A sketch of Camden city, New Jersey

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A. D. 1813-1873.

A SKETCH

oy

CAMDEN CITY,

NEW JERSEY.

[f 7 77/ . / rii; }J ' TO B USIjYESS.

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CAMDEN. N. J.

Boiisall & Carse, Federal Street;

1H73.

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60548

Entered iicrording to Act of Congreax in the year 1873, hy

,§onsulI tC' Cixrsc,

/n Mr C/f7A'« Office of the District Court of the United Statea
for the. District of New Jersey.

CONTENTS.

Preface 7

Dedication 9

Early Settlement 13

Threescore Years ago 19

The Crops 21

New Item 24

The Spell of the Potter 26

Jamie Charcoal 34

Citizen Browning 45

Farmer Hatch 47

Victualler Heyl 50

Ilichard Fetters 53

Kaighn's Point Kaighn 59

Capt. John W. Mickle 63

Dr. Isaac S. Mulford . 70

Jesse ^^^ Starr *S: Sons TS

PREFACE.

litis " Sketch'' IS harely one in
chalk, if not in charcoal; the hand,
however, is that of an eye-witness, who
Icnoivs whereof he doth testify.

The sleeping energies of Camden
need hut a hearty nudge or two to
aivahen them. Let the next Looker-
on do his share, and the sluggard
will at length arise in earnest.

DEDICATION.

Gen. George B. Carse,

United States Army.

Twelve years ago, when you pressed to
the front at the call of your country, made
through its chosen agent, Abraham Lincoln,
patriot and martyr, you opened a volume of
new experience which was thus thrust upon
you. Every parallel of latitude, if not every
new mile, as you marched southward, pre-
sented something of change in man and his
works ; keeping to the common central cha-
racteristics it is true, but branching into cu-
rious diversity. There you found — not only
buried, forgotten, but also undreamed of,
plain fireside comforts to which you were

X DEDICATION'.

born. The love of luxury lingering, nay ram»
pant there; its means of gratification within
call yet practically out of reach. A sort of
general crying for the moon existing, and
which w^as content to cry on. Until, when
at length you drove your tent-pins into the
almost unresisting soil of Florida, and turned
from the fading sunset to the north star for
the first time, you might have exclaimed —
Surely I have passed over much that is hard
to believe, but never to be forgotten!

Returned once more to your starting point,
after a triumph the most signal in all the an-
nals of war, the habit of improvement which
you applied abroad, should follow you like
your shadow in all after life. Wherever you
pitch your tent, no second winter should
settle on barren brambles around it; and
though the soft lawn grass may not spring
up in the first night, the former sod must be
broken up and better seed put in, knowing-
it ^vill be bread some coming day.

In the ])('ri()(li('al ])vess you liavc^ a power

DEDICATION. XI

to affect society greater than that of all the
artillery in Christendom. Let us hope that
our battle flags are furled for ever; or, only
to be spread, in contrast with their former
use, around the grand triumphal arch on
which shall be inscribed, " He is most illus-
trious who is most useful!"

To assist you humbly but heartily in an
attempt toward such a consummation, is the
desire of

TPIE AUTHOR.

SKETCH or CAMDEN,

NEW JERSEY.
PART FIRST.

In old Diedrich Knickerbocker's cele-
brated history of New York, as presented by
Washington Irving, we find the writer, be-
fore entering on his obvious task as historian
of that city, piling up labored statements to
prove that, first, this world had been created,
and second, that our hemisphere of it had
been discovered. I have never been satis-
fied as to the authorship of that whim ; and
am still in doubt whether we should credit it
to the simplicity of the old Dutchman, or
charge it to the complicity of his waggish

14 CAMDEN, N. J.

translator and editor. Either of them was
equal to its production. But I have formed
thus much of a conclusion concerning the
matter that I shall not follow the example
there set, but shall assume that all the indis-
pensable prerequisites to my subject (em-
bracing at least creation and discovery) have
been secured, and ask my readers to step
confidently with me upon that silicious pe-
ninsula, bounded by Cooper's Creek and the
Delaware River and named Camden, as a
fixed fact — a terrene axiom not to be dis-
puted.

In the war of our Revolution this town
does not seem to have been distinguished.
Indeed, Dr. Mulford, in his ample and exact
" History of New Jersey," fails to name
Camden once ; but, while in the act of clos-
ing his classic volume in disappointment if
not in despair, I found that he had actually
dated his preface at the very place which
had been sought for in vain in his text; thus

CAMDEN, N. J. 15

making some amends for previous silence by
lifting up his voice to our purpose, even after
he had uttered his last word as historian.

Within the memory of men now living, it
was usual to speak of the whole territory as
"the Jerseys;" which plural appellative was
ever a stumbling block in our early grammar
exercises. Dr. Mulford, however, removes
this obstruction with a few touches of his
fluent pen.

It seems that quite early in its history, the
entire tract of country known at present as
the State of New Jersey, was granted by its
royal claimant the Duke of York, to John
Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, two
noblemen of wealth and fame, who proceeded
to divide the same between them ; calling
the upper portion, or that nearest to New
York, " East Jersey," and the lower one,
" West Jersey." Hence, for a century at
least, it bore something of a duplex standing
in history; and though the boundary line

If, CAMDKN, N. J.

was never critically defined or insisted on, it
gave excuse for the otherwise odd nomen-
clature mentioned above.

Into this lower portion as thus designated,
some very desirable emigrants soon entered.
A party of Swedes took up lands near to
the present Swedesborough ; and farther up
the Delaware, say between Gloucester and
Burlington, those friends of peace, the disci-
ples of George Fox, under the countenance
of Robert Barclay and William Penn, pre-
sented their sober array.

Both of these parties came to cultivate the
soil, and to eat of the fruit of their labor; and
to a great extent they succeeded :

" Along the cool, sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."

Nor did this mild ambition pass utterly
away with t.liem. Tlie fashion of unobtrus-

CAMDEN, N. J. 17

ivc usefulness there and then set up is not
quite banished from its neat farms. The
drab coat (whose color seemed to have been
adopted in emulation of that of tlic roadbed)
has deepened into the soft olive or dark
brown ; and the sheltering bonnet on mother
and daughter resists the pinched saucer and
pattypan of the milliner, and the graceful,
majestic skirt defies, ay spurns the hideous
" Grecian bend !"

