rather than farming, and used to take books from William Young's library.
He was a well-read man and a great friend of Mr. Stevenson, the school-
master. So we find, out here, above Indian Falls, a man who loved to read
solid books, such as were found in William Young's library, and one who
had the artistic sense to appreciate and enjoy the beauty and quiet seclusion
of the glen. There is a human history to be traced out in this glen. We
have caught glimpses of it from time to time. The place where Elias Millen
lived was known as the Clark Place. A man named John Clark of a diflfer-
ent family of Clark lived above Indian Falls on the left of the stream as
you go up. H« drank a great deal (this does not refer to the waters of
the stream) and when thus affected he cut some queer antics. He used to
say that it was very cold in winter at his cabin. One window was broken
out and the cold came in so that they could not have stood it except that
a window was broken on the other side of the cabin and the cold went
right on through and out and didn't stay to bother them. I wonder if this
was the man whom his wife used to escort home at night with flaming
firebrands, to keep the wolves away. This glen has been haunted by wolves.
Otherwise it would be the most chamiing place for a hermitage. Elias
Millen liked it here and found it haunted by better spirits. (It is a veritable
home of the fairies.) He was born at Mendham in 1810 and died in 1890.
His son, Clarke Millen, is now (1913) one of the nroprietors of the Iron
Era.
Elias Millen's life was saddened, in 1850, by the loss of three sons at
about the same time. One was killed by a horse. The horse had been
frightened by the elephants in Van Amberg's circus and became unman-
ageable. The other two died of an epidemic that broke out that vear.
The Nathaniel Clark mentioned above was a descendant of Henry
Clark who was born in England (or Scotland) about 1695; came to Suffolk
county. Long Island, thence to Elizabeth, New Jersey, thence to Morris-
town in 1724; thence into the wilderness a mile above Brookside toward
Mt. Freedom. He cleared land and built a log house in 1725, brought his
wife there from England and died in 1792. We see that human life is like
The Alunson House.
-..•^ -a. Ale-' .+
Hartshorn Fitz-Randolph Home as it was in 1845; Ipiirned 1S76.
MORRIS COUNTY 433
a stream. We follow its windings — up above the Falls. The emigration
from the old country may be represented by the Falls. And thus we come
down stream to Dover, Granny's Brook, and Indian Falls, and a hermitage
just above it.
There was a little school house not far from the Fitz Randolph home-
stead, by the brook that flows down to Indian Falls. Sarah Millen went
to school there. At the age of three she used to run away from home and
go to school. Her father punished her for this at first, but afterwards let
her have her way. The teacher boarded with them and at that time was a
lady teacher. The children used to paddle in the brook near the school
house — charming place for a school. We don't have such privileges now.
This was the old Mine Hill school. Later the school was built on top of
the hill, near the church. Mr. Stevenson, who later taught in Dover, first
had the Mine Hill school. That must have been before 1848. After the
death of Gov. Dickerson in 1853, Rev. Robert Crossett and his two daugh-
ters kept a private school in the Dickerson mansion for three years. Sarah
Millen went to this school. The Canfield children went to this school. It
was primarily for them. Many from Dover attended. All this helps us
see the picture of human life that followed that survey which John Reading
made in 1713, out here at Mine Hill.
But we have not yet finished painting our picture of the Randolph
house, the "Mansion House." Some day an artist may give it to us. When
Sarah Millen was a little girl, about ten years old, an old carpenter visited
the hou'-^ and went through it, examining everything with great interest.
He was about seventy years old, and said that he had worked on the house
when a young man. This was in 1853, about. He may have worked there
fifty years before, in 1803, nearly. Does this mean that the "Mansion
House" was built in 1803? Hartshorne Fitz Randolph died about 1807.
Perhaps the carpenter was repairing the house or enlarging it. Dr. Magie
states that Fitz Randolph occupied this house from 1753 to 1807. Now to
my notes again. .
