PLACE NAMES
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF HADDONFIELD
65th Anniversary, 1914 - 1979
The Society deeply appreciates
Mrs. Millicent T Carre's gift
toward the publishing of Mr. Farr's paper
as a memorial to the late Howard R. Kemble,
a life member.
This digital version was produced by the
with the kind permission of the author
PLACE NAMES
IN AND ABOUT HADDONFIELD
William R. Farr
One aspect of the history of any area is its "Place Names.,, These are the names of places which were of significance to the people who referred to them for identification, location, and other reasons. Place -names are a means of locating physical things on this earth.
It is difficult to know what to include in the reference or "place names"; the approach can be restrictive, or broad, depending upon one's concept of such names.
In this endeavor, a middle ground has been taken, but leaning toward the broad inclusion, perhaps permissible because of the relatively small area involved. In doing a place-names study of a state or county, one would be more selective in what was included. It may be said that what is included herein is not limited to place names. The reprinting or republishing of existing historical material is sometimes warranted solely because the reader may not have ready access to earlier publications; secondly, the material can be supplemented by other and new material which has come to light.
The purposes and limitations of this kind of work should be understood. The purposes are to include all discoverable names, to try to discover the reason for the name, its earliest use, and any changes which have occurred over the years. This endeavor is not intended to be a history of any place or event, nor a genealogy or history of any family. But the temptation is to include some bits of history.
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Interest in place names is becoming more widespread as their impact on history, and history's impact on them, is more recognized.
There is fairly general agreement on what is meant by a "place name". Webster's Collegate Dictionary defines it simply, but broadly, as "the name of a geographical locality", and "locality" as "a particular spot, situation, or location". Frequently a building, bridge or other structure, a business, educational site, railroad station, and the like, seems to justify being referred to as a place name. And in the relatively small area encompassed by this work, we have even stretched it to include a burying ground, grove, two mills, and several historical estates.
There are the physical features of the earth, which are generally included, depending upon their significance and whether they bear a name, to wit, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, hills. Physical features frequently provide the earliest place names such as Cooper's Creek.
A special effort has been made to give reference citations for most statements. The reason for this is to help other researchers to go back to these sources for related data, whether it be genealogical or historical.
Place names have a way of disappearing, but the usual reason is that there is no longer a need for them. For example, Stoy's Landing, Mann's Hill, and The Point; or the "Place" has been swallowed up by surrounding development: Reillytown, Stokleytown, Batesville; or the physical place has passed into oblivion: Dog Hollow, Axford's Landing, Clement's Brick Pond, Birdwood Branch.
Since this work is not intended to be current, no land or housing developments which came into existence during or after World War II are included. "Every PlaceName means something, or at least once did. Only in the
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degenerate Nineteenth Century had men begun to coin silly, meaningless names". (James B. Johnson, PlaceNames of Scotland, 3rd Ed., 1934, Republished 1970).
Information about many place names, even some relatively recent ones, is not easily come by. Names were frequently referred to casually, and the contemporary people all knew where they were and therefore did not indicate their location. The best single source is maps, since they give a spelling, usually are dated, and give an exact or approximate location. But almost any written material can be a source. In some cases, we have only personal recollection to rely upon, but this can be useful since the information is usually first hand.
One of the -frustrations of place-name research (as with many other research areas) is that it can never be considered finished. There are corrections or additions that could be made to this work, but if we wait for perfection, what information we have discovered will never see the light of day.
There is a scarcity of published place-name research, at least for the South Jersey area. There is only one work of note for Camden County. That is Charles S. Boyer's The Origin and Meaning of Place Names in Camden County printed in the West Jersey Press in May and June, 1935, and published as a pamphlet by the Camden County Historical Society. It contains only about a dozen names associated with the Haddonfield area. Although it gives practically no citations of source., it is a useful and interesting work.
It has been difficult to decide what should be considered to be in "the vicinity" of Haddonfield. The area within which one would say that he lives in the vicinity of Haddonfield has been greatly reduced during, the past century. The nearest principal towns to
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Haddonfield in 1875 were Mount Ephraim, Camden, Moorestown, Berlin, Clementon,, and Chews Landing. Most of the names included in this work are within one and one-half miles of the intersection of Haddon Avenue and Kings Highway.
Several railroad stations have been included. These were important to the inhabitants. In recent years, many of the stations and their buildings have disappeared. They have historical significance because their names were usually connected with the section which they served, and therefore they are considered to be place names.
The upper portion of present Camden County was settled mostly by Irish and English immigrants, and this is reflected by its early place names: Newton, Haddonfield, Axford's Landing, Batesville, Cooper's Creek. But in the case of Haddonfield and vicinity, a great number of place names are derived from family names: Stokleytown, Redman's Woods, Mann's Hill, Kaysville and Evans Lake.
There are a number of persons who have provided the writer with helpful information. Mention should be made (with possible unintentional omissions) of David C. Munn, William J. Mihm, Edith Hoelle, Paul d. Wilkening, Harry Marvin (deceased), William C. Leap, John D. F. Morgan (deceased), Howard R. Kemble (deceased), Robert A. Stanton, Dr. Roscoe Moore (deceased); also the West Jersey Title & Guaranty Co. This work would not have seen the light of day without the assistance of Mr. Munn, who also provided proof reading and editorial help.
These sources are cited frequently in this work, and the following abbreviations have been adopted to save space:
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Boyer, Charles Shimer Rambles Through
Old Highways and Byways of West Jersey.
Camden: Camden County Historical Society,
1967.Boyer's Rambles
Friends' Historical Association on,
Philadelphia. Bulletin 1906 + Bull. F. H. S.
Clement, John Sketches of the First
Emigrant Settlers of Newton Township
Camden: S. Chew., 1877 Clement
Camden. Camden County Historical Society. .
Gloucester County Road Returns (book-page) Glo. Co. RR
(Archives of the State of New Jersey)
Documents relating to the colonial
revolutionary and post-revolutionary
history of the State of New Jersey NJA
v 1-42, 1-5, 2d ser. Newark: 1880-1949
Prowell, George R. History of Camden Prowell
County. Philadelphia: L.J. Richards , 1886
Historical Society of Haddonfield. This
is Haddonfield. Haddonfield, 1963. T. I. H.
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At times in the past, researchers have referred to early settlements such as Newton and Upton as I'lost". But these places have in more recent years been definitively located, thus dispelling the "lost" aspect. But one which has defied the efforts of local historians, even the redoubtable Judge John Clement, is "Apple-Town".