CAMDEX, N. J. 19

THREESCORE YEARS AGO.

Failing to discover any memorable mention
of Camden in our Revolutionary era — not a
single " toot" from Fame's trumpet about
her, we shall find her peaceful record furnish
dull materials wherewith to raise a huzzah
in these piping times of flaunting flags and
spread eagles. — " It's hard to make a silken
purse out of a sows ear" say the Scotch :
even so; but we shall not promise either silk
or velvet, but say, if there is nothing better,
there shall be nothing worse than good
homespun.

Taking our stand in Clirist Church steeple
in Philadelphia, about the close of the war
of 1812, we have a tolerable chuuce for
getting what artists call a "bird's eye view"
of the opposite Jersey shore. From above

20 CA.MDKX, N. ,1.

the range of Vine street southward to the
line of the Navy Yard, the river front of
Camden presented a gentle concave curve
measuring about two miles.

This entire region might be said to answer
to the name of Cooper. Had " Whistling
Bob" (a noted African oysterman of that day)
stood beside us, and in his splendid tenor
voice called out, " Friend Cooper!" at any
time of day or year, the placable Quaker
"Anan!" would have come back across the
broad Delaware most certainly.

The prevalence of this name in that neigh-
borhood has often attracted the attention of
the inquisitive, in the past hundred years.
\ D' It has been partly explained by the fact that a
person embraced in Penn's group of original
settlers actually bore that unostentatious pa-
tronymic ; but some ingenious etymologists
on the western shore have insisted on asso-
ciating it with the unfailing supply of tough
hoop-poles for which this part of our conti-
nent was so long celebrated. Whether tlu^

CA.VJ)EN, X. J. -Jl

original Cooper, in noble pride of bis craft,
planted himself among the hoops, or the
hoops (by natural " evolution") rose around
the Cooper, we shall not stop to determine;
sufficient for us that, in leaving them toge-
ther, we consider each in good company.

THE CROPS.

The landscape here offered to our view
could hardly be called striking. The primi-
tive forest marked the horizon a short mile
distant from the shore. As we looked east-
ward in winter we thought of pine wood and
pork; the latter mostly in the "comminuted"
condition of sausage-meat. In summer, green
peas, cucumbers, musk-melons, water-melons,
and sweet potatoes presented their varied
claims to attention, and were duly honored ;
though crowned and eventually crowded out
by that of the incomparable peach, which, at
the price of a •• ti'pLnin\ -bit a ha' peck" dis-

22 • CAMDEN, N. J.

tanced all competition and clearly overcrowed
all other " cries."

We step back in plain justice to the ver-
nacular of that period, to translate into it a
few of the items above. The melons were
offered and accepted as " mush-millions" and
" water-millions," (perhaps owing to the
number of seeds contained in them;) and
the cucumbers were known as " cow-comers"
doubtless because no sensible cow could be
induced to swallow one of them!

These varied products of " Jersey sand-
bank" weri3 brought to market in a style of
chariot never yet celebrated in song ; indeed
the only music ever connected with them
was that of their own creaking wheels, four
of which were set up and connected in the
most frugal manner, and on which was laid a
structure like a carpenter's wcrk-bcnch turn-
ed upside down; two broad boards h( Id
])erpendicularly on their edges by hickory
])ins, forming the sides, and scleral other

CAMDKX, N. J.

•28

boards, ranged flatly between tliese, making
the bottom of the wagon ; with a front and
tail-board of the same lowly pattern. These
bottom boards were not of uniform lenath,
one or two projecting a foot or more beyond
the others at the tail-board — evincing the
hearty contempt of the builder for technical
niceties, and thus presenting a tempting seat
to stray boys ambitious of a ride under any
circumstances.

The *' moving force" of these vehicles con-
sisted of a couple of quadrupeds called (by
courtesy perhaps) horses, whose main dis-
tinction lay in their difference of color; a
peculiarity never sufficiently accounted for,
but so nearly invariable in practice as to
cause such a piebald team in Pennsylvania
to be styled a "Jersey match." It has been
hinted that this contrast of color was intend-
ed to assist the main parties concerned as to
the actual count of the cattle; as otherwise
the owner (from the slight force exerted and
the moderate allowance of oats provided)

24 CAMDEN, N, J.

might be undecided in the estimate of his
"horse-power." It Avas useful also at the
ferry, whose rates were almost exclusively
determined by the number of horses ; the
load being treated as of secondary import-
ance, and the driver literally " thrown in" as
not worth namino; in the estimate !

THE NEW ITEM.

This short catalogue of " marketing" had
bounded alike the ambition of the farmer and
the cravings of the citizen for a century.
We have already glanced at the dark back-
ground of woods which met us in Jersey.
Its produce did not rate very high as timber;
and even as firewood, with plenty of white-
heart hickory, barren oak and white oak, it
was far from the level of a staple article in
trade. But " nothing is made in vain" says
the proverb; which was found in the fullness
of tim(> to apply even here.

CAMDExN, N. J. 25

About the date of George Washington's
death, there came to Philadelphia a Scotch-
man who had been trained to the trade and
mystery of a " potter" — Abraham Miller by
name. He proposed to serve the commnnity
in the particular of family earthenware, and
he succeeded to the decided satisfaction of
both parties. He cast his lot for life in Penn's
city, facing the extremes of its climate in-
vincibly but not insensibly. He knew well
that our dinners did not jump upon the table
without help, nor get that help without hands;
and in the true spirit of his mother he pitied
the whole sisterhood of our cooks during the
months of June, July and August, and in
their special behalf he contrived a sort of
fire-clay bucket, as a portable furnace, to be
heated by charcoal!

2C) CAMDRN, y. J.

THE SPELL OF THE POTTER.

The ancients, on questions of deep mo-
ment, had a habit of consulting the "birds;"
had our potter submitted the " constitution-
ality" of his furnace to the commonwealth of
crows which, beyond the memory of the
oldest inhabitant, had roosted in those pines,
(and those same thieving birds been half as
wise as they are cunning,) they would liave
" cawed" back such a protest as would have
deafened the adventurous Scotchman. But
he was not one of the ancients. He meant
to help the Philadelphia cooks, and extend
his business, and he did not raise any more
noise about the affair than was necessary.

