. 

8 


mill  pond  there.  The  land  was  known  as  the  Union  Mills  Tract. 
Cedar,  pine  and  oak  were  cut  there  for  export. 

The  Burcham  property,  which  is  on  the  south  end  of  Millville,  is 
not  contained  in  Penn's  survey.   It  is  found  in  another  early  survey  - 
John  Bartlett's  1 0,000  acre  survey  of  1691.  (see  Illustration    ) 
Bartlett's  tract  was  one  of  the  original  1  /1 0th  parcels  conveyed  by 
the  West  Jersey  Proprietors  to  Robert  Squibbs.  Gratia  Bartlett, 
widow  of  Benjamin  Bartlett,  conveyed  the  tract  to  John  Scott  of 
Newport,  Rhode  Island  in  1  707.   It  was  said  to  contain  1 0,000  acres, 
but  actually  contained  more  than  20,000."''  (see  fig    ) 

Scott  left  the  property  to  his  children  in  1718.   Most  of  it  he 
left  to  his  sons,  Edward  and  Joseph  Scott,  but  2,500  acres  were  left 
to  his  daughter.   The  brothers  sold  their  share  to  Edward  Loomis 
(Lummis)  in  February  of  1  735. 

Loomis  sold  his  tract  to  four  different  buyers  1  )Abraham 
Reeves  (on  April,  1 761 ),   2)  John  Hoffman  (or  Johannes  Hopman,  on 
February  20,  1  738),  3)  Abraham  Jones,  and   4)  Andrew  Heisler. 

John  Hopman 

The  first  on-site  owner  of  the  Burcham  farm  was  John 
Hopman, '5  a  third  generation  Swedish-American.  Hopman  bought  800 
acres  on  the  east  side  of  the  Maurice,  running  from  the  Menantico  to 
the  Manumuskin  in  1  736.   Born  and  raised  in  the  Raccoon  Creek 
settlement'^'  in  Gloucester  County,  Hopman   brought  his  large  family 
to  the  area  by  1  736.  He  is  remembered  as  the  man  responsible  for 
building  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church,  and  the  first  man  to  bank  (or 
dyke)  the  river. 


^  ^  There  is  some  confusion  about  the  survey  to  Scott.  Historically  it  has  been  recorded  as 
crosiing  the  Menantico  and  the  Clunn  property,  running  from  Scott's  comer  to  the  Maurice,  and 
many  current  land  deeds  are  based  on  that  "Scott  line."  It  was  moved  slightly  during  the  WPA 
period,  but  not  substantially,  hence  the  discussions  of  the  Scott  line  and  the  "False  Scott  line". 
In  the  deed  to  William  Lummis,  though,  the  survey  does  not  cross  the  Menantico;  it  follows  the 
Menantico  down  to  the  Maurice.  In  either  event,  it  is  clear  that  John  Hopman  sold  the  triangle 
of  land  above  the  Menantico  to  Nicholas  Hopman  in  1 748.   For  more  details  see  the  chain  of  title 
for  the  Burcham  farm  in  Appendix  A. 
^  ^  John  was  also  known  as  Johannes  Hopman  or  Hoffman. 
'  °  Raccoon  Creek  is  now  known  as  Swedesboro,  N.J. 

9 


Section  Two  continues  the  discussion  of  the  first  settlement 
of  the  Maurice  River  area  with  a  discussion  of  the  economic  history 
of  the  area,  beginning  with   a  discussion  of  the  first  industry  in  the 
area  -  lumbering.   In  this   first  economy,  as  in  later  economies, 
marshland  was  essential,  as  it  was  in  the  marsh  that  white  cedar 
trees  were  found.   The  high  colonial  demand  for  cedar  drove  up  the 
price  of  cedar  stands,  and  inspired  the  beginnings  of  economic 
activity  in  the  area. 

Chapter  I.  Section   II  --   Lumbering  on  the  Maurice 

Lumbering  was  the  first  industry  to  develop  along  the  Maurice 
River.   The  forest  there  was  thick  with  oak,  hickory,  chestnut  and 
pine;  the  marsh  was  full  of  cedar,  and  water  power  was  available  at 
the  many  small  creeks  that  fed  into  the  river.   Small  sawmills  - 
both  legal  and  illegal  —  were  operated  on  mill  ponds,   many  of  which 
long  ago  dried  up  and  disappeared  without  a  trace. 

Near  the  Burcham  property,  early  sawmills  included  Daniel 
England's,  which  was  built  on  Buckshutem  Creek^  before  17052; 
William  Rawson's,  which  was  built  on  the  Menantico  about  1  71  8^; 
and  Peter  Peterson's,  a  920-acre  mill  on  the  Menantico  that  he 
purchased  in  1  71 1 .  It  was  located  further  up  the  Menantico  near  the 
"Berryman"  tributaries.^  (see  Hartman  map,  fig  ) 

^  Buckshutem  creek  and  Menantico  Creek  meet  at  the  Maurice  River  by  the  Burcham  farm. 
Menantico  creek  flows  into  the  Maurice  river  from  the  Northeast.   Buckshutem  Creek  flows  into 
the  river  from  the  Southwest. 

2  See  Cushing  and  Sheppard,  History  of  Gloucester.  Salem  and  Cumberland  Counties,  pp.  514, 
516,  518,  520  and  Hartman  maps.   Daniel  England's  sawmill  on  Buckshutem  Creek  is  mentioned 
in  the  records  of  the  new  road  that  was  built  from  Salem  to  Maurice  River  in  1  705.  England's 
mill  was  owned  by  William  Hall,  the  Salem  merchant,  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1713.  (NJ 
Archives  volume)   It  was  later  owned  by  Cormack.    In  1  756,  it  was  owned  by  Izard,  probably 
not  by  Gabriel,  as  Cushing  &Sheppard  suggest.  (Gabriel  later  became  the  owner  of  the  Burcham 
property),  but  by  John  Isard.  (see  John  Downer,  History  of  the  Iszard  family,  a  paper  on  file 

at  the  Gloucester  County  Historical  Society,  p  1  0).  The  mill  pond  was  known  later  as  Laurel 
Lake  and  Buckshutem  Pond. 

3  Wm.  Rawson's  mill  was  later  owned  by  Wm.  Browning  (1 800),  then  by  Nathaniel  Buzby  and 
Jonathan  Dallas  in  1  820.  It  was  best  known  as  Daniel  Clark's  mill  or  Clark's  pond  (1  860).  In 

1  867  it  was  owned  by  John  McNeal.  Dam  broke  about  1  895  and  was  never  rebuilt.  (See 
Hartman  maps.) 

^  Both  Cushing  &  Sheppard  and  L.Q.  Elmer  mistakenly  believed  that  Rawson's  mill  and  Learning's 
mill  (which  was  Peterson's)  were  the  same,  but  Charles  Hartman's  maps,  early  surveys  and 

10 


Rawson  and  Peterson  were  Swedes.   Rawson  was  probably  the 
son  of  Olle  Rasse  or  Rawson  whose  cabin  is  seen  on  the  1714  Scott 
survey,  so  William  had  doubtless  been  living  in  the  area  for  a  few 
years.   He  bought  1 1 00  acres  of  forest  on  the  Menantico  in  1718  and 
established  his  sawmill  soon  afterward  ^         .   In  1  720,  he  established  a 
tavern  at  his  mill  to  provide  food  and  drink  to  his  fellow  lumberers, 
applying  for  a  tavern  license  in  1 722.'' 

Peterson  moved  to  Maurice  River  from  Calcon  Hook, 
Pennsylvania,  changing  his  name  from  Peter  Peterson  Stake  to 
dissociate  himself  from  his  notorious  father.   He  acquiring  920 
acres  and  a  saw  mill  in  1711.^ 

Much  timber  was  cut  at  these  Maurice  River  mills,  then  shipped 
and  traded  from  the  nearby  harbor  which  was  known  as  "Shingle 
Landing,"  later  renamed  Millville. 

The  first  description  of  lumbering  activity  on  the  Maurice  is 
from  a  much  later  date  -  1  748  --  when  Peter  Kalm,  a  naturalist 
from  Swedish  Finland,  visited  the  area.   Kalm  described  furious 
lumbering  activity  in  Cape  May  in  1 748,  and  the  rapidly  disappearing 
white  cedar,  describing  the  "great  quantities  of  shingles"  that  were 
annually  exported  to  New  York  and  the  West  Indies  from  South 
Jersey. 

According  to  Kalm,  much  of  South  Jersey  was  "destitute  of 
cedars"  by  1  749,  with  "only  young  shoots  left. "8   Lumberers  were 
"utterly  regardless  of  posterity,"  he  wrote,  "bent  only  upon  their 
present  advantage". 

The  intensity  of  the  tree  cutting  in  the  1  8th  century  was 
driven  by  the  international  market  for  lumber.  Wealthy  colonial 
merchants  were  trading  wood  to  the  West  Indies  on  ships  that  left 
directly  from  the  Maurice.   Peter  Grubb's  Shallop  Cornwel  was  an 

deeds  show  their  different  locations  on  the  Menantico.  Peterson's  mill  tract  was  sold  on  7  June, 

1  741  at  public  auction  to  Aaron  Learning  II,  the  prominent  Cape  May  Quaker.  (Genealogical 

Magazine  of  New  Jersey,  Volume  54,  p.  1  25). 

5  Liber  B,  Folio  69. 

"  Gushing  and  Sheppard,   op.  cit..  p.  520 

^  Craig,  Peter,  The  1  693  Census  of  Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  pp.  40-41 . 

^  Kalm,  Peter,  The  Amenca  of  1  750:  Travels  in  North  America,  ed.  by  A.B.  Benson  ,New  York: 

Wilson-Erickson,  1937. 

II 


example,  sailing  down  to  the  Maurice  River  from  Wilmington, 
Delaware  in  1  749,  and  trading  corn,  nails,  rum,  molasses,  fishing 
hooks,  beef  and  bacon  for  wood.   Before  1 750,  merchants  were 
shipping  lumber  directly  from  the  Maurice  to  North  Carolina,  the 
West  Indies,  England,  Portugal  and  the  Canary  Islands.  9 

After  the  Revolution,  the  demand  for  timber  increased  still 
more,  and  outside  investors  bought  up  tracts  of  forest  in  Cumberland 
to  work  off  the  timber.     By  1  776,   four  Philadelphia  investors  (The 
Union  Company)  bought  a  9,000  acre  tract  along  the  Maurice 
(including  the  area  that  would  later  become  Millville)  and  dammed 
the  Maurice  river  to  build  a  sawmill.  Cumberland  County  grew  by  a 
third. 

In  1 779,  Maurice  River  woodlands  were  being  advertised  in  the 
Pennsvlvania  Gazette  ,  and  its  hawkers  emphasized  the  Maurice's 
easy  access  to  cedar  and  transportation:  "Seventy-four  acres  of 
cedar  swamp"  were  offered  "on  the  west  side  of  Morris  River  near  a 
landing  where  vessels  passed  and  re  passed." 

In  1823,  almost  miraculously,  Millville  men  were  still 
advertising  cedar  and  pine  for  sale  in  the  Bridgeton  Observer:  "two 
feet  shingles,  seasoned  pine  boards,  cedar  boards,  cedar  siding  and 
other  building  materials".  1 0   By  this  time,  however,  the  wood  they 
were  selling  would  have  had  to  have  been  retrieved  from  the  marsh, 
as  the  stands  of  cedar  had  been  mostly  clearcut. 

White  Cedar  Industry"!  1 

The  highest  profits  in  the  colonial  lumber  industry  came  from 
white  cedar.  Wood  cutters  flocked  to  the  South  Jersey  cedar  stands 
from  all  over,  many  of  them  living  in  small  makeshift  sheds,  and 
jammed  in  very  close  quarters.  They  worked  as  fast  as  they  could, 
stayed  until  the  cedar  was  gone,  and  then  moved  on  to  the  next 
"Cripple."  As  early  as  1  700,  this  white  cedar  industry  was  booming 


^  Wheaton  J.  Lane  "Water  Transportation  in  Colonial  New  Jersey"  Proceedings  N.J.  Historical 
Society.  Volume  53,  pp.  77  87,  1935. 

^  0  The  advertisement  was  for  Stratton,  Buck  and  Company. 

Silas  Little,   "Ecology  and  Silviculture  of  Whitecedar  and  Associated  Hardwoods  in  Southern 
New  Jersey,"  Yale  University  School  of  Forestry  Bulletin,  no.  56,  New  Haven,  1  950,  pp.  5-6 

12 


near  MillvilleJ  2  and  cedar  stands  sold  for  much  more  than  other 
timber  tracts.  Cedar  stands  sold  for  more  than  dyked  meadow  or 
cultivated  farmland,  1  3and  cedar  products  accounted  for  20  percent 
of  ail  the  exports  from  Cape  May  County  in  1  758  J  "^ 

Cedar  was  particularly  prized  by  the  building  industry.!  5   |t 
was  durable  --  strong  enough  to  support  a  roof,  but  still  lightweight 
and  easy  to  saw.   It  was  also  fire-resistant,  as  it  retained  water  and 
oils.   By  1  750,  all  the  houses  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  were 
roofed  with  cedar  shingles.  ^  ^   in  i  749,  Kalm  described  its 
attributes  and  uses: 

[White  Cedar].  .  .  .  will  resist  decay  the  most;  it  will  make  good 
fence  rails,  and  also  posts  which  are  to  be  put  into  the  ground. 
.  .  .  good  canoes.  .  .  .  The  young  trees  are  used  for  hoops.  .  . 
because  they  are  thin  and  pliable;  the  thick,  tall  trees  .  .  .for 
cooper's  work.   Houses  which  are  built  of  it  surpass  in  duration 
those  ...  of  American  oak.   Many  of  the  houses  in  Rappapo  (an 
early  Swedish  community  in  S  Jersey)  were  made  of  this 
white  cedar.  . .  .^^ 

In  1  759,  Charles  Read,  the  speaker  of  New  Jersey's  1  8th 
provincial  assembly  and  an  owner  of  timber  tracts,  sponsored  a  bill 
to  prevent  the  "waste"  (by  this  he  meant  theft)  of  timber  -- 
mentioning  pine  and  cedar,  specifically.  1 8  Trespassers  who 
damaged  trees  were  to  fined  20  shillings  per  tree. 


1 2  w.L  Hall  and  H.  Maxwell.  "Uses  of  Commercial  Woods  of  the  United  states:  1  Cedars, 

Cypresses  and  Sequoias".  U.S.  Dept  of  Agriculture  Forest  Service.  Bulletin  95,  1911. 

^  3  Weiss,  Harry  B.   and  Grace  M.  Weiss.  Some  Early  Industries  of  New  Jersey.  Trenton:  New 

Jersey  Agricultural  Society,  1965 

^  ^  George  Cook,  Geology  of  New  Jersey.  New  Brunswick:  Board  of  Managers  of  the  NJ  State 

Legislature.  1857,  p.  192. 

1  5  It  was  used  for  joists  and  rafters,  doors,  shingles,  lath  and  fences,  for  churns  and 
washtubs,  canoes  and  cordwood. 
^  ^  Peter  Kalm,  op.  cit..  p.  299. 
^^Ibid..  p.  299 

^  ^  C.R.  Woodward,  Ploughs  and  Politics.  Rutgers  University  Press,  New  Brunswick,  N.J.:  1 942 
p  139. 

13 


By  1 765,  many  white  cedar  stands  in  South  Jersey  had  been 
clear-cut  J  9  but  the  lumber  industry  was  still  booming.    Cedar 
merchants  turned  to  the  accumulation  of  felled  cedar  logs  in  the 
swamp  to  meet  the  demand. 

South  Jersey  was  attracting  timber  workers  from  other  areas. 
In  Jacob  Spicer's  1  775  journal,   he  noted  that  his  Cape  May  neighbor 
was  getting  lumberers  down  from  New  York:   "John  Schuyler  ..  .  . 
gives  1  8  d  for  cutting  and  the  cutter  finds  his  own  diet."20   in  1 792, 
New  Jersey  exported  1  million,  220  thousand  cedar  shingles  ,  as 
well  as  3,374,900  feet  of  pine,  and  48,41  2  staves  and  heading. 21 

By  1  834,  cedar  stands  were  sold  for  $300  per  acre.   By  1  856, 
they  sold  for  $1 ,000  an  acre, 22  though  all  first  growth  stands  were 
gone.   Nonetheless,  610,000  shingles  were  cut  in  Cape  May  County 
from  mined  cedar  that  year.  They  sold  for  $1  5  per  thousand 
shingles.23 


^  °  Samuel  Smith,  The  History  of  the  Colony  of  Nova-Caesaria.  or  New  Jersey.  Burlington, 

N.J.:  1765,  pp.  485-488. 

20  Diary  of  Jacob  Spicer.  Cape  May  County  Proceedings,  N.J.  Historical  Society,  Series  1  Vol 

3,  p.  1  96.  Spicer  was  a  prominent  landowner  and  legisator  from  Cape  May. 

2'  Tench  Coxe,  A  View  of  the  U.  S.  of  America.  Philadelphia:  1794,  p  419. 

22  Silas  Little,  Jr.,  op.  cit..  pp.  7-8. 

23  George  Cook.  Geology  of  Caoe  May  County.  New  Brunswick:  Board  of  Managers  of  the  NJ 
State  Legislature,  1857. 

14 


Section  Three  continues  the  discussion  of  the  economic 
development  of  Millville  in  order  to  place  the  Burcham  farm  into  its 
economic  context.     Until  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
agricultural   industries  dominated  the  economy,   but  after  mid- 
century,   industry  took  its  place. 

Amaziah  Burcham,  a  Union  soldier  returning  from  the  war, 
decided  that  there  was  more  money  to  be  made  in  industry  than  there 
was  in  agriculture.     He  bought  the  brickyard/farm  in  1867,  and  began 
making  the  bricks  that  would  build  the  boomtown  of  Millville. 

Chapter  I  Section  III  --  Industry  and  the  Maurice  River 

In  1795,  the  Philadelphia  Union  Company's  investors  dedide  to 
sell  off  their  timber  tract  near  Shingle   Landing   (later  Millville)  to 
four  men  who  imagined  an  industrial  future  for  the  area.     Joseph 
Buck,  a  former  Sheriff  of  the  County,  was  one  of  the  new  owners.    He 
began  selling  lots  in   1801,   naming  the  town  "Millville,"  because  that 
was  the  name  most  commonly  associated  with  American  industry 
and  progress"! .    Surely  such  a  name  would  lure  industry  and  new 
residents  to  the  sleepy  backwater. 

Buck's  industrial  plan  for  Millville   included  promoting  the 
water  power  of  Union  Pond,  and  the  many  acres  of  wood  and  easy 
navigability  of  the  river.     In  addition  iron  ore  was  available  in  the 
swamps,  and  immense  beds  of  high  quality  were  located  just  below 
Millville. 

Iron 

Iron  manufacturing  began  on  the  Maurice  river  south  of  town 
even  before  Millville  was  established.     In  America's  post-war  period, 
iron  forges  were  booming,  freed  from  the  quotas  imposed  by  British 
law,  and  demand  for  iron  was  high.     Eli  Budd  built  his  iron  forge  on 
the  Manumuskin  in  1785,  and  was  manufacturing  iron  bars  or  pigs. 


^  Thomas  Baldwin,    and  J.  Thomas,  New  and  Complete  Gazetteer  of  the  U.S..  Philadelphia: 
Lippincott,   Grambo,   1854.   pp.   703-707. 

15 


The  local  source  for  iron  ore  was  the  swamps  of  Downe  Township, 
where  "bog  ore"  formed  on  particles  of  sand. 2 

By  1803,  just  a  few  years  after  Millville  was  incorporated,  the 
iron  industry  came  to  town.     David  C.  Wood3  bought  20,000  acres  of 
forest,  dug  a  canal  from  Union  Pond  into  town,  and  began  producing 
lamp  posts,  stoves,  and  other  castings  (including  the  cast  iron 
railings  for  Philadelphia's  public  squares).     Stoves  and  pigs  made  at 
his  furnace  were  shipped  up  the  Menantico  to  Schooner  Landing,  then 
sent  by  road  to  Philadelphia.  ^    By  1834,  he  had  established  a  second 
--  more  modern  --   iron  furnace  at  another  site  in  Millville  in   1834. 
The  second  furnace  was  the  first  pit  cast  foundry  built  in  the  U.S., 
and  pipe  was  made  there  by  the  vertical  pit  cast  process,  using  dry 
sand  molds  and  cores,  and  casting  the  pipe  in  12  foot  lengths. 

Despite  the  beginnings  of  the  iron  industry,  Millville  of  1804 
was  hardly  a  boom  town.  Millville  had  only  11  buildings    --  one  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  ten  on  the  east  side  including  a 
school  house  and  a  Presbyterian  church. 5    Lots  in  town  were 
worthless,  and  owners  didn't  even  bother  with  deeds.     It  was  only 
after  the  glass  industry  came  to  Millville  in   1834  that  the 
population  began  to  take  off. 

By   1840,  Millville  had   1,200  residents,  and  several  factories, 
but  its  two  original  iron  furnaces  were  closing.     D.C.  Wood's  first 
foundry.  Union  Mill,  closed  in  1849.  The  annual  product  there  had 
been  about  600  tons.    By  1851,  D.C.  Wood  was  bankrupt  and  both  of 
his  factories  were  sold  to  his  brother,    R.D.  Wood.    R.D.  Wood  dug  a 
new  canal  to  the  closed  foundry  at  Union  Pond,  and  established  a 
successful  cotton  factory  at  the  site.     In  1866,  he  began 


2  Cedar  swamp  lands  are  underlain  with  iron  deposits  formed  by  the  chemical  action  of 
vegetable-laden  water  on  ferruginous  strata  in  sluggish  water.    The  deposits  range  from  a  soft 
muddy  consistency  to  one  of  stone.    They  are  reddish-yellow  in  color,  a  variety  of  the  mineral 
limonite.  (  Bertram  LIppincott,  An  Historical  Sketch  of  Batso.  N.J.  ,1933,  p.  12;    Charles 
Boyer,  Early  Forges  and  Furnaces  in  N.J.  Philadelphia:  University  of  Pennsylvania  Press, 
1931,    p.  2. 

3  He  was  a  part  of  the  Wood  family,  "weighty"  Quakers  of  Bridgeton  and  Philadelphia. 
'^Moore,  William  Davis,  The  Development  of  the  Cast  Iron  Pressure  Pipe  industry  in  the 
Southern   States.    1800-1938.  pp.   12-13. 

^Gushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p.  633. 

16 


construction  of  a  dam  over  the  Maurice  river  to  greatly  improve  the 
water  power  in  Millville.6     He  also  continued  to  operate  his  brother's 
modern  furnace  with  magnetic  ore  as  an  iron  source  and  anthracite 
coal  as  a  melting  medium.     The  business  operated  in  Millville  until 
1900,  then  closed,  as  the  center  of  iron  manufacturing  had  moved    to 
Eastern  Pennsylvania  by  1850,  and  then  on  to  the  Middle  West.    R.D. 
Wood  and  Company  continues  to  thrive,  and  was  responsible  for 
building  the  first  skyscraper  in   Philadelphia  for  its  offices  about 
1881. 

Glass   Factories   --   Millville's   Future 

The  glass  industry  would  become  one  of  the  major  industries 
in  South  Jersey.     It  began  in  Millville  before  1806.     Five  other  glass 
makers  were  established  in  the  area  before  1900. 

James  Lee  built  Millville's  first  glass  factory  on  the  Maurice 
River  at  Buck  Street  in  1806,  manufacuring  only  window  glass. 
Later  the  plant  would  become  Whitall  Tatum's  "Glasstown",  where 
many  types  of  glassware  were  made. 

In  1814,  it  was  owned  by  Gideon  Scull;  in  1827,  by  Burgin, 
Wood  and  Joel  Bodine;  and  in  1836,  by  Scattergood,  Booth  and 
Company.     By  1838,  John  Whitall  had  joined  his  brother-in-law,  G.  M. 
Haverstick  and  William  Scattergood  in  the  glass  business.     All  three 
were  prominent  Philadelphia  Quakers.     John  Whitall  married  into  the 
Tatum  family,  and  Edward  Tatum  joined  the  firm  in  1848.  In  1845, 
John's  Whitall's  brother,  Franklin,  took  the  company  into  its  most 
profitable    stage. 

In   1854,   Franklin  Whitall  acquired  the  south   Millville 
Schetterville  glass  plant,''  and  the  business  became  more  successful 
than  ever.     By  1901,  it  was  called  Whitall  Tatum  and  had  offices  in 


^  The  embankment  was  2,000  feet  long,  covered  a  thousand  acres  and  contained  100,000 
yards  of  fill.    500  feet  wide,  the  dam  was  built  of  red  sandstone  and  cement  and  tapered  from 
11  feet  at  the  base  to  4  feet  at  the  top.    It  provided  greatly  improved  water  power  to  12 
Millville  industries  and  cost  more  than  $100,000. 

'^  Schetterville  was  begun  by  Frederick  and  Phillip  Schetter  of  Baltimore  in  1832.  They  set  up  a 
window  light  furnace  1/3  mile  south  of  Millville  on  diked,  riverfront  land.^    In  1844, 
Schetterville  was  bought  by  Lewis  Mulford,  Millville's  first  banker.     Mulford  wanted  to  sell  the 
plant  to  Whitall  Tatum  at  a  good  phce.    In  order  to  force  them  to  buy  the  factory  from  him,  he 
comered  the  area  wood  market. 

17 


Philadelphia  and  New  York.    The  company  was  famous  for  the  high 
quality  of  its  moldblown  glassware. 

Glass   manufacturing   in   Millville  experieced  enormous  growth 
between  1830  and  1900,  beginning  with  a  population  of  150  persons 
in  1830,  and  ending  the  century  with  more  than  20  times  as  many 
people. 

In   1830,  Millville  consisted  of  seven  stores,  seven  grist  mills, 
eight  saw  mills,  a  blast  furnace,  two  glass  factories,  60  homes  and 
two  taverns. 8    By  1840,  the  population  had  grown  to  1,200  people. 
By  1883.  there  were  ten  flint  glass  furnaces  in  town  employing  more 
than  1,512  people.     By  1900,  the  three  major  glass  works  employed 
more  than  1500    hands,  half  of  the  working  population. 

Before  the  railroad  came  to  town  in   1863,  Whitall  latum  glass 
was  packed  in  salt  hay  and  shipped  to  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  by 
sloop.  9  It  went  to  New  York  by  schoonerio  and  by  the  steam  boat 
Millville. 

Millville's    Heyday 

By  1850,  the  success  of  Millville's  glass  and  fisheries 
industries  was  drawing  heavy  European  immigration  to  the  town.ii 
Millville  began  to  expand  and  build:  The  Millville  National  Bank  was 
chartered  in  1857;  gas  came  to  the  town  in  1864.     In  1866,  Millville 
was  incorporated  as  a  city  of  5,000,  and  a  mayor  and  a  common 
council  were  appointed.     A    waterworks  was  built  in  1879,  and  a  city 
hall  in   1881.     A  great  majority  of  buildings  still  standing  along  High, 
Main  and  Pine  Streets  in  downtown  Millville  were  built  in  this  boom 
period,  which  lasted  from  1850  to  1918.       The  buildings  were 
generally  made  of  brick,  and  many  were  built  with     bricks  from 
Burcham's   brickyard. 

The  United  States  government  began  encouraging  the  growth  of 
industry  in  the  area  in  1883,  by  dredging  the  Maurice  River  to 
provide  access  for  water  transportation.     They  stopped  in  1892.     By 


^  Thomas  Gordon,    Gazeteer  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,    p.  180 

^  The  Ann  and  the  Franklin. 

^^  The  Caroline  and  the  Mary. 

^  ^  The  population  was  2,332  persons. 

18 


1910,     Whitall  Tatum  was  the  largest  glass  manufacturing  concern 
in  tine  world,  with  1,925  employees.     The  cotton  mill  had  900 
employees.     Millville  sand  was  being  washed  and  shipped  to  towns 
all  across  the  U.S.  and  Canada.    During  the  height  of  the  glass 
industry,   (1860  -   1900)     Millville  was  a  magnet  for  workers  from 
economically  depressed  areas,  including  many  from  Virginia  and 
West   Virginia. 

Agriculture 

The  18th  century  settlers  in  Cumberland  County  were  part- 
time  farmers  who  spent  their  time  cutting  lumber  for  export,     while 
relying  on  wild  marsh  hay  to  feed  their  livestocl^.       A  tract  of  salt 
marsh  was  sold  as  a  necesary  part  of  every  farm  and  cost  as  much  as 
the   farmland    itself. 

In  1815,  Cumberland  County  upland  farms  were  worn  out,  and 
many  local  farmers  left  to  find  new  lands  in  Ohio  and  the  Midwest.i2 
Those  who  stayed  concentrated  on  improving  the  marshland.     This 
involved  a  variety  of  technologies  for  water  management,  including, 
ditching,  damming,  draining.       Dyked  meadows  were  naturally 
replenished  by  the  nutrient-rich  marsh,  and  produced  good  crops  of 
corn  and  upland  hay  without  manure. ^^     Diking  was  time-consuming 
and  expensive,  but  it  was  more  economical  than  clearing  land,  and 
digging    marl    for   fertilizer. 

John  Bartram,  the  famous  botanist  of  Philadelphia,  gave  his 
visitor,  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur,  an  explanation  of  the  economics  of 
diking  in  1782.    De  Crevecoeur  had  never  heard  of  "banking"  before, 
and  asked  why  anyone  would  put  himself  to  so  much  trouble  and 
expense.     Bartram's  answer  was  that  while  the  expense  of  bank 
building  was  considerable,  it  was  nonetheless  very  economical,  as 
the  "produce  of  three  years"    repaid  all  the  costs  to  the  owner. 
Bartram  was  a  very  enthusiastic  member  of  his  Philadelphia  meadow 
company. 


^2  Gushing  anf  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p  573. 

^^For  a  discussion  of  dyking,  see  Section  II,  Chapter 

19 


In  1823  Cumberland  County  farmers  founded  a  county 
agricultural   society   "to   promote   agricultural    improvements   and 
encourage  family  manufactures."     An  editorial  in  the  local  Bridgeton 
newspaper  at  that  time  encouraged  farmers  to  spend  less  of  their 
time  lumbering  and  more  time  dyking.     The  enthusiastic  editor 
declared   victory   prematurely,    it  seems,   writing, 

"  It  was  manifest  to  every  one  present  that  the  increasing 
agricultural  spirit  would  very  speedily  supersede  the  toilsome 
and  unprofitable  business  of  cutting  timber"i4 

The  owners  of  farms  on  either  side  of  the  Burcham  site  were 
first  officers  of  the  Agricultural   society.      The  vice-president  was 
John  Lanning,  Jr.  --  the  owner  of  the  farm  down  river  from  the 
Burcham  property,  and  the  second  was  the  owner  of  the  farm  upriver 
from  the  Burcham's,  Adrian  Clunn,  Janice  and  Jeanette  Burcham's 
uncle.     There  were  fourteen  other  members.     The  society  survived  for 
three  years,  putting  on  an  annual  county  exhibitions  and  giving  out 
prizes  for  the  largest  yields,  then  disbanded  in  1827.     Maurice  River 
dikes  declined  beteen  1860  and  1880,  troubled  by  disagreements 
between  the  owners. 

Agriculture  returned  to  Cumberland  County  on  a  large  scale  in 
1883,  when  extensive  marl  digging  began  in  the  area.    Marl  was  a 
more  effective  fertilizer  than  lime  or  manure,  and  the  1883 
agricultural  census  shows  many  bushels  of  wheat,  corn,  oats  and  rye 
were  grown  in  the  county  that  year,  as  well  as  potatoes,  hay, 
tomatoes,  fruits  and  poultry.     With  time,  berries  and  small  fruits 
would  dominate  Cumberland  County  farming  as  Millville's  canning 
industry  was   established. 

In  1914,  the  Maurice  River  was  diked  again  on  both  sides  until 
about  two  miles  above  Mauricetown  where  "salt  marshes  appear  on 
the  right  bank  and  continue  to  the  mouth.  .  .  ."     On  the  left  bank  the 
fast  land  continued  to  within  2  miles  of  the  mouth,  "and  then  salt 
marsh  extends  to  the  bay  shore. "15    The  land  was  "very  fertile  and 


^^  Gushing  and  Sheppard.  op.  cit..  p.  575. 
^^  The  U.S.  Engineer's  report,  1914. 

20 


the  low  meadows  [had]  almost  all  been  reclaimed  from  the  tide  by 
means  of  banks,  and  large  quantities  of  hay  [were]  harvested  and 
cattle  [were]  grazed  on  them,  while  the  land  [was]  all  in  a  high  state 
of    cultivation." 

With  fruit  and  vegetable  farming  and  canning,  Millville  and 
other  area  farms  took  on  an  industrial  guise.     By  1880,  the  Maurice 
and  the  Cohansey  rivers  were  becoming  produce  corridors  to 
Philadelphia. 


21 


Chapter  II  --  The  Salt  Marsh 

For  many  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  century  pioneers  in  the 
Delaware  valley,  salt  marsh  was  an  essential  resource,  indeed  the 
primary  economic  inducement  for  settlement  in  the  region.     Part- 
time  farmers  and  lumberers,  they  survived  on  their  knowledge  of 
marshlands,  heavily  dependent  on  its  three  key  industries:  salt 
haying,  cedar  mining,  and  dyke  farming. 

The  chapter  begins  by  discussing  the  economic  importance  of 
marshland  in  Colonial  New  Jersey,  then  focuses  on  the  technology  of 
the  marsh  and  marsh  industries.     The  last  section  addresses  the 
nineteenth  century's  changing  view  of  marshland,  including 
enclosure,  the  legal  status  of  marshland,  and  state-mandated  dyking. 


Salt  marsh  in  Colonial  New  Jersev 

In  Cape  May  in1695,  lands  along  the  shore  were  the  first  to 
sell.     Shore  land  sold  first  for  two  reasons:  one  was  its  access  to 
water  transportation,  the  other  was  its  proximity  to  the  high 
marsh.  1     A  1682  court  case  illustrates  the  importance  placed  on 
meadow  land.    In  that  case,  purchasers  of  New  Jersey  lands 
protested  to  the  court  that  their  land  allotments  were  unfair,  as 
they  had  not  been  given  a  tract  of  meadow  land.    The  Court  agreed, 
and  ordered  the  West  Jersey  proprietors  to  make  restitution  to  these 
purchasers.    The  Commissioners  awarded  a  tract  of  meadow  on  the 
Rancocas  River  to  each  purchaser,  at  the  proportion  of  four  acres  for 
each  hundred  acres  he  had  taken  up.  2 

In  1681,  when  the  West  Jersey  Commissioners  met  to  divide 
lands  in  Burlington,  N.J.,  they  spent  time  carefully  mapping  out  a 
system  that  might  avoid  such  disputes.    They  decided  to  divide  the 
land  in  tenths,  giving  each  tenth  a  proportionate  amount  of  frontage 
on  the  Delaware  River.     Other  rulings  limited  tracts  along  the  river 


^   Peter  Wacker.  Land  and  People.  New  Brunswick:  Rutgers  University  Press,  p.  303 
2  H.  Clay  Reed,  and  George  Miller,  Eds.  The  Burlington  Court  Book:  A  Record  of  Quaker 
Jurisprudence  in  West  New  Jersey  1680-1709.  Washington:  The  American  Historical 
Association.   1944  pp.  3,   17. 

22 


to  40  perches  (660  feet)  of  shoreline  per  one  hundred  acres, 3  and 
forbade  any  one  person  from    taking  up  land  on  both  sides  of  a  creek 
in  the  same  settlement. 

Cattle  in  the  Marsh 

Salt  marsh  was  essential  pasture  land  for  settlers  beginning 
in  the  seventeenth  cetury  because  It  freed  them  from  the  labor  of 
growing  hay  to  feed  their  stock.    This  was  a  huge  advantage, 
especially  in  the  first  few  years  after  arrival.     In  1789,  Jedidlah 
Morse^  observed  that  N.J.  sea  coast  inhabitants,  "subsistfed] 
principally  by  feeding  cattle  on  the  salt  meadows,  and  by  [eating] 
fish  of  various  kinds."       This  practice  --  avoiding  the  work  of 
growing  hay  continued  to  appeal  to  South  Jerseyans  well  into  the 
19th  century.     Thomas  Gordon,  in  his  1834  Gazetteer,  wrote: 

"Adjacent  to  the  Delaware  bay  .  .  .  tracts  of  salt  meadow,.  .  . 
afford  an  abundance  of  coarse  hay  free  ...  to  all  who  seek  it.  .  .  . 
herds  of  cattle  subsist,  through  the  winter,  upon  these  meadows. 


The  beaches  of  Gloucester,  Cape  May  and  Burlington  Counties 
were  considered  common  pasture  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.     South  Jersey  farmers  ear-marked  their  cattle  and  loaded 
them  onto     flat  bottomed  scows  for  the  annual  summer  trip  to  the 
beaches  and  sea  islands.  There  the  cattle  roamed  free  among  large 
herds  of  wild  cattle  until  the  Fall,  when  their  owners  returned  to 
round  them  up.s 

The  first  record  of  a  South  Jersey  farmer  letting  his  cattle 
loose  on  the  beach  is  from  1696,  when  Joseph  Ludlam  stocked  the 
beach  at  Sea  Isle  City  with  his  cattle,  after  branding  each  with  an 


^  Wacker,  op.cit..  p.  292. 

^  Jedidiah  Morse,  American  Universal  Geography,  1789. 

