The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1919-05-27
Historic Mount Holly
THE EARLY INNS AND INNKEEPERs
Continued

AN hOANAA NNoN WI hSi vi A1lSh du
: Water streets has been continuousl,
J occupied by tavern since before tn
} Revolution. In previous local historic
, 1t has been incorrectly stated tina
Elisha Jewell was the first LANDLORD
there, and before his time the property
was the private residence of Adam
Farquar and subsequently the home o
Aquilla Shinn." We do not know
when the first tavern was built, bu
it was prior to 1868, as in that yea
George Harding, shop keeper, adver
tises that he has moved from Bur
ington to Mount Holly, opposite Mr.
Forquer's tavern" This would make
Farquar the earliest known innkeepel
there, as Elisha Jewell does not appear
in connection with the tavern until
thIrty-seven years after the publication
OF Harding's notice. In all proba bility
there were several other innkeepers be-
tween Farquar and Jewell When the
old building was torn down in 1910,
James l.. Anderson, now deceased,
stated that his father William grand
father of our townsman A. A. Ander-
SOM had the tavern in 1896. The land
belonging to the inn extended some
distance down Water street and north
on High as far as the county lot at
one period. This large tract was made
up OF number of small purchases
by successive owners, and Aquilla
Shinn's home adjoined the original
inn and was afterward added to it bv
purchase. The old structure showed
that it had received numerous alter
atoms and additions. Old residents
remember the sign board of General
Washington which was removed with
in the last thirty years. 1t was proba-
bly, the original sign, hung out soon
after the Revolution, and there is gem
eral regret that the relic was not pre-
served.
After Anderson, in 1876, the inn
passed into the hands of Benajah
Butcher, who sold what was termed
the first lot" to Elisha Jewell on June
IL, 1900. This was the corner. Jewell
bought the second lot" from AquiIla
Shinn October 8, 1902 Aquilla was
an irascible old bachelor, of whom
many anecdotes have been handed
down. In common with many other
citizens of the time, Shinn viewed
with alarm" the growth of feeling
against Great Britain, and he was one
of the signers of petition protesting
against independence which was pre-
sented to the General Assembly in
1775. The lot sold to Jewell had been
acquired by Shinn through two pur
chases-from Peter Shiras in 177S, and
from Henry Paxson in 1881. An ad.
vertisement of the general store of
Dillon & Shinn appeared in 1778,
and among the commodities sold was
West India rum and some choice old
Jamaica spirit by the gallon or by the
DARRELL"
The day after Jewell bought the
second lot he sold the whole property
to Jno. Butcher, Benajah Butcher and
Samuel Beck. who kept it less than
one year, in which time Gilbert Earl
appears as the landlord. The three
owners sold to Griffith Owen March
25, 1903. Revell Elton bought from
Owen in 1910. Montgomery Polhemus
next appears, taking title in 1915, and
in 1919 he disposed of the tavern to
Jonathan Deacon, Joseph Wildes ap.
pearing as the innkeeper. There was
evidently falling off of custom, for
Deacon was sold out in 1928 by'Sheriff
Samuel Haines, and the inn was pur-
chased by John Gardiner, then keep
ing the State Arms house. A former
proprietor, Revell Elton, had also fallen
into deep water financially, for he was
imprisoned for debt soon after he left
the inn.
One year of running the two taverns
was enough for Gardiner, and he sold
the Washington house to Joseph
Deacon in 1924. Apparently Deacon
rented the place, for another Griffith
Owen follows Gardiner in the list of
innkeepers, although he did not take
title until 1928, when the deed from
Deacon for tavern house and two
lots of Iand' specifies the purchaser as
Griffith Owen of Monmouth county"
Rachel Owen inherited from her hus-
band, and Daniel L. Bennett ran it
until 1887, when Mrs. Owen sold to
John West. The sum paid was $1,000.
West increased the land of the tavern,
for he bought two Water street lots
from Robert d. Spencer, one in 1910
and another three years later. The
chain of title runs from West to Lewis
Coates Stockton, 1847; Stacy B. Cam
pion, 1850; c. Morgan Lippincott, 1850;
Joseph Regain, 1867; Benjamin W..
Zelley, 1898; Richard Lamb, 1904. Mr..
Lamb tore down the old building and
erected the present handsome brick
hotel