144- 
 
 I.C49P£ 
 
 N 
 
Class F/^M- 
 
 PRESKXTi;!) BY 
 
Brief History of 
 Chatham 
 
 Morris County, New Jersey 
 
 By 
 
 Charles A. Philhower, M. A. 
 
 New York 
 
 Lewis Historical Publishing Co. 
 
 1914 
 

 Aathpr 
 
 DEC -2 
 
 1915 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The first thought of compiHng this history of Chatham was prompted 
 b}- the assembling of certain facts concerning tl:e town for use in composing 
 a community drama entitled "Amanda Minton's Dream." After tlie writing 
 of this play by Mr. H. T. Strong and myself, and the successful rendi- 
 tion of it by "The Chatham Players," I set about to amplify the brief data 
 assembled and to put that which I found in readable form. Urgent requests 
 were made by many of the citizens of the town that the material collected 
 be published. When the History of Morris County was undertaken in 1913 
 by the Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Mr. Chas. M. Lum was chosen as 
 one of the editorial staff, and it was in response to Mr. Lum's request that 
 this brief sketch was written for that publication. After the manuscript 
 was finally accepted many of the citizens of the town expressed the desire 
 to have the material bound in a separate pamphlet. This was found feasible 
 at a small expense on the publishing side, and in consequence this history 
 of the town is submitted. 
 
 Grateful acknowledgment is herewith made to all who contributed in 
 any way whatsoever to this work. Especially do I wish to make mention 
 of the materials presented by H. T. Strong, James R. Littlejohn, Wm. H. 
 Lum, Geo. Spencer, Guy Minton, Washington Bond, Nelson Kelley, Sr., 
 and Miss Phoebe Potter. 
 
 The work done by Mr. James R. Littlejohn in compiling data and 
 making the maps in this pamphlet is of inestimable worth. 
 
 While individuals might observe omissions and question certain state- 
 ments, the greatest precaution has been exercised, and wherever it has been 
 thought advisable the source of information has been interpolated in 
 the text. 
 
 C. A. P. 
 
 Oct. 9, 1914. 
 
lO 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Geological Story ■■,■■;■,■■,;■■ ■-■■^■■j't 'i'" ' 
 
 Geological formation— Glacial period— Lake Passaic— Dead Lake. 
 
 Indian Occupation ,''''':''' '^' ' '■ ' ' ' 
 
 Land of Scheyichbi — Minsi Indians — Local tribes — Passaics — 
 Sachems— Indian villages. 
 
 Early Settlement ■ .- ■••■•• 
 
 New York— Bergen— Newark— Elizabetli Town— I'lrst Purchases— 
 Gov NichoUs— Geo. Carteret-Conlirmations to inhabitants of Newark— 
 \ssignment to Robt. Gordon-Settlement at \Vhirpan>—\\ est Jersey 
 ■proprietors-^Conflicting Claims-First Settlers-Development of town 
 east of river. 
 
 Revolutionarv Period ■ ■ • •. ^'i' ' W ' >' 
 
 Declaration of war-Gen. Chas. Lee and his army-Col Ford s 
 Militia-Gen. Maxwell's Troops-Gen Sullivan-Tones-Sentinel at 
 Prospect Hill-Revolutionary Soldiers-Patriotism of Whigs— Col. Shel- 
 don— New Jersev Journal — Shepard Kollock— Chatbain Imprints - 
 Encampment at Lowantica. l776-i777-Count D'.Anteroche-Exchange 
 of Prisoners— Encampment at Morristoxyn l77?-8o-General Court- 
 martial at Chatham-Inroads of British Soldiery-Gen ,?^^^;'T■' ' 
 Brigade-Battle of Connecticut Farms-Battle of Spr.ngheld-Mut.nv 
 of N J Troops-French and Continental Troops March through Chat- 
 ham. ■ 1781-Imprisonment of Capt. .\sgill-Poem 'Chatham Bridge. 
 
 The War of 1812— \'isit from Lafayette 
 
 Churches ^^.^.^.^. ■ — -.^-^^ ■—; ^^r^' BVVinard-PresbVterian Church at 
 Bottle llill-Methodist Church at Turkey-Lnion Ch";:<^h a Chatharn- 
 First Presbvterian Church-First Methodist Church-Catholic Church- 
 Congregational Church-Episcopal Church-Cemeteries. 
 
 The P"^'JJ,J '-^■'°° l-^^-{ House-'oi<i ■.\cademy"-Teachers of the .\cad- 
 emv-School on Passaic .\venue-School on Fairmo^int -"^venue-List of 
 Principals-Private Schools-Schools at Coleman s Hill, In.on Hill, and 
 Long Hill— State School Funds— Nathaniel Niles. 
 
 •-p 1 »J "^ 
 
 "'^ ■ .M'inisink Path-Road to EHzabeth Town-Newark and Morris Turn- 
 Dike— Original Names of Streets-Morns & Essex R. R.— U L. & w. 
 R R.-Morris County Traction Co-Elevation of Railroad Tracks. 
 
 Hotels, Stores and Post Offices • • ■•.•,• • „■ ■ ■ ; ; ^5 
 
 Timothv Day's Tavern-Crowell's Tavern--Cond,t s Tavern-Mer- 
 chants: Jacob Morrell. Foster Horton, Rev. James CaUh e U Gen_ 
 Mahlon .Minton— Postmasters : Daniel Crane, W m. R. MacUougal 
 Stanley Post Office. 
 Chatham Fish and Game Protective Association-Chatham Wheelmen .^8 
 
 38 
 
 Industnes^.^ ■Forges-'-Distillery-Saw' Milis-Flour' Mills-Brick Making- 
 Rose Growing— Vapo-cresoline— Building Sand. 
 
 26 
 26 
 
Bobilation Day 41 
 
 Doctors and Lawyers 41 
 
 Dr. John C. Budd — Dr. Jephtha B. Munn — Dr. Geo. M. Swaim, et al. 
 Lawyers : Frederick H. Lum — Chas. M. Lum — Guy Minton, et. al. 
 
 Slavery 44 
 
 Civil War 45 
 
 Liberty Pole — Company C, 15th N. J. — List of soldiers from 
 Chatham. 
 
 Modern Growth 47 
 
 Chatham Library — Chatham Press — Village of Chatham, Borough of 
 Chatham — Mayoralty of Frederick H. Lum — Mayoralty of Frank L. 
 Kelley. 
 
 Officials of the Borough of Chatham, 1913 49 
 
 Illustrations : 
 
 The Munn House, McLaughlan House, Railroad Station. 
 Bonnel House, Day House, Morrell House. 
 Lum House, Chatham Hotel. 
 Stanley Mill, Parrot Mill. 
 
 Maps : 
 
 Plots of land, 1695. 
 John Day's Bridge, 1749. 
 Map of Revolutionary Time. 
 Map of 1845. 
 
HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 The history of Chatham may be considered under seven divisions, 
 as follows: Geological story, Indian occupation, early settlement, Revolu- 
 tionary period, community development. Civil War period, and modern 
 growth. 
 
 While the geological story of a locality is popularly not deemed 
 a part of its history, yet it seems permissible to include such consideration 
 when the record is especially noteworthy. Consequently, since the vicinity of 
 Chatham has had a most remarkable geological career, it has been concluded 
 wise bodi from the point of interest and of information to make it a part of 
 this brief treatment. 
 
 The region about Chatham like all others has passed through those 
 formal periods of geological history which in the aggregate cover approxi- 
 mately from 75.000,000 to 100,000,000 years. It had its beginning of life in 
 the Archean era, when from 5,000 to 10,000 feet of sandstone and shale were 
 laid down on various parts of the earth's crust. Then came the period of 
 old life or paleozoic era at which time contemporaneously with the forma- 
 tion of limestones, quartzites, and schists, swarms of animal life filled the 
 waters and impenetrable jungles of vegetable growth covered the land. At 
 the expiration of this period which possibly marks the termination of some 
 80,000,000 years, our specially considered locality had not yet protruded 
 from the antediluvian seas. 
 
 Within the mesozoic era or period of middle life massive beds of red 
 sandstone were deposited to the depth of 15,000 feet, and the vicinity of 
 north central Jersey became a part of the continental mass of land. _ Soon 
 after this event a great geological catastrophe took place. Those gigantic 
 strata which made up the immediate bed-rock of much of the eastern part of 
 Morris county were tilted, bent, warped, and broken. Great upheavals of 
 molten rock emitted from the interior of the earth and the consequent result 
 was the Long Hill Mountain, the First and Second Watchung Mountains, 
 Riker's, and Hook's Mountains, together with the Palisades on the Hudson. 
 On the outskirts of these mountains abbreviated lava flows were deposited 
 and across the valleys dikes of trap rock were pushed up as adamantine as 
 the surrounding hills. 
 
 For some unknown reason the climatic conditions changed and in a 
 brief geological period which followed, this region of volcanic heat and 
 eruption was transformed into one of a most arctic character. It should be 
 stated however that this transformation took place within that modern geo- 
 logical time known as the cenozoic era or period of new life. There was so 
 much snow and the cold was so intense that a great layer of ice was formed 
 over the whole upper half of North America, reaching as far south 
 as central New Jersey. This enormous ice sheet had a depth of a mile or 
 more, and the limit of the southward advance of this extensive glacier was 
 marked by a long line of glacial gravel which passed through what is now 
 Chatham in its upward curve across the State from the site of Amboy on the 
 
2 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 coast to Riegelsville on the Delaware. Later there was another change in the 
 climate and the thick floor of ice began to meh. Large streams of water 
 flooded over this ice front and eventually heaped up great mounds of gravel 
 like Coleman's Hill, Duchamp's, and Molitor's sand pits. In certain stagnant 
 pools a silty limestone sediment was laid down making clay beds like those 
 of the old brick yard and the deposit west of Passaic avenue, in the vicinity 
 of the old school. Previous to this glacial period the trunk stream which 
 drained the country west of the Watchung Mountains flowed through a deep 
 gap beneath what is now Morris avenue in Summit. When the glacier 
 receded this gap was filled with gravel and sand to a depth of about 200 feet, 
 and the water from the melting ice was shut in behind the hills making a 
 lake extending from Pompton and Little Falls around to Millington and 
 the Great Swamp. When this lake was at its maximum depth the vicinity of 
 Chatham was about 150 feet beneath its surface, and the outlet was at 
 Muggy Hollow near Liberty Corner. Finally the lake broke through the 
 First and Second Watchung ^fountains at Little Falls and Paterson. and 
 drained the consequent valley through the present stream bed of the Passaic 
 river. The gravel of the terminal moraine originally piled up by the glacier 
 formed a barrier in the drainage of this lake at Stanley, and for a consid- 
 erable time a minor body of water referred to in geological history as Dead 
 Lake, extended southwestward from Stanley towards Millington. This 
 lake eventually broke through the gravel deposit at Stanley, and the Passaic 
 Valley throughout its whole extent was finally drained, leaving no vestige 
 of the former lake excepting shore deposits now observed here and there on 
 the hill sides. (U. S. Geolog. .Sur\-ey, Passaic Folio i.) Even to the 
 present day remembrance of "old Lake Passaic" is had in the springtime in 
 the way of the freshet which overflows the meadows for many miles. After 
 its drainage there were without doubt many marshes left in the vicinity of 
 the lake bottom. That locality known from the earliest settlement as the 
 "sunken lands" in and about Canoe Brook is a typical form of those marshes. 
 Considerable evidence attests that the hills and valleys of this region 
 were overrun with animals of a gigantic size. Direct proof of this is had in 
 finding about the year 1865 the teeth and bones of a mastodon in the bottom 
 of a spring in the sunken lands on the Morhouse farm. One of these teeth 
 is now in the possession of Mr. David Dickinson. However plentiful these 
 animals might have been very few remains are found, and it is certain that 
 they were extinct long before the coming of the American Indian. 
 
 Indian Occupation — The Lenni-Lenape Indians who were the original 
 inhabitants of the land of Scheyichbi (Indian name for New Jersey) came 
 into this country from beyond the Delaware or Lenapewihittuck (The River 
 of the Lenape) at a very early date, probably 800 to 1000 years ago. 
 [Stockton's "Stories of New Jersey," p. 11.] These Indians were divided 
 into three divisions ; the Minsi of the northern part of New Jersey, the 
 Unami of the Central, and the Unalachtigo of the southern part. The 
 vicinity of Chatham lay within the dominion of the Minsi. The central seat 
 of their encampment however was back of the Blue Mountains along the 
 Delaware north of the Water Gap. It is said that regularly in the spring- 
 time these Indians would migrate over the old Minisink trail, which path 
 came through Culver's Gap, by way of Lake Hopatcong, through Dover, and 
 Chatham, through the Short Hill's Gap, thence to Elizabeth Town, and 
 across the Raritan at Perth Amboy to Shrewsbury Inlet. There they would 
 enjoy themselves feeding on the oysters of the coast. The naine ]VIinisink 
 Crossi.ng which was applied to the ford of the Passaic River in Chatham 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 3 
 
 derived its name from this practice, and was one of a number of river cross- 
 ings in the path leading from the Minisink country. 
 
 It is questionable whether that tribe of Indians known as the Sanhicans 
 which lived on the flats east of the Watchungs, and were inveterate enemies 
 of the Manhatae held dominion west of the Watchung Mountains. [Barber 
 & Howe, p. 60.] Tradition has it that the local tribe of Indians resi- 
 dent in the Passaic Valley in and about Chatham were known as the 
 Passaics or Passaya. The name Passaic is of Indian origin, and was 
 without doubt the name of the tribe which inhabited the valley west 
 of the Watchungs. The original pronunciation is rather uncertain. Even 
 the word Pecheise is used in early documents. [Answer to Bill of Chan- 
 cery, p. 38.] Various members of the tribe pronounced the 
 name with slight variations in consequence of speech impediments and char- 
 acteristic enunciations. This is evidenced by the various spellings of the 
 name in the old Indian deeds and consignments. The following are some of 
 the original spellings : Passaya, Pessaya, Pessayak, Passayonck, Pasagack, 
 Passawa, Pasawack, Pishawack. Passawick, Pesawick, Piscawick, Pesainck, 
 Pesoick, Passaiacke, Pissaick, Pisaicke, Passick, Passaick, Passaic. [Col- 
 lected from N. J. Arch., ist series, vol. xxi.] It will be observed that there 
 is a rather interesting evolution of the pronunciation from Passaya to Pas- 
 saic. The first spelling given is that found in an Indian deed to Arent 
 Schuyler, dated June 6, 1695, and is doubtless the most nearly correct of 
 any. The Minisink Crossing of the Passaic is sometimes referred to as the 
 crossing of the Fishawack in the valley of the great Watchung. This word 
 Fishawack is probably a corruption of Pishawack. The letter P was pos- 
 sibly misinterpreted for the letter F. The Indian interpretation of the word 
 is a valley, however the word Passayak has been interpreted as meaning 
 peace. 
 
 John Reid's account of the "mountainous districk" of Nova Caesarea, 
 1685, states "Indian natives are few." [The Model of the Government of 
 the Province of East New Jersey in America. Edinburgh, John Reid, 1685, 
 p. 70.] Reference to a tribe of Indians called the Passayoncks is made in the 
 "Hand Book of American Indians" and reads as follows: "A Delaware 
 village on Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania in 1648. Macaulay calls the band 
 a part of the Manta, and says that they lived along the west bank of the 
 lower Delaware extending into the state of Delaware." [Hand Book of 
 American Indians, ii. p. 208.] Manta according to Brinton is a corruption 
 of Monthee, the dialectic form of Munsee or Minsi among the Mahicans and 
 tribes of Northeast Jersey. Later these east Jersey Indians lived on the 
 eastern bank of the Delaware in the vicinity of Salem. This is quite con- 
 clusive evidence that the Passayoncks were none other than a division of 
 the Minsi who occupied the Passaic valley in the i6th century, left this lo- 
 cality in the early part of the 17th century, and migrated to south Jersey 
 where in the i8th century they were incorporated with the Unalachtigo Dela- 
 wares. Thence they went to Penn.sylvania and northern Delaware. In 
 consequence the Passaic Valley was found in 1685, according to John Reid, 
 inhabited by few Indians. 
 
 The names of sachems or chiefs of the petty kingdoms east of the 
 Passaic were Seweckroneck, Mindowaskein, and Canundus. The Indian 
 sachems living on the western side of the Passaic and at the foot of Long 
 Hill (known and called by the Indians Tantomwom) were Sennachus, Non- 
 sechem, and Nowenock. [Bill of Chancery, pp. 56-59.] 
 
 Much evidence concerning the location of Indian villages in this vicinity 
 
4 HISTORY OF CHATHA^I 
 
 is obtained througli the implements picked up. From arrow lieads and stone 
 axes found it has been concluded that there were camp sites at the following 
 places : Dickinson's farm, the Budd farm down Budd Lane, Coleman's Hill, 
 Ducliamp's sand pit, the spring near the pumping station, the bluff on the 
 western bank of the Passaic north of Main street, the knoll on the Vander- 
 poel estate, the hillside in the vicinity of Stanley, and the farm of Mr. 
 Schwartz on the Black Swamp. Some of these sites were probably not 
 permanent, being used occasionally during the wanderings of the Indians 
 over the state. As recently as the early part of the 19th century the Indians 
 were known to pass through Chatham on their way to the coast. The late 
 Barnabas Bond said that he remembered the Indians stopping for the night 
 in his father's barn, and that he had vivid recollections of seeing them pay 
 for their night's lodging by performing a war dance in the morning as an 
 amusement for the town folk. It is said that up to 1850 delegations were 
 sent from the remnant tribes of this locality living at that time in the west, 
 to look over their old hunting fields in the Passaic \'alley, the Indian burial 
 ground at Hanover Neck, and to renew in their traditional history recollec- 
 tions of the old land marks. [Tradition, reported by W'm. Budd.] 
 
 Previous to the year 1680 the Watchung Mountains formed a frontier 
 barrier beyond which the white man dared not venture. Hostile Indians 
 had their encampments dotted throughout this wilderness, and trails led 
 from one Indian settlement to another. The clearings along the banks of 
 the Passaic are said to have been the scene of many a battle between the 
 aboriginal tribes. The fields beyond the Cheapside Bridge are often referred 
 to as one of these battle grounds. The Indian has now long since left this 
 valley and the only recollection of him at the present time is the occasional 
 arrow-head picked up by the farmer or the student of Indian lore. 
 
 Early Settlement — It was seventy-five years or more after Henry Hud- 
 son first sailed up the river bearing his name, in i6og. before any settlement 
 was made by the white man beyond the Watchung Mountains. A trading 
 post was established at Bergen (Jersey City) in 1614, and scattered settle- 
 ments were made at Hoboken in 1641. After the Indian massacre in 1643 
 and the consequent outbreak of the Indians against the whites in Pavonia 
 (name for the Jersey shore of the Hudson) in 1654, emigrants were advised 
 to make their settlements in groups in order to protect themselves from the 
 Indians. In consequence of this, the first concentrated settlement was 
 made at Bergen, 1660. Four years later a settlement at Elizabeth Town was 
 headed by Daniel Denton, and in 1666 some New Englanders from Connec- 
 ticut settled at Newark. It was from these settlements, particularly the 
 latter, that early adventurers came into the land beyond the Great Watchung. 
 
 One of the first descriptions of this territory is contained in the follow- 
 ing: "There are little hills from the Raritan River which is about the middle 
 of this Province, that go to the very North-\\'est bounds of it, in which are 
 abundant of good Mill Stones to be had. and there are many, both corn and 
 Saw Mills set and setting up already, also on the other side of these Moun- 
 tains, there is found fresh Rivulets, fit for setting of In-Land-Towns, and a 
 great deal of Meadow-ground upon the banks thereof so that there is abund- 
 ance of Hay to be had for Foddering of Cattle in the \\'inter time and these 
 meadows show the Country is not altogether covered with Timber."' [The 
 model of the Gov. of the Prov. of East New Jersey in America, Edinburgh, 
 John Reid, 1685, p. 68.] 
 
 The first purchase including the territory west of the Watchung Moun- 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 5 
 
 tains was made by Governor Nicolls, on October 28, 1684, from the Indian 
 chief Rlatano. The land covered by this patent was of great dimension and 
 embraced not only the present Union county, but also a small part of Alorris 
 county and a considerable portion of Somerset. The Nicolls Grant covering 
 the western part of Morris county included Chatham. Stephen Osborn 
 accompanied by the Indian sagamores marked out the boundaries of the 
 purchase. The particular Indian who helped decide the western boundary 
 was Wewanapo, a cousin of one of the sagamores that sold the land origin- 
 ally. The line which was established on the i6th day of July, 1684, and set 
 the first boundaries of Elizabeth Town, ran from Piscataway westward 
 towards the Green river near where it comes out of the mountain ; from 
 thence the surveyors encompassed the foot of the mountain directed by the 
 Indian till they came to the Minisink Path, and then came down to Elizabeth 
 Town. It was affirmed however by an Indian chief that this compass in- 
 cluded only a part of the town's land. [Hatfield's "History of Elizabeth 
 Town,'' pp. 36 and 228.] When the boundaries of Elizabeth Town were 
 definiteh- passed by the Assembly in October of the year 1693, a great part 
 of Morris county was included within the township. It was described by 
 the legislature as follows : — "The Township of Elizabeth Town shall include 
 all the land from the mouth of the Raway River west to Woodbridge-Stake, 
 and from thence westerly along the Line of the County to the Partition 
 Line of the Province, and from the mouth of the said Raway River, up the 
 Sound to the mouth of the Bound Creek, from thence to the Bound Hill, 
 and from thence northwest to the Partition Line of the Province." This 
 territory included Union county and large portions of Somerset, Hunterdon, 
 Morris, Warren and Sussex counties including Chatham, Morristown, 
 Schooley's Mountain and Newton. [Hatfield's Hist, Elizabeth Town, page 
 240.] 
 
 The Indian sachems, Wewanapo, Sennachus, and Nonsachem sold to 
 George Carteret for the sum of £55, on April 23, 1680, a tract of land lying 
 up in the mountains. This purchase lay upon the brook, "called by the 
 Indians Oppinqua," (possibly Day's Brook), "there being a long mountain 
 called by the Indians Tantomwom." Proof is given in the Bill of Chancery 
 [p. 60] that this Long Mountain was Long Hill. If the Oppinqua were 
 Day's Brook the purchase covered this immediate vicinity. It is possible 
 that the brook referred to might have been the Black Brook of the Great 
 Swamp. On October 30, 1684. Gawen Lowry and others of Elizabeth Town 
 bought of the Indians, Seweckroneck, Mindowaskein, Canundus and We- 
 wanapee large tracts about Green Brook and the Blue Hills (the Watchung 
 Mountains were referred to in the early times as the Blue Hills). This pur- 
 chase lay on the eastern side of the Passaic river and extended from Scotch 
 Plains northward to the locality of Canoe brook. A part of this land is 
 known in the Bill of Chancery as lots 125 and 126. [Bill of Chan., p. 56.] 
 