He wrote: "In 1690, Daniel Howell sold sixty acres, part of the original tract, to Josiah Appleton, which joined other lands owned by John and Richard Appleton, at a place then called Apple-town. This was a village which stood near the most westerly boundary of the original tract fronting the navigation of Cooper's Creek, and, no doubt, deriving many advantages therefrom. What tradition and ancient records have done for the faithful searchers after the curious and the true among the almost forgotten stories and neglected books that attract the attention of antiquarians, has escaped the notice of such seekers, in order to bring down to the present generation the site and history of Apple-town, -a place that had a name and a locality in 1690, but at the present day, has left no trustworthy memorials." (Clement, p. 227)
Charles S. Boyer, wrote "APPLETON, the name of a plantation within the present limits of Haddonfield, was so-called by William Lovejoy, in honor of his home town in Middlesex, England. In 1691, he bought from Richard Mathews one hundred acres of land on the south branch of Cooper's Creek and near the old Burlington-Salem road." (Boyer's Place Names)
Boyer states elsewhere (on his 3x5 place-name cards at Camden County Historical Society), "This is evidently part of the farm on the Marlton Pike and
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Cooper River, but the exact boundaries are now unknown". This would place the site in Cherry Hill Township.
The 1690 deed for 60 acres, from Daniel Howell to Josiah Appleton (NJA XXI, p. 458) contains the only reference available to this place. It simply identifies Josiah Appleton as "of Appletowne.² There is nothing in the deed to justify the conclusion that the 60 acres was "at a place then called Apple-town. " And there is less justification for the conclusion that a plantation called "Appleton" existed within the limits of Haddonfield.
It does appear that Richard and Josiah Appleton acquired substantial acreage in present Cherry Hill Township, but it does not follow that either of them lived there, or that the place was called "Appleton."
In 1698, Josiah Appleton "of Evesham Township purchased from his brother John 200 acres adjoining the 60 acres. (NJA XXI, p. 511) In 1695 he was referred to as an adjoining owner to a survey to Thomas Wallis on the north side of a branch of Pennsauken Creek. (ibid, p. 374)
John was referred to as "of Pennsauken Creek" in 1684 (ibid, p. 457) and "of Philadelphia" in 1698. (ibid, p. 511)
The 60 acres, according to Clement, were part of the original Thomas Howell tract. This tract, although large (650 acres), and Lronting the. navigation of Cooper's Creek, " as he states, extended downstream to about Cuthbert Road, and could not have extended upstream as far as Haddonfield.
The first railroad linldng Philadelphia and Camden
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with the shore, The Camden and Atlantic Railroad, was opened in 1854. A station was needed where the railroad crossed the Clements Bridge-Evesham Road and it was named "Ashland." This was the principal station between Haddonfield and Kirkwood.
There may already have been a sparse settlement in the area, not only because of the importance of the Clements Bridge-Evesham Road, but also because Burnt Mill Road crosses said road a short distance east of the station. This new means to reach Camden and Philadelphia undoubtedly spurred the building of homes nearby. As the community grew it assumed the name of the railroad station, as so frequently happened.
Numerous authorities point to the derivation of the name as Henry Clay's Estate at Lexington, Kentucky, bearing the same name.
As a result of the recent construction activity, Ashland hardly seems like a separate community anymore, but its name is still preserved on the "High Speed Line" station built there.
AXFORD'S LANDING (alias
CLEMENZ LANDING AND
OXFORD'S LANDING)
During the early development of West Jersey, because of the density of the forests and the difficulties of building roads or anything resembling them, the streams which emptied into the Delaware River provided the easiest highways for those living in the interior.
In Camden County, one of the main streams was Cooper's Creek. On each stream there was a "head of navigation" above which it was either impossible or impracticable to attempt to navigate any craft except for pleasure. This point on any stream changed for various reasons over the several hundred years of settlement of our area.
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farmers' needs, purchased in that city, could be unloaded. Most of these were private landings, established by a landowner with stream frontage for his and his neighbors' convenience.
Soon after 1692, Edward Clemenz established a landing, in what is now Cherry Hill, at the forks formed by the above-mentioned branches, which landing took his name and apparently was of some importance. In 1715, he devised to his daughter Hannah his land bordering on the north side of the Creek. (NJA XXIII 97) In his Will he is referred to as "Clement." Hannah married Jonathan Axford, and the landing was thereafter (even as late as 1886) known as Axford's Landing.
Prowell states (p. 381) that "Boats were built at all landings up the stream as high as Oxford's (sic) Landing. 'I He also points out (pp. 723-24) that the landing was the site of an Indian encampment, but the location of the landing can not be fixed with exactness.
BARRINGTON (Dentdale)
This town originated where the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad crosses Clements Bridge Road. The railroad was first put into use 25 July 1877. A station was erected and called Dentdale, a name rarely used for the place. A residential development was laid out about 1890, calling the place Barrington, and the
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station name was changed accordingly.
The best explanation of the origin of the name is contained in a Camden Evening Courier story of 20 March 1930. It was stated that when Burr Haines sold a tract to the developers, the name "Burrwood" was suggested, but William Simpson, a prominent member of the group, won out with a reference to his former hometown of Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
"Dentdale" is supposed to have been based on the fact that the railroad tracks were laid in a sort of valley.
Barrington did not get its own post office until 1913, prior to which the residents were obliged to go to Haddonfield, Haddon Heights or Mt. Ephraim for their mail. Incorporation as a separate borough came by an act of the legislature in 1917. (P.L. 1917, Ch 190)
At present two roads meet southeast of Haddonfield to use in common a bridge across the South Branch of Cooper's Creek, which permits direct access to the heart of the town. It was and is not unusual to have several roads converge to cross a stream. Such a location was usually favorable for fording a stream, and had in many instances been so used by the Indians long before the Europeans arrived.
The two roads mentioned are the Haddonfield to Long-A-Coming (Berlin) Road and the Dorton's Mill (Kresson or Milford) Road. It is not known when the stream was initially bridged at this point, but it was some time prior to 1803, and the first mentioned road was in existence prior to that year.
On April 18, 1803 the Borton's Mill Road (which
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previously connected with Kings Highway just west of Evans' Lake) was relocated to begin at the "bridge over the head of Kay's Mill Pond" in the "road leading from thence to Bodine's Tavern" (which was located at LongA-Coming). (Glo. RR A-265)
This spot therefore experienced considerable traffic, and as a result a tavern was licensed in the point of the two roads, known as the "Blazing Rag,² kept by Joseph Bates (Boyer's Place Names). A tavern usually encouraged some sort of a settlement in the area, and this was true of the site in question, but it happened slowly.
The Bates family had its origin in this area with William Bates, who arrived from Ireland in 1670. (Clement, p. 53) A descendant of the same name "settled on the east side of a tributary of the south branch of Cooper's Creek, known as Tindall's run, about two miles east of Haddonfield.² (ibid, p. 54) The Bates family continued to own large tracts of land in this section well into the nineteenth century.
About the middle of that century, William Bates laid out some of his land into lots for homebuilding. Sidney's 1847 map of Delaware Township shows Bates as owning 52 acres on the north side of Borton's Mill Road, running down to Evans' Pond, along the road. There were still but a few houses in the area. But the 1877 Hopkins map of the township shows a number of house lots on the north side of the road, near the creek; it also shows a number of homes along the Lon -A9 Coming Road.
