Bill Farr on Goshen

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Bill Farr on Goshen -
GOSHEN (Goshen Mill, Inskeep’s Mill, Goshen Neck)
In 1820, when Atsion was owned and operated by Jacob Downing (Iron in the Pines, page 35), a road was laid out from the "Atsion Road" near Richard Clines in Burlington County, northwest of Atsion, to the Batsto Road, a distance of ten miles (Gl RR B-298). This Atsion Road connected Atsion with Dellet at Route 534. Batsto Road is now known as Burnt Mill Road (see entry for BURNT MILL). The 1820 road (now called Jackson Road) was almost straight to its end at present Berlin.
Arthur D. Pierce in Family Empire in Jersey Iron (page 43) writes: "As recently as 50 years ago this road was a tree embowered wagon track winding leisurely through wilderness once it passed the village of Jackson. A hundred years earlier not even Jackson was there and the whole trip was a jungle jaunt broken only by a little bridge, a sawmill and a few houses at Goshen...." The road (now Route 534) is hard surfaced from Berlin to Shamong Road, where the wagon track continues straight, but all traffic uses Shamong Road.
The only landmark mentioned in the road return is "Goshen Mill Pond", where the road crosses the MULLICA RIVER, the pond being shown on the accompanying map as below the bridge.
On l April 1758 George Marple sold to James Inskeep a fifty acre survey on Atsion Creek, including its junction with Wesickaman Creek. Inskeep, on 19 July 1765, sold it to Charles Read "for the erecting of an iron works only and not to erect a sawmill thereon" (Atsion: A Town of Four Faces, page 6). Inskeep had a saw mill nearby ("the old Goshen sawmill", ibid..), and apparently wanted no competition. However, on 6 April 1773, "Inskeep’s sawmill and over one thousand acres of woodland became a part of the Atsion Forge property" (ibid.., page 8). A day or two later Elizabeth Drinker rode three miles out from Atsion to Goshen Sawmill to look over what the forge owners had "bought from James Inskeep."
On the Atsion-Dellet road, a little below the beginning point of the 1820 road, another wagon track heads southwest. A sign states that the campground (to be found where this road reaches the river) is "Goshen Pond Campground." The road crosses the river and continues on to Bobby’s Causeway. This is Sandy Causeway or Burnt House Road.
The little settlement of Goshen, which existed where the 1820 road crossed the creek, is no longer there. The site has some popularity with horseback riders, jeepers and motor cyclists, because its recently reconstructed bridge is a means of getting across the creek, whose width here is about 35 feet. Canoeists are in evidence. All are apparently unaware of the early existence of mills and a hamlet there. But the foundation of a mill can be seen in the river, just below the bridge, on the Camden County side. Also, just west of the bridge, there is a mill race, parallel to the river, along which is the foundation of a saw mill. Both mills could well have straddled the waterways.
An enormous map of the Richards Family holdings, about the middle of the nineteenth century, shows "Old Goshen Pond" not far upstream of the bridge. It was created by a high and long embankment running from the river into Camden County. But there has long been a break in the dam and the pond has disappeared and is overgrown. Its purpose is unknown; it was not needed for either of the saw mills thus far found.
Goshen is shown on a number of maps, sometimes as located only on the Burlington County side; sometimes on both sides, which is more probable. The earliest showing by name is on Watson’s 1812 Map of New Jersey. But there was a "Goshen road" in place at least as early as 1792 (deed, Samuel Harrison, et al. to Benjamin Scattergood, rec. Woodbury T-435). Reportedly a school house existed at Goshen in the 1830’s. "The name (Goshen) is found in many parts of the country, applied as a synonum for fruitfulness and fertility." (Gannett’s The Origin of Certain Place Names, page 140)
There was a tract of land referred to in pre-Revolutionary times as Goshen Neck. Bisbee (Sign Posts, page 97) located it in Burlington County, but the 1756 will of John Inskeep located it in Gloucester (now Camden) County (NJA XXXII, page 172). "...John Innskeep, the second was born...in 1701 and...inherited lands and timber tracts from his father. He acquired a large acreage of timber lands....On one of these tracts at Goshen Neck on the Little Egg Harbor River he erected a saw mill....He...died in 1756....His son James continued the business at Goshen Neck until 1774, when the mill was burned." (Verse And Prose, page 95). If that last date is accurate, it cannot have been the mill which James sold to the Atsion people in 1773.
 