Up to this period, that ill-defined territory
so literally condemned to the shade, had
stood in our historv mucli as the /ahara does

c a:\iden, n. j 27

to the nortlicrn coast of Africa, along which
fertile margin the vagrant sons of Ishmael
spread themselves, and tested their indivi-
dual daring by incursions into the ever-for-
bidding Desert. And thus, in the graphic
language of the late Joseph W. Cooper —
" Early purchasers in our part of Jersey ge-
nerally bargained for a certain breadth of
river front, and then were allowed to run
their lines back into the ' pine-barrens'
about as far as they had a mind to!''

But henceforth mark the change. In the
grasp of sly Abraham those pine-barrens be-
came "as clay in the hands of the potter!"
•At his bidding they did not quite put on
fl(^sh ; tliey became black diamonds, how-
ever; and with a little punning privilege, we
might say, he caused a movement in "Burn-
'em-Wood" such as neither Shakespear nor
Macbeth ever dreamed of I The house-
keepers of Philadelphia showed themselves
to be of one mind for once, and l)0Ufdit said

9g CAMDEX. X. .1.

lurnaces and called for charcoal; and lo,
from the " vasty deep" of the pines they
were answered, not by spirits, but by verit-
able " Carbonari," ready to serve them with
the one thing needful in the case.

Thus arose the Jersey charcoal tr^ide ; in-
troducing an additional item of home pro-
duce which never asked for protection or
promotion through the Tariff. No letters-
patent gave monopoly to the manufacturers,
who, safe in their native shadows, feared no
intrusion, and issued into sunshine sure of a
warm reception.

It has never transpired as to what pre-
mium was offered for the best form of vehicle
for bringing the coal to the consumer. It is
plain that the one adopted was modeled
upon the plan of the feed-trough of those
submissive horses already alluded to; with a
short piece in the tail-board, or a like hole in
the side of the wagon, suggested ])y the front

CAMDEN, N. J. 29

door of a chicken hous(\ wherein to insinuate
a shovel for unloading.

Rude as this business might seem to a
spectator v/earing white kid gloves, it em-
braced among its practisers genuine artists in
the original sense of the word. In filling the
wagon, the best specimens of well-burnt oak
were consciously (if not conscientiously) re-
served for the topping-off layer. Then, the
whole township was searched for the most
shrunken specimen of a " barl" to serve as a
measure; and ever and anon, in filling the
same, a convenient two-foot piece would
stick fast at an angle about equally diverse
from the horizontal and the perpendicular,
forming a cavernous vacuity that helped to
pay the ferryage!

Why are these metaphorical vacillations
of our charcoal men cited? Merely to scout
the abominable " monkey" theory now so
fashionable, as apphVd to tluip. -who. thougli

30 CAMDEN, N. J.

coming direct from the fraternity of the
'possums and woodchucks, presented unde-
niable credentials of human nature, and thus
might claim affinity with the rest of the fa-
family on the Pennsylvania shore, some of
whose prominent members plied short yard-
sticks in Second street, or sold stony coffee
in Market street. Ahem !

Within the embrace of the past threescore
years, a ferry was attempted at the present
site of Gloucester city, to communicate with
Greenwich Point opposite ; and doubtless
several " original invoices" of charcoal thus
crossed the river, and found entrance to the
city along the once celebrated Point House
Road, which picked its level way through
the marsh, barely a foot above the spring-
tides, and debouched through Greenwich
street upon "old" Second street. The main
supply of the coveted carbon, however, came
by South street ferry ; at length, emboldened

CAMDE.V, \. J. ^l

by the large demand, the wagons ventured to
climb Market street hill.

Notwithstanding this outlay of daring, our
charcoal men found themselves even here
barely on the verge of their speculative Ca-
naan. They were familiar with the water's
edge region only, and the city had already
become a world of streets and houses. But
our friend the old potter still watched the
whole field with the eye of Blucher himself;
and so he induced the city councils to ap-
point a locality as a charcoal mart. For this
purpose they set apart Dock street from the
place of the old Drawbridge up to the line
of Second street. This is Penn's sole "serpen-
tine" street, and these sons of the sandbank
coiled themselves into it with an alacrity that
seemed to admit its accordance with their
own long-accustomed ways! Its width al-
lowed two or even three wagons to stand
abreast. In the morning, the tall houses on
the eastern side warded off the sunshine ; in

'^2 ; CAMDEN, N. .),

the afternoon the men hid in the shadow of
their wagons. It was at once their Rialto
and their Academic Grove ; where those
swarthy brethren alternately walked or sat,
in seeming imitation of the rival schools of
Plato and Aristotle!

Besides its appalling extent westward, the
city stood closely built up on Front street
and Second street, all the way from the
Navy Yard up to " Pegg's Eun." Much of
this tract was too distant to allow its re-
sidents to run to the Drawbridge for their
charcoal, and no adventurous merchant had
as yet the courage to invest in a wagon load,
with a view to serving his neighbors by re-
tail. Hence it was hinted that our charcoal
men should break the monotony of their ex-
ile by "hawking" their merchandise from
door to door. A couple of progressive souls
acting on this suggestion, made a raid up and
down Second street one day, obtnining fabu-
lous prices, and oscapinu' safely with their

CAMDEN, N. J. g|^

cash avails to the other side of the Delaware.
Still the aversion of a Jersey man to turn a
square corner, or follow even a straight line
any distance, restricted the trade to narrow
limits.

[^^^[This perverse tendency to linear
aberration^ still haunts Camden, even to its
latest authorized avenue. About a couple
of squares seems to be the limit of her right
lined course. After proceeding that dis-
tance, the target man instinctively shies off
to the left or the right, as if he had one day
sold a short barrel of charcoal to some one
living right ahead!]

34: CAMDEX, N, J.

JAMIE CHARCOAL.

At length a very Joshua appeared, whose
appointed mission seemed to be to lead the
charcoal men clear through the Promised
Land. He came in the shape of a five-foot
high blacksmith, from the north of Ireland,
James was his baptismal name, and in his
first day's service, as pioneer of Jerseymen,
he was surnamed " charcoal," which stuck to
him henceforth through life.

