Hessian Burials
- Thread starter Piney Boy
- Start date
RAllen:
I think earlier in this thread I discussed the route of the Hessians out of Haddonfield. Basically, they marched down Salem Road (Kings Highway) and on to Market Street towards Gloucester until the arrived at the continuation of Salem Road over Little Bridge (Little Timber Creek) and on to the bridge over Big Timber Creek, which the Americans had taken up. The Hessians had no choice but to turn around and march back up Salem Road, Market Street, and Salem Road. They went as far as Harrison's milldam, which dammed Little Timber Creek between present-day Mount Ephraim and Bellmawr. Crossing over the dam, the Hessians marched out Sandy Lane/Browning Road to Warwick Road which they used to gain access to Davis Road and march on down to the bridge. I think Jonas likely traveled the route I stated to you earlier this evening and probably crossed the creek in a boat because he feared the Hessians would see him. He probably did not have a real good sense of where they were in their march, so by crossing in a boat, there would be less chance of seeing him rather than on the bridge. I think a route anywhere near Westville would have been out of the question.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
RAllen:
Sorry for the sticker-shock! I did not check prices before I supplied you with those websites. Of course, the guy who runs PAB in Atlantic City is a total lunatic when it comes to used and antiquarian books. For my 30+ years of building my library I have made a conscious decision NOT to deal with this man! There are many other book dealers in the world that take a much more reasonable and disciplined approach to the book business than he! I may have a duplicate copy around here; I will check for you. If so, I'll PM you and let you know how we can complete a transaction. I will also check with Bill to ascertain if any copies are still available for the regular price and let you know that as well.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Like I said...it goes up and up and up
It really looks like it may be one of the better books on the history of a particular town.
Guy
Guy:
I am amazed at the prices being asked for this book, despite its quality. I can tell you that if anyone else wanted to write a book on a local community or area, they should take a look at what Bill Leap did with his Runnemede book. In my opinion, it is a model that all would do well to follow!
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Jerseyman:
I do not doubt your knowledge. I can only go by the research I have available to me, which no doubt pales in comparison to your apparent extensive library.
You stated "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. " As a resident of the area, I can tell you (if I am not mistaken) that Charlston Woods is located on the north side of Kresson Road, north of the Browning Road intersection, along the route of present day Marlkress Road. This being the case, your route would most likely have led the British right to the cattle.
I do not mean to be argumentative, I am just interpreting the facts as I read them. I would love to see your sources as well.
I do not doubt your knowledge. I can only go by the research I have available to me, which no doubt pales in comparison to your apparent extensive library.
You stated "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. " As a resident of the area, I can tell you (if I am not mistaken) that Charlston Woods is located on the north side of Kresson Road, north of the Browning Road intersection, along the route of present day Marlkress Road. This being the case, your route would most likely have led the British right to the cattle.
I do not mean to be argumentative, I am just interpreting the facts as I read them. I would love to see your sources as well.
Neil in SJ:
Similar to your information, my research places Charleston Woods between the North Branch of Cooper's Creek and Kresson Road, except I have always considered the site closer to present-day Brace Road than to Marlkress Road. Perhaps it extended farther eastward towards Marlkress Road. Whatever the extent of the location, I think the residents would have driven their cattle all the way to the edge of the creek to gain maximum screening from the Crown's forces using the lush, natural foliage growing in the creek's floodplain.
The routing I have developed heretofore stems primarily from a map that John Hills, the British cartographer who marched with Cornwallis in 1778, drew in 1800 combined with interpolation of the textual sources. However, I have just received a CD-ROM of original, manuscript maps from the Hesse Stat Archiv in Marburg, Germany, which may shed further light on the routing of the British and Hessian forces leaving Haddonfield. Upon completing my analysis of the maps, I will provide additional commentary on this subject.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Responding to Neil
I got your private message. Thanks for the offers. My grandparents have long since passed away and the property is no longer owned by my family. My recollection is that the property was gone over with a fine-toothed comb, of course this was at least 40-45 years ago, so I am sure the metal detecting technology is vastly improved. Maybe the new owners will allow you to go over it again. If you find any Kruggerands, they're mine! LOL!! Also, I have your e-mail address, so when I have time I will photograph the cannonballs and send the photo as an attachment to help you determine more information about them. This would be much easier since I now live in Florida. Jerseyman, however, has been very insightful about them as you can see in his earlier thread.
