Hessian Burials

Furball:

Not a chore at all! I consider it a privilege to share my knowledge with others! I'm not positive on this fact, but I believe the age of the powder contained in those shells could have rendered it whitish in color. The shells were definitely used for anti-personnel warfare and would not have been used in the bombardment of ships or other riverine craft. As discussed before, I think the area on [edited] has moderate to high potential for historic archaelogical deposits; all we need is a reason to conduct an investigation and the money to fund it!!

I have enjoyed this subject immensely!!

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

4x4Jim

Scout
Jan 20, 2006
55
0
Well as you all know I am an avid metal detectorist. I would be willing to conduct some small outtings to the area you speak of and bring some detectors for use to search around for a little history. I live only about 5 minutes from the area in the map. Just a thought. :)
 
Steve:

Nice photographs! As I recall, back in the late 1990s, an Eagle Scout made it his project to restore the Salem Road sign, originally placed there during the 1920s by the New Jersey Commission on Historic Sites. If you are feeling adventurous, park your car near this sign, jump out (not for the faint-hearted along Brace Road!!), leap over the guardrail, and go up the berm immediately to the east...

Wow, that is about ten feet from where I live (I live in the old apartments between Brace Road and Kings Highway, on the river). I've seen the sign several hundred times, I'm going into the woods ASAP. I am assuming it is NOT on the same side as the Coastline?

And I must say, wow, this is one of the best thread I've read here, and that says something. I have never been to Red Bank, but I will definately go over the winter holiday. Thank you for writing all this, I enjoyed reading it!
 
Wow, that is about ten feet from where I live (I live in the old apartments between Brace Road and Kings Highway, on the river). I've seen the sign several hundred times, I'm going into the woods ASAP. I am assuming it is NOT on the same side as the Coastline?

And I must say, wow, this is one of the best thread I've read here, and that says something. I have never been to Red Bank, but I will definately go over the winter holiday. Thank you for writing all this, I enjoyed reading it!

Mike:

I'm glad you enjoyed the discussion about Rev War activity in the Camden and Gloucester county area. Please post your impressions of the Old Salem Road after placing your feet upon its well worn pathway. There are many other sections, now unused, of this ancient roadway, along with other thoroughfares, hidden in the woods of South Jersey. It's an amazing experience to stand on an old route that has been out of service for 150-200 years or more and realize that our ancestors once traveled these highways.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

Neil in SJ

Scout
May 22, 2006
32
0
63
Cherry Hill, NJ
www.freewebs.com
Bonnie's Bridge

"The wagon train, reporting containing upwards of 500 vehicles (if my memory is correct), went up the Salem Road/King's Highway to Moorestown, while Cornwallis, his troops, and many of the Hessians went out Old Borton Mill Road/Kresson Road to a local road in the area of Marlkress "

You must be very old to remember this.., but the true route was NOT Kresson Road to Markress, But Cornwallis troops took the Marlton Pike, first crossing Bonnie's Bridge, to Greentree.

"The grassy span, called Bonnie's Bridge, spans a narrow stream between two houses on Wayland Road in the Barclay section."
 

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Neil in SJ

Scout
May 22, 2006
32
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63
Cherry Hill, NJ
www.freewebs.com
Hey Piney. I believe on of the major routes the hessians took was over the bridge that gaps deptford and runnemede. If you notice what used to be the RCA field.... It is being dug up and all kinds of fill dirt and construction is going on..... I beleive that there is probably some kind of camp site there and always wanted to metal detect it but it is very strict on the Private Propert aspect. That field has probably been vacant since the hessians passed through... Any ideas??? It is about to be asphalted and some kind of shopping center is going to go up there......:(

I read somewhere that the Hessians dumped one of there big guns in the river because it was too big to drag across Clement's Bridge.
 
"The wagon train, reporting containing upwards of 500 vehicles (if my memory is correct), went up the Salem Road/King's Highway to Moorestown, while Cornwallis, his troops, and many of the Hessians went out Old Borton Mill Road/Kresson Road to a local road in the area of Marlkress "

You must be very old to remember this.., but the true route was NOT Kresson Road to Markress, But Cornwallis troops took the Marlton Pike, first crossing Bonnie's Bridge, to Greentree.

