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| Watermills of Camden County - by William Farr - Chapter B |
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BARROT’S SAWMILL
BATEMAN’S MILLS see SPRING MILLS BATES’ GRISTMILL see BATES’ SAWMILL
BATES’ SAWMILL (in Winslow Township) (Cole’s, Fry’s, Mattack’s, Chew’s, Kay’s, Albertson’s, Braddock’s; Bates’ Gristmill) By deed of 12 November 1755 the son, Thomas Cole, and wife Alice, sold to Richard Fry the 62 ½-acre tract of land and seven other tracts in the vicinity of and mentioning Albertson’s Branch, with appurtenances including, among other things, “sawmills” (Colonial Deeds, P-468). Subsequent conveyances trace Bates Mill back to that tract. A deed from Benjamin Bates to Benoni Bates in l836 confirms that Bates Sawmill was erected on the 62 ½acres. The deed to Fry recites that Thomas Cole had received everything by the will of his father. The location of a second sawmill is elusive. The NORCROSS SAWMILL, upstream from Bates Mill, may have been the site of a Fry sawmill, as hesitantly suggested to the writer by Harry Marvin. On his 1928 Map of Winslow Township, (CCHS, m83.90.347) Marvin shows “Old Fry Road,” extending from NORCROSS SAWMILL to Seven Causeways. Richard Fry lived nearby, keeping the Blue Anchor Tavern, on Old Egg Harbour Road, from before 1752 to 1762 (Old Inns, p. 149). Only one printed reference to Fry’s Sawmill by name has been found: a newspaper advertisement for the sale of lands of Joseph Marshall’s Estate, dated 20 May 1765: 40 acres “on the southernmost Branch, at the head of Little Egg Harbour River, near Fry’s Saw mill” (NJA, XXIV, p. 536), which can be identified as Albertson’s Branch. If Richard Fry rather than Coles built Bates Sawmill, it would have been between 1755 and 1765. Fry was described as a “millman” in a deed by him to Isaac Cooper for nearby land, 8 February 1762 (Colonial Deeds, Y-70). A number of Clement’s maps show Fry surveys (particularly Maps and Drafts, Vol. 2, pp. 59 and 79), mostly along and near Albertson’s Branch in the vicinity of Cedar Brook. A survey of 72 Acres to John Gill, dated 11 April 1779 (OSG, Q-302) refers to Frys Old Mill Branch. As with some other sawmills, for most of its life it was in multiple ownership, usually by persons who owned timber land in the vicinity but not necessarily the land on which the mill was located. To understand the history of Bates Sawmill it is necessary to differentiate ownership of the mill from ownership of the numerous tracts of swamp and woodland associated with it. The owners of the mill, that is, those persons who were entitled to the use of it, did not own the various tracts of land in the same way or proportions as they owned the mill. Unfortunately the scriveners of the documents concerning various transactions affecting it were not careful to be complete and accurate. On 6 July 1765, Richard Fry sold off to Robert Mattacks a one-quarter interest in the sawmill and “several tracts of land” (mortgage by Mattacks to Gloucester County Loan Commissioners, 5 December 1786). On the same date, 6 July 1765, Fry transferred a one-half interest to his son Thomas, according to a deed from John Gill to John Kay, 22 February 1779 (Woodbury, P-1). On 23 December 1769, Fry sold his remaining one-quarter to Benjamin Bates, Senior (1815 resurvey recorded Woodbury, Z-376). What follows is an effort to trace the ownership of those several interests. Mattack’s interest: We can somewhat document and trace Mattack’s (sometimes Mattock’s, Mattox’s) ownership of a one-quarter interest in the sawmill. The Gloucester Township ratables show he was assessed for it in 1773 and 1779 through 1786. He mortgaged it to the Gloucester County Loan Commissioners 25 March 1776, Commissioners’ Mortgage Book, p. 37), and again to the Commissioners 5 December 1786 (NJA, mortgage book, p. 57). Mattacks died in 1788. His will, proved in Cape May County (497 E) ordered the sale of a number of land tracts and the one-quarter mill interest, but it was not sold by his executors until 18 June 1798, when it passed to Aaron Chew (not recorded, according to Clement’s notes on Maps and Drafts, Vol 3, p. 15). The township ratables show it assessed to his widow, Sarah, for 1789 and 1790. Mattacks bought the Blue Anchor Tavern from Richard Fry in 1763, and Mattacks’ widow continued it after his death. See deed, Sarah Mattacks to Josiah Albertson, 4 January 1812 (Woodbury P-522), and Old Inns and Taverns, p. 149. It is curious that Gloucester Township assessed Aaron Chew for more than a thousand acres, one-half of a sawmill for 1793, 1794 and 1795, and one-quarter of a sawmill for 1796, 1797 and 1802. Thomas Fry’s interest: Thomas Fry, the son, died intestate in 1773 (1084 H), leaving a widow, Elizabeth, who was assessed by the township in September 1773 for one-half a sawmill. Thomas was in debt to a number of creditors, and his one-half of the sawmill and other property were advertised for sheriff’s sale on 17 September 1773 (NJA XXVIII, p. 575). John Gill bought the one-half of the sawmill and ten tracts of land, receiving a deed from the Sheriff on that date (Gill’s resurvey of 29 March 1786 [OSG, U-63]), but the only assessment to Gill by Gloucester Township was for one-half a sawmill for 1794. Thomas left a widow, Elizabeth, who was assessed by the township in September l773 for one-half a sawmill. Richard Fry transferred his nearby 300-acre plantation on old Egg Harbor Road to his son Thomas on 7 April 1762, but the son lost it at a Sheriff’s sale in 1774, John Gill being the buyer (recital in deed, 22 February 1779, Woodbury, P-1, by which Gill sold his one-half interest in the mill, as well as in l7 tracts of land, to John Kay). Kay had an additional tract of 549 acres surveyed and still owned all at his death in 1785 (1507 H). Joseph Walker Senior died intestate and his one-quarter passed to his only son, Stacy, who also died intestate and without issue, whereby the elder Walker’s brothers became entitled to it. Eldest brother, George, died and his interest passed to his son George, who quitclaimed whatever interest he had to his cousin Samuel Walker (Woodbury, P-7). Sometime in 1812 Samuel conveyed to John V. L. Walker, whose 1817 will (12968 C) devised it to Peter Walker. Josiah Albertson, who had bought Aaron Chew’s one-half interest in 1808 (Woodbury N-9), must have approached Peter Walker to sell him his one-quarter interest. Peter discovered that the 1812 deed was missing and not recorded. He successfully lobbied the New Jersey Legislature to authorize Samuel Walker’s executors to give a deed directly to him, Peter (Act of 26 February 1833), which they did (Woodbury, H3-161), and in 1833 he sold his one-quarter interest to Josiah Albertson (Woodbury, H3-163). Joseph Walker Junior’s one-quarter interest: He continued to own it until 1811, when (with wife Beulah) he sold it to George West (Woodbury, X-69). In 1813 George West conveyed to Benjamin B. Cooper (Woodbury S-289), who then made a division with Walker Sr. by which Cooper acquired a separate title for the one-quarter of the mill which had been owned by Walker Jr,. as well as an actual division of “the Walker Tract” lands into two parts (Gloucester County Clerk, Boundaries & Divisions Bk A-375). Benjamin Bates Senior’s one-quarter interest: With Josiah Albertson owning one-half the mill, the owners got together and had a re-survey made in 1815 (Woodbury, Z-376), which recited the devolution of the various interests in the mill, and also, surprisingly, showed that the 62 ½ acre tract actually contained 166 acres. It also showed Benjamin Bates Jr. entitled to one-quarter; Josiah Albertson, one-half; and the heirs and successors of Joseph Walker Sr., one-quarter. It also mentioned as an adjunct to the mill, millpond and water works a “log and board yard.” Boyer wrote that Benjamin Bates Jr. opened a tavern at the sawmill location as early as 1788 (Old Mills, p. 65), and he referred to Bates Tavern at Bates Mills “in the Pine Belt” at p. 83 of Old Inns. But no reference to such a tavern has been found upon examination of the original tavern records at the Gloucester County Historical Society. In 1836 Benjamin Bates Jr. gave to his son Benoni Bates a 419-acre tract, including the millpond and a one-quarter interest in Bates Sawmill, taking back however a lease of the same at one dollar a year for the rest of Benjamin’s lifetime (Woodbury, P3-412). Benjamin apparently died intestate in 1841 (4523 H). The 1836 deed reserves and excepts one-half acre for a family burial ground, which is located on Landing & Ehrke Road and still receives burials from the neighborhood. The sawmill continued in operation and the 1841 Gloucester County Tax Book (CCHS, Mss. 505) assessed three-quarters of the sawmill to Josiah B. Albertson, and one-quarter to Benoni Bates. Bates Mill was listed in Kirkbride’s 1850 New Jersey Business Directory. John Albertson sold to William C. & Joseph C. Porter, 20 May 1856 (Camden, 27-305) some 65 acres of millpond and the land immediately surrounding it, noting that it had been acquired partly from Benoni Bates and partly from Josiah Albertson. The tract is represented on Clement’s Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 30, on which he noted that in 1857 it was sold by the Porters back to Benoni Bates. Benoni Bates sold the mill tract to Harriet Farnsworth and Lemuel G. Townsend on 15 June 1867 (Camden, 53-64), and Townsend transferred his one-half interest to Farnsworth on 31 August 1867 (Camden, 53-454). Farnsworth sold that part above the Blue Anchor-Waterford Road (about 72 acres) to Samuel A. Willits 5 June 1868 (Camden, 58-452). Farnsworth sold the part below the road, some 13 acres to William S. Braddock, 5 February 1869 (Camden 60-2). The next day, Braddock bought the 72 acres from Willits (Camden, 57-459). Braddock operated the sawmill for a while (Prowell, p. 633) but later converted a large portion of the mill pond to a cranberry marsh (ibid., p. 697). Patton’s l996 Camden County, N.J. Street and Road Map names the pond Hobb Lake. Long before the Camden and Atlantic Railroad built the line through Waterford Works in 1854, there would have been the necessity of a means of moving the sawed lumber and cordwood to Philadelphia. The landing nearest to the mill would have been at Chews Landing, which could be reached via Longacoming and Clementon. It appears that there was a trail which left the Old White Horse Pike at "C P Bates Grist Mill” is shown by the millpond on the 1877 Walker’s Map of Camden County (CCHS, M.83.90.562) but no other reference has ever been found to such a gristmill.
BATES SAWMILL (at Grenloch) see SPRING MILLS
BORTON’S GRISTMILL (at Kresson) (Matlacks, Severs, Burroughs, Lippincotts, Powells; Milford Mill) The gristmill and a dam were at the junction of the arbitrary portion of the Burlington-Camden county line with the South Branch of Rancocas Creek, called Bortons Branch. The millpond, now Kresson Lake, was in present Camden County, but most of the development of the ensuing settlement took place on the Burlington side, just downstream. The mill itself was on that side, that is, just below the dam and on the north bank (Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 64). Isaac Borton was assessed in 1773 for a gristmill and 17 acres (Evesham Township ratables). Boyer wrote that the mill was on the south side of the creek. (Boyer’s Place Names, p. 11), but we do not know his authority. He was uncertain whether it was a grist or sawmill (Old Mills, p. 58). The gristmill was probably built by John Borton III (6l4 H]). Born in 1696, he died intestate in 1759, whereby his lands, some 2000 acres of which were in Waterford Township, descended to his eldest son, Abraham, who forthwith transferred that tract to his brother Isaac by deed 18 April 1759 (apparently unrecorded). The Inventory of John’s estate indicates his having a gristmill by listing “grain at the mill,...grindstone...,” but the administrators’ bond describes him as a sawyer (ibid.). In 1789, a road (Milford Road) was laid out from Longacoming to Isaac Borton’s Gristmill (Glo RR A-121). When the road from Haddonfield was relaid in 1803, it ended near Isaac Borton’s Mill Dam (Glo RR A-264). On 22 April 1808 (Woodbury, M-156) Reuben Matlack bought of Isaac Borton’s executors two lots totaling 320 acres, extending from the gristmill south to beyond the head of Cedar Lake. Reuben died intestate in September 1808, just a few months after his purchase (12370 C), leaving as his heirs son Asa Matlack, and other sons and daughters. After acquiring a portion of his siblings’ interests in 1809, Asa owned four-ninths. On 1 December 1814 he and the other heirs sold the gristmill, dam, pond and water works, totaling 62 acres, to Joseph Matlack of Evesham. Although the millpond and practically all of the property were in Gloucester [now Camden County), the deed was recorded only in Burlington County (Mt. Holly, M2-164). It is of interest that one of the landmarks in the legal description was a point 1,500-feet upstream from the milldam, opposite where “the old grist mill formerly stood.” Since the grist mill was at the end of the road to Haddonfield as early as 1753, the “old” one must have been built prior to that. On 19 March 1825 Joseph Matlack and Dorothy, his wife, sold 35 acres to Daniel Severs (Mt. Holly, U2-201), including the right to overflow several small lots on the west side of the millpond, reciting an old lease from Able or Freedom Lippincott to John or Isaac Borton, which was assigned to Joseph Matlack for the unexpired term. That lease transaction was clarified somewhat in a deed from John Rogers to David Vanderveer, 25 March 1815 (Woodbury, U-406), for title to one of the small lots, reciting that the lease was made by Abel Lippincott to John Borton for 99 years of which 50 years remained unexpired. That would put the date of the millpond back to at least 1766. Matlack took back a $2000 mortgage from Daniel Severs and Elizabeth, his wife (Woodbury Mortgages, L-358). Early in the nineteenth century, the small settlement about Borton’s Mill took on the more distinctive name of Milford (Gordon’s 1828 Map of the State of New Jersey [CCHS, M.83.90.752]), a common name, but still appropriate, there perhaps having early been a ford by the mill (English Place Names, p. 326). Eventually, the name became Kresson, which it retains. Daniel Severs died in 1836, (14460 C) and on 22 March 1839 his executors sold 48 acres with the gristmill to Joseph A. Burrough, of Moorestown, and William C. Lippincott, of Evesham (Mt. Holly, U3-529). On 24 March 1847, Lippincott sold his one-half interest to Burrough (Mt. Holly, 24-221). “Milford Mill” was listed in Kirkbride’s 1850 New Jersey Business Directory, and Burrow’s Gristmill is shown at Milford on the 1851 Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia, (CCHS, M.2001.74). In 1859, the road from Berlin was straightened, and ended at “Joseph A. Burroughs Mill in Milford” (Cam RR 117). On 23 March 1864, Joseph A. Burrough and wife Mary sold the mill and property to Jehu C. Powell, the deed still referring to the gristmill, as well as to the property (Mt. Holly, B7-90). Burrough took back a mortgage (Camden Mortgages, K-479). In 1873 the Longacoming road was again modified, ending “near Jehu Powell’s Mill.” (Cam RR 201). The gristmill and Isaac Borton’s house (both in Burlington County) are depicted on a survey to Thomas Venable of 25 acres, pursuant to Thomas’ father’s will, dated 7 November 1788 (Warrants & Surveys, No. 223). Woodward & Hageman’s History of Burlington County (p. 317) ignores Borton and writes, “The Milford Grist-mill was built by Joseph Burrow, and is now owned by J.U. Powell,” although it may have been a rebuilding. That work wrongly locates the mill at the “headwaters of Back Creek.”