The mother of Sarah Millen was married in this house m 1834. Ihe
grandmother of Sarah Millen's mother bought it from a man named Woods.
This is that Freeman Woods. Now then. Where are we commg out?
This Freeman Woods may have bought it from the heirs of Richard F.
Randolph, in 1816.
The house is a large house with two stories and an attic. There were
iron rings in the ceiling of the upper hall, to help get things up garret.
"Things" included great hogsheads of grain, for the grain, when threshed
out, was stored in hogsheads in the large, light attic above the kitchen.
The hogsheads were still there when Mrs. Goodale last saw the house.
Over one part of the kitchen was a bed for any one who came from the
poorhouse to stay during the summer. This is how the people in the poor-
house were provided for in those days. There was a very wide stairway
in the great hall. The children used to dress up in all the old clothes and
finery of their ancestors and play church on this stairway, reading the
service from an old prayer book of the Church of England, that was in
the family. t^ , , 1.
From the inventory of the estate of Hartshorne Fitz Randolph we
find reference to the furnishings of six bedrooms. Can we reconstruct
the house, after it has burned down? Presto! Mrs. Goodale takes a
pencil and paper and draws a plan of it. And Miss Louise Goodale, her
434 NEW JERSEY
daughter, who is an artist, thinks she can paint a picture of it from her
mother's description.
The house had a sunny front exposure and a cool place in the rear for
the milk room, which was some steps below the level of the kitchen. Above
this low milk room was a place for a bed, and a bed could be put in the
alcove beside the milk room, curtained ofT. Above the front end of the
hall was a hall bedroom. This helps us figure out six bedrooms, if we
add one over the kitchen, and one over the front room, and one over the
back room. Hartshorne had five daughters and two sons, besides the
visitor from the poorhouse and occasional guests. I leave the problem
for any housekeeper to work out. Something like a problem in algebra.
Another matter of interest is the road by which one approached the
house or left it. The present cross-cut to McLoughlin's corner was not
then in existence.
Mr. Fred A. Canfield is my authority for saying that the large black-
smith shop shown in the diagram furnishes a scene in a romantic story
called "Woodside," written by "Ella Lincoln," whose real name was Eliza
Woodruff. This story was published many years ago. This beautiful
region, with its romantic glen and its picturesque landscapes, might well
be the scene of romantic tales, or a charming residence tract for those who
can appreciate it. We can reach it now by trolley. And a short spin takes
us to Lake Hopatcong. And not far away is Green Pond. With all the
social attraction and business conveniences of Dover close at hand ; and
a little church at Mine Hill, very handy ; not to speak of Mr. Buck's
emporium on the corner. Some day people may realize the charm of this
tract, as the old Quaker settlers seemed to do.
While I am on this subject let me see what Mrs. Ella W. Livermore
has to say about it. Have patience, gentle reader! It is a long lane that
has no turning. Here is a letter written by Thomas Ross, a grandson of
Hartshorne, at Newark, August 5, 1806, to Charles Fitz Randolph: "I
have not heard anything from Grandfather these several weeks past. The
last account informed us of his being much the same as when we were
there. It would be more pleasing to hear from him, as his situation is
often the subject of our consideration. Give my respects to all dear rela-
tives, especially to our honored Grandfather."
Another letter by the same: "Feb. 15, 1807. I hope upon receipt of
this, you will favor me with a letter in return informing me how things
are regulated at the Mansion House since Grandfathers's decease." Note
the expression — "Mansion House," and dates.
Newark is drawing its citizens from the descendants of the patriarch
on the old Latham tract. Who is this Thomas Ross and who are his
descendants?
On July 15, 1816, Joseph Jackson of Rockaway wrote to Charles F.
Randolph, saying: "The widow Randolph called on me today to have
something done respecting the Harvest now standing on the homestead, that
Mr. Tuttle sewed since your Father's decease." The father here spoken of
must have been Richard Randolph. The letter then goes on to say that
the widow has a full right to remain in the Mansion House and occupy
the plantation free of rent until her dower is assigned to her.