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flash

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Jul 25, 2009
73
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https://flic.kr/p/FuvbPy

I posted the link to this picture in photographers phorum in a goshen post. I figure this may also be a good area to post this due to the nature of it. I found this years ago while searching the area of goshen (can not remember it's exact location) and wonder if anyone would be able to elaborate on whether it is a bridge or possibly a mill that may have straddled the water. I plan on reopening my research on many areas of the pine barrens with this being one of them
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
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Flash .... you seriously need to keep better records.


It is located just downstream from the bridge at this location. It most likely is part of the lock system for the canal that was built there. Look this aerial over closely when you click on the link. You can see the canal clearly.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.76350925955874&lng=-74.78343296449663&z=17&type=nj1995&gpx=

Make sure you go to the southern end of the canal to see the lock that is still visible under the water. That is located here.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.75815664457786&lng=-74.7769634763527&z=17&type=nj1995&gpx=


wood.JPG



IMG_3040.JPG



I will see Lost Town Hunter soon and I remember years ago him saying what he felt your item was. I will make it a point to ask him about it.
 
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flash

Scout
Jul 25, 2009
73
11
Flash .... you seriously need to keep better records.


It is located just downstream from the bridge at this location. It most likely is part of the lock system for the canal that was built there. Look this aerial over closely when you click on the link. You can see the canal clearly.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.76350925955874&lng=-74.78343296449663&z=17&type=nj1995&gpx=

Make sure you go to the southern end of the canal to see the lock that is still visible under the water. That is located here.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.75815664457786&lng=-74.7769634763527&z=17&type=nj1995&gpx=


wood.JPG



IMG_3040.JPG



I will see Lost Town Hunter soon and I remember years ago him saying what he felt your item was. I will make it a point to ask him about it.
I know my record keeping is bad.. It is purely based on photos and memory. I need to start keeping a log of everything. If you do end up discussing this particular item with Lost Town Hunter please inform me of your findings. Thanks
 

Inskeeper

New Member
Jan 5, 2018
2
1
Ellicott City, MD
John Inskeep Saw Mill Confusion.

I would like to try to help clear up the confusion over John Inskeep‘s sawmill. There are actually two Saw Mills, one built by John Inskeep (b. 1701, d. Oct. 30 1756) and then managed by his son James. The other was built by the son of John Inskeep, also named John. Take a look at the information below. I have not traveled to the area where all this took place, but I am interested to do so this winter or spring.

Taken from the book: Meet the families of Inskeep and Garwood.


John Inskeep born Evesham Township in 1727, died January 21, 1810. He, was the son of John and Sarah (Ward) Inskeep. John’s father died in 1756, thus inheriting the Homestead, and John lived there for the rest of his life. He owned and ran a store and there is an old account book of his that begins August 12, 1758. In it there are many entries pertaining to the old Colston PE church. “For the building of this edifice he furnished most of the lumber used, manufacturing this at his mills.”

“In 1761 he began the purchase of pine land and Cedar Swamp on great egg harbor river about 3 miles southwest from the town of Winslow. There he erected a mill, the site of which was known as Inskeeps’. The mill was a large one and the plentiful supply of water left no uncertainty as to the amount of work which could be turned out.” This mill is labeled as Inskeep’s on maps 1812, 1828, 1858.

in his Will probated May 25, 1810, John names his sons John and Thomas as executors. In it he mentions his plantation, his pine land, sawmill, Cedar Swamp in Gloucester County, also a tract known as the old Longacoming Tavern.