The settlement was somewhat triangular, being also bounded by Caldwell Road (now partly Brace Road), which was laid out in 1804. (Glo. Co. RR B-15) The settlement took the name of "Batesville, ³ and it is still so known by older residents of the Haddonfield Area.
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In 1794 John Estaugh Hopldns built a house for his son William, which William's wife, Ann Morgan, named Birdwood. Perhaps the name was suggested by the extensive grove of trees on the Hopldns estate. The house still stands, although it was remodeled in 1845. The original estate was 117 acres and remained in the Hopkins family for many generations. (T. I. H., p. 156) No doubt the estate was also called Birdwood.
The William E. Hopkins 1822 Division of Lands (Book 1, at Woodbury, p. 400) shows the estate at that time to have been about 165 acres. It occupied all land encompassed within Cooper's Creek, Grove Street (Stoy's Landing Road), and Hopkins Pond.
In 1913 Gilbert & O'Callaghan developed the "Birdwood Tract", extending from Maple Avenue to Windsor Avenue and from Grove Street to Cooper's Creek.
This small stream rises somewhere in the section bounded by Maple and Haddon Avenues and Grove Street. The 1907 Hopkins, Haddonfield, shows its origination point as a spring about 700 feet west of Grove Street, and just south of Maple Avenue. It flows east underground to Grove Street, and continues east as a ravine to empty into Cooper's Creek near the sewage disposal plant. The earliest map which I have come across which shows the stream is the William E. Hopkins 1822 Division of Lands. (Book 1 of Divisions Woodbury, p. 400) The only map I have discovered which names it is the Haddonfield Tax Map. . See BIRDWOOD for the reason for the name.
BORTON'S HILL (see Hinchman's
Hill)
There is a map in the files of West Jersey Title &
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Guaranty Company entitled "West Haddonfield Land Co. Title Lines, 1 April 1894, by E. F. Trotman, 11 (Envelope 819) on which is shown "brick pond" about where Haddonfield Commons is located, on the southwest side of Haddon Avenue.
Samuel N. Rhoads in an article "Haddon Hall of Haddonfield,² Bull. F. H.S., June 1909, p. 63 states: There is an old clay pond, or marsh, just across the turnpike from, and nearly opposite to the Haddon Hall site, and distant therefrom about 300 yards. Only of late years has it dawned upon me that this blemish on the once fertile field of the Redman family was a legacy of the thrift of their collateral ancestor, Elizabeth E staugh, in her building operations." The pond would have resulted from water accumulating in the excavation where clay was dug for bricks.
BRICK POND (see also Clement's
Brickyard)
This small stream, named almost 300 years ago, is rarely shown on maps and almost never identified. If one drives on Park Boulevard in Cherry Hill, from Kings Highway to Caldwell Road, it lies in the gorge on the right. It originates northeast of Brace Road under which it flows, as well as under Caldwell Road, to join Evans Lake.
It was named for John Buckman, a blacksmith, who lived in this vicinity (1939 W. P.A. transcription of the First Quarter Century, Documents of Gloucester County, p. 210, which also referred to "A Bridge by tho: Buckman" p. 211) This was the bridge over the South Branch of Cooper's Creek needed by the Old Salem Road. (See Harry Marvin's November 1936 map relating
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to the location of that road near Haddonfield.)
Buckman's Run is referred to as a boundary of a fifty acre survey to William Lovejoy in 1696, and of a 318 acre survey to John Kay in 1709.
A 1696-97 deed from Buckman to Martin Jarvis for twenty-nine acres on the southside of the North Branch of Cooper's Creek recites that Buckman bought it of William Lovejoy 18 June 1695: Jarvis reconveyed it to Buckman 1 September 1701. (NJA XXI, p. 678)
In 1699, Buckman bought eighty acres on the North Branch from Edward Clements, between Buckman's other land and John Kay. (ibid, p. 671)
Buckman died in 1713. (NJA XXM, p. 70) Julia Gill's -unpublished genealogy of the Gill Family states that Buckman and other members of his family sailed from England on the Welcome,, arriving in the Delaware River in 1682.
There are a number of Haddonfield place-names related to the Camden County Park System. Camden County Park System as Constructed by Camden County Park Commission, edited by C. Oscar Brown was published in 1937. References are by "C.C.P.S.". Haddonfield's contact is with the main branch and the South Branch of the Cooper's Creek.
James Lane Pennypacker, a longtime resident of Haddonfield, was beloved by the community because of his varied talents and active interest in community
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affairs. He loved nature. He died in 1934, and the section extending on both sides of Cooper's Creek, from Grove Street to Kings Highway, was in the same year named Pennypacker Parkin his memory. C. C. P. S. (p. 101)
Just upstream from where Grove Street crosses the Cooper River, a lake was created by dredging and enlarging the stream and was given this name. C.C.P.S. (pp. 100, 109)
The section from Kings Highway to Ellis Street was at first known as Munn Meadow. It was renamed Wallworth Park for Joseph F. Wallworth, first president of the Commission, following his death in 1933. (C. C. P. S., p. 116) But the name Evans has so long been associated with this area that it is frequently known and designated as Evans Park.
Samuel Clement was operating a brickyard at Haddonfield, when he died in 1765, and was succeeded by his son of the same name. (Early Brickmaldng in New Jersey, H.B. &G.M. Weiss, 1966, N.J. Agriculture Society, P. 32)
Joseph N. Hartel supplies the information that Clement's Brick Pond was located at 120 Kings Highway West until 1890 when Elwood Evans built the house which stands there.
Clement was operating the brickyard as early as 1739. ("...thence following Samuel Clement's fence by the brickyard into the Kings Road ... " Road Return 7 June 1739, Glo. Twp. Minutes, 1747-1808, p. 154)
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The brickyard was again referred to in a Road Return, 6 June 1757. ("Beginning at Salem Road by Samuel Clement's brick yard.... ³ ibid)
Early Briclanaking ', (p. 32) states that the 1757 road return was for Chews Landing Road. That appears to be incorrect; that road was not laid out until 1807. (Gloc.
Co. RR B-35) A map (circa Revolutionary War) in Samuel S. Smith's Fight for the Delaware (p. 19) shows no road from the west end of Haddonfield direct to Clements Bridge Road. Hill's map (1807) shows a proposed one as "Zanes New Road To Haddonfield." The 1807 return makes no mention of an existing road, nor of "vacating" or
"relaying." The 1739 and 1757 returns were apparently for sections of the Old Egg Harbor Road, which became Warwick Road. (Formerly Mansion Avenue)
CLEMENZ LANDING (see Axford's
Landing)
COLES LANDING (Haddon Landing)
This landing, which is somewhat identified with STOY'S LANDING, was apparently established later than Stoy's Landing. It was located approximately where the
Haddon Township sewage treatment plant now is. In 1823 a private road was laid out from present Haddon Avenue on a direct line to Josiah E. Coles Landing. (Glo. Co.RR, C-1) The private road became a public road by CA-172 (1870) and was extended to present Grove Street. When the railroad spur line was built to Delair, the road was bisected. The Westmont end is now Locust Avenue. The road was continued to Maple Avenue along the east side of the railroad. The 1877 Hopkins, Haddon Township shows J. Stokes Cole owning seventy-one acres along the western side of this road. The landing passed into the hands of the Willits family.
