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]:astern (iABLJ-: of the old stone house
From a photograph by Percy Moran.
THE
STORY OF AN OLD FARM
OR
Life in New Jersey in the Eighteenth
Century
By ANDREW D. MELLICK, Jr.
WITH A GENEALOGICAL APPENDIX
XLbe *Clnionist=(5a3ctte
Somcrville, IRcvv Jersey
1889.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1889, by
ANDREW D. MEUJCK, Jr.,
of Plainfield, New JerseV; in the office of the I^ibrarian of Congress, at Washington.
PREKACE.
WHEN the writing of the "Story of an Old Farm" was
undertaken it was not anticipated that the completed
volume would find readers beyond a limited circle. The narra-
tive it was supposed would prove interesting only to the descend-
ants of the founder of the homestead which had been the
inspiration of its pages, and, perhaps, also, to a few local read-
ers. But as the work progressed its scope broadened, until
the compilation gradually assumed a character calculated to
interest lovers and students of general history. Finally, valuable
material accumulating, the author found embodied in the chapters
so much fresh information relating to colonial and Revolutionary
times in New Jersey as to warrant his seeking readers beyond
the realm of kinsfolk and township residents. It was still neces-
sary to preserve the original plan of the narrative, but it is hoped
that the general reader will take in good part, and not find
objectionable, the slight filament of family annals that runs through
the successive chapters. After all, it is but a gossamer thread,
and one that has served an excellent purpose — now as a silken
clue to the labyrinth of historical research, and always as the
continuous cord upon which has crystallized a mass of interesting
facts, traditions and incidents, illustrative of times and customs
now long bygone.
If there is any virtue in writing from an inward impulse , the
pages of the "Story of an Old Farm" should furnish easy read-
ing and bear the marks of a "free and joyous expression."
Though not by birth a son of the soil, heredity, environment
and sympathy had made the author a Jerseyman to the core,
and in telling the story of this old Somerset farm he brought to
iv The Story of an Old Farm.
the task an enthusiastic love for the subject. Throughout boy-
hood and youth all summers were passed in Bedminster township,
in which this ancestral plantation is located ; thus was imbibed a
deep affection for its waving grain fields, breezy uplands, broad
meadows and babbling streams — an affection that has grown with
each year of later life. This love for its physical aspects and
natural beauties inspired a corresponding interest in, and regard
for, the memories of those men and women of previous generations
who had passed their lives on this old homestead. So it was that
a desire for investigation and research was incited, tending to
divulge all that could be learned of the daily walk and conversa-
tion, not only of such persons as had called the " Old Stone
House " home, but of their contemporaries throughout the county
and state. This resulted in the collection of material that, though
the writing of this book was not in contemplation at the time,
ultimately powerfully promoted the completion of the work.
All of the foregoing is not properly a preface but an explana-
tion. The true preface is to be found in the two chapters that
open the story. They will tell of this Jersey homestead and its
early founder, and make plain the inspiration of this volume.
And yet, all things considered, it is for these opening pages that
the reader's most indulgent criticism is desired. The book con-
tains forty chapters. Of thirty-eight but little apprehension is
felt as to their accuracy, for the statements therein have been
subjected to the most rigid tests of severe scrutiny and repeated
investigation. But for Chapters I. and II. it is confessed that
allowances must be made. The picture they present of the farm,
of its approach, and of the surrounding country, is painted by
the hand of affection — an artist always prone to be .too lavish
with color. Scenes that were witnessed by the boyish eyes of
nearly thirty years ago are now reproduced with a faithfulness
that is of the past, rather than of the present. While wi'iting
these chapters the walls of the author's chamber, under the touch
of a loving remembrance, fell away, disclosing the sunny slope of
a Somerset hill on which an old coimtry house, with low eaves
and thick stone walls, lies back from the meadows that border
the north branch of the Raritan river, just where Peapack brook
loses itself in that stream. This sturdy dwelling — seen with the
eyes of memory — has a wealth of old-fashioned accessories, and
Preface. v
its surroundings are in perfect keeping with its happy expres-
sions of utilitarian simplicity and homely picturesqueness. The
short, thick turf of its dooryard is shaded by contemplative elms,
and studded with tall, bulbous bushes of box and roses of Sharon.
At its eastern gable, in an ancient garden, bloom hereditary lilies,
sweet peas and many-colored asters. The little windows that
pierce the western gable survey a colony of barns, haymows and
strawricks ; while still beyond, an old orchard flanks the high-
way which creeps up a long hill until it disappears over its crest,
a quarter of a mile, or more, away. Plenteous harvests gladden
the fields, fleecy sheep whiten the hillsides, cattle, deep in the
clover of the meadows, are steeped in sweet content, while in
the house, at the barns and on the surrounding acres is to be
heard the voice of happy industry. This is memory's picture —
one full of cherished associations. Now, alas, all is changed !
Adversity and the grave have played sad havoc with the aspect
and condition of the "Old Farm," and a visitor would look in
vain for much that is apparently promised by these pages.
The warmest acknowledgments of the author are due to the
many persons who by their knowledge and advice have aided in
the preparation of this work. To enumerate them all would be
to present a formidable list of coadjutors. It would be the sura of
ingratitude, however, not to express the deep sense of obligations
he is under to Doctor John C. Honeyman of New Germantown,
N. J., whose patience and kindness have been unremitting. In
the genealogical appendix his help has been invaluable, and the
chapter treating of Zion Lutheran church would have been a
mere skeleton of its present proportions without the information
he has furnished. In many other ways the "Story of an Old
Farm" has greatly benefited by Doctor Honeyman's intimate
acquaintance with New Jersey's colonial and Revolutionary his-
tory. It is also desired to make particular mention of the
valuable services freely given by William P. Sutphen, Esq.,
of Bedminster township — a life-long resident on the "Old Farm"
and an antiquarian by nature and habit. To him the author is
indebted for many original papers, and much interesting lore
regarding the old people and times of Bedminster. Much has
also been learned from Adjutant-General William S. Stryker of
Trenton, an eminent authority as to New Jersey's Revolutionary
vi The Story of an Old Farm.
period — from William Nelson, Esq. and the Honorable Frederick
W. Ricord of the State Historical Society — and from the Reverend
Henry P. Thompson of Readington, N. J. Efficient aid has been
furnished by Charles W. Opdyke, Esq. of Plainfield, N. J.,
William O. McDowell Esq. of Newark, N. J., and the late
S. L. M. Barlow, Esq. of New York, the latter having kindly
placed at the author's disposal his valuable library of Americana.
Here is also the proper place to recognize the courtesy of the
editors of the Magazine of American History^ the Pennsylvania
Magazine of History and Biography, and the New York Evening
Post, who have permitted the reproduction in this volume of
considerable matter that has already appeared in their columns.
On the coming pages there will be found numerous statements
of a historical nature, some of which have not before been pub-
lished, while many of them appear for the first time in a con-
secutive or connected form or oi'der. In reaching information
that may appear fresh and new naturally some readers will
deplore the omission of foot notes containing references to
authorities. To such persons it is desired to explain that much
care has been taken in preserving and tabulating the titles of
books, the names of authors and individuals, and the evidence,
generally, upon which aU facts and statements, new or old, con-
tained herein arc based. The writer will at any time cheerfully
turn to these notes in order to answer personal applications for
sources of information. In addition, a very comprehensive list
of authorities will be found in the appendix.
And now ends this long and very personal prologue. The bell
rings ! The curtain rises on the first scene, showing the Peapack
stage, with horses harnessed and luggage strapped, only waiting
for you, reader, to start for the '' Old Farm."
I'l^AFNFiKLi), New Jkrsey, October 23, 1889.
CONXKNT^S.
CHAPTER I.
The Peapack Stage — Sunday Morning at Bedminster Church — A
Ketired Hamlet. 1-11.
From Somerville to Bedminster — Scenes on the Way — A Loquacious Stage-
driver — An Ancient Tavern — The Blue Hills — The Revolutionary Village of
Pluckamin — A Picturesque Ford — ^Van der Veer's Mills — The Venerable Church
of Bedminster — Incidents of a Morning Service — The Foot-Path through the
Graveyard — A Motley Array of Vehicles — The Small Boy and the Delightful
Old Lady — The Village of the Lesser Cross Eoads — Rusty Houses and Old-
Fashioned Gardens — A Queer Little Shop — Wiseacres at the Village Store — The
Old Schoolhouse — Boyish Reminiscences — The Admonitory Gad — The Mine
Brook Swimming Hole — Over the Hills to the Old Farm.
CHAPTER U.
The Old Farm — Its Upland Acres, Broad Meadows, and Ancient
Stone Home.stead. 12-21.
Walking North From the Village — Observations by the Way — The Charms
of a Country Road — A Neglected God's-acre — The Confines of the Old Farm —
A Royal Grove — The Landscape Full of Sentiment and Beauty — A Buoyant
Country, and Grassy Cascades — The Outlook From the Long Hill — Summer
Vegetation and the Lovely Mystery of Color — The Brawling Peapack Brook —
A Grand Old Maple — The Old Stone House Rests on a Sunny Bank of Turf —
Its Comely, Quaint Presence, and Wealth of Old-fashioned Accessories — A
<;)harming Rural Picture — The Interior a Bit of the Old World — The Outer
Kitchen and Dutch Oven — The Founders of This Old Homestead in 1752 —
Why Their Story is Told in These Pages.
CHAPTER m.
Bendorf on the Rhine — Johannes Moelich Emigrates to America —
The Condition of Germany in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries. 22-34.
Coblentz and its Ancient Town Wall — The Vast Fortification of Erhenbriet-
stein — Terraced Vineyards and Valleys Stored with Legend and Romance —
viii The Story of an Old Farm.
Bendorf Surrounded by Apple Orchards— The Aspect and Architecture of the
Town — One of the Oldest Churches in Germany— The Home of Johannes Moe-
lick and His Wife Mariah Katrina — He Sets Sail for America The Great
German Exodus and its Cause— German Happiness Before tlie Thirty Years'
War— The Miseries of that Contest— The Country People Fly From Their Dis-
mantled Villages and Wasted Lands — Peace Banquets are Spread in 1648 — But
Little Comfort Comes to the Khine Valley — Subsequent Continental Wars —
Louis XIV. Devastates the Palatinate — Despotic Princes, Petty Persecutions and
Cruel Conscriptions— The German Turns His Back on Fatherland — The Great
Flood of Emigration to America.
CHAPTER IV.
German Expatriation —The Distribution of Teuton Emigrants in the
American Colonies. 35-49.
First Movement to America — William Penn and Pennsylvania — Pastoriou&
Settles Gerraantown— Neuwied — Settlement of the German Valley in New Jer-
sey — Newburgh Founded by Kockerthal — The Great Hegira to England in 1709
— Cause of the Movement — Camping on Blackheath— Thirty Eight Hundred
Palatines Remove to Ireland — The Sufferings of Heidelberg — Emigrants from
Heidelberg Found Newbern, North Carolina — Governor Robert Hunter — Ten
Ship Loads of Palatines Brought by Him to New York — Settlement at Living-
ston Manor on the Hudson, and in Scoharie, Montgomery, and Herkimer Coun-
ties, New York — Disatisfaction of the Colonists with Their Treatment by the
New York Authorities — Pennsylvania Grows in Favor with Emigrants — Arri-
vals between 1700 and the Revolution.
CHAPTER V.
Johannes Moelich Reaches Pennsylvania in 1735 — His Experiences
In Philadelphia And Germantown. 50-64.
The Crooked Billet Wharf — Arrival of the Ship Mercury with Johannes
Moelich — The Aspect and Area of the City — Johann Peter Moelich — Impres-
sions on Landing — A Walk on Chestnut Street — A Gang of Newly Imported
Negroes — The Slave Auction — Colonial Houses — Quaint Interiors — Dogs as
Meat Roiisters — Whipped at a Cart's Tail — Stocks and Pillory — Flinging Eggs
at Malefactors — The New State House — Visits of Savages to the City — Indian
King Tavern — Christ Church — Odd Costumes — Quakers and Gallants — Old Gen-
tlemen and Servants — Penn's House — His Second Visit to Pennsylvania —
William Trent — The Founding of Trenton in 1719 — The Blue Anchor Tavern —
Philadelphia Eijuipage in 1735 — Pack Horses — Introduction of Wagons — Johan-
nes Starts for Germantown — The Ride Through the Woods — The Aspect of the
Settlement.
CHAPTER VI.
Letters From The Old Country — Bendorf Comes Under The Dominion
Of The Murdering Margrave of Anspach. 65-73.
Joh. Georg Hager, the Village Praccptor Writes in 1745, Giving all the
Contents. ix
Bendorf Gossip- - A Great Fire Burns all the Houses Between the Stein-Gate and
the Bach-Gate — Who Have Died, Who Have Married, Who Grown Rich and
Poor — Bendorf Transferred to Anspach — The Many Separate Kingdoms of Ger-
many — Frederick and Maria Theresa — Despotic German Princes —Their Taxes
and Oppressions — The Idiosyncracies and Wickednesses of Bendorfs New
Buler — German Lawyers — A Letter from Cousin Joh. Anton Kirberger in 1749
— How the Second Silesian War Distressed the Inhabitants of Bendorf — The
Banks of the Rhine a Highway for Troops Marching between Holland and
Austra — Billets and Forages Impoverish the People — More German History.
CHAPTER VII.
Johannes Moelich Appears in New Jersey in 1747 — His Brother God-
frey — Echoes from the Ancient Walls of Zion Lutheran Church
AT New Germantown In Hunterdon County. 74-96.
Johannes and Godfrey Moelich in Sussex County, N. J. — In 1750 Johannes Is
Living on 400 Acres in Readington Tp., Hunterdon County — He and His Son-
in-law, Jacob Kline, there Establish a Tannery — Our Ancestor Is a Warden and
Trustee of Zion Lutheran Church — Ralph Smith Conveys the Church Property
to Johannes Moelich and His Co-Trustees in 1749 — Balthazar Pickel — David,.
Jonas and Tunis Melick — The Religious Fervor of Early German Emigrants —
" Father Muhlenberg" Comes from Germany to Take Charge of the American
Churches — His Saintly Character and Life Labors — An Old Time Missionary
Who Could Fight the Devil But Was in Terror of Women — The First Perma-
nent Pastor of the Church Is Joh. Albert Weygand — A Pastoral Message from
the Last Century — Reverend John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, Afterwards the
Revolutionary General — Interesting Information Regarding Zion's Successive
Pastors — The Worthies of the Congregation — A Letter from Father Muhlenberg
to Johannes' Son Aaron and His Co-Trustees — William Graft's Long and Use-
ful Pastorate — A Methodist Missionary Makes a Schism in Zion — Henry Miller
and His Devout Wife — How Johannes Signs His Name to Church Documents —
St. Paul's Church in Pluckamin, Somerset County — George III. Grants a
Royal Charter to Zion and St. Paul's — Aaron Moelich, One of the Petitioners —
The Varied Spelling of the Family Name — In 1751 Johannes Decides Where to
Plant the Permanent Homestead — A Survey of His Family in That Year.
CHAPTER VIII.
Purchase of the "Old Farm" in 1751— The Title and Early New
Jersey History. 97-111.
Johannes Buys 367 Acres of Land in Bedminster, Somerset Co. — Bedminster
Indians — The Algonquins and Naraticongs — Present Traces of the Red Men —
First and Last Indian Purchases — Fair Dealings with the Natives by New Jer-
sey People — Early New Jersey History — Charles II.'s Grant to the Duke of
York — He Presents New Jersey to Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley
— Origin of the Name — Governor Philip Carteret at Elizabethtown — Pepys'
Testimony As to the Virtue of Lady Elizabeth for Whom the Town Was
Named — The Claim of the Elizabethtown Associates Under the NicoUs Grant
— Concessions and Agreements Published in New England Increase the Popula-
X The Story of an Old Farm.
lion— Settlement of Piscataway, Woodbridge and Newark— The Province
Divided into East and West Jersey— The Sale of West Jersey.
CHAPTER IX.
The Twenty-four Proprietors of East New Jersey— George Wil-
LOCKS AND the PeAPACK PATENT. 112-128.
Carteret Dies, and His Executors Sell East New Jersey— The Twenty-four
Proprietors — Their Manner of Alienating the Whole or a Portion of Individual
Interests— Perth Amboy, the Capital— The Origin of the Name— Population
Under the Proprietors— Settlement of Monmouth County — Interesting Inform-
ation Regarding the Morris and Stout Families — Ancient Dutch Settlers of
Bergen — Governors Under the Proprietors — Surrender of the Government to
the Crown — John Heywood, Robert Burnett and James Willocks — In 1683
Burnett Conveys One-eighth of Ilis Right to James Willocks— Doctor George
Willocks Inherits from His Brother James — He Emigrates to East Jersey— His
Possessions and Important Offices— Willocks's Ferries to Perth Amboy — Saint
Peter's Church at Amboy and Its Benefactors— Thomas Gordon Settles near
Plaintield — The Proprietors Convey to George Willocks and John Johnstone
the Peapack Patent — Andrew Hamilton and John Johnstone — Scotch Emigra-
tion to East New Jersey.
CHAPTER X.
The Story of the Title Completed — Early Somerset Land Grants
129-144.
The Peapack Patent Includes Nearly all of Bedminster Township— Dis-
tinguished People Associated with Somerset Freeholds — Interesting Facts
Concerning Gouverneur Morris and the Duchess of Gordon — The First Real
Estate Purchase in Bedminster— Daniel Axtell, a Son of the English Regicide
Buys a Large Slice of the Peapack Patent — Some Corrections as to Generally
Accepted Beliefs in the History of Somerset Land Titles— The Value of Bed-
minster Acres in 1726— William Axtell, Patriot and Royalist— George "Willocks'
Death — His Will and its Benefactions — It Directs Partition and Sale of Peapack
Patent — No Record of Such Proceedings Can be Found — Disagreements Between
the Proprietors and the Willocks Heirs — John Johnstone's Will — Authorizes a
<Ik)mpromise as to Peapack Patent — George Leslie, in 1744, Receives a Grant of
2,000 Acres Out of the Patent — Its Area Includes the Present Site of Bedminster
and the Old Farm — the Deed from George Leslie to Johannes Moelich — Thomas
Bartow, Secretary of the Province — Judge Samuel Nevill and His Laws — The
^' New American Magazine " — James Parker, New Jersey's First Printer — The
Bonds Johannes Gave in Buying the Farm — His Signature and Handwriting —
The Pleasures of a Manuscript Lover.
CHAPTER XI.
The Building of the "Old Stone House"— Redemptioners — White
Slavery in the Colonies, 145-155.
Johannes Occupies the Bedminster Land — A Temporary Log House is
Contents. xi
Erected — Scenes at' its Building — The Raising Dinner — The Old Stone House is
Built in 1762 — Preparing for the Work — Caspar Berger, a Redemptioner Stone
Mason, Lays its Walls — His Advent in the Colony and Sale — He Obtains His
Freedom by Building Stone Houses — All About Eedemptioners — Indented Ser-
vants and Freewillers — Fraud Practised on them in the Old Countries — Inhu-
manities of Ship Captains — Colonial Laws as to Redemptioners — How this Class
of Emigrants Thrived in the Province — The Walls of the "Stone House" go up
Apace — Mariah Katrina Carries Mortar on Her Head — The Good Wife Objects
to 80 Many Windows — The Completion of House and its Appearance — The
Hanging of the Crane— The First Supper in the Living Room — A Home at Last
on this Peaceful Bedminster Hillside.
CHAPTER Xri.
Johannes Goes to the Post Office — Bedminster and the Adjacent
Townships in 1752, 156-168.
Perth Amboy the Nearest Post Office — But two Post Offices in the Colony —
Johannes Starts in the Capital of the Province — Bedminster Still a Wilderness —
The Settlement of Morristown and Mendham — Lamington Church and Jane
McCrea — Basking Ridge and its Flourishing Presbyterian Community — Lord
Stirling's Residence — Jacobus Van der Veer's Log House — Establishing Van
der Veer's Mills — E))hraim McDowell's Homestead — .Johannes Dismounts at
Eoff's Tavern at Pluckamin — Christian Eofl as Innkeeper — The Origin of the
Name of Pluckamin — Aspect of the Village and its First Storekeeper John
Boylan — Early Families of the Neighborhood — Colonel McDaniel's Saw Mill —
Somerville Not Yet in Existence — The First Court-Houses of Somerset County
— William McDonald's Grist Mill — Johannes Smokes his Pipe as He Follows
the Trail Over Pluckamin Hills — Wild Beasts and Bounties for Their Extirpa-
tion — Our Traveller Descends to the "Great Raritan Road" and Reaches
Bound Brook.
CHAPTER Xm.
Bound Brook in the Olden Time— The Raritan Valley in 1752,
169-181.
Somerset's Oldest Settlement — Indian Corn Grounds — How Bound Brook
Derived its Name — The First Land Purchase in the County — Thomas Codring-
ton's Homestead, Racawackhana — The Houses of George Cussart and Samuel
Thompson — Lord Neil Campbell and his Plantation — The Presbyterian Church
of Bound Brook is Founded in 1700— Michael Field's Bequests to the Congrega-
tion — Colonial Lads and the Pedagogues — William Harris' Tavern — Van Nor-
den's Folly — Citizens of Bound Brook at the Time of Johannes' Visit — Preva-
lence of Lotteries — Johannes Rides Down the Raritan Valley — Country More
Thickly Settled — English and Dutch Residents — Raritan Landing and its
Industries — Mills in Franklin Township — Cornelius Lowe, Jr's., Stone Mansion
— Johannes Reaches New Brunswick.
CHAPTER XIV.
From an Indian Path to The King's Highway — New Brunswick and
Historic Piscataway. 182-199.
xii The Story of an Old Farm.
The Oldest Highway in New Jersey— The Lenni-Lenape Path From the
Hudson to the Delaware — An Indian Thoroughfare From Minisink to the Sea
—The Path np the Raritan— The Indian Path Beconaes the Dutch Trail— The
English Make it Their Road Across the Jerseys— The Growth of Settlements
Along the Path— Inians Ferry Established— The Founding of New Brunswick
—Its First Church in 1717— The Aspect of the King's Highway in 1748— New
Brunswick's First Charter— Its Early Citizens— The Appearance of the City at
the Time of Johannes' Visit— Our Traveller Continues His Journey— Historic
Piscataway— Its Ancient Importance and Present Torpor— Interesting Frag-
ments of Antiquity From Its Town Records— The Baptists Build a " Meetinge-
House" in 1685— Edmund Dunham, in 1707, Forms the First Seventh-Day Bap-
tist Church in New Jersey — St. James Episcopal Church is Established in 1704
— Early Missionary Work in New Jersey — A Graveyard Two Centuries Old —
Johannes Rides Along the King's Highway Through Bonhamtown.
CHAPTER XV.
The Ancient Capital, of The Province— Perth Amboy In 1752. 200-214.
Perth Amboy in the Olden-Time— A Chartered City in 1718— Governors
under the Crown — The Pomp of the Advent of Royal Governors — The Early
Beauty of Amboy — Love Grove — Old English Fairs — George Willocks's Long
Ferry— The Town Green and the Royal Cross of St. George— The Town Hall,
and the Scenes it Has Witnessed — Thomas Bartow, his House and Garden — The
Homes of Doctor John Johnstone, and His Son Andrew — John Watson, The
First American Painter— His House and Collection of Paintings— The Dwelling
in which John Nevill Wrote the Laws of the Province — The Parker Homestead,
Built in 1720— George Willocks and the Old Parsonage — The Effectiveness of
Colonial Roofs— The City's Churches in 1752— Gilbert Tennent and His Severe
Text — The Religious Atmosphere of the Last Century.
CHAPTER XVI.
Social Aspect of Perth Amboy in 1752— The Gentry— Slavery —
Travelling. 215-232.
The Picturesqueness of Colonial Times — Local Color of Civilization at New
Jersey's Capital — Indians, Soldiers, Hunters and Redemptionersv-The Sturdy
German Yeomanry — Society Distinctions — The Magnificence of the Gentry —
We Are Introduced to a King's Councillor — His Vain Hopes for Araboy's Com-
mercial Greatness — The Ladies of the Last Century — Hallam's Theatre Company
at the Town Hall — Sunday Morning at St. Peter's Church — Pomp and Parade
at the Capital — The Mayor's Mace Bearer — Judicial Wigs and Robes of Office —
The Flourish and Ceremony upon Opening Court — The Stately Minuet, and
Royal Governor's Balls — The Many Negroes To Be Seen at Amboy — A Short
History of Slavery in New Jersey — The British Government Fosters the Slave
Trade — Extent of tiie Traffic in the Colonies — Cruel Punishments in N. J. —
Burning, Maiming and Hanging Negroes — Somerset County Farmers and Their
Slaves — Al)olition of Slavery in New Jersey — .Johannes' Choice of a Tavern —
Travel Between New York and Philadelphia — The Miseries of the Journey —
Clumsy Sloops, Springless Wagons, and Bad Roads.
Contents. xiii
CBAPTER XVII.
Clearing the Bedminster Land — Life on the " Old Farm " From
1752 TO 1763. 233-246.
German Farmers in New Jersey — Johannes Attacks his Timbered Hillsides —
Manner of Clearing Land — Primitive Agriculture — Richness of the Soil — The
Land Exhausted Ultimately for Want of Nourishment — Lime First Used as a
Fertilizer — Natural Meadows the Only Grass Land — Introduction of Clover
Seed into Somerset — Homemade Ploughs and Other Implements — Wheat, Rye,
and Buckwheat are Cut with a Sickle — Establishing the Tannery — Horticulture
in the Olden Time — Living, in the "Old Stone House" — What Colonial Farm-
ers Had to Eat — Some Extraordinary Dishes— The Beverages of That Time —
The Industries of Farm Families — Old-Fashioned Frolics and Amusements — A
Visit to the Bedrooms and Garret— Picturesque Garb and Curious Fabrics —
Mariah Katrina as a House-Wife — A View of the Farm Kitchen — Flax and its
Uses — Delicate Girls at a Discount — The Tribulations of Washing Day — Aaron
Malick Marries Charlotte Miller — Changes in the Family — Another Letter
from the Old Country.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Death of Johaotstes and Makiah in 1763 — Changes in the Town-
ship — The Dutch Congregations of the Raritan Valley — The
Building of Bedminster Church. 247-265.
Johannes in his Old Age — He and His Wife Die in 1763 — ^Aaron Succeeds
Him in the " Stone House " — Changes in Bedminster — Settlement on the Axtell
Tract — Jacobus Van Doren and Captain Joseph Nevius — The Dutch Reformed
Churches in Somerset — The Log Church at North Branch— Raritan Church at
Van Veghten's Bridge— Three Mile Run, Six Mile Run, and New Brunswick
Churches — The Reverend Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen as Pastor of the
United Congregations — His Son John Succeeds Him in 1750 — Dinah Van Bergh
Marries Dominie Frelinghuysen — The Young Divinity Student, Jacob R. Har-
denbergh — He succeeds His Pastor, and Marries His Widow — Disparity of their
Ages — The Religious Character and Attainments of the Juffrouw Hardenbergh —
Reformed Dutch Congregation of Bedminster Organized in 1758 — The Building
of the New Church — -Donations of Jacobus Van der Veer, and Guisbert Sut-
phen — Description of the Edifice — The First Service,
CHAPTER XIX.
More Changes in Bedminster — The Mills on Peapack Brook — Boyish
Reminiscences — Marriages and Deaths. 266-279.
Aaron Improves the Farm, and Enlarges the Tannery — A Saw and Grist
Mill Established on Peapack Brook in 1751— William Allen, the First Miller —
His Sons Sell the Mill to Stephen Hunt in 1767— The Building of the " Folley"
— A Famous Rendezvous for Bedminster Boys — Penetrating the Hogback — A
Picture of the Old Grist Mill with Its Pond and Rock-paved Stream — Youthful
Remembrances — ^Fishing and Swimming in the "Jinny-Hole" — Miss Jane Bailey,
Bedminster's Meg Merriles — Rural Sights and Sounds — The Loss of Water in
Bedminster Streams — Aaron's Family Increases — Little Elizabeth Is Killed in
xiv The Story of an Old Farm.
the Bark Mill— Philip and Peter Moelich Marrv Sisters— Borrowing Money for
Bedminster Church— The Ancient Bond of Jacobus Van der Veer, Marcus King
and Aaron Malick — John Van der Veer Has Five Different Ways of Spelling
His Surname — Mariah Moelich Marries Simon Ludewig Himroth, and Removes
to Pennsylvania— More News from Bendorf— Another Interesting Letter from
the Herr Praeceptor.
CHAPTER XX.
The Muttering That Preceded the Storm of the Revolution —
Stamp Acts, Revenue Bills and Other Unjust Imposts Weaken
the Loyalty op the New Jersey People — Arming for the Fray.
280-292.
The Approach of the Heroic Period of New Jersey's History — The Stamp Act
and Its Repeal — New Jersey's Attitude of Hostility to Great Britain — The First
Revolutionary Newspaper Is Printed at Burlington — The Boston Post Bill and
Tea Duties — The British Government Applies the Torch of Coercion — Organiz-
ing for Defence — The Province Sends Deputies to the Continental Congress in
September, 1774 — Formation of Committees of Correspondence — The Meetings
of the Provincial Congress — An Historic Journey — Minutes of the First Meet-
ings of the Bedminster Committee of Observation and Inspection — Among the
Members are Aaron Malick, Cornelius Lane, John Wortman — An Express-
Rider Flies Through New Jersey Announcing the Battle of Lexington — Hud-
rick Fisher as President of the Second Provincial Congress — Three Other of
Its Officers are from Somerset County — John Wortman and Guisbert Sutphen
of the Bedminster Committee Are Sent to the Congress at Trenton on May 25,
1775 — Bedminster Proceeds to Arm for Defence — A New Brunswick Man
Employed to Drill the Men — Stephen Hunt Is Sent to New York to Buy Arms
— The Difficulty of Obtaining Munitions of War — Leaden Window and Clock
Weights and Pewter Dishes Are Run into Bullets — Treating the Men When
Training — The Third Session of Provincial Congress Convenes on the Fifth of
August, 1775 — A Committee of Safety Is Appointed — Among the Members Are
Five from Somerset.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Declaration of Independence and the Overthrow of the
Provincial Government — The Arrest of the Royal Governor,
William Franklin. 293-303.
The Third Session of New Jersey's Provincial Congress — The Agitations and
Excitements that Ruled the Hour — Complaints o"f the People — Strengthening
the Militia — Meeting, of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia —
Declaration of Independence Submitted by Jefierson — The Appeal for the Docu-
ment Made by John W'itherspoon, of Somerset, Insures its Acceptance by the
Members — The Most Important of all of New Jersey's Provincial Congresses
Meets on June 10, 1776^0n July 18 it Assumes the Title of the Convention of
the State of New Jersey — All the (Colonial Governors Adhere to the Crown
Except Jonathan Trumbull of Conn. — Governor William Franklin is Arrested
at Perth Amboy^His Character, Origin and History — William Livingston, the
State's First Governor — He Holds the Position Owing to Repeated Re-elections
Contents. xv
until 1792 — A Tribute to His Services and Ability— William Patterson One of
New Jersey's Great Men — His Residence on the Raritan — The Beginning of
Things for the United States of America — The Condition, Area and Population of
the Country in 1776.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Turbulent Sea of the Revolution — The Soldiers of Somerset
— William Alexander, Lord Stirling ; Captain Andrew Malick;
AND Private John Malick. 304-318.
Notwithstanding the War the Industries at the Old Farm Continue — Peter
Malick Inherits from his Father Land Fronting on the Lamington Road
— He Builds a House and Settles Where is now the Village of Bedminster —
Aaron Retains the Tannery, Homestead and the Rest of the Farm — His Brother
Andrew Settles in Sussex County — In 1770 he Aids, in Founding St. James
Lutheran Church Near Phillipsburg— Andrew is Commissioned as Captain in the
First Battalion, Sussex Militia, and Serves During the War — Aaron's Son, John,
Enlists in Jacob Ten Eyck's Company of the First Battalion — Somerset
Militia — Lord Stirling is its First Colonel — His Home in Bernard Township
and His Military Record — The Noble Services of New Jersey Militiamen — John
Malick as a Minute Man — The March of Colonel Nathan Heard on Long Island
— The Tories of Kings and Queens Counties — a Special Regiment of Hunterdon
and Somerset Militia is Organized to Re-inforce Washington's Army — It marches
to New York Under Colonel Stephen Hunt with John Malick in its Ranks —
The Battle of Long Island — The Death of Col. Philip Johnston — The Capture of
John Malick by the Enemy — He is Thrown into a New York Sugar House —
The Inhumanities of his Jailor, Provost-Marshall Cunningham— The Brutality
of the Provost in Conducting the Execution of Nathan Hale — John Malick is
Exchanged and Re-enlists in the Continental Line — Washington's Army Enters
New Jersey.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The British In New Jersey — Washington's Retreat To The Delaware —
General Lee In Somerset County. 319-334.
Cornwallis Enters New Jersey — The Garrison at Fort Lee Joins the Main
Body at Hackensack — Retreat and Pursuit — Tories and Whigs Alike Plundered
by the Enemy — Washington Driven from New Brunswick — His Army Melts
Away with Each Mile of the March — What Is Left of the Army Cross the
Delaware on the Eighth of December — The British go into Winter Quarters at
Borden town, Trenton, New Brunswick, and Other Towns — The Rapine, Violence
and Cruelty of the English Forces — Individual Instances of Sufferings in Somer-
set and Middlesex Counties — The Ayres, Dunns and Dunhams in the Revolu-
tion — The Ferocity Exhibited by Tories — Cavalry Raids on Pluckamin —
Amnesty and Protection Offered by the Enemy — Many Become Disaffected —
Aaron, Andrew, and Philip Melick Do not Waver in Their Colonial Sympathies
— ^Peter Melick Accepts a Protection Paper from the British — His Disaffection
Fostered by Frequent Visits to Perth Amboy — The Royal Sentiment Openly
Displayed at That Provincial Capital — The Attitude of the Church of England
During the Revolution — Methodists Considered Enemies to tlie Public Weal —
xvi The Story of an Old Farm.
Quakers as non-Combatants — General Charles Lee's Army Reaches Bedminster
on December 12— The Appearance His Troops Presented — Hunting-Shirts for
Uniforms and Fowling Pieces for Guns — The Jersey Blues are Uniformed by
Patriotic Women.
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Capture of General Charles Lee — His Army Encamps on Peter
Melick's Land in Bedminster Township— The Battle of Trenton.
335-351.
General Lee's Array on the Night of December 12, 1776, Encamps on Peter
Melick's Farm — Because of His Disaffection the Troops Damage His Property —
Peter's Daughter, Catherine, Lives until 1863 — Her Written Statement as to
what Transpired on that Night — The "Old Stone House" Entertains a Number
of Mounted Officers — Fresh Details as to the Capture of Lee at Basking Ridge
— The Generally Accepted Belief that His Army Lay at Vealtown an Error —
Lee's Cliaracter and Military Achievements — The Ridiculous Appearance Pre-
sented by Colonel Sheldon's Connecticut Light Horse — All about the Sixteenth
British Light Dragoons, which made the Capture — -Aaron Malick is Suspected of
Having Notified the Enemy of Lee's Whereabouts — He is Forced to go to New
■Germantown to Prove His Innocence — Sullivan Marches to Pennsylvania by Way
of Ijamington and Clinton— The Efiect on the Country of Lee's Capture — The
Darkest Days of the Revolution are those of December, 1776 — Washington
Undaunted — By the Tenth of December His Army is Reduced to Seventeen
Hundred Men — In Less than Two Weeks He Increases His Force to 6,000 — He
•Crosses the Delaware and Captures the Hessians at Trenton — The Effiect of the
Victory Upon the Country.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Hessians in New Jersey — Just a Little in Their Favor— A Cor-
rection of Some False Traditions That Have Been Fostered by
Prejudiced Historians. 352-370.
How the News of the Battle of Trenton Was Received at the " Old Stone
House " — Some of the Hessian Prisioners Have Probably Been Fellow Towns-
men of Aaron Malick at Bendorf — Sympathy for the Germans — Prince Charles
Alexander of Anspach, Bendorf's Ruler, Furnishes George III. with Two Regi-
ments — Detailed Accounts of the British Army's German Auxiliaries — Repug-
nance of the Hessians to Come to America— -How Germany's Despotic Princes
Justified the Mercenary Traffic — Scliiller's Protest Against His Countrymen's
Lives and Services Being Bartered for Gold — The Hatred of the Americans for
the Mercenaries — The Terror They Inspired Dissipated by Better Acquaintance
— Many of tlie Barbarities of tlie British Unjustly Cliarged to the Hessians —
C!ount Donop's Troops Treat the People of Mount Holly with Great Civility —
Uniforms and Equipments of Hessians — General De Heister's Treatment of
Lord Stirling— The Courtesy and Good Breeding of Hessian Officers— Abundant
Testimony That the Memory of the German Troops Has Been Held in Unde-
served Obloquy — Many Desert and Settle in America — Some of Their Descend-
ants Rank Among the Leading Men of the Country — How Christopher Ludwick
Entertained Eight Hessians Captured at Germantown — Ludwick's Wise Policy
Contents. xvii
Resulted in Many Desertions — President George AVashington's Coacliman an
Ex-Hessian Soldier.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Washington's March From Trenton To Morristown — The Battles Of
AssuNPiNK And Princeton — The American Army Encamped At
Pluckamin — Death And Burial of Captain "William Leslie. 371-
389.
Cornwallis Marches his Army to the Delaware — The Americans Hold the
British in Check on the Banks of Assunpink Creek — ^Washington's Army Steals
Away under Cover of the xsight of January 2 — Some Description of the Com-
mands Forming this Little Army — The Battle of Princeton — Why so Many
Commisssioned Officers Were Killed — Captain William Leslie of the Seventeenth
British Regiment Fatally Wounded — John Witherspoon, the President of
Princeton College and the Earl of Leven — Surgeon Benjamin Rush takes Charge
of the Wounded Leslie — His Previous Acquaintance with That Officer's Family
— The Exhausted Condition of the American Army Prevents an Attack on
Howe's Base of Supplies at Kew Brunswick — Washington Marches Up the Val-
ley of the jSIillstone Seeking the Protection of the Hill Country — The Encamp-
ment at Millstone on the Night of January 3 — The Army Reaches Pluckamin on
the Afternoon of Saturday the 4 — Leslie Dies on Entering the Village — Inci-
dents of the Encampment — One Thousand Laggards Rejoin the Army — The
Troops Spent Sunday, at Pluckamin — The Country-People Flock to the Village
— 230 Prisoners in the Lutheran Church — Aaron Maiick Visits the Camp —
Leslie Is buried With the Honors of War — Captain Stryker's Troop of Light-
horse Captures Cornwallis' Baggage Wagons — The Army Breaks Camp on the
Morning of the 6th, and Reaches Morristown that Evening — Formation of the
Column and Line of March.
CHAPTER XXVIL
Washington's Army at Morristown in the Winter and Spring of
1777— The Old Farm on a Military Thoroughfare. 390-407.
Bustle and Activity in Bedminster — Continental Officers at the "Old Stone
House" — Washington in Somerset — Farmers Made Welcome at Morristown
Camp — The Different Spirit Animating British and American Soldiers — Form-
ing a New Army — Where Different Generals Quartered at Morristown — Festivi-
ties in Camp — The Death and Military Funerals of Colonels Hitchcock and Ford
— General and Mrs. Washington Meet at Pluckamin — What Ladies Were in
Camp — Mrs. Washington's Expenses in Going to and from Virginia — Successful
Military Enterprises in January — Washington Orders the Disaffected to Deliver
up their British Amnesty Papers — Peter INIelick's Political Change of Heart —
Different Cantonments in New Jersey — Somerset Maidens and the Handsome
Major Burr — The Military Attainments of General Greene — His Division
Moves to Basking Ridge — He Quarters at Lord vStirling's — The Ladies of the
Household and their Guests — Governor Livingston's Three Bright Daughters
at the Stirling Mansion — Revolutionary Society at Basking Ridge — The Second
Establishment of New Jersey — Colonel Daniel Morgan Arrives from Virginia —
The Military Record of this Jersey man.
B
xviii The Story of an Old Farm.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Coktixestal Army in Somerset CJoitsty in the Spring and Sum-
mer OF 1777 — Scenes and Incidents at Bound Brook and Middle-
brook — British Efforts to March to the Delaware Defeated.
408-426.
Fighting at Bound Brook — General Lincoln Narrowly Escapes Capture — Brig-
adier-General Muhlenberg Beaches Morristown— German Lutherans Give the
Parson-Soldier a Warm Welcome— He Visits the "Old Stone House" — Dominie
Muhlenberg in Virginia — Hunting with Washington — He Becomes a Political
as Well as a Religious Leader — Is Commissioned Colonel of the Eighth Virginia
Regiment — His Farewell Sermon — A Dramatic Incident — His Military Record
— The British Display Activity in Their Camps — The New American Army and
Its Generals — Colonel Clement Biddle and His Wife — The Continental Army
Takes Possession of the Heights in the Rear of Bound Brook — Camp Middle-
brook Established — Cider Vinegar as a Remedy for Fever — The Campaign Sud-
denly Opens — Howe Advances in Force from New Brunswick — His Endeavor to
Entice Washington from His Stronghold— Abandons the Attempt to Reach
Philadelphia by Land — Falls Back to New Brunswick and Thence to Amboy —
Greene, Muhlenberg, Wayne, and Morgan in Pursuit — Washington Advances to
New Market — Howe by a Rapid Flank Movement Vainly Endeavors to Sur-
round the Continental Army — Lord Stirling and Morgan Fight the Enemy at
Plainfield and Woodbridge — Howe, Outgeneraled in Every Movement, Evacu-
ates the State on June 30 — The British Embark on Transports — Anxiety Lest
Howe Should Combine with Burgoyne — Washington Marches to the Hudson —
The Fleet Sails out of "the Hook" — Tiie Continental Army Hurries Toward
the Delaware — Muhlenberg, Commanding Greene's Division, Marches Through
Bedminster — Sword and Holster versus Prayer-Book and Sermon — After a Long
Delay the Fleet Enters Chesapeake Bay — The Army Bids Good-bye to New Jer-
sey for that Year.
CHAPTER XXIX.
The State of Religion in New Jersey in the Eighteenth Century
— TiiE Effect of the Revolution on Public Morals — The Strong
Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian Congregations of Bedminster
— Curious Church Customs and Practices. 427-447.
The Continental Army Marches Down the Delaware to the Coljision on the
Brandywine — The Reader Abandons Historic Figures for the Companionship
of Simpler Forms of Humanity — Bedminister People Are Not Checked in Their
Ordinary Pursuits by the War — Rigid Views Held by Our Ancestors As to
Amusements — The Low Condition of Religion Early in the Century — The
Preaching of Frelinghuysen, Dickinson, Whitefield, Edwards and Others Ani-
mates the People to a More Vital Piety — The ReTolution Has an Unfriendly
Influence on Religious Affairs — Church Edifices L'sed for War Purposes — The
R. D. and Pres. Congregations Hold Strongly Together — The Patriotism of
Domine Hardenberg and the Reward for His Arrest — Intellectual and Educa-
tional Influences of the Pulpit — Sunday at the Bedminster Dutch Church in the
Olden Time — Introduction of Singing by Note Strenuously Opposed — Sunday a
Dreary Day for Children — How Sunday was Observed in Ashbel Green's
Family — Ministers and Church Members Oppose Sunday Schools — Aaron
Contents. xix
Malick's Church Connections — Reverend John Eodgers Supplies Lamington
Pres. Pulpit ; His Character and War Experiences — Presbyterians During the
Eevolution — The Sacrifices and Sufferings of Its Clergy and Laity — Sunday
at Lamington Church — Curious Practices and Observances — Betty McCoy's
Appetite and Piety — The Elders Take a Drink with the Minister Between Ser-
vices — An Installation Ball.
CHAPTER XXX.
Eevolutionary Events of 1777 and 1778 — Washington's Aesiy Again
AT Camp Middlebrook in the Winter and Spring of 1779 — Inter-
esting Incidents of the Encampment. 448-460.
The Advantages Reaped by the Americans in the Campaigns of 1777
and 1778 — Burgoyne's Surrender and the French Alliance — The Enemy's
Retreat Across the Jerseys — The Battle of Monmouth — Curious Scenes at the
Sandy Hook Embarkation — Condition of the Country at the Close of 1778 —
Washington, with Eight Brigades of Infantry, the Artillery and Some Separate
Commands, Winters in New Jersey — The British make a Futile Effort to Recap-
ture Burgoyne's Cannon — Camps Middlebrook and Pluckamin Established in
December — Washington Quarters at the Wallace House at Somerville — Mrs.
Washington Joins her Husband in Camp — Guests at Headquarters — The Daily
Dinner an Affair of Ceremony — Table Service and Appointments — Interesting
Facts as to Household Manners and Customs — The Open Winter and Warm
Spring of 1779 — Parson General Muhlenberg Commands Putnam's Division —
How Soldier's Log Huts were Constructed — Muhlenberg Gives a Ball and
Supper on New Year's Night — Where the Different Generals Quartered — Uni-
versal Testimony as to General Greene's ability — Derrick Van Veghten, the
aged Patriot — Mrs. Greene's Brilliant Qualities Attract Many Visitors to the
Van Veghten House — Middlebrook Tavern — Mad Anthony Wayne's Encamp-
ment on the Weston Road — This Officer's Reputation in Somerset.
CHAPTER XXXI.
The Artillery Park at Pluckamin — General and Mrs. Knox at the
Van der Veer House — The French Alliance Fete — General
Steuben at Bound Brook. 461-473.
An Attractive Military Village — The Capacious Academy and Its Lses — The
Artillery Officers and Men are Uniformed in Black and Red — A Popular Error
Corrected as to Revolutionary Uniforms — How the Different Regiments Under
Washington were Dressed — General Knox Quarters with Jacobus Van der Veer
near Bedminster Church — His Popularity in the Vicinity — Mrs. Knox Spends
the Winter with Her Husband — Social Intercourse at the Van der Veer House
— Two Yonng Lady Visitors from Boston — Tea Drinkings and Hops at the
Artillery Park — The Grand Celebration on the Anniversary of the French
Alliance — Washington, his StafJ and Escort, Reach the Park at Three o'clock —
Mrs. Washington and the President of Congress Arrive in a Coach and Four —
Distinguished Guests — The Charms of Lady Kitty Stirling Attract William
Duer to the Fete — The Banquet in the Academy — Balls in the Olden Time —
Washington Opens the Dance with Mrs. Knox — Judge Linn's Daughter and
the General in a Stately Minuet — The Society Reporter in Revolutionary Days
XX The Stoky of an Old Farm.
— Tlie Deatli of Mrs. Knox's Infant Daughter in July — The Bigotry of the Con-
sistory of the D. R. Congregation Pi-events the Burial of the Child in the Grave-
yard — Drills and Inspections at Camp Middlebrook — General Steuben as a
Disciplinarian — His Distinguished Appearance — He Quarters at the StaatsHouse,
Below Bound Brook— Entertainments at this Old Mansion.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Festivities and Ceremonies at Camp Middlebrook — The French Min-
ister, M. Gerard, and the Spanish Envoy, Don Juan de Miralles,
Visit Washington— The Grand Eeview in Their Honor. 474-492.
Social Intercourse in the Army — Frequent Reunions at the Different Head-
quarters — Mrs. Greene's Guests and Their Amusements — Tea Drinkings and
Little Dances at the Van Veghten House — The Close Friendships of Cornelia
Lott and Mrs. Greene — Brilliant Young Men Connected with the Army — Colo-
nels Tilghman and Hamilton — Captain Colfax and Washington's Life Guard —
Colonel Scammell's Great Sacrifice — Lady Visitors at Washington's Headquar-
ters — Light Horse Harry Lee at Phil's Hill — Philip Van Horn and His Five
Handsome Daughters— The Arrival of M. Gerard and Don Juan de Miralles —
The Spanish Envoy and His Mission — The Army Parades in their Honor — A
Gala Occasion for Old Bound Brook — The Grand Stand and the Costumes of its
Occupants — The Appearance Presented by AVashington, His Generals, and Guests
on the Field — Disposition of the Trooi>s — Evolutions and Field Manoeuvres of the
Arm\' — Enthusiasm of the Multitude when the Battalions Pay the Marching
Salute — After the Review Steuben Entertains Washington, the Foreign Guests
and Sixty Officers — Merriment and Hilarity at the Banquet Under the Trees —
The Clever Young Men of the Baron's Military Family — Indians in Camp — Five
Soldiers Sit on their Coffins Under the Gallows — The Jersey Brigade in the
Indian Campaign — In July the Troops Break Camp and March to the Hudson.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Wedding of William Duer and Lady Kitty Stirling — Prince-
ton College in the Revolution — The Famous Raid of the
Queen's Rangers Through the Raritan Valley. 493-510.
Wedding Festivities at Basking Ridge— Civic and Military Guests — How
Lord Stirling Lost His New Jersey Property — Princeton College Has Its First
Commencement Since the Outbreak of the War — Nassau Hall and the Presby-
terian Church Stripped by the Enemy — The Graduating Class of 1783 — Wash-
ington and Continental Congress Listen to the Valedictorian, Ashbel Green —
Echoes from the Walls of " Old Nassau " — The Name Occasioned bj' the Humil-
ity of a Royal Governor — The Founding of Presbyterianism in New Jersey —
Some Early Ecclesiastic History — In 1747 the College Removed from Elizabeth-
town to Newark — Reverend Aaron Burr, Its Second President — The Beginning
of Things at Princeton in 1757 — The Simplicity of the College Curriculum in
Colonial Times — In October, 1779, the Queen's American Rangers Raid Through
the Raritan Valley — Major Robert Rogers, the First Commander of This Parti-
san Corps — Lieut.-Col. John Graves Simcoe Assumes Command in 1777 — This
Raid Conceded to Have Been a Brilliant Military Enterprise — Its Object and
the Details of the March — Destruction of Washington's Boats and the Dutch
Contents. xxi
Reformed Church at Van Veghten's Bridge — The Court House and Two Dwell-
ings Burned at Millstone — The Rangers Meet Disaster in an Ambuscade — Sim-
coe Is Made a Prisoner— The Raiders Charge Some Mounted Militia-men, and
Kill Capt. Peter V. Voorhees — They Escape to South River, Joining Their Sup-
porting Body of Infantry — Jonathan Ford Morris' Services to Col. Simcoe — The
Sequence of This Raid Was the Founding of Somerville.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Cold Winter of 1780— Washington's Army Again at Morris-
town — Varied and Interesting Camp Experiences — Fighting at
Connecticut Farms and Springfield. 511-527.
The Current of Bedminster Domestic Life — The Army Goes into Winter
Quarters Between Morristown and Mendhara — Family Arrangements at Head-
quarters — The Main Encampment on Kimball Hill — Watch Towers, Beacons
and Alarm Guns — Xearly Five Months of Snow — The Frozen Raritan a High-
way for Teams — The Great January Storm — Citizens and Militia Fighting Snow
Drifts — The Army in an Extremity for Food and Clothing — Some Curious
Examples of Currency Depreciation — Lord vStirling's Unsuccessful Enterprise on
Staten Island — Elizabethtown Surprised and the Presbyterian Church Burned —
Social Features of Morristown Camp Life — Elizabeth Schuyler's Arrival Causes
a Flutter in Military Circles — Colonel Tilghman Describes her Fascinations —
Her Engagement to Colonel Hamilton — Distinguished Foreign Visitors at
Morristown — Another Grand Review and Public Ball. Don Juan de Miralles
Dies at Headquarters — The Ostentation and Display at his Funeral — Dissatisfac-
tion of the Soldiers at Remaining so Long Unpaid — A War of Plunder on the
Inhabitants Threatened — Dramatic Scenes at an Execution — Fighting at Con-
necticut Farms and Springfield — The Youthful but Gray-haired Captain Steele
Commands Mrs. Washington's Guard — Members of Congress as Volunteers and
Trencher men — The Jersey Militia Cover Themselves with Glory — Breaking
Camp in Kimball Hill — Arrival of the French Army — The Treachery of Arnold
and the Death of Andre.
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Mutinies of The Pennsylvania and New Jersey Lines — The
French Arjiy in Bedminster on the Way To Virginia — The Hang-
ing OF Captain Joshua Huddy and the Case of Captain Asgill.
528-546.
The Last of Campaigning in Somerset and Morris Coiinties — The Penn.
Troops Mutiny and March for Philadelphia under their Non-Commissioned
Officers — The Country People Alarmed Lest Depredations be Committed--Gen.
Wayne's Admirable Behavior Prevents Excesses — Sir Henry Clinton Sends
Two Tories, Offering the Rebels his Support, and Rewards for Desertion — The
Spies Delivered by the Soldiers to American Authorities — Congress meets the
Insurgents at Princeton and Adjusts Their Difficulties — Two W^eeks Later the
New Jersey Line Mutinies at Pompton — The Revolters Are Subdued, and their
Ringleaders Punished — Gates' Disasters, and Greene's Successes at the South —
La Fayette's Rapid March Through New Jersey — The American and French
Armies Combine in July on The Hudson — Hoav Washington Deluded Sir Henry
Clinton — The Operations of Cornwallis in Virginia — In August the Allied
XXIV
The Story of an Old Farm.
Aaron Malick Pays a Government Tax for the Use of One — The People's Pro-
test Against tliis Impost — How Somerset's Paupei-s Were Treated — Aaron and
Daniel as Overseers of the Poor — Some Interesting Bills and Papers Showing
Their Care — Sniiif for the Widow Bidderman, Pork for Joseph Nicholson, and
a Shirt in which To Bury Thomas Gary — Nicholas Arrosmith Presents a Bill
to the Overseers — All About This Worthy Citizen — Dr. Robert Henry and his
Care of the Poor — His Revolutionary Record — Lawyer Thomas P. Johnson
Argues and Ijoses a Case for the Bedminster Overseers — In 1792 Daniel Melick
Goes on a Trading Voyage to Georgia — Cutting Off Negroes' Ears and Branding
their Foreheads — Raffles and Horse Races — He Boards at the Widow Spencer's
at Savannah — The Goods He Buys and Sells — The Voyage Home On the " Ship
Jenny " — In 1786 Aaron Malick Buys Yombo, His First Slave — His Wife's
Quaker Nature Rebels Against Slaveholding — Unprepossessing Yombo, and his
Idiosyncracies — A Survey of the Occupants of the Old Stone House in 1797 —
Aaron Buys From General John Taylor a Whole Family of Slaves — Honest
Black Dick, Nance, and their Many Children — Death of Charlotte Malick —
Slave Life on the Old Farm — Pleasures and Privileges of the Bondspeople —
Dick and Nance Give a Christmas Party — They and Their Flock go to "General
Training," — The Death and Funeral of Aaron Malick — His Will Directs the
Future Manumission of Some of his Slaves — Scenes at the Vendue of his
Ertects — Dick, Nance, and their Youngest Child are Bought by Daniel Melick —
The Distribution of the Other Negroes — Daniel at the Head of the House-
hold.
CHAPTER XL.
What the Old Papers Have to Say About the Drinking Habits of
Our Forefathers— The Last Cenury's Tidal Wave of Intemper-
ance — National Reform — Farewell to the Old Farm. 613-625.
The Story of the Growth of Intemperance in the American Colonies — Ancient
and Modern Laws Concerning Drunkenness Compared — Intemperance the Grad-
ual Growth of Many Hundred Years — Its Worse Stage is Reached at tlie Close
of the Last and the Beginning of the Present Century — The Introduction of
Rum and Apple-Jack into the American Colonies — Sweet, Rich Brandies are
Distilled from Peaches, Pears, Plums and Persimmons — Apple-Jack Becomes the
New Jersey Standard Tipple— Tlie First Still for its Manufacture is Set up in
Morris County — Some Curious Examples of the Extent of the Drinking Vice —
Tipsy Guests Dance at Weddings, Tipsy Mourners Reel at Funerals — Even
Clergymen do not Escape the Contagion — Drinking at Installations and at Con-
sociation Meetings — Ministers as Distillers— The Cultivation of Lands Neglected
and Soil Planted with Orchards — Eight Distilleries in One Township Along the
Raritan— Early Eflbrts to Stem this Overwhelming Torrent of Human Folly —
The Lamentations and Warnings of John Wesley, John Adams, and Israel Put-
nam—Doctor Benjamin Rush Becomes the Pioneer of Temperance Reform — His
Protest, in 1777 Against the Government Supplying Liquor to tlie Troops — In
1785 He Issues His Famous Temperance Tract — The Doctor's Tireless Energy
in the Cause Enlists Sympathy of Others — Lyman Beecher's Powerful Sermons
for Reform— The First Temperance Society in 1808— The Progress of the
Movement ^Exceedingly Slow — An Unpropitious Time for Instilling Restrictive
Ideas in the Peojjle's Minds— Crude Views as to Moderate Drinking— It is 1826
Before the Cause is Recognized as a Power for Good— The Rearing of the Grand
Superstructure of National Reform— Farewell to the Old Farm — What Our
Searches Have Revealed— A Final Survey of its Generations.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
EASTERN GABLE OF THE OLD STONE HOUSE .........: Frontispiece
BEDMINSTER CHURCH facing page 6
EVANGELICAL HEAD-CHURCH, BENDORF facing page 93
THE OLD STONE HOUSE facing page 154
[See ADDENDA, p. 713.]
" This field is so spacious, that it were easy for a man to lose him-
self in it: and if I should spend all my pilgrimage in this walk, my time
would sooner end than my way."
— Bishop Hall.
THE STORY OF AN OLD FARM
OR
Life in New Jersey in the Eighteenth Century.
CHAPTER I.
The PeapacJc Stage — Sunday Morning at Bedminster Church —
A Betired Hamlet.
THE traveller by the old highway — the post or stage road —
leading from Somerville to Peapack, in Somerset county,
New Jersey, will remember the village of the Lesser Cross Roads,
which faces one when some eight miles on the journey, perched
on the southerly side of a sloping eminence.
"One of those little places that have run
Half up the hill beneath the blazing sun,
And then sat down to rest, as if to say,
' I climb no farther upward, come what may ! ' "
Just here is located the '■'■ Old Farm," whose story, or rather
the story of whose early settlers and their contemporaries, it is
purposed to chronicle. Let us visit this little hamlet and learn
something of its history, and of the generations that have lived,
toiled and died amid the cheerful hills and smiling valleys of
the rolling country north of the village ; for it is the gateway of
Somerset's most pleasing regions — the approach to scenes of
quiet beauty and pastoral loveliness unsurpassed in this portion
of New Jersey.
We wiU choose one of those generous June days when early
summer has veiled its youthful bloom in a maze of leaf, mystery
and shade. That our approach to this secluded village may be
with an humble spirit, in harmony with the rural calm of its
homely atmosphere, we will journey down — or. rather up — by
the travel-stained stage-wagon that for so many years has lura-
1
2 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
bered out of Somerville eveiy afternoon about three o'clock.
Squeezing in on the front seat by the driver's side, our legs and
feet are soon seemingly inextricably entangled with mail bags,
bundles, whiffletrees and the horses' tails. Well ! the stage
is " loaded up," three on a seat — twelve inside — with quite a
mountain of luggage piled up behind. Rattling down the main
street, and turning north on the Peapack road, the town, with its
outlying villas standing amid parterres of flowers and shaded
gardens, is soon left behind. Pounding over a wooden bridge
that spans a little stream the fair-ground is passed, and the team
settles down to its regulation jog of five miles an hour, over
the pleasant levels of Bridgewater township. On either side lie
well-tilled fields, rich with the promise of bounteous harvests.
Barn-swallows twitter in a farmyard hard by ; a kingfisher, with
a loud cry, sails awa}' at om' approach, and another little tenant
of the air salutes us from behind a hedge with a flood of sweet
harmony. From over the fences come the somid of whetting
scythes, the rattle of mowing knives, and the talk and laughter
of the haymakers ; Avhile the breeze for miles away is fragrant
with the perfume of freshly tossed clover-cocks.
Insensibly the passengers grow more sociably inclined as they
exclaim over the charming weather, the rustic beauty of the
landscape, and the sweet sounds of nature on every side. Our
driver proves to be loquacious, and familiar with all the gossip
of the long road he has travelled twice daily for many years, so
he soon has his passengers in animated talk as to the news of
their respective neighborhoods. Stop after stop is made at farm-
houses and cottages by the roadside ; now to leave a morning
paper — twelve hours from the New York press — now a bundle
or package, which latter has to be fished from under the seats,
calling out nervous giggles from the women, with numerous
" oh mys !'' — " that's my foot !" — and like ejaculations. Now
and then some one is " taken up,'' or " let down," the last stop
for that purpose having been to discharge a stout farmer's wife
from the rear seat of the stage ; the intervening passengers must
need crouch, half standing, holding down the backs of the seats,
while she wades to the door, dragging after her a large news-
paper parcel, a spreading turkey-feather fan, and a huge paper
bandbox encased in blue checked gingham. This impedimenta
From Somerville to Peapack. 3
carries in its wake several hats and belongings of her fellow trav-
ellers. The stout woman receives a warm welcome from two
buxom girls and a sunburned farmer, who wait behind a paling
fence, with a background of well-sweep, rusty clapboards, and
porch o'erclambered with honeysuckle and June roses. The
wide-open, brown eyes of the shorter and plumper girl take in
with lively interest each occupant of the stage. While leaning
gracefully over the gate, the sunlight burnishing her rich waves
of chestnut hair, the maiden's glances rest a little longer, per-
haps, on the younger men of the party. But her glimpse of the
travelling world is transitory, for soon our Jehu, having collected
his fare, has returned a fat wallet to his trouser-leg, and climbed
over the front wheels to his seat. The stage rattles on, and
reaching a short incline bounces over a " thankee-marm," send-
ing the trunks on the shackly rack behind springing in air,
and the rebound almost bumping together the knees and chins of
those of us on the front seat.
We are now on the new road — so the driver tells us. There is
certainly nothing in the highway peculiarly applicable to new-
ness, but like the New Forest in England, or Harper's New
Monthly Magazine in New York, having once been new it never
can grow old. Besides, it must be new — you can see for your-
self the old road meandering off toward the foot hills on the east,
taking in on its way an ancient weather-beaten tavern, that once
did a flourishing business. But this ^'cut off" was opened some
thirty years ago, leaving the old hostelrie stranded in the shal-
lows of deserted traffic. Should the ghost of its former pro-
prietor, the genial Bill Allen, ever walk its crumbling porches, he
could easily discern across the fields the tide of travel setting along
the new road, which once paid tribute in a silvery stream to his
now decaying till.
By and by the horses are tugging and straining up the long
ascent of a spur of the "Blue" range of New Jersey hills, which
the people hereabouts delight in calling "the mountains."
Reaching the crest, we pause for a breathing, and enjoy an
extended view of a charminglandscape, richly diversified with the
variegated hues of the luxuriant June vegetation. In the fore-
ground lies the Revolutionary village of Pluckamin; church
spires rising above the dense foliage of the clustering trees,
4 The Story of an Old Farm.
mark the biding places of other little villages that dot the undu-
lating western plain; while, far north, binding the horizon, are
billows of verdure — the swelling hills and green valleys of Bed-
minster and Peapack. On descending the hill and crossing
Chambers brook, which is the line between Bridgewater and Bed-
minster townships, one of the oldest houses of the neighborhood is
passed. It was built in 1756 by an Irishman named Laferty, who
afterwards became unpleasantly notorious as the father of a very
beautiful and profligate daughter, who brought upon more than
one prominent family in this part of Somerset much shame and
grief. Her son, hung in Somerville the early part of this cen-
turv, is the only white man who has suffered capital punish-
ment in this county since the Revolution.
Presently the stage is clattering through the main street of
Pluckamin, and draws up in front of the tavern* door, offering
to the village loungers who adorn the empty dry-goods boxes in
front of the several stories, their daily ten minute dose of mild
excitement. Here the mails are changed, and we embrace the
opportunity to stretch our legs on the tavern porch. Some of the
party, '^athirst with breezy progression," disappear inside, in
search of what a jocose Californian would call ^' interior decora-
tions," but in the vernacular of this part of the country is
known as "a leetle apple." This is historic ground. On the
open space facing us, where the different roads converge, Wash-
ington, Knox, Greene and the conquerors at Princeton have
stood about, and talked over the needs and plans of the Revolu-
tionary army. Many of the ancient buildings in this vicinity
are unchanged, save by the picturesque hand of time, since those
doughty days. But we must be off! — the horses have been wat-
ered, the driver is on his seat. While telling the- story of the
"Old Farm," we shall more than once have occasion to visit
Pluckamin, and repeople its streets with almost forgotten
worthies, with whom we can gossip at our leisure over those
stormy days of long ago.
The next point of interest on the route is the North Branch
of the Raritan, which the road crosses where it flows through a
shady glen, near Van der Veer's mills. The banks are fringed
with forest trees whose interlacing branches form over the
♦Since destroyed by tire.
Crossing the North Branch. 5
devious stream a roof of almost impenetrable foliage. At times
the waters brawl over the shallows, offering to thirsty cattle a
convenient and picturesque ford; but now, owing to early sum-
mer rains, the river is brimming. Rumbling over the bridge
we hear the musical sound of falling waters, and looking up
under the overhanging boughs discover the torrent plunging
headlong over the dam* in an impetuous flood. The cool after-
noon breeze blowing down the river comes to us laden with deli-
cious, woodsy, watery odors, which quicken our recollections and
agitate our youthful remembrances. Again we are boys, with
cork dobbers, buckshot sinkers and hickory poles, angling in
the pond above for the slippery catfish, the darting dace, or the
elusive sucker. Featherbed Lane is what they call the bit of
road beyond the bridge. Successive years have brought succes-
sive loads of stone, until the roadway has risen above the low-
lands on either side, and travel is no longer impeded by the
annual spring freshets, as of yore. Time was when just here and
beyond stood a fine forest of over four hundred acres ; but that
was during the life of that eccentric genius. Doctor Henry Van
der Veer, who was blessed with the good old English prejudice
against the felling of timber. But with his death came the
iconoclastic heir, who soon robbed the estate of its chief pride
and glory. Let us hope that the Doctor's rest in Bedminster
churchyard was undisturbed by the ring of the woodsman's axe^
and the crash of the fall of the sturdy oaks he loved so well. Let
us hope, too, for the hastening of the time when Somerset's farm-
ers may learn the agricultural and climatic value of timber, and
be as eager to set out new patches of woodland as they are now
to denude the already tree-impoverished country.
At the next turn in the road we are suddenly confronted by
the venerable church of Bedminster, standing with stately dig-
nity overlooking an attractive little green. No bewildering maze
of tower, transept, clerestory, gable, or rich ornamentation
impresses the beholder. It is an oblong wooden structure painted
white, with green blinds covering its double rows of square cap-
ped windows, and with an octagonal tower which supports a
round-topped cupola. It is not, however, without good architect-
ural proportions, or a general effect which is imposing; in fact,
*Fire and flood have since destroyed both mill and waterpower.
6 The Story of an Old Farm.
it is an excellent example of what Emerson calls the only orig-
inal t3'pe of American architecture, the New England Meeting-
House. But to appreciate what a religious and social factor is
Bedminster Church in this well-ordered community, it should be
visited on the first day of the week — on a pleasant Sunday
morning, when a quiet spirit broods over field and wood, when
even busy nature seems at rest and filled with calm repose. But
the world awakens, when, with gentle swell, over the valleys and
echoing hills sounds the sweet music of the swinging bell, peal-
ing from the belfry windows, the old, old invitation, Come to
prayer! Come to prayer! They come, these country worship-
pers, from farm, from village and from mill; they come on foot,
in wagons, on horseback; some by the dusty highways, some
over the peaceful meadows, some through the shady lanes — the
immense congregation gathers. Many approach the sanctuary
over the green, stepping from the elastic sward to the broad
portico which hospitably faces the portals. Others, leaving the
highway at the rear of the building, enter the churchyard through
a little wicket, and following a foot path that lies in and out
among the graves and winds along the side of the edifice they
reach the porch through a second gate. Others, loitering among
the grassy mounds, read the crumbling inscrip:ions on the
ancient headstones; while little groups of twos and threes, in som-
bre garb, stand with bent head and reverential attitude over
where sleep their dead, awaiting resurrection.
Not the least interesting feature of a Sunday morning at this
old church is the motley array of vehicles standing at the fences
and trees on both sides of the road for a quarter of a mile or less.
A strange collection, indeed, embracing every kind of trap in
use for the past half century. Here, is a sulky, to which the
spruce young fanner has driven his favorite colt to "meetin;"
there, a long-bodied, black-covered Jersey wagon, with a rotund
old lady backing out over the front wheel and whiffletrees, aid-
ing her descent by clutching at the cruppers of the horses, who
are passive enough after a week at plough or harrow. More
modem equipages are not wanting, and occasionally is to be seen
the old-time, white-covered, farm wagon, carpeted with straw,
with splint chairs from the farm-house for seats.
An old country church like this, which draws its people from
BEDMINSTER CHURCH.
Sunday Morning at Bedminster Chukch. 7
miles around, means much more than one located near populous
towns and cities. It is the beating heart, the life-giving cen-
tre, around which all the neighborhood interests and hopes cir-
culate. It is also a weekly interchange of news and gossip, and
the people on Sunday morning lay in a store for the coming six
days not altogether confined to uses of religious and spiritual
comfort. As the hour for service approaches the women have
passed inside, but the men gather about the door or under the
ttees, discussing their horses, the crops and whatever may have
been of interest during the past week. This Sunday morning
talk is not limited to the one sex, for, on entering, we would find
the wives and daughters in animated converse over the backs
and partitions of the pews. When the sexton has rung the last
bell, by stoutly pulling two ropes depending from the belfi-y to
the vestibule floor, the men come clattering through the doors,
which face the congregation on either side of the pulpit. The
elders and deacons, first depositing their hats on the sides of the
tall pulpit stair, seat themselves to the right and left of the min-
ister, their faces settling into the dignified composures due their
oflScial positions. Gradually a hush pervades the congregation,
preceding the solemn invocation. The blessing over, a stir and
bustle in the rear gallery proclaim the large choir to be stand-
ing. The cheeiy-cheeked girls are shaking out their frocks, the
stalwart youths are clearing their throats ; now is the ear of every
child in the assemblage alert to hear the first twang of the tun-
ing fork, following which comes the long concerted " do-mi-sol-
(?o," of the choir. They have the pitch, and break away into a
loud psalm of praise, or song of thanksgiving, the large congre-
gation taking up the refrain, till the old church rings with that
most jubilant of all music, hearty congregational singing.
And so the service continues, with prayer and praise, and
sermon and doxology, not forgetting the collection, taken up in
funny little black bags poked down the pcAvs at the end of long
poles. I must acknowledge it is many years since I have been
in this time-honored church; but, doubtless, there have been few
or no changes since the closing pastorate of Domine Schenck,
some thirty or so years ago. How well I remember, in those
days, the pleasure with which a certain small boy, in a round-
about brass-buttoned jacket and nankeen trousers, looked for-
8 The Story of ax Old Farm.
ward to a sammer Sunday morning at the old church. His seat
was well up toward the pulpit, and, did the service grow weari-
some, through the open door could be seen the horses biting at
the flies, the leaves stirring in the soft south breeze, and the hov-
ering butterflies floating in the sweet sunshine over the close-
knit turf of the green. Will ever be forgotten the delightful old
lad J who sat in a great square pew immediately in front of the
one occupied by that same small boy : and who, when he, lulled
by the monotone of the sermon, or the droning of the drowsy
bees that circled in and out the open door, nodded with sleep,
would surreptitiously pass behind little bunches of penny-royal,
or other fragrant herbs, and on rare occasions — ah happy day! —
a store-bought peppermint lozenge. But enough of boyhood and
Bedminster church. It is quite time for us to be looking about
the village.
All this -time our stage-wagon is still rolling on; not very
rapidly it is true; the horses seem exhausted by a previous
journey. You must remember they have dragged a heavy load
from Peapack — twelve miles — this morning; now, when thus far
on their return, the slackening trace and more pronounced jog
proclaim their protest against speed. Presently our goal is in
plain sight, facing us as we drive along the straight road which
stretches over a level country, 'twixt meadows, orchards and
comfortable homesteads. The attractive parsonage, with its sur-
rounding glebe, is behind us on the left ; beyond, on the right,
down a tree-embowered lane, a glimpse is obtained of a substan-
tial farm house and its old-fashioned garden. On we roll, pass-
ing the forge with its waiting horses, loud-breathing fire, and
dusky interior, until the stage creaks and strains as it mounts
the side hill, and comes to a stand-still at the Bedminster tavern,
which rests on the edge of the first terrace of the incline. Here
ends our ride; Bedminster and the Lesser Cross Roads, owing
to a recent fiat of the Post-office Department being one and the
same.
First impressions are not always to be relied upon. Perhaps
you do not like my village! I must .confess it has an air rather
unkempt and forlorn: it can hardly be called a village, — ]uBt a
wayside hamlet. In the last century, when these four roads met
here, or rather, the two highways crossed each other, the nat-
The Lesser Cross-Roads. ^
ural consequence was that industrial germ of all new settlements
— a blacksmith shop. Later came the store and tavern. Little
houses have since dropped hap-hazard along the roadsides, but
the village has long been finished, and now seems quite in the
decadence of age. Its most pleasing aspect is along the north
road, where the rusty old houses with their gable ends fronting
the highway picturesquely cluster in patches of white and gray
on the successive terraces that form the ascending hillside.
Trees and generous shade were e^ndently not considered
adjuncts to rural beauty by ''the forefathers of the hamlet;" yet,
notwithstanding the bareness of the place, it has a qiiaintness of
its own, due to the antiquated houses with their old-fashioned
gardens, which offer a rather pleasing contrast to the newness of
the buildings in so many of the New Jersey villages contiguous
to the railways.
The small structure on the coraer, opposite the tavern, is that
magazine of wonders, a country store. Is it not a funuv little
shop ? Just like one of the wooden houses that come in the
boxes of toy villages. Its interior is odd enough to satisfy the
most diligent searcher after the queer and old. The counters
are woni smooth by the dorsal extremities of the neighborhood
Solons, who have gathered here for sixty years of evenings, to settle
the affairs of the nation and comment on the gossip of the country
for miles around. ^lanv an ancient joke has here over again won a
laugh — many a marvelous tale has been listened to with open-
mouthed wonder by country lads, who have tramped miles for
the pleasure of an evening in general society. Although it is a
wee-store, here can be found everything, from a tishhook to a
hayrake, from a quart of molasses to a grindstone. Dress pat-
terns and calicoes — fast colors — rest on shelves : nail kegs and
sugar-barrels offer seats for waiting customers ; boots, pails and
trace-chains decorate the ceiling ; while dusty jars tempt the
school children to barter eggs for sticks of peppermint and win-
tergreen, or the succulent Jackson-ball.
Of the roads focusing here, the one from the south we have
travelled, and with the one towards the north we shall soon
grow familiar. The west road leads to Lamingtou, New Ger-
mantown and the pleasant agricultural lands of Hunterdon }
while the one on tlie east stretches awav bevond the North
10 The Story ob^ an Old Farm.
Branch of the Raritan river, over the historic hills on which rest
Liberty Comer, Basking Ridge and Bernardsville, villages rich
in Revolutionary reminiscences.
Down this east road a little way — you can see it from the cor-
ner — stands the school-house. Your guide has been soundly
thrashed more than once in that little building, or in one on the
«ame site ; but that was more than a quarter of a century ago,
"when he, a brown-cheeked, barefooted boy, trudged over these
hills each morning before half past eight, carrying his dinner in
a tin hlicJiie. The school teacher of that day would hardly have
appreciated Anthony Trollope's suggestion, that those school-
masters, insisting upon following the doctrines of Solomon,
should perform the operation under chloroform. Surely the boys
of that time have not forgotten the Cross Roads pedagogue, who
never spared the rod, or rather rods, for he had two. With one,
a young sapling cut fresh each morning, he could plant a welt on
the shoulders of a boy six feet away. This was but the admoni-
tory gad. When serious business was meant the luckless cul-
prit must mount the back of a larger boy, who, gathering the
victim's legs under his arms, tightened his trousers over the
point of attack; then would "the teacher" lay on with a short,
sharp switch. The office of under boy was no sinecure, for did
the descending birch miss its shining mark, it must needs fall
upon the coadjutor's legs, to the great amusement of his com-
rades, — boys are such unsympathetic wretches ! I wonder do
the girls still have standing in the corner of the school lot the
stone pla3'^house, filled with broken bits of china ; and the old
stone fort in the opposite corner, is it still intact, and well sup-
plied with pebbles to resist assault'^ I will go bail the boys
of the present know, as well as did we old fellows, 'the short cut
across lots to the Mine Brook hole, a deep pool guarded by
gnarled oaks and overhanging sycamores. A plunge in its cool
depths must at any time be the ultima thule of delight in a
school boy's summer nooning.
The day wears on. You will soon think me garrulous if I
am allowed to continue talking of boyish times at the "Cross
Roads." The stage has long ago lurched and jolted eastward,
and is now creeping along the road that stretches over the bot-
tom lands beyond the river, thus avoiding the hills which we
Farewell to the Village.
11
must proceed to climb. You are forgiven for not falling in love
with the viDage — perhaps, it was hardly to be expected — but
now that we approach the ''Old Farm," I shall be disappointed,
indeed, if you fail to appreciate the singular and peculiar beauties
of its grassy hillsides, interspersed with ancient orchards, its
broad meadow spaces, its groves of oaks, and streams of sinuous
course.
CHAPTER 11.
The Old Farm — Its Upland Acres, Broad Meadoivs and
Ancient Stone House.
He who loves his fellow man, and he who loves nature, must
be fond of a country road ; it appeals in tones both human and
divine, for it is the bond connecting the works of the Creator
with the productions of humanit}'. This sentiment is peculiarly-
appropriate to highways that traverse distant and retired neigh-
borhoods, such as we are at present visiting. The road run-
ning north from Bedminster, up which we now bend our steps,
is in happy accord with such suggestion, and gives most agree-
able promises of rural loveliness as it leaves the village and
wanders over the hills, hedged in by banks from which outcrop
the shale forming the foundations of this part of the world. The
reddish brown roadway lies on the sunny rise in pleasing con-
trast to the flushed, time-stained grays of the gables of the bor-
dering houses, which peer down over the banks from their set-
tings of sweet briar, marigolds and snowballs. As we climb the
hill, I, at least, am filled with the most delightful anticipations.
In approaching a spot hallowed by memories of early associa-
tions it is always better to alight from your carriage and pro-
ceed on foot. You are thus nearer to nature's heart and better
able, in "pedestrial observation and contemplation, to enjoy the
pleasures of recollection." We mount for a quarter of a mile or
less, and soon see, beyond, the rounded tops of a brave bit of
timber. It is the confines of the "Old Farm." Originally its
lines extended to and embraced much of the "Cross Roads;" had
the early owners declined to sell, that settlement would have been
a one-sided affair: different parcels have been conveyed, none
within half a century, until the tract now includes about one
Approaching the Old Farm. 13
hundred and forty acres. The farm lies to the right, on the east
side of the highway. Before reaching it we pass a neglected
^'Grod's-Acre." It is the simple burial place of slaves and their
posterity, who once formed an important element of the work-a-
day world of this township. The headstones, if there ever were
any, have long since disappeared ; the decrepit fences are cov-
ered with a rambling growth of weeds and creeping vines, and
the rains of many years have beaten level the humble mounds of
the dusky toilers.
But the hoary trees of the deep green wood beckon us on.
Here we are — the "Old Farm" at last. Did you ever see a
finer patch of woodland ? It is primitive forest. Venerable oaks
have thrown their shade over the slopes, glades, copses and
leafy recesses of this royal grove, since the days the Indians
roamed at wUl over these fair lands. Looking far in the tim-
bered acres to where the shadows and sunlight alternate, and
" one leafy circle melts into another," does it not suggest Sher-
wood Forest ? Free from underbrush, with the majestic trees,
standing at stately distances, one can well imagine seeing, where
the sunshine darts through yon sylvan bower, Robin Hood and
his merrie men kneeling on a soft bed of green moss, at the
base of a sacred oak, while jolly Friar Tuck invokes a blessing
on some new marauding enterprise.
Let us push on over the breezy uplands. The road scales a
small ridge, then lies along a short level, and sinks into a little
dell, only to mount higher on the farther side. Its trend is now
eastward, and the flanking banks are surmounted by rusty grey
rail fences, whose straddling posts rise from a tangle of milk-
weed, sumac, wild blackberry and alder bushes. Just here a
long lane leads to a colony of farm buildings — the Abram D.
Huff homestead — with a backgTOund of dark woods. The eye
ranging south and west overlooks a charming prospect for miles
away. The ebbing sunshine, flooding down wide streams of light,
intensifies every shade of color in nature's wonderful mosaic of
tillage and fallow, of level sweeps of pasture and waving fields
of grain. On the other side of the road the hillsides of the "Old
Farm" fall away abruptly in great, grassy cascades, till they
blend with the meadows that stretch to a line of waving trees,
marking where winds a silvery stream hastening to join the Rari-
14 The Story of an Old Fakm.
tan. One can hardly phrase the harmonies that dwell in the
peaceful atmosphere of such a landscape. It possesses what
some one has said of the Blue Grass region of Kentucky — "the
quality of gracefulness." The face of the country is buoyant
and rolls away in billowy undulations, now subsiding into quiet
valleys, now gently ascending woodland slopes, the deep soil of
the green fields lying in continuous, lawn-like surfaces, present-
ing between the eye and the horizon in every direction a pano-
rama of symmetry and beauty.
On our left a cross-country road, running north and west,
leads to the Holland neighborhood and divides the Huff and
Oppie farms. The latter is a little fifty-acre homestead formerly
a part of the ''Old Farm." From here the main road runs due
east over a high level, and soon has on both sides the broad
upland acres of our ancestral plantation. Walking on, we reach
the edge of a long, steep descent, known for a century past as
the " Melick hill." Here the road plunges down over a series of
plateaus, until, nearly two thousand feet away, it disappears
around a graceful bend, where it crosses the brawling Peapack
brook, in this direction the boundary of the farm.
One may journey many miles in many countries without find-
ing a lovelier outlook than from this hill-top. Perhaps you think
that the fertile valley below, luxuriant with the freshness of gen-
tle summer showers, smacks too much of utilitarian beauty?
True, nature does not here present herself in a grand or majes-
tic aspect; precipitous rocks, bold declivities and long ranges of
serrated peaks are not features of the landscape. But nature in
its various phases fits all moods, and it has other charms than
those of the wildly picturesque ; those unveiled in the homely
and restful scene of these peaceful hillsides have a quiet fasci-
nation, far more satisfactory than if emanating from gorge,
chasm, or upheaved rocks. It is the domesticity of the scene
that charms. As you watch the slanting sun illumine the mead-
ows with their meandering brooks, the orchards, farmsteads
and great barns, emblems of plenty ; as you watch the afternoon
shadows settling in the valley and slowly creeping upward and
backward on the opposite slope, you are reminded of one of those
lovely vales in midland England; vales which Henry James
describes as mellow and bosky, and redolent of human qualities.
Descending "Melick Hill." 15^
We are told that one born with a soul for the picturesque finds
in American landscapes naught but harsh lights, without shade,
without composition, without the subtle mystery of color. Is
that true ? Standing here overlooking this charming country-
side, do you discover anything garish, any tones that offend ?
Color — why here is the very essence of the mystery of color. See
yonder! that little island of cloud-shadow float over the field of
bending grain, a field of a most delicious green interspersed with
suggestions of yellow, the promise of golden harvests soon to
come. Observe, beyond the river! how in those broad acres of"
young corn the tender green stands out against the rich dark
loam from which it draws its lusty strength. See, too, the luxu-
riant verdure of the woodland, topping the undulating rise
beyond yon sloping pastures. Here are light, shadow, form and
color, and all that go to make a picture of quiet, restful beauty,
with an atmosphere of sweet content.. Bear with my enthusiasm.
I love these hills and all that can be seen from their kindly
sides.
Come ! we will go down into the valley. The terraces give
pleasant breaks to the steep incline of the road. As we pro-
ceed, the faint sound of mill-wheels and brooks comes up from
below, and the air is fresh and cool with the palpable breath of
the waters pouring over the dam.. Presently, across the fields
on the left, an antique orchard intervening, are to be seen the
large barns, hovels and farm buildings, and not far beyond, a
little lower down, wreaths of blue smoke curl above the long
brown roof of the old homestead. Just before reaching the foot
of the hill we come to a grand old maple, whose spreading
branches have for a century of summers waved a leafy welcome
to comers to the '^ Old Farm." To you, perhaps, it is but a
fine tree, but I indeed would be devoid of all sensibility if deaf
to the music of the leaves stirring amid its venerable branches.
Their sound excites the most agreeable sensations, awakens
memories of the many happy, youthful days that have witnessed
my return to the refreshiment of this old maple's shade, and to all
the pleasure that invariably followed a visit to this cherished
homestead. Here we leave the highway, and, turning to the
left up a short incline, are in front of the Mecca of our hopes —
the Old Stone House.. Facing an antiquated door yard and
16 The Story of an Old Farm.
shaded by elms, it rests lovingly against the side of a sunny
tank of turf, springing from the grassy slope as if part of the
geological strata rather than a superstructure raised by the hand
of man. They builded well in those old days, and now the walls
of this sturdy dwelling, humanized and dignified by five genera-
tions of occupants, are as stanch and apparently as well pre-
served as when laid in 1752 ; as firm as when Johannes Moelich
erected here in the then wilds of colonial New Jersey a home
that should be to him like unto those ancient houses of masonry
he had always known, bordering the banks of the winding Rhine,
in far away fatherland.
There is nothing pretentious about this dwelling ; nothing
suggestive of the fine mansion ; just a quaint low house, with a
comely old-time presence. Almost a cottage in size — it has but
nine or ten rooms — the whitewashed walls, massive enough for
a citadel, are pierced in a hap-hazard sort of way with odd little
windows, from which twinkle queer diminutive panes of glass.
At the west end it is one and a half stories high, but the slope of
the hill gives another storey at the eastern gable. Formerly the
roof was thatched with straw, and among my many treasures
prized as souvenirs of this old farm are a pair of the original
thatching needles, made of iron and shaped like a sickle. Build-
ings, like people, have facial expressions peculiar to themselves.
This homely house bears on its aged face a gentle and benign
expression of invitation and welcome, as if reflecting a great
interior heart, beating with generous hospitality.
There is an air of comfort and repose about this farm- house
that renders it distinctive among dwellings. Without the osten-
tation of a tine villa, or the pertness of an ambitious cottage, it
has an atmosphere of friendliness and good cheei* that fills all
comers with pleasant anticipations. Crossing a wooden-seated
porch tiie open door ushers us into an ample hall. An ancient
time-piece ticks at the foot of the stair and the cool evening
breeze draws through the upper half of the rear door, beyond
which is a view of a pleasant stretch of meadow disappearing
down a steep bank into a belt of trees bordering a mill pond.
From the back porch 3'ou can see at the foot of the hill on the
«ast the buildings of Schomp's grist and saw mills. Together with
their contiguous dwelling, the dam and the beautifully shaded
The Old Stone House. 17
stream below, they present a charming rural picture. Formerly
the bottom lands on this side of Peapack brook were checkered
with square vats, for the owners of the "Old Farm " have not
only been farmers, but for four generations were tanners of
leather and grinders of bark. But the tan vats have long been
tilled up, the bark mill is a picturesque ruin, and the waters that
once turned its busy wheel now run to waste in their sluices and
race-ways.
But to return to the Old Stone House. You see it is only a
plain farm-house, after all, with no remarkable staircases or
ancient tiles to interest the visitor. It is true quaint cupboards
with curious little panes of glass peer out from the corners of
some of the rooms, and those extraordinarily complicated locks
on the doors are of Oerman manufacture, and were put on at the
building of the house. The incline of the floors is not due to
the old age of their supports or the weakening of the walls —
the latter will not weaken till some inhuman one uses their foun-
dations for a quarry. But when this old house was new, carpets
were unknown among farmers, and these floors were laid on an
incline in order that each morning, before being freshly sanded,
the old sand and dirt could be more readily swept into the hall.
By far the most interesting room is the farm kitchen, or living-
room, downstairs. There is an outer kitchen resting against the
east gable in which is built the great Dutch oven. What batches
of rye and wheaten loaves have browned in this capacious sala-
mander. On opening the furnace door the savory fumes of bak-
ing cake seem in the air ; you almost see the plethoric pans
drawn from the heated vault, the rich crusts, puffed with the
pride of their own sweetness, towering till they burst in golden
crevices. Picture to yourself in all the years of generous living
the endless procession of pies, puddings, creature-comforts and
dainty delicacies that have been discharged from the mouth of
this broad oven. Both tradition and memory bear witness as to
there having always been good cooks in the Old Stone House.
To the east of this outer kitchen is a neglected garden begirt by a
crazy fence of ancient construction. Clambering hop and other
straggling vines partially hide the weakness of the aged inclosure,
while a luxuriant growth of currant and gooseberry bushes,
intermingled with all sorts of weeds and creepers, give to the
18 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
fence an air of substantiability which it is far from possessing.
The black loam, enriched with years of rotting leaves, plants
and vegetables, feeds patches of hereditary lilies and old-time
flowers, grown from seeds brought from Germany. Several
ancient plum and twisted quince trees cluster in one corner, their
trunks grey with the lichen of time, though still thrifty from the
long drinking of the rich juices of exuberant vegetation. Were
it later in the season a few choice yellow pumpkins and crooked-
necked summer squashes would be seen turning their ripening
backs to the warm sun, swelling with the possibility of future
pies ; and pale green cucumbers, fattening on the black soil,
would sprawl among the beds. But now the narrow paths are
bordered with pinks and sweet-williams ; between them stand
early beets in sober rows, and young bean vines just reaching
for their rusty poles, while blossoming potato and tomato plants
contribute their bit of color, and give a finish to this old-
fashioned picture.
The threshold of the farm kitchen, or living-room, even in my
time was guarded by a double Dutch door, but the demon of
improvement has replaced it with a more modern entrance. We
can step directly from the grass and trees of the dooryard to its
interior, and at once are in a bit of the old world. Coming out
of the daylight the room seems dark, with mysterious corners
and outlets, for it is lighted by small windows set deep in the
thick stone walls. As for the outlets, I know well that the cor-
ner one farthest from the door leads into the large cool cellar,
where are firm yellow pats of butter and pans of rich cream,
where stone crocks stand on the earthen floor filled with moist
pot-cheeses, nut-cakes and all manner of good things, while cor-
pulent jars distended with sweets, and rows of pies stuff"ed with
lusciousness, adorn wooden shelves hanging from the ceiling.
How often have big-hearted housewives disappeared within its
dark recesses only to return laden with good cheer for my
delectation. Most of the furniture of this room dates back to the
last century. The hugh press standing against the west wall
was built in Germany before 1735, and is a curiosity in its way.
Though the wood is of walnut it is black with age, and its height
is 80 great as to preclude the use of its round black ball legs,
which for years have served as children's playthings in the gar-
The Old Stone House. 19
ret. This massive piece of brass-mounted furniture is capped
by an overhanging cornice that projects som^ twelve inches, and
has stood in its present position since the house was built.
What a wealth of old associations cluster about the dusky
corners of this low-ceilinged room. While these oaken beams
were growing dark with the mellowing hand of time, golden-
haired children have sat about this ancestral hearthstone,
building in the glowing embers pictures wrought of their
budding fancies. These same beams, still unbent by the
burden of age, though brown with the deposits of years,
have seen those same children, now old men and women,
picturing in the ashes of the lighted logs the memories of their
past lives. And so the generations have come and gone, and so
they have moved " gently down the stream of life until they
have slept with their fathers;" like trees of the forest, the old
falling that the young may thrive, sending out offshoots into
the world until, since the great crane was first hung in the cav-
ernous fireplace, from the Gulf to the Lakes, from the ocean to
the Rockies, nearly a thousand descendants of the builder of this
dear old home have peopled our broad land.
And who was the German immigrant who felled the forest of
this Bedminster valley? Nobody ! And who were his children
and his children's children, who have wrested from these sunny
slopes their treasures of grain and abundant grasses, and have
dotted the pastures below with glossy cattle ? Just nobodies ! At
least so the world would say. You do not find their names
emblazoned on the pages of history, nor do they appear high among
those of the counsellers of the nation. Neither have their vices
or profligacies distinguished them as subjects for memoirs, plays
or novels. An honest, simple. God-fearing folk ; with the
homely virtues of industry, integrity, frugality and hospitality,
they have tilled the soil, tanned leather, built churches, sup-
ported schools, occupied modest positions of public honor and
trust in the community, and fought the battles of their country.
Quietly have many of them passed their uneventful but well-
ordered lives, and quietly at life's close have they lain down in
Pluckamin or Bedminster churchyard, their memories embalmed
in the respect and affection of their fellows. It is the characters
and virtues of just such plain people that have constituted the
20 Thk Story of an Old Farm.
bulwarks and strength of the American nation. The annals of
families and communities arc the real basis of all history. We
are told that the history of a nation is to be read in its politi-
cal life. An obviously true proposition, but to present to the
mind the complete progress of a people, it is not only necessary
to understand the superstructure of politics and civil life, but
that substratum of society, as well, which cultivates the arts of
peace and gradually develops the country; that substratum of liv-
ing men and women of their time, whose acts and the daily rou-
tine of whose existence form the true foundation of history.
During the past ten years it has been my pleasure to make a
study of that little slice of New Jersey embraced within Bed-
minster township, or rather a study of its people as connected
directly and indirectly with the settlers and occupants of the
^' Old Farm." As such investigations and researches continued
the field they covered gradually widened until it embraced aU
the middle and northern counties, and to some extent included
the state at large. Over two hundred ancient documents, letters,
deeds, bonds, bills and manuscripts have been collected. In
reading between the lines of these papers one finds almost a com-
plete historical narrative of the ''old times" of this section.
Light is thrown upon the most interesting facts as to the cost and
manner of living, the fashion in dress, the habits, characteristics,
personal relations and daily life of the inhabitants of New Jersey
in the last century. Knowing that throughout this country there
are many descendants of Joliannes Moelich, who have never vis-
ited the "Old Farm" and have but little knowledge of its history
associated with their own families, I have thought it a duty, and
found it a labor of love, to give in a connected form the result of
my researches. Having drawn on the preceding pages an outline
picture of these homestead acres, and of the approach from the
railvvay, in the coming chapters an endeavor will be made to give
some idea as to what manner of people were their early settlers,
from whence they came, and why they came. In like manner I
shall hope to convey to the reader some impressions of the suc-
ceeding generations that have called the Old Stone House
home. With their story will be interwoven much fact and some
tradition, regarding the experiences of the New Jersey people in
the eighteenth century and such matters of local county his-
I
Somerset's Historical Background.
21
tory as it has been my good fortune to gather. The story of the
"Old Farm" is the easier told because of its setting. Somerset
landscapes present a succession of beautiful pictures, whose
charms are greatly enhanced by their historical backgrounds.
Every corner of the county has a story of its own full of interest^
and as we walk abroad pursuing our task, we shall find on all
sides pregnant facts and well-grounded traditions moving hand
in hand down the long avenues of the past.
CHAPTER III.
Bendorf on the Rhine — Johannes Moelich Emigrates to America
in 1735 — The Condition of Germany in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries.
The storied beauty of the winding Rhine is nowhere more
famed than in the vicinity of the ancient city of Coblentz — the
*■'■ Confluentes'^ of Roman days. Here have nature and man com-
bined in forming a scene of rare and picturesque loveliness. On
reaching this quaint settlement it is not the old town with its
massive walls stretching along the banks of the Rhine that first
impresses one ; nor is it the Moselle, whose waters here swell the
flood of the greater river. It is the majestic fortress of Erhen-
breitstein, crowning the almost perpendicular rocks on the far-
ther shore, four hundred feet above the stream, that dominates
the scene and dwarfs every object within its frowning presence.
This vast fortification, the Gibraltar of the Rhine, is inaccessible
on three sides, and dates back to the Franconian King Dagobert,
in the seventh century. From its extensive glacies, fosses and
towers the eye ranges over a charming and varied landscape,
embracing hillsides terraced with vineyards, bold declivities
stored with legends, and green valleys filled with the romance of
the MidtUc Ages. Immediately below are the palaces, turrets
and red roofs of the second city of importance on the river. The
old basilica of St. Castor elevates its hoary towers above an angle
in the town wall where the rivers join, and beyond the massive
arches of a bridge of heavy blocks of stone take fourteen huge
strides across the Moselle. On the south, in plain sight, are the
stately, grey-stone battlements of the royal chateau of Stolzenfels,
capping a timbered eminence, while down the river can be seen
a succession of picturesque villages, whose long Rhine streets
almost form one continuous settlemeut. About four miles away
Bendorf and its Ancient Church. 23
in this direction the convent island of Niederwerth splits the
current of the stream. A little beyond and a mile or so back from
the right bank of the river, in a valley surrounded by apple
orchards, rests the ancient village of Bendorf.
With us a place of over four thousand inhabitants would
feel entitled to be considered a town, but on the continent of
Europe a settlement requires more than population to attain such
dignity. Bendorf has the appearance of grey antiquity common
to most of the old settlements along the Rhine. Its narrow
streets, without sidewalks, are lined with low, two-storey, stone
houses, though the continuity is occasionally broken by a tall,
steep, red roof studded with odd dormers, or an overhanging gable,
which casts a deep shadow across the contracted roadway. Other
architectural surprises are not wanting. The stroller over
the rough cobbles of the ill-paved streets comes again and again
upon an antique turret protruding from the upper storey of some
time-stained structure, or upon picturesque wooden houses, with
their blackened constructive timbers exposed, enclosing panels
of white plaster. Often the quaint facades are curiously carved
with heraldic devices, grotesque conceits and odd German letter-
ing.
Ambushed behind a shadowy corner is a venerable Roman-
esque church, its age-seamed walls and medieevel towers bearing
in many places marks of the devastating hand of time. It may
well look old, as it is claimed that the edifice was completed by
the Counts of Sayn before the year 1205. It is certainly one of the
most ancient in Rhineland, and although the early archives of the
congregation did not escape the conflagrations of the Thirty
Years' and other wars, the architecture of the main struct-
ure bears abundant evidence of its antiquity. It is a
three-naved basilica of purely Roman features showing no
traces in its original outlines of the transition from that style
to the Gothic. Its symmetry has been marred, however, by
some "improver," who in the pointed period replaced a round
window, that formerly adorned the circular-depressed place above
the main entrance with a long one, and who destroyed the agree-
able proportions of its facade by elevating and pointing the cen-
tre of the front wall. At the same time a Gothic chapel was
erected, and later a modern extension was constructed on
24 The Story of an Old Farm.
the south-west, in which the Catholics worship. The con-
gregation housed by the original, or main building, is entitled
the Evangelical Head-Church — Evangelische Haupt-Kirclie. To-
gether with the congregation of the town of Winningen it was
among the first in Germany to fall under the sway of the Refor-
mation. In 1578, Count Henry IV of Sayn, who had become a
follower of Luther, inherited Bendorf. He at once established a
Lutheran congregation under the pastorate of Reverend Johannes
Camerarius and from then till now this little toAvn has been a
stronghold of Protestantism. More than, one American congrega-
tion can trace its origin to this Rhenish Lutheran Society, and in
its archives, referring to the first part of the last century, fre-
quently appear names that a few years later became familiar in
Hunterdon and Somerset counties. New Jersey. Among them
those of MoELiCH (Melick), Klein (Kline), Himroth (Himrod),
Fassbender, Wortman and others.
To an appreciative American, one who having always lived
amid the new loves and reveres the old, there are few experi-
ences in foreign travel more satisfactory than the mere fact of
being within the shadow of a building that has withstood the ele-
ments for five or six centuries. So was the writer affected one
summer morning a few years ago, while standing in the presence
of this hoary temple, the church of his forefathers. Looking up
at the crumbling window-arches that pierced its grey, gloomy
facade, it was difficult to realize that when those walls were new
the ruined castles which frequent this part of the Rhine were
alive with steel-encased feudal lords and their armed retainers ;
that Barbarossa, the red-bearded emperor, had just sunk beneath
the Asiatic waves, while on the third Crusade ; .that the sunny
lands of what is now southern France were running with the
blood of those devoted peasants, the Albigenses, in the unholy
war fathered by that most cruel of all popes, Innocent III; and
prosecuted by that most bloodthirsty of all commanders, Simon
de Montfort, that the haughty English barons, on the banks of
the Thames, were extorting from wicked and degraded King
John, Magna Charta, that precious document that proved to
be the foundation of the liberties of all English-speaking people.
But a truce to mediaeval history; we will pass over five hundred
years.
Johannes Starts for America. 25
Here in Bendorf, in the early part of the eighteenth century,
lived a sturdy burgher — a tanner and a freeholder of good
repute — Johannes Moelich, who was bora on the tAventy-sixth of
February, 1702. His family comprised four children, equally
divided as to sex, and his wife Maria Catherina, a rotund Ger-
man matron who prided herself upon being the daughter of
Gottfried Kirberger, the bm-gomaster of Bendorf. Having been
born on the sixth of January, 1698, she was nearly four years
the senior of her husband, to whom she had been married on the
first of November, 1723. As she is familiarly known in family
annals as Mariah Katrina, by this name she will in future be
designated on these pages. The children were : Ehrenreich
(Aaron), born the twelfth of October, 1725 ; Veronica Gerdrutta
(Fanny), born on the twenty-first of November, 1727 ; Andreas
(Andrew), born on the twelfth of December, 1729 ; and Marie
Cathrine, born on the sixth of December, 1 733.
One morning, while the year 1735 was yet young, Johannes
gathered together his family, his household goods and efi'ects,
including considerable furniture, and taking with him his young-
est brother Gottfried (Godfrey), departed through the Bach-gate
of the town wall to the bank of the river. Here he embarked
on one of the clumsy barges of that day and floated away, borne
up by Father Ehine, to Rotterdam, where he took ship and sailed
for America. This emigrant was the son of Johann Wilhelm
and Anna Katherine Moelich, who came to Bendorf in J 688 from
Winningen,* a town on the Moselle, four miles west of Coblentz.
They had many relatives and friends in both places, and
we can well fancy that the departure of Johannes and his
family was an important event for these communities. It
would be interesting to learn just what cause led to his
emigration. It could not have been poverty, as was the case
with many of the thousands of his countrymen who had preceded
him across the water, for we know that he owned property in
Bendorf and had ready money for investment in the new country.
Perhaps he appreciated the responsibility of his little family, and
hesitated to bring up his children under a government that
had already brought much misery and distress on its subjects.
* For description of Winningen and Bendorf see introduction to genealogy in
appendix, p, 628.
26 The Story of an Old Farm.
He had already established relations beyound the sea, his younger
brother Johann Peter having landed at Philadelphia in 1728,
from the ship Mortonhouse. Doubtless he had received letters
from this brother, and from friends among the many emigrants
who had found an asylum in America, drawing an enticing
picture of the liberal government of William Penn, which had
secured to them in the fruitful valleys of Pennsylvania peaceful
retreats where they no longer feared religious persecution or
political oppression. Between the beginning of the century and
the time of Johannes' emigration some seventy thousand Ger-
mans had turned their backs on the mother country and sought
homes in foreign lands.
The old-world and its people, two hundred years ago, were well
tired of each other. So some one tells us, and the student of early
emigration to the American colonies soon discovers abundant
evidence verifying this statement. He finds that in the latter
part of the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth centuries a
countless host of dissatisfied and oppressed Europeans, turning
theii* faces from the east, embarked on the frail vessels of that
period. For weary weeks they rolled and staggered over the
briny troughs of an almost unknown sea, whose western waves
broke on the shores of a vast continent that beckoned them
thitherward as a haven of security and peace ; a new world whose
hospitable harbors, in the faith of these migrators, seemingly
offered promises of an asylum free from political oppressions, and
a retreat full of that repose which they knew from bitter exper-
iences would be denied them in their own countries.
The birth of society is no older than is the love of man for the
land of his nativity. All ordinary rules and principles govern-
ing the actions of men seem contradicted by emigration from an
old to a new country, whereby men voluntarily combat the dan-
gers and difficulties of sarage nature in a wilderness beyond the
seas, after abandoning the graves of their ancestors, the friends
of a life-time, and the hearth-stones around which have centred
all the affections and sympathetic experiences of their own fam-
ilies and those of their progenitors. Yet, at the time of which
we write, notwithstanding the prevalence of this universal and
world-wide sentiment, it was powerless to stem the great tidal
wave of humanity that rolled irresistibly America-ward. Ship
Why Germans Left Fatherland. 27
after ship, their decks crowded with Scotch refugees, dropped
anchor off Perth Amboy, enriching, as Grahame writes, East
Jersey society ^' by valuable accessions of virtue that had been
refined by adversity, and piety that was invigorated by persecu-
tion." Quakers and Dissenters from Old England landed in
Pennsylvania, and Puritans from that same little island joined
their brethren in Massachusetts, augmenting that sturdy stock
who were laying the foundations of the future American nation.
The forests, which had for centuries fringed both banks of the
Delaware, were felled by the brawny arms of fair- haired Swedes.
Huguenots, among them the best blood of France, as well as her
most skilled artisans, swelled the population of New York and
the more southern provinces, while rotund Hollanders, smoking
long Delft pipesj still sailed their high-pooped shallops up Hud-
son's river, settling on its shores, and penetrating to the little
Dutch settlement which has since grown to be the capital of a
great State. Though home-seekers, these latter had not left
Holland from religious or political motives.