Mrs. Livermore adds: "From my earliest childhood the Mellen place
was pointed out to me as being Hartshorn's home. Rev. B. C. Magie,
in his sketches, gave it as his home, and as Richard Brotherton and my
MORRIS COUNTY 435
Grandfather were living at the time Mr. Magie wrote, I think he may
have got information from them.
Fitz Randolph (From Munsell's History):
The New Jersey Randolphs, or Fitz Randolphs, as they once wrote themselves,
came to Middlesex County, New Jersey, from Barnstable, Mass., in 1630. They
had come to Barnstable from Nottinghamshire, England, in 1622. They were of
the emigrants who left England for "conscience' sake," some by this name landing
at Massachusetts Bay and some in Virginia, during the years from 1621 to 1630.
The Randolphs of England have had a prominent place in English history from
early in the tenth century, as have those of Scotland (from whom "the Bruce"
was descended) in Scottish history. All of the American Randolphs are of English
or Scottish stock, and all are directly descended from the "adventurers" who, sailing
from England in 1621-30. landed in Massachusetts or Virginia, Most of those who
thus came and who had Scotch blood in them, wrote their name Fitz Randolph, while
those of unmixed English blood retain the simple name of Randolph. (From sketch
of Hon, Theodore F. Randolph, governor of New Jersey in 1869.)
Dr. Theodore F. Wolfe of Succasunna told me that when he was in
England, engaged in his literary studies, he visited Sherwood Forest, the
haunt of Robin Hood's men, in Nottinghamshire. At the time of Dr.
Wolfe's visit the forest tract was owned by a Fitz Randolph.
The prefix "Fitz" comes from the Norman French and suggests that
the family may have come over with William the Conqueror in 1066. From
Skeat's Etymological Dictionary we find that the old spelling of Fitz was
"fiz," pronounced "fits" or "fitz." In Piers Plowman the word is spelled
"fiUz," "fitz," and "fiz." It is derived from the Latin "filius," a son. By
contraction this became in French "fils" or "filz."
Fitz Randolph :
Robert Fitz Randolph. Yorkshire, England, Grand-nephew of "William The
Conqueror" Lord Robert F. R., builder of Middleham Castle.
Edward Fitz Randolph of Yorkshire was the founder of the family in America
and was born in Nottinghamshire, Eng. in 1617. He came to Barnstable, Mass.,
with his father Edward in 1630.
Edward "The Pilgrim" came to Pl>'mouth first in company with his parents. He
married Betsey Blossom, daughter of Deacon Blossom, who carne over v,-ith his
family, in the second voyage of the Mayflower, to escape persecution, and came to
Plymouth, 1628. Edward and Betsey were married. May 10, 1637. In r668 they
moved to Piscatawa, New Jersey,
Their children (9) were (i) Nathaniel, (2) Hannah, (3) Mary, (4) John, (5)
Joseph, (6) Elizabeth, (7) Thomas, (8) Hope, (9) Benjamin.
(5 Joseph, b. at Barnstable i6i6 had children (i) Hannah, (2) Joseph, (3) Mary,
(4) Bithia, (5) Lydia, (6) Moses, (7) Jonathan, (8) Susanna, (8) Ann, (9) Ruth,
(10) Prudence, (11) Isaac,
(2) Joseph, b. at Piscatawav, N. J. in 1690 had children (i) Jeremiah, (2)
Mary, (3) Sarah, (4) Rachel. (5) Ephraim, (6) Joseph, (7) Jacob, (8) Rebecca,
(9) John, (10) Grace, (11) Thomas, ( la) Paul.
(3) Joseph b. 1722 had a son Robert born 1762 and he had 13 children of
whom 8 died in infancy and five lived,— (l) Hetty, (2) Francis, (3) Mary, (4)
Joseph, (5) Sarah Ann.