Jamie Charcoal had a most progressive
dislike of hard work; but he knew all about
coal, and could find any spot in Philadelphia
either by day or night. So he offered his
services at the charcoal exchange in the
mixed capacity of usher and supercarg-o, to

CAMDEN, N. J. 35

the dingy custodians of this new summer
fuel, who, after crossing the Rubicon of the
Delaware, were still halting on the threshold
of their fortunes. The bargain was soon
struck, and a change followed.

Jamie armed himself with a tin trumpet,
and at each street corner, and at varying in-
tervals in our long squares, he gave a blast
that secured attention from great and small,
followed by the cry of " char-r-r-coal," to
which was added a couplet or two of doggerel
song, setting forth its virtues and its cheap-
ness.

For the time, the stolid city seemed to
wake up. The good housewives learned to
know Jamie, not only at first sight, but even
before they saw him ; they heard his clarion
announcement, and got the alley gate or
cellar door open in advance. In lact the
enterprise might be said to run through the
town like the literal wildfire of its commodity

36 CAMDEN, N. J.

when kindled under the pot. Miller sold his
furnaces, and the favored wagoners whom
Jamie took in tow, sold out their entire
cargoes by noon, in time to deposit their
cash before the bank closed. And our hero
found himself rapidly dividing public fame
and favor, with even General Jackson and
Colonel Pluck.

But here we might well fall back upon
Robert Burns's warning about the " best laid
schemes o' mice an' men." It came to pass
that our trumpeter, in his indiscriminate en-
thusiasm, waked up more than his customers.
There proved to be in Philadelphia divers
men, and even women, whose chief business
in life was to eat their irieals; and how
these were produced or earned (much less
cooked) was knowledge too mighty for them!
Whether a cook was roasted each day along
with the dinner, they neither knew nor
cared ; sufficient for them to find a succession
of both as time rolled on. These were just

CA.\I[)E>J, N, J. 37

the people also to sleep late in the morning,
and take a nap after dinner; and Jamie's
hearty summons was to them a real startling
reproach; it spoke of life and usefulness
abroad entirely above their level — a standard
of true stature entirely beyond their lazy
stretch.

There were others, too — the quiet and the
sick, whom this tin music really afflicted ;
none more than our worthy drab colored
Friends, who always associate the sound of
the trumpet with a scarlet coat if not with
blood. The furnace maker also was of peace-
ful temper, and declined the assistance of the
noise; and complaint was made to the city
authorities, and an ordinance was duly pre-
pared, in the most approved circumlocution
of the official legal scribe, and passed, for-
bidding the nuisance.

Of this proceeding Jamie was made ac-
quainted, and after scleral warnings by more

3^^ CAMDEX, N. J.

than one constable, he was at length arrested
and taken before the mayor.

The sturdy culprit made no boggling in
the matter, such as pleading not guilty. He
was taken flagrante delicto, and marched
into court with his trumpet stuck in his
ample breeches' pocket, somewhat in the
style of a dress sword.

" James," said the judge, " I am sorry to
see you here. Why do you raise this noise"?"

" Plase yer honor," answered Jamie, "just
let the wimmin
wid the coal sure!"

to let the wimmin know that we are coming

" But you know it is against the law, and
it disturbs the whole town," rejoined the

magistrate.

Jamie was of the true blue Presbyterian
church whose members always have a Scrip-

CAMDEN, N. J. .-^y

tuve text or inference at hand ; and in a
sharp tone he half answered, half inquired —

"An' if my little hor-r-n plagues 'em so,
how will they stand the last great trumpet?"

And he stared earnestly at the judge, his
red nose projecting between his sooty cheeks
like the bill of a poker just drawn from an
anthracite fire.

The magistrate was one who brought to
the bench that impressive sort of " weight"
which was so highly prized among the early
Dutch aldermen of New York, and Jamie's
reply (which might be characterized as both
pertinent and pert) seemed to move him
almost off his cushion. He rolled towards
the accused with something of the cumbrous
grace of a mammoth walrus on a mud bank,
and in a kindly tone counselled him to lay
by his horn. He must fine him, he said, but

40 CAMDEN, N. J.

he named the lowest sum possible under the
indictment.

Jamie would have swallowed almost any
given amount of good advice, that being an
article which was as familiar to him as his
old mother's face ; but this appeal to his
purse presented a dose against which both
head and stomach revolted.

" And must I pay the money, yer honorV
asked he.

" Yes, here and now," said the magistrate,
sternly.

Slowly he drew out that grimy buckskin
pouch, the invariable companion of his race,
which opens to receive money as easily as a
roasted oyster does to the knife, but which
snaps shut upon its prey with the angry vi-
gor of the trigger of a revolver!

CAMDEN, N. J, ^l

He paid his fine and went his way for the
time, quieted for once ; while his Honor ad-
journed the court; the assembly retiring
with un-vvonted gravity, evidently impressed
with the charcoal man's allusion to the great
final assize — that tribunal to which so few
lawyers are apt to appeal!

In a few days, however, our irrepressible
trader was heard from afresh. He had bar-
tered off his trumpet, with some of his black
diamonds to boot, for a hand-bell, and he
rang all the changes possible thereon through
court and alley, and shouted charcoal afresh
to the alternate delight and dismay of his
hearers. Now not one disciple of the realm
of " red tape," would assert that a statute
drawn against a horn would be effective
against a bell ; so the routine of petition and
remonstrance had to be travelled anew, while
Jamie like a comet was flying around in his
eccentric orbit, leaving his pursuers hope-
lessly beliind!
6

4'2 '■• CJAMDEN', N. J.

But there were opposing forces at work on
the side of" peace and quietness which the
prosecuting- attorney never dreamed of.

Blacksmiths are proverbial for the lodge-
ment of a " spark in the throat;" and Jamie
was too spirited a craftsmnn to blink any of
the staple requirements of his trade. He
also had a remarkably keen recollection of
every tavern he had ever visited, and a talent
at new discoveries in the same longitude that
would have been invaluable to either Mungo
Park or Dr. Livingstone. To change the
figure a little, we might say that he was like
certain avaricious sailing masters, who some-
times pile on more cargo than they can bring
safely to port. And thus it would come to
pass, that the pilot of the morning occasion-
ally stood sadly in need himself of a guide
before sunset. This gave rise to sundry
disputes about commissions and salvage; the
Jerseymen contending that if Jamie charged
for steering them out, it was worth some-

CAMUEN', N. J. 43

thing to tow him home! Besides, after se-
veral seasons' training, the wagoners became
able to find their own way through town ;
and to pay for anything which they could get
for nothing, was no trait of theirs. Thus,
our once sturdy pioneer found his occupation
decline. Even the sun must set as well as
rise ; so he slipped gently down life's western
slope, and joined the great "unreturning ca-
ravan." But a bell like his own is still
tinkling while I write, over the remains of
the charcoal trade in the streets of Pliila-
delpliia.

