r 144 .P45 L3 Copy 1 AMWELL raE ANCIENT VILLAGE, AMWELL BY C W. LARISON, M. D. FLEMINGTON, N. J. H. E. DEATS 1916 3 Gift MAR 21 19/6 Read at the annual meeting of the Hun- terdon County Historical Society, Flem- ington, N. J., January 11, 1908. Published in the Hunterdon County Democrat, Flemington, N. J., .\i>ril 14 and April 21, 1915. One hundred copies printed in this form, from the same type, February, 1916. THE KILLGORE PRESS. Flemington, N. J. Tke Ancient Village, Amwell That process in the forwarding and developing of civilization which we call manufacturing, had, in the central part of the Township of Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, its beginning in the building of a mill on the east bank of a rill which flows from a spring on the northern slope, near the summit, of the Sourland Ridge, nearly 100 yards east of the road which ex- tends from Ringoes to Rocktown. The spring from which this rill flows is small, and the rill itself is small; but when it has flowed nearly 200 yards, tributaries to it, from other springs along the northern brow of the ridge, swell its flow until it is increased many fold — until it becomes a streamlet, as it forces its way down the steep hillside, powerful to carry with it soil and other debris, and to erode the underlying indurated rock, so that during the eons during which it has been there flowing, it has, from its bed and its banks, carried away the soil, worn away the indurated rock, and trans- ported the debris, till it has eroded in the steep slope down which it flows, a gorge, the higher bank of which is along the eastern side of the rill. Save where interrupted by the dams constructed for milling purposes, from the site at which the several streamlets join to make the stream once called Mill Brook, but now called Clearwater Rill, till it reaches the plain which skirts Mallard Rivulet, a tributary of the Neshanic, it abounds in rapids, purling, hurrying, plashing currents, and small cascades, one of which, near the site of the oldest mill, when first I saw this stream, was about ten feet high, so rapid is its flow, and so picturesque the spectacle it makes. To afford a notion of the value of this little rill for the purpose of driv- ing the machinery of mills, distilleries, factories, etc., I need to state that the site upon which was the largest dam (the only one now existent) is fully 100 feet higher than the water in the wheel-pit beneath the wheel which drives the machinery of the lowest mill on this stream — the so-called Old Dawlis Mill, still in use — on the plain which skirts the slope of the Sourland. Readily it is seen that between the mill upon the plain, at the terminus of the slope, and the dam built for the storing of water for mill and factory purposes, allowing 20 feet for the diameter of each wheel, there might be at the least five overshot wheels, to drive the machinery of as many mills, the same water flowing from the wheel-pit of one wheel, on and into the buckets of another overshot wheel, on to the end of the series — as was ac- tually the case when the ancient village of Amwell was mart and manufac- turing center for that part of the county of Hunterdon surrounding this village for many miles. The more easily — indeed, with the greatest ease possible — was this effected, — as may be seen by the topography of the area through which the rill flows, — because the eastern bank of the rill, all along, rises steeply up — in some places to the height of about 30 feet, — so that to secure a suitable supply of water to any mill wheel, there was needed only a suitable excavation in the bank for a race leading from the rill up to a site opposite to the site upon which the mill was built, terminating in a suitable excavation and an embankment to hold the water conducted thereto, to be in readiness to use when needed. In any case, the trunk leading from the forebay to the wheel-box was short — not more than 30 feet. Such being the condition of the eastern bank of the rivulet, all the mills and factories (of which there were six — two grist mills, a rye and corn distillery, an oil mill, a cider mill and brandy distillery, and a sawmill) were on the eastern side of the rill, so located that the water, when it had driven the first wheel, from the first wheel-pit was conducted by a race along the sloping eastern bank of the rill to a forebay opposite to the mill or factory next below. Thus arranged, the water from the uppermost, that is, the highest, dam of the stream (for of dams of this stream, there were three, each assisting in the gathering of water to aid in the driving of the mills below), which drove the wheel of the first mill, in turn, drove the wheel of each mill below. When, 58 years ago, with boy relatives and boy neighbors, I first visited this place to enjoy the sport of swimming, and to learn how well the boys of this district were provided with accommodations to learn this useful art, and to enjoy the sport thereof, the three dams still existed, but only one factory and one mill remained, the sites of the other edifices, however, being well marked by scattered elements of their ruins. Though the water of the upper and largest dam was sufficient to accommodate any who went merely to swim, yet, to be able to say that I had tried not only the best in that vi- cinity, but all which there was thereabouts, at succeeding visits 1 tried the waters, and the mud under them, of which there was an abundance, of the other two dams; and while thereat, visited and critically examined the ruins of the edifices which had served their turns and were then hard upon the road to