Apr 6, 2004
3,613
556
Galloway
The 1825 document proves that there was a Tavern on the road from Pleasant Mills to Indian Cabin that was named The La Fayette. That with the entry in the book Iron in the Pines that details Garoutte's Stage Line Route and his route stopping back at his Tavern and Inn on the Pleasant Mills Tract is definitive proof that his Tavern was named The La Fayette Tavern.

But can I get a picture of that 1825 document?

By saying, "I was right," you give the impression that it was you who came up with this idea. We know that is not the case. I'll post the picture of the deed shortly.
 
Apr 6, 2004
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Galloway
IMG_6567.JPG
 
Apr 6, 2004
3,613
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Galloway
It would be great if we could get our hands on a directory for the cemetery, if one exists. G.C., let us know when you find the information in the Garoutte History Book concerning James Smith's inn. Let's see if we can't get to the bottom of this.
 

G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
14
34
California
It would be great if we could get our hands on a directory for the cemetery, if one exists. G.C., let us know when you find the information in the Garoutte History Book concerning James Smith's inn. Let's see if we can't get to the bottom of this.

I'm back. This is all I have on the Smith side.
 

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G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
14
34
California
I am descended from Leeds.I think I may be cousins to the Devils dad but haven't researched it yet.The Devil was a Leeds.I don't believe in the jersey devil myself and I"ve spent many a night in the heart of the Barrens and have never saw it but yes the devil is a big deal around here.People hold devil hunts and all such nonsense.Search this site.many posts on the jersey devil here. PS I"ve also been told my whole life I have no common sense.Never smoked a cigarette or took a drink or did any recreational drugs in my life and I"m often told I have no common sense by people that have spent most of their life high and drunk.I know people my age that are now dead or close to it from treating themselves like that.I"m 52 and the Doc just told me I might have bad eyes but i have the heart of a 30 year old.Who doesn't have any common sense now.

In the Iron in the Pines page 204 it says Garoutte stage line went from Camden back to his tavern for overnight lodging. Well if his tavern really was in pleasant mills isn't that about an 18 - 20 mile ride by carriage? Would that be logical for that time..? To travel at 7:00 a.m. by carriage to a tavern 20 miles away?

I read taverns werent welcome anywhere near towns so they had to operate taverns way out becaise people got drunk and crazy so the city ordinances and laws did not allow them to operate too close to town.. but 20 miles??
 

G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
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California
The more facts I find on this guy I am just amazed. Especially about the fact that his nephew was a General in Napoleon Bonaparte's Army and then Napoleon's older Brother Joseph Bonaparte came and lived practically right down the road from Garoutte in 1812/1815ish.

Edit: his nephew was a General in the French Revolution, not a General in Napoleon's Army. D'Espinassy was General of Brigade and gave the enemy hell in numerous battles of the French Revolution.

What kind of things would that imply? I mean c'mon! I've even read La Fayette was Garoutte's guest about the same time La Fayette went to Joseph Bonaparte's Mansion in South Jersey.

There's something very interesting about all this!

I wish I could find out what the British did with that ship Saint Simon after they captured it in 1757.

Edit: because I have seriously considered the scenario that The Saint Simon was captured back by the US Navy from the British during the revolutionary war.

And here is my reasoning on that. The Admiralty Foundation Register in Marseille, France has a whole big fat book of births and departures and their records say Antoine Garoutte was ordered by King Louis the 15th in 1753 to set sail for san domingue and the name of the ship was Great Saint Simon.

Ok well guess what? A french colony in canada named Saint Simon traces their history back to 1757 and they named the town after a French War Ship named Great Saint Simon. Two books detail the event.

One book claims the British Fleet captured the ship, killing the Captain just after the crew dumped all the cargo into the inlet and buried a bunch of the cargo into the ground.

But then again 1753 to 1757 is 4 years. Would Admiral Antoine Garoutte have been at sea for 4 years? San Domingue is far away from Canada but both were French Colonies. Clearly it's the same ship, but was Garoutte still commanding it by 1757?

What did the British do with the ship. That's what I'd like to know. How could I even find out??
 
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Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
Site Administrator
Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
For more convenience I posted a screenshot of the page in the Iron In The Pines book

Sorry, I haven't been following this thread and I just noticed this. Please don't post screenshots of copyrighted material. Ben had some legal problems resulting from a screenshot that a user posted of an old newspaper article. See this for more information: https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/important-rule-for-this-forum.10185/

So you may have heard, an unfortunate circumstance arose from a post in this section of the discussion forum recently. I need people to be extra vigilant about the copyright status of things they post here (and elsewhere on the site.)

