That Steelman line is fascinating, and provides a glimpse into that elusive eighteenth century pre-furnace Pine Barrens. The legacy lives on! I have much interest in the Steelman plantation near Mays Landing.
I believe this to be a property conveyed by Thomas Budd to James Steelman (~1695) along the Great Egg Harbor River that is mentioned by John Clement in Surveyors’ Association of West New Jersey (1880: 414,
Proceedings, Constitution, By-Laws, Lists of Members &c., of the Surveyors’ Association of West New Jersey), and like other early pioneers neglected to officially record their titles. The publication is available online through Google.
Wrangel visited the Steelman plantation (Wrangel 1969, Pastor Wrangel’s trip to the shore. Translated and edited by Carl Magnus Anderson from Wrangel’s day book.
New Jersey History. 87: 5–31). The “Inventory of James Steelman” from 182H: Eggharbour January 4th 1734/5 lists some provocative possessions among his possessions, “one neigro man & three Indian squaws” and “68 Head of Cattle” along with “five fatt [pregnant] cattell.” I believe that the Lochs-of-the-Swamp savannah at the plantation was grazing land for the earliest Pinelands inhabitants (Demitroff 2007,
Pine Barrens Wetlands: Geographical Reflections of South Jersey’s Periglacial Legacy).
S-M