Extract of Lawrence H. Hale letter written to Theodore W. Bozarth:
Although Yardley must have always been a real hub of activity in terms of our river, canal, railroad, taverns, grist mill, and ferries, very little has been set down in early histories like it has been for Trenton, Newtown, Morrisville, Washington Crossing, and your side of the river. One of the best documented periods for these other places is the Revolutionary War. I'm finding that the written history about the revolution seems to unfold in hundreds of stories in these other places around Yardley, and we're hoping these might shed light on what was happening in Yardley itself.
Regarding Yardley during the Revolutionary War... it turns out there was something very particular happening here with regard to the use of the New Jersey militia, and this was very important to the outcome of the war. Everyone is familiar with the role of the Delaware River in 1776 and how Washington used it to his advantage, after his losses in New York and retreat across New Jersey. But from a Yardley perspective, what we find so interesting is the role played by General Philemon Dickinson's New Jersey 300-500 man militia which was camped partly on our property along the Delaware River in Yardley. Their redoubt is shown on Carrington's Revolutionary War Map as being just down river from the creek which ran through our upper side lot prior to construction of the canal. The redoubt was undoubtedly located opposite Howell's Ferry and probably at the location we have now identified as a site of the Yardley Ferry. This would be on the highest part of the berm behind the noticeable dip in the road where the ramp came up from the river, and near the front of the White Farm House which is in turn located inside the white apartment complex. It would be interesting to have a large 1/4 foot contour map of this area showing the dip in the road, the low lying area in the front yard of the white house, and including the nearby mounds of earth one of which appears too big to have been caused by tree roots.
In 1906 Linford R. Craven, Doylestown photographer, stood on our property right where the creek emptied into the river when he took a photograph of the steam locomotive pulling a passenger train across the 1875 Centennial Bridge... the stone wall in front of our property along the river shows up on the right side of the Craven photograph, and is Fig.3 in the article published by the Washington Crossing Post Card Club on April 2, 1995, WC4 Dispatch #268. The photograph shows the 1906 dirt road swinging away from the river at what was formerly the mouth of the creek. The redoubt would have been about 1,000 feet down from where Craven was standing at a point just this side of the Lower Makefield line. The Belville Home mentioned below and shown in Fig. 4 of Dispatch #268 is 594 feet above the ferry site which is believed to also be the location of the redoubt.
General Philemon Dickinson
It's frequently mentioned in passing that General Dickinson's New Jersey militia
was headquartered in Yardley. What is less well known is that his militia completely
controlled the area directly across the river around Howell's Ferry on the New
Jersey side and were fully engaged in one of the first successful partisan type
operations of the war. Howell's Ferry was almost directly across the river
from the Belville "Ferry House." This all becomes very exciting since
Dickinson identified the location of his headquarters for us. On December 21,
1776 he wrote a letter to Washington "from his headquarters at Yardley's
Farm nearly across the river from Howell's Ferry." Typically officers
requisitioned rooms in private dwellings and certainly either Dickinson or his
officers must have stayed at the Belville "Ferry House" during this
period. This could have been under circumstances similar to those described
a short time later by Cornelia Bell where Dickinson stayed only one month later
in New Jersey. It would be understandable, had Dickinson stayed at Yardley's that this might have been handled discreetly in the Quaker community.
General Dickinson's role in the war is described in a new book titled "Washington's Partisan War" by Mark V. Kwasny, 1996 which I was very lucky to run across at Barnes & Noble. It's index has 47 references to General Dickinson. What would happen when the Hessians tried to chase this militia on the east bank in the area around Howell's Ferry was that -since many of the militia were quite familiar with and even had homes on the Jersey side- they would simply disappear without a trace! Dickinson controlled the area around Howell's Ferry all during this period, engaging in skirmishes and sending patrols to scout enemy positions. General Putnam in Philadelphia also needs to be mentioned in this regard. Washington was very appreciative of Dickinson's successes. It was during this period during December 1776 that Washington fully realized how to best use the Jersey militia in partisan warfare, whereas only two weeks earlier he had made his usual and most recent complaint about the militia. General Dickinson's activities around the site of Howell's Ferry must have helped change Washington's mind. In fact, from this point forward, Dickinson was frequently charged with this type of activity. It was he who commanded the forces left behind at Trenton to keep the camp fires burning while Washington escaped and attacked Princeton. Then again when the continental army was camped at Morristown during the winter of '76-'77, it was Dickinson who provided the protective screen between the army and the British acting in much the same way that he did with great success at Yardley.