BORTON’S GRISTMILL see CHEESMANS (PETER) GRISTMILL
BORTON’S SAWMILL (Jacob Bortons, Matlacks, Stokes, Lippincotts Peters, Wills) On 22 April 1808, Reuben Matlack bought from Isaac Borton’s executors two lots totaling 320 acres (Woodbury, M-156), extending from BORTON’S GRIST MILL south to beyond the head of Cedar Lake, one course of which mentioned the sawmill and its race. Reuben died intestate in September 1808, just a few months after his purchase (12370 C), leaving as his heirs son Asa Matlack, and other sons and daughters. A deed from Asa and several other heirs to one Samuel Haines for 46 acres, 1 December 1814 (Woodbury, CC-478) recites the purchase by Reuben, and a transfer to Asa of several of the other heirs’ interests by deed “the 21 & 1 day of January 1809” (sic). Haines sold to Isaac Stokes 25 March 1832, Woodbury, G3-365). On 10 April 1832 (Woodbury E3-316) Asa Matlack and wife Tamar conveyed the sawmill, pond and 76 acres to Isaac Stokes, who also acquired a number of other tracts in the vicinity, (Woodbury, E3-316). Stokes advertised the saw mill and tract for sale, stating that the stream was “steady” and ran two saws (Camden Mail & General Advertiser, 2 October 1844). The Stokes Saw Mill is treated in Old Mills at page 48. The Stokes name continued to be associated with the saw mill even after he died in 1845. The “road from Stokes Mill to Long-a-Coming” was referred to in a sale advertisement in the West Jersey Press of 17 April 1867. Stokes’ executors, by a deed of 1 March 1848 [not found of record] sold the sawmill to “Wm. Lippincott & Co.,” consisting of Freedom W., Wm. C., Isaac, and Nathan Lippincott, and William Wisham. This consortium also owned the nearby Milford Glass Works in Evesham Township. A mortgage on both enterprises was foreclosed, and the Sheriff sold them to Mark Lippincott 11 April 1854 (Woodbury, U-508).See also advertisement of the sale in West Jerseyman, 5 April 1854, which also mentioned Pendleton. “The town was formerly known as Pendleton and the works as the Pendleton Glass Works,” which, in 1850, were operated by Lippincott Wisham & Co. (Early American Bottles and Flasks, p. 146).The 1851 Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia (CCHS, M.2001.74) shows Lippincott & Co. Saw Mill. It’s likely the sawmill provided cordwood for use in the glassworks. It would appear from recitals in later deeds that the saw mill tract was subsequently divided among various Lippincotts. At any rate, on 12 February 1859 (Camden, 36-30), Mark Lippincott sold the sawmill and 45.95 acres to Isaac S. Peters. Peters’ heirs conveyed it to Zebedee R. Wills in February and April 1864 (Camden, 43-118 and 43-265). In 1879, Zebedee R. sold it to Zebedee M. Wills (Camden, 97-293); Zebedee M. died 2 February 1889 (20635 C), leaving this and other lands to Mary B. Wills, wife of Zebedee R. Wills (see deed from the latter to Benejah Wills, 11 January 1895 [Camden, 204-208]). The recital for tract 6 in the latter deed refers to Zebedee R. Wills Saw Mill.
BORTON’S (JACOB) SAWMILL see BORTON’S SAWMILL
BOSTWICK’S SAWMILL (Warner’s, Dugdale’s, Cochran’s; Matlack’s Gristmill, Hopkins, Kirkbrides, White Horse) By deeds of 21 December 1714 (Colonial Deeds, A-8 and A-9) William Matlack gave his sons, George and Timothy, two adjoining tracts of about 500 acres each. They lay mostly along the north side of the South Branch of Coopers Creek, above and below present-day Kirkwood. The original sawmill, at present Kirkwood, would have been on Timothy’s tract, and perhaps he built it. George built a sawmill upstream on his tract (see HILLIARD’S MILL (near Gibbsboro). An unrecorded deed in the Historical Society of Haddonfield’s collections (Mss. 224), from Joshua Woolston’s executors to Laban Langstaff, 29 September 1735, for 300 acres, mostly on the north side of the South Branch of Cooper’s Creek, recites that Timothy Matlack sold the tract to George Matlack, 3 May 1727 (Woodbury, A-54). George in turn sold it to Joshua Woolston on 23 November 1730 [the deed description mentioning the line of George’s adjacent plantation]. The subject of this article is the sawmill of Dr. Henry Bostwick, who bought several sizable tracts on both sides of the creek at present Kirkwood. The earliest purchase may have been 220 acres from Turner Risdon, 9 May 1809 (Woodbury, O-78), which presumably was the site of the sawmill, on the South Branch of the creek, just upstream a little from today’s White Horse Road. This 220-acre tract was part of the above-mentioned 300 acres, which Risdon and John C. Morgan bought of Solomon White 25 March 1805 (Woodbury, I-112). They divided, but Turner bought Morgan’s share at Sheriff’s sale on 11 March l809 (Woodbury, M-316). White had bought of James Lippincott 22 December 1795 (Woodbury, C-215), James having inherited by the 1782 will of his father, Joshua (1409 H), who had bought of Laban Langstaff 3 April 1776 (Woodbury, C-202). Langstaff mortgaged the tract to William Fox in 1770 and 1775 (Woodbury Mortgages, A-124, B-198). Not long before the Revolutionary War, Joseph Hillman acquired a tract of 265 acres, which was adjacent to and upstream from the above-mentioned 300 acres and which was split north to south by Nicholsons Branch (which separates Gibbsboro from Voorhees) of the South Branch of Cooper’s Creek. The 1770 mortgage to William Fox, which covered not only the 300 acres but also the 265 acres, recites, without elaboration, that Langstaff bought the 265 acres from Joseph Hillman. If so, then Hillman reacquired it, sometime between 1770 and 1795 since, on 5 February 1795 Hillman sold the eastern 168 acres (eastward from but including Nicholson’s Branch) to Joseph Hilliard (Woodbury, R-42). On 27 January 1813 Hillman sold 80 acres west of that branch to Henry Bostwick (Woodbury, R-143), being most if not all