^  Weiss  and  Weiss.  Early  Industries,  p  50  and  Francis  Bazley  Lee.  NJ  as  a  colony  and  a  state. 

New    York:       Volume    1,    pp.    279-288. 

23 


EL.     Descendants  of  these  herds  survived  on  Ludlum's  Beach  until 
1875.6 

Another  record  is  from  Cape  May  in  1761,  in  Aaron  Learning 
M's^  diary  ^  entry  for  November  6.     He  describes  the  cattle  burning, 
or  branding  that  he  had  done  "on  Five-mile  Beach,  Nummy  Island  and 
on  Seven-mile  Beach"  that  day. 

Other  records  of  cattle  branding  can  be  found  in  the  first  tax 
lists  of  Gloucester  County  (1687).     The  Hopman  family  of  Raccoon 
Creek  (now  Swedesboro),    ancestors  of  the  Hopman/Hoffmans  of 
Maurice  River  were  some  of  the  men  whose  cattle  ear  brands  were 
recorded.    Four  Hopman  ear  brands  were  listed  -  one  for  Hans 
Hopman  and  one  for  each  of  his  three  sons  Frederick^,  Andrew,  and 
John. 

Branding  was  necessary  because  of  cattle  poaching  on  the 
beaches.    Some  cattle  were  shot  and  carted  off.  Others  were  stolen. 
Colonel   Johnson's^o  history  discusses  cattle  stealing  in  early  Salem 
County,  where  rangers  were  appointed  to  make  sure  that  no  one 
branded  cattle  unless  a  justice  of  the  peace,  constable  or  chief 
ranger  were  present,  under  the  penalty  of  a  20  pound  fine. 

Salt  Hav  Harvesting 

Farmers  not  only  relied  on  the  marsh  in  the  summer  months, 
however,  they  also  harvested  salt  hay  for  winter  feed.    They  began 
cutting  hay  in  the  summer,  and  continued  until  after  well  after  the 
first  frost.     In  the  summer,  they  cut  the  hay  by  hand,  using  scythes. 
They  piled  it  up  on  wooden  straddles  and  left  it  in  the  marsh  until 


6  Weygandt.  Down  Jersey.  p.302,  quoting  Lewis  Townsend  Stevens,  The  History  of  Caoe  May 
County.   1897. 

^  Learning  was  the  owner  of  the  mill  tract  on  the  Menantico  and  of  the  Clunn  property  (adjacent 

to  Burcham's.  owned  by  Burcham's  grandmother's  family) 

"Aaron  Leaming  11  was  a  wealthy  resident  of  Cape  l\/1ay,  a  major  landholder,  surveyor  and  a 

legislator.  His  diary  and  survey  book  still  exist.  The  diary  has  been  re-published  by  the  Cape 

May  Historical  Society.  The  survey  book  is  kept  in  a  vault  at  the  Clerk's  office. 

^  Frederick  was  the  father  of  the  first  owner  of  the  Burcham  property  who  bought  800  acres 

on  the  east  side  of  the  Maurice  in  1737. 

10  Weygandt,  Down  Jersey  p.  300,  quoting.  Colonel  Johnson,  Historical  Account  of  the  First 

Settlement  of  Salem.  1839. 

24 


winter  when  their  horses  could  walk  on  the  frozen  marsh  safely,  and 
could  pull  the  straddles  up  to  the  fast  land. 

As  time  went  on  in  the  Delaware  region,  salt  haying  became  a 
commercial  industry  in  its  own  right,  with  technology  that  advanced 
to  large  mowing  machines.     At  first  the  mowers  were  pulled  by 
horses,  which  was  a  tricky  business  as  the  marsh  was  often  too 
soft,  and  the  horses  got  mired.     Other  problems  were  the  muskrat 
holes,  in  which  horses  could  easily  break  a  leg,  and  the  mosquitoes 
and  greenhead  flies.     Salt  meadows  were  sometimes  ditched  and 
drained  though,  a  process  that  made  mowing  much  easier  on  the 
horses.    Oxen  were  also  used  on  the  marsh. 

By  1940,  tractors  and  hay  balers  were  in  common  use  by 
commercial  salt  hay  farmers.     Optimal  conditions  for  successful 
salt  hay  farmers,  are  high  marsh  with  a  dry  surface  and  wet  soil. 
Farmers  allow  water  in  to  every  portion  of  their  meadow  at  high 
tide,  then  quickly  remove  the  surface  water  with  a  series  of  well- 
planned  ditches. 


25 


5a\V  H^N/ 


2«2. 


Chapter  II.  Section  II  --  Technology  of  the  Salt  marsh 

After  the  initial  settlement  period  was  over,   South  Jersey 
pioneers  turned  to  more  technical  ways  of  exploiting  the  marsh. 
There  are  different  opinions  about  where  the  techniques  originated, 
and  when  and  where  they  were  used,  but  it  is  generally  agreed  that 
dyking,  draining  and  plumbing  the  marsh  had  become  second  nature  to 
the  inhabitants  by  1740. 

Location  and  description 

South  Jersey  tide  marsh  extends  along  the  tidal  waters  of  the 
state,  including  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  Delaware  Bay  shore,  and  the 
Maurice,  Cohansey  and  Delaware  rivers.      Between  Trenton  and  Cape 
May,  there  are  79,000  acres  of  salt  marsh,  all  of  which  is  found 
south  of  Salem  Creek.  i     About  51,000  acres  of  Cumberland  County  is 
salt  marsh,  8,000  acres  of  which  are  found  in  Millville  and  Maurice 
River. 

South  Jersey  marshland  is  land  that  can  best  be  compared  to  a 
sponge.    Composed  of  a  porous  tangle  of  roots  and  vegetable  matter, 
it  is  a  material  that  takes  up  water  easily  and  holds  it,  drying 
slowly  by  evaporation.     Like  a  sponge,  it  also  lets  go  of  its  water 
quickly  when  given  the  chance. 

Salt  marsh  consists  of  a  12-to-18  inch  upper  layer  of  roots 
and  vegetable  matter,  covered  with  grass  and  sod.    Under  the  sod  is 
soft  mud,  ranging  from  six  inches  to  thirty  feet  in  depth.  It  is 
underlain  by  firm  gravely  or  sandy  soil.  The  upper  surface  of  the 
marsh  is  close  to  the  high  water  level.2 

Types  of  Salt  marsh:  Low,  Middle  and  High  Marsh 

Technically,  there  are  three  types  of  salt  marsh,     but  only  high 
marsh,  the  third  and  final  stage  in  the  development  of  marshland,  is 
agriculturally  useful.     It  is  this  type  that  was  reclaimed,  and  this 
type  that  produces  grasses  appropriate  for  livestock  feed.     The  other 


^  Weiss  and  Weiss,  Some  Early  Industries  in  New  Jersey,  p.  47 
2  George  Cook,  op.cit..  1868  p  23. 

27 


two  types  of  salt  marsh  are  earlier  stages  in  the  development 
process.    They  too  produce  grasses,  but  the  grasses  they  produce  are 
agriculturally    worthless. 

The  development  of  salt  marsh 

Low  marsh,  the  first  stage  of  marshland,  exists  on  the  coastal 
edge,  only  inches  above  sea  level.    Regularly  inundated  by  the  tide, 
low  marsh  is  a  place  where  only  sedge  grasses  can  survive.    The 
sedges  grow  there  at  low  tide,  then  die  and  slowly  rot.    As  they  die, 
they  leave  their  deep,  thick  roots  behind  them.    The  roots  trap  and 
hold  mud  and  other  organic  matter  in  them,  causing  the  surface  of 
the  marsh  to  rise,  and  creating  middle  marsh,  the  second  type  of 
marshland. 

Middle  marsh,  the  second  stage  of  marshland,  develops  closer 
inland.     Its  surface  is  slightly  above  the  high  water  level,  so  it  is 
not  inundated  by  the  daily  tide.     It  is,  however,  frequently  wetted. 
Coarse  grasses  like  joint  grass  and  3  square  grass  (Scirpus 
Amerlcanus)  grow  on  its  muddy  root  mass.     It  has  a  surface  of 
slippery  mud  and  a  resident  population  of  fiddler  crabs.  A  layer  of 
peat  begins  to  form  on  top  of  the  marsh  in  this  period. 

The  third  type  of  marsh  --  high  marsh  --  is  found  closest  to 
the  upland,    well  above  the  level  of  high  tide.     It  is  covered  with 
vegetation,  and  is  rarely  inundated  by  water.     Tidewater  covers 
these  marshes  only  during  spring  and  fall  high  tides,  or     storm  tides. 

High  marsh  is  the  kind  of  marsh  that  develops  along  the 
Maurice  and  Cohansey  rivers,  along  Buckshutem,  Menantico  and 
Manumuskin  Creeks.    Along  the  waterways,    sharply  defined  banks 
develop,  banks  which  are  higher  at  the  water's  edge  and  lower 
toward  the  land.    These  riverbanks  create  a  kind  of  natural  basin 
that  holds  water  until  it  evaporates.     It  is  in  this  damp,  swampy 
basin  that  vegetation  rots  and  mosquitoes  breed. 

Other  features  of  the  third  kind  of  salt  marsh  are  a  layer  of 
peat3     and  Spartina  Patens,  or  "salt  grass."     Livestock  will  eat  this 


'^  Peat  is  a  compound  formed  from  the  slow  decay  of  water-saturated  plants  in  a  cool 
environment.    In  N.J.,  it  forms  in  low  swampy  places,  or  in  bays  and  inlets  thiat  are  constantly 
overflowed  by  the  tides. 

28 


grass,  but  not  happily.     Historically,  it  was  used  for  animal  bedding, 
as  packing  material  for  the  glass  industry,  for  insulation  in 
icehouses  and  to  ship  perishables  in  railroad  cars.    Today,  salt  hay  is 
used  for  mulch,  covering  seeds  that  can't  germinate  in  the  upland 
region.     Salt  hay  provides  a  saline  environment,  as  salt  remains  in 
the  grass. 

As  the  level  of  high  marsh  continues  to  rise,  "black  grass"  or 
Juncus  Gerardi  begins  to  grow.     This  is  the  salt  grass  that  was 
prized  by  early  settlers  and  their  livestock,  and  this  grass  sold  for  a 
price  significantly  higher  than  the  less  tasty  salt  grass. 

If  the  surface  level  of  the  marsh  rises  too  high  --  that  is, 
above  the  level  that  water  can  reach  it  --  it  will  die.     This  is 
because  circulating  water  is  essential  to  healthy  salt  meadow. 
Stagnant  water  causes  the  marsh  to  rot,  and  dry  meadow  produces 
hay  that  is  thin,  wiry  and  short. 

In  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries,  the  terms  "cripple" 
and  "spong"  were  used  to  refer  to  different  types  of  marshland. 

A  cripple  is  a  dense  thicket  of  swampy  or  low-lying  ground, 
usually  at  the  head  of  an  unlumbered  swamp  of  white  cedar.     In  the 
nineteenth  century,  at  the  height  of  the  Pinelands  lumbering 
industry,  cripples  were  associated  with  the  many  lumberers  who 
were  jammed  together  living  there.  In  one  cripple,  there  were  so 
many  children  living  there,  that  they  tried  to  establish  a  school.'^    By 
1914,  the  cripple  populations  were  gone,  though,  as  the  cedar  had 
been  clear  cut. 

John  Krider,  a  hunter  and  gunshop  owner  in  early  19th-century 
Philadelphia  who  gave  frequent  neighborhood  talks,  gave  a  chilling 
description  of  cripple  for  those  who  hadn't  experienced  it:  "Every 
step  in  the  dark,  black  cover  is  deep  black  mire,"  he  said,  "strewn 
with  decaying  driftwood  and  overgrown  with  stunted  trees,  reeds 
and  thick  alder  bushes. "^ 


^  Weygandt,  op.  cit..  p.  50. 

^  Krider's  Sporting  Anecdotes,  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1853  (edited  by  H.  Milnor  Klapp, 

based  on  a  talk  given  by  John  Krider,  proprietor  of  a  gunshop  on  the  northeast  corner  of  2nd 

and  Walnut  Streets).  Krider  described  cripple  in  his  account  of  woodcock  hunting  near 

Moorestown: 

29 


A  cripple  differs  from  a  spong  in  that  water  always  flows  in  a 
cripple.     In  a  spong  the  water  only  flows  after  it  rains,  so  it  is 
usually  only  dannp,  not  wet.     It  is  usually  a  long  and  narrow  strip  of 
swampy  land  with  water  seeping  slowly  through  it. 


Dyking  the  Salt  marsh:  What  is  dvkina? 

Dyking  is  the  exclusion  of  high  tidal  water  from  marshland  by 
means  of  dams,  and  the  subsequent  admission  of  water  at  low  tide. 
Its  purpose  is  to  create  farmland  rich  with  vegetable  mold.     Marsh 
converts  to  arable  soil  at  the  ratio  of  6:1,  that  is,  for  every  six 
inches  of  turf,  one  inch  of  vegetable  mold  is  created  (after  plowing). 
Dyking  causes  the  "fat"  or  water-bloated  marsh  to  shrink.     Its  salt 
grasses  disappear,  and  it  begins  to  resemble  upland. 

On  the  Burcham  farm,  salt  hay  no  longer  grows.  There,  the 
dyked  marsh  behaves  like  upland  or  fresh  water  swamp,    growing 
sweet  hay,  corn  and  strawberries  without  much  addition  to  the  soil. 
The  river  water  there  is  more  brackish  than  it  was  in  the  days  of 
universal  diking.     As  the  dikes  washed  out,  the  water  returned  to  its 
natural    saltiness. 

On  the  outer  edges  of  the  Burcham  farm,    phragmites  abounds. 
This  is  not  a  natural  marsh  grass,  but  one  that  humans  introduced  to 
the  marsh  long  ago.  It  takes  over  on  land  where  earth  has  been 
disturbed,  and  chokes  out  the  salt  hay. 

How  do  dykes  work? 

A  dyke  is  a  mud  bank  that  is  built  between  the  river  and  the 
salt  marsh.    To  build  one,  farmers  dig  a  deep  ditch  on  the  salt  marsh 
side  of  the  bank.    This  lowers  the  water  table  in  the  marsh  by  at 
least  18  inches.     At  low  tide,  this  large  ditch  receives  water  from  a 
series  of  smaller  ditches  that  feed  into  it  and  fills  with  water.     The 
vacuum  created  by  the  draining  tidal  water  opens  a  small  drain  built 
in  the  bank  --  the  sluice  gate.    When  the  tide  rises  again,  the 
pressure  of  the  rising  tide  closes  the  damper,  and  holds  it  shut  until 
low  tide  comes  again.     In  this  way,  the  property  is  not  overflowed, 
and  it  is  well-drained,  although  still  well-watered  by  the  river.     The 

30 


banks  require  weekly  drain-clearing  and  rebuilding  to  function 
properly. 

Building  a  Dvke 

Before  the  nineteenth  century,  dykes  were  built  by  hand  with 
shovels;  later  they  were  built  by  barge  with  cranes  and  large  scoops. 
Always,  they  were  built  in  the  shape  of  a  flattened  pyramid:  each 
side  sloping  down  to  the  river  at  a  50-degree  angle. 

The  base  of  the  bank  was  built  of  stone,  and  was  usually  about 
18  feet  wide,  designed  to  be  six  times  the  width  of  the  top.    The 
walls  were  originally  made  of  mud  and  were  reinforced  with  many 
different  materials  over  the  years,   including  oyster  shells,  timber 
and  masonry.    Grass  was  placed  on  the  top  of  the  bank  for  stability, 
the  width  there  measuring  about  3  feet.     Generally,  dikes  were  six  or 
eight  feet  tall,  about  three  feet  over  the  level  of  ordinary  high  tide. 

Bank  building  was  done  between  low  and  high  tides,  and  never 
during  the  spring,     as  the  tides  were  too  high. 

Dyking  Tools 

Two  tools  used  to  by  early  bank  builders  were  the  mud  skiver 
and  the  heart  shovel.^  Both  were  designed  to  make  it  easier  to  cut 
through  the  mud  of  the  marsh. 

The  mud  skiver  was  a  narrow  instrument  of  about  four  feet  in 
length.    It  resembled  a  spade  and  a  canoe  paddle,  and  was  typically 
made  of  ash,  maple  or  sassafras.     It  had  a  thin,  15-inch  blade  that 
was  about  5  inches  wide,  slightly  concave  at  the  front  and  tipped 
with  2  or  3  inches  of  steel  which  were  kept  very  sharp.     It  had  a  5- 
inch  crossbar  handle  that  was  mortised  to  the  shaft. 

The  skiver  was  used  to  cut  strips  of  mud.    Turning  the  skiver 
around  the  sides  of  a  hole  in  the  marsh  produced  a  strip  of  mud  about 
18  inches  long.  This  was  then  thrown  about  15  feet  to  the  top  of  the 
bank.  The  many  strips  of  mud  together  constituted  the  bank. 

The  heart  shovel  was  a  similar  instrument,  but  it  was 
constructed  entirely  of  steel  and  was  used  for  the  toughest  most 

6  Sim,  Robert  J.,  Pages  from  the  Past  of  Rural  New  Jersey.  Trenton.  N.J.  :  N.  J.  Agricultural 
Society,   1949,  p.  94. 

31 


tangled  marsh.     Its  blade  was  pointed  and  frequently  sharpened  to 
make  it  able  to  cut  through  the  tangled  roots  of  the  marsh. 

Marsh  Cedar:  Mining  and  Shingle  Cutting 

White  Cedar  stands  in  the  South  Jersey  marshlands  were  the 
basis  of  a  major  industry  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  century-- 
the  shingle  production  industry.     There  was  an  insatiable  demand  for 
cedar  shingles  for  roofing  and  siding  houses  at  that  time. 

White  cedar  grows  in  swamps  located  between  50  and  100 
miles  from  the  coast.     Typically,  cedar  stands  are  less  than  1,000 
feet  wide,  and  grow  in  peat  streams  underlain  with  sand.     It  takes  at 
least  60  years  for  a  cedar  tree  to  grow  to  50  feet,  and  80  years  to 
grow  to  60  feet.    Only  red  maple,  black  gum  and  sweetbay  can  sprout 
beneath  them.     With  the  extirpation  of  the  white  cedar  stands  of 
South  Jersey,  shingle  cutters  began  retrieving  cedar  from  the  marsh. 

Cedar  miners  began  by  probing  the  marsh  with  a  progue  --  a 
straight  iron  six  to  eight  feet  long,  which  was  sharp  at  one  end  and 
looped  at  the  other  --  to  find  a  sound  piece  of  timber.     After  locating 
a  log,  they  used  a  sharp-edged  spade  to  cut  through  the  tangle  of 
roots  and  saw  off  a  sample  of  the  log  to  smell.  (See  illustration,  p. 
34.)     Smelling  the  sample  enabled  the  miners  to  determine  whether 
the  log  was  desirable  --  they  were  only  interested  in  logs  that  had 
been  felled  by  the  wind.    These  trees  smelled  sweeter  than  logs  that 
had  been  broken. ^ 

Miners  cut  good  logs  out  of  the  swamp,  then  loosened  them 
from  the  mass  with  levers,  and  floated  them  up  to  the  surface.    The 
logs  were  cut  and  split  right  in  the  marsh,  as  the  coarse-grained 
wood  split  straight.     Shingles  were  cut  in  18-  or  35-  inch  blocks, 
then  split  into  smaller  units  called  bolts  with  tools  called  a  froe 
and  a  froe  club.    Each  bolt  was  split  into  4  shingles,  then  dried  in  the 
sun  and  shaved.    The  thick  butt  ends  of  the  shingles  were  trimmed  to 
a  beveled  edge  on  a  something  known  as  a  shingle  butter.    Shingles 


^Weiss  and  Weiss.  Some  Early  Industries  in  New  Jersey,  p  14,  and  Robert  C  Alexander,  "The 
Shingle  Miners"  Cape  May  County  Magazine  of  History  and  Genealogy.  June  1957,  pp.  99-104. 

32 


were  eighteen  inches  long,  six  inches  wide  and  a  half  inch  thick  at 
the  butt  end.  tapering  to  a  sharp  edge. 

When  cedar  mining  was  not  too  difficult,  the  owner  of  the 
swamp  would  get  one  quarter  of  the  profits  as  his  share,  otherwise 
only  one  eighth.    In  1875,  at  the  peak  of  the  demand,  shingles  sold 
for  $16  per  thousand.    An  expert  miner  cut  that  many  every  week. 

By  1890,  cedar  logs  were  increasingly  difficult  to  find  in  the 
swamps,  and  less  sought  after,  as  fire  insurance  companies  began 
insisting  on  the  use  of  man-made,  fireproof  shingles.  The  cedar 
mining  industry  went  into  permanent  decline. ^ 


Ibid. 

33 


At  left:  ^\/Ld  ski/err, 
^\glif:  Heoit"  5tiP^c| 


^4- 


Chapter  II.  Section  III  --  The  History  of  Dyking 

In  1685,  English  surveyor  Thomas  Budd  noted  that  the 
Delaware  riyer  yalley  was  full  of  "big,  fat  marsh  land"  that  could  be 
banked  to  create  meadows  "as  rich  as  the  Thames  River. "1 

As  he  wrote,  settlers  on  both  sides  of  the  river  were  doing 
just  that--  dyking  lands  to  grow  corn  and  hay  on  reclaimed  meadow, 
and  grazing  their  milk  cows  on  the  new  pasture.    Cedar  and  sumach, 
sheep  laurel  and  spoonwood  dominated  the  woods  near  the  marshes, 
and  there  was  little  for  cows  to  feed  on. 

Diking  land  came  naturally  to  the  early  residents  of  the  area, 
many  of  whom  were  from  Holland  or  England,  where  there  were  long 
traditions  of  dyking.     Dutch  farmers  had  been  reclaiming  lands  in 
Holland  since  before  the  year  1000  in  a  collective  system  organized 
by  the  abbeys. 2    The  British  were  draining  the  Fens  in  1650. 

Early  dyking  was  done  on  a  small-scale,  cooperative  basis. 3 
Two  or  three  neighbors  joined  together  to  bank  a  few  hundred  acres 
at  a  time.    Together,  they  shoveled  mud  and  hauled  stones  along  joint 
property  lines  as  part  of  a  voluntary  community  activity.     Conflicts 
were  few.     With  the  growth  of  the  region,  though,  land  reclamation 
began  to  be  done  on  a  large  scale,  in  the  English  tradition.    By  the 
turn  of  the  19th  century,  land  reclamation  was  big  business. 

Dyking  Laws 

In  1711,4  the  general  assembly  of  the  Royal  Colony  of  New 
Jersey  enacted  "An  Act  for  enabling  the  Owners  of  the  Meadows  and 
Marshes  adjoining  to  and  on  both  sides  the  creek  that  surrounds  the 


'  Weiss  and  Weiss,  Some  Early  Industries  in  N.J..  p.  47. 

2  David  Steven  Cohen.  Dutch  American  Farm  ,  NYC  and  London:  NYU  Press,  1992.  p  26.  Cohen 
quotes  Audrey  Lambert. 

3  David  Grettler,  The  Landscape  of  Reform:  Society.  Environment,  and  Agricultural  Reform  in 
Central   Delaware.  Ph.D.  dissertation  at  The  University  of  Delaware,  1990.     Grettler  wrote 
about  New  Castle  County,  Delaware. 

^     Laws  of  the  Royal  County  of  New  Jersey  1746-1760,  in     New  Jersey  Archives.  Third 
Series,  Volume  III  compiled  by  Bernard  Bush,  Trenton,  NJ:  NJ  State  Library  Bureau  of 
Archives  and  History. 

35 


island  of  Burlington  to  stop  out  the  tide  from  overflowing  them." 
The  act  was  amended  in  1717  and  1751. 

The  1751  amendment  gave  marsh  owners  the  right  to  enter 
their  neighbor's  property,  to  clear  drains  and  repair  neglected  banks, 
to  use  mud  from  the  neighbor's  property,  and  then,  after  they  had 
finished,  to  bring  action  against  him  for  the  expenses  incurred. 

This  strong  amendment  coincided  with  a  1751   boom  in  the  cost 
of  marshland.     Israel  Acrelius,  the  Swedish  historian,  discussed  the 
intense  diking  that  was  taking  place  at  the  time,  when  thousands  of 
acres  were  reclaimed  along  the  Delaware  and  its  tributaries.  The 
height  of  the  boom  in  marshland  prices  came  in  1751,  when  the  price 
of  marshland  rose  to  $600  an  acre. 

The  price  plummeted  a  few  years  later  when  a  terrible  storm 
wracked  the  Delaware,  then  skyrocketed  again  in  1755,  when  "came 
a  great  drought;  no  grass  nor  pasture  was  to  be  found,  and  .  .  .  the 
price  .  .  .  rose  again. "s 

Corporate   Dyking 

In  1788,  the  state  of  New  Jersey  passed  a  law  allowing  marsh 
owners  to  form  themselves  into  "meadow  companies,"  or 
corporations  to  bank  and  drain  their  lands. ^     In  1806,  these  meadow 
companies  were  given  more  power,  authorized  to  sell  the  property  of 
any  neighbor  who  neglected  his  dikes  and  ditches  and  would  not  or 
could  not  repay  his  debt  within  5  days. 

These  laws  were  a  response  to  the  high  cost  and  large  scale  of 
diking  that  was  being  proposed.    The  state  considered  swamp 
drainage  in  the  public  interest,  and  passed  meadow  company 
legislation  as  way  of  accomplishing   it  without  having  to  oversee  it 
themselves.     In  addition  it  gave  them  a  way  to  tax  those  who 
benefited  most  from  the  banks  --  the  owners  or  renters  of  river 
lands. 


^    Israel  Acrelius,  Description  of  the  Former  and  Present  Condition  of  the  Swedish  Churches  in 
what  was  called  New  Sweden.  Stockholm:  Harberg  and  Hasselberg,  1759,  p.  154. 
reprinted  in  Memoirs  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania.  Volume  XI  published  by  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,   1874,  p.   154. 
^     Gushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p.331-332. 

36 


In  some  cases,  land  speculators  were  behind  the  new  push  for 
diking  laws;  in  others,  it  was  local  people  eager  to  lower  the  costs 
of  diking.     In  general,  advocates  were  wealthy  landholders  for  whom 
the  marsh  companies  meant  lower  costs  and  higher  profits/ 

Salem  County 

Extensive  dyking  was  done  in  Salem  County  by  the  middle  of 
the  eighteenth  century,   but  according  to  historical  tradition,  the 
practice  began  in  the  region  at  the  end  of  the  "sixteenth"  (meaning 
17th)  century. 8    According  to  Cushing  and  Sheppard,  legend  has  it 
that  banks  were  built  on  Salem  river  in  the1600's,  and  cultivated  to 
rice. 

The  dykes  of  Salem  County  were  considered  very  advanced  in 
1780,  when  they  were  singled  out  for  praise  by  John  Bartram,  the 
celebrated  botanist  of  Pennsylvania.     Bartram  lived  on  a  farmstead 
that  had  been  formerly  owned  by  a  Swede,  and  he  was  extolling  the 
advantages  of  diking  the  Schuylkill  to  his  visitor,  St.  John  de 
Crevecoeur.    Crevecoeur  had  asked,  ".  .  .  to  what  purpose  is  so  much 
expense  and  so  much  labour  bestowed?"  Bartram  responded,  "no 
branch  of  industry  was  ever  more  profitable.  .  .  .  the  Schuylkill.  .  . 
[was]  once  ...  a  putrid  swampy  soil,  useless  either  for  the  plough  or 
for  the  scythe."     But  now,  the  Schuylkill  was  dyked,  and  Bartram  was 
an  enthusiastic  member  of  a  meadow  company:  ".  .  .  we  yearly  pay  to 
the  treasurer  of  the  company    a  certain  sum.  .  .  ."  he  said,  "[and]  many 
acres  of  meadows  have  been  rescued  from  the  Schuylkill.  .  .  ."] 

Bartram  said  exceptional  banking  could  be  seen  in  South 
Jersey.    "Our  brethren  in  Salem.  .  .  have  carried  the  art  of  banking  to 
a  still  higher  degree  of  perfection,"  he  said.^ 

So,  while  it  is  clear  that  meadow  companies  were  operating  in 
New  Jersey  informally  in  the  early  seventeenth  century,  the  1788 
law  meant  that  meadow  companies  began  to  be  registered.     The  first 


^      David  Grettler,  op.  cit.  p. 

8     Cushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p.  331.  Cushing  and  Sheppard  seem  to  mean  the  1600's  when 

they  refer  to  the  16th  century,  the  1700's  when  they  refer  to  the  17th  century 

^     Hector  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur  Letters  from  an  American  Farmer.  London:  J.M.  Dent  and 

Sons,  1926.  p.  182. 

37 


company  registered  in  Salem  County  formed  in  1794.     The  1806 
amendment  brought  more  registration  and  incorporation  of 
companies,  but  most  were  not  newly  formed  groups.     They  were 
groups  that  had  clearly  been  operating  for  some  time,  as  their  banks 
had  already  been  built.    The  passage  of  meadow  company  laws  was 
more  a  response  to  the  problems  of  joint  projects  and  the 
proliferation  of  dyking  than  it  was  an  establishment  of  a  new 
practice. 

Meadow  Company  Oraanization^o 

Meadow  companies  were  created  when  two-thirds  of  the 
residents  of  a  stretch  of  river  petitioned  the  state.     Permission 
granted,  all  those  living  along  the  marsh  were  required  to  join  the 
effort  --  tenants  as  well  as  owners     --     regardless  of  whether  they 
wanted  their  land  diked  and  regardless  of  the  cost. 

The  law  required  residents  to  meet  soon  after  the  corporation 
was  established,  with  a  quorum  of  two-thirds  of  the  residents 
required  for  it  to  be  legal.     At  their  first  meeting,  they  were  to 
establish  an  official   meeting  time  and  place  for  their  meetings,  and 
to  name  officers.     The  companies  were  far  from  democratic 
organizations,  however,  as  votes  were  allocated  on  the  basis  of  land 
ownership.     The  wealthier  landowners  who  had  many  more  votes  to 
cast  than  the  poorer  ones,  easily  dominated  the  decision  making  and 
leadership. 

Responsibilities    of    Officers 

As  a  meadow  company  began  operations,  the  first  task  of  its 
officers  was  to  assess  the  meadows  of  each  member,  and  to  assign  a 
proportion  of  the  costs  of  maintenance  to  each.     Afterward,  it  was 
their  job  to  monitor  the  banks,  to  hire  workers  to  perform  repairs, 
to  send  out  bills,  and  settle  disputes.     They  also  brought  action 
against  their  neighbors  for  payment.     This  sometimes  involved 


'  ^  I  am  indebted  to  Stutz,  Sebold  and  Grettler,  as  well  as  records  of    New  Jersey  legislation 
and  meadow  companies  ledgers  and  records  for  this  characterization. 

38 


miniscule  transactions   between   meadow  owners,   often   involving  the 
re  assignment  of  only  a  few  acres  or  a  fraction  of  an  acre. 

The  Nineteenth  Century 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  entrepreneurs  were  beating  the  drum 
of  universal  dyking,  predicting  that  lowlands  worth  a  dollar  an  acre 
could  become  worth  $50,  and  that  "mosquitoes  and  putrefaction"'''' 
could  be  eliminated.     New  Jersey  legislators  agreed,     voting  to  levy 
this  limitless  tax  on  marsh  dwellers.     Unfortunately  for  their  poorer 
constituents,  who  were  just  marginally  able  to  hold  on  to  their  land, 
these  taxes  could  be  higher  than  the  cost  of  their  property,  and  for 
small-time  dykers  who  were  able  to  handle  their  own  properties, 
sharing  costs  increased  rather  than  decreased  their  expenses. 
Conflicts  were   unavoidable. 

Meadow  companies  must  be  seen  in  the  broader  context  of  the 
nineteenth  century  --  a  time  when  the  traditional  concept  of 
common  land  was  eroding.     This  changing  view  of  property  rights 
was  hardly  limited  to  dyking.     The  fence  laws  and  the  fishing  and 
hunting  restrictions  passed  at  that  time  were  also  a  part  of  this 
revolution.     The  new  view  of  property  went  against  English  and 
medieval  common  law  precedent  that  had  once  been  cherished  in  this 
new  land. 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  "swine  laws  were  passed  to  protect 
property  owners  from  the  half-starved  pigs  of  the  landless  poor",  as 
free-ranging  hogs  that  rooted  up  pasture  land,  were  "antithetical  to 
emerging   sensibilities  about  privilege,   property  and  authority. "^  2 
Ironically,  19th  century  Americans  were  enclosing  common  land  and 
disenfranchising  their  poor,  the  very  same  process  that  had  driven 
their  ancestors  from  their  homes  in  Europe  in  the  18th  century. 

In  1860,  land-reclamation  advocate  Henry  French  echoed  the 
sentiments  of  his  age  in  his  answer  to  those  who  thought  that  diking 
laws  were  unfair.     He  based  his  argument  on  the  unfairness  of  the 
fence  laws: 


''"'   Bruce  Stutz,  Natural  Lives.  Modern  Times.     New  York,  Crown  Publishers,  1992.  pp.  66-72, 
Stutz  quotes  David  Grettler's  research  in  Delaware  legislative  petitions. 
^2  Bernard  Herman  quoted  in  Stutz,  op.  cit..    pp.  66-72 

39 


"If  we  may  lawfully  compel  a  person  to  fence  to  exclude  the 
cattle  of  other  persons,  or,  if  he  neglect  to  fence,  subject  him 
to  their  depreciations,  without  indemnity,  as  is  done  in  many 
States;  or  if  we  may  compel  him  to  contribute  to  the  erection 
of  division  fences  ,  of  a  given  height,  though  he  has  no  animal 
in  the  world  to  be  shut  in  or  out  of  his  field,  there  would  seem 
to  be  equal  reason,  in  compelling  him  to  dig  half  a  division 
ditch  for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  his  neighbor. "13 

French's  argument  underscored  the  parallel  between  fence 
laws  and  dyking  laws,  as  both  were  based  on  the  English  common  law 
tradition.  Traditionally,     animals  had  been  allowed  to  graze  freely 
and  farmers  had  to  pay  to  fence  their  crops  if  they  did  not  want 
them  eaten  by  free-ranging  cattle  and  pigs. 

By  placing  the  responsibility  for  fencing  on  the  farmer,  the 
common   law  tradition  burdened  him  financially,  as  fencing  was 
expensive,  typically  costing  the  farmer's  one  month's  profits  per 
year.'"'*    Marshland,  like  other  open  pasture,  was  considered  common 
property  in  early  America.     As  the  nineteenth  century  unfolded, 
however,  property  owners  began  to  enclose  their  marshland  for 
private  use,  to  improve  it  and  to  demand  that  the  state  compel  their 
neighbors  to  do  the  same. 

The  enclosure  of  marshland  was  a  blow  to  those  who  had  no 
land,  as    the  enclosure  of  the  marshes  meant  the  loss  of  public 
domain  for  trapping,  hunting,  and  fishing,  as  well  as  the  loss  of 
pasture  land  to  fatten  their  cows  and  pigs.  (Horses  and  sheep  never 
grazed  on  the  marsh,  as  they  were  susceptible  to  hoof  rot). 

Fencing  and  dyking  laws  were  sometimes  related,  and 
ordinances  to  prevent  cattle  and  swine  from  grazing  on  the  marshes 
began  to  be  passed.    A  Delaware  ordinance  passed  at  the  end  of  the 
18th  century  stated,  "no  swine  shall  be  allowed  to  run  at  large 


"■3  Henry  F.  French,  Farm  Drainage.  New  York:  C.M.Saxton,  Barker  and  Co.,  1860,    p.  346. 
"■4  Clarence  H.  Danhof,  "The  Fencing  Problem  in  the  1850's"  Agricultural  History  18  (October 
1944)  pp.  168-86,  quoting  The  American  Farmer. 

40 


(unless  .  .  .  yoked,  to  prevent  them  from.  .  .  breaking  through  fences) 
on  any  of  the  unimproved  lands,  meadows  or  marshes."'' ^ 

In  other  parts  of  the  East,  fence  laws  were  also  changing. 
Farmers  were  no  longer  required  to  fence  animals  out  of  their  crops; 
instead,  livestock  owners  were  required  to  contain  them.     In  the 
West,  where  stockmen  outnumbered  farmers,  these  new  laws  were 
less   common. ■> 6     There,  pockets  of  the  "open  range"  tradition  still 
exist  today.     Generally,  these  pockets  exist  in  the  poorer,  more 
sparsely  settled  parts  of  the  United  States,  such  as  the  western 
rangelands  or  the  woods  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coastal  plains. 

Class  Conflict  over  Dvkingi^ 

In  nineteenth  century  Delaware,  as  in  New  Jersey,  the  effects 
of  the  enclosure  and  reclamation  laws  on  the  poor  were  severe,  and 
they  tended  to  oppose  meadow  company  legislation.     David  Grettler 
found  that  the  advocates  of  large-scale  marsh  improvement  in  New 
Castle  County  Delaware  were  more  than  twice  as  wealthy  as  their 
opponents,  likely  to  own  more  than  two  farms  of  the  most  valuable 
marshland,  and  less  likely  to  live  along  the  marsh  than  were  those 
who  opposed  the  legislation. 