But nowhere on the continent of Europe did this spirit of
unrest hover with greater persistency than over the beautiful val-
leys of the Rhine and its tributaries. The cycle of the eighteenth
century had not rolled away many of its years before thousands
of Germans had turned their backs on all they would naturally
hold most dear and sought homes in foreign lands. Expatriation
is a severe ordeal even when the native shores of the exile are
stertile and barren of fruitfulness ; how much more severe must
be this experience to one who, by unjust laws and an unright-
eous government, is forced to sever the invisible links of affec-
tion that bind him to a land of pleasant abundance, and a home
seated amid environments of picturesqueness and beauty.
The Teuton is by nature stable ; his affections intuitively take
deep root in the soil of his native land, and no one holds in
greater reverence the sacred names of home and fathei'land.
How, then, do we account for this great exodus from Germany,
especially from those fair regions bordering the valleys of the
Rhine, the Moselle, the Nahr and the sinuous Neckar ? If his
native hills, rivers and homesteads are so dear, how is it that at
the present day we find the German to be in the greatest num-
ber of all the foreign population in far-away America ? To
28 The Story of ax Old Farm.
properly answer this question it will be necessary to consider
the political aspect of Germany at the time referred to, and to
take a hurried retrospective glance at the history and condition
of the common people for several anterior decades.
One does not delve very deep in Continental annals of the
eighteenth century without discovering that at this time the
condition of Germany was most deplorable. Many of the innum-
erable kingdoms, duchies, principalities, independent towns and
free cities that were strewed disconnectedly over the land
between the Rhine and the Danube had rulers wha claimed an
almost absolute sway over their hapless subjects. They often
demanded their lives, their fortunes, their services ; the latter not
called upon always for the benefit and protection of their own
country or community, but to be bartered for gold to other gov-
ernments. Successive furious wars had raged with but short
intermission for several generations. And the end was not
yet ; the map of Europe was to undergo many changes, and
the destiny of all Germany was to be determined. The great
Frederick was yet to mould his small kingdom into the poAverful
nation of Prussia. Even M'hen that work was accomplished, and
fifty years after that illustrious king had returned from the Seven
Years' War, the German people gathered themselves together
for the greatest struggle they had yet attempted ; but it was with
happier hearts and a more abounding faith that they entered
into this contest, for they felt the glow of a national patriotism,
and each blow struck was for a common cause and fatherland.
The sun of peace, prosperity and greatness, as has been well
said, did not rise on Germany till the year 1813, which saw the
end of the prolonged struggle that may be considered to have
commenced with the Thirty Years' War.
But we must go back of the year 1700 to look for the original
cause of German emigration. In the early part of the seven-
teenth century the peasants, burghers and the great middle-
class of Germany were well to do. The prosperity was occa-
sioned by the long continued peace, giving to the people the
opportunity of cultivating their fields and promoting agriculture,
the foundation of opulence in all countries. Some historians
consider tJuit garden and field cultivation in 1618 were superior
to that of two hundred years later, arguing that the present cen-
The Thirty Years' War Overwhelms Gerjiany. 29
tury has only seen Grermany brought back agriculturally to
where it was those long years ago. Tillage, of course, produced
much less variety, many of the grains and vegetables of the pre-
sent century being then unknown. Flax was a staple, and much
money was made from the cultivation of anise and saffron.
Everywhere were vineyards, and in the fields were to be seen
hops, wheat, horsebeans, turnips, teazel and. rape. The houses
were much inferior to those of to-day, but they were not defi-
cient in interior comforts. Many a German matron of the pre-
sent time exhibits with pride the curiously carved chairs and
cupboards, ornamented spinning wheels, and treasures of earth-
ernware and drinking vessels that, having escaped the vicissi-
tudes of the years gone by, have been handed down to her as
precious heirlooms of those ancient days.
Yes, it was a happy time for the common people of Germany.
The scars of war were healed. Of course they had their bur-
dens. The nobles were oppressive. There was the door tax,
the window-tax, and other heavy impositions, and much that was
earned must go to support the comforts and luxuries of the cas-
tles and manorial houses. But as the people knew nothing of
true liberty they were satisfied and happy in following their
peaceful avocations. They gave no thought to war, or to the
fact that the politics of Germany was a bubbling cauldron of
conflicting interests, on the verge of boiling over, and little they
recked of the horrors in store for them in the near future.
What did they know of the bloody horoscope that was being
cast by the disputes of the house of Hapsburg and the German
rulers, or of the princes that were unfurling the banners of the
two hostile religious parties'? In Catholic communities the inhab-
itants were well content with their parish priests, and in the
Protestant towns and hamlets the faithful pastors filled all the
needs of the people. In the village Gasthaus, in the evenings,
there may have been talk of fighting and suffering in Bohemia ;
but it mattered little to the villagers, as they drank their beer
and smoked their porcelain pipes, except as furnishing subject
for chat and wonder. As the months and years roUed on,
rumors grew more rife, and localities named grew much nearer ;
by 1623 it was in Thuringia that conflicts were reported ; by
the next year there was no longer any doubt that Middle Ger-
30 The Story of an Old Farm.
many was being overrun by foreign troops ; in a few months the
Spanish soldiers, under General Spinola, broke in the lower
Palatinate, and all the miseries of war fell upon the entire Rhine
valley. For over a quarter of a century the whole country was
devastated by contesting armies. Hordes of Cossacks, Poles,
Walloons, Irish, Spaniards, Italians, English, Danes, Finns and
Swedes, together with their camp followers, tramped over Ger-
man soil, settling like swarms of locusts on the comfortable vil-
lages and fat fields, obliterating in a few months' stay in a local-
ity every vestige of the accumulations of years of patient toil.
Readers of German history are familiar with the bitterness
and woe of the next three decades, — an epoch fraught with such
distress that the mind almost refuses to contemplate the detailed
and prolonged sufferings of the German people. Gustav Freytag,
who has pictured in strong outline the desolations of this
time, considers the reason that the war raged for a whole gener-
ation and exhausted a powerful people was because none of the
contending parties were able to prosecute it on a grand or deci-
sive scale. He claims that the largest army in the Thirty
Yeai's' War did not equal an ordinary corps of modern times.
The Austrian commander, Tilly, thought forty thousand to be
the greatest body of men that a general could properly handle;
during the war it was rare that an army reached that magni-
tude. The fighting was mostly done by smaller bands distrib-
uted over a wide area of country, and the distress brought upon
the communities was not more caused by the sacking and pil-
lage of the soldiery than by the wretched system of camp follow-
ers in vogue at that time. Not only the officers but the privates,
also, were accompanied on their campaigns by wives, mistresses
and children; they, in their train, often had a following of a
much worse character, and all the dissolute men and women of a
community were generally to be found about the camp of an
occupying army.
This condition of affairs was not confined to the foreign sol-
diers, but the evil also attached to the German troops. Wall-
hausen reckons as indispensable to a German regiment of infan-
try four thousand women, children and other followers. At the
close of the war in 1648, General Gronsfeld reports that the
Imperial and Bavarian armies contained forty thousand drawing
The Treaty of Westphalia Brings Peace. 31
rations, and one hundred and forty thousand who did not. These
figures give some slight idea of the horrors of war at that period.
Picture an army made up of many nationalities, with its greater
army of followers, largely composed of the depraved of both sexes
from all parts of Europe. The troops were paid, clothed and
fed by their respective governments; but what of the great out-
lying camp? It could only subsist and exist by thieving,
oppression and crime. The thatch was torn from the cottages
that the horses of the marauders might be bedded. The cottages
were razed to furnish materials for building huts. The carts
were taken from the yards, the oxen from their stalls. The pas-
sage of an army meant the entire disappearance of all the cattle.
The immense flocks of parish sheep that nibbled the grass on
the sides of the stony heights and roamed over the abundant ver-
dure of the meadows found their way to the roasting-ovens and
stew-pots of the great mob, and the national wool of Germany^
known in every market of the world, was lost forever. The
large cities proved a place of refuge for the upper classes, as in
them some semblance of government and order was maintained ;
but for the country people there were no such retreats. They
were robbed and maltreated ; and if they did not promptly dis-
close the hiding places of their treasures, were beaten, maimed
and often killed. Their lads swelled the ranks of the soldiery;
their daughters, alas, were often kidnapped and coerced into the
ranks of the concubines. Did an army remain long in one local-
ity fear seized upon the inhabitants; and the effect of the feel-
ing of terror and insecurity, and the horribly vicious associations
with which they were surrounded, produced a condition of
despair and moral recklessness which were appalling. Frequently
the villagers themselves turned robbers, wives deserted their
husbands, children their parents, and many fled to the mountains
and forest for a place of safety. It was a time when the face of
Jehovah seemed turned away from Germany — when the whole
land apparently lay under the shadow of the Almighty dis-
pleasure !
The middle of the century brought peace. The thirty years
of tears and blood were over. The graves could not give up
their dead ; the treaty of Westphalia might assert the triumphs
of religious and political liberty in Germany, but it could not
32 The Story of an Old Farm.
restore the virtue of the dissolute, nor the prosperity of the com-
munities. Nor did the sorrows end with the war ; there were
still desolated homes, abject poverty and rampant crime ! For
thirty years the vagrants of Europe had made Germany their
abiding place. They did not all leave with the troops, but wan-
dered about the country, a disorderly rabble, terrorizing the
people. Still there was peace ! Bells were ringing, bonfires
burning, and in the cities peace banquets were spread, and
anthems sung. The rocky fastnesses, the distant forests and the
larger cities gave up their refugees. The people again gathered
in their dismantled villages and on their wasted lands, the gut-
ted fields were inspected, holes in the barns repaired, and their
damaged and often tottering houses were made habitable. The
broken links of society were welded, and the forging of the great
chain of progress and growth which had been so rudely broken
was again undertaken.
Recuperation, however, was slow, and the impoverishment of
the people so great as to render them almost helpless. In some
neighborhoods sixty per cent, of the population had disappeared,
and three-fifths — yes, four-fifths — of all property had been dis-
sipated. Furniture, tools and utensils were gone, and the peas-
ants in again attempting their industrial pursuits found them-
selves almost in a state of nature. In some principalities the
improvement was more rapid than in others. Prussia was raised
from the lowest depths of misery and desolation by the energy
and wisdom of Frederic William, the great Elector, who ruled
from 1640 to 1688, and in the south and east, where the country
enjoyed the blessings of peace for comparatively a number of
years, slow but continued strides Were made toward betterment.
But on the western frontier and along the valley of the Rhine
and its tributaries no such opportunity was given the exhausted
people for regeneration and revival. Peace had not come to
stay ! For nearly a century yet, these fair regions were to lie
devastated and prostrate, the plunder and fighting ground of
France and her allies.
I have dwelt thus long on the detailed horrors of the Thirty
Years' War, and the subsequent years, because it was a time fated
to have a momentous effect on the future of our own country.
The result of that cruel contest, and the after-paralyzed condi-
Germany the Fighting GtROund of Europe. 33
tion of affairs, was the tide of emigration that rose toward the
close of that century, swelled to a great flood in the next one
hundred years, and since then has rolled, and even now is rolling,
a vast human sea of Germans across the American continent.
Without doubt other influences assisted and encouraged this
great movement. Despotic princes, petty differences between
small states, sumptuary laws, extortions, and cruel consci'iptions
in later wars, all helped to wean the German from his country.
The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, which cost France
seven hundred thousand of her best citizens, brought much suf-
fering on the Protestants of Germany. Huguenots from over
the borders flocked in great numbers to the shelter afforded by
the Lutheran Palatine elector. This insured to that prince and
his people the vengeance of Madame de Maintenon ; she gave
peremptory orders, through Louvois, that the Palatinate should
be utterly destroyed, and one hundred thousand French soldiers
were despatched by Louis XIV. to do the work. Thousands of
Germans were forced to escape religious persecution by flight.
But the original idea of emigration, the flrst setting in motion of
the ball of expatriation, was due to that foundation of all Ger-
many's subsequent miseries, the Thirty Years' War ; and had it
not been for that prolonged conflict, which so weakened the
country as to render the people unable to withstand their future
trials, our nation would to-day be without millions of citizens who
now honor it, and make it the greater, because of their intelli-
gence, industry, frugality and virtue.
In 1672 Louis XIV. astonished Europe by the rapidity with
which he conquered three provinces and forty fortresses in Hol-
land ; but the dykes were cut and the newly elected stadtholder,
William of Orange, formed an alliance with Germany and
Spain. In the several years of war that followed, the Rhine
country was repeatedly ravaged, the devastation earning for
General Turenne and the French the execration of the world.
Hardly had this war terminated by the treaty of Nymeguen, in
1679, before Louis XIV. laid claim to several German territor-
ies, leading to another distressing contest of four years, the
Rhenish provinces bearing the brunt of the suffering. The treaty
of Ratisbon, in 1684, ended this conflict, but within two years
William III. of England formed the league of Augsburg against
3
34 The Story of an Old Fakm.
France, and in 1688 Louis' army was again desolating the Pal-
atinate and other portion* of Germany with fire and sword,
destroying the towns, villages and castles, until to this day, from
Drachenfels to Heidelberg, the line of march is marked by
crumbling walls, ruined battlements, and blown-up towers. A
short rest was brought the Germans by the peace of Ryswick, in
1697 ; but it is useless to continue the narrative of Germany's
wars through the conflict of the Spanish Succession, Frederic the
Great's campaigns, and the continuous fighting of the eighteenth
century. Sufficient has been recounted in the above rapid
review to bring before the mind of the reader ample evidence
to show why the Germans, especially those of what is now
Rhenish Prussia, should have, notwithstanding their love of
home, been so impoverished and disheartened as to be constrained
to sorrowfully turn their backs on Germany, and seek in the new
world that peace, freedom and protection which had been denied
to them and their fathers on their native soil.
CHAPTER IV.
German Expatriation — The Distrihntion of Teuton Emigrants in
the American Colonies,
In the preceding chapter an endeavor has been made to show
that even early in the seventeenth century the Germans had
good cause for deserting fatherland. When resolved on expatri-
ation their steps nearly all turned westward, and they seemed of
one mind as to what country offered the greatest inducements to
home-seekers, and presented the most complete assurances of
relief from the heavy burdens under which they had groaned in
Europe. The tide of emigration set steadily toward America,
and from those early days till now, the name and thought of our
country has been as a sweet savor in the nostrils of oppressed
Teutons. Commencing as a little rill the current gradually
increased in volume, until, as we learn from recently published
statistics, between 1880 and 1884 the yearly exodus from Grer-
many averaged nearly one hundred and seventy-five thousand
souls ; while of two millions, six hundred and one thousand Ger-
mans now living outside of the Empire, two millions are citizens
of the United States.
There is no accurate record of the earliest Teuton emigration
to America. Edward Eggleston, a diligent student of colonial
history, claims that Germans came with the colonists of Massa-
chusetts Bay, and, without doubt, some of the so-called Dutch of
the New Netherlands were High Dutch, or Germans, from the
Rhine, beyond the Holland border. Before the close of
the Thirty Years' War the vast movement from the Rhine
country may be said to have commenced, and the year 1640
found Germans settled on the Delaware in the Swedish
colony planted by the Lutheran king, Gustavus Adolphus.
36 The Story of an Old Farm.
But until 1682 the arrival of immigrants in this country
was neither frequent nor regular. In the preceding year
William Penn had advertised to the world his liberal govern-
ment, and oflfered in Pennsylvania homes for the persecuted and
oppressed of all nations. Penn had acquired his great American
grant of forty thousand square miles of territory from the Crown,
in payment of a debt of sixteen thousand pounds due his father.
The King named the tract after the elder Penn, and it is inter-
esting to know, as illustrating the modesty and simplicity of the
son, that he strongly objected to this appellation, even going so
far as to attempt the bribing of an under-secretary, that the name
might be changed. In 1683 Francis Daniel Pastorious, a Fran-
conian German of education, arrived Avith other immigrants at
Philadelphia, taking up land at Germantown, commencing that
settlement with thirteen families. Arents Klincken erected the
first two-storey house, Penn being present, and helping to eat the
" raising dinner." Within a few years the settlement was aug-
mented by the arrival of over one thousand Germans, among
whom were the ancestors of the present prominent Pennsylvania
families (»f llittenhouse. Shoemaker, Carpenter, Potts and Van
Wart. The most of them came from near the city of Worms, in
Westphalia. They must have felt grateful for their quiet
provincial homes when they heard of the dreadful ravages of the
French, in 1689, who laid waste the entire country from which
they had emigi'ated, the flames rising from every hamlet, market
place and parish church in the Duchy of Cleves, in which Worms
is situated.
The greatest influx of Germans commenced about 1700.
Within the following twenty-live years vast numbers fled from
the desolations and persecutions at home to the English colonies
in America, and it is estimated that over fifty thousand within
that time reached the province of Pennsylvania. A few miles
from Bendorf, on the Rhine, is the well built and attractive town
of Neuwied ; it has now a population of about ten thousand, com-
prising Romanists, Lutherans, Moravian Brethren, Baptists and
Jews, who live together in harmony. Count Frederic of Wied,
whose descendants still occupy the spacious palace at its north
end, founded the town in 1653, on the site of the village of Lan-
gendorf, which was entirely destroyed in the Thirty Years' War.
The Settlement of German Valley, N. J. 37
Here, in 1705, arrived a number of Lutherans, who had fled from
persecutions at Wolfenbrdttel and Halberstadt. The then Count
of Wied, who welcomed all comers without distinction of religion,
gave them residence and protection. Here they remained
for some time, and then went on down the river to Holland,
where they embarked, in 1707, for New York. After a severe
and protracted voyage a violent storm drove their small ship
south of Sandy Hook, obliging the master to take refuge in the
capes of the Delaware, and ultimately land his passengers at
Philadelphia. Determined to continue to the province of New
York the immigrants left the Quaker City, journeying overland.
Travelling thitherward, they reached the crest of the Schooley's
Mountain range, in Morris County, New Jersey, and were sud-
denly confronted by the view of a charming valley. Below were
the pleasant reaches of the Musconetcong, flowing tranquilly
between grassy banks, with rich meadows rolling back in gentle
undulations, seeming fairly to invite settlement. To these tem-
pest-tossed wanderers it appeared, indeed, a land of promise ;
what more could they desire in a search for homes ? New Y^ork
province certainly would offer no richer or more inviting local-
ity, so here they decided to remain. Descending the mountain side
they drove their tent stakes, and laid their hearth-stones, as the
commencement of a settlement which has been known from that
day to this as the German Valley. It is claimed that many now
well-known families in Morris, Hunterdon and Somerset Counties
take their origin from this ancient little Lutheran community.*
*This account of the first settlement of Gerraau Valley is based on statements
made in Rupps' " Early German Emigrants to Pennsylvania," Mott's "First
Century of Hunterdon County," Biauvelt's "Historical Sketch of the German
Reformed and Presbyterian Church of German Valley," and Snell's " History of
Hunterdon and Somerset Counties." Persons well informed in the history of
Morris and Hunterdon doubt this story ; indeed, do not hesitate to deny the pos-
sibility of its truth. Various objections are made to the belief that these Bruns-
wick and Prussian emigrants wei'e the progenitors of the present resident Ger-
man families of Clinton, Lebanon and Tewksbury, in Hunterdon, and of Wash-
ington, in Morris county. The most tenable one advanced is that there is not a
particle of documentary evidence to show that there were many, if any, Ger-
mans occupying the region now forming those townships previous to the year
1720, and that the family names of Pickel, Welch, Apgar, Alspaugh, Philhower,
Kline, Rhinehart, Eick and others, which have been credited as being those of
persons descended from those persecuted immigrants, can all be accounted for as
importations after the year 1720, and most of them after 1730.
38 The Story of an Old Farm.
Hendrick Hudson, after his voyage in the "Half-Moon," in
1G09, in writing of the locality on which now, a populous cres-
cent, the city of Newburgh rests, mentions it as "a pleasant
place to build a town on." As the Palatine parish of Quassaick,
on this "pleasant place," a town was laid out, about one hun-
dred years later, by emigrants from Germany. The company
comprised forty-two persons, who, under the guidance of their
pastor, Joshua Kockerthal, had been sent to America by Queen
Anne, who had guaranteed them nine pence a day for a year's
support, and a grant of land on which to settle. They had been
driven to the fields in mid-winter by the destruction of their
homes by the French, and had applied to the English govern-
ment for aid, as Protestants who were suffering from abject pov-
erty, because of their religious beliefs. On reaching New York
Lord Lovelace had them transported to Quassaick creek, and
ultimately his successor. Governor Hunter, issued to them a
patent for twenty-one hundred and ninety acres of land. The
first place of worship in Newburgh was a little Lutheran church,
twenty feet square, built by these foreigners. The settlement
as a German community did not prosper. The Palatines,
who were mostly husbandmen, found the rough hillsides much
inferior for cultivation to the rich lands they had known over the
seas. Attracted by descriptions from friends, located in Pennsyl-
vania, of the fertile regions they inhabited, the individual own-
ers gradually sold the plots originally apportioned them and
removed to that Quaker colony. By 1743 practically the place
had changed from a German settlement to a Scotch-English
neighborhood. Notwithstanding the comparatively short time
the Palatines lived on Quassaick creek, they left an indelible
mark on the country, and a record of which the people of New-
burgh are still proud. That city's historian, E. M. Putten-
ber, writes that "no citizens of more substantial worth are found
under the fiag of this, their native land, than their descendants;
no braver men were in the armies of the Revolution than Herki-
mer and Muhlenberg. Had they done nothing in the parish but
made clearings in its forests and planted fields they would be
entitled to grateful remembrance; but they did more — they gave
to it its first church and its first government, and in all its sub-
sequent history their descendants have had a part."
Thirteen Thousand Germans Reach London in 1709. 39
The citizens of London were astonished to learn, in May and
June, 1709, that five thousand men, women and children, Ger-"
mans from the Rhine, were under tents in the suburbs. By
October the number had increased to thirteen thousand, and
comprised husbandmen, tradesmen, school teachers and minis-
ters. These emigrants had deserted the Palatinate, owing to
French oppression and the persecution by their prince, the
elector John William, of the House of Newburgh, who had
become a devoted Romanist, though his subjects were mainly
Lutherans and Calvinists. Professor Henry A. Homes, in a
paper treating of this emigration read before the Albany Insti-
tute in 1871, holds that the movement was due not altogether to
unbearable persecutions, but largely to suggestions made to the
Palatines in their own country by agents of companies who were
anxious to obtain settlers for the British colonies in America,
and thus give value to the company's lands. The emigrants
were certainly seized with the idea that by going to England
its government would transport them to the provinces of New
York, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania. Of the latter province
they knew much, as many Germans were already there. Pas-
torious, the founder of Germantown, had published circulars in
Germany, extolling the colony and inviting settlement. Penn
had also well advertised in the Palatinate the inducements for
settlers offered by his grant. The emigrants may have heard of
the success of Pastor Kockerthal's little colony which had gone
to New York the previous year, and they were aU eager to be
transported to a country where rich lauds- ivcVe to be had at no
cost, and where their efforts for subsistt'-itifc'- would be undis-
turbed by oppressions. ■ ; :
The English government was much disttc^sted by the arrival
of this vast number of impoverished eni^Pa'&fc?!. - Their coming
not having been anticipated, no plans ha^|>iidn ;made for their
distribution in the colonies, or their ca-n^ m ^-'Kngland. Means
were taken at once to notify the Dutch alid German authorities
that no more would be received. This certainly had the sym-
pathy of the elector Palatine, who had already published an
order punishing with death and confiscation all subjects who
should quit their native' country. Great eff'orts were made to
prevent suffering among these poor people; thousands of pounds
40 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
were collected for their maintenance from churches and individ-
uals all over England; they were lodged in warehouses, empty
dwellings and in barns, and the queen had a thousand tents
pitched for them back of Greenwich, on Blackheath. Here, on
that historic moor, where Wat Tyler and Jack Cade had
assembled the rebellious men of Kent, and where later, Claude
Duval, and other bold riders of the road, were wont to relieve
belated travellers of their gold and jewels, was presented the
strange spectacle of an encampment of five thousand alien peo-
ple, speaking an alien tongue, awaiting with patience and confid-
ence a help and relief they felt sure would come from the sym-
patliy and compassion of Protestant Englishmen.
Although Mortimer, in his "History of England," says it was
never known who encouraged them to this emigration, a com-
mittee of the House of Commons appointed in 1711 elicited
facts, as its report shows, going to prove that the Queen's gov-
eniment was not altogether guiltless in provoking the move-
ment. The Palatines testified that they had left their country
because of books and papers containing Queen Anne's picture
that had been distributed, urging their coming to England that
they might be sent to Her Majesty's plantations in the colonies.
It is hardly to be believed that they would have come almost at
one time, and in such great numbers, without having received
encouragement from agents or others, who must, at least appar-
ently, have made promises with authority. The Cermans evi-
dently expected that immediately on arrival in England they
were to be dispatched in a body across the sea; but no one
stood ready to carry out such a programme. If the government
had made promises it was Avith expectation of no such liberal
response. To carry thirteen thousand people would require a
great fleet of the small vessels of that time, and there were no
ships for such a service. Much time would also be required in
preparing for their arrival in America, and in perfecting arrange-
ments for their final settlement. Notwithstanding the great
efforts made by the English people, very much distress followed
this unhappy hegira. Disease decimated their ranks, and
many wandered about England, becoming a poverty-stricken
incubus on the parishes. Numbers of the younger men enlisted
in the British army serving in Portugal, and some made their
Palatines Settle in Ireland in 1710. 41
own way to Pennsylvania, presumably by eflfecting arrangements
with the masters of vessels, whereby, on arrival, their services
were to be sold for a term sufficient to secure payment of their
passage-money. This was not an unusual means of emigration
to the colonies at that time.
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland petitioned the Queen that
some of the people might be sent to him, and by February, 1710,
thirty-eight hundred had been located across the Irish Sea, in
the province of Munster, near Limerick. The government
granted them temporary help, and within three years twenty-
four hundred pounds had been expended on their removal and
maintenance while settling. In 1715 they became naturalized
citizens. Professor Homes recites in his monograph that they
'' now number about twelve thousand souls, and, under the name
of Palatinates, continue to impress a peculiar character upon the
whole district they inhabit, both in a social and economical way."
Farrar writes of them, in the beginning of this century, that they
have " left off sauer-kraut and taken up potatoes, though still
preserving their own language;" that "their superstitions savor
of the banks of the Rhine, and in their dealings they are
upright and honorable." Kohl, a German traveller of 1840,
testifies that they have not lost their home character for probity
and honor, and that they are much wealthier than any of their
neighbors.
According to "Luttrell's Diary" about one-tenth of the whole
number that reached England were returned by the Crown to
Germany. This action of the authorities seems to have been
provoked in consequence of the portion returned not being Prot-
estants, and for that reason out of favor.
Among the exiles were a large number of people from Heidel-
berg. Professor Rupp thinks that more than six thousand per-
sons had left that vicinity within twelve months. They had suffered
persecution because unable to change their religion as often as
did their government. The Elector Palatine, Frederic II.,
became a Lutheran ; Frederic III. turned Calvinist ; Ludovic V.
restored the Lutheran Church, while his son and successor
embraced the Calvinist faith ; he was succeeded by a Catholic
prince who cruelly oppressed the Protestants. All travellers
remember with pleasure the beautiful university town of Heidel-
42 The Story of an Old Farm.
ber^, that, almost hidden in dense foliage, occupies a narrow
bench of land between the lofty Konigstuhl and the restless
Neckar, which here forces its foamy way through a narrow
gorge to the broad Rhine plain, just below. Away up on the
side of the mountain, clinging to the very edge of a wooded
precipice, is the most magnificent ruin in Middle Europe. The
royal residence and stronghold of generations of electors, it was
three hundred years in growing from a castle to a palace ; then
came the French, with their claim to the Palatinate, and this
royal architectural pile was battered and desolated, but fortu-
nately not entirely destroyed. Beyond the castle, higher up, on a
little plateau, is a restaurant and garden — the Wolfsbrunnen.
Here the citizens of the town meet on Sundays, fete days and
holidays to listen to music, and chat under the trees with their
neighbors. As they blow the foam from their cool steins of beer
and overlook the ivy-clad ruin, Avith its quadrangles, bastions,
moated exterior walls, and graceful interior facades studded with
sculptures and statues, they must find abundant subjects for
thought and conversation. If they are inclined to "mourn over
Israel " they need not give all their tears to the defacement of
that eflFective mass of stone ; their minds and sympathies can
revert to the miseries of their townspeople in the years gone by,
before they had become a portion of United Germany.
In the early part of the Thirty Years' War the imperial Count
Tilly sacked Heidelberg, putting five hundred of the inhabitants
to death. Later on, in the same war, the generals of the French
captured the city, and people without number were slaughtered.
In 1688 the French were again in Heidelberg ; this time they
burned the place to the ground, reducing the castle, and blowing
up its ancient and massive corner tower, although the walls were
twenty-one feet thick ; one-half of the structure fell into the
moat below, where it lies intact to this day, a most picturesque
ruin. Heidelberg was rebuilt only to be once more, in 1693,
overwhelmed by the armies of Louis XIV.; flames again rose
from every building, and the citizens — men, women and children
— fifteen thousand in number, stripped of everything, were
turned at night into the fields. Not long after, the elector
induced the inhabitants to rebuild the town under a promise of
liberty of conscience and thirty years' exemption from taxes.
Germans in Virginia and North Carolina. 43
Within a few years this same elector, growing more devoted to
his Romanist faith, served God in his fashion, Avhich was by
breaking his promises, and beginning severe persecutions against
his Protestant subjects. It was then, Rupp tells us, that thou-
sands from this vicinity, despairing of a future at home, escaped to
England.
Before we return to Blackheath, where we left some of them
under tents, let me place in strong contrast to the wretchedness
just portrayed the picture a traveller draws, a few years later, of
the happiness and peace of Germans in the American colonies.
Some time before 1745 Germans from Pennsylvania penetrated
the Shenandoah Valley, near Harrisonburg, Virginia. The
traveller, before referred to, visited that neighborhood during the
French and English war, and writes as follows of the country
and people :
The low grounds upon the banks of the Shenandoah River are very rich and
fertile. They are chiefly settled by Germans, who gain a sufficient livelihood by
raising stock for the troops and sending butter down into the lower part of the
country. I could not but reflect with pleasure on the situation of these people
and think if there is such a thing as happiness in this life they enjoy it. Far
from the bustle of the world they live in the most delightful climate and on the
richest soil imaginable. They are everywhere surrounded with beautiful pros-
pects and sylvan scenes — lofty mountains, transparent streams, falls of water, rich
valleys and majestic woods ; the whole interspersed with an infinite variety of
flowery shrubs constitute the landscapes surrounding them. They are subject to
few diseases, are generally robust and live in perfect liberty. They know 710
wants, and are acquainted with but few vices. They possess what many princes
would give half their dominions for — health, contentment and tranquility of mind.
— Howe's Coll. of Va.
The Lord Proprietors of Carolina agreed, in 1709, with Chris-
topher de Grafienried and Lewis Michell, from Switzerland, to sell
to them ten thousand acres of land in one body, between the Cape
Fear and Neuse rivers. They formed a land company, and, of
course, were much in needof settlers. They covenanted with the
English authorities for the transferof aboutseven hundred of these
poor Heidelberg refugees to the colony. Before the end of the year
they had arrived with them at a point in North Carolina, where
the rivers Neuse and Trent join. Here they established a town,
calling it New-Benae, in honor of Berne, Switzerland, de Graffen-
ried's birthplace. Each man, woman and child was granted one
hundred acres of land, tools for building houses and cultivating
the soil, and with provisions f n- twelve months' subsistence. De
44 The Story of an Old Farm.
Graffenried proved false to these people. In their ignorance, they
failed to .secure titles, and later on he mortgaged the entire grant
for eight hundred pounds, and the lands ultimately, through fore-
closure, fell into the hands of the heirs of the mortgagee. Notwith-
standing this great check to their prosperity, the Germans, by their
industry and economy, acquired other property and comfortable
homes. Many years later they petitioned the king, and were partly
indemnified by a grant of ten thousand acres, free for ten years
from quit-rents. As is the experience of all new colonies, they
at first suffered great trials and privations. Before two years
had passed, one hundred of their number had been massacred by
the Tuscarora Indians. But, as is shown by Williamson, the
historian of North Carolina, their industry and frugality
triumphed over ail obstacles, and the state is to-day greatly bene-
fited by the wealth and holdings of the descendants of these perse-
cuted emigrants from the valley of the Neckar.
It has not been found possible to properly account for all the
thirteen thousand Palatines who reached England. Queen Anne
sent some of them to Virginia, settling them above the falls of
the Bappahanock, in Spottsylvania County, from whence they
spread into several adjoining counties, and into North Carolina.
Irving mentions that when George Washington, in 1748, was sur-
veying lauds in this portion of Virginia, he was followed by Ger-
man immigrants with their wives and children. Most of them
could not speak English, but when spoken to answered in their
native tongue. " Such were the progenitors of the sturdy yeo-
manry now inhabiting those parts, many of whom still preserve
their strong German characteristics."
After the Irish transportation, the largest number that was
moved in one body, and probably the final one under government
auspices, was the fleet-load that in the spring of 1710 was des-
patched to New York. Lord Lovelace having died, Robert Hun-
ter was commissioned as '' Captain Genekai., Govehnor-in-Chief
of and to the provinces of New York and New JeRvSey and
territories thereunto belonging, and Vice-Admiral and Chan-
cellor of the same." Gordon writes of him as a man of merit
and personal beauty, and a friend of Steele, Addison, Swift and
the wits and the literati of that day. His appointment was said
to have been due to the influence of his friend Addison, who at
GrOVERNOR ROBERT HuNTER AND THE PALATINES. 45
that time was Under-Secretary of State. He had received in
1705 the commission as Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, but
while on his way to that colony his ship was captured by the
French, who carried him a prisoner to Paris, where he was con-
fined for some months. On reaching the colonies Governor
Hunter, growing much interested in the province of East Jersey,
became a large owner of its lands, acquiring tracts and planta-
tions both north and south of the Raritan, and probably in Hun-
terdon, for we find that in 1713-14, when that county was set
off, it was named in his honor. The Governor established a home
at Perth Amboy, on the bluff overlooking the lower bay and
ocean. Here he retired when in need of rest from the labors of
the New York administration, and while enjoying the beautiful
panorama of hills, islands and watery expanse, and the sea
breezes blowing fresh from Sandy Hook, employed his leisure
by correspondence with Swift, Addison, and other English friends.
In 1719 Hunter went to London and did not return to this
country ; while there he exchanged with William Burnett, son
of the celebrated bishop, who succeeded him in the executive
office. He did not, however, lose his interest in New Jersey,
but continued to acquire land in the province, and retained his
friendship with the people through correspondence.
Before this royal governor embarked for America he was
invited by the Board of Trade to make suggestions regarding
the disposition of the remaining Palatines. Among the many
plans proposed it was decided to transfer them to the New York
colony, for the purpose of engaging in raising and manufacturing
tar, resin and turpentine for naval purposes. A fleet of ten
ships set sail with Governor Hunter in March, having on board,
as is variously estimated, between three and four thousand Ger-
mans. They covenanted before embarking that after arrival
they would labor for a sufficient time to discharge the cost of
their transportation and settlement, after which each emigrant
was to receive forty acres of land, exempt from taxation for
seven years. The voyage was of nearly five months' duration,
the ships arriving at intervals between the middle of June and
the last of July. The immigrants were encamped on Nut, now
Go vex'nor's Island, for about three months, when a tract of six thou-
sand acres of the Livingston patent was purchased for them, one
46 Thk S'I'Oky of an Old Fakm.
hundred miles up the Hudson, the locality now being embraced in
Germantown, Columbia County. Eight hundred acres were also
acquired on the opposite side of the river at the present location
of Saugerties, in Ulster county. To these two points most of the
immigrants were removed. Professor Homes names twenty-two
hundred and nine as the greatest number settling on the river;
the papers signed by the Palatines themselves in the "Docu-
ments relating to the Colonial History of New York" reduce the
number by several hundred, and Edward Eggleston, who
has lately been making researches in the British Museum on the
subject, writes me that "in the manuscript report of the Board
of Trade and Plantations, dated 1721, the number of Palatines
settled contiguous to Hudson's river is set down at twenty-two
hundred and twenty-seven." It is known that over four hun-
dred died during the voyage. From one hundred and fifty to
two hundred, mostly widows and sick persons, remained
in New York city, and the orphans, amounting to almost as
many more, were apprenticed by Governor Hunter in New York
and New Jersey. Among the poor widows was Johanna Zen-
ger, with three children, one of whom, John Peter, at that time,
thirteen years old, was bound to William Bradford, printer^
His, it was, whose trial for libel, in 1734, was a cause celehre in
the early legal history of the city of New York.
The manufacture of turpentine and naval stores did not prove
a successful undertaking. During the two years necessary to
await the result of their labors, the Germans grew dissatisfied;
they complained of ill-treatment, and especially of the bad char-
acter of the provisions supplied by Livingston, the government
inspector and contractor. Growing insubordinate. Governor
Hunter attempted coercion, which but widened the breach ;
many wandered off seeking new homes, and, in the autumn and
spring of 1712-13, seven hundred deserted the Hudson, and,
making their way sixty miles northwest, settled in one of the
fertile valleys of Schoharie county. Owing to ignorance regard-
ing land-tenure, and the carelessness with which they had taken
up their individual holdings, much suffering was eventually caused
these migrators by the discovery that the titles to many of their
properties were invalid. After nearly ten years of harassing
litigations and contests, one half the settlers for a third time moved
German Grievances Against New York. 47
on, floating down the Susquehanna river for three hundred miles,
and finally finding homes under the friendly government of
Pennsylvania. Palatine Bridge and township, in Montgomery
County, New York, indicate the point to which a second portion
of these Schoharie Germans removed, and a third contingent
settled in Herkimer county, at a place since known as the Ger-
man Flats.
The Livingston Manor immigrants always felt that they had
great cause for grievance against the authorities of the province
of New York. Whether they were right or not, it is at this late
day difficult to determine, but there is no doubt that the exist-
ence of such feeling resulted in after years to the great advan-
tage of Pennsylvania. Peter Kalm, a Swedish naturalist, who
travelled in America in 1748, remarked on the populousness of
Pennsylvania, and that the province of New York had much
fewer inhabitants. He explains that fact in the following man-
ner : — "In the reign of Queen Anne, about the year 1709, many-
Germans came hither, who got a tract of land from the English
government which they might settle. After they had lived there
some time, and had built houses, and made cornfields and mead-
ows, under several pretences they were repeatedly deprived of
parts of their land. They returned violence for violence and
beat those who thus robbed them of their possessions. The most
active people among the Germans being taken up, they were
roughly treated and punished with the utmost vigor of the law.
This, however, so far exasperated the rest that the greater part
of them left their houses and fields and went to settle in Pennsyl-
vania. There they were exceeding well received, got a consid-
erable tract of land and were indulged in great privileges, which
were given them forever. The Germans, not satisfied with
being themselves removed from New York, wrote to their rela-
tions and friends and advised them, if ever they intended to
come to America, not to go to New York, where the government
had shown itself so inequitable. This advice had such influence
that the Germans, who afterwards went in great numbers to
North America, constantly avoided New York and always went
to Pennsylvania. It sometimes happened that they were forced
to go on board such ships as were bound for New York, but
they were scarce got on shore, when they hastened to Pennsyl-
vania, in sight of aU the inhabitants of New York."
48 The Story of an Old Farm.
By this time the fever for emigration was deeply seated in
Germany. Ship after ship sailed up the Delaware from over the
seas, black with Palatines, Hanoverians, Saxons, and Austrian and
Swiss Germans. Spreading over the present counties of York,
Lancaster, Berks, Adams, Montgomery and Northampton, they
soon made their industrious presence known by the innumerable
houses of logs that fastened themselves to the sloping sides of
the valleys, and by the shrinking back of the forests from the
patches of well-tilled clearings that began to mosaic the Pennsyl-
vania wildernesses. They brought with them their axes, mat-
tocks and mauls, and land that had lain for ages under the dark
canopy of the trees, fattening on the richness of decaying leaves
and vegetation, was opened to the warm sunlight, until acres of
forest were converted into arable fields, smiling with the results
of well-directed labor. It was not that province alone which bene-
fited by the spirit of unrest that had seized upon Europeans.
Maine, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi and Louis-
iana received accessions to their populations by the arrival of
emigrants. Gayarre, the historian of the last state, says that
some of Louisiana's best citizens and wealthiest sugar-planters
have sprung from a little colony of three hundred poor Germans
who settled on the river, thirty or forty miles above New
Orleans, in 1722. But it was toward Pennsylvania that the
great tide of emigration steadily set. By 1717 such vast num-
bers were arriving as to cause much uneasiness to some of the
early English settlers in the province. The governoi-'s council
in that year made note of the fact that it might be a very dan-
gerous consequence, having so many foreigners from Germany
daily disposing of themselves, without producing certificates
from where they came, or what they were, and without making
application to any of the magistrates. This led to measures
being taken whereby all arriving immigrants were obliged to be
registered by the secretary of the province. In that way, over
thirty thousand names of the later foreign arrivals are pre-
served, and on file at the state house in Harrisburg. This unnec-
essary fear of the German influx did not prove of long duration.
We find the royal governor saying, in 1738, "This province has
been for some years the asylum of the distressed Protestants of
the Palatinate and other parts of Germany ; and, I believe, it
Arrivals in Pennsylvania before the Revolution. 49
may truthfully be said that the present flourishing condition of it
is in a great measure owing to the industry of those people."
Pennsylvania continued, up to the time of the Revolution, to be
the objective point for German emigrants. Ships, brigantines,
scows, pinks and bilanders, mostly English bottoms, plied with
great regularity between the Maas and the Delaware, transport-
ing the Palatines, as they seem to have become historically
known, from Rotterdam to Philadelphia. The vessels were
small and the voyages prolonged, but the frequency with which
the same craft — as shown by the records — entered the capes of
the Delaware, implied a traffic partaking somewhat of the char-
acter of a ferry. For, year after year, the ships '^ St. Andrew,"
" Phoenix," '' Dragon," " Patience," '' Mortonhousc," '^ Pennsyl-
vania," "Two Brothers," "Nancy," and many others, discharged
their human cargoes at Philadelphia, the average passenger-list
embracing one hundred and fifty souls. In the year 1719 some
six thousand are said to have landed, and Proud avers that in
the year 1749 twelve thousand Germans arrived in the province.
Sypher claims that prior to 1727 fifty thousand people, mostly
from the Rhine country, had emigrated to the Quaker colony.
In 1766 Benjamin Franklin testified before a committee of the
House of Commons that he supposed that there were in Pennsyl-
vania about one hundred and sixty thousand white inhabitants, of
whom one-third were Quakers and one-third Germans.
And so it was that each twelve months saw the population of
the province much increased and enriched by a people who
brought with them the greatest of aU wealth, industry and integ-
rity, and characters that had been superpoised and developed by
years of suffering and persecution.
CHAPTER V.
Johannes MoclicJi Beaches Fennsylvania in 1735 — His Experi-
ences in Philadelphia and Germantoivn.
In early colonial days King, now Water, street, in Philadelphia,
lay close to the edge of the Delaware. A low, one-storey, ram-
bling tavern-house stood fronting it, near the corner of Chestnut,
its creaking sign bearing in dull paint the legend of a crooked
stick of wood. It was here that Benjamin Franklin ate his first
dinner in the Quaker City. This inn gave to the short dock
facing it the name of the Crooked Billet Wharf, often mentioned
in old-time Philadelphia annals. Any one loitering on this dock
on the morning of the twenty-ninth of May, 1735, could have
heard the splash of a right-bower, and the rattle of an anchor
chain — but hold ! a historian is privileged to be prosy but never to
be untrue — nearly seventy-five years must elapse before aPhila-
delphian, or any one else, will hear the musical clank of a paying-
out cable, and in the meantime many a stout ship will drift to its
destruction on the rocks, because of its hawser being cut by sub-
merged ledges. Well ! the loiterer would at least have heard
the splash of the anchor, and, on looking up, discovered the ship
*' Mercury," Captain William Wilson, from Rotterdam, swinging
round to the tide. As she lies in the stream the vessel shows
repeated marks of her weeks of battling with the fierce waves
of the Atlantic, and her sides are streaked by the salt spray of
many a weary gale.
The log of this ship has not been preserved, so we know noth-
ing of the particulars of her voyage or of the date of sailing. She
was without doubt a small vessel, and many days must have
elapsed since the yellow arms of Dutch wind-mills had waved
farewells to her passengers from behind the dunes of the low Hoi-
The "Mercury" and the Passengers. 51
land coast. Something may be learned of the time usually occu-
pied in such a voyage from a German MS. in the library of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which recounts the incidents
in the journey of David Sholtze and eighteen associate Schwenck-
felders. They set sail from Rotterdam on the twenty-fourth of
June, 1733, on the brigantine '^ Pennsylvania Merchant," Cap-
tain John Stedman. The journal of these Germans tells of but
little save head winds, seasickness, and the occasional death of an
emigrant. The first occurred on the eleventh of Julj', and an
account is given of the body being sewn in a sack, weighted
with sand, and dropped by the sailors into the sea, the passengers
singing the hymn, "JVmw lasset uns den Leih hegraheny The ship
rested for seven days in the harbor of Plymouth, and on the
twenty-eighth of September reached Philadelphia. It is fair to
presume that the '^ Mercury's " passage was of equal length, and
that it was yet February when she spread her canvas at the
mouth of Maas, and made her first bow to the rollers of the
North Sea.
Among the one hundred and eighty-six sun-burned, weather-
beaten Germans and Swiss who leaned over her taflfrail, looking
with curious eyes upon the little entry port of Pennsylvania, was
Johannes Moelich and his family. The aspect of this provincial
town in its setting of dark forests must have presented a strong
contrast to the animated quays, and the spires, belfries, lofty
pinnacled houses and dark windmills of the quaint old city from
which he had embarked. It would be pleasant to be able to
narrate Johannes' impressions and experiences on landing. Had
he known that one hundred and fifty years later many of his
posterity would have been glad to read of his movements in
Philadelphia, he doubtless would have kept a faithful journal.
In the absence of such forethought on his part we must draw
upon our knowledge of the Quaker City in those early days,
and, with the help of Watson, that delightfully garrulous Boswell
of old Philadelphia, we shall be able to see with Johannes' eyes
as he and his family make their way up into the city.
It was now over fifty years since the little ship " Welcome," of
only three hundred tons burthen, had landed William Penn in
Pennsylvania, and its capital had grown in population to some
eight thousand souls, among whom were 1,621 taxables and
52 The Story of an Old Farm.
1,097 voters, Thomas Lawrence was mayor, Philadelphia hav-
ing been a chartered city since 1701. It was a compact little
town of about one thousand houses, nearly all of brick, one and
two storeys high, with double-hipped roofs, although occasionally
a more pretentious dwelling elevated its dormers above a third
storey. The area was not very extensive; a very short walk
would bring one to the outlying commons and woods. Beyond
Fourth street the houses were but scattering ; of course
there were no pavements, and westerly there were no streets
marked out beyond Seventh. The highway leading out of town
followed the line of High, now Market, street, and after crossing
the location of the present Eighth street, the forest commenced,
and extended to the Schuylkill.
Did you ask was there any one to welcome Johannes? Though
no message from below had announced the coming of the " Mer-
cury, " without doubt the arrival of the ship was soon noised
through the city ; let us hope that the immigrant was expected
and that when he landed on the Crooked Billet Wharf he found
awaiting him some warm-hearted compatriot, who seized his hand
and bade him a hearty welcome to America. In fancy, at least,
we will picture him so greeted. We have already learned
that his younger brother, Johan Peter, had reached Philadel-
phia in the ship " Mortonhouse," Captain John Coultas, on
the twenty-fourth of August, 1728. Perhaps he was among
those who thronged the wharf on this May morning. In all
the thirty thousand names of foreigners preserved in the
Pennsylvania archives as reaching that province between
the years 1727 and 1776, those of Johannes' family and that
of Johan Peter are the only Moelichs that appear.
We will constitute ourselves one of the party as they leave the
wharf and make their way along Water street, the children hang-
ing back to look into the shop windows, for in the year 1735
that street was the centre of the retail trade of the city. They are
going to the State House to fulfil the first duty of all newly
arrived foreigners, the registering of their names with the secre-
tary of the province. What is more delightful than the first few
hours spent in a new country, where everything is totally differ-
ent from one's ordinary surroundings ? Weeks of pleasur-
able experiences may be passed later, but the peculiar charm
First Impressions of the Quaker City. 53
of the first uproUing of the curtain will never return. Though
their own country had been rich in the picturesque, the Moelichs
found much to excite both interest and wonder, and in the short
time occupied in reaching the State House they received many
new and strange impressions. An American on visiting England
or the C ontinent for the first time finds himself attacked by a
strange illusion. As he feels himself surrounded by an atmos-
phere of hoar antiquity, while wandering from one ancient town
to another, his whole nature saturated with the charm of quaint
architecture and picturesque effects, imperceptibly there
steals over him a faint impression of a prior acquaintance,
as if revisiting scenes familiar in some previous existence ; and
he finds himself almost doubting that the retina of the eye is
actually receiving the impression of a picture seen for the first
time. He recognizes the illusion and fully appreciates that what
he sees is really new because not viewed before — he recognizes,
also, that to him, at least, it is truly old and familiar ; old in a
thousand impressions and desires, born of books and the talk of
travellers, consequently, he is rarely if ever confronted by the
entirely unexpected. Johannes and his party were not troubled
by this double vision. They had read no books descriptive of
America, nor had they listened to the oft-told tales of returned
travellers. To them all the panorama of the Quaker City exis-
tence was novel and interesting. Probably the life of the streets
affected them as the most peculiarly foreign and odd — indeed,
not only the Germans were so impressed for we, who have
attached ourselves unbidden to this little party, find no less cause
for wonder at the strange sights of these provincial thorough-
fares. Proceeding westward along Chestnut street they are met
by such a procession as has never been seen on the highways of
Europe ; a drove of negroes, coupled two by two, recently
imported from the Guinea coast, and probably just landed from
Barbadoes, which at that time was the distributing mart of the
English slave trade. On reaching the next corner thei'e was to
be seen an even sadder phase of this barbarous institution. In
front of a tavern, from a rude platform resting on two upright
hogsheads, was being held a slave auction. '' Likely negro boys"
and "breeding wenches," as the placarded bills announced, were
being knocked down at a few hundred dollars a head, for, as
54 The Story of an Old Farm.
importing at that time was brisk, slaves did not approach in value
to those of our ante-beJhim days.
As the Moelichs walked along the street the bordering, detached
houses had a kindly, domestic presence, due to their comely little
porches with pent-house roofs shading wooden seats, seemingly
extending to the passer-by a hospitable invitation to tarry. This air
of hospitality was further enhanced by the attractive balconies
that faced even the smaller dwellings, on which their occupants
were wont to gather to enjoy the air at the cool of the day. Occa-
sional glimpses of quaint interiors were obtained, through open
windows that swung on hinges inward, with small panes of glass
set in their leaden-framed lattices. In some of the finer houses the
best rooms were wainscoated in oak and red cedar, but in most
instances the walls were plainly whitewashed. No carpets were
to be seen, the floors being covered with silver sand drawn into
fanciful figures by a skillful use of the sweeping brush, in which
the housekeepers took much pride. Lofty chests of drawers, with
round black balls for legs, extended nearly to the ceiling, and all
the family china was to be seen through the diamond lights of
odd little corner cupboards. On the massive Dutch dresser were
displayed brightly polished porringers and platters of pewter, the
dinner plates of that day being nearly altogether of that metal,
though the use of wooden trenchers was not entirely out of date.
Sometimes, through farther doors opening into the kitchen, our
party was much amused at the sight of a peculiar feature of house-
hold economy. Before cavernous fire-places, often girt with ancient
Dutch tiles, were set baking-ovens, whose spits were turned by
little bow-legged dogs trained to run in a hollow cylinder, like a
squirrel, by which means was the roasting meat kept revolving.
''Mine host" Clark, of the State House Inn, advertises about
this time in Andrew Bradford's weekly " Mercury," and in Ben-
jamin Franklin's " Pennsylvania Gazette," that '' he has for sale
several dogs and wheels, much preferable to any jacks for roast-
ing any joints of meat."
But what means this turmoil and uproar, and from whence
'Comes this advancing crowd, enveloped in dust ? Johannes'
party quickly leaves the street and takes to a little foot-path
that runs diagonally from the corner of Third to High and
Fourth streets. Standing there, they see surge by an unfragrant
A Parade of Evil-Doers. 55
rabble, in the centre of which, tied to the tail of a cart, a poor
wretch is bellowing with pain, as stroke after stroke from a con-
stable's whip falls on his naked back. The Germans look
stolidly on the scene ; they are too familiar with despotic punish-
ments to be surprised or affected thereby, but their accompany-
ing ghostly posterity — meaning you and me, reader, — find it an
inhuman spectacle. Following the cart are a number of petty
criminals surrounded by constables. It is the weekly market day
parade of evil-doers. After their tour of the city, and their suf-
fering from the turbulence of the ribald torrent of the populace,
they will drift into no quiet eddy within the seclusion of the jail.
They must take their places on the pillory and in the stocks that
have been set up for their reception, opposite the prison on
High and Third streets. This day addled eggs will sell as well
a,s those freshly laid, for many a passer-by of this rough age
will deem it a virtuous action to have a fling at the culprits, for
the pleasure of seeing them dodge their heads in the endeavor
to avoid the noxious missiles. Benjamin Franklin, in his "Auto-
biography," says that the position of a Philadelphia constable was
at that time one of a considerable profit. The management of
the city -watch was in their hands. It was the duty of the officer
of each ward to summon a certain number of resident household-
ers to attend him each night to aid in patrolling his district.
This service could be avoided by paying six shillings, which
was supposed to go to hiring substitutes. The number who
paid for the exemption was much greater than those hired by
the constables to walk the rounds, consequently the officers put
much unlawful money in their pockets. This system resulted
in the night-watches being largely composed of irresponsible
persons who undertook the duties for a little drink-money, but
quite neglected to fulfil their obligations. Evidently that time
was no more the golden age of municipal purity than is the
present.
Returning to Chestnut street our party, rambling on, is soon
in front of that noted structure which the events of later years
baptized as Independence Hall. The Philadelphian of the pres-
ent day, who halts for a moment in the sturdy presence of this
time-honored, historic building, looks with veneration on its
homely fa9ade. To him it bears amid the surrounding turmoil
56 The Story of an Old Farm.
a dignified expression of peace and rest, as if emanating from
the consciousness of a deserved repose, after a great work, nobly-
performed. Very different the aspect it presented to the newly-
arrived Germans. No throbbing tide of humanity ebbed and
flowed beneath its shadows; Chestnut street, not yet the artery
of a great city, did not pulsate at its portals. At this distance out
it was but little better than a country road, and the State House,
just completed, faced it square and prim, bright, from lintel to
roof-tree, with red bricks, fresh paint and white mortar. There
was then no beautiful park as a rich setting; the unkempt
grounds extended but half across the square, and several small
detached brick dwellings fronted Walnut street, at its rear.
Upon the original book of record in the Department of State
of Pennsylvania, there is still to be seen the signature made by
Johannes on that day; it is evidently the writing of a man of
intelligence, as it is not onlv legibly inscribed, but would stand
as an example of good penmanship. Most of the arrivals by the
same vessel, being unable to write, made their marks. The
names are preceded by the foUoAving entry:
At the Court House, Phihulelphia, present, tlie Tlnnoialile Patrick (lordon,
Esq., Lieuteuant-Govornor Tliornas Lawrence and Cliarles Read, Escjuires. Tlie
Palatines, wliose names are underwritten, imported in tlie ship Mercury of Lon-
don, William Wilson, master, Rotterdam, hut last from Cowes, did this day suh-
scrihe the oaths to the Government, May 29. 1735.
The grounds about the State House, on this May morning,
framed an interesting picture. Johannes, on leaving the build-
ing, after registering, was a good deal surprised by the sight
of an encampment of Indians, who happened that day to have
taken possession of the open space. For a long time after
this, it was the practice of bands of red-men to occasionally make
excursions to the city for the purpose of purchase and barter.
Generally they would remain for a week or more, and it was
their custom to establish themselves, with their squaws and chil-
dren, in the State House yard. While the young bucks roamed
about the streets, shooting coins off posts with their arrows, and
visiting the stores for trade, the squaws and old men occupied
themselves in camp by making and selling plaited baskets,
beaded moccasins and porcupine-quill work. The aborigines of
this portion of the British colonies were known as ''Delawares,"
Resting at the Indian-King Tavern. 57
because first found in the vicinity of that river, though they
called themselves Lenni-Lenape, which means "The original
people." The great mass of this tribe, or clan, had moved
toward the setting sun in the year 1728, but at this time there
remained several thousand in Pennsylvania, who were much dis-
satisfied with the sale of their lands ; a discontent which was
greatly increased, a few years later, by what was known as the
"Walking Treaty," they claiming to have been swindled by the
English in the great area of territory acquired by the Europeans
in that famous bargain. It was not till ten or fifteen years later
that the Pennsylvanians, by calling to their aid the Six Nations
of the North, induced these remaining Indians to depart for the
"Sweet Waters of the West."
Again we find ourselves deploring the fact that Johannes neg-
lected his journal. Where did he go on leaving the State
House I After so long a voyage he must have desired to stretch
his legs by a more extended walk, but, perhaps, Mariah Katrina
and the children were not so eager for exercise. We will sup-
pose that he established them comfortably at the Indian-king
tavern on High street, where, before sallying out for a prowl
about the city, he refreshed himself with his first glass of West-
India rum, at that time the only liquor imported in quantity into
the colony ; or with a foaming tankard of ale, which was then in
such common use that most dwellings had small brew-houses
connected with their kitchens. Johannes could not have been
put to a very great expense at the tavern, as only modest charges
for board and lodging were known in those early days. Profes-
sor Kalm, the Swedish botanist, narrates in his account of his
travels that, when in Philadelphia, in 1728, he lodged with a
Quaker where he met many honest people. "I and my Yung-
straem, the companion of my voyage, had a room, candles, beds,
attendance and three meals a day for twenty shillings per week
in Pennsylvania currency." Two dollars and eighty-eight cents.
On leaving the tavern, Johannes' friends carried him to see
Christ Church, then just completing, and, after the State House,
at once both the pride and the wonder of the people. It reared
its impressive bulk on an open square, adjoining a pond which
reached from Arch to High streets, once a noted place for shoot-^
ing ducks. This, then considered, lofty architectural pile
58 The Story of an Old Farm.
appeared much as at the present day, though wanting its grace-
ful spire — that, came seventeen years later as the result of a lot-
tery. It lacked more than a spire ; it was new, and however
grand a new church edifice may be, until it has been consecrated
by years of service, it does not seem entitled to that hallowed
reverence, born of old associations and decades of prayer and
praise, that, involuntarily, an ancient temple evokes from its
worshipers. Though, at the present day, this church is with-
out many of its original quaint characteristics, such as the high-
backed slips, bedroom pews and brick-paved aisles, their loss is
more than compensated for by the acquisition of that mellow
atmosphere of age, with which kindly time has enveloped the
building's antique walls and gables, until it appears as venerable
as the steadfast hills.
Of course the mysterious friend, with whom we have gener-
ously supplied Johannes, insists upon a pilgrimage to the house
of William Penn at Second street and Morris' alley; for that is
a shrine at which newly-arrived foreigners earliest worshiped.
Penn's reputation was as a cherished heritage to all oppressed
Europeans, and his memory, as the father of Pennsylvanian
immigration, was especially revered by the German heart.
As our visitors strolled in that direction, the streets were
enlivened by numerous and varied odd costumes. It seemed
very singular to meet so many long-drawn Quakers, mov-
ing at measured pace with solemn visage, clad in lengthy
shad-breasted drab coats adorned with horn buttons, their flap-
ping waistcoats extending far down over the small-clothes that
covered their sober strides. The long, straight hair of these
peripatetic monuments of sedateness was covered by broad-brim-
med felt hats, looped at the side with strings. These Quakers
'offered an excellent foil to the brilliantly-arrayed young gallants,
■who tripped jauntily by, under gold-laced cocked-hats, with their
gaily embroidered coats cut low at the neck behind, that the
great silver buckles fastening their plaited stocks might be dis-
played. In that picturesque period it was the fashion for young
gentlemen to wear short, straight, steel rapiers, often with jewelled
hilts, which gave them quite a martial appearance, though not
altogether in keeping with their clocked silk stockings, paste-
buckled shoes and ruffled wrists and throats.
Street Scenes and Colonial Costumes. 59
Gay apparel was not confined by any means to the younger
men. Old gentlemen, met on the way, were frequently
resplendent in plush breeches, vests of various hues, and skirtsstif-
fened with buckram till they stood out at an angle. Often
double rows of solid silver buttons extended down their coats,
and it was not uncommon to see suits decorated with conch-
shells set in silver. A brilliant sight they presented in all the
glint of polished metal, as they stamped along, shaking their
powdered wigs, striking the pavement with their long silver-
headed canes, stopping occasionally to greet some old friend and
extend a pinch of snufF, not so much because of generous procliv-
ities, as the desire to display their chased silver and gold snuff-
boxes, which were generally carried in the hand. The kaleidos-
copic changes of colors, to be noted among the people thronging
the streets this bright May day, were not all to be attributed to
the well-to-do of the populace: body-servants contributed their
full share to the brilliant hues of the colonial costumes, and as
they minced over the pavements at a respectful distance behind
their masters and mistresses, often presented a gorgeous appear-
ance. An absconding one is described in an advertisement of
that year as wearing damask breeches, copper-colored cloth coat
trimmed with black, and black stockings. A barber's servant,
who ran away a few years before that time, wore, according to
the notice in the "Weekly Mercury," a light wig, a gray kersey
jacket lined with blue, a white vest faced and lined with red,
and having yellow buttons, a pair of drugget breeches, a pair of
black stockings and a red leathern apron. The last feature of
his dress, his apron of leather, was at tha! time a distinguishing
badge of servitude ; they being worn not only by workingmen,
but by all apprentices, clerks, and employees of store and shop-
keepers. It was also the custom for the wives and daughters of
tradesmen, who assisted them in the business, to wear short
skirts of green baize.
On reaching Penn's house, it was found to be a sturdy edifice
with bastions and salient angles. Its flanking gables fronted on
the street, but the main portion of the building set well back, so
that the house faced three sides of a small court. At the rear
were beautifully shaded gardens, extending half-way to Front
street and nearly to Walnut street. This edifice was built in the
60 The Story of an Old Farm.
earliest days of the city by one of its greatest improvers, Samuel
Carpenter, and it was fitted up for Penn's occupancy on the occa-
sion of his second coming to America. Penn brought with him
his family and household gods, expecting to make his home
permanently in Pennsylvania ; but within two years after taking
possession of this mansion, owing to the distaste of his wife for
colonial life, and owing to the fact that his enemies in London
were dangerously threatening his powers and rights in America,
he was forced to return to England. It was thought his absence
would be temporary, but his affairs becoming more and more
involved, he fretted away year after year in a vain endeavor to
return, until he finally died, in 1718, without again visiting his
colonial possessions. In 1704 Samuel Carpenter sold this house
to William Trent for eight hundred and fifty pounds. This was
the same Trent, who, in 1719, established mills on the Delaware,
thus founding Trent-town — now Trenton. He died there, in
1724, as Chief Justice of New Jersey. Penn's mansion ulti-
mately became, and continued to be until many years after the
Revolution, a fashionable boarding-house. From there was car-
ried, in 1782, the body of the eccentric General Charles Lee,
which was interred in Christ Churchyard.
Our German friends, while wandering around the town visit-
ing its many points of interest, probably found their way to
another spot associated with the founder of the colony — the Blue
Anchor Tavern, on the corner of Second and Dock streets, it
being the first house he entered on reaching the city. Penn
arrived at Newcastle by the ship " Welcome," in October, 1683.
After spending a little 'time there, and at Chester, he proceeded
to Philadelphia, landing at a low sandy beach fronting this tav-
ern, at the mouth of Dock Creek, which, at that time, had grassy
banks and rural surroundings. Ti'adition designates this inn,
then just completing, as being the first substantial house erected
in the city. For many years it was the point at which landings
were made from small vessels trafficking with New Jersey and
New England. It was also used as a ferry-house by persons
crossing to Society Hill, to the New Jersey shore, and to Wind-
mill Island, where a Dutch-looking structure ground the grain
of the early settlers.
Meanwhile, the day is wearing on, and the Moelichs have
Philadelphia Equipage in 1735. 61
still a journey before them, for it is not to be supposed that newly
arrived Germans will remain in Philadelphia when but a few
miles beyond is a thriving settlement, composed entirely of their
own countrymen. The good Pastorius, the faithful pastor, magis-
trate, teacher, patriarch, and friend of Teuton folk, had died fif-
teen years before, but he left behind him, at Germantown, seven
miles away as the road then ran, a sturdy German community,
and a firmly established Lutheran church. It was the pole
toward which the needles of all Rhenish emigrants turned, and
we must conceive of some means of transporting Johannes and
his party to that prosperous place. The human imagination is
quite capable of bridging centuries and of creating situations, so
there is no reason why we should not be equal to this task,
especially as we feel confident of the assistance of Thomas Skel-
ton, who advertises in the " Gazette " that he has " a four-
wheeled chaise, in Chestnut street, to be hired." This was the
only public conveyance in the city. It was twenty-five years
later before Jacob Coleman began running the first stage —
" with an awning " — from Philadelphia to the King of Prussia
Inn, at Germantown.
In 1735 the city boasted of but eight four-wheeled coaches,
one of which belonged to Deputy-Governor Gordon. The
streets were singularly clear of vehicles of every description.
There were but six four-wheeled, one-seated chaises, drawn
by two horses, besides the one that Shelton had to hire. The
few carriages, if they could be so called, to be seen were two-
wheeled, one-horse chairs, a cheap sort of a gig with a plain
painted body, ornamented with brass rings and buckles,
resting on leathern bands, for springs. The general means of
conveyance, both for goods and people, was by horses ; farmers'
wives came to town on pillions, behind their husbands, and stout
market-women rode in from Germantown, panniers, filled with
produce, flanking their horses' sides. Much of the freighting of
the province was done by pack-horses, and it was a common sight
to see a long line of them entering Philadelphia, laden with all
manner of merchandise — some so enveloped in fodder as to leave
exposed only their noses and hoofs, others bearing heavy casks
suspended on either side, whilst still others staggered along
beneath the weight of bars of iron, bent so to hang as to escape
62 The Story of an Old Farm.
the bordering trees of the contracted trails and roadways. There
were but few carts ; the man who brought the silver sand to the
different doors each morning owned one ; and we have seen to
what base purpose another has been put by the town constable.
That peculiar Pennsylvania institution, the big blue-bodied
wagon, had not yet made its appearance, though it was not
manv years before the prosperity of the province was such as to
result in every farmer having his wagon. Their first introduc-
tion caused great indignation among the owners of pack-horses,
who feared that their business would be ruined. In 1755, when
Postmaster-General Franklin found Braddock fretting and fum-
ing at Frederick, in Maryland, because his contractors had failed
to provide means of transportation, he at once agreed to furnish
one hundred and fifty wagons, with four-horse teams, from Penn-
sylvania, and have them at Will's Creek within ten days.
Franklin fidfilled his agreement, and thus was Braddock's army
enabled to move on to its disastrous overthrow.
We will impress one of the carts into the service of aiding
Thomas Skelton in moving our party. Johannes must return
on some other day for his heavy luggage and furniture, as the
" Mercury " will hardly as yet have commenced discharging
from her hold. The Germantown road left town at the upper
end of Front street, and, after following the river for a short dis-
tance, wound in a northwesterly direction, and plunged into a
dense forest, the haunt then, as it had been for centuries, of bears,
wolves, deer and wild turkeys. The wolves seemed to have
proved the most annoying to citizens, as we find bounties for their
extirpation offered for many years after. The highway was not
much more than a trail, the branches of the giant trees, that
stood in solid phalanxes close to the wheel tracks, forming over
the travellers' heads a roof of impenetrable foliage. Occasion-
ally the shade was broken by the sunshine of a clearing, in the
centre of which stood a log house, having a long sloping roof of
thatch — the harbinger of the future greatness of suburban
Philadelphia. Some of the clearings were already green
meadows, in which no sign of trees appeared; others were
studded by stumps showing the recent marks of the pioneer's
axe. On nearing Germantown the road traversed a swamp, the
wheels of the cart and chaise jolting over the rough logs of the
corduroy road-bed that made the bog passable.
Johannes Reaches Germantown. 63
Our friends, listening to the tales of their guides, as they
moved slowly through the woods, must have been filled with the
most agreeable anticipations, on approaching the end of their
journey. They found Germantown to be as thoroughly German,
in language and in the appearance of the people, as any of the
villages they had left, perched on the picturesque banks of the
river of the Schoppen in the mother country. With its one
long street bordered by straggling houses, it still presented much
of the aspect of a frontier settlement. Many of the dwellings were
the primitive structures of the early comers. They were built
of logs, the interstices filled in with river-rushes and clay, and
covered with a thin coat of plaster ; their gables confronted the
street, and a man of ordinary size could easily touch the eaves
of their double-hipped roofs. The more modern houses were
of dark glimmer-stone, with little windows set deep in the thick
walls, and with huge chimneys rising at the corners. These low
substantial buildings, with their steep roofs and protecting eaves,
were planted well back from the highway, and surrounded by
fruit-trees. The comfortably-rotund matrons of these dwellings,
who looked out at the new arrivals from the open upper half of
their Dutch doors, were all busily knitting, for these Germantown
housewives had already acquired au inter-colonial reputation as
the manufacturers of superior stockings.
The first German newspaper in Pennsylvania, and the first in
America printed in a foreign language, was issued in German-
town the year of Johannes' arrival. This place retained all its
German characteristics down to the year 1793. Until that date
all the public preaching was in German ; it was the language of
business and society, and even that of the boys playing in the
streets. The outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia, in the
year '93, caused the offices of the general and state govern-
ments, and of the city banks, to remove to this suburban town.
This introduced an English speaking element, and a popidation,
which proved to be, in part, permanent. Germantown thus
becoming ffivorably known to Philadelphians, rapidly increased
the number of its English speaking people.
And now we must bid Johannes a many years' farewell — here
he and his family fade for a time from our sight and knowledge.
By the aid of a lively fancy, we have been able, for one day, to
64 The Story of an Old Farm.
clothe him with all the attributes of existence and experiences,
but to continue that for a decade would be to tax the powers of
your scribe beyond his capabilities. Family tradition asserts
that he remained in the vicinity of Philadelphia for ten years.
We will leave him there to acquire the language, educate his
children, rub off his foreign characteristics, and gradually to
assimilate himself and his family with the manners and customs
of the people of the new country of his adoption. Our next
knowledge of his life is from the pages of a letter he received
from Bendorf in the year 1745. That interesting communica-
tion will be presented in the coming chapter.
CHAPTER VI.
Letters from the Old Country — Bcndorf Comes under the
Dominion of the Murdering Margrave of Anspach.
It is before me as I write — this old letter — a little torn in
places, and tanned by time' to the color of old gold; yet, in a
good state of preservation, and the penmanship almost like copy-
plate in excellence. Its writer, Johannes Georg Hager, was an
" Evangelical Prseceptor," (teacher of a Latin school), and clerk
of the Bendorf church ; such a person in a German village
being second only to the pastor and burgomaster. The parish
register, in speaking of his death, in 1775, in his sixty-first year,
records that he had been active for thirty-four years in his
church and school duties. This letter served as his first intro-
duction to Johannes' immediate family, as, in 1744, the preceptor
had married Magdalena Christina Catharina Antonetta, the
twenty -year-old daughter of Georg Peter Otto, whose wife, Ver-
onica Gerdrutta, was the sister of Mariah Katrina. The com-
munication is interesting, not only on account of the news it gives of
the middle of the last century, but because of the piety evinced
in its solemn invocation and benediction, and also as showing the
stately and courteous style of writing at that time.
Corner
torn off.
Bendorff, June, 1745.
Mr. cousin
AND Lady
CHILDREN.
— dear friend with all my heart sympathy [torn] all wish extraordinary joy by the
long [torn] expected wish from the foundation of [torn] the heart that the Almighty
[torn] continually bless you also for the future and all your acts [torn] and that
although in a foreign country our friendship may get cultivated and grow
stronger, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Amen ! You may perhaps think what
a new cousin I may be, wherefore I commence by informing you that after the
5
66 The Story of an Old Farm.
death of Mr. [torn] pold in 1742 I was called here as preceptor and was mar-
ried last Fall, 1744, with Magdalena Catharina, the only daughter of your
brother-in-law, Otto, which accounts for our new relationship. To our all deso-
lation our Lord has taken from us in 1741 my mother-in-law. in consequence of
a fever — the same sickness which caused the death of young Mrs. Giegmann and
many others, [torn] On 31 Jan., we had a calamity here as you will per-
haps be aware already, whereby 75 houses were burned down. The fire com-
menced at the Forsten house, near the Steingate, but how it originated has not
been ascertained, so far, and from there everything burned down to the Herrschafts
Keller House, touching also my school house ; the principal street burned down
as far as Ciesar's house, and on the other side down to the pastor's house. So that
between the Stein-gate and the Bach-gate there was not a single building remain-
ing, and as you are acquainted yet with the locality you may judge for your-
selves who are the people who are burned out, and if you had been present yet you
would have been a sufferer too. The misery was terrible for these poor people, to see
their fruits and corn a prey of the flames, and the whole was done so remarkably
quick that in half an hour's time all the buildings, actually burned down, stood in
full flames. It was lucky that it happened in day-time and not during the night, as
otherwise many a life would have been lost ; but thousand times thanks to our
Lord there was no accident of the kind. On a conflagration which came so sud-
denly scarcely nothing of personal property could be saved ; many of them have
commenced rebuilding like [several names torn out,] cousin Andreas Kirgerber,
who sends thousand greetings, and many others. As we are now under a differ-
ent " regime," that of the Landgraf of Anspach, which is near Nuremberg, many
things are changed here, the town having formerly been under the dominion of
Hackenburg, but now in consequence of an exchange we belong to the margrave
alone, whereby changes in the manner of building are to be observed which cause
many expenses, and no one can build up his house again on the spot it formerly
stood on. but had to build in conformity with certain street regulations. The fire
made many people poor, and the loss of the 1740 barrels of wine and vineyards,
during the late war, reduced the inhabitants so much that I am afraid that Ben-
dorff will never be again what it was before — commerce and trade in general
being in poor condition. Amongst other news I may mention that Pastor Schmitt
and his wife are dead, also Knobels, and your cousin, Mrs. Ruckert, away from
seven children.
Of your four letters we have not received one, except the first one, whereupon
we wrote again immediately and would have written oftener since, if we had
known of an opportunity available. I am very much surprised that cousin
Henry in Hochstenbach, did not write to you through the op{»ortunity which was
oflered to him. It seems, however, as if your sister dear, our cousin, had died,
some information of the kind having reached us at tlie time my mother-in-law
was still living. Her loss was very much lamented by my mother-in-law and all
the friends, and they all wished she would live yet. * * *
As regards her succession cousin Anton Kirberger has been curator over it, and
was trying to get something out yet, but the matter was treated so copiously that
the lawyers made the most of it.
Although he took the matter at heart more than a brother, he could not attain
his purpose to have bankruptcy declared, in which case everything would have
been divided honestly. * « *
Our Lord the Almighty restitute it to you 1000 times, and bestow upon you
good health and a long life; 1000 greetings to all relations and friends whatever
The Germany of Yesterday and To-day. 67
their names may be, and that they all may prosper. I would most obediently
request that you may avail yourself of the first opportunity offering to write
again, and we shall surely answer by returning opportunity. You would at the
same time do us a favor to write us something about the customs of the country,
the description of houses, mills, furniture, gardening, vegetables and what the
difference is between those we have in Germany, and about iron for the mechanics,
and cloth, and anything connected with husbandry and agriculture ? And now I
leave you all to the mercy and providence of our Lord, recommending myself to
your continued remembrance, and remain with our best salutations and much
esteem, Your all, sincerest friend and servant,
JoH. Geo. Hagek, Prseceptor.
'' On the human imagination events produce the effect of time."
I am indebted to Cooper for this idea — No ! not for the idea, but
for the words expressing it ; for no one discourses more eloquently,
than does this novelist, of the links of recollection that bring
back to the mind the innumerable changes in a comparatively-
short period, which causes a recent date to appear as remote as
the days of dark antiquity. A. D. 1745 is not a long time ago ;
the span of existence of but few lives would bring us back to
that year ; but yet, when one contemplates the astounding alter-
ations that have taken place in the map of Europe since that
date, events seem to mark a far greater lapse of time than do the
intervening years. When the writer of this old letter was
rounding his sentences, Germany was composed of hundreds
of separate kingdoms and principalities, each with conflicting
interests, their rulers at all times ready to pounce on each others'
territory in defence of real or imaginary rights, or in vengeance
for fancied wrongs. Prussia was still in the throes of its
birth ; Frederick, not yet the Great, was in his direst stress, and
in imminent danger of having to abandon to Maria Theresa, that
Silesia which he had bought with so much blood and treasure.
But, two days after this letter was written, he was saved from
that humiliation by the battle of Hohenfriedberg, once of world-
wide renown, now almost forgotten.
It is when the mind reverts to the altered conditions of the
political and personal relations between ruler and subject
in Germany, and the great strides taken on the Continent
in the advancement of individual rights, that one recog-
nizes how different, as affecting the daily lives and destinies
of mankind, is the world of yesterday from that of to-day.
In the preceptor's letter there is no sentence weighted with
68 The Stoey of an Old Farm.
such meaning as the few words announcing the transfer of
Bendorf from the sovereignty of Hackenberg to that of Anspach.
Late in the seventeenth century Bendorf was included in the
county of Sayn-Altenkirchen, which also comprised the districts
of Friedewald, Freusburg and Altenkirchen. It was probably
known to the Herr Prseceptor as the sovereignty of Hackenberg
because of the records having been preserved in that town.
This territory was the personal estate of Johannetta, wife of the
Duke Joh. George I., of Sachsen-Eisenach. By her will of the
thirtieth of November, 1685, it was to descend, under the rule
of primogeniture, in the line of her eldest son. In 1741, the
male line having become extinct, it passed to the descendants of
her daughter, Eleonora Sophie, wife of the Margrave .Johann.
Fredrick of Brandenburg- Anspach, and consequently fell to her
grandson, the Margrave Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, of Anspach,
who reigned from 1729 to 1757. I have already spoken of the
despotic power of petty German princes in the eighteenth cen-
tury. They ruled over dominions often no larger than one of our
counties, and outside of the boundaries of Prussia and Austria,
Germany was a patchwork of — when you include free cities and
the estates of imperial knights — hundreds of large and small
governments. Nor were they compact, as their several posses-
sions were frequently at detached distances, as we see by this
letter was the case in the margrave of Anspach acquiring Ben-
dorf. All these princes maintained courts and armies, and their
poor subjects were taxed and oppressed to support the luxury
and state of the rulers and privileged classes. The peasants
were not much better off than serfs, and hordes of officials levied
tribute on even the middle and better classes occupying the
towns and cities. In some localities sumptuary laws regulated
the dress and the food of the people. As Frederick of Prussia
grew stronger in his government, matters in this regard were
much improved, his example having a beneficial effect on the
better class of sovereigns, inducing them to have some respect
for the rights of their people; but yet, freedom of the individual,
such as was at that time known and enjoyed in the American
colonies, had no holding or understanding in the average Ger-
man mind.
When Johannes read this letter, if he knew anything of
Bendorf's Wicked Ruler. 69
the character of the margrave of Anspach, he had good
cause for devoutly thanking God that he and those dear to him
were no longer citizens of Bendorf, and, consequently, subject to
the will and caprice of a ruler who was entirely without sympathy
for the rights and wrongs of his people, and who himself was
governed by impulse and prejudice, rather than by a knowledge
of justice, and an intuitive sense of what was due a community
over which the chance of birth had placed him. Like all men
controlled by their impulses, he could, at times, be generosity
itself, but, nevertheless, his subjects preferred to give him a wide
berth, acting as had done those of the previous king of Prussia —
Frederick the Grreat's father — who used to fly around corners on
the approach of their doughty monarch, fearing to be whacked
over their shoulders by his stout cane. But, when the margrave
was in a bad temper, and his judgment distorted by passion, his
cruelties were apt to be of the most atrocious character. This
was rendered more deplorable by the power he wielded over the
destinies of the people he ruled ; at such a time woe betide the
noble, burgher or peasant upon whom he set his malignant eye in
anger. Numerous instances are given of the severity and
excesses of this prince. In 1740 he imprisoned for life one
Christopher Wilhelm Von Kauser, who was merely suspected or
accused of posting up caricatures ofthe court. Once, on hearing
that his dogs were not well fed, he rode to the house of the man
who had them in charge and shot him dead on his own doorstep.
In 1747 he hanged, without trial, a poor servant girl, who was
accused of helping a soldier to desert. As the margrave was
riding out of his castle one day, he asked the sentinel on guard,
who happened not to be a regular soldier, for his musket ; the
unfortunate fellow, recognizing his prince and not daring to dis-
obey, unhesitatingly gave up his piece, whereupon the margrave
called him a coward and no soldier, and had two hussars drag
him through the mill-pond; of which treatment he died. It is not
my purpose to continue the recountal of the idiosyncracies and
wickednesses of this murdering prince. The personality of such
a ruler could not but have a far-reaching influence for evil on all
his representatives, and the citizens of distant Bendorf had to bear
their proportion of the sorrows occasioned by such a government.
Nor was escape by emigrati-^n any longer an easy matter, as
70 The Story of an Old Farm.
nnder the new regime, no subject could leave the dominions of
the margrave without his permission, and that permission was
not be had for the asking. I shall again have occasion to refer
to Anspach, when we find, some thirty years later, the troops of
that principality marching across Somerset county, in New Jer-
sey, in their endeavor to assist King George III. in his hold on
the revolted American colonies.
Communications by post convey in their pages a subtle charm
quite wanting in spoken words. Letters sent from persons for
whose views and opinions one cares but little when present, are
often received with pleasure and read with interest, when the
writer is but a few days' journey away ; such is the mysterious
something an enclosed missive carries within its envelope. If
this be so, how important an event must have been the arrival
of this long message from Grermany. Letters were great affairs
in those days, and three, four, and often five months were occu-
pied in their coming from the old country. We can easily pict-
ure with what eager interest Johannes' family gathered about
him as he read aloud these closely-written pages from Bendorf.
Perhaps they expressed surprise at the marriage of Magdalena
with the schoolmaster, though they were surely glad of a new
relative who could write so good a letter. But Mariah Katrina
could not forget his predecessor, Preceptor Kippold, whose wife
had been her best friend, and had, stood godmother for her sec-
ond boy, Andrew, in 1729. How they all wondered, as they
heard of the great fire ; what words of sympathy fell from their
lips as were mentioned the names of friends and neighbors
whose all had been devoured by the flames. Tears doubtless fell
as the death of this or that loved one was made known. They
probably already knew that Maria Katrina's sisters, Mrs. Otto
and ]\Irs. Kirberger, had died, but that the dearly-beloved pastor,
Joh. Georg Schmidt and his wife, were no more was, indeed, a
new grief. Had not the reverend man been the life-long friend
of the parents ? Had he not married them, baptized all of their
children, and stood at the open graves of the two little ones
they had left lying under German sod? They had tender
thoughts for the seven children that the wife of the fruit-dealer,
Simon Ludwig Riickert, had left motherless ; and they were sorry
enough to hear of the death of their old friend, Gottfried Knebel,
The Kirberger Family. 71
who had stood godfather for, and given his name to Johannes'
youngest brother in 1724. How the good wife must have shud-
dered at the recital of the losses and distresses caused by the
late war, and have thanked God, too, that there was no prospect
of war and its bitterness in America. You may be sure that all
the gossip of the preceptor was read and re-read. That they
regretted the copiousness of the lawyers in settling the estate of
Mariah Katrina's sister is a matter of course, — the cormorants
of the profession evidently did not originate on this side of the
water.
Anton Kirberger, the curator, who was so unsuccessful in pre-
serving the estate from the hungry attorneys, was not a brother
of Mariah Katrina, but probably a cousin, being the son of
Joh. Wilhelm Kirberger of Bendorf, and a prominent citizen
and court assessor of that place. He was certainly closely
allied to the family, and, in 1724, stood godfather with Knebel
to Johannes' youngest brother, Gottfried, and, in 1732, performed
the same service for Johannes' son, Georg Anthon. It was his
brother, Ehrenreich Kirberger, who, in 1725, acted as godfather
for, and gave his name to, Johannes' oldest son, Ehrenreich, or
Aaron. Their father was probably the brother of Burgomaster
Gottfried Kirberger. This magistrate married, in 1673, the
'' right respectable JungfraiC Veronica Gerdrutta, the daughter
of the deceased Rev. Joh. Thumers, of Bendorf. Their children
were Anna Barbara, Johannes Jack, Johann. Philipp, Anna
Cathrina, Johann. Weimar, Andreas and Elizabeth. In 1694 the
Burgomaster married, as his second wife, Elizabeth Margaretha,
daughter of Peter Israel, of Altenkirchen. Their children were
Veronica Gerdrutta, who married Georg Peter Otto; Maria Mar-
garetha ; Maria Catherina, who married Johannes Moelich ; and
Johann. Heinrich. It seems odd that the first-born of this second
marriage should receive the name of the first wife — it certainly
shows that the burgomaster's second choice had a patient and
self-sacrificing nature. Her youngest child was the "Cousin
Henry" mentioned in Preceptor Hager's letter, he being at that
time the burgomaster of Hochstenbach.
I have another old letter from Bendorf, dated four years later.
Like the first, it is yellow and time-stained, though its odd old-
German characters are as legible as if lately penned. The
72 The Story of an Old Farm.
writer was Johannes' wife's cousin, the curator, and he tells the
same storj, as did the preceptor, of marriages and deaths, of
wars, and of the great fire, which latter seems to have been the
most important event of that age in the existence of the villagers.
But, here is the letter ! — let it speak for itself.
Bendorf, 25th May, 1749.
Highly esteemed cousin and lady : I have seen with great pleasure from
your letter that you and your good lady with your family are well, and so are
we and our other friends and acquaintances. We are glad to hear, and so are
these people, that you are doing well. As regards myself, my wife and our chil-
dren, we are, thank God, in good health and spirits ; the Almighty keep them
and ourselves so for many years longer ! Otherwise there has been transpiring a
good deal of news which, of course, we cannot write all. I don't know whether
you have heard of the great fire which we had here in 1743. All that part
from the Oberbach Gate to the pastor's house, and on the other side down to the
Cffisar's house up to Ralter house was destroyed, burning down everything to
the ground, including the gates and your former house. Pilberger's house is the
only one which was saved, all the rest being burnt down, so that no one could
recognise certain places any more at all. Much cattle was burnt, too, but,
thank God, no lives were lost. A good deal has been built up again since, but
there is plenty of waste-ground yet, and the new buildings are erected much
costlier than before. We belong now to the Margrave of Anspach, who ordered
an architect to be sent who suprintends the erection of buildings, laying them
all out in straight streets. I have, thanks to God, got through with my build-
ing; I have put up a house about six times as large as my former dwelling was.
Your brother-in-law, Holingshausen, lives in Pilberger's house.
[two lines illegible.]
but he is in bad circumstances, he cannot do much any more, because he trembles
so much, just like his mother did.
In consequence of the fire many people moved away, others became sick and
many died. Your cousin, Otto, died half a year ago ; Joh. Weimar Kirberger
died two months ago; old Hergemann died eight days ago; Pastor Schmit and
his beloved are dead long ago, which you have, no doubt, heard already. We
also had a good deal of war since, but have peace now. Joh. Michael Moelich
is still living, but his wife is dead.
I would wish that we could converse verbally, but as this cannot be the case, I
send my greetings to all of you.
And remain your sincere cousin,
Joh. Anton Kirberger.
It will be seen by this letter that Maria Katrina was now
called upon to mourn the death of her half-brother, Johan.
Weimar, and her sister Veronica's husband, Georg Peter Otto.
The peace referred to by the writer of this letter was that fol-
lowing the second Silesian war, between Prussia and Austria
and their numerous allies. Frederick II. had withdrawn from
the conflict in 1745, but the war was continued by Austria
Bendorf Billets Troops in 1749.
73
against France and Spain till the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in
1748. It was during these later years that Marshall Saxe
gained his famous victories of Laufeldt, Ragoux and Fontenoy,
the latter being fought in the presence of Louis XV. and the
dauphin. The vicinity of Bendorf suffered but little from
actual conflicts, but the Rhine was the highway between Aus-
tria and Holland, which latter country was the fighting ground
of the war. Bodies of troops were constantly passing and repass-
ing along its banks, exacting from the villagers billets and for-
ages, and impoverishing the people by the thefts and extortions
always inflicted on a rural community by a foreign soldiery.
Cousin Kirberger might well rejoice at the advent of peace, and
the opportunity for recuperation it brought to the people of his
neighborhood. The repose, alas ! was not to be for long. The
Seven Years' War, but a few years ahead, was lying in wait for
its victims — that great combat, in which nearly aU Europe was
to be engaged, and which was to emblazon on the pages of his-
tory, for aU time, the illustrious name of Fredericus Magnus ;
that conflict which ultimately resulted in the unification — in the
kingdom of Prussia — of the many electorates, duchies, bishoprics^
and dominions of landgraves and princes that then formed the
inextricable jumble, and most extraordinary patch-work, called
the map of Germany.
CHAPTER VII.
Johannes Moelich Appears in New Jersey in 1747 — All About
His Brother Godfrey — Echoes from the Ancient Walls of Zion
Lutheran Church at Neiv Germantoivn.
Johannes faded from our view at Germantown, Pennsylvania,
in 1735. He emerges from the mists of the years in Decem-
ber, 1747, in Greenwich township, Sussex, now Warren, county,
New Jersey, where he appears as the purchaser from John F.
Garrets of four hundred and nine acres of land fronting on the
Delaware river and ''Pohohatacong" creek. This investment
was made for the joint benefit of himself and his youngest
brother Gottfried, whom it will be remembered as a lad of
eleven accompanied Johannes to America. Gottfried — known
in family annals as Godfrey — was born in Bendorf on the Rhine
in 1724, and after reaching this country continued to be a mem-
ber of our ancestor's household until he was twenty-one years
old. On growing to man's estate he settled on this land border-
ing '' Pohohatacong " creek and the Delaware, in which vicinity
many of his posterity are now living.
On the twenty-eighth of November, 1758, Johannes conveyed
to this brother one hundred and eighty-one acres of the four hun-
dred and nine that he had acquired from John F. Garrets. The
deed recited that at the time of the conveyance he, the grantee,
was in actual possession of the land conveyed, and that ''he, the
said Godfrey Moelich, was a prime purchaser, and was to have
been a party in the grant and conveyance of the said four hun-
dred and nine acres, and for that purpose paid one hundred and
forty-nine pounds, his share of the consideration money agreed
])y them to be paid by the said Godfrey Moelich, the receipt of
which said sum, he, the said Johannes, doth hereby acknowledge to
Johannes, and Jacob Kline in Hunterdon. 75
have had." From all of the above it would appear that Johannes
acted as guardian for his younger brother, having brought funds
with him to America to insure his proper settlement when of age.
•Godfrey increased his possessions that same year by purchasing
one hundred and fifty acres of land from William Lovet Smith,
for one hundred and fifty pounds. Long before this time he had
built a stone house on the Garrets land, and for ten years had
been married. In May, 1748, he took unto himself a bride of
fifteen summers, Margaret, the daughter of Christopher Falken-
berger, a young woman of some education and refinement, as is
evidenced by her correspondence, preserved by her descend-
ants.
Johannes does not seem to have occupied his portion of the
land on the Delaware. On his death it became the homestead
of his second son, Andrew. Papers in my possession show that
in the year 1750 he was living in Readington township, Hunter-
don county, where he was interested in a tannery with Johann.
Jacob Klein (Jacob Kline), who had, a few years before mar-
ried his eldest daughter, Veronica Gerdrutta (Fanny). Though
I have no documentary evidence in proof of the assertion, there
is every reason to believe that at that time the homestead of
Johannes was a farm of four hundred acres — two hun-
dred of which was in black oak timber — located adjoining the
present line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, midway
between the White House and North Branch stations. The
land lay on both sides of the County Line road, and extended
north to the slope of Leslie's ridge, being crossed from east to
west by Leslie's brook. Whether the title to this land vested
in our ancestor, or whether he merely occupied it in con-
junction with his son-in-law 1 am not informed. Ultinaately it
came into the sole possession of Jacob Kline, and there is no doubt
that here he and his father-in-law established a tannery, prob-
ably the first one in northern New Jersey. The Hon. Joseph
Th ompson, when eighty years of age, wrote me that he well
remembered the old bark and currying houses that stood on the
Kline property ; and that John, the grandson of Jacob Kline,
had often pointed out to him the location of the dwelling of his
grandfather, Moelich, as being just south of the brook, and on the
other side of the road from his — John's — residence. On this
76 The Story of an Old Farm.
property Jacob Kline and his sons and grandsons carried on an
extensive tannery business for over seventy-five years. The
land is no longer in possession of the family, the original four
hundred acres being now sub-divided into the farms of George
W. Coles, Walter Opie and George Stillwell. " The Ridge "
obtained its name from George Leslie of Perth Amboy, of whom
we shall learn much in a future chapter. It is a rise of land
commencing at Leslie's brook, and in breadth extends nearly
two miles to Rockaway creek and Lamington river. In length
it is traversed by the New Brunswick and Easton turnpike,
which soon after leaving North Branch village (going westward)
attains a considerable elevation that is maintained three or four
miles until White House is approached, where by a gradual des-
cent the general level of the country is again reached. Here on
this breezy upland and along its slopes, from which the surround-
ing county is viewed like a map unrolled, have dwelt, and still
dwell many of the descendants of Johannes' son-in-law, " Old
Jacob Kline."
We learn from the records of the " Kirchen Buck der Corpor-
ation von Zion in New Germantoivn in West Jersey, ^^ that
Johannes Moelich was an active member and officer of Zion
Lutheran church in Tewksbury, then Lebanon, township, in
the same county. The exact date of the establishment of this
congregation is not known. As early as 1730 there were
German-Lutherans in the vicinity of what is now New German-
town, it being supposed that they came from Germantown,
Pennsylvania. In 1749, Zion corporation had been for some
time in existence, and in that year a new church building " was
solemnly dedicated to the service of God by the brethren Brunn-
holtz, Handschuch, Hartwig, Schaum and Kurtz." This
antique structure is still standing, and its thick stone walls will
doubtless continue to house congregations for generations to
come. Since those early days, however, it has undergone many
alterations, and in present appearance differs materially from
that of the original edifice, which in outward form was not unlike
the little church on Pohick creek in Virginia, built a few years
later, where Washington worshiped. An inmiense roof, con-
verging to the centre, capped the walls, in which small windows
were set high from the ground. A huge sounding board sur-
ZiON Lutheran Church at New Germantown. 77
mounted the lofty pulpit, and in the center of the building, in
the broad middle aisle, was a square pit in which bunaed
in cold weather a bright charcoal fire. It has been suggested
that this fire served not only for the comfort of the worshipers
but as an illustration for the preacher, who pointed his finger at
the glowing bed of coals when dwelling on the everlasting fire
that awaited the ungodly. In 1831 the quaint building was
remodeled. The old barrack -like roof made way for one more
modern in style, Gothic windows were introduced, the
exterior walls were covered with a composition of lime, sand and
pebbles, and a vestibule, spire and bell added. Within ten
years still greater changes followed, aud the auditorium was
made to more nearly conform to the present fashion of church
interiors.
There is still in existence the original instrument by which
Ralph Smith conveyed to the trustees of Zion congregation
seven and one quarter acres of land, which included the site of
the church then "newly erected." It is in the form of a lease
running one hundred and four years, demanding an annual quit-
rent of "nine pence three farthings for each one acre, of
Procklaraation money." This portentous document is elabor-
ately inscribed on a heavy piece of sheep-parchment over two
feet in breadth, the ink of the text still being distinctly black,
although that of the signatures has grown pale, while yet per-
fectly legible. The leasehold was ultimately converted into a
fee by the commutation of the quit-rent. The phraseology of
the conveyance begins in this wise :
This Indenture made this tenth Day of November in the Year of Our Lord
One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty-Nine, Between Ralph Smith, Esq., of
Lebanon in the County of Hunterdon and Province of New Jersey, on the One
Part, and Baltis Biokle, Hones Melek, Philip Phise, alias White, Casper Hender-
shot, Lowrence Rulifson, Samuell Barnard, David Melek, Jacob Cline, Adam
Vockerot, Jacob Shipmann, George Swart and Joseph Hornbaker, Trustees to
the Luthern Congregation in the Countys of Hunterdon, Somerset and Morris,
on the other part, Witnesses, etc.
None of the names of the lessees are correctly spelled. The
second one is, of course, that of our German ancestor. The writ-
ing of the lease, which is in a good, round, clerkly hand, is that of
Smith, the lessor, who wrote Hones for Honnes, which is Hollan-
disch, or Low Dutch, for John. Ralph Smith was an English-
78 The Story of an Old Farm.
man of wealth, and a large land-holder in what is now New Grer-
mantown. He came to Lebanon township from Boston in 1734,
and is said to have been ambitious to found a town, which he
desired should be called Smithfield. With the influx of Ger-
mans, however, his influence was not strong enough to prevent
the village from being named after the Pennsylvania town from
which man V of these new-comers had migrated. Although all
early documents mention this neighborhood simply as " King
Street," or Tewksbury, Smith persisted in using the name
Smithfield in his leases, even after the high-sheriff of Hunterdon
plainly designated it in a public advertisement as New German-
town. The first record of this last name appears in a legal
instrument drawn by Richard Stockton of Princeton, dated
the twentieth of July, 1760. While Ralph Smith was unable to
control the nationality of new arrivals, he endeavored, at least, to
dictate the nature of the religious observances they should intro-
duce into the neighborhood. He inserted in the lease of the
church lot a clause which provided that Zion society should not
allow '' any other doctrin to be taught but that, according to the
Lutherrien scheem, excepting a farther advance towards the
Protestant Churches now established, according to the doctrins,
contained in the Thirty-nine Artickles of the Church of England,
or according to the Presbyterian scheem as professed and
adhered to in America." The lessor was evidently solicitous
that no popish errors should be propagated in the community.
But imperfectly understanding the Lutherrien scheem (as he
styled it) — for the services of that church were mostly in Ger-
man — he was careful to provide that the preaching in the new
house should not deviate in any essential respect from the doc-
trines of the Thirty-nine Articles and the Westminster Confes-
sion of Faith.
For several reasons this conveyance from Ralph Smith pos-
sesses an interest for the historian of Johannes Moelich. First,
as showing who were at that time his co-trustees in Zion ; and
second, in the fact that his name appears among the first of the
trustees. As their names were probably placed in the order of
their importance, it is fair to presume that Johannes ranked
among the most prominent of the officers and congregation.
" Baltis Bickle," or more properly speaking, Balthazar Pickel,
Baltis Pickel and Other Worthies. 79
was easily the first in possessions, age and social consequence in
that German community. He was a native of Hamburg, and
early in the century settled in Hunterdon county, purchasing a
large tract of land at the foot of that considerable elevation which
in consequence of that purchase lost its euphonious Indian
appellation of Cushetunk, and has since been known as PickeFs
mountain. Here his descendants for several generations have
lived, and a portion of the original purchase is still in possession
of the family. At the death of Balthazar Pickle, by his will he
bequeathed one thousand pounds to Zion church, the intention
of the pious donor being that the interest on this sum should pay
the whole of the minister's salary. In this regard his expecta-
tions were not fulfilled. The money willed must have been in
colonial pounds, as the total amount realized from the bequest
by the trustees was a little less than two thousand dollars. Baltis
and his wife Charity, "good old mother Pickel," lie buried close
to the east walls of Zion. His grave stone bears the following
inscription :
Here lies the body of
Baltis Pickel
Who departed this Life, Dec. oth, 1765,
In the 79th year of his age.
Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now so onst was I,
As I am now so must you be
Prepare for death and follow me.
Near by is the grave of a youth of twenty, bearing the same
name, upon whose stone is the following curious verse :
My Dwelling Place is here
This Stone is got
To Keep the Spot
That men dig not too near.
The date of the advent in Hunterdon county of David Moe-
lich — mentioned as one of the church trustees — has not been
ascertained. He is believed to have been our ancestor's cousin.
David was born in Bendorf in 1715, being the son of Hans
Peter, who it is supposed, was a brother of Johannes' father.
Jonas Moelich, a bachelor brother of David, who was
born in Bendorf in 1710, was also at this time a Hunter-
don resident and a member of Zion congregation. There was
80 The Story of an Old Farm.
still another of the name then living in Lebanon township, who
later became prominent in the affairs of Zion society. This
fourth Moelich was Antony, Anton or Tunis, Johannes' nephew,
he being the son of Johann. Peter, who emigrated unmarried
from Bendorf in 1728, but who must have found himself a wife
soon after arrival, as his oldest child, Tunis, was bom in 1730.
It would be very agreeable to tell the whole story of the rich
historical memories that cling to these old walls of Zion. Such
a story would entail the narrative of the growth of population in
this section of New Jersey; but, just now, our interest in this
church lies with some of its early founders and their suc-
cessors, and we must confine our notice to such incidents in the
life of the society as relate to our German ancestor and his chil-
dren. It may be mentioned, however, that as early as 1745 it
appears that the Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenberg occa-
sionly supplied Zion pulpit, while at the same time having gen-
eral charge of the affairs of the congregation. This divine, —
familiarly known as Father Muhlenberg — was born in Hanover
in 1711 ; after graduating at the University of Gottingen, which
he had entered in 1735, he settled at Halle. The early German
emigrants to America were essentially a religious people, and to
them no distress connected with exile was more grievous than
the loss of the religious instruction they had known in the old
country. During the first four decades of the last century there
was not in New York or New Jersey a properly-accredited
clergyman of the Lutheran persuasion. The people of that faith
repeatedly implored the home church to send them a minister.
After much urging, Mr. Muhlenberg consented to accept charge
of the American churches, and reached Philadelphia on the
twenty-fifth of November, 1 742. The Germans realized in him
the consummation of their highest hopes for a priest, and with
great joy they welcomed the ministering of holy religion in the
form and manner of the church in fatherland. The labors, suf-
ferings and successes of this Lutheran patriarch are matters of
eccelesiastical history. To the character of an humble and sin-
cere Christian were joined natural qualifications and educational
acquirements that peculiarly fitted him for the arduous and
varied duties incidental to his position. He was a skilful sur-
geon as well as a ripe theologian, and could preach to his con-
Reverend Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. 81
gregation with equal facility in English, German and Low
Dutch. Gentleness and firmness in him were singularly
blended; his wise counsel and tender sympathies won such
respect and devotion that throughout his life his influence among
the Germans was unbounded. We are told that his eloquence
was of an order that would equally move and melt the heart of
the wildest frontiersman, or rivet the attention of the most cul-
tured and educated member of the synod. In 1745 he removed
from Philadelphia to the village of La Trappe — New Providence
— in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, which at that time con-
tained the largest and most important German congregation in
the country. From then until his death, in 1787, he seems to
have had a general oversight of, and to have exercised a sort of
presiding eldership over, the churches of the Lutheran denomin-
ation. He was a wonderful organizer of congregations. Heat
nor cold, storm nor wind, robbers nor Indians, could daunt his
energies or repress the enthusiasm of the missionary spirit, which
led him to travel thousands of miles through the Middle and
Southern States at the call of his German brethren. The rare
virtues and talents of this unusual man were, to a remarkable
degree, transmitted to his posterity through successive genera-
tions. As clergymen, soldiers, statesmen, educators, authors
and poets, we find that his children, grandchildren and great-
grandchildren have taken rank with the most distinguished men
of the country.
The first missionary of Zion church was the Reverend
Johannes Christophorus Hartwig, (anglice), John Christopher
Hartwick, who contributed his erratic services during the years
1747-1748. He did not tarry long in Tewksbury as his useful-
ness was much impaired by an unfortunate repugnance he felt
towards all womankind. Neighborhood gossip recites that he
would cross the road, or even leap a fence, to avoid meeting one
of the gentler sex. The story is told that when preaching in
New York state, on awaking one morning at the home of a
parishioner, he found that the good woman of the house had
arisen in the night and silently spread a thick petticoat over the
bed, lest he should suffer with the cold ; so indignant was the
clergyman that he made his way to the stable, saddled his horse,
and rode off before breakfast. On the seventh of September,
6
82 The Story of an Old Farm.
1748, there arrived at Philadelphia, by the ship " Hampshire,'^
Captain Thomas Cheeseraan, from Rotterdam, the Reverend Joh.
Albert Weygand. At the instigation of Father Muhlenberg, he
was soon preaching at New Germantown as a candidate, and in
the following year this immigrant-minister was invited to be the
regular pastor of the congregation. Among the seventy-eight
names signed to his call were those of Baltus Pickel, Johannes
Moelich, Samuel Earnhardt, Jacob Kline, Joseph Hornbaker,
Philip Weiss, Lawrence Roelifson and others. Mr. Weygand's
services proved very acceptable to the people and it was during
his pastorate that the church edifice was completed and dedi-
cated. How long he officiated is not exactly known, but it is cer-
tain that in a printed publication of 1755 he is spoken of as
" the minister of the old Lutheran Church at New York and
Hackensack '' — serving alternately the people of Bergen and
Rockland counties, and the congregation of New York city.