 Land was frequently purchased by the whites through deceptive bar- 
 gainings with the unsophisticated Indians. A tricky method resorted to by 
 the settlers in making purchases along the Passaic has been handed down to 
 his posterity by Mr. Harvey Lum. Occasionally agreements were made for 
 tracts of land as large as that which could be embraced with the hide of an 
 ox. The Indian, thinking that the land in question was no larger than that 
 which the hide would cover, made the exchange for a small consideration. 
 But the interpretation placed on the bargain by the white man was quite 
 different from that understood by the Indian. Instead of the land being the 
 size of the hide, it was. to the contrarv, of rather extensive dimensions. The 
 
6 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 ox hide was cut into the narrowest possible strips and linked together into 
 one continuous cord. In consequence of this strategy the land embraced be- 
 came a lot of considerable size. On not a few occasions was property thus 
 mveigled from the original inhabitants of this locahty. ' 
 
 It appears in the records in Trenton among the deeds and assignments 
 of land between 1664 and 1703 that small plots of land were sold to the 
 inhabitants of Newark at the point where the Indian trail to Minisink 
 crossed the Passaic river. Considering that the size of the^e plof^ was 
 somewhere about twenty acres, one may justly conclude they were purchased 
 for the purpose of making a settlement. Tuttle, in his history of the Pres- 
 byterian Church of Madison, states that about 1685 a few families from 
 hlizabethtown and Newark settled beyond the Watchung Mountains The 
 fol owing confirmation shows that a number of the inhabitants of Newark 
 had purchased land previous to the year 1698 at the Minisink crossing in 
 Chatham and is rather conclusive evidence that a settlement was made soon 
 after this date. 
 
 HT The following is an excerpt taken from the records in Trenton- "i6q8 
 March 28. Confirmation to Elizabeth, widow of David Ogden in Newark' 
 m right of her father, Capt. Samuel Swaine of Newark, deceased of twenty 
 acres there on the south side of Long Hill, south the road, west Nathaniel 
 \V heeler and John Johnson, north George Day, east John Curtis and a piece 
 of meadow, northeast Thomas Peirson, southeast the "great island " south- 
 west Samuel Freeman, northwest the creek." [N. T. Arch., ist series vol 
 21, p. 281.] Each of these landowners lived at the" time in' Newark It is 
 quite probable that Day and Peirson moved on their lands soon after this 
 f\ Tt-'^ particular tract was located west of the Passaic river and north 
 of the Minisink trail. The great island referred to was without doubt the 
 IS and in the nver at the crossing which was possibly called, "the great 
 island, in contradistinction to the little island at the crossing in Stanley 
 Ihe location of this tract is most definitely determined through the com- 
 bined references to Long Hill and this island, since there is no other island 
 m the Passaic nver to which reference may be made as "the great island " 
 in the vicinity of Long Hill. The statement that this land was on the side 
 ot Long Hill does not necessarily place it immediately on the slope of the 
 mountain. 1 he land at this juncture along the river might justly have been 
 referred to at this time as lying on the side of Long Hill. 
 
 Another reference in the same volume goes to verify the location of this 
 tract of land at the place heretofore selected. "1702. April i, confirmation 
 to John Johnson of Monmouth County in right of headlands of a lot in 
 Essex County on the Passaic River where the road from Minisinks to 
 Ehzabethtown crosses it." [N. J. Archiv., ist series, vol. ii, p. 334 ] The 
 limits of the counties at this time were quite indefinite and a lot at the 
 crossing might have been referred to as lying in Essex county without any 
 great mistake in location. 
 
 In the earliest time there were two gate ways through which the settlers 
 were able to reach the country beyond the \\'atchung'^ Mountain^ These 
 were the gaps at Scotch Plains and at Short Hills through which Indian paths 
 ran to the open low lands lying to the southeast. Scotch Plains was settled 
 by Ihomas Gordon as early as November 18, i68s. [Contributions to East 
 lerscy History, Whitehead, p. 62I. and surveys were made in the Passaic 
 Valley according to a map dated May 3, 1749. taken from a survey made 
 (Va r^" *^.°'"1°" °f Gordonston in Scotland. This map is in the possession 
 ot Mr. David Dickinson. The survey made for Mr. Gordon was for his first 
 
Original owners of lands at Minnisink Crossing, 1698. They were residents of Newark. 
 Map drawn by James M. Littlejohn. Chatham. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 7 
 
 division of land in the province, and consisted of an allotment of fifteen 
 hundred acres as the following item shows: "1701, June 10, Confirmation 
 to Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonston, Scotland, as his first division of land 
 in the province, fifteen hundred acres on the south side of the Passaick 
 along the path from Elizabethtown to Minisink." [N. J. Arch., ist series, 
 vol. 21, p. 151.] Sir Robert Gordon was one of the proprietors of East 
 Jersey and this is indisputable evidence that his first allotment of land lay 
 on the east side of the Passaic at Chatham. From this map of 1749 it may 
 be concluded that settlements were made in this section of the Passaic Valley 
 b}' pioneers from Scotch Plains. 
 
 It is stated that settlements were made in Morris county as early as 
 1685 but no definite information concerning them is given. [Barber and 
 Howe, p. 379; also Hist. Madison Pres. Church, Tuttle, p. 10.] Soon after 
 the Robert Treat and Daniel Denton settlements, pioneers came 
 over the Blue Hills from Newark and Elizabeth Town. In their attempt to 
 cross the mountains there was but one way of ingress. This was by the old 
 Minisink Indian Trail which passed through the Short Hills Gap and led 
 directly to Chatham. The ford of the river was known in those early times 
 as the Crossing of the Fishawack in the Valley of the Great Watchung. 
 The chief settlement at that time was probably made at Whippanong or 
 W'hippany. There is considerable evidence that a settlement was made at 
 the time mentioned in the attractive locality near the crossing of the river 
 at Chatham. However, no authentic record has been found. 
 
 The settlement at Whippanong which included the vicinity of Chatham, 
 was organized into one of the townships of Burlington county in the year 
 1700. [Proceedings N. J. Hist. Soc, 2d series, vol. 2, p. 18.] Since Chat- 
 ham lay in the territory of the disputed claims between East Jersey and 
 West Jersey, considerable confusion arose concerning the county to which 
 the town belonged. Frequent references are found in which the territory 
 is placed in Burlington county of West Jersey, and likewise, almost as many 
 references locate it in Essex county of East Jersey. Tradition has it that 
 William Penn owned a large tract of land in the upper part of Burlington 
 county about the year 1701. Purchases were made from this tract by many 
 of the proprietors of \Vest Jersey. This land rightfully belonged to East 
 Jersey and these purchases led to the conflicting claims between the pro- 
 prietors of East and West Jersey. 
 
 It is definitely known that families moved from Newark and Eilzabeth 
 Town west of the Passaic and settled along its banks in the year 1710. 
 The attraction which lured the adventurer beyond the Blue Hills or Watch- 
 ung Mountains was not only the fertile land in the Valley of the Great 
 Watchung but also the iron ore deposits lying in the hills of north central 
 Jersey. Deposits of ore were discovered by Arent Schuyler previous to 
 1695 and in consequence of his discovery many forges were located through- 
 out the territory of Morris county and the locality became known as "The 
 Old Forges."' In a letter written by Washington during the Revolutionary 
 War he states that there were from 80 to 100 forges within the limits of this 
 county. Tradition says that one of these forges was situated at the crossing 
 of the Passaic river, near where the mill now stands. Local evidence points 
 toward the possible site of this forge having been near the crossing of the 
 Passaic river at Summit avenue. Another of these forges was located at 
 Green \'illage. It is said that the iron ore found at Hibernia and Wharton 
 was transported by means of pack horses and manufactured into arms, 
 
8 HISTORY OF CHATHAIM 
 
 ammunition, farming utensils, and ship trimmings. These were later trans- 
 ported to Newark and Elizabeth Town for sale. 
 
 In the year 1713 the township of Hanover ceased to be a part of 
 Burlington county through the setting off of the county of Hunterdon, and 
 for the next twenty-two years the territory in and about Wliippanong was 
 a township in that county. 
 
 As previously stated, the land in this locality was in the early part of 
 the i8th century the cause of a great deal of controversy which was brought 
 about by the conflicting claims between the proprietors of East and West 
 Jersey. The proprietors of West Jersey in their ambition for the acquisition 
 of land did not stop with the limit of the old Keith Line established in 1687 
 between the two Jerseys, but extended their claims over into the Passaic 
 \"alley making the eastern boundary of West Jersey the Passaic river. 
 William Penn, John Budd, and John Hayward were the principal pro- 
 prietors who laid claim to the land of this immediate vicinity. According 
 to a map made April 4, 1744 showing the encroachments of the W'est Jersey 
 proprietors east of the Quintipartite Line, Thomas and Richard Penn owned 
 4,937 acres in the Great Black Swamp. [This map is in the Surveyor Gen- 
 eral's office at Perth Amboy.] To William Penn belonged in the year 1715, 
 1250 acres in the vicinity of Dutch Town (Floral Hill) and to Abraham 
 Chapman 833 acres in and about Stanley. John Budd besides possessing a 
 great tract at Whippany, owned 1250 acres extending westward from the 
 Passaic river through the present property of Frank M. Budd. In the 
 immediate locality of Chatham 870 acres were purchased by John Budd for 
 John Hayward in the year 1716. According to tradition, in 1721 John Budd 
 was the owner of a tract of land to the extent of 847 acres including Chat- 
 ham. This tract was probably the identical tract formerly owned by Hay- 
 ward less a narrow strip of possibly twenty-three acres which e.Ktended to 
 the west towards Madison. John Budd did not live on this tract, for a bill 
 of sale, dated December 20, 1731, reads as follows: "From John Budd of 
 Hanover to Samuel Bustill a certain brick dwelling house, etc." [Liber C — 3 
 Burlington, p. 89.] Hanover was the home of the Budds until the time 
 when Dr. John C. Budd moved from that place to the farm which is now 
 in the possession of Mr. Frank M. Budd down Budd Lane. With all the 
 diligent research which has been made the most definite date arrived at con- 
 cerning the early settlement of Chatham is that of 1730, when John and 
 Daniel Day settled in the locality where the road crossed the Passaic river 
 west of the Watchung Mountains. These men came from Long Island. It 
 is reported that John Day bought 250 acres of land from John Budd. 
 George Day came into New Jersey and lived on the north side of Long 
 Hill. [Littell's Genealogy, p. 113.] On the map formerly referred to in the 
 possession of Mr. David Dickinson it is recorded that a George Day lived 
 near the Passaic river south of the road leading to Elizabeth Town near 
 the crossing in Chatham, at that time spoken of as "John Day's Bridge." 
 It is possible that this was the George Day who settled on the north side of 
 Long Hill. At this time. 1749, John Day owned the land west of the Passaic 
 river including the present limits of Chatham. Nathaniel Bonnel came from 
 Long Island to Elizabeth Town, from thence he moved to the Passaic river, 
 and became one of the earliest settlers in Chatham. There is slight evidence 
 in the map referred to above that a Mr. Bonnel lived on the present site of 
 the \'anderpoel estate in 1749. However it is stated that the Bonnels settled 
 originally on the present Bonnel homestead in Stanley. The first settlers in 
 the Passaic valley west of the W'atchung Mountains were of English and 
 
Jacob MorrcU llousc of Revolutionary times. East Main Street, Chatham. 
 Washington stoi-iped here frequently. 
 
 Uay .Maiisiini, iii wliuh W a-iinnjjion \\ a^ enti-rlained, Klwood .\venue, Chatham. 
 
 ionnell Homestead of Revolutionary times. Watchung Avenue. Chatham, 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 9 
 
 Scotch origin. The former came from Connecticut to Long Island and 
 thence to Newark. The latter landed at Elizabeth Town and came over the 
 mountains either directly from Elizabeth or from the Scotch Plains Settle- 
 ment. The early family names in and about Chatham in Morris county, 
 which county was set off from Hunterdon in 1798, we find are Day, 
 Bonnel, Budd, Carter, Raymond, Genung, Lum, Ward, Bruen, Spencer, and 
 Alorhouse. The homestead of the Day family was located on the present 
 site of the Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church. It is said however that 
 originally the family of Days lived somewhere near the hotel on the western 
 side of the Passaic river north of Main street. Dr. John C. Budd was the 
 first of the Budd family to live in this vicinity and through his reputation as 
 a doctor the land about the farm where Frank M. Budd now lives became 
 widely known. The road leading from J^lain street to his farm was in 
 consequence named Budd Lane. Unfortunately the name of this street was 
 changed to Passaic avenue. Previous to the Revolution there were two 
 roads leading from the road to Elizabeth Town to the Cheapside Bridge. 
 One followed the river and left Main street opposite the old Jacob Morrell 
 house and came out on the present Passaic avenue just beyond the Budd 
 farm. The other went down Elmwood avenue, running north of Coleman's 
 Hill. The present Passaic avenue evidently was built to take the place of 
 the two. The nucleus of the Bonnel family was located in the vicinity of 
 Stanley where a Mr. Bonnel built a grist mill. For many years this locality 
 was referred to as Bonnel Town. In 1749 a Peter Raymond lived on the 
 Ridge Farm back of the present Allen estate east of the Passaic river. 
 The Genungs originally settled on the slope of the Hill south from Division 
 street. The oldest known residence of the Lums in Chatham was on the cor- 
 ner of Fairmount avenue and Main street. The progenitors of this family 
 owned land in the vicinity as early as 1730. It is reported that the farm of 
 Frank M. Budd was called the '"Lum Estate," during pre-Revolutionary times. 
 The dwelling on Coleman's Hill was known as the Ward Mansion and was 
 the home from which many of the noted men of that family sprang. Mr. 
 Montgomery Ward, a notable merchant of Chicago, was a descendant of 
 this family. He was born in Chatham, in 1843, in the house on East Main 
 street now owned by Mr. Russel Budd. Israel W'ard, of Revolutionary 
 times, was the great-grandfather of Montgomery. Israel was a captain in 
 the Eastern Battalion in the Revolution, and also earned a military title in 
 the French and Indian war. Mr. Ward's property on Coleman's Hili 
 was later occupied by his son Aaron Ward who died 181 1. It is said 
 that Gen. Washington was entertained at the home of Israel Ward 
 when Aaron was a small child. The Morhouses referred to in Chatham 
 history lived in the vicinity of the Orange w'ater works. For a time 
 previous to the purchase of the present Vanderpoel estate by David 
 Vanderpoel in 1771, Moses Carter owned that farm. At Union Hill the 
 first settlement was made by the Bruens prior to the Revolution and various 
 members of the family have lived in this vicinity ever since that time. 
 
 The earliest history' of Chatham deals with that locality east of the 
 Passaic river and at the crossing about Parrot's Mill. The notable Day's 
 Tavern often spoken of in connection with Washington, was located on the 
 north side of the turnpike just east of where the River road turns off to the 
 south. For a long time a mass of shrubbery and an old stone horse-block 
 marked the site of this public house which was built about the year 1750. 
 Foster Horton's store of the Revolutionary times was situated west of the 
 Passaic on the south side of the turnpike road near the old mill pond. 
 
10 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Foster Horton was notable especially through his father, Azariah Horton, 
 who was the first American foreign missionary. [Hist. Discourse, Rev. 
 E. P. Gardner, p. 7.] Colonel Seeley of Revolutionary fame kept a tavern 
 previous to the Revolutionary War, just west of Foster Horton's store, on 
 the same side of the road to Elizabeth Town. Not far west from Colonel 
 Seeley 's tavern, on the south side of the road, was the home of Jacob Moi- 
 rell,no\v occupied by Mr. Fred TaUmadge. It is said that the residence of John 
 Day was located on the north side of the road, west of the Passaic and near 
 the river. A map heretofore referred to, which was found by the author of 
 this sketch in the year 1912 represents a survey made for Andrew Johnson on 
 May 3, 1749. This map was among some old papers in the home of Mr. David 
 Dickinson, and the same is now in his possession. The dwellings of George 
 Day and Peter Raymond to whom references has been made, are definitely 
 located thereon. This little settlement lying peaceably along the Passaic 
 was known until 1775 as John Day's Bridge. The name was changed about 
 this date and the town was henceforth called Chatham after William Pitt, 
 the Earl of Chatham. In consequence of his speeches in Parliament in 
 defence of the colonies many towns throughout the east were given his 
 name. The derivation of Chatham is from the Anglo Saxon — chete, cot- 
 tage ; ham, village ; a village of cottages. 
 
 Revolutionary Period — When the declaration of war was announced by 
 the Continental Congress the quiet little town of Chatham came forward 
 with its aid for the great cause. There had been much talk of British op- 
 pression and the likelihood of war, and when the final decision was made 
 many were ready to enlist in the army. From this time forth until the close 
 of the conflict Chatham was the scene of constant military maneuvers. Part 
 of the army was doubtlessly kept stationed here throughout the whole eight 
 years following 1775. Lord Stirling of Basking Ridge assembled troops in 
 the early part of 1776, and men from Chatham joined these ranks. A 
 liberty pole was raised in front of Day's Tavern. Young men joined them- 
 selves into battalions and began drilling. An eighteen pound cannon was 
 planted on Prospect Hill, since called Hobart's Hill, to give the alarm by day 
 in case of the approach of the enemy and a tar barrel was fixed on the top 
 of a pole near by to be set on fire to give the alarm by night. 
 
 November of 1776 was a time that tried the loyalty of the staunchest 
 patriot. Washington had lost at White Plains; Fort Washington was taken 
 November i6th ; Fort Lee was evacuated on the i8th ; and the retreat across 
 New Jersey began, with the British close upon the rear guard of the army. 
 Families in Elizabeth Town and Newark, seeing the sorry plight in which 
 they would be placed by the British occupation, hastily loaded their belong- 
 ings and started over the turnpike road westward. For many days the 
 highway through Chatham was the scene of passing families with wagon 
 loads of personal property seeking safety beyond the Passaic river. To- 
 gether with these were many soldiers who had left the army on account of 
 sickness. General Charles Lee was ordered to follow \\'ashington across 
 the State with reinforcements. Washington wrote to him from Philadelphia 
 saying "Do come on, your arrival may be fortunate." Leaving Peekskill, 
 Lee reached IMorristown, December 8, 1776, with his division of 4,000 
 men. In a letter written from that place to a committee of Congress he 
 said, "If I was not taught to think the army with Gen. \\'ashingfton had 
 been considerably reinforced, I should immediate!}' join him; but as I am 
 assured he is very strong I should imagine we can make a better impres- 
 sion by beating and harassing their detached parties in the rear, for which 
 
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 Chatham. John Day's Bridge, or Minnisink Crossing, 1749- From original in hands 
 of David Dickinson. Drawn hy James M. Littlejohn. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY ii 
 
 purpose a good post at Chatham seems the best calculated. It is at a 
 happy distance from Newark, Elizabeth Town, Woodbridge and Bound 
 Brook. We shall, I expect, annoy, distract, and consequently weaken them 
 in a desultory war." (American Archives, 5th Series, vol. iii. p 1121, and 
 Life of \\'ashington, Irving, chap. xlii. ) 
 
 Evidently Lee came down to Chatham from Morristown to look over 
 the ground, for on the same day, December 8, he wrote from Day's Tavern, 
 Chatham: "In reply to Washington's letter by Maj. Hoope just received, 
 I am extremely shocked to hear that your force is so inadequate to the 
 necessity of your situation, as I had been taught to think you had been 
 considerably reinforced. Your last letter proposing a plan of surprises and 
 forced marches, convinced me that there was no danger of your being 
 obliged to pass the Delaware ; in consequence of which proposals, I have 
 put myself in a position the most convenient to co-operate with you by 
 attacking their rear. I cannot persuade myself that Philadelphia is their 
 object at present. * * * It will be difficult, I am afraid to join you ; but 
 cannot I do you more service by attacking their rear?" Washington re- 
 plied instantly : "Philadelphia beyond all question is the object of the 
 enemy's movements, and nothing less than our utmost exertions will pre- 
 vent Gen. Howe from possessing it. The force I have is weak, and utterly 
 incompetent to that end. I must therefore entreat you to push on with 
 every possible succor you can bring." (Am. Archives, 5th Series, iii, 1138.) 
 
 On the 9th of December, Lee, who was stationed at Chatham, received 
 information from Heath that three of the regiments detached under Gates 
 from the Northern army had arrived from Albany at Peekskill. He in- 
 stantly wrote to him to forward them to Morristown without loss of time. 
 "I am in hopes to reconquer (if I may so express myself) the Jerseys. 
 It was really in the hands of the enemy before my arrival." 
 
 Lee left Morristown a few days later, marched to Vealtown (Bemards- 
 ville) and made his quarters at Basking Ridge, some distance from the 
 encampment of his army where he was captured by the enemy. Gates at 
 once started from Peekskill to march for Morristown, but got no further 
 than Walpack, Sussex county, where he was snowed in. Lee at this time 
 was known to have made many sarcastic remarks about the commander-in- 
 chief, and wrote to Gates : "Entre nous, a certain great man is most 
 damnably deficient." 
 
 These actions, remarks, and responses by Charles Lee show the caliber 
 of the man. He was ambitious to be commander-in-chief, set his opinions 
 against those of Washington, attempted to persuade Congress that Washing- 
 ton was incompetent, suggested mutiny within the army, and finally ex- 
 posed himself to capture. His keeping his quarters at Chatham while his 
 army was at Morristown was much in line with his practice at Baskmg 
 Ridge and might have led to similar results. 
 
 Colonel Ford's militia was stationed back of Short Hills for the pur- 
 pose of watching every movement of the enemy on the plains toward 
 Elizabeth Towai. Rev. Mr. Caldwell, who had removed with his fam- 
 ily from Connecticut Farms to Turkey (New Providence), wrote to Gen- 
 eral Lee on the 12th of December as follows: "At a Council of the Field 
 Officers this morning, a majority of them advised to remove the brigade 
 of militia back again to Chatham, for which they assign these reasons. Many 
 of the Militia, rather fond of plunder and adventure, kept a continual 
 scouting, which kept out so many detached parties, that the body was 
 weakened ; and the enemy now being stronger at Elizabeth Town than they 
 
12 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 are, they thought they would better serve the cause by lying at Chatham till 
 the expected army approaches for their support." [American Archives, 5th 
 series, vol. 3, p. 1189.] This letter did not reach Gen. Lee for on the next 
 morning he was captured. Colonel Ford evidently fell back to Chatham 
 for on the night of December 17th he wrote the following letter from Chat- 
 ham to General Heath: "We have since sunset had a brush with the enem_>, 
 four miles below this, in which we have suffered, and our militia much dis- 
 heartened. They are all retreated to this place and will in all probability be 
 attacked by day-break. The enemy, we have reason to believe, is double 
 our numbers. If in your wisdom you can assist us, we may possibly beat 
 them yet; but without your aid we can't stand. They are encamped (say 
 1000 British troops) at Springfield, and will be joined by four hundred and 
 fifty Waldeckers from Elizabeth Town, by the next morning's light." [Am. 
 Arch., vol. 3, pp. 1235, 1260, 1277.] Jacob Ford Jr. was the colonel com- 
 mandant of the American troops lying at Chatham. Major Spencer dis- 
 patched a light horseman to Colonel Ford with word that the British were 
 approaching Springfield. The colonel went immediately to his aid, the 
 enemy was driven back, and a brief campaign followed in which the brave 
 and courageous Colonel Ford was much exposed and exhausted. Soon 
 afterwards he was seized with an attack of pneumonia and died in Jan- 
 uary, 1777. [Morristown Bill of Mortality, p. 29.] A letter of Colonel 
 Symmes gives a much more detailed account of this transaction. [N. J. 
 Journal, No. 4636.] 
 
