SKETCHES OF WILLIAM DUNLAP, THOMAS P. JOHNSON AND THOMAS SHARP, DISTINGUISHED IRISH AMERICANS DURING REVOLUTIONARY TIMES.
BY JAMES L. O’NEILL OF ELIZABETH, N. J., A MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.
The following short series of articles relate to distinguished people of our race who played prominent parts in the stirring scenes during the Revolution, and whose memoirs are full of interesting anecdotes and descriptions of those times.
William Dunlap, son of Samuel Dunlap, who was a native of Ireland, Thomas P. Johnson, one of the prominent members of the New Jersey Bar 100 years ago, and others are referred to. Mr. Dunlap himself, in his memoirs, gives a graphic description of Revolutionary scenes in New Jersey. Another of the articles is a history by Thomas Sharp, a member of the Society of Friends, of Newton, Gloucester County, N. J. The brief history is here quoted exactly as compiled by the ancient author, and its quaint language, with its disregard for spelling and construction, is interesting. Thatcher, a military writer of that time, gives a characteristic anecdote of Washington, which is here appended.
Revolutionary Times in Perth Amboy.
Perth Amboy, N. J., was the home of Governor Franklin, who was made a prisoner by the Colonials in the Revolution, and sent to Connecticut for safe-keeping.
William Dunlap, painter and author, was also a native of Perth Amboy, and a graphic description of “olden times” is contained in his own memoirs in his “History of the Arts of Design.” He says:
“I was born in the city of Perth Amboy and province of New Jersey. My father, Samuel Dunlap, was a native of the north of Ireland and son of a merchant of Londonderry. In youth he was devoted to the army and bore the colors of the Forty-seventh Regiment, ‘Wolfe’s Own,’ on the Plains of Abraham. He was borne wounded from the field on which his commander triumphed and died. After the French war, Dunlap, then a lieutenant in the Forty-Seventh, and stationed at Perth Amboy, married Margaret Sargent, of that place, and retired from the army to the quiet of a country town and country store. The 19th of February, 1766, is registered as the date of my birth, and being an only child, the anniversary of the important day was duly celebrated by my indulgent parents. Of education I had none, in the usual sense of the word, owing to circumstances I shall mention, and much of that which is to the child most essential was bad.
“Holding negroes in slavery was, in those days, the common practice, and the voices of those who protested against the custom were not heeded. Every house in my native place where any servants were to be seen swarmed with black slaves. My father’s kitchen had several families of them, of all ages and all born in the family except one, who was called a new negro, and who had his face tattooed. His language was scarcely intelligible, though he had been long in the country, and was an old man. These blacks indulged me, of course, and I sought the kitchen as the place to find playmates and amusements suited to my taste. Thus in the mirth and games of the negroes, and the variety of visitors of the black race who frequented the place, my desires were shaped. This may be considered my first school, and, indeed, such was the education of many a boy in the states where the practice of slavery continued. The infant was taught to tyrannize, the boy was taught to despise labor, the mind of the child was contaminated by hearing and seeing that which, perhaps, was not understood at the time but which remained in the memory. These kitchen associations were increased during a part of the Revolution by soldiers, who found their mess fare improved by visiting the negroes, and by servants of officers billeted in the house.
“Perth Amboy being now in the possession of the British, my father returned with his family to his home, and I saw in my native town, particularly after the battles of Princeton and Trenton, all the discomforts of a crowded camp and garrison. An army which had recently passed in triumph from the sea to the banks of the Delaware, and chosen its winter quarters at pleasure, was now driven in, crowded upon a shore washed by the Atlantic, and defended by the guns of the ships which had borne it thence.
“I have elsewhere compared the scenes I now witnessed to the dramatic scenes of Wallenstein’s Lager. Here was centered in addition to the soldiery cantoned at the place all those drawn in from the Delaware, Princeton and Brunswick, together with the flower of the army, English, Scotch, and German, which had been brought in from Rhode Island. Here was to be seen a party of the Forty-Second Highlanders in national costume, and there a regiment of Hessians, their dress and arms a wide contrast to the first. The slaves of Anspach and Waldeck were there, the first somber as night, the second gaudy as noonday. Here dashed by a party of the Seventeenth dragoons, and there scampered a party of Yagers. The trim, neat and graceful English Grenadier, the careless and half-savage Highlander, with his flowing robes and naked knees, and the stiff German, could hardly be taken as members of one army. Here might be seen soldiers driving in cattle, and others guarding wagons loaded with household furniture instead of the hay and oats they had been sent for.