Following Mr. Weygand came, in about the year 1754, Pastor
Ludolph Heinrich Schrenck ; his stay was short and his depar-
ture is unrecorded. During these changes and vacancies
Father Muhlenberg continued his episcopal direction of Zion's
people. In the autumn of 1760 he sent a young man — Reverend
Paul Bryzelius — on horseback to the " hill country of New Jer-
sey," to preach to the waiting congregations of Zion and St. Paul.
Of the latter church society we shall learn something shortly.
With him he dispatched a letter addressed to his '' highly
respected and dearly beloved Brethren Messieurs Balthasar Pickel
and John Moelich, senior, at Racheway, etc." This last word
expresses Father Muhlenberg's endeavor to spell Rockaway, the
name of the stream which drains the country west and south of
Tewksbury township, and upon the south branch of which lived
Balthazar Pickle. The writer of this letter makes another effort
to anglicise — this time a foreign, not a native word. The name
" Brucelius " is written in English, and was evidently an attempt
to convey in Roman characters the sound of the young clergy-
man's name. In subsequent entries upon the church books
Muhlenberg wrote it Bryzelius. Doctor Hazelius, afterwards of
Z ion's pulpit, and himself of Swedish origin, spelled it " Brize-
lius." But enough of preface ! Here is a translation of this
pastoral message from the last century :
Father Muhlenberg's Letters to Zion Church. 83
Worthy and Beloved Fathers and Brethren : Herewith I send in mj
place on a visit an honest teacher, namely, Ddmine Brucelius, who studied in
Sweden and traveled several years in Germany and England, and tried many
things. He is still in his best years, cheerful and very industrious, humble and
friendly in company, lives sober, godly and exemplary, and understands well how
to deal with the rich and poor, with the learned and unlearned, with the sick and
healthy ; has a great knowledge in the true Christianity, and tries to lead souls
to Lord Jesus ; understands good English and German. Since, however, in past
years he preached mostly in Swedish and English, and had little practice in the
German language, therefore, German seems a little difficult. He will very soon,
however, regain his knowledge of German when he has had just a little practice.
You will hear and see for yourselves wherein he will please you in doctrine and
conversation, and write me what you think of him.
I am for the present not able to pay his traveling expenses, and hope the dear
brethren will take care of this out of love because he has hired from his congre-
gation a horse for the journey, which he must himself pay for.
Receive him in love as a true servant of Jesus, and make his conversation use-
ful to you. To your wives and worthy relations, especially to the long-sufTering
sick mother, Pickel, give consolation out of the abounding love of Jesus, and be
true even unto death ; then will you receive the crown of life and glory.
Thus wishes, worthy and beloved fathers and brethren, your old well-wisher
and friend, Henry MuhIiENBERG.
New Providence, 25 Nov., 1760.
This day I have buried my youngest son.
This young minister found such favor with the goo^ people of
the hill country as to be regularly called as their pastor, and he
continued preaching to the congregations of New Germantown
and Pluckamin until 1767, when he removed to Nova Scotia.
He was the first occupant of the parsonage near the first named
village. In May following Mr. Bryzelius' removal, Father
Muhlenberg was elected ^'Rector" of the united churches of Zion
and St. Paul. As the patriarch never resided in New Jersey,
and continued, as before, the pastor of the Lutheran churches of
Philadelphia, the inference is that the election and formal accept-
ance was a prudential measure intended to further the temporal
interests of the united congregations. During the vacancy of their
pulpits he occasionally occupied them, as did the Rev. Christian
Streit, who was afterward the pastor of a Lutheran congregation
at Easton, Pennsylvania. Father Muhlenberg appears, how-
ever, at all times to have given his personal care and direction
to the affairs of the society. Not long after the departure of Mr.
Bryzelius he addressed to the brethren the following quaint and
characteristic letter, advising them as to their course while with-
out a spiritual guide. The reference to Bedminster will be
84 The Story of an Old Farm.
made plain, later, when we come upon the founding of St. Paul's
congregation at Pluckamin. The superscription in English
reads :
To tlie Wardens and Vestries of the United Lutheran Churches in New Ger-
mantown and Bedminster.
The original letter is in German :
Honorable Corporation, Beloved Brethren : I recently wrote a letter
to you and gave it to Mr. Bartles. Rev. Kurtz, our old minister, has promised to
make a visit to the United Congregations after the Holy days of the dear Lord.
If he should be too feeble for so difficult a winter journey, some one younger will
come. I beseech, however, the Honorable Corporation that she take care of her
charter and order, and open the churches to no disorderly preachers or tramps.
The fugitives who run where they have not been sent must stop with their equals.
Because where the carcass is there gather the eagles.
The Honorable Corporation will take also into consideration and provide that
during the coming spring the parsonage may be set in habitable order. It would
be very good if the God-fearing members of both congregations would assemble
on Sundays in their churclies, would sing together an edifying hymn, order some-
ting to be read, and would pray. Some one will be amongst the brethren who
can do it.
I send you my hearty greeting, and hope we may soon meet again.
I am your old
Friend Muhlenberg.
Philadelphia, 10 Dec, 1767.
The next incumbent at New Germantown came to New Jer-
sey confident of possessing the affections and esteem of her
people, for he was John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, the eldest
son of the patriarch, who after much solicitation had consented
to serve as resident deputy-rector for his father. He occupied
Zion's pulpit for the first time on the fifth of February, 1769,
and continued to supply that and St. Paul's for three years. He
awakened an enthusiastic devotion in the members of his flock,
and though at this time but twenty-three years old, he soon
won their respect as well as their aflfections. In 1772 his father
was applied to by the Germans of the valley of the Blue Pidge,
Virginia, for a minister for their new church at Woodstock, the
county-town of Dunmore, they asking that his son might be
sent. This request was acceded to, and the young minister
made his way beyond the Potomac, where he so conducted him-
self as to insure his name ever being honorably preserved on the
pages of history. We shall pass some interesting hours in this
Father Muhlenberg's Letters to Zion Church. 85
excellent man's company on his return to New Jersey, after
exchanging his rector's gown for the blue and buff of a Conti-
nental general.
For several years following the loss of Peter Muhlenberg,
Zion's pulpit appears to have been without an occupant, Father
Muhlenberg continuing his oversight of the congregation.
Repeated requests were made to the rector that he would send
one of his two remaining sons to fill the office of "assistant minis-
ter." While this desire was never gratified — at least to the
extent of a residence of either for a continuous period — it is in
evidence that Henry Ernst, the youngest, occasionally supplied
the churches, and presided at regular vestry councils. His con-
sent was at one time obtained to become the rector in place of
his father, but the joint congregations of Philadelphia refused to
release him from a prior engagement, and so the arrangement
was not consummated. That, meanwhile, unsuccessful efforts
were made to secure a minister is shown by the following letter
of Father Muhlenberg addressed to Ehrenreich Moelich and his co-
trustees. Our immigrant ancestor, Johannes, having by this time
become a member of the congregation of that greater and eternal
Zion, his eldest son had taken the sire's place among the fathei'S of
the earthly church. As it is dated the year previous to the one in
which Peter Muhlenberg severed his connection with the New
Jersey congregations, it would seem that he was absent from his
charge during some part of 1771. He may have been on a visit
to the valley of Virginia, and evidently had already notified his
parishioners that he intended to leave them.
Worthy and Beloved Brethren : I received your dear letter of the 16th
September from Bedrainster, through the dear brother, Anthony Melick, and
understand from it : 1st, That the majority of the members of St. Paul's church
met on Wednesday and voted for Mr. Kuntze and Mr. Buscherch. 2nd, Now^as
far as Mr. Kuntze is concerned, he thanks the dear brethren heartily, because
they have been so good as to vote for him. It is not possible for him to accept
the call, since tlie corporation of Philadelphia positively will not release him,
neither can they let him go, nor will they, and he himself also before God has
neither conviction nor desire to leave without a cause the congregation entrusted
to him. 3rd, And because the beloved brethren have also voted for Mr. Busch-
erch, and I have heard that Mr. Buscherch will preach next Sunday in New
Germantown ; if tlien the Bedminster corporation thinks that Mr. Buscherch is
strong and qualified enough to feed your three congregations, and the corporation
of Zion's church, likewise, thinks and agrees with you, then can you ask him by
chance if he is willing to accept a call from you or not. The congregations have,
86 The Story of an Old Farm.
indeed, a right to vote, nevertheless the question remains whether the preacher
for whom they voted truly can accept the call, or will. For this time I don't
know anything further to answer, except that I greet you all heartily and kiss
you in Christ, who for the comfort of the Believers has promised " Look, I am
with you every day, until the end of the world." I remain your old wellwisher
and intercessor, Henry Muhlenbeeg.
Philadelphia, 22 Sept.. 1771.
My next record of a shepherd to this Lutheran flock is that
of William Anthony Graff, a native of Grunstadt in Rhenish
Bavaria, and a graduate of the university of Gressen in Hesse-
Darmstadt. This godly man came in 1775 and preached until
his death, thirty-four years later, his memory being still pre-
served as a precious heritage by the descendants of the fathers
of Zion. His certificate of ordination, dated in September, 1760,
is in the handwriting of Father Muhlenberg, and it records in
stately, scholastic Latin that he was called in that year to the
charges of Hackensack and Ramapo, ^' prefectures of New Jer-
sey belonging to the kingdom of Great Britain." With those
congregations he remained for fifteen years, until called to New
Germantown. This certificate shows further that the newly-
ordained one vows "to abhor all fanatical opinions, such as
pontifical, anabaptist, sacramentarian and similar errors." And
then to him is entrusted, with pious ceremony, '' the office of
teaching the gospel and administering the sacraments according
to the calling and rule prescribed in the Prophetic and Apostolic
writings, whose sura is comprehended in the three Symbols,
Apostolic, Nicene and Athanasian, — in the Augsburg confession
presented to the Emperor Charles V. in the year ]530, and in
the Apology of the same — likewise in the smaller and larger
catechisms of Dn. Dr. Luther, and in the articles, to which signa-
tures were appended in the assembly of Schmalcald." The
whole closes with the handsome signatures and seals of
Carolus Magnus Wrangel,
S. S. Theol. Doctor Concionator Aulic.
Ord. Suecorum Regis & Ecclesiarum,
Sueco Luther-in America Praepositus.
IIenricus Muhlenberg.
Ministehu-Germanico
Lutherani Praeses et
Senior.
Pastor Graff's Flourishing Congregation. 87
The first signature, with its appended title, may be translated :
Charles Magnus Wrangel, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Regular
Court Preacher to the King of Sweden, and Head of the Swed-
ish Lutheran Churches in America.
About the time of the coming of Pastor Graff we may con-
clude that this Lutheran congregation was in a flourishing condi-
tion. Before me lies an original list of the communicants of the
church, dated the second of May, 1773, showing their number
to have been ninety. It is in the handwriting of the elder
Muhlenberg, and the names present a singular mixture of Ger-
man, Latin and English spelling. Among them are to be found,
Ehrenr Moelich, evidently intended for Aaron Moelich, the first
name standing for Ehrenreich ; his wife is set down as Charlotta;
Jonas Moelich; Christian Meelich; Mr. Anthony Meelich, n fr.
Eleonora ; Mr. Balthas Pickel ; Mr. Jacob Klein, n fr.
Euphronica; Gottfried fein n fr. Magdelena; Marcus Koenig, n fr.
Elisabeth ; Joh. Appelman, n fr. Ursula Magdal ; Mr. Thomas
van Busshkerk, n fr., Esther ; Frau Miillerin Henrichs. The
Christian Meelich mentioned above was the son of Johannes'
cousin David ; Anthony Meelich, as we have already learned,
was Johannes' nephew, while Frau Miillerin Henrichs was Maria
Catherine, a sister of Anthony at Tunis, who, in 1755,
became the wife of Joh. Henry Miiller — Anglice, Miller.
Her husband emigrated from Germany in 1750, and
three years later settled near New Germantown, where he
became a valued citizen, being for thirty-four years the clerk of
the township. Although a devoted Christian, he was of the
German Reformed persuasion, consequently we do not find his
name on Zion communion lists, where that of his wife for a num-
ber of years frequently appears. Eventually she proved a wan-
dering sheep and strayed from the Lutheran flock — the church
of her forefathers. In the year 1782 a Methodist minister
arrived in Tewksbury who secured the good-will of her brother,
Tunis — ithen a church warden — with whom he lodged. Among
the few persons that he succeeded in converting to the new,
and generally considered heterodox, faith, was his host's
sister. This did not accord with the views of her husband,
Henry Miller, who, thereupon, interviewed the missionary, and |
reported the result in writing to his wife's pastor, Mr. Graff,
88 The Story of an Old Farm.
declaring that he found the newcomers religious beliefs to be
"scandalous and despicable of the church." On the following
Sunday, the rector, from the pulpit, denounced the itinerant as
a "proselyting upstart." This brought Tunis Melick to his feet
in defence of his guest, and he angrily interrupted Mr. Graff,
being joined in his protest by Grodfrey Rinehart, another church-
warden. A great commotion was produced in the congregation,
and the two malcontents were subsequently tried and deposed
from the vestry. Tunis Melick and his wife adhered to the new
faith, and with a few others stemmed the current of opposition,
until their perseverance was finally rewarded by the establish-
ment of a Methodist congregation, in which their descendants
have been prominent to this day.
Catherine Miller was much beloved, and was long remembered
in Tewksbury because of the impress made by her strong char-
acter and deeply religious nature upon the people among whom
she spent her life. John Fine, who died in 1861 at the age of
eighty-two, and who himself was as modest and humble as he was
good, used to tell that in his boyhood he was indentured for a
term of years to Henry Miller. He soon found his master's wife
to be not only very pious, but exceedingly strict. She treated
him well, but insisted that he should comprehend his duties and
perform them all in their proper time and order. On one occa-
sion, being seriously punished for running the milch cows from
the field, he was inclined to resent the whipping, and did revenge
himself by some ugly boyish trick. "In after years I regretted
it very much," said the good old man, " and more especially did
I grieve over it, when, upon the death of Mother Miller, it was
discovered that she had knelt so often and so long in secret
prayer that 'caUusses^ had grown upon her knees, resembling
those upon the hand of a common working-man." Henry Miller
upon the death of his wife thus recorded the event in his family
Bible: " 1807. To-day the 22nd Jan.: at 12 o'clock noon, has my
dear wife Maria Catherina fallen peacefully asleep in the Lord,
and will be buried on the 25th day. After we have lived fifty-
one years, nine months and three weeks together in the Holy
estate of matrimony. And she is the first one who has died in
my house. May the dear God prepare us who are left behind
to follow piously after, for the sake of his dear Son, Jesus Christ,
Character and Appearance of Father Graff. 89^
Amen." " Good old Father Fine," who has preserved to us the
story of Catherine Miller's habit of prayer, seems to have reached
a height of spirituality unattainable by his contemporaries, and
he left a name that stands as a synonym for Christian piety in
all the Tewksbury region Pie was a man of '' wise saws, sen-
tentious apothegms and apposite anecdotes," and the tales, related
by the village gossips of his biblical honesty, are the wonder of
the present generation. He and his wife were early converts to
Methodism, he being blessed with a help-mate as heavenly
minded as himself. "Mother Fine" was renowned for sanctity,
for charity, for every tender feeling. A clerical bull is asso-
ciated with her name. An Irish minister said to her at a social
meeting, " Sister Mother, please lead our devotions !"
But these reminiscences are carrying us too far away from
Pastor Graff, to whom we must return. At the time of his com-
ing to Zion and St. Paul's he was in the prime of manhood, being
about eight and forty years old. An interesting family, consist-
ing of a wife and half a dozen children (of whom four were
daughters), consitituted the whole of his worldly wealth — if we
may except a traditional '^ roach-backed " horse, with riding
equipments, and a certain weather-stained " shay" of a comically
antique construction. Father Graff's parishioners delighted in
his imposing appearance. He was very fond of the saddle, and
wearing a three-cornered hat and military boots, Avas often to
be seen astride of his faithful steed, riding between New German-
town, Pluckamin, and on to Roxbury, where he also supplied a
Lutheran pulpit. Mr. Graff's salary was to be the interest on
the Pickel legacy (supposed to amount to sixty pounds), and
sixty pounds more to be raised by contributions from the congre-
gations of Pluckamin and Roxbury. For this the New German-
town congregation was entitled to preaching twice monthly, while
the lesser flocks were forced to be contented with Sunday visita-
tions of once a month. He soon dropped from his official title
" deputy," or " pro tern " as Father Muhlenberg, hearing of the
excellent choice of the congregations, very willingly resigned the
rectorship.
Mr. Graff preached alternately in German and English, but
his efforts to conquer the latter tongue were never entirely
successful. It is said that to the end of life he persisted
90 The Story of an Old Farm.
in calling the village of his residence " New 6'/mrrmantown/'
and that of the location of St. Paul's church " Blook-a-meew."
The story is told that once, when delivering a sermon on the
temptation of Eve, the word, serpent, slipped his memory. Try
hard as he would it continued to elude him. After an awkward
hesitation and much endeavor he stammered out in broken
English: ''''Dot old — dot — dot old Tut/fel, der shnaJce." The good
rector may have been a little uncertain in his language, but there
is no doubt that his virtues and attainments were of the most
positive character. All testimony is concurrent as to his having
been a devoted, diligent and loving pastor, and a truly learned
and pious man. Possessed of an eminently happy disposition he
was esteemed and beloved by his people, both for the many
amiable qualities of his personality, and for the faithful perform-
ance of his pastoral duties. During the last four years of his
life, age and infirmity seriously interfered with his public minis-
trations. Children, however, were brought to his house for bap-
tism, marriage rites were not considered complete without his
blessing, and he even performed the last offices for the dead
while supported in his tottering steps by dutiful and affectionate
parishioners. We shall see him standing by Aaron Moelich's
coffin within a few weeks of his own death. At last, on the thirty-
first of May, in the year 1809, after days and nights of wearisome
pain, his soul was gently released from its decaying tenement,
and good old Father Graff's pastorate was over. At the north-
east corner of the village church, which he so faithfully served
for nearly thirty-four years, a plain, brown-stone slab marks his
final resting place, and chronicles in simple language the span of
his life. With Mr. Graff we will conclude the enumeration of
Zion's ministers, for with him ends the line of those who bap-
tized, married and buried the descendants of Johannes Moelich.
Among the archives of the church are two interesting docu-
ments bearing the signatures of our German ancestor. He spells
the name *' Molich ;" the diajresis over the o, denoting the omission
of the letter e. The first signature is attached to an obligation
in which he was a co-signer with twelve other elders and dea-
cons. It reads as follows :
Know all men by these Presence that We, to wit, I, Lorentz Ruloff's; I, Jacob
Shuppmann ; I, Andreas Abel Sen.; I, Johannes Moelich ; I, Adam Fiikeroth ; I,
ZiON Church Members from Bendorf. 91
"George Schwartz; I, Phillipp Weiss; I, David Moelich; I, Casper Hindersheidt ;
I, Samuel Bernhard, signed [Earnhardt] ; I, Joseph Hernbekker; I, Jacob Klein,
and I, Jacob Fasbinder, at this time elders and deacons of the High Dutch
Lutheran Congregation belonging to the Meeting house Called Zion in Lebanon,
are held firmly bound in the name of the forsaid Congregation, and Meeting
house unto Baltes Bickel of Reading-Taun in the County of Hunterdon and
Province of New Jersey, his heirs etc, etc, unto the sum of Eighty Two Pounds,
lawful Jersey money at Eight Shillings per ounce, to be paid etc. etc, Dated the
Eighteenth day of December in the year of our Lord God, One Thousand Seven
Hundred and Fifty.
Of the thirteen elders and deacons, six, viz : Johannes and
David Moelich, Fiikeroth, Weiss, Klein, and Fasbinder, signed
in German character, two — Earnhardt and Hernbekker — signed
in good plain English, while the remaining five were obliged to
make their marks. It would seem the ancient congregation of
the Evangelische Haupt-Kirche of Bendorf on the Rhine, con-
tributed a number of officers and members to the '^ Honorable
Corporation " of Zion church at New Germantown. We have
already seen that Johannes, David, and Jonas Moelich, had been
members of the German congregation, and now we find another
of Zion's trustees, Jacob Fasbinder, to have been transferred
from the parish on the Rhine. He was born in Bendorf in 1683,
being the son of Jacob Fassbender, who migrated to that place
from Homburg, and is named on the church register as a
"reif^er," or military horsemen. Jacob Fassbender, the younger,
was probably attracted to New Jersey, because of the number of
his fellow-townsmen who had preceded him across the water.
He was over sixty years old before he emigrated, as he landed
at Philadelphia from the ship Loyal Judith, James Cowil, master,
on the second of September, 1743. Still another member of this
New Jersey Lutheran congregation came from the Bendorf
church — Gottfried Klein (Godfrey Kline). He was a son of
Christian Klein, who, in 1733, stood godfather to Johannes'
daughter, Marie Cathrine. I have not discovered any connec-
tion between this Christian Klein and Johan Jacob Klein, who
married Johannes' daughter, Veronica Gerdrutta. Christian's
son, Godfrey, was the emigrant ancestor of another Hunterdon
line of that name. Should further researches in the Bendorf
parish register be made, it is not improbable that additional
names would be found identical with those of the Hunterdon
congregation. There is good reason for believing that this inter-
92 The Story of an Old Farm.
esting German church was the means of founding the New-
Jersey corporation.
The second document on which the signature of Johannes
appears is a faded, yellow, slightly torn, and much worn paper
of the date of December 1st, J 757. It is a bond, written in
German, for money borrowed in behalf of the congregation
to be used in the erection of a parsonage on the glebe land.
A stone dwelling was erected one mile and a half from New Ger-
mantown, on the road to Lebanon. It has only recently disap-
peared ; a gaping cellar choked with weeds and rubbish is all
that is left to mark the spot where it stood. The musty, warped,
leather-bound church-book, shows Johannes and David Moelich
to have been appointed by the vestry a committee to superintend
the building of this house. In the bond it is interesting to note
their attempt to spell English words in a German fashion. It
commences in this wise :
Know all men by these Presence, that we, to wit, I, Dainird Moelich in Biedens-
Dailn in Hilnder-dalln, Caiindi in the broViincs of West new Jersey, and I, Johan-
nes Moelich in Lebanon-Dailn, same Caiinti and brovurns.
Johannes continued his connection with Zion church until his
death in 1763. At a meeting of the vestry in the year 1756,
it was resolved to erect a new sanctuary for the benefit of the
many members of the congregation living in the adjoining county,
on the east. Consequently steps were taken for the erection of
St. Paul's church in the village of Pluckamin, in Bedminster
township, Somerset county. The original subscription list,
circulated at that time in order to raise the necessary funds, is
still in existence, and the appeal reads as follows :
Bedminster, Ye 7th Day of December, 1766.
A Subscription For Raising a Sum of money For Building a Cliurch In Bed-
minster town.
Whereas the members of the Lutheran Congregation In and near Bedminster
town Being necessitated For a Place of Public Worship Think a Proper Place to
Erect a House for To Worship God, and it is further agreed By us the Subscri-
bers That one half of the Preaching, or Every other Sermon Preached By any
minister Chosen the Said Lutheran Congregation Sball be in the English Lan-
guage and the other in High Dutch. We, therefore, the underscribers. Do
Promise To Pay or cause to be Paid The Sum or Sums annexed to our names for
the uses above mentioned To any Person or Persons Chosen Collector of Said money
by the said Congregation. Tlie Money is not To be paid until Said Church is a
Building and the money wanted for that Use. We most Humbly would Desire
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St. Paul's Church at Pluckamin. 93
the assistance of all our well Minded friends and neighbors That are well
wishers for Promoting So Good a deseine To Be helpful to us and subscribe
such a matter To this our undertaking which will be Accepted with Greatest
Humility and thankfulness, and will be Attending to the advancement of ye
Glory of God.
Then follow the signatures of one hundred and thirty persons,
many of them being members of the Presbyterian congregations
of Lamington and Basking Ridge, and of the Dutch Reformed
churches on the Raritan, and below. Among these names are
those of Johannes Moelich, Marcus King, Jacob Eoff Sen., James
Linn, Aaron Malick, Hendrick Van Arsdalen, John and George
Teeple, Guisbert Sutfin, Abraham Montanyea and Mary Alex-
ander. The total amount subscribed was about three hundred
and fifty pounds. The church was built on land donated by
Jacob Eoff, senior; it stood until early in this century when it
was taken down, its abuse during the Revolutionary war having
so weakened the walls as to have rendered them dangerous. Its
location was a little southeast of the present Presbyterian
church; the burial ground of that denomination originally sur-
rounded the edifice of St. Paul's, and in it are interred
many members of that Lutheran flock, including Johannes
Moelich and his son, Aaron. Among the heir-looms of the "Old
Stone House is the altar cloth of this church, which is pre-
served as an interesting relic of the days of the family's German
ancestry.
With the turn of the century the Lutherans of Bedminster
had in numbers become a feeble folk, and by the year 1806 St.
Paul's communion appears to have fallen into a moribund condi-
tion. This is shown by the original draft, now before me, in
the handwriting of Pastor Graff, of the will of John Appelman,
dated in that year. The testator must have died an old man, as
in 1767 he was elected a vestryman of this church " in
Bedminster town," with Aaron Malick, Mark King, Peter
Melick, Jacob Eoff, David King and others. This instrument,
which constitutes Aaron's son, Daniel, one of the executors,
recites :
It always has been my will and Intention sinc6 Providence gave to me no
Heirs of my Body, to give and make a certain sum in my Last Will for the Best
of our Lutheran church at Pluckamin to uphold our holy Religion, but since by
all human appearance our particular Denomination in Pluckamin as Lutheran
94 The Story of an Old Farm.
will soon lose ground on account of the smallness of its Professors, it is, there-
fore, now my Will and Intention, not to Limit the proposed sum of One hundred
Pounds, intended to our church at Pluckamin only, but to give myne assist-
ance in general towards upholding our holy Keligion under the assistance of a
merciful God in all our united Lutheran churches in these Parts * * * *
These ancient echoes of the walls of Zion are carrying us on
much too fast. We must return to the dates appropriate to the
regular progression of events in the story of our ancestor's life.
Before doing so, however, we will make one final reference to
these interesting Lutheran congregations. In the royal charter
granted by George III. in 1767, "to the Rector, Church Wardens
and Vestrymen of the united Churches of Zion and St. Paul," the
following names appear as its petitioners; Lucas Dipple, David
King, Jacob Eofi", John Appelman, Leonard Streit, Conrad
Meizner, Aaron Malick, Jacob Volser, Mark King, Christofer
Teeple and John Teeple, all being residents of the townships of
Bridgewater, Bedminster and Bernards, in Somerset county. It
will be seen that Johannes always adhered to the German spell-
ing of his name. As is shown by the St. Paul's subscription list
as well as by the petition for the charter, his oldest son, who had
made his advent in this country as "Ehrenreich Moelich," now
appears with his name anglicized to "Aaron Malick." In all
the letters, bonds and papers in my possession bearing his signa-
ture the name is spelled as above. The same may be said of his
brother, Andrew. Johannes, his sons and their posterity have
written their names with varied spelling ; their signatures
appear as Moelich, Melich, Malick, Melegh, Meelick, Mellick
and Melick. As late as 1805, old pastor Graff of Zion church
spelled it in the old book of record, Moelich, while away back in
1770 the Rev. Peter Muhlenberg — the afterwards distinguished
Revolutionary general — wrote the name in the"same old book as
Melick. As Shakespeare seems to have been a little uncertain
in the spelling of his patronymic, we may excuse the same
doubts in the early members of this old family during the transi-
tional period from the German to the American. Even at this
late day there is no uniformity in the spelling, as it is found in
New York and New Jersey, Mellick, Malick and Melick, and in
Pennsylvania Moelich, Malick and Melick, though in this latter
state the accent is often placed on the first syllable and the divi-
sion is made between the 1 and i, thus giving it the sound as if
Changks in Johannes' Family.
95
spelled with two Vs. Rector Graff, referred to above, judging
from the church register, was often at a loss as to the spelling
of his own cognomen. It is written draff, Graf, Graaff and
Graaf.
The year 1751 approaches — one of the most important, per-
haps, in the family annals, as it is the one in which Johannes
finally decided where to plant the permanent homestead. Mean-
while let us consider the changes that have taken place in his
flock since the arrival in America. Aaron, the oldest son — the
great-grandfather of the writer — has grov^ai to be a man of
twenty-six years and is still unmarried. Veronica Gerdrutta
(Fanny), who is now twenty years old, as we have seen, has
married her father's partner, Jacob Kline, who was born in Ger-
many on the sixth of March, 1714. Their first child John
William is now beginning to walk and talk, having been born
on the fifth of January, 1750. Johannes' second son Andrew
has reached majority, while his second daughter Maria is just
budding into womanhood, being eighteen years old. Since
reaching America two sons have been born — Philip on the ninth
of October, 1736, and Peter on the fifth of December, 1739.
CHAPTER Vlir.
Purchase of the "Old Farni'^ in 1751 — The Title, and Early
Neiv Jersey History.
And now the current of our history changes. The stream that
has heretofore taken wild leaps from America to Europe, from
Germany to Pennsylvania, will for a time flow peacefully
between pastoral banks, amid the pleasant vales and gently
swelling hills of East Jersey. Later on, when England has let
loose the dogs of war upon her American subjects, it will rush
through wild and turbulent scenes. But for some years to come
this little river of narration will flow tranquilly in quiet haunts,
skirting broad meadow spaces, meandering through retired vil-
lages, and turning the wheels of busy mills seated in deep val-
leys ; telling the pleasant story, as it flows, of old Bedmins ter,
and its transformation from a wilderness — the home of bear, deer
and primitive settler — to a rich agricultural country, peopled by
a well-ordered and prosperous community.
Since the arrival of Johannes in New Jersey he had been in
search of a location that would meet all the requirements of a
permanent home. His needs were not confined to good agricul-
tural lands ; a water power was also desired, advantageously
situated for establishing a tannery. In 1751 Bedminster town-
ship in Somerset county was decided upon as his future place
of residence. On the first of November in that year he pur-
chased of George Leslie of Perth Amboy three hundred and
sixty-seven acres of wild or forest land, having a front of about
three-quarters of a mile on the north branch of the Raritan river.
The following is the description shown in the deed :
Beginning at the Easter most corner of Daniel Axtell's land, where it touches
Peapack river, below a log house that John Burd now lives in. Thence running
The Original Boundaey of the Farm. 97
South, seventy-three degrees West, along the said Axtell's line, sixty chains to a
corner of the land William Hoagland now possesses, belonging unto the said
George Leslie. Thence North, forty-eight chains. Thence South, seventy-six
degrees. West forty-nine chains. Thence North and by East, thirty-two chains.
Thence North, seventy-six degrees, East fifty-nine chains to Lawrence's brook.
Thence down the said brook and Peapack river to the first mentioned place of
beginning. Bounded East by the said river. Southerly by said Axtell's land,
and on all the other sides by the land belonging unto the said George Leslie.
The coufines of the property as relating to roads and adjom-
ing owners nowadays w^ould be defined as follows : The descrip-
tion commences at a point where the Mine brook, or Lamington
road, crosses the north branch of the Raritan, which river was
the eastern boundary of the estate. From there the line followed
the centre of this road to a point in the west boundary of the
house-lot of Clark D. Todd, in the village of the Lesser Cross
Roads (Bedminster). Thence, northerly, to a hickory tree stand-
ing on the side of the Peapack road, near the gate, or entrance,
to what was lately the homestead farm of Abram D. Huff.
Thence along this road to the Holland road, where, turning
west, the line followed the latter road to the southwest corner of
the Opie Farm. Here the Holland road bears north of west,
but the line continued westerly, on the left of the highway, to a
comer of lands, now or late of Henry Woods. Thence north-
erly, following Woods' line, and crossing the Holland road, it
extended twenty-one hundred and twelve feet to a corner of land,
now or late of Edward Hight. Thence, easterly, thirty-eight
hundred and ninety-four feet to a point in the Peapack brook
near the head of Schomp's mill-pond, from where the line con-
tinued down the brook and the north branch of the Raritan
river to the place of beginning. By the above it will be seen
that the original purchase, in addition to the one hundred and
forty acres now constituting the farm, embraced so much
of the village of Bedminster as lies north of the Lamington road ;
a portion of the Huff farm on the Peapack road ; and all of the
Opie, and a portion of the Hight and Woods farms on the Hol-
land road.
The price paid for this property was '' seven hundred and fifty-
four pounds current money of the province, at eight shillings per
ounce." This last clause of the consideration materially modifies
the cost of the land. Money at eight shillings to the ounce meant
7
98 The Stoey of an Old FAR:\r.
a considerable depreciation from the standard values. In the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries English silver was coined
on the basis of five shillings and two pence per ounce. The sil-
ver coin mostly in use in the American colonies was the Spanish
milled dollar or " piece of eight," which the English mint found
to be worth four shillings and six pence sterling, or one pound
equallingfour dollars and forty-four and four-ninths cents. This
was established as the standard relative value. But early in
the eighteenth century the weight and quality of the Spanish
milled dollar did not continue to realize this ratio. The circula-
tion of clipped and inferior coins rapidly depreciated all cur-
rency values, hence, as Professor Sumner of Yale college, says,
'' Any such rating as eight shillings to the ounce was only one
stage in the various grades of depreciation ; it was a conven-
tional attempt to compromise on a standard of weight allowing
some depreciation." This rating consequently reduced the pound
sterling from four dollars and forty-four and four-ninths cents to
three dollars and fourteen and one-quarter cents. Thus we find
that the actual consideration for the purchase of the Bedminster
land was twenty-three hundred and sixty-nine dollars and forty-
four cents, or about six dollars and forty-five cents an acre.
With Johannes' acquisition of this property, issues may be
said to be joined between the reader and the writer. The story
of the '' Old Farm " will now commence for we have at last
reached the source of the narrative. Perhaps it will interest some
of Johannes' posterity to learn something of the title to this little
portion of mother earth, from which so many members of the family
have been nurtured. It is readily told, as, previous to the Leslie
conveyance, the holders of the land had been but few. The
Indians, of course, as far as Europeans know, \yere the first — the
Naraticonf/s, a clan of the Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, a branch
of the great Algonquin family. All the lands of New Jersey at
the time of the first settlement by the whites were vested by
right of occupation and possession in these aborigines. The
country lying between the Hudson and the Lenni-Wihittuck, as
they called the Delaware river, was named by them, "■ Schcyichhi."
Whether these natives' were, like the trees, indigenous to the
soil, or themselves owned the land as conquerors of a dispossessed
race, is a vexed question ; as is also that other question which
The Raritan Indians. 99
has been debated for so many years, Avhether Indians are des-
cended from the Jews, the Welsh, the Mongols or the Malays.
The Algonquins embraced about a quarter of a million souls 5
they were divided into many tribes, among which were the
Mohigans, Delawares, Micmacs, Illinois, Monseys, Chippewas,
Ottawas, Pottawatamies,Sacs, Foxes and Miamis. They occu-
pied much of the country lying between Chesapeake bay and
the St. Lawrence river, almost surrounding their hereditary
enemies, the Huron-Iroquois family. These latter embraced the
Five Nations of New York, the Hurons of Upper Canada, and
the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, who had joined the confeder-
ated tribes.
The clan of the Delawares roaming the country north of
the Raritan, as has been said, were the Naraticongs, though
the whites gave them the name of the river along which
they were located. Their dress was a blanket, or skin, thrown
over the shoulders, deer-skin fastened with thongs about the legs,
and the feet covered with moccasins of the same material, so
dressed as to be soft and pliable, being ornamented with quills
and wampum beads. At the time of the settlement of Bedmin-
ster there were comparatively few natives in that part of the prov-
ince ; those remaining were of a friendly character, and proved
of great service to the settlers in supplying them with game,
skins and furs. The haunts of the tribe had been originally on
the head waters of the Raritan, which O'Callaghan's History of
New Netherlands describes as '^ a rich and fertile valley situated
between two high mountains, some distance the one from the
other, through w^hich flowed a fresh-water river that disem-
boughed in the Navesink Bay." O'Callaghan further states that
some thirty years after the Raritans were first known to
Europeans their provisions were destroyed by a freshet, and they
were repeatedly harrassed by the Sankhicans. Consequently
they moved farther down the river, making a treaty of amity
with the Dutch, which they preserved even when the other
tribes were retaliating for the massacre of the Indians on the
west bank of the Hudson. They established their principal
seat where is now Piscataway, in Middlesex county, and here
were living their two chiefs, Canacblawack and Thingorawis,
when, in 1677, they conveyed to the whites their lands in that
vicinity.
100 The Story of an Old Fakm.
That at one time the savages must have been in plenteous
numbers in the Bedminster neighborhood is shown by the traces
of them still to be found. The ''Old Farm" has produced a
generous crop of stone implements and arrow-heads planted by
the aborigines in ante-European days. It is Hawthorne who
writes of the " exquisite delight of picking up for one's self an
arrow-head that was dropped centuries ago and has never been
handled since, and which we thus receive directly from the
hands of the red hunter. Such an incident builds up again the
Indian village and its encircling forest, and recalls the painted
chief, the squaws, and the children sporting among the wigwams,
while the little wind-rocked papoose swings from the branch of
a tree." All this, you will say, is quite foreign to the subject !
Yes, you are right ! but, much earlier in these pages, you must
have learned that your scribe has a vagrant fancy — a mind that
is easily seduced from the dry detail of a chain of title by the
picture of a dusky Indian, with wampum belt and feathered
crest, lurking beneath the shadows of the grand congregation of
trees of primitive Bedminster.
Of the extinguishment of the claims of the red men, it is
necessary to say but little. The modes of procedure in such
cases were much the same in all portions of the colonies. Gen-
erally the usual number of blankets, jugs of rum, strings of
wampum, guns and handfuls of powder were exchanged for
treaties and deeds which conveyed great areas of territory. In
New Jersey the early settlers, before acquiring the legal title to
their purchases, were obliged to satisfy the claims of the natives.
The Indian title to the territory which embraced the "Old
Farm" was conveyed to John Johnstone and George Willocks on
the twenty-ninth of October, 1701, by Tallquapie, Nicolas and
Elalie. The deed called for thirty-one hundred acres, but on
being surveyed the area conveyed was found to contain over
ten thousand, as it included all the land lying between the north
branch of the Ilaritan and the Lamington rivers, and a point
above the Morris county line and the crest of the first mountain
below Pluckamin ; — but more of this hereafter. According to
Doctor Abraham Messier, Somerset's first historian, the earliest
Indian sale in the county of lands lying north of Bound
Brook was in 1683. Among the papers of the late Ralph
The Indian Conference at Easton. 101
Voorhees is a deed dated in 1723, made by Coion, Nutomus
and QuATON, three Delawares. It conveyed two hundred acres
of land lying near the Millstone river — part of the Peter Sonmans
tract— and is thought to be the last Indian conveyance.
As the purchases from the natives multiplied they gave rise
to complications and disputes. In addition, during the French
wars the agents of Louis XV. intrigued with the Indians, caus-
ing violent outbreaks in Pennsylvania and exciting ferment
among the natives of northern New Jersey. The authorities
deemed it expedient to appoint commissioners to confer with the
tribes in order to ascertain and remove -all causes of discontent.
A series of conferences were held, extending from 1756 to 1758,
at Crosswicks, Burlington and Easton, the final one being held at
the last place, when Governor Bernard, together with the lieuten-
ant-governor of Pennsylvania and five commissioners, met in
convention five hundred and seven Indian delegates from four-
teen difi'erent tribes. This resulted in conveyances being made
which it was supposed entirely freed and discharged the prov-
ince from aU native claims. In 1832, however, the New Jer-
sey legislature 'appropriated two thousand dollars to pay forty
Indians — the last remnant of their tribe — for a claim they made
as to their hunting and fishing rights, which they considered had
not been included in the transfer at Easton. The " Colonial
History of New Jersey" bears testimony to the fact of there
always having been the most equitable dealings between the Jer-
sey people and the Indians. The Six Nations, at a meeting-
held for the purpose of confirming the acts of the Easton confer-
ence, honored the governor of the province by calling him
Sagorighweyoghsta, or the " Great Arbiter or Doer of Jus-
tice." The people of Somerset — the descendants of its first
settlers — have always reflected with much pride on their clean
and wholesome record in all Indian transactions. They delight
in remembering the words of one of their county's most gifted
sons, Samuel L. Southard, uttered before the legislature,
on the occasion of the purchase of the native hunting and
fishing rights, before referred to. ''It is a proud fact in the
history of New Jersey," said the senator, " that every foot of her
soil has been obtained from the Indians by fair and voluntary
purchase and transfer — a fact that no other state of the Union,
not even the land which bears the name of Penn, can boast of."
102 The Story of an Old Farm.
On this occasion the red men were respresented bj Shawrisk-
hekimg, or Wilted Grass, a Delaware Indian of pure native
blood. He was a graduate of Princeton college, having been
educated at the expense of the Scotch Missionary society, which
had given him the name of Bartholomew S. Calvin. At the age
of twenty-three he entered the Continental army to fight for
independence, and at the time he presented to the legislature the
petition for pay for the Indian fishing rights, he was upwards of
eighty years old. In advocating the claim of his people he
warmly indorsed the just tribute paid to the state by Mr. South-
ard. The aged Indian • closed his address with the following
words, testifying to the honorable policy and actions which had
distinguished the people of New Jersey in all their treatment of
and dealings with the aborigines :
"Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle;* tiot an
acre of our land have you taJcen hut hy our consent. These facts
speak for themselves and need no comment. They place the
character of New Jersey in bold relief and bright example to
those states within whose territorial limits- our brethren still
remain. Nothing save benisons can faU upon her from the lips
oi sl Lcnni-Lcnape. There may be some who would despise an
Indian benediction ; but when I return to my people and make
known to them the result of ray mission, the ear of the Great
Sovereign of the Universe, which is still open to our cry, will be
penetrated with our invocation of blessings upon the generous
sons of New Jersey."
The manner of the Avliite man's acquiring possession of and
title to lands in New Jersey has been often and variously told ;
it is always an interesting story. All historians agree in naming
Friday, the fourth of September, 1609, as being'the day on which
New Jersey soil was first pressed by the feet of Europeans. On
the preceding day Henrick Hudson, in his little Dutch " Vhe-
hoat^'' the " Half Moon," entered the Lower bay, and the next
*Calvin's statement that not a drop of Indian blood liad been spilled in battles
with .Terseymen is almost, if not literally, true. In the early days of the Dutch
occujjation of New Ainsterdiim there were individual instances of murders of
whites and Indians, and a few skirmishes took place on the banks of the Hudson
and Delaware between natives and traders. But no state of war ever existed
between the English colonists and the New Jersey Indians. So states Samuel
Allinson — an excellent authority.
The First European's Grave in New Jersey. 103
day, dropping anchor in the Horse Shoe, in four and a half
fathoms of water and two cable lengths from the Monmouth
beach, sent some of his men on shore to discover what manner of
men were the natives, and whether they were kindly disposed.
When the crew landed they saw "a great store of men, women
and children who gave them some tobacco and some dried cur-
rants." The natives were dressed "some in mantles of feathers
and some in skins of diverse sorts of good furres. They had
red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper they did
wear about their necks."
When the Half Moon again crossed the bar, her sails spread-
ing for the homeward voyage, she left one of her company lying
at the foot of a stunted cedar on Sandy Hook, filling the first
white man's grave in New Jersey. John Coleman, with four
shipmates, on the sixth of September explored the harbor in a
small boat. Penetrating " two leagues to an open sea" (Newark
bay), he reported that the bordering lands " were as pleasant
with Grasse and Flowers and goodly Trees as any they had
scene, and very sweet smells came from them." While return-
ing, the fateful arrow of a treacherous red man ended Coleman's
voyaging for this world. And now, after nearly three centuries,
the miniature waves of the Lower bay are still sobbing on their
yellow sands lullabies to the lonely sleeper of this pioneer grave,
while on the outer beach the Atlantic rollers sound eternal
requiems. The Hollanders on learning of this fair country
dispatched other vessels to iVmerica, and by the year 1620 had
made settlements in New Jersey at the mouth of the Hudson
river, and were soon in peaceful possession, and for forty-three
years occupied what is now New York and New Jersey, under
the title of New Netherlands. After establishing New Amsterdam
on Manhattan Island, the Dutch soon made their way westward,
and to some extent occupied what is now known as the counties
of Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Monmouth and Middlesex. It is
believed, however, that earlier than the year 1681 there were
in Somerset county no permanent inhabitants.
All of this time the English claimed title to this portion of
North America, resting their right on the voyage of the Cabots,
who in 1497-8, sailed along the coast from New Foundland to
Florida. Under the English law, discovery and conquest
104 The Story of an Old Farm.
secured to the British Crown title to all heathen and uncivilized
coimtries. In the year 1664 the English expelled the Dutch
government from New Netherlands. Having conquered the
country, the king's claim now rested, not only on discovery, but
by right of conquest as well. James, Duke of York, received
from his royal brother, Charles IT., on the twelfth of March,
1664, a patent for an area of territory which included what is
now New Jersey. He took immediate possession, thus establish-
ing the first link in a chain of title emanating directly from the
King of England. The duke's grant conveyed not only prop-
erty but the powers of government, and, as said Courtlandt
Parker in his address at the bi-centennial celebration of the
Proprietors of East Ncav Jersey, in 1884, '' No other title to the
soil of New Jersey than his was ever recognized by the law."
The Duke of York not long after this, on the twenty-fourth
of June, conveyed that portion of the land included within the
present boundaries of New Jersey, together with the accompany-
ing powers of government, to John, Lord Berkeley, Baron of Strat-
ton,and to Sir George Carteret, of Saltrum in Devon. The nominal
consideration was ten shillings, and an annual rent of one pep-
percorn, to be paid on the day of the nativity of St. John
the Baptist, if legally demanded. The true incentive for the
conveyance was the desire to reward the grantees for their dis-
tinguished loyalty during the civil war. The territory was
named Nova Cesarea, or New Jersey, in honor of Cartaret who,
while governor of the channel-island of Jersey, had defended it
valiantly against the parliament soldiers. He was the last com-
mander within the circuit of the British Isles to lower the royal
standard. Sir John Berkeley had been an exile with Charles
II., and was raised to the peerage on the restoration. The woi'd
Jersey is a corruption of " Czarh-ey,''^ or " Cceser^s-ey" meaning
the island of Cajsar. It was intended that Nova Cesarea should
be properly the title, but, as the population of the province
increased, the people preferred its translated name rather than
the classical appellation. At the time the duke transferred New
Jersey to these noblemen he had but a slender acquaintance
with the value of what he called his " plantations," but it was
soon made known to him that his act had been one of haste and
improvidence. Governor NicoUs, Avho was already representing
The Origin of New Jersey's Name. 105
him on this side of the water, remonstrated warmly with the
duke against the cession of so important a portion of his Ameri-
can possessions. So the king and his brother at once bestirred
themselves in an endeavor to remedy the error. Lord Berkeley,
a victim to the variable moods of princes, was already out of
favor and office. In order to restore himself to the good graces
of his royal masters, he readily acceded to a proposition to sur-
render New Jersey in exchange for a patent of Delaware terri-
tory ; he also visited Sir George Carteret, who was then in
Ireland as lord treasurer, and prevailed upon him to do the same.
The proposed exchange was all but completed, when some ugly
questions arose between the Duke of York and Lord Baltimore
as to priority of title to the Delaware lands ; consequently, the
transfer of New Jersey to the duke was not consummated. Had
this been done there is every reason to believe that at present
the state of New York would include that of New Jersey.
In August, 1665, there arrived in the Kills the ship '^Philip,"
having on board several families, and Philip de Carteret,
Seigneur of the Manor of La Hogue, in the parish of St. Peter,
Jersey, who bore the commission of the owners as governor of
the province. The baronet. Sir George, and Philip were fourth
cousins, being the great-grandsons, respectively, of Edward and
Richard, sons of Philip de Carteret, Seigneur of St. Ouen, Island
of Jersey, who died in 1500.* The new governor landed at
what is now Elizabeth, where he established his home and capi-
tal, naming the place in honor of the Lady Elizabeth, wife o^ his
cousin. Sir George Carteret. This gentlewoman, the good god-
mother of one of New Jersey's most ancient towns, though living
in a profligate court, was possessed of rare virtues. Pepys, in
his diary of 1660, bears testimony that " she cries out against
the vices of the court, and how they are going to set up plays
already. She do much cry out upon these things, and that which
she believes will undo the whole nation." This was the third
* Governor Philip Carteret, in 1681, married Elizabeth, the daughter of
Richard Smith, of Smithtown, Long Island, and widow of Captain William Law-
rence, of Fews Neck, Long Island. He built a large white house on Elizabeth
creek, in the centre of the present city of Elizabeth, in which he died in 1682.
His widow, in 1685, married Colonel Richard Townley, a leading citizen of Eliz-
abethtown, who subsequently sold the governor's house to Peter Schuyler, wha
converted it into the " Ship " tavern.
106 The Story of an Old Farm.
settlement made in New Jersey, and the first bj the English.
The statement has frequently been made that before the found-
ing of Bergen, in 1618, by the Dutch and Scandanavians, a
Turkish family named Houghubot had settled at Turkey, now
New Providence, in Union county. This story has no historical
foundation. The fact remains that the claims of Elizabeth for
being the first English-speaking settlement in the state have never
been refuted.
When Governor Carteret landed he found on the site of his
new capital four families, as the nucleus of a population. These
people claimed title to the land they occupied. In the previous
year a large area of territory had been purchased from Staten
Island Indians by some Long Islanders. Governor Nicolls, act-
ing as the deputy of the Duke of York, patented, in December,
1664, this Indian purchase to John Ogden, Luke Watson and
their associates, eighty in all. At the time of the governor's
issuing this grant he had no knowledge of the duke's having
divested himself of all rights to the lands in question by the con-
veyance to Berkeley and Carteret. There is abundant evidence
that Governor Carteret, on discovering that Nicolls had patented
so valuable a portion of his principals' domain, was greatly at a
loss what course to pursue. At first, it appears that to some
extent he conceded to these prior settlers their rights under the
grant, and, unhappily for the future comfort of himself and
his grantees, attempted to disarm opposition by following
a conciliatory course. In furtherance of this policy, before
1666 he purchased, individually, John Bailey's interest in the
patent, and acted in concert with the other owners. But event-
ually the lords-proprietors refused to recognize that they had
any rights in the premises, claiming that the grant by Nicolls
was void and of no avail, as it was impossible that he, acting as
deputy, could pass a title that no longer vested in the duke.
This grant has become historically known as the Elizabethtown
patent. The claims of Berkeley and Carteret and tlieir succes-
sors came frequently in conflict with those of the Elizabethtown
associates and their assigns, giving rise to legal commotions that
continued until the Revolution. The history of these complex-
ities is embalmed in a suit, instituted on the thirteenth of April,
1745, by the Earl of Stair and others against "Benjamin Bond
The '' Concessions and Agreements." 107
and some other Persons of Elizabethtown." The bill filed at that
time in Chancery made a voluminous document, which was pub-
lished by James Parker in 1747, and, familiarly known as ^'The
Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery," is to be found in the library of
the New Jersey Historical Society.
The recipients of this princely gift of New Jersey from the
merry King Charles, and his more churchly but none the less
vicious brother, James, soon found that to give value to their
estate it was necessary to secure inhabitants. In the autumn of
1665, through their representative, Philip Carteret, the newly-
arrived governor, they wisely dispatched agents into New Eng-
land, who published what was known as the "Concessions and
Agreements of the Lords-Proprietors." These publications, by
their liberal inducements, such as property in estates and liberty
in religion, resulted in quite a migration to New Jersey. The
agreements as to lands were very advantageous to settlers. They
stipulated that the area of the province should be divided into
parcels of from twenty-one hundred to twenty-one thousand
acres. These plots were to be subdivided into seven parts, one
of which was to be reserved for the lords-proprietors, while the
remaining six-sevenths of each plot were to be held for distribu-
tion, free of cost except quit-rents, among such persons as
might come to occupy and plant the same. These latter were
called headlands, and the fundamental rule by which they might
be acquired was in this wise: all persons arriving in the pro-
vince within a certain limited time were entitled to receive
grants for a stipulated number of acres, paying to Berkeley and
Carteret a yearly quit-rent of a half-penny per acre. The quan-
tity of land to be granted to settlers depended upon the time of
their coming, the size of their families and the number of people
they brought with them, either as free servants, indented ser-
vants, or slaves : the number of acres per head varied from
thirty to one hundred and iifty.
The immediate result of the publication of these "Concessions"
in New England was the advent of people who established three
important settlements in New Jersey. Among those who
removed to the province in response to this invitation were John
Martin, Charles Gilman, Hugh Dun.and Hopewell Hull. Mak-
ing their way westward, along the Indian path that stretched
108 The Story op an Old Farm.
from Elizabethtown-point to the Delaware, they reached an
attractive spot on the high levels bordering the Raritan, where a
few log huts had already been erected on the site of an old native
village. Being pleased with the locality, they applied for, and
received on the eighteenth of December, 1666, a grant for a
large area of territory. To this point they brought their own
and numerous other families from Piscataqua, in the province of
Massachusetts — now Maine, — of which the name, Piscataway, is
a corruption. Of this place, more, hereafter.
Another consequence of the distribution of copies of the "Con-
cessions " in the East, was the arrival in New Jersey of John
Pike, Daniel Pierce and seven associates, from Newbury, Massa-
chusetts. They entered into an agreement on the eleventh of
December, 1666, whereby, on the third of December, 1667,
they received from Governor Carteret and some of the Elizabeth-
town associates a grant of land, embracing what is now the
township of Woodbridge. They, as the representatives of at
least sixty families, on the first of June, 1669, were granted a
charter creating a township covering six miles square. The
name of their new settlement was derived from their late pastor,
John Woodbridge, of Newbury. In laying out this township it
was agreed that Amboy-point should be reserved, to be disposed
of by the lords-proprietors as the seventh part to which they
were entitled under the " Concessions," and which, in the origi-
nal agreement with Pierce, Pike and others it was settled should
stand for one thousand acres of upland and meadow. This avail-
able and attractive spot was afterwards selected as the place of
government. Among the persons allotted lands by the governor
and his associates, and the most of whom, it is believed, settled
on their estates, were the following : John Pike, Daniel and
Joshua Pierce, Obadiah Ayres, Henry Jaques, Thomas Bloom-
field, EHsha Parker, Pichard Worth, John Whitaker, Jonathan
Dunham, Hugh Dun and Robert Van Quellen. Most of the new-
comers were from Newbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts,
though a few families had planted themselves at this point in
1665, having reached the province with Governor Carteret by
the ship, Philip. John Pike was the ancestor of that General
Zebulon Montgomery Pike who in the year 1806 wrote his
name among the clouds on one of the loftiest peaks of the
Early Settlers at Woodbridge and Newark. 109
Rocky mountains. Thomas Bloomfield was the ancestor of one
of New Jersey's later governors. Obadiah Ay res and Richard
Worth were sons-in-law of John Pike, who may be called the
patriarch of the settlement. Worth, either because of his name
or his virtues, seems to have been much more highly esteemed
by his father-in-law than was Ayres, as John Pike in his
will left the latter six-pence, while the former received the
munificient bequest of one shilling. Another legacy of this
will is interesting, as showing the scarcity and value of litera-
ture in those early times. He left to his son, Thomas, a '' half
right in my book, writ by David Dickson." Robert Van Quel-
len, also known as De La Prie and La Prairie, emigrated from
Holland, but is said to have been a Norman, coming originally
from Caen. He early became an important man in the colony.
Governor Carteret secured his services as a member of the first
council, and for many years he was surveyor-general of East
New Jersey. Li addition to his holdings in Woodbridge town-
ship he became a large owner of lands on the upper Raritan, and
his name is a frequent one in connection with old New Jersey
titles.
The third New England migration was as follows : In the
winter of 1665 and 1666 some of the inhabitants of Gruilford and
Branford, in Connecticut, finding themselves in need of larger
areas of farming lands, sent a deputation to report on the condi-
tion and prospects of the country in the neighborhood of Eliza-
bethtown. Their impressions being favorable, in the following
May thirty families, under the leadership of Robert Treat, pur-
chased of the Indians a tract embracing the present townships of
Newark, Springfield, Livingston, Orange, Bloomfield . and Cald-
well. Their new town on the Passaic was first named Milford,
but two years later, with other arrivals, came an aged con-
gregational minister, Abraham Pierson. At a salary of thirty
pounds per annum, he was the faithful pastor of the colony
until his death. In his honor the name was changed to
Newark, after the town on the Yarrow, in England, where this
minister had been ordained. These settlers from Connecticut
were, for a time, disinclined to recognize the rights of the lords-
proprietors, and preferred resting the claim to their holdings on
the Indian title. They, by this disafi'ection, materially added
110 The Story of an Old Fakm.
to the complications growing out of the conflicting inter-
ests of Berkeley and Carteret and those claiming under the
Nicolls' grant.
The first general assembly of the province, composed of the
governor, council and house of burgesses, convened in Eliza-
beth, in 1668, and, with the exception of occasional meetings at
Woodbridge, Middletown, and Piscataway, continued assembling
there until 1682. In 1686, it met at Perth Amboy, and with
but few exceptions alternated between that place and Burlington
until the state capital was established at Trenton.
Lord John Berkeley was an old man, and having been greatly
disappointed in the financial results of his American investment,
he decided to dispose of, and did, on the eighteenth of March,
1673, sell his share in New Jersey to two English Quakers, John
Fenwicke and Edward Billinge, for one thousand pounds. These
purchasers quarrelled as to their respective interests, but, under
the arbitration of William Penn, an amicable division was made,
Fenwick receiving one-tenth as his share. Soon after this, Bill-
inge becoming bankrupt, his interest was sold to Penn, Gawen
Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, as trustees for his creditors. They,
in conjmiction with Fenwicke, divided the whole proprietorship
into one hundred equal parts, the trustees placing their ninety
shares in the market. Before this time — on the twenty-ninth of
July, 1674 — a new grant had been given by the king to the
Duke of York, and by the duke to Sir George Carteret and to
the grantees of Lord John Berkeley. The necessity was occa-
sioned *by the treaty of Westminster, in 1674, in Avhich Ne\V Jer-
sey was ceded to the King of England by the Dutch, New
Netherlands having been captured and occupied by them during
the previous year. In 1675, John Fenwicke, with a large com-
pany, sailed from London in the ship " Griffin," and landing near
the head of Delaware bay, established on its eastern shore the
town of Salem. This was the first English settlement in West
Jersey. The second one was made two years later when a party
of immigrants, principally Yorkshire and London Quakers, landed
from the ship " Kent," and laid out a town which they first called
New Beverly, then Bridlington, afterwards Burlington.
In the second grant of New Jersey, made by the Duke of York,
a dividing line was mentioned as running from Barnegat creek to
The Division of the Province. Ill
the Rancocus. From this it would appear that previous to the
time of issuing the patent Berkeley and Carteret had agreed upon
a division of the province. It was not, however, until the first of
July, 1676, that a formal partition of New Jersey was made
between Carteret and the Quaker proprietors, it being effected
by a conveyance known as the Quintipartite deed, because of its
comprehending Sir George, Penn, Lawrie, Lucas and Billinge.
Thenceforth Carteret's share of the province was what has since
been known as East Jersey. It embraced all the territory lying
east of a line, which, starting at a point on the Atlantic coast, on
the east side of Little Egg Harbor inlet, ran northwesterly to a
point in the Delaware river a few miles below Minisink island,
in Sussex county. This line crossed the Raritan river just west
of Somerville, the point being still marked by a surveyor's stone
standing by the roadside, on the south bank of the river, nearly
opposite a residence built some years ago by John V. Veghte.
CHAPTER IX.
The Ttventy-four Proprietors of East New Jersey — George Wil-
JocJcs and the Peapack Patent.
In the year 1679, Sir George Carteret died. By his will he
devised his East Jersey property to trustees, empowering them
to sell the same for the payment of his debts. For over two
years East Jersey government was administered in the name of
" The Right Honorable the Lady Elizabeth Carteret, Baroness,
Widow, the relict and sole Executrix of the Right Honorable Sir
George Carteret, Knight and Baronet, deceased, late Lord
Proprietor of the said Province, and Grandmother and Guardian
of Sir George Carteret, Baronet, Grandson and Heir of the said
Sir George Carteret deceased, the present Lady Proprietrix of
the Province aforesaid." In 1682 the trustees, together with the
widow as executrix, in consideration of thirty-four hundred
pounds, conveyed all of East Jersey to twelve purchasers,
WiUiam Penn, Robert West, Thomas Rudyard, Samuel Groom,
Thomas Hart, Richard Mew, Thomas Wilcox, Ambrose Rigg,
John Haywood, Hugh Hartshorne, Clement Plumsted and
Thomas Cooper. They, in their turn, sold one-half of their
undivided interests to twelve associates, Robert' Barclay, Edward
Billinge, Robert Turner, James Brain, Arent Sonmans, William
Gibson, Gawen Lawrie, Thomas Barker, Thomas Wame,
James, Earl of Perth; Robert Gordon and John Drummond.
Thus was constituted the '' Twenty-four Proprietors of
East New Jersey," an association of land owners that has
a corporate and active existence to this day. On the fourteenth
of ]\Iarch, 1682, their title was further assured by a confirmatory
deed from the Duke of York, giving to the proprietors all neces-
sary powers for establishing a council and managing and govern-
Oeigin of the Name Perth Amboy. 113
ing their estate or province. We now find that one undivided
twenty-fourth part of East New Jersey is by these conveyances
as fuJly and completely vested in each proprietor as if the terri-
tory was a farm or a city lot. Each one had full power to alien-
ate the whole or a portion of his interest, or the privilege of
locating for himself certain lands which the joint proprietors
would secure to him in severalty by a warrant, which acted as a
release of the interests of his associates. It also expressed what
amount or proportion of his common stock was severed and
represented by these located lands.
The '^ Twenty-Four Proprietors " established their seat of gov-
ernment at Perth Amboy, deriving the name from the Earl of
Perth — one of their number — and from Ambo, the English cor-
ruption of an Indian word which is generally believed to have
meant point. The latter appears variously spelled in early
documents; as Ompoge, Emhoylc, Amboyle and Ambo. The late
Thomas Gordon, of Trenton, considered the derivative of Amboy
to be the Indian word Emboli — meaning hollow, like a bowl ; so
named because of a depression in the ground, a little north of the
city. The Scotch word Perth is said to be a corruption of Barr-
Tatha, or the " height on the river Tay." It is on this river
that the ancient city of Perth is situated.
The new proprietors modified somewhat the " Concessions and
Agreements" of their predecessors, though retaining many of
their most important provisions. The liberal feature of offering
headlands to settlers, free of cost except quit-rents, was retained
and continued in force for a number of years. Very complete
descriptions were published in Europe of the advantages that
would accrue to adventurers who removed to the province ; the
manner of the disposition of the lands was explained, and a full
account given of the physical condition of the country. In these
published descriptions detailed statements were made as to the
"goodness and richness of the soil;" that the country was "well
stored with deer, conies, wild fowl" and other game ; that the
"sea-banks were well stored with a variety of fish, such as
whales, cod, cole, hake, etc." ; and that " the bays and rivers
were plentifully stored with sturgeon, great bass and other scale
fish, eels and shell fish, such as oysters, etc., in great abundance,
and easy to take." Much stress was laid on the fact of there
8
114 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
being safe and convenient harbors, affording exceUent opportun-
ities for the export of the products of the province, qraong which
were enumerated whale-fins, bone and oil, and beaver, mink,
raccoon and martin skins. After dwelling on the salubrity of
the climate, the good temper of the Indians, and the manner and
costs of setting out from the old country, the descriptions, or
advertisements, closed with the following excellent advice to the
prospective emigrants :
All persons inclining unto those parts mnst know that in their settlement
there they will find their exercises. They must have their winter as well as
summer. They must labor before they reap; and, till their plantations be
cleared (in summer time), they must expect (as in all those countries) the
mosquitos, flies, gnats and such like, may in hot and fair weather give them some
disturbance where people provide not against them.
The mosquitoes seem to have been early recognized as among
the most active of the inhabitants of the new country. This is
not the only time they ai'e mentioned by the first settlers.
John Johnstone — whose better acquaintance we shall shortly
make — in a letter written in 1684, though "mightily well sat-
isfied with the country," could not forbear referring to a little
flea that was occasionally blown toward the Raritan from Eliza-
bethtown by an east wind. The distribution abroad of these
plans and prospectuses induced a considerable emigration from
Europe, especially from Scotland, which country was under-
going at that time great political convulsions. East Jersey is
to this day greatly benefited by the Scotch blood that was then
transfused into her veins. The unhappy scenes that, just before
and after the year 1700, were enacted in the Haymarket of the
gray-castled city of Edinburgh, and the hunting of poor refugees
through the mists of the bleak Highlands of that grim, sea-beaten
land, resulted in the planting among the hills of Somerset of a
sturdy stock which speedily developed into the three strong Pres-
byterian congregations of Bound lirook, Basking Ridge and Lam-
ington; and in many ways the immigrant Scots have contributed
to the individual strength and virtue of the people of that county.
When East Jersey came under the dominion of the twenty-
four proprietors, in 1682, their historian, William A. W^hite-
head, estimates the total population of the province to have been
thirty-five hundred in the towns and about fifteen hundred on
the plantations. The towns then existing were as follows :
Colonel Lewis Morkis Founds Shrewsbury. 115
Shrewsbury, in Monmouth county. The township, embracing
thirty thousand acres, had a population of about four hundred,
among whom was Colonel Lewis Morris. He was a brother of
that Richard Morris, who, flying from England to the province
of New York at the time of the Restoration, received a grant in
1661 of three thousand acres on the Harlem river, which he
called Morrisania; at his death. Colonel Lewis Morris came
from Barbadoes, and assumed the guardianship of Richard's
infant son, who in later life became governor of New Jersey,
Colonel Morris married for his first wife, Tryntje Staats. His
second wife was Tryntje's own niece, Sarah, daughter of Isaac
Gouverneur, whose wife, Sarah, was the daughter of Major
Abraham Staats of Albany, and an East Indian ''Begum" or
princess, whom the Major had married in Java. These two mar-
riages brought to Colonel Morris three distinguished sons. By the
first. General Lewis Morris who signed the " Declaration ;" by the
second, Gouverneur Morris, and General Staats Morris who mar-
ried the Duchess of Gordon ; the acquaintance of this Scotch noble-
woman we shall make later in Bedminster. Before the time of the
twenty -four proprietors coming into possession of East New Jersey
Colonel Lewis Morris had established at Shrewsbury extensive
iron-works, which gave occupation to about seventy slaves, in
addition to white servants and employees. His grant, under date
of 1676, covered thirty -five hundred and forty acres ; he named it
Tinturn — now called Tinton — after his home in Britain, which
was in the vale of Tinturn, in the extreme south of Monmouth-
shire, Wales. There it was that Theodoric, Christian king of
Glamorgan, vanquished the pagan Saxons, though so wounded
that he died shortly after the battle, in the near-by parish of
Matherne. "This is the vale," writes Gray, "that is the
delight of my eyes and the very seat of pleasure." Morris was
also instrumental in giving Monmouth county its name, he call-
ing it after the Welsh shire. The name Monmouth is generally
accepted as meaning, and shortened from, Monnow-raouth, the
English town of Monmouth being situated on a tongue of land at
the mouth of the river Monnow.
MiDDLETOWN, Covering about the same area as Shrewsbury,
contained about five hundred people and many improved planta-
tions.
116 The Story of an Old Farm.
This township disputes with Bergen, in Hudson county, the
claim of being the first permanent white settlement in New Jer-
sey, and connected with the introduction of its Dutch occupation
is a strangely romantic and interesting story. When Hendrick
Hudson carried the news to Holland of the discoveries he had made
in the new country, ships in numbers soon came sailing over the
watery waste to visit this "goodly land." From then till now the
ribs of many a stout craft have been battered to fragments on the
bars and beaches of Sandy Hook. The first shipwreck known to
have occurred at this point was as early as 1620, and connected
with the stranding of the vessel there has come down to us an
account of a most remarkable instance of the preservation of
human life. On board was a young woman from Holland by the
name of Penelope van Princis ; at least such was her maiden name,
that of her husband, who accompanied her, being unkno\\Ti.
Those of the ship's company who reached the shore in safety made
their way on foot to New Amsterdam (New York). Penelope's
husband, being badly injured, was unable to imdertake the jour-
ney ; so she remained with him in the woods on Sandy Hook.
Soon after the departure of their shipmates they were attacked
by Indians, who left them for dead. The husband was, indeed,
so, but the wife, though fearfully injured, revived. Her skull
was fractured, and her left shoulder so cut and hacked that she
never after had the use of that arm. Her abdomen had been
laid open with a knife so that the bowels protruded and were
only kept in place by her hands. Yet in this deplorable condi-
tion she lived for several days in a hollow tree, sustaining life by
eating bark, leaves and gum.
At the end of a week Penelope was discovered by two
Indians who were chasing a deer. One of them, an old
man, moved by her condition and sex, conveyed her to
his wigwam, near the present site of Middietown, where
he di'essed her wounds and treated her with great kindness.
Here she remained for some time, but, eventually, the Dutch of
New Amsterdam, on learning that there was a white woman liv-
ing with the natives in the woods beyond the great bay, came
to her relief. Her preserver, who had cured her wounds and
tenderly cared for her, interposed no objections to her rejoining
her friends, by whom she was welcomed as one from the dead.
The Settlement of Middletown. 117
Some time after, when in her twenty-second year, this young
Dutch widow married a wealthy English bachelor of forty,
named Richard Stout, a son of John Stout, a gentleman of good
family of Nottinghamshire, England. This remarkable woman
was the ancestress of the very large and important family of
Stouts in New Jersey, and her history, you may be sure, is often
told by her posterity. She survived her marriage eighty-eight
years, attaining the extraordinary age of one hundred and ten,
and leaving at her death five hundred and two living descend-
ants.
After Penelope became Mrs. Stout she did not forget the
fertile soil and natural beauties of the Nau-ves-sing, or Nave-
sink country, and there is every reason to believe that she was
the means of interesting her husband in that locality. The
descendants of these Monmouth pioneers claim that immediately
after marriage they settled where is now Middletown, and that
in 1648 they and six other families were the only white inhabit-
ants of that region. The historian, Smith, says: "A while
after marrying to one Stout, they lived together at Middletown
among other Dutch inhabitants." In April, 1065, Governor
Nicolls, as the representative of the Duke of York, patented the
whole of Monmouth and part of Middlesex counties to Richard
Stout and eleven associates, the patentees agreeing to " manure
and plant the aforesaid land and premises, and settle there one
hundred families at least." The late ex-Governor Joel Parker
is my authority for saying that this Monmouth patent authorized
and put in operation the first local government in New Jersey of
which we have any authentic record. The holders imder this
grant, as was the case with those holding under the one made by
Nicolls to the Elizabethtown associates, came into frequent litig-
ious conflicts with the grantees of Berkeley and Carteret.
PiscATAWAY had about four hundred inhabitants, the township
embracing nearly forty thousand acres.
WooDBRiDGE contained about thirty thousand acres in the
township, and had a population of six hundred.
Elizabethtown, the seat of Carteret's government, possessed
seven hundred inhabitants, with fifty thousand acres in the
township.
Newark also had fifty thousand acres in the township, and a
118 The Story of an Old Farm.
population of five hundred. In addition, it possessed jurisdiction
over the plantations of Sandford, Kingsland, Berry and Pin-
horne, upon the Passaic and Hackensack rivers. The latter
estate was at Secaucus, near Snake hill, and the name of the
present Penhorn creek is derived from that of its owner. Will-
iam Pinhorne was an Englishman who came to this country with
Governor Edmund Andross in 1678. Establishing himself in
New York city he became a successful merchant and occupied
many positions of public trust. On removing to his estates in
New Jersey, he was appointed to the king's council, and was
chosen member of the assembly and judge of the supreme court.
The Sandford, Berry and Kingsland plantations were at what is
now known as Rutherford, then called New Barbadoes' neck.
This vicinity was first settled by Captain William Sandford, and
Isaac Kingsland who came from the West Indies — hence the
name.
Bergen had three hundred inhabitants, and jurisdiction over
several improved plantations on the bays, rivers and kills,
besides over sixty thousand acres within its own township,
which embraced all the present county of Hudson lying east
of the Passaic river. Bergen was established in 1660. Among
the earlier settlers were Cornelius Van Voorst, Englebert Steen-
huysen, Tielman Van Vleck, Lourens Anndriessen (Van Bos-
kerk). Christian Pieterse, Michael Jansen (Vreeland) and Gerrit
Gerritsen (Van Wagenen). This is considered the most ancient
permanent settlement in New Jersey, dwellings having been
erected at Pavonia, within the confines of the township as after-
wards established, as early as 1630. The latter name is derived
from Michael Pauw, burgomaster of Amsterdam and Lord of Ach-
tienhoven, who in that year obtained from the Indians a convey-
ance of a large acreage, lying on the west shores of the Hudson.
This is believed to be the first conveyance of lands in East Jer-
sey. His title was further assured by the Dutch government,
and its owner was created one of the original patroons of New
Netherlands. Pauw gave his name to this territory, first latin-
izing it into Pavonia, pauw in the Dutch, andipavo in the Latin,
meaning peacock. Why should not this proud bird, significant
of the first legal occupation of New Jersey, be impressed on the
irreat seal of the state ?
Subdivision of the Proprietors' Interests. 119
Authorities differ as to the origin of the name of Bergen. New-
Jersey's earliest historian, Smith, derives its title from the capi-
tal of Norway, there having been Scandinavians as well as Dutch
among its early settlers. Barber, Whitehead, and Gordon accept
this derivation, but Taylor, in his "Annals" considers Bergen
op Zoom, in Holland, to have been the godfather of East Jersey's
oldest town. Winfield shows that the towns oi Bergen in both Nor-
way and Holland received their names from their respective near-
by hills. The New Jersey village being located on an eminence
overlooking the marshes on the east and west, and the lowlands
bordering the Hudson, he believes received its name from the
same local circumstances, the word Bergen meaning hill. This
seems by far the most reasonable explanation of the origin of
the name.
The first governor under the proprietors was Robert Barclay,
one of the associates, who was appointed for life >A'ith the right
of ruling by deputy. To represent him he selected Thomas
Rudyard, a London attorney of distinction. On arriving out, in
November, 1682, this deputy wrote home that he was delighted
to find that the province was occupied by "a sober, professing
people, Avise in their generation, and courteous in their behaviour."
Before the end of 1683 Rudyard was superceded by Grawen
Lawric, whose successor was Lord Neil Campbell, who in turn
was followed by Andrew Hamilton. In the autumn of 1690
Robert Barclay died, the power of governing reverting to the
proprietors. Deputy-Governor Hamilton, who was then in
England on a visit, thereupon, though after some delay, received
the appointment of governor-in-chief.
Many years had not gone by before the number of
proprietors and the subdivision of their interests caused
much disturbance and confusion in the manner of govern-
ment, and the choice of governor was attended by great rivalry
and discord. As each proprietor was at liberty to dispose
of his propriety in as many parts as he pleased, these sales
were frequently made in small fractions ; consequently the num-
ber of proprietors was not only greatly augmented, but their dis-
tribution in different countries caused much embarrassment. At
this time New Jersey experienced its first political convulsion,
finally resulting, in 1709, in an armed resistance to the authori-
120
Thk Story of an Old Farm.
ties. It must be remembered that the people had no choice in
the selection of the chief magistrate — that right devolved on the
proprietors or owners of propriety interests. These individual
holdings so multiplied as to almost render concerted action
impossible. The following list of portions of shares acquired by
George Willocks — of whom much more hereafter — will best
exemplify the extent to which trading was done in these propriety
rights :
1702, January 23— -
1692, February 15-.
1695, December 2-.
1696, September 18-
1727, July 17
1725, October 10---
1708, July 6
1716, December 28-
1727, June 28
ORIGINAL
PROPRIETOR.
Ambrose Rigg-
Thos. Rudyard-
Thos. Rudyard-
Thos. Rudyard-
John Hey wood
John Hey wood;
John Hey wood
Jobn Hey wood
Thomas Cooper
Thos. Rudyard-
Thomas Barker
GRANTOR.
John Johnstone —
Benj. Rudyard —
Robt. Wharton- -
Margaret, widow of
Sam'l Winder, mar-
ries Geo. Willocks- -
James Willocks dies,
and devises to George
Willocks
Robt. Gordon
John Parker
.John ]Iamilton
Thomas Gordon
Andrew Johnstone.
John Johnstone
QUANTITY.
1-5 of 19-20 of 1-24.
1-2 of 1-24.
l-2of l-4of 1-24.
1-2 of 1-2 of 1-24.
3-4 of 1-8 of 1-24.
1-64 of 1-24.
1-8 of 1-24.
1-16 of 1-24.
1-20 of 1-48 of 1-24.
1-8 of 1-24.
1-2 of 1-24.
Willocks also purchased of William Violent the one-twentieth
of Thomas Cooper's original twenty-fourth, the share being con-
veyed to him and Andrew Hamilton with right of survivorship ;
at Willock's death this interest vested in Hamilton as survivor.
On the twentieth of February, 1698, George Willocks conveyed
to Jeremiah Basse seven-eighths of one twenty -fourth.
On the eighth of April, 1698, Governor Alexander Hamilton
was succeeded by Jeremiah Basse. In the following year num-
bers of the inhabitants refused to him obedience- on the alleged
discovery that his appointment had not received the prescribed
form of royal approbation, nor the sanction of a sufficient number
of proprietors. The disturbances were further increased by the
colonists in the hope that continued agitations would provoke the
Crown to deprive the proprietors of authority, in which case
the land-owners thought to be able to rest their titles on the
Indian grants, and thus be relieved from quit-rents. The New
Jersey magistrates imprisoned some of these malcontents,
whereupon other citizens rose in arms, broke open the jails,
The Proprietors Abandon the Government. 121
and confusion and anarchy ensued. This condition of affairs
was increased by certain of the proprietors reappointing
Hamilton as governor. Those of the people who sympathized
with Basse, refused support to the new administration, resulting
in still greater turbulence. Justices were assaulted, sheriffs were
wounded, and such general confusion prevailed among the people
that the proprietors, weary of contentions, were glad to abandon
their government, in 1702, to Queen Anne, reserving, however,
to themselves every other right that had been granted them.
The proprietors, though their importance was much abridged,
remained a powerful association of land owners, and the fountain
head of the title to all the undisposed acres of East Jersey, The
owners of West New Jersey, as the assigns of Lord John Berke-
ley, having had equal difficulties in the government of their por-
tion of the colony, joined with East New Jersey in the surrender
of the right of ruling. The two divisions again became one, and,
on the fourth of August, 1702, Lord Cornbury became the first
governor under the Crown.
Among the proprietors, and one of the original twelve, was
John Hey wood, a Quaker. His title to the one twenty-fourth
part of East New Jersey emanated not only from the estate of
Sir George Carteret — he held as well, in conjunction with his
associates, a confirmatory grant from the Duke of York, dated the
fourteenth of March, 1682. A copy of a deed in ray possession
shows that on the twenty-third day of the same month Heywood
transferred all his rights and interests in and to the province, to
" Robert Burnet, of Lothentie, in Scotland, Gent." By an "In-
denture," as the conveyance recites :
Made the first day of July, in the five and thirtieth year of the reign of our
Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland,
France and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, etc., Anno Dotn., 1683.
Burnet upon receiving title to his share of East Jersey, con-
veyed to James Willocks, " Doctor in Phisick" of Kenny, in the
Kingdom of Scotland :^
" In consideration of" — so runs the deed — " the sum of one hundred and sixteen
pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, of good and lawful money of England,
one undivided eighth part of his undivided twenty-fourth part of the said tract of
land, and of all and every, the isles, islands, rivers, mines, minerals, woods, fish-
ings, hawkings, huntings, fowlings, and all other royalties, profits, commodities
and hereditaments, whatsoever, reserving always to the said Robert Burnet and
122 The Story of an Old Farm.
his foresaids, the right of the g;overnment, simply and allonerly as it is now
established in the persons of the Twenty -four Proprietors."
It does not appear that Doctor James Willocks ever visited
America. He applied for, and on the sixteenth of April, 1687,
received from the joint proprietors a warrant, which confirmed to
him in severalty four acres of land at Perth Amboy, and a tract
of eight hundred and fifty acres, lying on the east side of the
Millstone river at its conflux with the Raritan. Soon after this
the doctor died, his brother, George, inheriting his real estate.
In April, 1698, George Willocks sailed from England on
the ship " Despatch, William Fiddler, Master." He reached
Amboy with a cargo of goods belonging to the proprietors,
of which he had charge, and he was also empowered to
act as attorney for his associates in collecting quit-rents from
settlers. He soon removed to Monmouth county, and married
Margaret, widow of Samuel Winder, daughter of Deputy-Gover-
nor Rudyard. From that time to 1754 he lived again in Amboy,
on Staten Island, in Elizabethtown, and in Philadelphia. Not
long after reaching East Jersey, Willocks was appointed " Chief
Ranger," whatever that may have been, also a commissioner for
the court of small causes. He was deputy-surveyor of the
province under John Reid in 1701. During Burnet's adminis-
tration he was a member of the king's council. He does not
seem, however, to have been in accord with the governor ; their
repeated differences resulted, in 1722, in his suspension from
office, being charged with acting as leader for a cabal of intriguers.
^' His Majesty King George," under the great seal of the
province of New Jersey, granted him, in 1719, '' the sole right,
benefit, and advantage of keeping a ferry over the Raritan river
from Perth Amboy." He also established a ferry across the sound
from Amboy to Staten Island. He served the public in many
ways, among others as that of one of the commissioners, appointed
in 1720, for settling the boundary between the provinces of New
York and New Jersey.
The memory of George Willocks is most revered by the
people of Perth Amboy from the fact of his having been one of
the founders and a generous benefactor of St. Peter's Episcopal
church, one of the earliest organizations of that sect in New
Jersey. A congregation for services according to the rites of
St. Peter's Church at Perth Amboy. 123
the Church of England was established in 1698. For a number
of years it worshiped in an ordinary dwelling-house, standing on
the banks of the Raritan near the foot of High street, the pulpit
being supplied by various missionaries sent out from England by
the Bishop of London, and the "Society for the Propagation of the
Grospel in Foreign Parts." Lewis Morris writes, in L700 : " We
have made a shift to patch up an old ruinous house and make a
church of it, and when all the churchmen in the province are got
together we make up about twelve communicants." In 1709 the
Reverend Edward Vavighan's services were secured, who
officiated for two years in conjunction with his home charge at
Elizabethtown. He was much esteemed by the people, wdiich is
more than can be said of his successor, Mr. Halliday, who
entirely failed in gaining their affections, he being stigmatized by
some members of his congregation — among them Governor Hun-
ter — as a wretch, a knave and a villain. Finally, in 17] 3, after
openly denouncing Willocks from the pulpit, the doors of the
sanctuary were closed against this minister, and shaking the
dust of Amboy from his feet he betook himself to other
parts.
Again Mr. Vaughan acted as an occasional supply, and in 1720
St. Peter's obtained its first rector, a Scotch divine of blessed
memory. This was the Reverend William Skinner. He was a Mac
Gregor, by some, thought to be chief of the clan. Being obliged
to fly from Scotland after the battle of Preston in 1715, he came
by way of Holland and Barbadoes to Philadelphia, where while
studying theology he supported himself as a tutor. In 1721 he
visited England to receive ordination from the Bishop of London.
While there he was appointed by the " Society for Propagating
the Gospel in Foreign Parts " as missionary to Perth Amboy.
On arrival he met with such favor from the people, that in the
following year he was called to be the permanent pastor of the
society, which position he filled faithfully and acceptably until
his death at the age of seventy-one, in the year 1758.
In 1718 a charter was granted by the Crown to the congre-
gation, and the erection of a church edifice was commenced in
the following year. This building withstood the elements for one
hundred and thirty years, it giving place in 1852 to the present
structure, which occupies the same site, a beautiful elevation
124 The Story of an Old Farm.
overlookinf^ the bay and ocean. St. Peters had many
benefactors among the early Scotch worshipers. Our first
knowledge of Mr. Willocks in such a role is from the minutes of
the Board of Proprietors, which record that, in 1702, he and
Miles Foster advanced six pounds for repairing the dwelling,
then occupied for services. When the first church edifice was
erected, the grounds (still in use) were donated by him, Thomas
Gordon and John Barclay. Later on, he and John Harrison
presented the congregation with twelve acres of land lying
adjoining the town. On the first of January, 1723, he conveyed
to trustees two acres of land fronting on Water street, upon
which was a substantial stone and frame residence. Under cer-
tain restrictions and limitations they were to hold the property,
as the deed recites :
For the use of a Presbyter of the Church of England, qualified and admitted
into said St. Peter's Church, to serve the Cure thereof— provided always notwith-
standing such incumbent or incumbents being admitted and qualified, &c., that any
time liereafter such incumbent or incumbents that shall differ from the doctrine,
discipline and rules of the Church of England, shall from thenceforth have no
benefit, or advantage by the benefactions aforesaid.
More of the ecclesiastical gifts of George Willocks will appear
when we come, presently, to learn something of the contents of
his will.
In grateful remembrance of the above, and other generous
donations, the congregation, in 1825, affixed to the walls of the
church auditorium a "marble tablet, upon which is still to be read
the following inscription :
THIS TABLET.
is designed to express the gratitude of the
Congregation of St. Peter's Church in this city,
to the benefactors of the said church, ■
whose names follow :
GEORGE WILLOCKS,
who died in 1729.
MARGARET WILLOCKS,
his wife,
who died in 17?2.
THOMAS GORDON,
who died April 28, 1722,
and
JOHN HARRISON.
They loved the habitation of God's house and
the place where his honor dwelleth.
Erected A. D. 1825.
George Willock's Importance in the Colony. 125
John Harrison was the first sheriff of Perth Amboy, and in
the old record his name is often met with as the agent for the
proprietors in locating lands and buying the Indian rights.
Thomas Gordon came from Pitlochie, Scotland, in 1684, with
his wife, Helen, four children and seven servants, and proved no
small addition to the virtuous and refined society that his fellow
countrymen were establishing in East Jersey. He selected a
plantation some ten miles from salt water, on Cedar brook, near
the present village of New Brooklyn, or South Plainfield. In
February of the next year, he wrote to the old country as
follows :
I am settled here in a very pleasant place upon the side of a brave plain,
almost free of woods and near the water side, so that I might yoke a plough
where I please, were it not for want of hay to maintain the cattle, which I hope
to get helped the next year, for I have several pieces of meadow near me —
There are eight of us settled here, within half a mile or a mile of another, and
about ten miles from the town of New Perth or Amboy point, so that I can go
and come in a day — Blessed be God, myself and wife and children and servants
have been, and are still in good health, which God continue.
His prayer was futile ; in less than two years he was the only
one of his family alive. His wife and her six children lie in the
old burying-ground of Perth Amboy, where a large stone with
an antiquated inscription can yet be seen.
Altogether we may readily persuade ourselves that George
Willocks was a man of ability and an important personage in
the community. Mr. Whitehead tells us that his time was
principally employed in attending to his large landed estates, he
having become deeply interested in real property'. He pur-
chased other portions of propriety shares, and gradually his undi-
vided interest in the province was converted into holdings in sev-
eralty, he obtaining warrants and releases from his brother pro-
prietors for large tracts of land in Middlesex, Monmouth, Hunter-
don, Somerset, Bergen and Passaic counties.
Among the many large bodies of land acquired by George
Willocks from the proprietors was one lying in Somerset county,
known as the Peapack * patent. The warrant is made to him
* Evidently an Indian name. A native thoroughfare which ran from east to
west through northern New Jersey, crossing the Lamington river at its falls, was
called the " Peapack Path," and was frequently mentioned as the boundary of
early land grants.
126 The Story of an Old Farm.
and John Johnstone in severalty, as joint tenants, on " the sev-
enth day of June, in the thirteenth year of the reign of William
the Third, over England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King,
etc., Annoque Dom. 1701," and is signed by the acting governor
of the province, Andrew Hamilton, and five proprietors. Per-
haps you may wonder at so few associates joining in the convey-
ance. By this time the proprieties had become divided into
many small parts, and their owners Avere distributed into various
portions of the world ; consequently it was impossible that all of
the proprietors, or even a majority of them, could join in a
release to an associate. It was the custom, therefore, for a cer-
tain number of them to meet with the governor and examine
and pass upon applications for propriety lands. Those who met
for this purpose were called the " Council of the Proprietors,"
and to secure a valid conveyance it was necessary that the
patent, or warrant, should be issued under the great seal of the
province, and be signed by the governor, and at least five of
this council. Andrew Hamilton, who executed the grant to
Johnstone and Willocks, was a brother-in-law of the latter, and
originally a merchant in Edinburgh. He was one of that band
of well-born Scotchmen who came to Amboy about the same
time, establishing a little coterie of worth and aristocracy in East
Jersey which long left its impress on the morals and manners of
the people. He reached America in 1685 ; coming as one of the
proprietors he occupied a seat in the council of Lord Neil Camp-
bell and succeeded him as deputy-governor in 1686. He was
governor from 1692 to 1698, and again from 1699 to 1701, and
died at Amboy in 1703.
John Johnstone, the joint owner with Willocks of the Peapack
patent, was another of East Jersey's valued Scotch citizens. He
had been a druggist in Edinburgh, "at the sign of the Unicorn;"
he was also a skilful physician and much esteemed by both rich
and poor, especially by the latter, who were his particular care.
Doctor Johnstone arrived in the province in December, 1685, by
the " Henry and Francis, of Newcastle, a Ship of three hundred
and fifty Tun, and Twenty great Guns, Richard Hutton, master,"
in company with nearly two hundred of his banished and
oppressed countrymen. This ship had been chartered by George
Scot, THE Laird of Pitlochie. This Scotch nobleman had
The Fever Ship "Henry and Francis." 127
been many times fined and imprisoned " for absence from the
King's host," attending conventicles and other offenses obnoxi-
ous to the government, and was finally released from prison upon
his engaging to go to the plantations. He then published that
"Model of the Government of East New Jersey in America,"
which is to be found bound with Whitehead's " East New Jer-
sey under the Proprietors," and is the source of much of our
information as to the earliest days of the province, and especially
of its Scotch immigration. The promulgation, by Scot, of all the
facts regarding this transatlantic retreat for the persecuted,
induced many of his countrymen to join him in the undertaking
of removing thitherward; among them was his son-in-law, John
Johnstone, who, on or before sailing, had married Scot's daughter
Euphemia. The " Laird" was also authorized by the Crown to
take with him to America one hundred and five prisoners, then,
in the tolbooth at Leith. Many of these latter protested in.
writing against being banished for conscience sake, in that they
had refused allegiance to a king whom they felt bound to with-
stand and disown, considering him an enemy to religion and an
avowed papist. As all of these protestants were prisoners, some
of whom are said to have suffered for their beliefs to the extent
of the loss of a left ear, and many of whom were in danger of
death, it seems strange that they should not have welcomed the
opportunity for transportation to a country where safety, at least,
awaited them, and probably prosperity.
The " Henry and Francis" sailed from Leith on the fifth of
September, 1685* Hardly had she reached Lands End when a
malignant fever broke out among the passengers ; among its first
victims were George Scot and his wife. The care of the people
then devolved on John Johnstone. For many weeks the ship's
company battled against disease and the fierce waves of the
Atlantic, until finally, in December, when the vessel dropped
anchor in the harbor of Perth Amboy, at least seventy of her pas-
sengers had found graves at the bottom of the sea. Notwith-
standing so inauspicious an advent into the colony, Doctor John-
stone's character and attainments soon won for him the consider-
ation of the citizens, whereby he was forced to accept many
honorable and important positions in the community. He repre-
sented the people for thirteen years in the general assembly,.
128 The Story of an Old Farm.
and for ten years was speaker of that body. He also
served as judge of the supreme court of Monmouth county,
was one of the king's council under the Burnet administra-
tion, and held many other important offices. He seems for a
time to have been a resident of New York, as he was mayor of
that city from 1714 to 1718. Doctor Johnstone's Amboy resid-
ence, a substantial brick mansion, was preserved until after the
Revolution ; he also spent much time in Monmouth county on a
plantation called '^Scotschesterburg," granted him and his wife
by the proprietors as a reimbursement for his and his father-in-
law's outlay in importing the Scotch refugees. He became an
extensive land owner in several counties, being entitled to grants
of headlands, and to grants because of propriety interests, he
having purchased one-eighth of Thomas Rudyard's original
share, one-sixteenth of John Heywood's and two-fifth parts of
nineteenth-twentieths of Robert Barclay's.
CHAPTER X.
Early Neiv Jersey History Continued — The Story of the Title
Completed — Somerset Land Grants.
I wonder do ray readers grow weary of these legal chapters ?
If so, they must turn over the leaves until they reach some they
may consider more interesting. It is a mistake to think that an
author desires all his pages read. Naturally you may ask, why
then were they written ? Miss Woolson, in one of her clever
sketches, suggests, "perhaps for the writer's own amusement."
I think she is right, for though these legal chapters may be dull
reading,* their writing has proved a most agreeable task. There
is a peculiar charm in poring over the dry records of a title, and,
while tracing the history of a familiar piece of land, in forcing it
to divulge the various changes of owners and conditions it has
sustained since those early days when it formed an undesignated
part of the vast, undefined area of primitive wilderness. So it is,
that while I have been occupied in ascertaining all that could be
learned regarding the "Old Farm," from the days when it was
a portion of the domain of the "Merry King Charles" down to
the time it vested in that sturdy yeoman Johannes Moelich, my
time has not seemed uselessly employed. It is also pleasant to
catch occasional glimpses through the dim perspective of the
past of those persons who have directly or indirectly been con-
nected with these ancestral acres. Biography is said to be the
home aspect of history; so, as research brings to light the names
of persons who have been even remotely associated with these
homestead lands, I cannot refrain from endeavoring to learn of
them all that can be discovered. My readers must be patient if,
at times, in giving the results of such research, unimportant per-
sonages are apparently allowed undue space and prominence.
9
130 The Story of an Old Farm.
In reaching the Peapack patent it will soon be seen that we
have rescued the " Old Farm " from the indefinite area of the
wild lands of New Jersey, and located it within the definite
bounds of a personal possession. The limits of this grant cannot
to-day be readily defined by its description, which is as follows :
Begins on Rackawack river, at tlie upper corner of a thousand acres of land,
belonging to the said George Willocks, thence up the said Rackawack, including
the same to the falls thereof, between two steep hills. Thence to the head of the
eastermost crooks that unites with said Rackawack, in said Willock's land, and
makes the North Branch of Raritan river. From thence east and by north to
the top of that ridge of mountains that points southerly toward the Raritan
river, thence running along the top of the said mountain southerly, as for as the
northeast corner of a tract of land formerly Ann West's, now Michael Hawdon's,
thence due west to said Hawdon's land, thus following the lines of said Hawdon's
and of said Willock's Imid, to where it began.
I have searched in vain at Trenton, at Amboy, and among the
archives of the New Jersey Historical Society, at Newark, for a
survey of the land included in this grant. If any exists it must
be in private hands. The conveyance calls for thirty-one hun-
dred and fifty acres, but its description embraces a territory
aggregating nearly eleven thousand acres. At first thought this
description is hardly intelligible, but a little study of early titles
and some knowledge of subsequent transfers made of portions of
the grant enables us to define with considerable accuracy the
boundaries of the premises intended to be conveyed.
The description commences at a point in one thousand acres of
land vested in George Willocks by right of his wife, Margaret
Winder, who had died in 1722, which land lay at the conflux of
the north branch of the Raritan and Lamington rivers, formerly
known respectively as the Peapack and Allametunk. This
tract is designated as number 51, on the map accompanying
schedule number III., in the "Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery."
It was conveyed by George Willocks to Daniel Axtell on the
twenty-fourth of June, 1726, and soon after that time that por-
tion of the land lying east of the north branch of the Raritan
came into the possession of George Teeple, the founder of the
Teeple family at Pluckamin. The first real estate transfer within
the limits of the present Bedminster township, was the purchase
of this tract by Mrs. Willocks — when the widow of Samuel Win-
der — on the twentieth of May, 1690. The description in the
patent continues, *' thence up the said Rackawack." This is
The Duchess of Gokdon. 131
evidently an error, and one probably made in copying the
grant on the book of records, although, possibly, the mistake
may have occurred in the original, as the scriveners of that
time had but slight knowledge of the names of the water-courses
of the New Jersey wildernesses. Rackawack, in early deeds,
stood for Rockaway. The line of the Peapack patent did not
touch that stream, but ascended the Lamington to its falls, near
the Morris county line ; thence it continued easterly to the
head waters of the north branch of the Raritan ; thence,
southerly, following that stream to a point where it veers west-
erly, below the mouth of Mine brook ; thence to the top of the
first mountain south of Pluckamin ; thence following the
crest of that mountain southeasterly, to the northeast corner of a
thousand acre tract of land conveyed to Ann West on the four-
teenth of August, 1693, and which is designated as number 58
on the map before referred to in the " Elizabethtown Bill in
Chancery," thence, westerly, along the north line of this land, to
the east line of George Willock's thousand acres ; thence along
his east and north line to the place of beginning.
Ann West was the daughter of Deputy-Governor Thomas Rud-
yard, and a sister of Mrs. Willocks. Her husband John West, a
merchant, dying early, she married Robert Wharton, and later
became the wife of Governor Andrew Hamilton. The upper por-
tion of her land adjoined on the east the lower portion of her
sister's tract, and, lying on both sides of Chamber's brook, is in both
Bedminster and Bridgewater townships. The title to this lot passed
to Catherine, Duchess of Gordon, of Gordon Castle, Scotland,
who was the daughter of William, the second Earl of Aber-
deen, and the locality is still known as ^' The Duchess." The
tract is at present bisected by the road leading from the village
of North Branch to Pluckamin, and is now subdivided, or was
within a few years, into the farm homesteads of J. T. Van
der Veer, Jerome Van Nest, Philip Van der Veer, Jacob
Powelson and others, they deriving their title from the
descendants of Abram Quick and John Van der Veer, who
purchased the land in 1801 from Gouverneur Morris, as
agent of the Duchess of Gordon. This Scotch noble-woman
made the acquaintance of American investments through
having married Staats L. Morris, a brother of Gouverneur
132 The Story of ax Old Fakm.
Morris, who early in life entered the English army, and ulti-
mately attained the rank of general. The Duchess visited New
York with her husband, and is said to have been long remem-
bered by metropolitan society for her good heart, blunt manners,
frank conversation and masculine habits.
In studying the old records of Somerset one cannot fail
to notice with interest how many prominent and leading
men of the last century have been directly or indirectly
coimected with the freeholds of the county. Gouvemeui* Morris
may surely be classed among this number, for, in reading
the story of his life, discovery is soon made that he was a
much greater man than the majority of his contempor-
aries. Had he been possessed of personal ambition his memory
would occupy a more exalted place in history, as his present
fame is far less than his abilities would have insured had he con-
sented to place himself in the front of the many prominent move-
ments with which he was connected. His eloquence in conver-
sation was phenomenal ; it is claimed that not only woidd
intelligent listeners hang on his words in rapt admiration, but that
servants, arrested by his table-talk, stood open-mouthed, dishes
in hand, to catch his glowing sentences. Put Morris where you
would, he was always at home and always made an impression.
So great was his equipoise, it was impossible to disturb the tran-
quility of his mind and presence. Wlien in France, as United
States Minister, his marked individuality, eccentric and original
manners, together with his undoubted intellect, made a strong
impression on society in the French capital. Madame de Stael
credited him with having ^' Vair tres im2)0sant" and the king
found in his features an extraordinary resemblance to those of
the royal family. On one occasion, while attending an audience,
the American statesman was approached by the monarch, who,
after looking at him fixedly for a moment, exclaimed " The like-
ness is, indeed, too wonderful to be accidental ! Pray, Mr. Mor-
ris, was your mother ever in France f" Morris with a respect-
ful bow, quickly replied, " No, your Majesty, but my father
was !"
It is evident this Peapack patent embraced within its bound-
aries nearly the entire township of Bedminster, and extended
from below Pluckamin to somewhere near the Morris county
Daniel Axtell, the Regicide. 133
line, and from the north branch of the Raritan on the east to the
Lamington river on the west. It included surveys numbered 59,
62, 88, 120, 122, and those marked Daniel Axtell, and Doctor
Johnstone Levris and Mary Johnstone, as laid down on the map
accompanying schedule III, " Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery.''
In May, 1660, when King Charles 11. landed at Dover and
made his royal progress to London, he found the people mad with
loyal excitement. Drimk with the joy of his restoration. Crom-
well, who had made England the leading power of Europe, was
apparently forgotten. There no longer seemed to be any Round-
heads, Piu'itans, Covenanters, or Papists : only a beU-ringing,
bonfire-blazing nation, hysterical with delight at the return of a
king. No one was more surprised at this rapture of the people
than was Charles himself, who remarked to one of his suite that
for the life of him he could not see why he had staid away so
long when every one seemed so glad to have him back again.
In his pleasure at the enthusiasm his presence everywhere engen-
dered, he was quite ready with all manner of promises as to for-
giveness for past offences. Hardly, however, had he grown warm
to his seat in the saddle of government, before he became con-
^'inced that justice to his fathers memory demanded vengeance
on those, at least, who had been immediately instrumental in the
suffei-ings of the late king. Among the imhappy persons who were
consequently dragged on hurdles to their deaths was Daniel AsteU.
He had been prominent in the CromweUian army, and commanded
the guard preserving order in Westminster Hall, at the court in
which Charles I, was con^^cted of treason and sentenced to be
beheaded. After the execution of AxteU, his son, also named
Daniel, fled to Jamaica, in the West Indies, where engaging in
trade he acquired a fortune. On visiting the American colonies
in search of investments, he purchased a large slice of the Pea-
pack patent, paying therefor: "The sum of one thousand two
hundred and fourteen pounds, money of Xew York." The deed
to him from Johnstone and WiUocks, under date of the twentieth
of June, 1726, conveyed as follows:
All that tract of land situate, Ijing and being within the bounds of a cer-
tain tract of land grantetl bv patent unto the said John Johnstone ami
George WiUocks, bearing date the seventh day of June, Anno Domini one
thousand seven hundreil and one, for their rights to several iparcels of land,
shares and parts of proprieties, in the eastern division of X°^v Jersey, as
134 The Story of an Old Farm.
aforesaid : Beginning upon the north side of Peapack Eiver, where the
east line of a tract of land (granted by the said George Willocks unto Daniel
Axtell aforesaid) toucheth the said river ; and from thence up the said river, as
it runs, until it comes about ten chains above the forks thereof; from thence
south, seven ty-tliree degrees, west three hundred and seventy-two chains, unto
Allametunck river, be it more or less ; from thence down the stream thereof, as
it runs, to where the west line of the land sold by George Willocks aforesaid
unto the said Daniel Axtell toucheth the said River, thence along the said line
north ninety-four chains, thence east eighty chains, thence south to Peapack
Eiver to where it is said to begin. * * * Containing four thousand and
sixty-five acres, excepting one thousand two hundred and fourteen acres, belong-
ing to John Hamilton, also four hundred and eighteen acres claimed by Charles
Dunster by virtue of a survey made to Lord Neil Campbell and Robert Black-
wood, and entered in the second book of surveys, folio 132.
As at that time a New York pound had a present United
States coin vakie of three dollars and fourteen and one-quarter
cents, we find that in the year 1726 the best of Bedminster lands
were considered worth about one dollar and fifty-six cents per
acre. With the exception of the exemptions, and of the Winder
tract which Willocks also sold to Axtell, the above conveyance
covered all the coimtry bounded by the Lamington river, the north
branch of the Raritan river, and the road leading from Benaards-
ville to Lamington village. John Hamilton was the son of
Governor Andrew Hamilton; his reservation I am unable to locate.
The four hundred and eighteen acres "claimed by Charles Dun-
ster" was situated near where the two streams merge, and is
designated as survey nmnber 59, in schedule III., " Elizabethto^^^l
Blil in Chancery." The recital of the area of premises conveyed
by the Peapack patent, and by this deed from Johnstone and Wil-
locks to Daniel Axtell, enables us to correct the following erron-
eous statement to be foimd on page 29 of Messler's " Centennial
History of Somerset County " :
Between Lamington River and North Branch, Major Axtell owned a large and
valuable tract of land, out of which Campbell and Blackwood purchased 3900
acres, in 1693 ; Margaret Winder 1000, on May 20, 1690; Johnson and Willocks
3150, June 6, 1701. This last survey included all the lands in Peapack valley;
and finally Andrew Hamilton obtained a deed for 875 acres on Lamitunk, Feb.
25, 1740. This brings us to the Morris county line.
Like errors as to the early history of Bedminster land titles
will be found on pages 700, 704 and 705 of SnelFs recent "His-
tory of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties."
Just here permit me to say that the people of Somerset are
William AxTELL in New Jersey. 135
greatly indebted to Doctor Messier for publishing the results of
his painstaking researches as to the early history of the county.
His labors have been valuable, not only in bringing to light
facts of which, otherwise, we should have remained in ignorance,
but because of exciting in the community an interest in local
history, and by inciting in others the desire to still further pierce
the dim mists that enshroud the days of long ago. Much the
same may be said of the work of Mr. Snell in his compilation
of facts, traditions and biography. But while man remains finite,
so long will the best of histories be replete with errors. It
is not belittling the efforts of these local historians to point
out where their statements are erroneous. On the contrary,
it is giving an added value to those historical nuggets they
have unearthed, that contain only the pure metal of truth. As
to the value of the materials they have collected there can be no
dispute, and, with Macaulay, we may acknowledge an indebted-
ness to an historian's accurate researches for the means of refut-
ing in his work what we cannot fail to discover as errors.
