PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 SAel/. 
 
 Section ^TTTZ^TTT. 
 
 Number (i^J..?2 ./4rr^ 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/centennialhistOOpres 
 
James Buckelew. 
 
CENTENNIAL 
 
 Htstomcal Exercises 
 
 JAMESBURG, N.J. 
 
 1876. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 ALLEN, LANE & SCOTT'S PRINTING HOUSE, 
 
 No. 233 South Fifth Street. 
 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 History of Presbyterian Church, 5 
 
 Ground Plan of the Church, 24 
 
 History of Sunday-school, 25 
 
 Lessons from the History, 27 
 
 Centennial Sermon, 29 
 
 Fourth of July, 48 
 
 History of Jamesburg, 53 
 
pnilTCETGlI 
 i.tCStP i»t»^ 
 THSOLOGIC 
 
 HISTORY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN 
 CHURCH. 
 
 By the Pastor, Rev. B. S. Everitt. 
 
 ON Sabbath, June 25th. 1876, at 10 A. M., 
 a goodly number gathered in the lecture- 
 room for a praise-meeting. The pastor led, and 
 song, remarks, and prayer expressed gratitude 
 to God for his goodness to the church during the 
 twenty-two years of its history. Benjamin Arbor, 
 Jahu Pierson, D. Van Artsdalen, Peter Dock, and 
 J. C. Magee taking part. The prayer-meetings 
 during the week were on the word "Remember," 
 and at one of them Rev. Peter Stryker, D. D., of 
 Saratoga, N. Y., gave pleasing thoughts and remi- 
 niscences. In the church, on the arch spanning 
 the recess back of the pulpit, was the motto, 
 "What hath God wrought?" beneath this were the 
 dates, 1854 and 1876, while on tables at each side 
 were pyramids of flowers arranged with great taste 
 and skill by Mrs. B. S. Everitt. The prayers and 
 hymns were all full of expressions of gratitude, 
 and the pastor gave the history of the church in a 
 
 (5) 
 
sermon from the text, I. Thess. i. 3 : — "Remember- 
 ing without ceasing your work of faith and labor 
 of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ in the sight of God our Father." 
 
 The establishing, maintaining, and advancing a 
 church of Christ is truly a work of faith and labor 
 of love, calling for much patience as discourage- 
 ments meet us, and yet giving occasion for a good 
 hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. This general truth 
 has been abundantly verified in the history of this 
 particular church, and to-day we are simply to 
 remember your work of faith and labor of love, 
 together with that of your co-laborers, many of 
 whom have rested from their labors while their 
 works do follow them. We are not old, even com- 
 pared with many churches in this new country of 
 ours; for while we as a nation celebrate our hun- 
 dredth anniversar}% we are as an infant compared 
 with European and Asiatic nationalities. Though 
 not old, we have yet a history well worth recounting 
 and preserving. Another pen will prepare and soon 
 give to you the matters of general history relating 
 to this locality, and my duty lies only in the line 
 of religious interests. Those interests began a 
 century or more ago, when David and John 
 Brainerd preached to the Nesamis tribe of Indians 
 in this and neighboring localities. That early 
 religious interest seems never to have been lost. 
 
 At the beginning, or very early in this century, 
 religious services were held in the school-house, 
 then standing near the present residence of Cor- 
 nelius Mount. Thougfh this section was from the 
 
first settled by those whose predilections were Pres- 
 byterian, yet the earliest services were generally 
 held by ministers of the Methodist Church, and 
 Rev. Mr. Fountain, living near what is now Texas, 
 preached occasionally, and during one year came 
 every two weeks. The people expressed great 
 satisfaction with his services, gathering from dis- 
 tances of three or four miles and giving him flour, 
 meal, and other products as his pay. When, how- 
 ever, the next year an effort was made to raise 
 money for him and the people were called on to 
 give that article there was a great falling off in 
 attendance. Their possessions were chiefly the 
 land and its products, and that was cheap enough, 
 for the section hereabouts was bought, in i8o6, for 
 five dollars an acre, and that was thought an ex- 
 travagant price, as the popular estimate of its worth 
 was eighteen pence an acre. It was an old wooded 
 district that had been burnt over three times in 
 eighteen years and its owners were better able to 
 give something else than money for preaching the 
 gospel. Indeed, ever since then, in some places, it 
 has not been universally popular to give a super- 
 fluity of that article for a like service. 
 
 At John Hoffman's, towards Englishtown, the 
 Methodists held regular Sunday evening services, 
 and the scattered inhabitants were glad to walk 
 even from here to attend. Although thus early 
 these indefatigable and commendable Methodist 
 brethren were in the field, they yet failed to hold 
 or fully occupy it, and Rev. Mr. Rice, of Spots- 
 wood, and after him Rev. William R. S. Betts, of 
 
the same church; Rev. Mr. Woodhull, of Tennent 
 Church, and his son, Rev. Spafford Woodhull, of 
 Cranbury, occasionally preached; then, later, Revs. 
 Manning, of Spotswood; Luther Van Doren, of 
 Tennent; and Symmes Henry, of Cranbury, gave 
 occasional services. Rev. Mr. Blythe also came, 
 accompanied by Mr. Vincent W. Mount, who led 
 the singing. Thus the people insisted on and were 
 provided with religious privileges almost from the 
 first settlement of the place. They were not satis- 
 fied, however, with such occasional services as were 
 thus brought to them, but went to neighboring 
 parishes. Some, especially the Van Wickle family 
 and that of William Davison, Jr., went to Cranbury 
 First Church, and a little later, Alexander Red- 
 mond's and S. R. Foreman's families in the same 
 direction; more, however, went to Spotswood. A 
 flat car, provided with Sunday seats for the purpose, 
 was drawn by a mule, and often, we are informed, 
 thirty or forty persons would thus go to the services 
 of the Rev. Mr. Betts at Spotswood. When, how- 
 ever, the Second Presbyterian Church of Cranbury 
 was organized, a number of families, and among 
 them James Buckelew's and C. G. Snedeker's, 
 became identified with that organization and con- 
 tinued for years to attend worship there. In 1847 
 the old school-house by Mount's was sold and two 
 built — the Monroe School-house as it now is and 
 one nearly on the site of the present parsonage. 
 This latter was built for school purposes; but to 
 meet the wants of religious worship a room was 
 partitioned off and provided with pulpit and seats. 
 
and connected by folding-doors with the school- 
 room. Here Revs. Henry and Blythe, of Cran- 
 bury, held occasional services, with now and then 
 others, till in the spring of 1850 Rev. George C. 
 Bush (now of Newtown, Pennsylvania), who was 
 preaching at South Amboy and South River, came 
 regularly to preach here every other Sabbath even- 
 ing, and found (as he says) good congregations and 
 attentive hearers. After about nine months' service 
 he yielded the work to Rev. John A. Annin (now 
 of Las Vegas, New Mexico), then just leaving the 
 seminary at Princeton. During Mr. Bush's labors, 
 he hoped about twelve were converted, and with 
 these he expected about twelve from other churches 
 were ready to enter a church organization which 
 had been talked of for a time and then took more 
 promising form. Mr. Bush writes : — " I shall never 
 forget the kindness with which the people of James- 
 burg treated me. They sent a team to Washington 
 for me and gave me a good home among them, 
 and worked and prayed with me, giving oppor- 
 tunity for conversation and prayer with their fami- 
 lies. They were quick to discern the time to build 
 and organize." 
 
 Although the prospects when Mr. Annin took 
 charge were hopeful, his services continued but 
 three months, to July, 185 1; after which there 
 seems to have been no regular supply, and, indeed, 
 services were held with much irregularity. The 
 matter was not allowed to rest, and the next tangi- 
 ble thing was in the beginning of the year 1853, 
 when a subscription was circulated for securing 
 
lO 
 
 funds for a church building, which succeeded so 
 well that on March 3d, 1853, a meeting of the 
 subscribers was held and trustees elected, thus 
 completing the legal organization. Those first 
 trustees were William Johnson, Alexander Red- 
 mond, Aaron Gulick, Edmund Rue, Joseph C. 
 Magee, I. S. Buckelew, and S. R. Foreman, — all but 
 the first still living and retaining an interest in, if 
 not connection with, the church. About the same 
 time, or probably a year before, a Ladies' Sewing 
 Society was formed, which has ever lived and 
 worked with a fidelity and profit that has no 
 parallel in the aids and organizations within the 
 church. Debts have by it been paid; each enlarge- 
 ment and even the first building of the church was 
 only decided on by reason of its liberal pledges. 
 At the first enlargement they subscribed $500, and 
 at the last virtually assuming ^2000, and it is need- • 
 less to say they always more than redeemed their 
 pledges. When thieves desolated the sanctuary 
 their zeal and gifts replaced the loss. When dust 
 and years soiled and marred the temple, their gen- 
 erosity painted with exquisite taste these walls, and 
 every enlargement was made more beautiful and 
 valuable by their abundant furnishing. In all this — 
 all the preliminary labors, Sunday-school, Sewing 
 Society, plans for building and organizing — one 
 godly, invaluable woman was and is still to a very 
 great extent the moving spirit (Mrs. M. C. Bucke- 
 lew). Her name need not be mentioned. While all 
 her efforts were nobly, heartily, generously seconded 
 by her honored and lamented husband and their 
 
II 
 
 worthy children, and though impartial history will 
 always give due credit to the noble, self-denying 
 efforts of all the men and women who gave and 
 labored and prayed so faithfully for this church, 
 yet it can find but one on which of right it may 
 place the queenly laurel. 
 
 At the same time, in the beginning of 1853, a 
 petition was signed by seventeen members of other 
 churches and twenty-nine persons not members 
 asking the Presbytery of New Brunswick to or- 
 ganize a church here. In response to this a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Revs. S. C. Henry, J. W, 
 Blythe, L. H. Van Doren, and S. D. Alexander, 
 met here on June 6th, 1854, and organized the 
 church with eleven members — John C. Vandeveer 
 and Hannah his wife; Samuel Marryott and Ann 
 Maria his wife; James Mount and Mahala his 
 wife; Margaret C. Buckelew, C. J. Applegate, Sarah 
 Davison, J. B. Johnson, and David C. Bastido. 
 John C. Vandeveer and John B. Johnson were 
 elected elders. The building committee, consisting 
 of J. D. Buckelew, J. C. Magee, and S. M. Van 
 Wickle, had, under instructions from the congre- 
 gation and trustees, proceeded to erect a church 
 building, the corner-stone being laid on September 
 7th, 1853, the Rev. George C. Bush, of Stewarts- 
 ville, and Rev. S. D. Alexander, of Freehold, 
 conducting the exercises. The building was dedi- 
 cated three weeks after the organization, on June 
 26th, 1854 (twenty-two years ago to-morrow), the 
 Rev. S. D. Alexander preaching the sermon. The 
 church, now organized legally, materially, and 
 
12 
 
 spiritually, began at once its work. Although 
 before, services had been only occasional, now 
 regular Sabbath services were held and the church 
 began at once to raise money for paying supplies, 
 the list showing thirty-nine contributors and the 
 amount ;$i94for the first quarter ending December 
 31st, 1854. The supplies were largely from the 
 students of the theological seminary at Princeton, 
 although the names of Drs. J. C. Moffatt, L. Atwater, 
 J. M. McDonald, Charles Hodge, and Rev. J. W- 
 Blythe show some of the leading ministers of the 
 day here preached the Word. These supplies were 
 paid, and at the end of the year, on June 30th, 
 1855, the treasurer made the gratifying report that 
 $503.32 had been raised for the year, being an 
 excess of $148.59 over what had been paid for 
 supplies. This was appropriated to paying the 
 debt on the church, and $400 still being due it was 
 apportioned to the trustees to raise, and, as no after 
 account appears of it, it seems to have been suc- 
 cessful. The excellent building was thus built and 
 paid for almost wholly by the generosity and denial 
 of the people themselves, no aid having been asked 
 or secured from any board or agency of the church. 
 The people, now convinced of their ability to sup- 
 port a pastor and that without any missionary aid 
 (a thing they have never received), called Rev. J. 
 Halstead Carroll, on February 2d, 1855, at $550 
 salary, and his ordination and installation took place 
 on May 30th, when Rev. Charles Hodge, D. D., 
 presided. Rev. John Hall, D. D., preached. Rev. W. 
 H. Green, D. D., charged the pastor, and Rev. J. M. 
 
13 
 
 McDonald, D. D., charged the people. The new 
 church then began its full work with sixteen mem- 
 bers and the following official organization : — Rev. 
 J. H. Carroll, pastor; J. C. Vandeveer, Aaron Gulick, 
 and J. Bergen Thompson, elders; J. B. Thomson, 
 president of trustees; Joseph C. Magee, secretary; 
 J. D. Buckelew, treasurer; Thomas S. Mershon, 
 James Mount, I. S. Buckelew, Alexander Redmond, 
 and S. R. Foreman, trustees; William H. Courter 
 had charge of collecting salary and renting pews; 
 Charles A. Craig was chorister, Samuel Marryott 
 sexton, and J. D. Buckelew Sunday-school super- 
 intendent. 
 
