MIDDLESEX COUNTY

Introduction

During her long forty-year career as an antiquarian dealer, Edna M. Netter handled many historical manuscript collections, a large number of which were sold over the years to the Rutgers University Library. George A. Osborn was her primary contact there beginning in 1928, succeeded by Donald A. Sinclair. The materials in this section of the Netter Collection were residuals remaining in her hands at the time of her death in 1980. They were retained by Virginia S. Smith, Netter’s executrix, and then by one of her sons, Patrick M. Smith. Individual documents and small batches of material have over time been sold off by the Smiths. What remained was acquired in 2020 by Joseph J. Felcone of Princeton, a leading rare book and New Jerseyana dealer. The collection was then purchased in 2021 by Rutgers University Special Collections & University Archives. When first received by Felcone, there was no perceptible order to the historical manuscripts part of the collection. So he sorted it by New Jersey county, with the largest resulting groups pertaining to Monmouth and Burlington counties. That sorting process and organization went a long way toward reconstructing the original manuscript groups. They have been continued. A number of the resulting records groups relate to materials already owned by Rutgers that had mostly been obtained from Edna Netter. Citations from A Guide to the Manuscript Collection of the Rutgers University Library compiled by Herbert F. Smith (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1964) have been included where appropriate. The historical manuscripts pertaining to New Jersey have been arranged by county. A miscellaneous section at the end includes material from Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere. Background information for the largest record groups in the collection is provided in the text that follows.

Read, Samuel J. and Joseph S. Papers

Samuel Joseph Read (11 December 1771–2 October 1836) was a prominent attorney of Mount Holly, being admitted to the bar in 1792. A son of Joseph Read (1739–1814) and Martha Rossell (1753–1836), among the public offices he filled were Assessor of the First District Internal Revenue in 1796, Surrogate of Burlington County in 1800, member of the Northampton Township Committee in 1803, State Legislator elected in 1812, Justice of the Peace from 1812 to 1813, County Tax Collector from 1816 to 1820, and County Clerk in 1824. Read also served on the Vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church from 1809 to 1836, and was very active with the Mount Holly Masonic Lodge #18 (now lodge #14), becoming the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the New Jersey Grand Lodge in 1824–1825. Read was interred in the St. Andrew’s Cemetery in Mount Holly. He married Sarah Budd on 9 December 1799. They became the parents of 9 children, including Joseph Samuel Read, their eldest who was born on 23 June 1802. Joseph succeeded to ownership of the family farm on the south side of the road from Mount Holly to Burlington. Having served variously as a court clerk and messenger, he died on 10 August 1877, and was also interred in the family plot at St. Andrew’s Cemetery, along with his wife Mary Biddle Black (1817–1890).

Edna Netter purchased a portion of the Read family papers in February 1947 from Alice Read Oliphant Paul (1871–1952) of Mount Holly, a granddaughter of Joseph S. Read. Netter then sold some of the collection to Rutgers, also in 1947. Further additions were then made through Netter in 1952 following the death of Alice Paul. The combined collection was described as follows in the 1964 guide to manuscripts in the Rutgers University Library:

468. SAMUEL J. READ. Mount Holly, Burlington County, N.J. 1733-189-. Papers: correspondence, receipts, miscellaneous legal papers, etc., 1801-1839; also papers of Joseph Read, ledger, letters received, etc., chiefly relating to legal practice, 1783-1807; Joseph S. Read, correspondence and legal papers, with notes, lists of members, etc., of the United Loyalists of America (Loyal Legion), 1830-1869; other miscellaneous family papers, 1733-189-. 3 vols., 2 boxes (820, 1170).

Edna Netter and Alice Paul became friends. They kept up a lively correspondence from 1928 to shortly before Paul’s death in 1952. Netter helped Paul dispose of many family-inherited heirlooms over the years. She also visited the Paul homestead in Mount Holly often. Please note that the Alice Paul of Mount Holly is not to be confused with Alice Stokes Paul (1885–1977), a suffragist, feminist, and women’s rights activist who was also from Burlington County.

De Klyn, Lalor, Barricklo, and Fouché Family Papers

Edna Netter maintained a close relationship to Miss Julie Lalor Barricklo and her niece Miss Julie Barricklo Fouché from the mid-1930s to the latter’s death in 1949. This extended family owned Bow Hill, an important Federal-style mansion built by ancestor Barnt De Klyn in 1790 on the southern edge of Trenton, Mercer County, but actually located in Hamilton Township. The building still stands, owned since 1975 by a Ukranian-American social club. Bow Hill was made famous as the rented residence for a mistress to Joseph Bonaparte while he was living at Point Breeze near Bordentown. It became the principal 19th century home of the Lalor family, and continued as such until the death of Miss Caroline V. Lalor in 1914. After that date, Bow Hill remained unoccupied and in the hands of a caretaker until sold by Julie B. Fouché in 1945 to the Hamilton Township Historical Society in a deal brokered by Edna Netter. The historical society was unable to raise funds for the mansion’s restoration, so it was sold again about 1951, but still sat empty until 1975. Netter worked closely with Julie L. Barricklo and her niece to disperse the contents of Bow Hill. Many of these objects were acquired from Netter by Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, a legendary Americana collector with a country estate near Red Bank, Monmouth County. She in turn donated 13 of these items to the Monmouth County Historical Association, where they remain today. Other important items from Bow Hill were sold in the Haskell estate auctions at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York in 1944 and 1945. The Haskell gifts to MCHA were joined by 31 other family heirlooms (mostly textiles) given to the association directly by Miss Fouché.

