Mount Pleasant is a historic community located within the southeastern range of
Mansfield Township and the northeastern range of
Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey
Springfield Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3,245, a decrease of 169 (−5.0%) from the 2010 census count of 3,414, which in tur ...
. Mount Pleasant encompasses the intersection of
Mount Pleasant Road
Mount Pleasant Road is a major arterial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street extends from Jarvis Street south of Bloor Street north to Glen Echo Drive. The road is unique as one of the few arterial roads in Toronto to be created ...
(running east–west) and
Gaunt's Bridge Road (running north–south), . The intersection is located about east of
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio
* Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...
and south of
Georgetown.
Mount Pleasant was named for the area's most conspicuous landmark: a small hill tapering to a pointed peak. Mount Pleasant hill is wooded and it is located in a cultivated farm field in the southwest quadrant of the intersection. A low, wooded ridge runs for about from the west side of the hill along the south side of Mount Pleasant Road toward Skunk Island Road. South of the ridge and Mount Pleasant Road lies an expansive meadowland that encompasses
Assiscunk Creek, the township's southern border. The meadowland was called ''Ye Great Meadow'' during the 17th and 18th centuries. North of the ridge and Mount Pleasant Road lie cultivated farm fields that encompass Crafts Creek.
Early history
Mount Pleasant was settled by
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
during the latter part of the 17th century. In 1688, Mansfield Township was established and its borders were published:
"The Constabulary of Mansfield to lye on ye south side of William Black's Creek, down Delaware River to the town bounds of Burlington, and soe up Birch Creek to John Pancoast's, to Michael Newbold's, and soe ye north of ye Great Meadow to Eliakim Higgins' plantation."
In 1693, Richard French purchased of land at Mount Pleasant from the estate of William Ellis.
In 1699, from the 460-acre tract, Richard and Sarah (Scattergood) French sold , including Mount Pleasant hill, to Caleb Shreve. In 1725, Shreve built a brick house to the west of the hill. The east side of the home was constructed in 1742. This property, named Mount Pleasant, was the homestead of the Shreve family for many years. It was the birthplace of
Israel Shreve
Israel Shreve (December 24, 1739 – December 14, 1799) was a colonel in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment during the American Revolution. He fought at the Battle of Brandywine and at the Battle of Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge.
Early life
I ...
, a distinguished colonel during the Revolutionary War, and may be viewed via the Internet link shown below.
The
Barzillai and Sarah Newbold House was constructed in 1740 and is located in the northeast quadrant of the intersection. The house is listed on the
and may be viewed via the Internet link shown below.
Early residents and landowners
*John Curtis and Anne, his wife, lived at ''Ogston'', their 347-acre farm located on a ridge west of Mount Pleasant hill.
[''New Jersey Colonial Records'', vol. 21, 1664-1703]
**Thomas Curtis, John and Anne's son, inherited ''Ogston''.
**Thomas Curtis, John's brother, owned 150 acres bordering the south branch of Assiscunk Creek.
*Richard French purchased from the estate of William Ellis, on November 18, 1693, a 460-acre tract at Mount Pleasant.
[ Biddle, pp. 195-6]
*William Ellis
*John Butcher
*John Pancoast, (Pancas)
*Joseph Pancoast, (Pancas)
*Eliakim Higgins
*Michael Newbold
*John Woolston
*Thomas Folke, (ffolke)
*Thomas Revell, (Revel)
*Caleb and Sarah (Areson) Shreve purchased from Richard and Sarah (Scattergood) French, on April 22, 1699, 325 acres that encompassed Mount Pleasant hill. In 1725, they built the first Shreve family homestead next to the hill.
**Benjamin and Rebecca (French) Shreve built in 1742 the second Shreve family homestead that also sat next to Mount Pleasant hill. She is the daughter of Richard French.
***
Israel Shreve
Israel Shreve (December 24, 1739 – December 14, 1799) was a colonel in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment during the American Revolution. He fought at the Battle of Brandywine and at the Battle of Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge.
Early life
I ...
was born in the first Shreve family homestead.
*George Guest
*Samuel Willis
*Edmund Wells
*Godfrey Hancock
*Elizabeth Woolman, aunt of
John Woolman
John Woolman (October 19, 1720 ( O.S.)/October 30, 1720 ( N.S.)– October 7, 1772) was an American merchant, tailor, journalist, Quaker preacher, and early abolitionist during the colonial era. Based in Mount Holly, New Jersey, near Philadelp ...
**Nathaniel Paine, first husband of Elizabeth Woolman
**Robert Hunt, second husband of Elizabeth Woolman
**John Harvey, third husband of Elizabeth Woolman
*Isaac Gibbs
*James Antrum, (Antrim)
*Isaac Antrum, (Antrim)
*Thomas Barton, In 1685, James Antram of 250 acres in the First Tenth, E. Percifall Towle, adjoining Thomas Barton, Thomas Scattergood, and Nathaniel Richards, including two acres of meadow at Mount Pleasant next to John Curtis. "Patents and Deeds and Other Early Records of New Jersey 1664-1703”
*Michael Buffin
*Barzilla and Sarah Newbold
Gallery
Image:Mansfield Township 1859- panhandle.jpg, Mount Pleasant area, ca. 1859
References and notes
Bibliography
* Allen, Luther Prentice (1901). ''Genealogy and history of the Shreve family from 1641''. Greenfield, Illinois: Privately printed. 672 pages.
* Biddle, C. Miller (2012). ''William and Sarah Biddle, 1633-1711, planting a seed of democracy in America''. Moorestown, New Jersey: Privately printed. 399 pages.
* French, Howard Barclay (1909). ''Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas French''. Philadelphia: Privately printed. pp. 224, 230.
* Nelson, William, and Berthold Fernow (1899). ''Calendar of records in the office of the Secretary of State. 1614-1703''. The Press Printing and Publishing Co.
''New Jersey Colonial Records'', vol. 21, 1664-1703* Tusim, Pearl J. (1976). ''History of Mansfield Township, 1688-1976''. Privately printed. 150 pages.
* Tusim, Pearl J. (1976). ''Record book of Mansfield township, 1697-1773'', Book 3. Privately printed. 116 pages.
* Woodward, E. M. (1883). ''History of Burlington County, New Jersey, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men''. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck.
External links
Shreve house at Mount PleasantNathaniel Rue Ewan's photograph of the Benjamin and Rebecca (French) Shreve house at Mount Pleasant as it appeared during the 1930s.
Newbold house at Mount PleasantNathaniel Rue Ewan's photograph of the Barzilla and Sarah Newbold house at Mount Pleasant as it appeared during the 1930s.
Nathaniel Rue Ewan's photographs of early houses of Burlington County, New Jersey.
Early History of Mansfield Township
{{authority control
1688 establishments in the Dominion of New England
Geography of Burlington County, New Jersey
Mount Pleasant (Shreve)
Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey
Unincorporated communities in Burlington County, New Jersey
Unincorporated communities in New Jersey