Dickinson became one of Washington's most valuable generals, and in 1777 was appointed Commander in Chief of all New Jersey militia. The militia throughout New Jersey was successfully used in small bands who would appear and then as rapidly disappear. When the entire British army left Philadelphia in the summer of '78, Dickinson's was charged with harassing the retreat of the British across New Jersey to New York, by partisan activities. After the war Dickinson lived in Trenton and he later became a U.S Senator from New Jersey.
Starting back in 1965, Catharine Belville and Marie-Therese Hale worked trying to prove that the Belville Home was the tavern which was said to have existed on the banks of the river. This included inside measurements of her home, research regarding Potato Creek, the builder Livezey, and searches for deeds and maps. Catharine Belville b. 1897, was our neighbor and good friend. She always claimed that the left side of her house was the Ferry House & Tavern, which is what got us started on this investigation in the first place. The Linford R. Craven photograph of the Belville Home is pictured (Fig. 4) in the WC4 Dispatch #268 previously mentioned.
Since 1995 and using my civil engineering background... I have been trying to find the precise location of the old roads leading to Yardley's Ferry site or sites, and to discover more about the entire ferry operation. The lack of information was explained in a very comprehensive study by Kathryn Ann Auerbach in her report dated 1987. She uncovered the 18th century road returns, properly identified both the 1721 road and the 1763 road as Langhorne Road and Oxford Valley Road in a well documented report including a nine page synopsis which presented the facts, with some conclusions at the end.[2]
The questions raised by Auerbach concerning the actual location of the Ferry and Ferry Roads inside the Borough and the contradictions she found with regard to possible sites, first came to my attention in 1995. In preparation for my talks on the turn-of-the-century Doylestown photographer Linford R. Craven, I had requested information about the Yardley Ferry from Vince Profy and he provided a copy of the Auerbach report. This was the first time we ever heard of the 1763 Road Return. That was at a time when my heart surgeon had ordered me to walk 3-5 miles every day, which is what got me out there onto the ground… might as well take advantage of it, don't you agree.
Howell's Ferry
It was Howell's Ferry on the New Jersey side which was the center of Dickinson's militia activities. Howell's Ferry is frequently mentioned during the Revolution by the British, Hessians, and Americans. In 1776 there was no road closely following the river on either side. In the march to Trenton, General Sullivan, following the next road back from the river, then known as Lower River Road, and was ordered to stop at the road to Howell's Ferry for 20 minutes to allow General Green who was accompanied by Washington to come even. They had taken the longer outside route to protect the left flank. Howell's Ferry was previously known as Heath's Ferry, next to Gould's Creek. I had seen a local history in the Princeton Public Library that put the former Heath's Ferry at that general location rather than further down as originally thought before it was understood that Heath had in fact owned that far up the river. On the Pennsylvania side we have confirmed that the Yardley Ferry House referred to in the Road Return is indeed the Belville "Ferry House." The second (2,112 foot) leg of the survey, if you are following it back toward the river, leads directly to the Yardley Ferry site on this side of the river, at which point it bends for the final 594 foot leg of the survey to the former Belville Home which we have now proved to be the "Ferry House." Any scenarios relating to the overall history of the Yardley Ferry need to take this into account.
The ice flow of '96 (see below) completely cleared off the east bank of the river above the railroad bridge. I wouldn't go over there otherwise for it looks like a dangerous and isolated area. After the ice flow I was able to examine the land surface in detail and look for the ferry ramp on that side. You could clearly see the remnants of the industrial waterway on that side of the river and pretty well surmise the location of Howell's Ferry a short distance up from the railroad bridge. The contours, general lay of the land, low elevation, and comparison to other possible sites suggests a location right on the projected centerline of Lower Ferry Road before the 1875 Centennial Bridge was built. Lower Ferry Road must have been shifted to accommodate the 1875 railroad. Two roads were similarly shifted in Yardley, at each end of Oxford Road. At Howell's Ferry contours were somewhat destroyed when they built the Industrial Waterway. The ferry had obviously been moved before that time since no provisions for a bridge to accommodate ferry traffic was made like it was at the Jersey side of the bridge up at the final Afton Avenue location.
