The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-05-18
FORGOTTEN HISTORIC NOOK.
Washington Met with Council of Safety
Near Morristown.

Near Morristown.
At the May meeting of the New
Jersey Historical Society held in
Newark ON Saturday, which was
largely attended the trustees elected
as new trustees of the society John
A. Blair, of Jersey City, the Rev.
Elias N. Thompson, of Paterson and
Herbert P. Gleason. of Newark.
A genealogical history of the Can
field family of Ironia and Dover was
received from Frederick Garfield, for
which a vote of thanks was rendered.
Following the business meeting, Pro-
fessor Charles M. Andrews, of Bryn
Mawr College. made most interest
ing address on "Some Neglected AS
poets of Colonial History and Mrs.
Julia Reese COLES read a paper on
"a Forgotten Historic Nook. y The
nook in question was the Silas Con-
dict house. Silas Condict's first home
stead, the second homestead being now
occupied by the family of his great
grandson, the late Hon. Augustus W.
Cutler The old house is one of the
remarkable landmarks of the Revolu-
tion and stands as it did then, when
the Council of Safety met frequently
within its doors and was attended by
some of the most distinguished pa
triots of the time, including the War
Governor, " William Livingston, who
was its Presidents Judge John Cleves
Symmes, near neighbor and in whose
house near by (another historic nook
now standing, at present owned and
occupied by Mr.. Gustav E. KisseD,
the only daughter of Judge Symmes.
was married to Gen. Harrison, (Tip-
picanoe Harrison) the ancestor of Jour
x-president. Washington himself
was sometimes present at these meet
ings of the Council of Safety, which
was one of the most important insti-
tutions of the Revolution and decided
with absolute power on the lives and
| fate of men and women of the time as
to certain army regulations, what
should be done with the Tories, what
wives and children of Tories should
be sent into the enemy's lines, ETC., !,
etc., and even decided the question of
treason. You may stand in the parlor
today where this Council met The
fine hand carvings below the windows
and about the mantel attest the char
acter of the house in it's time. In
the bedroom beyond, you may see the
corner, where in those days. stood the
bed in which Silas Condict slept with
his gun and spear always at his bed
head, saying, sit was not his intention
to be taken alive. :" For price was
set by the British upon the heads, or
persons, of these men and despite at
tempts were made by the British spies
to entrap them. These, we find would
be the records of the family. Mrs.
COLES dropped her papers and talked
towards the close, because of the linn
tied time at her disposal. She men
toned the influence of the Condicts in
various directions and the fact Of the
Morristown Condicts vetoing the SC"
in the name. At the close, it was
moved by Mr. VIM. Nelson, of Pater-
son, the corresponding secretary of
the society, and seconded that Mrs.
COLES should present her paper for
publication with the omitted portion.
Prof. Andrews gave an address of
unusual interest and containing orig
inal suggestions of value in the direc-
tion of historical study and research.
The audience manifested warm ap-
probation and the address was order
ed printed in The Proceedings of
the Society.