"The grassy span, called Bonnie's Bridge, spans a narrow stream between two houses on Wayland Road in the Barclay section."

Neil in SJ:

Well, aren't you the funny guy?!?!?!?! :rolleyes:

Regarding the routing of Cornwallis and the troops that traveled with him out of Haddonfield, I would like to see your primary source evidence for your contention that they moved over Bonnie's Bridge, because I certainly have my primary sources available here in my library. These sources include Johann Ewald's diary; Major Andre's journal; Hessian maps; British cartographer John Hills's maps; Simcoe's Journal, and other contemporary sources. When the army left Haddonfield, livestock owners drove their cattle north into Charleston Woods, which the British would have found quite readily if they traveled the route you suggest. By traveling out Borton Mill Road, the British missed the opportunity to forage the cattle because they remained south of the livestock. In addition, your information is faulty because the Marlton Pike did not come into existence until 1796. In 1767, surveyors laid out the Cooper's Creek Road, forerunner of the Marlton Pike, but only from the Salem Road to Camden and not eastward. To go eastward required moving up Salem Road to reach the A-33 road, which extended eastward along the northern reaches of the swamp near present-day Sawmill Plaza shopping center, which the stream running under Bonnie's Bridge drains.

If you research Bonnie's Bridge in Gloucester County records, you will not find a single reference to the span, neither couny funds paying for its construction nor for any subsequent maintenance of it.

There are three current schools of thought about Bonnie's Bridge among local historians. The first idea places its construction in the 17th century when John Kay built his original house and plantation where the Barclay farmstead currently stands. Since the Marlton Pike or any other predecessor roads failed to run eastward giving Kay easy access to his house, he had to extend a lane to his house, crossing all necessary streams in the process. He likely contracted with Francis Collins to build the bridge as part of his lane to the plantation with the other end of the private road connecting to the Salem Road before it crossed the North Branch of Cooper's Creek.

The second idea, proposed by a good friend and geographer, suggests that the bridge was part of a garden folly, constructed during the first half of the nineteenth century when members of the Cooper family owned the property. There are other foundations farther upstream from the bridge in the backyard of one of the adjoining landowners built of the same brick and silcrete or Sarsen stone as the bridge's construction material. These foundations may have been part of a classic "ruins" scene often used in such follies.

The third idea is that bridge offered a crossing for a shunpike, a road that allowed travelers to avoid the toll house on the Marlton Pike at Ellisburg.

Whatever the source of the bridge, private money funded its construction, which means it never provided a crossing for a public road. Furthermore, no road returns exist for a road across the bridge, although with that in mind, the original Waterford Township minute book did not survive the rigors of time, so we do not have access to any of the road surveys recorded in that volume.

So Neil in SJ--you show me yours and I'll show you mine!

Jerseyman
 
I read somewhere that the Hessians dumped one of there big guns in the river because it was too big to drag across Clement's Bridge.

Neil in SJ:

I discussed the cannons earlier in this thread, but for a recap, the Hessians dumped as many as three guns into Big Timber Creek off of the forerunner of Clement's Bridge because they used the gun carriages to transport the wounded back to the ferries in Camden. The did NOT dump the fieldpieces into the creek because they were too big to drag across Clement's Bridge--they transported the guns across the span on their way to the fort, so that would preclude your logic of them being too big to recross them.

Jerseyman
 

RAllen

New Member
Jan 23, 2007
5
0
Interesting thread. I have a website on Jonas Cattell with a few documents from the Gloucester County Historical Society regarding the Battle at Fort Mercer. http://home.att.net/~jonascattell
What I have been trying to work out is the Jonas Cattell route from Haddonfield to the fort. In one article he (Jonas) mentions crossing Big Timber Creek at Isaiah Marpoles (Marple) place. http://home.att.net/~jonascattell/cattell.html
I know that Clements Bridge is near the Marple cemetary where some of the Hessians buried their dead on the way back towards Haddonfield, and Isaiahs House was just up the road at 600 W. Clements Bridge Rd.
Does anyone know how much land along the north side of Timber Creek the Marples owned? Or does anyone have a list of landowners from the same area for the late 1700's or early 1800's?
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
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A descendant!