After the death of Daniel Axtell, (second), his son, William,
who was born in Jamaica, came in 1746 to New Jersey in
order to dispose of this estate. The result of his efforts within a
few years was the planting, in this portion of the township, of the
Van Doren, Van der Veer, McDowell, Teeple, Streit, Sloan and
other families. Ultimately, while visiting New York, he ran
away with and married the beautiful daughter of Abraham De
Peyster, the treasurer of that province. Axtell built a substan-
tial two storey, semi-detached brick dwelling in New York city,
where he lived in a lavish manner as long as his money lasted.
It stood on the present site of the Astor House, then in the out-
skirts of the city ; the other half of the structure was the resi-
dence of Walter Rutherford, whose wife was the sister of Lord
Stirling. In Mrs. Lamb's " History of the City of New York,"
there is a picture of this dwelling showing it to have had
a steep dormered roof, two small square windows on the
main floor protected by heavy wooden shutters, and a front door
which, opening abruptly on the side walk without step or break,
was approached through a wooden porch. In 1754 Axtell
removed to England, stopping on his way at Jamaica where he
settled his father's estate. Some years later, retmiiing to
136 The Story of an Old Farm.
America he built a large mansion at Flatbush, Long Island, where
he permanently settled. At the breaking out of the Revolu-
tion he attached himself to the patriot cause, and was active in
arousing the people of his coimty to the support of the American
arms. After the disasters on Long Island and in Westchester
his convictions imderwent a change, and, swearing allegiance to
the Crown, he became a violent partisan of the British. He was
commissioned a colonel of a regiment of foot in his Majesty's
service, and was also given many offices of a sinecure nature,
which brought him a fortune. By marrying his adopted daugh-
ter to a Major Miles of the Continental army he had hoped to
secm'e his estates, but, by an act of attainder passed by the
New York legislature on the twenty-second of October, 1779,
all of his property, real and personal, was confiscated, and he,
and others who were members with him of the king's comicil,
were proscribed. The act declared that "each and every of
them, who shall, at any time hereafter, be foimd in any part of
this state, shall be and are hereby adjudged and declared guilty
of felony, and shall sufifer death as in cases of felony without
benefit of clergy." On the evacuation of New York he removed
to England, where he received a pension and a colonel's half-pay
for life.
There are descendants of a collateral branch of the Axtell
family now resident in New Jersey. Thomas, a brother of
Daniel Axtell the regicide, came to this country in about the
year 1642 and settled at Sudbury, Massachusetts, where he died
four years later. His great-grandson, Henry, removed in 1 740 to
New Jersey, establishing himself at Mendliam in Morris coimty.
This Henry was the great-grandfather of the Honorable Charles
F. Axtell, of Morristown, and of the Honorable Samuel B.
Axtell, late chief justice of New Mexico.
George Willocks died in 1729. His executors, the Reverends
Edward Vaughan and William Skinner, offered his will for pro-
bate before Michael Kearney, surrogate, on the thirteenth of
February of that year. I have in my possession a copy of that
voluminous document. It goes to show the testator to have
been a man of piety and good works, as it contains numerous
generous bequests for religious and charitable pm'poses, and the
following solemn nivocation and profession of fiiith :
George Willocks' Will. 137
In the name of God, Amen. I, George WiUocks, of Perth Amboy in the Prov-
ince of New Jersey, being under a languishing distemper, but by God's goodness,
master of my reason and memory, do think fit to make this my last will and
testament. I acknowledge myself a great sinner, and have nothing to rely upon
for the forgiveness of my ti'ansgressions, but the merits and mediation of my
blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for whose sake, merciful God forgive me,
and receive me into the arms of thy mercy, and grant at th& last day I may be
raised among the elect, to praise Thee forever and ever.
This last testament provided for the payment of debts, and the
building of a tomb to cost seventy poimds ; this vaidt, though in
ruins, is still to be seen in St. Peter's churchyard at Perth
Amboy. It bequeathed to two negro slaves some cows and
household furniture. The executors were directed to build a
house and lay out a garden spot adjoining, for the slaves ; and a
negro lad was to be bound to a cooper, who was to be paid for
instructing him in his craft. The franchise and buildings of the
" Long Ferry" to South Amboy were devised to trustees, who
were empowered to let or rmi the same, and apply the income,
as the will recites : —
To support the incumbent serving the Cure of St. Peter's Church in Perth
Amboy, and his successors provided always that such Incumbents have received
ordination of Deacon and Priest from the hands of a Bishop of the Church of
England, and do continue members of the said Church according to the doctrines
and discipline of the said Churcli.
Divers tracts of lands in divers counties were ordered to be
sold, and the proceeds divided in specified sums between rela-
tives, friends, churches and the poor, in America and Scotland.
The bidk of his landed estate, which was very great, was devised
to George Leslie and Ann Richie, his nephew and niece, the lat-
ter receiving his house and lot on Smith street in Amboy. The
will disposes of the Peapack patent as follows :
And whereas there is a ti"act of land remaining in partnership, besides what
has been sold to Daniel Axtell, and two thousand acres given by me to Euphemia
Johnstone deceased and Margaret Smith, two daughters of John Johnstone, the
remaining part of the said tract is still vested in the said John Johnstone and in
me the said George WiUocks, (only 418 acres released by the said John John-
stone to me the said George WiUocks). I, therefore, pray my executors to get
the lands surveyed and a partition made between the said John Johnstone and
me, after such partition be made, I give and grant to my executors full power
and authority to sell and dispose of the same, and the money arising from such
sale, after the payment of debts and legacies, the remaining part, I desire, may
be put out upon good security and applied for the support of the children of the
said George Leslie and Ann Riciiie, lawfnllv begotten.
138 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
Ann Richie and George Leslie were children of George AVil-
locks' sister, the former being the wife of John Richie, a mer-
chant of Aberdeen, Scotland. Leslie had joined his uncle in
America several years before the latter's death, and after that
event resided at Perth and South Amboy — at that time within one
corporation — until his own death in 1751. His homestead property
embraced some twelve hundred acres of land adjoining the ferry at
South Amboy. He also was an active member of St. Peter's
church, being a vestryman from the year 1722 to 1729, and
again in 1750. He occupied pew No. 11 for which he paid six
pounds and seventeen shillings per annum.
Neither in the Department of State at Trenton, nor on the
records of the Board of Proprietors of East New Jersey at
Amboy, nor among the Willocks papers in the custody of the
State Historical Society, have I been able to find a copy of the
survey directed by the will to be made ; nor any trace of the
proceedings in partition. That a division, survey and map were
made, is proven by frequent references in subsequent deeds to
numbered lots in the Peapack patent. I have also searched in
vain for the record of any conveyances of Somerset lands by the
executors of George WHlocks. At a meeting of the Board of
Proprietors of East New Jersey, held the thirty-first of March,
1743, the surveyor-general was directed to survey two thousand
acres of land out of the patent for George Leslie. The order
reads as follows:
By virtue of an order of the Council of Proprietors this day made you are
hereby authorized and required to lay out and survey for Mr. George Leslie or
his assigns within that tract called Peapack Two thousand acres of land and for
so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant.
(jiven under my hand and seal at Perth Amboy the thirtv-first day of March,
1743.
On such survey being made, the proprietors, on the twenty-
third of June, 1744, conveyed to George Leslie two tracts of
land. The description of the one in which we are especially
interested reads as follows :
Beginning at the nortlieast corner of the land of Daniel Axtell deceased,
where it touches Peapack river ; thence along said Axtell's line south, seventy-
three Degrees, west one hundred and eighteen chains, to a corner of land late of
Doctor John Johnstone deceased; tiien along said Johnstone's line, north and by
east thirty-five chains to his northeast corner ; then along another line of said
George Leslie's Bedminster Grant. 139
Johnstone's land, south seventy-six degrees, west one hundred and twenty-three
chains to a stake to the northward of a white oak tree marked on four sides, dis-
tant therefrom forty links, which stake is upon the rising of a hill near to Julius
Johnstone's, and is another corner of said Johnstone's land ; thence north and by
east to the southwest corner of another tract of land belonging to the said John
Johnst()ne deceased, called by the name of lot No. 4, forty chains ; thence north
seventy-six degrees, east to the southeast corner of said lot No. 4 ; thence north
and by east forty chains ; thence north seventy-six degrees, east twenty-eight
chains to a brook commonly called Lawrence's Brook. Thence down the stream
of said brook to where it empties itself into said Peapack river; thence along
said Peapack river to the beginning. Containing twelve hundred and ninety-one
acres strict measure.
The other tract conveyed by this warrant contained '' fom-
hundred and ninety-eight acres and thirty-two hundredths,"
lying on the east side of the Lamington river, just below its falls,
and adjoining lot No. 13, belonging to John Johnstone's estate.
It would thus appear that if the executors sold the portion of
the Peapack patent set off to Willocks, the proprietors became
the purchasers. If not, in some other manner they must have
acquired legal title. It is well known that the great difference
in acreage, between what the original patent called for and what
it eventually surveyed, gave rise to complications and disputes
between the proprietors and the beneficiaries under the Willocks
will, Avhich greatly retarded the settlement of the estate. It is
not impossible, therefore, that these complexities resulted in a
compromise whereby a portion of the patent again became vested
in the proprietors. This last vicAV of the case is made the more
probable on the discovery of the following clause in the will of
John Johnstone, which was proven on the seventeenth of Novem-
ber, 1732:
And whereas in the tract of land at Peapack formerly Patented to George
Willocks and to me the quantity of my share thereof does exceed the quantity
of Proprietary Rights that I may have been entitled to. Now I doe hereby
appoint and Empower my Executors or the Major part of them or the Survivors
or Majority of the Survivors of them to compromise and agree that matter
with the Proprietors and for such quantity of acres, as it will be found that I
have at Peapack beyond my proprietary Right. I Impower my Executors to
release and convey in fee or otherwise assume to the proprietors an Equivalent
out of That Tract of Land Esteemed in the County of Bergen, containing about
five thousand eight hundred acres which I am entitled to by a return of survey
in the Western Division of New Jersey.
We may conclude, therefore, that Doctor Johnstone's instruc-
tions being carried out, all differences as affecting his estate were
healed by the conveyance of other lands to the proprietors. His
140 The Story of an Old Farm.
executors and heirs apparently came into peaceful possession of
all that portion of the Peapack patent lying between the two
rivers, the Morris county line, and the north line of the grant to
Leslie Avhich crossed the township at the mouth of Peapack
brook (Schomp's Mills). His estate also owned numerous sm'-
veyed lots of extensive area lying east of Lamington and west
of the Leslie tract — also the southeast corner of the patent, at
and below where Pluckamin was later established ; the first sale
made by Doctor Lewis and Mary Johnstone being five hundred
acres to Jacob Eoff", which included the site of that village.
By referring to the description in the grant to Leslie, it will
be seen that it commenced at Axtell's northeast corner. This point
was where " Demimd's bridge " now spans the north branch of the
Raritan, and is the same corner at which the description contained
in the deed from Leslie to Joljfannes Moelich began. The line of
the grant extended westerly for nearly one and one-half miles
along Axtell's boundary, which lay in the centre of the road
running from Bernards ville to Lamington ; here it reached the
southeast corner of a plot that had been allotted to John Johns-
tone, that fronted on this road for two miles, and extended back,
northerly, three thousand and eighty feet. Leslie's line continued
along the east and north bomidaries of this Johnstone plot west-
erly to its west corner, a distance of over two miles. From there
it extended in a northeasterly direction, following the lines of
several plots that had been set off" to Johnstone, to Lawrence's —
then so called — now Peapack brook. From there it continued
along the brook to its mouth, and so on down the north branch of
the Raritan to the place of beginning. The greatest breadth of this
tract, from east to west, was about three and one-half miles, and its
greatest depth, from north to south, one mile. With the excep-
tion of the natural meadows bordering the river, it Avas entirely
covered with timber. Leslie's right to this land does not seem
to have rested on the fact of his having been the heir of George
Willocks. It was probably granted to him by the proprietors in
consideration of proprietary interests, he having become the
owner of one-sixteenth part, and seven sixty-fourths part of John
Heywood's original twenty-fourth ; one-half of Thomas Barker's,
one-eighth of Thomas Rudyard's, one-fortieth of Thomas Cooper's
and one-fifth of nineteen-twentieths of Robert Barclay's.
Some Perth Amhoy Residents in 1751. 141
George Leslie made no disposition of any portion of this prop-
erty until the year 1751. And so, after a long story with many
digressions, we now find oui'selves where we started in this legal
talk — at the conveyance, on the first of November, 1751, of the^
three himdi*ed and sixty-seven acres to Johannes Moelich. In
returning to this deed it is interesting to notice that in phrase-
ology and general form it does not materially differ from such
instruments now in use. It was signed by George Leslie and his
wife Elizabeth, witnessed by Griffon Disbrow and Jonathan
Nisbitt, and recorded by Thomas Bartow, secretary of the prov-
ince. Instead of the grantors having made acknowledgments
as to their signatures, Samuel Nevill, one of the justices of the
supreme court, certifies that the witnesses to the conveyance
having been duly sworn made oath that they " saw the grantors
seal, and, as their act and deed, deliver the same, etc." Of these
attesting witnesses I know but little. Griffen Disbrow probably
lived at or near Perth Amboy, as he was one of St. Peter's con-
gregation, the minutes of that church showing that, in 1751,
when pew No. 18 was forfeited for non-payment of dues, it was
secm*ed by him at an annual rental of £5.2.0. Thomas Bartow,
the secretary of state, was the son of the Reverend John Bartow,
the first rector of St. Peter's chui'ch, Westchester, New York,
and the grandson of the Huguenot General Bertaut, who fled
from France in 1685. Bartow was frequently in the service of
the province, and w^as clerk in chancery when the famous Eliza-
bethtoAvn bill, at the suit of "John, Earl of Stair, and others. Pro-
prietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey against Benjamin
Bond, and others," was filed on the thirteenth of April, 1745. By
and by, when we shall have occasion to visit Perth Amboy with
Johannes, we will look up this worthy secretary and learn some-
thing of his home and surromidings.
Judge Samuel Nevill ranked among the most important men
of the province. He was a native of Stafford, England, and
bred a lawyer in London, where for a time he edited a news-
paper. The occasion of his coming to America was in this
wise. One of the original proprietors was Arent Sonmans, a
Hollander, who lived in Scotland. In addition to his own twenty-
fourth part, he owned portions of the several shares that had been
vested in Gawen Lawrie, David Barclay and Hugh Hartshome,
142 The Story of an Old Farm.
which, together with sundry other portions that he had pur-
chased, aggregated five and one-quarter proprieties. Sonmans,
while preparing to visit East Jersey and while journeying
between Scotland and London, was set upon by some highway-
men and fatally woimded. His son, Peter, inherited his Ameri-
can interests and, coming to America in 1688, died in 1734, and
lies buried in St. John's churchyard at Elizabeth. He devised
his estates to his wife, Sarah. At her death, which occurred
soon after, Samuel Nevill, as her eldest brother and heir-at-law,
came into possession of the five and one-quarter proprieties,
excepting- a small portion that had been sold by Peter Sonmans
to John Vail.
By this time these shares had gro-\vn to be of considera-
ble value. Mr. Nevill, on finding himself possessed of such
important American interests, decided to cross the ocean,
which he did in 1736, settling permanently at Perth Amboy.
His varied talents at once attracted attention, and he soon rose
to eminence. The then great dignity of being the mayor of this
ancient capital was forced upon him ; he became a member of
the provincial assembly, judge of the court of common pleas,
second judge of the supreme coiu't, and in many other important
ways served with honor the people and his king. Under the
auspices of the assembly, between the years 1732 and 1761, he
published in two volumes an edition of the laws of the province.
In 1758, he established and edited the first of New Jersey's
periodicals and the second one on the continent. It was called
the ''New American Magazine," to distinguish it from its pre-
decessor at Philadelphia, which relinquished publication upon
the appearance of this competitor. Nevill's magazine contained
about forty octavo pages, and, judging from the copy to be seen
in the library of the New York Historical Society, it compared
favorably with many modern publications of the same character.
It was printed at Woodbridge by James Parker, who, having
served his time with the famous New York printer, William
Bradford, had set up, in 1751, the first printing press in New
Jersey. Besides the magazine he printed " Nevill's Laws," and
Smith's "History of New Jersey " which appeared in 1765; from
time to time he published legislative and other official docu-
ments and did generally the work of the colony.
How THE World Moves! 143
Samuel Nevill died on the twenty-seventh day of October,
1764, at the age of sixty-seven. He and his wife lie side by
side imder the shadows of the walls of St. Peter's, of which
church he was a warden for twenty years.
As before recited, the consideration for the purchase of the
three hundred and sixty-seven acres was seven himdred and
fifty-four pounds. Of this amount Johannes paid three hundi'ed
and twenty-four pounds in cash ; the balance by the execution and
delivery of two bonds, payable in six months, for two hundred and
two, and two hundred and twenty-eight pounds. These obligations
were discharged on maturity, and, as Leslie had died soon after
the sale was consummated, they bear the satisfaction receipt of his
two childi-en, George and Elizabeth. Among my old papers relat-
ing to this property are these two satisfied bonds. They are espec-
ially valued as preserving excellent specimens of Johannes' wi-it-
ing ; on one of them the sig- a
nature is as plain and distinct iL.L^ /y'PVj '* ^' ^
as if penned within a few .^^^^^^'^^^^//^^CH^T
years. Here isafac-simile : >^ '^ ^
To the manuscript lover, much pleasure is derived from
handling an old document that, having played its part in the work
of the world, has in some mysterious way escaped the fate of like
papers and is preserved to testify of circumstances and events of
an age long past. How the world moves ! Consider the changes
that have come to people and countries since these old bonds
were new. When these instruments — now in the sere and yel-
low, and valueless save as relics — were vested with the poten-
tiality of enforcing the payment of a no inconsiderable sura, the
land for which they had been given in part consideration was in
truth as much of a howling wilderness as it had been for a thou-
sand previous years. Lafayette, whose name was to be as fami-
liar as household words in this hill country of New Jersey, was
yet unborn. Washington, stdl unknown to fame, was a lad in
his teens ; and seventeen years must come and go before the
Corsican babe would open his eyes on that Europe he was almost
to master. Travellers still crossed the stormy Atlantic in frail
pinks, ketches, snows and bilenders. France was being pom-
padoured into a condition to make possible the fourteenth of
July, 1789. And what of England, then as now, considered in
144
The Story of an Old Farm.
the van of civilization ! Its crown was worn by a Hanoverian
dullard who hated " busic and boetrv." In all the island there was
not a macadamized road, and the royal mail was carried on ''fly-
ing machines/' protected from highway robbers, even in the sub-
urbs of London, by guards armed with loaded blunderbusses.
Parliament was a den of corruption, borough seats in the house
of oommons being publicly advertised and openly sold. The
British people knew but little of their law makers, as to publish
the proceedings of their legislature was a misdemeanor carrying
a heavy punishment. There were laws enough, however, and
they were severe enough, for nearly two hundred crimes knew
capital punishment as their penalty, and children of tender years
were sentenced to death for petty pilfering. And yet we are
constantly told that the world grows no better, that the move-
ment and direction of mankind is not onward and upward.
i
CHAPTER XI.
The Building of the " Old Stone House'''' — Bedempt'toners —
White Slavery in the Colonies.
Behold Johannes — the proud possessor of three hundred and
sixty-seven fertile Bedrainster acres ! land that has lain dormant
for centuries, imconscious of its destiny, but ever ready and
eager to smile into fruitfulness upon the first advances of the
husbandman. In fancy we can see our German ancestor and his
two stalwart sons betaking themselves to the hillside. Soon,
crash after crash denote the falling oaks that the sturdy strokes
and keen axes of the Moelichs have marked as the most fitting
contributors to the sills, walls and gables of a new log house ; for
temporary shelter is necessary while the more permanent stone
dwelling shall be rearing its massive walls.
Days are spent in the timber ; tree after tree is attacked ; they
fall on every side ! The undergrowth is cut down and heaped,
and, by and by, the warm sunlight, for the first time perhaps in
ages, breaks in upon a clearing of two acres, which from that
time has been consecrated by the sorrows and gladnesses,
rejoicings and repinings, and all the sympathetic experiences
that rally around an enduring family homestead. The location
is well chosen. Now that the trees are prostrate, it shows an
open cheery slope, upon which the sun looks kindly down. The
ascending uplands bar the chill north winds, and to the south and
east the ground falls away gently to the meadows bor-
dering the brook and river, which just here, with pleas-
ant splash and babble, merge into one stream. Teams draw
the big logs to the spot selected for placing the tem-
porary dwelling. It was across the present road leading to
the farm buildings, opposite and facing the door-yard of
10
146 Thk Story of an Old Fakm.
the stone house. The ends of the logs are squared, and so cut
as to be let in or dove-tailed together. And now comes the
memorable day of the '' raising." Old neighbors from Hunter-
don are invited, and come in goodly numbers. They bring with
them willing hearts and stout arms, and plenty of provisions, for,
as there are no dwellings near, the raising dinner must par-
take somewhat of the character of a picnic. Songs and merry
stories go round, as the walls and gables slowly rise from the
ground. How easy to imagine the happiness of Johannes, as he
now aids in the work, and now directs his friends and
co-laborers ! Mariah Katrina, too, is there, lending in the
German fashion a strong and ready hand ; and the boys
occupy themselves in keeping up brisk fires with fragrant chips,
and crackling boughs and branches. Cannot you see the smil-
ing, hear the laughing, and enjoy the joking, while they dine
from off the logs and stumps, and drink to the future happiness
of the new residents ? The walls go up apace ; by afternoon,
skids are necessary upon which to roll the heavy logs to their
places; and when the western sky beyond the crest of the long
hill is aflame with the rich colors of the after-glow, the rude
house is raised, though still without roof, doors or floor. When
entirely completed it was nothing more than a square enclosure,
with but one storey, and a cock-loft above, and a roof thatched
with leaves or straw — a primitive cabin, much like many others
scattered along the narrow tracks and trails of this newly-opened
country.
As it was now late in the autumn, or early in the winter, noth-
ing could be done in the actual erection of the stone house ;
but during the cold weather much was accomplished in
the way of preparation. He who in building' a house calls in
the aid of architect and artisan, and himself supplies only the
money wherewith to pay for design and work, knows but little
of the true sweetness of creating a homestead. Our ancestor
must have felt to the full this supreme happiness, as with his
boys he labored day after day in furthering the preparations for
the building. Stones were hauled and dressed — a quarry having
been opened in the extreme northwest corner of the property;
materials were brought upon the ground, and round, straight trees
selected and rough-hewed to the line, converting them into the
A Redemptioner Stone-Ma8on. 147
stanch, square floor timbers, that to-day, exposed in the ceiling of
the living room, show no signs of decay — are sound to the core.
With what interest must Johannes' wife and children have
viewed the work, and how his heart must have leaped within
him as they watched with delight the slow creating of the family
nest. With the disappearance of frost the cellar under the west-
ern gable was excavated, and early in the spring the foundations
were laid and the building was fairly under way.
To assist in the construction, the services were secured — so
runs the story — of Caspar Berger, a Grerman stone-mason
and a redemptioner. He had reached New York in 1744^
and, being sold by the captain of his ship to repay the costs of
passage, was purchased for a term of years by Cornelius Van
Home, of White House, in Hunterdon county. John G.
Van Houten of that place, whose wife was a granddaughter
of Van Home, informed me, when eighty-four years of age,
that he had often heard his wife's father say that after Cas-
par Berger had served three years of his time he obtained his
freedom by building three stone houses. One of them was for
Cornelius Van Home at White House, now owned by Abraham
Pickel ; and one for Abraham Pickel in the same neighborhood,
now owned by William Pickel, a descendant. The third house,
near-by, he believed, was '' for a Melick," but could not remember
the first name. As there is every probability that at this time
Johannes was living between North Branch and White House vil-
lageSjOn the property afterward owned by Jacob Kline, it is reason-
able to suppose that it was for him that this third house was built ;
if so, no trace of the structure remains, although, as mentioned in
a previous chapter, the descendants of Jacob Kline are still able
to locate the spot where stood the Moelich homestead. Mr. Van
Houten was confident in his statement that Berger also built a
stone house in Bedminster township, Somerset county. Without
doubt this last was the dwelling of Johannes Moelich j as such a
story is in full accord with the accepted beliefs of past genera-
tions connected with the " Old Stone House."
The descendants of Caspar Berger claim that his emigration
from the old country was involuntary ; he with others having
been enticed on board a ship by its captain, who then set sail for
America. This is not improbable, as the masters of vessels were
148 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
often guilty of cruel and unjust acts in this business of the
importation of redemptioners. Isaac Weld, Jr., in his book of
travels in America, published in the last century, asserts that it
was the custom of ship-masters at Rotterdam and the Hanse
towns to inveigle the people into their vessels under promise of
free passage to America. On reaching the colonies, announce-
ment of the arrival of mechanics and laborers would be made,
and persons in want of such would flock to the ships, and the
poor Germans would be sold to the highest bidders, the captains
pocketing the proceeds. Caspar Berger, after obtaining his
freedom, by his frugality and industry prospered in the new
country and soon waxed well-to-do. During the Revolution he
kept the Readington tavern, and later owned a large tract of
laud north of Holland brook ; the mill of William Fitch, on
that stream, was also his property. At his death in 1817 he
divided his homestead farm of four hundred acres at Readington
between his three sons, Aaron, Peter and Jasper. Aaron's son,
John S., now an old man, still owns and occupies a portion of
this home farm.
Redemptioners, or term slaves, as they were sometimes called,
constituted in the early part of the eighteenth century a pecu-
liar feature of colonial society. They were recruited from among
all manner of people in the old world, and through this channel
Europe emptied upon America, not only the virtuous poor and
oppressed of her population, but the vagrants, felons, and the
dregs of her communities. There was thus established among
the first settlers, a society that, in many places, was almost
imbued with a moral pestilence. In Section 10, page 275,
'^S. P. 0. Colonial Entry Book," number 92, we find the follow-
ing recital :
That all sturdy beggers as gipsies and other incorrigible rougues and wan-
derers may be taken upp by constables and imprisoned until at the next Assizes
©r sessions they shall either beacquited and assigned to some settled aboade and
course of life here, or be appointed to be sent to the plantations for five years
under the conditions of servants. '
Among the redemptioners, however, were a fair proportion of
sturdy souls, strong in purpose and endeavor, who appreciated
the great opportunity created for them by this complete change
of life and country. At the expiration of term of service, many
Indented Servants and Free-Willers. 149
by thrift and industry elevated themselves to a respectable
position, and were absorbed in the middle class. Of necessity
there were improvident and shiftless ones, who contributed to
the vicious and ignorant element of the population.
There were two kinds of redemptioners : " indented servants,"
who had bound themselves to their masters for a term of years
previous to their leaving the old country ; and '' free-willers,"
who, being without money and desirous of emigrating, agreed
with the captains of ships to allow themselves and their families
to be sold on arrival, for the captain's advantage, and thus repay
costs of passage and other expenses. The former — indented ser-
vants — were often trapped into their engagements by corrupt
agents at home, who persuaded them to emigrate, under false
promises of tender and humane treatment, and under assurances
of remunerative employment at expiration of service. Section
five of the "Colonial Entry Book," before referred to, testifies as
follows in corroboration of the above statement :
The waies of obtayning these servants have beene usually by employing a sorte
of men and women who make it theire profession to tempt or gaine poore or
idle persons to goe to the Plantations and having persuaded or deceived tliem
on Shipp board they receive a reward from the person who employed them.
The immigrants often discovered, on arrival, that the advan-
tages represented to be obtained in America had been painted
by the agents in much too alluring colors 5 frequently their
masters forced them to most rigid labor, and exercised an
unnecessary severity. Edward Eddis, a surveyor of customs in
the province of Maryland, in his " Letters from America,"
asserts that this class of servants often groaned beneath a worse
than Egyptian bondage, as their masters, knowing that their
servitude could last but for a few years, treated them with a
rigor more severe than they extended to their negro slaves, to
whom, being actual property, they were more lenient.
The free-willers suffered even worse treatment at the hands
of ship-masters and agents, who had inveigled them into emi-
gration by false and specious promises. They were led to
believe that on arrival in America their services would be
eagerly solicited by parties who would gladly pay the cost of
their passages ; which, being only nine pounds, the emigrants
150 The Story of an Old Farm.
would soon be able to repay, and thus secure their liberty, and
all the enjoyments and prosperity that the new country offered
to adventurers. Agreements were entered into whereby these
deluded ones bound themselves, that if on arrival they did not
succeed within a certain number of days in securing employment
on their own conditions, they could be sold for a term of years to
defray the charges for their passages. Alas ! the " free-willers,"
with rare exceptions, had a rude awakening on reaching the
colonies. Under their agreements, the captains had a legal lien on
the persons of the immigrants until the ship charges were paid ;
consequently they were not allowed to go on shore, but were
exposed to view on deck to the people who came on board in
search of servants. Except in cases of extraordinary qualifica-
tions, very few of them were happy enough to make their own
stipulations. The sanguine expectations of the redemptioners
were doomed to disappointment, and they found themselves sold
for several years of tedious labor and servitude.
Professor Kalm, the Swedish botanist, reached Philadelphia on
the seventh of September, 1748, by the ship "Mary," which had
on board twenty-three Germans and their families. He narrates
that when about going on shore with his captain, the latter turned
to the second mate and strictly charged him "to let no one of the
German refugees out of the ship unless he paid for his passage, or
somebody else paid for him, or bought him." Masters of vessels
often acted with needless cruelty toward their bond-passengers.
Published accounts of travels in America during the last cen-
tury frequently tell sad stories of the enforced separation of hus-
bands from wives, and parents from children. Doctor Ernest
Otto Hopp, in a book on German slavery in North America,
recently published in Berlin, tells of a ship captain by the name
of Heerbrand who acquired a great reputation as a kidnaj)per
of poor Germans for the American market. He had in his pay
a number of men whose business it was to regularly steal beg-
gars, vagabonds and other people without connections, he paying
the captors two florins a head for each victim delivered at his
vessel. It is said that this man brought over six hundred such
persons to America.
The terms and conditions of service differed in the different
colonies. Among the archives of the Pennsylvania Historical
Colonial Laws Regarding Redemptioners. 151
Society, are some original bonds, or agreements, between ship
captains and redemptioners. From them we learn that the
usual price paid in that colony, for three years' service, was
twenty-one pounds, one shilling and six pence. When his time
had expired a man was entitled to receive two suits of clothes, a
grubbing hoe, a weeding hoe and a new axe. Children sold
for from eight to ten pounds, and their masters were required to
see that they were taught to read and write, and had, at least,
one quarter's schooling. In New Jersey — according to " Learn-
ing and Spicer " — no white servant, if sold or bound after seven-
teen years of age, could serve above four years. If under that
age, they were to be free on reaching their majority. At the
expiration of service their masters were obliged to supply them
with two good suits of clothing, suitable for a servant, one good
falling axe, one good hoe, and seven bushels of Indian corn.
A servant was to be immediately freed in case of being so abused
by master or mistress as to result in the loss of an eye or a tooth.
The laws against aiding redemptioners to escape were very severe.
A fine of five pounds was imposed for offering assistance in such
cases, and the aider and abettor were obliged to make full
satisfaction to master or mistress for all loss or damage sustained
by the absence of, or search for, the runaway. Any one who con-
cealed or entertained an absconding redemptioner, could be fined
at the discretion of the court, and be made to pay ten shillings
to the owner for each day that they had harbored the servant.
It was not uncommon for thrifty Germans, who were possessed
of enough money to pay their passages and defray the first
cost of settling, to allow themselves to be advantageously, and
on favorable terms, sold. This was in order that during their
servitude they might have an opportunity of learning the lan-
guage and of growing familiar with the manners, customs and
institutions of the country. Advertisements announcing redemp-
tioners for sale are frequently to be found in newspapers of the
last century. One in the "Pennsylvania Messenger" of the fourth
of April, 1776, offers for sale :
A young girl and maid-servant, strong and healthy ; no fault. She is not
qualified for tlie service now demanded. Five years to serve.
The same paper, on the eighteenth of January, 1774, contains
the following notice:
152 The Story of an Old Farm.
Germans — we are now offering fifty Germans just arrived — to be seen at the
Golden Swan, kept by the widow Kreider. The lot includes sclioolmasters,
artisans, peasants, boys and girls of various ages, all to serve for payment of
passage.
It seems rather odd that schoohnasters should be offered for
sale in the market. You would think that they would have been
eagerly sought for, but, on the contrary, they appear to have
been a drug, as is shown by D. von Biilow in a book published in
Berlin, in 1797. He says:
It is easy to sell the farmers, but there are often men whom it is not so easy to
dispose of, e. g., officers and scholars. I have seen a Russian captain offered for
sale eight days, and not a bid made. He had absolutely no market value. It
was of no use for his owner to put him up again and again, to offer to make fifty
per cent, discount. " He is good for nothing," was all the answer to the offer.
The captain of the ship then Jiad him walked about the town to show, but in
vain. After waiting several weeks, he was finally sold at a ridiculously low
price as a village schoolmaster.
On this subject Doctor Hopp recites that Pastor Kunz of
Philadelphia, related that in 1773 he was beginning to econo-
mize in order to get together twenty pounds, as he wanted to buy
a German student for a teacher.
As late as September, 1786, the following advertisement
appeared in the '' Pittsburgh Gazette " :
To be sold. (For ready money only.) A German woman servant. She has
near three years to serve, and is well qualified for all household work : would
recommend her to her own country people, particularly, as her present master
has found great inconvenience from his not being acquainted with their manners,
customs and language. For further particulars enquire at Mr. Ormsby's in
Pittsburgh.
In looking back on the many peculiarities, changes and grad-
ations of society in New Jersey's colonial days, it is curious to
note how the well-to-do immigrants, who brouglrt with them, or
purchased after arrival, redemption servants, often lost the
prestige of their affluence ; being unable in the new country to
maintain their rank and influence. Their humble servitors,
however, inured by hardship and labor to the stern necessities
of colonial existence, prospered and throve. The bonds-people,
after serving their time, acquired by diligence and saving lands
and homes ; it was not uncommon in the second generation to
find them taking, in every way, precedence to the children of
the master who had owned their time during their first years in
Mariah Katrina Carries Mortar on Her Head. 153
the country. The affluent immigrant, having been accustomed
to ease, proved unequal to the struggle ; and his children,
through faulty and ignorant education, rapidly deteriorated. —
Enough of redemptioners !
Among the many odd tales of early days at the ^' Old Stone
House," which have enlivened winter evenings around the great
fire-place in the living room, is the legend that at its building,
Johannes' wife, Mariah Katrina, carried mortar, balanced on her
head, to the masons at work on the walls. A very exalted posi-
tion, you may ironically say, in which to place one's great-great-
grandmother ; but these chapters are supposed to preserve tradi-
tions as well as facts, and the writer must put to one side any
predilections he may have, as to the matter to be pi'esented.
Members of the family, whose pride may rebel against belief in
this story, are at liberty to consider it fable ; but the mortar, at
least, must be accepted, for to this day it is as solid and imper-
vious as the stones between which it lies. Builders of the pres-
ent aver that its manufacture is a lost art, and that all of its
component parts are not known. Visitors to this ancestral dwel-
ling, who, after passing under the wide circumference of the old
maple's shade, climb the hill, until they stand in the presence of
the structure's kindly and venerable front, can attribute to this
mortar the fact that it exists to-day. It has been the agent
which has enabled these massive walls to withstand for nearly
a century and a half of winters, the wear and tear of time ; and
it still binds their stones together in one compact mass of
masonry, which, without doubt, will continue to bear up bravely
ag-ainst the assaults of manv vears to come. Grreat-great-2:rand-
mother Moelich figures, traditionally, again, at the building of
the house. She is said to have vigorously protested against the
introduction of so many windows — they are ridiculously few and
small. The good woman had probably not forgotten the window-
tax of the old country, and had in mind, perhaps, the possibility
of such an impost being levied in Xew Jersey.
By early in the summer the house must have been completed.
Very plain, both as to exterior and interior, with no fim-lighted
door-heads, or ambitious columns, pilasters and carvings. Yet,
as we view it to-day, its solid simplicity is truly architectural,
for it bears on its every feature a dignified expression of truth —
154 The Story of an Old Farm.
of being only what it claims to be, an humble farmhouse of
simple utilitarian porportions and fashion, the general effect of
whose eaves, roof-tree, double Dutch doors, hall and chambers,
but express the purposes of its construction. It is not altogether
without picturesqueness. Bedded in the gusen of its surround-
ing elms, its wooden-seated porch, sloping roof and rough stone
gables coated with lime and pebbles, present a homely picture
of comfort and domesticity, in full accord with its setting of
turfy hillsides and verdure-clad meadows. To one who appre-
ciates in a structure the beauty of simplicity and appropriate-
ness, the '^Old Stone House" must ever be a delightful object.
To those of us who claim kinship with its early builder, this
ancestral home will always be a place of jealous regard ; a spot
where will linger reminiscences of former days, and traditions of
by-gone generations ; of men and women whose names have been
associated with the sturdy walls and hospitable atmosphere of
this brave old dwelling.
The huge German locks, with their exposed and complicated
mechanism, were fastened to the doors ; heavy pieces of furni-
ture were placed in the rooms, one, at least, the stupendous
Dutch cupboard, occupying to-day its original position ; clean
wdiite sand from the brook was spread on the floors, and the
great crane was hmig in the deep-chested fire-place. Mariah
Katrina, as priestess of the household, has put the first torch to
the hickory boughs on the hearthstone ; the crackling flames
leap up the broad chimney, while wreaths of curling smoke soar
heavenward, seemingly bearing in their pungent odors an
incense of thanksgiving. The tea-kettle, suspended over the
fire, sings its cheery note — the bubbling pot with savory breath
joins in the chorus — the procession of generations of good-cheer
has commenced. Let us conceive the table spread in the living-
room, and the members of the family gathered about the board
for their first meal in the " Stone House." While regaling them-
selves with creature-comforts from the good wife's newly-stocked
larder, if ever faces could be said to reflect content, so must
have theirs, as they congratulated each other on the comfort ot
their surroundings. And in the evening — believing, as we do,
in the deep religious feeling that controlled all the thoughts and
actions of the sire, we need not doubt the erection of a family
GO
o
an
o
H
CO
Q
(-;
O
w
H
The Bedminster House Completed.
155
altar ; nor, that at the close of this all-important day, with a
heart ov^erflowing with thankfulness, and a voice choked with
emotion, Johannes' devout prayers of praise and dedication,
home on the wings of faith, ascended to the Most High; to
that kind Providence who had guarded and guided him and his,
through the vicissitudes of all the year since leaving Germany,
bringing them at last in safety to the repose of a happy home on
this peaceful Bedminster hillside.
CHAPTER XII.
Johannes Goes to the Post Office — Bedminster and the Adja-
cent Townships in 1752.
Just here it may be well to survey the appearance presented by
Somerset county and East New Jersey at the time the Moelichs
took possession of the " Old Farm." In no better way can we
do this than by — in fancy — accompanying Johannes to Perth
Amboy, thirty miles away. He is going to see if John Fox, the
postmaster, has a letter for him from the old country ; for be it
known that in the year of grace, 1752, the province boasts of
but three post offices — one at Amboy, one at Trenton, and one
at Burlington. Letters were left at those places by the Phila-
delphia mail carrier, weekly in summer and once in two weeks
during the winter ; rather meagre facilities for the people, but
they had to be contented until 1 754, when the service was consid-
erably increased. In December, 1733, the following notice
appeared in the Philadelphia '^Weekly Mercury ": " There are a
number of letters in the post office at Perth Amboy for persons
living in Somerset, Monmouth and Essex counties."
To us of the present day, Johannes would have presented a
striking appearance, as, mounted on a stout cob, he clattered
down the incline upon which he had built the new stone house,
and turned west up the long hill. He is now over fifty years of
age, with a figure not tall, but robust, having a high color, blue
eyes, and, had the fashion of the day allowed, the whole would
have been supplemented by an abundant reddish brown beard.
His German origin is still readily recognized, though many of
his foreign characteristics have been lost. He speaks English,
but not with the facility of the mother tongue, and his dress is
that of a well-to-do colonial yeoman. A coarse grey coat with
Johannes in the Saddle. 157
generous skirts cut square, buttons across his brawny chest, not
hiding an ample leather waistcoat. His breeches, also of leather,
meet at the knee stout blue yarn stockings, drawn over a pair
of sturdy calves, which are further protected by deer-skin leg-
gings extending over his buckled shoes. A short grey wig
and a three-cornered hat complete his decently picturesque
appearance, while his further belongings comprise a fresh cut
whip of sapling, and a pair of saddle-bags suspended on either
side of the horse.
As he climbs the hill and overlooks his broad acres, he turns
in the saddle for a good-bye glance at the new house resting so
cosily against its sunny bank. What wonder, that as he rides
through the fresh dewy morning air his face glows with satis-
faction ! We can well imagine it because of his thouglits dwell-
ing on the pleasant surroundings of his newly established home,
and on the peaceful promise it seems to give for the future, as'
compared with the unhappy uncertainties of the Grerman life he
had known on the banks of the far distant Rhine. Johannes'
first thirteen years in America have been preparatory, and
to an extent, migratory ; but now he feels about him the atmos-
phere of an abiding home. He recognizes and appreciates that
he is no longer a pioneer, but a permanent member of a commu-
nity, where each individual has an interest in the common
wealth, and in the continued growth and improvement of the
neighborhood. Here he expects to end his days — here be
buried ; and here he hopes his children will live, and their gen-
erations prosper.
The road Johannes traveled was but little more than a broad
path cut through the woods ; the trees pressed close on either
side of the ruts and wheel tracks, often the bark of the flanking
oaks and hickories showing the marks made by the hubs of
passing vehicles. It must have been pleasant riding along for
miles under the arching branches, the air surcharged with
the balsam of the aromatic breath of thousands of acres of giant
trees : monarchs of the forest that for centuries had towered
over the hills and dales, enriching the ground with their yearly
falling leaves, till the soil, rank with vitality, only needed the
warm sun and man's command, to blossom into fields of abund-
ance. Occasionally, on the roads emerging from its long green
158 The Story of an Old Fakm.
arcade, our traveller came upon isolated dwellings, seated amid
little clearingSj from which, in many instances, the stumps had
not yet disappeared. The smoke that gently cm-led heaven-
ward from the chimneys of these dwellings perfumed the morn-
ing air with the odors of burning fresh-cut wood— such smoke as
can only come from fires fed by glowing oaken back -logs and crack-
ling hickory boughs, over which the good-wife has swung the great
black kettle. These rude homes of new settlers were few, however ;
population had been very slow in penetrating this portion of
Somerset. The country lay in a broad and almost unbroken
extent of fertile waste, with but infrequent traces of human habi-
tation discernible. As the grass covers a rolling meadow, mant-
ling it in continuous green, so the forest buried the Bedminster
and Bridgewater hills and valleys in vast undulations of leafy
verdure. From the Morris county line on the north to the
Raritan river at Bound Brook on the south ; from Bernards on
the east to Hunterdon on the west, the whole area was a broad
expanse of woodland wilderness, the continuity of green being
interrupted here and there by a few houses clustering as an
embryo village, while an occasional interval, open to the sun,
marked the germ of a future farm.
At Pluckamin the nucleus of a society was forming ; and at
Laminglon — a corruption of the more majestic Indian name,
Allamehmk — the Presbyterians had erected a church edifice in
1740, though services had been held in a barn for several pre-
ceding years. Among the earlier members of the congregation
were William Hoagland, Jacobus Van der Veer, Henry Sloane,
Ephraim McDowell, John Craig, William Logan, Richard Por-
ter, Peter Demun, Thomas Van Horn, Mathias Lane and Guisbert
Sutphen. At this time the church building had just been
enlarged, and the pastor of the congregation was the Reverend
James McCrea, he having in 1740, accepted a call from the
congregation known as that of " Lametunk, Lebanon, Peapack,
Readington and Bethlehem." He was the father of that Jennie
McCrea, whose tragic death on the upper Hudson in the year
1777 by the tomahawks of Burgoyne's treacherous Indian
allies, was to send a thrill of horror throughout the entire country.
Though much of Bedminster remained in a state of nature,
beyond its borders, in adjacent townships, communities had been
The Settlement of Bernards Township. 159
planted and many acres of farming lands were cleared. On the
north the settlement of Morristown by people from Newark and
New England dated from early in the century, and its Presby-
terian church had been established since 1738, the year of the
organization of the county. Until about that time the neighbor-
hood had been known as West Hanover, the first record of the
new name, Morristown, being found in an order of the court of
general sessions of the peace dated the twenty-fifth of March,
1740.
By the year 1713 squatters' cabins existed at Roxiticus, now
Mendham — the original settlers being Byrams, Drakes, Cooks,
Careys, Thompsons and others. Its first tavern, afterwards the
famous " Black Horse," was kept by a Byrara, and the oldest
stone in the graveyard perpetuates the name of Stephen Cook,
who died in 1749. Its Presbyterian congregation is first men-
tioned in 1738, in connection with New Brunswick. In this
year, 1752, the congregation, under the pastorate of Eliab
Byram, possessed a small frame church building which must
have been erected previous to 1745, as in that year it, together
with its site, was conveyed by deed of Edward Burnet. He may
have been a good man, but he surely was an evil speller. He
describes himself in the conveyance, " Edmon Burnnant of
Rocksiticus in yere County of Summerset in east nu Jareses in
Amaracah." The description of the premises conveyed begins,
"Scairteen pees of parsel of land on which the meeting hows
Now Standeth."
Basking Ridge, in Bernards township, already possessed a
flourishing community with a well-established Presbyterian
church under the charge of a Scotch worthy, the Reverend
Samuel Kennedy. His education had been gained at Edin-
burgh University, and coming to America, he was in 1751
ordained pastor of this congregation, which he faithfully served
for thirty-six years at a salary of one hundred and ten pounds.
In addition to his ministerial duties he practiced medicine, and
established and took charge of a classical school which attained
to great celebrity. Authorities diff'er as to the time that Bask-
ing Ridge and Bernards township were first settled. By some it
is claimed that a Scotch congregation and a log church were in
existence in the year 1700. Doctor John C. Rankin, in his
160 The Story of an Old Farm.
published "Historical Discourse," very properly asserts that there
could have been no church before there were inhabitants. He
goes on to show that it was not until the year 1717 that John
Harrison, acting as agent for the proprietors of East New Jer-
sey, purchased Indian rights to about three thousand acres,
embracing the site of the village, and much of the territory occu-
pied by the present congregation. John Harrison will be remem-
bered as one of the benefactors of St. Peter's church at Perth
Amboy, his name appearing with those of George Willocks and
Thomas Gordon on a tablet affixed to its walls. This tract, pur-
chased from the natives, was subsequently sold to and divided
between four purchasers, one of whom was James Alexander,
the surveyor-general of New Jersey and the father of Lord Stir-
ling. Alexander's portion embraced between six and eight hun-
dred acres of land of great beauty and fertility. This was the
propert}^ that his son William, in 1761, on his return from Eng-
land, after his futile efforts to secure an earldom, improved until
it blossomed into his great estate, with a fine mansion, rich gar-
dens and a park stocked with deer.
The first actual settlers of Basking Ridge seem to have come
about the time of Harrison's purchase. By 1720 the recorded
names appear of James Pitney, Henry Rolfe, and John Ayres.
The latter came from Woodbridge, New Jersey, though born at
Newbury, Massachusetts, from which place he migrated, as a
child, with his father, Obadiah. He died in 1732, and left
seven sons, who all lived in the neighborhood, and became active
members of the church and community. In 1731, John Ayres
conveyed to James Pitney, Mordecai McKenne, George Pack,
Samuel Rolfe, Daniel Morris, Thomas Riggs and Obadiah Ayres,
trustees, one and one-half acres of land, in the centre of which,
surrounded by a grove of trees, stood a log meeting-house. This
primitive structure was superseded, in 1747, by a frame edifice
that remained standing for ninety years. The oldest gravestone
in the churchyard records the death of Henry Haines, on the
ninth of June, 1736. There was at this time living in Bernards
township one Abraham Southard, who in the previous year had
migrated with eight children from Hempstead, Long Island. His
coming had insured to Somerset, in the future a citizen who was
to prove a great honor to the state. His son Henry, who was
The Bedminster Van der Veers. 161
born in 1747, lived at Basking Ridge until he died at the age of
ninety-five, having had thirteen children. One of them, Samuel
L. Southard, lived to have a national reputation as one of Amer-
ica's greatest statesmen. Henry Southard, the father, also
served faithfully and well his state and country. For eight
years he was a member of the legislature, and for twenty-one a
representative in congress. Before he retired from that body
he saw his distinguished son a United States senator, and
met him at a meeting of the joint committees of the two
houses. The father and son were chairmen of their respective
committees — a circumstance, as it has been said, without par-
allel in the political history of our country.
We have already learned how New Germantown was thriving
in the west, and toward the south in the direction of White
House were comfortable homesteads and cultivated lands. But
as Johannes rode toward the Raritan he traversed almost a
wooded solitude. As yet there were no signs of the hamlet of the
Lesser Cross Roads, the only houses in that vicinity being the
one of logs of John Burd, near where " Demund's bridge " now
spans the north branch of the Raritan, and a similar structure, occu-
pied by William Hoagland, standing on George Leslie's land west
of the line of the '^Old Farm." The road from BernardsviUe to
Lamington had been marked out since 1741, but was a mere
trail, and but little travelled. South of this road the forest con-
tinued with hardly a break to Pluckamin. In the territory
lying between the two rivers — the Axtell tract — there was thus
far but meagre settlement. Without much doubt a log house
was standing where now lives Henry Ludlow (below Bedmin-
ster church). It is known that about the year 1760, Jacobus
Van der Veer built the house now occupied by Mr. Ludlow.
He had purchased the land of William Axtell — two hundred and
sixty acres fronting on the north branch of the Raritan —
some time between 1746 and 1752 ; the records do not show the
exact date, but it must have been before the time of which we
write, as he was a resident in 1751. In that year he was
appointed a commissioner of the highways — an office that could
not have been attended with very laborious duties. He was
a great-grandson of Cornelius Jansse Van der Veer, who, emi-
grating from Alckmarr in the province of North Holland, a forti-
11
162 The Story of an Old Farm.
fied city of about ten thousand people, landed from the ship
" Otter " in February, 1659, and settled at Flatbush, Long
Island. This emigrant's son Dominicus migrated to some point
in the Raritan valley, and one of his sons, Jacobus, who married
Femmetje Stryker, was the father of the Bedminster Jacobus
Van der Veer, and also of that Elias, who some years later
improved the water-power north of Pluckamin, thus establishing
what has ever since been a county landmark — Van der Veer's
mUls.
Some distance west of the Van der Veer land, still on the
Axtell tract, was another clearing, in which stood a newly
erected log house. It was the home of Ephraim McDowell, who
on the first of May, 1750, purchased of William Axtell two hun-
dred and thirty acres of land, a portion of which is still owned
and occupied by his descendants. A few years later a
frame dwelling with shingled sides succeeded the original
log cabin ; it stood for seventy -five years, one of its rooms being
the birth place of three successive generations. Five genera-
tions have been welcomed to this ancestral home. Ephraim
McDowell died, and was buried in Lamington churchyard, in
1762. The posterity of this sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
have left indelible marks of their individuality and strength of
character on the society of this and other states. None more so
than his grandsons, John and William, Avho as the pastors of
the Presbyterian churches of Morristown and Elizabeth were,
we are told, the means of the conversion of three thousand souls.
At this time there was no bridge where the Pluckamin road
crosses the north branch of the Raritan. The river was often too
high to be forded, as in those early days when the country was
invested as a garment with heavy timber, all of the streams flowed
much greater volumes of water. At such times travellers south-
ward were obliged to cross the river near Mine brook, or often as
far north as Peapack brook, and thus make their way through
Kernards township. On reaching Pluckamin Johannes found
there about a dozen small houses and a tavern. This inn was
the first place of. entertainment established in the township ; it
was built in 1750 by Jacob Eoff, who was one of the pioneers of
the village. He was a native of Holland, and early in the last
century purchased five hundred acres of land of the heirs of
Pluckamin in 1752. 163
John Johnstone, which included the present site of Pluckamin.
His tavern remained standing for sixty-four years, its location
being the comer now occupied by the house of Joseph D,
Nevius. During the Revolution it was the meeting place for
the committee of safety, and when Washington's army was quar-
tered in this and adjoining counties its boniface dispensed
hospitality to many of the leading men of the country. After
Jacob's death the tavern was kept by his maiden sister Sarah,
who, in turn, was succeeded by Jacob's son Christian ; he
abandoned the old structure to his brother Cornelius, who occu-
pied it as a residence. Christian built on the opposite corner — the
present tavern site — a long, low building called the " Barracks."
Here he waxed famous as a popular host. With the best society
of New York and Philadelphia, this landlord's name became
synonymous with good living ; and summer visitors to Schooley's
mountain — a watering-place then in its glory — always arranged
that the night necessarily spent on the journey should be passed
at Christian Eoff's tavern. Aristocratic coaches with the
family arms emblazoned on their panels, and drawn by four and
six horses were not uncommon in those good old days in this
quaint village of Pluctamin. In the foundation wall of the
public house, destroyed within a few years by fire and which
took the place of the '^ Barracks," is a stone bearing the date
1750, which was taken from the walls of the original tavern
built by Jacob Eoff.
Of the twelve houses standing at the time of our ancestor's rid-
ing through the village, four are believed to be still extant. The
one recently known as the Parker house was occupied by John
Boylan — afterwards Pluckamin's first store-keeper, who was
called " Captain Bullion." He was a contemporary of Jacob Eoff,
whose daughter at the age of fifteen became his wife. Mrs.
Boylan lived to the good old age of ninety-five, surviving
her husband fifty years ; Mrs. Sarah Parker, the late owner of
the house, was her daughter. Another of the original dwellings
still preserved to us is the one known as the Harmer house, and
owned by John Fenner, Jr. In Johannes' day it was the resi-
dence of Matthew Lane, whose family settled about 1748 on the
north branch of the Raritan, east of Van Vleits' mills. * The old
Losey dwelling, in which Jacob Losey kept the post office from
1830 to 1860, is also said to have been buUt as early as 1 752.
164 The Story of an Old Farm.
A few years later settlers began to multiply in the vicinity of
Pluckamin, but at this time the inhabitants of the neighborhood
were not many. Colonel William McDaniels, as early as 1744,
owned a large tract of land and a saw-mill, on the north branch
of the Raritan, where are now Kline's mills. South of this property
resided in the same year George and Jerry Reemer ; the name
of the former appears among the contributors to the fund for
building St. Paul's church, in 1756. On the east side of
the river, on part of the tract (Winder) that George Wil-
locks sold to Daniel Axtell, lived George Teeple and his
sons, John and Christopher. He emigrated from Germany as
early as 1700, and his grandson William was living recently in
Pluckamin at an advanced age. The records show George
Teeple to have been living in the township in 1745, and his
name and that of his son John also appear, in 1756, as sub-
scribers to the building of St. Paul's Lutheran church. From
a gravestone in the churchyard we learn that John married
Margaret Castner on the tenth of January, 1756, and after liv-
ing together for fifty-seven years they died within three hours
of each other on the seventeenth of March, 1813, and were
buried in the same grave. John Wortman, a native of Holland,
in 1750 bought five hundred acres of land located west of
Pluckamin on the road leading to Burnt mills, upon which he
erected a long, one and a half storey, Dutch structure. The
present Schoonmaker dwelling, recently remodelled, embraces a
part of the original Wortman homestead, and is consequently
one of the oldest houses in the township.
It is fair to presume that Johannes dismounted at Eoff's tavern
to wish Jacob ^'giitcn morgen,^^ and discuss with him the quality
of some of his best Jamaica. It will be seen, as .we proceed with
the telling of our story, that the Moelichs, both father and son,
were intimately associated with the early citizens of this vicinity.
Among their old documents and miscellaneous papers in the
hands of the writer are many on which appear the signatures
of the Eoffs, Teeples, Wortmans, McDonalds, Van der Veers
and other Pluckamin worthies. It is to be regretted that Johan-
nes, in this and other visits to the village, did not ascertain and
transmit to his posterity the origin of its name. It has long
been a vexed question, and has served as a subject for many
Origin of the Name Pluckamin. 165
arguments and communications. A popular belief among the
villagers is that this strange cognomen was occasioned by the
assiduously-acquisitive habits of an early innkeeper, who, in his
eagerness to secure customers, would "Pluck-'em-in." This
ancient tavern-porch tale is an antiquated joke, and, without
doubt, dates back to the founding of the village. The same
mythical tavern-keeper has been found at Mendham, (I'll-Mend-
em). New Jersey, and in Tarrytown, New York. No one, how-
ever, has ever known his name, or in what year he flourished.
By many, ^^ Plaquemine" has been considered the proper
spelling of the word, there being such a town in France, and one
in the French portion of the Louisiana low-lands. I have long
been persuaded that the name, in its present form, is the result
of the linguistic efforts of our Dutch, German and English fore-
fathers to spell and pronounce an Indian word. It is repeatedly
written Blochhemen in the old German archives of Zion church.
In the year 1885, when Edward Eggleston was engaged in
researches among the manuscripts of the British museum
in London, I wrote him, asking if he would endeavor to
discover some trace of the word Pluckamin. I had thought
it possible the name might appear among the minor ham-
lets of Somersetshire, from which we have received the
names of Bridgewater and Bedminster. His reply, under date
of September sixteenth of that year, was as follows :
I have tried in vain in the best English gazeteers to find I'hickamin. I think
it may be a corruption of Pucfcamin, which, I believe, though I cannot be sure,
was a dialect form of the Algonquin, Pulchamin, corrupted by our ancestors to
persimmon, the fruit of that name. This seems like a wild conjecture, but I think
it is the solution. At any rate, the name is Indian, I doubt not.
As the present county-seat did not come into existence until
nearly half a century later, there was at this time no road lead-
ing from Pluckamin in the direction of Somerville. The county
of Somerset was first erected and set off from Middlesex in 1688,
but for twenty -five years after, it had no courts of its own, relying
upon Middlesex for the administration of justice. The first
court-house and jail was erected some time between the years
1714 and 1717, at Six Mile Run, the buildings standing about
three hundred feet east of the present church in that village,
where its foundation stones can still be discovered. This struc-
166 The Story of an Old Farm.
ture being destroyed by fire in 1737, the county-seat was
removed to Hillsborough (Millstone), where a new court-house
and jail were erected. This last building was destroyed
by the British in 1779, the remains of its foundation being
still in existence. In 1783 the county erected a tem-
porary court-house and a log jail at Tunison's tavern, or
Raritan. The former stood just east of the present court-house
grounds, where in 1798 permanent county buildings were
erected. This gave a great impetus to settlement in the neigh-
borhood, which three years later assumed the name of Somer-
ville. The road upon which our rider pursued his way followed
a more easterly course, and ran along the edge of the mountains
to Middlebrook, or Bound Brook. Below Pluckamin was a tract
of four hundred and seventy acres belonging to William
McDonald, who had recently built on the ravine of Chambers
brook a mill that ground the grists of Bedminster people until
after the Revolution. Upon crossing this tract the road plunged
directly into the forest, and from there on was but little more
than a bare wagon track.
Let us imagine Johannes traversing this shady way. As he
puffs his pipe and rides musingly along, he gives rein to his steed,
and abandons himself to agreeable reflection. While his mind
dwells on the future grain fields, barns, miUs and improvements
in contemplation for the Bedminster hillside, he turns his horse
on the soft green moss that carpets either side of the trail,
and, as he slowly moves on between the stately trees, breathes
with delight the cool sweet breath of grass and leaves and forest.
Now he threads a little bridle path or cut-off, which leaving the
highAvay runs under a mass of foliage, through which wild
honeysuckles and blossoming grape-vines clamber from bash to
tree, filling the air with their fragrance. On every side the
shadowy dells and bosky boAvers are vocal with the sweetest
of natui'e's music, the chirping, twittering and singing of early
summer birds. On the branches overhead saucy grey squirrels,
with a whisk of their spasmodic tails, scurry up the tree trunks
to safer altitudes, from where they peer down on the horse-
man below through a curtain of trembling leaves. Perhaps a
bear, with its awkward cubs, shuffles across the trail before him,
or a startled red deer bounds away through the glades of the
The Great Raritan Road. 167
forest, disappearing in its sombre distances. There were other
beasts and game at this time frequenting the quietudes of these
Pluckamin hills, for we know that in 1730 a law was passed in
the province offering a bounty of twenty shillings for full grown
wolves, five shillings for whelps not able to prey, and fifteen
shillings for panthers. Notwithstanding this inducement for the
extirpation of wolves, they seem to have grown more numerous,
as, in 1751, an act was passed increasing the bounty to sixty
shillings, and to ten shillings for whelps.
And now the thicket and undergrowth recede ; the ground
falls away, and the trail descending to the broad level of the
Raritan loses itself in the ^' Great Raritan Road," which had
been the thoroughfare of early colonial travel since the year
1700. It commenced at a point on the north bank of the river,
opposite New Brunswick, and following the stream to its branches
extended west to the Delaware. Here Johannes finds the
already old village of Bound Brook (Middlebrook), its loca-
tion then, as now, being one of much natural beauty. Seated on
the grassy banks of the Raritan, it overlooks that stream just
where with a graceful bend it sweeps to the south, and so
makes its deepening way through a fertile valley to the sea.
CHAPTER XIII.
Bound Brook in the Olden Time — The Raritan Valley/
in 1752.
Bound Brook has of late years grown familiar to the travel-
ling public, owing to the name being used to designate one of the
prominent railway routes to Philadelphia. Trains by this line,
while taking their hurried flight across the state, pause for a few
moments at the entrance door to this old village. Their passen-
gers look from the car windows with curious eyes upon the
ancient settlement sequestered amid its venerable trees ; but few
of them appreciate that their glances rest on a place that has
been the theatre of colonial and Revolutionary scenes of much
historic interest ; and on a locality whose name dates away back
to the year 1666.
To one fond of the beautiful in nature this valley of the Rari-
tan abounds in rural loveliness. It is but its superficial charm.
He who has an appetite for the quaint and old, and is eager to
discover localities around which memories of the past cluster
thickly, finds much along this river upon which to feed his
antiquarian tastes. Its associations are among the oldest in New
Jersey — none more so, save those of the Hudson and the Dela-
ware. After the establishment of the capital of the province at
Perth Amboy in 1682, the Scotch and English soon made their
way northerly as far as the forks of the Raritan. Long before
this time the Dutch had been quick to discover the agri-
cultural promises of this favored region. These pioneers,
toiling in the vanguard of settlement, while making their way
through the thick gloom of the woods bordering the river were
attracted by the intervals of broad meadow-spaces, horizoned by
zones of forest and rich in abundant grasses. Under the
The Gtenesis of Bound Brook. 169
shadow of their bordering trees often stood Indian cabins, for
the red men had used these savannas for raising corn, beans, and
pumpkins. The Hollanders had good cause for rejoicing at
finding in the dense woods lands destitute of trees and ready at
once for the plow. The secretary of the New Netherlands, Cor-
nelius Van Tienhoven, writes in 1650 that
The district inhabited by a nation called Karitangs is situated on a fresh
water river that flows through the centre of a lowland which the Indians culti-
vated. This vacant territory lies between two high mountains, far distant the
one from the other. This is the handsomest and pleasantest country that man
can behold. It furnished the Indians with abundance of maize, beans, pumpkins,
and other fruits. * * * Through this valley pass large numbers of all sorts
of tribes on their way north or east. This land is, therefore, not only adapted
for raising grain and rearing all descriptions of cattle, but also very convenient
for trade with the Indians. — Doc. History, N. Y.
It is generally believed that the name, Bound Brook, is
derived from the fact that the boundaries of the present town are
the brooks that empty into the Raritan ; this is a natural mis-
take, the name having a much greater and more significant
meaning. In the year 1666, after certain portions of the Eliza-
bethtown patent had been set off to the Woodbridge, Piscataway
and Newark settlers, it became necessary to define the limit of
what was left of this grant ; consequently it was declared to
extend from the mouth of the Raritan on the west to the mouth
of the Passaic on the east, and from the Rahway river on the
south to the brook emptying into the Raritan on the north, which
was from thenceforth known as Bound brook. This is the
stream that is crossed by the Central Railroad just below the
station, and in after years it gave its name to the hamlet that
grew upon its banks. Bound Brook has the honor of being
Somerset's oldest settlement, the land on which the village stands
having been purchased, in the year 1681, by Governor Philip
Carteret, and others, from two Raritan Indians named KoN-
ACKAMA and QuEROMAK. Doctor Messier considers this to be
the first land purchased in this county. It was described as
embracing territory lying within the boundaries of the Raritan
river on the south ; Bound brook, or Sacunk, (Indian for slow,
sluggish stream), on the east; Middle brook, or liha-weigh-tveiros
(Indian word meaning running from a deep hole), on the west ;
and of a certain stony hill and Metapes' wigwam at the mouth of
170 The Story of an Old Farm.
Cedar brook on the north. The whole area being known as
Raca-hova-wallahyy or "A round plain by the deep crooked
water,"
Only two of these eight purchasers seem to have appeared in
the county — Thomas Codrington and John Royce. The former
had apportioned to him eight hundred and seventy-seven acres
on the westerly side of the grant, fronting on Middle brook.
Soon after 1683, he built upon it a large mansion, giving his
homestead the name of JRacawackliana, an Indian word meaning
a meadow or flat by a rapid brook. This is the same property
now owned and occupied by George La Monte. Codrington was
a man of considerable influence ; before removing to Bound
Brook he had been sheriff of the city of New York, and after
becoming a citizen of the province of New Jersey he was
appointed a member of the governor's council, which position he
seems to have been still holding in 1698. The name of John
Royce is preserved in that of Roycefield, southwest of Somerville,
where he owned twenty thousand acres of land.
That -portion of this Indian grant, which is the immediate site
of Bound Brook, became the property of Thomas Rudyard, one
of the original twenty-four proprietors of East New Jersey and
its first deputy-governor. It was his daughter who, while the
widow of Samuel Winder, became the wife of George Willocks.
About the year 1700 George Cussart, Samuel Thompson and
Jacob De Groot purchased Rudyard's land, together with eight
hundred and seventy-seven acres adjoining, belonging to John
Royce. George Cussart built his residence where now stands
the village hotel ; and Thompson's house stood where the
Central Railroad line crosses the highway, and was extant until
the construction of the railway.
The most important Raritan resident in social and political
consequence in the seventeenth century was Lord Neil Camp-
bell. He lived in considerable state on a plantation of sixteen
hundred and fifty acres situated near where the north and south
branches of the Raritan join. He was a brother of the Duke
of Argyle, and was connected with that nobleman's disastrous
eflFort to aid the handsome " Pretender's" attempt to seize the
crown of England. More fortunate than many of his co-conspir-
ators, Lord Neil Campbell saved his head; and in October,
Bound Brook Presbyterian Church. 171
1685, he reached East New Jersey, bearing the commission of
its proprietors as deputy-governor. A retinue of sixty-five ser-
vants, that had preceded him, awaited his arrival at his planta-
tion. His two sons, John and Charles, were here before their
father, they also being under the ban of the home government
for political offenses. John, with his wife, three children and
eleven servants it is thought lived on an estate of eighteen
hundred and seventy acres that he owned on the west side of
the south branch of the Raritan near Corle's mills. Archibald
Campbell, a nephew of Lord Neil, and also a refugee, is said
about this time to have lived in baronial style on Herbert's
island, his residence being known as Kells' Hall. He had many
house and field servants, and hanging in the belfry of the Bound
Brook academy is an old bell with which, it is said, he used to
call his slaves from their labors. Within fifty years descend-
ants of the Campbells were living in this village ; there are none
now, though in the adjoining county they are said to be num-
erous.
The Scotch and English multiplied in this vicinity, and by the
year 1700 they were in sufficient numbers to warrant forming
the '^ Presbyterian Congregation of Bound Brook,'' which
before long became one of the most flourishing and important
religious organizations in the colony. We have no record of
where the first services were held — probably in one of the log
dwellings that were distributed along the willow-fringed banks
of the river. It was not until 1725 that the congregation elected
its first edifice, a low one-storey house which stood within the
present church grounds, and was preserved until far in this cen-
tury, the uses of its later years being that of a school-house. Itin-
erant preachers served the needs of the people until 1741, when
the Reverend James McCrea was appointed by the Presbytery
as a supply, which service he continued till 1749. A second
and more pretentious building was completed about the year
1760, the funds having been obtained from the proceeds of a
public lottery.
Affixed to the walls of the present church edifice is a tablet
showing the first settled minister of the congregation to have
been the Reverend Israel Read. He was called to the pastorate
in 1750, "in which he was faithful to his Divine Master to the
172 The Story of an Old Farm.
death." In November, 1793, he was thrown from his carriage
while riding near New Brunswick, receiving injuries of which
three days later he died. Judging from the congregational
records it would seem that members of the Field family have,
from the founding of this religious society, been among its most
active supporters and benefactors. A portion of the church
grounds was conveyed by Benjamin and Jeremiah Field in the
year 1749, and the large church Bible which bears a London
imprint of 1772, has on its leaf, in the hand writing of the Rev-
erend Mr. Read, the following : " Mr. Michael Field's Book
1784 he Presents to the Reverend Mr. Read being the Second
Small Legacy made by him to the Church at Bound Brook.
Pris-1-8-0." Michael Field died on the thirteenth of January,
1792; a copy of his will, in my possession, shows that he
bequeathed one thousand pounds to the trustees of the congrega-
tion, the interest of which was to be applied "towards supporting
the gospell in the Presbiterian Church at Bound Brook." He
also left the sum of five hundred pounds for the support of a free
school within the congregation. This was not the first one of the
village. The Scotch Presbyterians held the school almost in equal
estimation with the church ; schoolmasters were brought from the
old country and early established in the East Jersey settle-
ments. In 1752, when Johannes visited Bound Brook, John
Wacker taught the village children in a low one-storey building
within the present church grounds. Doubtless the colonial
lads found that pedagogue's name to be appropriate to his call-
ing, for schoolmasters of the olden time considered that mental
perceptions were precipitated by knuckles and palms being Avell
ridged by hard rulers. One of the first teachers in the
free academy established by the bequest of Mii^hael Field was
Isaac Toucey, who afterwards was secretary of war under
Buchanan's administration.
When in 1752 our wayfarer rode doAvn this ancient high-
way — the Great Raritan Road — through Bound Brook, he found
a village of about twenty houses, all of one storey, guarded
at either end by a spiritual and material sentinel, for at the
extreme south stood the church, while equally far north was
William Harris's tavern. This "public" continued in the same
family until 1815, when Isaac Harris combined the duties of
Bound Rrook Residents in 1752. 173
being its landlord with those of the sheriff of the county. A
portion of the original structure continues to represent the hos-
pitalities of this neighborhood in the present Middlebrook 'hotel.
It has been said that it was not until near the end of the century
that Peter Van Norden erected the first two-storey house, and
painted it a bright green. So much was this architectural extra-
vagance condemned by the villagers, that it became known as
'^ Van Norden's Folly." It was destroyed by fire in 1882, and
until then was occupied by descendants in the fourth generation
of its ambitious builder. Besides the tavern there is still another
building standing in that vicinity, which was in existence at the
time of Johannes' visit. It is the old Shepherd house on the
heights back of the village, which was built before the year
1730.
Among the citizens of this ancient burgh in the year 1752,
besides those already mentioned, was Peter Williamson, who
lived in a house on the bank of the river, just south of where
now is the railroad station, built in 1684 by John, son of Lord
Neil Campbell ; John de Groot, whose house, built by his father
in 1700, stood just north of the main street, — his son Jacob,
who lived to be ninety -four years of age, died in this dwell-
ing, which was preserved until the year 1839 when it was
destroyed by fire ; John Anderson, the remains of whose house are
still to be seen on the property of Isaac J. Fisher ; William
Moore, a hatter ; John Castner, a shoemaker ; and Tobias Van
Norden, who built a store in 1849, upon the site of the one now
or lately owned by John D. Voorhees. It was a long building of
but one storey, with two dormer windows in its sloping gambril
roof. Van Norden continued as Bound Brook's storekeeper until
after the Revolution, and we can imagine Johannes dismounting,
either going or coming, in order to fiU some little commissions
from home, as at this time it was the nearest shop to the " Old
Farm." A grandson of Van Norden says that for some twenty-
five years previous to 1765 his grandfather was extensively
engaged in baking ship bread, which he exported direct to the
West Indies, carting it in wagons to New Brunswick where it
was transferred to vessels.
Speaking of a lottery as a means of raising money for complet-
ing the Bound Brook church, brings to mind their prevalence in
174 The Stoky of an Old Fakm.
colonial times. It was the financial fashion of the age, and con-
sidered quite as legitimate as is to-day the placing on the mar-
ket of authorized railway securities. The following curious
extract from the diary of the Reverend Samuel Seabury, father
of Bishop Seabury, shows the pecidiar views prevailing in the
last century as to the propriety and morality of lotteries and
gambling :
The ticket No. 5,886, in the Light-house and Public Lottery of New York,
drew in my favor, by the blessing of Almighty God, 500 pounds sterling, of which
I received 425 pounds, there being a deduction of fifteen per cent ; for which I
now record to my posterity my thanks to Almighty God, the giver of all good
gifts.
These enterprises were under the patronage of the best people
in the land. Among the autographic treasures of John F. McCoy,
of Brooklyn, is the following :
1768. This Ticket (No. 176) shall entitle the Possessor to whatever Prize may
happen to be drawn against its number in the Mountain Koad Lottery.
(Signed) Go. Washington.
Judging from the advertisements appearing in the middle of
the last century in the New York papers, there was hardly a
settlement in the province that had not on foot some plan for a
lottery. The beneficiaries of those extraordinary monetary
schemes were most varied in character, and they were often for
the aid of private as well as public enterprises. One set up in
New Brunswick was for the relief of an insolvent debtor. Peter
Bodine advertised another having one hundred and ninety-five
prizes, '' many of them being lots in the heart of that growing
place, Raritan Landing, which is a market for the most plen-
tiful wheat coimtry of its bigness in America." It would seem
that specidative real estate bubbles were early afloat in the New
Jersey air. The Landing must have stopped growing very sud-
denly, and one would need to search diligently now to find that
number of lots in this then called market. Within a few years
of that time the Presbyterian '' meeting-houses" at Amwell and at
Bound Brook, the English church at New Brunswick, St. John's
church at Elizabethtown, and Trinity chiu'ch at Newark, were
all completed with the assistance afforded by lotteries. In Phila-
delphia, in 1749, one was established to raise fifteen hundred
pounds for the benefit of Nassau, now the College of New Jer-
Lotteries in the Olden-Time. 175
sey at Princeton ; and. in May, 1754, a Pennsylvania newspaper
advertised that tickets in a Connecticut lottery for the benefit of
this same college, "will be had of Mr. Cowell, at Trenton." In 1773
that institution, in conjunction with the Presbyterian church at
Princeton, secured by the same means fifty-six hundred and
twenty-six pounds. ToAvard the end of the century lotteries
had grown in bad repute and were generally prohibited ; but
immediately after the Revolution the legislature of New Jersey
granted the borough of Elizabethtown the privilege of holding
one " to raise a sum of money for building a court-house and
jail, and finishing the academy, which during the late war was
bm-ned by the enemy."
As Johannes left Bound Brook and rode southerly down the
valley of the Raritan, the country quite lost that impress of soli-
tude it had borne during the earlier stages of his journey. The
heavy timber was now left behind, the trees grew more sparsely,
for he had reached a region where settlers under the first prop-
rietors earliest penetrated, and established their plantations. He
was now in Middlesex county, and the township he traversed
had for fifty years been occupied by the husbandman. Gener-
ous orchards and abundant fields had long before taken the place
of tangled maizes and impenetrable thickets, and much of the
bottom and bench lands had been wrested by the hand of culti-
vation from the grasp of primeval nature. No longer were the
rude structures of logs that had housed the families of pioneers
the sole architectural features of the landscape; in many instances
they had made way for the more pretentious farm-house, the
homes of permanent, well-established residents ; and ample
barns bore testimony to the fertility and productiveness of the
surrounding acres. The board houses were of one storey, with
long sloping roofs extending over a porch in front and descend-
ing nearly to the ground in the rear. Here the overhanging
eaves sheltered the big Dutch oven, and a broad space where rus-
set-gowned maids sang at their spinning wheels, and where busy
house-wives did the family weaving at their clumsy looms.
These frame houses were generally unpainted, and rapidly grew
venerably dark in color. Their interiors were divided into but
few rooms ; one or two sufficed for the needs of the family, while
the others harbored pumpkins, carrots and potatoes, with dried
176 The Story of an Old Farm.
apples and peaches hanging in festoons from the ceiling. The
humble log hut, which had originally done residential duty, stood
like a poor relation at a respectful distance, often degraded to
the menial service of sheltering pigs and kine. Sometimes it
was converted into a rude brew-house, for the Raritan settlers
manufactured and drank great quantities of malt liquors.
Mention has been made before of the fact that Hollanders
from Long Island had early learned of the fertility and desirabil-
ity of land in the rich valley of the Raritan. By the year
1703, they were thoroughly established on both sides of the
river. Judging from a report made by Governor Dongan, of
New York, to the English Board of Trade in 1687, it would
seem that even by that time the Dutch had emigrated fi'om
Long Island to New Jersey. English emigrants, in 1685, had
divided into about six hundred-acre tracts nearly all the land
between New Brunswick and Bound Brook, extending for two
miles back from the south bank of the river ; by the year 1717
the greater part of these lands was out of the hands of their original
owners and occupied by the Dutch. Interspersed among the
Hollanders that located on the north, or east, bank of the
river, were many permanent English and Scotch settlers, as the
names of Field, Boice, Smith, Ross, Low and others bear
witness.
Primogeniture being now unknown in this country, instances
are not frequent where land descends from father to son
for successive generations. In addition to the usual necessity
of dividing estates, too often the heir to homestead lands
is quite wanting in that love and reverence for ancestral
acres that distinguishes people of an older country. It is
pleasant to be able to record and make Jionorable mention
of so rare a preservation of a family property as that of Benja-
min M., Benjamin B., John K., and John B. Field, who now
own and occupy five hundred acres of land fronting on the river,
a short distance below Bound Brook. Theirs is one of the few
instances in New Jersey of persons being able, in walking
over their lands, to feel the proud consciousness of overlooking
a broad territory that has been theirs and their ancestors for
nearly two himdred years. The New Jersey forefather was
John Field, who, on the fom'teenth of December, 1695, pur-
John Field's Raritan Purchase in 1695. 177
chased ten hundred and fifty-five acres of land, fronting the
Raritan for two miles and a half, extending about three quarters
of a mile inland and commencing about one mile below Bound
Brook. He came from Long Island, where he was born in
1659, being the grandson of Robert Field, born in 1610, who it
is supposed came to Rhode Island with Roger Williams. Rob-
ert with fifteen associates obtained in 1645 from Governor
William Kieft, of New Netherland, a patent for a large area of
land on Long Island, embodying the present location of Flush-
ing. The New Jersey ancestor was fifth in descent — in the
direct line — from the famous astronomer, John Field, born A. D.
1525, who introduced the Copernican system in England. While
living in London in 1556 he published the first English astro-
nomical tables on the basis of the new discoveries. In recogni-
tion of this service he received from the Crown a patent author-
izing him to bear a crest on his family arms. His son Richard
became chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, and was the author of sev-
eral religious works. The Fields trace their descent from
Hubertus de la Feld, who held lands in the county of Lancaster,
England, in the third year of the reign of William the Con-
queror. The name, in the old English, was written, " Feld ;"
and is merely the past participle of the verb to fell. Field-land
is opposed to wood-land, and means land where the trees have
been felled. When such land is spoken of by such old authors
as Gower, Chaucer and others, it is always written '^ feld:" '^ In
Woode, in Feld or Cittee, Shall no man steale in nowise."
John Field purchased his Raritan lands in 1695 from Benja-
min Clarke, who inherited the property from his father — also
named Benjamin. The senior Clarke, who died in 1689, arrived
in Perth Amboy in 1683, securing headlands for himself, his
son, and eight others. He is said to have built a house near the
junction of Market and Water streets, where he established New
Jersey's first stationery and book store. In a letter to Scotland
in March, 1685, Charles G-ordon writes : '^ Neither are we
altogether destitute of Books and Clergy, for George Keith, who
arrived three weeks since, with others — (they were all winter in
Barbadoes) — have brought mathematics, and Benjamin Clarke a
Library of Boohs to sell ; so you may see New Perth begins to be
founded upon Clergy." Clarke was a Quaker, and we may judge
12
178 The Story of an Old Farm.
him a stiff-necked one after reading the folloAving extract from
the old book of records of the Society of Friends :
At the monthly meeting held in Amboy the thirteenth of the fifth month,
1687, the friends appoynted to speak to Benjamin Clerk brought his answer, which
was, that he would not come to meeting because Governor Lawry called him a
divil (as he sayes) wherewith friends not being satisfied desires George Keith and
John Barclay to speak to him again.
Many of these ancesti'al acres have been the homestead lands
of Fields from that day to this. At the time Johannes rode
through this domain the original estate was owned and occupied
by the grandsons of John Field — as follows : Jeremiah, bom
in 1713, who lived on the farm lately owned by Stephen Voor-
hees, and whose stone dwelling is still extant ; John, born in
1714, who lived on what was lately known as the Oliver farm^
in a stone house still standing which has inscribed on the west
wall the date 1743 and the initials J. F. ; Michael, born in
1723, who lived on the mill property lately owned by Louis
Clark; Benjamin, born in 1735, who lived on the farm now
owned b}^ Benjamin M. Field, in a frame house still standing,
the newer portion of which is inscribed with the date 1761 and
the initials B. F. ; and Richard, born 1726, who lived on the
farm lately owned by John D. Field. His house is still standing,
its corner-stone being marked with the date 1710 and the
initial F. ; it is thought, however, that this stone was taken from
the original house of the first purchaser, John Field, which
stood a few hundred yards away, its foundations and cellars
being still plainly visible.
You may wonder at so prolonged a narrative of the Fields
and their property. It shoidd have an interest to the descend-
ants of Johannes from the fact that the two families are in this
wise connected : Jeremiah Field, born in 1753, married Jane,
daughter of Captain Jacob Ten Eyck of Revolutionary fame.
He settled in Bedminster township, purchasing on the sixth of
February, 1790, from Daniel Heath a farm of one hundred and
three acres, fronting on the Lamington river. Here Richard J.
Field was born in 1785, who on the twenty-second of Decem-
ber, 1808, married Mary Kline, born on the seventeenth of
April, 1791, she being the granddaughter of Jacob Kline, and his
Raritan Landing's Industries in 1752. 179
wife Veronica Gerdrutta, the eldest daughter of Johannes
Moelich.
On reaching Raritan Landing, two miles above New Bruns-
wick, Johannes found it, for those days, a place of considerable
prominence ; its marked growth of a few previous years having
given rise to expectations of ultimate commercial greatness that
the future was not to realize. Its prosperity was gained mainly
from the fertile valley bordering the Raritan, and the ricli fields
of wheat and corn that were rapidly midtiplying between that
river and the Delaware. This, together with the fact that the
Landing was on tide- water and at the head of sloop navigation,
gave it an importance second only to that of Ncav Brunswick,
and by many it was thought to be a serious business rival to that
city. In addition to its shipping interests this point had active
manufacturing industries. The Raritan was here dammed, and
mills were in successfid operation, both for grinding the grain of
the back country and for manufacturing flour and meal for
shipment to New York and more eastern ports. Among the
manuscript papers of the late Ralph Voorhees is the Frank-
lin township tax list for the year 1735. This old paper testifies
directly as to the early prosperity of this portion of Somerset, by
showing that at that date there were already established in the
township six grist mills : one at the Landing, owned by Coert
Van Voorhees ; another, a mile up the river, on the Rapelye
brook ; the third, owned and operated by John Folkers, on the
brook emptying into the Raritan, east of the house now or lately
occupied by Abram Sebring ; there was also the WyckofF mill at
Six Mile Run ; the Moere mill at Rocky Hill ; and another on
the Millstone river, owned by Benjamin Griggs who is supposed
to have been the founder of Griggstown. This last mill in the
year 1752 was owned and operated by Nicholas Veghten. At
this time there was also a mill, which had been erected in 1747
by Hendrick Schenck, located on the west side of the Millstone
river, since known as Blackwells ; and in 1749 Abram Berean
erected on the same river the Weston mill, lately known as
Robeson's.
Much testimony could be produced going to show the popu-
lousness and growth of this part of New Jersey at that time as
compared with other portions of the province. A correspondent of
180 The Story of an Old Farm.
ex-Govenior Robert Hunter, in a letter to him in England,
about the year 1730, writes that •' New Brunswick had grown
very rapidly for the reason that the country back of this town
had improved quite fast. The farmers principally raised wheat,
and the large mills in the vicinity rendered this an important
flouring mart/' Ralph Voorhees, in one of his sketches of the
early settlers, tells us that the water-power at the Landing was
destroyed about the time of the Revolution by the people along
the upper Raritan, who were exasperated because it prevented
shad from ascending the stream.
When Johannes reached the Landing he was miich inter-
ested in viewing what was then considered, and properly so,
a very grand mansion. It was surpassed by few, if any, resi-
dences in the province. Nearly fifty feet square, it elevated a
dormer-windowed hipped roof above two stone storeys, pre-
senting a strong contrast to the ordinary wooden buildings of the
surrounding country. Embowered in a luxuriant growth of ivy,
it is still to be seen on the hillside opposite the road leading to
the covered bridge, being owned and occupied by George W.
Metlar. This important dwelling was built by Cornelius Low,
Jr., who was born on the thirty-first of March, 1700,
and settled in East Jersey about 1730, through the influ-
ence of the Gouverneur family, he having married Johanna
Gouverneui' in 1729. He was a surveyor, and did much
valuable work in the province in defining the boundaries
of important estates. Schuyler's " Colonial New York " con-
tains the record from Low's family Bible, which recites that
he built his new house at " Raritan Landing, on the mountain,"
in 1741. The record repeatedly mentions the burial of members
of his family in Jacob De Groot's vaidt. This tomb was prob-
ably in the Presbyterian churchyard at Bound Brook, as this
was the same De Groot who in the year 1700, in company with
Cussart and Thompson, purchased the site of that village from
Deputy- Governor Rudyard. Cornelius Low, Jr., does not
appear to have been of the Presbyterian persuasion, as we find
on the minutes of the Dutch Reformed church, '' op de Mill-
stone,^' his name entered as a communicant. This congregation
was organized in 1727, by the Reverend Henricus Coens of
Acquackanonk (Passaic). In this year, 1752, a new edifice had
The Church Op De Millstone. 181
been erected on the site of the present Harlingen church. It
was an antiquated Dutch structure, having lofty gables and a
long steep roof. The interior was divided by one aisle, faced
with short pews in which sat the men, while the body of the
church was occupied by square pews filled with chairs for the
use of the women and children. I do not find that the name of
Low has been perpetuated in either Somerset or Middlesex, A
descendant married the late Charles King, president of Columbia
college. New York, and died in Paris a few years since ; her
only son, C. L. King, lives in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and
a daughter is the wife of Mr. Waddington, the present French
minister at the English court.
Johannes crossed the river on the riffle below the dam, and
making his way down the opposite shore he was soon in New
Brunswick, where he dismounted in front of a tavern on Water
street, the city's main thoroughfare. After his long ride we can
imagine him quite ready for what some one has called the hope
of the hmigry, the rest of the weary, the consolation of the mis-
erable — dinner.
CHAPTER XIV.
From an Indian Path to the King's Highway — New Brunswick
and Historic Piscataway.
The antiquated college town of New Brunswick, which the
traveller Philadelphia-ward finds perched on the high rolling
banks of the Raritan, is located on the most ancient highway in
New Jersey ; a road that, before the foot of the first white man
had trod the American continent, was centuries older than were
its flanking oaks, chestnuts and hickories.
In those remote days — before the advent of Europeans
— a faint path could be traced on nature's carpet of falleu
leaves and twigs, running east and west through the thick-
ets and undergrowth of the vast and sombre forest. It
was the soft impress of the moccasined feet of the Lenni-
Lenape, made while on their frequent way to the Lenni-
Wihittuck, or Delaware river. This Indian path started at what
is now Elizabethport and plunging into the solitudes of the
wilderness extended almost in a direct line to a point on the
Raritan opposite where Albany street, in New Brunswick, now
terminates. Here the red-men at low water forded the river, or
at higher tides paddled across in their birch canoes. Passing up
the present line of Albany street, the foot-path traversed the
hoary woods with but little deviation till it reached the Dela-
ware, just above where now is the capital of the state. This was
the Indian's thoroughfare — their main arteiy of travel. It was
intersected by others, the most important being the one by which
the Monseys and more northern tribes found their way to the
sea. Commencing on the Delaware in what is now Sussex
county, near where three states converge, this trail, known as
the Minisink path, ran southeasterly to within five miles of
where Carteret founded his capital, Elizabethtown. Tuniing to
Indian Paths Across New Jersey. 183
the right, it stretched across the country to the Raritan, three miles
above its mouth. Following the south bank of the river and
the shore of the Lower bay, the footpath continued along where
now is the village of Middletown, and so onward over the pleas-
ant rises and gentle declivities of Monmouth, till it penetrated
the hemlock heights of the Highlands, and descending on their
ocean side reached the river which the red-man had named
Nauvessing,* " the place of good fishing." Another Indian
trail branched from the first one at the Raritan ford, and follow-
ing the river bank extended north and west, by way of the site
of Bound Brook, to the forks of the stream, where it divided. It
was over this trail that settlers first made their way up into
Bedminster.
Early in the seventeenth century other than Indian forms were
to be seen passing along our ancient highway. Over this path,
which had never been pressed by human feet save by those of
the soft-stepping, stealthy savage, strode burly Dutchmen wear-
ing hats of generous brim, broad belts and stout leather jerkins ;
the smoke from their pipes, fragrant with the odors of the best
Virginia, mingling with the breath of the woods and exuberant
herbage. The Hollanders had settled New Amsterdam ; sailing
in their high-pooped shallops through the Kill von Koll — the
creek of^ the bay — they landed on the west shores of the Achter
Koll — the back bay — and found this Indian trail a most conveni-
ent route to their settlement on the Delaware. Later on, when
the English had captured New Amsterdam, they, too, discovered
that the natives had marked out an excellent line for a road
across the Jerseys — and a road it has been from that day to this.
A mutual good will soon existed between the Dutch and Eng-
lish and the dusky occupants of the little wigwam villages that
were planted in cool and shady glens or by the side of sparkling
* When the Dutch first landed on the shores of this part of Monmouth, they
wrote down the Indian name for the place as it sounded to them, thus " Nau-ves-
sing." The English converted the word into Nave-sink, from which Neversink
is, perhaps, a natural result. The generally-accepted significance of the name —
" the place of good fishing" — is not endorsed by all authorities. By some the
original word is interpreted as meaning, " high lands between the waters," while
others claim its significance to be "pleasant fields,'" referring to all the country
lying between the Highlands and Chingarora, as the vicinity of Keyport was
called.
184 The Stoey of an Old Farm.
rills. The white man had not long used this forest trail before
signs of human thrift began to break in upon the wildness of
natm-e. He travelled not only with matchlock and hanger,
but with mattock and axe as well. The wild grape-vines and
stunted bushes that encumbered the path Avere cleared away ;
the decaying tree-trunks, giants that had fallen from mere
weight of years, no longer impeded the passer-by. Foot-logs
crossed the little streams, and soon the glittering axe hewed out
a clearing here and there on the side of the path, from which
rose little log cabins, premonitory symptoms and prophecies of
populous hamlets and villages soon to follow. In 1665, when
Philip Carteret reached the place he called Elizabethtown, it was
already a settlement of four log huts. Some of the immigrants
who had accompanied him from England made their way along this
trail, till reaching a convenient point their brawny arms forced
back the forest on either side, and planted the germ of a town
which later migrators from New England named Woodbridge.
In the following year other pioneers, striding sturdily Avestward,
felled the trees and let the warm simlight in on a new settlement,
soon baptized as Piscataway.
A few years later New Brunswick received its first inhabitant.
Tradition gives his name as Daniel Cooper. Early in 1681 John
Inians and some associate purchased ten thousand acres of land at
AhanderhamocJc, as this vicinity had been named by the Indians.
In November of the same year Inians located for himself on the
west bank of the river twelve hundred acres, embracing the pres-
ent site of New BrunsAvick. By 1684 a number of Holland people
had settled on his land, among Avhom Avere the ancestors of such
old Jersey families as the Vrooms, Andersons, Probascos, Van
Duyns and others. A charter for a ferry was granted in 1697
to John Inians for the term of his or his wife's life, at the
yearly rental of five shillings. Soon quite a settlement grcAv up
about Inian's ferry, and travellers by the old Indian path began
to be frequent. It lost its early appellation and became known
as the Dutch trail ; indeed, for many years later it was little bet-
ter than a trail through the Avoods, and was used only by pedes-
trians and horsemen. In 1716, nearly twenty years after the
establishment of the ferry, the tariff named only " horse and
man " and " single person." Within a few years this old Dutch
New Bkunswick in 1717. 185
trail began to present some of the characteristics of a road, and
we find imposed upon the innkeepers of Elizabethtown, Wood-
bridge and Piscataway a total annual tax of ten pounds for
keeping the highway free from fallen timber. This impost,
was laid for the preservation of the " lower road," which,
following a branch Indian path, diverged from the main trail a
few miles beyond the Raritan, its trend being southwesterly, by
way of Craubmy, to Burlington. The necessity for this tax, as
the act declares, was because of the unsettled condition of the
country the road traversed, whereby it was in danger of falling
into "decay to the great inconvenience of travelers who may pass
and repass that way unless care be taken to maintain the same
until such time as it may be maintained by those who inherit it.''
The town grew apace, and before 1717 there were people
enough to necessitate the building of a church. A frame struc-
ture fifty feet front, containing fifty pews, was erected under the
superintendence of Elder Roelef Sebring and Deacons Hendi'ik
Bries and Roelef Lucas. It faced the river on the corner of
what is now Burnet and Schureman streets, and for more than
fifty years housed the congregation of the First Dutch Reformed
church of the town. This was not the earliest house of worship
in this vicinity. One had been erected some years before, about
one and one-half miles beyond the present New Brunswick city
limits, and it is believed it was the first sanctuary built in the
county of Somerset. Tradition characterizes it as a rude struc-
ture, never entirely completed ; the settlement about Inian's
ferry growing rapidly, the congregation preferred to transfer
itself to a new church in '^ the town by the river " rather than
complete the old one at a point where evidently population would
not centre.
From this time the tide of settlers rose, and rolled steadily on
toward and beyond the Raritan. In 1730 the population of New
Brunswick was augmented by the arrival of a number of Dutch
families from the upper Hudson, who planted themselves on
either side of the road leading up from the ferry, giving it the
name of Albany street. Before then it had been known as
French street, deriving its appellation from Philip French,. the
person from whom these new-comers had acquired their lands.
He was a large owner in Middlesex county, and was the son of
\
186 The Story of an Old Fakm.
Philip French who had been mayor of the city of New York and
speaker of the assembly of that province. In addition to their
native thrift the migrators introduced into East Jei-sey the good
old Holland names of Van Dyke, Van Alen, Van Veghten,
Van Deursen, Schuyler, Ten Broek, and others. Not only the
town by the river benefited by this influx of new-comers ; the
back country of Middlesex, which had been a comity since 1682,
lost its aspect of a solitude. The old Dutch trail was rapidly
being transformed into the King's highway ; clearings multiplied,
and what had been clearings were now converted into arable
fields and well-tilled farms. Immigrants from Germany landing
in New York traversed this road, seeking that Mecca of all pil-
grims from the Khine, the province of Pennsylvania. Finding
their route bordered by goodly lands, many of them abandoned
their proposed goal, and turning aside made their homes among
the Dutch and English settlers.
The country in the vicinity of this highway, when much of
New Jersey was still a wilderness, had the appearance of being
comparatively well cultivated and long occupied. James Alex-
ander, the father of Lord Stirling, in a letter written in 1730,
says that '' In the year 1715 there were but four or five houses
between Inian's ferry and the Delaware river, but that now —
1730 — the country is settled very thick ; as they go chiefly on
raising of wheat and the making of flour, and as New Brunswick
is the nearest landing, it necessarily makes that the storehouse
for all the produce that they send to market ; which has drawn a
considerable number of people to settle there, insomuch that
a lot of ground in New Brunswick is grown to be near so great a
price as so much ground in the heart of New York."
Prof. Kalm, the Swedish botanist and ti'aveller, when journey-
ing in 1748 from Philadelphia to New York, expressed the
greatest surprise at finding so cidtivated a region, and declared
that in all his travels in America he saw no part of the open
country so well peopled. At Trentown, which he reached by
sloop, his landlord told him that twenty-two years before, when
he first settled there, there were hardly any houses, but the
increase since that time had been so great that there were now
nearly one hundred. Along the road to the Raritan there were
great distances of forests, but yet on much of the way he found
New Brunswick Chartered in 1730. 187
extensive fields of grain, and almost every farm had abundant
orchards. He especially noticed the great Jersey barns, which
in many instances he thought to be as big as small churches, so
large, in fact, that, which to the foreigner seemed most extraor-
dinary, they housed horses, cattle, grain, mows, and thresh-
ing floors. Their great double doors enabled farmers to drive
loaded teams " in one side and out the other." The Pro-
fessor attributed this generous farm architecture to the Germans
and Dutch, whom he reports as occupying most of the country.
On the thirtieth day of December, 1730, two weeks before
New York was incorporated as a city. King George 11. bestowed
on New Brmiswick, under the great seal of the Crown, its first
city charter.* The inhabitants agreed in consideration of the
privileges granted by this precious document to pay annually to
the kingdom of Great Britain one sheaf of wheat. The opening
language of this charter was as follows :
Whereas, our Loving Subjects Thomas ffarmar, Jacob Okey, James Hude
Dolin Hagerman, Lawrence Williamson, Duncan Hutchinson, Derrick Schuyler,
William Okey, Paul Miller, William Williamson, Abraham Bennett, Cort Voor-
hees, James Nelson, John Balding, and many Others have petitioned for a city
charter, it has been granted. Also for the reason that the said Towne of New
Brunswick, standing near the head of a fine Navigable River, and being the
Most Convenient place for shipping off tlie produce of a large and plentiful!
Country Lying on the back thereof is a place of very Considerable trade &
Conunerce.
The citizens of New Jersey in the olden-time had great confi-
dence in the future prosperity of the province. In laying out
their towns and cities they established corporate limits great
enough for that extensive population, the coming of which they
so surely anticipated. Thus Perth Amboy — already for twelve
years a chartered city — included ^ thousand acres east of the
Raritan, wliUe on the opposite side of the river its northerly line*
extended from the mouth of South river westerly nearly to
Hightstown, and its southerly parallel line ran fuUy as far into
Monmouth county from the mouth of Cheesequake creek. New
Brunswick, equally ambitious, extended its southerly boundary
*New York City was first chartered by Governor Dongan in 1676, but its
fathers, fearing that this governor's corporation might not, under pressure, stand
a legal test, asked of the King, and received on the fifteenth of January, 1730-
1731, the royal charter by which the city was governed for a century.
188 The Story of an Old Farm.
to the Amboy line, while its northerly limits stretched west-
erly almost to Princeton. And so the two great cities of Middle-
sex adjoined each other. The following is a list of New
Brunswick's officers for the first year :
Mayor, Thomas Farmar: Recorder, James Hude ; Aldermen, "VVm. Cox,
Jacob Oakey, Dally Hagaman, William Cheasman. Josiah Davison and Lawrence
Williamson, Esqrs. ; Sheriff" and W^ater-baliff, Evan Drummond ; Common Coun-
cilmen or Assistants, John Thomson, Cort Voorhees, Minne Voorhees, Henry
Longfield, William Williamson and John Van Dyck ; Chamberlain or Treasurer,
Alexander Moore; Coroner, Tliomas Marshall; Marshall or Serjeant at Mace,
John Dally ; Overseers of the Poor, John Van Nuys and Daniel Fitch ; Con-
stables, John Stevens, David Lee and Michael Moore.
It would be pleasant to know what manner of men were all
of these political pioneers — New Brunswick's first city-fathers.
Of some of them a measure of information as to their personality
gleams upon us through the mists of time. Professor Austin
Scott, of Rutger's college, in a paper entitled, "Beginnings of City
Life in New Jersey," read before the '^New Brmiswick Historical
Club " on the twenty-ninth of October, 1886, paid a high tribute
to the character and attainments of Thomas Farmar, the city's first
mayor. He is said to have lived on Staten Island and at Perth
Amboy before removing to Ncav Brunswick : as early as 1709
John Harrison, who was with the provincial army on the north-
ern frontier, addressed a letter to him at Amboy. In October,
1711, he was appointed second judge of the provincial siipreme
court, and was its presiding judge from March, 1728, to Novem-
ber, 1729. He ably represented his county in the assembly
during the Morris administration, being a stanch supporter of
that governor in his spirited fight against the aggressive tyranny
of Lord Cornbury. Mr. Farmar had several children : one of
of them — Christopher — assumed the name of Billop, inheriting
with it from his wife's family a large estate on Staten Island, to
which he removed. His residence — still standing — is a promi-
nent land-mark at Billops'-point, at the extreme southerly end of
the Island. This antiquated dAvelling is well worthy of a visit,
not only because of its quaint appearance and old-time charac-
teristics, but from its having been the place Avhere Franklin,
Adams and Rutledge, conferred with Lord Howe in 1776 in the
futile endeavor to establish some basis for an honorable peace.
Two of the mayor's daughters married Peter Goelet, and his young-
New Brunswick's First City-Fathers. 189
est and most beautiful daughter, Sarah, became the wife of Doc-
tor Alexander Ross, of New Brunswick, who was born in Ireland
in 1723, and died in 1775, as his monument in Christ's church-
yard attests. He it was who in the middle of the last centmy
erected on the river bank, opposite and above the city, that sub-
stantial residence which is still known as Ross HaU — a most
interesting specimen of colonial architecture. At the death of
Doctor Ross, his student, Doctor Charles A. Howard, succeeded
not only to his preceptor's practice but to his wife and house
as well.
Recorder Hude was a Scotch Presbyterian and a prominent
merchant of New Brunswick. His father, Adam Hude, came to
America with John Johnstone on the ill-fated fever ship " Henry
and Francis." He settled in Woodbridge township, building a
house which was recently standing on the Rahway road one
mile north of the village. His son, the recorder, the Honorable
Colonel James Hude as he was termed, during a long and use-
ful life, occupied almost every important office within the gift of
the government and people. At his death in 1762 he was
a member of the king's council and mayor of the corporation of
New Brunswick. The "New York Mercury" of the eighth of
November of that year, in noticing his death, " after a long and
tedious indisposition," mentions him as " a gentleman who, for
his great probity, justice, affability, moral and political virtues,
was universally esteemed and beloved by those who knew him."
Derrick, or Dirck, Schuyler, one of the petitioners for the
charter, was a Dutch migrator from the upper Hudson. He was
bom on the twenty-fifth of July, 1700, being the son of Abra-
ham, and the grandson of David, the first notice of the latter being
obtained from his marriage on the thirteenth of October, 1657,
to Catalyna, daughter of Abraham Isaacse Verplanck. He is
believed to have been a younger brother of the Philip Peterse
who is known in Schuyler annals as " the immigrant." There
was also living in New Brunswick at this time Abraham Schuy-
ler, a four years younger brother of Derrick, whose wife was
Katrina, daughter of Barent Staats.
Abraham Bennet, another of the petitioners, lived near the
old Dutch chui'ch at Three Mile Run. He was the son of Adrian
and Angenietje Bennet and the grandson of William Bennet
190 The Story of an Old Farm.
who emigrated from Holland to Gowanus on Long Island early
in the seventeenth century. He, Aldermen Lawrence William-
son (Laurens Willianise), Dolis, or Dallius, Hagaman and Con-
stable Michael Moore were in Middlesex county at the dawn of
the eighteenth century ; their names are to be found on a sub-
scription list, dated 1703, by which £10,16s.,6d. was obtained from
thirty subscribers to aid in procuring a minister from Holland.
Bennet, his parents and wife Jannetie ; Aldermen Williamson,
Hagaman and Jacob Oakey (Jacobus OuJcee) ; and Councilman
Minne Voorhees ; were all members in 1717 of the Dutch
Reformed church of New Brunswick, as the minutes of the con-
gregation for that year show. Minne Voorhees was a sort of a
lay-domine, an opsinderin, or helper of the minister. He cate-
chised the children and in the absence of the pastor conducted
the chiu'ch services, which he did exceptionally well, being
blessed with an extraordinary memory that enabled him to
repeat a lecture and all the exercises without the aid of notes.
He was the son of Lucas Stephens, and grandson of Stephen
Courten who settled at Flatlands, Long Island, in 1660, having
reached America in April of that year from the province of
Drenthe, Holland, in the ship Bontehoe (Spotted Cow.) The
name Voorhees is derived from the Holland village of Hesse,
where the family originated ; and with the prefix Van means
'^from before Hesse." Minne Voorhees owned a mill and a
large tract of land on Lawrence's brook just south of the city,
and in 1723 is said to have been living on what is now, or was
recently, known as the '' college farm." Councilman Cort
Voorhees, a descendant of the same immigrant-ancestor, was also
a grinder of grists ; his miU stood at the mouth of the Mile Run
at the Landing, about opposite the residence of the late
Lewis Carman. As is shown by the Franklin tax list of 1735
he owned one hundred and sixty acres of land and nine head of
cattle, on which he paid a tax of £l,7s.,ld. Another Long Island
migrator among the city fathers was Alderman Hagaman. He
was the son of Denyse and Liurstia Hagaman, of Flatbush, and
grandson of Adrian who emigrated from Holland in 1651. Law-
rence Williamson, like many modern aldermen, seems to have been
a publican of substance. Professor Scott has an original deed
by which in 1742 Williamson conveyed to the city as a gift a lot
How THE Dutch Obtained Patronymics. 191
"near his old pot-house" on Burnet and Peace streets — now
Commerce square. Like most of the Raritan Dutch, he came
from Long Island ; he returned there in 1711, in search of a
wife, being married at Flatlands on the twenty-ninth of March
of that year to Sarah Stoothoff.
