Full text of "Centennial history of Ocean county"

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OCEAN COUNTY. 



HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES 



OCEAN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, 



BEING A SERIES OF HISTORICAL SKETCHES RELATING TO OCEAN COUNTY, 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW JERSEY COURIER, 

TOMS RIVER, N. J. 



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By EDWIN SALTER 



PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE NEW JERSEY COURIER. 

TOMS RIVER, N. J. 
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U NT Y, 



HISTORICAL SKETCHES 



OF 



Forked River, Cedar Creek and Vicinity. 



BY EDWIN SALTEll. 



[Note. — The f^rcatcr part of the following sketches was prepared by request, for the 
Presbyterian Society at Forked Kiver, Rev. James M. Denton, pastor, for their Centennial 
Fourth of July celebration. Since then, both Mr. Denton and the writer have received nu- 
merous letters from clergymen and others, asking for extracts, and also inquiries in re- 
gard to matters not presented for want of time in the orginal paper. In consequence, 
it has been suggested that the sketches should be published in the New Jeksey Courier, 
with additional matter, to make more complete historical notices of the places named.] 



DISCO\^BY OF OCEAN COUNTY. 

Who first discovered this section of 
our country ? Who first entered Barne- 
gat Bay, and explored its shores ? Who 
were the first whites who located here ? 
Have any accounts of the Indians once 
living here been preserved ? These are 
among the first questions which natural- 
ly present themselves in making inqui- 
ries into the early history of this section 
of our State. While the records of the 
past, meagre indeed as regards this lo- 
cality, do not furnish as full answers as 
desirable, yet much has been preserved 
which is of interest to all desirous of ob- 
taining information on these and kindred 
points. 

The discovery of that part of New 
Jersey now kno-rni as Ocean County, was 
by Sir Henry Hudson, on the 2d day of 
September, 1609, while cruising along 
oiar coast in the celebrated Dutch ship, 
the Half Moon. This ship was quite 
small, being of only eighty tons burthen, 



and of a build that would now be con- 
sidered quite novel, reminding one of 
the curious-looking Dutch galliots, which 
occasionally were seen in the harbor of 
New York a generation or so ago, which 
used to attract the attention of, and are 
well remembered by old seafaring men 
of Ocean County. 

This ship, two or three days previous- 
ly, hatl tried to enter Delaware Bay, but 
finding the navigation dangerous, no at- 
tempt was made to land, and she again 
stood out to sea. After getting fair- 
ly out, Hudson headed northeastwardly, 
and after a while hauled in and made 
land, Sept. 2d, near Egg Harbor. A 
very complete log of the ship was kept 
by the mate, Alfred Juet, which was sub- 
sequently pubUshed, and from which is 
made the following extract gi\Tng their 
observations of the coast, bay, land, «fec., 
as they sailed close along shore. It will 
be seen it quite accurately describes our 
GOftsfc from Egg Harbor on to witbiu 



biglit of the Higlilauds of Niivcsiuk. The 
lake spokcu of is noAV kiiowu as Banie- 
gat Bay, aud the month of it as Barne- 
gat lulet : 

" Sept. 2d, 1G09. WTien the sun arose 
we steered north again, and saw land 
from the west bj^ north to the northwest, 
all alike, broken islands, and our sound- 
ings were eleven fathoms and ten fath- 
oms. Then we luffed in for the shore, 
aud fair by the shore we had seven fath- 
oms. The course along the land we 
found to be northeast by north. From 
the land we first had sight of until we 
came to a great lake of water, as we 
could judge it to be, being dro^-ned land, 
which made it rise like islands, which 
was in length ten leagues. The mouth 
of the lake has many shoals, and the sea 
breaks upon them as it is cast out of the 
mouth of it. And from that lake or 
bay the land lies north by east, and we 
had a great stream out of the bay ; and 
from thence our soundings were ten 
fathoms two leagues from land. At five 
o'clock we anchored, being light wind, 
and rode in eight fathoms water. The 
night was fair. This night I found the 
land to haul the compass eight degrees. 
Far to the northward of us we saw high 
hills. This is a very good land to fall in 
with, and a pleasant land to see." 

The next day the Half Moon i^roceed- 
cd northwardly, and entered Bandy Hook, 
and the day after, Sept. 4tli, a boat was 
sent on shore, which contained the first 
Europeans who landed on New Jersey 
soil. It is supposed they landed in old 
Monmouth, not far from Keyport. The 
Intlians looked upon the whites and their 
ship with Avondcr, and some ventured on 
board with presents of green tobacco 
leaves, aud seemed pleased to see the 
whites. After lingering there until the 
10th, the ship got under way, and . pro- 
ceeded up the Hudson River, which de- 
rives its name from its discovery at this 
time by the commander of the ship ; and 
on their return down the river, the ship 
put to Bca without any attempt to laud. 



By the extract given alwvc from the 
log of the Half Moon, it will be seen 
that the opinion of the whites who first 
saw this part of our coast, was that " this 
is a very good land to fall in with, aud a 
pleasant land to see." 

EXPLORING OLR COAST. 

The fh'st attempt to make exploraticms 
on our coast was in 1614, hy Captain 
Cornells Jacobseu Mey, in the ship For- 
tune. He displayed considerable ego- 
tism in naming places after himself, as 
New York Bay he called " Port Mey ;" 
the Delaware Bay, " New Port Mey," 
and its north point, "Cape Mey," and 
its south one, " Cape Cornells. " Only 
one of these designations has been re- 
tained — Cape May — and that with a slight 
change of orthography. It is probable 
it was he who gave tjje names to Banie- 
gat Inlet aud Egg Harbor. On the map 
of the original explorations, the inlet 
now knoAvn as Barnegat was marked as 
Barcndc-gat, the Dutch words signify- 
ing " breakers' inlet, " or an inlet with 
breakers. Absecom Inlet was also 
marked Bareude-gat, but the present 
name, of Indiau origin, was eventually 
substituted. Barende-gat was in course 
of time corrupted by the English to 
Barndegat, Bardegat, and finally to 
Barnegat. Egg Harbor was so called on 
account of the luimber of gulls' eggs 
found by the exjilorers (m the islands with- 
in the inlet ; the Dutch calling it /v//t Ha- 
ven, which in English means Egg Harbor. 

In 1615, Captain Hendrickson, in n 
little yacht called the " Onrcst," (which 
in English means " Restless,") also 
cruised along the const to make explora- 
tions. This little yacht was the second 
vessel built in America. The year pre- 
vious a Dutch shiiJ, while lying near 
New York island, had accidentally caught 
fire aud burned up, and during the win- 
ter the crew 'nuilt the Restless, about 
where Beaver Street, New York, now is. 
When she was launched in the spring, 
her first cruise was up Long Island 
Sound, under Captain Adrian Block, who 



3 



went as far as Block Island, named after 
him, and his perilous adventures through 
Hell Gate, caused him to bestow the 
name it has ever since retained. The 
name he gave to what is now called 
Rhode Island, has caused a very natural 
mistake to be made in our school text- 
books, which say it was so called from its 
fancied resemblance to the island of 
Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea, while 
the fact is Captain Block called it lioodt 
Island ; Roodt, which is pronounced as 
Rhode, is the Dutch word for red, and 
the island was so called from red soil and 
leaves that attracted Block's notice. Af- 
ter Block returned to Ncav York, Caj)tain 
Hendrickson took command of the Rest- 
less, and cruised south along the New 
Jersey coast. He made a curious majD 
of his discoveries, which he took to Hoi- 
land, and which has since been copied in 
this country. One writer claims that he 
was the first white man who set foot on 
the soil of West Jersey or Pennsylvania. 
From the small size of his yacht, about 
sixteen ton§, it is quite probable that 
Captain Hendrickson entered Barnegat 
Bay, and that he was the first white man 
who set foot in wliat is now known as 
Qeean County. 

Another noted navigator, named De- 
Vries, was on our coast April 15, 1633, 
and says that off Barnegat ' ' he fished 
with a drop-line, and caxaght in two hours 
eighty-four codfish, Avhich are very good 
flavored, sweet fish, better than those of 
Newfoundland." And in 1(55(5, A^ander- 
donk, another noted Dutch explorer, 
speaks of Barnegat and Egg Harbor In- 
lets as safe harbors, but says they are 
seldom used, seemingly because their 
seafaring men were not acquainted with 
the channel ways. 

It is probable that about this time, 
this section was occasionally visited by 
white men from the settlements on the 
Delaware and near New York, for the 
purpose of explorations and to get furs 
of the Indians, and before the close of 
the centi;ry, some Swedes from West 



Jersey, and perhaps others, had perma- 
nently located at points from Toms 
River to Egg Harbor. 



THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 

i KEFUGEES AT FORKED EmilE, OEDATt 
CP.EEK AND VICINITY. 

j During the Revolutionary War, Forked 

River, Goodluck and Cedar Creek were 

! occasionally \asited by parties of Refu- 

I gees under command of the noted Capt. 

John Bacon, the Dover Refugee, Daven- 

j)ort, and jDerhaps others. 

Bacon, in one of his raiding expedi- 
tions, with fifteen or sixteen men, plun- 
j dered the dwelling house of John 
j Holmes then residing at the upper 
! (Frank Cornehus) mill. The party 
{ camped in the woods near the house un- 
I til daylight and then came and demanded 
; money. Mr. Holmes had the reputation 
; of being somewhat forehanded, and the 
Tories expected to make a good haul. 
In expectation of such a visit he had 
buried many of his valuable.'?, and at this 
time he had most of his money hid under 
a gooseberry bush in the garden. The 
Refugees put a bayonet to his breast and 
threatened to Mil him if his money was 
not forthcoming. Mr. Holmes's wife 
happened to have some money about her, 
which she delivered to them, and this 
I seemed to satisfy them as far as money 
1 was concerned. They then ransacked 
the house and took provisions and such 
other things as they wanted. An ancient 
newspaper, probably referring to this 
affair, says that about the last of April, 
1780, a party of Refugees visited the 
house of John Holmes and robbed him 
j of a large amount of Continental money, 
a silver watch, gold ring, silver buckles, 
pistols, clothing, &c. While a part of 
the gang remained here, a detachment 
: went over to Goodluck to plunder the 
houses of John and William Price, from 
I which they took such things as they 
; wanted. John Williams, Esq., an aged 
citizen stUl living at Goodluck, who is a 
grandson of John Holmes, says that 



among other things taken from the i 
Prices were a musket, fife and drum, and 
that the last two came near causing^ 
trouble among the Kefugees themselves, 
for as they mai-ched back to Holmes' 
mill to rejoin Bacon, they played upon 
them for amusement -vvdth such effect 
that Bacon thought a party of Americans 
was after him and he arranged his men ' 
on the mill hill prepared to fire as soon i 
as the party emerged from the woods, j 
Unfortunately for justice he saw who the 
men were in time to prevent firing. 

Bacon, in his raiding expeditions in this I 
vicinity, was materially aided by an Eng- 
lishman named William Wilson, better 
known as Bill Wilson, who pretended to 
be neutral, but who really acted as a spy 
for the Eefugees. During the war he 
lived at Waretown ; but a patriot named 
Reuben Soper was killed on the beach 
below the lighthouse, by the Eefugees, 
and BUI Wilson was supposed to have 
aided, and the Waretown Sopers com- 
pelled him to leave. He finally located 
on the North Beach, about opposite 
Forked Eiver, where he lived to quite 
an advanced age. There are persons 
now living who remember him, among 
them Eeuben Williams, who when a boy 
was quite a favorite of Bill Wilson. 
Bacon had a cabin, or cave on the north 
liranch of Forked Eiver, near Franks 
Crossway ; after he was killed his widow 
came from Pemberton to Forked Eiver 
to get some of his things left in the cave, 
and Eeuben Williams remembers some 
of the incidents of her visit as related 
by Mrs. Williams, with whom Mrs. Bacon 
stopped. Mrs. Bacon lived during the 
war and long after at Pemberton, where 
she was respected by the Americans ; 
she had two sons who grew itp and went 
west and became useful citizens. In her 
late years she married a man named 
Monis. The late Samuel Fox, of Barne- 
gat, an aged citizen who died a few 
months ago, knew her and her last hus- 
band. 

It is well known that during the Revo- 



lution, members of the same family not 
unfrequently took different sides in the 
war, and tradition states that a relative 
of the John Holmes mentioned above, 
named William Holmes, sympathized 
with the Eefugees ; that at the time John 
Holmes was plundered, his team was 
taken and this William was compelled to 
drive it loaded with plunder to a Eef ugee 
rendezvous in Manahawken or Bass 
Eiver swamp ; that he was compelled at 
one time to act as guide in disguise, to a 
party who plundered John Eogers, 
gi-andfather of Judge Eogers, of Cedar 
Creek, when he was recognized and sub- 
sequently compelled to cause the return 
of the plunder. The Holmes family 
Avas quite numerous in old Monmouth, 
and nearly all were active patriots, some 
holding honorable positions in the Amer- 
ican Army, but two or three aided with the 
British, and at the close of the war left 
for Nova Scotia. Those of the family 
now living here are descendants from pa- 
triots who suffered severely for their ad- 
herence to the cause of liberty. 

THE BEFUGEE DAVENPORT AT FORKED 
RIVER, AXD HIS DEATH. 

On the 1st of June, 1782, Davenport 
with eighty men, half of whom were 
black and half white, in tAvo long barges 
landed at Forked Eiver, first on the 
north side where they demanded pro- 
visions of Samuel and James Woodman- 
see, brothers who then lived on the 
James Jones and Joseph Holmes places. 
They then i^roceeded to the south branch 
of Forked Eiver, to the house of Samuel 
Brown, an active member of the militia, 
who then lived on the place owned some 
twenty odd years ago by John Wright. 
They plundered his house, burnt his salt 
works, and came near capturing Mr. 
Brown himself, who just had time to es- 
cape to the woods. Mr. Brown often 
had to sleep in the woods for fear of 
I Eefugee raids at night. 
! After completing their work of de- 
struction, the two barges proceeded down 
Forked Eiver to its mouth, when one 



went lip the bay, while the other with 
Davenport himself proceeded down the 
bay with the intention of destroying the 
salt works of the Americans at Ware- 
town and vicinity. Davenport expected 
to meet with no opposition, as he sup- 
posed no militia Avere near enough to check 
him. But before he reached Oyster 
Creek he perceived a boat heading for 
him. His crew advised him to turn back, 
as they said the other boat must have 
some advantage or they would not ven- 
ture to approach. 

Davenport told them they could see 
the other boat had fewer men, and ridi- 
culed theii* fears. He soon found, hoAv- 
ever, why it was that the American boat 
ventured to attack them. Davenport's 
men had only muskets with which to de- 
fend themselves ; the Americans had a 
cannon or swivel, and when Avithin prop- 
er distance they discharged it Avith so ef- 
fective an aim that DaA'enport, who was 
standing up in the boat, was killed at 
the fii'st discharge, and his barge dam- 
aged and upset by his frightened crew. 
It happened that the water was only 
about four feet deep and his crew waded 
ashore and landed near Oyster Creek, 
not far from the place now OAvned by 
James Anderson, and thus escaped, scat- 
tering themselves in various directions 
in the woods and swamps. The late 
John Collins of Barnegat remembered 
some of them calling on his father and 
other Quakers begging for provisions. 

Back of Toms River is a stream called 
Davenport's Branch, which some suppose 
to have derived its name from his having 
places of concealment on its banks. 

OLD RESIDENTS IN A BAD SCRAPE. 

During the Revolution, three men 
living in this vicinity and Waretown, 
named Asa Woodmansee, Richard Web- 
ster and Thomas Collins, hearing that 
farm produce was bringing exorbitant 
prices in New York among the British, 
loaded a whale-boat with truck from 
farms along Barnegat Bay and proceeded 



to New York by way of old Cranberry 
Inlet, opposite Toms River, which then 
was open. These men were not Refu- 
gees, but undertook the trip merely to 
make money by trying a kind of ' ' running 
the blockade " business on a small scale. 
They arrived safely in New York, sold 
out their produce, and were about return- 
ing home when the noted Refugee Capt. 
John Bacon called on them and insisted 
on taking passage back in the whale-boat. 
Much against their will they Avere forced 
to alloAV him to come on board. They 
arrived near Cranberry Inlet before sun- 
down, and lay outside until after dark, 
being afraid to venture in the bay dui-ing 
the day. In the meantime the patriot 
militia stationed at Toms River had got 
Avind of their proceedings, and being de- 
termined to put a stop to the contraband 
trade, a small party under command of 
Lieutenant Joshua Studson took a boat 
and went across to the inlet and con- 
cealed themselves behind a point just in- 
side. After dark the Avhale-boat came 
in, but no sooner had it rounded the 
point than to the consternation of those 
on board they saw the boat of the militia 
so close by that there was no apparent 
chance of escape. Lieutenant Studson 
stood up in his boat and called upon 
them to surrender. The unfortunate 
sjjeculators were unai-med and in favor 
of yielding, but Bacon knoAving that his 
life was ah-eady forfeited, refused, and 
having his musket loaded suddenly fired 
with so deadly an aim that the brave 
lieutenant instantly dropped dead in the 
boat. The sudden, unexpected firing, 
and the death of Studson, threw the 
militia into momentary confusion, and 
before they could decide how to act the 
whale-boat was out of sight in the dark- 
ness. The militia returned to Toms 
River the same night and delivered the 
body of Studson to his wife, who was 
overwhelmed with sorrow at his sudden 
death. Studson's home then was in a 
house near the water's edge, just below 
the present Toms River bridge. Some 



6 



years after Mrs. Studsou married a 
Chamberlain at Toms Kiver. 

The crew uf the whale-boat, knowing 
it was not safe for them to remain at 
home after this affair, lied to the British 
army and were forced into service, bnt 
were of little use as " they were sick 
with the small pox, and suffered every- 
thing bnt death," as one of them (Col- 
lins) said, during their stay with the 
British. Taking advantage of one of Gen- 
eral Washington's proclamations, offering 
protection to deserters from the British 
Army, they were afterwards allowed to 
return home. James Mills, an aged, re- 
spected citizen now living at Barnegat, 
in his young days resided with one of the 
Woodmansees on the James Jones place, ; 
at Forked River, and frequently met one 
or two of these ill-starred blockade run- { 
ners. Thomas Collins lived to an ad- . 
vanced age, and was always badly scarred 
from the small pox, which he caught 
within the British lines. 

THE SKIRMISH AT CEDAR CREEK BRIDGE. 

The Refugee, Captain John Bacon, 
had rendered himself so obnoxious to 
the Americans that they determined to 
capture him if possible, and accordingly 
a sharp lookout was kept for him. In ! 
December, 1782, a party of Americans | 
from Burlington County in pursuit of 
him, stopi^ed at the inn on the north 
side of Cedar Creek, in later years kejit 1 
by Joel Piatt, for rest and refreshment. 
They had not been in the house long be- 
fore word came that Bacon and liis party 
were on the south side of the creek near 
the bridge. The militia immediately { 
mounted horse and started to meet them, 
with what would appear to be more i 
valor than discretion, for they had to j 
to cross a long narrow crossway ended 
by a bridge which exposed them to the 
lire of Bacon and his men who were con- 
cealed l)y a thick gi-owth of trees and 
underbrush on rising ground. The fol- 
fowing account of the skirmish, which 
occun-ed December 27, 1782, is from 



Collins' New Jersey Gazette, January 
8th, 1783 : 

"On Friday, the 27th nit.. Captain 
Benjamin Shreve, of the Burlington 
County Light Horse, and Capt. Edward 
Thomas of the Mansfield Militia, having 
received information that John Bacon 
with his banditti of robbers were in the 
neighborhood of Cedar Creek, collected 
a party of men and went immediately in 
pursuit of them. They met them at 
Cedar Creek Bridge. The Refugees be- 
ing on the south side, had greatly the ad- 
vantage of Captains Shreve and Thomas, 
in point of situation. It was neverthe- 
less determined to charge them. The 
onset on the part of the militia was fu- 
rious, and opposed by the Refugees with 
great firmness for a considerable time, 
several of them having been guilty of 
such enormous crimes as to have no ex- 
pectation of mercy should they surren- 
der. They were nevertheless on the 
point of giving way, when the militia 
were unexpectedly fired upon from a 
party of the inhhabitants near the place, 
who had suddenly come to Bacon's assist- 
ance. This put the militia in some 
confusion and gave the Refugees time U^ 
get oft". William Cooke, Jr., sou of 
William Cooke, Esq., was unfortunately 
killed in the attack, and Robert Reckless 
wounded. On the part of the Refugees 
Ichabod Johnson, (for whom the govern- 
ment had offered a reward of £25) was 
kiUed on the spot. Bacon and three 
more of the party are wounded. The 
militia are in pursuit of the Refugees, 
and have taken several of the inhabi- 
tants prisoners, who were with Bacon in 
the action at the bridge, and are now in 
Burhngton jail ; some have confessed 
the fact. They have also taken a con- 
siderable quantity of contraband and 
stolen goods, in searching some suspected 
houses and cabins on the shore." 

John Salter, a member of Captain 
Shreve's Light Horse trt)op, was also 
woimded in the action. 

As before stated, in this attack the 



Refugees Lad great advantage iu posi- 
tion, being on tlie south side of the i 
creek, on rising ground at the edge of a I 
thick wood which commanded the long } 
narrow causeway and bridge over which , 
the Americans had to pass. Cooke was 
on the bridge when killed, and his horse, ' 
mortally wounded, sprang off into the 
stream ; a man named Imlay found the J 
body of the horse at a landing below I 
and secured the bridle, &c. , next day. ' 
All the Refugees kept concealed iu the 
woods, except Ichabod Johnson, who 
foolhardily showed himself, daring the 
militia to come on, when he was instantly 
shot, and died during the day at the 
house of a man named Woodmansee, 
who then lived, it is said, on the place 

. noAV owned by Judge David I. C. Rogers. 

((James Mills, an aged resident of Bar- 
uegat, who .in his youth lived at Forked 
River, and was then acquainted with 
stirvivors of the Revolution, says that 
he was told that Ichabod Johnson was 
earned to the house of James Wood- 
mansee, where he died ; that James 
Woodmansee then or subsequently lived 
on the place in late years owned by the 
late Capt. Joseph Holmes, and that this 
Woodmansee had his house twice plun- 
dered by Refugees. ) The Woodmansees 
were not sympathisers with the Refugees, 
but some of the family seem to have 
been Quakers, or inclined to their belief. 
The ancient paper quoted above, speaks 
of some of the inhabitants as aiding 
Bacon. There were no residents of the 
place who rendered Bacon assistance, 
but skulking, roving Refugees who had 
cabins or caves at different points back 
in the woods near the head waters of the 
various streams, where they made tem- 
porary stay in their travels up and down 
shore. Remains of these places of con- 
cealment have been found in late years. 
We are quite confident that no known 
Refugee lived in any of o\ir shore vil- 
lages. 

From the unusual number of men 
with Bacon at this time, and from the 



fact that the war was .about closed, it is 
not improbable that the Refugees all 
along shore were endeavoring to get to 
New York, to leave the country for Nova 
Scotia, Bermuda Islands, and other 
places, with other British sympathisers, 
who were then leaving New York in great 
numbers, in ships provided by the Brit- 
ish government. This skirmish at Cedar 
Creek, and the general watchfulness of 
the militia, probably caused the Refugee 
band to scatter, and each member to 
look out for himself. Bacon himself, 
with unaccountable foolhardiness, re- 
mained until the following spring, when 
he was killed about half a mile below 
West Creek, at the house of a woman 
known as "Old Mother Rose," by a 
party of Americans, among whom was 
young Cooke's brother. 



SETTLEMENT OF FORKED RIVER. 

The first regular survey of lands iu 
this section was by order of the Gov- 
ernor and Twenty-four Proprietors, in 
"Instructions concerning laud," dated 
July 3d, 1685, which directs as follows : 

"That whenever there is a convenient 
plot of ground lying together, consist- 
ing of twenty-four thousand acres, as wo 
are informed will more especially be at 
Barnegat, it be marked in twenty-four 
parts, a thousand acres to each propriety, 
and the parts being made as equal as can 
be, for quality and situation, the first 
comers, presently settling, to have the 
choice of divisions, and where several 
stand in that respect upon equal terms 
and time of settling, the choice to be de- 
termined by lot." 

In pursuance of these instructions, the 
land in this vicinity and elsewhere along 
Barnegat Bay was divided off into tracts 
of a thousand acres each, and the titles 
to land now are derived originally from 
the individual proprietors to whom tho 
tracts were allotted. " Baker's Patent," 
so frequently mentioned iu old deeds, 



and on which ii part of the village of 
Forked River is located, was probably 
the thousand acres allotted to Thomas 
Barker, (sometimes called Baker in old 
records) who was a Loudon merchant 
and one of the Twenty-four Proprietors ; 
but he never came to America. 

The first settlers, who piirchased from 
the proprietors, generally located some 
distance east of the main shore road and 
not far from where the uplands join the 
meadows. Their dwellings in this vicin- 
ity were generally situated about in a line 
from the old Captain Benjamin Stout 
farm, east of Goodluck Church across 
Stout's creek, by the Joseph Holmes and 
James Jones places, and thence to the 
south side of Forked River by the old 
James Chamberlain or Ezekiel Lewis 
Ijlace and James Anderson's ; then across 
Oyster Creek by the old Camburu home- 
stead. And the original main route of 
travel along here appears to have been 
by these places. Then the little north 
branch of Forked River, now known as 
Bridge Creek, had a bridge over it, and 
there was a ferry across Forked River 
nearly opposite the old Wells swamp at 
the place still called "the ferry," by old 
residents. 

A century ago, the most noted resi- 
dents appear to have been : David 
Woodmansee, who lived on the place 
now owned by Judge D. I. C. Rogers ; 
Thomas Potter, who lived on the farm 
east of Goodluck Church ; Samuel, 
James and Gabriel Woodmansee, sons of 
David, who lived on the James Jones and 
Joseph Holmes farms ; Samuel Brown, 
who lived on the old Wright place on 
south branch of Forked River ; and John 
Holmes, who lived at the upi^er mill, 
Forked River. William Price, who was 
a captain in the militia during the Rev- 
olution, and his brother John, who was 
made Major after the war, moved to 
Goodluck two or three years before the 
war ended. There was a tavern at Good- 
luck before the war, and one just over 
Cedar Creek during the war. 



BUSINESS IN OLD TIMES. 

The first permanent settlers at Forked 
River, as well as other places along- 
shore, depended for a livelihood on culti- 
vating the soil and the products of the 
bay. After getting fairly settled, the 
next consideration was to find something 
they could send to New York and other 
places to exchange for articles they 
could not raise. About the first enter- 
prise of this kind they engaged in was 
cutting the cedar in the swamps for rails, 
shingles, etc. , to export. Many vessels 
were engaged in carrying cedar-rails to 
iliflferent pomts on the Delaware River, 
and other places. It will surprise some 
who remember the thick, heavy growth 
of cedar on the branches of Forked River, 
Cedar Creek, Oyster Creek and other 
streams forty years or so ago, to lears 
that it was all a second grow.th, the first 
growth having been cut off along Barnc- 
gat Bay as long ago as 1760. 

The next important business was in 
pine lumber, to pirepare which saw-mills 
were built on the head water of the 
streams, generally a few miles west of the 
main shore road — among them Double 
Trouble INIill on Cedar Creek, the Frank 
Cornelius Mill on Forked River, onco 
owned by the noted Thomas Potter, 
Little Mill on Oyster Creek, and the 
Waeirs Mill near Waretown. To persons 
who remember, the obstructions in these 
streams in late years by branches of 
trees, logs, &c. , it would seem a difficult 
task to float lumber down them towards 
the bay; but the streams then were 
cleared, and small rafts of lumber made 
and floated down towards their moutlis 
ready for shipping. This business was 
quite flourishing just before the Revolu- 
tion, and also after that war until the 
early part of the present centuiy when it 
began to decline, probably because the 
convenient timber was generally cut oft', 
and also because of competition from 
places more convenient to market. 
While this business flourished along our 
bay, lumber from here was sent to New 



York, Newark, New Bruuswiek, ami utli- 
er places. 

When the ecdar swamps began to give 
out, our shore people feared their vessels , 
would no longer be of use, but the lum- 
ber trade sprang up and gave them am- ; 
pie cmijloyment. Then, in turn, the I 
lumber business began to fail, and again 
our people feared ruin. But about this 
time -were rumors that Fulton, Fitch, and 
others had made inventions by -which 
vessels could be run by steam, and that 
these steam vessels would eventually 
take the place of sail vessels. The coast- 
ers were incredulous, and ridiculed the 
idea of a vessel being di'iven by a "kettle 
full of boiling water," Nevertheless, 
steamboats proved a success, and not 
only that, but the salvation instead of 
the ruin of the coasters, for they required 
before many years, an immense amount 
of pine cord wood for fuel, which our 
coasters could carry and did carry from 
various places along the bay. Some 
thirty odd years ago the cord wood along 
shore began to give out, and then again 
came the inquiry "what business next 
could be found for vessels ?" This was 
satisfactorily answered to many by the 
starting of the charcoal trade. The long 
ranks of cord- wood near the npper and , 
lower landings of north branch of Fork- 
ed River and on the middle and south ! 
l)ranches, with which old residents had 
been familiar from childhood, gave way 
to piles of charcoal, the dust from which i 
rendered it almost impossible to tell 
whether our seafaring friends in the 
l)usiness were white or black. AVheu 
this trade gave out, trade from Virginia 
and other southern States became brisk. 
The great civil war interrTipted that and j 
apparently ruined it, but it soon opened 
other and more remunerative business in 
carrying supplies for the army. And 
now the coasting trade is again at a low 
ebb and those engaged in it, as their | 
predecessors often have before, are won- 
dering if it is possible for anything to ' 
turn up to revive it. j 



HEmuiOUS .SOCIETIES .^I.ONO SHOICE. 

The first preachers who visited any 
part of the New Jersey shore, of whom 
Ave have any account, belonged to the 
Society of Friends, commonly called 
Quakers. This Society established a 
meeting at Tuckerton, in 1704, and built a 
meeting house there in 1709. 

The first religious society established 
in Ocean County was jjrobably that of 
the Rogerine Bajitists, a company of 
whom came to Waretown about 17:37, and 
remained here about eleven years, and 
then left. They Avere singular people in 
their ideas of worship ; among other pe- 
culiarities, the members took work to 
meeting with them, and during services 
the men made axe and hoe handles, the 
women knit, sewed, &c. The principal 
member of the Society Avas Abraham 
Waeir, from Avhom WaretoAvn derives its 
name. 

An Episcopalian clergyman, named 
Rev. Thomas Thompson, visited Barue- 
gat and Manahawken, while he was a 
missionary in Old Monmouth, from 1745 
to 1751, and on his return sent Christo- 
pher Robert Reynolds, Avho was a school 
master of the " Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Gospel in foreign parts," to 
labor at these tAvo places, but on account 
of his age and infirmity he remained but 
a short time. 

At Manahawken, according to the 
record there, three Baptists named James 
Hey wood, and Benjamin and Reuben 
Randolph, settled about 1760; and Au- 
gust 25th, 1770, a Baptist Society was 
organized there. 

A church, which tradition says was 
free to all denominations, was built at 
Manahawken as early as 1758, which A\'as 
the first church built in Ocean County. 
This church is noAV known as the Baptist 
Church. 

The second church built in Ocean 
County, was the noted Potter Clnu'ch, at 
Goodliick^ built by Thomas Potter about 
17G5, which lie intended to be free to all 
denomiufttions. 



10 



The third church built iu Oceau Coun- 
ty, was the Quaker Meeting House, at • 
Baruegat, erected as early as 1770. This 
was the first church in the county 1 )uilt 
for a particular society. 

I'RESBYTERIANISM AT FOKKED KIVEU AND 
VI(!INITY. 

The first preachers of any religious so- 
ciety who held meetings at either Forked 
River, Goodluck or Cedar Creek, of 
whom the WTiter has found mention, 
were Presbyterians. Ministers of this 
society visited Old Monmouth and Egg 
Harbor at least as early as 1746, and reg- 
ular supplies were furnished for Egg 
Harbor as early as 1755, during which 
time it is possible some may have held 
occasional meetings in this vicinity, and 
it is probable that ,Ilev. John Braiuerd 
visited here about 1700. 

The first notice of regular meetings iu 
this vicinity and elsewhere along shore, 
is found in the following letter from Ecv. 
John Brainerd to Rev. Enoch Green : 

" Trenton, June 21.s/, 1701. 

Reverend and Dear Sir : — It has 
not been in my power, by any means, to 
make a visit to the shore, since the ses- 
sion of the Synod, and consequently 
could not make appointments for yoii. 
Your places of preaching, however, M'ill 
be as follows : 

Toms River will be the most north(>rly 
place. Then southward, Goodluck, 
cither at Thomas Potter's or David 
Wooilmansee's ; Baruegat, at Mr. Ru- 
lou's ; Maunahocking, at IMr. Haywood's 
or Mr. Randall 's (Randolphs.) * * * 
If you can begin at Toms River and be 
there a day or two before Sabbath, to 
notify them, you might make your ajj- 
l)ointmeut8 and send them seasonably 
before you. * * * Thus, dear sir, in 
iu a minute or two, as I pass through 
town, I have given you these hints, 
which may perhaps be of some use to | 
your tour on the shore, in which I hope j 
the blessings of God will attend your 



labors, and am with all respect, reverend 
and dear sir, 

Your aftectionate brother, 

John Braineki>. 
To Rev. Enoch Green. 

P. S. — If you could consult witli Mr. 
Thomas Smith and Mr. McKnight, who 
will succeed you, and make appointments 
for them, it would be of use. I hope 
you will be kind enough to call and see 
me upon your return." 

After the above named, the Rev. Ben- 
jamin Chesuut was appointed to supply 
this section, from the first Sabballi iu 
Sejitember, 1763. 

Webster's History of the Presbyterian 
Church says : " There was in 1767 a new 
Presbyterian meeting house at Baruegat, 
and probably as early there was one at 
Manahawken." This is a mistake ; he 
evidently refers to tlie old Potter Church 
at Goodluck, then sometimes called Bar- 
uegat, and to the old church at Mana- 
hawken, commonly known as the Baptist 
Church, both of which were built to be 
used free to all denominations. As they 
^^•ere always open to PrcKbyteriaus, Web- 
ster inferred they were Presbyterian 
churches. 

It would seem tliat tie first Presbyte- 
rian ministers who visited this vicinity 
were Rev. Messrs. John Brainerd, Ben- 
jamin Chesn\it, Enoch Green, Charles 
McKnight and Thomas Smith. 

Dr. Hodge in his Constitutional His- 
tory of the Presbyterian Church, says : 

" The effects of the Revolutionary 
War on the state of our churcli, were ex- 
tensively and variously disastrous. The 
young men Mere called from the seclu- 
sion of their homes to the demoralizing 
atmosphere of the camp ; congregations 
were broken up ; churches were burnt, 
and in moi"e than one instance, pastoi's 
were murdered ; the usual ministerial in- 
tercourse, and eilbrts for the dissemina- 
tion of the Gospel, Avere iu a great 
measure suspended, and public morals 
in various respects deteriorated." The 



11 



war seems to have suspeuded all Presby- 
terian efibrts iu this section, and the 
writer knows of no systematic attempt 
to renew them, nntil 1850, when Rev. 
Thomas S. Dewing commenced regular 
services at Forked River, Cedar Creek 
and Toms River. 



METHODISM IN OCEAN COUNTY. 

The first Methodist Society established 
in Ocean County held its meetings in the 
old Potter Church at Goodluck. In the 
dark days of the history of Methodism, 
when it not only met with opposition 
from other societies on account of differ- 
ence iu religious views, but also when 
diiring the Revolution, their enemies un- 
justly charged them with being in sym- 
pathy with Great Britain, and would 
allow them to hold meetings in but few 
l^laces, the old Goodluck Church was al- 
ways oi^en to them, and the people of 
this vicinity gave its preachers a welcome 
which they rarely met with elsewhere. 

It is probable that the pioneers of 
Methodism visited our county within a 
very few years after the j)rinciples of the 
society were first proclaimed in America, 
and that occasionally some preacher 
would hold forth in one of the free 
churches, in school houses or in private 
houses, possibly as early as 1774. Rev. 
William Waiters, the first itinerant of 
American birth, was stationed iu our 
State in 1771, and it is possible that he 
and the noted Captain Thomas Webb, of 
Pemberton, (then New Mills,) may have 
visited this section. That zealous, self- 
sacrificing minister of the Gospel, Rev. 
Benjamin Abbott, is the first preacher 
who sjjeaks positively of visiting this 
vicinity, though before his visit which 
was in 1778, it is probable that some if 
not all the following named, may have 
loreached here, viz.: Captaiu Thomas 
Webb, Revs. Philip Gatch, Caleb B. 
Pedicord, William Watters, John King, 
Daniel Ruff and William Duke. From 



that time uj) to the year 1800, the names 
of preachers assigned to this part of the 
State, is given iu the " History of Meth- 
odism in New Jersey." During the first 
thirty years of the present century, 
among the most noted preachers iu this 
section were Revs. Sylvester and Robert 
Hutchinson, Ezekiel Cooper, Charles 
Pitman and Geo. A. Raybold. Rev. 
William Watters, above mentioned as 
the first itinerant of American birth, who 
was located in our State iu 1771, pub- 
lished in 1807 an account of his labors 
here and elsewhere ; and the author of 
Methodism in New Jersey says he 
knows of but one copy in existence, and 
that in possession of a gentlemen iu Balti- 
more, but the writer has a copy pur- 
chased by a relative over half a century 
ago, which is still iu a good state of pres- 
ervation. 

A METHODIST PIONEEK. 