I got your private message. Thanks for the offers. My grandparents have long since passed away and the property is no longer owned by my family. My recollection is that the property was gone over with a fine-toothed comb, of course this was at least 40-45 years ago, so I am sure the metal detecting technology is vastly improved. Maybe the new owners will allow you to go over it again. If you find any Kruggerands, they're mine! LOL!! Also, I have your e-mail address, so when I have time I will photograph the cannonballs and send the photo as an attachment to help you determine more information about them. This would be much easier since I now live in Florida. Jerseyman, however, has been very insightful about them as you can see in his earlier thread.
A man I work with lives in Runnemede and I mentioned the cemetery to him which he knew about. He visited it yesterday and I will be today.
Below is his edited letter to me.
Guy
****
I stopped at that cemetery in Glendora today. It's actually called
something like Ashcroft Burial Grounds. There is a nice
informational monument there.
One new one (gravestones)and a couple of old stones
that don't appear to say anything. The information stone gives quite
a bit of interesting information. It actually dates back to the 1600's.
It does mention that there are about 40-50 Hessian soldiers buried
there.
****
Below is his edited letter to me.
Guy
****
I stopped at that cemetery in Glendora today. It's actually called
something like Ashcroft Burial Grounds. There is a nice
informational monument there.
One new one (gravestones)and a couple of old stones
that don't appear to say anything. The information stone gives quite
a bit of interesting information. It actually dates back to the 1600's.
It does mention that there are about 40-50 Hessian soldiers buried
there.
****
Thank You
Thanks for the heads up.
I just recently found a link to a PDF format of Isaac Mickles reminiscence on the Gloucester County Historical Society site. There are a couple of Hessian stories in there and a lot of misc information. 170 pages.
I figured I should pass it on.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgchs/Mickle.pdf
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgchs/
Thanks for the heads up.
I just recently found a link to a PDF format of Isaac Mickles reminiscence on the Gloucester County Historical Society site. There are a couple of Hessian stories in there and a lot of misc information. 170 pages.
I figured I should pass it on.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgchs/Mickle.pdf
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njgchs/
Samuel Stelle Smith map of old roads; two mysteries
Jerseyman wrote:
"... a book by Samuel Stelle Smith titled, Fight for the Delaware 1777, published in 1970 by Smith's own press, Philip Freneau Press ... This book contains the most important map of the entire campaign ... The original of this manuscript map is part of the Library of Congress collection and is unattributed. LofC lists it as 'anonymous.'"
Thanks for the tip, Jerseyman. I located a copy of the book in a local public library (not certain of the efficacy of posting which precise library, I am happy to supply that info, if that is proper protocol), and photocopied the map, and enlarged it as well. It is a remarkable document.
I live on what Bill Farr notes was "Borton's Hill" or "Hinchman's Hill" near the confluence of Audubon, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township, and Haddonfield. I never dreamed that the triangle of roads formed by Kings Highway, Crystal Lake Ave, and Hopkins Ave dated back to colonial times, yet there it is, right on that map.
I have become very interested in two little mysteries, and I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas:
1. The map cited by Jerseyman shows that Hopkins Road (or "Ave," or Brick-Kiln Road, in earlier days) used to continue south/southeast, across Kings Highway, eventually meeting up with Warrick-Mansion-Warwick Road. Boyer's book on Rambles along old Jersey highways calls this "Old Egg Harbor Road" (and even contains a picture of Hinchman's Hill; looks to me like the picture is heading toward Haddonfield on Warwick Road, with Tavistock CC on the right). The fold-out map attached to the back cover of This is Haddonfield has a map prepared by Boyer (and another man, can't recall the name) showing this road continuation. Anybody have any idea when and how the old road between Kings Highway and Warwick were discontinued?
2. Dennis G. Raible's history of Haddon Township, mentions a Newton Township cemetery along Kings Highway in this area that was evidently abandoned in the second half of the 19th century. Does anyone know what happened to the cemetery? Where it was? Who was buried there?
Thanks very much for this forum, it is really worthwhile.
Jerseyman wrote:
"... a book by Samuel Stelle Smith titled, Fight for the Delaware 1777, published in 1970 by Smith's own press, Philip Freneau Press ... This book contains the most important map of the entire campaign ... The original of this manuscript map is part of the Library of Congress collection and is unattributed. LofC lists it as 'anonymous.'"