Opponents  were  more  likely  to  live  on  a  fixed  income  -- 
widows  and  children  and  others.     Typically,  they  owned  only  one 
farm,  and  one-in-five  of  them  lived  on  probated  property.     The 
petitions  of  two  neighbors  --  Ann   Roberts  and  William  Frazer 
illustrate  the  point  of  view  of  small   property  owners 
disenfranchised  by  1824  meadow  company  legislation  in  Delaware: 

Ann  Roberts 

Ann  Roberts  complained  to  the  Delaware  legislature  in  1824, 
as  the  Morris  Branch  Marsh  company  began  banking  her  farm.    She 
was  a  widow  in  poor  health  with  two  children,  one  of  whom  was  also 
sick,  and  she  knew  that  what  was  left  of  her  dowry  would  not  cover 


^^  Ordinance  quoted  in  Bruce  Stutz,  Natural  Lives.  Modern  Times.  New  York:  Crown,  1992, 

pp.   66-72 

^^  J.B  Jackson  "A  New  Kind  of  Space"  in  Landscape.  Vol.  18,  no.1,  Autumn  1969  and 

"•^  Grettler,  op.  cit.,  p.   188. 

41 


the  taxes  for  this  improvement.     The  new  meadow  company's 
assessment,  she  wrote,  would  force  her  to  sell  her  farm. 

In  1827,  Roberts'  wrote  to  the  Delaware  legislature  a  second 
time.    She  complained  that  she  had  been  unable  even  to  rent  out  her 
farm  to  pay  the  meadow  company  taxes,  as  no  one  would  lease  a 
farm  that  came  with  such  high  marsh  improvement  taxes.  She  said 
she  had  paid  more  in  marsh  improvement  taxes  than  her  farm  was 
worth,  and  railed  against  the  legislature,  and  her  wealthy  neighbor 
Abraham  Pearce,  the  head  of  the  Morris  Branch  Marsh  Company, 
saying,  "If  Mr.  Pearce  wishes  to  have  a  bank,  set  him  to  bank  in  his 
own  marsh." 

Another  petition  explains  the  reaction  to  dyking  laws  from  a 
person  who  was  not  as  poor  as  Mrs.  Roberts,  but  was  nonetheless 
unhappy  with  the  new  Morris  Branch  Marsh  Company. 

William    Frazer 

In  1824,  Frazer  protested  that  taxes  levied  by  the  Morris 
Branch  Marsh  Company  would  prevent  him  from  being  able  to  afford 
to  maintain  land  he  had  already  improved.     Frazer  had  banked    200 
acres  of  land  at  his  own  expense,  but  would  be  required  nonetheless 
to  pay  marsh  taxes  to  "marsh"  other  people's  land.'is 


■■^  Ibid.,  p  189. 

42 


Chapter  II.  Section  IV  --  The  Burcham  area  Meadows 
Millville  Meadow  Banking  Company 

The  first  record  of  large-scale,   English-style  diking   in 
Millville  is  found  in  the  Cumberland  County  "Roads"  book.    This  1819 
meadow  company  charter  begins  by  referring  to  the  state's  1808 
diking  mandate,  then  announces  the  creation  of  the  Millville  Meadow 
Banking  Company,  which  began  operating  in  June  of  1819. 

In  greater  Cumberland  county,  some  very  large  dyking  projects 
were   enthusiastically  undertaken   immediately  after  the   1808   law 
was  passed.    In  1809,  for  example,  two  men  paid  a  great  deal  of 
money  to  embank  the  entire  east  side  of  the  Maurice  from  the  mouth 
up  the  river  for  15  miles,  enclosing  several  thousand  acres.  But 
dyking  was  always  an  expensive  gamble,  and  these  banks  were 
destroyed  by  the  "September  Gale"  of  1821. 

Another  example  of  large  scale  diking  was  undertaken  in  1808 
by  the  Maurice  River  Banking  Company. ^  They  banked  the  east  side  of 
the  Maurice,  beginning  one  mile  north  of  Dorchester  and  running  up 
the  river  to  Mauricetown,  comprising  176.5  acres  of  land.  They 

also  drained  a  second  tract  of  360  acres  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Maurice  in  Commercial  Township  in  1808. 

Heirs  of  Learning  Meadow  Company 

By  1826  the  Leaming  family  owned  many  acres  of  Millville 
marshland  near  the  Burcham  farm.     In  that  year,  they  formed  their 
own  meadow  company  to  guarantee  the  maintenance  of  this  stretch 
of  Maurice  river  meadows.  This  did  not  involve  new  banks,  as  the 
agreement  makes  clear  that  there  are  old  banks  on  the  property, 
banks  "originally  thrown  by  the  Langstaff's,  a  local  family  who  must 
have  been  leasing  the  land. 


^  George  M.  Warren,    Tidal  Marshes  and  their  Reclamation  Washington,  D.C.:  (prepared  under 
the  direction  of  C.  G.  Elliott,  Chief  of  Drainage  Investigations)    Government  Printing  Office, 
1911. 

43 


The  agreement  begins  by  citing  New  Jersey's  meadow  company 
law  of  1788  and  its  1806  supplement, 2  then  surveys  the  meadows 
covered  by  the  agreement  --    four  contiguous  farms  on  the  Maurice 
known  as  the  "Longstaff  places. "^ 

The  agreement  specifically  stated  that  any  piece  of  land 
within  these  bounds  that  was  sold,  would  be  sold  with  the  assurance 
that  all  the  owners  would  jointly  maintain  the  banks. 

Mid  Nineteenth-Century  Diking 

D.M.  Nesbit,  New  Jersey  state  geologist,  visited  the  banked 
meadows  of  Maurice  River  in  1860  for  the  state  report.     His  report 
was  favorable  :  Maurice  river  banks  had  been  producing  heavy  and 
regular  crops  without  manure  for  many  years,  even  during  the 
drought.     Farmers  were  rotating  crops,  beginning  by  planting  timothy 
for  five  or  six  years,  then  planting  corn.     Fertilizer  was  also  applied 
to  these  banks:  fifty  bushels  of  shell  lime  applied  to  the  sod  with 
each  plowing.  In  1860,  the  corn  crop  from  Millville  meadows  ranged 
from  50  to  100  bushels  per  acre  and  the  crops  of  hay  ranged  from  2 
to  3  tons.4 


2  Th9  agreement  is  found  in  the  papers  of  tlie  settlement  of  Parsons  Learning's  estate  and  in  tfie 
Miscellaneous  Book  at  Bridgeton. 

Tfiey  agreed  to  "appoint  a  manager  of  said  bank  or  banks  in  the  same  manner  as  directed 
in  the  second  section  of  a  supplement  to  an  act  entitled  "AN  ACT  TO  ENABLE  THE  OWNERS  OF 
TIDE  SWAIVIP  AND  IVIARSHES  TO  ItVIPROVE  THE  SAME"  PASSED  THE  29TH  DAY  OF  NOVEMBER 
A.D.  1788  SUPPLEMENT  PASSED  THE  27TH  DAY  OF  NOVEMBER  A.D.  1806  REVOLUTIONARY 
LAWS  P.  529 

The  duties,  fees  and  penalties  of  said  manager  shall  be  regulated  by  the  second  and  third  section 
of  the  aforementioned  supplement  and  the  expenses  attending  such  duties  shall  be  recoverable  in 
any  court  where  the  same  may  be  cognizable  with  costs  from  the  person  or  persons  whose  duty 
it  was  to  do  and  perform  such  repairs." 

3  The  farms  were  named  for  the  Langstaff  family  who  are  described  in  early  deeds  and  in  the 
1819  meadow  company  agreement  as  the  first  builders  of  the  banks  --  "old  banks  thrown  by 
the  Langstaffs,"  and  other  references.     Presumably,  the  Langstaffs  were  leasing  the  meadow 
from  Aaron  Leaming  at  the  time  they  were  building  banks  along  the  Maunce.    The  name  appears 
in  the  Cape  May  Quaker  meeting  records.  Birth  and  death  lists  from  1728-1841,  with  births 
listed  for  the  family  from  1736-1801.     It  also  appears  in  the  meeting  minutes  in  1771. 

In  1793,  four  Longstaff  men  and  their  families  were  living  in  Maurice  River.  The  men 
were  listed  on  the  List  of  Militia  and  Exempts  of  Maurice  River.  (This  list  is  repnnted  on  p.  28 
of  Vanaman).    They  were  Thomas.  James,  Samuel  and  Malichi  Longstaff. 

4  D.M.  Nesbit,  TIHb  Marshes  of  thn  I  Inited  States.    Washington,  D.G.:    Govemment  Printing 
Office,   1885,  p.   19. 

44 


Both  of  these  large  scale  projects  on  the  Maurice  were 
destroyed  by  storms  in  1879. 

Nesbit's  state  report  on  the  Maurice  river  meadows  in  1885 
was  less  positive.     The  meadows  still  covered  thousands  of  acres, 
but  many  were  lying  out.    The  banks  were  maintained  being 
maintained  by  hand,  amid  many  disagreements  among  the  owners 
about  repairs.     Owners  were  selling  exclusive  privileges  to  trap  and 
shoot  muskrats  on  their  meadows. 

Maurice  River  meadows  were  banked  again  in  1906,  and  corn, 
strawberries  and  potatoes  were  grown  there. ^    The  1909  state 
report  listed  meadow  prices  at  $70  per  acre.    The  meadows  produced 
136  bushels  of  corn  per  acre  that  year. 


^  In  1909,  those  owners  were  Howard  Compton,  Alfred  Lupton,  Richard  Camp,  Charles  T. 
Grassman.  George  T.  Blissard,  D.W.  Boggs,  and  Eliza  West. 

45 


^ 


Chapter  III,  Section  I  --     The  Swedish  History  of  the  Delaware 

The  Swedish  history  of  the  Burcham  farm  dates  to  1737,  when 
it  was  part  of  a  1 ,000-acre  family  compound  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Maurice   River. i     There,  the  Hopmans  raised  cattle,  cut  wood,  and 
joined  together  to  dyke  the  marshland. 

"Maurice  River"  was  a  large  and  loosely  defined  place  that 
refered  to  many  miles  of  marshland  along  the  Maurice  river  and  its 
small  creeks.     It  was  the  home  of  Swedes  who  felt  displaced  from 
their  homes  in  Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania  by  the  arrival  of  the  large 
numbers  of  Quaker  settlers.     They  had  began  slowly  drifting  down  to 
the  river  in  the  late  seventeenth  century  to  cut  lumber.     Gradually 
they  built  their  isolated  farmsteads   along  the  New  Jersey  rivers, 
and  began  to  feel  at  home  again,  recreating  the  pioneer  culture  that 
their  parents  and  grandparents  had  developed  on  the  shores  of  the 
Delaware. 

This  Section  begins  the  Swedish  history  of  the  Burcham 
property  by  describing  the  political  history  of  the  Swedes  on  the 
Delaware,  as  it  was  the  struggle  for  control  of  the  colony  that 
created  the  strange  deed  history  of  the  area  and  the  extra-legal 
land-use  pattern  found  in  Maurice  River.     This  political  history  is 
also  essential  to  understanding  the  Swedes  consistent  pattern  of 
moving  to  the  frontiers  of  the  region.     The  Swedes  were,  after  all. 
the  people  who  settled  the  region  and  lost  it. 

The  Fight  for  the  Delaware 

The  history  of  the  Delaware  valley  involves  the  struggle  of 
three  countries  --  England,  Holland  and  Sweden  -  for  the  profits  of 
the  river's  lucrative  Colonial  fur  and  lumber  trade. 

The  conflict  began  in  1609,  when  the  Dutch  first  claimed  the 
region  because  Henry  Hudson,  the  famous  English  sea  captain,  had 
sailed  up  the  Delaware  river  in  1609  in  a  Dutch  ship.    On  his  return 
trip,  however,  Hudson  stopped  off  in  his  native  England,  and  was 
detained  there.    The  British  hoped  to  keep  Hudson's  discoveries  to 


^Thal  is  800  acres  between  the  2  creeks  and  another  200  above  the  Menantico. 

47 


themselves,  sending  Hudson  back  across  the  ocean  to  do  some  more 
exploring.     When  Hudson's  Dutch  crew  and  their  ship  returned  to 
Holland  without  him,  and  reported  on  their  travels,  the  struggle  for 
the  Eastern  coastline  of  America  began. 

By  1623.  the  Dutch  had  established  a  lucrative  international 
trade  route  that  was  based  in  the  Dutch  colony  at  Manhattan,  or  New 
Amsterdam.    It  was  directed  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  a 
monopolistic  trade  organization  that  was  in  tight  control  of  the 
American  trade,  and  eager  to  include  the  lands  south  of  them  in  their 
market.    The  Governor  of  The  New  Netherlands,  Cornelius  Mey,  sailed 
up  the  Delaware  in  1623.    He  rounded  the  tip  of  New  Jersey,  named 
the  two  capes  for  himself  --  one  he  called  Cape  Mey,  the  other  Cape 
Cornelius  --  and  established  a  permanent  trading  post  at  the  mouth 
of  Timber  Creek  (Gloucester,  N.J.).     This  was  Fort  Nassau,  the  first 
military  outpost  in  the  region. 

Both  the  Dutch  and  the  English  tried  to  establish  colonies  on 
the  Delaware  soon  afterward,  but  both  failed.     The  first  Dutch 
attempt  was  made  in  1631,  when  the  Dutch  West  India  Compny 
founded  Swanendael  at  Lewes  Creek,  Delaware.    It  was  gone  by 
1633.     The  first  attempted  English  colony  in  the  region  was  at 
Pennsauken  Creek.     It  failed  in  1634. 

New  Sweden 

The  first  permanent  European  settlement  on  the  Delaware  was 
Swedish.     It  was  built  at  present  day  Wilmington,  Delaware  in  1638. 
The  colony  was  far  from  wholly  Swedish,  however.    It  had  been 
chartered  by  the  Swedish  King  in  conjunction  with  independent  Dutch 
merchants  who  were  trying  to  find  a  way  to  break  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company's  monopoly  on  the  American  fur  trade.    The  Dutch 
merchants  put  up  half  the  money  to  establish  a     Swedish  settlement 
on  the  Delaware;  the  Swedish  King  put  up  the  other  half. 

Minuit  and  his  Dutch  crew  guided  the  Swedish  settlers  to  a 
place  (now  Wilmington,  Delaware)  that  they  knew  to  be  an 
advantageous  spot  for  a  colony.     Wilmington  was  far  from  the 
control  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  at  Manhattan,  and  was 


48 


located  in  a  valley  with     a     promising  fur  trade  and  a  westward  route 
into  the  interior,  where  furs  were  even  more  abundant. 2 

Minuit  began  by  purchasing  land  from  the  Indians,  as  the 
Swedes  had  no  claim  to  the  area,  buying  two  strips  of  land  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Delaware.     He  erected  a  fort  at  Wilmington,  and 
named  it  for  Christina,  the  Swedish  Princess.     In  1638,  he  returned 
to  Europe,  leaving  only  25  Swedes  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware. 3 

In  1640,  a  second  boatload  of  settlers  was  sent  to  the  colony, 
commanded  by  Peter  Hollander  Ridder,  a  Dutch  man  who  was  serving 
in  the  Swedish  army.    Governor  Ridder  bought  more  land  from  the 
Indians,   including  the  territory  from  the  Schuykill  to  the  falls  at 
Trenton  and  the  land  from  Cape  Henlopen  to  Bomten's  point.    In  the 
Spring  of  1641,  he  bought  South  Jersey  --  including  all  the  land  from 
Raccoon  Creek  to  Cape  May."*     Dutch  investors  pulled  out  of  the 
money-losing  venture  in  1641,  and  the  colony  came  under  the  sole 
control  of  Swedish  government.     Governor  Ridder  stayed  on  until 
1643. 

English  Puritans  in  Salem 

In  1641,  English  settlers  made  a  second  attempt  at  settlement 
in  the  lower  Delaware,   landing  about  fifty   Puritan  families  from 
New  Haven    on  South  Jersey  soil,  at  Salem  Creek. 

Their  leader.  Captain  Nathaniel  Turner  bought  land  on  Salem 
Creek  from  the  Indians,  much  to  the  displeasure  of  the  Governor  of 
New  Sweden,  Colonel  Peter  Hollander  Ridder,  who  sailed  down  to 
Salem  to  protest  the  proposed  English  colony  on  Swedish  soil. 
Turner  ignored  his  protest,  and  the  English  Puritans  settled  in  Salem 
In   1642. 

Soon  after  they  arrived,  the  Dutch  demanded  that  the  Puritans 
swear  allegiance  to  Holland.    They  did  so.    Next,  the  Swedes  came 
across  the  river  to  demand  allegiance  to  the  Swedish  crown.    The 


2  John  A.  Munroe,  Colonial  History  on  the  Delaware,  p.  18. 

^  John  A.  Munroe.  History  of  Delaware,   Newark,   Delaware:University  of  Delaware  Press, 

1979   p. 21. 

^  The  English,  who  wanted  to  invalidate  the  sale,  made  a  point  of  buying  the  same  tract  from 

the  Indians  at  a  later  date. 

49 


English  swore  again.    Lord  Edmund  Plowden  of  England  was  the  next 
to  arrive,  armed  with  his  land  grant  from  King  Charles,  demanding 
that  the  Puritans  swear  allegiance  to  him.     They  did  so.^ 

Sometime  after  1643,  the  colony  was  destroyed  by  the  Dutch, 
probably  because  the  Puritans  were  cutting  in  on  the  fur  trade.    The 
Puritans  blockhouse  was  burnt  to  the  ground,  and  the  settlers  moved 
on.    Some  returned  to  New  Haven,  but  most  were  unaccounted  for,  and 
L.Q.  Elmer,  the  nineteenth  century  Cumberland  County  historian, 
believes  some  of  them  may  have  moved  down  to  the  Maurice. 

Soon  after  the  Dutch  had  driven  the  Puritans  from  Salem,  the 
Swedish  built  a  fort  on  the  site  of  their  settlement.     Fort  Elfsborg 
was  located  at  a  narrow  in  the  Delaware,  and  it  gave  the  Swedes 
control  over  the  ships  entering  the  river.     Johan  Printz,  the  new 
Governor  of  New  Sweden,  began  forcing  Dutch  ships  to  lower  their 
flags  at  Salem,  and  have  their  vessels  searched. 

The  Dutch  were  in  a  difficult  position  politically.     The  Swedish 
colony  was  a  large  thorn  in  their  side,  but  there  was  little  they 
could  do  about  it.    They  could  not  attack  the  Swedes,  as  the  two 
countries  were  military  allies.     Instead,  Stuyvesant  began  a 
campaign  to  provoke  the  Swedes  to  attack  him.    The  first  move  in  his 
game  was  to  reposition  the  Dutch  fort  on  the  river. 

Stuyvesant  abandoned  Fort  Nassau,  and  moved  his  stronghold 
to  New  Castle,  Delaware  in  1651,  cutting  off  Swedish  access  to  the 
ocean.    He  hoped  to  draw  the  Swedes  into  war,  but  Governor  Printz 
did  not  take  the  bait.    Printz  returned  to  Sweden  in  1653.    In  1654,  a 
new  Swedish  governor  was  sent  to  the  Delaware.  Governor  Johan 
Rising  arrived  on  the  Delaware  with  a  large  Swedish  fleet  and 
immediately  captured  the  small  Dutch  garrison  at  New  Castle. 

Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  Governor  of  New  Netherlands,  bided  his 
time  until  the  Swedish  warships  had  left,  then  made  his  move, 
swooping  down  from  Manhattan  to  take  all  of  New  Sweden  in  1655. 
The  Dutch  would  be  in  control  of  the  colony  for  the  next  ten  years. 


5  Joseph  S.  Sickler.  The  History  of  Salem  County.  N.J..  Salem:  Sunbeam  Publications,  1937,  p. 
8. 

50 


The  English 

In   England  at  this  time,  the  restoration  of  the  British 
monarchy  brought  a  new  focus  on  trade  and  colonization,  and  a 
heightened  desire  to  seize  Dutch  holdings  in  the  mid-Atlantic  region. 
The  English  crown  sent  four  warships  to  Manhattan  in  1664  to  seize 
the  Dutch  colonies.     This  gave  the  British  control  over  the  whole 
eastern  seaboard.    New  Amsterdam  was  renamed  New  York,  after 
Charles  H's  brother  and  heir,  the  Duke  of  York  (later  James  II),  to 
whom  Charles    granted  the  lands  between  the  Connecticut  and  the 
Delaware   rivers. 

A  new  set  of  laws,  known  as  the  Duke's  laws,    were 
immediately  imposed  on  this  large  territory  by  Governor  Nichols,  the 
new  governor  of  New  York,    it  would  be  ten  years  before  a  copy  of  the 
laws  reached  the  settlements  on  the  Delaware,  however. 
Nonetheless,  all  deeds  bought,  sold  or  given  during  the  earlier  Dutch 
and  Swedish  periods  were  immediately  in  dispute.     Needless  to  say, 
the  Dutch  and  Swedish  settlers  were  unhappy  with  this  turn  of 
events. 

The  Long  Finn  Rebellion 

By  1669,  rumors  of  a  plot  among  the  Swedes  and  Finns  had 
come  to  the  attention  of  the  English  leaders.      The  leader  of  the 
insurrection  was  Marcus  Jacobson,  who  was  known  as  the  "Long 
Finn."    He  was  arrested  and  tried  in  English  courts  in  New  York  for 
inciting  the  Swedes  to  revolt  against  their  English  rulers.     He  was 
whipped,  branded,  and  sold  into  servitude  in  the  West  Indies.    His 
supporters  were  fined. 

The  Dutch  rebellion  against  the  English  was  more  successful. 
In  1672,  they  re-conquered  the  Delaware  region,  then  lost  it  again  in 
1674,  as  part  of  the  peace  treaty  that  ended  the  Anglo-Dutch  wars  in 
Europe.    New  grants  were  executed.    The  Duke  of  York's  new  land 
grant,  like  the  old  one,  did  not  mention  lands  south  of  the  Delaware 
River. 


51 


New  Jersey 

The  Duke  of  York  granted  the  colony  of  Nova-Caesaria  or  New 
Jersey  to  his  friends,  John,  Lord  Berkeley,  and  Sir  George  Carteret  in 
1664.     The  men  hoped  to  make  large  profits  from  trading,  land  sales 
and  rents.     Before  1665,  they  had  begun  promoting  settlement 
aggressively,   promising  prospective  colonists  civil   and   religious 
freedom  and  120  acres  outright  to  every  man  who  emigrated  before 
January,  1665,  with  a  120  acre  bonus  for  each  able  man  servant  he 
brought  with  him,  and  60  acres  for  every  weaker  servant  or  slave. ^ 

Berkeley  and  Carteret's  grant  was  split  in  half  by  1676,  when 
the  many  proprietors  of  New  Jersey  came  together  to  form 
themselves  into  a  government.     Berkeley  was  assigned  the  lower  half 
of  the  territory,  which  was  called  West  Jersey  (South  Jersey), ^    and 
his  land  was  divided  into  100  shares, ^  and  put  up  for  sale.    It  sold  so 
quickly  that  a  Proprietary  Council  had  to  be  elected  within  two 
years  to  take  over  the  management  of  West  Jersey. 

Cumberland  and  Cape  May  Counties  came  under  the  control  of 
the  Proprietors  in  1688,  when  Daniel  Coxe  bought  them  from  the 
Indians.    His  lands  were  surveyed  in  1691. 

John  Fenwick 

In  1674,  before  the  division  of  Jersey,  two  English  Quakers  -- 
John  Fenwick  and  Edward  Byllynge  --  bought  Lord  Berkeley's  half  of 
N.  J.  ("West  Jersey").    One  year  later,    Fenwick  and  about  150  Friends 
from  England  crossed  the  ocean  to  settle  at  Salem,  N.  J.    There  they 
found  a  small  fishing  village  of  about  20  persons. 

After  intense  legal  wrangling  about  the  validity  of  Fenwick's 
deed,  Fenwick  was  awarded  1/10  of  West  Jersey  in  1677,  and 
William  Penn  and  two  others  were  made  trustees  of  the  other 


^  Rudolph  J.  Vecoli,  The  People  of  New  Jersey,  Princeton,  N.J.:  D.  Van  Nostrand  and  Co.,  1965, 
p.  6;    Samuel  Smith,  op,  cit..  p.  512. 

^  By  1674,  Berkeley  had  re-sold  his  half  to  English  Quakers  --  Fenwick  and  Byllynge. 
Byllynge,  who  was  bankrupt,    sold    9/10  of  West  Jersey  to  Wm.  Penn  and  his  associates, 
Fenwick  retained  the  other  tenth,    and  West  Jersay  came  under  the  control  of  Quakers. 
^  John  Fenwick,  the  Quaker  settler  of  Salem,  NJ,  and  one  of  the  men  who  bought  Ber1<eley's 
share  of  N.J.  in  1674,    owned  1/10  of  the  Prophetors  lands  after  1677.    The  other  9/10ths  of 
West  Jersey  were  under  the  control  of  William  Penn. 

52 


9/10ths  of  West  Jersey,  which  meant  that  Penn  was  now  in  charge 
of  most  of  the  Delaware  region. 

In  1681,  Charles  II  had  granted  a  large  tract  (the  state  of 
Pennsylvania)  to  William  Penn  in  repayment  of  a  debt  he  owed  Penn's 
deceased  father.     By  1682,  Penn  was  granted  another  large  tract  by 
the  Duke  of  York  --  present  day  Delaware.    With  these  two  grants, 
the  end  of  New  Sweden  on  the  Delaware  was  accomplished,  as  23 
boats  of  English  Quaker  settlers  followed  soon  after,  landing  on  the 
Delaware  In  1682.    William  Penn  began  a  campaign  of  trying  to  get 
marhlands  for  his  new  settlers.     This  would  mean  displacing  the 
Swedes,  who  had  early  settled  along  the  rivers. 


53 


Chapter  III.  Section  II  --  The  first  colonists  at  New  Sweden 

Between  1637  and  1655,  Sweden  sent  thirteen  expeditions  to 
the  Delaware,  transporting  a  total  of  about  800  passengers  to  their 
new  colony.     Of  these  prospective  settlers,  only  about  600  actually 
reached  the  colony. i    The  first  boatload  left  24  men  and  a  fort  on  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware  near  Wilmington  in  1638.    Some  of  the  men 
were  paid  monthly  wages  by  the  trading  company  that  financed  the 
settlement.  Others  were  fortune  seekers,  told  they  were  free  to 
settle  and  live  in  the  country  as  long  as  they  pleased. 

The  next  six  boatloads  of  settlers  included  artisans,  a 
minister,  shipbuilders,  millers,  tobacco  growers,  and  women  and 
children.     Some  were  bonded  servants,  deserters  from  the  Swedish 
army,  or  debtors.     Many  were  ethnic  Finns  actively  recruited  for  the 
colony  from  the  unsettled  forest  country  north  and  west  of 
Stockholm.     For  these  Finnish  Swedes,  trading  one  forest  for  another 
seemed  less  a  hardship  than  an  opportunity.    Generally,  though,  the 
early  settlers  were  characterized  by  a  stubborn  independence  that 
would  show  itself  at  many  junctures  of  their  history  over  time. 
Their  desire  to  be  left  alone,  and  their  resistance  to  unresponsive 
government  began  to  show  itself  under  the  autocratic  leadership  of 
Johan  Printz,  second  governor  of  the  colony. 

Johan   Printz 

During  Printz's  period  as  governor  (1643-53),  "malefactors  and 
vicious  people"  were  treated  harshly--  used  as  slaves  to  labor  on  the 
fortifications,  and  kept  in  chains. 2     The  settlers  were  forbidden  to 
trade  with  the  Indians,  even  for  food,  despite  their  extreme  need,  as 
Printz  wanted  to  control  all  the  profits  of  the  Indian  trade  for  the 
company  investors.     The  hardship  in  the  colony  was  the  result  of 
neglect  by  the  Swedish  government  who  was  preoccupied  with  the 
war  at  home.    They  sent  no  provisions  or  barter  goods  to  the  colony 


^  Peter  Craig,  op.  cit..  p.  2 

^Acrelius,  Israel.  A  History  of  New  Sweden,  translated  from  the  Swedishi  and  with  an 
introduction  by  William  M.  Reynolds,  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  volume  XI,  Philadelphia:  1874,  p.  42. 

54 


for  a  period  of  six  years.     In  1653.  twenty  two  of  the  Swedes 
rebelled  against  Printz,  presenting  a  petition  against  him.     Settlers 
fled  into  the  wilderness,  moved  down  to  Maryland  or  Virginia,  or 
returned  to  Sweden. 3 

By  1654,  when  new  Governor  Johan  Rising  arrived,  many  of  the 
settlers  had  moved  on,  and  the  colony^  had  been  depleted  to  70 
settlers.     Rising  brought  with  him  about  200  new  Swedish  settlers, 
and  a  few  Dutch  and  German  servants. ^    The  colony  began  to  be 
revitalized.     In  1654,  the  population  was  recorded  at  368,  including 
about  50  Dutch  and  Swedish  soldiers  at  Fort  Casimir  (New  Castle).^ 
Hans  Hopman,  patriarch  of  the  Hopman  clan,  was  one  of  those 
soldiers. 

In  1656,  another  100  Swedish  men  and  women  immigrated  to 
New  Sweden,  completely  unaware  that  the  colony  had  been  taken 
over  by  the  Dutch  in  1655.     Sixty  two  more  Swedes  arrived  in  1663. 
During  this  period,  the  Swedes  lived  fairly  autonomously  under  Dutch 
rule,  known  as  the  "Up-River  nation",  they  were  governed  by  their 
own  courts,  protected  by  their  own  militia,  and  were  free  to 
practice  their  own  religion,  trade  with  the  Indians  and  to  keep  their 
lands. 


"^  Federal  Writer's  Project,  W.P.A.,  The  Swedes  and  the  Finns  in  New  Jersey,  introduction  by 
Dr.  Amandus  Johnson.  Bayonne.  N.J.:  Commission  to  commemorate  the  300th  anniversary  of 
the  settlement  of  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  D.  Stewart  Craven,  chairman,  1938,  p.  59. 
'*  Albert  Cook  Myers,  editor,  Narratives  of  Early  Pennsylvania.  West  Jersey  and   Delaware. 
New  York:  Scribner's,   1912.  p.   133. 

^Carol  E.  Hoffecker,  Delaware.  A  Bi-centennial  History,  Nashville:  American  Association  for 
State  and  Local  History  and  W.W.  Norton,  NY,  1977.  p.  17. 
^  Rudolph  J.  Vecoli,  op.  cit..  p.  2. 

55 


Chapter  III.  Section   III  -  New  Sweden 

The  dally  life  of  early  Swedish  communities  is  also  relevant  to 
our  understanding  of  the  Burcham  farm,  as  it  provides  us  with  a 
picture   of   Swedish   customs,   agricultural   practices   and   industries, 
and  contributes  to  our  understanding  of  the  motivations  behind  the 
first  permanent  settlers  on  the  farm. 

A  fairly  clear  picture  of  life  in  New  Sweden  can  be  drawn  from 
the  accounts  of  Thomas  Paschall  and  Peter  Kalm,  two  writers  whose 
journals  comment  extensively  on  the  Swedes,  although  they  are 
written  from  widely  different  perspectives.      Paschall  was  a  1682 
immigrant  from  Bristol,  England,  who  lived  next  to  the  Swedes  at 
Kingsessing.     He  was  a  part  of  the  heavy  English  immigration  to  the 
Delaware  in   1682.  an  immigration  that  resulted  from  William  Penn's 
charters  for  Pennsylvania  (1681)  and  the  three  lower  counties  that 
make  up  present  day  Delaware  (1682).i 

Kalm  was  a  Swedish  naturalist  from  the  University  of  Abo, 
Finland,  who  was  sent  to  the  new  world  in  1745  to  gather 
information  about  plant  and  animal  species  for  the  scientific 
community  back  home. 

Kalm  described  the  first  homes  built  by  the  Swedes  in  the  new 
world: 

"The  houses  which  the  Swedes  built  when  they  first  settled 
were  very  poor.    The  whole  house  consisted  of  one  little  room, 
the  door  of  which  was  so  low  that  one  was  obliged  to  stoop  in 
order  to  get  in.    As  they  brought  no  glass  with  them  they  were 
obliged  to  be  content  with  little  holes  before  which  a 
moveable  board  was  fastened.  .  .  . 

The  chimneys  were  masoned  in  a  corner,  either  of  gray  stone, 
or  in  places  where  there  were  no  stones,  of  mere  clay,  which 
they  laid  very  thick  in  the  center  of  the  house."  2 


1  Twenty  three  ships  of  English  Quakers  arrived  on  the  Delaware  on  August  24,  1682. 

2  Kalm,  op.  cit..  p  272 

56 


The  homes  were  built  along  the  water,  lands  that  were  coveted 
by  Englishmen  like  Paschal!.     Paschall  observed  that  the  riverlands 
were  lands  that  the  "Sweads  prize  much,  and  many  people  will  want. 
.  .  ."3  From  this  simple  observation  would  come  much  of  the  Swedes 
future    trouble. 

Clothing 

One  adaptation  to  the  Delaware  that  Swedish  settlers  made 
early  on  was  in  their  customary  style  of  dress.     They  were  without 
frequent  contact  with  Europe,  and  unable  to  obtain  European  fabrics, 
so  they  incorporated  elements  of  Native  American  attire  into  their 
wardrobes.    The  men  wore  "waistcoats  and  breeches"  made  of  animal 
hides,  and  little  fur  caps,  worsted  stockings,  and  home  made  shoes. 
The  women  also  wore  leather  --  making  their  "jackets  and 
petticoats"  of  animal  skins.     Their  beds,  too,  excepting  the  sheets, 
were  made  of  bear  and  wolf  pelts.  ^ 

Peter  Kalm  wrote  that  Swedes  who  had  lived  for  years  in  the 
distant  provinces  had  taken  on  more  than  just  the  native  American 
style  of  dress:  they  had  also  adopted  Indian  lifestyle  and  thoughts. 
He  wrote,  "Europeans  who  have  lived  for  years  in  the  distant 
provinces  near  and  among  the  Indians  grow  so  like  them  in  their 
behaviour  and  thoughts  that  they  can  only  be  distinguished  by  their 
color;"5  and  also,  "The  Swedes  themselves  were  accused  of  being 
already  half  Indians  when  the  English  arrived  in  the  year  1682.  .  .  ." 

Thomas  Paschall,  wrote  that  the  Swedish  women  "make  most 
of  the  Linnen  cloath  they  wear.  .  .   "^    and  that  "they  weer  but 
ordinarily  cloathd;  but  since  the  English  came  they  have  gotten  fine 
deaths  and  are  going  proud.  .  .  y 


^  Albert  C.  Myers,  op.  cit..  p.  254,  from  "Letter  of  Thomas  Paschiall,  written  from 
Pennsilvania  the  last  day  of  January,   1682/3" 

4  Kalm,  op.cit..  p.272 

5  Kalm,  op.  cit..  p.  226 

6  Albert  C.  Myers,  op.  cit..  p.  252  Letter  of  Thomas  Paschall,  written  from  Pennsilvania  the 
last  day  of  January,   1682/3 

7  Ibid.,  p.  250. 

57 


The  Swedes  were  multilingual,  speaking  English,  Swedish, 
Finnish,  Dutch  and  Indian.  Often  they  were  called  upon  to  be 
translators  for  transactions  with  the  Native  Americans.     Paschall 
also  tells  us  that  they  preferred  rye  bread  to  wheat,  a  taste  he  does 
not  understand. 

The  Swedes  began  planting  "great  quantities"  of  American 
Indian  corn  to  feed  themselves,  their  cattle  and  their  hogs, 
according  to  Kalm.     It  made  their  hogs  very  fat,  and  gave  their  flesh 
"an  agreeable  flavor,  preferable  to  all  other  meat." 

Skilled  Woodsmen 

Most  early  accounts  stress  the  unusual  competence  of  the 
Swedes  as  woodsmen,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  why  sparsely  populated 
woodlands  like  those  of  the  New  Jersey  rivers  attracted  them  as  the 
price  of  lumber  increased  rapidly. 
Examples  includes  Thomas  Paschall's  1683  letter: 

"The  Swedes.  .  .  will.  .  .  hardly  use  any  other  toole  but  an  ax; 
they  will  cut  down  a  tree,  and  cut  him  off  when  down,  sooner 
than  two  men  can  saw  him,  and  rend  him  into  planks  or  what 
they  please;  only  with  the  ax  and  wooden  wedges,  they  use  no 
iron  8 

and 

".  .  .the  Woods  are  full  of  Oakes,  many  very  high  and  streight, 
many  of  them  about  two  foot  through,  and  some  bigger.  ...  A 
Swead  will  fell  twelve  of  the  bigger  in  a  day^ 

Peter  Kalm  described  "New  Swedish"  sawmills.     They  were 
unlike  any  built  in  the  old  country,  constructed  in  the  manner  of 
dykes  --  built  with  ditches,  drains  and  sluice  gates  in  order  to 
reposition  the  creek  to  a  favorable  building  site.     They  were  built 
with  only  one  saw: 

"It  is  customary  here,  when  they  erect  sawmills.  .  .  to  direct 
the  water  by  a  different  course  ...  to  a  place  suitable  for 

8  Ibid. 

9  Ibid.,  p.253. 

58 


building.    This  was.  .    done.  .  .  by  ditches.    The  dam  itself  was 
provided  with  sluice  gates. 1° 

Dvkes  in  Raccoon 

Peter  Kalm's  journal  entry  on  his  trip  to  Raccoon  Creek,  N.J.  in 
1745  describes  the  extensiveness  of  dyking  in  the  Swedish 
community  as  well  as  the  methods.     He  had  taken  the  ferry  across 
from  Pennsylvania  to  N.J.,  and  was  riding  on  a  horse  to  Raccoon  when 
he  made  his  observation.    The  words  he  used  to  describe  the  creek,  a 
kill,  is  a  Dutch  term. 