These papers are a small fragment of documentation that pertains to an important New Jersey landmark. For further detailed information on the process of emptying and selling Bow Hill, see the extensive Netter correspondence files with Julie L. Barricklo and Julie B. Fouché in the business papers section of this collection. See also Netter’s separate Bow Hill real estate sale file, as well as correspondence with Mrs. J. Amory Haskell.

To assist the user, a genealogical outline of the owners of Bow Hill follows:

Barnt De Klyn (1745–1824) married Mary Van Zant (1749–1825).

Daughter Catherine "Kitty" De Klyn (1773–1861), married first to Jeremiah Lalor (1766–1807) and second to General John Beatty (1749–1826).

Son Jeremiah Lalor Jr. (1800–1865) married Elizabeth Tilton Smith (1809–1875). Bow Hill became their residence, as well as for several of their children, including John Beatty Lalor (1830–1881) and Miss Caroline V. Lalor (1838–1914). Caroline was the last member of the family to live at Bow Hill.

Daughter Julia R. Lalor (1832–1890) married Andrew Barricklo (1829–1902). He first engaged in the pottery industry in Trenton, but relocated his family to Jersey City about 1861, where he became involved in window shade manufacturing in New York City. Their three surviving children, William R. Barricklo (1857–1933), Elizabeth Lalor Barricklo (1857–1938), and Miss Julie Lalor Barricklo (1863–1944) eventually shared jointly in the ownership of Bow Hill, although none of them ever lived there.

Daughter Elizabeth "Lizzie" Lalor Barricklo (1857–1938) married William W. Fouché Jr. (1850–1921). They first made their home in New York City, but later occupied a house in Forked River, Ocean County, that had belonged to her father, Andrew Barricklo.

Daughter Miss Julie Barricklo Fouché (1879–1949). Like her aunt, Julie L. Barricklo, Julie Fouché remained single. She became the sole owner of Bow Hill following the death of her aunt in 1944. After being emptied with the help of Edna Netter, the mansion was sold in 1945, as mentioned above. Julie Fouché continued to live in Forked River until her death in 1949. She was the last member of this De Klyn family line.

Two small records groups at Special Collections & University Archives relate to this manuscript group in the Netter Collection. They are described as follows in the 1964 Smith manuscripts guide:

359. J. BEATTY LALOR. Detroit, Mich.; Trenton, N.J. 1852- (1855 )1875. Bills, receipts, and other papers, 1852-1853; home insurance policies, etc., 1855-1875. 1 folder (555).

Lalor died at Bow Hill in 1881. These papers are believed to have been sold to Rutgers Special Collections by Edna Netter, which is appropriate given her leadership role in cleaning out Bow Hill.

244. WILLIAM W. FOUCHÉ, JR. San Francisco, Calif. October 30, 1869-May 1, 1870. Letters sent aboard the ship, "Comet," and from San Francisco to W. W. Fouché, Sr.; also abstract of the log book of the "Comet" and the account book for the trip, New York to San Francisco to Philadelphia. 2 vols. (718).

Fouché’s wife, Elizabeth Lalor Barricklo, inherited a part ownership of Bow Hill. These papers were sold to Rutgers Special Collections in 1940.

An important group of documents from the family archive that pertained to the American Revolution was donated in 1931 to the Princeton University Library by William Reed Barricklo, a New York attorney who lived in Jersey City, and who was a brother to Elizabeth Lalor Barricklo Fouché. He, too, inherited a part ownership in Bow Hill, and had in his possession some of the fine 18th century furniture that came from the family mansion. A set of four elaborate Philadelphia Chippendale chairs from his collection was acquired with provenance intact by Mrs. J. Amory Haskell through Edna Netter. They brought $5,200 in the Haskell auctions in 1944, one of the highest prices paid for furniture in these landmark Americana sales. For information about the William R. Barricklo Collection at Princeton, see: https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/C0387.