ADDITIONAL NAMES.

FELLOWS AND FOLLOWERS OF THE COOPERS.

Within our allotted limits of time and
space, besides (and by the side of) the ubi-
quitous Cooper, a few other names quietly
present themselves, not asking but deserving
notice : — Browning, Hatch, Heyl, Fetters,
Kaighn, Mickle, Mulford.

CITIZEN BROWNING •

Established a public house and ferry near
the foot of the present Market street, but its
" slip" must have stood a thousand feet in-
land from the ample landing- of the West

4:6 CAMDEN, N. J.

Jersey Ferry Company now succeeding it.
The boats (of horse or steam-power) varied
their place of arrival on the Philadelphia
side, between Poplar street and Arch street.

Mr. Browning also cultivated a clever
truck farm situated a short distance up the
famous Cooper's Creek. The ferry house
was considered commodious and well-kept
for the times, and the shady garden attached
was much resorted to in warm weather by
residents of the hot, red brick city opposite.

The present ferry company (West Jersey)
was mainly founded by his children, who,
numerous and well known, hold a marked
standing in the present generation.

(JAMDEX, N. J 47

FAEMER HATCH.

This sturdy truckman had made a lodge-
ment on one of the most desirable tracts of
land embraced in Camden limits. His farm
occupied the southern shore of the wide
channel of the Delaware river, opposite to
Petty's Island, running from the eastern line
of the Cooper's Point farm to the mouth of
Cooper's Creek, and embracing its western
shore for a short distance.

Its entire water front was covered with
comparatively large trees, and at the mouth
of the creek and adjacent thereto was an ex-
tensive flat, submerged in winter but covered
with reeds or wild rice in late summer. Va-
rious native game abounded there ; em-
bracing in autumn Reed Birds, Swamp Black
Birds, and even River Ducks, and in winter

48 CAMDEN, N. J.

robins and squirrels. These attracted hoards
of sportsmen who, starting with the general
assumption of being in a free country, and
enlarging their privileges thus inferred to li-
mits almost undefined, they annoyed the
whole region. This intrusion was resisted
most ferociously by farmer Hatch. He kept
quite a garrison of fierce dogs, and did not
hesitate to " bear arms," not only in self-de-
fence, but in clearing his territory of tres-
passers.

The regular navigation of the creek was
confined to the passage of a few market
boats bringing produce from the farms lying
up the stream; and, thus threatened and de-
fended, the mouth of Cooper's Creek was
almost as unknown to the general traveller
as the mouth of the Niger!

Under the depredations of the gunners thus
alluded to, a statute was enacted forfeiting
the firearms of all such intruders on private

CAMDEN, N. J. 4C)

property ; and the rude assertion of this pe-
nalty caused the death of a son of the suhject
of this article, less than twenty years ago.

This farm is now hounded southerly by
quite a miniature village of neat dwellings,
put up in connexion with a large woollen
mill, to accommodate the hands there em-
ployed. This factory has a side front on
State street, and a fine wharf and eastern
front on Cooper's Creek; it stands on an
eminence — a " bluff " in fact, and, compared
with the usual level of the country, holds a
most eligible position.

50 CAMDKN, N. J.

VTC'TUALT.ER HEYL.

Whoever frequented the market house ex-
tending from Front street to Second street,
in the middle of Market street, Philadelphia,
at the times now under remembrance, must
have noted the fine array of fixtures and
goods of the celebrated pork dealer Heyl of
Camden. Embracing a long array of cedar
tubs painted blue and lettered "Heyl" in red
capitals.

What Hudibras's " Talgol" was among
the beeves, surely stout neighbor Heyl was
among the swine. Pork in all its varied
phases — from the whole carcass to the finely
chopped fat and lean meat stuffed in trans-
parent casings and linked together by the

CAMDEN, N. J. 5-^

yard, was displayed on his capacions stalls ;
along- with finest leaf lard in corn-husk
wrappers, and the softer article in metal
buckets.

The genuine " Jersey sausage" was a fa-
vorite item at Philadelphia winter breakfasts;
and was distinguished both for quality and
style. The meat was good pork, seasoned
principally with fine garden sage, and stuffed
in the narrow intestines of the sheep ; thus,
from their smaller diameter, they cooked
more readily than the thicker " butcher" ar-
ticle, and had a tasteful, lady-finger look.

His extensive "works" stood about on the
line of the present Market street, Camden ;
whence his sterling stock was sent almost
daily across the river ; in severe frost using
even a sleigh for trans})ort.

.is a judge of meat, and a skilful handler
of the same, Mr. Heyl had scarcely an equal.

52 CAMDKN, N, J.

His movements at the stall were so apt and
easy as to be really graceful. He did not
wear the full frock of the profession, but had
the whitest of aprons, and over-sleeves drawn
on his brown coat, and buttoned at the wrist.

In later years a large pleasure garden was
established by some of his descendants, oc-
cupying several acres of ground near the
centre of the city, which became quite a po-
pular resort.

CAMDEN, X. J. 53

RICHAKD FETTERS.

Strolling southward toward the old limits
of the town-plot, we come upon what seems
to he almost a distinct settlement. The sur-
face is hardly above the high- water level of
the Delaware, and its tenem3nts and town
lots vary in size and shape, as if intended to
suit all applicants for the same — in fact to be
so accommodating as to leave but scanty ac-
commodations when put to the test.

This stray hamlet is known as " Fetters-
ville," introducing to us the citizen whose
name heads the present article; and whose
rise and progress may well be associated with
tliat of Camden.