of the balance of the 265 acres. Bostwick also bought 74 acres south of the creek from Moses Branson, 12 June 1813 (Woodbury, R-445), and Bostwick then effectively controlled the mill pond (now Kirkwood Lake), which extended about 4000 feet east from present White Horse (Laurel) Road, up to Nicholson’s Branch, and was referred to in the Branson to Bostwick deed as “Dr. Bostwick’s Saw Mill Pond.” See Maps and Drafts, Vol. 1, p. 45; Vol. 3, p. 15. Soon, by a deed dated 23 May 1814 (Woodbury, T-395), Bostwick conveyed these, and other tracts he had acquired, to John C. Warner and William A. Shaw. Henry Bostwick and John Carrington Warner were both doctors of medicine, and at one point were residents of Philadelphia. Both speculated in real estate. Warner owned and lived on the old Cathcart estate, called “Deer Park” [see Prowell, p. 675], just downstream from Kirkwood, near where he was born. (Biographical Review, p. 379). Presumably they each hired someone to operate the sawmill. On 26 April 1816 Warner sold to Benjamin Dugdale, of Newton Township, the 193 acres, 13 acres of which were overflowed by the mill pond, Warner reserving the right to flood any part of the deeded lands with “eleven feet head and fall of water at his sawmill on the “Bostwick Place” (Woodbury, Z-239). On 21 April 1817 Warner sold to John Dugdale,of Evesham Township, the sawmill and several contiguous tracts totaling about 170 acres (Woodbury, BB-322). John Dugdale’s sawmill was mentioned at the Laurel Road end in the road return laying out Gibbsboro-Kirkwood Road (Glo RR B-250 [1819]). On 21 April 1819 Dugdale, then of Waterford Township, sold the 170-acre sawmill tract to John Cochran (Woodbury, EE-334). John Cochran conveyed the sawmill tract to James Girard in 1833 (Woodbury, H3-469). Over the next 10 years, the mill and property changed hands five times. It was bought by Felix Thibault in 1835 (M3-316), William H. Mitton in 1836 (R3-40), Henry Dubosq in 1837 (T3-37), Benjamin Shourds in 1840 (Z3-213); Shourds lost the property to Thomas Matlack by Sheriff’s deed 25 November 1843 (C4-301). These last six gentlemen were all of Philadelphia and undoubtedly did not operate the sawmill them selves. In fact, the mill may have ceased operations. The several deeds do not mention either a sawmill or a gristmill. But “Matlack’s Mill” is shown on Clement’s 1846 Map of Camden County (CCHS, M. 83.90.303). Maps and Drafts, Vol. 1, p. 34 (an 1857 copy of an earlier map), shows “John Cochran’s Saw Mill and other property... now Matlack’s Grist Mill,” with the sawmill located on the Gibbsboro side of the pond, that is, in Voorhees Township. It may have been Thomas Matlack who created the gristmill. The pond shown (now Kirkwood Lake) is only about half the length of the earlier pond. In Old Mills. 59, it is stated that it was Griffith M. Hopkins who about 1835 converted the sawmill into a gristmill, but Hopkins, of Deptford, did not acquire the property from Thomas Matlack until 21 December 1847 (Camden, D-522). Old Mills also refers to an 1846 advertisement for the sale of the White Horse Grist Mill, then in the occupancy of John R. Matlack; to the same effect is a later advertisement (West Jerseyman, 24 March 1847); also that the mill was taken over by Joel P. Kirkbride about 1850 and improved into one of the largest gristmills in the county, although Kirkbride’s 1850 New Jersey Business Directory shows Hopkins as owner. Hopkins, in fact, got into financial difficulties and made an assignment on 17 December 1849 to Joshua P. Browning for the benefit of creditors; Browning sold the 170-acre tract and gristmill to John Kirkbride, of Burlington County, 20 June 1850 (Camden, K-413). The 1851 Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia (CCHS, M.2001.74) shows no mill at the appropriate location. The gristmill dam was a weak one “which often gave way during spring thaws and heavy rains.” (Early Grist and Flouring Mills, p. 85.) Shaylor’s History of Lindenwold (p. 31), following Old Mills, reported (incorrectly) that the sawmill was converted to a gristmill by Hopkins in 1835; was rebuilt by Kirkbride in 1850; and that the mill was owned by Simpkins & Midddleton from 1895 to 1908, but burned down in 1911 (p. 43, on which appears a photograph of the mill).
BOTTOMS’ HOSIERY MILL
BOZARTH’S TURNING MILL The resulting 15 acres became known as the Bozarth Mill Tract. Bozarth dammed the stream at about present Higgins Avenue and installed machinery to run a turning mill. Several of the above-mentioned deeds refer to a “turning machine.” Maps and Drafts, Vol. 5, p. 58, names the stream Turning Mill Branch. Fisher, in his Clementon (p. 18) refers to the chair legs and other furniture parts produced at the mill. Benjamin Bozorth also bought a small tract upstream from Wallace Lippincott, 19 September 1821 (Woodbury, Z3-378). See Maps and Drafts, Vol. 1, p. 4 and Vol. 4, p. 18. At some point Benjamin conveyed all or part of the mill tract to David Bozorth, e.g. six acres by deed 30 March 1824 (Woodbury, NN-81). On 9 August 1841, David reconveyed to Benjamin three tracts totaling ten acres (Woodbury, Z3-379). The relationship between these two men has not been established, but they were probably brothers. Theodore W. Bozarth, a family genealogist, agrees, and he informs the writer that in l863 David was a charcoal dealer. In 1845 the executors of Isaac Engle foreclosed a mortgage he had on the mill tract. Catharine Engle bought the tract at the resultang Sheriff’s sale, receiving a deed dated 3 March 1845 (Camden, B-521) but promptly sold it to Thomas Loring by a deed of 17 October 1845 (Camden, B-524). See LORING’S MILL. Loring held title until 1881 when, by a deed dated 5 May 1881 (Camden, 101-95) he sold the “Bozarth Mill Tract” of 15.32 acres to John R. Rowand (see ROWAND’S CHARCOAL WORKS).