The Industrial Waterway: This canal built by the Trenton Delaware Power Company is frequently mentioned in various histories about Trenton. It's what they covered over when they decided to build the highway along the river. However, it clings to the river and was not covered wherever the highway swings away from the river. This is the case above the 1875 Centennial Bridge to a point about halfway to the former Yardley Bridge along which it is still visible. The Industrial Canal is somewhat related to any ferry operation whose path it crossed since by law there had to be a bridge provided by the Power Company to accommodate ferry traffic. It is sometimes confused with the Delaware & Raritan feeder canal which actually swings well away from the Delaware River just above Yardley. I found out that the Belvidere Delaware Railroad was at the Raritan canal location.
Whites's Creek
The creek (between the canal and the river) shown on Carrington's map as previously mentioned, was nearly forgotten until we heard about it by word of mouth from the former owner of our property. It's been passed down that a creek had crossed our property prior to construction of the canal and had served as the village laundry in colonial times. When I heard this I thought of it as something very small, similar to a small brook which I knew as a boy, flowing from the spring house on our weekend farm and summer house in Paoli. In 1995 I "discovered" the large ravine associated with "White's Creek" where it passes near the race below the Prophet21 parking lot. It was this watershed that caught the 500-year storm in June 1996.
When I explored White's Creek ravine below the Prophet21 parking lot, I discovered the large ravine and was surprised to see how big it was. I witnessed a 12-15 feet per second torrential flow following the snow melt on the Friday preceding the River Flooding & Ice Flow of Saturday, January 20, 1996. This was a prelude to the 500-year storm runoff and widespread damage caused by White's Creek on Wednesday, June 12, 1996. I had previously heard that White's Creek had formerly turned right into a ditch toward Morrisville, and there is a ditch below the railroad and Potato Creek draining the swamp further down and exiting to the river at the Morrisville line just below Ferry Road. But the flows I witnessed demonstrated that this was indeed a substantial creek, which would have punched right through to the river. I was eventually able to find it's course on the ground between Main Street and the river, as well as interview various homeowners along the way, none of whom had ever heard of it. There must be a treasure trove of artifacts buried along it's former path .
January 20, 1996 Delaware River Flood & Ice Flow
Ice flows on the Delaware are of great interest because they may signal major floods following warm weather if an ice jam breaks-up above Easton. We have had perhaps 3 major ice flows since we moved to the river in 1965. The ice flow in January '96 was by far the most severe. We were ordered evacuated , but the water only came half way up our driveway due to our location on the natural berm which runs along the edge of the river. When we returned the next morning I was interviewed by reporters from the Inquirer at our rear gate. I described how I used the flood to study elevations and this was printed the next day in the Inquirer. But the real story, unknown to us until we saw a large crowd gathering on our front lawn, where an almost solid sheet of 4 foot thick ice had risen-up, shifted over, and settled onto river road, and broke into huge pieces. If the snow melt and ice flow of this magnitude had occurred on the night of December 25, 1776 General Washington could not have even gotten his boats into the water, much less across the river. END
YARDLEY'S REVOLUTIONARY WAR CHRONOLOGY
1751 Thomas Yardley, Jr. (b. 1720-21 and 31 years old) married Mary Field of New Jersey. He was the son of Thomas Yardley the 1704 immigrant and Ann (Biles) Yardley.
1756 Thomas Yardley, Sr. died. William and Thomas, Jr. inherited property in Makefield with Thomas, Jr. becoming the owner of the site of what later became the Belville "Ferry House." Samuel inherited property in Solebury.
May 6, 1756 Thomas Yardley, Jr. (36 years old) was disowned from Falls Monthly Meeting of Friends, for having joined a military company, and justifying himself therefore."
1756 First stagecoach Phila to New York crosses at Trenton Middle Ferry
1757 First Durham boats carried pig iron to Philadelphia. Two day trip. Five day return. They poled their way back along our side of the river. There was heavy traffic past Yardley's Ferry.