Rev. Benjamin Abbott, who ex- 
perienced considerable persecution else- 
where, for his Methodist views, without 
molestation preached at several places in 
our county in 1778, and we give his ac- 
count of his visit. The first mentioned 
place was probably Manahawken : 

' ' At my next appointment I preached 
Avith great liberty from these words : 
' If we say we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves, and the truth is not iu us ; if 
we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us 
from all unrighteousness,' John 1:8, 9. 
And many wept much. A Baptist being 
present when I had done, I asked him 
; what he thought of what he had heard, 
1 and whether it was not the truth in 
Jesus ? He replied that it was, and ex- 

\ horted the people to believe it. 

I 

BENJAMIN ABBOTT AT WARETOWN. 

" Next day I went to my appointment 
at WaretoAvn, but a woman being dead, 
''■ close at hand, I was requested to preach 
her funeral sermon. While I was speak- 
ing, I observed to my hearers that the 



12 



darkest tiniP in the night was just before 
the dawning of day ; and that tliis was 
tlie case with a sonl groaning for re- 
<lemption in Christ ; for just as they 
saw themselves on the very brink of 
eternal damnation, destitute of every ■ 
jiower to extricate themselves, the Sian 
of Righteousness, the Lord of Life and 
Glory, broke in upon their souls and set 
them at liberty. Up rose a Baptist wo- 
man and said that she had come twenty 
miles through the snow to hear me, and 
then related her experience to the fol- 
lowing puiijort : 

A SIN'GITL..VR EXPERIE^fCE. 

" T was standing on the heai'th with 
my husband and two children, and 
thought the earth opened before me, and 
I saw hell from beneath opened and 
devils ready to receive me. I then 
started and ran into the room and cried 
mightily unto God to have mercy on my 
soul. Meanwhile my husband went after 
the cattle, and I continued in prayer un- 
til the house was filled with the glory of 
God, brighter than the sun at noonday. 
T then arose and sat on the foot of the bed, 
wishing for my husband's return. After 
a while he came in ; I i*an out to meet 
him and clasped him about the neck and 
told him what God had done for my 
soul. The power of God came uj^on me 
again as it had dcme in the house, and I 
cried out in siich a manner that it 
frightened my husband and the cattle, so 
that the cattle ran off again, and my hus- 
band wedt away also. I went to the 
house, happy in God, and our people 
(meaning the Baptists) say it is only a 
delusion of the devil, for that God did 
not come to the i)eople in such a manner 
now-a-daya. " 

" Then she asked me what I thought 
of it, 'for I feel,' said she, 'the same 
power in me now. ' T told her it was the 
work of (i(xl, a change of heart, and 
that if the Lord ever had converted my 
Houl, he hud converted liers. She im- 
mediatelv laiil liold of faith, and was in- 



stantly delivered from that anxiety and 
despair tliat had attended her mind. 

AISBOrr AT (H)OI>Li:{K AND TOMS ia\T3K. 

"She rode next day "with one of her 
friends to a place called Goodluck, Avhere 
I preached from these words : ' Awake, 
thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead; Christ shall give thee light,' 
(Eph. 5 : 14,) with great liberty, and tlie 
power of God attended the word. 

"Next day I rode with one of our 
friends, about twelve miles, through a 
nortlieast storm of liail, to Esquire 
Aikens' on Toms lliver. When we 
arrived we were both wet and cold. 
After drying myself a little, I gave an ex- 
hortation to the few present, and tarried 
all night. In the morning I went to my 
api^oiutment, and had an attentive con- 
gregation, and the Lord attended the 
word with power. A Frenchman fell to 
the floor and nevei- rose until the Lord 
converted his soul. Here we had ti hap- 
jij time. " 

The foregoing is all we find in Abbott's 
Journal that relates to our county. The 
Esipiire Aikens he mentions, was Abiel 
Aikens, who lived on the south side of 
Toms River. He was an active patriot 
in the Revolution, and his house, the 
first in which Methodism was preached 
at Toms River, was burned with others 
by the British AVhen the l)lock house was 
taken March 24, 1782. In his old age, 
our Legislature (1808) passed a law for 
his benefit. Next year (1878) will be one 
hundred years since Abbott visited our 
section, and it should be commemorated 
hy a Centennial sermon at old Goodluck 
(>hurcli, and from his old text : "Awake, 
thou that sleepest," Sec. What a contrast 
between now and then, when he was 
mobbed, when soldiers entered his meet 
ings with drawn .swords, &c., so aus- 
picious were they of Methodism. 

AN OLD TIME METUODIKP WEODtNO. 

In 178.'3 a ^Methodist Quarterly Meet- 
ing of unusual interost was held in tlic 



13 



Gondhick Chuvcli, at which, on Sunday, ' 
James Stirling was married to Rebecca 
Eudd in the presence of the congrega- i 
tion. We presume this was the James 
Stirling, of Burlington, the most noted 
and influential layman of the Methodist 
Church in his day in New Jersey ; and if | 
so it was his second marriage. James 
Stirling was a merchant living at Bur- 
lington, and some of our shore store- 
keepers were supplied with goods by 
him, among them Major John Price, of 
Goodluck. His business affairs and 
his interest in Methodism would occa- 
sionally bring him to the shore, and here, 
as elsewhere, he proved himself a most 
energetic, useful layman of Methodism. 

BISHOP ASBUKX AT GOODLUCK. | 

That noted, faithful, untiring minister \ 
of the Gospel, Bishop Francis Asbury, 
visited this vicinity twice. It is doubtful ! 
if any minister of any denomination ever 
performed so much labor in travelling 
and preaching as did he, and none ever 
kept a more complete journal, which is a 
marvel when we remember the thousands 
of miles he travelled in all parts of the 
United States and his unparalleled phys- 
ical and mental exertion. When he first 
j)reached at Goodluck, it was after a tire- 
some travel through Old Monmouth ; and 
that he thought the people here so difier- 
ent from what other Methodist preachers 
did, we are inclined to ascribe to his be- 
ing worn down with labor himself. Of 
his first visit he says : 

" Tuesday, Sept. 2Gth, 178G. I had 
many to hear me at Potter's Church, but 
the people were insensible and unfeeling. " 
His next visit was in 1809. " On Mon- 
day, April 24th, 1809, I preached at 
Waretown. I staid awhile with Samuel 
Brown, and came to Thomas Chamber- 
lain's (Forked River) ; I was compelled 
by uncomfortable feeling to go to rest at 
six o'clock. At David Woodmansee's 
(Goodluck), on Tuesday, I preached on 
2nd Tim. 2 : 15. On Wednesday, after 



a rain, I set out for Polhemus' Chapel 
(Polhemus' Mills) where I preached." 

Some modern Methodist writers have 
been puzzled to know where Avas the Pot- 
ter's Church to which Asbury alluded, 
and from whence its name, and seem in- 
clined to think it wa»s erected for work- 
men in some potter's ware establishment ! 

METHODISM AT BARNEGAT. 

The old church in the school house 
lane at Barnegat was built in 1829, to be 
used free for all denominations. The 
same year a Methodist society was estab- 
lished, and held regular meetings in it. 
The late Rev. Job Edwards was the class 
leader and local preacher from the organ- 
ization of the society, and continued for 
over forty years to faithfully and accept- 
ably fill these positions, and during that 
time no one was so well known from 
Cedar Creek to Mannahawkin for labors 
in meetings, exhortations and at funeral 
services. To him, and his relative, the 
late Joel Haywood, of West Creek, Meth- 
odism in the southern half of Ocean 
county is probably more indebted tlian 
to any other two men, for the compara- 
tively prosperous condition of the society. 
The people generally showed their appre- 
ciation of both men, by electing them to 
represent the county in the Legislature, 
and Joel Haywood was the regular Whig 
and Temperance nominee for Governor 
of New Jersey, in 1853. 

DOVER CHAPEL. 

Dover Chapel, near Bayville, was 
erected as a church free to all denomina- 
tions, about the year 1825, as we are in- 
formed by the venerable Captain Samuel 
R. Bunnell, himself one of the old land- 
marks of Methodism, whose voice was 
familiar to us in meetings almost a gen- 
eration ago, in exhortations in the cause 
of the great Master. Methodism has 
long had a strong hold on the people in 
the neighborhood of Dover Chapel, 
though in it Protestant Methodists, Pres- 



14 



bvterirtiis and fithors have liolil statod or 
oooiVHioiirtl moctiiicfs. 



TOMS KIVKR IN THE KEVOLUTION. 

Duriug the greater jjai-t of the Revo- 
hitiou, militia were on duty iu Toms River 
or in its vicinity ; they were generally 
twelve months men, commanded by differ- 
ent officers, among whom, it seems from an 
ancient record iu the library of the New 
Jersey Historical Society, were Captains 
Bigelow, Ephraim Jenkins, James Mott, 
John Stout and tlie well-remembered 
Joshua Huddy. Caj^tain Mott had com- 
mand of a company called the Sixth 
Coiupiuiy, of Dover, and Captain Stout, 
of the Seventh Company, of Dover. 
The Fifth Company was in old Stafford 
toAvuship, and commanded by Captain 
Reuben F. Randoljih, then of Manahaw- 
ken, but originally of Middlesex County. 

During the war salt works were quite 
numerous along Barnegat Bay, and of so 
much imjJortauce that the British and 
Refugees make several attempts to de- 
stroy them, and the first mention that 
we have found of militia to be stationed 
at Toms River was for the pi-otection of 
works in its vicinity, and is found in the 
following extract from the minutes of 
the Pennsylvania State Council of Safety, 
November 2d, 177G, from which it ap- 
l)ears that that State owned works near 
tilt' village : 

" Resolved, that an officer and twenty- 
five men be sent to the salt works at 
Toms River (erected by this State at 
Toms River, N. J.,) as a guard, and 
twenty-five spare uniskets and two lunv- 
itzers and a sufficient (piantity of ammu- 
nition to defend in case oi attack." 

In the Continental Congress, 177(1, the 
President of Congress was requested to 
write to Gov. Livingston, of New Jersey, 
for two companies of militia to guard 
salt works at Toms River. 

Sabine, in his notices of Loyalists, 
.says : "John Williams jjlaccd the signif- 
icuut letter R. , on the buildings of the 
salt works at Toms River bridge, by or- 



der of (ileneral Skinner, of the N. J. 
Royalist brigade." And in another place 
he says : " Col. John Morris, of the N. 
J. Royalists in 1777, was sent by Sir 
William HoAve to destroy the salt works 
at Toms River bridge, but when informed 
that the jjroperty was ^jrivate iu part, he 
dc^clined to comply with the order." 
Sabine gives no exi^lanation of the mean- 
ing of what he terms the significant let- 
ter R., but the inference is that persons 
who then favored the Royalist cause, 
were part owners of the buildings near 
the bridge. It will be remembered tliat 
at the outbreak of the Revolution, tlie 
people of Old monmoutli unanimously 
protested against the tyrannical acts of 
Great Briikiii, and favored an armed re- 
sistance, but were divided in the j)olicy 
of declaring independence. When the 
Declaration of Independence was 
adopted, hundreds of citizens of Old 
Monmouth jDrotested against it, and 
joined the Royalists, and this Avas pro- 
bably the case with some of the owners 
of these buildings. From the folloAving 
we infer the PenusyiA'ania and other 
works from Toms River to the head of the 
bay Avere destroyed the following year. 

An ancient paper says ; ' ' About the 
first of April, 1778, the British under 
Captain Robertson with a strong force 
landed at S(piau and destroyed a number 
of salt Avorks on the coast ; one building 
they said belonged to Congress, and cost 
£G,000." A letter iu the Ncav Jersey 
Gazette, speaking of this raid, says|: 
"About 135 of the enemy lauded on 
Sunday last, about 10 o'clock, on the 
south aide of Squan Inlet, burnt all the 
salt works, broke the kettles, <S:c, and 
stripped the beds, &c., of some people 
Avlio I fear wished to serve them ; they 
then crossed the river and burnt all ex- 
cept Derrick Longsti'eet's. After this 
mischief they embarked. The next day 
they landed at Shark RiA'cr and set fire 
to two salt Avorks, when they observed 
fifteen horsemen heave in sight, Avhich 
occasioned them to retreat with great 



15 



precipitation ; iuJectl tlit-y jninpecl iuto 
theii- Aat-bottomeJ boats with sucli pre- 
cipitation that they sank two of tliem. 
The enemy consisted chiefly of Greens, 
the rest of Highhinders. One of their 
pilots Avas the noted Thomas Oakerson. " 

Sabine says, Thomas Oakerson had 
previoiisly been ordered to be committed 
to jail for aiding Eefugees, by'Oontinent- 
al Congress, July 17tli, 1776. The 
Greens, referred to, were from the ren- 
egade Jerseyman, who joined the British 
and formed a brigade, calling themselves 
the N. J. Eoyal Volunteers, placed un- 
der command of General Cortlandt 
Skinner, and were called Greens, from 
their uniform. 

The owners of salt v.'orks, along the 
bay experienced a streak of ill luck about 
this time, as within a week or so after the 
above raid a storm of unusual severity 
destroyed many of the smaller works 
and caused the tide to rise several feet 
higher than ever was known before, 
drowning cattle on the beach, floating 
furniture out of lower rooms of houses, 
that stood low ou the water side, &c. 

In October, 1778, the British destroyed 
Chesnut Neck mills, at Tuckerton, &c. , 
and then despatched a detachment to 
destroy the salt works from Little Egg 
Harbor to Toms River, but were pre- 
vented by the appearance of Count 
Pulaski's legion. 

PEIVATEERS AT TOMS RIVER. 

During the war of the Revolution, old 
Cranberry Inlet, then open, opposite 
Toms River, was often found to be a 
very convenient haven for privateers and 
their prizes. These j)rivateers were 
generally fitted OTit in New England. 
The following notice of a prize brought 
here by Rhode Islanders, is from a cer- 
tificate in i^ossession of Hon. Ephraim 
P. Emson : 

"Providence, Feb. 21, 1777. 

" This may certify that Messrs. Clark 
and Nightingale and Capt. Wm. Rhodes 
have purchased here at vendue the 



schooner Pope's Head, which was taken 
by the privateer Sally and Joseph, (un- 
der our command,) and carried into 
Cranberry Inlet in the Jersies, and there 
delivered to the care of Mr, James Ran- 
dolph, by our prize masters. 

James ^Iauo. 
John Fish." 

The following extracts from papers 
published durmg the Revolution, give 
an idea of the stirring events that oc- 
curred in Toms River and vicinity : 

"August 12th, 1778. We learn that 
on Thursday se'en night, the British ship 
Love and Uuity from Bristol with 80 
hhds. of loaf sugar, several thousand 
bottles London porter, a large quantity 
of Bristol beer and ale, besides many 
other valuable articles, was designedly 
run ashore near Toms River. Since 
which, by the assistance of some of our 
militia, she has been brouglit into a safe 
port and her cargo properly taken care 
of." 

The cargo of this ship was advertised 
to be sold at Manasquan, on the 26th of 
the same month, by John Stokes, U. S. 
Marshal. The articles enumerated in 
the advertisement show that the cargo 
must have been a very valuable one. 
The Americans were not so lucky with 
the ship as with the cargo, as will be 
seen by the following : 

"Friday, Sept. 18th, 1778. Two Brit- 
ish armed ships and two brigs came close 
to the bar off Toms River inlet, where 
they lay over night. Next morning, be- 
tween seven and eight o'clock, they sent 
seven armed boats into the inlet, and re- 
took the ship Washington (formerly the 
Love and Unity,) which had been taken 
by the Americans ; they also took two 
sloops near the bar, and captured most 
of the crews. The captain of the shi]), 
and his officers, escaped to the main in 
one of the sloop's boats. After they got 
ashore, a man named Robert McMulleu,'" 
who had been condemned to death at 
Freehold, but afterwards pardoned, 
jumped into the l)oat, hurrahing for the 



16 



Britisli, and rowed oil" t<j join tliom. 
Auotliei' llet'ugee named William Dillon, 
who had also beau sentenced to death at 
Freehold and pardoned, joined this party 
of British as pilot." 

Bv the following extracts, it will be 
seen that the Refugees, McMnllen and 
Dillon, had been out of jail but a short 
time when they joined the British in 
this expedition : 

"July 22ud, 1778. We learn that at 
the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at 
Monmouth in June last, the following 
parties were tried and found guilty of 
burglary, viz : Thomas Edmims (Uias 
Burke, John Wood, Michael Millery, 
William Dillon and Robert McMuUen. 
The two former were executed on Friday 
last, and the other three reprieved. At 
the same time, Ezekiel Forman, John 
Polhemus and W^illiam Grover -were tried 
and convicted of high treason, and are to 
be executed August 18th next." 

On the 9th of December, 1778, it is 
announced that a British armed vessel, 
bound from Halifax to New York and 
richly laden, came ashore near Barnegat. 
The crew, about sixty in number, sur- 
rendered themselves prisoners to our 
militia. Goods to the amount of £5,000 
were taken out of her by our citizens, 
and a number of prisoners sent to Bor- 
dentown, at which place the balance of 
of prisojicrs were expected. 

About March, 1779, the sloop Success 
came ashore in a snow storm, at Barne- 
gat. She had been taken by the British 
brig Diligence, and was on her way to 
New York. She had a valuable cargo of 
rum, molasses, coffee, cocoa, A-c, on 
board. The prize master and three 
hands were made prisoners, and sent to 
Princeton. lu the case of tlxis vessel 
and the one previously mentioned, it is 
2)OHHible that the Toms River militia aid- 
ed, as the name Barnegat was frequently 
applied to places gcnierally along Barne- 
gat Bay. 

In February, 1779, a sale at Toms 
River, prububly prizcK and cargo, was 



advertised by the U. S. Marshal, viz : 
Schooner Hope and sloop Fancy, with 
cargoes of pitch, tar and salt. 

On the 14th of May, 1780, Major John 
Van Emburgh, of the 2nd Middlesex mil- 
itia, and eight or nine men from West 
Jersey, on a fishing party, were surprised 
in bed, at Toms River, by the Refugee?, 
and put on board a vessel to be sent 
prisoners to New York ; but before the 
vessel sailed, they managed to escape. 

Toms River, then, did not seem quite 
as desirable a place for a pleasure resort 
as it is at the i^reseut day. Ancient jja- 
pers do not mention whether the Major 
was successful in catching fish ; all we 
know is that he got caught himself. 

About the middle of December, 1780, 
a British brig in the West India trade 
was captured and brought into Toms 
River. This brig had run short of water 
and provisions, and, mistaking the laud 
for Long Island, sent a boat and four 
men to obtain supplies. The militia 
hearing of it, manned two boats, and 
went out and took her. She had on 
board 150 hhds. of rum and si)irits, which 
our ancestors pronounced "excellent," 
from which we conclude they must have 
considered themselves competent judges 
of that article. With the British, rum 
must have been deemed a necessity, as 
in almost ever}' prize it formed an im- 
portant part oT the cargo. 

The British ship Molly was driven 
ashore in a snow storm, about this time, 
on the beach, and her prize crew made 
prisoners and sent to Philadelphia. 

In the same month, December, 1780, 
Lieutenant Joshua Studson, who lived in 
the village of Toms River, with some 
militia, crossed over the bay to old Cran- 
berry Inlet to intercept some men en- 
gaged in contraband trade with the ene- 
my at New Y'^ork, Avheu he was shot and 
instantly killed by the Refugee captain, 
Jolm Bac(m, the i)articulars of Avhicli 
have been given in describing Revolu- 
tionary events relating to Forked River 
and vicinity. 



17 



The lOth of March, 1782, it is au- 
nouuced that the privateer Dart, Capt. 
Wm. Gray, of Salem, Mass, , had arrived 
at Toms River with a prize sloop taken 
from the British galley Black Jack. The 
next day he went with his boat and seven 
men in pnrsnit of a British brig near 
Cranberry Inlet. Unfortunately for 
Capt. Gray, instead of taking a prize he 
was himself taken. For a long time af- 
ter, the people of Toms River wondered 
what had become of him. In August 
following, they heard that after he got 
outside the inlet, he was taken prisoner 
and carried to Halifax, and subsequently 
released on parole. He stated that he 
was well treated while a prisoner. 

A few days after Capt. Gray was taken 
prisoner, the British attacked and burned 
Toms River, the details of which are too 
lengthy to give here. This attack on 
Toms River was the last affair of any 
note that occurred here during the war, 
but south of Toms River several events 
of local importance took place. The 
Refugee Davenport made a raid on Fork- 
ed River, with 80 men, and was himself 
killed off Oyster Creek, in June. In 
October, Bacon attacked and killed sev» 
eral men on the beach about a nule below 
Barnegat light-house. In December oc- 
curred the skirmish at Cedar Creek 
bridge, when yoxing Cooke was killed, 
and in the following spring, Bacon him- 
seK was killed near "West Creek. 

During the war, interesting events 
outside of miUtary matters occurred at 
Toms River. 

In January, 1778, the sloop Two 
Friends, Capt. Alexander Bonnett, of 
Hispaniola, was cast away near Barnegat, 
with 1,600 bags of salt, 48 hhds. molas- 
ses, also a lot of rum, sugar, etc. Only 
160 gallons of rum saved. The shore 
people went to their assistance, but one 
man was lost. Capt. Bonnett then 
shipped as a passenger in the sloop En- 
deavor, at Toms River, for New York; 
but, sad to relate, while she lay at anchor 
in the inlet a storm parted the cable 



and all on board were drowned in the 
bay. 

In December. 1778, Capt. Alexander, 
of the sloop Elizabeth, of Baltimore, was 
taken by the British ; but he was permit- 
ted to leave in a small boat, and landed 
at Toms River Lilet. 

It was during the war, in 1778, that 
Rev. Benjamin Abbott expounded the 
then new princii^les of Methodism to the 
people of Toms River, first at the house 
of Esquire Abiel Aikene, and then at an- 
other place ; and had here, as he says in 
his journal, "a happy time." 



WARETOWN REMINISCENCES. 

By the side of the main shore road 
through Waretown, adjoining the farm of 
ex-Senator Samuel Birdsall, is a grove 
where a century ago was a grave yard in 
which, among others, was buried Abra- 
ham Waeir, from whom Waretown derives 
its name. His tombstone is still pre- 
served, though removed from its original 
place, and the inscription upon it reads 
thus : 

"In memory of 

ABRAHAM WAEIR, 

Died March 24th, 1768, 

Aged 85 years 

Whose inocent life 

Adorned true light." 

In the inscription, a letter is left out of 
the word innocent, as will be seen by 
the above copy. In the same grave yard 
was another tombstone, a rude affair, a 
remnant of which is preserved ; the in- 
scription on it is only partially legible, 
the following being all that can be deci- 
phered : 

"E. WAEIR. 

Year 1757." 

In the grave yard commonly known as 
the "Birdsall burying ground," are to 
be found the following inscriptions upon 
tombstones, the first named of which is 
the most ancient in the village, if not in 
the county : 

3 



18 



' ' Here lyes ye body of 
WILLIAM CARBEL 
Died Sept. 15, 1742 
Aged 51 years." 

Auother reads : 

"lu memory of 

ISAAC STANSBERY 

Who departed this Ufe Oct. 10, 1803, 

in the (31th year of his age. 

[Ropreseutatiou of two cannons crossed.] 

Reader, remember, as you pass by, 
As you arc now so ouee was I, 
As I am now so you will be, 
Tiiereforc prepare to follow me." 

From the cannons crossed, it 
would be inferred that the deceased be- 
longed to the ordnance branch of the 
militaiy service. 

Abraham Waeir, from whom Ware- 
town derives its name, was a member of 
the sect generally called Eogeriue Bap- 
tists, thongh they themselves seemed to 
prefer the name of Quaker Baptists. 
A company of Rogerine Baptists came 
from New London, Conn. , to Schooley's 
Mountain in Morris county in New Jer- 
sey, in 1734 ; and after remaining there 
three years, they removed to Waretown 
and remained here from 1737 to 1748, 
eleven years, and then the greater part 
of them returned to Schooley's Moun- 
tain. The principal members at Ware- 
town were Abraham Waeir, John Colver 

and Mann. The Waeirs, tradition 

says, did not go with the rest to School- 
ey's Mountain, but remained here, and 
their descendants removed to the head of 
Baruegat Bay or near Squan. The 
Colvers and Manns went "with the others 
to Morris county, and in 1790 the Roger- 
iues were reduced to two aged persons 
whose names were Thomas Colver and 
Sarah Mann ; Init the posterity of John 
Colver, who ai^pears to have been the 
Iciuler here, is yet numerous in Morris 
county, and of him more particular men- 
tion will be made in giving a sketch of 
the Rogerme Baptists. The traditionary 
accounts of the peculiarities of this sect 



while at Waretown — among which may 
be mentioned the men making axe han- 
dles, baskets, etc., the women sewing 
and knitting during their religious meet- 
ings, as related by the late Judge Jacob 
Birdsall, Jeremiah Spragg and other old 
residents of Waretown and vicinity — are 
corroborated by the notices of them in 
New England and Long Island histories. 
Their building, used for meetings and 
schools, we have understood was in the 
field a little south-easterly of Capt. T, 
Oorlies Newbury's residence, 

riKE AND LOSS OF LITE AT WAKETOWX. 

About sixty years ago a sad event oc- 
curred at Waretown, which is thus de- 
scribed by the late Hon. Jacob Birdsall, 
who was a witness to the melancholy 
affair : 

" A blacksmith named George Sojjcr, 
or Sopher as I understand some of his 
descendants now spell the name, and his 
wife Betsey then lived in a house standing 
about one-hundred and fifty yards to the 
the eastward of where Taylor C. New- 
bury now lives. One very cold winter's 
night about twelve o'clock, an alarm of 
fire was made at my father's house bj' 
IMr, William Predmorc, and upon look- 
ing out of the window wo saw that Geo. 
Soper's house was on fire. Mr. Pred- 
more hurried on and got there just in 
time to save a young man named Brown, 
who was ai)prentice to Soper. When 
Brown got uxit, the house was beginning 
to fall ; he had nothing on but his night 
clothes, and Mr. Predmore had to lend 
him a part of his own wearing ajjparel. 
It was then discovered that Mrs. Betsey 
Solder was in the fire. It seemed that 
her husband was over to Mr. Hillman's 
on business — attending a trial, I think. 
I did not reach the house until after it 
fell in, and then I witnessed as awful a 
sight us human being can behold ; the 
husband so frantic that he could hardly 
be kept from rushing into the fire where 
his wife lay, a mass of burning flesh 
plainly to be seen by all present. 



19 



Heaven grant that I may never look up- 
on such a sight again ! There had been 
some company there the previous even- 
ing, and among the visitors was Mrs. 
Ann Haywood, wife of the late James 
Haywood, of Mannahawken. Mrs. Hay- 
wood, previous to her marriage, had lived 
with Mrs. Soper, and from her testimony 
and other evidence, there was no doubt 
but that the unfortunate affair was 
caused by liquor. " 

FIGHTING FIRE — liOSS OF LIFE. 

Fires have been so frequent in the ex- ; 
tensive forests of Ocean county, that it 
is a hopeless task to attempt to enumerate 
them or describe in detail the exciting 
scenes they have occasioned. Often 
thousands of acres are swept over and 
tens of thousands of dollars worth of 
timber are bunied in a very short time. 
With a high wind, the roar of the fire in 
the woods, the fearful appearance of the 
sky, the flames leaping from tree-top to 
tree-top and running along the dried 
leaves and bushes on the ground make 
an appalling scene never to be forgotten; 
and the exciting work of fighting fire, 
with the flames often leaping over their 
heads or on the ground escaping and 
surrounding them, is too familiar to our 
old citizens to need describing. 

About fifty years ago, a fire broke out 
in the woods between Oyster Creek and 
Forked River, and many persons from 
Waretown and Forked River endeavored 
to subdue it. A sudden shift and increase 
of the wind brought the flames down 
with such rapidity upon the men that 
they had to run for then- lives toward the 
nearest body of water, which happened 
to be the old Frank Cornelius mill j)ond 
on Forked River ; but one man named 
George Collins, of Waretown, missed 
the right road, and was overtaken by the 
flames and burned to death. His shoes 
were left to mark the si^ot where he 
was burned, for twenty or thirty years 
after. 



AN EXCITING DAY AT WARETOWN. 

Perhaps the most exciting time in the 
history of Waretown was during the last 
war with England, when Commodore 
Hardy, of the British man-of-war Ramil- 
lies, on March 31st, 1813, sent several 
large barges into Barnegat Inlet to burn 
the Greyhound and other vessels there. 
The citizens of Waretown feared a repiti- 
tiou of the scenes enacted by the noto- 
rious Admiral Cockburn in Virginia and 
Maryland, plundering and burning 
dwellings, insulting women, &c., and 
women and chihli-en fled from the village 
to dwellings back in the woods as far as 
the late Moses Headley's place, and the 
excitement spread to Forked River and 
other places. But before the barges had 
finished all the work assigned to them, 
they were recalled by signal guns from 
the Ramillies, lymg off the bar, caused 
by the discovery of a ship at sea which 
they wished to overhaul. 

MISCELLANEOUS TRADITIONS. 

The following items relating to Ware- 
town were derived from aged citizens 
living from fifteen to twenty years ago in 
this and adjacent villages. 

Abraham Waeir, it is said, came from 
near the Hurlgate above New York, 
where he had a mill which was destroyed 
! by a flood. He had sons here named 
Thomas and Timothy, and perhaps other 
' children. The Waeirs lived on the place 
; owned in recent years by Hon. Jacob 
Birdsall, and had two saw-mills. A canoe 
: was dug out of one of their old mill dams 
I in recent years by Judge Birdsall near his 
1 residence ; how it came to be thus 
buried seems to be unaccountable, 
i During the Revolution, one of the 
; most noted salt-works on Barnegat Bay 
was Newlin's, near Job Headley's land- 
ing, beside wliich were others less noted 
above and below. Most of those works 
were destroyed by the British during the 
war, but some were rebuilt. 

The Brown family, of Waretown, it is 
said came originally from Goshen, N. Y. 



20 



Samuel Brown seems to have been one 
of the early friends of Methodism in this 
place, and among Methotlist pioneers who 
made their home with him was the cele- 
brated Bishop Asbury. The Headleys, 
it is said, also came from New York 
State, as probably did the Chamberlains, 
the first comers of whom located above 
Waretown on the Cambum place and on 
Oyster Creek where James Anderson 
now lives. Samuel Bennett, the first of 
the Bennetts, of Waretown and Bame- 
gat, of whom we have heard, came from | 
New England. David Bennett, we have ; 
been informed, kept the public house at ■ 
Waretown, during the Revolution. 

The first settler on the Soper place, 
between Waretown and Barnegat, ac- ; 
cording to the late Jeremiah Spragg, an 
aged citizen of Barnegat, was John Per- 
kins, whose daughter married James 
Spragg, father of Jeremiah ; Mr. Perkins 
came from England during the old French 
War, and located near Soper's Landing, 
and subsequently sold out to Joseph 
Soper, ancestor of the numerous Soper 
families in this vicinity and elsewhere. 
The first house built on the beach, oppo- 
site to Waretown, according to Mr. 
Spragg, was by Thomas Rogers. It was 
located near the Inlet, and in it lived Rog- 
ers and also James Spragg, father of Jere- 
miah ; and duriug the Revohitiou they 
witnessed many exciting scenes, such as 
shipwrecks of war and merchant vessels 
and contests between the British and 
Americans in efforts to capture crews 
and cargoes. The first Soper in New 
Jersey, was Thomas Soper, who landed 
in West Jersey, iu 1G78 ; the old mem- 
bers of this family had a tradition that 
they were of Huguenot descent. 

An early settler on the place now 
owned by Hon. Samuel Birdsall, tra- 
dition says, was a Dutchman named 
Daniel Rackhow ; one of his sous was a 
reputable young man, named Peter, who 
run out the Rackliow road, near Barne- 
gat, and who died comparatively young ; 
another son, Peter Rackhow, Jr., joined 



the Refugees, and was not heard of after 
the war. Daniel Rackhow, Senior, had a 
brotlier on Staten Island, and descend- 
ants of the Rackhows changed their name 
to Richards. 

The first Cambum at Waretown, 
whose name has been preserved, was 
William, who, according to the late Dan- 
iel Cambum of Waretown, a grandson, 
and other aged descendants, came when 
seventeen years old, with his father from 
New England, probably from Nantucket ; 
before and after coming here, the first 
Camburus went to sea on whaling voya- 
ges. William Cambum's father, origi- 
nally settled on the place nearly opposite 
Judge Birdsall's lane, on which in late 
years lived Captain Job Falkinburg, and 
subsequently Capt. Amos Birdsall, and 
some of William's first companions were 
Indian children. 

The Birdsall family originally came 
from Long Island, probably from Oyster 
Bay. Amos Birdsall, a prominent citizen 
of Waretown in the early part of the 
present century, was during the war of 
1812 captain of the schooner President, 
and was captured by the British. In 
later years he was better known as Es- 
quire Birdsall. 

Ralph Chambers, another respected 
citizen of Waretown, was a soldier in 
the war of 1812, and seriously wounded 
at the battle of Plattsburg. As he was 
somewhat forehanded, he would not go 
in the hospital for soldiers to risk the at- 
tendance there, but went to a private 
house and paid for his surgical and other 
attendance out of his own pocket. Mr. 
Chambers, we believe, had the honor of 
being the oldest regular subscriber for a 
newspaper in Ocean County, having 
taken the old Trenton State Gazette for 
between forty and fifty years. 

The Eayres came originally from Bur- 
lington County, and were among the first 
settlers there. The Bowkers, or Bogers, 
as the name is sometimes spelled, we 
believe, are also from Burlington Coun- 
ty ; Samuel Boger wiva a soldier in the 



21 



Revolution, from Burlington. The 
Predmores are said to be from Middle- 
sex County ; the first of the name we 
have found in New Jersey, owned a large 
tract of land at New Brunswick, in 1684, 
and then, as now, the name was some- 
times given as Prigmore. The old mem- 
bers of the Penn family, who came from 
Bass River or thereabout, and located a 
few miles back of Waretown, claimed 
that they were descended from the cele- 
brated William Penn, though by bar 
sinister. This is probably true ; none 
of William Peon's sons bore the irre- 
proachable character of their father. 
Thomas Penn, son of William, had left- 
handed children, and from these the 
Ocean County Penns probably descend. 
The late Jesse Penn bore a remarkable 
resemblance to the life-sized portraits of 
William Penn. 



MORMONISM IN OCEAN COUNTY. 

In 1837, Elder Benjamin Winchester 
preached the first Mormon sermon in 
Ocean county, in a school house, in 
New Egypt. Winchester was from the 
State of New York, and one of the early 
disciples of Joseph Smith. He contin- 
ued for some time to hold regular servi- 
ces here, and in his discourses gave mi- 
nute account of the alleged original dis- 
covery of the golden plates of the Book 
of Mormon near Palmyra, New York, by 
Joseph Smith, and their translation by 
him and Sidney Rigdon, and claimed that 
they were deposited by a people two 
thousand years before, whom they said 
were the Lost Tribes of Israel. He 
also preached in neighboring places. 
He made some fifty converts, who were 
baptized ; among them was Abraham 
Burtis, who became a preacher, and a 
large number joined the society at Horn- 
erstown, where they finally built a 
church, and where a good many respect- 
able people aihered to the faith. The 
church has since gone down, but a few 
people remain favorably impressed with 



the principles. The excitement extended 
to Toms River, and here too they built a 
small church, on the south side of 
the river, which is remembered as the 
first building in which the Ocean County 
Courts were held after the county was 
established, and before the court house 
was built. Their preachers also went as 
far south as Forked River, where they 
made a considerable impression, and 
baptized some in the mill pond — the 
preacher complimenting one convert, it 
is said, by saying, after immersing her, 
that he saw the devil as big as an owl 
leave her ! 

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mor- 
monism, visited New Egypt, Horners- 
town and Toms River, in 1840, and 
sealed a large number, some of whom 
are probably still living. William 
Smith, brother of the prophet, frequent- 
ly preached at New Egypt ; he preached 
the funeral sermon of Alfred Wilson, 
who was originally a Methodist, but be- 
came a Mormon preacher. James L. 
Curtis, originally a Methodist, also be- 
came a Mormon preacher. The present 
successor of Joseph Smith and Brigham 
Young, as head of the Mormon Church, 
is John Taylor, who has also preached in 
Ocean county, and was probably the 
last who preached as far south as Forked 
River, He held forth some twenty-five 
or thii'ty years ago, in the old Forked 
River school house, and his sermon, to 
the writer, seemed to differ but little 
from an old-fashioned Methodist sermon 
on the necessity of salvation, as he made 
but Httle allusion to the peculiar tenets 
of Mormonism. About twenty-'five or 
six years ago many Mormon converts left 
Ocean county for Salt Lake City, among 
whom were Joseph Chamberlain and 
family, of Forked River, and a number 
of respectable families from Toms River. 
They encountered serious hardships in 
crossing the plains. It is generally con- 
ceded that the Mormon converts were 
noted for sincerity, industry, and frugal- 
ity. 



212 



Of Joseph Smith's visit to New Egj-pt, I 
some amusing stories, probably exagger- 
ated, are told at the expeuse of converts, 
such as of a wealthy niiiu being told by 
Smith to repair to a i:)articular tree at a 
certain hour of the night and pray for 
direction from Heaven, and the Lord 
would rejjly. Accordingly the man ! 
sought the place and prayed as directed ; 
he was answered by a voice from above, 
which, among other things, directed him 
to give a good share of his worldly goods 
to the prophet Smith ; but the man 
seemed to doubt it being the voice of an 
angel — it sounded more like Smith him- 
self concealed in the branches. 