 Arrangements were at once made for the erec- 
 tion of sheds, and steps taken, in the beginning of 
 1856, looking to the securing of a parsonage, which, 
 however, did not fully come into the continued pos- 
 session of the congregation till some years later, 
 1864. Mr. Carroll continued as pastor till Febru- 
 ary 2d, 1858, and during the time the church was 
 visited by a precious revival of religion and con= 
 tinued increase of membership, and when he left 
 the church had one hundred and twenty members, 
 seventy having been added in the year ending April 
 1st, 1857. James Mount, T. Sorter Mershon, and 
 William H. Courter were added to the eldership. 
 Not long were they left without a pastor, for on 
 August loth, 1858, Rev. William M. Wells, of the 
 theological seminary, Princeton, was elected, on 
 $550 salary and a house. He accepted the call, 
 and was ordained and installed November 4th, 
 1858, Rev. P. O. Studdiford, D. D., preaching the 
 
14 
 
 sermon, Rev. T. D. Hoover charging the pastor, 
 and Rev. R. Taylor the people. Though transient 
 distractions had depleted the congregation, and the 
 new pastor was yet inexperienced, God gave him 
 great wisdom and prudence, and smiled on his 
 labors, so that, notwithstanding the unusually large 
 number of twenty left the church by dismission 
 and four died during the first two years of his 
 work, the third winter brought a most gracious 
 revival, resulting in adding thirty to the church, 
 leaving the membership in the spring of i86i at 
 one hundred and thirty-five, and the congregation 
 in precious harmony. The very breath of the past 
 brought only the glad and the prosperous to view, 
 and all else was gone. Henceforth the progress of 
 the church was onward, — never a year but additions 
 were made to its membership, — and when Mr. Wells 
 ended his pastorate, July ist, 1869, after almost 
 eleven years of service, the church had one hun- 
 dred and sixty members, had sent off sixty-five to 
 other churches, and twenty-six had gone to their 
 last reward. A scheme of systematic benevolence 
 had been introduced and worked successfully, yield- 
 ing increasing amounts to the several objects of 
 the church's benevolence, till the last year (ending 
 April, 1869) the amount reached the commendable 
 sum of ^429. It was during his pastorate, in 1864, 
 that the present excellent parsonage was purchased, 
 and like every other transaction for enlarging the 
 possessions of the church, it was done without any 
 embarrassing debt, the money raised that year for 
 congregational purposes being $2 191. The growth 
 
15 
 
 of the congregation calling for an increase of room, 
 the church was enlarged in 1867 by an extension 
 of twenty-eight feet, which gave thirty-six new 
 pews. The expense was about ;^2500, for which 
 two subscriptions stand conspicuously liberal — 
 Ladies' Sewing Society ^500, and James Bucke- 
 lew ^500. When the building committee reported 
 the completion of the work, and ;^300 yet due, 
 prompt action was taken to remove the entire in- 
 debtedness, thus giving another occasion for com- 
 mending the meeting of necessary expenses without 
 protracted and burdensome debts. It shows, too, 
 the very material increase of the congregation, 
 that on the completion of the enlargement and the 
 reletting of the pews all but fourteen were let, 
 making seventy-six rented and four reserved as 
 free, — there being ninety-four in the entire church. 
 While through this very faithful pastorate there 
 were few great religious awakenings, there was 
 still a very healthy and constant growth, and on 
 the retirement of Mr. Wells, his successor (Rev. B. 
 S. Everitt, of Montclair, N. J.) was permitted to find 
 harmony, spirituality, and activity, which made his 
 reception pleasant, and, by God's grace, his pastor- 
 ate successful. No discords were to be healed, no 
 smoking volcanoes had to be shunned, no irritating 
 influences had to be allayed, and so he came at 
 your call, on November 2d, 1869, and was installed 
 January 4th, 187c. Rev. J. L. Kehoo preached. 
 Rev. A. P. Cobb charged the pastor, and Rev. F. 
 Chandler the people. Since then the history of the 
 church is familiar to vou all, and were it not that 
 
i6 
 
 something should be set forth for coming genera- 
 tions, we could (and certainly gladly would) omit 
 it all. But God's mercy has been so marked, and 
 to the praise of his grace we record a few facts. 
 The session of the church had changed during Mr. 
 Wells' pastorate, by the addition of James P. De 
 Hart, Cornelius G. Snedeker, and Cornelius W. 
 Johnson; while John C. Vandeveer, J. Bergen 
 Thompson, and T. Sorter Mershon had been dis- 
 missed to other churches. These beloved brethren, 
 constituting then the session (two of whom, Mr. 
 James Mount and Mr. Cornelius G. Snedeker, have 
 gone higher), gave us most hearty welcome and 
 co-operation, as did also the men and the women 
 of the congregation. The refitted parsonage Avas 
 made joyous by their numerous gathering to wel- 
 come us among them, and has many a time repeated 
 the delightful experience. Whatever donation- 
 parties may have been to other pastors, your good- 
 will and general attendance and generous gifts have 
 made them always exceedingly delightful as well 
 as profitable to me and mine. If I came in God's 
 name, he came with his own revival power at the 
 very outset, and the winter of 1869 and 1870 will 
 be long remembered. Probably one hundred and 
 fifty professed conversion, and one hundred and 
 thirty-seven united at one time with the church, 
 on March 6th, 1870 (one hundred and twenty by 
 profession of their faith). It was a great work, 
 and to God be the praise. Other years showed 
 marked increase, and the winter of 1873 and 1874 
 brought another gracious visitation, and added 
 
17 
 
 fifty -two to the church; and the last year has 
 brought a special blessing in the adding of ninety- 
 eight to our numbers; so that, from one hundred 
 and sixty, when our present pastorate began, we 
 now number four hundred and twenty-one, — three 
 hundred and seventy-four having been added, two 
 hundred and eighty-nine of them by profession of 
 their faith. During this pastorate the parsonage has 
 been enlarged and repaired. The main audience 
 room of the church has been enlarged by the addi- 
 tion of twenty-two pews, the lecture and Sunday- 
 school rooms built at an expense of about $5000, 
 while ;$iOOO and more have been expended in 
 frescoing and furnishing the church. Incidental 
 expenses, though increased by the larger congrega- 
 tions, have been met by the same; and the financial 
 exhibit shows an annual expenditure of over ;^2000 
 every year of this time (the salary now being $ 1 200), 
 and in 1 87 1 it reached the sum of ;^7400. A scheme 
 of systematic benevolence has secured somewhat 
 increased contributions, the largest amount being 
 in the year ending April ist, 1875, when the gifts 
 were ;^I389. The church, in its twenty -two years 
 of existence, has received 626 members — 429 by 
 profession and 197 by certificate. It has dismissed 
 108 to other churches, put 39 on a retired list (their 
 whereabouts and churches unknown), suspended 
 5, while 54 have died. The church has given 
 $7306 for benevolence, and paid ;^4 1,636 for its 
 own expenses. Its present official organization 
 is — 
 
 Pastor — Benjamin S. Everitt. 
 
i8 
 
 Elders — William H. Courter, James P. De Hart, 
 Cornelius W. Johnson, Jahu Pierson, Joseph C. 
 Magee, J. B. Tallman, Marcellus Oakey, Alfred W. 
 Dey, William H. Mount. 
 
 Trustees — Jacob B. Tallman, president and secre- 
 tary; T. W. Hill, treasurer, and H. W. Crosby, 
 Alfred Davison, Brittain Mount, Alfred W. Dey, 
 and Gilbert H. Perrine. 
 
 Miss Hattie P. Pollock is organist; Mr. Farrell 
 McNamee is sexton. 
 
 J. D. Buckelew, J. B. Tallman, Garret G. Davison, 
 Henry H. Miller, and James H. Eastman are Sun- 
 day-school superintendents. 
 
 Mrs. James Buckelew is president of Ladies' So- 
 ciety, and Mrs. B. S. Everitt secretary and treasurer. 
 
 The Rev. B. S. Everitt is treasurer of the Benevo- 
 lent Fund, and the collectors are Libbie V. P. 
 Pierson, Nettie De Hart, Anna Pierson, Amanda 
 Coles, Rosa Vanderhoff, Phebe H. Mount, Anna 
 Parks, Anna B. Magee, Blennie Smock, Maggie 
 A. Mount, Hattie Schenck, Gertie Applegate, Ger- 
 tie Pierson, Ellen Thomas, Julia Wanzer, Anna 
 Dey, Laura Mount, Mary Dey, and Mary Foreman. 
 
 Marcellus Oakey has charge of tract work, and 
 the distributors are Mrs. William E. Dey, Mrs. 
 C. W. Johnson, Miss Hannah Schenck, Mrs. Anna 
 McChesney, Miss Eliza Foreman, Miss Anna Dey, 
 Miss Louisa Marsh, Miss Maggie Parks, Miss Jane 
 Redmond, Miss Gertrude Snedeker, and Miss Rosa 
 Shultz. 
 
 The twenty-two years have brought great bless- 
 ings, and among them we would remember how 
 
19 
 
 God has spared our members. Fifty- four have 
 died, and it is a very small percentage of deaths, 
 and of the original eleven, six still live, — only four 
 of them with us, viz., Samuel Marryott, Mahala 
 Mount, Margaret C. Buckelew, and Sarah Davison; 
 while of the forty-six petitioning for the organiza- 
 tion of the church thirty still live. Though God 
 has graciously spared many, the dead are worthy 
 ■of remembrance. There were those mothers of the 
 church that first fell — Mrs. Alexander Redmond, 
 Hannah O'Donnell, and Ida Van Wickle, who 
 soon finished their work for us here, and their 
 activities and love for this church are to be held in 
 grateful remembrance. Of the male members, Mr. 
 Disbrow M. W. Dey was the first to enter on his 
 reward. Not till December, 1862 — eight years 
 after the organization — was the original eleven 
 broken by death. The first to fall was Mrs. Ann 
 Maria Marryott. 
 
 The board of trustees were stricken in June, 
 1 86 1, when Abraham S. Davison passed quietly 
 and in hope to his reward; and Alfred Carman, 
 another member, fell at Locust Grove, Virginia, 
 November 27th, 1863, battling for the preservation 
 of his country; while Andrew McDowell, John G. 
 Shultz, Cornelius V. Pierson, and James Redmond, 
 all were trustees, and have rested from their earthly 
 labors. 
 
 The session on June 13th, 1874, followed to the 
 grave their respected co-laborer, James Mount, who 
 had served as an elder eighteen years and was one 
 of the original members; and on March 1st, 1876, 
 
20 
 
 they rendered the last sad service for CorneHus G. 
 Snedeker, who for eight years had filled his place 
 as an elder. These two men were w^orthy of the 
 office they filled, and a grateful church may well 
 cherish their memory. 
 
 Others have fallen, who, though holding no offi- 
 cial relation to the church, have yet been earnest, 
 loving members, and we trust are with the redeemed 
 to-day in glory. Some went home after long ser- 
 vice, and others after a few months with us, — each 
 alike joining the higher and purer communion of 
 saints above; and whether youth fell in the midst 
 of its hope, or full age in its prime, or advancing 
 years in their decline, the beauty and sufficiency of 
 our blessed religion was found altogether precious 
 in each case. 
 
 There linger now, just this side the gate, some 
 tottering ones, having a desire to depart and be 
 with Christ, yet willing to wait, viz,: — John H. 
 Mount, aged ninety-seven; Sarah Davison, eighty- 
 eight; Aaron Gulick, eighty-six, and Camilla Bar- 
 calo, aged seventy-four. They are still among us, 
 but too feeble to be here to-day, though giving their 
 full measure of praise to God for all his goodness. 
 