1763 Road to ferry at the lower Borough line was surveyed (Oxford Valley Road). This became Howell's Ferry and was originally Heath's Ferry, on the other side.
1764 First timber raft came down the river. By 1828, 1,000 rafts per year were passing Yardley's Ferry.
1765 Ferry Tavern petition by John Doble... note there is a Doble property on the route of the 1763 road.
1765 New Jersey archives refer to Ferry on Jersey side as Howell's Ferry, late Yardley's.
1767 Philemon Dickinson, originally from Maryland, came into possession of estate near Trenton. Married first Mary Cadwalader, and second Rebecca Cadwalader.
1769 Present Mill built by Thomas Yardley, Jr. (?)
1771 Project to enlarge, straighten, clear stones from Trenton Falls to Easton. Large stones can be found today along the river bank. In 1791 the largest stones were strategically placed and equipped with iron rings to be used to pull Durham boats upstream.
1774 Property survey refers to Great Road (Main Street) from Falls to Yeardley's Mill.
1775 Philemon Dickinson appointed as Brig. Gen. of militia by New Jersey Provincial Congress. July 2, 1776 Dickinson member of the committee to draft a constitution.
June 3, 1776 Continental Congress created in N.J. the "Flying Army" of 10,000 militia from Penna, Maryland, and Delaware, and appointed General Mercer commanding officer.
1776 Dickinson replaced Stirling as commander of N.J. eastern militia prepares to defend north jersey cost.
Oct 1, 1776 Dickinson was present at a council of war held by Washington at Bergen Heights, and accompanied Washington on his retreat through New Jersey.
Dec 1, 1776 Washington ordered all boats on both sides of the Delaware to be collected and secured on the west bank opposite Trenton.
Dec 1, 1776 Governor Livingston of New Jersey, at the request of the continental army, posted guards at all ferry crossings to prevent unauthorized crossings by Pennsylvania Militia before their enlistment was up on Dec. 31.
Dec 3, 1776 Washington having retreated with his forces through New Jersey (accompanied by Dickinson) personally arrived at river bank in Trenton, sent his baggage over, and returned to Princeton for rear guard action. This was Colvin's Ferry next to the present day Route 1 Highway Bridge.
Dec 7, 1776 Continental Army is ferried across at Beatty's Ferry (at the water plant) near where Potato Creek empties into Delaware, and at Colvin's Ferry.
Dec 8, 1776 Washington crossed at Colvin's Ferry and establishes his headquarters at Thomas Barclays House today known as "Summerseat"
Dec 12, 1776 Washington gives orders to General Dickinson "to post your troops at Yardley's Ferry, or somewhere near it, find out the fording place there, and have a redoubt thrown up immediately. Map shows redoubt located below the creek (later known as White's Creek). The redoubt was undoubtedly located opposite Howell's Ferry and probably behind at the dip in the road just below the white house inside the white apartment complex.
Dec 12, 1776 Joseph White, a bombardier in Captain Gridleys Company reported "in a Pennsylvania Tavern, attractive foodstuffs tempted the men but the storekeeper refused to sell for rebel paper money...
Dec 14, 1776 Washington moved from Colvin's Ferry (Morrisville) to William Keith house in Makefield (below Jericho Mountain).
Dec 20, 1776 Captain Anderson leads band of men across river to Howell' Ferry and skirmishes with Hessians.
Dec 21, 1776 General Dickinson "wrote from his headquarters at Yardley's Farm nearly across the river from Howell's Ferry" a dispatch to Gen. Washington about Captain Anderson's return. Thomas Yardley is 56 years old.
Dec 21, 1776 Francis Johnston wrote to General Mifflin "most of the tavern-keepers have pulled down their signs and refuse the soldiery provision or drink"
Dec 23, 1776 Washington rode from Keith House to inspect arrangements made by Ewing opposite Trenton and Cadwalader opposite Bordentown.
Dec 26, 1776 General Sullivan (before the assault on Trenton) was instructed to rest his troops for 15-20 minutes at "Howland's" Ferry (Howell's) to allow General Green's Division accompanied by Washington to come even.
Dec 26, 1776 At 8:03 a.m. Gen. Sullivan's troops struck the yager picket 1-officer + 50 men at the Hermitage (about in line with today's Mercer Hospital), the recently purchased residence of our own General Philemon Dickinson who was assigned to the west bank of the Delaware.