Anyone interested in tracing the ownership could start with
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a deed from Samuel S. Willits to Samuel A. Willits, et al. for his interest in "Willits and Browning (formerly Coles) Landing." (dated 19 March 1867, recorded Cam. Co. Register of Deeds in Book 52 of Deeds, p. 51) The 1870 road return refers to it as "Willets and Evan's Landing.
On a topographic map of Haddonfield vicinity, the late Henry Marvin noted "Coles Landing I believe the Haddon Landing". This is the only reference this writer has seen to Haddon Landing.
COLLINS LANDING (see Stoy's
Landing)
This large stream was the original northeasterly boundary of Newton Township, and as a result, now forms a similar boundary of Haddonfield Borough. It was of much significance, in many ways, to the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Haddonfield, the greatest of which was to serve as a highway to and from Philadelphia and the Delaware River. The writer was informed by someone not now remembered that, in order to get the lower end dredged with federal funds, the "creek" was designated a "river" by the New Jersey Legislature (P. L. 1911, Ch 56) See also KAY'S MILL BRANCH.
A natural park and nature study area located on borough property in the extreme southern end of town, reached via Centre Street. The Crows Woods Nature Center Association assists in making this facility more available and useful to those who wish to make use of it. The only explanation for the name is traditional, that great numbers of crows roosted in the high trees in the woods.
CUTHBERT STATION (see Westmont
Station)
DENTDALE (see Barrington)
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The 1877 Hopkins, Delaware (now Cherry Hill) Township shows an area adjoining and northwest of a small stream which flows north to the North Branch of Coopers Creek, which area is designated as "Dog Hollow". It would appear that N.J. Route 41 (Brace Road) passed right through it and that, whatever interest it might have had, it has now been destroyed. The si ificance of the name is not evident. James Lane Pennypacker, in his book Verse And Prose,, the Historical Society of Haddon- field, 1936, refers to the place. (pp. 72, 75)
In the 1 July 1882 Camden Post appeared an advertisement for a Fourth of July picnic to be held at "Doyle's Woods near Haddonfield." "...The trains will stop at Glenwood Station. . . convenient to the grounds. I I This researcher has been unable to identify either Doyle or the woods. "The proceeds will be used to buy stones for the foundation of St. James New Catholic Church, Haddonfield, N.J." It appears that there was no Catholic Church building in Haddonfield until 1941, when Christ The King Church was erected. (T.I.H., p. 114, and authorities therein cited)
DUCK POND (Haddonfield Pond)
The GITHENS PLASTER MILL POND, which was also known as Haddonfield Pond
In 1881, a branch of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad was built to provide transportation for the fruit and produce farms in the Marlton-Medford area. It was known as the Marlton & Medford Railroad (sometimes the Philadelphia, Marlton & Medford Railroad).
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This line joined the main tracks not far below East Summit Avenue. Driving south on Centre Street, past Reilly's Woods, and pausing at the top of the bill, opposite the entrance to the borough facilities, there is a vacant area on the right, extending to the high speed line tracks. This was part of the now abandoned right of way.
The junction of the two lines was known as EAST HADDONFIELD JUNCTION. (1911 Report of the Public Utility Commrs., p. 354).
Gloucester County Road Return A-5 (1751) refers to the "King's Road which runs through ...Oxford's (Axford) Land between Simons Ellises Bridge and Kay's Bridge...." There is in the Foster-Clement Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania a map showing the roads in the Haddonfield vicinity. Although undated it appears to have been made in the very earliest years of the nineteenth century. It shows "Ellis Bridge" where the "Road from Haddonfield to Moorestown" (which appears to be present Kings Highway) crossed the north Branch of Cooper's Creek.
Boyer's Historical Notes (at C.C.H.S.) states "Ellis Bridge over Cooper's Creek where the SalemBurlington Road crossed a short distance north of the present residence of John Ballinger (1894). " The 1877 Hopkins, Delaware Township shows the Ballinger farm and residence. This would place the bridge about where present Brace Road crosses the North Branch. Thomas Sharp's 1700 map (Clement) shows a bridge there.
Harry Marvin's map of Old Salem Road, (T. I. H.) shows the old road crossing the branch at the same spot. That crossing was apparently abandoned as the road was straightened and the road became the same, or nearly the same, as present Kings Highway.
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Simeon Ellis, who died in 1715, owned much land in the Haddonfield-Ellisburg area, including several tracts of land "some of which lay on the south side of the North Branch, now included in the farms of John Ballinger and others adjoining". (Clement, p.183) He left a number of sons, one of whom was named Simeon. (ibid, p. 184) Thus there is no particular inconsistency in naming the two bridges, albeit 500 yards apart, for the Ellis Family.
The name given to the lake, created by the Camden County Park Commission, which extends from Old Borton's Mill Road downstream to Kings Highway. The body of water extending upstream from the road to the Ellis Street Bridge has been known for one hundred fifty years as Evans Pond or Evans Mill Pond.
EVANS MILLS (Kendall's Mill,
Free Lodge Mill,
Lovejoy's Mill, Kay's Mill,
Haddonfield Mills)
There was a series of mills on the Main (South) Branch of Cooper's Creek at Haddonfield. They have been described in Boyer's Old Mills of Camden County, p. 30; Clement, p. 171; T.I.H., p. 214; Prowell, p. 608. This article is intended to comment upon and supplement those accounts.
All of them state that the original corn (later grist) mill was built by Thomas Kendall. Boyer suggests, on the basis of Sharp's 1700 map, that William Lovejoy built it, but that map can easily be interpreted otherwise; furthermore, the records indicate that it was built during Kendall's ownership.
Lovejoy conveyed 121 acres to Kendall. (NJA XXJJ, p. 513, 26 July 1697) Boyer states that this was the same tract which Lovejoy bought of Elias Farr. (NJA XXI, p. 666, 15 June 1691) In fact the Lovejoy to Kendall deed recites that seventy-one acres were from the tract purchased of Farr (Lovejoy had sold the other twenty-nine acres to
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Thomas Buckman, 18 June 1695; (recital in deed, Buckman to Jarvis, XXI, p. 678)) and that he (Lovejoy) had acquired title to the other by process of law, which could reasonably be interpreted to mean that he sued a debtor of his, got a judgment, had a levy made on the debtor's fifty acres, and bought the property in at the -sheriff Is sale. The debtor is not identified in the mostly illegible record of the Lovejoy-Kendall deed.