"This  day  and  the  next  we  passed  several  kills  or  small 
rivulets  which  flowed  out  of  the  country  into  the  Delaware 
with  a  gentle  descent  and  rapidity.  When  the  tide  came  up  in 
the  Delaware,  it  also  rose  in  some  of  these  rivulets  a  good 
way.     Formerly  they  must  have  spread  to  a  considerable 
breadth  by  the  flowing  of  the  tide,  but  at  present  there  were 
meadows  on  the  banks,  formed  by  throwing  up  strong  dykes  as 
close  as  possible  to  the  water,  to  keep  them  from  overflowing. 
Such  dikes  were  made  along  all  rivers  here  to  confine  their 
water,  and  therefore  when  the  tide  was  highest,  the  water  in 
the  river  was  much  higher  than  the  meadows.     In  the  dykes 
were  gates  through  which  the  water  could  be  drawn  off  or  led 
into  the  meadows.    They  were  sometimes  placed  on  the 
outward  side  of  the  wall,  in  such  a  way  that  the  water  in  the 
meadows  would  force  them  open  while  the  water  would  shut 
them. "11 

Kalm  also  establishes  the  extensive  Swedish  involvement  in 
dyking  in  his  remarks  about  muskrats: 

".  .  .  [their]  food  is  chiefly.  .  .  mussels  ....    you  see  a  number  of 
such  shells  near  the  entrance  of  their  holes.  .  .  ." 
"They  make  their  nests  in  the  dikes  that  are  erected  along  the 
banks  of  rivers  to  keep  the  water  from  the  adjoining  medows; 
but  they  often  do  a  great  deal  of  damage  by  spoiling  the  dikes 


10  Kalm.  op.  cit..  p.  282. 

11  Kalm,  op.  cit..  p.  175. 

59 


with  digging  and  opening  passages  for  the  water  to  come  into 

the  meadows  .  .  .  ." 

"  The  Swedes  asserted  that  they  could  never  observe  a 

diminution  in  their  number.  ...    As  they  damage  their  banks  so 

considerably,  the  people  are  endeavoring  to  destroy  them  when 

they  can  find  their  nests.  .  .  . 

"  At  present,  muskrat  skins  bring  from  sixpence  to  nine  pence 

in  the  market.  .  .  .  chiefly  used  by  hatters.  .  .  .  The  muskrats  are 

commonly  caught  in  traps,  with  apples  as  bait.  ..." 

The  Swedes  were  developing  methods  of  their  own  for  dike 
maintenance.     Kalm  described  a  Swedish  settler's  approach  to 
muskrats  in  the  dykes: 

"  A  Swede  .  .  .    had  freed  his  dam  or  piece  of  dike  along  the 
river  from  them  in  the  following  manner:  He  sought  and  found 
their  holes,  stopped  them  all  up  with  earth,  excepting  one,  on 
that  side  from  whence  the  wind  came.    He  put  a  quantity  of 
sulfur  into  the  open  entrance,  set  fire  to  it,  and  then  closed 
the  hole,  leaving  but  a  small  one  for  the  wind  to  pass  through. 
The  smoke  of  the  sulfur  then  entered  their  most  remote  nests 
and  stifled  the  animals.  .  .  he  found  them  lying  dead  in  heaps. "^  2 


^2  Ibid.,  p.  239-40. 

60 


Chapter  III.  Section  IV  --  The  move  across  the  river  to  New  Jersey 

Before  the  turn  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  majority  of 
Swedish  settlers  on  the  Delaware  were  living  in  New  Jersey.     This 
migration  across  the  river  began  in  a  small  way  under  Governor 
Printz,  and  accelerated  after  1682,  as  development  pressure 
increased  in  the  area.     It  was  fueled  by  the  Swedish  colonists 
distaste  for  governmental  taxation  and  land  grabbing.     The  earliest 
of  the  settlers  were  convinced  that  they  were  entitled  to  Delaware 
lands  by  virtue  of  having  settled  it  and  improved  it.    They  were  much 
aggrieved  by  the  legal  maneuverings  of  the  English. 

The  Beainninos  of  Unrest 

The  early  Swedes  had  quarrels  with  their  own  government. 
Governor  Printz's  ban  on  private  trading  with  the  Indians  began  the 
troubles,  as  Swedish  settlers  chafed  at  the  way  the  government 
controlled  profits  even  though  they  were  in  economic  need.     They 
began  traveling  across  the  river  to  south  Jersey  in  search  of  new 
sources  of  food  and  trade  at  that  time.'     South  Jersey  represented 
real  opportunity  for  the  colonists,  as  there  was  Indian  trade  there 
for  the  taking. 

In  1655,  at  the  time  of  the  Dutch  conquest  of  New  Sweden, 
New  Jersey  may  have  begun  to  look  still  more  attractive  to  the  early 
Swedish  settlers.     A  number  of  Swedes  refused  to  submit  to  Dutch 
rule  at  that  time  --  37  of  them  returned  to  Sweden,  19  signed  oaths 
of  allegiance  to  the  Dutch,  and  the  rest  refused.  Those  who  refused 
were  given  two  years  to  change  their  minds  or  leave  the  colony. 

According  to  Israel  Acrelius,  historian  of  New  Sweden,  the 
Swedes  were  initially  treated  harshly  by  the  Dutch  invaders: 

"The  flower  of  the  Swedish  male  population  was  sent  to  New 
Amsterdam,  taken  by  force  and  placed  on  shipboard.  Swedish 
property  was  carried  off,  their  fields   burned,   their  cattle 
slaughtered,  residents     were  forced  to  take  oath  of  allegiance 


^    Federal  Writer's  Project,  op.  cit..  p.  57. 

61 


to  the  Dutch  ruler  or  given  two  years  to  dispose  of  their 
holdings  and  leave^ 

But  1655  did  not  begin  the  migration  to  New  Jersey,  as  Swedes 
were  living  across  the  river  before  that  time,  according  to  Swedish 
engineer  Peter  Lindstroem.^  Lindstroem  wrote  that  the  Swedes  on 
Burlington  Island  (NJ)  in  1655,  "had  no  trade  or  intercourse  with 
savages."      It  would  have  been  unlikely  that  Swedes  were  living  in 
Burlington  and  not  speaking  to  the  Indians.     Nonetheless,  it  is  clear 
that  Swedes  were  in    New  Jersey  before  the  Dutch  takeover. 

The  Swedes  on  Burlington  Island  may  have  been  joined  by  some 
of  the  Finnish  settlers  who  came  on  the  last  boat  of  the  New  Sweden 
company  in  1656  if  N.J.  historian  William  Nelson  was  correct  that 
the  Mercurius  stopped  first  at  Burlington  Island  to  unload  goods. 

The  English  period 

In  1664,  when  English  warships  sailed  into  Manhattan  and 
annexed  all  the  land  between  the  Connecticut  and  Delaware  rivers, 
all  deeds  issued  under  Swedish  or  Dutch  rule,  as  well  as  all  previous 
land  grants  and  Indian  purchases  became  subject  to  review.      Charles 
II  began  making  irresponsible  grants  that  overlapped  one  another  and 
completely  ignored  the  rights  of  any  people  living  on  the  land  he  was 
giving  away.    Quakers  began  pouring  Into  the  Philadelphia  area,  and 
the  cultural  hegemony  of  the  Swedish  colony  was  broken. 

It  was  still  a  law  that  seven  years  of  living  on  and  improving  a 
site  should  constitute  clear  title,   and  there  was  still  plenty  of 
unoccupied  land.    Sensibly,  the  Swedes  began  more  and  more  to  cast 
their  lot  with  the  woods. 

The  center  of  Swedish  America  had  moved  to  the  east  side  of 
the  Delaware  by  1670,  as  the  many  small  Swedish  settlements  along 
the  inland  waterways  of  New  Jersey  began  to  take  precedence.'* 


2  Israel  Acrellus,  op.  cit..  p.  79. 

"^  The  Lindstroem  reference  comes  from  his  Geographica  Americae,  which  was  published  in 

1655. 

^  Federal  Writer's  Project,  op.  cit..    p.  57. 

62 


Swedish  congregations  were  established  at  Penn's  Neck  and 
Raccoon's  Creek  (Swedesboro)  by  1703.    The  Swedish  churches  at 
Cohansey  and  Maurice  river  in  were  built  in  1743  and  1748.    As 
churches  surely  followed  settlers,   the   Swedish   migration  pattern 
can  be  discerned  --  a  continued  push  toward  the  frontiers  of  New 
Jerseys 

in  1672,  the  Dutch  briefly  re-conquered  the  province, 
throwing  land  ownership  into  confusion  once  again.     In  1673,  when 
British  control  was  reinstated,  England  once  again  issued  a  new  set 
of  grants. 

Penn's  Campaign 

William  Penn,  the  Quaker  founder  of  Pennsylvania  was  in 
control  of  several  large  tracts  of  land  on  the  Delaware  by  1683  -- 
not  only  Pennsylvania,  but  also  parts  of  Delaware  and  New  Jersey. 
He  began  a  campaign  to  try  to  get  river  lands  that  the  Swedes  had 
settled,  for  his  brethren. 

First,  Penn  required  that  the  Swedes  return  the  certificates 
given  to  them  as  permission  to  survey  their  lands  along  with  any 
deeds  issued  by  the  Duke  of  York,  in  order  that  they  might  be 
replaced  with  new  ones  from  Penn.     Next  he  ordered  that  all  old 
deeds  should  be  re-surveyed,  as  he  knew  that  the  early  tracts  were 
larger  than  they  should  have  been,  as  surveying  techniques  had  been 
much  less  precise  at  the  time  they  were  made.     In  this  way, 
thousands  of  acres  were  taken  away  from  early  colonists  who  had 
settled  the  land.     The  properties  were  then  sold  to  others,  despite 
the  law  that  seven  years  of  undisputed  possession  should  give  a 
clear    title. 

According  to  Acrelius,  those  who  had  given  in  their 
certificates  and  deeds  never  received  then  back,  and  were  charged 
three  or  four  times  as  much  rent  for  their  lands  when  they  re- 
applied for  deeds,  but  those  who  had  not  turned  in  their  deeds  were 
left  alone. 


^  Wacker.  op.  cit..  p.  170. 

63 


The  English  were  systematically  re-surveying  old  deeds, 
clipping  corners  off  of  surveys,  and  imposing  rents  where  none  had 
existed  before. e    The  Swedes  were  much  disturbed  by  this.    In  1715, 
Swedish  voters  in  Gloucester  county  turned  out  in  record  numbers  to 
oppose  a  man  said  to  be  seeking  to  dispossess  the  Swedes  of  their 
lands. 

Permits  to  the  Swedes 

Shortly  after  the  English  takeover  (1668),  the  Swedes  were 
issued  permits  to  purchase  land  from  the  Indians  in  Gloucester 
County,  New  Jersey.     The  first  of  these  permits  was  issued  to  Ole 
Rasen,7  and  2  others.    They  sold  the  permit  to  Hans  Hopman^  and  two 
others,  who  bought  land  from  the  Indians  in  1676.    By  1677,  Hopman 
and  the  other  owners  had  begun  to  parcel  out  the  land.    The  new 
owners  were  listed  in  the  1677  taxables  list  for  Gloucester  County. 

In  1680,  the  Swedes  ownership  of  these  lands  was  denied,  then 
reaffirmed  by  the  local  court  as  it  found  that  the  Swedish  farmers 
were  entitled  to  their  lands  because  they  had  been  seated  upon  them 
and  improving  them  for  seven  years.    Hopman  and  the  other  Swedes 
in  the  lawsuit  seem  typical  of  the  kind  of  settlement  pattern  often 
attributed  to  Swedes  in  South  Jersey:  They  had  moved  to  Raccoon, 
chosen  a  tract  and  begun  improving  it  several  years  before  they 
obtained  legal  title.  In  this  instance,  they  had  been  improving  their 
lands  since  1673,  four  years  before  they  bought  them. 

In  1684,  the  title  to  these  same  lands  was  disputed  by  the 
English  again  and  reaffirmed  again,  but  this  time  for  a  different 
reason.    In  this  case,  Hopman  and  the  other  eight  Swedes 
successfully  defended  their  land  claims  by  citing  the  original  1668 
permit. 

Swedish  migration  to  the  Salem  and  Raccoon  Creek 
communities  of  New  Jersey  was  heaviest  between  1670  and  1690. 
An  English  map  that  was  drawn  in  1685,  labeled  a  place  on  the  river 


^  Israel  Acrelius,  op.  cit..  p.  125. 

^  a.k.a.  Olle  Rawson,  Olle  Rose,  Ocour  Rosu,  etc.  Rosse  was  the  man  whose  cabin  was  shown  on 

the  1714  Scott  survey  of  Maurice  River,  (see  survey) 

^  Grandfather  of  the  first  owner  of  the  Burcham  farm. 

64 


north  of  Salem  as  Finn's  Town.    It  is  believed  that  there  may  have 
been  a  Finnish  settlement  there  as  early  as  1660. 

The  memories  of  Ake  Helm,  a  seventy-year-old  man  who  was 
living  in  Raccoon  Creek  in  17459  are  informative,  as  Helm 
remembered  a  time  when  Raccoon  Creek  was  a  land  of  plenty.    The 
Swedes  brought  their  horses,  cows,  oxen,  sheep,  hogs,  geese  and 
ducks  across  the  river  with  them,  he  said,  and  all  of  them  multiplied 
greatly.    The  hogs  did  particularly  well.    The  horses  and  the  pigs  ran 
wild  in  the  woods  in  those  days,  along  with  the  cattle.     The  cattle 
became  numerous  and  fat  on  the  natural  grasses. ^o 

Settlement 

New  Jersey  settlement  was  greatly  confused  by  the  history  of 
deed  problems.    The  problems  were  enormous.    Even  the  major 
boundaries  were  in  dispute,  including  the  boundary  between  east  and 
west  Jersey  and  the  boundary  between  the  royal  colonies  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.    As  a  result,  all  the  lands  near  the  frontiers 
had  their  titles  in  question.     Another  part  of  the  problem  was  the 
Inaccuracy  of  surveying  methods,  which  meant  that  many  deeds 
outlined  incorrect  amounts  of  land,  as  much  as  two  times  the 
correct  amount  in  some  cases.     Extralegal  occupation,  or  squatting 
was  common  in  South  Jersey.  ^^ 

Charles  Read,  the  speaker  of  New  Jersey's  eighteenth 
provincial  assembly,  addressed  the  assembly  in  1751   in  regard  to  a 
proposed  tax  bill.  He  suggested  that  property  assessments  be  done  by 
judged  value  rather  than  by  acreage  because  the  assessors  were 
unable  to  judge  the  size  of  the  tracts  without  re-surveying  the  land, 
as  "their  are  multitudes  of  Tracts  in  New  Jersey  that  are  Commonly 
called  one  hundred  acres,  which  do  realy  Contain  three  hundred  Acres 
and  much  more."^^ 

This  confusion  gave  ample  opportunity  to  woodcutters  who  did 
not  own  land.    They  went  to  the  Pineland  region,  and  took  it.    In 


9    Kalm,  op.  cit..  pi 81  Ake  Helm,  age  70  about  1745. 
^0  Kalm.  op.  cit..  pp.  266,  179. 
1  ^  Wacker,  op.  cit..    p.  221 . 
^2  Wacker.  QB^_£iL.    p.  369. 

65 


1759,    Charles  Read,  who  was  also  the  owner  of  several  South 
Jersey  lumber  tracts,  addressed  the  legislature  again,  sponsoring  a 
bill  to  prevent  "trespassers"  from  cutting  timber,i3  and  imposed  a 
fine  of  20  shillings  per  tree  on  wood  cutters  who  were  caught 
stealing    timber. 

According  to  Cultural  georgapher  Peter  Wacker,  squatting  was 
not  only  tolerated  In  South  Jersey,  but  actually  encouraged  because 
of  the  unsureness  of  ownership  or  bounds,  or  absentee  ownership. 
This  led  to  an  attitude  of  temporary  occupation  and  quite  different 
land  use  and  organization  of  landscape  than  if  permanent  occupation 
based  on  permanent  title  had  been  available.    A  universal  result  was 
the  stealing  of  timber  by  squatters  or  nearby  legal  residentsi** 
This  pattern  of  temporary  land  use  makes  the  dating  of  the  early 
Swedish  community  at  Maurice  River  difficult.     Nonetheless,  it 
explains  why  the  first  deeds  to  Swedes  in  Maurice  River  were  dated 
as  late  as  1720,  even  though  settlers  were  in  the  region  before  that 
time. 


^^  C.R.  Woodward,  Ploughs  and  Politics.  Rutgers  University  Press,  New  Brunswick,  N.J.:  1942 

p  139. 

14  Wacker,  op.  cit..  p.  408. 

66 


67 


The  Burcham  farm  can  be  seen  as  a  rare  physical  link  to  the 
history  of  the  eighteenth  century  extralegal  Swedish  community  on 
the  Maurice,  one  that  left  few  records,  and  has  been  largely 
forgotten. 

Hopman's  land  deed  puts  him  in  the  area  in  1737,  but  it  seems 
likely  that  he  and  his  cousin  Nicholas  Hoffman  followed  the  pattern 
of  their  grandfather,  Hans  Hopman,  in  Raccoon  Creek,  moving  to  the 
area  before  they  purchased  land,  perhaps  cutting  timber  to  earn 
money  to  buy  the  large  tract.    Nicholas  Hoffman,  in  particular,  seems 
likely  to  have  been  in  the  Maurice  River  area  before  he  bought  land 
there,  as  he  was  last  listed  in  the  church  records  of  Raccoon  Creek 
seven  years  before  he  bought  property  in  Maurice  River.     In  addition, 
his  title  to  the  Burcham/Gricco  farmstead  is  questionable,  and  may 
have  been  challenged  in  1814. 

Chapter  III.  Section  V  --     Inhabitants  of  Maurice  River  before  1720 
It  is  often  written  that  Swedes  first  settled  in  Maurice   River 
in  1720,  because  Andrew  Errickson,  Joseph  Thompson  and  Joseph 
Lord  began  renting  lands  from  Thomas  Byerly,  an  English  proprietor, 
in  that  year,i  but  there  is  ample  evidence  of  settlers  on  the  river 
before  that  date. 

The  first  record  of  settlers  on  the  Maurice  was  made  in  1684, 
when  the  "Old  road"  was  laid  from  Salem  to  Maurice  River. 2    Ten 
years  later,  a  Englishman  visiting  Quaker  friends  in  Salem,  visited 
the  Maurice,  describing  it  as  an  amazingly  abundant  place,  a  river 
where  Swedes  killed  geese  "for  their  feathers  only,  leaving  their 
carcasses  behind  them."    Other  hard  evidence  for  the  earlier  date  of 
settlement  includes  the  fact  that  the  old  road  from  Salem  to  Maurice 
River  was  re-built  in  1705,^    and  a  constable  was  appointed  for  the 
area  in  1718. 


^    Gushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p. 51 4. 

2    Gushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  pp.  515-  516. 

^     Ibid.,  p.  516,518.  It  crossed  the  river  at  Greenwich. 

68 


Nineteenth-century  historians,  such  as  Elmer  and  Gushing  and 
Sheppard  all  agreed  that  the  Swedes  were  the  first  settlers  of 
Maurice  river.  Elmer  writes  about  the  early  community  from 
memories  and  interviews,  and  puts  the  first  settlers  there  about 
1655.    Gushing  and  Sheppard  rely  on  English  deeds,  however,  and 
therefore  place  the  beginnings  of  the  community  about  1720.* 

Cumberland  county  historian  L.Q.  Elmer  described  the  early 
settlement  pattern   of  extralegal   occupation: 

"  Quite  a  number  of  Swedes  settled  in  the  neighborhood  of  [the 
Maurice  River],  and  engaged  in  hunting  and  cutting  lumber  , 
without,  however  obtaining  a  title  to  the  soil,  until  some  of 
them  purchased  it  of  the  English."  ^ 

".  .  .  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  never  took  any  steps  to  secure 
permanent  title  to  the  land  upon  which  they  settled,  and  did 
not  even  take  deed  from  the  Indians.    Whatever  title  they  may 
have  claimed  as  the  first  settlers  and  improvers  was  ignored 
by  the  English,  although  there  is  reason  to  believe  they  were, 
in  many  cases  permitted  to  become  purchasers  at  the  usual 
price  for  the  unimproved  land.  ^ 

Elmer  also  speculates  as  to  the  source  of  some  of  the  earliest 
settlers,  suggesting  that  some  of  the  early  Puritans  from  the  1641 
Salem  colony  may  have  survived  in  the  area.    It  is  also  known  that 
some  of  the  settlers,  like  Caesar  Hoskins,  came  up  to  the  area  from 
Gape  May.    By  1700,  a  small  number  of  lumberers  and  cattle  owners 
were  living     near  Buckshutem  Creek,''  and  a  Swedish  log  cabin  that  is 
still  standing  (Geasar  Hoskins')  was  built  in  Mauricetown  about 
1650. 

The  notes  of  Judce  Joshua  Brick 


4    Ibid.,  p.  514. 

^    Elmer,  op.  cit..  p.  2. 

6     Ibid.,  p.8. 

^     Buckshutem  Creek  joins  the  Maurice  on  its  west  side,  at  the  same  point  that  the  Menantico 

joins  it  on  its  east  side. 

69 


Joshua  Brick,  in  conversations  recorded  in  the  early  twentieth 
century,  dated  the  beginning  of  the  Swedish  settlement  about  1700,^ 
saying  that  "persons  principally  of  Swedish  origin  came  to  Maurice 
river  about  1700,"  drawn  by  the  "abundance  of  game  and  valuable 
cedar  close  to  navigation.     They  spent  their  time  working  the  cedar 
into  shingles  and  rails  and  hunting." 

Brick  also  said  that  the  Swedes  began  to  acquire  title  to  their 
lands  in  Maurice  River  about  1720  (this  is  borne  out  by  the  deeds) 
and  that  the  largest  immigration  from  the  Swedish  settlements  up 
the  Delaware  began  in  1720,  and  lasted  until  1740. 

One  large  tract  that  was  acquired  from  the  New  Jersey 
Proprietors  in  1723,  was  Andrew  Erickson's  1155  acres  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Maurice  river  adjoining  the  mouth.    He  bought  the  lands 
from  Thomas  Byerly,  after  leasing  them  for  several  years.     Erickson 
was  a  mariner,  and  was  doubtless  shipping  timber.     Erickson  deeded 
the  property  to  his  son  Andrew  in  1742.^      This  was  the  only  sale  out 
of  the  Byerly  Survey  until  1804  when  William  Griffith  purchased  it. 

Brick  corroborates  the  opinion  of  Wacker,  as  he  said  that  the 
lands  in  the  Byerly  survey  had  been  early  settled,  despite  the 
absence  of  deeds,  and  that  William  Griffith  had  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  with  the  early  settlers,  and  finally  had  to  sell  them  their 
lands  at  a  low  price. 

Other  records  of  the  settlement  include  a  list  of  sixty 
parishioners  of  the  original  Swedish  Lutheran  church  in  1743 
(Illustration  p.  85.)  and  the  first  tax  assessment  of  New  Jersey 
which  was  taken  in  1751.     In  "Prince  Maurice's  prescinct,"  the 
Cumberland  County  Ratables  List  included  51  married  men    and  12 
single  men.     Four  sawmills  were  also  listed  --  Aaron  Leaming's, 
Frederick  Hoffman's,  Isaac  Sharp's  and  Gabriel  Vanemon's.    The 
Erixons,  the  Hofmans,  the  Peterson,  Isard,  Jones  and  Vanamon 
families  were  among  the  landowners  listed. 


8     Judge  Daniel  Harris'  notes  of  conversations  he  had  with  Judge  Joshua  Brick.    Harris  was 

born  in  1814  in  Port  Elizabeth,  N.J. 

Judge  Joshua  Brick,  born  1779,  died  1860. 

^     His  son  sold  it  to  Jeremiah  Learning  of  Cape  May  (Liber  18,  p  40) 

70 


These  tax  and  church  records  are  late  though,  for  the  purposes 
of  discussing  the  early  community.     The  best  evidence  for  the  early 
community  comes  from  the  following  list  of  residents  known  to  be 
in  the  area  by  1720. 

Some  of  the  Early  residents  of  Maurice  River: 

Joseph  Lord  ^o 

by  1720  when  he  began  leasing  land  from  Thomas  Byerly 

Joseph  Thompson  ^^ 

By  1720,  when  he  began  leasing  a  large  tract  of  land  Thomas  Byerly. 

Daniel  Encland^^ 

His  sawmill  was  operating  on  Buckshutem  Creek  before  1705. 

Swedish  builder  and  first  owner  of  Caesar  Hoskins  cabin  c.  1650^3 

Caesar  Hoskins  who  bought  150  acres  in  Cape  May  (later 
Mauricetown)   in   1691,1^  recorded  his  cattle  earmark  in  1694,15  and 
served  as  the  Sheriff  of  Cape  May  County  from  1701-1704.    His  cabin 
appears  on  the  1714  Scott  survey.  16 

Michael  Issard.  Jr.  I'' 

moved  to  the  west  side  of  the  Maurice  in  1704,  selling  his  lands  in 

Greenwich.  (Salem  County). 


^0  Gushing  and  Sheppard.  op.  cit..  p.  514. 

11  Ibid. 

12  Gushing  and  Sheppard.  op.  cit..  p.  516. 

1"^  Caesar  Hoskins,  whose  cabin  appears  on  the  1714  Scott  survey,  see  illustration  in  this 

paper,  was  an  Englishman,  and  did  not  build  the  cabin.    Gunnar  Zitterquist,  consultant  for  the 

Swedish  famistead  project,  believed  the  Hoskins  cabin,  which  still  stands  in  Mauricetown, 

could  have  been  built  as  early  as  1650. 

^^  John  and  Diane  Smith,  A  History  of  Mauricetown.  p.  14.  They  cite  Calendar  of  New  Jersey 

Records,    1664-1703,    p. 458. 

15  Book  of  Deeds,  Liber  A,  p.  8,  Cape  May  County  Clerk's  Office  in  the  town  of    Cape  May  Court 

House,  N.J. 

1^  Ibid,  p.  14.    They  quote  Maurice  Beesley,  Early  History  of  Cape  May  Countv.  1857. 

1  ^  He  was  the  son  of  Michael  Issard  who  moved  from  Chester  County,  PA  to  Greenwich,  NJ 

before  1688.  Margaret  Inwin  McVickar,  "Izard  Family",  The  Cape  May  County  Magazine  of 

History  and  Genealogy.  Volume  III,  Number  8,  June  1954. 

71 


died  in  1722  at  his  home  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  near 
Buckshutem.    An  inventory  taken  by  William  Rawson  and  Caesar 
Hoskins  listed  his  possessions,  those  of  a  livestock  farmer  and 
woodcutter,  including  11  cows,  6  calves,  2  oxen,  1  steer,  14  yearling 
heifers,  16  sheep,  1  mare,  14  hogs,  assorted  farm  implements  and 
tools  for  woodcrafti8.     Michael  Izard,  Sr.,  moved  to  Greenwich  from 
Chester  county,  PA. 

--his  wife   Martha   Izard 
children 

Michael  Izard,  3rd 
John  Izard 
James  Izard 

Gabriel   Izard 

Pile  Rosse 

a.k.a.  Ocour  Rusu,  Ole  Rose,  Wooley  Rawson 1 9  by  1714  when  his  cabin 

appears  on  the  Scott  survey. 

William  Rawson  (by  1718,  when  he  buys  a  sawmiiRO)  He  was 
probably  the  son  or  grandson  of  Olle  who  was  listed  as  Ocour  Rusu  on 
the  1714  Scott  surveys  1 

Peter  Erickson^^ 

was  living  on  the  Cohansey  by  1687,  may  have  been  living  on  the 
Maurice  by  1694,  definitely  by  1702.     He  was  the  brother  of 
Swedish-born  Olle  Derickson  of  Repaupo  Creek,  and  one  of  the 
original  patentees  of  Carkoens  Hook  in  Kingsessing  in  1675.    He  was 
living  in  Repaupo  creek  by  26  March  1684,  when  he  bought  100  acres 
near  Israel  Helm.  By  1687,  he  seems  to  have  moved  on,  as  Wooley 
Derickson  claimed  to  be  a  co-owner  in  a  Newcastle  County  survey 
that  year  and  had  been  paying  the  taxes  on  that  property. 


^^  Estate  was  valued  at  74  pounds,  18  shillings,  3  pence. 

^9  Letter  fromPeter  Craig  to  Patricia  Bovers,  July  12,  1995  provides  variant  names. 

20  Gushing  and  Sheppard,  op.  cit..  p  514   and  other  sources. 

21  Letter  from  Peter  Craig  to  Patricia  Bovers,  August  1995 

22  Peter  Craig,  op.  cit..  p.  72. 

72 


By  1688,  Peter  Erickson  was  the  owner  of  20  acres  on  the 
Cohansey.  In  1694,  he  was  given  land  on  the  Maurice  by  the  Indians  in 
return  for  his  services  as  an  interpreter.23     in  1702,  a  Gloucester 
county  lawsuit  referred  to  him  as  Peter  Erickson  of  Maurice  River. 
His  offspring  remained  in  Maurice  River  for  many  years. 

Andrew  Erickson^'* 

probably  the  son  of  Peter  Erickson.  He  bought  1155  acres  beginning 

at  the  mouth  of  Maurice  River  in  1723/4.    He  had  been  leasing  the 

property  for  7  years  before  that. 

his  wife,  Magdalena  Peterson  Erickson,  daughter  of  Peter  Peterson 

children      --  Andrew   Peterson 

--  Samuel  Peterson 

--   Christina   Peterson 

--  Sarah  Peterson 

--  Rebecca  Peterson 

Peter  Peterson^s 

Born  Peter  Peterson  Stake,  Peterson  changed  his  name  and  moved  to 
Maurice  river  in  1711  from  Calcon  Hook,  PA. ,26    acquiring  920  acres 
and  a  sawmill  at  that  time      Peter  was  the  son  of  Finnish-born  Mans 
Petersson  Stake,  who  came  to  the  Delaware  with  Governor  Rising  in 
1654.    Mans  moved  to  New  Amsterdam  after  the  Dutch  victory,  and 
married  in  Brooklyn  in  1663,  becoming  one  of  the  first  settlers  in 
Harlem. 

By  1666,  Mans  Stake  was  back,  having  been  involved  in  a  series 
of  drunken  misdemeanors  in  New  Amsterdam.    He  lived  in  Calcon 
Hook,  PA,  for  many  years  and  was  the  object  of  many  lawsuits 
brought  against  him  by  his  neighbors. 

In  1695,  Mans  gave  his  plantation  to  his  son,  Peter,  age  20.    He  was 
still  living  on  his  sons'  property  2  years  later. 


23  Ibid.,  p.  72,  and  Salem  Deeds  Liber  6,  p  194. 

24  Letter  from  Peter  Craig  to  Dan  Erickson,  August  29,  1989. 

25  Peter  Craig,  op.  cit.  p.  40. 

26  Calcon  Hook  was  a  part  of  Chester  Co.,  PA  at  tfiat  time.  Later  it  became  Delaware  Co.,  PA 

73 


Hendrick  Tussev  Jr.^^ 

Pile  Tussev, 

sons  of  Hendrick  Tussey,  (a.k.a.  Hendrick  Toulson  and  Henry  Toarson) 

they  were  "living  in  Maurice  River"  in  1703,  at  the  time  of  their 

father's  death. 


27  Peter  Craig,  op.  cit..  p.  119. 

74 


Chapter  III.  Section  VI  --  Why  John  Hopman  moved  to  Maurice  River 

John  Hopnnan,  first  owner  of  the  Burcham  farm,  was  an  old- 
style  Swede,  a  man  who  was  motivated  by  the  cultural  patterns  we 
have  been  discussing.     As  a  third  generation  Swedish  immigrant,  he 
was  also  well-acquainted  with  the  culture  and  the  politics  of  New 
Sweden.     His  decisions  about  where  to  live  and  what  to  do  with  his 
land   reflected  the  Swedish-American  experience  directly     -  not 
only  his  own,  but  also  that  of  his  father  and  grandfather.     The 
history  of  the  Hopman  family  on  the  Delaware  begins  with  John's 
grandfather,   Hans,  who  first  rejected  assimilation  into  the  English 
culture  1673.    The  history  of  the  lives  of  Hans  and  his  son 
Frederick's  helps  to  explain  John  Hopman's  decision  to  move  his 
family  to  Maurice  River. 

Hans  Hopman.  earlv  Delaware  settler^ 

Sergeant  Hans  Hopman  came  to  the  Delaware  region  sometime 
before  1655,  when  he  first  appeared  in  the  records  of  the  Dutch 
court  at  Newcastle.     He  spent  most  of  the  following  year  in  jail  at 
Fort  Casimir,  awaiting  trial  for  selling  a  gun  to  an  Indian.     In 
September  of  1856,  he  was  sent  to  trial  in  Manhattan. 

It  is  not  known  how  Hans  came  to  be  on  the  Delaware  in  1655, 
or  why  he  was  selling  a  gun  to  an  Indian.    Hans  may  have  been  a  Dutch 
soldier  who  moved  to  the  region  from  New  Amsterdam,  or  he  may 
have  been  a  Swede  who  was  pressed  into  military  service  at  the 
time  of  the  Dutch  takeover.     Whatever  his  national  origin,  however, 
his  life  was  closely  involved  with  the  early  Swedish  community  on 
the  Delaware. 

South  River  records  (Delaware)  in  1671,  show  him  living 
among  the  Swedes  at  Marcus  Hook,  Pennsylvania.    He  had  apparently 
married  a  Swedish  woman. 2    Hans  and  his  family  lived  on  a  part  of  a 
thousand-acre  tract  that  he  and  four  other  Swedes  had  been  granted 
under  Dutch  rule.^     After  the  British  takeover,  these  families  had  to 


^      Peter  Craig,  op.  cit..  p.  77  and  letters  to  P.  Bovers. 
2     Ibid. 

Peter  Craig,  letter  and  John  Watson,  Annals  of  Philadelphia.  Philadelphia,  E.S.  Stuart,  1905 

74 


re-apply  for  deeds  to  their  properties,   finally  receiving   new  patents 
from  the  English  in  1671.    The  English  deed  for  his  property  was  not 
enough  to  keep  Hopman  on  the  West  bank  of  the  Delaware,  however. 
He  may  even  have  moved  across  to  New  Jersey  before  the  deed  was 
issued.     Hans  and  his  family  joined  other  Swedes  --  Jons  Gustafsson 
and  Peter  Jonsson  --  in  their  move  to  Raccoon  Creek  in  1673, 
purchasing  land  there  in  1676.    (Raccoon  Creek  was  later  known  as 
Swedesboro,  New  Jersey). 

Hans'  name  appears  next  in  English  records  in  1699,  when  he 
was  a  part  of  the  Swedish/Finnish  rebellion  plot  against  the  English, 
fined  as  a  follower  of  Marcus  Jacobsen,  the  Long  Finn.'* 

In  New  Jersey,  Hans  and  three  of  his  sons  raised  cattle  and 
were  probably  also  cutting  wood.     Their  cattle  roamed  free  on  the 
common  marsh,  and  their  herds  were  identified  by  three  distinct  ear 
brands  recorded  in  the  original  tax  lists  of  Gloucester  County.^ 

Hans  died  in  Raccoon  Creek  shortly  after  1690,  and  was 
survived  by  six  sons.    One  of  them  was  Frederick  #1  of  Raccoon 
creek.  Another  was  John  #1  of  Pilesgrove,  Salem  County. 

Hans'  son  Frederick. (#2) 

Frederick  Hopman.  who  was  probably  Hans'  eldest  son, 
prospered  in  New  Jersey,  owning  100  acres  in  Raccoon  Creek  by 
1683.      He  was  committed  to  preserving  the  Swedish  language  and 
religion  in  the  new  world,  and  was  one  of  the  sponsors  of  the 
Swedish  Lutheran  church  in  Raccoon  Creek  in  1673.  He  donated  the 
land  on  which  the  church  was  built,  and  served  as  a  church  warden 
for  many  years.     Dying  after  1728,  he  left  no  will.     Baptismal 
records  exist  for  four  sons  and  five  daughters,  one  of  whom  was 
John  #2,  that  is,  Johannes  Frederickson  Hopman  of  Maurice  River. 

Hans  son  John(#3) 

Less  is  known  about  another  of  Hans  Hopman's  sons,  who  was 
also  called  John,  because  he  moved  to  remote  Salem  County  at  a 


^     See  Chapter  3,  section  one,  p.      on  the  Long  Finn  rebellion. 

Frank  Stewart,  former  president  of  GCHS  recorded  the  earmarks  in  a  society  publication, 
having  found  them  on  original  tax  lists  of  the  county. 

75 


young  age,  where  there  was  no  church  or  church  recorder.    John  #3 
was  at  least  21  years  old  in  1686  when  he  served  as  a  juror  in 
Gloucester  County  court,  and  had  moved  to  Pilesgrove,  Salem  County 
by  1696,  when  he  acquired  38  acres  from  William  Hall.^    He  died  in 
Salem  County  in  1714/5,  leaving  a  will  that  named  four  sons,  one  of 
whom  was  Nicholas  Hoffman  of  Maurice  River.  He  had  at  least  two 
daughters  as  well.     His  brother  Frederick  #1  was  an  executor  of  the 
will. 