 On the 20th of December, 1776, General Maxwell was ordered by 
 Washington to take command of about 800 militia and to annoy and harass 
 the enemy in the vicinity of Elizabeth Town and to cut ofif his convoys. 
 The state of afifairs at this time was reported from Chatham by General 
 McDougall as follows : "John Halstead left Elizabeth Town this morning 
 at eight o'clock. Says there is no troops in Elizabeth Town but Waldeckers, 
 the same that has been there for two weeks past. Says the drums beat this 
 morning about day-break, and he understood they were to have marched ; 
 but that they did not, and the reason why, as he understood, was the badness 
 of the weather. Knows not which way they were to march, but it is said 
 they were to have a little march out o' town ; that he thinks six or seven 
 hundred British troops went through town the day before yesterday, near 
 12 o'clock towards Newark, and that they have not as yet returned." 
 [Spark's Washington, book 4, pp. 239, 249.] How this information was 
 communicated is not certain. However it is known that a faithful scout by 
 the name of Karmel operated in this locality, and such information as here 
 recorded may be accredited to him. Sylvanus Cobb Jr. in 1855 made this 
 certain Karmel a hero of a novel called "Karmel the Scout," which was sub- 
 sequently dramatized and played in New York City. 
 
 On the 30th of December Washington wrote from Trenton to General 
 Maxwell, "Collect as large a force as possible at Chatham and after gaining 
 the proper intelligence, endeavor to strike a stroke upon Elizabeth Town or 
 that neighborhood." [Hatfield's Hist. Elizabeth Town, p. 454.] General 
 Maxwell prepared at once to carry out these instructions. The victories at 
 Trenton and Princeton followed soon after this, and the British in the 
 vicinity of Elizabeth Town were thrown into consternation. General Max- 
 well left Chatham, had a brush with the enemy at Springfield, compelled 
 them to evacuate Newark, drove them out of Elizabeth Town, and fought 
 them at Spank Town (Rahway) a couple of hours. Maxwell held Elizabeth 
 Town but the British did not leave the community for the first half of the 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 13 
 
 year 1777. The whole country was put in a state of excitement. General 
 Sullivan kept watch over the movements of the enemy while Maxwell occu- 
 pied Elizabeth. "Their troops were continually moving from Chatham 10 
 Springfield, or from \\'estfield to Scotch Plains, watching for opportunities 
 to cut off the foraging parties, or to pick up the scouts of the enemy. 
 Skirmishes, more or less severe, were of almost daily occurrence." [Hat- 
 field's Hist. Elizabeth Town, p. 459.] This winter was doubtless for the 
 village of Chatham one of the most exciting of the whole war. It was dur- 
 ing this season of 1776 and 1777 that Washington was encamped in the 
 Lowantica Valley. 
 
 The northern part of the State was filled with Tories, and Morris 
 county had its share of them. It was often hard to tell in what direction 
 a man's sympathies lay. The entire country throughout this locality was 
 filled with renegade disturbers and many were ready to take out "protection 
 papers" and espouse the British cause. But with all the Tory spirit which 
 permeated the country there were many staunch patriots in sympathy with 
 the army at Lowantica and ready to make every effort possible to relieve 
 them in their state of privation. Many of the soldiers were housed in the 
 homes of patriots. Food and clothing were supplied from various parts of 
 the communitv. and during the epidemic of smallpox much heroic service 
 was rendered the suffering army. 
 
 Throughout the winter of "76 and '■/•/ an armed sentinel was kept sta- 
 tioned on Prospect Hill ready to signal the country far and wide through 
 the burning of the tar barrel at night, or the booming of the "Old Sow" by 
 day, should the enemy be seen advancing on the Elizabeth Town road 
 toward Chatham. It is said that more than once the country was set ablaze 
 with patriotic fervor, caused by the signals given from Prospect Hill during 
 that winter. The following paragraph by Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle beautifully 
 describes the condition of affairs : "There was continual excitement and 
 solicitude. The alarm gun was firing, or the beacon light was burning, or 
 the sounds of the fife and drum were heard, or companies of soldiers were 
 passing and repassing, or the minute men of the vicinity were hurrying back 
 and forth, or the commander-in-chief and his suite and life guards were 
 going from or returning to headquarters, or some general parade was taking 
 place upon the camp ground, or some Tory spies were seen prowling about, 
 or some company of the enemy's troops under the conduct of Tory guides 
 was committing depredations in various parts of the country, or some other 
 thing of similar character was continually occurring to keep those who 
 resided here in a state of excitement and fear, and it was no unusual thing 
 to see General Washington and his accomplished lady mounted on bay 
 horses, and accompanied by their faithful mulatto "Bill" and fifty to sixty 
 mounted guards passing through the village with all eyes upon them." [Hist. 
 Morris County, N. J., Munsell & Co., 1882, p. 192.") Many lives were lost 
 during this winter through the scourge of smallpox and other diseases, and 
 the moral standards of the community were broken down by the reckless 
 practices of the soldiers. 
 
 Among the men who served their country during this winter of hard- 
 ships those from the vicinity of Chatham were: Lieutenant Silas Hand, 
 John Miller, Samuel Denman, John Minthorn, Jabez Titchenor, Lieutenant 
 Noadiah Wade. Surgeon Peter Smith, Captain Benj. Carter, Lieutenant 
 John Roberts. Luke Miller, Josiah Burnet, Jeremiah Carter, Cornelius 
 Genung, Captain Thompson of the New Jersey artillery (This Mr. Thomp- 
 son had both legs shot off at the battle of Springfield and died urging his 
 
14 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 soldiers never to give up to the enemy. He is said to have been captain of a 
 company of soldiers here in Chatham, which drilled upon the ground, south 
 of Main Street and east of Summit Avenue), Captain Eliakim Little of 
 the New Jersey artillery (It was his company which by desperate fighting, 
 held the enemy at bay for two hours until they were reinforced and the 
 enemy routed at Springfield), Samuel Paul, John Bonnel, Robert Pollard 
 (This man was shot through the body at Connecticut Farms, and yet sur- 
 vived many years after the war was ended), Ephraim Sayre, James Brook- 
 field, Second Lieutenant Samuel Day, Ellis Cook, Caleb Horton, Joseph 
 Bruen, Benj. Harris, Captain William Day, Benj. Bonnel (He assisted in 
 carting the guns which were captured by the Continental troops from a 
 British sloop grounded in Elizabeth Town Creek. The guns were taken to 
 the armory at Morristown.) Lieutenant Stephen Day, Captain John Howell, 
 Colonel Seeley, Gilbert Bonnel, \Vright Reding, Israel Lum (he fought in 
 the battle of Monmouth), Samuel Lum, son of Israel, Benj. Robinson, Mat- 
 thias Lum, Ed. McDonald, James Richardson, and Philip Lunney. 
 
 With all the heroism that was shown by the men of the country equally 
 as great was the heroism shown by the women. They made clothing for 
 the soldiers and helped care for the sick and the dead. In many instances 
 women harrowed and plowed the fields and threshed the grain. It is said 
 that the home of Aaron Ward located on Coleman's Hill, was always kept 
 in readiness for General Washington. Whenever the soldiers came to the 
 house, Mrs. Ward fed them with the best that could be had; and often the 
 whole first floor was given over to them for lodging during the night, while 
 the family occupied the rooms up stairs. On one occasion when a child of 
 the family had the croup, Mrs. Ward in order to get medicine from the 
 clpset down stairs, was obliged to step over the bodies of the sleeping sol- 
 diers who were packed in upon the kitchen floor. This is but one illustration 
 of the hospitable spirit of the staunch Whigs of the town of Chatham. 
 
 Washington Irving, in his "Life of Washington," makes the following 
 mention of the staunch patriotism of the citizens of Morris: "To the honor 
 of the Magistrates and people of Jersey, Washington testifies that requisi- 
 tions for supplies were punctually complied with. Jos. Tuttle says provi- 
 sions came in with hearty good will from the farmers in Mendham, Chat- 
 ham, Hanover and other rural places, together with stockings, shoes, coats, 
 and blankets ; while the women met together to knit and sew for the 
 soldiery." (Life of Washington, vol. iv, p. 5.) The sufifering at Valley 
 Forge was scarcely more severe than that of the winter of 'yG-'jy at 
 Lowantica. 
 
 In the fall of 'j~ General Sullivan by order of Washington left our 
 community en route for Wilmington, Delaware. Chatham was consequently 
 somewhat relieved from scenes of warfare until the winter of 1779. How- 
 ever the town continued a military station. The Continental Congress on 
 March 2, 1778, ordered that horses should be assembled in various parts of 
 the state for the use of the army. Under the date of March 5th, 1778, 
 advertisements were placed in the newspapers that purchases should be made 
 at the following places : by Captain Harrison at Pennington, Colonel Sheldon 
 at Chatham, Major Clough at Trenton, and Lieutenant Colonel White at 
 Brunswick. [N. J. Gazette, Nos. 178, 180.] These men were the com- 
 manding officers at the places mentioned. It is quite evident from this 
 notice that even through the period from '76-'79, the crossing of the Passaic 
 on the road to Elizabeth Town was sufficiently guarded. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 15 
 
 One of the most noteworthy events in the history of Chatham is that 
 of the publishing of the New Jersey Journal by Shepard Kollock. Mr. 
 Kollock was born at Lewes, Delaware, in September of the year 1750. He 
 learned the art of printing in the office of the Pennsylvania Chronicle at 
 Philadelphia. During the beginning of the Revolutionary War he entered 
 the army and served as first lieutenant with Colonel Neill of the Continental 
 artillery. At the close of the campaign in 1778, through the advice of Gen. 
 Knox, he began the publishing of his Journal in Chatham. The New Jer- 
 sey Journal was a weekly publication and the first number bears the date 
 Tuesday, February 16, 1779. [N. J. Journal, vol. i, No. i, N. Y. Hist. 
 Soc. Lib., 170 W. Cent. Park, N. Y. Copies were sent by the printer to 
 Mr. Gerardus Duyckinck, a druggist in Morristown, at the time. Mr. 
 Duyckinck was a regular subscriber, and an advertiser in the Journal.] 
 After Tuesday, January 25, 1780, the paper was issued on Wednesday. It 
 was a national publication, an ardent supporter of the cause of indepen- 
 dence, and the second newspaper printed in the State of New Jerse3^ The 
 New Jersey Gazette preceded it. The first issue of the Gazette was published 
 at Burlington by Isaac Collins, December 5, 1777. Shepard Kollock"s publi- 
 cation was known to the British as the "Rebel Paper." It was rumored that 
 Mr. Kollock thought of locating his paper in Elizabeth Town; but the condi- 
 tions there were so threatening that he chose Chatham, a town beyond the 
 hills "where no British soldiery ever trod." It has been handed down through 
 tradition that the first location of his printing office was on the island north 
 of Main street in the Passaic river, and that afterwards Mr. Kollock bought 
 the old parsonage in which Ebenezer Bradford taught school in Madison. 
 This building was removed to Chatham village during the Revolutionary 
 War, where Mr. Kollock utilized it as a printing office. [Hist. Madison Pres. 
 Church, Rev. Samuel L. Tuttle, p. 31.] It was located on the north side of 
 Main street opposite Jacob Morrell's dwelling house, the present home of Mr. 
 Fred Tallmadge. The old printing house was burned during the Civil ^\'ar. 
 It is possible that at one time the newspaper press of the New Jersey Journal 
 was in the end of the old tavern located west of Foster Horton's store. Shep- 
 ard KoUock's advertisement in his Journal of April 5, 1780, helps to locate 
 his printing office. The notice reads as follows : "The highest price is given 
 for clean linen rags by Shepard Kollock in Chatham near the liberty pole." 
 This notice is also found under the dates August 2, and December, 1780, 
 showing that he lived at this place during the greater part of that year. The 
 liberty pole of Revolutionary times stood in front of the tavern kept at that 
 time by Timothy Day. Besides printing a paper here Shepard Kollock 
 printed books and pamphlets ; and in connection with his printing office he 
 had a store in which he sold anything from a pound of tea to farms and 
 slaves. The following advertisement is taken from the pages of the New 
 Jersey Journal, "To be sold at the printing office at Chatham; Swift's works, 
 13 volumes; Spectator, 8 volumes; Clarissa, 8 volumes; Beauties of Prose, 
 4 volumes ; Triumvirate, 2 vols ; Collection of poems, 2 vols ; Ogilvies 
 Poems; Theoron and Aspasia ; Bradford Abbie; David's Repentance; 
 Life of Alexander Pope; History of Greece; Lord Somners on Jurors; 
 Testaments, and Spelling Books ; also Cole's Latin Dictionary ; Greek Lexi- 
 con ; Kent's Lucien ; Intro, to making Latin, etc." 
 
 Three Chatham imprints are in existence. One is "A Fast Day Sermon" 
 delivered by Jacob Green, A. M., at Hanover, New Jersey, April 22, 1778. 
 The following line is at the bottom of the pamphlet : "Chatham, printed by 
 Shepard Kollock, at his office, 1779." Another imprint is entitled, "Upon 
 
i6 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Persons Possessing Iniquities of their Youth in After Life," by Jacob 
 Green, printed by Shepard Kollock in Chatham, 1780. Sprague in his annals 
 "The American Pulpit" states that Jacob Green published three sermons. 
 It is quite probable that Shepard Kollock printed the third which has not 
 yet been discovered. The first of these pamphlets is in the possession of 
 Rev. Joseph Folson of Newark and the other is owned by William Nelson 
 of Paterson. The most considerable Chatham imprint of Shepard Kollock's 
 is a small i6mo. voliune of the Psalms of David by Isaac Watts. The 
 writer has an original copy of this Chatham imprint. This volume was 
 printed in 1783 and contains more than 300 pages. This issue was probably 
 published to supply the deficiency of Watts' Hymnals made by Parson Cald- 
 well at the battle of Springfield on June 23, 1780. During this battle the 
 Rev. Mr. Caldwell, seeing that the soldiers were in need of wadding for their 
 muzzle-loading rifles, went to the church and brought forth an armful of 
 these Hymnals which he passed out to the soldiers, saying as he presented 
 them, "Now put Watts into 'em, boys !" 
 
 A complete list of Shepard Kollock's publications in Chatham, as far 
 as it is known, is as follows: 1779, Oct. 12, Poems on Several Occurrences, 
 Rev. Wheeler Case: i. A contest between the Eagle and the Crane; 2. A 
 Dialogue between Col. Paine and Miss Clorinda Fairchild ; 3. St. Clair's 
 Retreat and Burgoyne's Defeat ; 4. The First Chapter of the Lamentations 
 of Gen. Burgoyne; 5. The Fall of Burgoyne ; 6. The Vanity of Trusting in 
 an Arm of Flesh; 7. The Tragical Death of Miss Jane M'Crea; 8. An 
 answer for the Messenger of the Nation. 1779, Verses on the Sixth, 
 Seventh and Eighth Chapters of Genesis, Stephen Hand; 1779, Feb. 16 to 
 Dec. 3, 1783, New Jersey Journal; 1779, Sept. 7, A Fast Day Sermon, 
 Rev. Jacob Green, A. M. ; 1779, July 20, Spelling Book; 1779, U. S. 
 Almanac for 1780; 1780, May 24, A Short Introduction to English Gram- 
 mar; 1780, Sermon at Newark, Uzal Ogden, Aug. 15, 1779; 1780, Apr. 12, 
 A Sermon Designed for Instruction and Warning to Youth of both Sexes, 
 From Job 12-26, Rev. Jacob Green, A.M.; 1780, Dec. 6, Sermon on Prac- 
 tical Religion, Rev. Uzal Ogden; 1780, United States Almanac for 1781 ; 
 1781, Apr. 25, A View of the Christian Church and Church Government, 
 by the Associated Presbytery of Morris Co.; 1781, A Sermon on Funeral 
 of Elizabeth Hackett, Uzal Ogden; 1781, Nov. 30, United States Almanac 
 for 1782; 1782, Dilworth's Spelling Book (?) ; 1782, New England Primer 
 ( ?) ; 1782, U. S. Almanac for 1783 (An imperfect copy of this almanac is 
 in the New York City Library) : 1783, Elogy on Francis Barker, Dr. 
 Ebenezer Elmer; 1783. The Covenant Interest of the Children of Believers, 
 Rev. Amzi Lewis; 1783. Regeneration. A Sermon, Rev. Mr. Ogden ( ?) ; 
 1783, Psalms of David, Isaac Watts. 
 
 The rebel paper, printed in Chatham was of much concern to the 
 British. Major Andre, the spy, in his poem entitled "The Cow Chase," 
 made the following reference to this Whig publication. Andre pictured the 
 parson as viewing "Mad" Anthony Wayne's retreating train after his futile 
 attempt to capture the block house on the palisades above W^eehawken. 
 
 "In his dismay, the frantic priest' 
 Began to grow prophetic. 
 You had swore, to see his lab'ring breast, 
 He'd taken an emetic. 
 
 'I view a future day,' said he, 
 
 'Brighter than this daj- dark is. 
 And you shall see what you shall see. 
 Ha! Ha! one pretty marquis- 
 
MORRIS COUNTY I7 
 
 And he shall come to Paulus' Hook.s 
 
 And great achievements think on, 
 And make a bow and take a look, 
 
 Like Satan over Lincoln.-* 
 
 And all the land around shall glory 
 
 To see the Frenchman caper. 
 And pretty Susan^ tell the story 
 In the next Chatham paper'.' 
 (Patriotic Poems of New Jersey by Wm. C. Armstrong, p. 109.) 
 
 ^ u 11 2TQf5vpttp 3 Tersev City. *A figure of the devil on 
 
 article's 'to 'the Journal published at Chatham. 
 
 The New Jersey Journal was printed in Chatham until December 3- 
 178/ At this time immediately after the evacuation of New York by he 
 K-itish Mr kollock moved to that city and began the publication of the 
 ^Ne York Gazetteer and the Country Journal." The removal o Kollock 
 from Cliaham led a Mr. David Cree to attempt the publishing of a paper 
 ;^°;;8^^Sti: ^s ..own c^cermn^ Not everi the --^ remembe^ 
 
 £^1 iSc^ndS" wil papef in'SlW^'i^nlswick, New Jersey as 
 eariv as July, °784. About April 1785, this publication was ransferred to 
 ElSbeth T^wn and was there styled the "New Jersey Journal and Political 
 Selligencer" Later on Shepard Kollock was judge in the court of common 
 Dleafn "he county of Essex Mr. Kollock died July 28, 1839, >n Elizabeth 
 Town a the age of eighty-eight years. He was a brave soldier, a zealous 
 natrioi "strenuous advocate of the Republican principles of gov^nmenL 
 and dd good services for his country as a soldier and as an editor^ His 
 name deferves to be placed among the most noteworthy patriots of the 
 Revolutionary times. 
 
 \fter the encampment of Washington at Lowantica in t^e ^v,nter ot 
 '-fi -I'nd '77 the scene of warfare was removed to the south. The winter 
 of-7 and '78 wasT^ent by Washington with the main army at \ alley Forge. 
 
 ^^^r ^ r rT -^ :r^rWasSi:^:is^= ^^ncS-Jfat 
 Middle ZlX^Jeriy^tn Z breaking up of -P - ^™e Brook. 
 
 ^-—t:ri^t^:t ™Ks^s^:s cSs/^;r; New 
 
 fersev trVl iSphia where he interviewed Marquis de Lafayette who had 
 lust arrived ntha? city. After a strenuous campaign in watching the move- 
 ments "f the enemy ^in central New Jersey, Washington removed from 
 Scotch Plains to M^ristown for winter-quarters. On December 13th a 
 large defachment of the army passed through Chatham toward Bottle Hill 
 (Mad on) where an encampment was made. It is possible that this de- 
 tachnient was in charge of Lafavette, and that at this time the pleasing love 
 episode be ween Count D'Anteroche. one of the aids of the Marquis, and 
 Po Iv Vanderpoel took place. The story is told that the young count while 
 rid c^ th ovSh Chathan!. ,^er the Morris Turnpike m company with_ some 
 Amencan officers, encountered near the bridge over the Passaic river a 
 pr eSy girl who had just stepped out of her father's house, which was located 
 ^^ tl,P .lone above the river On looking into the sweet face of Miss Polly 
 Vanderpoel ?he young French officer lost his heart. David Vanderpoel 
 upon beTng informed 'of his daughter's suitor raged, stormed, and swore 
 
i8 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 that she should marry, "no d-m Frenchman." The young chevalier 
 upon hearing the stand taken by Captain David became heart sick and took 
 to his bed. Turning his face to the wall, he said "Let me die ! Let me die !" 
 Finally the stern father relented and casting his prejudice aside withdrew 
 all hindrance against his daughter's suitor. Their troth was plighted and in 
 one of the severest winters on record, on the 30th of January, 1780, the 
 twain were made one by good old Dr. Bradford of Bottle Hill. After the 
 war Count D'Anteroche and his charming wife removed to Elizabeth Town, 
 where they lived for a number of years with some of the Count's com- 
 patriots. The hero of this romantic story died some years afterwards while 
 on a visit to France. Mrs. Mary Vanderpoel D'Anteroche continued to live 
 in Elizabeth Town until her eighty-sixth year. When Lafayette revisited 
 this country in 1824, she and her children were greeted by him with the 
 affection of a dear relative. 
 
 It was during the severe winter of 1779 and '80 that many of the most 
 interesting episodes of the Revolutionary period in Chatham took place. 
 It is said that the temperature was so low throughout this winter that New 
 York Bay was frozen over to such an extent that the British cavalry could 
 pass back and forth into New Jersey at will. Many devastating inroads 
 were made in this part of the State. In consequence of this condition of 
 affairs it was found necessary to keep the bridge at Chatham constantly 
 guarded in order that no British soldier should pass. A company of militia 
 under Col. Jacob Miller was for a considerable time the custodian of this 
 bridge. Ashbel Green a youth of fifteen years was one of the guards and 
 there is record of his having unceremoniously shot down a man who at- 
 tempted to pass without giving the necessary countersign. 
 
 During this winter of '79 and '80 an exchange of prisoners was arranged 
 for at the bridge in Chatham. General Winds was deputized to officiate for 
 the continentals. After the transaction was completed the British field 
 officer remarked on parting, "We are going to dine in Morristown some 
 day." "If you do," said Winds, "you will sup in h — 1 in the evening." This 
 reply was not made through the habit of profanity, but on the contrary 
 through the fervid patriotic spirit which pervaded the general. In Mr. 
 Piatt's poem, entitled, "Chatham Bridge." this incident is one of a number 
 referred to. He also treats of an attempted capture of Washington by the 
 British in the winter of '79. As he speaks of it the soldiery which made 
 this attempt passed beyond the river and as far as Union Hill. There is 
 dispute regarding this statement for in a letter which is herein given. It will 
 be found that the storm of the night and the crust on the snow prevented 
 the detachment from going any further than XJavid Vanderpoel's house 
 which was located east of the river. Furthermore had this company of 
 British soldiers gone beyond the bridge, it could not have been said as it so 
 often was that the bridge at the river was a "closed gate and secure" through 
 which no British ever trod. 
 
 The signal gun, on Prospect Hill, was ever in readiness to fire the alarm 
 and the tar barrel blazed forth whenever any movement of the enemy over 
 the eastern plain portended harm to the inhabitants of this vicinity. It is 
 quite probable that numerous officers were quartered in the village and that 
 a detachment of the army was stationed here in the fall of 1779. The oldest 
 inhabitants were wont to relate that Washington accompanied with his 
 retinue of officers frequently passed through the town, and that on various 
 occasions he was accompanied by his distinguished friend, Marquis de 
 Lafayette. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 19 
 
 During the year 1779 the vicinity of Morris county was overrun with 
 spies and banditti of the British soldiers. The following item is indicative 
 of the condition of affairs at that time: "Four armed men were seen south 
 of Chatham. A posse of men, accompanied by dogs, was sent after them. 
 Two were caught and two got away. One of the men caught was George 
 Whelps, Esq., from Coshecton, N. Y. It is hoped he will be treated to a 
 taste of American hemp." [N. J. Journal, April 11, 1779.] The above men 
 proved to be British spies. 
 
