Bridgeboro notes
Notes on Bridgeboro
This town was, or maybe still is?, located in Delran Township in Burlington County. It was on the west bank of the Rancocas River, mostly on the land that had once belonged to the Rancocas Toll Bridge Company.
At present, some of the only residents I have come across of this town were posted to a mailing list about 10 years ago. They were Daniel and Mary (Applegate) Vandergrift. They had a daughter, Martha Lippincott Vandergrift, born in 1852 in or near Bridgeboro. Her later married name was Hullings. There was another child of Daniel and Mary, also, by name of Mary Heaton Vandergrift.
Another resident of this town is mentioned in the New Jersey Mirror on Jul 24 1889; it says::
Samuel L. Litle, of Bridgeboro,finally succeeded in committing suicide Friday by hanging himself up to a rafter in his blacksmith shop, where he was found by Smith Loyd and William Meeks early in the morning dead. Mr. Litle who has for some time shown signs of derangement and who has been in confinement once, but was deemed sufficiently recovered to be released, was a sufferer from nervous dyspepsia, and had gotten the idea into his head that his place was going to ruin, hence the deed which he attempted once before about Easter. The deceased did a good day's work on Thursday and went to bed apparently all right, but was missed by his wife about five o'clock in the morning. He had cut one of the ropes from the hammock and going to his blacksmith shop, near the house, tied it around his neck, then taking a chair he fastened the other end to a rafter and kicked the chair away. When found his feet touched the ground but he was dead.
Then on July 14, 1905, the same paper carried this article which mentions Bridgeboro:
Charles Wischnewske, an aged Polish laborer on the farm of his stepdaughter, Mrs. Robert Hewitt, near Bridgeboro, committed suicide on Wednesday morning by shooting himself through the heart while in a bedroom of the house. Mrs. Hewitt was in the barn at the time she heard the fatal pistol shot. When she arrived upon the scene of the tragedy under the aged suicide was on the floor scene, and the revolver he had used, his arm. Help soon arrived on the but it was too late, as the old man had made death sure and almost instantaneous by piercing his heart with the well directed shot from a 32-calibre revolver. Coroner Grobler, of Moorestown, viewed the body and gave a death certificate. People of Bridgeboro and vicinity were greatly shocked upon hearing of the tragedy. The victim had lived there for several years and was highly respected. Despondency is the only cause known for Wischnewake's rash act.
The following year, the same paper makes reference to a different resident of that town:
Frank Horner, of Bridgeboro, who was committed to jail on June 15 when he failed to furnish $1,000 bail after he had been charged with bigamy, was the first called. Through his counsel, Aaron E. Burr, he entered a plea of non vult contendere. The admission of the charge practically ended the case so far as the hearing was concerned, but Mr. Burr believed that there were "extenuating circumstances," that should be made known to the Court, and he was permitted to proceed. The complainant in the case was Mrs. Horner No. 1, who was Miss Laura A. Edwards, of Delanco, and she was called to the stand. She stated that she married Horner on November 12, 1901. Her testimony showed that from the time of their union until their final separation they lived a rather strenuous life, as the final was their fourth separation. Various causes were assigned for their troubles. When she heard of her husband's second matrimonial venture, which took place at the Riverside Lutheran church on June 13, she immediately took steps to have issued the warrant that led to his arrest. She denied that in June last she gave her husband consent to marry again, as she intended to marry John Westcott, of Trenton. Horner was called to the stand and it soon became evident that his trouble had been caused by his very strange view of the situation after he and his wife had parted for the fourth time. From his testimony it was gathered that he believed the first marriage had been outlawed and that the marital ties had been legally broken when his wife made the remark that he understood to be her consent to his second marriage. He had no reasonable excuse to offer for the offence that he first committed.
The prisoner was employed at the electric power plant at Riverside prior to his arrest, and while he was away from home at night he had understood that the Trenton man called on his wife. It was brought out by counsel that Horner had even offered to furnish his first wife money with which she could obtain a divorce, but the Court could not see the effect of this testimony and the proceeding was blocked with a remark that had Horner attempted anything of this kind he would ahve been arrested for collusion. Mr. Burr soon discovered how ineffective this testimony appeared to be to the Court and he then took occasion to direct his attack toward persons and things directly or otherwise connected with the defendant's second matrimonial experience, which proved to be so disastrous. Among the other things set forth in extenuation of the crime Mr. Burr said: "Down in Riverside, where they have plenty of beer and some fifteen churches easy of access, you can get up a marriage any time for 12 1/2 cents, and matrimony evidently is not considered such a sacred thing. The minister who performed this second marriage ceremony ought to be before this bar of justice, for, in my opinion, he had reason to believe that this defendant Horner was a married man."
Regardless of Horner's many excuses for his bad break the Court would not overlook such a serious crime, as marriage must be considered a sacred state, and the prisoner was sentenced to one year in the State Prison. Before dismissing the case the Court informed Mr. Burr that if there was anything illegal in the Riverside minister's action in performing Horner's second marriage ceremony or in the actions of Mrs. Horner No. 1 there must be prosecutions and the law will take its course if proper evidence is furnished to Prosecutor Atkinson in either case.
