Quakers

The first business of the Quakers who landed at Burlington and received the title to West Jersey, was to view the land. For this purpose their surveyors were out as early as 1678, and had run the division line between East and West Jersey.

�Having traveled through the country and viewed the land,� these selected among other tracts, several thousand acres in what is now Kingwood, Franklin and Alexandria, and set it apart for the Society of Friends.

It is to a Quaker government in West Jersey that we owe the long years of peace in our history. While other colonies were the constant scenes of Indian Massacre---while men, women and children were indiscriminately butchered or carried into captivity, and the wilderness was lit up at night with the lurid glow of blazing dwellings, the Jersey Quaker dwelt in the wigwam with his red brother �with none to molest him or make him afraid.�

We must remember that this part of our State has always been largely under Quaker influences, nearly every township on the Delaware has been settled by people of that persuasion. Down the river, they were nearly all Quakers---Burlington, Bordentown and Trenton having the early town records kept in the language of the Society. John Holcombe carried a good deal of Quaker influence into West Amwell, while Kingwood was specially a Quaker settlement.

When the land was set apart for the Society, they had an eye to its natural value. With that excellent judgment for which the sect are known, they took into consideration all the natural advantages of the soil, no small part of which were the fine mill streams, the beautiful rolling face of the country and its entire healthiness. Those who settled Burlington, and the level land around, were London men, and naturally chose a country similar to that from whence they came, while those who came in this direction were from Yorkshire, and loved the hills. The similarity between their native county and some parts of Kingwood may be made more apparent by our stating that Yorkshire is divided into three ridings, North, East and West. On the hilly parts of the East riding, in what is called the York Wolds, the soil is generally barren, dry, and sandy; but great numbers of lean sheep are sold here, and sent to other parts to be fattened. Those acquainted with some of the Kingwood farms, in their worn out condition, before lime was applied, forty years ago, will recognize the illustration.

A soil originally fertile, and exhausted by successive crops for a hundred years, cannot but show the exhaustion. Men living in the vicinity of Quakertown tell us that they can remember when there was scarcely any wheat raised in the settlement. Now, under good farming, it has become one of the best wheat growing districts in the state.

The individuals who took up the Society�s lands at Quakertown, selected the spot on account of the great beauty of its situation, the fertility of the soil, and the almost entire absence of forests. A table land, not unlike a prairie, with a long line of blue hills, slumbering under a drapery of mist on the north, undulating like billows, and sloping in every imaginable direction, from whose ravines thousands of springs gushed, formed a background panorama enchantingly lovely. On the east and south was a charming picture of hill and dale, while toward the western horizon the hills of Pennsylvania formed a dim and charming outline.

Quakers Came via Burlington County (pp. 105-6)

Such was the spot that the Quaker pioneers of North Jersey selected for their home before the beginning of the last century. They were, for the most part, the children of the first Burlington settlers, though some born in England were among them. There is a tradition among the people that the time was when they could ride from where the steam-mill at Oak Grove is now, to Quakertown, in open ground.

Joseph King, who died about twenty years since, used to say that he could remember when he could see Quakertown from Oak Grove. Owing to the wide extant of the table land, and its level surface, it was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians, who burned the surface every year to keep the trees from growing. The deer, and other game, that came down by hundreds from the hills to the surrounding streams to drink, were driven in upon this wide treeless plain, by a circle of grim warriors, who hedged them in, and a grand chase ensued. Traces of these huntings may be found in the relics ploughed up in the shape of arrowheads, &c. Forests afterwards grew up on these grounds, and forty years ago the country was well wooded, but since then the ruthless axe of those ambitious for more land has left but few tracts of timber, and these will soon fall.

The first Quaker meeting house ever erected in this county, was built of logs, near the site of the present edifice of that denomination, in Quakertown was built before the year 1700. This, and the old log church near Ringoes and the one at North Branch were, for several years, the only meeting houses in the county. In this locality there was no other burying ground, and many who were not Quakers buried here.

The King family, the Wilsons, the Cliftons, Edward Rockhill and John Stevenson were among the first of whom we have any knowledge as living in the settlement. They all belonged to the Burlington Quarterly Meeting, some of them to Crosswicks Monthly Meeting. They had permission from the body under whose jurisdiction they were, to hold meetings of worship, and thus things went on till about 1733.

Quaker Meeting House (p. 106-7)

The second meeting house at Quakertown was built in 1714. On the 20th of the Third Month, 1733, Daniel Doughty conveyed four acres of land, whereon the present meeting house now is, to Samuel Large, Samuel Wilson, John Stevenson, Edward Rockhill and Joseph King, for the use of a Friends� Meeting �so long as they shall continue in unity,� and these parties, on the same day, executed a declaration of uses, by which they declared that they had no title to the land in question, except as trustees of the meeting. This ancient document is now in the possession of Abram R. Vail, the clerk of the meeting, together with the Monthly Meeting minute book, from which we learn that the first monthly meeting was here on the 10th day of the Seventh Month, 1744.

