The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-08-02
Poorest People of United
States In Jersey Colony.

York city there is colony of illiterates
of whom few have seen a newspaper and
none has seen railroad When the
newspaper was seen, none knew what
il was. Combined with this intense
Ignorance is corresponding degree of
poverty. These are probably the poor
est people, as people, in the United
States.
They live on what is known as the
Scrub Oak road, about two miles north
west of Swartswood, n. j., and only
nine miles from the nearest railroad,
the New York, Susquehanna and
Western. Yet not one of this colony
of more than two hundred persons has
travelled that nine miles, and there are
4 gfay-beardcd men and wrinit,ed women
among them.
1t is expected that the state will en-
deavor TO eradicate the evils in the col
ony and establish a school there.
This history of the colony is as I'M
certain as its existence. Farms are far
apart in that section of the state, most.
ly because the country is mountainous
but at Swartswood, which is near
large lake, there are several summer
hotels. But these summer visitors
coniine their investigations to the lake
and its vicinity, In winter there are
hardly more than fifty residents of
| Swartswood, and the existence of the
Scrub Oak colony is not interesting to
them.
No one seems to know the origin of
this strange people, 1t is known that
they have lived along the Scrub Oak
road for more than eighty years, as sew
eral of its members are that old and
they were born there. They do not
know their origin, and they are not
sufficiently intelligent to be interested
in IT,
The theory about them based on ira
dition, is that during the retreat of
General Washington across New Jer-
sey n half dozen of his disconnected
soldiers deserted and fled TO the New
Jersey mountains, where they existed
by hunting and fishing. This theory
is partly substantiated by the fact that
fifty or more years ago one of the col
ony went TO Swartswood and traded am
old muslSet, such rs many of Washing
TONS army were equipped with, for
calico. This musl<et. now in the mu-
scum ut Newtown, n. j., having been
identified as a genuine Revolutionary
I war musket.
How the first women came into the
colony is not known, but the deserters
left descendants, and at one time il is
said there We're $50 members In the coi-
ony, but II is now ON the decline with
extinction in sight. In fact, there are
few children, and most of the men and
women are past middle age
III there ever was a marriage cere-
mony the outside world knows nothing
about IL. Their shacls are small, clap
trap affairs, made of small logs, bound
together by twigs, and the roofs are
matched. There is one window, with
out glass, open in summer, and board
ed up in winter. The same is true of
the door, the inhabitants alternating
rs rule during the cold weather.
A stranger went up through this reg
ion week or two ago, and his horses
and buggy were the first the inhabit-
ants had seen this year. The rough
ness of the road indicated that IL was
u footpath rather than wagon road.
These people do not like strangers,
and they do not like TO be seen. They
hide behind big trees or back of their
shacks, which usually are back from
the road, and well concealed by scrub
oaks, when stranger comes through
II was with the greatest difficulty any
Of them could be induced to talk. Even
then little could be learned.
Most of these strange folks are known
among themselves as Johns Emmy"
Johns John" Johns William" in
distinction from "Hrams Emmy"
"Hiram's William" Through this lax
system of identity, they lose trace of
their genealogy in the second genera
ton, and only the myth of surname
survives.
The mothers are nonentities after the
children become thirteen or fourteen
years old. One woman was found who
had five children named Johns ia
cob, " Johns Ellen, Jacobs Mary, +"
Jacobs Lucy" and "Seths Seth"
None Of the children in the colony
are bright, and there is n heavy infant
mortality. Poverty is intense. No one
has more than a one-piece suit or dress,
this usually of gunny saclSing. Shoes
are unknown. The people are unclean,
seldom wash, many are continuously
i'll and most OF them show ugly sores.
They are believed to be among the
lowest in the scale of humanity, and
they live within seventy-fve miles of
/ New York City.-State Gazette.
John Van Sinderin has moved from
Cottage Hill to the corner Of Main and
cottonwood streets
Bryan II. Taylor is contemplating
many improvements to his residence
on North Union street Fred II
Parker will have charge of the work.
DIR. l.. {. Williams has removed his
office from the building adjoining his