(2) Francis Carmen Fitz R. born 1794 m. Phebe Halsey Crane. Their son
Bennington (Judge) m. Eliza Henderson Forman in 1840. He was born 1819, d.
1890. She died 1908. Their dau. Sarah Ann m. Rev. James Clark D. D.
Judge Bennington F. R. b. 1819, & Eliza H. had children (i) Althea, (2) Eliza,
(3) Frances, (4) Isabella, (5) Julia,
Althea F. R. m. Joseph D. Bedle (Governor of New Jersey). He d. i894-
Children of Althea— Benninglon F. R., Joseph D., Thomas F., Althea F. R. (Mrs.
Adolphe Rusch), Randolph, Mary Cd. 1883).
Robert, (brother of Francis C.) was physician & clergyman. Robert m. .A.nnie
Campyon, French woman. Their son Joseph (Judge) b. 1802 m. Ann Forman,
gr. dau Col. David Forman had children (i) Samuel dec, (2) Sarah Ann dec.
Judge Joseph m. 2nd. Miss Cooper (Easton). Their children are (i) Charlotte
436 NEW JERSEY
dec, (2) Joseph (Morristown, lawyer), (3) John dec, (4) Mary (living with
Joseph in Morristown).
Nathaniel Fitz Randolph oldest living child of Edward m. Mary Holby at
Barnstable, Mass., 1660. They removed to Woodbridge, N. J. about 1667. In
1693 he represented Woodbridge in the Assembly held in Perth Amboy. Friends'
Meetings were held in his house from 1705 to 1713, the year of his death. (The
house stood near the black walnut tree, the place belonging to John Barron.)
Edward, son of Nathaniel above, m. Katharine Hartshorne, dau. of Richard &
Margaret Hartshorne, Middletown, 1704. (Richard Hartshorne was a brother of
Hugh Hartshorne, described in Smith's Hist, of N. J. as an upholsterer in London,
Eng. ) Hugh is mentioned in colonial hist, of N. J.) George Fox mentions in his
Journal that he visited Richard H. at Middletown 1672.
Richard, son of Edward & Katharine, was b. 1705, i6th of 4th mo. This
Richard was their first son (2) son Edward b. 1706, 5th mo., 7th day. d. 1750.
(3) son Thomas b. 1707, nth mo., 24th day. d. 1740. 4th Mary, b. 1710, 3d mo.,
24th day. 5th Robart, b. 1712, 5th mo., 19th day. A sea captain. 6th Nathaniel,
b. 1714, 3d mo., 2ist day. 7th Margaret, b. 1716, 9th mo., 2nd day. d. 1718. 8th
Eseeck, b. 1718, 12th mo., ist day. 9th Hugh, b. 1719, loth mo., 19th dav. d. 1748.
loth Hartshorne, b. 1723, ist mo., 8th day.
Of these ten children of Edward and Katharine Randolph the former Edward
died 23d of 2nd mo., 1760 and Katharine his wife, the 13th of the 8th mo., 1759.
Edward Fitz Randolph and Katharine his wife settled and lived on the farm
on which Robert C. Vail now ( ?) resides, as near as I (?) can ascertain. His
son Edward died at that place several years before his father's decease, and the
farm descended to his son James Fitz Randolph.
Nathaniel, 6th child, father of Capt. Nath. Fitz Randolph, killed at Elizabeth-
town in the Revolution.
Esec, the 8th child, G. Grandfather and his son Thomas Gr. father (Mrs. R.)
his son Hartshorne ( from whom named) settled Randolph Township in New
Jersey.
(Above is the lineal line. Genealogy of the Fitz Randolph Family of
New Jersey: taken from M;r. Hartshorne Randolph's Copy, through cour-
tesy of his daughter, Miss Annie Randolph.)
There is a book called "Story in Brief of a Thousand Years," from which the
following data are taken.
Rolf, the Norseman, who conquered Normandy in 912 A. D.
William "Longsword." Duke of Normandy, died 943.