Kendall conveyed the 121 acre tract to William and John Hollinshead and Nathan Westland, (NJA XXI, p. 674, 6 November 1700) the deed using this language: ". . . together with that Corne-Mill by ye so Thomas Kendall all upon ye same tract of land built and erected and all and singular ye Mill-Damms streams waters water-courses ... and appurtnances to ye so Corne Mill .²
The history of the mills extends over a period of almost 300 years. There was the original corn mill (later grist mill), a saw mill, and a fulling mill, all apparently on the same tract of land. . I
The original mill pond was probably two-thirds of what we now know as Evans Pond, which pond extends fro , m the Ellis Street bridge downstream to the bridge where Old Borton's Mill Road crosses.
When John Kay rebuilt the mill, he built the new mill and dam about 100 yards further downstream, thus enlarging the mill pond to its present size. That was in 1779 (Prowell, p. 609) and for the ensuing 150 years the stream was just a stream below that, flowing through meadow and swamp. It was not until the County Park System was created and went into operation in the 1920s and 1930s that a dam and spillway were built just upstream from Kings Highway, creating the additional pond.
23
The original corn mill was built where the Old Salem Road crossed the stream, between Ellis Street and Borton's Mill Road. (See Sharp's map) The mill was on the Haddonfield side and thus in Old Newton Township, and " ... its site can still be seen in the bed of the pond when the water is low. " (Prowell, P. 609)
Clement, p. 172, states that "The mill stood some distance below the dam, at the end of the race-way cut in the bank ... The remains of this raceway may yet be seen,- but the site is entirely obliterated.² Undoubtedly the enlargement of the mill pond by John Kay caused the obliteration of the original site.
The sites of the several mills was or became significant, at least from a tax standpoint. The original mill was in Newton Township, but when rebuilt was in WaterfordDelaware-Cherry Hill Township. The fulling mill was on the Haddonfield side. The location of the sawmill is unknown; the only reference to it is Boyer, (p.31) as1716-17.
Boyer states that James M'Dowell, who advertised for customers for his fulling and dying business in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 23 September 1772, (NJA XXVIII, 2d Series, p. 254) lived at Haddonfield. He implies, probably correctly, that M'Dowell owned or controlled the fulling mill on Cooper's Creek, but the fact is that the advertisement states "now living at Haddonfield Mills, and there is nothing to directly connect him with the fulling mill on Cooper's Creek. Research has failed to identify either M'Dowell or Haddonfield Mills.
The mill and property passed through several hands between 1702 and 1710; (Prowell, p. 608) and in 1839 it was rebuilt by Thomas Evans, who had purchased it in 1819 from Mathias Kay. (ibid, p. 609) On 12 January 1956, Walter W. Evans gave to the Camden County Historical Society the date stone from the 1779 mill. In an accompanying memorandum of that date he states that the mill was
2
destroyed by fire in 1913, but the 1779 date stone, which had been retained in the 1839 rebuilding, was saved. He further states that the 1779 mill was of one story of sandstone, and the second story wa's added by Thomas Evans in 1839.
On Harry Marvin's map appended to T.I.H., he identifies the grist mill as "Howell's Mill 1704. " Boyer states that the mill passed from Henry Treadway to Mordecai Howell in 1705, but gives no citation of authority. He further states that in 1708 it was sold by Howell, so that he was the owner for only three years.
The story is told (source forgotten) that when the rains were heavy and the streams ran full, and the dams upstream on the South Branch would go out, a horse and rider were dispatched to race down the Haddonfield-Berlin Road to warn the mill owner at Haddonfield so that the floodgates could be opened to prevent the dam there from being destroyed.
EVANS MILL POND (KAY'S MILL
POND)
Kay's Mill Dam (see Evans Mills) created the body of water on the South Branch of Cooper's Creek which we know today as Evans Pond. When the Evans family acquired the mill property in 1819, it became and remained Evans Mill Pond. It is referred to in Glo. RR, A-225 (1798) as "Isaac Kay's Mill Pond.'?
It may surprise some Haddonfield residents to learn that the borough line along the east side of the pond extends into what would be presumed to be Cherry Hill Township. First the creek, and then the pond, was always the dividing line between Newton and Waterford-Delaware -Cherry Hill Township. The Lovejoy survey, with which the mill property originated, involved land on both sides, and -this would have been normal since the mill owner would want to have complete control of the pond.
25
The legislative act incorporating the Borough of Haddonfield (Ch. CXCIII, P.L. 1875) fixed part of the easterly boundary as ³ ... to Cooper's Creek; thence along the easterly margin of said creek to a point opposite the line dividing the lands of William Mann and John Hopkin's; thence crossing said creek and following said dividing line to Hopkins Pond .... " So that the Haddonfield municipal boundary was always on the Cherry Hill side of the pond.
But, again by legislative action (P. L. 1916 Ch. 180), an additional part of Delaware Township was annexed to Haddonfield, the annexed area being described as follows: "Beginning at a point in the center line of a bridge over Coopers river, at Ellis street where said line intersects the easterly line of the borough of Haddonfield, thence (1) southeasterly along the northerly side of Kresson road (formerly Millford road) one hundred and fifty feet to a point; thence (2) in a northeasterly direction and at a uniform distance of one hundred and fifty feet on the easterly side of a line, one rod from the line of the established high water mark, this being the line of the mill rights of the estate of the now or late J.B. Evans; and following the various courses and distances parallel to the lines of the said mill rights and thus continuing to a point in the north side of Mill Road; thence (3) westwardly along the said northerly line of said Mill Road the various courses and distances thereof to a point where the said road intersects the line of the Borough of Haddonfield; thence (4) along the said boundary line of the Borough .... to the place of beginning.. . "
The reason for this intrusion into Cherry Hill Township is not evident. More than half of the area east of the pond seems to be under the jurisdiction of the Camden County Park Commission, (see Haddonfield tax
26
"Thomas Githens also ran a plaster mill. Mr. Walter Stoy has a map of 1813 showing its location on Hinchman land, and, another map of 1828 after it had been moved to Stoy property adjoining the Redman farm. Before Estaugh Ave. was opened there was a short street running north from Euclid Ave. called Grape Street. It ended in the Duck Pond a nice safe place for children to skate in winter. In 1828 this was a sizeable body of water; it was called Haddonfield Pond and had furnished water power for Tommy Githens Plaister Mill." Carrie Hartel's The Smiths of Haddonfield. (typescript at C. C. H.S.)
Thus sometime between 1813 and 1828, the location of the mill was shifted to the left fork of the stream, in order that it would be on the Stoy property.
Boyer states that the mill was pictured and referred to as Haddon Mill in 1830 in The Casket published by S. C. Atkinson of Philadelphia. He also states "A plaster mill was merely the adoption of the gristmill to the grinding of limerock for agricultural purposes,² and that it came to Philadelphia as ballast from France. j Yet Hubert G. Smith in Agriculture in New Jersey , Rutgers University Press, 1973, (p. 125) states (a) land plaster, or plaster of Paris, was calcined gypsum; (b) it was imported from Nova Scotia and the Hudson Valley; (c) since it caked enroute it had to be pulverized at a "plaster breaker" at a local mill before it could be used. Plaster was used in farming between 1810 and 1890.