Born to the noble inheritance, and tlie still
nobler habits, of useful iiuhistiy. he sc^rved a

54 CAMDEN, N. J.

long- apprenticeship to several laborious avo-
cations; settling eventually upon that of a
gardener and florist. He evidently had a
natural talent for the cultivation of plants,
and the same cheapness of soil which enabled
him to cover a large surface at small cost,
gave ample yards to his neighbors, among
whom his flower crops found ready sale. He
also sent some of his rare specimens to the
" city," as Philadelphia was invariably de-
signated.

His habits were as frugal as Stephen
Girard's; and his general history, though
stretching over a smaller sphere, reads much
like that of the great merchant.

This village of Fettersville arose in this
wise. The level of tlie land was low, and the
cost of the property to him was proportioned
accordingly. It lay comparatively adjacent
to the lower feiry which sent its boats to

(JAM DION, N. J. ;55

South street, Philadelphia, tlirou<^]! wliioh
intercourse the region became known.

Now Richard Avas not restricted in his
dealings by narrow views about either the
clime or complexion of purchasers; and a
number of colored persons bought town lots
in his tract, and " improved" the same in a
style w^hich rather strained the literal mean-
ing of that promising word. But an acre of
ground " cut up" to better account in this
way, than when laid out in market truck ;
and the humble African here got something
of a humble home, safe from the oppression
and contamination of white-faced neighbors
on the Pennsylvania side of the river, whose
inner surface was blacker than his own !

Thus both " the parties of the first part,"
as the conveyancers have it, seemed satisfied,
and left those who might follow them, either
to "fall in and keep step," or keep their
distance.

;55 CAMDEN, N. J.

In latter years Richard rose to civic hon-
ors and weight though small in stature. x\s
school director and bank director he served
with fidelity if not with dignity. His latest
mansion, with its wreath of '• Wistaria," sets
a sound example to the neighborhood, of a
comfortable dwelling; and the sale of his
large collection of plants went far to give
him a fragrant remembrance.

His acquirements in " book learning" were
but moderate; his main choice of reading
keeping in the botanical line. Sometimes
the classical name of a plant cost him more
effort to ascertain and pronounce, than the
propagation of forty layers or seedlings from
the same ; but when the coveted orthography
and prosody were at last attained, even the
cash price of the article seemed secondary to
these for a time; visiters of the greenhouse
and garden being dosed with the mangled
Greek, whether they bought the plant, or
bowed themselves out of hearing.

('AMDKN, N. J. 57

His inexpensive habits of living have been
already alluded to. His chosen costume was
that of a working man, preferring a style of
clothing which nearly defied the worst of
weather. After his wealtli had actually
thrust public trust upon him, some laughable
instances occurred of candidates mistaking
Richard for his latest wheelbarrow man.

Among them we may mention the case of
an aspirant for a place to the acquisition of
which the old florist's vote was indispens-
able. He was sought at home and at the
court-house, and was at length tracked into
his nursery. The young gentleman in broad-
cloth inquired of the first person he met —

" Is this Mr. Fetters 's placed '

" Yes," answered a small man half covered
with compost.

" Is he in?" proceeded the inquirer.

"He is," replied the same imperturbable
man of clay.

8

58 CAMDEN, N. J.

" Can I see him?" added the anxious can-
didate.

"Guess you'll hardly have a better chance,"
replied Richard, " for I'm him — but you'll
have to wait till I finish potting these here
jewranyinn s!

Adieu, old knig-ht of the spade and rose-
tree! Among his generation, v/e might say,
" many worse, bettor few" than he.

CAMDEN, N. J. .")f)

KAIGHN'8 POINT KAIGHN.

On the sunward boundary of the town
which we are surveying historically, just on
the southern horn of that crescent which we
drew topographically on its front at the out-
set— a name appears of rather occult ortho-
graphy, viz. Kaighn, and pronounced most
.suspiciously like that of the fugitive son of
Adam!

The immediate date of his advent has not
been found, but traces of his presence can be
identified within tlie past century, Kaighn's
Point soon became the point aimed at by ex-
plorers from old Southwark and the lower
p;irt of tlie city })roper, who had the courage

50 CAMDEN, N. J.

or curiosity to cross the Delaware in search
of "fresh fields and pastures new."

Sandy and sunburnt the country spread
around in summer, drinking greedily all the
crystal tribute of the sky, from the smallest
dew drop to the plunging globules of the
northwest thundergust. And in winter, as
Campbell says of Hohenlinden, " all bound-
less lay the untrodden snow," occasionally
broken by the track of a wood sled, as the
grounds near the " point" were sometimes
used as a depot for firewood, which, when
the river became frozen sufficiently firm, was
carried across on light sleds to the Southwark
landings, especially to that at foot of Almond
street.

A couple of venerable two-story dwelling-s
stood on the line of the river road (the pre-
sent Second street,) having two or three
very large box-wood trees and two dwarf
yew trees in front of tliem. The trees wen^

CAMDEN, N. J Ql

acknowledged as the oldest " living inhabit-
ants" of the region, at the beginning of the
current century, and how far backward from
that time their birth or planting dated, even
tradition is silent.

The present " avenue" ran eastwardly not
above one-third of a mile, in a tolerably right
line, but following the invariable "bent" of
Camden surveys, it then deflected as old
Brace Road, to the only bridge over Cooper's
Creek. About twenty-five years ago, by a
most notable stroke of courage, this avenue
(or Main Street then called) was opened
eastward, and entered the Haddonfield turn-
pike road just at its first toll-gate from Cam-
den. This should have added perceptibly to
the business of the ferry, whose position di-
rectly opposite to the Philadelphia Navy
Yard, with a channel unobstructed by island
or shoal, surpasses in natural advantages any
other thus far established.

(32 CAMDEN, N. J.

As early as 1816, a steamboat plied from
foot of South street, Philadelphia, to said
Kaighn's Point; where several members of
the original family were settled; having
dwellings mostly situated upon Main street,
with gardens of liberal dimensions attached.

The commercial advantages of this old
centre of intercourse, have not been thus far
recognised.

CAMDEN, N. J. ^^i^

Capt. JOHN WHITALL MICKLE.

Between Kaighn's Point and Gloucester, a
large and (for a long time) well kept farm,
brought before the traveller the name of
Captain Mickle.

His ancestors were decided members of
Friends' Meeting; but if our subject was
counted in that communion from birth, he
must have " leaped the wall" when quite
young ; for we find him of the party of the
war of 1812.