By the first entry of this ancient record it appears that application for a monthly meeting at Kingwood had been made to Burlington monthly meeting several times before it was granted. Caleb Raper was clerk of the meeting, and on that day the first intention of marriage was recorded. The fortunate parties were Benjamin Williams and Mary Stevenson. Samuel Schooley and Samuel Wilson were appointed to attend the ceremony. At the next meeting they reported that �it was accomplished decently and orderly.� The meeting was then known as Bethlehem, and so recorded, but afterwards changed to Kingwood.

In 1746, on the 12th of the Fourth Month, we find Thomas Robeson and wife coming with a certificate from Wrightstown, Pa., and asking to be admitted to membership, which was granted. Jonathan Robeson appears to have been here quite early, and was a prominent member. It is a little amusing to look back and see where member were reproved for �exercising as a soldier.� And to report that Hon. Secretary Robeson, a descendant of this same stock of quiet-loving people, is in a position to make the guns of the navy thunder louder than the bolts of Jove did on the walls of Troy, when occasion requires it; and that he was placed there by one also descended from Quakers, who was made President for his consummate skill in fighting. Few men possessed better solid judgment, for which members of the Society of Friends are remarkable, was probably handed down to him by his sober minded ancestors.***

The old Wilson homestead was where John Swallow now lives. The stone house was built in 1735, and is still standing. A log building was occupied by the family before that time. The father of James and John Wilson, now living near Quakertown, resided there.

Besides the lot given to the Society in 1733, Daniel Doughty gave two small lots, one in 1752, the other in 1764, which were added to the first lot.

Once in the history of the Society of Women Friends produced a Testification against----------for her unbecoming dress, For the benefit of some who may not understand this expression, we will state that the dress in question was simply one that did not accord with the prescribed rules of the Society. We might, many of us, follow with much profit some of the rules of Quaker discipline. No people are more hospitable, none managed their worldly affairs with more economy and thrift; none are more diligent in business, and few are more punctual in meeting their obligation.

***Reference is to George M. Robeson, who was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Grant in 1869 and served until 1877.

Some Prominent Quaker Families (p. 107-9)

We find Edward Rockhill�s name prominent in the business records. He appears to have been a man of considerable influence, and foremost in the business of the society. Edward A. Rockhill, of Pittstown, is one of his descendants.

Thomas Schooley, from whom Schooley�s Mountain took its name, was here at an early date, and took part in the proceedings of the meeting. John Allen�s name frequently occurs, as having served on committees, &c. Samuel Schooley and Peter Schmuck were on the committee to witness the marriage of Titus Doan with Deborah Wilson, 9th month 14th, 1745. John Myers intermarried with Mary Able, which was approved by the society. Joseph Lundy and Susannah his wife came from Maiden Creek, Pa., 6th month 12th, 1745, and their certificate was accepted. At the same time John Wilson and Jacoby Lundy were received, Tomson Price and Annie Myers declared their intention to marry on the 12th of the 10th month, 1745. Richard Lundy and wife were received from Exter, Pa., 8th month 8th, 1747. John Wilson married Margaret Lundy about 1748. Jacob Birdsall was admitted in 1742. These names show us who lived in this part of the county in the first half of the last century.

That these Quakers were widely scattered there is no doubt, as mention is made in the record of the people living at remote distances from each other, and for this reason permission was never very numerous, diminished by the young people going off to other denominations. Yet occasionally those from other churches came in and joined them.

It is not strange that the Quakers should mingle with the Dutch settlers. Their habits of industry, cleanliness, thrift and hospitality were the same. Besides, William Penn�s mother was a Dutch woman, and they all agreed upon the question of liberty of conscience, which was the corner stone upon which the founders of our state met on common ground. We find the descendants of these people numerous among us, belonging to other denominations, yet we can trace in them a good degree of that Quaker leaven that has had much to do with forming their character for uprightness and integrity.

The property owners around the old meeting-house lot in 1788 were as follows:--- Henry Coates� and Murfin�s land lay on the north; Samuel Kester�s on the northeast; east was Henry Cliffton�s house, above the road to New York, and below the road John Brown�s land. The spot should always be looked to with some degree of veneration on account of its associations.

At Quakertown in the days of the first settlement, William Penn came and held counsel with his people, and exhorted them to faithfulness and peace. Here some of the soldiers of the Revolution were quartered, and left the marks of their muskets upon the interior of the old building---since demolished and replaced by one of solid construction. Here came pretty Quaker girls, in drab gowns and bonnets, and stood up in meeting beside the man they loved, and solemnly declared �in the presence of God and that assembly, by Divine permission and Friends� approbation,� their intended marriage. Here were brought those who had preached �peace on earth and good will towards men,� and tried to act it in their daily lives, and laid in their peaceful graves. This was not a place for thrilling scenes of battles, yet

�Let not ambition mock their useful toil.�

The Quakers endured perils in the wilderness, and commanded a peace, by their moral courage and adherence to principle, that armies could not win; and while all was and rapine around them, they went quietly to meeting and left their young children in the care of Indians. Let the myrtles long grow green upon their graves then, as it now grows, and for the influence that Quaker teachings have cast upon the institutions of our State, let us revere those small white stones as though obelisk and column rose in their stead.

Lequear's "Traditions of Hunterdon" were originally published 1869-70.

Quaker Influence in Hunterdon
(pp. 104-9)