GLENWOOD STATION (see Westmont
Station)
28
GOAT HILL (Ghost Hill,
Haddonfield Hill, Haddonfield Flag)
South of Haddonfield, on Hutchinson Avenue, about 600 feet west of Warwick Road, is the summit of a bill 140 feet above sea level, shown on the 1872 Beers, Comstock & Cline State ' state Atlas, and on the 1877 Hopkins, Haddonfield, as Goat Hill. No explanation appears for the name but it was part of Gill's Haddon Farms pasture. The 1907 Hopkins, Haddonfield, shows the Union Water Company standpipe at the highest point. The late Dr. Roscoe Moore, of Magnolia, who at 95 years of age, quoted his father (who frequently walked Warwick Road to and from Haddonfield) as stating that near the entrance to Tavistock Country Club there was a stand of big trees. , The breezes which eminated from these trees inspired the black people of Snow Hill and Greenland to think of ghosts, and the hill at that point was known as GHOST HILL. The 1886 State Geologist's Report (p. 2) refers to Haddonfield Hill as one mile south of the village. The 1958 Revision of Sheet 31 of the State Topographic Series seems to identify the geodetic marker at the top of the hill as Haddonfield Flag.
GHOST HILL (see Goat Hill)
GREAT FIELDS (see Haddonfield)
GREENLAND (see Lavrnside)
GROVE LAKE (see Camden County
Park System)
HADDON FARMS
This was the name of the farm of Ephraim Tomlinson Gill, located on both sides of Warwick Road., containing 270 acres. The farm house was recently torn down and replaced by a modern dwelling. It was located on the east side of Warwick Road, between, Gill and
29
Glenwood Roads, and was built for John Gill V. and his wife, Elizabeth Tomlinson, who were married in 1854. (T.I.H.) Their son, Ephraim Tomlinson Gill was a remarkable person, world renowned for the breeding of dairy cattle and for many other innovations in farming. He died 25 December 1941. .
HADDONFIELD (Old Haddonfield,
New Haddonfield,
Hattonfield, Great Fields)
Clement (p. 115) states that the original house occupied by Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh was "on the brow of a hill on the south side of Cooper's Creek, at Cole I s Landing, " and according to the custom of the times in giving a name to such settlements, it was called "Haddonfield. " It was, as Clement observes, a sometime custom to designate a section or area as "so and so's field. "
Clement continues: "The name was retained until the building of the new house in 1713, erected still nearer the village as it now stands; after which it was called 'Old Haddonfield' in order to distinguish it from the more modern and extensive settlement last mentioned.²
Samuel N. Rhoads in an article entitled "Haddon Hall of Haddonfield" (Pull. F.H.S., Vol. 3, No. 2, June, 1909) writes "Haddonfield, at this time, (1713) was not the name for even a village; it literally was The Fields of Haddon. There were probably not more than two or three dwellings on the main street of the present town, and they of the most primitive sort, - a tavern, a blacksmith shop, a log cabin or two at magnificent distances. In short, the town of Haddonfield was not on the map, not even dreamt of.... ³
30
Apparently, Clement relied on the will of John Haddon, who died in 1723, wherein he referred to his two farms as "Old Haddonfield and "New Haddonfield. (NJA XXIII, p. 199)
Charles Boyer, in his Place Names, points out that "Haddonfield was probably not named after Elizabeth Haddon, but after her father, John Haddon, who, while never residing in America, was the owner of an extensive tract of land on which the village was built."
Variations of spelling (e.g. Hattonfield, Hattenfield) appeared from time to time: NJA XI, (p. 507) (1737); XXIV, (P. 368) (1764): XXVIII, (p. 16) (1772).
In the will of Daniel Hillman, 14 October 1754, the settlement is referred to as "Haddonfield Town." (NJA XXXII, p. 158)
Clement (p. 135) refers to the earliest settlement as "Great Fields." Prowell (who gives great credit to Clement for information) states (p. 340) that the old Indian trail from Perth Amboy to Salem "passed through Haddonfield, at which place was an Indian village and considerable cleared land, which later was known as the 'Great Field,² and apparently quotes from the Newton Township minutes "John Kay, at that time, resided at the cornmill and the 'Great Field' was part of John Haddon's estate, bounded by the King's Road and part of the village of Haddonfield.²
HADDONFIELD FLAG (see Goat
Hill)
HADDONFIELD HILL (see Goat
Hill)
HADDONFIELD HILL (see also
Mill Hill)
31
HADDONFIELD JUNCTION (see WEST
HADDONFIELD
STATION)
HADDONFIELD MILLS (see Evans
Mill)
HADDONFIELD GROVE
William Griffith's 152 acre plantation in present Haddon Township, shown on John Hills' 1807 Map of Philadelphia and Environs. The 1877 Hophins, Haddon Township , suggests that it encompassed the properties on both sides of the Main or Middle Branch of Newton Creek, including those of Edward and Aaron Stoy, Edw. Willis, S.M. Reeves and part of John Redman.
Established shortly before 1 January 1803, with John Branson as Postmaster. (The National Archives, letter 23 October 1950, to William C. Coles, Jr., of Moorestown)
HADDON MILL (see Githens'
Plaster Mill)
HADDON LANDING (see Coles
Landing)
HATTONFIELD (see Haddonfield)
HILL FARM (see Mountwell)
HINCHMANIS HILL (alias Borton's Hill)
The highest point in the Haddon Heights and Haddonfield area is on First Avenue in Haddon Heights, about midway between Kings Highway and Station Avenue, not
32
far west of the Haddonfield boundary. (Camden Quad) This hill eminence has usually been known as Hinchman's Hill.
The land encompassing the hill would have been within the vast tract acquired by John Hinchman in 1699. (Clement, p. 240) That part of the original 100 acres nearest to Haddonfield was purchased from John by his brother Joseph. Joseph's house lay on the north side of the Kings Road (approximately present Kings Highway) a short distance from where it crossed the Old Egg Harbor Road. (ibid, p.. 247) This latter road was approximately Hopkins Road (also known as "Brickiln Road") which now ends at Kings Highway near the hill in question.
All nineteenth century maps show numerous Hinchmans in this general area. However, the 1860 Lake & Beers Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Camden shows the hill tract to be owned by S. G. Collins.
In 1850, John Clement, Jr. made a map for Nathan Willits showing his three farms in the vicinity of the intersection of White Horse Pike and Clements Bridge Road, and it shows the land in question to be owned by one Borton. (Lines and Boundaries Book, Cam. Co. Register of Deeds) In 1855 one of the boundaries of the "upper district No. 1 called the Haddon School" was "to the road leading from Haddonfield to Mount Ephraim at its junction with the Brickiln Road near Borton' s Hill." (Manuscript copy of the boundaries signed by the District Trustees and the Town Superintendent (original at C. C. H.S.) This is where Hopkins Road meets Kings Highway.