He chose seafaring as a profession, making
various voyages on the Atlantic ocean. And
among his adventures there was one con-
necting him with an attempt to liberate
Napoleon Bonaparte from liis iin])ris(jiiinent

{J4 CAMDEN, N. J.

on the island of St. Helena. This stirring
event was never elaborated into intelli-
gible narrative, nor even put upon record by
the only one who knew all the facts.

The dethroned emperor died in 1820.
How long after that event our captain deter-
mined to cast anchor on dry land, and furled
his sales permanently, cannot now be ascer-
tained ; but more than forty years ago, when
Camden was chosen as the southern terminus
of the great rail road between Philadelphia
and New York, we find him at the front and
ready for service.

He chose his permanent residence in the
centre of Camden, and became at once active
in the great enterprise which thus rolled in
upon that hitherto sequestered town almost
like the eruption of a volcano. The proposal
to make the journey from Philadelphia to
New York in the same daylight, sounded
like a revival of the dreams of Oliver Evans,

CAMDEN, N. J. (j^

the steam enthusiast of a former a<>e ; but
the daring of the attempt alone was sufficient
to beckon Captain Mickle towards it. What-
ever his aspirations may have been as a
sailor, he seems to have laid them all aside
from this time forward.

In neighborly intercourse he was rather
kindly disposed — easily moved at the sorrows
of the poor, and comparatively willing to as-
sist in relieving such. In business his man-
ners were ungracious, to say the least ; he
seemed to speak always as from the quarter-
deck, and permitted no appeal from his
decisions, allotting neither time nor space for
the opinions of others. But his duty, as far
as he understood it, was most scrupulously
performed; turning back from no proper risk
or responsibility.

He admitted his fellowship with the "Free
Thinkers;" yet he more than once helped
a church witli monev. Passing as one '• witli

55 ("AMIM^X. N. J.

small belief encumbered," yet he had more
than one anchor that never dragged. He
believed steadfastly in General Jackson, the
Camden and Amboy Rail Road, and the
Philadelphia and Camden Ferry Company ;
and somewhere within the points of this tri-
angle he was ahvays to be found. City, state,
and national politics were all driven into this
enclosure, like sheep into a fold, and fattened,
and fleeced, and slaughtered, according to
the demands of the ruling powers there.

This ferry company was charged with the
conveyance across the Delaware, of the pas-
sengers and freight of the various rail road
trains running between Philadelphia and
New York. In seasons of severe frost, this
was a hard service for the ferry boats of the
size then prevalent. The captain had not
studied marine architecture in due form ;
but he planned and superintended the build-
ing of the " Dido," a ftn-ry boat which for
twenty years surpassed in good service any

CAMDE>\ X. J. (^1

otlior boat on the Delaware. And certainly,
as director of the rail road and president of
the ferry company, "we ne'er shall look
upon his like again."

Some seventeen years ago, a small, weak
l)oat (the New Jersey) was burnt on her <^'>^"^-v '
passage across the river, and a number of '

persons lost their lives thereby. Botli sides
of the river condemned the carelessness in-
volved in the catastrophe, and the company
was cited by the coroner, and complaint was
also lodged in the criminal court of Camden,
• and Captain Mickle was summoned to the
stand.

He admitted that the unfortunate boat
belonged to his company ; but he insisted
that she was sound and seaworthy in form
and in fact ; and concluded by averring that
" she was a better boat the night she was
burnt^ than she was the day she was
launciiedl"

* : , '■• ' ^..<^ /^^^. ut^ f^^'^^-

58 CAMDEN, N. J.

This formed rather an advance over any-
thino^ like lec^al testimonv hitherto offered in
New Jersey. However it might bear on the
particular case which drew it out, the gene-
ral conclusion was, that hereafter, if any
exigency arose for " swearing a case through
a stone wall," Captain Micklo would be a
likely man to lead the way.

But we must not forget that, when there
was no such thing as getting a hearty drink
of good water in Camden, Captain Mickle
sunk an artesian well at his own expense,
and made its bright crystal free to all well-
behaved comers.

And, more than all — when the stars and
the stripes were shot down from Fort Sumter,
Captain Mickle presided at the town meet-
ing in Camden, and in his short, blunt ad-
dress he said —

" The news is, that they hav(^ shot down

CA.MDEN, N. J.

69

our flag from the United States fort at South
Carolina. Now you see that flag has got to
go up again!"

As true a prophet as patriot, let this be his
epitaph I

70 CAMDEN, N, J.

Dr. ISAAC S. MULFORD.

In passing np Federal street from the
river, standing full a hundred feet from
the line of the street, is a large, plain brick
mansion. It is the former home, and was
for a long time the residence, of Dr. Mulford
of Camden. Its style is that of seventy-
years ago ; all its features are harmonious —
so much so, that any thoughtful person facing
the edifice, will seem to hear or to see an ap-
peal from the past.

Dr. Mulford was brother-in-law to Captain
Mickle, but they did not associate much.
The former was the opposite, indeed the an-
tipode of the latter; he was silent, thought-
ful, and almost austere in aspect. He could

CAMOEN', N. J, -yi

recollect Camden when he mif^-lit liave count-
ed all its commodious houses Tipon his ten
fingers; and he walked along its lengthening
streets to the last, with the same deliberate
step as he did threescore years ago.

As physician and druggist he must have
come in contact with the residents of the
whole settlement, and of much of the sur-
rounding country. His pale, unimpassioned
face was familiar at almost every bedside ;
his low, calm voice was that of a friend in
need. His long white fingers seemed made
to feel the pulse, and in tlu^ words of Samuel
Johnson, he exhibited " the power of art
without the show."

In middle life the Dr. joined the society of
Friends, leaving the severe creed of Calvin for
the milder one of Fox. But, as Milton said
of himself, " I change my sky but not my
mind when I cross tlie sea," so the Dr. carried
his coat unchana'ed in color into tlie new

72 CAMDKN, N. J.

fraternity, sitting in meeting and walking by
the way as the "Quaker in black."

His practice as a physician was gradually
handed over to younger aspirants, and his
closing service is that of historian of New
Jersey. His patience and faithfulness ad-
mirably qualified him for the task, and he
has fulfilled every reasonable requirement of
the same.

SKETCH OF (WMDF.N,

NEW JERSEY.
PART SECOND.