BRADDOCK’S SAWMILL see BATES SAWMILL
BREACH’S GRIST, BOLTING AND FULLING MILL (Albertson’s, Shiver’s, Hugg’s, Eastlack’s Gristmill; Harvey’s Fulling Mill, Jacob Albertson’s Sawmill) Prowell referred to an 8 March 1737 Newton Township assessment against “John Breach, eight shillings, fulling mill on the middle branch of Newton Creek” (P. 637). Prowell also wrote, “In 1754 Josiah Harvey was assessed with a fulling mill, probably John Breach’s, as his name does not appear for the same year” (ibid.). Old Mills (p. 38) provides an account of “Breach’s Gristmill: Harvey’s Gristmill,” quoting from two 1748 sale advertisements (to be found at NJA, XII, pp. 443 and 473 respectively): (a) an executors’ sale of Philip Doyle’s 46-acre plantation “joining to John Breech’s Grist Mill,” and (b) an executors’s sale of John Breach’s 146-acre plantation, including a “grist mill, with two boulting mills.” Finally, we have the 1964 Audubon Celebration of the New Jersey Tercentenary where, at page 39, appears: “... Simeon Breach... established a mill and his son John, after Simeon’s death in 1731, continued the mill business until his death in 1748. At that time... a grist mill with two boulting mills... were to be sold.... It is thought that Jacob Albertson... was the buyer, as in 1749 Jacob was listed as being taxed for such a mill. This mill... passed into the ownership of John Shivers in 1761.... Breach’s second mill, located near the first, probably was a fulling mill. . It was owned for a few years by Josiah Harvey who died in 1756. Nothing is known of his activities.” And at p. 81 of Audubon Celebration, “... Jacob Albertson,... bought a grist mill from the Breechs in 1750....” John Haddon, an anchorsmith, of London, made an agreement dated 8 May 1699 with John Breach for him to come to this country and set up a blacksmith shop; his son Simeon and daughter Ann came with him (Smiths of Haddonfield, HSH, Mss. 11-70). The writer has been unable to determine when John Breach died. On 29 November 1714, Francis Collins gave his daughter, Sarah Dimsdale, 460 acres in Newton Township (Colonial Deeds, A-10), which he had surveyed to him 25 October 1682, extending from near Haddonfield southwestwardly to the south branch of Newton Creek (Kings Run). Dimsdale had it resurveyed the 15th day of the 9th month 1714 (OSG, Sharp’s Book B, p. 60). John Breach’s son Simon (sometimes Simeon) Breach and Caleb Sprague bought the tract from Dimsdale 1 April 1725 (Colonial Deeds, A-11) Breach and Sprague divided it in 1726, Sprague getting the northerly 215 acres and Breach receiving 245 acres next to Kings Run. Clement notes (p. 77) that “none of the papers touching this transaction are of record.” To show the division, Surveyor Thomas Sharp inserted two division lines on his 1714 map, giving each owner 215 acres, with a 30-acre corridor between them (Warrants & Surveys, No. 34), but Breach in fact got 245 acres (Warrants & Surveys, No. 63). The Burlington-Salem Road (Kings Highway) ran through the Breach portion of the tract, separating off the southerly 75 of the 245 acres, that is, between the road and Kings Run. For more than twenty years Simon Breach had already owned 125 acres along the north Dimsdale line, extending east from Kings Run some 4,000 feet to the Graisbury line (deed, Samuel Dennis to Simon Breach, 16 March 1704, [OSG, Sharp’s Book, B-6]). It was on that tract that he made his home (Warrants & Surveys, No. 60). [Presumably on the site of “Cedarcroft,” that is, the Breach-Dialogue house at 355 Mansion Avenue in Audubon (see a discussion of this house and property at page 76 of Audubon Celebration, and pages 186-187 in Down a Country Lane, p. 186)]. After the 1726 division with Sprague, Simon Breach owned the land on the north side of Kings Run, from John Hinchman’s line in Haddon Heights downstream for about half a mile. Did Simon Breach build the gristmill? It seems unlikely. The one colonial assessment of gristmills by owner’s name in his lifetime was in 1717 (NJA, 2nd Ser., Vol II, p. 217). and the only gristmills assessed in present Camden County were George Wards, John Kays and Abraham Porters. No evidence has been found of the existence of the mill prior to Simon’s death. Simon Breach’s will, proved in 1731 (131 H) makes no mention of a mill. It gives 300 acres to sons John and Simon, to be divided when Simon became 21. It turned out to be 290 acres, according to a survey they had made in 1732 (Warrants & Surveys, No. 67). In 1734 (presumably after son Simon came of age), John and Simon made a division. The total acreage must have then been determined to be 296 acres since each received 148 acres. Simon got the northeastern part, and John received the southwestern part, that is, the part along Kings Run and north of the Kings Road (Warrants & Surveys, No. 75), which gave him access to the water power of Kings Run. John Breach died leaving a will, proved 21 June 1748 (374 H), which mentioned no improvements but simply gave his real estate to his brothers Simon, Peter and Thomas Breach. However, from the 1748 sale advertisement by John’s executors, Simon and Peter (NJA, XII, p. 473), we learn that John’s 146-acre plantation, entirely in Newton Township, contained, besides a house, barn and large orchard, a gristmill, two boulting mills, and a dwelling house belonging to the same, the tract fronting on “two great roads, one leading from Gloucester to Haddonfield... the other leading from Cooper’s Ferry [now Camden] to Salem.” The Coopers Ferry Road is of some interest. It had been authorized in 1744, and would have actually been an extension of the road up from Chews Landing. The Cooper’s Ferry Road extended from the “Great Road” running between Gloucester and Haddonfield (Kings Highway) along the division line between the plantations of John and Simon Breach, then along a “beaten path” and on to join the Ferry Road (now Haddon Avenue) (Glo Co RR A-171). Annexed to the road return is an affidavit by Jacob Stokes dated 24 December 1793, that he wrote the return, and “well remembers the time of laying out the said road, and that it was considered as a public highway and laid out and always used as such.” Harry Marvin’s map in Audubon Celebration shows the road as Tenth Avenue in Haddon Heights, and running by the Breach-Dialogue house, [Cedarcroft] across Peters Creek, turning northeast along the borough line to continue as Cuthbert Road. Its crossing of Kings Highway remained significant in that part of the county until present Black Horse Pike was laid out in 1795 (Glo RR A-190), when importance would have shifted to the intersection at present Mt. Ephraim, and the old road to the ferry seems to have essentially passed out of existence. Was there a second Breach mill, that is, did Simon or John Breach have a fulling mill, as stated in Audubon Celebration (p. 39)? No credible evidence of it has been found. Prowell wrote as stated above,, that in 1739 John Breach was assessed for a fulling mill on the middle branch of Newton Creek; and that a fulling mill was again assessed to him in 1749, even though he had died. The 1739 assessment was simply for Breach’s “mill.” The 1749 assessment was for John Breach’s gristmill. There is no direct evidence that John owned a fulling mill, and if he did, it is unlikely that it was on the middle branch of Newton Creek since there is no evidence of his owning land on that branch. GLOVER’S FULLING MILL, several hundred yards upstream from the Kings Highway, was not built until some years later, and no one but a Glover ever owned it. There was, however, some activity relating to the production of cloth in the neighborhood. According to a 1748 sale advertisement of 46 acres by Philip Doyle’s executors (NJA, XII, p. 443), Doyle was an adjoining neighbor to John Breachs gristmill. Among the John Clement papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is an informal copy of an unrecorded deed, from William Sotherby Cooper to Jonathan French, 16 August 1754 (HSP, John Clement Collection, H 50), for 35 acres fronting on the south or Mt. Ephraim side of the Kings Road and Jacob Albertson’s millpond. It recites that Henry Siddon sold Philip Doyle 46 acres 12 January 1740, and Doyle’s executors sold them to Cooper 27 January 1750. Doyle’s will, proved 1748 (374 H) states he was a weaver, of Deptford Township. Ten years before, in 1738, Doyle, described as being of Gloucester Township, advertised for a runaway servant who was by trade a flax dresser (NJA, XI, p. 421). The 1752 deed from Thomas to his brother Peter goes down the run until it intersects the road “below Jacob Albertson’s Mill Dam,” from which it is evident that the dam for the gristmill was above the road, and so it remained for many years, so that there were two millponds above the road, in the present Haddon Heights park. Old Mills (p. 40) states that Josiah Harvey “followed Breach in the ownership of the [grist] mill,” presumably based on Prowell’s reference to Harvey’s fulling mill (p. 637). Harvey was assessed by Newton Township for a fulling mill in 1754 and 1756, but there is no location given (Newton Township Minutes 1723-1831, and see EVANS MILLS for Harvey’s possible involvement there). No record of real estate in his name has been found, and his 1756 will, reciting that he lived in Newton Township, mentions neither a mill nor real estate (589 H). The inventory of his goods lists “pressing papers” and “dying stuff.” Jacob Albertson, the elder, died intestate in 1761 (740 H), whereby title to his real estate passed to his son, Jacob the younger, who married Elizabeth Flaningham in 1777. The date of the son’s death has not been determined by the writer (the son and his wife were still alive