If you run across a news article or something that you'd like to share, that's awesome! Please post it in this section, but only put a link to the article and maybe very short excerpt of the text or whatever your thoughts are. Please do not take any images that may be on the site you're linking to or copy too much text.
 

G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
14
34
California
I must be missing something. Can you show me where it says that James Smith lived in Pleasant Mills?

Sevier family history says he was ambushed in an inn by little egg harbor after battle of chestnut neck. Garoutte history then says james smith picked him up in his wagon then on 28 october he marries the daughter of his rescuer. The book says james smith was an inn keeper. Obviously garoutte ran a tavern in pleasant mills. Pleasant mills was home to all the quakers and they held their meetings there. It seems logical the tavern was the inn owned by james before garoutte.
 
Apr 6, 2004
3,613
556
Galloway
Sevier family history says he was ambushed in an inn by little egg harbor after battle of chestnut neck. Garoutte history then says james smith picked him up in his wagon then on 28 october he marries the daughter of his rescuer. The book says james smith was an inn keeper. Obviously garoutte ran a tavern in pleasant mills. Pleasant mills was home to all the quakers and they held their meetings there. It seems logical the tavern was the inn owned by james before garoutte.

Pleasant Mills is not part of little egg harbor. Neither was Pleasant Mills home to all the Quakers. We cannot assume that the inn owned by James Smith was inherited by Garoutte. Though it may turn out to be the case, we need some evidence.
 
Apr 6, 2004
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"Source material that James was an Quaker and an innkeeper is in Garoutte History Book from 1975 third edition"


G.C., I'm looking for evidence that Smith owned an inn in Pleasant Mills. Can you help me out with this?
 
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G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
14
34
California
"Source material that James was an Quaker and an innkeeper is in Garoutte History Book from 1975 third edition"

G.C., I'm looking for evidence that Smith owned an inn in Pleasant Mills. Can you help me out with this?

I don't have any documents to prove it. I only have the logic. I strongly feel that's the case because it makes sense, but I could be completely wrong about that!

The book does say James Smith was a Quaker and a Innkeeper. Where they got that information I'm not sure because there is no source for it. It could be an oral tradition.

If there are any reliable records like a census before 1790 or a book of ledgers we could look through for a James Smith and a Sophia Smith in his household that would help!
 
Apr 6, 2004
3,613
556
Galloway
I don't have any documents to prove it. I only have the logic. I strongly feel that's the case because it makes sense, but I could be completely wrong about that!

The book does say James Smith was a Quaker and a Innkeeper. Where they got that information I'm not sure because there is no source for it. It could be an oral tradition.

If there are any reliable records like a census before 1790 or a book of ledgers we could look through for a James Smith and a Sophia Smith in his household that would help!

I agree that it would make sense that James Smith, if he indeed owned an inn in Pleasant Mills, could have given Michael and Sophie said inn. But we need to establish first that Smith did own an inn in Pleasant Mills. Until we have the facts necessary to logically deduce that the LaFayette Tavern was previously owned (as an inn) by James Smith, it would be folly to speak as though this is a fact.

"It is very important to preserve our true american history. This is our country and our liberty and our patriot ancestors deserve to be respected and honored and their graves derserve repsect and preservation. Our country is a shining beacon of liberty. But today there is all kinds of fraud so we have to preserve the truth."

I could not agree more. It is important that we refrain from jumping to conclusions. We need to find some documentation concerning Smith's inn (if indeed it existed).
 

G.C.Johnson

Scout
Aug 4, 2016
53
14
34
California
I'm not sure how to go about finding out. Records from this time period are hard to find. If memory serves they had to reconstruct the 1790 census because all the records got wet. And I think you had to be a landowner to make it onto earlier decades of census. So if the information is not in those maybe a trip down or a call to the various historical societies that deal with Quakers and Taverns. I don't know! I'm just working with whatever information I have here! It's easy to get records 1850 and up but before that it gets a little tricky.
 
Apr 6, 2004
3,613
556
Galloway
I'm not sure how to go about finding out. Records from this time period are hard to find. If memory serves they had to reconstruct the 1790 census because all the records got wet. And I think you had to be a landowner to make it onto earlier decades of census. So if the information is not in those maybe a trip down or a call to the various historical societies that deal with Quakers and Taverns. I don't know! I'm just working with whatever information I have here! It's easy to get records 1850 and up but before that it gets a little tricky.

An examination of the tavern licenses of Gloucester county should yield some relevant info.
 
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