ROGERINE BAPTISTS OF WARETOWN. 

About the year 1737, a society of Eog- 
erine Baptists or Quaker Baptists, as 
they were sometimes called, located at 
Waretown in Ocean county. From vari- 
ous historical notices of this singular sect 
and accounts of how they came to locate 
in New Jersey, we extract the following : 

Tliis society was founded by John Kog- 
ers, about 1()74. His followers baptized 
by immersion ; the Lord's sujjper they 
administered in the evening with its an- 
cient appendages. They did not believe 
in the sanctity of the Sabbath ; they be- 
lieved that since the death of Christ all 
days were holy alike ; they used no med- 
icines, nor emjjloyeel doctors or sui'geous; 
Vr'ould not say gi-ace at meals ; all prayers 
to be said mentally except when the spir- 
it of prayer compelled the use of voice ; 
they said "all unscriptural parts of reli- 
gious worship are idols," and all good 
Christians should exert themselves 
against idols, &c. Among the idols they 
placed the observance of the Sabbath, 
infant baptism, &c. The Sabbath they 
cdled the New England idol, and the 
methods they took to demolish this idol 
were as follows : They would on Sunday 
try to be at some manual labor near 
meeting houses or in the way of people 
going to and from church. They woiild 



take work into meeting houses, the wo- 
men knitting, the men whittling and 
making sjilints for baskets, and every 
now and then contradicting the preach- 
ers. "This was seeking persecution," 
says one writer, "and they received plen- 
ty of it, insomuch that the New England- 
ers left some of them neither liberty, 
property nor whole skins." 

John Rogers, the founder of the sect, 
who, it is said, was as churlish and con- 
trary to all men as Diogenes, preached 
over forty years, and died iu 1721. The 
occasion of his death was singular. The 
small-pox was raging terribly in Boston, 
and spread an alarm to all the country 
around. Rogers was confielent that he 
could mingle with the diseased and that 
the strength of his faith would preserve 
him safe from the mortal contagion. Ac- 
cordingly he was presumptuous enough 
to travel one hundred miles to Boston to 
bring his faith to the test ; the x'esult was 
that he caught the contagion, came home 
and died with it, the disease also spread- 
ing in his family and among his neigh- 
bors. This event one would think would 
think wotild have somewhat shaken the 
faith of his followers, but on the contrary 
it seemed to increase their zeal. 

In 1725, a company of Rogerines were 
taken up on the Sabbath in Norwich, 
Connecticut, while on their way from 
their place of residence to Lebanon ; 
they were treated with much abuse, and 
many of them whipped in a most unmer- 
ciful manner. This occasioned Gov. 
Jenks, of Rhode Island, to write spirit- 
edly against their persecutors, and also 
to condemn the Rogerines for their j^ro- 
voking, disorderly conduct. 

One family of the Rogerines was named 
Colver or Culver, (Edward's History 
spells the name one way, and Gov. Jenks 
the other). This family consisted of 
John Colver and his wife, who were a 
Ijart of the company which was treated so 
rudely at Norwich, and five sons and five 
daughters, who, with their families, made 
lip tlie number of twenty-one souls. In 



23 



the year 1734, this large family removed 
from New London, Conn. , and settled in 
New Jersey. The first place they pitched 
upon for a residence, was on the east side 
of Schooley's Mountain, in Morris county. 
They continued here about three years, 
and then went in a body to Waretown, 
then in Monmouth, but now in Ocean 
coiinty. Wliile here they had their 
ineetings in a school house, and their pe- 
culiar manner of conducting services was 
quite a novelty to other settlers in the 
vicinity. As in New England, during 
the meeting the women would be engaged 
in knitting or sewing, and the men in 
makin*^ axe handles, basket splints or in 
other work, but Ave hear of no attempt to 
tlisturb other societies. 

They continued at Waretown about ' 
eleven years, and then went back to Mor- i 
ris county and settled on the west side of j 
the mountain from which they had re- 
moved. In 1790 they were reduced to 
two old persons whose names were Thos. 
Colver and Sarah Mann ; but the j,)oster- 
ity of John Colver, it is said, is yet quite 
numerous in Morris county. Abraham 
Waeir, from whom the village of Ware- 
town derives its name, tradition says was 
a member of the Eogerine Society. 
When the mam body of the society left, 
he remained behind, and became quite a 
prominent business man, generally es- 
teemed ; he died in 1768, and his de- 
scendants removed to Squan and vicinity 
near the head of Barnegat Bay. 

Before concluding this notice of the 
Piogerines, it should be stated that an- 
other thing in their creed was that it was 
not necessary to have marriages performed 
by ministers or legal officers ; they held 
that it was only necessary for the man 
and woman to exchange vows of mai-riage 
to make the ceremony binding. A zeal- 
ous Rogerine once took to himself a wife 
in this simple manner, and then to tan- 
talize Gov. Saltonstall called on him to 
inform him they had married themselves 
without aid of church or State, and that 
tlicy intended to live together ns husband 



and wife without their sanction. "What,"' 
said the Governor, in apparent indigna- 
tion, " do you take this woman for your 
Avife?" " Yes, I most certainly do, " re- 
plied the man. "And do you take this 
man for your hiisband ?" said he to the 
Avoman. The woman replied in the af- 
firmati\'e. "Then," said the wily old 
Governor, ' ' in the name of the Common- 
wealth I pronounce you husband and 
wife — whom God hath joined together 
let no man piit asunder. You are now 
married according to both law and gos- 
pel." 

The couple retired much chagrined at 
the unexpected way the Governor had 
turned the tables upon them, despite 
their boasting. 



MANAHAWKEN IN THE REVOLUTION. 
Manahawken, during the Kevolution, 
was noted for the patriotism of its citi- 
zens. From a manuscript originally 
found in Congressional records, but now 
in the library of the New Jersey Histori- 
cal Society, it appears that the militia 
company here was called the Fifth Com- 
pany of Monmouth, Reuben F. Randolph, 
captain, and Nathan Crane, lieutanant. 
Captain Randolph Avas originally from 
Middlesex county ; about the time of the 
Avar, he kept the iDublic house at Mana- 
liaAvken, which in later years was kept by 
Joseph R. Wilkins. His sons, Thomas 
and Job, were in his company. As the 
names of the heroic men of his company 
shoiild be preserved as far as possible, 
and especially by their descendants, Ave 
give a list of such as we have ascer- 
tained. 

FIFTH COMPANY, MONMOUTH MILITIA. 

Reuben F. Randolph, captain ; Nathan 
Crane, lieutenant ; James Marsh, ensign. 

Privates : — Micliael Bennett, Jeremiah 
Bennett, Samuel Bennett, Israel Ben- 
nington, Joseph Brown 1st, Joseph 
Brown 2ud, Joseph Camburn, Thomas 
Chamberlain, William Casselman, Luke 
Courtney, Seth Crane, Amos Cuflce, 



24 



David Howell, David Johusou, Thomas 
Johnson, David Jones, Thomas Kelson, 
Philip Palmer, Jr. , Benjamin P. Pear- 
sou, Benjamin Paul, Enoch Pvead, Job 
Randolph, Thomas Randolph, David 
Smith, Joseph Sopcr, Reuben Soper, 
Zachariah Southard, Jeany Sutton, Ljous 
Pangbum, Sylvester Tilton, 

Of the above, Reuben Soper was killed 
by the Refugees on Long Beach, in 
October, 1782. He left a son, named 
Reuben, who has children still living, 
among them Mrs. George W. Lippin- 
cott, of Tuckerton, who has preserved 
several interesting old-time relics ; and 
her brother, also named Reuben Soper, 
inheriting the patriotism of his grand- 
father, enhsted in the Union army, in 
the Rebellion, was mortally wounded, 
and died three weeks after in Saterlee 
hospital, Lyons Pangbom was killed in 
the skirmish at Manahawken, Dec. 30th, 
178L Sylvester Tilton was dangerously 
wounded at the same time. One of the 
Cranes was wounded near his own resi- 
dence. 

THE SKIKinSH AT MANAHAWKEN. 

At one time it was rumored that the 1 
Refugee, Captain John Bacon, with a ' 
party of his marauders, was on his way 
to Manahawken, on a plundering expe- 
dition, and such of the militia as could 
be notified, were hastily summoned to- 
gether at Capt. Randolph's house to pre- 
pare to meet them. The handful of mil- 
itia remained on the alert the greater 
part of the night, but towards morning, 
finding the enemy failed to appear, they 
concluded it was a false alann, and re- 
tired to sleep, after stationing sentinels. 
Tradition says that the sentinels were 
stationed on the main road, two above 
the hotel, and two below, and that on 
one post were Jeremiah Bennett and 
Job Randolph, and on the other, Seth 
Crane and Samuel Bennett, and that 
Capt, Randolph superintended the look- 
out. 

The RcfugocH came dowu the road 



from the north, and the first intimation 
the sentinels stationed near the old Bap- 
tist Church had of their approach, was 
hearing their bayonets strike together as 
they were marching. The sentinels 
halted long enough to see that the party 
was quite large, double the number of 
the militia, and firing, ran across the 
fields to give the alarm. By the time 
the few militia were aroused, the Refu- 
gees were abreast of the house, and be- 
fore the Americans could form, they 
were fired upon, and Lyons Pangbum 
killed, and Sylvester Tilton severely 
wounded. The militia were compelled 
to retreat down the lane before they 
could organize, when, finding the Refu- 
gees had the largest force, and were well 
armed, they were reluctantly compelled 
to decline pursuing them. The Refu- 
gees passed down the road towards West 
Creek. 

Tilton, who was so severely wounded, 
recovered almost miraculously, as the 
baU passed clear through him, going in 
by one shoulder and out at his breast ; 
the physician, as is well authenticated, 
passed a silk handkerchief completely 
through the woimd. After the war was 
over, Tilton removed to Colt's Neck, 
where it is believed some of his descend- 
ants now live. Lyons Pangburn, who 
was killed, was probably the same person 
who aided in organizing the Baptist 
Church at Manahawken, was the first 
delegate to the General Association, and 
also the man referred to so very kindly 
by Rev, John Murray, as "Esquire" 
Pangburn. 

Sylvester Tilton alwtiys believed that 
a Refugee named Brewer, was the man 
who wounded him, and he vowed to have 
revenge if he should ever meet him. 

Several years after the war closed, he 
heard that Brewer was at a certain place, 
and he started after him unarmed, 
though he knew Brewer was always well 
provided with weapons. He found Brew- 
er and closed in on him before the Refu» 
gee could avail himself of weapons, and 



25 



gave liim a most uumerciful beatiug ; it 
would probably have fared worse with 
Brewer but for the interference of a 
much esteemed Quaker named James 
Willets. After Tiltou had finished, he 
told Brewer, " You scoundrel, you tried 
to kill me once, and I have now settled 
with you for it, and you've got to leave 
here and follow the rest of your gang." 
The rest of the Eefugees had fled to 
Nova Scotia. 

A PATRIOT WOUNDED ; ANOTHER C.\PTUBED. 

The Mariahawken Militia, and tJie Battle of 
Monm.ouih. 

Tradition says that one w^arm summer 
evening during the war, there had been 
religious services at the Church, at Man- 
ahawken ; after services the minister 
went home with one of the Cranes, 
(Silas Crane, we think it was,) when the 
minister and Crane sat conversing until 
late in the evening. The front door was 
open, and also a window on the opposite 
side of the room, by which Crane sat. 
At length, happening to look at the front 
door, Crane got the glimpse of two or 
three men with muskets, and knowing 
the Refugees had threatened his life, he 
sprang throiigh the back window ; as he 
jumped he was fired upon, and thoiigh 
severely wounded in the thigh, he man- 
aged to escape. 

The notorious Refugee leader, John 
Bacon, it is said, worked as a farm labor- 
er, a year or two for the Crane family, 
before the war. 

Captain Randolph and his heroic mil- 
itia, just previous to the battle of Mon- ^ 
mouth, marched on foot, though the 
weather was intensely hot, to join Wash- 
iugton's forces beyond Freehold, but 
were unexpectedly prevented from eu- j 
gaging in the battle ; tradition fails to | 
give a reason why they went so near, I 
and yet did not participate, but the his- 
tory of the battle and of Washington's j 
disposition of his forces sufficiently ex- 
plain it. Washington had stationed 
General Morgan at Shumar's ]Mills, (near 



Blue Ball,) with positive instructions 
not to move until he should receive or- 
ders, and through that memorable battle 
Morgan was compelled to listen all day 
to the distant firing, chafing with impa- 
tience for orders to jtjiu, but orders' 
failed to come. The JNIanahawken mili- 
tia, when they got to Shumar's Mills, 
were probably placed under Morgan's 
command, and this would account for 
their not participating in the battle. 

During the war Captain Randolph was 
one night surprised in bed, at home, by 
Refugees, taken prisoner and carried to a 
swamp and tied to a tree, but managed 
to escape. At another time the Refu- 
gees surrounded and searched his house 
while he was in it, but his wife success- 
fully concealed him under feathers in a 
cask. 

T^\0 UNARMED MILITIA CAPTURE THREE 
ARMED REFUGEES. 

Seth Crane and David Johnson, two 
members of the Manahawken militia, on 
their return from a fishing excursion one 
day during the war, were in their boat 
by the bank of a meadow, preparing to 
go home, when three armed Refugees 
came down to the boat, and the leader 
leaning his musket against the side of 
the boat, went aft, and unceremc- 
niously began to pick out the finest of 
the fish, and said he meant to have them. 
Crane told him he could not without 
paying for them ; the Refugee said he 
would take them by force. As quick as 
flash. Crane f)icked up an eel spear, and 
holding it over him, told him to drop 
the fish or he would run the spear 
through him. Crane was a small sized 
man, brave, but apt to be rather hasty, 
and his comrade Johnson, who was just 
the reverse, large, powerful, but apt to 
be too slow, now saw the probability of 
a serious fight before them, and as he 
stood on the meadow by the bow of the 
boat between the remaining two Refu- 
gees, instantly with his powerful fist, 
knocked one of them, musket and all, 



2(i 



into the Avater, and tlieu grasping the j 
musket leaning against the boat brought I 
it to bear upon the remaining tory, who 
was so startled by the unexpected turn of 
events, that he started to run, npon : 
which he was told to drop his musket ' 
instantly, or he would be a dead man ; 
the tei-rified man did so. Johnson and 
Crane secured the muskets and then let ■ 
the Refugees go with a seasonable warn- ' 

iug against stealing fish in future. ' 

i 

OIBERSON, THE REFUGEE, AND THE MAN- 
AHAWKEN MILITIA. 

During the war the Refugee leaders 
appear to have had our shore divided in- 
to districts ; Davenport and his men had ^ 
Dover township for their "stamping" 
ground ; Bacon from Cedar Creek to 
Parkertown, below West Creek ; around 
Tuckerton and below it Joe Mulliner 
and Gibcrsou, from their head- quarters 
at the forks of the Mullica river, sailed 
ft)rth on their i:)redatory excixrsions. 
These men do not appear to have left 
their respective districts except to aid 
their confederates. 

One time Giberson, with a part of his 
band, suddenly ajjpeared at Tuckerton, 
and thinking they were safe went to 
Daniel Falkinburgh's tavern, (where Dr. 
Image's house now is,) and determined to 
liave a good time. They began liy mak- 
ing night hideous with their bacchana- 
lian revels. Some of the villagers at 
once sent word to the Manahawken mil- 
itia, and Sylvester Tilton and three or 
four more started in a farm wagon to at- 
tempt to capture or disperse the outlaws. 
Giberson was informed by a Tory that 
the militia had been sent for, and so he 
retreated towards the landing, to a good 
petition near his boats, and when the 
militia arrived he poured into their raiiks 
such a volley that they were compelled 
to retreat, as they found the Refugees 
were in greater force than had been 
represented. 

The militia jumped into theii- wagon 
and drove back, folloAved 1»t Giberson 



and his men, who pursued them to AVest 
Creek bridge, where the Refugees halted. 
This little affair was about the only one 
duiing the war that gave the Refugees a 
chance to boast, and so they often re- 
lated the story Avith great glee and much 
exaggeration ; but after all there was 
but little to brag about, in a strong force 
cav;sing the weak one to retreat. As the 
militia were driA'ing over West Creek 
crossing a mishap occurred to the wagon 
tongue — one end dropping down, which 
checked them long enough to allow the 
Refugees to fire again, but fortunately 
without effect. 

TERRIBLE CALAMITY AT MANAHAAA'KEN. 

During the war (in December, 1780,) a 
shocking calamity occured at ManahaAv- 
ken, by which several lives Avere lost. A 
dwelling house owned by William Pid- 
geon, on what was once known as the 
HayAvood place, took fire and burned 
doAvn. Captain Isaac Andrews lived iu 
the house. His two daughters, one 
white hired man and two colored men 
were burned to death, so rapid was the 
fire, occasioned by a high wind. Six 
persons in the house managed to escape, 
but A^athout apparel. Mr. Pidgeou at 
the time was ill in the house, and got 
somewhat burned, but leaped out of the 
second story, window and was tlien taken 
to a neighboring house ; he was taken 
worse from excitement, and caught cold 
that night, having been removed in his 
shirt, and died a few days after. 



THE BURNING OF TOMS KIVEK. 

CAPTURE OF THE BLOCKHOUSE — INHUMAN 
BUTCHERY OF AMERICANS — A TERRIBLE 
DAY AT TOMS RIVER. 

The attack by the British and Refugees 
on Toms River, was made early in the 
moniing of Sunday, March 21:th, 1782. 
The blockhouse iu the village was under 
command of Captain Joshua Huddy, who 
received notice of the expected attack the 
prcA'ious evening, and at once notified 
the inhabitants, and carefully stationed 



27 



sentiuels, and towards morning sout a 
scouting party to reconnoitre. This pav- 
ty missed the British. It is j^robable 
they went down the river road, while the 
enemy, guided by a Refugee named Wil- 
liam Dillon, came up the road where the 
Court House now stands. The sentinels, 
stationed some distance oiitside the fort, 
on the enemy's approach, fired their guns 
to notify the little garrison. Before 
reaching the fort, the British were joined 
by a band of Refugees under Davenijort, 
whose head-quarters were in cabins and 
caves back in the woods in old Dover 
townshij). 

The rude fort or block-house, which 
was unfinished, it is said was six or seven 
feet high, made with large logs with loop- 
holes between, and a number of brass 
swivels on the top which was entirely 
open, with no way of entering but by 
climbing over. The little ganisou, said 
to have consisted of only twenty-five or 
six men, had, beside the swivels, muskets 
with bayonets and long pikes for defence. 
The enemy's force appeared quite for- 
midable, considering the weak garrison 
they came to attack. They left New 
York on the Wednesday preceding, under 
command of Lieut. Blanchard, of the 
British ai'med whale-boats, with (accord- 
ing to their own statement) about eighty 
men, with Captain Thomas and Lieuten- 
ant Roberts, of the Bucks County Roy- 
alists, and between thirty and forty other 
Refugees. They proceeded to Sandy 
Hook, where they were detained by un- 
favorable weather until Saturday, the 
23d. Then under convoy of the British 
armed brig Arrogant, Captain Stewart 
Ross, they proceeded to Old Cranberry 
Inlet, and about 12 o'clock at night, the 
whale boats or barges entered the moiith 
of Toms River, and the party landed and 
reached the block-house about daylight. 
The sentinels fired as they approached, 
and then retreated. Lieutenant Blancli- 
ard stated that he " summoned the gar- 
rison to surrender, which they not only 
refused to do, luxt bid him defiance, " 



That he summoned them to surrender, is 
clearly disproven by the affidavit of Es- 
quire Randolph, one of the guards, from 
which extracts will be given hereafter. 
Blanchard added that on their refusal to 
surrender " he ordered the jjlaco to be 
stormed, which was according done, and 
though defended with great obstinacy, 
was soon carried." He acknowledged 
that on his side two officers were killed, 
viz : Lieutenant Iredell, of the armed 
boatmen, and Lieutenant Inslee, of the 
LoyaUsts, and that Lieutenant Roberts 
and five others were wounded ; but the 
damage inflicted on them must have been 
greater. A negi-o Refugee, killed, was 
left by them outside the fort for the 
Americans to btiry. On the part of the 
Americans, the British in their exagger- 
j ated report stated that among the killed 
I was a major of the militia, two captains, 
j one lieutenant, and five men beside, nine 
I in all, and twelve made prisoners, two of 
I whom were wounded, and the rest es- 
j caped. The American account, as fur- 
I nished to Gen. Washington, stated that 
' Huddy and fifteen men were made pris- 
oners and that five men were deliberately 
murdered after siirrendering and asking 
! for quarter. Major John Cook, of the 
Second Regiment Monmouth MiUtia, 
was brutally killed outside the fort by a 
negro, after surrendering ; John Farr 
I and James Kensley were also killed ; 
Moses Robbins was seriously wounded in 
the face . John Wainright fought until 
shot down with six or seven bullets in 
him. From circumstantial evidence, it is 
probable that Captain Ephraim Jenkins, 
of Toms River, was also killed. Among 
the prisoners taken were Captain Joshua 
Huddy, Esquire Daniel Randoljih and 
Jacob Fleming. Tradition says that one 
of the sentinels named David Imlay es- 
caped and hid in a swamp until the Brit- 
ish left. 

Mr. Randoljili's account of the attack, 
given under affidavit three weeks after- 
wards, and forwarded to Gen. Washing- 
ton, and by liim sent to Congress, is a 



28 



cleai' statement of so miicli of the affaii* 
as came imder liis own observation. In 
his deposition, he stated that he resided 
at Toms Kiver ; that on Saturday, March 
23d, 1782, the inhabitants of the \dllage 
■were informed by Captain Huddy that a 
body of Refugees were approaching to 
attack the post ; that deponent joined the 
guard ; that just as day began to appear, 
on Sunday morning. Captain Huddy de- 
tached a party of the guard to make dis- 
covei'y where the enemy were, and bring 
him accounts ; that this guard missed 
the enemy, and soon after, before it was 
broad daylight, the enemy appeared in 
front of their small unfinished block- 
house, and commenced an attack without 
any previous demand of surrender ; that 
Capt. Hixddy did all that a brave man 
could to defend himself against so supe- 
rior a number ; that after quarter was 
called for, and the block-house surrend- 
ered, he, Randolph, saw a negro Refu- 
gee bayonet Major John Cook, and he 
also saw a number of Refugees jump into 
the blockhouse, and heard them say they 
would bayonet them, but he did not see 
it done to any person other than Major 
Cook. 

After the capture of the block-house, 
the brutal enemy proceeded to burn the 
dwellings in the village. They boasted 
that they burned the whole town, which, 
they said, consisted of about a dozen 
houses, together with a grist and saw 
mill and the block-house, and carried 
away two V)arge8, one a fine one belong- 
ing to Capt. Adam Hyler, spiked an iron 
cannon and threw it into the river, and 
intended to visit other places to destroy 
them, but were prevented by the condi- 
tion of their wounded. The barges of 
Hyler, referred to by them, generally 
carried thii'ty or forty men. 

All the houses in the village were 
Imrned, except two, one belonging to 
Aaron Buck and the otlier to Mrs. Stud- 
sou. Aaron Buck was an active Whig, 
and one reason why it was spared was 
probably owing to the fact that his wife 



was a niece of William Dillon, the Refu- [ 

gee guide. Mrs. Studson's husband. 

Lieutenant Joshua Studson, had been 

murdered a short time before by the 

Refugee captain, John Bacon, and the 

British probably thought injury enough 

had already been done to her. Among 

the houses burned, was one belonging to 

Capt. Ephraira Jenkins, and also one on 

the south side of the river in which Abiel 

Aikens lived and in which the first Meth- 

. odist sermon was preached at Toms 

River. Mr. Aikens' daughter came near 

being burned in the house ; when the 

ruffians surrounded the house, she re- 

[ treated up stairs, and when she came 

1 doMii, the stairs were on fire, and fell 

just as she reached the bottom. About . 

; a mile north of the block-house, was a 

i dwelling in the woods, belonging to a 

! man named Wilbur, which appears to 

have been overlooked by the Refugees, 

I as it was spared. 

j What a terrible day to the inhabitants 
of Toms River, was that memorable Sab- 
bath ! Probably not less than from sev- 
enty-five to a hundred women and chil- 
' dren were rendered houseless and home- 
less ; household goods and necessaries of 
j life destroyed ; the killed and wounded 
j demanded their attention ; husbands and 
j fathers were carried away captive. Some 
! families were entirely broken up, the 
■ heads killed syid mothers and children 
j scattered, to be cared for by strangers. 

THE GARKISON AT TOMS RFVEK. ' 

Captain John Huddy was stationed at 

Toms River at the request of the citizens 

I of Old Monmouth, made in a petition to 

j the Legislature, dated December 10, 

1781, recommending him as a suitable 

person to command a guard at Toms 

I River. The State Council of Safety, it 

is supposed, gave him his orders in the 

mouth following, and as it must have 

taken a little time for him to collect men 

i he could not have been long at Toms 

I River when attacked. The British, after 

their return to Xew York, stated that the 



29 



garrison of the block-house consisted 
of twenty-five or six twelve months' men. 
This, probably, was about the number 
of men they found in and around the 
block-house, but several did not belong- 
to Captain Buddy's Company. They 
were volunteers from the citizens of the 
village, who responded to his notice the 
evening before, and hastily joined him 
to aid in defending their homes. Among 
them were Daniel Randolph, Jacob 
Fleming and David Imlay, and also Ma- 
jor John Cook and Captain Ephraim 
Jenkins, who appear to have been home 
on leave. From Randolph's affidavit, it 
would seem that most of the remaning 
citizens vohmteered to join the guard, 
and went down the river road and were 
thus cut off from aiding, by the enemy 
getting between them and the blockhouse. 

In the official register of officers and 
men of New Jarsey, in the Revolution, 
the following names are given of men be- 
longing to Captain Huddy's Company. 
As the privates are termed " matrosses " 
it is probable they had experience in ar- 
tillery sei-vice. The names in italics de- 
/ iiote men who had also served in the 
Continental army. 

Captain, Joshua Huddy ; Sergeant, 
David Laudon. 

Matrosses : Daniel Applegate, Wil- 
liam Case, David Dodge, James Edsal, 
JoJin Fan; James Kensley, Cornelius 
McDaniel, James Mitchell, John Morris, 
John Nlverson, George Parker, John 
Parker, Joseph Parker, Jonathan Petti- 
V more, Moses Jlohbins, Thomas Rostoin- 
der, Jacob Stillwagne, Seth Storey, 
Thomas Valentine, .John Wainright, John 
Wilbur. 

Of the above named, John Farr and 
James Kensley were killed in the fight, 
and Moses Robbins and John Waim-ight 
dangerously wounded ; and of those who 
volunteered the previous evening, Major 
Cook and Cai^tain Jenkins were killed. 

In regard to Major Cook's murder by 
a negro, after surrendering, it is jjossible 
that his death might have l^een avenged 



by some one in the block-house shooting 
the negi'o through the port holes, as a 
negro was killed and left lying there. 

MEMORANDA RELATING TO PERSONS MEN- 
TIONED IN THE FOREGOING. 

Daniel Randolph, Esquire, who re- 
sided at Toms River at the time of the 
attack, was well-known throughout Old 
Monmouth as a man of prominence and 
influence among the Whigs. He Avas 
taken prisoner and carried to New York, 
where two or three weeks after he was 
exchanged for a Refugee captain, named 
Clayton Tilton. Jacolj Fleming was ex- 
changed for a Refugee, named Aaron 
White. On the 15th of April, about 
three weeks after the attack on Toms Riv- 
er, Esquire Randolph was in Freehold and 
made the affidavit before refeiTcd to. 

Captain Ephraim Jenkins was an active 
patriot ; he had commanded a company of 
the Monmouth militia, and June 14th, 
1780, he had been commissioned as 
Captain in Colonel Holmes' regiment of 
State troops. From the fact that the 
writer has not been able to find any 
mention of him after the fight, and that 
his chiklren were afterwards scattered 
along shore to be cared for by strangers, 
it is p^'obable that he was one of the two 
cajitains said to have been killed. One of 
his daughters Avas adopted by Major John 
Price, of Goodluck and she subsequent- 
ly married a man named Springer. 

Abiel Aikeus suffered severely for his 
patriotism during the war. In his old 
age (1808) the Legislature passed an act 
for his relief. He was the first friend 
Methodism found at Toms River, and a 
prominent citizen of the place many 
years after the war. 

Aaron Buck, was also a well-known 
Wliig. The Dillon, whose daughter he 
married, was not known as a Tory, and 
was a much better man than his In-other 
William, who acted as guide to the 
Tories. Aaron Buck left two daughters, 
one of whom married Judge Ebenezer 
Tucker, formerly a member of Congress, 



30 



after whom Tnckcrtou was named. An- 
other daughter married John Rogers, 
father of the late James D. and Samuel 
Rogers. It is said that in a fit of tem- 
porary insanity jNIr. Buck committed 
suicide by hanging himself on board of 
his vessel at Toms River. 

William Dillon, the Refugee guide, 
had been once tried and sentenced to 
death at Freehold, but pardoned ; soon 
after he aided as pilot to the British ex- 
pedition which came from New York to 
recapture the ship Love and Unity, as 
described in a jjrevious chapter. 

Captain Joshua Huddy was taken to 
New York and confined until the 8th of 
April following, when he was taken on 
board a sloop and carried to Sandy Hook, 
and on the 12th of April he was barbar- 
ously hung by tlie Refugees near the 
Highlands. 



THE LAST WAR WITH ENGLAND. 
C.AJ'TURE OF OCEAN COITNTY VESSELS. 

During the war of 1812-14, Ocean 
county vessels trading to New York and 
elsewhere, found their business seriously 
injured by British cruisers on our coast. 
Occasionally some bold, fortunate mas- 
ter of a yessel would succeed in eluding 
the enemy's vigilance, and arrive safely 
at New York ; but generally they were 
not so fortunate. Commodore Hardy, in 
his flag-ship, the Ramillies, a 74-gun 
ship, had command of the British block- 
ading scpiadron on our coast. All ac- 
counts, written and traditional, concede 
that lie was one of the most honorable 
officers in the British service. Unlike 
the infamous Aflmiral Cockburn, who 
commanded the blocking sqtiadrou fur- 
ther south, Hardy never took private 
property' of Americans, except contraband 
in war, without offering comiiensation. 
By his vigilance, he inflicted considerable 
damage to otir coasters, and by nearly 
stopinng this trade, injury also resulted 
to a large jjortion of other citizens, tlien 
depemliug on tlie lumber trade. 



On the last day of March, 1813, Hardy 
in the Ramillies, came close to Bamegat 
Inlet, and sent in barges loaded with 
armed men after two American vessels 
lying in the Inlet. They boarded the 
schooner Greyhound, Capt. Jesse Rogers, 
of Potter's Creek, and attempted to take 
her out, biat she grounded ; the 
enemy then set fire to her, and she 
was burned, together with her cargo of 
lumber. They then set fiie to a bIooj) 
belonging to Capt. Jonathan Winner, 
Hezekiah Soper and Timothy Soper, of 
Waretown ; this vessel was saved, how- 
ever, as signals were fired by the Com- 
modore recalling the barges in haste, 
that he might start in pursuit of some 
vessel at sea. As soon as the barges left, 
the Americans went on board the sloop, 
and extinguished the fire. The name of 
the sloop has generaDy been given as the 
Mary Elizabeth, but one or two old resi- 
dents insist that it was the Susan ; the 
probability is that vessels of both names 
were fired, but at diff"erent times, TVTiile 
the barges were in the Inlet, a party 
landed on the beach, on the south side, 
and killed fifteen head of cattle belonging 
to Jeremiah Spragg and John Allen. 
The owners were away, but the British 
left word that if they presented their bill 
to Com. Hardy, he would settle it as he 
generally did similar ones ; but the own- 
ers were too p£\.triotic to attempt anything 
that seemed like furnishing supplies to 
the enemy. 

At another time, the schooner Presi- 
dent, Captain Amos Birdsall, of Ware- 
town, bound to New York, was taken by 
Com. Hardy, who at once commenced to 
take from the schooner, her spars, deck 
planks, etc. Capt. Birdsall with his 
crew had liberty to leave in their yawl ; 
but on account of a heavy sea, they were 
detained a day or two on board, when 
they succeeded in getting on board a 
fishing smack and thus got home. Be- 
fore Capt, Birdsall left the Ramillies, the 
masts of his schooner had boon sawed in- 
to plank l>y the British. 



31 



The sloop Elizabeth, Captain Thomas 
Bunnell, of Forked River, was captured 
by barges sent into Barnegat Inlet, and 
towed out to sea ; but it is said she was 
shortly after lost on Long Island. The 
captain saw the barges coming, and he 
and the crew escaped in the yawl. She 
was owned by Wm. Piatt and Capt. Bun- 
nell. At another time, Capt. Bunnell 
was taken out of another vessel, and de- 
tained by the British some time, and then 
put on board a neutral vessel, said to 
have been Spanish, and thus got to New 
York. The sloop Traveler, Captain Asa 
Grant, was set on fire by the British, 
but the fire was extinguished after the 
British left. At another time, two 
sloops, one named the Maria, the name 
of the other not known, were chased 
ashore near Squan Inlet. 

A vessel commanded by Capt. John 
Rogers, who lived near Toms Rfver, was ! 
also captured, and Rogers himself de- ' 
tained for a while on the British man-of- ] 
war. Capt. Rogers used frequently to 
relate his adventures on this ill-starred 
trip which cost him his vessel, and among 
others to the late well-remembered Billy 
Herbert, or Harbor as he was generally 
called, at the old Toms River hotel. The 
British, he said, treated him with civili- 
ty, and one day, an officer, who believed 
in the superiority of his ship, asked 
Rogers, rather boastingly, ' ' What would 
an American man-of-war do alongside a 
ship like this?" "And what did you 
tell him ?" asked Uncle Billy. " I told 
him she would blow the Ramillies to h — 1 
mighty quick !" said Rogers. 

Capt, Jesse Rogers, of the Greyhound, 
who lived to quite an advanced age, made 
efforts to have his losses re-imbursed by 
Congress, as ditl also Messrs. Spragg and 
Allen and others, but they were unsuc- 
cessful. 

In giving reminiscences of Waretown, 
mention has been made of the excitement 
created by the barges of Com. Hardy en- 
tering the inlet and burning the Grey- 
hound, At Forked River, a new dwell- 



ing and store had just been erected at 
the upper landing by Charles Parker, 
father of Gov. Joel Parker. Mr. Parker 
informed the writer that though his 
house was unfinished, yet the roof was 
filled with persons watching Hardy's 
proceedings. Judge Jacob Birdsall, then 
a boy, was among the children sent to 
dwellings back in the woods for safety. 

The war of 1812 did not seem to be a 
very popular one in New Jersey, as the 
political party opposing it generally 
carried the State. To raise troops, a 
draft was at one time ordered along 
shore, which called for one man in every 
seven. This draft, however, seemed to 
work but little hardship, as seven men 
would chib together to hire a substitute, 
who could generally be engaged for u 
bonus of fifty dollars. Most of the men 
obtained under the orders for drafting, 
were sent to defend Sandy Hook, where, 
from the reports they siibsequently 
made, their time was principally occTijHed 
in uttering maledictions on commissaries 
for furnishing them with horse beef and 
other objectionable grub. Among those 
who volunteered, the last survivor at 
Forked River was the late Gershom 
Ayres, who served under Gen, Rossell. 
At Waretown, Ralph Chambers was the 
last survivor. He was properly entitled 
I to extra pension for wounds received in 
i the battle of Plattsburg ; but as he had 
money of his own when wounded, he 
hired medical attendance at a private 
house to insure good attention, by which 
means his name escaped being embraced 
in the official report of wounded. At 
Bamegat, Tunis Bodine is a survivor of 
the war of 1812, and is in receipt of a 
pension for his services. In September 
last, Mr. Bodine completed his eighty- 
sixth year, and was so remarkably well 
and hearty that he made quite a round to 
Philadelphia, Trenton and other places, 
transacting business, writing letters, etc. 
as well as most men twenty years his 
junior. 

Refei-ring to losses of our citizens by 



32 



the war of 1812, remiuds iis uf au aucc- 
dote of Capt. Winner, a rather eccentric 
citizen of Goodhick, who before the war 
was i^ossessed of some property ; but his 
vessel was bnrned by tlie British, his 
business ruined, and he was aboixt 
stripped of everything. One time he 
was travelling some distance from home, 
quite depressed Avith his misfortunes. 
The landlord of an inn, where he stojjped, 
asked him his name. Winner replied, 
"I am ashamed to tell it, for it is a con- 
founded lie !" The landlord then asked, 
"Well, where are you from ?" Winner 
replied, "I am ashamed to tell you that, 
for it is another confounded big lie !" 
The landlord and bystanders began to 
think he was drunk or crazy, when he 
explained : " My name is Winner, but I 
am always a loser; I live at a place 
caUed Goodluck, but I never found any 
thing there but infernal bad lurk/'' 

After hearing a detail of his h)sses, the 
bystanders were satisfied that in his case 
both names were misnomers, ! 



GENERAL JOHN LACEY. 

LACEY TOWNSHIP, WHENCE ITS NAME — 
FOUNDER OF FERRAGO FURNACE — A 
YOUTHFUL BRIGADIER — A QUAKER IN 
THE WAR PATH. 

Lacey township derives its name from 
General John Lacey, who established 
Ferrago Forge, in 1809, and the well- 
known Lacey Road from Ferrago to 
Forked River lauding must have been 
laid out soon after. General Lacey was 
quite a noted man in the Revolution, 
and the following outline of his life will 
show that he Avas desei-ving the honor of 
having his name bestowed on a part of 
the county he endeavored to benefit. 

