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, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 3,414 reflecting an increase of 187 (+5.8%) from the 3,227 counted in the 2000 Census, whic ...
. Mount Pleasant encompasses the intersection of
Mount Pleasant Road
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...
(running east–west) and
Gaunt's Bridge Road (running north–south), . The intersection is located about three miles (5 km) 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, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
and one mile (1.7 km) 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 one mile (1.7 km) 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 Assiscunk Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in southwestern New Jersey in the United States.
The name Assiscunk (also spelled Assiscunke or Essiscunk) came from the Lenape language meaning "muddy creek". Other names were Wissahisk River, B ...
, 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 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 1699, Caleb Shreve purchased Mount Pleasant hill, and of land encompassing it, from Richard and Sarah French. 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.
[The address is 27430 Mount Pleasant Road, Columbus, NJ 08022-1854] It is the birthplace of steamboat captain
Henry Miller Shreve
Henry Miller Shreve (October 21, 1785 – March 6, 1851) was the American inventor and steamboat captain who opened the Mississippi, Ohio, and Red rivers to steamboat navigation. Shreveport, Louisiana, is named in his honor.
Shreve was also instru ...
and may be viewed via the Internet link shown below.
The Barzilla 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.
*William Ellis
*Richard and Sarah French, (ffrench)
*John Butcher
*John Pancoast, (Pancas)
*Joseph Pancoast, (Pancas)
*Eliakim Higgins
*Michael Newbold
*John Woolston
*Thomas Folke, (ffolke)
*Thomas Revell, (Revel)
*Caleb and Sarah Shreve, (Shreeve, Shrieve)
*George Guest
*Samuel Willis
*Edmund Wells
*Godfrey Hancock
*Nathaniel Paine, (Payne)
*Elizabeth (Woolman) Paine, (Payne)
*Robert Hunt
*John Harvey
*Isaac Gibbs
*James Antrum, (Antrim)
*Isaac Antrum, (Antrim)
*Michael Buffin
*Barzilla and Sarah Newbold
Gallery
Image:Mansfield Township 1859- panhandle.jpg, Mount Pleasant, 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.
*French, Howard Barclay (1909). ''Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas French''. Philadelphia: Privately printed. pp. 224, 230.
''New Jersey Colonial Records'', vol. 21, 1664-1703*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.
*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 Caleb 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
{{Burlington County, New Jersey
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
1688 establishments in New Jersey