obliteration. Four mills in the upper part of this row were so built, by excavating the bank against which they stood, that between the buildings and the race was a spacious drive, the surface of which was almost level with the third floor of each mill or factory, so that, viewed from the west, each building seemed to consist of four stories, while viewed from any point on the east — es- pecially from the road which passed by the eastern side of it — it seemed only two stories high. In this was great advantage in the unloading of the contents of wagons into the mills and other buildings into which produce was delivered, — since, in those days during which a sparseness of machinery was the rule, to unload things which passed down an inclined plane — which usually was a smooth board, one end resting in the wagon, the other ex- tending down into the mill — was easier and quicker than to unload those which had to be lifted or carried to upper stories by devices then in use. And then, as a driveway extended along the rear of these mills, between them and the rill, to load things, especially out of the upper stories of the mills, was handy and labor-saving. So, in point of handiness, and con- venience of approach, these mills, factories, and distilleries were accounted the best which, by the working of what nature supplied into what an in- genious, thrifty, progressive, industrious people needed to develop the arts and promote prosperity and refinement, couid be. On the west side of the rill, the bank is not high at any point, and in most places, it rises gently up to the height of a few feet, then the sur- face more gently slopes up and stretches far westward into pleasant fields and delightful meadows. On this slope, hardly farther from the rill than enough to be safe against unundating water in time of a severe freshet, were built upon piling, cattle pens enough to accommodate 500 steers, hog pens enough to accommo- date 1,000 swine, and other buildings necessary to shelter horses and wagons enough to accommodate those who carried on the enormous business of this place in those early times, and sheep enough to make wool and object of industry of those who owned homes here and lived by the business they had in hand. All which I have described, and many more things hardly less import- ant, occupied less than four acres of ground, so compactly built was this flourishing village of the past. These mills formed a center around which nSpJt'n7t°h?^-,i°*^'^'*%'^''' arranged. East of the old Dawlis Mill-the oldest of the mills,— was Lawrence Marr's blacksmith shnn fpmr>„l 7 -t hnnH^.L*^^ T^^ ^'^^ °^ ^^^ ""• opposite to the old mill and less than a flill^Pilii pisassfflHl use Snir ^r^,i'r. ?Mfur aS\r " -""^^ "'^- were yet in the mouths of the oM l^lks herpf hm,t7r>?'^'^ ""^^^ ^°^ "^^^^^^ from UnlonvlUe to RocMown « rt 1»?L i "'"/o^". "" " meets the road were houses/ftew of whS'still staad JJM'I'' " "" "' ^' '""' i-tervais, which are eisily found ' " "" remains of many others of Which "o'Va;;To°SS^lood''e«'e''ndV.'l°l'' 'T <■"'" ^ >"•'"«'') "'""^ Trenton, tt was &^Sir':;^::irt^° ^^TS^^/^.^iS'iC part of it from the south end of Dutch Lane to Snydertown was vacated. Such was Amwell in the days of her glory. She reached her culmina- tion about the end of the 18th century. Her decline was as rapid as her rise in importance. On other sites favorable to the same kinds of business, mills, factories, stores, and taverns were built and so managed that they became her rivals and shared with her what once only Amwell could do. Such was the milling and manufacturing interest at Alexaukin, where the stream is crossed by the Old York Road, whereat were a grist mill, a sawmill, an oil mill, a foundry, and shops for blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, chair making, weaving, shoe making, and almost anything else, which a citizen of Amwell Township at this time could use. Such an interest was farther up that stream, whereat were Phillips' Mills — grist mill, sawmill, oil mill, cider mill, rye and apple distillery, and all the necessary appurtenances thereto to make these industries prosperous, and the place, during her activity, noted. Such was Headquarters (then called Opdycke's Mills) when Opdycke oper- ated thereat a grist mill, a sawmill', and a distillery which supplied swill enough for a thousand hogs and refuse enough to feed 500 steers. Such, too, was the old-time settlement at Neshanic Ford, as was called the manufactur- ing interest at the site northeast of the site at which, a mile west of Rea- vilie, that stately bridge spans the Neshanic. Other rivals sharply contended with Amwell for equality or superiority, till much of what otherwise would have been done at Amwell was done elsewhere, and less efficient men managed the affairs of Amwell until she was fairly second rate in the strug- gle for being, then worse grew, then waned into insignificance, and now, dur- ing many years, has had only the old woolen mill, fast falling to earth, and the second mill which Dawlis built, as the sole remnants of what was once the leading — the most thriving — village of Amwell Township, as she was known to men 125 years ago. What I have written might imply that the six mills above mentioned were built, own'^d, and operated by one man, and that they were contem- porary each with the other. Not so. In December of 1727, William Dawlis purchased of Nathan Allen, then the sole agent of his sister, "Experience liield, widow and relict of Benjamin Field," who, as one of the proprietors of West New Jersey, had surveyed to him in 1702, 3,000 acres of the 150,000 acres of the