 The location of Chatham with its protecting hills made it not only a 
 safe retreat for Shepard Kollock, but also a place where patriots unmolested 
 could meet and discuss cjuestions of vital interest concerning the nation's 
 welfare. The following extracts show with what importance the location 
 was considered. 
 
 A general courtmartial of the state of which Col. Neilson is appointed president 
 is ordered to set at Chatham on the 27th instant. Col. Frelinghuysen and Van Dyke 
 (Lieutenant), Colonels Jacob Crane and Benoni Hathaway, Majors William Davison 
 and Joseph Lindley, Captains Peter Latham and Daniel Cook, Gawen McKoy, Stephen 
 Monson, Joseph Beech, James Kean are appointed members. Mr. Wilcox is appointed 
 to act as judge-advocate of the court by order of His Excellency, Governor Livings- 
 ton. April ID, 1780. [N. J. Journal, Vol. 2, Xo. 61, April 12, 1780.] 
 
 The committee of Essex County Associators request the Whig inhabitants of 
 Morris County to meet them at the house of Matthias Woodruff in Chatham on 
 Tuesday the 24th, this month, precisely at one o'clock, on business of the greatest 
 importance. Signed, Vauxhall, .-Vpril 17, 1781. [N. J. Journal, ibid, Xo. 113, April 
 18, 1781.] 
 
 This quotation from an old letter is further evidence of how strategic 
 a point was the town of Chatham during Washington's encampment at 
 Morristown in the winter of '79 and '80. 
 
 Immediately opposite the Presbyterian Church is still standing a frame dwelling 
 owned by Mrs. ilary J. Tallmadge in which Washington at various times sought 
 shelter and relief from the burdens pressing him. It was the home of Jacob Morrell 
 at the time Washington was in Morristown. 
 
 In the winter of 1780 while Washington accompanied by his faithful aide, Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, and his two faithful servants, was temporarily quartered in this 
 building, the American army being encamped at Morristown, a party of one thousand 
 British cavalry left New York w-ith the intention of taking Washington prisoner. 
 They came by the way of Elizabethtown. During the night a violent storm of hail, 
 snow, and rain set in, forming a thick crust which cut their horses f'-et, and ren- 
 dered the road so impassible that when daylight dawned, having journeyed no 
 furtlier than the Passaic River, near what is now known as the Vanderpoel residence, 
 they deemed it prudent to return. Standing in fear of their guide, an American spy, 
 they enclosed him in the center of a hollow square, and then rode with drawn 
 swords. 
 
 While Washington was temporarily stopping at the house already alluded to, a 
 scout called Karmel, belonging to the American Armj% was on his way from Perth 
 .■\mboy with important dispatches to Washington's headquarters then at Morristown. 
 When the scout reached Elizabethtown he was overtaken by a blinding snow storm. 
 He proceeded on his way, however. Before reaching Chatham the snow had changed 
 to hail and rain, which froze as it fell, forming a thick crust. His horse's feet were 
 so badly cut by the sharp crust that he was obliged to seek shelter in the dwelling 
 which stood on the site now occupied by the residence of Mr. Vanderpoel, and at 
 which time was owned and occupied by David Vanderpoel, the great grandfather of 
 the present owner. Here the scout learned that Washington had taken refuge from 
 the same storm in the house of one of Chatham's patriotic citizens. 
 
 Karmel had not yet retired, although he had been shown to his room, when he 
 heard the tramping of a party of horsemen. His suspicion that soemthing was 
 wrong, having been aroused, he stole noiselessly out of the house to ascertain the 
 cause of the commotion. He was not long in learning that it was a company of 
 British soldiers. He readily surmised from the little he heard of their conversation 
 that Morristown was their destination and the capture of Washington their mission. 
 
 Had they succeeded in their undertaking, the American Revolution would have 
 
20 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 been known in history as America's Rebellion, and instead of a Union of forty-five 
 slates, we would probably to-day still be provinces of Great Britain. 
 
 However, fate had decreed it otherwise, and Karmel the scout, to whom history 
 has scarcely done justice, pushed on that night from Elizabeth Town to Chatham 
 through the sleet and snow. He arrived in time to warn Washington who later 
 made his escape. [Early files of Chatham Press.] 
 
 During one of the frequent adventures of the British soldiers in this 
 locality in the winter of '79 and '80 the following occurrence is said to have 
 taken place at Timothy Day's hotel on the eastern side of the Passaic River. 
 The story was related to the author by Miss Phebe Potter. Mr. Day's hotel 
 was opposite the Vanderpoel estate. The family upon seeing the approach 
 of the British soldiers left the hotel and hid behind a stone wall at the rear 
 of the house. The redcoats walked lawlessly into the house and ransacked 
 it from cellar to attic. After their departure Mr. Day found on his return 
 that the spigots of the wine barrels in the cellar had been opened, and 
 that the cellar floor was flooded with wine. Not satisfied with this they had 
 taken the feather ticks from the beds and had emptied the contents into the 
 wine on the cellar floor making a gruesome concoction of feathers and wine. 
 At this hotel, Jacob Morrell's dwelling house, and at the homes of Stephen 
 Day and Aaron Ward, Washington is reported to have been a frequent 
 visitor. 
 
 On January 30, 1780, Chatham witnessed preparations for a most dar- 
 ing enterprise. It was Lord Sterling's hazardous attempt to attack the 
 enemy at Staten Island. The detachment left the town with great aspira- 
 tions, but returned much chagrined. 
 
 In the spring of 1780, Maxwell's brigade was stationed at Chatham. 
 Following the severe winter there was a very late spring, even on May the 
 i8th the grass was not yet green. Knyphausen was in command of the 
 British force in New York and planned to invade New Jersey and expel 
 from its confines the patriotic army. Consequently in the early part of June, 
 he crossed to Staten Island and thence to Elizabeth Town. These move- 
 ments of the British electrified the community of Chatham with military 
 excitement and put Maxwell's troops in readiness for an encounter. It was 
 reported that they were on their way to Morristown to capture the main 
 depot of the army's supplies and to drive the rebels out of "the Jersies." As 
 soon as the force of the enemy, in order and splendid array, left Elizabeth 
 Town on the Turnpike Road towards Springfield, word was quickly passed 
 along to Prospect Hill where the eighteen-pound signal gun, the "Old Sow," 
 and the tar barrel were fired. Patriotic citizens of the whole country round 
 flew to arms. The army drums at Morristown beat the soldiers in line and 
 under the command of Washington troops marched down to Bonnel Town 
 near Chatham to check the on-coming enemy beyond Short Hills. The 
 militia of the surrounding country joined the main army on its way to the 
 field of action. At Coimecticut Farms the onset was checked by the forces 
 of General Maxwell and Colonel Dayton, and the splendid army which 
 marched out from Elizabeth Town went back to Staten Island more or less 
 demoralized. 
 
 It was at the battle of Connecticut Farms where Mrs. James Caldwell, 
 formerly Miss Hannah Ogden, was barbarously shot by a British mercenary. 
 [Hatfield's Hist. Elizabeth Town, p. 488.] Mrs. Caldwell was a sister of 
 Mrs. Stephen Day of Chatham, who lived on the northwest corner of Main 
 and Elmwood Avenue. After the nnirder of his wife. Parson Caldwell 
 moved with his children to Chatham to live with Mrs. Day. From this 
 time until the end of the war. Parson Caldwell kept an ammunition store 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 21 
 
 in Chatham near Shepard Kollock's printing office. He was later murdered 
 at EHzabeth Town by a man named Morgan, one of the rebel sentmels. 
 The following incident shows how the Parson was regarded by the patriots 
 of Chatham Mr. Tuttle narrates that at one time when the Rev. Mr. 
 Caldwell was about to preach in the open air in Chatham, an o d soldier 
 crowded to the front and cried out, before there was time to bmld a plat- 
 form "Let me have the honor of being his platform! Let him stand on 
 my body! Nothing is too good for Parson Caldwell. 
 
 After the battle of Springfield, General Washington on his return o 
 Morristown sent word ahead to Mrs. Stephen Day that he would stop off to 
 see her on his way through Chatham. Accordingly Mrs Day dressed her- 
 self in a fine black silk gown with a large white scarf about her neck and 
 awaited the coming of her distinguished visitor. A small mahogany table 
 was placed on the lawn in front of the house, and a p easing repast was 
 prepared for the General. The call was made and heartfelt words of sym- 
 pathy were extended to Mrs. Day in behalf of the horrible murder of her 
 sister at Connecticut Farms. Much appreciation was shown by the Genera 
 for her hospitality and often afterwards it is said that Washington called at 
 the Dav Mansion. Captain Stephen Day, the husband of Mrs._ Jeremiah 
 O-den^Day was one of the staunchest patriots. He was justice of the 
 neace under both the British and Continental rule, served m the army, and 
 was one of the first to aid the Continentals when requisitions for supplies 
 were made. It is said that he gave a whole beef when the first call was 
 
 ^^^"Vhe British were not vanquished by the repulse at Connecticut Farms, 
 and on the 23rd of June, 1780. early in the morning they left camp at Eliza- 
 beth Point and set out, five thousand strong under Knyphausen, in the 
 direction of Short Hills. Again the old eighteen pounder and the tar barrel 
 on Prospect Hill gave signals of the approach of the enemy. The mi itia 
 was hastily collected from every quarter to guard the pass over the hill. 
 A fierce encounter took place in Springfield at the end of which the Con- 
 tinentals came off victorious. Parson Caldwell was very active m this en- 
 eaeement It was here that he supplied the soldiers with psalm books out 
 of which to make wads. Although the enemy was finally driven back to 
 Elizabeth Town, it was not done until great damage was committed in the 
 town It is said that all the houses were burned excepting four, jhe 
 Americans under General Green lost thirteen killed, forty-nine wounded. 
 First Lieutenant Thompson of the New Jersey artillery was one of the slain. 
 The loss of the enemy is not recorded but it was doubtless much greater 
 than that of the Americans. With this victory, ended all possibilities of 
 the British ever passing beyond the Watchung Mountains. ^ 
 
 When the news came that the British were advancing towards Spring- 
 field there was great consternation in Chatham. The possibility of their 
 defeating the Americans, threatened an invasion. of the country beyond the 
 mountains, and in order to safe guard themselves, the greater part of the 
 inhabitants packed their goods in readiness to flee, and in excitemen 
 awaited the outcome of the battle. There was great relief when Mr. Ball 
 on horseback came over the hill with the news that the enemy had been 
 
 driven back. , , , , /-1 ^i a 
 
 The soldiers wounded at Springfield were brought to Chatham and 
 cared for in Timothy Day's Tavern, which became a veritable hospital. 
 Parson Caldwell and'many heroic women joined in relieving the suttermg 
 soldiers housed within the town at this time. 
 
22 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Colonel Barber's detachment fell back to Chatham for a short period 
 and then set out for Elizabeth Town. Washington at this time lay in the 
 vicinity of Rockaway ready to reinforce his troops if necessary. Through- 
 out the winter of 1780 and '81, the Pennsylvania troops of Mad Anthony 
 Wayne were stationed at Morristown. It was during this winter of 
 hardship caused by the lack of money in circulation and the wholesale 
 counterfeiting by the tories of the community, that the soldiers under 
 General \\'ayne mutinied and marched to the Continental Congress at 
 Princeton. Much heroism was shown by the patriots of this vicinity in 
 their attempt to relieve the distressed army at Slorristown. The story of 
 Rhoda Farrand's driving around and collecting clothing for the soldiers is 
 illustrative of the loyal spirit ardently aglow in the breast of each patriot. 
 The success of the Pennsylvania regiments in obtaining redress of their 
 grievances, prompted the New Jersey troops at Pompton to attempt the 
 same performance. On the night of the 20th of January, 1781, a brigade of 
 one hundred sixty men from Pompton marched to Chatham and urged the 
 troops stationed there to join them in their revolt. General Washington on 
 hearing of their plans immediately dispatched under General Howe a de- 
 tachment to arrest the movement and to punish the leaders. Howe arrived 
 in the village on the morning of the 21st and surrounded the mutineers 
 encamped in front of Timothy Day's Tavern. Colonel Barber commanded 
 them to parade without arms to designated grounds. The revolters hesi- 
 tated to obey and Colonel Sprout was ordered to advance with his regiment 
 and give them five minutes to comply with the command. Under the threat 
 of bayonets and leveled muskets they instantly complied with the order. 
 Three of the leaders were tried and executed on the spot. This was prob- 
 ably the most exciting military maneuver of the war in the immediate con- 
 fines of Chatham. [Hist, of New Jersey, Sypher and Apgar, p. 175, Memoir 
 of Major Shaw, by Hon. Josiah Quincy, p. 89.] 
 
 Soon after the victory at Springfield the scene of action shifted to the 
 south. On the 23d of August, 1781, the French army crossed the Hudson 
 and proceeded on its march to Chatham where for more than ten days 
 artificers were building ovens and forming an encampment on the east side 
 of the Passaic in order to deceive Sir Henry Clinton then holding New 
 York. [Diary of American Revolution, Frank IMoore, p. 466.] Washing- 
 ton had decided to close up the war by couping Cornwallis with the main 
 British army in Yorktown, \'irginia. In accordance with this idea he had 
 ordered the French regiments and the New Jersey brigades to move south- 
 ward to Virginia, and in order to mislead Clinton, these pretences of estab- 
 lishing permanent quarters at Chatham were made. On the arrival of the 
 French army at Chatham Dayton's brigade was found stationed at this 
 place. The French division, uniformed in black, with red trimmings, made 
 a most striking spectacle. The Royal Deux-Ponts were decked in white 
 broadcloth coats faced with green, and the heavy artillery men in blue with 
 white facings. The French grenadiers who were acknowledged as the elite 
 of the corps marched at the head of each battalion, wearing buckskin hats 
 and distinctive uniforms. No grander spectacle of military parade has ever 
 been presented to the people of Chatham before or since. The allied armies 
 of the French and the Americans marched by different routes in four 
 divisions across the state towards Trenton on their way to Philadelphia. 
 The right column of the Continentals, composed of Hazen's regiment, the 
 corps of sappers and miners, the artillery stores, the baggage, and the thirty 
 flatboats on carriages passed on the 28th through Chatham on its way to 
 
MORRIS COUNTY • 23 
 
 Bound Brook. The left column under Major General Lincoln separated 
 from the right at Chatham and joined the left at Trenton on the 31st, 
 having marched by way of New Brunswick to Princeton. It can readily 
 be imagined, on the arrival in Chatham of the right and left Continentals 
 driving great herds of cattle before them, with many covered wagons 
 carrying the baggage and tents, and the troops of soldiers permeated 
 with the spirit of victory, that an unusual spectacle was presented to 
 the patriots of this vicinity. Those too sick or lame to march were 
 permitted to ride. It is said that the women contingent to this military 
 procession, were of considerable annoyance since they were not amenable 
 to military discipline. The following order was issued in consequence 
 of their behavior: ■'Prior to the commencement of our march this 
 morning the commanding officers will inform the women of their re- 
 spective corps that the General saw many of them yesterday from their 
 proper line of march, strolling in gardens and orchards, an irregularity 
 which must not be repeated. Should' any attempt it hereafter they will be 
 denied their rations and prevented farther from following the army." 
 [Story of an Old Farm. A. D. Mellick, p. 536.] 
 
 Both the French and Continental troops, which came down from the 
 north with all their artillery and baggage wagons, encamped immediately in 
 front of Day's Tavern, east of the road leading southward to Turkey. 
 Many of the soldiers were quartered in the homes of the community. The 
 Bonnel house on W'atchung avenue, in Stanley, was filled to its utmost 
 capacity. Mrs. Bonnel was not content with giving them shelter alone ; but 
 all the night long by the stepping back and forth over the soldiers sleeping on 
 her kitchen floor she baked bread that the needy army might be better fed 
 on their long march to the south. What a beautiful exhibition of patriotism 
 this was ! On a certain evening the camp looked as usual ; fires were lighted, 
 sentries were set. and all the soldiers numbering at least 6,000 were appar- 
 ently ready for the night. On the following morning, both as a surprise to 
 the local inhabitants and to the British spies who were lurking in the com- 
 munity, there was nothing left on the site of the encamping army excepting 
 wooden sheds and the ovens which the soldiers had built. The two divisions 
 marched in separate directions as heretofore stated. This gorgeous exhibi- 
 tion of military pomp was a fitting close to the Revolutionary excitement of 
 the tmmolested country, lying to the west beyond the hills. 
 
 As the winter of 1782 drew to a close the sounds of war died out with 
 only occasional reminders by the way of news through some express rider 
 who broughts accounts of the closing events, or groups of soldiers return- 
 ing home honorably discharged from service. For some years after the war, 
 the log cabins used during the winter of 1776 and '"JJ, were to be seen at 
 Lowantica ; and the old pretentious sheds and ovens opposite Day's Tavern 
 were ostentatious reminders of the long and dreadful conflict. The ovens 
 were thoughtlessly torn down in 1835. 
 
 A few troops, some officers, and prisoners of war were quartered in 
 Chatham up to the time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris. It 
 would not be fitting to close the Chatham account of the Revolution- 
 ary struggle without making mention of the ill-fated Capt. Asgill who 
 was for a time immediately following the war imprisoned in the town. 
 Captain Josiah Huddy was an active patriot of Monmouth county, and 
 through his vigilant action in suppressing the Tory insurrections he became 
 a marked man by the treacherous refugees. In the spring of 1782. Huddy 
 was captured at Tom's River and transported to New York. He was 
 
24 
 
 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 charged with the killing of a man by the name of White, and was barbar- 
 ously hanged under the command of Captain Lippincott at Gravelly Point, 
 Staten Island. This inhuman murder filled the country with indignation. 
 It was insisted that the British commander should deliver up Lippincott or 
 otherwise some English officer in the hands of the Continentals should 
 die instead. Steps were taken to carry out this threat by selecting eight 
 Captains and five Lieutenants, on parole in Pennsylvania, from among 
 whom one man, to be fated by lot, was to pay the penalty. The die was 
 cast in Lancaster, Pa. at the Black Bear Tavern, and the unfortunate lot 
 fell to Captain Asgill of the foot guards the youngest officer present. 
 The ill-fated officer was escorted by Major Gordon to the Jersey line. At 
 Chatham, the place assigned for his execution, he was put in the charge of 
 Colonel Elias Dayton of the second New Jersey regiment. Washington 
 wrote to Colonel Dayton on the .^th of June, 1781, as follows: "Treat Cap- 
 tain Asgill with every tenderness and association, and politeness consistent 
 with his present situation which his rank, fortune, and connections, together 
 with his private state, demands !" A few days later Washington wrote the 
 following: "Sir, I am informed that Captain Asgill is at Chatham without 
 a guard, and under no restraint. This, if true, is certainly wrong; I wish to 
 have the young gentleman treated with all possible tenderness consistent 
 with his present situation, but considered as a close prisoner and kept in the 
 greatest security. I request, therefore, that he may be sent immediately to 
 the Jersey Line where he is to be kept close prisoner in perfect security till 
 further orders." [Story of an Old Farm, A. D. Mellick, p. 545.] Ulti- 
 mately Sir Guy Carlton succeeded in satisfying the colonial government 
 that the execution of Huddy was not without good reason. Meanwhile 
 Congress was besieged with communications for the release of Asgill. This 
 together with the prospect of peace impelled Congress finally to grant to 
 Asgill a reprieve. On the 7th of November, Colonel Dayton at Morristown 
 gave his prisoner unconditional liberty. 
 
 The part played by Chatham in the struggle for freedom was no small 
 one. Not only was the place a strategic point while Washington was en- 
 camped during the two trying winters at Morristown, but it also sent its full 
 quota of men to the firing line and furnished a large amount of supplies for 
 the needy army. Some fitting memorial should be erected in honor of the 
 service rendered by this community during those threatening days of the 
 Revolution. In closing this part of the history of Chatham it is quite ap- 
 propriate to insert a eulogy written by the poet, Charles D. Piatt, of this 
 county : 
 
 CH.-\THAM BRIDGE. 
 
 Not far to seek is Chatham Bridge 
 
 -As on the highway you may ride 
 From Morristown along the ridge 
 
 To Madison ; here let us bide 
 .A. moment — list I the ghostly tramp 
 Of troops who once came here to camp. 
 
 Then on we ride through Chatham, till 
 
 The Chatham Bridge at last we reach ; 
 Here as we rest let memory fill 
 
 The mind with what this spot can teach ; 
 Here let us think of the days of old 
 ."^nd tales that of those times are told. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 
 
 Hither came all who sought to cross 
 Passaic's stream and onward fare; 
 
 Here guards were set, for it were loss 
 If o'er this bridge the foe should dare 
 
 To pass and raid the land or make 
 
 Some prisoner — all was here at stake. 
 
 A company was ordered here 
 
 By good Benoni Hathaway 
 Of Morristown ; it doth appear 
 
 In pension lists of that far day, 
 That they were led, that company. 
 By Timothy Tuttle of Whippany. 
 
 And here on guard stood Ashbel Green 
 
 A little time as sentinel, 
 When but a youth ; his age, I ween. 
 
 Was fifteen years, yet he guarded well 
 This Chatham Bridge and made arrest 
 Of one whose case was none the best. 
 
 And here it was that General Winds 
 
 Met a British officer afield: 
 Here those two warriors spoke their minds 
 
 And the Briton thought it best to yield ; 
 So Winds escorted him on his way 
 As he retreated home that day. 
 
 These are but trifling tales, in sooth, 
 .•\nd yet they point to matters fraught 
 
 With destiny, this is but truth. 
 As you shall quickly now be taught; 
 
 'Tis in the annals of our State 
 
 With other matters small and great. 
 
 i779-'8o. 
 
 On Kemble hill our army lay 
 And Washington his quarters had 
 
 In Morristown and made his stay 
 At Colonel Ford.'s, as I might add ; 
 
 When forth there rode a daring force, 
 
 A squadron of the British horse. 
 
 From Staten Island on they came 
 
 ,^nd in the night they took their way; 
 
 They passed the sentinels, the same 
 
 That at Short Hills were set to stay ■ 
 Marauding bands, o'er Chatham Bridge 
 
 They crossed, and started up the ridge 
 
 To Bottle Hill; but snow and hail 
 
 Had clogged their speed through all the night; 
 They saw their plan would surely fail 
 
 And back they turned in sorry plight; 
 For their steeds were lamed by icy crust 
 That cut their feet — retreat they must. 
 
 Their guide, he was I know not who. 
 
 But that he was an American; 
 And, fearing he would not be true 
 
 Unto their cause, they set the man 
 Within a hollow square, and so, 
 Swords drawn, in haste they homeward go. 
 
26 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Back to the point they safely rode 
 To which they had crossed when they set out 
 
 From Staten Island, their abode. 
 
 'Twas known then what they were about, 
 
 And moved was all the country side 
 
 On hearing of that midnight ride. 
 
 For had their errand met success. 
 
