Historic Fact Sheet
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Weymouth motto
In 1799 Weymouth Township adopted the new United States monetary
system replacing the English system of pounds, shilling, and pence that had been
our official currency for 105 years. The first coin minted by the young America
was a 1787 copper cent that bore the motto, "MIND YOUR BUSINESS"
The first coin authorized by Congress, in 1787, was a copper cent whose sundial motif and motto exhorting Americans to industry were adapted from a design by Benjamin Franklin. The coin-minted by a private company-was quickly found to be short of weight. Although never popular, it remained in circulation until 1857.
Origin of Weymouth's name
Weymouth, England - An ancient seaport and modern terminal for ferries from the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey. It is located at the mouth of the Wey River on Weymouth Bay. Weymouth is a popular beach resort of Georgian and Victorian houses. In olden days it was a naval port and the site of an important castle. King George III had a summer house there. In 1694 the Quaker fathers in Gloucester County named our township Weymouth because it was their township on the sea. They had no idea just how big a township they had created. Some of the Quakers may have left England from the port of Weymouth making it their last glimpse of the motherland.
Belcoville
Belcoville is the name given to the workers village of the Bethlehem Loading Company's South Mays Landing Plant which was built in Weymouth Township in 1917-18 to support allied forces in World War 1. The complex was huge, 10,000 acres running from Hamilton Township to Gibsons Landing roughly between the present Route 50 and the Great Egg Harbor River. Distances were important. If one magazine exploded it need not take the others as well. At full swing, with workers, families, soldiers, contractors, management, officers, and tradespeople, Belcovilles population neared 10,000 souls (12 times the remainder of Weymouth Township) Belcoville contained a bowling alley, theater, post office, school, gym, laundry, central heating plant, power station, water and sewerage, railroad line, newspaper, band, and church. The plant opened in October 1918 and the war ended in November. Most of the people and buildings left and the land was bought by the Mays Landing Water Company which sold the houses for a song if you would remove them. Many went to the Linwood area or to Mays Landing. Some Dorothy houses are built of Belcoville lumber. The bowling alley is now Romak's Hardware. The Mays Landing Deli and Liquor Store is a Belcoville duplex. Area firehouses were paneled with the doors of Belcoville. The town flickered back to life in 1923 when the water company sold the remaining houses with the land and Belcoville rallied to form its volunteer fire company and community church. The village began the war as South Mays Landing in Hamilton Township, but ended up as Belcoville, Weymouth Township probably to force Bethlehem Loading Company to supply its own schools and services. To make room for the huge landmass needed by the loading company, the property was bought up secretly to avoid inflation. Lost forever was High Banks Landing, the Herbert, Smit, and Ireland farms on the South River, Stephens Creek, and Steelmans Landing. These ancient farmsteads, boatyards, and cemeteries are marked now only by a few stones and brave daffodils.
Where did Dorothy get its' Name ?
For years people have said that Dorothy was named for the wife of railroad developer D..L. Risley, but there is no evidence for this. Many colonies (as developments were called in the 19th century) bore female names much like ships] Here in South Jersey we have Erma and Thelma and would have had an Estelle, but the U.S. Post Office denied Risleys' choice of names because it was 6 miles from another post office called Estelville. Do you thing D.L.. Risley was trying to cash in on the advertising and good name of Anderson Estell Bourgeois who was also selling land in and around Estellville? Anyhow the colony's 'name was changed from Estelle to Risley leaving us only Estelle Avenue to remember her by.
Another tangled fairy tale concerns the naming of Milmay. This is not the contraction of Mildred and Mabel nor Maybeth nor any of Risley's relatives. Less romantically Milmay happens to be midway ;twixt Miliville and Mays Landing.
So what about Dorothy ? Well there was St. Dorothy. Back in the
300s a beautiful young Roman girl was a secret Christian which was against the
law. When she refused to participate in pagan festivals of immodesty and
immorality she was denounced by her neighbors as a Christian. Brought before a
judge she cheerfully confessed and accepted a death sentence
with a happy face.
The judge was furious, but she told him that he was sending her to a beautiful
garden. "When you get to your beautiful garden, " the judge said
scornfully, "send me some apples and roses. " The sweet young girl was
led off and killed. That night when the judge returned to his home there on the
doorstep was a basket of apples and roses. The Roman judge was converted and St.
Dorothy along with St Fiacre is now hailed as the patron saint of Gardeners. is
this who Dorothy is named after ? Probably not, but it's as good a story as
any..
Dorothy Station, 1920's.
Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of Weymouth Township consists of a shield divided in half. One side is the Union Jack: The British flag that symbolizes our colonial roots The other half is halted again horizontally by a river which symbolizes all the rivers that figure in our past and present: The Mullica, the Great Egg Harbor, the Tuckahoe, the South, and Stephens Creek.