John  Hopman  #2.  Johannes  Frederickson  Hopman  of  Maurice  River 

John  #2,  the  son  of  Frederick  Hopman  #1,  was  born  in  Raccoon 
Creek  about  1684,  and  married  to  Cathren  #1  by  1711.    He  bought  a 
large  corner  of  the  Scott  tract, ^  on  the  east  side  of  Maurice  River  in 
1737,  and  began  the  process  of  dividing  the  tract  into  farms  for  his 
family. 

Within  the  year,  he  had  sold  the  northwest  corner  of  the  tract 
--  a  200  acre  triangle  that  would  later  become  the  Burcham-Gricco 
tract  --  to  his  first  cousin  Nicholas.  Other  sections  of  the  tract 
were  divided  between  his  sons. 

John  doubtless  believed  he  owned  the  Burcham-Gricco  tract, 
which  was  logical,  as  the  1714  survey  of  the  Scott  tract  (see 
illustration,  p.  83  )  includes  it,  showing  Scott's  line  crossing  the 
Menantico  and  extending  down  to  the  Maurice. ^    But  at  some  point  in 


^    Archives  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  Vol.  21,  p.  616 

^      800  acres  from  Edward  Lummis    -  deed  at  N/loravian  Archives  in  Bethlehem,  PA. 

^      The  triangular  tract  does  not  appear  on  the  NJ  Proprietors  1691   survey  to  Bartlett, 

however,  (see  illustration  p.  84),  and  it  was  not  mentioned  in  Scott's  deed  to  Lummis.  It  seems 

likely  that  the  Burcham  tract  was  one  of  the  corners  clipped  off  of  the  Scott  survey  by  later 

surveyors,  as  LQ  Elmer  wrote  that  the  Scott  tract,  as  originally  surveyed  contained  twice  as 

many  acres  as  it  was  said  to  contain,  that  is,  20  thousand  acres  were  surveyed  as  ten. 

The  problems  can  be  traced  back  to  John's  sale  of  the  200  acre  triangular  tract  to  his 
cousin  Nicholas  in  1738.    The  only  known  record  of  this  transaction  is  in  Nicholas  Hoffman's 
1748  deed  to  his  son  in  law  Gabriel  izard,  and  does  not  include  a  deed  recital,  saying  only  that 
John  Hopman  acquired  it  by  divers  means.    It  seems  likely  that  the  Burcham  farm  was  one  of 
the  properties  that  Brick  refers  to  when  he  discusses  the  problems  Griffith  encountered  after 
1804,  when  he  purchased  land  out  of  the  Byerly  survey,  and  found  that  he  had  to  contend  with 
many  early  settlers  and  improvers  on  his  tract,  eventually  having  to  sell  them  the  lands  at  a 
low  price.    Suggestively,  there  is  a  snag  in  the  chain  of  title  of  the  Burcham  deeds  in  1814 
when  Nicholas  Izard,  grandson  of  Nicholas  Hoffman,  and  a  resident  of  Fayette,  Kentucky,  sells 
the  family  property  to  Charles  Ewing  the  prominent  lawyer  for  $1.    A  year  later,  Daniel  Elmer, 

76 


the  English  re-surveying  process,  the  Burcham-Gricco  farm  was 
clipped  off.     This  discrepancy  would  not  be  unraveled  for  many  years, 
however. 

In  Maurice  River,  John  Hopman(#2)  and  his  sons  settled  down 
to  cutting  lumber.  By  1750,  two  of  his  sons  were  sawmill  owners 
--  Frederick  (#2  )'s  sawmill  was  listed  on  the  1751  ratables  list, 
and  Jonas'  sawmill  on  West  creek  was  operating  before  1750.9 

Hopman  was  also  raising  livestock,  keeping  bees  and  farming. 
His  inventory  lists  a  stack  of  corn,  swine  and  cattle,  tools, 
ploughshares,  mill  stones  and  other  goods. io      His  will  also  describes 
his  dyked  meadow,  which  was  built  before  1746.^1  Hopman,  (John 
#2)  was  dyking  the  Manumuskin  informally--  with  his  sons,  in  the 
Dutch  tradition  -  long  before  any  legislation  was  passed. ^2     Hopman 
became  one  of  the  founders  of  The  Maurice  River  Swedish  Lutheran 
church,  a  church  that  was  built  on  his  property  about  1743.    The 
church  was  built  at  the  edge  of  the  river  to  make  it  easily 
accessible,  as  most  of  the  congregation  arrived  by  water. 


who  was  also  a  prominent  lawyer  sells  It  to  John  Lanning,  Jr.    There  is  no  record  of  a  deed 
from  Ewing  to  Elmer  however. 

It  Is  interesting  that  the  confusion  about  the  Scott  tract  still  exists  today,  as  many 
surveyors  in  1995,  still  survey  properties  based  on  the  "Scott  line"  as  it  is  shown  in  the  1714 
survey  --  running  across  the  Burcham  property.     The  Scott  tract,  still  today  is  considered  to 
have  included  the  Burcham  farm,    by  crossing  the  Menantico,  not  simply  running  along  the 
Menantico  to  the  Maurice. 

9     Roy  Hand,  "The  (y/lills  of  east  and  West  Greek",  Cape  May  County  Magazine.  June  1961  p. 
273. 

^^  An  inventory  of  John  Hopman's    estate  that  was  done  by  his  fellow  parishioners  William 
Cobb  and  Abraham  Jones  was  appraised  at  90  pounds  3  and  10  and  included: 
his  weahng  cloth  and  aparel,  a  pair  of  oxen,  7  cows,  3  young  calte,  4  other  catle,  a  field  of 
corn,  a  cart  and  sled,  a  yoke  and  iron,  a  pair  of  hand  mill  stones  and  grind  stone,  2  bee  hives,  a 
plow  shear  and  colter,  a  parcel  of  tools,  a  canon,  colers  and  harnas,  sadle  and  old  iron,  loom 
and  backing,  coverlid  and  blanketing,  old  lumber,  2  spinning  wheels,  a  bell,  3  beds  and 
furniture,  a  piece  of  a  nett.  3  chairs  and  2  tables,  warming  pan  and  smoothing  iron.  3  iron 
potts,  books,  earthen  wear  and  bottles,  pewter  dining  plates  and  spoons  and  tramkers,  gun 
powder  and  backling,  a  chear  and  benchis,  corn,  an  old  hors  and  chees  press,  swine  and  a 
mufmin  hide,  womans  or  woven  cloaths.  a  stack  of  corn,  book  debts,  forgotten  goods 
^^   See  1746  will  survey,  illustration  p.  82. 

^2  Hopman  is  cited  in  local  histories,  such  as  F.W.  Bowen's  as  the  first  in  the  area  to  dike  the 
marshland.    But  Bowen  assumed  that  the  diking  began  after  1780,  when  the  state  of  NJ 
authorized  the  diking  of  the  Manumuskin.  (Trenton  Index  of  Laws,  Acts  of  the  6th  general 
assembly  of  the  state  of  NJpp.  721-23.)    Hoffman's  1746  will  establishes  the  diking  much 
earlier. 


77 


John's  main  collaborator  on  the  Swedish  Church  was  his  first 
cousin  and  neighbor,    Nicholas  Hoffman,  the  man  to  whom  John  had 
sold  the  northwest  corner  of  his  tract  --  the  Burcham-Gricco 
farmJ3    john  Hopman  donated  the  land  on  which  the  church  and 
graveyard  were  built,  a  section  of  his  tract  that  his  son  Jonas  would 
later  inherit. i^     Lucas  Peterson  and  Nicholas  Hoffman  paid  the 
expenses  for  the  building. is  (See  illustrations  p.  82,  85.) 

The  Maurice  River  Church 

At  the  beginning,  sermons  at  the  Maurice  River  Lutheran  church 
were  given  in  Swedish.    With  time,  however,  sermons  began  to  be 
delivered  in  English,  and  the  Swedish-Lutheranness  of  the  church 
declined.    The  church  was  dependent  on  visiting  preachers,  as  it  had 
no  permanent  clergyman  of  its  own,  and  German  Moravian 
missionaries  were  the  only  preachers  willing  to  make  the  arduous 
journey  to  Maurice  River.     The  missionaries  traveled  down  to  the 
church  after  preaching  at  the  Swedish  church  at  Raccoon  Creek.    By 
1746,  they  had  succeeded  in  converting  the  congregation  to  the 
Moravian  faith,  and  Nicholas  Hoffman  and  Lucas  Peterson  assigned 
the  deed  for  the  church  to  two  Moravian  ministers  that  year. 


Records  of  Moravian  Missionaries 
In  1745,  Abraham  Reincke,  i 
from  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  noted  in  his  travel  journal  that  he 


In  1745,  Abraham  Reincke,  a  German  Moravian  ^^  missionary 


13  Nicholas  lived  on  the  Maunce  on  the  farm  just  north  of  John,  directly  across    Menantico 
Creek. 

1**  The  church  and  graveyard  site  no  longer  exists,  as  most  of  the  land  on  which  it  was  built 
has  fallen  into  the  river.    The  cornerstone  of  the  graveyard  can  be  found  on  what  is  today  Rudy 
Strauss'    property. 

1  ^  In  a  1 746  deed  to  Abraham  Jones  and  3  Moravian  missionaries,  Nicholas  Hoffman  and  Lucas 
Peterson  were  described  as  "those  who  had  caused  the  church  "house  or  building"  to  be 
constructed  "at  their  own  proper  costs  and  charges"  on  a  fast  landing  on  John  Hopman's  land. 
This  deed  for  the  church  house  is  at  t\1oravian  Archives  in  Bethlehem,  PA. 

16 

The  Moravians  had  their  beginnings  in  the  Protestant  Reformation  in  Germany  .  They  were 

sometimes  known  as  United  Brethren,  Bohemians,  or  Hernhutters.    Their  doctine  was  partly 
Calvinistic,  partly  Lutheran,  and  rejected  war.  They  suffered  great  persecution  in  Europe,  and 
established  themselves  in  Bethlehem.  Pennsylvania  in  1741.  Crusading  missionaries,  they 
converted  a  large  community  of  native  Americans  in  Gnadenhutten,  a  settlement  in 
Tuscarawarus  County,  Ohio.    The  site  is  famous  today  because  the  peace-loving  Indians  there 

78 


visited  Nicholas  Hoffman  and  his  wife  Catherine  at  Morris's  river 
(Burcham/Gricco  property),  then  crossed  the  creek  (the  Menantico  at 
Rawson's  mill)  on  his  way  to  John  Hopman's.  Reincke  described  "old 
John  Hopman  of  Maurice  River"  as  looking  "like  an  Indian,"  because 
Hopman  dressed  in  the  style  of  the  of  the  early  Swedish  pioneers  -- 
wearing  home-made  clothes  of  animal  skins. 

Another  traveling  minister.  Earnest  Gambold,  also  stayed  the 
night  at  Nicholas  Hopman's. 

John  Hopman's  1746  Will 

John  Hopman  (#2)  died  at  Maurice  River.    His  will  (1746)  named 
five  sons  --  John  #4,  b  1712,  Frederick  #2,  b.  1715,  Peter,  b.  1722, 
Jonas  b.  1727  and  Gabriel,  b.  1731,  all  of  Maurice  River.    John  and  his 
wife,  Catherine,  were  buried  in  the  graveyard  at  the  Maurice  River 
Church.     His  will  mentions  the  divisions  of  property  that  he  had 
already  made  between  his  sons  and  splits  his  "banked  meadow 
adjoining  "Manumuskee"  creek  in  equal  fifths  between  his  sons.  (See 
survey,  illustration  p.  82.)     By  leaving  it  equally  to  all  five  sons,  he 
was  illustrating  the  value  of  the  small  tract  of  banked  meadow,  and 
also  insuring  the  cooperation  of  all  five  brothers  in  the  maintenance 
of  the  dykes. 

Hopman's  decision  to  move  to  Maurice  River 

By  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Maurice  River  had 
become  the  answer  for  many  Swedes.    The  largest  numbers  of 
immigrants  arriving  between  1720  and  1740.    John  Hopman  was  one 
of  these  immigrants,  an  old-style  Swede  who  dressed  in  the  manner 
of  the  early  pioneers,  and  enjoyed  life  on  the  river.     Like  them, 
Hopman  was  a  woodsman  and  cattle  owner,  a  man  who  prized  the 
marshland,  and  knew  how  to  make  good  use  of  it  --  dyking,  cutting 
timber  and  letting  his  cattle  roam  the  marshes. 

Hopman's  dyking  was  a  family  affair,  work  he  shared  with  hi 
sons.    The  dykes  were  for  their  mutual  benefit.    This  was  congenial, 
community  or  family  diking,  in  the  style  of  the  Dutch. 

were  mercilessly  executed  there  by  a  white  posse  who  somehow  mistook  them  for  a  murderous 
band. 

79 


Clearly,  Hopman  was  drawn  to  the  frontier  because  he  wanted 
to  live  among  the  Swedes.     At  Maurice  River,  he  followed  his  father 
Frederick  #2's  example,  working  to  preserve  Swedish  culture  and 
religion  by  donating  land  to  build  a  Swedish  church,  or  center  for  the 
community,  where  the  Swedish  language  would  be  spoken.    He 
continued  to  dress  in  the  style  of  the  early  pioneers,  though  the 
other  Europeans  caled  him  an  Indian. 

In  John's  Hopman's  memory  banks,  doubtless,  was  the  history 
of  his  own  family's  trouble  with  the  English  --  beginning  with 
grandfather  Hans'  deed  troubles  at  Marcus  Hook  in  1691,  and 
continuing  with  family's  troubles  with  the  permits  they  were  issued 
in  Raccoon  Creek.     The  constantly  shifting  deed  situation  would  have 
been  known  to  him  through  direct  knowledge  and  experience. 

Therefore,  It  seems  highly  possible  that  he,  like  many  of  his 
fellow  Swedes,  was  cutting  timber  or  settling  lands  in  Maurice 
River  long  before  his  official  1738  purchase,  and  equally  likely,  if  he 
knew  that  the  land  he  sold  to  Nicholas  Hoffman  did  not  belong  to  him 
because  it  had  been  re-surveyed,  and  excluded  from  the  Scott  tract, 
not  to  have  considered  the  new  survey  valid. 

Nicholas  Hoffman 

Nicholas  Hoffman  was  born  by  1695,  and  lived  the  first  half  of 
his  life  at  Pilesgrove,  Salem  County,  in  an  isolated  Swedish 
settlement  that  was  far  from  the  church  at  Raccoon  Creek,  and 
therefore  without  much  recorded  history.       He  and  his  family  do 
appear  in  the  records  of  the  church  at  Raccoon  Creek  until  1716, 
however.  ^^    After  that  time,  he  may  have  moved  from  Pilesgrove,  as 
he  and  his  brother  John  #3  ^^  were  leasing  the  property  they 
inherited  from  their  father  to  Peter  Steelman  by  June  of  1718.^^ 
Nicholas'  name  continued  to  be  associated  with  the  church  at 
Raccoon  Creek  until  about  1731,^°  after  which  time  he  may  have 


Amandus  Johnson.  Records  of  Swedish  Lutheran  Churches  at  Raccoon  and  Penn's  Neck,  p. 
236. 
^8  They  were  two  sons  of  John  #3. 

^^  West  Jersey  deeds  A-B.  pp.  GO,  62. 

20 

Amandus  Johnson,  op.  cit..  pp.  35.  252-253. 

80 


moved  to  Maurice  River.    If  so,  he  would  have  been  in  Maurice  River 
for  seven  years  before  he  bought  the  triangular  tract  from  his  cousin 
John. 

Nicholas  and  his  wife  Catherine  #2  lived  in  Maurice,  raising 
cattle  and  sheep  until  about  1748,  when  they  assigned  their  Maurice 
River  property  to  their  daughter  Martha  and  her  husband  Gabriel 
Izard.  21     They  returned  to  Pilesgrove,  Salem  County  in  the  last  years 
of  their  lives.     Catherine  #2  died  there  in  1758,  Nicholas  in  1767. 
They  had  two  daughters  --    Mary  and  Martha.    Martha  Hoffman 
married  Gabriel  Izard  and  lived  on  her  father's  farm  in  Maurice  River. 

The  Burcham-Gricco  property  remained  in  the  Izard  family  for 
more  than  70  years  until  Nicholas  Izard,  Nicholas  Hoffman's 
grandson  sold  it  in  1814.     By  1815,  the  Gricco  part  of  the  farm  had 
been  re  sold  to  John  Lanning,  Jr.    His  wife's  maiden  name  was  Rhoda 
Izard. 


21  Nicholas  Hoffman  was  nonetheless  taxed  for  his  180  acre  farm  on  the  Maurice  river  in 
1751,  along  with  16  cattle  and  8  sheep.    Gabriel  Isard  was  taxed  only  for  140  acres  and  10 
cattle. 

81 


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Chapter  IV.  Section  I  --The  Burcham  Period 

The  brickmaking  period  of  the  Burcham  farm,  from  1865  to 
1942,  is  the  focus  of  the  last  chapter  of  this  thesis.  This  industrial 
period  is  a  significant  part  of  the  history  of  this  farm,  a  period  that 
extended  the  life  of  the  dyked  farm  beyond  that  of  other  farms  in  the 
area.     During  this  period,  a  traditional  farming  technology  -  dyking- 
-  was  used  to  support  another  industry. 

Chapter  Four  begins  with  the  precise  mechanics  of  the 
technology  that  preserved  the  farm.     First  it  details  the  history  and 
technology  of  the  brick  industry,  then  moves  on  to  the  history  of 
Mlllville  brickyards  in  general  and  Amaziah   Burcham's  in  particular. 
The  second  section  of  the  chapter  discusses  the  history  of  the 
farmhouse,  which  is  also  a  historical  artifact,  the  history  of  the 
family,  and  the  use  of  the  farm  today.     This  chapter  concludes  the 
discussion  of  the  many  ways  that  this  Delaware  valley  marshland 
has  been  used  through  time,  a  product  of  the  many  cultures  that 
developed  and  maintained  it. 

Sharp's   --   The   First   Brickyard   in   Miilville 

The  first  commercial  brick  maker  listed   in  Miilville  was  John 
L.  Sharp,  whose  factory  was  established  in  1848,  just  as  Miilville 
industry  began  to  take  off. 

Sharp  was  the  son  of  Anthony  Sharp,  a  66  year-old 
"gentleman,"  who  owned  $15,000  of  real  estate  and  ran  a  small 
sand-washing  business  in   1860.1 

The  Sharps  were  Quakers  who  had  moved  down  to  Buckshutem 
Creek  from  Mount  Holly,  N.J.  in  1838.    John  L.  Sharp  was  born  in 
1824,  and  established  a  brick  factory  at  Buckshutem  when  he  was  23 
years  old. 2 


1  (At  that  time,  sand  was  washed  and  sold  to  glass  manufacturers) 

2  This  advertisement  in  the  1882    Bridgeton  section  of  Cumberland  County  directory  at 
Miilville    says 

Sharps,  established  1848. 

manufacturers  of  pressed,  paving,  stretchers,  arch  and  salmon  bricks, 

in  miilville  on  Middle  Ave.  west  of  bridge 

86 


Before   1860,   Sharp  built  kilns   in  downtown   Millville,^  on  the 
river  at  Middle  Avenue.     He  brought  clay  fronn  his  Buckshutem  pits 
into  town,  probably  by  water. 

in  1860,  Sharp  was  the  only  brick  maker  listed  in  the  Mlllville 
census. 4    He  held  $2,000  of  real  estate,  and  $4,000  of  personal 
assets. 

Sharp  operated  the  brickyard  six  months  a  year,  using  1200 
tons  of  clay  (worth  $250)  and  150  cords  of  wood  (worth  $450),  and 
employing  11  workers  (who  were  paid  $286),  to  produce  500,000 
bricks.     The  bricks  were  sold  for  $3,000.     Sharp's  Brickyard  was 
worth    $5,000. 

Sharp  lived  most  of  his  adult  life  in  downtown  Millville,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  City  Council  there  for  9  years.    He  was  elected 
to  the  state  senate  in  1856  as  a  Democrat.     He  died  in  Millville  on 
August  6,   1880.5 

Subsequent  Owners 

Sharp's  brick  factory  was  owned  by  Samuel  Hilliard  by  1867.6 
David  Fithian  of  Millville  worked  as  a  brick  maker  at  Hilliard's 
brickyard,  about  that  time.'' 

By  1882,  Sharp's  brickyard  was  owned  by  George  Harrison, 
though  it  was  still  listed  as  Sharp's  Brickyard  in  the  city 
directories.     Harrison  advertised  many  types  of  brick  for  sale, 
including  pressed  bricks,  paving  bricks,  stretchers,  arch  and  salmon 
bricks,  (see  advertisement,  p.  ) 

In  1886,  Harrison's  brickyard  appeared  on  the  new  Millville 
City  Map,  though  the  artist's  drawing  is  of  the  factory  complex  is 
inaccurate.  (See  1880  map  and  the  1904  photograph  of  the  site).    The 
brickyard  was  built  on  the  Maurice  River,  at  Middle  Avenue,  near  the 
oyster  and  fish  markets,  where  it  was  ideally  located  for  shipping 


^The  date  the  kilns  were  built  might  be  inferred  from  a  deed  search  for  the  property. 

^  He  was  the  only  brick  maker  listed  in  the  1860  manufacturing  census. 

^  Gushing  and  Sheppard,  p.  644. 

6  See  1867  map. 

^  Fola  Bevan  of  l\/lillviile  HIstohcal  Society  came  across  references  to  Hilliard's  brickyard  in 

her  research  into  the  Fithian  family.  Her  article  was  published  in  vineland  Historical  Magazine, 

vol.   61.   #1,    1985. 

87 


bricks.  In  1904,  it  was  known  as  Hess  and  Golder's.    It  was  no  longer 
operating  by  1930.  At  that  time,  the  property  was  owned  by  Ben 
Dilks'  dad,  who  occasionally  provided  clay  for  the  Burcham 
brickyard,  where  the  clay  was  beginning  to  run  short. 

NJ  State  Geologist's  Report  of  1904 

In  1904,  the  state  geologist's  report  on  Brick  making  was 
published.     It  reported  that  there  were  6  brick  factories  in 
Cumberland  County  that  year,  but  only  two  of  them  had  the  latest 
brick  making  machinery  --  the  stiff  mud  process  machinery.     The 
two  modern  brick  makers  were  A.E.  Burcham,  who  was  listed  at 
Buckshutem  and  Kilborn  and  Gibson  in  Rosenhayn.    Four  other 
manufacturers  made  bricks  by  the  soft  mud  brick  method,  including 
Hess  and  Golder  at  Millville  (formerly  Sharp's),  J.  A.  Hobart  at 
Vineland,  B.  Erickson  at  Bridgeton,  and  Robert  Greenlee  at  Belleplain. 

Brick   making,  the  traditional  and  the  stiff-mud  process 

The  soft  mud  process  was  the  first  one  developed,  and  it  was  a 
less  costly,  but  more  labor  intensive  process.     In  1904,  this  process 
was  used  at  Hess  and  Golder's  brick  factory  across  the  river.      At  the 
beginning  of  the  Burcham  brickyard,  it  was  doubtless  also  the 
method  used.    By  1904,  however,  Burcham  had  invested  in  new 
technology,  which  is  described  below.     First,  though,  the  traditional 
method: 

The  Soft  Mud  Process 

In  the  Soft-Mud  Process,  bricks  are  made  in  much  the  same 
way  as  bread.     First,  the  clay  is  mixed  with  water  and  sand  until  it 
becomes  soft.    Next,  it  was  placed  in  wooden  molds  that  resemble  a 
bread  loaf  pan,  with  five    smooth  surfaces.     The  sixth  surface  is 
formed  by  scraping  the  clay  off  the  top  of  the  mold. 

As  the  bricks  are  removed  from  the  mold  and  transferred  to 
the  drying  floor,  they  bend  slightly,  becoming  concave  on  one  side 
and  convex  on  the  other.    To  produce  brick  with  smooth  faces  and 
sharp  edges,  this  type  of  brick  must  be  re-pressed. 


88 


Stiff-Mud    Machines 

The  Stiff-mud  Process,  which  was  used  at  the  Burcham 
brickyard,  produced  bricks  that  required  less  care  in  tempering, 
molding  or  re-pressing,  and  still  had  crushing  strength  equal  to 
those  of  other  common  bricks.     In  the  stiff  mud  process,  less  water 
is  mixed  into  the  clay,  creating  a  stiff  mud  which  is  then  forced 
through  a  rectangular  die. 

As  the  bar  of  clay  issues  from  the  machine,  it  is  received  on 
the  cutting  table,  where  it  is  cut  up  into  bricks  by  means  of  parallel 
steel  wires  or  by  revolving  transverse  wires  or  a  wheel  of  wires. 

This  process  was  created  mainly  for  clays  of  moderate 
plasticity  like  the  Cape  May  Age  Clays  found  on  the  farm.    It  does  not 
work  well  with   stony  clays. 

Stiff-mud  bricks  can  also  be  re-pressed,  but  they  do  not  have 
to  be.  With  either  type  of  brick,  the  green  bricks  (those  that  have 
been  dried  but  not  fired)  are  put  into  a  steel  mold    and  pressure  is 
applied  to  straighten  and  sharpen  the  edges.    This  was  done  with 
both  hand  power  and  steam  power  machines.    Soft  mud  bricks  need  to 
dry  for  a  few  hours  before  re-pressing,  but  stiff-mud  brick  can  be 
re-pressed  as  soon  as  they  are  molded. 

Clay 

The  main  component  of  bricks  is  clay,  which  is,  in  its  pure 
state,  consists  largely  of  the  mineral  kaolinite,  a  hydrous  aluminum 
silicate  created  by  the  decomposition  of  granite  or  other  feldspathic 
rocks.     Most  clays  also  contain  other  hydrous  aluminous  minerals  as 
well,  such  as  finely  powdered  quartz,  feldspar  and  mica. 

The   best   brick  clays   contain   three-fifths  silica,   one-fifth 
alumina,  and  one-fifth  iron,  lime,  magnesia,  soda,  potash  and  water. 

Gape  Mav  Aae  clavs 

Described  as  gritty,  loamy,  sandy  clay.  Cape  May  age  clays 
slake  (heat  and  crumble  by  addition  with  water)  slowly  because  the 


89 


clay  particles  in  them  are  evenly  distributed. ^     This  clay  produces 
red  bricks  naturally,  without  any  additional  color  added. 

Burning 

Burning  brick  drives  the  last  traces  of  moisture,  carbon 
dioxide  and  sulfur  tri-  oxide  from  the  clay,  causing  the  mass  to 
shrink  as  the  clay  fuses  and  hardens,  then  vitrifies,  becoming  dense, 
hard,  permanent  brick. 


^Ries  and  Hummel,  op.  cit..  p.  346 

90 


^-J- 


^1 


Chapter  IV.  Section  II  --  Burcham's  New  Jersey  Drain  and  Tile  Works 

As  the  industrial  town  of  Millville  grew,  the  brick  industry 
also  grew,  and  the  clay  pits  on  the  Burcham  farm  became  very 
valuable,  as  they  were  one  of  the  only  two  sources  of  Cape  May  Age 
clay  in  Millville.  (The  other  was  Sharp's.)       By  1865,  there  was  a 
commercial  brickyard  established  on  the  site.     The  factory  was  built 
by  John  McClure,  who  purchased  the  property  in  1865,  and 
established  a  brick  factory  on  the  site  soon  afterward. ^ 

John  McClure  was  the  son  of  David  McClure,  owner  of  the  large 
dyked   farm^  just  upriver  from  the  Burcham  property,  and  was  living 
on  his  father's  farm  in  1860.  He  was  26  years  old.    John  McClure  was 
also  the  nephew  of  John  McConaghy,  another  owner  of  adjacent 
marshland.     The  McConaghy-McClure  family  owned  the  property 
bordering  the  Clunn's  for  at  least  70  years. 3 

It  Is  not  known  when  bricks  were  first  made  on  the  Burcham 
property.     It  is  likely,  however,  that  they  were  made  at  an  earlier 
day.     Possibly,  they  were  made  for  use  in  the  foundation  of  the 
earliest  identified  structure  on  the  property.     The  house  was  on  the 
site  at  the  time  Amaziah  Burcham  bought  the  property  in  1867. 

1870  Census 

By  the  time  of  the  1870  census,  Amaziah  Burcham  owned  the 
Menantico  brickyard,  which  he  called  the  New  Jersey  Drain  and  Tile 
Works.    His  brother  Joseph  Burcham,  and  two  other  brick  makers 
were  listed  as  living  on  the  farm  and  working  in  the  brick  factory. 


^   Hudson,  Mary,     History  of  Millville.   Millville   Historical   Society,   1950. 

2  The  1860  census  lists  David  McClure  as  ttie  owner  of  $4000  of  real  estate. 

3  1834  Sheriff's  sale  to  David  McClure,  1838  to  John  McConaghy  for  $1k,  1854  back  to  David 
McClure  in  John  Mc  Conaghy's  will,  Mc  Clure  is  left  the  farm  where  he  and  Mary  ann  Mc  Clure 
now  live  in  Millville  for  his  lifetime,  then  after  his  death,  it  will  go  to  John  mcclure,  son  of 
David's  son.    John  McClure  is  described  as  Mc  Conaghy's  nephew,  so  Mary  Ann  must  have  been 
Mc  Conaghy's  sister. 

John  Mcclure  inherits  the  property  after  the  death  of  his  father.  In  1872,  he  mortgages 
40  sqauare  perches  of  the  property  to  his  neighbor,  Edward  Hampton  for  $300.    The 
transaction  probably  has  something  to  do  with  the  meadow  company  appraisals.    In  1909,  after 
the  death  of  his  wife,  he  sells  the  property  to  Wm  and  Charles  Ore.  referring  to  the  property  as 
the  "Kates  farm,"  probably  because  the  Kates  were  leasing  the  farm. 

92 


Four  of  the  1 1   brickworkers  in  Millville  that  year  worked  at 
Burcham's.     Some  of  the  others  were  working  at  Nathaniel  Reeves' 
brickyard. 

Amaziah  had  $1800  of  capital  invested  in  the  business,  owned 
two  brick  press  machines,  employed  4  males  over  16,  paid  $1,100  of 
wages,  and  ran  the  business  for  only  6  months  of  the  year. 

He  used  $225  of  clay,  $90  of  wood,  and  $480  of  sand  to  produce 
350,000  bricks  that  he  sold  for  $3,500.  He  used  the  power  of  one 
horse  in  the  process. 

Nathaniel  Reeves,  the  other  brick  maker  listed,  was  also  in 
business  for  only  6  months  of  the  year,  paid  $1,000  in  wages  to  3 
male  workers.     He  had  $600  of  capital  invested,  owned  only  one  brick 
making  machine,  but  it  was  not  the  "pressed"  kind.  He  also  used  one 
horse  in  the  process. 

Reeves  used  $100  of  clay  and  70  cords  of  wood  worth  $280,  (no 
sand  listed)  to  produce  200,000  bricks  worth  $2,000. 

By  1880,  Reeves  was  no  longer  in  the  brick  making  business. 
He  had  become  a  glass  cutter  and  had  $4500  of  real  estate. 

1880  Census 

In  1880,  Amaziah  Burcham  was  the  only  brick  maker  listed  in 
the  manufacturing  census,  though  he  was  not  the  only  brick  maker  at 
the  time.  Twenty  four  men  were  listed  as  brick  workers  in  the 
Millville  population  census  in  1880,  and     Amaziah  employed  half  of 
them  --    12  men  who  he  paid  $2,000  in  wages. 

The  other  brick  makers  may  have  worked  in  the 
Buckshutem/Millville  brickyard,  which  may  not  have  been  counted  in 
the  Millville  Manufacturing  census  tally.     It  may  have  been  counted  in 
a  different  township  or  county. 

Burcham  used  wood  and  other  materials  worth  $475  to  produce 
600,000  common  bricks  worth  $3,600  and  $200  of  tiles. 

By  1880,  he  had  installed  steam  power  --  one  boiler  and  one 
engine.  He  had  also  begun  to  advertise.    In  the  Greenwich  directory 
that  year,  he  advertised  hard,  paving  and  pressed  bricks,  tile  and 
drain  pipe  for  sale.  He  had  also  installed  some  high  tech  equipment, 
including  a  grinder  and  a  brick  press. 

93 


1904  Report  of  the  State  Geologist 

In  1904,  the  New  Jersey  state  geologist  wrote  that  the  best 
Cape  May  clay  in  Cumberland  county  was  found  on  either  side  of  the 
Maurice  river  at  Buckshutem  --  at  A.  E.  Burcham's  brickyard  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  and  at  Hess  and  Golder's  yard  on  the  west. 
They  were  the  only  two  brick  makers  listed  in  Millville. 

At  Burcham's.  sandy  clay  was  found  under  15  inches  of  sand  for 
at  least  9  feet  in  depth,  but  only  the  upper  6  feet  were  dug.    The 
bottom  layers  were  left  to  prevent  the  water  of  the  creek  from 
entering  the  pit. 

Burcham  clay  was  a  green  brick  mixture  that  requires  27  % 
water  for    tempering  and    becomes  steel  hard  at  cone  3.    He  was 
producing  three  thousand  red-burning  bricks  a  day  by  the  stiff  mud 
process. 

Brickyard     workers  were  seasonal  employees,  hired  from 
Philadelphia  employment  agencies,  who  were  offered 
accommodations  from  March  to  November.    They  lived  in  tenant 
houses  on  the  property  --two  of  which  were  behind  the  wagon  shed, 
and  three  more  that  were  by  the  bend  in  the  road.^    Maud  Jones 
Burcham,  Janice  and  Jeannette's  mother  baked  14  loaves  of  bread  a 
day  to  fed  the  work  force. 

The  20th  century 

Frank  Burcham,  Amaziah's  son  took  over  the  brickyard  in  1913, 
as  Amaziah  was  incapacitated.    He  had  been  gradually  taking  on  more 
responsibility  before  that  time.     He  had  married  in  1907,  and  his 
wife  Maud,  had  joined  the  brick  making  business  at  that  time. 

Mary  Samano  Wheaton,  remembers  that  her  father,  John 
Samano,  Sr.,  worked  at  the  Burcham  brickyard.    Samano  was  a  recent 
Russian  immigrant  and  a  highly  skilled  mason,  but  did  not  speak 
English  well  enough  to  find  masonry  work  when  he  first  arrived.     He 
and  his  wife  and  the  first  few  of  their  seven  children  lived  in  one  of 


^    The  tenant  houses  were  wood  frame,  2  storey  houses.    Single  men  lived  inside  the  family 
house  in  rooms  that  were  in  the  second  floor  of  the  oldest  section  of  the  house. 

94 


the  tenant  houses  on  the  Burcham  property  about  1920.    Later 
Samano  and  his  sons  started  a  masonry  business  in  Millville  (Samano 
Brothers).     They  were  responsible  for  many  of  the  alterations  done 
at  the  farmhouse,  and  much  of  the  brick  laying  done  all  over  town. 

By  the  1930's,  the  brickyard  operation  was  growing  smaller, 
and  the  clay  in  the  pits  was  slowly  being  used  up.    Frank  Burcham  cut 
back  to  only  4  workers.  Maud  still  cooked  lunch  for  the  workers,  but 
there  were  no  boarders,  as  people  could  come  by  car. 

Gradually,  Janice  and  Jeanettte's  brother  Melvin  and  one  other 
man  did  all  the  brick  making.    The  power  to  run  the  brick  machine 
and  the  clay  car  was  converted  from  steam  to  an  old  Studebaker 
engine  that  was  hooked  up  to  the  machinery. 

Brother  Melvin,  (b.  1913)  worked  at  the  brickyard  until  1942, 
when  the  yard  was  shut  down  so  the  men  could  go  to  work  in  defense 
factories  to  help  with  the  war  effort.     Melvin  went  to  New  York 
Shipping  in  Camden,  N.J.;  Frank  went  to  Del-bay  ship  building  in 
Dorchester. 


95 


Chapter  IV.  Sentinn   III   --  The  Proxemics  of  the  Brickyard 

Site  Plan  of  the  Burcham  Property  in  1940 

(drawn  from  a   1940  survey  photograph  on  file  at  the  Aerial   Photos 

Division   in   Trenton) 

Scale:  1   inch  =  500  feet 


Buildings  on  the  property  in  1940: 

1 )  farmhouse 

2)  corncrib 

3)  barn 

4)  2  chicken  coops 

5)  wagon  shed 

6)  pigeon  house 

7)  two  tenant  houses 

8)  rail  road  track 

9)  clay  mixer 

10)  brick  making  machine 

11)  felt    rollers 

12)  4  drying  sheds 

13)  stack  of  cord  wood 

14)  the  remains  of  one  of  three  cone-shaped  brick  kilns 

15)  site  of  boat  house 

16)  old  barge,  on  the  right  of  the  pier 

17)  shipping  pier  built  to  ship  sand,  used  once 

18)  site  of  storage  shed  for  fishermen 

19)  two  flat  topped,  removable  wood-roofed  modern  kilns 

20)  site  of  3  former  tenant  houses,  which  were  torn  down  c.1930 

21)  post  and  wire  fence  that  kept  animals  out  of  industrial  site 

22)  machine  shop 

23)  clay  holes 


DiKc 


Brick  making  at  Burcham's  Brickyard 

Brickmaking  began  at  the  Burcham  farm  just  behind  the  wagon 
shed  --  at  the  clay  pits,  where  clay  was  dug  and  thrown  up  to  the 
land  above.  (Map  location  #21)    The  clay  was  shoveled  into  an  old 
railroad  coal  car  that  had  been  converted  to  use  on  the  farm.     It  was 
known  as  "the  clay  car,"  and  it  held  up  to  two  tons  of  clay.    It  ran 
across  the  property  on  a    track  (location  #  8)  that  began  at  the  clay 
pits  and  ended  at  the  factory  buildings.  The  car  ran  on  flanges, 
moving  across  the  property  by  steam-power  (later  by  engine 
power)  1.     It  ran  up  a  slight  incline  as  it  approached  the  factory 
building,   (location   #9). 

