Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-03-25
TERRELL.


There appears to be rather more changes
around here than usual, this moving time.
The farmers in this vicinity are prepar-
| ing to grow more peas and less sweet
potatoes this year. They evidently think
that if they can't sell the peas. they won't
have to buy coal to keep them all Winter.
Edmund P. Roark is quite poorly. and
the prospects for his recovery are not con-
sidered good.
| Messrs Samuel Mead, John Butler, John
Dilks, Charles Carr and John Dinsmore
were elected to the Elk Township Board of
Education, at the school meeting last week.
Aunt Hannah Chard is dead. Her
health had been as good as usual mp to
within three or four days before her death,
and the end came quietly and painlessly.
She will be buried to-day, Thursday, at
Hardingville, by the side of her husband.
The old lady had looked forward with
much interest to April 20, when she would
have celebrated her 109th birthday These
birthday anniversaries of Aunt Hannah's
have attracted a great deal of attention
since she passed the century mark, and
caused her to become quite widely known
She had received number of letters from
parties at distance who had heard of her,
announcing their intention to attend her
next anniversary.
For some time past there has been con-
siderable discussion in the community con-
corning the title to the Ferrell school prop
erty, and the end lie not yet. When the
| district decided to build school house
some twenty-three or twenty -four years
ago, an acre of ground was bought for that
purpose of James Laferty. who was one of
the Trustees. The following year the
present school house was built thereon By
contractor Charles VonStege. Naturally,
every body in the community supposed that
the Trustees had attended to having the
deed properly executed and recorded, and
during all the years since that time the
district has occupied the property for school
purposes with never thought but that it
res Justly theirs. Generation after genera
ton Of children have slaked their thirst for
knowledge there, AID. shed barrels of tears
in consequence of merfffsSu ck ing h S:,.
boys and girls have exchanged amatory
illusions and surreptionsly made love be-
hind the teachers back little boys have
made pictures of impossible animals upon
their states, and thrown spitballs after the
|
:" district school" has gone on there for the
last twenty-five years, much the same as
other schools which had their deeds prop
erly recorded in the Clerk Office at Wood
bury In the meantime, all the Trustees
who were in Office when the land was
bought, have died. VIM. Richman, who
surveyed the ground and wrote the deed,
and Edward Knight, the Township Collec-
ALoA a. IL
gathered to their fathers. Moreover,
through the carelessness of some of the
District Clerks who have held Office since,
all papers and records relating to school
matters previous to 1880, have been lost or
destroyed, and there does not appear to be
scrap of paper in existence to show
whether the Ferrell school property belongs
to Elk township, or the Cham of Tartary.
It seems that when the Mullica Hill Build
ing and Loan Association bought the Laf-
ferty farm at Sheriff's sale year or two
ago, Judge Stratton discovered that there
was no deed recorded for the school prop
erty. Inasmuch however, as the tract of
which the school land was formerly part,
was not sold with the farm, he does not
appear to have said anything about it at
the time. John G. Lafferty, one OF the
uelis, mas recently come lntO possession OF
this tract, and also of the knowledge that
there is no deed for the school property
recorded When the present District Clerk
learned that this was the case, and found
by looking over the district papers that
there was no deed in his possession, ne
started in to trace it up Not being sue
cessful in this, he asked the present clai-
ment upon what terms he would make the
township a deed. Mr. Lafferty offered to
do this for fifty dollars, and the matter was
brought before the meeting at the trustee
election last week. The meeting promptly
voted down proposition to raise fifty dol
lars by taxation to secure deed, and
adopted resolution instructing the Board
of Education to have search made, and in
the event of no deed being found, to ascer.
tain as near as possible the total cost of
having commissioners appointed by the
Court to condemn the land, as provided in
Section 223 of the school law, and to call
special meeting, if necessary, to order tax
levy for that purpose. And there the mat
ter rests.
-Wenonah RakinO powder 10 tho host