Above the river is an iron furnace made of Jersey sandstone which symbolizes our early ironworks and later industry at the Bethlehem Loading Company. Below the stylized river are two plows taken from the ,New Jersey State Seal. They stand for our farming history as does the pitchfork crossed behind the shield. The crossed oar symbolized our maritime and shipbuilding past.
On top of the shield is an farmed sloop-of-war to recall our part in the American Revolution. The whole is surrounded bv branches of pine and oak and underneath is our Quaker motto, ":Mind thine own business". This doesn't mean stay our of public affairs, but tend to them.
Wevmouth Townships flag is the old Taunton Battle Flag of 1777. It was originally the British Merchant Marine flag which frugal Americans took and added the words, "Liberty and Union". 'This really burned English bacon.
Weymouth Township chose this flag because its historical period is correct, it keeps alive an ancestor to our Stars and Stripes, and because it is always in production and therefore, cheap. Frugal is, as frugal does.
Mays Landing/Weymouth Ironworks
Mays Landing, founded in 1710, is named for George May, an Englishman and representative of the Proprietors of West Jersey. It was in Weymouth Township until 1813. The owners and workers at the Weymouth Iron Works incorporated all surrounding ore beds, lumber and charcoal forests, villages, and the important river landing into a new township named Hamilton, after the little village of Hamilton Bridge which was located where the old cotton mill (Wheatons) is now.
The Weymouth Ironworks was founded by George and Charles Ashbridge in 1801 and named in honor of Weymouth Township. It was a going concern that put Mays Landing on the map. The forge and furnace also gave birth to the Village of Weymouth. The operation made bombs and shot for the US government during the war of 1812 and died with the rest of the bog ore industry before the Civil War. Attempts were made to use the site as a paper mill in the 1870s and 80s with some success, but it soon settled into the beautiful landscape like a Romantic ruin. It is the Village of Weymouth, with its Methodist Church (circa 1807) and a few surviving workers cottages, that is most often confused with the Township of Weymouth, where they and the ruins haven't been for 181 years.
Corbin City
Corbin City really played the name game. It has been in 3 counties and 2 townships. Once called Champions Landing, it became Tuckahoe when Tuckahoe moved from Head of the River. Later Tuckahoe (sometimes called Turkey Hoe in old records) crossed over its namesake river and replaced the village of Williamsburg which is where Tuckahoe is today. In 1923 Corbin City incorporated as a city in Atlantic County and left Weymouth Township in an attempt to keep school tax money at home. At that time Weymouth Township had schools in Dorothy, Estellville, Head of the River, Hawkinsville, Risley, and Belcoville. We salute our cousins in Corbin City who traveled with us for so long in Weymouth Township.
Quakers
We were founded by Quakers. Their real name is "The Religious Society of Friends" and they prefer to be called "Friends". They were founded by a reform movement in England led by George Fox during the 1660s. They rejected organized churches in favor of meetings and clean living. Quakerism was illegal in its infancy and this is where the name Quaker started. Fox was on trial for being a non-conformer to the Anglican Church and described how he quaked (trembled) when he realized how huge and powerful God was and how small and weak was he. After that statement the judge referred to him and his followers as the "Quakers". Quakers believe that all men are equal and therefore did not bow or remove their hats to King Charles II. They did not pay a clergy for preaching. They claimed that women were as intelligent as men and could be preachers. Women were entitled to equal rights. They opposed all wars not in self defense, as well as all forms of oppression. They believed in plainness of speech and never use titles like "mister" or "sir" calling all men by their first name, even the king. Since all men were brothers, they used the familiar" tense in speaking such as "thy", "thine", "thee" and "thou". They lived and dressed simply and feared no man. King Charles liked William Penn, a Quaker leader and son of a famous admiral, but could not very well have people calling him Charlie. He gave Penn and the Quakers big tracts of land in the New World to get rid of them. The three Quaker counties in South Jersey were Burlington, Salem, and Gloucester. Gloucester broke from Burlington in 1686 and in 1694 named some new townships after places in England, like Camden, Deptford, Woolwich, and Greenwich. Their far off seaside township they called Weymouth. Most families that settled our area were Quakers. The Quakers are still among us. Richard Nixon was a Quaker, but most keep a low profile as they live good lives. During the Civil War they smuggled slaves out of the South in an operation called the "Underground Railroad". William Penn gained LASTING FAME when as a reward for his fathers service to the English crown he was given all of what we call Pennsylvania. . "Here William", said the king, "I am doing a fine thing giving you all these seas, bays, rivers, and forest lands, but your must promise not to take up scalping. " Penn laughed and said he intended to pay the Indians for the land. "I fear I shall not see you again, William", said King Charles, "I shall soon hear that you have gone into the savages war kettle and what is to prevent it ?" "Their own inner light", answered Penn. Today, our most visible contact with Quakers is the logo of the Quaker Oats Company who know that the mere mention of the term Quaker conjures up feeling of fairness, quality and simplicity. What is even more a part of us from those "Friends" is our freedom, easy going manner, and real American friendliness. Every time we return a found wallet or root for the underdog or tell people to call us by our first name or criticize the President we are being very "Quaker".
