III
EARLY DAYS IN MOORESTOWN
LIKE Topsy, our beautiful home town “just growed.” History does not record, insofar as I can learn, the name or names of Moorestown’s first residents or state definitely where their homes were situated. Very likely as stated in some old papers, they were located in the neighborhood of the famous Indian Spring still flowing on the hillside in the rear of the old Barcklow House, 274 W. Main Street, or possibly in the eastern end of the town near the spring further down in the valley a little east of Stanwick Avenue. Tradition and some old accounts indicate that little settlements were established in the vicinity of these springs before the central part of the town was settled but I can find no record of the names of these pioneers or the exact location of their cabins. I am, however, of the opinion that Moorestown did not start to develop as a village much before 1700, when the first Friends Meeting House was erected. Its growth during the first one hundred years was exceedingly slow. According to Gordon’s Gazetteer and History of New Jersey published in 1834, there were only fifty or sixty dwellings in Moorestown at that time. Barber and Howe’s History of New Jersey published in 1847, states that there were about one hundred homes in Moorestown and vicinity.Tradition also says that the settlement at the eastern end of the ridge in the early days was called “Chestertown” and at the western end called “Rodmantown.” Some records, however, indicate that the entire village at one time was known by the latter name. These names were dropped very early in the Eighteenth Century and the village became known as Chester. The name Moorestown apparently was not applied to the community until the middle or latter part of the Eighteenth Century. Smith’s History, published at Burlington in 1765 refers to the village as
14 MOORESTOWN AND HER NEIGHBORS
Chester or “Moore's Town.” The records of the Friends Meeting until long after the Revolutionary War, called the village Chester. The Minutes of Chester Preparative Meeting show that a meeting was held at “Chester” on Third month 8th, 1791, at which a standing committee was appointed to have charge of the brick school at the junction of the roads leading to Evesham and Moorestown. A deed recorded in 1799 referred to the village of Chester also called Moorestown. These records indicate that the name Moorestown gradually replaced Chester by usage. I am of the opinion that the name Moorestown was officially applied to the village in 1802 when the Post Office was established.
Gilbert Aitken of Moorestown has a deed in his possession executed in 1745 by Thomas and Elizabeth Moor of Moorfield, Township of Chester, to Timothy Matlack of Iladdonfield for a certain plot of land purchased from Francis Hogsett in 1732. This is the first record that I have discovered of the fact that for a while at least our town was known as Moorfield which in my judgment is a much prettier name than Moorestown. On an old map published in 1777 and now in the Public Library, Atlantic City, the name of our town appears as Moorsfield or Moorstown and Pensauken Creek as Moor’s Creek.
Moorestown was named in honor of Thomas Moore who was our first tavern keeper as well as our first realtor. Very little is known of this enterprising man except that he married Elizabeth, daughter of James and Esther Adams and that he died in 1760 and was supposed to have been buried in the Friends’ Graveyard in Moorestown. He was undoubtedly a Friend as James and Esther Adams were prominent members and in those days it was a disownable offense to marry “out of Meeting” and consequently very rarely occurred. As far as I can learn Thomas Moore has no descendants now living in the neighborhood of Moorestown. In 1732 he purchased 33 acres on the northern side of King’s Highway (now Main Street) extending from the
EARLY DAYS IN MOORESTOWN 15
Friends’ Burying Ground at Chester Avenue to Locust Street and northward to the middle of Second Street. This tract was subdivided and sold for private homes or business sites. His historic Inn stood directly on King’s Highway at or very near the northwest corner of Main and Union Streets. According to tradition it was a small and unpretentious building. Ellwood Hollingshead informed me that his father tore down the building that stood on this corner at the time that the present building the home of the late Uriah and Mary Borton was erected and that it was then said to be the building in which the Moore family lived and kept tavern. Some very ancient coins were found in a crack back of the mantelpiece which proved that the building was very old.In 1700 the first Friends’ Meeting House was erected at the northwest corner of Main Street and Chester Avenue which indicated that the village of Chester was then established and was recognized as the future centre of' the business and intellectual activities of the neighborhood. The village at that time probably consisted of a few farm houses and homes along the Highway from Stanwick Avenue to Locust Street. Chester Avenue was not laid out until about 1720 and in the early Meeting records was called Meeting House Lane.
The earliest record of Chester Township in which Moorestown was located prior to 1922 that I have found, was dated May 26th, 1692. A resolution was passed at a Town Meeting held on that date imposing a fine of three shillings per day on all who neglected to serve “att mending of roads and highways.” A Town Meeting was also held on March 18th, 1693, for the purpose of electing a Collector and two Assessors. “Thomas ffrench” whose farm was located north of Second Street and “John Rudderoe” and James Sherwyn were chosen “Sessors.” The Rudderows lived between the two branches of Pensauken Creek near their junction. John Rudderow also seems to€ have severed as “clarck” of the Township at that time. These early Town Meetings were
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held at the home of farmers in the neighborhood of Moorestown. The earliest records generally referred to the Township of Chester, alias Pomsoking or Penisauken and I am quite certain that the Township was first known as Pensauken. The name Pensauken which is spelled in so many ways in the old records is derived from an Indian tribe of that name whose principal village was located between the two branches of the creek near if not on the Roberts plantation. Chester Township was not incorporated until 1698.