John had a younger brother James, born 1734. Their father John had acquired by purchase, land on both sides of the Little Egg Harbor River at Goshen neck. Here John erected a sawmill and James upon his marriage was placed in charge. This land James subsequently inherited at his father‘s death, 1756. The erection of the mill and building of the damn across the stream and swamplands made a road by which the traveler going from the vicinity of Shamong and Tuckerton in the then south eastern part of Burlington county, could reach Philadelphia. This made James Inskeep‘s house a natural stopping place and although not an in or Tavern, no one was refused a meal or a nights lodging.” This mill was at Goshen, not the Mill labeled as Inskeep’s on the maps.

“The original holdings of 350 acres which James inherited from his father, he largely increased by purchases until in 1773 he was the owner of 3,134 acres in Goshen and Ireland Necks, Burlington county. In the early part of this year 1773, James had the misfortune to lose by fire his dwelling and mill through a forest fire which swept that portion of the state. He sold April 6, 1773 his Goshen Neck holdings for 1600 pounds to Able, James and Henry Drinker, merchants of Philadelphia.”


I hope this is helpful for identifying ruins at the two different locations of two different Inskeep saw mills.
Tom Inskeep
 

Inskeeper

New Member
Jan 5, 2018
2
1
Ellicott City, MD
Bill Farr on Goshen -

GOSHEN (Goshen Mill, Inskeep’s Mill, Goshen Neck)
In 1820, when Atsion was owned and operated by Jacob Downing (Iron in the Pines, page 35), a road was laid out from the "Atsion Road" near Richard Clines in Burlington County, northwest of Atsion, to the Batsto Road, a distance of ten miles (Gl RR B-298). This Atsion Road connected Atsion with Dellet at Route 534. Batsto Road is now known as Burnt Mill Road (see entry for BURNT MILL). The 1820 road (now called Jackson Road) was almost straight to its end at present Berlin.


Arthur D. Pierce in Family Empire in Jersey Iron (page 43) writes: "As recently as 50 years ago this road was a tree embowered wagon track winding leisurely through wilderness once it passed the village of Jackson. A hundred years earlier not even Jackson was there and the whole trip was a jungle jaunt broken only by a little bridge, a sawmill and a few houses at Goshen...." The road (now Route 534) is hard surfaced from Berlin to Shamong Road, where the wagon track continues straight, but all traffic uses Shamong Road.

The only landmark mentioned in the road return is "Goshen Mill Pond", where the road crosses the MULLICA RIVER, the pond being shown on the accompanying map as below the bridge.

On l April 1758 George Marple sold to James Inskeep a fifty acre survey on Atsion Creek, including its junction with Wesickaman Creek. Inskeep, on 19 July 1765, sold it to Charles Read "for the erecting of an iron works only and not to erect a sawmill thereon" (Atsion: A Town of Four Faces, page 6). Inskeep had a saw mill nearby ("the old Goshen sawmill", ibid..), and apparently wanted no competition. However, on 6 April 1773, "Inskeep’s sawmill and over one thousand acres of woodland became a part of the Atsion Forge property" (ibid.., page 8). A day or two later Elizabeth Drinker rode three miles out from Atsion to Goshen Sawmill to look over what the forge owners had "bought from James Inskeep."

On the Atsion-Dellet road, a little below the beginning point of the 1820 road, another wagon track heads southwest. A sign states that the campground (to be found where this road reaches the river) is "Goshen Pond Campground." The road crosses the river and continues on to Bobby’s Causeway. This is Sandy Causeway or Burnt House Road.

The little settlement of Goshen, which existed where the 1820 road crossed the creek, is no longer there. The site has some popularity with horseback riders, jeepers and motor cyclists, because its recently reconstructed bridge is a means of getting across the creek, whose width here is about 35 feet. Canoeists are in evidence. All are apparently unaware of the early existence of mills and a hamlet there. But the foundation of a mill can be seen in the river, just below the bridge, on the Camden County side. Also, just west of the bridge, there is a mill race, parallel to the river, along which is the foundation of a saw mill. Both mills could well have straddled the waterways.