Jacob Oakey, in his cognomen, is an excellent example of that
peculiar fashion among the New Netherland Dutch of evolving
a patronymic from a Christian name. Tracing genealogies from
Holland descents is vexatious, because so few of the emigrant
families possessed surnames ; in very many instances the
Christian name of the father served as a surname for children.
Thus Peter's son Michael would be called Michael Pictcrsen^
Pieterse, or Pieters, and should Michael have a son Jacob, he in
his turn would be Jacob MicJiaelsen, Iflchaelse, or Michaels.
It was not until the English immigration had become gen-
eral that the Dutch felt the necessity of adopting surnames.
These were variously chosen — from the Christian name of the
father, from their occupations, their homes in the old country, or
often some peculiar feature of the locality from which they had
emigrated. Accordingly, in this manner were developed such
names as Hendricks, Hendrickson, Anderson, Williams, Williamson
and Johnson. The Van Winkles derived their names from winkel,
" a shop," the Van Horns from Hoorn, a port on the Zuyder
Zee ; the Van Ripens and Van Ripers from Ripen, a diocese in
North Jutland ; the Rosendales from Rosendaalen (" valley of
roses "), a town on the Belgian frontier ; Van Dyck means
" from the dike " ; Van Zant, '^ from the sand " (coast) ; Van
Boskerck, " from the church in the woods," and so on, ad
infinitum.
Jacohus Ouke, as he spelled his name, was the son of Jacobus
AuckersSj of Flatlands, and the grandson of Auke Janse, a Long
Island carpenter who emigrated from Amsterdam in 1651. The
records of New Amsterdam show that on the tenth of March,
1653, a suit was instituted before the burgomasters and schepens
by Hendrick Egbertsen, to recover from Hendrick Gerritsen
thirty-five guilders and sixteen stivers for building a house.
The contestants were referred to carpenters Auke Janse and
Christian Barentsen as arbitrators. Alderman Oakey's carpenter-
ancestor waxed so important in the new country as to feel the
192 The Story of an Old Farm.
need of a surname, so he assumed the name of Van Nuys, which
is the surname of most of his descendants. The posterity of our
alderman, however, all became Oakeys ; thus we find two dis-
tinct families of different names emanating from a common ances-
tor. This is not uncommon in Dutch genealogies ; the Lane
and Van Pelt families, of Somerset and Hudson counties, origina-
ted in Matthys Janss Van Pelt Lanen, a Walloon, who emigrated
from Liege in 1663, and settled at New Utrecht. So with the
New Jersey families of Garretson and Van Waggenen ; their
ancestor was Gerritt Gerritsen, who reached New Amsterdam
in 1660 from Wageningen, a Rhenish town in Gelderland ; some
of the second generation assumed his name as a surname (now
Garretson and Garrison) others took the name of Van Waggenen.
The two old New York families of Rutger and Van W^art derive
their names from two brothers, Rutger and Teunis, sons of Jacobus
Van Schoenderwoert who came to Beaverwyck in about the year
1640. The descendants of the former, on removing to New York,
assumed the name of Rutgers, while those of the latter abbrevi-
ated their ancestor's surname, and have since been known as
Van Wart. Many instances of divided ancestral streams are to
be found among New Jersey's families of Dutch and Scandinav-
ian extraction.
It is quite time that we return to Johannes ; we may reasona-
ably suppose that he has finished his dinner, and before again
taking to the saddle is looking about New Brunswick, which he
is visiting for the first time. He finds it rather an attractive
little town, lying mostly under the hill, on the river bank. At
that time it had but two prominent streets, and the houses were
generally constructed of plank, though the Dutch of Albany
street occupied two-storey brick dwellings, they having brought
bricks and building materials with them when they migrated.
These latter houses presented their peaked gables to the street,
and were approached through little wooden-seated porches
on which the stout burghers and their families would gather in the
cool of the summer evenings. Kalm writes that the Dutch of
the city were an exclusive set, keeping much within themselves
and quite looking down on their poorer neighbors. We can
accept this statement cum grano sails, as in more than one place
in his book of travels we find the Swede especially severe on
America's Holland citizens.
Elias Boudinot's Copper Mine. 193
Besides the Dutch church on Burnet and Schureman streets,
of which at that time the Reverend John Leydt was pastor,
there were two other houses of worship. The Presbyterian
church stood on Buniet street below Lyell's brook, it having
been built during the ministry of the Reverend Gilbert Tennent,
which continued from 1726 to 1710. At this time the pulpit
was occupied by the Reverend Thomas Arthur. Christ church,
of the Episcopal congregation, had been partially erected since
1713, though it was thirty years before the biulding of a steeple
finally completed the structure. Its first permanent rector was
the Reverend Mr. Wood, who was installed in 1717. New
Brunswick, in addition to its milling and shipping interests,
rejoiced in a copper mine that at this time gave promise of
developing into an important industry. In the year 1718 virgin
ore was ploughed up in a field belonging to Philip French, about
three hundred yards back from the river, and just north of the
houses of the town. Elias Boudinot having leased the land, a
company was formed, and in 1751 a shaft was sunk sixty feet
and a large body of ore found. For a number of years
many tons of pure copper were annually shipped to England,
and the stockholders anticipated much prosperity for their enter-
prise. But eventually, the ore vein being exhausted, New
Brunswick awoke from its dream of becoming a great mining
town, and settled back to the prosaic glories of its mills, and the
much vaunted honor of being at the head of sloop navigation.
We have loitered long enough in this Middlesex city. So
has Johannes. And now we find him mounting his waiting-
horse ready to proceed on his journey : on crossing by the ferry
scow, his route lies in a southeasterly direction along the " King's
highway ; " a ride of less than two miles brings our traveller on
the main street of the old village of Piscataway, flanked by
lofty trees. Those of us who are familiar with the time-stained
houses, old-fashioned gardens and aged churchyards of this
early settlement know it to be now a far less important place
than when in the heyday of youth, a half century and more
before the date of Johannes' visit. In those good old colony
times its men stiU loved the king, and met at Hull's tavern to
drink his health in long draughts of fiery Madeira, or in modi-
cums of more potent West India rum. His most gracious maj-
13
194 The Story of an Old Fakm.
esty's governor, council, and burgesses have more than once
met in this ancient burgh. On such occasions these road-
ways, which now seem sunk in the torpor of ages of sleep, were
enlivened by very important gentlemen wearing gold-laced
cocked hats and full-bottomed wigs, and arrayed in broad-
skirted scarlet coats, satin short-clothes, silk hose and burnished
knee and shoe buckles ; who, while exchanging greetings and
pinches of snuif, discussed the best interests of the colony.
There were then social aspects and picturesque environments to
the society of this old neighborhood that exist now but in musty
traditions, and in occasional notes to be found in the town rec-
ords — historical fragments of antiquity that, by chance, have
floated to the shore from the swift current of the river of time.
It will be remembered that in a previous chapter an account
was given of how John Martin, Charles Gilman, Hugh Dun, and
Hopewell Hull, had removed to New Jersey from Piscataqua,
New England, in response to the " Concessions and Agree-
ments " published in the East by the lords-proprietors, Berkeley
and Carteret. They received a grant on the eighteenth of
Etecember, 1666, for the large area of territory which now
embraces the township of Piscataway. Within twenty years
settlers from New England and the old country had augmented
the nucleus of population formed by the Piscataway families to
about four hundred. Among the persons to whom land was
allotted previous to 1690 are to be found the following names :
Nicholas Bonham, 122 acres ; Benjamin Clarke, 275 acres ;
George Drake, 424 acres ; Hugh Dun, 138 acres ; Benajah
Dunham, 103^ acres ; Edmund Dunham, 100 acres ; John Fitz-
Randolph, 225 acres ; Rehoboth Gannett, 224 acres ; Charles
Gilman, 340 acres ; Hopewell Hull, 284 acres ; Benjamin Hull,
innkeeper, 498 acres ; John Langstaff, 300 acres ; John Martin,
334 acres ; JefFery Maning, 195 acres ; John Mollison, 100
acres; Nicholas ^lundaye, lOH acres; Vincent Rongnion, 154^
acres; John Smalley, 118^ acres; Edward Slater, 464 acres.
The historian of East Jersey, the late W. A. Whitehead,
avers that Benjamin Hull was an inn-keeper in Piscataway in
1677, and that the name and business have continued connected
up to the present day. Be this as it may, it is an extraordinary
fact, and one well worthy of record that, with hardly an excep-
Early Settlers at Piscataway. 195
tion, each one of those early landowners has at the present time
descendants living in the township. Those of Vincent Rongnion
seem to have been well contented with the location chosen by their
Huguenot forefather ; they have owned land in the vicinity of
the village from that day to this, and at present persons of that
name — since converted into Runyon — are in possession of over
eight hundred acres, as follows : Mefford Runyon, 240 ; David
D., 185; Peter A., 160; Noah D., 144; Isaac, 100. Vincent
Rongnion was the ancestor of the Honorable Theodore Runyon,
New Jersey's recent chancellor. He came from Poictiers,
France, and must have settled in New Jersey before 1668, as
his marriage license, signed by Governor Philip Carteret, is
dated in that year. His wife was Anna, daughter of John
Boutcher, of Hartford, in England.
John Molleson, one of the original landowners, was considered
a man of sufficient education to be town-clerk and recorder of
the minutes of town meetings. He may have written a " darkly
hand," but oh ! what spelling ! Here is his first entry :
Piscataway 13 of Suptumber, 1711. At the town meting then choes William
olding and James maning overseers for the puer and Isac Small and John Drak
Seneor for the inshueing year asesers: which ofesses they agried execuit grates.
The Raiets is to be used by Discration of the asesers.
John Molleson, Clark.
At the forsaid meting it is agried that the hiring place shall be fensed
sufficient.
These town records offer some curious and interesting con-
tributions to our knowledge of the beginning of things at
Piscataway. From them we learn that Benjamin Hull, the first
inn-keeper, figured in the two very different roles of judge and
transgressor. Notwithstanding his occupation, in December,
1692, as foreman of the grand jury he indicted several persons
for drunkenness and breach of Sabbath ; while in June, 1694,
he, himself, was "presented by y*^ grand jury for keeping and
allowing gaming at Cards, and Bowie and pins at his house."
Edward Slater, another old settler, seems early to have " come
to grief; " we learn from the town records that he was impris-
oned in 1681 for having " uttered very pnishouse and Squer-
illouse words Rendering the Government of the province, the
Governor and Counsell Odyous in the Eyes and hearts of the
people." Judging from the above entry odd rules as to the use
196 The Story of an Old Farm.
of capital letters must have prevailed. Why should eyes have
been honored with a capital, while that more important organ,
the heart, was forced to beat with a small letter ? Slater did
not, apparently, remain in durance very long, as in 1G83 he was
again apprehended on the suspicion of being an escaped criminal
from England, and iu the same year was presented by the grand
jury in an indictment of nine counts, ''as a common nuisance
and offence."
Nothwithstanding the tribulations of Edward Slater, by 1685
he seems to have been entirely restored to public favor. In that
year he, with Hopewell Hull, John Fitz-Eandolph, and others,
was appointed one of a committee to superintend the building of
a church edifice, the selectmen having on the eighteenth of
January, 1685—6, passed the following resolution :
At the Towne Meetiiige then agreed yt tlieie should be a raeetinge house built
forthwith, the diiuentions as followeth : Twenty foot wide, thirty foot Longe, and
Ten foot between joyn ts.
The Piscataway fathers appear to have been lax in prosecut-
ing the work of erecting their first public building, for five years
later the town-book recites that Edward Slater, George Drake,
and Isaac Smalley, were chosen " to discorse hopewell hull about
the finishen of the towne house, and if hopewell hidl refuse to
finish it, that the above mentioned men have power to hire
workmen to finish the saide house." This " meetinge-house "
was for the Baptists, as that denomination seems to have estab-
lished the first religious services in the township. The Duns,
Drakes, Dunhams, Bonhams, Fitz-Randolphs and Smalleys, of
the original settlei's, were of that persuasion, and some Irish
Baptists from Tipperary joined them in 1683. The first minister
was John Drake, who, dying in 1739, was succeeded by Benja-
min Stelle, of French extraction. Descendants oi this last
"divine" are numerous hereabouts, and the name of the first
railway station east of New Brunswick — Stelton — was derived
from this family. We can gain some idea of the character of
this first "meeting-house" from a letter written by a missionary
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts in 1711 :
Piscatacjua makes a much greater congregation (than Amboy), and there are
some i>iou8 and well-disposed people among them ; some come from good dis-
New Jersey's First Seventh-Day Congregation. 197
tances to this meeting, but there is nothing among us like the face of a Church
of England : no surplice, no Bible, no Communion Table, an old broken house
in sufficient to keep us from injuries of the weather, and where likewise the
Anabaptists which swarm in this place do sometimes preach, and we cannot
hinder the house belonging to the Town.
The first congregation of Seventh-Day Baptists in New Jer-
sey had its origin in this township, in the following manner : In
the year 1700, Edmund Dunham, a Baptist exhorter and the
owner of one hundred and ten acres of the town lands, felt called
upon to admonish Hezekiah Bonham for working on Sunday ;
whereupon Bonham defied him to prove divine authority for
keeping holy the first day of the week. Dunham, after investiga-
tion, failed to do so to his own satisfaction, consequently he himself
renounced the observance of the first day. In the year 1705 he
formed a congregation of Seventh-Day Baptists, and was
appointed its pastor. This was the second church of that denom-
ination in America, the first having been established in 1665
at Newport, Rhode Island. The Piscataway Satm-day worship-
pers sent their new minister to that colony for ordination, which
he received on the eighth of September, 1705, at the hands of
Elder William Gibson, Avho was holding a church meeting at
Westerly.
Edmund Dunham apparently gathered within his fold most,
if not all, of the Dunns and Dunhams in the township, as
on the early church books appear the names of Edmund J.,
Jonathan, Ephraim, Benejah, John, Azerial, Mary, Dorothy,
Phebe, Dinah and Jane Dunham ; Hugh, Joseph. Hugh Jr.,
Micajah, Samuel Jr., Jonathan, Elizabeth, Hester, Pebecca and
Esther Dmni The ministrations of this first pastor continued
until 1734, when he died at seventy-three years of age, being
succeeded by his son Jonathan, who preached until his death
from small-pox at the age of eighty-six years in 1777. During
the lifetime of the father services were held in private houses.
In 1736 a church was erected on the road leading to Quibble-
town — now New Market — and two miles south of that village.
This building remained a sanctuary until 1802 when it was con-
verted into a barn, for which purpose it is still used, the timbers
being as sound as when taken from the forest. The second
church building occupied the same site, but it gave way in 1835
to the congregation's present structure which is located in the
198 The Story of an Old Farm.
village of New Market. This church, in an existence of
nearly two hundred years, has had but eleven ministers, and at
present is in a flourishing condition.
The first services, according to the rites of the church of
England, were held in Piscataway in 1704, Queen Anne grant-
ing a charter to the wardens and congregation as " St. James'
Episcopal Church." Services were irregular until 1724, when a
church edifice was completed. The pioneer clergyman of this
parish was a hard-working missionary named Brook, who
rode a circuit of fifty miles preaching at Elizabethtown,
Perth Amboy, Cheesequakes, Freehold, Rocky Hill and Piscat-
away. He entered the province in 1702 under the auspices of
the ^'London Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign
Parts," at a yearly salary of sixty pounds. " Besides preach-
ing," as Humphries, the society's historian, says, ^' he used to
catechise and expound fourteen times a month, which obliged
him to be on horseback every day, which was expensive as well
as toilsome. However, this diligence raised a very zealous
spirit in many of the people." Mr. Brooks died while returning
to England in 1707. His widow, who was the sister of Christo-
pher Billop of Staten Island, seems to have been well content
with the lot of a helpmate to a colonial pastor, as she afterward
married the Reverend William Skinner.
For several years after Mr. Brooks' death St. James received
the occasional services of the Reverends Messrs. Vaughan and
Halliday. Upon the completion of the church in 1724 Mr. Skinner
became pastor, in which office, in connection with his home duties
at Perth Amboy, he continued for thirty years, officiating on every
third Simday, on which occasions, it is said, he wa,s appreciated by
large assemblages. St. James' first church building sheltered the
devotions of the parish for one hundred and ten years, when it was
destroyed by the great tornado of 1835. The present structure
was built and presented to the congregation by Joseph Foulke,
of New York. It stands in one of the most ancient and interest-
ing graveyards in the state. Two centuries of winds have sighed
requiems through the waving branches of the venerable trees
that brood over the seclusion of this little '^ God's acre." For
we learn from the town records that, as far back as the year
1690 ten shillings were set apart for " minding the burrial
I
BONHAMTOWN. 199
place, and to set it up with good white oacke or chestnut stakes,
and bound with good withes."
My readers, I can fancy, are crying out — " Enough of Piscat-
away ! You are making too long a story of this township !"
Permit me to offer the very personal excuse that it was the home
of my ancestors. The Dunns and Dunhams are all in the writer's
maternal ancestral line, of whom at least five generations lie
bm'ied under the sods of the churchyard of the ancient parish of
Saint James. Well ! your warning is heeded | at last this inter-
esting settlement is left behind, and our cavalier rides on over
the high levels of Middlesex. Soon another old village is in his
path, the little hamlet of Bonhamtown, the point where Nicholas
Bonham located his one hundred and twenty acres. This place
would have remained unknown to fame beyond the circle of its
immediate vicinity, had it not found itself — twenty-five years
later — in the track of contending armies ; its name thus becom-
ing historically embalmed in the reports of commanders of the
opposing forces. The trend of our " solitary horseman" is now
more easterly, and facing the salt water, he canters over a pleas-
ant country of low hills, gently subsiding into shallow valleys,
diversified with woods and patches of cultivated lands, orna-
mented with homesteads. It was yet early in the afternoon
when he came in sight of Perth Amboy — its unrivalled location
presenting, then as now, a charming shore panorama of grove-
crowned knoUs, meadows of waving grass, bay, rivers and
varied beaches.
i
CHAPTER XV.
Perth Amhoy as a Provincial Capital — The Appearance the City
Presented in 1752.
To one possessed of antiquarian tastes there is a singulaJ
pleasure in looking back through the long vista of years and
picturing in the mind the appearance that a familiar place must
have presented in those remote, and seemingly almost poetic
da3^s, known as colonial times. A professor of comparative
anatomy is enabled by securing a few fossil remains to recon-
struct a species of animal long since extinct. So the delver in
days of yore, by the proper placing of his few historical facts,
illumined by a well controlled imagination, and a fancy verging
perhaps on the romantic and picturesque, essays to again bring
to life a past social condition, and create appearances and fashions
long out of date.
Thus would we fain endeavor to rehabilitate in its antique
dress this city of Perth Amboy that has dozed for two centuries
amid its groves of sycamores and oaks, to bring out by descrip-
tion certain aspects that will delineate society and types illustra-
tive of pre-Revolutionary days in this portion of New Jersey.
When in the full tide of its lusty youth this town had virile
ambitions and aspired to be the metropolis of a new world. But
those days, now long past, are almost forgotten, and for many
decades — until the comparatively recent advent of new railways
— this borough quietly slept on its pleasant banks by the wide-
spreading waters, apparently well content to sit apart from the
cares and vanities of its more successful rivals in trade and
population. By drawing on Mr. Whitehead's chronicles of East
Jersey, and by filling up the outlines of the little knowledge we
Early New Jersey GtOvernors. 201
may have of the place and people in those olden times, we shall
hope to present to the reader a fairly life-like picture. An
endeavor will be made to unfold such a scene as met Johannes^
eyes, when in this sprinj^; of 1752 he rode over the high rolling
lands bordering the Raritan and entered ancient Amboy — for it
is ancient, having enjoyed the proud distinction of a city charter,
and all the honors of a mayor and corporation, since the twenty-
fourth of August, 1718.
The dignity and importance of the borough at that time were
by no means confined to the fact of its possessing municipal
rights. From its natal day it had been the seat of government,
and since the proprietors surrendered to Queen Anne their rights
as rulers, royal governors had frequently made it their place of
residence. The first chief magistrate under the Crown was
Lord Cornbury, who also ruled New York, as did several suc-
ceeding governors. He was a cousin of the queen ; there his
nobility ended, for in personal habits and character he was of a
low order. He persecuted Presbyterians and other dissenters,
and violated the agreement entered into between the English
and Dutch at the time of the capture of New Netherlands,
whereby the latter were guaranteed religious liberty. Lewis
Morris, in a severe letter to the secretary of state, charged him
with all manner of malfeasance in his high office, and closed
his communication in the following words : " He dresses pub-
licly in women's clothes every day, and puts a stop to all public
business while he is pleasing himself with that peculiar but
detestable magot." On attaining to the earldom of Clarendon
in 1708, this noble Englishman fairly fled from the colonies to
avoid paying his creditors, many of whom were poor tradesmen.
Lord Lovelace, his successor, arrived out in December of the
same year, but his government had but well commenced when
he died on the sixth of May, 1709. Then came Robert Hunter^
of whom we have spoken at length in a previous chapter. This
popular governor resigned in 1720 in favor of William Burnet,
the son of the famous bishop, and god-son of the king of Eng-
land, — William of Orange having stood as his sponsor and given
him his name. He ruled tiU 1727, when he was removed to
Massachusetts, and was succeeded by John Montgomerie. Both
Governors Himter and Burnet passed much time in their comfort-
202 The Story of an Old Farm.
able Amboy homes on the banks of the Raritan, and added
greatly to the importance and pleasiu-e of the society of East
Jersey. The latter governor is described as having been a man
of gay and condescending disposition, the delight of men of sense
and learning, and the admired friend of the ladies to whom he
was much devoted. He visited every family of reputation in
the province, and letters to his predecessor, Hvmter, say that
their Avriters do not know how the fathers and husbands may
like the new ruler but they were sure the wives and daughters
did so sufficiently. John Montgoraerie was a well known cour-
tier who had been a colonel in the household troops and groom
of the bedchamber of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George
II. There has been preserved some account of the per-
sonal effects and equipage of this royal governor ; we are thus
enabled to gain an inkling of the state in w^hich a colonial mag-
nate lived. His many articles of furniture included an eight-
day clock valued at forty dollars in our money, and a " line yel-
low camlet bed" estimated at seventy -five dollars. There was
silver-ware in profusion, and the wines and liquors were set
down at twenty-five hundred dollars. A barge with its acoutre-
meuts, one hundred and twenty-five dollars ; books, one thou-
sand dollars ; and eight slaves, one of them a negro musician
being valued at over one thousand dollars. In his stables were
one saddle horse, eight coach horses, two common horses, two
breeding mares, two colts, and a natural pacing mare ; a coach and
a four-wheeled chaise ; a fine suit of embroidered horse furniture,
a servant's saddle, and two sets of coach harness, bi-ass mounted;
a postillion's coat and cape, together with saddles, holsters and
housings.
Montgomerie continued in ofiice till his death in 1731, when
the government was undertaken by William Cosby, who died in
173G. For the third time within five years death entered the
gubernatorial mansion, smiting, this time, John Anderson, two
weeks after he had commenced ruling as president of the council.
For the next two years the government devolved upon senior
councillor John Hamilton, who was an old resident of Perth
Amboy, and the son of Andrew Hamilton, governor under the
proprietors. He was relieved from the duties and honors of the
office in 1738 by the arrival of a commission appointing Lewis
Early New Jersey Governors. 203
Morris as the first governor of the province separate from that of
New York. He lived near Trenton, and was the son of that
Captain Richard Morris, who in 1670 settled Morrisania on the
Harlem river. His father died in 1672, leaving him a babe not
yet a year old, of whom Mathias Nicholl, secretary of New York,
wrote of as a " poor blossom of whom yet there may be great
hope." The secretary's prophecy proved true ; this " poor
blossom " grew to be a man of great force of character, with vir-
tues and attainments which elevated him to important trusts and
positions ; the influence he exerted among the people of the
provinces of New I'^ork and New .Jersey equalled that of any
man of his time. Lewis Morris in 1691, when but nineteen
years old, married a " Graham of the Isles " of the family of the
Earl of Montrose, and the daughter of James Graham, Attorney-
General of New York.
Morris died in 1746, and President Hamilton again came to
the front, but, dying almost immediately, was succeeded by the
next eldest comicillor, John Reading, who continued in office
one year. The name of this chief magistrate has been perpetu-
ated in that of the township of Readington in Hunterdon, he
having owned large tracts of land in that county. He lived in
Amwell, now Raritan, township, about two miles north of Flem-
ington, near where is now Stover's mills ; a portion of his planta-
tion is at present owned and occupied by Philip Brown. Doctor
Mott, Hunterdon's historian, tell us that he was a true Jersey-
man, being identified with the interests of his province and
county from boyhood. He lies buried in Amwell churchyard on
that ancient thoroughfare, the York road. Acting-Governor
Reading's family has further associations with New Jersey
nomenclature from the fact that his daughter married John
Hackett, an Irishman of ability and prominence, who gave his
name to Hackettstown in Warren county.
The governor in office at the time of the visit of Johannes to
Amboy was Jonathan Belcher. On the eighth of August, 1747,
while the early morning mists still lightly hung over the broad
expanse of the Lower bay, all the people of the town had assem-
bled on its banks to welcome that dignitary, who disembarked from
a barge of the man-of-war Scarborough, on which he had crossed
the Atlantic. He was escorted to the town hall amid the accla-
204 The Stoky of an Old Fakm.
mations of the multitude, where he presented his commission —
a portentous docimjent of parchment of three sheets about two
feet square, plentifully besprinkled Avith Latin, and weighted by
a heavy pendent disk of stiff brown wax, bearing the royal arms
of England. In a gracious reply to the loyal addresses of the
council and citizens, he congratulated the people on the beautiful
location and thriving appearance of their town. Notwithstand-
ing his fair words, the governor, after making the customary
tour of the province, established his home in Elizabethtown,
where he died in 1757. Senior-councillor John Reading again
exercised the office ad interim. In the following year Amboy
had restored to her the glories of being the home of the king's
representative. The new governor, Francis Bernard, landed on
the fourteenth of June from H. M. S. Terrible, and established
himself in the old Johnstone house on the bluff between the
Long ferry and Sandy point. He soon became a favorite with
the people, and it was to their great regret that he received
orders from the home government to retire from the province
and assume command of that of Massachusetts, where, unfor-
tunately, he did not attain to an equal popidarity. His suc-
cessor, Thomas Boone, reached Amboy by land on the third of
June, 1760, escorted to the Middlesex line by Captain Terrill's
troop of horse from Elizabethtown, where he was met by Cap-
tain Parker's troop of Woodbridge. The "New York Mercury"
of this month has a long account of the fetes, entertainments,
and illuminations, incidental to his first visit to the different
prominent towns of New Jersey.
The British ministers evidently believed in the rotation in
office of their representatives. Before the close of the following
year Governor Boone was appointed to the chief magistracy of
South Carolina. The " New York Gazette" of the twenty-sec-
ond of October, 1761, announces the arrival of " H. M. S.
Alcide, 64 Guns," having aboard Josiah Hardy, New Jersey's
new governor. The same paper, in its issue of the fifth of
November, gives an account of his landing at Elizabethtown-
point, where he was received by prominent citizens and the mili-
tary. Captains Terrill and Parker's troops escorted him to
Amboy, where they were met by the public dignitaries and Cap-
tain Johnstone's militia. He relinquished the government in
Governor William Franklin. 205
February, 1763, the authorities " expressing their estimation of
the just regard he had displayed for the interests of New Jer-
sey." We now reach the last colonial governor, William, the son
of Benjamin Franklin, who, without solicitation on the part of
his father and when only thirty years of age, received the
appointment. He reached Amboy on the twenty-fifth of Febru-
ary, 1763, — an intensely cold day — escorted by the Middlesex
troop of horse and numbers of the gentry in sleighs. The
" New York Grazette" chronicles that he took possession of the
government in the usual form, the ceremonies being conducted
*' with as much decency and good decorum as the severity of the
season could possibly admit of." The young governor is said to
have hired one of the best houses in the town at an annual
rental of sixty pounds — equalling one hundred and forty-four
dollars. His salary was twelve hundred pounds — proclamation
— or about three thousand dollars. In 1774, he took possession
of the mansion erected by the proprietors, of late well known as
the Brighton house, and recently converted into a home for Pres-
byterian clergymen. The history of Franklin's administration is
but a narration of the events preceding and the breaking out of
the Revolution. In good time we shall have more to say of this
royal governor. Meanwhile, we must return to Johannes, whom
we left entering the city.
Some portions of Perth Amboy are to this day peculiarly
attractive because of the splendid growth of large trees. In
early times the place is represented as having been most beauti-
ful in this respect. The proprietors, in their published descrip-
tion, asserted that '^ Amboy Point is a sweet, wholesome and
delightful place ;" and it was further described as being '^ cov-
ered with grass growing luxuriantly, the forest trees, as distrib-
uted in groups, diversifying the landscape with light and shade,
and all nature wearing the fresh aspect of a new creation."
These characteristics at the time of our visitor's arrival had not
disappeared. Great trees that cast a vast area of shade were
still a distinguishing feature of the ancient capital, and its most
popidar pleasure-ground was a fine bit of locust timber on the
banks of the Raritan, just west of High street. It rejoiced in
the suggestively tender appellation of ''Love grove." Under
its cool shadows the towns-people gathered on summer afternoons
206 The Story of an Old Farm.
to enjoy the ocean breezes that came freighted with the balsamic
odors of forest-clad Monmouth. Here in the long twilights colo-
nial youths and maidens met to enjoy the agreeable prospect
and each other's society ; and, in this sylvan retreat many a
youthful troth was plighted to the pleasant musical accompani-
ments of the river's murmuring waves.
Another favorite resort of the citizens was the elevation over-
looking the Raritan near Sandy point, devoted to the fairs and
races. All ancient chronicles of the colony revert to this old
English custom of " Fair days." The proprietors as early as
1683 instructed their representatives that " it is not to be forgot-
ten that, as soon as can be, weekly Markets, and Faires at fitt
seasons, be appointed at Perth Towne." Three years later
semi-annual fairs were authorized by the assembly, to continue
three days in May and October. This custom prevailed till the
time of the Revolution. These were days of great revelry and
mirth. Horse racing and all manner of games were permitted —
any description of goods and merchandise could be sold without
license, and on this breezy pleasure-ground at such times were
to be seen all the peddling, hawking, thimble-rigging, cudgel-
playing, bustle and prevailing confusion that characterized such
festivals in the old country. It was a time of general license,
and, under the law, no one could be arrested during the continu-
ance of the fair except for offences against the Crown and for
crimes committed on fair day.
To the cast of "Love grove", at the foot of High street, was
the " Long ferry " that George Willocks had devised to trustees
for the benefit of St. Peter's cliureh. The franchise and trust
still continue, though it is nearly one hundred years since the
last team was ferried over in the " scouw'^ to the Philadelphia
road on the farther shore. Here, too, was the famous Long
ferry tavern, a quaint structure of stone, with an odd sloping
roof, dormer windows and high Dutch stoop. Built in 1684, it
has but recently disappeared, and was considered the oldest
house in Amboy. In early times it not only oftered rest and
refreshment for waiting passengers, but served as a rallying
point for the gossip-loving citizens. In warm weather it must
have been an inviting inn in which to take one's ease ; in the
winter we can well imagine that " mine host" Games — a giant
Perth Amboy's Town-Green. 207
in stature — kept thrust in the open fire, a logger head, (a red
hot poker,) ready on the arrival of guests to be plunged into
cups of flip — a mixture of rum, pumpkin beer and brown sugar.
It was a favorite hot drink in the colonies and it is said was.
far from being an unpleasant cold weather tipple.
When our traveller rode into the rural city its plan was much
the same as that of to'-day. Smith street, then as now, was the
centre of the retail trade, though occupied also by dwellings.
At least one of its stanch stone houses, then standing, has
endured the encroachments of time, though it has been removed
from its original site on the west side of the street to a lot on
Broad street. It was the home of the Farmar family, who set-
tled in Amboy early in the last century. While at the time of
which we write the location of the streets was much as now, the
aspect they presented differed materially from the appearance of
the thoroughfares of the prosaic Amboy of to-day. From a talL
pole in the centre of the town-green, which interrupts High and
Market streets, floated the royal cross of St. George ; while in
one corner of the square stood what would now happily be
unfamiliar objects, the stocks, pillory and whipping post — dread
menaces to the evil-doers of that rude and turbulent period.
Why is it that the founders of the towns and villages of this
country so rarely established public greens ? Those sunny
opens that are such pleasant features of English boroughs and
hamlets, and which must of necessity strengthen the local
attachments of a neighborhood. The play-ground of childhood
— the rendezvous of youth — the verdant mead on which matur-
ity and age assemble. There is something in the beauty and
appropriateness of such a common bit of ground, in which all
have equal rights, that reaches much beyond the gratification of
the eye. It suggests a community of interests, where man is
boiuid to man by aff"ections that have been engendered by this
little bit of sward — a sentiment that seems quite opposed to the
selfishness that necessarily attaches to individual holdings. The
instinctive fondness for such a spot by its joint owners must
grow into an enlarged feeling, and expand into that expression,
of patriotism which can only be known by men when united in
numbers and interests. It is a nursery of virtue and unselfish-
ness. With rare judgment the successors and descendants of the
208 TiiK Story of an Old Farm.
early proprietors have preserved their town-green — this attrac-
tive relic of a by-gone age and of the wisdom of their predeces-
sors. For over two hundred years it may be said to have been
the theatre of all the events connected with the life of this com
munity, and to learn all that has transpired upon its emerald
floor would be to turn over every page of Amboy's history. For
two hundred years it has defied the demt)n of improvement —
may it so do for all time.
The county court-house and jail, occupying one building, our
traveller found a prominent feature of this public square. It
stood on the northeast corner of High street, and from 1718,
to 1765 when it was destroyed by fire, it continued to be the
focus of all the important events of the colony, and much of its
pomp, parade and ceremony. Here not only the courts were
held, but the be-wigged and be-rufiled members of the general
assembly sat in solemn conclave, and enacted those severe laws
that were then considered necessary to preserve the peace of
the province and the honor of the king. Permit me to quote
one deemed meet for the times by those ancient legislators :
Tliat all women of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins,
maids, or widows, who shall after this act impose upon, seduce, and betray into
matrimony any of his Majesty's subjects by virtue of scents, cosmetics, waslies,
paints, artificial teeth, false hair, or high-heeled shoes, sliall incur the penalty of
the law now in force against witclicraft and like misdemeanors.
To this Jersey ^^ Hotel de Ville,^^ and the one that succeeded
it, came with successive processions and cavalcades all the repre-
sentatives of the English ministry from the days of the virtuous
Queen Anne to those of the third Hanoverian king ; each telling
the same story of the love borne by the Crowti for its faithfid
American subjects. Such stories were always received with
loud shouts of fealty from the loyal throats of the populace
massed on the square. The time arrived, however, when differ-
ent messages came from the monarch beyond the sea, and public
tran([uillity was disturbed by the growls and threats of the
British lion. Even then, though the spirit of liberty hovered
around the ancient capital, and the Jersey people in general
were electric with }>atriotic impulse and endeavor, many of
Amboy's citizens refused to abandon their allegiance. A large
element of its population, especially among the richer class, were
Perth Amboy Residents in 1752. 209
dominated in their sympathies by the many years' influence of
royal power. At the close of the war but a very small propor-
tion of those who had formed the colonial aristocracy remained
residents of Amboy.
The structure that in 1767 took the place of the court-house
can be seen now, though no longer a public building. Its pre-
cise fa9ade, lofty roof and antiquated belfry testify of by-gone
days. Let us hope that no vandal hand shall be permitted to
destroy this temple of the past. May present and future genera-
tions guard this venerable structure that, honored by time, has
been the sOent witness of many scenes connected with that great
struggle for justice and humanity, which terminated in 1783 so
happily for the American people.
On the southwest corner of Market street and the square, in
1752, lived Thomas Bartow, who it will be remembered, as
secretary of the province, recorded the deed that George Leslie
gave to Johannes. The house stood in the midst of an attractive
garden filled with the choicest fruit of that time, and Dunlap,
the art historian, who while still a very small boy was Bartow's
friend and daily companion, describes his person, dwelling and
garden as being equally neat. He mentions him as being, some
years later, a small, thin old man with straight gray hair, pale
face, plain dark-colored clothes and stockings to suit. His well
polished square-toed shoes were ornamented with little silver
buckles, and his white cambric stock, neatly plaited, was fas-
tened behind with a silver clasp.
It is interesting to picture in one's mind the houses of this
provincial capital, and the worthies who occupied them when
Johannes for the first time rode over its highways. On
High street, in the rear of where is now the Merrit mansion,
was *' Edinborough Castle," the home of Andrew Johnstone, a
son of that Doctor John Johnstone who had been joint owner of
the Peapack patent with George Willocks. He was an impor-
tant man in the colony, holding during his life various offices,
and dying in 1762 as treasurer of the eastern division of the
province, and one of his majesty's council. His obituary notice
in the " New York Mercury " of the fifth of July, 1762, reads that
he was " A gentlemen of so fair and worthy a character, that
truly to attempt to draw it would be throwing away words."
14
210 The Story of an Old Fakm.
The homestead of his father, Doctor Johnstone, was on the banks
of the Raritan, and later, in Governor Boone's time, was con-
verted into the gubernatorial residence ; it was a spacious brick
dwelling with extensive gardens and a fine orchard. A near-by
residence on the river-side was that of John Watson, the first
painter mentioned in American annals of art. He came from
Scotland in 1715, and made Amboy his home until his death at
the age eighty-three, in the year 3 768. Mr. Dunlap, in his
'' History of the Art of Design,'' gives an extended notice of this
early limner. He writes :
After the painter's first visit to America he returned to Europe, and brought
thence to his adopted country many pictures which, with those of his own com-
position, formed no inconsiderable collection in point of numbers, but of their
value we are ignorant. It is, however, a fact that the fir:?t painter and the first
collection of paintings of which we have any knowledge were planted at Perth
Amboy.
Mr. Whitehead, in speaking of this artist's dwelling, says :
There were two houses, standing near each other, both belonging to Mr.
Watson, one of them being appropriated to these paintings, which it is said
covered the walls; but before the Revolution this house had decayed and been
demolished. The other, occupied by the painter himself, and which disappeared
during the struggle, was of wood, having its window shutters covered with heads
of heroes, and of kings ' with awe-inspiring crowns ' — owing their existence to
the taste and talents of the painter.
His portrait represents him as being a man of full face and
prominent features, wearing a huge curled wig which hung to
his shoulders.
The houses of the colonial gentry w^ere generally sprinkled
along the bluif, where the most favored locations were early
sought and secured. In most instances they were simple in
construction and unambitious in character, but here and there
was one of architectural merit, showing (m the part of its builder
an appreciation of a design where outline and surroundings
should bear some relation to each other. A pleasing example of
this latter class has been preserved in a substantial stone
homestead, which can be seen resting on' the sloping bank of
the sound, east of Water, and near Market, street. Its low
eaves, solid simplicity and old-fashioned presence speak of a
previous century, but its happy expressions of rural dignity do
not seem at all out of place in this age of flimsy construction, and
grotesque strivings after the extraordinary in domestic architec-
Colonial Architecture.
211
ture. It is believed to have been the dwelling of Samuel Nevill,
before whom, as judge of the supreme court, George Leslie
acknowledged his signature to the deed for the " Old Farm." It
was in this year — 1752 — that Judge Nevill published, under the
auspices of the colonial assembly, the first volume of his edition
of the laws of the province, and it is believed the book was-
written in this house.
Not far ofi^ on the same street is a residential monument to*
family cohesiveness, the well-known Parker homestead. Seven-
generations of this family have lived within the hoary walls of
this colonial mansion. One must be callous, indeed, to the charm
of early associations who fails to appreciate the peculiar satisfac-
tion which comes to those who feel that their home atmosphere
has been consecrated by the lives and experiences of a continu-
ous line of ancestry for so many years ; an ancestry whose
influence has been transmitted through successive generations,
bearing to their posterity the testimony of virtuous, useful
and honorable lives. The more modern frame portion of this
building was erected just previous to the Revolution, but the
stone structure standing in the rear dates away back to the year
1720. At the time of Johannes' visit it was inhabited by James
Parker, his wife being the only daughter of the Reverend
William Skinner of St. Peter's church. Mr. Whitehead
describes him as a man of tall stature and large frame, possess-
ing a mind of more than ordinary strength and vigor. He was a
member of the king's council, and filled many local ofiices of the
community, including that of mayor, which in those picturesque
days was a position of much more honor and importance than
it is in this practical age.
The old parsonage, that had been devised by George Wil-
locks to the congregation of St. Peter's, occupied a portion of
the block bounded by Market, Water and Gully (Gordon)
streets. Its first storey was of stone, with a wooden two-storey
superstructure, and a roof converging to a square centre. The
latter was probably its most attractive feature, as usually the
quaint roofs of colonial houses, with their simple but effective
outlines, added much to the agreeableness and dignity of their
proportions. The date of the erection of this house is unknown,
but it must have been some time previous to 1729, the year of
212 The Story of an Old Farm.
Willocks' death. It was taken down in 1844, but long before
had lost its upper storey. But if I keep on speaking of the
more important buildings of this provincial metropolis, you will
think that in 1752 it was a place of fine residences. Not so !
these dwellings of the quality-folk were Amboy's architectural
exceptions — not typical examples. Its houses, of which at that
time there were about one hundred and fifty, were, as a rule,
poor enough ; a visitor of a few years later, while recognizing
the beauty of the location, writes, that " notwithstanding being
the capital of the province, Perth Amboy has only the appear-
ance of a mean village."
So with our traveller 5 as he made his way through the
streets, he found many of their flanking buildings slovenly in
appearance, showing them to have been hastily put together.
Their rough-hewn flat-boarded frames lacked the dignity of the
log dwellings seen in the clearings during the morning journey ;
these latter, with their feet buried in herbage, seemed less incon-
gruous, and more in harmony with surrounding nature. Many
of these Amboy houses were unpainted and already showed signs
of the rustiness of age, but, bleached and patched by sim
and shower, their crazy, weather-stained sides were less crude
and staring than were the variegated colors of some of the newer
houses, whose fronting gables and thick board shutters were
painted white, while their remaining sides were covered with
dingy red. Architectural taste was, of course, entirely wanting,
and in most instances a single storey sufficed for the needs of the
occupants.
Of churches there were two. In a previous chapter we have
referred at length to the ancient altars and interesting memories
of St. Peter's, whose spire rises near where the broad river
rushes into the bay. Amboy's second denomination, owing to
its large Scotch and English immigration, was, naturally, Presby-
terian. Of the erection of its first church-building no record
has been preserved, though the minutes of the Board of Proprie-
tors show that in 1731 permission was given the congregation to
" build a meeting-house on the southeast comer of the Burial-
Plac(! on Back (State) street." " Before the Revolution this
church had disappeared ; in the present edifice, that fronts the
square, services were first held in 1803. The Reverend John Cross
Theology in the Last Century. 213
of Basking Ridge is said to have first supplied the Presbyterian
pulpit, and among that denomination's historical flotsam rescued
from the ocean of time is the fact that in 1735 Gilbert Tennent
preached at Amboy on the comforting and encouraging topic of
the " Necessity of Religious Violence to Durable Happiness."
A text of severe sentiment, you will say ! — but at this time the
spiritual shepherds were wont to feed their flocks with food
abounding in strength rather than sweetness. The angel of
mercy hovered aloft, while the avenging one stood in the dwel-
ling, at the road side, in the pew, ever ready under the tutelage
of the pastors to wield the flaming sword of justice. The stern
Calvinistic tenet that election and perdition were predestined by
the divine plan irrespective of human merit was taught and
believed, and the believing lacerated many a tender heart.
The religious atmosphere of the middle of the last century was
dark with the heavy clouds of doctrine and theology. Polemical
controversy was rife in the churches. Foreordination, predes-
tination, election, and eternal damnation went hand in hand with
free agency ; the effort to reconcile these conflicting and appar-
ently opposing dogmas, provoked labored sermons from the pul-
pit, and prolonged arguments and discussions in farm-house, field
and shop. Ministers waxed severely eloquent in their terrible
warnings to the unregenerate ; while with equally solemn ear-
nestness from such texts as " I could wish myself accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen," they preached to the
pious and devoted ones of their congregations, ^' the doctrine of
disinterested benevolence ;" a doctrine that proclaimed the
necessity of entire self-abnegation, and a willingness to accept for
one's self eternal condemnation, if such could redound to the great-
est good of the greatest number, and God's ends be better accom-
plished.
The interpreters of the Scriptures held before their people as
tests of abiding faith the necessity of eliminating from their
religion every element of selfishness, in order that they might
have minds and affections so disposed as to be able to accept with
complacency the possibility that it might be God's sovereign
pleasure to damn them eternally. Such views of life and the
future-state evolved a gloomy piety. Agonies of doubt beset the
most faithful, when intent on severe internal examination in the
214 The Story of an Old Farm.
endeavor to discover evidences that they were not under the
ban of God's wrath. Such eai'nest souls, after lives of the most
conscientious well-doing, often died still uncertain of the attain-
ment of eternal happiness. Jonathan Edwards, who died in
Princeton in 1758, was capable In his sermons of producing so
great pain to the quick sensibilities of his hearers that during
his discourses the house would be filled with weeping and wail-
ing auditors ; on one occasion another minister present is said to
have cried out in his agony, "Oh ! Mr. Edwards ! is God not a
God of mercy ?" This celebrated preacher succeeded the elder
Burr, who died in September, 1757, in the presidency of Prince-
ton college, but he did not take his seat until in February of the
following year. Mr. Edwards held the position scarcely a
month, dying while undergoing inoculation for the smallpox.
He has been called the turning point in the spiritual existence
of the congregations of the last century. It is asserted that New
England and New Jersey in the age following him, under the
guidance of such disciples as his sou, Dwiglit, Bellamy, Hop-
kins, Brainerd and Tennent, gave more thought to religious phi-
losophy and systematic theology than the same amount of popu-
lation in any other part of the world.
CHAPTER XVI.
Social Aspects of Perth Amboy in 1752 — The Gentry — Slav-
ery — Travelling.
There was much of interest to Johannes in this provincial
capital besides the churches, and the public and private buildings.
The bustle, animation, and variety of its thoroughfares presented
an appearance quite foreign to their present aspect ; for there
was a picturesqueness in colonial times that must have added
much to the light and shade and general effect of ordinary
scenes. In those early days population occupied only the fringe
or border of the great wastes and solitudes ; we have seen that
New Jersey's cidtivated lands were largely confined to a narrow
strip extending from the Hudson to the Delaware. Belts of
wilderness stretched across New York and into New England ;
indeed, the whole country east of the Mississippi was covered
with vast forests, with but occasional signs of civilization and
cultivation along the borders of the sea, and in the valleys of the
larger rivers. At the centres of population — one of which
Amboy at that time fairly could claim to be — the people, congre-
gating as they did from many quarters of the globe, formed to
each other strong contrasts, and the local color of civilization
must to the chance visitor have made an interesting picture.
The Indians were still in goodly numbers about New Jersey
towns, and they appeared much more like the children of the
forest of our imagination than do those now to be seen on the res-
ervations of the far west, whose distinguishing badge of semi-
civilization is often a government blanket, and a battered silk
hat adorned with bedraggled feathers. These old-time red-
men were much less imbued with or affected by the habits of
Europeans. They came into the towns with skins, and also sup-
216 The Story of an Old Farm.
plied the people with baskets and wooden dishes and spoons.
The redemptioners — men, women and children who for a time
owed personal servitude to individual masters — must have
heightened the general effect ; and the trappers and hunters,
fresh from the woods, with their rifles, powder honis, moccasins,
and linsey shirts fringed with deer skin, contributed their bit of
color and form to the kaleidoscopic appearance of the streets.
Among the expatriated Irish, Dutch, Germans and English
inhabiting the vicinity, there must have been many curious and
picturesque specimens of the genus Jiomo. Necessarily many of
these later Avere worthless characters, and the pillory, stocks
and whipping post on the public square doubtless had a marked
influence in preserving the peace and proprieties of this rough
age. Opposed to this latter type was the less conspicuous but
more useful element of society, the sturdy yeomanry — the stout-
hearted middle class ; men who themselves, or whose fathers
before them, often had left the old country for political and
religious motives rather than a mere desire for adventure and
trade. " God sifted a whole nation," said stern, old Governor
Stoughton of New England, " that he might send choice grain
over in this wilderness."
Those of my readers whose ancestral trees root in Rhenish
soil, will be pleased to know that the published account of travels
in America in the last century all corroborate each others'
assertions in speaking of the Teuton portion of this latter class —
the bone and sinew of the provinces. They bear universal tes-
timony that population in the middle colonies was powerfully
promoted by its German element ; a people who in their own
country had been disciplined in habits of industry, sobriety,
frugality, and patience, and were consequently peculiarly fitted
for the many laborious occupations of a new land. Among the
yeomen, husbandmen, and mechanics they were regarded as the
most economical as well as the most industrious of the popula-
tion, and the least attached to the use of rum and malt liquor.
They were slow in contracting debts and were always endeav-
oring to augment their means of subsistence.
]5ut it was the gentry, richly dressed in all the magnificence
of the times, that presented in customs, manners, and apparel,
the strongest contrast to the other actors on this stage of " auld
The Gentry in Old Colony Days. 217
lang syne" In colonial times there were in the provinces
society distinctions now unknown. Both in town and country the
gentry were as distinctive from the people at large as were the
upper classes in England. Extensive land-owners, persons with
important connections abroad, members of the king's council and
the house of burgesses, and those near the government, were held
in high consideration and ranked as the great men of their
respective counties. Their personal dignity was sustained by
their di'ess, manners, modes of life, and the civil and military
offices distributed among them. Amboy, being at this time the
capital, was eminently aristocratic, and presented social aspects
and phases that would now be considered both brilliant and
picturesque.
New England is peculiarly rich in descriptive colonial litera-
ture ; perhaps it woidd be difficult to add to its fund of informa-
tion on this subject. Our poverty in this regard offers a field
fuU of local color for the historian of old New Jersey society.
Early church and county records, the archives of the historical
societies and of the Board of Proprietors of East New Jersey,
and the family manuscripts distributed throughout the state, are
mines from which many rich historic social nuggets could be
unearthed by the patient delver ; and a most interesting work
compiled. In the absence of such a volume, that we may learn
something more of the Amboy of the middle of the last century,
let us summon a member of his majesty's council from his bed of
mould in St. Peter's churchyard. Perhaps he may be able to
tell us of social events and observances in old colony days.
Here he comes ! making his stately old-fashioned way along
Smith street. He cuts a strange figure, in this work-a-day world
of ours, with his broad-skirted scarlet coat — white silk waistcoat
embroidered with flowers — black satin breeches, and paste knee
and shoe buckles. As he tickles his nose with snuff from a gold
box, his be-wigged head shakes despondingly under its odd
three-cornered covering. He looks disappointed — he is disap-
pointed ! When this king's councillor stepped out of his grave
into the busy nineteenth century, with its wonderful achieve-
ments in science and progress, he expected to find Perth Amboy
a great city. To him and his fellows of the olden time it had
seemed designed by nature for an important commercial metrop-
218 The Story of an Old Farm.
olis. Hopes had been entertained that, owing to its nearness to
the sea and its unrivalled harbor, commerce would centre here,
and that for all time New Jersey's capital would be of great
political and commercial consequence. Alas, vain hopes ! — he
finds it a city but in name.
The councillor in all his magnificence seems oddly out of place
among the ugly, modern, brick shops of this business street. We
will seat him in a high-backed chair in a broad hallway of one of
the old houses of his own time — now he appears in a more appro-
priate setting. You need not offer him a glass of whiskey ! he
is not acquainted with the beverage. Rum punch I yes ! he
will take that ; — I doubt not but that he and his co-councillors
have swallowed many a jorum of such toddy while wrestling
with knotty questions affecting the good of the province. Now
that our colonial friend has washed the dust of nearly a century
and a half from his ancient throat, let us hear Avhat he has to
say. Evidently, when in the pristine glory of existence, he was
a gallant man for his first topic is the ladies ; how they
appeared — like birds of paradise, if he is to be believed ; with
stuffed satin petticoats, taffetas and brocades, taU hats, lofty
coiffures, long feathers, powder and patches. Their gowns were
buoyed out one or two feet on either side of the hips, but not in
front or behind, consequently — as he tells us with a chuckle — a
lady of fashion when in fidl dress, in order to gain admittance to
her own door, was forced to present her flanks first, and thus
sidle in like a crab.
Our " resurrected one " describes the flutter in Amboy society
caused by the arrival of the first theatre company to the colonies
and its presenting plays in the town-hall on the public green ;
he says that the ladies in order to secure seats were obliged to
send their black servants early in the afternoon to occupy them
until the time of the performance. This theatrical company was
under the management of the Hallams, who first opened with it
in America in 1752. Dunlap, who was born in Amboy, asserts
that he has heard old ladies speak in raptures of the beauty and
grace of Mrs. Douglas — the leading lady of the company — and
the pathos of her personation of the character of Jane Shore.
Our New Jersey ancestors took more kindly to the stage than
did their brethren of Massachusetts. The assembly of that
The Keminiscences of a King's Counctllor. 219
province in 1750 prohibited theatrical representations because —
as the bill recited — " they tend greatly to increase immorality,
impiety, and a contempt of religion." This action of the legisla-
ture was occasioned by a tragedy having been acted at the
British Coifee-house in Boston by two English officers, assisted
by some young men of the town.
A graphic portrayal is given by the councillor of the appear-
ance of the gentlemen and ladies on Sunday mornings, as they
assembled on the bluff to worship at St, Peter's : the dignified
walk of the men, with crimson and gilt garments, silk stockings,
cocked hats and tall gold-headed canes ; and the young lads — in
dress, brilliant but ludicrous reproductions of their elders.
The ^^ grand dames" with high heels and stiff stays came
ballooning along, their voluminous skirts swaying and fluttering
in the fresh sea breeze. With what ceremony did they greet
each other ! As the men raised high in air their gold-laced
hats, and bowed low their curled heads, the ladies, stopping
short in their promenade, placed one foot twelve inches behind
the other and dropped a formal, stately and prolonged curtsey.
It is very agreeable listening to his tales of the ostentation
and parade at New Jersey's capital in the hey-day of its youth :
how one '' Moneybaird," conveyed to Lord Neil Campbell's son
John, all his Aniboy interests, in consideration of Campbell's
sending a footman to hold his stirrup and wait on him during the
meetings of the assembly ; how the mayor, while acting offici-
ally, had a mace-bearer who carried before him this ancient
insignia of corporation rank ; how the judges, while sitting on
the bench, wore judicial wigs and resplendant robes of office,
and how it was obligatory for counsellors-at-law, when pleading
before the bar of the supreme court, to be arrayed in gowns and
bands as worn by barristers in England.* He has much to say
* On the eleventh of May, 1791, the leading lawyers of the State, among them
Joseph Bloomfield, Richard Howell, Elisha Boudinot, James Linn, Richard
Stockton, Frederick Frelinghuysen and Andrew Kirkpatrick, petitioned the jus-
tices of tlie supreme court showing : " That the wearing of Bands and Bar-
gowns is found to be very troublesome and inconvenient, and is also deemed by
your petitioners altogether useless. "Your petitioners therefore pray that the
rule of this court made for that purpose may be vacated."
" Whereupon the Court taking the said petition into consideration, are pleased
to grant the prayer of the petitioners, and do order that the Rule of the Court,
which requires the wearing of Bands and Bar-gowns be vacated."
220 The Story of ax Old Farm.
of the flourish and ceremonies attendant upon court days ; of
the judges on circuit being met outside of the town by the sheriff,
justices of the peace, and other gentlemen, on horse-back, who
escorted them in honor to their lodgings. At the opening and
closing of coiu't, in going to and from the court-house, the judges
were preceded by the sheriff and the constables carrying their
staves of office, and all evil-doers trembled in the presence of the
august procession.
And now he entertains us with descriptions of the grand balls
given at the town-hall in honor of royal governors ; where the
dancing was not coniined to the youthful belles and beaux, but
all ages of the gentle-folk participated ; stepping the decorous
minuet or going down the middle in the but little less dignified
contre-dance. Altogether, in the last centiuy this home of om'
narrator must often have been a gala Amboy. He coiUd give us
more interesting information, if he woidd, as to its historic charms
and associations, and the manners and customs of its people. But
the old gentleman is running down ; his voice is beginning to
cackle. We w^ill relegate him to that mysterious shade from
whence he came. Exit, the king's councillor !
There was the dark side to this old-time picture — the negroes.
The evil of slavery took deep root in colonial New Jersey.
The reason is readily understood when we remember that in the
early days of the province the slave trade was encouraged by
the English people, fostered by the home government and
enforced by the action of the British ministry. In 1702 Queen
Anne instructed the governor of New York and New Jersey ''to
give due encouragement to merchants, and in particular to the
Royal African Company." Up to the time of the Kevolution
Great Bi-itain directed her colonial governors to combat the
attempts made by the colonists to limit the slave trade ; and
under pain of removal to decline assent to any restrictive laws.
Only one year before the American congress — in 1770 — prohib-
ited the slave trade, the Earl of Dartmouth addressed the fol-
lowing words to a colonial agent :
We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage, in any degree, a traffic so
beneficial to the nation.
During a debate in the house of commons on the question of
the suppression of this trade, a wise legislator produced
Colonial Slave Trade. 221
a labored argument against its abolition, on the ground of
injuries that would result to the market for the refuse-fish of the
English fisheries, which were purchased in large quantities by
West India planters for their slaves. This astute debater was
Brook Watson, who was called an American adventurer, and who
not only became a member of parliament but afterwards lord-
mayor of London. We are able to relate one incident in the life
of Watson, where he was of advantage to the world at large. It
was to all our good fortunes that when a small boy he fell over-
board in the harbor of Havana and just escaped being devoured
by a shark. This gave to the brush of the great American art-
ist, Copley, the subject for his well-known painting, "The Res-
cue of a Boy from the Jaws of a Shark."
The extent of the importation of slaves in the province of New
Jersey is imknown, but it is estimated that before the Revolution
between three and four himdred thousand negroes were intro-
duced into the American colonies. Tha Abbe Raynal supposes
that the number of blacks taken from Africa by Europeans
before 1776 to have equalled nine millions. Hiine, the Grerman
historian of the slave trade, considers these figures too small ; Mr.
Bancroft affirms that the English importations in all the conti-
nental colonies and in the Spanish, French and English West
Indies to have been nearly three million souls, to say nothing of
two hundred and fifty thousand thrown into the sea. He esti-
mates that the profits of English merchants in this traffic, previ-
ous to 1776, were not far from four hundred million dollars.
This historian draws in strong outline a sad pictm-e of the
miseries endured by the blacks while on the voyage from Africa.
Small ships that could penetrate the shallow rivers and bayous of
the coast were used, and often five hundred negroes were stowed
in vessels of not over two hundred tons burden. They were
generally chained in pairs by the ankles ; and below decks,
when sleeping, each was allowed a space of but six feet by six-
teen inches. For exercise they were made to dance and caper
on deck to the tune of a whip. The Africans were chiefly
gathered from various points in the far interior of the dark con-
tinent, in order that the freight of a single ship might be composed
people of difi'erent languages and nations. When they reached
the sea-coast at unfavorable seasons of the year, diseases were
222 The Story of an Old Fakm.
engendered which cuhninated on the voyage ; this, together
with the narrow space afforded their manacled bodies, the bad
air, foul stenches and limited food and water, caused a death
rate often equalling fifty and never falling below twelve per-
cent of the shipment. Sailing-masters on approaching a slaver
at sea made it the rule, when possible, to keep to the windward
in order to avoid the horrible odors that belched from the open
ports and hatches of ships laden with human cargoes. The
ingenuity of man, eager to torture his fellow-beings, could hardly
have planned a more complete hell than a crowded slave ship on
a protracted voyage. The horrors of such a journey are best
exemplified by the fact that no journal of a trip from Africa to
the United States is extant, though it is well known, that slave
ships repeatedly entered every port south of Rhode Island.
Strange as it may seem, the men who sailed these ships
appeared to be ignorant of the fact that they were doing the
devil's work. Neither the captains of slavers, nor the persons
comprising the companies who employed them, seemed to have
considered that they were practising on their fellow-men revolt-
ing cruelty, and hideous wrong. This was so, at least, in the
earlier days of the traffic. Sir John Hawkins commanded the
first English expedition to Africa for slaves. His squadron com-
prised four vessels, and to their captains he issued the following
sailing orders : " Serve God daily ; love one another ; preserve
your victuals ; beware of fire ; and keep good company." So
successfid was he in this and subsequent voyages that Queen
Elizabeth rewarded him by granting him permission to wear on
his crest '' a denii Moor, bound and captive." Doctor Hale, in
the third volume of that treasury of historical writing, the " Nar-
rative and Critical History of America " — edited by Justin
Winsor — says that " Hawkins sailed on the ship Jesus with faith
as serene as if he had sailed on a crusade." At one time, while
on the first voyage, this navigator's ships were so long be-calmed
as to nearly cause starvation. But, as this pious slaver recounts :
^'Almighty God, who never suffereth his elect to perish, sent us
the ordinary breeze." While Hawkins' party was gathering
together human cargoes on the Guinea coast, the crews were
set upon by the natives with murderous intent. But again, as
he narrates, " God, who worketh all things for the best, would
not have it so, and by Him we escaped without danger."
The New England Slave Trade. 225
In contemplating the slave trade as connected with our own
country we must not fall into the error of thinking that the
infamy of the traffic attached only to the people of the south,
where the greater number of slaves were marketed. It was the
well-to-do deacons and church members of New England who
controlled the business : men who deemed it a sin to pick flow-
ers on the Sabbath ; who thought it wrong to stroll along the
banks of a stream, or wander in the woods on that day ; men
who would dispatch the tithing man to arrest the stranger who
was hurrying through their town on Sunday on an errand of
mercy. The history of that time reveals Peter Faneuil, on the
one hand piling up profits from his immense slave trade, while,
on the other occupied in private and public charities, and in
the erection of the cradle of liberty in Boston. In the last cen-
tury the coasts of Mozambique and Guinea were white with the
sails of Massachusetts and Khode Island slavers. These vessels
on the outward voyage were loaded with New England rum,
which was traded to African chiefs for prisoners taken in their
tribal wars. These blacks, together with such others as the
ship-captains had been able to steal, were then carried to one of
the West India islands, or to a southern American port, and
there exchanged for molasses. This cargo was brought to New
England and converted into rum for a further shipment to
Africa ; thus a three-fold profit was secured on each voyage.
In the year 1 750 Newport carried on a most extensive business
of this character ; three hundred distilleries were in operation,
and the tonnage of the vessels lying at the town's wharves
exceeded that of the city of New York. Mrs. Stowe in her tale,
^' A Minister's Wooing," has portrayed in the most interesting
manner the awakening of the New England conscience as to the
sinfulness of buying and selling human souls.
As at the time of Johannes' visit Perth Amboy was New Jer-
sey's chief port of entry, the blacks were to be seen there in
goodly numbers : many of them were freshly imported, bearing
their tribal marks, and exhibiting their native characteristics, as
if still inhabiting the wilds of Guinea. It was thought desirable,
when possible, to have the slaves brought into the colonies from the
West Indies rather than direct from Africa, as after remaining for
a time at Barbadoes or one of the other islands they were much
224 The Story of an Old Farm.
better able to endure the severities of the American climate. In
1757 the British West Indies contained a total population of a
little less than three hundred and thirty thousand souls, of which
two hundred and thirty thousand were slaves. Mr. Whitehead
says that barracks stood on the corner of Smith and Water
streets, in Amboy, from where the negroes, on landing, were dis-
tributed in the province. They were eagerly sought for by the
settlers and were in the service of all families able to pay from
forty to one hundred pounds for a man or woman, according to
age. A child of two or three years sold for from eight to fourteen
pounds. As showing the value of slaves in the last century, Mr.
Snell, in his Somerset historical compilations, publishes an inven-
tory of the personal effects of Theunis Post, one of the *' helpers "
of the North Branch Reformed church, who died in 1764 in
Branchburgh township, near the mouth of the Lamington river.
The following chattels are mentioned : " One negro named Ham,
valued at £70 ; one negro named Isaac, valued at £30 ; one
negro named Sam, valued at £70 ; one negro girl named Betty,
valued at £10 ; one negro named Jane, valued at £60 ; one
negro wench named Sawr, valued at £30." The last name is
short for Saertje, the Dutch diminutive for Sarah.
As the character of these imported, or more properly speak-
ing, stolen negroes, were necessarily savage, and but little under-
stood by the Jersey people, they were naturally much feared,
and the most severe laws were enacted by the colony to insure
their control and subjection. One of the official acts that con-
stables were the most often called upon to perform was that of
whipping slaves for minor offences. Any negro found five miles
from home it was the duty of these officers to aiTest, and to flog
with a whip, into the thongs of which fine wire was plaited that
the severity of the punishment might be increased. For this
service the owners of the derelict blacks were obliged to pay
the constables five shillings, which materially augumented the
income of those officials, and added largely to the value and
importance of the position.
The blacks, on arrival, were physically powerful and good
workers, but without much power of reasoning or of controlling
their undisciplined imaginations. Though barbarians, their
affections were strong, and the marked progress made by negroes
Cruel Punishment of New Jersey Slaves. 225
in America may be said to be largely due to that fact. They
soon outgrew their savagery, and, affiliating in their sympathies
with their work and the lives of their masters, in a very few
years became an attached portion of the domestic life of the Jer-
sey people. In Somerset county, especially, the slaves soon fell
imder the sway of kindly influences, and became almost portions
of their owners' families. They were comfortably clad ; when
sick, well cared for ; and even to this day old residents tell
pleasant tales of the affection existing between our forefathers
and the old-time family and farm servants.
But before the whites had in part advanced and civilized the
blacks, and learned from experience the weakness and strength
of their bondsmen's characters, much cruelty was inflicted
through fears of risings and rebellions. The " New York
Gazette" of the twenty-fifth of March, 1734, gives an account of
a threatened rising early in that year in the vicinity of where is
now Somerville, in consequence of which several negroes, two at
least, were hmig. Punishments were extremely severe ; murder
and assault often insured the culprits being burned alive, and
for even petty thefts and misdemeanors they were hung with
short shrift. On the twenty-third of September, 1694, John
Johnstone — he of the Peapack patent — while sitting as presid-
ing justice of the Monmouth court of sessions, sentenced a negro
convicted of murder in the following language :
Caesar, thou art found guilty by thy country of those horrid crimes that are
laid to thy charge; therefore, the court doth judge that thou, the said Caesar, shall
return to the place from whence thou camest, and from tlience to the place of
execution, when thy right hand shall be cut off and burned before thine eyes.
Then thou shalt be hanged up by the neck till thou art dead, dead, dead ; then
thy body shall be cut down and burned to ashes in a fire, and so the Lord have
mercy on thy soul, Caesar.
In those days of severe punishments the penalty followed
closely after conviction. On the tenth of January, 1729, a slave
named Prince was tried at Perth Amboy for murdering one
William Cook, and being found guilty was sentenced to be
burned alive '^ on ye twelfth of this Inst." He was executed on
the day appointed. In the year 1738 a negro belonging to
Robert Hooper was burned at the stake at Rocky Hill for hav-
ing killed a child of his overseer. On the fifth of July, 1750, in
a ravine just north of Perth Amboy, two negroes were bmmed at
15
226 The Story of an Old Farm.
the stake ; one for murdering his mistress, Mrs. Obadiah Ayers,
who had mildly censm-ed him for misconduct ; and the other for
being an accessory to the fact. Mrs. Ayres was seated at her
own window when she was shot by the first negro, with a gun
procured for him by the second. In these more lenient days
the accessory would have escaped with a lighter pimishment ;
he was a mere lad, and, as was shown at the trial, had been coerced
by fear into aiding the elder and more vicious negro. At the
execution all the slaves of the neighborhood were obliged to be
present, that the scene might serve as an exemplary warning and
a terrible example.
Numerous instances might be given of the severity with which
black offenders were punished. There is on record a chronicle
of the hanging of a negro in 1750 for theft, the execution taking
place at the junction of the Woodbridge and New Brimswick
roads, a little way out of Amboy. We have another account of
an auto-d('-fe, in which Sheriff Abraham Van Doren is pictured
on his horse, riding with drawn sword between the spectators and
a fire, in which was burning a negro murderer. This was at
Hillsborough (Millstone) in 1752, the sufferer having been con-
victed there of killing his master, Jacob Van Nest, who lived
near Milltown, in Branchburgh township. This black wretch
was large and athletic, and for a long time had been considered
dangerous. In a tit of passion he struck his master a murderous
blow with an axe as he dismounted from his horse at his stable
door ; the negro's anger was occasioned by the discovery that
his master had helped himself to some tobacco from the slave's box.
This distressing occurrence does not seem to have prejudiced the
family against the owning of slaves, as it will be seen by the fol-
lowing copy of a bill of sale that the murdered man's son Peter
purchased two, a few years later : "July 10, 1768, John Van
Nest, of Bridgewater [now Branchburgh] sold to Peter Van Nest,
A certain Neger Winch named Mary and a neger boy named Jack
for the sum of £66, York cm-rency."
In 1791, burning seems to have been abandoned as a punish-
ment for negroes, one being hanged for murder in that year in
front of the old court-house at Newark. As was the custom the
condemned was taken to the First Presbyterian church, where
his funeral sermon was preached by Doctor Uzal Ogden. Mr,
New Jersey Slavery Statistics. 227
Whitehead narrates that the chiirch was crowded, and that the
good domine, in alluding to the repentance of the negro, thought-
lessly finished his discourse by impressively expressing a hope
that the latter end of his numerous hearers might be like the
criminal's.
In the province of New Jersey slavery especially flourished
because of its large Dutch and German population ; and the
greatest number of slaves were to be found in the counties
where those races predominated. New Jersey's inhabitants, all-
told, in 1726 numbered 32,442, the negroes counting 2,581. The
same year Somerset possessed 2,271 souls, white and black, the
latter numbering 379. This county was in that year exceeded
in negro population only by Monmouth and Bergen. In the year
1738, otit of a total population of 47,369, the province possessed
3,981 slaves. Somerset county in the previous year had a popu-
lation of about 4,500, of whom 732 were slaves. The census for
the year 1790 places the entire New Jersey population at
169,954, of whom 11,423 were slaves. Ten years later — 1800
— the total population had increased to 211,149, the slaves num-
bering 12,422. This was a greater number of bonds-people
than was possessed by any other state north of Maryland except-
ing New York, which had 20,613. Delaware had but 6,153,
Pennsylvania 1,706, Connecticut 95], New Hampshire 8, and
Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont none at all. In. this year, 1800,
the slaves of Somerset numbered 1,863, out of a total population of
12,813 ; this was more than that possessed by any other county in
the state excepting Bergen. Morris, the adjoining county to
Somerset, at that time having a population of nearly 18,000,
owned but 775 slaves. In 1810 slavery had entirely disappeared
in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. Khode
Island's holdings were 108, Connecticut's, 300, Pennsylvania's, 795,
Delaware's, 4,177, New Jersey's, 10,851, New York's, 15,017. In
this year — 1810 — Somerset's slave population was 1,968, still far
in advance of all other counties excepting Bergen, and only two
hundred behind that Dutch community. Between the years 1804
and 1 820 a series of laws were enacted tending toward a gradual
abolition. They provided that every child born of a slave
within the state of New Jersey after the fourth of July, in the
year 1804, should be nominally free, but should remain the ser-
228 The Story of an Old Farm.
vant of the owner of the mother until the age of twenty-five if
a male, and twenty-one if a female. So beneficial were the
results of the operation of these laws that we find by the census
of the year 1830 Somerset's full slaves were reduced to seventy-
eight in number.
At Amboy Johannes had the choice of two leading taverns ;
one of them kept by John Gluck, the other by Obadiah Ayres.
There was no choice as to expense, as the justices of the peace,
at the October quarter sessions of 1748, had established the fol-
lowing uniform and moderate rate of charges for all the taverns
of the county: "Hot meal of meat, etc., 10*?; Cold meal do, 7^',
Lodging per night 4^^; Rum by the quartern 4 '3; Brandy do,
6?; Wine by the quartern 2^,8'^; Strong beer do, 5^; Cyder do,
4'^; Metheglin do, l'',6'^'; Lunch do, 1^2*^. Provision for Horses:
Oats by the quart 1^'-; English hay per night l^jO*?; ditto for
24 hours l^jO*^; Salt or fresh hay per night 8'?; ditto for 24 hours
1?,0^." These inns were rival hostelries, each being the head-
quarters of opposition lines of boats and stages to Ncav York and
Philadelphia. Daniel O'Brien, in October, 1750, had established,
the first line by this route. His sloop left New York every Wed-
nesday ; the passengers were supposed to spend Thursday night
at John Gluck's in Amboy, a stage-wagon leaving on Friday
morning for Bordentown, where another sloop proceeded to Phil-
adelphia. His advertisement promised to carry passengers
through in forty-eight hours less time than did the stage which
travelled the old road from New Brunswick to Trenton. The
time actually consumed was from five to eight days. O'Brien
could be " spoke with at the house of Scotch Johnny in New
York on Mondays." The success of the above line was so great
as to induce some Philadelphians in 1751 to establish an opposi-
tion. Their sloop stai'ted from the Quaker City at the "Crooked
Billet Wharf" every week for Burlingt<m, " from where" — as
their advertisement read — " at the sign of the Blue Anchor, a
stage-wagon with a good awning wiU run to the house of Oba-
diah Ayres at Perth Amboy, where good entertainment is to be
had for man and beast." The advertisement goes on to lay
much stress on the fact that the sloop of this line, sailing between
Amboy and New York, had a fine cabin fitted up with a tea
table.
Stage Routes Across the State. 229
The stage route referred to as passing over the old road, had
been established in 1742 by William Atlee and Joseph Yeats.
They sold out in 1744 to one Wilson, who ran his stage-wagon
twice weekly, leaving the Delaware at Trenton on Monday and
Thursday, and New Brunswick on Tuesday and Friday. Pro-
fessor Kalm, before quoted, when on his way to New York from
Pennsylvania in 1748, attributed the great prosperity of Tren-
ton to the number of travellers that journeyed that way from
Philadelphia. He remarked on the many stage and freight
wagons starting from Trenton ; and writes that its inhabitants
largely subsist by the carriage of people and aU sorts of goods
across to New Brunswick.
Wilson's charge for carrying a single passenger in his stage-
wagon from the Delaware to the Raritan was two shillings and
six pence, with an extra payment for luggage. The fare by
sloop from Philadelphia to Trenton was one shilling and six
pence, in addition each passenger being obliged to pay extra
for luggage, and provide for himself food and drink. This last
was important, as, though the distance was not great, adverse
winds often prolonged the voyage into many tedious hours.
From New Brunswick, passei:^ers had a choice of three routes
to New York: by sloop; by way of stage-wagon to Elizabeth-
town-point, thence by sloop ; and by way of stage-wagon to
Amboy, crossing by Willocks ferry to Staten Island, crossing to
Long Island at the Narrows, and thence to Flatbush and the
Brooklyn ferry. The inhabitants of the Raritan valley and of
the vicinity of Flatbush were at this time in close alliance.
Late in the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth centuries
the Dutch had taken up all of the agricidtural lands on the west
end of Long Island ; consequently many of the second genera-
tion of this Holland stock were forced to seek tillable acres in
East Jersey. Thus the ancestry of such well known Somerset
and Middlesex families as the Van der Veers, Van Nostrands,
Van Dykes, Hagamans, Cornells, Beekmans, Polhemuses, Sut-
phens, Suydams, and others, were all migrators from the Flat-
bush neighborhood.
At this time there was no well-established cross-country road
between Trenton and Amboy, though John Dalley had in 1745
surveyed the line of a highway, and set up marks every two
230 The Story of an Old Farm.
miles as a guide through the woods. In 1756 another stage
route was established between the Quaker City and New York.
It was called the " Swift, Sure Coach Line," and travelled the
old York road, crossing the Delaware river at Lambertville ;
thence to Flemington, Somerville, Bound Brook, Plainfield, and
along the base of the mountain through Springfield to Elizabeth-
town-point, where a packet sloop completed the journey. It
was along this route that, about 1846, the first telegraph line
between New York and Philadelphia was built. This round-
about way was chosen because of the refusal of the New Jersey
Railroad oflScials to allow the telegraph company to set up its
poles along their line of railway. The short-sighted and witless
reason was given that '^ the telegraph would interfere with
travel, through enabling persons to transact business by its
means, instead of using the railroad." In no better way, per-
haps, could be shown the great growth of the telegraph, railway
and express interests of this country, than to narrate the fact
that the first telegram from Philadelphia to New York was
delivered at Somerville, the line being completed only that dis-
tance. The message was then carried to the metropolis by the
Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad in a carpet-bag j which
carpet-bag, or rather its contents, represented the entire daily
business of the Hope Express company, which afterward grew
into an important corporation and was eventually consolidated
with the Adams company.
Picture to yourself a traveller of 1752 occupying six days —
one hundred and forty-four hours — in traversing the distance
between New York and Philadelphia. Imagine for a moment
the discomforts and actual pains of such a journey during the
winter months. Huddled on a crowded sloop for from twelve to
forty-eight hours, fighting icy head tides, beating against Avinds,
chill, drear and contrary, eating cold snacks supplied by your-
self — even ^' a fine cabin fitted up with a tea table " could hardly
have palliated the miseries of such a voyage. In October, 1723,
Benjamin Franklin, when making his first visit to Philadelphia,
was thirty hours on his passage from New York to Amboy. His
sloop was nearly lost in a squall, and one of the passengers fall-
ing overboard narrowly escaped being drowned. Over fifty
years later a traveller tells of being twenty hours in sailing six-
Stage-Wagoms of the Olden Time. 231
teen miles on the Delaware in a sloop, while on a journey from
New York to Philadephia. The same traveller was nearly ship-
wrecked in New York bay, and lost some of his baggage at
Amboy. On reaching Amboy passengers were lodged in micom-
fortable taverns ; they slept on straw-filled ticks, usually with
two or three bed-fellows, and with but little choice as to com-
pany. The passage overland to the Delaware was none the less
disagreeable. The stages were ordinary Jersey wagons without
springs, with white canvass covers stretched over hoops, those at
the front and rear being very high, which gave somewhat of a
picturesque appearance to the rude vehicle. The wheels
revolved on primitive boxes, kept greased by a frequent applica-
tion of tar that was carried in a bucket suspended under the
wagon body. Clumsy linchpins were supposed to secure the
wheels, but they had a fashion, with but slight provocation, of
hopping out, and letting the axle down with a thud in the mud,
sending the passengers sprawling on the straw-covered floor of
the stage.
The roads were in a wretched condition with alternating
stumps and holes. The rivers and streams had to be forded,
and after heavy rains long delays were incurred while await-
ing the subsiding of the waters. The men travellers were
expected to partly work their passages by walking up the
steep rises, and by putting their shoulders to the wheel when the
steaming horses were stalled in a slough. But this outside work
was not much worse than being jolted on the hard seats Avithin,
while the lumbering vehicle lurched and strained over the uneven
roads, or staggered across corduroyed swamps, giving the pas-
sengers very much the feeling of having had their backbones
driven up into their skulls. It was many years before there
were any decent roads in New Jersey. Between 1765 and
1768 numerous unsuccessful efforts were made to float a lottery
for raising money to improve the highways across the province.
Governor Franklin, in an address to the assembly in 1768, thus
refers to their condition : '^ Even those which lie between the
two principal trading cities in North America are seldom pass-
able without danger or difiiculty."
When one remembers that the railroad now accomplishes in
one day the work of several weeks of the last century, no better
232 The Story of an Old Farm.
illustration can be given of the advance made by science in all
that adds to the comfort and enjoyment of mankind, and to the
diffusion of general intelligence. Beyond almost all the other
improvements of this great age stands its progress made in loco-
motion. As Johannes smoked his pipe in the taproom of Ayres'
tavern on the evening of his arrival at Amboy, and listened to
the traveUer's tales of hardships by land and water, how incredu-
lous he would have been had be been told that his posterity would
fly between New York and Philadelphia in a less number of
minutes than it took hours for Ayres' customers to traverse that
distance ; that in 1889 America would be bound and interlaced
with over one hundred and fifty thousand miles of iron and steel
roads constructed at an average cost of over sixty thousand dol-
lars per mile, and on which carriages would roll without visible
means of locomotion, attaining a velocity at times of a mile in forty-
five seconds. Still more absurd would he have considered the state-
ment that in A. D. 1889, no more time would be consumed in
crossing the then unexplored continent, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific — 3,322 miles — than was in his day occupied in passing
over the comparatively short distance lying between the Hudson
and the Delaware ; that in the place of clumsy sloops and spring-
less wagons, there would be luxurious coaches and mammoth
steamboats ; that passengers, instead of suffering extraordinary
fatigues, would stroll about elegantly appointed saloons, recline
on softly cushioned chairs, or sleep on comfortable couches,
while being whirled at from twenty-five to sixty miles an hour
over thousands of miles of thickly populated country.
We will leave Johannes to make his way back alone to Bed-
minster. In the next chapter he will claim our attention while
in conflict with rugged nature ; while combating and subduing
his timbered hillsides, and reducing them to productive acres.
CHAPTER XVir.
Clearing the Bedminster Land — Life on the '' Old Farm "
from 1752 to 1763.
Intelligent industry will overcome many difficulties. This
faculty stood our ancestor in good part when he set about clear-
ing the Bedminster farm, and to a great extent its possession
can be ascribed to his nationality. The Germans in the prov-
ince, generally, being a quiet industrious folk made themselves
most valuable citizens. They were plodding, intent on their
own business, attentive to the duties of religion, but were inter-
ested, perhaps, too little in politics. McMaster writes that
wherever a German farmer lived were to be found industry,
order and thrift. Their buildings, fences, thoroughly-tilled fields
and nurtured orchards were in marked contrast to the lands and
improvements of their more careless English and Scotch neigh-
bors. Other writers on the condition of the American colonies
in the last century speak of the simple and primitive manners
and frugal, industrious habits of the Germans, which, together
with their contented spirits and honest dealings, made them
valued acquisitions to the communities and most suitable infu-
sions among the inhabitants of the provinces.
Well ! Johannes and his sons are now fairly at work on the
" Old Farm," and we must proceed with the telling of its story.
He, like other early settlers, is occupied in making history ; not
in the sense of the brilliant achievements of heroes ; his a
more humble mission — to subdue a wilderness and civilize a
community, to make smooth the way of future generations, and
to secure for his posterity a comfortable and complete homestead.
It took time to transform his heavily-wooded lands into arable
fields ; meanwhile many privations had to be endured, and that
labor which conquers all things vigorously and assiduously
prosecuted.
234 The Story of an Old Fakm.
In clearing New Jersey lands in colonial times the settler
began by felling the smaller trees and cutting off the stronger
branches of the greater ones. Next, the oaks, hickories and
other large trees were attacked. Well girdled by the axe,
these were left to stand until the following year, by which time,
having been robbed of their sap, they were dead and ready for
the burning. Encircling fires at the base of their trunks were
ignited ; the trees fell, and by midsmnmer the sun began to
operate on land that, being formed almost entirely of rotten vege-
tation, was rank with productiveness. Instead of rooting up the
trees, many of the farmers after burning the stumps let them
staiid and decay. It gave the newly-cleared land a very ugly
appearance, but in four or five years the stumps would have so
rotted that they could be beaten to pieces and ploughed under.
By July of the second year the ground was ready for a crop,
which was generally buckwheat. When harvested in the
autumn the land was ploughed, and sown with rye. Often,
owing to the richness of the soil from the long drinking of the
juices of decaying vegetation, the first year's crop all grew to
straw, and it was not uncommon for several seasons to go by
before the ground had been sufficiently toned by cultivation to
produce good yields of wheat.
Agriculture was but imperfectly understood by the new set-
tlers, and no knowledge seems to have been had of the value of
the rotation of crops. Instances are given where new lands
produced rye for ten years, and then for ten successive harvests
yielded wheat. The virgin soil, having been fertilized by nature
for centuries, was for several decades prolific, but in time became
exhausted, and the crops correspondingly poor. Farmers who
had wasted the early strength of their fields were slow in appre-
ciating the value of a plentiful use of lime and manure, and it
was not until after the Revolution that impoverished lands began
to be properly nourished and crops again to be abundant. It is
said that tlie fii-st Somerset farmer, who gave heart to exhausted
land by the use of lime as a fertilizer, was Doctor John Reeve, who
sent all the way to a quarry on the Delaware for the stone. In
addition to profitably working a large farm near Rocky Hill, he
was a physician in good practice. Old residents of the county
remember hitn as a tall man of a majestic presence, and as a
Farming Implements of the Last Century. 235
graceful and fearless rider. His professional journeys were
always made in the saddle, and as nearly as possible in an air
line ; scorning such ordinary means of communication as high-
ways and byways he rode bravely across the country, taking the
fences as if following a pack of hounds at full cry. Although
Bedminster township had abundant limestone within its borders,
none was burned till 1794, and it was 1830 before Peapack lime
came into general use. In the last century natural meadows sup-
plied all the grass and grain for live-stock ; it was in the year
1800 that Jacques Voorhees introduced clover-seed into Somer-
set county ; the growing of grass on uplands inaugurated a new
era in farming and great benefits resulted to husbandmen and
the country.
To one accustomed to the improved appliances that aid and
abet the agriculturist of this age, the tools and implements that
Johannes had at his command would seem illy contrived for till-
ing the soil. The ploughs throughout the country at this time
were rude and ineffective and mostly home-made. They were
clumsily constructed of wood, the mould-board being fashioned
from a block which had a winding grain approximating to the
curve required- Thomas Jefferson is said to have first suggested
the proper shape and proportion of this part of a plough. It was
1776 before a wrought-iron ploughshare, some bolts, and a clevis
were introduced, and the mould-boards after that time were
often plated with strips of iron made from hammered horseshoes.
Our state has the honor of being the first to have used cast-iron
ploughs, they being the invention of a New Jersey farmer named
Newbold. Their introduction was not general until the year
1797, the people being prejudiced against their use, and it is
said that they claimed cast-iron poisoned the soil and ruined the
crop. Our forefather sowed his seed by hand, and when harvest
time came, no cradler with glittering knife swung his graceful
way through the golden grain, marking the field with lines of
even swath. Rye, wheat and buckwheat were cut with a
sickle, but oats, like grass, fell under the scythe. The sickles
used were long and narrow, their sharp edges having close
teeth on the inner side. This manner of harvesting con-
tinued until after the Revolution, when farmers were delighted
by the appearance of the cradle, which improvement created as
236 The Story of an Old Farm.
much interest as has, in modern times, the introduction of the
reaper.
During the first years of life on the farm there was much to
do besides clearing and tillage. Gun and worm fences were
built — the great barns and mows were erected, and their long,
sloping roofs thatched with the big rye straw grown on the
strong, new ground ; orchards were set out, and below the hill
the water power was improved, and the meadow facing Peapack
brook pierced with tan vats. A little above, the mill Avas
planted ; on its oaken floor a huge wooden-cogged wheel slowly
revolved, crushing the black and red oak bark. An early
undertaking was that of making the old garden to the east of the
house — a combined kitchen and flower garden, as was the
fashion of the time ; in it Avas planted the still blooming bed of
German lilies. Horticulture was then in its infancy, or more
properly speaking, as the word is now used, unknown. Old-
fashioned gardens contained in the way of flowers but little else
than hollyhocks, snoAV-balls, roses, lilacs, pinks, tulips, sun-flow-
ers, morning-glories and a few other primitive blossoms. As for
fruit, no grapes were to be had excepting the poor native fox
variety ; and the improved kinds of peaches, pears, plums and
melons, had not yet been introduced. Of pears as well as of
apples there were plenty, but no knowledge being had of nursing
and grafting, they did not attain anything approaching their
present perfection and deliciousness. So wdth the small berries,
they were in great abundance, though micultivated, growing
wild in the fields and woods.
The vegetables of that period were few in variety and poor in
quality. Potatoes were a staple, as were in their season cab-
bages, beans and Indian corn ; but tomatoes, cauliflower, Mercer
potatoes, okra, lettuce, sweet corn, egg-plant and rhubarb had
not yet been heard of. It will thus be seen that " living" at the
'' Old Stone House " in the olden days was much simpler than
those of us found it who were so fortunate as to gather about its
well-spread board in the generation just passed. Johannes' table
was well supplied with ham, bacon and smoked meats. Tradi-
tions smack their lips over the deliciousness of the tender juicy
hams, that hung in rows from the ceiling timbers in the cool
cellar. Their rich and nuttv flavor was ijainod from being cured
Colonial Farm Diet. 237
in the fragrant smoke of burning hickory and oak, together with
the fact of their having been carved from young pigs that bad
roamed the forest, fattening on acorns, hickory nuts and aromatic
herbage. Occasionally fresh meat was had, as it was the cus-
tom of farmers when they slaughtered a " critter" to distribute
joints and pieces among their neighbors for miles around, relying
for pay upon a return courtesy. The family had not yet out-
grown its love for sauerkraut, as is shown by the writer's having
the antique mortar — cut out of a solid block of wood — and pestle,
which were used in the preparation of this compound, so dear to
the German palate. A dish that garnished every meal was
" kohl-salat," or cabbage salad. The Dutch called it " kohl-
slaa," and from these two old country terms have come the
degenerate word " coldslaw." Our yoeman's table, while ignor-
ant of modem prepared dishes disguised with strange sauces,
was abundently beset with solid substantial food : poultry, eggs,
cheese and such farm diet there was, of course ; hot breads were
in vogue ; short cakes, made with buttermilk and baked on a
griddle, were in daily demand, and pies, doughnuts and olekokes,
were features even of the morning meal. Soupaan — well salted
Indian mush, eaten with milk and molasses — was the standard
Sunday supper, though occasionally a raised biscuit, called
zweibakj or twice baked, took the place of mush ; this biscuit
was made in large quantities, bushels at a time, and then dried
in the oven until as hard as a rock ; in a bowl of rich milk it
made a toothsome dish, — to the truth of which more than one
of Mariah Katrina's descendants can bear witness.
As for beverages, a great favorite at that time was madeira,
though except on festive occasions it was rarely found save on
the tables of the rich. Farmers were content with hard cider,
b«er and Jamaica rum. The latter was almost the entire tipple
of the poor throughout the colonies, except in the East, where
immense quantities of molasses were annually converted into New
England rum. A hot drink common at that time was soured
beer simmered over the fire with crusts of brown bread, and
sweetened with molasses. Another decoction, or concoction, of
which the Germans of New Jersey were fond, was the extraor-
dinai-y combination of chocolate and links of sausages, boiled in
a kettle, served in a bowl, and eaten together with a spoon ; a
238 The Story of an Old Farm.
feast of which I am sure but few of my readers would care to
partake. It is said that when tea w^as first introduced in New
Jersey its manner of use was for some time unknown. The
people in their ignorance boiled it well, throwing away the
liquor ; the herb was then dished, buttered, and eaten as greens.
For sweetening purposes molasses and maple sugar were com-
monly used, as at that time brown or "store sugar" was yet con-
sidered a luxury. The story is current that the introduction of
white sugar in the Moelich family was by Johannes' daughter,
Veronica Gerdrutta, some years later, on the occasion of a social
tea-drinking. It was then both a curiosity and a treat among
farmers, and especially to the Germans, who were a very
economical folk. Fanny's husband, old Jacob Kline, not having
been informed of the surprise in store for the guests, on
sitting down at the table used the sugar as salt, suppos-
ing it to be such. This so annoyed his wife that she cried
out somewhat angrily in German, " O you dumb Irishman, you
never will know anything !" In calling her husband an Irish-
man, the good wife poured upon his head the full vials of her
contemptuous vocabulaiy. Among the colonists of Pennsylvania
and New Jersey there were representatives of many nationali-
ties, with widely dissimilar natures, but fortunately the unifying
conditions were sufficient to ultimately blend their discordant
elements. Yet, for a number of years the Irish and Germans
were mutually repugnant, and each held the other in
very low estimation ; consequently " Irish " and '' Dutch "
were bandied between the thrifty Germans and the sons of the
Emerald Isle as epithets of contempt. In a letter from the elder
Muhlenberg to the fathers of Zion church in 1772, the Patriarch
complains that his conduct in a certain financial transaction had
been misconstrued, and goes on to say : " You must have
peculiar thoughts of me, as if I tried to cheat you out of some-
thing or desired to play Irish tricks on you."
Building barns, making gardens, and raising crops, are fair-
weather work. There was much that could be done on the " Old
Farm " in tempest as well as in sunshine. On stormy days and
during the long winter evenings, Johannes and his sons were
occupied with labor that would now be done at wheelwright shops,
factories and forges ; but shops of all kinds were then few, and at
QuiLTiNGS, Frolics, and Donation-Visits. 239
remote distances. Our forefathers cobbled their own shoes^
repaired their own harness, and at extemporized carpenter and
blacksmith shops made much of the household furniture and
many of the farm and kitchen utensils. The Baroness Riedesel,
the companion in misfortune of her husband, the Hessian Gen-
eral who was captured with Burgoyne, made and published
many notes on the American army ; among them, one as follows :
" Their generals who accompanied us Avere some of them shoe-
makers, and on the days we halted made boots for our officers
or even mended the shoes of our men." The Baroness was in
error : they were not shoemakers, but the custom of colonial
times was for the men to know all about the working of leather,
they being able to make their own harness, saddles and shoes,
just as it was for the women to spin and weave ; doubtless these
American officers in sore need of money were glad to exchange
this knowledge and service for German and English coin.
There w^ere few or no luxuries in the olden time that would be
recognized as such now ; the industries of the families were of the
most complete character, as within each homestead was pro-
duced, to a large extent, the necessities of its members. In
farming communities, upon the women of the household devolved
not only the duties of cooking, washing, milking, and dairy work,
as at present ; in addition, they made their own garments and
many of those of the men ; they spun their own yarn, wove the
family linen and woollen goods, smoked and cured meats, dipped
tallow candles, brewed beer, and made soap. Their pleasures
were limited, being confined principally to quilting frolics, apple
paring bees, and husking and killing frolics. The latter were
when the men met at each other's houses to do the autumn hog-
killing, the women coming in the late afternoon to join them at
supper, and have a dance in the evening. The " wood frolic "
was also an institution which brought together most of the
people of the congregations annually at the parsonages. While
the men occupied themselves during the day hauling the minis-
ter's 3"early supply of wood, the wives and daughters came in the
late afternoon and prepared a bountiful supper, to which the
tired wood-haulers doubtless brought excellent appetites. The
spinning-visit and the donation-visit were both made occasions
for festivities. At the former it was the women who spent the
240 The Story of an Old Farm.
the day in work, the men coming at supper-time to contribute to
the pleasures of the evening.
Fielding writes that ^' bare walls make gadding housewives."
Could he have visited the "living-room" of the "Old Stone
House " he would not have expressed this sentiment without
noting an exception. It had bare walls, it is true, but Mariah
Katrina was no gadding housewife:
She was a woman of a stirring life,
Whose heart was in her house ; two wheels she had,
Of antique form ; — this large for spinning wool, —
That small for flax ; and if one wlieel had rest,
It was because the other was at work.
In many of the customs and courtesies of life she was doubt-
less rude and unpolished. A helpmate to her husband, she did
not disdain to aid him in the field. While occupied with house-
hold duties her dress, and that of her daughters, was coarse
homespun ; and often in the summer, to make her many busy
steps in the farm-kitchen the lighter, she discarded shoes. But
for all that, her posterity have no cause for being ashamed of
this industrious German matron ; she was the mother of vigorous
children, who developed into men and women useful and beloved.
They, in their turn, transmitted to their descendants capacities
for leading worthy and profitable lives.
The "living-room," or farm-kitchen, was Mariah Katrina's
kingdom, as it has been for all the housewives of the " Old
Stone House" from that time down. It served for many pur-
poses, and it was there that all the home life centred. With
the exception of what was baked in the Dutch oven in the outer-
kitchen, the cooking was done before or in the cavernous fire-
place, around which were hung warming-pans, flat-irons, skil-
lets, teapots and other necessaries, while from the " chimbley's"
capacious throat depended cranes, hooks, pots, trammels and
smokejacks. This was even before the time, in farmers' families,
of tin roasting-jacks ; turkeys used to be suspended by twine
before the fire, and kept revolving, while the basting gravy
dripped to a pan below. The domestic conveniences of that age
did not include closets ; household articles were distributed about
the walls of this farm-kitchen, hung on cop-stocks — wooden
pegs, driven into the beams of the low-studded ceiling. On the
A View of the Farm-Kitchen. 241
clresser were rows of polished pewter platters and vessels, stand-
ing cheek by jowl with well-scoured wooden trenchers, while
laid away on the shelves of the great walnut press were piles of
the family's coarse linen. In the corner stood two small wooden
mortars, in which were pounded and powdered the mustard and
coffee ; and on a convenient shelf were placed the lights for this
world and the next, — a round iron tinder-box with its attendant
flint and steel, and the huge family Bible, its pages black with
quaint German characters. Pewter and copper were the mat-
erials from which many of the drinking vessels and utensils were
made, china and glass being in but little use. The precious
metals were not common, except among the very rich, although
all well-to-do farmers carried a silver watch and snuff-box, the
latter being in frequent requisition. Tobacco was smoked in
pipes, of which Johannes had brought a good supply from the
old country ; segars were unknown in the " Old Stone House,"
indeed, throughout the colony in that century they were rarely
seen outside of the large cities.
Much of the space of the chambers in this Bedminster dwelling
was occupied by mammoth " four-posters," stuffed with thick
feathei'-beds that were covered by many-colored quilts and
counterpanes of calico, durant and calamanco — whatever the last
two may have been. Testers of cloth and curtains of chintz
hung from above, while vallances of dimity reached to the floor.
Miich of the bedroom furniture was heavy, cumbersome and
home-made, red cedar being the favorite wood, as it was consid-
ered vermin proof and indestructible. The upper rooms, like the
one below, then as now, were destitute of closets. People are
not apt to feel the need of what they have never possessed ;
otherwise we might suppose that Mariah Katrina and her
daughters were much inconvenienced for the want of closet
room. If you are curious to know in what kind of garments
they were accustomed to array themselves, we may, in fancy,
mount the oaken staircase to the garret, and there behold the
treasures of clothing, of which women in the olden time had a
great profusion Hanging on pegs driven in the wall, and
depending from lines stretched from the eaves, were shortgowns,
overgowns, outer garments and petticoats. The number of the
last would now seem excessive, but colonial women thought at
16
242 The Story of an Old Farm.
least fifteen necessaiy, while the Germans and Dutch often had
twice that number. They were generally of tow, flannel and
linsey-woolsey, and the young women of a household spent much
of their girlhood in laying in a stock of petticoats for matronly
uses. The shortgowns were of kersey, calamanco and homespun,
but the frocks and outer garments were made of gay fabrics, the
names of some of which are now obsolete ; beside satins, silks and
velvets, there were in use taffety, beaver, French tabby, milinet,
moreen, groset, Holland linen, bombazine, and " boughten
calico."
The men of that time, even in farming communities, were not
insensible to the picturesqueness of variety and color in their
garb. For daily wear, buckskin, leather, homespun and worsted
fabrics were common, but on Sundays and on gala occasions
prosperous yeomen were often clad in white, blue and crimson
broadcloth coats, with short-clothes of plush, stockinet, yellow
nankin, and even velvet.
In the living-room, or farm-kitchen, the meals Avere eaten,
friends were entertained, and the spinning done ; while just
beyond the door, in the cellar on the same level, stood the clumsy
loom, upon which the women banged away at odd times in mak-
ing linen cloths and woollen goods for the family clothing. Flax
was to Johannes a most important crop ; its treatment was
largely within the province of the women of his household, from
the pulling in the fields to the making, dressing, hatcheling, and
spinning. This was before the days of cotton, and flax had
many uses ; in addition to being prepared for the loom, mats and
cushions were made from the coarse '^ hock-tow," and the rope,
or finer tow, was twisted by the hands into long strands of yarn,
from which were manufactured the farm cords and ropes. Deli-
cate girls would seem to have had no place in the social economy
of colonial farm families. They must needs have had strong
arms and stout hips to have been able to lug the big iron kettles,
or to have hung them on the great swinging crane of the yawn-
ing fireplace. Strength was also necessary to handle the large
sticks of hickory that kept the pot a-boiling, or the vast oven
heated to just the point necessary for properly browning the
batches of rye and wheaten loaves, the big pans of beans, and
the cakes, puddings, and thick pies. Washing-day must have
Washing-Day at the Old Stone House. 243
been a sore affliction to the women-folk of the " Old Farm."
When Monday came a roaring fire was built alongside the wash-
house — on the bank of the brook— over which was suspended an
iron pot in which the clothes were boiled. Washing machines
and wringers were not — and even their predecessors, the corru-
gated washboard and washtub, were unknown. The stream fur-
nished a generous tub, and stout arms did the wringing. When
the dirt and grime had been loosened by boiling the coarse
clothing was put in the pounding barrel, and well thumped
with a wooden pounder until the dirt was supposed to be elimi-
nated. A rude washing machine — but it is said to have done
eflfective service, though the fine fabrics of our day would find
such rough handling rather severe ; not only the dirt, but the
texture would be eliminated.
The years roll on ! All this time the three hundred and
sixty-seven acres of wild lands are gradually developing into a
fine farm. Changes, too, are taking place in the family in which
we are so much interested. Aaron, the first born, has brought
home a wife — Charlotte Miller. Who were her parents our
investigations do not show, nor are we any the wiser as to the
date of the marriage ; it was probably about the year 1757,
as their first child, John — the future Revolutionary soldier — was
born on the thirty -first of July, 1758. If our surmise is correct,
this would make the mother twenty-three years old at the
time of her marriage, as she was born on the fourteenth of May,
1734. To man Heaven gives its best gift in a good wife ; and
so was Aaron blessed in Charlotte. Though we are ignorant of
her parentage, she was evidently the daughter of a good mother,
for of such are the best wives made. For over forty years she
added to the comfort and happiness of her husband and children,
and lived in the " Old Stone House " the life of Solomon's
virtuous woman, for "• the heart of her husband safely trusted in
her, and she did him good, and not evil, all her days."
There has not been preserved to us an account of Aaron's
marriage. It is to be regretted ; — as in the olden time there
were many quaint customs and observances attendant upon
weddings. They were not confined to the ceremony ; the occa-
sion of bringing the wife home — called the infare — was one of
great festivity, often prolonged for several days, the kinsfolk and
244 The Story of an Old Farm.
neighbors being bidden from far and near. The laws regarding
marriages were then exceedingly strict. It was necessary
for the contracting parties to have the bans published three
times, or else procure from the governor of the province a license,
which would not be granted unless the bridegroom appeared in
person before the chief magistrate, accompanied by two promi-
nent citizens. These latter were obliged to testify that they
knew of no lawful obstacles to the marriage ; and to give a bond
that they would be answerable for any damages that might arise
because of any previous promise of marriage having been made,
or for any complaints against the contracting parties by their
relatives, guardians, or masters. All of the above preliminaries
having been complied with, the governor delivered the license
upon the receipt of twenty-five shillings currency, which fees
materially added to the amount of his annual income.
There were other peculiar marriage laws in the province.
One relating to widows was particularly diverting. This was
before the day of acts protecting the rights of a married woman.
She could hold no property individually, and on the death of her
husband had not legal ownership of her own wearing-apparel
unless bequeathed to her ; otherwise the clothes on her back
belonged to the estate of her husband. If that estate proved
insolvent, and the widow remarried, care had to be taken that
the perplexities of her iirst husband's affairs did not attach to
those of the second. To do this it was necessary for her to be
married in nothing but her shift, the, giving up of her clothes to
the creditors of her deceased husband releasing her from further
claims. After the ceremony she was at once arrayed in clothing
presented by the new husband. Professor Kalm, the Swedish
traveller, quotes the following account as having been read in
1749 in the " Pennsylvania Gazette ;" the circumstances having
occurred in New Jersey :
A woman went with no other dress than her shift out of the house of her
deceased hushand to tliat of her bridegroom, who met her half way with fine
new clotJies, and said before all wlio were present that he lent them to his bride ;
and put them on witli his own hands. It seems he said that he lent the clothes
lest if he said he gave them the creditors of the first husband should come and
take them from her, pretending that she was looked upon as ihe relict of her
first husband, before she was married to the second.
Yes ! the procession of the generations has commenced. The
I
The Household in 1760. 245
" Old Stone House " is now a home in the truest sense, for its
rooms have echoed to the cry of a baby ; within its walls for the
first time a mother has looked with eyes of love into those of her
infant — the sweetest, tenderest, happiest look that can come from
a woman. Johannes and Mariah now mount to a higher plane
in the family circle. Clothed in the honor and dignity of their
advancing years, they sit on either side of the fireplace with
grandchildren at their knees. For the first little one did not
remain king ; others followed to claim their share of the house-
hold affections — Catharine, born the fifteenth of JiUy, 1761, and
Daniel, the writer's grandfather, born on the twenty-eighth of
October, 1763. The house can now be said to be furnished ; for
it is Southey, I think, who declares that none can be called com-
pletely so until there is a kitten on the hearth, and a child of at
least three years playing about its chambers.