This town was, or maybe still is?, located in Delran Township in Burlington County. It was on the west bank of the Rancocas River, mostly on the land that had once belonged to the Rancocas Toll Bridge Company.
At present, some of the only residents I have come across of this town were posted to a mailing list about 10 years ago. They were Daniel and Mary (Applegate) Vandergrift. They had a daughter, Martha Lippincott Vandergrift, born in 1852 in or near Bridgeboro. Her later married name was Hullings. There was another child of Daniel and Mary, also, by name of Mary Heaton Vandergrift.
Another resident of this town is mentioned in the New Jersey Mirror on Jul 24 1889; it says::
Samuel L. Litle, of Bridgeboro,finally succeeded in committing suicide Friday by hanging himself up to a rafter in his blacksmith shop, where he was found by Smith Loyd and William Meeks early in the morning dead. Mr. Litle who has for some time shown signs of derangement and who has been in confinement once, but was deemed sufficiently recovered to be released, was a sufferer from nervous dyspepsia, and had gotten the idea into his head that his place was going to ruin, hence the deed which he attempted once before about Easter. The deceased did a good day's work on Thursday and went to bed apparently all right, but was missed by his wife about five o'clock in the morning. He had cut one of the ropes from the hammock and going to his blacksmith shop, near the house, tied it around his neck, then taking a chair he fastened the other end to a rafter and kicked the chair away. When found his feet touched the ground but he was dead.
Then on July 14, 1905, the same paper carried this article which mentions Bridgeboro:
Charles Wischnewske, an aged Polish laborer on the farm of his stepdaughter, Mrs. Robert Hewitt, near Bridgeboro, committed suicide on Wednesday morning by shooting himself through the heart while in a bedroom of the house. Mrs. Hewitt was in the barn at the time she heard the fatal pistol shot. When she arrived upon the scene of the tragedy under the aged suicide was on the floor scene, and the revolver he had used, his arm. Help soon arrived on the but it was too late, as the old man had made death sure and almost instantaneous by piercing his heart with the well directed shot from a 32-calibre revolver. Coroner Grobler, of Moorestown, viewed the body and gave a death certificate. People of Bridgeboro and vicinity were greatly shocked upon hearing of the tragedy. The victim had lived there for several years and was highly respected. Despondency is the only cause known for Wischnewake's rash act.
The following year, the same paper makes reference to a different resident of that town:
Frank Horner, of Bridgeboro, who was committed to jail on June 15 when he failed to furnish $1,000 bail after he had been charged with bigamy, was the first called. Through his counsel, Aaron E. Burr, he entered a plea of non vult contendere. The admission of the charge practically ended the case so far as the hearing was concerned, but Mr. Burr believed that there were "extenuating circumstances," that should be made known to the Court, and he was permitted to proceed. The complainant in the case was Mrs. Horner No. 1, who was Miss Laura A. Edwards, of Delanco, and she was called to the stand. She stated that she married Horner on November 12, 1901. Her testimony showed that from the time of their union until their final separation they lived a rather strenuous life, as the final was their fourth separation. Various causes were assigned for their troubles. When she heard of her husband's second matrimonial venture, which took place at the Riverside Lutheran church on June 13, she immediately took steps to have issued the warrant that led to his arrest. She denied that in June last she gave her husband consent to marry again, as she intended to marry John Westcott, of Trenton. Horner was called to the stand and it soon became evident that his trouble had been caused by his very strange view of the situation after he and his wife had parted for the fourth time. From his testimony it was gathered that he believed the first marriage had been outlawed and that the marital ties had been legally broken when his wife made the remark that he understood to be her consent to his second marriage. He had no reasonable excuse to offer for the offence that he first committed.
The prisoner was employed at the electric power plant at Riverside prior to his arrest, and while he was away from home at night he had understood that the Trenton man called on his wife. It was brought out by counsel that Horner had even offered to furnish his first wife money with which she could obtain a divorce, but the Court could not see the effect of this testimony and the proceeding was blocked with a remark that had Horner attempted anything of this kind he would ahve been arrested for collusion. Mr. Burr soon discovered how ineffective this testimony appeared to be to the Court and he then took occasion to direct his attack toward persons and things directly or otherwise connected with the defendant's second matrimonial experience, which proved to be so disastrous. Among the other things set forth in extenuation of the crime Mr. Burr said: "Down in Riverside, where they have plenty of beer and some fifteen churches easy of access, you can get up a marriage any time for 12 1/2 cents, and matrimony evidently is not considered such a sacred thing. The minister who performed this second marriage ceremony ought to be before this bar of justice, for, in my opinion, he had reason to believe that this defendant Horner was a married man."
Regardless of Horner's many excuses for his bad break the Court would not overlook such a serious crime, as marriage must be considered a sacred state, and the prisoner was sentenced to one year in the State Prison. Before dismissing the case the Court informed Mr. Burr that if there was anything illegal in the Riverside minister's action in performing Horner's second marriage ceremony or in the actions of Mrs. Horner No. 1 there must be prosecutions and the law will take its course if proper evidence is furnished to Prosecutor Atkinson in either case.
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