HINCHMAN'S LANDING (see Stoy's
Landing)
33
HOPKINS MILL BRANCH (see
Hopkins Pond)
HOPKINS POND (Silver Lake or
Hopkins Mill Branch)
This beautiful pond in Haddonfield, surrounded by majestic trees, is located just east of where Grove Street angles northward, near Lake Street. It lies within the county park at that location. It is known as Hopkins Pond because the Hopkins family owned for many years all the land in the area, including the pond.
The pond is fed by a stream, known as Hopkins Mill Branch, which originates somewhere near Chestnut Street,
.91
south of Kings Highway. (T.I.H., p. 20) Most of it is piped now, so that it only becomes evident to the casually interested person when he crosses the bridge at Grove
Street.
The stream assumed significance when it was dammed in 1789 to provide water power for Hopkins Grist Mill. (ibid, p. 220) The 1877 Hopkins, Haddonfield, shows the pond as "Silver Lake". The 1907 Hopkins, Haddonfield, shows it as "Silver Lake (Hopkins Pond)."
The 1822 William E. Hopkins Division maps (Book 1 of Divisions, Surrogate's Office, Woodbury, p. 400) shows the stream simply as "Mill Branch. " Glo. Co. RR A-6 (1761) refers to it as "Hopkins Ditch."
HOWELL'S WOODS (Howell's
Grove)
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Zophar C. Howell owned a plantation of 225 acres in Centre Township, straddling Gloucester Pike (Sandy Lane) in present Barrington and Lawnside. In the angle formed
36
by Gloucester Pike and White Horse Pike was a stand of trees in which, apparently, was a pond at the headwaters of Beaver Branch of Little Timber Creek.
In the 23 July 1874 issue of 'The Basket appeared the following items: "The Sunday School of the M.E. Church announce a picnic ... in Howells Grove on the White Horse Turnpike; A union Camp Meeting will be held in Howels Grove, near Mt. Zion "
Glo. Co. RR A-85 (1783), which laid out Old Borton's Mill Road (Haddonfield to present Kresson), relied upon land ownership and landmarks for its courses, rather than give exact directions and distances. The Haddonfield end of the road was changed by Road Return A-264 (1803) so as to connect with Potter Street. The replaced portion is still in use and is shown by its old name on the tax map. Once it leaves Kresson Road in Cherry Hill Township it crosses Caldwell and Brace Roads where they intersect, and continues on the portion designated Evans Mill Road down the hill, across the dam bridge and out to KAngs Highway on the western side of the lake.
The 1783 road went "along the old road through Isaac Kay's land, then leaving the old road on the right hand, and then on a direct course through said (Joshua) Kay's land to a black oak fronting Isaac Kay's Old Brickyard Pond. ³
With the assistance of an undated map of Haddonfield and Vicinity , to be found in the Foster-Clement collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, it was possible to fix the route of the Haddonfield end of the old road with certainty. It was also possible to fix the location of the
37
brickyard pond as a short distance southeast of the intersection of Brace, Caldwell and Borton's Mill Roads.
It was apparently not unusual for a clay pit to become a "clay pond. " (see pamphlet Early Brickmaking In The Colonies by N. R. Ewan, published by the C. C. H.S., 1938, p. 13) "Ancient plantations... still show a well defined pit formation, indicating places where clay was excavated for the home-made bricks of the ancestral farm mansion. " (ibid, p. 2)
The pond in question is mentioned in Boyer's Indian Trails and Early Paths, C. C. H.S., Vol. 2, Part 2, (p. 108) 1938; Prowell, p. 344; and Early Brick Making in New Jersey, a pamphlet by Harry B. & Grace M. Weiss, published by New Jersey Agricultural Society, (p. 35), 1966; but all these references are based on the 1783 road return.
KAY'S MILL (see Evans Mill)
KAY'S MILL BRANCH (South
Branch Cooper's Creek)
The road return laying out the Haddonfield -Berlin Road refers to the South Branch of Cooper's Creek, where it was crossed, as "Kay's Mill Branch" (at present Batesville). (Glo. Co. RR A-225, 1798)
KAY'S MILL POND (see Evans
Mill Pond)
KAYSVILLE
Charles Boyer, Rambles, (p. 34) states: "Tn several old deeds and advertisements, we find mention of a place called 'Kaysville, I situated about 'one half
38
mile from Ellisburg, one mile from Haddonfield and about the same distance from several public landings on Cooper's Creek. I From the directions given of the tract, it is quite clear that it was located somewhere on what was later known as the I Fotteral Farm.²
Unfortunately he did not suggest the location of the "Fotteral Farm.² He does not explain why it was "clear" to him that the settlement was located there. Nor does he give the location of the deeds and advertisements for further review. He considered it a "lost" town. (Place Names)
His reference to the Fotteral Farm probably came from Clement, (p. 178) where the latter says, "Isaac (Kay) had his residence on what is generally known as the "Fotteral Farm, now owned by Hannah, the widow of Josiah B. Evans.
Research does not turn up any reference to the Fotterals. However, the 1877 Hopkins, Delaware Township (published the same year as Clement's book was published) shows a farm of 307 acres owned by the Estate of J. B. Evans, which surrounded the intersection of Caldwell and Brace Roads. Yet it hardly fits the distances mentioned in the advertisements.
The more likely location is about the middle of Barclay Farm in Cherry Hill. The 1840 Sidney Map of Delaware Township shows Isaac Kay's 165 acre farm, with a number of buildings, on the south side of the North Branch of Cooper's Creek. The Hopkins map shows him still owning the farm in 1877, but also shows a road leading directly to the farm buildings. The road was essentially Munn Avenue and Munn Avenue West.
39
Harry Marvin's 1936 Map of the Old Tuckerton Road (replaced by Marlton Pike) (original at C. C. H.S.) shows Munn Avenue as a "Provincial Road,² intersecting another such "Provincial Road" coming south from Ellisburg. This locale would approximately fit the distances above. referred to.
KENDALL'S MILL (see Evans
Mill)
The main branch of Newton Creek rises in the vicinity of Barberry Lane and Homestead Avenue. This branch becomes Crystal Lake in Westmont. On the way it is joined by an unnamed stream just outside the Haddonfield Borough line, in Haddon Township, near West End Avenue. There is little physical evidence of this small stream. The Haddonfield Tax Map does not show it.
It is evident from other sources however that the stream originates somewhere in the vicinity of Estaugh Avenue, southeast of Mt. Vernon Avenue. The stream and the property through which it ran were in Haddon Township until the "West End" was incorporated into the Borough of Haddonfield in 1904. A map of the "division" of the Thomas & Elizabeth Redman lands (West Jersey Title & Guaranty Co., Map Envelope 792) shows a small pond at the head of the stream, in what would be the vicinity of present Redman & Estaugh Avenues. The Commissioners' Report on the Division of the Redman tract is dated 20 June 1854,
A "Map of Property of West Haddonfield Land Co. by Fowler Lummis, 1893 (tracing in files of above title company, envelope 819) shows this small pond in dotted
40
lines in the vicinity indicated above.
