Don:
Brownstown is in Lumberton Township. Henry Bisbee, writing in his original toponym work,
Place Names in Burlington County, notes the following:
BROWN: A section of homes located in LUMBERTON township between the village of LUMBERTON and FOSTERTOWN. It has also been called BROWN’S STATION and possibly BROWN’S TOWN. Charles Reed [sic] (1715-74) in his “Husbandry of Plants” refers to Israel Taylor as living in “Brown's Town” near Lumberton. (Bisbee 1955:12)
The Haines’ Mill recorded in your deed would be what, today, is known as Kirby’s Mill, powered by Haines Creek to the east of Cross Roads and under the control of the Medford Historical Society. I think the missing word relative to “Harbour Road” would likely be “Egg,” as in Egg Harbour Road. BROWN’S or BROWN’S STATION refers to a station stop on the Mount Holly, Lumberton and Medford Railroad, constructed in 1869. Here is the location of Brown’s Station, shown on this detail of the Lumberton Township plate from the 1876 J.D. Scott county atlas:
Charles Read’s reference to Israel Taylor reads as follows:
Israel Taylor* who has been used to these says furrow & cross furrow 6 in a hill they come up in abt 5 or 6 days if Seasonable weather when abt 2 inches high hoe them & plow up clean & you must plow them as often as the Crabb grass comes up Cutt up with a hook carry them directly to the Thresher & 2 good hands will thresh 100 bushl pr day. He makes his floor of rails abt 2 foot from ye ground & as the peas come out they drop thro' & prevent brusing. NB it must be best to have a floor or cloth spread under them. He think tis best pick ye first wch come & send to markett & ye rest will ripen near a time nor has he ever known them mould by being laid together directly after Cleaning.
It will take near 2 bushl to plant 10 acres.
He likes best to plan in rows 3 ft apart or 2½ may do & abt 2 ft. the other way.
*Probably Israel Taylor, of Northampton Township, Burlington County, who lived on a farm in Brown’s Town (Brown's) near Lumberton. In 1784 he sold to Ruloff Voorhees for £150 two parcels of these holdings amounting to 234 acres (N.J. Deeds, LIber AR, p. 154). Israel Taylor Sr., of Evesham Township (possibly the same) [it is the same] died in 1816 (N.J. Wills, 12903C). (Woodward, 1941, p. 307-308)
Carl Raymond Woodward,
Ploughs and Politicks… (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1941).
Best regards,
Jerseyman