John Lacey was born in Bucks Coun- 
ty, Pa., February 4th, 1755. His pa- 
ternal ancestor Avas from the Isle of 
Wight, and came to this country with 
Wm. Peun. General Lacey's ancestors 
and all his descendants were Quakers. 
At the breaking out of the Revolution, 
his love of freedom i«-edomiuated over 



his anti-war creed, and he made u^) his 
mind to obtain it peaceably if he couhl, 
forcibly if he must. He took a captain's 
commission of the Continental Congress, 
January Gth, 1776, for which he was at 
once disowned by the Quakers. He left 
his home, his society, his mill, to do 
battle for his country. He served under 
General Wayne, in Canada, and per- 
formed the hazardous duty of carrying 
an express from General Sullivan to 
Ai'uold, when before Quebec. On his re- 
turn next year he resigned on account of 
a difficulty with General Wayne. He 
was then appointed by the Pennsylvania 
Legislature to organize the militia of 
Bucks County. He was soon elected 
Colonel. He was now in the midst of 
Tories and Quakers, who were acting in 
concert with the enemy, some of whom 
threatened him with jjersonal vengeance. 
These threats he disregarded as the idle 
wind. He brought his regiment into 
the field and performed feats of valor 
that at once raised him to a high standard 
in the list of heroes. His conduct was 
particularly noticed by Washington, and 
he was honored with the commission of 
Brigadier General, January 9th, and or- 
dered to relieve General Porter. He 
was then but twenty-two years old. 
Probably influenced by Refugee neigh- 
bors, the British, in Philadeli^hia, de- 
termined upon taking him, dead or alive. 
His duties were onerous and his watch- 
fulness untiring. On the first of May, 
following, he was stationed at a place 
since called Hatborough with less than 
500 men, mostly raw militia. Owing to 
to the negligence of the officers of the 
picket guard, his little camp was sur- 
rounded just at the dawn of the morning, 
by about 800 British rangers and cavalry. 
He formed his men quickly and cut his 
Avay through with such impetuosity that 
he threw the enemy into confusion, and 
escaped with the loss of only twenty-six 
men and a few wounded and prisoners, 
who were treated with a barbarity that 
casts savage warfare in the shade. The 



33 



bold maueuvre of Geu. Lacey aud 
his brave Spartans Avas a matter of ap- 
plause througliout the country. He -was 
constantly employed by General Wash- 
ington in hazardous enterprises, and in 
every instance receive his unqualified 
approbation. After the evacuation of 
Philadelphia, Gen. Lacey was a member 
of the Pennsylvania Legislature, and 
served three consecutive sessions. In 
1781 he closed his military career, and 
like a good citizen married an amiable 
daughter of Col. Beynolds, of New Jer- 
sey, and commenced a successful career 
of domestic feUcity. He filled various 
civil offices, lived in the esteem of every 
patriot (not of all his Quaker relatives) 
and died at the village of New Mills, 
(now Pemberton) New Jersey, Feb. 14th, 
1814, in his 59th year. 

The foregoing notice is substantially 
from a work by L. Carroll Judson. In 
Niles' " Principles of the Eevolution," is 
to be found considerable correspondence 
between Gen. Lacey and Gen. Washing- 
ton, which shows the responsible duties 
General Lacey had to perform, princi- 
pally in preventing Tories from furnish- 
ing supplies to the British. Both of 
these Generals distrusted the Quakers of 
Bucks county, a notoriously Tory section 
Avhich furnished Befugees to attack 
Toms Biver, and in one letter General 
Washington orders Gen. Lacey to pre- 
vent all Quakers from the surrounding 
country from going to Philadelphia year- 
ly meeting, as he " fears the plans settled 
at these meetings are of the most perni- 
cious tendency." The Whigs at this 
time suffered so much from information 
and supplies to the enemy, that, on re- 
ceipt of Washington's letter, Lacey at 
once issued orders to stop all Quakers 
and others from visiting Philadelphia, 
and "if they refused to stop when hailed 
to tire upon them and leave their bodies 
in the road." This order was afterward 
modified by Congress, to confiscation only 
of horses and provisions. 

In regard to the surprise of Geu. Lacey 



and his men by the British, alluded to 
above, Lacey -smtes as follows : 

' ' Some of my men were butchered in 
the most savage and cruel manner ; even 
while living, some were thrown into 
buckwheat straw, and the straw set on 
fire. The clothes were burnt on others, 
and scarcely one was left without a dozen 
wounds with bayonets and cutlasses." 
He says he retreated upwards of two 
miles, fighting all the way, until he 
reached a wood and extricated himself, 
losing thirty killed and seventeen 
wounded. 

Gen. Lacey and his corps were dis- 
charged by the Executive of Pennsylva- 
nia, Oct. 12, 1781, with the thanks of the 
Council. 

Samuel H. Shreve, Esq. , who in past 
years has furnished many valuable his- 
torical items to the New Jersey Coue- 
lEK, says in a communication dated Janu- 
ary, 1868 : " Ferrago Foige was erected 
by Gen. Lacey in 1809, and the same 
year Dover Forge was built by W. L. 
Smith, the father-in-law of Lacey." 

From this it would appear that Gen. 
Lacey was twice married. We have 
heard it stated that Lacey expended ten 
thousand dollars at Ferrago in building 
the dam alone, and the contruotion of 
the forge and other buildings and of the 
road to Forked Biver must have required 
a very considerable outlay of money. 



INDIAN WILL. 

AN ECCENTRIC ABORIGINAIi OF THE SHORE. 

In days gone by, the singular char- 
acter and eccentric acts of the noted In- 
dian Will formed the theme of many a 
fireside story among our ancestors, many 
of which are still remembered by older 
citizens. Some of the traditionary inci- 
dents given below diflfer in some particu- 
lars, but we give them as related to us 
many years ago by old residents. Inchan 
Will was evidently quite a traveler, and 
well known from Barnegat almost to the 
Highlands. At Forked Biver, it is said 



34 



he often visited Samuel Chamberlain on 
the neck of land between the north and 
middle branches, and was generally fol- 
lowed by a jjack of lean, liungiy dogs 
which he kept to defend himself from his 
Indian enemies. The following tradition 
Avas published in 1842, by Howe, in His- 
torical Collections of New Jersey : 

"About the year 1670, the Indians 
sold out the section of country near Eat- 
ontown to Lewis Morris for a barrel of 
cider, and emigrated to Crosswicks and 
Craubiuy. One of them, called Indian 
Will, remained, and dwelt in a wigwam 
between Tintou Falls and Swimming 
River. His tribe were in consequence 
exasperated, and at various times sent 
messengers to kill him in single combat ; 
but, being a brave, athletic man, he al- 
ways came off conqueror. On a certain, 
while partaking of a breakfast of suppawn 
and milk with a silver siJoon at Mr. 
Eaton's, he casually remarked that he 
knew where there were plenty of such. 
They promised that if he would bring 
them, they would give him a red coat and I 
cocked hat. In a short time he was ar- 
rayed in that dress, and it is said the 
Batons suddenly became wealthy. About 
80 years since, in pulling down an old ! 
mansion in Shrewsbury, iu which a 
maiden member of this family in her 
lifetime had resided, a (juantity of cob 
dollars, supiDosed by the superstitious to 
have been Kidd's money, was found con- 
cealed iu the cellar wall. This coin was 
generally of a square or oblong shape, 
the corners of which wore out the 
pockets." 

A somewhat similar, or perhajjs a vari- 
ation of the same tradition, we have fre- 
quently heard from old residents of 
Ocean county, as follows : 

"Indian Will often visited the family 
of Derrick Lougstreet at Manasquan, 
and one time showed them some silver 
money which excited their surprise. 
They Avished to know where he got it, 
and wanted Will to let them have it. 
AVill refused to part with it, luit told 



them he had found it iu a trunli along 
the beach, and there was plenty of yellow 
money beside ; but as the yellow money 
was not as pretty as the white, he did 
not want it, and Longstreet might have 
it. So Longstreet went with him, and 
found the money in a trunk, covered over 
Avith a tarpaulin and buried in the sand. 
Will kejit the white money, and Long- 
street the yellow (gold), and this satis- 
factory' division made the Longstreets 
wealthy." 

It is probable that Will found money 
along the beach ; but whether it had 
been buried by i^irates, or Avas from 
some shipAVi-ecked vessel, is another 
question. However, the connection of 
Kidd's name with the money would indi- 
cate that Will lived long after the year 
named in the first quoted tradition 
( 1670j. Kidd did not sail on his pirati- 
cal cruises until 1696, and, from the 
traditionary information the Avriter has 
been enabled to obtain, Will must have 
lived many years subsequent. The late 
John Tilton, a prominent, much-re- 
spected citizen of Barnegat, in early 
years lived at Squan, and he was quite 
confident that aged citizens who related 
to him stories of Will, knew him per- 
sonally. They described him as stout, 
broad-shouldered, with prominent In- 
dian features, and rings in his ears, and 
a good-sized one in his nose. 

The following are some of the stoi'ics 
related of him : Among otlier things 
Avhicli Will had done to excite the ill-Avill 
of other Indians, he was charged with 
haAdng killed his Avife. Her brother, 
named Jacob, determined on revenge. 
He pursued him, and, finding him un- 
armed, imdertook to march him off cap- 
tive. As they Avere going along, Will 
cspiod a pine knot on the ground, man- 
aged to liick it up, and suddenly dealt 
Jacob a fatal bloAv. As he dropped to 
the ground. Will tauntingly exclaimed, 
"Jacob, look up at tlie sun — yoii'll 
never see it again !" Most of the old 
residents who related traditions of Will, 



85 



spoke of bis finding honey at one time 
on the tlead body of an Indian he had 
killed ; but whether it was Jacob's or 
some other, was not mentioned. 

At one time to make sure of killing 
Will, four or five Indians started in pur- 
suit of him, and they succeeded in sur- 
prising him so suddenly that he had no 
chance for defence or flight. His cap- 
tors told him they were about to kill him, 
and he must at once jirepare to die. He 
heard his doom with Indian stoicism, 
and he had only one favor to ask before 
he was killed and that was to be allowed 
to take a drink out of his jug of liquor 
which had just been filled. So small a 
favor the captors could not refuse. As 
Will's jug was full, it was only common 
politeness to ask them to drink also. 
Now if his captors had any weakness it 
was for rum, so they gratefully accepted 
his invitation. The drink rendered them 
talkative, and they commenced reasoning 
with him upon the enormity of his of- 
fences. The condemned man admitted 
the justness of their reproaches and 
begged to be allowed to take another 
drink to drown the stings of con- 
science ; the captors consented to join 
him again — indeed it would have been 
cruel to refuse to drink with a man so 
soon to die. This gone throx;gh with, 
they persuaded Will to make a full con- 
fession of his misdeeds, and their magni- 
tude so aroused the indignation of his 
captors that they had to take another ; 
drink to enable them to do their duty 
becomingly ; in fact they took divers 
drinks, so overcome were they by his \ 
harrowing tale, and then they were so | 
completely unmanned that they had to 
try to recuperate by sleej). Then crafty 
Will, who had really drank but little, j 
softly rose, found his hatchet, and soon , 
dispatched his would-be captors. 

It was a rule with Will not to waste 
any ammunition, and therefore he was ' 
bound to eat whatever game he lolled, : 
but a buzzard which he once shot, sorely ; 
tried him, and it took two or three days ' 



j starving before he could stomach it. 
I One time when he was alone on the 
beach he yvas seized with a fit of sickness 
and thought he was about to die, and 
not wishing his body to lie exposed, he 
succeeded in digging a shallow grave in 
the sand in which he lay for a while, but 
; his sickness passed off and he crept out 
and went on his way rejoicing. In the 
latter part of his life he would never 
kill a willet, as he said a willet once 
saved his life. He said he was in a canoe 
one dark stormy night crossing the bay, 
and somewhat the worse for liquor, and 
unconsciously about to drift out the 
Inlet into the ocean, when a willet 
screamed and the peculiar cry of this 
bird seemed to him to say " this way, 
Wni ! this way. Will !" and tliat way 
Will went, and reached the beach just in 
time to save himself from certain death 
in the breakers. When after wild fowl 
he would "^sometimes talk to them in a 
low tone : "Come this way my nice bird, 
Will won't hurt you. Will won't hurt 
you !" If he succeeded in killing one 
he would say ; "You fool, you believed 
me, eh? Ah, Will been so much with 
white men he learned to lie like a white 
man !" 

Near the mouth of Squau river is a 
deep place known as "Will's Hole." 
There are two versions of the origin of 
the name, but both connecting Indian 
Will's name with it. Esquire Benjamin 
Pearce, an aged, intelligent gentleman, 
residing in the vicinity, informed the 
writer that he understood it was so called 
because Will himself was drowned in it. 
The other version, related by tlie late 
well remembered Thomas Cook, of Point 
Pleasant, is as follows : 

Indian Will lived in a cabin in the 
woods near Cook's jjlace ; one day he 
brought home a muski-at which he or- 
dered his wife to cook for ilinner ; she 
obeyed, but when it was placed iipon 
the table she refused to partake of it. 
"Very well," said he, "if you are too 
good to eat muskrat you are too good to 



36 



live with me." And thereupon he took 
her clown to the place or hole in the 
river spoken of, and drowned her. 
Mr. Cook gave another tradition as fol- 
lows : Indian Will had three brothers- 
in-law, two of whom resided on Long 
Island, and when, in course of time, 
word reached them that their sister had 
been drowned, they crossed over to Jer- 
sey to avenge her death. When they 
reached Will's cabin, he was inside eat- 
ing clam soup. Knowing their errand, 
he incited them to dinner, telling them 
he would fight it out with them after- 
ward. They sat down to eat, but before 
concluding their dinner Will pretended 
he heard some one coming, and hurried 
to the door, outside of which the visitors 
had left their guns, one of which Will 
caught up and fired and killed one Indian 
and then shot the other as he rushed to 
close in. In those days the Indians held 
yearly councils about where Burrsville 
now is. At one of these councils Will 
met the third brother-in-law, and when 
it was over they started home together 
caiTjing a jug of whiskey between them. 
On the way, inflaimed with liquor, this 
Indian told Will he meant to kill him 
for drowning his sister. They closed in 
a deadly fight, and Will killed his antag- 
onist with a pine knot. 

Mr. Cook said, Indian Will finally 
died in his cabin above mentioned. From 
the traditions related to us many years 
ago, by Eli and John Collins and John 
Tilton of Barnegat, Eeuben WilUams of 
Forked River, and others, and from 
Thomas Cook's statements, it is evident 
Indian Will must have lived until about 
a ceutuiy ago and if he jjrotested against 
any sale of laud it must have been 
against the titles ceded about 1758. At 
the treaties then, an Indian called Cap- 
tain John, claimed the lands from Mete- 
deconk to Toms River, but other Indians 
Baid they were also concerned. 



BAPIISTS IN OCEAN COUNTY. 
MANAHAWKEN CHURCH. 

The first church built in Ocean county 
was the one generally known as the Bap- 
tist Church at Manahawkeu. It was 
built at least as early as 1758, as it is 
said the original deed for the land on 
which it was situated is dated August 24, 
1758, and calls for 1 20-100 acres, " be- 
ginning at a stake 265 links north* west 
from the meeting house," by which it 
appears the edifice was already erected. 
There is a tradition that the church was 
originally erected as a free church, chief- 
ly through the instnimentality of James 
Haywood. That it was free to all de- 
nominations is quite evident, as in it 
meetings were held by Quakers, Presby- 
terians, and probably Methodists, and 
Rev. John Murray, the founder of Uni- 
versahsm in America, also preached in it. 
In Webster's History of Presbyterianisni 
it is claimed as a Presbyterian Church. 
The author probably supposed it to be 
such because ministers of that society 
held regular services in it — in fact, they 
held them many years before the Baptist 
Society was organized, and were enter- 
tained by Messrs. Haywood and Ran- 
dolph, subsequently named among the 
founders of the Baptist Society, as ap- 
pears by a letter written by Rev. John 
Braiuerd in 1761. It is evident that the 
early settlers of Manahawkeu were not 
only anxious to hear the Word of Truth, 
but also believed in religious toleration. 

The history of the Bajitist Society at 
Manahawkeu, as given in its old church 
record, was evidently written many years 
after the organization of the society. It 
is well worth preserving in our local re- 
ligious history, though not as definite on 
some points as the sketch given in the 
Baptist Century Book. The following 
is substantially from the church record : 

"About 1760, James Haywood, a Bap- 
tist from Coventry, England ; Benjamin, 
Reuben and Joseph Randolph, also Bajj- 
tists, from Piscataway, settled in this 



37 



neigliborhood. They were visited by 
Rev, Mr. Blackwell, who preached and 
baptized among them. Other Baptists 
settled among them from Scotch Plains ; 
so that in 1770, they were multiplied to 
nine souls, which nine were constituted 
a Gospel church that same year by Eev. 
Benjamin Miller. They joined the Bap- 
tist Association, and were occasionally 
visited by other brethren, so frat in 1776 
they numbered fifteen. Rev. Henry 
Crossley resided among them some time, 
and was succeeded by Rev. Isaac Bon- 
nell, after whose departure there was no 
more account of Manahawken Church ; 
so that in 1799, at a meeting of the Bap- 
tist Association at Great Valley, they 
were about to be erased from the records, 
but at the intervention of one or two 
brethren they were spared, and visited 
by ministering brethren, and that not in 
vain, for though there could none be 
found of the character of Baptists save 
five female members, two of whom are 
since deceased, yet a number round 
about were baptized among them ; but 
not meeting in membership with them, 
it remained doubtful whether they could 
be considered a church. Next season, 
they were represented to the Association 
with flattering prospe its, and a query 
was made whether they really were a 
church, which query was answered in 
the aflfii-mative ; in consequence of which 
supplies were named, some c f whom pro- 
posed the propriety of receiving into fel- 
lowship among them such as had been, 
or may be in future baptized among 
them. The proposition was generally 
accepted, both by the old members and 
young candidates, and in confirmation of 
which the first Sunday in July, 1802, was 
set apart for the above purpose, when 
Bros. Alex. McGowan ^and Benjamin 
Hedges gave their assistance. Brother 
McGowan, pastor of the church at New 
Mills (now Pemberton), by authority, 
and on behalf of Sarah Puryne (Perrine?) 
Mary Sprague and Elizabeth Sharp, the 
remainder of the church in the place. 



j receiving into union, by right hand of 
j fellowship, the following named persons, 
j viz : 

Daniel Parker and Elizabeth his wife ; 
Edward Gennings and Abigail his wife ; 
Thomas Edwards and Catharine his wife; 
Samuel Grey and Katurah his wife ; 
Amos Southard and wife ; Mary Fortune- 
berry ; Phebe Bennett ; Hannah White ; 
Martha Headley ; Leah Clayton ; Han- 
nah Sulsey ; Jemima Pidgeon ; Hester 
Perrine. " In the above, Mary Fortune- 
berry, we presiame, should be Mary 
Falkinburgh, 

The Baptist Century Book furnishes 
additional information to the above as 
follows : 

' ' The Baptist Society at Manahawken 
was organized August 25th, 1770. In 
October 1771 there were eleven members, 
and Lines Pangburn was a delegate to 
the Baptist Association. The foUowiug 
were the appointments made for that 
year : 

Rev. D. Branson, 3d Sunday in Dec, 
and May. 

Rev. D. Jones, 3d Sunday in Nov. and 
March. 

Rev. Jas. Sutton, 3d Sunday in Feb. 

Rev. S. Heaton, 3d Sunday in April. 

Rev. P. P, Vanhorn, 4th Sunday in 
July, 

Rev. R. Runyon, 3d Sunday in Aug. 

Rev. W. Van Horn, 3d Sunday in Sep. 

In 1772 there were twelve members ; 
delegates from Manahawken and Pitts- 
grove, Daniel Prine ; preachers appointed 
for the ensumg year. Rev, Messrs. 
Crossley, Miller, Kelsey, and David 
Jones. 

1773. No delegates; twelve members. 

1774. Rev. Henry Crossley, delegate ; 
fifteen members ; four had joined by 
letter, one by baptism and one died. 
The church this year is called "the 
Stafford Church." 

1775. No delegates ; members the 
same. 

From 1775 there are no returns until 



38 



tlie year 1800, when five members are 
reported. 

1801. Four members, one having died. 
The remaining members of the church 
having some doubts in their minds be- 
cause of the fewness of their numbers, 
whether they exist as a church or no, 
it is the sense of this Association that the 
church still exists, and while they re- 
joice in that prosperity which has lately 
attended the preaching of the Gospel 
among them, they exhort them to proceed 
to the reception of members and the 
election of officers. 

1802. Edward Gennings appointed 
delegate ; four baptized, twenty received 
by letter, oue dead ; remaining, 27 mem- 
bers. 

1803. Thirty-three members. 

1804. Amos Southard and Samuel 
Grey, delegates ; 31 members. 

1805. Samuel Grey, delegate ; 74 1 
members ; 44 baptized ; two received by ; 
letter, and three dismissed. [ 

1806. Samuel Grey and Edward Gen- 
nings, delegates ; 69 members." 

Here ends the record of this church in , 
the Baptist Century Book. \ 

It wiU be seen by the foregoing, that i 
from the out-break of the Revolutionary j 
war this society seems to have shared \ 
the fate of so many others in that event- i 
ful period, being virtually broken up for 
a time. Some of its principal members 
and supporters responded to their coun- ; 
try's call ; Reuben F. Randolph became 
a captain in the mihtia, his sons members 
of his company ; Lines Pangburn, who [ 
we presume was the same person first 
elected delegate, was killed by the Refu- 
gees within sight of the church, and 
doubtless others were among the patriots 
from this village, who did military ser- 
vice during the war, particularly in , 
guarding against marauding bands of ; 
Refugees who were active until the very 
close of the Revolution. 

Rev, Benjamin Miller, who organized 
the church, belonged to Scotch Plains, ' 



where he labored for over thirty years, 
and died in 1781, ! 

For the items relating to the original 
deed of the church we are indebted to I 
the researches of Samuel H, Shreve, i 
Esq. j 

OTHEK BAPTIST SOCIETIES, 

The Baptist Century Book says that 
"the Baptist Church of Squan and 
Dover" was received into the Baptist 
Association in October, 1805, and the 
same year Samuel Haven was delegate, 
and the society had 38 members. In 
1807 Samuel Haven was again delegate ; 
45 members. 

In Gordon's History of New Jersey, it 
is stated that a Baptist Society was es- 
tablished at West Creek in 1792, which 
had, about 1832, 33 members. This 
statement is given in close connection to 
statistics of the Manahawken Church, 
and leads to the inference that West 
Creek, in Ocean County, is referred to. 
But we have never heard of a Baptist 
Society in past years here, and we are 
informed by Wm, P. Haywood, Esq. , of 
that village, that none existed until 
within a couple of years, and that the 
West Creek referred to by Gordon, was 
in Cape May County. 



OLD CRANBERRY INLET. 
A century ag5. Cranberry Inlet, oppo- 
site Toms River, was one of the best in- 
lets on our coast. We have no account 
of the exact depth of water on its bar, 
but large vessels like the loaded brig 
Hand-in-Hand, in 1770, and the ship 
Love-and-Unity, in 1778, came in with- 
out difficulty, and during the Revolution 
it was of much importance, and often 
used by privateers from New England. 
The question of the exact year when it 
was first opened, was brought before 
our courts, some years ago, in a suit in- 
volving title to land in its vicinity, but 
no decisive information was elicited. It 
is probable, however, that it broke 
through about 1750, It is laid down on 



39 



Lewis Evaus' map, published, iu ITon, 
aud on au English map by JeJBFreys, 
originally drawn by Capt. Hallaud, the 
same year. David Mapes, a well-re- 
membered, much-esteemed colored man, 
late of Tiickerton, when a boy, it is said, 
was tending cattle on the beach for Sol- 
omon Wardell, when Cranberry Inlet 
broke through. He slept in a cabin, and 
was astonished one morning on waking 
up, to see the sea breaking across the 
beach near by. The Inlet finally closed 
about the year 1812, though for years 
previous it had been gradually shoaling. 

ATTEMPTS TO OPEN NEW INLETS. 

The closing of Cranberry Inlet caused 
great inconvenience to coasters, especial- 
ly those belonging to the upper part of 
the bay, as they had to go several miles 
out of their way to Barnegat Inlet. 
About the year 1821, an attempt to open 
a new inlet near the head of the bay was 
made by Michael Ortley. He worked at 
it, off and on, for several years, and 
spent considerable money in the under- 
taking. At length, one day, a large 
company of men volunteered to aid him 
in completing it. In the evening after 
finishing it, Mr. Ortley and his friends 
had quite a celebration ; but sad was 
their disappoiniment the next morning to 
find that the running of the tide, which 
they supposed would work the inlet 
deeper, had a contrary effect, and had 
raised a bulkhead of sand sufiiciently 
large to close it up. The result was that 
the inlet was closed much more expedi- 
tiously than it had been opened. 

Many supposed that if an effort was 
made to open an inlet farther down the 
bay in the vicinity of old Cranberry, it 
would prove more successful. Acting 
upon this supposition, another effort was 
made to open one opposite Toms River. 
The work was done by some two or three 
hundred men under direction of Anthony 
Ivins, Jr. , of Toms Kiver, and completed 
July 4, 1847. In this undertaking, care 
was taken to let in the water when it was 



high tide in the bay and low water oixt- 
side ; but this enterprise also proved a 
failure — the sea washing sand in it, and 
speedily closing it. 

BAKNEGAT INLET. 

Barnegat Inlet has always been open 
from our earliest accounts. The first 
Dutch navigators called it Barcnde-gat, 
meaning " breakers' inlet," or an inlet 
with breakers, and the present name is a 
corruption of the original Dutch one. In 
the character of the inlet, depth of water 
and roughness on the bar, it has always 
been the same as now, except during the 
brief period Cranberry was open, when it 
was more shoal and difficult to use than 
before or since. The inlet has shifted 
up and down the beach, two or three 
miles, and, about twenty years ago, 
washed down the old lighthouse. At one 
time, there was au island iu the inlet with 
a pond in the centre, bixt it soon washed 
away. 

BARNEGAT LIGHT HOUSE. 

The first light house at Barnegat Inlet 
was built about 1834, Congress, by an 
act approved June 30th, of that year, 
having appropriated $6,000 for the pur- 
pose ; and it was refitted in 1855. The 
new light house was completed in 1858, 
an appropriation of $45,000 having been 
made to build it two years previous. The 
height of the light above the level of the 
sea is 165 feet ; height of tower from 
base to light, 159 feet. It can be seen 
by an observer standing ten feet above 
the level of the sea, twenty-five English 
miles ; and from masthead, about thirty 
miles. Its light is revolving, intervals 
of flash ten seconds, and to aid mariners 
in distinguishing it, the upper half is 
painted red and the lower half white. It 
is one of the finest light houses in the 
United States. Its majestic tower, mag- 
nificent light and curious revolving ma- 
chinery make it as well worth seeing as 
any Ught house on our coast. It is 38 i 
miles from the Highland light houses, 



40 



Ite latitude is 39 deg. 45 miu. 54 sec. , 
and its longitude 74 deg, 6 miu. 1 sec. 
Its tower is the tallest in the United 
States with one exception, that of Pensa- 
cola light, which is only one foot higher. 



THE STOUT FAMILY. 

The Stout families of Ocean and Mon- 
mouth coiiuties descend from John Stout, 
a gentleman of good family, of Notting- 
hamshire England, whose son Kichard 
had a love affiiir with a young woman 
beneath his rank, and on account of his 
father's interference he got angry and 
went to sea in a man of war and served 
seven years. He was discharged at New 
York (then called New Amsterdam) and 
lived there awhile, when he fell in with a 
Dutch widow, whose maiden name was 
Penelope Vanprinces, whom he married ; 
he was then said to be in his 40th 
year, and she in her 22d. They had 
ten children, seven sons and three 
daughters, and Mrs. Stout lived to the 
remarkable age of 110 and saw her off- 
spring multiplied into 502 in about 88 
years. 

The remarkable history of Mrs, Stout, 
as given in Smith's History, published in 
1765, is substantially as follows : 

While New York was in possession of 
the Dutch, a Dutch ship coming from 
Amsterdam was stranded near Sandy 
Hook, but the passengers got ashore ; 
among them was a young Dutchman who 
had been sick most of the voyage. He 
was so bad after landing that he could not 
travel, and the other passengers, being 
afraid of the Indians, would not stay 
until he recovered. His wife, however, 
would not leave him, and the rest prom- 
ised to send for them as soon as they ar- 
rived at New York. They had not been 
gone long before a company of Indians, 
coming to the water side, discovered 
them on the beach, and hastening to the 
spot soon killed the man and cut and 
mangled the woman in such a manner 
that they left her for dead. She had 



strength enough to crawl to some logs 
not far distant, and getting into a hollow 
one lived within it for several days, sub- 
sisting in part by eating the excrescences 
that grew from it. The Indians had left 
some lire on the shore, which she kept 
together for the warmth. Having re- 
mained in that manner for some time, an 
old Indian and a young one coming 
down to the beach found her ; they were 
soon in high words, which she afterwards 
understood was a dispute ; the old In- 
dian was for keeping her alive, the other 
for despatching her. After they had de- 
bated the point awhile, the oldest Indian 
hastily took her up and tossing her upon 
his shoulder, carried her to a place where 
Middletown now stands, where he dressed 
her wounds and soon cured her. After 
some time the Dutch at New York, hear- 
ing of a white woman among the Indians, 
concluded who it must be, and some of 
them came to her relief ; the old man, 
her preserver, gave her the choice to go 
or stay ; she chose to go. Awhile after, 
marrying one Stout, they Uved together 
at Middletown among other Dutch in- 
habitants. 

The old Indian who saved her life used 
frequently to visit her. At one of his 
visits she observed him to be more pen- 
sive than common, and sitting down he 
gave three heavy sighs ; after the last 
she thouglit herself at liberty to ask him 
what was the matter. He told her he 
had something to tell her in friendship, 
though at the risk of his own life, which 
was that the Indians were that night to 
kill all the whites, and he advised her to 
go to New York. She asked him how she 
coixld get off? He told her he had pro- 
vided a canoe at a place which he named. 
Being gone from her, she sent for her 
husband out of the field and discovered 
the matter to him, who, not believing it, 
she told him the old man never deceived 
her, and that she with her children 
would go ; accordingly at the place ap- 
pointed they found the canoe and pad- 
pled off. When they were gone the bus- 



41 



band began to considered the matter and 
sending for five or six of his neighbors, 
they set upon their guard. About mid- 
night they heard the dismal war -whoop ; 
presently came up a company of Indians ; 
they first expostulated, and then told the 
Indians if they persisted in their bloody 
designs they would sell their lives very 
dear. Their arguments prevailed ; the 
Indiana desisted and entered into a 
league of peace, which was kept without 
violation. From this woman, thus re- 
markably saved, is descended a numer- 
ous posterity of the name of Stout, now 
inhabitants of New Jersey. At that 
time there was supposed to be about fifty 
families of white people and five hundred 
Indians inhabiting those parts. 

Another account of Penelope Stout is 
given in Benedict's History of the Bap- 
tists, as follows : 

She was bom in Amsterdam, Holland, 
about the year 1602 ; her father's name 
was Vanprinces. She and her first hus- 
band, whose name is not known, sailed 
for New York about the year 1620. The 
vessel was stranded at Sandy Hook ; the 
crew got ashore and marched towards 
New York, but Penelope's husband be- 
ing hurt in the wreck could not march 
with them ; therefore he and his wife 
tarried in the woods. They had not 
been long in the place before the Indians 
killed them both, as they thought, and 
stripped them to the skin. However, 
Peulope came to, though her skull was 
fractured and her left shoulder so hacked 
that she could never use that arm like 
the other ; she was also cut across the 
abdomen so that her bowels appeared ; 
these she kept in with her hand. She 
continued in this situation for seven days, 
taking shelter in a hollow tree and eat- 
ing the excrescence of it. The seventh 
day she saw a deer passing by with ar- 
rows sticking in it, and soon after two 
Indians appeared, whom she was glad to 
see, in hopes they would put her out of 
her misery ; accordingly one made for 
her to knock her in the head; but the 



other, who was an elderly man, prevented 
him ; and throwing his watch coat about 
her, carried her to his wigwam and cured 
her. After that he took her to New- 
York and made a present of her to her 
countrymen, viz : an Indian present, 
expecting ten times the value in return. 
It was in New York that Richard Stout 
married her. He was a native of England 
and of good family ; she was now in her 
22d year and he in his 40th. She bore 
him seven sons and three daughters, viz : 
Jonathan, John, Richard, James, Peter, 
David, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah, and 
Alice. The daughters married into the 
families of the Bounds, Pikes, Throck- 
mortous and Skeltons, and so lost the 
name of Stout. The sons married into 
the families of Bullen, Cra-wford, Ash ton, 
Truax, &c. , and had many children. 

Rev. T. S. Griffiths, pastor of the 
Baptist church at Holmdel, Monmouth 
county, in a late historical discourse says 
that is believed that Penelope Stout was 
buried in an old grave yard near Holm- 
del, about one hundred yards south of 
the residence of the late John S. Hen- 
drickson. 



THE FALKINBURG FAMILY. 

The Falkinburg families of Ocean 
county, it is said, are descended from 
Henry Jacobs Falkinburg, who came 
from Holstein, a little province adjoin- 
ing Denmark on the South. His name 
in old records is not always given alike ; 
Smith's Histoi-y of New Jersey calls him 
Heuric Jacobsou Falconbre ; Jasper 
Dankers, who -visited him 1679-80, at his 
residence near the upper edge of the 
present city of Burlington, calls him 
Jacob Hendricks, and sometimes, we be- 
lieve, he was called Hendrick Jacobs. 
The Dutch and Swedes at that day sel- 
dom had surnames, and from their usual 
mode of bestowing names their designa- 
tion of him would probably be rendered 
into EngUsh as Henry Jacob's son, of 
Falconbre or Falkinburg. 

When the first Englisli 'came to settle 



42 



iu West Jersey, in 1677, the Bi-ceuten- 
nial of which was lately celebrated in 
Burlington, they wished an interpreter 
between them and the Indians living be- 
tween the Rancocas and the Assanpink, 
where Trenton now stands, and Falkin- 
burg was recommended to them. He 
appears to have enjoyed the confidences 
of Dutch, Swedes and Indians, and must 
have been somewhat of a linguist, as he 
seems to have understood their lan- 
guages and the English also. At that 
time he lived farthest up the Delaware 
of any white man, on a point of land on 
the river just above Burlington. He 
was quite successful in aiding the 
Quakers to negotiate with the Indians, 
and the land on both sides of the river 
was purchased by a treaty made Oct, 
10th, 1677. When this land was divided 
oflf between the settlers, Richard Ridg- 
way, ancestor of the Ridgways of Ocean ! 
and Burlington counties, had 218 acres 
allotted to him on the Pennsylvania side 
of the Delaware, nearly oj^posite Tren- 
ton, as shown by a map made about 
1679, a copy of which is given iu the 
Journal of Dankers and Sluyter, pub- 
lished by the Long Island Historical 
Society. This Journal describes the 
dwelling of Falkiuburg, which, as it was 
one of the best found by Dankers, iu 
that section, in his travels in 1679, we 
copy as showing the contrast between 
dwellings then and now : 

"Nov. 19th, 1679, Satui-day ; * * * 
Before arriving at the village (Burling- 
ton) we stopped at the house of one 
Jacob Hendricks, from Holstein, li\'ing 
on this side, but he was not at home. 
We therefore rowed on to the \Tllage in 
search of lodgings, for it had been dark 
all of an hour or more, but proceeding a 
little farther, we met this Jacob Hen- 
didcks, in a canoe with hay. As we were 
now at the village we went to the ordin- 
ary tavern, but there was no lodgings to 
bo obtained there, whereupon we re-em- 
barked in the boat and rowed back to 
Jacob Hcndrick's, who received ns very 



kindly and entertained us according to 
his ability. The house, although not 
much larger than the one where we were 
last night, was somewhat better and 
tighter, being made according to the 
Swedish mode, as they usually build 
their houses here, which are blockhouses, 
being nothing else than entire trees, split 
through the middle or squared out of the 
rough and placed in the form of a square 
upon each other, as high as they wish to 
have the house ; the ends of these tim- 
bers are let into each other about a foot 
from the ends, half of one into half of 
the other. The whole structure is thus 
made without a nail or a spike. The 
ceiling or roof does not exhibit much 
finer work, except among the most care- 
ful people, who have the ceiling planked 
and a glass window. The doors are wide 
enough, but very low, so that you have to 
stoop on entering. These houses are 
quite tight and warm ; but the chimneys 
are placed iu a corner. My comrade and 
myself had some deer skins spread upon 
the floor to lie upon, and we were there- 
fore quite well off and could get some rest. 
It rained hard during the night, and 
snowed and froze and contintied so until 
the 19th, Sunday, and for a considerable 
part of the day, aflfording but little pros- 
pect of our leaving." 

During this day, Sunday, Dankers 
again visited Burlington, and at night re- 
turned to FaUdnburg's house, and this 
time he says he slept on a good bed, the 
same that on the previous evening had 
been occupied by the guide and his wife, 
" wliich gave us great comfort and re- 
cruited us greatly." 