In 1893 the West Haddonfield Land Co. acquired most of the Redman Farm. It prepared and filed several plans for development of the property and the sale of building lots. On one of these ("Plan of The Property of the West Haddonfield Land Co. by J. B. Sickler, Surveyor") apparently filed in the Cam. Co. Register of Deeds Office 18 August 1893 (copy in above title company files, Envelope 792), there is a Lake Haddon, apparently intended to be formed by an enlargement of the stream in question. It was located at the intersection of Estaugh & Woodland Avenues. It would appear to have been intended to occupy about one-third of an acre, with the avenues going around the perimeter. Additionally trees were indicated to surround it, to form a park. This was all within a rectangular area which extended from Mt. Vernon Avenue to Elm Avenue, with a width of 315 feet.
This lake, or rather the land it was proposed to occupy, was the subject of two law suits, Broadway Trust Co. v. Haddonfield, 123 Atlantic Reporter 534 (1924); and Blank v. Haddonfield,, 123 Atlantic Reporter 537 (1924), reversed 126 Atlantic Reporter 300.
The legal points in these cases, as well as the results, are of little significance to our present endeavor, but the recital of facts in the reports is interesting.
The court referred to some of the above-mentioned maps and others not presently available to the writer. The fact is that there is no Lake Haddon in that location nor was there ever. The court did state "Through the farm about the location marked 'Lake' was a natural drainage ditch, which drained the land evidently into a branch of Newton Creek. Where the 'Lake' is indicated
41
was a low place, in dry weather without any water, and in wet weather with water covering considerable area but of few inches depth... The Borough filled in the land designated as 'Lake' and graded and graveled Estaugh Street through the 'Lake' and ... placed a line of sewerage pipes in said Street."
A subsequent map by the land company omits the lake and trees and shows building lots which were sold off, except those needed to continue Estaugh Avenue.
LAWNSIDE (Snow Hill,
Freehaven, Greenland, Mt. Zion)
These names pertain to a section in which most of the residents are black. It has a substantial connection with Haddonfield since, for many years, all mail was picked up at Haddonfield and most business was conducted at Haddonfield.
The settlement is ancient. It straddled the Old Egg Harbor Road which followed fairly closely present Warwick Road in this vicinity. It was apparently just a scattered group of modest dwellings in the late 1700's, but with the establishment of the church now known as Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church, it began to take on some of the aspects of a community. It remained just one of the numerous settlements in Union, later Centre, Township until Lawnside became a Borough in 1926. (P. L. 1926, Ch 143, 145)
The 1809 Hills Map of Philadelphia and Vicinity shows the church and the name Snow Hill. There is confusion concerning the several names of this place, both as to the reason for the names and when they were used. It would appear that the first accepted name was
42
Snow Hill, and except for a brief period when called Freehaven (which never caught on), it continued to be so known until "'Lawnside" came into vogue in recent years.
There are two theories advanced for the origin of the name Snow Hill. One recites that after the Civil War there was a great migration of blacks to this area, many of whom came from Snow Hill, Maryland. (A True Story of Lawnside, N.J., a pamphlet by Charles C. Smiley, 1921) That is in clear conflict with the 1809 Hills map use of the name.
The other is expressed by Jennie W. Gunby in an informal typescript history titled "The Lawnside Heritage" dated 26 April 1964: "As the people cut down trees to clear space for houses, the highest point in Free Haven could easily be seen for miles ... Goodin's Hill (East Charleston Ave., just east of Warwick Road). In winter snow laid on Goodin's Hill. This Snow Hill was visible from Haddonfield."
This latter explanation is more romantic, but it implies the destruction, prior to 1809, of the protection for the residents, some of whom were not too anxious to be discovered.
About 1840, an abolitionist, Ralph Smith of Haddonfield, bought a tract of land in the vicinity and laid it out in streets and building lots, and called it "Free Haven", the connotations of which are obvious. The date is substantiated by the following newspaper item: "On March 18, 1840, Arthur Bowyer, Samuel Sharp, Jr., Anthony Till, Kendall Smith, Moses Brown., Peter Johnson and Robert Cooper, all colored, were elected trustees of Freehaven School for colored children
43
the Howell Estate known as "Lawnton." The J. T. Van Cleef Railroad Map of New Jersey , 1887, shows the railroad stop as "Lawnton". On the present Lawnside Tax Map Gloucester Pike is shown as "Lawnton Avenue." The Walker Lithograph Company map of Southern New Jersey, 1898, shows the stop as 'Lawnside.² The railroads originated their own names for stops (as does the Post Office Department for its offices), having in mind easy pronunciation and spelling.
44
The origin of New Jersey Place Names (a W. P.A. project reissued in 1945 by New Jersey Public Library Commission, p. 18) states that the name derived from the lawn beside the railroad station. Nothing could be farther from the truth, It seems rather obvious that "Lawnton" became "Lawnton Station." The station area and the way to it was a dusty place, not a place of greenery as suggested by a green lawn. Dr. Roscoe Moore recalled that there was a rag kept in a tree so that people who had walked to the station could wipe the dust off their shoes before boarding the train.
The settlement has ocasionally been referred to as "Mt. Zion² specifically the area at the intersection of Gloucester Pike and White Horse Pike, near Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church. (Cam. Co. Road Return A-337) "A Union Camp Meeting...will be held in Howell's Grove, near Mt. Zion.... " (The Basket, 23 July 1874). The Lawnside Tax Map shows another name for Warwick Road as "Zion Street."
The settlement is not to be confused with or particularly associated with "Greenland." During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they were successive settlements on the Old Egg Harbor Road. Greenland started about where Warwick Road meets White Horse Pike, and its center was in the vicinity of the Evesham Road intersection.
Elizabeth Estaugh, by her will dated 30 November1761, gave to Haddon Hopkins "...my Plantation called Little Stebbing, purchased of Jonathan Bolton, & Lucy
45
Hubbs, & Robert Montgomery; the quantity of One Hundred and Fifty seven acres .... " This tract is clearly outlined and identified on a map "West Haddonfield Title Lines" 1 April 1895, by E. F. Trotman, West Jersey Title & Guaranty Co., Envelope 819; copy at The Historical Society of Haddonfield). It shows that the tract was conveyed by Hezekiah Hopkins to Joseph Tarropine by a deed recorded at Woodbury (H-214); also that a fifty acre section was acquired by Elizabeth Estaugh 1 September 1748 by a deed recorded at Trenton. (R-239) This essentially was the same plantation which the Stoy Family owned and operated for many years.
It was entirely within Haddon Township, extending a considerable distance on both sides of Crystal Lake and the tail race below the dam. It reached from Haddon Avenue to Saddlertown, and from the municipal boundary line to a point about 650 feet below Crystal Lake Avenue.
There is a small place in Essex County, England, called "Stebbing" which was in existence long before West Jersey was settled. It is of the same derivation as "Stubbins,² (Lancashire County, England) both meaning "clearing² or "cleared land. " (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names, 4th Ed., Elbert Ekwall, pp. 440, 451) Stebbing