 Others of almost equal age have just left us, and 
 still a few — the veterans in the service — first and 
 last to stand by our church — are here. Oldest and 
 earliest of these, Mr. Alexander Redmond deserves 
 special mention; while a kw names yet unmen- 
 tioned, and scarcely to be called old, should here 
 have a record. Joseph C. Magee, one of the first 
 trustees, on the building committee at the erection 
 
21 
 
 of the new church and at each of the enlargements, 
 at one time secretary and another treasurer of the 
 board, always in its Sunday-school work, and for 
 the last five years an elder, his name and fidelity is 
 associated with all the progress of the church. 
 Side by side with him is William H. Courter, now 
 the senior elder, having been twenty years in the 
 office, and for several years the very efficient clerk 
 of session; at one time treasurer of the church; for 
 a long time having charge of the renting the pews 
 and the collectors for the salary, and assistant 
 superintendent of the Sabbath-school ever since 
 his membership in the church, and a leader in 
 appointing and maintaining its prayer-meetings. 
 Nor less prominent and faithful in the membership 
 has been John D. Buckelew, who has been super- 
 intendent of the Sabbath-school some twenty-two 
 years, his service there even antedating his mem- 
 bership. He, too, as trustee, as at one time 
 treasurer and at another secretary of the board, 
 as on two of the building committees, and as an 
 earnest worker and co-laborer, did very helpful 
 service. With the above three stands Cornelius 
 W. Johnson, a trustee eleven years and then elder 
 eight. He with them has stood side by side and 
 worked hand in hand and with each other and 
 the rest — all of whom may God bless. These 
 four all joined the church at one time, in the year 
 1856, and God alone can estimate the worth of 
 their twenty years of service. Too many names 
 arise as deserving mention. One — Mrs. Isaac S. 
 Buckelew — who, though not a member, yet for 
 
22 
 
 many years maintained the music with great labor^ 
 perseverance, and satisfaction to all. Another, Mr. 
 Isaac S. Buckelew, who specially counseled and 
 aided the financial and material interests. And the 
 godly women, Mahala Mount, Susan H. Mount,. 
 Helen H. Pierson, Letitia Johnson, Jane and Ellen 
 Redmond, Ursula Davison, Catharine Ann Courter, 
 Ann Mary Applegate, Phebe Rodgers, Nancy 
 Mount, Rachel Davison, Mary A. Golden, Lydia 
 Ellingham, Margaret Ann Ried, Phebe W. Griggs, 
 Charlotte Liming, Elmira Bowne. These have 
 given us twenty or more years of prayers and toils 
 and are yet among us with the same old love, able 
 and willing to deny and give and do for our beloved 
 church. Two living male members still with us 
 count back a like period (twenty years or more) of 
 profession and service and have not before been 
 mentioned, John W. Griggs and William Elling- 
 ham, while James C. Davison, John Vanaken, and 
 Benjamin Arbor were with us then and are with us 
 now, though for some of the intervening time were 
 away. We cannot mention the younger members 
 or tell you how well they are doing for the Master 
 and His church. We know them to love them. 
 God owns their works and gives them His love and 
 the offer of His saving favor. May no jealousy 
 incite any mind, but a burning, constant zeal for 
 Christ inspire all to that holy rivalry which aims 
 only and always to do the most possible for Jesus 
 and His blessed church. 
 
 Two things have contributed greatly to the power 
 of the church — its prayer-meetings and its revivals^ 
 
23 
 
 We can trace twenty years of prayer-meetings, 
 though not uninterruptedly. John D. Buckelew, 
 William H. Courter, Joseph C. Magee, and Samuel 
 Marryott met at James Buckelew's, with some now 
 gone to rest and neighbors and friends still living, 
 and held the first prayer-meeting. This continued 
 at O'Donnell's, Van Wickle's, Buckelew's, Davi- 
 son's, and others, and gave precious seasons of 
 religious communings and spiritual power which 
 held the church steadfast to the truth and incited 
 it on to greater progress. The praying ones and 
 the praying times have a most precious history — 
 a pleasure and a potency which no written history 
 can give, but invaluable for souls, for the Church, 
 and for God's glory. Prayer-meetings have gone 
 on till now several are maintained, and many of 
 the best of saints have grown better by the privi- 
 leges of these meetings. 
 
 Revivals of Religion. — So many times God 
 specially near! Seven years out of the twenty-two 
 have there been additions of thirty or more. In 
 1856 there were 33; in 1857,70; in 1861, 30; in 
 1870, 139; in 1874, 52; in 1875, 30; in 1876, 98. 
 Figures tell us but little of the power and precious- 
 ness of these revivals. When we recall their in- 
 fluence on the church members — the joy and life 
 they gave them — when we consider the delight to 
 parents and husbands and wives and children as 
 their dear ones came to Jesus — when we think of 
 the new and higher life God gave by these — when 
 we feel yet the glow of great upliftings — when 
 all these that we can see and know are before us, 
 
24 
 
 and we still realize there is vastly much beyond — 
 we rejoice and praise God for revivals, and at every 
 lessening of our zeal and weakening of our faith 
 we say, 
 
 " Saviour, visit thy plantation," 
 
 o 
 
 Oh, Lord ! thy work revive 
 In Zion's gloomy hour." 
 
INFANT CLASS ROOM. 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOL ROOM. 
 
 Stairs to the Ladies' 
 
 Sewing-room. 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 
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 < 2 
 
 m-i 
 
 Pi's 
 
 
 
 Oi* 
 
 as" 
 
 U4A 
 
 ^* 
 
 S 
 
 s 
 
 a 
 
 
 a: 
 
 
 A 
 
 -■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 
 
 G H. Perrine 
 
 A. V. McDowell. 
 
 Enoch Bergbn. 
 
 W G. Mount. 
 
 Francis Davison. 
 
 Benjamin Arbor. 
 
 Alexander Re 
 
 Brittain Mount. 
 
 Samuel R. Forma 
 
 Ursula Davisi 
 
 Lhofold Saun. 
 
 John D. Buckblew. 
 
 F. Lemuel Bucks 
 
 William H. Courtbr. 
 
 Nelson B. Smock. 
 
 VESTIBULE. 
 
 Mrs.C.S.H. Davison 
 
 F. McNameb. 
 
 Wm. H.Moun 
 
 GROUND PLAN OF THE CHURCH. 
 
HISTORY OF SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 
 
 ON the afternoon of Sabbath, June 25th, 1876, 
 the Sabbath-school assembled in its room. 
 J. D. Buckelew, superintendent, and W. H. Courter, 
 assistant, gave facts and reminiscences of the ear- 
 lier days of the school, and the pastor contrasted 
 these with its present prosperous condition. The 
 singing and exercises by the children were com- 
 mendable, and the presentation of bouquets to the 
 superintendent and assistant superintendent were 
 highly appreciated and happily responded to. 
 Many of the parents and friends were present. 
 The following items of history are appended : — 
 
 A Sabbath-school had been held in the school- 
 house on the road to Englishtown, half a mile 
 from the mill ; probably organized by Rev. Mr. 
 Rice, of Spotswood. William West was super- 
 intendent, and Vincent H. Breese, his son-in-law, 
 assisted him. The exact dates cannot be given. 
 In 1847 a school-house was built near the site of 
 the present parsonage, and a Sunday-school was 
 there conducted under the joint management of 
 Alexander Redmond and Mrs. James Buckelew. 
 The seats were simple slabs, the exercises mainly 
 
 (25) 
 
26 
 
 Bible reading, and the first library books were a gift 
 from the Presbyterian church of Freehold. John 
 D. Buckelevv became superintendent, and William 
 H. Courter assistant superintendent, about 1854, 
 and both have continued with the school in these 
 positions till the present time — about twenty-two 
 years. The school has ever kept up with the 
 increased advantages afforded for Sunday-school 
 work. From simple Bible reading it passed to the 
 use of question books and catechisms, and then on 
 the' appearance of the National Series of Uniform 
 Lessons they were introduced. It has been liberally 
 supplied with periodicals, and for many years has 
 contributed to objects of benevolence. From it 
 sixty-eight have come into the church of Christ, 
 and twenty-three have died. 
 
 It now has on the roll one hundred and thirty 
 scholars, with the following officers and teachers : — 
 B. S. Everitt, pastor ; John D. Buckelew, superin- 
 tendent ; William H. Courter, assistant superin- 
 tendent; John D. Courter, secretary; T. W. Hill,, 
 treasurer; J. F. Forman Smock, librarian and assist- 
 ant treasurer; and Joseph C. Magee, M. Oakey, 
 N. B. Smock, D. R. Brown, and Mrs. B. S. Everitt,. 
 Mrs. E. B. Brooks, and Mrs. Joseph C. Magee, with 
 Misses Mary E. Parks, Eudora Worts, Blendina 
 Smock, Mary E. Shepherd, Gertrude Pierson, Mar- 
 garet A. Mount, teachers, with Mrs. George H. 
 Smock in charge of the infant class. It raised 
 last year for current expenses $100.49, ^'''<^' ^^^ 
 benevolence $108.91, of which sixty dollars were 
 paid to support two girls in Normal School at Myn- 
 purie, India, and twenty-five to Lincoln University.. 
 
LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY. 
 
 IN the evening (June 25th, 1876) the pastor 
 preached from Psalm Ixxvii. 10: — "I will 
 remember the years of the right hand of the Most 
 High," drawing the following lessons from the 
 history of the church : — 
 
 I. To take encouragement in our hours of dark- 
 ness from God's faithfulness. 
 
 II. The indestructible nature of a church of 
 Christ. 
 
 III. The power of a church and of religion on a 
 community {a) temporally, (d) educationally, (<f) 
 morally, [d) religiously. 
 
 IV. The power of woman's influence in helping 
 on a church. 
 
 V. Christian fidelity pays [a) in Christian growth, 
 (i?) in successful work. 
 
 VI. Increased confidence in revivals of religion, 
 in (a) the character of the members brought into 
 the church, {i) in healing of disorders, financial 
 wants, &c., {c) in the curing of coldness and inac- 
 tivity. 
 
 (27) 
 
28 
 
 VII. The oneness of the church above and 
 below. 
 
 The day thus occupied closed with deep convic- 
 tions of God's goodness to the church, and new 
 resolves of faithfulness to Him. 
 
CENTENNIAL SERMON. 
 
 ON Sabbath, July 2d, 1876, another praise- 
 meeting was held at 10 A. M., in which 
 gratitude was given to God for his great goodness 
 to our country during its hundred years of exist- 
 ence. The pastor presided, and Jahu Pierson, 
 James P. De Hart, W. Edgar Paxton, J. C. Magee, 
 and the pastor took part. In the church, back of 
 the pulpit, was the motto, " In God we trust," and 
 over either door to lecture-room the dates, 1776 
 and 1876. National flags beautifully decorated the 
 pulpit, the organ, the chandelier, and lamp-brackets. 
 The services were opened with Keller's American 
 Hymn by the organist. Miss Hattie Pollock. The 
 audience was large, including several strangers, and 
 though the sermon was an hour long and the heat 
 intense, yet it was listened to with undiminished 
 attention till the close. The services closed with 
 Whittier's Centennial Hymn, and the Doxology, 
 
 " Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 
 
 The sermon was by the pastor. Rev. B. S. Ever- 
 itt, from Psalm xliv. 7 : — " But thou hast saved us 
 
 (29) 
 
30 
 
 from our enemies, and hast put them to shame 
 that hated us." 
 
 The history of this land for one hundred years 
 cannot, even in epitome, be given in the space 
 allotted to this discourse. From the many phases 
 of that history, we therefore select the one ex- 
 pressed by our text — 
 
 Deliverance from our Enemies. 
 
 We classify those enemies as — 
 
 1. Those who at beginning of century threatened 
 oppression and led to revolution. 
 
 2. Those who at beginning of this century 
 threatened invasion and led to war of 1812. 
 
 3. Those who at middle of this century threat- 
 ened disunion and led to war of rebellion. 
 
 4. Those who now threaten corruption, luxury, 
 and neglect, and should lead to a war for purity, 
 economy, and fidelity. This last is not a war of 
 swords and guns, — not of martial pomp and tocsin 
 loud, — but of right against wrong, of fidelity against 
 neglect, and of purity against corruption. 
 
 The first three having passed we can study them 
 in the light of history, and the last we will chronicle 
 in the light of passing events. While the century 
 began with a revolution, it ends with a no less 
 important struggle. 
 
 In 1764 (more than a century ago) England was 
 living too high ; her successes had made her proud, 
 
31 
 
 and she vauntingly boasted of her subject-colonies, 
 the " very chimney-sweeps in her streets laying 
 claim to tlicir American subjects." Such fulsome 
 display of luxury and arrogance was expensive, as 
 the year closed with a deficiency of ^3,000,000. 
 Why should this be, said her statesmen ? Our 
 American colonies can and of right should pay 
 this. Thereupon Parliament passed a series of 
 resolutions, without even a voice or vote against 
 them, asserting the right and expediency of requir- 
 ing America to contribute to the general exigen- 
 cies of the empire, and specifying a stamp duty 
 as an eligible mode. The colonial assemblies 
 claimed the sole right of imposing taxes on their 
 fellow-citizens, and in strongest and most hostile 
 manner opposed the resolutions, and sent commis- 
 sioners to protest against them — Benjamin Franklin 
 going to London as representative of Pennsyl- 
 vania. When a few months later the Stamp Act 
 was passed, two were found bold enough in Parlia- 
 ment to deny the right to tax America, and a few 
 others thought it inexpedient. 
 