“The landing of the grenadiers and light infantry from the ships which transported the troops from Rhode Island; their proud march into the hostile neighborhood, to gather the produce of the farmer for the garrison; the sound of the musketry, which soon rolled back upon us; the return of the disabled veterans who could retrace their steps; and the heavy march of the discomfited troops, with their wagons of groaning wounded, in the evening, are all impressed on my mind as pictures of the horrors and the soul-stirring events of war.
“These scenes and others more disgusting—the flogging of English men and thumping and caning of German—which even my tender years could not prevent me from seeing all around, and the increased disorder among my fathers’ negroes, from mingling with the servants of officers, these were my sources of instruction in the winter of 1776–1777.”
JAMES H. DEVLIN. Jr.,
Of Boston, Mass.
President of the Boston Charitable Irish Society, now in its 172d Year.
Thomas P. Johnson, Noted Lawyer One Hundred Years Ago.
Among the distinguished men who have adorned the New Jersey bar few, in their day, were held in higher repute for eloquence and extensive legal knowledge, and especially for intellectual vigor and versatility of talent, than Thomas P. Johnson.
He was born about the year 1761. His parents were Friends. His father, William Johnson, a native of Ireland, emigrated to this country about 1747. He married Ruth Potts, of Trenton. Thomas was their second child. When he was quite small the family removed to Charleston, S. C., where the father established a flourishing boarding-school and gained much repute by his lectures on various branches of Natural Philosophy. His fondness for such studies seemed to have been inherited by the son, who even in his later years continued to turn his attention to them. The father died in the South, after a residence of some years there. The mother, with five children, returned to her native state, and with the aid of her brother opened a store in Trenton. There Thomas was placed an apprentice to a carpenter[[3]] and joiner. After following this business some time he was compelled, by a rupture of a blood vessel in the lungs, to abandon it. He then engaged in teaching in Hunterdom County and afterwards in Bucks County, Pa.—later then in Philadelphia. For this profession he had rare qualifications. Few men had such powers of communication; few could so simplify truth, and throw an interest around it to captivate the youthful mind.
[3]. The annexed anecdote was communicated to the compiler by a resident of Trenton: At one of the neighboring courts a dispute arose between Johnson and his opponent respecting a point of law, during which the latter remarked in a taunting, derisive manner, “That he was not to be taught law by a carpenter.” “May it please your honors,” replied Mr. Johnson, “the gentleman has been pleased to allude to my having been a carpenter. True, I was a carpenter. I am proud of it. So was our Lord and Saviour. And I could yet, given a block of wood, a mallet and a chisel, hew something that would very much resemble that gentleman’s head. True, I could not put in brains, but it would have more manners.”
While in Philadelphia a mercantile house took him in partnership, and sent him to Richmond, Va., where the firm opened a large store. There he became well acquainted with Chief Justice Marshall, and often had the privilege of listening to the first lawyers in the Old Dominion. This probably led to his turning his thoughts to the bar. After a few years the loss of his store and goods by fire caused him to return to the scenes of his youthful days. He took up his residence at Princeton, there married a daughter of Robert Stockton, and entered his name as a student of law in the office of the Hon. Richard Stockton. In due time he was admitted to the bar as an attorney and counselor. His career was brilliant. Whether arguing points of law, or spreading a case before a jury, he was always heard with fixed attention and lively interest. So lucid was he in arranging and expressing his thoughts, so quick to seize hold of strong points in a case, and, when he pleased, so well able to touch the chords of feeling, that he rarely failed to produce an impression.
He was no indifferent student of the great political questions. With the majority of the New Jersey bar, he belonged to the Washington school, and exerted all his energies in what he honestly conceived to be his country’s real interests. For his brethren of the New Jersey bar he cherished a warm attachment, and they were forward in evincing their high esteem of his worth. A few years before his death a number of them obtained the services of an artist and had a full-length portrait of him executed. This now hangs over the judge’s chair in the court-room at Flemington. He died March 12, 1838.
History of Newton, Gloucester County, N. J.
