History of Morris County, New Jersey
To one whose own neighborhood has been the theater of events prominent in the nation's annals, the history of those events is the most interesting of all history. To the intrinsic fascination of stirring incidents is added the charm of their having occurred on familiar ground. The river is more than a volume of water irrigating its banks and turning mill-wheels more than a blue ribbon woven into the green vesture of the earth to one who knows how it has affected the course of events along its valley for a century or more, determining the location first of the Indian camp and then of the white man's village; the line, first of the red warrior's trail and finally of the railway and the canal; now the route of an army's march and anon that of a nation's domestic commerce. The road that has been traveled unthinkingly for years is invested with a new interest if found to have followed an Indian trail. The field where one has harvested but grain or fruit for many a season brings forth a crop of associations and ideas when it is understood that it was the camping ground of the patriots whose labors and endurance founded the nation. The people will look with heightened and more intelligent interest upon ancient buildings in their midst already venerated by them, they hardly know why when they read the authentic record of events with which these monuments of the past are associated. The annals of a region so famous as that of which these pages treat give it a new and powerful element of interest for its inhabitants, and strengthen that miniature but admirable patriotism which consists in the love of one's own locality.
It has heretofore been possible for the scholar, with leisure and a comprehensive library, to trace out the writ- ten history of his county by patient research among voluminous government documents and many volumes, sometimes old and scarce; but these sources of information and the time to study them are not at the command of most of those who are intelligently interested in local history, and there are many unpublished facts to be rescued from the failing memories of the oldest residents, who would soon have carried their information with them to the grave; and others to be obtained from the citizens best informed in regard to the various interests and institutions of the county, which should be treated of in giving its history.
This service of research and compilation, which very few could have undertaken for themselves, the publishers of this work have caused to be performed; enlisting in the effort gentlemen whose standing in the community, whose familiarity with local events, and whose personal interest in having their several localities fitly represented, afford the amplest guaranty for the trustworthiness of their work. The names of these gentlemen appear in connection with the sections of the history contributed by them. They have therein acknowledged the aid derived from the authorities most serviceable to them. In addition to such acknowledgments the author of the history of Chester would mention the loan of books to him by Hon. Samuel H. Hunt, and of a historical discourse by Rev. Frank A. Johnson, from which he derived his account of the Congregational church of Chester. It should perhaps be said that the authors of the city and township histories in most cases did not write the biographical sketches attached to those histories.
While a few unimportant mistakes may perhaps be found in such a multitude of details, in spite of the care exercised in the production of the work, the publishers confidently present this result of many months' labor as a true and orderly narrative of all the events in the his- tory of the county which were of sufficient interest to merit such record.
Table of Contents
OUTLINE HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY
CHAPTER I.
The Indians of New Jersey Discovery and Settlement of the State 7,8
CHAPTER II.
New Jersey under the Dutch and English Governors Slavery 8-10
CHAPTER III.
New Jersey's part in the French and ReVolutionary Wars 11, 12
CHAPTER IV.
Participation of the State in the Wars of this Century 12, 13
CHAPTER V.
Educational, Governmental and Benevolent Institutions The State Administration 13-15
CHAPTER VI.
Mineral Resources Industries Canals and Railroads Population 15,16
HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
The Indians in Possession Early Boundary Lines - The First Settlements 17-20
CHAPTER II.
The Formation of Morris County and its Division into Townships 20-23
CHAPTER III.
The Prelude to the Revolution Patriot Leaders of Morris County 22-27
CHAPTER IV.
Morris County Troops in the Continental Army 27-31
CHAPTER V.
Morris County Militia in the Revolution Incidents of the War 32-37
CHAPTER VI.
Recovering from the Revolution Morris County Men in the War of 1812 37-39
CHAPTER VII.
The Iron Industry of Morris County Early Enterprises - Forges and Bloomaries 39-48
CHAPTER VIII.
Charcoal Furnaces Pompton, Hibernia, Mt. Hope and Split Rock 48-56
CHAPTER IX.
Slitting and Rolling Mills Anthracite Furnaces and Foundries 56-62
CHAPTER X.
Iron Mines of Morris County 62-68
CHAPTER XI.
Travel and Transportation Turnpikes The Morris Canal Railroads 66-71
CHAPTER XII.
Religious and Educational Interests 71-73
CHAPTER XII.
Political Parties and Candidates Officers and Representatives 73-80
CHAPTER XIV.
Opening of the Civil War First Volunteers Ladies' Aid Societies 80,81
CHAPTER XV.
Company K 7th N.J. Captain Southard's Engineers Captain Duncan's Company,. 81-85
CHAPTER XVI.
The 11th N.J. Regiment Battles and Losses of Companies E and H 85-88
CHAPTER XVII.
The Brilliant Record of Companies C and F 15th N.J. Volunteers 88-93
CHAPTER XVIII.
History of the 27th N.J. Volunteer Infantry The Cumberland River Disaster 93-97
CHAPTER XIX.
Drafting "Emergency Men " Company K 1st N.J. Company I 33d N.J 97-100
CHAPTER XX.
The 39th N.J. Volunteers Roll of Company K List of Patriot Dead 100-102
CHAPTER XXI.
A Sketch of the Geology and Physical Geography of Morris County 102-108
CITY AND TOWNSHIP HISTORIES
VILLAGES
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
PORTRAITS
ILLUSTRATIONS
APPENDIX
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The Indians of New Jersey on several occasions became hostile to the whites, either on their own account or as the allies of tribes with whom they were on friendly terms. As in the Indian wars of later times, however, the causes of these outbreaks could usually be traced to some act of injustice on the part of the whites. Such an outbreak occurred in 1643, during the administration of Governor Kieft, in which the Hackensacks and Tappans made common cause with their neighbors in revenging some injuries that had been inflicted on them by the Dutch in the autumn of the same year. A still more serious war broke out, in which the New Jersey Indians again made common cause with those of Long Island and the Hudson River. In this instance peace was not finally concluded till the summer of 1645.
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