Rockaway Records
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ROCKAWAY RECORDS -OF- MO~~IS COUNTY, N. J., f /\MILIES. CE.1/E'l'BRY RNCOIWS, CHURCH HISTORY, Jll LI1'AR Y RECORDS, LOCAL HIS1'ORY, GENEALOGIES OF OLD FAJIILIES, NEARLY 20,000 DATA BY J. PERCY CRAYON ILLUSTRATED ROCKAWAY, N. J.: Roc,uwAY PuaLJ,umm Co. 1902 RCSl)¢Ctfullp i)¢dicattd TO THE MEMORY Of the best friend I ever knew, ro~ motber. She would have spoken her regrets, in words of kindnesR ?nd aff,ec'tion to any imperfections, 11ninten1 ional, in the work of her erring boy. THE AUTI-IOR. copy r igh L- LJ02 By J.Percy Crayon. THE ROCKAWAY CEMETERY RECORDS. In the interest of Jocnl hiRt,ory nucl offlce, much could have been nclde,1. gcuenlogy of the old Mo1Tis County The church nnd mouumentnl records families theRe records hnve been nr hnve only pnrtinlly filled this spnce. rnnged. lt is n grnve subject; the Rocknwny wns Rattled as early ns threads of romance were woven mnuy 1720, nncl became n pince of cou. yenrR ago by the houorecl nnmeR now re sidernble business in 1780 in the lmild 'l(tllecl to memory. ing of the Job Allen Iron Works. •.rra• In the nrrnugemeut the unmes nre clition relates thnt this p11rticular spot given with the dnte of birth and cleat.It, Imel been selected as n buri11l ground, alphabetically and also chrouologicnlly, God's acre, by the enrly families, but with parentage aud family connectiou t,heir nnmes lrnve not been recorded out. us for us kuown to the writer. side of t.110 Allen and Jackson families. All the monumental records have been At a later period, 1740 nnd 50,we lrnve n cnrefnlly copied aud compared with goodly number in the immediate vicini church 1·ecorcls, fnmily records, local ty, uud those connected with the build newspnpe1• files aud other records, and ing of the Church, 1752, nud later those c01Tectecl from the best informal.ion ob connected with the church, 1758 to 1768, taiunble. '£he records of burials have the number of nnmes iuc,rensed rnpidly. been c~refnlly recorded by the present Iu the researches of the nncient bori sexton, Mr. ,Tobu G. Mott, siuce July nls, many are known to have been 1875, aucl the whole work carefully re buried here, but the dates of births and vised by him. '£he average date be denths cnnuot now be obtained. Mnny tween death aucl bnrinl has been three of these old families lrnving removed at clnys, nncl the date of dent.It has been n11 early elate and all records have been given aurl corrected front the moun tuken. ~i~I~ them. •rraces of mauy of meu ta! aucl other records. these o't<l families have been found au1l '£here are 110 recorc!R of t.110 Rextona much· 'taluttble information has been previous to this date. Coulcl these rec gt1ined by corresponcleuce. · So many ords have beeu nrraugecl at the t.ime of fncts nucl tradit.ious relating to the older t.he "old sext.ou," Mr. David Gordon, who families, t,heir history and connection for over fort.y years faithfully filled that. with ol,1 Roekawuy lmvo been learned, 2 that• the Cemetery records would not be I JO yenrs; 84 between JO nnd 20; 72 be completll without knowing more nbout \ tween 20 nncl 80 ; 70 between 80 ancl 40 ; these connections, These brief histories 08 between 40 and 50; 89 between 50 nncl genealogies may prove more enter- and UO; 101 between 60 und 70; 105 be tainiug than the Ce111ete1·y records, 1111rl t,ween 70 und 80; OJ between 80 ,iurt flll; nre reserver! for the Inst. !l between 00 ancl JOO. About one-half Special research lms been nmclu uf clietl before the nge of 15 years, nncl the tho8e locnted here, who hnve serve,! iu larger percent.nge betwei,n 110 and 80. the old ~'rench and ludilrn War, tho During the 10 yenrs between 1875 to Revolution, uncl the 1812 Wnr, and thosi, 1885, t.his percentage Wl\8 very much counecterl with the militi:i at, :i lntm· larger thun dnriug the J11tor period, elate. These have been most tlif!lcalt to with 11 very low percentnge bet.ween tlrn obtain, UR the Stnt~ records hnve never iiges of 20 nnd 40. been completed in this liue. '.l'he boys who wore the blue iu 1861-5, cmm·ntles Hocknwny and its vicinity ns the stu must not be forgotten, neurly 150 of tistics show cau be note,l for its nge<l these ancient nud modern worthies have people. Dr. 