The old Buttonwood now standing on Main Street next to the Burlington County Trust Company, originally stood on King’s Highway quite near the first Quaker Meeting House as stated on the handsome bronze tablet erected by the Colonial Dames Society at their Convention held in Moorestown on October 17th, 1929. The first Meeting House erected early in 1700 is supposed to have been built of logs. It was burned in 1720 and replaced by a larger stone building. Many famous Quakers as they journeyed along the old Highway tarried for a while in Moorestown and preached in these old Meeting Houses. Doubtless John Woolman, the greatest of American Quakers, often attended Meeting in the old stone Meeting House. John Woohnan whose Journal was one of the first books selected by Dr. Eliot for his famous “Five-Foot Shelf of Books” was born on the bank of the Rancocas about four miles from Moorestown and lived for a number of years in Mount Holly following the trade of tailor. I love to picture him in my mind as he rode in town along the old Highway and sedately walked into the Meeting House. Doubtless his appearance caused something of a stir as he entered clad in unbleached homespun and wearing an undyed beaver hat. Possibly the young people smiled at his quaint appearance and it is more than likely that their parents felt just a little uneasy as some of them were slave holders and Woolman's message was very apt to be a powerful plea for their liberation. John Woolman was one of the first Friends to be con
EARLY DAYS IN MOORESTOWN 17
vinced that the holding of our fellowmen in bondage was not in harmony with the teaching of Christ.
Cole’s Hotel, formerly known as the William Penn which stood on the site of the present home of the Burlington County Trust Company, was frequently the scene of great activity prior to the building of the railroad in 1867 when the stage coach was the only public conveyance between Moorestown and Philadelphia. The original building which was part of the building torn down in 1926 was erected early in the Nineteenth Century.
Cox’s Tavern, which stood a little east of the residence of Mrs. Joshua Borton adjoining the William H. Matlack Company store at the northeast corner of Main Street and Chester Avenue was the oldest hotel in the eastern end of Moorestown. John Cox purchased a small plot of ground on King’s Highway extending east of Chester Avenue from Nehemiah Haines in 1745 and shortly afterwards erected the Tavern that was to become famous in the early history of Moorestown. He was town clerk for many years and the Town Meetings were frequently held at his Tavern prior to the erection of the present Town Hall in 1812. Cox’s Tavern was the headquarters of one of the rival stages that ran between Mount Holly and Philadelphia and doubtless the arrival and departure of the stage was the most exciting event of the day. A fine old grandfather’s clock that stood for many years in this old building may be seen in the attractive home of the Moorestown Trust Company.
Moorestown has been from the beginning a town of homes rather than an industrial community. Matlack’s and Hooton’s Saw and Grist Mills were the first to be established in this vicinity. They were located on Hooton’s Run formerly known as Wagon Bridge Run, which arises east of Moorestown and flows in a southwesterly direction about a half mile south of the Ridge. The Hooton mill stood on this run a little east of the Marlton Road (now Church Street) and was in operation until about 1850 when it was torn down. The Matlack mill was located neat
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Pleasant Valley Avenue and was undoubtedly the older of the two and in all probability the oldest grist mill near Moorestown.
The tanning business was one of the leading industries in Moorestown in the early days, doubtless because of the abundance of Oak and Hemlock bark to be obtained in the neighboring forests. There was a large tannery on the northern side of Main Street where the Methodist Episcopal Church now stands which extended back to the present line of Second Street. Perhaps the oldest tannery in the community was located between Main and Second Street, west of union. The buildings belonging to this tannery were not entirely removed until Albert C. Heulings bought the property and erected attractive homes which are still standing. “Pinehurst” the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Basil Hubert Cooper on Haddonfield Road was owned by John Lippincott, a tanner and currier in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. The tan yard was located a little east of the present homestead. It was afterwards conducted by George Matlack, the buildings being destroyed by fire about 1828.The nursery and fruit business was also established at a very early date. Samuel Coles, whose plantation was located at Colestown, was supposed to have been the first to have given attention to the growing of fruit trees as a business. Joseph French and John Perkins established the Fairview Nurseries in West Moorestown in 1815. Joseph French died in 1825 and John Perkins formed a partnership with Edward French. This partnership was dissolved about nine years later and John Perkins purchased Pinehurst Farm, then known as the “Tan Yard” Farm and for many years conducted a nursery specializing in ornamental trees. On an old map published in 1875 the triangle bounded by Haddonfield Road, Camden Pike and Pleasant Valley Avenue appears as a forest of evergreens and doubtless many of the beautiful trees on “Evergreen Lawn” now owned by Mrs. T. H. Dudley Perkins, were originally in the
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John Perkins nursery. The Collins’ Nurseries (A. J. Collins and Sons) on Pleasant Valley Avenue, which are the largest nurseries in this section of the State, were established in 1860 by John S. Collins, father and grandfather of the present owners. The Samuel C. DeCou Nursery on Pleasant Valley Avenue, now part of the Collins’ Nurseries, was established by Thomas C. Andrews, father of Clayton Andrews of Moorestown about 1862.
The fruit industry which is now the largest and most important industry in the vicinity of Moorestown was established at a very early date. Early in the Nineteenth Century the farmers hauled peaches to New Brunswick or Perth Arnboy from which points they were shipped by boat to New York where according to the old records they brought from $1.00 to $4.00 per bushel. It is interesting to compare the old method of transportation to the modern as some of the large trucks which today carry peaches direct to the New York market will hold 340 bushels or approximately 510 baskets.
I regret that I cannot state definitely when the first brick yard was established near Moorestown. The present yards at Maple Shade, owned by the William Graham Brick Manufacturing Company, were conducted by John Moffit and Son in the 1880’s. They were undoubtedly established at a much earlier date. Shark’s teeth and sea fossils of various kinds are still dug up in the clay pits showing that this section was under water in pre-historic times. There was formerly a brick yard a little west of Church Street and north of Hooton’s Run which was established by Caleb Poinsett, father of our townsman, Emmor Poinsett, in 1846. This brick yard was conducted by the Poinsett family until 1887.