Dec 26, 1776 General Dickinsons forces on the west bank of river fired ten cannon shots in support of Gen. Sullivan when he reached Hessian outpost.
Dec 26, 1776 Washington, having returned via Washington Crossing, appeared in Newtown and stayed at house of widow Harris where he wrote two reports to congress.
Dec 27, 1776 A thousand Hessian prisoners billeted in Newtown. Continental Army camped 2 miles outside town.
Dec 25-30, 1776 Durham boats were all moved from Washington Crossing to below Trenton, passing through our stretch of the river below Scudder's Falls.
Dec 30, 1776 Washington rejoined his army on outskirts of Newtown. Washington crossed back into New Jersey at McKonkey's Ferry, while his troops crossed simultaneously at all the Ferries including Johnson's Ferry, Howell's Ferry, Beatty's Ferry, Trenton Ferry. General Stirling was left in charge on the Pennsylvania side of the river.
References:
The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, Stryker, 1898
The Battle of Trenton, Smith, 1965
Improving Navigation... Ferries, Bridges, and Canals, Fackenthal, 1927
The History of Yardley by Charles Wagner
A Survey of a Tract of Land - Yardley, by Sister Maureen Fasy
Lanrick Manor, Appendix B, Yardley's Ferry, Auerbach, 1987
Washington's March to Trenton, Godfrey, 1924
Battle Maps and Charts of the American Revolution, Carrington, 1974
A History of Trenton, Published Under Auspices of Trenton Historical Society), 1929
Historic Newtown, Barnsley, 1934
Washington's Partisan War by Mark V. Kwasny, 1996
Yardley Family, by Thomas W. Yardley, 1881
Ewing Township, by Joseph J. Felcone, 1985
Old Inns and Taverns in West Jersey, by Charles S. Boyer, 1962
[1] The Cornelia (Bell) Paterson Letters, Proceedings New Jersey Historical Society, 1930, page 510. From Cornelia Bell to Her Brother, Andrew Bell.
"Bellfield, January 30, 1777
"I am much obliged to you for the anxiety you express on my account concerning the British Troops. I am not without my fears of their coming up this way, tho this neighborhood is swarming with troops from Crooks to Boundbrook, which I hope will keep them from disturbing our quiet. We are so fortunate as to have General Dickinson at our house; otherwise we should have been burdened with soldiers, which would have been exceedingly disagreeable to us; but General Dickinson is really an acquisition, for the little inconvenience we must unavoidably suffer are greatly compensated for by his easy genteel behavior and the pleasure his conversation affords."
[2] Lanrick Manor, Appendix B, Yardley's Ferry, Auerbach, 1987 (Page 8)
"To conclude, the Yardley ferry very likely may have operated from at or near Afton Avenue down to College Avenue from its inception in 1722. While there is no deed of purchase for the land that early, other records indicate that Yardley was in possession of this land, referred to as the Brock-mill tract, from at least 1729. While there is a possibility that Yardley first established the ferry on Yardley patent land to the north of the borough, and opposite the Upper Ferry Road in New Jersey, this theory is unlikely due to the very early road returns leading to the Afton Avenue point on the river. That the ferry was established specifically further to the south of the center of the borough and opposite the Lower Ferry Road is equally unlikely for the same reasons. It is the writer's opinion that the ferry always operated slightly to the south of the present day Afton Avenue, and that the locations of the ferry house and tavern should be found near this area, i.e. near Ferry Avenue. It must be remembered, however, that the actual landing of the ferry took place at various points along the river front, as currents in the river and other conditions dictated. The confusion regarding the location of the Yardley Ferry essentially comes from this latter fact that Yardley owned all of the river frontage and therefore the ferry could land at any point thereon. The ferry activity, therefore, can be considered as occurring roughly north of Letchworth Avenue up to Afton Avenue and from primarily north of College Avenue to Afton Avenue. By the late 1820's it appears to be specifically located at Afton Avenue according to Kennedy's engineering map of the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal."
"While a considerable number of historical documents were consulted to prepare this synopsis, it must be remembered that further search may yield documents which would give more precise information on the ferry location than what has been found so far."
Kathryn Ann Auerbach
January 1987