 When news of the passage of the act reached 
 America the public feeling found its indignant ex- 
 pression in the voice of many patriots, notably 
 Patrick Henry, who roused first Virginia, and then 
 all the colonies, by his eloquent appeals, denying in 
 most unqualified terms the right of taxation by the 
 Parliament. Massachusetts circulated a petition 
 calling a general congress in 1766. Nine colonies 
 responded, and sent their views to Parliament. 
 They did not object to taxation by themselves, or 
 
32 
 
 to supporting the home government by the mo- 
 nopoly of commerce then estabHshed ; but strenu- 
 ously, boldly, they denied the right of taxation 
 without representation. It was then America found 
 a defender in the eloquent William Pitt, who, 
 in his place in Parliament, said, " I rejoice that 
 America has resisted. Three millions of people 
 so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily 
 to become slaves would have been fit instruments 
 to make slaves of the rest. In a good cause, on a 
 sound bottom, the force of this country could crush 
 America to atoms. But on this ground your suc- 
 cess would be hazardous. America, if she fell, 
 would fall like the strong man. She would em- 
 brace the pillars of the state and pull down the 
 constitution along with her." The Stamp Act was 
 repealed, and America had for the time conquered. 
 Then came a clause to the Military Act, demanding 
 not only that the colonies should shelter the troops 
 of the home government, but should give them 
 beer, salt, and vinegar. This was resisted, not 
 because the amount was great, but because of the 
 principle. Then came, in 1767, the bill imposing 
 duty on tea, glass, paper, and painters' colors. 
 This raised such opposition that all was repealed, 
 except that on tea. But the enmity had begun. 
 Troops were needed in America to back up and 
 enforce the regulations of the governors sent over 
 by the British Government. They were regarded 
 with constant jealousy, and occasionally with direct 
 opposition. When the East India Tea Company 
 found a great surplus of its stores that it could not 
 
33 
 
 sell in other markets, Parliament allowed it to be 
 sent to America, free of duty at the British ports, 
 but the duty must be paid in America. You know 
 the result. The cargo that came to Boston was 
 steeped in the waves. Cargoes at other ports 
 were not allowed to be unladen, and only in one 
 case, and then it was stored in a damp cellar till 
 useless. Massachusetts soon got the other colo- 
 nies to act with her, and called a general congress 
 in 1775, which met in Philadelphia September ist, 
 twelve of the colonies being represented. (Georgia 
 did not join them till the next year.) Ere this the 
 people of Boston and surrounding towns had passed 
 the Suffolk Resolutions, embodying many of the 
 sentiments of the later Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. The Congress unanimously approved this 
 saying to the British Government: "If neither the 
 voice of justice, the dictates of the law, the princi- 
 ples of the Constitution, nor the suggestions of 
 humanity, will restrain your hands from shedding 
 human blood in such an impious cause, we must 
 tell you, that we will never submit to be hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water for any ministry or 
 nation in the world." They sent an appeal to 
 Canada to join them, and another personally to the 
 king, and one to each of the colonies. New York 
 was alone backward in her zeal. April 19th, 1775, 
 the battle of Lexington was fought. This was 
 enough. The appeal to arms was made, and the 
 "struggle about to ensue was one of the most 
 momentous recorded in the annals of the human 
 race, not on account of the number of combatants 
 
34 
 
 engaged, for neither party had at any one time 
 above thirty or forty thousand men in the field, and 
 often not half that number ; but because of the 
 principles involved in it, and the consequences 
 which it produced." Oh, how unequal seemed the 
 parties! Great Britain — the most formidable state 
 in the world. She had just humbled her great 
 rival France, and over all the oceans victory perched 
 upon her standards. Controlling the commerce of 
 the world, her flag waved at every port, and her 
 great merchants held high place in every mart. 
 But America ! An infant yet — scarcely born — 
 with only between two and three millions of people. 
 These were scattered from Florida in the south to 
 the Bay of Fundy on the north, and from the 
 Atlantic to the AUeghanics These scattered colo- 
 nies had hitherto very little intercourse ; of differ- 
 ent climate and pursuits ; with no acknowledged 
 leaders ; with no common bond, except hatred of 
 oppression; with no armies; with no wealth; they 
 dared the contest, not because it looked to human 
 ken plausible, but because it was right, and they had 
 full confidence in the God of righteousness. With 
 this confidence they took prompt measures of de- 
 fense. The sounding guns of Lexington and Con- 
 cord was the rallying cry, and from plow and shop 
 and store and home came the men — expert hunters, 
 bearing their tried muskets on their shoulders and 
 God-trusting courage in their hearts. They had 
 many of them descended from those who had left 
 their country for religious liberty, and liberty was 
 inwoven with all their training, their constitution, 
 
35 
 
 and their religion. A usurper — a tyrant — could not 
 oppress them and have them sit supinely under 
 the tramping of his cruel feet. Plymouth Rock and 
 the old Bible; the storm-tossed "Mayflower" and 
 the Indian raids; their hard-earned homes, with no 
 enervating luxury; with no sophistical atheism; 
 with no glittering parade and pageantry, — all these 
 went to make up the noble, daring, hopeful foes 
 that British oppression had roused to the battle. 
 Many of them God-fearing — most of them God- 
 trusting — men, they went to the front, while women, 
 children, and aged sires waited and worked and 
 prayed at home. Whole households thus bound 
 together by the tie of a common hatred of oppres- 
 sion and a common love of liberty. It was not at 
 Boston and Massachusetts alone that the rallying 
 bands gathered and the people initiated meas- 
 ures of defense. All the colonies came boldly 
 into line. Our own State (New Jersey) seized 
 twenty thousand pounds sterling to use in its own 
 •defense. The foe was equally prompt and began 
 its work. Congress, on June 15th, 1775, chose 
 George Washington commander-in-chief, and four 
 days later Bunker Hill resounded with the roar of 
 battle, and the brave General Warren fell. Boston 
 then felt the first real pressure of war in a scarcity 
 of provisions. The Americans dared much, at- 
 tempting even the invasion of Canada, and General 
 Montgomery attacked Quebec and was killed and 
 his army repulsed. 
 
 Congress had in it noble men that proved equal 
 to the times. On the 6th of July, 1775, they issued 
 
36 
 
 their declaration, closing with the words, " We have 
 made our choice. We have counted the cost of 
 the contest, and found nothing so dreadful as vol- 
 untary slavery." Then they sent a second petition 
 to the king, and an appeal to all British subjects. 
 "Amid the noise of arms and the contests of policy 
 the ceremonials of religion were not forgotten. 
 The 20th of July was appointed as a general fast 
 and on that day the members of Congress, in a 
 body, attended public worship both forenoon and 
 afternoon. The day was observed in Philadelphia 
 as the most solemn fast ever observed there, and 
 was punctually kept by all the other colonies." 
 
 We have not time to trace the contest. Our aim 
 was to show the cause of the war — oppression. It 
 could not be endured. The very principle was 
 contended for, when the contention cost far more 
 than would submission, and it found its fullness in 
 the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776. 
 This declaration was preceded by New Jersey, who, 
 two days before, in her Colonial Assembly, meeting 
 in Burlington, declared for independence, and it is 
 her centennial to-day. This declaration entirely 
 altered the aspect of the contest, and gave a clear 
 and definite view to the point at issue. We see the 
 colonists no longer warring against the oppression 
 of a power which they still acknowledged, but 
 striking for independence. 
 
 Peace came on the 19th of April, 1783, just eight 
 years after the battle of Lexington, and all along 
 there was a religious fervor in the leaders, a recog- 
 nition of God by Congress, a deep trust and 
 
37 
 
 prayerfulness by the leaders and the people. It 
 was the righteousness of their cause that gave them 
 God's favor, and by this they secured the victory. 
 God was with them, as the battle-fields testify — 
 Long Island, Ticonderoga, Princeton, Monmouth, 
 Valley Forge, Brandywine, Saratoga, Savannah, 
 Charleston, Cowpens, and Yorktown. 
 
 " The land is holy where they fought, 
 And holy where they fell ; 
 For by their blood the land was bought. 
 The land they loved so well." 
 
 War of 1812. 
 
 What of that? Again Great Britain, by her 
 prowess on the sea, presumed to search American 
 vessels, and, when opposed, added to her naval 
 depredations an invasion by land. Her forces sur- 
 prised General Hull at Detroit, and took possession 
 of the whole Michigan territory. This advantage 
 was pressed, and the enemy advanced into Ohio and 
 there had a few victories. The navy of the Union, 
 though small, was enabled to harass many English 
 vessels on the ocean, and in the early autumn of 
 1813, while General Harrison was strengthening 
 his position and maintaining his defenses on the 
 Ohio, Captain Oliver H. Perry got his small squad- 
 ron ready for battle on Lake Erie. When one 
 flag-ship was disabled and almost ready to go down, 
 he passed over in a small skiff to another, and that 
 under a most deadly volley from the enemy. In a 
 
38 
 
 little while the first surrender of an entire squadron 
 ever known in English naval history was made to 
 the American Perry and his gallant crews. Perry, 
 as he saw the flag of the " Detroit " (the English flag- 
 ship) lower, wrote on the back of an old letter this 
 dispatch to Harrison : — " We have met the enemy 
 and they are ours." A little later, he sent a second 
 dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, ascribing 
 his triumph to the goodness of Him who is the 
 only giver of victory. This victory gave Harrison 
 a chance to land his forces in Michigan for the 
 recovery of Detroit and that territory. Battle 
 succeeded battle — Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and 
 Plattsburg. At the latter, when McDonough had 
 cleared his decks for action, and all was ready, he 
 assembled his officers on the deck of his flag-ship 
 and read the service of the Episcopal church, pray- 
 ing fervently, " Stir up Thy strength, oh ! Lord, and 
 come and help us, for Thou givest not always the 
 battle to the strong, but can save by many or by 
 few. Make it appear that Thou art 'our Saviour 
 and mighty Deliverer, through Jesus Christ, our 
 Lord." Among all the brave acts of that battle, 
 there was not one showed more true courage or 
 devotion than that — holding back the battle to pray 
 to God. The prayer of the young hero was an- 
 swered. After a deadly conflict of two hours and 
 twenty minutes, shouts of joy and victory rang up 
 from all the heights, announcing the surrender of 
 the British fleet. 
 
 The ravages of the enemy were widespread, 
 reaching even to Washington, where General Ross 
 
39 
 
 entered, in 1814, and burned the Capitol and Presi- 
 dent's house, and very nearly succeeded in captur- 
 ing the President and his cabinet. Then the foe 
 moved to Baltimore, and very nearly captured it, 
 bombarding Fort McHenry. During the night of 
 that bombardment, April r3th, 18 14, an American 
 gentleman (Francis Scott Key), having gone down 
 from Baltimore, by flag of truce, to procure the 
 release of a friend held a prisoner, at dawn strained 
 his eyes to see if the flag still floated, and expressed 
 the feelings of his heart, and that of thousands of 
 others, by that most beautiful and admired of our 
 national songs, " The Star-Spangled Banner." The 
 first verses are specially appropriate, as we re- 
 member the scene. At night the flag floated ; all 
 through the darkness the battle waged, and as dawn 
 broke, the first concern was, 
 
 "Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
 
 What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ; 
 Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 
 
 O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming; 
 And the rocket's red glare, and bombs bursting in air. 
 Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there — 
 Oh, say, does the star-spangled banner still wave, 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? 
 
 "On that shore dimly seen, through the mists of the deep, 
 Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
 What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep, 
 
 As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? 
 Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam. 
 In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream — 
 'Tis the star-spangled banner I Oh, long may it wave, 
 O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 
 
40 
 
 War of the Rebellion. 
 
 The history is too new to need recital. We had 
 fought to gain independence, and by God's help we 
 had won. We had fought to repel invasion, and 
 by God's favor we succeeded. We had, however, 
 all along cherished a viper in our bosom ; hugged, 
 with tenderness, the darling sin of human servitude. 
 A nation that had fought as no other ever fought 
 for their own liberties were willing to make other 
 people slaves, and that by millions. They who 
 would own no other masters willingly took and 
 held the master's place, and with tyranny of lash 
 and degradation of slavery inflicted on others 
 what they themselves had fought to escape. No 
 wonder it could not be endured. Advancing intel- 
 ligence, growing Christianity, outspreading liberty, 
 forbade it. Deeply inwoven in the profits and 
 customs and even the consciences of a large section, 
 it could not be given up but with blood. Yea, it 
 was not willing to be confined where it was. More 
 territory for slavery, more bondsmen, more sin, was 
 the cry, till aroused humanity and quickened liberty 
 cried out, " No further." It would not brook the 
 cry. Blocking the advance of slavery led to the 
 war. God thus laid on us the choice — more slav- 
 ery or dismemberment. We could not have either. 
 The last, disunion for the sake of slavery ! Keep a 
 black stain on our escutcheon to please a section, 
 or else let that section go to conserve the stain ! 
 Neither was possible if we would be true to our 
 declaration, our humanity, our country, or our God. 
 
41 
 
 So we fought. Brother against brother, of the 
 same nation, of the same family, because we could 
 not agree to part with the serpent of the household. 
 The mighty stream of blood that the war caused 
 floated it away, and though the result came with 
 crash of war and desolated homes and thousands 
 of maimed and dying ones, yet it came of God, who 
 is now fast healing the opened wounds, and the 
 gray and the blue meet as friend and not as foe. 
 The flag has still all its stars. Through the cent- 
 ury our noble declaration has been belied. Now, 
 at its close, we can say as truly as at the beginning 
 (and find our practice coincide with our theory), 
 " All men are created equal, and endowed by their 
 Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among 
 them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 
 Ah! it must have come to that, 
 
 " For right is right, since God is God, 
 And right the day must win ; 
 To doubt would be disloyalty, 
 To falter would be sin." 
 