It is now many years since Johannes, his wife, and their little
flock passed through the Bach-gate of the ancient city of Ben-
dorf, and turned their steps westward. He was still a young
man then, but now his hair and that of his dame is thin and rap-
idly frosting. As he looks back there can be no call for regret
at his having come to America. Surveying his comfortable
homestead and contented household, he must appreciate how
signally he has been prospered. Successful in his avocations,
honored by his brethren of the church, and loved by his children,
for what more could he have asked ? Death has not crossed his
threshold ; his family is intact though not all together. Aaron,
his prop and stay, is to succeed him on the farm and in the tan-
nery ; Fanny, married to prosperous Jacob Kline, is already the
happy mother of several children. Another of the brood being
old enough to fly, has taken wing and left the family nest ; for
Andrew, the second son, having found a wife, has made his way
into Sussex county. The two other boys and the daughter
Maria, though men and women grown, are still at home, con-
tributing their share to the family toil and joy.
The weather-vane faces the direction of the wind ! — so the
faithful German heart ever veers toward fatherland. As our
immigrant-ancestor, with his gray-haired wife, slowly floats down
the river of life toward the open sea of eternity, his barque
freighted with pious hopes, he still remembers the village of
246 The Story of an Old Farm.
gray antiquity on the banks of the far-distant Rhine. Though
he has sworn honest fealty to another government, after having
been forced into expatriation by the unjust laws of his own, he
has not forgotten that east of the Alantic ocean there lies a fair
country, to which the invisible links of affection still chain his
memory. Through all the years of his American life he has con-
tinued in correspondence with relatives and friends in Germany.
Among the letters preserved is one from his wife's brother, the
burgomaster of Hochstenbach, written in 1760, with which I
will close this chapter. It tells the same story, as have the
others, of the miseries of continental warfare. It seems a stately,
foni^al letter to have been written to a sister who was over
three thousand miles away, and from whom the writer had been
separated for a quarter of a century.
Hochstenbach, 20 April, 1760.
Much beloved brother-in-law and dear sister : Your honored letter of
September 28th, 1759, we have duly received on the 9th of January, 1760, and
noticed to our great joy that you and 3'our good children are in good health, on
behalf of which we heartily congratulate you.
As regai-ds ourselves we have, so far, Thanks to our Lord, also been enjoying
good health. Our country has been marched over for several years by French
Troops, exacting from us, even last year yet, strong forages to be delivered in
Bendorf and Glabach, and in the winter and last spring in Limburg, so that the
poorer class of subjects keep scarcely enough for his own use ; May the Almighty
soon give us peace again.
From Bendorf I have to report that cousin Job. Geo. Kirberger died a few
years ago, leaving six children behind. Cousin Hager and his lady and their
children are well. In the mean time we wish you our Lord's Mercy, and that he
may bless you all. With our best salutations, I remain
Your sincere brother and brother-in-law,
H. Kirberger.
>«;-
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Death of Johannes and Mariah in 1763 — Changes in the
Toivnship — The Butch Congregations of the Baritan Valley
— The Building of Bedminster Church.
And now Johannes' days are on the wane. Their meridian
has long since passed, and the short afternoon having merged
into the sober evening of life, he is reaping the comforts and
consolations resulting from the active and useful employments of
youth and middle age. Like a traveller who at the close of day
has reached a high hill whose summit is bathed in the hues of
the setting sun, he is able to look back with satisfaction over
the pleasant country that has been traversed. Our pilgrim has
attained that quiet dreamy hour of life, '' between the lights,"
when his ripened years bring the tranquil enjoyments of repose
and retrospection. Relieved from labor by the children who
have learned habits of industry by his example, they now repay
him for many days of anxious and devoted care.
Sooner or later all things must pass away. The undaunted
one — the messenger of death — inevitably draws near. Johannes
must leave his lands, his well-built house, his orchards and his
woods, and take up his abode beyond that mysterious shade —
that dim spectral mist which curtains time from eternity. There
came a day, when the year 1763 was hastening to its close, on
which Johannes' hour was come. The mellow October weeks
had gone — the Indian summer passed — the golden-rod still stood
thickly along the fences, but the many-colored asters which
alone remained in the old garden were sprinkling their petals
over its lonely beds. It was on the sixteenth day of that gloom-
iest month of all the year, when the chill November rains were
robbing the earth of its fruits and verdure and ,beating from the
248 The Story of an Old Farm.
branches of the trees their russet leaves, that our German
ancestor folded his hands, and was at rest. Calm was his exit,
for his end was peace. He was mourned in the "Old Stone
House," but he foimd a companion awaiting him beyond the
pearly gates, for his faithful old wife Mariah had died on the
seventeenth day of October — old no longer, for we may believe
with Mohamet that old women never reach heaven — they all
grow young on the journey.
Let us preserve the memory of these honest German people.
In their dreamless sleep for over a century, they have lain side
by side under the long grass of the Lutheran burying-ground at
Pluckamin. Generations that followed in their footsteps have
like them disappeared from the earth. But we, who yet linger
amid scenes that were familiar to their eyes, may consider with
gratitude and affection of our indebtedness to these simple Rhine
folk and their fellow-pioneers. Their hands grew hard in mak-
ing smooth rugged paths on which we now walk with ease. Let
their names be revered by their kindred and their honest hard-
working lives noted and recorded. " They rest from their labors,
and their works do follow them." These simple-minded men
and women — the forefathers and foremothers of Bedminster —
found this township a wilderness. By their virtue and their
intelligent industry they left it planted with churches, schools
and homesteads, and guarded by laws, social and legal, in which
were laid the foundations of the happiness of future generations.
Johannes is dead, and his first-born reigns in his stead. The
father left behind him the name of a good man. He also left to
succeed him a good son, well able to t&.ke up the work where it
had been laid down, and quite equal to perform all the duties of
life with the same honesty of purpose and simple earnestness of
endeavor as had characterized the daily walk of the parent. With
the progression of the story of the '^Old Farm" there will be much
to tell of the busy and useful life passed by Aaron on these ances-
tral acres and in the community, before he ceased to labor, and
at the rounded age of eighty-one, made way in his turn for the
worthy son who succeeded him. As we shall have occasion to
show, he was in every respect a man of affairs, and from the
mass of his papers in my possession it is evident that for the
forty-five years he survived Johannes in the ''Old Stone House "
Changes in Bedminster. 249
he played a no unimportant part in the drama of Bedminster
life.
Seed-time and harvest come and go ! Springtime and autumn
slip by ! meanwhile the country roundabout has undergone
great changes. Latent forces that have been lying buried for
seons of time in these Bedminster hiUs and valleys, ready to res-
pond to man's endeavor and desire, are now in active operation.
The warm, palpitating sunlight heretofore arrested one hundred
feet from the ground by the foliage of the rounded tree-tops, now
bathes with its genial heat broad open spaces, here and there
throughout the township, where children play in gardens and
orchards, and the lusty corn tosses its yeUow tresses over well-
tilled fields. The rude dwellings of the early inhabitants have
undergone prosperous transformations, and during the eleven
years that the " Old Stone House" has been standing, many
industries have sprung into active existence. Across the brook
a grist and saw mill are in operation, and homesteads begin to
mosaic the hills that roll away toward Peapack. In the direction of
Lamington, farms are multiplying; and on the Axtell tract,
below where are now the Lesser and Larger Cross Roads, human
thrift has been busy, until patches of open and woodland alter-
nate, and sunlight and shadow checker all that portion of the
township.
Lnmediately adjoining the " Old Farm" on the south,
Jacobus Van Doren purchased of William Axtell, about the
year 1760, two hundred and eighty-three acres of land, and
erected a house where is now the residence of Cornelius M.
Wyckoff. This land he sold in 1815 to Captain Joseph Nevius,
who, some years later, conveyed that portion lying east of the
Peapack road to Cornelius M. Wyckoff, whose son — of the same
name — is now in possession. The original house was taken
down in 1820 to make room for the present Wyckoff dwelling.
Jacobus Van Doren was the grandson of Jacobus Van Doom,
who migrated from Long Island to Monmouth county about the
year 1698, He was also the nephew of that Abraham Van
Doren, who it is said was sheriff of Somerset county for twenty
years, and whom we found in 1752 superintending the burning
at Millstone of the negro slave murderer of Jacob Van Neste.
Jacobus was the eldest of the seventeen children of Christian
250 The Story of an Old Farm.
Van Doren and Alche Schenck, who settled on the Amwell road
in Middlebush about 1723. In Doniine Leydt's time Christian
was an elder in the First Reformed Dutch church at New Bruns-
wick, and Ralph Voorhees tells us in " Our Home" that it was
his custom on Sunday mornings to ride to church, accompanied
by his wife and ten children, all well mounted on separate horses.
Methinks this cavalcade would serve a painter as an excellent
subject for a colonial picture ; and that this peaceful Sabbath-
day march of good-man Van Doren, with his household troop
drawing rein in front of the old Dutch church, would present a
scene quite equalling in interest those of the cavalry that often
seem just ready to step out of a canvas of De ,TaiUe, or De
Neuville.
The memory of Mrs. Christian (Alche) Van Doren is revered
as that of one of Somerset's mothers in Israel. She was the
life-long friend of Jufvrouw Hardenbergh — of whom much more
hereafter — and, though living six miles distant, was a constant
attendant at church until her ninety-fifth year. When this
remarkable old lady died she left three hundred and fifty-two
living descendants, among whom were two hundred great-grand-
children and six great-great-grandchildren. The size of families
in those early days would seem to have been commensurate with
the needs of population. Of her children, all but one lived to an
old age, and raised families ; and one of her grandchildren, fol-
lowing his grandparent's example, had seventeen children. The
most of her twelve boys were called after the patriarchs, proph-
ets and apostles, nor would she ever permit tlieir names to be
shortened ; there were no Jakes, Abes, Ikes, Petes or Jacks in
her household. Mrs. Van Doren had the happiness of seeing
all of her sons prominent in the Dutch church. Jacobus was
active in sustaining the Bedminster church ; in an old salary
subscription list, in ray hands, his name frequently appears as
well as that of his cousin Aaron who, together with the latter's
brother John, settled about this time in Peapack, establishing an
industry, known to this day as Van Doren's mills. Lewis A.
Van Doren, their present owner, is the grandson of John. His
fatlier, William A. Van Doren, in about 1832 introduced and oper-
ated the first threshing machine in Bedminster. It was a primitive
affair requiring eight horses attached to a lever-power to do the
Some of the Eakly Chueches. 251
work accomplished now by two. Notwithstanding its clumsiness
it was considered a great improvement over former methods, as
hy it in one week as much grain was threshed as until then
four men had been able to hammer and tread in two months
with swingle-clubs and six horses.
Joseph Nevius, to whom Jacobus Van Doren sold his land in
1815, was a descendant of Johannes Nevius, who came to New
Amsterdam from Solen in Westphalia early in the seventeenth
century. His grandson Petrus was living at Flatbush in 1738,
and later removed to Somerset county, and through him are the
Raritan valley Neviuses descended. Joseph, before settling in
Bedminster, had been the popidar host of the Blackhorse
tavern at Mendham in Morris county. His eldest daughter,
Ann, married John Melick, grandson of Aaron, and lived for
many years in the '' Old Stone House," dying at the age of
seventy-six on the seventh of October, 1876. She was a woman
of strong character and many virtues ; throughout her life she
held a position in the community of more than usual influence,
and enjoyed the respect and affection of all with whom she came
in contact. Often called upon in time of need for counsel or
help, her noble nature was ever as ready to condemn the wrong
as to uphold the good and the true, and the memory of " Aunt
Ann" is cherished, not only by her kindred, but by all with whom
she was intimate, and especially by the poor, who were always
her care.
Previous to the year 1763, without doubt, the most important
addition to this Bedminster neighborhood was the organization of
the congregation of the Reformed Dutch church and the erection
of its first church building. If not a majority, certainly a great
number of the settlers of the township were of this religious per-
suasion, and were connected with one of the Dutch congrega-
tions of the Raritan valley. When the Presbyterians had
erected their house of worship at Lamington, and the Lutherans
had organized Zion and St. Paul's churches at New Germantown
and Pluckamin, many as a matter of convenience joined those
congregations, but most of the people still made their way south-
ward each Sunday. The nearest houses of worship were the
" Raritan Church" at Van Veghten's bridge and the " Church of
. North Branch" at the village of Readington. The first edifice
252 Thk Story of an Old Farm.
of the latter congregation was a log structure with a frame addi-
tion, erected about 1717, that stood near the forks of the river, on
the brow of the hill just east of the junction of the Readington
and North Branch village highways. In 1738 a new building
was erected near the site of the present edilice at Readington.
The Raritan church — now the "First Reformed Church at Somer-
ville" — was erected, probably in 1721, on land donated by Michael
Van Veghten, on the bluff facing the Raritan river about one
quarter of a mile below the present bridge near Finderne rail-
way station. Doctor Messier records that this congregation was
in existence long before it had a church building, its meetings
probably being held in some private house or barn. The first
consistory entry is of the year 1699 when John Tuyneson was
installed elder and Pieter Van Neste, deacon by the Reverend
Guillaume Bertholf.
The name of this minister often appears among the early
records of the Dutch churches of Somerset, and he seems
to have been an itinerant domine, having on his conscience
the spiritual welfare of all the people of Holland descent
in a wide area of country. He was sent to the Netherlands in
1693 by the congregations of Hackensack and Aquackanonck
that he might be ordained by the chassis of Amsterdam. Mr.
Bertholf returned in the following year, the first qualified mini-
ster of the Dutch Reformed persuasion in the province, and for
fifteen years was the only pastor for all the country lying
between Tappan in New York and the upper Raritan in New
Jersey, including Tarry town, Staten Island, Pompton, and Sec-
ond River or Belleville. Until his death in 1724 he labored
unremittingly to spread the field of usefidness of the Dutch
church, and it is said that his mild .and placid eloquence and
gentle but deeply-religious nature diffused a holy savor of piety
throughout all the connnunities that were so happy as to fall
under his kindly influences. The two churches of Raritan and
" North Branch" in the beginning of the last century were " col-
legiate'' with the one at Three Mile Run ; which before 1717
divided and erected churches at Six Mile Run and at New
Brunswick.
Church buildings were primitive affairs in those days.
The one at Six Mile Run was but a mere shell, with the
Theodorus Jacobus Fkelinghutsen. 253
earth for a floor. Its worshippers were ignorant of pews and
aisles, the only seats being those brought with them each Sun-
day from home. These four congregations were without regular
preaching ; occasionally they would be visited by Mr. Bertholf,
or by some missionary deputed by him, when commimion, bap-
tism and other religious rites would be administered. It is fair
to presume that services of some kind alternated in the different
churches conducted by the congregation's lay preachers or " fore
readers." The title of the official, who served the Dutch con-
gregations in this capacity, was voorlecser. His duty it was in
the absence of the minister to read prayers and sermons, cate-
chise the children, and to generally maintain public worship and
nourish the seeds of piety.
The four congregations, about the year 1717, joined in
applying to the home church in Holland, for a permanent
pastor. Two years later Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen
was sent out to them by the ship King George, Captain
Goelet. He preached his first sermon in Somerset county
on the thirty-first of January, 1720. We learn from Sprague's
" Annals of the American Pulpit" that he was the son of
Johannes Henricus Frelinghuysen, pastor of the Dutch church
at Lingen in East Friesland, now a portion of the kingdom of
Hanover, where he was born about the year 1691. He married
Eva, the daughter of Albert Terhune, a wealthy farmer of Flat-
bush, Long Island, and had seven children. His five sons all
entered the ministry of the Reformed Dutch church, and his two
daughters married ministers in the same communion. Singular
to relate not one of the domine's sons was living ten years after
their father's death. Mr. Frelinghuysen did a great work in
thoroughly establishing the Dutch church in Somerset. He is
said to have been a ripe scholar in Latin, Greek and his own
language, and Doctor Messier ranks him among the Blairs, Ten-
nents, Mathers and other eminent clergymen of his age. White-
field, Jonathan Edwards and Gilbert Tennent have left on rec-
ord their appreciation of the labors and unceasing diligence of
this Dutch Calvinistic minister, whereby the " wilderness was
converted into the garden of the Lord." Domine Frelinghuysen
lived at Three Mile Run, just west of New Brunswick, on a farm
of two hundred acres, lately owned by E. Vantine Bronson.
254 The Story of an Old Farm.
Here he died about the year 1747, and was buried in the old
Six Mile Run graveyard, now Elm Ridge cemetery. Before his
death his duties, which extended over three hundred square
miles of territory, had been increased by the organization in
1727 of the congregation ^' op de Millstone,''^ now known as
Harlingen church. After Mr. Frelinghuysen's death, the con-
gregations of New Brunswick and Six Mile Run withdrew from
the others of the Raritan valley, and extended a call to the Rev-
erend John Leydt. The remaining churches invited Theodorus
Jacobus Frelinghuy sen's second son, John, to become their pastor.
He was born in 1727, and preached his first sermon in the Rari-
tan church in the summer of 1750 from the text, " Instead of
thy fathers shall be thy children." He had just returned from
Holland, where he had been to obtain from the classis of Amster-
dam license to preach. He brought with him from the old coun-
try a wife — Dinah Van Bergh — a woman of such virtue and
piety that during her long life of fifty-six years in Somerset, it is
said few ministers exercised more infiuence for good in that com-
munity than did — as she was afterwards known — the " Jufvrouw
Hardenbergh." A copy of John Frelinghuy sen's call from the
three consistories is preserved among the archives of the Somer-
viUe church ; after stipulating that he should preach the word of
God in the Dutch language, faithfully exercise discipline upon
offending church members, and generally perform the duties of
a servant of Christ, " after the manner of our Reformed Low
Dutch church, established at the Synod of Dordrecht, 1618,
1619," it goes on to say :
Now in order to be a little more definite, your Reverence will be required to
preach, alternating, in each of the afore-mentioned churches, and, when in
health, twice on each Lord's Day, except in winter, and then only once, as the
custom here is, and also upon tlie so-called Feast Days, as is customary in the
Reformed Low Dutch churches. Also, your Reverence will be required to take
charge of the catechizing of tiie youth, of the visitation of families and of the
sick, as time and opportunity permit.
To assure your Reverence that this is our sincere desire, we promise you, in the
name of our churches, besides all love and esteem which belongs to a faithful
servant of C'iirist, to provide, first, for a yearly salary of one hundred and twenty-
five pounds, current money at eight shillings an ounce; the half of which, col-
lected by tlie elders and deacons, shall be paid each half year; and a suitable
dwelling, with thirty acres of land.
The house referred to in the call was erected in 1751, and can
A Divinity Student's Wooing. 255
still be seen as a portion of the residence of the late Joshua
Doughty, on Somerset street in Somerville. It is constructed of
bricks that the domine brought with him from Holland in the same
vessel with his wife. John Frelinghuysen's pastorate lasted
but three years. While visiting relatives on Long Island he was
taken alarmingly ill, and there died in September, 1854. Mrs.
Frelinghuysen, who had accompanied him, returned home with
the body of her husband in a boat so contracted and inconvenient
that, as her biographer recounts, she was compelled, with a very
great shock to her sensibilities, to step upon the coffin in passing
to the shore. The children of this marriage were a son and a
daughter. The former — Frederick — grew up to be eloquent at
the bar, wise in the councils of the nation, and valiant in Revo-
lutionary fields. Of all the five sons of Theodoris Jacobus, John
wa2 The Story of an Old Fakm.
your delight and your happiness. The Lord enable you to discover what is His
Holy will.
Farther on she writes : —
Now worthy Sir I have a single request to make to you ; will your Reverence
speedily let me know whether you have perfect peace in your mind in relation
to your residing in New York ?
She closes the long epistle by expressing her hearty love for
Mi's. Liringston, and the hope that the Lord would "sustain her
ladyship in her infirmities." And then with ceremonious sal-
utations she subscribed herself
Most Reverend Sir, Your Reverence's handmaid and loving friend in our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Dinah Hardenbergh,
by birth Van Bergh.
Being a woman there must needs be a postscript, which was to
inform the doctor :
No one knows of this letter excepting one female friend. It is between the
Lord and us.
Mrs. Hardenbergh expressed great fear in this letter that
the college and church would fall under the sway of a Presby-
terian, and her apprehensions pi'oved to be well grounded.
Her husband's successor in the pulpit was Doctor Ira Condit, a
disciple of John Knox, who, however, conformed to all the
requirements of the Dutch church. She spoke of him afterward
as the "beloved Condit," so we may believe she accepted
Doctor Livingston's refusal at that time with equanimity.
Another instance is given of her offering advice and admonition
to a minister. On one occasion a clergyman called to manifest
his respect, and to profit by her counsel. Before separating
it was proposed that they should unite in prayer, whereupon
the domine addressed the Throne of Grace in such loud and
boisterous tones as to much grieve and annoy the good woman.
Upon rising from her knees she said to the vociferous supplicant :
*' Your God, Sir, must be different from mine, for mine can liear
even though no words be uttered, but yours it seems cannot
unless addressed in the loudest of tones."
This excellent woman survived her second husband seventeen
years, dying in 1807 at the ripe age of eighty-one. It is emi-
nently proper that we should dwell thus long upon her virt ues and
Bedminster Church Founded. 263
«
peculiarities when it is remembered that she was the first to
occupy in the Reformed Dutch congregation of Bedmister the
important position of minister's wife. About the time that young
Domine Hardenbergh assumed charge of the united congrega-
tions, many of his flock Avho lived north of Pluckamin, feeling in
need of a church nearer home, urged the organization of a new
congregation. The most prominent families in this movement
were those of Jacobus Van der Veer and Guisbert Sutphen. Of
the former we have already learned s(miething as to his settling
on the Axtell tract, near where the Peapack road crosses the
north branch of the Earitan. He was zealous in religious mat-
ters ; his name is to be foimd on the books of the Lamington
Presbyterian church, and in 1756 he subscribed five pounds
toward the erection of St. Paul's Lutheran church at Pluckamin.
Guisbert Sutphen lived on a farm lying half a mile north
of the Larger Cross Roads, which is now owned and occupied
by his great-grandson, Amos Sutphen. With his wife, Ari-
ontje Van Pelt, he had entered the township in 1743, travel-
ling with their children and household goods in an ox-cart
from Monmouth county, where his father, also named Guisbert,
had settled early in the century.
When it was decided to build Bedminster church, differences
of opinion arose as to the location. Both Sutphen and Van
der Veer ofi'ered liberal inducements to have the building placed
at points of their selection. Mr. Sutphen's choice was for the
vicinity of the Larger Cross Roads, but eventually Mr. Van der
Veer's views prevailed, and the new structiu-e was erected on the
site of the present edifice below the village of the Lesser Cross
Roads, or Bedminster. The first minute of the new con-
gregation was made by Mr. Hardenbergh in the Raritan
church books on Christmas, 1758. It records a meeting at the
parsonage of the consistories of North Branch, Neshanic, o^^ de
Millstotie, Raritan and Bedminster ; when for the last congrega-
tion elders Jacobus Van der Veer and Jacob Banta, and deacons
Rynier Van Neste and Cornelius Lane were appointed " opsin-
derensP or overseers. It is probable that the church was erected
in that or the following year. Two acres of land were donated
by Jacobus Van der Veer, who also furnished fifty pounds
sterling and one-third of all the oak timber. The same amount
264 The Story of an Old Farm.
of money, together with one-half of the oak necessary for the
frame, was the gift of Guisbert Sutphen. Not then, as would be
now, were architects, contractors, carpenters and masons called
together to contribute their brains and labor toward the erection
of the edifice. The members of the congregation assembled with
ox-teams, axes and stout arms. By them were the oaks felled,
the timbers squared and drawn to the spot selected ; perhaps the
services of Caspar Berger, or some other good mason, were
secured for laying the foundations, but without doubt much of
the work was contributed by those most interested.
And we can well imagine with what interest these simple
country folk watched the growth and assisted in the completion
of their new house of worship. The church meant much more
to the early settlers than now — in those days religion Avas not a
matter for Sunday's consideration alone — it stood first in every
one's estimation, taking precedence of all matters secular.
Philosophy had not yet opened the eyes or befogged the minds
of these honest Jersey people, and for one of their number to
have been a doubter, or in any way unorthodox, would have
insured not only the passive but the active condemnation of every
able-bodied man in the neighborhood. Nor was there at that
time the carelessness and callousness as to spiritual things Avhich
the distresses and demoralization of Revolutionary years subse-
quently engendered. To a community, therefore, whose chief
interests and hopes of life all circulated about the church, we can
readily appreciate that to have been without a house of God
would seemingly have endangered not only its peace in the next
world, but the possibility of success in this. So it is easy to
picture the rejoicing and prayers of thanksgiving that ascended to
Heaven, when the last nail was driven and the finishing touches
given to the. new building.
When completed, a more bare or a more unimaginative struc-
ture could hardly have been conceived. Prosaic to a degree,
and entirely wanting in decorative details, it was wholly without
architectural results save that it enclosed space and shut off the
weather ; in other words, it was a meeting-house, nothing
more. It. was nearly square, being a little greater in breadth
than in length. A peaked roof, without cupola or belfry, cap-
ped low walls, the side ones being each pierced with two square
First Service in Bedminster Church. 265
windows. The roof and exterior walls were similar in appear-
ance, both being covered with shingles rounded at the ends, that
had been riven and shaved by members of the congregation. In
fact all of this prim and precise building was '^ home-made,"
excepting the window glass and nails. The latter were probably
wrought at Mendham. The Dodds and Axtells of that place
used to manufacture iron in a primitive fashion from ore that was
packed over from Dover in sacks on the backs of horses. In the
broad front gable of the new church was the entrance, the door
of which opened dij'cctly on the ground without any porch or
protecting portico. A single aisle extended to the steep stair-
case which led up into a lofty, round, box-like pulpit, perched on
a tall pillar or column. The interior was not plastered, the walls
and ceiling being lined with cedar, and a short gallery stretched
across the south end of the auditorium. There were no stoves
or any means of warming the building ; old ladies during the
winter months, in order to keep their feet warm, brought " to-
meetin," perforated wooden boxes containing an inner casing of
iron, filled with live coals. It was not until after the erection of
the second church in 1818 that, in the face of much opposition,
wood-burning stoves were introduced. Many of the good people
thought that as God's grace had warmed both souls and bodies
from the beginning it should do so till the end.
To the worshippers, this plain, gaunt structure, destitute of
paint, outside or in, and without comeliness or symmetry,
appeared as a commodious temple. It is to be regretted that no
record has been preserved of the first services held in this primi-
tive church. We can without difficulty, hoAvever, see in imag-
ination the rude and naked interior peopled by a homely but
happy congregation. We know that high up in the tall,
undraped pidpit under a broad sounding board stood the young
minister, while below him was the precentor, or lining-deacon,
who lined out the good old Psalm tmies to the members of the
flock, who were seated in great square pews ; the middle-aged
and old people with their faces toward the domine, the children
opposite ; while to the right and left sat the stalwart youths and
modest maidens, who lent their ears to the sermon, but like the
lads and lasses of to-day's congregations, I doubt not, gave their
glances to " eyes which spake again."
CHAPTER XIX.
More Changes in Bedminster — The MiUs on Peapack Brook
— Boyish Reminiscences — Marriages and Deaths.
The procession of the seasons continues, and life on the " Old
Farm " goes bravely on. No sooner has the ermine mantle of
winter disappeared under the kindly influences of the soft south
winds of spring, before the crocuses cleave the still half frozen
earth. The pond and river, swelling in volume, burst their icy
bounds, and the drear days brought by overcast heavens give
place to sunnier skies and longer hours. The woods that have
so long exposed their anatomy to the keen wintry blasts again
shows signs of awakening life ; green can be discovered among
the sassafras branches, and yellow among the willows, while the
maple buds redden sufficiently to give a warm hue to the entire
tree. Leaf and blossom again take possession of the earth,
clothing it with glory.
Soon the hillsides are marked by plough and harrow, and the
seed falls in generous showers. The crocuses have long since
had their day, and June roses illumine the n^wly planted door-
yard. And now the haymakers have come and gone in the
meadoW'S, reapers are on the upland fields, and pyramids of
golden sheaves adorn the landscape. Bees hum in the clover,
the breath of all nature is sweet and redolent with wild thyme,
mint and fragrant aromatic herbage, while harvest apples in
heaps of red and yellow lie imder the trees in the orchard.
Summer drifts into autumn. Pumpkins show their golden sides
under the corn shocks, and the noise of the flail is abroad in the
land. The world begins to glow in color as the October sun
paints in deepening crimson and ochre, leaf, and herb, and
lichen. The distant hill-tops now blend with the heavens, and a
Mills on Peapack Brook Established. 267
golden shade diffuses itself over the face of the country. In the
mornings amber-colored mists hang lightly over the lowland
pastures, and the landscape is veiled in the vague, yellow indis-
tinctness of Indian summer days. The brown acorns drop from
their browner cups ; the walnuts and chestnuts rattle through
the branches upon the heads of expectant urchins who welcome,
below, the toothsome hail. Again the paths through' the woods
are deep in the dry mummies of summer's luxuriance ; the gusty
winds blow over fields that, having lost their bloom, lie brown
and dusky on the long hill that stretches westward toward the
gray horizon. Once more the feathery flakes descend, covering
the gromid with whiteness and silence ; — the procession of the
seasons continues, and life on the " Old Farm" goes bravely on.
Not only were the lands improved, the outbuildings increased
in number, and fences made more substantial, but under Aaron's
care the tannery below the hill developed into one of the most
important industries of that character in the province. A large
frame structure was erected adjoining the house, in which the
leather was curried, both negroes and whites aiding in the work and
in that of grinding the bark. The number of vats below the dam
was increased to eighteen, and the water-power much improved.
This latter was done in connection with the joint owners of the
water- rights on the opposite side of Peapack brook, who, then,
as now, utilized their portion in grinding grist and sawing lum-
ber. The exact date of establishing a flouring-mill at this
point has not been ascei'tained, but it is well known to have been
the first mill erected in the township. Among the papers of the
New Jersey Historical Society is a map of George Leslie's grant
made by Samuel Willmot in 1751. It calls for eleven hundred
and eighty-seven and one-quarter acres, and shows that at that
early date a grist and saw mill were already standing on the
west side of Peapack brook.
There is little doubt that these mills were erected by Wil-
liam Allen. On the twenty-first of January, 1750, the '' major
part of the executors of the last will and testament of Doctor
John Johnstone, dec'd," conveyed to Thomas Clandenin in con-
sideration of twenty-eight pounds and eight shillings, eighteen
acres of land, lying in the forks of the brook and of the north
branch of the Raritan river. On the same day, ard on the back
268 The Story of an Old Farm.
of this instrument, Clandenin sends greetings, and gives notice
" To All Christian People'" that he has sold to " William Allen,
his heirs and assigns forever, this present indenture and all mes-
suages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments to the same belong-
ing." The consideration was "the sum of two hundred and twenty
pounds, ten shillings, current money of New Jersey at eight
shillings to the ounce." The wording of this transfer, together
with the amount of consideration mentioned, would lead one to
suppose that buildings of some kind — perhaps a saw and grist
mill — had already been erected ; yet all traditions concur in
naming William Allen as the person who first established mills
in Bedminster township. He died in 1761, his will being dated
on the twenty-third of May, and proved on the sixth of July of
the same year. In it these eighteen acres are devised as follows :
I give, bequeath and devise unto my two sons, Kobert and Joseph, the liouse I
now live in, and the mill and lands wliei'eon they stand, and all my other rights
or improvements of the ninety-two acres of land adjoining to said mill lot, with
all the farming utensils and the utensils for the mill now on the same, and all
other my movable estate, to thepi and their heirs or assigns forever equally
between them their heirs or assigns forever.
The new owners had not been milling ma\iy years before they
discovered that Peapack brook did not at all times contain
sufficient water to supply the races that turned three mill wheels.
They consequently conceived the idea of increasing the volume
by diverting water from the north branch of the Raritan. For
the benefit of those unfamiliar with the locality, it Avould be well
to explain that Peapack brook, about a quarter of a mile above
its mouth, runs for a considerable way parallel with and some
three hundred feet distant from the branch. These streams are
separated by a long narrow hill known as the " Hogback, " and
imtil within twenty years the highway climbed this ridge and
ran along its spine, instead of following the bank of the larger
stream as at present. At this point a dam was built which,
checking the flow of the branch, created a reservoir. The hill
was then tunnelled, forming an aqueduct six feet high and three
feet broad ; it being constructed on an incline, a considerable
quantity of additional water was, through it, led into the
smaller stream, thus greatly augmenting the powers of the lat-
ter in serving the mills near its mouth. With the strange fatal-
ity that often attaches to local nomenclature in rural communities
The Mysterious "Folly."
269
this undertaking has always been known as the " Folly." It
may have been because the results secured were not considered
commensurate with the outlay. There is no doubt that before
the completion of the work, the Aliens became financially embar-
rassed and were forced on the twenty-fifth of December, 1766,
to convey the eighteen acres, together with the mills and build-
ings, to Stephen Hunt.
This watery basin and its mysterious outlet have always pos-
sessed peculiar fascinations for Bedminster boys. It was their
rendezvous in my early days for miles around. In January its
flanking hill shut off the north winds, securing a sheltered skat-
ing pond of smooth firm ice. Travellers by the old highway
over the '' Hogback," on winter Saturdays, were sure to hear the
ring of the skaters' steel, and to be greeted by their joyous
shouts as they " ground the bar," cut the intricate " pigeon
wing " or mastered the " outside edge " — feats of no little diffi-
culty on the old-fashioned, clumsy, gutter-runnered skates. In
August the same hill guarded a cool, shady pool, which fairly
invited a plunge into its pellucid depths. At no place along the
branch did catfish, dace or shiners congregate in greater num-
bers, or appear more willing to be enticed to the surface by
the rude tackle of the coimtry lads. And then there was the
*' Folly " ! Was there ever a more weird or forbidden spot
upon which the imagination of a stripling could feed ? What
horrors might not lurk within its grim and silent portals. To
explore its interior and brave its ambushed uncertainties was the
one supreme test of youthful valor.
Where is the small boy that could ever withstand being
'' double-dared " I Kotthe writer, at least, in his callow years. It
was this goad that incited him one summer's day of long ago to
penetrate the " Hogback " through the dread " Folly." Certain
it is that Dante could not have felt more dismayed on reading
" All hope abandon, ye who enter in," than did he when girt for
the journey. With him there was no encouraging Virgil, as
pushing aside the vines that partially hid the low entrance to the
tunnel, he boldly groped his way into the very bowels of the
€arth. Altogether it was a solemn sort of place for a small boy
to find himself in. The waUs were moist and slimy, and as the
waters flowed in a swift current about his naked ankles, imagin-
270 The Stouy of an Old Fakm.
ation peopled them with eels, snakes and all manner of creeping^
things; with every step on the rocky bed squirming creatures
seemed to escape from beneath his halting feet. On nearing the
centre of the dark and gloomy conduit daylight gradually disap-
peared, and courage began to ooze away. Suddenly a jagged
dripping wall opposed further advance. Thinking that the
aqueduct had come to a sudden end, for a moment terror paralyzed
all efforts at progress, but discovery was soon made that it
turned sharply to the left. Its construction had been simultane-
ously undertaken from both sides of the hill ; through miscalcu-
lation the workmen had failed to meet in the centre, rendering a
double elbow in the tunnel necessary. Feeling his way around
these comers, the glimmer of sunlight could be discerned from
the farther end, lightening the urchin's heart as well as lighting
the ghostly recesses of the archway. Pressing on wdth increasing
confidence and more hurried steps, egress was soon made into
daylight on the Peapack brook side of the hill, where his com-
panions received him with open arms and great honor. For
many days thereafter your narrator was the hero of the small
boy society of that neighborhood.
But let us return to the miUs ; a direction in which your sci'ibe's
steps have always turned with eager anticipation. . Even now,
when the half-way house of the ordinary span of life has been
passed, he never approaches this sequestered vale, and feels the
warm breath of summer, cooled by the balm that rises from its
rapid streams, without his heart bounding with delight. Des-
carte writes that a person should not seek to gratify his desires
so much as to endeavor to restrain them ; notwithstanding such
excellent advice, and though remembering that what may give
pleasure in the writing, may not prove equally agreeable in the
reading, 1 cannot refrain from further youthful reminiscence.
I must tell of these mills and of their attractive surroimdings.
Is there any picture more completely to a boy's fancy than an
old mill, with its alluring adjuncts of pond and dam and rock-
paved stream ? or, for that matter, to a man's fancy, if, as I sus-
pect is the case with many of us, a good boy has been spoiled in
the man's making ? Just such a picture can be seen in the
entourage of what is now known as Schomp's mills, which are
seated in the deep valley where end the descending acres of the
The Mill Below the Hill. 271
" Old Farm." In attempting the description of simple scenes
made beautiful by early associations, one finds it difficidt to con-
vey impressions, the birth of which is largely due to the deep
sympathies of well-remembered youthfid pleasures. Were my
pen unchecked it would run riot with adjective and exclamation;
while this might be sufficient for the needs of my expression, it
would not go far toward conveying to others an idea of this old
water-power and its pleasant surroundings. Let us suppose,
then, that all effort at description is abandoned, and leaving the
old homestead, together we will visit the mill below the hill. You
can see for yourself what it is like — but remember ! I shall look
at it with boyish eyes — be sure that you do the same.
Passing through a decrepit wicket at the lower end of the
garden, a little path, worn smooth by over a century of foot-
falls, winding down the side of the hill leads to the brook below
the pond. Time was when its bordering strip of meadow was
pierced with vats. Memories shoulder each other just here, and
the ground seems to exhale ancient odors, which, borne over the
years of time, fashion in the mind a picture that includes an
antique bark mill with its complaining wheel, great heaps of
tan, long lines of drying hides, and piles of sacks of freshly
ground oak-bark. Recollection paints, too, a scene in which your
guide figures in the foreground as a truant toddler, staggering
with the delight of forbidden joj^s among the tan vats ', while in
the middle distance is the view of a nm*sery maid, with fluttering
skirts and a nimbus of dishevelled hair, flyiog down the hill
with warning cries to rescue the yoimgster from a possible
immersion in the acid baths. But enough of youthfid remem-
brances. Here, facing us, is Peapack brook. Is it not an invit-
ing waterway ! Interspersed with grassy islands, and arched
by venerable trees, it is fed by the curving waters falling in
rhythmic melody from the dam, and on the hottest of summer
days the air is fresh and cool with the fragrant breath of the
descending flood. Crossing the stream by springing from mossy
stone to slippery boulder — you must not mind wetting your
feet — we are soon in front of the mill. It is much like many
others planted along the numerous water-courses that swell the
flood of the Raritan river. A succession of lofty doors rise one
above the other to the apex of the gable, in one of which gener-
272 The Story of an Old Farm.
ally stands the dusty miller, drawing in fat bags of grist from the
overhanging tackle, or guiding descending sacks of flour to the
fanners' teams below. The great water-soaked, overshot wheel,
which in my boyish days creaked and groaned in its ponderous,
dripping revolutions, is no longer here. Its work is now less
picturesquely but more powerfully and silently done by two
insignificant turbines, sunk deep in the rapid current of the race.
On entering, our nostrils are tickled by the floating particles of
the floury atmosphere, and the building trembles with the
rumbling of turning shafts and swiftly moving gear. Passing
between bins of grain, and barrels tiered ceiling high, we ascend
to the grinding floor, which is almost on a level with the pond.
The interior of the building is yellow with the deposits of years
of gently descending mealy showers, that have long since hidden
the original color of its beams and joists ; while the burring
sound of the grinding stones falls upon the ear as one of the pleas-
antest of all the busy hums of human industry. The western
gable — resting on piles — rises directly from the pond ; its image
reflected in the tranquil water has much of the completeness of
the mill itself. Often on a summer's afternoon have I from its
rear door cast the baited hook, and, if not rewarded by a nib-
ble, have been more than content in idly watching the sleepy
bosom of the pond mirror the fleecy clouds floating in the blue
expanse above. On such occasions the rural sights and sounds
seen and heard on every side were always a source of delight to
my nature-loving heart. Stretched on a soft pile of bags,
dreaming away a few summer hours in lazily watching the float-
ing cork swirl in the eddies, and in drinking .in the moisture-
laden atmosphere of the watery landscape, seemed ever a happy
occupation and never a loss of time.
On the right are rich fields of grass and grain, and between
them and the water on the gently ascending incline of the
bank rests a group of farm buildings. They almost surround
an ample barn-yard, from which come the pleasant country
sounds of lowing cattle and bleating sheep, while awkward
ducklings noisily quack as they waddle down to their convenient
element. To the left is a little saw-mill — not much more than a
timbered skeleton — through whose ribs you see flashing the
upright saw, jagging with hoarse cry its hungry teeth into the
A Famous Swimming Hole. 273
slowly approaching Jogs. Beyond is the great floodgate, with
little gurgling rills percolating through its seams and fissures ; it
is framed with massive, slimy beams, from which the frequent
small boy of the neighborhood spends many a happy hour in
endeavoring to beguile the wary catfish from the cool depths.
The stone dam, with its liquid curtain, extends from the gate to
the farther shore which, with a graceful curve, lies in the deep
shadows of a steep bank of bordering trees, whose drooping
branches pressing outward overhang the peaceful pool, — Narcis-
sus-like, in rapt admiration of their own mirrored beauty. At
the head of the pond the waters shallow, and from their meagre
depths rise bullrushes and reedy weeds, which finally overgrow
the surface and harden into low banks of bog and sedge, through
which the supplying brook slowly makes its way.
Thinking over long ago, arresting memory brings to mind
many interesting spots in the vicinity of this old mill that are
associated with youthful experiences. I have one now in my
thoughts — a famous swimming place, called the " Jinny Hole."
It is not far from the head of the pond; the brook suddenly
deepens, and its almost perpendicular sides admit of one's div-
ing in safety from the sedgy banks. It must be confessed that
ambitious plungers, who in the hey-day of my remembrance
sank too deep beneath the wave, found plenty of soft mud lying
in wait at the bottom ; and clambering out on the low banks was
always a miry business. But there were compensations, not the
least being the interest that attached to the tales that were apt
to be told, while dressing, of the individual from whom the hole
derived its name — Miss Jane Bailey, a simple maiden of complex
attainments, who, like Betty Flannigan, could recollect her
" frinds for a month" and her " inimies for a year." Jinny has
long since gone over to the "silent majority," which has also
absorbed most of her " frinds" and " inimies," but fifty years
ago she was a noted character along Peapack brook.
James Bailey and his wife Peggy were Irish Presbyterians,
who came to this country about 1790, and settled on forty acres
of land adjoining the ''Old Farm," at the head of the mill-p'ond.
They both died before 1810, leaving two daughters. Jinny and
Peggy, who continued living on the same property. Jinny did
all the farm work, ploughing, planting, sowing and reaping,
18
274 The Story of an Old Farm.
without calling in the aid of any of the neighbors. Peggy died
in 1831, after which Jinny lived alone until her death in 1836.
She is remembered as a short spare woman, bent nearly double
with rheumatism ; her face, the color of parchment, was fur-
rowed and wrinkled by age, while coarse, white, uncombed hair
covered her head and hung down to her shoulders. Her dress
was always the same, a blue, linsey, home-woven short-gown and
petticoat, with a tow string tied around her waist, and a man's
large straw hat on her head ; she always walked with a cane much
taller than herself.
Jinny's appearance was in accord with her character ; she
believed in witches, ghosts, dreams, signs and sounds, and
among the ignorant people of the vicinity had a most uncanny
reputation. She was Irish to her crooked back-bone, but,
though superstitious, was always ready to fight the church
of Rome from the lowest-down Catholic up to the pope.
As a red rag is to an infuriated bull, so was the mention of the
" Scarlet Woman" within Jinny's hearing. It was only neces-
sary for predatory bands of boy-tormentors to hint that all Irish
men and women were papists, to cause her tawny face to flame
with passion, and to call out her richest vocabulary of vitupera-
tion. At such times she looked a veritable Witch of Endor.
Waving her shrivelled arms and shaking her hoary locks in
anger, she shrieked contumely upon the heads of her tormentors
and upon those of every Catholic that ever lived, while her hag-
gard eyes flashed with all the rage and hate of a Meg Merrilles
when cursing the enemies of the heir of Ellangowan. I am
afraid that these pages are Jinny's only monum'ental stone ; there
is none to mark the grave in Lamington churchyard where she
lies buried. With the passing away of the present generation
she would probably have been forgotten, so we may consider that
we have added a little to local Bedminster history by preserving
her memory from oblivion. Her only relics are among my
papers. One is the inventory made after her death of her personal
effects, which consisted mainly of spinning-wheels, thatching-
forks, a hatchel, a flax breaker, a calabash and a few farming
implements. Another is Jinny's note of hand given in 1812 to
Daniel Melick for two dollars, which, notwithstanding her anti-
Catholicism, she signed with a cross large enough to suggest the
possibility of its having been made with the end of her long staff.
A Cosy Nook. 275
There is another spot about this old mill that has an especial
charm of its own. It is reached by following the stream a short
distance to where the highway crosses by a dusty wooden bridge,
the centre abutments of which rest upon an elongated island that
splits the rapid current of the brook. Dropping from the bridge
you may make your way down this green island to where the
divided waters join. Seat yourself, now, on this mossy bank
under the shadowy concealments of these low-spreading branches ;
you will find that you have penetrated deep into the heart of
rural loveliness. Do you not think it a cosy nook ? Although
the clear waters of the rapidly flowing stream babble at your
feet, the green canopy above is astir with twittering birds, and
the soft wind comes laden with the faint cadences of the splash
of the dam's cascade, yet, such an air of repose broods over the
spot, that you feel the environment of an atmosphere of intense
quiet, until you imagine yourself secluded from the world, as if
you had found your way to a place of rare beauty hitherto
undiscovered. What a bower in which to drowse away an after-
noon with Thoreau or John Burroughs ! or, should you have no
book, just to lie supinely in the long grass, inhaling the woodsy-
watery odors — the subtle emanations of earth, trees and stream-
till your entire being seems permeated with the very essence of
the hidden secrets of nature.
After all, the picture we have attempted to draw is not wholly
true. It is of the aspect of the brook in the past rather than of
the present. What a disappointment on revisiting familiar boy-
ish scenes to find that they differ from the picture one's memory
has carried through all the years ! That hills grow smaller may
be charged to the lengthened leverage of adult legs, but the
decrease in the volume of the water-ways can be more directly
explained. As we meet the streams of our boyhood, ranging
through wood and meadow, they bear an altered face. Like us
they have changed with the years. While it is to be hoped that
we with advancing age have grown deeper and broader — not so
with the rivers. The vandal hands that robbed the timbered
hillsides that guarded their sources were at the same time shal-
lowing their pools and bringing the impeding stones of their
beds much nearer the surface. Now, in foamy agitation, they
protest with loud voice against the loss of their former torrents.
276 The Story of an Old Farm.
The procession of the seasons continues, and life on the " Old
Farm '' goes bravely on ! As the years have rolled away many
changes are to be noted among the occupants of the " Stone
House." Three more children have come to Aaron and his
wife : Elizabeth, born on the eighth of November, 1765 ; Mar-
garet, on the twenty-second of December, 1 767 ; and Maria,
on the twenty-fourth of March, 1771. Not only have new lives
entered into the family, a little grave is to be seen by the side of
those of the grandparents in the Lutheran burying-ground at
Pluckamin, for death for the third time has knocked at the door
and claimed his own. Elizabeth, one unhappy May morning
before she was three years old, while playing about the bark mill,
fell under its great revolving wheel and was so crushed that
within eight days, on the fourteenth of May, 1768, she died.
Aaron and his family, together with his dependents, are now —
1775 — the sole occupants of the " Old Stone House " ; his
brothers and sisters having married and made their homes else-
where. Philip and Peter married, respectively, Maria and
Mary Magdalena King. The wives were probably sisters, and
they are presumed to have been the daughters of Marcus King,
who was a Bedminster resident at that time and active in church
and county measures. Among my documents is a yellow, time-
stained bond for two hundred pounds, dated the twenty-ninth
of May, 1765, and given by Aaron, Marcus King and Jacobus Van
derVeer, to John Van der Veer of Flatbush, Long Island. There is
good reason for believing that this bond was to secure money
borrowed for the benefit of the Bedminster church. This
opinion is confirmed by the fact of the interest — as is shown
by the endorsements on its back — having repeatedly been paid by
Guisbert Sutphen, who was for a number of years treasurer of
that congregation. Some of these interest receipts are written
in Dutch ; those in English employ the following singular reiter-
ative phraseology : '' May the first 17 — then Received the full
Literest Upon Bond I say Received by me." It is also interest-
ing to notice that the payee signed his name in the five following-
various ways : Van der veer, V. D. Veer, Van Derveer, Vander
Veer and Van Der Veer. It would seem that over a century
ago members of this Dutch family were as undecided as to the
correct spelling of their surnames as are those of to-day. In
A German Schoolmaster. 277
the body of this bond Aaron's name appears as Melogh, but in
signing he wrote it Malick.
Johannes' second daughter and fourth child married, sometime
previous to 1768, Simon Ludewig Himroth, or, as the name is
now spelled, Himrod. They remained in Bedminster until
1772, when they removed to Northumberland county, Pennsyl-
vania, where their descendants are now numerous. Himroth
was a compatriot of Aaron's, being a Bendorf boy ; this is shown
by the following interesting letter written by our old friend of
twenty years ago — Joh. Georg Hager. To my mind there is a
wholesome flavor about the Herr Praeceptorh letters that makes
pleasant reading. His words have an honest ring, and seem-
ingly flow from the pen of one whose heart beats with sympathy
for his fellows. I can fancy him seated in his deep leathern
chair in a quaint German parlor, its low ceilings and black-
ened beams but half lighted by small round panes set in lea^.
He wears ratteen breeches, and a well-worn velvet coat with
brass buttons. On the table by his side is his cotton cap with
its pendant tassel ; within easy reach is a great mug of blue
ware filled with foaming beer, while from his mouth hangs a
drooping pipe with a brass stopper and chain. On looking up
from his letter, he can see through the open kitchen door the
frau Magdalena, with gay bodice and blue woollen petticoat, pat-
tering from fireplace to dresser, giving the finishing touches to
noudels and hnoepe, or stirring^e rich flour soup whose savory
odors mingle with those exhalecf from a pot of scJioJcolate, sim-
mering on the hearth.
Cannot you see the schoolmaster as he gossips over the home
news, and fashions his courteous sentences of friendship and
good wishes ? A little too red in the face perhaps, and a trifle
too ample in girth, but his short, upright gray hair surmounts
a broad, smooth forehead stamped with intelligence and
sentiment. His smaH blue eyes twinkle with good nature,, a
comically fierce moustache hides his mouth, and under his full
chin there always lurks a chuckle. You may depend upon it he
was a good man, and won the hearts of those with whom he
came in contact. His letters show him to have been both cheer-
ful and wise ; his merry nature and sound understanding must
have diff'used genial influences, and we can imagine the villagers
278 The Story of an Old Farm.
always giving him hearty greeting, and ever being eager for a
chat on meeting him in the street, or on spying him smoking
a post-prandial pipe in his garden.
Now for news from the old country : —
Bendorf February 15th, 1769.
My beloved friends from all parts !
Your letter of November 15th, 176S, as also that one of 1764, came duly to
hand, the latter of which I answered immediately, but, as I learn from the former,
my answer did not arrive. I received this letter of November 15 by the friend
S. Bastian through a messenger sent for this purpose. Since I cannot speak
to the above named friend myself, and hearing that he passes the night in Cob-
lentz I set pen to paper instantly, so that no opportunity is lost, and you have
news how we get on. So far no special change has arrived, but that cousin Anton
Kirberger has died ; his children are partly happy, partly unhappy, in their
matrimony, and in that house many things have changed.
Concerning myself, my wife and my children, I can state that we are — thank
God — all well. My eldest son is since three years in the employ of a wine-
cooper in Amsterdam, and may-be, that if he can not make his fortune there, he
will visit America. The second one works with an assessor in Wetzlar, both do
quite well. My youngest son and three little daughters are with me. My
brother-in-law William is safe and well with your family and will soon celebrate
Christening with his second wife. All of them send their best regards to you.
My wife and myself, who have not yet visited cousin judge in Hochstenbach as
long as we are married, made a call on him last fall ; he and she are perfectly
well; I told them all about what you had written to me. He wishes you well_
As I write you directly without losing any time and cannot therefore send him
the letter yet so I shall ask him to write to you a letter; as soon as I find an
opportunity I shall try my best to send it to you.
I was especially pleased by the news that cousin Simon Himroth has become your
brother-in-law, a scholar whom I have taught, and one who has kept himself
well all the time; he will do that also henceforth. I and my wife send him our
most cordial regards; he understands well how to write, why does he not
write me ?
In our country a poor time prevails at present, because of the wine-man hav-
ing since nearly six years not brouglit a good wine-year ; therefore little food for
the poor people. My wife sends her especial regards and kisses to her cousin
Veronica. May the Lord redeem her the loss of her dear pirents and give wel-
fare to the whole family and have her grow and nourish in luck and well-doing.
If you get a chance give my compliments to Herr faesch, who is doing well I
suppose since one does not hear much of him ; perhaps he has married there a
nice American lady. As I do not know any other news to report I finish with
the desire that the grace of God Almighty shall be with you as well as with our-
selves, so that we may always have to report good respective news. Give my
regards to the cousins all by their names. There may come a time yet, if we
should live longer, when we shall see each other personally and entertain our-
selves l)y word of mouth.
Wherewith I remain my highly esteemed cousin's obedient servant and
amiably devoted JoH. Georo Hager.
Simon Himroth's Letter.
279
The preceptor was right. Himrod certainly could have
written to his old teacher. His first letter from Pennsylvania —
with which I will close this chapter — in penmanship reflects
much credit upon the tuition of the Bendorf schoolmaster.
Northumberland County, July 27, 1772.
My dearest brother-in-law : Your letter of the 16th has duly come to
hand, from which I learn that you are all in good health, which I am glad to
hear ; as regards ourselves we are also in good health, although I went through
a dangerous illness, still our good Lord has had mercy with me and assisted me
in recovering, wherefore I cannot be thankful enough to Him, for I had a most
serious pain on the right side of my breast together with a severe hot fever
which produced such a fearful collapse within a few days that everybody who
saAV me never expected to see me up again, but our Lord be blessed for the rem-
edies I took which enabled me within a fortnight to recover, so that I am now
commencing to work again. I will have to postpone my returning until Septem-
ber first, because I propose to clear yet three acres of land and to raise wheat on
it in order to have some pastry on our return from Jersey. In regard to our
things I think it best, if you will have them sold by the time I am coming so
that we may get ready to start so much the sooner. You must sell all the house-
hold goods excepting all the iron works and any thing made of iron, all the rest
we have already ordered to be made here ; and then we must have a strong box to
put things in. About Mr. Barker we will see and arrange when I come. My
salutatioft to all our friends in Jersey, also from Sturm and his wife ; the Lord
bless you all, meanwhile I remain yours very truly,
Simon Himroth.
/m-^t^
^^.
44^*t*^
t^%£
".chi/y/
\/4>*%^
CHAPTER XX.
The Muttering that Preceded the Storm of the Revolution —
Stamp Acts, Revenue Bills and Other Unjust Imposts
Weaken the Loyalty of the New Jersey People — Arming for
the Fray.
It requires no special sagacity to discover that the embarrass-
ments peculiar to a work of this character are many. The
writer often finds himself encompassed by a mass of material
from which to choose subjects for his pages, ranging from the
merest social and personal trifles up to those important political
events that now begin to crowd the stage upon which his actors
are distributed. The difficulties of selection are great, and he
is forced to contend against the temptation of choosing those
pleasing trifles that will embellish the page, rather than to dwell
on more momentous affairs which would give added weight and
value to the narration. Yet, who shall say what is important —
which of the trifles or traditions have value, or should be pre-
served. The warp and woof of local history are often made up of
little motes that the sunbeams of research discover floating in
the dusty and indistinct atmosphere of antiquity. Placed on
the loom by the weaver of history, they soon fashion themselves
into an interesting web, and in conjunction with other facts and
theories gradually form a fabric that bears on its texture in the
vivid colors of the present a picture of circumstances and events
that fitly and beautifully illustrate a past age.
But just here there is no need of hesitating as to the choice of
trifles. Important events elbow themselves forward and assert
recognition. With the telling of the story of the '' Old Farm/'
it is also necessary to give a current picture of the times ;
The Stamp Act. 281
we are now reaching an heroic period of New Jersey's
history, and scenes must be portrayed in which the men of Som-
erset are to play a no miimportant part. Even before the time
of the death of Johannes, the people of the American provinces
began to be apprehensive that living the life of colonial depend-:
ence on the British crown was not to be altogether one of
unmixed peace and prosperity. Most irritating measures, sub-
versive to the rights of Americans, were constantly being intro-
duced in parliament by the Tory element of that body, and taxa-
tion without representation seemed to be the policy of the British
rulers. From the granite-ribbed hills of Massachusetts to the
sandy levels of Georgia the sentiment of the people was pro-
nounced and unanimous against so unjust a treatment, and the
tocsin of liberty began to be sounded throughout the length and
breadth ofthe land. By 1763 Benjamin Franklin had already
declared that he would cheerfully be willing to spend nineteen
shillings on the pound to test the king's right to take the other
shilling in unlawful taxes ; — a sentiment that received endorse-
ment from the entire country. But, in spite of the earnest
remonstrances of the colonies, two years later parliament passed
the obnoxious stamp act.
At once from Boston to Savannah could be heard the
tumultuous indignation of the populace, which voiced a
unanimity of feeling. Spirited resolutions, similar in their
character, were passed by both the Virginia and Massa-
chusetts assemblies, the latter calling for a congress of the col-
onies. On every side were to be heard the mutterings that pre-
ceded the storm of the Revolution. In New York city, by the
autumn of 1.765, vast processions, under the leadership of the
popular Isaac Sears, were marching and counter-marching, pro-
claiming by shout, image and caricature the opposition of the
citizens to the stamp act. The coach-house of the royal gover-
nor was forcibly entered, and his state carriage was forced to the
service of carrying through the town images intended to repre-
sent devils, after which, with his other carriages and sleighs, it
was burned in the presence of the British garrison. Just at that
time it would seem that public opinion condemned the display of
fine equipage ; previous to the Revolution there were probably
not over ten coaches in the city. One was owned by Robert
282 The Story of an Old Farm.
Murray, a Quaker merchant, whose country-place was between
Thirty-sixth and Fortieth streets and Fourth and Fifth avenues ;
so great was the prejudice against these aristocratic vehicles
that he called his a " leathern conveniency."
New Jersey was not behind the other provinces in an attitude
of hostility to Great Britain's encroachments on the constitutional
rights of her citizens. To her belongs the distinction of issuing
the first Revolutionary newspaper — the " Constitutional Cour-
ant." It was published by Andrew Marvel on the twenty -fii'st
of September, 1765, at Burlington at the sign of the '' Bribe
Refused on Constitution Hill, North America." The streets of
New York were soon flooded with copies, whereby the agitations
of the hour were much increased, but as it was outspoken in
denouncing the arbitrary measures of parliament the government
quickly interfered, suppressing its sale, and no more numbers
were issued. William Coxe, who had been appointed by the
Crown stamp officer for New Jersey, was threatened with viol-
ence, resulting in his resignation in September ; indeed, by the
first of November, when the odious act was to go into operation,
it was found that the stamp agents in all the colonies had retired
from their positions, and no one was left with authority to exe-
cute the law. A congress of delegates from the provinces
having met in New York in October, a declaration of rights, a
memorial to parliament and a petition to the king were dis-
patched to England. This action, together with the assiduity of
Benjamin Franklin — who was then representing Pennsylvania in
London — and the advocacy of liberty-loving members of the house
of commons, resulted on the eighteenth of March in the repeal of
th e stamp act. The feeling of relief throughout the country was
in tense. As was said by Colonel Lambert Cadwalader, a native
of Trenton and a distinguished patriot : '' The joyful news almost
calls back youth to the aged, gives health and vigor to the sick
and infirm."
America was again thought to be free ; the people settled
down to their ordinary avocations with the hope that they no
longer need fear the invasion of their liberties. A fancied
security. It was not long before the citizens found they had
new cause for grievance against the home government. The
feeling of uneasiness gradually increased, as the march of events
MUTTERINGS OF THE StORM. 283
showed conclusively that the policy of Great Britain was to be
one of forcing the collection from the colonists of a revenue, with-
out giving them representation or the right of directing their
own affairs. The flame ignited by the stamp act had never been
entirely subdued, but* still slumbered and smouldered beneath
the surface, fed by continued aggressions. The passage of the
Boston port bill in March, 1774, gave it new life ; and indigna-
tion and protest were again ablaze from Maine to Georgia. In
the light of subsequent history it appears most extraordinary
that parliament shoidd persistently have continued to pursue a
policy which the most ordinary statesmanship, it would seem,
shoidd have divined must inevitably result in the loss of Eng-
land's most precious colonial possessions. Ill-advised politicians,
notwithstanding the warning oratory of Chatham and other far-
seeing legislators, continued to pile up the fuel of revenue bills,
tea duties and other unjust acts, until at last, in their madness,
thej^ applied the torch of coercion, starting a conflagration which
was only quenched by a deluge of blood, which cut off from Great
Britain three million of subjects, and increased the public debt
by one hundred and twenty millions.
We have now reached a time when the mutterings of the
coming storm could plainly be heard as an angry hum of distrust
and resentment. The colonists were rapidly losing their loy-
alty to, and affection for, the mother country. The people of
the different provinces seemed of one mind; without concerted
action, and almost without correspondence, they held informal
meetings, and formed self-constituted committees for the purpose
of obtaining intelligence, and of advising with the inhabitants of
other colonies as to what means should be employed to prevent
further encroachments on the vested rights and liberties of the
king's subjects in America. In New Jersey a general
committee of correspondence had been appointed by the pro-
vincial, assembly in February, 1774, composed of nine members.
Their duties at flrst seem to have been confined to corresponding
and consulting with prominent citizens of the different counties in
order to insure a unanimity of sentiment and action when the
time should come for the people to assert their individual and
collective rights. The committee met on the first of June in
New Brunswick, when by letter to the people in Massachusetts
284 The Story of an Old Farm.
they pledged the citizens of New Jersey to act in concert with
the other colonies in whatever steps should be generally agreed
upon. They also called upon Governor William Franklin to
convene the provincial assembly before the first of August.
This the executive declined to do, giving as a reason, ''there
is no public business of the province which can make such a
meeting necessary."
During the months of June and July, a series of meetings
were held in the several counties of New Jersey for the purpose
of organizing for defence, and for choosing deputies to represent
the province in a continental congress, which had been called
to meet in the following September. The resolutions passed at
the different meetings were much of the same character. They
bound the citizens to act in conjunction with those of other
counties in any measures that might be decided upon insuring
the happiness and safety of the people. They were unanimous
in expressing the sentiment that the sufferings and injustice vis-
ited upon the people of Boston by Great Britain should be a
common cause of grievance for the inhabitants of the entire con-
tinent ; and that the rights and privileges of America should be
protected, even though necessitating the adoption of the most
severe and extreme measures.
Permanent committees of correspondence were appointed,
and directed to meet in a state convention for the pur-
pose of appointing delegates to the proposed congress. The
committees convened on the twenty -first of July, 1774, in
New Brunswick, holding a three days session. The sev-
enty-two members present, by their resolution, recognized
and acknowledged King George III. to be their rightfid and law-
ful sovereign to whom they owed and promised faithful alle-
giance. They declined, however, to recognize the right of the
British parliament, in which they had no representation, to make
laws for, or impose taxes on, the king's American subjects.
They bound themselves to oppose with all the legal and rightful
means in their power all unconstitutional and oppressive meas-
ures of that body, which might be considered dangerous and
destructive to the colonies. They advised the appointment of a
general congress of committees of the respective colonies, who
should have power to pledge the public honor and faith in all
A Historic Ride. 285
efforts that should be made to redress the wrongs of the peo-
ple.
The meeting of this first continental congress at Philadelphia
in September, 1774, is a matter of history. It was a fairly
representative body, the delegates having been chosen from
among all classes of the people. The proceedings were opened
by its president, Peyton Randolph, of Virginia. He was followed
by a man of the people — Patrick Henry — who spoke as ^' Homer
wrote." Moved by the fire of genius his tall, awkward figure
grew majestic as he exclaimed : ^'I am not a Virginian, but an
American!" When he took his seat it is said that there was no
longer any doubt that he was the greatest of American orators,
and ranked among the ablest champions of constitutional liberty
in America. He and George Washington, mounted on thorough-
breds, had travelled together to Philadelphia from the " Old
Dominion." A historic journey ! Picture to yourself these
illustrious men riding side by side ; the opulent planter with a
mature mind of almost unequalled sagacity and comprehensive-
ness, and the plain county lawyer with already a national repu-
tation as a political thinker ; picture them slowly traversing the
Virginia woods, cantering over the swells and swales of Mary-
land, fording the rapidly running streams, and climbing Penn-
sylvania's rugged ridges. As they reasoned together of the
dangers threatening the country, could their saddle-talk have
been preserved, what a contribution it would now be to our
knowledge of the springs that fed the patriotic currents of
thought animating the hearts and actions of these heroic Vir-
ginians.
It is hardly necessary to refer to the debates and resolutions
of the members of this first continental congress ; neither need we
enlarge upon the elaborate exposition that was drawn of the
rights of the king's subjects in America, or upon the favorable
statements of the wrongs for which the colonists demanded
redress from Great Britain. Sufiice it to say that it was recom-
mended that during the winter throughout the colonies township
meetings should be held, when a more direct appeal to the people
could be made, and a more general expression of their sentiments
obtained. Following this suggestion of congress, meetings in the
several townships in New Jersey were held, at which committees
286 The Story of an Old Farm.
of observation and inspection were appointed. The members of
these township committees then met in each county, and by a
majority vote chose a county committee of correspondence. In
my possession is a saffron-colored, time-disfigured, original paper
containing what appears to be a concise digest of the minutes of
the first four meetings of the Bedminster committee of observa-
tion and inspection, together with the expenses incurred thereat.
The person who penned this document may have been a patriot,
but his spelling was woful. The paper, however, is interesting
and valuable as showing the members of the committee to have
been Stephen Hunt, Aaron Malick, Guisbert Sutphen, John
Wortman, John Voorhees, Gaston and Lane (probably
Matthew).
We have already learned something of some of the men form-
ing this committee — of Hunt, as owner of the mill on Peapack
brook ; of Sutphen, as active in the congregation of the Bedmin-
ster church ; of Wortman, as one of the earliest settlers
at Pluckarain. This last member was also a justice of the
peace and the first blacksmith in the village. It was not long
before his activity in the popular cause brought upon him the
distinction of having a price set upon his rebel head by the enemy.
The squire, as he was called, told in after years with much
pride that he had not only entertained Washington at his own
table, but had shod his horses with his own hands. Matthew
Lane, it is believed at this time lived in the old dwelling known
as the Fenner house, and lately occupied by Mrs. Sarah Harmer.
He was a merchant, and in 1787 Pluckamin's leading store-
keeper ; his store adjoined his residence, which continues to
this day to bear many of its original Revolutionary characteris-
tics. He was the nephew of Guisbert Sutphen, and the son of
Matthias Lane, who came from Monmouth county in 1745, and
purchased three hundred acres of land east of Van Vleet's mills,
a portion of which is still in the possession of his descendants.
John Voorhees was an associate of Aaron Malick, and was a
well-to-do farmer living on the road running from the Larger
Cross Roads to Peapack. At his death in 1807 Aaron was one
of the administrators of his estate. He was a deacon of the Bed-
minster Reformed Dutch church.
At two o'clock on the morning of the twenty-fourth of April^
First Provincial Congress. 287
1775, the Middlesex committee of correspondence received at
New Brunswick a despatch from the New York committee
announcing that the battle of Lexington had occurred on the
nineteenth instant. The committee endorsed this message, and
the express-rider flew on to Princeton, thence to Trenton, and
on to Philadelphia, reaching there at nine A. M. on the twenty-
fifth, having been one hour less than six days in coming from
Watertown, Massachusetts, including stops at all the principal
places on the way. The country was, of course, in a blaze of
excitement. No truer prophecy was ever uttered than that
ejacvdated in broken tones by pastor Jonas Clark of Lexington,
over the lifeless forms of his seven parishioners that the British
volley had stretched at his church door on the village green :
" From this day will be dated the liberty of the world." It was
now no longer the mutterings but the storm itself that the people
of New Jersey were forced to face. For months the black clouds
of strife and dissension had been slowly and surely rolling on,
enshrouding the land in gloom and apprehension ; now the citi-
zens awoke to the realization that civil war with its attendant
horrors was to be the heritage of their generation.
The general committee of correspondence, which had been
appointed by the convention of the preceding July, was at
once convened, meeting at New Brimswick on the second day
of May, 1775. It directed the chairman to call a provincial
congress for the twenty-third instant, and it desired the several
counties to speedily appoint their respective deputies. This sec-
ond convention or provincial congress met at Trenton on the
twenty-third of May, remaining in session for eleven days. Its
president, Hendrick Fisher ; its secretary, Jonathan D. Sergeant,
and its assistant secretaries, William Patterson and Frederick
Frelinghuysen, were chosen from among the Somerset dele-
gates. President Fisher was ripe in years and experience,
ha^^ng been born in Germany in 1697. Though by rea-
son of strength he had long since passed the allotted span of life,
he was as ardent in the cause of the colonies as was the
most devoted of the younger New Jersey patriots. When the
parliamentary aggressions forced the province into ah atti-
tude of opposition to the British government, he was a member
of the colonial assembly and at once became conspicuous among
288 The Story of an Old Farm.
his fellows as a champion of liberty. From that time until his
death in 1779, he was active in his duties of serving the
people. Mr. Fisher was a forcible debater and exerted an
important influence in the deliberations of the provincial
assemblies, and in those of the many executive committees of
which he was a member. In Domine John Frelinghuysen's
time he was a helper and lay-preacher in the Raritan church,
and some of his sermons are reported to have been rich in doc-
trine, and in their illustrations of spirtual Christianity. His
home was on the south side of the Raritan river, a little below
Bound Brook, on a property lately owned by Abraham I.
Brokaw, and there he is buried in a little family graveyard over-
grown with a thicket of thorns and small bushes.
In this congress youth and old age joined hands in presenting
an undaunted front to those who proposed warring against
the rights of the colonies. Assistant-secretary Frelinghuysen,
who has already been referred to as the son of Domine John
Frelinghuysen, was barely twenty-two years old. During this
same year he represented the province in the continental con-
gress, and his name often appears in Somerset annals among
its soldiers and statesmen. We shall find him doing excellent
service at the battles of Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth, and
he was appointed major-general and commander-in-chief of New
Jersey and Pennsylvania troops for the western expedition, dui'-
ing Washington's presidency. At the bar of the state he
stood among the first, and when he died in 1804, lamented
by his country, he left to his posterity the legacy of an
illustrious career and an unsullied record. "Those familiar
with the name of Frelinghuysen — and who in New Jersey
are not f — know that many of his talents and virtues were
transmitted to his children and grandchildren. Jonathan D.
Sergeant was another son of Somerset of whom any
county might with good reason be proud. He was a resid-
ent of Princeton, having been born there in 1746, his mother
being the daughter of the Reverend Jonathan Dickinson,
of Elizabethtown. He studied for the bar with Richard Stock-
ton the elder, and became distinguished as a lawyer, and
eminent in public affairs. In 1778 he removed to Philadelphia,
and was soon chosen attorney -general of Pennsylvania. In 1793,
Arming for the Fray. 289
he died of yellow fever, falling in the cause of humanity. When
most of the population of Philadelphia fled in terror from that
disease-stricken city, he with a few other equally noble souls
faced the danger, and remained to assist and relieve the sick and
destitute.
This congress, recognizing the impending conflict, proceeded
to put the colony on a war footing by passing a militia bill,
which boldly declared it to be " highly necessary that the inhabi-
tants of the Province be forthwith properly armed and disci-
plined for defending the cause of American Freedom." An
ordinance was also passed laying a war tax of ten thousand
pounds, proclamation money, of which Somerset's proportion was
about nine hundred pounds. Other provinces, and the second
continental congress then in session, were notified of the steps
taken by New Jersey ; and before adjourning a new committee
of correspondence was appointed, which included Fisher and
Frelinghuysen. This committee was directed to instruct the
sub-county committees to secure the signatures of the inhabi-
tants to articles of association of a form adopted by the
provincial congress. These articles pledged every person to
support and carry into execution whatever measures might be
recommended by the continental and provincial congresses.
With the session of this first provincial congress then sitting
at Trenton it would appear that the Bedminster committee of
observation and inspection had business, as in its minutes before
referred to is the following entry : —
May 25, 1775, John Wortman and gisbert Sutphen when sent to the Congress
at trintown, out two Days & Expence of going 5s. 3d. & at trentown 9s. 7d. Return-
ing 5s. 3d. in all Sutphen payd on the above 17s. 6d. John wortman 2s. 8d. —
John wortmans to the Ride of his horse to trintown 3s. 9d. Gisbert Sutphen for
his horse 3s. 9d. Included in the above.
At the same meeting the following minute was made : —
Mr. Hunt has payd to the man that Came from Brunswick to train the
men £0.4s.8d.
While the people in all parts of New Jersey were quick to
respond to the recommendations of congress that they should
arm and discipline themselves for defense, it would seem that
Somerset county took the lead in putting muskets in the hands of
its citizens. The '' Pennsylvania Packet " of the twelfth of June
states that: —
19
290 The Story of an Old Farm.
The mariial spirit which prevails among the inhabitants of Somerset county,
in New Jersey, truly merits the attention of the public. We have certain intel-
ligence that they are forming themselves into companies, and daily exercising, to
become complete masters of the military discipline; and particularly, that the
township of Bridgewater, in said county, met at Earitan, tlie sixth instant, and
chose Mr. Abraham Ten Eyck, captain, under whose command eighty-five vol-
unteers immediately enlisted, to be in readiness at an hour's warning, to march
for the assistance of any neighboring colony, on any emergency. Their pay and
other necessaries are provided by said township. The other counties and town-
ships, it is hoped, will follow their example, as it may be necessary to repel
force by force, in order to secure our national rights and privileges.
Bedminster did not need the example of Bridgewater to fan
the flame of patriotism ; for its men had ah'eady taken the
initiative, and were arming for the fray. They had even antici-
pated the action of the provincial congress of the twenty-third of
May, as is shown by the following minute made at a meeting of
its committee of observation and inspection held on the eigh-
teenth of May, at the house of Anthony J. Jacobs : —
Borrowed from John Wortman in cash £2. Os. Od. to Gow to new york to Buy
arms [three words blurred] Stephen Hunt chosen to go to new york to Buy
the arms.
At another meeting, " when the Company met to Rase men,"
the minutes show that it was agreed '' that the Captain shall
have one Dollar per Day to treat his men when he trains his
men that once a wick." This meeting was held on the twentieth
of May " at the house of John phoenix " — probably at the tavern
at the Lager Cross Roads, kept during the Revolution by John
Sutphen, who married John Phoenix's daughter, Sarah. It
stood on the site where is now the dwelling of David Dunham,
and Washington and his generals, in passing westward through
the township, always made it their stopping place. Sarah
Phoenix used to tell her grandchildren that when the army
marched through the Larger Cross Roads, open house was kept
for the continental officers, . and that she distinctly remembered
General Washington's reserved and absent demeanor one day
at dinner, while Generals Knox, Wayne, and others were
inclined to be merry over their wines and desserts.
Among the many duties of the committee of observation and
inspection, not the least arduous one was that of securing guns,
powder and ball. As early as in October, 1774, the British
ministry instructed all the royal governors to seize whatever
Lead a Precious Metal. 291
arms and ammunition might be imported into their provinces.
Munitions of war were consequently scarce ; after the supplies
of the cities of New York and Philadelphia were exhausted
it became necessary for the members of the committee to ran-
sack the country, and purchase of farmers, mechanics, and
others, old muskets, shotguns and firelocks of every description.
Those out of order were sent to be made serviceable to the gun-
smiths, Henry Watkey and Joseph Robinson at New Brunswick,
and to Lebbeus Dodd at Mendham who before and during the
Revolution repaired all the guns and made all the clocks for that
part of the country. The raw material for bullets was more
easily obtained, although the people were forced to make many
personal sacrifices in order to comply with the requirements of
the hour. The provincial congress had directed the township
committees " to collect all the leaden weights from windows and
clocks, all leaden weights of shops, stores, and mills, of one pound
weight and upwards ; also all the lead in and about houses and
other places." Commissioners were appointed to receive the
same from the committees, paying therefor sixpence per pound,
proclamation money, together with expenses. Bedminster was
soon denuded of what had suddenly grown to be considered a
precious metal, many of the families even cheerfully sacrificing
their pewter dishes and platters, which were much valued by
colonial housewives.
The next session of the provincial congress convened on the
fifth of August, continuing until the seventeenth instant. Since
the adjournment important events had rapidly followed each
other. The British force in Boston had been augmented ; the
battle of Bunker Hill had been fought on the seventeenth of
June ; Washington, having been appointed commander-in-chief,
had already drawn his sword under the great elm on Cambridge
common, his army being composed of fourteen thousand five
hundred militia, without uniformity in discipline, subordination,
arms, dress or organization. On the twenty-eighth of June Sir
Henry Clinton's land force of three thousand men and Sir Peter
Parker's fleet of ten frigates and gun-ships, after fighting two
hours and throwing fifty tons of shot, had been repulsed at
Charleston with the loss of a frigate and one hundred and
seventy men. All this had brought the colonists to a full realiza-
292 The Story of an Old Farm.
tion that they were involved in the miseries of civil strife, hwit
little or no probability of an accommodation with what had
always been considered the home government, until the ques-
tions at issue had been arbitrated by many bloody conflicts. The
deputies proceeded to deliberate upon the condition of the coun-
try, and to pass such ordinances as the gravity of the situation
demanded : one to increase the effectiveness of the militia ; one
for the more thorough establishment of the civU government ;
one to insure the moi'e prompt collection of the war tax ; and
others of equal importance. A ^' committee of safety " was
appointed, which during the recess of congress was to possess
much of the powers of that body. Among its members were
Frederick Frelinghuysen, Hendrick Fisher, Jonathan D. Ser-
geant, Peter Schenck and Enos Kelsey, all of Somerset. The
authority of this committee was almost dictatorial, its members
were appointed by successive provincial congresses, and in a
majority of their votes were vested general powers for the
security and defence of the colony. It continued in existence
until October, 1776, which was the date of the first meeting of
the legislature under the state constitution. After that time the
governor and a ^^ council of safety " (composed of twenty mem-
bers) were invested with requisite authority to act during the
intervals between meetings of the legislature.
CHAPTER XXI.
TJie Declaration of Independence and tJte Overthrow of the
Provincial Government — The Arrest of the Royal Governor,
William FranTdin.
The most important of New Jersey's provincial congresses, and
the final one for the year 1775, opened on the third of October
and continued for twenty-two days. Its members had been
elected by the people, the previous bodies having been provis-
ional in character, the delegates emanating from the choice of
informal coimty meetings or conventions. The amount of busi-
ness transacted at this session was very great. The whole col-
ony was in a state of intense agitation, and excitements ruled
the hour. It was a time of civil discord, when neighbor feared
neighbor and friend suspected friend. Disputes and difficulties
between the people were rife, culminating in all manner of
charges and complaints, which were poured in upon congress in
the shape of accusations, petitions and appeals. Communications
from township and comity committees had to be received and
deliberated upon, charges against loyalists investigated, and many
complaints of personal grievances considered.
Ordinances were passed for the raising of regiments, the
strengthening of the militia, the purchase of munitions of war,
and, to meet the many pecuniary necessities of the hour, arrange-
ments were effected for the issue of bills of credit to the amount
of thirty thousand pounds, proclamation money. But we will
not speak in detail of all the important matters that were
patiently and ably considered by this patriotic congress, among
whose officers were Samuel Tucker of Hunterdon, as president,
and John Mehelm of Hunterdon and Hendrick Fisher of Somer-
set, as vice-presidents. It is enough for us to know that at a
294 The Story of an Old Farm.
period when legislative difficulties of the most involved character
had to be encountered, these deputies conducted their delibera-
tions with wisdom and prudence, and by their intelligent and
far-seeing devotion to the best interests of the colony laid a firm
foundation upon which was afterward raised the superstructure
of a great state. This important session adjourned to meet at
New Brunswick on the first Tuesday in April, 1776. One of its
final acts was to appoint a committee of safety to govern the
province ad interim, among whom were Samuel Tucker, John
Hart and John Mehelm of Hunterdon, Hendrick Fisher and
Ruloff Van Dyke of Somerset.
All this time the second continental congress, which had
convened on the tenth of May, was in session, and in constant
communication with the congresses and committees of the sev-
eral provinces. It is unnecessary to speak in detail of the many
important measures that were ably considered by this celebrated
legislature, or of the ardor of its patriotic members whose soul-
stirring debates in the historic State House at Philadelphia still
arouse the enthusiasm of mankind, the wide world over. Wher-
ever the name of liberty is known and loved, the broad compre-
hensive views and deep political knowledge exhibited by the
many distinguished men composing this congress, have been rec-
ognized and extolled. Since the formation of society the record
of no other representative body contributes pages of such value
and brilliancy to the history of the cause of human progress. We
should be false, however, to the continuity of the story of the
times did we fail to note that by early June in 1776 Richard
Henry Lee of Virginia had submitted a motion, declaring the
colonies to be " absolved from all allegiance to the British crown,
and that all connection between them and Great Britain is, and
ought to be, dissolved." This was but anticipatory of the cul-
minating act of the memorable second day of July which saw the
final adoption, without a dissenting voice, of that resolution for
independence which was to insure a name and a national exist-
ence to the United States of America.
The second of July was, therefore, the momentous day on
which was broken the last political link binding the colonies and
the mother country. A committee was at once appointed to
draft a declaration of reasons justifying this all-important step
I
WiTHERSPOON IN CONGRESS. 295
taken by the delegates. Two days later, on the morning of the
fourth, Thomas Jefferson as chairman of that committee pre-
sented to the continental congress the immortal Declaration of
Independence. Among the illustrious men who listened to the
reading of this document there is one figure that stands sharply
defined on the canvas which portrays the scene of the crowning
act of this historic body. It is that of John Witherspoon, a
distinguished representative from New Jersey, whose patriotism
and foresight at a crucial moment is believed to have powerfidly
promoted the prompt acceptance of the Declaration of Independ-
ence. After Jefferson had finished the reading of this paper,
the members of congress were appalled by the solemnity of the
occasion, and by the apparent realization for the first time of the
portent of the document. The knowledge seemed suddenly
forced upon them of what its adoption must entail upon the
country. It meant a continuation of the war, and all the miser-
ies that would necessarily follow a prolonged civil conflict.
Should the American arms not prevail, complete subjection of the
entire people must follow, and for the signers and promulgators
of this incendiary and rebellious instrument naught could be
expected but an ignominious death. Through the halls of con-
gress an intense silence prevailed. It was a critical moment.
When the painful hush shoidd be broken the temper of the first
speaker might decide the weal or woe of the people. As has
been said by a witness : " The very destiny of the country
seemed to be suspended upon the action of a moment."
Suddenly a stalwart form arose — that of a man full of years ;
his hair whitened by the snows of many winters. With a coun-
tenance resolute and determined, and a voice trembling with the
intensity of his emotions, he broke the deep silence of the chamber:
" There is," said he, " a tide in the affairs of man, a nick of
time; we perceive it now before us. The noble instrument upon
your table, which insures immortality to its author, should be
subscribed this very morning by every pen in the house. He
who will not respond to its accents, and strain every nerve to
carry into effect its provisions, is unworthy the name of a free-
man. Although these gray hairs must descend into the sepul-
chre, I would infinitely rather they should descend thither by
the hand of the public executioner than desert, at this time, the
296 The Story of an Old Farm.
sacred cause of my country." The speaker sat down, and a
great sigh of relief and murmur of approval went up from his
listeners — the tension was over, the crisis safely passed. In the
debates which followed, the speeches of the members displayed
much of the spirit of patriotic firmness that had characterized
the timely appeal of this excellent man, resulting finally in the
adoption of that portentous document * which secured the inde-
pendence of the thirteen states.
John Witherspoon was a Scotch divine who in 1768 had
been called to the presidency of the College of New Jersey,
and to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Prince-
ton. This was not his first appearance in the arena of rebel-
lion. When the Highlanders flocked to the royal standard
unfurled by the yomig pretender in the north of Scotland,
Witherspoon, though the pastor of a parish, raised a corps
of militia and marched to his support. The young parson-
soldier's enthusiasm carried him into the battle of Falkirk, where
he was taken prisoner ; he lay captive in the castle of Donne
until after Culloden. In America he proved a patriot of great
influence in the councils of the nation, and served the state in
congress with honor and ability for six years, and in 1776 was
also a member of the provincial congress, afterwards the " Con-
vention of the State of New Jersey." As a Princeton resident, we
may fairly claim Doctor Witherspoon to have been a Somerset man;
it was many years after that time before the county was shorn of
its southern border which then included that seat of learning, in
order to contribute to the new county of Mercer.
It must be remembered that until early in 1776 the semblance
of royal government continued to exist in New Jersey. Up to
*The declaration signed that day is not the venerable parchment now so
carefully preserved in the state department at Wasliington. This latter docu-
ment was subsequently engrossed, and it was not for many months afterward
that all of its appended signatures were thereon inscribed. Indeed a number
of its signers, among them Charles Carroll and Dr. Benjamin Rush, were
not even members of congress on the fourth of July, 1776, but were elected dele-
gates some weeks later. The original declaration has not been preserved and
may possibly have Ijeen destroyed by order of congress. Much interesting, and
what to many would be considered new, information regarding the adoption of
the Declaration of Independence, is to be found in a paper by William L.
Stone in Harper's Magazine, Vol. LXVII., p. 208. The Witherspoon incident
is given in Alexander Graydon's " Memoirs of His Own Times."
Provincial Congresses of 1776. 297
the fourth of July all official documents and proclamations ended
with the phrase, ''God save the-King." At this time, with the
exception of that grand old " Rebel Grovernor," Jonathan Trum-
bull of Connecticut, there was not in all the thirteen colonies a
chief magistrate but that was strongly prejudiced in favor of
British interests, and zealous to check the uprising of the people,
(rovernor William Franklin occupied the proprietor's house at
Perth Amboy — yet extant, and used as a home for aged Pres-
byterian ministers. His duties mainly consisted in keeping his
government advised as to the treasonable acts of the citizens.
The colonial assembly still had a legal existence, though the
house had been prorogued by the governor on the sixth of
December, 1775, until the third of January, 1776; it never
reassembled 5 and thus terminated the colonial legislature of New
Jersey.
The provincial congress of 1776 met on the first of Febru-
ary at New Brunswick ; owing to the exigency of the times
it was convened by the council of safety before the date to
which the previous congress had adjourned. The business
before this session was largely composed of following the sugges-
tions made by continental congress as to the raising and equip-
ping of regular battalions, and for supplying the province's
portion of the munitions of war. Among the many ordinances
passed was one making radical changes in the franchise
laws, whereby all persons who had lived one year in the
county, were worth fifty pounds in personal estate, and had
signed the articles of association prepared by the township
committees of observation and inspection, were entitled
to vote for deputies. The first election under this ordinance
took place in May, 1776, and the deputies chosen from Som-
erset were Frederick Frelinghuysen, William Paterson, John
Witherspoon (also member of continental congress), Jacob
R. Hardenbergh (pastor of the Raritan Reformed Dutch
churches), and James Linn. Judge James Linn was one of
Somerset's aristocrats and a citizen highly esteemed throughout
the country. He lived on a well improved plantation of six
hundred acres, lying in the Mine brook vaUey in Bernards town-
ship, about one mile east of the village of Bedminster. He had
quite a retinue of servants and twenty slaves. His estate had
298 The Story of an Old Farm.
been inherited from his father ; on it he continued to live as
one of the first gentlemen of the county until 1810.
On Monday, the tenth of June, this most important of all of New
Jersey's provincial congresses met at Burlington. Its sessions con-
tinued until the twenty-first of August, though twice adjourned,
the first time to Trenton and the second to New Brunswick. This
congress enacted all laws for a time in the name of the colony,
but, having on the second of July adopted a state constitution,
on the eighteenth of the same month it assumed the title
of the " Convention of the State of New Jersey," thus
giving birth to a free and independent commonwealth.
Another act of this body distinguishing it above all preceding
congresses was the deposition of the royal governor. As has
been said before, the semblance of kingly power still continued
in New Jersey. In addition to the representative of the crown,
the king's council still had an existence, though shorn of some
of its members by their disaffection. Among these was Lord
Stirling of Somerset, who had been suspended by the governor
in September, 1775, because of having accepted a military com-
mission from the provincial congress.
There is no doubt that the greater part of Governor Franklin's
administration was much to the advantage of the colony, as he
fostered and encouraged many enterprises that promoted its pros-
perity. Could the people of New Jersey forget his subsequent con-
duct as a vindictive loyalist, they would be better able to look
back upon his government with respect, and appreciate that
during his long administration, for much of the time he dis-
played a commendable desire for the welfare of the prov-
ince. Such without doubt is his record, and we may even
accord to him sincerity of opinion and purpose in identifying
himself with those who were endeavoring to sacrifice the liberties
of the country. But with the dissensions that arose between the
executive and the citizens, he is said to liave become petulant
and unwise. As the people grew to be alert in regard to every
question touching their rights, his arrogance increased, and he
rapidly became destitute of prudence and self-control. In the
provincial assembly he made great endeavors to defeat the ratifi-
cation of the actions of the first continental congress, and from
that time up to his deposition was but little more than a spy for
the public enemy.
GovEENOR William Franklin's Record. 299
As has been said on a former page, the governor was a son of
Benjamin Franklin, — the natural son, for who was his mother is
not known. The date of his birth — 1730 — was one year pre-
vious to that of his father's marriage. He was taken home by
Benjamin Franklin and reared and educated as though bom in
wedlock. The New Jersey people, who well knew of this bar
sinister on the Franklin escutcheon, were much chagrined on
learning in 1762 who was to be their new governor. John
Penn, one of the proprietors of Pennsylvania and the son of its
foimder, wa'ote to Lord Stirling from England in September of
that year that he thought it a dishonor and a disgrace to have
such a man at the head of the government ; and that he hoped
that some effort would be made before his Jersey friends would
put up with such an insult. This letter was written from Stoke-
Park. The manor adjoins that little ivy-clad church which
since Gray wrote his imperishable elegy has been an interna-
tional shrine. But few of its many American pilgrims, as they
leave the highway and follow the little footpath leading across
Stoke-Park to Stoke-Pogis churchyard, know that the fortune
that established this handsome English seat had its origin on the
banks of the Delaware.
William Franklin, just after being appointed governor
of New Jersey, was married in St. George's church, Hanover
square, London, to Miss Elizabeth Downe. Strange as
the coincidence may be, he, too, had an illegitimate son,
born two years before. As had done his father, so did he ;
naming the child William Temple Franklin he took him home
to his bride, and the boy was reared with as much solicitude as
if the offspring of marriage. Benjamin Franklin grieved much
over the failure of his son to espouse the cause of the colonists.
He wrote '^ that nothing had ever affected him with such keen
sensitiveness as to find himself deserted in his old age by his
only son ; and not only deserted, but to find him taking up arms
against him in a cause wherein his good fame, fortmie and life
were at stake." The grandson was a warm adherent of the
Americans, and, deserting his father, allied his fortimes to those
of his grandfather, with whom he remained associated until his
death. He subsequently wrote a biography of Doctor Franklin,
and died in France in 1823.
300 The Story of an Old Fahm.
The prestige and patriotism of the governor's father caused
the people to judge leniently of the attitude the son assumed
toward the cause so dear to the popular heart ; this, too,
at a time when loyalists were looked upon with extreme dis-
favor. But, as the months rolled on, his pronounced acts in
support of the British ministry were too great for the forbearance
of the people in their newly-born sovereign capacity. An inter-
cepted despatch in January, 1776, had led to Lord Stirling's
placing him under arrest, and on parole. For some months he
continued to occupy the gubernatorial residence at Perth Amboy,
and to nominally direct the affairs of the province, but having
called upon the old assembly to meet on the twentieth of June^
the provincial congress declared this to be in direct contempt of
the orders of the continental congress. On the fifteenth of June
William Livingston, John Witherspoon, William Paterson and
John Mehelm were appointed a committee to cause the arrest of
the governor, and to depose him from office. Colonel Nathaniel
Heard, commanding the 1st Middlesex battalion, under the
direction of this committee made the arrest, and the governor
was brought before provincial congress under guard. He
treated that body with great indignity ; did not hesitate to charge
its members with being low-bred men who deserved to be hung
as rebels, and declared them to be without sufficient education for
devising or carrying out plans for the public weal. When he
had finished his violent tirade, Doctor Witherspoon sprang to his
feet and fixing his keen eyes upon the king's representative
poured on him a copious stream of irony, delivering a " rebuke
so withering as to cause the boldest to hold .his breath with
astonishment." In concluding, after referring to Franklin's illi-
gitimacy, he said : —
On the wliole, Mr. President, I think that the governor has made us a speech
every way worthy of his exalted birth and refined education.
Acting under the advice of Washington it was decided by
congress to transfer the deposed executive to the keeping of
Governor Trumbull of Connecticut, whereupon Franklin was
confined in a house in East Windsor. Here he remained a pris-
oner for two years ; upon being exchanged, he established him-
self in New York which continued to be his home until 1782,
when he returned to England. To cover his losses the British
Some New Jersey Patriots. 301
•govemment aflowed him the sum of eighteen hundred pounds
and an annual pension of eight hundred pounds. William Liv-
ingston was appointed governor in his stead, a position which he
ably filled, owing to repeated re-elections, until the year 1782. *
It will be noticed that deputies of the provincial congress were
always inclined to call upon men of Somerset to occupy leading
positions in their body, or to carry out their most important meas-
ures. When the time came to depose this royal governor, two
of the committee chosen to undertake this delicate and disgree-
able office were from our county, while a third, John Mehelm,
afterwards became a resident, and filled for many years to the
great satisfaction of the people the position of surrogate. At this
time he was living in Hunterdon county, at a place since known
as Hall's mills, where he owned one hundred acres of land and a
flouring mill. He was a stanch Jerseyman whose patriotism
stood many severe tests ; from the first murmuring of the colon-
ists against the home government he was an advocate for inde-
pendence, and throughout the war was an associate of, and a coun-
sellor with, the ablest and purest men of the country. He served
as a member of the provincial congress, the convention, and the
committee of correspondence and safety.
William Paterson, who was New Jersey's second governor,
has always been considered one of the great men of that time.
He, too, displayed the most intelligent devotion to many public
trusts in state and country ; represented New Jersey in the
senate of the nation, and died in 1806 as judge of the supreme
court of the United States. His residence was an antiquated
stone mansion, no longer in existence, on a plantation known
as the '' Paterson Fai'm," lying two miles south of Somerville on
the Raritan rivex. Here, as the guest of Judge Paterson,
Aaron Burr spent much of his time while an undergraduate at
Princeton, and here he prepared for admission to the bar.
Of Witherspoon we have already learned much, and as to the
* His salary was fixed at £550, equal to 1466§ Spanish dollars. Marriage
licenses, letters of administration and other perquisites increased the annual stip-
end about £350. The salary of the chief-justice was £350 and of the other two
.judges £300 ; treasurer £150, attorney-general £30. Delegates to congress $4 a
day while present, and members of assembly $2 a day. During Franklin's
administration the salary of the colonial governor had been gradually raised to
X3,200, with perquisites amounting ,t© about $1,000.
302 The Story of an Old Fa km.
third member of this historic committee, William Livingston, all
who know the a, b, c, of Revolutionary history are familiar with
the valuable record of this distinguished war-governor. His
sound judgment in counsel, and his coolness and courage in
action and execution, brought inestimable benefits upon the
comitry, and his services in the cause of freedom take rank with
those of Washington, Hancock and Adams. His residence was
in Elizabethtown — an ample brick mansion knowm as " Liberty
Hall," which is still standing, owned and occupied by John
Kean, the great-grandnephew of the governor. It has had a top
storey added ; otherwise with the exception of modernized
windows and fireplaces it is much the same as it was during the
Kevolution. A large tree which faces the front door was planted
in 1772 by Livingston's oldest daughter Susan, who afterwards
married John Cleves Symmes.
We have now sketched in a hurried manner the successive
steps taken by the people of New Jersey in their progress from
a condition of being the mere dependent subjects of a foreign
government to that of free citizens of a free republic, able
almost at once to assume the rights of membership in the family
of nations. Well-informed readers may deplore the time lost in
telling over again the well-known story of the outbreak of the
Revolution ; but without a proper stage-setting our Somerset
actors in the approaching drama could not well play their parts.
As a background to the scene in which they are to figure, it is
also necessary to consider the condition of the country in the
spring of 1776. At that time it was truly but the beginning of
things for the United States of America. Where is now the
centre of population buffaloes browsed in herds, and wild deer
had naught to fear from the crack of the woodsman's rifle. Even
the valleys through which flow the Mohawk and the Genesee were
almost destitute of white population, and those regions were still
the hunting and fighting gromids of the painted wai'riors of the
dreaded Six Nations of the North. Great cities, the pulsations
of whose markets are to-day noted in the moneyed centres of all
Euro])e, were not yet conceived, and their sites were solitudes of
wildernesses.
Eastern and Middle Pennsylvania lay quiet in the shade of a
vast and sombre forest ; Pittsburgh, a mere collection of log
The United States of 1776. 303
cabins, was just becoming known as a point where emigrants
built their keel -boats, and launched themselves and their fortunes
on the waters of the Ohio. New York city in population was
but little larger than is Plainfield of to-day, and smaller, by
many thousands, than is Elizabeth ; those two populous places
were then, respectively, but a hamlet and a small village ; while
Somerville was not to have an existence for yet a quarter of a
century. Newark in 1777 contained but one hundred and forty-
one houses, and at no time during the war did it exceed one
thousand in population. New Brunswick claimed about the
same number. A round cupola capping a square wooden
church-tower rising above a few clustering houses, was all that
marked where now centres over half a million of people as the
city of Brooklyn. Powles' Hook was represented by a ferry-
tavern and a few scattering dwellings ; it was not till 1820 that it
was rebaptized as Jersey City, and even then had but three
hundred residents. Only about one-quarter of the lands of East
Jersey had been located, and the inhabitants of the entire state
numbered less than one hundred and fifty thousand. In the
entire country there were but twenty-eight post offices ; as late as
1791 New Jersey possessed but six, and at that time Somerset
county appears to have had none.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Turbulent Sea of the Revolution — The Soldiers of Somerset
— William Alexander, Lord Stirling; Cajitain Andrew
MalicJc, and Private John llalich.
And now we find the men of Somerset prepared to do their
part toward manning the new ship of state, which is at last fairly
launched on the turbulent sea of the Revolution. But notwith-
standing the ominous notes of war, the daily routine of Bedmin-
ster life continued. Sun-browned men went to and from the
fields, peddlers wandered from village to farm, and women gos-
sipped as they spun or stepped in their short kirtles to the music
of their swiftly whirling yam-wheels.
There was little or no break in the industries that centred
about the " Old Stone House." The bills, bonds and corre-
spondence preserved from that time show that work continued at
the tannery and on the farm, their products finding a ready
market. By this time the land had been considerably curtailed
of its original area. At the death of Johannes a division of his
estate was made by will among his children. Al] the provisions
of this last testament are not known, no copy having been found,
but references in subsequent deeds show that the tannery, home-
stead, and two hundred acres fell to Aaron. The southern por-
tion of the farm, embracing ono hundred and sixty-sevoa acres,
being all the land fronting on the Bernardsville and Lamington
road, was devised to Aaron's youngest brother, Peter, Upon
this laud, sometime before the Revohition, he erected a house
and farm-buildings. They were located on the site of the
present residence of Alfred Johnson in the village of Bedmiuster.
Here on the breaking out of rhe war Peter was living with his
wife and three children, l>avid, John, and Catharine.
St. James' Lutheran Church. 305
Andrew's share of his father's estate was probably what
remained of the four hundred and nine acres of land in Greenwich
township, Sussex, now Warren county, which Johannes had pur-
chased of John F. Garrits in 1747. It will be remembered that
in 1758 one hundred and eighty-one acres of this purchase
were conveyed to Gottfried Moelich, At any rate, this is
where Andrew settled on leaving the homestead, and he con-
tinued to be a resident of that township until his death in 1820.
On the fourth of July, 1776, he received a commission as
captain in the 1st Regiment, Sussex militia, commanded by
Colonel, afterwards General, William Maxwell, and throughout
the war was active in the service of his country.
In the 3'ear 1769 Andrew was prominently connected with form-
ing the congregation of St. James Lutheran church. Its first edifice
was erected at the close of that year about three miles from Phil-
lipsburg, on the road leading to Springtown. It was built of logs,
with a breadth of thirty by a length of forty feet, having a straw
thatched roof, from which comes its present name, " Straw
Church." This primitive structure made way in 1790 for a
larger stone edifice, which was followed in 1824 by the brick
building now in use. The old records of this congregation, which
begin with the year 1770, name as pastors. Christian Streit
and Peter Muhlenberg. The latter was at that time the resi-
dent clergyman of Zion Lutheran church at New Germantown,
Hunterdon county, and for the congregation of this '' Straw
Church," probably acted as supervising rector. This was the
same Peter Muhlenberg who afterwards became famous as the
Revolutionary general. Christian Streit was also the pastor of a
Lutheran church at Easton. The records of St. James' show
Andrew to have been continuously a communicant, and for many
years an elder and warden. Upon the pages of its old church book
are also recorded the baptism of four of his children, the first
having been Catarina, who was born on the fourth of April, 1770,
and baptised on the third of June. In the graveyard of this
church, surrounded by his wife, children, and many of his
descendants, Andrew lies buried. His crumbling tombstone bears
the following inscription :
20
306 The Story of an Old Farm.
In Memory of
CAPTAIN ANDREW MELICK.*
Who was born December 24, 1729, and departed this life June 29, 1820,
Agrd 90 years, 6 months and 5 days.
Beneath this eartli the remains
Of an old and respected fellow
Citizen reposes. Stranger pause and
Contemplate the frailties to
Which human nature is exposed.
And ere you leave this spot learn
To know and feel that man is dust
And to dust must return.
His wife Catharine, who died on the twenty-ninth of October,
1804, in the sixty-fourth year of her age, has the following
verse upon her gravestone :
Rest gentle corpse beneath this clay,
Now time has swept your cares away,
For surely now all troubles cease
While in the grave you rest in peace.
At the breaking out of the Revolution Aaron was beyond the
age required by the acts of provincial congress for serving in
the militia. As has already been shown he was a member of
the Bedminster committee of observation and inspection, and
furnished the sinews of war. He did more than this ; he
buckled the armor on his oldest son John, then a lad of but
eighteen, and sent him off with his blessing to fight the battles
of his country. It is to be regretted that our knowledge of
John's Revolutionary services is not more complete in its details.
In General William S. Stryker's ^' Roster of the Men of New
Jersey in the Revolution," published by authorify of the state,
he appears as a private in Captain Jacob Ten Eyck's company of
the 1st Battalion, Somerset militia, and also as a private in one
of the New Jersey regiments of the continental line.
At the outset of the war this 1st Battalion was commanded
by William Alexander — known to history as Lord Stirling ; a
son of Somerset in whose Revolutionary record the people of the
county justly take much pride. While in England in 1756 he
laid claim to the earldom of Stirling, which had been in abey-
* Although Andrew's name appears on his tombstone " Melick," throughout
life he generally spelled it "Malick," and it was so written on the muster-rolls
of the 1st Sussex Battalion.
LoKD Stirling's Record. 307
ance for a number of years. Although successful in establishing
a direct descent, the house of peers, before whom his claim went
for final adjudication, decided against him. The title, however,
seems to have been allowed, in this country at least, by courtesy.
Washington, in his correspondence, invariably addressed him as
" My Lord," and always spoke of him as " his lordship." On his
return to America in 1761, he settled at Basking Ridge on the
estate, as has been shown in a previous chapter, that had been
acquired by his father, James Alexander. Here he made
improvements which for taste and expense were much greater
than anything of the kind ever attempted in the province. His
grounds were laid out in the manner of an "English park, and the
spacious mansion possessed all the characteristics of a gentle-
man's seat in the old country. This large dwelling, together
with its connecting offices, stables, and coach-houses, were orna-
mented with cupolas and gilded vanes, and surrounded a paved
court or quadrangle. There was a grand hall and an imposing
drawing room, with richly decorated walls and. stuccoed ceilings.
Jones, the tory historian, who, of course, bore Lord Stirling
no love, states that while living here '' he cut a splendid figure,
he having brought with him from England, horses, carriages, a
coachman, valet, butler, cook, steward, hair-dresser and a mis-
tress." Here this American nobleman lived the life of a country
gentleman of fortune; he rode in a great coach with gilded panels
emblazoned with coronets and medallions, and altogether affected
a style and splendor probably miequalled in the colonies. He
was a member of the king's council, a colonel in the militia, and
was naturally the most conspicuous figure in the county.