Schenck, Rev. Garret Conover Papers

It is entirely fitting that Special Collections & University Archives should acquire a collection of papers of the Rev. Garret Conover Schenck as from 1866 to his death in 1888 he served on the board of trustees of Rutgers College, at one point taking on the chair of the board’s committee on the college farm. The Rev. Schenck was born on September 14, 1806, a son of Delafayette Schanck (1781–1862) and Eleanor Conover (1787–1873) of Matawan, Monmouth County. His early education consisted of attending the common schools of the area, a short-lived classical school in Cranbury, and for three years one in Lawrenceville. In 1826, Schenck was admitted to the sophomore class at Rutgers College, where he was chosen the following year to be one of the junior speakers at commencement. He graduated in 1828. In the autumn of 1829, he began studies at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in New Brunswick. The Classis of New Brunswick licensed Schenck to preach the gospel in April of 1832. Afterward he filled short pastorates at Marshallville, Walpack, and Clover Hill, New Jersey, before settling in 1837 as pastor at Pompton Plains, where he remained for more than fifteen years. In 1853, the Rev. Schenck gave up serving as a settled pastor and returned to Monmouth County, where he engaged in farming. But he continued to preach regularly and every few weeks was called on to supply a vacant pulpit. His preaching was considered evangelical, sound, pointed, and earnest, always spiritual and pervaded with impressive solemnity. Schenck succeeded his father as a director of the Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank in Matawan, and for fourteen years held the office of president of the Freehold and Keyport Plank-Road Company. He also became secretary and treasurer of an unprofitable mining company in Nevada, and trustee of another one in Colorado. Garret C. Schenck first married in 1834 to Sarah Ann Hendrickson (1816–1843), and second in 1846 to Jane McCormick (1824–1902). He died on September 17, 1888, and was interred in the family plot at Old Brick Reformed Church in Marlboro, Monmouth County. The Rev. Schenck devoted much of his life to collecting genealogical and historical information. His lengthy article titled "Early Settlements & Settlers of Pompton, Pequannock, and Pompton Plains" appeared in the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, new series, 4 (1919): 44-87, some 30 years after his death. At the end of his life, Schenck was preparing a major genealogical work on the Dutch families of New Jersey, a topic on which he was an acknowledged authority.

A word about the spelling of his surname seems in order. Originally, Garret followed the convention of his immediate forebearers, siblings, and other close relatives in spelling it "Schanck." Later in life he changed it to "Schenck" after discovering that this was the spelling in the Netherlands, as well as that used by his earliest American ancestor. The Reverend can be found on internet searches using both spellings. "Schenck" appears on his headstone. .

For detailed biographies of the Rev. Schenck, see: Franklin Ellis, History of Monmouth County, New Jersey (Philadelphia: R. T. Peck & Co., 1885), 674–676; and the Rev. Abram I. Martine, ed., Bi-Centennial Celebration, 1699–1899, Reformed Church of the Navasink and its Two Branches (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, [1905]), 94–96.

For related material in the Netter Collection, see the Hendrickson Family Papers for documents pertaining to Sarah Ann Hendrickson before her marriage to Schenck (box 3, folder 33). The research library of the Monmouth County Historical Association in Freehold, New Jersey, possesses the life-long daily diaries of the Rev. Schanck covering the years 1826 through 1888, plus a larger group of his papers acquired in 2018 from the same source as those in the Netter Collection. It consists of about 400 personal letters, sermons, about 50 small cabinet and carte-de-visite photographic portraits, financial records, theological notes, and family genealogy notes.

Hendrickson Family Papers

On October 17, 1959, an auction of the estate of James P. Hendrickson was held in Red Bank, Monmouth County. Many Hendrickson family antique treasures were sold on that day, a number of which are now in museums. Apparently, Edna Netter obtained advance access to the estate as she sold a large group of Hendrickson Family Papers to Rutgers Special Collections on October 14, 1959, that clearly came from this source. The Hendrickson materials in the Netter Collection are part of the family's papers that were not turned over to Rutgers at the time. They document later generations of this particular branch of the Hendrickson family, including James P., last owner of the ancestral farm on Holland Road in Holmdel, and his wife Eva Payne Hendrickson.

The Hendrickson Family Papers sold by Netter to Rutgers were described in the 1964 manuscript guide as follows:

296. HENDRICKSON FAMILY. Middletown, N.J. 1691-1838. Papers: letters received, etc., of Daniel Hendrickson, a merchant, 1753-1787; documents and accounts relating to distilling activities of Hendrick Hendrickson, 1791-1801; ledgers and other account books of the Hendrickson family, 1747-1816. Also, deeds, accounts, etc., some relating to the activities of the sloop "Catharine." 2 boxes (1764) .

Corlies Family Papers

The Corlies Family Papers in box 4, folders 7 through 11, are closely related to a larger volume of manuscripts owned for many years by Rutgers Special Collections & University Archives. They were described as follows in the 1964 manuscripts guide:

143. CORLIES FAMILY. Eatontown, Deal, Shrewsbury, N.J. 1796- 1900. Store, farm, cabinetmaker's accounts, vendue lists, administration records, and other papers of two Corlies family branches, Monmouth County, N.J. Includes papers, c.1796-1816, of George Corlies of Eatontown; c.1792-1835, of his brother Jacob of Eatontown and Deal. Also papers, 1812-1843, of Benjamin W. Corlies; of his son Henry, c.1853-1890; of Charles Corlies, c.1885-1900, all of Shrewsbury. 16 vols., 3 folders (183).

The early Rutgers library accession records note only that the Corlies Family Papers were an apparent purchase, without citing their source. Edna Netter may well have acquired them at the estate auction of Charles Dubois Corlies (1859–1941), son of Henry Corlies and Mary Hendrickson, held in Eatontown on 29 October 1941. Netter was a known buyer at this landmark sale. The contents of the five folders appear to be residuals from the larger collection.