 What it had wrought, no man can say; 
 Our cause had been one man the less; 
 
 One man the less, mean what that may ; 
 Ah ! Had they stolen our Washington, 
 Our cause, God wot, had been undone.* 
 
 *Ballads of New Jersey in the Revolution, Chas. D. Piatt, p. 141. 
 
 [Other residents besides those mentioned on map entitled Revolutionary- 
 Era, were William Darling, Thomas Randall, Mathias Woodruff, Joseph 
 Grummon, Samuel Ailing, Elihu Linley, Jacob Hallet (had store 1779). ] 
 
 The War of 1812 — The community of Chatham was ever characterized 
 by its military spirit. Not only was this shown in Revolutionary and Civil 
 War tiines but also in the War of 1812. Captain Abraham Brittin who 
 lived at Union Hill, and was allied with the spirit of the town was one of 
 the leaders in military affairs. After the Revolution he was captain of a 
 group of soldiers known as the fusiliers of Chatham. This company with 
 Captain Brittin at the head went to the front during the war and was in 
 active service from September i, 1814, until December 3 of the same year. 
 
 I'isit from Lafayette — The year 1824 is a memorable one in the history 
 of Chathain. Forty-one years had passed since the dreadful Revolutionary 
 conflict had ended. It was at this time that a noted warrior of the Revolu- 
 tion now an aged man came to visit the scenes of warfare between Great 
 Britain and her transatlantic colony. Again he passed over the road from 
 Elizabeth Town to Chatham where his aide and distant relative. Count 
 D'Anteroche, won the love of Polly Vanderpoel. 
 
 Elaborate preparations were made for the great general. The stars aim 
 stripes were flung from every home, and veterans of the war stood with 
 uncovered heads when the revered Marquis D'Lafayette passed by. In the 
 house where Mrs. Hamblen now lives, on the northeast corner of ]\Iain and 
 Elmwood Ave. the Marquis was entertained. The main reception was held m 
 Madison. A great number of the young girls of the town of Chatham, 
 dressed in their prettiest costumes, took part in the formal exercises of the 
 reception. No greater honor and heartfelt gratitude was ever given to any 
 foreign visitor than that extended to the aged Lafayette 
 
 Churches — The Rev. David Brainard, of the school of Jonathan Ed- 
 wards, was the first missionary to the Indians in New Jersey. His evan- 
 gelistic work extended throughout the State, and was exercised not only 
 toward the Indians but also toward the white settlers. In his journal he 
 relates traveling froin Crosweeksung, at the forks of the Delaware, to 
 Elizabethtown. This journey, which was made in 1746. led him over the 
 old Minisink trail which passed through Chatham. He further states that 
 he stopped at Connecticut Farms and preached. While there is no state- 
 ment to the effect that he visited the church at Hanover yet we are led to 
 infer that he did not pass it without a visitation. [Life of Brainard, by 
 Jonathan Edwards, pp. 254, 273.] 
 
 The early settlers of the upper Passaic were Scotch Presbyterians and 
 
Chatliam in Revolutionary Era. showing older part east of river. 
 Drawn by James M. Littlejohn. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 27 
 
 attended religious services at Whippany where a Presbyterian church was 
 built in 1718. [History of Presbyterian Church at Madison, p. 10.] In 
 1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the mem- 
 bers of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover 
 attended. The Presbyterian church at Bottle Hill, Madison, was built in 
 1765, and was largely composed of patrons from the town of Chatham. 
 
 The Methodists of this vicinity previous to 1800 were related to the 
 church at Turkey, New Providence, until a union meeting house was built in 
 the year 1808, for the accommodation of both Methodists and Presbyterians. 
 This building stood north of Main Street and west of the bridge near Gen- 
 eral Mahlon Minton's store. This first church in Chatham was a two story 
 building without bell or cupola, and had galleries on three sides of its walls. 
 These were used only when the congregations were unusually large, which 
 happened invariably on the occasion of a funeral. 
 
 There were no stoves in this church until the year 1820. Previous to 
 this date each worshipper either brought a foot warmer with him or suffered 
 from the cold. The only lights used were candles, and those who attended 
 church went on foot, horseback or in a springless wagon. Beside the min- 
 ister in the elevated pulpit there regularly stood at his right the chorister 
 whose business it was to set the pitch with his tuning fork and lead the 
 singing. 
 
 The Presbyterians of the town were organized as the Chatham Village 
 Church in 1823. There were thirty-eight members at this time. The first 
 pastor of the congregation was Rev. Asa Lyman. The upstairs rooms in the 
 old academy were used for Sunday school and prayer meeting in conse- 
 quence of the two congregations using the regular union meeting house. 
 In 1828 Rev. Joseph Meeker Ogden was called as the second pastor, and 
 served the people of his church in a most meritorious pastorate until the 
 year 1873. Mr. Ogden was graduated from Princeton College in the class 
 of 1823. He was a scholar of high standing both in Greek and Hebrew and 
 for many years was the examiner in these subjects in the theological school 
 of his Alma Mater. The Rev. Mr. Ogden was well known among the 
 church authorities and had an exalted reputation as a preacher of the gospel. 
 
 The members of both the Presbyterian and Methodist congregations who 
 used the union church found it very hard to work in harmony. Consider- 
 able feeling eventually arose between the two organizations and the most 
 bitter hatred was finally exercised in what was known as the "Battle of the 
 Churches" in ancient Chatham. The quarrel between the Presbyterians who 
 wanted to withdraw and build a new church, and the Methodists who cared 
 not to permit this procedure became so heated that the members of the 
 Presbyterian faction ultimately under the cover of nightfall, in the year 
 1830, hitched oxen to the corner of the church and pulled it down. The 
 poem herewith presented was written at the time and fully describes the 
 event although throughout a biased opinion is rather evident. This poem, 
 the literary critic will observe, is not without considerable merit. 
 
 A MODERN. OR SECOND MOXTPELIER. 
 
 Montpelicr in miniature arrayed, 
 
 Or papacy as modernly displayed : 
 
 Montpelier a noted town in France, 
 
 Rose to a city, 'twas by art or chance. 
 
 'Twas at Montpelier a church once stood. 
 
 Devoted by the Huguenots to God : 
 
 'Twas here the Huguenots with cries and tears 
 
28 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Sent forth to heaven their fervent, humble prayers; 
 
 But ah ! how soon deprived of this retreat, 
 
 To pay their homage at their Saviour's feet; 
 
 Louis the fourteenth, tyrant of his age. 
 
 Commands, and !o ! they pull it down in rage ; 
 
 Poor Huguenots, they pile the sacred stones 
 
 In memory of their pious fathers' bones. 
 
 Their warm attachment and regard they prove 
 
 By this last token of paternal love. 
 
 But lo ! we turn from ancient 'peliers down 
 
 To one of recent date and one of home. 
 
 I've lived to see said 'peliers rise of late, 
 
 And lived to see said 'peliers mournful fate. 
 
 In Morris County, near Passaic's flood, 
 
 In Chatham town, a Chapel long has stood, 
 
 Built by the Methodists in days of yore, 
 
 And stood the test near forty years or more. 
 
 Yet built for all denominations free, 
 
 On principles of pure philanthropy; 
 
 Near thirty years the house was occupied 
 
 By Methodists more than all sects beside; 
 
 But right was not denied, to sect or name, 
 
 Till Presbyterians usurped their claim. 
 
 Perhaps they think as Irish rebels thought, 
 
 None should, but their divinity be taught — 
 
 And they, in eighteen hundred thirty-two, 
 
 Commenc'd a Chapel of their own, 'tis true, 
 
 When rear'd and covered, and adorned with paint, 
 
 In imitation of a half washed saint; 
 
 They held a party caucus in the town. 
 
 And there agreed to pull Montpelier down ; 
 
 A host of men, deliberately led 
 
 By men in trust, and deacons at their head, 
 
 Proceed in purpose firm, without a jar. 
 
 With one intent, pull down the house of prayer; 
 
 Took out the windows, and unhinged the doors, 
 
 Knocked off the boards and then took up the floors; 
 
 Took off the roof and then the frame took down, 
 
 And laid poor 'pelier level to the ground. 
 
 Then bore their booty from the spot away, 
 
 As heroes do the trophies of their prey; 
 
 The shatler'd fragments advertise for sale, 
 
 And I suppose will pocket the avail — 
 
 I called to mind the faithful Hittites' lamb, 
 
 And cried, oh if I am bereaved I am. 
 
 But here I rest — the bigotry or spite. 
 
 Leaves men to judge, if wrong w'as ever right — 
 
 May generations yet. unborn and free. 
 
 Proclaim the deed to late posterity. 
 
 May Gospel, Christian herald, public news. 
 
 The tidings, o'er this continent diffuse; 
 
 May packet ships convey the news to France, 
 
 That 'peliers sons may at tidings glance; 
 
 May England hear, and all her subjects see 
 
 The blest effects of free born liberty — 
 
 And may the archives of a free born seed. 
 
 In faithfulness record the noble deed 
 
 May a new era in our history rise. 
 
 To be observed. — till time and nature dies. 
 
 May travelers of every cast and lot 
 
 While passing by. point out the sacred spot. 
 
 And call to mind, 'twas here ! 'twas surely here 
 
 The Methodists once owned a house of prayer. 
 
 But Presbyterians in the warmth of zeal. 
 
 With their adherents marching at their heel 
 
 Pull'd down the house of prayer. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 29 
 
 These facts are true. 
 
 As here presented to the piibHc view. 
 
 Chatham, Morris County, New Jersey, September 3, 1832. 
 
 After the wave of spirited feeling had subsided in the year 1832, the 
 Presbyterians built on the site of the razed structure a church edifice in 
 which building the Rev. J. M. Ogden wa.s the first pastor. (See Addenda, 
 p. 51.) Following is a list of the ministers who succeeded Dr. Ogden: 
 Rev. A. V. C. Johnson, Rev. W. F. Anderson, Rev. J. B. Beaumont, Rev. 
 Dr. E. P. Gardiner, Rev. Dr. John iMacnaughtan. 
 
 The first reference to Methodism in the territory is found in the quo- 
 tation which follows: "1786 Rev. Ezekiel Cooper made a visit of two 
 weeks to New Jersey." [Light on Early Methodism, p. 43.] Mr. Cooper 
 preached in Chatham during this visit at a Mr. Clark's and Colonel Crane's. 
 [History of Chatham Methodism, Rev. Wm. J. Hampton, p. 8.] It is said 
 that the Presbyterians doubted the authority of the Rev. Mr. Cooper to 
 preach and demanded by what right he undertook so divine a calling. He 
 was about to be arrested but the procedure was obviated through his identi- 
 fication with the Elizabeth Town circuit. Quarterly meetings were held in 
 Chatham as early as January 16 and 17, 1802. However Father John Han- 
 cock of Springfield writes February 23, 1849, that a church was built in 
 Chatham at an early period prior to 1807 where for many years up to about 
 1830, regular services were held by circuit preachers. This same Father 
 Hancock at one time conducted services in Chatham. Mr. Tuttle relates in 
 the history of the old classical academy of Bottle Hill, in which Rev. Mr. 
 Bradford taught school, that the first Methodist Episcopal services held in 
 Chatharn Township were conducted in this building. It will be recalled that 
 it was in this house after it was removed from Madison to Chatham that 
 Shepard Kollock printed the New Jersey Journal. It was after his aban- 
 donment that it was used as a church. This tradition was handed 
 down to Mr. Tuttle by Mr. Enos Bonnel of Chatham. Brainard Dickin- 
 son, Matthias Swaim, and Isaac Searles were the staunch supporters of this 
 early Methodist organization. The last one mentioned is referred to in the 
 Christian Advocate as having been the founder of Chatham Methodism. 
 
 After the destruction of the union church a house of worship was 
 built by the Methodists on the southeast corner of Main and Summit 
 avenue. \\'illiam H. Dickerson was the first regular pastor of the congre- 
 gation in 1852. Previous to this date the church in Chatham was an adjunct 
 to the Madison circuit. The building on Summit avenue was used until the 
 year 1896. when it was pronounced unsafe and the congregation removed to 
 Kelley's Hall for the next two years. During this time a beautiful building 
 was being constructed on Center street, to which many Presbyterians whose 
 ancestors many years before had spitefully opposed and fought the promul- 
 gation of_ the^ Methodist doctrine, contributed liberally. Happily all the 
 fervid anitnosity of former times has disappeared and both congregations 
 are now observed working harmoniously to the one end of Christian uplift. 
 The brick industry which was begun about the year 1830 later attracted 
 a great many Irish Catholics to Chatham. In 1870 it was apparent to the 
 Right Rev. William M. Wigger that there was need of a Catholic mission in 
 the town. Through the advice of Mr. John McCormack, property was pur- 
 chased of Mr. Paul Lum for a school." This location was later exchanged 
 for a plot of land then belonging to Mr. John Doran, which was nearer the 
 centre of population. A school was erected in 1872 at a cost of $4000, and 
 
30 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 was used for the two-fold purpose of mission and school. Since a number 
 of parishoners worked in the near-by brickyard, sutificient bricks were con- 
 tributed for the construction of the building. For a time the "fog" in Chat- 
 ham was a damper on the courage of the Bishop to establish a church along 
 the Passaic. However, the difficulty was overcome in 1887, and a church 
 was founded by Bishop W'igger, on the corner of Washington avenue and 
 Oliver street. Rev. Muhl was the first acting priest of the parish. Follow- 
 ing him came successively Father McGahan, Rev. Joseph C. Dunn, Rev. 
 William T. McLaughlin, Rev. James M. McCormack, Rev. Samuel Hedges 
 and Father Keyes. At the present time the church is under the leadership 
 of Rev. P. A. Maher. 
 
 In consequence of a flourishing paper manufactory in Stanley, Mr. 
 George Shepard Page organized a Sunday school for his employees in the 
 year 1867. Services were held in an upstairs room opposite the old paper 
 mill on the River Road. This group of worshippers grew until a building 
 was erected and named Stanley Hall, in honor of Mr. Page's mother, which 
 building is the present Vapo-Cresolene factory. In the year 1873 the Con- 
 gregational Church of Stanley was organized, and Stanley Chapel was built 
 in 1881 on the corner of Hillside and Watchung Avenues. Messrs Abram 
 French and John Munn were active in this movement. The first pastor of 
 the church was Rev. F. S. Palmer, who served in this capacity from the 
 year 'J2) to '75. In 1902 a handsome gray stone edifice was built by the 
 Congregationalists on the corner of Fairmount avenue and Oliver street. A 
 flourishing organization of about two hundred members now supports this 
 church under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Charles E. Hesselgrave. 
 
 The beginning of the Episcopal church in Chatham was in the parlor 
 of Mr. John Gould, on Elmwood avenue. A Rev. Mr. Lylburn was the 
 first rector, from 1897 to '98. Mr. Gould at his death gave a plot of ground 
 adjoining his property on which to build a chapel. Funds were not available 
 for some years following and in 1902, when the Presbyterians decided to 
 build a new church, the chapel on Main street, east of the Fairview Hotel, 
 was purchased; and the Presbyterians bought the lot which lay near the 
 corner of Main and Elmwood avenue, where the present Presbyterian 
 church stands. The Rev. J. \\'. \'an Ingen, of Milburn, is the officiating 
 pastor. 
 
 For a number of years there were no cemeteries in juxtaposition to the 
 churches of the town. The Methodists buried in Turkey (New Providence) 
 and the Presbyterians in Bottle Hill (Madison). The first graveyards of 
 Chatham were in connection with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches 
 and were located near these places of worship — the Methodist on the 
 corner of Main and Summit, and the Presbyterian north of Main street 
 and west of the river. These continued until the year 1859, when Fair- 
 mount Avenue Cemetery was incorporated. The east side of Long Hill 
 was selected as the site, and the bodies in the old cemeteries were disinterred 
 and placed in this new burying ground. A small family burial plot was at 
 one time located on the present clubhouse grounds. This was used by 
 the Days and later by the Browns. The bodies buried in this plot were 
 also disinterred and placed in the Fairmount Cemetery. 
 
 The Public Schools — It is reported that from the earliest time the 
 people of Chatham and Morris County gave special attention to the educa- 
 tion of their children. After a long research it has been quite impossible to 
 find where within the present borough limits the earliest building for the use 
 of school purposes was located. In the history of every town a brief account 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 3^ 
 
 of the old log schoolhouse is invariably presented. Such account concerning 
 Chatham cannot be given for no one knows of the existence of an origmal 
 log structure. The first school house might have been located across the 
 river near Timothy Day's hotel, since that was the centre of the town pre- 
 vious to 1800. Shepard Kollock entered the following advertisements in his 
 Journal under each of the dates, May 10, 1780, and January 3. 1781. •A 
 schoolmaster that can be well recommended may find employment by apply- 
 ing to the printer hereof." There is also reason to infer that the original 
 building was located on the exact site of the old Academy. This may explain 
 why no trace of the first school of the town can be found. The first 
 reference regarding a school in this vicinity reads as follows : "Joel Jones 
 came from Massachusetts about the year 1787. He kept school on Long 
 Hill." [Littell's Genealogy, p. 196.] The school here referred to might 
 have been one located on the site of the present red schoolhouse. 
 
 The first schoolhouse within the limits of the borough of which any 
 definite record exists was that known as the "Old Academy." This build- 
 ing was located on the north side of Main Street on the present site of the 
 Episcopal Chapel. This structure was erected about the year 1800 and was 
 used until 1873. It contained two stories. On the first floor the common 
 public school was held, and part of the time the upstairs room was used for 
 Sunday School purposes. Eventually the school was divided into two parts ; 
 one, a select school in which the pupils paid for their tuition, and the other, 
 a common free public school. This was one of the many academies estab- 
 lished throughout the state in the early part of the nineteenth century 
 through the solicitation of Yankee schoolmasters who came down from New 
 England and sought patronage from the parents in various vicinities. These 
 teachers "boarded around" and charged a certain amount for the tuition of 
 each pupil in addition to their board and lodging which was furnished by 
 the patrons. The bell of this academy is at the present time on the colored 
 meeting house in Madison and bears the date 1806. Herein is a clue respect- 
 ing the time when the building was erected. 
 
 The names of many of the teachers of this academy have been lost. 
 However, among some old papers found in the possession of Mr. Washing- 
 ton Bond were discovered receipts given to Thomas Bond who was a trustee 
 of the academy in the early part of the century ; and from these the follow- 
 ing names have been assembled: Under the date February 26, 1803, N. C. 
 Everett was the teacher; March 24, 1804, Anthony Cameron; March 28, 
 1836, Thomas M. Dooley ; October 26. 1840, Mary M. Walker; 1846. John 
 O. Day, George H. Cook; 1855 ( ?). Richard Robinson, Lewis Case Carpen- 
 ter, Dr. Forgus, Mr. Howard,' Mr. Morey, Mr. Fox, Benjamin Felch, Hugh 
 Cox, Mr. Henderson; June 23, i86s, VVilliam F. Morrow. Jessie Cutler, 
 Thomas H. Briggs: i868-"70, W. C. Sandy. Thomas T. Collard. The fol- 
 lowing receipt is typical of the evidence from which a number of these 
 names were taken : 
 
 Chatham, March 24th, 1804. 
 Mr. Thomas Bond, 
 
 To ANTHONY CAMERON, Dr. 
 
 Jan. 15, 1804 — To teaching your son Maxfield, Latin, 40 days at 4d. per 
 
 day £0 135. 4a. 
 
 Melissa, 45 days 7 ^ 
 
 Tom Bond, 45 days o 7 6 
 
 To bal. of a former account o 5 9 
 
 £1 14s. id. 
 
32 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Notable among these teachers was Geo. H. Cook of Hanover, for many 
 years State Geologist of New Jersey. One of the most reputable teachers of 
 this list was Mr. Thomas H. Briggs, who was said to be the severest 
 of all schoolmasters. Mr. Briggs had but one leg, and was consequently con- 
 fined to the use of a crutch. Men now living who attended his school report 
 that his favorite method of discipline was by throwing the dried up pigtail 
 which he always kept at his right on the desk to the unruly boy, requiring 
 him to bring it forward to receive punishment. Mr. Briggs was very dex- 
 terous in going about the schoolroom. By means of his crutch he was able 
 to cover the distance between his desk and the pupil in a surprisingly short 
 time. 
 
 Many were the unruly acts committed on the teachers by the pupils of 
 the "Old Academy." These outbreaks of deportment toward the new 
 teachers frequently led to violence. It is said that some were "smoked out," 
 by locking the master in, closing the shutters, and then sealing up the 
 chimney. Occasionally a disreputed teacher was snowballed out of town. 
 Then too, the big boys who attended in the winter would often pick a quarrel 
 with a likely master and give him a thrashing. It is reported that previous 
 to the coming of Thomas Briggs there had been four schoolmasters driven 
 out successively. Each one stayed no more than a month. The jokes and 
 unruly conduct were not committed toward the men teachers alone ; however 
 rer.pect for the women of the profession never permitted any to commit acts 
 of violence. The story is told of a rather bold joke on Miss Elizabeth 
 Magee. It appears that she had a young man admirer by the name of 
 Solomon Parsons. His attentions to Miss Magee were so well known by the 
 boys that jokes about him became frequent in occurrence, and successively 
 more harsh in character. The climax was reached when some culprit of the 
 school took a jackass from the stable of a townsman and led him to the 
 Academy. On the arrival of Miss Magee in the morning, she was put in 
 much of a quandary on her approach to the school, because of the frequent 
 clinking of the school bell. She hurried to the building, anxious to find the 
 cause. On opening the door at a glance all was explained. The rogue had 
 taken the donkey into the building and tied him to the bell rope ; but that 
 was not all. In large letters on a placard fastened about the animal's body 
 was the inscription, "I am Sol Parsons." Miss Magee saw at once the whole 
 intent of the joke. The beast was hastily removed, and the punishment 
 inflicted on the culprit, were he discovered, it might be inferred, was severe. 
 Mr. Thomas Collard taught both in the old academy and the new school 
 building which was constructed on Passaic Avenue in the year 1873. Miss 
 Elizabeth McGee, niece of Rev. Joseph Meeker Ogden, and daughter of Dr. 
 McGee of Elizabeth Town, for many years during the 50's conducted a select 
 school upstairs in the old academy. Miss Alice Arnold and a Miss Genung 
 were also teachers in this select school. 
 
 On the occupancy of the school on Passaic avenue, there were but two 
 teachers, Mr. Collard and Miss F. H. Megie. Following Mr. Collard in 
 1877, Mr. Peter Garabrant was the teacher. A most unique coincident 
 accompanied his conducting the school. Mr. and Mrs. Garabrant were the 
 sole teachers in the school, their home was in the rooms of the building up- 
 stairs, and their children were part of the school. The enrollment at this 
 time was about 130 pupils. 
 
 A complete list of the teachers from the time of Mr. Garabrant until 
 the present is herewith presented : 1883-85, Albert Brugler ; 1885-87, Walter 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 33 
 
 D. Wheat ; 1887-90, J. L. Snook ; 1890-96, Frank O. Payne ; 1896-97, Russell 
 M. Everett; 1897-99, W. L. Sprague; 1899-1900, A. F. Stauffer; 1900-01, 
 Ralph W. Jones; 1901-05, \V. A. Ackerman ; 1905-09, Arthur E. Lovett; 
 
 1909 Charles A. Philhower. 
 
 In 1909 it was found necessary to make further provisions for the 
 children of the town. The old building was more than filled, and for seven 
 years Kelly Hall on Main street had been used for the overflow. In accord- 
 ance with this demand a new building was erected on Fairmount avenue 
 in 1910, and occupied at that time with an initial enrollment of 310 pupils 
 and 13 teachers. This was an increase of four teachers over the number in 
 the old school. At the present time the enrollment of the public school is 
 
 425- 
 
 Various private schools have been conducted in the town. Most popular 
 of these were Miss Cooley's school above Dr. Swaim's drug store. Miss 
 Hannah Bower's school on Bower Lane, and Miss Thring's school on Main 
 street, near Passaic avenue. 
 
