She got cast out (Ross) of the Quaker Society and her family pretty much disowned her, from my discoveries/readings due to the marriage. Trust me the Camden County Museum is on the hit list for either this weekend or next and I cannot wait! I will also be checking out Lawnside since it was big in the Underground Railroad movement as well as Burlington City. Due to black history month. Even though I think we should celebrate cultures all year-round and not just one short month. Thank you for the correction of the Lenni-Lenape.
I'll be checking out the Tyco website for sure and now this fellow "GG" He has me in a tizzy. I never ever heard of this guy and boy was he a big deal in Woodbury owned a railway all the way to Pasadena? There's a few buildings the historical society said I need to check out and of course I will.
I may not be the best in writing historical documentation. However, I just try to get folks a bit interested and not bore them to death.
Thanks Jerseyman. I am having a great time discovering "West Jersey" history.
Pineywoman:
There is nothing wrong with engaging people in a discussion about history in the way you write it. History is so fascinating that it should never be boring!
Ahh, you must have learned about George Gill Green at the Gloucester County Historical Society. He did not own a railroad all the way to Pasadena, California. Rather, he owned a private passenger car that he would couple onto the rear of a transcontinental train and travel in comfort and style. G.G. Green was the king of the patent medicine trade whose two most popular products were an elixir called “Green’s August Flower” and another known as “Dr. Boschee’s German Syrup.” He purchased the rights to manufacture these concoctions from his father, Lewis M. Green. He published an annual almanac, a selected number of which I have in my library, although the Gloucester County Historical Society would hold an entire run in its collections.
Regarding the Underground Railroad in West New Jersey, historian Wilbur H. Siebert interviewed Thomas Clement Oliver, an African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor, who, along with his father, were among the most famous UGRR operatives. Here is a narrative about New Jersey from Siebert’s book,
The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom, A Comprehensive History:
New Jersey was intimately associated with Philadelphia and the adjoining section in the underground system, and afforded at least three important outlets for runaways from the territory west of the Delaware River. Our knowledge of these outlets is derived solely from the testimony of the Rev. Thomas Clement Oliver, who, like his father, travelled the New Jersey routes many times as a guide or conductor. Probably the most important of these routes was that leading from Philadelphia to Jersey City and New York. From Philadelphia the runaways were taken across the Delaware River to Camden, where Mr. Oliver lived, thence they were conveyed northeast following the course of the river to Burlington, sometimes called Station A, a short stop was made for the purpose of changing horses after the rapid drive of twenty miles from Philadelphia. The Bordentown station was denominated Station B east. Here the road took a more northerly direction to Princeton, where horses were again changed and the journey continued to New Brunswick. Just east of New Brunswick the conductors sometimes met with opposition in attempting to cross the Raritan River on their way to Jersey City. To avoid such interruption the conductors arranged with Cornelius Cornell, who lived on the outskirts of New Brunswick, and, presumably, near the river, to notify them when there were slave-catchers or spies at the regular crossing. On receiving such information they took a by-road leading to Perth Amboy, whence their protégés could be safely forwarded to New York City. When the way was clear at the Raritan the company pursued its course to Rahway; here another relay of horses was obtained and the journey continued to Jersey City, where, under the care of John Everett, a Quaker, or his servants, they were taken to the Forty-second Street railroad station, now known as the Grand Central, provided with tickets, and placed on a through train to Syracuse, New York. The second route had its origin on the Delaware River forty miles below Philadelphia, at or near Salem. This line, like the others to be mentioned later, seems to have been tributary to the Philadelphia route traced above. Nevertheless, it had an independent course for sixty miles before it connected with the more northern route at Bordentown. This distance of sixty miles was ordinarily travelled in three stages, the first ending at Woodbury, twenty-five miles north of Salem, although the trip by wagon is said to have added ten miles to the estimated distance between the two places; the second stage ended at Evesham Mount; and the third, at Bordentown. The third route was called, from its initial station, the Greenwich line. This station [Greenwich] is vividly described as having been made up of a circle of Quaker residences enclosing a swampy place that swarmed with blacks. One may surmise that it made a model station. Slaves were transported at night across the Delaware River from the vicinity of Dover, in boats marked by a yellow light hung below a blue one, and were met some distance out from the Jersey shore by boats showing the same lights. Landed at Greenwich, the fugitives were conducted north twenty-five miles to Swedesboro [actually, Small Gloucester or Coottown], and thence about the same distance to Evesham Mount [Colemantown]. From this point they were taken to Mount Holly, and so into the northern or Philadelphia Route.[1]
I extracted this passage from my National Register nomination work for Jacob’s Chapel, located in Colemantown, Mount Laurel Township, Burlington County. Snow Hill/Free Haven (present-day Lawnside) served as a way station for routes two and three described above. If you would like a detailed history of Snow Hill, drop me a PM with a viable email address and I will send you research I conducted for another project. Black history in South Jersey has become a personal passion of mine over the past 20 years or so. During that time period, I have compiled a list of 138 discrete black enclaves in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties. Of that number, 94 date to before the Civil War and likely served to hide fugitive slaves.
It is heartening for me to find a younger person so passionate about local history. Keep seeking answers to your never ending questions!
Best regards,
Jerseyman
[1] Siebert.
The Underground Railroad, 123-125.
