Morris Plains
Morris County, New Jersey

Morris Co. Up


Notes on
"A History of Early Morris Plain"

by Julia Beers

Note from page 31: Julia Beers finished her history in about 1929, but it was never published during her lifetime. She died in Morris Plains on August 16, 1955 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery on Martin Luther King Avenue in Morristown.

The following are some of my notes from the book A History of Early Morris Plains by Julia Beers, BKB.

Bryant, Gregory, Turner, Marvin, Canfield, Todd, Johnson, Fairchild, Wilson, Jennings, Benjamin, Beers, and Ayres
  • Most or all of whom were early settlers.
Losey, Trowbridge & Raynor families
  • settled on the north side of the Minisink Path on the east slope of the mountain known in that day as Trowbridge Mountain
Old families
  • Mr. & Mrs. William Ayers
  • Mr. & Mrs. Aldridge Leading (Mr. Leasing married Nancy Youngs of Mount Freedom)
  • Mr. & Mrs. William Blanchard
  • Mrs. Colby, widow of Thomas Colby
Families in or near LittletonTuttle, Tunis, Davis & Masker, Lookis, Shelley, Condict, Johnson & Walker
Hospital brought citizens to Morris PlainsJames Frazer, John Hensler, Richard Kinsella, Andrew Murphey, James Coulter and Thomas McCune. Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Logan also settled here.
Civil War Vol.William Drake
Ferdinand Campfield
William Beers
Theodore Rily
James Fairchild
others
Other names
  • Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Vansyckle
  • Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Roff
  • Mrs. Clarence Talmage, who is a descendent of Daniel Evans
  • James McNeil, son of James McNeil, Sr. who died a number of years ago, aged eighty years
Irish immigrants to Morris PlainsMcNeill, Drake, Coleman, O'Neil, Gorman, Cooney, Martin, Cummins, Elliot
ALEXANDER, Joseph
  • built a paper mill on the site of the Valley Road forge 80 years later
  • paper mill pond owned 1844 to 1861 or thereabouts
  • brother of James
  • died in 1899, aged 95
  • had son, James Brant, was still living on the Valley Road in 1930
AYERS, William
  • Branchard house moved nearer to the hospital & at the time of this writing is occupierd by William Ayers, superintendent of the state farm
BALL, Abraham
  • daughter, widow Mrs. Faitoute
BEERS, Henry
  • father of the author
BEERS
  • grandfather of the writer went there to school [Old Stone School House], and he was born in 1786
Betts
  • Old Betts house was also moved to the same place [nearer the hospital]. Betts was an early settler, too.
BOYD, John
  • descendant of the Boyd family of Ireland
BOYD, Mrs John
  • was of the DeHart family of Mount Freedom
Branchet
  • The name is now called Branchard
BRYANT
  • A Bryant who settled in Mendham is said to have led the first colony into Morris County about 1744
BURNHAM, Gordon
  • only daughter, Julia, married Byron Sherman and died at the homestead only a few years ago
BUSHNELL, Joseph
  • daughter, Mrs. Elias A. Ames
CALDWELL, Margaret
  • wife of Isaac Canfield
  • started the first Morris Plains Sunday School in the Old Stone School House in 1816
CAMPFIELD, Alvin
  • member of a southern family living on the Plains
CANFIELD, Herbert
  • grandson of Margaret Caldwell Canfield
CANFIELD, Hobart
  • son of Dayton I. Canfield
  • married a Ford, the sister of the wife of his brother J. Lovell
CANFIELD, J. Lovell
  • son of Dayton I. Canfield and Cornelia Charlotte Wetmore and grandson of Isaac and Margaret Caldwell Canfield, the daughter of Reverend James Caldwell of Springfield
  • married a Ford, the sister of the wife of his brother Hobart
  • daughter, Mrs. Louisa Canfield Ferris
CANFIELD, Mrs. Lovell
  • great-granddaughter of Jacob Ford, Jr.
CANFIELD, Dayton K.
  • father of Mrs. J. Lowell
CLARK, Isaac
  • owned a grocery store
  • daughter, Abby, married Reverend William Fryling, pastor of the Presbyterian Church
COLMAN, John
  • married Ruth O. Stiles, daughter of J. Hazen Stiles
CONDICT, Dr. Lewis
  • two sons, Silas and Nathan, both practicing physicians in Morristown
COBB, George T.
  • killed in a railroad accident with J. Boyd Headley
COOPER, James J.
  • married Deacon Pruden's daughter (Hester Jane Pruden, daughter of Stephen A. Pruden)
CUTLER, Jesse
  • son of James, became a lawyer
ELLIOT, James
  • died very recently at his home here, aged 87
EVANS, Daniel
  • father of Bishop Evans who bought the David Trowbridge place
FAIRCHILD, Josiah
  • a daughter was the first missionary from Morris Plains. She married Calbe C. Baldwain and went to China with him.
FAIRCHILD, David
  • one of several brothers (one brother named Franklin)
Freeman
  • name of another of the earlier pioneers
  • house on the raod leading from the state hospital to Dover
GRANT, Robert
  • a Scotsman
  • daughter married Nehemiah, son of Charles Johnson
GRAY, Richard
  • had son Alfred
GREGORY, Seth
  • conducted the other inn located on the Plains
  • Captain in Washington's Army