Where is the Marple Cemetery in Runnemede? I live not far from Clement Bridge Road and have never heard of it.

I will have to check out 600 W. Clements Bridge road the next time I go by there.

http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...5.081146&spn=0.002953,0.007628&t=k&iwloc=addr

For those of you who do not know the area, it is right by the Deptford Mall.

Guy

Guy:

The cemetery is better known as the Ashbrook Burial Ground and is located in the Glendora section of Gloucester Township on Station Avenue. Several years ago I participated in a big ceremony celebrating the cemetery and the Hessian burials. The leader of this celebration was Bill Leap, author of the History of Runnemede. For anyone interested in the history of this area, I highly recommend Bill's book on Runnemede. He does a great job of documenting the early history.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Interesting thread. I have a website on Jonas Cattell with a few documents from the Gloucester County Historical Society regarding the Battle at Fort Mercer. http://home.att.net/~jonascattell
What I have been trying to work out is the Jonas Cattell route from Haddonfield to the fort. In one article he (Jonas) mentions crossing Big Timber Creek at Isaiah Marpoles (Marple) place. http://home.att.net/~jonascattell/cattell.html
I know that Clements Bridge is near the Marple cemetary where some of the Hessians buried their dead on the way back towards Haddonfield, and Isaiahs House was just up the road at 600 W. Clements Bridge Rd.
Does anyone know how much land along the north side of Timber Creek the Marples owned? Or does anyone have a list of landowners from the same area for the late 1700's or early 1800's?

RAllen:

Glad you enjoyed the discussion! I think I've look at your website before. The route to the fort for Jonas Cattell might have been down Warwick Road to Davis Road to the bridge over Big Timber (most likely) or out the Salem Road to Mount Ephraim, where he could have crossed Harrison's milldam ahead of the Hessians (less likely). Isaiah Marple was the seventh owner of Ashbrook's original plantation and the family interred his remains in Ashbrook's Burial Ground. As I suggested in my post to TeeGate, I highly recommend Bill Leap's History of Runnemede for background information on Ashbrook, Marple and the cemetery. Bill also wrote a history of the cemetery for the 1995 celebration I mentioned in my posting to TeeGate.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

RAllen

New Member
Jan 23, 2007
5
0
Jerseyman,
I currently live in Houston. Is there a site online where I can get "History of Runnemede" by Bill Leap?

Guy,
Jerseyman is correct. The cemetary is known by a couple of names. Ashbrook Burial Ground is the proper name. Zanes is another name for it.
 
Jerseyman,
I currently live in Houston. Is there a site online where I can get "History of Runnemede" by Bill Leap?

Guy,
Jerseyman is correct. The cemetary is known by a couple of names. Ashbrook Burial Ground is the proper name. Zanes is another name for it.

RAllen:

To locate a used copy of the book, I suggest either abebooks.com or addall.com. You should be able to pick-up the paperbound edition for $25.00 or less.

Absolutely correct in attaching the name Zane to the cemetery. However, the stone memorial marker that Bill Leap had made for the celebration definitely has "Ashbrook's Burial Ground" incised into its face. Bill also received a new marble marker for Isaiah Marple's burial from the Veterans Administration. The cemetery really looked great on that day in 1995!!

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
That book is always available on eBay but the bidding starts high and goes higher.

Thanks for all the info.

Guy
 

RAllen

New Member
Jan 23, 2007
5
0
Jerseyman,
My theory of Jonas route goes sort of like this:

He is held overnight in Haddonfield by the Hessians and is made to tend their fires. Before daylight, they set him free as the Hessians are breaking camp and leaving for the fort. The Hessians head on a direct route towards Brooklawn / Westville.
Jonas knows the bridge is out, and with over 1200 Hessians marching towards Brooklawn I doubt he heads that way. I figure he would head east on a more direct route towards Clements Bridge. He does not cross the bridge, which confuses me slightly. Was it being guarded? Instead he hops in a boat at "Isaiah Marpole's" that had been scuttled and barely makes it across Big Timber Creek before it completely filled up.

I had always thought he had crossed near Westville because of the route they use for the Cattell Run, but I think it would have been nearly impossible to get there without being seen.
 
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