in 1803 to make a deed for 93 acres at Mt. Ephraim to Abel Clement [Woodbury, G-90]). Presumably he continued the operation of the mill. On 6 February 1786, Jacob Albertson, the son, borrowed money from Richard Weeks on a mortgage (Woodbury Mortgages, C-126) on his gristmill, millhouse, millpond and 18 acres (the mortgage was canceled 4 May 1786). This tract was just downstream from the Kings Road bridge over Kings Run and on the north side of the stream, and was bounded by that stream and Breach’ land. It is best seen as part of 44 acres which was “surveyed off Jacob Albertson’s land to Jacob Green,” 4 September 1786 (Warrants & Surveys, No. 218). It confirms the location of the mill, which was at about the foot of Mansion Avenue in Audubon, where it had been and remained for many years. A sale to Green is indicated, and he may have sold to John Shivers, although no deeds have been found. The transfer of title to Shivers must have taken place by 5 August 1788 since Jacob Albertson, on that date, made a mortgage on other lands to Thomas Redman which referred to Shivers millrace (Woodbury Mortgages, D-69). Jacob Albertson, the son, also had a sawmill, but on the west side of the stream, since he was assessed for one in Gloucestertown in 1784, but the exact location has not been discovered, nor has any other information about it turned up. King’s Run was the division line between the townships of Newton and Gloucester Town. There is no question that the gristmill was eventually on the Newton Township side of Kings Run, yet Jacob Albertson was assessed by Gloucestertown Township for a gristmill for 1780, 1781, 1782, 1784, 1786, and 1788. Perhaps it was originally on the western or Gloucestertown side of the run, which might explain why Shivers bought and owned land on both sides, according to his 1805 land division [see below]. The 1789 Glo RR A-127 refers to “mill now John Shivers formerly Jacob Albertson’s.” It was assessed to Shivers for 1789 and again in 1791 (Gloucestertown ratables). A 1787 division of lands among Elizabeth Alexander and others shows “road to Albertson’s Mill” (Morgan Collection; also see deed, Job Siddon to Elizabeth Alexander, 18 February 1825 [Woodbury, Q-15]). This informal road was the end of Hampshire Avenue as it meets Kings Highway. John Shivers died intestate in 1804 (2510 H). His lands were divided in 1805 and the entire property, including the grist mill, was assigned to son Hezekiah (Gloucester County Clerk Boundaries & Division Bk A-259). Hezekiah apparently took over the mill before his father died since he was assessed for the mill in 1802 and then again in 1805 (Gloucestertown ratables). The will of Hezekiah Shivers, who was married to Rebecca Kay, proved 1818 (3187 H), gave his house and some land to his wife for life, with remainder to daughters Keziah (who was married to William Hugg) and Mary, who were to receive the profits from it, and upon the mother’s death the whole plantation was to be divided between the two daughters. This rather elaborate will, mentioning many adjuncts to the plantation such as blacksmith, and wheelwright shops, does not mention the gristmill. The mother died soon after, since there was a formal division in 1826 (Glo Co Surr Div Bk 2, p. 63). Most of the lower part of the tract, 22 acres, bisected by the stream and including the mill, was allotted to Keziah, the map showing the mill. William Hugg apparently continued the mill operation, since in 1842 he advertised it for sale, in good order, with two run of stones, good for “country work” (Camden Mail and General Advertiser, 18 May 1842). A mortgage made by William & Keziah Hugg, originally to Jeremiah H. Sloan, and assigned to Daniel Wills Jr., of Westhampton Township, Burlington County, was foreclosed by Wills, and Sheriff Franklin made a deed to Wills 25 February 1843 (Woodbury, B4-268). This was the first deed for the mill property since John Shivers bought it in 1788-89, and its recital takes the title back only to the Hezekiah Shivers’ 1826 land division. Wills owned the mill for eight years, selling it 20 March 1851 (Camden 30-370) to The Gloucester Manufacturing Company, (a New Jersey Corporation) and that company sold it to Isaac Glover Eastlack, 5 October 1857 (Camden 30-415). A news item in the West Jersey Press, 20 November 1872, reported that the residence of Isaac Eastlack, a miller, near Mount Ephraim, was burned, but the mill, “located near the house,” escaped damage. The Hopkins’s 1877 Atlas, “Map of Haddon Township” shows “I. G. Eastlack” and “old mill.”
BROWN’S SAWMILL (Glovers, Hannahs or Hannays; Browns Turning Mill, Marshalls Turning Mill) Some of the facts turned up by this writer provide a little different account. Jacob Brown of “Glover’s Mill, near Blackwoodtown” advertised in the Camden Herald, 10 May 1820, that he had rented the sawmill known by the name of Glovers Sawmill. This sawmill was most likely the sawmill at SPRING MILLS which was owned by Jacob Glover from 1818 to 1836, with no connection to Browns Sawmill. It appears that John Thorn Glover bought two contiguous tracts totaling 195 acres on Masons or Gravelly Run: 26 acres from Samuel Tomlinson in 1783 and the balance from James Mason in 1782. Two later deeds recite that John Thorne Glover bought 200 acres from James Mason & Mary, his wife, 19 March 1782: (a) Glover to Samuel Tomlinson, (28 acres), 14 May 1783 (Woodbury, T-349); and (b) Glover to Isaac Tomlinson (4 3/4 acres), 18 February 1794 (Woodbury, S-137). Gloucester Township ratables show that a sawmill (and a fulling mill—see GLOVER’S FULLING MILL), with a total of 220 acres of land, was assessed in 1786 to Peter Hannay, who was apparently the Peter Hanna[h], who was John Thorne Glover’s brother-in-law. The 1789 assessment of the sawmill was to John Glover Sr. No other assessments of a sawmill of that era have been found. John Thorn Glover died intestate in 1825 (3623 H) and his lands descended to his sons, James and John O. Glover. An interesting document, dated 28 December 1824, was recorded in Gloucester County Clerk Boundaries & Divisions Bk B-114, explaining that the deed from Samuel Tomlinson for the 26 acres (map annexed to the document) was destroyed by fire, and on application to the New Jersey Supreme Court the title was “renewed” and filed in the minutes of that court in 1815. The jurisdiction of that court to afford such relief had been granted, whenever an unrecorded title deed had been “lost...by the devastation of the enemy or other unavoidable accident” by an act passed 3 October 1782 (Paterson, Laws, p. 45). If the 26-acre deed had been recorded, all this trouble would have been avoided. The Supreme Court record is to be found at the State Archives in Trenton (Item 9, Box 21, Location D-62-08-106). On 1 March 1830, William Brown bought the 195 acres from James and John O. Glover (Woodbury, A3-157), not mentioning a mill, but stating that both earlier deeds were destroyed by fire. The tract stretched from north of Chews Landing-Clementon Road to south of Blackwood-Clementon Road, and encompassed Masons or Gravelly Run and the mouth of Somers Run. On 8 February 1834, Brown mortgaged the 195 acres and a sawmill to William Newbold’s estate (Woodbury Mortgages, P-102). This mortgage was not canceled of record until 1927. In 1856, at the request of William Brown and others, an existing informal road through his farm (now Laurel Road), connecting two roads—Chews Landing-Clementon Road and Blackwood-Clementon Road—was formally laid out “crossing the dam of Brown’s Saw Mill” (Ca RR 102). The map at page 103 of the return is reproduced at page 30 of History of Lindenwold. “The census of 1850 shows that William Brown owned two sawmills and one turning lathe....Shortly after 1850, the mills were abandoned....” (ibid.), pp. 28 and 46) However, a “S.M.” [sawmill] is shown on the 1851 Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia (CCHS, M2001.74). Some business activity developed at the intersection of Laurel Road and Chews Landing-Clementon Road, with wheelwright and blacksmith shops at the corners, taking on the name of Brownsville. In 1855 Timothy Fox bought a small lot from William Brown, and in 1864 the house and lot at the corner, whereupon the intersection became known as Foxs Corners. By a deed of 14 March 1863 (Camden, 40-365), for $7,000, William Brown sold to his son-in-law, Ralph Hider (married to Elizabeth), 76 acres, including the millpond and the tailrace out to Chews Landing-Clementon Road. It included the privilege of using the water power to overflow Brown’s remaining lands provided ten feet height at the dam was not exceeded, and only to drive machinery upon the erection of buildings for milling, manufacturing or other “business purposes of the country.” A map of the 76 acres was recorded with that deed. What use Hider made of the property is not known, but it does not appear that he put the water power to use. On 16 February 1869 Ralph Hider and Elizabeth, his wife, sold a 3.38-acre lot on the south side of Chews Landing-Clementon Road to David E. Marshall, with the privilege of excavating marl (Camden, 59-121), and on 7 January 1879 an adjoining 2.5-acre lot (Camden, 63-241) was similarly sold to Marshall. When Hider bought the land from Brown, he gave back a purchase money mortgage, which was foreclosed by his son William J. Brown, and the 76-acre tract (less the two lots sold to Marshall) was bought at the Sheriff’s sale by William J. Brown, 12 August 1892 (Camden, 179-607). On 31 March 1893 the thirteen acres south of Blackwood-Clementon Road (between Little Mill Road and the road to Haddon Home Farm) were transferred by Brown’s executors to son William J. Brown (Camden, 108-577).