At  the  first  factory  building,  the  bottom  of  the  car  opened,  and 
the  ciay  inside  fell  into  a  large  wooden  bin  below  the  track.     This 
process  was  repeated  --  the  clay  car  running  back  and  forth  to  the 
clay  pits  until  the  bin  was  full.       A  bin  full  of  clay  was  just  enough 
for  a  day's  work. 

When  the  bin  was  full,  the  clay  was  shoveled  into  a  grinder  at 
in  the  next  building  (location  #10).     The  grinder  resembled  an 
oversized  meat  grinder,  and  it  made  the  clay  homogenous,  crushing 
any  large  particles  and  mixing  it  with  water.     When  the  clay  mixture 
reached  the  right  consistency,  it  moved  into  the  next  phase  of  the 
brick  making  machinery,  entering  a  cast  iron  mold.  (See  illustration 
p.  99.)     The  stiff  clay  was  forced  through  the  rectangular  mold, 
coming  out  as  a  long  stiff  bar  of  mud,  the  exact  width  of  a  brick.     It 
moved  along  a  conveyor  belt  made  of  felt  rollers  (seen  as  location 
#11)  and  Frank  Burcham  measured  each  brick  with  a  form  and  cut  the 
lengths  free  with  a  wire.    He  stood  each  brick  up  on  end,  and  placed 
it  onto  a  wooden  pallet.  (See  illustrations  of  clay  manufacturing 
implements,  p.  100.) 

After  he  had  filled  eight  pallets  with  bricks,  the  pallets  were 
taken  to  the  drying  sheds  (location  #14)  by  wheel  barrow.     The 


^   At  first  a  steam  boiler  pulled  the  clay  car  up  the  ramp  by  cable.    Later  (late  30*s),  it  was 
powered  by  the  engine  of  an  old  Studebaker  car. 

97 


pallets  were  heavy,  weighing  40  pounds  each.    They  were  hoisted  up 
high  and  stacked  6  or  8  feet  high  on  a  tier.  (See  illustration  p.  100.) 
The  drying  shed  had  doors  on  its  east  and  west  sides,  which  provided 
maximum  air  circulation  when  opened,  and  good  protection  from 
wind  and  rain  when  closed.    There  was  room  for  one  hundred 
thousand  bricks  in  each  shed.    They  were  left  to  dry  for  about  6 
weeks.    Then  they  were  ready  for  the  kiln. 

Dried  bricks  were  moved  to  the  kilns  by  wheel  barrow,     40 
bricks  at  a  time.     (See  illustration,  p.  100.)     They  were  carefully 
spaced  --  stacked  by  hand  in  the  kiln  --  then  fired  for  a  week.      They 
burned  24  hours  a  day  for  7  days,  while  2  or  3  men  took  turns 
remaining  on  duty  to  monitor  their  progress. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  burning,  the  roofs  of  kilns  were  closed, 
covered  over  by  the  large  wooden  doors  with  which  the  modern,  flat- 
topped  down-draft  kilns  were  topped.  (See  illustration,  p.  101,  and 
photo  of  the  remains  of  one  of  the  old  circular  kilns  on  p.  102) 
These  new  kilnswere  probably  on  the  property  by  1907. 

On  the  5th  day  of  burning,  the  workmen  began  to  open  the  roof 
"  taking  it  off  slowly  piece  by  piece.     The  heat  inside  the  kiln  was 
intense.    As  they  opened  the  roof,  they  poured  mud  on  the  hot  bricks. 
After  the  seventh  day,  the  fire  in  the  kiln  was  out,  and  the  bricks 
were  left  to  cool  for  a  week. 

The  brick  workers  alternated  kilns,  burning  one  kiln  at  a  time 
beginning  in  early  Spring  and  continuing  until  late  Fall.     The  wood  for 
the  firing  was  cut  on  the  burcham's  99-acre  wood  lot  across  the 
Port  Elizabeth  road. 

At  the  height  of  the  Burcham  brick  making  period,  fifteen 
thousand  bricks  were  produced  in  this  way  each  week. 


98 


I   l!ri.'k  iin.l  Til.)  Mu.-Ii 


Tliia  cut   represents 
pur  (liiy.    Siiriiussoii  t.y  m 

Wu  nUo  mrLiiufactiii 
pff  tliij-. 


We  also  innniifHrhiro  Pitj  Mil.f-s,  Kt,Ev.vTiir(s,  |',ii  ,  !■; 

Si'iiii  fur  (■iriiulur  nf  iiiii'  fJinMLXTiiH,  ll    i-.  Iln-  li.i.li-i 

i  '    II ur  Kri.k  f..  .  I'i,ni.L'l..ii  l<iiiil..-ll    llnrU  f...  ;iii. 


■    "CmrAlur-  Nn,2.       Oiiparity  fniin  :«l.iK10  (<>  10.000  brick 
"OHICACO"  No.  ;-i,     Ciipiicily   Inini   Hi,iHKi  to   \\\X*.\  brick 


•■RICES    REASONABLE. 


1  say :    Alsip  Drick  To.,  Hiiyt  .t  Alsip  f'n.,  May,  PnriiiK- 
CORRESPONDENCE    SOLICITED. 


Machinery  tor  Building  Brick 
^^and  ror  street  pavers^^ 

ROUND  CORNER  PAVING  BRICK  without  REPRESSING 


THE  CHAMBERS  AUTOMITIG  SIDE-CUT  BRICK  MACHINE. 


Automatic  End  Cut  Brick  Machines  of  five  sizes,  iiaving  capacity 

from  10,000  to  over  100,000  brick  daily  under 

favorable  conditions. 


CHAMBERS  BROTHERS  COMPANY 


DAVIS  BROWN,  Chicago  Agent, 

59  West  Jackson  Boulevard. 


52D  AND  MEDIA  STREETS 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


q^ 


NO.    4,    BRICK    BARROW. 


pier  JQ  \Ao\d  bnck  p<^Hets 


6    BRICK    HAND    MOULD. 


MACHINE    lYIOULD. 


Borcha/yi   Bnckiyarrl. 


cf^y  car 


\oo 


7^«  Monarch  Continuous  I5iln. 

(Patented    August    5,    1803.) 

rtiPotiir  kiln  ever  Invented  that  llres  on  the  top  with  furnace.*  It  Isestk-olillr  designed  for 
burning  line  w.iris.  aucu  m  Terra  Ooiti.  Fine  I'rwiied  Brick,  CIhj  shingles.  Firi  Brick.  Sihca  BricK. 
AnTrteiircadeKreeof  heatcan  beoblilned  witli  85  percent,  less  tuel  than  tbf*  oid  siy.e  Klitis.  Itruia 
both  ij()and  down  drari,  also  horizontal  dratt.  II  has  botu  outilde  ami  inside drdit.  ta.  h  cliambiT 
l>  fired  In  thrpo  dlflpreit  p|  ices  and  under  "Tfect  control.  Noexoenslve  v^Iveilami'crs  or  fee d  h*-!?? 
re.ju  red  A  I  In  search  of  n  better  cN<!S  kiln  should  write  for  circular.  The  kiln  cannot  be  built  for 
noihlni-  but  It  1  <  coiislderablr  cheaper  Ilian  any  other  continuous  tunnel  kiln  in  the  markel. 


<Ot\ner  ^o  (llfsWiioas  are  <5yai^(es 
©p  PUd  -foppcd  /  dom  dfa^  Ki/tis 
liK^e  tUose  "tt/i^f  ui/cv^    kvil+    <^+ 

io  replace,   eorliev"    round    k^ili^s. 
(\lWs+rfttiOM^ -M.k:<:ri   fron/i    Clay  lA/orKle*^ 


LOUIS  H.  REPPEI.i;s 

Improved  IJilns 


FOR    BURNING 

ALL    KINDS    OF    WARES. 


Ili.>  iibuvu  cut  reiirc^ents  my  rtccritly  [>iitejil<.,l  Iimin  lir.in  Kllii  In  ulililj  I 
liivo  eornljIriMl  all  tin-  iwlntii  of  merit  tlwt  have  tieeji  Icmiul  iiecssarj  ami  valnal,!.' 
I y  years  of  oxDerlence  In  the  burnlriK  of  till"  iibovi- style  klljH 


lOl 


plaoio  ia<ev)(rOM  old  pier.  ^I'tms  old  bar^^ 


014  "Mi^di^cr"  us^  4o  r^plrayjc:*'^  'n  f^^^s 


I'ifcl   p/)ok>  sliOkOs  -sArVy  c:»ny;l<xr  Kvln 


[OZ 


Bricik  Kiln  at  Millville   1902 
Hers  &  CD:Ldc-n 


'Z'i^B^^^^---^ 


lf#!l^-S 


EesB  &  Golden  Clay  Pit         1902 
Euckshnt.jm. 


-yi«».«3l 


jfr:^- 


Eurcliem's  Brioli  Yarc 
telow  Millvillo. 


190£ 


iO-4- 


::5r:HE^:D166EIVIirSAT^ 
'ALli-MATTERjS 

-^;TQ-fME  — ^ 


iF(9'NT^HKPS-t 


tn 


Ourstlyes—hleclricily  in  Drick  PlunI' 

A  CorrectlO'i.—Xcw  Cillnlot!UC4.~-!to<id.„.iku,<j  u,  A«slr„hi:      10 
Persanal.  —  Piivmg  Brick 'Notes   .  ■  -       (/ 

Imiirotnl  Situtlarij  Rules  for  riaimu.'j  Ctict  ,ni,l  ;i„r;/,„,,;     JJ 
The  Acme   L>ry    I',esi    Itrjck   and   I >;,-"nt-meiit   i\'  ~-.\,i<- 

rnienlioii-:  -IIon,icr  Cleiy  Hxl,ihil  ,,l  ll,e  fun  13 

rielion  Cluteli  Pittteij  _  j, 

Elcctneeil  Uricklinikcr.—Cln'j  I'n-h.-l^  „f  .I/is,.,„,  1  ul  Ike 

r.--IJriek  ItO'iiliciiys  at  l.fnif>,::.  ;-, 

fair  .\nles~t::er,i  Titne  -    li.    .  i;.(. ,/  r„ll,-,  ,1  n,  ll„ 

nlnj  Ucitiij  1 1.  ..„./, ,/,<-rf  .      .   „; 

n 


■0: 


W 


A 


rrude  ^oucm-{  fWo^^Jna^r^g  ^f  3ok}^g 


io3 


South  Jersey  Brick  and  Drain  Tile  Works. 

A.   E.   BURCHAM, 


PROPRIETOR. 


All  grades  of  Brick  furhlshed,  and  anything 
you -want  made  from  Clay  to  Order. 


WORKS  AT  MANANTICO. 


P.  O.  Address,  nillville,  N.y. 


w^:> 


\Ob 


Chapter  IV.  Section  IV  --  History  of  the  Farmhouse 


The  earliest  identified  farnnhouse  building  on  the  Burcham 
property  was  a  one-room,  hall-plan  structure  that  stood  at  the  north 
end  of  the  existing  house.  Its    small  size  and  high  pitched  roof 
suggest  an  18th  century  date  of  construction.     The  building  was 
demolished  in  1961,  and  the  only  evidence  we  have  of  its  appearance 
are  three  photos  taken  that  year. 

The  photos  show  a  1   1/2  storey  gable-end  house  with  three 
bays,  a  center  entry  and  an  interior-end  chimney  on  the  west  side. 
The  photos,  which  were  taken  from  the  north,  show  a  north-facing 
entrance  which  faces  the  road.     It  seems  unlikely,  though,  that  this 
was  the  principal  entrance  of  the  house,  as  there  was  a 
corresponding  door  on  the  south  side  of  the  house,  facing  the  river. 

As  additions  were  built  on  the  south  side  of  the  house,  the 
south-facing  door  was  covered  over  to  become  the  entrance  to  the 
newer  sections  of  the  house.    The  north  door  became  the  only 

107 


exterior  entrance  for  the  wood  cabin,  and  the  northern,  road-side 
entrance  to  the  expanded  house. 

The  early  building  was  a  wood  frame  structure,  which  was 
sheathed  in  clapboards  and  covered  by  a  wood  shingle  roof.    It  was 
built  with  close  eaves  and  an  off-center  window  in  the  half-storey 
of  the  west  gable  end.      The  photos  show  patched  clap  boarding  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  house,  patching  that  was  probably  done  at 
the  time  the  hearth  was  removed. 

The  foundation  of  the  wood  house  is  clearly  shown  in  the 
photos  "  it  was  made  of  brick  with  cellar  windows.     Other 
foundation  stones  can  be  found  at  the  south  end  of  the  wood  house 
site.     They  were  probably  the  foundation  stones  of  an  earlier 
building. 

The   First  addition 

The  photographs  also  show  the  first  addition  to  the  original 
house  "  a  small  brick  ell  that  still  stands  on  the  site.     This  addition 
is  a  1    1/2  story  gable  roof  structure  with  a  western  facade.     This 
change  of  orientation  --  from  the  north  and  south  entrances  to  a 
western  facade  -  was  probably  a  compromise  between  the  two 
paths  people  took  to  the  house  and  the  store:  some  came  by  river, 
others  by  road.    The  front  door  and  windows  of  this  facade  can  still 
be  seen  inside  a  shed-roofed  structure  that  covers  the  entire  width 
of  the  western  facade. 

Unfortunately,  the  window  sash  of  this  facade  gives  no  clue  as 
to  the  date  of  the  first  addition,  as  it  is  new.     The  door  has  two 
vertical  panels  at  the  bottom  and  four  glass  panes  at  the  top.    This 
would  be  appropriate  for  a  19th  century  house.    Clay  Worker 
magazines  that  were  found  under  the  carpeting  of  this  brick  ell 
ranged  in  date  from  1883  to  1903.     They  were  probably  laid  during 
the  1907  renovation  and  enlargement  of  the  house,  as  newspapers 
were  commonly  used  as  insulation  in  that  period. 

If  this  brick  ell  were  added  to  the  early  hall  plan  house  in  the 
mid-1 9th  century,  then  the  early  wood  structure  might  have  been 
updated  at  that  time.     This  might  explain  the  plain  door  frame,  four- 
paneled  door  and  plain  window  frames  in  six  over  six  sash  that  are 

108 


seen  in  the  original  house,  as  these  are  details  that  were  typically 
used  in  mjd-19th  century  building.     A  basement  kitchen  was  probably 
added  to  the  house  at  the  time  the  ell  was  constructed,  and  the  store 
may  have  been  created  by  enclosing  the  porch  space  in  front  of  the 
ell. 

While  the  gothic  addition  was  being  built,  the  Burcham  family 
lived  in  the  older  parts  of  the  house  and  cooked  in  the  basement 
kitchen.     After  the  building  was  completed,  a  new  kitchen  was  built 
in  the  basement  under  the  conservatory  for  Amaziah  and  Mary.    Frank 
and  Maud  Burcham  had  their  kitchen  in  the  new  Gothic  addition. 

The  Gothic  Revival  Addition 

About  1907,  the  last  major  addition  was  added  to  the  house.     It 
consisted  of  a  new  southern  front  --  a  brick,  Gothic  Revival  building 
of  the  type  that  had  been  built  all  across  the  Delaware  valley  about 
50  years  earlier.     It  was  a  design  taken  straight  from  the  popular 
architectural  pattern  books  of  A.J.  Downing  or  Calvert  Vaux  --  a 
building  with  a  high  pitched  roof  and  a  central  gable  with  gable 
returns. 

The  new  addition  was  a  2  1/2  storey  brick  building  that  still 
stands.    It  is  above  grade  on  the  south  and  west  sides  of  the  house, 
where  the  ground  falls  away.    On  the  north  and  the  east  sides  of  the 
house,  the  lower  level  is  a  basement.    The  Gothic  addition  was  home 
for  Frank  and  Maud  and  their  children,    the  younger  generation  of 
Burchams.     The  older  generation  --  Amaziah  and  his  wife  Mary  lived 
partly  in  the  wood  house,  and  partly  in  the  basement,  traveling  down 
the  stairs  in  the  store  to  reach  their  basement  kitchen,  spring  house, 
living  room  and  dining  room.  "Grandma's  living  room"  as  the  first 
floor  of  the  wood  frame  house  was  known,  had  an  organ  in  it,  on  the 
wall  in  the  space  where  the  fireplace  had  been.     Brickyard  workers 
also  lived  in  the  expanded  house,  in  the  upstairs  bedrooms  of  the  old 
wood   structure. 

The  Interior  of  the  Gothic  Addition 

Though  the  exterior  of  the  new  building  was  a  standard  pattern 
book  form,  the  interior  was  not.    The  plan  of  the  house  was 

109 


haphazard,     not  resembling  anything  found  in  an  architectural 
pattern  book,     it  seems  to  be  the  accidental  product  of  cumulative 
building. 

In  fact,  the  house  was  built  without  a  main  facade.     Its  most 
elegant  or  dramatic  facade  is  its  south  facade,  which  features  a  high 
pitched  central  gable  and  a  raised  porch  across  its  entire  width  at 
the  first  floor  level.     But  despite  its  dramatic  features,  the  south 
facade  has  no  entrance.     Like  many  old  Southern  plantation  houses,  it 
was  designed  to  present  an  elegant  face  to  the  river. 

The  porch,  which  was  built  on  wood  piers,  seems  particularly 
ornamental.    (The  piers  were  long  ago  replaced  by  concrete  block.) 
While  it  did  give  the  family  an  excellent  spot  for     viewing  the  river, 
it  was  nonetheless  narrow  and  hard  to  reach,  as  it  had  no  front 
door. 

The  entrance  to  the  house  was  on  the  west  side,  through  the 
kitchen.     As  in  the  earlier  brick  ell  design,  the  west  side  was  a 
convenient  compromise  entrance  between  the  two  directions  from 
which  people  arrived  at  the  property.     Those  who  arrived  from  the 
road,  approached  the  north  face  of  the  building.    Those  who  arrived 
by  water,  approached  from  the  south. 

At  the  time  of  its  construction,  the  porch  on  the  south  side  of 
the  building  wrapped  around  the  full  width  of  this  west  end  with  an 
entrance  that  was  centered  on  the  gable.    This  west  end  porch  and 
the  porch  or  store  in  front  of  the  brick  ell  were  both  enclosed  by  a 
shed  in  the  19th  century.     A  conservatory/kitchen  wing  and  a  two- 
storey  shed  building  was  also  attached  to  the  east  face  of  the 
building  soon  after  1907  building  was  completed.     The  second  floor 
of  the  shed  was  another  bedroom  used  for  unmarried  workers. 

The  brick  walls  of  the  basement  kitchen  still  exists  at  the 
site,  and    the  roof  line  of  the  glass  conservatory  and  wood  shed 
buildings  could  be  seen  as  recently  as  last  summer.    This  face  has 
since  been  covered  over  with  stucco.  A  stair  that  led  from  the  pantry 
up  to  the  second  floor  of  the  shed  building  also  still  exists. 


110 


Delaware    Vallev   Vernacular   Architecture 

The  history  of  changes  in  the  Burcham  farmhouse  is  sinnllar  to 
those  of  many  other  vernacular  buildings  in  the  Delaware  region. 
Like  many  of  the  houses  identified  in  Bernard  Herman's  "first  period" 
of  house  building  in  Newcastle  county  Delaware,  it  began  with  a 
simple  one-room  wood  frame  house. i      In  the  second  period  of  house 
building,  these  houses  were  updated  by  the  incorporation  of  kitchens 
and  other  service  rooms  into  the  main  block  of  the  building.    Herman 
described  the  pattern  as  follows: 

"At  the  close  of  the  18th  century,  the  typical  farmhouse  stood 
as  a  separate  structure  unencumbered  with  kitchens,  food 
storage  areas  or  specifically  designated  servants  quarters. 
All  of  the  working  functions  associated  with  the  house  were 
nearby  in  a  number  of  lesser,  free-standing  buildings.     By  the 
time  of  the  1816  tax  assessment,  though,  the  first  step  had 
been  taken  to  physically  enlarging  the  house  to  incorporate  a 
number  of  these  functions  under  one  roof. "2 

The  owners  of  the  Burcham  property  seem  to  have  been  no 
exceptions:  they  re-ordered  the  living  space  of  the  first  period 
house,  by  adding  a  brick  ell  to  the  house,  and  creating  a  basement 
kitchen.     The  trend  towards  incorporating  functional  rooms  under  the 
roof  of  the  main  house  was  a  part  of  a  more  general  pattern  of  the 
"diversification  of  interior  space,"  or  the  creation  of  rooms  with 
special    functions. 

In  Herman's  Folk  building  in  Central  Dalaware,  there  are  three 
examples  of  vernacular  buildings  that  seem  to  relate  to  the  Burcham 
house  though  they  are  four  very  different  houses.  They  are  the  David 
Wilson  House,  the  Samuel  Corbitt  house,  and  the  Armstrong-Walker 
House. 

David  Wilson's  house  in  Odessa  had  a  brick  ell  added  to  the  rear 
of  the  main  block  in  1816.     While  the  Wilson  house  was  a  much 
larger  and  more  advanced  building.    The  Burcham  brick  ell  that  may 
have  been  added  about  1850,    also  began  this  process  of  adding  new 


^Bernard  Herman.    Architectural  and  Rural  Life  in  central  Delaware,  p.  26 
2  Ibid.  p.  148. 

111 


spaces  to  the  overall  plan  of  the  house.     In  both  cases,  the  original 
block  remained  much  as  it  was. 

The  second  house  is  the  Corbitt  house,  which  was  built  in  the 
1770's.     In  this  house,  as  in  the  Burcham's,  the  spatial  reordering 
included  the  construction  of  a  basement  kitchen.     The  Corbitt's 
basement  kitchen  was  built  at  least  50  years  before  the  Burcham's, 
however.  Theirs  was  built  about  1790.     The  Corbitt  house  design  also 
had  a  kitchen  that  was  constructed  under  an  office  building.     In  the 
Burcham  house,  a  kitchen  was  constructed  under  the  conservatory 
office   shortly   after   1907. 

Widespread  house  re-modeling  took  place  throughout  the 
Delaware  area  in  the  1820s  and  30s,  according  to  Herman,  as  older 
houses  received  their  new  service  wings.     Some,  though,  did  not 
receive  them  until  1850."3     The  Burcham  farmhouse,  then,  would 
have  been  on  the  late  end  of  the  trend.    This  time  lag  is  perhaps 
logical,  as  the  farm  was  located  far  from  the  influence  of  the  city. 

The  third  building  that  the  Burcham  house  resembles  is  the 
Armstrong  Walker  house  that  is  pictured  on  the  front  of  Herman's 
book.     From  the  river,  the  Burcham's  Gothic  addition  looks  very  much 
like  the  Armstrong-Walker  house,  as  both  as  brick  expressions  of 
the  same  high  pitched  central  gable  pattern  book  house. 

In  this  way,  the  Burcham  farmhouse  is  also  a  typical  example 
of  19th  century  vernacular  homes  in  the  region,  as  farmers  relied  on 
the  architectural  drawings  provided  in  popular  magazines. 

The  Burcham's  gothic  addition  was  simply  tacked  onto  the 
older  buildings,  a  false  front  that  was  clearly  a  very  late  expression 
of  the  mid  19th  century  style  -  again  in  this  case,  about  50  years 
behind  the  buildings  on  the  other  side  of  the  Delaware. 


Ibid. 

112 


Wooc(  fmiMe,  S</'i  id*  i^^ 


11-5 


^leva-^ions 


yor'TU 


Wee.-i- 


,.>jtU 


ETcis 


114 


LiOst^iAcj     SoiA^  frDfVv     ME-  coi  v^o^ 


S<juH^we^  cari/iev  .  -sho^^^     i^ts^^ 


1^<^S       SDOVt^-ssifei-oorvv^^  affor  -jrvccoi^ 


WOOD    pRAMe    HOUSE    &Ul  ur      peFOKE      l"«6^- 


VJITH      FIRST 


U-=h 


BURCHAM     FARM. 


EARLY  V\)00l^ 
BPlCK    frOOITION 


Basemen  r 


FIKS7     FLOcf? 


U«. 


BURCHAM     FARM 

MILLVILLt    NJ 

/^BOur 

SCftLt--     '-^8   •   r-o' 

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A- A 

SECTION   -^H^it    £BtT     \N\H^ 


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MILLVlLLt:    NT       AS  or  NO 

SCflLf-      '•'g    ■    \-0' 


Chapter  IV.  Section  V  --  Family  History 

Amaziah  E.  Burcham 

Amaziah  Burcham  was  born  in  Ellington,  Connecticut  on 
September  21,  1841,  the  fifth  child  of  James  T.  and  Arpatia  Emmons 
BurchamJ     He  joined  the  Union  army  on  July  16,  1862  at  Ludlow, 
Massachusetts,  listing  his  age  as  21  years.    He  was  5  feet  4    3/4 
inches  tall  at  that  time,  had  grey  eyes  and  light  brown  hair.    When  he 
enlisted,  he  was  working  for  his  father  as  a  miller  in  Jencksville, 
Massachusetts,  a  small  village  near  Ludlow.  He  enlisted  for  three 
years,  and  was  paid  $25  of  his  $100  bounty,  the  remainder  being 
payable  after  the  war. 

Amaziah  mustered  into  the  army  at  Camp  Briggs  in  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts  on  September  2,  1862.    He  was  a  private  in  Captain 
Flagg's  company,  the  37th  Regiment  of  the  Massachusetts  Infantry. 
By  December  first  of  that  year,  he  had  been  promoted  to  Corporal, 
but  was  demoted  again  in  February  of  1864. 

Burcham  was  a  sharpshooter  at  the  Brigadier  Headquarters  in 
October  1864,  and  a  Division  sharpshooter  in  May  1865. 

Discharged  from  the  army  on  June  21,  1865  at  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  Amaziah  traveled  down  to  South  Jersey  to  his 
parents  new  home.    They  had  moved  to  the  new  industrial  town  while 
he  was  away  at  war. 

Four  years  later,  Amaziah  Burcham,  27,  married  Mary  Clunn,  26 
at  her  father's  house  on  Maurice  River.  (The  large  farm  directly  up 
river  from  the  brickyard.)     Reverend  C.K.  Fleming  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Millville  performed  the  ceremony.     Willis  Ackley, 
a  neighbor,  Francis  Reeves,  Joseph  Richman  and  Mary    Wlllits  were 
some  of  the  guests.    The  couple  moved  to  the  farm  next  to  her 
parents,  the  Burcham  farm,  that  is,  which  had  recently  begun 
producing   bricks. 

Amaziah  and  Mary,  lived  with  his  father,  James,  his  mother, 
Arpatia,  and  his  three  younger  siblings,  Joseph,  Emma,  and  Eleonora, 
and  some  resident  hired  hands  at  the  beginning  of  their  marriage. 


1  Amaziah  was  one  of  1 1  children. 

122 


As  both  the  brick  yard  and  the  family  grew,  the  farmhouse  was 
expanded  to  include  eight  children  and  8  to  12  workers. 

Frank  Burcham  takes  over  the  Brickyard 

Amaziah  and  Mary  had  8  children.    Frank  A.  Burcham  was  the 
fourth.     Frank  A.  Burcham  married  Maud  D.  Jones  on  April  17,  1907, 
and  the  farmhouse  was  expanded  once  again.     Frank  took  over  his 
father's  business  in  1913,  rescuing  it  from  bankruptcy  by  re- 
mortgaging  the  property  (Adrian  Clunn  was  the  lender)  and  taking 
over  the  daily  operations. 

Amaziah  had  been  incapacitated  by  alcoholism.    He  died  March 
22,  1917  at  the  age  of  75  years  and  6  months.    The  cause  of  death 
was  a  fractured  skull  caused  by  an  accident  falling  down  stairs. 
Mary  Clunn  Burcham  continued  to  live  in  the  house  until  her  death  on 
July  28,   1928. 

Frank  and  Maud  Jones  Burcham  had  four  children  --  two  boys, 
Russell  and  Melvin,  and  2  twin  girls,  Janice  and  Jeannette. 
Melvin  Burcham  lived  at  home  and  worked  at  the  brick  factory  for 
many  years.     Later  he  worked  for  his  brother  Russell  Burcham  who 
owned  Burcham  Trucking  and  The  Burcham  Block  and  Cement 
Company  on  Rte  47.    Skyhawk  trucking  is  now  located  on  the  site. 

Jeanette  Burcham  is  still  a  school  teacher  in  the  Millville  City 
Schools,  but  she  has  also  worked  overseas.    Her  twin,  Janice  was  the 
head  nurse  and  commander  of  the  U.S.S.  Sanctuary,  a  hospital  ship 
that  was  stationed  in  Vietnam  from   1970-71.  She  retired  to  the 
farm  after    27  1/2  years  in  the  U.S.  Navy.    Brother  Melvin  Burcham 
had  five  children,  some  of  whom  still  live  in  Millville.     Russell 
Burcham  had  no  children. 


123 


'^amcc    ^  Jeanne  H'c   ^V^rdnavii 


! 


Chapter  IV.  Section  VI  --  Burcham  property  today 

Today,  the  brickyard  is  gone,  but  the  Burcham  farm  is  still  in 
operation.     In  1986,  it  received  the  Century  Farm  award,  which  is 
given  to  farms  that  have  been  operated  by  the  same  family  for  more 
than  100  years.    This  summer,    the  Burcham  sisters  grew  1500  bales 
of  hay  on  the  property.    They  stored  1000  bales  in  the  barn  and  sold 
the  rest  for  $2/bale    out  of  the  field  and  $4/bale  out  of  the  barn. 
They  also  raised  chickens,  turkeys,  geese,  pigs  and  sheep. 

Their  farm  schedule  includes  buying  6  infant  pigs  every  3  1/2 
months,  and  feeding  them  left  over  restaurant  food  until  they  are 
ready  for  the  butcher.     Janice  collects  the  leftovers  from  local 
restaurants  daily,  making  a  noon  trip  to  pick  them  up  in  20  five- 
gallon  buckets.    She  stops  at  Benny's,  Gib's  Lunch,  Snacktime,  Port  o 
Call,  and  The  Pinegrove. 

Janice  also  stops  at  the  produce  market  to  pick  up  vegetables 
that  have  just  passed  the  shelf  date  limit.     They  are  feed  for  the 
chickens,  ducks  and  sheep.    The  chickens  prefer  lettuce  and  cabbage, 
but  also  dip  into  the  restaurant  foods,  and  are  particularly  fond  of 
Chinese  food.  .    The  Muscovy  ducks  stick  mostly  to  lettuce.    The 
sheep  eat  scallions,  corn  and  hay,  grazing  on  the  hay  in  the  fields  in 
summer,  eating  it  out  of  the  barn  in  the  winter.     Janice  Burcham 
stresses  that  the  foods  their  animals  are  fed  are  leftovers,  not 
garbage,  and  are  never  rotten. 

Daily  schedule 

The  Burcham  sisters  are  identical  twins,  and  at  68,  they  still 
like  to  do  things  together.     They  dress  alike  --  usually  in  blue  jeans 
and  navy  blue  sweatshirts,  but  tell  their  friends  that  its  easy  to  tell 
them  apart  because  their  wear  their  watches  on  different  arms. 

Their  daily  schedule  includes  get  up  every  morning  at  7  a.m., 
and  each  eating  3  eggs  and  sausage,  juice,  toast  and  coffee. 

Promptly  at  8  a.m.,  they  feed  the  sheep,  chickens,  pigs. 

At  11  a.m.,  Janice  gets  in  the  truck  to  make  the  daily  garbage 
run  to  local  restaurants.     She  picks  up  enough  food  for  two  feedings 

125 


--  that  night's  dinner  and  the  next  morning's  breakfast.     The  animals 
do  not  eat  lunch. 

When  she  returns,  the  sisters  unload  the  truck,  unwrapping  the 
produce,  and  separating  it  into  meals  for  the  animals.      At  4  p.m., 
they  feed  the  animals  again. 

They  began  tidying  up  their  property  in  the  60's.     Since  then 
they  have  torn  down  the  remains  of  the  old  factory  buildings  and 
kilns,  removed  the  early  sections  of  the  house  have  been  removed, 
and  burned  the  records  of  the  brick  factory. 

Costs  of  maintaining  dvkes  and  propertv 

Over  the  last  few  years  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  dikes  has 
ranged  from  $5,000  to  $20,000  dollars.     These  costs  are  basically 
labor  costs,  payments  for  hauling  concrete  and  brick  refuse  out  to 
the  dike.    The  dikes  have  been  maintained  for  the  last  30  years  by 
Tommy  Piatt,  who  hauls  donated  refuse  from  torn  down  buildings  out 
to  the  dikes  on  a  dump  truck  he  designed  for  that  purpose  --  the 
dumper  drops  the  fill  sideways  out  of  the  truck,  so  he  can  drive 
along  the  dike  and  discharge  masonry  as  he  goes. 

In  1994,  the  Burchams  also  paid  $6,000  to  take  down  the  pier 
on  the  property.    The  pier  was  built  in  1935  by  the    NJ  Silica  Sand 
company,  a  company  that  leased  a  bit  of  property  and  bought  the 
riparian  rights  (the  right  to  build  to  low  water  mark)  to  threaten  the 
railroad.    They  only  used  the  pier  once  to  ship  sand.    After  that  the 
railroad  prices  came  down. 

Burcham  sisters  still  own  the  99  acre  tract  across  the  Port 
Elizabeth  (Rte  47)  road.  It  is  under  a  forestry  program.     A  private 
consultant  marks  the  trees  that  need  to  be  cut  each  year.    The  wood 
is  given  away. 

In  the  last  year  they  have  also  been  burning  all  the  old  roots 
tangle  at  the  middle  of  the  property  and  leveling  out  the  old  clay  pit. 
The  few  railroad  ties  that  are  left  from  the  clay  car  track  that  went 
through  the  center  of  the  property  have  been  removed.    Maple,  oak 
and  pine  trees  have  grown  up  in  the  old  clay  pit.    They  have  also 
stuccoed  over  the  bricks  on  the  east  facade  of  the  farmhouse. 


126 


What  remains  of  the  Brickyard   history 

The  brickyard  period  of  the  Burcham  farm  has  been  totally 
erased  from  the  property,  the  only  hint  of  its  former  role  remaining 
in  the  trace  of  red  clay  in  the  road.    The  dykes,  too  are  changed  from 
the  old  days.    No  longer  permitted  to  be  built  of  mud,  they  are 
fortified  by  concrete  block  and  rubber  tires.  The  tenant  workers  are 
gone,  and  the  only  farmers  there  are  two  aging  twin  sisters  who  are 
startlingly  able  to  get  the  work  done.     The  farm  goes  on  in  its  new 
slightly   romantic  twentieth-century   yersion,   a   kind   of  local   tourist 
attraction  or  historic  estate.     Eyery  year,  the  Burcham's  sheep 
shearing  is  a  popular  event,  attended  by  about  150  of  the  Burcham's 
friends,  all  of  whom  love  to  come  to  the  property  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Menantico.    On  the  "island,"  they  are  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  water 
and  the  exquisite  wildlife  it  supports.     Rail  birders  bring  their  boats 
here  to  launch.   Watercolorists  paint  in   the  light-filled  environment, 
and  two  sisters  cling  to  the  history  of  their  family  and  the  river. 
They  get  up  each  morning  to  check  the  dykes,  both  loving  and  hating 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides  as  keenly  as  the  first  Swedes  on  the 
Delaware. 


127 


MAueict    ftivaR 


I 


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c.   iqq4 


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KE^lRTUE-  3«BO»HCBLANt>lNa  Po*-t.+«H0iS>.1rHBC«nTEP 
CUMBB«U»N1>  Porll-  FSR  f^MT  i-l  MiLW  mfm  JUNCTion  o 

&*{W  Tn  A  RllHT  AT  THE  JUMCTIOM  OF*nie-po«C^eSTtT^-Be 
Pj-Am  trt>4THe  OL>  1>ENNIS  GREKK  RJ>.Ng  •  '<£"  H«FF/WAM 
aA>M  Mit-L  iaio)NoWoWNPOeV'Dft-5tlARP,Tl*l 

7£^S5S^^=:e5BcJi^BKi4-.  Ptn  "re  the  wwrihe  r\i 

Tr~r^^  -HC/rtAUWKE  BiVER 


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:>'' Compiled  By  <i.i4a» 


Appendix  I  --  The  "Burcham"  property  Chain  of  Title 

This  property  is  the  sanne  35  acre  farm  that  Amaziah  bought 
from  John  McClure  in  1867.     It  is  block  217,  lot  48  on  the  old  (1975) 
tax  assessment  maps,  35  acres,  and  Block  579,  lot  1  on  the  new 
(1985)  map,  28.07  acres. 

1951   Burcham  to  Burcham 

From  Maud  Jones  Burcham  to  Janice  and  Jeannette  Burcham  by  will, 

April   19,    1951. 

1915.  Burcham  to  Burcham.  Liber  342  pp.  438-441 

Amaziah  and  Mary  Burcham  to  Frank  A.  and  Maud  Burcham,  three 

properties,   the  first  of  which   is  the  farm. 

1897.  Mortaaae  Mulford  to  Burcham 

Hershel  Mulford  of  Millville  (the  bank)  to  Mary  R.  Burcham,  $1600. 