The observant traveller from Europe, (or
indeed from any part of tlie slowly-ehanging-
old hemisphere.) who arrives in Chicago,
with correct information furnished him of its
age and history — will be astonished, if not
stunned by the bare evidence laid before his
senses. Streets of palaces are there; temples
of trade, where Mammon himself seems sur-
feited; hixurious dwellings, in whose patcli
of unbuilt garden surface the almost warm
footprints of the buffalo and wild hog may be
found ! Tlie dreams of Aladdin liardened
into arcliitectural granite.
10

74 c.niDKN", X. J.

Passing- to some other prominent points
embraced in our web of railways, let oiiv
visiter at leni^th roll eastward through Penn-
sylvania, and after fighting his angular way
through Philadelphia's red labyrinth, lot
him " ferry" himself to Camden, N. J.
There he will find a level area, within
easy rifle range of the largest territorial city
of the world, (and which was once the na-
tional capital and still is its true metropolis)
with scarcely a safe landing at its Delaware
front, and with two-thirds of its surface still
cohered with sandburrs or spatterdocks! He
will find here nearly enough of stagnancy to
restore his equilibrium of progress.

If we wonder how some of our western
wilds have dashed forward into towns and
cities in a few years, we may ec[ually wonder
how through a full century Camden has man-
ao(>d to stand still.

.Something' of an excuse for this sluggish-

CAMDEX, N. J. 75

iicss lias been sought in her water boundary,
(Uviding- her from the towering city of Pcnn;
but Brooklyn is also water bounded, and her
territory is actually an island; she is now,
however, determined to have a bridge cost
what it may.

But to borroA\' calm counsel from the most
passionate people on earth — " let byganes he
byganes" in this matter. Leaving the torpor
of one hundred and fifty years to bur} its
own dead, let us see what may be done to-
day and to-morrow in the wav of sensible
advance.

Camden territory is a peninsula of nearly
uniform width, bounded principally by the
DelaAvare river and Cooper's creek. The
ibrmer is one of the finest rivers of this con-
tinent, and its widest channel at this spot is
on the Camden side. The most extensive
iinpr(n-emc nt on this front is that of the
Caiiid n and Ambov Rail Road, and consists

75 CA.MDliX, X. J.

of tracks and stabling for locomotives, and
slips for shipment of burden trains. These
erections are thus for special nse, and present
no accommodations to general commerce.
Farther south are the wharf and dock of the
" Dredging Company," also tied up to special
service; and towards Kaighn's Point is the
fine property of Starr, Brothers, which is
slowly getting into usable condition. The
only complete landing (embracing wharves
and docks) for general business, is that of
Messrs. John F. Starr and Son, at loot of
Market street.

The various ferries arc not of course pub-
lic landings, though tliey are certainly public
conveniences of the first order; and the ship-
yard at Cooper's Point, has also it^ own re-
stricted functions.

The greater part of tlie northern front has
a fine elevation for dv/ellings, and sliould
]la^•(• been kept as a '' iiortli (^nd terrace" for

CAMDEN, N. J t t

beautiful mansions in harmony with tho phin
of State street. But good natured '-Joe
Cooper" sokl any one a lot for any thing, and
tlius its real advantages have been marred.

The eastern boundary is by Cooper's
Creek ; and this remains, if not rightly ap-
propriated, at least to a great extent unper-
verted.

This ''Creek" would count as quite a river
in densely-populated Europe. Its navigable
extent must be nearly ten miles. Its course
is undeniably "sinuous," but its depth is
comparatively uniform and sufficient for
floating very heavy freight, with a channel a
hundred feet wide. On each side of it are
large tracts of fertile meadow, now much ne-
glected, but capable of profitable cultivation
by good embankments, or by improvement
in other ways.

It is plain that this region marks the m-d-

7y CAMDEN, N. J.

nufacturiiig front of Camden, where lies un-
developed wealth by millions. Assurances
like these are so easily made — these things
called " ciphers" so readily fill up a dazzling
line, that we offer to try in this closing page
to see liow far history will fortify our pro-
phecy.

JESSE W. STAllR & SONS.

On the right hand bank of this creek, as
you travel upwards, may be found the iron
works of Jesse W. Starr and Sons. The ori-
ginal ])lot occupied by this firm contained
about eleven acres, and is still tlie area in
actual use ; and tlie changes already devel-
oped on this former little truck farm, deserve
mention. Sixty years ago its best results
might have " fed and clothed" a family of
four on this wise. By unremitting labor that
hardly noted the flight of time except by the
extremes of heat and cold, a fare of rye bread
and molasses, mitigated by sweet potatoes
and hot-corn. Mas f>\torted. and at times ex-

cami)i:v, n. j.

79

tended to a grudging addition of stiingy pork,
a portion of which latter was bartered off for
linsey woolsey clothing. While at our pre-
sent view, some five hundred and fiftjj
families have a comfortahlo living out of those
same eleven acres!

The firm is composed of Jesse W. Starr,
Benjamin A. Starr, and Benjamin F. Archer.
The business is that of an extensive iron
Foundry, where some of the largest and many
of the best cast iron pipes of tlie country have
been made ; using at present six cupohi fur-
naces. The property includes the entire
surface of marsh down t(^ the county l)ridge,
where the Camden and Amboy Company Inn'e
just laid two tracks of rails for the accommo-
dation of these works. The capacity of the
whole creek region is fairly indicated in this
single instance. Mr. Starr is a thorough mas-
ter of his business and has devoted his whole
energies to its prosecution. In this state-
ment we present merely a literal fact; an iron

y{) cam;)kn, X. J.

one indeed, in all its strength b-it not with its
usual harshness.

Returning from the works, as we cross the
Haddonfield road, we come upon a triangular
garden embracing the mansion of Mr. J. W.
Starr. This garden is enclosed by the finest
" live fence" (a hedge of Osage orange) in
America, and contains in its seven acres of
flowers and fruit enough of peaceful beauty
to make any good judge who enters it, say
with Sancho Panza, that he fain would stay
there longer than he is able!

The entire establishment presents a speci-
men of American life fit for the severest
scrutiny : courageous industry busy to useful
ends, radiating from and returning to a com-
fortable, delightful home. Long may the
example and the exemplar remain among us!

W 80

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