 Religion entered as an element into the contest. 
 Scarce a proclamation of our martyred Lincoln but 
 was permeated with it, and there was much looking 
 to God, not on the great fast days alone, but always. 
 It led us to God, till wisely the very mint, as it 
 stamped our coin, left no longer the eagle, figure of 
 America's pride, but the motto, that so beautifully 
 stands before us, " In God we trust," emblem of 
 America's confidence. 
 
42 
 The Present Contest. 
 
 This last contest of the century — what? A 
 battle against corruption, luxury, and neglect. 
 Corruption in high places. The air breathes the 
 tidings of it on every breeze, telling of men in 
 places of power serving self Officers in municipal, 
 state, and national governments forgetting the 
 second commandment, violating the eighth, and to 
 escape punishment trampling on the ninth, are in 
 very poor condition to pay much regard to the 
 others. Not but men accepting the responsibilities 
 of place and power should be well paid. But, alas, 
 when such responsibilities are accepted, with all 
 their tremendous weight, simply for money-getting, 
 then, then, let all men cry shame ! Yet, it is only 
 ruler as people. The very policy and peculation 
 which the people condemn (as they ought to) in 
 their rulers has too many illustrations among 
 themselves. I have yet to get the evidence that there 
 is a greater proportion of dishonest money-getting 
 among office-holders than among the rest of the 
 nation. It borders very much on the ludicrous to 
 hear a very loud outcry against official corruption 
 from men whose hands are elbow deep in other 
 people's pockets ; whose consciences are shriveled 
 to the dryness of chaff or the hardness of stone — 
 seared into absolute unfeelingness. Beloved hear- 
 ers, it is a dreadful unholy thing to have thieves, 
 rascals, extortioners, in public office, but those sins 
 are no less when committed by those who put them 
 in office. A man stands with holy indignation, his 
 
43 
 
 face ever so long, his words ever so violent against 
 the officers who betray public trusts, but that same 
 man will, next November (as he did last, and has 
 often done), curry and coax and fawn all day around 
 a candidate or his representative, waiting even till 
 the day wanes ; till his itching palms are soothed ; 
 or till he is sure, as soon as the day's sun is set (of 
 course it could not be before then), his love of grog 
 shall be satisfied. Sell their votes for rum or money 
 or some personal favor, and then prate about reform, 
 and cry lustily against official corruption. Purge 
 the offices ? Yes, for God's sake, for country, for de- 
 cency, for humanity's sake, purge the offices, but 
 purge the polls as well, and you will never purge 
 the former very far till you purge the latter. The 
 heartless, selfish corruption of the polls points to as 
 mean a servitude as ever shackled a southern slave 
 or dungeoned a martyr criminal. Why there are 
 places (not here, I hope) where, if, on election day, 
 a corrupt office-holder was placed, and it should be 
 said, as it once was of another guilty one, " Let he 
 that is without sin cast the first stone," if all 
 were true he would suffer little harm. This is not 
 alone a war against corruption in high places, but 
 a battle for right at home, for pure voting, to 
 have pure officers, and the public can make it so. 
 It has already done much by its voice. It can 
 make it absolute if it will. Indeed, the public has 
 become too far hardened to care for cheating in 
 voting. Indeed, men, otherwise good, think it 
 rather smart. Fellow-citizens and beloved hearers 
 all, condemn openly, even ostracize ; let your 
 
44 
 
 burning indignation shame the man that is a cheat, 
 a thief, dishonest at the polls. Why, there are elec- 
 tion practices that should make the cheeks of an 
 American citizen blush with a deeper tinge than 
 this July sun can possibly burn. I worry over this. 
 I am far more afraid of it than I am of foul men in 
 office. They can be put out, but if this election 
 corruption is to continue, the chances are that 
 others like them will be sent to fill their places. 
 It is not impossible to know honest men. Men of 
 business know them. It is not impossible to detect 
 dishonest practices ; yea, they are very generally 
 known. Patriots, truth demands you purge the 
 country of this corruption. 
 
 But a second foe in the present contest is luxury 
 — an extravagant love of show. More money spent 
 for luxuries than for necessities by many. Habits 
 formed in the young which cannot meet poverty^ 
 and so fictitious and dishonest methods of main- 
 taining them are adopted. Its insatiate maw cries 
 ever for more money; not that in any sense it may 
 spend it for others' good, but waste it in an extrava- 
 gant style of living. Where the honest income is 
 abundant, no one may question as to the methods 
 of spending it, providing it does no harm and is not 
 all for self But where the habits and claims are 
 such as to demand abundant income, even though 
 not honest, then we are constrained to question, for 
 no one has a right to spend more than his income, 
 unless under the constraint of absolute necessity. 
 Every dollar spent beyond this is a questionable, if 
 not a dishonest, expenditure. This spending of less 
 
45 
 
 money is one of the highest of practical questions. 
 It often calls for more will power, more courage, 
 more persevering study, than to face the bayonet 
 or the shock of war's fierce battle. But no law is 
 so imperious as that of necessity, and the violations 
 of no law are more certain of their penalty. Let 
 the law be obeyed, and if, in doing this, a plainer 
 attire, a less costly mode of life is needed, ven- 
 ture on it boldly, bravely. It is only heartless 
 cruelty and ill-mannered godlessness that will laugh 
 or sneer at your effort, and surely these are not to 
 be minded. Depend on it, the battle for economy 
 must be not only against corruption, but also 
 against luxury and extravagance. 
 
 But the third enemy in the battle that closes the 
 century is indifferenxe — neglect. As patriots, we 
 have given a kind of false credit to our institutions. 
 We have said our country is great and good. True. 
 We have said our Government is wise and strong. 
 True. All our institutions are excellent. True. 
 But the mistake has been in supposing these insti- 
 tutions could run themselves ; that they called from 
 us for no effort or money or time or study. Our 
 Government may be the ship of state, but what 
 human agency makes for the ship a successful 
 voyage ? The passengers who came from other 
 countries to ride with us for a time ? No ; the 
 sailors and the officers. Such are the citizens to- 
 day, — some commanders, the rest sailors, and he 
 who mans the halyards has as real a part as he 
 who holds the helm. Our business is to study, to 
 think, to know our every duty as citizens. How to 
 
46 
 
 vote, how to live, how to act for the country's best 
 good. We should give so much study as shall en- 
 able us, personally, to know what is right and honest 
 government, in party, in principles, and in men. 
 Yes; principles and men. I don't much believe in 
 the somewhat popular cry, " Principles, not men;" 
 or its opposite, "Men and not principles;" but I do 
 feel, if I must choose between two evils, that a 
 good man on a bad platform is much safer than a 
 bad man on a platform ever so good. Put your 
 principles in your men, and you have the only safe, 
 true plan. As we should give study, so we should 
 give time for our country. She is worth our ser- 
 vice. What would we be without her? How did 
 our forefathers, a century ago, leave plow and 
 shop and counter for that country? And shame 
 on us if we will not leave the same to keep alive 
 the flame of patriotism and do honor to their 
 memory. Must there be no natal day held sacred 
 for our land ? No display of loyalty ? No words 
 of patriotism ? No stopping of the wheels of toil 
 to give expression to our centennial joy? Is it 
 nothing that we were spared a century, with such 
 prosperity? And having the special proclamation 
 of the President to urge us, shall we not properly, 
 generally keep the day ? So keep it that when our 
 children ask, " What mean ye by this service ?" we 
 can answer, we mean devotion to our land ; we 
 mean the cultivation of liberty ; we mean the trans- 
 mission of patriotism to you and yours. 
 
 But the time is up, and I must close. Brethren, 
 fellow-citizens of this beloved country, which side 
 
47 
 
 will you each take in the pending struggle ? For 
 honesty against corruption ; for economy against 
 extravagance ; for fidelity against neglect ; or will 
 you join the opposite? You ought to be — I trust 
 you are — patriots. Carry your patriotism into your 
 business, into your politics, and, if you believe in 
 a God, carry it into your religion. Read your 
 Bible and pray and then go up and vote. Read 
 your Bible and pray and then go out and do for 
 your country. Read your Bible and pray and then 
 go to your business, and if you will not do that, 
 then stop your praying for these. Praying without 
 works is unacceptable sacrifice. 
 
FOURTH OF JULY. 
 
 ON Sabbath morning-, May 28th, 1876, the Rev. 
 B. S. Everitt, pastor of the Presbyterian 
 church of Jamesburg, N. J., requested all who were 
 desirous of a suitable celebration of the Centennial 
 Anniversary of the Nation to meet in the lecture- 
 room to-morrow (Monday) evening, May 29th, to 
 consider the same. In response, some thirty citizens 
 gathered and appointed the following Committee 
 of Arrangements : — I. S. Buckelew, J. C. Magee, 
 T. W. Hill, James L. Ferris, George S. Courter, 
 Peter V. Davison, and Rev. B. S. Everitt. The 
 committee organized by appointing Rev. B. S, 
 Everitt, chairman ; George S. Courter, secretary, 
 and T. VV. Hill, treasurer. They also appointed 
 Mrs. M. C. Buckelew and Mrs. N. B. Smock a com- 
 mittee to secure a large flag, and Mrs. I. S. Bucke- 
 lew, Mrs. B. S. Everitt, and Mrs. George H. Smock 
 to secure and prepare thirty-eight young ladies to 
 represent the States and to sing some National airs; 
 also, other sub-committees of their own number. 
 
 The committee having completed their arrange- 
 ments, Tuesday, July 4th, 1876, was ushered in by 
 (48) 
 
49 
 
 salutes from a cannon cast for the purpose, and 
 procured by J. D. Courter, J. F. Forman Smock, and 
 Alfred McNamee. At sunrise the bells rang ; at 
 nine o'clock the procession formed, under direction 
 of Major F. L. Buckelew, marshal, and George H. 
 Townsend, aid, the Freehold Cornet Band leading, 
 and following in order — carriage with orator, histo- 
 rian, reader, and chairman of committee ; a large 
 wagon, with thirty-eight young ladies dressed in 
 white, with red, white, and blue sashes, and each 
 bearing a flag with the name of a State thereon, 
 while Jamie Buckelew bore the flag inscribed, 
 "Our Whole Country." Then followed Fidelity 
 Lodge of Odd Fellows, with visiting lodges from 
 Hightstown and Amboy, and the Knights of 
 Pythias from Englishtown; then the boys and offi- 
 cers of the State Reform School, led by their 
 superintendent, James H. Eastman ; then citizens 
 in carriages and on foot, while the rear was brought 
 up by a cavalcade of about thirty-eight horsemen, 
 under command of Captain V. W. Mount. He was 
 dressed in elegant Continental costume, and the 
 company in tasty and showy suits of red, white, and 
 blue. The procession having proceeded through 
 the principal streets, halted in front of the church 
 and school-house, forming a hollow square around 
 a flag-pole that had been raised in the middle of 
 the street. The Rev. B. S. Everitt invoked the 
 Divine blessing, when John D. Buckelew, with a 
 few appropriate remarks, raised a beautiful flag, 
 the same being the handiwork of the committee 
 of ladies. As the flag ascended it was saluted 
 
50 
 
 with cannon and cheers and music by the band. 
 When this ceased, "The Star-Spangled Banner" 
 was sung by the young ladies. Rev. B. S. Everitt 
 spoke briefly of " Our Flag," and the significance 
 of the colors — red, meaning courage; white, purity- 
 and blue, truth ; while the stars of purity rested 
 on the field of truth, each stripe told of an original 
 State, and each star of a present State. After 
 this, the Reform School boys sang " The Flag of 
 Our Country," the band played, the cannon roared, 
 the company cheered, and the magnificent emblem 
 floated gracefully in the morning breeze. 
 
 The procesion reformed and proceeded to Wig- 
 wam Grove, where, after a little rest, the following 
 exercises were held : — 
 
 Music by the band. 
 
 Singing, " The Flag of Our Union," by the 
 young" ladies. 
 
 Prayer by Rev. B. S. Everitt. 
 
 Singing, "The Flag of Our Country," by Reform 
 School. 
 
 Reading of " Declaration of Independence " by 
 Mr. Marcellus Oakey, principal of Jamesburg 
 Institute. 
 
 Music by the band. 
 
 An oration of great beauty, replete with sound 
 sense and good advice, by Judge William T. Hoff- 
 man, of Jersey City. 
 
 Singing of "America" by young ladies. 
 
 Music by the band. 
 
 Recess. 
 