Falkinburg seems to have been so fa- 
vorably impressed with the Quakers that, 
it is said, he joined their Society, and re- 
moved to Little Egg Harbor by, or be- 
fore 1698, settling a short distance below 
Tuckcrton. Mrs. Leah Blackman, ui 
hor valuable contributions to the New 
Jersey Coitrieb, relating to the history 
of Little Egg Harbor, published in 1866, 
says that after Falkinburg had concluded 



4d 



a treaty with the shore Indians, his first 
dwelling was a cave on the Down Shore 
tract, on that poi-tion of it now known 
as the Joseph Parker farm, the site of 
which is still discernible, and that after 
he got his dwelling fixed up he went 
back to West Jersey, and returned with 
his intended wife, whom he married by 
Friends' ceremony in the presence of the 
principal Indians thereabouts ; and that 
their first child, Henry Jacobs Falkin- 
burg, Jr. , bom in this cave dwelling was 
the first white child born in that section, 
from whom descends the numerous fami- 
lies of Falkinburg in Ocean and else- 
where. 



BARNEGAT. 

The village of Bamegat derives its 
name from the inlet, which was original- 
ly called Barende-gat by the first Dutch 
discoverers on our coast. Barende-gat, 
meaning an inlet with breakers, was sub- 
sequently corrupted by the English to 
Bamdegat, and finally to Bamegat. 

Among the first whites who settleel at 
Bamegat and vicinity, tradition says, 
were Thomas Timms, Elisha Parr, Thom- 
as Lovelady, Jonas Tow (pronounced 
like the word noiv) and a man named 
Vaull. Thomas Lovelady is the one 
from whom Lovelady 's island, near Bar- 
negat, takes its name. The first settlers 
seem generally to have located on the 
upland near the meadows, on or near 
the Collins, Stokes and Mills' farms. 
There was a house built on the Collins 
place by Jonas Tow, at least as early as 
1720. The persons named above as the 
first comers, do not appear to have been 
permanent settlers, and tradition fails to 
state what became of any of them, with 
the exception of Jonas Tow, who it is 
said died here. 

Among the first permanent settlers, it 
is said, were William and Levi Cranmer, 
Timothy Kidgway, Stephen and Nathan 
Birdsall and Ebenezer Mott ; and Eben- 
ezer Collins followed soon after. The 
Cranmers and Birdsalls came from Long 



Island about 1712 to Little Egg Harbor, 
and not long after members of the fami- 
lies located at Bamegat. The Cranmers 
are said to be of the stock of the cele- 
brated Archbishop Cranmer, and the 
Ridgways descend from Richard Rilg- 
way, who came with other Quakei 8 to 
West Jersey two hundred years ago. He 
first took up, about 1678, a tract of 218 
acres of land, on the Pennsylvania side 
of the Delaware, nearly opposite Trenton ; 
his descendants were among the earliest 
settlers of Little Egg Harbor. Ebene- 
zer Mott, it is said, came from Rhode 
Island about 1745, and shortly after 
located at Bamegat, Ebenezer Collins 
was a native of Connecticut, came to 
Goodluck, and about 1749 married a 
daughter of David Woodmansee, and in 
1765 he moved to Bamegat. He subse- 
quently went to New York to sail for 
South America, to look after some dye 
wood lands he owned there, and was 
never afterward heard from. From his 
two sons, John and James, descend the 
Bamegat Collins, Ebenezer was not a 
Quaker, but his son John became a noted 
and influential member of the Society. 
On the place now owned by Captain 
Howard Soper, an ancient settler named 
Cassaboom hved ; his residence was sur- 
rounded by woods, and probably was 
the first within the limits of the present 
village, the other settlers living a mile or 
so distant on the Mills, Collins and 
Stokes places. The ancestor of the 
shore Rulons was also au early settler ; 
he probably Uved in the house which 
once stood close by the old one, back of 
Captain Ralph Colhns' in which twenty 
years ago lived David Rulon, a descend- 
I ant. 

The first member of the Cox family iu 
this vicinity, was Jonathan who original- 
ly located at Littleworth Mill ; he had a 
son Jonathan whose descendants now 
live in Bamegat. James Spragg, father 
of the late Jeremiah Spragg, during the 
Revolution lived on the beach, by the 
inlet, in a liouse built Thomas Rogers, 



44 



niul after tho war he located on the farm 
a niih^ or so south of Barnegat, some- 
1 iuies called the George Applegate place, 
aud subsequently owned by Messrs. 
Predmore and Bodine and others. James 
Spragg married a daughter of John Per- 
kins, the first settler at Sopers Landing, a 
mile or so above Barnegat. Perkins had 
been a soldier of the old French war ; 
he sold the place to Joseph Soper, an 
cestor of the Soper families at Barnegat, 
Waretown and elsewhere, and it is said 
he was buried near Soper's Landing. 
Two brothers named Stephen and John 
Conkliug, were early settlers in the vicin- 
ity of Barnegat, Stephen once owning 
the place on the northerly edge of the 
village, in late years owned by Capt. 
John M. Inman, deceased. The Inmans 
first located at Manahawken, and then 
members of the family branched off" to 
Barnegat. James Mills, ancestor of the 
Mills families, was boni in West Jersey, 
and before the Revolution, when a boy, 
oame to Forked River, and lived on the 
place subsequently owned by the late 
James Jones ; from thence Mr. Mills 
moved to Barnegat, where he lived to an 
advanced age. Mr. Mills remembered 
many incidents of Refugee raids in old 
Dover township, which then extended to 
Oyster Creek. 

A dwelling was built in 1793 by Wil- 
liam Cambura, along the main shore 
road, west side, by Camburn's brook, on 
the place owned during the late Rebel- 
lion by Captain Thomas Edwards, de- 
creased, William Camburn was a de- 
scendant of the Waretown early settler, 
and from him, it is said, the brook de- 
rives its name. 

The first permanent settlers at Barne- 
gat, as well as ut other jjlaces along- 
shore, appear not to have ijurchased 
titles of the proprietors until several years 
after they came. The first land taken 
uj} from the proprietors, it is said, was 
the tract of 500 acres, bought by Tim- 
•jthy Ridg^ay aud Levi Cranmer, Sep- 
tember 9th, 1759. of Oliver Delancey 



aud Henry Cuyler, Jr., agents for the 
proprietor, William Dockwra. This 
tract included the lot upon which the 
Quaker church is built, biit the main 
portion lay south-easterly. The land 
along shore was originally divided ofl' 
into two tracts of about a thousand acres, 
by John Reed, surveyor, and allotted in 
alternate divisions to the proprietors ; 
William Dockwra having for his portion 
a large part of the land on which stands 
the \411age ; next north came Robert 
Burnett's, and then Lord Neill Camp- 
bell's. Lochiel brook, between Barne- 
gat and Waretown, it is said, was named 
in compliment to Campbell's locality in 
Scotland. 

The first Cranmer family at Barnegat, 
lived in the tract iDurchased as above 
mentioned, and their dwelling was on or 
near the site of the one owned in modern 
times by Captain Isaac Soper and subse- 
quently by Captain John Russell. 

The Rackhow road was laid out by 
Peter Rackhow, a son of Daniel Rack- 
how, who once lived in the place now 
owned by Samuel Birdsall, Esq. , Ware- 
town. Rackhow, it is said, was a Dutch- 
man, who eventually changed his name 
to Richards ; he had two sons — Peter 
above named who was a reputable young 
man, and died quite young, and another 
who joined the Refugees, went off with 
them and was not heard of afterwards. 

KELIGIOT'S SOCIETIES. 

The first church built at Barnegat was 
the Quaker meeting house. The deed 
for the land on which it is situated, is 
dated June 11, 1770, and is from Timo- 
thy Ridgway and Levi Cranmer to 
Stephen Birdsall and Job Ridgway, of 
Barnegat, and Daniel Shrouds aud 
Joseph (Jauntt, of Tuckerton. The deed 
calls for one acre and half a quarter — 
consideration money, twenty shillings. 
The meeting house was then already 
built, as the deed calls for the beginning 
of the survey at a certain course and dis- 
tance " from the soutli-east coi'ner of the 



45 



meeting house." The Job Ridgway 
named in the deed, we presume, is the 
same person who died July 24, 1832, aged 
89 years. 

The principal settlers of the place 
were Quakers, and, before their place of 
worship was erected, traveling ministers 
visited our shore, and occasionally held 
meetings at private houses. Among 
those who first preached at Bamegat, 
was the philanthropist, John Woolman, 
who was here in August, 1746, and again 
in 1765. After the house was built, 
among noted preachers who have record- 
ed their visits here in their published 
journals, may be mentioned Patience 
Brayton m 1772, Job Scott in 1785, and 
Ehzabeth Collins in 1807. The early 
Bamegat Quakers were regular in their 
attendance upon the monthly meetings 
of the society at Tuckerton. As an in- 
stance, the late John Collins, bom in 
1776, for sixty years regularly attended 
the Egg Harbor monthly meetings, and 
his father before him was as regular in 
attendance, but probably not for so long 
a period. 

The second John Collins was among 
the most prominent and useful men of 
his day. In his early life, he was master 
of a vessel, and made his first trips out 
of old Cranberry Inlet ; but in his later 
years he settled down to the more con- 
genial business of farming. For sixty 
years he missed attending but two elec- 
tions, and probably no man was ever so 
often selected to fill township offices. 
His duties often called him to old Mon- 
mouth Court House, as Freehold once 
was usually called, where he was well 
known and respected. Mr. Collins had 
a remarkably retentive memory, and to 
him, more than to any other one man, is 
the writer indebted for valuable tradi- 
tionary information of olden times in 
Ocean county. He seemed to be a con- 
necting link between the past and pres- 
ent. 

The Presbyterians were among the 
early religious pioneers of the village, 



and about 1760 they commenced holding 
regular or occasional services. Among 
the first preachers were Rev. Messrs. 
Chesnut, Green, McKnight and John 
Brainerd. From a letter written by Rev. 
John Brainerd in 1761, it seems the 
Presbyterians held their meetings at the 
house of Mr. Rulon. 

The Presbyterian Society now at Bar- 
negat is of recent origin, having been or- 
ganized in February, 1876, with nine 
members. 

The first effort to introduce Episcopal- 
ianism in Bamegat, was by Rev. Thomas 
Thompson, between 1745 and 1750, which 
he mentions in his published account of 
missionary services in old Monmouth in 
those years. He made four trips to Bar- 
negat and Manahawken, and, after his 
return to Shrewsbury, he sent Christo- 
pher Robert Reynolds, a schoolmaster of 
his faith, to labor from house to house at 
Bamegat and Manahawken. Reynolds 
remained here one year, and then, ac- 
count of age and infirmity, he went back 
to Shrewsbury. 

The Methodist pioneers held regular 
or occasional services probably as far 
back as the Revolution. The first Meth- 
odist Society was organized in 1829, with 
the late Rev. Job Edwards as the first 
class leader and local preacher. Mr. 
Edwards' grandfather, James Edwards, 
who had been a soldier in the old French 
War, was one of the earliest and most 
earnest converts to Methodism along 
shore, and in more modem times the so- 
ciety in this section has had no more 
zealous, successful laborer than Rev. 
Job Edwards. "He still lives" in the 
cherished remembrance of his fellow- 
members, and in the evidences of his 
works in the cause of his Master. 

i INDUNS AT BARNEGAT. 

' Long after the first whites settled at 

I Bamegat, Indians from West Jersey 

would frequently visit the place and re- 

' main a part of the year. One called 



4G 



Indian John, with his squaw, had a wig- 
wam near the northerly edge of the vil- 
lage, on the road to the Hamilton place, 
and another Indian, name not remem- 
bered, had a wigwam close by. The last 
and most noted Indians who visited Bar- 
negat were Charles Moluss or Moolis, and 
his wife Bathsheba or Bash as she was 
commonly called. They had their wig- 
wam on the place now owned by Cap- 
tain Timothy Falkinburg, a few hundred 
yards northwesterly of his residence, by 
the edge of Camburn's Brook. They 
had two papooses or childi-en, and Bash's 
sister, named Suke, was generally with 
them. Among the Quakers of Builing- 
tou coimty Bathsheba was considered as 
a kind of Indian queen, and Mrs. Leah 
Blackmau, in her sketches of Little Egg 
Hai'bor, says she was quite a favorite 
with the Quakers at Medford, and when 
she visited Tuckerton on her annual 
visit to the shore, she was not permitted 
to camp out with other Indians, but 
always invited to the dwelling of some 
one of the Little Egg Harbor Friends. 
Bathsheba belonged to the remnant of 
Indians who once lived at Edgepelick 
about three miles from Atsion, in Bur- 
lington County. At Bamegat, her hus- 
band, Indian Charles, made baskets to 
sell, and himself and family were on good 
terms with the whites. They probably 
left New Jersey with the remnant of their 
tribe in 1802. While the Quakers of 
Burlington viewed Bathsheba in the 
light of a Indian Queen, and she was 
probably superior to other Indian wo- 
men, the Bamegat traditions give no 
very romantic idea of her, as may be in- 
ferred from the unpoetic name of Bash, 
V)y which she was generally known. The 
late Uncle Eli CoUins, an aged citizen of 
Bamegat, informed the writer that one 
day when he was a young man he had 
been from home all day, and on his way 
back he stopped at Indian Charles' wig- 
wam. Bash was boiling something in a 
pot that sent forth an odor that was de- 
lightful to him, an he had enten nothing 



since morning ; he was invited to dine 
with them, and being very hungry he ac- 
cepted the invitation, but he speedily 
changed his mind when he found the 
savoury smelhng dish was hop-toad soup ! 
! An old Bamegatter once tried to teach 
Indian Charles the names Shadrach, 
I Meschach and Abednego ; the words 
j were too much for him, but he replied 
! "give me cider and to bed me go," which 
was as near as he cared to come to them. 
The remains of shell beds on the farm 
of James Mills, Esq. , and at other places 
show that the Indians at Bamegat, long 
before the whites came, caught shell fish 
in great quantities. Some of course 
were eaten here, but the principal object 
of the Indians appeared to be to prepare 
a quantity to take back with them ; this 
was generally done by roasting and then 
taking them out of the shell, stringing 
and drying them in the sun. On their 
journeys back to West Jersey, they some- 
times slung these strings around the neck 
to carry them conveniently ; when they 
were wanted for food they were often 
soaked and boiled. 

The appearance of the shells here in- 
dicate that the colored portions were 
taken out to be prepared as wampum, or 
Indian money, which was so much prized 
by the Indians that fifty years after the 
whites came to New Jersey a shot bag 
full of wampum was worth one-fourth 
more to the Indians than the same quan- 
tity of silver. 

MISCEIiliANEOUS ITEMS. 

The first inn or public house in Bame- 
gat was established in 1820 by David 
Ohphant, on the site of the present one 
at the comer of the main shore road and 
the road to the landing. 

The well-remembered old public house 
of Eli Colhns was occasionally patron- 
ized forty or fifty years ago by distin- 
guished visitors, among them the noted 
Prince Murat with quite a train of ser- 
vants. He was one of the most expert 
hunters of his day. Murat was a large. 



47 



powerful mau, and of remarkable powers 
of endurance — able to tire out almost 
any other hunter or gimner he met. He 
would make his head-quarters at Mr. 
Collins' inn, for his gunning expeditions 
on the bay, being generally gone about 
two weeks, during which time he would 
sleep in his boat, or camp on the beach, 
or on islands in the bay, and rough it in 
a manner surprising to our shore gun- 
ners, who had no idea a scion of royalty 
had so much physical endurance. 

Another celebrated personage who oc- 
casionally stopped here was Lieut., or 
Captain Hunter, of Aivarado fame. 
Once as he drove up, an hostler stepped 
out to attend to his horses and addressed 
him by name. Capt. Hunter was sur- 
prised to find himself addressed so famil- 
iarly by so humble a personage, and 
upon inquiry found that the hostler had 
once held some oflSce in the Navy, and 
been on a man of war with him up the 
Mediterranean, and while there had acted 
as Hunter's second in a duel. Hunter 
replied, " Proctor, I know you, but I 
don't know your clothes !" Proctor had 
considerable natural ability, but it was 
the old story, liquor sent him on the 
down grade. Frank Forrester (WiUiam 
Henry Herbert) the great authority and 
noted writer on field sports, was evi- 
dently well acquainted here, as his writ- 
ings show wonderful familiarity with this 
section. Uncle Eli Collins' house and 
the lower tavern once kept by David 
Church were old well-known headquarters 
for gunners from distant places. Speak- 
ing of gunners, reminds us of one who 
stopped once at the lower tavern with a 
fierce bull dog ; the landlord told the 
gunner to keep his dog away from a yard 
where he had a loon wounded in hifl 
wings, as the loon might hurt the dog. 
The idea of a loon or any other wild 
fowl hurting his bull dog amused the 
gunner, and he offered to bet fifty dollars 
that his dog would kill the bird. The 
landlord took the bet, the dog was let in, 
but in an instant the loon picked out the 



dog's eyes by suddenly darting his sharp 
bill in quick succession. 

Among the traditions handed down by 
old residents of Bamegat, is one relating 
to a man named Bennett, who lived on a 
strip of land called Bennett's Neck, in 
late years occupied by Solomon Burr, 
deceased, situated about a mile below 
the village on the road to Manahawken. 
It is said that Bennett was only an as- 
sumed name, and that when he was a 
youth he was bound apprentice to a sea- 
faring man who afterward joined the pi- 
rate Kidd in his cruises, and compelled 
his apprentice to go with him ; that when 
the pirates were captured, taken to Eng- 
land and tried, some were convicted and 
executed, but this apprentice was cleared 
because it was proved that he did not 
join the pirates from choice, but was 
compelled to do so by his master. After 
being liberated, wishing to lead an hon- 
est life where he was not known, became 
to America, and wandered down along 
shore to this place, where he erected a 
small habitation, and lived an honest life 
by himself until his death. A reference 
to the trial of Captain Kidd and his men 
shows that this tradition is not improba- 
ble. Captain Kidd was tried at the Old 
Bailey, London, in May, 1701, with 
some of his men — ten in all. They were 
all found guilty but three, named Robert 
Lumly, William Jenkins and Richard 
Barlicorn, who proved themselves ap- 
prentices, and that they were forced to 
go. It is not unreasonable to suppose 
one of these apprentices, disliking the 
odium attached to his name on account 
of the company he had been forced into, 
would abandon his countiy, and under 
an assumed name seek a retreat in some 
retired place like Bennett's Neck. 

Another ancient tradition relates to 
Jonas Tow, whose name has been men- 
tioned among the first settlers. His 
neighbors seemed to be suspicious of his 
character — some supposing him to be a 
counterfeiter, and others that he was or 
had been a pirate, but there was nothing 



48 



ever proved against liim. The reasoua 
giveu for these suspicions were that Tow 
had a shop on the place owned in late 
years by Samuel Leeds, in which he kept 
a curious, miscellaneous lot of articles, 
which some supposed could only have 
been obtained by a rover of the seas. 
This shop was separated from the house 
by a thick swamp, and as he would never 
allow any of his neighbors to visit it, 
they surmised he might be engaged in 
counterfeiting or other unlawful busi- 
ness. As before stated, nothing was ever 
proved against him ; but while he lived, 
and after his decease he was always 
spoken of as a suspicious character, and 
what added to the suspicions was the fact 
that the energetic measures against pi- 
rates generally before Tow came here, 
had caused them to disband, quit the sea 
and seek retreats where they were not 
known ; and as the pirates had known all 
the inlets on the Atlantic coast, it was 
possible that Tow had been a rover, and 
sought retreat here, bringing some of his 
miscellaneous plunder with him and 
probably burying the most valuable. 

During the Revohitionary war, parties 
of both Refugees and Patriots, as they 
traveled up and down shore, would stop 
at the houses of the Bamegat Quakers, 
and demand victuals ; but on the whole, 
the residents suffered less during the 
war than did those of any other place 
along shore, except perhaps West Creek. 
They had, however, but little reason to 
congratulate themselves on this score, as 
tkey suflfered enough after the war 
closed ; for then in time of peace, on ac- 
count of their conscientious scruples 
against militia training and paying fines 
for non-attendance, they were continually 
harassed by lawsuits, arrests, fines and 
executions, and imprisoned or property 
sold for non-compliance with militia 
laws. The once notoi-ious Esquire "Wil- 
liam Piatt, of old Dover township, bore 
no enviable name among the Quakers 
for his vexing them with suits on thi» 
account. 



During the Revolution, quite extensive 
salt works were carried on at Bamegat, 
on the meadows near the farm of Mr, 
: James Mills, by the Cranmers, Ridgways 
1 and others. The usual plan to manu- 
I facture salt was to seek some place on 
I the salt meadows where no grass could 
■ grow. By digging wells in these bare 
places, the water was found to be strong- 
ly impregnated with salt. The water 
from these wells or springs was put in 
large boilers with a kind of arched oven 
underneath, in which a fire was builtj; 
after most of the water was boiled away, 
; the remainder, thick with salt, was poured 
j into baskets of sugar-loaf shape made to 
allow the water to drain out. One of 
I these curious-shaped baskets was pre- 
! served, and in possession of the late 
; Uncle Eli Collins as late as 1860. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM TOM. 

In regard to the origin of the name 
Toms River we have two distinct tradi- 
tions ; one alleging that it was named 
after a somewhat noted Indian who 
once lived in the vicinity ; the other at' 
tributes it to a certain Captain William 
Tom who resided on the Delaware river 
over two hundred years ago, and who it 
is said penetrated through the wilderness 
to the seashore on an exploring expedi- 
tion, when he discovered the stream now 
known as Toms River ; upon his return 
he made such favorable representations 
of the land in its vicinity that persons 
were induced to oome here and settle, 
and these settlers named the stream after 
Capt. Tom, because he first brought it 
to the notice of the whites. 

Captain Tom lived many years before 
Indian Tom, and in view of the disagree- 
ment as to the origin of the name Toms 
River, some may be disposed to compro- 
mise by conceding that it originated with 
Captain Tom, and was perpetiaated by 
Indian Tom. Reserving the discussion of 
this question to another article, it seems 
an opportune time to pfive an outline of 
Oaptaiu Tom's life. It will be seen that 



41) 



he was a coufidential officer of the Eng- 
lish army, and subsequently held various 
civil positions of trust, such as commis- 
sary, justice, judge, town clerk, keeper 
of official records, collector of laud rents, 
agent for lands, etc. , and that he stood 
high in the estimation of Governors 
Nichols, Audross and Lovelace, and of 
the Swedes, Dutch, English and Indians. 
Captain William Tom came to this 
country with the English expedition un- 
der Sir Robert Carre and Col. Richard 
Nicholls, which conquered the Dutch at 
New Amsterdam, (New York), August, 
1664. Immediately after the English 
had taken formal possession of New York, 
two vessels, the "Guinea" and the " Wil- 
liam and Nicholas," under command of 
Sir Robert Carre, were dispatched to at- 
tach the Dutch settlements on the Dela- 
ware river. After a feeble resistance the 
Dutch surrendered about the first of Oc- 
tober of the same year (1864). Captain 
Tom accompanied this expedition, and 
that he rendered valuable service, there 
is evidence by an order issued by Gov. 
Nicholls, June 30, 1665, which states 
that for William Tom's "good services 
at Delaware," there shall be granted to 
him the lands of Peter Alricks, confiscat- 
ed for hostility to the English. Captain 
Tom remained in his majesty's service 
until August 27, 1668 ; during the last 
two years of this time he was commissary 
on the Delaware. He was discharged 
from his majesty's service on the ground, 
as is alleged, "of good behavior." In 
the early part of 1668, a servant of Mr. 
Tom's was killed by some evil disposed 
Indians, who it is said also killed one or 
more servants of Peter Alricks at the 
same time. The Indians generally were 
disposed to live on amicable terms with 
the whites, and these murders were the 
result, it would seem, of selling liquor to 
the Indians, the majority of whom seeing 
its evil effects requested the white au- 
thorities to prohibit the sale of it among 
them. The perpetrators of these out- 
fages were not apprehended ; and 



because this was not done, Gov. Lovelace 
attributes another murder two years 
later ; he severely censured the authori- 
ties, for too much remissness in not 
avenging the previous murder of Mr, 
Tom's servant, etc. 

On the 12 of August, 1669, Captain 
Tom was appointed collector of quit 
rents, which were imposed on all persons 
taking up land along the Delaware river 
on both sides. This office he held for 
three years, when he resigned. Its du- 
ties must have been of considerable re- 
sponsibility and labor, as it involved the 
necessity of visiting all places where set- 
tlers located, from the Capes of the Dela- 
ware to the Falls of the Delaware (Tren- 
ton.) While engaged in this business it 
is probable that as he traveled from place 
to place he made it a point to search for 
eligible places for new settlers to locate, 
and acted as agent for the sale of lands. 
At one time he acted as land agent for 
John Feuwick the noted Salem proprie- 
tor. 

We find that Captain Tom not only 
stood well in the estimation of Gov. 
Nicholls, but also in the opinion of his 
successor, Gov. Lovelace, who, at the 
suggestion of Captain T. , issued several 
orders relating to affairs on the Dela- 
ware. Aug. 12, 1669, Gov. Lovelace at 
request of Wm. Tom, grants certain 
special favors to Finns and others re- 
moving near New Castle, Del. By his 
order "permission on request of Mr. 
Tom" was granted to families from 
Maryland to settle in the same vicinity, 
" to the end that the said place may be 
inliabited and manured, it tending like- 
wise to the increase of inhabitants. " An 
order of the same date is preserved which 
allows William Tom to kill and mark all 
wild hogs in the woods near his land. 

In 1671, an extraordinary coimcil was 
convened in New York, on the occasion 
of the arrival of William Tom and Peter 
Alricks, just from the Delaware, with the 
particulars of the Indians murdering two 
Christians (Dutch) near Burliugtou. 



50 



These murders ■svere committed by two 
Indians who were known, and who re- 
sided at Suscunk, four miles east of Mat- 
iniconk or Burlington Island. Governor 
Lovelace, in a letter to Cajit. Tom, dated 
Oct. 6th, expresses great surprise at what 
he has learned from Mr. Tom in regard 
to these murders. This letter gives 
stringent orders to guard against e\'il- 
disposed Indians in the future, and from 
it we find that Burlington Island was 
then occupied as a kind of frontier mili- 
tary station. Gov, Lovelace recommends 
a good work about Matiniconk house (on 
Burlington Island) which, strengthened 
with a considerable guard, would make 
an admirable frontier. Vigoroiis efforts 
were made to secure these Indian mur- 
derers. The result is seen in the follow- 
ing letter written by Capt. Tom to Gov. 
Lovelace, Dec. 25, 1671. He says that 
' ' about eleven days since, Peter Alricks 
came from New York, and the Indians 
desired to speak with us concerning the 
murders, whereupon they sent for me to 
Peter Kambo's, where coming they faith- 
fully promised to bring in the murderers, 
dead or alive ; whereuijon they sent out 
two Indians to the stoutest, to bring him 
in, not doubting easily to take the other, 
he being an Indian of little courage ; 
but the least Indian, getting knowledge 
of the design of the sachems, ran to ad- 
vise his fellow, and advised him to run 
or else they would both be killed, who 
answered that he was not ready, but in 
the morning would go with him to the 
Maquas, and advised him to go to the 
next house for fear of susiDicion, which he 
did ; and the two Indians coming to his 
house at night, the one being his great 
friend, he asked him if he would kill him, 
who answered 'No, but the sachems 
have ordered you to die ;' whereupon he 
demanded what his brothers said, and 
was answered ' They say the like, ' Then 
he, holding his hands before his eyes, 
said ' Kill me ;* whereupon the Indian 
that comes with Cocker, shot him with 
two bullets in the breast, and gave him 



two or three cuts with a bill on the head, 
and brought him down to Wicaco, from 
whence we shall carry him to-morrow to 
New Castle, there to hang him in chains. 
For this, we gave to the sachems, five 
watch-coats, which Mr. Alricks paid 
them. When the other Indian heard the 
shot in the night, naked as he was, he 
ran into the woods ; but this sachem 
promised to bring the other alive, for 
which we promised him three watch- 
coats. The sachems brought a good 
many of their young men with them, 
and there before us they openly told 
them ' now they saw a begiuniug, and all 
that did the like, should be served in the 
same manner.' They joromised if any 
other murders were committed, to bring 
in the murderers. How to believe them 
we knew not, but the sachems seem to 
desire no war." 

What official position Capt. Tom held 
in these transactions is uncertain, but he 
appears to have been more relied upon 
than any other man to settle difficulties 
at this time. 

In 1673, Capt. Tom was appointed one 
of four appraisers to set a value on Tini- 
cum Island in the Delaware. In 167-i, 
he was appointed secretary or clark for 
the town of New Castle, and he appears 
to have had charge of the public records 
for several years. In 1673, the Dutch 
regained their power in New York, New 
Jersey and Delaware, biit retainfd it on- 
ly a few months ; after they were again 
displaced in 1674, Gov. Andross appoint- 
ed Capts. Cantwell and Tom to ' ' take 
possession for the King's use, of the fort 
at New Castle, with the public stores. 
They were authorized to pro\-ide for the 
settlement and repose of the inhabitants 
at New Castle, Whorekills (Lewes) and 
other places. " 

In 1675, some settlers complained 
against Capt. Tom for molesting them in 
the enjoyment of meadow land adjoining 
their plantations. The settlers probably 
supposed because they owned uplands, 
they should also have the use of meadow 



51 



land without paying for the same. The 
Governor ordered a compromise. In 
1676, he -was appointed one of the Jus- 
tices of the Peace and a Judge of the 
Court. He sat as one of the Judges in 
an important suit, in which the defend- 
ant was John Fenwick, the Salem Pro- 
prietor. Judgment was given against 
Fenwick, and a warrant issued to take 
him dead or alive. Fenwick, finding it 
useless to resist, gave himself up, and 
was sent prisoner to New York. 

Capt. Tom was reappointed Justice 
and Judge in 1677. Toward the latter 
part of this year, complaint was made 
that the town records of New Castle were 
in confusion, and Mr. Tom was ordered 
to arrange and attest them. It is not im- 
probable that ill health prevented him 
from completing this task, as we find his 
death announced January 12, 1678, 
coupled with the simple remark that his 
papers were in confusion. 

From the foregoing and other facts 
that are preserved, it would appear that 
William Tom was about the most promi- 
nent, useful and trustworthy man among 
the early settlers in South Jersey, from 
the coming of the English until his death 
just two hundred years ago, and that his 
varied duties w^ere performed to the sat- 
isfaction of English, Dutch, Swedes and 
Indians ; and we may safely infer that 
he did as much, if not more, than any 
othsr man in his day towards ' ' the set- 
tlement and repose of the inhabitants. " 
And it is no discredit to Toms Eiver to 
be named after such a man. 



THE HOLMES FAMILY. 

The Holmes family of Ocean county 
are descended from Kev. Obadiah 
Holmes, so favorably remembered in the 
annals of the Baptist Church in America. 
He was born at Manchester in Lanca- 
shire, England, in 1606 ; married in 1636 
to Catharine ; and came from Pres- 
ton, Lancashire, to Salem, Mass., in 
1639. For his zeal in preaching Baptist 



doctrines, he was sentenced by the Puri- 
tans of New England to pay a fine of £30 
or be publicly whipped. Although 
abundantly able to pay the fine, he re- 
fused to do so, as he deemed it would be 
an acknowledgment of error, and he 
chose rather to suffer than to "deny his 
Lord." In September, 1651, he was 
publicly and severely whipped at Boston 
"with a three-corded whip, thirty 
strokes." 

Eev. Obadiah Holmes was one of the 
original patentees of old Monmouth, al- 
though it is believed he never resided 
here ; but his son Jonathan Holmes be- 
came a resident, and in 1668 was a mem- 
ber of the Assembly. Subsequently he 
returned to the family homestead at 
Middletown, K. I., having settled his 
two sons, Jonathan and Obadiah, upon 
his lands in Middletown, N. J., which, 
in 1713, he bequeathed to them. These 
two sons were among the pioneers of the 
Baptist faith in New Jersey. This son 
Obadiah had a son named Jonathan who 
died about 1766, and this Jonathan's son 
John is supposed to be the John Holmes 
who lived at the upper mill at Forked 
Eiver, during the Eevolution. This 
John Holmes married Catharine Potter, 
and they had children — William, John, 
Huldah, Katy, Polly and Sally. Huldah 
married Esquire Daniel Williams, and 
the Williams families near Goodluck are 
their children or descendants. The last 
named John Holmes (the second in Ocean 
county) married Catharine Lane, and 
their children were Joseph, William, 
Jacob, Stephen, Alice, and jjerhaps oth- 
ers. William, Jacob and Ste2Dhen went 
west. Alice first married Daniel Cono- 
ver, and afterwards Daniel P, Pierson, 
and left children by both husbands. 
Capt. Joseph Holmes married Anna 
Stout, daughter of Daniel Stout, a hero 
of the Eevolution, and their children and 
descendants, we believe, are the only 
ones now bearing the name of Holmes in 
this vicinity. Their ancestry may thus 
be traced back : Joseph, son of John, 



52 



who was the sou of Johu, sou of Jona- 
than, son of Obacliah, son of Jonathan, 
sou of Rev. Obadiah Holmes, born in 
Lancashire, EngLaud, 1 606. This carries 
the line back, in an unbroken chain, over 
270 years. 

The recurrence of given names in dif- 
ferent generations is noticeable in the 
genealogy of the Holmes family. There 
have been several Josephs, Johns, Hul- 
dahs, Catharines and Alices (or Elsie as 
it was sometimes called), and an Alice 
Holmes last century married a Daniel 
Conover, as did an Alice Holmes this cen- 
tury. 

Much trouble has been taken by one 
or two persons to collect the genealogy 
of this family from the time of Rev. Oba- 
diah Holmes down, and the writer is un- 
der obligations to Rev. Mr. Schenck, of 
Marlborough, for a complete genealogi- 
cal chart of the family in Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island and old Monmouth. 

The founder of the family, Rev. Oba- 
diah Holmes "of precious memory," 
died at Newport, R. I., in 1682. The 



Somerset counties. In No, 29 of a series 
of articles headed "Historical Notes," 
published in 1876, in the New Bninswick 
Fredonian, is a notice of the descendants 
of Mr. Gulick in that section, which 
states that his grandson Joachim had 
sons Abram, William, John, Joachim, 
Jabobus and Peter, and three daughters. 
The Ocean county Gulicks descend from 
Jacobus, who at one time lived at Pleas- 
ant Plains and then removed to Rhode 
Hall, where he kept the main hotel and 
stage house between New York and Phil- 
adelphia. He had children Joachim, 
Cornelius, Abram (or Brom, as the Dutch 
called it,) John, Jacobus and Isaac. The 
last named, Isaac, who settled at Toms 
River in 1794, married Abigail Hatfield, 
a widow with one child by her fijrst mar- 
riage. Her maiden name was Van Deven- 
ter. Her son, named John Hatfield, on 
his arrival at manhood, followed the 
coasting trade from Toms River, and was 
lost with all his crew in a severe snow 
I storm, Dec. 13th, 1811. He was a young 
1 man of much promise, and his loss was 



township of Holmdel, in Monmouth greatly regretted by all his acquaint- 
county, is named for him. ; auces. From him, John Hatfield Gu- 

lick, late Surrogate, derives his name. 

Isaac Gulick and Abigail his wife had 
THE GULICK FAMILY. , g^^ ^^^^^ ^j^ . james, Stephen, Abner, 

The Gulick family are descended from | William and Nimrod. Of these, Stephen 
Joachim Gulick, who came to this coun- 1 is the only survivor, being over eighty 
try in 1653, and settled first at Graves- years of age*. Abner and William mar- 
end, Long Island, where we find his ried, removed to Ohio and died there, 
name in 1656, with the Tiltons, Still- j leaving families. Nimrod moved to 
wells, Stouts, Bowues, Applegates and ; Tuckahoe, N. J. , and died there, leavuig 
others Avho subsequently settled in old a family. James Gulick, who was the 
Monmouth county. The first time the first Judge appointed in Ocean county, 
English recorded his name, they seemed was born near Cranbury, Middlesex 
at a loss to know how to spell it, and so ^ county, Jan. 9, 1793, the year before hie 
wrote it " Joachim Guylock. " Mr. Gu- father moved to Toms River, and died 
lick, it is said, took the oath of allegiance July 7, 1855. He had five sons, of whom 
in 1687, and moved to Six Mile Run, John H., Sidney and Henry C. still sur- 
near New Brunswick, N. J. , previous to vive. His sop Horatio, who died about 
1717, and he subsequently owned 330 a dozen years ago, was one of the first 
acres of land lying on both sides of Ten Collectors of the county. Stephen Gu- 
Mile Run Brook. His descendants ap- lick married Deborah Page, and they 
Ijear to have settled near and on both had two daughters, both living. One 
sides of the line between IMiddlesex and married Captain William Jeflfrey, and the 



63 



other Theodore McKeau, now living in 
Utah. 

A tradition handed down among the 
old members of the Guhck family says 
that two brothers (probably Joachim and 
Hendricks) came from the Netherlands 
together, and that the name Gulick is 
derived from the town from whence they 
came. 

Most of the old members of the Gulick 
family were men of stout, almost gigan- 
tic frames, and possessed of extraordinary 
powers of endurance. They were noted 
for their patriotism in the Kevolution. 
Isaac was then too young to serve, but 
his brothers were in the ai-my, and among 
them and other GuUcks in tlie State 
troops were three Abrams, Cornelius, 
Benjamin, James, John, Peter and Joa- 
chim. The last named, a brother of 
Isaac, was noted for deeds of daring dur- 
ing the war, in which he was a captain. 
He was a man of giant frame and Hercu- 
lean powers. At one time he was sta- 
tioned below New Brunswick to watch 
the movements of the enemy, who were 
expected to come up the river by water. 
While on one of its banks a few miles be- 
low the city, the British came in sight, 
and commenced iiring on the party, who 
were compelled to retreat up a steep hill. 
When partly up, the Captain heard a 
C17 of distress, and, looking towards the 
place whence it came, saw one of his 
men lying on the ground, wounded and 
helpless. He immediately ran back, 
took the man on his shoulders, and took 
up in safety amidst a shower of bullets 
and the cheers of his men. 