Thanks for the tip, Jerseyman. I located a copy of the book in a local public library (not certain of the efficacy of posting which precise library, I am happy to supply that info, if that is proper protocol), and photocopied the map, and enlarged it as well. It is a remarkable document.
I live on what Bill Farr notes was "Borton's Hill" or "Hinchman's Hill" near the confluence of Audubon, Haddon Heights, Haddon Township, and Haddonfield. I never dreamed that the triangle of roads formed by Kings Highway, Crystal Lake Ave, and Hopkins Ave dated back to colonial times, yet there it is, right on that map.
I have become very interested in two little mysteries, and I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas:
1. The map cited by Jerseyman shows that Hopkins Road (or "Ave," or Brick-Kiln Road, in earlier days) used to continue south/southeast, across Kings Highway, eventually meeting up with Warrick-Mansion-Warwick Road. Boyer's book on Rambles along old Jersey highways calls this "Old Egg Harbor Road" (and even contains a picture of Hinchman's Hill; looks to me like the picture is heading toward Haddonfield on Warwick Road, with Tavistock CC on the right). The fold-out map attached to the back cover of This is Haddonfield has a map prepared by Boyer (and another man, can't recall the name) showing this road continuation. Anybody have any idea when and how the old road between Kings Highway and Warwick were discontinued?
2. Dennis G. Raible's history of Haddon Township, mentions a Newton Township cemetery along Kings Highway in this area that was evidently abandoned in the second half of the 19th century. Does anyone know what happened to the cemetery? Where it was? Who was buried there?
Thanks very much for this forum, it is really worthwhile.
Hinchman's Hill:
Glad you found this thread interesting. BTW, you can go directly to the Library of Congress website and download a color copy of that same map. It is a fabulous resource and I only wish we had similar maps for other portions of West New Jersey.
Regarding your questions, here are my responses:
1. I miss my old friend Bill Farr immensely. I take solace in having access to all of his files, which aids me in my continuing research. These files bring back many memories of better times. Yes, Hopkins Avenue represents the remains of a very old road. Be careful of the fold-out map in the back of This is Haddonfield book. Harry Marvin was a great guy, but many of his maps suffer from errors. For that matter, also be careful of Boyer's book. Frankly, Boyer would be mortified if he knew that this book, his mill book, and his tavern book made it into print at the hands of John D.F. Morgan. Their publication represent a promise to Boyer's widow for nefarious reasons, in my opinion. In any case, as "straight-line" roads became the norm, the county and townships discontinued or even officially vacated many of the original roads. The roadways remained in use, but the government ceased expending public funds for their maintenance. I have many maps in my collection that provide information on the earlier roads; one in particular would cover the area where you live. Please PM me and we can discuss gaining access to the material.
2. The Newton Township Burial Ground was a cemetery for indigents and for those found drown on the shore of the Delaware or any unidentified bodies found within the township bounds. It was located along Kings Highway near the Hopkins Avenue intersection. I'm pretty sure there is at least one map that shows its location. It was on the east side of Kings Highway. There are newspaper clippings concerning this cemetery and I will dig them out and report back to you. BTW, Dennis wrote a fine book--a model for any local history endeavor.
Glad you're enjoying the forums!
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Jerseyman,
Thanks very much for your thoughtful response and your gracious offer; I will PM you.
Hinchman's Hill
Thanks very much for your thoughtful response and your gracious offer; I will PM you.
Hinchman's Hill
They don't make it easy to find. I found the text of the book but no map.
BTW, If you still consider Hinchman Hill on Clements Bridge road on the other side of Tavistock, there is a photo of that hill looking down Clements Bridge (Highland Ave) in the History of Barrington book.
Guy
Sorry Guy et al.! Here is the URL for that map:
memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?amme...1(United+States--New+Jersey--Camden+County+))
The more you examine it, the more you find. You will observe the route of the Hessians demarcated on this map as well as some other fascinating things.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
since this thread is, at least on one level, about dead Hessians, I thought I'd provide a link to a few of their maps.
http://www.westjerseyhistory.org/maps/revwarmaps/hessianmaps/
The map files, particularly those whose description begins with the words "large scale" are pretty big (around 3mb), but they are (i think) worth the wait.
enjoy!
relayer
http://www.westjerseyhistory.org/maps/revwarmaps/hessianmaps/
The map files, particularly those whose description begins with the words "large scale" are pretty big (around 3mb), but they are (i think) worth the wait.
enjoy!
relayer