  • daughter, Mary, in 1852 kept a small private school in the house
  • granddaughter - Mrs. Maria Gregory Reiley
GREGORY, Seth Odell
  • grandson of Seth Gregory
HEADLEY, J. Boyd
  • killed in a railroad accident with George T. Cobb
ILLINGWORTH, John
  • daugher, Miss Ann Illingworth
JOHNSON, Fletcher
  • married Sarah Wilson
JOHNSON, Charles
  • settled on the Valley Road probably 1810 or thereabouts.
JOHNSON, Henry
  • son of Charles Johnson
  • operated a sawmill on the family estates back of the homestead
JOHNSON, Henry H.
  • lived & died in his home on Valley Road
JOHNSON, Nehemiah
  • brother of Henry H. Johnson
  • taught school in the Old Stone School House, 1845 or 1850
LAMPSON, Eleazer
  • relative of the old family of Lampsons of Millbrook near Dover
LOSEY, William
  • bought the land from the Indians
LORD, J. Couper
  • daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Nicoll
  • nephew, Reverend John C. Lord
MARVIN, Dr. Jonathan D.
  • Puff's Tavern, was later owned and occupied for may years by Dr. Marvin & family, who came here about the year 1830.
MARVIN, Dr. Cornelius
  • only son of Dr. J.D. Marvin
  • practiced in Brooklyn, where he died some years ago
MARVIN, Dr. J.D.
  • one unmarried daughter remained on the old homestead until her father's death
  • other daughter married and for years her home was in Newark
MOORE
  • Tradition says that the site for the Old Stone School House was given by a Frenchman named Moore, probably the same one that was a partner with Stiles & Gregory in 1764
MOORE, Eunice
  • daughters were Eunice and Harriet Todd
  • son, Isaac Todd was a Presbyterian minister
  • wife of Robert Todd
  • she was the daughter of Stephen Moore and Eunice Ford
NUNN, John H., jr.
  • Dr. Marvin's house is now the property of Mr. Nunn. The house is probably two hundred years old. There was a graveyard on this place as old as the house.
Old Hank
  • A slave belonging to the Vail family.
  • boarded for many years with Mr. & Mrs. John Nunn, Sr.
OWEN, Barly
  • Civil War veteran, Gettysburg
PIERSON, Jesse
  • Trowbridge owned the place that he purchased
  • build his house opposite the present TB Hospital & turned the Trowbridge house into a wagon shed
PIERSON, Leonard
  • now in India in the employ of the Standard Oil Comapny, is a grandson of the Jesse Pierson just mentioned
PIERSON, Thomas
  • first English settler to come to Morris Plains
  • 1685 established a saw mill on Thomson's Pond
RILEY, Maria Gregory
  • niece of Miss Mary Gregory
ROBERTS, Jonathan W.
  • died in 1912, his wife having died in 1894
  • niece, Mrs. Willard W. Cutler
SMITH, Abrahm
  • descendant of the early Smiths of Morris County
SMITH, Frederick
  • son, Grenville, and 2 daughters, Grenella and Grenora
STILES, H. Jonathan
  • came to the Plains in 1727
STILES, Isaac
  • came to New England in 1634 in the ship Christian. Their English home was in Milbroke, Bedfordshire, England.
  • Grandfather of H. Jonathan Stiles
STILES, Ebenezer
  • son of H. Jonathan Stiles
  • owned Shongum Lake, near Millbrook
  • member of the firm of Gregory, Stiles & Moore
  • firm owned & operated a forge in 1764 on Valley Road
STILES, Ebenezer
  • grandson of Jonathan, gave his sons John, Ezra and Moses portions of his estate.
STILES, Lewis Burnet
  • inherited the old homestead
STILES, Lewis Ogden
  • son of Lewis Burnet Stiles
  • editor of the Morristown weekly newspaper The Jerseyman from 1869 to 1895
STILES, Abraham Ogden
  • became a physician and practiced for many years in Warren County
STILES, J. Hazen
  • son of John Stiles
  • his only daughter married John Coleman
STILES, J. Hazen
  • prominent man on Morris Plains
  • was a school trustee
STILES, Josephine
  • granddaughter of Ezram, married Wilbur Johnson
STILES, Mrs. Ezra
  • widow later married M.R. Bean of New York City
STILES, Ebenezer, Jr.
  • died on the Stiles Homestead in 1839
  • son, Lewis B., sold the homestead & removed to Morristown where he died in 1873
STILES, Moses
  • brother of Ebenezer
  • his widow was known as "Aunt Sallie"
  • daughter, Jane, married Stephen Tunis
STRALY, Mrs.
  • descendant of the Coe family of Mt. Freedom
TAYLOR, Augusta
  • died in Washington, D.C. in 1927 aged over 93.
  • only son, Isaac
TODD, Daivd
  • married Hannah, sister of Deacon Edward Howell of Littleton
TROWBRIDGE, Lige (Elijah)
  • son of Abraham Trowbridge
  • brother-in-law was Harvey Wilson
TROWBRIDGE, Thompson
  • taught school in the Old Stone School House
  • son of David Trowbridge
TUNIS, Stephen
  • married Moses' daughter Jane
TUNIS, Mrs.
  • her mother was Sally Stiles
VAIL, David
  • father of Theodore N. Vail
VAIL, George
  • son of Judge Stephen Vail
VAIL, Judge Stephen
  • had son, George
  • great-granddaughters, the Misses Lidgerwood
WHITNEY, Stephen S.
  • son, Arthur
WILSON, Sarah
  • married Fletcher Johnson
WRIGHT, Dr.
  • husband of Julia McNair Wright, authoress
 

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