BROWN’S TURNING MILL see BROWN’S SAWMILL
BURNT MILL (below Atco) (Lower Mill, Coopers Sawmill) George’s father, of the same name, (who died intestate in 1766 [941 H]) owned sizable tracts of lands, which descended to George, adding to those which the son himself had acquired. Young George operated both sawmills and was so assessed for them from 1780 through 1791 (Waterford Township ratables). The millpond created for the Lower Mill is now called Beaver Lake (Waterford Township Zoning Map) or Beaver Dam Lake (Hammonton Quad., 1981 revision) on Wildcat Branch, which empties into Machescatuxen Branch (see Waterways, p. 107). The mill was on a five-acre tract originally surveyed to Leeds & Matlack in 1743 “on a branch of a branch known by the Indian name of Watchuoscatucksing” (OSG, A-202), which was sold to Robert Friend Price and Henry Thorn 17 January 1765 (Benjamin B. Cooper’s 1813 Resurvey [OSG, DD-11]), and was one of several tracts bought by George Marple Jr. on 4 March 1797 (ibid.) (see Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 77). George Marple Jr. got into financial difficulty and a creditors’ committee took over his holdings (see MARPLES MILLS). On 11 January 1792 the committee agreed to sell to Marmaduke Cooper a tract of more than 4,000 acres (including the Lower Mill) on the southwest side of Machescatuxen Branch, the deed being dated 18 June 1792 (Woodbury, B-377). The 4,000-acre tract took on the name of the Cooper Mill Tract. The transaction included the “privilege that the waters of the head of the branch whereon Marmaduke Cooper’s swamp he formerly held lies shall at no future time be...obstructed...from its...natural course of flowing down said Coopers Branch...and also that Marmaduke Cooper...shall have...the privilege of flowing his said branch as high up as he...shall think to...advantage....” Coopers Branch (which runs parallel to Wildcat Branch into Machescatuxen Branch) rises by two heads, one starting between Edgewood Road and Dayton Avenue, the other near where Merion Avenue intersects Old White Horse Pike. They meet and flow as one stream to join the main stream near where Collins Avenue intersects Burnt Mill Road (Waterford Township Zoning Map). Although the grant included mills, dams, ponds, etc., it did not specifically permit or refer to a dam on Coopers Branch. Nevertheless, being free of interference in the flow was significant since the grantors owned the land upstream of him. The deed also included the “exclusive right of overflowing the branch,” which is what the construction of a dam and a millpond would do. That stream was known over the years as Coopers or Marmadukes Branch, Matlacks or Williams Branch (see Waterways, p. 42). One of the courses of the road return was to “Cooper’s Small Dam,” which had been erected where the road crosses Coopers Branch, the name apparently being in contrast to the bigger dam at Burnt Mill. The small dam was presumably built by Isaac Cooper to produce and supply additional water power to Burnt Mill Pond, not, as the writer first supposed, to provide power for an additional sawmill. One of the deeds used to divide Marples Big Mill Tract into thirds, as related in MARPLES MILLS (Wallace Lippincott to Martin Gibbs Jr., 26 October 1812 [Woodbury, R-153]) refers to “the Lower Mill Branch” in such a way that Wildcat Branch was intended. Marmaduke Cooper, of Pomona Hall in Camden, died in 1795. His will (1933 H) devised his real estate to his sons, Isaac and Joseph, but the latter dying a minor, unmarried and without issue (Prowell p. 408), Isaac became the sole owner. Isaac presumably operated the Lower (Burnt) Mill on Wildcat Branch. He later sold the Cooper Mill Tract to William Griffith, 27 April 1808 (Woodbury, L-496). It passed by several deeds through John R. Coates, Joseph S. Coates and Joshua Brick, and finally, in 1813, to Benjamin B. Cooper (ibid.), who also became involved with Marples Big Mill. In 1995 the pond on Coopers Branch could be seen, just off the road to the west. Maps and Drafts, Vol. 5, pp. 38-39, as well as Clement’s 1846 Map of Camden County (CCHS, M.83.90.303), show a canal running from Cooper’s pond to Burnt Mill pond. It runs under the road, then parallel to it, and back under it to the latter body of water, recently installed pipes allowing for road passage. It was evident at both ends in 1995. On that visit, two other aspects were noticed. Stumps of small trees, obviously lately felled and presumably taken away by beavers, were seen. Another feature was a second dam, about midway up the lake, very narrow to walk upon, whose purpose was not evident. Perhaps it was a beaver dam but it looked more man made. There was no sign of the sawmill itself, which the several maps mentioned above seem uniformly to show on the north side. Benjamin B. Cooper had a resurvey made in 1813 (OSG, DD-11) which does not mention the mill as such. A mortgage he made to the State Bank at Camden, 1 April 1818 (Woodbury Mortgages, H-396) refers to the “Cooper Mill Tract” of 4,073 acres, as does a deed from Cooper to the bank on 11 January 1823 (Woodbury, KK-11). But when the bank sold the tract to Jonathan Haines on 28 October 1824 (Woodbury, NN-395) it was called “The Burnt Mill Tract.” Jonathan Haines built the Waterford Glass Works on the tract, which then took the name of the Waterford Tract (or Glass Works Tract). Haines died intestate in 1828 (3835 H) and his heirs sold all to Thomas Evans, Samuel Shreeves and Jacob Roberts by deed of 8 April 1828 (Woodbury, WW-56). Jacob Roberts died the next year, his will (3909 H) directing a sale of his one-third interest. His executors sold to Joseph K. Porter, a storekeeper at Haddonfield, 1 July 1829 (Woodbury, YY-273), and Roberts’s widow, Mary, released her dower by a recorded document (Woodbury, YY-278). John Clement’s Maps and Drafts, Vol. 5, p. 56 shows surveys of two ponds: “The Mill Pond” of 26.82 acres, and “the Little Pond” of 20.33 acres. A broadside in the Cooper Collection (Rutgers University) is for a timber sale near Burnt Mill and the Little Pond. “The Mill Pond” can be identified as Burnt Mill Pond. It is so named in a deed for the 26.82 acres from Edward C. Knight to Edward Z. Collings, 12 February 1872 (Camden, 86-12), which recites an 1865 deed from Mary H. Porter to Edward C. Knight and Edward Z. Collings, 24 October 1865 (Camden, 26-542) The Little Pond was undoubtedly the pond raised by the dam on Coopers Branch. Title to Little Pond has been somewhat traced. Mary K. Porter sold the 20.33 acres to Edward Z. Collings and Isaac A. Braddock, 15 November 1865; Braddock sold his one-half interest to Joshua B. Fenimore, 1 November 1872 (Camden, 71-562), and Fenimore transferred it to Collings 31 May 1886 (Camden, 123-639). The ponds probably had a commercial purpose, perhaps growing cranberries. There is no mention of either pond, nor a separate description of either tract, in the above deed to Mary H. Porter. It may be inferred that they were separated out of a larger tract for the sales above recited, perhaps by surveyor John Clement himself.