The original Gulick tract near Ten 
Mile Run is now divided into three tracts 
or farms, two of which are now owned by 
William Cannon, and the other by Simon 
H. Nevins. 



THE EDWARDS FAMILY. 

The Edwards family, in the southern 

pari of Ocean county, with branches 

elsewhere, are descended from James 

Edwards, who was with General Brad- 



dock at the time of his disastrous defeat 
in the old French war. After that war 
he first settled in Pennsylvania, and then 
removed to Little Egg Harbor, and from 
thence to Barnegat. Here he frequent- 
ly described to his neighbors the partic- 
ulars of Braddock's defeat, and he always 
positively asserted that Braddock was 
killed by one of his own men, who 
thought that he was uselessly sacrificing 
the lives of his soldiers. His statements 
have subsequently been fully corrobor- 
ated, and the following particulars are 
derived from Virginia and Pennsylvania 
local histories : 

" Gen. Braddock was shot by one of 
his own men, named Tom Fawcett, who 
lived to quite an advanced age near 
Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pa. In the 
presence of friends, Fawcett did not 
hesitate to avow that he shot Braddock. 
Fawcett was a man of gigantic frame, of 
uncivilized, half savage loropensities, 
and spent most of his later years among 
the mountains as a hermit, living on the 
game he killed. He would occasionally 
come into town and get drunk. Some- 
times he would repel inquiries into the 
affair of Braddock's death, putting his 
fingers to his lips and uttering a sort of 
buzzing sound ; at other times he would 
burst into tears and appear greatly agi- 
tated by conflicting jjassions. In spite 
of Braddock's silly order that his troops 
should not protect themselves behind 
trees from the murderous fire of the 
Indians, Joseph Fawcett, brother of 
Tom, had taken such a position, when 
Braddock rode up in a passion and struck 
him down with his sword. Tom, who 
was but a short distance from his brother, 
saw the whole transaction and imme- 
diately drew up his rifle and shot Brad- 
dock through the lungs, partly for re- 
venge for the outrage upon his brother, 
and partly, as ho alleged, to get the Gen- 
eral out of the way and thus save the re- 
mainder of the gallant band who had 
been sacrificed to his obstinacy and want 
of experience in frontier warfare." 



54 



Mrs, Leali Blackmail, in her Egg 
Harbor Sketches, states that James Ed- 
wai'ds was wounded in the battle, receiv- 
ing a musket ball in his leg, which he 
carried to his grave, and she adds that 
" he lived to an advanced age and was 
burried in the Methodist Church Yard 
at Tuckerton. He was also a soldier in 
the Kevolutionary War, and fought un- 
der Washington, whom he loved 'W'ith an 
undying love. One of his grand- 
daughters told me that when the angel 
Death was hovering over him, one of his 
daughters who stood at his bedside, 
asked him if he knew he was dying, and 
he replied, ' O yes, I shall soon be with 
Jesus where I shall meet my dear old Gen- 
eral Washington.' His daughter asked 
him if he believed that wan-iors like 
General Washington inherited the King- 
dom of Heaven ; he answered ' Yes, I 
believe that Washington is a bright star 
in the regions of glory.' Soon after 
this his spirit took its flight to the spirit 
world." 

James Edwards was one of the first, 
probably the first, adherent of the prin- 
ciples of Methodism at Barnegat and 
vicinity, and continued to his death a 
strict, faithful member of the Society. 
His two sons, James and Thomas, do not 
appear to have united with any religious 
society, but both encouraged religious 
efforts by clergymen of different denom- 
inations ; James especially entertaiaed 
preachers of all denominations. Among 
his frequent visitors was Kev. Mr. Jayne 
a Baptist preacher, father of Dr. Jayne, 
of Philadelphia, noted for jiopular med- 
icines. 

James Edwards, the first, married 
Elizabeth Hedden ; their children were 
Zophar, Thomas, James, George, Debo- 
rah, Elizabeth, Amy, Prudence, and 
Katurah. Zophar and George both fol- 
lowed the sea ; George was taken sick 
and returned to h^ home and died un- 
married ; Zopliar contiuuetl in the same 
employment, but when and where he 



! ended his days were uulniowu to his 
relatives. 

I Thomas Edwards married Phebe Corn- 
stock, of Elizabethtown, N, J., and their 
children were George, Samuel, Thomas, 
i Richard, Mary, and Ann Eliza ; the last 
two died unmarried ; George married 
Hannah Mills, Samuel married Thursa 
Hedden, Richard married Jemima Hed- 
den, and Thomas married a Miss Clayton 
of Freehold. Captains Nelson and 
Mills Edwards, and Mrs. iMary A. Pred- 
more, wife of Capt. John Predmore, Sr., 
and Phebe, ^vife of Captain John Inman, 
are children of George and Hannah 
Edwards. 

Samuel and Thursa Edwards had chil- 
dren, Thomas, Samuel and Phebe Ann, 
who married Jonathan Lawi'ence ; the 
the last named Thomas, made a noble 
record during the late Rebellion as an 
officer of the Na\'y. 

James Edwards, 2ud, married Sojjhia 
Ridgway of Barnegat ; they had six sons 
who grew to manhood, viz., Clayton, 
Gidion, Jesse, Job, James, and Noah. 
The three first never married ; Job mar- 
ried, first Nancy Slaght, and second 
Susannah Haywood ; James, 3d, married 
Serena Craumer, daughter of Isaiah 
Cranmer of Manahawken ; Noah, the 
well-known Methodist minister, married 
first Hannah Downs, daughter of Isaac 
Downs of TuCkerton, second Phebe Ann 
Hartshorne. 

Of the children of James Edwards, 
2d, the only survivors now are James 
Edwards, 3d, merchant, Waretown, and 
Rev. Noah. Job, who may be considered 
the founder of the present Methodist 
Society at Barnegat, served the county 
in the Legislature, two terms. 

Deborah EdAvards, daughter of the 
first James, married Thomas Collins of 
Barnegat. 

Elizabeth, daughter of the first James, 
married ]5arzilla Matins of Egg Harbor. 
Amy, daughter of the first James, 
married Stephen Shourds of Tuckerton. 



55 



Prntlence, daugliter of the first James, 
married Phineas Burton of Egg Harbor. 

Katurah, daughter of the first James, 
married Richard McChire. 

The daughters of James Edwards, 1st, 
have numerous descendants along shore 
and elsewhere ; the names of their chil- 
dren living in Egg Harbor were given 
by Mrs. Blackman in her sketches of that 
vicinity, published in the New Jersey 
CouEiEK several years ago. 

The religious princii^les of the Society, 
of which the first James Edwards was 
the earliest adherent we have found in 
Ocean county, have an able representa- 
tive in a descendant in the fourth gener- 
ation. Rev. James T. Edwards, D. D., 
at present principal of the Chamberlain 
Institute, a flourishing and well endowed 
institution of learning at Randolph, N. 
Y. Prof. Edwards is son of the late 
Rev. Job Edwards, and though com- 
paratively young, his career has been 
singularly active and useful ; besides 
being a successful educator, he served 
honorably as an officer in the army dur- 
ing the late Rebellion, was a leading 
member of the Rhode Island State 
Senate, and as an able and eloquent minis- 
ter of the Gospel he was awarded the 
degree of D. D., at an unusually early 
age. 



CAPTAIN THOMAS EDWARDS. 

Captain Edwards entered the U. S. 
Navy as Acting-Master, Oct. 22, 1861, 
and was assigned to duty on the favorite 
man-of-war, Oneida, and while on her, 
served under the then Captains, but sub- 
sequently Rear-Admirals, Bailey, S. P. 
Lee and Preble. He was in many hotly 
contested, memorable engagements, 
among which w^ere the battles of Port 
Royal, Forts St. Philip and Jackson, the 
taldng of New Orleans, the battle of 
Vicksbiirg and other engagements on 
the Mississippi river, and also at the cap- 
ture of Fort Morgan and the taking of 
Mobile. When the Oneida and Varuna 



j were in the thickest of the fight in the 
[ most terrific combat probably known in 
naval warfare, in the passage of the forts 
' below New Orleans, under fii-e of the 
forts, running the gauntlet of fire-ships 
and rafts to the barriers across the river, 
and that obstacle overcome by Union 
daring and ingenuity, there among and 
thi-ough the swarm of rebel irou-clads 
and gun-boats, Capt. Edwards was among 
the most active and fearless in his line of 
duty, repeatedly narrowly escaping 
death, as when in one instance being for 
a moment called from the battery of 
which he had charge, the officer who 
stepped into his place was instantly 
killed with several men near him. When 
the first rebel vessel surrendered, he was 
detailed to receive the rebel commander's 
sword. After the taking of New Orleans, 
he was ordered on board the U. S. S. 
Stockdale to take command of her and the 
naval force, consisting of four or five ves- 
sels on Lake Ponchar train, to prevent 
contraband trade. While in the Stock- 
dale, he received his promotion for merit- 
orious service, to the rank of Lieutenant 
(Acting Volunteer), April 12, 1864, and 
well had he earned it, for he had been 
over three years attached to the Gulf 
Squadron, being longer on continuous 
duty than any other officer, all the rest 
having been detached, killed, dismissed 
or sent home. It required his utmost 
vigilance to check the continital attempts 
to carry on the contraband trade, and 
hence his duties were not at all monot- 
onous ; in addition to which, he was fre- 
quently called upon to relieve suflering 
among the rebel families living in the 
adjacent districts. In a letter to the 
writer of this, dated April, 1864, he says : 
' ' The rebels in the district along the 
lake are in a most terrible state of desti- 
tution — their subsistence being nothing 
but corn bread (and very httle of that), 
and no clothing to be had. I have had 
ladies who, three years ago, were living 
in luxury and wealthy in negro and other 
property, come on board my ship, and 



56 



beg for a few pouuds of pork to keep 
them from starvation, and they declared 
tliey had not tasted meat of any kind for 
months ; they would also beg me to pro- 
cure for them a few yards of calico for 
the commonest dresses. It is impossible 
to describe their distressed condition. If 
any produce is raised, the Confederate 
soldiers seize it, and many come to take 
the oath of allegiance merely to keep 
from starving." 

His letters describing the different bat- 
tles which he witnessed, written immedi- 
ately after they occurred, are graphic ac- 
counts of events which have passed into 
history. 

But it was evident, from some of his 
letters, that the brightest day to him, 
during his long, excitkig labors, was the 
one towards the close, when he had the 
pleasure of welcoming his wife on board 
his ship, for with our brave men on land 
and sea there were times when thoughts 
of home and loved ones overpowered all 
other feelings, as when one time both 
armies lay encamped near each other, 
and tlie Eebel band to taunt the Union 
men struck up Dixie. It was at once re- 
sponded to by the Star Spangled Banner. 
Then the rebels replied with the Bonny 
Blue Flag, which aroused vindictive feel- 
ings among our troops, and their band 
responded with Eally 'Bound the Flag. 
By this time, the rival tunes had stirred 
up warlike feelings on both sides, both 
parties felt the taunts intended, and both 
were stirred eager for strife ; but sud- 
denly, in the evening air, another band 
struck up Home, Sweet Home, and it 
was wonderful how quick that tune 
soothed down angi-y passions on both 
sides, recalling love<l ones at home, and 
tears trickled down many cheeks, and 
then soldiers on both sides felt like clasp- 
ing hands across the bloody chasm. 
'■Tlic bravest arc the tcndercst, 
The lovini^ arc the dariuf^." 
Captain Edwards stood well in the es- 
timation of his different superior officers, 
and with one or two his relations wei-c of 



I the most confidential nature. For his 
' old admiral, Farragut, he had the high- 
est admiration. He was deeply in ear- 
nest in the Union cause. After a little 
over two years' hard service, referring to 
a rumor that he wished to leave it, he 
writes : " God forbid that I ever should 
as long as this glorious old flag floats 
over my head, and I have strength 
enough to point a gun towai'd a traitor. " 
He returned home on a furlough during 
the last Lincoln campaign, in which he 
was among the most active and eflective 
supporters of the Union ticket in the 
county, and was the chief organizer and 
marshal of the largest political proces- 
sion then known in the county, which 
proceeded by can-iages, farm wagons, 
etc. , to Tuckerton, to aid a Lincoln dem- 
onstration there. 

Captain Edwards died at his home in 
Barnegat on Sunday, February 25, 186G. 
Skilful and brave in his profession, en- 
terprising and honorable as a citizen, 
warm-hearted and faithful as a friend, 
his early decease was a severe loss to the 
community in which he lived. He was a 
worthy descendant of the first James 
Edwards, who, in two wars, risked his 
life for his countiy. 



THE LAWRENCE FAMILY. 

The following is a notice of the coming 
to America of the first members of this 
family : 

"April 2, 1635. Barque Planter, Cap- 
tain Nich, Trarice. Among the passen- 
gers, who, it is said, were chiefly from 
St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, are 
found the names of John Lawrence, aged 
17 year.s ; William Lawrence, aged 12 
years, and Marye LaMrence, aged 9 
years. In 1055, another brothei-, named 
Thomas, came over." 

It will be noticed that some of these 
were quite young. The greater propor- 
tion of the Lawrences in America descend 
from the second brother, William. 

The first Lawrence who settled within 



57 



tlie limits of old Monmoulli, it is said, 
was Elisha, a son of William. Elislia 
commenced business as a mercliaut, in 
the latter part of the seventeenth century, 
at Cheesequakes, on the south side of 
the Raritan river iu Monmouth county ; 
but his store having been joillaged by the 
crew of a French privateer, he removed 
to Upper Fi-eehold, which once included 
a part of what is now Ocean county. He 
represented the county iu the provincial 
Assembly in 1707. His residence was 
called Chestnut Grove. He was born in 
1666, and died May 24, 1724. He mar- 
ried Lucy Stout, and had children as fol- 
lows : Sons — Joseph, Elisha and John. 
Daixghters — Hannah, who married Rich- 
ard Salter : Elizabeth, w^ho married 
Joseph Salter ; Sarah, who married John 
Ember, and Rebecca, who married a 
New Yorker named Watson. The sec- 
ond sou, Elisha, had a son named John 
Bruen Lawrence, who was the father of 
Commodoi'c Lawrence of "Don't give 
up the ship " fame, and grandfather of 
Commodore Boggs, who distinguished 
himself on the Varuua in passing the 
forts at New Orleans. 

The first-named Eliiha Lawrence's sou 
John was born in 1708, and is noted as 
having run the celebrated "Lawrence's 
line " between East and West Jersey. 
He married Mary, daughter of William 
Hartshorne, and had sons, John and 
EUsha, who became noted amoug the ^ 
Royalists iu the Revolution, but have no i 
descendants now living. His daughters | 
were Helena, who married James Holmes; : 
Lucy, wlio married Rev. Henry \Vaddell ; | 
Elizabeth, who married Yv'illiam Le- ; 
Compte, and ^lavy and Sarali wlio died 
single. ' 

It is impracticable in the i^reseut arti- , 
ele to trace out the genealogy of all the i 
Tjawrenees iu Monmouth and Ocean, but 
the foregoing gives it so far as relates to 
the branch which was most noted iu the 
early history of old Monmouth. Two or 
three publications have been issued giv- ; 
the genealogy of the Lawrences, by 



which descendants can trace their auces' 
try. 

The Lawrence family claim to be de- 
scended from Sir- Robert Laurence, of 
Ashton Hall, Laucastershire, England, 
who went to Palestine during the Cru- 
sades with Richard Occur do Leon, and 
participated in the siege of St. Jean de 
Acre, in the year 1119, and was the first 
to jalant the Banner of the Cross on thf 
battlements of the town, for which he 
was knighted. A grandson of Sir Robert 
Laurence, named Sir James Laurence, 
married into the Washington family in 
the reign of Henry Third. General 
George Washington's half-brother, Law- 
rence, was so named on account of liis 
relationshir) to this familv. 



DICK BIRD, 
THIS potter's creek oittlaw. 

This scounckel, who was probably one 
of Davenport's gang, was exceedingly 
obnoxious to the Americans on account 
of many daring outrages in which ho 
was concerned. He was intimately ac- 
quainted with all the roads and bye-paths 
in the woods and swamps in old Dover 
township, which then extended to Oyster 
Creek. Tradition says, that early in the 
wai- he had a cave near the head waters 
of Cedar Ci'eek, and that his sister, who 
was married to a patriot soldier, named 
Cottrell, resided iu a cabin a short dis- 
tance from the village of Cedar Creek, 
near where the late Benjamin H. Stout 
formerly lived. This sister, for fear of 
Bird's getting her into trouble, finally 
moved to the Burnt Tavern, near Free- 
hold ; she was motlier of Mercy Worth, 
wife of Peter wortli, from whom all of 
this name in Berkeley township descend. 

Bird for a long time managed to elude 
the vigilance of the Americans, but one 
day, he, with a companion, was seen 
along the road, a little south of Toms 
River, by some one who at once notified 
the militia on duty at Toms River, and 
two or three at once started in pui'suit. 



\ 



Bird's comrade escaped by hiding under 
a bridge, over wliich liis iiursuers passed, 
and Bird himself managed to ehide them 
them until after dark. It is supposed 
he had intended to make for his cave, 
near Cedar Creek, but the pursuit caused 
him to change his plan. Xear Quail 
Eun was a woman of low character, 
whom he often visited, and this time he 
called on her ; she told him as the militia 
were after him, they would tiud him 
there, and advised him to go to a less 
susijected place, and he then left and 
stopped at a house on the old Anderson 
place, near Dover Chapel. He was seen 
by some i^atriotic women, who sent in- 
formation to his pursuers, and some of ; 
them, one tradition says, went into the 
house and chatted with him until it was I 
time for the Whigs to arrive, and that 
one of them was sitting on his lap when | 
she saw his pursuers looking in the win- 
dow. Another version, which is most 
probable, is that it was the woman of 
low character, before refen-ed to, who was 
sitting on his lajj, and she sprang oti' and 
he jumped for his musket, which was in 
the chimney corner, and just as he 
reached it his pursuers fired through 
the window and killed him instantly. 
It is said the girl was so little atiected 
by his death that when the pursuers 
came in the door they found her search- 
ing Bird's pockets. 

Bird was a married man, but when he 
joined the Refugees his wife forsook him 
and went to Toms River, where she re- 
sided many years after his death. While 
lie was pursui)ig his infamous career she 
bitterly denounced him, yet when she 
heard of his death she grieved so much 
that her neighbors expressed their sur- 
prise, knowing the disgrace lie had been 
to her. The simple-minded womau, as \ 
one story had it, replied that it was not 
the man she so much cared for, but he 
often sent her a quarter of venison, when 
lie had more than he could use, and she 
would so much miss such presents 
now ! 



CAPTAIN JOHN BACON. 

AX OTTTiAW's CAP.EER, AND ITS TERRIBIiE 
END. 

This noted Refugee leader, whose name 
is so well remembered by old residents 
of Ocean, Monmouth, and Burlington, 
appears to have confined his operations 
chiefly between Cedar Creek and Tuck- 
erton. His eftbrts were mainly du'ected 
to i^lundering the dwellings of all active 
members of the patriotic militia organi- 
zations. Some old residents, generally of 
Quaker proclivities, considered him one 
of the most honorable partisan leaders 
opposed to the Americans, because they 
asserted, excepting calling for a meal's 
victuals for himseh and men in passing, 
he never molested the i)ersous or proper- 
ty of any but Americans in niihtia ser- 
vice. Himself and men were well ac- 
quainted with the roads and paths 
through the forests of old Monmouth 
and Burlington, some in the lower part 
of the county still being known as Refu- 
gee ijaths, and they had numerous hid- 
ing places, cal>ins in the woods and caves 
in the banks by the headwaters of Cedar 
Creek, Forked River and other streams, 
which they used as temporary resting 
places as they passed up and down the 
shore. A principal one of Bacon's was 
near Frank's crossway, above the upper 
mill on Forked River. 

Several events in which he was en- 
gaged havffbeen described in notices of 
Forked River, Manahawkeu and Toms 
River. The following are tlie principal 
additional atiairs in which he was con- 
cerned : 

rLUNDERINC4 OF JOSEPH SOPER. 

Among other zealous Americans for 
whom Bacon had a strong antipathy was 
Joseph Soper, who lived at Soper'a 
Landing, between Waretown and Barnc 
gat. His attentions to Soper were so 
frequent and threatening that he had 
often to seek refuge, and sleep in the 
swamps along Lochiel Brook, and some- 
times at the place in that vicinity in late 



59 



years owned by James Letts, deceased. 
At this time there lived at Waretown an 
Englishman, known as Bill "Wilson, who 
pretended neutrality but who really 
acted as a spy for Bacon. Mr. Soper 
was a vessel builder, and at one time he 
had received pay for building a small 
vessel. Wilson accidentally witnessed his 
receiving the money, but did not know 
the amount. After he left, Mr. Soper 
suspected that he would inform Bacon, 
and so he divided his money into two 
parcels, a small amount in one and a 
large amount iu the other, and then 
buried both in separate places, not far 
from the house. Sure enough, iu a very 
short time. Bacon and his men \dsited the 
house, piloted by a man with a black silk 
handkerchief over his face that he might 
not be recognized. This man Avas be- 
lieved to be Wilson, though eflforts 
were made subsequently to induce the 
Sopers to think it was another man, 
then li\T[ng near Waretown. Mr. Soper 
n.t this time had taken refuge iu the 
swamp, and the house was occupied only 
by women and chikli-en. "N^Tien the llef- 
ugees entered they at once began be- 
having rudely and boisterously, flourish- 
ing their weapons iu a menacing manner, 
pushing their bayonets in the ceiling, and 
doing other things to frighten the wo- 
men. Their threats compelled the wo- 
men to lead them into the garden, to the 
Hpot where the smallest sum of money 
was buried ; when they received it they 
seemed to be satisfied, thinking it was 
all they had ; they then returned to the 
house and made a clean sweep, as they 
had several times before, of provisions, 
clothing and such other articles as they 
<;ould carry. Among other articles taken 
by Bacon at this time, was one of Mr. 
Soper's shii-ts, which afterwards served 
for a winding sheet for Bacon, as he was 
sTibsequently killed and buried with it 
on. Bill Wilson could never be fairly 
con\-icted of actual complicity with the 
Refugees, in overt acts, yet all who knew 
him were convinced that he was a spy of 



Bacon's. It was alleged that he was with 
the Refugees in their raid on the Holmes 
and Prices at Goodluck. After the war 
closed he remained for some years in the 
vicinity of Waretown ; but he foiand it a 
very uncomfortable place for him to live, 
for occasionally some zealous Whig, who 
had occasion to hate the Refugees, would 
take him in hand on very slight pretexts 
and administer off-hand justice. At one 
time, at Lochiel Brook, Hezekiah Soiier, 
sou of Joseph, gave Wilson a severe 
thrashing and then nearly drowned him 
in the brook for alleged participation in 
the murder of Reuben Soper, a brother 
of Hezekiah's. Wilson, finding Ware^ 
town did not agree with him, at length 
moved over to the North Beaoh, above 
the Inlet, where he hved a lonely life 
until his death, which occurred between 
sixty and seventy years ago. Two or 
three old residents arc still living who 
remember seeing him when he came oflf 
to Forked River to procure supplies. 

mt;rder of eeuben sopek. massacre 

OF SLEEPING MEN ON liONG BEACH. 

This was the most important affair in 
which Bacon was engaged. The inhuman 
massacre of sleeping men was in keeping 
with the memorable affair at Chesnut 
Neck, below Tuckerton, when Count 
Pulaski's guards were murdered by 
British and Refugees. This massacre 
took place on Long Beach, about a mile 
south of the light-house, at a spot once 
known as '* the lower end of the cedars." 
At this place we think more men were 
killed than in any other action during the 
war in our county — one account stating 
that twenty were killed or wounded, most 
of them belonging to Capt. Steelman's 
comj)auy, from Atlantic county, who 
were doing coast guard duty. A Tory 
paper, published at the time, gives the 
following version of the affair : 

" A cutter from Ostend, botmd to St, 
Thomas, ran aground on Barnegat shoals, 
October 25, 1782. The American galley 
Alligator, Captain Steelman, from Cape 



00 



Ma J, with tweuty-five nu-n, pluudorecl 
her ou Saturday night List, of a quautity 
of Hyson tea and other vahiable articles, 
but was attacked the same night by Cap- 
tain John Bacon with nine men, in a 
small boat called the Hero's Eeveuge, 
Avho killed Steelman and wounded the 
first lieutenant, and all the party excejjt ! 
four or five were either killed or wound- 
ed." 

In this account the number of Steel- 
man's men is doubtless overestimated, 
and Bacon's underestimated. When the 
cutter was stranded ou the shoals, word 
was sent across the bay to the main land 
for help to aid in saviug the cargo, in 
consequence of which, a party of men, 
among whom were Joseph Soper and two 
of his sons, Reuben and Hezekiah, pro- 
ceeded to the beach to render what as- 
sistance they could. The party worked 
hard while thei-e to get the goods through 
the surf ou the beach. At night they 
were tired and wet, and built fires, around 
which they meant to sleep. It is sup- 
posed that as soon as they Avere all asleep 
that Bill Wilson, who was there, arose uji , 
^h'h'> S^^ ^ '^^'ii^ and rowed off to the 
niaijiland to inform Bacon how matters 
stood. 

Bac^ju and his party huriitd over to 
the beach, and arrived just beforii' day- 
break at the spot where the men were 
sleeping, and immediately commenced 
firing on them as they lay on the ground. 
(-)f (!Ourse the xVmericans were taken l)y 
Buqjrise, and had no opportunity of de- 
fending themselv( s. Among those shot, 
was Keuben Soper, one of the sons of 
Joseph Soper. He was mortally wound- 
ed, and died during the day, in the boat, 
on his passage towards home in c.u-e of 
his father and brother. Fortunately for 
his father ami others of the jjarty from 
the mainland, they had risen before 
Bacon's arrival and gone some distance 
down the beach in search of water, and 
they remained at a safe distance, being 
unarmed, until Bacon's departure, which 
»nist have been very early iu the day. 



Bacon's chief object appears to have 
been the surprise and destruction of 
Captain Steelman's command. He knew 
it would not have been safe for him to 
remain many hours on the beach, as the 
miHtia from the main were on the look- 
out for him. 

Reuben Soper, who was killed, was a 
mari-ied man with two or three children ; 
his widow removed to the vicinity of 
Bass River, in Burlington, w^here his de- 
scendants now live. At the time of his 
death he was a member of Caj^taia Ran- 
dolph's Staflbrd militia company. 

Some interesting relics of the Sopc r 
family are still preserved by descendants, 
as will be seen by the following extract 
of a letter from AVm. P. Haywood, Esq., 
of West Creek, dated Oct. 1866 : 

" The wife of Geo. W. Lippencott, of 
Tuckerton, N. J., is a grand-daughter of 
Reuben Soper, who was murdered by 
the Refugees on Long Beach. While at 
her residence I was sliowu a quaint look- 
ing pocketbock, full of ohl Avritiugs that 
belonged to her grandfather, which has 
sacredly been kept until the present 
time. Among other v.ritings of interest 
was a marriage certificate which I give 
II rliatiiii ct lilci'dliiii : 

" New Jersey, } 
Monmouth Co. s 

These Ijjies sertii'y that Reubin Soper 
was Maryed to Marv Mathis on the 22nd 
day of May, 1779, By me. 

Jess:: Halsey. justice. 
Witness present, 
Richard Brown, Letislie Brown."' 

Mr?. Li])pencott's father, Reub^ni 
Soper, (2dj had seven children ; five are 
still living. A son, Reuben, was wound- 
ed in the late Rebellion, and «lied three 
weeks after in Saterlee hospital. 

Among other wi'itings in the pocket- 
book was an order from Reuben's son 
Joseph, requesting the return of five 
crowns in money, deposited witlj some 
one for safe keeping, while his fath- 
er was on board the cutter. This 
order was written shortly after his 
father's murder. One of the papers Avas 



Gl 



personally iuterostiug to me, us it liud, 
:imong other uames, that of my fatlier, 
Joel Haywood, as a pupil to Eeubeu 
Soper, Jr. This paper was Jateil Mana- 
hawken, 180(S. Most of the scholars, as 
well as the teacher, have passed to a 
higher school." This letter of Mr. Hay- 
wood's gives auother instance of heredi- 
tary patriotism — a descendant of Reuben 
Soper, and named for him, having also 
lost his life in his country's service. 

bacon's i.ast ketreat. 

The next aifair in which Bacon was 
concerned, was the skirmish at Cedar 
Creek, Dec. 27, 1782, which has been 
described in speaking of the Refugees at 
Forked River and Cedar Creek. This 
afi'iir seemed to have caused the Refu- 
gees to scatter, most of them probably 
getting to New York and from thence to 
Nova Scotia or Bermuda ; but with un- 
accountable foolhardiness, Bacon re- 
mained behind until the following spring. 
About the last of March, 1783, a vessel 
was wrecked on Long Beach, oj^posite 
West Creek, and to the surj^rise of those 
on the beach, Bacon made his ajipear- 
anee among them, and endeavored to 
make himself conspicuous by giving or- 
ders to the wreckers, some of whom, 
knoAving him, determined to take him 
prisoner that night. Their jjlan was 
heard by a girl Csubsequently the mother 
"f the late Sylvester Birdsall, of Barne- 
gat) who informed Bacon, and he quietly 
slipped away, got over to the mainland, 
and proceeded to the house of Wm. Rose, 
situated just over the Ocean county lino 
in Burlington, about a half mile below 
West Creek, Rose's wife, generally 
called "Mother " Rose, was known to be 
friendly to Bacon, and the very night he 
arrived there he was surprised and kUled 
by a party under Captain John Stewart, 
guided liy a man named Thomas Smith, 
who had vrorked in the neighborhood, 
and was intimately acquainted with the 
locality. The most reliable account of 
Bacon's death is found in a paper fur- 



'nished to the New Jersey Historical So- 
'ciety, in 184G, by ex-Governor George 
r. Fort, of New Egypt, the substance of 
which we give below. Gov. Fort de- 
rived his information from a son of Capt. 
Stewart. 

DEATH Ol" BACON". 

" John Bacon was a rotorious Refu- 
gee who had committed many depreda- 
tions along the shores of Monmouth 
( which then included Ocean) and Bur- 
lington counties. After ha-ving been a 
terror to the people of this section for 
some time, John Stewart (afterwards 
Capt. Stewart) of Arneytown, resolved, 
if possible, to take him. There liad been 
a reward of £50 sterling offered by the 
Governor and Council for his capture, 
dead or alive. A short time previous to 
this, in an engagement at Cedar Creek, 
Bacon and his company had discomfited 
a considerable body of State troops, 
kUliug William Cook, Jr. , a brother of 
Joel Cook, of Cook's Mills, now Cooks- 
town in Burlington county, which ex- 
cited much alarm and exasperated the 
whole country. On the occasion of his 
arrest, Captain Stewart took witli him 
Joel Cook, John Brown, Thomas Smith, 
John Jones, and auother person whose 
name is not recollected, and started in 
pursuit, well armed. They traversed 
the shore, and found Bacon separated 
from his men at the public house or cab- 
in of William Rose, between West Creek 
and Clamtown (now Tnckerton), in Bur- 
lington county. The night was verj- 
dark, and Smith l)eing m advance of tlie 
party, approached the house, and dis- 
covered through the window a man sitting 
vdth a gun between his knees. He im- 
mediately informed his companions. On 
arriving at the house, Captain Stewart 
opened the door, and presenting his 
musket demanded a surrender. Tlie 
fellow sprang to his feet, and cocking his 
gun was in the act of bringing it round 
to the breast of Stewart, when the lat- 
ter, instead of discharging his piece. 



62 



closed iu with Jiim aucl succeeded after a 
scuffle iu briugiug liim to the iloor. He 
theu avowed liimself to be Johu Bacou, 
aud asked for quarter, which was at once 
readily granted to him hj Stewart. They 
arose from the floor, aud Stewart (still 
retaiuiug his hold on Bacou) called to 
Cook, who, when he discovered the sup- 
posed murderer of his brother, became 
exasperated, and stepping back gave 
Bacou a bayonet thrust unknown to 
Stewart or his companions. Bacon ap- 
peared fidnt and fell. After a short time 
he recovered, aud attempted to escape 
by the back door. Stewart pushed a 
table agaiust it. Bacon hurled it away, 
struck Stewart to the floor, o]>ened the 
door, and again attemiJted to pass out ; 
but was shot by Stewart (who had re- 
gained his feet) while in the act. The 
ball passed through his body, through a 
pai't of the Viuilding, and struck the 
breast of Cook, who had taken a position 
at the back door to prevent egress. 
Cook's companions were ignoi-aut of the 
fact that he had given Bacou the bayonet 
wound, and would scarcely credit him 
when he so informed them on their way 
home. They examined Bacon's body at 
Mount Miseiy, aud the wounds made by 
Vioth bayonet and ball were obvious. 
They brought his dead Ijody to Jacobs- 
town, Burlington county, and were in 
the act of burying it in the public high- 
way, near the village, iu the i)resence of 
many citizens Avho had collected (m the 
occasion, when Bacon's brother ajjpeared 
among them and after much entreaty 
succeeded in obtaining his body for ])ri- 
vate burial." 

This affair took i)lace on Thui'sday 
evening, April .'Jd, 178:?. 

As there have l)een some disputes in 
traditionary accounts as to the exact 
manner of Bacon's death, we have been 
at much trouble to get at tlu^ truth. 
Some old residents of tlie vicinity wliere 
he was killed are positive that ho was 
shot down after asking for quarter. They 
sny that Captain Stewart's party sudden- 



ly opened the door and pointed a musket 
at Bacon, wht) instantly rose up and held 
I a table before him and begged for quar- 
, ter, but the musket was fired, and the 
ball went through the table and killed 
him. But after much patient investiga- 
tion and inquiry we believe this story is 
untrue, and that the correct version is 
about as Governor Fort has given it. 
, We are soriy to add, however, that the 
' party treated the body with unjustifia- 
ble indignity. As soon as Bacon was 
killed his body was thrown into a wagon 
with his head over the tail-board, and 
the party drove for home that same 
night. Young Cook seemed qiiite "car- 
ried away " to think he had avenged his 
brother's death, and at the inns at Man- 
ahawkeu and Mount Misery, insisted on 
treating Bacou with liquor, fastening 
oi^en his mouth while he poured liquor 
into it. The descendants of British 
sympathisers have charged the party 
with much cruelty, but the only founda- 
tions are the indignities offered to his 
body ; and even there we can find some 
Ijalliation for it, when we consider tlie 
excitement, bordering on frenzy, of young 
Cook. 

In addition to what has been quoted 
from Governor Fort regarding Bacou's 
burial, we have heard it stated that in 
accordance witli an ancient cust<mi with 
great criminals, the intention was to bury 
Bacon at the forks of some public roads, 
with a stake driven through the body ; 
bnt his brother's arrival cbauged their 
plan. This brother of Bacon's was gen- 
erally respected where he was known. 

The writer of this has been informed 
that before the war Bacon's home was in 
Burlington county, though he occasion- 
ally worked in Staflbi'd township, in 
Ocean coimty, and that Bacon left a wife 
aud two sons, named Jesse and Edward, 
at Pemberton ; that his widow mamed 
a man named Alorris, and the two sous 
emigrated West, and became respectable 
aud useful citizens. 

The late Samuel Cox, an aged, es- 



63 



teemed citizeu of Eaiiiegat, whoBe death 
was noticed in the Courier of Dec. 27, 
1877, was a native of Pemberton, and 
knew Mrs. Bacon aft«r she married 
Morris, and bore testimony to the respect 
in which she was held by tliose who 
knew her. 

After Bacon's death his widow came to 
Forked Biver, and Mrs. Hnldah Wil- 
liams, then quite young, went with her 
to Bacon's principal cave near Frank's 
crossway, where they found a sword and 
other articles belonging to the Refugee. 
The last attempt of which the writer has 
heard to find the location of the caves of 
Davenport, Bacon and other Befugees 
was by the late Charles I. Errickson, 
who some thirty years ago started from 
Toms Biver with an old woods guide, 
and was successful in finding vestiges of 
them on branches of Toms Biver and 
other streams. 



THE POTTER CHURCH AT GOODLUCK. 

THE EIRTHPIiACE OF UN ITERSAI.ISM 
IX AMERICA. 

A singular and interesting chapter in 
the religious histoi*y of our State, relates 
to the historical old Goodluck Church, 
formerly known as the "Potter Church," 
built from 1760 to 1765, by the noted 
Thomas Potter, a benevolent citizen of 
the village, who then lived east of the 
church on the farm since owned by the 
late Capt. Benjamin Stout. Before 
))uilding the church. Potter had been in 
the habit of opening his house to travel- 
ing preachers of all persuasions ; and, 
after a while, to accommodate them, he 
erected t'ais edifice free for all denomin- 
ations, and it was used by Presbyterians, 
Quakers, Baptists and Methodists, and 
in it was ijreached the first Universalist 
sermon ever delivered in America. 

In giving the history of this church, 
it is proper fii-s:t to quote the account 
found in the journal of the celebrated 
Rev. John Murray, the founder of the 
Universalist Society in America, as this 



account has made the Potter Church so 
noted in the religious history of our 
country. 

