Stop That Jade Run

geezerfinneran

geezerfinneran

Explorer
Jan 12, 2012
228
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Sewell, NJ (Washington Twp.)
genefinneran.typepad.com
Ever wonder how that little brook got its name ?
Well, according to some, it had to do with a runaway female indentured servant (then called a "Jade"), whose Master put a full page ad in the Philadelphia papers ; STOP THE JADE !!

He wasn't all that popular with the locals, and one of the more waggish Pineys decided to re-name the brook running past the Master's house: calling it " Stop That Jade Run ".

I found out about that story many years ago, while camping with my late wife. There was pen and paper at hand, and I had time to kill....and this was the result:

Stop That Jade !






​
 She's a-runnin' through the Barrens
With a skillet in her hand:
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !
An' things jest ain't a workin' out
The way the Deacon planned-
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !

It's no use to call the Sheriff
Cause the rascal's outa town
An' the Deputy's in Chatsworth
Payin' court to Molly Brown-
So pass the jug around agin -
Mebbe then we'll run her down:
Deacon's yellin' “Go stop that jade !”

2

That jade she was indentured
To ol' skinflint Deacon Jones-
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !
An' while his missus was in town
He tried to jump her bones
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !

Oh, she waited till the Deacon
Had his britches round his knees,
Then she hit 'im with a skillet
Jest as nicely as you please:
Done left him with his wherewithal
A- coolin' in the breeze -
Deacon's yellin' “Go stop that jade !”

3

She's a- runnin' past the stillhouse
An' across the Treaty land
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !
But I reckon we won't catch 'er
If we git too drunk to stand
Stop that jade ! Stop that jade !

It's no use to go a runnin'
When yer feet's all tangled up
She'll be halfway down to Quakertown
Before we sober up...
So pass the jug aroun' agin'
I'll try another cup !!
Deacon's yellin : “ Go stop that jade !”
 
Ben Ruset

Ben Ruset

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I've heard both the indentured servant and horse theories. Bisbee has this to say about the stream in his book Signposts:

STOP THE JADE RUN - Stream rises northwest of Ong's Hat in Pemberton Township and flows west as part of township line with Southampton passing Buddtown, then turns west through Southampton Township to unite with the South Branch of the Rancocas Creek at Vincentown.​
​
It is interesting to note that the State Highway Department has contracted the name to Jade Run on a road marker on Route 206. The stream was named prior to 1717. There are many spelling variations, Stop Me Jades being the most common in the road returns.​
​
As a worn-out horse is called a "jade," the story of the farmer who cried "Stop the Jade!" when his horse ran away is probably the only explanation for this strange name. At best this seems to be pure "fakelore." Future researchers may wish to investigate the word "stop," which may have some connection with the building a dam over the stream.​
 
Jerseyman

Jerseyman

Piney
Sep 10, 2003
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432
West New Jersey
www.jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com
The earliest use of the toponym “Stop the Jade Creek” to be found is in a survey of Daniel Leeds lands dating to 1719. The survey references a sawmill belonging to Thomas Budd on Stop the Jade.

Sorry to say, but I have never heard the term “Jade” applied to a slave or indentured servant. I’m not saying it is not true, but I have not seen it. If you can provide me with primary-source documentation, I would be much obliged at such new gained knowledge. In any case, 1719 is too early for a newspaper published in Philadelphia, so a full page advertisement is out of the question. The Oxford English Dictionary provides two germane definitions applicable here:

1. To make a jade of (a horse); to exhaust or wear out by driving or working hard; to fatigue, weary, tire.

2. To fool or to play the fool.

I suspect, like Bisbee, the source of the name is truer to the first definition. Pure conjecture here, but with Thomas Budd operating a sawmill on the stream, it is possible he used horses to drag the timber to the mill. By the time they arrived at the mill, the horses were thoroughly fatigued from being driven hard in hauling the timber. Hence, Stop the Jade or Stop the tired horse at the stream powering the sawmill.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
Jerseyman

Jerseyman

Piney
Sep 10, 2003
1,379
432
West New Jersey
www.jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com
Thank you for the definitions. That definition, however, does NOT appear in the OED, my standard for etymological sourcing. Both of the references you provided define the woman as disreputable and, in the latter source, ill-tempered. It says nothing about the woman being an indentured servant. Regardless, the early usage of “Stop the Jade” belies a newspaper advertisement for a disreputable or ill-tempered woman, let alone for a runaway indentured servant.

Jerseyman
 
geezerfinneran

geezerfinneran

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Jan 12, 2012
228
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Sewell, NJ (Washington Twp.)
genefinneran.typepad.com
Perhaps this would help: Merriam Webster's definition(s) of "jaded" :

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jad·ed

adj \ˈjā-dəd\
Definition of JADED

1
: fatigued by overwork : exhausted
2
: made dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience or by surfeit <jaded network viewers> <jaded voters>
— jad·ed·lyadverb
— jad·ed·nessnoun
See jaded defined for English-language learners »
Examples of JADED

  1. He became jaded from years of work as a police officer.
  2. a public jaded by political scandals
  3. Oh, yes, mate, they're all jaded here now—their last gasps of innocence sucked out of them by Olympic pharaohs who at first played a blatant game of bait-and-switch with Games tickets, furtively putting aside vast quantities of the best seats to sell to fat cats at higher prices. —Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated, 11 Sep. 2000
  4. I'm jaded with the pulls on me that I can't answer to. I've made up my mind that with a few people to abet me I won't do one single thing in verse or out of it or with it till I God damn please for the rest of my natural life. —Robert Frost, letter, 12 Aug. 1924
  5. [+]more[-]hide
Origin of JADED

(see 1jade)
First Known Use: 1600
Related to JADED

Synonyms: all in, aweary [archaic], beat, beaten, bleary, burned-out (or burnt-out), bushed, dead, done, done in, drained, exhausted, fatigued, weary, knackered [British], limp, logy (also loggy), played out, pooped [slang], prostrate, spent, tapped out, tired, tuckered (out), washed-out, wearied, wiped out, worn, worn-out
Antonyms: unwearied
 
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