51 
 
 At three o'clock, P. M., the bell rang, the band 
 played, and the people gathered around the stand; 
 the young ladies sang " Hail Columbia," and, in 
 accordance with the recommendation of U. S. 
 Grant, President of the United States, that the local 
 history of the place should be given, the historian, 
 T. Wilton Hill, cashier of the First National Bank 
 of Jamesburg, read the historical address. The 
 band played " Keller's American Hymn," and, in 
 response to a call from the audience, John D. 
 Buckelew, United States consul at Stettin, Ger- 
 many, and for his life -time identified with the inter- 
 ests of this place, came forward and made an 
 interesting address, assuring the company, how- 
 ever far or however long he may be away, he will 
 never fail to love his country, and on every return 
 to express that love. The audience expressed their 
 gratitude to the young ladies of the committee 
 who so successfully managed their very interesting 
 part of the ceremonies, and to Captain Mount and 
 his cavalcade. Votes of thanks were then given 
 to the orator, the reader of the " Declaration," the 
 historian, and the chairman of the committee- 
 The chairman then presented a beautiful basket 
 of flowers, on behalf of the ladies, to Judge Hoff- 
 man; which was received with words of thankful 
 acknowledgment. The day closed with a display 
 of fire-works, which was witnessed by hundreds of 
 people, and no serious accident occurred to mar 
 the pleasures of the day. 
 
 The citizens generously displayed flags and 
 bunting, while several houses were beautifully 
 
decorated. The engines coming in with their trains 
 were tastefully adorned. Never was the day so 
 generally observed, and the generous display, the 
 liberal, hearty enthusiasm with which the com- 
 munity entered into it, was worthy of all praise. 
 
HIclX^ OF 
 
 Scale 6Jo /i. to / inch "^ ^^ 9 
 
 TjxOi Inverts &Steti'<irt '/I G .FilteTt St ThUcL 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Delivered at Wigwam Grove, Jame;sburg, New Jersey, 
 
 July 4th, 1876, by T. Wilton Hill, Cashier 
 
 First National Bank Jamesburg, 
 
 New Jersey. 
 
 MR. Chairman and Fellow-citizens: — In 
 response fo your request, I present for your 
 consideration such items of local interest as I have 
 been enabled to gather in the time allotted me, 
 reminding you that care, research, and comparison 
 of notes, involving much time, is essential to an 
 accurate historical sketch. It is well that this Cen- 
 tennial year brings the consideration of so useful 
 and interesting a subject to our minds, causing us 
 to search for and bring to light traces and evidences 
 of our mighty achievements and material progress, 
 as well as relics and traditions that otherwise would 
 soon be gone forever. The landmarks of the cen- 
 tury previous to the one that has just closed — how 
 few they are ! — how age crumbles them, or improve- 
 ments and progress ruthlessly destroy ! If, in our 
 Centennial Jubilee, we make a full and truthful 
 (53) 
 
54 
 
 memorial of the past, and inspire our children to 
 record, from time to time, more faithfully than we 
 have done, then will the historian of the next cen- 
 tury have an easier task and more satisfactory data 
 to work from. As Jerseymen, rejoicing in our 
 State, we point with pride to the noble position she 
 has maintained; her loyalty and patriotism, ever 
 true; her responses, prompt and decisive. One of 
 the original of the thirteen States, the third to 
 approve of the Declaration of Independence, which 
 she did July 17th, 1776, having, in fact, anticipated 
 the Continental Congress some two days. Her 
 Provincial Congress assembled at Burlington, June 
 lOth, 1776. Action was taken preparatory to a 
 declaration of independence. Appointment of a 
 committee to draft a constitution, whose report was 
 adopted July 2d, — the royal governor, Franklin, 
 being arrested and imprisoned and sent to Con- 
 necticut, where he was held during the war. 
 
 In colonial days, when the first settlements were 
 made in this vicinity of which we now find any 
 mention, New Jersey was divided into the prov- 
 inces of East and West Jersey, and the Duke of 
 York, under date of March 14th, 1682, had con- 
 firmed the sale of the province of East Jersey to 
 the twenty-four proprietors, including James, the 
 Earl of Perth, from whence Perth Amboy derived 
 her name; and Robert Barclay, from whom the 
 title to a part of Edmund Rue's farm was acquired, 
 with only three intermediate changes. The repre- 
 sentatives of the proprietors appear to have been 
 very active in disseminating favorable accounts of 
 
55 
 
 East Jersey, and the first settlers were very enthu- 
 siastic in the descriptions of their new homes and 
 prospects. Further inducements were made by the 
 proprietors in 1684 granting fifty acres to each 
 head of a family settling in the province, and 
 twenty-five acres for each of the other members of 
 his household — old or young. Under this pro- 
 I'ision, James Johnstone came from Edinburgh in 
 December, 1685, and settled on the banks of the 
 Manalapan, between here and Spotswood. He soon 
 purchased additional land, extending towards the 
 Machaponix, and no doubt was the first person to 
 reclaim land that can be included in our bounds. 
 At a little later period, William Davison, also from 
 Scotland, settled on a tract of land, commencing 
 at a point about two hundred feet this side of the 
 residence of Isaac S. Buckelew, extending beyond 
 Daniel R. Schenck's, and including most of the 
 land now spoken of as the Davison district. His 
 numerous descendants have done much towards 
 redeeming the land and advancing the agricultural 
 interests of our neighborhood. His grandson, Paul 
 Davison, deceased only a year or two since, was 
 known to most of us, and the widow of his grand- 
 son, William Davision, the venerable Sarah Davison, 
 :Still lives in our midst. The letters written by the 
 first settlers to their friends at home, describing the 
 -country and offering inducements for their friends 
 to follow, are worthy of notice. I will quote in 
 illustration some that I find published. 
 
 " Wolves are so far from troubling men, that if a 
 man should lay a glove upon a carcass or their 
 
56 
 
 prey, they will yell, but not come nigh it. You 
 cannot come nigh a rattlesnake but they will rattle 
 with their tail, whereby a man is advertised either 
 to kill them or go by them. They frequently 
 charm the squirrels or other little beasts off the 
 tops of the trees into their mouth, and that without 
 touching them with their teeth, which if they did 
 they would poison themselves. The flea, that is 
 troublesome on the low and marshy grounds, is not 
 found on the uplands. I am mightily well pleased 
 with my coming over ; neither do I think I could 
 live again in Scotland. It is a place that produces 
 many fine fruits and physic herbs. The woods are 
 stored with wild deers, conies, wolves, bears, rac- 
 coons, some beavers, and several other beasts 
 which have fine furs, and fish and water-fowl for 
 the killing. The timber are mostly oak of all sorts, 
 walnut and chestnut. Strawberries grow very thick 
 upon the ground amongst the trees, so that some 
 places in the woods are in summer, as it were^ 
 covered with a red cloth. The land is exceeding 
 good which is yet to take up, much better than 
 what is inhabited. There is very much 'syder' 
 here, which is our principal drink. The Indian 
 natives are not troublesome any way if we do them 
 no harm, but are a kind and loving people. The 
 men do nothing but hunt, and the women they 
 plant corn and work at home. They come and 
 trade among the Christians, with skins or venison^ 
 and in the summer time they and their wives come 
 down the rivers in their canoes, which they make 
 themselves, of a piece of a great tree, like a little 
 
57 
 
 boat, and there they fish and take oysters. What 
 I most earnestly desire of you for the encourage- 
 ment of this plantation is that you would be 
 instrumental to send us over some ministers, who, 
 I dare engage, shall ever afterwards be thankful." 
 
 Among the articles named that the people along 
 the coast at Amboy dealt in, is included the flesh 
 of the whale, salted. I find but little of interest in 
 connection with the development of the tracts 
 mentioned, up to the commencement of this cen- 
 tury. The old building still standing on the State 
 Reform School farm alone remains to remind us of 
 the seventeenth century, and of tJiat we have no 
 knowledge. Tradition alone tells us that it was 
 used as a prison-house during the French war. 
 Some old grave-stones are found in the graveyard 
 attached to it, bearing date previous to that term. . 
 On the mill-stream, a little this side of Outcault's 
 mills, there can still be found the remnants of a 
 dam that was used in connection with a forge, in 
 existence previous to the Revolutionary War. On 
 this side of the brook the land was included in 
 what was known as the Faulkner tract, and was 
 inhabited mostly by the Indians as late as 1758, — the 
 patent line reaching from a point marked by a very 
 peculiar stone, still well preserved, on the farm of 
 Edmund Rue, at the edge of Manalapan brook, 
 thence along the farm of Alexander Redmond and 
 others, can still be traced to the Delaware river. 
 Here was the scene of Brainerd's great work. 
 Historians have sought to locate his settlement, and 
 have traveled hither and thither to find the spot of 
 
58 
 
 his Bethel, but it is for us, in these woods, rev- 
 erently to bow as we realize that we are on the soil 
 he was wont to tread; that over these hills and 
 vales he journeyed on his mission of love, fraught 
 with such wonderful power. Almost within stone's 
 throw of this stand, on the farm of Alexander Red- 
 mond and the adjoining land of the widow Lane, 
 was the Brainerd settlement. Many of the cellars 
 were still preserved when Mr. Redmond purchased 
 the property in 1841, and he still has stones that 
 were used as hearths, as well as many relics of the 
 Indians that have been exhumed. The old apple 
 and cherry trees of the settlement were then quite 
 numerous; some of the apple trees, I believe, still 
 remain. The brook from whence this grove takes 
 its name was called by them "Wigwam brook," 
 and has its source in springs located in their set- 
 tlement. In the life of John Brainerd, published 
 by the Presbyterian Board, the year 1754 is spoken 
 of as one of great despondency for the missionary, 
 as " Bethel, to procure which, as their permanent 
 home, David Brainerd had paid the debts of the 
 Indians, amounting to some ^^90, and aided them 
 to clear its forests with his own labor, was now 
 passing from their hands forever." A short time 
 after, the Scotch society, which had supported him 
 in his missionary field, withdrew that assistance, 
 and Brainerd sought other service. In this con- 
 nection it is interesting to read an old deed in the 
 possession of Mr. Alexander Redmond, by which 
 it appears that on the 12th of July, 1754 (the year 
 I above mentioned), the Rev. John Brainerd con- 
 
59 
 
 veyed to Peter Deremer the land adjacent to Wig- 
 wam brook, including lands now owned by Mrs. 
 James Redmond, Alexander Redmond, Edmund 
 Rue, and the estate of James Buckelew. The his- 
 toric character of this locality becomes still more 
 interesting when we rememember that Brainerd's 
 helpmate was the Rev. William Tennent, at that 
 time the remarkable as well as powerful pastor of 
 what is now known as the old Tennent Church. 
 After Brainerd went to Newark, in 1755, the Scotch 
 society made an agreement to give him ^^"25 per 
 annum for visiting the congregation once a week, 
 catechizing their children, and sometimes adminis- 
 tering the Communion on the Lord's day, hoping 
 thereby to keep the Indian congregation together. 
 Thus have I given you the first historic facts 
 connected with our immediate vicinity. Nothing 
 of special interest is found worth recording until 
 the year 1800. The main path of the Indians was 
 located thirty miles below us, running from the 
 Shrewsbury river, following the shore of Raritan 
 bay, and crossing the Raritan some three miles 
 above the site of Perth Amboy. In 1682, the 
 date of the creation of Middlesex county, the only 
 road of importance was what is now called the old 
 road, running from the vicinity of Elizabethtown 
 Point to the present site of New Brunswick, thence 
 to the Delaware river. The Raritan river was then 
 fordable at low water; Inian's ferry, now New 
 Brunswick, not being established until 1697. In 
 1683 the proprietors made strenuous efforts to open 
 a road from Perth Amboy to Burlington, to draw 
 
6o 
 
 off the travel that was then taking the road just 
 mentioned, and in 1684, Deputy-Governor Lawrie 
 succeeded in opening the road, which is still used, 
 and connecting it with a ferry-.boat at Amboy. 
 Notwithstanding aid was sought from the assembly 
 to compel people to travel this road, the old Dutch 
 road was the most popular. It is a singular fact to 
 note that the trouble of our section of country, in 
 regard to rapid and direct communication with 
 New York, has been continued from that early 
 period to the present, changing from turnpike to 
 railroad in course of time. Let us hope that it will 
 not be another century before we have direct rail- 
 road connection with New York. In the eighteenth 
 century the cry was "turnpike monopoly." In the 
 nineteenth century we have had the cry of " rail- 
 road monopoly." In 17 16, by acts of the assembly^ 
 the system of road-making and regulating was 
 adopted similar to that of the present, and more 
 care was given to the subject. In 1734 the Bor- 
 dentown and Washington South River road was 
 opened, and once a week a freight wagon was run, 
 connecting with boat for New York. Under these 
 circumstances, the settlement of our section was 
 very slow. The saw-mill, grist and fulling mill had 
 been established previous to the year 1792, and 
 together with one or two buildings for residences 
 and a small store, constituted what was then known 
 as Ensley's Mills. Billy West's tavern stood on 
 the corner of the Half-acre road, just inside Mr. 
 J. D. Buckelew's present enclosure ; most of us 
 remember that the last of it was taken down only 
 