1896.  Mortaaae  Repaid.  Book  F  p  491 

Mary  R.  Burcham  repays  Adrian  Clunn  $1600  and  the  mortgage  is 

cleared. 

1895.  Mortgage  Clunn  to  Burcham.  Book  53  of  Mortgages,  p.  473 
Adrian  Clunn,  brother  to  Mary  R.  Burcham  and  Amaziah,  $3,200,  a 
mortgage  that  will  be  cleared  if  he  is  repaid  $1600  in  a  year's  time. 
1  1/30/95 

1869.  McClure  to  Burcham.  Liber  CW  pp.  675-9 

John  G.  and  Louisa  McClure  of  Salem  County  to  Amaziah  E.  Burcham 

of  Millville,   35  acres 

1865.  Snyder  to  McClure,  Liber  CH  p.  123 

Peter  and  Mary  Snyder  to  John  Mc  Clure  of  the  same  place 

1864.  Swan  to  Snider.  Liber  CF  pp.  84 

Moses  T.  Swan  of  Millyille  to  Peter  Snider  of  the  same  place 

35  acres  $1,300 

1862.  Frease  to  Swan.  Liber  CA.    p.  302 

John  and  Mary  Frease  of  Maurice  Riyer  Township  to  Moses  T.  Swan 


131 


of  Millviile,   $1400,   35  acresi 

1855.  Loper  to  Frease.  Liber  BP  or  88.  pp.  204-5 

Hannah  Loper  of  Millviile  to  John  Frease  of  the  same  place  35  acres 

$1,100 

1855.  Wilson  to  Loper.  Liber  BO  or  87.  pp.  324-5 

George  and  Mary  Ann  Wilson  of  Millviile  to  Hannah  Loper  of  Millviile, 

35  acres  $1,000 

1852,  Robinson  to  Wilson.  Liber  BK  pp  83 

Aaron  G.  and  Rachel  Robinson  of  Millviile  to  George  Wilson  of 

Cumberland  County  35  acres  $1,000 

1850.  Sutton  to  Robinson.    Liber  BG  pp.  574 
John  P.  and  Ann  Sutton  of  Cumberland  County  (who  obtained  the 
property     from  John's  mother  and  sister  Mary  after  Jacob  Sutton's 
death,  intestate)    to  Aaron  G.  and  Rachel  Robinson  of  the  same  place 
31    acres   $100    1/15/18502 

1840  Butcher  to  Sutton.  Liber  AS  dp.  593 


1  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  ON  THE  LOWER 

SIDE  OF  AN  ISLAND  AND  IS  CORNER  TO  JOB  WATSON'S  MEADOW,  THENCE  BOUNDING  THEREON 
NORTH  40  DEGREES  EAST  ONE  CHAIN  AND  FIFTY  LINKS  TO  THE  CURVE  ?  OF  A  DFTCH;  THENCE 
ALONG  SAID  DITCH  NORTH  13  AND  A  HALF  DEGREES  WEST  FIVE  CHAINS  AND  TWENTY  FIVE 
LINKS  TO  WHERE  A  BRIDGE  WAS  FORMERLY  OVER  SAID  DITCH  THENCE  NORTH  20  DEGREES  WEST 
12  CHAINS  AND  8  LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  OUTSIDE  THE  BANKS 

THENCE  NORTH  47  DEGREES.  WEST  6  CHAINS.  MORE  OR  LESS  IF  LOW  WATER  MARK  IN  MAURICE 
RIVER  .  THENCE  DOWN  THE  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  TO  SAID  JOB  WATSON'S 
CORNER  ,  THENCE  ALONG  HIS  MEADOW  TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING.  CONTAINING  ABOUT  35 
ACRES  MORE  OR  LESS. 

ALSO  THE  RIGHT  OF  WAY  OVER  JOB  WATSON'S  AS  CONVEYED  BY  DANIEL  ELMER  TO 
CORNELIUS  GARRISON  DEED  OCT  22,  1832 
2 

BEGINNING  AT  EDGE  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  AT  THE  CORNER  OF  THE  PLANTATION  OF 
JONATHAN  GRAY  ABOVE  MENANTICO  CREEK  1)  NORTH  3  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  BY  GRAY'S  LINE 
FOURTEEN  RODS  TO  AN  OLD  WHITE  OAK  CORNER,  2)  NORTH  39  DEGREES  EAST  6  RODS  TO 
ANOTHER  CORNER  OF  SAID  GRAY  3)  NORTH  12  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  21  ROD  TO  ANOTHER  OF 
GRAY'S  CORNER  4)  NORTH  1 9  DEGREES  WEST  48  RODS  20  LINKS  TO  ANOTHER  OF  GRAY'S 
CORNERS  5)  NORTH  46  WEST  8  RODS  TO  MAURICE  RIVER,  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SAME  BINDING 
LOW  WATER  MARK  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  ,  CONTAINING 
31   ACRES  OF  LAND  AMD  MEADOW  BE  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS.  BEING  THE  PLACE 
PURCHASED  OF  DR.  JOSEPH  BUTCHER  IN  TWO  DEEDS  .... 

This  is  the  same  property  description  but  fewer  acres. 


132 


Dr.  Joseph  and  Rebecca  Butcher  to  Jacob  Sutton  15  more  acres, 
another  $700^ 

1839.  Butcher  to  Sutton.  Liber  AR  dp  117 

Joseph  and  Rebecca  Butcher  of  Cumberland  County  to  Jacob  Sutton  of 

the  same  place  15  acres    $650^ 

1838.  Garrison  to  Butcher.  Liber  AQ  pp.  282 

Cornelius  and  Rachel  Garrrison,  Chesapeake  Cty,    to  Joseph  Butcher 

of  Downe,  Cumberland  County    60  acres  for  $1300 

1832.  Elmer  to  Garrison.  Liber  AG  pp.  449-51 
1825  Brannon's  property  sold  by  Dan  Simkins,  Sheriff,  reverts  to 
Daniel  Elmer  temporarily.     Elmer  grants  property  to  Garrison  in 
1825,  but  the  deed  is  not  registered  until     November  16,  1832 
Daniel  and  Martha  Elmer  of     Bridgeton  to  Cornelius  Garrison  of 
Downe  Township,     60  acres  $1200 


^  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  ON  THE  LOWER 

SIDE  OF  AN  ISLAND  CORNER  OF  ISAAC  BUZBYS  MEADOW  THENCE  BINDING  THEREON  NORTH  39 
DEGREES  EAST  SIX  RODS  TO  THE  ?  OF  A  DITCH  THENCE  ALONG  THE  DITCH  NORTH  12  1/2 
DEGREES  WEST  21  RODS  TO  A  CORNER  OF  ISAAC  BUZBY'S  AND  JACOB  SUTTON'S  U\ND  THENCE 
SOUTH  ALONG  SAID  SUTTON'S  LINE  27  1/2  DEGREES    WEST  19  RODS  TO  A  CORNER  AT  THE 
EDGE  OF  THE  UPLANDAND  NEAR  THE  HEAD  OF  A  DITCH  ?  THEN  TO  SHEEP  MEADOW  THENCE 
NORTH  80  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  54  RODS  AND  13  LINKS  ALONG  SAID  DITCH  TO  A  CORNER  OF 
JACOB  SUTTON'S  MEADOW  THENCE  SOUTH  TWO  DEGREES  WEST  27  RODS  AND  FOURTEEN  LINKS 
TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SAME  AND  BINDING  THEREON  TO 
THE  SAID  ISAAC  BUZBY'S  CORNER  THENCE  BINDING  ON  HIS  MEADOW  NORTH  3  1/2  DEGREES 
WEST  14  RODS  TO  THE  BEGINNING.  CONTAINING  15  ACRES  1  ROD  AND  20  PERCHES  OF 
UPLAND  AND  MEADOW  BE  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS.    ALSO  ALL  THAT  ?  WAY  AND 
RIGHT  OF  GOING  OVER  THE  U\ND  OF  THE  SAID  ISAAC  BUZBY  ADJOINING  THE  ABOVE  TRACT  AS 
CONVEYED  TO  JOHN  BRANNON  BY  DANIEL  ELMER,  FORMER  OWNER  OF  SAID  PREMISES  .... 

4  BEGINNING  AT  A  STAKE  IN  THE  DITCH  WHERE  FORMERLY  THERE  WAS  A  BRIDGE  AND  IS  6 

CHAIN  AND  75  LINKS  UPON  THE  LINE  ABOVE  AN  OLD  WHITE  OAK  TREE  BEING  THE  ORIGINAL 
BEGINNING  OF  THE  ISLAND  PU\CE  AND  CORNER  OF  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO  ISAAC  BUZBY 
THENCE  FROM  SAID  STAKE  BINDING  ON  ISAAC  BUZBY'S  LINE  NORTH  19  DEGREES  WEST  48  RODS 
AND  20  LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  OUTSIDE  OF  BANK  THENCE  NORTH  46  DEGREES  WEST  8  RODS 
MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  BINDING  ON  SAID  RIVER  AND 
DOWN  THE  SAME  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO  A  STAKE  STANDING  IN  THE  BANK  A 
SHORT  DISTANCE  FROM  THE  POINT  OF  MEADOW  OPPOSITE  WILLIAM  HEALEY'S  THENCE  NORTH  2 
DEGREES  EAST  27  RODS  AND  1 7  LINKS  TO  THE  CENTER  OF  A  LARGE  DITCH  THENCE  NORTH  80 
1/2  DEGRESS  EAST  54  RODS  AND  13  LINKS  ALONG  SAID  DITCH  TO  A  STAKE  IN  THE  EDGE  OF 
THE  UPLAND,  THENCE  NORTH  77  1/2  DEGREES  EAST  19  RODS  ACROSS  THE  ISLAND  OF  UPLAND 
TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  15  ACRES.  ONE  ROAD  AND  20  PERCHES  OF 
LAND  AND  MEADOW  BE  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS  WHICH  IS  PART  OF  A  TRACT  OF  LAND 
JOSEPH  BUTCHER  BECAME  SEIZED  OF  FROM  CORNELIUS  GARRISON. . . . 

133 


1816.  Elmer  to  Brannon.  December  18  Liber  GG  pp.  409-11 
Daniel  Elmer,  Esq.  and  Martha  to  John  Brannon  60  acres  $3,200^ 

1815.  Elmer  to  Lannning.    Liber  BB  pp.  82-83. 

Daniel  Elmer  to  John  Lanning  ,  Jr. 170  acres,  not  including  the 

Burcham  farm.     Elmer  retains  a  right  of  way  across  Lanning's 

property  to  the  Burcham  site. 

3/15/1815 

no  record  of  a  deed  between  Ewing  and  Elmer,  possibly  because  both 

men  Ewing^  and  Elmer''  were  lawyers  and  N.  J.  Supreme  court 

justices. 

1814.  Izard  to  Ewing 

NICHOLAS  IZARD  sells  home  farm  TO  CHARLES  EWING     -  the  same  property  his  grandfather 
left  to  his  parents  in    1758.      5/1 0/1 81 4^ 


=  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  AND  ON  THE 

LOWER  SIDE  OF  AN  ISLAND  CALLED  THE  LARGE  ISU\ND  AT  THE  END  OF  A  BANK  THENCE  NORTH 
40  DEGREES  EAST  BOUNDING  ON  JOHN  LANNING  JUNIORS  MARSH  A  MEADOW  1  CHAIN  AND  50 
LINKS  TO  A  STAKE  AT  THE  TURN  OF  A  DITCH  THENCE  ALONG  THE  DITCH  NORTH  13  1/2  DEGREES 
WEST  4  CHAINS  AND  20  LINKS  TO  A  BRIDGE  OVER  SAID  DITCH  NORTH  20  DEGREES  WEST  12 
CHAINS  AND  80  LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  OUTSIDE  THE  BANK  THEN  NORTH  47  DEGREES  WEST  6 
CHAINS  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  DOWN  SAID  RIVER 
BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  UNTIL  A  CORNER  SOUTH  3  DEGREES  EAST  FROM  THE 
BEGINNING  CORNER  WILL  INTERSECT  THE  SAME  (CORNER  OF  LANNING)  THENCE  NORTH  3 
DEGREES  WEST  ABOUT  5  CHAINS  50  LINKS  TO  THE  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  ABOUT  60  ACRES  OF 
LAND,  MEADOWS  AND  MUDFLAT  BE  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS  AND  ALSO  THAT  FREE  AND 
CONVENIENT  RIGHT  OF  WAY  OF  GOING  OVER  THE  U\ND  BELONGING  TO  JOHN  LANNING  JR. 
GRANTED  TO  THE  SAID  DANIEL  ELMER  HIS  HEIRS  AND  ASSIGNS  BY  THE  SAID  JOHN  LANNING  JR. 
BY  DEED  DATED  THE  15  TH  DAY  OF  MARCH,  1815  ..  .   . 

6  Chas  Ewing  was  Chief  justice  of  the  NJ  Supreme  Court  in  1824. 
^  Daniel  Elmer  was  in  law  practice  in  Bridgeton  until1841,  when  he  was  appointed  to 
the  NJ  Supreme  Court. 

^THIS  INDENTURE  MADE  THE  TENTH  DAY  OF  MAY  IN  THE  YEAR  OF  OUR  LORD  ONE  THOUSAND 
AND  EIGhfTY  HUNDRED  AND  FOURTEEN  BETWEEN  NICHOLAS  IZARD  OF  THE  COUmY  OF  FAYETTE  IN 
THE  STATE  OF  KENTUCKY  OF  THE  ONE  PART  AND  CHARLES  EWING  OF  TRENTON  IN  THE  COUrvTTY 
OF  HUNTERDON  AND  STATE  OF  NJ  OF  THE  2ND  PART,  WITNESSES  THAT  THE  SAID  NICHOLAS 
IZARD  FOR  AND  IN  CONSIDERATION  OF  THE  SUM  OF  ONE  DOLLAR  TO  HIM  IN  HAND  PAID 
BY  THE  SAID  CHARLES  EWING  .  .  .  GRANTED. .  .  LAND  SITUATE  IN  THE  TOWNSHIP  OF  MILLVILLE; 
BEGINNING  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  A  CREEK  THAT  EMPTIES  INTO  MAURICE  RIVER  KNOWN  BY 
THE  NAME  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK,  THEN  UP  THE  SAID  CREEK  BOUNDING  ON  THE 
SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO  A  MAPLE  STANDING   BY  THE  SIDE  THEREOF  AND 
THE   LINE   OF  JOHN   SCOTT'S  10K   ACRES,  THENCE   SOUTH  67   DEGREES   WEST  200 
PERCHES  ALONG  THE  SAID  LINE  TO  A  WHITE  OAK   BY  THE  SOUTH  SIDE  OF  SAID 
MAURICE'S  RIVER,  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SAID  RIVER   BOUNDING  ON  THE  SEVERAL 
COURSES  THEREOF  TO   THE   BEGINNING    CONTAINING  200  ACRES  OF  LAND, 
MEADOW,   SWAMP   AND  CRIPPLE   BE  THE   SAME   MORE   OR   LESS,   AND   ALSO   ALL 
THE    TREES,    WOODS,    UNDERWOODS,    PROFITS,    ADVANTAGES,    HEREDITAMENTS 

134 


1759.   Izard   to  Izard  Will 

Will  of  Gabriel  Iszard  leaves  his  home  farm  on  the  Maurice  river  and 

the  upper  side  of  Menantico  creek,  as  well  as  the  farm  he  bought 

from  Peter  Hoffman  located  on  said  river  and  the  lower  side  of 

Menantico  Creek  to: 

wife  Martha  Iszard,  and  children  Nicholas,  Michael,  Henry,  Catherine, 

Priscilla,  Sarah,  Prudence,  Martha 

1747.  Hoffman  to  Izard.  West  Jersey  deeds.  Liber  P.  p. 155. 
Nicholas  Hoffman  to  Gabriel  and  Martha  Izard,  his  daughter  and  son- 
in-law,     3/2/1747/89 

1738.  Hopman  to  Hoffman,  cited  in  later  deed 

1/17/1738 

John  Hoffman  to  Nicholas,  transaction  mentioned  in  deed  above: 

WHEREAS.  JOHN  HOFFMAN  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CUMBERLAND  AFORESAID  BY  DIVERS 
MENES,  CONVEYANCES,  AND  GOOD  ASSURANCES  IN  HAND  DULY  HAD  AND  EXECUTED  BECAME 
LAWFULLY  SEIZED  ...  TO  A  CERTAIN  PLANTATION  OR  TRACT  OF  LAND  SITUATE  ON  THE  SAID 
SOUTH  SIDE  OF  MAURICE'S  RIVER  CONTAINING  200  ACRES  . . .  BEING  SEIZED  BY  HIS  INDENTURE 
BEARING  DATE  THE  17TH  DAY  OF  YEAR  ANNO  DOMIN1 1738  FOR  THE  CONSIDERATION  THEREIN 
MENTIONED  DID  GRANT  AND  CONVEY  THE  SAID  200  ACRES  OF  LAND  .  . .  UNTO  THE  SAID 
NICHOLAS  HOFFMAN .... 

1736/7  Lummis  to  Hopman 

Feb  20,  1736/7  deed  is  at  Moravian  Archives  in  Bethlehem,  PA. 

Edward  Lummis  of  Cohansey  to  John  Hoffman 


ANS  APPURTENANCES  WHATSOEVER  THE  SAID  MESSAUGE,  TENEMENTS,  LANDS  AND 
PREMISES  ABOVE  MENTIONED  BELONGING  OR  IN  ANY  WAY  APPERTAINING. . . . 

9  THIS  INDENTURE  MADE  THE  SECOND  DAY  OF  MARCH,  ANNO  DOMINI  1 747/8  IN  THE 

21  ST  YEAR  OF  THE  REIGN  OF  KING  GEORGE  II  BETWEEN  NICHOLAS  HOFFMAN  OF  THE  SOLTTH  SIDE 
OF  MAURICE'S  RIVER  IN  THE  COUNTY  OF  CUMBERLAND  IN  THE  PROVINCE  OF  NEW  JERSEY, 
YEOMAN  OF  THE  ONE  PART  AND  GABRIEL  IZARD  OF  THE  SAME  PLACE.  YEOMAN  AND  MARTHA, 
HIS  WIFE  OF  THE  OTHER  PART. 

NICHOLAS  HOFFMAN  IN  CONSIDERATION  OF  THE  LOVE  AND  AFFECTION  THAT  HE 
BEARETH  TOWARD  THEM,  THE  SAID  GABRIEL  IZARD  AND  MARTHA,  HIS  WIFE,  AS  HIS  SON  AND 
DAUGHTER  .  .  THE  SAID  PLANTATION  AND  TRACT  OF  LAND: 

BEGINNING  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  A  CREEK,  RUNNING  INTO  THE  SAID  MAURICE'S  RIVER  KNOWN 
BY  THE  NAME  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK.  RUNS  FROM  THENCE  UP  THE  SAID  CREEK,  BOUNDING  ON 
THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO  A  MAPLE  STANDING  BY  SIDE  OF  SAID  CREEK  IN  THE  LINE  OF 
JOHN  SCOTT'S  TENTH  AND  ACRES  OF  LAND,  THENCE  SOUTH  G7  DEGREES  AND  200  PERCHES 
ALONG  THE  SAID  LINE  TO  A  WHITE  OAK  BY  THE  SOUTH  SIDE  OF  SAID  MAURICE'S  RIVER.  THENCE 
DOWN  THE  SAID  RIVER,  BOUNDING  ON  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO  THE  BEGINNING 
CONTAINING  200  ACRES  OF  LAND,  SWAMP,  AND  CRIPPLE 


135 


From  mouth  of  Manumuskin  up  to  the  back  line  of  the  Scott  tract, 
across  to  Menantico  and  down  the  Menantico  to  Maurice  river 
800  acres  .    This  deed  does  not  include  the  Nicholas  Hoffman 
property. 

1735.  Scott  to  Loomis 

Edward  and  Joseph  Scott  to  Edward  Loomis.  2/1735 

1718.   Scott  to  Scott 

will  of  John  Scott  to  his  sons  Edward  and  Joseph  Scott  of  Newport, 
Rhode  Island. 

1705.    Bartlett   to   Scott 

Gratia  Bartlett,  widow  and  children  to  John  Scott  of  Newport  Rhode 
Island,  surveyed  at  10k  acres,  but  said  to  have  actually  contained 
more  than  20k,   1/26/1705.   The  1714  Scott  survey,  see  illustration, 
includes  the  Nicholas  Hoffman  property. 

1691   West  Jersey  Proprietors  to  John  Bartlett  of  England. 
10,250  acres  on  the  east  side  of  Maurice  river.  The  1691   proprietary 
survey  does  not  seem  to  include  the  Nicholas  Hoffman  property.  It 
includes  many  more  than  10,000  acres. 


136 


Appendix  II    -  Deed  History  of  the  "Gricco"  property 

The  Gricco  property  is  the  farmland  nearer  to  the  Menantico, 
which  was  part  of  Nicholas  Hoffman's  farm.     The  dykes  on  this 
property  washed  out  in  50's.    The  old  tax  assessment  block  number 
was  217,     lot  44,  150  acres.  The  new  one  is  Block  579    lot  2,  102.36 
acres 

1946.  Gricco  to  Gricco.  Liber  645  p.  456-8 

Anthony  Gricco  to  Caroline  Gricco,  his  diyorced  wife  for  $1. 

1 1 8  acres 

1939.  Gray  to  Gricco.  Liber  542    pp.  571-3 

Charles  M.  Gray  to  Anthony  L.  Gricco    118  acres  for  $1,  a  part  of  the 

land  conveyed  to  Jesse  Ackley 

1929.  Ackley  to  Gray.  Liber  465     pp  547-550 

HARRY  Ackley  (widower)  to  Charles  and  Myrtle  Gray  of  Vineland  118 

acres  for  $1.  ACKLEY  RETAINS  50  ACRES^ 


1  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  AND  ON  THE  LOWER  SIDE 
OF  AN  ISLAND  CALLED  THE  LARGE  ISLAND  AT  THE  END  OF  AN  OLD  BANK  ,  THE  SAME  BEING  A 
CORNER  OF  ONE  FRANK  A  BURCHAM'  LAND,  AND  RUNS  FROM  THENCE 

ALONG  THE  LINE  OF  SAID  BURCHAMS  LAND  NORTH  40  DEGREES  EAST,  1  CHAIN  AND  50  LINKS 
TO  A  STAKE  AT  THE  TURN  OF  A  DITCH,  CORNER  OF  THE  SAME.  THENCE  STILL  THEREBY  AND 
ALONG  THE  DITCH  NORTH  13  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  5  CHAINS  AND  20  LINKS  TO  A  CORNER  OF  THE 
SAME  ;  THENCE  STILL  THEREBY  NORTH  20  DEGREES  WEST  12  CHAINS  AND  80  LINKS  TO  WHERE 
A  GREEN  GUM  TREE  FORMERLY  STOOD  OUTSIDE  OF  THE  BANK,  CORNER  OF  THE  SAME;  THENCE 
STILL  THEREBY  NORTH  47  DEGREES  WEST  6  CHAINS  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF 
MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  THER  SEVERAL 
COURSES  AND  DISTANCES  THEREOF  TO  SCOTTS  LINE  (  SO  CALLED)  THENCE  ALONG  SAID  SCOTT 
LINE  AND  BOUNDING  ON  THE  LINE  OF  THE  LATE  SAMUEL  CLUNN  FARM  NORTH  64  DEGREES  EAST, 
22  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  A  STONE  IN  SAID  LINE,  AT  THE  DISTANCE  OF  708 
FEET.  MEASURED  IN  A  WESTERLY  DIRECTION  ALONG  SAID  SCOTT  LINE  FROM  THE  CENTER  LINE 
OF  THE  STATE  HIGHWAY  LEADING  FROM  MILLVILLE  TO  PORT  ELIZABETH,  AND  IS  A  CORNER 
OF  SAID    HARRY  ACKLEY'S  RESERVED  LAND  ;  THENCE  ALONG  THE  LINE  OF  SAID 
RESERVED  LAND  SOUTH  1 5  DEGREES  AND  20  MINUTES  EAST  1302  FEET  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER 
OF  THE  SAME  ;  THENCE  STILL  THEREBY  IN  PART  AND  PART  BY  WALTER  H.  HINSON'S  LAND 
NORTH  74  DEGREES  AND  40  MINUTES  EAST  703  AND  5/10  THS  FEET  TO  A  CORNER  IN  THE 
CENTER  LINE  OF  THE  AFORESAID  STATE  HIGHWAY  LEADING  FROM  MILLVILLE  TO  PT  ELIZABETH  ; 
THENCE  ALONG  THE  CENTER  LINE  OF  SAID  STATE  HIGHWAY  ,  SOUTH  1 7  DEGREES  AND  1 0 
MINUTES  EAST,  728  FEET,  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  THENCE 
DOWN  SAID  MENANTICO  CREEK  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  SAID  CREEK,  THE  SEVERAL 
COURSES  AND  DISTANCES  THEREOF  IN  A  SOUTHWESTERLY  DIRECTION  TO  MAURICE  RIVER 
THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  SAID  RIVER  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES 
AND  DISTANCES  THEREOF  IN  A  NORTHERLY  DIRECTION  UNTIL  A  COURSE  SOLTTH  3  DEGREES 
EAST.  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  CORNER  WILL  INTERSECT  THE  SAME,  THENCE 


137 


1903.  Acklev  to  Acklev.  Liber  269  pp  82-84 

SARAH  H.  ACKLEY,  widow,  son  Willis  and  Hattie  (  his  wife)  Ackley 

to    Harry  H.  Ackley 

$500  170  acres  excepting  9  acres  formerly  owned  by  J  and  S  Shaw. 

1868  MacDonald  to  MacDonald.  Liber  CU  p.186 

David  and  Mary  Mac  Donald    and  Joseph  W  MacDonald,  all  of 
Millville  to  Jesse  C.  Ackley  of  Maurice  River  170  acres  $8,000 
excepting  9  acres  now  owned  by  Shaw 

1865.  Watson  to  MacDonald.  Liber  CL  pp.  357-8 

Job  S.  and  Elizabeth  Watson  of  Greenwich  to  David  Mac  Donald, 
Jr.  and  Joseph  M.  MacDonald  of  Newark,  NJ    170  acres  excepting  9 
acres  owned  by  J  and  S  Shaw    $5,600 

I860.  Grav  to  Watson.  BX  pp.  38-39 

Jonathan  Gray  of  Millville  to  Job  S.  Watson  of  Greenwich  170 
acres  $4,  600,  excepting  9  acres  owned  by    J  and  S  Shaw 

1840.  Busby  to  Gray.  Liber  AV  or  AW  pp.  109-110 

Isaac  and  Hannah  Busby  to  Jonathan  Gray 
170  acres  for  $3,500,  excepting  lot  of  meadow  and  upland  lying  in 
Menantico  Creek  now  owned  by  Jonathan  Dallas,  formerly  belonging 
to  heirs  of  Leaming  deceased. 

1837,  Lanning  to  Busbv.  Liber  AO  pp.  584-5 

John  Jr.  and  Judith  Lanning  to  Isaac  Buzby  170  acres  $3,750 
not  including  the  9  acres  formerly  owned  by  the  heirs  of  Leaming, 
now  owned  by  Jonathan  Dallas 

...  IN  THE  FORKS  OF  MENANTICO  CREEKAND  MAURICE  RIVER  BOUNDING  AS  FOLLOWS  BEGINNING 
AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  AND  ON  THE  RIVER  SIDE  OF  AN 
ISLAND  GALLED  THE  LONG  ISLAND  AT  THE  END  OF  AN  OLD  BANK  THENCE  NORTH  40  DEGREES 
EAST  ONE  CHAIN  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  STAKE  AT  THE  TURN  OF  A  DITCH  THENCE  ALONG  THE 
DITCH  NORTH  13  DEGREES  AND  A  HALF  WEST?  FIVE  CHAINS  AND  20  LINKS  THENCE  SOUTH  20 
DEGREES  WEST  12  CHAINS  AND  80  LINKS  TO  WHERE  A  GUM  TREE  FORMERLY  STOOD  OUTSIDE  OF 
THE  BANK  THENCE  SOUTH  47  DEGREES  WEST  6  CHAINS  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF 
MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  TO  SCOTTS  LINE  SO 
CALLED .  THENCE  BOUNDING  WITH  SAID  LINE  NORTH  64  DEGREES  EAST  69  CHAINS  MORE  OR 

NORTH  3  DEGREES  EAST  ABOUT  5  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING. 

LINES  7,  8,  9  ARE  TAKEN  FROM  A  MAY  1929  SURVEY 

OTHER  LINES  ARE  COPIED  FROM  AN  OLD  DEED 

Is  THERE  IS  A  MAP  WITH  THIS  DEED 

GRICCO  PROPERTY  IS  SUBJECT  TO  A  RIGHT  OF  WAY  OWNED  BY  FRANK  BURCHAM  OVER  THE 

DESCRIBED  TRACT  OF  LAND  -  20  FEET  IN  WIDTH. 


138 


LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  TO 
MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  UNTIL  A  COURSE 
SOUTH  3  DEGREES.  EAST  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  CORNER  WILL  INTERSECT  THE  SAME,  THENCE 
NORTH  3  DEGREES  WEST  ABOUT  5  CHAINS  50  LINKS  TO  THE  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  170  ACRES 
BE  THEY  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS  EXCEPTING  A  LOT  OF  MEADOW  SUPPOSED  TO  CONTAIN  9 
ACRES  NOW  OWNED  BY  JONATHAN  DALLAS,  FORMERLY  BELONGING  TO  THE  HEIRS  OF  LEAMING 
DECEASED. . . . 

1815.  Elmer  to  Lanning.     Liber  BB  pp.  82-83. 

Daniel  Elmer  to  John  Lanning  ,  Jr. 170  acres,  not  including  the  9  acres 

owned  by  the  heirs  of  Learning. 2 

1814.  Nicholas  Izard  sells  property  to  Charles  Ewina.  see  Burcham 
deeds,  for  history  before  that  transaction. 


2  CERTAIN  TRACT  OF  LAND  SITUATE  IN  THE  TOWNSHIP  OF  MILLVILLE  IN  THE  COUNTY  OF 
CUMBERLAND  AFORESAID  IN  THE  FORKS  OF  CREEK  MENANTICO  AND  MAURICE  RIVER  BOUNDING 
AS  FOLLOWS,  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  OAK  STANDING  BY  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  AND  ON  THE 
LOWER  SIDE  OF  AN  ISLAND  CALLED  THE  LARGE  ISLAND  AT  THE  END  OF  A  DITTO  ?  BANK 
THENCEFORTH  40  DEGREES  EAST  1  CHAIN  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  STAKE  AT  THE  TURN  OF  A  DITCH 
THENCE  ALONG  THE  DITCH  NORTH  THIRTEEN  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  5  CHAINS  AND  TWENTY  LINKS 
TO  A  BRIDGE  OVER  SAID  DITCH  THENCE  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  WEST  12  CHAINS  AND  80  LINKS  TO 
A  GUM  TREE  OUTSIDE  OF  THE  BANK  THENCE  NORTH  47  DEGREES  WEST  6  CHAINS  MORE  OR  LESS 
TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER 
MARK  TO  SCOTT'S  LINE  SO  CALLED  THENCE  BOUNDING  WITH  SAID  LINE  NORTH  64  DEGREES 
EAST  69  CHAINS  MORE  OR  LESS  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  THENCE  DOWN 
SAID  CREEK  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  TO  MAURICE  RIVER  THENCE  UP  SAID  RIVER 
BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  UNTIL  A  COURSE  SOUTH  3  DEGREES  EAST  FROM  THE 
BEGINNING  CORNER  WILL  INTERSECT  THE  SAME  THENCE  NORTH  3  DEGREES  WEST  ABOLTT  5 
CHAINS  50  LINKS  TO  THE  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  170  ACRES  BE  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS 
EXCEPTING  A  LOT  OR  TRACT  OF  CRIPPLE  AND  UPU\ND  LYING  ON  MENANTICO  CREEK  SUPPOSED 
TO  CONTAIN  9  ACRES  BELONGING  TO  THE  HEIRS  OF  LEAMING  DECEASED  .... 
.  .  .    said  daniel  elmer  of  the  party  aforesaid  of  the  first  for  himself,  heirs,  executors  and 
administrators  doth  hereby  covenant  promise  and  grant  to  and  with  the  said  John  Lanning,  Jr., 
party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns  that  at  the  time  of  the  dealing  and  delivery  here 
of  they  the  deed  party  of  the  first  part  are  seized  in  their  own  right  of  an  absolute  and 
indefeatible  estate  of  inheritance  in  fee  simple  of  and  in  all  and  singular  the  premises  hereby 
granted  with  the  appurtenances.  .  .  . 


139 


Appendix  III--  Deed  History  of  the  "Clunn"  Property 

This  property  is  adjacent  to  Burcham  property,  and  was  owned 
by  their  great-grandfather,  Samuel  Clunn,  then  later  by  their  great- 
uncle,  Adrian  Clunn  (who  lent  Amaziah  the  $  to  buy  his  property).  It 
is  now  owned  by  Patel.  The  dike  washed  out  in  1939. 

It  is  #217,  lot  41  on  the  old  (1975)  tax  assessment  maps,  160 
acres  and  #579  lot  8  on  the  new  (1985)  map,  102.36  acres 


1980  Freed  to  Patel  .  Liber  1367  p.  343 

From  Leonard  and  Gloria  Freed 

To  Babubhai  and  Ansuya  B.  Patel 

100.57  acres  February  18,  1980  for  $78,000. 

1978    Scrimenti  to  Freed  .  Liber  1277  p.  524 
From  Joseph  T.  Scrimenti,  single  man 

To  Leonard  Freed 

100.57    6/1/1978    for   $63,000. 

1942  Scrimenti  to  Scrimenti  .  Liber  731   p.  518 

From  Jean  Scrimenti  of  Brool^lyn,  New  York 

To  Joseph  Scrimenti  of  Delsea  Drive,  Millville 
167   11 /1 00s  acres  for  one  dollar.   1/7/1942 

Charles  M  and  Myrtle  Gray  to  Jean  Scrimenti 

1932  Tomlinson  to  Gray.  Liber  493,  p.115 

From  Louis  and   Elizabeth  Tomlinson,  9/13/1932 

To  Charles  and  Myrtle  Gray 

2  tracts  for  $1 
Subject  to: 

1)  a  $3,500  mortgage  that  Tomlinson  had  given  the  Gray's  on 
May  2,  1930,  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Mortgages,  250  p.  320 

2)  a  lease  the  Gray's  had  given  to  George  and  Everett  Borden 
May  16,  1932  Recorded  in  Book  of  Deeds  #489,  p.  633 


1930  Clunn  to  Tomlinson.  Liber  473  p.  509 
From  Anna  and  Elizabeth  Clunn 

To  Louis  Tomlinson 

$100  160  11/100ths  May  2,   1930 

2   tracts 


140 


a)  7  acres  (lot  #7  on  map  of  sale  of  late  Samuel  Clunn's  lands 
as  surveyed  by  Samuel  Sheldon,  c.  E.  in  1894 

b)  160   11/100ths  acres 

1894.  Clunn  to  Clunn.  Liber  228,  p.  295 

wP.arles  P.  Clunn  and  William  E.  Clunn,  (executors  of  Samuel  Clunn's 

will)  to  Anna  and  Elizabeth  B.  Clunn,   12/27/1894  --  2  tracts  for 

$3,9901 

a)  7  acres.  Lot  #7  on  map  of  sale  made  in  1894.  The  rest  of  the 
321  acres  Samuel  Clunn  sold  to  Hampton  (aka  Mellor  property) 

b)  160  11/100  acres 

1893  Clunn  to  Ed  Hampton 

Clunn  sells  his  neighbor  1  8/10ths  of  an  acre  for  $50.    This  may  have 

been  an  adjustment  from  the  meadow  company. 

1843    Elmer  to  Clunn,  Liber  AX  p.  300 
Jonathan  Elmer  To  Samuel  Clunn,  8/19/1843, 
321  acres,  for  $  2,750.2 


1  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  BY  THE  SIDE  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THE  SAME  BEING  CORNER  TO  FORMERLY 
JONATHAN  GRAY'S,  NOW  JESSE  ACKLEY'S  LAND  AND  IS  WHERE  THE  SCOTT'S  LINE  INTERSECTS 
SAID  RIVER  AND  RUNS  FROM  THENCE  ALONG  SAID  SCOTT  LINE  AND  BOUNDING  ON  JESSE  C 
ACKLEY'S  LAND  NORTH  66  DEGREES  EAST  32  CHAINS  AND  25  LINKS  TO  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE 
ROAD  LEADING  FROM  MILLVILLE  TO  PORT  ELIZABETH 

THENCE  ALONG  THE  MIDDLE  OF  SAID  ROAD  NORTH  20  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  40  CHAINS  AND  89 
LINKS  TO  A  STONE  CORNER  TO  FORMERLY  HARRY  HAMPTON'S ,  NOW  EDWARD  HAMPTON'S 
LAND,  THENCE  BOUNDING  ON  HIS  LAND  SOUTH  68  DEGREES  WEST  33  CHAINS  TO  A  STAKE 
CORNER  TO  U\ND  CONVEYED  BY  THE  SAID  SAMUEL  CLUNN  DECEASED  TO  EDWARD  P.  HAMPTON 
MARCH  8,  1893,  THENCE  STILL  BOUNDING  ON  SAID  HAMPTON'S  LAND  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  AND 
49  MINUTES  EAST  8  CHAINS  AND  35  LINKS  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER  TO  THE  SAME,  THENCE  STILL 
THEREBY  SOUTH  66  1/2  DEGREES  WEST  5  CHAINS  AND  60  LINKS  TO  A  STAKE  AT  THE  TURN  OF 
A  CREEK  CALLED  DIVISION  CREEK.  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SAID  CREEK  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  AND 
DISTANCES  THEREOF  STILL  BOUNDING  ON  SAID  HAMPTON'S  LAND  TO  LOW  WATER  MARK  ON 
SAID  MAURICE  RIVER;  THENCE  DOWN  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  ON  LOW  WATER  MARK  THE  SEVERAL 
COURSES  AND  DISTANCES  THEREOF  TO  WHERE  SCOTT'S  LINE  INTERSECTA  THE  SAME  THENCE 
ALONG  SAID  LINE  NORTH  66  DEGREES  EAST  TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  160 
11/100THS  ACRES. 