Indian purchase above the Falls of the Delaware, lying in or near the center of what afterwards became (May, 1708) Amwell Township of Burlington County, later Hunterdon County, N. J., 265 acres of land, the field notes of the survey of which are as follows: "Beginning at a heap of stones or a post for a corner it being also Peter Woolever's corner in John Swallow's line from thence along his line east 40 chains to a Spanish oak for a corner from thence south 16 chains to a small black oak marked for a corner from thence south southeast 25 chains to a hickory tree marked for a corner from thence southwesterly 48 degrees 47 chains to a small black tree marked for a corner from thence north westerly 30 degrees 11 chains to a white oak for a corner from thence southwesterly 66 degrees 9 chains to another of the aforesaid Woolever's corners from thence north by his line (erased) chains to the first mentioned corner containing 265 acres besides the accustomed allowance for highways." Doubtless when Dawlis purchased this tract he knew its value for milling purposes; for during the following year, south of the northern boundary of his tract, he built the first grist mill in the central part of Amwell, till this day known to all versed in the early history of New Jersey as the Old Dawlis Mill. So popular was this mill, and so extensively was it patronized that in less than seven years, its capacity was insufficient to accommodate those who wished to patronize this venturous, enterprising, wealthy citizen of Amwell, then rapidly increasing in population and importance among the townships of New Jersey. To satisfy the needs of the times, he looked about for another millseat, and looked not long till he found one. The water from >l the wheel of his mill flowed only a few feet till, clown the steep descent northward, it plunged into miniature cascades, dashed over rocks, and plashing and foaming, leaped through the deep winding ways which it had worn in the indurated shale rock of that slope, till at the terminus of the slope, at a distance of about a hundred yards from the old mill, it gently flowed off to join the waters of Mallard Rivulet. The fall of the water in the rill, from the wheelpit of the old mill to the site at which he excavated for the wheelpit for the new mill is 30 feet. Here, then, in the lands of one John Swallow, whose lands bounded on the north, for a long way east and west, lands owned by Dawlis, was a site for another mill, — which could be built at slight cost, if the water right could be secured at a price sufficiently low, as the only expenditure needed to supply water to drive the machinery of the new mill would be the outlay necessary to excavate a race and the necessary accessories from the tailrace of his mill to the brow of the knoll which, nearly level with the wheelpit of the mill already built, was there an escarpment nearly as high as the roof of the mill which he was planning to build. To consummate what he thought feasible, he purchased of the said John Swallow, Feb. 9th, 1735, IV2 arces of land, through which flowed Clearwater Rill. The field notes of this survey are as follows: "Beginning at a white oak in the aforesaid William Dawlis' line from thence northeasterly from the mill along the said line 16 rods to a stake from thence westerly across the brook that the said Dawlis' mill stands on 15 rods to another stake from thence southerly 16 rods to a hickory tree In the said Dawlis' line from thence easterly 15 rods to the first station con- taining IV2 acres." Hereon, in 1736, he built the second grist mill — standing till this day, and now owned and operated by Edwin S. Gimson. These two are the only uses of the rill by William Dawlis, the builder of the first mill in the central part of Amwell, as Amwell Township then was, of which I have any knowledge. His son, Harmon Dawlis, continued the interest for a while by operating the two grist mills only — the upper and the lower — as he styled them. But in the course of events, flush with prosperity, which enkindled the fire of venture inborn, and urged forward by his patrons, he built the distillery for maize and rye. This mill stood less than a hundred yards south of the old mill — the wheelpit being near the site over which flows the rill, — the feeding facilities — the means of utilizing the remains of the mash or wort after the whiskey was distilled therefrom, — the cattle pens, hog pens, etc., being a little below on the opposite side of the rill-— lower than the still works, so that the slops flowed through suitable troughs directly from the distillery to the pens where they were consumed. The water which drove the ma- chinery of this distillery was taken from the race which led the water from the dam above to the old — the flrst built — mill. The capacity for consuming bushels of maize and rye per day, or the gallons of whiskey made, of this distillery, I have never seen stated. They who have handed down to us the capacity for doing work herein have their ratings in number of cattle and hogs fed by the slops, etc., after the whiskey was distilled from the wort. This rating was as above stated, — "enough to feed 500 cattle and 1,000 hogs. " It may be well to remark passingly that in the earliest times in Amwell, and during many years thereafter, distilleries were the best markets for maize and rye, — they who maintained them paying the highest prices for what they bought and paying the most promptly, — as the products of the distillery were the readiest of sale, being commodities without which the earliest settlers hereabout would not do — whiskey being drunk by ii