BURROUGH’S GRISTMILL (near Kresson) see BORTON’S GRISTMILL
BURROUGH’S (AARON) SAWMILL At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Daniel Bassett bought several properties at Chews Landing, including what would have been a general store on the Landing Road at its intersection with the road down to Floodgates (Camden-Blackwood and Chews Landing-Somerdale roads), which he acquired from Everard Bolton, 20 August 1801 (Woodbury, E-66). Daniel Bassett’s will, proved 1804 (2488 H), gave to his son David that property as well as the “scales weights and measures” he used in his store. But David did not prosper indefinitely from this and his other inheritances. He made an assignment for the benefit of his creditors, and on 1 May 1819 his assignees sold the store property to Hugh F. Hollingshead and William Platt (Woodbury, EE-4). That is undoubtedly the store of which a one-half interest was assessed to Aaron Burrough in 1802. There has been no information found, other than the 1802 assessment, concerning the sawmill and gristmill for which he was assessed in that year. No such mills have been discovered at or near Chews Landing.
BURROUGH’S (JOSEPH) SAWMILL see BURROUGH’S (SAMUEL) GRISTMILL
BURROUGHS (SAMUEL) GRISTMILL (Reuben Burrough’s Gristmill, Coles Gristmill, Joseph Burrough’s Sawmill) Burroughs Gristmill was on the north side of this old road, on the Burlington County side, at the creek. It cannot be said, with any certainty, how early the mill was built, but it can be affirmed that it was in Burrough hands for many years, probably from the beginning of the eighteenth century. The first Burrough to settle on Pennsauken Creek was Samuel, in 1698 (Clement, p. 318). He died in 1732 (150 H), and it was probably his son Samuel, who died in 1774 (1108 H), who built the mill. In 1762 a road was laid out “from the southwardly branch of Pennsauken alias Cropwell Creek toward the new bridge erected from Samuel Spicer’s Landing across Coopers Creek” (Glo RR A-10). It started at “the middle of bridge erected across” Pennsauken Creek “hard by Samuel Burroughs Grist Mill” and extended westwardly along Burroughs Lane 17 chains and fifty links (1,155 feet) to the end of the lane, etc. It is evident that this is the same road, at least near the creek, as shown by a dotted line on Sidney’s [1850] Map of the Township of Delaware (CCHS, M.83.90.481). Even though the road (later known as the Camden-Moorestown-Mt. Holly Road) was straightened in 1794 to its present course (Glo RR A-182), the old road’s existence and use for many years thereafter is confirmed by several Clement maps mentioned below. Old Mills (p. 18) treats briefly a Samuel Burrough’s gristmill located 350 feet south of the current Camden-Mount Holly Road. He says that mill was in continued use until 1830, and after the dam went out in 1836, it was never rebuilt. Clement’s map in Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 20, is a copy of Samuel Nicholson’s 1828 survey of Reuben Burrough’s farm on the Burlington County side, with Clement’s notation “since Charles Coles land, now his son’s Charles Coles.” It shows a gristmill on the old road at the east end of the dam. However, his Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 22, shows the dam, millrace and floodgates. Unless there was a gristmill at the other end of the dam, this Reuben Burrough’s mill (as of l828) must be the same mill referred to in the 1762 road return. Is it the same as that mentioned in Old Mills? Not if Boyer’s distance south of the current road is accurate, since Reuben’s mill is more than 1,500 feet upstream from the current road; and Reuben’s land extended downstream substantially beyond that road, and no other mills are shown or mentioned. On 26 March 1770 a notice was published of application for a law permitting a dam on the South Branch of Pennsauken Creek to stop out the tide, the marshes affected extending up to “Samuel Burrow’s grist mill” (NJA, XXVII, p. 130). The law was eventually passed in 1775, without mention of the mill. The dam was probably at what became Fork Landing. (NJA, 3d Ser., Vol. V, p. 342). Joel Rudderow’s 1875 map of Spicer lands (Clement’s Warrants & Surveys No. 31) shows a dam and landing at that location. The last Burrough to own the gristmill was Reuben Burrough, who received it, and a sizable plantation on both sides of Pennsauken Creek, by the 27 January 1810 will of his father, Joseph Burrough (proved 1814, 2983 H). Reuben had his plantation resurveyed, and the report, dated 19 November 1814 (OSG, DD-259), furnishes a full recital of previous owners. Several of the tracts are shown on Maps and Drafts, Vol. 3, p. 10. The resurvey also mentioned a deed from Samuel Burrough to Joseph Burrough, 10 January 1767, for 229 acres. There is a copy of a map at Historical Society of Haddonfield (Acc #98-14), drawn 8 April 1774, for 250 acres given by Samuel to Joseph. It shows “Samuel Burrough’s Mill Race,” which is really the stream itself above the mill, heading for the “Kings Highway from Mount Holly to Coopers Ferry.” The earliest deed referred to in these documents is dated 1703, which gives an idea how early the Burrough family owned property The documents also provide some genealogical information. Reuben’s father, Joseph, with the latter’s brother, Samuel “The Younger,” were the children of Samuel, who was the grantor in the l774 deed, and who, a few weeks later, made a will giving “all” his land (that is, the remainder) to son Joseph (1108 H). The 1774 deed incorrectly says the last-named Samuel died intestate. The Samuel who made the 1774 gift by deed to his son Samuel was one of the sons of Samuel Burrough, whose will was proved in 1732 (150 H), and who devised to the grantor several of the tracts which were included in the deed. Again, this time in the resurvey, it is incorrectly stated that the first Samuel died intestate. This practice of not seeking out the will was not all that uncommon, and may have been used by the scrivener as a shortcut. The 1814 resurvey disclosed that Reuben owned 454 acres, which are depicted in Maps and Drafts, Vol. 4, p. 19. About one-third of the tract was south of Church Road. Reuben’s will was proved in Burlington County in 1828 (13281 C). His executors sold 138 acres south of the creek to Benjamin B. Cooper, 20 March 1834 (Woodbury, L3-73). See Maps and Drafts, Vol. 5, p. 95; and Vol. 7, p. 13. On 14 January 1835, Reuben Burrough’s executors advertised for sale a 176-acre farm, part in Camden County and part in Burlington County, with a grist mill (Camden Mail and General Advertiser), and sold it to Charles Coles 25 March 1835 (Mt. Holly, N3-283). Old Mills adds that in 1850 there was a Cole mill above the old Burroughs mill. The Sidney map of that date (op. cit.) shows “C. Coles Mill” where Reuben’s was located. The 1851 Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia (CCHS, M2001.74) shows both “C. Coles Mill” and “G.M.,” but the exact location is not clear.
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