At the first sign of a severance of the relations between the
colonies and the home government. Lord. Stirling warmly
espoused the popular cause, and throughout the war, as is well
known, proved himself a stanch patriot, and a soldier brave to
rashness. On the thirteenth of October, 1775, the provincial
congress of New Jersey, acquiescing in a recommendation of
continental congress, organized two battalions, consisting of
eight companies of sixty-eight privates each. This was the first
call on New Jersey, and, together with a third battalion organized
in February, 1776, it was known as the ''First Establishment"
of troops from the colony for the continental army. The men
308 The Story of an Old Farm.
were enlisted for one year, and Lord Stirling was commissioned
as colonel of the 1st Battalion. All readers of history are fam-
iliar with his subsequent career. He was soon promoted to be a
brigadier-general and fought stubbornly at the battle of Long
Island, where he finally was captured by the enemy. Having
been exchanged for the governor of Florida, at the battle of Tren-
ton his brigade opened the fight. For his distinguished services
he was elevated to the rank of major-general, and as such, in
1777, we find him fighting with Washington at the bloody battle
of Brandywine. The next year, he it was who, at the most crit-
ical time on the field of Monmouth, so effectively handled his
artillery as to dismay and check the British, while at the same
time exciting their surprise and admiration. So, throughout the
war, he was ever conspicuous among the leading and most noted
of the Revolutionary generals. His appearance was imposing,
and it has been said that, next to Washington, he possessed the
most martial presence of any commander in the army. Lord
Stirling never returned to his home amid the New Jersey hills.
He died in 1784 at Albany, New York, while in command of the
" Northern Department."
When Colonel Alexander was transferred from the militia to
the continental line, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen Hunt was
promoted to the command of the 1st Somerset Battalion. The
acquaintance of Hunt we have already made as the owner of the
mills adjoining the '^ Old Farm" on the opposite side of Peapack
brook. He will also be remembered as a member of the com-
mittee of observation and inspection with Aaron Malick. That
John Malick should have enrolled himself in this -regiment can-
not be charged to any special spasm of patriotic virtue. He had
no choice. As early as the third of June, 1777, the provincial
congress declared that the time had come for the people of the
province to arm for defence. On that date, and in August and
October of the same year, acts were passed making it obligatory
on all citizens, between the ages of sixteen and fifty, to enroll
themselves into militia companies that the several committees of
safety were directed to form. These companies were then
embodied into regiments which were distributed throughout the
state, Somerset's quota being two. Each man was obliged to
furnish himself with a " good musket or firelock, and bayonet.
New Jersey Minute-Men. 309
sword or tomahawk, a steel ramrod, worm, priming-wire and
brush fitted thereto, a cartridge-box to contain twenty-three
rounds of cartridge, twelve flints, and a knapsack." Militiamen
were also required to keep in readiness at home one pound of
powder and three pounds of bullets. The only men of proper
age who could avoid militia service were those employed by the
province, or who were occupied in the manufacture of government
supplies. Of course, there were instances of individuals of cow-
ardly nature or weak patriotism who were glad to take advantage
of this exemption and seek such employment. In March, 1778,
the Hibernia furnace in Morris county was engaged in produc-
ing shot and shell, and consequentl}' offered itself to such persons
as a city of refuge. The superintendent of the works, in speak-
of the exemption of his employes, thus wrote to his principal.
Lord Stirling : —
My Lord, this is the only thing that induces the greater part of tlie men to
work here, as they are farmers and have left their farms and come here solely to
be clear of the militia and from no other motive. I find they are determined to
sluiflle the time away they are exempt and do as little business as they possibly
can. Could not your Lordship send us some of the Regular and Hessian desert-
ers? I will do my endeavour to make thirty or forty of them serviceable.
The militia law of August, 1775, in compliance with the rec-
ommendation of continental congress, authorized the raising
of minute-men ; Somerset furnished four companies formed
in one battalion. They were uniformed in hunting shirts, took
precedence over other militia, and were required to be in con-
stant readiness to march to any point for the defence of New
Jersey or a neighboring colony. So many of the miniite-men
joined the continental army — as it was their privilege to do — that
the battalions became much reduced, and before the first of
March, 1776, they were disbanded and incorporated in the
militia. The first service that the Somerset troops were called
upon to perform was in answer to an application of the New
York committee of safety for a force to aid in suppressing tories
on Long Island. Seven hundred militiamen were consequently
ordered to march under field officers Colonel Nathaniel Heard,
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Thomas, and Major John Dunn.
Of this command one hundred were minute-men from Somerset,
and there are reasons to believe that John Malick was among the
number. The battalion marched from Woodbridge on the sev-
310 The Stout of an Old Fakm.
enteenth of January. On reaching Manhattan Island they were
reinforced by three hundi'ed men, among whom was a New York
city volunteer organization, which, it is said, was composed of
the most abandoned of the population. This reinforcement was
under the command of Major De Hart of New Jersey, and on the
twenty -ninth instant the combined forces crossed to Long Island
and proceeded at once on the object of the mission, which was
the apprehension of violent loyalists, and the disarming of the
disaffected of the inhabitants. The political aspect of affairs on
the western end of Long Island was very different from that of
its neighbors, patriotic New England, New Jersey, and the rest
of New York. Loyalty and rebellion blended, the balance of
power, before the arrival of troops, being largely in favor of the
former. The rich aristocrats, and the phlegmatic Dutch who
were also well-to-do, were averse to disturbing the peace and
order of the communities. This was especially so in Queen's
comity, which was largely tory, and the county of King's was
almost equally reluctant to show its influence on the side of the
Revolutionary movement.
The march of this invading force through these two counties
spread dismay among the inhabitants. Colonel Heard was well
fitted for his ungrateful mission, and was indefatigable in pursuit
of the objects of the movement. So far as lay in his power he
treated friend and foe with civility and kindness. He foimd it
difficidt, however, to control his auxiliary force, especially
the company from New York city ; their excesses caused him
much pain ; and acrimony and bitterness were engendered among
the residents of the island against the militaiy representatives of
the colonists. To quote from the " Collections of the Long Island
Historical Society ": —
So flagrant and scandalous were many of the outrages perpetrated by De Hart's
force that the officers of tlie minute-men, wlio had doubtless been chosen agreea-
bly to the orders of Congress as prudent and discreet men, were shocked at their
license and longed to be rid of their disorderly companions. The minute-men of
New Jersey were respectable farmers and tradesmen, heads of families in many
instances; and these humane men scorned the petty plunder which the others
appropriated, as much as they commiserated the distress of which they were com-
pelled to be the authors.
The above quotation is a fail' example of the many warm
tributes found in Revolutionary literature to the yeomanry
A Tribute To Jersey Militiamen. 311
of our state. In them was a militaiy force, unique in the history
of warfare. Far be it from me to decry the inestimable services
of the men of the continental line — their bones lie under the
sods of too many well-fought battle-fields. But the New Jersey
militiamen stand as distinct figures on the Revolutionary canvas,
and their praises cannot be too often or too loudly sung. They
well deserved the liberty for which they fought, and the
remembrance of the self-sacrifice with which they exerted them-
selves in behalf of freedom and independence is a heritage dearly
prized by their descendants, who now enjoy all the blessings
that flow from their valuable services. It must be acknowledged
that for a short sixty days, or maybe forty, at the close of the
year 1776, they faltered in their faith, and, discouraged by the
fearful adversities of the hour, many were inclined to abandon
the cause, and seek protection for their homes and families from
a victorious enemy. But it was a temporary disaffection. They
soon learned to detest the promises of the invader, and, angered
by the outrageous injuries visited on them by the British,
they resumed their arms. Henceforth the militia of the
Jerseys stood pre-eminent among the defenders of the liberties
of the people. As was written at the time by one who, though
not a resident of the state, was a witness of and a participant in
their glorious achievements : —
They hovered around the enemy and lianassed him beyond his stationary
guards; the aged watclied, explored, designed — the youth, alert, courageous, and
ever ready for the outset, planted a hedge of pickets in General Washington's
front to abate his painful solicitudes, to conceal his nakedness, and support the
Revolution during a period in which a second army was totally disbanded and a
third levied under the eyes of a British ct)mmander.
On this head we also have the testimony of Washington. In
a letter written to the Pennsylvania legislature in October, 1777,
he says : —
The exertions of tiie New Jersey militia have kept the enemy out of her
limits, except now and then a hasty descent, without a continental regiment.
Besides doing this, she has sent, and is now sending reinforcements to this and
the northern army.
John Hancock, too, writing in September of the same year to
Governor Livingston, testifies : —
The militia by their late conduct against our cruel enemies have distinguished
themselves in a manner that does them the greatest honor, and I am persuaded
312 The Story of an Old Farm.
they will continue to merit, on all occasions when called upon, the reputation
they have so justly acquired.
In August, 1776, the militia was divided into two divisions —
that is, every organization was divided into two parts. One was
ordered to report immediately to General Washington for one
month's tour of duty, as it was termed ; the other was required
to be in readiness to relieve the first. In this manner, until the
close of the war, the two divisions did alternate and valiant ser-
vice, acting with the continental army at the battles of Long
Island, Assunpink, Princeton, Germantown, Springfield and
Monmouth. They also, when not on a tour of duty, were fre-
quently called upon to defend their homes and communities, and
performed a distinguished part in the fights and skirmishes
known as Quinton's Bridge, Hancock's Bridge, Three Rivers,
Connecticut Farms and Van Nest's Mills (Weston).
Although early in 1776 campaigns were being prosecuted in
the North and South, the main theatre of war continued to be in
the East. But in April it was transferred to New York. Too
soon the scene will again be shifted — the next time to the west
side of the Hudson River, for New Jersey was yet that year to
know the martial sound of trumpets, to grow familiar with* the
tread of armies, and to feel the dread stroke of war. On the
seventeenth of March the British acknowledged the superior
generalship of Washington by evacuating Boston, embarking in
their fleet and sailing away for Halifax. As the commander-in-
chief felt confident that the ultimate design of the enemy was to
attack New York, he decided to make that city his base of
operations, and consequently marched with his army to Manhat-
tan Island. On the ninth of July the fleet from Halifax passed
inside of the Hook. A few days later Sir Henry Clinton with
three thousand men arrived on Sir Peter Parker's battered
squadron that had just returned from the misfortunes of Charles-
ton. Almost daily thereafter ships crossed the bar laden with
troops, until on the twelfth of August eighty-two transports and
six men-of-war arrived, bearing a final contingent of nearly eight
thousand Hessians and one thousand English guards. At this
time New York bay and its vicinity presented a maritime scene
unequalled before or since. Almost its entire surface was cov-
ered by ships, attended by innumerable galleys, bateaux and
Battle of Long Island. 313
small boats. Thirty-seven men-of-war guarded four Hundred
transports, whicli had brought to America thirty-five thousand
soldiers and sailors, together with artisans, servants, trains of
artillery, and all the necessary horses, provisions, and munitions
of war for that great body of men.
During the summer the country was in a painful tension. The
sense of the great struggle so surely impending was uppermost
in every one's mind. On the third of June the continental
congress called upon the colonies for thirteen thousand eight
hundred militia to re-inforce the army at New York. New Jer-
sey was required to furnish thirty-three hundred men, and
eleven days thereafter the provincial congress ordered that the
force be raised to serve until the first of December, and to be
formed of five battalions, composed of eight companies of seventy-
eight men each. One of these battalions contained three com-
panies from Somerset and five from Hunterdon, its field officers
being Colonel Stephen Hunt, Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Johns-
ton and Major Joseph Phillips ; Hunt became disabled, and
resigned on the thirteenth of July, when the lieutenant-colonel
was promoted. Colonel Johnston was subsequently killed at the
battle of Long Island, and was succeeded by Major Phillips, Cap-
tain Piatt Bayles being promoted to major. When this command
marched away, John Malick carried a musket in its ranks. The
five battalions were brigaded under Colonel Nathaniel Heard,
who was promoted to be a brigadier-general. His brigade
formed a part of Washington's army, which on the eighth of
August was composed of seventeen thousand two hundred and
twenty -five men, mostly raw troops, of whom thirty-six hundred
and fifty-eight were sick and unfit for duty. Of this force eight
thousand lay on Long Island between Bedford and the East
river, the rest on Manhattan Island, the line extending as far
as King's Bridge, the extreme points being seventeen miles
apart. The command with which John Malick was connected
was on Long Island.
On the twenty-seventh of August this little army of poorly
armed, undisciplined militia, that was stretched thinly along an
extended line south of Brooklyn, received the shock of a vast,
thoroughly-equipped body of British and Hessian soldiers, sup-
ported by a great fleet. Defeat was almost a foregone conclusion ;
314 The Story of an Old Farm.
in the light of subsequent knowledge it seems extraordinary that
the American army was not entirely annihilated. The total
loss of the enemy was three hundred and sixty-seven men, of
whom but twenty were killed, live being officers. The esti-
mated loss of the Americans in killed, wounded and prisoners
was two thousand, among the latter being Generals Sullivan and
Lord Stirling, and one who served his country with equal ardor on
that day, though in the more humble position of the bearer of a
flint-lock — John Malick.
Included among the dead was Colonel Philip Johnston, the
commandant of the provisional battalion to which the Somerset
companies were attached. At a critical period of the battle his
command occupied the right and centre of Sullivan's advance
line at the redoubt at Flatbush pass. Here our Jersey soldiers
made a heroic stand against Colonel von Donop's force of German
yagers, riflemen and grenadiers. In the heat of the action a
musket ball tore its way into the heart and ended the life of Col-
onel Johnston. So perished, just thirty-five years to a day from
the date of his birth, a gallant officer, and one of the first to fall
in the service of the new state. He was the son of Philip John-
ston, who lived in a large stone mansion at Sydney in Hunterdon
county, in which house the younger Philip was born in 1741.
The colonel had acquired a military reputation before the Revo-
lution, having gained credit as a brave soldier while serving with
the New Jersey battalion in the French war. His behavior at
the engagement on Long Island was most marked. General
Sullivan, who witnessed his spirited conduct and death, said of
him : " No officer could have behaved with greater firmness and
bravery ;" and General Jeremiah Johnson characterized him as
being as gallant an officer as ever commanded a battalion, and
declared his conduct on Long Island to have been remai'kable
for intrepidity and heroism. Colonel Johnston was a fighter by
heredity, as his family was descended from an ancient barony in
Anandale, Scotland, which in early days was a warlike clan and
a great terror to border thieves. Like many brave soldiers the
colonel was a warm friend, and a tender, loving husband and
father. It is recorded that in 1776 when he was leaving home
for the front he went into the room where his three little chil-
dren were in bed, and, kissing them farewell, knelt down and
Battle of Long Island.
315
commended his family to God in prayer. One of those children,
Mary, became the wife of Joseph Scudder, and was the mother
of Doctor John Scudder, the world-renowned missionary to India.
It is not within the province of this work to narrate the details
of the battle of Long Island. When the relative condition
of the two armies is considered, that it should have resulted
in so dire a disaster is readily to be seen was inevitable.
George Collier, commander of "His Majesty's Ship Rainbow,
forty-four guns," in a letter to England, thus wrote of the calibre
of the opposing forces. While not endorsing the sentiment or
the conclusion of the extract, we may value the information as
the evidence of an eye-witness, and esteem it the greater because
written after the engagement by an enemy who, naturally, would
not desire to rob the victors of any of their laurels by unduly
belittling the strength and effectiveness of their opponents : —
Mr. Washington of Virginia, who had formerly served in the last war against
the French, had the chief command of the rebel army and took upon himself the
title of General. The utmost of his collective force did not amount to sixteen
thousand men, all of whom were undisciplined, unused to war, wanting in clothing
and even necessaries, and very ill provided with artillery and ammunition. His
officers were tradesmen of different professions, totally unacquainted with disci-
pline, and consequently utterly unskilled in the art of war.
The writer then goes on to speak of the English army : —
General Howe had now the satisfaction of finding himself at the head of full
twenty-four thousand tine troops, most completely furnished and appointed, com-
manded by the ablest and best otfieers in the world, and having a more numerous
artillery than had ever before been sent from England. Such was the exact
state of both arms before any operation was undertaken. Justice on the royal
side and treason on the other made the balance still more unequal.
Another foreign officer who participated in the battle — Col-
onel Von Heeringen of a Hessian regiment — also thus wrote as
to the American soldiers : —
No regiment is properly dressed or armed, every one has a common musket
like those wliich citizens use in Hessia when they march out of town on Whit-
suntide, with the exception of one of Stirling's regiments that was dressed in
blue and red and consisted of three battalions, for the most part Germans enlisted
in Pennsylvania. Tliey were tall tine fellows, and carried beautiful English
muskets with bayonets.
John Malick's campaigning for the time-being was at an end.
A few days later he was taken over to New York and delivered
with many other prisoners to the tender mercies of Provost-
316 The Story of an Old Farm.
Marshal Cunningham, of infamous memory. He was thrown into
one of the New York sugar-houses, and his sufferings in that
pest-prison can better be imagined than described. Lieutenant
Robert Troup of the Long Island militia, in an affidavit made
before Governeur Morris, gives a distressing account of the treat-
ment of himself and other prisoners taken at the battle of Long
Island, and placed in charge of the provost. They were allowed
no fuel, and the provisions were so scanty and of such an inferior
quality that, as he expressed it : —
He doth verily believe that most of them would have died if they had not been
supported by the kindness of some poor persons and common prostitutes who
took pity on their miserable situation and alleviated it.
There were three sugar-houses at this time in use as prisons:
Rhinelander's, on the corner of WiUiam and Duane streets ; Van
Courtlandt's, on the northwest corner of Trinity churchyard and
Thames street ; and a third, the most noted, a five-storey
stone building which stood a few feet east of the Middle Dutch
church, at what is now numbers thirty-four and thirty-six
Liberty street. During the fall and winter thousands of per-
sons were incarcerated in these sugar-houses, and the unfortu-
nates suffered great hardships because of overcrowding, filth, and
disease. All persons of humanity were outraged by the treat-
ment of the prisoners. Their rations were of the worst possible
character, and when winter came many perished with the cold,
they being provided with neither fire nor covering. So great
were their sufferings that fifteen hmidred died. The dead were
dragged from their prisons, and piled up outsijie the doors till
there were enough to make a load. They were then carted
away to the Potters' Field, tumbled helter-skelter in a great
trench, and but partially covered with earth. The miseries
endured by the prisoners were made much greater by the
inhumanity of their jailor, Provost-Marshal Cunningham. The
name of this man will go down through the ages as one to be
execrated by all lovers of humanity. Not content with the
physical sufferings he was enabled to heap upon those in his
charge, he did not hesitate to add the most terrible mental affiic-
tions. It was his delight to torture the minds of special
prisoners by announcing that on a certain day they were to be
hanged. He it was who, on the twenty-second of September of
Provost-Marshal Cunningham. 317
this year, executed with unnecessary brutality young Nathan
Hale, the '^ patriot spy," whose last words were *' 1 only regret
that I have but one. life to lose for my country." In conducting
this execution the provost acted in a most unfeeling manner.
The brave captain was hanged from an apple tree in Colonel
Rutgers' orchard, near where now Market street and East Broad-
way intersect. He was surroimded by spectators who were
indignant at Cunningham's brutality, the women giving loud
sobs in their sympathy for the sufferer. Notwithstanding Hale's
appeals he was denied the services of a clergyman ; and even a
Bible, for a moments' devotion, was refused him. The provost
destroyed letters that the sufferer left for his mother and friends,
under the plea that it would not do to let the rebels know there
was a man in their army who could die with so much firmness.
For the benefit of those who take comfort in compensations it may
be well to state that this same Captain Cunningham was hanged
in London in 1791 for forgery. In his dying confession he
acknowledged that when provost in New York he had executed
many prisoners on his own responsibility, and without trial.
How long John Malick remained in the clutches of this monster
is unknown. Tradition speaks of his having been taken from
prison by a British general whom he was forced to serve until
included in a cartel. When finally exchanged he enlisted in the
continental line, but of his additional Revolutionary record
nothing has been preserved.
Our future interest in the American army lies in its experi-
ences on New Jersey soil. We may therefore pass over Wash-
ington's masterly retreat from Long Island under the cover of a
dense fog; the evacuation of New York city ; the successful stand
made by the continental army at Harlem ; the indecisive action
at White Plains on the twenty-eighth of October ; and the fall of
Fort Washington on the sixteenth of November, which may be
considered the greatest disaster that befell the American arms
during the war. Before the latter catastrophe the main British
army had moved to the east side of the Hudson, in the vicinity
of Dobb's Ferry. Washington, feeling uncertain as to the
designs of the enemy, dispatched Heath to Peekskill with
three thousand men to guard the approaches to the High-
lands, and leaving Lee with over five thousand men at
318
The Story of an Old Farm.
Northcastle, crossed the Hudson with what was left of the
army, and encamped in the vicinity of Hackensack. Gren-
eral Greene was already in New Jersey with a considerable
force, garrisoning Fort Lee, immediately opposite Fort Wash-
ington.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The British in New Jersey — Washington's Betreat to the Dela-
ware — General Lee in Somerset.
Now commences New Jersey's bitter experience of the
war. On the nineteenth of November Cornwallis's army, six
thousand strong, crossed the Hudson in two hundred boats,
and scaling the precipitous heights of the Palisades at old
" Closter Landing," the scarlet-coated column with bristling
bayonets moved rapidly on Fort Lee. This was not the 'first
appearance of the foe in the state. Soon after the arrival of the
British in the harbor of New York a detachment was landed on
Constable's Hook, which place was occupied for some time.
The necessity was occasioned by the presence of General
Mercer's " Flying Camp " on Bergen Neck, the English fearing
that the Americans might prove annoying to the fleet, as some of
the vessels lay close to the shore at the mouth of the Kills.
On the approach of Cornwallis the garrison at Fort Lee
abandoned that post and fell back to Hackensack, joining the
main body of Washington's army which had made a stand on
the right bank of the river. The combined forces now numbered
less than six thousand men, but its commander was actively
engaged in endeavoring to procure reinforcements. Urgent
appeals were made to Governor Livingston for militia, and
couriers were dispatched to General Lee, who had been left with
between three and four thousand men (not counting those whose
time was about expiring) east of the Hudson, directing him to
make all haste in joining the main army with his command.
From this time up to the cessation of hostilities, the soil of
New Jersey was the board upon which many of the most
desperate of the Revolutionary games were played, and her
320 The Story of an Old Fakm.
territory was much of the time the fighting ground or plunder
of the enemy. It is daimed that her losses in proportion to
wealth and population were greater than that of any other state
save South Carolina. With the exception of the winter of Valley
Forge and the Virginia campaign against Cornwallis in 1781 the
continental troops were constantly in, or on the confines of, the
state. In addition, her militia was constantly called upon by the
commander-in-chief for special services, or to swell the number
of the American army.
But we must proceed with the disheartening tale of the retreat
across the Jerseys. On the twenty-second of the month Wash-
ington reached Newark, Cornwallis having forced him to with-
draw from Hackensack. On the following day his army was
mustered and found to contain but fifty-four hundred and ten
men fit for duty, of whom the enlistments of only twenty-four hun-
dred and one extended beyond the coming January. One brigade,
that of General Bradley, reported but sixty men present, while
General Beale's brigade was twelve hundred strong, but the time
of the latter's men expired within a week. Washington remained
at Newark for six days, when the van of the enemy appearing
his column was set in motion for " Brunswick." The British
troops rested for several days at Newark, and their stay was
marked by desolation and ruin. Its citizens received their first
lesson in the miseries of being under the heels of a conquering
host. Tory and patriot were alike plundered, women and young
girls were much worse than insulted, and as a witness of that
time writes, those only escaped robbery and murder who were
fortunate enough to procure a sentinel to guard their doors. He
further recites that " there was one Captain Nutman who had
always been a remarkable tory, and who met the British troops
on Broad street with huzzas of joy. He had his house robbed of
almost everything. His very shoes were taken off" his feet, and
they threatened to hang him."
On leaving Newark the Americans moved in two columns,
one marching via Elizabethtown and Woodbridge, and the
other through Springfield, Scotch Plains and Quibbletown (New
Market), they coming together again at New Brunswick. Wash-
ington had hoped to make a stand on the south bank of the Rari-
ian, having confidently expected to receive reinforcements at
The Retreat Through Somerset. 321
New Brunswick. He was doomed to disappomtment. Lee,
who had been repeatedly ordered to hurry forward his command,
had not yet come up, and the militia did not respond to the calls
of the governor. In addition, a general spirit of insubordination
pervaded the army, and hundreds, deserting the cause, went
home, believing that a further struggle against the superior
organization, arms and discipline of the British troops would be
unavailing. Cornwallis, on the other hand, on approaching New
Brunswick was largely reinforced by Howe, and Washington's
weary, wayworn, shattered battalions were again obliged to take
up their hurried flight toward the Delaware. The retreat was
by way of Princeton and Kingston, and the inhabitants of lower
Somerset had an unhappy first view of the continental army.
They had good reason for despairing of the patriot cause, when
they beheld their country's defenders, many of them bare-footed,
and all illy protected from the wintry weather, dwindling away
with each mile of their disheartening march, while being chased
across the state by a well-clad, victorious force, *' tricked out in
all the bravery of war." During the night that the column
marched from New Brunswick the rain fell violently, and the
roads were deep with mud caused by the passage of artillery
and wagons. About daybreak on the following morning the
rear-guard passed through Rocky Hill, every step of the
exhausted men being above the ankles and often to the knees in
mire.
Washington, anticipating the possible necessity of abandoning
the state to the enemy, had collected at Trenton all the boats of
the upper Delaware. He reached that place with the main body
of what was left of the army on the third of December, having
left Lord Stirling with a detachment at Princeton to watch and
endeavor to check the enemy until the baggage and stores could
cross the river. The total strength of the American force, as
shown by a return made on the first instant, was four brigades of
sixteen regiments, with a total apparent number of forty-three
hundred and thirty-four men, but of these, ten hundred and
twenty-nine were sick and absent, while those left were rapidly
leaving the fleeing column. On the sixth, Stirling was reinforced
by twelve hundred men from Trenton ; but on the seventh the
enemy advanced in such force as to necessitate the hurried
21
322 The Story of an Old Farm.
retreat of the entire American army. By midnight Washington,
with all of his men, was west of the Delaware ; as the troops
disembarked from the last boat the music of the pursuers could
be heard, as their advance entered the town that had just been
evacuated. What remained of the army — less than twenty-five
hundred men — were now safe. The enemy, after vainly endeav-
oring to obtain boats, showed no disposition to continue the
chase, but went into winter quarters in the different towns, con-
tent for that campaign with the occupation of the state, and, as
they thought, the annihilation of an army. The rebellion was
believed to be crushed. Howe and Cornwallis returned to New
York, and the latter, thinking his services to be no longer
required in America, decided to sail for England.
For the time-being New Jersey was a captured province.
While, as will be presently shown, many of its citizens made
their submission to the victors, the cruelties perpetrated on the
inhabitants by the occupying army were such as to greatly
increase among the masses the feeling of hatred toward British
rule. The historians of England find great difficulty in hiding
the stains blotting the pages that recount the atrocities com-
mitted by British soldiers on New Jersey soil ; committed, too,
with the connivance, or at least the acquiescence, of their com-
manding noblemen — was word ever so misused? — the Howes,
Cornwallises, Percys and Rawdons. The sufferings of the peo-
ple were not only caused by their being forced to impoverish
themselves in furnishing billets and forages to the British, but by
such marauding and plundering by the troops as would have dis-
graced the followers of an eastern satrap. General Howe's army
was at this time given up to indiscriminate and universal thiev-
ing, the officers not only countenancing the outrages, but parti-
cipating as well. The men were licentious and permitted to
commit every manner of rapine, violence and cruelty ; conse-
quently the tartaned Scot with his flowing skirt, the natty gren-
adier, and the dashing dragoon with scarlet coat and bright
yellow short-clothes, looked upon a Jersey rebel as legitimate
prey.
Max von Eelking, the German historian of the Revolution,
writes that "Sir William Howe was much given to sensuous pleas-
ures and enjoyments of every kind, frequently forgetting in their
British Atrocities. 323
pursuit the high duties of a general. He kept at all times a
good kitchen and usually also a mistress, and liked to see others
enjoy themselves in the same way." Governor Livingston, in a
speech before the assembly in 1777, declared that the English
soldiers, while in New Jersey, warred upon decrepit age and
defenceless youth, plundered friends and foes, destroyed public
records and private monuments, and, to quote his own words,
" violated the chastity of women, disfigured private dwellings of
taste and elegance, and in the rage of impiety and barbarism
profaned edifices dedicated to Almighty God."
When the British came marching through Middlesex county
in pursuit of the retreating Americans, Dunlap the art historian,
then a small boy, accompanied his father to Piscataway, who
went to claim from General Grant, the Commandant of a detach-
ment, protection as a subject of the Crown. Though but a lad
he was much impressed by the lawlessness and looting of the
troops. In later years he thus described the scenes witnessed on
that occasion : —
The men of the village retired on the approach of the enemy. Some women
and children were left. I heard their lamentations as the soldiers carried off
their furniture, scattering the feathers of beds to the winds, and piled up look-
ing glasses with frying pans in the same heap by the roadside. The soldiers
would place a female camp-follower as a guard upon the spoil while he returned
to add to the treasure.
While many instances might be given of the sufferings visited
on the Jersey people at this time, a few illustrations will suffice
to excuse or warrant so wholesale a condemnation of the occupy-
ing army. Of course, those citizens most active in the patriot
cause were especially marked for the vengeance of the British
and their partisan allies. No feud so deadly as one between
brothers. The ferocity exhibited at this time by the tories against
their feUow countrymen, and often against neighbors, was inhu-
man to a degree that in these days of peace and amity it is dif-
ficult to comprehend. General Greene, in writing to his wife
from New Jersey on the sixteenth of December, thus speaks of
the sufi*erings of the inhabitants : —
The tories are the cursedest rascals amongst us — the most wicked, villainous
and oppressive. They lead the relentless foreigners to the houses of their neigh-
bors, and strip the poor women and children of everything they have to eat and
wear; and after plundering them in this sort, the brutes often ravish the
324 The Story of an Old Farm.
mothers and daughters, and compel their fathers and sons to behold their brut-
ality ; many have fallen sacrifices in this way.
In the same month Greene wrote to Governor Cook of Rhode
Island that General Howe's ravages in New Jersey exceeded all
description — that " houses were plundered, men slaughtered,
women, and even little girls not ten years old, ravished in the
presence of husbands, sons and brothers."
In the line of the writer's maternal ancestry are the Middlesex
families of Ayres, Dunn, and Dunham. Of the last named, fifteen
members served in the army, nine of whom were spoliated by the
British. David, David, Jr., and Samuel, of Piscataway, had
their houses and barns burned; and Elisha, Jonathan, Josiah and
John, of Woodbridge, also suifered great losses. Azariah —
of the committee of safety — was robbed of many valuables, and
even his aged father, the Reverend Jonathan, of Piscataway,
was plundered by the thieving soldiery. Samuel, Jacob and
Reuben Ayres, who were in the army, had their Woodbridge
houses pillaged: Samuel lost cattle, sheep, hay and women's
clothing, among the last being " one black Calamanco Cloak
lined, new," and '' one Scarlet Cloak, part worn ; " Reuben's
house was burned, and his horses and a " good gun " appropri-
priated.
Fifteen members of the Dunn family were in the army,
ranging in grade from a private to a colonel. Eleven of
them were despoiled by the English and tories. Captain
Hugh Dunn,* of the 1st Middlesex militia — the writer's
great-great-grandfather — at the outbreak of the war had just
completed a new house. It is still to be seen at the end of
a long lane running from the turnpike, about one mile east of
New Brunswick ; its old-fashioned well-sweep and the great tree
in the door-yard, in which is imbedded a Revolutionary cannon-
ball, testifying of ancient days. When the enemy overran Mid-
dlesex county, many of the inhabitants deserted their homes.
Not so Captain Hugh, who determined to stay on his lands and
defend his possessions. He was forced to give up his new
dwelling to British officers and to move with his family into the
* He married Abigail Carman, who brought him a dowry of bedding and bed
curtains, a silver tankard, a horse and side-saddle, and her negro servant " York."
Captain Hugh Dunn. 325
kitchen-part of the old house, in the main body of which was
quartered a company of Hessians. In the end he fared much
better than did some of his neighbors who moved back into the
country, his losses being confined to furniture, cattle, grain and
other personal effects, among them being — as he recites in his
statement to the authorities, preserved at Trenton — a " new coat
for my Negro." He and his wife paid dearly in another way,
however, for just then a baby was born to them, and when the
little girl began to talk, a stammering tongue and an impeded
speech, which lasted through life, told the story of the excite-
ments and fears of that turbulent period. Sturdy Hugh Dunn
was a stanch patriot, and did valiant service in the cause of
freedom. His convictions were of the strongest character, and
they are illustrated by many curious stories preserved by his
posterity. After the famous Boston tea-party, throughout his
long life, he never again permitted himself to taste the " cheer-
ing cup." He even held his own brother in contempt, who at
the outset of the war sold his farm and moved to Canada. Many
years afterwards, when this same brother sent him from the British
Possessions a present of a barrel of fish, he would not even grant
it storage, but set it out on the I'oad-side, giving all passers-by
permission to help themselves.
All this winter of 1776 and 1777 the Dunns of that neighbor-
hood were marked for British vengeance. The weU-furnished
two-storey house of Justus Dunn was burned ; Daniel's horse was
taken; Benjamin lost books, furniture, and, as he states, a " stout
negro man " ; Jeremiah was forced to contribute horses, cattle
and crops to the enemy ; Major John Dunn, a member of the
committee of observation and inspection, was robbed of horses
and household furniture, including two clocks valued at sixteen
and thirty pounds ; Lieutenant-Colonel Micajah Dunn, another
member of the committee of observation and inspection, lost his
horse, two guns and clothing. The above items are given to
show how certain it was that those serving the country should
suffer at the hands of the British. During their stay of a little
over six months in Middlesex county these ungenerous foes
ravaged the property of six hundred and fifty persons, and
burned more than one hundred dwellings, mills and other build-
ings. Charles D. Deshler, an authority on Middlesex history,
326 The Story of an Old Farm.
estimates that at that time there were but two thousand house-
holders in the county, which would show that about one in every
three was pillaged.
A son of Somerset prominent at this period for valuable ser-
vices rendered his country was that able scholar and statesman,
Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. He was a man of wealth, and lived on a handsome
estate near Princeton, which had descended to him from his
forefathers. His homestead was repeatedly plundered by the
enemy, and on the thirtieth of November, 1776, while visiting a
Mr. Cowenhoven, he and his host were dragged from their beds
by a party of refugee royalists. They were carried to New
York, and Mr. Stockton was treated with such barbarity as to
bring on an illness which in 1781 resulted in his death. A
neighbor of Richard Stockton, and also a signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence, was John Hart — " honest John Hart."
He was a substantial farmer living in the vicinity of the village
of Columbia, in Hunterdon, now Mercer county. Though an
illiterate man, and quite wanting in the cultivation and accom-
plishments which, with few exceptions, distinguished the mem-
bers of the second congress, he possessed sound sense, strong
will-power, and great tenacity of purpose, qualities which
enabled him to be of signal service both as an actor and promp-
ter in the drama of the Revolution, Hart's devotion to the
interests of the revolted colonies brought upon him the malig-
nant hatred of the tories, and the persecutions of the enemy.
His sufferings during the iirst year of the war were most severe ;
his property was destroyed, his family dispersed, and he himself,
driven from the deathbed of his wife, was hunted through the
woods, and from cottage to cave. So dire a treatment laid the
foundation of disease which cut short his career in 1780.
Although Bedminster township lay far north of where the
British cantonments were located, it did not escape the miseries
inflicted on the communities by the enemy. In December, 1776,
a squadron of British cavalry suddenly appeared in Pluckamin,
and visited all manner of indignities upon the place and people.
Women were grossly insulted, dwellings robbed, and stock
driven off. The doors of the Lutheran church Avere battered
down, the pews broken up, and the pulpit hacked and disfigured
Cavalry Raids in Bedminster. 327
with sabre strokes. The object of this raid was to secure the
person of Captain Isaac Van Arsdale, who had made himself
obnoxious because of his activity in behalf of the colonists. On
learning of their approach he escaped to the woods, and, in con-
junction with some neighbors, succeeded to some extent in
harassing the marauders. At least one man was known to have
suffered from their musket balls, as he was brought to Eoff's
tavern, where sheets were torn up to make bandages to staunch
his wounds. Major McDonald, who owned the mills on Cham-
ber's brook, was probably in sympathy with these cavalrymen,
as they treated him with consideration ; he, in retuni, rolled out
a barrel of '^ apple jack," and regaled them with bread and
cold ham.
On another occasion a troop of light-horse created great havoc
in Bedminster. They seized Elias Van der Veer, the father of
the late Doctor Henry Van der Veer, and carried him off to
Trenton. The detachment had been especially ordered to make
him a prisoner, as he had become well-known to the enemy as
an active patriot, and a spirited co-worker in the American
cause with his brothers-in-law. Colonel John Schenck, and
Captains Henry Schenck and Frederick Frelinghuysen. He
was taken from his mill and placed on a horse between two
troopers, and, although the weather was severe, was not
given an opportunity of putting on a hat or coat. In passing
through Pluckamin a hat was placed on his head by a neighbor,
who on seeing him passing ran out for that purpose. The
exposure, and the cruelties practised upon Mr. Van der Veer
while in prison, caused his death on the twenty-ninth of Novem-
ber, 1778, in the thirty-third year of his age, as his gravestone
in Bedminster churchyard bears witness.
It is not strange that innumerable experiences of a like char-
acter, together with the fact of Washington having been di'iven
from the state, should have produced a profound feeling of
despondency. The stoutest hearts began to despair of the future,
and many commenced to think only of the safety of their families
and property. The victorious enemy, recognizing this growing
sentiment, offered amnesty to soldiers and protection to citizens
if they would return to their allegiance. Disaffection spread,
and as many as two hundred persons came in one day to the
328 The Story of an Old Farm.
British headquarters and pledged their faith to the Crown ; among
these were Samuel Galloway, a member of the first continental
congress, and Samuel Tucker, of Trenton ; the latter had presided
over the provincial congress of New Jersey when the state consti-
tution was adopted, and in 1776 was justice of the supreme
court and treasurer of the state. It is claimed that Tucker
secured protection for the purpose of preserving public funds and
private trusts, then in his possession. Washington, in addressing
the national legislature on the first of January, 1777, thus
alludes to such weak-kneed patriots : '' After being stripped of
all they had without the least compensation, protection had been
granted for the full enjoyment of their efi'ects."
The members of the family in the " Old Stone House " did
not waver in their colonial sympathies, and Aaron showed no
hesitation in his fealty to the best interests of the budding nation.
So it was with all his brothers excepting the youngest, Peter.
My fidelity as a family historian demands a true and unbiased
account of ancestral failings, as well as of virtues ; and it must
be acknowledged that Peter took advantage of the proclamation
of the " Right Honorable Lord Howe, and his Excellency,
General Howe," and received a protection paper from Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Mawhood, of the 17th Regiment, British line,
who commanded a brigade of foot, whereby he was assured
protection " both for himself, his family and property, and to
pass and repass on his lawful business without molestation."
Peter's disaffection does not appear to have been permanent ; he
was never classed as a loyalist, and like them did not suffer from
attainder or confiscation, but continued to be a' valued citizen.
In making his submission he was doubtless influenced by his
business relations with James Parker, whose acquaintance, it
will be remembered, we made when Johannes visited the pro-
vincial capital in 1752. Mr. Parker sometime before the Revo-
lution purchased of the executors and heirs of John Johnstone,
deceased, extensive bodies of land lying north of Peapack brook,
within the Peapack patent. He appointed Peter Melick his
agent for its care, improvement, and sale. Peter was obliged
to make frequent journeys to Perth Amboy in order to consult
with his principal. It is fair to presume that he imbibed more
or less of the loyal sentiment there openly and ahnost universally
Disloyalty at Perth Amboy. 329
displayed. Being the seat of the king's government, and since
1762 a garrison town, a large element of its population, especially
among the wealthier citizens, were dominated in their sympa-
thies by the ever-present influence of royal power. At the close
of the war but a very small proportion of those who had formed
the colonial aristocracy remained residents of the ancient capital.
General Washington, on the fourth of July, 1776, in a commu-
nication to congress, thus refers to Perth Amboy : —
The disaffection of the people of that place and others not far distant, is
exceedingly great, and unless it be checked and overawed it may become more
general and very alarming.
It does not appear that James Parker openly evinced hostility
to the new order of things. He endeavored to occupy the middle
ground of neutrality. Though in April, 1775, he was chosen a
delegate to the provincial congress, he did not take his seat, and
in November of that year he located his family on a farm in
Bethlehem, Hunterdon county, his Perth Amboy home not being
re-established until 1785. His property escaped confiscation,
though he himself does not seem to have remained at all times
beyond suspicion ; in 1777 he was placed under arrest by the
authorities and for a time was confined at Morristown. Mr»
Parker's wife was a daughter of the Reverend WiUiam Skinner,
rector of St. Peter's church. Her family was pronounced in
favor of a continuance of British rule, and at its overthrow the
rector's son, Courtlandt, had for seven years been attorney-gen-
eral for the Crown. In 1776 he was commissioned a brigadier-
general, and authorized to raise five battalions among those men
of New Jersey who adhered to the king. He succeeded in
obtaining at that time but five hundred and seventeen recruits,
although later in the war the number in his command was largely
increased.
The strong reluctance shown by James Parker and other lead-
ing citizens of that portion of the state, to support the Revolu-
tion, may be ascribed somewhat to their extreme feeling of
loyalty to the church of England. They found it difficult to
dissever church from state. The clergy, by their oaths of con-
formity and allegiance, felt themselves bound to sustain the
Crown, and the communicants of the church, in a great majority
of instances, were influenced by their spiritual guides. In 1775
330 The Story of an Old Farm.
Doctor Tucker, dean of Gloucester, addressed a circular letter
to the ministers of the "■ Established Church in North America "
warning them against teaching principles as to a civil govern-
ment drawn from Mr. Locke rather than from the gospel. This
admonition was scarcely needed. Both before and after that
time the rectors from their pulpits pelted their people with Paul;
— cried out that " the powers that be are ordained of God ;" did
not hesitate to preach that " they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation;" — and so, in their weekly discourses,
rang all the changes on the first eight verses of the thirteenth
chapter of the epistle to the Romans. The apostle Peter, too,
helped them with texts as to the duty of obedience and non-
resistance to the higher powers, enabling them to show their par-
ishioners that those who *' despised government, presumptuous
are they." The dissenting ministers fought under the banner .of
Saint John, and declaimed with equal vehemence against the
idolatrous reverence paid to tyrants. They did not hesitate to
draw comparisons between the king of England, in his rage
against his American subjects, and that horrible wild beast with
seven heads and ten horns, of revelation, which was ordained by
the devil for the destruction of mankind.
The attitude assumed by both clergy and laity of the estab-
lished church resulted most disastrously to the sect, and
throughout the war its adherents were ever under the ban of
suspicion ; the people of other denominations maintained — to
quote a writer of that period — " that a churchman and a foe to
American liberty were synonymous terms." The effect of such
a feeling drove the ministers from their pulpits, and brought ruin
upon the congregations. When the British evacuated Philadel-
phia in 1778, Doctor William White, chaplain of congress, and
after the peace the first bishop of Pennsylvania, was the only
Episcopal minister who remained in that state. When the war
was over, in many of the northern states not a church was left ;
and in all New Jersey Doctor Abraham Beach, rector of Christ
church. New Brunswick, was the only minister who had been
able to maintain regidar services during the struggle. Through-
out the Revolution the chaplains of American refugee regiments
were mainly ministers of the church of England.
Another sect that suffered severely was that of Methodism.
Methodists and Quakers During the War. 331
Its adherents were yet a feeble folk ; they did not number at
the outset of the war over one thousand souls, the American com-
munion having been established by Philip Embury in his own
house in New York as recently as 1766. It is claimed that pre-
vious to 1771 there were not over fifty Methodists in New Jer-
sey. Bishop Asbury records that in that year there were about
two hundred and fifty in Philadelphia, about three hundred in
New York and a few between the Hudson and the Delaware.
Probably the first church edifice of that denomination in New
Jersey was the one erected just before the Revolution on the
corner of Queen and Fourth streets in Trenton. The communi-
cants of this sect rapidly increased in the United States, and by
1793 numbered sixty thousand. Methodists were objects of
suspicion during the war, and it was not uncommon for their
preachers and class-leaders to be tarred and feathered. The
feeling against them was due in a great measure to a pamphlet
published by Wesley, entitled '' A Calm Address to the Ameri-
cans." It claimed on moral and legal grounds that parliament
had a right to tax the colonies, and it held that American sub-
jects opposing this right were actuated only by a desire to over-
throw the government. In other words, the monograph covered
abput the same ground as did Doctor Johnson's pamphlet, "Tax-
ation no Tyranny." The celebrated lexicographer was much
gratified at Wesley's support of his views, and wrote him, saying,
'*■ To have gained such a mind as yours may justly confirm me
in my own opinion."
Still another body of Christians that sufi'ered much in the Rev-
olution were the Quakers, and both amusing and pathetic stories
are told of their experiences, growing out of their adhering to
non-combatant principles. The Quaker was ever between the
upper and the nether millstone. His government drafted hira into
the ranks, — his '^meeting" disciplined him for either bearing arms
or procuring a substitute. The old record-books of the Society
of Friends furnish curious information as to what was consid-
ered a falling away from Quaker grace. Benjamin Harris
was cut off from communion with the " Plainfield meeting"
for refusing to give any " satisfaction for his misconduct," in
that he " signed a paper for independency" and "• suffered his
apprentice to go in the army." Another friend — Marmaduke
332 The Story of an Old Fakm.
Hunt — makes confession, when disciplined by the '' meeting,"
that while confined in Morristown jail his distresses were so
great that, as he says, "liberty was offered me on condition of
my taking the affirmation of fidelity to the states, which through
unwatchfulness I submitted to." It is on record that several
Mendham Quakers were smumoned, and made to confess their
faidt, and show penitence for having redeemed goods which the
authorities had taken from them for refusing to train with the
militia.
On the twelfth of December there were tumult and excitement
on the southern border of the " Old Farm." Late on that after-
noon, through the woods that stretched away beyond the north
branch of the Raritan toward the Bernard hills, could be heard
the rat-ta-ta of drums and the shrill cry of fife. At first faint,
and in the distance, but soon louder and clearer ; then there fell
on the ear the tramp of troops, the ring of hoofs on the frozen
ground, and the heavy roll of artillery. It was the little army
of General Charles Lee that Washington was so impatiently
expecting, and which had been so many days on the march from
the Hudson. The men trudged along the narrow road in column
of fours, and in route step, each one carrying his gun as he liked.
They were brown and weather-beaten ; their many bivouacs on
the Westchester and Jersey hills had left marks on their imi-
fonns and accoutrements shoAving the dire effects of wear, wind
and weather; — more properly speaking on clothing, not uniforms,
as many of these continental soldiers were without stripe, plume
or color, and often a sash or a corded or cockaded hat was all
that distinguished the officer.
The Revolutionary soldiers of " seventy six " knew little of
neatness or of the picturesque in dress. With the exception of an
occasional militia coat of ancient design, coarse hunting shirts and
rough linsey-woolsey suits were the rule for the first year or so
of the war. Their guns were of various patterns, the ordinary
carbine, fowling-piece, and rifle not being uncommon, all having
powder-pans and flint-locks. Powder was generally carried in a
cow's horn swung over one shoulder, while from the other hung
a leather pouch for bullets. All the ideas prevailing at the out-
set of the war as to soldiei's and weapons were very crude.
Even the generally astute Franklin held pecidiar views and gave
The Soldiers of 1776. 333
curious advice, as is shown by the following extract from a letter
■written by him to General Lee on the eleventh of February,
1776:
I still wish with you that Pikes could be introduced, and I would add bows
and arrows. Those were good weapons not wisely laid aside. First — Because a
man may shoot as truly with a bow as with a common musket. Second — He can
discharge four arrows in the time of charging and discharging one bullet. Third —
His object is not taken from his view by the smoke of his own side. Fourth —
A flight of arrows seen coming upon them terrifies and disturbs tlie enemy's at-
tention to his business. Fifth — An arrow striking in any part of a man puts
him hors de combat till 'tis extracted. Sixth — Bows and arrows are more easily
provided everywhere than muskets and ammunition.
The clothing fiu'nished the privates of the two battalions form-
ing the first establishment of the Jersey line, called out by reso-
lution of congress of October, 1775, was to each man one felt
hat, one pair of yarn stockings and one pair of shoes. The
monthly pay of the men was five dollars, but they were obliged
to find their own arms ; the enlistment was for a single year.
The second New Jersey enlistment, authorized by congress in
September, 1776, was composed of four battalions to serve for
the war, unless sooner discharged. In addition to their monthly
pay the privates and non-commissioned officers received one
hundred acres of land, and an annual kit of clothing comprising
two linsey hunting shirts*, two pairs of overalls, a waistcoat of
wool or leather, one pair of breeches, a hat or leathern cap, two
shirts, and two pairs of hose and shoes. Some of the militia —
notably those of Pennsylvania — often made an attempt at a more
dashing apparel. The term " Jersey Blues " had its origin in a
volunteer company from the vicinity of Springfield. Its uniform
furnished by some patriotic women of the township consisted
of tow frocks and breeches dyed a bright blue. In the matter of
arms there was within a year a marked improvement, as the
agents abroad became able to make purchases in behalf of the
young republic. When Washington's army entered Philadelphia
in 1777, previous to the battle of Brandywine, Graydon stood
on the Coffee-house corner, and thus speaks of the appearance of
the troops as they passed down Front street :
They amounted to but eight or nine thousand men; though indifferently
dressed they held well-burnished arms, carried them like soldiers, and looked in
short as if they might have faced an equal number of men with a reasonable
prospect of success.
334
The Story of an Old Farm.
An important element in that little army was the Jersey line
brigaded under General Maxwell ; it opened the battle of Brandy-
continuing in the fight the entire day. The brigade also
wine,
distinguished itself at the engagement of Germantown, the 1st
Battalion suffering severely, both in officers and men.
■^1^
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Capture of General Charles Lee — His Army Encamps on
Peter Ilelick^s Land in Bedminster Township — The Battle
of Trenton.
At the close of this twelfth day of December, 1776, when
Lee's army crossed the north branch of the Raritan and entered
Bedminster, his battalions, with clank of arm and swing of
sabre, pressed on along the Lamington highway until the head
of the column had passed a considerable distance beyond the
crossing of the Peapack road ; the troops then deployed to the
right and encamped, the greater part of them occupying the lands
of Peter Melick. When the moon climbed the heavens that night
it illumined with its mellow gleam a strange spectacle for this quiet
Bedminster country. The roads and fields were encumbered
with cannon and baggage-wagons, and stamping horses were
tethered to trees and fences. Camp fires gleamed on the hill-
sides, around which were stretched tired, bronzed-faced men,
with ragged blankets for a covering, and with knapsacks and
bundles for pillows. Sorry-looking soldiers they were, with
their patched clothing, worn shoes cobbled with strings, and
antiquated cross-belts and cartouch-boxes. A strange spectacle,
indeed, upon which the moon looked down, with naught to break
the stillness of the sleeping camp, save now and then the whin-
neying of a picketed horse, or the occasional challenge of a
pacing sentinal.
Poor Peter's protection papers proved of but little avail at this
juncture. He had not anticipated a continental visitation ; his
fears, and for these he had prepared, were of predatory bands of
British light-horse, or more dangerous troops of partisan rangers.
He did not think it wise to remain at home to welcome these
336 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
military guests ; bis neighbors did this for him, at the same time
informing the troops that the owner of the land upon which they
had bivouacked was an " exempt." As was the fashion of the
time, vengeance followed. Peter's fence rails fed the camp fires,
and his recently filled smoke-house fed the troops, as did his
chickens, shoats, and cattle. Altogether he was forced to make
a very handsome contribution to the needs of the continental
army. We may believe that in later years, when enjoying all the
blessings resulting from the services of his country's devoted band
of soldiers, he reflected without chagrin upon the sacrifices that he
had been forced to make in those troubled times. M}' knowledge
of the incidents of that night is gained from Peter's oldest daughter,
Catharine, then a child of nearly five. She afterwards became
the wife of Enos Mundy, and died in 1863 at the age of ninety-
two. From her, many important facts have been gleaned as to
early Revolutionary days, partly drawn from memory, but
mainly from what she had learned from her parents and others
of that time. Her statement of the events preceding and suc-
ceeding General Lee's capture was taken down in writing and
preserved by one of her descendants.
As is well known, Lee did not continue this far with his
troops, but stopped for the night, with a small guard and some
of his aides, at a tavern kept by Mrs. White at Basking Ridge.
It is probable that General Sullivan, w^ho was second in com-
mand, quartered that night at Aaron Malick's house, as it was
among the most substantial of the neighborhood. At least family
traditions aver — they being corroborated by Mrs. Mundy — that
the house was full of officers, who arrived mounted. It is pleas-
ant to learn something of the personality of the leaders of the
Revolution who campaigned in this Bedminster country. Sulli-
van at this time was thirty-seven years old ; possessed a well-
proportioned and commanding figure, animated and handsome
features, with a dark complexion illumined by the ruddy hue of
health. His voice was deep and melodious, and in his military
career he used it to great advantage, ibr it was always quick to
respond alike to stern and gentle emotions. In the morning an
officer came in great haste to the " Old Stone House " and
announced the capture of the commanding general. Mrs. Mundy
-expresses it in her statement : —
Character of General Charles Lee. 337
There was a great fuss naade in the morning, because a big officer had been
captured or killed, or something of that sort, and Grandfather Malick had to go
to Germanlown with soldiers on horseback, and he did not get home again until
in the afternoon * * * quite a number of big officers staid at Grandfather's,
and an officer came in the forenoon and told of this officer being captured or
killed.
It seems almost unnecessary to dwell at any length upon so
familiar a Revolutionary incident as the capture of General
Charles Lee, and the causes that led thereto, but perhaps this
Bedminster story might not be considered complete should all of
the details of the circumstance be omitted. There is no doubt
that Lee was a brave and brilliant officer, possessing superior
mental qualifications. He hated oppression and scorned mean-
ness. Though when stirred by violent impulses his personal
animosities were intense, he is said to have ever been an open
and honest enemy. Yet at such times both in action and- word he
was too often governed by his angered passions rather than by
reason. He was intemperate in language and always over-zeal-
ous as to his personal rights. One readily discovers from his
correspondence — a mass of which has been preserved — that he
was constitutionally, what might be in vulgar parlance termed, a
sorehead. He fully coincided with the assurances of his admir-
ers that he was the greatest general in the country, and the rock
upon which his career was shipwrecked was a headstrong nature
that could not brook command. The yellow-eyed serpent of
jealousy coiled in his heart, and his unceasing vengeful feelings
toward Washington were too great for his naturally generous
nature to overcome. Could he have brought himself to the
occupation of a second place in the hearts and admiration of the
people, his name would probably have been remembered as one
of the leading and successful generals of the war.
Lee was at this time forty-five, and his years had been those
of such varied experiences as rarely fall to the lot of man. By
birth an Englishman^ he first becomes known to us in 1757 as a
captain of grenadiers in Abercrombie's fatal assault upon Ticon-
deroga. Three years were then spent in campaigning in the
northern wilderness, when, as a lieutenant-colonel, he went with
Burgoyne to Portugal to aid in repelling the attacks of Spain.
He next figures as an impetuous liberal politician in England,
and then for two years as a staff-officer of the king of Poland at
22
338 The Story of an Old Farm.
Warsaw. Then we find him with a company of Turks, ahiiost
perishing on the Bulgarian mountains while guarding the Grand
Seignior's treasure from Moldavia to Constantinople. For suc-
cessive years he was on the Bosphorus, at Warsaw, and in England,
in which latter country he grew turbulently indignant on fail-
ing to obtain army promotion. As a major-general in the Rus-
sian service he next campaigned in connnand of Cossacks and
Wallachs, when the fighting was of the severest character. And
now we hear of him in Hungary, where he killed an Italian in a
duel ; and in the following winter in England, deep in the vor-
tex of politics, and violent in his opposition to the government.
The year 1772 was spent in France and Switzerland. On leav-
ing those countries he threw himself body and soul into the
vexed question of the American colonies, starting in 1773 for
this country to view for himself the condition of afl:airs.
After reaching America Lee became a violent supporter of the
provincial claims against England, and his fearless spirit, his
enthusiasm and brilliant wit, together with the romance of his
life, soon gave him a prominence hardly equalled by any man in
the country. He advised with members of congress, and inter-
viewed deputies ; always feeding the flames of opposition he
finally was recognized as a leader in the Revolutionary move-
ment. To more closely ally himself with American interests he
purchased a Virginia estate, whereupon, hostilities having com-
menced, congress commissioned him as major-general in the con-
tinental army. He was intensely chagrined at not being named
for the chief command. While probably an ardent lover of lib-
erty, and apparently wholly honest in advocating colonial rights,
he had been quick to discover that the Revolutionary move-
ment was to be one of the most important events of this or a past
age, and he was ambitious to figure before the world as its leader.
He felt keenly disappointed that congress should have failed to
recognize his superior military qualifications, and the great
sacrifices he had made for the country. When Washington was
commissioned, Lee naturally scouted the idea that a man who
knew, nothing of a greater campaign than had been Braddock's
could vie with him, a veteran of many wars, as commander-in-
chief of an army. Yet, at this time at least, his love of liberty
seems to have overshadowed his ambition. He threw up his
Lee is Highly Esteemed. 339
commission in the English army, and ran the risk of losing all
of his possessions across the water, which were considerable, in
order to accept the position offered him by congress. In the
beginning he was indefatigable in his endeavors, and his accom-
plishments as a soldier were so great as to seem to secure for him
a brilliant future.
It was Lee who first suggested to Washington and congress, in
1776, the propriety of occupying Manhattan Island with troops.
This resulted in his marching on the fourth of February into the
city of New York at the head of a force he had raised in Con-
necticut ; he was immediately reinforced by Stirling's New Jer-
sey regiment and by Pennsylvania troops. This course was at
first strongly opposed by the New York committee of safety, who
feared that garrisoning the city would provoke the English ships
to an .attack which Lee's command would be too small to suc-
cessfully meet. But the country at large held Lee in high
esteem and gave him full support, which is shown by his corres-
pondence with, among others, Washington, Franklin, Benja-
min Rush, Robert Morris and John Adams. The latter wrote
him from congress : —
A luckier, a happier Expedition than yours to New York never was pro-
jected. The whole Whig world is blessing you for it, and none of them more
than your Friend and Servant.
So it was when late in February he was appointed to the
Canada command. Benjamin Rush then wrote him : —
Fortune seems in a good humour with y®u. It is not enough that you have
triumphed over external and internal Enemies at New York, but you are about
to enjoy new triumphs in another part of the continent. * « * Should your
blood mingle with the blood of Wolfe, Montcalm and Montgomery, posterity will
execrate the plains of Abraham to the end of time. Your appointment to the
Canada expedition gave all your friends here great pleasure. * * * Mr.
Pitt conquered America in Germany. But who knows but General Lee may
conquer Britain in Canada."
Franklin also wrote him the same date, February nine-
teenth : —
I rejoice that you are going to Canada. God prosper all your undertakings,
and return you with Health, Honor and Happiness.
Congress changed its plans, and early in March, Lee, instead
of going to Canada, was transferred to the southern department.
340 The Story of an Old Farm.
As is well known, at Charleston he added to his reputation,
although more so than he really deserved, and when he returned
north to assume command near New York he was in the full tide
of popular favor. But the disasters of Long Island, White
Plains and Fort Washington he falsely ascribed to the incom-
petence of Washington. Upon this belief he fed his jealousy
until it absorbed his whole being and wrecked his career. As
has been shown, whUe Washington was making his heroic
retreat across the Jerseys, Lee not only failed to hurry to his
support, but deliberately disobeyed the commands of his chief.
While the army that was being pursued by Cornwallis was
anxiously looking for the appearance of Lee's corps, that general
delayed crossing the Hudsqn for several weeks, and then
advanced in a most leisurely manner, as if fearfid of being a
help or advantage to the retreating force. His dilatoriness can-
not be charged to his being lukewarm in the cause, or to an alto-
gether determined disobedience on his part. He builded on the
hope that the continued delay might furnish him with an oppor-
tunity for striking a blow on the flank of the enemy independent
of his chief, and thus perform a service that would redound to
his individual honor. Like too many men before and since, who
have occupied public trusts, his patriotism was dwarfed by per-
sonal ambition.
Lee's force at Newcastle had been about seven thousand men,
but owing to the expiration of terms of enlistment, when he
crossed the Hudson on the second of December his command was
but twenty-seven hundred strong. His troops took up their line
of march in a column of four files front, Nixon's brigade furnish-
ing an advance guard of thirty men, and Glover's brigade consti-
tuting a reserve corps, ready as circumstances required to draw
out of the line and form one hundred yards in the rear. Flankers
marched in single file on either side, and so the column moved
slowly on, reaching Pompton on the seventh, and Morristown on
the eighth, from where Lee wrote Washington that the militia
had increased his force to four thousand men. He rested at
jNIorristown for several days, camping on the night of the
eleventh on a little plain southwest of the Ford mansion, now
known as " Washington's Headquarters." Early in the following
morning he continued across the country by way of New Vernon
1
Lee at Basking Ridge. 341
and Vealtown, and so on to where his troops encamped for the
night, on the Melick farm, the present site of the village of Bed-
minster, a distance of about thirteen miles. On the way, Lee,
turning over his command to Sullivan, left his troops, and, as the
historian Headley expresses it, " governed by some freak or
whim, or still baser passion," took up his quarters at Mrs. White's
tavern at the village of Basking Ridge. He retained with him
Major William Bradford of his personal staff, several other mem-
bers of his military family, and a small guard.
At four o'clock on the morning of the thirteenth there arrived
at White's tavern one Major James Wilkinson, a staff officer of
another continental general, who felt sorely because of Wash-
ington's superior position — Horatio Gates. The sudden and
unexpected retreat of Sir Guy Carleton from before Ticonderoga
to Canada had enabled General Schuyler to send several regiments
to aid Washington. This force having entered New Jersey, Wilk-
inson, who was barely nineteen years old, had been dispatched
by its commandant, Gates, with a letter announcing his prox-
imity, but on learning that the commander-in-chief was already
beyond the Delaware, the major had turned aside and taken it
to Lee as next in rank. Lee received the letter in bed, promis-
ing to give an answer after breakfast, whereupon Wilkinson lay
down on his blanket before a comfortable fire until daylight.
The general remained in bed until eight o'clock, when he came
down stairs, half dressed and in his slippers. Major Scammel
of Sullivan's staff, a brave officer who afterwards fell before
Yorktown, called to obtain orders for the morning march. After
a map had been spread on the table and examined, Lee said,
" Tell General Sullivan to move down towards Pluckamin."
The general then spent some time in listening to complaints from
soldiers of his command. He was indignant at many of their
demands, especially at those coming from members of Colonel
Sheldon's Connecticut light-horse, whom he charged with the
desire to go home. These militia troopers were without doubt but
poor apologies for soldiers. They were dressed in antiquated
state uniforms, much the worse for long service, wore old-fash-
ioned, full-bottomed wigs, often awry, and all their accoutrements
were of a most ancient and obsolete order. Many of their horses
had left the plough to enter service, and, together with their
342 The Story of an Old Farm.
trappings, presented anything but a military appearance. One
of these "nutmeg" horsemen being captured at the battle of
Long Island some British officers amused themselves by forcing
him to canter up and down in front of their quarters, while they
made merry over his ridiculous appearance and quaint replies to
their questions. On being asked what especial service had been
required of his troop by the Americans, he answered, " to flank
a little and carry tidins."
Lee did not breakfast before ten, and then sat down to write
to Gates. A single quotation from this letter will show its gen-
eral tone, and the attitude assumed by its writer toward Wash-
ington : " Entre nous a certain great man is most damnably
deficient." Meanwhile, Major Wilkinson had his horse saddled
and brought to the door, and then sat down at a window and
awaited with patience the letter. At about high noon he sud-
denly saw a troop of dragoons turn from the highway and dash
down the lane toward the house, which in a few seconds they
reached and, having opened files, surrounded. " Here," cried
the major, " are the British cavalry ! " " Where is the guard,"
exclaimed Lee, " why don't they fire ? Do, sir, see what has
become of the guard ! " As careless as the general, the guards,
with arms stacked, were sunning themselves on the south side of
the house. They were soon overcome, two brave fellows who
resisted, being killed by sabre strokes. A very short but spirited
defence was made by Lee's suite, who, firing from the windows,
killed several of the dragoons, including a cornet. So near was
Harcourt, their commander, to being killed that a ball carried
away the ribbon of his queue. Among Lee's officers was a
Frenchman, M. Jean Louis de Virnejoux, who acted with the
greatest bravery in defending the house, but it was soon seen to
be useless to continue the defense. The British called upon Lee
to surrender, threatening that five minutes delay would insure
the burning of the building. The discomfited officer almost
immediately appeared at the open door, saying : " Here is the
general, he has surrendered ! " He was hastily placed on
Wilkinson's horse, his legs being firmly bound to the stirrup
leathers ; the trumpet sounded assembly, and just as he was,
without a hat, and in slippers and dressing-gown, they hurried
him off to New Brunswick.
Ax Historical Error. 343
The British also carried with them^ strapped on a trooper's
horse, M. de Gaiant, a French officer who had just arrived at
Boston to offer his services to the country. Being on his way
to pay his addresses to Washington, he had joined Lee's column
as a means of safe transit. History affords but few examples of
a general officer presenting a meaner appearance than did Lee,
as surrounded by his exultant captors he clattered through Som-
erset. His small and restless eyes had lost their haughty glances
— his usually satirical mouth drooped at its corners with humili-
ation — his large nose was red with cold — his long, lank, thin
body shivered in the December blasts — while his soiled shirt and
fluttering dressing-gown gave him an air quite opposed to that
of a military chieftain.
Historians generally agree that Lee's army halted and rested
the night preceding his capture at Vealtown, now Bernardsville.
From Morristown this would have been a march of but seven
miles ; his men would fairly have had to crawl to make only that
distance since early morning, as the road in use at that time was
well worked and travelled. In face of the evidence that can be
adduced to the contrary, before accepting this general belief that
the army lay at Vealtown, it may be well for us to ascertain on
what original authority this opinion is based. In all the writ-
ings of those living at that time the only work I can find that
definitely locates Lee's encampment that night is the ''Memoirs" of
General James Wilkinson. This seems to be the sole authority
from which historians have drawn their conclusions. Nowhere
does Wilkinson mention in his book that he visited the army —
or that he knew of his own knowledge the location of the encamp-
ment — nor does he say from whom, or in what manner, he
obtained his information. In estimating the historical value of
his " Memoirs " we may remember that they have not passed
unscathed the test of criticism. Numerous defects can be
pointed out in the pages relating his experiences during the
earlier years of the Revolution. It must be borne in mind that
at the time he witnessed Lee's misfortune he was but nineteen
years old, and that sixty years elapsed before the work narrating
the capture was published. It is not strange that errors should
have crept in, and altogether we may fairly question the value
of such testimony. From the facts heretofore given, together
344 The Story of an Old Farm.
with the traditions of the neighborhood, we are justified in
reaching the conclusion that the encampment on the night of the
twelfth of December was in Bedminster, and not in Bernards,
township.
Lee had supposed himself to be at least twenty miles distant
from the enemy, and much surprise was felt that his proximity had
been discovered by the British. On the previous afternoon Aaron
Malick had occasion to visit New Germantown, probably on bus-
iness connected with the Lutheran church, and did not return
till late in the evening. This was a time when no one was
above the suspicion of disloyalty. When Wilkinson, or some
other officer, reached the '^ Stone House " on the morning of the
thirteenth and found that Aaron had been absent the previous
night, he was at once suspected of having informed the enemy of
Lee's whereabouts. He was placed under arrest and rigidly
examined, and was finally sent under guard to New Germantown
to prove himself clear of any conspiracy, and to show that it was
there he had been, rather than in the direction of the enemy. He
had no difficulty in doing this, and was consequently released.
On his way home, at the " round hill," about half a mile
west of the Larger Cross Roads, he met what was now Sulli-
van's command, pushing on towards the Delaware. While
talking with some of the officers, the discharge of cannon was
plainly heard which announced the arrival of Lee at New
Brunswick. It was evidently late in the day before Sullivan
had put his column in motion. The excitemeiits incidental to
the announcement of the capture of Lee had probably necessi-
tated consultation and delay. When again on the march he did
not follow the instructions brought from Lee by Major Scammel
as to the route, and, instead of turning south toward Pluckamin,
pursued a westerly course. He encamped that night — the
thirteenth — at New Germantown, where he rested till eleven
o'clock the next morning. From there no time was lost in
marching to Pennsylvania, where he joined Washington, moving
by way of Pittstown and Phillipsburg, the latter place being
reached on the night of the fifteenth at ten o'clock.
The capture of Lee was discovered later to have been in a
measure accidental. It seems that Elder Muklcwrath, of the
Mendham Presbyterian church, had been with the general the
The 16th British Light Dragoons. 345
night before complaining that the troops had stolen one of his
horses. On the following moniing he fell in with a detachment
of the 16th British light dragoons, under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel, the Honorable William Harcourt, afterwards
the third Earl Harcourt, G. C. B., which was reconnoitering in
the neighborhood. In some manner the elder divulged the
proximity of Lee, and, it is said, either voluntarily or involun-
tarily, guided the enemy to the general's quarters. Presbyter-
ianism and patriotism were in such close alliance during the war
that we are loth to believe that the elder willingly contributed to
this catastrophe. This regiment of Harcourt's — called the
Queen's Own — was considered the crack cavalry corps of the
British forces. The men were mounted on fine horses sixteen
hands high, and in addition to sabres were armed with carbines,
the muzzles of which were thrust in a socket at the stirrup.
Uniformed in scarlet coats faced with white, bright yellow buck-
skin breeches, black boots and jangling spurs, their dashing and
formidable appearance was heightened by polished brass helmets,
fi'om which chestnut hair flowed to the shoulders.
When Lord Cornwallis failed to find boats with which to cross
the Delaware and continue his pursuit of the American army, he
marched to Pennington, where he arrived on December tenth,
remaining there four days. While at that place he was informed
that troops under the command of General Lee were reported to
be crossing Morris county on their way to reinforce the main
army. He at once decided to dispatch a mounted patrol to gain
intelligence of the strength and locality of this corps. Lieutenant-
Colonel Harcom't applied for the direction of the detachment,
and a volunteer for the expedition was Cornet Banastre Tarleton,
afterwards famous — or infamous — in the southern campaigns.
The infinite address with which Harcourt conducted this enter-
prise to so brilliant an issue won for him high enconiums from his
army and government.
Washington's magnanimous soul could not see in Lee either a
rival or an enemy. He had great confidence in his talents as a
soldier, and deeply deplored his capture, deeming it a serious
loss to the country. Many of the people also held extravagant
notions aS to Lee's merits, and the affair altogether was consid-
ered a public calamity. His exchange and subsequent downfall
346 The Story of an Old Farm.
are well known. As he and his affairs have no further relations
with Somerset county, the only additional reference I shall make
to this singular man will be to cite the following extraordinary
clause found in his will at his death, seven years later : —
I desire most earnestly tliat I may not be buried in any church, or church-
yard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist Meeting House; for
since I have resided in this country I have kept so much bad company when liv-
ing, that I do not choose to continue it when dead.
Perhaps Lee had the Mendham elder in mind.
As the close of the year 1776 drew near, our state's cup of mis-
fortune would seem to have been full and overflowing. Its leg-
islature had been driven by an approaching enemy from Prince-
ton to Trenton, from Trenton to Bordentown, then on to Pitts-
town, and from there to Haddonfield where it had dissolved
on the second of December. The army, almost destroyed, had
abandoned the state ; a general, high in the estimation of the peo-
ple, had been captured, and the citizens in great numbers were
going over to the enemy. We, whose patriotism and love of
country have been fed by the inheritance of over a century of
national feeling, can have but a small appreciation of the doubts
and uncertainties that attacked our forefathers in those darkest
days of the Revolution. That so few made their submission to
the Crown is the wonder, not that so many should have proved
faint-hearted, and lost faith in the cause that seemed so promising
but a short year before. It must be remembered that in the
bays and harbors rode a lordly fleet, flying the flag that had
been an object of affection and reverence to the colonists. Dis-
tributed throughout New Jersey was a thoroughly equipped and
disciplined army, officered by veteran soldiers and supported by
the prestige of a stable and powerful government. And upon
what opposing powers and resources were our New Jersey ances-
tors leaning ? Upon a continental congress that was totally with-
out power or authority of enforcing its own edicts ; upon a col-
lection of petty provinces inexperienced in self-rule, none of
which possessed armories, strong fortresses, or works of any char-
acter for furnishing the munitions of war ; upon the ragged rem-
nant of an army that had been driven across the state by a vic-
torious enemy, an undisciplined force of raw recruits, com-
The Equipoise of Washington's Character. 347
manded by a man better known in Virginia than in New Jersey,
w4io was entirely without experience in the handling of large
bodies of men, and who, since leaving Boston, had been defeated
in all of his military enterprises. Time, the great average-
adjuster, had not yet declared the retreat from Long Island to
equal some of the most important victories in history.
But the people believed in Washington. It was one of the
peculiar attributes of the character of this remarkable man that
throughout his entire career his mere presence invariably pro-
duced a feeling of confidence. And now, notwithstanding the
repeated defeats of the continental army, hardly an eye rested
on his distinguished form but that reflected trust and veneration.
Best ofaU, Washington believed in himself! During this period
of gloom and perplexity the hopeful mind of the commander-in-
chief was never more harassed with embarrassments. Yet, in
the face of the fearful discouragements of the hour, he was firm
in faith, and undaunted in his belief in the ultimate triumph of
the American cause. The magnificent equipoise of such a char-
acter was not easily disturbed. Even at this time, the serenity
of his countenance gave no sign of the stupendous mental exer-
tions he was making in order to triumph over seemingly over-
whelming adversities. Two days after crossing the Delaware
the number of his men was reduced to seventeen hundred, of
whom hardly more than one thousand could be relied upon for
eff'ective service. But at once, with apparently unabated ardor,
and by the most indefatigable exertions, Washington proceeded
to build upon this nucleus of an army. By the twentieth of
December his force had been augmented to nearly six thousand
men. Proff'ered bounties, and personal solicitation and influence,
had retained in the service soldiers whose time had expired ; the
Pennsylvania militia had turned out in force ; regiments from
Ticonderoga united with the army, and General SuUivan had
brought up Lee's division.
The crying evil that attached to the continental army dm'ing
the first year of the war was the short term of enlistment. When
hostilities actually commenced the people failed to realize that
they were involved in a prolonged struggle, but thought a few
months campaigning Avould result in the adjustment of all difli-
culties. At the beginning of the Revolution it was said that
348 The Story of an Old Farm.
forty thousand armed men could be brought to Boston within
twenty-four hours, by the displaying of a light on Beacon hill ;
and when Washington took command at Cambridge, it was of an
undisciplined fiirce nearly fifteen thousand strong. One year
later, as we have seen, it was with difficidty that the general in
his retreat across the Jerseys could keep together a mere hand-
ful of men. Soldiers whose time had expired were too disheart-
ened by hardships and repeated defeats to re-enlist ; while new
recruits were not inclined to connect their fortunes in midwinter
with an ill-clad, dispirited wreck of an army, which, without
tents and much of the time without food, had just been driven
from the Hudson to the Delaware by an exultant foe. In this
matter of short enlistments we can hardly condemn the want of
forethought in our forefathers, when we reflect that in the pres-
ent generation the same error was committed at the breaking out
of the late war.
We left Washington in Pennsylvania repairing damages.
The English commanders, Howe and Cornwallis, considered
the war at an end, and the latter was preparing to sail for Eng-
land on a furlough. The British were distributed in cantonments
from the Raritan to the Delaware, vmder command of General
Grant, New Brunswick being his headquarters and base of sup-
plies. About fifteen hundred Germans and a squadron of Eng-
lish cavalry were posted at Trenton under command of Colonel
Rail, * and another body of Hessians was stationed at Bordentown
under Count von Donop. No fears were entertained of the
Americans, and the foreign officers, jubilant over recent successes,
were preparing to spend the Christmas holidays with great jollity.
And now, happily, a rift appears in the black cloud of disaster
that has so long enveloped the American arms, and a bright
gleam is about to illumine the page which records the close of the
first year of our national independence. On the cold and sleety
night of the twenty-fifth of December, when the Delaware was
choked with ice, Washington crossed the river with twenty-five
hundred men and twenty field-piecQS. A patriot army, whose
*This officer's name is commonly given in histories as Rahl, but the antogniph
collectif)n of Dr. T. Addis Emmet of New York contains the signature of the
Hessian colonel, wherein the name is plainly spelled Rail.
The Affair at Trenton. 349
achievements of that night and morning have been celebrated by
poet, painter and historian ! The command was divided into
two divisions under Generals Sullivan and Green, which took
up their line of march for Trenton, eight miles away. On
reaching Birmingham, distant from the town about four miles
and a half, Sullivan's column continued down the river road, the
other, under Green, filed to the left, and followed the Scotch road,
which joined the Pennington road about a mile from Trenton.
Washington was with the latter division.
Owing to delays occasioned by the ice in the river and the
slipperiness of the roads, it Avas eight in the morning before
Greene reached the outposts of the. enemy. They were soon
driven in by the advance brigade under Lord Stirling, their
commanding officer, a lad of but eighteen, being wounded.
Sullivan's division, which had been guided by Captain Mott of
the 3d New Jersey battalion, entered the westerly part of the
town about the same time, and both commands pushed forward,
keeping up a running fire on the retreating outposts. The sur-
prise was complete. The Hessian officers, still in the midst of
their Christmas festivities, were hardly in a condition to repel so
sudden an attack. Colonel Rail had been engaged in playing
cards with a convivial party of officers at the residence of a rich
merchant, Abraham Hunt, on the northwest corner of King
(Warren) and Second streets. A short time before the attack
he had returned to his quarters considerably the worse for his
night's festivities. On being aroused by his aide and apprised
of the approach of the enemy the dumbfounded colonel was
quickly in the saddle and at the head of his troops, but before
they could be completely formed the Americans were on them
with cannon and bayonet. A short and decisive engagement
resulted in a complete success for Washington's army. His
ti'oops were so disposed as to surround the enemy, who had
no choice between being cut to pieces or surrender. The
British light-horse made their escape, but the less fortunate
Hessians grounded their arms. According to an accomit pub-
lished in the ''Philadelphia Post," of the twenty-eighth of Decem-
ber, the capture included one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels,
three majors, four captains, eight lieutenants, twelve ensigns, two
surgeon-mates, ninety-nine sergeants, twenty-five drummers,
I
350 The Story of an Old Farm.
nine musicians, twenty -five servants, and seven hundred and
forty privates. In addition, the victorious Americans carried
back with them to Pennsylvania three captured standards, six
fine brass cannon, and about one thousand stand of arms. The
continental forces had but four casualties, while the enemy's
dead amounted to thirty men and six officers. The colonel com-
manding, who was badly wounded, was placed on parole ; he
died a few days later at the residence of Stacy Potts, on Warren
street, at the head of Perry street, the grandfather of the late
Judge Joseph C. Potts of Jersey City. The fortunes of war
bring about strange contrasts. Among the Trenton captives
was the Hessian band of music. On Christmas night, to
heighten the pleasures of the foreign officers' festivities, it had
played loud and long, confusion to all rebels. Six months later
the same band furnished the music at the dinner given by
congress at Philadelphia, celebrating the first anniversary of
American independence. After each toast the German musicians
were called upon for patriotic airs breathing a love of liberty
and freedom ; their fine performances contributed greatly to the
enjoyment of the occasion.
It was intended that Colonel Cadwalader, who commanded a
brigade of Pennsylvania Associators, and General Ewing with
his division, should also have crossed the Delaware, but they were
prevented by the ice. Otherwise there is but little doubt that
the capture of von Donop and his force would have been added
to the brilliant achievements of this memorable December morn-
ing. This affair of Trenton was considered, and properly so, a
great victory. That at a time when the fortunes of Washington
were at so low an ebb he should have been able to achieve so
signal a triumph, had a marked influence on the army and
country, animating the people, and inspiring the troops with
fresh courage. This was especially felt by the New Jersey citi-
zens and militia, who to a certain extent had been witnesses of
both the misfortunes and glories of the past thirty days. The
effect upon the citizens was to again instil a belief in the availa-
bility of their army and the ability of its commanding general.
Again they grew confident in the ultimate success of the Ameri-
can arms, and lost the foreboding, by which they had been
attacked, that the contest in which their country was engaged
The Country Encouraged.
351
was about hopeless. Surely the entire people had great cause
for rejoicing, after the gloomy and trying experiences of their
army since its first disaster on Long Island.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Hessians in New Jersey — Just a Little in Their Favor —
A Correction of Some False Traditions That Have Been
Fostered by Prejudiced Historians.
On that cold day after Christmas, when the story of the battle
of Trenton went flying from hamlet to farm over the hills and
valleys of Somerset, the startling news was a matter of pecidiar
interest to the members of the family at the " Old Stone House."
Their rejoicing over the victory of the Americans was tempered
somewhat by the knowledge that the vanquished were Germans,
and that some of them with but little doubt had been Aaron's
fellow-townsmen in the old country.
In a former chapter we have learned from a letter of the
a JJerr Prcpxeptor " that previous to the year 1749, Bendorf
was transferred from the sovereignty of its former owners to
that of Margrave Karl Wilhelm Fredrich of Anspach. Charles
Alexander, the son of this murdering margrave, in 1791 sold all
his territory to Prussia for a pension. He it .was who, when
George HI. applied to the princes of Germany for troops to aid
him in subduing his revolted American colonies, supplied the
English government with three regiments, aggregating 2,353
men, for which he received over five hundred thousand dollars.
x\mong the enemy captured at Trenton was a portion of one of
these regiments, and its flag taken on that day was afterwards
deposited in the museum at Alexandria, Virginia. When this
museum building was burned, a few years ago, the flag was
destroyed together with that of Washington's life-guard and
other interesting Revolutionary relics that had been placed there
by G. W. P. Custis. It was the custom for German princes, in
filling the ranks of battalions intended to be bartered to foreign
GrERMAN AUXILIARIES ENUMERATED. 353
governments, to secure recruits when possible from their outlying
possessions rather than from their home dominions ; it is fair to
presume, then, that Bendorf was obliged to furnish its full quota
to the forces destined for America. Aaron was probably well-
informed of these facts by his correspondents abroad, and
though the news of the affair at Trenton may have added much
to the happiness of the holiday season, yet he would have been
quite wanting in sensibility had he reflected without concern
upon the possibility of there being among the unfortunates who
had been killed, wounded or captured, men who in their youth
had been his playmates on the streets of his native town.
When the British ministers learned that an American revenue
could only be collected by force of arms, they had but little
difficulty in finding German rulers who were willing to sacrifice
their troops in a quarrel that did not concern them, provided they
were well enough paid. Duke Ernest, the prince ruling Saxe-
Gotha and Altenburg, though a relative of England's king,
declined peremptorily the ofi"er of the British ministers for
troops. Bancroft tells us that when England applied to Frederic
Augustus of Saxony, the prince promptly answered through
his minister that the thought of sending a part of his army to
the remote coimtries of the new world touched too nearly his
paternal tenderness for his subjects, and seemed to be too much
in contrast with the rules of a healthy policy. Charles Augustus
of Saxe- Weimar declined to permit any of his subjects to recruit
for service in America except vagabonds and convicts. This
ruler, who was but nineteen years old, was doubtless influenced
by the broad and generous spirit animating the counsels of his
minister Goethe. Frederick the Great, also, to his credit be it
said, condemned the pi-actice of putting armies in the market,
but other princes were only too glad to swell their treasuries
at the cost of the loss of a few subjects.
From Edward K. Lowell's valuable work "The Hessians in the
Revolutionary War," we learn that the English government secured
soldiers from five German rulers, besides that of Anspach-Bey-
reu'il; ; Frederic II., Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, furnished
16,902, of whom 10,492 returned home after the war ; from
Charles L, Duke of Brunswick, were obtained 5,723, of whom
returned 2,708 ; William, Count of Hesse-Hanau, 2,422, returned
23
354 The Story of an Old Fakm.
1,441 ; Frederic, Prince of Waldeck, 1,225, returned 505 ;
Frederic Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbest, 1,152, returned
984.
Of the troops furnished by the margrave who owned Bendorf,
less than one-half again saw Oermany. Jones, the tory histor-
ian, avers that the British ministry stipulated to pay the German
princes ten pounds for each man that did not return home at the
close of the war ; for each wounded soldier, however slight the
injury, five pounds were to be paid. Commandants were careful
to report even the scratch of a finger, consequently, in 1786,
when the bills came in from the German powers, the English
were obliged to pay four hundred and seventy-one thousand
pounds in settlement. Karl Schnizlein, '^ Royal Bavarian
Director of the General Court of Justice, and Secretary of the
Historical Society for Mittelfranken, Germany," in a letter
dated the twenty-eighth of September, 1887, assures me that
the treaty between the British government and the Margrave
Charles Alexander of Anspach dififered materially from those
made with the other German princes. This was especially so as
to — as he expresses it — " paying premiums for perished soldiers."
Furthermore, that the money allowed for the Anspachian-
Beyreuthian troops by the British ministry was not to the per-
sonal advantage of the margrave, but was paid into the treasury
and used for the redemption of the indebtedness of the country.
Mr. Schnizlein also states in his letter that while he does not
know of any archives from which information can be obtained
regarding enlistments in the troops that went to America, it is
probable that among the subsidiaiy forces of the margrave there
were men liable to serve as soldiers from the margraviate of
Sayn-Altenkirchen (Bendorf).
Just here it would seem eminently proper to say a few words
in vindication of the memory of these over-maligned Hessians.
It may fairly be considered within the scope of this work, which,
after all, is the story of a German ancestry whose place of nativ-
ity presumably furnished men to swell the ranks of the so-called
mercenaries. The descendants of such an ancestry will surely
acquiesce in an effort to relieve these people from a long-standing
and unmerited obloquy. It is quite time that the name of the Ger-
man auxiliaries of the English army in America was severed from
The Jersey People Hate the Hessians. 355
the odium attached to it for over a century past. Most of the
barbarities and cruelties practiced upon the citizens of New Jer-
sey by the entire British forces have been charged against the
so-called Hessian troops, and it is only within a few years that
some disposition has been shown to deal justly with the record of
the conduct of the German soldiery.
Hessians ! how they have been hated by the Jersey people !
the very name is still spoken by many with a prolonged hiss-s.
For generations the word has been used even as a bug-a-boo
with which to frighten children, and by the imperfectly read the
German troops have been stigmatized as ^' Dutch robbers !"
" Blood-thirsty marauders !" and " Foreign mercenaries !" Why
blame these tools ? While many of them were not saints,
neither were they the miscreants and incendiaries, bent on
excursions of destruction and rapine, that the traditions fostered
by prejudiced historians would have us believe. Many of these
Germans were kindly souls, and probably the best-abused people
of the time. Individually they were not mercenaries, and a
majority of the rank and file without doubt objected as strongly
to being on American soil fighting against liberty, as did their
opponents to have them here. Some idea may be obtained of
their repugnance to coming to this country from Schiller's pro-
test against the custom of his countrymen's being sent across the
seas in exchange for the gold of foreign governments. He tells
how on one occasion upon orders being published directing a
regiment to embark for the colonies, some privates, stepping out
of the ranks, protested against crossing the ocean, and demanded
of their colonel for how much a yoke the prince sold men ?
Whereupon, the regiment was marched upon the parade, and the
malcontents there shot. To quote Schiller : —
We heard the crack of the rifles as their brains'spattered the pavement, and
the whole army shouted, " Hurrah for America !"
Germany's despotic princes justified their human traffic with the
specious plea that it is a good soldier's duty to fight when his
country requires his services — that whether it is against an
enemy of his own government or that of another, should not be
considered or enter into his conception of allegiance. They
argued that there is no boon so great as a full treasury, and
when a subject contributed by enlistments to that end, he was
356 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
fulfilling the highest duty of citizenship. Their people, unfor-
tunately, did not respond to such views of patriotism ; conse-
quently, in securing recruits the most severe measures were nec-
essary. Impressing was a favorite means of filling the regi-
mental ranks ; strangers as well as citizens were in danger of
being arrested, imprisoned, and sent off before their friends could
learn of their jeopardy, and no one was safe from the grip of the
recruiting ofiicer. This is illustrated by an interesting account
given by Johann Gottfried Leume, a Leipsic student, who was
kidnapped while travelling, forced into the ranks of a moving
regiment, and dispatched to America to fight England's-battles.
As every conceivable method of escape was devised by con-
scripts, desertions were punished with great severity, though, as
a rule, not wath death, as the princes found that their private
soldiers had too high a monetary value in Em*opean markets to
be sacrificed by the extreme penalty.
In many principalities the laws obliged the towns and villages
in which soldiers escaped, to supply substitutes from among the sons
of their most prominent citizens, and anyone aiding a fugitive
was imprisoned at hard labor, flogged, and deprived of his civil
rights. Bancroft states that the heartless meanness of the Bruns-
wick princes would pass belief if it was not officially authenti-
cated. On learning of Burgoyne's surrender, they begged that
their captured men might be sent to the West Indies rather than
home, fearing that on reaching Germany their complaints would
prove a damage to the government trade in soldiers. Notwith-
standing the severe penalties visited on deserters,_yet when the
Anhalt-Zerbst regiments on their way to embark — 1228 strong
— passed near the Prussian frontier, over three hundred deserted
in ten days. In 1777, when the margrave of Anspach-Beyreuth
wished to forward some recruits to America he was obliged to
march the detachment unarmed to the point of embarkation on
the Main, and while on the way the recruits were guarded by a
trusted troop of yagers. In spite of these precautions many
escaped, and several were shot while making the endeavor.
The late Frederick Kapp has contributed greatly to our
knowledge of Hessian and Anspach soldiery. ]n regard to
recruiting, he informs us that an officer in charge of a detach-
ment of newly-enlisted men was directed, when on the march in
Hessians Object to Fighting the Americans. 357
the old country, to avoid large towns, also the vicinity of the
place where any of the recruits had lived, or had been formerly
stationed. So great precautions were considered necessary to
prevent escape, that it was the duty of an officer when billeting
at night with strangers to room with his men, and, after
undressing, to deliver his weapons and the clothing of the entire
party to the landlord or host. In the morning the men's cloth-
ing was not to be brought in until the officer was completely
dressed and he had loaded and primed his pistols. While en
route should a recruit grow restive, or show signs of insubordi-
nation, the instructions were to cut the buttons and straps from
his trousers, forcing him to hold them up in walking, thus
rendering flight impossible. Lieutenant Thomas Anburey, a
British officer captured with Burgoyne, in a book descriptive of
his experiences in America, • has much to tell regarding the
Hessian contingent of the northern army. We may suppose that
his following recital as to the manner of foreign enlistments was
based on information gained from German officers : —
The Prince caused every place of worship to be surrounded during service, and
took every man who liad been a soldier, and to embody these into regiments he
appointed old officers who had been many years upon half-pay, to command them,
or on refusal of serving to forfeit tlieir half-pay. Thus were these regiments
raised, officered with old veterans who had served with credit and reputation in
their youthful days, and who had retired, as they imagined, to enjoy some com-
fort in the decline of life.
This American service was especially objectionable to the
Germans because of their knowledge that our country was the
home of many of their nationality. They did not wish to fight
friends. Nor were their fears groundless, for in their first
engagement after landing — the battle of Long Island — among
Lord Stirling's troops opposed to them were three battalions,
mostly composed of Pennsylvania Germans. These American
troops were well uniformed and equipped, and looked so much
like the mercenaries that at one time the English thought them
to be Hessians, which error cost the British a colonel and eighty
privates. That was not the first time that princely avarice had
been the means of causing men from the valleys of the Rhine
and its tributaries to contend with each other. Lowell recounts
that in 1743 Hessians stood against Hessians, six thousand men
358 The Story of an Old Farm.
serving in the army of King Gleorge II., and six thousand in the
opposing force of the Emperor Charles VII.
When the news of the capture of the Hessians at Trenton
spread through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the inhabitants
thronged from every direction to view these beings whom they
had been led to believe were monsters ; they were very much
astonished to find them like ordinary men of German extraction.
The people were filled with wonder, however, at their strangely
martial appearance. Their officers, with embroidered coats and
stifi" carriages, were in strong contrast to the easy-going com-
manders of the continental forces, while the men in their dress
and accoutrements presented a very different appearance from that
of the generally poorly clad and equipped soldiers of the young
republic. This was especially true of the grenadiers. They
wore very long-skirted blue coats which looked fine on parade,
but were ill calculated for rapid marching ; a yellow waistcoat
extended below the hips, and yellow breeches were met at the
knee by black gaiters. A thick paste of tallow and flour
covered the hair, which was drawn tightly back and plaited into
a tail which hung nearly to the waist. Their moustaches were
fiercely stiffened with black paste, while above all towered a
heavy brass-fronted cap. When in full marching order they
must needs have had stout legs and broad backs to have sus-
tained the weight they were forced to carry. In addition to
cumbersome belts, a cartouche box, and a heavy gun, each man's
equipment included sixty rounds of ammunition, an enormous
sword, a canteen holding a gallon, a knapsack, blanket, haver-
sack, hatchet, and his proportion of tent equipage. Max von
Eelking, in his '' Memoirs" of von Riedesel, translated by W. L.
Stone, writes that the English officers said the hats and swords
of the Brunswick dragoons were as heavy as the whole equip-
ment of a British soldier.
These Trenton captives were sent over the Delaware into
Pennsylvania and quartered at Newtown. Lord Stirling, who
was there, received the officers with much consideration, saying,
" Your General de Heister treated me like a brother when I was
a prisoner," [after the battle of Long Island] ; and so, gentle-
men, will you be treated by me." Corporal Johannes Reuber,
one of the captives, writes in his journal that in passing through
The Courtesy of German Officers. 359
the towns and villages the Grermans were upbraided and treated
with contumely by the populace, which continued until Wash-
ington caused notices to be posted throughout the vicinity, saying
that the Hessians had been compelled to become combatants, and
should be treated with kindness and not with enmity. The
prisoners were very grateful to Washington for being allowed to
retain their baggage, and for their generally kind treatment.
In their gratitude for conduct so opposed to what they had
expected, they called their illustrious conqueror " a very good
rebel."
General de Heister, referred to by Lord Stirling, was an old
man who, after fifty years of service, yielded to the earnest
entreaty of his personal friend, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel,
and consented to command the eighty-seven hundred Hessians
who came to America to join Howe's army. During the pro-
longed voyage the old gentleman exhausted his whole stock of
tobacco and patience. From his transport he thus wrote to Sir
George Collier of H. M. S. Rainbow, who commanded the con-
voying war-ships : —
I have been imposed on and deceived, for I was assured the voyage would not
exceed six or seven weeks, — it is now more than fourteen since I embarked, and
full three months since I left England, yet I see no more prospect of landing
than I did a week after our sailing. I am an old man, covered with wounds, and
imbecilitated by age and fatigues, and it is impossible I should survive if the
voyage continues much longer.
Sir George visited the veteran on his ship and raised his
spirits by plentifully supplying him with fresh provisions and
tobacco, and by assuring him that the voyage would soon termi-
nate. The old German called upon his band to play, brought
out some old hock, and Sir George left him quite exhilarated
after drinking in many potations the health of the king, the
landgrave, and many other friends.
Of the German officers, Revolutionary literature teems with
testimony as to their courtesy and good breeding ; and numerous
instances could be given going to show that they often endeared
themselves to the people that they were here ostensibly to sub-
due. Among those of leading rank, de Heister, von Riedesel, von
Donop, and von Knyphausen left on the communities most agree-
able impressions. The latter was a man of honor, possessed a
most kindly nature, and while stationed in Philadelphia won the
360 The Story of an Old Farm.
favorable consideration of the citizens. In appearance he was
rather distinguished, erect and slender in lig-ure, with sharp
martial features. He was very polite, bowing to all respectable
persons met on the street, and was fair and honorable in his
dealings. In May, 1782, when this general in company with
Sir Henry Clinton embarked from New York for England, a
diarist of that time recites : " Knyphausen has the good wishes
of all people, but Sir Henry leaves a poor character behind him."
Bancroft characterizes von Riedesel as a man of honor and activ-
ity ; and the same historian speaks of de Heister as a brave old
man, cheerful in disposition, good-natured, bluntly honest and
upright. Stone in his preface to von Eelking's " Memoirs" of von
Riedesel says that the general " possessed all the qualities of a
good and brave soldier," that " his love of justice was well-
known," and that ''his name honors not only his own
state but also his common fatherland." Colonel von Donop
it was who fell in the glacis of Fort Mercer, amid the
great slaughter which the gallant but rash charge led
by him had ensured. Colonel Greene, who displayed much
bravery in repulsing the enemy, was most humane in his treat-
ment of the wounded that his cannon balls and grape shot had
left piled in front of the fortification's double abattis. Among
von Donop's last words before his death, which occurred a few
days after the action, were : —
I fall a victim to my own ambition, and to the avarice of my prince ; but full
of thankfulness for the good treatment I have received from my generous enemy.
As to the Hessian officers of lesser rank, equally good tidings
have come down to us. Mr. De Lancey, in his paper on Mount
Washington and its capture, published in the first volume of the
" Magazine of American History," avers that the Hessian officers
in America were polite, courteous and almost without exception
well educated ; he recites that as far as birth was concerned the
English officers of Howe's army were much inferior in social
rank to those of the Germans. Any rich Englishman could
make his boy a gentleman by buying him a commission, but in
Germany it was necessary for a youth to be one b}' birth if he
aspired to be an officer. When the British army in 1776 occu-
pied Manhattan Island, the troops were to a large extent billeted
on the citizens. Mrs. Lamb recounts, in her " History of the
Citizens Well-Treated by Hessian Soldiers. 361
City of New York," that Mrs. Thomas Clark, a widow lady,
owned, and occupied with her daughters, an attractive country
seat near Twenty-fifth street and Tenth avenue. She was
greatly distressed because some Hessians were quartered on her
property. Like every one else at that time she supposed them
to be iniquitous persons, who would visit upon her family all
manner of indignities. To Mrs. Clark's great relief, she found
her apprehensions groundless ; nothing was disturbed, and the
commanding officer proved not only to be a gentleman, but so
considerate and agreeable that he became a favorite both with
herself and her daughters. Early in the war, experiences of
a like character were frequent. Mrs. Ellet's " Domestic
History " tells that after Howe's army had advanced into West-
chester county a Mrs. Captain Whetten, living near New
Rochelle, noticed one day that a black flag had been set up near
her house. Upon asking an English officer its meaning, she was
much distressed by his replying ; — " Heaven help you, madame,
a Hessian camp is to be established here." Her fears were
unnecessary, as when the Germans arrived good feeling soon
existed between them and the family. One of the officers was
quartered in the house ; when night came Mrs. Whetten was
about sending to some distance for clean sheets for his bed, when
he protested against her inconveniencing herself on his account,
saying, " Do not trouble yourself, madame, straw is good
enough for a soldier."
Gray don, in his " Memoirs," gives an account of his spending
the winter of 1778, in Reading, Pennsylvania. There were
there a number of officers, prisoners on parole, of whom he thus
speaks : —
Among them were several Germans who had really the appearance of being
what you would call down-right men. One old gentleman, a colonel, was a great
professional reader, whom on his application I accommodated with books such as
I had. Another of them, a very portly personage, was enthusiastically devoted
to music, in which he was so much absorbed, as to seldom go abroad. But of all
the prisoners, one Graff, a Brunswick officer, taken by General Gates' army, was
admitted to the greatest privileges. Under the patronage of Dr. Potts, who had
been principal surgeon in the Northern Department, he had been introduced to
our dancing parties, and being always afterward invited, he never failed to
attend. He was a young man of mild and pleasing manners. There was also a
Mr. Stulzoe of the Brunswick dragoons, than whose, I have seldom seen a figure-
362 The Story of an Old Farm.
more martial, or a manner more indicative of that manly openness which is sup-
posed to belong to the character of a soldier. *
It would be interesting to learn just how so deep-seated an
aversion to the Hessians first became planted in the minds of the
people, particularly in those of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
It could not have been because of their nationality, as among the
populations of those states were many Germans who had always
been appreciated as a worthy folk, quiet rather than bellicose in
character. Yet, for some mysterious reason, these Teuton
soldiers were looked upon with great dread by the inhabitants,
especially by those who knew the least of them. The terror
they inspired was often dissipated by a better acquaintance, as
the private soldiers were found to be — with of course individual
exceptions — simple-minded souls, and more afraid of their officers
than of anything else. Mr. Onderdonk, in his " Revolutionary
Incidents," speaks of them as: —
A kind, peaceable people, inveterately fond of smoking and of pea cofTee ;
their offences were of the sly kind, such as stealing at night, while the British
and new raised corps were insolent, domineering, and inclined to violence and
bloodshed.
Gouverneur Morris in 1777 was ordered by the convention of
the state of New York to prepare a narrative of the conduct of
the British toward American prisoners. Among the papers sub-
mitted was the affidavit of Lieutenant Troop of the militia, which
recited that " he and other officers confined on Long Island wei**'
much abused by nearly all of the British officers and in their
presence by the soldiers ; they were insulted and called rebels,
scoundrels, villains and robbers : " that when imprisoned at
Flatbush they were given so short allowance of biscuits and salt
pork " that," to use his own words, " several of the Hessian sol-
diers took pity on their situation and gave them some apples, and
at one time some fresh beef, which much relieved them." The
following extract is from a letter written by Washington at Mor-
ristown on the fifth of February, 1777, to Samuel Chase, one of
* The " Graff" spoken of by Graydon was Cornet Auguste Ludwig Lucas
Griife of the Brunswick dragoons ; after the peace he remained a year in America,
when he returned to Germany where he died as governor of Mecklenberg-Stre-
litz. The Mr. Stulzoe of the Brunswick dragoons was Cornet Johann Balthasar
Stutzer, wlio died at Brunswick, Germany, in 1821, as a pensioned lieutenant-
colonel.
Good Hearted German Soldiers. 363
a committee of seven appointed by congress to inquire into the
conduct of the British and Hessian officers toward American
soldiers and toward the citizens of New York and New Jersey : —
I shall employ some proper person to take the depositions of people in the dif-
ferent parts of the province of New Jersey, who have been plundered after hav-
ing taken protection and subscribed the Declaration. One thing I must remark
in favor of the Hessians, and that is, that our people, who have been prisoners,
generally agree that they received much kinder treatment from them than from
the British officers and soldiers. The barbarities at Princeton were all commit-
ted by the British, there being no Hessians there.
Max von Eelking, in his "Die Deutschen Hulfstruppen in
Nordamerikanischen BefremngsJcriege, 1776 bis 1783," speaks of
the effect that the landing of the Hessians on Long Island had
upon the inhabitants. After telling that they were in great awe
of the Germans and that many fled on their approach, he goes on
to say : —
When the first fear and excitement among the population had subsided, and
people had become aware that after all they had not to deal with robbers and
anthropophagi, they retiwned to their homes, and were not a little surprised to
find not only their dwellings as they left them, but also the furniture, their
effects, aye, even their money and trinkets. The fact was that the Germans, used
to discipline, did not ask for more than they were entitled to. Their mutual
relations now took a more friendly form, and it was not a rare case that a
thorough' republican would treat the quartered soldier like one entitled to
his hospitality, and carefully nurse the sick or wounded one.
^During the winter of 1776, there was living at Burlington, a
Mrs. Margaret Morris, who recorded her experiences in a journal
of which a few copies were printed for private circulation. When
Count von Donop's command penetrated as far as Mount Holly,
she, in common with every one else, was at first much exer-
cised over the proximity of the abhorred Hessians. On the sev-
enteenth of December the following entry was made in her
diary : —
A friend made mf mind easy by telling me that he had passed through the town
where the Hessians were said to be ' playing the very mischief ; it is certain there
were numbers of them at Mount Holly, but they behaved very civilly to the
people, excepting only a few persons who were actually in rebellion, as they
termed it, whose goods, etc., they injured.
In the '^ Personal Recollections of the American Revolution/'
edited by Sidney Barclay, there appears the journal of a lady
who made her home with her father, a clergyman, in the centre of
364 The Story of an Old Farm.
Long Island, while hei' husband was with Washington's array.
An entry of January, 1777, recites: —
The soldiers [liessian] take so mucli notice of the children that I fear lest
they should contract evil, especially Charles. They have taught him to speak
their language, he understands nearly all their conversation. They make pretty
willow baskets for Marcia and Grace, and tell them of their own little ones at
home, over the stormy ocean. The children are fond of them, and they feel no
enmity toward them. What is more melancholy than the trade of a hired
soldier ! I deeply commiserate their wretched lot.
This little domestic scene hardly pictures the Germans in the
guise of wicked marauders. The same diarist, in writing in
1783 of the evacuation of the island by the Hessians, says
further : —
Many of the poor creatures have formed attachments, and the ties of kindness
and gratitude are hard to break. Many of them begged to be permitted to remain
in some menial capacity, but the ties of kindred prevailed with the greater part.
The joiu'nal of Captain Pausch, chief of the Hesse Hanau
artillery during the Burgoyne campaign, thus speaks of the
behaviour of the privates of that command : —
They never fail after reveille and tatoo, to make their ofterings to their God by
singing morning and evening hymns; one hour afterwards they give themselves
up to enjoyment, but in such a manner as to never give cause for complaint or
punishment.