Richard, surnamed "The Fearless." Reigned in Normandy fifty years. Died
996.
Richard, surnamed "The Good." Reigned 30 yrs. Died 1026. His sister m.
Aethelred, Saxon King of Eng. & after his death m. Cnut the Danish King.
There were two lines of descent from this Richard the Good (i) Richard,
Duke of Normandy, whose son Robert m. Harlotta, whose son, William the Con-
queror, was born 1027. (2) GeoiTrey, Duke of Brittany, m. Avicia, and had two sons,
Alan and Eudo. Eudo m. Agnes, and had several children, of whom the sixth son
was named Ribald.
Ribald. 6th son of Eudo and Agnes, was Lord of Middleham in Yorkshire,
England. He was the father of Randolph and grandfather of Robert Fitz Randolph,
who Cthrough his mother) was grandson of the first Robert Bruce, and who built
the Castle of Middleham about the year 1 190. From the two sons of Robert
("Ranulph" and "Radulph") have descended, as we are led to believe, many royal
personages, and also the Fitz Randolphs of Spennithorne and of Nottinghamshire,
of the 13th to the 17th centuries, as well as the Fitz Randolphs of Massachusetts
and of New Jersey of the 17th to the 20th centuries.
George Washington was a descendant of Bardolph, younger brother of Ribald
described above.
L. V. F. R.
Hartshorn Fitz Randolph died at his home, 342 Westminster Ave., Elizabeth,
N. J., on Monday, after an illness of several weeks. He was 87 years old. He
belonged to the notable Fitz Randolph family whose lineage dates back for centuries.
When a boy Mr. Randolph was tutored by the Rev. Dr. Henry Hale, and at
an early age he entered business, and was in business until last July. (Notice dated
Dec. 2, 1913.)
MORRIS COUNTY 437
He was a man of strong convictions and ardent patriotism. He leaves four
daughters, Mrs. Edward B. Hixson, Miss Mary A., and Miss Jane S. Randolph, of
this city, and Mrs. Walter Parker, of Montclair,— and four grandchildren, Edward
B., Joseph Randolph, and Sarah Hixson and Elizabeth Parker. — Elizabeth Journal.
The following seems to be a funeral address, perhaps referring to Mr.
J. Elwood Vail. We may regard it as a service held in the old Quaker
Church, representing the thoughts that were uttered in that sanctuary on
some occasion when the silence was broken.
Title: The dying love of the upright man stamped with the seal of Divinity.
He wrapped the mantle of decay around him, with the serenity and composure
of one matured for the change, and with the impress of Affection's kiss upon his
lips his spirit is borne to the land of the blessed . Dry your tears, dear friends, —
take the mantling drapery from your hearts. He you mourn is not dead. He still
lives to bless you. Oft in the Silence of your hearts will you hear his voice, and
feel the hallowed influence of his presence, his Spirit will hover over you in earth
life and many a silent admonition will recall his presence. Let the thought give
cheer and comfort to your souls, ever keeping the life pure and holy; by an
implicit faith in the Divine Goodness; and confiding in the Spirit for Guidance invite
the harmony of Heaven to your home circle and live in its enjoyment. So shall
you have angel visitors and be clothed with a heavenly peace. Finally when Death
shall stand at your door and call for all that's mortal, then from the house of
many mansions, far through the soul's chambers, voices will be heard calling —
calling sweetly, Come home! come home!
The following seems to be another address or meditation.
The revelations of the morrow may be one of Death. To us the same portion
may come as to these. Our dear ones may be taken and we be left alone. Our
parent, companion, and friend, may be summoned to put off mortallity. But let
us be cheered with the thought, that the death hour of the mortal, is the birth
time of the Spirit, and therefrom will it count the years of its immortality. But
what shall be said to this circle of mourning ones? No words of mine are adequate
to lift the cloud, or part the veil. The companion is dead. The mother is gone
the way of all the earth. Her eyes are sightless, her voice is silent, her pulses are
stilled forever. Her life work is done, her sufferings are over, and she is at rest.