An enormous map of the Richards Family holdings, about the middle of the nineteenth century, shows "Old Goshen Pond" not far upstream of the bridge. It was created by a high and long embankment running from the river into Camden County. But there has long been a break in the dam and the pond has disappeared and is overgrown. Its purpose is unknown; it was not needed for either of the saw mills thus far found.

Goshen is shown on a number of maps, sometimes as located only on the Burlington County side; sometimes on both sides, which is more probable. The earliest showing by name is on Watson’s 1812 Map of New Jersey. But there was a "Goshen road" in place at least as early as 1792 (deed, Samuel Harrison, et al. to Benjamin Scattergood, rec. Woodbury T-435). Reportedly a school house existed at Goshen in the 1830’s. "The name (Goshen) is found in many parts of the country, applied as a synonum for fruitfulness and fertility." (Gannett’s The Origin of Certain Place Names, page 140)

There was a tract of land referred to in pre-Revolutionary times as Goshen Neck. Bisbee (Sign Posts, page 97) located it in Burlington County, but the 1756 will of John Inskeep located it in Gloucester (now Camden) County (NJA XXXII, page 172). "...John Innskeep, the second was born...in 1701 and...inherited lands and timber tracts from his father. He acquired a large acreage of timber lands....On one of these tracts at Goshen Neck on the Little Egg Harbor River he erected a saw mill....He...died in 1756....His son James continued the business at Goshen Neck until 1774, when the mill was burned." (Verse And Prose, page 95). If that last date is accurate, it cannot have been the mill which James sold to the Atsion people in 1773.

John Inskeep Saw Mill Confusion.


I would like to try to help clear up the confusion over John Inskeep‘s sawmill. There are two Saw Mills, one built by John Inskeep (b. 1701, d. Oct. 30 1756) and then managed by his son James. The other was built by the son of John Inskeep named also named John. Take a look at the information below. I have not traveled to the area where all this took place, but I am interested to do so this winter or spring.

Taken from the book: Meet the families of Inskeep and Garwood.


John Inskeep born Evesham Township in 1727, died January 21, 1810. He, was the son of John and Sarah (Ward) Inskeep. John’s father died in 1756, thus inheriting the Homestead, and John lived there for the rest of his life. He owned and ran a store and there is an old account book of his that begins August 12, 1758. In it there are many entries pertaining to the old Colston PE church. “For the building of this edifice he furnished most of the lumber used, manufacturing this at his mills.”

“In 1761 he began the purchase of pine land and Cedar Swamp on great egg harbor river about 3 miles southwest from the town of Winslow. There he erected a mill, the site of which was known as Inskeeps’. The mill was a large one and the plentiful supply of water left no uncertainty as to the amount of work which could be turned out.” This mill is labeled as Inskeep’s on maps 1812, 1828, 1858.

in his Will probated May 25, 1810, John names his sons John and Thomas as executors. In it he mentions his plantation, his pine land, sawmill, Cedar Swamp in Gloucester County, also a tract known as the old Longacoming Tavern.


John had a younger brother James, born 1734. Their father John had acquired by purchase, land on both sides of the Little Egg Harbor River at Goshen neck. Here John erected a sawmill and James upon his marriage was placed in charge. This land James subsequently inherited at his father‘s death, 1756. The erection of the mill and building of the damn across the stream and swamplands made a road by which the traveler going from the vicinity of Shamong and Tuckerton in the then south eastern part of Burlington county, could reach Philadelphia. This made James Inskeep‘s house a natural stopping place and although not an in or Tavern, no one was refused a meal or a nights lodging.” This mill was at Goshen, not the Mill labeled as Inskeep’s on the maps.

“The original holdings of 350 acres which James inherited from his father, he largely increased by purchases until in 1773 he was the owner of 3,134 acres in Goshen and Ireland Necks, Burlington county. In the early part of this year 1773, James had the misfortune to lose by fire his dwelling and mill through a forest fire which swept that portion of the state. He sold April 6, 1773 his Goshen Neck holdings for 1600 pounds to Able, James and Henry Drinker, merchants of Philadelphia.”


I hope this is helpful for identifying ruins at the two different locations of two different Inskeep saw mills.
 
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