(EXCEPT  FOR  ONE  ACRE  SAML  CLUNN  CONVEYED  TO  THE  CITY  OF  MILLVILLE  9/10/1893) 
THIS  LAND  IS  PART  OF  THE  PARCEL  CLUNN  BOUGHT  FROM  JONATHAN  ELMER) 

2  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  BY  THE  SIDE  OF  MAURICE  RIVER  THE  SAME  BEING  A  CORNER  OF 
JONATHAN  GRAY'S  LAND,  THENCE  NORTH  64  DEGREES  EAST  2  1/2  PERCHES  TO  A  CORNER 
THENCE  NORTH  7  DEGREES  WEST  180  PERCHES  TO  A  CORNER,  THENCE  NORTH  30  1/2  DEGREES 
WEST  70  PERCHES  TO  A  CORNER,  THENCE  SOUTH  41  DEGREES  WEST  128  1/2  PERCHES  TO  THE 
PUBLIC  ROAD  LEADING  FROM  PORT  ELIZABETH  TO  MILLVILLE  THENCE  SOUTH  22  1/2  DEGREES 
EAST  ALONG  SAID  ROAD  30  PERCHES,  THENCE  SOUTH  66  DEGREES  WEST  BY  HENRY  HAMPTON'S 
LINE,  94  PERCHES  TO  A  POST  STILL  BY  SAID  LINE,  SOUTH  21  DEGREES  EAST  33  1/2  PERCHES 
TO  A  POST  STILL  BY  HAMPTON'S  LINE.  SOUTH  64  1/2  DEGREES,  WEST  1 6  PERCHES  TO  THE  OLD 


141 


1843,  Heirs  of  Randall  Marshall  to  Jonathan  Elmer 

1829  Hance.  lawyer  for  Priscilla  Leaming.  to  Marshall 
From  John  Hance,  who  is  auctioning  off  Learning's  land 

To  Randall  Marshall    Liber  52,  p.  145 
2  tracts,  the  1st  of  which  is  the  Price  property,  and  crosses  the  Port 
Elizabeth  road,  the  second  of  which  was  the  Leaming  farm  and  is  on 
the  water,  both  properties  are  a  part  of  the  leaming  family  meadow  company^ 
these  two  tracts  of  land^  are  the  same  two  that  priscilla  leaming 
purchased  in  1824  that  are  recorded  in  book  TT  p  365 


CREEK,  THENCE  DOWN  SAID  CREEK  BOUNDING  HAMPTON'S  LINE  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF 
TO  MAURICE  RIVER,  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SAID  RIVER  BINDING  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  TO 
THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  321  ACRES  ~  THE  LEAMING  FARM  AND  THE 
PRICE  LAND  SO  CALLED  AND  IS  THE  SAME  FARM  CONVEYED  TO  THE  PARTY  OF  THE  FIRST 
PART  BY  THE  HEIRS  OF  RANDALL  MARSHALL  JULY  17,  1843. 

^The  details  of  the  Leaming  Family  meadow  company  agreement  that  were  included  in  this  deed, 
can  be  found  in  chapter  2,  sec  4  on  Burcham  area  meadow  companies. 
^Ist    property: 

BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSON'S  LINE  BEARING  NORTH  78  DEGREES  WEST  1G 
CHAINS  FROM  A  WHITE  OAK  TREE,  OLD  MARKED  TWELVE  NOTCHES  STANDING  ON  THE  NORTH 
WEST  SIDE  MENANTICO  CREEK  IN  SAID  RAWSON'S  LINE  THENCE  BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH  78 
DEGREES  WEST  22  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  TREE  MARKED  TWELVE  NOTCHES  AND 
LETTERED  D.  P.  STANDING  BY  THE  SWAMP  SIDE  THENCE  SOUTH  36  DEGREES  WEST  43  CHAINS 
AND  95  LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  L.P.  THENCE  SOUTH  78 
DEGREES  EAST  29  CHAINS  AND  70  LINKS  TO  SCOTT'S  LINE  THENCE  BOUNDING  ON  SAID  SCOTT'S 
LINE  AND  ON  LAND  BELONGING  TO  JOHN  LANNING  NORTH  65  DEGREES  EAST  31  CHAINS  75  LINKS 
TO  A  STAKE  THENCE  IN  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE  TO  THE  BEGINNING,  CONTAINING  180  ACRES. 
THE  TRACT  WAS  PURCHASED  BY  WILLIAM  LEAMING  FROM  DANIEL  ELMER  3/12/1822 
2nd   property: 

A  PLANTATION  SITUATE  ON  THE  EAST  SIDE  OF  THE  MAURICE  RIVER  BEGINNING  AT  THE 
PLACE  WHERE  SCOTTS  LINE  RUNS  DOWN  TO  THE  SAME  CORNER  OF 

THENCE  UP  THE  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  THEREWITH  NORTH  SOMETHING  WESTWARDLY  AS  SHOWN 
ON  THE  COMMISSIONERS  MAP  OF  DIVISIONS  TO  THE  MOUTH  OF  DIVISION  CREEK  BEING  ON  A 
STRAIGHT  COURSE  ABOUT  127  PERCHES 

THENCE  UP  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  NORTH  MUCH  EASTERLY  (ON  A  STRAIGHT  LINE) 
ABOUT  48  PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  AT  A  TURN  OF  THE  SAME  THENCE 
NORTH  64  DEGREES,  EAST  1 6  PERCHES  TO  A  MARKED  POST  IN  THE  MEADOW 
THENCE  NORTH  21  DEGREES,  WEST  331/2  PERCHES  TO  ANOTHER  POST  SET  IN  THE  EDGE  OF  THE 
UPLAND  FOR  A  CORNER  AT  THE  SOUTHEAST  SIDE  AND  END  OF  A  CAUSEWAY 
THENCE  NORTH  66  DEGREES  EAST,  95  PERCHES  TO  A  CORNER  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  ROAD 
LEADING  FROM  PORT  ELIZABETH  TO  MILLVILLE 

THENCE  UP  THE  SAID  ROAD  ACROSS  A  BRANCH  NORTH  22  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES,  WEST  34 
PERCHES  TO  ANOTHER  CORNER 

THENCE  NORTH  41  DEGREES  EAST  128  1/2  PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER  IN  A  SWAMP  WITH 
WITNESSES  (?) 

(Note:  all  the  lines  NOT  BOUNDED  BY  THE  RIVER  are  bounded  by  phscilla  leaming  LOT  2  IN  THE 
map  of  the  commissioner's  DIVISION) 

142 


1824,   Hance.   (lawyer  for  Priscilla  Learning's  trust)  to   Priscilla 

Learning.  Liber  TT  p.  365. 

From  John  Hance,  Philadelphia  lawyer  To  Priscilla  Learning 

From  Sheriff  at  auction  of  William   Leaming's  land  6/14/1824 

(presumably  the  auction  was  a  way  of  dividing  lands-- 

Priscilla  and  the  other  heirs  inherited  the  property  that  she  is 

buying  from  Hance) 

Priscilla  bought  4  tracts  of  land: 

Wm  Leaming's  will  executed  15  jan  1824  assigned  all  his 

property  to  Hance  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors  --  Liber  M, 

p.  138  --  4  tracts  of  land^ 


THENCE  SOUTH  30  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  EAST  BY  THAT  WHICH  IS  CALLED  GEORGE 

BURGJN'S  LINE,  20  PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER  FORMERLY  OF  WILLIAM  PRICE 

THENCE  BY  THOSE  WHICH  WAS  HIS  LINERS  NORTH  79  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  WEST  40 

PERCHES  TO  A  PINE  CORNER  LETTERED  LP 

THENCE  SOUTH  34  DEGREES,  WEST  1 64  PERCHES  TO  A  GUM  TREE 

THENCE  SOUTH  1 9  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES,  EAST  113  PERCHES  TO  A  PINE  LETTERED  AS 

AFORESAID  STANDING  IN  THE  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE  AND  THENCE 

DOWN  THE  SAME  SOUTH  64  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  WEST  73  PERCHES  TO  THE  SAID  RIVER 

AND  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  141  ACRES 

(Note  THIS  IS  lot#1  on  the  commissioners  map  of  divisions 

^  A)        108    acres    that    William    Learning    bougtit    from    Daniel    Elmer    3/12/1822    (he 

bought    180)    This    is    one    part    of    the    Clunn    property. 

B)    141  acres  is  lot  #1  on  commissioners  map  of  Divisions  for  the  Leaming  heirs.    This  is 

another  part  of  the  Clunn  farm. 

THE  SECOND  IS  A  PLANTATION  SITUATE  ON  THE  EAST  SIDE  OF  MAURICE  RIVER: 
BEGINNING  AT  THE  PLACE  WHERE  SCOTTS  LINE  RUNS  DOWN  THE  SAME,  RUNNING  THENCE  1 )  UP 
THE  SAID  RIVER  BOUNDING  THEREWrm  NORTH  SOMETHING  WESTERLY  (AS  SHOWN  ON  THE 
COMMISSIONER'S  MAP)  TO  THE  MOUTH  OF  DIVISION  CREEK  BEING  ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE 
ABOUT  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  27  PERCHES,  THENCE  2)  UP  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  THEREOF  NORTH 
MUCH  EASTERLY  (ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE)  ABOUGHT  48  PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  AT  A  TURN  OF 
. ;  iE  SAME,  THENCE  3)  NORTH  64  DEGREES  EAST,  16  PERCHES  TO  A  MARKED  POST  IN  THE 
MEADOW;  THENCE  4)  NORTH  21  DEGREES,  WEST  THIRTY  33  1/2  PERCHES  TO  ANOTHER  POST 
SET  IN  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  FOR  A  CORNER  AT  THE  SOUTH  EAST  SIDE  AND  END  OF  A 
COURSEWAY  THENCE  5)  NORTH  66  DEGREES  EAST,  94  PERCHES  TO  A  CORNER  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF 
THE  ROAD  LEADING  FROM  PORT  ELIZABETH  TO  MILLVILLE  THENCE  6)  UP  SAID  ROAD  ACROSS  A 
BRANCH  (OR  BANK)  NORTH  22  DEGRES  AND  30  MINUTES  WEST  30  PERCHES  TO  ANOTHER 
CORNER  THENCE  7)  NORTH  41  DEGREES  EAST  128  1/2  PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER  IN  A 
SWAMP  WITH  ?wrrNESSES  (NOTE  ALL  THE  LINES  SINCE  LEAVING  THE  RIVER  HAVE  BEEN 
BOUNDED  BY  #2  SET  OFF  TO  PRISCILLA  LEAMING  BY  THE  COMMISSIONERS.)  THENCE  8)  SOUTH 
30  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  EAST  (BY  THAT  WHICH  IS  CALLED  GEORGE  BURGIN'S  LINE)  70 
PERCHES  TO  A  STAKE  CORNER  FORMERLY  OF  WILLIAM  PRICE  ;  THENCE  9)  BY  THOSE  WHICH  WAS 
HIS  LINES  NORTH  79  DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  WEST  40  PERCHES  TO  A  PINE  CORNER  LETTERED 
LP.,  THENCE  10)  SOUTH  34  DEGREES  WEST  164  PERCHES  TO  A  GUM  THENCE  11)  SOUTH  19 
DEGREES  AND  30  MINUTES  EAST,  1 13  PERCHES  TO  A  PINE  LETTERED  AS  AFORESAID  STANDING 
IN  THE  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE;  AND  THENCE  12)  DOWN  THE  SAME  SOUTH  64  DEGREES  AND  30 

143 


1822.  Elmer  to  Leamina.  Liber  41  pp.  322-3 
this  is  tiie  first  property,  a,  only. 

Daniel  EInner  To  William  Leaming,  3/12/1822,  180  acres  for 
$1,056.87.6 

1820.  Lanning  to  Elmer.  Liber  39  pp.  29-30 

John  Jr.  and  Judith  Lanning  to  Daniel  Elmer  of  Bridgeton 

180  acres  for  $200.  Nov  18,  1820. 

BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSGN'S  LINE  BEARING  NORTH  78  DEGREES 
WEST,  16  CHAINS  [1056  ft]  FROM  A  WHITE  OAK  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  STANDING  ON  THE 
NORTHWEST  SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  IN  SAID  RAWSGN'S  LINE  FENCED  BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH 
78  DEGREES  WEST  22  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  [1485  ft]  TO  A  PINE  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES 
AND  LETTERED  D.P.  STANDING  BY  THE  SWAMP  SIDE  THENCE,  SOLTTH  26  DEGREES  WEST  43 
CHAINS  AND  95  LINKS  [2900.7  ft]  TO  A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  LP. 
STANDING  ON  THE  EAST  SIDE  OF  THE  SWAMP  THENCE  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  EAST  29  CHAINS  AND 
70  LINKS  [1960.2  ft]  TO  SCOTT'S  LINE  THENCE  NORTH  55  DEGREES  EAST  BINDING  ON  SAID 
SCOTT'S  LINE  31  CHAINS  75  LINKS  ?  [2095.5  ft]  THENCE  ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE  TO  THE 
BEGINNING  CONTAINING  180  ACRES  BEING  THE  SAME  TRACT  OF  LAND  THE  SAID  JOHN  LANNING 
JR.  PURCHASED  OF  PRESTON  STRATTON  AND  WIFE  BY  DEED  DATED  THE  22ND  DAY  OF  AUGUST 
1820  REFERENCED  THEREUNTO  BEING  HAD  WILL  MORE  FULLY  APPEAR. 

1820.  Stratton  to  Lanning 


MINUTES  WEST  73  PERCHES  TO  THE  SAID  RIVER  AND  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  141  ACRES,  AND 

15  A  TRACT  MARKED  #1  ON  COMMISSIONERS  MAP  OF  DIVISION. 

C)  14  acres  is  lot  5,  William  Price's  land  that  was  set  off  to  William  Leaming  by 
Commissioners 

THE  THIRD  TRACT  IS  A  PARCEL  OF  WOODLAND  AND  SWAMP  ON  THE  NORTH  WEST  SIDE 
OF  AND  ADJOINING  MENANTICO  CREEK  AND  HAS  ITS  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE  TREE  STANDING  AT 
THE  HIGH  WATER  MARK  OF  SAID  CREEK  AND  IS  THE  UPPER  CORNER  ON  THE  SAME  OF  JOHN 
LANNING  U\ND  RUNNNING  THENCE  WrTH  HIS  LINE  NORTH  41  DEGREES  WEST  3  PERCHES  TO  A 
STAKE  STANDING  ON  A  LANDING  THENCE  ALONG  SAID  LANNING'S  LINE  NORTH  30  DEGREES  EAST 
79  PERCHES  TO  A  POST  STANDING  IN  A  LINE  OF  THE  LAND  FORMERLY  BELONGING  TO  WILLIAM 
PRICE;  THENCE  ALONG  THE  SAME  SOUTH  55  DEGREES  EAST  16  PERCHES  TO  THE  SAID  CREEK 
AND  THENCE  DOWN  SAID  CREEK  AND  THENCE  DOWN  WmH  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  AND 
DISTACES  OF  THE  SAME  TO  THE  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  BY  FORMER  ESTIMATION  14 
ACRES  WHICH  LOT  IS  MARKED  #5  ON  THE  COMMISSIONERS  MAP  OF  DIVISION  AND  WAS  SET  OFF 
TO  WILLIAM  LEAMING  BY  THE  COMMISSIONERS. 

D)  7  1/4  acres  is  lot  6. 

6  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSON'S  LINE.  BEARING  NORTH  78  DEGREES  WEST, 

16  CHAINS  FROM  A  WHITE  OAK  TREE,  OLD  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  STANDING  ON  THE  NORTH 
WEST  SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  IN  SAID  RAWSON'S  LINE.  THENCE  BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH  78 
DEGREES  WEST,  22  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED 
D.P.  STANDING  BY  THE  ?  SWAMP  SIDE  THENCE  SOUTH  36  DEGREES  WEST  43  CHAINS  AND  95 
LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  L.P.,  THENCE  SOUTH  20  DEGREES 
EAST,  29  CHAINS  AND  70  LINKS  TO  SCOTTS  LINE  THENCE  BOUNDING  ON  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE 
AND  ON  LAND  BELONGING  TO  JOHN  U\NNING  NORTH  54  DEGREES  EAST,  31  CHAINS  75  LINKS  TO 
A  STAKE,  THENCE  ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE  TO  THE  BEGINNING,  CONTAINING  180  ACRES 


144 


Israel  Stratton  to  John  Lanning  Jr.  on  the  23rcl  day  of  August  1820 
for  one  dollar. 

CONFIRM  UNTO  THE  SAID  PARTY  OF  THE  2ND  PART,  IN  HIS  ACTUAL  POSSESSION  NOW 
BEING. . .  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  SET  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSON'S  UNE  BEARING  NORTH  78 

DEGREES  WEST  16  CHAINS  FROM  A  WHITE  OAK  TREE  OLD  MARKED  12  NOTCHES 

IN  SAID  RAWSON'S  LINE  AND  THENCE  BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH  78  DEGREES  WEST  22  CHAINS  AND 
50  LINKS  

PRESTON  STRATTON  of  Salem  County  to  John  Lanning,  Jr.  (owner  of 
adjacent  property)  of  Cumberland  County,  August  22,  1820  for  $200^ 

1818.  Watson.  Gurll  and  Stratton  to  Stratton. 

r.opt  10,  1818,  Sheriff's  sale  of  Watson,  Gurll  and  Israel  Stratton 

land  :  property  bought  by  Preston  Stratton 

Jeremiah  Buck  to  Israel  Stratton,  James  Watson  and  William  Gurll 

1815  Griffith  to  Daniel  Elmer  and  Jeremiah  Buck 
property  on  west  side  of  Maurice  near  Buckshutem  and  a  cedar 
swamp  --  1800  acres  from  Cooper  and  180  acres  (will  be  Clunn 
property)  for  $15,200.  Elmer  and  Buck  hold  mortgage 

1814.  Price  to  Griffith.  Liber  25.  p  244 
this  is  property  a,  above 

William   Price  to  William  Griffith  --   includes   180  acres  2nd 
property,  lot  #1,  June  6,  1814. 


7  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSON'S  LINE  BEARING  NORTH  SEVENTY  EIGHT 
DEGREES  WEST  SIXTEEN  CHAINS  FROM  A  WHrPE  OAK  TREE  OLD  MARKED  TWELVE  NOTCHES 
STANDING  ON  THE  NORTHWEST  SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  IN  SAID  RAWSON'S  LINE  AND  THENCE 
BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH  TWENTY-EIGHT  (78  IN  OTHER  DEEDS)DEGREES  WEST  TWENTY-TWO 
PERCHES  (CHAINS  IN  OTHER  DEEDS)  AND  FIFTY  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  TREE  MARKED  TWELVE 
NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  D.P.  STANDING  BY  THE  SWAMP  SIDE  AND  THENCE  SOLFTH  36  DEGREES 
WEST  43  CHAINS  AND  95  LINKS  TO  A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  LP. 
o  I ANDING  ON  THE  WEST  SIDE  OF  THE  SWAMP  THENCE  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  EAST  29  CHAINS  AND 
70  LINKS  TO  SCOrrS  LINE  THENCE  NORTH  55  DEGREES  EAST  BINDING  ON  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE 
31  CHAINS  75  LINKS  THENCE  ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE  TO  THE  BEGINNING  CONTAINING  180 
ACRES  BEING  THE  SAME  TRACT  OF  U\ND  WHICH  THE  SAID  PRESTON  STRATTON  PURCHASED  AT 
SHERIFFS  SALE  DEED  DATED  SEPTEMBER  TENTH  1818  SOLD  AS  THE  PROPERTY  OF  JAMES 
WATSON,  WILLIAM  GURLL,  AND  ISRAEL  STRATTON  AND  WHICH  THE  SAME  PURCHASED  OF 
JEREMIAH  BUCK  AND  WIFE. 

THE  SAID  PREMISES  ARE  FREE  AND  CLEAR  . .  .FROM  ALL  FORMER  MORTGAGES. . .  AND  FROM 
ALL  OTHER  INCUMBERANCES  WHATSOEVER  EXCEPTING  ONLY  A  MORTGAGE  GIVEN  BY 
JEREMIAH   BUCK   AND   DANIEL   ELMER   TO   WILLIAM   GRIFFITH 


145 


Between  Wm  Price  of  Millville  and  William  Griffith,  Esq  of 
Burlington  for  seven  thousand  dollars. ^ 

1783.  Leaminc  to  Price.  Liber  8  pp.  374-6 

Jonathan  and  Parsons  Learning  To  Captain  Wm.  Price 

316  acres  of  601    1/2  acres  they  inherited  from  their  grandfather 

Aaron  Learning  l|9.  474  pounds. 

AARON  LEAMING's  two  tracts,  601   1/2  acres: 

1)  120  acres  that  he  bought  from  LAWRENCE  AND  WILLIAM  PETERSON   DECEMBER  23.  1740 

2)  part  of  the  481  1/2  acres  of  land,  swamp  and  cripple  that  he  bought  from  THE  COUNCIL  OF 
PROPRIETORS,  by  warrant  dated  NOVEMBER  3,  1737.0F  LAND,  SWAMP  AND  CRIPPPLE, 
AND  THE  USUAL  ALLOWANCE  FOR  HIGHWAYS. . .  .^0 


8  BEGINNING  AT  A  POST  FOR  A  CORNER  IN  RAWSON'S  LINE  BEING  NORTH  75  DEGREES  AND  16 
CHAINS  FROM  A  WHITE  OAK  TREE  OLD  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  STANDING  ON  THE  NORTH  WEST 
SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  IN  SAID  RAWSON'S  LINE  THENCE  BY  SAID  LINE  NORTH  78  DEGREES 
WEST  22  CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  PiNE  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  LP 
STANDING  IN  THE  SWAMP  SIDE  THENCE  SOUTH  36  DEGREES  WEST  53  CHAINS  AND  95  LINKS  TO 
A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LETTERED  LP  STANDING  ON  THE  EAST  SIDE  OF  A 
'^' VAMP  THENCE  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  EAST  29  CHAINS  AND  7  LINKS  TO  SCOTTS  LINE  THENCE 
NORTH  65  DEGREES  EAST  BINDING  ON  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE  31  CHAINS  AND  75  LINKS  THENCE  ON 
A  STRAIGHT  LINE  TO  THE  BEGINNING  WITHIN  WHICH  BOUNDS  IS  CONTAINED  180  ACRES  BE 
THEY  THE  SAME  MORE  OR  LESS  BEING  PART  OF  A  TRACT  WHICH  THE  SAID  WM  PRICE 
PURCHASED   OF  JONATHAN   AND  PARSONS   LEAMING   AS  WITNESSES  DEED   DATE 
21  MARCH  1783  AND  RECORDED  IN  THE  CLERK'S  OFFICE  OF  CUMBERLAND  COUNTY  AUGUST 
19,  1805  IN  BOOK  8  OF  DEEDS  P  374-6. 

^Aaron  Learning  II  left  both  of  these  properties  to    his  sons  Aaron  and  Jeremiah.  Jeremiah 
willed  his  part  to  his  brother  Aaron,  who  willed  both  parts  to  his  sons,  Jonathan  and  Parsons 
Leaming. 

10  TRACT  OF  LAND,  SWAMP  AND  CRIPPLE  .  .  .  UPON  BOTH  SIDES  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK, 
AND  ON  THE  NORTHEAST  OF  PRINCE  MORRIS'  RIVER  .     .  BEGINNING  AT  A  WHITE 
OAK  TREE,  OLD  MARKED  TWELVE  NOTCHES,  STANDING  ON  THE  NORTH  WEST  SIDE 
OF  MENA^^■|CO  CREEK  IN  WILLLIAM  RAWSON'S  LINE,  AND  RUNNING  FROM  THE  SAID 
TREE  ALONG  WILLLIAM  RAWSON'S  LINE  NORTH  78  DEGREES  WEST  35  CHAINS  TO  A  PINE  TREE 
MARKED  12  NOTCHES  AND  LP.  STANDING  BY  A  SWAMP  SIDE  THEN  SOUTH  36  DEGREES  WEST 
40  CHAINS  AND  45  LINKS  BY  A  LINE  OF  TREES  NEWLY  MARKED  TO  A  GUM  TREE  MARKED  12 
NOTCHES  AND  LP.  STANDING  BY  THE  EAST  SIDE  OF  A  SWAMP;  THEN  SOUTH  20  DEGREES  EAST 
26  CHAINS  AND  82  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  MARKED12  NOTCHES  AND  L.S.P.  STANDING  IN  SCOTTS 
UNE;  THEN  BOUNDING  BY  THE  SAME  NORTH  65  DEGREES  EAST  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  TWO  CHAINS 
AND  FIFTY  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  IN  THE  SAID  SCOTTS  LINE  NEWLY  MARKED  12  NOTCHES.  STANDING 
ON  THE  NORTHEAST  SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREEK  AND  CROSSING  THE  SAID  CREEK  ON  THIS  LAST 
MEfvn-IONED  COURSE;  THEN  NORTH  19  DEGREES  WEST  BY  A  LINE  OF  TREES  NEWLY  MARKED  26 
CHAINS  AND  50  LINKS  TO  A  PINE  AND  OAK,  EACH  MARKED  12  NOTCHES,  THEN  NORTH  88 
DEGREES,  WEST  75  CHAINS  TO  A  STAKE  STANDING  BY  THE  SIDE  OF  MENANTICO  CREK  ON  THE 
EAST  SIDE  THEREOF,  THEN  BOUNDING  DOWN  BY  THE  SAID  CREEK  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES 
THEREOF1 7  CHAINS  THENCE  ON  A  STRAIGHT  COURSE  TO  THE  FIRST  PLACE  OF  BEGINNING  WHUIN 
WHICH  BOUNDS  IS  CONTAINED  316  ACRES. 


146 


June  2.  1741.11  Peterson  to  Learning 

Peter  Peterson's  sawmill  and  600  acres  of  land  cried  off  to  Aaron 

Learning  for  13  pounds,  2.6. 

1740.  Peterson  to  Leaminc 

Lawrence  and  William  Peterson  to  Aaron  Learning  120  acres 

(presumably  this  was  a  part  of  the  estate  of  Peter  Peterson), 

12/23/1740. 

1733.  to  Peterson,  Book  One 

Peter  Peterson  bought  a  sawmill,  600  acres  belonging  to  the  mill 

and  320  acres  on  Dividing  Creek  for  25  pounds.  4/28/1733 


^  ^  Abstracts  of    Salem  County  Loan  Office  records  that  appeared  in  the  Genealogical  Magazine 
of   New   Jersey,    54:121,125,    (1979). 


147 


Appendix  IV--  Meadow  Company  Agreements 
Millville  Meadow  Company.  1819 

WE  THE  COMMISSIONERS  APPOir^ED  BY . . .  THE  JUDGES  OF  THE  INFERIOR  COURT  OF 
COMMON  PLEAS  IN  . . .  CUMBERU\ND  ...  TO  LAY  OFF  THE  BANK  AND  WATER  COURSES  ON  A 
CERTAIN  BODY  OF  MEADOW  SITUATE  IN  THE  TOWNSHIP  OF  MILLVILLE  BELONGING  TO  JOSHUA 
BRICK,  DANIEL  CARRALL  AND  OTHERS. . .  WE  HAVE  PROCEEDED  TO  VALUE  AND  LAY  OFF  THE 
SAME  WITH  THE  WATER  COURSES  IN  THE  MANNER  FOLLOWING,  VIZ 

BEGINNING  AT  A  PINE  TREE  STANDING  IN  SCOTTS  LINE,  AND  OF  THE  BANK 
THROWN  BY  THE  LONGSTAFFS,  ON  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  UPLAND  BEING  ALSO  A  CORNER  OF 
JOHN  LANNING'S  CRIPPLE.  THENCE  DOWN  THE  SHORE  BANK  AS  ORIGINALLY  THROWN  TO 
THE  BANK  ON  THE  RIVER,  THENCE  UP  THE  RIVER  MEASURING  THE  BANK  AS  IT  NOW  RUNS  91 
RODS  AND  5  LINKS  TO  A  SLUICE  WHICH  WE  ORDER  TO  BE  COMTINUED  WHERE  IT  NOW  LIES  THENCE 
CONTINUED  THE  BANK  IN  ALL  200  RODS  FROM  THE  BEGINNING  TO  A  WILLOW  MARKED  1  NOTCH 
AND  LETTERED  ?  ABOVE  AND  P  BELOW  WHICH  SAID  200  RODS  AND  SLUICE  LAY  OFF  TO  BE 
MAINTAINED  BY  THE  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO  WILLIAM  LANNING. 

SECONDLY,  WE  lay  off  to  the  meadow  belonging  to  PRISCILLA  LEAMING  180 
RODS  NEXT  UP  THE  RIVER, 

BEGINNING  AT  THE  SAID  WILLOW  MARKED  ?  THENCE  UP  THE  RIVER  AS  THE  BANK  WAS 
ORIGINALLY  THROWN  180  RODS  TO  A  WILLOW  MARKED  II  AND  P  ABOVE  AND  P  BELOW  WITH  ONE 
SLUICE  WHERE  IT  NOW  LAYS  IN  SAID  BANK  TO  BE  MAINTAINED  BY  THE  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO 
SAID  PRISCILLA  LEAMING, 

THIRDLY  TO  THE  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO  PARSONS  LEAMING,  WE  LAY  OFF  AS 
FOLLOWS 

BEGINNING  AT  THE  SAID  WILLOW  BEING  THE  UPPER  END  OF  PRISCILLA  LEAMING'S  BANK. 
THENCE  UP  THE  RIVER  AS  THE  SAID  BANK  WAS  ORIGINALLY  THROWN  170  RODS  TO  A  STAKE  3 
RODS  AND  6  LINKS  BELOW  A  CHERRY  TREE  MARKED  H  ABOUT  THREE  FEET  UP  AND  ON  THE 
INSIDE  OF  THE  BANK  AND  ONE  SLUICE  WHERE  IT  NOW  IS  IN  THE  BANK  AT  OR  NEAR  BRICK  AND 
CARRALL'S  LINE  THE  UPPER  SLUICE  IN  THE  ABOVE  MENTIONED  BANK  170  RODS  OF  BANK  AND 
SLUICE  WE  ORDER  TO  BE  MAINTAINED  BY  THE  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO  SAID  PARSON'S  LEAMING 

FOURTHLY, 

THE  REMAINDER  OF  THE  BANK  UP  TO  BUDD'S  LINE  BEING  1 10  RODS ,  WE  LAY  OFF  TO 
THE  MEADOW  BELONGING  TO  SAID  JOSHUA  BRICK  AND  DANIEL  CARRALL  WITH  ONE  SLUICE  TO 
BE  LAID  IN  THE  BANK  70  RODS  DOWN  THE  RIVER  BELOW  BUDD'S  LINE  TO  WHICH  PLACE  WE 
ORDER  THE  SLUICE  ALREADY  IN  THE  BANK  TO  BE  MOVED.  THE  ABOVE  1 1 0  RODS  AND  SLUICE  WE 
ORDER  TO  BE  MAINTAINED  AND  KEPT  UP  BY  THE  MEADOWS  BELONGING  TO  SAID  BRICK  AND 
CARRALL 

FIFTHLY, 

THE  BANK  FROM  THE  RIVER  TO  THE  SHORE  ON  BUDD'S  LINE  ADJOINING  ON  BRICK  AND 
CARRALL,  WE  ORDER  THROWN  OR  MADE  AND  MAINTAINED  AT  THE  JOINT  EXPENSE  OF  ALL  THE 
SAID  FOUR  FARMERS  OF  MEADOW  EACH  ONE  TO  PAY  AN  EQUAL  PROPORTION  OF  SAID  EXPENSE 
WHENEVER  THE  MANAGERS  FOR  THE  TIME  BEING  MAY  THINK  THE  SAME  NECESSARY  TO  BE 

DONE 

SIXTHLY  WE  ORDER  THAT  THE  SAID  COMPANY  BE  CALLED  AND  KNOWN  BY  THE  NAME 
OF  THE  MILLVILLE  MEADOW  COMPANY 

14TH  JUNE  1819 

ISAAC  TOWNSEND,  LEWIS  MULFORD,  JOHN  LANNING  JR. 

148 


Leamina  Family  Meadow  Company.  1828 

in  MISCELLANEOUS  DEED  BOOK,  D,  p.  154. 

THESE  PROPERTIES  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  A  FIVE  YEAR  LEASE  IN  FAVOR  OF  JAMES  WELSH,  THE 
PRESENT  OCCUPIER  OF  SAID  FARM 

A  MEMORANDUM  OF  AGREEMENT  ENTERED  INTO  THE  12TH  DAY  OF  JUNE  1828  BY 
JEREMIAH  LEAMING,  AARON  LEAMING,  ROBERT  M.  HOLMES.  AND  SARAH  LEAMING  FOR  THE 
HEIRS  OF  JONATHAN  LEAMING  AND  FURMAN  LEAMING,  DANIEL  HOLLINSHEAD,  HUGH 
HOLLINSHEAD  AND  PRISCILLA  LEAMING  RECORDED  OCTOBER  8, 1828  IN  THE  CLERK'S  OFFICE  OF 
CUMBERLAND  COUNTY  IN  BOOK  D  p.  154 

In  1826,  the  owners  of  the  dyked  "Longstaff"  farms  were: 

1)  Joseph,  Daniel  and  Hugh  Hollinshed 

2)  the  heirs  of  Parsons  Learning,  deceased,  Jeremiah,  Aaron,  and  Sarah  Learning  (widow,  for 
the  heirs  of  James  R.  Leaming),  all  of  Cape  May  County,  and  Furman  Leaming  of  Philadelphia 

3)  Priscilla  Leaming  of  Philadelphia 
4)" 

The  survey  of  the  meadow  company  farms: 

Beginning  upriver,  the  survey  began  at  a  leaning  maple  on  the  Hollinshed  property,  and 
extended  165  1/2  rods  down  the  river  to  the  line  between  it  and  the  farm  now  occupied  by 
Elias  Wilson. 

The  second  farm,  the  one  now  occupied  by  Elias  Wilson,  continued  another  165  1/2  rods 
down  the  Maurice.    It  was  owned  by  the  heirs  of  Parsons  Leaming.^    It  began  at  a  willow  ten 
rods  below  the  mouth  of  Otter  Gut  and  ran  along  the  bank  165  1/2  rods  to  a  leaning  maple  on 
the  outer  edge  of  the  bank  that  was  marked  12  notches  and  4  blazes. 

Priscilla  Leaming,    a  minor  in  Philadelphia,  was  the  owner  of  the  two  lower  farms.    She 
was  required  to  keep  banked  the  following  marshland,  which  began  at  the  line  her  property 
shared  with  John  Lanning's.  (the  Gricco  property) 

BEGINNING  AT  A  CEDAR  POST  OR  STAKE  MARKED  12  NOTCHES  STANDING  ON  THE  TOWN 
END  OF  THE  BANK  AT  THE  FAST  L^ND  ON  OR  NEAR  THE  LINE  BETWEEN  JOHN  U\NNING  AND 
PRISCILLA  LEAMING'S  LAND  AND  FROM  THENCE  ALONG  THE  SEVERAL  COURSES  OF  THE  BANK 
331  RODS  TO  A  CROTCHED  WILLOW  MARKED  THREE  NOTCHES  AND  A  BU\ZE  WITH  THE  LETTERS 
PHL  IN  THE  UPPER  AND  PL  ON  THE  LOWER  SIDE  STANDING  ON  THE  OUTER  PART  OF  SAID  BANK 
1 1  RODS  FROM  THE  EDGE  OF  PRISCILA  LEAMING'S  MEADOW  AND  1 0  RODS  BELOW  THE  MOUTH  OF 
OTTER  GUT  CREEK 


^  His  heirs  were  Robert  Holmes,  Furman  Leaming  and  Sarah  Leaming  (for  the  heirs  of  James  R. 
Leaming). 

149 


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Interviews 

Fola  Bevan,  Cumberland  County  Historical  Society 

Janice  and  Jeanette  Burcham 


158 


Jane  Galetto,  Citizen's  United  for  the  Protection  of  the  Maurice 
River 

Cynthia  Poten,  Delaware  River  Keeper. 

J.  Laubengeyer,  former  Cumberland  County  planner 

Greg  Breese,  Bombay  Hook,  Federal  Fish  and  Wildlife,  Delaware 

Carl  Williams,  former  editor  and  publisher  of  "The  New  Jersey 
Genesis  Quarterly",  N.Y.C. 

Rudy  Strauss,  Maurice  River  resident 

Richard  and  Joanne  Wetherby  of  Millville 

William  Wetherby  of  Millville 

Dale  Wetstein,  Millville  photographer, 

Mary  Samano  Wheaton 


159 


Anne  &  Jerome  Fisher 

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