Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-04-23

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bury Constitution, in which the name of
Still Rum was given to said stream, the
authority for which was given by our old
friend and teacher, William Haines, who
stated that at one time a pious churchman
had conducted distilIery somewhere on its
hanks.
To the east of the Salem road the stream
forks, here it is supposed was an Indian
village, as many stone implements have
been found there. In old deeds, we find
the names Of Still Run, Trumpeters Greek,
Dorman's Branch, Repaupo Creek, applied
to it. Tho we never heard it called by
either Of these names by the residents Of
the locality-it was simply The Run"
As we know the patriot force was on the
road near this stream, we have digniied
the skirmish which when the house was
burned, by the name Of the battle Of Still
Run.
OF this event we do know eitain facts;
the house was burned by the British, shots
were exchanged, one built from field
piece struck and embedded itself in black
oak tree which stood by the roadside, oppo-
site the house, that Mr.. Tonkins felled the
tee, and extracted the bullet, which was
kept in the family for many years. The
tree was standing as late as 1912
We are not able to fix the date of this
action, but we do know that CORVALLIS
crossed from Chester to Billingsport on the
18th Of November, LIT, with two thousand
men, and was soon reinforced by a like
number on this side Of the river; that their
foraging parties overrun the whole neigh
borhood. Again, we know, that in March,
l77S, Col Mayhood and Major Simcoe
marched from Cooper's Ferry to Salem, and
as Simcoe's command THE Queens Rang
ers'' was nothing more than a body Of
desperate tories, they may have endeavored
to satisfy their hatred OF the cause, by
burning the patriots home.
Edward TOnkin, who succeeded his uncle
Samuel Tonkin in the ownership Of the
fam, took great interest in, and soon be-
gan to rear exceptionally fine cattle. About
1885 we began to hear talk of two unusu-
ally large and fine oxen.
The Big Cattle, this was the appeilation
by which they were known in this locality,
and | have never heard them spoken Of by
any other name. This was the name which
brought Statemen. Governors, Congress-
men and persons OF all classes to view and
admire them.
An English nobleman passing through
Philadelphia came down to see them, and
told Mr.. Tonkin's that he was interested in
cattle raising in England, yet he had never
seen any oxen TO equal them.
The old Salem mail stage often halted
and gave their passengers fifteen or twenty
minutes to look at them. 1t was not un-
usual to see six or eight carriages standing
by the roadside, while those who came in
were admiring the cattle. One Winters
Sunday, the sleighing being excellent, the
visitors began to arrive early in the morn
ing and continue to come in crowds dur
ing the entire day. A member of the
family kept account of them, and the num-
Der was over one thousand
Mr.. TOnkin's employed an Englishman,
Thomas Pacy, to care for them. The
curry comb and brush were used on them
daily. An excavation was made in the
ground about three feet deep, sloped at one
end, and rooted over. Into this they were
allowed to go to be protected from the
excessive heat of Summer. This Thomas
Pacy was taxadermist and entomoligist,
and while here collected many specimens of
birds, butterflies, bugs and all kinds of
insects; these with collections he had made
in other parts was said to be worth three
thousand dollars On leaving Mr.. Ton
kin's employ, he returned to England
taking his collection.
In February, 1888, these oxen were sold
to firm in Washington for the sum of
$780,
On the Oath day of February, 1888, a
huge box built on four wagons passed up
the road, and every one living on the road
for miles below, knew that the big cattle"
l. L., 4ol-o ,ie1 r,xx
structed by the Messrs. Reeve, at Alloway,
who took the measurements of the covered
bridges to insure its passage through them.
The hindmost wheels of the wagons were
lowered somewhat by excavating the
ground, so as to lessen the incline Of the
bridge by which they were driven into the
box. The box had partition which was
put in place when the first had entered.
Twenty horses and mules were used to
haul them to Camden, where they arrived
late in the afternoon, and found the tide so
low they could not lie put on the boat.
Sunday morning, Feb 25th, this have
from an old pilot, still living, and who was
present), they were hauled to the railroad
ferry at the foot of Bridge avenue and
placed on the steamboat Estate Rights,
and landed at the foot of Walnut street,
Philadelphia. This was boat especially
constructed to carry the railroad passengers
in the early days Of the old Camden and
Amboy railroad, and was the only ferry
boat whose gangway was wide enough to
admit of two wagons abreast My inform
ant cannot tell what route they took after
getting off the boat, probably down Della
ware avenue to avoid the hill.
There seems to be a difference in the
weight as given or record at the time. One
record says 1850 and $500, and this is the
weight which has always been assigned to
them by the family and those familiar with
them Mr.. Tonkin had seals ON the
premises capable of weighing them, yet
the Consultation May 18th, 1888, gives us
what it calls) the exact weight. The
pied OK, the Earl of Jersey, 3033; red OK,
the Duke of Gloucester, 3040.
The Consultation, May s, 1888, says the
Tonkin's cattle have been taken to New
York and are being exhibited at 50
Bowery
The Camden Mail, March 81, 1888, says
the Tonkin's cattle have been removed
South and will be exhibited in Baltimore.
We cannot very readily reconcile these
statements
The Tonkin family say they were taken
South one being slaughtered in Washing
ton, from which they received roast Of
beef, the other after being shown in various
cities finally arrived at New Orleans where
it was slaughtered.
The immediate surroundings of the house
at the time of which we write, presented
different appearance from what it does at
present.
Three barns have been removed to
neighboring farms-one large barn that
stood by the roadside, north of the dwell
ing, now does duty on the Craft farm
occupied by Mr.. Hoffman.
On the northwest side of the road where
the greater part of Mickleton now stands,
was a tract Of large timber, no doubt the
original growth. In this timber which
was part of the Tonkins farm, were many
decayed and hollow trees, which furnished
homes for numerous squirrels which
abounded there.
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