 Previous to the year 1856 the schools of the State were governed by 
 township superintendents. Mr. Stephen Ward, of Chatham, was one of the 
 first to act in this capacity, and for many years was employed as superin- 
 tendent of Chatham township. The Rev. J. M. Ogden was the 
 leading trustee in this township, and in the Report of the State Superm- 
 tendent of Education in the year 1856, Mr. Ogden gave a very excellent 
 account of the status and progress of the schools of Chatham. At that time 
 the township was made up of a number of one-room schools. In the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the town there were three outlying schools: one was 
 situated south of Coleman's Hill on the right hand side of the road going 
 down Budd Lane, one at Union Hill, and another which probably antedates 
 these two was situated on Long Hill where the present red schoolhouse is 
 located. 
 
 The school at Union Hill continued until the year 1863 and was located 
 at the corner of Division street and Kings Road. The building was eighteen 
 by thirty feet, and had a large fireplace with a great stone chimney in one 
 end. About the year 1846 this fireplace was removed and a tinplate stove 
 was substituted. It is thought that this building was erected somewhere 
 about the year 1800. In 1862 in consequence of the reconstruction of school 
 districts a new building was erected west of Union Hill and north of Main 
 street in the borough of Madison. The various teachers of the original 
 Union Hill School of Chatham as accurately as they can be recollected by 
 Mr. Frank Bruen were : Miss Hannah Bower, Miss Marietta Tuttle, Mr. 
 John Condit, Dr. Forgus, Mr. James K. Magie, Miss Sarah A. Carter, Mr. 
 Parsons, Mr. Charles Sayre, Mr. Ashbel Wright, Mr. Henry Smith, Miss 
 Anna E. Thompson, Mr. Stephen H. Ward, Miss Johanna B. Thompson, 
 Mr. Van Cleve, Mr. Francis Smith, Mr. Richard Robinson, Mr. Wilbur F. 
 Morrow, 1863. (The Public Schools of Madison, N. J., by Fred B. Bardon, 
 
 P- 57-) 
 
 From these crude and illy kept country schools many men of note 
 received their early education. However the great mass of pupils in the 
 district frequently suffered for want of attention denied them on account of 
 the demands of a few brighter pupils in the school. The present practice 
 of grading the schools is a great departure from this old method of conduct- 
 ing these public institutions. Under this system each pupil in the grade 
 receives equal attention. The school at the present is composed of an 
 up-to-date kindergarten, eight well regulated grades in the grammar depart- 
 
34 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 ment, and a four-year high school which offers three courses ; classical, 
 scientific, and commercial. The first two courses mentioned admit pupils to 
 college without examination. The high school was placed on the State Ap- 
 proved List in the year 1910. 
 
 New Jersey was the first State to encourage the development of public 
 school libraries. This was done by a law which provided that for every 
 $20 raised by a school district for the establishment of a public school library, 
 the State would give an equal amount, and during each succeeding year 
 thereafter, on the event of the district raising $10 for the further develop- 
 ment of said library, $10 would be donated by the State. The originator of 
 this bill was the Hon. Nathaniel Niles, of Union Hill, whose estate is located 
 on Division street. Mr. Niles was at this time, 1871 and 1872, a mem- 
 ber of the Assembly from Morris County, and speaker of the house in '72. 
 He was the staunch supporter of the public schools of the State. To nis 
 honor lies the credit of establishing the school system of the State on a firm 
 financial basis. This was done by means of an annual redistribution of the 
 State school tax according to the school population of each county. Through 
 its operation for the past forty years this law has proved most practical and 
 has enabled the poorest county of the State to offer to its children school 
 advantages equal to any. [Modern Battles of Trenton, Sackett, p. 78.] 
 
 Travel — From the time the earliest settlers came to Chatham the great 
 thoroughfare of travel was over the "Road to Elizabeth Town," the course 
 of which was determined by the Minisink Indian trail leading from the upper 
 Delaware to the coast. In 1790 a stage coach was running from \\'m. Par- 
 rott's hotel in Chatham to Paulus Hook, Jersey City. It is recorded 
 that this stage also stopped at Timothy Day"s hotel in Chatham. From 
 Jersey City to New York there was a relay which enabled the traveler to go 
 from Chatham to New York and back in three days. The main turnpike 
 road led to Elizabeth Town. 
 
 The Newark and Morris Turnpike was built on the old stage route in 
 the year 1840. Toll gates were located near the present Canoe Brook Golf 
 Club and at Union Hill. Mr. George Lees who died recently at the age of 
 eighty-three for many years kept the toll gate near the Canoe Brook Golf 
 Club. As a result of these toll gates the present Watchung avenue was 
 used as a "Shunpike" over which wagons loaded with produce on the way to 
 Elizabeth or Newark could shun the tolls of these two gates. On account of 
 this practice the road became known by that name. 
 
 In order that the original names of the roads in and about Chatham be 
 not lost, a list is herewith presented including some which heretofore have 
 been referred to incidentally: Main Street, known as Minnisink Path, road 
 to Elizabeth Town, and Morris Turnpike; Passaic Avenue, Budd Lane; 
 River Road, road to Turkey ; W'atchung Avenue, Shun-pike ; Fairmount 
 Avenue, Long Hill road; Red Road, Maple Avenue (changed back to Red 
 Road), named Red Road because of outcropping of red shale; Jockey Hol- 
 low road, ran from Summit avenue along the river to Watchung avenue, was 
 abandoned when the second track of the railroad was laid ; Lafayette avenue, 
 Tyson Lane ; Summit avenue. New Road. 
 
 The Morris & Essex Railroad was built in the year 1837 and marks a 
 great step in the means of travel to and from New York. This road ex- 
 tended at first from Newark to Morristown. The rails of the tracks were 
 made of wood with a thin strip of iron on the top. The locomotive first used 
 was a queer sort of "dinky" engine with a single driving wheel. Wood was 
 used for fuel. There were three trains dailv each wav, and it was not until 
 
Chatham in 1843. Drawn by James M. Littlejohn. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 35 
 
 the year 1899 that regular Sunday trains were put on. The business of the 
 road became so profitable that in 1867 a second track was laid. 
 
 For a number of years about i860, Chatham was a kind of terminus 
 for the western coal traffic. It was not an uncommon sight to see dozens of 
 trains made up of "coal jimmies" lying in the switches at this junction. 
 Chatham was a reserve coal station from which train loads of coal were 
 taken to the cities as needed. The Lehigh Valley railroad ran most of its 
 coal over the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western at this time. Crews com- 
 ing in on loaded coal trains would lie over here for a day and then return 
 to the coal fields of Pennsylvania on empty trains. On account of this 
 custom, many reckless trainmen were brought to the town, and through 
 their conduct about the hotels and saloons they became quite intolerable to 
 the inhabitants. So aggravating was their behavior that in 1870 through 
 the elTorts of Mr. George Shepard Page, all hotels and saloons were closed. 
 
 Until the year 1902 an engine house was located in the railroad yard 
 south of Summit avenue. This was used for the engine of the Chatham 
 accommodation train. At one time six engines were housed in this building. 
 
 For a long time the low marshy land north of the old railroad station 
 was an unsightly menace to the town. In 1896, through the efforts of the 
 ladies of Chatham and Mr. Reasoner, superintendent of the Morris & Essex 
 railroad, this land was purchased and filled in. The ground was graded, 
 shrubbery planted, and a park laid out, which was named for Mr. Reasoner. 
 
 At one time there were four stations within the present limits of the 
 borough. They were located, one at Stanley at the River road crossing, one 
 on the northeast corner of Passaic avenue and the railroad tracks, one at 
 King's Road crossing, and one at Division street. Ultimately there was but 
 one station, which was situated in Reasoner's Park. On the event of the ele- 
 vation of the tracks in the fall of 1913, the site of the station was changed 
 from Reasoner's Park to its present location west of Fairmount avenue and 
 south of the tracks, where a new station was built. 
 
 After considerable controversy between the citizens of the town and 
 the council, whether the railroad should elevate or depress its tracks, in the 
 year 1913 a decision was rendered in favor of elevation. The railroad com- 
 pany began the project in the fall of that year. It was agreed to close Wil- 
 low Street, Red Road and Fuller Avenue. Great excavations were made 
 between Summit Avenue and the river, and a freight-yard was laid out in 
 which were located the freight-station and coal yard. An average elevation 
 of about ten feet was made, and the double curve in the Stanley section was 
 eliminated. On changing the site of the station to its present location the 
 old coal yard and brick yard pond was transformed into a park. 
 
 The traffic on this road has ultimately made it such a profitable enter- 
 prise that the stock stands among the highest in the country and there now 
 are instead of three trains daily thirty-two each way with nearly as many 
 on Sunday. 
 
 It was not until the year 1912 that Chatham was favored with trolley 
 service. At this time the Morris County Traction Company was granted a 
 franchise over the main street. Double tracks were laid and cars run every 
 half hour. The main street was paved with amesite and in consequence 
 greatly improved. 
 
 Hotels. Stores, and Post Office — The early growth of Chatham must be 
 attributed to some extent to the location of its first hotel or roadhouse which 
 was built about the year 1755. A second was erected soon afterward. The 
 great practice of farmers carting their produce from the central part of the 
 
36 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 State to Elizabeth Town and Newark made a demand for these hotels. 
 Chatham lying on the turnpike road was about one day's journey from the 
 center of the State. Farmers on their way to market were accustomed to 
 stay over night at the hotels of the town. The next day by starting very 
 early in the morning they would continue to Newark or Elizabeth Town and 
 return in the afternoon. Men doing this would "put up" the second night 
 in Chatham and on the third day go on to their homes. So extensive was 
 this practice that the Rev. Joseph M. Ogden related he had seen at one time 
 as many as forty Conestoga wagons in line coming over the hill from Madi- 
 son on their way to Newark or Elizabeth Town. The yards of the various 
 hotels which flourished here were frequently filled with these wagons and in 
 consequence this little village was periodically a scene of considerable ex- 
 citement. Loads of charcoal frequently passed through the town, and herds 
 of cattle were often kept over night on the flat east of the river. Timothy 
 Day was among the first who kept a hotel east of the river. This tavern 
 was situated near where the road branches off to Turkey. About 1820 it 
 was known as Condit's tavern. Samuel Lee kept a hotel west of Condit's 
 tavern. In the year 1808 Israel Lum was the proprietor of an inn on the 
 southwest corner of the Turnpike and Long Hill Road (Fairmount avenue). 
 From the early part of the nineteenth century the hotel west of the river and 
 north of the Turnpike road w-as known as Crowell's tavern. About 1865 
 this tavern was kept for several years by a George Philhower. Squire Spen- 
 cer's hotel and store combined was located west of the river and south of 
 Main Street nearly opposite Crowell's tavern. About thirty years ago on the 
 site of the Widow Field's mansion, William Martin built a summer hotel 
 which is now known as the Fairview House. Some years ago the business 
 of catering to summer boarders was extensively carried on at this hotel 
 which accommodated in the maximum about one hundred-fifty guests. 
 
 In Revolutionary times two stores were spoken of in the New Jersey 
 Journal. One was probably located east of the river and the other west ; the 
 former was Jacob Morrell's. and the latter Foster Horten's. Advertisements 
 concerning these stores are found in the N. J. Journal under the date May 11, 
 1779. 
 
 The Rev. James Caldwell, in his capacity as deputy quartermaster- 
 general, kept a store in the village during the Revolution. [Proceedings of 
 Hist. Assn. of N. J., vols. 3-4, ist series, p. 82.] The following amusing 
 incident is recorded concerning the parson's ammunition and army provision 
 store. Over the door of his establishment were the letters D. Q. M. G. 
 (deputy quartermaster general). Abram Clark, a citizen of the town, one 
 day was found by the parson gazing intently at these letters evidently trying 
 to interpret their meaning. "What are you looking at so earnestly?" asked 
 the parson. The reply was, "I am trying to make out what those letters 
 mean." "What do you think," questioned Rev. Caldwell. "Well," said 
 Mr. Clark. "I can see nothing else in them but, Devilish Queer Minister of 
 the Gospel," over which remark the good old parson jocularly laughed. 
 
 For a number of years the most popular store of the town was kept by 
 "General" Mahlon Minton. This building was located opposite George 
 Parrot's house now occupied by Mr. H. B. Stopford. Some rather exciting 
 tales are told about the robberies committed at the old Minton store. Pre- 
 vious to i860 it was not an unfrequent occurrence for ruffians to come out 
 from the cities or larger towns and successfully rob the country stores. On 
 one particular occasion the inhabitants of Chatham were awakened on a 
 frosty morning by the cries of fire. It was soon discovered that "General" 
 
Luni llomestead. corner of Main and Fairmonnt Avcnnc, llialliam. 
 
 M 
 
 ■^j 
 
 Lhailiam Hotel (Crow ell Tavern), East Main Street, Chatham. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 37 
 
 Minion's store was ablaze. On arriving at the store it was observed that the 
 doors were open and that a robbery had been committed in addition to the 
 firing of the building. All joined in fighting the fire excepting Samuel Lee, 
 proprietor of one of the hotels east of the river, who conceived the idea that 
 the culprit was not far on his way down the turnpike road. Jumping on a 
 horse he set out in pursuit of the suspected burglar. Beyond Springfield he 
 overtook a suspicious character with a load of store goods. Mr. Lee rode up 
 and commanded him to stop. The thief drew a single barrel pistol and 
 attempted to shoot his assailant, but luckily the weapon would not go oft. Lee 
 dismounted and a tussle ensued in which the thief was bound and brought 
 back to Chatham. On Mr. Lee's return he found the fire extinguished. 
 The goods were restored and the convict was sent to prison, where he died. 
 Another incident is related of thieves entering General Minton's house. 
 This was one winter evening when Sarah E. Minton, the daughter, was away 
 at boarding school in Newton. It was Miss Minton's custom to sleep in a 
 down stairs bedroom. In the middle of the night Mrs. Minton was partially 
 awakened for some unknown reason, and in her half conscious state noticed 
 flashes of light on the ceiling. This phenomenon though unusual faded from 
 her consciousness, and she dropped off to sleep. In the morning it was dis- 
 covered that the home had been robbed, and upon investigation dirty finger 
 prints on the white counterpane of the empty bed of their daughter Sarah, 
 and the open window under which the bed stood revealed that this had been 
 the source of entrance to the house. Further findings proved that Miss 
 Minton's absence was fortunate for her. for upon the capture of the thieves 
 to the surprise of the country folk it was found that they were two burly 
 negroes. One in confessing his criminality stated that he stood over the 
 bed of Mr. and Mrs. Minton with an ax in hand determined to dispatch its 
 occupants should they awaken while his accomplice was looting the house. 
 (Tradition from Mr. Guy Minton.) 
 
 The first postoffices established in New Jersey were at Trenton. Prince- 
 ton, and Elizabeth Town. Chatham in the latter part of the eighteenth 
 century was an outpost of the Elizabeth Town office, and mail was delivered 
 at the stores by stage. This mail which was addressed Elizabeth Town 
 reached the various inhabitants of this territory through voluntary distribu- 
 tion by the merchant of the town with whom most of the people of the com- 
 munity traded. Of course there was very little correspondence and a letter 
 was seldom received. However the practice of letter writing, both of a social 
 nature and for business purposes, grew until on July i, 1808. Chatham be- 
 came a postoffice station, with Daniel Crane as postmaster. Mr. Crane was 
 succeeded on July i, 1814, by David L. Osborne. In the year 1822 Gideon 
 Burnett was the postmaster.' Later Samuel Crane and Paul Day served in 
 this capacity. The stage route which ran from New York to Easton by way 
 of Schoolev's Mountain passed through Chatham and left mail there at this 
 time. In the year 1831 William R. MacDougal was postmaster and con- 
 tinued in his relationship to the national government for thirty-one years. 
 The office was in his store which occupied the east end of the present dwell- 
 ing of Mr. Geo. MacDougal. After his incumbency the postoffice was 
 located on Bower Lane. Later it passed to Hudson Minton's store on the 
 corner of Fairmount and Main, and ultimately to the Wolfe building, in 
 which it is located at the present time with Dr. William J. Wolfe as post- 
 master. Dr. Wolfe was preceded by Mr. Ezra F. Ferris who was post- 
 master in the borough for fifteen years. 
 
38 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 A postoffice was established in Stanley about the year 1865, in con- 
 sequence of the large paper manufactory along the river. This office, though 
 small has had an uninterrupted existence from the above date until the 
 present. 
 
 The Chatham Fish and Game Protective Association, which has for a 
 number of years been not only of great social but of considerable moral 
 benefit to the town, was organized April 11, 1889, by a few gentlemen who 
 were interested in field sports. The purpose of this association was to pro- 
 tect more effectually game and game fish. Its members consisted of many 
 noted men of New York City and New Jersey who for a few days in the 
 year would come to the club to enjoy gunning in the adjacent country. A great 
 many quail were set free, the river was stocked with bass, and the smaller 
 streams with trout. Trap shooting was indulged in to a great extent. The 
 charter members of the club were George Shepard Page, William \\". Ogden, 
 James H. Valentine, William H. Lum, William E. Budd, William Elder, 
 Frederick H. Lum, Addison H. Day, Josiah Jowitt, all of Chatham, and 
 William F. Bailey of Summit, New Jersey. The first officers were G^oige 
 Shepard Page, president ; William W. Ogden, vice-president ; William Elder, 
 treasurer; Edward H. Lum, secretary, and William M. Hopping, assistant 
 secretary. In the year 1907 a large plot of land, east of the property on 
 which were situated at the time a great many ramshackle houses, was bought, 
 and the present beautiful lawn and tennis courts were built. 
 
 The club known as the Chatham Wheelmen was organized in 1893, 
 when the bicycle craze was rife throughout the country. It was strictly a 
 wheelmen's club and enrolled in its greatest prosperity 160 members, most 
 of whom were actual bicycle riders. Frequently large numbers would take 
 long wheeling detours over the country. With the subsidence of the novelty 
 of the bicycle the club slowly evolved into a social organization, and were 
 it not for the name, the original significance of the club would be lost. 
 Mr. Cyril G. Smith was the first president. The club now numbers about 
 seventy-five members. 
 
 Industries — One great factor in the attraction of settlers to this locality 
 was its water power which was caused by a slight fall in the flow of the river 
 over the remaining terrace of the terminal moraine of the glacial period. 
 This in fact was the most deciding element in the location of the village. 
 There were mills at four different points in this immediate vicinity ; one at 
 the crossing of the Passaic by the road to Elizabeth Town, one at the crossing 
 of Summit avenue, one at the crossing of the Shun-pike in Bonneltown, and 
 one a short distance up the river above the railroad culvert. It is possible 
 that the "Old Forge" was located on the west side of the tail-race near 
 Main Street. In about 1850 Parrott's mill was built east of this race way. 
 Previous to Parrott's mill diere were on that site at different times a small 
 carding mill, a flour mill, and a fulling mill. About 1845 Mr. Chas. Spencer 
 had both a cider mill and a saw mill west of the pond. In conjunction with 
 these two industries he also ran a store in which he sold the product of his 
 cider mill. The names Uncle Bobbie and Aunt Affie as applied to the 
 Spencers are familiar cognomens to the oldest inhabitants of the present time. 
 
 The story is told that Uncle Bobbie, consistent with his penurious dis- 
 position, in selling whiskey would always put his large thumb inside the 
 quart can in which the liquid was drawn, and in this way would profit by 
 the amount displaced. On account of this characteristic method of doling 
 out his liquor the young men of the town were always on the alert in order 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 39 
 
 to eet even with Uncle Bobbie. It is said that one Thomas Bond on a cer- 
 tain occao^ came into Mr. Spencer's store and asked or a quart of sp.r.ts 
 Inauirv was made concerning what he had m which to put it Mr. Bond 
 brSt forth an old green bottle with a hollow bottom. Uncle Bobbie re- 
 torted at once saying, ^That bottle won't hold a quart." After much arguing 
 p°ro and coTspencfr said, ''Tommy, if we can get a q^-f "J ,-^-^7^^^ 
 that bottle I will give it to you." He proceeded at once to fi 1 the bottle from 
 hs quart measufe, this time measuring without a big thumb inside he 
 receptacle The bottle was filled and there was still some whiskey in the 
 measure "There," said Uncle Bobbie, "I told you so." At which remark 
 Bond calmlv shoved the cork into the bottle, turned ,t upside down, and 
 fa°d "You'can put the rest in there." Mr. Bond drank the spmts from 
 the bottom of the bottle and walked out of the store with a quart of whiskey 
 which cost him nothing more than the exercising of his wit. 
 
 At another time this same Bond was short of cash and desired a drink 
 of Uncle Bobbie's refreshing liquor. Before going to the store he wagered 
 with the boys that he could get a quart of Mr. Spencer s whiskey on trust. 
 This the crowd felt assured was impossible for Bond already owed Spencer 
 for too many quarts for which Uncle Bobbie knew there was little chance of 
 making settlement. It was winter and Bond wore a long coat. In prepara- 
 tion he got two quart bottles, filled one with water, and put one m each ot 
 his hip pockets. After his cronies had assembled in the store Bond wa ked 
 in and asked for a quart of spirits. Mr. Spencer drew the quart which 
 Tommy at once thrust into his pocket saying, 'I cant pay you for this 
 today." After some parleying Uncle Bobbie became angry and said. Then 
 give it back to me. I won't trust you for any more. "All right replied 
 Bond and reaching into his pocket unawares to his humble landlord he pre- 
 sented the bottle filled with water. Uncle Bobbie poured it back into the 
 barrel and returned the bottle to Bond. The boys went out at once, leaving 
 poor Bobbie the victim of their joke. 
 
 One of the "old boys" of the town on a certain occasion when he had 
 no monev was refused the accustomed quart of whiskey by Mr. Spencer. 
 He was verv thirsty and in consequence was impelled to devise some scheme 
 by which to solve the difficulty. It was the practice in those days to take in 
 exchange for whiskey, eggs, butter, grain, and whatsoever could be sold 
 from a country store. The man in question knowing that Uncle Bobbie had 
 a number of hens "setting" at the time, went to the nests m the adjacent 
 wagon house and brought back with him a sufficient number with which to 
 purchase a quart of whiskey. It chanced that these eggs were soon after- 
 wards sent in to Aunt Affie to be used in cooking, who found them to be 
 unfit A few days afterward Uncle Bobbie discovered that they were the 
 eggs from under the "old blue hen" in the corner of the wagon house ; but 
 alas, the clever boy had already disposed of the whiskey. 
 
 A most amusing incident happened with "Aunt Affie" Spencer on the 
 occasion of a hunter coming to the store to buy a pound of shot. The 
 customer was in a hurrv and "Aunt Affle" in her anxiety to accommodate 
 her patron could not find the pound weight of the scales with which to 
 weigh the desired amount of shot. Finally becoming confused in her hitile 
 search she jocularly cried "Well, a pint's a pound the world around, and 
 gave the patient man a superabundant measure full, none the wiser of her 
 unaccustomed liberality. Considering Aunt Affie's penurious disposition 
 the joke on her was highly appreciated by the town folk. 
 