6i 
 
 three or four years since, it having for a year pre- 
 vious been used as a canning factory. November 
 15th, 1800, John Mount bought the mill property 
 of George Rossell, and it was for eighteen years 
 afterward known as Mount's Mills. Mount pros- 
 pered and added to his lands from time to time, 
 until he owned most of the land on the west side of 
 Manalapan brook, lying between the present lands 
 of Alexander Redmond and estate of Abraham S. 
 Davison. In 1818 the mill property was turned 
 over to William Gordon, who married the only 
 child of John Mount, after which the place was 
 called Gordon's Mills, and so continued until 
 November lOth, 1832, when Mr. James Buckelew 
 purchased Mount's entire interest, from which date 
 it was known as Buckelew's Mills. At that date 
 the property consisted of the saw-mill, still pre- 
 served ; the grist-mill, since enlarged and improved ; 
 the fulling-mill standing at the easterly end of 
 the grist-mill, long since destroyed ; the dwelling- 
 house, now the enlarged and remodeled residence 
 of Mrs. James Buckelew; also the dwelling now 
 occupied by Mrs. Marsh, then standing near the 
 centre of the present road, one end being used as a 
 store, and the dwelling occupied by James D. 
 Browne. On the west side of the brook, opposite 
 the saw-mill, stood a small house, now on the south 
 side of Willow street. The old Gwinnip house 
 stood on the lot, corner of Church street and Gatz- 
 mer avenue, near where the willow trees still bend^ 
 and from where our cannon this morning blazed 
 forth the salute to our glorious flag. Simon Van 
 
Wickle's old residence, now the home of Nelson 
 B. Smock, stood near its present site, while the old 
 Peter Deremer house, since metamorphosed into 
 James Redmond's beautiful residence, told of a 
 generation familiar with Brainerd and his Indian 
 friends. Opposite was the farm-house of William 
 Davison, built in 1807, since removed by his son, 
 the late Abraham S. Davison, to the site of the 
 present family homestead. At West's tavern were 
 three log-houses, and at the other end of the set- 
 tlement, on the grounds of Col. I. S. Buckelew's 
 lawn, was the dwelling of Daniel Davison, after- 
 ward moved and changed into the house now 
 occupied by Mrs. Mahala Mount. James Farring- 
 ton kept the store for some time, and was suc- 
 ceeded by James Buckelew, followed by John A. 
 Davison, and in 1848 by James Redmond. The 
 building of the Camden and Amboy Railroad 
 formed an epoch in the history of this section of 
 New Jersey, and helped to open the township for 
 settlement. James Buckelew's interests were at an 
 early period fully and largely identified with that 
 road, no doubt anticipating therefrom great advan- 
 tages for his embryo village. The Camden and 
 Amboy Railroad was chartered February 4th, 1830; 
 one million dollars of stock subscribed by April 
 1 2th; work was commenced by June or July, and 
 September 19th, 1832, the track from Bordentown 
 to Hightstown was first used with horse-cars, and 
 on December 17th, 1832, passengers were conveyed 
 from Bordentown to Amboy by horse-cars. The 
 first car of freight over the road was drawn by 
 
 
63 
 
 horses driven by Mr. Benjamin Fish, leaving Amboy 
 January 24th, 1833. Mr. Fish was one of the 
 original directors of the company, and now resid- 
 ing in Trenton at a ripe old age, retains his interests 
 in the road as well as his position in the board of 
 directors. It was not until September of the same 
 year that trains were drawn by a locomotive, the 
 "John Bull." The cars were like the old-fashioned 
 round-body coaches, doors at the side, and calcu- 
 lated to hold six persons. It seems strange to 
 relate that fatal accidents should happen to cars 
 drawn by horses, yet we record the accidental death 
 of a passenger by the upsetting of a car, near the 
 station then called "West's Turnout." He was a 
 stranger, yet the sad rites of burial were per- 
 formed by our villagers, the funeral services being 
 held at West's tavern. The railroad, as originally 
 laid out, followed the present line of the Freehold 
 and Jamesburg Railroad, diverging therefrom a 
 little this side of the present engine-house, crossing 
 Gatzmer avenue on a curve, passing a little north 
 of L. Cox's residence, and thence at an angle 
 across the lot of J. D. Buckelew's canning factory, 
 the old race-course, and entering the present road 
 near John Bennett's. The granite stones upon 
 which the bed of the road was originally laid are 
 still found along the old line. The first station- 
 house stood near the site of the present willow 
 trees, opposite the residence of Charles Worts, 
 and was a one-story building. The railroad was 
 straightened in 1850, and the station built on its 
 present site. 
 
64 
 
 The Camden and Amboy Railroad passed under 
 the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
 pany by lease, on January ist, 1872, and that with 
 all the company's roads south of it, together with 
 the branches from Bordentown to Trenton, and 
 from Jamesburg to Monmouth Junction, was con- 
 stituted the Amboy Division, and Isaac S. Buckelew 
 appointed superintendent. 
 
 In 1833, James C. Stout erected a small building 
 for a store, near the present crossing of Gatzmer 
 avenue with the Freehold and Jamesburg Railroad. 
 Nevertheless, it was several years before the rail- 
 road company thought it advantageous to stop for 
 passengers at " West's Turnout," Spotswood being 
 the nearest stopping-place. Probably this had 
 something to do with the success of the store 
 opposite West's, for it had been unoccupied some- 
 time, when in 185 1 Mr. J. C. Magee renovated it, 
 and opened his first store in Jamesburg. I say 
 " Jamesburg," for by this time the village had 
 acquired its name, and it came about in this way. 
 The district school-house was located half a mile 
 from the mill, on the Englishtown road. In 1846 
 there was a division of the district, because the 
 trustees refused to admit a colored boy to the 
 school. One district built the school-house now at 
 Monroe, and Mr. James Buckelew built a brick 
 school-house on the lot, now the parsonage lot of 
 the Presbyterian church, and the use of which he 
 gave to the district for many years. When the 
 building was completed, the question arose, what 
 shall we call our school? The answer rang out. 
 
 
65 
 
 " Jamesburg," in honor of the man by whose im- 
 mense energy, tireless perseverance, shrewdness, 
 and sound judgment, the village owed its bright 
 prospects, and a stone was cut "Jamesburg, 1847," 
 placed on the gable end, from whence the town 
 acquires its name. The name at first was not popu- 
 lar on the railroad ; perhaps they wanted to use up 
 the old tickets marked "Wests;" at any rate, the 
 conductor would call " Wests," and then in an 
 undertone, " Jamesburg." July 21st, 1845, Jan^es 
 Buckelew and Nathaniel S. Rue established a stage 
 line between Freehold and Jamesburg, connecting 
 with the railroad for New York — fare eighty-seven 
 and one-half cents — carrying in the second year of 
 their enterprise five thousand and seventy-four 
 through passengers. Afterwards they established 
 a through line from Philadelphia to Long Branch, 
 often sending out from here as many as thirty 
 coaches and wagons to accommodate their patrons. 
 Many of you remember with what pride Dent 
 Miller, with four in hand, would bring in his heavy 
 loads of passengers. This gave way to the Free- 
 hold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad, which 
 was surveyed in 185 1 by Colonel I. S. Buckelew, 
 under direction of General William Cook, chief 
 engineer of the Camden and Amboy Railroad 
 Company, was completed so that regular trains 
 commenced running from Freehold July i8th, 1853. 
 Of an enterprise so largely beneficial to the com- 
 munity, so successfully carried out and maintained 
 by its very efficient head, we are justly proud, and 
 gladly record the honor he has fairly earned of 
 
'66' 
 
 being the superintendent of the best-managed rail- 
 road in our country. It is interesting to some of 
 us, especially to residents of Upper Jamesburg, to 
 recall the fact, that the first regular morning train 
 left Freehold at 6.30 A. M., running through to 
 South Ambo}% and connecting there with the New 
 Brunswick boat for New York, and tnat Charley 
 Worts was the engineer. Wiseacres would shake 
 their heads and say, " that boy will smash every- 
 thing to pieces and send his passengers to Flan- 
 ders;" but Charley still lives (and so does his repu- 
 tation) as a bold, firm, and faithful engineer. At 
 this period in our history there arose a demand for 
 increased mail facilities, Spotswood being the near- 
 est post office, and sharing with Cranbury in the 
 distribution of our mail matter. I am told that it 
 would sometimes require two weeks for the transit 
 of letters from Brooklyn here. John A. Davison, 
 who had kept the store at the Mills very acceptably 
 for some years, on account of failing health relin- 
 quished the business in 1848, and was succeeded 
 by James Redmond. Soon after assuming the 
 business in the building now the wheelwright-shop 
 of James Buckelew's sons, then standing on the 
 lawn east of the bank, Mr. Redmond received his 
 commission as first postmaster of Jamesburg. He 
 retained his commission until 1853, although for 
 the last three years of his term his brother William 
 was the acting postmaster. In 1853, Joseph C. 
 Magee relinquished the old store opposite West's 
 tavern, opened a store in the building erected for 
 that purpose b}' Mr. Buckelew, beyond the bank, 
 
6/ 
 
 and succeeded Mr. Redmond as the second village 
 postmaster, which position he retained for nearly 
 fifteen years. He was succeeded in office by George 
 Van Artsdalen, who held it for nine or ten years, 
 and this spring turned over its trust to our present 
 patriotic postmaster, Mr. Harrison W. Crosby. It 
 was not until after Mr. Magee had been postmaster 
 some two years that he succeeded in having a 
 direct mail from the cities of Philadelphia and New 
 York. Previous to that time, all our mail matter 
 from the cities was sent via Freehold, requiring 
 from two to three days for the transit. The next 
 growth of our place manifested itself in a yearning 
 after greater opportunities for spiritual blessings and 
 Christian worship. Sunday-school had been held 
 in the old school-house at Monroe, for a number 
 of years previous to its removal, conducted by 
 Billy West, of West's tavern. Methodist preach- 
 ing had also been frequently held there, the 
 father of Asbury Fountain often coming over from 
 Deep Run to officiate. After the building of the 
 Jamesburg School-house, opportunity was given 
 for an additional Sunday-school, and through the 
 exertions of Mrs. James Buckelew and Alexander 
 Redmond, the foundation was laid of the now pros- 
 perous Jamesburg Sunday-school. God blessing 
 the efforts of that school, a few years witnessed 
 the commencement of the Presbyterian church. 
 Organized June 6th, 1854, with eleven members; 
 church building dedicated June 26th, 1854, which 
 building has been enlarged two or three times 
 since, and now has seating capacity for six hundred 
 
68 
 
 persons. The successive pastors have been, the 
 Rev. J. Halstead Carroll, William M. Wells, and 
 Benjamin S. Everitt, the latter still ministering to 
 the wants of his flock. The wonderful growth of 
 this church, from a membership of eleven persons 
 in 1854 to that of four hundred and twenty in 
 1876, attests alike to the blessings of God and the 
 faithfulness of his people, while the broad and lib- 
 eral spirit of its officers, that unites into one band 
 of worshipers and workers all followers of the 
 Master, whatever have been their previous prefer- 
 ences of doctrine, attests the value and power of 
 Christian unity, and breathes of the millenial, when 
 there shall be but one Shepherd and one fold. As 
 the church prospered, so have her great handmaids,, 
 education and charity, advanced in our midst. The 
 school-house built by Mr. Buckelew in 1847 was 
 moved to its present site, corner of Church street 
 and Gatzmer avenue, in 1866, to make room for the 
 erection of a parsonage. A two-story building was 
 erected, and the slab seats and straight benches 
 gave way to more comfortable backs and conveni- 
 ent desks. The State of New Jersey itself became 
 wider awake on the subject of education, enlarged 
 and liberal ideas were scattered, the normal school 
 established, school fund provided, and finally modi- 
 fied compulsory education adopted. Under such 
 circumstances we could not help growing, and the 
 year 1875 found us clamoring for enlarged rooms 
 and the best instructors. Through the generosity 
 of Mrs. James Buckelew, and her sons and daugh- 
 ter, the school-house and lot were deeded to the 
 
69 
 
 district, and by the expenditure of ;^I500 the 
 buildincf- was enlarged, remodeled, refurnished, and 
 ample room afforded for our children to receive the 
 care and attention of skilled teachers, with the most 
 improved requisites furnished. A desire for a more 
 advanced system of education led the Messrs. 
 Buckelew, in 1873, to erect a building for the 
 Jamesburg Institute, and Mr. M. Oakey, in the fall 
 of that year, opened his school under that title, for 
 the instruction of young men. It is satisfactory to 
 note that his labors are appreciated, and to feel that 
 his institute will grow with us. With the develop- 
 ment of charity came the organization of Fidelity 
 Lodge, No. 14, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
 which was instituted July 6th, 1870, and has shown 
 by its faithful work the beauties of its Order. Their 
 record shows a membership of ninety at this pres- 
 ent time, the distribution of a relief fund of ^$400 
 during the six years of their existence, and the 
 accumulation of a lodge fund, and a provision for 
 widows and orphans of $2000. Soon after the 
 organization of Odd Fellows, the Independent 
 Order of Good Templars was organized, under the 
 name of Everitt Lodge, and has done its work in 
 the temperance cause. Allied to the power and 
 habit of dispensing is that of acquiring, and if our 
 people were taught the first, certainly opportunity 
 should be given for the development of the latter. 
 In our modern system, success in finances is closely 
 allied with sound banking institutions. The founder 
 of Jamesburg, early in the history of national 
 banks, took the steps essential towards supplying 
 
70 
 
 that need, and in January, 1864, in connection with 
 his sons Isaac S., John D., and F. Lemuel Bucke- 
 lew, Mr. Joseph C. Magee, John G. Schultz, and 
 Nathaniel W. Morris (who were the first board of 
 directors), and some twenty of their neighbors, 
 formed the two hundred and eighty-eighth national 
 bank, styled the First National Bank of Jamesburg. 
 Twelve years have passed, and its surplus fund,, 
 now twenty-five per cent, of its capital stock, and 
 the return of never-failing dividends to its stock- 
 holders, tell of success, while its ;$ 100,000 of bills 
 discounted tell of so much fresh capital loaned to 
 the community; for let the record tell, that not one 
 dollar of purchased paper has ever passed through 
 its books. We have before us to-day a reminder 
 of still another, not exactly a Jamesburg institution, 
 but a State institution, in which we feel a deep inter- 
 est in common with the rest of our citizens. The 
 New Jersey State Reform School, located on a farm 
 of nearly five hundred acres, two miles from our 
 town, was created by act of the legislature ten years 
 ago, and governed by a board of trustees appointed 
 by the Governor, has sought the improvement and 
 elevation of boys that would otherwise be likely to 
 fall into heavy crimes and a source of trouble ta 
 themselves and the State. Our town has been con- 
 stantly represented in its board of trustees by either 
 Mr. John D. Buckelew or his brother, Colonel 
 Isaac S. Buckelew. We have met its board of 
 officers here at Jamesburg and at the school, have 
 met the boys intrusted to their care, and studied 
 somewhat the problem they are striving to work,. 
 
