The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-02-06
Salem County Historical Society.

BY favor Of the Secretary, George Me-
cum ESD, we give our readers a full re-
port of the proceedings of the Salem
County Historical Society at their meeting
on Tuesday of last week.
The Society held its first regular meeting
on Tuesday, January 21th, at 3 P. NJ. in
the hall of the Library Co. at Salem. At
ter the reading of the minutes, reports of
the executive committee, and reading of
letters by the Corresponding Secretary, Mr..
Thomas Shourds read a very valuable and
interesting manuscript. giving a history of
the arrival of the first English colonists to
this country, also the names of the ships
in which they came, the lands they pur-
chased, the townships in which they set
tied. the parts of England from which
they embarked, and the industries which
were started by them, evincing much his
torical research, and giving a great deal of
matter never made public before.
The next paper was read by the Hon.
Richard NJ. Acton, whose subject was the
early glass making in Salem county, trac-
ing that industry from its small beginning
to the present time. This paper is valu-
able for many reasons, as there is now a
controversy among historians as to which
was the first glass house started in this
country. ''Caspar Wistar, the originator
of these works, came to Philadelphia in
I'LL, and after some years of adverse cir
cumstances he felt himself warranted i'll
starting the untried industry of glass max
ing" Accordingly, in 1913 he purchased
of Amos Penton one hundred acres OF land
bordering ON a branch of Alloways creek,
where he erected a glass house as well as a
number of buildings for the workmen. He
died in the year 1871. After that his son
carried on the business. Since then there
seems to be no knowledge how long the
works continued. This was the first glass
house built in the country with the excep-
ton of one started in jamestown, Va,
which did not prove a success, and was
abandoned soon after.
w. T. billiard read a paper styled the
Old PENIS Neck Bridge, giving some very
interesting facts concerning the difficulties
under which the Freeholders labored in
making a suitable passage way over he
creek for the last seventy years.
After the reading of these articles, Mr..
John V. Craven presented the Society with
the following valuable papers: The Penn
s~vlvania Gazetteer of the date October 81,
1910: a parchment deed dated June 20,
1875, given by Fenwick, in a perfect state
of preservation. and endorsed on the back,
Enrolled on the Register, Liber A, belong
ing to Fenwick Colony, i'll the Province OF
New C3esarea, or New Jersey, in America,
this 90 day of the tenth month, called De
cember, 1873.
J. FENwIcK ADAMS, Reg.
Also a deed given by John Fenwick to
John Ashtield and wife, for 1000 acres of
land, dated 1879, recorded by James Gar
field in the same book of records; a copy
of John Fenwick's will, made by DIR.
Archer in 1899.
Mr.. Shourds presented the Society with
a copy Of his history of Fenwiek's Colony.
The Corresponding Secretary then made
his report, in which he gave a list of pre-
sensations since the last meeting: An auto
graph letter of BENZ. Franklin; an oil
painting of the old Jail by james Simkins;
presentation of a number of books by
Judge John Clement; some manuscript
donated by Mrs j. V. Craven, also john
sons history Of Salem.