The Rev. John Murray, the first 
preacher of Universalism in America, 
sailed from England for New York, July 
21st, 1770. When he left England, 
though a warm advocate of the principles 
of that society, yet he was not a regular 
preacher, and had but little idea then of 
becoming one in America. During a thick 
fog in the early part of the month of 
September, the brig "Hand in Hand," 
on which he was acting as supercargo, 
striTck on the outer bar of old Cranberry 
Inlet (now closed, ) nearly opposite Toms 
River. She soon passed over, and was 
held by her anchors from going ashore. 
Here she remained several days before 
she could be got off". While lying here 
the provisions of the brig were exhausted, 
and after locking up the vessel, all hands 
proceeded in a boat across the bay in 
search of sustenance. Being unacquaint- 
ed with the main, they spent the greater 
Ijart of the day before they could effect 
their purpose, after which, it being late, 
they proceeded to a tavern to stay all 
night. Mr. Murray's mind appears to 
to have been much exercised by eventful 
scenes in his previous life, and to have 
longed to get somewhere where the busy 
ares of th3 w orld would not disturb his 
meditations ; and hence as soon as the 
boatmen arrived at the tavcni he left 
them for a solitary walk through the dai-k 
pine grove. "Here," said he, "I was 
as miich alone as I could wish, and my 
heart exclaimed, ' Oh, that I had in this 
wilderness the lodging of a poor way- 
faring man ; some cave, some grot, some 
place where I might finish my days in 
calm repose.' " As he thus passed along 
musing, he unexijectedly reached a small 
log house where he saw a girl cleaning 
fish ; he requested her to sell him some. 
She had none to spare, but told him he 
could get all he wanted at the next house, 
"What, this ?" said Mr. Murray point- 
ing to one he could just discern through 



64 



the woods. The girl told him no, that 
was a meeting lionse. He was much 
surprised to find a meeting house there 
in the woods. He was directed to i)ass 
t)U by the meeting house, and at the 
next house he would fiud fish. He went 
on as directed, and came to the door, 
near which was a large jiile of fish of va- 
rif)ns sorts, and standing by was a tall 
man, rough in appearance and evidently 
advanced in years. " I'ray, sir," said 
^[r. Murray, "will you have the good- 
ness to sell me one of those fish '?'' "No, 
sir," was the abrupt reply of the old 
gentleman. "That is strange," replied 
Mr. Murray, "when you have so many 
fish, to refuse me a single one!" "I 
did not refuse you a fish, sir ; you are 
weh^ome to as many as you please, but I 
do not sell the article ; I do not sell the 
fish, sir, I have them for taking up, and 
you may obtain them the same way." 
Mr. Muriay thanked him ; tlie old man 
then inquired what he wanted of them, 
and was told he wished them lor supper 
for the mariners at the tavern. The old 
man oftered to send the fish over for him 
and urged Mr, Murray to tarry with him 
that night. Mr. Murray consented to 
return after visiting tlie crev/ at the pub- 
lie house. Tlie i>ld gentleman was 
Thomas Potter. Mr, IMurray says he 
was astonished to see so much genume 
politeness and hospitality under so rough 
an exterior, but his astonishment was 
greatly increased on his return. The 
old man's room was prepared, his fire 
blight and his heart opened. " Come," 
said he, "ray friend, I am glad you have 
returned, I have longed to see you, I 
liave been expecting you a long time." 
Expecting him ! Mr. Murray was 
amazed, and asked what he meant. Mr. 
Potter replied, "I must answer in my 
own way. I am a poor ignorant man, 
and know neither how to read or write ; 
1 was born in these woods, and worked 
on these grounds until I became a man, 
when I went on coasting voyages from 
here to New York ; I was then about get- 



ting married, but in going to New York 
once I was pressed on board of a man-of- 
war and taken in Admiral Warren's ship 
to Cape Bi'eton. I never di'ank any rum, 
so they saved my allowance ; bnti would 

[ not bear an affront, so if any of the of- 

' ficers struck me I struck them again, 

I but the admiral took my part and called 
me his ucw-liglit man. ^\^len I reached 
Louisburg, I ran away, and traveled 
barefooted through the country and al- 
most naked to New York, where I was 

i known and supplied with clothes and 

, money, and soon returned home, where 
I found my gu'l married. This rendered 
me unhappy, but I recovered my tran- 
quility and married her sister. I settled 
down to work, and got forward quite fast, 

I constructed a saw-mill, and possessed my- 
self of this farm and five hundred acres 

1 of adjoining land, I entered into navi- 
gation, own a sloop, and have now got 
together a fair estate, I am, as I said, 
unable to read or write, but I am capable 
of reflection ; the sacred Scriptures have 

! been often read to me, from which I 

I gathered that there is a great and good 
Being who has preserved and protected 
me through innumerable dangers, and to 
whom we are all indebted for all we en- 
joy ; and as He has given me a house of 
my own I conceived I could do no less 
thau to open it to the stranger, let him 

I be who he would ; and especially if a 
traveling minister passed this way he al- 
ways received an invitation to put up at 
my house and hold his meetings here. 

"1 continued in this i)ractice for more 
tliau seven years, and illiterate as I was 
I used to converse with them, and was 

■ fond of asking them questions. They 
pronounced me an odd mortal, declaring 

I themselves at a loss what to make of mo; 
while I continued to afiirm that I had 
but one hope ; I believed that Jesus suf- 
fered deatli for my transgressions, and 
this alone was sufiicient for me. At length 

i my wife grew wearj' of having meetings 
held in her house, and I determined to 
build a house for the worship of God. I 



65 



had uo cbildreu, and I kuew that I was 
beholden to Almighty God for everything 
which I possessed, and it seemed right I 
shoukl appropriate a part of what He be- 
stowed for His service. My neighbors 
offered their assistance, but *No,' said 
I, ' God has given me enough to do this 
work without your aid, and as he has 
put it in my heart to do so, so I will do.' 
' And who, ' it was asked, * will be your 
preacher ?' I answered, ' God will send 
me a preacher, and of a very different 
stamp from those who have heretofore 
preached in my house. The preachers 
we have heard are perpetually contra- 
dicting themselves ; but that God who 
has put it into my heart to build this 
house, will send one who shall deliver 
unto me His own truth — who shall speak 
of Jesus Christ and his salvation. ' When 
the house was finished, I received an ap- 
plication from the Baptists, and I told 
them if they could make it appe?.r that 
God Almighty was a Baptist I should 
give them the building at once. The 
Quakers and Presbyterians received sim- 
ilar answers. 'No,' said I, 'as I firmly 
believe that all mankind are equally dear 
to Almighty God, they shall all be equal- 
ly welcome to preach in this house which 
I have built. My neighbors assured me 
that I should never see a preacher whose 
sentiments corresponded with my own, 
but I uniformly replied I assuredly 
would. I engaged for the first year with 
a man whom I greatly disliked ; we part- 
ed, and for some years we have had uo 
stated minister. My friends often asked 
me, ' Where is the preacher of whom you 
spoke ?' and my constant reply was, ' He 
will by and by make his appearance. ' 
The moment, sir, I saw your vessel on 
shore it seemed as if a voice had audibly 
sounded in my ears, ' There, Potter, in 
that vessel, cast away on that shore, is the 
preacher you have so long been expect- 
ing. ' I heard the voice and believed the 
report, and whea you came up to my 
door and asked for the fish, the same 
voice seemed to repeat, ' Potter, this is 



the man — this is the person whom I hnvO 
sent to preach in your house ! ' " 

As may be supposed, Murray was im- 
measureably astonished at Mr. Potter's 
narrative, but yet had not the least idea 
that his wish could ever be realized. He 
asked him what he could discern in his 
appearance to lead him to mistake him 
for a preacher. "What," said Potter, 
" could I discern when you were on the 
vessel that could induce this conclusion ? 
Sir, it is not what I saw or see but what 
I feel which produces in my mind full 
conviction." Murray replied that he 
must be deceived as he should never 
preach in that place or anywhere else. 

"Have you never preached? Can 
you say you never preached ?" 

' ' I cannot, but I never intend to preach 
again. " 

" Has not God lifted up the light of 
I His countenance upon you ? Has He not 
I shown you the truth ?" 
" I trust he has. " 

"Then how dare you hide this truth ? 
Do men light a candle and put it under a 
bushel ? If God has shown you His 
salvation, why should you not show it to 
your fellow men. But I know that you 
will — I am sure that God Almighty has 
sent you to us for this purpose. I am 
not deceived, sir, I am sure I am not de- 
ceived." 

Murray was much agitated when this 
man thus spoke on, and began to wonder 
whether or no, God, who ordains all 
things, had not ordained that this should 
come to pass ; but his heart trembled, he 
tells lis, at the idea. He says he en- 
deavored to quiet his own fears and to 
silence the waim-hearted old man by in- 
forming him he was supercargo of the 
vessel, that property to a large amount 
was entrusted to his care, and that the 
moment the wind changed he was under 
solemn obUgatious to depart. 

" The wind will never change," said 
Potter, " imtil you have delivered to us, 
in that meeting house, a message from 
God." 



t)() 



Murray still resolutely determiued 
never to enter any pulpit as a preacher ; 
but being mucli agitated in mind, asked 
to be shown to bed after he had prayed 
with the family. When they parted for 
the night his kind host solemnly request- 
ed him to thiuk of what he said. 

" Alas," says Murray, "he need not 
have made this request ; it was impossi- 
ble to banish it from my mind ; when I 
entered my chamber and shut the door, 
I burst into tears ; I felt as if the hand j 
of God was in the events which had j 
brought me to this place, and I prayed 
most ardently that God would assist and 
direct me by His counsel." 

So much exercised was he in mind that 
he spent the greater jiart of the night in 
praying and weeping, " dreading more 
than death " he says, " supposing death 
to be an object of di-ead, the idea of en- 
gaging as a public character. " 

In his writings he gives the substance 
of his meditations on that memorable ' 
night. In the morning his good friend 
renewed his solicitations: "Will you 
speak to me and my neighbors of the 
things which belong to our peace ?" 

Murray, seeing only thick woods, the 
tavern across the field excepted, request- 
ed to know what he meant by neighbors. 

" O, sir, we assemble a large congre- 
gation whenever the meeting house is 
opened ; indeed when my father first set- 
tled here, he was obliged to go twenty 
miles to grind a bushel of corn, but now 
there are more than seven hundred in- 
habitants within that distance. " 

Murray still could not be prevailed 
upon to yield, but Potter insisted and 
seemed positive the wind would not 
change until he had spoken to the peo- 
ple. Thiis urged, Murray began to 
waver, and at length he tells us he " im- 
plored God, who sometimes condescends 
to indulge individuals with tokens of His 
approbation, graciously to indulge me 
upon this important occasion, and that 
if it was His will that I should obtain 
my soul's desire by passing through life 



as a private individual ; if such was uot 
His will, that I should engage tis a 
preacher in the ministry. He would 
vouchsafe to grant me such a wind as 
might bear me from this shore before 
another Sabbath. I determined to take 
the changing of the wind for an answer. 
But the wind changed not, and towards 
the close of the Saturday afternoon he 
reluctantly gave his consent to preach- 
ing the next day, and Mr. Potter imme- 
diately despatched his men on horseback 
to notify the neighbors, which they were 
to continue to do until ten o'clock in the 
evening. Mr. Murray appears to have 
had but little rest that night, thinking 
over the responsibilities of the avocation 
he was so unexpectedly aboiit to be en- 
gaged iu, and of what he should say and 
how he should address the people ; but the 
passage " Take no thought what ye shall 
say," etc., appears to have greatly re- 
lieved his mind. Sunday morning they 
proceeded to the church, — Potter very 
joj'ful and Murray uneasy, distrusting 
his own abilities to realize the singularly 
high formed expectations of his kind 
host. The church at that day is de- 
scribed as being "neat and convenient, 
with a pulpit rather after the Quaker 
mode, with but one new pew and that a 
large square one just below the pulj^it iu 
which sat the venerable Potter and his 
family and visiting strangers ; the rest of 
the seats wea-e constructed with backs, 
roomy and even elegant." As Murray 
was preaching, Potter looked up into the 
pulpit, his eyes sparkling with pleasure, 
seemingly completely happy at the ful- 
fillment of what he firmly believed a 
promise long deferred. We have no re- 
cord of the substance of this, the first 
Universalist sermon in America, nor of 
its impression upon any of the hearers 
save one — that one, Thomas Potter him- 
self, api^ears t') have had all his expecta- 
tions realized, and upon their return 
home overwhelmed Murray with his 
frank warm-hearted congratulations ; and 
soon visitors poured in. Said Potter to 



67 



them, " This is the happiest Jay of my 
life ; there, neighbors, there is the min- 
ister God has sent me. " Murray was so 
overcome by the old man's enthusiastic 
demonstrations that he retired to his 
room, and tells us he "jsrostrated him- 
self at the throne of grace, and besought 
God to take him and do with him what 
he pleased." 

After a while he returned to the com- 
pany and found the boatmen with them, 
who wished him to go on board imme- 
diately, as the wind was fair. So he was 
compelled to leave. His ho.st was loth 
to part with him, and exacted a promise 
from him to return, which he soon did, 
and preached often in the Potter church, 
and other villages. The first place he 
visited during this stay was Toms Eiver. 
He relates tAvo or three interesting scenes 
occurring here, in explaining to individ- 
uals his peculiar religious view?. The 
next village he visited was probably 
Mauahawken, for though he does not 
mention the name, yet he speaks of a 
Baptist preacher and church, of a family 
of Pangburns, Szc, and there was then a 
Baptist church at that village, and the 
Pangburn family were then prominent 
members of it. Lines Pangburn was a 
delegate from the Manahawken Baptist 
church to the Baptist General Associa- 
tion, in 1771. A man named Lines 
Pangburn was afterwards killed by Eef- 
ugees at Manahawken — probably the 
same one. 

For many years, and though travelling 
in various parts of the United States, 
yet as long as Thomas Potter lived, his 
house at Goodluck was considered by 
Murray as his home. At length, after 
being away some time upon a religious 
mission, he returned and found that his 
good old friend was dead ; his letter de- 
scribing this visit, recounting some of 
the scenes of Potter's life, his traits of 
character, his own feelings, etc. , is full 
of tender feeling and sincere grief, ad- 
mirably expressed, and the substance of 
the discourse which he preached on that 



occasion, in that memorable old chapel, 
is a touching specimen of Murray's elo- 
quence, A brief extract will serve to 
give an idea of Murray's style and of his 
feelings towards his departed friend. 
His text was, " For ye are bought with a 
price ; therefore glorify God in your 
body and in 3'our spirit, which are God's. " 
Towards the close of his discourse, point- 
ing towards Potter's grave, which could 
be seen from where he stood, he says : 

"Through yonder open casement I 
behold the grave of a man, the recollec- 
tion of whom swells my heart with grat- 
itude, and fills my eyes with tears. There 
sleeps the sacred dust of him who well 
understood the advantages resulting 
from the public worship of God. There 
rests the ashes of him who glorified God 
in his body and in his spirit, which he 
well knew were the Lord's. He believed 
he was bought with a price, and there- 
fore he declared that all that he had and 
all that he was were righteously due to 
God, who created and purchased him 
with a price, all price beyond. There 
rests the precious dust of the friend of 
strangers, whose hospitable doors were 
ever open to the destitute, and him who 
had none to relieve his sufferings ; his 
dust reposes close to this edifice, itself a 
monument of his piety. Dear, faithful 
man, when last I stood in this place, he 
was present among the assembly of the 
l^eople. I marked his glistening eye ; it 
always glistened at the emphatic n':ime of 
Jesus. Even now, I behold in imagina- 
tion, his venerable countenance, benig- 
nity is seated on his brow, his mind ap- 
parently open and confiding, tranquility 
reposeth upon his features, every vaiy- 
ing emotion evincing faith in that endur- 
ing peace which passeth understanding. 
Let us, my friends, imitate his philan- 
thropy, his charity, his piety. I may 
never meet you again until we unite to 
swell the loud hallelujahs before the 
throne of God. But to hear of your 
faith, of your perseverance, of your 
works of charity, of your brotherly love, 



08 



will lieighteu my eujoymeuts auJ soothe 
my sorrows, even to the ^erge of mortal , 
pilgrimage." i 

Potter, in his will, left the church to j 
Murray. The clause in his will reads, ' 
as given in Murray's Life, as follows : 

" The house M-as built by me for the 
worship of God ; it is my will that God 
be worshipped in it still, and for this 
purpose I will that my ever dear friend, | 
John Murray, preacher of the gospel, I 
possess it, having the sole direction, dis- 
posal and management of said house and 
one acre of land ui^on which it stands 
and by which it is surrounded." 

It was Mr. Murray's desire as well as 
Mr. Potter's, that the church should be 
kept free to all denominations for the 
worship of God. In his sermon just 
quoted he says : "Thomas Potter built 
the house that God might be worshipped 
without interruption, that he might be 
worshipped by all whom he should ; 
vouchsafe to send. This elegant house, 
my friends, the first friends who hailed 
my arrival in this country, this house 
with its adjoining grove, is yours. The 
faithful founder bequeathed it to me 
that none of you may be deprived of it," , 
and in Mr. Murray's will he expressly ' 
left a free to all drnoininnlions. 

This church property is now under 
the control of the Methodists ; the Uni- 
versalists, although manifesting little or 
no disposition to dispute their claims, 
yet contend that its sale was through 
' ' the mismanagement of the executor to 
satisfy illegal claims," &c. The Uuiver- 
falists held an interesting conference at 
the church. May 15th, 1833, which was 
atteuded by many of their leading 
preachers and laymen, and while there 
erected the tombstone over Potter's 
grave, which yet marks the spot where 
he was buried. The ceremony was (juitc 
impressive ; Rev. A. C. Thomas deliver- 
ing an appropriate discoiu'se, after which 
a hynm composed for the occasion was 
sung among other exercises. This con- 
ference, while there, adopted a circular 



letter to their churches generally, m 
which, among other things, they say : 
"We have been on a mission of love and 
gratitude, have assembled in the ancient 
house of our Fathers, have convened 
around the grave of the venerated Potter, 
and dropped a tear of grateful remem- 
brance on the spot where repose his 
ashes," etc., and then earnestly invite 
their brethren from the East and from 
the West, from the North and from the 
South to unite with them "in an annual 
pilgrimage to this sacred spot — this Holy 
Land — in order that we may all receive a 
little of the Godlike spirit of benevolence 
which warmed the soul of that man of 
God, and friend of man, Thomas Potter. " 



THE CENTENARY OF UNIVERSALISM. 
CELEBRATION AT GOODLUCK. • 

Kev. Abel 0. Thomas, a noted and an 
aged minister of this society, furnished 
the following account of the centennial 
celebration in 1870, at Goodluck, for the 
New Jersey Courier, shortly after it 
occurred : 

Mr. Editor : — In behalf of many 
Universalists, I thank you for your late 
fair and liberal article respecting Thomas 
Potter, of Goodluck, and the Rev. John 
Murray. We exp:ct no man to endorse 
the statements of the latter, as recorded 
in his autobiography ; nor the tradition- 
al accounts of his remarkable interview 
with the former ; but we are happy to 
know that the time has arrived for a 
truly catholic representation of our his- 
tory as a people, as illustrated recently 
in your columns. In one item you were 
misinformed. We had no expectations 
of large " delegations " of our members 
at the late celebration in Goodluck. 
Our centenary had been attended the 
wc'ek previously in Gloucester, Mass., 
the number present being variously es- 
timated from ten to fifteen thousand, in- 
cluding two hundred and fifty out of six 
i hundred and fifty clergy meu. It was 
the date of the stated annual session of 



69 



our general couveiition, aud was ap- 
pointed to be held in Gloucester under 
the following circumstances. In 1770 a 
Mr. Gregory, j^resumably a mariner, 
brought from Loudon to Gloucester a 
book written by Rev. James Relly, in 
advocacy and defence of the doctrine of 
the restoration of all souls, in the Lord's 
own time and way. This book was 
passed from hand to hand, and made 
happy converts of a number of influen- 
tial religious people. 

It would require no great stretch of 
imagination to date the landing of that 
book on the 28th of September, of the 
year named, and on that day Eev. John 
Murray, a disciple of Relly (in the sense 
that Relly was a disciple of Christ) land- 
ed on the coast of New Jersey, as nar- 
rated in your recent article. 

After an extended missionarj service 
in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New 
England, Murray was for the second time 
in Boston, in 1774. Having heard of 
him as a disciple of Relly, the Glouces- 
ter people sent for him. He accepted 
the invitation, the visit being a meeting 
of the lines of providence in the case. 
Here he afterwards settled as a pastor, 
his meetings for worship being held in 
private houses until 1788. In that year 
a meeting house was erected, and a more 
pretentious one in 1805. The old build- 
ing was then sold and devoted to secular 
uses in the village. Ten years later it 
was removed to a fann about two miles 
distant, aud since that time has been 
used as a hay barn. In 1804 Murray re- 
moved to Boston, and his successor in 
Gloucester, Rev. Thomas Jones, for 
forty-two years was minister of the 
parish, dying in 1846. During the ses- 
sion of our general convention last week, 
we had a memorial service at the old 
church barn, and also at the grave of 
Father Jones, the latter being marked 
by aliuge granite obelisk in the cemetery. 
The late great convocation in Gloucester 
antedated the landing of Murray by the 
space of one week, and a few of us de- 



termined to spend the exact Centenary 
at Goodluck. This was what took us 
there ; precisely one hundred years from 
the landing of Murray, we held a memo- 
rial service in the old cliurch, and also 
at the grave of Thomas Potter — the order 
being substantially the same that we had 
used in Gloucester. The only change 
was this : '* We strew this evergreen and 
these flowers in memory aud honor of 
Thomas Potter, the friend and patron of 
John Murray, our early preacher of Uni- 
versalism in America. " 

After a brief address by the Rev. Abel 
C. Thomas, who conducted the services, 
the following hymn was sung, and the 
service proceeded in the order given be- 
low. 

Whilst far aud wide thy scattered sheep, 
Great Shepherd, in the desert stray. 

Tlij' love by some is thought to sleep, 
Unheedful of the wanderer's way. 

But truth declares they shall be found 
Wherever now thej' darkling roam ; 

Thy lore shall through the desert sound, 
x\nd summon every wanderer home. 

Upon the darkened waves of sin. 
Instead of terror's sword and flame, 

Shall love descend — for love can win 
Far more than terror can reclaim. 

And they shall turn their wandering feet, 
By grace redeemed, b}' love controlled 

Till all at last in Eden meet. 
One happy, universal fold. 

All the ends of the world shall remember 
and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds 
of the nations shall worship before thee ; 

For the kingdom is the LorrCst, and He is lli,e 
Governor among nalionif. 

Send forth thy light and thy truth, O Lord ; 
let them lead us and bring us to thy holy hill, 
and to thj' tabernacles, even unto God our ex- 
ceeding joy. 

Thou wilt shoui us the path of life : in th;/ 
prese7ice is fullness of joy ; at thy right hand 
there are pleasures forevermore. 

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of 
Hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth 
for the courts of the Lord ; 

]\ly heart and my flesh crieth out for the liv- 
ing God, 

As the sparrow findetli a house, aud the 
wallow a nest for herself where she may hides 



70 



lier youufi', so let im- dwell ai thiue altars. O 
Lord of Hosts, iiiy Kiuo; and my God. 

Jllesscd arc they who dwell in Ihi/houfie ; they 
null be still praising thee. 

A day in thy courts is better than a thousand 
elsewhere; I had rather be a doorkeeper in 
tlie bouse of my God than to dwell in the tents 
of ungodliness. 

Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that 
trusteth in thee. 

Thy perfection is hij^her than heaven ; what 
can we do to celebrate thy praise .' It is deeper 
than hell; what can we know of thy fathom- 
less love ? 

We 2^raise thee, God ; ice aeknoirled/je thee 
to be the Lord. 

All the earth doth worship thee, tlie Father 
everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, the 
heavens and all the powers therein. To thee, 
cherubim and seraphim continually do cry : 

Uohj, holy, holy Lord of Sabaoth! heaven 
and earth are fall of the nrajestv of thy glory I 

The illustrious procession of the patriarchs 
praise thee ; 

The jubilant assembly of tlie prophets praise 
thee ; 

The glorious company of the apostles praise 
thee : 

The noble army of martyrs praise thee : 

The Holy Church throughout all the world 
(loth acknowledge thee, the Father of an in- 
finite majesty ; 

Also thy ivell-beloved and consecrated Son. and 
the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. 

O God, the King of Glory, help thy servants 
whom thou hast redeemed by the hand of thy 
niiglity power; 

Make thein to be nunibrreil icith tlt.y saints in 
glory everlasting. 

O Lord, save thy jyeople and bless thy heri- 
tage : govern and lift tbem up forever. 

Day by day we manifest thee : and loe toor- 
ship thy name ever .- world without end. 

Vouchsafe. Lord, to keep us evermore 
without sin. All our trust is in thee. 

Lord, in thee I hare trusted .- Let me never 
be confounded. 

It is iiotliing wonderful tliat the occa- 
non slionld have special attractions for 
)iir. After the final visit of Murray to 
(Toodluck fit was I believe in 1790) no 
Universalifit clergyman had been there 
until my first visit in 1832 — being ac- 
companied by Eichard Norton and James 
Ely, of Hightstowu. I was again there, 
accompauied by several friends, iu May 



1833 — at which date we erected a 
plain headstone at the grave of Potter, 
and engaged Benjamin Stout (then owner 
of the Potter farm) to erect a paling 
fence. This was removed a few weeks 
since, and a beautiful and substantial 
iron one substituted, by an organization 
known as the Goodluck Association. 
This Association also recently bought an 
acre of wooded ground adjacent to the 
meeting house as a sort of perpetual 
memorial. 

We have no present thought of estab- 
lishing a worshiping assembly iu that 
vicinity, and the courteous treatment re- 
ceived from all the neighbors, and from 
the Rev. Mr. Johnson, Methodist minis- 
ter in charge, gives us assurances that 
the door of the old meeting house will 
not be closed against us for an occasional 
service in years to come. 

Truly yours, 

Abeij C. Thomas. 

Philadelphia, Sept. 30, 1870. 



THE INDIANS. 

Of the different accounts by ancient 
writers of the manners and customs of 
the Indians of our part of the State and 
West Jersey, about the most vivid and 
readable is by the celebrated Swedish 
traveller. Professor Kalm, who visited 
our State in 1748, and from whose writ- 
ings the following extracts are taken : 

INDIAN MODE OF FELLING TKEES. 

When the Indians intended to fall a 
thick, strong tree, they could not make 
use of their clumsy stone hatchets and, 
for want of proper instruments, employ- 
ed fire. They set tire to a great quantity 
of wood at the root of the tree, and 
made it fajl by that means. But that 
the fire might not reach higher than 
they would have it, they fastened some 
rags on a pole, dipped them in water, 
and kept constantly wetting the tree a 
little above the fire. 



71 



MAKING CANOES — A SEIIIOUS TASK. 

Whenever the Indians intend to hol- 
low out a thick tree for a canoe, they lay- 
dry branches all along the stem of the 
tree as far as it must be hollowed out. 
Then they put fire to these dry branch- 
es, and as soon as they are burned out, 
they are replaced by others. While 
these branches are burning, the Indians 
are very busy with wet rags and pouring 
water upon the tree to prevent the fire 
from spreading too far in at the sides 
and at the ends. The tree being burnt 
hollow as far as they found it sufficient, 
or as far as it could without damaging 
the canoe, they took their stone hatchets, 
or sharp flints, or sharp shells, and 
scraped off" the burnt part of the Avood, 
and smoothed the boat within. By this 
means they likewise gave it what shape 
they pleased ; instead of using a hatchet 
they shaped it by fire. A good sized ca- 
noe was commonly thirty or forty feet 
long. 

PREPAKING LAND FOR CORN — RUDE 
FARMING. 

The chief use of their hatchets was to 
make fields for maize plantations ; for 
if the ground where they intended to 
make corn fields was covered with trees, 
they cut off" the bark all around the trees 
with their hatchets, especially at a time 
when they lose their sap. By that 
means, the trees became dry and could 
not partake any more nourishment, and 
the leaves could no longer obstruct the 
rays of the sun. The small trees were 
pulled out by force, and the ground 
was a little turned up with crooked or 
sharp branches. 

MAKING FLOUR — INDIANS ASTONISHED. 

They had stone jjestles about a foot 
long and as thick as a man's arm, for 
pounding maize, which was their chief 
and only corn. They pounded all their 
corn in hollow trees ; some Indians had 
only wooden pestles. They had neither 
wind mills, water mills nor hand mills 



to grind it, and did not so much ns know 
a mill before the Europeans came to 
this country. I have spoken with old 
Frenchmen in Canada, who told me the 
Indians had been astonished beyond 
expression, when the French set up the 
first wind mill. They came in numbers 
even from the most distant parts to view 
this wonder, and were not tired witli sit- 
ting near it for several days together, in 
order to observe it ; they were long of 
opinion that it was not driven by wind, 
but by spirits who lived within it. They 
were partly under the same astonishment 
when the first water mill was built. 

TOOLS OF THE INDIANS. 

Before the coining of the Europeans, 
the Indians were entirely unacquainted 
with the use of iron. They were obliged 
to supply the want with sharp stones, 
shells, claws of birds and wild beasts, 
pieces of bone and other things of that 
kind, whenever they intended to make 
hatchets, knives and such like instru- 
ments. From whence it appears they 
must have led a very wretched life. 
Their hatchets were made of stone, in 
shape similar to that of wedges used to 
cleave wood, about half a foot long, and 
broad in proportion ; they are rather 
blunter than our wedges. As this 
hatchet must be fixed with a handle, 
there was a notch made all around tlie 
thick end. To fasten it, they sj^lit a 
stick at one end, and put the stone be- 
tween it, so that the two halves of the stick 
came into the notches of the stone ; then 
they tied the two split ends together with 
a rope or something like it, almost in the 
same way as smiths fasten the instru- 
ments with which they cut oft" iron, to a 
split stick. Some of these stone hatchets 
were not notched or furrowed at the 
upper end, and it seems that they only 
held these in their hands to hew or strike 
with them, and did not make handles to 
them. Some were made of liard rock or 
stone. Fish hooks were made of bones 
or birds' claws. 



72 



THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN JOSHUA 
HUDDY, 

THE HEKO OF TOMS RIVEK. 

Captain Huddy was iu command of 
the block house at Toms River when it 
was captured by the British and Refu- 
gees on the memorable Sunday, March 
24th, 1782. He, with Esquire Daniel 
Randolph, Jacob Fleming and other 
prisoners were taken to New York and 
lodged in the noted siagar house prison, 
where they remained until April Ist, 
when they were removed to the Provost 
guard and closely confmed until April 8, 
when Huddy, Randolph and Fleming 
were carried on board a sloop, put in 
the hold and ironed, Huddy having irons 
on both his hands and feet by order of 
the notorioiis Captain Richard Lippen- 
cott. The next evening they were trans- 
ferred to the gviard ship at Sandy Hook. 
On the 12th the Refugees took Captain 
Huddy on shore and near the Highlands 
they erected a gallows and barbarously 
hung him about 10 o'clock iu the fore- 
noon. While under the gallows he 
signed his will on the barrel from which 
a few minutes later he was launched into 
another world. In this will he appoint- 
ed Samuel Forman, of Freehold, his ex- 
ecutor. A few yeai's ago, Bennington 
F. Randolph, Esq., a favorably remem- 
bered member of the bar at Freehold, 
discovered among the papers of the late 
Col. Samuel Forman, Huddy 's executor, 
this will, a copy of which was furnished 
to the writer by Mr. Randolph and 
reads as follows : 

" In the name of God, amen : I, 
Joshua Huddy, of Middletown, in the 
county of Monmouth, being of sound 
mind and memory, but expecting short- 
ly to depart tliia life, do declare this my 
last will and testament. First, I commit 
my soul to Almighty God, hoping He 
may receive it iu mercy ; and next, I 
commit my body to the earth. I do also 
appoint my trusty friend, Samuel For- 
man, to be my lawful executor, and after 
all my just debts are paid, I desire that 



he do divide the rest of my substance, 
whether by book, debts, bonds, notes, 
or any effects whatever belonging to me, 
equally between my two children, Eliza- 
beth and Martha Huddy. In witness 
thereof I have hereto signed my name, 
this twelfth day of April, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand seven huudreil 
and eighty-two. Joshua Huddy." 

The will was written on half a sheet 
of foolscap paper, on the back of which 
was the following statement : 

" The will of Captain Joshua Huddy, 
made and executed the same day the 
Refugees murdered him, April 12th, 
1782." 

Captain Huddy's children subsequent- 
ly became Elizabeth Green and Martha 
Piatt ; the last named lived to an ad- 
vanced age. In early life she removed 
to Cincinnati, Ohio. Both daughters 
left descendants. 

The Refugees alleged that they exe- 
cuted Huddy in retaliation for the kill- 
ing of Phil. White, and they fastened 
the following label to his breast : 

"We, the Refugees, having long with 
grief beheld the cruel murders of our 
brethren, and finding nothing but such 
measures daily carried into execution, we 
therefore determine not to sufifer without 
taking vengeance for the numerous cru- 
elties ; and thus begin, making use of 
Captain Huddy as the first object to pre- 
sent to your view ; and further, deter- 
mine to hang man for man while there 
is a Refugee existing. 

UTP GOES HtTDDY FOR PHIL. WHITE." 

The Refugees also asserted to Esquire 
Randolph and others that " Huddy had 
taken Phil. White prisoner, cut off both 
his arms, broke his legs, pulled out one 
of his eyes, damned him and then bid 
him run." It is inconceivable why stich 
a monstrous falsehood should have been 
put forth, as it was notoriously false, for 
Phil. White was not taken prisoner by 
the Americans until a week after Huddy 
was captured by the British. 



73 



While Huddy was standing on the I leaped a fence on horseback and headed 
barrel he shook hands with Capt. Lip- him off when he made for a bog ; North 
pencott, whom he requested to come jumped from his horse, dropped his gun 
near for that purpose. After his inhu- and pursued him with drawn sword, and 
man murder, his body was left hanging overtook him ; White would not stop, 
until afternoon, when the Americans } and North struck at him with the sword 



came and took it to Freehold, to the 
house of Capt, James Green, where it 
was April 15th. He was buried with 



which wounded him in the face, and 
White fell, crying that he was a dead 
man. Borden repeatedly called " White, 



the honors of war. His funeral sermon j if you will give up you shall have quar- 



was preached by the celebrated Eev. 
John Woodhull, of the First Presbyte- 
rian Church. 



PHIL. WHITE'S CAPTURE AND DEATH. 



tersyet." White's body was taken to 
Freehold, and the evidence of General 
David Forman and others who saw the 
body, showed that he had received no 
! other woimds but the gun shot in his 
! breast and cuts of a sword on his face. 
j The probability is that Phil. White 



cape, and he made the effort at a place 
where he thought the woods, fences, 
marsh and brook would imj)ede the light 
horsemen. 



Among some old residents, the Befu- 
gee version of Phil. White's death at 
one time seemed so far accepted as to I supposed if he was taken to Freehold 
imply a belief in wanton cruelty to i^^l' <^^at he would be tried and hanged 
White, and Howes' Historical Collection ^^v his participation m the murder of 
seems incHned to favor the same belief. ^"^^ father of John Kussell, one of his 
But they seem not to have been aware ! guards, and the attempt to kill Kussell 
that the whole matter was thoroughly j himself, as well as in other misdemean- 
investigated by both the British and | o^^> ^^"^ ^« ^® determined to try to es- 
Americans shortly after it occurred, and , 
the evidence, subsequently filed in the 
State Department at Washington, con- 
clusively proves the falsity of the [Ref- 
ugee assertions of wanton cruelty. This 

evidence is given in full in a report made 

to Congress, Feb. li, 1837, on a report 

relating to pension claims of Capt. Josh- 
ua Huddy's heirs. Among the affidavits 

taken and forwarded to General Wash- 
ington were those of Aaron White, a 

brother of Phil. White, who was taken 

prisoner with him, John North, William 

Borden and John Eussell, who were his 

guards. White was captured near Long 

Branch, and the guard was ordered to 

take him to Freehold, Before starting 

he was told if he attempted to escape he 

would be shot down. When between 

Colt's Neck and Freehold, White shpped 

off his horse and made for the woods ; 

the guards called on him to stop, but he 

refused to halt and they fii'ed on htm ; 

the ball fired by Borden wounded him 

and he fell on his hands and knees, but 

got up and ran for the woods, but North 



THE ATTACK ON THE RUSSELL FAMILY. 

This outrage was an unusually aggra- 
vated one, even for the Refugees, and 
the particulars will show why Phil. 
White was afraid that he would be hung 
if he reached Freehold. John Russell, 
one of his guards, after the war, remov- 
ed to old Dover township, near Cedar 
Creek, and his descendants now live at 
Barnegat. 

The following extract is from the New 
Jersey Gazette, published during the 
Revolution : 

"On the 30th of April, 1780, a party 
of negroes and Refugees from Sandy 
Hook, landed at Shrewsbury in order to 
plunder. During their excursion, a Mr. 
Russell, who attempted some resistance 
to their depredations, was killed, and his 
grandchild had five balls shot through 
him, but ie yet living. Capt, Warner, of 

9 



u 



the privateer bidg Elizabeth, was made 
prisoner by these rufl&ans, biit was re- 
leased by giving them two and a half 
joes. This banditti also took off sev- 
eral prisoners, among whom were Capt. 
James Green and Ensign Johu Morris 
of the militia." 

The following is from Howes' Collec- 
tions : 

" Mr. Russell was an elderly man 
aged about 60 years ; as the party en- 
tered his dwelling, which was in the 
night, he iBred and missed. William 
Gillian, a native of Shrewsbury, their 
leader, seized the old gentleman by the 
collar, and was in the act of stabbing 
him in the face and eyes with a bayonet, 
when the fire blazed up and shedding a 
momentary light upon the scene, ena- 
bled the younger Eussell, who lay 
wounded on the floor, to shoot Gillian. 
John Farnham, a native of Middletown, 
thereupon aimed his musket at the young 
man, but it was knocked up by Lippen- 
cott, who had married into the family. 
The party then went off. The child was 
accidentally wounded in the affray." 