There is consolation, not in her death, but in her deliverance. She has already climbed
the hill of immortality and joined in the melodious chorus of the angel choir.
But how sad is the portion of the surviving companion. Alone in life
and the wide world. One reign of Solemn Silence. The word of sympathy
that would so largely relieve his heart must now remain unspoken. But God can
speak and he will hear him. When in the embrace of Death he yields himself, his
spiritual hearing will be acute, and his ears, it may be, will be greeted with the
voice of the departed loved one, and her arms entwine about him to bear him up
the heights of glory. So indeed may they together ever be with the Lord. Solemn
indeed is the grief of these dear children; bereft as they are by a fata! stroke of a
devoted mother. Their loss is her gain and much consolation have they in the
fact of her preparation. Live the life of that mother, and the same triumph showed
by her will crown you in Death and the blessedness now her portion will become
the joy of your hearts forever. The Mother is not confined in the coffin house, but
roams the rather over the wide plains of complete deliverance. Look to meet her
there, and this hour of sorrow will eventuate in joy forever. And may the blessing
of the Great Father attend you all. Amen.
It seems almost a sin to weep over the young and beautiful dead, but
it must be a colder philosophy than most of us possess to repress the rising
tears when bending over the lifeless form of a dear child. We may know
that the pains of earth are exchanged for the joys of Heaven, we may
admit the selfishness of our woe, that would interpose itself between the
dead and their happiness, we may listen to and allow the truth of gospel
solaces, and cling to the hope of a happy and endless meeting in regions
beyond the grave; but what can fill the void which their dreary absence
makes in the circle which they blest ; when every association tends to recall
438 NEW JERSEY
them? Thus it seems when the heart is first bereft, when the sorrow is
new, and we sit down in our lone chamber to think of and brood over it.
But we know that afflictions must become softened by time, or it would be
unbearable. And there are many reflections that the mind draws from its
own stores to yield after comfort. Memory forgets nothing of the departed
but the woe of separation, and every association connected with them
becomes pleasant and joyous. We see them with their angel plumage on;
we feel them around us upon viewless wings filling our minds with good
influences and blessed recollections, freed the sorrows, temptations, and
sins of earth, and with a holier love they are still ministering to us. It is
one of the immunities of grief, that it pours itself out unchecked and
every one who has a darling child like this we have lost will readily excuse
this fond and mournful prolixity, this justifiable lamentation. But
We shall all go home to our Father's house.
To our Father's house in the skies,
Where the hope of our souls shall have no blight,
Our love, no broken ties.
We shall roam on the banks of the River of peace
And bathe in its blissful tide.
And one of the joys of our bosom shall be
The little boy that died.
Mr. William B. Vail, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Elwood Vail,
died at the family residence, near Dover, at the outset of a very promising
career. He was nearly thirty-two years old. He was a young man of
spotless character, of large intelligence, and well-directed abilities. He had
early formed an attachment for electrical science, to which he devoted
himself arduously and had acquired such skill in his profession that he
held at the time of his death the responsible position of superintendent of
the Edison electric lighting system in the city of Rochester, New York.
All who knew him were his friends, for he attracted all with whom
he came in contact by his upright life and capabilities for usefulness. He
was buried in the cemetery adjoining the Friends' Meeting House, where
his ancestors have so long worshipped.
An old Quaker letter:
Rockaway the loth of the 7th mo. 1791.
Dear Son and Daughter: With a Heart full of Tenderness I am Engaged to
write to you at this time with a desire it may have the Same acceptance.
As godlyness with contentedness being the greats gain that we can enjoy let
us endeavour for it. For all things work together for good to them that love
the Author of all good as peace and quietness is the happies State we can Enjoy
therefore let each on endeavour to be Subject to that government that hath no
end which is from the prince of peace to be Swift to hear, and Slow to Speak