71 
 
 and we feel, what I think most of you feel, that the 
 mantle has fallen on fit shoulders, and that the 
 superintendent of the New Jersey State Reform 
 School is imbued with a soul designed by God for 
 the very work he is engaged in. and that some of 
 us will live to see the great good that he is now 
 accomplishing for those boys and for the State. 
 
 The Jamesburg Sunday-school Convention, 
 which has been held here in Wigwam Grove for 
 the past ten consecutive years, is worthy of a 
 moment's consideration. Founded in 1866 by Mr. 
 J. D. Buckelew, superintendent of the Jamesburg 
 Sunday-school, in connection with Mr. Franklin 
 Dey, of Mercer county, and other superintendents 
 and friends, for the purpose of giving the scholars 
 a picnic, and at the same time furnishing them and 
 their friends with exercises and addresses calcu- 
 lated to both instruct and enhance the interest of 
 Sunday-schools, it has grown into a convention 
 of magnitude, requiring the management of a 
 thoroughly systematized organization, which has 
 been found in the board of officers and teachers of 
 the Jamesburg Sunday-school, and who are now 
 recognized as ex officio the Jamesburg Sunday- 
 school Convention Association. The convention is 
 held at Wigwam Grove on the fourth Wednesday 
 in August in each year, and strenuous efforts 
 made for addresses from able and popular Sunday- 
 school workers (representing various Christian 
 denominations), illustrations of the most improved 
 methods in teaching, together with attractive and 
 inspiring music. It has been estimated that from 
 
72 
 
 ten to twelve thousand persons have attended this 
 convention annually for the past few years. 
 
 Fern wood Cemetery, adjacent to Wigwam Grove, 
 beautifully situated, with a commanding view of 
 the lake and the landscape beyond it, hallowed by 
 its associations with the work of the devoted and 
 faithful Brainerds, is most appropriately set apart 
 for its sacred purpose. The original association 
 was formed in 1853, '^"'^ ^^^^ ^^'^t land selected for 
 cemetery purposes was on the north side of the 
 Camden and Amboy Railroad, about three-fourths 
 of a mile west of the present depot. Objection 
 being made to its location, by consent of its lot- 
 holders it was changed to the present site, and 
 sanctioned by the legislature, who, in the winter 
 of 1 86 1, passed the act which created the present 
 " Fernwood Cemetery Association." Under its 
 present charter, Messrs. T. S. Snedeker, J. C. 
 Magee, W. H. Courter, J. B. Thompson, and C. W. 
 Johnson were its first board of trustees, and Mr. 
 J. D. Buckelew, treasurer. The plot of ground 
 containing a little over three acres was generously 
 donated to the association by Mr. James Bucke- 
 lew. Among the first family plots selected and 
 improved was one by Mr. Buckelew. On the shaft 
 erected to his memory is the simple inscription : 
 "Born August 13, 1801. Died May 30, 1869." 
 There are at present seventy-one lot-holders, and 
 the interests of the association cared for by Messrs. 
 John D. Buckelew, Cornelius W. Johnson, William 
 H. Mount, William H. Courter, and T. Wilton 
 Hill as trustees, and Mr. F. Lemuel Buckelew as 
 treasurer. 
 
73 
 
 The Jamesburg Agricultural Society was form- 
 ally organized on the 27th of April, 1853, with 
 Mr. James Buckelew as president, and Joseph C. 
 Magee and William H. Courter as secretaries. 
 The society was nominally in existence the previous 
 year and consisted of the following gentlemen : — 
 James Buckelew, Alexander Redmond, Aaron 
 Gulick, Samuel R. Forman, Charles Middleton, 
 Thomas S. Snedeker, Ralph C. Stults, Frederick 
 Farr, and Stephen Van Wickle. They organized 
 and held an agricultural fair, October 6th, 1852, 
 for the sale, purchase, and exhibition of stock, 
 farming implements, and produce, offering no pre- 
 miums, but giving every opportunity for a free and 
 complete exhibit of everything useful to the farmer. 
 The fair was a success, and resulted in the forma- 
 tion of the society, having for its object the benefit 
 and improvement of the farming community. 
 Fairs were held here for five years, attracting 
 many visitors and disseminating much good. The 
 society was the first of its kind organized in the 
 county, — in fact, for a number of years, the only 
 society. Of late years it has confined its labors to 
 the distribution of seeds and miscellaneous docu- 
 ments through its corresponding secretary, William 
 H. Courter. 
 
 The Jamesburg Mutual Building and Loan Asso- 
 ciation was organized February i8th, 1869, agree- 
 ably to act of the legislature passed February, 
 1849. At first the number of shares was only 
 three hundred and forty-nine, but as the associ- 
 ation proved successful, additional shares were 
 
74 
 
 taken from time to time, and in October, 1872, a 
 second series was started with five hundred and 
 forty-three shares. The association has loaned to 
 its members $81,000 on bond and mortgage on 
 property located mostly in Jamesburg. At the 
 present time the shares in the first series are four 
 hundred and twenty-five, valued at $128.29 each, 
 and in the second series five hundred and three 
 shares, valued at fifty-six dollars and ninety-one 
 cents each. The officers of the association consist 
 of J. C. Magee, president; John H. Heath, vice- 
 president; George S. Courter, secretary : T.Wilton 
 Hill, treasurer; William H. Courter, solicitor; J- 
 D. Buckelew, V. W. Mount, Samuel Marryott, 
 F. L. Buckelew, H. W. Crosby, George A. Shultz, 
 and W. E. Paxton, directors. But I fear, fellow- 
 citizens, I am trying your patience, yet there is 
 much that could be told. You are mostly familiar 
 with the growth of our town since 1866, when Mr. 
 Magee moved to his up-town store. How gradu- 
 ally house after house has gone up. I will only 
 say in regard to that growth, that a private memo- 
 randum, found in Mr. J. D. Buckelew's diary, gives 
 the census of our village complete, in 1855, as 
 follows, thirty houses and two hundred inhabitants ; 
 while the census taken last week enumerates one 
 hundred and thirty houses and six hundred and 
 ninety-seven inhabitants. We have in our village 
 a manufacturing establishment, completed during 
 the last few years, that must affect us very materi- 
 ally. The shirt manufactory of Downs, Gourlay 
 & Finch gives employment to four hundred per- 
 
75 
 
 sons of our village and vicinity, distributing- 
 wages amounting from ^lOOO to ^1500 per week. 
 Another decade may tell of wonderful results 
 springing from this first manufacturing enterprise 
 of our village. I might tell of our patriotism. In 
 the days of the Revolution our whole State was 
 forward in the cause of liberty and freedom. In 
 1778, when the British evacuated Philadelphia, 
 and the American army pursued, the memorable 
 days of June 26th, 27th, and 28th found the in- 
 habitants of this vicinity on the alert, especially as 
 a part of Washington's army passed within hailing 
 distance. When the cry of victory came they 
 united with old Monmouth, and are to this day as 
 proud as she to recall the heroism of that noble 
 woman, whose memory is revived by a tardy but 
 suitable tablet now being erected at Carlisle, Penn- 
 sylvania. Let us not forget the heroine, Molly 
 Pitcher. The war of 181 2 had its patriots from 
 our midst, and our State, to this day, regularly 
 reminds two venerable ladies of our town the debt 
 of gratitude she owes the memory of their dear 
 ones for lives sacrificed on their country's altar. 
 In the rebellion, our township and town were firm 
 and true. The monument erected in the yard of 
 the first church at Cranbury bears witness to the 
 long list of heroes who gave their lives to the holy 
 cause; and the pen of the historian has already 
 given an immortality to their names and records. 
 To-day, the military bearing of our marshal recalls 
 the faithful major of the gallant Fourteenth New 
 Jersey Volunteers, and the captain of our cavalcade 
 
76 
 
 earned his title by meritorious conduct on the 
 field, while Company H of the Fourteenth, and 
 other New Jersey regiments, have their repre- 
 sentatives among us. Let it be remembered to 
 the honor and credit alike of the committee and 
 our township, that in response to the demands of 
 the President for our quota in 1864, a subscription 
 was taken for the placing of the requisite number 
 of men in the field, and so generous was the re- 
 sponse that only fifty per cent, of the money 
 subscribed was required, the remaining fifty per 
 cent, being returned to the subscribers pro rata. 
 That committee consisted of Ezekiel Silvers, Gil- 
 bert S. Davison, and Isaac S. Buckelew. James- 
 burg has been ably represented by her sons from 
 time to time in our legislative halls as well as in 
 various county offices, and rejoices to-day in the 
 presence of Mr. John D. Buckelew, at home on 
 furlough from his mission as United States consul 
 at Stettin, Germany. God grant that we all may 
 ever try to maintain the glory of our town as ably 
 as it has been done, and have as pure a record left 
 for our children's children! 
 
STATEMENT OF THE CONDITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST NATIONAL BANK AT JAMESBURG, N. J. 
 
 Monday Evening, July 3d, 1876. 
 
 Resources. 
 
 Notes and bills discounted, 
 
 United States bonds deposited with 
 
 United States Treasurer, 
 United States bonds on hand, 
 Other bonds, stocks, and mortgages. 
 Due from Ninth National Bank, New 
 
 York, redeeming agent, . 
 Due from other national banks. 
 Five per cent, fund with United States 
 Treasurer for redemption of circu- 
 lation, ...... 
 
 United States Treasurer (for redemp- 
 tion), ...... 
 
 Cash on hand in national bank-notes, 
 Cash on hand in fractional currency, . 
 Cash on hand in silver coin, 
 Cash on hand in legal-tender notes, . 
 
 (77) 
 
 ^94,591 
 
 84 
 
 75,000 
 
 00 
 
 10,000 
 
 00 
 
 24,850 
 
 00 
 
 11,613 
 
 30 
 
 6,942 
 
 18 
 
 3,375 
 
 00 
 
 1,500 
 
 00 
 
 2,658 
 
 00 
 
 115 
 
 51 
 
 83 
 
 00 
 
 7,500 
 
 1 
 
 00 
 
 ;^238,228 
 
 8S 
 
78 
 
 Liabilities. 
 
 Capital, 
 
 Surplus fund, 
 
 Undivided profits, 
 
 Circulation, 
 
 Individual deposits, 
 
 Due to other national banks. 
 
 ^75,000 00 
 
 19.519 54 
 
 1,434 13 
 
 67,500 00 
 
 73.331 97 
 1.443 19 
 
 ;^238,228 83 
 
 First National Bank, Jamesburg, N. J. 
 
 Directors : 
 
 Isaac S. Buckelew, 1 John D. Buckelew, 
 
 Joseph C. Magee, George H. Townsend, 
 
 F. Lemuel Buckelew. 
 
 President, 
 Isaac S. Buckelew. 
 
 CasJiier, 
 T. Wilton Hill. 
 
 Former Directors : 
 
 James Buckelew, 
 Nathaniel W. Morris, 
 
 John G. Shultz, 
 James Applegate. 
 
 Former Cashiers : 
 William H. Courter, Benjamin Snyder. 
 
I 
 
'i 
 
 \ 
 
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