'l'utt.lo writes, "thnt Ii> :mswered the finnl roll c:1Jl, uud are uow years (1847 to 1802) iu t,hut. r.Olll(regat.ion resting in pence from their patrior.ic the rec01·d showecl 1 hucl ilSsisterl at t.110 and warrior services m this cemetei·y. ~unernls of 65 persous over 70 years of age. Of these 19 were betweeu 80 Cemetery statistics show some stmnge uncl 00; 10 between !JO uud !J-1; nud oue resu!t,a. 'fhe Mol'l'istown Bill of Mor wns Haid to be 115 yenrR," From Dr. tality from 1770 to 1776 recorda about, Bnruabns Krng'R fortieth nuniversnry 200 burials there in five year". One hun sermon, preached Dec. lll, 1848, we le11ru ch·ecl of these were children below lo that. he 111\cl olttcitit~il at 081 fnnernls, years of uge ; lfi of the whole u nm lier 0 very muny Ul(ecl people. He · hue! died of old uge. The hnrdships and pri preachecl 12,000 times, solomuize.d 417 vations of this period, tho want of prop 111a1·ringes, bnptizecl 547 children, and er food, clothing and medical nttenduuce received in the church 1180 members. bud 1nuch to do with this, but the Inter Whut u record·! · date records do not show uuy improve• ment 1n · the 11,ortality among those of The oldest Monumental recorcl is of early nge. brown stone, beiug well preserved, bet In the 1·ecords where the age is gi veu ter than many others of Inter elate, it is from 1875 to 1899, tweuty-fonr yen1'll, of ~itnnted. in th., vulley near the centrnl t.l1ose bnriecl in the Rockuwuy CemHtery part of the olcl burial ground, ubont mo 49ti died between the age of birth uncl 5 years, more thun one-half of this yarcls back of where the old church wus number clid not n.ttain the age of J locnted on n knoll in therear of the pres year. 7-1 cliecl between the n11:e of 5 nncl eu t church. It has this inscription: 3 Here lies the body l en·ors of name or date, or can give auy of l\fory Wife iuformntiou couceruing these persons or o( D1wi<I Estile. ! Deceased April 8th families, we Hhould be plensecl to have 1702 agecl 24 I nuy corrections or iuformntion, so thnt YeurR, 'the records mny be mnde historicnlly It would seem from the old records I cot·roct. thnt the "grave grouud" nud "J\Ieetiug I 'J.'he writings nud collectious of Or. hons Lot" hnd been allowed to grow np Joseph li'. 'l'nttle, who more than auy ns iu 1706 nn ngreemeut wns macle for other has ndded to the history of Morris the "clenriul'( t.110 whole of the Meeting County, nncl more pnrticnl1~rly old Rock· hons Lot, by 1mtt.iug the stumps low I11wuy, when 110 wus for seveut,eeu ye11rs nucl nil thl\ unaer brnsh uud bnrn it 1111 nssociatecl wit!1 its people: ure f~uud _111 for the wood aucl onlcl rails." We ln\'e New Jersey H1stonc11! Society. ro hmt followed the origiunl spelling. it wus a labor of love. His interests 11ml 'rbe first rec•.orcls of u. family plot was facdlty for tmuscribiug the endy tr 1,di iu 1807 J11seph Jucksou wns permitted tious uucl fac1s coucerniug our Rovoh1- to "euclose iu II fence tweuty-eight feet tiounry fathers in this historic locality squnre iu the gmve gronud ut tho Meet- will 11lwnys be apprecintecl by future iug house where his wife is blu·iecl, fol' a geuerat.ious. · burying l'(ronud for his family, l\ucl slrnh He wrote me thut the vote of thnuks of his father's family ns may choose to g:iven nt some of his historical lectui·es bury their deucl there." fully repaid him for the time llncl lubor Iu trnuscribiug the uames frllm t.110 expended. It was then ns uow, mach 111011umeuts, "Our \Villie" nucl "Little valuable ·iufommtiou is beiug withheld .Maµgie" have • been re111len·1l phdu iu the ~vuy of histoi'icnl clocmnents aud Willinm 111111 Mnrgl\ret, nlso nil suffixes olcl records, with the idet1 that they n1·e aucl ,prefixes bnve beeu dispensed with. \'Ol'Y valn11bl,, iu tlrn wny of dollurs uucl iu the records that ~ve might have on- ceuts, while their l'enl vulmuious are casion tu give more houoruble mention. only of historical iut,erest. 'l'he records give only moun111entnl, 'l'o my 11111uy correspondents in the chnrch aucl sexton records, while the seveml states who hnve nilled me in this !(enenlogies will give the unmes, nncl work, nucl writtm1 words of eucournge cltltes when possible, of u,auy others meut., uucl thosll who hnve kiuclly aiclecl who are buried here, uncl in fllmily c~n- me fro111 t-hefr owu privnte records aucl nection in ot11er immedittte cemeteries, libraries, 1mcl 1111 others, who from a as we have the records of m1,uy or then,.