Newton, Gloucester County, N. J., was early settled by the society of Friends. The following history was written by Thomas Sharp, the first conveyancer and surveyor of the county:
“Let it be remembered. It having wrought upon ye minds of some, Friends that dwelt in Ireland, a pressure having laid upon them for some years which they could not get from under the weight of until they gave upp to leave their friends and relations there, together with a comfortable subsistence to transport themselves and familys into this wilderness part of America, and there by expose themselves to difficulties, which, if they could have been easy where they were, in all probability might never have been met with; and in order thereunto, sent from Dublin in Ireland to one Thomas Lurtin a friend in London commander of a Pink, who accordingly came, and made an agreement with him to transport them and their familys into New Jersey, viz.; Mark Newby and family. Thomas Thackarg and family, William Bate and family, George Goldsmith an old man, and Thomas Sharp, a young man, but no familys; and whilst the ship abode in Dublin harbor providing for the voyage, said Thomas Lurtin was taken so ill that could not perform ye same, so that his mate, John Dagger, undertook it. And upon the 19 day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1681, we sett sail, from the place aforesaid, and through the good Providence of God towards us we arrived at Elsinburg, in the country of Salem, upon the 19 day of November following, where we were well entertained at the houses of the Thomsons, who came from Ireland about four years before, who, by their industry, were arrived to a very good degree of living, and from thence we went to Salem, where were several houses yet were vacant of persons who had left the town to settle in ye country, which serve to accommodate them for ye winter, proving moderate, we at Wickacog, among us, purchased a boat of the Swansons, and so went to Burlington to the commissioners, of whom we obtained a warrant of ye surveyor general, which then was Daniel Leeds; and after some considerable search to and fro in that then was called the third or Irish tenth, we at last pitched upon the place now called Newton, which was before the settlement of Phila; Pa; and then applied to S,d Surveyor, who came and laid it out for us; and the next Spring, being the beginning of the year 1682 we all removed from Salem together with Robert Lane, that had been settled there, who came along from Ireland with the Thomsons before hinted, and having expectation of our coming only bought a lot in Salemtown, upon the which he seated himself until our coming, whose proprietary right and ours being of the same nature, could not then take it up in Fenwicks tenth, and so began our settlement; and although we were at times pretty hard bestead, having all our provisions as far as Salem to fetch by water, yet, through the mercy and kindness of God, we were preserved in health and from any extreme difficulties.
“And immediately there was a meeting sett upp and kept at the house of Mark Newby, and in a short time it grew and increased, unto which William Cooper and family, that lived at the Poynte resorted, and sometimes the meeting was kept at his house, who had been settled sometime before. Zeal and fervency of spirit was what, in some degree, at that time abounded among friends, in commemoration of our prosperous success and eminent preservation, both in our coming over the great deep as also that whereas we were but few at that time, and the Indians many, where by it put a dread upon our spirits, considering they were a savage people; but ye Lord, that hath the hearts of all in his hands, which cannot be otherwise accounted but to be the Lord doings in our favor, which we had cause to praise his name for.
“And that the rising generation may consider that the Settlement of the country was directed by an impulse upon tranquility, but rather for the posterity yet should be after, and that the wilderness being planted with a good seed, might grow and increase to the satisfaction of the good husbandman. But instead thereof, if for wheat it should bring forth tares, they themselves will suffer loss.
“This narration I have thought good and requisite to leave behind, as having had knowledge of things from the beginning.”
Anecdote of Washington.
Thatcher, in his Military Journal, gives a vivid description of the sufferings of the troops during “the hard winter of 1779–1780,” at Morristown, N. J. He says:
“Morristown, January 1st, 1780. A new year commences, but brings no relief to the sufferings and privations of our army. Our canvass covering affords but a miserable security from storms of rain and snow, and a great scarcity of provisions still prevails, its effects being felt even at headquarters, as appears by the following anecdote: ‘We have nothing but the rations to cook, Sir,’ said Mrs. Thomson, a very worthy Irish woman, and housekeeper to General Washington. ‘Well, Mrs. Thomson, you must then cook the rations, for I have not a farthing to give you.’ ‘If you please, Sir, let one of the gentlemen give me an order for six bushels of salt.’ ‘Six bushels of salt for what?’ ‘To preserve the fresh beef, Sir.’ One of the aids gave the order and the next day his Excellency’s table was amply provided. Mrs. Thomson was sent for, and told that she had done very wrong to expend her own money, for it was not known when she could be repaid. ‘I owe you,’ said his Excellency, ‘too much already to permit the debt being increased, and our situation is not at this moment such as to induce sanguine hope.’ ‘Dear Sir,’ said the good old lady, ‘it is always darkest just before the daylight, and I hope your Excellency will forgive me for bartering the salt for other necessaries which are now on the table.’ Salt was eight dollars a bushel, and it might always be exchanged with the country people for articles of provision.”
HON. JAMES CUNNINGHAM.
Of Portland, Me.
Vice-President of the Society for Maine.
Cumberland County, N. J.
Baptist Church at Cohansey. As early as the year 1683 some Baptists from Tipperary, in Ireland, settled in the neighborhood of Cohansey. The most prominent persons were David Sheppard, Thomas Abbott, and William Button.
Emigrants flocked into Cohansey from Ireland and it is very probable that a Presbyterian Society was formed about the year 1700 or earlier. Rev. Robert Kelsey, who was from Ireland, used to preach for the Baptists.