Ethnic groups in Weymouth
Weymouth Township salutes all the immigrant groups and individuals who over the last 300 years have given us our flavor. Finns and Swedes 1630 & 1950, English 1664, Irish 1680& 1845, Germans 1720& 1850, Italians 1898, Hungarians and Slovaks 1920, Jews 1890 & 1950.
Two waves of Jewish refugees were welcomed by Weymouth Township. One at the turn of the century and another following World War II. These people, fleeing persecution in Europe, settled here in colonies as egg farmers, but were for the most part urban tradesmen. This coupled with the collapse of the South Jersey egg market in the 1960s leave us only two former synagogues and a forgotten cemetery to mark their passage through Weymouth Township History.
Steamboats and the Railroad
Until the advent of railroads in Weymouth Township stagecoaches and packets were the only scheduled modes of transportation. In 1877 some businessmen on both sides of the Tuckahoe River invested in a sidewheeler named "Reuben Potter". This was a 100 foot long steamboat which they intended to run between Tuckahoe and Somers Point. It was rumored to cost $7,000 which was a princely sum in those days. The Reuben Potter was in service carrying as many as 100 passengers a trip for three years but, ran aground many times and was plagued by engine trouble from the start. These delays delighted the Sunday School picnickers but began to lose money for the investors. What really killed the Reuben Potter was the arrival of competition. Another steamboat company began running the 65 ft. "Bonnie Doon" on the same schedule. The Doon was a propeller driven steamboat and its smaller size made it more navigable. In 1880 the Potter suffered a boiler explosion and could not be recertified for passenger use. She was towed up river, beached in Weymouth Township and salvaged in a Corbin City boatyard. The Bonnie Doon continued her work until in 1893. The railroad came and she was put out of business overnight. She was taken to Wildwood for use as a fishing/excursion boat, but ran aground in Anglesea and broke in half while being towed off.
The Jersey Trade
Jersey trade of the mid 1770s - Prosperity came to the swamps of South Jersey in the form of an extensive smuggling network. The royal government in England tried to control the colonial trade in sugar and molasses, which were the prime ingredient of rum. People here took their own boats to the Caribbean Sea, loaded up with sugar, sailed it here (avoiding patrols) and off loaded it in ports like Mays Landing and then hauled it over land to Philadelphia. . cheating the King out of a fortune. Sugar Hill in Mays Landing gets its name form this trade. The whole operation was good training for the coming revolution.
Lewis Walker
Walker Forge Mansion, This is the home of Lewis M. Walker, Weymouth Townships most famous citizen. He was a judge, a state senator, local businessman and comer of Gloucester County. He was born in 1790 and in 1813 was a freeholder of the new Hamilton Township. In 1816 he founded an ironworks he called Monroe Forge, after President James Monroe, but we know it as Walkers Forge. It employed over 100 people and adjoined his sawmill. Nearby he built this home for his wife and 5 children. In 1837 he and Thomas Parsons represented Weymouth Township at the formation of Atlantic County from half of what had been Gloucester County. Atlantic County then included us, Egg Harbor Township, Galloway Township, and Hamilton Township and consisted of what had originally been Weymouth or New Waymouth Township. The Walker House was for years a stage coach stop. Lewis M. Walker died in 1853. The house no longer stands, but its stones live on in another home on Lake Lenape.
The Lindbergh Train
The Lindbergh Train - The old Pennsylvania 460 at one time the most ' famous
locomotive in the country. On June 11, 1927 Charles Lindbergh, the "Lone
Eagle" and hero of every American was to be promoted to full colonel and
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in honor of his solo flight in the
"Spirit of St. Louis" across the Atlantic Ocean. It was announced'
that President Coolidge would also present Lindbergh with the ' Congressional
Medal of Honor. Several newsreel companies filmed the ceremony and then
raced to get their films into the theaters of New York City first. The
International News Reel Company chartered a train on the Pennsylvania Railroad
to carry the film while every other news reel company
chartered aircraft. The
225 mile route from Washington to New York was covered by the train in 3 hours.
The fastest running time was 114 MPH while crossing New Jersey.
Internationals" film was the first shown in the theaters even though some
planes had made the trip faster. It seems the reels were developed in route In
the baggage car as the train sped along, it was the big news of the day. Old
number 460 ended its career carrying passengers between Camden and the Jersey
shore through Dorothy as late as 1955. All steam service ended in South Jersey
in 1957. The Lindbergh Locomotive was spared the junk pile and is now on display
at the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum in Strausburg.
Diesel Passenger Train, 1950's
Budd demonstrator and Pioneer trailer.