40 HISTORY OF CHATHA3,I 
 
 Where Summit avenue crosses the Passaic, mills were located. One 
 of these was known as Edward's saw mill. A paper mill was also located 
 here. In 1850 there was a millwright shop at this point. 
 
 In an issue of the New Jersey Journal in 1780 there is an advertisement 
 of the vendure of a farm which was located about a mile from Chatham near 
 the "Old Mill." This old mill could have been none other than the mill at 
 Bonneltown, at one time called "Goose Town," and suggests by its name that 
 a mill was built at this crossing at an early date. The name "Bonnel's Mill" 
 was applied very appropriately to the mill situated in this locality since it 
 was owned and operated for a number of years by members of this family. 
 Later it was known as Franklin's mill of Bonneltown. The name Ross's 
 mills which applied to a combination grist and saw mill is also mentioned 
 in the early records. 
 
 Further up the river was located the old paper mill. The principal 
 product of this establishment was pasteboard. Jonathan C. Bonnel was the 
 first proprietor of this business. The various firms which conducted busi- 
 nesses on the Bonnel Mill property were Page. Kidder, and Fletcher (felt 
 paper, in 1868) ; Page and Kidder, (same business, mills burned in 1870) ; 
 Armour and Co., (manila paper). Later malt creamlets were manufactured 
 here. The buildings were also used at one time as a hat manufactory. Page 
 and Kidder continued a business of making tar roofing paper on Willow 
 street in Stanley. It was here through the experiments of a Mr. Cheever, 
 a chemist, with the waste-tar products, that cresolene was discovered. 
 
 One of the earliest industries carried on to any great extent in this 
 borough was that of the making of brick. The oldest inhabitants say that 
 bricks were first made of clay taken from a pit opposite the old school 
 on Passaic Avenue, however none are now living who remember seeing 
 bricks made in this locality. It is quite likely that the business there ante- 
 dated 1835. Brick clay was found after that date near the present "old 
 brickyard"' back of the new school on Fairmount Avenue, and one of the 
 earliest promoters of this industry was Benjamin P. Lum, known popularly 
 as "Squire Lum." Mr. Nelson Kelley relates that as a boy he was greatly 
 interested in their primitive methods of making brick. Clay was mixed in a 
 large hollow in which chunks of earth were thrown and over which oxen 
 were driven round and round in order to "temper the mortar," as it was then 
 termed. Afterward this clay mortar was thrown into a large receptacle and 
 ground by means of the old time lever-power. Bricks were made by hand. 
 The man making them had six molds in front of him which he filled with 
 his hands and leveled with a straight stick called a "striker.'' The bricks 
 were then carried oiif to one side to be dried in the sun. Later kilns were 
 constructed for this purpose. After the death of Benjamin P. Lum this 
 business fell into the hands of Messrs. Charles and Harvey Kelley, and was 
 run by them until 1892 when the industry was discontinued on account of 
 the scarcity of clay. The maximum output of this business was reached in 
 about the year 1875 ^vhen 3.000,000 or more bricks were manufactured each 
 year. 
 
 If there is one industry in this locality that stands out more prominently 
 than any other it is that of rose growing. The earliest promoter of this 
 business was Mr. James M. Littlejohn who was the first to send roses as 
 merchandise from New Jersey to New York City. This was m the 
 year 1867 at which time Mr. Littlejohn worked in Madison. Later 
 he built the first greenhouse in Chatham which was located on Lum 
 avenue. The business was continued at his death by his son, James R. 
 
Stanlev Mill, near Chatham, along Passaic River. 
 
 Parrott's Mill. Chatham. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 41 
 
 Littlejohn who erected the present greenhouses east of the clubhouse grounds. 
 This industry has grown until at the present time we have the following 
 greenhouses located within the borough limits ; those of Frank L. Moore, 
 Fairmount avenue ; David Falconer, Hillside avenue ; G. F. Neipp and Wil- 
 liam J. Badgley of Floral Hill; Pierson & Green and Smith & Company on 
 Lum avenue, Samuel Lum on Main street, John Roper near Division street, 
 Phipps Brothers on Hedges avenue, and J. T. Wagner in Stanley. 
 
 In connection with the growing of roses it is interesting to note that 
 the widely reputed pink Bridesmaid rose was first grown in this town by 
 Mr. Frank L. Moore in 1891. This variety was for a long time the popular 
 rose of New York City, and the honor of its original culture lies to the 
 credit of Mr. Moore of Chatham who discovered it as a sport on a bush 
 called the Catherine Mermet. 
 
 The manufacture of vapo-cresolene liegan on Main street in the upstairs 
 rooms of Nelson Kelley's store. The early promoter of this compound was 
 J. H. Valentine. Later Mr. George Shepard Page, who was at the time en- 
 gaged in a tar paper manufactory in Stanley, took up the industry and ae- 
 veloped it to its world-wide extent of the present time. The proprietors of 
 the present business are Messrs. Laurence S., Harry DeB., and Albion 
 L. Page. 
 
 The grinding of wheat flour was at one time the predominant business 
 of Chatham. Mr. George T. Parrott for a number of years conducted a 
 very flourishing flour industry at the river. Farmers from Sussex, Warren, 
 and the northeastern part of Hunterdon were accustomed to bring their 
 grain to Parrott's mill to be ground into flour. This business thrived until 
 the extensive flour mills of the west crowded it out of existence on account 
 of the subtle competition. 
 
 For some years past the business of digging building sand from various 
 glacial deposits in the vicinity has grown to a considerable extent. This 
 began in the sand pit formerly known as Gould's sand pit and later as 
 Duchamp's. At the present time it is in the possession of Mr. Jacob Snook. 
 Mr. August Molitor has developed at Stanley a similar industry which has 
 reached a large annual output. Sawmills of this community were also in- 
 strumental in attracting people to the town and helping to make this little 
 hamlet west of the second mountain the center of business. 
 
 For many years about the time of 1850 the "great island" of former 
 times, (known at this date as "the island"), was the place where special 
 gatherings of the community were held. Before the time of mosquitoes the 
 people of Chatham would often have evening teas on the island, picnics, and 
 Children's Day celebrations. However the one great occasion of the year 
 was that known as "Bobilation Day." This particular event was celebrated 
 on the fifth of July and was a day set aside on which the colored people of 
 the northern part of the State might celebrate the anniversary of the Inde- 
 pendence of America. A considerable feeling was at this time held against 
 negroes and they were not privileged to celebrate on the same day with their 
 superiors, the white people. The one great attraction on "Bobilation Day" 
 which brought hundreds of people from Newark and the surrounding 
 country was a butting match betwen two negroes. It is said that a scene of 
 this kind was witnessed annually and that in a certain contest one of the 
 negro contestants had his neck broken and died instantly. The immediate 
 locality of these celebrations was on that part of the island which extends 
 north of the bridge and at the present time is but a narrow strip of land in 
 the river. When the earliest settlements were made here this island was 
 
42 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 undoubtedly many times larger than it now is, otherwise the name "great 
 island" could not have been appropriately applied. It is said that for a 
 luimber of years the southern end of the island was used as a place to bury 
 the slaves of the community. 
 
 Doctors and Laivyers — The locality of Chatham was made famous in 
 the time following the Revolutionary \Var by one of its inhabitants known 
 as Dr. John C. Budd. He was born in the year 1762 and was the son of 
 Berne Budd, a physician at Hanover. In the early part of the nineteenth 
 century on the death of Mrs. Moses Lum who occupied the farm now owned 
 by Mr. Frank M. Budd, and that time known as "The Lum Plantation," 
 Mr. Budd moved from Hanover to this place. Mrs. John C. Budd was the 
 daughter of Moses Lum and inherited the right to the farm. The Doctor 
 lived to the age of eighty-four and was known in the latter part of his life- 
 time as "Old Doctor Budd." Not only was he a physician of great repute 
 within his own vicinity, but he also had a high reputation both in the city of 
 New York and throughout the whole northern part of New Jersey. Many 
 young men received their medical instruction and first practice under the 
 direction of Dr. John C. Budd. It was for him that the road leading to 
 Cheapside Bridge, or the lower Chatham bridge, was named Budd Lane. 
 Besides his great ability as a physician Dr. Budd was reputed to have 
 control over the evil spirits. Many incidences occurred where he was re- 
 ported as threatening the visitation of his Satanic Majesty and likewise 
 where he, as it were, "cast out devils." At one particular time it is said that 
 the doctor was frightened by his own devil. One evening on his way from 
 visiting a patient at Springfield he stopped at Mrs. Day's hotel east of the 
 river. It was late and Mrs. Day was prevented from closing her place of 
 business on account of some town characters who continued to play cards in 
 front of the open hearth. The doctor on entering was asked by the pro- 
 prietress to help her in her trouble. Willing to be of service to her, he said 
 to the boys, "The devil will get you fellows if you don't stop playing 
 cards at this late hour of the night." Notwithstanding his admonition, they 
 kept on playing and the doctor finally became interested in the game, too. 
 Mrs. Day much exasperated called from out of the room one of the chimney- 
 sweeps who was stopping off for the night on his way from Newark, and 
 prepared to dispel the loafers. In the barn was a cowhide with the hoofs 
 still attached to it. This she fastened on the chimney-sweep, setting horns 
 and tail in place. Then with some heel chains in his hand she sent the urchin 
 to the top of the house to play the devil coming down the chimney. The 
 fire on the hearth was about burned out, and presently in the dim candle 
 light chains were heard in the chimney. Before the company could explain 
 the noise "the devil" dropped into the ashes with a thud and began scram- 
 bling about. The frightened party together with the Doctor made hasty e-xits 
 through doors and windows, and Mrs. Day promptly closed the hotel for 
 the night. [The Medical Men of N. J., 1666 to 1866,' by J. Henry Clark, p. 
 26.] 
 
 The next doctor of considerable repute was Jephtha B. Munn who lived 
 in the latter days of J. C. Budd and fell heir to a great part of his practice. 
 His home was opposite the Fairview Hotel in the house occupied at the 
 present time by Mr. William Riker. Dr. Munn was very active in the poli- 
 tics of Morris County and was made a member of the council (senate) of New 
 Jersey in the year 1835. He was elected vice-president of that body, and it 
 is said that during the absence of the governor. Hon. Peter D. Vroom, Dr. 
 
;«- '.-^iL- , -*' • 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 lome of lion. Jl|iiIi.i I'.. Miinn, lu'ist Main Street, Cliatham. 
 
 McLaughlin Homo of I-tLvolntionary tiniv^, Xorlli of West Main Street, Chatham. 
 
 'ark at Railroad Station, Chatham. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 43 
 
 Munn was the acting governor of the State of New Jersey, and in this 
 capacity signed a number of bills. Dr. Munn was a member of the order 
 of Free and Accepted Masons and filled the most exalted office of that or- 
 ganization in the State of New Jersey as right worshipful grand master. 
 Following Dr. Munn came Dr. George M. Swaim, who was the next doctor 
 of any length of service in the town of Chatham. He was of an old Newark 
 family members of which were among the early settlers of that city. Dr. 
 Swaim in connection with his practice had a drug store near the corner of 
 Main and Center Streets. He was a surgeon in the Civil War and served 
 with Sherman on the march to the sea. 
 
 The next physician of prominence to come to Chatham was Dr. William 
 J. ^^'olfe who has been a highly successful practitioner in his profession in 
 the village since 1885. He has been active in both borough and school 
 aflfairs. At present he is the borough postmaster, and is the owner of one 
 of the largest business blocks. 
 
 Other physicians of the town at present are Drs. F. Irvin Krauss and 
 Bert A. Prager. Dr. Walter A. Jaquith, chief of the medical stafif of the 
 Prudential Life Insurance Company, and Dr. Joseph E. Pollard, also a 
 member of this staff, are residents of Chatham. 
 
 For the past fourteen years Dr. Frederick H. Lum Jr. has practiced 
 dental surgery in the borough. He has not only a large patronage in the 
 town but attracts patients from many of the cities in the northern part of the 
 State. Dr. j. P. Ekings has recently established a practice in this profession 
 in Chatham. Drs. C. S. Van Orden and his son Charles are prominent den- 
 tists of Brooklyn, New York, who reside in the village. 
 
 Most prominent among the lawyers of the town was Frederick H. Lum 
 who spent his whole life as a most worthy citizen of Chatham. He was 
 not only the organizer of the borough but also the guiding spirit of its initial 
 success. The highest respect was given him by the populace whom he 
 served consistently until his untimely death. Mr. Lum was born in 1848. 
 His early education was received in the public school of the town. Later 
 he attended the private school of Julius £). Rose, of Summit, New Jersey. 
 After leaving this institution he took up the study of law, under Judge John 
 Whitehead and Wm. B. Guild, Esq. of Newark. He was admitted to the bar 
 in 1870, and in 1873 became one of the original members of the firm of 
 Guild & Lum, which firm at the present continues in the family as Lum, 
 Tamblyn, and Colyer. To the great grief of his many friends on account of 
 over work Mr. Lum's health broke in the year 1904, and with the best 
 medical aid he was not able to recover. In his death in 1906 the Borough of 
 Chatham lost its greatest benefactor. 
 
 Another of the prominent lawyers of the town is Mr. Chas. M. Lum. 
 After graduating from Columbia College as an honor student, Mr. Lum was 
 admitted to the bar as attorney in the State of New Jersey, in 1884, and as 
 counsellor in 1889. He became a member of the firm of Lum, Tamblyn & 
 Colyer, of Newark, in '89, and has since distinguished himself as a coun- 
 selor at law. In this capacity he has rendered invaluable service to 
 numerous large estates and corporations. Mr. Lum has always exercised 
 great interest in the welfare of Chatham. From the inception of the Free 
 Public Library he has been its president. For a number of years he was 
 the president of the Chatham Fish and Game Protective Association, and in 
 addition to this has given like service as the chief official of the Board of 
 Trade. Mr. Lum has not only exercised a great deal of interest in and 
 attention to the history of Chatham, but has also reached out into the 
 
"^ HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 broader field of the history of the state. He is at this writing honored with 
 the vice-presidency of the New Jersey Historical Society. 
 
 Prominent among^ the lawyers of Chatham is Mr. Guy Minton who has 
 had his law ofifice in Morristown since he began practicing in 1868. At this 
 time he was admitted to the bar of New Jersey and succeeded in the prac- 
 tice of Mr. George Gage under whom he studied. Mr. Minton is connected 
 with various business enterprises of Morristown such as the Morris County 
 Insurance Company, Morris County Savings Bank, and the First National 
 Bank of which he is the vice-president. He is a most active official in the 
 Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church of Chatham, and shows a lively inter- 
 est in all the projects of the municipality. 
 
 Mt. Ralph E. Lum, although young in the law profession, has already 
 made himself prominently successful. As a pleader in court he has few 
 equals. Mr. Lum was graduated from Columbia University in 1900, took a 
 post graduate course in law at New York University, and entered the bar in 
 New Jersey as an attorney in November, 1900. He was admitted as a coun- 
 sellor in 1903. For a number of years Mr. Lum has given his service gratis 
 as counsel for the borough of Chatham. In his practice in Newark he stands 
 among the highest and in consequence is entrusted with a large and distinc- 
 tive clientele. 
 
 Among the younger promising men of Chatham in the law profession 
 should be mentioned Mr. Lawrence Day, who is practicing in Morristown, 
 and Messrs. Ernest Lum and Ernest L. Quackenbush, practicing in Newark. 
 
 Slavery — Although slavery in its greatest extent was confined to the 
 South, the practice was participated in to no small extent in our Northern 
 States, and New Jersey was not least among them in the holding of human 
 chattels. The institution was formally abolished by the State legislature 
 in 1820. Previous to this time the more wealthy families of the locality held 
 from one to a half dozen colored men and women in bondage. Mr. Thomas 
 Bond, Dr. Jephtha Munn, and Dr. John C. Budd, of Budd Lane, were the 
 last to liberate their slaves. The following copies of agreements found 
 among the papers of Mr. Washington Bond are in brief the history of the 
 negro man Jack, who belonged at one time to Mr. Thomas Bond. 
 
 Know all men by these presents that I, John B. Miller, of the County of Morris 
 and State of New Jersey do this day sell and deliver to Thomas Bond for the sum 
 of two hundred and twenty-five dollars my Negro man Jack to serve him for the term 
 of seven years at the expiration of the said time Thomas Bond is to manumet and 
 set free the said Negro man Jack and should the said Jack run away and put the 
 said Thomas Bond to any expense to recover him, he the said Jack shall continue 
 in said Bond service to pay said expense and loss of time and I do warrant the 
 property of said Negro man Jack against me or any other person whatsoever as 
 witness my hand this 29th day of December 182J. 
 
 John B. Miller. 
 
 On the back of said document the following entr\- is made: 
 I do hereby certify that the within named (Negroman) Jack was sold by me to 
 John B. Miller and his age is not to exceed thirty-four years. 
 
 January 10— 1831. Israel Day. 
 
 Another document reads as follows : 
 
 State of New Jersey 
 
 Morris County 
 
 To wit we do herebv certifv, that on this fifth dav of March in the year of our 
 Lord. One thousand eight hundred and thirtv one—. Thomas Bond of the township 
 of Chatham, in the said Countv of Morri sbrought before us two of the overseers 
 of the poor of said township and two of the justices of the Peace of said County, 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 45 
 
 his slave named Jack, who on view and examination appears to us to be sound in 
 mind, and not under any bodily incapacity of obtaining a support, and also is not 
 under the age of twenty-one years nor above the age of forty years. In witness 
 whereof we have hereunto set our hands, the day and year above written. 
 
 ZoPHAN Freeman 
 
 Overseer of Poor Overseers of the Poor of said Town- 
 Archibald Taylor ship of Chatham. 
 
 Overseer of Poor 
 
 Azariah Carter Justices of the peace in and for said 
 William Brittin County of ^iorris. 
 
 On the reverse side is written : Rec'd. and Recorded in the Morris 
 
 Certificate of Overseers of the Poor County Register of Manumissions iJth 
 
 of the Township of Chatham and two March 1831 (Liber C, Fol. 16). 
 of the Justices of the County of Mor- David Day, Clerk, 
 
 ris. Fee paid. 
 
 There was considerable practice of kidnapping in this vicinity in these 
 days of slavery. The following incident was related by Mr. William Budd, 
 concerning a slave girl of Dr. John C. Budd. So bold were these kidnappers 
 that on an evening in the year 1814, while the family was at tea, they came 
 through the back door of Budd's house into the kitchen with a large plaster 
 which on catching her was placed hastily over the mouth of the slave. In 
 their attempt to take her from the kitchen, she caught hold of the cupboard 
 filled with dishes and upset the same. This aroused the family and the poor 
 girl was left behind by the kidnappers, who were fortunate in escaping. 
 Many mcidents of this kind happened within our vicinity during the time of 
 the holding of slaves. Kidnapping was a business with some of the repro- 
 bates of New York City and other towns. 
 
 The following advertisement taken froin the files of the New Jersey 
 Journal suggests the difficulties encountered by slaveholders of this vicinity : 
 
 ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD— Ran away from the subscriber, early 
 this morning, from Mr. John Leary's. at Chatham, a negro man named Scipio, about 
 5 feet 9 inches high, about 45 years old, not married, with a flat face and nose, large 
 eyes, and grey hair on his head; he had on a claret colored short coat, with lapels, 
 a gold lace or old plain hat, short waistcoat, and leather breeches, a pair of shoes 
 without buckles. He had a bundle with him containing four shirts, a blanket, and 
 a pair of breeches, etc. Whoever will take up said negro, and deliver him to Captain 
 Jacob Arnold, at Morris Town, shall have the above reward, and all reasonable 
 charges paid by 
 
 John Barrere. 
 
 Civil War Period — When the Civil War broke out, the patriotic spirit 
 of the citizens of Chatham was shown by the way in which its sons responded 
 to the national call for the defense of the Union. About ten per cent, of the 
 male population of the town left their homes and enlisted. 
 
 Again the custom of erecting a liberty pole established in Revolutionary 
 times was participated in, however the location was not the same since the 
 center of the village had changed. It was no longer east of the Pa'^saic. 
 The coming of the railroad and the location of its station attracted the inhab- 
 itants westward, and at this time the business section was at the 
 crossing of Passaic avenue and Main street. Here in '61 a liberty pole was 
 erected. This first one was unfortunately blown down. In an attempt to 
 erect another in its place, the pole fell and was broken to pieces. Although 
 this seemed to be an omen of an unfortunate outcome of the war, the popu- 
 lation of the borough was determined to be represented as standing ardently 
 in behalf of the united nation by a pole from which the stars and stripes 
 should be floated to the breeze. The third attempt was successful and the 
 pole stood for many years. At this time Aunt Dorcas Day, a weaver of 
 
46 HISTORY UF CHATHAM 
 
 rag carpets, lived on the corner of Passaic avenue, where Mr. Nelson 
 Kelley's house is now located. One of the guy ropes was fastened to the 
 pear tree standing on the ground of Aunt Dorcas's lot. In the second attempt 
 to erect the pole this tree was uprooted and the derrick and pole fell to the 
 ground and was broken in pieces. It is said just at this time the mail train 
 bound for Newark stopped at the station. Many of the passengers seeing the 
 plight that the people were put in by this unfortunate happening, stepped 
 from the train. Among the arrivals was one Joseph P. Bradley, who after- 
 ward became a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Seizing 
 the opportunity otTered him, he climbed upon the roof of the scale house 
 situated near tlie corner of the Long Hill road and the turnpike and extem- 
 poraneously made the speech of the day. This stirred the villagers to a 
 renewed effort and within a short time two large timbers were hewn out, 
 fashioned and spliced by the millwrights and carpenters, and soon became 
 the liberty pole of the town. The great flag which floated from this pole 
 was the product of the skillful hands of the patriotic women of Chatham. 
 
 So anxious were the young men of the town to enlist in the army that 
 a load of sixteen was assembled and driven by Mr. Paul Lum to the county 
 seat of Hunterdon County, at Flemington, New Jersey. There these anxious 
 young patriots became members of Company C, I5tli New Jersey Infantry, 
 on August 7, 1862. Of these sixteen, five were killed in the service and six 
 wounded. It should be noted that this 15th New Jersey composed of citizens 
 of Morris, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties stood seventh in the list of the 
 three hundred fighting regiments of the war in the number killed and 
 wounded in battle. Of the one hundred five members of Company C, the 
 record shows that there was not one deserter among them. 
 
 It is said by one of the number who joined the army from Chatham, 
 that when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached the village, the 
 excitement was so great that more than half of the men of the town volun- 
 teered their services. Messrs. Hudson Muchmore and William Lum were 
 among the most active, and took their places at once as officers of companies 
 of boys who began drilling, hopeful that they might soon enter the army. 
 