The journal of John Charles Philip von Krafft, free corporal
in Lieutenant-Colonel Hinter's company in von Donop's regi-
ment of Hesse-Cassel musketeers, furnishes a most interesting
glimpse of the daily inside life in a German regiment which
served in America as a contingent to the British army. Von
Krafft makes many comments on Hessian forbearance as com-
pared with British marauding. In speaking of the march across
the Jerseys in 1778, he tells of entering a house near Freehold
when he was informed by its occupants that some English
soldiers had just stripped them of everything, even taking the
silver buckles from a woman's shoes. This woman said to him
that " she saw very plainly there was no truth in what people
had told her of the Hessians, namely, that they were cruel. She
saw that it was the English alone." These people gave von Krafft
some fresh provisions, including a rooster and three chickens
which had been concealed in an oven. They would not name a
price, but he gave them one shilling and ten-pence English
Hessian Excesses have been Exaggerated. 365
money, for which they wished him many blessings, and begged
him to pick some cherries from the trees in the dooryard. On
the twenty-sixth of June he reached Freehold and found, to
quote from the journal : —
Every place here was broken into and plundered by the English soldiers.
The church, which was made of wood and had a steeple, was miserably
demolished.
He recites that his regiment halted for an hour and a half on
the main street of Freehold, during which time the English
soldiers had : —
Been breaking and destroying everything in the city hall house, even tearing
•down the little bell in the steeple. No Hessian was to be seen among them,
the commanders of regiments not allowing it.
He acknowledges, however, that some abuses were secretly
practised by his countrymen. In September, ] 778, in writing of
his experiences while on a foraging party near the twenty-
mile stone in Westchester county. New York, von Krafft
says : —
We were not forbidden to get provisions, but very strictly admonished not to
take anything from the people in their houses. * * * Yor a few days we had
an abundance of food, and this was my only booty.
Did space permit, much further of interest could be drawn
from the journal of this Hessian soldier. It can be found among
the collections of the New York Historical society.
The Marquis de Chastellux, in writing of the capitulation at
Yorktown, speaks of the contemptuous attitude of the captured
British soldiers toward the Americans. They made friends
with the French, but in their chagrin and disappointment held
aloof fi'om the hated rebels. Says Chastellux : —
After the surrender the English behaved with the same overbearing insolence
as if they had been conquerors ; the Scots wept bitterly, while the Germans only
conducted themselves decently, and in a manner becoming prisoners.
The bitter feeling evinced by the people toward the subsidiary
troops of the English army was probably engendered by
their conduct at the battle of Long Island. Their excesses
have been greatly exaggerated by early historians in accounts
of that action ; it is gratifying, therefore, to read in one
of Professor John Fiske's latest historical contributions, refer-
366 The Story of an Old Farm.
ring to this battle, that " the stories of a wholesale butchery
by the Hessians which once were current have been completely
disproved." There is no doubt, however, that during that
engagement the Germans were guilty of some unnecessary
cruelties, but any fair-minded person familiar with all the facts
must admit that the circumstances of ignorance and false teach-
ing palliate to a certain extent their behavior on that occasion.
The Long Island Historical Society, in its account of the battle,
publishes the letter of an officer in Fraser's Scotch battalion,
from which I make the following extract : —
The Hessians and our brave Highlanders gave no quarter, and it was a fine
sight to see with what alacrity they dispatched the rebels with bayonets after we
had surrounded them so that they could not resist. We took care to tell the
Hessians that the rebels had resolved to give no quarter to them in particular:
which made them fight desperately, and put all to death who fell into their
hands.
The statement of this bloodthirsty Highland officer is corrob-
orated by the before referred to historian, Max von Eelking.
He records : —
That the Hessians were very much exasperated and furious, is not to be denied ;
* * * the course pursued by the Hessians was urged upon them by the Brit-
ons. Colonel von Heeringen says on this subject, in his letter to Colonel von
Lossburg : " The English soldiers did not give much quarter and constantly
urged our men to follow their example."
Another officer, who was present at that time, narrates that
the Germans early learned enough English to beg for quarter
from the savage rebels, of whom they stood in great fear. They
acted as if they were going to be eaten, and some of them when
taken, bawled out as best they could, '' Oh ! good rebel man,
don't km poor Hessian ! "
That the heart of the Hessians was not in the work of aiding
in the subjugation of Great Britain's colonists is proven by the
fact of their frequent desertions. It is estimated that of the
nearly thirty thousand German troops brought to America by
the English, more than five thousand deserted, many of them
becoming valued citizens of the country ; and frequent instances
can be shown of their descendants ranking among the leading
people of the United States. Judge Jones, in his " History of
New York," avers that Henry Ashdore was the first in America
of the name now so well known under its anglicized form of
Hessian Deserters. 367
Astor. He was a peasant from Waldorf in Baden, who came to
this country with the British during the Revolutionary war, but,
after a short period managed to escape their service, and entered
into that of the "Art and Mystery of Butchering." Upon the
cessation of hostilities he induced his youngest brother — then a
youth of twenty — to come to New York. This was John Jacob
Astor, who died in 1848 the richest man of his day in America.
J. G. Rosengarten, in a paper read before the Newport His-
torical Society in 1886 informs us that the ancestor of General
George A. Custer was a German soldier, named Kuster, who
was among those captured by Gates in 1777. He settled in
Pennsylvania, but subsequently removed to Maryland, where the
distinguished general's father was born in 1806.
John Conrad Dochlar, an Anspach sergeant, in enumerating
in his diary the German troops made prisoners at Yorktown,
mentions the "Prince Royal" regiment of Hesse-Cassel, as
having once been strong, " but now a great sufferer from death
and desertion"; and the Anspach— Beyreuthian regiments as
having had " about forty killed and wounded, besides losing fifty
deserters." While Burgoyne's captured army was quartered
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1778, many of von Riedesel's
soldiers deserted, and enlisted in Armand's light-corps then being
recruited at Boston. During the month of April forty -five
men escaped, while in May the Brunswickers lost seventy-two
soldiers. When the convention army started for Virginia in
November fifty Germans deserted before reaching the Hudson.
The auxiliary troops, while en route south, entered New Jersey on
the fourth of December, halting for the night of the fifth at Sussex
Court-house. While marching through Stillwater township, in Sus-
sej^ county, a dozen or more "Hessians" escaped and hid until all
the prisoners and their guards had passed by. They settled per-
manently in the township, and several well-known families in that
neighborhood are the posterity of these German soldiers. In Mor-
ris county also, there are a number of resident families descended
from thirty Hessians who at one time during the Revolution
were employed at the Mount Hope mine. Lieutenant Anburey
of Burgoyne's army — ^before quoted — in describing the march
of the captured troops to Virginia, thus speaks of Germans who
deserted : —
368 The Stouy of an Old Farm.
Seeing in what a comfortable manner their countrymen lived, they left us in
great numbers as we marched tlirough New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Washington, in a letter from Englishtown on the day after the
battle of Monmouth, wi'ites that thus far Sir Henry Clinton in
his march through the Jerseys had lost by desertion five or six
hundred men, " chiefly foreigners." Six days later General
Arnold, who had been left in command at Philadelphia, reported
that five hundred and seventy-six deserters had reached that
city, of whom four hundred and forty-six were Germans.
The journal of von Krafft recites that there Avere so many
desertions among his countrymen during the retreat across the
Jerseys that General von Knyphausen announced, through his
regimental commanders, that the men must not believe the
" statements in circulation that the rebels would give plantations
and houses to those who remained behind." This general, as a
warning to the troops, as they marched by caused a deserter to be
hanged on a tree by the road, " which caused a dreadful uproar."
When the English marched out of Philadelphia they were but
eleven thousand strong. When Howe landed at the head of Elk
he had eighteen thousand men. As a writer of that time says : —
This terrible diminution can be only accounted for by the spirit of desertion,
which, among the Hessians, prevailed to a very great degree.
General Greene, in a letter to John Adams written from
Basking Ridge in March, 1777, thus speaks of the Germans
captured at Trenton : —
The mild and gentle treatment the Hessian prisoners have received since they
have been in our possession has produced a great alteration'in their dispositions.
Desertions prevail among them. One whole brigade i-efused to fight or do duty,
and were sent prisoners to New York. Rancor and hatred prevail between them
and the British soldiery.
From Lossing we leara that of the officers captured at Tren-
ton, Ensign Carle Fried Frurer, of the Knyphausen regiment,
and Ensign Kleinsmith, joined the American army ; and the his-
torian Onderdonk claims that many leading families of Long
Island trace their descent from deserters from the ranks of the
mercenary troops. Von Eelking mentions by name twelve offi-
cers of the Brunswick contingent who settled permanently in
America. Among them were six who remained by permission
after the peace, two who returned home but came back to this
An Astute German Baker. 369
country, and four who deserted during the war. The latter
included Chaplain Carl Melsheimer of the dragoon regi-
ment. On the Sunday after the battle of Princeton, Gene-
ral Maxwell with some Jersey militia came out of the Short
Hills, and falling suddenly on the British post at Elizabethtown,
made prisoners of fifty VValdeckers and forty Highlanders. A
writer who describes this affair in a letter dated at Philadelphia
on the sixteenth of January, recites : —
The English troops at Elizabethtown would not suffer the Waldeckers to stand
sentry at the outposts, several of them having deserted and come over to us.
At the time of the battle of Germantown there was living in
that place a rich German baker, named Christopher Ludwick.
Having learned that among the prisoners taken during that
engagement were eight Hessians, this patriotic baker conceived
the idea of putting his unfortunate countrymen to a more valu-
able service than that of being guarded or paroled. He went to
headquarters and induced the commander-in-chief to place these
men completely in his hands, the only proviso being that there
should come to them no bodily harm. He then constituted him-
self their host and guide, and taking them all about Philadelphia
and its vicinity, showed them how the Germans were prospering
in this country ; how comfortably they were housed, what fine
churches they had, with what freedom and independence they
followed their avocations, and with what happiness those in the
humbler pursuits of life were living. This wise custodian then
dismissed his prisoners, charging them to return to their regi-
ments and inform their fellow-soldiers of all that they had seen,
and explain to them the happiness awaiting those who would
desert and settle in Pennsylvania. The seed thus planted bore
rich fruit. It is said that among the deserters resulting from
this action, numbers afterward became prosperous citizens of
Philadelphia. Ludwick's success in this enterprise encouraged
him to further endeavors in the same direction ; he visited a
Hessian camp on Staten Island, and without detection succeeded
in causing several soldiers to flee to Pennsylvania. This honest
German afterward became baker-general to the American army.
He is said to have often been a visitor at headquarters, where
Washington recognized his worth, and appreciated to the full the
value of his services.
24
370 The Stoky of an Old Farm.
Speaking of General Wasliington brings to mind the fact that,
while living in Philadelphia as chief magistrate of the nation, his
coachman was an ex-Hessian soldier. It was one of the events
of the week to see " Fritz," seated on the box of the executive's
carriage, drawing up his four bright bays on Sunday morning in
front of Christ chiu'ch. He was tall and muscular, looking the
soldier, his long aquiline nose pressing closely down over a
fierce moustache. In a livery of white, touched with red, he
carried himself with an important air, showing a severe coun-
tenance under his cocked hat, which was Avorn square to the
front, but thrown a little back on his queue. Washington's
arrival at church was always the occasion of an enthusiastic but
a quiet and respectful ovation. Long before the hour he was
expected Second street would be packed with a patient throng
of citizens. On the approach of the well-known white coach,
ornamented with medallions, the crowd silently opened a narrow
way or lane from the curb to the church door, and, as the presi-
dent stepped with calm dignity from the carriage, profound sil-
ence reigned, every eye being riveted on the distinguished form.
As Washington, stately in person and noble in demeanor, slowly
moved across the pavement toward the sacred edifice, it was an
impressive spectacle. From the dense crowd there came not a
sound, but the respectful silence in which the assembled multi-
tude stood in the presence of the '^ father of his country," testi-
fied more strongly than would have the bravest shouts, or the
loudest acclamations, to the admiration and veneration with
which they viewed this " greatest, purest, most exalted of
mortals."
CHAPTER XXVI.
Washington's March from Trenton to Morristown — The Battles
of AssunjnnJc and Princeton — The American Army
Encamped at PlucJcamin — Death and Burial of Captain
William Leslie.
With the turn of the year 1776-'77 important events rapidly
succeeded each other. Naturally one woidd say that the history
of this time will make trite reading, but the occurrences of the
next few weeks are too closely identified with the experiences
of Bedminster people to be passed over without a somewhat
extended notice. In addition, an endeavor will be made in this
chapter to present some facts and incidents that have hitherto
escaped the attention and knowledge of the ordinary Revolution-
ary student. It is not my purpose to tell over again the well-
kno^vn stories of Assunpmk and Princeton, but rather to dwell
on the many minor scenes and events connected with the march
of the continental army from the second to the sixth of January,
1777 ; to relate some details of interest that historians generally
have been forced to pass by, in order to dilate on the two noted
engagements which at that time entirely altered the current of
American history. While the foundation and continuity of the
narration cannot be preserved without mentioning these actions,
yet, whatever of interest and value may follow will be due to the
lesser historical gleanings presented, which may be said to be, to
some extent, the result of an intimate knowledge of the locality in
which the scenes are depicted, and a lifelong acquaintance with
its people.
The Christmas holidays of the year 1776, which will ever be
considered one of the great epochs in American history, com-
pletely changed the aspect of the Revolutionary contest. Sir
372 The Stort of an Old Farm.
William Howe and Lord Cornwallis, astounded at the news from
Trenton, were at once alive to their error in thinking that Amer-
ican independence was a matter of the past. Abandoning his
proposed home voyage, Cornwallis hastily marched his troops
toward the Delaware, being joined on the way by Count von
Donop's force from Bordentown. The British column, five
thousand strong, reached Trenton late on the afternoon of the
second of January. Washington was already there with nearly
an equal number of men, although his army was largely com-
posed of undisciplined, ununiformed militia. Intent on reoccupy-
ing if not recapturing Nev/ Jersey, he on the thirteenth of
December had again crossed the Delaware.
Cornwallis on reaching Princeton had with him about eight
thousand men. Leaving fifteen hundred there under Lieutenant
Colonel Mawhood, and dispatching General Leslie with fifteen
hundred more to jMaidenhead, he marched with the remainder on
the morning of the second, intent on annihilating Washington's
ragged army. The American general, to check this advance, on
the evening of New Year's day sent out a strong force of rifle-
men and artillery under Generals de Fermoy and Adam Stephen.
They met the enemy on the following morning, arresting their prog-
ress for nearly two hours, then falling back toward the Delaware
continued harassing and impeding the hostile march, until it was
nearly dark before the British faced the main body of the Amer-
icans at Trenton. After sunset the enemy advanced in two
heavy bodies to the north side of Assunpink creek in order to
force the bridge, but from the opposite shore the American dogs
of war barked from their iron throats a dubious welcome. The
enemy's attempt to force a passage of the stream was defeated
by the eftective manner in which General Knox handled his
artillery, which was advantageously planted on the high southern
bank of the creek. Owing to the lateness of the hour Cornwallis
retired to the rear of the town, on the Princeton road, deciding
to await daylight before renewing the attack, and when, as he
boasted, " he would catch that old fox Washington." The
British general's confidence in what the morrow would bring
forth proved to be misplaced. From time immemorial a fox has
been the most uncertain of all game, and Lord Cornwallis had
quite neglected to remember that it was not uncommon for
The Night of Assunpink. 373
that wary animal, when just about trapped, to quietly steal
away.
Frederick the Great, on being told that a distinguished gen-
eral had never made a mistake, replied, ''then he 'must have
fought very few campaigns." If Washington coidd ever be
charged with a lack of military judgment it was when he placed
his army in the position it occupied on this night of the second
of January. Realizing his dangerous situation he was full of
anxiety. Should an engagement follow the dawn, defeat would
mean the destruction or capture of the entire continental force,
the troops being so disposed as to render a retreat impracticable.
An engagement was certainly to be expected, the chances of suc-
cess lying almost wholly with the enemy, as opposed to the raw
levies of the Americans was the flower of the British army.
Washington's decision was promptly reached, a decision that
was probably as important in its immediate results and in its
future effect upon the destinies of the country, as was any lie was
called upon to make during his entire career. The British
had left at Princeton the 17th, 40th and 55th Regiments of
infantry and three squadrons of dragoons. They were to join
Cornwallis in the morning, but could they be reached by the
Americans before that time their destruction was not impossible.
Washington, calling his generals together, disclosed his plan,
which was to move quietly around the enemy's flank, and march-
ing rapidly on Princeton, strike a telling blow in that unexpected
quarter.
It has been said that this strategy was the suggestion of
General St. Clair, but Stryker, in his " Princeton Surprise,"
contributed to the " Magazine of American History," has
conclusively proved this claim to be groundless, and such
excellent authorities as Gordon and Bancroft insist that the
idea was the conception of the chief. Be this as it may,
the movement was quickly executed Silently sending off the
impedimenta in the direction of Bordentown, the camp-fires were
brightened, and pacing sentinels were left on guard, whose fre-
quent challenges deluded the outposts of the enemy. Soon after
midnight the ragged but heroic army broke camp, St. Clair's
brigade leading the way. The other commands following, they
pushed out far east of and around the sleeping British soldiers ',.
374 The Story of an Old Farm.
in the deep stillness of the night, along a narrow new road
through the woods, the troops silently defiled over the frozen
ground, their departure entirely unsuspected by the enemy.
In speaking of Revolutionary armies such tenns as corps,
divisions and brigades are not always applied in the sense of their
present uses. To mention a division does not imply a command
made up of the full number of regiments and brigades. When
Baron Steuben assumed the duties of inspector-general at Valley
Forge, in March, 1778, he found that the term division, brigade,
and regiment did not convey an idea upon which a calculation
could be based as to the strength of the army. In some instances
a regiment was stronger than a brigade. Disorder and con-
fusion reigned supreme, and the continual coming and going of
men enlisted for three, six and nine months made it impossible
to preserve intact either a company or a battalion. To quote
his own words : " I have seen a regiment consisting of thirty
men and a company of one corporal." There was no uniformity
of formation except in the line of march, and as to manual, each
colonel had a system of his own. With this little force that was
stealing through the dark gloom of the forests toward Prince-
ton there were at least eleven generals, although the entire army
barely aggregated a modern brigade. The number of commis-
sioned officers was also out of all proportion to the non-commis-
sioned officers and enlisted men. As a rule, the line, field and
staff of a regiment or battalion had under them but a handfiU of
soldiers.
So far as I can learn, of this devoted band but few organiza-
tions of foot were completely uniformed and equipped. One was
the Dover light-infantry, clad in green faced with red, which
was a militia company raised in the northern district of Kent
county, Delaware, and commanded by Captain Thomas Rodney ;
the second was four light-infantry companies of Philadelphia
militia under Captain George Henry. A third uniformed organi-
zaticm was Colonel William Smallwood's battalion, a mere
fragment — barely seventy men — of what in the preceding June
had been a noble regiment, eleven hundred strong, composed of
the finest youth of Maryland. On the twenty-seventh day of the
preceding August, at a point in Brooklyn where now Fifth
avenue and Tenth street intersect, the men of this command,
The Brave Colonel Haslet. 375
together with Colonel Haslet's Delaware regiment, held the
enemy in check at a severe loss to themselves, while the rest of
the regiments of Lord Stirling's division were making their
escape from a most dangerous position. Three times they
rallied and charged the enemy, knowing the result must be their
own sacrifice, yet willing to suffer at so great a cost in order
that while holding the British at bay their comrades could
make good their retreat. The combat over, two hundred and
fifty-six of these Maryland lads were either lying among the
dead and dying, or with their general. Lord Stirling, were in
the hands of the enemy. The carnage had not been in vain, as
the flying Americans were saved from complete destruction.
Washington, choking with emotion, witnessed this bravery from
a little redoubt within the present boundaries of Court, Clinton,
Atlantic and Pacific streets, and the courage and self-devotion of
this handful of young soldiers were the admiration of both armies.
The battalions now marching toward Princeton were all
similarly reduced. The Rhode Island and Virginia regiments
had been greatly depleted ; of the latter, Colonel Scott's com-
mand was but a corpoi'al's guard, while Weedon's, which was
probably the strongest battalion with the army, had less than
one hundred and forty men fit for duty.
The 1st Delaware regiment, under the brave Colonel Haslet,
also made a name for itself at the battle of Long Island, but at a
fearful cost. Its strength, which at the outset had been a full
thousand, mustered during the retreat across the Jerseys but
one hundred and five men. The time for which this command
was enlisted expired on the first of January, and most of the
officers and men returned home in the hope of securing positions
in the new continental regiments that were there forming. Six
of them, however, refused to overlook the necessities of the situ-
ation and abandon the continental army on the eve of an engage-
ment. On the night march we are describing this 1st Delaware
regiment had consequently dwindled to Colonel Haslet, Captain
HoUand, Doctor Gilder, Ensign Wilson and two privates. The
colonel was made second in command of General Mercer's
brigade which numbered all told about four hundred men. As
this spirited and distinguished young officer rode by the side of
his troops, encouraging the soldiers in their hurried march, he
376 The Story of an Old Farm.
little thought that in a few short hours, with the coming of the
dawn, he would be called upon to lay his young life on the altar
of his country.
The only mounted force then with the army was the 1st
Troop of Philadelphia light-horse, commanded by Captain
Morris. It was a militia company composed of twenty-one
gentlemen of independent fortunes, whose services during
their tour of duty were invaluable to the commander-in-chief.
They furnished him with couriers, guards, patrols and videttes,
and when discharged on the twenty-third of tFanuary Washing-
ton tendered them his sincere thanks for the effective aid they
had rendered the army. With each discharge was a testimonial
which asserted that though the members were gentlemen of
wealth they had shown a noble example of discipline and sub-
ordination, and in several actions had manifested a spirit and
bravery which would ever do honor to themselves, and be grate-
fully remembered by their chief.
Among the artillery that was jolting and rumbling over the
stumps and frozen ruts on this cold January night was a New
Jersey command known as the ^' Eastern Battery" of state troops,
which a month before had been assigned to Colonel Procter's
artillery regiment in Greneral Knox's brigade. Early in the war,
owing to the exposed situation of New Jersey, and to its lying
between the two prominent cities that were likely to be the
strongholds of the enemy, it was found necessary to organize a
force for the protection of the inhabitants. These troops were
volunteers from the county militia, and were known as '^ New
Jersey Levies " and " State Troops." Though primarily intended
for home protection, they were required, when called upon, to
serve beyond the borders of the state. The first organization of
these lines authorized by the provincial congress were sta-
tioned in the eastern and western divisions of the state. Among
the officers of the Eastern Battery were Captain Frederick Fre-
linghuysen and Second-Lieutenant John Van Dyke. This bat-
tery did excellent service on the banks of the Assunpink and at
Trenton on the morning after Christmas. Its men also won the
commendation of their general for the manner in which they
served their guns at the battles of Princeton and Monmouth.
Lieutenant Van Dyke of this command was a native of Eliza-
The Battle of Princeton. 377
bethtown, and his war experiences were rich and varied in char-
acter. When the time of service of this New Jersey battery-
expired he became an officer in Colonel Lamb's artillery regi-
ment of the New York line. While taking a short sea voyage,
when on a furlough owing to illness, he was captured by the
enemy and spent some time on the prison ship, "Jersey." He was
one of the officers who walked with Andre to the gallows, and
his pen has furnished us with a very full account of the incidents
of that unhappy expiation.
Captain Frelinghuysen retired from the artillery in May,
1776, being succeeded in the command of the battery by
Captain Daniel Neil, which officer, like Colonel Haslet, was
now marching to his death. Frelinghuysen was still with
the army and participated in this Princeton surprise, hav-
ing in November been appointed brigade-major on the staff of
Greneral Dickinson of the New Jersey militia. He was cam-
paigning in a familiar country, having graduated from the college
of New Jersey six years before at the early age of sixteen.
There were other " Princeton men " with the continental troops,
among them Surgeon Benjamin Rush of the class of 1760, and
Colonel Joseph Reed — a native of Trenton — whose parchment
was dated in 1757. The latter was a member of Washington's
military family. Doctor Rush, who was a well-known physician
of Philadelphia, was serving as a vokmteer surgeon with the
Pennsylvania militia. Von Moltke claims geography to be the
most important factor in the science of war. These two staff
officers, because of their local knowledge of the vicinity, are
said to have contributed greatly to the brilliant success of that
momentous winter's day, which a rising sun and this little army
were about to make historic.
The morning of the third of January was clear and cold. A
white hoar-frost sparkled and glittered on the fields, and the
branches of the trees were gemmed with buds of ice. Soon
after daybreak the people in the vicinity of Princeton were
awakened by the noise of musket-shots. File-firing commenced
pattering like drum-beats, followed by a regular fusillade of
platoons j then came the roaring of cannon. The citizens soon
discovered that war in its full flower was at their very dooi's.
General Mercer with his brigade, which on nearing the town.
378 The Story of an Old Farm.
had been detached from the main column, came upon the British
advance at Samuel Worth's mill, near where the King's highway
crosses Stony brook, about one mile southwest of Princeton. He
would have been overwhelmed, but Washington with the conti-
nentals and militia promptly came to his support ; a sharp and
decisive engagement followed ; in less than thirty minutes vic-
tory perched upon the American banners, and the enemy, horse
and foot, were in full retreat.
I do not propose to weary the patience of my readers with an
account of this famous battle. Able historians have made us all
familiar with the miraculous escape of Washington when exposed
to a cross-lire of friend and foe ; have told over and over again
of General Mercer's having been pinned to the earth by the
fatal thrusts of British bayonets ; of how the smoke rose above
the combatants and hung in air, a clear, white, cumulus cloud, as
if weighted with the souls of those who had just closed their eyes
on the radiance of that winter morn ; of the appearance pre-
sented by the British commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood,
who in the heat of the action rode at the head of his men on a
little brown pony, with two springing spaniels playing before
him ; of Knox's training his artillery on Nassau Hall to dislodge
a portion of the 40th Regiment which had taken refuge in the
college building ; and of the many other incidents crowded
within the short space of time occupied in completely routing
the British forces. Taking into consideration the number of
troops engaged, no action during the war was so fatal to Ameri-
can officers. One general, one colonel, three captains, one lieu-
tenant and an ensign were killed ; but then, as has been learned,
officers were so numerous in this little army that even in so short
an exposure to the enemy's fire that number of casualties was
fairly to be expected. All told, the American loss was but
thirty, while the British left one hundred dead on the field and
nearly three hundred men in our hands as prisoners, including
fourteen officers. Fifty of the captives were sent into Pennsyl-
vania, the rest being brought along with the army.
Among the enemy's fatally wounded was a young Scotchman,
William Leslie, a son of the Earl of Leven and a captain in the
17th Regiment of foot. He was of a military line, being a descend-
ant of that old Earl of Leven who was a soldier under Gustavus,
Captain Leslie's Death-Wound. 379
and who at the battle of Marston Moor boldly rode at the head
of his tough Scotch covenanters to oppose the cavalier troopers,
massed by the thousands under the silken standard of Prince
Rupert. It is a singular circumstance that when Captain Leslie
received his death-wound, so far from home and kindred, the
only two Americans knowing of him and his people were in the
immediate vicinity, one being in the army against which he was
contending. He fought his last battle almost within the shadows
of the walls of a college whose president, John Witherspoon,
was the lifelong friend of his parents. Before being called to
America Doctor Witherspoon had been a prominent Presbyterian
minister at Paisley, a Scottish town not far from Melville House,
the seat of the Earl of Leven. Captain Leslie's mother, the
countess, was a devout adherent to the kirk of Scotland, and had
the interests of Presbyterianism much at heart. That she might
keep informed as to its progress in America, for a number of
years after her old friend had been called to the presidency of
the college of New Jersey she continued with him a religious and
friendly correspondence, and ever held him in high esteem.
Strange as it may appear, when Leslie fell he almost at once
received aid from another friend of his parents. Surgeon Benja-
min Rush, before mentioned, had gained his medical education
at the University of Edinburgh. While in Scotland he became
acquainted with the family of the Earl of Leven. The young
student's refined and polished manners, together Avith the
peculiarly fascinating conversational powers with which he was
endow^ed, made his frequent visits to Melville House always
welcome. After his return to America he was ever held, espe-
cially by the countess, in affectionate remembrance ; this feeling-
was heightened to a tender and grateful regard by the doctor's
attention and services to her wounded son. When the heat of
the engagement at Princeton was over, Washington and his staff
while crossing some fallow ground discovered a party of soldiers
supporting an injured officer. Upon enquiring and learning his
name and rank, Surgeon Rush, who was in the general's suite,
thus addressed his chief: "I beg your excellency to permit this
wounded officer to be placed under my care, that I may return,
in however small a degree, a part of the obligations I owe to his
worthy father for the many kindnesses received at his hands
380 The Story of an Old Farm.
while I was a student at Edinburgh." The request was,
of course, granted ; Rush was quickly out of the saddle, and
with the aid of an orderly placed Leslie in a farmer's wagon
that was collecting the wounded. The young soldier at once
received surgical treatment, and every care and attention was
bestowed on him until his . death, which occurred during the
following afternoon.
The Americans had no cavalry to follow the fleeing enemy,
and the foot soldiers were in anything but a condition for pursuit.
After the fight Washington was sorely tempted to push on to
New Brunswick in the hope of securing the British stores. It
was impossible, owing to the condition of his men ; for much of
the past thirty-six hours they had been marching and fighting,
many of them had had neither breakfast nor dinner, and the
entire army were completely exhausted. He was thus forced to
seek the hill country where his victorious troops could without
molestation obtain the rest and refreshment they so much needed.
Re-fonning his column, the general pressed on along the King's
highway to Van Tilburgh's inn, at Kingston, which stood, and
until lately was still standing, on the north side of that thorough-
fare. Here, turning to the left on the narrow Rocky Hill road,
he marched his way-worn soldiers down the valley of the Mill-
stone.
The first information that Cornwallis had of the affair at
Princeton was the booming of cannon on the break of that cold
day which he had expected to devote to catching "the old fox."
He was much chagrined at Washington's escape,, but was soon
in full pursuit, the rear-guard under General Leslie, which had
rested at Maidenhead, being in the van. A stern cliase is
always a long one. Much time was lost in crossing Stony
brook, the bridge having been destroyed. On nearing Prince-
ton a cannon-shot from a small redoubt brought the British to a
halt, their generals thinking that the Americans had fortified
themselves in the town. This gun was fired by a few militia-
men who had then hastily retired, but an hour was lost before
Cornwallis discovered this, and was again on the march. Having
great fears for his military chest and supplies at New Brunswick,
he hurriedly j)assed on througli Princeton and Kingston without
learning that at the latter place his foes had filed to the left.
Marching Down the Millstone. 381
Meanwhile, let us follow Washington, who was for the first
time penetrating Somerset county. An auspicious advent !
Arrayed in the continental blue and bufi", as he sat his horse
with all that martial dignity peculiar to himself, he came as a
conqueror, welcomed by the enthusiastic greetings of the popu-
lace. The little army toiled along the east bank of the Mill-
stone, the men in high spirits over the experiences of the past
twenty-four hours, but yet, so weak from cold, hunger and
fatigue that they defiled along in dispersed order, with heavy
steps, guns carried in whatever way was easiest, and their eyes
almost glued with sleep. Many fell out by the way, and stretch-
ing themselves on the frozen ground sought that repose which
exhausted nature refused longer to await. But few of the men
were decently clad, much less amply protected from the wintry
air, while sad to relate some were without covering for their
feet. It is told that Washington while riding by the side of his
troops noticed that William Lyon, a continental soldier from
Middlesex county, was without stockings, and almost, if not
entirely, without shoes. As he trudged sturdily along, his bare
and bloody feet left their marks on the ice and gravel of the
roadway. The general, checking his horse, tapped Lyon gently
on the shoulder and said : '^ My brave boy you deserve a better
fate." " Ah," replied the plucky young soldier, " there is no
danger of my feet freezing as long as the blood runs." This
Revolutionary hero survived that hardship and many others, not
dying till 1841. Rumbling along in the midst of the column
were country carts containing that sad contingent of all victorious
armies, the wounded — poor wretches who rested wearily against
the sides of the wagon bodies, their countenances making mute
appeals for human sympathy ; some with arms in slings, some
with heads bandaged, some with limbs and jaws shattered, while
others lying in the straw were pale and wan, with eyes fast
glazing.
Much of interest appertaining to this march to Morristown is
to be learned from the manuscript diary of Captain Thomas
Rodney of the Dover light-infantry, which is preserved by his
descendants. This officer's company was embodied into a regi-
ment with the four companies of the Philadelphia light-infantry,
under the command of tke senior captain, George Henry. When
382 The Story of an Old Farm.
the van of the American army reached the bridge which then
spanned the Millstone in front of the residence of Christopher
Hoagland, near Griggstown, British cavahy appeared in consider-
able force on the opposite bank. Just then the condition of Wash-
ington's men was such that he desired neither to pursue nor to
be pursued, so, riding forward, he ordered Rodney to halt and
break up the bridge. The captain recites that on this being done
the enemy were forced to retire ; this would lead one to suppose
that the river's depth at that time was much greater than now, as
the present volume of water would hardly prove a bar to the pas-
sage of mounted men. Commissaries were sent forward to notify
the inhabitants of the coming of the troops, and to direct that food
be prepared for their refreshment. It is said that this demand
met with a fair response, and when the army at dusk reached
Somerset Court-house — Millstone — where it encamped for the
night, a considerable number of rations were in I'eadiness.
Washington and some of his staff quartered at the residence
of John Van Doren, just south of the village ; the house is still
standing, as is the barn in which the general's horse was stabled.
Mr. Van Doren's military guests were not always of so distin-
guished a character. Some months later it was soldiers of the
enemy that took possession of this old homestead. Upon their
approach the men of the household thought it wise to disappear,
but old Mrs. Van Doren pluckily stood her ground and defied
the intruders. She refused to give up her keys or tell where
the family treasures Avere secreted, whereupon the brutal sol-
diers, after ransacking the house, hung her up by the heels in
the cellar. After their departure she was released by her neigh-
bors, but not until black in the face, and almost lifeless.
During the night many laggards came into camp, and in the
morning the column was again pushing northward, crossing the
Raritan at Van Veghten's bridge, near the present Finderne
railway station. Here, as Rodney states, Washington was again
tempted to march on New Brunswick, but realizing that his
troops must have repose he finally abandoned the project. Mov-
ing up the river, at Tunison's tavern — now Fritt's — the army
filed to the right and continued over the hills to Pluckamin,
which, place was reached during the afternoon. The wounded
were distributed in the houses of the village ; the Lutheran
A Great Day for Pluck amin. 383
church as a temporary prison received the captured men, while
in the Matthew Lane house — now owned by John Fenner, Jr. —
it is said that the thirteen captured officers were placed under
guard. Poor Leslie was no longer a prisoner, his soul having
taken flight while the wagon, in which he and other wounded
men were carried, was descending the hill below Chamber's
brook, at the outskirts of the village. The troops encamped on
the bleak hillside just south of Pluckamin, the top of which, as
Rodney writes, was covered with snow. Torn with the shock
of conflict, weak from need of nourishment, and enfeebled by
cold and exhaustion, this place of security, together with the
prospect of rest, was most grateful to the little army. Commis-
saries had been busy ; within a few hours the camp was pretty
well supplied with provisions, and before the drums beat tattoo
nearly one thousand men, who had been unable to keep up on
the march, rejoined their commands. When the darkness of
night closed aromid Pluckamin mountain, the ruddy glow of
camp fires shone among the trees near the foot of its northern
slope. The flames, flashing up, illumined groups of soldiers,
stacks of arms, and tethered horses ; near by, baggage- wagons,
caissons, and cannon were parked in military lines, while here
and there the shadowy forms of sentinels could be distinguished.
There is no such comfort as fullness and warmth after cold and
hunger. It was not long before most of the tired men were full-
length at the foot of the trees, forgetting the travail of a soldier's
life in needful sleep.
Sunday the fifth of January was a great day for Pluckamin.
The news of Washington being in Bedminster had rapidly
spread, and while it was yet early, on the roads and lanes lead-
ing to the village numerous parties of country people could be
seen, all hurrying to visit the soldiers and learn for themselves
the latest news of the campaign. Throughout the entire day the
place was astir with an animated multitude, and excitements of
all kinds rided the hour. Squads of infantry and artillerjanen
were everywhere. Farmers' wagons laden with provisions came
rolling in from the neighborhood of Peapack, Lamington and the
vaUey. Stern, brown-visaged officers, in heavy boots and tar-
nished uniforms, were mounting here, dismounting there, and
clattering through the streets in every direction. Foraging
384 The Story of an Old Farm.
parties were being dispatclied ; couriers and express messengers
rode off in hot haste ; horses neighed, men shouted, and on all
sides Avere hand-shakings and congratulations. The martial
instinct of the people seemed alert ; eyes sparkled and all hearts
beat quickly. Every little while brought new arrivals of coun-
try people, and the details of the famous victory must be gone
over again and again. Although the war was yet young the
soldiers had plenty to tell of marches and comiter-marches, of
camp life and bivouacs, of attacks, routs, wounds and hard-
ships. And then the new-comers were carried off to the
Lutheran church, which was surrounded by a cordon of sentinels.
And through its doors and windows, what a brave show ! — two
hundred and thirty British soldiers ; broad-shouldered, big-
boned Scotchmen, stalwart grenadiers, and dragoons brilliant
with color — caged lions, who looked with gloomy stares upon
the inquisitive and rejoicing Americans, whom the experiences-
of the past few days had taught them to better appreciate as
soldiers and freemen.
And so the day wore on ! Everywhere were motion and con-
fusion. Eoff's tavern kept open table, and on its porch' conti-
nental and militia officers of all grades mingled. It was cling-
clang ! ding-clang! all that Sunday on the anvil of the, village
forge, for from sunrise to the gloaming honest John Wortman
and his brawny assistants were busy with hammer, sledge, and
tongs, shoeing army horses and repairing army wagons. "Cap-
tain Bullion," too — John Boylan, Pluckamin's first storekeeper —
was robbed of his usual Sunday quiet, being obliged to expose
his wares for the benefit of impatient soldiers and visitors. Sur-
geons hurried from house to house, drums beat for guard-mount,
subalterns marched reliefs to the different sentry-posts, and the
din of war was in the very air. Amid the bustle and animation,
in fancy, I can see Aaron Malick, clad in his Sunday breeches
of blue cloth, his red waistcoat with flapping pockets showing
from under an amply skirted coat adorned with metal buttons.
He had come down from the "Old Stone House" with the hope
of learning something of his boy John, but that poor lad was
still in the grip of Provost Cuningham, and knew nothing of the
happy close of a campaign which had commenced for him rather
ingloriously. In after years Aaron often told of the aspect Plucka-
The Burial of Captain Leslie. 385
rain presented on those memorable days when it was occupied by
the heroes of Trenton and Princeton. He especially delighted in
reminiscences of the generals whose names grew gj'eater as the
war progressed — of Greene, tall and vigorous, with the air of
one born to command ; of Sullivan, alert and soldierly ; of Knox,
whose broad, full face beamed with satisfaction ; but, above all, of
the conspicuous figure of Washington, who seemed a king among
men as he moved amid the throng, with high-born eye, lofty but
courteous port, and a calm, strong face reflecting a mind full of
the tranquillity of conscious power. Tradition mentions the
Fenner house, before referred to as still standing, as having been
the headquarters of the commander-in-chief. He spent much of
the early part of this Sunday in preparing his report of the battle
of Princeton, and of the movements of the army since crossing
the Delaware. Upon the completion of the dispatch, Captain
Henry was detailed to carry it at once to congress at Philadel-
phia ; this left Captain Rodney, as next senior in rank, in com-
mand of the light-infantry regiment.
Visitors to Pluckamin on that eventfid Sunday were treated to
an unexpected affair of ceremony. About midday a detachment
of forty men from Rodney's regiment marched into the village,
and drew up in line with its centre ojDposite the entrance to the
building in which lay the dead body of Captain Leslie — proba-
bly Eoff's tavern. The young British officer was about to be
buried with the honors of war, the light-infantry being selected
as escort because of their soldierly appearance and superior uni-
form. The detachment was commanded by Captain Humphries,
it having been turned over to him by Rodney, who had not con-
sidered himself sufficiently familiar with the details of a burial
ceremony. At the beat of muffled drum and wail of fife the
men presented arms, as the corpse was borne from the house to
the flank of the line. The escort then broke into column of
fours, and, reversing arms, marched in slow time and with
solemn step to the Lutheran churchyard, where they filed to the
left, forming in line opposite an open grave which had been dug
near the head of that of Johannes Moelich.
There were wet eyes and true grief at that sepulchre, for
Doctor Rush was not the only mourner present. Among the
citizens and military clustering about the bier were the captured
25
386 The Story of an Old Farm.
British officers, whom Washington had generously permitted to
be present in order that they might bid a final adieu to a com-
rade in arms who had been much beloved. And then the solemn
hush was broken by the deep voice of the chaplain, saying, " I
am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord." As the
simple service continued, the body of the young warrior slowly
descended to its gravelly bed, the troops, meanwhile, resting their
bent heads on the butts of their muskets, the muzzles being
pressed to the ground. When the icy clods fell on the rude cof-
fin the escort fired three volleys over the open grave, and then,
shouldering arms, marched away, the drums and fifes striking up
a lively tune on reaching the highway. The prisoners were
returned to their quarters, the croAvd dispersed and again contri-
buted to the village tumults, leaving Leslie to sleep in his remote
and retired tomb until its deep silence shall be broken by a maj-
estic reveilh, ushering in that eternal day which shall proclaim
the full brotherhood of man, and in which such distinctions as
friend and foe shall be no more, forever.
Captain Rodney tells us that these high military honors were
accorded because of the desire of the American army to pay
" due respect to bravery, tho' in an enemy." Leslie's gallantry
in action at Princeton had won the admiration of his opponents ;
indeed, this may be said as of the entire 17th British regiment. In
the height of the engagement, Washington, on witnessing the cour-
age and discipline of this command, could not forbear exclaiming
to his officers, " See how those noble fellows fight! Ah! gentle-
men, when shall we be able to keep an army long enough
together to display a discipline equal to our enemy's ?" The
attention of Surgeon Benjamin Rush to the son of his friends in
Scotland did not end with the funeral. He marked the grave
with a brown headstone inscribed : —
In memory of the Hon. Captain William Leslie of the 17th British Regiment,
son of the Earl of Leven in Scotland. He fell .January 3d, 1777, aged 26 years,
at the battle of Princeton. His friend Benjamin Rush M.D. of Philadelphia,
caused this stone to be erected as a mark of his esteem for his worth, and respect
for his noble family.
This headstone stood for nearly sixty years before it suc-
cumbed to the gnawing tooth of time. About the year 1835
Professor John D. Ogilby of Rutgers college, when in Scotland,
Doctor Benjamin Rush. 387
was requested by the then Earl of Leven to find and, if neces-
sary, re-mark the grave. Upon the professor's return to America
he applied to the writer's father for information as to where the
officer was buried. Together they visited Pluckamin and had
the present stone set up, reproducing the original inscription.
This soldier's grave is a connecting link between our quiet
Somerset village and the busy life of one of the most gifted
Americans of the last century. When Doctor Rush died at the
age of sixty-eight, few men in the United States were better
known, were held in higher esteem for genius and learning, or
were more sincerely beloved for philanthropy and good works.
When at Pluckamin with Washington's army he was thirty-one
years old, his Princeton degree having been gained at the early
age of fifteen. In person he was above middle stature, with a
slender but well-proportioned figure. His combined features
bespoke a strong and an active intellect, and though his whole
demeanor was thoughful and grave, expressive blue eyes
illumined a highly animated countenance. Doctor Rush was a
man of wide and varied knowledge, with a talent for imparting
it to others that was singularly felicitous. It is claimed that no
one long remained in his presence without feeling conscious of
an intellectual refreshment ; and a contemporaneous writer has
recorded that ''his conversation was an attic repast, which, far
from cloying, invigorated the appetite of those who partook of
it." This distinguished surgeon must have left Pluckamin
immediately after the burial of Captain Leslie, as on the follow-
ing day he dated a letter from Bordentown, and on the same
afternoon was summoned and went to Princeton to attend upon
the dying General Mercer.^ Before the end of the month he had
taken his seat in congress, which was then sitting at Baltimore.
His figure soon became a familiar one to Somerset people, as in
April he received the appointment of surgeon-general of the
hospital in the middle department, and in July was made physi-
cian-general of the army.
Another interesting incident connected with the stay of the
army at this time in Pluckamin, was the arrival in camp of the
gallant Captain John Stryker's troop of Somerset horse, laden
with spoils from the enemy. Cornwallis in his hurried march
toward New Brunswick was so unfortunate as to disable a num-
388 The Story of ax Old Farm.
ber of his baggage-wagons. He left them at the side of the
road in charge of a quartermaster with a guard of two hundred
men. Captain Stryker, though having with him but twenty
troopers, resolved upon the capture of these stores. In the dark-
ness of night he distributed his small force in a circle, completely
surrounding the camp. The guard were suddenly astounded by
a volley of musket-shots and the whistling of bullets, while from
under the black arches of the bordering trees came loud and
repeated shouts, as if from a countless host. Demoralized by
recent defeats the men incontinently fled, thinking that they had
been attacked by a large force of the Americans. Their fright
was not so much caused by the roar of musketry as by the
imearthly veils of the lusty troopers which so suddenly broke the
stillness of the night. Captain Stryker was not long in so repair-
ing the wagons that they could be hauled to a place of safety ;
he lost no time in making his way^ to Washington's camp with
his treasures. The joy of the troops was unbounded when it was
discovered that the wagons contaLned woollen clothing, of which
the men stood in sore need.
Early on the morning of the sixth of January, Pluckamin lost,
as suddenly as it had gained, the distinction of being the head-
quarters of Washington's army. Soon after sounding reveille
the drums beat assembly, and the men were under arms. The
different commands filed out of camp, and forming into column
passed through the village, taking up their line of march north-
ward. Our oft-quoted diarist has given us the formation. A
small advance-guard led the way, followed by the-humbled Eng-
lish officers ; then came the light-infantry regiment, swinging
along in column of fours ; next, the prisoners, marching in a
long thin line and flanked by Colonel tdward Hand's Pennsyl-
vania riflemen. This young officer — he was then thirty-two —
always presented a tine military appearance, as he had a splen-
did figure and was considered one of the best horsemen in the
army. He was an Irish surgeon who had settled in Pennsyl-
vania in 1774. At the outset of the Revolution, abandoning his
profession, he offered his services to the country. He served
with credit during the war, attaining the rank of brigadier-gen-
eral, and in later years was a member of congress and filled
other honorable civic positions. After the riflemen rode
Washington Marches Through Bernards. 389
the doughty and intrepid Knox, sitting squarely on his horse,
and followed by his artillery brigade as the yan of the main
column. Distributed alongside the extended line were the
mounted general and staff officers.
Eested and refreshed, it was probably the most peaceful and
satisfactor}^ march experienced by the continental army since
leaving Hackensack, three months before, with Comwallis at their
heels. We may presume that precautions to guard against
surprise were not considered necessary ; it is not probable that
squads of men were thrown out on the flanks, or that scouts and
skirmishers ranged far in advance. Secure from pursuit, the
little army in good heart trailed slowly along the narrow road,
breaking in upon the country quiet with rattle of scabbard and
snort of charger, with champ of bit and jingle of harness, with
rumble of baggage and gun wagons, and the crunch on the frozen
ground of thousands of marching feet. On reaching Peter
Melick's farm at the '' Cross Roads," the advance turned to the
right. Passing over the north branch of the Raritan river the
army climbed the Bernards hills, awakening the echoes of their
shaggy woods with the imaccustomed sound of drum and bugle.
With frequent halts the column moved on through yealto■s^^l
(Bernardsville) and New Vernon, until just before sunset it
reached Morristown, where we, after having piloted Washington
and his men in safety through Somerset county, may leave them
to go into winter quarters.
I
CHAPTER XXVII.
Washington's Army at Morristown in the Winter and Spring
of 1777— The " Old Farm " on a Military Thoroughfare.
In ringing up the curtain on the next act of our local drama, a
scene is disclosed very different from any heretofore shown on
these Bedminster boards. In life, as on the mimic stage, start-
ling and unexpected changes are not only always in order but
frequently come as unannounced surprises. And so it is with
the era we have reached in telling the story of the " Old Farm."
Its familiar environment of country quiet is transformed — its
accessories are all of a different pattern. In the place of the fir
tree and the myrtle have come the thorn and the bramble ;
ploughshares and pruning-hooks have literally been beaten into
swords and speai's. Though war and rumors of war had now
long been rife, its alarms and incidents had not been a portion
of the daily life of this agricultural communit}'.
When Breeds' Hill trembled under its cannonade Bedminster
repose was not disturbed, and when the battle of Long Island
raged, the family in the ^' Old Stone House " was affected
thereby only as it touched its members personally in their love
of country, or in their anxiety for those engaged in the conflict.
Even when the tide of combat, crossing the Hudson, rolled over
the level plains of the Jerseys, and the American army, sullen
and dispirited, fell back to the Delaware before an exultant
enemy, Bedminster was too far distant to have the spell of war
overturn its usual routine of existence. At times during the
month of the year just gone its rural calm had been broken by
military turmoil, as, for instance, when Sullivan came marching
throug-h with Lee's division. But such occasions had not been
Washington at the Old Stone House. 391
many, nor for long, and the homesteads, fields, and folds had
quickly relapsed to their accustomed quiet. Now, however, all
this was to be changed, and the beat of drum and blare of trum-
pet were to become familiar sounds. The " Old Farm "
bordered a military thoroughfare, for in establishing the Ameri-
can camp at Morristown for the winter other cantonments had
been located in the south, east and west. There was constant
going and coming between the different posts, and the highways
and by ways .were alive with soldiers. Farmer-lads on their way
to mill with sacks of corn athwart their horses' backs, rode cheek
by jowl with spurred and booted troopers, and listened with
open-eyed wonder to their warlike tales. The rattle of farm-
wagons was supplemented by the heavy roll of artillery trains,
and squads of infantry were met at every hand.
At this time many a continental officer whose name now
ornaments the pages of history dismounted at the " Old Stone
House" for rest and refreshment, or for a draught from the deep
well of its flanking dooryard, whose waters then as now had
great repute, the wide country 'round. This dwelling lays no
claim to the possession of a bed upon which Washington has
slept ; exhibits no chair upon which he has sat ; or table at
which he has dined ; but it is fair to presume that more than
once its walls have reflected that august presence. As at that
time this house ranked among the most important of the town-
ship it is not probable that the commander-in-chief could always
have passed it by. His papers and correspondence show him to
have been that winter constantly on the road, visiting the differ-
ent outposts and making the acquaintance of the country and
people. We shall, therefore, not be charged with trespassing
beyond the boundary line of possibility, when, in fancy, we see
him giving a dignity and grandeur to the homely interior of the
old house, as he stands, erect, serene, majestic, before the great
fireplace in the living-room. He is questioning Aaron, perhaps,
as to the character of some of the inhabitants thereabouts, or
receiving at the hands of Charlotte a hospitable mug of cider or
a cup of cream ; while the family and friends look with love and
respect upon the illustrious man who has retrieved the honor of
the country, and won the approbation and esteem of every grate-
ful American.
392 The Story ob^ an Old Farm.
Washington had great fondness for horses. Having from boy-
hood been at home in the saddle he presented when mounted a
singularly graceful appearance. During the winter and spring
of which we are now writing he was frequently seen trotting
along the Bedminster highways, accompanied by members of
his staff and a small guard. A chronicler thus describes his
impressions, received a few years afterwards, on unexpectedly
coming upon the general riding over the Somerset hills : —
As I walked on, ascending a liill suddenly appeared a brilliant troop of
cavaliers. The clear sky behind them equally relieved the dark blue uniforms,
the buff facings and glittering military appendages. All were gallantly mounted
— all were tall and graceful, but one towered above the rest. I doubted not an
instant that I saw the beloved hero. * * * Although all my life used
to the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, to gay and gallant
Englishmen, the tartaned Scot, and the embroidered German of every mili-
tary grade, I still think the old blue and buff of Washington and his aids, their
cocked-hats worn sidelong, with the union cockade, their whole equipment, as
seen at that moment, was the most martial of anything that I ever saw.
And we may readily believe that the inhabitants looked with
delight on these chance meetings Avith the commander-in-chief.
Since the affairs of Trenton and Princeton his praises were in
everyone's mouth and he was fully believed to have established a
reputation for generalship miequalled in that age. As the years
have gone by, this verdict has stood the test of time — not with
Americans only, but with the w^orld at large. V<m Bulow the
German, Botta the Italian, Walpole the Englishman, Guizot,
the Frenchman, have all aided in building for him a temple of
immortality.
We may suppose that Aaron journeyed frequently to Morris-
town during the winter ; visitors were made very welcome at the
American camp, especially if they brought supplies. Farmers
soon found that they had an excellent market near at home, and
that commissaries were eager to pay fifteen cents for beef, forty-
five cents for butter, and eight shillings for geese and turkeys.
The main part of the army lay in the Lowantica, or Spring,
valley, which stretches from Morristown toward Green Village.
The camp was laid out on what have since been known as the
Treadwell and Muchmore farms. The main street of this mili-
tary village, which was about eighty feet wide and bordered
with large officers' tents, occupied the slope just west of the
The Country Jubilant. 393'
dwelling of the late A. M. Treadwell. It was well graded and
used as a parade-ground, a large liberty-tree being planted in
its centre. On parallel streets, about forty feet wide, were the
soldiers' huts built in blocks of four or five together, and, in
addition, there were log store-houses and large cabins for the use-
of sutlers and commissaries. Both officers and men were in
splendid spirits, and the sentiments of all had undergone a mar-
vellous change, an almost jubilant confidence having taken the
place of the despondency of the close of the year. As Washing-
ton wrote to Governor Cook, on the twentieth of January : —
Our affairs here are in a very prosperous train. Within a montli past, in
several engagements with the enemy, we liave killed, wounded, and taken pris-
oners beween two and three thousand men.
A week later he wrote in the same strain : —
Our affairs at present are in a prosperous way. The country seems to enter-
tain an idea of our superiority. Recruiting goes on well, and a belief prevails
that the enemy are afraid of us.
It was even so ! The pendulum of public opinion had
swung to the other extremity of its arc. The people expected
that the American army, small in numbers, poorly clad, badly
fed, and with but little training, would prevail against Howe's
well-appointed force of veteran soldiers. Strange as it may
appear, this expectation was not altogether without realization.
That at times the Americans did successfully cope with the
enemy, and that, though often suffering privations hitherto almost
unknown in the annals of warfare, they continued to harass the foe^
and ultimately triumphed, can largely be charged to the fact of
superior generalship. In addition, the extent and variety of the
country, with its inimical population and alert militia, made a
British success barren of results. There always remained an
army — though a ragged one — in the field. It was not like
European fighting where often one great action woidd be decisive
and end the war. As General Greene wrote at this time : —
We cannot conquer the British force at once, but they cannot conquer us at all.
The limits of the British government in America are their out-sentinels.
Tolstoi claims that the real problem of the science of war is to
ascertain and formulate the value of the spirit of the men, and
their willingness and eagerness to fight. The Russian author is
394 The Story of an Old Fakm.
right. Could this always be done it would often be found that
large armies, thorough equipment, and perfection of discipline do
not always carry with them assurances of successful campaigns.
Greater than these, greater than the genius of generals, is that
element of personal spirit pervading the contending forces. Our
own Revolutionary struggle is an excellent exemplification of
this fact. The English soldiers had but little enthusiasm for the
work they were called upon to do, — the subsidiary troops, none
at all. The Americans, on the contrary, animated by a spirit
that had the force of a religion, were ever ready and willing to
meet the enemy — ever ready to dog their heels, harass their
flanks, and fall upon their outposts. For liberty and their native
land they were ever eager to fight in battalions or in small
parties, as guerillas or as individuals. British soldiers, however
well disciplined, were no match for American citizens who were
fighting to avenge burned homes, ravaged families, and an
invaded soil.
Washington's headquarters in Morristown were at a tavern,
which, together with the old court-house with its wooden cupola
and shingled sides, faced the village-green, now an open com-
mon. This tavern was kept by Jacob Arnold, who was well
known as the commander of a troop of Morris light-horse. It
occupied the present site of Marsh and Hoffman's large brick
building. The original structure was removed in 1886 to Kim-
ball avenue, where reconstructed and modernized it is still to be
seen. At the outset of the war Morristown had but about two
hundred and fifty inhabitants, and the most of its property was
owned by the Johnes, Hathaway, Doughty, Ford and Condict
families. Its two church edifices, Presbyterian and Baptist, on
the arrival of the American army, were converted into hospitals,
in which use they continued for about eighteen months. The
Presbyterian congregation was forced to worship, even in the
cold weather, in the open air, assembling in an orchard in the
rear of the old parsonage on Morris street. It was in this his-
toric grove that Washington partook of communion,- after being
assured by parson Johnes that " Ours is not the Presbyterian
table but the Lord's table, and we hence give the Lord's invita-
tion to all his followers of whatever name."
The commander-in-chief appointed the light-infantry to be his
MoRHiSTOWN Camp in 1777. 395
personal guard, reqairing twenty-six men to mount sentry around
the Arnold tavern. That this guard might always be within a more
convenient distance than was the general camp, the entire regi-
ment was installed about one mile away, in the large Ford man-
sion, now the well-known " Headquarters." General Greene quar-
tered with a Mr. Hoffman, whom tradition mentions as a good-
natured man, whose charming wife was a great lover of the clergy.
It is said that Mrs. Hoffman was often perplexed with doubts and
difficulties on religious questions raised by the general's aides,
especially by the merry, restless, witty Major Blodget. Early
in January Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Knox and other ladies joined
their husbands in camp ; after that, the officers of the army knew
many comforts and not a few pleasures. Visits were exchanged
between hospitable, blazing hearthstones, merry sleighrides were
enjoyed over the snow-covered Morris and Somerset hills, there
were dinners at the different generals' quarters, little dances
were frequent, and occasionally a subscription, ball — or assem-
bly, as it was termed — was given. The latter affairs put
the rural as well as the army society agog, invitations being
extended in the neighborhood. These moi'e important dances
were held in a large room over the commissary's store-house,
which faced the square, and which after the war was converted
into the Morris Hotel.
There were occasions of sorrow in camp as well as of gladness.
A few days after the army reached Morristown, Colonel Daniel
Hitchcock of Rhode Island, who. had fought and marched under
Washington from the outset, fell a victim to the fatigues and
exposures of the campaign. This officer was a graduate of Yale
college, and few gentlemen in the army excelled him in talents
and ability. At Assunpink and Princeton he commanded a
brigade of five regiments, and after the latter action Washing-
ton warmly pressed the colonel's hand, while expressing his
approbation of his conduct and of the behavior of his command.
On the eleventh of January Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr. of Morris-
town, who had commanded a regiment of New Jersey ^' State
Troops," died of lung fever, the result of a severe cold con-
tracted in the service. His command had been with the Ameri-
can army in the retreat from the Hudson. On reaching New
Brunswick Washington detached General Williamson with the
396 The Story of an Old Farm.
militia battalions of Colonels Thomas of Essex, Symmes of Sus-
sex, and Ford of Morris, ordering them in the direction of the
Short Hills and Morristown, to cover that portion of the country
and to prevent, as far as possible, marauding bands of the enemy
from harassing and plundering the inhabitants. Soon after this,
General Williamson and Colonel Thomas retired from the army,
whereupon on the twentieth of December Maxwell was dis-
patched to Morristown to take command of the troops there.
His orders directed him to harass the enemy, supply the com-
mander-in-chief with information, and to do what he could to
prevent the people from seeking British protection. His force
was composed of the Sussex, Essex and Morris battalions, and the
regiments of Colonels Clreaton, Bond and Porter, (about five
hundred men), which, while marching through New Jersey under
Gates, had been halted at Morristown. On the thirty-first of
December Colonel Ford, while parading under Maxwell at the
head of his command, was attacked by a sudden illness. He was
borne off" by two soldiers and put to bed, from which he never
arose. Colonels Hitchcock and Ford expired much lamented ;
they were buried with military honors. Captain Rodney's light-
infantry company acting as escort, for the same reason as had
caused its selection for the funeral of Captain Leslie at Plucka-
min. Jacob Ford, Sr., the father of the colonel, also died on the
nineteenth of the same month.
General and Mrs. Washington were much attached to each
other, and, so far as was possible, avoided long separations.
Greene, in writing at this time to his wife, says-: —
Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Bland, from Virginia, are at camp, happy with their
better halves. Mrs. Washington is extremely fond of the general, and he of her ;
tliey are ha[>py in each other.
It was the custom of the commander-in-chief to despatch an
aide-de-camp each winter to escort his wife to headquarters.'
Her arrival was a noted event, and her plain chariot, with neat
postilions in scarlet and white liveries, was always welcomed with
great joy by the army. After the war Mrs. Washington used
to say that she nearly always had heard the first and last cannon-
firing of each campaign. Mrs. Ellct, in her " Domestic History
of the Revolution," states that on this, Mrs. Washington's first
visit to New Jersey, she was met by her husband some distance
Mrs. Washington at Morkistown Camp. 397
from camp, probably at Pluckarain, he having come from Mor-
ristown for that purpose. The lady at whose house the general
awaited the arrival of his wife was much astonished, when the
carriage stopped, at seeing a so plainly dressed woman descend.
She at first thought her to be a servant, but the idea was soon
dispelled by seeing Washington hasten to aid her in alighting,
and by noticing the tenderness of his greeting. After satisfying
himself as to her health and the comforts of the journey, his first
inquiries were for the favorite horses he had left at Mount
Vernon.
This was a time for ladies of monumental head-gear and exceed-
ingly elaborate toilets ; but Mrs. Washington was very quiet in
her tastes, and except on occasions of ceremony, always dressed
with much plainness. In many respects the £rst lady of the
laud afforded an excellent example to the women of America.
Lossing depicts her at home. as looking after every detail of the
household, going about with a bunch of housekeeper's keys
depending from her waist, and personally directing her many
servants. While at Morristown, one day a number of the ladies
of the village called npon her. Considering the occasion one of
great importance and wishing to create a favoi'able impression,
they arrayed themselves in their best gowns. One of the ladies,
in her old age, gave the Reverend Doctor Joseph F. Tuttle, Mor-
ristowjo's historian, the following account of their visit : —
We were dressed in our most elegant silks and ruffles and so were introduced
to her ladyship. And don't you think we found her with a speckled homespun
apron on, and engaged in knitting a stocking ! She received us very handsomely
and then resumed her knitting. In the course of her conversation she said very
kindly to us, while she made her needle fly, that American ladies should be pat-
terns of industry to their countrywomen. * * * We must become indepen-
dent of England by doing without those articles which we can make ourselves.
Whilst our husbands and brothers are examples of patriotism we must be exam-
ples of industry !
" I declare," said one of the visiting ladies afterwards, " I
.never felt so rebuked and ashamed in all my Ufe." Mrs. Wash-
ington used to entertain Mi's. Neilson, Mrs. Wilson, and other
intimates of Morristown camp society with accounts of her home-
life, and how there were always sixteen spinning-wheels going.
She showed the ladies two morning dresses which had been made
in her own house from ravellings of an old set of satin chair
398 The Stouy of an Old Farm.
covers. This material was carded, spun, and woven with cotton
yarns, in alternate stripes of white cotton and crimson silk.
Mrs. Neilson was the wife of Colonel John Neilson of the Mid-
dlesex militia, one of the most active of New Jersey's sons of the
Revolution. At the advent of the British he was driven from
New Brunswick, his Burnet street residence being seized for
the headquarters of General Howe. While her husband was
serving with his regiment Mrs. Neilson spent the winter at Mor-
ristown ; so highly was she considered at headquarters that she
was always given a seat at the dinner-table next to that of Mrs.
Washington. Mrs. Wilson was a yoimg and beautiful woman,
the wife of Captain Robert Wilson of the New Jersey line who
was wounded at Germantown, and who died at the early age of
twenty-eight. Her father, Charles Stewart, of Landsdowne, near
Clinton in Hunterdon county, was on Washington's staff. He
had commanded the 1st Regiment of New Jersey minute-men,
and in 1776 entered the family of the commander-in-chief as
commissary-general of issues, which position he retained through-
out the war. General Washington and his wife were warmly
attached to General Stewart, and were often his guests at his
spacious mansion at Landsdowne, on the banks of the south
branch of the Raritan river.
Life has many sides. Mrs. Washington must have appre-
ciated this to the full, in the strong contrasts presented by her
alternate experiences of quiet home life at Mount Vernon, with
its comforts and luxuries, and of the excitements, discomforts and
dangers incidental to camp life each winter. - She, however,
always gladly braved the latter in order to enjoy her husband's
society, and that she might aid him by counsel and consultation
in the care of his distant estate. In the accounts which Wash-
ington presented to the United States in July, 1783, and which
comprehended his expenditures for eight years, the following
entry appears : —
To Mrs. Washington's travelling expenses in coming to and returning from my
winter (jiiarters for act. rendered. The money to defray which being taken from
my private purse, and brot with her from Virginia. £1064.10.
The general doubted at first the propriety of making what
appeared on its face to be a charge of a private natui*e ; but
after consideration he decided that the claim w^s a just one, inas-
American Successes Eakly in 1777. 399
much as the exigency of public affairs had prevented his making
an annual visit to Mount Vernon, which self-denial resulted in
much personal loss. It is almost unnecessary to say that in con-
gress no voice was raised against the payment of this item.
The buoyancy of feeling pervading the community was much
enhanced during the month of January by a series of military
successes. Mention has already been made of Captain Stryker's
troopers having captured valuable stores, after putting to flight
a force of the enemy ten times their number. On the seventh of
the month General Maxwell, with a considerable body of conti-
nentals and militia, fell suddenly upon Elizabethtown, capturing
fifty Waldeckers and forty Highlanders, and making a prize of a
schooner loaded with baggage and blankets. About the same
time a detachment surprised Spanktown — Rah way — driving out
the enemy and securing a thousand bushels of salt. On the
twentieth of January a foraging party of the enemy came out
from New Brunswick to obtain flour from the mills on the Mill-
stone. They were attacked with great spirit at what is known
as Weston bridge by four hundred Jersey militia and fifty Penn-
sylvania riflemen, who completely routed the enemy, killing and
wounding a number, making nine prisoners, and securing forty
wagons and nearly one hundred English draught-horses. The
attacking party was led by General Philemon Dickinson, a zeal-
ous officer who commanded all the New Jersey militia, and who
during the war won for himself much renown.
These many satisfactory enterprises, coming so soon after the
affairs of Trenton and Princeton, still further increased public
confidence. Washington deemed it expedient to take advantage
of this prevailing sentiment by endeavoring to counteract the
effect of the Howes's exemption proclamation. He consequently
issued a counter one, directing all persons who held British pro-
tection papers to deliver them at headquarters or some other
designated point, and there take the oath of allegiance to the
United States. Thirty days from the twenty-fifth of January
were allowed in which to do this, and those failing to comply
within that period were required to withdraw themselves and
their families within the British lines. Probably it was at this
time that Peter Melick experienced his second change of heart
toward the American cause, for he certainly remained in New
400 The Story of an Old Farm.
Jersey, and we hear nothing more of his disaftection. With
detachments of the American army lying on his north, south and
east, and with squads of continental soldiers passing and repass-
ing almost daily on their way to and from the various posts,
Peter could not have highly valued his British protection papers,
and doubtless was glad enough to recover the good opinion of
his neighbors by again ranging himself on the side of those who
supported the government. The result of this order was much
as Washington had anticipated. Some citizens in the vicinity of
Elizabethtown, New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, unable to
resist the dominating influence of the proximity of the English
army, adhered to their belief in the uselessness of continuing the
contest, and, therefore, were forced to abandon their homes.
But the majority of the inhabitants, now feeling seciu'e in the
protection afforded by American arms., were very ready to disa-
vow their recent submission to the emissaries of the Crown. This
was particularly the case in Somerset and Morris, and for the
rest of the war tories were few and silent in those counties.
All this time the British were quiet within their lines, and
seemed content to await warmer weather before undertaking
further operations. This gave to the Americans a much-needed
opportunity for recuperation and for recruiting a new army, the
terras of the enlistments for the old one, which had been for a
single year, having expired. Meanwhile it was necessary that a
close watch should be ke})t upon Howe's force lest he should
steal unawares in the direction of Philadelphia, or of Burgoyne's
northern army. For this purpose different cantonments were
established extending from the Highlands on the north, under
Heath, to Princeton on the south, mider Putnam. This last
general's command of about six hundi'ed men served as a corps
of observation. During the winter and spring the gracefvU figure
of Putnam's chief aide was often seen galloping across the
country ; and more than one Somerset maiden learned to look
with fluttering heart and mantling color for a passing smile from
the dangerously handsome Major Aaron Burr. If Dame Rumor
wags a truthful tongue, this young staff officer was not always
content with paying a passing tribute to rural beauty. What-
ever ambitions, worthy or otherwise, may have attacked this
extraordinary man in civil life, they do not seem to have
General Greene at Basking Ridge. 401
affected his military career. The major wrote to a friend from
Princeton on the seventh of March that he was well contented,
neither expecting nor desiring promotion, and, as he expressed
it, '' 1 am at present quite happy in the esteem and entire con-
fidence of my good old general." During the few months that
Putnam was stationed at this point he was very active in scouring
the country, and he took from the enemy nearly one thousand
prisoners and about one hundred and twenty wagon-loads of bag-
gage and other booty. Sullivan's command lay in the vicinity
of Scotch Plains, from which place he constantly sent out scouts
to watch and report on the movements of the foe, and Dickinson,
with the Jersey militia, did the same service in the vicinity of
Somerset Court-house — now Millstone. General Lincoln, with
a considerable force, guarded the Raritan ford at Bound
Brook. A block-house or fortification was erected near the
mouth of Bound Brook creek, on ground now occupied by the
station of the Lehigh Valley railroad ; an earth-work connected
it with the river. Lincoln quartered with Peter Williams at the
east end of the village, whose dwelling was the most pretentious
in the place, and the only one that could boast of two storeys. It
stood where now is the lower crossing flag-station of the Central
railroad.
To be within easy support of these various posts, in February
Greene's division moved down to Basking Ridge, where it
remained until the opening of the next campaign. " Great
men," says the hero worshipper, Carlyle, " taken up in any way
are profitable company." If General Nathanael Greene was not
great he at least did great things, and not the least, by any means,
of his achievements was his having so educated himself as to rise
in a few years from a very ordinary social plane to be the friend
and companion of Washington, and from a private in a Rhode
Island company to the rank of major-general in the American
army. The personality of Greene made a strong impression on
the people of Somerset. Vigorous in mind and body he was ever
actively alert in behalf of the cause for which he had drawn his
sword, and was much beloved by his friends while feared by his
foes. Being enterprising and full of resources, he was con-
sidered as dangerous as his chief, and Cornwallis is reported to
have said that he never felt secure when encamped in his neigh-
26
402 The Story of an Old Farm.
borhoocl. In case of Washington's death it was generally
admitted by the country that Greene of all others was most fitted
for the chief command.
At Basking Ridge this general's headquarters were at Lord
Stirling's handsome residence, where Lady Stirling and her
attractive daughter, Lady Kitty, made most agreeable hostesses.
At this time this manor-house was the seat of hospitality, refine-
ment and luxury ; great sociability prevailed, and many fi'iends
were welcomed with old-fashioned heartiness. There was no lack
of excellent society in the neighborhood. The Presbyterian
clergyman. Doctor Kennedy, was a man of education and good
breeding whose friendship was sought by all. The home of the
distinguished Mr. Southard was near by, and, in addition, many
exiles who were socially prominent had found secure retreats
among these Bernard hills. On the main road, a little below
the church, John Morton of New York had established himself
on a farm recently purchased. His dwelling was spacious, and
as it was filled with furniture, silver, books, pictures and mirrors
it made an imposing and attractive homestead. The young people
of this household proved to be an interesting addition to the vicin-
ity, as they were engaging in manners and appearance, and
intent on making the most of their enforced seclusion. One of the
daughters became the wife of the celebrated Josiah Quincy of
Boston, and the eldest son, Jacob, after the war won an honor-
able place at the New York bar. His younger brother, Wash-
ington, distinguished himself in 1797 by running off with, and
marrying, Cornelia Schuyler, Mrs. Hamilton's sifter ; — doing it,
too, with all the appropriate melodramatic touches and features
properly incidental to such an affair, including midnight, moon-
light, a rope ladder, and a hasty flight on horseback. On Mr.
Morton's farm a hospital was located, which continued there for
two years, its doctors, Tilton, Stevenson, and Coventry adding not
a little to the neighborhood's social coterie. Half a mile away
Elias Boudinot of Elizabethtown had established his family in
two farm-houses, and his sister, Mrs. Hatfield, was not far off
with her family. Mr. Boudinot's only daughter, Susan, a charm-
ing girl of twelve, was frequently at the great house as the guest
of the ladies Stirling. This young girl was the apple of her
father's eye. He thus speaks of her in a letter to General
Society at Basking Ridge in 1777. 403
Lincoln, dated ''Elizabethtown, Oct. 5, 1784," — " This moment
I arrived here, on my way to Philadelphia, accompanying my
little ewe lamb to the city, having given her away to a certain
Mr. Bradford." This ''ewe lamb" in her twentieth year mar-
ried William Bradford of Pennsylvania, afterwards attorney-
general of the United States. He died in 1795, but his widow
sm'vived, so I have heard, until 1854.
Altogether,- we may imagine that Greneral Greene and the
young men of his staff discovered that their lines had fallen in
very pleasant places when they found themselves domesticated
in a family made up of intelligent, cultivated and elegant women.
To the historical student old letters are highly interesting, as
they often throw powerful side lights on, and bring into clear
relief, scenes and incidents of much interest. They restore a
dead past to a warm, breathing present, and their value is the
greater because of their writers having been ignorant that they
were contributing to pages of history or biography. So it is that
in a letter written by Greene to his wife, from Basking Ridge,
we obtain a glimpse of social life at the Stirling mansion, and are
introduced to Governor Livingston's daughters who must have
contributed largely to the pleasure of the general and his aides
while they quartered with the household. He writes : —
They are three young ladies of distinguished merit, sensible, polite, and easy.
Their manners are soft and engaging; they wish to see you here, and I wish it,
too ; but I expect long before that happy moment to be on the march toward
Philadelphia.
When the British overran Union county Governor Livingston
was forced to abandon his Elizabethtown residence, Liberty
Hall. While he was here, there, and everywhere, serving the
state and aiding Washington, his family spent the winter with
Lady Stirling, who was Governor Livingston's sister. In the
spring the governor established a home on a farm at Parsippany
to which he could retreat when necessary. But even there,
several unsuccessful attempts were made by refugees to capture
the chief-magistrate, for whom a standing reward was offered by
the enemy. The Livingston young ladies were exceedingly
popular, and highly considered by the best people of that day,
their many physical and mental graces often acting as social oil
upon the troubled waters of that turbulent time. Their exper-
404 The Story of an Old Farm.
iences during the war, both while visiting the array as the guests
of Mrs. Washington, and while at home in Elizabethtown, were
of the most varied character. On one occasion Susan, the second
daughter, by her cleverness, aided perhaps by her personal
charms, was the means of preserving her father's most valuable
papers ; this was at a time when a marauding band of the enemy
were ransacking Liberty Hall. She was considered a wit in
Revolutionary circles, and many of her bright sayings have been
preserved ; the following would show that British, as well as
American, officers enjoyed her society and appreciated her
humor. It was in New York, at the time of the evacuation,
that in conversation with Major Upham, one of Lord Dor-
chester's aides, she expressed the hope that the English would
soon depart ; " for," said she, '* among our incarcerated belles the
scarlet fever must rage till you are gone." The major cleverly
replied that he feared the ladies would be tormented by a worse
malady, the " blue devils." After the war Susan married John
Cleves Symmes, who had been colonel of the 3rd Battalion,
Sussex militia, but who resigned on the twenty-third of May to
accept appointment as associate-justice of the Ncav Jersey
supreme court. Her oldest sister, Sarah, who was decidedly the
beauty of the family, had, long before, married John Jay, and
was a social star in Philadelphia society during her husband's
presidency of congress, and also at the French and Spanish
capitals while Mr. Jay was his country's representative abroad.
The governor's youngest daughter, Kitty, married Matthew
Ridley of JJaltimore, and he having died, she in 179G became
the wife of John Livingston of Livingston Manor.
To return to the continental army ! For this year, 1777, mat-
ters were at the lowest ebb in February ; at one time in that
month it is claimed that fifteen hundred men could not have been
mustered in Washington's camp. But this condition of affairs,
which the enemy happily did not discover, rapidly mended. As
the spring advanced the force at Morristown was gradually
augmented by recruits who had been enlisted for the ncAV army
])y tlic different states. The second establishment of eighty-
eight battalions, of which the New Jersey quota was four, had
been authorized by congress in the preceding September. New
Jersey's first battalion was in readiness in December, and the
General William Maxwell. 405
three others in February and April. They were brigaded under
General William Maxwell, who had commanded the 1st Sussex
regiment. This brigade formed part of Major-General Adam
Stephen's division which lay during the spring and early sum-
mer in the vicinity of Elizabethtown, Rah way, and Bound Brook.
The enlistment of this establishment was for the war, and while
hostilities lasted the New Jersey line was an important element
in the continental army and did most excellent service. Before
the end of May in 1778 a new organization was established
whereby the New Jersey battalions were reduced to three, this
being made necessary because of the ranks having been deci-
mated by battle and disease. Maxwell continued in command
until July, 1780, when he resigned, being succeeded by Colonel
Elias Dayton of the 3rd New Jersey regiment, who remained at
the head of the brigade until the troops were discharged on the
third of November, 1783.
General William Maxwell's memory and reputation are worthy
of a higher place in history than they have attained. We find that
now the names of other Revolutionary generals are better known
and more highly considered, whose services to the country did
not equal in importance and value those of the brave command-
ant of the Jersey line. This to some extent is due to the fact of
his correspondence and all biographical material having been
lost just after the Revolution when his house was destroyed by
fire. Maxwell early made the acquaintance of Washington,
having campaigned with him in Braddock's unfortunate expedi-
tion. Throughout the French and Indian wars his services as
an officer of the provincial troops were noteworthy, and he bore
himself Avith honor under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. In
1776 he was chairman of the Sussex county committee of safety
and colonel of the 1st Sussex battalion of militia, in which Johan-
nes Moelich's son Andrew commanded a company. He early
attained the rank of brigadier-general in the continental line,
and so conducted himself during the war as to win in an eminent
degree the special regard of Washington. He died in 1796 in
his sixty-third year, and lies buried within the shadows of the
walls of the First Presbyterian church of Greenwich in Warren
county.
By the last of April the army rejoiced in the possession of new
406 The Story of an Old Farm.
muskets of a uniform pattern, two vessels having arrived from
France bearing twenty-four thousand stand of arms. In that
month there reached camp a man who had already won golden
opinions as a soldier, and who was destined to do yet greater
things for the country. This was Colonel Daniel Morgan, who
appeared at the head of one hundred and eighty stalwart rifle-
men, a command that was afterwards recruited to a regimental
standard, and known as the Ilth Virginia or '' Morgan's Rangers."
This officer -was long of limb, possessed great strength and mus-
cular activity, with a face which, though scarred by an ugly
woimd received in the old J'rench and Indian war, plainly
indexed a character full of inherent strength, good humor, hon-
esty and self-reliance. He was a Jerseyman, having been born
in Hunterdon of Welsh parentage in 1736. He early left home
to seek his fortime, and finding his way to Virginia became a
teamster. As such, Morgan with his own wagon and horses
accompanied Braddock on his unfortunate expedition. This
made him a soldier, for his military instincts soon caused him to
exchange the reins for a musket.
How time avenges one ! After the fall of Yorktown, Morgan,
then a brigadier-general, was invited to dine with some of the
captured British officers at Winchester, who were in his charge.
In conversation with Captain Samuel Graham — afterwards
Lieutenant-General Graham — the American officer playfully
remarked that the British still owed him a lash from a whip.
On being asked for an explanation, he told of his having driven
a wagon in the early years of the French and Indian war ; for
some grave irregularity he was sentenced by court-martial to
receive five hundred lashes. He got but four hundred and
ninety-nine, as he counted them himself as they fell, and after-
wards convinced the drum-major, who wielded the whip, of his
mistake. Private Morgan's bravery in 1758 secured for him an
ensign's commission from the governor of Virginia. At the out-
break of the Revolution he raised in that colony a company of
ninety-six young marksmen, all skilled in woodcraft, and with
them joined the army that assailed Quebec. He proved a brave
and an adroit fighter, winning even British enconiums for the
courage displayed in the assault. After the wounding of Arnold
he was captured, and so marked had been his conduct in that
Colonel Daniel Mokgan. 407
affair that the enemy offered him a command, which he indig-
nantly declined. After eight months' captivity he was
exchanged, and, as we have seen, joined Washington's army.
Thenceforward he shared in the hardships of every campaign
until the summer of 1779, when his shattered health forced him
to resign. When the unhappy tide of war, flowing southward,
rose to a flood in the Carolinas, and Gates exchanged his north-
ern laurels for the willow of defeat at Camden, Morgan again
offered his services to the country. As " General Morgan " he
became Greene's most trusted lieutenant, and in January, 1781,
he covered himself and the southern array with glory, while win-
ning the battle of Cowpens without the aid of a single piece of
artillery. The " old wagoner" fulfilled the promise he made his
men " that he would crack his whip over the head of Ben Tarle-
ton in fhe morning as sure as he lived."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Continental Army in Somerset County in the Spring and
Summer of 1777 — Scenes and Incidents at Bound Brook
and Middlehrook — British Efforts to March to the Dela-
ware Defeated.
There was fighting at Bound Brook on Sunday, the thirteenth
of April. Early that morning General Lincoln was surprised,
and narrowly escaped capture w^ith his entire force. This officer,
while a brave soldier and estimable in private life, was more
than once singularly unfortunate in his military enterprises.
Bancroft characterizes him as being heavy of mould and inert of
will ; he was certainly caught napping at this time, for his
patrols must have been improperly placed or thoroughly ineffi-
cient.
The enemy, four thousand strong, advanced in three divisions
under Generals Loi'd Cornwallis, Grant and Matthews, with Count
von Donop in command of a body of Hessians and yagers. The
troops marched from New Brunswick at nine o'clock on Satur-
day night, and the expedition was conducted with so much
secrecy that but few of the inhabitants knew of their departure
until Sunday morning. One division crossed the Raritan at
Van Vegh ten's bridge — Finderne, one at Raritan Landing, and
the third in front of Bound Brook. It is said that the Brit-
ish, in marching, avoided the roads ; at all events they reached
the American outposts, and there lay on their arms till daylight,
their proximity entirely unsuspected. On Sunday morning
long before breakfast the garrison of the block -house were
greeted by a rattle of musketry, and a rain of ball clattering
against the wooden walls of their stronghold. Two divisions of
the enemy had simultaneously charged the town, while the third
Fighting at Bound Brook. 409
appeared on the opposite bank of the river. Before such an
advance there was nothing to do but give way. Greneral Lin-
coln, whose troops did not number one quarter those of Corn-
wallis, had no opportunity of forming his men, and barely time to
get in the saddle and order a hasty retreat ; indeed so close was
the foe that one of his aides fell in their hands before he could
mount his horse. Some desultory, defensive firing was con-
tinued for a time by a portion of his troops, but eventually they
fell back to the mountain in the rear of the town, with the loss
of two pieces of artillery and sixty men killed, wounded, and
prisoners. Among the missing were Lieutenants Ferguson and
Turnbull of Colonel Procter's 4th Artillery regiment, both of
whom were well known and liked in the vicinity of Bound
Brook. The latter was killed, but, later on, Ferguson was dis-
covered to be among the captives ; he was not exchanged until
December, 1780, and eleven years afterwards was shot dead in
the battle of Maumee, under St. Clair, where as major in the
regular army he commanded a battery of artillery.
This sudden onslaught of the British filled the Bound Brook
villagers with dismay, and, as panic-stricken as the troops, they
deserted their homes and sought safety in flight. When the fir-
ing ceased and the smoke cleared away, the enemy found no one
to dispute with them the possession of the place ; its only occu-
pants were a dead soldier stretched in a pool of blood on the
blockhouse floor, with a few more of the slain and some of the
wounded lying singly or in heaps on the streets and in the
adjoining fields. Considerable booty was secured, comprising a
quantity of arms, two wagons loaded with ammunition, several
horses, and about one hundred head of cattle and sheep. In
addition, several hundred barrels of flour were destroyed,
together with a lot of whiskey, rum, and other stores that the
continental army could just then but illy spare. General Greene
hurried to Lincoln's support, but Basking Ridge being twelve
miles distant, it was after midday before his division reached
Bound Brook ; by that time the enemy had evacuated the place,
and retired to Raritan Landing A detachment was at once
despatched to hang on their rear ; that night this pursuing party
surprised the British pickets, killed one officer and seven privates,
and brought away sixteen prisoners. Greene, in writing to his
410 The Story of an Old Farm.
wife of the excitements and incidents of the day, related that he
had dined in the same house at which Generals Cornwallis and
Grant had breakfasted in the morning. This was the Van
Home mansion, still to be seen on the turnpike adjoining Middle
Brook on the southwest, and of which there will be more to tell
hereafter.
The villagers on returning to Bound Brook with the troops
looked with rueful eyes and loud lamentations upon the devasta-
tion perpetrated by the soldiers during their short stay. Imme-
diate steps were taken to restore order and repair damages ;
help and comfort for the troops at least, soon coming from the
outside. At two o'clock Lord Stirling wrote from Basking
Ridge to General Lincoln : —
It has just occurred to me that a little refreshment for yonr men will be no
disagreeable acquisition to you; I have therefore ordered 60U lbs. of beef, three
barrels of flour, and twenty gallons of rum to be sent you instantly. I have
ordered Dr. Barnet and Dr. Boylan at Boylan's tavern to care for any wounded
men you may send there. Whatever you may stand in need of let me know and
I will endeavor to supply it.
Surgeon William M. Barnet was of the 1st New Jersey regi-
ment, second establishment, which had but recently been
organized. Doctor Boylan was a son of John Boylan the Pluck-
amin storekeeper, and his practice being in the vicinity of
Basking Ridge he was probably Lord Stirling's family physi-
cian. This affair at Bound Brook caused much concern to the
commander-in-chief; it showed conclusively that the post was
one of exposure and danger, and great anxiety_ was felt lest a
second attack should be attended with even more disastrous
results. It had been hoped that an advance on the enemy might
be made to advantage, but after Greene had reconnoitred
their position and examined the condition of the American posts
it was deemed unwise to make the attempt. It appeared that
the British were massing troops in Piscataway township, and
fears were had that some stroke was in contemplation. On the
nineteenth of April, Greene in a letter to Lincoln giving the
results of his reconnoissance writes as follows : —
His excellency wishes you to keep a good look out. He tliinksthat the cannon
with you are in a dangerous situation and will in a great degree be useless if the
enemy make an attempt to surprise you. He tlierefore wisiies you to send them
•to Morris Town immediately and only consider Bound Brook an advance Picjuet.
General Benjamin Lincoln. 411
The general thinks you had better order all the stores back between the first and
second mountain and draw your daily supplies from there.
The letters of General Greene and Lord Stirling both express
the kindest feeling towards Lincoln, and they fairly typify the
sentiments with which that general was universally regarded by
his brother officers. He was respected as a man of ardent patri-
otism and heroic courage, and although his vigorous and usually
judicious military efforts were as a rule requited by the frowns
of fortune, he never lost his popularity or the confidence of the
army, congress and the commander-in-chief. He had been a
farmer until over forty years old at Hingham, Massachusetts, and
all he knew of the soldiers' art before the war was gained as a
militia officer. At the outset of the Revolution, after serving in
the provincial congress and as one of the committee of corres-
pondence he was appointed major-general by the council of Mas-
sachusetts, and in October, 1776, at the head of the militia of
his state joined the main army at New York. He soon displayed
great ability as a commander, which, together with his upright
character and undoubted merit, induced Washington to recom-
mend him to congress, whereupon in February, 1777, that body
created him a major-general on the continental establishment.
Though his inherent qualities and superior powers were pro-
nounced, his military misfortunes Avere proverbial. At Bound
Brook, at Stillwater, at Savannah and at Charleston, misadven-
ture followed him. He was certainly of importance in promot-
ing the capture of Burgoyne, but unhappily was deprived of
sharing in the glories of the capitulation, having a few days
before received a painful wound, which obliged him to retire to
Albany, and from the effects of which he never wholly recov-
ered. Lincoln's spotless reputation remained imtarnished even
after he had lost Charleston and the southern army, and in Octo-
ber, 1781, after conducting himself with credit before Yorktown,
where he received the submission of Cornwallis's army, congress
■chose him to be secretary of war. The general was long remem-
bered at Bound Brook as an erect, broad-chested man, having a
frank, open countenance, with an aspect rather venerable and
benign. His indefatigable perseverance and unconquerable
energy won the citizen's admiration, and, though genial by nat-
ure and easily approached, his mere presence invariably pro-
412 The Story of an Old Farm.
voked respect. It is said that, always himself correct and chaste
in conversation, none dared when with him to indulge in profan-
ity or in levity on serious subjects.
There was another arrival from Virginia that spring at Mor-
ristown, which excited great interest. It Avas that of Brigadier-
General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, who had left New Jer-
sey in 3 772 as an humble Lutheran clergyman. He was warmly
welcomed by the Germans of the New Jersey hill-country, but
they found it difficult to grow accustomed to his continental blue
and buff and military trappings. So much glitter and sheen
seemed a strange metamorphosis from the modest canonicals of
their old German pastor ; but it was the same man, Avith the
same great affections and merry heart, that had left them five
years before, and he found many friends who delighted in his
return. We may be sure that the general went out of his way
to visit his old parishioners living in the Bedminster stone house.
He could not have had other than pleasing remembrances of his
past intimacy with Aaron Malick, who had been an active and
leading member of his congregation, and two of whose children
he had baptized. From these circumstances we may fairly
fancy the warm reception extended to the parson-soldier as his
burly form darkened the doorway of the living-room, and his
hearty tones called down, in the good old German pastoi-al fash-
ion, blessings on all in that house.
The attachment felt by the people of Zion and St. Paul's con-
gregations toward their former rector was not only because of the
faithfulness with which he had ministered his holy calling; he
had endeared himself to them by the sympathy and affection
with which he had entered into all their daily affairs. While
ever ready to sorrow when they sorrowed, ho was equally quick
to rejoice in their happiness. He was a part of their life — of
their pleasures as well as of their pains. With them he fished
the streams, with them he roamed the hills for game ; he could
dance as well as pray, and no festive occasion was complete
without his presence. Evidently this clergyman's Christianity was
not of the gloom}' kind. In his visit to London, after leaving
New Jersey, he did not hesitate to enter in his journal that he
and a brother minister had visited the theatre to see David Gar-
rick. The reason of his going abroad was the necessity of
General Peter Muhlenberg. 413
obtaining ordination from an English bishop, as in Virginia the
rector of no denomination could enforce the collection of tithes
unless regularly ordained.
When Muhlenberg reached his parish in the Old Dominion, *
his personal qualifications and high character soon won from his
new people the same love and respect that he had enjoyed from
those of New Jersey, and it was not long before his popularity
throughout the entire valley of the Blue Ridge was unbounded.
By his skill with the rifle he shot his way into the affections of
many a frontiersman, and his love of hunting brought him the
companionship of not a few of the leading men of that hunting-
loving province — among them, Patrick Henry and Washington.
With the latter he often explored the mountains with horses,
hounds and horns in search of deer, and it is said that in the
use of his favorite weapon he found himself the peer of his
illustrious companion. The friendship thus formed proved last-
ing, and was probably largely influential in transforming the
country parson into a Revolutionary soldier. Muhlenberg
became the political as well as the religious leader of the Ger-
mans in the colony. He was untiring in his endeavors to
quicken the patriotic impulses of his people, and when the clouds
of discontent and apprehension began to darken the political
horizon the prominent whigs of Virginia found in him a most
important and valuable ally. He was made a member of the
Virginia convention, became the chairman of the committee of
correspondence for his county, and in December, 1775, was com-
missioned as colonel of the 8th Battalion — known as the German
regiment. When bidding good-bye to his congregation in Janu-
ary, 1776, at the close of his sermon he announced that he
believed with Holy Writ that there was a time to preach and a
time to pray, but that those times had passed away ; then, with
increased emphasis, he cried out with dramatic fervor that there
was also a time io fight! and that that time had now arrived ! —
thereupon he suddenly threw off his gown, and stood before his
people in the full uniform of a continental colonel. At a signal,
drummers, who had been stationed outside the door, beat a stirring
march, and Muhlenberg, displaying a list, solicited recruits.
Nearly three hundred German Lutherans enrolled their names,
infusing into his regiment an element which caused it to be dis-
414 The Story of an Old Farm.
tinguished throughout the war for bravery and discipline. In
February, 1777, Colonel Muhlenberg was appointed a brigadier-
general, and, being assigned the 1st, 5th, 7th and 13th Regiments
of the Virginia line, was ordered to report to Washington at
Morristown. Later his old regiment, the 8th, joined his brigade,
which with General Weedon's formed Greene's division. One
need have but a slender acquaintance with Revolutionary history
to be familiar with how ably this soldier of the Cross served his
country as a soldier in the field; how well he proved the truth of
the sentiment he had expressed in the peroration of his farewell
sermon — that there was a time to pray and a time to fight ; and
how equal he always was to the requirements of either occasion.
As the spring advanced, the British were displaying more
activity in their camps, and an important movement was evi-
dently in contemplation. At New Brunswick they were con-
structing a portable pontoon bridge, and in many ways their
operations indicated an intention of soon attempting the passage
of the Delaware. Washington deemed it wise to post his army
in a stronger position so as to be better able to check the enemy
in any overland endeavor to reach Pennsylvania. He selected
the heights in the rear of Bound Brook, or Middlebrook, and
directed that an encampment should be laid out on the side of
the hill below Chimney Rock, to the right of the gorge through
which Middle brook descends. Under the new establishment the
immediate force of the commander-in-chief was forty-three regi-
ments from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia and
Maryland. The brigades, of which there were ten, were under
Generals Muhlenberg, Weedon, Maxwell, Wayne, Smallwood,
Woodford, De Boore, De Haas, Conway and Scott. There were
five divisions of two brigades each — commanded by Major-Gen-
erals Greene, Sullivan, Stirling, Stephen and Lincoln. On the
nineteenth of February congress had promoted Stirling, Stephen
and Lincoln, and had made brigadiers of Colonels Wayne, Muh-
lenberg, Weedon, Woodford and De Haas. The muster-rolls
showed the army to contain eight thousand three hundred and
seventy-eight men, of whom but one hundred and eighty were
cavalry. This made an average brigade strength of but little
more than eight hundred rank and tile. Of this small force
upwards of two thousand were sick, leaving less than six thous-
Camp Middlebrook in 1777. 415
and men fit for active service, one-half of whom were raw
recruits who had never met the enemy.
On the twenty-third of May General Greene, and Colonel
Clement Biddle the commissary-general, reached Camp Middle-
brook, and the necessaiT orders were immediately issued for
withdrawing the troops from the different outposts and massing
them at that place. On the twenty-fourth the regiments began
to come in, and laying out the encampment was regularly com-
menced. In following Revolutionary paths through this portion
of New Jersey we often come upon the footprints of Colonel
Biddle. He was a Philadelphian, and had been a member of
the Society of Friends, but when the war cloud gathered his love
of liberty and country proved greater than the inherent devotion
to peace which is generally considered to be the paramount
feature of Quaker natures. Because of taking up arms he was
read out of meeting, and Mrs. Biddle for supporting his course
was subjected to the same discipline. In the quartermaster and
commissary departments, he was a most faithful officer from
July, 1776, till September, 1780, and his services were highly
appreciated by Generals Washington and Greene. Mrs. Biddle
supported her husband's course in deed as weU as in word, and
formed one of the little coterie of ladies whose society so often
made Revolutionary camp life attractive.
On the twenty-seventh Washington made a preliminary exam-
ination of the new position and its vicinity, and on the follow-
ing day moved with the main army from Morristown to Middle-
brook. And now the troops were finally disposed so as to guard
against surprise, and to deceive the adversary. Putnam was
relieved by Sullivan, who, with an augmented force of fifteen
hundred men, posted himself in the neighborhood of the Sour-
land hills to act as a menace to any advance-guard that the
enemy might send forward. Maxwell was stationed on the left, and
small guards w^ere posted at Millstone, Pluckamin, Quibbletown
and Westfield, and the mountain gap at Steel's tavern and other
passes were fortified. Colonel Morgan, with his rangers was posted
as an outguard at Van Veghten's bridge. He was instructed to
keep small scouting parties in the vicinity of the. roads leading
from New Brunswick to Millstone and Princeton, and in case of
discovering bodies of the enemy moving in those directions he
416 The Story of an Old Farm.
was to Ml upon and gall their flanks. Morgan probably quar-
tered with Derrick Van Veghten, a patriotic old gentleman
whose better acquaintance, later on, we shall have the pleasure
of making. And now we find Washington biding his time,
watching from his eyrie for every sign or incident indicating on
the part of the enemy an intention to advance. Meanwhile both
officers and men found plenty to do ; earth-works were thrown up,
cannons so mounted as to sweep the plain below, huts and store-
houses erected, and much time was devoted in endeavoring to
transform raw recruits into something approaching disciplined sol-
diers. Commissaries were soon flying around among the farm-
ers, and for some weeks to come Middlebi'ook camp was an
excellent market for sheep and cattle. Farm-kitchens and cel-
lars were ransacked for cider vinegar — then considered a sover-
eign remedy for camp fever, which was found to prevail in some
brigades, produced by a too continuous flesh diet. The supply
soon became exhausted, and a substitute was made with rum,
molasses and water, a little flour being added to produce fermen-
tation So, two weeks or more passed away, until the army was
just beginning to wonder whether Howe purposed summering on
the Raritan, when suddenly the campaign opened.
On the morning of Sunday the fourteenth of June the inhabi-
tants of Franklin township were made acquainted with the pict-
orial eftect of war to an extent not before enjoyed — if such a
word can be used in speaking of a display made by an enemy.
All through the previous night, along the Amwell road and along
the road following the west bank of the Raritan,. had been heard
the hollow tramp of marching men — the rumbling of artillery —
the sound of countless hoof-beats — the blast of bugles — and the
sharp tones of military command. At daybreak rank upon rank
of soldiers with guidons and pennons fluttering were seen sweep-
ing along these highways and occupying the country that inter-
vened between Millstone and New Brunswick. Everywhere
were troops, and still troops ] They stood in compact masses —
they bivouacked in the fields — ^the eye swept down long lines of
color and along ranks of glittering steel ; the rising sun, flashing
on helmets of brass and batliing royal standards proudly floating
over well-equipped battalions, illumined a scene unusual indeed
for Somerset people. This was no army formed of men, hungry,
The Pictorial Effect of War. 417
tattered, worn-out by the marches they had made, but a well-
fed, gaily apparelled force, strong with the refreshment of long
quiet. Here were Anspachians and Waldeckers, the first,
sombre in black leggings and dark blue uniforms, the second,
gaudy with many hues and tricked out in foreign finery. There,
a regiment of Scotch, stalking by as if on their own breezy
highlands, national and picturesque in bare knees, flowing kilts,
and tartaned bonnets. Neat, graceful English grenadiers offered
a complete contrast to the more heavily-accoutred Grerman foot-
soldiers ; while sturdy Hessian yagers with yellow housings and
dangling scabbards, and squadrons of British dragoons in all
the splendor of glint and color, added to the brilliancy of the
picture. Such soldiers seemed only to need the word of com-
mand to make their way to the Delaware or to any other point
to which they might be ordered. *
On the night of the thirteenth. General Howe, leaving two
thousand men at New Brunswick, marched, nearly fifteen thous-
and strong, in the direction of the American camp. The army
moved in two divisions, one, under De Heister, along the
Amwell road through Middlebush, the second, under Corn-
wallis, along the river road, filing to the left at the cross-road
rmniing into it three miles from New Brunswick. In the morn-
ing the troops came to a halt with the right of the army at Mill-
stone, while the left rested on the river. This was indeed an
advance in force. There no longer seemed any reason for ques-
tioning that the objective point was to be Philadelphia. But
the British general, profiting by past experiences, was wary, and
his first desire was to cripple the American army. So, instead
of marching southward and exposing his flanks, he presented
his front to Washington, hoping that the American general would
come down from his stronghold and give him battle.
Naturally the question suggests itself, — why did Howe, hav-
ing twice Washington's force, hesitate to push on directly to the
Delaware I Several excellent reasons operated on the mind of
the British general. Had his successor, Sir Henry Clinton, on
leaving Philadelphia the following year weighed the conse-
quences equally well, he would not have lost on the march to
Sandy Hook two thousand men. It must be remembered that
the roads running towards the Delaware were narrow and in
27
418 The Story of an Old Farm.
many places bordered with trees, offering excellent ambuscades^
and affording opportunities for the militia to pursue a guerrilla
warfare, at which they were becoming adepts. Should be have
moved in one column on a single road the narrowness of the way
would have prevented a marching formation of over four files
front. An army of fifteen thousand men with its batteries, bag-
gage, and supply-trains, even if kept continually closed up,
would stretch out at least six miles. Such a force, however,
could not be prevented, owing to stoppages and accidents, from
lengthening, so that it would be safe to say he would have been
offering to the adversary an exposed flank of over eight miles.
A forced march could not be made ; the arms and kits of the
English soldiers weighed fifty pounds, those of the Hessians much
more ; this, together with being encumbered with long trains,
would have prevented a day's march averaging more than twelve
miles. Thus five days would be consumed in reaching Phila-
delphia were the marching continuous, which was, of course,
not to be expected. The calamities that would result from such a
movement must be apparent to all — they certainly were to Howe.
With Washington hanging on his right flank and rear, — with
Sullivan, who had been largely reinforced by militia, harassing
his left flank, — Avith the entire line of march through a hostile
country teeming with an armed population, the most severe
losses would have been unavoidable. Like a scotched snake
that drags its wounded length, the army would have left behind a
trail of blood. Marching in two divisions by parallel roads
would have but divided the difficulties and invited destruction to
at least one of the columns. Howe was not willing to make the
attempt until he had beaten Washington ; after that, he proposed
to turn his attention to Sullivan, and thus clear the way for his
advance.
With the approach of the English all was stir and bustle in
the American canip. The army paraded on the hillside, pre-
pared to recefve the enemy should an attack be attempted, but
declining to abandon its strong position for the uncertainties of
an engagement on the plain below. So the adversaries con-
fronted and watched each other for five days, the British
entrenching themselves somewhat, throwing up earth-works at
Millstone and Middlebush. Meanwhile the militia flew to arms,
Washington and Howe Face Each Other. 419
and distributed in small squads made the stay of the enemy as
uncomfortable as possible. Marksmen lurked behind the trees,
or lay concealed under the fences. Unhappy the lot of the red-
coat who wandered too far from camp — the forager who straggled
too far from his party — or the picket who occupied a too extended
line. Morgan's men were also ubiquitous ; like so many wasps
they stung the foe at every turn. Joseph Clarke of the conti-
nental army, in speaking of the conduct of the militia on this
occasion, recites in his diary : —
They turned out with such a ppirit as will do them honor to the latest ages.
Never did the Jerseys appear more universally unanimous to opi)OHe the enemy;
they turned out young and old, great and small, ricli and poor. vScarcely a man
that could carry a musket was lefi at home. This soon struck a panic into the
enemy, for they could scarcely stir from their camp but they were cut off.
Howe continued to manoeuvre in front of the Americans hop-
ing to bring on a general action, but Washington was too wise to
permit his raw troops to cope witli this veteran force unless it
should be in the strong position he occupied. Some of the junior
generals, quite willing to test the mettle of the new army, were
eager for the fray ; among them Brigadier Anthony Wayne, an
officer who was full of nervous energy and who always felt
within himself the potentiality of great deeds. He urged that
at least some side-stroke should be attempted, and on the six-
teenth of June, dating his letter from Mount Pleasant, he thus
wrote to his division commander. General Lincoln : —
* The prisoners just brought in are a corporal and a private belonging to the 1st
Eeg. of foot-guards. They say there is an encampment of the enemy on this
side of Rarilan, which is confirmed by a deserter from the 28th, who says there
are still five Keg's yet at Brunswick, three on the other side of the river, and two
on this, just below the new bridge. One of them, the 26th, is very weak. Can't
we beat up their quarters before sunrise? I am confident we can, my people are
all ready to move at a moment's notice. The light horseman will await your
orders.
The commander-in-chief, however, would not permit any move-
ment to be made ; his desires were all accomplished in barring
the enemy's southern progress. On the nineteenth of June,
Howe, despairing of attaining his purposes, suddenly retired with
his array to New Brunswick. Three days later, on Sunday the
twenty-second, the British entirely evacuated that place, retreat-
ing to Perth Amboy. Greene's division, strengthened by
420 The Story of an Old Farm.
Wayne's brigade and Morgan's riflemen, had been dispatched down
the right bank of the Raritan to harass the foe in the rear. Muh-
lenberg led the advance, which circumstance offers excellent evi-
dence as to the estimation in which the parson-soldier was held
by his chiefs. In a pursuing column it is in the van, and in a
retreating force it is at the rear, that the best generals are
always placed. This expedition considerably hastened the
departure of the British from New Brunswick, its field-pieces
and riflemen causing them much annoyance. The pursuit con-
tinued as far as Piscataway without doing much damage, as the
rear of the retreating column was strongly and ably guarded by
Cornwallis. It was expected that Sullivan and Maxwell woul 
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