The Liijpencott above mentioned, we 
presume, was Capt. Richard Lippencott, 
who subsequently had the command of 
the party which hanged Capt. Joshua 
Huddy. John Russell, mentioned above 
as having been wounded, and who sub- 
sequently was one of Phil. White's 
guard, lived to quite an advanced age, 
at Cedar Creek, and his accoxmt of the 
affair, as related to the late Captain 
Ephraim Atcheson, was substantially as 
follows : 

There were seven refugees, and he 
(John) saw them through the window, 
and at one time they got so that he told 
his father he could kill four of them, 
and he wished to fire as he believed the 
other three would run. His father per- 
suaded him not to fire, but to do so when 
they broke into the house. When they 
broke in, the father fired first, but missed 



his aim ; he was then fired upon and 
killed. John Russell then fired upon 
and killed Gillian who had shot his fath- 
er. During the affray John was shot in 
the side, and the scars of the wound 
were visible until his death. After be- 
ing wounded, he fell on the floor and 
pretended to be dead. The Refugees 
then went to plundering the house, The 
mother and wife of John were lying in 
the bed with the child ; the child awoke 
and asked, "Grandmother, what's the 
matter ?" A Refugee pointed his gun at 
it and fired, and said " that's what's the 
matter !" Whether he intended to woimd 
the child or only to frighten it is uncer- 
tain, but the child, as before stated, was 
badly wounded, but eventually recover- 
ed. As the Refugees were preparing to 
leave, one of their number pointed his 
musket at John Russell as he lay on the 
floor, and was about again firing at him, 
saying he didn't believe he was dead yet, 
whereitpon another, probably Lippen- 
cott, knocked up the musket, saying it 
was a shame to fire upon a dying man, 
and the load went into the ceiling. After 
the Refugees were gone, John got up 
and hail his wounds dressed, and ex- 
claimed to his wife, " Ducky ! bring me 
a glass of whiskey ; I'll come out all 
right yet." He did come out all right, 
and before the war ended he aided in 
visiting merited retribution on the Ref- 
ugees for their doings at this time. 
When some two years later he aided in 
the capture of Phil. White, one of the 
party who killed his father, it is not 
probable that he desired his death be- 
fore reaching Freehold, as it was quite 
certain justice would be meted out to 
him there. Of the seven Refugees con- 
cerned in the attack on the Russell fam- 
ily, at least three met with their just de- 
serts, viz : Gillian, killed at the time ; 
Farnham, subsequently captured and 
hanged at Freehold ; and Phil. White, 
killed while attempting to escape. 



75 



moved to Amwell near Shawuock. Feb- 
ruary 20, 1680, Richard and Penelope 
Stout, the first of the family in America, 
sold a lot of 16 acres in Middletown to 
Thomas Suowselle, and signed the deed 
by making their mark. July 20, 1686, 
Richard Stout, Sr., was still living. I 
have never seen a statement of the date 
of the death of either Richard or Penel- 
ope. December 19, 1689, Richard 
Stout (no doubt Junior) is said to be a 
resident of Squan." 

One branch of our Ocean county Stouts 
descend, as stated by Benjamin B. Stout, 
Esq. , of Goodluck, from the last-named 
Richard Stout — Squan Richard as he 
was sometimes called — as follows : 

Richard Stout, of Squan, had a son 
Benjamin, who married Mary Johnson ; 
this Benjamin and Mary, his wife, had a 
son also named Benjamin, who is still 
well remembered and known as Captain 
Benjamin Stout, and who married Sarah 
or Sally Breese. Capt. Benjamin Stout 



THE STOUT FAMILY. 

GENEALOGICAIi NOTES OF DESCENDANTS IN 
OCEAN COUNTY. 

As stated in another chapter, the Stout 
families of Ocean county are descended 
from John Stout, a gentleman of Not- 
tinghamshire, England, whose son Rich- 
ard came to New York where he married 
about the year 1622, a Dutch widow 
whose maiden name was Penelope Van- 
princes. They had seven sons and three 
daughters. The order of their birth 
and the names of the daughters, as given 
iu Benedict's History of the Baptists, 
have already been given ; but the follow- 
ing from Rev. G. 0. Schenck, of Marl- 
borough, Monmouth county, diflPers a 
little in these particulars from the account 
by Benedict. But as the Rev. Mr, 
Schenck is probably the best informed 
person on the genealogy of many fami- 
lies iu this State, and thorough and care- 
ful in his researches and statements, his 
version is undoubtedly correct. Speak- 
ing of his copy of the noted Stout manu- 1 bought the noted Thomas Potter farm at 
script, the original of which was drawn Goodluck, where he died February 13, 
up by Nathan Stout, he says in a letter 1850, aged 69 years, 7 months and 5 days, 
to the writer of this : He had sons — Joseph, Benjamin B., 

" Richard and Penelope Stout had to- Daniel, James and John — and several 
gether seven sons and three daughters, daughters. His descendants can trace 
namely : Sons — John, Richard, Jona- their ancestry back in an unbroken line 
than, Peter, James, Benjamin, David ; for over three centuries, and no family 
daughters — Deliverance, Sarah, Penelo- in New Jersey can go back further among 
pe. All of these sons and daughters ancestors. Their genealogy may be 
lived to raise large families. John, the briefly stated thus : Joseph, Benjamin 
eldest son of the first Richard, named his B. , and other children of Benjamin 
eldest son Richard, who, when married, . Stout, who was the son of Benjamin, son 
settled at a place called Squan, and was of Squan Richard, son of John, son of 
generally afterward called Squan Richard Richard, son of John Stout, of Notting- 
or Squan Dick, who raised a large fami- hamshire, England, 
ly, some of whom scattered about Barne- If the first Richard Stout was 40 years 
gat Bay along shore, a great number of old when he married in 1622 (as stated in 
whose descendants are there to this day. Benedict's History), he must have been 
The said John named his second son, born about 1582, and his father, John 
John, who in consequence of following the , Stout, probably between 1550 and 1560. 
sea was called Sailor John, of whose fam- [ This would carry the genealogy from 
ily I am unable to give but little account the present time back to the birth of the 
(although it was niimerous), except one first John — about 325 years, 
daughter whose name was Penelope, who , At the breaking out of the Revolution- 
married John Sutphen and afterwards ary war, a John Stout, who tradition 



76 



says was a sou of James Stout, lived iu 
old Dover township, wliicli tlien extend- 
ed to Oyster Creek, between Forked 
River and Waretown. This John was a 
captain in the militia, and at times was 
in command of the military post at Toms 
Eiver, He had sons — Daniel and John 
— who were in his company ; the last 
named, John, was killed by the British 
at Hornerstown, according to Strykes' 
Revolutionary Roster. Of Daniel, men- 
tion will be made hereafter. Capt. John 
Stout's father, James, must have been a 
son or grandson of the first Richard. 

Garret Stout, the favorably-known 
hotel-keeper of Cedar Creek, is a son of 
Abraham Stout, whose father was also 
named Abraham, 

Phoebe Stout, who about seventy-five 
years ago married Anthony Parker, was 
a daughter of David Stout, of old Shrews- 
bury township, who was probably a 
grandson of the first Richard. Anthony 
Parker and Phoebe, his wife, located at 
Forked River, and had children— Thom- 
as, David Stout, who married Emeline 
Baiter, Abigail who married Rev. David 
B, Salter, John who married Hester 
Woolley, and Joseph who married Eliza- 
beth Predmore. Of these, Capt. David 
Stout Parker and ex-Sheriff Joseph 
Parker now live at Forked River. 

The old stock of the Stout family were 
noted for longevity. Penelope, wife of 
the first Richard, lived to the age of 110, 
and as it is stated she was born in 1602, 
she must have died about 1712. It is 
believed she was buried in an old grave- 
yard near Holmdel, about one hundred 
yards south of the residence of the late 
John S. Hendrickson. Rev. Mr. Schepck 
states that the first Richard was living 
in 1686 ; he must then have been 104 
years old, if he was 40 years old when 
he married in 1622. 

Richard and Penelope Stout appeal- to 
have lircd in New York until the first 
English came to Long Island, Avlien they 
located with them, and were Hving there 
iu I64;j. In 1648, they, with five other 



families, moved over in old Monmouth, 
near Middletown. These were the first 
white settlers in East Jersey ; and as 
the other families were probably Dutch, 
Richard Stout was the first Englishman 
of whom we have any account who set- 
tled in New Jersey. On account of hos- 
tile Indians, about 1655, these settlers 
were compelled to leave, and Stout lo- 
cated at Gravesend, L. I., with other 
English. About 1665, he, with other 
English, came back to Middletown, and 
made the first permanent settlement 
there, and members of his family were 
among those who established the Baptist 
Church at Middletown, which was the 
first Bajstist Society established in New 
Jersey. 

ESQTJIBE DANIEL STOITT. 

Esquire Daniel Stout, one of the last 
surviving heroes of the Revolution, who 
died at Stout's Creek near Goodluck, 
September 2, 1843, was born November 
14, 1758, in old Dover township. He 
had a brother John, and they both, at one 
time, served in the war in the company 
of their father, Capt. John Stout. John, 
Jr., was killed, it is said, at Horners- 
town. The following record of the ser- 
vice of Daniel Stout during the Revolu- 
tion, we extract from the records of the 
Pension Oflfice at Washington : 

Daniel Stout served about one month 
at Perth Amboy iu 1776 ; in 1777, was 
on guard at Toms River one month, and 
two months at Monmouth Court House, 
and then again six months at Toms River. 
For a short time, he performed light 
horse duty at Morristown, and was de- 
tailed to procure cattle for Gen. Wash- 
ington's army. In 1780, he was in his 
father's company in Col. Samuel For- 
man's regiment. Towards the close of 
the war, he served every other month on 
guard at Toms River under Captains 
Pri<;o, Hankins and Brewer, and his mil- 
itary career ended in 1783. His actual 
time in service was about two years and 
three mouths. He api^ears to have beeu 



77 



but eighteen years old wlieu lie first eu- 
listed. He married Anna Chadwick, 
December 25, 1792 ; his wife, -who was 
born December 9, 1772, was daughter of 
Capt. Thomas Chadwick, a noted hero of 
old Monmouth. She lived to an advanced 
age, and was a lady of marked natural 
ability, retentive memory and agreeable 
conversational powers, and one of the 
most interesting narrators of Revolution- 
ary and other old time events in our 
county. Daniel and Anna Stout had 
children as follows : John, born 1793, and 
died 1795 ; Elizabeth, born 1794 ; Han- 
nah, 1796, married Capt. William Rog- 
ers; Rachel, 1798, married John Wil- 
liams ; Caroline, 1800, married John 
Henderson ; Catharine, 1802, married 
William Holmes ; Anna, 1805, married 
Capt, Joseph Holmes ; Alice, 1807, mar- 
ried Randolph Dey ; Margaret, 1809, 
married John Applegate ; Sarah, 1811, 
married Judge D. I. C. Rogers. Of 
these, the following are still living in 
this vicinity : Elizabeth unmarried, An- 
na who married Capt. Joseph Holmes, 
and Sarah who married Judge David I. 
C. Rogers. Catharine and Margaret 
went to Ohio after marriage, and Caro- 
line to Leeds Point. 



THE BODINE FAMILY. 
The Bodine family, in the southern 
part of Ocean county, are of French Hu- 
guenot descent. The first members orig- 
inally came to Staten Island, and from 
thence descendants came to this county. 
The History of Staten Island, by Clute, 
in speaking of the origin of this family, 
refers to John Bodin, a celebrated law- 
yer and literary character, who was born 
at Angers about 1530 ; for a time he en- 
joyed the favor of King Henry III, which 
however he lost by his patriotic conduct. 
Among his works, the most remarkable 
are a treatise on Republican government 
and a work on witchcraft called Demona- 
nia. He became chief magistrate of 
Laon, and while holding that position, 
died of the plague in 1596. 



The first known member of the family 
in America was John Bodine, who pur- 
chased land on Staten Island in 1701, and 
was living in 1714. His wife was prob- 
ably named Hester, as John Bodine and 
his wife Hester are mentioned in Staten 
Island records in 1736-7. He had a son 
Francois, who married Marie Dey, and 
they had a son, Jean or John, baptized 
November 29, 1719, who married Dor- 
cas , and had children, viz : — 

John, bom February, 1753, and James, 
born December 17, 1758. The last 
named John died March, 1835, aged 
about 82 years ; James died May 13, 
1838, in his 80th year, John married 
Catharine Britton, and had children : 
John (subsequently known as Squire 
John), Jacob and Edmund, and perhaps 
others. The last-named James Bodine 
first married Elizabeth Egbert, daughter 
of Tunis Egbert, and they had four sons 
and two daughters, viz : Nancy, Dorcas, 
John, Tunis, James and Edward ; he 
next married Margaret Oakley, daughter 
of Israel Oakley, and they had six chil- 
dren, viz : Eliza who married Isaac 
Swift, Margaret who married Abraham 
Houseman, William who married Rosan- 
na Willetts, of Warwick, Va., Andrew 
who married Mary Houseman, Abraham 
who married Abby Kinsey, and Israel 
who died young. 

Of the sons of James Bodine, two came 
to what is now Ocean county in 1816, 
namely, Tunis and James. They origin- 
ally located at Manahawken, and entered 
into the mercantile business ; beside 
which they started a stage line, probably 
the first, from the ferry below the vil- 
lage to Mount Holly ; James soon sold 
out and left, and embarked on a ship, 
and subsequently died of cholera. Tunis 
married Ann Haywood, of Manahawken. 
After living at that place some six or 
seven years, he removed to Barnegat, 
where he still resides. He had children : 
Elizabeth who married Capt. Wright 
Predmore, James who married Cornelia 
Holmes, Sarah who married Joseph Sex- 



78 



ton, and Ann who died young. Tunis 
next married Amelia Cliadwick ; tliey 
had no children. 

William Bodine, son of James and 
Margaret Bodine, who married Rosauna 
Willetts, had children : George James 
who married Emeline Williams, William 
Oakley, Margaret who married Edwin 
Salter, and Abraham. 



A TOMS RIVER BOY KIDNAPPED. 

In the early years of our county paper, 
it gave one item of news that always 
had a melancholy interest to many old 
residents. It was published, if I mis- 
take not, chiefly at the request of the 
late Charles I. Errickson, who will long 
be remembered by many for his kind 
deeds, and who took much interest in 
this particular affair. The substance of 
the story was this : 

The late Captain Samuel Beatty, of 
the schooner Amos Falkinburg, was 
lying near Franklin, on the Gulf coast 
of Louisiana, when, one day, he was as- 
tonished by a colored man, a slave in 
the vicinity, hailing him and asking him 
if he knew certain men, whom he nam-id, 
then living at Toms Eiver, Cedar Creek 
and Forked Eiver. Capt. Beatty, sur- 
prised, asked him how he came to ask 
the question, and how he, a slave so 
far away, knew the names of these men. 
The colored man said he saw by the 
stern of the vessel where she was from, 
and then stated that he was originally 
from Toms River, knew the late Capt, 
Wm. Rogers, father-in-law of Capt. 
Beatty, was a boy with Capt. Hiram 
Horner, of Toms River, and went on 
sitflficiently to prove that his story was 
substantially correct. He was then asked 
how he came to be a slave down in Lou- 
isiana. He replied that when he was a 
good sized boy, a man who once lived at 
Toms River was about emigrating West, 
and persuaded his mother to let him go 
along, promising to do well by him ; but 
after getting out West, this man was in- 



famous enough to sell the boy as a slave 
to some trader going down the Missis- 
sippi to New Orleans. When Capt. 
Beatty returned, he found plenty of 
proof that the boy was free born, and 
Mr. Errickson entered warmly into the 
case, and communicated with the then 
Governor, Geo. F. Fort, of New Egypt. 
Gov. Fort was deeply impressed with 
the outrage committed, and would glad- 
ly have aided in redeeming him from 
bondage, but he had no authority to in- 
cur the heavy costs of sending witnesses 
so far and paying expenses of lawyers, 
trial, Szc. And so the poor fellow was 
left to his fate. It is some consolation 
to know that if he was living, the late 
civil war must have resulted in his free- 
dom. 

Was it wrong in so many of our citi- 
zens who remembered this offence, re- 
joicing, a few years later, to hear the 
news that the man who committed it, 
was safe inside the grated doors of Toms 
River jail ? Thoitgh for another offence, 
it was some satisfaction to know he wag 
imprisoned in the place from which the 
boy was stolen. 



A RARE OCCURRENCE. 
A HOinCIDE IX OCEAN COUNTY. 

Few, indeed, are the places of equal 
population -rt'ith the district now known 
as Ocean county, which can present a 
record as unstained by serious crimes. 
About the most noted event in its crimi- 
nal calendar, was the killing of a lad 
some fifteen years old, named Thomas 
Williams, son of Esquire Daniel and 
Huldah Williams, by a man named Peter 
Stout, at Goodluck, on the 19th of No- 
vember, 1802. Peter Stout was always 
considered as a half-witted, partially 
crazed man, but had always, previous 
to this affair, seemed harmless. At the 
present day, it is no uncommon occur- 
rence if a half-witted or drunken man is 
seen, for a troop of thoughtless boys to 
follow him, calling names and torment- 



79 



ing him, tiuch shoiilcl learn a lesson 
from this story. The boys around Good- ' 
luck often tormented Peter Stout, calling ', 
him nicknames, the principal of which 
was " eel head — hollo, old eel head !" 

On the morning in question, young 
"Williams left home to di'ive cattle to the 
meadows, down the road along the north 
side of Stout's creek. On his way he 
met Peter Stout, who had an axe on his 
shoulder, and thoughtlessly began to 
plague him, calling him " eel head," &c. 
Stout let him pass, and then turned, slyly 
ran up behind him and struck him on the 
head with the axe, killing him instantly. 
During the forenoon, the boy's mother, 
uneasy at his long absence, went in 
search of him, and found the body at a 
spot marked for half a century after by 
twin oak trees, about opposite the com- 
mencement of the path leading across 
Stout's creek, towards the place formely 
owned by the late Capt. William Rogers, 
Mrs, Williams was so horror-stricken at 
the sight of the lifeless body of her son, 
covered with blood, that for a time she 
was bereft of her senses. It seems she 
grasped the boy in her arms and carried 
him home, a distance of about half a 
mile, but she remembered nothing about 
it, however, until she came to her senses, 
when she found herself in a chair at 
home, rocking her boy, her dress shock- 
ingly covered with blood. 

The neighbors were soon uotiJfied of 
the event, and the body taken to the inn 
at Goodluck, for the j)urpose of holding 
a coroner's inquest. In past years a 
superstition prevailed in the minds of 
many in England and in this country, 
that if the murderer touched the body of 
the murdered person, the wounds would 
commence to bleed afresh. At this in- 
quest, some person mentioned this su- 
perstition, and it was proposed and 
agreed to that every one present should 
by turns approach and touch the body. 
All did so but Peter Stout, who was 
present, and who extended his hand 
towards the body, but suddenly checked 



himself, ws if afraid of the ordeal, re- 
fused to touch the body, and turned 
aboiit and went out whistling. Blood 
was observed upon his clothes, and 
upon being questioned, he said it was 
from a fowl he had killed. Suspi- 
cion being strong against him, he was 
arrested and sent to Freehold, tried, 
found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. 
While in jail he made a full confession, 
which was afterwards printed. As it 
was generally conceded by all who knew 
Stout, that he was not of sound mind, 
strong efforts were made to have his 
sentence changed, and among those who 
labored hard for it were Esquire Wil- 
liams and his wife, the parents of the 
murdered boy. They visited Freehold 
for that purpose, and visited the con- 
demned man in jail ; but all their efforts 
were unavailing, and the unfortunate 
man suffered the extreme penalty of the 
law. His body was taken to Goodluck, 
and buried by the road along the south 
side of Stout's Creek, and the spot 
marked by a grape vine. This spot and 
the place where the boy was killed can 
still be pointed out by old residents. 
Young Williams was buried in the grave- 
yard at Goodluck, and on his headstone 
is this inscription : " Thomas Williams, 
died November 19th, 1802, aged 14 years, 
9 months and 18 days, " 



TOMS RIVER— ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 

GOOSE CBEEK — INDIAN TOM — CAPT, WM. 
TOJX, 

Two distinct traditions have been 
hand down, giving the origin of the name 
of Toms River ; one that it is derived 
from a certain Captain Wm. Tom, who 
resided on the Delaware River over two 
hundred years ago, before any whites 
had settled in what is now known as 
Ocean county, and who, in the prosecu- 
tion of his duties as a kind of land agent, 

I penetrated through the wilderness to the 
seashore in search of eUgible land for 

' settlers, and discovered this stream ; 



80 



upon his return he made such favorable 
representations of the land in this vicin- 
ity that settlers were induced to come 
here, and they named it Toms Eiver, 
after Capt. Tom, because he first brought 
the place to the notice of the whites. 

The other tradition attributes the ori- 
gin of the name to an Indian named 
Tom, who lived in the vicinity during 
the first half of the last century. 

The stream was also anciently called 
Goose Creek, and this name was used to 
designate it in legal writings, and on 
maps for over a century. 

In regard to the name Toms Eiver, 
the writer of this acknowledges that after ^ 
patient investigation of all sources of in- j 
formation known to him, he has found ; 
nothing that conclusively settles the 
question of its origin ; yet he is strong 
in the belief that it originated with Capt. 
Wm. Tom some two centuries ago, and 
that Indian Tom, who lived a generation 
or so later, aided in perpetuating it ; and 
the reasons for this belief will be given 
before concluding. In regard to the 
name 

GOOSE CREEK, 

it seems to have been bestowed by the 
proprietors or their agents, when the 
land here was originally run out in 1690. 
Samuel H. Shreve, Esq., a careful in- 
vestigator of land titles in this vicinity, 
in a communication published in the 
Ocean Emblem about fifteen years ago, 
says : 

" The first patent to Dr. Johnson was 
dated 1G90, and in that as well as in the 
patent to Robert Barclay, of the same 
date on the south side of the river and 
opposite Dr. Johnson's, the name is 
Goose Creek. It is the same in all doc- 
uments that I have been able to find un- 
til 1727, when Obhonon Cedar Swamp is 
referred to as being on a branch of Toms 
River ; subsequently, in 17iO, the well- 
known surveyor, John Lawrence, desig- 
nates it as Toms River, and after that 
date the name occurs more frequently 



than that of Goose Creek, though deeds 
made by parties living near the river 
mentioned it thus : " Goose Creek (alias 
Toms Eiver) and ' Goose Creek, other- 
wise called Toms River,' as late as 1789, 
as if the former the correct name, while 
the latter was the more common. I can- 
not, therefore, but believe the original 
name was Goose Creek." 

In addition to what Mr. Shreve states, 
the writer has found the name of Goose 
Creek given to the stream on various old 
maps, among which may be named 
Mitchell & Pownall's map, 1755, and Jef- 
frey's map, 1778 ; and the last time on 
Carey's map of New Jersey, 1814, which 
calls it " Goose or Toms Creek." 

INDIAN TOM. 

Information in regard to Indian Tom, 
is very meagre indeed. The most defi- 
nite notice that the writer has is in the 
communication of Mr. Shreve above re- 
ferred. The same number of the Ocean 
Emblem which contained Mr. Shreve's 
communication, had another, advocating 
the Indian Tom origin of the name, 
signed " A Native," which, we presume, 
was from James N. Lawrence, Esq. 
We give the substance of both as show- 
ing the strongest arguments we have 
found in favor of the Indian Tom origin. 
Mr. Shreve says : 

' ' There certainly was a Tom, * an in- 
dividual incarnate Tom, and he had a 
wigwam. I haye a map made in 1740 of 
the country about Mosquito Cove, a 
I short distance north of Toms River, on 
which " Barnegatt Toms wigwam " is 
located upon the north point of the cove. 
The fact that an Indian by the name of 
Tom, most jDrobably Barnegatt Tom, 
lived on the river near the head of Dil- 
lon's Island during the Revolution, seems 
|.to be well established. Suppose this to 
have been in 1778, As I have mentioned 
before, the name of Toms River occurs in 
1727, and if Tom was at the latter date, 
say twenty-seven years of age, or even 
older, the story is still plausible. Be- 



81 



side the tradition itself, that the river 
took its name from the Indian, is entitled 
to some credence when we consider the 
fact that the descendants of our first 
settlers are living among us, and they 
especially believe it. 

As Mr. Shreve says, his theory is 
plausible iipon the facts he gives ; but 
the following extract from records in the 
Freehold Court House quite effectually 
destroys his foundation. After men- 
tioning under date of Oct. 13th, 1713, 
certain roads in the upper part of old 
Monmouth, the record mentions 

THE FIRST ROADS LAID OUT IN OCEAN 
COUNTY. 

"Laid out a highway from Henry 
Leonard's saw mill to Barnegate ; that is 
from said saw mill along John Hankin's ' 
path to Hay path ; then to ye head of \ 
Sarah Reape's meadow and down ye side '] 
of ye said meadow as ye line of marked ' 
trees, to the Fish path ; then as that goes | 
to Mauasquan ; thence along ye Fish j 
path to the Cedar path, and along the 
Cedar path as the marked trees that lead j 
to Metetecqnk, and following the marked 
trees to Goose Creek, called Toms 
liiver, and over said river, by marked 
trees to the line of the lands of late 
Thomas Hart." Signed by John Reid, 
Elisha Lawrence and Obadiah Bowne, ■ 
commissioners. j 

The foregoing was copied by Judge 
Beekman from the original records and 
published in the Monmouth Democrat, I 
Feb. 8, 1877, in his articles on the Boun- 
daries of Old Monmouth. Judge Beek- ' 
man, who has proved himself a careful, 
reliable investigator of the history of 
Old Monmouth, informs the writer that ; 
tne name Toms River was certainly thus 
used as stated as early as 1713, showing 
it was a common name then. Hence, if, 
as Mr. Shreve surmises, Indian Tom ' 
was twenty-seven years old in 1727, he 
would have been only thirteen in 1713 ; j 
and if the Indian Tom of the Revolution ; 
was the Indian Tom, he might have been | 



still younger , and it will not be seriously 
contended that the stream was named 
after a little Indian jiapoose. 

Perhaps the most strenuous advocate 
of the Indian Tom origin of the name, 
was the writer before referred to, who 
signed himself a " Native," (probably 
James N. Lawrence). We give the sub- 
stance of his article which also contains 
references to old Toms River settlers : 

' ' By reference to actual survey, and 
especially to Andrew Johnson's patent, 
1690, he (Mr. Salter,) will see that said 
patent commences on the south side of 
Miles Foster's patent at Tilton's Creek 
and runs south to (xoose Creek, which 
patent includes the Ralph place (Messrs. 
Schofield's and McLean's), Edwin Jack- 
son's, Thomas Salter's (late Cook's), and 
Dillon's (now Robiason's Island). Grant- 
ing that the gentleman is somewhat of 
an antiquarian, I suggest that he ramble 
over Johnson's patent, thereby visiting 
the old salt works erected by Albertus 
Schoeslear, Savidge and Coats, Thomas 
Salter and others, merchants from Phil- 
adelphia, who were engaged in the salt 
business during the Revolution. Some 
information may be obtained by refer- 
ence to a controversy between Messrs. 
L. and Justice, published in the Mon- 
mouth Inquirer of November and Dec- 
ember, 1819 ; also the Emblem of Feb- 
ruary, 1858, where the editor gives the 
name" George's" instead of Goose Creek. 
Surveyor John Lawrence, in his notes 
(1725) of New Barnegat Inlet or Cran- 
berry Inlet, gives the bearing of com- 
pass from certain points in the bay, the 
channel running from opposite Tilton's 
Point to Nigger house farm ; thence by 
a thoroughfare to the north point of land 
at the Inlet. Aaron Bennett, Richard 
Phillips and William Chadwick, de- 
ceased, I have heard make the same 
statements ; also that the inlet called 
Burning Hole or Barnegat, was opposite 
Egg Island, north of where Amos Grant 
now lives, and that Barnegat was called 
New Inlet in those days. Rebecca 



82 



Buad, (laughter of Daniel Liiker, the 
first white inhabitaut of the jjlace, told 
me, in the winter of 1835, that the above 
was coiTect ; also, that she conld remem- 
ber when it was a thick cedar swamp 
where the bridge now is, and a log was 
used for pedestriaiis to cross on. Then 
came a severe storm Avhich destroyed 
the timber, after which a ferry was kept 
by her father until a bridge was built, a 
portion of which may now be seen. 
John Lawrence, in his notes, calls it 
"the riding-over place," afterwards 
Luker's fen-y. Capt. Htephen Gulick, 
the oldest male inhabitant now here, will 
corroborate my sketch. 

Tom, from whom the name was de- 
rived, and his brother, Jonathan Pumha, 
owned all the land south of Metedecouk 
to Goose Creek (see Smith's History of 
New Jersey, 1721). Tom died about 
1734 or 5, miich lamented as he was 
known as a friend of the white man, al- 
ways holding out inducements for the 
whites to settle on his lands. 
Respectfully yours, 

A Native. " 

In tlie foregoing the writer states some 
things which are true, some which are 
doubtful, and some which are probably 
erroneous ; and it is to be regretted that 
man who had such opportunities to ex- 
amine into papers and records relating 
to old times at Toms Eiver, should be 
so careless in his statements. It is true 
that there was an Indian named Tom, 
that there was a Luker's ferry and a 
riding-over place, and that there was 
miich business done in the salt trade, 
especially about the time of the Revolu- 
tion. But we vei-y much doubt that 
Surveyor John Lawrence's notes stated 
that Old Cranberry Inlet was opened as 
early as 1725 ; that Daniel Luker was 
the first white inhabitant ; that a log, 
unless a remarkably large one in a very 
dry time, was ever used to cross Toms 
River ; that Thomas Salter was a Phila- 
delphia merchant, though he and Joseph 
and Richard Salter were old time resi- 



dents or business men at Toms River, 
trading with Philadelphia merchants ; 
we doubt if Bamegat Inlet was ever 
called New Inlet, unless about the time 
Cranberry closed and then, if at all, only 
for a vei-y brief period. Smith's History 
of New Jersey was not published in 
1721, but in 1765, and Mr. Shreve, a re- 
liable writer, has given good reasons to 
beUeve that Indian Tom lived many 
years after 1734-5. And as to the In- 
dian ownership of the land from Meted- 
econk to Toms River, Smith's History, i 
page 413, says at the great conference 
held at Crosswicks, N. J., in 1758, for 
extinguishing all Indian claims to lands 
in New Jersey, at which the commission- 
ers were Andrew Johnson, Richard Sa' 
ter and others, a paper was submittec 
declaring the lands from the half wa^^^i 
from the mouth of Metedecouk river tO^ 
Toms Eiver, from the sea to the heads' 
of the rivers, belonged to Ctqit. Johi'^ 
Totamy Widoc/ciris. There is nothing 
in Smith's History that refers to any lu^ 
diau Tom in this vicinity. But on th^i 
contrary, several references to Capt*^ 
William Tom, which show that he was le;* 
prominent man in his day. ^^• 

That Indian Tom lived as late as th(W- 
time mentioned by Mr. Shreve, we hav<ve 
heard traditionary corroboration fronU. 
the late Hon. Charles Parker, (father o; 
Governor Joel Parker,) who was in bus-U- 
inessatToras River in 1810.- Mr. Par- a 
ker liad a remarkably retentive memory ,3f 
and he informed the writer that when heA 
first came to Toms River, he talked to^ 
men who had known Indian Peter, a 3 
brother of our Indian Tom ; that Indiau 
Tom once undertook to sell lands for \ 
other Indians, but proved a defaulter, / 
and was not again trusted, was di-uukeu, 
&c. ; and the personal recollections of 
these men would probably not go further 
back than say about fifty years before 
Mr. Parker talked to them. And Na- 
tive's own letter gives a statement which 
is also corroborative : he says iu 1835 he 
talked to a daughter of Daniel Luker, 



83 



who was the first white iuhabitaut of the 
place. If ludian Tom induced whites 
settlers to come here, it then must have 
been after Luker located here, and it is 
evident that if Luker had a daughter 
living in 1835, he could not have lived 
longer ago than the time Mr. Shreve 
states Tom lived. Mention is made in 
ancient deeds of A. Luker's ferry at 
Toms Eiver in 1749. Was he the father 
,f Daniel ? Eeference is made to Capt. 
tephen Gulick as the oldest inhabitant, 
-t the request of the writer, Capt. Gu- 
ck v/ais interviewed by Chas. W. Bun- 
ell, Esq., of Bayville, who stated to 
im the substance of Native's statement, 
apt. Gulick's reply was that he knew 
othing about ludian Tom more than 
jhers knew ; he had heard there was 
ich an Indian. Many who never heard 
■ Capt. Tom, and had heard of ludian 
om, would be likely to guess that the 
ver was named after the Indian. 
In concludiug the notice of the ludian 
om theory, we shall simply repeat that 
le river could not have been named af- 
'.r him, because he was living on Dil- 
n's Island in the Revolution, and the ! 
lace was well known as Toms River 
iarly seventy years before, and it is not 
Ttain he was even then born ; at most 
i must have been a very young pap- j 
t4jose, and more likely to have been 
imed after the river than the river 
named after him. 

The reasons for believing the river de- 
, rived its name from Captaiu Tom, will 
next be briefly stated. 

WHY AFTER C.VPTAIX WILLIAM TOJI. 

Among aged jiersons now living, who 
were acquainted at Toms River sixty or 
more years ago, is Rev. David B. Salter, 
formerly of Forked River, but at i:)res- 
ent residing in Bayonne, N. J. He is a 
gentleman noted for observation and 
retentive memory, and he is very posi- j 
tive that the river derived its name from 
Captain Tom, from information he ob- 



' tained when at the place about sixty 
years ago, from residents who then were 
ancient ; and some twelve or thirteen 
years ago he named a gentleman still 
older than he, who had investigated the 
subject when at Toms River about sev- 
enty years ago. This gentleman then 
lived in Illinois, and the writer of this 
addressed him on the subject. His reply 
fully corroborated the statement. He 
said when he first visited Toms River, 
intelligent old residents not only assured 
him that the place was named after Cap- 
tain Tom, but showed him an old histo- 
rical work that explained the reason, 
which was in substance that Captain 
Tom induced settlers to locate here, and 
these settlers named the stream after 
him. By reference to the sketeh of 
Capt. Tom's life, previously given, his 
statement seems sufficiently sustained to 
justify his assertion of the origin of the 
name. Cajjt. Tom was apjwinted col- 
lector of quit-rents and land agent, by 
Governor Lovelace in 10(39. It was his 
duty to call on settlers in South Jersey, 
• from the Falls of Delaware (now Tren- 
ton) to Cape May, including what is now 
knoATU as Ocean county. By notices of 
him in Smith's History of New Jersey, 
Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania and 
New York Colonial Documents, it is evi- 
dent he was a great traveler, and ' well 
acquainted from New Castle, Del., to 
New York, with settlers' paths through 
the forests, and desirable places to lo- 
cate ; and it would be both in keeping 
with the character of the man and in the 
legitimate line of his duties, to explore 
the country by ludian ijaths to Toms 
River, and on his return report what he 
thought of the place. And it is reason- 
able to believe that the fir^t settlers 
named the river after the man who in- 
duced them to locate near it. 

Captain Tom appears to have been a 
leading man in public matters, and pop- 
ular with the settlers. He came to West 
Jersey in 1604, and subsequently held 
various positions of j-esixmsibility, 



o/7 <7 ^ ' 7 



' 



84 



among them Keeper of Public Records, 
Commissaiy, Deputy Governor, kc. 

There is force in the remark made by 
Mr. Shreve, quoted in speaking of In- 
dian Tom, that a tradition handed down 
from old settlers should receive consid- ^ 
eratiou. But the writer has, in person ; 
or through friends, interviewed about, 
all the aged persons now or formerly 
livmg at Toms Biver that could be 
reached, and with the exception of the 
rambling writer who signed himself *' A 
Native," and -whose statements have been 
sufficiently answered, he has found no 
one who positively asserts the Indian 
Tom theory ; all they stated was simply 
a repetition of the statement of the late 
Uncle BiUy Harbor (Herbert), so favor- 
ably remembered in connection with our 
late stage line, who was authority on 
many local traditions. When questioned 
as to the origin of the name, his reply 
substantiaEy was : " It is said there was 
an Indian named Tom living in the vi- 
ckdty, and I suppose the name might 
have come from him." This was the 
natural guess of those who had heard of 
Indian Tom, but not of Captain Tom. 



The two old gentlemen referred to in 
the foregoing as being positive that the 
place derived its name from Captain Tom, 
belong to a family that had special oppor- 
tunities of obtaining information on the 
subject. William Salter (named by 
"Native,") was a commissioner appoint- 
ed in 1801 by the Legislature, to aid the 
remnant of New Jersey Indians in sell- 
ing their land. Before this, in 179G, 
Joseph Salter, whose heirs until late 
years owned the James Cook place, was 
commissioned to aid the Indians to lease 
their lands ; and before them, in 1756, 
Bichaid Salter was Indian Commissioner, 
(see Smith's New Jersey, and Samuel 
Allison's sketch of New Jersey Indians, 
in New Jersey Historical Society Pro- 
ceedings, January 1875). So that if the 
place had been named after the Indian 
Tom, they would have known it. 

From what has been said of Indian 

I Tom it seems impossible that the river 

i could have been named af tey him ; and 

from the facts presented it is safe to as- 

siime that Toms River derives its name 

from Captain WHliam Tom. 



\