 The following is a list as accurate as could be had from the minds of 
 veteran residents of the town, Messrs. William Lum and George Spencer, 
 of those men who left Chatham and went to war: Merritt Bruen, first 
 lieutenant, quartermaster in Co. K 7th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, 
 died in the army ; Theodore Bruen, brother of Merritt ; Joseph Marsh ; Lewis 
 Bruen ; Stephen Bruen, brother of Lewis ; Andrew Genung, killed at Spott- 
 sylvania ; Israel D. Lum, color-sergeant, was wounded by a bullet that killed 
 the color bearer in his regiment ; William Lum, brother of Israel ; Elias 
 Muchmore, captured at Monocacy, Md., died in Danville prison ; Oscar 
 Brokaw. killed at Salem Heights. \"irginia (When the report reached Chat- 
 ham of a certain important battle in which the North lost, he was working in 
 a carpenter shop of Mr. Harvey Lum. Mr. Brokaw was planing a board 
 when the news arrived. He stopped work at once and said to his employer, 
 "I shall not complete the planing of that board until the war is over." He 
 joined the load of sixteen which went to Flemington and became a member 
 of Company C of the 15th N. J. Soon after his departure news 
 came of his death. Mr. Brokaw was over six feet tall, and was killed with 
 a bullet which struck him in the very topmost part of the head. Had he been 
 two inches shorter he would have escaped the fatal shot) ; William Brokaw, 
 brother of Oscar : Albert Nichols ; John Nichols, brother of Albert ; Samuel 
 Ball; Job Hardman ; William Kelley, navy; Isaac Day, missing after the 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 47 
 
 battle of the Wilderness, and never heard from ; Edward Day, brother of 
 Isaac, was killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia ; Vincent Clark, navy ; William 
 Howard, army and navy; Silas Eugene Wonderley ; John Tyson; William 
 Trelease (He was the son of a widow in town and worked in the wagon- 
 maker's shop. Mr. Trelease was mortally wounded at Spottsylvania, Virginia. 
 Israel Lum was marching at his side when he was shot and bending over him 
 at his dying moments, asked whether he had any word to send to his mother. 
 The response of the patriotic son of Chatham was made in the words of 
 Nathan Hale: "Tell mother that 'my only regret is that I have but one life 
 to give for my country' ") ; Lewis Turner; Frank Pollard, son of John Celey 
 Pollard, wounded and confined during the latter part of the war in Libby 
 prison ; Eugene Pollard, brother of Frank ; Marsina Pollard ; Munn Pollard, 
 brother of Frank, died in Andersonville Prison; Joseph Spencer, killed 
 before Petersburg; Charles Spencer, died in hospital in Nashville, Ten- 
 nessee; William H. Thomas; Joseph C. Bower; Manning C. Broadwell; 
 Henry W. Pierson ; Thomas Phipps, killed in service ; William Phipps, 
 brother of Thomas, carries in his body to this day a bullet received while on 
 duty on the firing line; Henry C. Addison; James Riker; George Oakley, 
 navy ; Sylvanus Oakley, brother of George ; Daniel Stickles ; Frank Camp ; 
 Minard Farley Miller, enlisted a second time; William H. Miller, lost an arm 
 at Gettysburg; William Brewster; James Brewster, brother of William; 
 Philip Ryan ; Alonzo Edgar ; William Oliver, killed in service ; John N. 
 Wilkinson, died in Andersonville prison ; William Highland ; Charles Cucuel ; 
 Brittin Durie, William Brant, William Young, wounded; Jacob Miller; 
 Charles Miller, brother of Jacob; Samuel Parsons; Aaron Parsons, brother 
 of Samuel — these two brothers joined a New York regiment ; John Dennis 
 Ferris, joined the 3rd New York. 
 
 Modern Growth — The Chatham Library began previous to the year 
 1870 in a most humble way in the upstairs rooms of the old D., L. & W. R. 
 R. station. A few books were assembled and were read by the people of the 
 town who were interested in the project. The use of these rooms for 
 religious ser\'ices caused the promoters of the library to abandon the pro- 
 ject. In 1875 ^ committee consisting of Rev. Jas. B. Beaumont, Charles M. 
 Lum, \Mlliam H. Lum, Charles H. Hoyt and Dr. George S. Swaim estab- 
 lished the organization. The library was located in the home of David S. 
 Bower, with Miss Nettie McDougal as librarian. Later it was moved to 
 Kelley's Hall, where Mrs. Swaim was librarian for a time. A number of 
 books and pictures were donated by Air. William A. Martin. Under this 
 organization it continued for about ten years. In the year 1886 the in- 
 stitution was revived by James Littlejohn and George MacDougal. At 
 Mr. William Martin's death a legacy of $1000 was bequeathed, the in- 
 terest and principal of which were to be used only for the purchase of 
 books. The library at this time consisted of about 2500 books, which 
 were kept in the house of Mr. Bower. Members of a committee served 
 gratis as librarians. For a long time this committee consisted of John 
 Tallmadge, James Littlejohn, Fred Sayre, and Charles E. Genung. Mr. 
 Littlejohn was one of the most active. When the municipality in 1906 
 voted one-third mill of the total borough assessment for the maintenance of a 
 library, $700 of the Martin endowment together with the books were handed 
 over to the borough. For a number of years the leading spirit in the library 
 movement has been Mr. Charles M. Lum, who is now the president of the 
 association. Under Mr. Lum's wise guidance it has grown to a collection of 
 about 6000 volumes. Since the library has been under municipal ownership 
 
48 HISTORY OF CHATHA:\I 
 
 it has been located in the town hall where Miss Lynda Phillips has for the 
 past eight years served the public most acceptably as the borough librarian. 
 
 After the discontinuance of the New Jersey Journal in 1783, no other 
 publication of any importance was undertaken in the town until March, 1897, 
 when Mr. John DeWitt began the weekly issue of the Chatham Press. 
 Previous to this date, Chatham news was published in both the Summit 
 Herald and the Madison Eagle. Many of the citizens of the town were 
 ardent supporters of these papers. In September, 1898, Mr. J. Thomas 
 Scolt became the proprietor of the Chatham Press, and since that time he has 
 issued a very commendable publication which now has a circulation of ap- 
 proximately one thousand copies per week. It is of interest to note that a 
 few issues of a two-page leaflet called The Pioneer were published in 1871. 
 This paper appeared monthly, and was edited by Mr. W. E. Gould. 
 
 Until 1892, the government of the town was subject to that of 
 Chatham township. In this year under an act of the legislature the com- 
 munity was organized into the Village of Chatham and was governed by a 
 body known as the village trustees. There were two hundred forty voters 
 in the village at this time. The following gentlemen composed the first body 
 known as the village trustees : Frederick H. Lum, president ; H. Jowitt, 
 J. T. Wagner, George T. Parrott, and Dr. William J. Wolfe. Mr. Hudson 
 Muchmore was the clerk. The town existed under this form of government 
 but for five years, at the end of which time it was incorporated as a borough, 
 with Frederick H. Lum as its first mayor. In the year 1897 the voters had 
 increased to three himdred thirty-six. 
 
 It was through the efficient leadership of Mr. Frederick H. Lum that 
 the borough aflfairs were so successfully begun. Much wisdom was exer- 
 cised in all his acts and in his reviewing of the acts of the council. The 
 first council was made up of Edward L. Phillips, Thomas W. Dawson, Ed- 
 ward Taylor, C. J. Miller and William L. ]\IcCormick. Chatham was the 
 first town to be incorporated under the borough act of '97, and many of the 
 forms necessary to carry out the workings of a borough were drawn up by 
 Mr. Lum originally, and used by the State as copies. Under Mr. Lum's 
 mayoralty the town was furnished with water which was turned on Febru- 
 ary, 1898. Under the efficient supervision of Mr. Edward L. Phillips and 
 his two co-workers on this committee, Thomas W. Dawson and Frank L. 
 Kelly that work was consummated. Electric lights were put in the town in 
 the year 1901, through an increased bond issue of Si 5.000, which made the 
 total at this time $60,000. To Mr. Lum's credit belongs also the installation 
 of the phone service, police protection, and the organization of a volunteer 
 fire company. Mr. Lum is a descendant from a long line of ancestry of the 
 Lum family which was without doubt among the first settlers in the present 
 confines of the borough. His immediate line lived on the homestead prop- 
 erty located at the corner of Fairmount avenue and ]Main street. No one 
 family has stood out so prominently in the history of affairs in the town as 
 that of the Lums. From service in the Revolution and the Civil War, to the 
 business enterprise and general welfare of the community, its members have 
 been zealously active. 
 
 Following tlie service of Mr. Frederick H. Lum as mayor of the town, 
 came Mr. Frank L. Kelly, who was elected in 1903. For many years Mr. 
 Kelly had been a co-worker with Mr. Lum and through his tutelage had 
 grown to be very competent in municipal affairs and thoroughly capable, as 
 his long and successful service has shown, to be placed at the head of the 
 borough. Under his mayoralty the water and light plants were enlarged 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 49 
 
 and extended, municipal building was erected 1906, a sewer system in con- 
 junction with the borough of Madison was mstalled June i, ipn, a fran- 
 chise was granted to the Morris County Traction Company m 1912 to run 
 trolleys on the main street, miles of permanent sidewalks were laid, a gas 
 franchise was granted to the Public Service Gas Company m 191 1, the Lack- 
 awanna railroad tracks were elevated in 1913, the town was practically freed 
 from mosquitoes through the combined laying of the sewer and the work ot 
 the Board of Health, and throughout the town hundreds of shade trees were 
 planted by the shade tree commission appointed by Mr. Kelley. In conse- 
 quence of these many improvements made during Mr. Kelley's administra- 
 tion the borough of Chatham offers to all prospective citizens the most mod- 
 ern conveniences. 
 
 When the village was set off in 1892 it was divided into two districts 
 the northern and the southern, with the railroad track as the dividing line. 
 At first the greater population of the southern district was made up of the 
 people of Stanley and a few residents on what was known as Duxbury Hill, 
 the locality in and about the crossing of Watchung and Fairmount avenues. 
 There was little growth for a number of years because of the real estate 
 being in the possession of the older residents who would not sell. However 
 in tlie year 1900 considerable development began, and from a village of about 
 1200 the town grew to approximately 20CX) within ten years. The great 
 majority of the newcomers were from Brooklyn and sought homes in "high 
 and healthful Chatham," because of its salubrious air and pure water. At 
 the present it is a town of commuters, men whose businesses call them daily 
 either to Newark or New York. (Josiah Muir, it is said was the first com- 
 muter from Chatham to New York.) The growth of the borough has not 
 stopped. With all the modern improvements it is quite likely that within the 
 next ten years the population will be doubled. No one village west of the 
 \\'atchung Mountains can offer more pleasant building sites with greater 
 town accommodations than that of the borough of Chatham. 
 
 Officials of Borouqh of Chatham, 1913.— Mayor, Frank L. Kelley. 
 Council, Alfred M. Trowbridge, president; William G. Badgley, Percy B. 
 Lum, Emory N. Faulks, James W. Wagner, James Whitton. Borough 
 clerk', William S. Angell ; borough counsel, Ralph E. Lum; borough attorney, 
 Lawrence Day ; recorder, Ezra F. Ferris ; overseer of the poor, William S. 
 Shuster; collector, G. Vernon Lum; street commissioner, Paul Molitor; 
 assessor' Charles A. Miller; borough electrician, Harvey Vance; borough 
 tapper, Charles H. Van Wert. The council meets the first Monday evening 
 of each month. Committees— Roads, Trowbridge, Whitton ; finance, Faulks, 
 Wagner; police, Badgley, Faulks; fire, Lum, Badgley; sidewalks, Whitton, 
 Lum ; sewerage, Councilmen Trowbridge, Badgley, Faulks ; Members, W. M. 
 Hopping, J. H. Macintyre. Police, Francis L. Heater; marshals, William 
 Shuster Paul Molitor, David H. Crawford, Walter H. Hand. Board of 
 Water Commissioners, Alfred M. Trowbridge, William M. Hopping, Emory 
 N Faulks. Board of Health, meets last Monday evening of each month. 
 President, Dr. B. A. Prager; Hervey S. DeGroodt, J. Thomas Scott, C. I. 
 Budd; d'. H. Crawford, secretary and registrar of vital statistics; J. J. 
 McCormack, health inspector ; George L. Kelley, plumbing inspector. Board 
 of Education— Tames H. Macintyre. president; Joseph H. Conklin vice- 
 president; William M. Hopping, district clerk ; Walter V. Sayre, Herbert T. 
 Strong David Falconer, Charles A. Van Orden, William Riker, J. Thomas 
 ^cotf Lawrence Day, counsel. The school board meets the last Tuesday 
 
50 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 evening in each month. Joint Sewer Commission: Frank L. Kelley, chair- 
 man ; J. Thomas Scott, secretary ; George W. Downs, treasurer. This com- 
 mission meets on the third Mondays of January, April, July, and October, 
 alternating between Madison and Chatham Council Rooms. 
 
 The newly elected officers at the November election 1913, were Mayor 
 Laurence S. Page, to succeed F. L. Kelly, and councilmen Lawrence Day and 
 Wesley R. Conklin to succeed Alfred M. Trowbridge and Emory N. Faulks. 
 
 Schools — Public School No. i, with an approved four-year high school 
 course. Supervising Principal, Charles A. Philhower. St. Patrick's Paro- 
 chial School. 
 
 Churches — The Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church, Rev. Dr. John 
 Macnaughtan, pastor; Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. J. H. Egbert, 
 pastor; St. Patrick's R. C. Church, Rev. P. A. Maher, rector; Congrega- 
 tional Church, Rev. Dr. C. E. Hesselgrave, pastor; St. Paul's Episcopal 
 Church, Rev. J. W. Van Ingen, rector. 
 
 Lodges — Chatham Lodge, No. 245, L O. O. F., meets every Friday eve- 
 ning in the Wolfe building. Sunset Council, Jr. O. U. A. M., meets every 
 Tuesday evening in the Wolfe building. Pride of Sunset Council, Daughters 
 of Liberty, meets every Wednesday evening in Wolfe building. U. S. Grant 
 Post, No. 117, G. A. R., meets second and fourth Saturday evenings of the 
 month in the Wolfe building. Chatham Fish and Game Club. Chatham 
 Wheelmen Club. 
 
MORRIS COUNTY 
 
 51 
 
 ADDENDA 
 
 Page 29, line 6 — This church was used for seventy-three years. Until 1874 it 
 had been the practice of the Presbyterian congregation to hold Sunday School, mid- 
 week prayer meetintrs and Sunday evening services in the upper room of the Old 
 Academy.' When the new school was built on Passaic Avenue the Old Academy 
 was moved to Summit Avenue where it now stands. The Presbyterians, in order 
 to continue their meetings in a central locality, built a chapel on the site of the 
 Old Academv and used it for Sunday School and prayer meetmgs until 1905. The 
 congregation' decided to build a church in 1902, and land was purchased for this 
 purpose on the corner of Alain Street and Elmwood Avenue. The work was begun 
 in 1904 and on June S. 1905, the Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church was dedicated 
 to the honor of The Rev. Jos. Meeker Ogden. who had served the church for forty- 
 five years from 1828 to 1873. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Academy. Old, 31, 32. 
 Andre, Major, 16. 
 Archean Era, I. 
 Asgill, Captain, 23. 24. 
 
 Battle of the Churches, 27. 
 
 Bergen, 4. 
 
 Bobilation Day, 41. 
 
 Bonnel's Mill, 40. 
 
 Bonnel Town. 40. 
 
 Borough of Chatham, 48, 49. 
 
 Bradley. Hon. Jos. P., 45. 
 
 Brainard, Rev. David, 26. 
 
 Brick-Making, 40. 
 
 Brittin, Capt. Abraham, 26. 
 
 British Soldiers. 19. 20. 
 
 Budd, Dr. John C. 9, 41. 
 
 Budd. John. 8. 
 
 Budd Lane. 9. 
 
 Budd Lane School, 33. 
 
 Burlington County, 7, 8. 
 
 Caldwell, Rev. Jas., 11, 20, 21, 36. 
 
 Caldwell. Mrs. James, 20. 
 
 Canoe Brook, 5. 
 
 Carteret Purchase, 5. 
 
 Catholic Church. 29. 
 
 Cemeteries, 30. 
 
 Cenozoic Era. i. 
 
 Chatham Bridge, 18. 24. 
 
 Chatharn Bridge (Poem), 24, 18. 
 
 Chatham Imprints. 15. 
 
 Chatham, Name, 10. 
 
 Chatham Press, 47. 
 
 Chatham Wheelmen, 38. 
 
 Civil War, 45. 
 
 Company C, 15th N. J.. 46. 
 
 Condit's Tavern. 36. 
 
 Congregational Church, 30. 
 
 Conflicting Claims, 8. 
 
 Connecticut Farms. Battle of. 20, 
 
 Continental Troops, 23. 
 
 Council, First. 48. 
 
 Court-Martial, 19- 
 
 "Cow Chase," 16. 
 
 Crane, Daniel, 37. 
 
 Crowell's Tavern, 36. 
 
 Day, John, 8. 
 
 Dav, Stephen, 20, 21. 
 
 Da'y's Tavern (Timothy Day), 9. 20, 
 
 21 22. 
 D'Anteroche, Count, 17. 
 Dead Lake, 2. 
 
 Delaware & Lackawanna Railroad, 35. 
 Distillery, 38. 
 
 Elevation, Railroad, 35. 
 Elizabeth Town, Township of, 5. 
 Episconal Church, 30. 
 
 Fairmount Avenue School, 33- 
 
 Families, Early, 9. 
 
 Fish and Game Club, 38. 
 
 Fishawack. 3, 7. 
 
 Flour Mills. ,38, 41. 
 
 Ford, Col. Jacob, 11, 12. 
 
 Forges. Old, 7. 38. 
 
 Franklin Mill, 40- 
 
 French Regiment, 22, 23. 
 
 Gas Company. Public Service, 48- 
 
 Geological Story, I. 
 
 Glacial Deposits. 2.' 
 
 "Goose Town," 40. 
 
 Gordon Survey. 7. 
 
 Gould. John, 30. 
 
 Great Black Swamp, 8. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, 19. 
 Hancock. Father John, 29. 
 Hayw^ard, John (Purchase). 8. 
 Horton, Azariah, 10. 
 Horton, Foster, 9, 36. 
 Hunterdon County, 5, 8, 9. 
 
 Ice Sheet, i. 
 
 Indian Sachems, 3, 5. 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY OF CHATHAM 
 
 Indian Villages, 4. 
 Island, Great, 6, 41. 
 
 "John Day's Bridge," 10. 
 
 "Karmel the Scout," 12, 19, 20. 
 
 Kelley, Frank L., 48. 
 
 Kollock Shepard, 15, 17. 
 
 Lafayette, Marquis de, 17, 18, 26. 
 
 Lake Passaic, 2. 
 
 Lee, Gen. Chas., 10, II, 12. 
 
 Lenni-Lenr--' Indians, 2. 
 
 Liberty Pole, 15, 45. 
 
 Library, 47. 
 
 Littlejohn, Jas. M., 40. 
 
 Log School House, 31. 
 
 Long Hill, 3, 6. 
 
 Long Hill School, 33. 
 
 Lowantica, 17, 13, 23. 
 
 Lum, Benjamin P. (."Squire Lum"), 
 
 40. 
 Lum, Chas. M., 43, 47. 
 "Lum Estate," 9, 42. 
 Lum, Fred H., 43, 48. 
 
 MacDougall, \Vm. R.. 37. 
 
 ^lastodon, 2. 
 
 Maxwell's Brigade, 20. 
 
 McDougall, Gen., 12. 
 
 Mesozoic Era. i. 
 
 Methodist Church at Turkey, 27. 
 
 Methodist Church, First, 29. 
 
 Miller, Col. Jacob, 18. 
 
 Minnisink Crossing, 2, 3, 6. 
 
 Minnisink Trail, 2, 34, 5, 7, 26. 
 
 Minsi, 2. 3. 
 
 Minton, "General" Mahlon, 56. 
 
 Minton, Guy, _!•;. 
 
 "Modern Montpelier," 27. 
 
 Morrell, Jacob, 9, 10, 19, 36. 
 
 Morris County, g. 
 
 Munn, Hon. jephtha B., 42. 
 
 Nicholl's Grant, 5. 
 
 Niles, Hon. Nathaniel, 34. 
 
 New Jersey Journal, 15, 17. 
 
 New Jersey Troops, Mutiny of, 22. 
 
 Officials, 1913, 49. 
 
 Ogden Memorial Presbyterian Church, 
 
 9- 
 Ogden, Rev. Jos. Meeker, 27, 33, 36. 
 
 "Old Forges," 38. 
 
 "Old Sow," 10. 13. 18, 20. 
 
 Page, Geo. Shepard, 30, 35, 38, 41. 
 
 Page, Laurence S., 41. 
 
 Paleozoic Era, i. 
 
 Park. Reasoner's, 35. 
 
 Parrot's Mill, 9. 4i- 
 
 Passaic Indians, 3. 
 
 Passaic, Name. 3. 
 
 Passaic Valley, 4. 
 
 Pennsylvania Troops, Mutiny of, 22. 
 
 "Pioneer. The." 48. 
 
 Presbyterian Church at Bottle Hill. 27. 
 
 Presbyterian Church, First, 29. 
 
 Principals of School, 32. 
 
 Proprietor, West Jersey, 7. 
 
 Purchases, Early, 6. 
 
 Railroad, Morris and Essex, 35. 
 "Rebel Paper," 15, 16. 
 Revolutionary War, 7, 10. 
 Road to Elizabeth Town, 34. 
 Rose, Bridesmaid, 41. 
 Rose Growing, 40. 
 Ross's Mill, 40. 
 
 Sand Pits, 41. 
 
 Saw Mills, 4, 38, 39- 
 
 Scheyichbi, 2. 
 
 School af Passaic Avenue, 32. 
 
 Scotch Plains Gap, 6. 
 
 Scotch Presbyterians, 26. 
 
 Seeley's Tavern, Col., 10. 
 
 Settlements, 4, 7. 
 
 Sheldon, Col., 14. 
 
 Short Hills Gap, 6. 
 
 Shunpike. 34. 
 
 Slavery, 44. 
 
 Soldiers of Civil War, 46. 
 
 Soldiers of Revolution, 13. 
 
 Spencer, ".\unt Affie," 31. 
 
 Spencer, "L'ncle Bobbie," 38, 39. 
 
 Spies. British. 19, 23. 
 
 Springfield, Battle of, 
 
 Stanley Hall, 30. 
 
 Stanley Post-Office. 37- 
 
 State School Funds, 34. 
 
 Sterling, Lord, 10, 20. 
 
 Streets. Original Names of, 34. 
 
 Sullivan, Gen., 14. 
 
 Sunken Lands, 2. 
 
 Swaim, Dr. Geo. M., 42. 
 
 Tantomwom. 3. 5. 
 
 Teachers. Early. 31. 
 
 Terminal Moraine, 2. 
 
 Timothy Day's Tavern, 36. 
 
 Toll-gates. 34. 
 
 Tories. 13. 19. 
 
 Traction Company, Morris Co., 33, 48- 
 
 Track-rock Eruption, I. 
 
 Turnpike. Newark and Morris, 34. 
 
 Tuttle. Rev. Jos. F., 13, 14. 
 
 Unalactigo, 2, 3. 
 Unami, 2. 
 L^nion Church. 27. 
 L'nion Hill School, 3Z. 
 
 Valley of Great Watchung, 7. 
 Vanderpoel. Polly, 17. 
 Vapo-cresoline, 41. 
 Village of Chatham, 48. 
 Village Trustees, 48. 
 Volcanic .\ction, 1. 
 
 Ward, .\aron, 14. 
 War of 181 2, 26. 
 Washington, Gen. Geo., 11, 12, 13, 10, 
 
 19, 21, 24. 
 Washington Irving. 14. 
 Whippanv. 7. 
 
 Wigger, Right Rev. Wm. M., 29. 
 Winds. Gen.. 18. 
 Women of Revolution, 14. 
 
LIBRARY OF 
 
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