New Jersey: Trenton's Quakers--Choose a Side!

In honor of our nation's 250th anniversary, Trenton celebrated Heritage Week. My impression was that Heritage Week was supposed to do what Patriots Week has done for years: celebrate hyper-local Revolutionary War history. Therefore it is not surprising that some of the topics are repeats. As much as I have complained about just how cold it always is during Patriots Week, this year I complained about just how hot it was during Heritage Week.

Fred at the Friends Meeting House in Trenton offered his talk Quaker--Choose a Side! four times during Heritage Week. I signed up for the last one at 2 pm on Tuesday. I failed to factor in how hard it would be to find parking in downtown Trenton. I'm glad to see life in Trenton.

Fred focused his talk on the Quakers who were influential in the era leading up to the Revolutionary War and during the war.

Quakers famously do not fight. However, as war is taking place literally in front of your home, or church, it is hard to stay neutral. Men were forced to either fight in the war, or pay to send someone in his place, which presents different ethical issues.

Let's get back to Fred's talk.

In 1640, 23 year old George Fox started the Quakers in England. They do not have worship leaders. Everyone in the congregation is encouraged to speak.

The next generation included William Penn Jr. who purchased lands in both East and West Jersey. Whenever people bring this up, it sounds so confusing because in the 21st century the debate is the North vs. South Jersey with Central Jersey tossed in to complicate the conversation. It is also confusing because they were united in 1702, 74 years before the Battle of Trenton.

William Penn Jr. was a Quaker, as was his friend Mahlon Stacy. In 1685 Stacy built his mill on the Assinpink Creek, thus forming Trenton. He was our first settler. He sold his land to William Trent Jr. back when Trenton was called Falls, NJ. I never heard about the earlier name for Trenton.

The Quakers have what are called Worship Groups, which are Preparative Meetings, Once a month they have a business meeting called Monthly Meetings. They meet four times a year in Quarterly Meetings with more Quakers. Annually the Quakers from several states gather in what is called Yearly Meetings. In the 19th century a group broke off from the traditional Quakers to become missionaries and travel internationally to spread the movement.

In 1739 the local Quakers built the Meeting House where we were talking on that hot afternoon. Before that they met in people's homes. By 1700 the locals were saying "we need a meeting house." 

In December 1776 James Pemberton (a leading Quaker in Trenton) wrote a letter to his brother, James Pemberton, in Philadelphia asking for advice about how to handle the uprising in Trenton as the Hessians moved in and took over people's homes. His brother's advice, dated December 20, 1776 (five days before the Battle of Trenton) was "don't fight." 

The Quakers have always been anti-violence. 

James was arrested in 1777 along with 40 other Philadelphia Quakers and restrained in Virginia. Seven or eight months later they were released without a trial.

John Dickenson, brother of Philemon Dickenson wrote to General George Washington before the battle of Trenton. They had been writing letters long before the war to say "we need independence, but we won't fight for it." 

Of the 56 delegates to the Second Constitutional Congress John Dickenson and Robert Livingston refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. Dickenson, a Quaker, felt reconciliation with Britain was still possible.

Another neat tidbit I learned from Fred's talk was that Stacy Potts was Mahlon Stacy's great-grandson. To many, that means nothing. But as a local history buff, I know that Mahlon Stacy founded Trenton in the 17th century, and over a hundred years later his great-grandson housed Colonel Rall, the head of the Hessians. The name Stacy jumped from being a last name to being a first name and is not a coincidence.

Isaac Collins, a Quaker printer, began in Philadelphia before moving to Burlington to start his business. He printed the Gazette, New Jersey's first newspaper. He paid a fee to send someone to fight in the war. He was excommunicated from the Quakers for ten years until he apologized and was let back into the meeting. He died in Burlington, and is buried behind the building we were in. He famously printed Sarah Grubb's journal in Trenton in 1795, and the 18 pence bill. He died in 1817. 

By 1830, the Quakers retreated from politics.

I was the only person at the talk. I hope Fred did not feel it was a waste of time. I know I left with a couple of new pieces of information making the Battle of Trenton puzzle in head a bit more complete. 

New Jersey: Trenton's Historic Churches Pivotal in Revolutionary War

This walk during Trenton's Heritage Week was a great companion to last year's Patriot's Week tour of Revolutionary Churches that was pivotal during the Revolutionary War. Today's tour started with Downtown Trenton before moving to St. Michael's Church were we all petered out from the heat. The plan had been to continue to First Presbyterian Church of Trenton and The Friends Meeting House, but with temperatures near 100 degrees, our group of eight each said "next time."

Harry from the Kiwanis Club handed us a faux parchment map from the era. It shows where the key buildings were during the Revolutionary War era, superimposed on a map of what the roads look like today.

Harry started off by saying the tour was meant for walking not for talking. Pierre, another one of our walkers, guided us to shade whenever it was time to do some talking. Every bit helped.

Standing in front of the bank on the corner of Warren and State Streets, Harry said this was where the French Arms Tavern was built in 1730 by John Dagworthy. In the beginning it was a large house with a stable that could house a dozen horses. The tavern was our US capitol for one month in the early days of our nation. George Washington ate here when he was in town.

We walked down Warren Street towards the Delaware River and paused at the former Blazing Star Tavern. Unlike the French Arms Tavern, this is still mostly standing. It has had many iterations during its life, including being a car repair shop in the 1970s. Until I stepped across the street and really looked at the building, I never noticed its shape. It still retains the look of an old tavern. The rear door says "Blazing Star." This is where Rev. John Rosbrugh was leaving when the Presbyterian minister was bayonetted to death, making him the first clergyman to die in the Revolutionary War. The Hessians were told to "take no prisoners," so when he crossed their path, he was murdered. 

The Presbyterians had a bad reputation in those days because they were part of the religious groups who left England in order to worship God the way they wanted to (vs. being forced to be good Anglicans). 

The Hessians decided to winter in Trenton. Meanwhile, their wives and families were staying closer to New Brunswick. The soldiers took over homes in Trenton, forcing the locals to move into the Barracks that were built during the French and Indian War between 1753 and 1760.

Harry explained the roots of our Revolutionary War date back to 1640 to 1650 when England fought their own Civil War when King Henry VII broke from the pope and formed his own church barely 15 years after Martin Luther (in 1533) broke from Catholicism barely a hundred years before that. The Bible was translated into English. The King James version of the bible had not yet been written. The Congregationalists were the first group to break free from the Anglicans. They became the Puritans who became the Presbyterians. The Quakers are another subset.

The English Civil War was bloody. It drained their resources (in simplest forms). 

The Hessians were brought to Trenton to train the soldiers.

Washington and some others replaced churches with lodges to teach morals and ethics. Everyone had to believe in God the watchmaker, God of entitlement, etc., but not the same God as the one worshiped by the Anglicans.

Pierre was on our tour. Pierre is an expert geologist. He reminds me of Keith from Newlin Grist Mill as both gentlemen see something in nature that looks ordinary, until they patiently explain it to us so we, too, can see what they see. In this case, it was the rocks used to build a wall next to the (Old) Barracks. Some of the fortuitous rocks are local, some were pre-used, others were shiny, or rounded (meaning they came out of the river), and further down are marble grave stones. Once seen, it is hard to unsee.

We admired the Statehouse and were encouraged to take a tour. The gold dome was regilded in 1999 through a school project. Once inside, check out the marble room.

For the second time in a couple of weeks, I heard about Daniel Coxe. His taking away land from people was a spark for the start of the Revolutionary War that was never covered in history class.

Harry offered us cold water, a bathroom, and air conditioning inside St. Michael's Church. We walked through the historic graveyard past Declaration of Independence signer David Brearley's grave. The church was on the path of the December 1776 First Battle of Trenton

All of these talks are helping to solidify in my head what happened during the Revolution. I've heard similar versions of the battles. This tour was the first time I heard that not only were locals displaced from their homes (which likely led to the third amendment prohibiting this), but the locals then needed a place to stay so they moved into the (Old) Barracks.

During Larry's cemetery tour I learned the part time soldiers were full-time farmers who had to walk to where they were stationed, and had to provide their own arms. Their wives and children had to take over the farms in their absence. 

Well, that puts a sharper focus on the events of the era.

The Battle Monument in Trenton was built to be the same height as Bowman's Tower in Bucks County, PA. Bowman's Tower was built that height so they could see the smoke from the ferries that signaled military action. From there, they could see ferries as far south as Burlington.

Washington stayed with his friend Alexander Douglass when he was in Trenton, rather than staying at the Eagle Tavern. The Douglass House has been moved a few times, but in its day it was close to the action. Mr. Douglass was a quartermaster, the man who supplied what was needed.  

The story of our Revolutionary War at its core is the story of the growth of religion. That is something that most definitely was not taught in my public school days.